No reason was given as to why the hearing was moved up six weeks. Lane faces one felony count of assault with intent to injure an officer. The embattled anchorbabe was given the April 3 date at her Dec. 16 arraignment in New York where she was jailed after being arrested at 2 a.m. for allegedly assaulting a female NYPD officer during a road-rage incident in which she tried taking pictures with her iPhone, which was confiscated as evidence.

Lane's attorney, David Smith, has professed that his client never hit anyone, and never called the officer a "f---ing dyke," as the officer states in Lane's arrest report. Lane's arrest was first reported here. The anchor went on a three-week vacation before being fired by the station on New Year's Day.

CBS 3 didn't announce that she had been released from her contract until Jan. 7. Last week we reported that Lane had filed court papers against CBS 3 in Philadelphia asking for documents related to her firing and her personnel file. Lane's court action, called a praecipe to issue writ of summons, is typically a precursor to a lawsuit.

Cherry Hill boy on 'Big Brother'

Cherry Hill native Adam Jisinski is among the 16 housemates on the upcoming season of "Big Brother," which premieres at 9 p.m. Tuesday on Channel 3. Jisinski, 29, is a public-relations executive in Delray Beach, Fla. Jisinski, who went to Camden County Community College and Parsons School of Design, and 15 other singles will be paired up, competing as couples. Sounds like producers are trying to increase the hookup factor of the long-running reality show. The last housemate standing wins $500,000. Jisinski's being sequestered, and was unavailable for interviews yesterday.

Nutter to be tailed by ABC News

Is Michael Nutter becoming America's Mayor already? An ABC News crew is expected to tail him today for an upcoming piece on "World News Tonight."

Petrifying story leads to petition

A petition of 5,000 signatures has been sent to William B. Petersen, president of Verizon Pennsylvania, asking the company to act faster and be more cooperative when police seek phone records from the company. The petition submitted by Stephanie Egger, of the Best Friends Animal Society, is a response to the delay of Verizon in furnishing phone records to police when Center City's Bill Whiting was the victim of a dognapping, and when the two-bit cowards called him on the phone to demand money in exchange for his kidnapped dog Edna, who is believed to have been killed by her captors. People Paper columnist Stu Bykofsky first wrote about Whiting's harrowing experience, worsened by Verizon's delay in furnishing phone records to the Philadelphia Police Department. The petition was also forwarded to Mayor Nutter.

Nicetown's Victor Rodriguez, 15, was arrested last week and charged with extortion, criminal conspiracy and criminal mischief, along with harassment and terroristic threats. He missed a hearing date and a bench warrant was issued for his re-arrest.

Whiting continues to receive harassing phone calls and still has no idea what happened to Edna.

Hobbled Pierre back on 'MMR

93.3 WMMR's Pierre Robert is expected back on-air today. He was off having surgery on an ankle he broke Saturday night. Docs tell Pierre to stay off it for eight weeks, and he's gonna try to limit his activity. But he told Program Director Bill Weston that he will still keep his noon to 2 p.m. Saturday appearance at the Acme (Red Lion & Bustleton) for his coat drive for Project H.O.M.E.

He's collecting gently used overcoats, hats, gloves and scarves.

Tuff Crew to reunite in total

The Tuff Crew, which performed over the summer without then-incarcerated DJ Too Tuff, will play a full reunion show at the M Room (15 W. Girard) on April 5.

Too Tuff announced the show at Tritone (1508 South) the other night where he spun Jeru the Damaja's show. The Tuff Crew "Real Deal Reunion" with Overlord Ice Dog, Tone Love, L.A. Kid and Too Tuff will perform with Emcee Mechanism and Joey Stacks. Tickets are $10 for the 21+ show. Tuff Crew had a big hit with 1988's "My Part of Town," and played nationwide with Public Enemy, Salt-N-Pepa, 2 Live Crew and many big rap names. *

Visit PhillyGossip.com for Dan's latest stories. Have a tip? Call 215-854-5963, or e-mail grossd@phillynews.com. For recent columns, visit go.philly.com/dangross.