LAS VEGAS — Miss Oklahoma Lauren Nelson, an aspiring Broadway star, was crowned Miss America on Monday night, the second year in a row that an Oklahoman has won the crown.

Nelson, 20, of Lawton, is a student at the University of Central Oklahoma and wants to get her master's degree in musical theater. Viewers voted Miss Alabama Melinda Toole as Miss Congeniality.

Nelson was crowned by last year's winner, Jennifer Berry, the first Miss America chosen after the pageant moved to Las Vegas from its longtime home in Atlantic City, N.J.

Nelson receives a $50,000 scholarship with the crown and stands to make thousands more in appearance fees.

Miss Hawai'i Pilialoha Gaison was one of Monday night's 10 finalists. Gaison, 23, of Kane'ohe, won a $2,000 scholarship and the crowd's cheers Friday night with a high-energy Tahitian dance in the talent competition.

Gaison is a business management major at Hawai'i Pacific University and wants to be an entrepreneur in the resort industry.

ARBITRATION SET OVER EX'S J.LO BOOK

LOS ANGELES — Jennifer Lopez's first husband, Ojani Noa, was ordered Monday to enter arbitration with the pop star over his plans for a tell-all book about their brief marriage.

Lopez filed a Superior Court breach of contract suit nine months ago and got a restraining order barring Noa, 31, from publishing intimate details of their sex life. She also asked for arbitration.

Noa's ghostwritten book alleges Lopez had multiple affairs, including one with her third and current husband Marc Anthony, court documents revealed.

"This is about my life, coming here from Cuba and falling in love with Jennifer," Noa said.

Lopez, 36, has made every effort to keep the details of the dispute private but had to go public with her lawsuit in order to get a preliminary injunction against Noa, said Lopez's lawyer, Paul N. Sorrell.

ABDUL DENIES DRINKING, DRUGS

LAS VEGAS — "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul blamed an interview with a Seattle Fox affiliate in which she appeared disoriented or even intoxicated on a lack of sleep and technical problems.

Abdul, in Las Vegas this weekend to accept a "Woman of the Year" award at a Nevada Ballet Theatre fundraiser, answered questions about the interview, which has made the rounds on YouTube.com and prompted speculation that she was drunk or on drugs.

Technical foul-ups meant she heard questions from one station on an "electronic press tour," but her answers were directed to a different one, she said.

"Fatigue and exhaustion just added to the whole thing looking so disoriented," she said. "I just can't explain it, but for me, no excuses and no apologies.

"No alcohol and no drugs, absolutely no!"