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BIRTHS On April 25, in New York City, actor Rob Morrow (Maze), 38, and thesp wife Debbon Ayer (The Last Days of Disco), greeted 7-pound 3-ounce daughter Tu Simone, their first child.

RECONCILED Action star Harrison Ford, 58, and screenwriter wife Melissa Mathison (Kundun), 50, reportedly have patched things up. Friends told the press the couple, who split last November after 17 years of marriage, reunited two months ago. Ford’s rep had no comment.

AILING On April 29, model Niki Taylor, 26, sustained serious internal injuries in a single-car crash in Atlanta. At press time, she was in critical condition. The driver reportedly was reaching for a cell phone before losing control and colliding with a telephone pole. (Neither the driver nor the car’s other passenger, who were not identified, was hospitalized.) Taylor, the mother of twins Jake and Hunter, 6, lost her younger sister, Krissy, also a model, to asthma in 1995.

Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen, 46, said April 26 that he’s battling cancer. On the band’s website, the rocker claimed that doctors told him he’s ”healthier than ever and beating” the disease.

ANNOUNCEMENTS Call it CNN Blue. Since being hired April 24 as an anchor at CNN Headline News, former NYPD Blue actress Andrea Thompson, 41, has raised plenty of of eyebrows. Media critics, noting CNN’s recent layoff of 400 veteran employees, said Thompson has too little journalism experience (she’s worked for nearly a year at the CBS affiliate in Albuquerque, N.M.). And gawkers unearthed nude photos of her (from a 1986 Italian film and a more recent shoot) on the Internet. Thompson says she has ”no apologies” for her career choices. In a statement, CNN expressed support.

Ending speculation, Arnold Schwarzenegger, 53, said April 24 that he won’t run for governor of California in 2002. The GOP supporter said in a statement that career and family are his priorities. Recently, he’s been dogged by tabloid charges of sexual impropriety, which his reps deny.

COURTS The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin, 39, was charged April 30 with felony possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms and rock cocaine, and misdemeanor pot possession. If convicted, he could face up to three years in prison. A Vegas-bound Sorkin was arrested April 15 when Burbank Airport officials allegedly discovered drugs and paraphernalia in his carry-on bag. Sorkin’s agent had no comment.

On April 30, a judge in Indio, Calif., postponed until May 24 a hearing for actor Robert Downey Jr., 36, on drug-possession charges stemming from his November arrest at a Palm Springs resort. Downey entered a rehab facility late last month after another drug-related arrest.

John Travolta, 47, reportedly reached a confidential settlement May 1 with two production companies with which he’s been at odds. Mandalay Entertainment and Liteoffer sued Travolta after he allegedly walked off the French set of Roman Polanski’s never-made The Double in 1996. Travolta then sued Mandalay, claiming it broke its promise to cast him in Donnie Brasco, the 1997 Al Pacino-Johnny Depp flick. Reps for Mandalay, Liteoffer, and Travolta could not be reached.

On April 25 in L.A., Halle Berry, 34, and Eric Benet, 31, sued the Star for libel, seeking at least $5 million in damages. They take issue with a story claiming, among other things, that the couple’s new marriage is on the skids. A Star spokesman says the tab doesn’t comment on litigation.

Calling Linda Fiorentino (Where the Money Is), 41, a ”prima donna,” German company Art Oko Film sued her April 24 for breach of contract. In the suit, Art Oko claims Fiorentino caused the termination of Till the End of Time, a Georgia O’Keeffe biopic that was set to shoot last summer with Ben Kingsley. Art Oko, seeking at least $5 million in damages, claims she held the production ”hostage to her whims” by failing to show for makeup calls and rehearsals. Fiorentino’s spokeswoman had no comment.

On April 2, four weeks before a scheduled trial, rap producer Dr. Dre (a.k.a. Andre Young), 36, reached a settlement with PricewaterhouseCoopers, which he had accused of fraud. Terms were not disclosed. In 1998, Dre alleged that the accounting firm had bilked him out of more than $20 million while he was fronting Death Row Records (which he left in 1996).

On April 23, Cincinnati Country Day School reached a settlement with USA Films over the use of its name in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic. In the film, Topher Grace and Erika Christensen’s drug-addled teens attend a private academy of the same name. USA Films will pay Country Day an undisclosed amount and won’t use its name in future releases of the film, says a school lawyer. USA Films had no comment.

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