Goodwill scam probe widens // Millions in land deals by 2 execs questioned

Two former Goodwill Industries executives are being investigatedas the masterminds behind a burgeoning -charity scandal involvingmillions of dollars in shady financial schemes and bogus land deals.

Nearly every local and federal investigative agency in Chicagois trying to untangle the multifaceted scam to determine how much waslooted from the social service agency.

But the losses go beyond money, as Goodwill attempts to regaincredibility in the devastating aftermath of the two executives'seven-year tenure at the 67-year-old charity. Goodwill officialssaid contributions have dropped and some fund-raising activities havebeen curtailed because of the …

Stocks Fall on Caterpillar, Google Earns

NEW YORK - Stocks fell Friday, retreating from record levels following disappointing results from longtime favorites Caterpillar Inc. and Google Inc. The Dow Jones industrials at times gave up more than 100 points.

In the bond market, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note hovered around the 5 percent level, recently slipping below that threshold.

The pullback in stocks came a day after the Dow Jones industrial average finished above 14,000 for the first time and the Standard & Poor's 500 index likewise logged a record close. While a retrenchment might not be surprising following the market's recent strong gains, Caterpillar, one of the 30 stocks that …

Marva Wright hospitalized after stroke

New Orleans blues singer Marva Wright has been hospitalized after a stroke.

Relatives say the 61-year-old Wright had just finished her regular gig at the CoCo Club on Bourbon Street early Saturday when paramedics were called because the singer wasn't feeling well and had slurred speech.

Wright's daughter, Gerry McKey, said Tuesday her mother remains in a local …

House Votes to Allow Data On Race in Death Appeals

WASHINGTON The House on Wednesday voted narrowly to make itsignificantly easier for defendants convicted of capital crimes tochallenge death sentences as racially biased.

The bill's language would allow inmates on Death Row to usestatistics on racial disparity to challenge their sentences. In viewof the fact that implementation of capital punishment laws arelargely the province of state legislatures and state courts,Congress' authority to do this is uncertain.

The bill, as it stands, would apply to current Death Rowinmates, but House Judiciary Chairman Jack Brooks (D-Texas) promisedto drop the retroactive provision in an upcoming conference with …

Nigeria: 1 soldier killed in suspected sect attack

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian soldier has been killed and another wounded in a suspected attack by a radical Muslim sect in northeastern Nigeria.

Borno state Police Commissioner Mohammed Abubakar on Sunday said the attack on the soldiers came early Saturday morning as the two men ate at a local restaurant. A witness told The Associated Press that the assailants fired a Kalashnikov rifle at the …

China's economic growth eases slightly to 10.6 percent while inflation remains above 8 percent

China's robust economy slowed only slightly in the first quarter despite global gloom, while inflation stayed above 8 percent in March, the government said Wednesday, adding to pressure to rein in prices that are battering Chinese consumers.

The world's fourth-largest economy expanded by a still impressive 10.6 percent in January-March from a year earlier, down from the previous quarter's 11.2 percent rate, amid weaker global demand for exports and government steps to cool an investment boom.

Consumer prices rose 8.3 percent in March over the same month last year, down only slightly from February's 8.7 percent, the highest rate in nearly 12 years, according …

Fresh hope that Lee will stay

The Dons have stepped up efforts to persuade striker Lee Millerto sign a new deal.

Dons boss Jimmy Calderwood confirmed he has held further talkswith Miller pictured.

The Dons have already rejected a pounds110,000 offer fromBlackpool for the player and Calderwood is confident Miller willdecide to stay at Pittodrie. Calderwood …

BLACK CAUCUS SAYS NO TO HOMELAND SECURITY BILL

While a high-stakes drama is playing out all across the world -- the scheduled execution of a Pakistani who killed two CIA employees and placed Chicago's hospitals on high alert -- Black House members voted against Bush's Homeland Security bill which they say is anti-worker.

Even though Iraqi President Saddam Hussein caved in and agreed to the U.N.'s resolution to allow inspections for weapons of mass destruction, Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-7th) said it does not avert a possible war.

The showdown between the United States and Iraq is perhaps very near officials fear. With warnings of potential terrorist acts, given the execution of Aimal Khan Kasi, 38, scheduled to die by …

Chinese, Cuban boxers into Olympic semis

Chinese light flyweight Zou Shiming, featherweight Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine and Cuban welterweight Carlos Banteaux were the stars of Olympic boxing Friday with classy wins.

Zou blanked Paddy Barnes of Ireland 15-0 in the best effort of his high-pressure home Olympics, advancing to the finals with two of his Chinese teammates.

Lomachenko put on his fourth straight dazzling display of speed and skill, while Banteaux coolly headed to the finals with a four-man Cuban delegation, the biggest in Beijing.

Light welterweight Alexis Vastine screamed in protest over a harsh last-minute penalty which decided his tied bout. An hour afterward, Rudi Obreja …

Downturn? Insurance spawns a spurt in jobs ; Insurers believe the financial crisis has reduced the cost of manpower and real estate which they are keen to acquire for future growth.

India is in the grip of a slowdown and at a time when virtuallyevery sector is cutting down on hirings, insurance seems to bestanding its ground. What's more, the Mumbai terror attack, and theones before it, will only increase the demand for insurance.SaysRajesh Relan, Managing Director, MetLife Insurance India:We havealways seen in the times of high insecurity, purchase decisions ofprospective customers become faster.Little surprise then, severalprivate players both life insurance and general insuranceare ontrack with their recently rolled-out plans for hiring in the nexttwo-three years.Sample these numbers. Max New York Life Insurance,which currently has around 15,000 …

Stocks Try to Recoup on ISM Report

NEW YORK - Wall Street tried to stage a comeback Thursday, with the Dow Jones industrials erasing much of an earlier 209-point drop after a stronger-than-expected reading of the Institute for Supply Management's assessment of manufacturing activity in February.

Investors showed their relief about manufacturing by buying some of the stocks that were pummeled in Tuesday's drop that sliced 416 points off the Dow. Fears about the U.S. economy contributed to that plunge, and a halfhearted rebound on Wednesday followed soothing words from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

The ISM figure of 52.3 was stronger than the 50.0 reading analysts had been expecting. The index is an …

Georgians pull out of Eurovision over Putin jab

A Georgian group says it is pulling out of the Eurovision Song Contest in a dispute over lyrics poking fun at Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Producers and members of Stephane and 3G say they will not bend to organizers' demands that they change the lyrics or choose a different song for the contest.

Moscow hosts the kitschy annual contest in May. …

Five Ways to Create Successful Virtual Teams

Today, many companies have nearly half of their employees working on virtual teams. Unfortunately, our research finds that many enterprises recycle the same guidelines they use for their co-located teams and hope for the best. Frankly, that doesn't work.

To help organizations maximize their investment in virtual collaboration, OnPoint Consulting conducted a study of 48 virtual teams to understand the success factors of top-performing virtual teams. Below are five lessons-excerpted from our book, Virtual Team Success: A Practical Guide for Working and Leading from a Distance (Jossey- Bass/A Wiley, 2010)-for creating successful virtual teams.

Lesson No. 1: Focus on people issues. Virtual teams need to compensate for the lack of human contact. Look for warning signs that a team's people issues need more attention: team members working independently or teams with an "us versus them" mentality between locations or subgroups, for example.

Lesson No. 1 in action:

*Develop a team Web page to share information and build relationships.

*Use real-time communication tools such as instant messaging or social media sites to create a virtual water cooler of sorts that enables spontaneous communication.

*Send electronic newsletters or updates to the team.

*Periodically collect feedback from various stakeholders to assess the team's performance.

Lesson No. 2: No trust, no team. In virtual teams, trust develops more readily at the task level than at the interpersonal level. There are three warning signs that trust is in low supply in virtual teams: team members do not refer to themselves as "we"; they do not appear to know one another well; and they do not regard other team members as credible.

Lesson No. 2 in action:

* Make sure teams meet face to face at least once.

* Avoid micromanaging and empower team members to make-and act on-decisions.

* Help people manage conflicts rather than avoiding them.

* Clearly define team roles and accountabilities to minimize frustration and misunderstandings that can damage morale.

Lesson No. 3: "Soft" skills are essential. Soft skills make a difference in virtual team performance. We found that virtual teams that have skill development activities perform better than those that don't.

Lesson No. 3 in action:

* Use criteria and/or assessments when selecting individuals for virtual teams.

* Use team-building sessions to help team members strengthen relationships and team effectiveness.

* Assess team development needs and conduct skill-building on these areas.

Lesson No. 4: Create a high-touch environment. Technology has made virtual teaming possible, but it is not a substitute for human interaction. In addition to making virtual interaction more "human," it's critical that virtual team members meet in person. Yes, that requires time and money, but virtual teams that invest in one or two such meetings per year perform better than those that don't.

Lesson No. 4 in action:

* Leverage synchronous tools (e.g., IM) to increase spontaneous communication.

* Use tools such as electronic bulletin boards to create a sense of shared space.

* Choose communication technologies that are most appropriate to the task.

* Make wider use of video conferencing. Our research suggests that teams that use video technology perform better than those that don't.

Lesson No. 5: Virtual team leadership matters. Research shows that leadership does have a statistically significant correlation with higher virtual team performance. Virtual team leaders must be sensitive to interpersonal communication and cultural factors.

Lesson No. 5 in action:

* Set clear goals and direction and revisit these as priorities shift.

* Be responsive and accessible.

* Create a system to easily integrate new team members.

* Celebrate team achievements and successes.

Organizations set up virtual teams to address a particular business need, but many jump in without understanding what they are getting into. Better planning could dramatically improve their odds for success. There is a formula for success, and all today's virtual teams need to do is put it to work.

[Author Affiliation]

Richard Lepsinger is president of OnPoint Consulting and has a 25-year track record of success as an organizational consultant and executive. In addition to writing Closing the Execution Gap, he has coauthored four books on leadership.

Darleen DeRosa, Ph.D., is a managing partner at OnPoint Consulting. In addition to Virtual Team Success, she has published book chapters and articles.

Stewart wins first Cup points race as team owner

Tony Stewart won his first Cup points race as a team owner, coming from the rear of the field and taking a late gamble on fuel to win at Pocono Raceway.

The Sprint Cup points leader had to start at the back of Sunday's race because a practice accident forced him into his backup car. Then Stewart figured he could drive the final 41 laps without a pit stop and it paid off, helping snap a 19-race winless streak dating to last season.

Stewart won the All-Star race last month for Stewart-Haas Racing, and this victory again stamped himself as a true threat to win his third Cup title.

"It's just a little different when you're the one that's got to be accountable," Stewart said.

Stewart is the first owner/driver to win a points race since Ricky Rudd at Martinsville in 1998. Carl Edwards was second, followed by David Reutimann, Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman.

"I didn't think he was going to be a factor," Edwards said of Stewart. "I was sure he was going to run out."

The first Cup points race with double-file restarts finished without a problem. The drivers meeting lasted nearly 30 minutes as last-minute questions were answered on the new restart rules that line up the 43-car field following a yellow.

"I'm sure they'll refine it and make it better, but I think it worked out pretty good," Reutimann said.

After a caution, Stewart led the field to the green flag with 45 laps to go in the 500-mile race. His 6-second lead over Edwards with 10 laps left kept getting whittled away as Stewart eased off the gas and didn't push his car to save fuel.

With a lead in the points standings and a spot in the Chase for the championship all but assured, Stewart could afford to take a risk.

The two-time Cup champion sure knows about taking risks _ and having them work out.

Stewart's secret to his fuel strategy?

"I'm not telling," he said, laughing.

Stewart won the race on fumes, but his own operation seems to have plenty of fuel.

He's destroyed all expectations in his first season as owner and driver for SHR. It was the first points victory since he left Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of last year after 10 successful seasons to become co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing.

This was the first points victory for the team since their 2002 debut as Haas CNC Racing.

His second-place finish last week at Dover allowed him to become the first driver/owner to lead the points since Alan Kulwicki won the 1992 Cup championship, a span of 556 races.

Stewart stretched his lead over Gordon in the standings to 71 points.

"The things that he set out to accomplish this year were huge. I personally didn't believe he could get it done," Edwards said. "I'm extremely impressed with that. I can only imagine how good that feels to get that done."

When rain washed out qualifying on Friday, Stewart automatically sat on the pole as the points leader. He called this season one big dream and hoped he didn't wake up and realize it was time to get ready to go to Daytona.

Stewart wrecked his car in practice Saturday, then took some of the fastest laps of the day in his backup. He joked that if he knew the backup was that strong, he would have crashed the first one right away.

Edwards is still looking for his first victory of the season.

"I'll probably be happy later today, but man, to be that close to victory and not win, that was frustrating," he said. "The points are great though. I'll definitely take something good out of this."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a tough second week with crew chief Lance McGrew and was 27th. Jimmie Johnson ran out of fuel at the end and finished seventh.

"At the end, we were just playing the fuel game and I didn't play it hard enough," Johnson said.

Reutimann, long a journeyman driver, jumped into 11th place in the Chase standings. Mark Martin fell out of the top 12 with a 19th-place finish.

Terror Suspect Pleads Guilty at Gitmo

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - An Australian accused of helping the Taliban fight the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan pleaded guilty Monday to providing material support for terrorism, a step lawyers said would assure his transfer from Guantanamo to a prison in Australia.

David Hicks, 31, was the first of hundreds of Guantanamo detainees to make such a plea at this U.S. Navy base since the first terror suspects were brought here in 2002. On Monday, he also became the first detainee to face prosecution under revised military tribunals set up after the Supreme Court found the Pentagon's previous system for trying Guantanamo prisoners unconstitutional.

He could be sentenced by the end of the week, military officials said. Defense attorneys said a gag order by the military judge prevented them from discussing details of the plea until a sentence is announced and it could not be immediately determined whether there was a formal plea bargain.

"If I was a betting man, I'd say the odds are good" that Hicks will be home by the end of the year, Air Force Col. Morris Davis, the chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo tribunals, told reporters after Hicks entered his plea.

In the days leading up to the hearing, defense attorneys said Hicks did not expect a fair trial and was severely depressed and considering a plea deal to end his five-year imprisonment at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

The United States has agreed to let Hicks serve any sentence in Australia.

"This is the first step toward David returning to Australia," said David McLeod, an Australian attorney for Hicks.

The heavyset Hicks appeared at his hearing wearing a khaki prison jumpsuit. The Muslim convert shaved his beard before his arraignment but kept the long hair that his attorney says he uses to block the constant light in his cell.

Hicks' military attorney, Marine Corps Maj. Michael Mori, told the judge, Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, that his client was pleading guilty to one of two counts of providing material support for terrorism and not guilty to the other. Asked by Kohlmann if this was correct, Hicks said solemnly: "Yes, sir."

Japan forex reserves at record after intervention

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's foreign exchange reserves hit an all-time high in September after the central bank intervened in currency markets for the first time in more than six years.

Japan's international reserves rose for the fourth straight month to $1.11 trillion as of Sept. 30, up $39.45 billion from a month earlier, the Ministry of Finance said Thursday.

The previous record of $1.07 trillion was recorded in November 2009.

Japan bought dollars and sold yen on Sept. 15 in an effort to weaken the Japanese currency, whose recent strength poses a major risk to the export-driven economy. A strong yen reduces the value of companies' overseas profits when repatriated and hurts the price competitiveness of their products in foreign markets.

The foreign ministry revealed last week that it spent 2.12 trillion on currency intervention in the month through Sept. 28.

The move worked initially, weakening the yen as hoped. But the impact was short-lived. The yen struck yet another 15-year high — 82.75 yen to the dollar — Wednesday in New York.

The dollar is sliding broadly on expectations that the Federal Reserve is preparing to ease monetary policy at its next meeting. That would drive down interest rates and dampen the dollar's appeal to investors.

Concerned about the yen and persistent deflation, Japan's central bank returned to a virtually zero rate policy this week and announced plans to set up a 5 trillion yen asset-buying fund that aims to lower long-term interest rates.

Japan's foreign reserves are the second biggest in the world after China's. Its assets include U.S. Treasurys, deposits at foreign central banks and gold.

Residents go flat out in a bid to recycle

People in flats are recycling more thanks to the success of acouncil project.

Bath and North East Somerset Council has been involved in ascheme to raise awareness of the facilities for people living inflats, shared houses and university accommodation to recycle theirwaste.

The project, which ran from September 2006 to February this year,was funded by the Waste and Resources Action Programme.

The number of people in flats who say they are now using minirecycling centres at their accommodation has increased by more than28 per cent.

In January and February this year, the council collected morewaste put out for recycling at such centres than it had in theperiod from January to March last year - a figure of 622 tonnescompared to 554 tonnes.

The number of people in flats using the council's weekly greenbox recycling collection service has also risen.

Cllr Charles Gerrish, cabinet member for customer services, said:"It is great news that the amount being recycled is increasing everyyear as more and more people realise how important it is.

"We'd like to pass on a big thank you to the people of Bath andNorth East Somerset for their continued efforts to help reduce theamount of rubbish we have to send to landfill."

To find out more about recycling services contact 01225 394041,email councilconnect@bathnes.gov.uk or see the council's websitewww.bathnes.gov.uk/wasteservices.

Penguins' Evgeni Malkin tears 2 knee ligaments

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin has two torn knee ligaments, and it's not clear if he'll need surgery.

Malkin was injured during Friday's game against the Buffalo Sabres. Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said an MRI on Saturday showed tears to the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments. Bylsma said treatment options were being discussed.

Malkin, the NHL All-Star center who has 15 goals and 22 assists this season, had just returned from a five-game absence.

"You're talking about Evgeni Malkin and the quality of player that he is. He's a guy that's won a scoring title and a Conn Smythe (trophy)," Bylsma said. "We were anticipating getting him back in the lineup and healthy back in the lineup. This is a difficult injury for him."

Malkin nursed a knee problem as well as a sinus infection over this latest absence, which included him skipping the All-Star Game. But he practiced with the team this week, and managed three shots vs. the Sabres. However, he had just 6:03 of playing time, before colliding with defenseman Tyler Myers in the second period.

"It was kind of a fluke situation going into the boards with a guy," Bylsma said. "That's a tough injury for Geno. We have dealt with games without him. We've managed to find our way without him. That's what we're going to have to look at now."

Malkin is in his fifth year in the NHL, and has had at least 70 points in his first four. He has two 100-point seasons, and scored a career-high 47 goals in 2007-08.

`Racist' U.S. policies against Africa must end: Three agencies

The U.S. foreign policy towards Africa described as "biased and racist" came under attack this week from three agencies that called on the Bush administration to make amends and promote human development in Africa.

"Historically, the U.S. has segregated Africa within foreign policy, relegating it to a second-class status and depriving it of resources and attention," Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action, said while addressing a seminar on U.S. policy towards Africa in Washington, D.C..

While denouncing last week's cancellation of president George Bush's trip to Africa, Booker urged him to make amends by assisting the Black continent to redress the impact of HIV/AIDS which has killed over 25 million globally, three-quarter of these in Sub-Saharan Africa.

"The HIV/AIDS crisis is the most urgent crises facing the African continent today and should be a top foreign policy priority of the U.S. It is far more a threat than terrorism or the alleged existence of Iraq weapons," Booker said.

The illegitimate debt foisted on Africa during the Cold War has incapacitated the continent from devoting enough money to fight the dreaded decease according to Marie Clarke, the national coordinator, Jubilee 2000 USA Network. She added that SubSahara Africa pays $40 million weekly to service its $170 billion deficit.

She explained that most of the debt were either stolen from the continent as in the case of the $8.5 billion looted by Mobutu Seseseko in Zaire or spent on destabilization programs and secret police as it happened in South Africa during the Apartheid era.

The panel also cited the failure of the economic policies of IMF and the World Bank as another factor responsible for the huge debt in Africa. "We knew when those loans were being stolen but we kept quiet and protected the leaders that stole them because of the Cold War alliances," Clarke.

Adotei Akwei, the advocacy director for Amnesty International USA deplored the successful oversight of Congress in redressing Africa's problematic situation by rejecting on six different occasions bills that would have stopped warlords from trading diamond and other African mineral resources for weapons to wage tribal wars.

He accused Congress of blocking the bills because 48 percent of illegal diamond buyers are Americans. The panel called on both the Bush administration and Congress to change the biased foreign policies and support the debt cancellation in Africa.

"It should be U.S. policy that 50 percent of funding be devoted to providing treatment to all those living with HIV/AIDS in Africa, Booker said.

Eighteen million out of the 25 million killed by AIDS across the world are from Sub-Sahara Africa, he said, stressing that illegitimate debt foisted on the continent during the Cold War has incapacitated the Africa continent.

Photograph (Thabo Mbeki)

Pierce Wants to Finish Career With Celtics

WALTHAM, Mass. - Last summer, a frustrated Paul Pierce wasn't sure he wanted to stay with the Boston Celtics and basketball chief Danny Ainge wouldn't commit to keeping him. Now Pierce is looking forward to spending the rest of his career with the team and Ainge is hailing him as "the best player and the best leader the Celtics have had" since the late 1980s.

"I just feel like I'm getting better with age," Pierce said Tuesday, "becoming a smarter player, maturing as a player."

One day after signing a three-year contract extension that ties him to the Celtics for the next five seasons, Pierce smiled often while surrounded by Ainge, coach Doc Rivers and members of the ownership group at a news conference.

"I wanted to finish my career as a Celtic," Pierce said. "Hopefully, this is another step toward me doing it."

Gone was any sign of his sometimes rocky relationship with Rivers in 2004-05, the coach's first year with the Celtics. And it's been 14 months since he lost his cool and was ejected for elbowing Indiana's Jamaal Tinsley late in Game 6 of the first round of the playoffs, which Pierce said then was a "bonehead" play.

"I never once looked at Paul as an immature kid or a bad kid," said Ainge, Boston's executive director of basketball operations. "I just think that he didn't handle a situation right, like most of us at 26 and 27."

The 28-year-old Pierce, a five-time All-Star, had been concerned that with many young players on the roster, the Celtics might not become a contender before he retired.

Three weeks after the Celtics' 2004-05 season ended, Ainge didn't rule out trading Pierce, but said he wasn't eager to part with him.

"There were a lot of questions about my future as a Celtic last summer," Pierce said, "a lot of contemplating if this is the right place for me.

"As last summer went on, I knew I wanted to be here. I know I wanted to change things around with my attitude, my play. I knew I wanted to come back and lead the young guys."

Pierce is scheduled to make about $31.5 million over the next two years, including a player option for 2007-08. The extension adds three years and $59 million after that, a basketball official told The Associated Press, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the terms.

"Whenever you give a player a contract of this magnitude, you're always worried about the pressure of living up to that," Ainge said. "This is old hat for Paul. He's been making some pretty good money."

The Celtics were 33-49 last season, their worst record in seven seasons. But Pierce reached career highs of 26.8 points per game and a 47.1 shooting percentage despite suffering from bursitis in his left elbow. He's scheduled to have surgery on it Aug. 1 and doesn't expect it to set him back in training camp.

Pierce is the eighth leading scorer in team history and, if he reaches his career average of 1,775 points next season, would move up to sixth. If he averages that in each of the five years of his contract, he would pass Larry Bird for the second spot with 23,077 points and trail only John Havlicek with 26,395.

"He's comfortably in the top 10" of everyone who has played for the Celtics, Ainge said. "I think the best five years of his career can be in the next five years."

Pierce often seemed uncomfortable as a leader, a role filled by Antoine Walker, his teammate for 5 1/2 seasons but now with the champion Miami Heat. That appears to have changed with his current young teammates.

"I have a lot of fun with these guys," he said. "I love the fact that I have a chance each and every day to try to help them grow as players as well as individuals."

Without Pierce, the most senior Celtic would be Kendrick Perkins, who has been with the team just three seasons.

"I think it's important to establish a core," Rivers said. "Paul's always been part of the core and it's nice to know that he will be the core and now we have to add pieces to that. ... Having Paul to be the leader of that is extremely important."

Pierce, a Los Angeles native, did consider becoming a free agent after next season and said his agent, Jeff Schwartz, preferred that.

"Everybody thinks I'm supposed to be a Laker," Pierce said, "but my home is here, and I showed it today."

Bill requires diversity in Calif. pension funds

California's public pension funds would have to report the ethnicity and gender of some of the outside investment managers they hire under a bill that passed the state Assembly on Thursday.

The bill states that businesses owned by women and minorities are not adequately represented in the state's pension fund portfolios, compared to their proportion of California's population. It passed on a 41-22 vote and now moves to the state Senate.

California's Public Employees' Retirement System, which is known as CalPERS, and the State Teachers' Retirement System, known as CalSTRS, hire external companies to manage parts of their investment portfolios.

The bill seeks to increase the pension funds' business with what it terms "emerging investment managers." It defines those as qualified investment advisers who are women or members of a minority group, and who would manage a portfolio of between $10 million and $1 billion.

Supporters of the measure say the reporting requirement is necessary to ensure diversity in the investment contracts of California's pension funds. They want to see 10 percent of the funds' portfolios managed by emerging investment managers.

"You might think that we're trying to discuss issues of the 1950s about integration," said Assemblyman Mike Davis, D-Los Angeles, who introduced the bill. "We're talking here about the issue of inclusion."

Republican lawmakers opposed the legislation, saying the state constitution prevents such quotas. They cited Proposition 209, an initiative passed by voters in 1996, which prevents the state from granting preferential treatment to individuals or groups based on gender or ethnicity, among other characteristics, when granting public contracts.

"For us to be trying to micromanage the political nuances of issues, as opposed to reforming this dysfunctional body, I think is inappropriate in this time of economic calamity," said Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo.

Earlier this week, the CalPERS board delayed a decision about whether to seek an additional $600 million from state coffers. The additional money to pay the pensions of retirees is needed in part to offset investment losses in recent years.

The nation's largest public pension fund, which serves 1.6 million government employees and retirees, said it lost $55.2 billion in its 2008-09 fiscal year.

"It comes at precisely the wrong time, with CalPERS now facing a massive shortfall in its investment portfolio," said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, who is running for U.S. Senate.

Democrats countered that the bill would encourage diversity in investments, which could help the funds.

"It is true that our pension systems are in trouble, but it is not because minorities are involved," said Assemblyman Juan Arambula, I-Fresno. "The biggest opportunities for economic investments are in minority communities."

CalPERS hired a new investment diversity officer in March to reach out to emerging managers. Pat Macht, director of external affairs for CalPERS, said they are working to amend the bill.

"The definition in the bill is not consistent with how CalPERS defines emerging managers," Macht said.

CalSTRS defines an emerging manager or firm as one managing less than $2 billion in assets.

"I want not only the big Wall Street firms to have opportunities for financial management," Davis said. "When you look at the mortgage crisis, it wasn't the emerging firms that were at the heart of it."

___

The state Assembly bill is AB1913.

American denies aiding arms trader

An American indicted in the U.S. with arms trader Viktor Bout has called the charges against him "lies," and vowed to return home from Russia to challenge them in court.

Richard Chichakli tells The Associated Press that his indictment is "absurd" and "crazy."

The charges relate to allegations that a Bout-connected firm in Tajikistan sought to buy two Boeing aircraft in 2007, in violation of U.N. and U.S. sanctions aimed at halting the flow of arms to war zones in Africa.

Chichakli told the AP Friday that he is a friend of Bout, who is fighting extradition from Thailand on U.S. charges he attempted to smuggle arms to insurgents in Colombia.

Russia has no extradition treaty with the U.S.

Myth in the Works of Chingiz Aitmatov

Nina Kolesnikoff. Myth in the Works of Chingiz Aitmatov. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1999. 133 pp. $34.00, cloth.

Since the 1970s myth and legend have played a predominant role in Aitmatov's writings. And, as Nina Kolesnikoff points out, myth's role might have been too predominant. While Aitmatov's oeuvre has reflected his Kirghiz heritage from the very start, he employed elements of Central Asian epic and song traditions only sporadically early in his career. However, his pre-1970 writings are treated only briefly here. Professor Kolesnikoff goes on to devote separate chapters to The White Steamship (Belyi parokhod, 1970) and to Spotted Dog Running Along the Seashore (Pegii pes, begushchii kraem moria, 1977), works she extols as Aitmatov's most successful in the use of mythology. Her point, and it is well taken, is that in these works a single dominant myth, recounted relatively briefly in each case, mirrors the realistic action of the narrative and, what is more, serves to mediate between the past and the present. The ancient tale permeates every aspect of the work: the plot and the characters; the moral (a central concern in Aitmatov's exploitation of myth); and the elemental struggle that is at the core-between good and evil in the first story, between people and the forces of nature in the second. While in The White Steamship both the legend of the "Deer-Mother" and the chief characters are Kirghiz, in the later story the myth and the heroes belong to the Nivkhi, a small nationality from Eastern Siberia.

This reaching out beyond his Kirghiz origins becomes more and more typical for Aitmatov's later writing. Consider, for example, the use of Kazakh legends in The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years (I dol'she veka dlitsia den, 1980), the significance of the Gospels for The Place of the Skull (Plakha, 1986) and the importance of Greek myth, along with Biblical allusions, in The Mark of Cassandra (Tavro Kassandry, 1994). While some of Aitmatov's sources are clear (e.g., the New Testament, the Cassandra story), in other instances he draws upon less familiar regional legends and literary works. Kolesnikoff s study provides a notable service in suggesting sources for specific motifs in these longer works as well as in tracing the manifestations of myth throughout Aitmatov's later writings. Throughout, the volume contains valuable remarks on the ways in which Aitmatov modifies and interprets his sources, on the moral and ethical issues raised by the use of myth, and on the manner in which folkloric and mythic elements open up his works temporally, spatially, and thematically.

The book offers an important perspective from which to view many of Aitmatov's major writings. But its approach at times sees more limited than need be. Chapter 1, "Myth and Literary Criticism," offers a thoughtful if perhaps too brief introduction to the problem of defining myth as well as to the use of myth in modem literature. However, few of the topics discussed here seem to inform the later chapters, where the more theoretical sections of the analyses frequently fall back on elucidating binary oppositions in the text as reflecting the influence of myth. With all the contemporary scholarship on this topic, there would seem to be occasion for further probing into the complex relationships between myth and literature. At the other end of the volume, the conclusion highlights several topics that might have been explored in greater detail within the body of the study. For instance, only in the conclusion does the question arise regarding the success with which myth is integrated into the narratives, and then the issue is addressed in just a couple of paragraphs toward the very end. If the two novellas from the 1970s are the most satisfying in their use of myth, then both The Place of the Skull and The Mark of Cassandra, as Kolesnikoff notes, seem to suffer from an overuse of myth and a failure to bring together the various mythic elements, to say nothing of the narratives as a whole. More could have been done to discuss how myth affects literary quality in these instances, and this is particularly true of The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years, which not even the conclusion addresses from this standpoint. On the one hand, The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years includes some of the most striking mythic passages in all of Aitmatov's writing. For example, the mankurts-prisoners who have been transformed through brutal torture, into totally subservient slaves deprived of any past or independent will-serve as a powerful metaphor for efforts on the part of the modern state to ensure absolute obedience by destroying memory and by shielding its subjects from knowledge. Through such comparisons Aitmatov provides links among the disparate elements in this large novel. And yet critical opinion about the work remains divided: some have felt that even with the mythic elements this novel does not match Aitmatov's writings of the previous decade in terms of coherence and artistry. Since this is the work about which critical judgment seems most undecided, it would have been useful to enter into the debate.

More minor omissions occur as well. The massive Kirghiz epic Manas, a work that is clearly in large part responsible for Aitmatov's interest in mythology, is mentioned only in passing; a study concentrating on this topic might have been expected to give more attention to the greatest monument in the Kirghiz folk tradition. The chapter on The White Steamship includes a note on, but no further discussion of, Aitmatov's original title for this work, Posle skazki (After the Fairy Tale), which, had it been retained, would have pointed readers more to the story's use of folk elements. While Kolesnikoff discusses several early stories with mythic motifs, she does not mention the major early work Farewell, Gul'sary. Toward the end of that novella a prominent role is played by the story of Karagul, a legendary hunter lured to a cliff by a goat whose mate he has slain.

Thus, in certain regards, a fuller and more complex treatment of the topic would have been welcome. Nonetheless, Kolesnikoff s analyses devoted to individual works in general, and her discussions of how myth interacts with other elements of Aitmatov's writing in particular, will prove informative to those with an interest in this highly original and talented figure.

[Author Affiliation]

Barry Scherr, Dartmouth College

Exxon Mobil Profit Down, Sales at Record

Even Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's biggest publicly traded oil company and king of record corporate profits, couldn't overcome the negative effect higher crude oil prices had on its refining business in the third quarter.

The Irving, Texas-based company said Thursday its profit fell 10 percent in the July-September period, when lower natural gas prices and chemical margins also hurt the bottom line.

What's more, with oil prices reaching a new record of $96 a barrel Thursday before retreating somewhat, some analysts say refining margins could continue to drag on earnings in the fourth quarter.

"We expect high oil prices to curb demand growth and further squeeze refining margins," Oppenheimer & Co. said in a note Thursday to investors.

Those margins reflect the difference between what refiners pay for oil and what they are paid for the products they make from it, like gasoline. Exxon Mobil noted the average retail price for regular gasoline fell roughly 45 cents a gallon between the end of May and mid-October.

Houston-based Marathon Oil Corp. said Thursday it too fell victim to tighter refining margins in the third quarter, as net income fell 37 percent. But, unlike Exxon Mobil, Marathon's results still beat Wall Street earnings estimates.

Exxon Mobil's profit decline came even as it set a U.S. record for quarterly revenue.

Exxon Mobil said net income fell to $9.41 billion, or $1.70 per share, in the July-September period from $10.49 billion, or $1.77 per share, a year ago. Its profit in the third quarter of 2006 was the second-largest ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company.

Revenue rose to a record for gross sales of $102.3 billion from $99.59 billion in the third quarter of 2006. The previous mark _ also owned by Exxon Mobil _ was $100.7 billion in the third quarter of 2005, according to Standard & Poor's Senior Index Analyst Howard Silverblatt.

On average, analysts expected the company to earn $1.75 per share in the latest quarter on revenue of $112.97 billion.

Exxon Mobil shares fell $3.49, or about 3.8 percent, to $88.50 Thursday. They've traded in a range of $69.02 to $95.27 in the past year.

Despite the oil giant's lower year-over-year profit, Vice President of Investor Relations Henry Hubble said the company's fundamentals remain strong, and it continues to aggressively explore and tap new sources of hydrocarbons.

He said the company has launched six major oil and gas projects since the start of the year in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. During the quarter, Exxon Mobil also was the high bidder for Gulf of Mexico leases totaling more than 70,000 acres.

The company spent $5.4 billion on capital and exploration projects in the third quarter, an 8 percent increase from 2006.

But volatile commodity prices, higher costs and other factors hurt the bottom line in the most-recent quarter.

Exxon Mobil, which produces 3 percent of the world's oil, said earnings from its exploration and production arm fell about 3 percent _ to $6.29 billion from $6.49 billion a year ago.

Production on an oil-equivalent basis was down 2 percent from a year ago _ a concern for a company that generates more than two-thirds of its earnings from oil and gas production.

Part of the production decline was from the loss earlier this year of Exxon Mobil's Venezuelan operations. Exxon Mobil has filed a request for international arbitration in its dispute with Venezuela over the nationalization of its Cerro Negro heavy oil project _ one of four projects in which President Hugo Chavez's government assumed majority control in May.

Earnings at Exxon Mobil's refining and marketing unit were $2 billion in the quarter, off 27 percent from the $2.74 billion it earned a year ago.

Exxon Mobil joined two other oil majors that have reported lower third-quarter profits versus a year ago, citing weakness in their refining businesses. Last week, BP PLC, Europe's second-largest oil company, posted a 29 percent drop in third-quarter profit, while ConocoPhillips, No. 3 among U.S. oil companies, said its quarterly earnings fell 5 percent.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC, reporting July-September results last Thursday, said its net profit rose 16 percent, but it warned the underlying performance of its refining operations was weaker than it appeared.

Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings Friday.

Marathon said its net income for the three months ended Sept. 30 fell to $1.02 billion, or $1.49 per share, compared with $1.62 billion, or $2.26 per share, during the same period a year earlier.

Excluding foreign currency gains, the loss of long-term contracts in the U.K., and other adjustments, Marathon said it earned $1.02 billion, or $1.48 per share, compared with $1.54 billion, or $2.26 per share, last year.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had been expecting earnings of $1.38 per share, on average. Those forecasts typically exclude one-time adjustments.

Revenue rose to $16.95 billion, from $16.63 billion a year ago. That figure was more than $1 billion less than the $18.06 billion analysts had been expecting, according to Thomson.

PRACTICAL TIPS FOR SURGICAL RESEARCH: Introduction to the series

In the hierarchy of evidence, randomized controlled trials (RCT) are considered the highest-quality design for evaluating an intervention. They are most valuable when conducted with precision and the results are reported with adequate and sufficient information. Since the term "evidence-based medicine" was coined in the 1990s,1 there has been regular debate about the perceived deficiencies of the evidence-based practice model in surgical spe - cialties. Until recently, trials of surgical interventions have been uncommon, and much of the surgical decision-making has been based primarily on experience gained from poorly designed and low-quality studies such as case series. Several review articles have concluded that RCTs are not commonly reported in the surgical literature2-5 and that the quality of surgical trials are inferior compared with trials of medical interventions.3,5-7

As the number of published RCTs in the field of surgery increases, surgeons can use more high-quality evidence in their daily decision-making. With this increased focus on RCTs, we are realizing the spectrum of possible trials in surgery, including the comparison of new surgical procedures versus conventional procedures (type I), the comparison of surgical techniques to laparoscopic methods or to medical treatments (type II) and the evaluation of medical treatments (or drug trials) involving surgical patients (type III).8

One major difference between drug trials and surgical trials is that surgical trials require skills and training to administer the surgical procedure. Even for a fully trained surgeon, there is a learning process to become an expert at a new procedure. As well, there is inherent variation in the quality of performance of one procedure by different surgeons. Drug trials do not require any additional skills to administer an active medication (versus a placebo medication) to patients; however, surgical trials are prone to differential "expertise" bias. Along with a number of other challenges in surgical trials, including randomization, concealment, blinding, patient recruitment and differential expertise biases, improvements in both the quality of reporting and the conduct of surgical research are needed.

To complement the Canadian Journal of Surgery's focus on evidence-based practice, this new series of short papers will provide "Practical Tips for Surgical Research." Our goals are simple: to highlight the concepts of evidence-based surgery, discuss the methodological problems of conducting high-quality research in surgery and the potential biases introduced because of these problems and to provide surgeons and surgical researchers with the practical tips to avoid or minimize these biases. We will cover a broad range of concepts and methods that will be useful for producing high-quality evidence. We based our decision about the choice of topics to be covered in this series on a review of the literature, an evaluation of the reporting quality of published literature in different areas of surgery, highlighting the weaknesses of these reports and their impact on the quality of published evidence, as well as the group's experiences in conducting research involving surgical patients.6,8-14 We hope that surgical communities will find this evidence-based series informative, and we, in turn, are interested in receiving feedback from readers about how these tips might further be improved or modified for surgical research settings.

Competing interests: No funding was received for the preparation of this paper. Dr. Bhandari is funded, in part, by a Canada Research Chair at McMaster University.

Contributors: Drs. Farrokhyar and Bhandari initiated and cochaired this series of articles. They edited all manuscripts for accuracy and consistency of the concepts, content and format, as well as advised on all aspects of the project's development. They approved this article for publication.

[Reference]

References

1. Oxman AD, Sackett DL, Guyatt GH; The Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group. Users' guides to the medical literature. I. How to get started. JAMA 1993;270:2093-5.

2. Solomon MJ, McLeod RS. Surgery and the randomised controlled trial: past, present and future. Med J Aust 1998;169:380-3.

3. Solomon MJ, Laxamana A, Devore L, et al. Randomized controlled trials in surgery. Surgery 1994;115:707-12.

4. Solomon MJ, McLeod RS. Should we be performing more randomized controlled trials evaluating surgical operations? Surgery 1995;118:459-67.

5. Panesar SS, Thakrar R, Athanasiou T, et al. Comparison of reports of randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews in surgical journals: literature review. J R Soc Med 2006;99:470-2.

6. Farrokhyar F, Chu R, Whitlock R, et al. A systematic review of the quality of publications reporting coronary artery bypass grafting trials. Can J Surg 2007;50:266-77.

7. Jacquier I, Boutron I, Moher D, et al. The reporting of randomized clinical trials using a surgical intervention is in need of immediate improvement: a systematic review. Ann Surg 2006;244:677-83.

8. McCulloch P, Taylor I, Sasako M, et al. Randomised trials in surgery: problems and possible solutions. BMJ 2002;324:1448-51.

9. Poolman RW, Sierevelt IN, Farrokhyar F, et al. Perceptions and competence in evidence-based medicine: Are surgeons getting better? A questionnaire survey of members of the Dutch Orthopaedic Association. J Bone Joint Surg Am 2007;89:206-15.

10. Poolman RW, Abouali JA, Conter HJ, et al. Overlapping systematic reviews of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction comparing hamstring autograft with bone-patellar tendon-bone autograft: Why are they different? J Bone Joint Surg Am 2007;89:1542-52.

11. Poolman RW, Struijs PA, Krips R, et al. Reporting of outcomes in orthopaedic randomized trials: Does blinding of outcome assessors matter? J Bone Joint Surg Am 2007;89:550-8.

12. Zlowodzki M, Jonsson A, Bhandari M. Common pitfalls in the conduct of clinical research. Med Princ Pract 2006;15:1-8.

13. Thoma A. Challenges in creating a good randomized controlled trial in hand surgery. Clin Plast Surg 2005;32:563-73, vii.

14. Thoma A, Farrokhyar F, Bhandari M, et al. Users' guide to the surgical literature. How to assess a randomized controlled trial in surgery. Can J Surg 2004;47:200-8.

[Author Affiliation]

Forough Farrokhyar, MPhil, PhD*[dagger]

Mohit Bhandari, MD, MSc[dagger][double dagger]

From the Departments of *Surgery and [dagger]Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the [double dagger]Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, McMaster University, Ont.

Accepted for publication

Jan. 27, 2009

Correspondence to:

Dr. F. Farrokhyar

St. Joseph's Healthcare

Mary Grace Wing, fl. 8, rm. G845

50 Charlton Ave. E

Hamilton ON L8N 4A6

fax 905 521-6197

farrokh@mcmaster.ca

SUICIDE SOLUTION; SPAN Idaho introduces prevention plan

At its annual conference last weekend, the Suicide Prevention Advocacy Network (SPAN) of Idaho unveiled the state's first statewide suicide prevention plan. Six months in the making, the plan was drawn up in part to address Idaho's status as eighth in the nation for the rate of suicide among all population groups. Only accidents and unintentional injuries cause more deaths in Idaho every year.

Governor Dirk Kempthorne, First Lady of Idaho Patricia Kempthorne and Representative Margaret Henbest championed the plan, outlined in a comprehensive 34-page booklet.

"One death by suicide is too many," said Governor Kempthorne. "I am confident this plan will help us to better address this problem."

The purpose of the plan is to guide agencies, organizations and individuals at state, regional and local levels when they draw up their own action plans. In response to scarcity of funding, the plan looked beyond traditional suicide prevention entities, such as mental health providers, to include faith-based and other non-traditional organizations, including tribes, Area Agencies on Aging, and the Idaho State Police Post Academy.

Even though Idaho leads the nation in suicides as a whole-14.4 for every 100,000 citizens from 1999 to 2001, compared to 10.7 per 100,000 nationwide--the plan highlights four population groups within the state as being especially at risk: young Native American males (15 to 24 years), elderly males (75 years and older), working-aged males (18 to 64 years), and teenaged males (15 to 17 years). When looking at these individual groups, Idaho suicide rates jump significantly to 21, 81.2, 25.8 and 22.5 per 100,000, respectively. Males in Idaho and the nation as a whole are four times as likely to die from suicide as females. In two out of three suicides in Idaho from 1999 to 2001 a firearm was used. And completed suicides are only part of the problem. In 2001, it was estimated that for every completed suicide there were almost 40 attempts in Idaho.

The Suicide Prevention Plan is formatted according to four categories: infrastructure, awareness, implementation, and methodology. Within each category the plan offers guidelines at both the state and local levels. Appendices outline risk factors, best practices, and more.

SPAN Idaho was created in 1994 at the request of a U.S. Public Health Initiative. It began work on the Suicide Prevention Plan in November of 2002, when 63 participants from all regions of the state met at Sun Valley to begin the process. To volunteer, make a donation, or learn more about SPAN Idaho, call 426-3532.

Article copyright Bar Bar Inc.

Obama could see political setbacks in home state

If the Republican victory in the election to fill the late Sen. Edward Kennedy's Massachusetts Senate seat was a shock for President Barack Obama, the political turmoil in Illinois, his home state, is a problem that never seems to go away.

His former Senate seat, already stained by an ethics scandal, is a major takeover target for Republicans. So is the governor's office.

Going into Tuesday's Illinois primary, the first of the 2010 campaign season, Democrats are in disarray, with no political heavyweights in their lineup for the Senate seat that Obama gave up for the White House.

Losing it would be a bigger personal embarrassment for the president than Republican Scott Brown's upset victory in Massachusetts, which ended the Democrats' supermajority in the Senate and imperiled Obama's sweeping health care reform.

The front-runner for the Democratic Senate nomination in Illinois, state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, describes Obama as his mentor. He is only 33 and hasn't served a full term in office, and his only previous experience was working for a family bank now in financial trouble.

Mark Kirk, a five-term member of Congress who supports abortion rights and gun control, is by far the leading candidate for the Republican Senate nomination, but he has infuriated some conservative activists.

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn is in danger of losing in the primary because of his association with disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was expelled from office.

Blagojevich has been the central figure in Illinois. The former governor was arrested and tossed out of office a year ago over a long list of corruption charges, including the allegation that he tried to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder.

Quinn twice ran as lieutenant governor on the same ticket as Blagojevich. He has also taken heat for proposing a tax increase to clean up the state's financial mess and for working with Obama to move terror suspects from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to an Illinois prison. His effort to cut costs by letting some nonviolent inmates out of prison turned out to include releasing violent offenders _ some of whom have been accused of serious new crimes.

Before he left office, Blagojevich appointed Roland Burris to fill Obama's Senate seat, which led to a Senate ethics investigation and left Burris so politically crippled that he decided not to run for a full term.

Republicans use Blagojevich, who left behind the biggest budget deficit in Illinois history, as a symbol of Democratic mismanagement. Whether talking about candidates for governor or Senate, they argue that any Democrat who supported Blagojevich or his policies _ or simply criticized him too mildly _ should not hold office.

Republicans have reason to be optimistic. Officials from both parties say Illinois voters are frustrated by rising unemployment and are angry about gridlock in Washington and corruption in state government. Since Democrats control all major offices in Illinois, that anger seems likely to be directed at them.

"I think you're going to see a lot of people voting against incumbents," said Bob Schillerstrom, who recently dropped out of the Republican primary for governor.

The White House claims not to be worried. Presidential adviser David Axelrod noted recently that voters won't decide until November, which he called "an eternity" in politics.

OFF THE CLOCK

PEOPLE: after hours, out and about, and other noteworthy sightings

The Wagman Cos. (G.A. & F.C. Wagman Inc. & Wagman Construction Inc.) hosted a summer version of "Take Your Child to Work Day" in July.

Annette Fisher, operations manager at Central Market York, left, and Dylan Bauer center, owner of Chilly Dilly's, presented $642 to Louie Castriota, president and CEO of Leg Up Farm. The check was from proceeds raised at Central Market's Family Fun Day in May. Leg Up Farm provides therapy and rehabilitation for children with disabilities and developmental delays.

The Celebrate Diversity networking reception, hosted by the Harrisburg Regional Chamber and Dauphin County, was held in June at Hershey Lodge. Frank Fischer, left, and George Nahodil, right, are with Members 1st Federal Credit Union. Amma Johnson, center, is Harrisburg Regional Chamber & CREDCs director for business diversity.

Lancaster's Markley Actuarial Services made a donation to Junior Achievement of Central Pennsylvania as part of Markley's 25th anniversary celebration. From left are Lisa Showalter, Markley Actuarial partner; Kristi Baker, accepting on behalf of Junior Achievement of Central Pennsylvania; and John Markley, Markley Actuarial founding partner.

Abel Personnel Inc. was recognized in May with a Governor's Achievement Award for outstanding hiring and work force development success. From left are Dr. Byron Noon, Rose Frederick, DebbyAbel, Nancy Gundy, Dottie Abel and Frank Abel.

Belco Community Credit Union hosted the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce mixer at its Oregon Pike branch in August. From left are Donna Shertzer, Deb Weaver, Sandy Barr, Tricia Heisey and Brenda Miller.

SEND US YOUR PHOTOS! We want your pictures for Off The Clock, featuring images from Central Penn Business Journal events and our readers. Send color event images to offtheclock@journalpub.com. Save photos at 300 dpi as TIFF or JPG files. Do not embed photos in Word documents. Photos sent through the mail will not be used or returned. Include outline information, including the name, date and location of the event. Identify people from left to right. We reserve the right not to publish all submitted photos.

Reports: Cheney in Iraq for Thanksgiving

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi state television reported Thursday that Vice President Dick Cheney was in Baghdad. Private Al-Arabiya TV broadcast a similar report.

The American Embassy said that it could not confirm the visit, but that Cheney could be in the country to visit troops for the Thanksgiving holiday.

"I'm not confirming or denying he's here. I'm trying to figure that out," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman.

President Bush met with American troops on Thanksgiving three years ago during a visit that was confined to the airport and limited to several hours.

Also on Thursday, U.S. and Iraqi forces swept into Baghdad's Sadr City slum in an early morning raid, killing four Iraqis, wounding eight and detaining five, police said.

Police Capt. Mohammed Ismail said coalition forces searched houses at about 4:30 a.m. and opened fire on a minivan carrying Iraqi workers in the al-Fallah Street area, causing the deaths and injuries. Iraqis often pay a small fee to crowd into such vehicles and travel early in the morning to sites where they hope to be hired as day laborers.

The U.S. command said it could not immediately confirm Thursday's raid, which would be the fourth in six days on the Shiite slum home to the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The Mahdi Army is suspected of kidnapping an American soldier last month and taking scores of Iraqi hostages during an attack on a government building in Baghdad on Nov. 14.

Ismail said the coalition also detained five Iraqis during the raid.

Residents of Sadr City gathered around the bloodstained, bullet-riddled minivan.

"I was surprised by the heavy shooting on our minivan. I was hit badly in my left hand," said one worker, Ahmed Gatie, 24, as he was treated at Imam Ali hospital. "I can only feed my family when I work. What will happen now?"

Witness Salah Salman, 24, said he and other local residents helped police carry victims of the attack from the minivan to the morgue and hospital.

The raid came weeks after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, ordered the U.S. military to lift a blockade of the sprawling east Baghdad grid of streets lined with tumbledown concrete block structures and vacant lots.

American forces had sealed the district for several days looking for kidnapped U.S. soldier Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a 41-year-old reservist from Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was visiting his Iraqi wife in Baghdad on Oct. 23 when he was handcuffed and abducted by suspected rogue gunmen from the Mahdi Army.

Al-Sadr is a major political backer of al-Maliki, who had rejected American demands to disband the heavily armed militias and their death squads, which have carried out a brutal campaign of revenge attacks on Iraq's Sunni minority in a cycle of violence following the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine.

But Al-Maliki has looked the other way during the most recent joint U.S.-Iraqi raids, an about-face his aides said was prompted by anger over the U.S. soldier's abduction and a mass kidnapping carried out by suspected Mahdi Army gunmen. Dozens of gunmen in police uniforms kidnapped scores of people during the raid on a Ministry of Higher Education office in Baghdad on Nov. 14. The ministry is predominantly Sunni Arab.

At least 101 Iraqis were killed Wednesday and the U.N. reported that 3,709 Iraqi civilians were killed in October, the highest monthly toll of the war and one that is likely to be eclipsed when November's dead are counted.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq also said that citizens were fleeing the country at a pace of 100,000 each month, and that at least 1.6 million Iraqis have left since the war began in March 2003.

Life for Iraqis, especially in Baghdad and cities and towns in the center of the country, has become increasingly untenable. Many schools failed to open at all in September, and professionals - especially professors, physicians, politicians and journalists - are falling to sectarian killers at a stunning rate.

Lynchings have been reported as Sunnis and Shiites conduct a merciless campaign of revenge killings.

The U.N. figure for the number of killings in October was more than three times the 1,216 tabulated by The Associated Press and nearly 840 more than the 2,870 U.S. service members who have died during the war.

The U.S. military on Thursday reported the deaths of three Marines in fighting in Anbar province, where many Sunni Arab insurgents are based.

So far this month, 52 American service members have been killed or died.

PRI set to win in elections for mayors and governors across third of Mexico

MEXICO CITY - Mexicans have voted for new governors and mayorsacross a third of the country in an election soured by drug gangmurders and intimidation and expected to deliver sweeping gains tothe main opposition party.

After yesterday's polls and with the ruling conservatives doggedby a feeble economy and raging drug violence, the InstitutionalRevolutionary Party, or PRI, is expected to win most of the 12gubernatorial polls.

This will mean it could keep many of the nine states it controlsand push out rivals in some of the other three.

A big PRI victory could set the stage for a 2012 presidential bidby the party's rising star, Enrique Pena Nieto, governor of thestate of Mexico, next to Mexico city.

With Mexico's left divided and President Felipe Calderon sinkingin opinion polls, the PRI is pushing for a comeback after a 2000election win by the conservative National Action Party, or PAN,ended its 71-year rule.

Mr Calderon's popularity has slumped in recent months as theeconomy limps back from a recession, while an army-led campaign tocurb the power of drug cartels has sparked more violence.

More than 26,000 people have been killed during Mr Calderon's 3 1/2 years in office, mostly traffickers and police but alsocivilian bystanders. Human heads and mutilated bodies are oftendumped in public as gangs fight over turf.

Surging violence, including the murders of two candidates and astring of threats, has blighted the election campaign.

"The way things are going, if I'm alive, then I'll vote. Thesituation is very bad," Ciudad Juarez tour-service driver FelipeBurciaga said.

Drug gangs fighting over routes into the United States haveturned Ciudad Juarez, near Texas, into one of the world's mostdangerous cities, with an average of 10 drug-related killings a dayin June.

Mexico suffers from endemic corruption in local politics and anumber of candidates have been accused by rivals of being on drugcartel payrolls. - (Reuters)

PRI set to win in elections for mayors and governors across third of Mexico

MEXICO CITY - Mexicans have voted for new governors and mayorsacross a third of the country in an election soured by drug gangmurders and intimidation and expected to deliver sweeping gains tothe main opposition party.

After yesterday's polls and with the ruling conservatives doggedby a feeble economy and raging drug violence, the InstitutionalRevolutionary Party, or PRI, is expected to win most of the 12gubernatorial polls.

This will mean it could keep many of the nine states it controlsand push out rivals in some of the other three.

A big PRI victory could set the stage for a 2012 presidential bidby the party's rising star, Enrique Pena Nieto, governor of thestate of Mexico, next to Mexico city.

With Mexico's left divided and President Felipe Calderon sinkingin opinion polls, the PRI is pushing for a comeback after a 2000election win by the conservative National Action Party, or PAN,ended its 71-year rule.

Mr Calderon's popularity has slumped in recent months as theeconomy limps back from a recession, while an army-led campaign tocurb the power of drug cartels has sparked more violence.

More than 26,000 people have been killed during Mr Calderon's 3 1/2 years in office, mostly traffickers and police but alsocivilian bystanders. Human heads and mutilated bodies are oftendumped in public as gangs fight over turf.

Surging violence, including the murders of two candidates and astring of threats, has blighted the election campaign.

"The way things are going, if I'm alive, then I'll vote. Thesituation is very bad," Ciudad Juarez tour-service driver FelipeBurciaga said.

Drug gangs fighting over routes into the United States haveturned Ciudad Juarez, near Texas, into one of the world's mostdangerous cities, with an average of 10 drug-related killings a dayin June.

Mexico suffers from endemic corruption in local politics and anumber of candidates have been accused by rivals of being on drugcartel payrolls. - (Reuters)

Strong Quake in Southwest China Kills 3

BEIJING - A strong earthquake shook a hilly southwestern Chinese region near the border with Laos early Sunday, killing at least three people - including a child who was crushed by debris - injuring hundreds and forcing 120,000 people from their homes, state media reported.

The 6.4-magnitude quake struck the county seat of Ning'er shortly after 5:30 a.m., said China's official Xinhua News Agency, citing the government's seismological bureau. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake's magnitude at 6.2.

At least three people died and more than 290 were injured, 15 seriously, Xinhua reported. One of the dead was a 5-year-old boy who was crushed by debris, state television reported. The boy's parents were also trapped but were rescued by local residents, China Central Television said.

"I didn't notice the initial quake and was woken up by my parents, and we ran out of our home," said a woman in her 20s who lives in Ning'er County and refused to give her name when reached by phone.

She said the initial quake lasted about a minute and that many residents fled their homes to find safety in open areas. Others moved into tents after their homes were damaged, said a retired schoolteacher who only gave her surname, Dong.

"Many old buildings, especially those built in the 1970s, either have cracks in the walls or have collapsed," Dong told The Associated Press by phone.

News footage aired on China Central Television showed partly collapsed brick homes and soldiers knocking down unstable structures. Doctors and nurses treated the injured in a large tent. Rescue teams with thousands of tents, quilts and other relief supplies were rushing to the area, Xinhua reported.

Ning'er lies in a quake-prone mountainous region in Yunnan province about 90 miles north of Laos and is famous for its strong tea, known as Pu'er. For centuries, the area sat astride an important trade route for tea and horses that ran along western China between central Asia and southeastern Asia.

Many of the area's residents belong to the Hani and Yi minority groups that once thrived in small hillside villages but have in recent decades moved into the county seat.

The quake damaged pipes, cutting off water supplies, and though electricity was still on in some areas, shops and schools were closed, Dong said.

Xinhua said communications lines were also downed, making it difficult for residents to make phone calls.

By 2 p.m., the local seismological bureau recorded 233 aftershocks, the strongest with a magnitude of 5.1, said an official with the bureau who gave only his surname, Ma.

The evacuation of 120,000 residents was ordered after many buildings were deemed to be unsafe, Ma said. He said the seismological bureau was among many offices and homes in the area where walls had cracked.

The quake could be felt as far as 185 miles away, Xinhua said.

Twenty temblors above magnitude 5.0 have hit the area since 1990, Xinhua said.

In 1988, a 7.1 magnitude quake in Yunnan near the border with Myanmar killed more than 930 people. More than 15,000 people died after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake in the province in 1970, though authorities at the time covered up information on casualties and damage amid the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.

LPS 1997--Proceedings of the 31st Annual Loss Prevention Symposium

LPS 1997-Proceedings of the 31st Annual Loss Prevention Symposium

- Prepared by the Loss Prevention area of AIChE's Safety and Health Division; Kris Chatrathi, symposium chair

- 744pp; softcover

-Pub T-102; ISBN 0-169-0726-9

- $92 for North American members;

$124 for other members

Since 1967, the AIChE Loss Prevention proceedings series has been one of the most reliable sources of practical information on reducing accidents in the chemical process industries-from the "nitty-gritty" mechanics of valves and interlocks to the design and implementation of sophisticated new process analysis and control tools. The recently published 31st edition of the series continues this tradition of excellence, presenting "plant-proven" strategies for safer design, operation, and maintenance.

Featuring 40 papers presented at the March 1997 conference, the book explores topics in control systems for unit operation safety; mechanical integrity and maintenance of process plant components; fire and explosion prevention and protection; pressure relief systems; use of consequence modeling in risk reduction; and storage, processing, and transportation of hazardous chemicals. Case histories of loss prevention incidents-and what can be learned from them-round out the volume.

Calendar of events

Friday

AL-ANON: Family Group, Alateens, 8 p.m., 1225 Ohio Ave., Dunbar.For information, 342-4315.

AA: Edgewood Group, closed mixed discussion, 7 p.m., St. Luke'sEpiscopal Church, Somerset Drive.

AA: Clendenin Community Center, open big book and discussion, 7:30to 8:30 p.m. Call toll-free (877) 577-6717.

AL-ANON FAMILY GROUP: , for friends and families of alcoholics,5:30 p.m. at Village Chapel Presbyterian Church, Charleston.

BRIDGE: Kanawha Valley Bridge Association, duplicate bridge, 7:15p.m. at YWCA, Quarrier Street. KVBA members, $3; non-members, $3.50.Free refreshments. Call 776-4947 or 744-1716. If you need a …

Factors influencing the relative fitness of hatchery and wild spring Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Wenatchee River, Washington, USA.(Report)

Introduction

Artificial propagation is a commonly used tool to conserve a wide variety of threatened species (Mallinson 1995). Hatchery propagation, in which fish are bred and reared for part of their lives in captivity before being released into the wild, is widely used to supplement wild salmon populations (Naish et al. 2007). For example, over 4 billion anadromous juvenile salmon are released annually into the North Pacific Ocean from hatcheries in North America and Asia (Beamish et al. 1997). Similar hatchery programs and large-scale closed-pen fish farming operations exist for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in the North Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea. Hatcheries are increasingly intended to contribute to conserving natural salmonid populations, as well as to produce fish to mitigate for lost harvest opportunities (National Research Council 1996). In particular, supplementation projects, in which natural spawning by hatchery fish is intended to augment a natural population's abundance, have become common throughout the Pacific Northwest (Naish et al. 2007) and Europe (Fleming et al. 2000).

A key biological uncertainty about the effects of hatchery production on natural populations is the degree to which hatchery-produced fish can reproduce in the natural environment (Reisenbichler and McIntyre 1977; Ford 2002; Araki et al. 2008). Evaluating relative reproductive success is therefore critical for determining if the considerable investment society has made in hatchery supplementation is actually contributing to the recovery of salmon populations (Mobrand et al. 2005). Accurately measuring the biological causes of variance in reproductive success is important not only for determining the benefits of conservation hatcheries, but also for evaluating the risks from fish that stray from "production" type hatcheries. The presence of large numbers of hatchery fish on spawning grounds can obscure the status of natural populations because their reproductive success is unknown (McClure et al. 2003) and may lead to reduced short-and long-term natural productivity because of genetic deterioration of the natural population as a result of interbreeding between naturally produced fish and hatchery fish (Lynch and O'Hely 2001; Ford 2002). By quantifying the reproductive success of hatchery fish relative to that of fish from the natural population, the viability of natural populations receiving hatchery fish can be more accurately evaluated.

Even when the relative reproductive success of hatchery-produced fish is quantified, the causes of fitness differences between hatchery and wild fish often remain unknown. Conceptually, there could be a wide variety of reasons why hatchery fish might have lower fitness than wild fish spawning in the same stream (Araki et al. 2008). Even in cases where hatchery fish have low fitness, the conservation implications are likely to vary depending on why the hatchery fish are less fit. For example, if reduced fitness is largely due to environmental effects such as release location, this would probably lead to fewer conservation concerns than if fitness reductions were due to genetic differences in behavior or physiology.

In a recent review, Araki et al. (2008) concluded that hatchery-produced steelhead (i.e., sea-run rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss) generally have lower reproductive success in the natural environment than wild steelhead. In contrast, they noted that few data are available on the relative reproductive success of hatchery and wild Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) despite the extensive use of hatchery supplementation for this species (Independent Scientific Advisory Board 2003, 2005; Araki et al. 2008). Recently, several papers have reported on studies of hatchery Chinook salmon breeding success in laboratory or seminatural environments (Fritts et al. 2007; Pearsons et al. 2007; Schroder et al. 2008), but there are no published studies of the relative fitness of this species in the wild.

In this study, we assess the relative reproductive success of naturally spawning hatchery-and natural-origin spring run Chinook salmon in the Wenatchee River, Washington, USA, by employing a genetic pedigree analysis and determine the degree to which differences in reproductive success between hatchery and natural Chinook salmon can be explained by biological characteristics such as run timing, morphology, and spawning location.

Materials and methods

Study population

Our study population consists of the spring run Chinook salmon that spawn in the Wenatchee River, Washington (Fig. 1). The population is listed as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act (Federal Register 70:37160). Starting in 1989, hatchery supplementation has been used in an attempt to increase population abundance, and in recent years the hatchery program has produced >50% of the individuals in the population that spawn naturally. The hatchery program's focus is primarily on the Chiwawa River, a major tributary of the Wenatchee River. Wild and hatchery-origin broodstock for the supplementation program are collected at a weir in the Chiwawa River, and the offspring of those fish are released back into the Chiwawa River as yearlings. Although juvenile fish are released only in the Chiwawa River, as adults they return to spawn in all of the major spawning areas throughout the watershed (Murdoch et al. 2008).

The population exhibits a "stream-type" life-history pattern (Healey 1991) in which adults return to fresh water in the spring several months prior to spawning, and juveniles migrate to the ocean during the spring 1 year following their emergence from the gravel (Healey 1983). In wild populations of Chinook salmon in the Columbia River, including the Wenatchee River, most anadromous males become sexually mature between ages three to five, and most females become mature at ages four or five (Myers et al. 1998). Another characteristic of stream-type Chinook salmon is that some male fish mature at 1 or 2 years of age without migrating to the sea (Rich 1920; Burck 1967; Mullan et al. 1992), but little is known about the reproductive success of these early maturing males.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Adult and juvenile trapping and sampling

In 2004 and 2005, beginning in early April and ending in early August, essentially all migrating spring Chinook salmon were trapped and sampled (scales, caudal fin clip) at Tumwater Dam, located at river kilometre (rkm) 43.7 on the Wenatchee River (Fig. 1, Table 1). Tumwater Dam is located below all of the major spring Chinook salmon spawning areas in the watershed, so we obtained samples from essentially all of the potential breeders, with the possible exception of those mature male parr that never migrated below Tumwater Dam and a very small number of adults that migrated after the trapping period ended. Biological data were collected from all adult salmon sampled (Table 1). Each fish was identified to gender, scanned for passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags (fish without a PIT tag had one inserted during sampling) and coded wire tags and the presence or absence of the adipose fin (indicating hatchery or wild origin; all hatchery fish released in the Wenatchee watershed have a clipped adipose fin). Fork and post orbital to hypural plate length were measured to the nearest centimetre and weight to the nearest 0.01 kg. Subsequent identification of PIT-tagged carcasses recovered on the spawning grounds permitted the comparison of carcass recovery distributions of individual hatchery-and naturally produced fish. Spawning location was based upon location of carcass recovery and linked back to fish identity at Tumwater Dam by PIT tag information. Spawning ground surveys of all potential spawning habitat were conducted twice a week throughout the entire spawning season (Murdoch et al. 2008). Carcass recovery location of each PIT-tagged fish was recorded using handheld GPS devices and converted to river kilometre using ArcView 9.2 (ESRI, Redlands, California).

Table 1. Summary of 2004 and 2005 adult and juvenile Chinook salmonsamples, stratified by year, origin, and life stage.     Adults                     Yearling       Subyearling                                juveniles      juvenilesYear  Origin    Males  Females   C    N    LW   C    N2004  Hatchery   1502     270     Wild        437     376    744  203  647  576  447     Unknown      18      132005  Hatchery   1573    1724     Wild        235     238              889     Unknown      15      17Note: Trap locations are as follows: C, Chiwawa River; N, Nason Creek;LW, Lower Wenatchee River.

Juvenile Chinook salmon samples (caudal fin clip) were taken from fish collected in rotary screw traps located on the lower Wenatchee River (rkm 9.6), Chiwawa River (rkm 1.0), and Nason Creek (rkm 0.8) (Fig. 1, Table 1). All rotary traps were located downstream from the majority of spawning habitat in each stream. The primary collection location was the lower Wenatchee River, which is below all spawning areas and operated from early February through August, although most yearling smolts were captured prior to 1 July. Depending on river discharge levels, one or two screw traps (1.5 m diameter) were operated, and trap efficiency ranged between 1% and 3%. Because of spring runoff, traps operated during 83% and 92% of the trapping period in 2006 and 2007, respectively. At tributary trap locations, yearling (age 1) juveniles were sampled approximately daily from early March to late June. In addition, separate …