FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — A member of the European Central Bank's governing council is warning against the bank being "too generous" with credit to banks as it fights Europe's debt crisis.
Jens Weidmann, who is also head of Germany's Bundesbank national central bank, says that the ECB does have the job of making sure banks have adequate funding to get them through the eurozone debt …
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.'s profit more than doubled in the third quarter, helped by cost-cutting, new products and lower raw-material costs, the largest U.S. tiremaker said Wednesday.
The performance marked a reversal by Goodyear, which had reported $554 million in losses in the first six months of the year as the recession staggered the automotive industry.
The company, based in Akron, said it expects year-over-year global industry growth in 2010 and said its new products, especially high-end tires, and cost-cutting would give it the opportunity to capitalize on the opportunity.
"The strength of our brands and steady stream of new and …
WASHINGTON The AFL-CIO began airing new television and radio adsTuesday pressing lawmakers to eliminate corporate tax breaks andspend more to rebuild the nation's schools.
John Sweeney, president of the labor federation, said the ads,which target Republicans and Democrats alike, were designed to prodpoliticians to support issues labor believes are central to workingfamilies.
"Right now we sense what some people call a vacuum in Congress,"Sweeney said. "It's . . . a status quo that really favors corporatespecial interests and works against working families."The ads, running in the districts of seven House Democrats and12 House Republicans, are aimed at ending tax …
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Guus Hiddink is available again after parting ways with the Turkish football federation on Wednesday following Turkey's failure to quality for next year's European Championship.
The federation said it had reached a mutual agreement with the 65-year-old Dutch coach to end the contract that was due to expire in August 2012.
"We thank Guus Hiddink for services rendered during his term and wish him a healthy and happy life," the federation said.
Turkey managed to hold Croatia to a 0-0 draw in the second leg of the Euro 2012 playoffs in Zagreb on Tuesday, but Croatia claimed a place in the final tournament 3-0 on aggregate.
After the match, Hiddink …
The following recalls have been announced:
_About 367,000 units of HP Fax 1010 and 1010xi machines, made in China and imported by Hewlett-Packard Co., because an internal component failure can cause overheating, posing a risk of burn or fire. The company has received three reports of overheating, including two resulting in minor property damage. No injuries have been reported. The fax machines were sold at electronic, computer and camera stores nationwide, as well as at online stores from November 2002 through December 2004. Details: by phone at 888-654-9296; by Web at http://www.hp.com/go/fax1010recall or
Theo B. Adkins
Theo B. Adkins, 80, of Meadow Creek died July 3, 2008. Servicewill be 2 p.m. Sunday, July 6, at Maxwell Hill Baptist Church,Beckley. Friends may call from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the church.Rose & Quesenberry Funeral Home, Beckley, is in charge ofarrangements.
Jan L. Blanchard
Jan L. Blanchard, 59, of Point Pleasant died July 2, 2008.Service will be 2 p.m. Sunday, July 6, at Deal Funeral Home, PointPleasant. Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday.
Paul E. Burgess
Paul E. Burgess, 71, of Fayetteville died July 2, 2008. Memorialservice will be at a later date. The body was cremated. Dodd-Payne-Hess Funeral Home, Fayetteville, is …
Back in April, decision-makers involved with Lancaster's proposed $30 million downtown convention center were pulling together a short list of which companies might get the center's lucrative management contract.
The task force wanted to cut the list to three. SMG of Philadelphia and Global Spectrum of Philadelphia were on the list, but the third spot still was being debated.
Observers of that process remember two other names that were being considered. Some people wanted CRG of Lancaster to remain in the bidding, and others were pushing Interstate Hotels Corp., Pittsburgh.
Eventually, CRG was cut, and Interstate made the list.
Observers also recollect that it …
A gold chain of office King Henry VIII is thought to have given to a Lord Chief Justice was sold at auction Thursday for more than 310,000 pounds ($490,000).
The intricate work, known as the Coleridge Collar, is the only known complete example of its type from Henry's reign, according to Christie's auctioneers.
The chain, dated to 1546 or 1547, is thought to have been given to Sir Edward Montagu, who was Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, one of 16 executors of Henry's will and governor to his heir, Edward VI.
The collar was worn by Montagu's successors as …
MORGANTOWN - "Football is an aggressive, rugged contact sport.Only the highest standards of sportsmanship and conduct are expectedof players, coaches and others associated with the game. There is noplace for unfair tactics, unsportsmanlike conduct or maneuversdeliberately designed to inflict injury."
I lifted that paragraph from the college football rulebook, theone that has 197 pages and covers everything from the color of thegloves players wear to pinpointing when the clock stops when aplayer's helmet comes off.
But it doesn't do anything to adjudicate faking injuries.
While there is no rule to address what is an expandingembarrassment to the …
CINCINNATI - Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 588th homer Thursday, and the Cincinnati Reds rallied against All-Star closer Francisco Cordero for a 6-5, 10-inning victory that extended the Milwaukee Brewers' woes.
After Scott Hatteberg's single off Cordero (0-3) tied it in the ninth, and Javier Valentin's single in the 10th gave the Reds three victories in their four-game series against the fading NL Central leaders.
Jared Burton (2-1) got the victory, which came after the NL's worst bullpen blew a lead of its own.
Milwaukee came to town hoping for a turnaround against a last-place team. The Brewers traded three pitching prospects for setup man Scott Linebrink on …
Citigroup Inc. expects to do its previously announced swaps of preferred stock into common stock later this week, the bank said in a statement Monday.
Citigroup originally announced in late February that it wanted to offer investors the option of exchanging preferred stock into common stock. The move would give the U.S. government a 34 percent stake in the New York-based bank.
The deal would also boost Citi's common equity, a benchmark the government is using to measure a bank's ability to manage losses.
The government has …
More Americans are active in religious groups than previously thought, and many others without ties to congregations still believe in God or a higher power, according to a broad survey of faith in America released Monday.
The study also found that most traditional Christians reject the label "evangelical," preferring to describe themselves as "Bible-believing" or "born again."
The survey was conducted by the Baylor University Sociology Department and the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion as the first in a series on the spiritual life of Americans.
Researchers found that only 10.8 percent of Americans have no ties to a congregation, denomination or faith group. Previous surveys had put that figure at 14 percent, overlooking about 10 million people involved in some form of organized religion, the Baylor report said.
Other surveys have also overlooked millions of evangelicals, because respondents who belonged to nondenominational groups or megachurches would often report that they had no denomination and were wrongly counted as unaffiliated, the study's authors say.
Baylor researchers found that one-third of Americans are evangelical Protestant, just under one-quarter are mainline Protestant, one-fifth are Roman Catholic and 5 percent are black Protestant. Jews comprise 2.5 percent of the population, while 5 percent of Americans belong to other faiths.
The rest, who are not involved in religious groups, are not fully secular, researchers said. More than 60 percent of the unaffiliated say they believe in God or a higher power, and nearly one-third say they pray at least occasionally. Eleven percent believe Jesus is the son of God.
Among the more religiously observant Christians, the term "evangelical" is unpopular, according to the study. Nearly 70 percent of evangelical and black Protestants say "Bible-believing" better describes their views. Nearly as many liked the term "born-again."
Only 15 percent of all respondents called themselves "evangelical" and within that group just 2 percent said it was the best description.
The study also looked at the market for religious goods, including books and movies.
One-fifth of respondents have read either "The Purpose Driven Life" by pastor Rick Warren or the "Left Behind" series of apocalyptic novels, the survey found.
Yet, even more - 28.5 percent - had read "The Da Vinci Code," the best-selling mystery novel that Christians condemned as an affront to their faith. Still, the study found that the book had little impact on churchgoers.
Asked whether God favored the United States, only one-fifth of respondents said they agreed. Evangelical Protestants were the most likely to agree, with 26 percent saying they think God favors the country.
Researchers also examined Americans' conception of God and found the greatest share - about 31 percent - think of God as "authoritarian," deeply involved in people's lives and world events, angry and capable of punishing those who are unfaithful.
Nearly one-quarter consider God a "distant" force that set the laws of nature in motion, but is not active in the world, the study found. About the same percentage view God as "benevolent," active in their daily lives, but less willing to condemn or punish.
And about 16 percent consider God "critical," an observer who views the state of the world unfavorably and will mete out punishment in another life.
The study also asked respondents about paranormal beliefs such as whether houses can be haunted or whether people can communicate with the dead. The report found that these beliefs are more prevalent in Eastern states.
The survey of 1,721 respondents has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points and was conducted by the Gallup Organization between Oct. 8 and Dec. 12, 2005.
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On the Net:
Hablando con la Verdad
ES NUESTRO deber y primera responsabilidad en estos momentos tr�gicos de nuestra historia no quitar el dedo del rengl�n por donde estamos transitando. Esperamos que estemos yendo hacia un destino de libertad y justicia social que anta�o nos prometieron los entonces salvadores de la patria y que se convirti� en una traici�n canallesca de los hermanos Castro.
El verdadero peligro existe cuando se hacen juicios sobre bases ideol�gicas falsas que no son capaces de sustentar una ideolog�a coherente que nos permita abrirnos pasos a trav�s de las adversidades propias de una sociedad en reconstrucci�n, que empieza desde cero, como la que nos espera a todos los cubanos.
Est� claro que a las puertas del derrumbe del tirano se abrir�n perceptivas de libertad si somos consecuentes con cumplir deberes y demandar nuestros derechos como pueblo.
El retorno de Cuba, a un Estado de derechos bajo el heredero es una quimera que en mi concepto no vale la pena gastar tinta en esta consideraci�n y en ninguna bondad que proceda de quienes llevan casi medio sigio ahogando nuestras libertades.
Los voceros de la tiran�a miran con simpat�as poco disimulada el criterio abundante entre algunos de nuestros compatriotas de evitar confrontaciones que pueden llevar a que corra la sangre en suelo cubano. �Por qu� ahora los comunistas tienen tanto inter�s en que no corra la sangre?, cuando han sido ellos precisamente los que han ensangrentado a toda la naci�n. Ellos saben, que mendigando derechos y libertades, y firmando peticiones al Parlamento
Cubano, es un proceso dilatorio y les asegurar� continuar en el poder, yendo de un paliativo a otro. Y estamos seguros que habr�n compatriotas nuestros bien intencionados y con credibilidad en la lucha pero que est�n definitivamente equivocados si piensan sacar del poder a la dinast�a de los hermanos Castro y a la pi�ata millonaria sac�ndole el cuerpo a la inevitable confrontaci�n en los cubanos que quieren libertad y los que quieren mantenernos bajo la mentira de una sociedad indigna contra la cual tenemos el derechos a revelarnos con toda la energ�a y la dignidad que nos legaron nuestros Mambices.
Nuestro pueblo ha vivido bajo la mentira por casi medio siglo, y donde unas veces nos equivocamos y otra nos equivocaron. Pero lleg� el momento que no hay espacio para m�s equivocaciones. Ahora, lo queremos todo o nada. Unamos esfuerzos pidiendo al alt�simo que ilumine nuestras mentes para hacer decisiones que nos aparten, si de la violencia innecesaria. Pero si que nos vitalice con la fe en la victoria y la energ�a suficiente y el valor para reclamar todos, el derecho a una sociedad justa pr�diga en libertades donde el cubano no se sienta como un ciudadanos de segunda o tercera clase.
Aspiramos a alcanzar un termino medio que se llama justicia el cual no es negociable. Las condiciones ahora son favorables si todos nos ponemos en la misma p�gina y demandamos soluciones ahora mismo, y si los gobernantes no son capaces de brindar soluciones la �nica alternativa es demandar soluciones en las calles sin necesidad de que corra sangre cubana. Pero en �ltima instancia la libertad y la patria tienen el precio m�s elevado en la escala de valores del ser humano y a esos valores nos remitimos para lograr nuestros objetivos.
NEW YORK - The Merck & Co. executive who successfully led thecompany's legal strategy over the Vioxx recall was named CEO onTuesday.
The promotion puts Kenneth C. Frazier in the top spot as thecompany continues integrating its $41 billion buyout of Schering-Plough. The move added a strong pipeline of drugs as the companylooks toward future growth.
Frazier, 55, is currently Merck's president and will become aboard member as part of the promotion. In April, he was named to hiscurrent position from head of global sales, where he oversawoperations in the company's most lucrative unit. At the time, themove to president of the company made Frazier the most likelycandidate to take over from Richard T. Clark, who was expected toretire per company policy at age 65 in March.
CEO Clark, who was a key force behind the Schering-Plough buyout,will remain chairman of the board. He has been CEO since 2005.
The promotion of Frazier completes an upward arc for the mancredited with steering Merck through a storm of potentiallydebilitating costs as lawsuits poured in over the painkiller Vioxx.In 2004, it was pulled from the market because of concerns itdoubled the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death.
General counsel at the time, Frazier had initially elected tofight the lawsuits. Victories in early trials helped the companydevelop a settlement deal for nearly all the cases for a total of$4.85 billion - well below what analysts had estimated as Merck'sliability. Frazier has said his key goal during the lawsuits was touphold the company's core values of putting science first.
He gained key experience as head of global sales, the companysaid, and helped to design a new sales model while improving coststructure and focusing on emerging markets. As president, he helpeddrive the growth of new products and a late-stage research anddevelopment pipeline.
He told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he is lookingforward to focusing on the company's pipeline of potential drugs,which include the cholesterol treatment Anacetrapib. That drug is apotential game-changer in the market, but it still has years to goin development.
"For the entire industry, the challenge will be continuing toinnovate going forward," he said.
That focus on the future was a key reason for the company'sbuyout of Schering-Plough, which gave Merck the allergy drugsNasonex and Clarinex along with animal health products, consumerhealth products, and a biotech division. Merck, based in WhitehouseStation, N.J., is the world's second-biggest drugmaker by revenue.
Outgoing CEO Clark said the integration is "truly exceeding"expectations at the company.
Merck reported third-quarter results last month. Financially, thecompany met Wall Street's quarterly expectations, after adjustingfor a series of charges. Its revenue for the period surged 84percent because of the addition of Schering-Plough products. Merck'stop seller, the asthma and allergy drug Singulair, gained 12 percentto reach just under $1.22 billion.
The push to drive sales of current treatments and build for thefuture occurs as the company faces generic competition on otherproducts. Sales of the blood pressure drugs Cozaar and Hyzaar fell51 percent combined during the most recent period because of genericcompetition, driving overall prescription drug sales lower.
The sales drive includes continuing to tap into emerging marketssuch as China, India, and Russia, as revenue levels off in the U.S.and Europe.
The businessman arrived at the Treasury Department carrying a suitcase stuffed with about $5.2 million. The bills were decomposing, nearly unrecognizable, and he asked to swap them for a cashier's check. He said the money came from Mexico.
Money like this normally arrives in an armored truck or insured shipping container after a bank burns or a vault floods. It doesn't just show up at the visitor's entrance on a Tuesday morning. But the banking habits of Franz Felhaber had stopped making sense to the government long ago.
For the past few years, authorities say, he and his family have popped in and out of U.S. banks, looking to change about $20 million in buried treasure for clean cash.
The money is always the same _ decaying $100 bills from the 1970s and 1980s.
It's the story that keeps changing:
_It was an inheritance.
_Somebody dug up a tree and there it was.
_It was found in a suitcase buried in an alfalfa field.
_A relative found a treasure map.
No matter where it came from or who found it, that buried treasure stands to make someone rich.
It could also send someone to jail.
___
Felhaber is a customs broker, a middleman.
His company, F.C. Felhaber & Co., is just minutes away from the bridge between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Tens of billions of dollars of Mexican goods cross that bridge each year, aided by people such as Felhaber who navigate the customs bureaucracy.
Customs brokers don't own the stuff that comes into the United States. They just make sure it gets here.
So it is with the $20 million. Felhaber says the money is not his. A Mexican relative, Francisco Javier Ramos Saenz-Pardo, merely sought help exchanging money that had been buried for decades, Felhaber says.
"To be very clear on this matter: In the beginning, I was not told what it was," Felhaber said in one of several telephone interviews with The Associated Press.
Money petrifies after sitting underground that long and Felhaber said it looked like a brick of adobe. The Treasury will exchange even badly damaged money, but Felhaber said Saenz-Pardo did not want to handle the process himself.
"Imagine a Mexican family bringing money that is damaged and the government calling it a drug deal," Felhaber said.
If the goal were to avoid unwarranted attention, he went about it all wrong. Rather than making a simple _ albeit large _ exchange at the Treasury, Felhaber allegedly began trying to exchange smaller amounts at El Paso-area banks, raising suspicion every time.
The first stop was the Federal Reserve Bank in El Paso, where authorities say Felhaber appeared with an uncle, Jose, and an aunt, Esther. In her purse, Esther carried $120,000. She told bank officials there were millions more, discovered while digging to expand a building in Juarez, according to U.S. court records filed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Banks normally refer such requests to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, an arm of the Treasury. But employees worried that with so much cash, the three might be robbed on their way home. So, the bank accepted the money and wired $120,000 to an account in his uncle's name, Jose Carrillo-Valles, according to a government affidavit.
Felhaber was back at it again weeks later, this time at a Bank of America branch. Customs officials say he unsuccessfully tried to persuade a bank vice president to dispatch an armored truck to the Mexican border to pick up millions of dollars.
Felhaber denies that conversation took place. But he is tough to pin down on details. At times he seems specific on a point ("There is a $20 million inheritance,") only to contradict himself minutes later, saying the amount is "nowhere near that" and he has no idea where the money came from.
Soon after the Bank of America visit, a man bearing a striking resemblance to Felhaber walked into a Bank of the West branch. This time, however, authorities say the customer identified himself as Ken Motley and said he discovered millions while excavating a tree in Chihuahua, Mexico.
Bank employees refused to exchange any money, despite two follow-up phone calls _ once with a Spanish accent, once without _ to try to set up an exchange.
The mysterious Ken Motley also appeared at the First National Bank, telling employees that a friend had discovered $20 million buried in an alfalfa field, investigators say.
Felhaber says he is not Ken Motley.
Customs investigators say a Bank of the West employee identified Felhaber's picture as that of Ken Motley.
"That's an absolute lie," Felhaber said. "That would be a horrendous miscarriage of justice."
It's unclear which transaction caught investigators' attention. Most of the tens of thousands of exchanges of mutilated money each year are routine. Natural disasters create a lot of inquiries. Children of the Depression have kept money out of banks, only to see it eaten by rodents in their attics or destroyed in fires. A surprising number of people accidentally shred greeting cards with money inside.
But authorities say there are warning signs that trigger investigations. Making a series of small exchanges is one. Bringing mutilated money from abroad is another.
"That is one of the things we are extra concerned about: This process being used to launder money from illegal activities," said Leonard R. Olijar, the chief financial officer of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. "That's one of our factors that we use to make a case suspicious."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents questioned Felhaber in October 2005. According to a government summary of that interview, Felhaber said he believed the money was the result of a 1970s Mexican land deal. The money was buried in a coffin, he said, until Saenz-Pardo _ the relative who brought him the money in the first place _ discovered a map leading him to the buried treasure.
Felhaber said he didn't want to do anything illegal and was merely getting a cut of whatever he exchanged.
He now says he was mistaken in his interviews with investigators.
"I told them, 'I suspect this is where it's from but I didn't know,'" he said. "They take you to your word like you're supposed to remember every single thing every single time."
___
Maybe it was the visit from investigators or maybe someone realized the bank visits weren't working, but Felhaber apparently changed strategies.
In January 2006, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing received a package containing about $136,000 from Jose Carrillo-Valles, Felhaber's uncle. Felhaber's business was listed as the return address. The letter explained the money had been stored in a basement for 22 years.
Though customs officials were suspicious by then, there was no clear evidence of a crime, just a lot of unanswered questions. So, two months later, the Treasury mailed a check, which was deposited into Carrillo-Valles' account.
Following the money, investigators interviewed Carrillo-Valles and his wife. Each denied ever sending or receiving the money, according to a government affidavit.
As for the $120,000 wired to Jose's account from the Federal Reserve a year earlier, they allegedly said it was an inheritance. Esther said Jose's mother had recently died.
Authorities don't believe the inheritance story. For starters, they say Jose's mother was still alive when the $120,000 was exchanged. They also traced a wire transfer from Jose's account to someone named Saenz-Pardo shortly after it was deposited.
Customs investigators now believed Carrillo-Valles was acting as an intermediary, taking a cut of the money and sending the rest to Saenz-Pardo or someone else in Mexico.
Twice, reporters called Carrillo-Valles on his cell phone to ask about the arrangement and confirm his discussions with investigators. First, he said he did not speak English. When a Spanish-speaking reporter called back, he said he could not hear her, and hung up.
In April 2007, the case moved from being suspicious to becoming a criminal investigation. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials called the Justice Department, saying Felhaber had just arrived in person at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing with about $1.2 million.
It's not illegal to find money. Depending on where it's found, there might be a bureaucratic process to follow or taxes to be paid, but the discovery itself is not a crime.
There are strict rules, however, about bringing money into the United States. Import documents identified the $1.2 million as belonging to Jose Carrillo-Valles. Based on their investigation so far, authorities believe that was a lie _ a violation that carries up to five years in prison.
But Washington federal prosecutor William Cowden decided to wait. Maybe Felhaber would return with even more.
It paid off. This April, Felhaber was back at the Treasury, this time with a suitcase containing $5.2 million. Investigators say they have found no import documents filed for this deal, a violation of cash smuggling laws that also carries up to five years in prison.
Prosecutors moved in. Felhaber's two Treasury visits gave them probable cause to seize the money _ both the $1.2 million and the $5.2 million.
They told a federal magistrate in June that they suspected it was all drug money that had been buried or hidden inside a wall for decades.
"Given that the money is coming north from Mexico, that both conflicting and cockamamie stories have been told about its origins, and that all the stories of how it got to be found are fantastical, I strongly suspect that the Felhaber currency is the proceeds of illegal bulk narcotics sales," ICE investigator Stephen A. Schneider told the magistrate.
___
Felhaber says he's still not sure what all the fuss is about. At times he says he has no idea where the money came from, but he is always certain it has nothing to do with drugs.
None of the documents filed in federal court accuses Felhaber or his relatives of being involved in drugs. They leave open the possibility that somebody merely came across a cache of drug money, forgotten or abandoned in the Mexican desert.
In the coming weeks, the Justice Department plans to seek forfeiture of the seized $6.4 million. That means Felhaber and his family will have the opportunity to come to Washington to ask for their money back.
If they do, they'll have to explain where it came from. And they'll have to sort through some of the inconsistent stories for a federal judge. Felhaber bristles at the suggestion there have been inconsistencies.
"The story has never changed," he said. "I don't know how it's changed."
Reached by telephone Monday, he said he was aware of the looming forefeiture action but could not discuss whether his family planned to challenge it. But he said "the truth will come out" about the money eventually.
Cowden, the federal prosecutor, said he doesn't know what to expect.
"Some of these cases, nobody ever comes forward," he said.
If so, the buried treasure will become government property.
Or at least some of it. Perhaps there is another $14 million out there, muddy and waiting to be exchanged.
Does Felhaber know if there's any money left?
On that, it's hard to get a straight answer.
___
Associated Press writer Alicia Caldwell reported from El Paso, Texas.
Milton Bradley and Marlon Byrd hit two-run homers early and the Texas Rangers clinched their seventh consecutive series by beating the Houston Astros 6-2 on Saturday night.
The last time the Rangers won seven series in a row was 1999, the season they won their last AL West title. They have won 15 of 21 games in this span, getting back to .500 three weeks after having the worst record in the major leagues.
Bradley homered in the first and Byrd followed an inning later to make it 4-1 against Roy Oswalt (4-4), who had won four straight decisions over six starts since losing his first three starts of the season.
Vicente Padilla (6-2) matched his victory total from last season by winning his fourth consecutive decision over five starts. The right-hander allowed two runs and five hits over seven innings.
After a 16-8 victory in the opener of the Lone Star Series on Friday night, the Rangers (22-22) clinched the series and got to .500 for the first time since they were 5-5 on April 11 _ the day after they had their only winning record under second-year manager Ron Washington following a doubleheader sweep of Baltimore.
Oswalt left in the seventh after allowing consecutive singles and going to a 2-0 count on the third batter of the inning. The Astros said he had a strained right groin, but the right-hander had thrown 111 pitches (72 strikes).
After Oswalt left, David Murphy and Gerald Laird had consecutive RBI singles _ off different relievers _ to put the Rangers up 6-2, both runs charged to Oswalt.
Astros switch-hitting slugger Lance Berkman extended his hitting streak to 16 games and matched Pete Rose as the only players since 1956 with 31 hits in a span of 50 at-bats.
After his major league-best 16th homer leading off the fourth, Berkman had a single in the sixth that matched Rose's 31-of-50 stretch for Philadelphia in 1979. Berkman popped out to end the eighth, but finished 2-for-3 with a walk to raise his season average to .399.
Houston led 1-0 after Kazuo Matsui drew a walk, stole second base and scored on Miguel Tejada's single in the first.
But Texas went ahead to stay in the bottom of the inning when Josh Hamilton had a two-out single and Bradley followed by pulling an off-speed pitch into the right-field seats. Oswalt immediately pointed to his chest, taking blame for the bad pitch.
Byrd hit his first homer an inning later, and finished 3-for-4 in his first start since coming off the disabled list Wednesday after missing 26 games because of left knee inflammation.
Hamilton, the major league RBI leader, left for a pinch-runner after his single in the fifth. The outfielder was still sore from the tumble he took while almost making a spectacular running catch in center in the first inning Friday night.
Hamilton still went 5-for-5 with two home runs, a triple and five RBIs in Friday night's game, and was 2-for-3 on Saturday before coming out of the game. Hamilton leads the majors with 49 RBIs (in 43 games) and was tied for the AL lead with 10 homers.
Notes:@ The pregame ceremony included color guards from each of the four branches of the Armed Services. First pitches were thrown by the two sons of a Texas-based soldier in Iraq, who joined the crowd via satellite singing "Happy Birthday" to the boys. ... Astros RF Hunter Pence, who grew up in Arlington, extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single in the eighth.
Gov. Edgar Monday vetoed the sale of Rockford's historic NationalGuard Armory to Chicago real estate investor Kenneth Goldberg, sayingtoo many of Goldberg's properties have histories of buildingviolations.
The state had planned to sell the 56-year-old building atauction as surplus property, and Goldberg's bid of $61,000 last monthtopped offers from two Rockford groups.
But when Goldberg, a longtime former partner of notoriousslumbroker Louis Wolf, was announced as high bidder, Rockford citizengroups, local politicians and the Rockford newspaper urged Edgar tokill the sale.
They contended that under Goldberg's ownership the building -located next to the city's new multimillion dollar Riverfront Museum- might be permitted to deteriorate into an eyesore that woulddetract from other downtown developments.
Monday the governor's legal counsel, James Montana, said Edgarwas advising the state's Military Affairs Department "that thegovernor disapproved of the sale."
Under the surplus property statute, Montana said, "All sales aresubject to the written approval of the governor. He has discretionon whether to accept the high bid.
"In this case, the bids are being canceled, and the propertywill be rebid."
Montana said the governor's legal staff had "determined thatmany of the buildings in which Mr. Goldberg holds an interest,through secret land trusts or companies he controlled or owned, havebeen the subject of numerous building violations for (at least) fiveyears. So the sale will not be approved."
Goldberg's attorney, Thomas Drucker, said Goldberg would have nocomment "until we have seen something in writing from the governor."
Since 1988, Goldberg and Wolf have been locked in a BankruptcyCourt battle for control of dozens of properties, many with numerousbuilding code violations. Meanwhile, Wolf has pleaded guilty infederal court to cheating on property taxes and defrauding the countyof hundreds of thousands of dollars through abuses of the scavengersale of tax-delinquent property. Wolf is to be sentenced Sept. 23.
`U.S. MUST FIGHT RACISM, BIGOTRY'
The U.S. must engage in a war against racism, discrimination and bigotry if this nation is going to truly heal internally and move forward towards a truly united nation in the 21st century, Chicago Human Relations Comm. Clarence N. Wood said Monday.
In wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks which have caused some ethnic profiling of Arab Americans and other Middle Easterners, Wood said he's holding a meeting today to discuss how this "horrific" event has impacted their lives and listen to their reactions to the nation's war against terrorism.
Wood is holding a townhall meeting 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. tonight at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Behavioral Sciences Building, Room 250, 1007 W. Harrison St. (at the corner of Morgan and Harrison Streets).
"The forum is designed to explore the issues of what is an American, who is an American and by what means are we determining who is more American than the other person who happens to be a citizen and a person in our nation," Wood told the Chicago Defender.
"It is an opportunity for Hispanics, Asians, Arabs and African Americans to talk about their contributions to the building and day-to-day operations of our city and our nation and to begin to explore the horrors of scapegoating or profiling as a means of ferreting out the citizen who is considered to be non-American or un-American."
When asked what is an American, Wood said: "We are a nation of different religions, ethnicities. We are racially and culturally different but that does not make any one of us lesser American than any of us.
"This is a time when our differences cannot be used to separate us from being an American. This nation is built on a respect for those differences and understanding that this variety is what being an American is as long as we accept the principles, the values, and the standards of the American way.
"This forum is an opportunity to have people who are not white Anglo-Saxons, who are not necessarily of the Christian faith, speak to the fact that they feel as American as those who might feel them not being an American.
"It's about how do we move forward as a nation where fairness, justice and equality works and where we cannot redefine what is an American to simply accommodate the definitions of exclusion rather than inclusion," Wood said.
Article Copyright Sengstacke Enterprises, Inc.
DAYTON, Ohio -- Sammy Mejia scored 23 points, and Draelon Burnsadded 10 to lead DePaul to a 61-54 victory over Dayton on Saturdaynight.
Mejia converted a layup with 16:46 left to start a 12-3 run thaterased the Flyers' 34-32 lead.
Wilson Chandler grabbed 16 rebounds for DePaul (4-3), which shot44 percent from the field and held Dayton to 35 percent shooting.
Monty Scott had 11 points, and Norman Plummer finished with 10 forDayton (6-3), which led 28-27 at halftime.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Flyers, whoshot 3-for-17 from three-point range. It also was Dayton's first lossat home this season.
The Blue Demons outrebounded Dayton 37-34 and limited the Flyersto 28 percent shooting in the second half.
WATFORD, England (AP) — The magical world of Harry Potter is being meticulously reassembled at a former aerodrome near London.
The collection of sheds and sound stages is where the eight films were shot over the course of a decade, and soon they will be home to the official "Making of Harry Potter" studio tour.
With more than five months to go until the tour's March 31 opening stonemasons in hard hats are busy laying the (real) flagstone floor of the Great Hall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Even half-finished, its Gothic arches, gargoyles and huge fireplace are an impressive sight.
When it's completed, studio Warner Bros. hopes it will be, well, magic — though the spell was briefly broken when advance tickets went on sale Thursday. Many fans found an error prevented them from booking tickets the official website. Warner Bros. blamed heavy traffic for the problem.
Movies are all about illusion, but creators of this tour are keen to stress its authenticity. The 150,000-square-foot (14,000-square-meter) site will include only authentic sets, props and costumes, on the original studio site 20 miles (30 kilometers) northwest of London.
For the movies' cast, who spent a decade working here — the younger ones growing up on set — it can still evoke powerful feelings of nostalgia.
"I get shudders down my spine every time I walk back in there," said Tom Felton, the 24-year-old actor who played Harry's Muggle-hating Hogwarts rival, Draco Malfoy. "Immediately, as soon as you go back it just fires up a decade's worth of memories.
"I remember the first time I went in there — it was on camera. (Director) Chris Columbus specifically didn't want us to see it before filming, because we were only 11-year-old kids. So, our reaction when we walked in there was pretty much genuine."
The vast Great Hall, where hundreds of Hogwarts pupils dined, celebrated, and were divided into houses by the mysterious Sorting Hat, will be the centerpiece of the tour, but there will be plenty more to delight Potter fans.
Re-erected sets will include the cupboard under the stairs where Harry was forced to sleep by his miserly relatives, the Dursleys; the imposing Ministry of Magic; headmaster Albus Dumbledore's book-lined office; and Hogwarts' classrooms, common room and a dormitory,
The tour is spread across two soundstages — stages J and K, a pleasing but accidental tribute to Harry's creator, J.K. Rowling. The existing stages here at Leavesden Studios are A through I.
As well as the sets, visitors will learn how the series' magical creatures were created in the studios' workshops, and see some of the 200 shipping containers full of props that producers have kept from the films.
The eight Potter films made here between 2000 and 2010 were a mini-industry in themselves, employing both the cream of Britain's acting talent and hundreds of craftspeople and technicians. Part of the tour's aim is to show off the behind-the-scenes skill that went into creating the spectacle.
The level of detail is impressive. Dumbledore's bookshelves are lined with individually titled books. His desk drawer opens to reveal quill-written letters and parchments that no moviegoer would ever have seen. The Weasley family kitchen will include a self-washing frying pan, enchanted knitting needles and other ingenious supernatural gadgets.
"The attention to detail and the care and the thought is breathtaking, and still is to us, even after eight films," said actor Mark Williams who played Arthur Weasley, father of Harry's best friend Ron. "You'd go on set and go, 'Bloody hell, it works!'
"I think people will be amazed about what was created as a physical prop rather than fixed later in the computer," added Warwick Davis, who played Hogwarts charms master Prof. Filius Flitwick and the goblin Griphook.
"Certainly for me, the filming experience on these was quite different to the work I'd done on 'Star Wars,' in the sense that stuff was here and real," said Davis, who appeared in both "Return of the Jedi" and "The Phantom Menace."
"George Lucas would've built the first six feet of wall and left the rest to the computer."
Filming on the final Potter movie, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," finished last year, and it was released in July, to a global wave of emotion from fans. The studio tour is a way to keep the Harry Potter machine running — but to be a success, it must avoid feeling like a cynical cash-in.
"I hope people will come on the sets and feel the warmth on the sets, and the experiences that have been here," said Bonnie Wright, who played Ginny Weasley in the films. "They're really lived in, all the sets. They don't feel just like a studio, they do feel like a world."
It will also be a working movie studio. The facility — for years a ramshackle collection of aging buildings and temporary structures on the site of a former aircraft factory — is being turned into Warner Bros' British base. The company says it will be the biggest studio complex in Europe when it opens next year.
Many people feared the end of the Potter series would bring job losses in Britain's movie industry, but Warner Bros.' investment — which will make it the only U.S. studio with a permanent base in Britain — should bring a big boost.
"It's lovely to see the redevelopment," Davis said. "I just wish they'd done it before we filmed them. We spent years here in the damp and cold, and now I see these beautiful studios, with roofs."
Felton says he hopes to return one day to shoot a new film here.
"And if the work dries up," he said, "we can always come back and be tour guides."
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Online:
www.wbstudiotour.co.uk
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Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://twitter.com/JillLawless
LONDON (AP) — British banks on Monday gave up the fight against compensating customers who were missold payment protection insurance on mortgages and other loans, and now face a compensation bill estimated at 4.5 billion pounds ($7.4 billion).
The British Bankers' Association said it took the decision in the "interest of providing certainty" for bank customers.
"We continue to believe that there are matters of important principle which we will be taking forward in other ways with the authorities," the association said, without specifying the issues.
The Financial Services Authority has estimated that banks will pay a total of 4.5 billion pounds to settle claims
Natalie Ceeney, who heads the Financial Ombudsman Service, said the agency had been received up to 5,000 complaints each week from consumers since October.
"We will be working with the banks, over the coming weeks, to ensure that consumers' complaints are dealt with fairly and promptly," Ceeney said.
Lloyds Banking Group last week was the first to break ranks, taking a 3.2 billion-pound provision for repayments to customers. Barclays announced Monday that it had also decided against joining an appeal, and was making a provision of 1 billion pounds for compensation.
The Financial Services Authority has told banks that customers must be told if the insurance is optional, and they must be advised of their right to cancel. The agency also said the seller must be sure that the customer is eligible to claim under the policy, since some exclude nonresidents, the self-employed or people with certain health problems.
The banks had argued that the FSA's standard should not be applied retrospectively.
Ann Pibal
MAX PROTETCH
The paintings in this exhibition, Ann Pibal's second at the gallery, feature narrow rivulets of color zipping across and around monochrome backgrounds. They make clear that masking tape, with its chastening, restrictive qualities, is as important to the artist's practice as are acrylicladen brushes. Look intently, and these taped-off lines perform various feats of optical magic. They carve space out of the featureless expanse on which they rest, interact playfully with the colors they abut, and, when Pibal has painted the edges of the thin aluminum panels on which she works, appear from certain angles three-dimensional, as if the painting were a skyscraper with setbacks. While not conventionally expressive, Pibal's paintings are nonetheless full of incident.
TRPHY, 2008, a work comprising six separate panels, was hung in Max Protetch's project space. The paintings are diminutive and share a strange palette: buttery yellow, salmon, light blue, and greenishbrown lines on nearly black backgrounds. No two paintings feature the same composition, nor are any exactly the same size, though Pibal is clearly exploring the possibilities inherent within constraints: The width of the colored bands is constant, they travel only vertically or horizontally, and they never cross one another. Some lines reach the edges of the panel or wrap around it; others float, unattached, in the dark field. To one side of each narrow band trails a halo of black that differs subtly from the background and gives the colored lines the impression of motion. (I imagine the whole series as a time-lapse view of neon tubes flashing on a cinema marquee.) This sense of flux is a suitable metaphor for the artist's process. Despite her reliance on tape, which might preclude spontaneity, Pibal's working method is a search for rough visual harmonies and effects, not seamless perfection: Elements that appear symmetrical, such as the vertical lines in one constituent painting, TRPHY #3, are in fact just slightly off-kilter. This is the work of a confident painter building on historical precedent (Mondrian to Newman, Stella to Noland) and engaging with a new generation of talented abstractionists such as Tomma Abts, Kate Shepherd, and Dan Walsh. Like Abts in particular, Pibal focuses attention on the act of seeing itself.
These six paintings benefit from compression, both of the compositions onto small panels and of the panels themselves into a small room. A much larger, similar work - also titled TRPHY, 2008 - hung alone on another wall. One is better able to see, at the larger size, the intricate tracery of brushwork bounded by Pibal's taped edges, yet the sense of movement and of contingency is lost in the shift of scale. A small nearby nook contained, one to a wall, three paintings from 2010, roughly the same size as the ones in the front room. As with any abstract work, there is the possibility that a composition will resolve into a representational image that a viewer cannot dismiss, and XCRS appeared to me as the iconic DK logo of the Dead Kennedys, reimagined by a hip Scandinavian graphic designer. I could not engage the painting on its own terms. In SPTR and MNGO, the image plane itself seemingly hiccups or stutters, allowing for what appears to be the doubling of certain forms on the left and right sides of the composition. But, again, look closely. In these and the best of Pibal's works, she addresses the ever-shifting, two-way relationship between the eyes and the mind.
- Brian Sholis
I-64 at Hurricane to close for work
Interstate 64 will be shut down at the Hurricane exit tonight ascrews place structural steel for a new overpass.
From 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., all traffic will be routed off and thenimmediately back onto the interstate via the exit and entrance rampsat the existing overpass.
On Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the westbound lanes ofthe highway will be closed during the same period, with trafficsimilarly rerouted. On Thursday night and Friday morning, theeastbound lanes will be closed.
The state Division of Highways said the project and detours couldbe postponed by inclement weather conditions.
Group to demand
'gray machine' ban
The West Virginia chapter of Concerned Women for America planneda news conference today at the state Capitol, where Delegate LisaSmith, R-Putnam, would sign the group's "pledge no" card calling fora ban on video poker machines, also known as gray machines, in areasaccessible to children.
Concerned Women is calling on all legislators and Gov. CecilUnderwood to sign the pledge. The group is seeking legislation thatwould impose the ban and subject violators to fines, imprisonmentand the loss of their business licenses.
The group's director in West Virginia, Alice Click, contends thegambling industry has been trying to attract minors with graymachines that feature familiar cartoon themes.
Center opens
for new patients
A new Center for Alternative Medicine in Hurricane now isaccepting new patients.
Staff members include Dr. John MacCallum, formerly of Camcare'sCenter for Alternative Health, and Joan Carroll, a registered nurseand licensed massage therapist.
The new center provides complementary and alternative therapiesfor chronic medical conditions such as high blood pressure,cardiovascular disease, stomach and bowel disorders, arthritis,cancer, allergies, menopause and other medical conditions.
MacCallum, a psychiatrist, also offers outpatient psychiatricservices.
For more information, call 757-3368.
In South Charleston, Dr. Jonathan Murphy and Maggie McKivergin, aregistered nurse and holistic practitioner, direct Camcare's Centerfor Alternative Health, located at Riverwalk. It can be reached bycalling 744-1318.
Program offers
dental, optical care
West Virginians in search of work will soon be able to smileduring their job interviews.
The state Department of Health and Human Resources is working tostart a federally funded program for adult dental and optical care.
Before, only children were offered free dental care. Adults wereusually restricted to having bad teeth pulled.
The $8 million dental program has a lifetime limit of $1,800.There's a $300 annual benefit for eye care.
COMPILED FROM
STAFF, WIRE REPORTS
The $8 million program is called a pre-employment servicesproject. It is being paid for through the Temporary Assistance forNeedy Families Program and is available through the Bureau forChildren and Families.
The program's goal is to get people off welfare and into the workforce.
The Bureau of Employment Programs said it has so far collectednearly $11 million using the amnesty program. The 339 companiesaccused of defaulting owe a total $7.2 million, including premiums,interest and penalties, state officials say.
Under previous guidelines, defaulting employers were charged 18percent interest and a 10 percent penalty for late filing over threeyears.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has decided to break off the safeguard investigation on towel imports. The growth rates of towel imports were 6.3% in 2001, 4.7% in 2002 and 8.0% in 2003. Growth for last one year stood at 6.6%. Meanwhile, the rates of imports from China fluctuated at 6.3% in 2001, 4.7% in 2002 and 8.0% in 2003. There was no significant change for the last six months.
It only takes a few good weeks to change fortunes on the U.S. PGA Tour. Davis Love III knows about swift turnarounds.
Despite earning over $35 million in 23 years on the tour, he was on the cusp of having to use a one-time exemption from the career money list just to keep his card. Three weeks later, he won the final tour event of the season and became a lifetime member with his 20th victory.
"It's nice to be 180 or 170 on the money list, and all of a sudden you've got a lifetime exemption," the 44-year-old Love said at the winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship. "That was pretty good."
In the last two months he's realized how good.
First came the phone calls to congratulate him. Then the tour sent him a scrapbook of messages from fans who had posted their congratulations on the Web site.
"It's that thick," Love said, holding his fingers 2 inches (5 centimeters) apart. "And it's not one per page _ it's two or three. It's incredible how many people acknowledge 20 wins. And that's not counting my Web site or my office. It's pretty amazing. I was just working hard to try to get another win, try to get in the Masters, not have to do 36-hole qualifying for the other majors.
"It was in the back of my mind, but not the front."
Lifetime membership requires 20 victories and 15 years on the U.S. PGA Tour, and it's an elite group, particularly in an era when the tour is attracting the best players from all corners of the globe. Among players under age 50, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson are the only other players with such status (Tiger Woods still has to put in two more years).
It also changes how Love is perceived, for he has been discussed as an underachiever with so much talent. The measure will be how many votes he collects on the tour ballot for the World Golf Hall of Fame. Those 20 wins include a major and two victories in The Players Championship.
"I didn't start off my career working toward 20 wins or the Hall of Fame," Love said. "I just wanted to see how good I can get and try to win a lot."
He still has much to prove, and his goals are large and small.
The first step is to qualify for the Accenture Match Play Championship, held in the last week in February for the top 64 in the world ranking. Love is at No. 77. Of greater importance is getting into the Masters, which will require either a U.S. PGA Tour victory or getting into the top 50 at the end of March.
Love hasn't played in the Presidents Cup since 2005, and his good friend Fred Couples is the U.S. captain this year. And he would like to get back to the U.S. Tour Championship, an event he played for 12 years in a row until he failed to qualify for the last two years.
Just his luck, his annual trip to Atlanta for the event ended about the time the tour started handing out $35 million in FedEx Cup bonus money.
"Been kind of boring watching other guys play for it," he said.
Love was on the tour policy board when it adopted the concept of a FedEx Cup and four playoff events at the end of the year. Part of that process was sorting through various models to determine which points list would create the most excitement. Each model showed how players would fare based on tournament results from the previous years.
"They ran these models, and I was always in the model. 'Here is what happened if you had a year like '06 or '05.' And I was always doing really good," Love said.
But he failed to reach the third round (BMW Championship) in the inaugural FedEx Cup season of 2007, then stepped in a hole playing a casual round of golf and shredded ligaments in his left ankle. Trying to strengthen his ankle much of last year, he didn't even qualify for the first round last year.
"I want to get in on that," he said.
Love at least is starting on solid footing. The ankle is strong, the Kapalua soil is beneath his feet. He has a lifetime exemption on the tour, but he wants to be as motivated as he was when he first joined it as a 22-year-old who could hit it a mile.
The executive editor of the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson has been elected president of the Associated Press Managing Editors, the organization of newspaper editors served by The Associated Press.
Bobbie Jo Buel replaces David Ledford, executive editor of The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware, and will serve a one-year term.
As president, Buel will supervise meetings of the association and the APME board, which consults with the AP on its news coverage and services to newspaper members. The AP has a separate board that directs the cooperative.
"We have to be the ones that stand up in the face of these hard economic times and keep reminding our publishers and our owners about the importance of the core journalism, and that's what sells the product," Buel said.
Buel said that it's important for the association's editors to continue to fight for the core things journalists stand for: access to public records, first amendment issues, and enterprise and investigative reporting.
Also Thursday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel won the APME's second Innovator of the Year Award for launching an investigative reporting team that won a Pulitzer Prize for local reporting.
Other finalists included the Las Vegas Sun for Web site innovations and Florida Today of Melbourne, Florida, for its so-called "mission control" approach to print and online coordination.
At the conference which ended Thursday, APME members voted to reduce its board from 24 directors to 20 by 2011. The reduction will bring the association's board closer to those of other journalism organizations, Buel said.
Other APME officers elected include: Otis Sanford, editor of opinion and editorials of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tennessee, to vice president; Hollis Towns, executive editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, to secretary; and Joseph Garcia, viewpoints and aztalk editor of The Arizona Republic in Phoenix, to chairman of the Journalism Today committees.
Founded in 1846, the AP is the world's oldest and largest newsgathering association, a source of news, photos, graphics, audio and video for thousands of daily newspaper, radio, television and online customers around the world. It is owned by its 1,500 U.S. daily newspaper members, which elect the board of directors.
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On the Net:
Associated Press Managing Editors: http://www.apme.com
