Lang Lang

My son is learning to drive. This terrifies me. He's 4 years old.Well, OK, technically he's 15. But from the perspective of the aging parent, there is no major difference between 4 and 15, except that when your child is 4, his motoring privileges are restricted to little toy Fisher-Price vehicles containing little toy Fisher-Price people who are unlikely (although I would not totally rule it out, in America) to sue you.Whereas when your child turns 15, the state of Florida lets him obtain a permit that allows him to drive an actual car on actual roads, despite the fact that you can vividly remember when he slept on "Return of the Jedi" sheets.

Fifty-one years of transporting Howard County students to and from school ended Thursday for an Elkridge school bus contractor when the county school board terminated his service.The board canceled the 15 contracts held by Brown's Motor Tours Inc. that had been suspendedby school officials on March 20 pending a board hearing. The suspension came 10 days after former Brown's driver Wanda J. Wilson pleaded guilty in District Court to driving while intoxicated in a November school bus accident.

NATIONAL Post-Sept. 11 inaction faulted The United States is at great risk for more terrorist attacks because Congress and the White House have failed to enact several strong security measures, members of the former Sept. 11 commission said yesterday. pg 3a Poverty funds in cross hairs Lawmakers returning to Capitol Hill this week face a bruising fight over whether to curtail poverty programs. pg 3a WORLD Allawi pelted at Iraqi shrine One of Iraq's most prominent politicians, Ayad Allawi, and his entourage were pelted with rocks and shoes yesterday as they left a shrine in Najaf, escalating tensions between religious and secular Shiite Muslim factions 11 days before parliamentary elections that will set the country's course for the next four years.

When the players of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra took the stage of the Music Center at Strathmore Thursday night for a summer festival concert, they gave every appearance of normality, after what was probably the most abnormal week of their professional lives. Then again, the opening piece on the program just happened to be called Facade, so you never know. The orchestra's heavily publicized objection to naming a new music director, and the decision by the BSO board of directors to proceed with the historic appointment of Marin Alsop to that post, must have taken a severe toll on morale in the ensemble.

People are often shocked to learn how poorly old-time athletes were paid compared to today's millionaires, but Baltimore's Nick Kropfelder may have the all-time story about penury in the old days.Kropfelder, a former soccer great who was installed in the State of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame at Martin's West yesterday, remembers a Sunday in the 1940s when he scored two goals and led the Philadelphia Nationals to victory over New York in the top pro soccer league in the country.Said Kropfelder: "After the game, the owner slipped me an envelope containing three big ones -- three $1 bills.

No dust will settle in Meyerhoff Symphony Hall after the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra wraps up its 2000-2001 subscription season this week with the emphatic sounds of Prokofiev's "Ivan the Terrible." The ensemble will move directly into preparations for the annual Summer MusicFest, which provides about two weeks of entertainment indoors and out. Mario Venzago, in his second season as MusicFest artistic director, has come up with an enticing sampling of repertoire that, like the best summer reading, provides entertainment and substance.

Escalating its war against computer hackers and other technically savvy criminals, the Defense Department yesterday unveiled a $15 million computer laboratory and training center for electronics detectives in Linthicum.One of only four Defense Department laboratories of its kind in the nation, the center will be staffed by investigators trained to sift through personal computers and other high-tech devices for digital evidence in counterintelligence, criminal and fraud cases.Investigators will also analyze military computer networks for areas containing sensitive information that might be vulnerable to hackers.

The Kennedy Center will be awash in "sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not" during the six-month Shakespeare in Washington festival that starts in January. But that's just a portion of a typically wide-ranging lineup for 2006-2007, announced yesterday. The many Bard-related items include performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company (Coriolanus), Kirov Opera (Verdi's Falstaff) and Kirov Ballet (Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet). The center will revive the 1961 Bob Merrill-Michael Stewart musical Carnival!

Westminster came out and scored on its first two possessions of the second half to break up a 7-7 halftime deadlock and then held on to post a 21-15 victory last night over previously unbeaten Liberty.Played before a packed house at Liberty (3-1), it was the Carroll County and Central Maryland Conference opener for both schools.Junior tailback Brad Durden rambled for 161 yards and three touchdowns, two of them in the third period, to pace the Owls (3-1), who suffered a non-conference loss to No. 9 C. Milton Wright, 21-8, last week.

Fiesta Filipino Join the Filipino-American community in celebrating Philippine Independence Day from noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. Festivities begin with a Mass and continue with native music and folk dancing, art and craft displays, and such ethnic delicacies as letchon (roasted pig) and fresh lumpia (mixed vegetables). Admission is free. Call 410-252-3234 or 410-584-7339. Donny Osmond at the Lyric He was 5 years old when he first appeared on television with singer Andy Williams. Now Donny Osmond is 43 and still performing, celebrating his first worldwide tour in a decade.