Vol 40 No 33, Thursday April 14, 2011

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HIGH GAS PRICES HURT U.S. CONFIDENCE - PG. 3

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35 Cents Final

THE NATION’S ONLY BLACK DAILY

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FOURTRILLION

IN DEFICITCUTS

President Barack Obama yester-day set a goal of cutting the U.S.budget deficit by $4 trillion,plunging into the debate over the

nation’s fiscal woes after accusa-tions he has failed to lead on theissue.

SEE PAGE 3.

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 20112 � � � � �

REPORT: LATE-NIGHTTRAINS GETTING ‘TRASHY’There’s a stinky situation on

some late-night subway rides: bagsof trash riding alongside passen-gers.A published report says the Met-

ropolitan Transportation Authorityis using regular subway trains totransport bags of garbage collectedfrom the tracks by work crews.Mountains of orange plastic bags

have been seen on some trains —including the 6 line — over the lastseveral months.The MTA said it has launched an

investigation but that it isn’t theirpractice to use in service trains totransport their trash.Garbage is usually collected from

platforms and placed in storagerooms or metal bins until it can bepicked up by a refuse train.

SMALL PERCENTAGE OF NYERS BIKE TO

WORK, STUDY FINDSDespite the increasing number of

bike lanes added to or planned forcity streets, a new study shows onlya small number of New Yorkersactually pedal to work.A new study by NYU’s Furman

Center found that only .6 percent ofNew Yorkers use bikes as their pre-ferred mode of transportation.The city Department of Trans-

portation has touted that the num-ber of residents who cycled to workhas increased rapidly, but it’s stillclearly a small percentage.The .6 percent compares to the 10

percent of residents who say theyprefer to walk to work, the 57 per-cent of residents who like publictransportation and the nearly 30percent who say they prefer driving.The number of bicycle com-

muters is higher in some othermajor cities.In Chicago, 1.2 percent of resi-

dents prefer biking; in Boston, 2.2percent; and in Los Angeles justover one percent of commuterspedal to work.

BUDGET CUTS COULD CLOSE DOZENS OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES, REPORT SAYSA new report says as many as 40

libraries could be closed, with manyothers forced to scale back theirhours as part of Mayor Bloomberg’sproposed budget cuts.The report, from the non-partisan

Independent Budget Office, says themayor’s preliminary budget reduceslibrary subsidies by 22 percent.Cuts would fall hardest on Brook-

lyn, which the City Council esti-mates would lose 16 libraries.Council members estimate

Queens would lose 14, and the NewYork Public Library system, whichcovers the other three boroughs,would shutter 10.The mayor’s office says libraries

must get less funding like everyother part of government because ofdrastic cuts in state and federal aid.The report cautions this is just a

preliminary budget, and in previousyears proposed library cuts havebeen restored in the final budget.

NNEEWWSS BBRRIIEEFFSSBy JOHN WHITESIDES

WASHINGTON — Rising U.S.gasoline prices have damaged confi-dence in the country’s future andforced Americans to change theirspending habits and lifestyles, aReuters/Ipsos poll found.The proportion of people who

believe the United States is on thewrong track jumped 5 points to 69percent from March, the poll found,the highest wrong-track figure in anIpsos poll since President BarackObama took office in January 2009.More than six of every 10 Ameri-

cans have cut back on other expensesand reduced their driving as a resultof the rising gas prices caused bytumult in North Africa and the MiddleEast.The increase in energy costs also

hurt Obama’s approval rating, whichdipped for the second consecutivemonth to 46 percent — his lowestIpsos poll rating since early December2010.“That’s all a function of gas prices.

People are feeling the pinch at thepump,” said Ipsos pollster Cliff

Young.“Increased gas prices have a direct

impact on the pocketbook, and there isvery little lag time between rising gasprices and its effect on presidentialapproval and confidence,” he said.Retail gasoline prices rose to an

average of $3.79 a gallon last week,up 11 cents from the week before,reflecting rising crude oil pricescaused in part by political uncertaintyin Libya and the Middle East.Gasoline prices are expected to be

more than $4 a gallon this summer inmany parts of the country, with thenational average of $3.86 a galloncompared with $2.76 last summer, theU.S. Energy Information Administra-tion said on Tuesday.The plunge in public confidence

could complicate the 2012 re-electionhopes of Obama, who launched hiscampaign last week and must con-vince Americans he is turning the cor-ner on economic recovery.In a speech yesterday, Obama set a

goal of cutting the deficit by $4 tril-lion within 12 years, ahead of loomingfights with Republicans on the 2012budget and on raising the U.S. debtceiling.

The poll, conducted Thursdaythrough Sunday, was largely takenafter Friday night’s 11th-hour dealwith Republicans on spending cutsfor the remainder of the 2011 fiscalyear averted a government shutdown.Young said those negotiations had

little impact on the public’s view ofObama or its confidence in the coun-try’s future.“That is all noise to people,” he said.

“It reinforces a negative belief aboutWashington but it has no impact onpublic opinion unless something hap-pens that directly affects people.”The drop in Obama’s approval rat-

ing was largely driven by a sharpdownturn in approval from his fellowDemocrats, whose support dropped 7percentage points to 73 percent. Sup-port among independents and Repub-licans remained relatively steady.Young said gasoline prices were

the economic indicator with the mostdirect short-term political impact, butits effects were often short-lived.“We’re seeing more pessimism dri-

ven by gas prices, and that has aneffect on presidential approval and ona family’s decisions on spending,” hesaid.

High gas prices hurt U.S. confidence

By JIM BARNETT

WASHINGTON — Two NewOrleans police officers were convictedin federal court in a 2005 beatingdeath and cover-up after initiallytelling investigators the victim wassuffering from a drug overdose.Several neighbors of the man who

was killed testified they saw OfficerMelvin Williams approach RaymondRobair (right) on the street inRobair’s neighborhood and kick himin the side and beat him repeatedlywith a baton, according to the Jus-tice Department.Officials said after the beating,

Williams — along with a second offi-cer, Matthew Dean Moore — placedan unconscious Robair into theirpolice car and drove him to CharityHospital.According to a Justice Depart-

ment release, witnesses at the trialsaid the two police officers falselyinformed the hospital staff theyfound Robair under a bridge and allthey knew was that Robair was adrug user. Based upon that informa-tion, the hospital treated Robair fora drug overdose rather than bluntforce trauma. Robair suffered frac-tured ribs and a ruptured spleen as a

result of the beating. He was pro-nounced dead within a few hours.The Justice Department said

Williams and Moore were convictedof obstructing justice by writing andsubmitting a false and inaccurateincident report. Moore was also con-victed of one additional felony countfor making false statements to FBIagents in March 2010. Williamsfaces a possible maximum sentenceof life in prison. Moore faces a possi-ble maximum sentence of 25 yearsin prison.“Every community relies upon

their police officers to protect andserve, but these officers abused theirpower, violating the law and the

public trust,” said Thomas Perez,assistant attorney general for theJustice Department’s Civil RightsDivision. “I am hopeful that today’sverdict brings a measure of justice tothe victim’s family and the entirecommunity.”CNN affiliate WWL TV reported

Robair’s family cried quietly in thecourtroom after the verdict.“No words, to God be the glory,”

Judonna Mitchell, Robair’s daugh-ter, exclaimed in reaction to the ver-dict.Williams and Moore will be sen-

tenced on July 14, WWL reported.In March, the Justice Department

announced that a federal investiga-tion found that the New OrleansPolice Department had engaged inpatterns of misconduct in violationof the Constitution and federal law.Among the findings: the police

department had used excessiveforce, made unconstitutional stopsand searches and illegally profiledpeople based on race, ethnicity andsexual orientation. The investiga-tion also found a number of prac-tices that contributed to the illegalconduct, including failed systemsfor recruiting and promoting offi-cers, poor training and lack ofsupervision, among others.

New Orleans police officers convicted in 2005 beating death

WASHINGTON — Four in 10offenders return to state prisons inthe United States within three yearsof their release, a study by the PewCenter on the States indicates.The study “State of Recidivism:

The Revolving Door of America’sPrisons,” found that while overallfigures are discouraging, somestates have made significantprogress.“Some states, like Texas, have

begun to shift dollars into strategiesfor non-violent offenders that costless than prison and are more effec-tive at stopping the revolving door,”said Adam Gelb, director of Pew’sPublic Safety Performance Project.Gelb said there has been an enor-

mous escalation in prison spendingbut it has had little impact on thenational recidivism rate.The Pew study found that spend-

ing for corrections is the second-

fastest growing category of statebudgets after Medicaid.Total state spending on correc-

tions has quadrupled during the pasttwo decades and currently stands atabout $52 billion, the Pew studyfound.The study was conducted by Pew

in collaboration with the Associationof State Correctional Administrators.It was based on a survey of correc-

tions departments with 41 states pro-viding recidivism data on prisonersreleased in 2004 and 33 states pro-viding data on prisoners released in1999.

Study: Four in 10 return to prison

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011 3� � � � �

By CAREN BOHAN andANDY SULLIVAN

WASHINGTON — PresidentBarack Obama yesterday set a goal ofcutting the U.S. budget deficit by $4trillion, plunging into the debateover the nation’s fiscal woes afteraccusations he has failed to lead onthe issue.

Obama, facing a 2012 re-electionvote in which the nation’s debt anddeficit are major worries for Ameri-cans, promised in a speech in Wash-ington to put the country on a grad-ually improving fiscal path.

He set a time-frame of 12 years orless to reach the goal of $4 trillion indeficit reduction and called for talkswith Democratic and Republican law-makers to hammer out a detailedblueprint.

Obama warned that steadily risingdebt could cost jobs and harm theeconomy and force the country toborrow more from other countriessuch as China.

“If our creditors start worryingthat we may be unable to pay backour debts, it could drive up interestrates for everyone who borrowsmoney — making it harder for busi-nesses to expand and hire, or fami-lies to take out a mortgage,” he said.But he added: “We can solve thisproblem.”

Obama also proposed:* Curbing deficits to 2.5 percent of

GDP in 2015, 2 percent toward theend of the decade

* Ending Bush-era tax rates forthe wealthiest Americans

* Seeking $770 billion in savingsby 2023 in cuts to non-security dis-cretionary spending

* Saving $480 billion in Medicareand Medicaid by 2023 and at least $1trillion more by 2033.

Obama’s proposal was welcomedby bond investors. It helped lift pricesfor U.S. government debt, pushingyields lower.

With the U.S. deficit expected tohit $1.65 trillion this year, Obamaalso proposed triggers that wouldforce automatic, across-the-boardcuts in spending if budget targetsare not met by 2014.

The aim is to ensure that deficitsas a share of the economy average nomore than 2.8 percent of grossdomestic product in the second halfof the decade.

Past presidents have put in placesimilar “triggers”.

Obama’s proposal came a week

after Paul Ryan, House of Represen-tatives Budget Committee chairman,offered a blueprint for $4.4 trillion indeficit cuts.

Obama wants to draw a sharp con-trast with the Ryan plan, whichwould combine an overhaul of theMedicare health program with lowertaxes.

Even before he spoke, Republicanssought to gain the upper hand in thedebate by underscoring what theysaid was a serious debt problem andrejecting any notion of higher taxes.

“It is time to act,” said SenateRepublican leader Mitch McConnell.“We don’t believe a lack of revenue ispart of the problem, so we will not bediscussing raising taxes.”

The deficit issue has becomeentangled with a vote Congress willconsider on raising the nation’s bor-rowing limit. Republicans say theywill not vote to lift the limit withoutcommitments to rein in long-termdeficits. The debt is expected to hitthe $14.3 trillion ceiling as early asmid-May and a failure to lift it couldraise the specter of default.

Analyst Chris Edwards of the CatoInstitute, a think tank that favorslimited government, said that his ini-tial impression of Obama’s proposalwas that “there’s not much new” in itother than the deficit triggers. Henoted the triggers could force taxincreases as well as spending cuts.

“That’s obviously not going to flywith the Republicans,” Edwards said.

Obama sets goal of $4 trillion in deficit cuts

By NED BARNETT

RALEIGH — The long-dead gover-nor had said he didn’t want a pardonbut North Carolina’s state Senatesaid justice required one for the firstU.S. governor to be impeached andremoved from office.

By a unanimous vote on Tuesday,senators granted a pardon to formerGovernor William Woods Holden,who was driven from office in 1871because of his efforts to suppress aKu Klux Klan terror campaign.

“Today, we correct a 140-year-oldwrong,” said state Senator NealHunt, the Republican who initiatedthe resolution, before the 48-0 vote.

The vote came in a historic settingwith the Senate convened for a spe-cial session in the old Capitol build-ing in Raleigh, where Holden’s 44-day trial ended in a conviction.

Senator Floyd B. McKissick, Jr.,an African American Democrat fromDurham, said the conviction “wasrepugnant in every respect, and jus-tice demands that it be reversed.”

In 1870, the measure calling forHolden’s impeachment was intro-duced by a former Klansman.

On Tuesday, the resolution par-doning him was read to the chamberby Lee Settle, an African AmericanSenate clerk.

“It was exciting,” said Settle, 74.“I’m kind of old enough to remember

some of the things that they talkedabout.”

Holden initially supported theSouth’s Civil War secession andopposed rights for Blacks. But hechanged his views after becomingdisillusioned with the Confederategovernment and eventually switchedfrom the Democratic to the Republi-can party.

At his July 4, 1868, inauguration,he declared that the post-Civil WarReconstruction could bring bettergovernment for whites and Blacksalike.

But many white Democrats of thetime felt the reforms of the Recon-struction era were forced upon them,and they sought to take back control

of the legislature in 1870.Their ambitions were aided by

Klan terror campaigns that includedmurders, whippings and rapesaimed at intimidating Black votersand white Republican officials.

In July 1870, Holden declaredmartial law in two counties knownas Klan hotbeds and sent in a militiathat arrested some 100 men. He sus-pended the men’s right to appearbefore a judge out of fear that sym-pathetic local judges would releasethem.

Democrats later won control of thelegislature and promptly impeachedHolden on eight charges. The Senateconvicted him on a straight partyline vote and removed him fromoffice.

Holden later dismissed a pardonconsideration because he believed hedid nothing wrong, said Gregory P.Downs, assistant professor of historyat the City College of New York andauthor of “Declarations of Depen-dence: The Long Reconstruction ofPopular Politics in the South, 1861-1908.”

On Tuesday, Downs congratulatedthe Republican leadership for allow-ing the thorny issue to be resurrect-ed and addressed.

But he said the largely symbolicvote should be the beginning ratherthan the end of a discussion of thelegacy of Reconstruction and themovement for broader democracy.

“Good for them,” Downs said. “It’snot much, but not much can be a lotbetter than nothing.”

N.C. state senate pardons governor who stood up to Klan

DETROIT — Michigan StatePolice and the FBI have raided thehome of jailed former Detroit MayorKwame Kilpatrick’s uncle, authori-ties say.

Meanwhile, a federal judge maysoon set a trial date for Kilpatrickand four others in another case, TheDetroit Free Press reports.

U.S. District Court Judge NancyEdmunds has called a conference inthe case of Kilpatrick (right), hisfather, two friends and the formercity water chief, who are accused ofmanipulating city contracting fortheir own profit.

Kilpatrick is in state prison for aprobation violation stemming from a

text messaging scandal.The home of Raymond Cheeks,

the ex-mayor’s uncle, was raidedTuesday, The Detroit News reports.

State Police spokeswoman TiffanyBrown confirmed the raid but gaveno details.

Cheeks, who did not respond to acall for comment, ran the Neighbor-hood City Halls program when hisnephew was mayor. An audit foundmisspending and possible theft in a$300,000 fund he oversaw.

The state also won a default judg-ment last year against Cheeks’sdaughter, Nneka, accused of divert-ing $25,000 in charitable funds forher own use.

Kwame Kilpatrick’s uncle’s Detroit home raided

4 DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011

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By LAMARR RENEE

This is a critical juncture forNew York City rent laws. In lessthan 10 weeks rent control andrent stabilization laws willexpire unless the state legisla-ture votes to extend their exis-tence for millions of New York-ers who are already challengedby rising rents and the lack ofaffordable housing.

The state Assembly mustdecide whether to grant anextension, modify their struc-ture or eliminate them entirely.

Tenants insist that all rentlaws have been compromisedenough and all future rentcharges should be lowered.

This cost issue has alwaysbeen a bone of contention forbuilding owners. Their answeris, “We can’t afford it. Mainte-nance and labor costs are notfixed therefore rents shouldn’tbe either.” However propertyowners fail to publicly disclosethe subsidy dollars and dis-counts received from the city tooffset higher rates.

Without rent control lawsthese charges are typically

passed on to the tenant at mar-ket rates or as maintenancefees. The tenant pays twice bybeing taxed by the city to payfor any debts that fund massservice projects and then againby landlords who receive thoseservices and pass along theexpense.

An example of this process isThe Department of Environ-mental Protections request for a7.5%water rate hike from prop-erty owners. Once received,these dollars will be used to helpcover the $3 billion debt costs ofthe Croton on Hudson water fil-tration and water disinfectionfacility in the Bronx.

Landlords will choose toabsorb this cost or pass it alongto tenants. Such decisions willaffect the majority of middleand lower class New Yorkerswho cannot withstand anotherfinancial assault by payinghigher rent.

If rents are raised and lawsannulled, senior citizens receiv-ing Social Security would bedestabilized and could potential-ly face eviction. Lower incomeNew Yorkers could potentially

join them. The city would nolonger be affordable for middle-class workers only the wealthy.

Unemployment is alreadyabove the national average inthe city. Layoffs and job elimi-nation are daily occurrencesparticularly for the experiencedworker.

Overcrowding is common-place due to a booming touristtrade and an excessively highnumber of illegal aliens who livethroughout New York County.

Media talking heads haveignored this crisis by focusingon the Middle East upset andWashington, D.C. budget debaterather than spotlighting thefailure of politicians to advocatefor rent laws. Nothing elseshould matter if people don’thave places to live and can’t paytheir rent. Or will not be able topay their rent if protective codesare removed.

— LaMarr Renee is Presi-dent of LaMarr Renee Enter-prises, Ltd. A financial andmedia firm based in New YorkCity. She can be reached [email protected].

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Obama embracinglegacy as first

Black president

Wake up! Rent laws expire

5DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011� � � � �

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By HARRY C. ALFORD

We are supposed to be the envy ofthe free world. Yet, here we were inthe midst of a budget struggle. Bud-get struggle? That is the stuff thirdworld countries wrestle with. But,here we were acting like Zimbabwe orsomething. Our treasury is in amajor deficit and our so called lead-ers act as if they have money to burn.The only ones who are going to getburned are us. China, Japan, andSaudi Arabia hold our financialpaper; the price of oil is goingthrough the “roof”, grocery pricesare skyrocketing and we are nowinto three wars with no end appar-ent. Whatever happened to good fis-cal management like they teach us atbusiness schools? We are drunk withmalfeasance and our leadership isstuck in the “toilet”.

Last week we were on the verge ofshutting down the federal govern-ment and our elected officials werecavalier about the whole thing. Howcan you play with peoples’ livelihoodsand posture? The worst of it all washow they regarded our military fam-ilies. They are the jewel of thisnation. They protect us; put their

lives on the line for us and in returnjust want a modest payment for thevaluable work they do. Yet, we disthem. We scare the spouses and chil-dren of our precious warriors by say-ing we are going to cut off their pay-checks to spite our political oppo-nents. They are defending us andtrying to figure out how to stay aliveand we respond with a total disre-gard of service and lack of respect forthe safety of their family members.This is just plain rotten.

Our troops aren’t the only ones.Let’s think about the one million fed-eral employees who were about toface financial ruin. How could ourcongresspersons, senators and WhiteHouse officials consider the ruin ofthese precious people, all for spite?Our precious soldiers, their devotedspouses and children, and our feder-al employees were merely “pawns” inthis game of political showmanship.What type of “devil” enjoys such anevil game?

In the end, all the posturing andwolfing went away and we came to amild resolution. We are still in mas-sive debt but for the first time indecades we decided to cut our spend-ing. Yes, we cut some spending eventhough it didn’t matter much to the

total but we indeed made a cut. Thiscould be the start of a very positivemovement. In addition to that, weeven provided a voucher program forWashington, D.C. parents to sendtheir children to private and account-able schools versus the morass of theD.C. public schools. Our veteranswill continue to receive their hardearned pay. Let me say this, “DON’TEVER MESS WITH OUR VETERANSAGAIN!” Wow to the elected officialsthat think they can. We will “mow”you down at the election booth if youever try it again. Mark my word!!!

Our troops are our most valuableasset. We should have scholarshipfunds set up for their children asmany states did for their loving vet-erans after World War II. The GI Billof Rights should be expanded so thatbeing a bona fide veteran means thatyou are a special citizen endowedwith special rights and privileges.God bless our veterans and theirloved ones. They are the ones whohave paid the price for our actions bethey right or wrong.

Back to the issue at hand. We arein serious debt - a debt that rivalsZimbabwe more than any first worldnation. We must address this for thefuture of our children, grandchil-

dren, and the free world at large.Our elected officials must no longerignore this and begin to cut away atthe debt. Yes, it will be tough andpainful but it is necessary, if we areto survive as a great people. All bud-gets from here on out must addressthis massive debt. The budget of2012 must show a massive decreasein spending as well as all budgetsthereafter. The debt ceiling is com-ing up for a vote. We should notincrease it one penny. It is time toget tough and vigilant, if we wantour nation to survive in peace andprosperity.

Shame on our elected officials whoput on such a great “hissy fit” oversomething that should have been soelementary and routine, theybetrayed us all. It is time for us to tellthese elected officials that they have afiscal responsibility. Like a business,they must be accountable and main-tain solvency. Anything else willlead to bankruptcy and bankruptcyby our government is intolerable.Let’s end the debt and prevent a reoc-currence from ever happening again.God bless America and may all thoseincompetent officials go straight toHell.

— Mr. Alford is the co-founder,President/CEO of the NationalBlack Chamber of Commerce®.Website: www.nationalbcc.org.Email: [email protected].

It doesn’t get uglier than this!

By MARC H. MORIAL

What do American Express,Merck, Xerox, Darden Restaurants,and Citibank have in common? Allare Fortune 500 companies headedby African Americans: KenChenault, Chairman and CEO ofAmerican Express; Ken Frazier,President and CEO of Merck; UrsulaBurns, Chairwoman and CEO ofXerox – the first African Americanwoman to head a Fortune 500 com-pany; Clarence Otis, President andCEO of Darden Restaurants, the par-ent company of Red Lobster andOlive Garden; and Dick Parsons, for-mer Chairman and CEO of TimeWarner, Inc., now Chairman ofCitibank.

That is an impressive line-up ofcorporate titans. But, African Amer-icans still represent a miniscule frac-tion of board-level corporate leader-ship in America. The NationalUrban League, in partnership withAdvance America, has established anew training program to give otherqualified African Americans theopportunity to follow in their foot-steps.

According to a 2009 study by thenon-profit Executive LeadershipCouncil, the percentage of AfricanAmericans filling Fortune 500 boardseats actually declined from 2004 to2008. It now stands at a meagerseven percent, despite the fact thatBlacks now comprise 13 percent ofthe population.

This lack of representation has

negative consequences for con-sumers and corporate America.African American voices and per-spectives are needed on corporateboards to ensure that business deci-sions affecting Black America areboth responsible and sensitive to theneeds of our communities. And,with growing economic clout ofAfrican American consumers, it isjust plain good business sense forpublic companies to promote inclu-sion and diversity up and down thecorporate ladder. We know thatcompanies with board membersreflective of the gender and ethnicdiversity of the consumers they servegenerally produce higher profits andgreater value for their shareholders.

Thanks to the efforts of Congress-woman Maxine Waters, last year’sDodd-Frank Wall Street Reform andConsumer Protection Act includedan amendment addressing the needfor greater diversity in the work-force of government contractorswith the establishment of a newOffice of Minority and Women Inclu-sion. In October, the National UrbanLeague and Advance America, thenation’s leading provider of cashadvance services, took it one step fur-ther by teaming up to address theserious under-representation ofAfrican Americans on various NYSEand NASDAQ boards of directors.

Clint Allen, Founder and Presi-dent of the Corporate DirectorsGroup, an organization of nearly1100 public company board mem-bers, and which offers the only pro-fessional director certification said,

“this group of seven outstandingNational Urban League director can-didates completed a minimum ofthirty hours of education includingpublic company director governance,regulation and strategy. They areprepared to serve a public companyas professional and competent boardmembers.”

The goal of our Director InclusionInitiative is to equip qualified profes-sionals with the tools and trainingthey need to be successful in theboardroom.

Advance America Board Chair-man Billy Webster said his company“is honored to partner with theNational Urban League in thisendeavor to empower dozens of new

executives. As a board chairman, Iknow that this initiative offers someof the best and brightest young pro-fessionals an opportunity to maxi-mize their potential in the publiccompany structure, while alsoenhancing the business capabilitiesof the companies they will serve.”

We agree. There is a growing poolof qualified African Americans readyto take their place at the helm of For-tune 500 companies. The DirectorInclusion Initiative is a long overdueopportunity that will give them thatchance.

— Marc H. Morial is the Presi-dent and CEO of the NationalUrban League.

National Urban League trains African Americans for corporate boards

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6 DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011� � � � ��

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By MIRAOBERMAN

GRAND ISLE, Louisiana— A year after the worst mar-itime oil spill in history sulliedthe US Gulf Coast, men armedwith shovels and a big yellowexcavator are still digging upthe sandy beach of Grand Isle,Louisiana in search of stickytar balls.

“We’d like to tell people it’sover, but the oil will still washup every time it storms,” saidJay LaFont, Grand Isle’sdeputy mayor.

People here are used todealing with disasters.They’ve had to rebuild fromfour major hurricanes — Kat-rina, Rita, Ike and Gustav —in the past five years alone.

Those disasters had a clearstart and end.

BP’s runaway well —which blew on April 20 andspewed 206 million gallons ofoil into the Gulf of Mexicobefore it was finally capped 76days later — continues tothreaten their way of life.

Because nobody knowswhat the long-term impactswill be.

While favorable currentsand a massive response keptthe bulk of the oil from reach-

ing shore, plenty got trappedin the tidal zone and keepswashing up in sandy clumps.

Grand Isle was among thehardest hit areas, but crewsare still actively cleaning 235miles (380 kilometers) ofcoastline and plan to return toaround 300 more miles (480kilometers) once tourism andnesting season is over.

The occasional tar ballshouldn’t be enough to keepthe tourists away, but peoplein Gulf Coast beach towns likethis one are worried that lastyear’s bad headlines will.

Even more frightening iswhat will happen to the fish,shrimp and crabs swimmingthrough the oil and chemicaldispersants still floating inGulf waters and clogging thenearby marshes which act as

nurseries.“People, they’re down,”

LaFont said over coffee onerecent morning.

“They want it to be overwith, they want to get back toa normal life and they want toknow everything’s going to beokay, but you can’t. It’s notover because of the dispersantout there.”

The stress of the spillforced Sarah Rigaud, 76, tostart taking anti-anxiety med-ication after business at therestaurant she’s run for 38years collapsed in the wake ofthe spill.

At first she thought she’dmake money serving thecleanup crews, but after BPbrought in outside cateringshe had to start cutting backand dipping into her savings.

So far BP’s promising tomake people “whole” hasn’tdone much to help Rigaudcover a mounting stacks ofbills.

She got two emergencypayments of $5,000 and, likenearly 90,000 other people, isstill waiting for her claim tobe processed.

“They keep promising andpromising and we haven’tgotten anything yet. We keepgoing to all sorts of meetings— they just keep putting usoff and telling us we’re intheir system.”

Rigaud can’t imagine clos-ing Sarah’s Restaurant andwill do just about anything tohang onto it.

“My husband is buriedhere,” she said as she pre-pared for another slow lunchservice.

“I don’t want to just sit athome and think about what Iused to have. I’d rather staybusy. It’s easier on mynerves.”

While there is plenty ofanger focused on BP’sresponse to the spill and thecumbersome claims process,there was little support in theregion for the temporarymoratorium imposed on deep-water drilling.

The moratorium was lifted

in October after regulatorsdrafted new safety rules, butthe first deepwater drillingpermit wasn’t issued untilFebruary 28 and activity isonly now starting to rampback up.

Harris Cheramie said hegets about 25 calls a day frompeople looking for work onone of the tugboats he runsout of nearby Leeville, whichis just up the road from theoffshore industry’s mainlaunching point of Port Four-chon.

Like many here, Cheramiesays the moratorium hurtLouisiana more than the oilspill and blames the Obamaadministration for holdingthe oil and gas industry to adifferent standard.

“I can’t understand whythey let the airplanes fly,”Cheramie said over salad atSarah’s Restaurant.

“There are more peoplekilled in airplanes than diedoffshore, but one accident in50 years and they kill the oil-field.”

Gwen Hebert, 58, has beenvacationing in her grandfa-ther’s Grand Isle camp househer whole life. She’s not both-ered by the cleanup trucks onthe beach or the oil platformswhich dot the horizon.

Search for tar balls, answers a year after BP oil spill

By WENDELLMARSH

WASHINGTON — Thetypical American high schoolstudent is taking hardercourses and performing bet-ter in them, according to anew study.

The 2009 National Assess-ment of EducationalProgress High School Tran-script Study, published bythe same group who produce“The Nation’s Report Card,”underlines the importance ofrigorous curriculum, partic-ularly with higher-level mathand science courses, as a keyto greater achievement inhigh school.

The average grade pointaverage increased to 3.0 in2009 from 2.68 in 1990, butappeared to be leveling out.The average number of cred-its representing 120 hours ofclass time increased to 27.2credits in 2009 from 26.8 in2005.

“These findings demon-strate a clear connectionbetween course rigor andachievement, and they arguestrongly for students to takea more challenging curricu-

lum in our high schools,”said David Driscoll, chair ofthe National AssessmentGoverning Board, which setspolicy for the report.

“Rigor in high school isclosely linked to successafterward, and this studyconfirms that we need highersecondary standards acrossthe board,” he said. “In par-ticular, we need strongerrequirements in math andscience.”

The study’s conclusionsecho an Educational TestingService study last week thatfound a correlation betweenstudents who took Algebra IIin high school and went on tohold top tier jobs.

Even that study’s authorswere slow to say that therewas a relationship betweenadvanced courses and profes-sional success. A nationaleffort to require more rigor-ous math courses has startedand President Barack Oba-ma’s has called for an empha-sis on education to keepAmerica competitive.

The new study sampled37,700 high school gradu-ates in 2009 and their tran-scripts from 740 public andprivate schools, evaluatingthe types of classes they tookand how they fared in termsof grade point average andassessments.

Since 1990 when the study

was first conducted, studentshave steadily increased thenumber of credits in core aca-demic courses (English,mathematics, science, andsocial studies) and other aca-demic courses such as for-eign languages, fine arts,and computer related stud-ies.

More graduates than ever,59 percent, are graduatingwith mid-level and rigorouscurricula which means theyhave at least four credits ofEnglish; three credits ofsocial studies; three or fourmathematics courses includ-ing at least geometry, alge-bra I or II or pre-calculus;three credits of science

including biology, chemistry,and physics; and one to threeyears of foreign language.

Evidence also suggeststhat taking more rigorousmath earlier yields higherperformance. Students whotook algebra I before highschool and started their sec-ondary education with geom-etry scored 31 points higheron the math assessment thanthose who took algebra intheir first year of highschool.

Ethnic and gender dispari-ties persist, particularly inscience, but they are dimin-ishing. All racial and ethnicgroups are completing morechallenging courses.

High school students take harder classes, do better

A woman drove her mini-van into the Hudson River,killing herself and her threeyoung children, police inNewburgh, N.Y., said.

Police identified the moth-er as Lashandra Armstrong,25, the Middletown TimesHerald-Record reported.

Police divers found herand two boys, ages 5 and 2,

and an 11-month-old girldead inside the van around 9p.m. Tuesday.

By the time rescuersarrived at the scene, thevehicle was several yardsfrom shore and underwater.A tow truck was needed toretrieve it.

At a City Hall news con-ference, police said a 10-

year-old boy apparentlycrawled out through a win-dow, somehow got to shoreand was picked up by apasserby, who took him to afire station.

The woman had apparent-ly driven off a boat rampnear Gully’s floating restau-rant.

“It’s a horrible sight, all of

them in the car, NewburghPolice Chief Michael Ferrarasaid.

Ferrara said the incidentmay have been related to adomestic dispute called inaround 7:45 p.m. Police havespoken with Jean Pierre,father of the three youngerchildren, but no chargeshave been filed.

Mom plunges minivan with kids into river

Clean-up workers collect tar balls of oil along a stretchof oil-contaminated beach in Grand Isle, Louisiana.

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011 7

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AFRICAN SCENE8

By MARCOCHOWN OVED

ABIDJAN, IvoryCoast - Ivory Coast’spresident said yesterdaythat the country’sarrested strongman willface charges “on anational level and aninternational level,” asthe president attemptsto restore order after abloody four-monthstandoff.

Alassane Ouattarasaid strongman LaurentGbagbo has been movedout of the Golf Hotel,where he was takenafter his capture onMonday. He saidGbagbo will be kept in avilla and that his rightsas a former head of statewill be respected. A U.N.official said that itspeacekeeping forces areproviding personalsecurity protection forGbagbo.

“Gbagbo is in a resi-dence under surveil-lance somewhere inIvory Coast,” Ouattaratold reporters at the GolfHotel.

The justice ministeris preparing for possibleprosecution of Gbagbo,he said, but gave nodetails.

“There will becharges (againstGbagbo) on a nationallevel and an internation-al level,” he said.“Reconciliation cannothappen without justice.”

The Hague-basedInternational CriminalCourt had no immediatecomment on Ouattara’sstatement.

Ouattara repeated hiscall against violence,and said that all minorsbeing held should bereleased immediately.

“We need to securethe country, notablyAbidjan,” he said. “It isimportant for the coun-try to emerge from thiscrisis on top.”

Ouattara said he willsettle into the presiden-tial palace in the comingdays, but that a swear-ing-in ceremony is not apriority and will takeplace at a later date. Hesaid his priority is toprovide security for

Ivorians, to establishlaw and order and to getthe country working.Many Ivorians wentwithout food and wateras fighting roiled thenation last week.

Gbagbo refused tocede power after losinga November election,leading to the standoffthat plunged the WestAfrican nation intochaos and killed untoldnumbers of people. Morethan 1 million civiliansfled their homes amidthe fighting, which alsodisrupted the economyof the cocoa-producingpowerhouse.

New footage obtainedby The Associated Pressyesterday shows pro-Ouattara fightersstorming Gbagbo’s resi-dence.

The footage, shot by a

pro-Ouattara fighterMonday duringGbagbo’s arrest, showedforces backing Ouattarawalking through thefront gate carryingfirearms. Many aredressed in camouflageand wearing helmets,and some are crouchedin shooting position.After orders from acommander, fightersentered the residence,shot at the lock on anorange door and forcedthemselves inside.

The footage showsfighters putting a cam-ouflage flak jacket onGbagbo. He and his wifeare then escorted to acar with a tank sittingnearby. Gbagbo wasthen handed off to U.N.peacekeepers and takento Ouattara’s Abidjanheadquarters.

U.N. peacekeepingchief Alain Le Roy saidyesterday that theUnited Nations providedtransportation forGbagbo and continues toprovide personal securi-ty protection for himwhile he is in custody atOuattara’s request.

Speaking to reportersbefore a SecurityCouncil meeting aboutthe West African coun-try, Le Roy said fight-ing continued in IvoryCoast yesterday, alongwith “quite a bit of loot-ing.”

U.N. humanitarianchief Valerie Amospainted a bleak pictureof daily life in IvoryCoast, with food scarce,entire neighborhoodswithout electricity, andmany hospitals andschools closed.

“We need to act now,”Amos said, appealing onnations to donate moremoney for humanitari-an assistance to the westAfrican county. “Wemust not let the peopleof Ivory Coast down.”

Amos, who visited thecountry last week beforeGbagbo was captured,said “there are stillmany political chal-lenges ahead.”

“In this highly milita-rized context, I am con-

cerned about the securi-ty vacuum” in manyparts of the country.”She said it was “crucial”that Ouattara and allother groups in thecountry respect thephysical integrity of cit-izens amid recentreports of mass killings,forced disappearancesand sexual assaults.

Ouattara yesterdayalso said that an investi-gation would be openedinto the mass killings.

Rights groups haveaccused pro-Gbagbo andpro-Ouattara fighters ofkillings hundreds sinceMarch. Reprisal killingserupted as Ouattara’sfighters made a light-ning assault to forceGbagbo from power.And despite Gbagbo’sdetention, suspectedGbagbo supporters arestill being rounded up incities and villages, espe-cially in western IvoryCoast.

No one knows howmany people have beenkilled. A week ago whenthe United Nations wasreporting more than400 deaths throughoutthe country, theI n t e r n a t i o n a lFederation of the RedCross Society said thou-sands had been killedand wounded.

Ivory Coast president: strongman will face charges

President Alassane Ouattara

ByPHATHIZWE-CHIEF ZULU

M A N Z I N I ,Swaziland - Police firedtear gas and water can-nons for a second dayyesterday at teacherspoised to march inSwaziland’s commer-cial capital.

Swazi union leadersand pro-democracyactivists are divided asto how to proceed withfighting to overthrowSwaziland’s monarch -and if they should,after security forces onTuesday fired tear gasand water cannons,beat people with batonsand arrested activists.

As union leadersmet yesterday to dis-cuss their protest strat-egy, police burst intotheir headquarters,where more than 300teachers were singingliberation songs,chanting and dancing.Police fired tear gasand water cannons,

dispersing the crowd.Some teachers hid innearby bushes.

Sibongile Mazibuko,president of theSwaziland NationalAssociation ofTeachers, said earlieryesterday that teachershad called off protestsfor security reasons, aspolice had jailed teach-ers for treason andused batons to beatthose gathered at theheadquarters onTuesday. Mazibukowas released afterbeing detained all dayTuesday. She said shehad gone into hiding.

Heavy security inthe country’s usuallyplacid commercial capi-tal ensured thatTuesday’s pro-democ-racy protests did nothappen. Activists hadplanned the protests tomark exactly 38 yearssince the current Swaziking’s father, KingSobhuza II, bannedpolitical parties andabandoned the coun-try’s constitution.

Swazi police fire tear gason teachers for 2nd day

By SEBASTIANABBOT & MAG-GIE MICHAEL

AJDABIYA, Libya -Two strong explosionsstruck the outskirts ofLibya’s capital yester-day as the rebel move-ment urged a strongerNATO-led air campaignon targets held byLibyan leaderMoammar Gadhafi, awitness said.

The witness, a resi-dent of the capital,Tripoli, said the blastsapparently struck nearthe airport, where

Gadhafi has militarycamps and forces encir-cling the capital.

“Over the past days,we didn’t hear anyexplosions except forplanes flying in thesky, but no raids,” saidthe resident, who askedthat his name not beused for fear ofreprisals by the govern-ment.

The explosions couldbe NATO airstrikes ontargets held byGadhafi.

Libyan rebels havebeen pleading for moreNATO airstrikes as topWestern and Arab

envoys gather inQatar’s capital to dis-cuss ways to end theLibyan crisis.

Mohamed IsmailTajouri, a 54-year-oldbusinessman whojoined the rebels intheir stronghold ofBenghazi, said havinga rebel delegationattend the Qatar meet-ing amounts to keyinternational recogni-tion.

“We are proud ofthis,” he told TheAssociated Press. “Thispolitical development isreally good for therebels but the Gadhafi

regime is not normal.He is a bloody creature,he won’t leave until hespills some blood.”

The meeting comesduring a relative lull infighting.

But Gadhafi’s forcesfired rockets along theeastern front line andshelled the besiegedcity of Misrata in recentdays. Internationalgroups are warning ofa dire humanitariancrisis in Misrata,Libya’s third-largestcity and the only city inwestern Libya that isstill partially in thehands of rebels.

2 blasts heard outside Libyan capital

CAIRO - Egypt’s officialMENA news agency saysthe country’s premier hasordered a price review ofthe much-criticized con-

tracts to supply naturalgas to Israel and Jordan.

MENA quoted Prime MinisterEssam Sharaf’s spokesman,Ahmed el-Samman as saying

that the revision is aimed atbringing in the greatest returnsfor Egypt.

El-Samman said revised con-tracts could boost income by $3billion to $4 billion.

Egypt PM orders gas contract price review

9DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011

COMMUNITY AFFAIRSD

BROOKLYN, NewYork - Jazz was in fullswing on April 11thwith the Doug CarnQuartet at Brooklyn'sMonday night musicvenue, For My Sweet(1103 Fulton Street inFort Greene). The loca-tion has a good soundsystem, acoustic pianoplus great food whichenhanced patrons musicexperience. The bor-ough's celebration of aunique art form createdby descendants ofBrooklynites such asMaxRoach, Eubie Blake,Lena Horne, FreddieHubbard, and RandyWeston is just begin-ning. This music seriesis New York City'slongest continually run-ning festival dedicated toJazz. Festival 2011offers 35 events over 22dayswithmore than 100musicians performingin venues from ConeyIsland to Williamsburgduring JazzAppreciation Month.For festival informationgo to www.cbjcjazz.orgor call718.773.2252 .

- All Photos By LemPeterkin

12th Annual Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival

Members of Central Brooklyn Jazz ConsortiumBob Meyers, Juti Weusi and Stanly Banks.

Russell Carter II, Juti K. Weusi Host, TaekoFukao, Doug Carn and Rashaan Carter

Taeko Fukao

Russell Carter II and Rashaan Carter

Debra Pinkston, Black Rose, Laurn Jackson and L. Najuma Weeks Doug Carn

NEW YORK – Foryears, the U.S. has beenplagued by excessivedebit card swipe fees thathurt merchants anddrive up prices for con-sumers. The currentsystem is broken - butlast year Congress tookcritical steps to repairthe system and putimportant protections inplace that would rein inexcessive swipe fees fordebit card transactions -making them “reason-able and proportional” tothe actual cost of trans-action processing. Butjust months before thebipartisan reforms areset to take effect theyhave come under attackby the big banks and

credit card companies,desperate to protect theirprofits and perks.

Despite what the U.S.Constitution says abouthow laws are made, thereasonable reformspassed by Congress andsigned into law by thepresident to reign inswipe fees last year wereviewed as mere hurdlesfor the deep-pocketedself interests of those onWall Street who havebeen peddling theirinfluence at the highestlevels of government in adirect assault on smallbusiness owners eversince. And now, theirallies in Congress havefiled an amendment to asmall business measure

(S. 493) currently on thefloor that would delayreform.

“As a small businessowner I have watchedthese fees rise for years,even through the heightof the recession,” saidSamuel Elijah of S.W.EPhotography. “NewYork’s small businessescannot and will notstand idle and allow thebanks to undo the com-monsense reforms thatwill finally provide reliefwhen we really need it.”

“Excessive swipe feeshave been devastatingNew York’s small busi-nesses and consumersfor years, and there wasa collective sigh ofrelieve throughout the

state when reasonablereforms were passed toreign them in,” saidAkeesha Freeman,owner of Sugar HillRestaurant. “Enactingthe reforms as passedand on time will give ussome breathing roomthat will really make adifference.”

For small businessowners in NewYork andacross the country,properly implementingthe reforms passed lastyear will enable them togrow their businesses,offer better pay toemployees, and pass sav-ings on to their cus-tomers. But a vote todelay means U.S. smallbusinesses will pay $33

million per day, $1 bil-lion permonth and near-ly $14 billion every year.

“Congress got it rightlast year when theyoverwhelmingly passedreforms that would helpsmall business and con-sumers in New Yorkand across the country,”said Eboni Holloway,owner of Eb Did ItBaskets. “Now, I hopewe can count onSenators Schumer andGillibrand to oppose anyefforts to delay imple-menting reform.”

As our Senators pre-pare to cast their voteson this important pieceof legislation, NewYork’s small businessowners want to urge

them to finish what theystarted, and protectswipe fee reform.Merchants and con-sumers across the coun-try are depending on it.

New York Small Business Owners Urge Senators Schumer, Gillibrand to Protect Swipe Fee Reform

Brooklyn businessowners protestagainst swipe feereform.

Photo:Lem Peterkin


CARIBBEAN NEWS1

KINGSTOWN, St.Vincent — Leader of theopposition NewDemocratic Party,Arnhim Eustace hascalled on St. Vincentand the GrenadinesPrime Minster Dr.Ralph Gonsalves to dosomething practical inrelation to Vincentianswho find themselvesdisadvantaged becauseof the BritishAmerican/CLICO fiasco.

During his party’s NewTimes program on Monday,the opposition leader madean appeal to the prime min-ister to do something otherthan to talk about what isbeing discussed regionally.

Eustace noted that swiftaction must be taken on

behalf of policyholders, espe-cially those whose livelihooddepends on the monies thatare now outside of theirreach.

With 7,000 people affect-ed, Eustace said he doesn’texpect everyone to be dealtwith at the same time, and isproposing that the govern-ment float a bond issue, rais-ing some of the money forearly pay-outs.

Eustace also encouragedpeople who have medicalclaims on British AmericanInsurance to submit themnow, after he was informedthat a trust fund was createdfrom premiums that werepaid since the collapse of thecompany, as well as somefunds from the PetroleumFund in Trinidad andTobago. Those monies, hesaid, can be used to meetsome of the medical claims.

Opposition leader calls on St.Vincent government to dealwith British American issue

Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace (L) and PrimeMinster Dr. Ralph Gonsalves.

By DAVIDMcFADDEN

KINGSTON, Jamaica -Top government officials willreview recommendations todecriminalize possession ofsmall amounts of marijuanafor personal and religioususe in Jamaica, which is theCaribbean’s largest potexporter to the U.S.

Six Cabinet ministers inPrime Minister BruceGolding’s administration willevaluate a 2001 report by theNational Commission forGanja - as marijuana isknown locally.

The commission, whichincluded academics and doc-tors and was appointed by agovernment led by the cur-rent opposition, argued thatthe drug was “culturallyentrenched” in Jamaica andthat moderate use had nonegative health effects onmost users.

It is not clear why theJamaican government ischoosing to review thedecade-old report now.

On Tuesday, the Rev.Webster Edwards, who

served on the commission adecade ago, voiced relief thatthe report would be reviewedby Cabinet members. Heexpressed hope that legisla-tors might eventually loosenlaws against marijuana.

“There have been manypersons who have been life-long smokers of ganja whohave not moved to harderdrugs at all,” Edwards said.“Decriminalizing very, verysmall quantities will allowpersons not to get strikesagainst them in the justicesystem.”

Edwards stressed that thereport also urged the govern-ment to step up operationsagainst large-scale marijua-na cultivation.

Though widely toleratedin public, smoking marijua-na remains illegal inJamaica, where followers ofthe Rastafarian minority sayit is a sacrament and bringsthem closer to the divine.Some Jamaicans brew ganjatea to alleviate aches.

Previous efforts inJamaica to legalize smallamounts of marijuana havebeen scuttled because offi-

cials feared they would vio-late international treatiesand bring sanctions fromWashington.

For decades, the UnitedStates has worked withJamaica to burn marijuanafields and carry out otheranti-drug efforts. It has alsoprovided aid to fight drugtrafficking in Jamaica, theCaribbean’s largest marijua-na producer.

The U.S. Embassy saidofficials there have not beentold why the Jamaican gov-ernment is revisiting theissue of decriminalizationfrom the 2001 report.

“Whatever the impetus,it’s an internal Jamaicanissue, and we therefore don’tcomment on either the debateor the outcome,” spokes-woman Yolonda Kerney said.

Decriminalization, evenfor personal use, wouldcause friction withWashington and violate vari-ous treaties, including the1988 U.N. ConventionAgainst the Illicit Traffic inNarcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances.Jamaica signed the accord.

Jamaica panel to review pot decriminalization

PORT OF SPAIN,Trinidad — There are reportsof people from Guyana andsmall Caribbean islandsbeing held as virtual slavesin homes in Trinidad, saidForeign Affairs MinisterSurujrattan Rambachan.

The Trinidad Expressreported Rambachan as mak-ing the remark on Fridayduring debate on the HumanTrafficking Bill inParliament.

“From time to time, youheard in this country, up tothis day, about people whoare virtually slaves in homesof people in this country.Who have been brought formGuyana... or other smallislands and working as sup-posedly maidservants inhomes, their passports takenaway and they cannot get

out of their homes and beg-ging people to get out of thecountry,” the Expressreported Rambachan as say-ing.

He said in a United States2010 trafficking report,Trinidad and Tobago wasdescribed as a destination forforced prostitution of womenand children and forcedlabour for men.

Rambachan said in 2007,71 women and children inMarabella were held byauthorities, many withfraudulent passports andsome had previously beendeported from Trinidad andTobago.

On the issue of smug-gling, he said there werereports of people beingsmuggled into the countrythrough Morua, Carli Bay

and Cedros. He also said thatmany people from Asiancountries were setting upbusiness in Trinidad andTobago, recommending thatimmigration officers lookinto whether there were anysituations of forced labour.

Guyanese and OECS nationals heldas slaves in Trinidad, claims minister

Foreign Affairs MinisterSurujrattan Rambachan

By CHESTERROBARDS

NASSAU, Bahamas — Ahelicopter from OperationBahamas Turks and Caicos(OPBAT) swooped down on afishing vessel late Sundayafternoon and noticed theoccupants throwing packagesinto the ocean, DrugEnforcement Unit (DEU)Superintendent AnthonyFerguson said on Monday.

It was later determined thatthe packages contained onekilogram of cocaine and up to26 pounds of marijuana, col-lectively worth more than$43,000.

Police said the RoyalBahamas Defence Force(RBDF), DEU and OPBAT

received a tip regarding thefishing vessel and apprehend-ed it just off of Great Inaguawith 24 Haitians aboard,including a boy.

Ferguson said the helicop-ter was the first to reach thevessel at about three o’clock,and as it approached the occu-pants of the boat began throw-ing the suspected drugs intothe water.

Ferguson said officersfrom the RBDF and DEU thenintercepted the vessel in theirown boats, conducted a searchof the ship and passengers,retrieved the packages thatwere tossed overboard andpicked up the Haitiansaboard.

Police said the Haitianswere expected to be flown toNew Providence.

KINGSTON, Jamaica —There was some excitementat the KingstonMagistrate’s court whensenor magistrate JudithPusey requested Jamaica’sDirector of PublicProsecutions (DPP) PaulaLlewellyn to leave court

because the defence indicat-ed that she would be calledupon to testify in a caseagainst former junior min-ister Ken Spencer and hisassistant Coleen Wright,who are on trial for theirrole in the distribution offree light bulbs, which cost

the taxpayers millions ofdollars.

The Jamaica Observerreported that Llewellynsaid that she would not tes-tify and if she is subpoe-naed she would move to theHigh Court for the subpoe-na to be quashed.

Jamaica DPP ordered to leave court

Bahamian authorities seizedrugs from Haitian vessel


INTERNATIONAL

ByMOHAMMEDGHOBARI

SANAA - RivalYemeni forcesclashed in the capi-tal Sanaa yesterday,killing two people,as the oppositionawaited clarifica-tion from Gulf Arabmediators on thetimeframe for a pro-posed transfer ofthe president’s pow-ers.

Three people werekilled in violence else-where in Yemen, includ-ing two shot dead in thesouthern city of Adenwhen security forcestried to break up amarch demanding anend to President AliAbdullah Saleh’s 32-year rule, witnessessaid.

Gulf Arab foreignministers have said theywill invite Saleh and his

opponents to mediationtalks on a transfer ofpower in Yemen to enda standoff after twomonths of streetprotests.

The opposition ini-tially rejected the plan,but met ambassadors ofSaudi Arabia, Kuwaitand Oman on Tuesdayto seek clarification ofthe proposal.

Opposition sourcessaid they expected ananswer from the Gulfyesterday on the time-frame and details of theplan, and could respondimmediately. An opposi-tion source said talkscould start as early asSaturday in Riyadh.

In Sanaa, tensionremained high near theencampment of a power-ful army general, AliMohsen, who has defect-ed from the presidentand whose forces areprotecting thousands ofanti-Saleh protesters intheir tent camp nearSanaa University.

“Central security

forces clashed with theforces of the firstarmored division, andtwo troops were killedoutright while fourmore are in a criticalcondition,” a militarysource said. One of thedead was fromMohsen’sforces, the other fromthe government side.

A source close toMohsen’s forces saidpro-Saleh securityforces had fired rocket-propelled grenades andassault rifles atMohsen’s troops whohad set up a checkpointon a road leading to theprotest zone.

Mohsen’s forcesreturned fire and bat-tled the governmentforces for an hourbefore Saleh’s forcesretreated, leaving thecheckpoint intact, thesource close to Mohsensaid.

An Interior Ministrystatement accusedMohsen’s forces of start-ing the violence andsaid that police had no

r o c k e t - p r o p e l l e dgrenade launchers intheir possession.

SCATTEREDCLASHES

Tens of thousands ofdemonstrators turnedout in the capital afterthe clashes despite driv-ing rain, saying theyremained committed tothe president’s removal.

“What worries us isthat a war will break outbetween the army forcessupporting the revolu-tion and those who sup-port the president stay-ing. At that point therevolution will end andYemen could turn intoanother Somalia just asAli Saleh wants,” pro-tester Ali Ahmed said inSanaa.

More than 100 pro-testers have been killedin clashes with securityforces since lateJanuary, and there arefears the violence couldescalate in the impover-ished country, half ofwhose 23 million peopleown a gun.

Yemen’s Westernallies and neighboringSaudi Arabia fear thatchaos in Yemen, whereSaleh has already lostcontrol of someprovinces, could benefitan al Qaeda arm thathas used the country asa base to launch attackson Saudi and U.S. terri-tory.

But nearby countriesbecame convinced thatSaleh is an obstacle to

stability in a countrythat overlooks a ship-ping lane used to trans-port over 3 million bar-rels of oil a day.

At least two demon-strators were killed inAden when police triedto stop protestersmarching from one dis-trict to another.Protesters hurled rocksat police as they tried toclear makeshift road-blocks, residents said.

Yemen forces clash in Sanaa, violence kills 5

Anti-government protesters shout slogans dur-ing a rally to demand the ouster of Yemen'sPresident Ali Abdullah Saleh outside SanaaUniversity yesterday

Photo/Ammar Awad

By KHALED YACOUBOWEIS

AMMAN - Hundreds of womenfrom a Syrian town that has wit-nessed mass arrests of its menmarched along Syria’s maincoastal highway yesterday todemand their release, humanrights activists said.

Security forces, includingsecret police, stormed Baida onTuesday, going into houses andarresting men aged up to 60, theactivists said, after townsfolkjoined unprecedented protestschallenging the 11-year rule ofPresident Bashar al-Assad.

The women from Baida weremarching on the main highwayleading to Turkey chanting slo-

gans to demand the release ofsome 350 men, the SyrianObservatory for Human Rightssaid.

“The women of Baida are onthe highway. They want theirmen back,” the organization said,adding that women also marchedin support in the nearbyMediterranean city of Banias.

In Syria’s northern cityAleppo, around 150 studentsmarched in a protest demandingpolitical freedoms on the campusof the main university, humanrights defenders in contact withstudents said.

Baath Party irregulars quicklydispersed the students whochanted “We sacrifice our bloodand our soul for you Deraa,” insolidarity with the southern city

where demonstrations againstthe Baath Party’s iron rule start-ed three-and a-half weeks ago.

With heavy secret police pres-ence, preachers on the state pay-roll giving pro-Assad sermonsand the Sunni merchant classstaying on the sidelines, majorprotests have not spread toDamascus proper or to Aleppo,denying protesters the criticalmass seen in the uprisings whichswept Tunisia and Egypt.

“FORCED CHANTS”A human rights lawyer earlier

said security forces had arrested200 residents in Baida, killingtwo people.

“They brought in a televisioncrew and forced the men theyarrested to shout ‘We sacrifice ourblood and our soul for you,Bashar’ while filming them,” thelawyer, who was in contact withresidents of the town, toldReuters.

“Syria is the Arab police statepar excellence. But the regimestill watches international reac-tion, and as soon as it senses thatit has weakened, it turns morebloody,” said the lawyer, who didnot want to be further identified.

Assad, who tried to positionSyria as self-declared champion of“resistance” to Israel while seek-ing peace with the Jewish stateand accepting offers for rehabili-tation in the West, has respondedto the protests with a blend offorce and vague promises ofreform.

Women march in Syria to demand jailed men be freed

Rains pound Grenada, flooding forces evacuationsST. GEORGE’S, Grenada - Unseasonable heavy rains have caused

landslides on the Caribbean island of Grenada, where officials onTuesday relocated families away from swollen rivers that floodedhomes and destroyed small fishing boats.

“We should be in the dry season, but we are experiencing so muchrain,” Grenada Prime Minister Tillman Thomas said while he touredthe island’s northwest region.

Flooding turned the small coastal town of Gouyave into a jumbleof mud, trees, sand and stones. More than 20 families were left with-out shelter.

Deputy Disaster Coordinator Terrence Walters said no one died orhad been reported missing, but residents in the western parishes ofSt. Mark and St. John lost their belongings. Some 15 fishing boatsalso were wrecked, he said.

Up to six inches of rain fell during the 24 hours through Tuesdaymorning and more rain was expected, said John Peters at the statemeteorological office.

STRASBOURG -Turkish PrimeMinister TayyipErdogan accusedFrance of violatingthe freedom of reli-gion yesterday afterParis began enforc-ing a law barringMuslim womenfrom wearing fullface veils in public.

Erdogan told theP a r l i a m e n t a r yAssembly of the Councilof Europe that Turkeywas the only Muslimcountry that had copiedthe French law on secu-larism, or separatingchurch and state.

“It’s quite ironic to seethat secularism is todayunder debate in Europeand is undermining cer-tain freedoms,” he said.

“Today in France,there is no respect forindividual religious free-dom,” he said. TheS t r a s b o u r g - b a s e dCouncil of Europe moni-tors human rightsacross the continent.

France’s conservativegovernment has banned

full face veils in publicand held a divisivenational debate aboutsecularism thatMuslims here said por-trayed them as a prob-lematic minority ratherthan a group of mostlylaw-abiding French citi-zens.

At five million, theMuslim minority here isEurope’s largest andmakes up about 8 per-cent of the French popu-lation.

The national debateon secularism split evenPresident NicolasSarkozy’s government,with Prime MinisterFrancois Fillon andsome other conserva-tives refusing to takepart. Critics said thedebate sought to attractfar-right voters.

When a French par-liamentarian rejectedhis accusation, Erdoganinvited her to visitTurkey to see the situa-tion for herself. “InTurkey, we say ‘hecomes from France’ todescribe someone who’sa bit out of step,” hecommented.

x

Turkish PM attacks Francefor ban on full face veil

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 201112

New AmericanThe

One Thought - One Humanity

FFoorr tthhee ccoonncclluussiioonnss ooff tthheessee ssttoorriieess cchheecckk oouutt tthhee AApprriill 1144tthh -- AApprriill 2200tthh,, 22001111 iissssuuee ooff

TThhee NNeeww AAmmeerriiccaann,, wwhhiicchh hhiittss nneewwssssttaannddss eevveerryy TThhuurrssddaayyJanet Jackson is

about to make historyin Paris. She will be thefirst female pop artistto perform under theI.M.Pei glass Pyramidat Paris’ famed LouvreMuseum. She will begiving a live show dur-ing the biannualfundraising event“Liaisons au Louvre.”The President of themuseum said, “JanetJackson is one of theworld’s greatest artistictreasures. Accordingly,we are profoundly hon-ored, and believe itmost fitting, that herperformance in theLouvre Museum will beyet another master-piece captured underour glorious glassPyramid. I believe theevening with JanetJackson will be a great‘coup’ for our institu-tion!” Janet herself wasjust as flattered, say-ing, “The Louvre andits stunning glassPyramid are equaledonly by the pricelesstreasures that arehoused within itsimpressive walls. It isan honor to be asked toparticipate in such anincredible evening atthis historic location.‘Liaisons au Louvre’will be an unequaledevent, raising muchneeded funds for thisinstitution and thepreservation of art thatmoves the soul.” Ouioui! If anybody’s mak-ing a trip to City OfLove on June 14, pleasereport back to us!

The wife of Hot 97personality Funkmas-ter Flex has announcedthat she and her hus-band have separated. Itis unknown whetherthe separation is relat-ed to Flex’s Februaryarrest. His wifereleased the followingstatement to urban-mag-online.com: “Afteralmost 18 years offriendship and mar-riage it is with greatregret that I announcemy husband AstonTaylor, also known asFunkmaster Flex, and Iare separated. We have

tremendous love andrespect for each-other,and will continue towork on our profes-sional projects togeth-er. Our top priority hasand will always be ourchildren! I personallyask that the press keepin mind Flex is thecelebrity, not myself ormy children, pleaserespect our privacy!”The separation fallsright on the heels ofhard times for anotherHot 97 deejay, Mr. Cee,who was embroiled in ah i gh l y - pub l i c i z e darrest for public lewd-ness.

Rapper Nicki Minajhas been confirmed asthe opening act forBritney Spears’ upcom-ing tour. Nicki Minajwill hit the road withSpears after she finish-es her dates with LilWayne’s “I Am MusicII” tour. The rapperwill perform on theBritney’s opening date,which is June 17th inSacramento, California.Nicki Minaj, whoreplaces singerEnrique Iglesias, willhit 26 cities across theUnited States with Brit-ney.

Despite both beingmembers of the Dr. Dremusical family tree, 50Cent and Ice Cube havenever collaborated -either in film or music.That’s going to change,according to 50, whorevealed via his Twitteraccount that he andCube have somethingin the works. It shouldbe noted that in theTweet, 50 doesn’t speci-fy whether the collabo-ration will be in amovie or in the studio.In addition to havingrecorded with many ofthe same artists, Cubeand 50 are both notablefor having taken theirtalents to the silverscreen. Cube has beendoing film since 1991with Boyz n the Hood,and his filmographyincludes the Friday andAre We There Yet?series, in addition toseveral others. 50’s film

career began with2005’s Get Rich or DieTryin’, and will contin-ue with the upcomingfilm Things Fall Apart.

Singer Keri Hilsonbared it all in Allluremagazine’s AnnualNude Issue. The prettygirl rock singer says ofher decision to posenude, We do a lot ofthings to seek valida-tion: I have to get moreexpensive handbags orfake lashes or fakeboobs. This shoot wasabout dropping allthat. It’s so empower-ing to embrace myinsecurities.

Eddie Murphy’sdays as a donkey areOVER ... because lastnight outside Mastro’ssteakhouse, the comiclegend told us, “Nomore Shrek ... I’mShrek’d out!” Maybehe’ll finally get backinto stand-up (fingerscrossed)?????

Since her injectioninto the world of R&B,Young Moneysongstress Shanell hasbeen in hot pursuit tobend and break genrebarriers. With therelease of her officiallead single “My But-ton,” it seems she hastaken a big step in theright direction. On “MyButton,” Shanell takesa humorous route indescribing a woman’sfrustration during adisappointing momentof passion with a lack-luster lover. This mes-sage will become moreapparent on the accom-panying music video,which is being shotlater this month by cel-ebrated movie andmusic video directorSanaa Hamri. Shanellis poised to be the nextstar to come out theYoung Money camp, acrew that includesNicki Minaj, Drake andLil Wayne. She is cur-rently featured on LilWayne’s “I’m StillMusic” tour plus she isalso the artistic direc-tor on the trek.

Subscribe Today!Make Checks andMoney Orders Payable to:

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YES! Please enter a one year subscription ($55) for:

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By ALISON HINES

Take a look at our favorite celebri-ty couples that are, that were, thatcan’t seem to decide between make-up and break-up, and even thosethat keep the entire thing underwraps.

Diddy and CassieRumors about Sean “Diddy”

Combs being romantically linked tosinger Cassie Ventura circulated foryears. Neither Cassie nor Diddyhave confirmed or denied directly,but the two have been photographedextensively together and hints onTwitter leave most of us convincedthe two are dating. Tabloids beganreporting the couple’s engagementin 2008, but Combs’ reps quicklysquashed the story, saying it was acomplete fabrication.

Nelly and AshantiNelly and Ashanti took great

pains to remain hush-hush andavoid confirming their relationshipover the few years they were contin-ually spotted together. The two wereconstantly photographed out andabout together, kissing, holdinghands and cuddling, but both par-ties continued to claim they were“just friends”. They both remainedcommitted first and foremost totheir careers while still making timeto enjoy each other’s company. Nel-ly’s made it clear he only wants to

get married once: Will Ashanti bethe one?

Usher and Tameka FosterUsher and on-again, off-again

love Tameka Foster’s relationshipwas riddled with drama. The couplewas engaged in 2007. Fosterbrought three children into the mar-riage from two different men andwas the subject of scorn by manygossip outlets and fans. After can-celing their first wedding plannedfor July 2007, the couple was ulti-mately married in August 2007.Tameka suffered a cardiac arrestbefore going under the knife in SaoPaolo for cosmetic surgery. The cou-ple had two children together, butfiled for divorce in June 2009 afterbeing estranged for nearly a year.For those of you counting: If thattiming is true, the couple spentalmost half of their 2 year marriageapart.

Christina Milian and The-Dream

Christina Milian and The-Dreamwed in Vegas in September 2009.Christina gave birth to their daugh-ter, Violet, in March 2010 as rumorsof their failing relationship began tocirculate. According to statementsby the couple, they had alreadydecided to call it quits as of late2009, but did not share those planspublicly in an effort to protect theirdaughter.

Break-ups & make-ups: Our favorite,most notorious celebrity couples

- Full Story In This Week’s New American Newspaper -


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14 DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011� � � � �

��

LOS ANGELES — Presi-dent Barack Obama and hiswife Michelle will appeartogether on “The Oprah Win-frey Show” in May, as the TVchat show queen nears theend of her 25-year reign.

The White House and pub-licists for the daily TV showsaid on Tuesday the Obamaswould tape their appearancein Chicago on April 27, andthe show will air on May 2.

Publicists said it would bethe Obamas’ first jointappearance on “Oprah” since2006.

Winfrey, regarded as themost influential woman onU.S. television, campaignedpublicly for Obama in his2008 run for the WhiteHouse and helped raise mil-lions of dollars for his cam-

paign.She has interviewed

Obama several times in thepast, both before and afterhis election.

Winfrey announced lastyear that she would end herpopular syndicated TV show,which airs in some 140 coun-tries, in order to focus on hernew cable TV channel OWN,which launched in January.The last original episode of“The Oprah Winfrey Show”will air on May 25.

SPOTS ON ‘OPRAH’FINALE GOING FOR $1MThirty-second commer-

cials that will run on theseries finale of America’s“The Oprah Winfrey Show”will cost $1 million, HorizonMedia said.

The 25th and final season

of the talk show is slated towrap up May 25.

TVGuide.com said theamount for the ads to runduring the series finale israre for a daytime programsince the audience is smallerthan the viewership of aprime time show.

The $1 million price tag isthe highest paid for non-Super Bowl spots since the2005 finale of the prime timesitcom “Everybody LovesRaymond,” which saw com-mercials going for $1.2 mil-lion each.

TVGuide.com said Tues-day the most money everpaid for a 30-second non-Super Bowl commercial was$2 million for the seriesfinale of “Friends,” thereport said.

Obamas return to Oprah, as TV chat show winds down

LOS ANGELES — U.S.singer, songwriter and pro-ducer Alicia Keys is to releasea 10th anniversary collector’sedition of her debut album,“Songs in A Minor.”

The CD is to be released onJ Records/Legacy RecordingsJune 28.

The original edition of thealbum sold more than 12 mil-lion copies worldwide andearned Keys her first fiveGrammy Awards. She haswon a total of 14 throughouther career.

“It’s incredibly surreal forme to be celebrating the 10thanniversary of ‘Songs in AMinor,’” Keys said in a state-ment Tuesday. “Lookingback on the journey, I’mtruly moved by my fans andfriends who’ve been with meand have supported me

throughout my career. Thisalbum is possibly the mostprecious to me, as your firstalbum only happens once,and so ‘Songs in A Minor’ willalways hold a special place inmy life that’s filled withamazing memories.”

She added she’s proud hersongs are still popular and is“crazy excited” about theanniversary CD.

In conjunction with thealbum release, Keys will per-form a concert called “Piano& I: A One Night Only EventWith Alicia Keys” at NewYork’s Beacon Theatre June30. The recording artist willalso perform on the BETAwards show June 26 and anhourlong special on Keysand “Songs in A Minor” willair on the network in lateJune.

Alicia Keys to re-release‘Songs in A Minor’

Matthew Knowles mayhave exited the businessdealings for his daughterBeyonce but he still hasplans of making a lot ofmoney for his companyMusic World Entertainment.Rather than focus on pop orurban music, Mr. Knowlesbelieve the new revenueopportunity is in faith-basedand inspirational music.

“There’s tremendousgrowth potential for thefaith-based inspirationalcommunity in digital, pro-duction, branding, endorse-ments and merchandising,”says Mr. Knowles.

His company has a solidroster of inspirational actsincluding Juanita Bynum,Trin-i-tee 5:7 and BrianCourtney Wilson. Through-out his career, Mr. Knowleshas proven he can propelartist careers and navigatethe entertainment business.

“I believe we can share 20years of knowledge and suc-cesses to make that happen”he told Black Enterprise.

As far as any lost momen-tum with the exit of hisprized daughter Beyonce,the music mogul says he’sstill blessed.

“Now I’m really focusedand I have activated myselfin such a way to embracenew opportunities,” he tellsBlack Voices. “I’m so grate-ful and blessed to have hadso many successes. I pinchmyself sometimes to think ofthis country boy who hasaccomplished so much frommy career at Xerox to be theNo. 1 sales rep, have talenteddaughters and a wife, thecreation of Destiny’s Child, aNo. 1 female artist. And Idon’t know if folks knowthis but of all the artists inthe world in a decade, Des-tiny’s Child and Beyonce areon that Top 10 list. I’veachieved and accomplishedmore that I could have everdream.”

Beyonce’s departure won’t stopMatthew Knowles’ money train

By BORYS KIT

LOS ANGELES — MichaelClarke Duncan is in negotia-tions to voice the character ofKilowog in the upcomingsuperhero film “GreenLantern.”

The film, based on the DCComics character and star-ring Ryan Reynolds, is deepin post-production ahead of a

June 17 release. One of thefacets of the process is thevoice work; Geoffrey Rushsigned on to voice the charac-ter of Tomar-Re, a bird/fish-like alien, two weeks ago.

Duncan’s involvement inthe Warner Bros. project hadbeen rumored for severalweeks although no offer hadbeen made. While studiossometimes end up movingon, sources say Duncan

received his offer Tuesdayand is now negotiating.

Kilowog is a drill sergeanttrainer of new recruits forthe Green Lantern Corps, theintergalactic police force thatpatrols the universe. Dun-can, who rose to fame as adeath row inmate in “TheGreen Mile,” lent his boom-ing voice to last year’s “Catsand Dogs: The Revenge ofKitty Galore.”

Michael Clarke Duncan adds voice to Green Lantern


NEW JERSEY

By ALEXIFRIEDMAN

IRVINGTON - Onewitness testified thatRolando Terrell presseda 9 mm handgun toCandes McLean’s neck,stepped back and fired afatal shot into her head.Seconds later, the wit-ness said, Terrell shotand killed her daughterand niece, both 18, andher boyfriend’s 13-year-old daughter, then setfire to the Irvingtonhouse.

Authorities called theSept. 8, 2008 quadruplekilling on ColumbiaAvenue among the mosthorrific in recent memo-ry.

But despite testimonyfrom Terrell’s admittedaccomplice and from thelone surviving victim -both of whom identifiedhim as the killer - a juryin Newark Tuesdaydeadlocked on the topcounts of murderagainst the reputedBloods gang member.

The deeply dividedpanel returned a partialverdict, finding Terrellguilty on five of 16counts, including tworobbery charges, con-spiracy to commit arsonand two related gun pos-session offenses. Thesame jury later convict-ed him of possession of aweapon by a convictedfelon in a separate, 45-minute trial that imme-diately followed.

Superior Court JudgeJoseph Cassini IIIdeclared a mistrial onlyon the unresolvedcharges, including fourcounts of murder andfour counts of felonymurder.

Killed were McLean,40; her 18-year-olddaughter, Talia McLean;her niece, ZakiyyahJones, also 18; and 13-year-old LatrishaCarruthers-Fields, herboyfriend’s daughter.Candes McLean’s 19-year-old daughter,Anijah, survived by hid-ing in a closet and saved

her 16-month-oldnephew by grabbinghim and running fromthe burning house.

Terrell may still facelife in prison because ofNew Jersey’s “ThreeStrikes” law, whichstates that defendantsconvicted of certain first-degree crimes who havetwice previously beenconvicted serve the max-imum term. Terrell, whowill be sentenced June 1,has previously been con-victed of two robberies,the Essex CountyProsecutor’s Office said.

Known on the streetas “Ratman,” Terrell alsoserved seven years inprison after a jury in2002 acquitted him ofkilling a rival gangmember but convictedhim of a lesser weaponsoffense.

Tuesday’s early after-noon verdict came aftermore than 20 hours ofdeliberations thatstretched over five days.Jurors announced theywere deadlocked on theirsecond day of delibera-tions, writing “dead-locked” in capital letters.

The judge ordered themto continue deliberatingand they did.

Several of the victims’relatives who attendedthe month-long trialexpressed frustrationover the mixed verdict,but said they were grate-ful the guilty countsmight land Terrell inprison for life.

“He killed four ...women,” said MichaelHoskins, CandesMcLean’s brother. “Hedid the robbery. Theygot him on the guncharge. So who shotthem? But we’ll takewhat we can get.”

Several aspects of thejury’s verdict made cleartheir uncertainty.Terrell, 39, was convict-ed of robbing McLean, apopular Newark cheer-leading coach, but notguilty of robbing TaliaMcLean. They convictedhim of conspiring tocommit arson, but notthe arson itself. Andwhile he possessed thehandgun, the jury could

not determine whetherhe fired the shots.

A loving mother andgrandmother, McLeanhad a secret, AssistantEssex CountyProsecutor Roger Imhofsaid during the trial.“Candes McLean solddrugs,” he said. Terrellknew that and wassearching for cash thatmorning, believingMcLean was an easymark because herboyfriend - a fellowBloods member - was inprison.

Terrance McLean, 24,who is Candes’ son,believes Terrell isresponsible for thekillings and wants aretrial on the murdercounts.

“He needs to answerfor that,” TerranceMcLean said.

Acting Essex CountyProsecutor CarolynMurray said her officehad not decided whetherto retry the case, whichit had called a strongone.

Reputed gangster convicted of Irvingtonrobbery, but jury deadlocks on four killings

Rolando Terrell

NEWARK - Justafter 8 p.m.Saturday, LilySeegobin punchedin her final textmessage.

“Tell everyone I lovethem very much,” shewrote. “Tell everyone I’msorry. I’m just at a pointof no return.”

For months, friendssaid, the 19-year-old

Point Pleasant womanhad been sinking into adark place, one wherelife’s emotional trialsseemed magnified andoverwhelming.

There had beenboyfriend troubles, fami-ly arguments, difficultyadjusting to her fresh-man year at Rutgers-Newark.

Friends said theytried to reason with her

and cheer her, elicitingflashes of Seegobin’sdazzling smile. Just asquickly, it would disap-pear.

On Saturday night,she tapped out the mes-sage to her stepfather,Jeffrey Surenian. Lessthan 90 minutes later,she steered her Hondaaround the lowered,flashing gates at theMonmouth Avenue rail-

road crossing in SpringLake. There she parked,waiting for the impact.

Seegobin’s death, offi-cially ruled a suicide bythe Monmouth CountyProsecutor’s Office, hasshattered family mem-bers and friends andbrought fresh grief to aregion that has seen atleast a half dozen teensuicides in the past threeyears.

Rutgers-Newark student sent textmessage to family before committing suicide

TRENTON— After aseries of delays, citycouncil last nightapproved $2.8 millionto help pay for tearingdown and redevelopingthe vacant MillerHomes housing com-plex off MonmouthStreet.

Four council mem-bers voted for the fund-

ing. Council PresidentGeorge Muschal andCouncilwoman KathyMcBride voted no, andCouncilman AlexBethea abstained aftersaying he had mixedfeelings about themeasure.

The council, as wellas members of the pub-lic, have expressed con-

cern that the project’sfacilitators — TrentonHousing Authority(THA), developerPennrose Propertiesand general contractorAJD Construction —have not adequatelycommunicated howthey intend to ensurethat local and minority-owned subcontractors

and workers will beable to get jobs on theproject.

The multi-phaseeffort is expected tocost $105 million, with$22 million comingfrom a U.S. Housingand UrbanDevelopment (HUD)grant.

- MATT FAIR

City council approves $2.8M for demolition, development of Miller Homes

By BRIDGETCLERKIN

HIGHTSTOWN— Borough councilmember DimitriMusing suddenlyquit yesterday, cit-ing his fellow coun-cil members’ failureto support a meas-ure that woulddefend officials whofaced lawsuitsrelated to theirmunicipal duties.

In a resignation let-ter, he said he remainedconcerned over the lackof an ordinance requir-ing the defense andindemnification of bor-ough officials. He couldnot be reached for com-ment yesterday.

“I cannot rely on thewhims of this or any

other governing bodyto protect me on a case-by-case basis,” hewrote.

Musing, who waselected to council a yearand a half ago, recusedhimself from participat-ing in a meeting April 4over the same issue.

In the letter, he saidhis request for a specialmeeting to create theordinance he soughthad been ignored by hisfellow council membersfor the past eight days,leading him to offer hisresignation.

On April 4 Musingtried to propose such alaw, which wouldrequire Hightstown topick up the tab for liti-gation costs incurredby government officialsbeing sued as a privateperson for their actionson the job.

Hightstown councilmember resigns

16 DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011� � � � �

��

By STEPHANIENEBEHAY

GENEVA — Countries areclose to a deal to speed uptheir response to the next flupandemic by sharing virussamples in return for accessto affordable vaccines, diplo-mats at the World HealthOrganization said.

Diplomats told journaliststhey were in talks withdrugs companies and othermember states to clear obsta-cles identified in past out-breaks.

Officials are hoping toreach an agreement by Fri-day on a political deal forhealth ministers to approveat the WHO’s annual meetingfrom May 16 to 24, said the

two co-chairs of a WHOworking group.

Negotiations began fouryears ago between the WHO’s193 member states after thedeadly H5N1 bird flu virusemerged in southeast Asia.

A year later, Indonesiastopped sharing flu virussamples with the WHO’s net-work of laboratories,demanding its share of vac-cines.

“We have to ensure thatvaccines are both affordableand accessible,” Mexico’sambassador and co-chairJuan Jose Gomez Camacho,told a news briefing.

“We need to ensure that wehave a legally-bindinginstrument that will regulatethe exchange of influenzaviruses and the access to ben-

efits ... This should be thelast round of negotiations,”he said.

Gomez Camacho and co-chair Norway’s AmbassadorBente Angell-Hansen saidthey met senior officials from30 drug companies lastweek, including Glaxo-SmithKline , Sanofi-Aventisand Novartis .

They said they learnedthat current productioncapacity for pandemic fluvaccine was 1.1 billion doses,forecast to rise to 1.8 billionin four to five years. Thatwas up from 500 milliondoses during the H1N1 pan-demic.

Drug makers struggled tomake a vaccine againstH1N1 after it emerged inearly 2009. By the time the

vaccine was widely availablelate that year, the pandemic’sfirst wave had passed.

“We are being very, verycareful in the handling ofthis because there are manysensitive issues that pertainto pricing and intellectualproperty,” Angell-Hansensaid.

“We are trying to have amore predictable system forpandemic times,” she added.“Industry is really givingvery positive signals back tous.”

Gomez Camacho saidcountries needed to coordi-nate policies and cut red tape.

“There were vaccinesavailable (in 2009), either inthe market or donated by theindustry to WHO, and veryoften these vaccines were not

able to be deployed, some-times because there wasn’tinfrastructure in countriesor there were regulatorychallenges,” he said.

WHO Director-GeneralMargaret Chan, in a speechlast month, blamed the phar-maceutical industry anddrug regulators for delays indistributing vaccines to poorcountries during the H1N1swine flu pandemic.

The working group’s draftdocument calls for havingdeals in place ahead of a pan-demic, including pre-pur-chase agreements withindustry and governments toreserve a certain percentageof production capacity, forexample 10 percent, ear-marked for countries with-out access to vaccines.

Diplomats: Deal near on flu virus-sharing, vaccines

By SERENAGORDON

Eating apples every daymay be good for your cardio-vascular health, new researchsuggests.

Women who ate driedapples every day for a yearlowered their total cholesterolby 14 percent and their levelsof “bad” LDL cholesterol by 23percent.

“I never expected apple con-sumption to reduce bad cho-lesterol to this extent whileincreasing HDL cholesterol orgood cholesterol by about 4percent,” Bahram Arjmandi,chair of the department ofnutrition, food and exercisesciences at Florida State Uni-versity in Tallahassee, said ina statement.

Arjmandi was to presentthe findings Tuesday at theExperimental Biology meet-ing in Washington D.C. TheU.S. Department of Agricul-ture provided partial fundingfor the study.

Many foods can have aneffect on cholesterol levels,according to the U.S. Centersfor Disease Control and Pre-vention. Foods containing sat-urated fats, trans fats anddietary cholesterol can raiseyour cholesterol levels, whilefoods with healthier fats suchas olive oil can lower yourcholesterol. Foods with fiber,such as fruits, vegetables andwhole grains, can reduce cho-lesterol levels, while carbohy-drates that are low in fibertend to raise triglyceride lev-els and lower “good” HDL cho-lesterol levels.In the current study, the

researchers wanted to assessthe long-term effect that appleconsumption might have oncardiovascular health.

They recruited 160 womenbetween the ages of 45 and 65.The women were randomlyassigned to one of two dietaryintervention groups. Onegroup was given 75 grams ofdried apples every day for ayear, while the other groupwas given dried prunes dailyfor a year.

The daily serving of driedapples contained about 240calories, according to thestudy. An apple containsabout 5 grams of fiber,according to the U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture.

The researchers found thatwomen eating dried appleslowered their total cholesterolby 14 percent. LDL cholesteroldropped by 23 percent. Dailyapple consumption also sig-nificantly lowered levels of C-reactive protein and lipidhydroperoxide, two sub-stances that may indicate anincreased risk of heart dis-ease. What effects, if any, theprunes had on cholesterol lev-els were not mentioned in thestudy abstract.

The researchers theorizedthat the nutrients in applesmay reduce inflammation inthe body.

Despite the addition of sev-eral hundred calories a day totheir diet, the apple-eatingwomen didn’t gain weightover the course of the study.In fact, they lost an average of3.3 pounds.

Registered dietician JessicaShapiro said she wasn’t sur-prised that the women didn’tgain weight. The addition of

apples to the diet probablykept the women feeling fullerbecause of the fiber content inthe apples, she explained.

“Apples really are an amaz-ing fruit for many reasons,”said Shapiro, who is a clinicalnutritionist who counsels car-diac patients at MontefioreMedical Center in New YorkCity. “A large reason applesare so good is the fiber. Appleshave both soluble and insolu-ble fiber. Insoluble is foundmore in the skin, and the pulpis more soluble fiber.”

“The pulp of an apple getsto be a very viscous gel-likesubstance that grabs choles-terol and pulls it out of thebody. It’s kind of like nature’stoothbrush, and it’s brushingthe bad stuff out,” sheexplained.

“Another good thing inapples is pectin. It’s a sub-stance that’s used to make jel-lies or jams, and pectin con-tributes to the viscosity ofwhat’s going through thebody, and bulks it up to helpremove it. Apples also havetons of antioxidants and othernatural components,” shesaid.

Shapiro said she would rec-ommend fresh apples overdried apples, because somenutrients are probably lost inthe drying process.

But Shapiro stressed thatmaking healthy changes towhat you eat can only do somuch.

“Changing your diet can

make a big difference, but eat-ing a healthy diet is only partof it. Once your cholesterol ishigh, diet may not beenough,” she said. “Some peo-ple are predisposed because oftheir genes to having highcholesterol, and a healthy dietmay not be enough.”

Shapiro also advisedagainst making any changesto your medications, includ-ing cholesterol-loweringdrugs, without talking toyour doctor first.

Also, she cautioned, whenincreasing the fiber in yourdiet, do it slowly. This willhelp prevent bloating and gasthat may occur if you increaseyour fiber intake too quickly.She said that 25 to 30 gramsof fiber daily is the recom-mended intake, and she sug-gested increasing your cur-rent intake by about 5 gramsdaily each week to give yourbody a chance to get used tothe increased fiber.

A hormone called ghrelinenhances the nose’s abilityto sniff out food,researchers report.

It was already knownthat ghrelin promoteshunger and fat storage. Thenew study suggests that thehormone may increase theability to use smell to detectfood and link that inputwith the body’s natural reg-ulation of metabolism andbody weight, said Universi-ty of Cincinnati scientists.

The study, which includ-ed experiments withhumans and rats, appears

in the April 13 issue of theJournal of Neuroscience. Itwas led by Dr. Jenny Tongand Dr. Matthias Tschop,both of the university’sendocrinology, diabetes andmetabolism division.

“Smell is an integral partof feeding, and mammalsfrequently rely on smell tolocate food and discriminateamong food sources. Sniff-ing is the first stage of thesmell process and canenhance odor detection anddiscrimination,” Tong saidin a university news release.

“Other studies have

shown that hunger canenhance odor detection andsniffing in animals,” Tschopadded in the release. “Sinceghrelin is a hunger-induc-ing stomach hormone thatis secreted when the stom-ach is empty, this hormonepathway may also beresponsible for the hunger-induced enhancement ofsniffing and odor detec-tion.”

The researchers plan fur-ther research to identify theexact molecular pathwaysthrough which ghrelinaffects sniff behavior.

Study: Hormone helps you sniff out food

An apple a day may help keep heart disease away

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011 17� � � � �

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By AMANDAGARDNER

In their furious effort tostabilize the nuclear reactorsdamaged by last month’searthquake and tsunami,Japanese workers havereleased thousands of gal-lons of water contaminatedby radiation into the sea, stir-ring worries that seafoodconsumed on this side of thePacific could be affected.

But experts say fish-eatersin North America are in nodanger, either from fishcaught in Japanese watersand shipped over here orfrom fish caught closer tohome in waters that mighthave become contaminatedby drifting radiation.

“People have been asking,‘Can I still eat my fish?’ Theanswer is yes,” said Dr. KoryGill, an assistant professor atthe Texas A&M Health Sci-ence Center College of Medi-cine and a physician at TexasA&M Physicians in Bryan.

Seafood imported fromJapan represents only 1 per-cent of the total U.S. import,

Gill said. And, according tothe U.S. Food and DrugAdministration, all foodsimported from Japan —including fruits, vegetablesand milk and milk products— comprise less than 4 per-cent of all food imported bythe United States.

Plus, the FDA is takingextra efforts to test all foodproducts, including seafood,coming from Japan in thewake of the shattering tsuna-mi and earthquake.

And, so far, Gill said, “nosignificant levels [of radia-tion] are coming back.”

On Tuesday, the Japanesegovernment raised the crisislevel at the Fukushimanuclear complex to a levelsimilar to the 1986 Cher-nobyl disaster in theUkraine, citing high overallradiation leaks. Governmentofficials contended, however,that the health risks causedby Chernobyl still far out-weighed those posed by theFukushima plant, the Associ-ated Press reported.

U.S. experts said radiationdumped into Japanesewaters isn’t likely to make it

over here in sufficient con-centrations to cause anyharm.

“If the radioisotopes thatare released into the water inJapan on the other side of thePacific were to make it overto the eastern Pacific, let’ssay the coast of Alaska, theconcentrations are likely tobe so vanishingly low thatany radioactivity accumulat-ed by fish in U.S. waters willbe virtually certain to be neg-ligible,” said Nicholas Fisher,professor of marine andatmospheric sciences at theState University of New Yorkat Stony Brook. “The radia-tion dose will be extremelylow compared to radiationthat’s naturally occurring infish.”

Added JacquelineWilliams, program directorfor radiation medicine at theCenter for BiophysicalAssessment and Risk Man-agement Following Irradia-tion at the University ofRochester Medical Center inNew York: “Obviously, if it’sgoing into the ocean, there’sgoing to be a dilution factor.We’re 5,000 miles away.

There’s a lot of ocean betweenJapan and the U.S.”

Also, Williams explained,“the particular isotope every-one is fussing about [iodine131] has a half life of abouteight days, which means thatevery eight days, the level ofradioactivity is halved.”

“After 56 days, you’redown to a little less than 1percent,” Fisher said. “After10 half lives, you’re down toabout one-tenth of 1 percentso it’s almost certain it’s notgoing to be a problem.”

The greater contaminationrisk is likely to come fromiodine uptake by seaweed,Williams.

While seaweed is a muchmore significant componentof Asian diets than NorthAmerican ones, people heredo occasionally consumeJapanese seaweed, for exam-ple, in sushi.

“There’s a chance thatsome seaweeds are going tohave pretty high iodine con-centrations and if they’reconsumed as part of sushi orsome other use for humanconsumption it might be aproblem,” Fisher said.

How big of a problem? Notmuch, he added.

“There are two reasons tobe a little bit optimistic,”Fisher said. “As I understandit, most of the seaweed har-vested in Japan for humanconsumption is harvestedwell south of Tokyo so it’swell far afield [from thenuclear-reactor problems].”

Also, the half-life principlerefers to iodine in seaweed aswell, meaning that it is aproblem that will go away intime.

“All levels of contaminantsare so low that they wouldnot come anywhere near alevel that would possibly behazardous. We do tests onpatients that use 1,000 timesthat level of radiation andthere’s no concern,” said Dr.Irwin Klein, chief of the thy-roid center at North ShoreUniversity Hospital in Man-hasset, N.Y. “The worstthing would be for someoneto overreact and take potassi-um iodide. That could end upharming them. In the U.S.,we have nothing to be con-cerned about with regard tothe tragedy in Japan.”

Japanese radiation called no threat to North American fish fans

Moderate aerobic exercisehelps boost blood flow to thebrain in older women, newresearch reveals.

The small study included16 women aged 60 and olderwho walked briskly for 30 to50 minutes three or fourtimes a week for threemonths. By the end of thattime, the amount of bloodflow to the brain hadincreased by as much as 15percent.

The researchers alsofound that the women’s VO2max — the body’s maximumcapacity to transport and useoxygen during exercise —increased about 13 percent,their blood pressure fell anaverage of 4 percent, andtheir heart rates decreasedabout 5 percent.

The findings offer insightinto how vascular healthaffects brain health, leadresearcher Rong Zhang, ofthe Institute for Exercise andEnvironmental Medicine atTexas Health PresbyterianHospital in Dallas, explainedin a news release from theAmerican Physiological Soci-ety.

Zhang and the otherresearchers used Dopplerultrasonography to chartblood flow in the women’scarotid arteries, which arelocated in the neck and sup-ply the brain with crucialglucose and oxygen-rich

blood. The blood also gets ridof brain metabolic wastessuch as amyloid-beta protein(implicated in Alzheimer’sdisease) that have beenreleased into the brain’sblood vessels.

The study is scheduled forpresentation this week at theExperimental Biology annu-al meeting, in Washington,D.C., as part of the scientificprogram of the AmericanPhysiological Society.

“There are many studiesthat suggest that exerciseimproves brain function inolder adults, but we don’tknow exactly why the brainimproves. Our study indi-

cates it might be tied to animprovement in the supply ofblood flow to the brain,”Zhang said in the newsrelease.

It’s not known if increas-ing blood flow to the braincan help prevent Alzheimer’sdisease and other types ofdementia but “there is strongevidence to suggest that car-diovascular risk is tied to therisk for Alzheimer’s disease,”Zhang said.

Because this study waspresented at a medical meet-ing, the findings should beviewed as preliminary untilthey are published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Many smokers in westernnations still incorrectlybelieve that certain types ofcigarettes, such as “mild”and “low tar” brands, areless of a health risk thanothers, a new study shows.

Researchers surveyedmore than 8,000 smokers inAustralia, Canada, the Unit-ed Kingdom and the UnitedStates, and found that aboutone-fifth of them wronglybelieved that “some ciga-rettes could be less harmfulthan others.”

The study also found thatmany smokers incorrectlybelieved that slim cigarettesare less harmful, smooth-tasting cigarettes are lessrisky than hard-tasting cig-arettes, filters reduce risk,and nicotine is responsiblefor most of the cancerscaused by cigarettes.

The findings were pub-lished April 12 in the jour-nal Addiction.

The researchers notedthat more than 50 countrieshave banned the use oflabels such as “light,” “mild”and “low tar” on cigarettes.In response, some compa-nies have changed their“light” cigarettes to “silver”and “gold” brands. For

example, Marlboro Lightshave become Marlboro Gold.A large percentage of smok-ers now equate those colorswith low-risk cigarettes,said the study authors.

“The findings highlightthe deceptive potential of‘slim’ cigarette brands tar-geted primarily at youngwomen. The findings alsosupport the potential healthbenefits of plain packagingregulations that will soontake effect in Australia,under which all cigaretteswill be sold in packages withthe same plain color, with-out graphics or logos,”study co-author Dr. DavidHammond said in a journalnews release.

Many smokers still deceivedby cigarette labeling

Brisk walk can boost blood flow to the brain


By HIMANKSHARMA and

TENZINDEKEVA

BANGALORE— Ver-iFone Systems Inc, thelargest U.S. maker ofpayment terminals,expects to ship well over1 million “near-fieldc ommun i c a t i o n s ”(NFC)-enabled systemsthis year, underlininggrowing momentum fora technology that allows

shoppers to buy with lit-tle more than a wave ofa smartphone.

NFC technologypasses encrypted infor-mation between devicesat close range withoutcontact. Instead of swip-ing a credit card, shop-pers can wave theirsmartphone near a ter-minal, effectively turn-ing an NFC-enabledphone into a “mobilewallet.”

“We’re already seeingmajor systems purchas-es from some of theflock leaders in largeretail asking for NFCcapability ... and I’msure that will continue

and accelerate,” Veri-Fone CEO Doug Berg-eron told Reuters in aninterview.

The technology —which promises toreplace credit and debitcards in the same waythat plastic has largelydisplaced cash — couldspur equipmentupgrades or fresh sales,tightening VeriFone’sgrip on the terminalmarket.

The number ofmobile payment users isexpected to top 340 mil-lion in 2014, ringing up$245 billion worth oftransactions, accordingto research firm Gart-ner.

“There isn’t a CEO inany payment facingindustry that isn’t atleast trying to find outwhat role (their compa-nies) play and how

eventually to monetizeit,” Bergeron said, not-ing the scramble to geta piece of shoppers’mobile wallets.

Earlier this month,ISIS — a joint venturebetween AT&T Mobility,T-Mobile USA and Veri-zon Wireless — said itwould pilot its mobilecommerce programearly next year, follow-ing Sprint Nextel Corp,which plans a similarlaunch this year,according to aBloomberg report thatalso noted Amazon.comInc may introduce amobile payment service.

“Our economic suc-cess vis-a-vis NFC is notfavorably or unfavor-ably impacted by thesuccess of any one of(these) initiatives.”

The typical refreshcycle for payment ter-minals is 3-4 years andif NFC succeeds, Veri-

Fone would have theopportunity to speed upthat cycle, Bergeronsaid.

The big three pay-ment processors — Mas-terCard Inc, Visa Incand American ExpressCo — have announcedtheir versions of NFC-enabled services.

“All the new initia-tives at the end of theday have to co-exist ... Ithink there’s 15 compa-nies that VeriFone iscommunicating with,”Bergeron said, addingthat with over a 60 per-cent share of the U.S.terminal market hisCalifornia-based compa-ny stands to gain as thetechnology grows inpopularity.

Last month, the WallStreet Journal reportedthat Google, Mastercardand Citibank wereworking on a mobilepayment partnershipusing VeriFone termi-nals.

Without commentingdirectly on that deal,Bergeron notedGoogle’s interest couldprove a turning point inadopting the technolo-gy.

“If you’ve got theprovider of the mostprolific and free operat-ing system puttingsome whip, some mar-keting leverage, somemindshare behind it(NFC), I think it’sinevitable that part ofthe chicken and egggets eventuallyresolved,” he said.

“The more complexi-ty that moves to thepoint of sale the better itis for us. A system that... adds NFC capabilitiesis obviously highermargin than somethingthat just swipes thecredit card,” addedBergeron, who has beenCEO since mid-2001.

He also sees a shiftfrom a “dumb” card tosmartphone as creatingopportunities beyondthe traditional sale of aterminal or a contact-less upgrade.

Managing data oncustomers’ shoppingbehavior on behalf ofpayment processors andretailers is one suchopportunity, whichBergeron believes “nat-urally evolves into arecurring revenuemodel” for VeriFone.

VeriFone, whichcompetes with IngenicoS.A., First Data Corp,Heartland Payment Sys-tems Inc, Gemalto andPAX Technology Ltd,expects terminal salesto grow at over 20 per-cent this year.

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CHICAGO — BoeingCo. may be leaningtoward building a newversion of its best-sell-ing 737 narrowbody jet,but industry expertssaid on Tuesday thecompany seems to beconflicted on the matterand appears increasing-ly less likely to make adecision in the next fewmonths.

Boeing is decidingwhether to redesign the737 or simply put amore fuel-efficientengine in the existingdesign as its top rivalAirbus (EAD.PA)intends to do with its

competing A320.A re-engined plane

would offer fuel savingsof about 10 percent andcould be brought tomarket around 2016.An all-new versioncould offer double thefuel savings and bebrought to marketaround 2019.

The world’s second-largest commercialplane-maker appears tobe “split internally”about the direction ofthe 737 program, saidaerospace analyst ScottHamilton from LeehamCo LLC in a blog post-ing.

Hamilton said thesplit appears to be overthe potential size of thenew aircraft andwhether it should fea-ture two aisles insteadof just one.

Boeing has saidrepeatedly it is leaningtoward making an all-new 737. Mike Bair,Boeing’s head of single-aisle development pro-grams, told Reuters inMarch that Boeinghopes to share its direc-tion by midyear, but hestopped short of promis-ing a firm decision.

Boeing had previous-ly said it would offer

clarity on the 737 by theend of 2010, but delayedthat decision.

“We are activelyworking with our cus-tomers and industrypartners to identify thebest solution for thesmall airplane market,”said Boeing spokes-woman Lauren Pen-ning.

“Boeing has beenclear that we expect toprovide more clarityabout our product strat-egy direction bymidyear,” she said.

Airbus rolled the dicelast year on a re-engined version of its

competing A320. Thecompany has pulled inimpressive orders forthe revamped modelknown as the A320neo.

Boeing and Airbusare racing for control ofa single-aisle marketworth an estimated $1.7trillion over the next 20years.

Alex Hamilton, man-aging director of Early-BirdCapital, said hedoes not expect Boeingto announce plans for anew plane this summer.

“I believe they haveseveral other issues ontheir plate and are veryhesitant, I would

assume, to mess withtheir bread and butter,”said Alex Hamilton,managing director ofEarlyBirdCapital. “Inaddition, I think therecent Southwest inci-dent points to the wearand tear the 737 takesand how difficult a re-engine would be.”

The 737 made head-lines earlier this monthafter a Southwest Air-lines 737 made an emer-gency landing with agaping hole in the fuse-lage. U.S. regulatorslast week ordered air-lines to inspect oldermodel 737s for cracks.

Experts: Boeing appears conflicted on 737 decision

VeriFone sees smartphones driving mobile payment wave


By CHRISTOPHERDOERING andDAVE CLARKE

WASHINGTON —U.S. companies would belargely spared fromincreases in the costs ofusing derivatives whenthey hedge against pricefluctuations, under U.S.regulatory proposals.

Power companies, air-lines and major manu-facturers feared thatregulators would forcethem to post collateral,or margin, with a bankwhen they hedgeagainst risks such aschanges in currencies,fuel costs or interestrates — raising the costof using swaps to lock inprofits.

The proposals, issuedby Commodity FuturesTrading Commissionand the Federal DepositInsurance Corp for pub-lic comment, craft mar-gin exemptions for thesmall slice of the deriva-tives market in whichcompanies need highlycustomized swaps thatcan’t be cleared throughexchanges.

The proposals arepart of last year’s Dodd-Frank reform law aimedat curbing swap specula-tion of the sort thatamplified the devastat-ing 2007-2009 financial

crisis, while still lettingbusinesses hedge theirrisks.

“Corporate end-usersare going to be encour-aged by the directionthat this is heading,”said Paul Rowady, asenior analyst atresearch and advisoryfirm TABB Group.

But there were suffi-cient differencesbetween the CFTC’s planand the one issued bythe FDIC and otherbanking regulators, tokeep some companiesguessing about whetherthey will be fully exemptfrom having to postmargin when usingderivatives.

“I believe commercialend-users and many ofthe financial end-userswill be dissatisfied withthe lack of harmoniza-tion among the differentregulatory bodies,”CFTC CommissionerScott O’Malia said beforedissenting in the agen-cy’s 4-1 vote to seek pub-lic comment.

The CFTC’s proposalapplies to non-bankswap dealers and offersa clear margin exemp-tion for corporationshedging their businessrisks.

The bank regulators’proposal applies tobanks such as JPMor-gan and Bank of Ameri-ca that serve as swap

dealers, and does notoffer a clear exemptionfor end users.

The latter proposalcould force a corpora-tion to post collateral ifthe bank selling a deriv-ative found that the cor-poration was too muchof a credit risk.

It is unclear howoften banks would haveto demand collateralfrom corporations, butthe lack of a clearexemption drew irefrom business groups.

“Despite the clear leg-islative history to thecontrary, the regulatorscontinue to misinterpretthe Dodd-Frank Act asgiving them authority toimpose margin require-ments on end-users,”said a statement fromthe Coalition for Deriva-tives End-Users, anindustry group.

Profits hang in thebalance not only for cor-porate end-users, butalso for the big financialcompanies that domi-nate the swaps market,including Citigroup,Goldman Sachs andHSBC. They could behurt if they can nolonger offer margin-freeswap trades to corpora-tions.

Nearly a third of alloff-exchange derivativestrades last year were notsecured by collateral, ormargin, said the Inter-

national Swaps andDerivatives Association.

Companies haveargued for a generousexemption because theyuse derivatives solely tohedge risk. They insistthey are not at risk ofdestabilizing the finan-cial system, and havetrumpeted the potentialfor higher costs.

The proposals affectbusinesses as diverse asConstellation Energy,MillerCoors and Cater-pillar — all of which useswaps to manage risk.

One study estimatedthat a 3 percent marginrequirement on swapsused by Standard &Poor’s 500 companiescould cut capital spend-ing by as much as $6.7billion.

The FDIC said thebank regulators’ propos-al would have minimalimpact on corporationshedging business risk.

“We should notimpose an undue burdenon the vast majority ofthe market participantsthat really did not play arole in the financial cri-sis,” FDIC ChairmanSheila Bair said.

CFTC ChairmanGary Gensler said hisagency and bank regu-lators aligned theirrules “to the maximumextent practicable.”

The CFTC, whichpolices derivatives mar-

kets, and the FDIC,which regulates banks,are working on imple-menting scores of post-crisis regulations,including the swapsmeasures, mandated by2010’s Dodd-Frank.

The agencies’ propos-als will be issued forpublic comment forabout 60 days. Betweennow and then, the agen-cies will come underpressure to make modi-fications.

The difference in thebank regulators’ and theCFTC’s approaches mayhit the banks, whichcould be forced todemand margin fromcorporations, comparedwith non-bank swapdealers such as Shelland Cargill, which couldoffer margin-free trad-ing for certain swaps.

The bank regulators’proposal will give bankstwo options for deter-

mining whether theyneed to demand that cor-porations post marginon uncleared swaptrades.

The first option is touse a standard table thatregulators will create.The second would bebased on how much thetrade could be affectedover 10 days understress.

A regulatory affairshead at a major corpora-tion that trades swapssaid the bank regula-tors’ proposal would cre-ate “unlevel playingfields” among the banksand non-bank swapdealers.

The executive, whowas not authorized tospeak on the record, saidend users will naturallygravitate toward thecheaper derivatives.

“It could put thebanks at a disadvan-tage,” the executive said.

��

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Contractors will be required to comply with EEO, D/M/WBE and other federal and state procurement laws, regulations and Executive Orders.

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By JASMINMELVIN

LAS VEGAS — SomeU.S. airwaves used forfree, over-the-air TVsignals must be repur-posed for mobile broad-band use to tackle alooming spectrum cri-sis, the top U.S. com-munications regulatorsaid.

The Federal Commu-nications Commissionwants Congress togrant it authority tohold incentive auctionsthat would compensatetelevision broadcastersfor giving up some oftheir spectrum to wire-less companies.

“I believe the singlemost important stepthat will drive ourmobile economy andaddress consumer frus-tration is authorizing

voluntary incentiveauctions,” FCC Chair-man Julius Genachows-ki told broadcasters attheir annual conven-tion in Las Vegas.

But broadcastershave been resistant tothe agency’s proposal,worried about the unin-tended consequencesthat parting with air-waves could have ontheir TV signals andthe viewers they serve.

“We’re talking aboutputting the whole sys-tem at risk,” AlanFrank, chief executiveof Post-Newsweek Sta-tions Inc, said earlier inthe week at the confer-ence.

Repacking the TVband, to clear large con-tiguous blocks of spec-trum considered bestfor mobile broadbanduse, could increaseinterference and

degrade the signalstrength of broadcast-ers not parting withspectrum, said Frank.

“We need to startdefining not how theauction works, butwhat this is going tomean for the broadcast-ers who don’t partici-pate in the auction,”Frank said.

Genachowski said heunderstood the con-cerns broadcasters had,and said he would workclosely with them toimplement policy thatbenefited them and theeconomy.

He noted that broad-casters, under the FCCproposal, would be fullycompensated for anyexpenses related torepacking.

“However, voluntarycan’t mean undermin-ing the potential effec-tiveness of an auction

by giving every broad-caster a new andunprecedented right tokeep their exact chan-nel location,” Gena-chowski said, addingthat doing so wouldgive a single broadcast-er veto power over thesuccess of an auction.

He praised the indus-try for looking to takeadvantage of “a multi-platform broadbandworld” by introducingnew technologies, plat-forms and businessmodels to reach view-ers.

But he made it clearthat while the agency isworking on multiplefronts to solve the spec-trum crunch, theauthority to hold volun-tary incentive auctionsis vital to meetingdemand.

The FCC hopes torepurpose 120 mega-

hertz of spectrumthrough incentive auc-tions where televisionbroadcasters would vol-untarily give up spec-trum in exchange for aportion of the proceeds.

Some 25 millionAmericans watch videoon their cell phones,and tablet computerslike Apple Inc’s iPadput 120 times moredemand on spectrumthan older phones.

“This growingdemand is not goingaway. The result is aspectrum crunch,”Genachowski said. “Theonly thing that canaddress the growingoverall demand formobile is increasing theoverall supply of spec-trum and the efficiencyof its use.”

Wireless carriershave lobbied for help,saying a spectrum

shortage would meanclogged networks,more dropped calls andslower connectionspeeds for wireless cus-tomers.

AT&T Inc last monthannounced a $39-bil-lion plan to buyDeutsche Telekom AG’sT-Mobile USA, in partto deal with its impend-ing spectrum shortage.

The National Associ-ation of Broadcasters(NAB) has questionedthe existence of anationwide spectrumshortage, but the groupsaid they would onlyoppose the auctions ifthey appeared to harmbroadcasters who optnot to part with spec-trum or seemed toharm viewers.

Some 43 millionAmericans rely exclu-sively on over-the-airtelevision.

FCC: TV airwaves needed to counter wireless crunch

Swap market crackdown seeks to spare businesses

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SSSSPPPPOOOORRRRTTTTSSSSDAILY

CHALLENGE

Bonds trial: Jury deliberating for 4th day

SAN FRANCISCO - Jurors haveresumed deliberating in the Barry Bondsperjury trial.

The eight women and four men returned for afourth day of deliberations shortly after 8:30 a.m.Pacific time yesterday. The panel spent most of thecourt day on Tuesday behind closed doors but failedto reach a verdict.

Bonds is charged with three counts of lying to agrand jury in 2003 and one count of obstruction.

Prosecutors allege that Bonds lied when hedenied knowingly taking steroids and humangrowth hormone. A third count of making a falsestatement charges that Bonds lied when he saidthat no one other than his doctor ever injected himwith anything.

The fourth count is obstruction of justice, whichalleges that MLB’s all-time home runs leader hin-dered the grand jury’s sports doping investigationby lying. It lists the statements in the first threecounts along with four other answers Bonds gaveto prosecutors as unlawful.

Tennessee Titans player Kenny Britt arrested in NJ

BAYONNE, N.J. - Police arrestedTennessee Titans wide receiver KennyBritt in his hometown of Bayonne, N.J.,after an officer reported seeing him speed-ing.

Bayonne Police Chief Robert Kubert says Brittfaces charges of eluding the officer, hinderingapprehension and obstructing governmental func-tion.

Kubert says Britt was driving his Porsche at 71mph in a 50-mph zone Tuesday. The chief saysBritt drove away from the officer and was eventu-ally found on side street walking away from thecar. Kubert says Britt first denied being in the car,then denied driving and then finally admitted hewas behind the wheel.

The agency that represents Britt says it is notready to comment. Titans spokesman RobbieBohren says only that the team is aware of thereports.

Britt has an April 19 court appearance.

Former Mets, Blue Jays 1B Carlos Delgado retires

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - CarlosDelgado has given up on coming backfrom a hip injury, announcing his retire-ment from baseball two years after he wassidelined.

The former New York Mets and Toronto BlueJays first baseman announced his decision at anews conference in his native Puerto Rico on yes-terday. The 38-year-old Delgado was in good spir-its, laughing as friends presented him with a rock-ing chair as a retirement gift.

The two-time All-Star first baseman played 17major league seasons, finishing with 473 homeruns and a .280 batting average.

Delgado played for the Blue Jays from 1993-2004, went to the Florida Marlins for a season andfinished out his career with the Mets from 2006-09.

He said he hasn’t decided his next step.

SSSSPPPPOOOORRRRTTTTSSSS BBBBRRRRIIIIEEEEFFFFSSSS

By BARRY WILNER

NEW YORK - The NFL’sproposal to the players fora rookie compensation sys-tem would divert about$300 million a year fromfirst-round draft picks’contracts to veterans andplayer benefits.

According to documentsobtained by The AssociatedPress, the league’s offer wouldfree more than $1.2 billion by2016 and slow the growth rateof guaranteed payments to first-rounders, which the documentsshow increased by 233 percentsince 2000. All contracts forfirst-round picks would becomefixed at five years.

Such quarterback busts asJaMarcus Russell ($32 million),

Matt Leinart ($12.9 million),David Carr ($15 million) andJoey Harrington ($13.9 million)received huge guaranteed pay-ments that totaled $367 millionin the last 10 drafts.

Of course, Eli Manning ($24million), Philip Rivers ($17.9million) and Matt Ryan ($34.7million) have not done too badlyfor their teams.

Guaranteed money paid totop 10 selections since 2000reached nearly $2 billion.Guaranteed payments for allfirst-rounders were at $3.5 bil-lion.

During talks for a new collec-tive bargaining agreement, theleague also proposed eliminat-ing holdouts by reducing themaximum allowable salary if arookie isn’t signed when train-ing camp begins. The NFL alsosuggested eliminating holdouts

for all veterans by prohibitingrenegotiations of contracts if aplayer holds out in the presea-son.

The compensation systemwould not include a rookie wagescale and would allow for indi-vidual contract negotiations.Contracts would have a fixedlength of four years for playerschosen in the second throughseventh rounds and would notaffect salaries for those rounds,the league said.

A modified salary system forrookies was a negotiating pointfor a new CBA until talks brokeoff March 11 and the NFLPlayers Association dissolved asa union. The owners locked outthe players hours later.

The two sides are scheduledfor court-mandated mediationin Minneapolis beginningtoday.

NFL’s rookie pitch: divert300M from 1st rounders

After receiving atechnical foul duringTuesday’s game, LosAngeles Lakers starKobe Bryant stormedback to the bench andappeared to direct ahomophobic slur towardreferee Bennie Adams.

Bryant’s reaction wascaught on camera onTNT’s national telecastof the key WesternConference battle with

the San Antonio Spurs.He hit his seat before sit-ting down, threw atowel and then yelled,“Bennie,” toward thecourt. Bryant thenleaned back and mut-tered what appeared tobe a gay slur.

TNT announcer SteveKerr picked up onBryant’s outburst andsaid: “You might wannatake the cameras off of

him right now, for thechildren watching fromhome.”

“The video fromTuesday’s game isunder review by theNBA,” leaguespokesman Tim Franksaid toESPNLosAngeles.comvia email.

Bryant was not ini-tially available for com-ment.

“We haven’t seen thevideo, so it would beinappropriate for us tocomment on it,” aLakers spokespersont o l dESPNLosAngeles.comyesterday.

The Lakers are bat-tling the Mavericks forthe second seed in theWest. They beat theSpurs 102-93 onTuesday.

Kobe Bryant appears to hurl slur

With the lockoutdragging on,Minnesota Vikingsdefensive end RayEdwards is set tomake his profes-sional boxing debutat a Minnesota casi-no.

Edwards told theStar Tribune that hehas signed a two-fightcontract. His profes-sional debut is set forMay 20 in a four-roundbout against a yet-to-be-determined oppo-

nent.“It’s something I’ve

always wanted to do inmy life,” Edwards toldthe newspaper. “I can’tput my eggs all in onebasket, waiting for theNFL to settle the lock-out. You never knowwhen this lockout isgoing to end.”

The Star Tribunereported that Edwardsis guaranteed $5,000from the fight plus 50percent of the gate pro-ceeds for the fight atGrand Casino

Hinckley. If the lockoutcontinues into June,his second fight willtake place that monthunder the same terms,the newspaper report-ed.

Edwards’ trainer isJeff Warner, a formerheavyweight boxer andpro wrestler. Warnerpredicts big things forEdwards.

“A lot of footballplayers, like Ed ‘TooTall’ Jones, have triedto cross over — andthey’ve all gotten

knocked out,” Warnertold ESPN Mobile lastmonth. “Ray will be thefirst to come from profootball as a starter anddestroy the heavy-weight division. Ray isa phenom. He’s a mod-ern-day MuhammadAli and Mike Tysoncombined. He’s thegreatest conditionedheavyweight ever andhe’ll knock out anyfighter in the world. Noone looks like Ray, noone moves like Ray andno one works like Ray.”

Ray Edwards to fight on May 20



CHALLENGE

2

By JASONKING

With the sting of lastmonth’s Elite Eight lossto VirginiaCommonwealth begin-ning to subside, Kansascoach Bill Self said theJayhawks are finallymoving forward. Andit’s time their fans did,too.

“The last two weekshave sucked,” Self toldsupporters at the team’sseason-ending banquetMonday. “When you tryhard and invest in some-thing, it hurts.Beginning tonight, it’sover. Get excited fornext year.”

For some, that may bedifficult.

Marcus and MarkieffMorris have announcedthey are leaving school ayear early for the NBAdraft, and freshmanJosh Selby will likely fol-low suit. BradyMorningstar and TyrelReed are out of eligibili-ty and - although it’sstill a work in progress -the Jayhawks’ latest

recruiting class isn’t asattention-grabbing assome of the others in theSelf era.

Even with proprospects ThomasRobinson and TyshawnTaylor returning, thereseems to be a legitimatereason for concern inLawrence. If theJayhawks are evergoing to experience arebuilding season, nextyear may be it.

Or at least that’s howit appears on paper.

Conventional wisdom,however, suggests itwould be unwise to betagainst Self and theJayhawks, whose stringof seven straight Big 12titles is almost hard tofathom. Time and timeagain, Kansas has founda way to flourish duringa time when so manyassumed it would floun-der.

• Kansas seemed des-tined for a down yearafter losing WayneSimien, Keith Langford,Aaron Miles, J.R.Giddens and MichaelLee following the 2005-

06 season. Instead, theJayhawks went 25-8overall and 13-3 in theBig 12 using a lineupthat consisted of threefreshmen starters(Julian Wright,Brandon Rush andMario Chalmers).

• Five players - Rush,Chalmers, DarrellArthur, Darnell Jacksonand Sasha Kaun - weredrafted from a 2008national championshipteam that also lost start-ing point guard RussellRobinson. But theJayhawks answeredwith a 27-8 record and aSweet 16 berth the nextyear thanks to SherronCollins and Cole Aldrich.Self was named nationalcoach of the year.

• Kansas lost Collinsand NBA lottery picksAldrich and XavierHenry from a squad thatwent 33-3 in 2009-10.Dick Vitale actuallypicked Self’s squad tofinish fifth in the league.How did the Jayhawksrespond?

“We went 35-3,” Selfsaid Monday.

“Expectations willalways be high. We’ll bevery good again nextyear. We’re losing goodguys - really good guys.[People say], ‘How canwe ever replace them?’But we always do.”

It’s not as if theJayhawks’ roster hasbeen completely deci-mated. Taylor, who mayhave been drafted in thesecond round had he leftschool a year early, willreturn for his fourthyear as a starter inKansas’ backcourt.

“I think I can play inthe NBA,” Taylor said.“My time is going tocome. I’m not rushingit.”

Taylor was overshad-owed by Collins duringhis first two seasons.And his junior year,which included a sus-pension for violatingteam rules, was some-what of a disappoint-ment until the postsea-son, when he averaged12 points and fiveassists in his last sixgames. That’s whenTaylor turned up hisaggression and beganusing his speed -Taylor’s biggest attrib-ute - to his advantage.

Elijah Johnson, anexcellent defender andarguably the most ath-letic player on Kansas’roster, will likely teamwith Taylor on theperimeter, giving theJayhawks one of thefastest, most experi-enced backcourts in theBig 12. Incoming fresh-man guard NaadirTharpe is a distributorwho will likely beKansas’ top guard offthe bench.

Travis Releford hasmostly been a role playerduring his time inLawrence, whichincludes a redshirt yearin 2009-10. He didn’tscore a single point dur-ing the final month oflast season. Releford,though, could end upbeing Kansas’ small for-ward, especially if tout-ed signee Ben McLemoreis slow to progress.

A 6-foot-9 forward,Robinson should easilybe Kansas’ best player.He averaged 7.6 pointsand 6.4 rebounds as asophomore despite play-ing just 14 minutes pergame. By the end of the2010-11 seasonRobinson had blossomedinto one of the top sixth

men in the country andwas regarded as a sure-fire first-round NBAdraft pick. Robinson,though, elected toreturn to Kansas for atleast one more year.

“If I leave now, mylegacy would not be howI want it,” Robinson toldreporters Monday. “Iwant to come back toschool and make a namefor myself as a Jayhawkand try to improve to beone of the best bigs inthe country.”

Robinson also saidthe potential of an NBAlockout factored into hisdecision.

“There may be notraining camps,” hesaid. “I have one of thebest big-man coachesright here. Another yearwith [Danny] Manningis huge for me. I want tocome back and be theleader of our team.”

Robinson will bejoined in the paint byJeff Withey, a 7-footerwho - partly because ofinjuries - had littleimpact in his first twoseasons in Lawrence.Self said he wouldn’t besurprised if Withey ledthe Big 12 in blocks nextseason.

Departures cause concern at Kansas

LOS ANGELES —Despite the Los AngelesLakers’ late seasonstruggles, the one thingthey had going forthem compared to theirlast two championshipruns was a healthyAndrew Bynum.

That might not be thecase anymore.

Bynum suffered ahyperextended rightknee in the secondquarter of Tuesday’s102-93 win against theSan Antonio Spurswhen he stepped onDeJuan Blair’s foot,causing his knee tobuckle.

Bynum sat on thefloor with his head inhis hands for severalminutes after the injuryoccurred but walked tothe locker room underhis own power. He exit-ed the game with 8:11remaining in the secondquarter after register-ing four points and fourrebounds in 13 minutes

and did not return.Bynum was to under-

go an MRI on the kneeyesterday and will nottravel with the team toSacramento for theirseason finale againstthe Kings.

“He could be out acouple games,” coachPhil Jackson said afterthe game. “There couldbe a bone bruiseinvolved when youhyperextend the knee.His reassurance wassaying, ‘I’m going to beOK.’ I think that hemight have an ideaabout it because he’sbeen through thisbefore.”

Bynum said if theLakers were looking atGame 7 of the NBAFinals he could “proba-bly play.”

“It was painful rightwhen it happened butit’s not that bad rightnow,” Bynum said afterthe game.

Any significant

absence for Bynumcould be a major prob-lem for the two-timedefending NBA champi-on Lakers, who had losttheir last five gamesbefore taking on theSpurs.

Bynum was widelyconsidered to be the dif-ference maker in theteam’s 17-1 streak afterthe All-Star Game as heaveraged 11.5 points,12.7 rebounds and 2.4blocks in 21 games afterthe break. Bynum isaveraging 11.5 points,9.5 rebounds and nearly2 blocked shots in 54games this season whilepatrolling the paint asthe Lakers’ most impor-tant defensive player.The 23-year-old’simposing size alongsidefellow 7-footer PauGasol is the Lakers’biggest asset outsideKobe Bryant, andBynum is in the midstof a remarkable defen-sive season.

Andrew Bynum hyperextends right knee

BOSTON — DavidPrice and Tampa Bay’srebuilt bullpen were toomuch for the BostonRed Sox.

These days, it seemsevery team is.

Price outpitched JonLester in a matchup ofleft-handed aces and theRays broke a tie with theRed Sox for the worstrecord in baseball with a3-2 win on Tuesdaynight. Boston fell to 2-9while Houston, whichbegan the day with anNL-worst 2-8 record,beat the Cubs 11-2.

“Both starting pitch-ers were very good,”Tampa Bay managerJoe Maddon said. “I justlove David’s tenacity. Ireally do. This is ayoung man with great

stuff, but tenacity tomake him great. He justkept coming afterthem.”

When he hit KevinYoukilis with his 116thpitch of the night to putrunners at first and sec-ond with two outs in theeighth, relievers JoelPeralta retired the nextbatter and KyleFarnsworth pitched aperfect ninth inning forhis second save of theseason and 28th of his14-year career.

In the offseason, theRays lost almost theirentire bullpen —Joaquin Benoit, RafaelSoriano, Dan Wheeler,Grant Balfour, RandyChoate and LanceCormier.

“Those guys shutting

them down right thereat the end, that’s prettygood,” Price said. “I feelcomfortable with thoseguys going eight andnine, for sure.”

Tampa Bay, whichromped 16-5 on Mondaynight, can complete aseries sweep Wednesdaynight.

Price (1-2) allowedfive hits in 7 2/3innings. He left withrunners at first and sec-ond and Peralta endedthe eighth by gettingJed Lowrie to fly out.R i g h t - h a n d e rFarnsworth worked theninth against three leftypinch-hitters, strikingout Jacoby Ellsbury andJ.D. Drew and gettingDavid Ortiz to fly toright.

Rays sneak past struggling RedSox as David Price bests Jon Lester

DAILY CHALLENGE THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011 23


CHALLENGE

2

The NBA, respondingto a report that its LasVegas summer leaguewill be canceled due to apotential July 1 shut-down over its labor dis-pute with players, saidit has yet to make a deci-sion on whether thesummer games will beplayed.

“No decision has beenmade on summer leagues,”NBA spokesman Tim Franktold ESPN.com onWednesday. He declined todiscuss the league’stimetable for making a deci-sion.

Published reports, citingunnamed league sources,reported yesterday that theNBA had canceled the LasVegas summer league aswell as its annual collegeinternship program.

The league is also notsending any teams to Europefor training camp and hasnot scheduled any preseasongames there, according tothe report.

The collective bargainingagreement between the NBAand the players unionexpires June 30 and therehave not been formal talksbetween the two sides inmonths.

The NBA’s primary sum-mer league has been in LasVegas in recent years, with asmaller league in Orlando.Both events typically beginin early July.

The NBA Board ofGovernors is scheduled tomeet in New York this week.Collective bargaining negoti-ations and a likely July 1lockout are paramount onthe agenda.

In talks with the union,

the NBA, which says morethan half of its teams are los-ing money, has proposedinstituting a hard salary cap,as well as shorter contractlengths and non-guaranteeddeals.

Last month, union execu-tive director Billy Huntersaid a hard cap would effec-tively end guaranteed con-tracts. “We’ve had that rightfor years, and it’s not some-thing we’re trying to giveup,” he said.

League sources have longspeculated that the summerleagues will almost certainlyto be a casualty of the laborsituation. It takes months toplan the leagues, but theyfall just days after an expect-ed lockout would begin. Lastyear’s Orlando league beganJuly 5, and the Las Vegasleague kicked off July 9.

NBA: No decision on summer league

NEW YORK — IfLeBron James’ move toMiami made him a vil-lain to some, fans likedressing as a bad guy.

James had the top-sellingjersey in the NBA this sea-son, moving past KobeBryant to claim the No. 1spot for the first time sincehis rookie season inCleveland in 2004.

Bryant dropped to No. 2on the list announced yester-day, while Rajon Rondomoved up to third, one offive Boston Celtics among

the top 15.The list is based on sales

on NBAStore.com since thestart of the 2010-11 season.

James’ popularity wasexpected to suffer after hismuch-criticized departurefrom the Cavaliers last sum-mer. His switch of teams andnumbers, from No. 23 to 6,ended the reign of Bryant,who had been No. 1 since thestart of the 2008-09 season.

Amare Stoudemire (4th)and Carmelo Anthony (8th)also made the top 10 in theirfirst seasons as Knicks.Shaquille O’Neal (12th), RayAllen (13th), Paul Pierce andKevin Garnett rounded outthe list.

LeBron leapfrogs Kobe astop-selling jersey this season

By JONKRAWCZYNSKI

MINNEAPOLIS -With the lockout at onemonth and counting,attorneys for NFL play-ers sat down Tuesdaywith the federal magis-trate who will overseecourt-ordered mediationwith the league laterthis week.

Attorneys and Hall ofFame defensive end CarlEller met with U.S.Magistrate Judge ArthurBoylan for about four hours.

Boylan “was very open”and “it was a very construc-tive session,” said MichaelHausfeld, the lead attorneyrepresenting Eller and agroup of mostly retired play-ers in their antitrust lawsuitagainst the owners. Other

attorneys declined comment.The meeting came on the

same day the NFL releasedits 2011 preseason schedule,led by the Hall of Fame Gamebetween Chicago and St.Louis in Canton, Ohio, onAug. 7.

Whether the games areheld remains an open ques-tion. The NFL’s attorneys arescheduled to meet withBoylan on Wednesday beforemediation begins onThursday, the first talkssince collective bargainingnegotiations broke downMarch 11, followed hourslater by the NFL’s first workstoppage since 1987.

Boylan has a reputation asa problem-solver, thoughwhat he can accomplish aftermore than two weeks ofmediated talks fell short lastmonth in Washingtonremains to be seen. He hasbeen a magistrate since 1996

and presided over numerousmediations, including a $195million settlement betweenBoston Scientific and about4,000 claims involving heartdefibrillators and pacemak-ers made by Guidant Corp. in2007.

He’ll need to be at his bestin this session because therancor between the two sideshas grown increasingly bit-ter as the dispute landed incourt.

“If the parties wouldrather take their shot for lit-igation, you could makethem sit there forever andthere still won’t be an out-come,” said Seth Borden, alabor law expert at McKenna,Long and Aldridge in NewYork.

U.S. District Judge SusanRichard Nelson ordered themediation on Monday.Nelson is still considering aninjunction request from theplayers to lift the lockoutimposed by owners after theplayers dissolved theirunion, clearing the way forthe court fight. Playersincluding MVP quarterbacksTom Brady and PeytonManning filed the injunctionrequest in federal court herealong with a class-actionantitrust suit against theleague.

Retirees, including Eller,filed their own lawsuit, andthe cases have been consoli-dated.

Legal team for NFL players meet with judge

By ELLIOTSPAGAT

SAN DIEGO - A for-mer University of SanDiego star basketballplayer, another formerplayer and a formerassistant coach werecharged with running asports betting businessto affect the outcome ofgames, federal authori-ties said Monday.

The indictment namesBrandon Johnson, theschool’s all-time leadingscorer who finished his col-lege career last year,Thaddeus Brown, an assis-tant coach at the school inthe 2006-07 season, andBrandon Dowdy, who playedat USD in the 2006-07 sea-son and at the University of

California, Riverside, from2008 to 2010. Seven otherpeople were also charged.

Authorities did not sayhow the alleged schemeworked and said they weretrying to determine itsscope, including the numberof games allegedly involved.

The indictment allegesthat Johnson, 24, took abribe to influence a USDgame in February 2010 andsolicited someone else thisJanuary to affect the out-come of USD basketballgames while playing for theDakota Wizards, a develop-ment team for the NBA’sMemphis Grizzlies.

U.S. Attorney LauraDuffy didn’t name the USDopponent in the February2010 game, saying only thatJohnson was the school’sstarting point guard at thetime.

D-backs’ Upton named FanFest spokesperson

PHOENIX — In many ways, outfielder JustinUpton has become the face of the ArizonaDiamondbacks.

So it seems only fitting with the All-Star Game in Phoenixthis year that the 23-year-old will serve as Major LeagueBaseball’s official spokesperson for the 2011 MLB All-StarFanFest, the world’s largest interactive baseball fan event.

“I am excited to be a part of All-Star FanFest,” Upton saidin a statement. “It’s basically a baseball theme park for allages; it’s very interactive and brings people closer to thegame.”

FanFest will be held at the Phoenix Convention Centerfrom July 8-12.

- Steve Gilbert

EExx--UUSSDD ssttaarr ffiigguurreess iinnssppoorrttss bbrriibbeerryy iinnddiiccttmmeenntt

Documents

Vol 40 No 33, Thursday April 14, 2011