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Wednesday, February 17, 1999 11:43:05 AM EST

• Weiland pleads guilty to heroin possession
• Tonya Harding says she will skate professionally
• Cancer treatment keeps Boxcar Willie off the stage
• McCartney vows to purify foods bearing his late wife's name
• Connecticut business plans 'Ally McBeal'-type bathroom

Weiland

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Former Stone Temple Pilots lead singer Scott Weiland pleaded guilty Tuesday to heroin possession and admitted he bought the drugs at a New York City housing project last July. A judge sentenced the 30-year-old Weiland to a conditional discharge, telling the singer he must stay out of trouble for one year, successfully complete a Los Angeles drug rehabilitation program and meet with a counselor four times a week.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Neil Ross warned Weiland that if he violates any of those conditions, he will get 30 days in jail. The singer had faced up to a year in jail. The band Stone Temple Pilots, whose hits included "Interstate Love Song," broke up after the release of their 1995 album "Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop."

Harding during her short-lived musical career in 1995

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- Tonya Harding said Tuesday that she is allowed to skate professionally, and that she is looking forward to "skating for the public." The former Olympic figure skater was banned from competitive skating in 1994 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to cover up an attack on her rival, Nancy Kerrigan.

Harding told Oregon TV station KPTV that she still is not allowed to skate in amateur competitions and has not been reinstated as a member of the U.S. Figure Skating Association. But, Harding says plans are being made for her to begin a new professional career. Bob Dunlop, communications director for the figure skating association, said Harding is still subject to a lifetime ban from competitions associated with the sanctioning group and added that "nothing has changed" regarding her status as an amateur.

BRANSON, Missouri (CNN) -- Boxcar Willie is battling leukemia and says he is too weak to perform this season at his theater in Branson. The 67-year-old singer had been scheduled to begin performances March 27, but he has been hospitalized in Springfield, Missouri, for a third round of chemotherapy. The singer's daughter, Tammy LaCore, said he may make some guest appearances later this year. There has been no word on who will take Boxcar Willie's place on the stage.

McCartney

LONDON (CNN) -- Former Beatle Paul McCartney vowed Monday to eliminate genetically modified ingredients from his late wife Linda's range of vegetarian foods. McCartney made that statement after a British television program found Linda McCartney's vegetarian sausages and mince contained genetically modified (GM) soya, despite assurances from the company that they did not.

McCartney said he disputed the findings, but if they were true the problem would have arisen from the fact that last year GM soya and non-GM soya were being mixed by some producers, making it hard to trace the GM ingredients.

"We are unfortunately living in a GM world -- I wish we weren't -- and because of that we run constant risks of contamination, for instance from GM crops blown by the wind on to non-GM crops," he said. "However, given our background and what we believe in, I trust that people will realize that there is no way on earth that the McCartney family is going to try and sneak GMOs (genetically modified organisms) into our products."

Employees of both genders converse in the same bathroom on "Ally McBeal"

BRISTOL, Connecticut (CNN) -- A Connecticut business owner has been inspired by the unisex bathroom on television's "Ally McBeal." Craig Yarde is finishing a design plan for a shared bathroom at his metal-distribution company. On "Ally McBeal," the law firm's unisex bathroom is an integral part of the story line.

Yarde said a shared bathroom will help promote equality and social interaction at his company, which employs 300 people. He said he loves "Ally McBeal," which he says emphasizes the concept that everyone is part of one big family. Although Patricia Ireland, head of the National Organization for Women, says a unisex bathroom is a healthy concept, critics see it as an affront to both sexes and an invasion of personal privacy.

Reuters Limited contributed to this report.