News Brief

New York Daily News: SPOILER ALERT: Dusty rejects Lily this week on AS THE WORLD TURNS, which sends her on a downward spiral that culminates in a shocking death on Friday. "It starts bad and ends worse," warns Martha Byrne, who plays the tormented heroine. "Lily has been fragile since her [pill] addiction. It will take very little to set her off again."

Playbill: Emmy nominee Van Hansis (Luke, AS THE WORLD TURNS)concludes his run as Lance Sussman in the Off-Broadway smash "Die Mommie Die!" tonight.

Broadway World: New York City Center Encores! begins its 2008 season with the 1970 Tony Award-winning hit, Applause, starring Christine Ebersole, Kate Burton, Mario Cantone, Tom Hewitt, Michael Park (AS THE WORLD TURNS), Megan Sikora, Chip Zien and Erin Davie. Directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall with Music Direction by Rob Berman, Applause will play five performances, from February 7-10 at New York City Center, 131 West 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues).

Daily Record: Guitarist Carlos Santana nearly broke a Grammy Awards record in 2000, but a Mendham Township composer, producer and arranger stole some of his his thunder. The 2000 Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition went to Don Sebesky's "Joyful Noise Suite," a tribute to Duke Ellington. The trophy now sits in the award-dominated home of Sebesky and his wife, Janina Serden. Sebesky's music has made equal impact on TV as on record. He scored Emmy nominations for ALLEGRA'S WINDOW (Nickelodeon) and the soap operas THE EDGE OF NIGHT and GUIDING LIGHT.

: Ten months after leaving ALL MY CHILDREN, Rebecca Budig has finally found a regular TV role - back on "AMC" as Greenlee Smythe du Pres Lavery. "It feels good to be working," says Budig, 34, who returns to ABC Wednesday. After nine years in daytime TV from New York - six as Greenlee and three as Michelle Bauer on CBS' GUIDING LIGHT - the Fort Mitchell native and her husband, Bob Guiney from "The Bachelor," moved from New York to Los Angeles last March so she could pursue prime-time TV or feature films. "AMC" producers late last year asked her to come back. "It was just a really great offer, and an opportunity to get back to New York. I feel much more connected to this city than LA," says the 1991 School for Creative & Performing Arts graduate. "Just because I'm back here does not mean I am going to stop pursuing other things. Hopefully, I can do it all."

Biloxi Sun Herald: Winsor Harmon of THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL takes a look at the picture he took with his father, Winsor Harmon, Sr., left, while mingling with guests at The Bold and the Beautiful Fashion Extravaganza on Saturday. Winsor Harmon, Sr. traveled from his home in Louisiana to see his son and other soap stars at the fundraising fashion show.

Sunday Mirror: Strikingly bad acting, drearily predictable plot lines, a hopeless lack of realism... ECHO BEACH is just like a normal soap. But there's a difference. This one is supposed to be rubbish. Or at least I think it is. Set in a kind of Cornish HOLLYOAKS-on-Sea, ITV's sizzling saga of sand, sex and surfing is one half of an innovative new double act. Before tuning in to the cliched antics of hilariously crass characters played by the likes of Jason Donovan, Martine McCutcheon and veteran plank of wood Johnny Briggs, you simply have to catch Moving Wallpaper - the backstage story of how ECHO BEACH is brought to the small screen.

Digital Spy: CORONATION STREET newcomer Michelle Keegan has vowed to continue attending drama school. The 20-year-old actress was snapped up by the soap when she tried out for the role of David Platt's new love interest Tina McIntyre. It was only her second ever TV audition; she had attempted to get a bit-part in Channel 4's Hollyoaks two weeks earlier. "I'm being careful. You don't know how long it's going to last," Michelle told the Sunday Mirror. "I want to stay. And I'm incredibly proud when I hear people say I could be the next Suranne Jones.