"American Idol" producer says Jennifer Lopez coming back

It is not quite official, but it is pretty close. Singing star Jennifer Lopez will return as a judge on top-rated TV singing contest "American Idol," the program's lead producer said on Wednesday.

Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe, in an interview on "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest's radio show, was asked whether Lopez would return for an 11th season, and he said yes.

"I believe we're still waiting for the official announcements, but I'm delighted to say that all three judges, along with the brilliant host of 'American Idol,' is back for the next season," Lythgoe told Seacrest.

Lopez returns to join longtime "Idol" judge Randy Jackson and rocker Steven Tyler, the Aerosmith frontman.

Her decision to rejoin the No. 1-rated U.S. TV show has been the source of much speculation in Hollywood since the singer said earlier this summer that she was undecided.

Indeed, just last week at a meeting of television critics in Los Angeles, top programing executives for the Fox network, which airs "Idol," were tight-lipped on the subject.

Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly told reporters that he had no headline-making announcements -- "maybe like confirm Jennifer Lopez or something. No luck there."

Showbiz news web site TheWrap.com has reported that Lopez had already closed a deal that would pay her just over $20 million to return for the upcoming season, which will begin in January.

Prostate cancer research grants awarded

The Prostate Cancer Foundation in Santa Monica, Calif., said Friday it awarded nearly $10 million to bankroll 10 innovative research projects into the disease.

The Challenge Awards are valued at $9.8 million over three years and were selected from 59 proposals from cancer centers around the world by a peer-review panel at the Southern California foundation.

"These newly funded programs form an excellent, patient-centric research portfolio," said Howard Soule, executive vice president and chief science officer for PCF. "With reductions in federal funding for prostate cancer research, it's imperative for us to seek the most promising research ideas and fund them with the goal of changing clinical practice and improving outcomes for patients with advanced prostate cancer."

The projects selected by the PCF do not currently enjoy federal funding and are considered "highly innovative research with potential near-term patient benefit," the foundation said in a written statement.

The grants went to labs studying areas including nanotechnology, imaging and chemotherapy compounds such as Zytiga and LX184.

The institutions receiving grants were: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, UW Carbone Cancer Center, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Cancer and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.