Duke alum to join Paula, Randy and Simon tonight

Ratings powerhouse “American Idol” has always done right by North Carolina. (Kellie “Red High Heels” Pickler even gave a shout out to her home state on New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.)

Now comes word that this season’s new, fourth Idol judge has her own Tar Heel connection. Entertainment Weekly reports that songwriter Kara DioGuardi (Gwen Stefani’s “Rich Girl,” Celine Dion’s “Takin Chances” and Christina Aguilera’s “Ain’t No Other Man”) is joining Paula, Randy and Simon for the show’s eighth season, which begins tonight.

DioGuardi grew up in Scarsdale, N.Y. but attended Duke, where the magazine reports she started in the opera program “but didn’t quite fit in with the classical crowd -- so she went pre-law”

“I always wanted to be a trial attorney,” the 1983 grad says. “I love to argue.”

Sounds like she'll fit right in.