Joanie's Talk of the Town...the stuff you didn't see!

Sources at the Herald tell me that Joan Fleischman's column ran a little long today and editors had to cut a few items.

Someone e-mailed them to me.

Joan' reportedly taking a buyout from the paper and may be leaving soon. If she's writing stuff like this, maybe we can get her to reconsider!

All choked up

People’s Court judge Marilyn Milian reports her prized 22 lb. Maine Coon cat is feeling better after coughing up a humongous hair ball last week. Happened while she was taping a segment of her show.

The cat, whose moniker is Scalia - named after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia - was napping in Milian’s dressing room when he started “hacking something awful,” says Judge Marilyn. “My producer Stu Billett rushed onto the set and told me and we stopped taping. I was in tears. He’s my baby; I don’t know what I’d do if anything ever happened to him.”

Judge Marilyn has four other cats - all with legally-themed names: an orange tabby named Janet - for Janet Reno, a Siamese named Johnnie - for the late Johnnie Cochran, and two Persian cats - named Habeas and Corpus.

Her Honor says she pampers her cats, “I only feed them imported Beluga caviar and foie gras.”

People’s Court can be seen weekdays on NBC6 at 2pm.

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Former anchor sues The Herald

Former Channel 10 anchor Dwight Lauderdale has hit the Miami Herald with a lawsuit.

Suit was filed Friday in Miami Federal Court.

Lauderdale, 56, is claiming the paper caused him “severe emotional distress” when it suddenly rolled out the re-designed website last Thursday.

“They should have given the readers notice,” says Lauderdale. “I was just getting used to the old site; it was terrible but I loved it.”

Lauderdale says that since the debut of the Herald’s new website he’s been losing sleep and his hair is falling out. “In clumps," says Lauderdale. “I blame it all on the Herald.”

Herald executive editor Anders Gyllenhaal called Lauderdale’s suit “unfortunate.”

“We are South Florida’s most prestigious information source and that’s something we are justly proud of,” said Gyllenhaal adding, “I’m sorry if Mr. Lauderdale feels confused; sometimes I don’t understand all that computer junk myself.”

Lauderdale’s been taking it easy since retiring in May after some 35 years on South Florida TV. “I watch all the local news shows; never miss a one.” Lauderdale says he has fun e-mailing his former co-anchor Laurie Jennings when she mispronounces words and makes on-air flubs. “I love giving her a hard time,” says Lauderdale with a chuckle. “I never made a mistake when I was on the air.”

Lauderdale is also bonding once a week with a former Channel 10 alumnus. “I drive over to Doral every Wednesday and pick up CBS4 anchor Eliott Rodriguez and we go to lunch. We usually hit the Hooter’s on 87th Ave. or a Taco Bell. We have a blast; Eliott's my dawg!”