DAILY NEWS UPDATE

Political turmoil in Greece amid austerity uproar

2011-06-17T05:19:00.001-07:00

Squeezed between worried creditors and an angry public, Greece's beleaguered prime minister tried to tamp down an escalating revolt within his own Socialist party Thursday over new austerity measures.
Two prominent Socialist lawmakers resigned hours before Prime Minister George Papandreou was to reschuffle his Cabinet, a tactic he hoped would help get new taxes and spending cuts approved before Greece was cut off from international lending. The resignations don't affect the government's five-seat majority in parliament, but raise more doubts about Papandreau's handling of Greece's escalating financial crisis.
"The political system is rotting ... The country is not being governed the way it should be," said Socialist deputy Nikos Salagianis. "A reshuffle will not resolve the country's problems."
Trying to quiet the criticism, the Socialists announced emergency talks for Thursday afternoon, which will likely delay Papandreou's announcement of his new cabinet.
Greece's rapidly evolving political crisis comes a day after anti-austerity riots in central Athens and the collapse of negotiations to form a coalition government triggered a sell-off in global financial markets. Investors are deeply worried that a default in Greece could hurt banks elsewhere and set off a financial chain reaction that experts predict would be catastrophic.
Fears that a messy Greek default may be in the offing has sent the euro down nearly four cents over the past couple of days to below $1.41, triggered widespread selling in stock markets and pushed the Greek yield on its ten-year bonds up to a record over 18 percent.
The next week is crucial for Greece. Finance ministers of the 17-nation eurozone are expected to thrash out details of a second Greek bailout to be presented to EU leaders. It's extremely unlikely that another rescue deal will be offered if the Greek Parliament fails to back the new austerity measures.
In Brussels, the European Union's top economic official, Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, said it was "regrettable" that Wednesday's coalition talks failed.
"A great deal of responsibility lies on the shoulders of the Greek authorities and all Greek political leaders. We expect the Greek Parliament to endorse the economic reform program as agreed by the end of June," Rehn said. "The efforts needed to avoid a default -- which would be a catastrophe for Greece -- are the responsibility of all political forces."
He said eurozone countries will likely agree on Sunday to pay Greece its next rescue loan, saving it from the immediate risk of default, but a decision on a new longer-term bailout will be delayed until July amid disagreement over the role of private investors.
The disbursement of the next installment of Greece's rescue loans, worth euro12 billion ($17 billion), would prevent the country from defaulting on its massive debt next month, but its longer-term financial prospects remain uncertain.
Papandreou has faced withering public criticism over a new five-year austerity package that creditors have demanded in return for continued funding from the euro110 billion ($155 billion) international bailout. Market turmoil reflects waning confidence that Papandreou can win the austerity vote.
Papandreou, scrambling to pass the reforms, has also called a called vote of confidence in parliament, expected as early as Sunday or early next week.

Person held amid Pentagon security scare

2011-06-17T05:16:00.000-07:00

(CBS/AP)
ARLINGTON, Va. - Authorities are closing several major roads around the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., due to an ongoing investigation.
CBS News chief national security correspondent David Martin reports the Department of Homeland Security has one person in custody who is suspected of planting suspicious devices around the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery and the Iwo Jima Memorial.
It remains unclear whether the vehicle in question belongs to the person in custody, but all the roads around the Pentagon have been closed and traffic is at a standstill, says Martin.
Routes 27 and 110 around the Pentagon, all ramps to and from Interstate 395 near the Pentagon and eastbound Interstate 66 to Route 110 were all closed early Friday morning.
Arlington County police department spokesman Crystal Nosal says police are investigating a suspicious vehicle on Washington Boulevard.
Lt. Gregg Karl with the Arlington County Fire Department tells CBS affiliate WUSA that the county's bomb squad is investigating the vehicle. Lt. Karl would not give any details on what may have sparked the suspicion.

Metro says rail service has not been affected, but travelers should expect delays and detours on Metro buses.

Anthony Weiner Says Wife Huma Abedin Will Stay, But Will She?

2011-06-07T03:16:00.001-07:00

Confessions from New York Rep. Anthony Weiner that he lied about sexting photos to a Seattle woman and at least five others over the past three years have shaken his barely 11-month marriage to Huma Abedin.
Abedin is a longtime aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The 34-year-old has endured humiliating headlines in The New York Post -- "ballooning scandal," "Hide the Weiner" and "What a Weenie" -- after word got out that a 21-year-old Gennette Cordova had received the now-infamous photo of a man's crotch from the congressman's Twitter account.
In a tear-stained, half-hour press conference yesterday, the Democratic congressman said his wife would stand by him, despite the week-old scandal dubbed, "Weinergate."
"We have no intention of splitting over this," said Weiner, 46, who will not resign. "We will weather this. I love her. She loves me."
He said that he had told his wife about contact with women before their marriage, but not about recent ventures online, including one with single mom, Meagan Broussard.
Weiner said he has never met these women in person and has not had sex outside marriage.
Abedin only learned the truth Monday and didn't show up for the press conference.

Rep. Anthony Weiner's Emotional Apology Watch Video

Thursday on 'GMA' Watch Video

Laughing at Weinergate Watch Video

"Anybody who is so imprudent to do any of this, is mind-boggling to me," wrote Roxanne Roberts about the affair in the gossip column, "The Reliable Source," which she co-authors for the Washington Post. "From a purely practical standpoint -- what was he thinking?"
The couple -- with some irony noted by pundits -- was married last July by former President Bill Clinton, who was himself impeached by the House of Representatives in 1998 over an affair with Monica Lewinsky.
When he officiated at the Long Island ceremony, Bill Clinton reportedly toasted Abedin, saying she was like a daughter to him.
Hillary Clinton weathered the same public humiliation when her husband was unfaithful with a White House intern, yet chose to stand by her man.
"The thought did cross into my mind -- 'Who is the person most upset about these circumstances?' -- and I am guessing it's probably a tie," said Roberts. "I bet it's both these women."
"[Abedin] has been extremely private about her longtime relationship working for Hillary Clinton," she said. "She has established a reputation for someone completely loyal and utterly discreet."
Whether she takes the Clinton's path or ultimately leaves Weiner is anyone's guess.
"I would never even attempt to speculate," said Roberts. "Nobody knows much about her emotional life or how she will likely process this. It all goes back to the old dictum -- you can't know what a marriage is like by just looking in."
Abedin began her career in 1996 as a White House intern, then later served as Hillary Clinton's traveling chief of staff and "body woman" during her 2008 presidential campaign.
Born in Kalamazoo, Mich., she was the daughter of an Iranian scholar of Indian descent and Pakistani mother who is a sociology professor in Saudi Arabia, where she was raised. She came to the United States to attend George Washington University.
Strikingly beautiful, her only foray into the public eye was cooperating with a 2007 feature in Vogue magazine. During the interview she told the magazine that she "grew up in a very traditional family, but there was never anything I didn't think I could do."
"I remember going with my parents to weddings where the women would arrive covered in black veils, but underneath they'd be wearing the most exquisite brightly colored Dolce & Gabbana suits," said Abedin. "They were like peacocks showing off their tails."
Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, who is a friend of both Hillary Clinton and Abedin, called both women "workaholics."
He described Abedin as "an unbelievably feminine and gentle person, but at the same time she can accomplish so much."
He also noted that as a practicing Muslim and Arabic speaker, "she's very conservative."
Actress Mary Steenburgen, a longtime friend of the secretary of state, said in the same article that the two women's relationship was "more like an older sister-younger sister."
Weiner was described in a 2007 New York Observer article as "a swingingly single Brooklyn Democrat." In that same article he described Abedin's ability to hold up under pressure, "preternaturally."
"This notion that Senator Clinton is a cool customer -- I mean, I don't dispute it, but the coolest customer in that whole operation is Huma," he said. "In fact, I think there's some dispute as to whether Huma's actually human or not."

Rep. Anthony Weiner's Emotional Apology Watch Video

Thursday on 'GMA' Watch Video

Laughing at Weinergate Watch Video

Press reports have called Abedin, "unflappable," but that may not still be the case.
"He's in deep, deep trouble," said Judy Kuriansky, a psychologist who specializes in relationships and teaches at Teachers College, Columbia University.
"This is really horrendous -- this puts her in an extremely compromised position," said Kuriansky. "Whatever she decides to do, I believe she is consulting with Hillary."
"To my mind, psychologically, she has other people to please and this happens with other wives," she said. "You must take that into account."
Unlike the Clintons, who have a daughter Chelsea, the Weiners have no children, which may shape Abedin's ultimate decision, according to Kuriansky.
"Whether there are children involved and the length of the marriage, those are the really big ones," she said. "There is the real world and the economic bargain. But I don't think that's a problem here. She has her own life and has her own career and money."
Kuriansky, like Roberts, is shocked that Weiner and so many other notable male politicians have risked their political futures for sex -- virtual or otherwise.
"We could go on and on, we have seen this many times before," said Kuriansky. "It's the same thing for all of them. They are high energy people. They direct it erroneously into the sexual area and should direct it somewhere else. You saw it in JFK and Jefferson -- they feel privileged or they get away with it and think they are above the law."
Eliot Spitzer, another New York Democrat, resigned as New York governor in 2008 after being caught cavorting with New Jersey prostitute Ashley Dupre. He is now a successful news commentator for CNN.
Monday night, just after the scandal broke open, Spitzer interviewed political pundits, openly disclosing to the TV audience his own sordid affair.
"Not only do they get away with it, they get higher in their careers," said Kuriansky. "People forgive and forget and go on. It's the same with rock stars and celebrities. They are allowed. As Americans we make a big to-do, then we give them a pass."

Groupon IPO to deal new members into Chicago's billionaires club

2011-06-04T05:20:00.000-07:00

For decades, some of the same names — Pritzker, Crown, Wrigley — have ranked near the top of any list of Chicago's wealthiest people. And they have displayed it by tacking their names on everything from fountains to athletic fields to libraries.
But a company called Groupon, started less than three years ago by a graduate school dropout, is about to upend that.
If Groupon's initial public offering values the company at close to $30 billion, as some say it will, Chairman Eric Lefkofsky would become Chicago's richest man. His remaining stock in Groupon would be worth $6.48 billion. That excludes at least the $382 million he and his wife earned from prior sales of the stock and money generated from the IPOs of two other businesses Lefkofsky founded.

Put another way, Lefkofsky's remaining Groupon stock alone would exceed the entire net worth of Chicago's current wealthiest man, real estate magnate and Tribune Co. Chairman Sam Zell, whom Forbes estimated in March to be worth $5 billion.
At a $30 billion valuation, Groupon Chief Executive Andrew Mason would hold stock worth $2.31 billion. That would make the 30-year-old the fifth- or sixth-wealthiest person in Chicago on Forbes' list, behind Beanie Babies co-founder Ty Warner and ahead of hedge fund manager and Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin. (Oprah is one step ahead of Warner.)
Company co-founder Brad Keywell, 41, would hold stock worth $2.07 billion through a family-controlled entity. He also would move into the top 10, possibly placing him ahead of Thomas Pritzker, Penny Pritzker and William Wrigley Jr.
There is no way to predict Groupon's worth until the IPO, plans for which were announced Thursday. But given the exuberant market for brand-name tech stocks, a high number is certain. Sources told the New York Times it will be $30 billion; others cite a lower number of about $20 billion.
Other people connected to Groupon also stand to become rich. Members of Chicago's tech community say it is important that some of those other people are midlevel Groupon employees, who later could use their wealth to start businesses.
"Even if only a fraction of that $6B gets into the hands of the twenty- and thirty-somethings running the show there it will be enough to shake up the tech and startup scene here in a very good way," Leon Chism, the chief technology officer of Analyte Health, wrote in a blog post in December, when Groupon was weighing a $6 billion offer from Google to buy the company, which it rejected.
Chism, however, added an important caveat: The city would reap a windfall only "provided our newly minted million- and billionaires don't head for warmer climes themselves. Or sit on their cash."
Although the three co-founders will become extraordinarily rich, they are expected to exercise that wealth differently from the old guard and possibly from each other.
"The way they're going to do things is hard for anybody to predict because it is going to be so creative and so entrepreneurial," said Mae Hong, director of the Chicago office of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. "They're going to do things most people have not thought of before."
Lefkofsky echoed that thought in a long blog post he wrote last year about his business philosophy and Lightbank, the venture capital firm he and Keywell founded.
"We're drawn to creating things that don't exist, but should, and nothing like Lightbank exists," Lefkofsky wrote.
Lefkofsky sits on the boards of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Museum of Contemporary Art, Art Institute of Chicago and Children's Memorial Hospital. So far, his philanthropic work has been traditional, coming in the form of donations from his private family foundation. In 2009, the most recent year IRS records are available, the foundation gave its largest donations to the two art museums and the Jewish United Fund. In total, the couple gave more than $1 million.
That was before Groupon's ascent.
Lefkofsky is passionate about art, while Keywell is an avid reader. In addition to writing a book and co-authoring a children's book with his daughter, Keywell's website lists more than 60 books he recommends and states that he tries to regularly read 14 publications, from The Economist to Transport Topics to ARTnews.
Of the three co-founders of Groupon, Keywell has spent the most time on projects outside of Lightbank. In addition to leading Gov. Pat Quinn's Innovation Council, Keywell served on former Mayor Richard Daley's technology infrastructure council and his Chicago-China Friendship Initiative.
And Keywell has begun laying a legacy with Chicago Ideas Week, which will launch in October. Although the week will include several VIP dinners, most of the events, including lectures and behind-the-scenes tours of area businesses, will be open to the general public and cost $15 or less to attend.
"They could have a democratizing effect," Hong said of Groupon's founders. "They could lower the barriers to entry for ordinary people to participate in things they normally wouldn't be able to participate in. In a lot of ways, that was the whole premise of how Groupon started, making it easy for people to try new things."
Of all of Groupon's founders, the least is known about Mason's interests. That's largely because he has been known to work around the clock, calling Lefkofsky at home in the middle of the night, for instance. He has had time for little else.
But he is passionate about music and social activism. He majored in music as an undergraduate at Northwestern University and dropped out of the University of Chicago's graduate public policy program to start Groupon's predecessor, The Point. While Groupon leverages the masses to obtain discounts, The Point tries to leverage the masses to get involved in social causes.
Mason has started a small private foundation here, indicating a long-term commitment to the city. But he also has had some harsh words for Chicago as of late.
"My biggest mistake was waiting to open an office in Silicon Valley," he told technology blogger Kara Swisher during an interview at the AllThingsD conference in California last week, according to a live blog of his remarks. "Chicago is a great town, but it doesn't have the depth of talent that you guys have."
Perhaps he'll set out to use his new riches to change that.
Tribune reporter Wailin Wong contributed.
Melissa Harris can be reached at mmharris@tribune.com or 312-222-4582.

Usama bin Laden's Son Says He Wants to Be 'Ambassador for Peace' Between Muslims and the West

2011-05-26T03:26:00.000-07:00

CAIRO, Egypt — Omar Usama bin Laden bears a striking resemblance to his notorious father — except for the dreadlocks that dangle halfway down his back. Then there's the black leather biker jacket.
The 26-year-old does not renounce his father, Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden, but in an interview with The Associated Press, he said there is a better way to defend Islam than militancy: Omar wants to be an "ambassador for peace" between Muslims and the West.
Omar — one of bin Laden's 19 children — raised a tabloid storm last year when he married a 52-year-old British woman, Jane Felix-Browne, who took the name Zaina Alsabah. Now the couple say they want to be advocates, planning a 3,000-mile horse race across North Africa to draw attention to the cause of peace.
"It's about changing the ideas of the Western mind. A lot of people think Arabs — especially the bin Ladens, especially the sons of Usama — are all terrorists. This is not the truth," Omar told the AP last week at a cafe in a Cairo shopping mall.
Of course, many may have a hard time getting their mind around the idea of "bin Laden: peacenik."
"Omar thinks he can be a negotiator," said Alsabah, who is trying to bring her husband to Britain. "He's one of the only people who can do this in the world."

Omar lived with the Al Qaeda leader in Sudan, then moved with him to Afghanistan in 1996.
There, Omar says he trained at an Al Qaeda camp but in 2000 he decided there must be another way and he left his father, returning to his homeland of Saudi Arabia.
"I don't want to be in that situation to just fight. I like to find another way and this other way may be like we do now, talking," he said in English.
He suggested his father did not oppose his leaving — and Alsabah interjected that Omar was courageous in breaking away, but neither elaborated.
Although there is no way to confirm the details he describes of his childhood and upbringing, the strong family resemblance and Omar's knowledge of Usama's family life have convinced many that he is bin Laden's son.
U.S. and Egyptian intelligence officials have not commented on his identity, but Omar and his wife insist they have not been bothered by Egyptian officials.
Omar said he hasn't seen or been in contact with his father since leaving Afghanistan. "He doesn't have e-mail," Omar said. "He doesn't take a telephone ... if he had something like this, they will find him through satellites."
Omar doesn't criticize his father and says Usama bin Laden is just trying to defend the Islamic world.
"My father thinks he will be good for defending the Arab people and stop anyone from hurting the Arab or Muslim people any place in the world," he said, noting that the West didn't have a problem with his father when he was fighting the Russians in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Omar is convinced a truce between the West and Al Qaeda is possible.
"My father is asking for a truce but I don't think there is any government (that) respects him. At the same time they do not respect him, why everywhere in the world, they want to fight him? There is a contradiction," he said.
Usama bin Laden, believed to be in hiding in the Pakistan-Afghan border region, offered a truce to Europe in a 2004 audiotape and a conditional truce to the United States in a 2006 message. In November, he called on European nations to pull out of Afghanistan in a message seen by some experts as an effort to reach out to Europe.
But in a series of messages since last fall, he also has been calling for Muslims to rally around jihad, or "holy war," encouraging fighters in Iraq in particular to continue their battles with U.S. and Iraqi forces.
At least two of Usama bin Laden's sons, Hamza and Saad, are believed to have an active role in Al Qaeda — with Hamza believed to be in the Pakistan-Afghan border zone and Saad thought to be in Iran, perhaps in Iranian custody.
But most of the Al Qaeda leader's children, like Omar, live as legitimate businessmen. The family as a whole disowned Usama in 1994 when Saudi Arabia stripped him of his citizenship because of his militant activities.
The family is wealthy: Usama bin Laden's billionaire father Mohammed, who died in 1967, had more than 50 children and founded the Binladen Group, a construction conglomerate that gets many major building contracts in the kingdom.
Since leaving his father's side, Omar has lived in Saudi Arabia, where he runs a contracting company connected with the Binladen Group, but he spends much of his time in Egypt. It was during a desert horseback ride at the Pyramids of Giza that he met his wife.
Their marriage in April made them tabloid fodder, particularly in Britain, where headlines touted the "granny who married Usama bin Laden's son." Alsabah, who has married five times, has five grandchildren.
The couple has applied for a visa to Britain. And they are planning their endurance horse race across North Africa, which they hope to start in March. It is in the planning stages — they are seeking approval of governments along the route and need sponsors to help pay for the event and raise money for child victims of war.
Omar said they plan to ride 30 miles a day, with periodic weeklong rests in each country.
Teams from around the world will be encouraged to join in what the couple envisions as an equine version of the Paris-Dakar car rally. That rally was canceled this year due to fears over terrorist threats made by Al Qaeda-affiliated groups in North Africa.
Omar, however, said he isn't worried.
"I heard the rally was stopped because of Al Qaeda," he said. "I don't think they are going to stop me."

100th Anniversary Indy 500: Previewing the Field, 23-33

2011-05-25T08:13:00.001-07:00

For complete coverage of the IZOD IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500, visit SB Nation's Pop Off Valve.

Follow @sbnationindiana on Twitter, and Like SB Nation Indiana on Facebook.

May 25, 2011 - With the 100th anniversary running of the Indianapolis 500 just four short days away, it is time move past the drama of ride-buying and focus on the 33 cars and drivers that will start their engines on Sunday. Today, SB Nation Indiana looks at the back half of the field - can any of these drivers do what Ray Harroun and Louis Meyer did in 1911 and 1936, repspectively, in winning the 500 from this deep in the field?

Note: each of these cars has moved up from its original qualifying position after the No. 41 car was moved to the rear of the field following the driver swap of Ryan Hunter-Reay for Bruno Junquiera.

23. No. 78T - Simona De Silvestro
All De Silvestro has done this month is flip her car into the catch fence at IMS, have the car catch on fire and walk away with second and first degree burns on her hands. Oh, and then 48 hours after that wreck, she drove with heavily bandaged hands and qualified for her second straight 500.

The 2010 Rookie of the Year continues to gain fans with an effervescent personality (including a willingness to sign autographs with her "Mickey Mouse gloves" on as she called them). Asking for a win might be a little much, given her situation, but a top 10 performance would exceed last year's 14-place effort.

24. No. 23 - Paul Tracy
The highest qualifier from Sunday's Bump Day, Tracy left no doubt as to whether he would be in the 500 after withdrawing a time and failing to requalify. With rain imminent at IMS, Tracy put down four blistering laps; had he run those on Saturday, he would have been on the outside of Row 6 instead of the Outside of Row 8.

Always popular among open-wheel racing fans, Tracy is driving this race with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing; last year, the team had both Justin Wilson and Mike Conway in position to capture the Borg-Warner Trophy. If Tracy can avoid trouble, he should be running near the front in the search for his first (or second) 500 title.

25. No. 7 - Danica Patrick
Seemingly quick all month, Patrick (and the rest of Andretti Autosport) were barely up to snuff over the weekend, putting just two of its four primary drivers in the field (a third, Ryan Hunter-Reay, would be added to the field on Monday). Still, when push came to shove, Patrick found speed again, qualifying on the inside of Row 9.

Over the last few years, Andretti Autosport's setups have been better on race day than in qualifications. The team must hope that is the case again, though with Tom Anderson taking the fall for the poor qualification performance, there will be some added pressure on the Engineers. Patrick took a solid sixth last year, and with rumors flying that she will head to NASCAR full time next year (and allowing her to still race the 500), this may be her last best chance at a 500 win.

26. No. 6T - Ryan Briscoe
It is rare to find a Team Penske car this low on the grid. However, that's where Briscoe sits after a wreck the morning of Pole Day left his primary car damaged and his backup low on speed. Giving the Team Penske IZOD team a night to work on the backup however, it was only a matter of where Briscoe would qualify, provided he did not find the wall again.

Briscoe, since scoring two top 10s to start his career at IMS, the Australian has seemingly been snake bit, recording finishes of 23rd, 15th and 24th. Avoiding trouble while trying to move to the front of the field will be paramount if he wants to reverse his recent fortune.

27. No. 26 - Marco Andretti
The last car to qualify, Andretti said his mentality on the final run was to "put it in the Show or put it in the fence." Fortunately for Andretti Autosport, it was put in the 500 (at the cost of buying a ride for Ryan Hunter-Reay).

Unfortunately for the young Andretti, he has a habit of bouncing results around at IMS; in his first five starts look like this: 2nd, 24th, 3rd, 30th, 3rd. If we follow that pattern (and this certainly isn't the SATs), then Andretti is due for a disappointing performance on Sunday.

28. No. 83 - Charlie Kimball (R)
One of five rookies in the field, Kimball and teammate Graham Rahal struggled during qualifying weekend, while their counterparts at Target Chip Ganassi Racing had plenty of speed in participating in the Fast Nine.

Still, it would be a mistake to count out Kimball, who will be a strong candidate for Rookie of the Year honors. Having his teammate directly next to him should allow the duo to work their way through the field over the course of the race. Perhaps more important, having a week to pour over data from the Target Chip Ganassi Racing cars and finding the right race trim should give Kimball an edge.

29. No. 38 - Graham Rahal
It's hard to believe that Rahal is making his fourth start at IMS, but the 22-year old is now a veteran of the Indianapolis 500. The middle of Row 10 marks Rahal's worst starting position for the 500, but again, his Chip Ganassi Racing Team has the benefit of being able to study telemetry from the Target Chip Ganassi Racing cars of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti.

Last year, Rahal was quick, qualifying for the Fast Nine and running up near the front before a Black Flag scuttled his chances at a historic win. On the 25th anniversary of his father's lone 500 win, finding a Rahal in Victory Lane would be a great story (as would a throwback mustache in tribute to his dad).

30. No. 19 - Alex Lloyd
As impressive as Andretti's qualifying effort was on Sunday at the gun, Alex Lloyd's may have saved a race team. It was fairly apparent that rookie James Jakes was slow, and some of the money associated with a run at Indianapolis can help fill the budget for a team. Still, it looked as if Dale Coyne Racing was slow on speed in both cars. Instead, Lloyd, who finished fourth last year, put his car solidly in the field with about six minutes left on Bump Day.

If Lloyd can replicate some of last year's run, in which he finished fourth, it would be remarkable for a team that looked dead in the water until late on Sunday.

31. No. 31 - Pippa Mann (R)
In her first IZOD IndyCar Series event, Mann outqualified Conquest Racing's primary driver, Sebastian Saavedra. The Firestone Indy Lights veteran, Mann has always been quick at IMS, qualifying on the pole for the 2010 Freedom 100 before collecting her first career Lights win at Kentucky Speedway later in the year.

Mann is a dark-horse for Rookie of the Year honors. Sometimes the award can be won simply by avoiding attrition and collecting a stealthy top 15 finish. In other years, the driver needs to charge through the field. Mann has the experience in Lights to do this, but it remains to be seen if her car will have the handling and speed needed to put her in position to challenge for Rookie of the Year.

32. No. 32 - Ana Beatriz
The last of four Dreyer & Reinbold Racing cars in the field of 33, the most of any team in the field, Beatriz will be looking to build on a 21st place finish in her rookie campaign at IMS. The Brazilian is the slowest car in the field, though, which does not necessarily bode well for the race, as the slowest car in qualifying has never won the Indianapolis 500.

However, Beatriz has experience navigating traffic at IMS, running at or near the front in the Freedom 100 on several occasions. Being faced with getting through the field in one piece won't phase the 26-year old.

33. No. 41 - Ryan Hunter-Reay
The Andretti Autosport driver takes the seat originally filled by Bruno Junquiera, who qualified the ABC Supply car 19th on the grid. However, the No. 41 will now carry sponsorship from ABC Supply, DHL and Sun Drop after Andretti Autosport bought the seat in an effort to please its sponsors.

Hunter-Reay has last row experience, starting 32nd in 2009. Since a sixth-place finish with Rahal-Letterman Racing earned him the 2008 Rookie of the Year award, though, Hunter-Reay has not finished better than 18th in the 500. While karma has not seemed to be on his side this week, Hunter-Reay will need it to turn around if he wants to collect prize money for the most positions made up during the race.

Former Providence Personality Pleads Guilty To Insurance Fraud

2011-05-25T08:12:00.001-07:00

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Cruise

Former CITADEL AC WWLI (LITE ROCK 105)/PROVIDENCE personality TANYA CRUISE has reached a plea deal with prosecutors and will plead guilty to insurance mail fraud and conspiracy charges, reports the ASSOCIATED PRESS. In exchange for her plea, prosecutors will recommend that CRUISE, whose real name is LORI SERGIACOMI, be sentenced on the low end of the appropriate punishment range. She faces a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison for conspiracy and up to 20 years for mail fraud.

SERGIACOMI, former NORTH PROVIDENCE, RI Council President JOHN ZAMBARANO, ROBERT RICCI, and insurance adjuster VINCENT DIPAOLO were charged with intentionally damaging SERGIACOMI's home and pool and blaming it on a fictitious wind and rain storm, then filing a claim for $40,000.

The move, allegedly proposed by ZAMBARANO and DIPAOLO, was made to try and recover through insurance for damage actually caused by flooding, which was not covered by insurance. RICCI is set to pleaded guilty on JUNE 1st and DIPAOLO has pleaded not guilty; ZAMBARANO has been sentenced to almost six years in prison on insurance and corruption charges.

Former CITADEL AC WWLI (LITE ROCK 105)/PROVIDENCE personality TANYA CRUISE has reached a plea deal with prosecutors and will plead guilty to insurance mail fraud and conspiracy charges, reports the ASSOCIATED PRESS. In exchange for her plea, prosecutors will recommend that CRUISE, whose real name is LORI SERGIACOMI, be sentenced on the low end of the appropriate punishment range. She faces a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison for conspiracy and up to 20 years for mail fraud.

SERGIACOMI, former NORTH PROVIDENCE, RI Council President JOHN ZAMBARANO, ROBERT RICCI, and insurance adjuster VINCENT DIPAOLO were charged with intentionally damaging SERGIACOMI's home and pool and blaming it on a fictitious wind and rain storm, then filing a claim for $40,000.

The move, allegedly proposed by ZAMBARANO and DIPAOLO, was made to try and recover through insurance for damage actually caused by flooding, which was not covered by insurance. RICCI is set to pleaded guilty on JUNE 1st and DIPAOLO has pleaded not guilty; ZAMBARANO has been sentenced to almost six years in prison on insurance and corruption charges.

California investigates 10 life insurance companies over lack of payments to beneficiaries

2011-05-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

California subpoenaed MetLife, the largest U.S. life insurance company, to testify at a public hearing on May 23 about how it handles unclaimed assets that belong to beneficiaries.

The hearing mirrored a situation that MetLife found itself in last Thursday, when it appeared before Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty to answer questions on the same issue. (Here's more on the Florida life insurance hearing.) Today's investigative hearing in Sacramento before California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones and State Controller John Chiang promised to be even rougher.

Later in the day, California also announced market conduct examinations of 10 large life insurance companies for failure to pay life insurance benefits to beneficiaries or the state after learning of an insured's death. MetLife, John Hancock Insurance, Prudential Insurance, Nationwide Insurance, The Hartford, Sun Life Financial, New York Life Insurance Co., Lincoln National Life Insurance Co., Aegon Group (which includes Transamerica) and Pacific Life Insurance Co. are under investigation.
Hundreds of millions owed in life insurance benefits

Jones says he has already uncovered evidence that for two decades MetLife failed to pay benefits to beneficiaries or the state after learning that an insured had died. (Here's more on why your life insurance company doesn't care if you're dead.)

During the hearing, California officials quoted academics who said that hundreds of millions of dollars in life insurance go unclaimed each year for one simple reason: The beneficiaries don't know the money exists.

Among the possible violations of California law listed at the hearing were:

Unfair claims settlement practices.
Failure to “escheat,” or turn over money to the state, when beneficiaries could not be found.
Failure to adequately control and monitor dormant retained asset accounts, which insurers use to pool benefits that haven't yet been collected.

Paying themselves

“Do (insurers) use cash values to pay themselves premiums after the death of the insured?” California regulators asked in a PowerPoint presentation just prior to the testimony of MetLife, the sole witness in the hearing.

The insurer was expected to acknowledge - as it did in Florida - that it didn't use the “Death Master” file, a Social Security database of people who've died, until 2007, when it began matching the list against its customers' policies. The company has said that it hadn't used the database on a regular basis until the end of last year. The Death Master file has been in existence since the late 1980s.

However, MetLife spokespeople have denied they did anything illegal.

“Our priority is to pay insurance benefits to those who are entitled to them,” said spokesperson Chris Breslin in a statement prior to the hearing. “When beneficiaries cannot be located, we turn those benefits over to the state.”
A small percentage

Using the Death Master file during 2007, MetLife turned up $51 million in unclaimed assets that went to beneficiaries and another $32 million that went to the state.

While that amount may seem large, it is less than 0.2 percent of the $44 billion in death benefits paid on individual life insurance policies over the same period, which dates back to the 1950s.

“Our experience … has shown us that over 99 percent of life insurance claims proceeds are paid as a result of routine notification and claim submission processes,” said Breslin.
$1 billion in life insurance unclaimed

At the Florida hearing on May 19, McCarty said he estimated that life insurers may owe beneficiaries and the 50 states more than $1 billion in unclaimed assets - money that is sitting in the insurers' retained asset accounts, which currently hold more than $28 billion, according to California officials.

A McCarty spokesman said the $1 billion figure came from Verus Financial LLC, a Connecticut firm that has been hired by 35 states to find unclaimed assets for state treasuries, and from discussions with other regulators.

However, even $1 billion is not large by life insurance standards. At of the end of 2010, life insurers' assets totaled about $5.3 trillion, according to Steven Weisbart, a vice president of the Insurance Information Institute.

“Total death benefits paid over the past 20 years are about $600 billion,” says Weisbart. “In relation to that, $1 billion is 1/6 of 1 percent, or 0.17 percent.”

Canadian life insurer Manulife, which owns U.S.-based John Hancock, has already settled with both Florida and California and agreed to change its payment practices in both states.

The original article can be found at Insure.com:

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/05/24/california-investigates-10-life-insurance-companies-lack-payments-beneficiaries/#ixzz1NNS9gA3t

Des Moines to self-insure for city health coverage

2011-05-25T08:09:00.000-07:00

Des Moines is returning to a self-insurance system for employee health plans, a move city officials hope will eventually save taxpayers $1 million or more each year.

The City Council approved the switch during its meeting Monday night.

City administrators said it would help control rising health insurance costs, which currently run about $26 million annually.

The Des Moines Register reported Tuesday that if projected savings arrive, the move to self-insurance could become a key part of broader efforts to curb operating costs. Des Moines faces major revenue declines due to lower property valuations. The Legislature also is considering a proposal to slash commercial property tax rates by 40 percent.

Salary and benefits for the city's full-time workers account for about 60 percent of $160 million in general fund spending.

"I hope we stay self-insured," City Councilwoman Christine Hensley said. "I think the time is right for us to go forward with that. I think there have been some changes made."

Des Moines was self-insured before 2003, when the city started to buy private insurance through Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa.

The Register said changes in stop-gap, or excessive loss, insurance are among the biggest differences between now and 2003. Then, the city paid the first $300,000 of an individual claim before secondary insurance covered the cost. City officials said that would translate into $500,000 or more for taxpayers.

Multiple large claims helped drive the city's decision to end the self-insurance program. Under the new plan, the city's stop gap insurance will kick in on claims that exceed $125,000, lowering the risk to taxpayers.

Deputy City Manager Allen McKinley said savings in the first year of the new system are expected to be minimal because the time will be spent building reserves required to deal with fluctuations in claims. Significant savings could come in fiscal 2013 once the reserves -- equivalent to about 25 percent of annual claims -- are established.

"Conservatively speaking, we anticipate it being more than $1 million," he said.

City officials estimate health insurance cost would increase between $2 million and $3 million a year had they continued to have private insurance.

The new plan will take effect on July 1 and run through June 30, 2012. Officials said employees would see no change in benefits, health plans or provider networks.

Wellmark will continue to administer the city's employee health insurance claims.

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he Sky Is Falling: Judgment Day Is May 21, 2011

2011-05-11T12:34:00.000-07:00

Most people have heard the “theory” that the world is going to end in 2012 according to the Mayan calendar, but just recently billboards have started to pop in throughout North Carolina and across the United States revealing the world’s last day is specifically going to be on May 21, 2011, based on the Hebrew Calendar.
According to digtiad.com, a broadcast ministry known as Family Radio located in Oakland, California have come up with the new Judgment Day date. The founder, Harold Camping, is claiming one can know the date of the creation of the world, Noah’s flood and more events that have been described in the Bible just by using a convoluted set of numerological calculations. Through the calculations, Camping claims one can then extrapolate when the Bible “guarantees” the world’s end.

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As Camping asserts his explanation for May 21, 2011 being the specific Judgment Day, the theory becomes even more farfetched. According to Camping, since God warned Noah of global Judgment Day seven days before it happened, this also correlates to the next Judgment Day seven “days” (specifically millennia) later. More, Camping says the flood can be dated back to exactly 7,000 years ago from May 21.
According to his website he says, “The Bible has given us absolute proof that the year 2011 is the end of the world during the Day of Judgment, which will come on the last day of the Day of Judgment.”
However Camping’s findings should be taking lightly, people have been predicting the end of the world, unsuccessfully of course, since 1260. Camping himself “miscalculated” in 1994. In 1860 there was even a “Great Disappointment” when people were warned about the Second Coming.
Considering this is not the first time Camping has predicted the end of the world and that morbid people throughout the ages have liked to indulge in the idea of “the end of the world,” May 21, 2011 is just going to be another day just as Y2K was another year. Don’t worry, the sky is not actually falling.

More articles filed under National News

U.S. April Conference Board Employment Trends Index (Text)

2011-05-10T00:18:00.001-07:00

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index declined 0.6 percent in April to 100.5, down from March’s revised figure of 101.1. This is the largest monthly decline since April 2009. The April figure is up 6 percent from a year ago.
Says Gad Levanon, Associate Director, Macroeconomic Research at The Conference Board: “While employment is growing at the fastest rate in years, the leading indicators for employment are decisively flashing yellow. In April, the Employment Trends Index experienced the largest monthly decline in two years. It is unlikely that the current pace of job growth can be maintained in the months ahead.”
This month’s decline in the ETI was driven by negative contributions from five out of the eight components. The weakening indicators include Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance, Percentage of Firms With Positions Not Able to Fill Right Now, Number of Temporary Employees, Part-Time Workers for Economic Reasons and Job Openings, which is a forecasted component. The Employment Trends Index aggregates eight labor-market indicators, each of which has proven accurate in its own area. Aggregating individual indicators into a composite index filters out so-called “noise” to show underlying trends more clearly.
The eight labor-market indicators aggregated into the Employment Trends Index include:
Percentage of Respondents Who Say They Find “Jobs Hard to Get” (The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Survey)
Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance (U.S. Department of Labor)
Percentage of Firms With Positions Not Able to Fill Right Now (National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation)
Number of Employees Hired by the Temporary-Help Industry (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Part-Time Workers for Economic Reasons (BLS)

Job Openings (BLS)

Industrial Production (Federal Reserve Board)
Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis)
The Conference Board publishes the Employment Trends Index monthly, at 10 a.m. ET on the Monday that follows each Friday release of the Bureau of Labor Statistics employment situation report. The technical notes to this series are available on The Conference Board website: http://www.conference-board.org/data/eti.cfm.
Employment Trends Index (ETI) 2011 Publication Schedule
Index Release Date (10 AM ET) Data for the Month Monday, June 6 May Monday, July 11 June Monday, August 8 July* Tuesday, September 6 August* Tuesday, October 11 September Monday, November 7 October Monday, December 5 November*

*Tuesday releases due to holidays

SOURCE: The Conference Board http://www.conference-board.org

Community Health Ends Effort to Buy Tenet After Third Rejection

2011-05-10T00:13:00.000-07:00

Community Health also will withdraw its slate of nominees for Tenet’s board of directors, the Franklin, Tennessee-based company said yesterday in a statement. Community Health, the second-largest U.S. hospital operator, said on Jan. 14 it would nominate 10 directors to replace Tenet’s current board.
Tenet’s refusal earlier yesterday to negotiate marked the third time its board rebuffed Community Health, turning down unsolicited bids in December for $6 a share in cash and stock and an all-cash offer in April. On May 2, Community Health raised its “best and final” offer 21 percent to $7.25 a share and said it would walk away from its effort if Tenet failed to begin “good-faith discussions.”
Tenet has said since December that the offers undervalued the company, and analysts have told Bloomberg that Tenet should be trading at more than $9 a share.
“We continue to believe that the execution of Tenet’s current business strategy will deliver greater value than Community Health’s inadequate proposal and we are not willing to enter into discussions based on many factors, including a grossly inadequate offer,” Tenet’s chief executive officer, Trevor Fetter, said in the statement.
Tenet’s board authorized as much as $400 million in share repurchases, according to the statement. The stock will be bought “at times and amounts based on market conditions and other factors,” Tenet said.

Fraud Lawsuit

Last month, Tenet filed a lawsuit accusing Community Health of defrauding Medicare, the federal health insurance program, and said legal troubles could make it hard to finance the acquisition. Community Health has also been subpoenaed by federal investigators for the Department of Health and Human Services and the Texas Attorney General’s office, asking for documents related to Medicare and the joint state-federal Medicaid program for the poor.
Tenet fell 1 cent to $6.52 at 4:15 p.m. yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Community Health gained 45 cents to $31.08.
Brooke Gordon, a spokeswoman for Community Health, declined to comment beyond the company’s statement.
Tenet owns 49 hospitals in 11 states. Community Health owns, operates or leases 130 hospitals. HCA Holdings Inc., based in Nashville, Tennessee, is the largest U.S. hospital company.
To contact the reporters on this story: Pat Wechsler in New York pwechsler@bloomberg.net; Alex Nussbaum in New York anussbaum1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at Rgale5@bloomberg.net

The End of Days: April 21, 2011

2011-04-22T03:38:00.001-07:00

A pretty dead day in movie news.
Tribeca opened with a not-very-good doc, but got a 3-song concert out of Elton John… which really is the Tribeca Film Festival’s brand to date. This is all they have. What happened to Geoff Gilmore heating things up?
Jeremy Renner gets Bourne. Great. With all respect to Renner, who is a great actor, it’s nothing like a coup. The film will have to be sold from the ground up.

Deadline Hollywood paid Alison Hope Weiner for her sycophantic interview with Mel Gibson (no doubt arranged by Gibson’s loyal handler and the Summit PR team that are Nikki’s bestest friends). Summit is releasing The Beaver and must be desperate for something from Gibson. Weiner claims she gave the interview to Deadline because, “editors at other media outlets seemed inclined to use this story to pursue their own agendas.” You mean, like expecting you to behave like a journalist when you get access to someone with a sordid history? I mean, seriously, not a single real question in the entire interview. People might have bought it, but not EW… to soft for EW! I can softball with the best of them. I don’t need to get into anyone’s personal life to ask them about a movie. But if the only way you address the elephant in the room is to ask whether the smell offends your subject and then offer to clean up all the shit yourself because life is so hard for them… you are a lay down hack. Gibson gets to be forthcoming… and not say a single thing of note. But that’s why they handed him to someone safe… even while Deadline is trying to claim there were no ground rules. Pete Hammond does a tougher interview. Some examples of the weighty questions:
“Do you try to stay fit?”
“Is it hard to have a new baby at your age?”
“Let’s talk about The Beaver. It’s getting amazing reviews — there was just an incredible one by Richard Roeper.” (I believe in Foster and hope the movie is great, but Richard Roeper? The game show host? Really?)
“How did you find yourself in the position to make some of these many bad choices?”
“Did you ever question that you chose the wrong occupation — especially when the tapes were released? Did you think that, ‘I’m sick of this and I chose the wrong job’?”
“People don’t know very much about who you really are. You had this public persona that seemed easy-going and always happy and joking.”
“It seems like you’ve become really uncomfortable with your fame.”
“Don’t you find that a lot of your industry friends have different political beliefs than you?”
And my favorite… “You were going to do a small part in Hangover II. How did you respond to being asked to do that and then having cast members not want you in it? How did it feel to have them allow a convicted rapist [Mike Tyson] in the movie and not you?” which she follows up with, “That’s a very Hollywood hypocritical moment.”
Congratulations, Nikki… you bought yourself the least revealing interview from a guy who stopped giving interviews because someone might ask a real question since Eddie Murphy turned up on Inside The Actors Studio. Maybe Ms. Weiner can get that gig when James Lipton retires. And maybe you’ll set some higher standards for your site someday… but I ain’t holding my breath.
And Premium VOD launched on DirecTV. The Wrap is running an ad that allegedly has gone out to customers… though as a customer who receives my billing and everything else via e-mail from DirecTV, I have gotten nothing. Moreover, the “ad” looks like it has to be a page on the DirecTV website, as it has links at the top to “My Account,” My Programming,” etc, like on the website. But there is NO sign of Home Premium on the website and a search of the term or of Just Go With It leads nowhere. The only offering of any kind that I have been able to find remains the link on the guide, right next to all the other $5 movie rentals, that I noted earlier today on The Hot Blog.

Obama defends U.S. deficit plan, sees common ground

2011-04-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

Reuters) - President Barack Obama drew a sharp line on Tuesday between Republican and Democratic plans to cut the deficit, but he said a deal could be reached despite ideological differences between the two sides.
Democrats and Republicans agree that $4 trillion needs to be slashed over roughly a decade, Obama told a town hall-style event in Virginia. But the two parties disagree on what to cut to get there.
"The big question that is going to have to be resolved is: how do we do it?" Obama told students at a community college. "I don't want to lie to you, there is a big philosophical divide right now."
The president was promoting his plan for cutting the deficit a day after Standard & Poor's threatened to strip America of its prized triple-A credit rating. The Wall Street ratings agency cited concern that Washington's polarized politics would make it difficult to reach a debt deal before the 2012 presidential election.
Obama, who is traveling around the country this week to advocate his deficit proposals, did not show any greater flexibility over his demands that taxes go up for the wealthiest Americans.
His Treasury secretary, seeking to reassure investors that America would not lose its top-notch rating, took to the airwaves to dismiss S&P's action as politically tone deaf.
"Actually, I think things are better than they've been if you want to think about the prospects for improving our long-term fiscal position," Timothy Geithner told CNBC television, adding there was "no risk" the United States would lose its triple-A rating.
Obama did not directly refer to S&P's action in his comments to the Virginia student group.
How to cut the $1.4 trillion deficit has already become a major issue in the 2012 presidential and congressional campaigns, and both sides are trying to show they have the best plan.
A Washington Post poll on Tuesday showed Obama's approval ratings near record lows because of deepening economic pessimism among Americans. The survey showed 47 percent approving of his performance -- a 7-point drop since January.
Republicans oppose Obama's efforts to let Bush-era tax cuts on top earners lapse after 2012 and question the president's readiness to commit to meaningful spending cuts.
Eric Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, lambasted the president for avoiding specifics and focusing on tax increases.
"The president's plan to increase taxes is a direct assault on job creation and innovation that could throw our economy in reverse," he said in a statement.
"I'm disappointed that once again the president did not offer specifics about how to put America on a path to pay down our debt," he said.
Republicans sharply criticized Obama's plan for cutting the deficit, saying it was unveiled in a campaign-style speech aimed at voters and not at striking agreement in Congress.
Both parties claimed ammunition from the S&P warning, but members of the conservative Republican Tea Party caucus saw particular vindication for their anti-spending platform, which helped hand Republicans control of the House in last year's congressional elections.
Vice President Joe Biden will host a meeting with members of the Congress on May 5 to discuss deficit reduction.
Republicans in Congress named two top lieutenants to the Biden panel: Cantor and Jon Kyl, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate. Democrats have appointed four members to the group.
Brian Riedl, an analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said an agreement that to cut $4 trillion from the deficit over 10 to 12 years was still "not even close to what we need to avert a fiscal calamity." (Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson, Kim Dixon, David Lawder, Steve Holland, and Thomas Ferraro; Editing by Doina Chiacu

Transportation Official: Controller Incident is 'Ridiculous'

2011-04-20T07:46:00.001-07:00

OBERLIN, Ohio—

An incident at the Cleveland Air Transportation Center in Oberlin, that resulted in the suspension of an air traffic controller and his supervisor, has gotten the attention of National Transportation Secretary, Ray Lahood.

The FAA says the controller, who has not been identified, was watching a movie on a DVD player while he was on the job directing air traffic early on Sunday.

For a three minute period, the controller's microphone was open and the soundtrack from the movie was being transmitted over a frequency that prevented aircraft from communicating with the control center. A military pilot alerted them of the incident by calling in on an alternate frequency.

On Tuesday, Lahood said he was aware of the incident and said it should never have happened.

"The incident in Cleveland where the controller was watching a movie is outrageous, it's ridiculous, it's not the kind of behavior that we will tolerate and we have suspended the controller and we have suspended the controller's supervisor. We are going to conduct an investigation and get to the bottom of it," said Lahood, in response to a Fox 8 News question.

It has also gotten the attention of Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland.

"I am the top democrat on the investigative subcommittee that has jurisdiction over the Federal Aviation Administration," Kucinich told Fox 8 News on Tuesday, adding, "I will tell you that I intend to be in close contact with the FAA regarding, not just this incident in Oberlin, but regarding exactly what the FAA is doing."

Kucinich says he understands the responsibility that the air traffic controllers have and believes there can be no distractions.

"You can't sleep on the job and you can't be watching movies on the job...that's obvious," said Kucinich.

A source very familiar with the operation at the Cleveland Air Transportation Center in Oberlin says the suspended air traffic controller has been on the job five or six years. The source describes him as ordinarily very responsible, calling Sunday morning's miscue an "isolated incident."

But, the source also says that Sunday morning's incident, and the larger scale concerns over fatigue among air traffic controllers, can easily be related.

The source tells Fox 8 News that the only reason any controller might want to take a DVD with them to work, is so that they have something to keep them from dozing.

The Cleveland Air Transportation Center directs traffic through one of the busiest corridors in the nation, as planes pass over the Northeastern United States and a part of Southern Canada.

Controllers there were the last to communicate with the terrorists who hijacked United Flight 93 before crashing it into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 2001.

Drew McQueen, a representative of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association's local office in Oberlin, declined comment on Tuesday, referring calls to the union's national office in Washington.

In the nation's capital, Secretary Lahood made it clear on Tuesday that the agency was taking a sleep study -- currently underway -- seriously.

In a release on Monday, the FAA also said its policy "prohibits the use of portable DVD players and other devices from being used on the floor of the radar room."

Lahood insisted Tuesday that any air traffic controller who was sleeping on the job, or distracted in any other way would be suspended.

"I want the flying public to know that when a controller is at the tower looking at the radar screen, that they are doing it in the most professional way that they possibly can, and they are not deterred by the fact that they are not well rested," Lahood said.

The FAA would not provide anyone to answer questions from Fox 8 News on Tuesday. A regional spokesperson in Chicago said the agency's director would be speaking only to the national media.

Congressman Kucinich said details were also not provided to him. The agency said it has an investigation underway.

Obama's real 2012 concern: economic angst

2011-04-19T07:20:00.001-07:00

Forget Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Haley Barbour or, yes, even Donald Trump. The biggest obstacle for President Obama as he seeks re-election may be the state of the American economy and not his Republican rival, a new poll finds.
The ABC News/Washington Post survey released Tuesday finds that 47% of Americans now approve of the president’s job performance, down 4 points in the last month and just off his all-time low of 46% in the heat of the midterm campaign.
Only 42% of respondents approve of how Obama is handling the economy, his lowest score since taking office.
The president on Tuesday begins a week-long, cross-country tour to try and convince voters he has the best plan to tackle the nation’s deficits and debt. Rising fuel prices and brinkmanship on Capitol Hill over spending have largely overshadowed his post-State of the Union “Winning the Future” message.
Seven-in-10 voters surveyed say the rising cost of gasoline has caused a financial hardship, including 43% who describe that as serious.
Looking ahead to 2012, 45% of respondents said they definitely will not support Obama’s re-election, compared to 28% who said they definitely will.
Republicans seem unhappy with the field of candidates looking to challenge Obama so far, however. Only 43% say they are satisfied with the field, down from 65% who said so at a similar point in the 2008 campaign.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, leads the field in a national horserace at 16%, while Trump scores 8%. Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin, two prominent Republicans whose plans remain a mystery, score 6% and 5%, respectively, while the rest of the field registers no more than 2%.
In head-to-head matchups, Obama leads all potential rivals. Romney comes closest, trailing 49-45%.
The survey of 1,001 adults was conducted April 14-17, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5%.
michael.memoli@latimes.com