News-Record.com

The windy city: While being blown along Elm Street the other day, I couldn't help but be impressed by the new facade of the Civil Rights Museum, especially the restored, red-and-gold Woolworth signs. This museum should be a showpiece when it opens.

Meanwhile, I can envision now what Roy Carroll II wants to do to the old Wachovia tower. With its outer skin recast in its original gray and a few aesthetic accents here and there, it won't look half-bad.

It also would be nice one night to see that tall dark spot on the skyline finally relit. ...

'Today Show' priorities: Mount St. Helen's might blow. Peace might break out in the Middle East. Gas prices go spastic. Now back to the Michael Jackson trial. ...

Tired Trek: They are mercifully putting the latest "Star Trek" TV series out of its misery. The series has gotten so predictable that it boldly goes every week it's been 100 times before. Nobody asked me, but here's what they ought to do: Reinvent "Trek." Get Quentin Tarantino to direct. I'd pay to see that. ...

Road rules: I add this gripe to all those letters to the editor about rude, oblivious drivers: Whatever happened to the courtesy wave?

I made room for one motorist struggling to merge with rush-hour traffic the other day and he didn't even bother to look my way.

Now, I'm not looking for a Nobel Prize, but a simple thank-you gesture isn't too much to ask, is it? There oughtta be a law. ...

"Million Dollar" movie: Saw Clint Eastwood's superb Oscar winner, "Million Dollar Baby," at the Grande Saturday. Eastwood, Morgan Freeman and Hillary Swank all give brilliant performances -- and a heart-tugging twist in the movie's plot that I won't reveal here stokes an already heated political and ethical debate.

That turn in the story may anger some people, but all I can say is it rings true to the characters' personalities and motivations. ...