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Rahall blasts black lung measure

2012-03-15T06:17:00.000-07:00

HUNTINGTON - Rep. Nick Rahall says he will fight Republican-backedlegislation that he says threatens compensation for black lungvictims.

The provision, included in a bill which authorizes the LaborDepartment's 1998-99 appropriations, is aimed at blocking a newregulation that would limit the number of medical examinations forminers seeking benefits.

It "constitutes a vicious assault on black lung victims," Rahall,D-W.Va., said in remarks made Friday on the floor of the House ofRepresentatives."There is simply no need for this provision, except as a delayingtactic aimed at killing this …

Lyndhurst St. residents: media gave bad rap

2012-03-15T03:51:00.000-07:00

On Monday afternoon, the loudest noise midway down Lyndhurst Street was the chirping of crickets on lawns and under the bushes of the large Victorians that tower over the sidewalks.

It's a street where neighbors greet each other from the front porches and screen doors are left unlocked. But three weeks after the so-called occupation of the street by a local minister, the media-generated catch-phrase "Hell Zone" still elicits bitter responses from the residents.

"I think the Herald and the Globe owe us all an apology," said resident Kathleen Martin. "They were the major players in this."

While residents acknowledge the presence of criminal activity near the street's …

Kosovo govt to cover damage from last week's riots

2012-03-15T01:30:00.000-07:00

Kosovo's authorities are promising euro100,000 ($139,000) for ethnic Albanians whose shops were burned by rioting Serbs last week.

The government says in a statement the money will cover damage to private businesses in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica.

At least six shops were burned last week in two separate incidents, prompting NATO-led …

A peek at orchestra budgets

2012-03-14T23:07:00.000-07:00

Budget Orchestra Fiscal in Government Music director ExecutiveDirector

year millions Grants (salary)(salary) Boston 1986 $24.8 $907,000 Seiji Ozawa ($381,000)Thomas Morris (145,000)

Los Angeles 1986 $22.2 $1.1 million Andre Previn ($380,525)Ernest Fleischmann ($346,883) Cleveland 1986 $21.2 $834,947 Christoph von Dohnanyi ($331,778)Kenneth Haas ($170,059) Chicago 1985 $20.4 $420,065 Georg Solti ($355,552) John Edwards($61,127) New York 1986 $20.3 $1.2 million Zubin Mehta ($638,830) AlbertWebster ($163,461) San Francisco 1986 $17.1 $1.1 million Herbert Blomstedt($223,316) Peter …

The Terrible Two's

2012-03-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

The first years in engineering are critical in terms of retention.

WE APPEAR TO BE in another period of soul-searching and agonizing about how to deal with engineering enrollments. The percentage of college graduates majoring in engineering has declined steadily over the years. The realization that many engineering tasks are being farmed out to China and India, both of which have dramatically larger numbers of engineering graduates, has served to heighten concern about retention. Dropping out occurs most often in the first two years, and several ideas have been proposed on how to keep students in engineering. Purdue professors Phillip Wankat and Frank Oreovicz have suggested that …

US stocks turn higher as investors set aside some unease over banking sector

2012-03-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

Stocks turned higher Friday as investors set aside lingering concerns about the economy and considered whether the market's downtrodden mood in recent weeks has left stocks oversold.

Stocks have fallen in six of the past seven sessions as investors have fretted about whether consumers would succumb to higher energy prices, rising mortgage costs and an anemic dollar. Continuing credit turmoil has also stirred concerns about the soundness of corporate balance sheets and profits.

Financial stocks fell, partly due to a Fortune online story that raised the possibility the mortgage lender could be masking the true magnitude of credit-related hits to its profits. …

Bloch, Augustyn (Hipolit)

2012-03-14T16:05:00.000-07:00

Bloch, Augustyn (Hipolit)

Bloch, Augustyn (Hipolit), Polish composer and organist; b. Grudziadz, Aug. 13, 1929. He was a student of Feliks Raczkowski (organ, 1950–55) and Tadeusz Szeligowski (composition, 1952–59) at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw. From 1954 to 1977 he composed music for various plays and radio dramas for the Theatre of the Polish Radio in Warsaw. He was vice president of the Polish Composers' Union from 1977 to 1979, and again from 1983 to 1987. From 1979 to 1987 he was chairman of the repertoire committee of the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music. In 1971 and 1985 he received the Minister of Culture and Art Award, in 1975 the Prime Minster's Award, in 1981 the Polish Composers' Union Award, and in 1989 the Brighton …

Deep Inside Hollywood

2012-03-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

Deep Inside Hollywood

Natalie Portman poses for 17 Photos'

Star Wars and Garden State obsessives who still carry a torch for Natalie Portman aren't going to like where she's going next: marriage and motherhood. Not in real life or anything, just for a role. But still, movies feel like real life sometimes, so it may trouble the fanboys that her next project, "17 Photos of Isabel," finds Amidala trading space adventures for womb-centric dramedy. She plays a careerist woman with eyes for the boss, only to find herself dealing with marriage, a stepchild, and pregnancy when he responds affirmatively. Romeo is going to assume that this coming-of-age-and-matemity material will be …

Former MSU hoops player gets 120 years for shooting death

2012-03-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

Former Montana State basketball player Branden Miller was sentenced Tuesday to 120 years in prison in the shooting death of a suspected drug dealer.

District Judge Mike Salvagni sentenced Miller to 100 years in prison for deliberate homicide, 10 years for the use of a weapon and 10 years for tampering with evidence. Miller also was sentenced to five years for a bar assault that occurred six days before the murder. The sentences are to run consecutively.

Miller pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide in the June 2006 shooting death of 26-year-old Jason Wright, whose body was found in a field near Montana State University. However, he says he did not shoot …

CBOT membership rises to $395,000, year's high

2012-03-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

Full membership at the Chicago Board of Trade rose to its highestprice of the year amid record transactions and as traders expect tosave money through a clearing link with the Chicago MercantileExchange.

A seat bearing the right to trade any contract at the second-biggest U.S. futures market sold for $395,000 on Friday, matching theyear's high set on March 12 and the most since March 2002. Associatemembership, the right to trade anything but crop futures, sold for$194,000, a four-year high. Futures are agreements to buy or sellassets at a set date and price.

Trading at the CBOT rose as mortgage-debt holders used its mostactive contract, 10-year U.S. Treasury futures, …

We should all be activists in ending homelessness

2012-03-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

As the city freezes solid, many of us turn our thoughts to the wandering homeless, although most of us will give the problem only moments during which we can find time to imagine folks looking for a warm room in which to sleep tonight.

At Chicago's Coalition for the Homeless, addressing the problem and its root causes is the organization's stock in trade and its daily responsibility. There, advocates live with the news that according to a study by the University of Illinois at Chicago, 166,000 of us in the metropolitan area will be homeless this year. In the city, the number estimated by Coalition researchers is 80,000 homeless.

Coalition policy director Les Brown says 80 …

Gold, silver prices rise on global uncertainty

2012-03-14T04:24:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (AP) — Gold and silver prices are rising as investors seek out more stable assets while monitoring Europe's debt crisis and uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa.

Gold for June delivery added $19.50 Tuesday to settle at $1,452.50 an ounce. Silver gained 68.9 cents to settle at $39.183 an ounce.

Uncertainty …

U.S. Launches Airstrike in Somalia

2012-03-14T01:35:00.000-07:00

MOGADISHU, Somalia - One or more U.S. military gunships struck at least two sites in Somalia where Islamists were believed to be sheltering suspects in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. Embassies in East Africa and many people were killed, Somali officials and witnesses said Tuesday.

It was the first overt military action by the U.S. in Somalia since the 1990s and the legacy of a botched intervention - known as "Black Hawk Down" - that left 18 U.S. servicemen dead. The U.S. military said Tuesday it had sent an aircraft carrier to join three other U.S. warships conducting anti-terror operations off the Somali coast.

U.S. warships have been seeking to capture al-Qaida members thought to be fleeing Somalia after Ethiopia invaded Dec. 24 in support of the government and officials said U.S. aircraft have begun flying intelligence-gathering missions over Somalia.

The White House would not confirm the attack, nor would the U.S. Defense Department.

But a U.S. government official said at least one AC-130 gunship was used. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the operation's sensitivity.

AC-130 gunships are heavily armed aircraft with elaborate sensors that can go after discrete targets day or night. They are operated by the Special Operations Command and have been used heavily against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The attacks happened about 5 p.m. local time Monday after the terror suspects were spotted hiding on a remote island on the southern tip of Somalia, close to the Kenyan border, Somali officials said. The island and a site 155 miles north were hit.

The main target was Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who allegedly planned the 1998 attacks on the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which killed 225 people.

He is also suspected of planning the car bombing of a beach resort in Kenya and the near simultaneous attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner in 2002. Ten Kenyans and three Israelis were killed in the blast at the hotel, 12 miles north of Mombasa. The missiles missed the airliner.

Fazul, 32, joined al-Qaida in Afghanistan and trained there with Osama bin Laden, according to the transcript of an FBI interrogation of a known associate. He came to Kenya in the mid-1990s, married a local woman, became a citizen and started teaching at a religious school near Lamu, just 60 miles south of Ras Kamboni, Somalia, where one of the airstrikes took place Monday.

Largely isolated, the coast north of Lamu is predominantly Muslim and many residents are of Arab descent. Boats from Lamu often visit Somalia and the Persian Gulf, making the Kenya-Somalia border area ideal for him to escape.

President Abdullahi Yusuf told journalists in the capital, Mogadishu, that the U.S. "has a right to bombard terrorist suspects who attacked its embassies." Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Aideed told The Associated Press the U.S. had "our full support for the attacks."

But others in the capital said the attacks would only increase anti-American sentiment in the largely Muslim country.

"U.S. involvement in the fighting in our country is completely wrong," said Sahro Ahmed, a 37-year-old mother of five.

Already, many people in predominantly Muslim Somalia had resented the presence of troops from neighboring Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population and has fought two brutal wars with Somalia, most recently in 1977.

Ethiopia forces had invaded Somalia to prevent an Islamic movement from ousting the weak, internationally recognized government from its lone stronghold in the west of the country. The U.S. and Ethiopia both accuse the Islamic group of harboring extremists, among them al-Qaida suspects.

Ethiopian troops, tanks and warplanes took just 10 days to drive the Islamic group from the capital, Mogadishu, and other key towns.

Ethiopian and Somali troops had over the last days cornered the main Islamic force in Ras Kamboni, a town on Badmadow island, with U.S. warships patrolling off shore and the Kenyan military guarding the border to watch for fleeing militants.

Witnesses said at least four civilians were killed in another attack 30 miles east of Afmadow town, including a small boy. The claims could not be independently verified.

"My 4-year-old boy was killed in the strike," Mohamed Mahmud Burale told the AP by telephone. "We also heard 14 massive explosions."

The AC-130 is armed with 40 mm cannon that fire 120 rounds per minute and a 105 mm cannon, normally a field artillery weapon. The gunships were designed primarily for battlefield use to place saturated fire on massed troops.

"We don't know how many people were killed in the attack but we understand there were a lot of casualties," government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said. "Most were Islamic fighters."

U.S. officials said after the Sept. 11 attacks that extremists with ties to al-Qaida operated a training camp at Ras Kamboni and al-Qaida members are believed to have visited it.

Leaders of the Islamic movement have vowed from their hideouts to launch an Iraq-style guerrilla war in Somalia, and al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden's deputy has called on militants to carry out suicide attacks on the Ethiopian troops.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since clan-based warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, sinking the Horn of Africa nation of 7 million people into chaos.

At least 13 attempts at government have failed since then. The current government was established in 2004 with U.N. backing.

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Associated Press writers Mohamed Sheik Nor and Salad Duhul in Mogadishu and Chris Tomlinson in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.

Former US official's body found in US landfill

2012-03-13T22:44:00.000-07:00

DOVER, Delaware (AP) — Police are investigating the slaying of a man who served in several Republican presidential administrations whose body was found at a landfill.

The body of 66-year-old John Wheeler III was discovered on New Year's Eve as a garbage truck emptied its contents at the Cherry Island landfill. His death has been ruled a homicide.

Wheeler had a long career in Washington and led the committee that oversaw construction of the Vietnam Veterans memorial there.

Jordan's 46 show he's fit // Bulls begin title defense with easy romp vs. Heat

2012-03-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

BULLS 113 HEAT 94

There was some question earlier this week whether Michael Jordanwould even play in Friday night's playoff opener against the MiamiHeat. All but crippled last Sunday by a strained back, Jordancertainly wouldn't be at his best, right?

Ha!

Jordan proved a major pain in Miami's collective backside whileleading the Bulls to a 113-94 rout before 18,676 at the Stadium.

The Bulls star produced his seventh-best playoff performancewith 46 points on 21-for-34 shooting, including seven dunks, abreathtaking series of weaving drives and endless jump shots. Headded 11 rebounds, nine assists and three steals.

"I told you this is something I've been waiting for," Jordansaid of the Bulls' run at a second consecutive NBA title.

"This is fun time. This is what we've worked for. No one canunderstand how much fun it was to win the championship last year."

Jordan's brilliance has come to be expected, but reserve centerWill Perdue was a surprise. He equaled career bests in scoring andrebounding with 16 points and 10 boards and set a playoff high withfour blocked shots in just 18 minutes.

"I got off to a good start and that will build up myconfidence," said Perdue , who scored 12 points in the fourthquarter. "It's evident the way we play that teams have to help outon Michael and Scottie (Pippen). I was able to set up five feet outin the lane and move to the basket when my man went to double team."

The Bulls overcame a miserable first quarter in which they shot43 percent (10-for-23) and made five turnovers that led to ninepoints for Miami. The Heat led 27-24 after one period.

"We know games are not won in 12 minutes," Jordan said.

Were the Bulls nervous?

"This was the first playoff game and naturally we had thejiggles," Horace Grant said.

The jiggles?

"We were anxious, not really nervous," Bulls coach Phil Jacksonsaid.

Jordan scored 15 points in the second quarter and Grant eight asthe Bulls outscored Miami 36-26 for a 60-53 halftime lead. Jordanadded 15 in the third period as the Bulls built an 87-73 advantage.

"He's keyed up for these games," Jackson said. "This is aspecial time of the season. He was anxious for it to begin and Ithink he made a great statement to start."

Grant added 15 points and seven rebounds, Pippen had 11 pointsand 11 assists and John Paxson and Bill Cartwright each scored eightpoints.

Rookie Steve Smith led the Heat with 19 points. Glen Ricescored 17, Brian Shaw 15 and Rony Seikaly 14 before fouling out withsix minutes left.

"Michael and Will Perdue really killed us," Miami coach KevinLoughery said. "Michael has several levels at which he can play.It's another level that he rises to in the playoffs."

The Bulls shot 54.7 percent (47-for-86) to Miami's 43.5 percent(37-for-85) and enjoyed a 44-32 rebounding advantage.

"Tonight was Will's night," Jordan said. "Now is the time whenthe second team has to help out."

NOTES: Michael Jordan left the game briefly in the thirdquarter after getting kneed in the back of his thigh. He said theinjury didn't bother him after the game.

"Of course, I doubt I'd feel any pain right now, I feel prettyenergetic," he said. Stacey King was fined $250 for arriving in the locker room 22minutes late. King said he was confused by the 7:10 tip off.Jordan and Bill Cartwright received minor fines for being a fewminutes late. Scottie Pippen was named the Bulls' player of the month for Aprilafter averaging 20.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 6.2 assists in 10games.

APNewsBreak: Jackson wrongful death case refiled

2012-03-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson's father refiled a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday against the doctor charged in his son's death and added as a defendant a Las Vegas pharmacy that records show sold the physician a powerful anesthetic blamed for his death.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages against Dr. Conrad Murray, who has pleaded not guilty in the separate criminal case to involuntary manslaughter in the singer's June 2009 death.

Joe Jackson initially filed his case against Murray in federal court on the first anniversary of his son's death. A judge, however, refused to hear the case and said it should be handled in state court, where it was refiled Tuesday.

"This has been a long process and the facts of Michael's death have been way too slow in emerging," said Joe Jackson's attorney, Brian Oxman. "There is still much to discover and we're going to find it out."

The lawsuit also names Applied Pharmacy Services, which court records show sold Murray the anesthetic propofol during the month before the singer's death. The pharmacy is accused of selling Murray excessive quantities of the anesthetic, which is normally administered in hospital settings.

Authorities have said the sale was legal.

A receptionist at Applied Pharmacy Services declined comment and refused to give her name. Miranda Sevcik, a Murray spokeswoman, said the refiling of the case was expected.

"We'd like to remind people that Dr. Murray has not been found guilty of anything, and we believe his innocence will be proven in a court of law," Charles Peckham, an attorney for Murray, said in June when the case was initially filed.

The Los Angeles County coroner has blamed Jackson's death on propofol intoxication and ruled it a homicide.

Applied Pharmacy's sales of propofol to Murray were revealed in search warrants unsealed in Las Vegas in November 2009. At the time, authorities said a doctor licensed in two states can buy propofol in one and administer it in another.

Murray is licensed in California, Nevada and Texas — all of which have restricted his medical license to some extent since the allegations surfaced in the death of Jackson.

Attorneys for Murray have said he did not give Jackson anything that should have killed him.

Joe Jackson's lawsuit claims Murray was negligent in administering propofol to Jackson, and he did not tell paramedics or an emergency room doctor that he had given the singer the drug.

The case could be consolidated with a lawsuit filed by Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine, against concert promoter AEG Live.

That suit claims AEG and its agents told Michael Jackson the company would provide medical equipment and hire Murray to care for him as he prepared for comeback concerts in London.

AEG has said through an attorney that Katherine Jackson's lawsuit is without merit.

Editor's Picks

2012-03-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

Outings

Join downtown Ferndale in celebrating the holidays with any number of their many upcoming "Holidates." These special events emphasize small businesses and shopping local while celebrating the rich culture of the city and the holiday season.

Began officially by American Express in 2010, downtown Ferndale celebrates Small Business Saturday on Nov. 26 this year. In contrast to Black Friday Holidates encourages shoppers to support small and local businesses.

Downtown Ferndale asks you to shop, dine and stay local on Nov. 26 to support the city's local business and foster a diverse economy. For more information and a full list of Holidates such as "Wings & Wishes Tree Lighting" and "Merry Midnight Madness," go to downtownferndale.com

Music & More

Seattle-born singer and songwriter Judy Collins has thrilled audiences with her musical talents for over 50 years. Her unique sound has included elements of folk, pop, rock 'n' roll, showtunes, and traditional pop standards. Known for classic renditions of "To Every thing There is a Season" and "Amazing Grace," Judy was essential in bringing singer- songwriters such as Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan to a wider audience.

In '68, Collins won a Grammy Award for Best Folk Performance or Folk Recording for the track "Both Sides Now." In 1993, she performed for Bill Clinton's first inauguration, performing "Chelsea Morning," the song that inspired the Clinton's to name their daughter Chelsea. Now 71, Collins continues to create music and perform 80 to 100 dates a year.

Collins performs at 9:30 p.m. Dec. 1 at The Arkat316 S. Main St. in Ann Arbor. Tickets are $49.50. For more information, go to theark.org.

Theater

EMU Theatre welcomes in the holiday season with the family friendly production "Go, Dog! Go." RD. Eastman's classic comes to life in this vibrant adaptation filled with fun, song and dance. "Go, Dog! Go" will play in the Quirk Theatre Dec. 2, 9 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 3, 4, 10, 11 at 2 p.m.

Based on the beloved children's book by RD. Eastman, this zany musical follows the antics of several colorful dogs who behave an awful lot like humans - driving cars, getting jobs, having parties and wearing hats! Audiences will enjoy the high energy of these canine characters playing baseball, singing, dancing, juggling and riding everything on wheels they can find!

Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for students, and $7 for ages 5-12.

Performances will take place in the Quirk Theatre in the Quirk Dramatic Arts Building on EMU's Ypsilanti Campus. For tickets, call 734-487-2282.

Alleged bank robber nabbed

2012-03-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

The Ray-Ban Robber pulled six bank jobs in two years in Chicago.After the latest robbery, on Nov. 27, Chicago detectives and federalagents began watching the bank robber's favorite target: NorthCommunity Bank.

On Friday, investigators spotted a man wearing Ray-Ban-styleaviator sunglasses who appeared to be doing his own surveillance attwo bank branches, at 941 W. Webster and 2000 N. Halsted. He wascarrying a toy pistol, and admitted to six robberies, police said.

The man, who lives in Lake View, told police he is an alcoholic.

"He's just a guy who is kind of living day to day and kind ofusing these bank robberies as a means of feeding his alcohol habit,"said James Gibson, Area 3 violent crimes sergeant.

Federal charges may be lodged Monday, an FBI representative saidSunday. The man's name will not be released until he is charged.

Friday's Sports Scoreboard

2012-03-13T07:53:00.000-07:00

All Times Eastern

American League

Kansas City vs Cleveland, 7:05 p.m.

Minnesota vs Baltimore, 7:05 p.m.

Tampa Bay vs N.Y. Yankees, 7:05 p.m.

Toronto vs Boston, 7:05 p.m.

Detroit vs Chicago White Sox, 8:11 p.m.

Seattle vs L.A. Angels, 10:05 p.m.

Texas vs Oakland, 10:05 p.m.

National League

Milwaukee vs Philadelphia, 7:05 p.m.

St. Louis vs Pittsburgh, 7:05 p.m.

Atlanta vs N.Y. Mets, 7:10 p.m.

Washington vs Florida, 7:10 p.m.

Chicago Cubs vs Houston ppd,

L.A. Dodgers vs Colorado, 9:05 p.m.

Cincinnati vs Arizona, 9:40 p.m.

San Francisco vs San Diego, 10:05 p.m.

National Football League

No games today.

Top 25 College Football

No games today.

WNBA Basketball

Phoenix vs Minnesota, 8 p.m.

New York vs Chicago, 8:30 p.m.

Sacramento vs Houston ppd, hurricane

Atlanta vs Seattle, 10 p.m.

Major League Soccer

No games today.

Influential NBC journalist Tim Russert dies of apparent heart attack

2012-03-13T03:56:00.000-07:00

Tim Russert, who pointedly but politely questioned hundreds of the powerful and influential as one of America's most prominent U.S television journalists, died of a heart attack Friday in the midst of a presidential campaign he had covered with trademark intensity.

Praise poured in from the biggest names in politics, some recalling their own meltdown moments on his hot seat.

Russert, 58, was a political operative before he was a journalist. He joined NBC a quarter century ago and ended up as the longest-tenured host of the influential Sunday political talk show "Meet the Press."

He was an election-night fixture, with his whiteboard and scribbled figures, and was moderator for numerous political debates. He wrote two best-selling books, including the much-loved "Big Russ and Me" about his relationship with his father. He was NBC's Washington bureau chief.

President George W. Bush, informed of Russert's death while at dinner in Paris, saluted him as "a tough and hardworking newsman. He was always well-informed and thorough in his interviews. And he was as gregarious off the set as he was prepared on it."

NBC interrupted its regular programming with news of Russert's death and continued for several hours of coverage without commercial break. The network announced that Tom Brokaw, the former long-time anchor of NBC's nightly newscast, would anchor a special edition of "Meet the Press" on Sunday, dedicated to Russert.

Competitors and friends jumped in with superlative praise and sad recognition of the loss of a key voice during a historic presidential election year. Known as a family man as well, he had been named Father of the Year by parenting organizations.

Brian Williams, who currently anchors NBC's newscast, mourned his loss, calling him "aggressively unfancy."

Bob Schieffer, Russert's competitor on CBS' "Face the Nation," said the two men delighted in scooping each other.

"When you slipped one past ol' Russert," he said, "you felt as though you had hit a home run off the best pitcher in the league. I just loved Tim and I will miss him more than I can say."

NBC said Friday evening that Russert died of a heart attack. Russert's internist, Michael A. Newman, said cholesterol plaque had ruptured in an artery, causing sudden coronary thrombosis.

Newman said an autopsy showed that Russert had an enlarged heart, NBC reported. Russert had been diagnosed with asymptomatic coronary artery disease, which he was controlling with medication and exercise, the doctor said.

Russert, of Buffalo, New York, took the helm of the Sunday news show in December 1991 and turned it into the most widely watched program of its type in the United States. His signature trait was an unrelenting style of questioning that made some politicians reluctant to appear, yet confident that they could claim extra credibility if they survived his grilling intact.

"I can say from experience that joining Tim on "Meet the Press" was one of the greatest tests any public official could face," said Rep. John Boehner, the highest-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives. "Regardless of party affiliation, he demanded that you be straight with him and with the American people who were watching."

Russert was also a senior vice president at NBC, and this year Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

He had Buffalo's blue-collar roots, a Jesuit education, a law degree and a Democratic pedigree that came from his turn as an aide to the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York.

Lawmakers from both parties lined up to sing his praises after his sudden death.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said Russert was "the best in the business at keeping his interview subjects honest."

"There wasn't a better interviewer in television," Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential contender, told reporters in Ohio.

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, Obama's rival for the White House, hailed Russert as the "pre-eminent journalist of his generation."

Carl P. Leubsdorf, president of the Gridiron Club, an organization of journalists, said, "It was a measure of the degree to which Tim Russert was respected in the journalistic world that he was the first broadcaster elected to membership in the Gridiron Club after the rules were changed in 2004 to end our century-old restriction to print journalists."

Said longtime colleague Brokaw, the former NBC anchor: "He'll be missed as he was loved _ greatly."

The network said on its Web site that Russert had been recording voiceovers for this Sunday's "Meet The Press" when he was stricken.

He had dozens of honorary college degrees, and numerous professional awards.

He won an Emmy for his role in the coverage of President Ronald Reagan's funeral in 2004.

He was married to Maureen Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair magazine. The couple had one son, Luke.

The audacity of Pride

2012-03-13T00:51:00.000-07:00

June is here and Pride is busting out all over. Can you feel it? It's in the air, in our conversations, circled on every calendar - our celebration of our hopes, our dreams and our community.

Despite a couple of speed bumps here in Michigan including failure to pass the long-stalled anti-bullying measure "Matt's Safe School Law," Michigan Supreme Court's 5-2 decision upholding the appeals court ruling that Michigan's so-called "Marriage Amendment" prohibits public employers from offering domestic partnership benefits and the daunting reality that hate crimes in Michigan more than doubled in 2007 from the previous year's total, our march for full equality is definitely on the move.

Change is in the air rolling in on tidal waves from both coasts - New York and California with monumental court decisions recognizing and affirming our right to marry. We have seen media diva, Oprah Winfrey, host several shows on LGBT issues highlighting our love, our families, our lives. Bigger-than-life GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said the effort by anti-gay forces to amend the California Constitution to permanently ban same-sex marriage is "a total waste of time." While speaking at a Log Cabin Republican convention (LGBT folks identifying with republican values - yes they exist and are part of our community) he vowed that he would fight against any such amendment.

And our very own talk show goddess Ellen DeGeneres, whose show is watched by millions of Americans - LGBT and straight each day, brought the question of marriage equality to presidential hopefuls putting them on record, live and in living color before the American public. Her discourse with John McCain ending with her asking if he would walk her down the aisle brought our love, our rights (and lack of) home to viewers - all viewers, humanizing this injustice, changing hearts and minds, making people think from the heart not from fear.

A full and inclusive ENDA, the end of "Don't Ask - Don't Tell," second parent adoption, and marriage equality have become issues to define true American values of fairness and equality not knee-jerk, hot-button sound bytes to distract voters from the real issues of the economy, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, globalization, affordable housing, health care and the environment.

This year as we begin celebrating our pride across the country and in our own great state of Michigan, I am filled with more than the "Audacity of Hope" but am emboldened to have the audacity to believe change is finally going to come.

The audacity to say with conviction that, we shall overcome not some day, but this day. The audacity to respond to the long-suffering call, rooted in African American tradition, of "How Long" with an empowered, strengthened and firm resolve "Not long, America. Not Long."

Pundits have already hinted that the California ruling might again put gay marriage on the front burner and be used as a wedge issue. The specter of the 2008 elections resurrecting the image of gay people getting married as a threat to the "institution" of marriage must be banished once and for all. We must have the audacity to proclaim "Never Again" to being the political scapegoats "Never again!"

The other topic looming as the elephant in the room is race. Should Barak Obama receive the Democratic nomination, which seems pretty inevitable, will the flame of old biases be fanned into a divisive force? Will portrayals like one I was recently told of showing Barak Obama and Kwame Kilpatrick together dressed in Dashikis' with the caption "You see what happened to Detroit - do you really want a black president" become mainstream? When voter's pull that curtain in November will they vote for their hopes, their children, the earth, the future or cast a vote based on the fears and biases of their fathers?

I have the audacity to hope that we, the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, will be the ambassadors for change in our society. In celebrating our diversity, nurturing our families and defending the civil rights of all Americans we can and will chart the path for a better, fairer and more just society.

Just for starters, our community will host two public marches that cross the 8 Mile Bridge and raise awareness about the need to value cultural and racial differences. Not just a gay issue, "Building Bridges: Walking Together to Embrace Diversity" - is addressing a scourge on all of Michigan - the Eight Mile divide: white vs. black, haves vs. have nots. Equality isn't a special right. It's the only right for all Americans.

In his book "The Audacity of Hope" Barack Obama calls for a new kind of politics. These new politics build on the shared understandings that pull us together as Americans. As we enter this season of LGBT Pride let us come together celebrating and embracing our diversity, our strength, our vision and our role as an integral piece of the fabric of America.

I have gotten a jumpstart, a pride infusion by attending the DC Black Pride, feeling the love of sisters and brothers from across the country in celebration, strolling a gay-friendly city around Dupont Circle seeing avibrant LGBT community "empowered and poppin'."

Pride is bursting out all over and is on its way to Michigan. So from June 1 in Ferndale to Hotter than July picnic July 26, in Lansing, from Traverse City, to Grand Rapids and across the state feel the pride, feel the love, feel the power and claim the audacity to act, to create, to change - the audacity of hope in Pride.

[Sidebar]

... I am filled with more than the "Audacity of Hope" but am embolden to have the audacity to believe change is finally going to come.

Keegan's Newcastle return ends in drab scoreless draw

2012-03-12T21:54:00.000-07:00

Kevin Keegan's return to Newcastle United couldn't inspire a return to form on the field Saturday, with the club hanging on for a lackluster 0-0 draw against Bolton.

Keegan was back at St. James' Park after 11 years, but had to wait more than an hour for his depleted lineup to fashion a shot that came close to the target.

With several players missing to suspension and the African Cup of Nations, Keegan's team looked timid in the first half before starting to threaten more often after the break _ but still without a creative spark.

And it was Bolton's Jlloyd Samuel who came closest to scoring a winner, but Shay Given produced a reflex save from point-blank range in the 90th minute to block the best chance of the match.

"It was frustrating," Keegan said. "We certainly didn't play as well as we can or I thought we could. There are a lot of reasons for that, not least because these players played a game last Wednesday with 10 men for 60 minutes and were terrific.

"I think we were a bit tired today _ that's my first excuse, an honest one."

Although he snapped a four-game losing streak, Newcastle dropped to 12th in the Premier League.

Keegan, who was hired after Sam Allardyce left the club earlier this month, emerged from the tunnel before the game blowing kisses to the 52,000 in the crowd, many of which were wearing "Return of the King" hats.

"It was an atmosphere they wouldn't normally get and we hoped that would drive us on," Keegan said. "But we stuck together and worked hard _ surprisingly for a team of mine we defended very well."

After the drab start, "King Kev" now has two weeks left in the transfer window to attract new players to deliver on his pledge to reproduce the entertaining soccer of his five-year reign in the 1990s.

Keegan has spoken to former Newcastle striker Alan Shearer about joining the backroom team, but they are yet to discuss a specific role.

"We didn't get into that," Shearer said late Saturday. "I'll sit down with him at the end of the week and we'll discuss it and see what's best for everyone."

Newcastle was missing Emre, Alan Smith and Nicky Butt to suspension, while Habib Beye, Abdoulaye Faye, Geremi and Obafemi Martins were away on international duty in Ghana. Mark Viduka picked up an injury on Friday and Joey Barton is in rehab after being charged with assault and affray.

"We missed a lot players today. Take that into consideration and forget the hype and it's actually quite a good result for us," Keegan said. "It will improve from here. Maybe we will get players in. We are a quality squad but we are a small squad."

Michael Owen was handed the captaincy, despite previously describing his period under Keegan at England between 1999 and 2000 as a "dark phase" in his career.

But Keegan now needs a united squad to deliver Magpies fans their first major trophy in 39 years. Of the current squad, only goalkeeper Steve Harper, on the bench Saturday, was here during Keegan's previous stint in charge.

"We weren't good enough to break them down," Keegan said. "There was plenty of effort, plenty of endeavor, trying so hard _ maybe too hard _ to make things happen."

The party atmosphere quickly evaporated, with Bolton claiming three corners inside the opening four minutes as Keegan's side failed to assert themselves against the well-organized Trotters.

Former Magpies defender Andy O'Brien tested Shay Given in the fifth, Matt Taylor skewed from distance in the 18th and produced a weak header in the 38th.

A makeshift Magpies side, with Shola Ameobi starting for the first time in four months, failed to get a single shot on goal in the first half as Owen struggled for service.

But the passionate crowd was more patient than in the dying days of Allardyce's regime as they watched Jose Enrique come closest, firing a shot from 25 yards (meters) wide in the 25th.

Bolton fans roared out of taunts of "You should have kept Big Sam."

Despite upping the tempo and finally pressurizing Jussi Jaaskelainen's goal in the second half, Newcastle still struggled to create chances.

Stephen Carr fired wide in the 51st, and Charles N'Zogbia's promising strike was blocked in the 54th before he sent a free kick high five minutes later.

The French midfielder saw a penalty kick claim dismissed in the 62nd when Ricardo Gardner appeared to bring him down in the penalty area.

Jaaskelainen was finally called into action just after the hour, tipping James Milner's dipping cross over bar, but wasn't troubled until Ameobi's header in the 83rd.

"(Keegan) has lifted the crowd and the city," Ameobi said. "It's fantastic to have him here and play for him."

However, Keegan will not get a lot of breathing room as he tries to revive the team's flagging fortunes, with two upcoming matches against Arsenal in the FA Cup and league.

Although Newcastle has won four league titles and six FA Cups, its last major trophy was the 1969 Fairs' Cup, the forerunner of the UEFA Cup. It last won the league title in 1927 and the FA Cup in '55.

Allardyce left Newcastle on Jan. 9 after winning just eight of his 24 matches in charge, while losing 10.

Gerhard Richter

2012-03-12T18:46:00.000-07:00

Gerhard Richter

MARIAN GOODMAN GALLERY

Despite Robert Storr's brilliant effort to reclaim Gerhard Richter for human emotion in the artist's 2002 MOMA retrospective, the glassy chill of his work reasserted itself in his recent show at Marian Goodman Gallery. The exhibition fell roughly into three parts, of which the first presented a familiar mystery: How do Richter's squeegeed abstractions, utterly strange in their fusion of Expressionism and impersonality, manage both to seduce through their color and detail and to put ravishment out of reach through what Arthur Danto has called their "protective cool"?

Cool is subjective, of course, and I visited the show with a painter who praised the works for their sexiness. The viewer must also contend with the natural instinct of curators and dealers to choose as powerful a group of works as possible, an impulse honored in this show. It does occasionally happen, though, that Richter's abstractions are shown in wholesale quantities, at which point they shrug off the usual vocabulary used to discuss gestural Expressionism. The concepts needed here seem closer to those of photography, an abiding fascination of Richter's-yet the works' peculiar palette, and their intricate layering of, in this group, mostly horizontally swept grounds under areas of vertical striation and occasional swooping strokes outside any grid, seem to call for an individuated response.

All of the paintings in the show's introductory group came from a single series made in 2005, and these constituted a gorgeous suite-along one wall a gradually mutating range of grays and taupes, along the other, more dramatic contrasts of black and dark purple grounds against highlights of red, yellow, and deep blue. But even while Richter's color astonishes, it also has an elusive, calculated quality. In part this has to do with the separateness of the different layers and strokes, as if each painting were to be received as a set of disjointed parts rather than as an integral whole, but it issues also from the colors themselves. Asked by Benjamin H. D. Buchloh whether his color has anything in common with Matisse's-a "natural color .. . corresponding to sensory experiences or even to the experience of happiness"-Richter stiffens: His own color, he says, has "a kind of tense cheeriness, something shrill or, also, evil... an artificial [cheeriness], one with gritted teeth, that conveys a threat as well." In case that mood eluded you, the first room also included a single photograph, a version of an image Richter has used before, showing World War II-era RAF warplanes. Shown with these paintings, the picture stuck in the space's craw like a bone.

The gallery's intermediate spaces contained a group of smallerscale abstractions from the past five or six years, plus a single landscape and an abstraction on glass. Along with a four-panel drawing, the final group of works in this show comprised four large paintings from 2003 based on found photomicrographs of molecular structures, which in Richter's treatment become gray-and-black honeycombs of recurring interlocking shapes. Given the way the paintings' surfaces register the even drag of the brush, we seem to see these shapes through a screen, a steady visual blur. All the works shown were titled Silicate, and it is tempting to think that Richter's interest in the photographs involves glass, a kind of fatal substance for him. But the silicate group is vast, containing much besides glass, and Richter has said that he doesn't actually know what some of his photographs depict. What seems more at issue, then, is a kind of contraction: a removal of individual quality and texture from the substances included in the silicate group-which, incidentally, is the stuff of the world, the largest naturally occurring class of minerals. This leveling examination of what constitutes individuality is entirely in line with the ambivalently Expressionist paintings elsewhere in the show.

-David Frankel

[Sidebar]

View of "Gerhard Richter," 2005. From left: 885-1 Silicate, 885-2 Silicate, 885-3 Silicate, all 2003.

Portuguese Football Results

2012-03-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

Results from the 17th round of the Portuguese first-division football league (home teams listed first):

Friday's Game

Leixoes 2, Trofense 0

Saturday's Games

Amadora 0, Setubal 0

Sunday's Games

Guimaraes vs. Maritimo

Naval vs. Nacional

Rio Ave vs. Academica

Sporting Lisbon vs. Braga

FC Porto vs. Benfica

Monday's Game

Pacos Ferreira vs. Belenenses

Fed to keep interest rate near zero for 2 years

2012-03-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that it will likely keep interest rates at record lows for the next two years after acknowledging that the U.S. economy is weaker than it had thought and faces increasing risks.

The Fed announced that it expects to keep its key interest rate near zero through mid-2013. It has been at that record low since December 2008. The Fed had previously only said that it would keep it low for "an extended period."

Fed policymakers used significantly more downbeat language to describe current economic conditions. It said so far this year the economy has grown "considerably slower" than the Fed had expected. They also said that temporary factors, such as high energy prices and the Japan crisis, only accounted for "some of the recent weakness" in economic activity.

The more explicit time frame is aimed at calming nervous investors. It offered them a clearer picture of how long they will be able to obtain ultra-cheap credit, and was at least a year longer than many economists had expected.

But it didn't seem to help on Tuesday. Stocks initially fell after the statement was released, possibly reflecting disappointment that the Fed did not announce another round of bond buying.

Fed officials met against a backdrop of speculation that they would say or do something new to address a darkening economic picture. The stock market has plunged and government data have signaled a weaker economy in the four weeks since Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that the Fed was ready to act if conditions worsened.

The economy grew at an annual rate of just 0.8 percent in the first six months of the year. Consumers have cut spending for the first time in 20 months. Wages are barely rising. Manufacturing is growing only slightly. And service companies are expanding at the slowest pace in 17 months.

Employers hired more in July than during the previous two months. But the number of jobs added was far fewer than needed to significantly dent the unemployment rate, now at 9.1 percent. The rate has exceeded 9 percent in all but two months since the recession officially ended in June 2009.

Fear that another recession is unavoidable, along with worries that Europe may be unable to contain its debt crisis, has rattled stock markets. The Dow Jones industrial average has lost nearly 15 percent of its value since July 21. On Monday, it fell 634 points — its worst day since 2008 and sixth-worst drop in history.

The tailspin on Wall Street was further fueled by Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade long-term U.S. debt.

Bernanke didn't speak publicly after Tuesday's Fed meeting. The chairman this year made a historic change by scheduling news conferences after four of the Fed's eight policy meetings each year, but Tuesday's wasn't one of them.

Later this month at the Fed's annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Bernanke will likely address the weakening economy, the S&P downgrade and the market turmoil.

Earlier this summer, the Fed ended a $600 billion Treasury bond-buying program. The bond purchases were intended to keep rates low to encourage spending and borrowing and lift stock prices.