Offerings

Cable's Lifetime channel, coming off a recent ratings spurt, will beef up its original programming this fall with a couple of new daytime offerings and a late-night talk show dealing with relationships. The programming moves are the latest under network president Doug McCormick, who took the reins of the female-targeted Lifetime in 1993. The relationships program, hosted by Sari Locker, the 24-year-old sex educator and author of "Mindblowing Sex in the Real World," launches in October.

September and the approach of autumn mean a new theater season for several Burlington County theater groups. The following is a list of performances that Burlington County theatergoers can catch over the next few months: Annie will be performed at Shawnee High School on Tabernacle Road in Medford by the Pinelands Players this month. Performances began Friday night and will run today, Sept. 18 and 25 at 2:30 p.m. and Sept. 16, 17, 23 and 24 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for children and seniors.

When Ken Foster decided to consolidate his two houseware stores into one mega-store, he knew he hadto include a large demo kitchen for cooking classes. They'd outgrown the cramped space at the back of his cookware store at the Reading Terminal Market, and he believed a new, spacious kitchen could generate an important chunk of new business. The new 11,000-square-foot store, Foster's Homeware, at Fourth and Market, includes a high-end, Miele-equipped kitchen in the rear of the store, which is outfitted like a loft apartment.

Camden County's year-old Educational Technology Training Center has expended its role from providing instruction for teachers on how to use computers in the classroom to teaching computer skills to municipal workers. The move was announced last night at a meeting of the Camden County Technical School District's Board of Education, which operates the center in a building at its campus here. The primary goal of the center will remain providing computer training for teachers.

Area children who can't get enough of school and adults who would like to continue their education may still register for more than 175 non-credit classes at Gloucester County College in Deptford. Classes begin this week and are being offered in "an effort to get the parents and their kids to come to the college" and become familiar with the programs and facilities the school has to offer, said Molly Pennell, director of professional and continuing education at Gloucester County College.

The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society's season-ending concert Friday at the Free Library drew but a modest number of familiar faces. Most audience members were young and hip, and some wore shorts, jeans and T-shirts. Guitarist Sharon Isbin, wearing a blindingly bright gold pantsuit and a black jacket, had come to town, bringing with her guest artist Gaudencio Thiago de Mello, a charming percussionist from the Amazonian jungle who now lives in New York. The program first devoted itself to solo guitar pieces, which were then followed by Isbin and de Mello's playing together.

Everybody has a neighbor he could do without. Maybe the guy parks his RV on the street, or doesn't keep his lawn trimmed just so, or lets his dog leave land mines on the sidewalk. It's irritating. What really gets people on South 47th Street in Lincoln is when their neighbor makes his burnt offerings and stinks up the whole block. "The smell," says Julie Wiedeman, who lives next door to Don Moren's two- story frame house, "is just awful. " On the other hand, she concedes, it's a darned interesting thing to watch.

Born in a basement nine years ago, Philadelphia's edgiest film festival, FirstGlance, has ascended to the Painted Bride, where the ninth annual event opened last night and runs through Sunday. Of the 31 shorts and features screened, nearly half are local or world premieres. Tonight's offerings include Rent Control, about a prospective renter's mania to marry off the man living in the apartment she wants, and The Kings of Christmas, about New Yorkers from five boroughs who compete to create holiday houses across New York City.

"It is time to go to the river," boomed the voice from above. Along South Street, African drums were pounding, barbecued ribs were smoking, and jovial crowds were shopping. On sale were wood carvings, reggae recordings, traditional garments, dolls in African dress. On stage, an African dance performance was soon to start. But the loudspeakers broke in with a reminder that the Odunde Festival is more than a party, and more than a celebration of the culture of the African diaspora.

New programs and courses ranging from child care to optical science will debut this fall at community colleges in South Jersey. Here are some of the offerings: GLOUCESTER COUNTY COLLEGE. GCC will offer a course on food-industry management for the first time. The course was developed in consultation with managers in the food industry and the New Jersey Council on Community Colleges, said Dick Smith, spokesman for the college. Seven community colleges in the state will offer the program; GCC is the only school south of Middlesex involved.

When it comes to credit issues and identity theft, I sometimes feel like what we used to call a broken record. Almost incessantly, I urge readers to check their credit reports by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com or by calling 1-877-322-8228. Both will get you to the "central source" mandated by Congress a decade ago for consumers to request free reports from TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax, the nation's three main credit bureaus. If the reports are clean, I tell readers, there's no need to pay for a credit score - which Congress, alas, did not require the credit bureaus to provide, and did not bar them from pitching via side deals to consumers who request their free reports.

I've grown fond of "Town by Town," the Sunday Business section feature, not only for what it contributes to my understanding of local real estate but also for the ways it expands my knowledge of other things. For example, predictions of the death of mom-and-pop real estate firms have been exaggerated greatly. Virtually every one of the communities and neighborhoods I've highlighted these last six months has at least one of these supposedly deceased businesses. Starting in the early to mid-1990s, there was a rash of acquisitions of smaller firms by larger ones, and predictions were that only "boutique" firms - those specializing in a certain kind of real estate (condos, for example)

ROBIN LEACH , the former host with the golden voice of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," will be in Atlantic City this weekend as a "Millionaire Maker" to crown the first of four guaranteed millionaires through Harrah's, Showboat, Bally's and Caesars. But Leach suggested that the winners' best move is not to take their winnings back to the slots. "Bank the money and don't spend it all at once . . . I've seen so many people crash and burn in my time, but this time I'll give some advice to stay newly rich and famous," Leach told me from his Las Vegas home.

ATLANTA - President Obama, in a soaring commencement address on work, sacrifice and opportunity, told graduates of historically black Morehouse College yesterday to seize the power of their example as black men graduating from college and use it to improve people's lives. The president said his success was due to "the special obligation I felt, as a black man like you, to help those who need it most, people who didn't have the opportunities that I had - because there but for the grace of God, go I. I might have been in their shoes.

Any way you look at it, it was a tough year for the networks. Broadcast ratings dropped by an average of 7.5 percent, the steepest decline in six years. NBC's Do No Harm notched the smallest audience for a series debut in broadcast history and was canceled after two episodes. Fox's old warhorse, American Idol , tumbled to new lows. Even the ragged Robertsons of Duck Dynasty have been beating the previously unassailable singing competition. And Wednesday's showdown between Kree Harrison and Candice Glover didn't even top the night among viewers 18 to 49, the first time that's ever happened to an Idol finale episode.

This week's new DVD releases range from the odd to the odder. Cloud Atlas, Grade B : Events and actions in one time period have an effect on past and future eras. Tom Hanks stars. Not since 2001: A Space Odyssey has a film come along that's such a marvel of moviemaking and a frustrating test of comprehension as Cloud Atlas . The latest work by Andy and Lana Wachowski, the minds behind The Matrix , reimagines the art of moviemaking by creating a product that finds cohesion in confusion, distinction in disorder and symmetry in asymmetry.

Little morsels of information have been leaking out of the NovaCare Complex since Chip Kelly held his first practices with the Eagles last month, all of which were closed to the media. Running back LeSean McCoy said the first three-day minicamp felt like a track meet. Tight end Brent Celek said Kelly's method of communication would change the NFL. Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin revealed that Michael Vick was ahead of Nick Foles in the quarterback competition. It's what they in the entertainment business call "a soft opening.

CLEVELAND - The three women rescued from a house a decade after they disappeared asked for privacy Sunday, saying through an attorney that while they are grateful for overwhelming support, they also need time to heal. Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight remain in seclusion, releasing their first statements since they were found May 6. They thanked law enforcement and said they were grateful for the support of family and the community. "I am so happy to be home, and I want to thank everybody for all your prayers," DeJesus said in a statement read by an attorney.

I wrote briefly about the redesigned 2014 Forte in the wake of a Kia preview of some of its new products earlier this year. Let's take a closer, longer look now that I've spent a week in the company of this attractive compact sedan. The new Kia Forte is roomier, quieter, more comfortable, and generally more advanced than its predecessor. But what grabs you initially is the styling. The car was sculpted under the watchful eye of Peter Schreyer, the talented former Audi designer who was hired to enhance the potency of Kia's styling steroids.

PHOENIX - A surgeon will cut into Roy Halladay's shoulder Wednesday, one day after the pitcher turns 36. Halladay, a self-labeled optimist, refuses to focus on the possibility he will never pitch again, not for the Phillies or any major-league team. He insists he will return before 2013 is over. "It's too easy to look at the bad stuff," Halladay said. But, if this is how it ends, Halladay had something he wanted to say. He called an impromptu meeting with reporters before Friday's game at Chase Field and spoke for eight minutes.