TELEVISION’Today’ in Print: NBC News is launching...

TELEVISION

‘Today’ in Print: NBC News is launching a printed version of its “Today” show. Starting Oct. 24, Today Report, a full-color, biweekly magazine, will offer highlights from the program, which tied for first place among morning newscasts in the last quarterly ratings report. The magazine will include interviews by “Today” anchors Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric, Willard Scott’s tales from the road and movie reviews from Gene Shalit. Subscriptions are $2 per issue or $33.95 per year.

THE ARTS

White House Sculpture: First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton inaugurated a White House sculpture garden featuring works of 20th-Century American artists including Alexander Calder, Louise Bourgeois, Ellsworth Kelly and Louise Nevelson. The works, on loan from Midwestern museums including the Art Institute of Chicago and Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center, will be on exhibit in the White House’s Jacqueline Kennedy Garden through January. On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton introduced the dozen loaned sculptures to an audience of artists and museum directors, saying she hoped the collection would spawn future exhibitions from other museums.

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Record Tissot Price: An anonymous buyer paid a record price of nearly $5.3 million on Wednesday in New York for a painting by 19th-Century French artist James Jacques Joseph Tissot. The painting, “Garden Bench,” is considered to be the artist’s finest work and was estimated by Sotheby’s auction house to bring $1.5 million to $2.5 million. The previous record for a Tissot painting was $2.97 million, set in 1993.

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Art for the Future: Noted American artist Robert Rauschenberg has created 21 limited edition artworks dealing with global peace, social justice and environmental concerns as part of Tribute 21, his new art program aiming to improve conditions for the 21st Century. The editions will be sold worldwide to fund future Tribute 21 programs, and 21 sets will be donated to museums and other institutions. As a centerpiece of the program, 21 individuals “whose lifetime contributions will greatly impact and positively affect” the next century will be honored at Rauschenberg’s New York studio on Friday. Among the honorees: filmmaker Steven Spielberg, performance artist Rachel Rosenthal, communications mogul Ted Turner, art collector Dominique de Menil, the Dalai Lama, and statesmen Al Gore, Mikhail Gorbachev and Nelson Mandela. Honored posthumously will be actress Audrey Hepburn, composer John Cage and Muppets creator Jim Henson.

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Theatrical Complaints: The Burbage Theatre in West Los Angeles has been removed from Actors’ Equity’s list of sanctioned producers. Equity official Michael Van Duzer said actors alleged “filthy” conditions, non-payment of a stage manager, “frequent appearances” of rats (including an “impromptu entrance onstage opening night”) and violations of Equity rules. Burbage producer Ivan Spiegel said the problems have been corrected. He contends the charges were brought because he closed a show early after a dispute with an actor; however, he must go through an appeals process for reinstatement to the union list. Of the six shows currently at the Burbage, the Equity decision could force the closure of only “Race” and “Bumps in the Night.” The other shows are either produced independently of Spiegel or are solo shows that operate under different rules.

POP/ROCK

On the Charts: Georgia rock group R.E.M’s “Monster” album sold an estimated 178,000 units last week and will continue to command the No. 1 spot this Saturday on Billboard’s pop album sales chart. Two new releases burst into the Top 10 this week: Smashing Pumpkins’ “Pisces Iscariot,” which sold about 117,000 units to enter at No. 4, and Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “Stones in the Road,” which sold 85,000 units to rank No. 10.

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Helping Missing Kids: Emerson, Lake & Palmer is donating royalties from its new single “Daddy” to the Utica, N.Y.-based Sara Anne Wood Rescue Center. The song, written by Greg Lake, was inspired by the 1993 kidnap and murder of 12-year-old Wood, whose father established the nonprofit organization for missing and abducted children in her memory.

QUICK TAKES

NBC has started production on the four-hour miniseries “Tom Clancy’s ‘Op Center,’ ” an international thriller by the best-selling author about a little-known government agency that handles global crises. Harry Hamlin, Deidre Hall, Carl Weathers, Rod Steiger and John Savage star; executive producers include former NBC Entertainment chief Brandon Tartikoff. . . . HBO will rebroadcast “Barbra Streisand The Concert” at 7 p.m. on Nov. 26. The program, which originally aired Aug. 21, was HBO’s highest rated special ever. . . . Illusionist David Copperfield will perform two shows at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Dec. 16. Tickets go on sale Friday.