A Chicago patrol officer fatally shot a 39-year-old manyesterday after he allegedly lunged at him with a 9-inch knife in aNear Northwest Side restaurant.
Jozef Golas, a Polish immigrant whose address was unknown, diedin Cook County Hospital two hours after the shooting.
Police said Golas accosted Officers …
BOSTON - Mike Lowell drove in five runs to lead Boston's revived hitting attack and the Red Sox cut their magic number to clinch the AL East title to two with an 11-6 win over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday.
Lowell had three of Boston's 17 hits and took over the team lead with a career-high 116 RBIs, two more than David Ortiz. He also set a club record for most RBIs by a third baseman, passing Butch Hobson's total of 112 in 1977, and raised his batting average to a career-best .326.
The Red Sox increased their lead to 3 1/2 games over the New York Yankees, who played later Wednesday at Tampa Bay. Boston, seeking its first division title since 1995, won for the fourth …
Zurich Financial Services Group said Thursday it completed a $1.9 billion takeover of two car insurance units that belonged to American International Group Inc.
Zurich said it immediately sold most of the units _ 21st Century Insurance and Agency Auto _ to U.S.-based …
The agent industry is dominated by white agents, even though 70percent of NFL players are black. But black agents have been makinginroads, according to Mark Levin, assistant director of research forthe NFLPA.
Levin points to the successes of agents Lamont Smith, EugeneParker, David Ware, Brig Owens and Harold "Doc" Daniels as signs ofchange.
Some black agents who have come to prominence started out as"runners" or recruiters for white agents.
Some white agents feel black agents use their race to theiradvantage when recruiting players.
"Black agents are putting tremendous pressure on black kids notto go with white agents," one white agent …
MUMBAI, India (AP) — The "Little Master" missed making cricket history by one swing of the bat.
Sachin Tendulkar, one of the greatest cricket batsmen of all time, fell just short of becoming the first player to score 100 centuries — amassing at least 100 runs on 100 different occasions.
Needing only six more runs to reach the milestone, the Indian great tipped the ball back to an opposing player and was "caught out" Friday, leaving him with 94 runs in the five-day test match against the West Indies.
A 6, which is akin to a home run in baseball but is worth six runs, would have given Tendulkar his historic total. But instead of celebrating, the home crowd was reduced to a …
The only real fireworks between Texas and Seattle this time were the pyrotechnic displays after back-to-back home runs by Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley, and then the 10th-inning game-winning shot by Ramon Vazquez as the Rangers rallied for a 13-12 victory Monday night.
Only four nights after Mariners first baseman Richie Sexson charged the mound and flung his helmet at Texas pitcher Kason Gabbard to ignite a bench-clearing brawl, the AL West rivals met again. Sexson was with his team, but not playing while serving the third game of his five-game suspension for his actions. He'll miss the entire Texas series.
Vazquez's homer came on a 1-0 pitch with one out …
Karen Stupples began the final round of the Women's British Openin Sunningdale, England, with an eagle and a double eagle. It was thekind of start Annika Sorenstam needed.
Stupples won her first major title with a record-tying score of 19-under-par 269, while defending champion Sorenstam's bid to become thesecond woman to win all four majors back-to-back ended in a tie for13th.
This time, the victory went to a homegrown talent who has beenplaying on the LPGA Tour for six years and won her first title in theopening tournament of the season. Now she has a major to go with it.
"It's quite mind-blowing," Stupples said after finishing fivestrokes ahead of Rachel …
GREAT FOR YOUR HEART-AND YOUR WAISTLINE
easy and healthful recipes
Dietary fiber is well-known for its effects on heart health. A diet rich in fiber helps reduce blood levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad" cholesterol, without reducing levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good" cholesterol.
Soluble fiber may also help regulate blood sugar in people with diabetes; and it aids in weight loss, both because it is filling and because it helps reduce the number of calories that your body absorbs after a meal.
In fact, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has found that women who raise their fiber intake from 12 grams per day to 24 …
In a state known for bustling, exciting tourist destinations such as Waikiki and the Kilauea volcano, Kalaupapa is sacred ground with a history of disease, suffering and isolation.
Some 8,000 people have died on this remote peninsula since the Hawaiian Kingdom started exiling leprosy patients here in 1866. Many were torn from their families and left to scrounge for shelter, clothes and food. The vast majority were buried in unmarked graves.
Today, visitor interest in Kalaupapa, on the northern edge of Molokai island, is growing. And it will likely increase when the Vatican proclaims Father Damien _ the 19th century priest who cared for the leprosy patients …
ESSEX: Text messages warning commuters of delayed Essex trainshave been sidelined.
The move has annoyed Essex Rail Commuters Federation chief MarkLeslie, who used the free National Express service which has nowbeen replaced by e-mail alerts.
National Express said this week that cost was not the main reasonfor stopping the service.
SpokesmanPeter Meades said: "Text is much more restricted than e-mail and the two systems were not compatible, so we decided one overthe …
CHICAGO - When it comes to Abraham Lincoln, apparently there's no such thing as enough. After countless books about his boyhood, his presidency, the hunt for his killer and yes, even his feet, maybe it was time for a new book devoted to what happened to Lincoln's body after he was done using it.
As its title implies, "Stealing Lincoln's Body" by Thomas J. Craughwell (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press) is devoted to Lincoln after, as Craughwell writes in the first sentence, "the last tremor of life" left his body.
Craughwell details a little-known plot to steal the 16th president's remains from his tomb in Springfield, Ill., in 1876 - 11 years after he was …
| W L OT Pts GF GA |
| y-New Jersey 50 27 4 104 241 207 |
| x-Philadelphia 43 26 11 97 258 232 |
| x-Pittsburgh 44 28 9 97 261 238 |
| x-N.Y. Rangers 42 30 9 93 206 215 |
| N.Y. Islanders 26 45 9 61 197 270 |
| Northeast Division |
| W L OT Pts GF GA |
| z-Boston 52 18 10 114 267 188 |
| x-Montreal 41 29 11 93 248 244 |
| Buffalo 40 32 9 … |
ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sunday defended his time in private business and insisted he understands the country's tough economic times because he once feared losing his job.
"I know what it's like to worry about whether you're going to get fired," the former Massachusetts governor told a crowd gathered at the historic Rochester Opera House. "There were a couple of times when I was worried I was going to get pink-slipped."
Romney did not provide any details or concrete examples of when he feared he would be laid off or fired. His aides refused repeated requests for additional information.
Romney, who grew up in Michigan while his father served as the state's governor, became a multimillionaire when he was CEO of Bain Capital, a venture capital firm.
A spokeswoman said Romney feared losing his job "as a young person just out of college."
Before running Bain Capital, Romney attended Brigham Young University and Harvard, where he studied for law and business degrees. After graduating with honors, Romney was hired as a consultant by Boston Consulting Group. He then went to work at Bain & Co., the consulting firm that eventually spun off Bain Capital.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich attacked Romney this weekend for making those millions while laying off workers.
Gingrich referred to Romney's job at Bain as "a Wall Street model where you can flip companies, you can go in and have leveraged buyouts, you can basically take out all the money, leaving behind the workers."
Democrats have also repeatedly attacked Romney's tenure at Bain.
At the rally Sunday, Romney told the crowd that Bain created more jobs in the long run.
He said he once stocked shelves at Staples, the successful office supply company.
"I'm not perfect, but I do get it, and I will use what I know to get America working," Romney said.
Former President Bill Clinton's taste in "takeout" food sure hasimproved since the 1990s, when he was practically the poster boy forBig Macs! En route out of town Tuesday, our former commander-in-chief had the Secret Service run by the super-pricey Il Mulino NewYork restaurant and pick up quite the feast for the flight home.
The ex-prez (and some lucky traveling companions) dined on classicBranzino, spaghettini Bolognese, papardelle with sausage andClinton's favorite -- Il Mulino's cheesecake.
YUMMY PROFITS: While on the subject of food, we should note thelocal restaurants making the most dough last year. According toindustry "bible," Restaurants and Institutions magazine, the city'stop five included Gibsons at No. 8 nationwide, grossing more than $19million in 2005, followed by Joe's Stone Crab (No. 30, $13.8million), Hugo's Frog Bar (No. 34, $13.5 million), Shaw's Crab House(No. 46, $12.3 million) and Harry Caray's (No. 61, $11.3 million).
The highest-ranking restaurant in Illinois was Bob Chinn's inWheeling, coming in at No. 7 and a whopping $19.7 million.
BRITNEY TV? I pray this isn't true, but Us Weekly reports BritneySpears' recent gig on "Will & Grace" led to a meeting between theparenting-challenged pop tart and Sean Hayes -- supposedly to discussideas for a proposed ensemble sitcom about teachers, possibly called"Detention."
No comment from spokesfolks for either Hayes or Spears.
NEVER TOO LATE: Nice to know 65-years-young Martin Sheen is goingfrom being president to becoming a college student -- for the firsttime. The departing President Bartlet on "The West Wing" plans tostudy literature, philosophy and possibly oceanography at theNational University of Ireland in Galway.
HOTEL HAPPENINGS: The Chicago Hilton & Towers has long been afavorite Chicago filming site. Recently cameras have rolled at theHilton for the "Prison Break" series and the ABC pilot "Enemies." Thenext movie likely to capture the Hilton on film will be John Cusack's"Grace Is Gone" feature, also starring Dianne Wiest and Casey Affleckand directed by James Strouse, who wrote the screenplay for "LonesomeJim," Affleck's current film.
"Grace Is Gone" is about a father (Cusack) with two youngdaughters who receives the devastating news his wife was killed inIraq. Before bringing himself to tell his children, he takes them ontheir dream vacation -- a cross-country trip to the fictitious DisneyWorld-esque "Enchanted Gardens" theme park in Florida.
- To toast the upcoming Empire Room tribute to Stanley Paul, thePalmer House Hilton has dedicated a big window display near itsMonroe Street entrance to Chicago's popular orchestra leader. Paul isthe recipient of the upcoming Essee and Irv Kupcinet Award, beingpresented May 4 by the Chicago Academy for the Arts.
FLYBY BIT: At the New York premiere party for "Three Penny Opera,"Cyndi Lauper clarified a widely reported tale to my Big Applecorrespondent Baird Jones.
A bird flying overhead at a Lauper concert last year supposedlymade an unwelcome "deposit" in the singer's mouth -- just as shethrew back her head to belt out a tune.
According to Lauper, the birdie did hit her lower lip, "but Icould not taste it. I just wiped it off and went on with myperformance. I actually considered it a good-luck sign." Whatever yousay, Cyndi!
e-mail: bzwecker@suntimes.com
World stock markets rallied strongly Friday on the first trading day of 2009 as New Year's optimism more than offset grim economic news from around the globe.
The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed up 127.62 points, or 2.9 percent, at 4,561.79, while Germany's DAX was 162.87, or 3.4 percent, higher at 4,973.07. France's CAC-40 rose 131.72 points, or 4.1 percent, to 3,349.69.
The perky New Year's tone followed through into the U.S. where the Dow Jones industrial average was up 145.76 points, or 1.7 percent, at 8,922.15 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 14.40 points, or 1.6 percent, to 917.65.
"It is customary to greet the New Year with a surge of optimism. Past cares are buried as eyes are raised to more distant horizons," said Stephen Lewis, an analyst at Monument Securities.
Trading across the world was light though as many investors will not return to the markets until Monday. Modest trading volumes can exaggerate moves up or down.
Investors will be looking to Monday's session, when volumes are expected to be nearer normal, as a better barometer of market sentiment.
Friday's gains on Wall Street came despite further dismal U.S. manufacturing data. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said its manufacturing index fell to a 28-year low of 32.4 in December from 36.2 in November. Any reading below 50 indicates contraction and the bigger the difference from 50 the greater the contraction.
As well as the grim ISM reading, investors had other bad economic news to digest.
In Asia, Singapore said Friday its economy shrank by an annualized rate of 12.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, while China's manufacturing sector, which accounts for 43 percent of the economy, contracted for a fifth straight month in December.
And in Europe, manufacturing activity contracted for the seventh month running in December for the countries using the euro, falling at its sharpest rate for at least 11 years, according to the monthly purchasing managers index for the euro-zone.
In Britain, house prices fell in 2008 at their fastest rate for at least 25 years, the country's biggest mortgage lender HBOS said. Elsewhere, the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply reported that Britain's manufacturing sector, which accounts for around 15 percent of the total economy, suffered its second worst month since 1992 in December.
"It is unfortunate that today's headlines serve as a depressing reminder of the synchronous downturn under way in the global economy," said Neil Mellor, an analyst at Bank of New York Mellon.
After one of the worst years ever for global equities, many expect volatility to remain the name of the game for some time to come, especially as the first part of the new year will likely be dominated by mounting economic gloom and massive job losses.
Stock markets have historically started to recover around 6 months to 9 months before the economic activity data turns for the better. Many stock market observers think the markets should be pushing higher, rather than falling or trading largely flat, possibly by the middle of the year.
Earlier, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index led the Asian markets that were open higher, vaulting 655.33 points, or 4.6 percent, to 15,042.81. More than half of Asian's markets, including Japan's Nikkei, remained closed.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi added 2.9 percent to 1,157.40, Singapore's benchmark rose 3.9 percent, and Mumbai's Sensex traded 0.6 percent higher. Australia was modestly lower.
Oil prices rose further Friday, in conjunction with stock markets, with light, sweet crude for February delivery up $1.40 at $46. The contract rocketed on New Year's Eve to settle $5.57 higher at $44.60.
The dollar strengthened 0.2 percent to 90.95 yen while the euro was 0.4 percent lower at $1.3931.
___
AP Business Writer Jeremiah Marquez in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
Documentary footage taken in the square shows them arm in arm,happy, surrounded by cheering students. Knowing their time togethermight be short, they enter a tent that is erected on the spot. "Ihad never been with a woman," Li Lu remembers. "We had just begunto undress, but never got a chance to perform our duty." They wereinterrupted by growing tension in the square. Before long the troopsbegan to move, and the lovers were separated. "I never saw heragain," Li Lu says.
Now a graduate with three degrees from Columbia University, hetells this story during an interview in New York with Michael Apted,director of "Moving the Mountain." Li Lu is one of several leaderswho tell their stories in the film; some are in New York, some arescattered overseas (Paris, Hong Kong) and one is still in hiding inBeijing.
The larger story of Tiananmen Square has been told many times,symbolized by a remarkable live shot of a single student facing downthe approach of a tank. What this film documents are some of thesmaller stories that went into it. Apted talks to several of the keyleaders, who still express disbelief that the People's Army wouldfire on Chinese citizens, and who blame themselves (sometimes withtears) for not being "adequate" to protect the lives of theirfollowers.
No one knows for sure how many people were killed in theTiananmen massacre. "When they said (on government broadcasts) thetroops had not fired, that is how we knew they had fired," says oneof the leaders of the movement for Chinese democracy. "When theysaid no one had been killed, that is how we knew many people had beenkilled - not one or two, but many, because otherwise they would nothave mentioned it."
Apted is a remarkable figure among directors for his lifelongpractice of moving between fiction films and documentaries. Hisfeatures include "Coal Miner's Daughter," "Gorillas in the Mist,""Blink" and the recent "Nell." At the same time, he has continuedthe "7-Up" films, a series tracking the lives of the same group ofpeople every seven years. His other documentaries are on subjectssuch as a shooting at the Oglala Indian reservation, the RollingStones and Sting.
In "Moving the Mountain," where original video source materialis thin, he augments the narration of Li Lu and the others withfictional flashbacks to their memories. In the case of Li Lu, whathe shows is a life typical of those who grew up during theneo-puritanical time of the Cultural Revolution.
Li Lu was taken from his parents while still a baby because hisfather, a Russian-trained engineer, and his mother, the daughter oflandowners, were deemed in need of ideological correction at workcamps. He was reared by a series of foster parents, none of whomwanted him, and then in an orphanage where he was mocked because ofhis class.
He remembers clearly the turning point: While standing in acorner for punishment, he looks down to see a lizard creeping acrosshis bare foot. He believes that when this happens, the foot willsoon fall off. When he still has his foot the next morning, hebelieves he can survive anything, and indeed he does survive, growingup to read everything he can get his hands on, and finally travelingby train to Beijing to take part in the demonstrations and hungerstrikes that led to the showdown at Tiananmen.
"Moving the Mountain" is not as gripping as it perhaps couldhave been, because Apted does not have access to footage from thesquare he no doubt would have liked to include (such footage probablyhas not survived). What he does have is extraordinary, however, andat a time when China's human rights policies are again in the air,and the annexation of Hong Kong grows closer, "Moving the Mountain"is an extraordinary glimpse behind the scenes of a country lurchingwith difficulty toward democracy.
Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows:
___
ABC's "This Week" — Sen.-elect Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind.
___
CBS' "Face the Nation" — Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.
___
NBC's "Meet the Press" — Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J.
___
CNN's "State of the Union" — Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas; Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.; Sen.-elect Pat Toomey, R-Pa.; Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
___
"Fox News Sunday" — GOP Reps. Eric Cantor of Virginia, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Darrell Issa of California.
A subsidiary of Warren Buffett's company said Monday that it's buying a liquor distributor that serves Georgia and North Carolina.
Terms of the McLane Co.'s acquisition of Kahn Ventures Inc. and Empire Distributors weren't disclosed in the statement announcing the deal.
Buffett, who is chairman and CEO of McLane's Omaha-based parent company Berkshire Hathaway Inc., says he's excited about the Empire deal because of the opportunities Berkshire, McLane and Empire envision in the beverage industry.
"We expect that the Empire acquisition will provide us with a solid platform for potentially acquiring other similar high quality wholesale distributors," Buffett said in a statement.
Neither Buffett nor a McLane spokesman responded immediately to messages left Monday.
In keeping with Berkshire's practice, no changes are planned at Empire. The news release said the Atlanta-based distributor will continue operating just as it has for 70 years.
Empire has eight facilities equipped with high-tech equipment, including bottle scanning and GPS routing, to help them operate efficiently.
Berkshire said with the acquisition Empire will gain access to more resources and operational best practices.
McLane is one of Berkshire's roughly 80 subsidiaries. It is based in Temple, Texas, and distributes groceries, tobacco and other items to convenience stores, drug stores, wholesale clubs and other retailers. Berkshire bought McLane from Wal-Mart in 2003.
Berkshire owns clothing, furniture, jewelry and corporate jet firms, but its insurance and utility businesses accounted for more than one-third of the company's revenue last year. It also has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.
___
On the Net:
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com
Empire Distributors: http://www.empiredist.com
Venezuelan consumer prices rose 1.7 percent in April, surging ahead despite government efforts to tame inflation in the oil-rich country.
Consumer prices increased by 8.9 percent in the first four months of 2008, Central Bank figures released Tuesday show. If that pace continues, Venezuela would end the year with 26 percent annual inflation, well exceeding the government's 20 percent target.
Annual inflation reached 29.1 percent in metropolitan Caracas in March, according to the Central Bank _ the highest rate in Latin America. The bank, which adopted a new method for measuring inflation in cities across the country this year, has not yet released annual inflation figures for April.
President Hugo Chavez, a socialist, is pumping the country's oil income into massive public spending programs that last year helped to fuel 8.4 percent growth. He last week signed a decree to raise the minimum wage by 30 percent to US$372 (euro240) a month.
Planning Minister Haiman El Troudi said the nation is on the tail-end of a late-2007 inflationary spike and he predicted the rate would slow.
Chavez's government has imposed price controls on many basic foods since 2003, and on April 28 issued US$4 billion (euro2.6 billion) in bonds in a bid to soak up excess cash, strengthen the currency and stem inflation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell will take the helm of the cable industry's top trade group.
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association said Tuesday that Powell will become its new president and chief executive, effective April 25.
Powell was nominated as a member of the FCC by President Bill Clinton and sworn in in November 1997. He was named chairman by President George W. Bush in January 2001 and served in that role until April 2005.
Powell is currently a senior adviser with investment firm Providence Equity Partners and honorary co-chair of Broadband for America, an industry group that lobbies on telecom issues and counts cable giant Comcast Corp. as a member.
He replaces outgoing NCTA president Kyle McSlarrow, who is joining Comcast/NBC Universal as head of the company's Washington operations.
