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Community resolutions

New Years resolutions are usually private, personal commitments. They usually concern the development of an individual's good qualities. But there is every reason to extend the concept to accepting responsibility for the improvement of one's community.

The tranquility of Boston's black community has been shattered of late by a spate of murders. Not everyone has the courage and disposition to interfere in situations which might spawn violence. Nonetheless, everyone has the capacity to contribute to a climate …

Serena Williams, Safina into Australian final

Serena Williams earned a shot at her 10th Grand Slam title and Dinara Safina moved one win away from her first with semifinal victories at the Australian Open.

Williams, who won the Australian title in 2003, 2005 and 2007, played her best match of the tournament in a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Olympic champion Elena Dementieva on Thursday.

"I haven't moved like that for a while, so I was a little shocked," said Williams, still leaving room for improvement. "A perfect match for me? Oh, no, no, no. But it was definitely better."

She'll get her chance to extend the alternate-year sequence of titles when she meets third-seeded Safina, …

Publicity `stunt' man gets 8 years for thefts

Publicity-seeker Todd Baldwin, 25, who falsely posed as aresearcher for the Guinness Book of World Records, has been sentencedto eight years in prison for armed robbery and residential burglary.

Baldwin, of Des Plaines, who also falsely posed as a multipleGuinness record holder, pleaded guilty before Circuit Judge RichardA. Salzman in Des Plaines to three residential burglaries and anarmed robbery.

Baldwin, who became known as a headline-grabber in 1985 and1986, duped at least one Chicago TV station with his story aboutworking for Guinness.

He also once told disc jockeys Steve Dahl and Garry Meier - onthe air - that he was Chicago Sun-Times reporter Ray …

Fed Cup: Belgium 4, United States 0

ANTWERP, Belgium (AP) — Results Sunday at the Fed Cup World Group match between Belgium and the United States on an indoor hard court at Sports Palace in Antwerp:

…

Belgium 4, United States 0

Zambia calls for urgent regional summit on Zimbabwe crisis

A Zambian Cabinet minister says his country has called an emergency summit of southern African leaders to discuss the crisis in neighboring Zimbabwe.

Information Minister Mike Mulongoti said Wednesday that the gathering will be held Saturday. State radio is reporting that President Levy …

No Rays of sunshine after Tampa Bay rout

The last time Mark Buehrle faced the Tampa Bay Rays, he pitched his name into history.

That's usually what a perfect game does.

On Wednesday night, he was history after 4� innings after allowing six runs and nine hits in a 12-0 laugher at the hands of the Rays.

What that means for the Sox (5-10) is the good feelings they were carrying out of John Danks' gem at U.S. Cellular Field on Tuesday night didn't last very long. They dropped to six games behind the first-place Minnesota Twins just 15 games into the season.

Manager Ozzie Guillen gathered the troops afterward for a word about trying to turn the season around before the hole gets too deep.

''I …

Una tarde con Perón

�Fue Per�n un estadista dem�crata o un gobernante totalitario? �Fue un liberador de la Argentina o un destructor de sus formas pol�ticas y econ�micas? �Defendi� los derechos humanos o los conculc�? �Llev� a su pa�s a la prosperidad o a la ruina?

La historia ha dado desde hace tiempo respuesta a estas interrogaciones. Per�n cay� con la repulsa de todo el pueblo argentino, como caen siempre los dictadores aunque no todos sean malos como personas. Su "justicialismo" era un mito totalitario m�s que empobreci� a la Argentina sin democratizarla, sin darle libertad ni justicia social.

Una vez enterado, enterado por la prensa espa�ola que est�bamos en Madrid nos invit� a conversar …

Mora wins WBC super welterweight title

Sergio Mora is The Contender no more.

Mora won the WBC super welterweight title Saturday night, outpointing Vernon Forrest at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Mora received winning scores of 115-113 and 116-112 from two of the judges and the third judge had it 114-114.

Mora, from Los Angeles, outworked Forrest in the second half of the fight, using short punches inside and superior movement. Mora, the winner on the inaugural season of "The Contender" boxing show, is the first world champion to have appeared on the show.

"Thank God! This is dream of mine and I worked very hard and I deserve this," Mora said. "You can't prepare for …

On the pulse

Asked how best to improve K-12 education in the United States, …

Moving

Constant is the graveyard slating up behind the house in a wash of sunlight or in winds that lash this coast where spruce bend, lose branches, remain. Father had no words at the airport but when we moved to the brim of this country I saw his tears in sea water splaying down the crevices of cliffs. From Greenland icebergs …

Elon defeats The Citadel 27-23

Scott Riddle threw two touchdown passes, including the game-winner in the third quarter, to help lead Elon to a 27-23 victory against The Citadel on Saturday.

Riddle completed 18 of 32 passes for 237 yards with two touchdowns and an interception for the Phoenix (6-1, 4-0 Southern Conference). Brandon Newsome added 134 yards on 14 carries.

Bart Blanchard completed 21 of 35 passes for 239 yards and three touchdowns for the Bulldogs (3-3, 1-2).

After Sam Keeler's 29-yard field goal opened the scoring for the Bulldogs in the first, Riddle hit Terrell Hudgins on a 70-yard touchdown pass to give the …

270 laid off in first phase of 600 city worker firings

Layoff notices went out Thursday to 270 employees in the citydepartments of Transportation and Water Management in the first waveof 600 firings tied to the Legislature's defeat of an earlyretirement program pivotal to Mayor Daley's 2004 budget.

Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon pleaded withDaley once again to "show some compassion" and wait until theIllinois General Assembly reconvenes in mid-January, when only asimple majority vote would be needed for passage.

Nearly all of the 270 union members who received 21-day noticesThursday are permanent transportation employees whose jobs are beingconverted to seasonal work, even as City Hall continues to …

$3,600 found on highway returned to Pa. newlyweds

A Pennsylvania man found an envelope stuffed with $3,600 and returned it to the newlyweds who lost it after their wedding reception.

David and Ashley Marasco, of Bridgeville, had mistakenly driven off with their wedding album on top of the trunk of their car Sunday. The money had been tucked inside.

Another motorist pointed out the album on the trunk, but the envelope had already fallen out.

Brennan Breene, also of Bridgeville, says he saw the envelope with cash sticking out Sunday in the middle of Washington Pike, a busy highway southwest of Pittsburgh. So, he stopped to pick it up.

He says he learned about the Maraco's misfortune Monday from local news websites, so he gave the cash to police to be returned.

Breene says he knew the money wasn't his.

___

Information from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, http://www.post-gazette.com

Daley unveils $343 mil affordable housing plan

Daley unveils $343 mil affordable housing plan

Mayor Daley, CHA CEO Terry Peterson and other city officials Tuesday announced a $343 million affordable housing investments program targeted for families and the elderly.

During a press conference held at the Archer Courts Apartments, 2242 S. Princeton Ave., Daley, who was joined by a number of aldermen including Alds. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), Arenda Troutman (20th), Walter Burnett (27th), Ray Suarez (31st), Billy Ocasio (26th), Ike Carothers (29th), Emma Mitts (37th), Madeline Haithcock (2nd), Carrie Austin (34th), and others, said the $343 million in affordable housing investments will be in neighborhoods citywide.

The funds are a combination of tax credits, city money, bond financing and developer equity. The mayor said these funds will pay for 26 multi-family developments needed to create a total of 2,385 units for low-income families, seniors, people with special needs and CHA residents

"These developments will go a long way toward making many Chicago neighborhoods affordable for thousands of families and individuals with limited incomes who struggle each day to make ends meet," Daley said.

He and Housing Comm. John Markowski said the projects were selected from among 43 proposals through a competitive selection process and that the winners will receive a portion of the city's 2001 tax credit allocation.

"Choosing was difficult," Markowski admitted, "because all the proposals were very good. The quality of these proposals shows that the development community is strongly committed to helping the city achieve its affordable housing goals."

According to Markowski, of the 2,385 units, 1,250 will house families including 287 earmarked for CHA families, 916 units will house seniors, and 219 units will serve people with special needs.

Those families earning 60 percent or less of area median are qualified to live in these units, he said. Currently, a family of four earning less than $42,300 would quality.

Peterson praised Daley and his Department heads for making "good on their commitments to improve the quality of life for public housing residents. This is just one more example and we are eager to put this money to work for the people in public housing."

Article Copyright Sengstacke Enterprises, Inc.

Photo (Mayor Daley, Terry Peterson and other city officials)

Diamondbacks end Padres' 10-game winning streak

Max Scherzer struck out 10 and drove in two runs, Chris Young made a leaping catch at the fence for the final out and the Arizona Diamondbacks held off San Diego 6-5 on Tuesday night to snap the Padres' 10-game winning streak.

The Diamondbacks nearly blew a six-run lead for the second straight day. On Monday, they let the Padres rally from a 7-1 deficit in the eighth for a 9-7 victory in 10 innings.

On Tuesday night, the Padres scored four in the eighth to pull to 6-4.

San Diego loaded the bases against Juan Gutierrez with no outs in the ninth. Scott Hairston grounded into a 5-4-3 double play, cutting Arizona's lead to 6-5, and then Young ended the game with a terrific grab on a drive to center by Kevin Kouzmanoff.

Gutierrez got five outs for his first career save.

It took Scherzer 14 starts to earn his first victory. Now he has two in a span of three starts.

Scherzer (2-3) dominated the Padres, who entered with a major league-worst .234 team batting average. He gave up two runs and six hits in seven innings, walking none.

Scherzer also helped himself with the bat, doubling home the game's first run in the fifth inning off Kevin Correia (1-3). Scherzer added an RBI single in the sixth.

Reserve infielder Ryan Roberts had three hits and a stolen base for the Diamondbacks.

Roberts got the Diamondbacks started with a two-out single in the fifth. He scored on a double to right-center by Scherzer, who came around on a double by Gerardo Parra to give Arizona a 2-0 lead.

Arizona made it 6-0 with four runs in the sixth. Mark Reynolds hit his team-leading 13th homer into the right-field seats, a two-run shot.

Correia went 5 2-3 innings, allowing six runs and nine hits. He walked one and struck out five.

Former Diamondback Chris Burke homered leading off the eighth to cut Arizona's lead to 6-1. A pinch-hit single by Tony Gwynn Jr. chased Scherzer, and San Diego made it 6-2 when Esmerling Vasquez hit Kouzmanoff with a pitch with the bases loaded.

Gutierrez gave up an RBI single to Chase Headley, then allowed a run to score on a wild pitch. Adrian Gonzalez, scratched from the starting lineup with flu symptoms, came on as a pinch hitter with the bases loaded and flied out to end the rally.

Notes:@ Arizona RHP Brandon Webb, who has missed seven weeks with a strained right shoulder, will begin a throwing regimen this week but could still be two or three weeks from returning. ... Arizona 2B Felipe Lopez missed his third straight game with a hamstring injury. He's expected back in the lineup Wednesday night. ... San Diego OF Cliff Floyd, out with a knee injury, could return when the Padres open a three-game series at Colorado on Friday. Floyd has yet to play for the Padres since signing with them in February.

Agency: Terror threat against Denmark considerable

Denmark's intelligence service said Thursday there is still a considerable threat from Islamic extremists against Danes and Danish interests abroad.

The Danish Security and Intelligence Service said it has seen signs of threats from militants, especially in North Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Feb. 13 reprinting of a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad has lead to "a sharpened focus" on Denmark, the agency said. The original publication triggered violent protests in Muslim countries in 2006.

In Thursday's statement, the service said al-Qaida was using the reprint for propaganda.

"Statements from leading al-Qaida members underline al-Qaida's strategic focus on Denmark and contributes to maintaining militant extremists' focus on Denmark and Danish interests," the agency's center for terror analysis said in a public assessment.

In an audio recording posted on a militant Web site on March 19, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden warned of a "severe" reaction against Europe over the republishing of the cartoon.

In June, a car bomb killed six people outside the Danish Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. Two months earlier the security service had warned of a terror threat there. A statement attributed to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attack.

Danish and international security experts have previously said the Scandinavian country could become a terror target because of the prophet drawings and its military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Denmark withdrew its troops from Iraq last year, but has more than 600 troops participating in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.

Since 2005, police have foiled four alleged terror plots in Denmark, most of them involving homegrown extremists accused of preparing terror acts in Denmark or other countries.

The last terror attack in Denmark occurred in 1985 when a bomb exploded outside the offices of North West Orient airlines in Copenhagen, killing one person and wounding 16.

Eaks Takes Lead at Champions Tour Event

ENDICOTT, N.Y. - R.W. Eaks isn't bothered by the sound of his ball striking wood off the tee - even though he uses a metal driver. With his drives ricocheting harmlessly off tree after tree, Eaks had an eagle, a hole-in-one and birdied five of his final 10 holes Saturday, smiling all the way en route to a career-low 62 to surge into the second-round lead at the inaugural Dick's Sporting Goods Open.

"I just go ahead and hit it, and if it hits the trees, hopefully it'll bounce back in the fairway," said Eaks, who never finished higher than seventh in a PGA Tour event in 77 tries over a 12-year span and is winless in six seasons on the Champions Tour. "That's how I play."

Eaks finished one shot off the En-Joie Golf Club course record held by Fred Funk, Hal Sutton and Robert Gamez, and was at 11-under 133. That was one shot ahead of Monday qualifier and Champions Tour rookie Bruce Vaughan (64) and two shots ahead of Scott Hoch (66).

Craig Stadler (67), who shared the first-round lead with Hoch and Monday qualifier Rod Spittle (72), was alone in fourth, three shots off the lead.

The 55-year-old Eaks, a self-taught golfer, hit at least five trees and still made all 18 greens in regulation, a nice rebound for a guy who finished last week's U.S. Senior Open at 18 over after a closing 84.

A day after the leaders broke par by only three strokes over the narrow course, which still is recovering from a devastating flood a year ago, Eaks took advantage of excellent scoring conditions helped by a thunderstorm that drenched the course right after first-round play ended Friday.

Eaks began play just two shots off the lead, and after narrowly missing birdie tries on his first two holes quickly challenged for the top spot. He chipped in from 45 feet for eagle at the par-5 third hole and hit 5-iron 193 yards off the seventh tee that hit the green and made a beeline for the cup.

"That was one of the best shots I've ever hit," said Eaks, who has finished second three times this year. "It just rolled like a putt right in the hole."

Eaks finished with three straight birdies, including a 20-foot putt that broke twice at No. 17, to remain ahead.

Vaughan, who tied for 16th at last week's U.S. Senior Open and has earned over $130,000 in six events, had three birdies on the front nine and five on the back side, nearly holing a pitching wedge at 18 for a share of the lead.

"Guys were going low. I was playing pretty good and I wasn't gaining any ground," said Vaughan, who like Eaks did not make a bogey. "I had to just keep making birdies."

Hoch played the front nine at only 1 under before making five birdies on his final seven holes.

"Early on, I didn't make anything," Hoch said. "It did help at the end to give myself a chance tomorrow. But it's got to be for 18 holes."

Stadler birdied No. 3 to go to 4 under and briefly took sole possession of the lead with an eagle at the par-5 fifth hole. Stadler drove the middle of the fairway and hit his second shot over the five bunkers that guard the front of the green to within 8 feet of the pin and moments later calmly drained the putt.

He followed that with another birdie at the par-5 eighth, blasting out of a greenside bunker to within 7 feet of the cup and nearly made another birdie on the next hole. But for the second straight day, his putt stopped at the lip of the cup and stayed out, and he parred the final nine holes.

Because scattered thunderstorms were predicted until early evening on Sunday, tournament officials opted to begin the final round off both the first and 10th tees. Although Hoch liked his chances, he said he wasn't surprised at the players above him on the leaderboard.

"None of this is unexpected the way they've been playing," Hoch said. "It's not as if they're a shot in the dark. They've both been playing really well this year."

Divots:@ It's just the second time in his Champions Tour career that Eaks has led going into the final round. He led Bob Gilder by one stroke after 36 holes at the 2005 SAS Championship before closing with a 77 and finishing in a tie for 10th. ... Vaughan is bidding to become the first open qualifier to win a tournament since Pete Oakley won the 2004 Senior British Open. A total of 10 players have open qualified and won a Champions Tour event. ... Heading into Sunday, two other open qualifiers are in the top 10. Steve Thomas and Boonchu Ruangkit are tied for fifth, six shots behind Eaks.

Japan stocks jump on recovery hopes

Japanese stocks jumped Monday, buoyed by hopes for a global economic recovery and gains in exporters on the back of a softening yen.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock surged 342.85 points, or 3.4 percent, to 10,581.05 after losing more than 1 percent Friday. The broader Topix index gained 2.4 percent to 970.27.

"Investors are upbeat as they see the global economy has emerged from the worst period, and is steadily recovering," said Masatoshi Sato, senior market analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. Ltd.

Sato said investors turned optimistic following a better-than-expected rise in U.S. home sales for July, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments Friday that the world's largest-economy is on the verge of recovery.

The National Association of Realtors said Friday U.S. sales of existing homes rose 7.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.24 million in July, from a pace of 4.89 million in June.

It was the fourth-straight monthly increase and the strongest month since August 2007. Sales had been expected to rise to an annual pace of 5 million, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

"While the surge in July home sales was mainly due to a tax credit program, the figure was nonetheless clear evidence that the U.S. economy is heading toward a recovery," said Sato.

The analyst said the market also got a boost from a weakening yen, which helps exporters as it boosts the value of their repatriated profits.

He said some investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of Japan's general elections on Aug. 30. Newspaper polls have forecast the country's biggest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, is set to win more than 300 seats in the 480-seat powerful lower house of parliament.

It would mean an end to the rule of Prime Minister Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan for more than half a century.

Among blue chips, Toyota rose 2.3 percent to 4,070 yen. Honda Motor Co. gained 3.2 percent to 3,050 yen.

Sony was up 3.1 percent at 2,520 yen. Panasonic Corp. increased 2.4 percent to 1,489 yen.

In currencies, the dollar was trading at 94.76 yen in Tokyo late Monday up from 94.38 yen in New York late Friday. The euro stood at $1.4323 from $1.4341.

Afghanistan conference agrees on exit timetable

World leaders meeting in London on Thursday agreed on a timetable for the handover of security duties in Afghan provinces starting in late 2010 or early 2011.

In their final communique, the leaders also pledged funds for a plan aimed at persuading Taliban fighters to renounce violence _ but offered no specific figures.

The meeting backed Afghan President Hamid Karzai's plan to reintegrate Taliban willing to "cut ties with al-Qaida and other terrorist groups and pursue their political goals peacefully."

It said handover of security responsibilities to Afghan forces in the country's more peaceful provinces would begin "by late 2010/early 2011," with the Afghan National Army "conducting the majority of operations in the insecure areas of Afghanistan within three years."

The conference was called to help world powers chart a roadmap out of Afghanistan amid rising U.S. and NATO casualties and falling public support.

The 70 nations welcomed Karzai's promise to crack down on corruption and said a summit in Kabul later this year would offer specific plans to bolster his faltering government.

The text said discussions marked a "decisive step towards greater Afghan leadership to secure, stabilize and develop Afghanistan."

Karzai warned, however, he expected foreign troops to stay in Afghanistan for years to come.

"With regard to training and equipping the Afghan security forces, five to 10 years will be enough," Karzai told the BBC. "With regard to sustaining them until Afghanistan is financially able to provide for our forces, the time will be extended to 10 to 15 years."

International allies have said they will pledge at least $500 million for the reconciliation fund _ officially known as the Peace and Reintegration Trust Fund, and dubbed the "Taliban Trust Fund" by some.

Thursday's summit encouraged more contributions but gave no firm figure. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would back it if insurgents pledge to eschew violence, renounce ties to al-Qaida and embrace democracy after more than eight years of combat.

Clinton said the "U.S. military has been authorized to use substantial funds to support the effort."

Taliban fighters have been taking over wider swathes of the country and successfully attacked the center of Kabul, power base of the feeble central government led by Karzai. Al-Qaida leaders have regrouped near the Pakistan-Afghan border.

The United States and its NATO allies are sending 37,000 more troops in a bid to blunt the Taliban's military momentum, but President Barack Obama has said he plans to start withdrawing some U.S. troops by July 2011.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown opened the one-day talks at a grand Georgian town house in central London by saying they would endorse plans for Afghanistan to increase its military to 171,600 by October 2011, and boost police numbers to 134,000 by the same date.

"By the middle of next year, we have to turn the tide," Brown said.

In return for its support, the conference laid out a series of anti-corruption moves by Karzai, who is tainted by a fraud-marred election victory and a failure to expand his government's power much beyond the capital.

Measures include an independent office "to investigate and sanction corrupt officials," to be set up within a month.

Afghan and foreign experts will join an anti-corruption monitoring team that will make its first visit within three months.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the international community still backed Karzai _ but also wanted him to deliver on his promises.

"We have expectations for him," she told The Associated Press. "But we also have high hopes for him."

The Taliban have dismissed his reconciliation plan, saying in a statement posted to their Web site Wednesday that their fighters wouldn't be swayed by financial incentives.

Karzai said the plan needed particular support from Afghanistan's neighbors _ especially Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which worked together to facilitate the rise of the radical Islamic movement in the 1990s. They, along with the United Arab Emirates, were the only countries to recognize Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

"We hope that his majesty (Saudi) King Adbullah will kindly take a prominent role to guide and assist the peace process," Karzai said.

The Afghan chief said he would convene a peace jirga _ or conference _ to discuss the proposals and would reach out to low-level Taliban and "our disenchanted brothers who are not part of al-Qaida or other terrorist networks."

____

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Raphael G. Satter in London, Heidi Vogt in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and John Heilprin, in New York, contributed to his report.

Report: UK finance watchdog to investigate banks

Britain's financial watchdog is planning to investigate the conduct of banking bosses in the run-up to last year's bailouts which saw billions of pounds (dollars) of taxpayer money put up to save the country's ailing finance sector, a newspaper said Sunday.

The Sunday Telegraph said the Financial Services Authority was drafting audit firms to help them look at what happened at institutions such as the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and HBOS Group PLC before they ran into trouble. The paper said the FSA would look at the conduct of bank directors, investigate how the banks evaluated risk, and see whether enough information was made available to banks' boards and investors. The paper cited unidentified sources within the accounting industry.

The FSA declined to comment on the report.

The British government stepped in to shore up its shaky banking system with a 37 billion pound rescue package in October. Even before then, HBOS had to be taken over by rival Lloyds TSB to keep it from collapsing.

But the massive cash infusion was not enough, and in January the government had to step in with another multibillion pound bailout which has seen vast swaths of Britain's once-proud banking sector become property of the U.K. taxpayer.

DESDE NUEVA YORK "En Sol Mayor": "Sueno de Amor" Billy M. Ponce

DESDE NUEVA YORK "En Sol Mayor": "Sue�o de Amor" Billy M. Ponce

Los temas rom�nticos est� nuevamente en pleno auge y una de las voces que ha cultivado y visto crecer en su interpretaci�n el rom�ntico g�nero de Billy M. Ponce.

Este magn�fico cantor el cual posee una brillante voz, en el registro de tenor l�rico, naci� en la ciudad de Matanzas Cuba y a la temprana edad de ocho a�os comienza a dar sus primeros pasos como vocalista en el coro de la iglesia de su barriada, sus padres al ver el talento de su hijo lo matriculan en la escuela de m�sica y es su profesor el destacado maestro Mario de Gonzalo y obtiene en dicho planter el conocimiento de vocalizaci�n y solfeo. Pasado el tiempo a los 17 a�os ingresa como solista en la agrupaci�n musical de la escuela superior de Mantanzas.

En 1968 parte para Europa donde logra unos contratos para actuar en diferentes lugares de la regi�n, hasta que toma la desici�n de residir en Espa�a, donde se mantuvo muy activo con sus actuaciones de la Madre patria. En 1972 llega a los Estados de Am�rica y se entrega al coral musical de la iglesia Holy Rosarly en la ciudad de Port Chester en New York y despu�s logra un contrato para actuar en diferentes ciudades de la Uni�n Americana terminando su �ltima presentaci�n en el conocido cabaret Los Violines en la ciudad de Miami, Florida. A su regreso a la ciudad de New York toma la desici�n de alejarse por un tiempo de su carrera art�stica, para estar en el lazo de la uni�n familiar. Pero la sorpresa le toca a su puerta y logra su sue�o anhelado realizar su primera grabaci�n y nos brinda este C.D. unos temas rom�nticos de grandes autores: "Siboney", E. Lecuona, "Granada", Agust�n Lara, Alberto Dom�nguez, "Vereda Tropical" Gonzalo Curial, "Tu me acostumbraste", Portillo de la Luz, y otros.

Arreglos y direcci�n musical del maestro Manolo Albo, una producci�n de Manola Albo para el sello BMP Records.

Hasta la pr�xima, amigos de la buena m�sica.

A policy statement on their expectations for sound funding and liquidity risk management practices

A policy statement on their expectations for sound funding and liquidity risk agement practices has been issued by the federal banking agencies, in conjunction with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. This policy statement, adopted by each of the agencies, summarizes the principles of sound liquidity risk management issued previously and, when appropriate, supplements them with the "Principles for Sound Liquidity Risk Management and Supervision" issued in September 2008 by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

Given the recent market turmoil, the agencies said they are reiterating the importance of effective liquidity risk management for the safety and soundness of financial institutions. This policy statement emphasizes the importance of cash flow projections, diversified funding sources, stress testing, a cushion of liquid assets and a formal, well-developed contingency funding plan as primary tools for measuring and managing liquidity risk. The agencies said they expect each financial institution to manage funding and liquidity risk using processes and systems that are commensurate with the institution's complexity, risk profile and scope of operations.

Check pressure

Q. What's the right age to start monitoring your blood pressure? I'm a multi-tasking mom, 43, with one kid in college and a 3-year-old (second marriage!).

A. Has your 3-year-old's blood pressure been checked yet? How about your college kid's? If not, get it done. No, we YOU Docs haven't lost it. Neither of your kids is too young to have their blood pressure monitored, and you definitely aren't! If your BP isn't regularly checked, start now. You want it at 115/76, so you and your kids will have a lifetime together.

Hypertension is considered an adult problem, but it can happen at any age. The earlier you catch and treat it, the better. High blood pressure that starts in childhood and continues for years causes changes in blood vessel walls that can damage the kidneys, eyes and other organs, and lead to heart failure or stroke in adulthood.

An impressive new study just underlined this in neon pink. It followed 19,000 Harvard students for decades. Those who entered college with elevated blood pressure were much more likely to have fatal cardiovascular problems later in life — they had a 14 percent increased risk of death from coronary heart disease and an 8 percent higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. Imagine if that were your college kid.

What triggers high blood pressure in youngsters? The No. 1 cause is childhood obesity, but about 5 percent of kids have elevated blood pressure for no clear reason. Regardless, it needs to be spotted and controlled with diet, exercise and medication if needed, just the way it is in adults. Lowering blood pressure in little kids and young adults could have a huge pay-off later on: saving their life.

Q. I'm a 54-year-old guy in good shape (run 10Ks and lift weights). A while back, I read that men should eat lots of tomato sauce because cooked tomatoes are rich in lycopene, and lycopene fights prostate cancer. I remember thinking, "Great! More pasta!" But last week my running buddy said that's wrong. Who's right?

A. He's in front of you on this one. While lycopene is still believed to help fend off heart disease and some cancers, prostate cancer isn't one of them. What went wrong? Actually, nothing. Good science did its job, only this time with disappointing results.

While the initial lycopene research looked really promising, the vital follow-up studies on prostate cancer haven't panned out. At best, the results are mixed. Same goes for lycopene fighting prostate cancer if you already have it. The data just isn't there. Does that mean you should stop eating marinara sauce (over whole-wheat pasta, of course!)? Nope. It may be a combo of nutrients in cooked tomatoes, including lycopene, that's protective. But lycopene alone isn't a silver bullet.

Here's something else that may cut your risk of prostate cancer, especially the most lethal kind: coffee. Why isn't clear yet, but it's not caffeine, since both regular and decaf do the job.

King Features

Postseason NBA Schedule

All Times EDT

FIRST ROUND

(Best-of-7)

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Boston vs. Miami

Saturday, April 17

Boston 85, Miami 76

Tuesday, April 20

Boston 106, Miami 77

Friday, April 23

Boston 100, Miami 98

Sunday, April 25

Miami 101, Boston 92

Tuesday, April 27

Boston 96, Miami 86, Boston wins series 4-1

___

Cleveland vs. Chicago

Saturday, April 17

Cleveland 96, Chicago 83

Monday, April 19

Cleveland 112, Chicago 102

Thursday, April 22

Chicago 108, Cleveland 106

Sunday, April 25

Cleveland 121, Chicago 98

Tuesday, April 27

Cleveland 96, Chicago 94, Cleveland wins series 4-1

___

Atlanta vs. Milwaukee

Saturday, April 17

Atlanta 102, Milwaukee 92

Tuesday, April 20

Atlanta 96, Milwaukee 86

Saturday, April 24

Milwaukee 107, Atlanta 89

Monday, April 26

Milwaukee 111, Atlanta 104

Wednesday, April 28

Milwaukee 91, Atlanta 87

Friday, April 30

Atlanta 83, Milwaukee 69

Sunday, May 2

Atlanta 95, Milwaukee 74, Atlanta wins series 4-3

___

Orlando vs. Charlotte

Sunday, April 18

Orlando 98, Charlotte 89

Wednesday, April 21

Orlando 92, Charlotte 77

Saturday, April 24

Orlando 90, Charlotte 86

Monday, April 26

Orlando 99, Charlotte 90, Orlando wins series 4-0

___

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Dallas vs. San Antonio

Sunday, April 18

Dallas 100, San Antonio 94

Wednesday, April 21

San Antonio 102, Dallas 88

Friday, April 23

San Antonio 94, Dallas 90

Sunday, April 25

San Antonio 92, Dallas 89

Tuesday, April 27

Dallas 103, San Antonio 81

Thursday, April 29

San Antonio 97, Dallas 87, San Antonio wins series 4-2

___

Denver vs. Utah

Saturday, April 17

Denver 126, Utah 113

Monday, April 19

Utah 114, Denver 111

Friday, April 23

Utah 105, Denver 93

Sunday, April 25

Utah 117, Denver 106

Wednesday, April 28

Denver 116, Utah 102

Friday, April 30

Utah 112, Denver 104, Utah wins series 4-2

___

Phoenix vs. Portland

Sunday, April 18

Portland 105, Phoenix 100

Tuesday, April 20

Phoenix 119, Portland 90

Thursday, April 22

Phoenix 108, Portland 89

Saturday, April 24

Portland 96, Phoenix 87

Monday, April 26

Phoenix 107, Portland 88

Thursday, April 29

Phoenix 99, Portland 90, Phoenix wins series 4-2

___

L.A. Lakers vs. Oklahoma City

Sunday, April 18

L.A. Lakers 87, Oklahoma City 79

Tuesday, April 20

L.A. Lakers 95, Oklahoma City 92

Thursday, April 22

Oklahoma City 101, L.A. Lakers 96

Saturday, April 24

Oklahoma City 110, L.A. Lakers 89

Tuesday, April 27

L.A. Lakers 111, Oklahoma City 87

Friday, April 30

L.A. Lakers 95, Oklahoma City 94, L.A. Lakers wins series 4-2

___

CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

(Best-of-7)

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Orlando vs. Atlanta

Tuesday, May 4

Orlando 114, Atlanta 71

Thursday, May 6

Orlando 112, Atlanta 98

Saturday, May 8

Orlando 105, Atlanta 75

Monday, May 10

Orlando 98, Atlanta 84, Orlando wins conference semifinals 4-0

___

Cleveland vs. Boston

Saturday, May 1

Cleveland 101, Boston 93

Monday, May 3

Boston 104, Cleveland 86

Friday, May 7

Cleveland 124, Boston 95

Sunday, May 9

Boston 97, Cleveland 87

Tuesday, May 11

Boston 120, Cleveland 88

Thursday, May 13

Boston 94, Cleveland 85, Boston wins conference semifinals 4-2

___

WESTERN CONFERENCE

L.A. Lakers vs. Utah

Sunday, May 2

L.A. Lakers 104, Utah 99

Tuesday, May 4

L.A. Lakers 111, Utah 103

Saturday, May 8

L.A. Lakers 111, Utah 110

Monday, May 10

L.A. Lakers 111, Utah 96, L.A. Lakers wins conference semifinals 4-0

___

Phoenix vs. San Antonio

Monday, May 3

Phoenix 111, San Antonio 102

Wednesday, May 5

Phoenix 110, San Antonio 102

Friday, May 7

Phoenix 110, San Antonio 96

Sunday, May 9

Phoenix 107, San Antonio 101, Phoenix wins conference semifinals 4-0

___

CONFERENCE FINALS

(Best-of-7)

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Orlando vs. Boston

Sunday, May 16

Boston at Orlando, 3:30 p.m.

Tuesday, May 18

Boston at Orlando, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 22

Orlando at Boston, 8:30 p.m.

Monday, May 24

Orlando at Boston, 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday, May 26

Boston at Orlando, 8:30 p.m., if necessary

Friday, May 28

Orlando at Boston, 8:30 p.m., if necessary

Sunday, May 30

Boston at Orlando, 8:30 p.m., if necessary

___

WESTERN CONFERENCE

L.A. Lakers vs. Phoenix

Monday, May 17

Phoenix at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m.

Wednesday, May 19

Phoenix at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m.

Sunday, May 23

L.A. Lakers at Phoenix, 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday, May 25

L.A. Lakers at Phoenix, 9 p.m.

Thursday, May 27

Phoenix at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m., if necessary

Saturday, May 29

L.A. Lakers at Phoenix, 8:30 p.m., if necessary

Monday, May 31

Phoenix at L.A. Lakers, 9 p.m., if necessary

Congresswoman Dies After Cancer Fight

RICHMOND, Va. - Republican U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis, who represented southeastern Virginia for seven years, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. This year, she suffered a recurrence.

But her health took a turn for the worse during the past week and she died Saturday morning at her home in Gloucester after a two-year battle with the disease.

Davis, 57, became Virginia's first Republican woman elected to Congress in 2000, and she was a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee.

"Her determination to fight the disease is an inspiration to all of us," President Bush said in a statement.

"She was a fine example of a public servant who worked hard to cut government waste to ensure the people's money was used wisely," Bush said. "Her common-sense values will be missed on Capitol Hill."

Gov. Timothy Kaine, a Democrat, will schedule a special election, probably before the end of the year, to fill the remaining year of Davis' term, Kaine spokeswoman Delacey Skinner said.

Her first piece of legislation, passed by the House in 2001, increased the life insurance benefit paid to survivors of military members killed on duty.

Before Congress, Davis served four years in the Virginia House of Delegates.

A conservative who came from modest means, Davis was known for her unquenchable inquisitiveness and how quickly and deeply she learned about any legislative issue.

"I always admired Congresswoman Davis' strong convictions and the tenacity that she brought to bear in acting on them," said U.S. Sen. John W. Warner, a fellow Virginia Republican.

Davis called in August 2006 for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, defense secretary at the time, and expressed second thoughts about her support of the war in Iraq.

"All of the intelligence we were given says we should be over there," she told a military comptrollers organization at the time. "If I had known that the intelligence they gave us wasn't correct, I don't know how I would have voted."

She attended Hampton Roads Business College; she got her real estate license in 1984 and her real estate broker's license four years later. In 1990, she opened Jo Ann Davis Realty.

She underwent chemotherapy treatments and a mastectomy when her cancer was first diagnosed in 2005. When the cancer returned, she underwent chemotherapy again and often monitored hearings from home.

Survivors include her husband, Chuck, two sons and a granddaughter.

Officials: Several Shot at Fla. Wendy's

Officials say several people have been shot at Wendy's restaurant near West Palm Beach.

A Palm Beach County sheriff's spokesman says the gunman may have shot himself.

The gunfire broke out around lunchtime.

No other information was immediately available.

Swiss Indoors Results

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Results Wednesday from the Davidoff Swiss Indoors, a €1.755 million ($2.45 million) ATP event on indoor hard courts at St. Jakobshalle (seedings in parentheses):

Singles
First Round

Radek Stepanek, Czech Republic, def. Thiemo de Bakker, Netherlands, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

Jarkko Nieminen, Finland, def. Daniel Brands, Germany, 6-3, 6-2.

Andy Roddick (4), United States, def. Sam Querrey, United States, 7-5, 7-6 (6).

Paul-Henri Mathieu, France, def. Florian Mayer, Germany, 6-3, 6-3.

Singles
Second Round

Roger Federer (1), Switzerland, def. Janko Tipsarevic, Serbia, 6-3, 6-4.

Robin Haase, Netherlands, def. John Isner (8), United States, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5.

High court to Calif: Cut prison inmates by 33,000

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that California must drastically reduce its prison population to relieve severe overcrowding that has exposed inmates to increased violence, disease and death.

The decision, however, doesn't mean the prison gates will swing open in an uncontrolled release.

The high court's decision calls on the state to cut the population to no more than 110,000 inmates, meaning California will have to shed some 33,000 inmates to comply over the next two years. State officials can accomplish that by transferring inmates to local jails or releasing them.

The 5-4 ruling revealed a sharp divide on the court between Justices Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia.

Kennedy wrote for the majority and described dismal conditions where prisoners are denied minimal care and suicidal inmates are held in "telephone-booth sized cages without toilets."

"A prison that deprives prisoners of basic sustenance, including adequate medical care, is incompatible with the concept of human dignity and has no place in civilized society," Kennedy wrote, joined by the court's four Democrat-appointed justices.

Scalia read a blistering dissent from the bench in which he called the ruling "perhaps the most radical injunction issued by a court in our nation's history" and said it would require the release of a "staggering number" of convicted felons.

The ruling also raised concerns among California lawmakers and attorneys general from 18 states who argued that a decision ordering the reduction of California's inmate population infringes on states' rights and could leave their prisons open to similar lawsuits.

It's "a historic attack on the constitutional rights of states and the liberty of all Californians," said former state Sen. George Runner, who had intervened in the lawsuit on behalf of legislative Republicans. It will result in "flooding our neighborhoods with criminals."

California has already been preparing for the ruling, driven as much by persistent multibillion dollar budget deficits as by fears for the well-being of prison inmates and employees. The state has sent inmates to other states. It plans to transfer jurisdiction over others to counties, though the state doesn't have the money to do it.

"Our goal is to not release inmates at all," said Matthew Cate, the state corrections secretary. Shorter term inmates will leave prison before the Supreme Court's deadline expires, and newly sentenced lower-level offenders would go to local jails under the plan.

Concerns over prison crowding and security grew over the weekend with a pair of riots that injured inmates.

A fight by nearly 200 inmates in a San Quentin State Prison dining hall Sunday left four men with stab or slash wounds. On Friday, six inmates were sent to hospitals, two of them with serious injuries, after about 150 inmates rioted at California State Prison, Sacramento.

A special panel of three judges based in different parts of California decided in 2009 to order the prison population reduction. Monday's order puts them in charge of how the state complies. The 2009 ruling grew out of lawsuits alleging unconstitutionally poor care for mentally and physically ill inmates. One case dates back 20 years.

The growth in the prison population in the nation's most populous state can be attributed in part to years of get-tough sentencing laws, including a three-strikes law that sends repeat offenders to prison for life. As of May 11, there were roughly 143,000 inmates in a 33 adult prison-system designed to hold 80,000.

At the peak of overcrowding in 2006, nearly 20,000 inmates were living in makeshift housing in gymnasiums and other common areas, often sleeping in bunks stacked three high. Prison doctors conducted examinations in shower stalls or in makeshift offices without running water, often in full view of other inmates.

One of the federal judges involved in the lower court ruling once blamed the prison system's poor medical care for causing the death of about one inmate every week due to neglect or medical malpractice.

The same judge in 2006 seized control of the prison health care system, putting it under the management of a federal receiver. A second judge in the case has blamed crowding for contributing to poor care for mentally ill inmates, leading some to kill themselves.

At the time, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a public safety emergency because of the crowding. He then began shipping inmates to private prisons in Arizona, Mississippi and Oklahoma. More than 10,000 California inmates are now housed in private prisons out of state.

"They've made a lot of plans already," said Michael Bien, one of the attorneys who sought the ruling on behalf of mentally and physically ill inmates who suffered in severely crowded conditions. "We're sure it can be done safely and appropriately.

"What's more, it will save a lot of money," he said.

The ruling comes amid efforts in many states, accelerated by budget gaps, to send fewer people to prison in the first place. Proposals vary by state, but include ways to reduce sentences for lower-level offenders, direct some offenders to alternative sentencing programs and give judges more discretion in sentencing.

"There's a growing consensus that there are better ways to run criminal justice systems," said Michael Mushlin, an expert on prisoners' rights at Pace Law School in White Plains, N.Y.

In recent years, California legislators and Schwarzenegger tried to find ways to reduce prison time for those less likely to commit new crimes. Schwarzenegger signed legislation that increased early release credits and made it more difficult to send ex-convicts back to prison for parole violations. He signed another law that rewards county probation departments for keeping criminals out of state prisons.

One result of those changes is that the state has been able to do away with nearly two-thirds of its makeshift beds, although more than 7,000 inmates remain in temporary housing.

Gov. Jerry Brown sought and signed a bill this year that would reduce the prison population by about 40,000 inmates by transferring jurisdiction for many low-level offenders to counties. The law is stalled until the lawmakers or voters authorize money to pay for the transfer. Much of the money is intended to help counties handle the responsibility of housing convicts.

"As we work to carry out the Court's ruling, I will take all steps necessary to protect public safety," he said in a prepared statement.

Several organizations, from the state prison guards union to the California State Association of Counties, backed Brown's realignment plan — and the elusive funding — as the most practical way to comply with the court's mandate.

"If we don't do it smart, we could have all those people come back for additional crimes," said Chuck Alexander, executive vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.

Dissenters on the Supreme Court fear the worst, both in terms of public safety and what they described as a lower bar set for court intervention in how state's run their prison systems.

Justice Samuel Alito, in a dissent along with Chief Justice John Roberts, said he feared that the decision, "like prior prisoner release orders, will lead to a grim roster of victims. I hope that I am wrong. In a few years, we will see."

Aside from reducing the inmate population, the court said the state must continue to improve medical treatment in prison. Cate, the corrections secretary, and J. Clark Kelso, the federal receiver who now controls prison medical care, noted that construction of a new centralized medical facility south of the state capital is already under way.

The California dispute is the first high court case that reviewed a prisoner release order under a 1996 federal law that made it much harder for inmates to challenge prison conditions. The law was enacted after Republicans led by Newt Gingrich regained control of Congress and tried to rein in judicial interference in states' affairs, said Frank Zimring, a University of California, Berkeley law professor.

"This is also sort of an object lesson in be careful what you wish for," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Mark Sherman in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

WHAT'S NEW?(77 SQUARE SUNDAY)

Byline: Jeanne Kolker jkolker@madison.com

FICTION

Everything Hurts by Bill Scheft (Simon & Schuster, $24)

It's a pretty entertaining premise: Newspaper columnist Phil Camp becomes a casualty of a faltering industry, writes a fake self-help book under a pseudonym, and society embraces his brand of healing. Camp is a crusty, cranky guy who hides behind the guise of optimistic alter-ego Marty Fleck, whose book "Where Can I Stow My Baggage?" resonates with millions of readers. As Camp struggles with constant leg pain, he turns to and embraces the psychogenic theories of Dr. Samuel Abrun, a self-help guru who claims to cure people of their mind-induced pain. Camp finds himself buying into all that he's mocked. The alter-ego set-up allows for hilarious scenes and an opportunity to mine the rich territory of identity and family. Scheft, an Emmy-nominated humorist who writes for David Letterman, delivers a disjointed yet touching narrative with his trademark rapid-fire prose.

POETRY

Endpoint by John Updike (Knopf, $25)

Sure, his novels and short story collections far outnumber his books of poetry, but Updike's poetic voice is not to be overlooked. In "Endpoint," he scribbles out ruminations on the last years of his life, especially looking back on his family and his career. "My harried father told me, 'Dog eat dog.' I opted for a bloodless universe of inked imaginings. ... My many dreams of future puissance - as a baseball star, test pilot, private eye, cartoonist, or as Errol Flynn or Fred Astaire - did not include a hope to be the hidden hand and mind behind some musty, clothbound maze." The title work is a collection of thoughts from recent birthdays as the author struggles to come to grips with his mortality, wondering at the hostile, weird, wrinkled face looking back at him in the mirror: "Where was the freckled boy who used to peek into the front-hall mirror, off to school?" The poem wraps up a scant month before Updike's death in January. The collection is filled out with other poems on some lighter subjects, including an ode to the look of old currency, before Lincoln and Hamilton got anti-counterfeit facelifts. These entries are a welcome breather after the profound reflections on death that precede them.

TRAVEL

Some of the Dead are Still Breathing by Charles Bowden (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $24)

How can a person live a moral life in a culture of death? Journalist Bowden pulls the reader across a raw, punishing landscape of dwindling natural resources, flourishing terrorism, and borderland cruelty. Bowden combines memoir, natural history, and keen reportage into a free-flowing narrative, which is why this book largely defies categorization. "By death I do not mean something symbolic or metaphoric," he writes. "I mean the actual death of other peoples and other living things." He lingers in a post-Katrina New Orleans, a barely recovered Bali, a sinister Mexican border town. At one point he uses the story of Winkie, the elephant who previously lived at Vilas Zoo and who killed one of her handlers in Tennessee in 2006, to illustrate his point of the increasingly fine line between the crimes we commit as a species and the unnatural disintegration of the natural world. It's an explicit, bleak book, but Bowden's spare, seemingly soulless writing possesses a strange beauty.

WHAT'S NEW?(77 SQUARE SUNDAY)

Byline: Jeanne Kolker jkolker@madison.com

FICTION

Everything Hurts by Bill Scheft (Simon & Schuster, $24)

It's a pretty entertaining premise: Newspaper columnist Phil Camp becomes a casualty of a faltering industry, writes a fake self-help book under a pseudonym, and society embraces his brand of healing. Camp is a crusty, cranky guy who hides behind the guise of optimistic alter-ego Marty Fleck, whose book "Where Can I Stow My Baggage?" resonates with millions of readers. As Camp struggles with constant leg pain, he turns to and embraces the psychogenic theories of Dr. Samuel Abrun, a self-help guru who claims to cure people of their mind-induced pain. Camp finds himself buying into all that he's mocked. The alter-ego set-up allows for hilarious scenes and an opportunity to mine the rich territory of identity and family. Scheft, an Emmy-nominated humorist who writes for David Letterman, delivers a disjointed yet touching narrative with his trademark rapid-fire prose.

POETRY

Endpoint by John Updike (Knopf, $25)

Sure, his novels and short story collections far outnumber his books of poetry, but Updike's poetic voice is not to be overlooked. In "Endpoint," he scribbles out ruminations on the last years of his life, especially looking back on his family and his career. "My harried father told me, 'Dog eat dog.' I opted for a bloodless universe of inked imaginings. ... My many dreams of future puissance - as a baseball star, test pilot, private eye, cartoonist, or as Errol Flynn or Fred Astaire - did not include a hope to be the hidden hand and mind behind some musty, clothbound maze." The title work is a collection of thoughts from recent birthdays as the author struggles to come to grips with his mortality, wondering at the hostile, weird, wrinkled face looking back at him in the mirror: "Where was the freckled boy who used to peek into the front-hall mirror, off to school?" The poem wraps up a scant month before Updike's death in January. The collection is filled out with other poems on some lighter subjects, including an ode to the look of old currency, before Lincoln and Hamilton got anti-counterfeit facelifts. These entries are a welcome breather after the profound reflections on death that precede them.

TRAVEL

Some of the Dead are Still Breathing by Charles Bowden (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $24)

How can a person live a moral life in a culture of death? Journalist Bowden pulls the reader across a raw, punishing landscape of dwindling natural resources, flourishing terrorism, and borderland cruelty. Bowden combines memoir, natural history, and keen reportage into a free-flowing narrative, which is why this book largely defies categorization. "By death I do not mean something symbolic or metaphoric," he writes. "I mean the actual death of other peoples and other living things." He lingers in a post-Katrina New Orleans, a barely recovered Bali, a sinister Mexican border town. At one point he uses the story of Winkie, the elephant who previously lived at Vilas Zoo and who killed one of her handlers in Tennessee in 2006, to illustrate his point of the increasingly fine line between the crimes we commit as a species and the unnatural disintegration of the natural world. It's an explicit, bleak book, but Bowden's spare, seemingly soulless writing possesses a strange beauty.

WHAT'S NEW?(77 SQUARE SUNDAY)

Byline: Jeanne Kolker jkolker@madison.com

FICTION

Everything Hurts by Bill Scheft (Simon & Schuster, $24)

It's a pretty entertaining premise: Newspaper columnist Phil Camp becomes a casualty of a faltering industry, writes a fake self-help book under a pseudonym, and society embraces his brand of healing. Camp is a crusty, cranky guy who hides behind the guise of optimistic alter-ego Marty Fleck, whose book "Where Can I Stow My Baggage?" resonates with millions of readers. As Camp struggles with constant leg pain, he turns to and embraces the psychogenic theories of Dr. Samuel Abrun, a self-help guru who claims to cure people of their mind-induced pain. Camp finds himself buying into all that he's mocked. The alter-ego set-up allows for hilarious scenes and an opportunity to mine the rich territory of identity and family. Scheft, an Emmy-nominated humorist who writes for David Letterman, delivers a disjointed yet touching narrative with his trademark rapid-fire prose.

POETRY

Endpoint by John Updike (Knopf, $25)

Sure, his novels and short story collections far outnumber his books of poetry, but Updike's poetic voice is not to be overlooked. In "Endpoint," he scribbles out ruminations on the last years of his life, especially looking back on his family and his career. "My harried father told me, 'Dog eat dog.' I opted for a bloodless universe of inked imaginings. ... My many dreams of future puissance - as a baseball star, test pilot, private eye, cartoonist, or as Errol Flynn or Fred Astaire - did not include a hope to be the hidden hand and mind behind some musty, clothbound maze." The title work is a collection of thoughts from recent birthdays as the author struggles to come to grips with his mortality, wondering at the hostile, weird, wrinkled face looking back at him in the mirror: "Where was the freckled boy who used to peek into the front-hall mirror, off to school?" The poem wraps up a scant month before Updike's death in January. The collection is filled out with other poems on some lighter subjects, including an ode to the look of old currency, before Lincoln and Hamilton got anti-counterfeit facelifts. These entries are a welcome breather after the profound reflections on death that precede them.

TRAVEL

Some of the Dead are Still Breathing by Charles Bowden (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $24)

How can a person live a moral life in a culture of death? Journalist Bowden pulls the reader across a raw, punishing landscape of dwindling natural resources, flourishing terrorism, and borderland cruelty. Bowden combines memoir, natural history, and keen reportage into a free-flowing narrative, which is why this book largely defies categorization. "By death I do not mean something symbolic or metaphoric," he writes. "I mean the actual death of other peoples and other living things." He lingers in a post-Katrina New Orleans, a barely recovered Bali, a sinister Mexican border town. At one point he uses the story of Winkie, the elephant who previously lived at Vilas Zoo and who killed one of her handlers in Tennessee in 2006, to illustrate his point of the increasingly fine line between the crimes we commit as a species and the unnatural disintegration of the natural world. It's an explicit, bleak book, but Bowden's spare, seemingly soulless writing possesses a strange beauty.

WHAT'S NEW?(77 SQUARE SUNDAY)

Byline: Jeanne Kolker jkolker@madison.com

FICTION

Everything Hurts by Bill Scheft (Simon & Schuster, $24)

It's a pretty entertaining premise: Newspaper columnist Phil Camp becomes a casualty of a faltering industry, writes a fake self-help book under a pseudonym, and society embraces his brand of healing. Camp is a crusty, cranky guy who hides behind the guise of optimistic alter-ego Marty Fleck, whose book "Where Can I Stow My Baggage?" resonates with millions of readers. As Camp struggles with constant leg pain, he turns to and embraces the psychogenic theories of Dr. Samuel Abrun, a self-help guru who claims to cure people of their mind-induced pain. Camp finds himself buying into all that he's mocked. The alter-ego set-up allows for hilarious scenes and an opportunity to mine the rich territory of identity and family. Scheft, an Emmy-nominated humorist who writes for David Letterman, delivers a disjointed yet touching narrative with his trademark rapid-fire prose.

POETRY

Endpoint by John Updike (Knopf, $25)

Sure, his novels and short story collections far outnumber his books of poetry, but Updike's poetic voice is not to be overlooked. In "Endpoint," he scribbles out ruminations on the last years of his life, especially looking back on his family and his career. "My harried father told me, 'Dog eat dog.' I opted for a bloodless universe of inked imaginings. ... My many dreams of future puissance - as a baseball star, test pilot, private eye, cartoonist, or as Errol Flynn or Fred Astaire - did not include a hope to be the hidden hand and mind behind some musty, clothbound maze." The title work is a collection of thoughts from recent birthdays as the author struggles to come to grips with his mortality, wondering at the hostile, weird, wrinkled face looking back at him in the mirror: "Where was the freckled boy who used to peek into the front-hall mirror, off to school?" The poem wraps up a scant month before Updike's death in January. The collection is filled out with other poems on some lighter subjects, including an ode to the look of old currency, before Lincoln and Hamilton got anti-counterfeit facelifts. These entries are a welcome breather after the profound reflections on death that precede them.

TRAVEL

Some of the Dead are Still Breathing by Charles Bowden (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $24)

How can a person live a moral life in a culture of death? Journalist Bowden pulls the reader across a raw, punishing landscape of dwindling natural resources, flourishing terrorism, and borderland cruelty. Bowden combines memoir, natural history, and keen reportage into a free-flowing narrative, which is why this book largely defies categorization. "By death I do not mean something symbolic or metaphoric," he writes. "I mean the actual death of other peoples and other living things." He lingers in a post-Katrina New Orleans, a barely recovered Bali, a sinister Mexican border town. At one point he uses the story of Winkie, the elephant who previously lived at Vilas Zoo and who killed one of her handlers in Tennessee in 2006, to illustrate his point of the increasingly fine line between the crimes we commit as a species and the unnatural disintegration of the natural world. It's an explicit, bleak book, but Bowden's spare, seemingly soulless writing possesses a strange beauty.

U.S. energy policy is politics as usual Fight over Arctic refuge, Yucca site helps Dems 'preserve' themselves

Developments involving two desolate places and one lush one--thefertile Midwest--demonstrate how Congress plays with energy policy.Herewith a story of sexually ardent caribou, a governor vetoing apresidential decision in order to defend the sweetness of ruralNevada, and the political imperatives behind putting corn in your gastank.

Although there is drilling for oil and gas in 29 wildlife refuges,the most fiercely contested question about the energy bill was aboutdrilling on one-hundredth of 1 percent of the Arctic NationalWildlife Refuge, which is described, by people more passionatelydevoted to preserving it than visiting it, as "pristine." Yes, andthe moon's surface is …

Support Councils do not replace parties -- PM.

Byline: MH (P)/SR

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki on Monday said that support councils will not replace parties, despite these councils being linked to the state, calling on them to cooperate with the central and provincial authorities, according to a release issued by al-Maliki's office.

"During his meeting today with a number of Bani Malik tribal …

HELEN BERKOWITZ GLICKMAN.(CAPITAL REGION)

ALBANY -- Helen Berkowitz Glickman, age 90, of the Daughters of Sarah Nursing Home. She was born in Poland and lived in Manhattan most of her life. She was a member of the Amalgamated Milliners Union in NYC. She was very creative with crafts and was a designer of cloth dolls, two of which are on display at the Brooklyn Children's Museum. She is survived by a daughter, Leonore Fleischer of …

China to pay subsidies for EVs, plug-in hybrids

China has begun paying subsidies of up to 60,000 yuan ($8,784) a car to manufacturers of electric and hybrid vehicles on a trial basis in five cities, the Ministry of Finance said Tuesday.

Separately, private buyers of such cars can get a 3,000 yuan ($440) subsidy from dealers, the ministry said in a notice on its Web site.

The subsidies for purchases by private buyers are being paid to manufacturers to "help promote faster technological innovation of automotive technology," it said.

Pure electric vehicles have so far mainly been used in China only for demonstration purposes or in government and corporate fleets. Manufacturers have long …

Penton release from P22 heat-expanded capsids suggests importance of stabilizing penton-hexon interactions during capsid maturation

ABSTRACT Bacteriophage assembly frequently begins with the formation of a precursor capsid that serves as a DNA packaging machine. The DNA packaging is accompanied by a morphogenesis of the small round precursor capsid into a large polyhedral DNA-containing mature phage. In vitro, this transformation can be induced by heat or chemical treatment of P22 procapsids. In this work, we examine bacteriophage P22 morphogenesis by comparing three-dimensional structures of capsids expanded both in vitro by heat treatment and in vivo by DNA packaging. The heat-expanded capsid reveals a structure that is virtually the same as the in vivo expanded capsid except that the pentons, normally present at …

CIC mission is reexamined. (Education).

Cable in the Classroom (CIC) is expanding its emphasis to support education beyond the classroom.

The nonprofit, industry-backed organization plans to take cable's technology and rich content into homes and into the field and enhance local cable systems' ability to connect with individual schools.

Last week Cable in the Classroom's new executive director, veteran educator Peggy O'Brien, received unanimous support from the CIC's board of directors and the board of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association for a new mission statement and strategic plan.

"The big piece of news is that our mission and our philosophy are clear and in …

Researchers from Mie University publish findings in cancer gene therapy.

Scientists discuss in 'Rapid alphabeta TCR-mediated responses in gammadelta T cells transduced with cancer-specific TCR genes' new findings in cancer gene therapy. According to recent research from Mie, Japan, "Adoptive T-cell transfer of in vitro cultured T cells derived from cancer patients with naturally developed immune responses has met with some success as an immunotherapeutic approach, although only a limited number of patients showed spontaneous immune responses. To find alternative ways, such as cancer-specific T-cell receptor (TCR) gene transfer, in preparation for sufficient numbers of antigen-specific T cells is an important issue in the field of adoptive T-cell therapy." …

Jury still deciding in terror plot trial; Third day passes without verdict in Albany case; panel out until Tuesday.(Capital Region)

Byline: BRENDAN J. LYONS - Senior writer

ALBANY - Jury deliberations in the federal trial of two Albany men facing terrorism-related charges are scheduled to resume Tuesday morning.

The panel was sent home for the weekend late Friday afternoon after ending its third day of deliberations.

Jurors on Friday asked to watch an FBI surveillance videotape of a key meeting between an undercover informant and Yassin M. Aref, the leader of a Central Avenue mosque. At the meeting, which took place in January 2004, about six months after the sting began, the two men discussed the informant's plan to "legalize" money that he was loaning to Aref's co-defendant, …

WHEN CLINTON WAFFLES, IT'S THE GOVERNOR IN HIM SPEAKING.(PERSPECTIVE)

Byline: David Broder

WASHINGTON The puzzlement created by President Clinton's seeming retreat last week from key parts of his national health plan is less mysterious if you remember one fact. Bill Clinton was a governor for 12 years. He has been president for only 18 months.

When he rejoins the governors, as he did last Tuesday, flying into Boston for the final session of the summer meeting of the National Governors' Association (NGA), Clinton reverts to form. And it gets him into trouble in Washington which says more about Washington than it does about Bill Clinton.

This is not the first time it has happened. Last January, when the health care debate was just beginning, the governors came to Washington for their winter meeting. Clinton held a …

C-E Minerals to expand alumina production. (plant expansion at Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela)

C-E Minerals to expand alumina production C-E Minerals, King of Prussia, Pa., plans to increase its production capacity of fused white alumina with the expansion of C-E Minerales fusion facilities located at Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela. This expansion doubles the company's current capacity from …

Greinke has rough outing, Rangers beat Brewers 8-1

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Zack Greinke is keeping an eye on the calendar.

"If the season was next week it wouldn't be a good thing," Greinke said, "but there's still a couple of weeks left."

He threw two tumultuous innings for Milwaukee and Michael Young drove in his first runs of the spring for Texas in the Rangers' 8-1 win over the Brewers on Sunday.

Greinke gave up five hits in two innings, but allowed only one run. Greinke, who was slated to throw 45 pitches and go three innings but needed 38 to get through two.

"It was bad for season time but for where we're at it's OK," Greinke said. "The next start I've got to pick it up a little more. I've got two more before …