by Kathy Chaney

CHICAGO (REAL TIMES NEWS SERVICE)—Carol Moseley Braun may put her hat in the ring to succeed outgoing Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, sources said.

The former U.S. senator was flooded with calls on Sept. 7––the day Daley made the surprise announcement that he would not seek a seventh term in office––encouraging her to mull a run for the mayoral post.

CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN

Braun, who made history in 1993 as the first African-American female U.S. senator, told the Chicago Defender on Friday she is “seriously considering it.”

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.

DETROIT (AP)—Former Detroit city councilwoman Monica Conyers has reported to a federal prison in West Virginia to begin a 37-month sentence for corruption.

The Bureau of Prisons says Conyers arrived Friday afternoon at the minimum-security camp in Alderson, W.Va., about 500 miles from Detroit.

INCARCERATED —In this Sept. 9, 2008 file photo, Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers attends a council meeting in Detroit.

It’s the same place Martha Stewart was sent after being convicted in a stock-trading case in 2004.

Conyers admitted taking bribes to support a sludge contract. She is the wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, a Detroit Democrat and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

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.