| Detroit @ Houston @ |
| ab r h bi @ ab r h bi |
| Grndrs cf 3 1 0 0 Bourn cf 3 0 2 0 |
| Polanc 2b 5 1 1 3 Kppngr 3b 4 1 1 1 |
| Dolsi p 0 0 0 0 Tejada ss 4 1 2 2 |
| MiCarr 1b 4 1 2 1 Ca.Lee lf 5 0 0 0 |
| Thams lf 2 0 1 0 Hwkns p 0 0 0 0 |
| JAndrs pr-lf-rf 1 0 0 0 Brkmn 1b … |
It started with a rumor that was soon widely reported as fact: ADC-10, on final approach to New York's Kennedy Airport, suddenlypitched violently to the left and nearly crashed.
As the story went, the loss of control was caused by afirst-class passenger who had turned on his portable compact-discplayer. Within days, major airlines as well as the Air TransportAssociation, the main trade-lobbying group of the airlines, reactedquickly to the story - perhaps too quickly.
Northwest Airlines announced new restrictions: The airlinebanned the use of CD players, laptop computers, electroniccalculators, FM radios, electric shavers, voice recorders andremote-controlled …
PARIS (AP) — Roger Federer's tough season is ending on a high, the Swiss star beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1, 7-6 (3) on Sunday to win his first Paris Masters and 69th title of a glittering career.
The 16-time Grand Slam champion had never previously reached the Paris final, but restricted the sixth-seeded Frenchman to limited opportunities after saving two break points in his opening service game.
"I'm just ecstatic to have played so well this week," Federer said. "I have had many attempts to win Paris and for some reason I wasn't able to. It's a special victory."
The former No. 1 will end the season without a Grand Slam title for the first time since 2002, and his …
Italian bishops said Tuesday that they are willing to cooperate with civil authorities to investigate any crimes allegedly committed by priests against children.
The bishops "don't oppose, rather support, a faithful collaboration with state authorities to ascertain the consistency of allegations," a statement by the Italian Bishops Conference said.
The statement was issued amid a swirling European clerical scandal. So far, only a few dozen cases in Italy have come to light in recent years. But even the Vatican's chief prosecutor said he feared a culture of silence has resulted in Italians not …
As much as reasonable people can be in favor of grabbing theproperty, and therefore the profits, of illegal drug merchants, aglitch developed in the way the government was doing it:
The Constitution.
In its zeal to punish drug profiteers, the government hasoverstepped the constitutional protections against the taking ofproperty without due process. And once again, for the third timethis year, the Supreme Court properly has stepped in to limit suchseizures. In its latest decision on Monday, the court ruled thatowners are entitled to a full hearing before homes and businesses canbe taken away from them. Last February, the high court ruled that itis wrong for the …
Forging a new policy toward Africa
Africa, and Africans, will indeed have a critical role to play in post-Clinton America and in fact, in the world itself. That reality was intently brought home this week, when during the orientation tour he took of the State Department that he now heads, Secretary of State Colin Powell tipped his hand on department priorities by making the Africa Bureau his first stop.
Africa holds much promise for the world -- if that promise can be properly mined -- tapping the best of its population and human potential, lessons on how to build a multiracial society and its massive natural resources that can benefit not just Africans, but the world at …
A blogger accused of leaking songs from the long-delayed Guns N' Roses album "Chinese Democracy" has pleaded not guilty to violating federal copyright laws.
Kevin Cogill appeared Monday morning in federal court in Los Angeles and entered the plea.
Federal authorities say …
Incoming acting Senate President Jeff Kessler will be bringingsome new faces into the Senate's top leadership team.
Kessler announced Tuesday afternoon that he's tapped Sen. JohnUnger, D-Berkeley, to serve as Senate Majority Leader; Sen. RichardBrowning, D-Wyoming, to serve as Majority Whip; and Sen. BrooksMcCabe, D-Kanawha, to serve as Senate president pro tempore.
The three will replace current Majority Leader Truman Chafin, D-Mingo; Whip Larry Edgell, D-Wetzel; and pro tem Joe Minard, D-Harrison, when the Legislature convenes Jan. 12.
The appointments came just more than a week after Kesslerannounced he had enough votes to modify Senate rules, …
COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Dozens of people were arrested after angry protesters threw cobblestones at police Thursday when an anti-terror squad started a disputed eviction of squatters from a downtown building, police said.
Three people were treated for injuries, including a German citizen who was hospitalized after being hit in the head with an object, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Two Danes were treated for minor injuries.
The highly publicized eviction has drawn ire from the squatters and other youth, who have viewed the former theater as free public housing for years.
Dozens of onlookers clashed with hundreds of police officers who took part in the …
Hindu activists have stymied an effort to put up a statue of Charlie Chaplin for use in a movie, claiming a monument to a non-Hindu close to their temple was offensive, the filmmaker said Sunday.
Hemant Hegde, a filmmaker who was building the 67-foot (20-meter) statue of the legendary Hollywood comic to use as a backdrop to a dance routine in his new film, told the CNN-IBN news channel he was forced to halt work by a band of Hindu activists.
"I'm really surprised that people would associate Charlie Chaplain with being a Christian and not allowing the statue," he said.
Chaplin, who was baptized into the Church of England, was a …
FUKUSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Japanese authorities say a moderately strong earthquake has struck the prefecture in northeastern Japan where workers are struggling to bring a leaking nuclear power plant under control, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injury.
The Magnitude 6.0 temblor hit Fukushima Prefecture shortly after daybreak Wednesday, the meteorological agency said. No tsunami …
Bridging the gap between art and science is the aim of a newcompetition at an Aberdeen university.
Students at the University of Aberdeen will be asked to use avariety of artistic methods, to represent the environment andecology of the Old Aberdeen campus.
The head of Zoology Dr Martyn Gorman and Professor of Soils andChange Pete Smith, are behind the idea.
The competition for first-year ecology and environment studentsstarts next month.
Dr Gorman said: "Entries could be photographs or paintings of thewildlife or habitats on the campus."
International consultancy firm RPS are supplying cash prizes forthe venture.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - George Washington's formula for success at the Atlantic 10 tournament was simple: Use pressure defense to force turnovers and turn the takeaways into points.
It worked well enough that the Colonials earned their third consecutive NCAA tournament berth with a 78-69 win over Rhode Island Saturday in the A-10 championship.
Carl Elliott scored 17 points and three teammates also scored in double figures for George Washington, but it was the Colonials' defensive intensity that left opponents off-kilter from the opening tap of the tournament.
In all three of its three games, George Washington forced at least 20 turnovers. The ripple effect was evident Saturday as the Colonials had 66 field-goal attempts to the Rams' 55. Dokun Akingbade scored a career-high 15 points and had a game-high nine rebounds.
"That was the key to us in this tournament: creating turnovers," coach Karl Hobbs said. "And in the midst of that, it allowed us to keep Dokun in for long periods of time and he was able keep them off the boards."
Maureece Rice scored 12 points and Regis Koundjia had 11 for George Washington (23-8), which won the conference tournament two years ago and was an at-large NCAA selection last year.
The 2005-2006 team went 16-0 in the regular season but lost in the conference tournament quarterfinals to Temple, then reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing against No. 1 seed Duke to finish 27-3.
Those accomplishments effectively lowered expectations for this year's team, a development that helped the Colonials when the conference tournament arrived.
"There was really no pressure on us," Rice said. "We played looser, played our game. That was the difference from last year."
Will Daniels scored a career-high 29 points for Rhode Island (19-14), which was appearing in its first tournament final since 1999. Jimmy Baron and Kahiem Seawright, who scored 17 points each in the Rams' 79-71 upset of top seed Xavier Friday night, were held to 10 and eight, respectively.
On many possessions, the Rams seemed hesitant to shoot and instead opted to make the extra pass or two, which frequently served only to run the shot clock down.
"They take you out of things and you have to slow it down," Rhode Island Jim Baron said. "We wanted to make the extra pass, be patient and be poised. You've got to make good decisions, but we just turned it over."
George Washington led by eight at halftime and by 11 midway through the second half but couldn't shake the Rams, particularly Daniels, who was the only Rhode Island player to score in the half's first seven minutes.
Daniels' dunk off a steal and a jumper by Keith Cothran cut the Colonials' lead to 66-62 with 2:55 left, but Akingbade scored in the lane and Rice sank two free throws to extend the lead to eight points. George Washington made 10 free throws in the final 1:38.
As in its quarterfinal and semifinal wins, George Washington's pressure defense took Rhode Island out of any rhythm it tried to establish early in the game. The Rams turned the ball over 15 times in the first half, leading to 19 points for the Colonials.
Three of the turnovers came in the final two minutes after the Rams had closed the gap to 40-36, and allowed George Washington to take a 44-36 lead into the intermission.
Rice was named the tournament's most outstanding player. He was joined on the all-tournament team by Elliott, Seawright, Daniels and Xavier guard Drew Lavender.
Smoking in British Popular Culture, 1800-2000. By Matthew Hilton. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, 2000. xvii + 245 pp. Illustrations. Cloth, $74.95; paper, $29.95. ISBN: Cloth 0-719-05256-4; paper 0-719-05257-2.
Reviewed by Jordan Goodman
Smoking is fascinating. It is a cultural activity that probably one-third of the world's population shares. To a smoker, it's an immensely pleasurable activity loaded with meanings from past and present and practiced with minutely crafted, largely unconscious, detail on sublime objects. To an ex-smoker, it's a strange mixture of reminiscences of practices, things, and associations past and anxiety about their recurrence in the future. To a nonsmoker, it's a vile, wasteful, dangerous, intrusive, weird thing to do, orchestrated by secretive and manipulative multinationals. Interestingly, while most people have an opinion on smoking and while there are countless treatises, both academic and popular, on its whys and wherefores, there has hardly been any serious sustained effort to understand smoking as a cultural phenomenon over time. This is precisely what Matthew Hilton has set out to do, and the result is excellent.
Hilton has chosen to explore smoking in Britain in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as a form of popular culture. The extended period he has chosen covers highly significant changes in what was smoked and by whom, and it is to Hilton's credit that these factors are not taken for granted but, instead, become the central objects of his analytical gaze. The nineteenth century opens with adult men enjoying their pipes and cigars and closes on the twentieth century, with youth and adults of both sexes caught up in smoking cigarettes. What happened here and what does it tell us about culture?
The core of the book is a sustained argument about the relation between smoking and self. This argument is built up through the book's three sections. The first, entitled "Culture," sets the scene of the nineteenth-century Victorian smoker, where the reader is first introduced to Hilton's insistence that a powerfully durable association between liberalism and smoking, between the individual, the object, and the practice, was first established. He shows, for example, how the pipe and cigar were molded into specific and individually distinct reflections and extensions of the bourgeois adult male. Backing, supporting, and fine-tuning the image was an array of magazines and periodicals, the most famous of which was Cope's Tobacco Plant, first launched in 1870. This and similar magazines helped to underline the cohesive nature of the male smoker's world, while celebrating their individuality, in a manner similar to specialized publications for professions such as doctors and lawyers. So powerful was the mutual reinforcement of liberalism and smoking that even the arguments of the various antitobacco movements that sprang up in Victorian Britain borrowed the ideological discourse of the target.
The second section, entitled "Economy" and concentrating on the period from the late-nineteenth century until the Second World War, begins with what most historians see as the key technological and business innovation of the tobacco industry of the last two centuries: namely, the mechanically produced cigarette and the multidivisional corporate enterprise. Pursuing his argument into this period, Hilton is less concerned with the innovations than he is with the cultural dialogue between the new object, the new producers and their new marketing tools (particularly advertising), and the actual and potential consumers. Hilton finds rich terrain to investigate masculinity, femininity, and juvenility as each was both fashioned by and fashioned the object of desire. Far from being a simple, homogeneous mass-- produced and marketed object of corporate capitalism, the cigarette, Hilton argues, was a nuanced commodity, which, in the fingers and mouths of its consumers, became transformed into a very personal effect and statement of individuality. Consumption, as seen through its practices, was manipulated not by advertisers but by individuals grounded in the ideology of nineteenth-century liberalism. The number of smokers grew enormously. By the end of the 1940s, around 80 percent of British men and 40 percent of British women smoked cigarettes regularly.
In "Science," the final section of the book, Hilton addresses the key tobacco issues of the postwar era, namely, the medicalization and politicization of smoking. He provides a succinct overview of the medical understanding of smoking, especially the link between cancer and tobacco. He also introduces many of the key players of the period, articulating the associations within which smoking became a political phenomenon. Never losing sight of his core argument, Hilton reiterates the association between liberalism and cigarette consumption, showing convincingly that popular understandings of, and reactions to, "scientific fact" were mediated by the same ideological props that first emerged with the pipe, the cigar, and the bourgeois Victorian man. Full circle. Hilton argues that smokers were aware of the dangers of their practices. Many stopped, and participation rates fell to an overall level of 30 percent. What maintained the levels was the cultural appropriation of the object, inasmuch as the image of smoking today as cool is beginning to drive levels upward.
Readers will have to make up their own minds whether Hilton's sustained argument works. He is careful to point out that his analysis may be specific to the British case, which, he concedes, has its own cultural peculiarities. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen. Smoking is, and has been, such a widespread phenomenon that one can be excused for wondering whether there are other explanations that bind this shared experience. For the moment, though, Hilton has produced an excellent book, which, it can be hoped, will act as a model for future work on the smoking behavior of other societies.
[Author Affiliation]
Jordan Goodman is a reader in history at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. He is the author (and coauthor) of a number of books and articles on science, technology, and health, including Tobacco in History: The Cultures of Dependence (1993) and The Story of Taxol: Nature and Politics in the Pursuit of an Anti-- Cancer Drug (2001). At present, he is writing a book about a British scientific voyage in the mid-nineteenth century.
Cider drinkers, vacation home owners and libel lawyers are among the early victors in Britain's looming general election.
All will benefit from the government's announcement Wednesday that it is dropping a host of planned tax and fee increases as it struggles to push through legislation before Parliament breaks up ahead of the May 6 election.
With just two days left, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party is abandoning its recently imposed 10 percent hike in cider duty, announced in its budget last month as part of its bid to tackle Britain's binge-drinking culture.
Other measures sacrificed included plans to scrap the existing tax relief on holiday homes, increase the fees charged by libel lawyers and impose a tax on every household with a landline telephone to pay for countrywide broadband. The government also was forced to drop a plan to make sex education compulsory for all 15-year-olds.
Labour has stressed that the proposals will be reinstated if it wins power in an anticipated tight election race. The most recent opinion polls point to the likelihood of a hung Parliament in which the Conservatives win a greater share of the vote, but not enough seats to secure an overall majority.
Concessions are a traditional part of the last-minute rush to secure the passage of legislation before an election, a time known as the "wash-up period." The parties usually engage in horse trading, sacrificing some measures to push through the bills they consider most important before Parliament is dissolved to allow leaders to hit the campaign trail.
These key pieces of legislation included a ban on the "legal high" mephedrone _ announced by the government last week and passed by the House of Commons Wednesday.
The government also hopes to pass the Digital Economy Bill, a contentious measure that will give authorities greater power to clamp down on illegal Internet file-sharers. The entertainment industry has been lobbying for the bill to combat online piracy, but critics say it could lead to Web sites being blocked and Internet users accused of file-sharing being unfairly cut off.
The opposition Conservative Party was quick to seize on the government's backtrack over measures that had met a negative reaction from the public.
The tax increase on alcoholic cider had been deeply unpopular, with the Conservatives painting it as a punitive measure on average Britons weary of the country's worst recession since World War II while bankers still collected bonus payments.
The tax increase will now expire June 30, after which cider will be subject the standard 2 percent increase announced in the budget for beers and spirits.
The landline tax, around 50 pence per month, and the changes to holiday home taxes that were expected to raise an extra 20 million pounds a year from 2011/12 had not yet taken effect.
"The Conservatives have forced the government to back down on three significant tax hikes _ on fixed phone lines, cider and holiday lettings _ that would have hit consumers and businesses in the pocket and damaged the recovery," said Philip Hammond, a Conservative Treasury spokesman. "But the threat couldn't be clearer _ if Labour is re-elected all three taxes will come back. Only a Conservative government will stop Labour's tax increases."
The legislation to cut the fees charged by libel lawyers was dropped after a rebellion by Labour lawmakers concerned it would deter lawyers from taking on cases.
Stephen Timms, the Treasury's chief secretary, accused the Conservatives of "being fiscally irresponsible, playing populist cards rather than reducing the deficit or protecting front line services."
Justice Secretary Jack Straw accused the Conservatives of holding up reform to the legislative system, forcing the government to abandon plans to phase out hereditary peers in the House of Lords by ending the system of by-elections when one of the existing hereditaries dies.
"The Conservative party talks about change. But behind closed doors they are blocking key legislation to reform our voting system and abolish hereditary peers," Straw said in a letter to his Tory counterpart Dominic Grieve.
WASHINGTON - Warmer weather for most of the country is the outlook for the coming winter, a top government forecaster said Tuesday.
But while many will welcome the mild temperatures, the winter forecast also calls for drier than normal conditions in the Southwest and Southeast, regions already struggling with drought conditions, said Michael Halpert, head of forecast operations at the Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Md.
The northern Plains and Northwest are expected to have near normal temperatures in winter - December through February - with the rest of the country warmer than normal, he said.
Wetter than normal weather is anticipated in the Pacific Northwest and in the Ohio and Tennessee valleys, according to the outlook from the CPC, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
---
On the Net:
NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov
Glen Mason can make Minnesota history if he can get his GoldenGophers into a third consecutive bowl game.
Mason has produced four all-Americans in his four years, includingpunter Preston Gruening from last season's 6-6 team and defensiveback Tyrone Carter, now with the Minnesota Vikings.
Mason could use Carter this year as the Gophers return only threedefensive starters--free safety Jack Brewer, defensive end Greg Whiteand cornerback Michael Lehan--from last season. Brewer is returningto the defense after playing wide receiver in 2000. Minnesota seldomproduced exciting offensive stars, the exceptions being JohnMcGovern, Herb Joesting and Bruce Smith before World War II, and PaulGiel, Sandy Stephens Tony Dungy and Darrell Thompson after it.
The Gophers, though, could be explosive this year with 6-3quarterback Travis Cole throwing to 6-3 Fred Biletnikoff Awardcandidate Ron Johnson. Cole also has the option of handing off andthrowing short passes to Tillis Redmon.
"Our challenges are almost exactly opposite of what we facedentering last season," Mason said of a questionable offensesurprising itself with a school-record 429 yards a game while thedefense allowed 57 fewer points than its opponents. "I am hopefulthat our young players on defense this year will respond to thechallenge the way our offensive players did a year ago."
Mason has to meet a challenge, too. An Ohio State grad, heinterviewed for the Buckeyes' head-coaching job that went to JimTressel. He told his Gophers he would resign if they had a problemwith that. They didn't.
Mason's return satisfied Johnson, who should break most ofMinnesota's receiving records this season after deciding to returnwith good friends like White.
Johnson gained receiving tips from his father, Ron Johnson Sr.,who was an important part of the Pittsburgh Steelers' "Steel Curtain"defense as a defensive back.
But not before trying his hand at baseball.
"Dad coached baseball in Detroit when we were growing up, sothat's what I did--baseball," Ron Jr. said. "It was weird, really,because it wasn't until I grew six inches in one year that I decidedI wanted to play football, too. That's when I learned the most frommy dad. He never forced football on me.
"I remember hanging around when he was with the Steelers, andtalking before the game with guys like Franco Harris. I was too youngto know what was going on, but later on I watched home videos ofdad's games [1978-1986] and got some pointers that way. My dad'smodest. He doesn't even wear his [Super Bowl] rings, but I like tolook at them."
Johnson's challenge is to help the Gophers win while stillmanaging to gain the Biletnikoff Award for being the nation's bestreceiver. He is just 29 catches and 496 yards away from the schoolrecords of Tutu Atwell (1994-1997), and already he holds the mark forcareer TDs with 18. His streak of 35 consecutive games of making atleast one catch is the longest in Minnesota history and fifth-best inthe nation.
Johnson didn't seriously think of turning professional last seasonwhen he caught 61 balls for 18.4 yards a play and 11 TDs.
"I was told I'd go fairly high, but I felt I needed another yearof maturity," he said. "That, and I think we have a really good teamthis year. I want to be part of it."
The returnees also want to be part of making up for adisappointing 38-30 Micronpc.com Bowl loss to North Carolina Stateafter building a 24-0 lead. Redmon had a huge game that day, runningfor 246 yards, the fourth best game in Minnesota history.
Redmon had 2,024 all-purpose yards for the season while Cole's137.6 passing efficiency was 16th in the nation in just half aseason.
An experienced line is ready to get downfield for Redmon and dropback for Cole and fellow QB Asad Abdul-Khaliq. It averages 6-51/2 and306 pounds, including tackles Jake Kuppe 338 and Matt Anderle 316,plus center Derek Burns, who has to replace two-time all-American BenHamilton.
Enthusiasm and quickness will be strengths on defense whereexperience sorely is lacking.
"I felt a lot better after our spring practice," Mason said. "Thewhole unit had a great attitude and worked together as a team. I feelwe are headed in the right direction."
Brewer had something to do with that. Surrounded by freshmen andsophomores, last season's wideout-kick returner moves back to his1999 position of free safety while converted running back Lehananchors a cornerback spot. Strong safety Eli Ward is back afterstarting in the Micronpc.com Bowl.
White is so versatile as a pass rusher and linebacker that he willmove around depending on the situation. He will have to with as manyas four redshirt freshmen preparing to make contributions atlinebacker and on the defensive line.
Mason has weapons in punter Gruening and place-kicker Dan Nystrom.Gruening led the nation with 44.5 yards a kick last year whileNystrom, a Lou Groza Award candidate, tied Michigan's Remy Hamiltonin 1994 for Big Ten field goals with 25, including 14 in a row.
MINNESOTA
AT A GLANCE
Site: Minneapolis.
Coach: Glen Mason (22-25 in four seasons).
2000 record: 6-6 (lost 38-30 to North Carolina State inMicronpc.com Bowl), 4-4 Big Ten (tied for fifth).
Starters returning: 14 (nine offense, three defense, plus punterand place-kicker).
Players to watch: WR Ron Johnson, RB Tellis Redmon, S Jack Brewer,LB-DE Greg White, CB Michael Lehan, P Preston Gruening, PK DanNystrom.
It's good news if: Travis Cole makes a quarterback impact afterbacking up running QB Asad Abdul-Khaliq the first half of lastseason; Tellis Redmon, with 2,024 all-purpose yards, stays healthy;depleted defensive line adjusts; shift of key players to otherpositions works.
It's bad news if: Inexperienced defense doesn't jell by Sept. 29Big Ten opener against vaunted Purdue, which netted 531 yards againstthem last fall. Away games against offense-minded Illinois andNorthwestern follow Purdue game. And there is no let up in the restof its Big Ten schedule.
The bottom line: Where's Bronko Nagurski when you need him? TheGophers are counting on redshirt freshmen to step up on defense whereonly two starters return, not including Jack Brewer who is movingfrom offense.
Key games: The nonconference games look easy, but the Gophers areon alert for Aug. 30 opener at Toledo, a Mid-American Conferencepower that went 10-1 last season, including a win over Penn State.Sept. 29 vs. Purdue. Boilermakers think redshirt freshman BrandonHance will smoothly step into the shoes of Drew Brees, who threw for409 yards and ran for 88 more against Gophers last season. "MurderersRow" continues with NU, Michigan State, Ohio State and Michigan.Final game Nov. 24 vs. Wisconsin could determine bowl.
MINNESOTA SCHEDULE
Aug. 30 at Toledo
Sept. 8 La.-Lafayette
Sept. 15 Baylor
Sept. 29 Purdue
Oct. 6 at Illinois
Oct. 13 at Northwestern
Oct. 20 Michigan State
Nov. 3 Ohio State
Nov. 10 at Michigan
Nov. 17 at Iowa
Nov. 24 Wisconsin
NEXT: IOWA
The April 5 commentary "Laptops don't teach students to stand ontheir own" concerning the I-Connect Initiative deserves a vigorousrebuttal. The I-Connect Initiative (H.B. 5244) is an innovativeprogram that will provide personal laptop computers to seventh-graders and their teachers in 148 public schools across the state.This initiative is essential for the students of Illinois to becomeproductive members of our information age economy.
Technology is utilized in the home, the workplace and all otherspheres of our modern life. Students must be prepared to usetechnology to advance and therefore empower themselves. Those who donot have access to 21st century technology are in danger of beingleft behind.
As chairman of the Broadband Deployment Council, I have traveledthroughout the state, and I've seen first-hand how technology canenhance learning. Our state cannot allow our students to fall behindstudents in other states who are participating in similar and widelysuccessful programs. The Maine Learning Technology Initiative hasseen increased student motivation in schools across Maine, andwriting test scores are on the rise since the implementation of thatprogram.
Michigan's Freedom to Learn program, a similar technologyinitiative, has demonstrated a strong impact on student learning.Students are showing marked improvement in reading, writing andscience standardized test scores.
The I-Connect Initiative will also provide professionaldevelopment opportunities for teachers to learn how to infusetechnology into daily lessons. It will enhance student learning withnew tools and resources that build on established learningprinciples.
Laptops are the textbooks of tomorrow, and granting access tostudents will transform them into 21st century learners. Thisinitiative will enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skillsby equipping students with the tools our professionals have.
The I-Connect Initiative is now before the Illinois Senate. Pleasecontact your state senator and urge support of the I-ConnectInitiative.
Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn
Sen. Joe Lieberman has changed his tune on Barack Obama.
After campaigning across the country for Republican John McCain in 2008 and attacking Obama as naive, untested and unwilling to take on powerful special interests, Lieberman now showers praise on the popular new Democratic president.
"He's shown real leadership," Lieberman told The Associated Press in an interview. "Bottom line: I think Barack Obama, president of the United States, is off to a very good start."
The Connecticut independent, who faces re-election in 2012 in a state where Obama is popular, is eager to mend fences with Democrats still fuming over his criticism of Obama during the general election campaign.
Lieberman has applauded Obama's national security team. He gushed over Obama's "inspirational and unifying" inaugural. Lieberman even played a key role helping Obama win Senate passage of the economic stimulus plan.
As if to underscore the point, Lieberman has even clashed on the Senate floor with his pal McCain over the stimulus plan and a District of Columbia voting rights bill.
"I don't think of Joe as the independent, I really think of Joe as a Democrat," said Lieberman's home state colleague, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.
It's a striking turnaround from the days when Lieberman was a fixture at McCain's side during campaign stops. McCain had even considered making Lieberman, who nearly won the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket with Al Gore in 2000, his running mate.
"Do I think it is more principle or politics?" said Quinnipiac University Poll director Doug Schwartz of Lieberman's moves. "It is a tough question."
Lieberman's campaigning for McCain hurt him with Connecticut voters, particularly Democrats, Schwartz said.
Connecticut's Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is mentioned as a possible 2012 Senate Democratic candidate, would beat Lieberman by 28 points in a hypothetical matchup, a recent Quinnipiac poll showed.
Lieberman scoffed at any suggestion his embrace of Obama is more about political expediency than principle.
"I haven't changed ... I've always had a voting record that is more with the Democrats than with the Republicans," he said.
Many Democrats still chafe at how Lieberman needled Obama during his Republican National Convention speech with the line "eloquence is no substitute for a record."
Or when Lieberman cast the race as a choice between "one candidate, John McCain, who has always put the country first, worked across party lines to get things done, and one candidate who has not. Between one candidate who's a talker, and the other candidate who's the leader America needs as our next president."
Lieberman said he understands why he struck a nerve with Obama's backers.
"We were in the middle of a campaign and we just plain disagreed ... When I said those things not only did I believe them, but I believe looking at the records of the two people then, they were right," Lieberman said.
Lieberman said he never meant to suggest that Obama did not put his country first. Lieberman said his words were "too subject" to that interpretation and that he wishes he had spoken more clearly.
After the election at Obama's urging, Senate Democrats decided not to punish Lieberman. They voted to let him keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Obama was eager to strike a bipartisan tone for his presidency.
"President Obama played a very important role, he was very gracious," said Lieberman, who has since called Obama to thank him. "That obviously sealed the deal and I appreciated it a lot."
Liberal bloggers fumed. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, called it a "slap in the face" for millions of Americans who backed Obama.
But Democrats need Lieberman's support in a chamber where it takes 60 of the 100 senators to overcome the threat of a Republican filibuster. They feared punishing Lieberman could drive him to the GOP. Lieberman remains a registered Democrat and caucuses with Senate Democrats.
Lieberman was re-elected in 2006 as an independent after losing his state's Democratic primary to wealthy businessman Ned Lamont, an anti-war candidate.
Top Democrats like Dodd and Obama who had supported Lieberman in the primary instead backed party nominee Lamont in the fall race. Lieberman was disappointed that some old friends weren't loyal to him.
"Joe is gonna do what's in his interest politically because he had a near-death experience," said Tad Devine, a Democratic strategist who advised Lieberman in 2000. "Losing the party nomination has given him enormous freedom to think and to do as he wants."
___
On the Net:
Perhaps the return of a live, local talk show at night can helpjump-start the ratings for urban/talk WVON-AM (1690).
That's the hope at Midway Broadcasting, where the Saturdayafternoon team of Matt McGill and Perri Small shifted this week tothe 7-to-10 p.m. Monday through Friday slot.
They replace Michael Eric Dyson, whose syndicated talk showlasted seven months.
"Matt and Perri are knowledgeable, entertaining, funny, seriousand compelling," said program director Jerry Riles. "They bring adifferent flavor to WVON, and having them in this time slotstrengthens WVON as 'The Talk of Chicago.' "
Despite its switch last fall from a part-time signal at 1450 AMto a full-time, stronger signal at 1690 (and a move to new studios),WVON has been having a tough time in the Arbitron ratings.
For the first two months of the winter quarter, it averaged a 0.6percent audience share -- lower than the previous three quarters.
DIALING
'Idol' offer from B96
- Is there a future for Sanjaya Malakar on Chicago radio?
The spectacularly untalented "American Idol" finalist has beenoffered $10,000 to co-host for a week on CBS Radio Top 40 WBBM-FM(96.3) with morning personalities Eddie Volkman, Joe Bohannon andErica Cobb.
No response from Malakar yet. But "The Eddie, JoBo, Erica &Sanjaya Show" does have a ring to it, don't you think?
- Restaurateur Dutchie Caray, widow of legendary baseballannouncer Harry Caray, is appearing with Jonathon Brandmeier on thebacks of CTA buses. They're featured in ads for Johnny B.'s morningshow on Emmis Communications' classic rock WLUP-FM (97.9).
"Listeners are aware of Johnny's crush on Dutchie throughnumerous live interviews with the famed Chicago icon who hascontinued Harry's legacy long after his death," explained TommyKing, director of marketing for Emmis Chicago.
"With baseball season heating up, it's topical and buzz-worthy toassociate Johnny and the Loop with Dutchie and her ties with thesport. If you don't know it's Dutchie, you might know that Johnnyhas a thing for older women and sings proudly of them in the song'Older Women' with the Leisure Suits."
Earlier this month, King unveiled billboards for alternative rocksister station WKQX-FM (101.1) featuring Bob "The Price Is Right"Barker.
- Thursday is "Celebrity Day" at CRIS Radio, the nonprofit radioreading service under the auspices of the Chicago Lighthouse forPeople Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired.
Among broadcasters filling in as guest readers will be JohnRecords Landecker, Rich "Svengoolie" Koz, LeeAnn Trotter, KathyVoltmer, Christine Moran, Ken Southern and Mike Kendall.
TRACKING
'Shoot-Out' lines up stars
- A stellar roster of current and former Bears, Cubs, White Soxand Blackhawks will compete in the 14th annual "Chrysler All-StarShoot-Out," the 10-week, $100,000 charity golf series to air lateSunday nights on ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7, starting June 24.
This year's lineup includes Mark DeRosa, Carlton Fisk, RobbieGould, Jay Hilgenberg, Hunter Hillenmeyer, Bo Jackson, Brad Maynard,Stan Mikita, Jim McMahon, Ron Rivera and Denis Savard.
The series, hosted by Mark Giangreco and Tracy Butler, will betaped June 11 at Kemper Lakes Golf Club in northwest suburbanKildeer. It's a co-production of Nick Aronson's Beat the ProEnterprises and Channel 7.
- Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper, co-host of the nationallysyndicated "Ebert & Roeper," will be featured as a contributor to"Larry King: 50 Years of Pop Culture," a two-hour special markingthe CNN star's 50th anniversary in broadcasting.
The documentary will air from 8 to 10 p.m. Wednesday on CNN.
feder@suntimes.com
Azzolina, Jay, jazz guitarist; b. Meriden, Conn., Dec. 23, 1952. Azzolina studied classical guitar at Hartt Coll. of Music in Hartford, Conn. (1971–72), then studied with Pat Metheny and Mick Goodrick at Berklee (1972–76). A thoughtful and creative soloist, he has worked with Spyro Gyra (1989–91, including two LPs), Michael Franks (since 1993), and various others, including Herbie Mann, Jaco Pastorius, and Paul Motian. He has also made recordings with Jeff Beai, David Mann, and Harvie Swartz. Azzolina has taught at the West End Sym. outreach program since 1981, and at various N.Y. colleges since 1986, including S.U.N.Y. in Purchase (since 1992) and Manhattanville Coll. (since 1996). He earned an M.F.A. from Purchase in 1995.
Never Too Late (1988).
—Lewis Porter
OMER FAST
POSTMASTERS
The interviewees who appear in Berlinbased artist Omer Fast's new two-channel video installation Godville, 2005, are actors who inhabit Colonial Williamsburg, an eighteenth-century town turned theme park that's known in trade parlance as a "living-history museum." Fast began each interview as if questioning the historical character-militiaman, mother, slave-and then led each subject gradually toward the present, toward reflection on the act of inhabiting a character from an earlier time.
This would he rumination enough tor some filmmakers, but Fast intensifies the project by cutting and reassembling the interviews, ignoring the boundaries between past and present to create a netherworld-a time out of time. Here ideas, sentences, even words are created by the filmmaker, and historical continuity is replaced by fragmented narrative. For example, as we listen to a single sentence assembled from different parts of an interview, we see the sunlight, filtering though historically accurate bedcurtains, changing from early-morning cold to afternoon warm and back again.
The purpose of this manipulation is to dislocate the viewer, but it is possible, with sufficient concentration, to piece together various fragments of the original interviews. At times, Frances-dressed in gown, corset, and workingman's gloves and speaking in a measured, theatrical cadence about raising her sons-seems to exist firmly in the past. At others, when she takes her gloves off, for example, she seems more a part of the present. But these clues, like many others, turn out to be red herrings. Ultimately, the problem is too complex to solve. Godville works against not only narrative logic but also the idea that knowledge of the past grounds us in the present. Frances, gloves on or off, seems not to know which era she lives in; while telling the story of the death of her character's sons in the Revolutionary War, she begins to cry with startling (and creepy) realism.
Any smugness we might feel about our contemporary racial tolerance and general open-mindedness is undone by Will, who plays a slave in the museum and delivers a terse condemnation of the kind of empathy tourism that the living-history museum encourages. Following his speech, he delivers, in a preacherlike voice, the work's powerful coda: a long Dylan Thomas-style incantation of God's manifestation, a vision of the creator that's all-encompassing-both hopeful and despairing-and may have been created entirely by the artist.
After watching the video, we are left wondering what was scripted and what (if anything) was spontaneous, what represents Fast's interpretation of what was meant and what might serve his larger themes. Even when the interviewees turn hostile at various points in the video, deriding the artist's attempt to understand their lives and predicting that he'll edit the interviews to fit preconceived ideas about his subjects that are at best inaccurate, we are well aware that these tirades may or may not represent their actual views. They may even represent the artist's anxiety about the ambiguous morality of his project rising like a bruise to the surface.
Themes of time, history, and truth have been well mined in contemporary art; it is hardly unusual to be told that what we hold to be truths about the past are as flimsy as a stage set. Fast, one of whose previous projects involved interviewing extras (some who played Jews and some who played Nazis) from Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993), certainly trafficks in these themes-asking why Americans revisit history in this particular fashion, evoked to order by people whose identities are both real and assumed, colorfully attired yet consumed by everyday reality. But Godville goes further, showing us a set of possible consequences of living in a world of shifting truth, in a world where intimate familiarity with the past does not so much arm us for the future as disarm us in the present.
-Emily Hall
[Sidebar]
Omer Fast, Godville, 2005, two-channel video projection, 50 minutes. Installation view.
UNIONDALE, New York (AP) — The New York Islanders have signed rookie standout Michael Grabner of Austria to a five-year contract, keeping him away from free agency.
The Islanders announced the agreement with the NHL rookie of the year finalist on Friday.
Grabner was the Islanders' leading scorer with 34 goals in his rookie season. The 23-year-old also led all NHL rookies in goals scored, and was second in the league with six short-handed goals.
Grabner had a 20-game stint with the Vancouver Canucks during the 2009-10 season, then was claimed off waivers by the Islanders from the Florida Panthers just before the start of 2010-11 season.
He had been eligible for restricted free agency on July 1.
You'd think it was no big deal: For the past two years, there have been no bank failures. But it is a big deal. Since the Bank of Ephraim (Utah) went under in June 2004, not a single one of the nation's 7,508 federally insured banks has failed. Not since the FDIC was established in 1933 had there been a year without a bank failure, and now we have had a two-year period without a blemish on the record.
Does that sound like the free market to you, an industry of thousands of businesses, not one of which took a dive and couldn't get off the canvas? What's really remarkable is that one would expect, in a profitable industry, to have a flood of start-ups flaming out in a blaze of bad loans and other foolish uses of initial capital. In the old days, one might have said this is a great example of an overregulated industry, protecting fat and happy banks from new competitors. Yet starting a new bank today is, in itself, no big deal: Though the pace of new charters has slowed slightly, in the last three years some 264 new banks have opened their doors.
So, why is this? Why does our industry seem to be working so well-arguably better than just about any business segment in the country? We'll credit...
That old rising tide. Or, in the memorable words of James Carville, "It's the economy, stupid." O.K., granted, it would be a little disingenuous for bankers to pat themselves on the back without admitting it's been a pretty nice environment out there-2005 was the fifth straight year of record bank profits, nearly 10% ahead of the previous year. But still...
The regulatory system actually works. Bank regulation, spearheaded by the once-revolutionary FDIC insurance, has made it possible for this country to support not only thousands of community banks, but to have competitive Global Top Ten's as well. And when the S&L crisis hit, the 1989 legislation-the much-despised FIRREA-was pretty much what the doctor ordered. Some would argue this is a gross simplification-a little like crediting Homeland Security with the lack of terrorist attacks-but the regulatory system really does seem to be working pretty well.
A for-the-most-part graceful entrance to the information age. New information technologies have had a huge impact on giving bankers a better handle on credit quality, monitoring of loans, and gauging the profitability of products and services. Managing the bank isn't any easier, but the financial technology available is a quantum leap forward from what bankers worked with 20 years ago.
The durability of the branch bank. Seems like yesterday when bricks and mortar was on its way out as a strategy, swept aside in a tidal wave of ATMs and telephone bill-paying and Internet banking. Didn't work out that way. Customers want a local touch, a place to go, a teller to hand back the receipt now and then, even as they demand the services and products that technology and the Internet have ushered in. As a result, community banks have benefited from the very local character that was supposed to do them in, and the big retail banks that have prospered have done so by creating large branch networks that enable them to compete with the locals-ironically, not the other way around.
Rugged-in-the-trenches American competitiveness. Who knew, when bankers started to worry about disappearing spread income, that banks could become this good at developing new sources of fee revenue? Who'd have predicted that banks would be able to securitize loans as effectively as the larger banks have done, selling them, syndicating them, and constantly developing new ways to manage the balance sheet and mitigate risk? Or that boring old mortgage lending would be turned into an earnings engine for so many banks that a few years ago weren't even in the business? Who'd have guessed that instead of shrinking the landscape, banks in 2006 would be providing Americans with over 90,000 separate offices, up more than 2,200 in the last year alone, in which to handle their banking?
Anyone who has read this magazine over the past 16 years knows that we've rarely been cheerleaders for the industry, that we've often been no fan of banking reform, and that we're sometimes critical of individual banks. With every banker we know fingering the worry beads about inflation, a flattening yield curve, and next quarter's earnings, it seemed a good time to look on the bright side of the recent past. It's been quite a run.
William B. King
[Author Affiliation]
William B. King is the founder and chairman of Board Member Inc., which publishes Bank Director and Corporate Board Member magazines.
Thornton just shouldn't expect it to include any yuletide spirit.
The 6-8, 258-pound Scott fired back at Thornton after practice Thursday for his assessment of the Blackhawks as a bunch of "chirpers."
Thornton also threatened to "deal with" the player who taunted him Tuesday as he skated to the locker room after suffering a gash above his right eye in a collision with Fernando Pisani that required 40 stitches.
"That's fine; he can say all he wants," Scott said when told of Thornton's characterization of the Hawks. "He was going after some of the littlest guys on our team and trying to fight them.
''He's trying to challenge Pisani to a fight. What does that say about him? He's Mr. Tough Guy trying to challenge Pisani?
"He's more than welcome to come and chirp at me. I'll kick the [expletive] out of him."
Thornton told reporters after Boston's 3-0 victory to "not be afraid to send him a Christmas card" if they ever found out the player in question.
"There was some stuff said that I'm not happy about," Thornton said. "I'm going to find out who it was, and I will deal with it in my own way."
The Hawks who were available to the media after practice didn't feel their team talks more trash than any other and tried to minimize the extent of what was said to Thornton.
"Everybody talks," Pisani said. "Everybody tries to get under each other's skin.
''It's that time of the year; emotions are high. Everybody knows what's at stake, and guys are just trying to bring an edge to their game. . . . But to say that we do it more than any other team, I think every team does it."
And Scott said that getting chirped at simply comes with the territory of being an enforcer.
"I take some abuse,'' Scott said. ''I give it out. It just goes with the business.
''I've been hearing it for years."
For the record, Scott also called Thornton a "stand-up guy" and said that he probably wouldn't trash-talk a player who had just suffered an injury like the one Thornton did when he was cut by Pisani's skate.
Still, Thornton received little sympathy from Scott.
"He was kind of being cheap that game, so whatever,'' Scott said. ''He gets what comes to him."
Hawks enforcer John Scott says Bruins tough guy Shawn Thornton can say all he wants. Scott says getting chirped at comes with the territory when you're an enforcer. | tom cruze~sun-timesTom Cruze
Video of AMS Headquarters Now Available
In the summer of 1999, the AMS Executive Committee approved special initiative funding in response to a request from the Local Chapter Affairs Committee for the creation of a video that could be provided to local chapters to present a view of the historic character of the AMS Headquarters building, as well as a glimpse of activities that take place there. The video was produced during the fall and is now available.
A significant portion of the video highlights the historical aspects of the third Harrison Gray Otis House on Beacon Street, which serves as home to AMS Headquarters, and how the AMS came to obtain it. The video also shows how the house is being used now to serve the membership and the scientific community. Through interviews with some of the staff members, it describes some of the major programs of the Society.
Two days were required to properly light and shoot the museum-like atmosphere of the building. A third day was used to capture the everyday working environment at Headquarters. A final day was needed to film interviews of key AMS personnel describing the responsibilities of each of the departments, such as meetings, membership services, publications, etc. A copy of the 30-minute video is being distributed to each local chapter of the AMS. Additional copies are available for loan at no charge. It is hoped that distribution of the video will give members and potential members who have not visited Headquarters an idea of what goes on at the hub of the Society and an appreciation for the unique environment that the staff is privileged to work in.
Ryan Briscoe has led the most laps at each of the last three IndyCar Series races, only to wind up watching someone else win the checkered flag.
His recent span of three consecutive second-place finishes does have a silver lining.
All those seconds have led to first place in the IRL points standings. In fact, Briscoe enters Saturday's SunTrust Indy Challenge in Richmond, Virginia atop the points race for the second straight week _ which nobody else has done this season.
Briscoe, in his second season with Team Penske, finished a career-best fifth in points in 2008.
"It's a bit frustrating, and it's probably the laps led that's helped me hang onto the points lead," Briscoe said. "Second place is the next best thing and hopefully, you know, maybe we can get a win at the next race."
Briscoe's run of seconds began in the AJ Foyt 225 on May 31, when he led for 154 laps before finishing behind winner Scott Dixon, who zipped past Briscoe late and pulled away.
Briscoe held the edge for 160 laps at the Bombardier Learjet 550k, but his last 20 laps were what he called some of the most frustrating he's ever run. He couldn't get past teammate Helio Castroneves after Castroneves beat him on the final pit stop. Though Briscoe's second-place finish put him atop the leaderboard, it was a tough result to swallow.
"Texas, that's probably the hardest one. I felt as though I had the winning car there, hands down," Briscoe said.
In last Sunday's Iowa Corn 250, he held an early lead and retook it from laps 138-194. But Dario Franchitti maneuvered into first after a late pit stop and the traffic broke his way, as Briscoe couldn't find the space he needed to make a move.
Though Franchitti beat Briscoe by more than five seconds, Briscoe was able to hold onto second _ yet again _ and those 42 points kept him ahead of Franchitti for the lead.
"It was always going to be tough between myself and Dario, and he just got the better of us at the end of the day," Briscoe said.
Briscoe has 241 points to Franchitti's 238. The six points Briscoe earned by being the lap leader in each of the last three weeks has proven to be the difference.
While Briscoe isn't thrilled about letting the last three races get away from him, they haven't diminished what's been a breakout season for the 27-year-old Australian.
Briscoe said he's still on a "steep learning curve" since rejoining the IRL in 2008. Though Briscoe had 14 starts for Target Chip Ganassi Racing in 2005 and 17 with Penske last season, including wins at Milwaukee and Mid-Ohio, he said this week that this was the first season where he doesn't feel like a "rookie" on the circuit.
Briscoe has five top-five finishes in seven starts _ matching his total from last year, when he ran 17 races _ and he's well within striking range of the record for laps led in a season, 899, set by Dixon last season.
Dixon also won the points race in 2008, and Briscoe is hoping to follow suit this season.
"We need to go out there and win more races. But when you can't win, you've got to take home the points, and that's something I've been really working on," Briscoe said.
