Monitor

ENGAGED
Suddenly Susan's Kathy Griffin, 35, became engaged to computer technician Matt Moline, 32, Sept. 23 in Punta Mita, Mexico. The couple, set to marry next February, have dated for a year and a half; it will be the first marriage for both.

SPLITS
Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher, 28, and Angels & Insects star Patsy Kensit, 32, are ending their tumultuous three-year marriage. On Sept. 19 a London judge granted Kensit an undefended ''decree nisi,'' a British court ruling that represents the first legal step toward divorce. The couple have a 1-year-old son, Lennon. Gallagher's reps had no comment; Kensit's couldn't be reached.

COURTS
Whitney Houston, 37, was charged Sept. 26 with a petty misdemeanor by the Hawaii county prosecutor's office, resulting from a Jan. 11 incident when Keahole-Kona Airport security allegedly found 15.2 grams of marijuana in her luggage. At the time, she reportedly eluded arrest by flying to San Francisco before police arrived. The charges are punishable by 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine; an arraignment is slated for Oct. 26 in Hawaii. Houston's spokeswoman wouldn't comment ... Actor Jan-Michael Vincent, 56, was sentenced to 60 days in prison Sept. 22 in Laguna Niguel, Calif., for violating probation after a 1996 drunk driving accident in which he broke his neck. ''We're disappointed, but hopefully something good will come of this,'' says Vincent's manager ... On Sept. 22, an L.A. judge sentenced rapper Stanley Howse, a.k.a. Flesh-N-Bone, of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, to 10 years in prison for assault with a deadly weapon — a charge stemming from a Dec. 26 incident in which he allegedly pointed an unloaded AK-47 at a man. Howse, 27, who also faces charges from an unrelated probation violation, as well as a Jan. 3 incident involving illegal possession of a deadly weapon, could have received 25 years. He's still expected to receive two years' jail time for the January weapons possession charge, to be served concurrently.

AILING
Country singer Chris LeDoux, 52, was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PCS), a liver disease, in Omaha. LeDoux, who has released 33 albums, is waiting for a liver transplant. According to the American Liver Foundation, the disease — in which bile ducts inside the liver become blocked due to scarring and inflammation — has a survival rate of 75 percent.

DEATHS
Bryan Edwin Smith, 43, was found dead in his home Sept. 22 in Fryeburg, Maine. Smith was driving the van that struck author Stephen King, 53, on a Maine road last year, causing injuries from which King is still recovering. A medical examiner said an autopsy performed on Smith's body Sept. 25 found no physical trauma; a cause of death will be determined pending toxicology tests. ''I was very sorry to hear of the passing of Bryan Smith,'' King said in a statement. ''The death of a 43-year-old man can only be termed untimely.''