Thursday, March 15, 2012

Cardinals 10, Mets 5

St. Louis @ New York @
ab r h bi @ ab r h bi
Lopez 2b 4 0 1 0 Pagan cf 4 1 2 3
D.Solano 2b-ss 2 0 1 0 Castillo 2b 3 0 1 0
Ryan ss 5 0 0 0 Adams 2b 2 0 0 0
P.Parise p 1 0 1 0 Tatis 3b 5 1 2 0
Pujols 1b 4 2 3 1 Bay lf 2 0 0 0

Chicago Marathon gets Khannouchi

The world-record holder will return to the LaSalle Bank ChicagoMarathon.

Khalid Khannouchi, thwarted in his bid to run for the UnitedStates in the Olympics, will instead try to improve on last year's2:05:42 finish that slashed 23 seconds off the previous best marathonhere last year.

Khannouchi entered Tuesday to the delight of race director CareyPinkowski.

"He's extremely valuable to us," said Pinkowski, "and-on apersonal level-we let him know that. Then it was up to me to createfinancial opportunities for him to come back. Was he my No. 1priority? Absolutely."

Khannouchi, 28, ran as a citizen of Morocco when he won here inhis marathon debut in 1997. …

Klement Sausage recalls beef sticks

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Milwaukee sausage company is issuing a national recall of beef sticks because they may contain foreign material.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service says Klement Sausage Co. Inc. is recalling nearly 2,800 pounds of beef stick products.

They are the …

Durant, Thunder frustrate Heat, 96-85

MIAMI (AP) — Oklahoma City had one of its worst shooting nights of the season. The way the Thunder played defense, hardly anyone noticed.

Except the Miami Heat, that is.

Kevin Durant scored 29 points on 12 for 21 shooting, Russell Westbrook added 18 and the Thunder gave Miami's offense fits on the way to a 96-85 victory over the Heat on Wednesday night.

"Our defense was as good as it could possibly play," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said.

James Harden scored 12 points for the Thunder, who have won five straight. Oklahoma City shot just 40 percent, and had been 7-13 when connecting on less than 43 percent of its chances this season.

It didn't matter Wednesday …

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Measure raises S.C. sewer rates by 30 percent

Sanitary sewer rates in South Charleston will rise by 30 percent,according to a measure passed by City Council.

City officials said they were reluctant to increase the fees, butit was necessary to fund federally mandated improvements that must becompleted by 2010.

"We regret having to do this," Councilman Ben Paul said Thursdayevening.

The increase will pay to construct a water treatment plant next tothe existing plant to help reduce the overflow of untreated waterinto the Kanawha River.

Although the council reluctantly increased its sewer fees, itproudly announced it had won a concession from the West VirginiaAmerican Water Co., which has agreed to …

Pope News Conference Causes Stir

SAO PAULO, Brazil - It took two years for Pope Benedict XVI to give his first full-fledged news conference. And when he finally held one on Wednesday, he caused a stir with his comments on abortion.

Benedict stood before 70 journalists on his Alitalia jetliner headed to Brazil on the first long trip of his papacy. Responding with quiet certainty, he answered 11 questions in 25 minutes.

Initially he steered clear of controversy - insisting, for example, that "I love Latin America" when asked why it took him two years to make his first papal visit to the region where half of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics live.

But when an Italian reporter pressed him on whether …

Holder says terrorists won't be freed into US

The Obama administration will not release terrorists from Guantanamo Bay into neighborhoods in the United States, Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress on Thursday as he sought to reassure worried lawmakers.

"We don't have any plans to release terrorists," Holder testified at a Senate hearing on the Obama administration's budget for the Justice Department. The budget proposal released Thursday requests up to $160 million to close the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

But he also said some of the detainees at the facility will be let go, indicating the administration believes some held there are not terrorists. Asked after the hearing if …

Gumz big catch at E. Aurora

After squatting behind home plate for five years, East Aurora'sMichelle Gumz got a different view of home plate last season - fromright field.

"I had played catcher since I was 9," Gumz said. "So it was alittle different being out there. It took me a while to getcomfortable. I was nervous for about half the season."

As an outfielder, Gumz hit .330 and was named to the All-UpstateEight team. This season, she is back behind the plate and hitting.538 with 16 RBI.

"I love playing catcher," Gumz said. "There's a lot of actionthere and you have control of the game."

Aside from her talents, Gumz's enthusiasm is what endears her tothe team.

Teen accused in NJ cop's death charged with murder

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Charges against a 19-year-old man accused in a drive-by shooting that killed an off-duty police officer and wounded two other people were upgraded Saturday to include murder, a prosecutor said.

Rasul McNeill-Thomas was being charged with first-degree murder in the death of Officer William Johnson, said Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carol A. Murray. He was arrested at his Newark home on Friday evening.

Johnson, a 16-year police veteran, was standing at the counter of a neighborhood fast-food joint to grab a slice of pizza when he was shot. Two other people were wounded.

McNeill-Thomas was also charged with two counts of aggravated assault, carjacking …

Man charged in Ohio killings arrested last year

A woman told police in December that a Cleveland man now suspected of killing 11 women had beaten her and tried to rape her, but he wasn't charged in the case.

A city prosecutor tells The Plain Dealer Anthony Sowell was arrested, but released without being charged. The prosecutor tells the newspaper that a detective felt the woman was not credible.

A police report obtained by The Associated Press says the woman had several red scratches around her neck and was bleeding from a gash in her thumb when she flagged down police near Sowell's home on Dec. 8.

Police say they found what appeared to be blood on a tissue in the driveway and footprints in …

Czar's bones of contention

YEKATERINBURG, Russia A train arrived at the Yekaterinburgrailroad station early this month pulling an armored wagon containingseveral heavy safes and some medical equipment. The special car wassent by President Boris Yeltsin to collect and carry to Moscow thebones of Czar Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra, and their children,family physician and servants.

The return trip was meant to hasten closure to the imprisonment,execution, secret burial, discovery, identification and, finally,reburial of the Romanovs, the country's last imperial family.

But local officials refuse to give up the remains. After muchnegotiation and insults between Moscow and Yekaterinburg …

Thousands rally in Warsaw on communist anniversary

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Thousands of people are rallying in Warsaw to mark the 30th anniversary of the communist-era martial law crackdown and to protest calls for deeper integration with the European Union.

The march is being led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the conservative and nationalistic leader of Law and Justice, Poland's biggest opposition …

Woods' playoff PGA victory gives CBS a ratings knockout

NEW YORK Tiger Woods keeps winning, and so do the networks thattelevise golf's majors.

His duel for the ages with Bob May at the PGA Championship drewthe event's highest preliminary TV ratings on record.

CBS Sports' coverage of Sunday's final round, when Woods finallyput away May in a three-hole playoff, got a big-market overnightrating of 10.0 with a 23 share.

That means about 10 million homes tuned in, and 23 percent of TVsthat were on during the 12:30-6:45 p.m. CDT broadcast were tuned toCBS.

The rating is 30 percent higher than the 7.7 overnight that CBSgot last year at the PGA, when Woods beat Spanish sensation SergioGarcia by a stroke.

That 1999 overnight rating was the previous best for the finalround of a PGA Championship since at least 1986. CBS' overnightrecords don't go back beyond that year.

Sunday's telecast peaked, naturally, during the playoff, pullingin a 17.6 overnight with a 33 share from 6-6:30 p.m.

The victory was Woods' latest full of "firsts."

He's the first player to win consecutive PGA Championships since1937, and the first to win three majors in a year since 1953. Woodsalso became the first player to own the scoring record in relation topar at all four major championships (he shares the PGA mark of 18under with the unheralded May, of course).

When Woods won the U.S. Open by a record 15 strokes in June, NBC'stelecast drew the highest Sunday rating for the tournament since1981. His victory a month later at the British Open-by eight strokesto complete his career Grand Slam at 24, the youngest player to do so-helped ABC pull in that tournament's biggest ratings for a Sunday.

The Sunday overnights for each of those were bettered by the PGA,which was 33 percent higher than the British Open and 14 percenthigher than the U.S. Open.

When Woods won his first major title by a record 12 strokes at the1997 Masters, CBS got a record 14.1 national rating.

Each rating point represents 1 percent of the nation's estimated100.8 million TV households, and the overnight ratings for the PGAChampionship were based on the country's 47 largest TV markets.National ratings will be released later in the week.

The share is the percentage of in-use TVs tuned to the program.

Associated Press

Downers S. rally dumps Palatine

The jury is out on which is the No. 1 boys' volleyball team inthe Chicago area (Downers Grove South, Richards or Downers GroveNorth) and who is the No. 1 player (Downers North's Omar Moran,Richards' Mike Prosek or Wheaton Central's Adam Spitznagle).

Downers South (8-1) built its case by spilling Palatine 12-15,15-5, 15-13 in the semifinals of the Schaumburg invitationalSaturday, then edged Fremd 15-5, 13-15, 15-11 for the championship.The Mustangs' only loss was to Richards.

Junior Brett Richards had 17 kills and Bill White had 11 to paceDowners South. Middle hitter Gary Dillavou added seven kills in thethird game. Fremd (6-2), which upset Downers Grove North 15-12,15-13 in the semifinals, lost despite 15 kills from senior AndyNedzel and six from Jim Chalex.

"We gained a lot of mental toughness in this tournament,"Downers South coach Rich Griesheim said. "To win the last two gamesgives us confidence because it helps realize we can play a toughmatch and come back and play well in another tough match.

"I think the fatigue factor set in for the final four teams andwe haven't spent a lot of time conditioning until now. But Richardscame through with the hitting and Dillavou really picked it up at theend of game three."

But Griesheim still believes Richards is the best team in thestate. "They beat us and until we beat them, we're No. 2," he said."But Palatine is good, Fremd is good and Downers North is good,too."

Fremd coach Dave Boze said, "We played well but it's obviousthat Downers South has more experience. We made a lot of mentalerrors at the end of the game. But the way we played againstDowners North and South and the way Palatine played against them. ..that's the way volleyball should be played."

Meanwhile, the Moran vs. Prosek argument also remainsunsettled.

Moran, a 6-1 outside hitter, emigrated from Peru when he was 9and has played volleyball since eighth grade. Last year, he ledDowners North to a 24-2 record and the unofficial state championship. In the last nine months, while playing club and high schoolcompetition, he has emerged as perhaps the area's top all-aroundplayer.

"He is a great passer and he can hit from any place on the court and score," Downers North coach Ray Butkussaid. "And now he has developed into a team player, not only bybeing a powerful performer but by helping others.

"He is the best player in the state. . .the best passer, thebest hitter, the best back row player. He can do everything. Alot of our success is because of what Omar does in the back row, notjust from his hitting."

"Moran has excellent ball control and a great understanding ofthe game," Naperville Central coach John Garrison said.

Moran credits his club play with Sports Performance in WestChicago for much of his improvement. "This was the first time I'veplayed with really great players and I feel I have picked up a lot,"he said.

"I've worked on speeding up my spike approach and I see adifference offensively. My footwork used to be backwards butthey've fixed it and I've learned how to be quicker on the court."

While Moran is the leading candidate for Player of the Yearrecognition, Prosek and Spitznagle are making their own cases.

"In all honesty, I think Prosek is the best player in thestate," Richards coach Dave Deuser said.

"He can help a team in every area. He is a devastatingblocker, he has a kill percentage of .632 (33 in his last threegames) and he is an overpowering hitter. He has become a dominantforce. When we have to get a kill, we throw it to Mike.

"Moran is a nice hitter and has great ball control skills. ButI don't think he is as dominant at the net as Prosek with regard toblocking and kill percentage. Spitznagle is up there, too. Butit's a difficult comparison because Adam is a setter."

Downers South's Griesheim also says Prosek is the best player."If I had to start a team, I'd pick Prosek," he said. "He is aneasier player to coach, he is better suited to a team concept and,because of his height (Prosek is 6-4, Moran 6-1), he has a distinctadvantage at the net."

Richards (8-0), led by Prosek, Jeff Hisgen and Jose Espinoza, hasa date in the Lake Forest tournament Saturday. The Bulldogs alsoare getting good performances from Neil Deuser, Tom Hrad and PeteGiadla.

Unranked Conant (6-0) built a case for a top 10 billing bybeating Stevenson 15-8, 15-3 to win its eight-team invitational.The Cougars were led by 6-7 middle hitter David Todd (seven kills)and Adam Naskrent (five).

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Caption Only

NO TEXT

Color Photo: Dilip Vishwanat, Getty Images / MIZZERY: Missouri tight end Chase Coffman hauls in a second-quarter touchdown pass in front of cornerback Vontae Davis. Juice Williams threw five TD passes for Illinois. ;

Toro Rosso sticks with Alguersuari for 2010

Toro Rosso will stick with the same lineup for the 2010 Formula One season after confirming that Spanish driver Jaime Alguersuari will partner Sebastian Buemi.

The 19-year-old Alguersuari became the youngest driver to take part in an F1 race when he replaced the fired Sebastien Bourdais at the Hungarian Grand Prix midway through last season.

He finished just three of his eight races but team principal Franz Tost says that "with no prior testing, he did a good job, making steady progress throughout the second half of the year."

The Barcelona native came up through Red Bull's young driver program and will race alongside the 21-year-old Buemi.

Although owned by Red Bull, Toro Rosso races independently from the Austrian team.

Yahoo, Papers Sign Internet Revenue Deal

SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo Inc. has agreed to help more than 150 newspapers mine the Internet for additional advertising revenue in an alliance of recently beleaguered businesses.

Under the deal announced Monday, seven companies that collectively publish daily papers in 38 states are betting Yahoo's technological prowess and huge Internet audience will help them turn online advertising into a lucrative opportunity instead of a dire financial threat.

"We think Yahoo will open many, many doors that we need to have opened for us," said William Dean Singleton, chief executive of MediaNews Group Inc., one of the publishers in the newspaper consortium.

Sunnyvale-based Yahoo, in turn, is hoping the newspapers will help close the widening financial gap separating it from Google Inc., which has leveraged its leadership in Internet search to build the Web's largest advertising network.

"We believe every business in the United States should be customers of this network," said Daniel Finnigan, a Yahoo senior vice president who runs the online help-wanted service where newspapers will initially concentrate their advertising efforts.

Yahoo and the participating papers plan to split the revenue generated by their partnership. The precise terms weren't disclosed Monday.

Although its profits are still rising, Yahoo's growth has been tapering off - a slowdown that has battered its stock and intensified the pressure on the company's management to make a dramatic move.

Monday's news didn't excite investors. Yahoo shares fell 19 cents Monday to close at $26.72 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The company's stock price has plunged 32 percent so far this year, wiping out nearly $20 billion in shareholder wealth.

Only four of the newspaper companies working with Yahoo are publicly traded. Among that faction, Belo Corp.'s shares shed 18 cents to close at $18.33 on the New York Stock Exchange, where shares of The E.W. Scripps Co. declined 38 cents to $49.12. Trading on the same exchange, Lee Enterprise Inc.'s stock price gained 4 cents to finish at $28.71 and Journal Register Co.'s shares added 3 cents to end at $8.26.

The privately held publishers working with Yahoo are: MediaNews, Hearst Newspapers and Cox Newspapers Inc.

Some of the major papers involved in the partnership include the San Francisco Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Denver Post, Houston Chronicle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Dallas Morning News.

Despite Monday's cool reception on Wall Street, newspaper analyst John Morton praised the deal as a "hopeful development" for the industry.

"I'm used to the newspapers being very reactive, and here they're stepping out ahead for a change," Morton said. "Here, I think they've become much more agile in trying to adapt to things that are happening."

The industry tumult already has claimed one of the nation's newspaper publishers and thrown the fate of another into limbo.

Knight Ridder Inc. agreed to a $4 billion sale to McClatchy Co. in June after dissident shareholders confronted management about its inability to cope as more readers and advertisers go online. Another major publisher, the Tribune Co., also is on the sales block, partly because of financial pressures posed by the Internet.

This marks the second time this month that newspaper publishers have sought help from a major beneficiary of the online ad boom.

Mountain View-based Google recently started a three-month experiment to help sell print advertising for 50 of the nation's largest newspapers.

Yahoo's newspaper partnership is limited to online advertising, although it could cover several different formats. Besides working with Yahoo's HotJobs service for employment advertising, newspapers also hope to work with the company on posting both text-based and graphical ads around their news, entertainment and sports coverage.

Singleton, chairman-elect of The Associated Press, said the newly formed newspaper consortium hopes to persuade even more publishers to work with Yahoo.

But Merrill Lynch analyst Lauren Fine warned the Yahoo partnership could end up alienating the newspaper industry's three largest publishers by giving HotJobs a boost at the expense of CareerBuilder, an online employment ad service owned by McClatchy, Tribune and Gannett Co.

"We ... wonder if the Yahoo partnership splinters the newspaper industry, precluding newspapers from forming a national, industrywide consortium and migrating onto common platforms," Fine wrote in a Monday research note.

The deal also could hurt Monster Worldwide Inc., another HotJobs rival. Yahoo has been rumored to be considering a potential acquisition of New York-based Monster, but that now seems unlikely to come to fruition, Goldman Sachs analyst Peter Appert wrote. Monster's shares rose 15 cents to close at $44.94 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

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AP Business Writer Seth Sutel in New York contributed to this story.

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On the Net:

http://www.yahoo.com

List of top 15 cable shows in Nielsen ratings

Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of Oct. 19-25. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses:

1. NFL Football: Denver vs. San Diego (Monday, 8:30 p.m.), ESPN, 9.53 million homes, 13.47 million viewers.

2. National League Championship Series: L.A. Dodgers vs. Philadelphia, Game 5 (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), TBS, 5.71 million homes, 7.97 million viewers.

3. "White Collar" (Friday, 10 p.m.), USA, 4.03 million homes, 5.4 million viewers.

4. National League Championship Series: L.A. Dodgers vs. Philadelphia, Game 4 (Monday, 8 p.m.), TBS, 3.94 million homes, 5.64 million viewers.

5. "NCIS" (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.939 million homes, 5.14 million viewers.

6. College Football: Mississippi St. vs. Florida (Saturday, 7:27 p.m.), ESPN, 3.930 million homes, 5.66 million viewers.

7. "Monk" (Friday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.81 million homes, 5.41 million viewers.

8. "Penguins of Madagascar" (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.62 million homes, 5.14 million viewers.

9. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.61 million homes, 4.94 million viewers.

10. "The Jeff Dunham Show" (Thursday, 9 p.m.), Comedy Central, 3.5 million homes, 5.34 million viewers.

11. "NCIS" (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.49 million homes, 5.43 million viewers.

12. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.45 million homes, 4.85 million viewers.

13. "Suite Life on Deck" (Friday, 8:30 p.m.), Disney, 3.41 million homes, 5.18 million viewers.

14. "NCIS" (Wednesday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.27 million homes, 4.04 million viewers.

15. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.22 million homes, 4.32 million viewers.

___

ESPN and The Disney Channel are owned by the Walt Disney Co. Nickelodeon is owned by Viacom Inc. USA is owned by General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal. Comedy Central is owned by Viacom Inc. TBS is owned by Time Warner Inc.

___

On the Net:

http://www.nielsenmedia.com

B/N new solutions...

FLS REVEALS TAX SYSTEM

Federal Liaison Services Inc. has released the Client/Server FLS Year End Tax System. This software product offers a Client/Server solution with all of the functionality that existing single-user Windows customers enjoy. FLS has offered a highly successful DOS version of this product for several years and had released the single-user Windows version in January of this year. Pre-release interest in the Client/Server version has been high among existing DOS customers as well as single-user Windows customers seeking a full-service, multi-user solution for their year-end processing needs.

The multi-user FLS Year End Tax System provides full import, edit, re-issue, and correction of forms W-2, 1099, W2c, 941c and many other forms that employers use to report wage and tax information at the end of each year. In addition, FLS has partnered with Xerox Business Services and First Image to provide mass print services for these forms, with a fully populated FLS Year End Tax System returned to the customer as part of the overall product offering.

FLS, one of the fastest growing software development companies in the United States, continues to provide a wide variety of government compliance software and related services.

GDT ADDS CENTROIDS

Geographic Data Technology, Inc., (GDT) a developer of premier business geographics data bases, will begin incorporating deliverybased centroids into its 5-digit ZIP code boundary file to make it easier for customers to identify the population centers of ZIP codes. Current ZIP code products identify the geographic center of a ZIP code polygon, giving no indication of whether population is spread evenly throughout the ZIP code or located in only a section of the ZIP code.

Dynamap/ZIPs offer both delivery-based and geographic centroids to allow customers the flexibility to choose which centroid definition works best for their applications. A geographic centroid is a latitude and longitude coordinate point near the center of the ZIP code polygon. A delivery-based centroid is a coordinate point weighted toward clustered concentrations of street deliveries.

For example, a fast-food restaurant at the edge of a ZIP code may want to target customers within a five-mile radius for a direct mail campaign. If the restaurant uses geographic centroids to determine the ZIP codes within five miles, a large adjacent ZIP code may not be included in the selection because the geographic center (and perhaps even most of the ZIP code) is outside the five-mile radius. However, the majority of the delivery may be located in a section of the ZIP code that is within five miles of the restaurant. A selection using delivery-based centroids would include that ZIP code and expand the number of targeted potential customers for the restaurant's mailing.

The inclusion of delivery-based centroids is the latest enhancement to GDT's Dynamap/ZIPs. GDT created the industry's first five-digit ZIP code boundaries in 1984 and continues to be the industry standard for five-digit ZIP code boundaries with GDT ZIP code boundaries included in major demographics and mapping software packages.

Dynamap/ZIPs are updated continuously based on the latest information from the United States Postal Service. Released quarterly, Dynamap/ZIPs are available in ARC/INFO, ArcView GIS, DIME, MapInfo, Tactician and Urban formats.

NEW INTERNET BANKING

A new electronic commerce solution ideally designed for community banks has been made public by NCR Corp. The new Internet banking product, which is available as an in-house or outsourced solution, gives small- to medium-size banks the ability to provide their customers with Internet commerce for a fraction of the cost and requires far less infrastructure than other competitive offerings.

NCR's home banking alternative allows end-users to conduct a series of financial transactions securely over the Internet, including transfer of funds and account reconciliation. Banks are then able to drive programs and services to customers through their Web site, increasing revenue and providing innovative marketing avenues.

NCR is able to offer this costeffective solution by partnering with existing account processing customers who have the majority of their back office functions processed at an NCR service bureau. These customers can easily add Web services to their portfolio while leveraging off their current relationship with NCR, meaning lower than average costs and less required infrastructure. Banks that handle their own account processing can still benefit from NCR's Internet solution and bring the technology to their customers at a competitive price.

To date, NCR has contracts with more than 20 banks, with several customers in the implementation phase of the program. Nantucket Bank, a $200-million-asset bank located in Nantucket, Mass., was the first community bank to sign with NCR for the home banking offering, and now has more than 25% of the island's Internet users banking on-line since offering the service in April 1997.

"This solution literally costs about one-tenth of the cost of many other electronic commerce offering," said Mike Grabeman, vice president of NCR's customer information solutions division. "For a community bank that cannot afford to spend $500,000, this solution is an ideal option. It is completely secure and is designed in accordance with Internet standards, making it compatible with nearly every Internet browser and software package available."

NCR's expertise spans computer technology, support and professional services and understanding customer needs.

TRUST CLIENTS ONLINE

One of the first Internet-enabled trust software products for the financial services industry has been launched by SunGard Trust Systems. Portfolio Account Link (PAL) enables trust departments using SunGard's trust accounting systems to provide their customers with online access to their account data via the World Wide Web.

"It is a radically changing environment today in the trust industry," said Robert Clarke, SunGard Trust Systems Inc. president. "Trust executives find themselves competing with a wide variety of financial services companies that have enormous technology advantages. With Portfolio Account Link, SunGard customers can now 'leapfrog' over their competition and offer their customers information anytime, anyplace, anywhere. PAL will reduce our clients' incoming calls for account balances, speed up daily maintenance of their accounts and reporting, as well as provide them with a new service to offer their customers."

Two versions of PAL are available: Basic and detailed. Basic is suitable for the user who wants a quick and easy-to-understand report. Detailed is for the more sophisticated user, such as money managers, branch offices, and mobile workers/sales personnel who need more information from the portfolio.

PAL offers several key reports: Portfolio Review, a detailed report broken down into account summary, investments and transaction activity; Investment Detail, a complete explanation of the investments being held; and Tax Lot Listing, an alphabetical display of all holdings showing information about individual tax lots.

SunGard's customers running the Windows-based Charlotte System or AutoTrust software can deploy the PAL technology. In early 1998, Trustware Series 7 users will also have access to this technology.

SunGard incorporates advanced client/server technology at the client location with outsourced mainframe services provided by SunGard's Data Center. Each night, data from SunGard customer sites across the U.S. is uploaded to the SunGard Data Center in North Carolina. The data is processed and published to a secure Internet server. Trust departments choose which accounts will have Internet access. The SunGard Internet server is encrypted with Secure Socket Layer certificates preventing unauthorized access.

For more information on SunGard Trust Systems Inc., contact Steve Borst, 5510 77 Center Drive, Charlotte, N.C. 28224-0882, at 704-561-8355, fax at 704-5279741 or e-mail borsts@sungardtrust.com.

MARKETING DATA ON CD

A new, free multimedia CD released today by Experian Global Micromarketing Division provides a wealth of real-life targeting data, charts and maps to quickly inform marketers about the specific buying habits of the various consumer types found in the U.S. The information was gleaned from the U.S. MOSAIC market segmentation system, which classifies every U.S. microneighborhood in terms of 62 precise, targetable types.

The comprehensive, colorful CD describes how U.S. MOSAIC was built, illustrates the segments in the system, and shows how it is used to target consumers. It profiles the different U.S. MOSAIC types by their preferences for a wide range of media, food and beverages, financial products, cars and lifestyles. To allow the viewer to quickly visualize where these consumer types live, the CD also displays the market potential for the products in color-coded maps of the U.S. and in detailed maps of selected smaller markets.

Several reasons why U.S. MOSAIC provides an advantage over other U.S. segmentation systems include:

A powerful and cost-effective system: U.S. MOSAIC draws on demographic data to precisely segment consumer types, is more cost-effective and does not require proprietary software to use.

Links to dozens of other marketing services: Over three dozen firms specializing in research, market analysis, technology, etc. have linked U.S. MOSAIC with their own marketing products and services.

Easy to visualize: U.S. MOSAIC is easy to understand, visualize and explain to clients.

Multinational capabilities: U.S. MOSAIC offers a micromarketing system that works across international borders. Each country has a MOSAIC system customized to describe the consumer types in that particular nation. Also, each system can be classified according to 14 Global MOSAIC types for multinational marketing.

The free CD-ROM can be ordered by calling Experian at 703-299-8388 (fax 703-299-8334, email GoGlobal@experiangmd.com).

Ideal viewing requires a Pentium processor, 16MB RAM, a high color (16-bit) display, soundcard and Windows 95/NT.

POSTAL COSTS REDUCED

Businesses attempting to comply with the U.S. Postal Service's tougher presort regulations and hefty postage discounts on firstclass bulk mail may find relief from a new mail management solution developed by ESB Inc. and marketed by ESB and Berney Information Management Inc.

Berney Information Management and ESB hope to fill the void in mail products with ZIPZONE, a powerful software that automatically presorts and bar codes a company's bulk mailing list for postage savings of up to 8 cents per price. Firms that send more than 10,000 pieces of first-class mail a month typically can achieve pay back on their ZIPZONE investment in less than a year. Companies can save $2,000-$3,000 a month using ZIPZONE, depending on how many pieces they mail.

ZIPZONE is one of the first mailing software packages available on the IBM AS/400 platform. Although ESB plans to introduce a Windows-based version of the software next year, there is a definite niche for mail management software that runs on the AS/400.

"By printing accurate, easy-tofollow instructions for mailroom personnel, ZIPZONE also eliminates hours of guesswork during the mailing process," said ESB Vice President Steven Broadwell. "With ZIPZONE, presorting run times are measured in minutes instead of hours. Mail can move directly from conveyor to tray."

In a bank operations center, ZIPZONE sorts up to 50,000 checkimage statement records in less than 15 minutes. According to Berney, it takes a bank five hours to sort just half that many statements manually.

Berney Information Management and ESB are marketing ZIPZONE through software developers and resellers to mailers such as banks, cable companies, insurance agencies, utilities and brokerage firms.

ZIPZONE can run as a standalone solution, or be fully-integrated with another software product, such as an image-based remittance or check processing system. Systems integrators can distribute the mailing software to their existing users simply by providing them with a software update that can be loaded within minutes. ZIPZONE then appears as another option on each user's menu screen.

For more information on ZIPZONE software, contact David E. Berney at Berney Information Management Inc. or Broadwell at ESB Inc. at 205-988-4443.

Yachvili pulls out of Ireland match with back pain

PARIS (AP) — France will be missing veteran scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili when it takes on Ireland in Saturday's Six Nations rugby match against Ireland, with Morgan Parra stepping in to replace him at Stade de France.

Yachvili has failed to shake off a back problem, and will be replaced in the starting lineup by Parra, who will play alongside flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc, while Julien Dupuy has been drafted in to the squad as backup.

"I don't feel 100 percent fit," Yachvili said Thursday. "I think it's more sensible to rest and to get some treatment, so that I'm ready for selection as quickly as possible."

Parra and Trinh-Duc formed a successful halfback pairing when France won the Six Nations Grand Slam two years ago.

France coach Philippe Saint-Andre preferred not to take any risks with Yachvili's back complaint, and that calling up Dupuy so early gave him more time to get up to speed in training, should he be needed on Saturday.

"First and foremost, we thought about the player's well being," Saint-Andre said. "I'm obviously very sad for Dimitri, who always brings a lot to the France team with his experience, and I wish him a speedy recovery."

World Cup finalist France beat Italy 30-12 last weekend in Saint-Andre's first game in charge, while Wales edged out Ireland 23-21 thanks to Leigh Halfpenny's last-minute penalty.

Parra, who has 37 test caps and played in the World Cup final — albeit as a makeshift flyhalf selected ahead of Trinh-Duc — is expected to take kicking duties. He has kicked 51 penalties and one drop goal for France.

Dupuy, who has six caps, is also a reliable kicker.

"Julien Dupuy seemed an obvious choice given his international experience and the way he's started the season with Stade Francais," Saint-Andre said.

The 28-year-old Dupuy last played for France in a 39-12 defeat to New Zealand in November, 2009. His international career was then rocked as he received a 24-week ban for eye gouging on Ulster flanker Stephen Ferris, ruling him out of the 2010 Six Nations tournament.

France's squad also contains prop David Attoub, who received an even longer ban for gouging — also on Ferris. Attoub's initial 70-week ban was reduced to 52 weeks.

Social breakdowns important in 1995 heat deaths: book

The body count is not final, because this summer is not over, butthe weather will make its claim. Not like the 739 souls, mostlyrenters, whom Eric Klinenberg tolls in his new book, Heat Wave, ASocial Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago (University of Chicago Press),about the massively deadly 1995 heat wave, yet others will die justthe same.

Klinenberg, a Northwestern University assistant sociologyprofessor, paints a sad and critical picture of what he calls one ofthe great disasters of modern America. Klinenberg researches records,talks to officials, and interviews people who worked firsthand tocope with the withering effects of the heat index that reached 120degrees.

The majority of those who died lived alone--unconnected, wereelderly or incapacitated, did not have air conditioning or fans (andcould not afford the electricity), had no place to hide from theheat, and were so fearful for their safety they kept their windowsclosed, doors locked and so baked to death.

Klinenberg blames not only nature, but identifies the deadlytoxins of social and community breakdowns. He says civil leadersdenied the severity of what was happening, seemed to blame thevictims, and were bewildered and overwhelmed attempting to cope. Hecriticizes the media for missing the enormity of the catastrophe,with more deaths than the 1871 Chicago Fire.

Klinenberg believes citizens, governments and media are stillignoring the ongoing underlying causes. These include socialdisconnections within families, poverty, isolation and segregation ofthe elderly, lack of utility payment assistance, and a shortage ofdecent, affordable housing.

While Klinenberg praises the city for creating a plan thatincludes wellness checks, cooling centers and transportation, hepoints to electricity and water service shut-offs as disastrouslycounterproductive.

When there are so many to blame, it is easy for the community todisavow responsibility, says Klinenberg, since most of us are neitherfamily members of those in distress, nor have the technical skills orfinancial resources to care, comfort and correct.

Blame will not change the past, nor build the future. Can housingdevelopers be persuaded or mandated to set aside 30 percent of newconstruction for our lower-income population, as housing advocatesare demanding?

Should landlords be required to provide cooling and heatingappliances or maintain cool temperatures in summer, as they mustmaintain heat in winter? How will all these costs be shared?

Will dignified jobs with adequate pay appear and surmountneighborhood disintegration, poverty and crime? After this summer'sfunerals, what shall we do with Klinenberg's autopsy report?

Monday, March 12, 2012

German referendums on Olympics accepted

BERLIN (AP) — The people of Garmisch-Partenkirchen will vote on whether they are for or against their community hosting the Alpine skiing should Munich win its bid to stage the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Officials in Garmisch-Partenkirchen said two referendums — one for and one against taking part in the Olympics — had been accepted on Wednesday, the news agency DAPD reported. The vote is to be held on May 8.

A group of 59 Bavarian farmers and landowners in the town agreed earlier this year to cede their land for Olympic use after long negotiations. Because they have already signed the agreements, the outcome of the referendum would be largely symbolic.

Munich is running against Annecy, France and Pyeongchang, South Korea. The IOC will select the host city on July 6 in Durban, South Africa.

Soderbergh up front about latest movie

When you decide to go "Full Frontal," you have to take off morethan just your clothes. The stars of the new Steven Soderbergh filmstripped off some zeroes from their paycheck.

"Everyone got paid scale which is about three grand a week,"Soderbergh says. "I think Julia Roberts made a total of about $3,500for the shoot and Brad Pitt only got $650 because he had to do less.Then again, Brad made up for it at lunch because he eats a lot."

The hottest director in Hollywood laughs while gazing at shotsfrom his upcoming sci-fi movie "Solaris" starring George Clooney.Calling from his office in Los Angeles, Soderbergh says that thereare days like today when he likes the idea of less being more.

Soderbergh follows up his $183 million grossing extravaganza"Oceans' Eleven" with a $2 million, three-week shoot that's only asequel-in-spirit to his 1989 feature debut "sex, lies and videotape."The plot concerns what's real and not real in the land ofmoviemaking. One plot has an actor (Blair Underwood) falling in lovewith a magazine writer (Roberts) assigned to cover him. Meanwhile, awriter for Los Angeles magazine (David Hyde Pierce) gets fired on theday his business executive wife (Catherine Keener) begins to freakout at work.

David Duchovny is an unhappy movie executive stuck in a $500-a-night hotel suite where he calls for a massage and something more. Pitt plays a movie star stuck trying to elevate a lame action flickto new heights.

There are other rumors to clear up. Yes, Duchovny does show thefull monty. "He's naked for one quick shot during a scene where he'slying face up in bed. David was totally game for it, but audienceswill have to go back and freeze frame it to see anything which shouldhelp with DVD sales," Soderbergh quips.

Soderbergh was also game for a new moviemaking experience. He shotthe film on 35mm for a "reality TV" look. "The short productionschedule and the 35mm look was my anecdote to 'Oceans Eleven,' "Soderbergh says. "That movie was this big monster. Afterwards, I wasdesperate to have an experience where all I did all day was deal withactors."

Soderbergh has ascended to a short list of a few elite directorsin Hollywood whom actors mention that they want to work with anyplace, anywhere, any time. Clooney, who has formed a productioncompany called Section 8 with Soderbergh, says the director's appealstarts with the fact that he only chooses cutting edge material.

"Steven is a film snob, so that gets rid of about 90 percent ofthe ideas," Clooney says, laughing. "As for the good ideas, Stevenwill call me and say, 'You know I don't like too many things, but Ilike this and I know how to do it.' I just say, 'OK. Great.' Two dayslater, you're usually scouting locations," the actor says.

Soderbergh adds, "I can't promise the big bucks, but I do giveactors a sense of joy about coming to work. People show up for mebecause they want to be there and I think that feeling comes acrosson the screen, too. You can't fake that emotion on screen.

"I think they like me because I believe in State of the Unionmeetings. Everyone gets to voice their opinion at my meeting,"Soderbergh says. " A lot of directors are like, 'Will you just f------ show up and do this thing the way it's written and stop hasslingme. There are a lot of directors who don't really like actors and I'mnot one of them."

Soderbergh, 39, was born in Atlanta Georgia, as the second of sixchildren. When he was a little boy, his family moved to Baton Rouge,La., where his father Peter worked as the dean of the College ofEducation at Louisiana State University.

After high school, Soderbergh immediately went to Hollywood wherehe worked as a free-lance editor. Discouraged that he couldn't findwork on film sets, he returned to Louisiana and continued to make hisshorts and also began writing scripts.

His first big break was in 1986 when he got an assignment to shoota full-length concert film "Yes: 9012 Live." It earned a Grammynomination which encouraged Soderbergh to write "Winston" in 1987, ashort subject film that later he expanded into his criticallyacclaimed "sex, lies and videotape" (1989), a film that earned himthe Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Award and an Independent SpiritAward as Best Director. He also received an Oscar nod for BestOriginal Screenplay.

In 1998, he revived George Clooney's sagging film career with "Outof Sight" which was a box office smash. In 2000, he directed thecritically acclaimed back-to-back box office hits, "Erin Brockovich"(2000) and "Traffic" (2000). Both were nominated for Best PictureOscars and Soderbergh also received double Best Director Oscarnominations, winning a statue for "Traffic."

Soderbergh says that he isn't disgusted with the current state ofthe cinema.

"If the movies aren't interesting, I blame the filmmakers. I donot blame the people who are paying to see them. I don't expect theaudience to be visionary. That's not their job. The audience justneeds to show up," he says.

Distributed by Big Picture News, Inc.

Train engineer faced challenges in final years

In the years leading up to his death in the locomotive of a commuter train, engineer Robert Sanchez's life was marked by personal tragedy, jail time, and concerns about his health and job security.

His HIV-positive companion had committed suicide, he was concerned about his diabetes and he feared a brush with the law that could end the career he loved.

The National Transportation Safety Board is looking at Sanchez's background after determining human error _ and not mechanical or equipment failure _ was likely to blame for the collision Friday between Metrolink 111 a Union Pacific freight train that killed 25 people, including Sanchez, and injured 135 others.

The NTSB is examining the training, efficiency, personnel and medical records of Sanchez to determine why he blew through a red signal and failed to hit the brakes on Metrolink 111.

"We're not just limiting ourselves to the schedule he worked that day," National Transportation Safety Board member Kitty Higgins said. "We walk it back to see whether there was anything else that might be of significance in looking at the whole picture."

In addition to examining what Sanchez did moments before the collision _ including text messages sent from his cell phone while on duty that day _ investigators plan to look at his background and what he was doing in the days before the accident.

NTSB experts will look at his work, sleep, rest and eating patterns in the three days leading up to the crash, said Ronald Schleede, a former NTSB investigator who once headed a division specializing in human performance in transportation accidents.

That could lead to a deeper investigation and interviews with the engineer's peers and families and look at various records.

"It's not an easy thing to do; you can't put yourself in someone else's head, you can't really put yourself there and think what this person was thinking or see what this person was seeing," he said. "You can only deduce a little bit."

Friends said Sanchez was a friendly man, who was private and quiet unless he was talking about the two things he loved: trains and dogs.

"He was very outgoing when it came to socializing in the environment we all knew him in, which was the dogs," said Michelle Paulin, a professional dog handler who used to take Sanchez's Italian greyhounds to shows.

But he had his share of problems, starting with his guilty plea to misdemeanor grand theft in 2002 for stealing video game consoles from a store.

"One of his biggest concerns was how is this going to impact his career," defense attorney Wilson Wong said of his client's guilty plea. "He thought: 'Could this cause my career to come to an end?'"

Months later, on Feb. 14, 2003, Sanchez's partner, Daniel Burton, hanged himself in the garage of the home they shared in Crestline, a community in the San Bernardino Mountains about 80 miles east of Los Angeles.

Burton's sister, Carolann Peschell, said she suspected foul play and never believed her 39-year-old brother, who was HIV-positive, would have killed himself. He had found a job at a gourmet restaurant and sounded well when she spoke to him two weeks before his death.

"He was doing fine; he was happy, no signs of depression," Peschell said. "We didn't feel my brother was capable of doing this to himself."

Peschell, who described Sanchez as "very odd, very strange," said her suspicions were ruled out by San Bernardino County sheriff's investigators.

A coroner's report said the two men had argued the night before Burton's body was found; Sanchez had told Burton they should break up.

Peschell kept her brother's purported suicide note, which read: "Rob, Happy Valentine's Day. I love you. Please take care of yourself and Ignatia. I love you both very much." Ignatia was their dog.

Neighbors said Sanchez was a recluse, saying little to them during the last year of his life. But friend and fellow dog breeder Lilian Barber remembered Sanchez as well liked but lonely.

"He was always relentlessly upbeat. He always had a smile on his face," Barber, 77, of Murrieta, said Wednesday.

The two became friends in 2004 after she met Sanchez through a dog breeder referral service and he was trying to breed Ignatia. They attended a dog show together in San Francisco, then started going out to lunch together almost once a week.

"The problem with going to lunch with Rob was he would come back and talk to me and my husband for the rest of the day," Barber said. "He was pretty lonely."

Sanchez used to have a train route through San Diego County and moved to Menifee, in southeastern Riverside County, to be closer to work, Barber said. When he transferred to the Ventura County route, he moved to La Crescenta, a section of Los Angeles.

Attempts to reach Sanchez's family have been unsuccessful. Barber, who last spoke with Sanchez eight months ago, said Sanchez told her he grew up in a farming community in Nevada and was involved with the 4-H Club as a child.

In their last conversation, Sanchez told Barber that he was on his way to meet her and wanted to go to lunch, she said. When she replied that she was too busy, he said "that's fine" and abruptly hung up.

"I never realized I probably knew him better than anybody else other than his family. I don't think I knew him that well at all," Barber said. "I've missed him for the last year, to tell you the truth, because I was so used to seeing him regularly."

___

Associated Press writers Daisy Nguyen, Thomas Watkins, John Mone and Amy Taxin contributed to this report.

A state-by-state look at effects of Oct. snowstorm

A state-by-state look at some of the effects of the late October storm that shocked the Northeast over the weekend with up to 30 inches of snow. The wet, heavy snow accumulated on still-leafy trees and snapped off branches or toppled them altogether, taking down power lines. More than 1.7 million people were still without power Tuesday, and at least 23 deaths, including one in Canada, are blamed on the storm through traffic accidents, electrocutions or other causes.

— CONNECTICUT: About 677,000 customers still without power, down from more than 830,000, a number that broke the state record set by the remnants of Hurricane Irene in August. Communications disrupted because of damage to hundreds of cellphone towers. Passengers stranded for seven hours or more on tarmac at Hartford's airport after being diverted from New York-area airports. At least four deaths. President Barack Obama signs emergency declaration for federal aid.

— MAINE: About 300 without power, down from about 160,000.

— MARYLAND: About 3,500 without power, down from about 43,000.

— MASSACHUSETTS: About 347,000 without power. Delays on commuter rail into Boston. Dozens of school districts cancel classes; many communities call off Halloween trick-or-treating because of downed power lines. At least three deaths.

— NEW HAMPSHIRE: About 150,000 without power, down from more than 315,000. Shelters open for people without heat.

— NEW JERSEY: About 276,000 are still without power, down from nearly 700,000. Trains begin rolling on New Jersey Transit's Morris and Essex line. However, there are delays of up to 45 minutes. Service is suspended between Hackettstown and Lake Hopatcong. At least four deaths.

— NEW YORK: About 163,000 without power, down from more than 300,000. Dozens of motorists stranded up to 10 hours on snow-covered highways north of New York City. Crews race to clean fallen trees from Central Park before New York City Marathon the coming weekend. At least three deaths.

— PENNSYLVANIA: More than 110,000 without power, down from about a half-million. At least eight deaths.

— RHODE ISLAND: Service has been restored to nearly all of the 20,000 electric customers who lost power.

— VERMONT: About 7,500 lost power at some point. Areas devastated in August by remnants of Hurricane Irene reported 13 inches.

— WASHINGTON, D.C.: Trace of snow ties 1925 record for the date.

A timeline of Zimbabwe's political crisis

Recent events in Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe and his opposition rival have agreed to share power Thursday.

___

March 29, 2008: Zimbabweans vote peacefully in presidential, parliamentary and local council elections.

April 2: Opposition Movement for Democratic Change says its own tallies show its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won presidential elections outright with 50.3 percent of vote.

April 4: Ruling ZANU-PF party says there will be a runoff and endorses President Robert Mugabe as its candidate. Opposition goes to court to try to force release of all election results; court rejects demand.

May 2: Electoral Commission releases presidential results, saying Tsvangirai won most votes, but not enough to avoid runoff with Mugabe, the second-place finisher.

May 10: Tsvangirai, in South Africa, announces he will participate in the presidential runoff.

May 16: Electoral Commission sets runoff date as June 27.

May 17: Tsvangirai postpones his return to Zimbabwe after learning about a planned assassination attempt.

May 24: Tsvangirai returns to Zimbabwe.

June 3: Government orders international aid groups to suspend operations, after accusing them of campaigning for the opposition. Ban stays until Aug. 29.

June 12: Zimbabwe's No. 2 opposition official, MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti, is arrested at Harare airport upon returning from South Africa. He is later charged with treason, but granted bail and released from jail June 26.

June 22: Tsvangirai announces he is pulling out of the runoff, citing violence against his supporters.

June 27: A second round of voting is held. Tsvangirai's name remains on the ballot even though he withdrew. Residents say Mugabe's supporters force them to vote and the international community calls the runoff a sham.

June 29: Electoral officials say Mugabe won the runoff and he is sworn in for a sixth term.

July 21: Mugabe and Tsvangirai agree to discuss sharing power.

Sept. 9: Mugabe and Tsvangirai strike power-sharing deal.

TASTINGS AROUND TOWN

Mas

1670 W. Division

The restaurant is serving its new drink, the Prickly PearMargarita ($8), a savory, fruity, magenta-colored concoction that issaid to stop hangovers.

Dr. Jeffrey Wiese, a medical professor at the University ofCalifornia, has conducted a study for the Archives of InternalMedicine and found that prickly pear extract works to reduce theeffects of alcohol by reducing three of the most significant hangoversymptoms -- nausea, dry mouth and loss of appetite. Plus, foreveryone following a low-carb diet, the prickly pear fruit containszero calories, zero grams of fat and zero milligrams of sodium.

To make your own, mix 2 ounces Cabrito 100 percent Blue AgaveSilver Tequila; 1 ounce Triple Sec; 11/2 ounces fresh lime juice; 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice; 3/4 ounce fresh orange juice, and 1 ounceprickly pear juice. Add ice and serve in salt-rimmed glass. Garnishwith a slice of prickly pear. Call (773) 276-8700.

Que Syrah

3726 N. Southport

The fine wine shop is hosting a wine tasting 4 to 7 p.m. Aug. 20.Admission is $30. Call (773) 871-8888 or visit www.quesyrahwine.com.

Geja's Cafe

340 W. Armitage

The fondue haven is touting its debut of Amarula Cream Liquorcocktails. John Davis, restaurant founder, encountered the delectableAfrican drink on his recent visit to South Africa.

The liquor comes from the rare marula fruit, and is harvested andfermented in a process similar to winemaking and aged for two yearsin French Oak. This process produces rich, creamy liquor with hintsof caramel, butterscotch and chocolate.

In August, Geja's is offering special Amarula drinks atpromotional prices, including: Amarula over shaved ice, $7; WhiteNile Martini (Amarula, Cointreau, Creme de Cocoa), $7.50, and DarkContinent (Amarula and coffee), $6.

The first 50 customers to order a new Amarula drink at Geja's willreceive a free Amarula T-shirt. Call (773) 281-9101.

Inspiration Cafe

4554 N. Broadway

Nick Luedde, sommelier at Feast Restaurant in Bucktown, willdiscuss sparkling wines that go well with summer meals. Feast willprovide wine and hors d'ouevres for class participants.

The cost is $50. Proceeds will benefit the Inspiration Cafe, anonprofit restaurant and organization that aids the homeless. Forreservations or more information, call (773) 878-0981.

NEW IN BREW

(BULLET) Moet & Chandon has released its new four-pack of Moetminis, with a suggested retail price of $40 to $45. They're availableat many local liquor stores including Sam's Wines & Spirits andBinny's Beverage Depot, 213 W. Grand.

For more information, call (877) 774-7487 or visitwww.877spirits.com or www.moet.com.

(BULLET) The popularity of Australian wine continues to grow inthe United States. In fact, Australian wine sales increased 67percent in 2003 and Shiraz continues to be the country's fastestgrowing red wine varietal, reports Black Swan wines.

The winery has released three new blended wines ($9 suggestedretail price for each). The first is the Black Swan 2003 Shiraz-Merlot, a sweet, ripe plum-flavored vintage with a soft, velvetymouthfeel that pairs exceptionally well with meat dishes such asgrilled lamb and beef as well as rich pastas.

The Black Swan 2003 Shiraz-Cabernet is a wine with dark berryflavors and hints of black pepper. The Shiraz delivers brightraspberry flavors with a touch of spice, while the Cabernet providesrich blackberry flavors and fine grained tannins, giving structureand length to the palate.

Black Swan 2003 Chardonnay-Semillon combines Chardonnay's sweetmelon flavors with Semillon's lively citrus notes and overtones ofhoney. This refreshing white wine's clean, crisp finish makes it well-suited for seafood, salads and Asian cuisine.

The Black Swan Blends are available at: Miskas Liquor Store, 12435Western, Blue Island; DiCarlo's Armanetti Liquors, 515 N. Western,and Lake Wells Food & Liquor, 201 W. Lake. For more information,visit www.BlackSwanWines.com.

Send your libation-related events 14 days in advance to: TastingsAround Town, Chicago Sun-Times, 401 N. Wabash, Chicago, 60611; oremail to: cbusk@suntimes.com.

Sensing Danger

CIVIL

THE UNITED STATES has nearly 600,000 bridges, and more than 25 percent of them require major overhauls. Indeed, nearly 14 percent are structurally deficient. Most of the suspect structures are in the Northeast. case in point: In 2005, New York's Dunn Memorial Bridge, which spans the Hudson River, nearly collapsed after a support pier tilted and cracked. That's when Glenn Washer got involved. The University of Missouri-Columbia civil and environmental engineer won a $109,500 National Academy of Sciences grant to develop a high-tech sensor system that will alert officials when a bridge is in danger of tumbling down. The system will consist of about 20 sensors connected to a computer processor and attached to the bridges' support piers. Washer fears that the actual number of high-risk bridges may exceed 14 percent because inspections only occur every few years, and problems can crop up in the interim periods. "This device will be there every day" providing continuous data, Washer says. It should detect any cracks and tilts that could jeopardize a bridge's stability, helping to make catastrophic failures a thing of the past. -TG

[Sidebar]

New York's Dunn Memorial Bridege nearly collapsed in 2005.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Tokyo 4 strings out fine Russian fare

If the performers hadn't been taking the music so seriously andplaying so well, we might have been tempted to giggle midway throughthe Tokyo String Quartet's performance of Borodin's String QuartetNo. 2 Thursday night in Ravinia's Murray Theatre.

It's one thing to know that the piece contains famous melodiesthat the program notes delicately describe as being "used in thepasticcio musical `Kismet.' " It's another to hear the foursome intheir white dinner jackets launch into "Baubles, Bangles and Beads"and "This Is My Beloved" (or is it "Wandering Star"?).

But the tunes were oddly fitting in the all-Russian program thatopened with typically astringent Shostakovich and closed withtypically lush Tchaikovsky. All we needed was some Rachmaninoff toremind us of those overwrought movie scores churned out by Hollywoodcomposers in the 1950s.

There was nothing funny, however, about the way the Tokyomembers - violinists Peter Oundjian and Kikuei Ikeda, violistKazuhide Isomura and cellist Sadao Harada - played. The firstmovement of the Shostakovich sounded a bit glib; full of correctaccents, precise phrasing and little intensity. But from the secondmovement through the concert's final notes, the players werecompletely wrapped up in the music.

Written in 1960, Shostakovich's Seventh Quartet is relativelyshort and not as dark or dissonant as the best-known of his other 14quartets. But the second movement, with its spare texture andmelancholy themes, took on an appropriately wintry chill. The finalmovement's faster-paced theme had a perverse jauntiness, the twoviolins sounding slightly mad as they sawed and whined.

Throughout the concert, the Tokyo players were attuned to eachother, sounding like a single instrument even in the most abruptpauses or shifts of tempo or volume. Playing in unison, they gavethe famous Borodin theme the expansive sweep of a grand waltz. WithOundjian in the lead, they paused at the very peak of the themebefore plunging back into the unhurried, swirling dance.

Tchaikovsky's "Souvenier de Florence" was a rousing finale.Augmented by cellist Ralph Kirshbaum and violist Toby Hoffman, thequartet became a sextet that at times had the full-bodied sound of astring orchestra.

Individual players shone in the piece, especially Isomura andHarada, who filled the Rossini-like melody of the second movementwith intense passion. The players all but leaped out of their chairsas their bows bobbed over strings in the furious rush of the music'sfinal bars.

Pianist Ruth Laredo joins the quartet for its two final Raviniaprograms this weekend. At 8 tonight, they will play an all-Frenchprogram with pieces by Debussy, Franck and Ravel. At 3 p.m.tomorrow, the concert will feature Czech composers Janacek, Smetanaand Dvorak.

Driver admits killing girl, 4, in hit-and-run A Driver admitted killing a four-year-old girl in a hit-and-run crash while high on drugs.

A Driver admitted killing a four-year-old girl in a hit-and-runcrash while high on drugs.

Daniel Jackson, 31, drove his Jeep Cherokee along the pavement,striking Rachel Donachie and her daughter Olivia as they walked homefrom nursery.

The youngster was killed at the scene of the crash, which tookplace yards from the family's home in Redford Drive in Edinburgh.

Mrs Donachie, a mother-of-four, had to have her left legamputated below the knee as a result of injuries she suffered in theaccident.

At the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday Jackson admitted a chargeof culpable homicide in relation to the death of Olivia on May 30this year. Witnesses who saw …

Vonn falls in slalom

Sandrine Aubert of France won her first World Cup race by taking Saturday's slalom after first-run leader Lindsey Vonn of the United States clipped a gate in the second heat and was eliminated.

That meant Vonn failed to clinch the overall World Cup title for the second straight season, but she will still take a big lead into next week's World Cup finals in Are, Sweden.

Maria Riesch of Germany won the overall slalom title by finishing fifth.

Frida Hansdotter of Sweden was second and Nicole Hosp of Austria took third in Saturday's slalom.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Blue Jackets down hot Sharks in overtime

The Columbus Blue Jackets won 2-1 in overtime on Wednesday to beat a San Jose Sharks team that entered the game with the best early-season record in NHL history.

R.J. Umberger scored 2:55 into overtime to give Columbus its fifth straight win.

San Jose came in with 52 points, surpassing the 1929-30 Boston Bruins for the best start through 30 games in NHL history.

The Sharks' five-game winning streak on the road was snapped but they earned at least a point for the 15th straight game.

Rangers 3, Kings 2, OT

In Los Angeles, struggling defenseman Michal Rozsival scored on a penalty shot in the second period and then netted the winner in overtime, lifting New York over Los Angeles.

Rozsival doubled his output for the season as the Rangers won their third straight. They improved to 10-1-1 in overtime games, counting shootouts.

Flames 3, Wild 2, OT

In St. Paul, Minnesota, Todd Bertuzzi scored 3:48 the overtime winner as Calgary edged Minnesota.

Defeat spoiled the return of Marian Gaborik to the Minnesota lineup after 27 games missed through injury. He had a goal and an assist.

The Wild have lost six in a row.

Devils 5, Sabres 3

In Buffalo, New York, five New Jersey players scored in the win over Buffalo.

David Clarkson had a goal and an assist to lead the way for the Devils.

Canucks 4, Oilers 2

In Vancouver, British Columbia, Daniel Sedin scored twice as Vancouver downed Edmonton.

Curtis Sanford made 25 saves for Vancouver. He is 5-3 in eight starts since the Canucks lost All-Star goalie Roberto Luongo to a groin strain.

After a scoreless first period, the Canucks scored three times in the second period. They outshot the Oilers 13-4 and capitalized twice on the power play.

Monday, March 5, 2012

LEN ZIEHM'S MASTERS ODDS

1993 Player Odds Masters Comment Greg Norman 8-1 T31 Title is long overdue Jose-Maria Olazabal 10-1 T7 Has been close here before Fuzzy Zoeller 12-1 T11 '79 champ is best U.S. hope John Daly 15-1 T3 Course suits game to a tee Ray Floyd 18-1 T11 Won 1st …

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http://russianreports.aiidatapro.com/BTA_Securities_RU/BTAS_Daily_Update_28.10.2009.pdf)

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[ETH][ETH][ETH][ETH][ETH][pounds sterling][ETH][ETH][ETH] [ETH][ETH][ETH][ETH]'[ETH] [ETH] [ETH]'[ETH][ETH][ETH]:

[ETH]cents[ETH]3/4N[ETH][sup.3][ETH][cedilla] [ETH][sup.2][ETH]3/4 …