NEWS LITE : TIPPER ADVISES BOOMERS ON AGING.

Tipper Gore sounded an alarm to rouse fellow members of the baby boom generation still in denial about the need to plan for retirement:

``Despite all the medical advances, people still age . . . and there are some plain truths that go along with that,'' Vice President Al Gore's wife said Monday in Washington. ``That is that as people age, they begin to need help, particularly with a lot of daily tasks.''

Tipper Gore, 51, was picked as an honorary representative of her massive, now graying generation to testify at a hearing of the Senate's Special Committee on Aging meant to jolt baby boomers into thinking about future necessities such as how to pay for nursing home care.

``I think it's probably a natural part of the human condition to not really think about that too much unless you are really forced to do it,'' she said.

Gore said she and her husband, who is running for president, have had to begin to face the facts of growing older in very tangible ways recently: Both are helping to care for aging parents, and this year they became grandparents themselves.

Seinfeld remains an engaging comic

Jerry Seinfeld is engaged to Tommy Hilfiger publicist Jessica Sklar.

The comedian and former ``Seinfeld'' star proposed to Sklar on Saturday night in New York after dining at a SoHo restaurant, ``Entertainment Tonight'' reported Monday.

According to ``ET,'' Sklar had recently broken off the relationship and was taken by surprise by Seinfeld's proposal.

No wedding date has been set.

The two met at a Manhattan health club.

Pitt stalker says money is the pits

A woman who climbed into actor Brad Pitt's home in January faces a hearing next week to determine whether she violated her probation by failing to finish court-ordered counseling sessions.

Athena Marie Rolando, 20, said in court Monday that she can't afford the sessions. The Billings, Mont., native was ordered to undergo at least a year of psychological counseling after pleading no contest to misdemeanor trespassing in February, but prosecutors say she has attended only four sessions.

She faces up to six months in jail if Municipal Court Judge Dale Fischer finds she violated the terms of her probation. The hearing is set for Nov. 15.

``One of the things that will be determined at this hearing is if she cannot afford them or if it's a willful violation,'' said Mike Qualls, spokesman for the Los Angeles City Attorney's office, which prosecutes misdemeanors.

He said he did not know how much the counseling sessions cost.

Rolando climbed into Pitt's Hollywood Hills home through a rear window on Jan. 7 while the actor was away. A caretaker found her wearing Pitt's clothes and sleeping in an upstairs bedroom.

Kidman steals show at Aussie movie park

The new Fox Studios Australia may be trying to replicate Hollywood, but with several American stars at the Sydney, Australia, theme park's opening gala it was Aussie actress Nicole Kidman who stole the show.

About 4,000 invited guests joined Charlie Sheen, Shirley Jones and Kidman's husband, Tom Cruise, to attend the studio's Sunday-night kickoff, which included a salute to Hollywood musicals and a tribute to Australian film making.

When Kidman made her way down a long red carpet at the party's entrance, the other guests erupted with a deafening round of cheers, the New York Post reported.

The $300 million park, built next to Sydney's famous harbor, is expected to draw about 1.5 million visitors a year to Backlot, a behind-the-scenes tour of the movie business. It is also a working studio.

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

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo: (1) Taylor-made tunes

James Taylor rehearses with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. About 100 area students were invited to watch the rehearsal and then speak with Taylor during a question-and-answer session.

Associated Press

(2) Seinfeld

(3) Kidman