PEOPLE Are Talking About …

Jet, March 15, 1999

* Why famed singer-actress-dancer Vanessa L. Williams had to set the record straight regarding the inflated gossip that she is dating retired basketball great Michael Jordan. Williams told "Entertainment Tonight," "There's a gigantic rumor that Michael Jordan was going to leave his wife for me, which I find fascinating since I've never met the man."

* Rapper Jay-Z, who boycotted the recent Grammy Awards ceremony because he felt the show was "disrespectful" by only televising one rap category, but plans to keep the Grammy Award he won for Best Rap Album for Vol. 2 ... Hard Knock Life. Damon Dash, Jay-Z's spokesperson who is CEO-co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records, said that initially Jay-Z, also a co-founder of Roc-A-Fella, wanted to have his name withdrawn from the category for that reason but that it was too late. Though Jay-Z thought "it was cool" to win, according to Dash, he isn't jumping through hoops.

* How a Cincinnati appeals court overturned a rapist's 51-year prison sentence because a judge turned to the Bible while deciding his punishment. James Arnett, 33, who pleaded guilty to raping and molesting the 8-year-old daughter of his fiancee, was allowed to return to court and seek a lesser sentence after Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Melba Marsh referred to a Bible verse that says anyone who offends a child would be better off if "a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."

* New Jersey Nets star forward Jayson Williams, whose play suffers if he doesn't have his dad at his games. "When I go to a game, I'm nervous if that first quarter starts and I don't see him," he told Ahmad Rashad on "NBA: Playing By Heart," a TV special. "I'll play terrible and the Nets know that, so they make sure he's there." Added Williams, "My father taught me how to treat people and what an honest day's work feels like. He has a great heart and I love him."

* How boxing legend Muhammad Ali first met his wife of 12 years, Lonnie Ali, when she was 6 years old and he was 22.

Celebrating birthdays this week are singer Jeffrey Osborne and actor Emmanuel Lewis on March 9; actress Jasmine Guy on March 10; musician Marion Jackson and performer Bobby McFerrin on March 11; musician Al Jarreau, baseball great Darryl Strawberry, former UN Ambassador Andrew Young and actor Courtney B. Vance on March 12; and legendary musician Quincy Jones and motivational speaker Les Brown on March 14.