Appia, Edmond, Swiss conductor and pedagogue; b. Turin, May 7, 1894; d. Geneva, Feb. 12, 1961. He studied violin with Marteau at the Geneva Cons., with Capet in Paris, and at the Brussels Cons, (premier prix, 1920). He was a prof. at the Lausanne Cons. (1924–43) and at the Geneva Cons. (1934–61). After touring widely as a violinist (1932–35), he was appointed to the position of …
A recent NewYork Times Magazine article spotlighted a shocking vestige of our nation's racism: segregated proms. It focused on one school in Georgia's Montgomery County, though the practice is common across the rural South.
I say "shocking" even though I personally wasn't surprised. One of my best friends is from rural Tennessee. His alma mater still segregates superlatives: White Most Likely to Succeed, Black Most Likely to Succeed; Funniest White, Funniest Black, and so on.
The white students quoted in the Times article expressed some reservations about the practice, but generally concluded with "It's how it's always been.. .it's just a tradition." In the words of Harley …
CNN's John Roberts declared his interview with Barack Obama on Monday a "Rev. Wright-free zone" to telegraph he wouldn't ask the Democratic presidential contender about the controversy over his former pastor.
The reference was flip, but Roberts primarily talked about Iran, the gas tax and the economy during a six-minute interview with Obama that aired at 6:20 a.m. EDT.
During appearances last week at the National Press Club and elsewhere, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright repeated his beliefs that the U.S. government may have developed the AIDS virus to infect the black community and that the U.S. had invited the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Obama denounced the …
Howard Stern's epic battle with the government over indecency andfree speech gave the syndicated shock jock a big boost in theaudience ratings for the winter quarter.
Arbitron figures released Friday show Stern's morning show on WCKG-FM (105.9) jumped from 15th place last fall to ninth. Among listenersin the demographically desirable age range between 25 and 54, hisshow surged from sixth to third.
Stern's success was even more pronounced in his home market of NewYork, where he finished first overall and in the 25-to-54 category.
Mancow Muller, who also has been cited for on-air indecency by theFederal Communications Commission, didn't fare as well in …
USG Corp. said today that it has won federal court approval ofits bankruptcy plan to turn over 97 percent of its common stock tobondholders.
The building materials company said it is now well on its way tofinancial health.
"There is nothing wrong with this company that the eliminationof $1.4 billion in debt won't fix," USG lawyer David G. Heiman saidin Wilmington, Del., after the U.S. Bankruptcy Court there approvedthe reorganization plan.
The elimination of $1.4 billion in debt means an annual savingsin interest payments of $210 million.
"The two-year restructuring process has finally come to an end,"said Eugene B. Connolly, chairman and chief …
BALTIMORE (AP) — The Cleveland Indians couldn't have scripted a better start to the second half of the season.
Asdrubal Cabrera and Carlos Santana homered in the first inning and the Indians beat Baltimore 8-4 on Thursday night to extend the Orioles' losing streak to eight games.
The victory moved the Indians into first place in the AL Central, percentage points ahead of idle Detroit. Cleveland lost three straight against Toronto before the All-Star break to fall out of first for the first time since June 28.
"For us it was important because we finished the first half with three bad games against the Blue Jays," manager Manny Acta said. "We needed to get out there and …
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has certified the results of Scott Brown's upset Senate election win, clearing the way for the Republican to succeed the late Democrat Edward Kennedy.
Vice President Joe Biden was slated to swear in Brown at 5 p.m. (2200 GMT)Thursday. Brown will become the 41st Republican member of the Senate, the precise number of votes …
WASHINGTON Federal spending on retirement and disability topped ahalf-trillion dollars for the first time last year, totaling $507.2billion, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.
Overall, Uncle Sam spent $1.5 trillion for domestic benefits,subsidies, grants, goods and services, and salaries and wages infiscal year 1998, the bureau said in two reports.
That total represents a 3.4 percent increase over 1997."The main reasons for the increase were payments for disabilityand retirement, grants and procurement contracts," said GerardKeffer, chief of the Census Bureau's Federal Programs Branch.The $507 billion in direct payments for disability andretirement was up from $489 …
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Central defender Olof Mellberg will miss Sweden's 2012 European Championship qualifiers against Hungary and San Marino.
Sweden coach Erik Hamren presented Sweden's 22-man squad for the two games Tuesday, saying Mellberg will be replaced by Genoa's Andreas Granqvist.
Mellberg injured his knee while playing for his Greek club Olympiakos against Inter on Sunday.
AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored a hat trick for Sweden in its last qualifier against Finland, was also included in the squad despite struggling with an ankle problem.
Sweden, which is second in Group A after Holland, plays Hungary in Budapest on Sept. 2, and San Marino on …
Pennsylvania collected more in taxes from commercial casino gambling than any other state, including gambling heavyweight Nevada, a newspaper reported.
Pennsylvania's tax revenue from commercial casinos approached $1.1 billion in the fiscal year that ended June 30, The Morning Call of Allentown reported Monday. Indiana was second with $878 million and Nevada third with $831 million.
A comparison by the American Gaming Association also showed Pennsylvania ahead in the 2009 calendar year.
Pennsylvania has just nine casinos operating, but its 55 percent tax rate on slot machine gambling more than makes up for it. By comparison, Nevada takes 8 …
SPECIFICATIONS, COST MANAGEMENT
A partnership between Caltrans, the California Integrated Waste Management Board, university extension offices, a state composting group and private industry is expected to dramatically boost the use of compost on highway roadsides.
THE California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has enormous potential to increase compost use on highway roadsides throughout California. Caltrans manages more than 230,000 acres of roadside and maintains approximately 25,000 acres of landscaping annually. In the last three years, Caltrans has increased its purchase of compost and mulch products fivefold - from 13,700 cubic yards in 2004 to more than 70,000 …
SPRINGFIELD, Ga. (AP) — South Georgia authorities say two men became so high on drugs they began hallucinating and called 911 when they thought intruders had broken into a home.
Effingham County sheriff's spokesman David Ehsanipoor said the pair is suspected of using methamphetamine around the time they called 911 for help early Tuesday.
Deputies responding around 4 a.m. to the home outside Savannah were told …
RALEIGH, N.C. In the face of increased crime and out-of-controlprison costs, judges in North Carolina's criminal courts this fallwill begin using a simple, one-page chart of letters and numbers todispense justice that - quite literally - makes the punishment fitthe budget.
Officially called the "felony punishment chart," but known byprosecutors and criminals as "the grid," the chart is the centerpieceof an innovative sentencing law that has put North Carolina at theforefront of an increasingly popular concept of criminal justice:balancing prison sentences with available cell capacity.
For several years, states have been turning to sentencingguidelines in an attempt to gain control over rapidly escalatingprison populations. Minnesota pioneered this approach, andpresumptive sentencing rules have been enacted in at least 16 otherstates.
But states also have been forced by budget constraints to take asecond look at the hard-line anti-crime measures and mandatorysentences they enacted in the 1980s - with little regard for futureprison costs - and are examining more economical alternatives.
North Carolina's new system, known as "structured sentencing" or"capacity-based sentencing," recognizes the impossibility of buildingprisons fast enough to keep up with the influx of offenders. It alsoacknowledges the state's inability to imprison most offenders foranywhere near the duration of the sentences the courts have beenhanding down.
While abolishing parole for all new offenders and lengtheningsentences for violent criminals and repeat offenders, the new lawwill reduce prison sentences an average of 80 percent to conform moreclosely to the length of time that inmates actually are behind barsat present.
"What we're doing is setting priorities. We're saying we willuse our prisons for violent offenders and career offenders. Theconverse of that, of course, is that we will have to punish theothers in other ways," said Superior Court Judge Thomas W. Ross,chairman of the state's Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission,which proposed the reforms enacted last year by the legislature.
The "other ways" are community-based alternatives such asclosely supervised probation, day reporting centers, halfway houses,boot camps, drug-treatment facilities, electronically monitored housearrest, fines and restitution.
But the heart of the new law is the grid, a compilation ofranges of minimum and maximum sentences for 10 categories of feloniesthat are matched to a defendant's criminal record through a pointsystem.
On the left side of the chart is a list of crime categories,ranging from level A (first-degree murder) to level I (fraud, forgeryand lesser drug offenses). The numbers across the top correspond tothe number of points a defendant has accumulated through priorconvictions.
When ready to impose sentences, a judge matches the severitylevel of the crime to the defendant's prior record to find a squarecontaining the corresponding sentence range. An offender must serveat least the minimum sentence listed.
For example, level D, which includes first-degree burglary andarmed robbery, has a first-offender range of 44 to 55 months withoutaggravating or mitigating circumstances. The total range for level Dis from 33 months for a first offender with mitigating circumstancesto 158 months for a multiple offender with aggravating circumstances.
First and second offenders of some nonviolent felonies can, atthe judge's discretion, be given suspended sentences provided theycomplete an alternative punishment, such as intensive probation,house arrest or boot camp.
People convicted of first-degree murder will continue to receivea death sentence or life without parole, and repeat offendersconvicted of first-degree rape can get life without parole. Drugtraffickers will continue to receive pre-existing, mandatory minimumsentences.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. After Tony Rice's Blue team lost to KentGraham's Gold team 27-9, Lou Holtz wouldn't get down on either of hisyoung quarterbacks.
But if you had to pick an Irish quarterback based on Saturday'sspring intrasquad game, it would be oft-forgotten senior-to-be SteveBelles (3-of-8, 33 yards), who led the Gold team to a pair ofsustained scoring drives and shared offensive most valuable playerhonors with Ricky Watters, who scored two touchdowns.
Gold strong safety George Streeter, from Julian, was nameddefensive MVP. Streeter blocked a punt and recovered two fumbles inan error-filled afternoon.
"Steve Belles has moved the team well at times," Holtz said."But he will be the first one to tell you he draws a blank sometimes.His problem has been to eliminate the bad play."
Saturday, though, the bad play belonged to Rice (6-of-19, 133)and Graham (2-of-7, 55), who each threw a pair of interceptions.While Belles had no turnovers, Rice also lost a fumble seven yardsfrom the end zone and Graham slipped in his own end zone for asafety.
Graham threw the only two TD passes of the day. One was anine-yarder to Watters. But the other was a 22-yard interception byGreg Davis for the Blue team's touchdown.
"Kent had an inconsistent spring," Holtz said. "Somethingalways happens when he's in there. Consequently, it's been verydifficult for him to show the talents and abilities he has."
None of the three had great passing numbers, partly because ofa wind that gusted to 30 m.p.h. and partly because the defense is wayahead of the offense.
"I felt Tony Rice threw the ball very well, particularly when hebecame acclimated to the wind," Holtz said. "I thought he had sevenor eight passes dropped." However, defenders also dropped at leastthree or four more interceptions.
Although Rice did show a fine arm at times, particularly on a58-yard completion that traveled about 70 yards in the air to SteveAlaniz, he fumbled three plays later.
On a brighter note for the 15,699 Irish fans who shrugged off ablue-gray November-in-April sky: The young offensive linemen looked strong, particularly on the Goldsquad. "That line had four players who might end up being starters,"Holtz said of the unit, which included tackles Peter Rausch and JoeAllen, guards Winston Sandri and Tim Grunhard and center Mike Heldt.
Considering that Blue squad tackles Dean Brown and Andy Heck andguard Jeff Pearson all are more likely to be starters if Holtz had topick one line today, his blocking problems don't seem serious. Watters, completing his first full week of workouts at flanker,added a three-yard run from tailback to his nine-yard scoring catch.
The TD was Watters' only reception. He rushed four times for 19yards and returned two punts for 39 yards.
Tailbacks Mark Green (13 rushes for 70 yards) and Tony Brooks(17 for 69) have joined with Watters to give Holtz a pleasant problemin replacing Tim Brown at flanker.
"It wouldn't be fair to compare him to Tim Brown," Holtz said ofWatters. "But he does do some things awfully well there."
Anti-riot police sealed off the sandy alleyways leading to the headquarters of Togo's largest opposition party on Monday, stranding the country's opposition leader outside for more than an hour in a tense standoff following a contentious election.
Jean-Pierre Fabre has vowed to take to the streets every day to protest what he says was a fraudulent election, saying he would only stop when the police had exhausted their stock of tear gas or killed him. His party, the Union for the Forces of Change, said they planned to go ahead with a march on Tuesday despite the fact that the government had banned it.
Provisional results late Saturday showed Fabre, 57, lost to current President Faure Gnassingbe, whose 1.2 million votes gave him 60.9 percent of the vote. Fabre received 692,584 votes, or 33.9 percent.
Col. Damehane Yark, spokesman for a special election commando unit, said the roads leading to the party's office were being blocked to prevent opposition supporters from marching and disrupting traffic on the main boulevards as they had briefly on Sunday, before being pelted with tear gas.
On Monday, security forces placed their fiberglass shields in a line to create a blockade at the mouth of the three passages leading to the UFC office in a downtrodden neighborhood of the capital strewn with trash.
"They are trying to provoke our young people, and then they are going to throw grenades at them," Fabre said during the standoff with police. "You see?"
Reporters saw him approach and try to talk to the police, who refused to answer him. He circled around his car and made phone calls, as other party leaders arrived and were also prevented from entering. Over an hour later, the police abruptly moved back their shields without explanation, allowing the leader to enter, but continued blocking access to regular citizens who stood watching from across the road.
Opposition spokesman Eric Dupuy said in an open letter to the government issued late Monday that the march Tuesday to demand a review of the preliminary results from last week's election would go ahead as planned.
Florent Konon, a 37-year-old unemployed man, said he was willing to die demonstrating against the election results. "We don't have guns, but we are armed psychologically. If they kill us, they will have to kill all of us," he said.
The European Union's observation mission in Togo did not mention evidence of ballot stuffing or vote rigging _ as the opposition alleges _ in its preliminary report, but did say there is evidence the ruling party may have tried to buy off voters by handing out rice to the country's deeply impoverished people.
Eyadema Gnassingbe ruled the country for 38 years, only for his son to seize power upon his death on Feb. 5, 2005.
Last week's election is only the second since the death of the dictator. The younger Gnassingbe's victory extends the family's rule into a 44th year and will mean the political dynasty will stay in power for nearly half a century.
Early results indicated that in the provinces where the rice was given out, voter turnout was high and people overwhelmingly voted for Gnassingbe. The district-by-district results also show that voter turnout was extremely low in opposition strongholds, such as Lome.
The opposition claims its voters were systematically intimidated and are traumatized by memories of the last election five years ago in which at least 400 people were killed in postelection violence. Pro-Gnassingbe militias hunted down opposition voters, killing many in their own homes, according to a United Nations report and an investigation by Amnesty International.
___
Associated Press Television News senior producer Bishr El-Touni in Lome, Togo contributed to this report.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is checking whether to challenge a disputed law in Hungary that some fear threatens the independence of the country's central bank.
The EU Commission said Tuesday its president Jose Manuel Barroso and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had "exchanged many letters" over the Christmas holidays, with Barroso insisting the independence of Hungary's central bank must be safeguarded.
The EU Commission is now combing through the law, which was adopted Friday, before making a decision whether it is compatible with EU law. The law increases political influence over the central bank.
Last month, the IMF and the EU withdrew from preliminary talks for financial support for Hungary because of Orban's insistence on enacting the law.
LONDON - The British government would like to change the perception in the Muslim world that its foreign policies are hostile as part of reforms aimed at reducing terrorism, according to Cabinet documents obtained by a newspaper and published Sunday.
The Sunday Telegraph said it had obtained Cabinet documents that suggest the government aim for a "significant reduction in the number and intensity of the regional conflicts that fuel terror activity." In an ideal world, "the Muslim would not perceive (Britain) and its foreign policies as hostile," the documents said.
The memo, which the newspaper said was circulated to Cabinet ministers and security officials, also laid out a political wish list of sorts including stability in Iraq and Afghanistan, peace in the Middle East, and a nuclear-free Iran.
The newspaper quotes the memo as saying Britain's future actions overseas should be designed to reduce "terror activity, especially that in or directed against (Britain)."
Prime Minister Tony Blair has denied that the war on Iraq has led to increased terrorism in Britain. On Saturday, his office refused to comment on the report.
Four ski venues were waiting to find out Thursday if they have won the race to host the 2013 World Championships.
The twin resort of Vail and Beaver Creek in Colorado was among the candidates waiting for the FIS' decision. The biennial championships have not been to the United States since Vail and Beaver Creek last hosted in 1999.
"They will have been in Europe for the last six championships and it is important to move them to other parts of the world," said Ceil Folz, president of the Vail Valley Foundation bid team.
As so often on the ski circuit, the U.S. faces its biggest challenge from Austria which has 1982 host Schladming as the pre-vote favorite.
"We have some good levels of support and we're hopeful," Folz said.
The other candidates were Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, which staged the 1956 Winter Olympics, and 2003 Worlds host St. Moritz in Switzerland.
A victory for Vail and Beaver Creek in the vote by the governing body's council would see a signature women's downhill course created as part of a billion-dollar upgrade in the Vail Valley.
It would be a companion to the men's Birds of Prey run created for the 1999 championships, Folz said.
"There really isn't a women's downhill (course) in the U.S. and what we're proposing would be that," Folz said. "It would give the women more opportunities to show their stuff other than in Europe."
Folz hopes to attract voters by setting out a proposed program to attract children to ski racing.
"It is really about using the championships as a catalyst to grow the sport and that has been a big piece of our message," she said.
A total of 16 voting members will decide the venue. FIS president Gianfranco Kasper of Switzerland has a casting vote if required.
If no candidate gets a majority then the last-place resort drops out of the next round of voting until one of them reaches the nine votes required.
Peggie Parhas scored 10 of her 13 points in the third quarter asLake Zurich turned a defensive struggle into a 47-29 upset over No.18 New Trier in a Sweet 16 tournament game in Winnetka.
The 5-7 Parhas -- a three-year starter -- scored eight of herpoints, including a pair of three-pointers, during an 11-2 run thatgave the Bears a 36-23 lead after three quarters. Lake Zurichallowed 12 points in the second half.
"When you get a perfect pass that hits your hands, there'snothing left to do but shoot the ball, so, yes, I was feeling it,"Parhas said. "We came out a little bit slow and then kind of pickedit up after halftime. We started seeing each other more."
Olivia Allen scored a game-high 17 points for Lake Zurich,including a layup to put the Bears up 19-17 at halftime. Gabby Chapascored seven and Audrey Bauer added six points and nine rebounds forthe Bears (10-2).
Maeve Campbell had 12 points for New Trier (9-4), which playedits first game since losing junior forward Jessica Alter for theseason with a torn ACL and sophomore guard Molly Quirke with aconcussion.
FENWICK 47, CARMEL 42
Sophomores Tricia Liston (25 points) and Katlyn Payne (15)rallied No. 5 Fenwick past host Carmel in Mundelein.
Carmel, which led 25-19 at halftime, held Fenwick (10-2, 5-0 EastSuburban Catholic) to its lowest scoring output of the season.
"We knew they were going to try and slow things down," Listonsaid. "We really didn't get into our offense until the second half."
Guard Tiffany Hendrickson led Carmel (6-5, 1-2) with 13 pointsdespite sitting with foul trouble for most of the third quarter.Lauren Lehocky added 12 points and nine rebounds.
"Our girls gave a great effort," said Carmel coach John Ryan."That Liston is a heck of a player. That was our focus, to try andstop her, and she still had 25 points. She found a way."
Alex Hickey
HILLCREST 65, ST. IGNATIUS 62
In the toughest game so far for Hillcrest, the visiting Hawksprevailed over St. Ignatius.
The Wolfpack (4-8) went up 60-57 with 2:08 remaining on a three-pointer from Michela Petrosino, but the Hawks' Jamie Nelsonresponded with with the go-ahead basket with just over a minuteleft.
Uniquah Hampton, who led the Hawks (10-0) with 18 points,provided the assist on Nelson's score when she put her body on theline by leaping through the defense and keeping the ball from goingout of bounds at halfcourt.
Jayne Eslinger led the Wolfpack with 11 points. St. Ignatius hadsix players score at least nine, including Grace Brennan, who hadall 10 of her points in the second half.
Both teams were in foul trouble in the second half. The Hawksattempted 18 free throws, while the Wolfpack shot 21.
Wayne Randazzo
MAINE SOUTH 41, GALESBURG 37
Jackie Dieger had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and MichelleTourtillott scored 11 and Karen Solar nine for visiting No. 17 MaineSouth (9-3).
BUFFALO GROVE 71, STEVENSON 46
Ellen Ayoub scored 20 points and Maggie Mocchi added 19 to leadthe top-ranked Bison (11-0) to a Sweet 16 tournament win in BuffaloGrove.
WAUBONSIE V. 54, SOUTH ELGIN 35
Danielle Brown and Brittany Upshaw scored 10 points each for hostNo. 24 Waubonsie Valley (11-0, 3-0 Upstate Eight), which led 31-14at halftime.
City worker shot
A city Revenue Department worker was shot and wounded whilepreparing to have a Denver-booted vehicle towed Saturday, policesaid. The worker was shot around 11:30 a.m. in the 200 block of West72nd. A man ran from the scene. The worker was listed in goodcondition at Christ Hospital.
Fund to aid fire victims
A Harvey bank has set up a fund for a family that lost twochildren in a fire Wednesday. Proceeds will go toward funeralexpenses for Bonnethia Simmons, 10, and Ashley Cole, 2. Money willalso be used to rebuild the home and pay expenses of four childrenwho survived, bank officials said. Contributions can be sent to theBenefit of Bonnethia Simmons and Ashley Cole, Mutual Bank, 16540 S.Halsted, Harvey 60426.
S. Side 'stash house' raided
A police raid on a South Side gang "stash house" Saturday turnedup eight guns, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and 600 grams ofcocaine worth $80,000, police Lt. Ed Kulbita said. No arrests weremade at the home in the 5500 block of South Normal.
Studios vacated after blasts
A 12,000-volt cable touched off two minor explosions in a tunnelunder the Loop on Saturday, leading to evacuation of the WLS-TVbuilding. The 5 p.m. blasts near State and Lake blew a manhole coverout of place. No one was hurt, but a related fire caused theevacuation of studios at 190 N. State. The blasts were being probed.
Man accused in car theft with boy
A Cicero man was charged Saturday in the theft of a car with a 4-month-old boy inside. George Brusaw, 33, was charged with possessionof a stolen car and endangering the life of a child. The car wasstolen from outside a Berwyn laundry Friday. The boy was foundunharmed on the porch of an Oak Park home, police said.
Phone talks pass deadline
SBC and the union representing about 30,000 telephone workers inthe Midwest failed to reach an agreement on a new contract before thecurrent pact expired this morning. The union has agreed to give 30days' notice before striking. Workers will operate under the terms ofthe expired contract.
Angry employees briefly shut down a General Motors plant in Ontario to protest the impending closure of a truck assembly line that employs 2,600 people.
Union leaders say there is no end in sight to their protests.
Workers have been blocking the GM's Canadian head office since Wednesday, but early Saturday morning, about 100 people took to their cars and drove in a slow convoy around the truck and car plants in Oshawa.
Union spokesman Keith Osborne says trucks delivering parts could not get in, forcing a shutdown at both the car and truck plants that lasted several hours.
General Motors announced this week that four plants in North America will close next year, including the Oshawa truck assembly line.
Defenseless women were killed. Children's heads were bashed in. Scalps were taken. A man's heart was eaten.
But can we say something else? It was also a last-gasp struggle for liberty, for a way of life, for survival.
A people who had lived on the land for eons were being destroyed -- shoved farther and farther west, slaughtered by federal troops, decimated by European diseases, roped off, penned in and banished.
For about 150 years, we have called it the Fort Dearborn Massacre. That's what most of us were taught in grammar school.
Now, as of this weekend, we are asked to called it the Battle of Fort Dearborn. Historians and Native American groups pushed hard for the change to a more neutral name, which they say allows for a more enlightened understanding of what actually went down that day.
We could not agree more. This is a case, if ever there was one, where one man's massacre was another man's freedom fight.
The Battle of Fort Dearborn is, of course, ancient history by Chicago and American standards, but how we write the story of that day is enormously relevant to here and now.
It is a test of our nation's ability to interpret its past not only through the eyes of the victors -- white European settlers -- but also through the eyes of all of the other groups that compose the American whole. In a nation of so many races and ethnic groups, studying history by means of triangulation is the only way to go.
This weekend, after much debate and study, the Chicago Park District is naming a tiny patch of green at 18th Street and Calumet Avenue the "Battle of Fort Dearborn Park." The park marks the spot where, on Aug. 15, 1812 -- 197 years ago -- the battle was fought.
The United States and England were at war, Native Americans were siding with the Brits, and the soldiers and civilians of Fort Dearborn were huddled behind log walls, certain they had better flee. But they got no farther than present-day 18th Street when they were ambushed by about 500 Potawatomi warriors. Two-thirds of the soldiers and pioneers -- 61 to 63 men, women and children -- were killed. Others were kidnapped.
It really was a massacre. And it really was a freedom fight. The Potawatomi were the victors that day, but within 20 years, they were the vanquished.
And we as a nation still struggle with that legacy.
NEW YORK (AP) — Participants in last week's U.S.-North Korea talks remain far apart on many issues, but both sides appreciate the importance of continued dialogue, a group of former U.S. diplomats and scholars said after meeting unofficially with the visiting North Korean delegation on Monday.
Donald Zagoria, of the nonpartisan think tank National Committee on American Foreign Policy, said he and other regional specialists were pleased by their frank discussions with the North Korean delegation at Carnegie Corporation headquarters in New York. Zagoria is project director for the committee's Forum on Asia Pacific Security.
But he and other participants said that the United States and North Korea, which met formally here last week, remain far apart on many issues.
"We should not underestimate the gaps that exist between the two sides," said Evans J. R. Revere, a past president of the Korea Society. "I think we are as far apart as we have ever been." Revere said both sides at Monday's so-called "Track II" discussions agreed that "there is value in continued dialogue, in continued contact."
The meeting followed talks Thursday and Friday between the North Koreans and U.S. diplomats at the American mission to the U.N., which has raised hopes that the nuclear-armed North can be persuaded to halt its push to expand its atomic arsenal.
Both North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan and U.S. Ambassador Stephen Bosworth, the top American envoy on North Korean affairs, had characterized last week's discussions as "constructive and businesslike"
The United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia have been negotiating since 2003 with Pyongyang to persuade North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs. Pyongyang pulled out of the six-party talks in April 2009 after being censured for launching a long-range missile.
Some analysts are skeptical about whether the North would give up its nuclear program, especially since it conducted a second nuclear test and revealed a uranium enrichment facility that could give it another way to make nuclear bombs since the last formal six-party talks in 2008. Seoul and Washington have insisted that inter-Korean ties must also improve following two attacks that killed 50 South Koreans last year.
This week's discussions aimed to build on last month's surprise discussions between nuclear negotiators from North and South Korea on the sidelines of a regional security gathering in Indonesia.
Ambassador Mark Minton, president of the New York-based Korea Society, said Monday's more informal discussions were just as important "because people who are not in government are able to describe the atmosphere, as they see it." Minton said he was among three Korea Society officials at Monday's meeting.
"We are hopeful that these kinds of unofficial discussions can lead to incremental change," said fellow participant Stephen J. Del Rosso, of the Carnegie Corporation's international peace and security program.
Zagoria added that North Korean officials "find value" in the informal talks, especially because they include former diplomats and scholars they have dealt with in the past. He credited a similar "Track II" meeting with North Korean officials in 2005 for leading to the country's agreement to formal six-party talks held later that year.
`Courtney Love: The Hole Story,' 8:30 tonight
Hole, 9 tonight The Cranberries, 9 p.m. Tuesday Live, 9 p.m. WednesdayA new episode of "MTV Unplugged" with the controversialalternative rock band Hole fuels both sides of the heated argumentabout Courtney Love's talents.
The Hole show, debuting at 9 tonight on the cable music channel,kicks off a week of premieres celebrating the fifth anniversary ofthe "Unplugged" series. The week also features two concerts by theCranberries and Live, as well as an "MTV News" documentary on theseries.
Though Hole clearly remains the rock band of the moment, somehave charged that the songs on Hole's second album, "Live ThroughThis," were ghost-written by Love's late husband, Kurt Cobain.Others maintain that she sang over guiding vocals or that her partswere "sweetened" by studio singers.
The acoustic forum of "Unplugged" offers Love the opportunity toshow exactly what she's capable of. Hole's basic two-guitar, bassand drums lineup is augmented by a cellist, a horn player and a harpplayer, but Love's expressive vocal growl is always the focus.
Hole's "Unplugged" makes it clear why Cobain - one of the bestrock singers of the '90s - was such a huge fan of his wife's voice.Love lends drama and urgency to stripped-down renditions of "MissWorld" and "Asking for It."
Hole uses the show to spotlight several new tunes, including"Drown Soda," "Best Sunday Dress," "Old Age" and "You've Got NoRight," a powerful tune that's introduced as "almost the last songKurt wrote."
"Things have never been so swell, and I have never been sowell," Love sings, quoting her husband. Her voice is layered withpain and irony.
With its somber blue lights and roman columns, the set looks abit like a funeral parlor. Love is dressed for a wake in a blackdress. Detractors will criticize her for exploiting her latehusband.
But Love is certainly entitled to her pain, and who has moreright to cover an unreleased Cobain song?
In the end, the band punctures the serious mood by smashing itsinstruments, though Love doesn't make her trademark leap into thecrowd.
MTV's other "Unplugged" debuts aren't nearly as galvanizing.The Irish pop band the Cranberries perform rote renditions of thehits from their first two albums at 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Like Hole, the Cranberries are backed by three orchestramusicians. While Hole's "Unplugged" offers ample time for each bandmember, the Cranberries' show focuses almost exclusively on singerDolores O'Riordan, who is due to start her solo career any minute.
Live isn't backed up by any extra musicians during its"Unplugged," which airs at 9 p.m. Wednesday. The York, Pa., quartetshows a lot more depth than on its hit singles, which shamelesslymimic R.E.M. crossed with Pearl Jam.
The religious imagery of vocalist Ed Kowalczyk jumps out in theacoustic performance. But Live doesn't take itself too seriously: Itwins points for making fun of MTV producers who insisted that thegroup's parents move out of camera range "because they looked tooold."
A Charity that housed elderly people in sheltered accommodationhas folded.
Staff at Abbeyfield Fochabers were forced to reconsider theiroptions after the number of residents living at their property onSpey Street in Fochabers fell from six to just one last year.
A marketing campaign failed to find any new clients, and thehouse is now expected to be put on the market by the end of nextweek.
Chairman Richard Hammock believes that the closure is related togovernment care provision changing to a focus on keeping people intheir own homes for longer and a need for more intensive care to beprovided when they leave.
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court loosened restrictions Monday on corporate- and union-funded television ads that air close to elections, weakening a key provision of a landmark campaign finance law.
The court, split 5-4, upheld an appeals court ruling that an anti-abortion group should have been allowed to air ads during the final two months before the 2004 elections. The law unreasonably limits speech and violates the group's First Amendment rights, the court said.
The case involved advertisements that Wisconsin Right to Life was prevented from broadcasting. The ads asked voters to contact the state's two senators, Democrats Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, and urge them not to filibuster President Bush's judicial nominees.
Feingold, a co-author of the campaign finance law, was up for re-election in 2004.
The provision in question was aimed at preventing the airing of issue ads that cast candidates in positive or negative lights while stopping short of explicitly calling for their election or defeat. Sponsors of such ads have contended they are exempt from certain limits on contributions in federal elections.
Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by his conservative allies, wrote a majority opinion upholding the appeals court ruling.
The majority itself was divided in how far justices were willing to go in allowing issue ads.
Three justices, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, would have overruled the court's 2003 decision upholding the constitutionality of the provision.
Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito said only that the Wisconsin group's ads are not the equivalent of explicit campaign ads and are not covered by the court's 2003 decision.
That court, differently composed, upheld large portions of the law in its 2003 decision, including the provision in question in the current case.
On Monday, Justice David Souter, joined by his three liberal colleagues, said in his dissent that the court "effectively and, unjustifiably, overruled" the earlier decision.
The ads could have been run, Souter pointed out, had they been paid for out of the group's political action committee, which is subject to federal campaign finance limits. Or Feingold's name could have been omitted, he said.
"Thus, what is called a 'ban' on speech is a limit on the financing of electioneering broadcasts by entities...that insist on acting as conduits from the campaign war chests of business corporations," Souter said.
Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens joined Souter's dissent.
The Bush administration urged the court to ban the ads, arguing that they were meant to influence the elections, not lobby the senators.
The consolidated case is Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, 06-969, and McCain v. Wisconsin Right to Life, 06-970.
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatia's president has asked the leader of a center-left coalition that won the country's election to form the new government.
The coalition headed by Zoran Milanovic won 80 seats in the country's 151-seat parliament in the Dec. 4 vote, defeating the conservatives who had ruled virtually unchallenged for years.
The new parliament, which will meet for the first time next week, will need to approve Milanovic's Cabinet.
Milanovic said Wednesday "we must pull Croatia out of crisis and restore people's trust in the system."
The conservatives lost the election over declining living standards and high unemployment in the country that is set to join the EU in 2013.
Dance Delight - Joan Gray and the folks over at Muntu Dance Theatre are readying for "Building on a Legacy," their 31st Annual Fall Concert Series, Dec. 5-9, at the Gary Comer Youth Center, 7200 S. Ingleside Ave.
The series will feature the world premiere of a new work, Sweet Nina, by renowned choreographer and dancer, Diedre Dawkins A tribute to Nina Simone, Sweet Nina, will celebrate her power as a woman and her energy and spirit as the High Priestess of Soul.
Other works featured in this concert include Guide, choreographed by Brazilian choreographer, Rosangela Silvestre, the winner of the African American Arts Alliance's Black Excellence Award for Dance; Keep on Swingin …
The leader of South Africa's long-dominant ANC was treated like a president-elect Saturday after his party swept parliamentary elections _ though not with the two-thirds majority it won easily in the last vote.
A split in the ANC and questions about Jacob Zuma's fitness to govern after sex and corruption scandals no doubt contributed to the party's loss of support. But Zuma insisted he was not disappointed, telling reporters: "We have won a decisive majority."
But not the two-thirds of the 400-member parliament that would allow it to enact major budgetary plans or legislation unchallenged, or change the constitution _ though Zuma says charges from …
KABUL, Afghanistan - Seven children were killed in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike targeting suspected al-Qaida militants in eastern Afghanistan, a coalition statement said Monday. The strike came hours after the deadliest insurgent attack since the Taliban fell in 2001.
Police said Monday they had detained a suspect in connection with the deadly suicide bombing that destroyed a bus full of police instructors at Kabul's busiest transportation hub, killing 35 people and wounding 52.
In an operation backed by Afghan troops, jets on Sunday targeted a compound that also contained a mosque and a madrassa, or Islamic school, in the Zarghun Shah district of Paktika province. …
Multitudes by Afaa Michael Weaver Sarabande Books, July 2000, $14.95, ISBN 1-889-33041-8
Afaa Michael Weaver's new and selected poetry collection, follows the poet's career across his five books published since 1985. His poems, grouped chronologically, reveal that, while his tools and conventions have evolved over the years, the voice is consistently that of a romantic who does not compromise strength for sentimentality. Poems such as the inaugural "Water Song" are marked by quiet reverence and explore an eternal present in which "The dead come back to old folk in the country to talk." Equally indicative of the poet's sense of spirituality is Weaver's incantatory …
Byline: DANIELLE FURFARO - Staff Writer
Schaghticoke
Even though the high noon sun is shining brightly and the sounds of laughing children can be heard in the distance, it's easy to get just a little bit scared as you make your way through the never-ending rows of the Liberty Ridge corn maze.
There are so many paths to take, so many rows spiraling out in all directions. They all seem to lead to ... more corn.
But then you reach one of the many "passport" points within the maze. You look down at the questionnaire in your hand and answer a simple question. With that answer, the sign tells you which way to go. To get out or stay in.
Over the past eight years, Liberty Ridge has become a fall tradition for thousands of families who …
Byline: Associated Press
Despite damage from the Persian Gulf war, Iraq can rebuild its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons capacity within a few years, CIA Director Robert Gates told Congress on Wednesday.
Biological weapons production could be brought back most quickly, Gates said at a hearing of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Chemical weapons could be produced almost immediately in modest quantities and production could be fully restored in a year or so, he said.
Restarting the …
When 72-year-old Gladys Dressner first saw two snakes last in her new apartment last month, she froze. Days later, when an eight-inch snake crawled across her bed, she screamed. Finally, after stepping on a baby black rat snake, she moved.
A Maryland exterminator killed six snakes that were captured in Dressner's Middletown apartment. All six were about eight inches long and harmless. The exterminator suspects a previous tenant …
SPRINGFIELD A teenager was seriously hurt when he was thrown froma bull in an Illinois State Fair rodeo.
Edward Troxell, 16, from Downstate Ashland, apparently was thrownforward while riding the bull Wednesday night, hitting his …
Agent says 'Baywatch' star has reupped for another season
Amid rumors that he was planning to leave the action series Baywatch, the show's star and executive producer David Hasselhoff has signed a new, one-year deal with Pearson Television executives that will keep him on the beach through the 1999-2000 season.
Sources also say the nine-year-old syndicated program will likely be leaving its longtime Southern California home for a new locale in Sydney, Australia. The cast and production team just finished taping two episodes in Australia that will air during this month's key sweeps period. Pearson Television's programming head Joe Scotti says Pearson has a …
HEADLANDS School is starting to move forward since being placed in special measures, Ofsted inspectors say.
They visited earlier this month to check if things were getting better and said progress so far has been "satisfactory".
Headlands was placed in special measures in February after Ofsted found a number of serious failings during an inspection.
But since then, executive headteacher Chris Abbott, from South Hunsley School, and a new deputy headteacher have been installed.
The inspectors' latest report says: "The executive headteacher has given a much-needed strategic direction to school improvement work.
"Together with the …
Byline: ALAN WECHSLER Staff writer
The University at Albany made errors while dealing with plagiarism by a professor, President Karen Hitchcock told more than 100 professors Wednesday at a forum on campus.
But the aim of the discussion was to show that administrators were not trying to hide anything and that the university wants to improve procedures should such an incident happen again, she said.
University officials were informed in December 2000 that classics professor Louis Roberts had used someone else's translations for a book he compiled about historic documents on Cyprus. But it was not until February that Roberts was fired as chairman of the …
Byline: Owen Ullmann Knight-Ridder
John Sununu was neither kind nor gentle.
When Senate Republicans put out the word last fall that President Bush had thrown in the towel on getting a capital-gains tax cut in 1989 - his top domestic priority for the year - the White House chief of staff exploded.
Grabbing the telephone, he called Senate GOP Leader Robert Dole's press secretary, Walt Riker, screamed in between obscenities that it was the "spineless" Republicans - not Bush - who had given up, and then slammed down the phone.
The fury passed as quickly as it erupted. With a devilish look on his face and a twinkle in his eye, he turned to an aide: "I think he got my point."
Never in his wildest dreams would gentleman George Bush behave in such a crude manner. But he also wanted to deliver a strong message to congressional Republicans. That's why he has …
Spain's Supreme Court says it will investigate a judge who expelled a Muslim lawyer from a trial for wearing a head scarf.
The court said in a statement Thursday it accepted a petition from attorney Zoubida Barik Edidi, who accuses the National Court judge of discrimination and abuse of authority.
Spanish law stipulates that trial lawyers must wear black robes but makes no …
HANOI, Vietnam - Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer witnessed the signing of an agreement Monday requiring all of Vietnam's government offices to use licensed computer software in a step to curb rampant piracy.
"The agreement demonstrates very strong commitments of the government of Vietnam," in protecting intellectual property rights, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told Ballmer before the signing ceremony.
Vietnam's Ministry of Finance was the first government agency to sign the Microsoft Office licensing agreement during a visit by company Chairman Bill Gates last year.
"I see a prosperous future ahead for Vietnam, and the country is doing the right things by …
Queensland, Australia, company, Endurequip, has unveiled two sets of hoists with capacities of 44 tonnes and 100 tonnes, respectively.
The hoists are fully mobile and can be used in any location, says the manufacturer, doing away with the need for overhead crane systems in workshops.
Portalift's units can also be used outside and in remote locations.
Driven by linear bearing technology, the hoists are built to exacting standards to ensure maximum …
Byline: Combined wire services
SAO PAULO, Brazil - A day after Ronaldo claimed in a TV interview to have worked as an ambassador for UNICEF, the United Nation's children's agency said the Brazilian soccer star has no official link to the organization.
In an interview on Brazil's Globo TV on Sunday, Ronaldo said his encounter with prostitutes last week will "not interfere" with his post as a UNICEF ambassador. "Nothing will get in the way of my position as an ambassador," Ronaldo said.
In a statement on its Brazilian Web site, UNICEF on Monday said Ronaldo "is not and has never been an ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund and has no …
ALBANY -- A paving company and its two owners have been hit with nearly $30,000 in penalties and restitution following accusations they overcharged customers and in at least one case intimidated a client into paying by having burly workers take the man to the bank, officials said.
The decision by Justice Joseph Harris also puts Asphalt Unlimited and its operators, Joseph J. Angelo Jr., and William McNally, out of business until they post a $100,000 bond.
Attorney General Dennis C. Vacco, whose office took the company to court, said the pair preyed on more than a dozen customers, many of them elderly, ``intimidating them into allowing blacktopping work to be …
Britain's Supreme Court is to rule on whether human rights legislation that enshrines the right to life protects troops in combat.
The ruling is expected Wednesday after the British government appealed a lower court decision that said the Human Rights Act applied to soldiers everywhere _ even at war.
The defense ministry has argued it would be …
THESE DAYS, VOLUNTEERS IN NEW ORLEANS'S Lower Ninth Ward can be found trimming, uprooting, and generally hacking at vines, ferns, and feral shrubbery. Louisiana has a lot of "exuberant vegetation," as one Tulane biologist has put it, and when you contemplate the alacrity with which nature is reclaiming the Lower Ninth Ward, you do sense a certain creepy vegetable enthusiasm. Many buildings have been demolished, and many that remain are vacant. Particularly after nightfall, when the few illuminated homes glow like oil platforms in splendid isolation, the overall impression is of one vast sea of weeds stretching as far as the eye can see-all the way to the downtown skyline, with its rookery …
BRIGHTON, MI--Promess Inc. has opened an engineering and applications support center in Madison, AL. The new facility will be managed by Greg Cooke, who will serve as engineering and support supervisor.
"This facility is strategically located to serve our growing customer base in the thriving automotive and aerospace manufacturing communities in the Southern states," says Promess President Larry Stockline.
"[It will provide] responsive, local application development, sales and service support for systems using …
MERRITT ISLAND, FL -- Jeffrey Skaarup, 55, died early the morning of Saturday, October 14, 2000 at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas, NV. He was a native and longtime resident of the Capital District area before moving to Florida in June of 2000. Jeff is survived by sisters, Gerry Ryan and Sandy …
Citing a long wait for trial, lawyers for a Guantanamo detainee have asked a judge to dismiss charges against him in the deadly 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.
The lawyers for Ahmed Ghailani made the arguments in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan and released Tuesday.
They said their client's case raised the question of whether national security can trump an indicted defendant's constitutional right to a speedy trial.
"We respectfully submit that the answer is empathetically and without qualification, `No,'" the lawyers wrote.
Janice Oh, a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors in Manhattan, said …
I share scepticism about the New7Wonders of Nature initiative, which does not give nominated sites internationally recognised status.
This feels like a self-promoting and income-generating exercise for the organisation. The popular vote method, by phone, internet or SMS, of nominating a natural wonder (or pop idol) is entertaining but has little serious merit. Of course people in different parts of the world will nominate their own site. What does it prove?
The method is designed to generate income for the producer through to the elimination stage.
We're not told how much money local SMS and MXit voting raised for the organisation. The New7Wonders voting …
