DIG IT What's happening on the Chicago gardening scene

On Aug. 28, the Chicago Botanic Garden will conduct a classcalled "Discover Ornamental Grasses" on how to add attractive …

Realty agency buys properties

Coldwell Banker Commercial Bennett Williams typically helps others buy real estate. Last month, four of the York company's executives made a major real estate investment of their own.

The executives agreed to pay $850,000 for 35 residential rental properties scattered around York. They are fixing up the apartments, several of which are not in good condition, and plan to continue renting them. Bennett Williams will manage the mostly singlefamily properties.

The company's executives also agreed to pay $150,000 for the business that had owned and managed these properties: C&W Management Realty of York. Bennett Williams will manage 60 other properties that C&W Management …

Gillett outlines philosophy at Montreal, Liverpool

George Gillett Jr. has experienced the hostility of fans from Montreal to Liverpool but it never gets any easier.

The 70-year-old sports tycoon acknowledges the magnitude of his duty to supporters of the ice hockey, motorsport and football teams that rely on his investment.

"You feel a responsibility and an embarrassment on occasions when you haven't provided all that you might have," Gillett told The Associated Press. "There's a level of embarrassment and you want to correct that quickly."

Not just at Premier League football club Liverpool, but also in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens and in NASCAR with Gillett Evernham …

40 years after Watts, a time to remember, rebuild: Activists try to teach younger generations riots' significance

LOS ANGELES -- The arrest 40 years ago of 21-year-old MarquetteFrye quickly drew a crowd in South Los Angeles. Someone threw arock, then another.

For the next six days, urban black frustration boiled over.Buildings burned across Watts and neighboring communities. Thirty-four people were killed, looters emptied stores, and the NationalGuard patrolled the streets.

Today, on the corner where it began, there are no signs of theuprising that helped transform the civil rights movement frompeaceful protests in the South to violent clashes in the nation'smajor cities.

Teens who skateboard past abandoned couches and fading apartmentssay they've heard of "the …

Instant Messages; Quick online responses to Sun-Times stories

Another Stephen King?

[Allen Lee] did nothing worse than essentially write a "Law andOrder" episode or a Quentin Tarantino movie. . . . By the way, afterthe Virginia Tech shootings, we read all about how everyone [said]that there was something wrong with Cho because of his writing.Again, his writing was not any different than the most popular TVshows. Stephen King writes some pretty bizarre stuff, too -- shouldhe be locked up?

Jim McCoy

Get rid of the teacher

I sincerely hope that the parents in this district will have thecourage to demand that this teacher be dismissed and theadministration severely censured.

Bob

Losing trade …

D'Alessandro wants to stay with Internacional

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (AP) — Amid celebrating his first Copa Libertadores title early Thursday, midfielder Andres D'Alessandro said he'd like to stay with Internacional to play in the Club World Cup in December for the first time.

But the Argentine doesn't rule out a transfer if a good offer arrives before then.

D'Alessandro was key in Internacional's 5-3 aggregate victory against Guadalajara in the final of the Latin American club championship. Internacional won 3-2 in front of its fans on Wednesday to secure its second title.

"Now all I'm thinking about is the Club World Cup," D'Alessandro said. "My goal is to stay so I can play in Abu Dhabi. I've never played in that …

Delta flight cleared after 'security threat' in NM

PHOENIX (AP) — A Delta Air Lines flight from Detroit to San Diego was diverted to Albuquerque, N.M., on Sunday because of a security scare but authorities found "no suspicious devices" on the plane, an FBI spokesman said.

Agency spokesman Frank Fisher declined to clarify the nature of the "potential security threat" that caused Flight 1706 to land in New Mexico. He said agents searched the plane and interviewed the crew and 107 passengers before clearing the aircraft to fly again.

Albuquerque International Sunport spokesman Daniel Jiron also declined to say what the potential threat was. No one was arrested.

The flight was diverted at 10 a.m. MDT, and Jiron said it was …