Group to restore Wright hotel

Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts are claiming victory in their effort to restore the architect's last standing hotel, a northern Iowa landmark that has fallen apart over the past few decades.

The Park Inn Hotel in Mason City, designed by Wright and completed in 1910, has been used as a hotel, apartments and even a strip club.

"It certainly has been an eyesore, it has had a very, very checkered history over past 40 to 50 years," said Ann MacGregor, executive director of Wright on the Park, the group behind a planned $18 million restoration.

The hotel is the last remaining of six designed by Wright after the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo was demolished in 1968. The Park Inn Hotel will have 20 suites when it reopens to the public in early 2011, MacGregor said.

ABC executive hopes to hire Abdul

ABC is joining the chorus of those seeking to hire Paula Abdul, who said she's quitting "American Idol."

ABC programming chief Stephen McPherson told the Television Critics Association on Saturday that he was "stunned" to hear she'd decided to leave the top-rated Fox series and that he's contacted Abdul.

McPherson told Abdul he'd love to see her at ABC, home of "Dancing with the Stars."

Marin marries Russian pianist

Cheech Marin married his longtime girlfriend, Russian-born pianist Natasha Rubin, in a sunset ceremony at their Malibu, Calif., home on Saturday, his spokesperson confirms to People magazine.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa officiated the short civil ceremony. The couple got engaged in February.

Hasselbeck welcomes 3rd child

Elisabeth Hasselbeck of "The View" is the mother of a third child.

Hasselbeck gave birth Sunday afternoon in a New York hospital to a second son, named Isaiah Timothy. She's married to former NFL player Tim Hasselbeck.

Isaiah weighed in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces.

Today's birthdays

Singer Jimmy Dean is 81. Actress Rosanna Arquette is 50. Actor Antonio Banderas is 49. Rock musician Jon Farriss (INXS) is 48. Journalist-blogger Andrew Sullivan is 46. Actress Angie Harmon is 37. Actress JoAnna Garcia is 30.

Sources: The Associated Press, People.com