bestactorinblogs

US school district agrees to rehire fired teachers

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

A school district that gained the support of President Barack Obama for promoting accountability after it fired all its teachers from a struggling school announced Sunday it reached an agreement with the union to return all the current staffers to their jobs.

The two sides said a so-called transformation plan for Central Falls High School for the coming school year would allow the 87 teachers, guidance counselors, librarians and other staffers who were to lose their jobs at the end of this year to return without having to reapply. More than 700 people had already applied for the positions.

The agreement also imposes a longer school day, more after-school …

They can pick 'em in Pond Gap

2012-03-15T03:37:00.000-07:00

MY picks have been pond scum in Pond Gap.

How else can I explain the fact that five Pond Gappers alreadyhave won coveted Daily Mail ballcaps in the "I Beat Chuck Landon"football predicting contest?

It takes four wins to earn a ballcap. Yet, Pond Gap's LizHuddleston, American Pride, Alicia Huddleston, Riverside Mania andRonny Keenan already have turned the trick.

At this rate, they might win three ballcaps. Which isn'tnecessarily a bad thing.

The Daily Mail hat might become the most popular ballcap in PondGap since "CAT."

But let me assure you chumps in Pond Gap of one thing. This cat inthe hat is striking back.

I compiled a sizzling 13-2 …

Boom in China's coal industry draws increasing interest from American investors and business

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

As China's appetite for coal is booming, American investors and businesses are cashing in.

American pension and mutual fund money is being invested in the Chinese coal industry, which is lucrative but has a poor record for pollution and worker safety.

Look no further than China Shenhua Energy Co., the Beijing giant that produces about 170 million tons of coal a year from 21 mines and builds power plants. While about 80 percent of the company's stock is owned by Shenhua Group in Beijing, the rest of its shareholders reads like a who's who of U.S. investors: Fidelity Investments, OppenheimerFunds, Merrill Lynch, even the Teachers Retirement System of …

Winner likely headed to Churchill

2012-03-14T22:53:00.000-07:00

From Hawthorne Race Course to Churchill Downs, it's a dream-diminishing stretch run of about 300 miles.

The last seven winners of the Illinois Derby have made that trek. All saddle-pocketed the $300,000 first prize in Cicero/Stickney to jump into the starting gate of the Kentucky Derby.

One -- the controversy-shrouded War Emblem (2002) -- even traversed the Gallop from the Gulag at the old Sportsman's Park to win the fabled Run for the Roses in Louisville.

Saturday at Hawthorne, a field of 10 or 11 will answer the starter's call for the 52nd renewal of the $500,000 local classic. Once again, the winner's next stop likely will be America's most fabled …

Cocaine ring probers tell of new cash find

2012-03-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) Federal authorities investigating a ringthey say imported 7 1/2 tons of cocaine since 1980 said yesterdaythey had seized $3.38 million more in cash and made another arrest.

That brought the total seized since Thursday to $7.6 million,said U.S. Attorney James West.

Customs agents Friday said they arrested Michael Phillippo athis North Tarrytown, N.Y., home and found $3.1 million in a hiddenpanel behind a wine rack. An additional $280,000 was seized bycustoms agents at a home in Grand Gorge, N.Y., West said.

Phillippo was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Manhattan oncharges of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine and was ordered held …

Bank of America 2Q Profit Up 5 Percent

2012-03-14T18:12:00.000-07:00

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Bank of America Corp. recorded another profitable quarter Thursday, but gave investors reason to worry as it fattened its provisions for loan losses, an indication it sees lending risks growing.

Bank of America, the No. 2 U.S. bank by assets, reported a 5 percent rise in earnings from growth in capital markets activity and consumer fees, offsetting an increase in credit losses.

But its provision for credit losses ballooned 79.2 percent to $1.81 billion, up from $1.24 billion in the first quarter and $1.01 billion in the second quarter of 2006. Net charge-offs, or bad loans, rose to $1.5 billion, compared with $1.43 billion in the first quarter and $1.02 …

Japan's Nishikori pulls out of French Open

2012-03-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

Kei Nishikori of Japan is withdrawing from the French Open because of an injured right elbow.

Nishikori has not played since losing in the first round at Indian Wells, California in March.

He was honored as the ATP's newcomer of the year for 2008, in part because …

`Sweeping' child welfare overhaul plan unveiled

2012-03-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

Dozens of major changes would be made in Illinois' controversialchild welfare system under an agreement unveiled in federal courtThursday.

The plan is designed to reform the care of 23,000 neglected andabused children in the custody of the Illinois Department of Childrenand Family Services. If it wins final court approval, the settlementwill resolve a class-action suit filed three years ago by theAmerican Civil Liberties Union.

One key provision sharply reduces the number of cases handled bysocial workers and investigators, who deal with children in fosterhomes.

To reduce the caseload, state officials expect to hire anadditional 163 employees and shift …

AP-FBC--T25-Wisconsin-Oregon Stats, FBC

2012-03-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

*2064 …

Australian Open glance

2012-03-14T08:51:00.000-07:00

A look at Thursday's 11th day of the Australian Open tennis championships:

WEATHER: Morning clouds, then clear and sunny. High of 26 Celsius (79 Fahrenheit).

ATTENDANCE: Day: 14,036; Night: 15,942; Total: 29,978.

WINNERS: Men: No. 5 Andy Murray; Women: No. 1 Serena Williams, Justine Henin.

LOSERS: Men: No. 14 Marin Cilic; Women: No. 16 Li Na, Zheng Jie.

STAT OF THE DAY: 2 _ Justine Henin has reached the final in her second tournament back from 20 months in retirement.

…

Names and faces from the area's hottest spots!

2012-03-14T06:30:00.000-07:00

WHO: Riva Shah (from left) and Vipin Goyal of Chicago.

WHERE: The Gus Foundation's Corporate Challenge for Hope 2000, abenefit for children with brain tumors, at the …

A Giant celebration: Texas hopes to crash WS party

2012-03-14T04:10:00.000-07:00

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — A couple of Giants coaches rolled balls down the chalk lines, checking if the dirt tilted fair or foul. A few San Francisco hitters squinted into the sun glinting off glass windows in left field, seeing how it might affect them in the batter's box.

It's been quite a while since the Giants last visited Rangers Ballpark — Tim Lincecum was a teenager then, back in 2001.

The Giants would like to make this a rather short stay.

Up 2-0 on the Texas Rangers in the World Series, the Giants are halfway to clinching their first championship since moving to San Francisco more than a half-century ago.

"There's baseball left," manager Bruce Bochy said …

Bush hosting Italian premier for talks

2012-03-14T01:19:00.000-07:00

President George W. Bush is hosting Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, a close ally, for private meetings and a formal state dinner at the White House.

Bush, who met over the weekend with officials of the G-7 industrialized nations, is likely to consult with the Italian premier on plunging business confidence across the globe that has fed stock selloffs and government interventions to prop up fragile economies.

Berlusconi on Friday cited rumors that stock markets might be suspended in his country but cautioned that no world leader has been raising that idea. Earlier this year, he said he has worked hard to make sure that Europe and the United States remain strong allies, even as public opinion in his country turned against the war in Iraq.

Kin Remember Man Killed by London Police

2012-03-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

LONDON - Relatives of an innocent Brazilian man slain by police who mistook him for a terrorist marked the first anniversary of his death Saturday with a memorial service at the Underground station where he was killed.

Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, was shot in the head two weeks after four suicide bombers killed 52 commuters and themselves on London's transport system, and a day after a similar set of failed attacks.

Police apologized and said the killing had been a mistake. It infuriated many in Britain and Brazil and prompted deep worries about police anti-terror tactics.

Menezes' cousins were among about 30 people who bowed their heads for a moment's silence before a makeshift shrine at Stockwell Underground station in south London, where he died.

"This is a day of remembrance and a day of great sorrow for the family," said the relatives' spokesman, Asad Rehman. "It seems like yesterday Jean was with them and then taken away from them."

The Rev. Jose Osvaldo, who led the service, recited a prayer in Portuguese and said "We hope that something like this never happens again and we pray for peace and for love and justice."

Also present at the service was Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, who was shot in the shoulder by police who raided his home June 2 because they believed a chemical bomb was being manufactured there.

British prosecutors announced Monday that no police officers would face criminal charges in de Menezes' death but said they were charging the Metropolitan Police as an organization for failing to provide for his health and safety. If convicted, the department could face an unlimited fine.

De Menezes' family were outraged by the decision and have said they are considering challenging it in court. The Brazilian Foreign Ministry also expressed dismay.

The Guardian newspaper reported Saturday that the Independent Police Complaints Commission had concluded officers in charge of the operation that killed de Menezes had wanted him arrested, not shot. The newspaper quoted a letter from prosecutors to the de Menezes family summarizing the results of the commission's investigation, which has not been made public.

The report found that a series of communication failures had left the officers who shot de Menezes believing he was a potential suicide bomber, the newspaper said.

"Messages were misinterpreted with tragic consequences," the letter reportedly said.

The officers who killed de Menezes honestly believed he was a potential terrorist, the prosecutors wrote, and there is not enough evidence to convince a jury that their error was criminal, the Guardian said.

Spokespeople for the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the police complaints commission all declined to comment.

Aston Villa rallies to beat Norwich 3-2

2012-03-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — England striker Darren Bent scored twice as Villa rallied to beat Norwich 3-2 in the Premier League on Saturday.

Strike partner Gabriel Agbonlahor set up both of Bent's goals and scored one himself.

Norwich took the lead at Villa Park through a superb free kick from Anthony Pilkington but Bent leveled before halftime.

Agbonlahor put Villa ahead after a mix-up in the 48th minute between Kyle Naughton and Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy.

Bent increased Villa's lead in the 62nd with a close-range strike after being picked out by Agbonlahor's low cross.

Steve Morrison got a second goal for Norwich in the 78th to give Villa a nervous finale.

Napoli hits game-winning homer for Angels

2012-03-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

Mike Napoli's two-run homer with two outs in the ninth gave the Los Angeles Angels a 5-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.

Napoli homered off Miguel Batista (1-7), who had walked Robb Quinlan with two outs. Napoli drove a 3-1 pitch deep over the fence in left field for his 16th homer and fourth RBI of the game.

Jose Arredondo (8-2) pitched a perfect ninth for Los Angeles.

Although they wrapped up the AL West on Wednesday, the Angels still want to secure home-field advantage throughout the AL playoffs. Their 90-57 record is baseball's best.

The Angels' Juan Rivera led off the seventh with a double against Ryan Rowland-Smith, went to third on Quinlan's groundout and scored the tying run on Napoli's sacrifice fly.

Los Angeles closer Francisco Rodriguez, not needed this time, still has 15 games remaining to try to rewrite the major league single-season saves record. He got his 57th in Thursday night's 7-4 win over Seattle to match Bobby Thigpen's record set in 1990. Rodriguez had moved within one of the mark when he pitched the ninth of the Angels' AL West-clinching victory over the New York Yankees the previous day.

Angels right fielder Vladimir Guerrero left the game after four innings because of soreness in his right knee and was listed as day-to-day.

Both teams had a runner thrown out at home in the first, although the Mariners came out of the inning up 1-0.

Ichiro Suzuki led off the game with a single, then was thrown out trying to score from first on Raul Ibanez's one-out double on a relay from center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. to second baseman Sean Rodriguez to catcher Napoli. Matthews doubled leading off for the Angels, went to third on a groundout, then was thrown out by shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt as he tried to score on Mark Teixeira's foul pop down the left-field line.

Beltre accounted for the first Seattle run with an RBI double that extended his hitting streak to 15 games, the longest active streak in the majors.

Quinlan's RBI triple and a run-scoring single by Napoli gave Los Angeles a 2-1 lead in the second.

The Mariners moved out front with a pair of runs off Joe Saunders in the fifth, on two-out RBI singles by Raul Ibanez and Adrian Beltre.

Saunders allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings. Rowland-Smith gave up three runs on four hits in 6 1-3 innings.

Notes:@ Los Angeles CF Torii Hunter missed his third consecutive game, sitting out the first two to serve a suspension for a scuffle with New York Yankees catcher Ivan Rodriguez, and this one to rest a sore quadriceps muscle. ... Beltre, who is playing despite needing surgery on the torn ligament in left thumb, is (26-58) during his current streak, with (5) homers and (11) RBIs. ... If the Angels finished this season with the best record in the majors, it will be their first time ever.

Kroch's Closing Flagship Store on South Wabash

2012-03-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

Kroch's & Brentano's, a Chicago bookstore institution since 1907,said today it will close its flagship store at 29 S. Wabash withintwo months.

Kroch's, which has been whittled to five stores from 20 in thepast two years, also will close its Oak Park store.

"We've not been able to make it into a profitable operation,"said William Rickman, president and chief executive, of the twostores. "We've seen the Loop become less a destination shoppingdistrict over the last decade. More importantly, with every openingof one of these chain stores, there's a little nick taken away. Overtime, the nicks add up."

The Wabash store, which opened in 1952 when Kroch's andBrentano's bookstores combined under one roof, has not beenprofitable since the late 1980s, Rickman said.

The merchant will continue operating its three profitableChicago stores - at 516 N. Michigan, 30 N. La Salle and 1530 E. 53rd.

But the fate of the North Michigan Avenue store also is inlimbo. A Nordstrom-anchored mall has been proposed on that block,and the project would likely displace Kroch's.

Businesship International, a Florida-based holding company thatacquired Kroch's in late 1993, said it still is looking for asuburban location to construct a new prototype for Kroch's.

Lidstrom will decide by July 1 to return or retire

2012-03-13T10:50:00.000-07:00

DETROIT (AP) — Sweden's Nicklas Lidstrom says he'll decide by July 1 whether he's returning to the Detroit Red Wings for a 20th season or if he'll retire at the age of 41.

Lidstrom's teammates and coaches say they hope he comes back.

The six-time Norris Trophy winning defenseman was in the team's photo Saturday, two days after the San Jose Sharks eliminated Detroit in Game 7 of their Western Conference semifinal.

Mike Modano says he's leaning toward retirement. The 40-year-old Modano, who leads U.S.-born NHL players in goals and points, says maybe he's been grasping at something that isn't there by extending his career the past couple of years.

Fellow free agents Kris Draper and Chris Osgood say they want to play next season for the Red Wings.

Mighty oaks from little acorns? Not if this scientist can help it Arboretum expert keeps city trees small for their own good

2012-03-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

When it comes to trees, bigger isn't always better.

In urban settings, where space is precious, trees might quicklyoutgrow the spot where they were planted. Those located underneathpower lines, for instance, might have to be cut back again and again,leaving a brutal "V" chop in their upper branches.

Gary Watson, senior research scientist at Morton Arboretum inLisle, is looking for ways to keep tree growth from getting out ofhand.

"In the city, a tree may have a very small root space, sitting ina little cutout in the sidewalk," Watson said. "Its lifespan may beonly seven years, while, in a woodland, it might go on for hundredsof years.

"If we can slow it down, it's still not going to be a 100-year-old oak tree. But it may only have to be replaced every 14 years orevery 20 years."

There are two ways to slow tree growth -- chemical and physical:

*Chemicals with trade names like Cambistat and Profile areinhibitors of gibberellin, a hormone that stimulates cell expansionto produce larger leaves and longer shoots.

"It's not very attractive if you overapply it," Watson said. "Youget what is described as a 'poodle tree.' "

*The alternative includes pollarding -- cutting the tree backalmost to its stump and pruning shoots to a desired length. InEurope, some pollarded trees are as much as 500 years old, Watsonsaid.

Japanese bonsai trees -- "tabletop trees" -- can live even longer.Their growth is controlled both above and below ground. Plant-tenders pull them out of their pots and prune the roots.

At the arboretum, Watson is experimenting with more than 200trees.

"They're mostly oaks because that's what we have here," he said.

One finding: A side benefit of treatment with a growth regulatorkills apple scab, a disease that strikes crabapple leaves.

At his home in Naperville, Watson has a honey locust tree that'sjust large enough to shade his patio -- but still growing. So heprunes it.

"If it gets too big, it's the beginning of the end for that tree,"Watson said.

Scientists collect mysterious creatures in Antarctic waters

2012-03-13T03:39:00.000-07:00

Scientists investigating the icy waters of Antarctica said Tuesday they have collected mysterious creatures including giant sea spiders and huge worms in the murky depths.

Australian experts taking part in an international program to take a census of marine life in the ocean at the far south of the world collected specimens from up to 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) beneath the surface, and said many may never have been seen before.

Some of the animals far under the sea grow to unusually large sizes, a phenomenon called gigantism that scientists still do not fully understand.

"Gigantism is very common in Antarctic waters," Martin Riddle, the Australian Antarctic Division scientist who led the expedition, said in a statement. "We have collected huge worms, giant crustaceans and sea spiders the size of dinner plates."

The specimens were being sent to universities and museums around the world for identification, tissue sampling and DNA studies.

"Not all of the creatures that we found could be identified and it is very likely that some new species will be recorded as a result of these voyages," said Graham Hosie, head of the census project.

The expedition is part of an ambitious international effort to map life forms in the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean, and to study the impact of forces such as climate change on the undersea environment.

Three ships _ Aurora Australis from Australia, France's L'Astrolabe and Japan's Umitaka Maru _ returned recently from two months in the region as part of the Collaborative East Antarctic Marine Census. The work is part of a larger project to map the biodiversity of the world's oceans.

The French and Japanese ships sought specimens from the mid- and upper-level environment, while the Australian ship plumbed deeper waters with remote-controlled cameras.

"In some places every inch of the sea floor is covered in life," Riddle said. "In other places we can see deep scars and gouges where icebergs scour the sea floor as they pass by."

Among the bizarre-looking creatures the scientists spotted were tunicates, plankton-eating animals that resemble slender glass structures up to a meter (yard) tall "standing in fields like poppies," Riddle said.

Other animals were equally baffling.

"They had fins in various places, they had funny dangly bits around their mouths," Riddle told reporters. "They were all bottom dwellers so they were all evolved in different ways to live down on the sea bed in the dark. So many of them had very large eyes _ very strange looking fish."

Scientists are planning a follow-up expedition in 10 to 15 years to examine the effects of climate changes on the region's environment.

Raymond E. Lindroth

2012-03-13T00:34:00.000-07:00

Raymond E. Lindroth, 83, a retired vice president of AmericanNational Bank of Libertyville and Republican committeeman for 49years in Libertyville Township, died Sunday at Lake Forest Hospital.

Mr. Lindroth, who began at the bank in 1923 and retired in 1970,also was a member of the executive board and treasurer of the LakeCounty Republican Central Committee for 29 years.

Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Celia; two daughters,Marjie Tylkowski and Nancy Kronn, and a brother.

Private funeral services will be tomorrow. Burial will be atAscension Cemetery in Libertyville. Visitation will be from 3 to 9p.m. today at McMurrough Chapel, 101 Park Pl., Libertyville.

Chinese bronzes, Gandhi's glasses in art tussle

2012-03-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

A bronze rabbit's head was the first to go under the hammer, then came Mohandas Gandhi's glasses and sandals.

Auctions are becoming a new battleground for art dealers, activists and aggrieved countries dueling for plundered antiquities and lost pieces of heritage.

Roger Keverne, a London-based dealer in Chinese art, says the politicization of art has become "inevitable, and unfortunate."

"Who has a right to the world's culture?" he said.

Gandhi's glasses, as well as sandals, a watch and other artifacts belonging to the revered Indian independence leader, were sold to an Indian businessman on Thursday night in New York for $1.8 million (euro1.42 million) _ a bid aided by the Indian government.

Their owner, American collector and peace activist James Otis, offered to stop the sale and donate the items to India, if its leaders agreed to spend more on the poor. India rejected the demand as an infringement of the country's sovereignty and the auction went ahead.

The rabbit head and a companion piece depicting a rat, both taken from a Beijing palace in the 19th century, were sold by Christie's auction house last month over the objections of China, which sees them as stolen antiquities.

The items went into limbo last week when the successful bidder revealed that he had made the $40 million (euro31.6 million) bid as a protest, and had no intention of paying. Chinese art dealer Cai Mingchao, who advises a non-governmental group seeking to repatriate looted Chinese art, said he had bid on the bronzes as a patriotic act.

Christie's, which sold the bronzes during an auction of items belonging to the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, refused to say what it would do next.

But some art market watchers say Christie's and other auction houses are caught up in a battle for public opinion over contested antiquities.

"Auctions by their very nature are public," said Patty Gerstenblith, a cultural heritage expert and professor of law at DePaul University in Chicago. "If something is sold through a dealer or gallery it can be sold secretly so it doesn't attract the same level of attention."

Tempers have been rising for years over the artifacts that fill Western museums and art collections _ many acquired, or plundered, during years of war and imperial expansion.

The bronzes sold at Christie's were part of an elaborate water clock fountain, designed by Jesuit missionaries, that disappeared in 1860 when French and British forces sacked the Summer Palace on the outskirts of Beijing at the close of the second Opium War.

China has long sought their return and had urged Christie's to withdraw the bronzes. A Chinese-backed group tried and failed to get a Paris court to suspend the figures' sale. After the auction, China's State Administration of Cultural Heritage said it had "harmed the cultural rights and national feeling of the Chinese people."

"This is a particularly emotive subject _ 1860 and the vandalism at the palace," said Keverne. "The way they were taken was in particularly distressing circumstances."

The sale further strained relations between France and China, already frayed over French boycotts in the run-up to last summer's Olympic Games and French President Nicolas Sarkozy's talks with Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Pierre Berge, the bronzes' co-owner, suggested before the auction that China could have the treasures back if it improved its human rights record _ an idea Beijing dismissed as "ridiculous." Berge said later he thought it was his criticism of China's human rights record in Tibet that led to Cai's action.

Increasing sensitivity about looted artifacts has prompted museums around the world to return antiquities to their homelands over the last few years. The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts have all handed artifacts back to Greece or Italy.

But the British Museum has refused repeated Greek requests for the return of the Parthenon Marbles, also known as the Elgin marbles _ 2,500-year-old sculptures and friezes removed in the early 19th century by British diplomat Lord Elgin. The museum says they are part of the world's heritage and are best displayed in London, where the public can view them for free.

One solution is for countries to buy back their own heritage. The Indian government said it would try to buy the Gandhi relics, which were not looted but given by him to supporters and a great-niece.

In 2007, Macau casino mogul Stanley Ho bought a bronze horse head _ from the same group that included the rat and rabbit heads _ before it was due to be auctioned and returned it to China.

Art experts agree that China has no legal claim to the figures. International laws governing looted antiquities do not cover 19th-century plunder by armies of the British Empire or Napoleon, whose treasures fill the Louvre museum in Paris.

But high-profile acts like Cai's could exert moral pressure and make it harder to resell the items.

Some art dealers caution that returning contested artifacts is a slippery slope.

"If governments start to reclaim art. it will be necessary for all the world's museums begin to give back their objects, " said Georges Pochet, an antiquarian in Asian art in the south of France. "It's not possible."

___

Associated Press Writer Dheepthi Namasivayam in Paris contributed to this report.

Police: Teens set boy's hair on fire, made video

2012-03-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

Police say two teenagers lit a boy's hair on fire and recorded the attack on a camera phone.

The Wicomico County Sheriff's Office says the victim was sleeping early Sunday at a home in eastern Maryland when 17-year-old Forrest Wilson poured lighter fluid on his hair and set it ablaze. The victim put out the fire, then discovered a 14-year-old boy was recording the video.

Investigators say the video showed Wilson light the 16-year-old victim's hair on fire. Police did not know a motive and witheld the victim's name. The victim, whose hair was singed, notified his parents later that day.

Wilson and the 14-year-old are charged with assault and other charges _ Wilson as an adult, and the younger teen as a juvenile.

FAA orders inspection of flaps on 767s

2012-03-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

DALLAS Operators of Boeing 767 jetliners are being ordered toinspect the takeoff and landing flaps on about 200 of the airplanesbecause a chunk of a flap fell off last week, the Dallas Morning Newsreported Monday.

The Federal Aviation Administration was to send out the ordertoday as an emergency directive requiring inspections within 15 days,the newspaper said.

Boeing Co. officials have asked that its representatives bepresent when the National Transportation Safety Board conductslaboratory or other testing of the flaps and titanium bolts holdingthem in place, spokeswoman Debbie Nomaguchi said today.The FAA notice comes five days after a 21-foot section of a flapfell from the wing of a Delta Airlines jet that was preparing to landat Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. No one was injured.It does not mean that Boeing jets are unsafe, but "only requiresthat everybody take the proper precautions in a timely manner," saidFAA spokesman John Clabes.It is possible that the six titanium bolts that held one end ofthe 32-foot flap to the wing may not have been tightened properly.

Stocks dive on worries of US recession; Wall Street unassuaged by Fed's interest rate cut

2012-03-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

Wall Street plunged at the opening of trading Tuesday, propelling the Dow Jones industrials down about 300 points after an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve failed to assuage investors fearing a recession in the United States.

U.S. markets joined stock exchanges around the globe that have fallen precipitously in recent days amid concerns that a downturn might spread around the world. U.S. bonds were mixed, with investors seeking safer investments as stocks plummeted. The price of oil, meanwhile, fell amid expectations that a downturn would depress demand for energy.

The Fed's decision to cut its federal funds rate to 3.50 percent and the discount rate, the interest it charges to lend directly to banks, came a week before the central bank's regularly scheduled meeting, a sign that the Fed acknowledges that the world's financial situation is serious.

Whether the central bank's move was sufficient, though, was up for debate on Wall Street, where anxiety has been escalating that an interest rate might not be enough to prevent a recession.

"The market is saying we're still behind the eight ball here," said Harry Clark, president of Clark Capital Management in Philadelphia. "It's just not enough yet. The Fed has got to do a lot more than just lower rates. They've got to inject more liquidity."

In mid-morning trading, the Dow was down 243.22, or 2.01 percent, at 11,856.08. The Dow was last below 12,000 in March 2007.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was off 26.76, or 2.02 percent, at 1,298.43, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 60.81, or 2.60 percent, to 2,279.21.

It was the first time the Fed altered the target federal funds rate between scheduled meetings since the markets reopened after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The cut was the biggest one-day rate move by the Fed since it lowered rates by a full percentage point in December 1991, when the country was trying to emerge from recession.

The Fed said in a statement that it took the steps to address a "weakening of the economic outlook" and "increasing downside risks to growth." The bank also said it will act in a timely way to address future risks.

"They seemed to react to the markets rather than anticipate the markets, but they did the right thing," said economist Edward Yardeni, who runs his own research firm.

It's been a dark year so far for stocks. The S&P 500 index, the broadest measure of the stock market, has suffered its worst annual start ever, giving up about 13 percent in just three weeks. The Dow is down about 12 percent since the beginning of the year, and the Nasdaq is down approximately 15 percent.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, sank to 3.53 percent from 3.63 percent late Friday. Crude oil prices fell $2.34 to $88.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on the concern that a weak economy will dampen energy demand.

The dollar fell against most other major currencies except the yen, while gold _ despite its historical status as a safe-haven investment _ also slid.

The prospect of a U.S. recession dragging down other economies around the world has infected the global markets, which plunged on Monday when Wall Street was closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

In Asia on Tuesday, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 5.65 percent _ its biggest percentage drop in nearly a decade. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 8.65 percent a day after showing its biggest losses since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Last week, each of the major U.S. indexes cascaded lower as investors grew skeptical that plans by U.S. lawmakers and President George W. Bush to stimulate the U.S. economy will keep the U.S. from tipping into recession. The plan Bush announced Friday, which still needs Congressional approval, outlines $150 billion (euro103.5 billion) in tax relief to help spur consumer spending.

One reason Wall Street is so terrified about the economy is because its own financial muscle has atrophied. The banking industry in the second half of 2007 watched its portfolios shrink by some $135 billion (euro93.1 billion) because of losing bets on mortgages. Just Tuesday, Bank of America Corp. posted a 95 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit, and Wachovia Corp. reported that its fourth-quarter earnings dove 98 percent.

Last year, the prime worry was the tight credit markets; now, the bigger concern is the average American struggling to make his debt payments. Consumer spending drives about two-thirds of the U.S. economy.