Actor Sean Penn said yesterday the biggest challenge facing post-quake Haiti is getting hospitals staffed and supplied during its current rainy season and ahead of the upcoming hurricane season.

Penn, who co-founded the J/P Haitian Relief Organization shortly after the earthquake and has pitched in at camps for survivors, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington that the problem requires "immediate attention" and shouldn't be held up by bureaucratic disagreements.

The actor testified at the hearing along with administration officials, who also highlighted some of the successes made since an earthquake devastated the country in January. The disaster killed an estimated 230,000 to 300,000 people and displaced more than 1 million.

WORK IMITATES LIFE FOR ACTOR O'CONNELL

Jerry O'Connell hopes to get school credit for his new acting gig.

He'll play a lawyer on the new CBS television show "The Defenders" this fall alongside Jim Belushi. In real life, he recently finished his first year at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles.

CBS describes "The Defenders" as a comedic drama about two colorful Las Vegas defense attorneys.

The 36-year-old O'Connell says "The Defenders" is a little more complicated than the basics he learned in his first year of law school, but he was able to recognize some tidbits.

Law school is on hold while O'Connell plays a lawyer on TV. But he says he plans to get his degree.

TRAVOLTA, PRESTON EXPECTING THIRD CHILD

John Travolta and Kelly Preston are having a baby.

The couple released a statement on their websites Tuesday saying that they "are expecting a new addition to our family."

Travolta's publicist, Paul Bloch, confirmed yesterday that Preston, 47, is pregnant.

The Hawai'i-born actress and 56-year-old actor have a daughter, Ella, who is 10. The couple's son, Jett, died last year at age 16. The family's two dogs were killed last week in an accident at Maine's Bangor International Airport.

ARGENTINE ROCKER HAS BRAIN SURGERY

Argentine rock star Gustavo Cerati was in intensive care yesterday after undergoing brain surgery for a potentially fatal blood clot.

The 50-year-old former singer of the Argentine band Soda Stereo suffered a stroke Saturday when he fainted at the end of a concert, said Vladimir Fuenmayor, one of his doctors.

LOHAN STUCK IN FRANCE, WON'T BE IN COURT

Actress Lindsay Lohan will miss a mandatory court appearance today because she is stuck in France.

Attorney Shawn Chapman Holley says Lohan's passport was stolen while she was at the Cannes Film Festival. Holley told ABC7 that Lohan has an appointment today at the U.S. Embassy to have the passport replaced.

Lohan, 23, was ordered to appear in a Beverly Hills courtroom for a progress report on her probation stemming from two arrests in 2007.

Lohan has been on probation since pleading guilty in August 2007 to two misdemeanor counts of being under the influence of cocaine; no contest to two counts of driving drunk; and one count of reckless driving.

— Advertiser News Services