Ringling Bros. Circus to retire elephants by 2018

IN A MOVE sure to please animal-rights activists and the janitors who sweep up behind them, elephants are being phased out at the circus.

This means when they travel, they'll no longer have to pack their trunks.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, who have been parading pachyderms since P.T. Barnum introduced Jumbo in 1882, are putting their elephants out to pasture by 2018.

Feld Entertainment, which owns the circus, still keeps 43 elephants, 13 of which are performing, but soon they all will be retired to the circus' 200-acre Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida.

As the elephant acts have long come under protest in ways similar to the whales at Sea World, circus executive Alana Feld told the Associated Press that the Feld family would rather spend money on elephant care than lawyers.

Wouldn't we all.

Harrison Ford has not only piloted the Millennium Falcon, the 72-year-old actor/aviator has been a longtime pilot here on Earth.

Yesterday afternoon, Ford was in the cockpit of a single-engine, two-seater fighter plane, TMZ.com and ABC7 Los Angeles reported, when it crashed near the eighth hole of the nine-hole Penmar Municipal Golf Course in Venice, Calif. (The eighth is a 141-yard par 3.)

TMZ says a bloody Ford suffered multiple gashes to his head and was treated by two doctors at the course before he was transported a to a nearby hospital.

ABC7 reported that Ford was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

L.A. police spokeswoman Officer Nuria Vanegas said he was transported in stable condition. She also said the cause of the crash was mechanical failure.

It's been a good week for "Daily Show" correspondent

Samantha Bee

.

The Hollywood Reporter says that days after TBS picked up a sitcom that Bee is to exec produce with husband Jason Jones, she has landed a (most likely) late-night series order, also to be produced with her husband, in which she'll star.

The untitled series (it's not "Life on the Bee List"?), will be satirical and launch at the end of this year.

"We're thrilled to have Sam join Jason at TBS and really make this a family affair. We actually have their kids coming in next week to pitch us animation," joked Brett Weitz, a TBS programming exec. "Like her fans around the country, we absolutely adore everything about Sam, from her straight-faced sarcasm and ruthless wit to her uncanny ability to mine comedy gold from just about any awkward situation. After watching Sam's work for years, we knew that her distinctive humor and talent belong at the front of her own show."

Bill Cosby

accusers have been as common this winter as snow, but so you can catch up, the

National Enquirer

has two more, bringing the total to more than 30.

Former model Heidi Thomas claimed Cosby sexually assaulted her in Reno, Nev., in 1984 when she was 24 and trying to make it as an actress.

Canadian model Linda Brown claimed Cosby drugged and assaulted her in Toronto in 1969 when she was 21.

She said she was set up with Cosby on a dinner date. "I took a sip and blacked out," she said. "When I awakened, I was naked in the bed beside him."

These comments are kid stuff next to the vitriol you might read on philly.com, but after

Kelly Clarkson

recently performed in the UK on "The

Graham Norton

Show," Brit

Katie Hopkins

got nasty on Twitter.

According to idolator.com, Hopkins tweeted, "Jesus, what happened to Kelly Clarkson? Did she eat all of her backing singers? Happily I have wide-screen. Darling, if you had a baby a year ago, that is not baby weight. It is fat. Quit calling it cute names to make yourself feel better. Baby weight, puppy fat, muffin top.

"We're so weakwilled we have to make up cute names for fat. Babies, puppies, muffins. Nope. Just fat love," she wrote.

To her credit, Clarkson told Heat magazine she had no idea who Hopkins was and didn't care what she said about her.

"She's tweeted something nasty about me? That's because she doesn't know me," Clarkson said. "I'm awesome! It doesn't bother me. It's a free world. Say what you will."

*

Chris Brown

's baby girl seems to have a name.

TMZ.com says it's Royalty.

Of course it is.

- Daily News wire services

contributed to this report.