LOOPY LINDSAY CAME 'IN PEACE'  —  KIN: DWI BIMBO WAS JUST TRYING TO 'HELP' EX-AIDE  —  By MARIANNE GARVEY in Santa Monica, Calif., and KIERAN CROWLEY in New York  —  New details have emerged about what sparked a wild drunken car chase and near-brawl involving Lindsay Lohan and her former aide's mother …

Paris Hilton Buys (Another) New Pooch  —  Paris Hilton already has a huge family of pets - but she added one more to the brood with a new Chihuahua on Wednesday.  —  The heiress adopted the young, male pooch from Pets of Bel Air in Los Angeles just after 1 p.m.

Nicole Richie to Break Her Silence  —  Pregnant and soon-to-be on trial Nicole Richie has spent her summer so far on media blackout.  —  Next week, however, the Simple Life star will finally come out of hiding for an interview with Diane Sawyer.  In three segments set to air August 2nd …

Turncoat Michael returning to 'Lost'  —  BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Turncoat Michael is making a "Lost" `comeback.  Harold Perrineau, who plays the character last seen betraying his fellow crash survivors to save himself and his son, will return to the show next season.

'VIEW' PROSPECTS  —  EXPECT an announcement any day on the new lineup for "The View," Barbara Walters' estrogen-heavy chat-fest with Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.  We'd heard that Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Griffin and Sherry Shepherd would all be hired and fill the empty seats left behind …

Brad, Angelina & Kids Go Bowling in France  —  Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie pinned down some family time at a French bowling alley Monday as their vacation rolled to an end, PEOPLE has learned.  —  Before jetting off from their 10-day vacation in the western Charente/Dordogne region …

Backstreet Boys Plot Comeback With October CD  —  After an extended break and the loss of original member Kevin Richardson, the Backstreet Boys will return Oct. 30 with their next, as-yet-untitled studio album for Jive Records.  The first single, the piano-heavy rock ballad "Inconsolable," will hit U.S. radio outlets Aug. 27.

Ian Ziering 'Disappointed' at Price Is Right Rebuff  —  Ian Ziering lit up the floor on Dancing with the Stars earlier this year - but he won't finish 2007 hosting The Price is Right, as he'd wished.  —  "I guess I was a little disappointed," Ziering, 43, told PEOPLE at Tuesday's …

SHE'S LOHAN'S BAD-LUCK CHARM  —  CALL it the curse of Dori Cooperman.  The Zelig-like socialite has been partners in partying with Tara Reid, then Lizzie Grubman - and, most recently, busted-again Lindsay Lohan.  —  Reid, the promising "American Pie" actress who regularly hung out with Cooperman …

Damon gets Hollywood Walk of Fame star  —  LOS ANGELES - When Matt Damon and pal Ben Affleck were struggling actors, they lived in a modest apartment near Hollywood Boulevard.  Damon said he used to look at the stars on the boulevard sidewalk and dreamed of seeing his name on one of them someday.

Hasselhoff: 'Drunken video gave me closure'  —  David Hasselhoff credits the drunken video of him eating a burger off the floor with bringing "closure" to a troublesome period in his life.  —  The former Baywatch star has battled alcohol problems in the past and during a relapse this year …

CHOCO-LICIOUS  —  KELLY Rowland once wanted to look white.  "It's said that brown-skinned girls don't sell magazines and that's so sad," the sexy songbird tells next month's Essence.  "I remember wishing I was more fair-skinned, but Tina Knowles, Beyoncé's mom, would say, 'Don't you know how beautiful you are?'

JOKER CONGRATULATES DAMON IN PRINT WITH $8,000 AD  —  A long-running TV gag at the expense of actor MATT DAMON has cost comedian-turned-chat show host JIMMY KIMMEL over $8,000 (GBP4,000).  Kimmel often ends his U.S. late-night show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, by apologising to fictional guest Damon …

UNQUIET ENVY  —  MARC Jacobs is so jealous of couture king John Galliano, he loudly trash-mouths his rival during workouts at the David Barton Gym on West 23rd Street.  Our spy snips, "Marc and his trainer always talk very loudly - it's annoying.  All he does is complain about Galliano …