Names and faces

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Lance Armstrong is riding his Tour de France success to a considerable fortune.

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Armstrong's cycling contract, endorsements and speaking engagement fees earn him more than $10 million a year, the Austin American-Statesman reported Tuesday.

He earned $2 million in salary riding for the U.S. Postal Service team last year, and companies pay a minimum of $1 million to use him in their corporate campaigns.

The 29-year-old two-time Tour champion's speaking fees range from $150,000 to $225,000.

"We're doing probably three or four of those a year," said Armstrong's agent and lawyer, Bill Stapleton. "And we're probably turning down 10."

Armstrong's family sometimes gets into the act. On Monday, Armstrong and his 17-month-old son, Luke, shot a 60-second commercial for Bristol-Myers Squibb. The pharmaceutical company makes the chemotherapy drugs that helped Armstrong win his battle against cancer.

Hewitt's desert island would be crowded

NEW YORK (AP) -- Let's play a game. You're stranded on a desert island. Who would you want to be stuck with? Brad Pitt? Julia Roberts?

"There's lots of people," says Jennifer Love Hewitt, laughing during an interview on "PrimeTime Thursday," which airs at 9 p.m. CDT on ABC. "The rock band Journey. Just Steve Perry, because then he could sing to me and I wouldn't even know I was on a desert island nor would I care."

The 22-year-old actress, who co-stars with Sigourney Weaver in the comedy "Heartbreakers," also says in the interview that she loves to spend money on "everything."

"I like to spend my money on gifts for my friends and family," she says. "I'm a huge spoiler."

Rather's apology isn't enough for some

Washington Post

Dan Rather formally apologized Wednesday for what he called a "serious mistake" in speaking at a Democratic Party fundraiser.

"I made an embarrassing and regrettable error in judgment by going to this event," the CBS anchor said in a statement. "It was a serious mistake, which I acknowledge. No one believes more strongly in CBS News standards than I do, and I have let those standards down."

Rather was responding to a Washington Post report Wednesday that he was the star attraction at a March 21 event in Austin that raised about $20,000 for the Travis County Democratic Party. The Texan said he did not know in advance that the 150-person gathering, to which he was invited by an Austin City Council member, was a fundraiser but realized the event's nature when he got there.

Susan Weddington, chairman of the Texas Republican Party, said the event "just cements the impression already out there that Dan Rather's reporting comes from a partisan bias.

"This is a newsman," she said. "If he didn't know before he hit Texas that this was a fundraiser of which his daughter was a sponsor, perhaps the network should re-evaluate his competence to deliver the news." Weddington also scoffed at the $20,000 take, noting that White House aide Karl Rove helped raise $200,000 at a Travis County GOP fundraiser last week.

Brent Bozell, president of the conservative Media Research Center, urged Rather to apologize on the air, but CBS says he will not do so.

"How many times have Rather and his colleagues throughout the establishment media railed at so-called 'partisan politics'?" Bozell said. "Without a genuine and sincere apology to the viewing public, Rather's lips will forever drip with hypocrisy. As of right now, his stain covers the entire CBS News division."