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Islanders beat Lightning, extend winning streak to 6

2012-03-15T05:42:00.000-07:00

Miroslav Satan snapped a scoreless tie in the third period and Rick DiPietro stopped 32 shots for the New York Islanders, who welcomed back suspended forward Chris Simon and won their sixth straight with a 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

DiPietro was perfect in snapping the Lightning's 10-game road run of earning at least one point (7-0-3). Tampa Bay is last in the NHL's Eastern Conference with 57 points.

Sabres 5, Maple Leafs 1

At Toronto, Ales Kotalik scored two goals to help the Buffalo Sabres win for the 10th time in 14 games.

Brian Campbell, Jaroslav Spacek and Derek Roy also scored for the Sabres, who are on a 10-2-2 …

NOTEWORTHY

2012-03-15T03:16:00.000-07:00

Winning the Masters didn't hurt Tiger Woods in the latest worldgolf rankings, not that he has to worry about being No. 1:

Golfer Points

1. Tiger Woods 16.10

2. Phil Mickelson 9.83

3. Ernie Els …

An investigation of the types of problem behaviors exhibited by K-12 students with emotional or behavioral disorders in public school settings

2012-03-15T00:52:00.000-07:00

ABSTRACT: This cross-sectional study used random sampling procedures to (a) establish proportions of K-12 students meeting borderline and clinical cut scores on the Teacher Report Form (TRF) of the Child Behavior Checklist, (b) examine age and gender differences in distributions of students meeting borderline or clinical levels of problem behavior, and (c) determine proportions of students displaying comorbid problem behaviors. Overall, our findings indicate that (a) more students met borderline or clinical cut scores on the Total and Externalizing broad band scales than on the Internalizing scale, (b) larger proportions of children met the cut scores on the TRF Total, Externalizing, and …

Kidnappers free 5 SKoreans after 10 days in captivity in Mexico

2012-03-14T22:31:00.000-07:00

The Foreign Ministry says five South Koreans abducted in Mexico have been set free.

Foreign Ministry official Lee Jeong-gwan says the South Koreans are in the care of Mexican police and will be handed to South Korean Embassy staff. Speaking to reporters in Seoul …

Sarkozy says faithful should avoid ostentation

2012-03-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

President Nicolas Sarkozy says that religious believers should practice their faith "with humble discretion" as a sign of respect for others.

Sarkozy says the Swiss "no" to minarets on Muslim mosques in a recent referendum is not a bid to deny essential freedoms to Muslims but reflects an ebbing of a sense of belonging, and identity, in a globalized world.

…

Divine call brings White back to Pack

2012-03-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

GREEN BAY, Wis. Reggie White said today that God told him tocome out of his brief retirement and keep a promise to play footballone more year.

Green Bay Packers coach Mike Holmgren announced White'sretirement Sunday, and as recently as Monday the 36-year-olddefensive end was standing by his decision to leave football becauseof a bad back.

Later that day, after repeating to Holmgren that he wouldn'treturn next season, White said he had a revelation while having backtherapy."God spoke to me, and said `You made a promise,' " White, anordained Baptist minister, said at a news conference. "You promisedhim you would play two years, and I want you to fulfill …

Quinoa's popularity boon to Bolivians

2012-03-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

CARACOLLO, Bolivia (AP) — It's as inhospitable as climates come for crop cultivation, the dry and rocky soils of Bolivia's semiarid altiplain. Miguel Choque can see his breath as surveys his fields of quinoa, the Andean "supergrain."

In late March or April, the flowering plants will paint the rugged landscape yellow, green and red. Their diminutive seed, which powered Inca armies only to be elbowed aside by the wheat preferred by colonizing Spaniards, is unmatched in nutritional value.

Quinoa's rising popularity among First World foodies — the wholesale price has jumped sevenfold since 2000 as global demand climbed — has been a boon to the poor farmers here in the semiarid …

BP: 2,000 barrels a day now captured from oil leak

2012-03-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

BP says its mile-long tube siphoning oil from a blown-out well is bringing more crude to the surface.

In a news release Tuesday, BP PLC says the narrow tube is now drawing 2,000 barrels a day for collection in a tanker, double the amount when it started operation Sunday.

BP Chief …

Redskins will finalize deal for Portis this week

2012-03-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

Clinton Portis has an agreement with the Washington Redskins, wholater this week will acquire the star running back from Denver forPro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey.

Carson Palmer has a starting job in Cincinnati, while KordellStewart, Mo Lewis and Ruben Brown are out of jobs. Steve Smith isstaying in Carolina and Jerome Bettis will remain with Pittsburgh.

On a busy Monday as the NFL's free agency period nears - it beginsWednesday - the Redskins did what they do best under owner DanielSnyder. They agreed to a $50.5 million, eight-year contract withPortis, the 2002 Offensive Rookie of the Year with Denver.

Once Bailey and the Broncos agree on a deal, Washington …

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2012-03-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

Commonwealth Secretary General …

The 'poetry' of Fox News' Glenn Beck

2012-03-14T06:09:00.000-07:00

Editor's note: Every so often, some clever pundit takes the verbatim words of a famous person -- usually a famous person the clever pundit does not like -- and presents them as free form poetry. In a weird way, it often kind of works. Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who tended to express himself in a rhythmic and repeating manner, came in for a lot of this. Now Hart Seely and Tom Peyer, commentators for Salon.com, have served up in free-verse form the brilliant mental stylings of conservative Fox News pundit Glenn Beck. Here's a sample poem:

Meatballs at the furniture store

Somebody said let's make Swedish meatballs at the furniture store

And somebody …

BP, ABF AND DUPONT UNVEIL PLANS FOR GRASSROOTS BIOFUELS PLANT

2012-03-14T03:46:00.000-07:00

Since the 2010 Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) requires 5% of U.K. transport fuel to come from biofuels by 2010, a coalition consisting of BP pic (www.bp.com), ABF (www.abf.co.uk) and DuPont (www.dupont.com) plans to invest $400 million to construct a world-scale bioetbanol plant. Split with BP and ABF holding 45% each and DuPont with the remaining 10%, the bioethanol plant is due to be completed in late 2009 and will be located on BP's existing chemicals site at Saltend, Hull. Planners anticipate a production capacity of 420 million L/yr from wheat feedstock. Front-end engineering and design work will commence immediately with Aker Kvaemer leading the project and their joint venture partner Praj providing the technology expertise. Although the plant will be built from scratch, it will have access to the existing infrastructure at the BP site for essential supporting services.

The BP site in Hull has also been selected as the preferred location for a biobutano! demonstration plant, funded and owned equally by BP and DuPont, which could produce around 20,000 L/yr of biobutanol from a wide variety of feedstocks. Biobutanol has the potential to be blended into gasoline at larger concentrations than existing biofuels, and without the need to retrofit vehicles. It offers better fuel economy than gasoline-ethanol blends, improving a car's fuel efficiency and mileage.

To begin market development of biobutanol, BP and DuPont are developing plans to introduce biobutanol for use in the U.K. They will import small quantities of biobutanol, sourced from an existing first generation manufacturing facility in China. The first product is expected to arrive by the end of 2007, and will be used to carry out infrastructure and advanced vehicle testing. This will build upon initial laboratory engine tests using conventional butanol, which exhibited similar fuel performance properties as unleaded gasoline. The companies plan to gather comprehensive data on the project's environmental footprint and the sustamability of this next generation fuel.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS WATCH

2012-03-14T00:53:00.000-07:00

EXAMINING SMALL PRESSES OUTSIDE OF CANADA LITMUS PRESS THIS ISSUEJUR INTREPID CORRESPONDENT HEADS SOUTH TO THE WAREHOUSES OF BROOKLYN.

Tracy Grinnell started Litmus Press to make money. Okay, maybe not a lot of money, but the press' original purpose was to float Grinnell's poetry journal, Aufgabe. Over a decade ago, she was a 24-year-old student in San Francisco all too aware of the quick failure rate of upstart journals. So, she teamed up with her friend and business partner Peter Neufeld and the pair sought out a niche that would survive the tough literary marketplace.

That niche turned out to be the translated works of obscure foreign writers - an odd choice for Grinnell, who, at the time, had no education or background in the field of literary translation.

"If I was going to do something 1 wanted there to be a reason and there was a clear lack of translated material," she says over the phone from Brooklyn, where she now lives and works. Plus, she's captivated by the act of translation. "Translating is two-fold as an exchange is happening between the writer and translator. They're finding a common language," she says.

The journal's title (meaning "purpose" in German) comes from Walter Benjamin's essay, "Die Aufgabe des �bersetzers" or "The Task of the Translator." In its second issue, Grinnell sets out Aufgabe's own task: to bring translated works from around the globe to new authences, to challenge cultural norms and to take risks.

To do this, Grinnel brings in guest editors and translators to pick groundbreaking poets from around the world, while she edits the Englishlanguage poetry for both Aufgabe and Litmus publications. The plucky decision has meant translating authors from 16 countries who might never have reached an Anglophone authence otherwise. Over its 10-year history, Litmus has published poetry from Mexico, Brazil, Morocco, Poland and more, with upcoming issues introducing work from El Salvador, Egypt and India.

After the inaugural issue of Aufgabe hit the presses, Grinnell moved across the country to do an MFA at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and she brought Aufgabe with her. While Neufeld moved on to other projects, Grinnell founded the full-fledged Litmus Press, a small publishing house that, like Aufgabe, publishes foreign-language poets as well as home-grown authors.

Litmus started by publishing one book a year, with Grinnell paying for publication out of pocket. Two years after its foundation, Litmus was granted non-profit status and created an affiliate charity, Ether Sea Projects. Since the upgrade, Litmus has been able to release roughly three books a year. Its present catalogue of 20 books features mainly poetry collections and translations.

That catalogue includes the first full-length English translation of Japan's Ayane Kawata and her collection, Time of Sky & Castles in the Air (2010), a double volume of concise, dream-like verse, and of French poet Isabelle Garron's Face Before Against (2008) whose "tense and intimate" collection is divided into five acts. The press will soon put out cross-genre books, such as How Phenomena Appear to Unfold, that includes plays, poetic pieces and critical writings by the late American experimental writer Leslie Scalapino.

To bring out some of these unique collections, the press occasionally collaborates with other small presses. Four From Japan, for instance, is a joint publication between Litmus and fellow Brooklyn publisher Belladonna Press. It features poetry from four Japanese women writers - Kiriu Minashita, Kyong-Mi Park, Ryoko Sekiguchi and Takako Arai - in both English and the original Japanese. On the English-language side, Litmus published Kate Colby's 2006 collection Fruitlands, which was nominated for the Poetry Society of America's Norma F�rber First Book Award.

To keep the press churning, Grinnell, herself a published poet with two books released through O Books, relies on one part-time editorial assistant, a "good cycle of interns," a few volunteer editors and freelance Denver-based designer HR Hegnauer to run the website and design publications. Three days a week she's managing administrative tasks in the shared Brooklyn office with Belladonna and two other visual artists. The rest of her time is spent at home, writing, reading and editing manuscripts.

In the coming years, Grinnell wants to expand the press's mandate by taking Ether Sea Projects in a new direction. The charity already financially supports Belladonna and California's O Books, but she says it could take on more. Also, she's hoping to start a series of talks for foreign writers to recreate the act of translation and exchange in a literal, physical setting. "At the core of [our mission] is exchange on the international level," she says. "The attempt to engage contemporary artists is part of finding affinities across false barriers."

[Author Affiliation]

BY CHELSEA MURRAY

LITMUS PRESS, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK CITY, LITMUSPRESS.ORG

Hill Exits No-Hitter, but Nats Still Win

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

WASHINGTON - Manny Acta's Washington Nationals ended an eight-game losing streak by scoring their most runs in 2 1/2 weeks and holding the NL's most potent offense without a hit for six innings and without a run for the first time all season.

Still, after Washington beat the Florida Marlins 6-0 Friday night, the rookie manager sighed and crossed his arms as he contemplated how it seems that even when things go right for his club, something goes wrong.

"Yeah," Acta said. "It's a sour taste."

If he seemed a bit somber, and the home clubhouse was quiet despite a rare victory, it's because Shawn Hill, Washington's most effective starter this season, said he's "99 percent sure" he'll go on the disabled list with a sore right elbow that forced him out of the game after five no-hit innings.

"If he's out a while, it's definitely going to hurt," said Austin Kearns, who drove in two runs and had one of Washington's 15 hits. "He's been great so far."

Hill (3-3, 2.70 ERA) walked two and retired the other 15 batters he faced. He took the mound to start the sixth but left without throwing another pitch.

There also was bad news before the game for a team that entered the day a majors-worst 9-25: Nationals hitting coach Mitchell Page is taking a leave of absence for what the team called "undisclosed personal reasons."

Hill, who had elbow ligament replacement surgery in 2004 and missed all of 2005, will have an MRI exam on Monday and probably will be shut down for a week to 10 days, team doctor Ben Shaffer said. Hill's elbow began to bother him during his previous start, and he and Shaffer believe the problem stems from trying to compensate for a bothersome left shoulder that he jammed while running the bases last month.

"My mechanics have been a little bit out of whack and putting stress on the elbow," Hill said.

His baseball career has been marked by various injuries - all the way back to when he played his first youth season wearing a cast on a broken leg.

After returning to the majors in 2006 from the elbow surgery, Hill made six starts before the elbow acted up in June. Then, this season he's been bothered by right forearm stiffness and the left shoulder.

He said he wasn't thinking about the no-hitter when he had to leave the mound.

"I was more frustrated that I was out of the game," he said, "and not healthy again."

Winston Abreu kept the Marlins hitless through the sixth. Saul Rivera came on for the seventh, and Josh Willingham led off with a bloop single to left that dropped just in front of outfielder Ryan Church, who tore up his pants leg with a sliding attempt to make a catch.

"I actually thought it was going to get caught, but it snuck in there, I guess," Willingham said. "You obviously want to break it up as soon as possible - because nobody wants to get no-hit."

Rivera allowed an infield single to Reggie Abercrombie later in that inning, but got out of the jam. Jesus Colome and Jon Rauch finished up the four-hitter.

Church drove in Washington's first two runs off Scott Olsen (3-3) with a groundout in the first and a double in the sixth. Church also scored in the sixth on Kearns' sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.

Each starting position player for the Nationals wound up with at least one hit, including three apiece for Cristian Guzman and Brian Schneider.

Olsen went 5 2-3 innings and was charged with four runs - three earned - and 10 hits. He summed up his performance this way: "Two bad pitches."

One led to Church's double. The other was an offering to Schneider in the sixth that stayed up. Right fielder Abercrombie jumped and reached over the fence to grab the ball and prevent a homer on the drive, but as he brought his glove down, the ball popped out. Schneider wound up with an RBI double that made it 4-0.

"It wasn't a home run," Schneider said, "but it wasn't an out, either."

Notes:@ The Marlins made three errors, two on throws by 3B Miguel Cabrera. "As long as there are human people playing this game and not machines, there are going to be errors," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. ... Nationals LF Ryan Langerhans made a running, diving catch of Cabrera's sinking liner to end the top of the eighth.

Artful poll yields predictable result

2012-03-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

The American Council for the Arts wanted a nice poll that wouldfavor individual grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

So the council got a grant from Philip Morris and retainedpollster Lou Harris. At 71, Harris is old enough to be called theVenerable Lou. He knows that 99 percent of a public opinion polllies in framing the questions to be asked.

So the Venerable Lou took personal charge of this enterprise.He framed some hardball questions that would get to the very core ofhow people feel about the arts. In February his pollsters telephoned1,500 adults and asked them:

"Do you ever find the arts give you an uplift from everydayexperiences?" By jingoes, 70 percent of the respondents said yes.

The Venerable Lou asked them, "How important do you think it isto the quality of life in the community to have such things asmuseums, theater and concert halls in the community?" Forty-eightpercent said very important; 36 percent said somewhat important.

After a series of 13 questions to soften folks up, and to getthem thinking the arts are great, our peerless pollster stoppedstalling around:

"If arts organizations, such as art museums, dance, opera,theater groups and symphony orchestras, need financial assistance tooperate, do you feel that ( ) should provide assistance or not?"

Sixty percent knew the right answer. They shouted, "The federalgovernment should provide assistance!"

Did the respondents feel that artists "work very hard for verylittle money?" Yes, Lou! Are individual professional artists"highly important to the life of the country as the current andpotential creators of the art and culture that the nation needs to bea full and rich place to live?" Said 81 percent: Yessiree bob!

"My name is Lou," said His Eminence. "Let's get down to thenitty-gritty," he said. "The federal government now pays out over$1,000 per capita for defense, $180 for education, and no more than$1.40 for the arts. Would you be willing to pay $25 more in taxes ayear for the arts? $15 more? $10 more? $5 more?"

Here the respondents spit in the old professor's eye. Not evenhalf of them were willing to pay $25 more a year in taxes. Thirtypercent said they were unwilling to pay even a lousy 5 bucks more intaxes to support the arts.

Harris concluded with several questions that demanded seriousthought: "Do you agree that in order for the arts to come forth withtheir best and most creative efforts, the arts need to operate freelywith a minimum of government control?" Eighty percent said rah, rah,rah. Is a diversity of artistic expression desirable? Sure, Lou,said the pollees.

The American Council for the Arts put out a happy press release.Behold! A decisive majority of the people firmly support federalgovernment financing of the arts!

I wonder what the response would have been if the Venerable Louhad asked: Do you agree or disagree that $20,000 of your hard-earnedtaxes should be spent to pay a fellow to translate a work by Ovidinto elegiac couplets? Could this be postponed to a time when we arenot running a $400 billion deficit? Yes or no?"

Well, the American Council for the Arts wanted a nice, unbiasedpoll. Say it for the Venerable Lou: He gave 'em their money's worth.

Tech Briefs

2012-03-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

SUN'S NEW CEO FACES CHALLENGE

Sun Microsystems Inc.'s new chief executive officer, JonathanSchwartz, pledged to revive sales growth and reverse five years ofmarket-share losses. Schwartz, who was named to replace Scott McNealyas CEO on Monday, said he will review spending over the next 90 daysand that he doesn't plan to cut a lot of jobs at the fourth-largestmaker of server computers. McNealy will remain chairman. Schwartz'sremarks about status quo might not satisfy some analysts andinvestors looking for quicker improvement. The server and softwaremaker's stock closed just a penny higher, to $4.99 per share.

GREEN APPLE PLAN EXPANDED

Apple announced it will offer free computer take-back andrecycling with the purchase of a new Macintosh system beginning inJune. U.S. customers who buy a new Mac through an Apple store or theWeb site will receive free shipping and environmentally friendlydisposal of their old computer as an expansion of its Apple Recyclingprogram. Equipment received by the program in the U.S. is recycleddomestically and no hazardous material is shipped overseas, thecompany said.

EU FAULTS MICROSOFT TACTIC

Microsoft ended a rival's reign as the leading PC media-playermaker by bundling its own program with Windows -- and could do thesame to others if its appeal of a landmark antitrust ruling isgranted, the European Commission said Tuesday. Microsoft brushed offthe claims, saying that it continuously added functions to itsoperating systems to meet likely demand from consumers -- part of thetechnology sector's natural evolution.

SKYPE RINGS UP RINGTONES DEAL

Skype, eBay's Internet telephone subsidiary, announced a dealTuesday with music publishers that will make audio clips from artistslike Madonna, Green Day and Red Hot Chili Peppers available to itsusers as ring tones. Clips from Madonna songs will be availableWednesday for $1.50 each, with other artists to follow, Skype said.The deal is with EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing,Warner/Chappell Music and the British association for author andpublisher rights, the MCPS-PRS Alliance.

Children Unfazed During Manila Bus Siege

2012-03-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

MANILA, Philippines - A young girl waved a Barbie doll in the air while a boy licked an ice cream cone. Another girl casually finished a bottle of water while chatting with a classmate.

Dozens of children were taken hostage on a bus Wednesday by a day-care center owner armed with grenades and guns, but the youngsters took the ordeal in stride, eating pizza, smiling and waving from the windows throughout the day.

The crisis ended after 10 hours when 56-year-old civil engineer Jun Ducat, who staged the incident to denounce corruption and demand better lives for impoverished children, released the children, put the pin back in a grenade and surrendered to police.

Jubilant parents were quickly reunited with their children as they filed off the bus clutching dolls, toys and backpacks. Ducat was led to a waiting police car and driven away.

"I was afraid all day that the grenade may explode," said Gerome Agabon, father of 5-year-old hostage Joanne.

Police said Thursday the grenades did not have detonators, and so could not explode. But Ducat's other weapons were real.

Manila police district chief Danilo Abarzosa said Ducat would be charged with multiple counts of illegal detention and abduction - each count is punishable by up to 12 years in prison - along with illegal possession of explosives and firearms.

"I accept that I should be jailed because what I did was against the law," Ducat said in an interview with The Associated Press shortly before the standoff ended.

"No, I don't regret anything," he later told Associated Press Television News from jail.

The excited students thought they were going on a field trip when they boarded the bus early Wednesday. Instead, Ducat had the driver take them to City Hall, where a handwritten sheet of paper was taped to the windshield that said he was holding 32 children and two teachers and was armed with two grenades, an assault rifle and a .45-caliber pistol.

It was established afterward that only 26 children and two teachers were held, Abarzosa said. Hospital workers, however, reported four teachers were involved, a discrepancy that could not immediately be resolved.

Bus driver Deogracias Bugarin said they had loaded up with bottled water and eaten breakfast at a fast-food restaurant. Ducat said he brought along three chamber pots for use as toilets.

Homemaker Shiela Malabo was relieved when her 6-year-old son Fred appeared at a bus window and waved to her. She waved back frantically and gestured with her hands to ask if he had eaten.

Fred responded by raising an empty box from a popular hamburger chain.

"When I was walking him into the bus, I told him to behave and not be unruly," Malabo said as she sat waiting with other worried parents. "This excursion was postponed twice and he was really very excited to go."

Jasmine Agabon said her 5-year-old daughter Joanne thought they were going swimming, so she had worn her bathing suit underneath her school uniform that morning.

"I cried in our house when I found out about the hostage-taking," Agabon said. "I don't know how to feel. Mr. Ducat was good. He helped people in our slum get jobs. He helped our children get good education.

Ducat, who has staged attention-grabbing stunts in the past, made a long statement through a wireless microphone while the youngsters chanted his name. He railed against the failure of politicians in the Philippines to make good on promises to provide free education and housing for the poor, and called corruption in the country the worst in Asia.

"I love these kids; that's why I am here," Ducat told DZMM radio by mobile phone shortly after the incident began. "You can be assured that I cannot hurt the children."

White candles had been lit at Ducat's request and placed in yellow cups under the police tape used to cordon off the area. Police and other officials also held candles outside the bus, as did people in the crowd that went to watch the situation unfold.

"Let the candles be a warning," Ducat said. "If the promises remain unfulfilled, you will see those candles again."

Parents at the scene, although afraid for their children, expressed sympathy for Ducat's demands and had kind words for his work in their slum, particularly the free day-care center he founded where he pays the teachers' salaries.

As he was led away, dozens of slum-dwellers yelled his name like a hero.

Ducat was involved in a previous hostage-taking in 1989 involving two priests, but no charges were filed, police said.

He was disqualified as a congressional candidate in 2001 for unspecified reasons. He once protested high rice prices by personally pulling a wagon loaded with sacks of rice about 60 miles to Manila. In 1998, he climbed a tower to protest against the candidacy of a politician who he said was not a real Filipino citizen.

"I know him as a very, very passionate individual who has his own kind of thinking on the solutions to our problems," Manila Mayor Lito Atienza said. "But we cannot agree with his ways."

---

Associated Press writers Teresa Cerojano, Hrvoje Hranjski, Oliver Teves and Paul Alexander contributed to this report.

Suspect in Kan. abortion provider killing in court

2012-03-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

An usher at the church where Kansas abortion Dr. George Tiller was shot to death says he and Tiller were chatting when he saw a man walk through a door, put a gun to Tiller's head and shoot him.

Gary Hoepner (HEPP-ner), an usher at Reformation Lutheran Church, was the first witness called Tuesday in the preliminary hearing for Scott Roeder (ROH-der) of Kansas City, Mo.

Roeder is charged with murder in Tiller's May 31 shooting death and is expected to enter a plea at Tuesday's hearing. He also is charged with aggravated assault for allegedly threatening Hoepner and another usher.

Hoepner says he wasn't sure if the gun used was real until he saw Tiller fall to the ground.

Ellison Bakery Considers Expansion in Fort Wayne

2012-03-13T06:53:00.000-07:00

Ellison Bakery, Inc., a manufacturer of cookies and cookie-based products, is considering an expansion to add capacity at its headquarters, production and distribution center at 4108 West Ferguson Road in Fort Wayne. The company is considering a 35,000 square foot warehouse expansion to make room for a possible third production line within the existing 72,000 square foot facility Approximately 25 new jobs could be added through 2009.

Ellison is perhaps best known locally as the company supplying warm cookies to passengers landing at Fort Wayne International Airport (FWA), a program that has drawn national attention to FWA.

The proposed $4.0 million project includes approximately $2.6 million for the warehouse expansion and approximately $1.4 million in new equipment, including hardware and software as part of a new logistics system. The Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance is coordinating the community's interaction with the company. The Fort Wayne Common Council will consider tax abatement for all applicable real and personal property tax expenditures associated with the proposed project. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation is also working with the company. Additional issues need to be resolved prior to final approval of the project by company officials.

About Ellison Bakery

Ellison Bakery started as a one-man operation in the Ellis family garage in Fort Wayne. Mr. Ellis sold, produced and delivered highquality retail baked goods to restaurants and grocers throughout the area. As Ellison Bakery's reputation for excellent products spread, the business flourished as well. In the early 1980s, Ellison Bakery began to produce cookie-based products, including ice cream sandwich cookies and crunch toppings, to supply the institutional, fund-raising and ice cream industries.

Ellison Bakery will continue to grow by providing customized products that specifically meet customer requirements. Visit www.ebakery.com for more information.

9 Afghan guards kidnapped in Kabul province

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

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan gunmen attacked a construction company in Kabul province, wounding one security guard and kidnapping nine others, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday.

Gunmen opened fire on 18 Afghan guards in the mountainous Sarobi district, about 27 miles (45 kilometers) east of the capital, Kabul on Monday.

Nine guards were kidnapped and nine escaped, said Zemeri Bashary, a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry.

The gunmen also seized several rifles.

The attack came the same day an Afghan border policeman killed six American servicemen during a training mission, underscoring one of the risks in a U.S.-led program to educate enough recruits to turn over the lead for security to Afghan forces by 2014.

The shooting in a remote area near the Pakistani border appeared to be the deadliest attack of its kind in at least two years.

Attacks on NATO troops by Afghan policemen or soldiers, although still rare, have increased as the coalition has accelerated the program. Other problems with the rapidly growing security forces include drug use, widespread illiteracy and high rates of attrition.

Stocks slide on renewed fears of global slowdown

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

Stocks and interest rates tumbled Tuesday after signs of a slowing global economy spooked traders.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 240 points in morning trading to fall below 10,000 for the first time since June 10. The Dow and other major indexes each lost more than 2 percent.

Stocks began the day by following Asian and European markets lower. Asian exchanges fell after economic figures in Japan signaled that the nation's recovery has slowed. And then European indexes fell sharply after Greek workers walked off the job to protest steep budget cuts.

Then, shortly after U.S. trading began, the market was hit with news that consumer confidence fell sharply this month because of worries about jobs and the overall economy. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index fell nearly 10 points to 52.9, down from a revised 62.7 in May. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast only a modest drop.

The index needs to climb above 90 to indicate the economy is on solid footing.

Interest rates fell in the bond market with investors seeking the safety of Treasurys. The yield on the 10-year note dropped to as low as 2.97 percent, the first time it has fallen below 3 percent since April 2009. The yield, which is used as a benchmark for many consumer loans and mortgages, bounced off its low and edged up to 2.98 percent.

Falling yields are a sign that investors are willing to give up potential gains in stocks for more certain, but smaller profits in bonds.

Companies have indicated things are getting better, yet there are few signs they are ready to hire in big numbers. The Labor Department's monthly employment report due Friday is expected to show the unemployment rate rose 0.1 percent to 9.8 percent in June.

In midmorning trading, the Dow fell 241.76, or 2.4 percent, to 9,897.21. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 27.45, or 2.6 percent, to 1,047.12, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 68.34, or 3.1 percent, to 2,152.31.

A report that showed home prices rose in April did little to boost trading. The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index 20-city home price index rose 0.8 percent between March and April. The gains, though, are likely being written off because April was the final month when buyers could receive a tax credit. Nearly all housing indicators got a boost in April from the credit, but have since shown a slowdown in the market.

Worries about Europe are again rattling the market. The euro, the common currency used by 16 European nations, fell to $1.2156. The currency has been seen as a proxy for confidence in Europe's economy following Greece's near bankruptcy and steep budget cuts around the continent to combat rising deficits. World markets have regularly dropped along with the euro in recent months.

Greek workers walked off their jobs as part of another nationwide strike to protest the austerity measures the government put in place to try and reduce debt. The austerity measures were a requirement for Greece to receive a bailout from other European Union members and the International Monetary Fund.

The new round of protests sparks fresh concerns about how well European countries will be able to stick to austerity plans in the face of public outcry against them. Investors have been worried for months that Europe's economy would slow and drag down the global economy with it.

The Japanese government reported Tuesday that export demand moderated and household spending dropped last month. Unemployment also rose unexpectedly, climbing for the third straight month.

Chinese shares tumbled as investors worried that an initial public offering for the Agricultural Bank of China would draw money away from other stocks.

About 2,665 stocks fell while only about 200 rose at the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 274 million shares, compared with 179 million shares traded at the same point Monday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 19.96, or 3.1 percent, to 621.58.

The Shanghai composite index fell 4.3 percent to a 14-month low, while Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.3 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 3.1 percent, Germany's DAX index dropped 3.3 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 3.8 percent.

S. Korea says N. Korea running normally under Kim

2012-03-12T21:09:00.000-07:00

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak believes North Korea is running "normally" under leader Kim Jong Il despite reports the totalitarian leader suffered a stroke and had brain surgery.

Lee made the remark in an Oct. 18 interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, his office said Wednesday, as questions linger over Kim's health despite Pyongyang's denials.

"I don't think there are any changes in North Korea because of Chairman Kim Jong Il's health," Lee said during the interview, referring to the North's leader by his formal title, chairman of the country's powerful National Defense Commission.

"I think North Korean society is still moving normally around Chairman Kim," Lee said, according to a transcript provided by his office.

The 66-year-old Kim, long believed to suffer from diabetes and heart disease, reportedly suffered a stroke and had brain surgery in August, and missed at least two key national ceremonies, including the Sept. 9 anniversary of the country's founding 60 years ago.

North Korea denies Kim's illness, and recently released pictures of him inspecting a military unit.

But questions about his health have persisted because the undated photos were not thought to have been taken recently.

Kim's health has been a focus of intense international attention because his fate is believed to be tied to that of the communist nation whose leadership he inherited after his father died in 1994.

Reports of Kim's health problems have spurred talk of a need for preparations for North Korea's possible collapse.

But Lee said he does not believe "North Korean society will collapse that easily, though the international community will be prepared for various" situations.

The two Koreas fought the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula technically still at war.

Relations between the two sides had warmed significantly since the 2000 summit, but froze this year as North Korea protested the hard-line stance that Lee has taken on Pyongyang since assuming office in February.

Lorenzo caps record year with 9th win in Valencia

2012-03-12T17:34:00.000-07:00

VALENCIA, Spain (AP) — Moto GP champion Jorge Lorenzo won the Valencia Grand Prix on Sunday to cap a record year with his ninth victory.

The Spaniard overtook pole sitter Casey Stoner of Ducati to win the 30-lap race in 46 minutes, 44.622 seconds and set a new record for points in a season with 383 — 10 better than teammate Valentino Rossi's previous total.

"I'm even more emotional now than when I clinched the title," said Lorenzo, who controlled his bike well to avoid a crash and pull out his 14th career win. "It was a race I'll remember for the rest of my life."

Stoner was just over 4 1/2 seconds behind Lorenzo while Rossi ended seven seasons at Yamaha with a third-place finish.

"I'm happy with a podium," said Rossi, who was wearing a yellow T-shirt with 'Bye Bye Baby' written across the front. "It's a nice way to go."

Rossi stopped on the Cheste circuit afterward to pose with his Yamaha bike, which helped him win four titles. The Italian, an overall seven-time champion, is joining Ducati next year.

American rider Ben Spies was fourth ahead of Andrea Dovizioso of Italy.

Dani Pedrosa of Spain placed seventh to close the season second overall with 245 points, and Rossi was third with 233 points. Australia's Stoner was fourth with 225 points and Dovizioso had 206 points for Honda.

Earlier, Mark Marquez ensured Spanish riders swept all three Moto GP categories after clinching the 125cc world championship with a fourth-place finish of a race won by Bradley Smith.

Smith finished ahead of Spaniards Pol Espargaro and Nicolas Terol, who was the only rider able to snatch the title from Marquez.

Marquez finishes the season with 310 points after his 11th win of the season — matching Rossi's record total in the discipline. Terol is second on 296 points, ahead of third place Espargaro on 281.

"It's a dream come true," Marquez said. "The standard throughout the season has been very high because Nico Terol has been really good in many races."

Toni Elias won the Moto2 title, while Karel Abraham of the Czech Republic won Sunday's race.

Neighbors go all-out to save oaks

2012-03-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

The 150-year-old oaks form a canopy over Marcy Street, makingneighbors feel as if they live in the middle of a forest.

Now residents on Marcy in northwest Evanston are bandingtogether to save the oaks. They fear the trees will be destroyed bya sewer project planned for their street.

Neighbors there are asking the City of Evanston and HarzaEngineering, which designed the project, to reconsider whether to adda 45-foot-deep relief sewer and new water main on their street.

"These are shallow-rooted trees, and they won't survive thiskind of damage," said Karen Korn, a resident of the 2400 block ofMarcy. Korn has worked as a plant researcher at the Chicago BotanicGarden in Glencoe.

But Richard Figurelli, Evanston's superintendent of water andsewers, said the city will work with an arborist to ensure that treesare not damaged.

The city is in the seventh year of a 10-year, $153 million sewerproject designed to prevent basement flooding.

"We haven't lost a tree in seven years," Figurelli said.

Marcy Street neighbors say their street deserves to be sparedconstruction because it is in the middle of an oak grove thatincludes about 130 trees.

"They couldn't help but do damage to some of the trees becausethe street is very narrow and there are so many trees," Korn said.

The majestic oaks helped draw Sally Ennis and her husband to theneighborhood 22 years ago.

"This is more than our hearts can bear," Ennis said. "We don'twant to lose these trees because they're in front of all the houseson the block and they're beautiful."

Figurelli said the city can't move the project from MarcyStreet because the street needs the new water main and reliefsewers.

Residents passed out fliers Tuesday urging people to callFigurelli with their concerns.

Figurelli said moving the project would add $1 million to theprojected $5.8 million cost of the Marcy Street phase.

The debate comes as the city's administration and public workscommittee draft a new ordinance designed to protect trees from severetrims. The ordinance would require companies to obtain permitsbefore trimming trees more than 3 inches in diameter.

Bush: Hamas attacks on Israel an 'act of terror'

2012-03-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

President George W. Bush on Friday branded the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel an "act of terror" and outlined his own condition for a cease-fire in Gaza, saying no peace deal would be acceptable without monitoring to halt the flow of smuggled weapons to terrorist groups.

Bush chose his weekly taped radio address to speak for the first time about one of the bloodiest Mideast clashes in decades. It began a week ago. Israeli warplanes have rained bombs on Gaza, targeting the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has traumatized southern Israel with intensifying rocket attacks.

"The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful cease-fire that is fully respected," Bush said. "Another one-way cease-fire that leads to rocket attacks on Israel is not acceptable. And promises from Hamas will not suffice _ there must be monitoring mechanisms in place to help ensure that smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end."

The White House released Bush's radio address a day early. It airs on Saturday morning.

Despite Bush's account of a U.S. leadership role, with time running out on his presidency, the administration seemed increasingly ready Friday to let the crisis in Gaza shift to President-elect Barack Obama. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice briefed Bush on developments in Gaza, and she continued furious telephone diplomacy to arrange a truce. Yet, she said she had no plans to make an emergency visit to the region.

More than 400 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed in the latest offensive. The U.N. estimated Friday that a quarter of the Palestinians killed were civilians. In their waning days in power, Bush and Rice have been working the phones with world allies.

Bush offered no criticism of Israel, depicting the country's air assaults as a response to the attacks on its people. The White House will not comment on whether it views the Israeli response as proportionate or not to the scope of rockets attacks on Israel.

"This recent outburst of violence was instigated by Hamas _ a Palestinian terrorist group supported by Iran and Syria that calls for Israel's destruction," Bush said.

The president said Hamas ultimately ended the latest cease-fire on Dec. 19 and "soon unleashed a barrage of rockets and mortars that deliberately targeted innocent Israelis _ an act of terror that is opposed by the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people, President (Mahmoud) Abbas."

Hamas-run Gaza has been largely isolated from the rest of the world since the Islamic militants won parliamentary elections in 2006. Then Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, expelling forces loyal to the moderate Abbas.

Bush expressed deep concern about the humanitarian suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza. U.N. officials say Gaza's 1.5 million residents face an alarming situation under constant Israeli bombardment, with hospitals overcrowded and both fuel and food supplies growing scarce.

"By spending its resources on rocket launchers instead of roads and schools, Hamas has demonstrated that it has no intention of serving the Palestinian people," Bush said. "America has helped by providing tens of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid, and this week we contributed an additional $85 million through the United Nations. We have consistently called on all in the region to ensure that assistance reaches those in need."

The White House has cautiously said Israel must be mindful of the toll its military strikes will have on civilians. Here, too, Bush blamed Hamas for hiding within the civilian population. "Regrettably, Palestinian civilians have been killed in recent days," he said.

International calls for a cease-fire have been growing. Bush promised to stay engaged with U.S. partners in the Middle East and Europe and keep Obama updated. Obama is receiving the same intelligence reports on Gaza that Bush is.

Rice has spoken to both Obama and his choice for secretary of state, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, about the situation at least once in the last week. Obama and Clinton have remained mum out of deference to Bush, who still has 18 days in office.

There have been growing calls for Rice to intervene with Israel in person amid rising international concern about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza. Her decision to stay away will likely disappoint those calling for a more robust U.S. role, particularly as French President Nicolas Sarkozy intends visit the region next week.

In recent days, U.S. officials had said that a Rice trip to the Middle East, as a first stop on a long-planned visit to China next week, was under consideration. But those officials said Friday that Rice would stay in Washington. They spoke on condition of anonymity because an announcement is not expected before the weekend.

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Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.