President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela handily won a referendum that will allow him to run for re-election indefinitely.

Chávez Decisively Wins Bid to End Term Limits

On “24,” the Fox action serial, the collision of two acerbic, tech-savvy employees played by Janeane Garofalo and Mary Lynn Rajskub is a welcome development for viewers.

Deep Inside the Grim ‘24,’ Two Comics’ Inside Joke

Edgar Oliver’s one-man show is a sweet and sinister memoir.

So Inviting, That Dark at the Top of the Stairs

There was a whiplash quality to the action surrounding the preservation of $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts in the final version of the economic-stimulus bill.

Saving Federal Arts Funds: Selling Culture as an Economic Force

Two new television documentaries demonstrate that in making sense of an economic meltdown, there’s enough blame to go around.

Economists Try Target Practice in a Fun-House Mirror

ABC’s “The Bachelor” is an indisputable hit again, thanks to a father and his little boy.

Bachelor With Tyke Appeal Restores Show’s Luster

Citing concerns over the economy, the league and its players union held preliminary talks about a new deal, two years before the current contract is set to expire.

N.B.A. and Union Are Discussing New Labor Deal

The Treasury’s schedule of financing this week included the regular weekly auction of new three- and six-month bills next Monday and an auction of four-week bills on Wednesday.

Treasury Auctions Set for This Week

The remake of the 1980 horror movie slashed its way to No. 1, earning $42.5 million in its first weekend in theaters.

Lucky Weekend for ‘Friday the 13th’

The Nature Theater of Oklahoma returns to the stage with “Rambo Solo.”

Rambo-Inspired Show and More in the Wings

“The Milk of Sorrow,” the first Peruvian film in the main competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, won the Golden Bear for best picture.

Peruvian Film Wins Golden Bear in Berlin

The singer Chris Brown, who was arrested on Feb. 8 after an altercation with an unidentified woman, said he was “sorry and saddened” about what had happened, Reuters reported.

Chris Brown Apologizes

The rapper M.I.A., who performed while pregnant at the Grammy Awards on Feb. 8, went into labor just a few hours later, according to a post her MySpace page.

Footnote

Marvel Comics will commemorate the presidential holiday by offering “Gettysburg Distress,” a new six-page adventure featuring Captain America and Spider-Man.

Superheroes Recognize Presidents’ Day

Five opera productions and two concerts will make up the Dicapo Opera Theater’s 2009-10 season.

DiCapo Announces Opera Season

Itzhak Perlman and Gustavo Dudamel will be among the participants in the 2009-10 classical music season at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.

New Jersey Center Sets Classical Season

Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera is easing into spring training after having surgery on a calcification on his shoulder, but said he would be ready for opening day.

Rivera Takes His Time Recovering From Surgery

This concert resented two compositions and one improvisation, all related to feedback.

The Mysteries of Sound and Felicities of Feedback

The arrival of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in China seemed like an event that should have taken place long ago.

Chicago to China: A Giddy Musical Exchange

Manager Jerry Manuel’s most radical idea involves bumping José Reyes, a premier leadoff hitter, down in the batting order and replacing him with the maligned Luis Castillo.

In Control From Day 1, Manuel Mulls Shake-Up

Corrections

An article last Sunday about the problems confronting Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, misidentified the type of hat he is often seen wearing. It is a karakul, not a fez.

Correction

A headline last Sunday with a capsule summary about the future of more than a dozen Roman Catholic schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn referred incorrectly in some copies to a proposal for four of them. In an effort to keep them from being closed, New York City has offered to turn them into public charter schools. The city’s plan is not to give them help as Catholic schools.

Confused and disorganized, the Rangers lost their chance to leapfrog the Philadelphia Flyers into second place in the Atlantic Division.

Time Grows Short for Slumping Rangers

In Program B of Evidence, a Dance Company’s weeklong season at the Joyce Theater, everything that had already been good about Program A was better.

February 15, 2009

Headlines from February 15, 2009

Chávez Decisively Wins Bid to End Term Limits

Deep Inside the Grim ‘24,’ Two Comics’ Inside Joke

So Inviting, That Dark at the Top of the Stairs

Saving Federal Arts Funds: Selling Culture as an Economic Force

Economists Try Target Practice in a Fun-House Mirror

Billboard 200

Working On A Dream

Fearless

I Am...Sasha Fierce

Dark Horse

808s & Heartbreak

Historical Context for February 15, 2009