*Barbra Streisand performed her first-ever concert in France this week and also received a medal of the Legion of Honor from the nation. French President Nicolas Sarkozy awarded the medal to Streisand in an Elysee Palace ceremony Thursday.
*In a plea agreement in Los Angeles on Thursday, Eve admitted to driving drunk in her Maserati smashup. She was ordered to pay fines and stay sober and must wear an alcohol-detecting device.
*Paris Hilton’s postjail appearance on CNN’s “Larry King Live” on Wednesday drew about 3.2 million viewers, nearly triple the show’s average audience.
*”Grey’s Anatomy” star Isaiah Washington said racism was a factor in his firing from the hit ABC series after he used an anti-gay slur. Washington, who got into a shouting match with a co-star on the set, told Newsweek magazine that “someone heard the booming voice of a black man and got really scared and that was the beginning of the end for me.”
*Gospel and soul great Mavis Staples is to give a free concert in Millennium Park on Aug. 12, as the Chicago native caps the park’s second annual Great Performers of Illinois festival. The three-day event will feature family activities and performances by artists from across the state, including a reunion show by the 1970s band Shoes.
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Personals was compiled by Emily Rosenbaum from Tribune news services and staff reports.
