Midwest economy: a state-by-state glance

The Institute for Supply Management, formerly the Purchasing Management Association, began formally surveying its membership in 1931 to gauge business conditions.

The Creighton Economic Forecasting Group uses the same methodology as the national survey to consult supply managers and business leaders. Creighton University economics professor Ernie Goss oversees the report.

The overall index ranges between 0 and 100. A figure greater than 50 indicates an expanding economy over the next three to six months.

Here are the state-by-state results of the May survey in the Mid-America region:

_ Arkansas: For the fifth straight month, the …

Tootsie Roll's Sweet Deal // Will Add Jobs, Space Thanks to Multimillion State Aid Package

Tootsie Roll Industries will stay on the city's Southwest Sidewith the help of a $20 million low-interest state loan, allowing thefirm to expand and create 200 new jobs, the state treasurer's officesaid Tuesday.

Tootsie Roll officials, Mayor Daley, Gov. Edgar and TreasurerPatrick Quinn are scheduled to announce the agreement during a newsconference in the company's plant at 7401 S. Cicero.

Company President Ellen Gordon refused to comment, but GregLonghini, a spokesman for Chicago's Department of Planning andDevelopment, said the candy maker will use the money to purchase the2.2 million-square-foot plant it has leased for the last 27 yearssince the company …

Greek Football Results

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Results from the 10th round of the Greek football league (home teams listed first):

Saturday's Games

AEK 2, Asteras 0

Kerkyra 2, Ergotelis …

EU says half of normal flights may run Monday

Some European airports were reopening to limited traffic Monday after volcanic ash forced their closures, a day after the European Union said that if weather forecasts confirm the skies are clearing, air traffic over the continent could return to about 50 percent of normal levels.

Austrian authorities said they had reopened the country's airspace, though many flights remain canceled, and Stockholm's Arlanda Airport was reopening for limited air traffic after the country's aviation authority lifted airspace restrictions over a large part of the country. Most flights were still canceled.

Finland opened its Tampere and Turku airports but kept its main airport …

Serbs' UN Harassment Fuels Showdown Fears

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnian Serb rebels intensifiedtheir menacing of United Nations forces throughout Bosnia onThursday, stirring fears that nationalist hard-liners are trying toprovoke a showdown.

Jets from NATO countries flew low over the capital city in whatappeared to be an attempt to intimidate the rebels who havekidnapped, physically threatened or restricted the movement of almost5,000 UN personnel in anger over recent UN-ordered air strikes.

Rebel gunmen crept into a weapons containment site before dawn,captured 17 peacekeepers at gunpoint and presumably recovered theheavy artillery the soldiers had been guarding.

The latest UN personnel …

KORTEX 2004 Slated for May 11th to 14th

The 15th Korea International Textile Machinery Exhibition (KORTEX 2004) will be held at the Daegu Exhibition & Convention Center (EXCO) from May 11th to 14th in Daegu, Korea, in line with the Secretariat's aim to develop the most advanced technology and to maximize high value addition in the textile machinery industry. Exhibitors are expected to number 250 overseas and domestic companies.

KORTEX 2004 is hosted by Daegu Metropolitan City and the Korea Federation of Textile Industries with strong support from the government. This exhibition had been held biennially in Seoul since 1976, but Daegu will host KORTEX this time, as the city is considered the briskest market for …

Palin stylist draws higher pay than policy adviser

An acclaimed celebrity makeup artist for Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin collected more money from John McCain's campaign than his foreign policy adviser. Amy Strozzi, who works on the reality show "So You Think You Can Dance" and has been Palin's traveling stylist, was paid $22,800, according to campaign finance reports for the first two weeks in October. In contrast, McCain's foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, was paid $12,500, the report showed.

McCain's campaign said the payment covered a portion of her work in September and a portion of October. An earlier campaign finance report showed Strozzi was paid $13,200 for a portion of …

Democrats are forcing people to buy insurance: ; If they succeed, there is no limit to federal power

U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson's decision this week on the newhealth care law stated what should have been obvious: The federalgovernment cannot force Americans to buy health insurance.

In striking down the "individual mandate" in Obamacare, the judgedug deep into the Constitution's Commerce Clause, which has, overthe years, become a convenient mechanism for the federal governmentto expand its reach and control.

The judge acknowledged that the Commerce Clause has "contractedand expanded during our nation's development."

Originally, the framers designed it to bring stability to tradebetween the new states, but it's also been used to determine …

Van Halen, R.E.M. Head Into Rock Hall

NEW YORK - Punk poet Patti Smith brought her earthy growl to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday, inducted as a member with the Ronettes, Van Halen, R.E.M. and the institution's first hip-hop act, Grandmaster Flash. Shy, and fighting back tears as she thought of family members, Smith recalled how her late husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith, told her before he died that she would someday make the rock hall.

"He asked me please to accept it like a lady and not to say any curse words," she said, "and make certain to salute new generations."

The bohemian poet straddled the hippie and punk rock eras. Her album "Horses" set a standard for literate rock and she had radio hits with …

AIG chairman says retention payments distasteful

The chief of failed insurance conglomerate AIG acknowledged Wednesday to skeptical congressional interrogators that the company's multibillion bonuses to employees were "distasteful" to many Americans including himself and that "I share that anger." Lawmakers from both parties expressed fury over the company's behavior.

"Mistakes were made at AIG on a scale few could have every imagined possible," Edward Liddy, chairman and chief executive officer of the American International Group Inc., said in prepared testimony.

But, he told a House Financial Services subcommittee, the $165 million in bonuses paid out over the weekend should be …

Choice of anonymous Rukn jury to begin

Selection of an anonymous jury is to begin today in the trial of14 El Rukn ambassadors accused of using murder and intimidation to"systematically eliminate" competition to a profitable drug trade.

Prosecutors had asked that jurors be referred to only by numberto preclude any possibility of jury tampering.

During the last El Rukn federal trial here in 1977, four jurorsreceived threatening anonymous phone calls at their homes, accordingto motions filed by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Theodore Poulos, MichaelPace and Victoria Peters.

In that case, Rukn leader Jeff Fort and others were convicted ofconspiring to commit …

Predators beat Red Wings 3-1 to take season series

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jonathon Blum scored a power-play goal at 8:12 of the third period, and the Nashville Predators beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 on Saturday night for their fourth victory in five games.

Fellow rookie Blake Geoffrion also scored and David Legwand had an empty-net goal with 28.4 seconds left. Patric Hornqvist had two assists for Nashville, which moved back into eighth place in the tightly bunched Western Conference.

The Predators lead the season series 4-1 with one game remaining with Detroit.

Dan Cleary scored a goal for the Red Wings, who had a four-game winning streak snapped. Detroit played without star forward Pavel Datsyuk, who was injured in …

US court rules against son in Plain estate dispute

NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) — A New Jersey court has ruled against the son of Belva Plain in a dispute over the late author's estate.

John Plain had claimed his mother, the bestselling author of more than 20 novels, and sisters had schemed to cut him out of her will.

Attorneys for Belva Plain's estate argued that her son had signed an agreement in the 1990s vowing not to contest her will.

Friday's decision in state Superior Court in Essex County dismissed John Plain's claim. Plain's lawyer said he was reviewing the decision.

Belva Plain began writing her novels — the first being "Evergreen," — after raising her children and becoming a grandmother. When she died in her sleep last fall at her home in New Jersey at age 95, more than 28 million copies of her books were in print.

Creatures are making appearances

MOTHER Nature continues to bring new creatures into our lives.

They just don't seem to stick around very long.

Before adding on to a shed we had some excavation work done. Weinadvertently left a low spot that accumulated water over thewinter.It became one of the finest toad hatching spots in this part of thecountry.I'm sure I learned about the great numbers of offspring that someof our smaller animals produce - queen ants laying thousands ofeggs,fish laying hundreds - but until you see it firsthand, it is hard tocomprehend the magnitude of this biological process.First, in what is basically a large mud puddle, there appeared arather long translucent coil with hundreds of tiny black eggs evenlyspaced throughout. Then the tadpoles emerged.We had the makings of a toad empire. I say "had" because warmweather dried up some of the empire and, unfortunately for thetoads,I siphoned off the bulk of the water with a garden hose. It was oneof those great moments in life when you say to yourself, "So, thisiswhy they teach physics in school."Repeated rainstorms managed to refill the puddle and revive thesurviving tadpoles, turning each attempt to siphon into an adventurein possible tadpole swallowing.I escaped unharmed, but I can't say as much for the tadpoles thatdried up in our yard.The crayfish who showed himself recently did not fare very well,either.I hadn't seen a crayfish in years until a couple of weeks ago whenI saw two of them on the same rainy day - one on my lunch hour intheparking lot of a Chinese restaurant (nobody ever accused crayfish ofbeing smart) and one off of our back porch when I returned home.I tried to explain to the one at home that our cats would probablynot be too happy with his presence, but he resisted my attempts toreturn him to our creek.There had been no other signs of him or his kind until last nightwhen I pulled in the driveway to find a single crayfish claw on ourback p orch. Finding animal parts and dead animals on our back porchis not out of the ordinary for us. In fact, it has become theshowroom for our prized hunter, Spook. The unusual thing about Spookbringing us assorted wildlife is that she is our smallest cat. Shebrought home two chipmunks recently that were almost as big as sheis.While she likes to share her catch with us, Spook can be impatientabout getting praise. I walked out of the house after changingclothes to find she had deposited a second claw on the porch, as ifto say, "Hey, I brought you some more since you didn't see theinitial offering."Just last week I found a rather large gray squirrel dead in ourfront yard. I'm not a big fan of squirrels, since I have fought themfor years as they dig, pillage and leave their cache in flower beds,but we rarely see any on our place. Maybe it's the dogs, maybe it'sthe cats, who knows. I'd like to give Spook credit for this kill,thinking she dragged the carcass that was twice her size as close asshe could get it to the porch before giving up.Besides, the dogs were probably too busy chasing down deer ortrying to outsmart a groundhog that lives on the hill behind us.For now, at least, the groundhog is winning.If Mother Nature wants to make a trade, I will gladly put the catsand the dogs where they cannot get to field mice, moles, chipmunks,squirrels, deer and the like.All she has to do is take away the flies.

`Suspicious' trifecta leads to suspensions

Here's everything I know. You Broken Down Horseplayers shouldknow it, too:

Maywood Park stewards late Thursday suspended harnessdriver-trainer-owner Brian Pelling and owner Dennis Nardoni for theremainder of the year with a recommendation to the Illinois RacingBoard that they should not be permitted to have licenses for fiveyears.

Both harness men are expected to appeal.

The suspensions were the outcome of the suspicious 10th trifectaNov. 6 at Maywood after an investigation by state stewards TimSchmidt and Bob Milburn and association steward Bill Baier.

One person won $34,000 after the 7-6-1 trifecta crossed thewire. The winning horses were Thom Eagle, a 10-1 shot; UltraOsborne at 2-1; and Leah Christina at 35-1.

Pelling, aboard Valunga N., the 7-2 third choice, finishedseventh and Dave McGee, driving the favored 9-5 shot, Fox ValleyBullet, was ninth. Bettors said they thought McGee was hemmed in agood part of the race.

The stewards threw the rule book at both. Pelling trains somehorses for Nardoni. However, Nardoni didn't have a starter in therace.

Both harness persons will be denied access to Maywood. There are only four days left at Hawthorne to complete the intownthoroughbred racing season. That's two days before I fly to Miami tosee my thoroughbred kids.

Balmoral will race daily starting Tuesday for the remainderof the year except Christmas day. Hawthorne, through last Saturday, received approximately $873,659.81from Arlington's intertrack betting that was added to the dailypurses. Hawthorne's management was able to pocket $443,482.19 fromthat type of betting.

Off track betting generates 4 percent to the purses. Some trackowners believe the off track betting is good, but with Peoriaaveraging approximately $35,000 daily on the thoroughbreds andRockford handling $40,000, I don't think its such a big deal. Theybet millions daily at New York's off track betting parlors. Harry Nathenson, who made Chicago his home for many years, diedrecently. He owned the fine stakes horse Blue Choir many years ago.

Owner Peter Kissel, who owned the top horses Pass Catcher,winner of the Belmont Stakes, in l971; Executioneer, winner ofHialeah Park's Flamingo the same year and Iron Ruler, another leadingstakes horse, also died recently.

Local horsemen, Al Kara, died a few weeks ago.

So did Buddy Fogelson, who owned the top stakes horse Ack Ack.Fogelson was married to movie star Greer Garson.

Mrs. Lillian Phipps, wife of New York's Ogden Phipps, formerchairman of the New York Racing Association, also died recently. Sheowned the star steeplechase horse Oedipus. Her husband owns theundefeated filly, Personal Ensign and Polish Navy, and raced thegreat horses Buckpasser and Bold Ruler and a bunch of other stakeswinners.

Barbara Janney, owner of the great ill-fated filly, Ruffian diedrecently. Balmoral's strip was snowed under so much Monday night that not onlywas Tuesday's program canceled, but the horsemen couldn't train theirhorses.

I may have been the first to know Tuesday's card would becanceled. I asked a friend to phone me if there were any harrows orother equipment on the strip late at night. When he said "no" I knewit was Waterloo. State Sen. Judy Topinka (R-Riverside) requested off track bettingparlors should hang up notices 2 1/2 percent would be taken frommutuel payoffs.

Too bad we can't put Sen. Topinka on the Illinois Racing Board.The senator thanked me for calling the attention of the surcharge. Gulfstream's publicity man, Joe Tannenbaum, says almost every toptrainer is stabled at his track. I believe some people are willingto invest in betting horses instead of the stock market.

Gulfstream is one of the few tracks where the BDH don't cry whenthey lose their money. It's that nice. Answering some mail: the Breeders' Cup Series will be run Nov. 5 atChurchill Downs. A BDH wanted to make early rservations. Smart BDH.

Authorities rule Gary Coleman's death an accident

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Police have confirmed that "Diff'rent Strokes" actor Gary Coleman's death has been ruled an accident.

Santaquin Police Chief Dennis Howard said an autopsy found Coleman died of natural causes after an accidental fall. The finding matches the evidence police found at Coleman's Santaquin home on May 26, Howard told The Associated Press.

The state medical examiner's conclusions bring the police investigation into the death to a close, Howard said.

The 42-year-old actor died at a Provo hospital two days after his fall. He was taken off life support after suffering a brain hemorrhage.

An e-mail message sent to a spokeswoman for Coleman's former wife, Shannon Price, who made the decision to remove him from life support, was not immediately returned late Wednesday.

Coleman became a star after "Diff'rent Strokes" debuted in 1978. For eight seasons, Coleman played Arnold Jackson, the younger one of a pair of African-American brothers adopted by a wealthy white man. The tiny 10-year-old's "Whachu talkin' 'bout?" became a popular catch phrase from the show.

Coleman's adult life was plagued with heath and legal problems.

He moved to Utah in fall 2005, and according to a tally in early 2010, officers had been called to assist or intervene with Coleman more than 20 times. In one instance, Coleman called police for help after he claimed he had taken dozens of pain killers and "wanted to die."

Some of the disputes involved Price, whom he met on the set of the 2006 "Church Ball" and married in 2007. The couple divorced a year later but continued to live together and present themselves as married in public.

Price has petitioned the Utah courts to recognize her common law relationship with Coleman from the date of their divorce through his May 28 death. She is seeking the recognition as part of an ongoing legal battle over Coleman's estate, which includes the house in Santaquin, about 65 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Coleman, who was cremated weeks after his death, left multiple wills, although a note handwritten by Coleman days after his 2007 marriage names Price his sole heir.

Coleman's ex-girlfriend Anna Gray contends a 2005 document awards her the estate.

Sterling Ruby

Sterling Ruby

MARC FOXX

"From whatever side one approaches things, the ultimate problem turns out in the final analysis to be that of distinction." Thus begins Roger Caillois's "Mimicry and Legendary Psychastheuia," an essay published in 1935 in Minotaure magazine that interweaves issues of personality, biological camouflage, and spatial assimilation. Lurking in the back gallery of Marc Foxx, Sterling Ruby's eight-minute video Dihedral 2006-the title refers to the interaction of a vertical body and a horizontal plane-begins with the same quote, appropriating and adapting Caillois's text as its distorted voice-over. As the narration unfolds, drops of brilliantly colored liquid-blood red, indigo, pink, green-enter the frame from the top and disperse in slow motion, gradually intermixing to a murky, indistinct brown. The narrator intones, "Space seems to be a devouring force," and in this sense Dihedral provides a useful point of entry for the remainder of tindensely installed show.

Entitled "Interior Designer," this confident exhibition found Ruby already frustrating expectations attendant upon his early reputation as an artist given to goopy, grotesque sculpture, transgressive imagery, and traumatic themes ranging from imprisonment to suicide. Rather self-consciously. Ruby has dialed down the shock level to a low hum, foregrounding his gifts as a formalist. Hour evenly spaced volumes, each slightly larger than human scale and covered in Formica in tawdry "designer" colors such as "alabaster" and "puma," dominate the floor of the gallery. Though they initially evoke the "unitary forms" of Robert Morris, these works, each titled Inscribed Monolith (all 2006), are sporadically soiled by smudges and carved with the "found" initials and symbols (DOUG 77, JOSIE) of an otherwise anonymous public body, disrupting idealistic purity and dismissing any possibility of gestalt.

Deeper in the gallery and blocked from immediate view were three lower Formica-covered boxes, also incised, that here served as pedestals for smaller cubic forms in which skeins of colored liquid are encased in clear urethane. Ruby's more familiar viscous, bodily forms have been deeply sublimated here into the repressive, orthogonal shapes of historical Minimalism. Playing off the exhibition's title, the blocks simultaneously evoke kitschy "designer" art (and a parallel art economy) and, more subtly, the interior fluids of the human body (slyly updating Paul Thek).

On the walls. Ruby alternated between two series of eight works each, both of which obliquely follow from his video Transient Trilogy, 2005, in which the artist adopts the persona of a drifter. In the "Mapping" series (all 2006), made with nail polish (Maybelline's Express Finish Racy Red or Wet Shine Cherry Rain) on large, seductive, candy-colored Plexiglas grounds, Ruby draws spindly polyhedral forms by connecting a seemingly random assortment of drips and splatters with studiously applied lines. The second series, "Trans Compositional," 2005-2006, features looser applications of nail polish on foil or fluorescent paper; each of these frames a single found image of one of various transgender subjects in full drag, posed in a wooded setting or a generic middle-class interior.

Adjacent to the large Formica-covered volumes, the collaged images of trannies further Ruby's ongoing interest in mutabilitytransience, transgression, transference-and suggest a perverse twist on Michael Fried's negative definition of (Minimalist or "Literalist") theatricality as "what lies between." Here, the double entendre in the show's title fully engages Caillois's text about mimicry, adaptation, and assimilation, providing the show a systematic, if circular, logic. Given this logic, however, it would be difficult for Ruby to refine his approach without risking slickness or mannerism. Fortunately, his willingness to disrupt expectations suggests that his mutable practice is likely to remain just that.

-Michael Ned Holte

Badura-Skoda, Eva (née Halfar)

Badura-Skoda, Eva (née Halfar)

Badura-Skoda, Eva (née Halfar), German musicologist; b. Munich, Jan. 15, 1929. She studied at the Vienna Cons. and took courses in musicology, philosophy, and art history at the univs. of Heidelberg, Vienna, and Innsbruck (Ph.D., 1953, with the diss. Studien zur Geschichte des Musikunterrichtes in Österreich im 16., 17. und 18. Jahrhundert). In 1962 and 1963 she led summer seminars at the Salzburg Mozarteum. In 1964 she was the Brittingham Visiting Prof. at the Univ. of Wise, at Madison, where she served as prof. of musicology from 1966 to 1974. She was a visiting prof. at Boston Univ. (1976), Queen's Univ. in Kingston, Ontario (1979), McGill Univ. in Montreal (1981–82), and the Univ. of Gôttingen (1982–83). In 1986 she was awarded the Ehrenkreuz for arts and letters by the Austrian government. She contributed many articles to books, reference works, and journals, and also ed. scores by Haydn, Dittersdorf, Mozart, and Schubert. In 1951 she married paul badura-skoda, with whom she collaborated on the vols. Mozart-Interpretation (Vienna, 1957; Eng. tr., 1961; 2^nd éd., rev., 1996) and Bach-Interpretation (Laaber, 1990; Eng. tr., 1992). With P. Branscombe, she ed. the vol. Schubert Studies: Problems of Style and Chronology (Cambridge, 1982). She also ed. the report of the international Haydn congress held in Vienna in 1982 (Munich, 1986) and was an ed. of a vol. on Schubert and his friends (Cologne and Vienna, 1999).

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

China rural-urban income gap up as economy slows

The politically divisive income gap between China's affluent citydwellers and its huge farm population expanded to its widest level ever last year as the economy slowed, putting millions of rural migrants out of work.

Agriculture Ministry statistics show the gap between urban and rural incomes expanded to 11,100 yuan (about $1,600) in 2008, with the ratio between the richer city residents to those in the countryside rising to 3.36 to 1, the state-run newspaper China Business News reported Friday.

The ratio was 3.33 to 1 in 2007, with the gap then at 9,646 yuan (about $1,400).

While the statistical difference seems small, the trend suggests the economic slowdown is foiling efforts by China's communist leaders to close the long-standing, sensitive wealth gap between the cities that have prospered since economic reforms began 30 years ago, and the villages that have lagged behind.

Deteriorating purchasing power in the rural areas could also hinder efforts to boost domestic consumer spending to help compensate for declining exports _ a crucial part of the government's anti-recession strategy.

Members of a top-level government advisory group who were given the statistics proposed that the government raise its basic purchasing price for rice, on which many farmers rely, to help close the gap.

Citydwellers earned an average annual income of 15,800 yuan ($2,300) a year in 2008, Chen Xiwen, a top rural planning official, reported at a recent conference in Beijing. The average rural income was 4,700 yuan (about $690).

That gap is what brings farmers like Gan Qiang, a courier from a village outside Beijing, to a city like Shanghai.

"It's much tougher to make a living in my hometown," Gan said as he stood outside a subway station on a busy downtown shopping street. "You can't just rely on planting crops."

Incomes in Shanghai and some other big cities are about a third higher than the national average.

With a population of 1.3 billion, China has far more people than jobs to be filled. But the country's stunning economic boom enabled many millions of farmers and their children to find work in factories and construction sites, as peddlers of noodles, computer parts and clothing, and as vegetable and livestock farmers in city suburbs.

Plunging global demand for Chinese exports has forced thousands of Chinese factories to close and freshly unemployed migrants to stream from coastal manufacturing regions back to their rural hometowns.

While millions usually return to their villages at this time of the year for the Lunar New Year, the country's biggest holiday, a large share will have no jobs to return to once the Jan. 25-31 festival finishes.

Layoffs and sudden factory closures have provoked protests in some regions, accentuating worries over the threat to social stability and prompting government calls for companies to avoid job cuts.

"Social stability is clearly an issue," James McCormack, head of sovereign ratings in Asia for Fitch Ratings, said in a conference call Friday.

The extent of the layoffs and unemployment in rural areas is hard to judge because there are no reliable statistics, he noted.

China is due for a "hard landing," said McCormack, adding that the government might not reach its economic growth target of about 8 percent.

The huge divide in Chinese living standards is apparent in the armies of men and women in humble clothing hauling carts piled with boxes, discarded appliances and other scrap for recycling through city streets.

It is also seen in the beggars prowling city subway lines and street corners, and in the rundown ghettos and shantytowns in and around city suburbs.

Among other measures, leaders have promised subsidies for purchases of appliances and cars by farmers, slashed fuel prices and pledged to improve social services such as health insurance and schooling.

Documents: Russia impeding S.Ossetia monitors

Russian forces and their separatist militia allies are keeping international monitors out of South Ossetia, according to confidential documents that cast doubts on hopes for a lasting resolution of the war over the breakaway region.

The documents obtained Friday by The Associated Press say Russian troops stopped some observers from entering South Ossetia as recently as two days ago. Other Western diplomats warned that Moscow is also blocking attempts to quadruple the size of the observer mission.

One diplomat said talks aimed at securing Russian permission to let the observers move beyond Georgia and have access to South Ossetia and Abkhazia are deadlocked by Russia's refusal to grant unimpeded access to the volatile area to monitors with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The European Union has been racing to prepare a separate mission of 200 unarmed observers for Georgia by Oct. 1.

Under an agreement brokered this week by French leader Nicolas Sarkozy, Russia would withdraw its forces from Georgian areas outside of South Ossetia and the separatist Abkhazia region after the EU observers are in place .

The Kremlin's actions at the OSCE "throw into question the sincerity" of Moscow's overall commitment to allow in international monitors and pull back, the senior diplomat said Friday.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor Frolov answered reporters' questions by saying the cease-fire agreement brokered by French leader Nicolas Sarkozy said nothing about increasing the number of OSCE observers.

The permanent council of the 56-nation OSCE _ which includes Russia _ agreed Aug. 19 to boost the number of monitors to 100 to implement the Aug. 12 cease-fire.

But in recent days Moscow appears to have been pulling back.

"Russia has gotten more and more hard-line," said the diplomat, who has been intimately involved in three weeks of negotiations. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the talks.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday that the war was a moment as defining for Russia as the Sept. 11, attacks were for the U.S. He also warned that Russia would protect its interests in other ex-Soviet lands irrespective of Western opinion.

Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for the Vienna-based OSCE, said efforts to reach agreement over the movements of current and future monitors remained under way.

"No one is suggesting that these talks are easy but they have not collapsed," he said.

Diplomats, however, said delegates walked out in frustration after Russia rejected a compromise that would have sent the additional monitors initially to areas outside South Ossetia, while not precluding them from entering later.

The OSCE has 28 monitors in the area, but has been trying to send in 80 more to observe military movements since Russia invaded Georgia last month after Georgia attacked South Ossetia.

One document issued Thursday and obtained by the AP said all 28 observers "continue to encounter difficulties in their movement to most of the areas of their deployment."

"They are denied access to South Ossetia by the Russian Armed Forces deployed in the southern part of the area," it said. The same report also said that South Ossetian forces had refused to let them cross the border into a district they had been allowed to visit in the past.

Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent nations after last month's war with Georgia over the regions.

A popular former ally of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on Friday questioned the wisdom of last month's war with Russia, calling for a national "conversation" about whether the conflict could have been avoided. Former parliament speaker Nino Burdzhanadze's remarks echoed widespread feelings among Georgians about the war .

An estimated 192,000 people were uprooted in the August fighting but 68,000 are already back home, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees revised its figure upward from 158,000 people it previously said were displaced.

A U.S. Defense Department team was expected to embark Friday on a delicate mission to determine Georgia's military needs after its war with Russia, a show of support that is certain to stoke Moscow's anger.

NATO's leader said he will send a delegation to Georgia next week to show the alliance's support after Russia used "disproportionate force" in attacking the small country.

____

On the Net:

OSCE, http://www.osce.org

Fallece Rocío Jurado; América la Bautizó Como "La Más Grande"

MADRID

Roc�o Jurado, cantante y actriz que fue una reconocida figura en Espa�a y Latinoam�rica a lo largo de m�s de cuatro d�cadas, falleci� el jueves luego de una larga batalla con el c�ncer de p�ncreas, a los 61 a�os.

La muerte de Jurado fue anunciada a la prensa por su hermano y representante, Amador Mohedano, ante la residencia de la cantante en la afueras de Madrid.

Le sobreviven su hija Roc�o, fruto de su matrimonio con el fallecido boxeador Pedro Carrasco; su viudo, el torero Jos� Ortega Cano y sus dos hijos adoptivos, provenientes de Colombia.

Jurado, quien perdi� la consciencia el fin de semana, expir� a las 5:15, rodeada de su familia, conforme sus deseos, dijo su hermano.

Una alegre andaluza con ojos felinos y una cascada de cabello rojizo, Jurado era conocida como "la m�s grande de Espa�a". Gan� decenas de premios, grab� m�s de 30 �lbumes, se present� en ambos lados del Atl�ntico y apareci� en casi una docena de pel�culas, las primeras de ellas cuando era adolescente.

En 1985, actu� en la Casa Blanca ante el presidente norteamericano Ronald Reagan.

Jurado, cuyo nombre completo era Mar�a del Roc�o Trinidad Mohedano Jurado, era conocida por su potente voz, la cual mezclaba los estilos del flamenco con la balada rom�ntica.

Las manifestaciones de pesar pronto se derramaron desde todo el pa�s.

La alcald�a de Madrid anunci� que una calle de la capital llevar�a el nombre de la cantante, mientras que la viceprimera ministra del pa�s, Mar�a Teresa Fern�ndez de la Vega, dijo que Espa�a lamentaba la p�rdida de "una persona tan valiosa, tan querida, tan respetada y tan importante para la cultura popular de nuestro pa�s".

Jamaica dissolves Anti-Doping Commission board

Jamaica has dissolved the board of directors of its Anti-Doping Commission after a review found potential conflicts of interest, an official said Monday.

Jamaica Olympic Association President Mike Fennell said all 15 members were fired by the Caribbean nation's sports minister, Olivia Grange.

"This is to facilitate a restructuring of the organization," Fennell said.

A delegation from the World Anti-Doping Agency that visited Jamaica in May raised concerns about conflicts of interest for panel members who also lead sports associations on the Caribbean island, Fennell said.

Jamaica's government established the anti-doping commission in 2005, recruiting some of the country's leading sports officials to lead testing of athletes for banned substances.

Fennell said the decision was part of a restructuring and was unrelated to a recent positive test for Olympic and world 100-meter champion Shelly-Ann Fraser, who was provisionally suspended by the IAAF last week for use of a painkiller she claimed she took to alleviate a toothache.

Cambodia's former king denounces Thai claims to 11th century temple as 'absolutely false'

Cambodia's former king dismissed any Thai claim to an 11th century temple on the border as baseless, weighing in on a dispute that has soured relations between the neighbors and fueled anti-government protests in Thailand.

Preah Vihear temple was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site this week, reopening a long-standing disagreement between Phnom Penh and Bangkok over which country owns the land that surrounds it.

Former King Norodom Sihanouk said in a handwritten note posted on his Web site Friday that any Thai claims to the temple were "absolutely false."

He accused the Thais of causing "unmerited and anachronistic problems" for Cambodia "rather than concentrating on developing harmonious, friendly and fruitful relations" between the two countries.

Sihanouk said that some Thais are ignoring historic facts that prove that the "mountain and the temple of Preah Vihear are 100 percent Cambodia and belong to Cambodia 100 percent."

In 1962, the International Court of Justice awarded the temple and the land it occupies to Cambodia, a decision that still rankles Thais even though the temple is culturally Cambodian, sharing the Hindu-influenced style of the more famous Angkor Wat in northwestern Cambodia.

"Thanks to Khmer kings and the Khmer Empire _ the Angkorian Empire in particular _ Thailand is actually very rich in temples and other Khmer monuments in the style of Angkor," the former king said.

Thailand's Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama resigned Thursday after the Constitutional Court ruled that he had overstepped his authority in supporting Cambodia's application to have the temple classified as a World Heritage Site. UNESCO added the temple to its list of landmarks on Monday.

Some political opponents have charged that the government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej deliberately bypassed Parliament and backed the bid in exchange for business concessions from Cambodia for toppled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and other Samak cronies.

Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup, led a group of Thai, British and Dubai businessmen to Cambodia in late May to discuss several investment projects, including the construction of a new city.

But at a recent news conference, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong dismissed suggestions that the business trip was linked to the Preah Vihear issue.

As Cambodians celebrate the recognition for the temple, a small group of Thais continue to protest, demanding the eviction of Cambodians living on land near the temple.

Man who claims TV credentials is NY rape suspect

He has been accused of raping a Russian tourist in a New York City park, lurking on another woman's fire escape and harassing a third woman when she turned down a date.

Hugues-Denver Akassy, 42, an Ivory Coast native, holds himself out to be an accomplished French-language TV journalist on a website riddled with questionable claims. He faces a burgeoning prosecution in New York, where he's being held on $100,000 bail.

Having already been charged with rape, trespass and harassment in a series of incidents around Manhattan over the last 18 months, he was indicted this week on charges not yet released.

His lawyer, Howard D. Simmons, said any sex-crime allegations against Akassy stem from consensual encounters.

"Mr. Akassy doesn't deny having social interactions with any of these women. However, he vehemently denies ever assaulting or victimizing any of them," Simmons said.

Manhattan prosecutors say they've gotten dozens of calls expressing complaints and concerns about Akassy since they made an initial request for information about him on July 30. On Friday, they asked Washington, D.C., residents to come forward with any information about him; Washington police and court officials couldn't immediately provide information about him, however.

Meanwhile, the New York Post's dating columnist aired her own unsettling account of going on a date with Akassy after he approached her in an Apple store in 2007. A stroll in Central Park rapidly disintegrated into unwanted sexual advances, followed by vicious text messages, she said.

"I shudder at how aggressive he was _ and I regret not listening to my internal warning bell," columnist Mandy Stadtmiller wrote.

On a polished, bilingual website, Akassy says he has two decades of experience covering assignments ranging from African wars to Washington politics. He claims to host a "60 Minutes"-style public affairs cable TV program and run a nonprofit production company called Orbite Television Inc.

But some of the people and organizations listed as producers and sponsors have told newspapers they never worked with him.

While his website says he lives in Paris and Washington, he told the woman who found him on her fire escape on July 25 that he was homeless and sleeping on the roof of her building on Manhattan's Upper West Side, according to a court complaint outlining some of the trespass charges already lodged against him.

Two days later, he raped a woman in nearby Riverside Park, according to another court complaint. He had met the woman, a visitor from Russia, in the Time Warner Center _ a popular shopping destination _ and then invited her to a nighttime picnic in the park, complete with wine and flowers, Simmons said.

Another woman told police that Akassy approached her and chatted her up on an Upper West Side street in February 2009. After she gave him her e-mail address to get rid of him, he e-mailed her asking for a date and became irate when she had her boyfriend write back telling him to leave her alone, according to yet another court complaint charging him with harassment.

He found her again on the street, yelled and cursed at her, and sent an e-mail calling her "a pathetic, retarded girl ... obnoxious and disgusting," the court document said.

Simmons said Akassy had been acquitted in that case, although electronic court records show it remains open. Fuller court records weren't immediately available Friday night.

In November, Akassy was banned from the entire New York Sports Club chain _ and then charged with trespass after continuing to turn up at some of the gyms, according to still another court complaint.

Australia's comeback doubles win clinches Davis Cup tie victory over Taiwan

Lleyton Hewitt and Paul Hanley came from two sets down to win their doubles match Saturday and secure Australia a 3-0 victory over Taiwan in their Asia/Oceania Zone Group I first-round Davis Cup tie.

The Australians beat Taiwan's Jimmy Wang and Lu Yen-hsun 2-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in the three-and-half-hour match on hardcourt at the Yangming Tennis Stadium in Kaohsiung.

Wang and Lu led in the first two sets with their impeccable team work, but Hewitt _ ranked 22nd in the world _ led his team to victory with powerful serving and capitalized on the Taiwanese' unforced errors.

In the opening singles Friday, Hewitt outclassed Taiwan's Chen Ti 6-4, 6-0, 6-3, and Chris Guccione defeated Lu 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 7-6 (11-9).

Australia progresses to the second round in April, when it will host the winner of the Kazakhstan-Thailand tie.

City bans $100 mil. supplier Company accused of trying to cover up missed delivery

A $100 million supplier that sells Chicago everything from bodybags and hay to tear-gas grenades on Wednesday got the purchasingequivalent of the death penalty: a three-year ban on doing businesswith the city.

Chicago United Industries and company owners George Loera and NickMassarella were disqualified -- and now face up to $17,800 in finesand damages -- for allegedly doctoring paperwork to cover up ashortage of 222 signs that were supposed to be delivered to the city.

"Based on our investigation, it is clear that they were upset thatthey weren't going to get paid for the signs that weren't delivered,and they decided to create a paper trail to try to show that signswere delivered that weren't," said Law Department spokeswomanJennifer Hoyle.

"It's not a clerical error," she said. "It's a deliberatesubmission of a false statement in order to get money from the citythat they were not due. They were supposed to supply a certainnumber. They were 222 short. And they were told that we would onlypay them for the signs they actually supplied us -- not the amountthat we ordered.

Allegation denied

"Subsequently, they came up with an invoice that purported to showthe delivery of those 222 signs on a different date. Those signs, infact, were never delivered. We never received them. There was nodelivery on that date."

Loera released a statement saying his company has had "thousands"of city contracts over the last 20 years and never once "submittedfalse statements" to City Hall.

"Conservatively, CUI has successfully delivered to the city'sDepartment of Transportation over 100,000 sign blanks. Never once hasthere ever been any question to the validity of the associatedpaperwork," Loera said.

"This is the same city department that is disputing 222 signblanks out of 100,000 delivered by CUI, but has been unable to find840 40,000-pound truckloads of asphalt from the last constructionseason."

Last spring, the city moved to strip Chicago United of theminority business certification that gives the company a leg up ongovernment contracts, on grounds Chicago United was little more thana pass-through that performed no useful function.

The three-year debarment does not address the minoritycertification issue.

Wednesday's broadside against Chicago United Industries was one of14 cases filed against individuals and businesses accused of makingfalse statements to the city.

Ten of the defendants allegedly submitted false information onapplications for building permits about who would be serving asgeneral contractor or speciality subcontractor.

Another case was filed against Michael Conniff, who was accused ofcalling 911 and making a false claim that multiple shots had beenfired inside a home. Based on that information, a hostage barricadeteam and other police resources were dispatched to the scene, at acost of $17,000. Conniff faces fines

and penalties of $52,000.

Nitty-gritty on 79th, or sizing up the election

This nitty-gritty, grass-roots conversation took place during anearly morning post-mortem on the mayoral election at Izola'sRestaurant on East 79th Street.

Hey, my man. My main man.

Hey, bruh. Ain't seen you since the election.

Yeah, I've been waiting for you, my man. You know why - you oweme one.

What you mean? Hal won didn't he? Just like I called it.

Ooooh no. Not exactly like you called it. You said that EdVrdolyak wouldn't quit and that Tom Hynes wouldn't either. And youalso bet me a dinner that Hal would wipe out both those guys. I meanwipe them out. Well, Hynes did quit and Hal didn't exactly wipe outVrdolyak. Vrdolyak is so happy that now he's thinking about runningfor governor or even against Richie Daley.

Bruh, why you bring up all that stuff? Hal won and he wonone-on-one against a white man who loud-mouthed the mayor more thananybody. What else you want? Don't be so negative.

I ain't being negative, man, but let's face it. You and me wasrunning scared right up to the last minute. Right up to when youheard Vrdolyak, himself, say he lost. You was so scared that you hadto hear it from that white man, over and over, on all four TVstations, just like he was the only one who could tell the truth.

So we both was scared for a while. And now it's over. So let'sgo right in this door and have a breakfast on you.

I'm with you, bruh. But I don't understand how Vrdolyak gotthat many votes (468,493), something over 41 percent, when thenewspaper polls kept saying he was so lo' down that he was worse offthan Hynes.

Looked bad, didn't it. I didn't know that many white folkscould dislike Hal. Vrdolyak! Man, they tried to tell us something.

But on the other hand, it wasn't as bad as it seemed. This timethey couldn't stir up enough race feelings to make white folks comeout in droves to vote against a black man. Do you know that blacksvoted in bigger numbers than whites - for the first time?

No, I don't, and you don't either. I just saw the figures.White folks were lower than usual, but they still outvoted us blacksslightly (75.08 percent to 74.73 percent). Man, what's wrong withblack folks?

We Negroes still got a long ways to go. But there's one thingI'm happy about. They didn't divide us like they tried to. I'mtalking about dudes like you and me, who ain't working steady andain't got a whole lot of education.

Yeah, that's what really scared me for a while, especially afterthat mess at the CHA. I figured a lot of black folks wouldn't botherto vote for nobody at all 'cause they would blame the mayor foreverything that went wrong over there. And I know some Negroes whoain't in CHA who talked as though Hal was supposed to hire everyblack dude in town when he beat Jane Byrne.

You know one thing, man, this election has been a good educationfor a lot of funny-sounding black folks.

And some white folks, too.

One thing wrong with black folks, who kept thinking that all thewhite folks would get together and vote against the mayor, is that wethink that only black folks can divide against each other.

You damned right, white folks and black folks are just alike.Everybody always asking why black folks don't always stick together,but white folks been fighting each other in wars and everything elsefor thousands of years. So why should we be surprised when Vrdolyak,Hynes and the rest of those guys fight over who's gonna control allthat clout?

You know one thing, white folks is overrated, even big-timewhite folks who supposed to have so much brains. The Japanese areproving all that to be wrong. They bombed Pearl Harbor and now theyowning Hawaii - little by little.

But black folks are also proving they also overrated by whitefolks. I can't understand why white folks think that every time ablack dude gets in charge of some big job that the whole black raceis 'bout to take over everything and wipe out everybody else. That'scrazy, man.

One thing, man, I'm glad that white folks can split with eachother some times just like we do. If they hadn't been split and theHispanics hadn't been split in that election, Harold Washingtonwouldn't be mayor today.

But hey, bruh, I got one better than that. If white folkshadn't got mad at each other and had a big war, you and me mightstill be slaves in Mississippi and Tennessee. And even back then,there were some good white folk on our side.

Bruh, you crazy, but it's the truth. It took the Civil War foryou and me to get free. Hoooooo! Strong stuff. Strong, but that'slife, man.

Vernon Jarrett's column appears on Page 7 Wednesday and in theCommentary section Friday and Sunday.

Report: Sugar company ignored dangers before blast

Imperial Sugar Co. and managers of its Georgia refinery ignored known dangers of explosive dust for decades before a chain of dust-fueled fireballs erupted at the plant last year and killed 14 people, federal investigators said in a report Thursday.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which investigates industrial accidents, said it found written warnings of explosive dust hazards in company memos from the 1960s and that the deaths likely could have been prevented by routine housekeeping.

The agency said near-misses over the years from small fires also failed to persuade corporate managers to take the threat seriously inside the nation's second-largest sugar refinery, located a few miles west of Savannah.

"Imperial Sugar management was aware of the hazards associated with combustible sugar dust, but in the absence of any major catastrophic incident during many years of facility operation, the hazardous conditions went uncorrected," the report said.

Federal investigators spent 19 months compiling their report on the Feb. 7, 2008, refinery disaster in Port Wentworth. Fourteen workers died and 36 suffered injuries, several with horrific second- and third-degree burns.

The Chemical Safety Board doesn't issue fines or sanctions. Its findings are used to make safety recommendations to policymakers and industry officials.

However, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration last year cited Imperial Sugar for 211 workplace safety violations at its refineries in Georgia and Gramercy, La. It recommended $8.7 million in fines against the company _ the third-highest penalty in the agency's history. The company is contesting the fine.

The Chemical Safety Board's findings could become a factor in more than 30 civil lawsuits filed against Imperial Sugar's subsidiaries by injured employees and relatives of workers killed in the blast.

The report concluded that the initial blast ignited inside a conveyor belt that carried sugar from the refinery's towering storage silos to a vast packaging plant where workers bagged sugar under the Dixie Crystals brand.

The 80-foot conveyor had been enclosed in a steel cover a year earlier to prevent contamination of finished sugar, but the cover also trapped sugar dust in dangerous concentrations. While the damage was too severe to determine the exact cause, investigators said an overheated bearing in the steel conveyor most likely ignited the dust like gunpowder.

However, the agency blamed the workers' deaths on a chain of secondary explosions that spread through the packaging plant, fueled by layers of dust the company had allowed to collect on floors, equipment and overhead rafters.

Intense pressure from the first explosion funneled into the four-story packaging plant with enough force to crack and buckle 3-inch thick concrete floors, the report said. The shock flung accumulated dust into the air, igniting a chain of eruptions that sent fireballs erupting from the plant for 15 minutes after the initial blast.

Workers told federal investigators that spilled sugar was frequently piled 2 to 3 feet deep in parts of the plant. One employee, according to the report, said he often had to clear a path with a squeegee so he could reach equipment.

"The secondary dust explosions would have been highly unlikely had Imperial Sugar performed routine maintenance on sugar conveying and packaging equipment to minimize dust releases and sugar spillage, and promptly removed accumulated dust and spilled sugar," the report said.

Imperial Sugar CEO John Sheptor has said the company had a comprehensive housekeeping program, including efforts focused specifically on dust.

"Dust hazards were taken very seriously at the plant," Sheptor said last year.

The Chemical Safety Board also faulted the company for failing to conduct emergency evacuation drills for employees prior to the blast, which caused debris to block some stairways and escape routes. Also, the report said, there were no alarms to alert workers to an emergency. Workers had to pass word of the catastrophe by two-way radios and cell phones.

Investigators concluded both Imperial Sugar and managers at the Georgia refinery, which the Texas company bought in 1997, long knew that sugar dust was explosive and potentially devastating.

At the refinery, investigators found an internal memo from August 1961 describing a dust explosion in the plant's powdered sugar room. A September 1967 memo to executives from an engineer at the Georgia plant noted: "This dust problem has become so serious and dangerous in modern refineries."

"At present, we have so much to correct that is knowingly wrong," the 1967 memo said. "By removing these heavy accumulations of dust on beams, sills, and walls, the fuel for a continuous explosion will be eliminated."

That memo was written 30 years before Imperial Sugar bought the Georgia refinery. But investigators said the company also knew about dust explosions.

Its internal data sheets on safety noted "sugar dust accumulations are explosive," the report said.

In 1998, an Imperial Sugar employee suffered severe burns from a dust explosion inside the powdered sugar mill of its refinery in Sugar Land, Texas _ the company's headquarters. Over the years, the report said, several small fires had ignited inside the Georgia plant without causing a large explosion, and prompted no effort to reduce dust hazards.

In 2006, the Chemical Safety Board called on OSHA to adopt a new explosive dust regulation that would cover food processors, wood manufactures and other industries not included in a regulation from the 1980s that only deals with grain dust.

Even after the Georgia explosion, OSHA opposed a new dust regulation under the Bush administration. After President Barack Obama took office, the Labor Department said in May it was working on a new OSHA regulation on explosive dust.

Imperial Sugar resumed refining sugar at its Georgia plant in June, 16 months after the explosion. The company says it has adopted voluntary standards to minimize dust hazards and included new safety features in the new plant.

___

Imperial Sugar Co.: http://www.imperialsugar.com/home-777.html

U.S. Chemical Safety Board: http://www.chemsafety.gov/

Occupational Safety & Health Administration: http://www.osha.gov/

BB&T announces increased cash dividend payments

BB&T Corp.'s Board of Directors has declared a second quarter2001 dividend of 23 cents a share, up from the dividend of 20 centsa share paid in the same quarter a year ago. BB&T said it hasincreased its quarterly cash dividend payments for 28 consecutiveyears. The latest dividend will be paid May 1 to shareholders ofrecord as of April 13.

Based in Winston-Salem, N.C., BB&T operates 888 banking officesin the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia,Tennessee, Kentucky and Washington, D.C. The company has thousandsof shareholders in West Virginia because of its purchase of OneValley Bancorp last year.

30

Going Beyond Books

BLOOMINGTON - Fourth-grade students at Fox Creek ElementarySchool step in determined rhythm to music for 15 minutes before theystart class, because teacher Amy Schumacher learned students retainmore if they exercise first.

They use "Dance Revolution" mats, based on a popular video game,that tie their footsteps to music and dance shown on a videotape.Schumacher was able to buy the mats with money from a nonprofitorganization that fosters creative and innovative ideas of teachersin Unit 5 and District 87 schools.

Beyond the Books Foundation marks its 15th anniversary this year.

"They (students) are engaged," said Jason Nourie, a third-gradeteacher at Towanda Elementary who bought a variety of new resourcesto teach about Route 66 in geography classes. He set up a displaywith a variety of items, instead of just telling the stories. "Assoon as they came in, they oohed and ahhed."

Beyond the Books paid for DVDs about how the road was built, CDswith songs about the character of the nation's Mother Road, a flag,books and other memorabilia.

Beyond the Books got its start in 1989 when District 87 schoolboard member Janella Cooley learned about education foundations at aconference. The foundation got its formal start in 1992.

"We wanted to encourage and support teachers' innovative andcreative ideas for programs to benefit our children (by makingfunding available) which might not be in a school district'sbudget," Cooley said. "The quality of a community depends on thequality of education in our public schools."

To date, Beyond the Books has given 347 grants totaling nearly aquarter million dollars, said Gail Ann Briggs, Unit 5's boardrepresentative since the foundation started.

Although the awards are made through a "blind" applicationprocess, every school in Unit 5 and District 87 has benefited fromthe awards, and there has been a good mix with arts, science, music,math and all parts of the curriculum, Briggs said.

Donations feed an endowment and the interest is used to issue thegrants. The endowment reached $750,000 this year and has a goal of$1 million in 2010, said Foundation President Alex Horvath.

Grants can be as little as $39 for stamps or as big as thousandsof dollars for technology.

The scope of ideas is vast. Amy Oberts created a Wild About Mathevent at Washington Elementary School, buying math equipment, gamesand items for a jungle-themed family activity. Parents told her theevent helped families "consider math in a new way, was enjoyable,and helped strengthen home and school ties," she said.

Bringing districts together

The program has brought the two districts together when teachersshare common goals.

Spanish teachers Dave Hirst of Normal Community West High Schooland Melissa Brown of Bloomington High School both benefited from agrant that bought an iPod.

Hirsh said students can hear from a Venezuelan journalist orlisten to a family in Spain cooking dinner, or he can teach themabout grammar as they listen to popular Spanish songs.

The teachers share ideas in how to teach a subject they bothlove, Hirsh said.

--

What An educational foundation that funds innovativeprojectsproposed by Bloomington District 87 and Normal-based Unit 5teachers for theirstudents

History Janella Cooley, a District 87 school board member, bringsthe idea of an education foundation back to the school board from aChicago convention (1988); District 87 donates $3,000 for a fund toget things rolling (1989); District 87 Education Foundation isofficial (1990); Beyond the Books Foundation is created to assistboth District 87 and Unit members with Gail Ann Briggs joining asthe Unit 5 representative (1992); Beyond the Books celebrates 15thanniversary with an endowment of $750,000 (2007); foundation hopesto reach the goal of $1 million endowment (2010).

So far Beyond the Books has given 347 grants totaling nearly$250,000; every school in both District 87 and Unit 5 has received agrant.

How to help Donations can be sent to Beyond the Books Foundation,P.O. Box 908, Bloomington, IL 61702-0908. Information is availablefrom District 87 at (309) 827-6031 or www.district87.org; and Unit 5at (309) 452-4476or www.unit5.org.

Going Beyond Books

BLOOMINGTON - Fourth-grade students at Fox Creek ElementarySchool step in determined rhythm to music for 15 minutes before theystart class, because teacher Amy Schumacher learned students retainmore if they exercise first.

They use "Dance Revolution" mats, based on a popular video game,that tie their footsteps to music and dance shown on a videotape.Schumacher was able to buy the mats with money from a nonprofitorganization that fosters creative and innovative ideas of teachersin Unit 5 and District 87 schools.

Beyond the Books Foundation marks its 15th anniversary this year.

"They (students) are engaged," said Jason Nourie, a third-gradeteacher at Towanda Elementary who bought a variety of new resourcesto teach about Route 66 in geography classes. He set up a displaywith a variety of items, instead of just telling the stories. "Assoon as they came in, they oohed and ahhed."

Beyond the Books paid for DVDs about how the road was built, CDswith songs about the character of the nation's Mother Road, a flag,books and other memorabilia.

Beyond the Books got its start in 1989 when District 87 schoolboard member Janella Cooley learned about education foundations at aconference. The foundation got its formal start in 1992.

"We wanted to encourage and support teachers' innovative andcreative ideas for programs to benefit our children (by makingfunding available) which might not be in a school district'sbudget," Cooley said. "The quality of a community depends on thequality of education in our public schools."

To date, Beyond the Books has given 347 grants totaling nearly aquarter million dollars, said Gail Ann Briggs, Unit 5's boardrepresentative since the foundation started.

Although the awards are made through a "blind" applicationprocess, every school in Unit 5 and District 87 has benefited fromthe awards, and there has been a good mix with arts, science, music,math and all parts of the curriculum, Briggs said.

Donations feed an endowment and the interest is used to issue thegrants. The endowment reached $750,000 this year and has a goal of$1 million in 2010, said Foundation President Alex Horvath.

Grants can be as little as $39 for stamps or as big as thousandsof dollars for technology.

The scope of ideas is vast. Amy Oberts created a Wild About Mathevent at Washington Elementary School, buying math equipment, gamesand items for a jungle-themed family activity. Parents told her theevent helped families "consider math in a new way, was enjoyable,and helped strengthen home and school ties," she said.

Bringing districts together

The program has brought the two districts together when teachersshare common goals.

Spanish teachers Dave Hirst of Normal Community West High Schooland Melissa Brown of Bloomington High School both benefited from agrant that bought an iPod.

Hirsh said students can hear from a Venezuelan journalist orlisten to a family in Spain cooking dinner, or he can teach themabout grammar as they listen to popular Spanish songs.

The teachers share ideas in how to teach a subject they bothlove, Hirsh said.

--

What An educational foundation that funds innovativeprojectsproposed by Bloomington District 87 and Normal-based Unit 5teachers for theirstudents

History Janella Cooley, a District 87 school board member, bringsthe idea of an education foundation back to the school board from aChicago convention (1988); District 87 donates $3,000 for a fund toget things rolling (1989); District 87 Education Foundation isofficial (1990); Beyond the Books Foundation is created to assistboth District 87 and Unit members with Gail Ann Briggs joining asthe Unit 5 representative (1992); Beyond the Books celebrates 15thanniversary with an endowment of $750,000 (2007); foundation hopesto reach the goal of $1 million endowment (2010).

So far Beyond the Books has given 347 grants totaling nearly$250,000; every school in both District 87 and Unit 5 has received agrant.

How to help Donations can be sent to Beyond the Books Foundation,P.O. Box 908, Bloomington, IL 61702-0908. Information is availablefrom District 87 at (309) 827-6031 or www.district87.org; and Unit 5at (309) 452-4476or www.unit5.org.

Arms mounted onto giant Jesus statue in Poland

SWIEBODZIN, Poland (AP) — Workers have succeeded in lifting the shoulders and arms onto a giant statue of Jesus Christ in a small Polish town.

After delays caused by strong winds, a towering crane lifted the massive piece on Saturday and very slowly placed it onto the lower part of the figure's body. Later in the day, workers will attempt to finish assembling the statue by hoisting the head.

The statue is the creation of a local priest, Rev. Sylwester Zawadzki. Many local residents and business people in Swiebodzin (shvee-eh-BOHD'-jeen). They hope it will put their town of 22,000 on the map for Roman Catholic pilgrims and bring in money to their community.

Organizers say it will be the largest statue of Jesus in the world, rising even higher than Rio de Janeiro's iconic Christ the Redeemer statue.

National briefs

3 arrested in Katrina hospital deaths

NEW ORLEANS - A doctor and two nurses who worked through the chaosthat followed Hurricane Katrina were arrested on suspicion of murderand accused Tuesday of giving deadly drug injections to fourdesperately ill patients trapped in the flooded-out hospital.

"We're talking about people that pretended that maybe they wereGod," Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti said. "And they madethat decision."

Bush blocked probe of eavesdropping

WASHINGTON - President Bush personally blocked a JusticeDepartment investigation of the anti-terror eavesdropping programthat intercepts Americans' international calls and e-mails,administration officials said Tuesday.

Bush refused to grant security clearances for departmentinvestigators who were looking into the role Justice lawyers playedin crafting the program, under which the National Security Agencylistens in on telephone calls and reads e-mail without courtapproval, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the Senate JudiciaryCommittee.

Meth still No. 1 drug problem, survey finds

WASHINGTON - Meth abuse continues to fuel an increase in crimeslike robbery and assault, straining the workload of local policeforces despite a drop in the number of meth lab seizures, accordingto a survey Tuesday.

Nearly half of county law enforcement officials considermethamphetamine their primary drug problem, more than cocaine,marijuana and heroin combined, the survey of the National Associationof Counties found.

Compiled from wire reports

World briefs

U.N. resolution to give Iran nuclear ultimatum UNITED NATIONS Aproposed U.N. Security Council resolution calls on Iran to promptlysuspend much of its nuclear program or face the prospect of economicand diplomatic sanctions, council diplomats said Tuesday. The draftresolution demands that Iran stop enriching uranium and building anuclear reactor that produces plutonium. Both can be used to makenuclear weapons. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters theresolution would require Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment andplutonium reprocessing activities but gave no other details. He saidRussia and China, Irans closest allies on the council, were notprepared to discuss the substance of the draft at a meeting Tuesday.He expressed hope that substantive talks could begin today. Adiplomat speaking on condition of anonymity because the draft has notyet been circulated to all council members said it calls for theInternational Atomic Energy Agency the U.N. nuclear watchdog andother international experts to verify the suspension and report onIran's compliance. Bombay mourns train bomb victims BOMBAY, India Indias financial center came to a halt Tuesday as trains, cars andpedestrians paused during the evening rush hour to remember themoment one week ago when bombs ripped through Bombays commuter railnetwork. Sirens wailed at 6:24 p.m. the time the first of sevenbombs shook the citys commuter rail lines followed by two minutes ofsilence in this proudly frenetic city of 16 million people. Trainsstopped. Cars froze at intersections in dense traffic. On sidewalksand street corners, large crowds gathered, unmoving and silent, inmemory of the 207 people killed.

National briefs

3 arrested in Katrina hospital deaths

NEW ORLEANS - A doctor and two nurses who worked through the chaosthat followed Hurricane Katrina were arrested on suspicion of murderand accused Tuesday of giving deadly drug injections to fourdesperately ill patients trapped in the flooded-out hospital.

"We're talking about people that pretended that maybe they wereGod," Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti said. "And they madethat decision."

Bush blocked probe of eavesdropping

WASHINGTON - President Bush personally blocked a JusticeDepartment investigation of the anti-terror eavesdropping programthat intercepts Americans' international calls and e-mails,administration officials said Tuesday.

Bush refused to grant security clearances for departmentinvestigators who were looking into the role Justice lawyers playedin crafting the program, under which the National Security Agencylistens in on telephone calls and reads e-mail without courtapproval, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the Senate JudiciaryCommittee.

Meth still No. 1 drug problem, survey finds

WASHINGTON - Meth abuse continues to fuel an increase in crimeslike robbery and assault, straining the workload of local policeforces despite a drop in the number of meth lab seizures, accordingto a survey Tuesday.

Nearly half of county law enforcement officials considermethamphetamine their primary drug problem, more than cocaine,marijuana and heroin combined, the survey of the National Associationof Counties found.

Compiled from wire reports

World briefs

U.N. resolution to give Iran nuclear ultimatum UNITED NATIONS Aproposed U.N. Security Council resolution calls on Iran to promptlysuspend much of its nuclear program or face the prospect of economicand diplomatic sanctions, council diplomats said Tuesday. The draftresolution demands that Iran stop enriching uranium and building anuclear reactor that produces plutonium. Both can be used to makenuclear weapons. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters theresolution would require Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment andplutonium reprocessing activities but gave no other details. He saidRussia and China, Irans closest allies on the council, were notprepared to discuss the substance of the draft at a meeting Tuesday.He expressed hope that substantive talks could begin today. Adiplomat speaking on condition of anonymity because the draft has notyet been circulated to all council members said it calls for theInternational Atomic Energy Agency the U.N. nuclear watchdog andother international experts to verify the suspension and report onIran's compliance. Bombay mourns train bomb victims BOMBAY, India Indias financial center came to a halt Tuesday as trains, cars andpedestrians paused during the evening rush hour to remember themoment one week ago when bombs ripped through Bombays commuter railnetwork. Sirens wailed at 6:24 p.m. the time the first of sevenbombs shook the citys commuter rail lines followed by two minutes ofsilence in this proudly frenetic city of 16 million people. Trainsstopped. Cars froze at intersections in dense traffic. On sidewalksand street corners, large crowds gathered, unmoving and silent, inmemory of the 207 people killed.

Spanish judge want to quiz Iraq PM over killings

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish judge wants to question Iraq's prime minister and three Iraqi army officers in a probe into the killing of Iranians exiled in Iraq.

Judge Fernando Andreu this week said he wanted to question the four as he expands his probe into the killing of 11 Iranian exiles living in Camp Ashraf in Iraq in 2009 to include the killing of another 35 people there on April 8.

He summoned the three Iraqi officers to the National Court on Oct. 3 and said he would call Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki when his immunity as premier expires on leaving office.

Spain's universal justice doctrine allows it to prosecute grave crimes committed in other countries under certain conditions, such as when the country where a crime allegedly took place is not investigating.

Maryam Rajavi, leader of the Iranian Resistance exile group, said the Iraqi government was hounding residents in Camp Ashraf 24 hours a day with noise from loudspeakers. She urged the United States to retake control of the camp from Iraqi forces "in order to prevent another massacre."

"Maliki must now put an end to the siege on Ashraf and all suppressive measures against Ashraf must stop," she said in a statement.

Soviet power shifts // Yeltsin curbs party, bullies Gorbachev

MOSCOW Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's savior became histormentor Friday.

Wasting no time in wielding the power that is now his, Russianrepublic President Boris N. Yeltsin routed the Communist Party fromits position of influence and placed three of his own men in keypositions on Gorbachev's Cabinet.

Yeltsin - the hero of the anti-coup movement that swept tovictory this week - left no doubt that he now holds the upper handhere.

He issued decrees throughout the day, each one lopping off moreof the authority of the central government and of Gorbachev - whocomplained about some, joined in others and ultimately acquiesced toall.

Yeltsin …

RPI FINDS A WAY AGAINST MICHIGAN.(Sports)

DETROIT -- RPI may not have outplayed Michigan on Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena but the Engineers were at their best when they needed to be.

Despite being outshot 46-14 and giving up five power-play opportunities in the third period, the Engineers survived to earn a 4-3 victory over the Wolverines in the semifinal of the 45th Annual Great Lakes Invitational.

"It wasn't our best effort tonight," RPI coach Seth Appert said. "I wasn't particularly thrilled with how we played but we found a way to win with a very good game in goal, and a lot of blocked shots, and a gutty effort on the penalty kill."

RPI will face Michigan State in the GLI championship game …

GARRETT, THERESA V.(CAPITAL REGION)

TROY -- Theresa V. Garrett, 93, of St. Mary's Woodland Village, died Tuesday at her residence after a long illness. Born in Cohoes, she was the daughter of the late Henry and Rose Beauchemin Audette and wife of the late Joseph R. Garrett, former Cohoes Chief of Police. Mrs. Garrett was a resident of Cohoes for most of her life and had worked at the Cohoes Mfg. Co., where she had been a sales clerk. Mrs. Garrett had lived in Florida from the early 1970's until the mid 1990's, when she moved back …

Bangkok Post, Thailand, Business Briefs Column.

Oct. 8--TMB AFFILIATE DEFENDS TRANSACTION: Phayathai Asset Management Co, a subsidiary of Thai Military Bank, has rebutted newspaper reports claiming a lack of transparency in the sale of a three-rai plot and buildings in Khlong Tan, Phra Kaong district, Bangkok.

The company said the property had been advertised for sale by auction in several newspapers and was put on auction on Aug 3. There were several observers but no bidders, it said.

The company's board on Aug 13 approved a sealed-bid auction, fearing that a heavy loss might result if another open auction was held, at which bidding would be allowed to start from 50 percent of the appraised value.

The company invited parties including observers from the Aug 3 auction to submit sealed bids. It received five bids with the highest bidder, at 165 million baht, being …

Chicago Fire Suspect Unfit for Trial

CHICAGO - A homeless woman accused of setting an apartment fire that killed four people on the city's North Side in March was found mentally unfit Thursday to stand trial.

Cook County Judge Charles Burns ruled that Mary Smith was unfit after hearing from a psychiatrist who interviewed her and remanded the 43-year-old to the custody of the state Department of Human Services.

Dr. Peter Lourgos testified that Smith couldn't give a coherent account of the events leading to her arrest. She is taking an anti-psychotic drug and …