Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

I'm not a fan of racing games, as they tend to be far too similar to each other. Only the Burnout series caught my attention, primally satisfying in its exhilarating action with a focus on wrecking other racers and events designed to cause as much destruction as possible. So when I saw that the developers of Burnout were making this year's Need for Speed title with a cops-versus-racers theme, I salivated like Pavlov's dog. While not as chaos-oriented as Burnout, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii) is still a wickedly fun experience.

The keynote presentation for the 25th-annual Quad Cities Youth Conference at the RiverCenter in Davenport on January 24 and 25 will be the MWAH! Performing Arts Troupe, an acronym for Messages Which Are Hopeful.

At its third appearance at this conference in the past nine years, the issues-oriented ensemble will combine real-life drama with contemporary music and audience interaction. An overall focus is what's happening with today's youth and their families, and a common thread is the importance of making the right choices. Current MWAH! troupe members range in age from nine to 19 and live in 11 cities and towns in the western suburbs of Chicago and across northern Illinois.