NEWS LITE : SCHULZ RETURNS TO THE RINK FOR ICY `PEANUTS'.

Cartoonist Charles M. Schulz is back at one of his favorite places, the ice skating rink, after being released from a Santa Rosa, Calif., hospital following his diagnosis with colon cancer.

Schulz, creator of the ``Peanuts'' comic strip, watched a practice Thursday night at the Redwood Empire Ice Arena for the opening number of a show benefiting an AIDS support group and wished the cast good luck.

Schulz, 77, was released from Memorial Hospital on Tuesday after undergoing abdominal surgery. The cancer was found at that time.

The ``Peanuts'' artist and his wife, Jean, left the rink he created after watching just the first number. They watched from the booth Schulz has sat in nearly every day for more than a decade.

``We had some friends who were coming and we thought it would be interesting to see a little of it,'' Jean Schulz said. ``But it was just too tiring.''

TV movie to show life of Reds owner

Former Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott, suspended by baseball for racial and ethnic slurs, will be portrayed in a movie for cable's USA Network.

The movie is set for broadcast by the end of 2000. It will cover Schott's turbulent life and controversial tenure as Reds owner, based on a 1993 unauthorized biography by Mike Bass, sports editor of The Cincinnati Post.

``Marge Schott is a colorful and interesting character,'' said Adam Shapiro, a vice president for USA Network. ``Her story is really interesting, and controversial.''

The script is still being written. No casting decisions have been made.

Schott, 71, sold her majority stake in the team this year. She didn't return a call Friday but asked in Thursday's Cincinnati Enquirer: ``Are they allowed to do that?''

Breakup boozy, McCartney says

Sir Paul McCartney said he ``went straight to the whiskey'' in the Beatles' darkest days.

McCartney spoke of the band's acrimonious split in a BBC interview for broadcast Friday night.

``We had been mates. We'd come up together. It had been very beautiful. We'd done all these great things and then suddenly here we were, really bitching at each other and we'd never bitched at anyone in our lives,'' he said.

``So I didn't want to get up in the morning - when I did get up I went straight to the whiskey. Lovely. By about three o'clock. I was out of it, would go back to bed again.''

McCartney plans a solo concert Dec. 14 at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where the Beatles first performed in 1961. Tickets are free but limited to 200 fans. No distribution plans have been announced.

Pitt files suit to haltuse of name on Net

Invoking a new federal statute that bans ``cybersquatting,'' Brad Pitt on Thursday sued the owners of the Internet domains bradpitt.com and bradpitt.net.

The owners of bradpitt.com are Khalid Alzarooni and Nidal Abu-Robb, who live in the United Arab Emirates. They have tried to sell the domain to Pitt for $20,000, according to the lawsuit. Visitors to the site find an advertisement to sell the domain name.

KMA Visual Design OY, a Finnish company, owns bradpitt.net. That site features pictures of Pitt, and a fan club dedicated to the actor.

Both defendants have ignored requests from Pitt's lawyers to stop using the sites, according to Pitt's lawyer, Jay Lavely. Neither defendant could be reached for comment.

Lavely said four other entities that owned similar domains using Pitt's name gave up their rights to the sites after being threatened with a lawsuit.

Cybersquatting is a term used for the common practice of registering a popular name on the Internet, then trying to sell it to the company or individual who has a commercial interest in it. Recently, business.com sold to a Santa Monica concern for a record $7.5 million.

Pitt is the first major name to sue using the statute that President Clinton signed into law earlier this week and banning cybersquatting. Entertainer Kenny Rogers filed a similar lawsuit Thursday.

The Judds reunion act to hit the road in 2000

Get ready for a reunion of The Judds.

The mother-and-daughter country music duo announced this week in Nashville they will embark on a concert tour in 2000, their first extensive road trip in nine years.

``We're red, we're raucous and we're ready to roll,'' said a raven-haired Naomi Judd, who quit the popular act after contracting hepatitis C in 1991.

Naomi, 53, said she has tested free of the virus for two years.

``We are going out on tour because I'm not dead, and she's not pregnant,'' she joked, referring to her daughter Wynonna, who has two children.

The tour will begin with a previously announced performance on New Year's Eve in Phoenix. About 20 dates have been booked so far, beginning Feb. 4 in Denver and including stops in Las Vegas, Atlanta, Detroit, Houston and Chicago.

More dates will be added before the tour ends in April.

The Judds rose to stardom in 1984 with their first chart-topping hit, ``Mama He's Crazy.'' They went on to score 14 more No. 1 hits, sell more than 20 million albums and win six Grammy awards.

News Lite is compiled by Karen Duffy from Daily News staff and wire reports

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo: (1) Leap of faith?

Felix Baumgartner prepares to be the first to parachute from the giant Jesus above Rio de Janeiro.

(2) Mom Naomi, left, and daughter Wynonna Judd beam with

down-home delight as they announce plans to tour next year.

(3) no caption (Paul McCartney)