Oba William King joins CPL for Black History Month; Pianist Keith Jarrett dazzles Symphony Hall

During Black History Month, some of the Chicago Public Library's Neighborhood Branches provided students with various African American programs. The stories told by Oba William King were some of the most thrilling to the children who saw and heard him at Douglas, Lincoln Belmont, Rogers Park, West Chicago and Woodson Regional branches.

Actor Oba William King has earned tremendous acclaim here in Chicago and in other parts of the United States. He brings his characters to life on stage with tremendous impetuosity and blazing dramatic urgency.

The actor's involvement with the children was overwhelming with imagination. They glued their eyes to his slightest movement and …

Britney Spears' strange behavior now in the hands of doctors, and possibly the legal system

With Britney Spears whisked out of the public spotlight and committed to a hospital psychiatric ward, it is now up to a team of professional caregivers _ and possibly the legal system _ to reverse her seemingly endless downward spiral.

Spears, accompanied by more than a dozen police officers, was taken to the UCLA Medical Center before dawn Thursday in what one officer would only say was an effort to "get help" for the troubled pop star.

It was her second 72-hour commitment in four weeks, though her previous stay lasted less than two days and was followed by more strange episodes that have accompanied her divorce and bruising child custody …

Wild, wild Proviso West

The wildest ideas often have the most humble beginnings.

Last year at the Proviso West Holiday Tournament, there were a few delays caused by a leak in the gym roof. It led to some of the teams warming up in the adjacent field house.

That got tournament director Joe Spagnolo thinking.

"I started wondering what we could do if we used the field house more," Spagnolo said. "There are always teams asking me if they can join the tournament and I was tired of saying no. So I went to the drawing board."

What he came up with is certainly a bold move. Starting next year, the Proviso West Holiday Tournament will double in size, increasing from 16 to 32 teams — nearly …

Cars worth noting: 2003 Honda Accord

Honda's new Accord achieves something that I previously only felt in big, expensive German cars - it feels German. If I were the only one that noticed that "feel" I might not have mentioned it, but several people that rode in the car with me commented that the car felt unusually heavy yet nimble.

To be honest, I don't exactly know how you make a 3,000-pound vehicle feel like it weighs 5,000, but the Accord simply mows down irregularities in the road rather than skimming over them. When you close the doors, they sound bank-vault solid. When you hit a pothole you get the distinct impression that the hole got the short end of the stick.

Adding to the illusion is Honda's …

AP Weekly News Calendar

Thursday, February 9:

FESSENHEIM, France — French President Nicolas Sarkozy visits France's oldest nuclear plant amid a dispute over whether to shutter it or resuscitate it, a debate that is weighing on France's presidential election campaign and reflects global soul-searching about the future of nuclear energy.

PARIS — French airports see continued cancellations and disruptions as strike by pilots and cabin crew heads into a fourth and probable last day. Unions are angry over a law limiting the impact of strikes.

BOGOTA — Colombian anti-bullfight protest.

CARACAS — Venezuela expected to extradite to Colombia the last major Colombian far-right paramilitary …

UN watchdog warns of nuclear 'stalemate' with Iran

The U.N. nuclear watchdog is locked in a "stalemate" with Iran over the country's suspect nuclear program, the agency's chief said Monday, pressing Tehran to answer lingering questions about its atomic ambitions.

Flashing fresh defiance, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his government will neither halt uranium enrichment nor negotiate over its nuclear rights, although it's ready to sit and talk with world powers over unspecified "global concerns."

"From our point of view, Iran's nuclear issue is over," Ahmadinejad declared in Tehran.

In a statement to the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy …

THE TICKER // WORLD

McDonald's to Enter South Africa JOHANNESBURG - South Africans may be munching on their first BigMacs by the end of the year. Oak Brook-based McDonald's, the world'slargest fast-food retailer, said it has opened a business office inSouth Africa ahead of launching its first restaurants in the countrythis year. Franchises will open in Johannesburg and Cape Town byyear-end. Toyota Names New President TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp. named Executive Vice-President HiroshiOkuda as its new president, giving the key job to a person outsidethe founding Toyoda family for the first time in 28 years. …