Chris Brown received an “extremely favorable” report from probation officials overseeing his felony assault case, a judge said yesterday. Brown appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom to offer a judge his first progress report since being sentenced for beating ex-girlfriend Rihanna this year. He talked and laughed with his lawyer before the hearing, which took less than 10 minutes.

With his “Fan Appreciation” tour kicking off in a couple of weeks, Chris Brown will also have an album to accompany his comeback.

As a way of saying “thanks” to fans, Chris Brown will embark on a 19-city tour next month. A Nov. 22 date is slated for the Landmark Theater. A venue spokesperson said the date is on hold, but not confirmed.

R&B singer Chris Brown cleared weeds and debris at police horse stables in Richmond yesterday as part of his community service for beating his ex-girlfriend, pop singer Rihanna.

Singer Chris Brown cleared weeds and debris at police horse stables in Richmond today as part of his community service for beating ex-girlfriend Rihanna. Brown wore an orange vest, white tank top, baggy jeans and red baseball cap and carried a yard tool to cut tall weeds. Brown did not speak to the media but he waved to fans who saw him working.

Conner Brown Richmond City Councilman Douglas G. Conner Jr. isn’t happy with the glare of the Hollywood spotlight after a celebrity gossip Web site quoted him in a report on disgraced singer Chris Brown. The usually low-key councilman fired off a statement yesterday, saying he was misquoted by TMZ.com in a story posted Thursday about Brown’s community labor work in Richmond. The pending work is part of Brown’s sentence following his conviction for beating his then-girlfriend, the singer Rihanna.

Becky Lee, chief program officer at the YWCA of Richmond, recalled her reaction upon learning that entertainer Chris Brown’s punishment for assaulting his girlfriend would be removing trash and graffiti in Richmond. “I was undone,“ she said. “The truth is, I sort of rolled my eyes. It just was hard to see the relevance. There wasn’t any.“

Richmond’s police chief says his department is prepared to put Chris Brown to work performing manual labor such as graffiti removal and picking up trash as part of a sentence imposed by a California judge. The manual tasks were listed in a letter written by Richmond Police Chief Bryan T. Norwood to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg, who sentenced Brown in the beating of his ex-girlfriend, pop singer Rihanna.

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Chris Brown says he doesn’t remember savagely beating Rihanna and still loves his former girlfriend. The 20-year-old tells People magazine and CNN’s Larry King that his feelings haven’t changed for Rihanna since the February beating. Brown was sentenced to five years of probation and six months of community labor last week on a felony assault charge.

Chris Brown will undergo 52 hours of domestic-violence counseling with Commonwealth Catholic Charities in Richmond as part of his court-imposed punishment for beating ex-girlfriend Rihanna. “Commonwealth Catholic Charities has been working with Brown’s attorney to ensure that the service being provided by the agency meet court and probation officer approval,“ the group’s executive director, Joanne Nattrass, said in a statement yesterday.

Richmond Police Chief Bryan T. Norwood confirmed last night that his department will supervise Chris Brown’s community-labor sentence that was imposed yesterday by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg. “Judge Schnegg may be assured that we will be diligent in maintaining the proper records of Mr. Brown’s work activities and schedule,“ Norwood said in a written statement.

LOS ANGELES—A judge today sentenced Chris Brown to five years’ probation and six months’ community labor for the beating of Rihanna and issued a stern admonition to the R&B singer.Richmond’s police chief will supervise Brown’s community labor directly, the judge said.

A judge in Los Angeles has delayed sentencing Tappahannock native Chris Brown on an assault charge to seek more input from Virginia authorities about whether Brown could do community labor here. Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg said yesterday that she will sentence the R&B star on Aug. 27. The judge met with a prosecutor and defense attorney briefly before Brown’s scheduled sentencing.

Chris Brown has pleaded guilty and publicly apologized for beating Rihanna, but after Wednesday afternoon, plenty more hard work lies ahead.

This week, Chris Brown said he was sorry.  Not on MTV, where a conversation with a reasonably competent correspondent might have forced him to acknowledge his position as a role model to millions of young music fans.  Not on “Dateline,“ where Ann Curry might have shot him some pointed questions about domestic abuse.