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Universal Studios fire called an accident

LOS ANGELES, June 3 (UPI) -- Fire officials in Los Angeles said they have concluded this week's blaze on the back lot of Universal Studios was accidentally ignited by a workman's blowtorch.

The Los Angeles Times said investigators concluded Sunday's three-alarm fire started when company employees were using a blowtorch to heat asphalt shingles while repairing a roof on New York Street.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman said investigators are still looking into why firefighters were not able to get the kind of water pressure from the park's facilities that they needed to extinguish the blaze.

"The big question right now is trying to compare water available on site, off site and in the system itself with the amount of fire that the first arriving units were confronted with," Freeman said.

Universal told the Times the fire affected about 3 1/2 acres of the 391-acre park and caused millions of dollars in damage.

The theme park and Universal CityWalk have reopened, even though several sets, a video library and the "King Kong" attraction were destroyed. Tours are being rerouted around the charred sets.

The park's 30 soundstages weren't damaged by the fire and 10 scheduled productions were still shooting Monday, Universal said.

O'Neal: Cops who arrested me rescued me

NEW YORK, June 3 (UPI) -- Actress Tatum O'Neal said she is grateful New York cops arrested her Sunday before she could use the drugs she bought.

O'Neal, who struggled with addiction for years, won an Oscar for the film "Paper Moon" when she was 10. She now co-stars on the TV drama "Rescue Me."

"I'm still sober!" the actress told the New York Post two hours after she was released from jail. "Just when I was about to change that and wreck my life, the cops came and saved me! I was saved by the bell, by the guys in the Seventh Precinct."

O'Neal was arrested Sunday and charged with buying crack and cocaine on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

"There's no excuse for what I did," O'Neal told the Post, then confided her Scottish terrier, Lena, died three weeks ago. "That seemed to set me off. She got old. She got cancer. She was the fabric of our family. We had to let her go to heaven. ... It was too horrible for words. I couldn't get out of it. I was going to my psychiatrist. I was doing everything I could do. I have the disease of alcoholism. It's lifelong. I treat it every day by going to my 12-step program."

Judge says 'Imagine' can stay in film

NEW YORK, June 3 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Manhattan has ruled that John Lennon's anthem "Imagine" may stay in a film, despite protests from the late singer's wife.

Yoko Ono sued the producers of "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," a movie disputing Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, because she said they used a clip of "Imagine" without her permission. She also claimed that, in doing so, they wrongly suggested she endorsed the film.

However, the New York Post said Judge Sidney Stein ruled in favor of the film's producers, stating the 15-second clip of the song is used for a "transformative purpose" intended to "criticize the song's message."

Jimmy Buffett relishes still being here

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., June 3 (UPI) -- American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett wants the world to know he plans to keep the spirit of Margaritaville alive for the foreseeable future.

"I'm still out there -- where would I go? Retirement doesn't look so interesting to me these days," says Buffett, 61, who kicks off his Year of Still Here tour Thursday in Atlanta.

"That's kind of an old way of thinking, retiring at 60. Come on -- I still think I'm 40!" he said.

Buffett's creative output certainly supports his resolve. He's just released a new DVD, "Scenes You Know By Heart," featuring live performances from various locales. It's available only from Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Buffett's mailboatrecords.com Web site.

In May Buffett published his seventh book, "Swine Not? A Novel Pig Tale," a young readers story about a single-parent family in New York that lives in the hotel where the mother works and has a pet pig they disguised as a dog.

Buffett is also working on new songs but says he isn't sure when he'll record a follow-up to 2006's "Take the Weather With You."