Diana Pierce confirms end to marriage

KARE 11 anchor Diana Pierce and her theatrical producer husband, Dennis Babcock, are in mediation to bring their 19-year marriage to a final curtain.

That's why viewers like "Donna in Maple Grove" haven't seen a wedding ring on Pierce's finger for months.

"Well, OK," said Pierce when read Donna's e-mail, my most recent inquiry into the missing ring. Viewers do notice such things.

"They do," said Pierce.

Pierce and Babcock have one daughter together. "She's doing well, given the circumstances. She loves both her mom and dad. She just wants us to be happy and we want her to be happy, so we are all in agreement on that one," Pierce told me Wednesday.

One of Babcock's most successful projects has been producing "Triple Espresso."

During these trying times, Pierce has been enjoying the distractions associated with Monday's relaunch of "KARE 11 Today" at a new time -- 11 a.m. It was taken off the air a few years ago and replaced by "Showcase Minnesota," which has mercifully gone away.

Pierce's new 11 a.m. show means that she's leaving the KARE 11 anchor desk, where she had sat since 1983. Julie Nelson will take over for Pierce at 5 p.m. and along with Mike Pomeranz will anchor all three nightly news reports.

When you gotta go...

It seems Mr. Peeterson couldn't wait to get home to Cold Stream Lane.

An assistant manager at an Eden Prairie McDonald's was briefly let go from her job after violating company policy by allowing Vikings running back Adrian Peterson to come inside to use the restroom after hours, reported KSTP-TV's Jennifer Griswold (see her report at www.startribune.com/a139).

The urgent stop occurred at 3 a.m., and I intuit after the Vikings had flown back from their final game, a loss in Detroit, Tiffany Langeslay told Griswold. Langeslay saw the man walk up to the drive-through and told him he couldn't be there.

Griswold reported that Langeslay "noticed a truck with other Vikings players" outside. So she bent the rules.

When she got fired she posted a note on Peterson's Facebook page seeking his help. He never came through for her, but apparently Channel 5 did. She got her job back.

The big mystery is what poor planning led to a young stud like Peterson being unable to hold his water for the additional three minutes it would have taken him to get to his home on Cold Stream Lane? Maybe one of his buddies was driving and just wanted to see him squirm?

The Vikings said they could not reach Peterson for comment.

I guess he should be applauded for not urinating in public and joining the pantheon of celebrities caught doing so, including some of those Vikings involved in that infamous Lake Minnetonka Love Boat scandal.

A long-distance sighting of Larry Fitzgerald Jr. watching Auburn -- War Eagle, Baby! -- defeat Oregon in the BCS Championship Game has been confirmed by a Twitter posting.

"Me and Devin [3, his son] at the game tonight," Fitzgerald posted on Twitter as can be seen at twitpic.com/3ozs32.

The Minnesota guy lives and plays in Phoenix for the Cardinals, so attending the game was not a stretch.

That's my necklace!

I'm watching the People's Choice Awards and Queen Latifah is wearing a Badgley Mischka necklace! Linda Renk wrote in an e-mail she instantly dashed off to friends.

After doing a little research, Linda learned that Latifah had seen a piece of the jewelry on "The View" and tracked it down at Badgley Mischka.

I tried to find out which celebrities will be wearing jewelry designed by the Renk sisters of Minnesota on Sunday night on the Golden Globe Awards, but they can't be sure until the show airs on NBC.