Mendte, with Fox 29 anchor-wife Dawn Stensland, addressed a crowd at a fundraiser to save Sunday Irish radio shows. He apologized for his actions and asked the Irish community, whom he called his extended family, for forgiveness.

The former CBS 3 anchor on Friday pleaded guilty to a felony charge of illegally accessing Alycia Lane's private e-mails, and later apologized while also admitting to having had a flirtatious, unprofessional and improper relationship with Lane. Michael Bradley, president of the St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee, introduced Mendte by saying, "Here is a man who has done 99 great things in his life but he's only being remembered lately for one mistake he's made."

Mendte got a rousing hand from many in attendance, but one of our readers said he felt the apology was "pathetic and really had no place being part of this event."

Bolaris asks Fox to hire Alycia

In other Lane/Mendte news, Fox 29 meteorologist John Bolaris, a good friend of Lane's, has been lobbying station management to hire her there. While it might be a nice ratings stunt to awkwardly pair her at the anchor desk with Stensland, we're told Lane's hire there is unlikely.

A Fox 29 spokeswoman says the station has no news at this time.

Meanwhile, Bolaris got a shout-out in an interoffice e-mail sent by Fox 29's Dave Schratwieser praising the station's team effort in covering the Mendte/Lane story on Friday. Apparently, Bolaris texted Lane, who got her attorney, Paul Rosen, to do a live hit with Schrat after his news conference.

Obama and the Pauper

You can't say punks aren't creative. "I'm Like Obama, I Want Change," read a sign held by a panhandler around 13th and Walnut streets on Saturday.

Spike's son skilled at tennis

Spike Lee's 11-year-old-son, Jackson, just finished as a camper at the Julian Krinsky tennis camp at Cabrini College. The filmmaker, who's now in Denver for the Democratic National Convention, dropped his talented son off at the Main Line camp earlier in the summer.

Book report

Former People Paper reporter Erin Einhorn's book "The Pages In Between: A Holocaust Legacy of Two Families, One Home," will be released Sept. 9 through Touchstone/Simon & Schuster.

Einhorn, now a reporter with the New York Daily News, wrote about her journey to Poland, where she went to uncover the story of how her mother escaped the Nazis during WWII. Einhorn first shared the story during a popular segment on NPR's "This American Life," to which she still contributes.

Hawkins + Company, the literary agent for writer Ron Sklar and South Philly-born rocker Charlie Gracie, who are working on Gracie's memoirs, has put out the call for people to share their stories about Gracie by e-mailing GracieMemoirs@

hawkinsandcompany.com.

Laurie Hawkins also is working with former MLB player Nikco Riesgo on a book he's writing with Glassboro's Russ Cohen. *

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.