'ER' in Walker: Calling Dr. Kerry Weaver, calling Dr. Kerry ...

"I just tapped her on the shoulder and said, 'It is you,'" Linda Claude said, recounting her celebrity encounter with "ER" star Laura Innes. "She said, Yes, it is. I said, 'Welcome to Walker."

Innes, who was spotted in the metro this month, apparently traveled to north-central Minnesota.

The actor, whose husband has family in Minnesota, was at one of the Jenny & Company shops Saturday examining the wool rugs with store owner Frank W. Allen. "I'm old enough to have been around enough celebrities; I don't get that excited," Allen told me Tuesday. "I used to work at the St. Paul Hotel. I just waited on her and talked to her about the merchandise."

Allen said he asked a couple of his employees if they recognized that shopper. "Linda's eyes just lit up [and she said,] Oh, that was her! ... She [Claude] bolted out of the store and ran her [Innes] down."

Allen said Claude is "so responsible, the idea she would leave the store without saying where she was going" surprised him, but, "Oh, I knew what she was doing."

Claude had forgotten all about her celebrity encounter when I called to interview her. Memory refreshed, Claude said, "I looked at her when she came in. I thought, 'Oh my goodness, that is just a dead ringer for Kerry [Weaver, Innes' 'ER' character]."

After Allen talked about Innes, Claude bolted. "I said, 'You knew this and you didn't tell me?' Anyhow, I just said, 'I'll be back in a minute.' I tapped her on the shoulder in the shop down the way."

Sven Golly speaks Sven Sundgaard doesn't have any idea how this gossip about him leaving KARE11 got started.

"News to me," he said via voicemail. "I have six months left on my contract. ... I haven't been talking to anybody. I've been gone for a week and a half. Kind of in off and on negotiations with KARE at this point. There's no plan to depart or anything at this point."

I thought I should acknowledge the gossip after getting a tip from a second media source, who usually doesn't get things wrong.

Sven leads such a charmed life. "I'm in Hawaii," he said in his Monday night call. "I don't know if you can hear the waves. Wonderful here."

Hope shirtless Sven was able to find one of those REAL pineapples on the Big Island.

This guy eats red meat, robust tenoresque-baritone-in-training vocal chords notwithstanding? Apparently so, as he had a steak. Groban was in town for a private event.

Time to relax David Carr cannot genuinely be worried that writing a tell-all about his drug-using days will make it harder for him to be the New York Times media columnist.

He was asked about that when talking about his best-selling book, "Night of the Gun," Sunday on CNN's "Reliable Sources" with Howard Kurtz. "Two weeks ago I would have said, Howard, that is a non-issue, but right now I'm in the thicket of coverage and many of the people I write about are currently writing about me and it's causing a temporary problem," Carr said.

Relax, David, the book only serves to humanize you in print, especially when you talk about how mortified you feel every time you see the clip of your daughter Erin chastising you for irresponsibly being high with your kids in the car. At two packed recent book signings, Minnesotans showed their love for native son Carr. WCCO-TV's Don Shelby even dropped by at a private event.

Carr's book signings were book ends for a family celebration of the 85th birthday of his dad, John Carr Sr., according to a guy who identified himself as Joe Carr, David's brother. Joe also provided a fashion report on David's homecoming attire.

In an earlier e-mail, Joe disagreed with David's assessment that all his brothers are clothes-challenged despite their dad being a clothing guy. "His NY style is black, lumpy and frequently in need of dry cleaning," Joe wrote. "The rest of the sons are normal, go-to-office types, with an occasional foray into Tommy Bahama shirts and shorts. If David owns a TB shirt, it is black and rumpled. The guy is a mess. Love him to death, and very proud of his work, but David commenting on ANYONE else's style choices is like Carlos Gomez describing what it takes to be a good lead-off hitter."

Barlow sighting Word has it former KARE11 meteorologist Ken Barlow was seen at the station the other day.

Barlow reportedly made his first return visit to KARE, since taking a job in Boston nearly three years ago while in the metro to drop off one of his kids at a Minnesota college. Really? Or maybe there's more to it, question mark.