Alexa Ray’s heart is on the mend

Word around Hollywood is that Alexa Ray has a new boyfriend. People.com tells us that Looks like Alexa Ray Joel’s broken heart is on the mend: The singer, 24, who told PEOPLE that her despair over a failed romance led her to be hospitalized last December, has a new boyfriend. He is singer-songwriter Cass Dillon. Even though I dont expect Alexa to be shopping for mens wedding bands anytime soon I am glad she has found a new love.

The pair met when Dillon, 24, was hired to play guitar on Joel’s upcoming album. (To listen to her first single, “Notice Me,” click here.) “Dating can be awkward,” Joel said in April. “I prefer to meet someone through work or socially.”

Odds are her dad, Billy Joel, approves. Back in 2007, Dillon released the single “Christmas in Fallujah,” which was written by the Piano Man himself. Proceeds benefitted the non-profit Homes For Our Troops.

But Alexa may not be the only member of the family getting some summer loving.

On Saturday, Billy, 61 (who split last June with wife Katie Lee, 28), was spotted having a late lunch with an unidentified blonde at Sant Ambroeus in Southampton, N.Y. The two carried motorcycle helmets (hers was pink), chatted with the owner and picked up local magazines before leaving.

Perez Hilton might be in trouble for posting explicit shot of Miley Cyrus

Perez Hilton might have done a big NO-NO . People .com tell us that Blogger Perez Hilton is facing widespread outrage, and possibly legal trouble, for posting an apparently explicit paparazzi shot of Miley Cyrus taken when the pop star was climbing out of a car.

Hilton, 32, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira Jr., posted the offending photo on Monday. He has since removed it. But since it exposed Cyrus, 17 – a minor – he could potentially face child-pornography charges.

Reaction to his posting of the image – which PEOPLE will not reproduce, even in a censored form – has been swift and damning, with Tuesday’s morning talk shows full of anger and recrimination at Hilton. What remains to be seen is whether it was not just a poor decision but a criminal one.

Jeffrey Douglas, a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney specializing in child pornography cases, told Salon.com that it was “suicidal” for Hilton to distribute the image. “We’re not talking about a misdemeanor,” he said. “You don’t have to know what the definition of the law is; all you have to do is knowingly distribute the photograph.”

Even if, as some have suggested, the image has been Photoshopped, that would not absolve Hilton. “That is still a crime, and it is punishable just the same,” says Douglas, adding that even clearly manipulated images – a child’s head Photoshopped onto an adult’s body, for example – is punishable under the law. It would have never been a problem if she was dressed in lab coats or something but explicit photos of a minor is a big no no.

Neither Hilton nor Cyrus has commented on the photo since Hilton’s original post.