Back Again: Prince Charles, an avid polo...

Back Again: Prince Charles, an avid polo player, is back in the saddle after being sidelined last month by a bad back. Charles had to forgo his beloved sport after he was diagnosed last month with a degenerated disc in his spine. The prince’s team won his comeback match 14-10 last week. At halftime, the prince laid on the ground and rocked back and forth to stretch his back.

Say What?: The freedom to be ungrammatical won the day over language correctness at the National Education Assn.’s annual convention in Miami Beach, Fla., late last week. A T-shirt that flippantly read “I Be a Teacher” prompted a 20-minute floor debate over a motion against such grammar. “Anything that is connected with us should be correct,” English teacher Carol Haack said. But another English teacher retorted: “I don’t want no such motion passed.” The delegates voted resoundingly for freedom of expression.

Drawn Away: Gary Larson, creator of the cartoon “The Far Side,” takes a one-month vacation from his off-the wall comic strip beginning today. Larson’s humor runs to talking cows, bears and other animals in human-like quandaries. Universal Press Syndicate, which has distributed the feature since 1984, is reprinting previously published strips during the hiatus.

Hopeful: Signs around town read “Centralia: Still Alive at 125.” It’s a bold statement, considering an underground mine fire that’s burned for 29 years has chased away just about all of the Pennsylvania town’s population. The fire, noxious fumes and a government buyout has reduced population from about 1,200 to 58. “Right now the goal is to maintain ourselves as a borough,” said Mayor Anne Marie Devine during the annual birthday celebrations that began Friday.