• MSNBC has solidified its prime-time lineup by appointing Alex Wagner to fill Rachel Maddow's time slot four nights a week, Tuesday through Friday. Wagner, who has worked at CBS News, as a co-host of Showtime's "The Circus" and as an editor at The Atlantic, is on her second stint at MSNBC, having rejoined in February after hosting a show on the network a decade ago. Maddow will continue in her 8 p.m. time slot on Monday nights, MSNBC said Monday. "I'm honored to be anchoring a key hour of television in such a critical time for American democracy," Wagner said. Maddow has been the liberal-leaning news network's most popular personality, and her decision this year to step back from a weeknight show that was a linchpin of the schedule was a blow. Since she went to her Monday-only schedule, the hour has been filled with subs, but the show retained her name. Occasionally during big news weeks, Maddow has been on the air more often. A first-generation Asian American whose mother emigrated to the United States from Burma, Wagner wrote a book about her experiences, "FutureFace: A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest and the Secret to Belonging." She has also been an economics reporter for HuffPost and White House correspondent for AOL's Politics Daily. She was editor-in-chief of The Fader, a culture-oriented magazine and executive director of an advocacy organization that aimed to stop mass atrocities. "Her unique perspective, built on more than two decades in journalism, and tenacious reporting in the U.S. and abroad will help our audiences contextualize what matters," said Rashida Jones, president of the network. Wagner's new show will premiere Aug. 16.
• A California judge has found there is enough evidence against a man once briefly married to Britney Spears who showed up uninvited at the pop star's wedding to go to trial on a felony stalking charge. After a two-hour preliminary hearing Monday, Ventura County Judge David Worley ruled that 40-year-old Jason Allen Alexander should be held to answer on the charge, along with misdemeanor counts of trespassing, vandalism and battery, court records showed. Not-guilty pleas to all the charges were entered by an attorney for Alexander, who did not attend and remains jailed. Spears married longtime boyfriend Sam Asghari at her home in Thousand Oaks, Calif., on June 9 in front of several dozen guests including Selena Gomez, Drew Barrymore, Paris Hilton and Madonna. Alexander, a childhood friend of Spears to whom she was married for less than three days in 2004, appeared uninvited at the house before the ceremony, livestreaming his visit on Instagram. Alexander's attorney, Sandra Bisignani, argued there was no evidence he had any intention of harming Spears.