Inqlings: Guarini not alone on 'Love Train'

Doylestown-bred

American Idol

runner-up

Justin Guarini

has much going on: appearing Thursday on a Disney float at the Thanksgiving parade (for which he recorded the vocals of "Love Train" on Friday at Philadelphia International Records), a reprise in January of his TV Guide Network hosting work, a shot on the CMT series

Gone Country

, and a role coming up at a still-under-wraps attraction at Walt Disney World.

And, yes. He's engaged.

The Central Bucks East grad, 30, will take the walk this summer with writer

Reina Capodici

, an old friend and the daughter of his Lenape Middle School English teacher

Karen Capodici

. "I traveled all over the world, and I found the love of my life at home," says Guarini, who has a DJ provider in mind (Cutting Edge, where he worked before

Idol

) but is trying to find a venue. "We'll have over 500 people, since we all come from big families." His fiancee has a 31/2-year-old daughter,

Lola

. "Instant family," he says.

A full house - that's about 80 seats - is expected tomorrow afternoon in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge

Mary A. McLaughlin

for the sentencing of former CBS3 anchor

Larry Mendte

, who admitted to snooping on coanchor

Alycia Lane

and spilling secrets to the tabloids. One question to be answered is whether Lane - whose last "public" appearance was on her final CBS3 newscast Dec. 14 - will read an impact statement to the judge. Mendte faces up to six months, which might include community service - something he has done a lot of over the years and still does, as nearly six dozen supporters wrote to McLaughlin in a plea to keep him out of prison.

One highlight of Monday's Marian Anderson Awards gala at the Kimmel was the piano performance by

Aiyana Tedi Braun

, 11, of Wayne, who played her own composition, "Keys to Heaven." Aiyana, whose parents are dancers-choreographers

Shimon and Meghan Braun

, got on the program serendipitously. While on a two-week vacation in the summer in California, her mother says, Aiyana wanted to keep up her piano practice. A family friend set her up with a piano - at the home of

Norman Lear

, one of this year's award recipients. He and wife

Lyn

listened to Aiyana play for a while and insisted she get on the bill. The Haverford Middle School sixth grader boned up for the recital at the Curtis Institute of Music. "He treats her like a granddaughter," her mother says. Five minutes before showtime, Lear broke away from admirers to visit Aiyana's dressing room for a good-luck hug. Her twin sister,

Shirina

, has her parents' dance talent.

Comcast SportsNet should announce shortly that it's hiring

Amy Fadool

, last at the Fox station in Baltimore. She'll start in early January, replacing

Lance Crawford

, now on the Gulf Coast.

Brian McKnight

and the

Philadelphia Boys Choir

will sing at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow for the unveiling of the holiday window displays at the Center City Macy's (13th and Market Streets).

Look up along the Schuylkill and I-95 at dusk Tuesday for a helicopter towing a 400-square-foot light-up "Sky Sign." It's the concept of entrepreneur

Brian Rischmann

, selling time to advertisers. First messages: his own service and Queen Bee Wines, along with public-service announcements encouraging drivers not to drink. (Though it's probably almost as dangerous to look up.) He'll also buzz the sports complex to target Eagles concertgoers.

That's a six-figure advance for

Bob Wittman

, the Philly-based FBI special agent who created the bureau's art-theft recovery team, as he pens his story for Random House with the Inquirer's

John Shiffman

. Title:

In Pursuit of the Priceless

. Wittman, 53, who recovered hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of art and antiquities over 20 years before his September retirement, credits his upbringing as the son of antiques dealers. His first cases, in 1988: the thefts of a crystal ball from the Penn Museum and a sculpture from the Rodin Museum. Pub date is 2010.

Angela Lansbury

was in the audience last Sunday for a matinee of the Philadelphia Theatre Company's world-premiere run of

Unusual Acts of Devotion

, by

Terrence McNally

. Lansbury starred on Broadway last year in McNally's

Deuce

.

Olympic champ

Michael Phelps

has turned from swimmer to shark. Phelps was spotted Wednesday night into Thursday morning playing Texas Hold 'Em in the Borgata's high-limit Poker Room. He surely knows the Borgata has the Water Club next door.

Father-daughter food-service consultants

Tracy Leahy

and

Jim Lawler

and her son,

Connor

, 12, won $250,000 on Friday's edition of

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

- taking home $250,000. And it could not have come at a better time, says Leahy, of South Brunswick, N.J. A week after the Sept. 11 taping, her husband was laid off from his technology consultant's job.

The $250,000 question: "Which of these common foods was unknown in Europe prior to the discovery of the New World? A: Sugar. B: Wheat. C: Lemons. D: Potatoes." but had to walk away from the $500,000 question: "Which of these countries is not home to a Hard Rock Cafe? A: Kuwait. B: Bahrain. C: Lebanon. D: Syria." (Answers: Potatoes and Syria.)