Green the theme for reigning queen

Miss America Kirsten Haglund will be going green in a sea of red, white and blue at the presidential inauguration Tuesday.

She'll be making a statement when she sings the national anthem at the Commander-in-Chief Ball, a gathering in the National Building Museum that will include President Barack Obama.

She is wearing a green silk Stephen Yearick-designed gown to show her support "for respecting our environment," Haglund said in a telephone interview Sunday. "Go green."

Her reign down to hours, she is leaving Las Vegas today to represent Miss America in the inaugural parade and two balls.

She will ride on a USO float with wounded service members and attend the Heroes Red, White and Blue Ball, which honors the aforementioned. She said she dedicated a lot of her time in their company over the past year.

The former Miss Michigan, who was 19 when she won the crown last year at Planet Hollywood Resort, returns Wednesday to attend Saturday's finals, which are being aired on TLC.

PUPPY LOVE

It was Bette Midler's night as Nevada Ballet Theatre's Woman of the Year honoree, but "America Idol" executive producer Nigel Lythgoe was the man of the hour Saturday.

Lythgoe won a spirited auction, paying $10,000 for a pint-sized puppy that he ended up giving to his date, local entertainment reporter and dog lover Alicia Jacobs.

Midler, who arrived in the Caesars Palace ballroom shortly after her show, told the attendees that for what they paid, "for a few thousand more you could have bought a seat in the Senate."

She thanked the ballet company and added, "Any woman dancing with her top on in Las Vegas is considered high art."

Jacob, who owns three dachshunds and has Donny Osmond's "Puppy Love" as her ring tone, said that she had been "bugging" Lythgoe to get a dog and that "I assumed it was for him."

She burst into tears when she received the reddish Cavalier King Charles spaniel, all of 7 weeks old and so small it fit in her hand.

Jacobs, the newly named pet reporter at KVBC-TV, Channel 3, said she's thinking of having a name-the-puppy contest.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

What a difference a year makes: A year ago on Jan. 17, Sen. Barack Obama surprised his wife, Michelle, with a necklace during dinner on her 44th birthday at an unidentified Las Vegas restaurant. (OK folks, you proved you can keep a secret. Now spill the beans.) It was two days before the Nevada caucuses. Saturday, they celebrated the 45th birthday of the first lady-in-waiting by retracing Abraham Lincoln's historic inauguration route, a 137-mile train ride from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. ...

Planet Hollywood Resort and Miracle Mile Shops are coordinating their video walls to create an entire block of video coverage of the inauguration Tuesday. The broadcast will start at 8 a.m.

SIGHTINGS

Film star and funnyman Eddie Murphy, celebrating the birthday of his new girlfriend, January, on Saturday at The Bank after flying in with friends. Murphy, who is rumored to be playing the Riddler in the next "Batman" movie, ordered White Star champagne but drank Coca-Cola. ... Tennis legends Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, sampling most of the menu Saturday at Yellowtail Sushi Restaurant & Bar in the Bellagio hotel-casino before heading off to Caramel Bar & Lounge, also at the Bellagio. ... Penn Jillette, dining with Lisa "Queen of Mean" Lampanelli at the Palms' Nove Italiano restaurant. Lampanelli appeared in Jillette's comedy documentary, "The Aristocrats."

THE PUNCH LINE

"More players on smoking side of bench than nonsmoking." -- From David Letterman's "Top Ten Signs You're Team Won't Be Going to the Super Bowl."

Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.