Inqlings: Hart off to Ethiopia to adopt

Singer Lauren Hart didn't sing the national anthem before Saturday's Flyers-Penguins playoff game because she and her husband, coffee magnate/explorer Todd Carmichael, were en route to Ethiopia to adopt their first child.

It was Hart's first missed anthem in eight seasons, and the Flyers - which supported the trip - put up a video of Hart performing "God Bless America" in a "duet" with Kate Smith.

Hart, 42, and Carmichael, 45, will return next week from Addis Ababa with a 6-year-old daughter. The couple, who married in Zambia in 2005, spend every summer working in and traveling through Africa for Carmichael's business, La Colombe. They also work with several organizations, including the Echoes Foundation, that support students in Uganda.

Carmichael set a record for solo travel to the South Pole last year.

Thomas Cipriano of North Wales, the Howard Stern phone prankster who goes by Captain Janks, is sitting in Montgomery County prison in lieu of $2,500 bail, accused of taking appearance fees from tavern owners and not showing up.

Plymouth Township police arrested him Thursday. He'd been wanted after missing a March 13 date at Old Mansion House Bar & Grill in Conshohocken, and a Feb. 22 date at Edge Hill Tavern in Glenside, Plymouth and Cheltenham police said.

Cipriano has a preliminary hearing set for Monday in Ottsville, Bucks County, before District Justice M. Kay DuBree in yet another case, in which he allegedly scammed management at the Indian Rock Inn in Upper Black Eddy.

Cipriano, 43, turned himself in to police in February to face a theft charge after the owner of Landslide Restaurant & Saloon in rural Bethlehem Township, N.J., said she paid him $350 but he never showed.

"Jersey Mike" Van Jura, talent buyer for Appalachian Brewing Co. in Harrisburg, says his blog, jerseymike.org, has become a clearinghouse for tavern owners' complaints about Cipriano. Van Jura says he grew suspicious after he turned down Cipriano's request for advance payment.

Cipriano's Web site says his 2009 appearances have been canceled due to personal issues.

WPVI allowed staffers to tour the station's new home, being erected on the Monument Road side of its property off City Avenue in Wynnefield, last week. Move-in will begin in late summer; no date has been set for the first telecast. WPVI's iconic round building, circa 1964, will be razed for a circular parking garage.

Sunday's column included a photo of actress Kristin Chenoweth at the Free Library Festival, eating a "Chenolicious White Trash Cookie" baked by two fans from a recipe in Chenoweth's new book. In fact, it was the work of three fans: Dawn Carr, Andrew Reiff, and Alex Wolfe.

Stephen Starr is looking at a lease for the former Cosi shop at Second and Lombard Streets, which he'd like to outfit with a pizza-wine-beer concept called Pizza Select.

Fox29/CN8 alum Janet Zappala, now a certified nutritional consultant, will debut recipes from her cookbook in a May 8 demo at La Cucina at the Market at Reading Terminal Market. It's free, but registration is required at 215-922-1170.