NEW YORK — Jay Leno had been absent from the nation's TV screens for less than a month, but he returned last night with renewed purpose.

"It's good to be home," he told his "Tonight Show" audience as he began his monologue, a transcript of which was provided by NBC before airtime. "I'm Jay Leno, your host. At least, for a while."

Leno is reclaiming his old job at NBC's "Tonight Show" just nine months after giving it up to Conan O'Brien, and only 19 days after NBC pulled the plug on Leno's own prime-time misadventure.

As he zinged his own network, Leno signaled the resumption of the late-night war between him and his longtime CBS foe David Letterman, who had gained the ratings upper hand during O'Brien's brief, unhappy stay as "Tonight Show" host.

OSMOND'S SON, 18, LEFT SUICIDE NOTE

LOS ANGELES — Toxicology tests will determine whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the death of Marie Osmond's 18-year-old son, who police said jumped to his death from a downtown apartment building, a coroner's official said yesterday.

Michael Blosil left a suicide note before he leaped from the eighth floor of the building on Friday night, said police Lt. Paul Vernon.

Coroner's officials were investigating the case as a suicide, but an autopsy conducted Sunday did not officially determine the cause of death pending the results of toxicology tests, which could take up to two months, said Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter.

O.J.'S COURT SUIT DONATED TO SMITHSONIAN

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — With O.J. Simpson giving his agreement from prison, a judge approved a plan yesterday to donate to the Smithsonian Institution the suit the former NFL star was wearing when he was acquitted of murder.

The deal ends a 13-year legal battle between Simpson's former sports agent Mike Gilbert and Fred Goldman, the father of the man Simpson was accused of killing in 1994. Both men claimed the right to the suit, shirt and tie Simpson was wearing Oct. 3, 1995, when he was acquitted of killing ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Simpson, 62, is serving a minimum nine-year prison sentence in Nevada on an unrelated case.

LINEUP OF OSCAR PRESENTERS ANNOUNCED

LOS ANGELES — Academy Award winners Charlize Theron, Barbra Streisand and Kathy Bates have joined the lineup as presenters for the Oscars.

Also announced yesterday as Oscar presenters are past nominees Robert Downey Jr., Queen Latifah and "Pulp Fiction" co-stars Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta.

The acting veterans are joining younger stars previously announced as presenters, including Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron and "Twilight" co-stars Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner.

The 82nd Oscar show airs live Sunday on ABC.