Page 1 News (04/28)

Baldwins Behaving Badly: With just five weeks left in the Roundabout Theater Company's production of "Entertaining Mr. Sloane," Jan Maxwell has quit the cast, apparently unable to get along with a co-star, Alec Baldwin, who she says "created an unhealthy and oppressive situation." She referred specifically to an incident in which Mr. Baldwin punched a wall because he was angry that the air-conditioning was not turned high enough. A bunch of drama queens on Broadway is hardly news. And isn't the only thing that really matters here is that Chris Carmack is still onboard? (NYT)

'Nuestro Himno': Anti-immigration types are getting all bent out of shape about the Spanish version of "The Star-Spangled Banner," renaming it "The Illegal Alien Anthem." Yeah, they're mad as hell all right, but not enough to learn the words in English. (WP)

Pension Reassignment: The European Union has ruled in favor of a geriatric tranny in Britain who sued for pension rights. The British government, which allows women to collect a pension at 60, still considered her a man because she was born as one and therefore could only get the benefit at 65. I wonder if trannies can get all the other perks of being an older woman, like osteoporosis and degenerative bone loss. (PinkNews)

Flaming Attack: Two men are being questioned after a gay friendly pub in Bolton, England, was set on fire. (PinkNews)

Plagiarism 101: The publishing house Little, Brown and Co. announced that it was asking bookstores to stop selling the "unconsciously copied" novel "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life" and to return any remaining copies to the publisher. This seems like the only sensible thing to do, yet publishing industry experts seemed surprised by it. "In the book industry . . . this is really fairly unheard of," said Jon Schallert, a retail marketing consultant based in Florida. "They must have a very good case . . . if Little, Brown and Company is going to such extremes," said Lorraine Shanley, a principal at Market Partners International, a consulting firm in New York. So in publishing these days punishing someone for stealing is now considered an "extreme"? Hear that, Janet Cooke? (WP)

Long Island Lolita: On "Entertainment Tonight" last night, Amy Fisher blamed excessive Ecstasy use for her shooting Mary Jo Buttafuoco. Finally we have an answer for that heinous act by her, but how does she explain how she could have sex with Joey? (AP)

Some Vacation: As the authorities in St. Martin "investigate" the gay bashing of Dick Jefferson and Ryan Smith, many others are relating similar holiday experiences. (Washington Blade)

Gay Unfriendly: The Bay Area Reporter has a great article about the Caribbean's hostile underbelly, too. (BA Reporter)