CHICAGO (AP)—They shrieked, they gasped, they cried, they hugged— and that was before Oprah Winfrey’s studio audience got a trip to Australia.

Winfrey kicked off her 25th and final season of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” on Monday with promised surprises. After teasing the 300 audience members with a suggestion she might take them on a trip to New York, Philadelphia or Los Angeles, she said her last season merited something “bigger.”

SURPRISE ANNOUNCEMENT—In this photo taken Sept. 9, and provided by Harpo Productions, inc., Oprah Winfrey, top, stands with audience members after making the announcement she will take the studio audience on a trip to Australia during taping of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in Chicago. The premiere of the 25th and final season aired Sept. 13.

WASHINGTON (AP)—Ronald W. Walters, a longtime political analyst and scholar at Howard University and the University of Maryland who was a leading expert on race and politics, has died. He was 72. His weekly column appeared in New Pittsburgh Courier and hundreds of other Black newspapers across the country.

RON WALTERS

Walters died Sept. 10 after an illness, University of Maryland spokesman Lee Tune said Saturday. He had been suffering from lung cancer. Arrangements are attached at end of story.

by Jennifer C. Yates

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (AP)—The victims of Flight 93 are an inspiration to all who visit the rural field where they died on Sept. 11, 2001, will now “see how a scar in the earth has healed,” first lady Michelle Obama said Saturday at a memorial service at the crash site honoring the 40 passengers and crew.

FIRST LADIES ATTEND MEMORIAL SERVICE—First Lady Michelle Obama, and former First Lady Laura Bush, right, tour the construction site at the Flight 93 memorial with Gordon W. Felt, president of the Families of Flight 93, left, who lost his brother Edward Felt on the flight, and Joanne M. Hanley, superintendent of the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., Sept. 11.

Former first lady Laura Bush joined Obama in the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania, marking a rare joint public speaking appearance by two first ladies. Obama thanked her predecessor for helping the country through the difficult days following the attacks.

Week of September 16-22

September 16

1848—The French abolish slavery in all their territories. It would take a civil war and another 17 years before slavery is abolished in America.

B.B. KING

1925—B.B. King, an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter acclaimed for his expressive singing and guitar playing, is born on this day in Itta Benna, Miss. In the 1950s, King became one of the most important names in R&B music, amassing an impressive list of hits including "You Know I Love You" and "Woke Up This Morning," King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.