Culturite

Police in Michigan have arrested a man who they say tried to steal posters and other items related to the new Batman movie from a cinema lobby while dressed up as the Joker.

Detective Mike Mohney said Monday 20-year-old Spencer Taylor of Three Rivers has been booked for investigation of larceny and malicious destruction of property.

Taylor is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 5 in St. Joseph County District Court.

There is no telephone listing under his name in the Three Rivers area.

Mohney says officers who were dispatched early Sunday to the theater arrived to find employees restraining a man wearing a purple suit, a green wig and face paint in the style of Batman’s nemesis in “The Dark Knight.”

“Tiny” Virginia Makopo, the dormitory matron at Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls accused of abusing six students and a fellow dorm matron during a four-month period, went on trial today in Johannesburg.

Makopo, alternately pegged as both 27 and 28 years old, pleaded not guilty to 14 charges of indecent assault, common assault, verbal abuse, soliciting a minor to perform indecent acts and criminal injury.

After a court official read out each of the charges Makopo faced, the former matron, who spoke through an interpreter, told the court, “I plead not guilty.”

Judge Thelma Simpson wasted no time in granting a prosecution request to close the proceedings to the public and further protected the privacy of the schoolgirls by allowing them to testify via closed-circuit TV to prevent them from coming face-to-face with their alleged abuser.

To prepare for their testimony, the court’s windows were covered with brown paper and the passage to the courtroom was blocked to prevent the girls, all minors, from being seen or otherwise identified.

Prosecuting attorney Etienne Venter described the group of girls as “very scared and very, very emotional” going into the trial.

BREAKING NEWS — STRONG 5.6 TO 5.8 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE SHAKES DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES. DETAILS SOON.

Teen sensation Miley Cyrus says it might be time to hang up her Hannah Montana wig for good.

“We’re thinking this is our last season,” she said Monday, in an interview with E! News to air Tuesday night.

But the star, who turns 16 in November, points out she’s been hard at work playing her pop star alter ego since she was 11.

Mario Lopez may be doing a happy dance after being picked as the new solo host of “Extra.”

Lopez, 34, who’s served as a correspondent for the syndicated entertainment newsmagazine and co-hosted its weekend edition since January 2007, will take over from co-hosts Mark McGrath and Dayna Devon, the producers of “Extra” announced Monday.

McGrath asked to released from his contract to focus on his band, Sugar Ray, which is recording a new album, Telepictures Productions said. He continued to perform with the band while on “Extra.”

Devon, with the show since 1999, will return to her “Extra” reporting roots with celebrity interviews and “celebrity lifestyle” stories and will serve as a substitute host for Lopez.

Lopez is a “rising star with a winning personality both on- and off-camera,” “Extra” senior executive producer Lisa Gregorisch-Dempsey said.