Behind Bonds' home run, Giants slip by slumping Cincinnati

CINCINNATI - For the first time in his season of setbacks andscandals, Barry Bonds is feeling really good. And the feeling isrubbing off on his teammates.

Bonds hit a tying, two-run homer in the eighth inning - No. 730overall - and Shea Hillenbrand had a solo shot in the 10th that sentthe surging San Francisco Giants to a 5-4 victory over the slumpingCincinnati Reds on Monday night.

For most of the season, Bonds has been a focal point for his chaseof baseball's home run record and a grand jury's investigation of hisconduct. With his legs feeling strong again, he's become the focalpoint of San Francisco's comeback.

"I'm feeling a lot better," said Bonds, who …

US military official says naval ship arrives to help Bangladesh recover from cyclone

The U.S. Navy prepared Friday to deliver much-needed food and medical supplies to hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis whose homes were destroyed by Cyclone Sidr, a top U.S. military commander said.

The arrival of the USS Kearsage near the Bangladesh coast came as authorities and aid workers warned that Bangladesh faces acute food shortages, after the devastating storm ravaged crops and destroyed homes across a large swath of the country.

"We are here to help the people in their time of need," Adm. Timothy Keating, the top U.S. military commander in the Pacific Ocean, told reporters.

The first ship arrived Thursday and Keating said a …

Dima, Gheorghe

Dima, Gheorghe, Rumanian composer; b. Brasov, Oct. 10, 1847; d. Cluj, June 4, 1925. He was a pupil of Giehne in Karlsruhe, of Uffmann in Vienna, of Thieriot in Graz, and of Richter, Jadassohn, and Reinecke at the Leipzig Cons. He directed musical societies and church …

Product Digest: this month's topic Solids Handling

Bucket Elevator Enables Rapid Process Line Expansion

The multi-axis Elecon bucket conveyor and elevator system now comes with mid-size buckets with a capacity of 495 in.3 - more than twice the capacity of the original Elecon system. The conveyor has a patented chain and uses wedge-shaped, cantilevered buckets that come together and overlap at the loading or fi Hing station. The patented rack-and-pinion system ensures full discharge with a 360-deg. bucket rotation and quick return to the upright position. The system can convey materials vertically, horizontally or in any direction up to 180-deg., which provides flexibility for process configurations without the need to transfer …

Edwards Shrugs Off Clinton Lead in Polls

CORYDON, Iowa - Democrat John Edwards tried to make light of Hillary Rodham Clinton's big lead in national polls Monday, saying that four years ago it looked as if Howard Dean might run away with the nomination.

Edwards, campaigning in the state that will hold leadoff caucuses in January, said his organization is much stronger than at this point in 2004 when he eventually won a surprise second-place finish.

Clinton now leads in Iowa as well nationally, according to the latest polling. The Des Moines Register on Sunday had her at 29 percent in the state, up from 21 percent previously, with Edwards at 23 percent, down from 29. Barack Obama was at 22.

Asked about a …

Police: Illegal ammo used in NJ casino shooting

A man charged with gunning down a supervisor at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort used illegal hollow-nose bullets, designed to inflict maximum damage, authorities said in court documents.

Mark Magee, 57, of Norristown, Pa., is charged with murder and weapons offenses and was being held on $1 million bail.

Magee apparently knew the victim, Raymond Kot, from previous trips to the Atlantic City casino. Kot, 55, had worked for the Taj Mahal since the day it opened in 1990.

At his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon in Mays Landing, Magee spoke only to acknowledge that he understood the charges against him. The proceeding took less than three …

Illinois Tops In NBA Quality

The leading producers of professional basketball talent areCalifornia, New York, Illinois and Michigan. California has 37players in the NBA, New York 30, Illinois 26, Michigan 21.

But Indiana and Kentucky have produced only two.

Those are among the statistics uncovered by reader Steve Georgeof Chico Valley, Ariz., who has completed a comprehensive survey ofthe NBA.

Other revelations: Comparing quality to quantity, Illinois has produced more players(16) who appeared in at least one all-star game and averaged at least20 points in an NBA season. California is next with 11. Illinois, Michigan and New York have produced the best young talent.Illinois' list …

Niemann steers Rays past Tigers

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) — Tampa Bay starting pitcher Jeff Niemann was in control over six innings, guiding the Rays to a 7-4 win over the Detroit Tigers in the American League on Wednesday.

Niemann (9-3) allowed eight hits in six innings, and Evan Longoria hit a two-run homer in the eighth.

The Rays got out of a seventh-inning jam for the second consecutive game after intentionally walking Miguel Cabrera to load the bases with two outs. A fly ball ended the inning and preserved Tampa Bay's 5-4 lead.

Carl Crawford had an RBI grounder off Eddie Bonine (4-1) as the Rays took a 5-3 lead in the fourth.

…

Red Sox 7, Angels 3

Cornell is first team to clinch NCAA tourney bid

Cornell became the first team this season to earn an NCAA tournament bid, clinching its third straight Ivy League championship by beating Brown 95-76 on Friday night with a record-tying display of 3-point shooting.

The Big Red (26-4, 12-1) made 20 of 30 attempts from 3-point range and held Brown to 30 percent shooting in the second half while cruising to their 24th victory in 26 games.

Cornell tied an Ivy League record for 3s in a game and increased its season total to 292, also a conference mark. In doing so, the Big Red wrapped up their fourth Ivy League title _ securing the fifth NCAA tournament berth in school history.

Jon Jacques led Cornell …

Sun buys Star Division in challenge to Microsoft

NEW YORK Sun Microsystems Inc. launched a fresh assault today onrival Microsoft Corp.'s dominance of everyday desktop computersoftware.

The maker of big business computers disclosed that it bought StarDivision Corp., a small maker of office productivity software. Themove is an attempt to shift how most people use popular software suchas spreadsheets and word processing, onto the Internet and away fromthe personal computer desktop.

Star Division's package of office software has attracted a smallbut devoted following of users, but pales against the popularity ofMicrosoft's Office product line. But Sun Microsystems hopes to vaultStar's products into the mainstream by …

Official: 37 arrested in Guinea after coup attempt

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — At least 37 soldiers have been arrested in a wave of detentions in Guinea the day after gunmen nearly killed the country's first democratically elected leader, pounding his house with rockets.

Many of the officers who are being held have ties to Guinea's past two military rulers, said a military official who confirmed the arrests Wednesday and who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the press. They include a top bodyguard and a minister in the military government of Capt. Moussa 'Dadis' Camara, who seized power in a 2008 coup and was ousted a year later. Also among the group is the head of the army under Gen. Sekouba Konate, who …

Sotomayor hearing interrupted by shouting …

Sotomayor hearing interrupted by shouting …

Nationalists Claim Victory in Malta

Malta's election commission confirmed the island's long-ruling Nationalist Party has narrowly won a parliamentary election.

The Nationalist Party had claimed victory in Saturday's vote, citing party projections based on an early vote count. But the Labor Party, which hoped for a return to power after a decade, refused to concede, saying it was waiting for more official returns to come in.

Election officials said the vote count, although still not final, confirmed victory for the Nationalist Party by some 1,500 votes. It said the Nationalists have won 49.3 percent of the vote, compared to Labor's 48.8.

The announcement prompted Labor to concede defeat after one of the tightest elections since the former British colony gained independence in 1964.

Until the Nationalists' announcement later Sunday, officials from both parties had refused to claim victory, saying the election was too close to call.

After the announcement, supporters poured into the streets of the tiny Mediterranean island, waving party flags and honking horns.

The election was the first since Malta joined the European Union in 2004 and the euro zone earlier this year.

Gonzi, 54, said throughout the campaign he had done a good job modernizing this island of 400,000 people that lies between Sicily and North Africa and deserved to continue.

Labor leader Alfred Sant, 60, ran an anti-corruption campaign and urged the Maltese to vote for change.

The island nation has been run by the Nationalists since 1987, except for 22 months between 1996 and 1998 when Labor was in power and Sant was the prime minister.

__

Associated Press Writer George Cini contributed to this report.

Trade judge orders Canadian wheat tariffs returned

An international trade judge says the U.S. Commerce Department must return some import tariffs collected on Canadian spring wheat during the 2 1/2 years they were in place.

The Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Canadian Wheat Board, which controls wheat exports from Canada's western provinces, called the decision a victory for Canadian farmers, even though a spokeswoman said the amount involved is less than $100,000.

"This case was not fundamentally about the money ... it was about the principle and precedent and money that might theoretically be involved in the future," spokeswoman Maureen Fitzhenry said.

The North Dakota Wheat Commission, which was not a defendant in the case, said the ruling does not change its position that the Wheat Board trades unfairly in the world wheat market.

The tariffs were approved in the fall of 2003 because of a trade complaint filed by the North Dakota Wheat Commission against Canada a year earlier. The commission said Canada was dumping wheat on the U.S. market at less than the cost of production, to gain market share.

The U.S. International Trade Commission initially ruled in favor of the North Dakota group. In October 2005, it reversed course and concluded U.S. farmers were not being harmed by Canadian wheat sales south of the border. A North American Free Trade Agreement panel affirmed that decision, and the tariffs ended in February 2006.

Fitzhenry said about $500,000 in tariffs were paid. A small portion went to the North Dakota Wheat Commission as an injured party in the trade case and some of the money was deposited with the Commerce Department.

U.S. Court of International Trade Judge Richard Eaton in New York ruled that the U.S. has no right to keep the deposited duties.

"Because the subject imports caused no injury during any time relevant to this inquiry, (the Wheat Board) should owe no duties," Eaton wrote in his decision, dated Oct. 20.

"The purpose of collecting (tariffs) is to level the playing field so that producers can compete fairly in the marketplace," the judge wrote. "That purpose would not be advanced by allowing the United States to keep (the Wheat Board's) deposits when it has been conclusively established that the domestic industry has suffered no material injury."

The Commerce Department, named as the defendant in the case, had no immediate comment Thursday on the ruling.

The ruling did not stipulate an amount to be returned, but it is "in the tens of thousands of dollars," Fitzhenry said.

"Very little wheat actually went into the U.S. from Canada during that period ... because the tariff was prohibitive and became a wall," she said.

The tariff on Canadian spring wheat initially was set at 14.15 percent, or about 50 cents per bushel, and later was lowered to 11.2 percent, or about 40 cents.

The North Dakota Wheat Commission said the tariffs increased revenue for U.S. spring wheat growers by an estimated $102 million per year while they were in place, through higher market prices caused by less available cheaper Canadian grain.

Jim Peterson, the commission's marketing director, declined to say how much of the tariff money the commission received, but he said it was a small amount and was used to offset legal bills from the trade case.

Larry Hill, a Saskatchewan farmer and chairman of the Wheat Board, said Eaton's ruling "sets a valuable precedent for anyone who trades into the United States."

"There are now clearer rules about what happens at the end of the process when a trade dispute is settled," he said. "It gives more meaning to our rights under NAFTA."

Green prevails in International

Ken Green more than tripled his earnings this year when hecaptured the $180,000 first prize yesterday in the inaugural $1million International tournament at Castle Rock, Colo.

Green, who has spent five years on the PGA Tour, shot abogey-free, 6-under-par 66 in the championship round to take thetitle. That was good for 12 points in the modified Stablefordscoring system used in this event. He was three points ahead of 1985Masters champion Bernhard Langer.

In one round of golf, Green more than tripled his 1986 earnings,winning a shootout in which a dozen players started even and battledfor the sport's richest single-day purse.

"I can't play any better," Green said. "The feeling isincredible. I can't even think about how much money this is. This is a lot of bucks.

"I'm not Greg Norman or Bernhard Langer or Jack Nicklaus. Idon't have millions of dollars.

"I kind of amaze myself sometimes. I'm not in the heat thatoften. I'm not up there that much. I've had a chance to win maybefour tournaments, and I've won two of them."

It lifted his earnings from the year from $56,645 to $236,645.

"Incredible," said Green, whose only previous tour victory cameat last year's Buick Open. "I can't even think about it."

With $700,000 still at stake during the final round, thepressure began to tell on player after player as they struggled onthe back nine.

Kenny Knox finished the front nine with six points, but playedthe back nine in 2-over 38. Donnie Hammond started the back ninewith three bogeys and a double bogey. Joey Sindelar - despitefinishing in a tie for third - missed two short birdie putts in theclosing holes.

But Green made tough, par-saving putts on the 13th and 15thholes, and then made 6-foot birdie putts on the 16th and 17th.

The Stableford system awards two points for a birdie and fivefor an eagle. One point is deducted for a bogey and three for adouble bogey or worse.

Langer came to the 480-yard, par-4 18th needing an eagle to beatGreen. Even though a bogey would have cost him more than $40,000, hetook the gamble.

"The percentage was very small," Langer said. "But how manytimes do you get to win $180,000? I knew that if I made a bogey it would be expensive. But I tried anyway."Langer parred the hole.

Sindelar and J.C. Snead finished with eight points and each won$63,000 apiece.

NESTLE: Pat Bradley called it a career shot - a 206-yard approach for a tap-in eagle onNo. 16 - that gave her the LPGA's single-season earnings record andfirst place in the $240,000 Nestle World Championship at Buford, Ga.

Starting the final round eight shots behind, Bradley fired a9-under-par 63.

"It came very easily out there, I'll have to admit," she said."All year long I've been making people stop, look and listen."

Bradley lifted her season earnings to $482,496 with the $78,000first prize - biggest in LPGA history - with her 9-under-par 279total for 72 holes. She went to $2,276,693 for her 13 years on tour,also an LPGA record for all-time winnings. It also was her fifthtitle in 1986.

She had moved into position for her late charge with fivebirdies on the front side. Then, after six pars in succession, sheknocked in a 15-foot birdie putt on the 15th.

Then came the career shot, a 4-wood that stopped less than sixinches from the cup on the 403-yard, par-5 16th. The tap-in made her 8-under. She followed with a 15-foot birdie onthe 17th.

The heroics gave Bradley a two-shot victory over Nancy Lopez,who closed with 69, and Betsy King, who shot 73.

SENIORS: Bruce Crampton shot 72 in the final round of the PGASeniors' tournament for a 210 total to win the $250,000 GTE NorthwestClassic at Redmond, Wash. Two strokes back were Don January andGeorge Lanning.

LPGA: Cindy Mackey held a two-stroke lead over Colleen Walkermidway through the final round of the $200,000 LPGA MasterCardtournament when play was suspended because of thunderstorms atElmsford, N.Y. The tournament will be completed today.

ENGLAND: Mark James of Britain sank a 15-foot birdie putt on thefirst playoff hole to beat Lee Trevino and Hugh Baoicchi and win the$270,000 Benson and Hedges International Open at Fulford, England.

University President Pulls Web Profile

SALISBURY, Md. - Salisbury University's president removed her Facebook profile after being questioned about unprofessional captions posted alongside photos on the Web page.

Janet Dudley-Eshbach, president of Salisbury University, had a photo on her profile showing her pointing a stick toward her daughter and a Hispanic man with a caption saying she had to "beat off Mexicans because they were constantly flirting with my daughter."

A caption accompanying a photo of a tapir referred to the large size of the piglike animal's genitalia.

Dudley-Eshbach removed her profile from the social networking Web site hours after reporters asked her about the captions on Monday.

Dudley-Eshbach said that the photos were taken during a family vacation to Mexico and that she wrongly thought the public couldn't see them.

"I never thought there was any problems with them nor did I know they were in the public domain. I do apologize," she said.

In a statement, Dudley-Eshbach also wrote, "Many of us are learning about the positives and negatives of public networking sites such as Facebook. I regret that some of these family vacation photos, with captions that were only intended to be humorous, were included on Facebook."

William Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, said he talked to Dudley-Eshbach about her postings and did not anticipate any disciplinary action against the president.

"I think she's acknowledged that this was a mistake. I think both her statement and her action in taking the pictures down are appropriate," Kirwan said.

Dudley-Eshbach has been Salisbury's president since 2000. The school had 7,581 registered students in the fall of 2006.

---

On the Net:

http://www.salisbury.edu

(This version CORRECTS chancellor's name to Kirwan, instead of Kirwin.)

Treadmill, This Pad Can Hurt

TREADMILL

BE A BRUTE, SOMETIMES

I still remember the first time a gym instructor showed me how todo super sets. It was my 'leg day' at the gym and, as usual, I set upthe squat rack for my first set. After a 12-repetition first set ofsquats, as I was adding weights for my second set, the instructorstopped me. "Try something new," he said, leading me to the leg pressmachine. "Do a quick set of leg presses," he said and before I knewit, there I was doing 10 moderately heavy ones on the machine. As Istaggered off the leg press machine, my quadriceps blasted, hepointed me back toward the squat rack. "Now do another set ofsquats," he commanded, "and follow that up with another set of legpresses." Most gym-goers will know what I mean if I said that thefollowing day was hell for me. Walking was impossible.

What my instructor made me do that morning is known as'supersetting'. It is also the most brutal shock you can subject yourmuscles to. Supersetting is high-intensity weight training and thereare a number of benefits to be had from it. First, it's quick.Jumping from one to another exercise without rest makes workoutsshorter and tougher. Supersets put more pressure on your muscles andhelp them grow faster. And because of their intensity they canoverload your muscles without resorting to very heavy weights.

There are different kinds of supersets. You could do one where themovement of the first exercise isolates the muscles, while the seconduses compound movements. For example, you could do leg extensionsthat isolate the quadriceps and follow it up with squats, whichinvolve not only the quads but the glutes (your butt), hamstrings andinner thighs. Or you could do the opposite: a compound movement,followed by one that isolates the muscle. Example: bench pressfollowed by lying dumb-bell flyes. Then there are tri-sets, which Icall the father of supersets: you do three sets of three exercisestargeting the same muscle, without resting in between. A set ofsquats, then, quickly, a set of leg presses and then, again without apause, a set of leg extensions. Oh, boy! That's one helluva workout.Believe me, I do it sometimes and then forget about walking for thenext couple of days.

Muscles Mani

write to musclesmani@intoday.com

THIS PAD CAN HURT

The pad we're referring to here is peripheral arterial disease,which is caused by blockages to the arteries that supply legs withblood. Such blockage can result in acute pain and, in severe cases,even lead to gangrene. Here's an FAQ on PAD:

Symptoms: Fatigue, discomfort or persistent pain in the muscles ofthe calves or the thighs. "Another clue that a walking impairment maybe due to PAD is a wound in the legs that refuses to heal," says DrS.K. Gupta, Cardiologist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi.

Causes: Since PAD is caused by arterial blockage, smoking,diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol are prime suspects.

Who's at risk: If you're 50 or older and have a history ofsmoking, or are diabetic, you're in the danger zone. Further, PADpatients face a six- to seven-fold increase in the risk of a heartattack or a stroke.

Cure: First, treat the underlying causes. If it doesn't work,angioplasty or bypass surgery for the legs may be required.

-Indrani Rajkhowa

Prez PACs

Vice President Al Gore is hiring seven staffers for his new PAC, Leadership '98, which will target this year's elections. Spokeswoman Marla Romash says the PAC will close down at the end of '98. White House aide Nick Baldiok will run the PAC, which has a goal of $4 million.

Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-NE), another possible candidate in 2000, has formed a PAC named Building America's Conscience.

Human trials of swine flu drug start in Australia

An Australian pharmaceutical company will begin trials Wednesday of its experimental swine flu vaccine.

CSL Ltd. will test the vaccine on 240 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 64 starting at Royal Adelaide Hospital in Australia's south, the company and media reports said.

The trial will involve participants receiving two injections of the vaccine, three weeks apart, and will compare a standard dosage with an increased dosage. Doctors will be looking to find at what dose volunteers develop an appropriate immune response.

"We appreciate that new influenza strains like the swine flu can surprise us with properties that mean they might require higher dosing and two injections rather than one to provoke the desired level of immune response in humans," Dr. Russell Basser, the company's global director of clinical development, said in a statement.

Dr. Rachel David, speaking for the company, said 400 children will also be involved in the vaccine trial.

"We're talking about kids aged between 6 months and 9 years and it involves two injections and two blood tests, so four needles to monitor the results," she was quoted as saying by Australia's ABC News.

"I think that is a big commitment for families but in spite of that we've had a number of people come forward because they're interested in not getting the flu," she said.

The World Health Organization said Tuesday that there have been more than 700 deaths from swine flu since the start of the outbreak. The figure is an increase of some 300 since the start of the month.

VERMONT'S MAD RIVER GLEN A single chair lifts skiers back in time

WAITSFIELD, Vt. -- Skiers driving from Interstate 89 to Route 100,between Burlington and Montpelier, Vt., are faced with two key forksin the road.

One route leads to Sugarbush, a modern ski area with high-speedquad lifts, major snowmaking, groomed trails and condos.

The other goes to Mad River Glen -- and a step back in time.

Little snowmaking. No snowboarding. No condos. In fact, one of theattractions is the single-chair lift, the longest in the country at11/4 miles and the second-oldest, built in 1949.

"There are few things in life that offer the experience of a timemachine," said Brad Simmons of Rowayton, Conn. "It's not foreverybody, and that's part of what it is."

Simmons is one of just under 1,700 owners of Mad River Glen, whichGlen officials say is the only large ski area in the country owned byits skiers.

The place has taken on a sort of cult status for many, and itshows in the bumper sticker, "Mad River Glen -- Ski It If You Can."The sticker was started as a marketing tool in 1984.

Skiers take the sticker on trips around the world so they couldphotograph it in unusual places. Pictures along the wall in the Gen.Stark Pub show them holding up their stickers in the Arctic Circle inFinland, the Galapagos Islands, the Guinness brewery in Ireland, andMount Kilimanjaro. Astronaut Catherine Coleman, a Glen shareholder,even took her bumper sticker into space.

The area is particularly attractive to expert skiers, young andold. About half of its 45 trails on 3,637-foot Gen. Stark Mountainare black-diamond, the designation for the most difficult trails.

But it also is family-friendly, with a ski school for toddlers,and trails that all funnel to the base lodge, making it difficult toget separated or lost.

It is all pretty much the way Roland Palmedo probably envisionedit when he bought the land and began building his concept for a skiarea in the late 1940s as "a mountain community" where skiers couldenjoy nature and skiing, not a winter theme park designed just tomake money, according to Glen marketing director Eric Friedman.

At national ski association meetings, they talk about competitionfrom cruises and Disney, and how ski areas must compete for thosedollars, Friedman said. "Roland would be rolling in his grave hearingthat kind of stuff," he said.

Palmedo was a New York banker and former World War I and IIfighter pilot who invested in the Stowe, Vt., area, but built theGlen because he thought Stowe had become too commercial. He ran theGlen until 1968 when he sold it to a group of investors, which inturn sold it to Betsy Pratt in the early 1970s. She was ready to sellin the mid-1990s and suggested a cooperative structure to maintainits old-fashioned character.

They needed 1,667 skiers to pay $1,500 each for a share to pay the$2.5 million asking price. They got 900. But Pratt gave them aninterest-free note for five years, and they took over the area in1995.

Since then, the price of a share has risen to $1,750, but the debthas been paid, and about 65 percent of the shareholders are from outof state, many from Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York andConnecticut.

No one can own more than four shares to make sure there is nodominant owner, and each shareholder must pay $200 a year for everyshare. For that, all they get is a $117 discount on a season ticket,or a $7.50 discount on the $50 daily pass. There is no profit sharing-- the average $150,000-a-year profits all go back into the area.

Owning a share is more a sign of allegiance than a way to savemoney. Why else would a group of Glen employees get together to buy ashare, although they can ski for free?

"The general idea is to keep preserved the skiing experienceoffered here," said Brad Simmons, who bought his wife, Susan, a sharefor a Christmas present.

A nine-member board of shareholders meets every month to talkpolicy, and the annual shareholders' meeting is held in April. Attheir first meeting in 1995, shareholders decided they didn't wantthe area to change.

So the single-chair lift still runs on diesel fuel, one of thelast left in the country. When it broke down for four days in 2003,steel had to be ordered from Ohio and a local machine shop made thereplacement part because parts are no longer available.

When the time comes to replace the lift, a majority ofshareholders would opt for another single chair, though it would costmore than a double chair, said Jamey Wimble, general manager andpresident.

"They're willing to pay a premium for it," he said. "The skierswill decide. There's not a lot of places where they do decide."

People accept up to a 30-minute wait in line on a busy weekend tomake the 12-minute run to the summit, though they can choose amongthree double-chair lifts that don't go as high.

"It's not a very economical way to get people up the hill," Wimblesaid, but added that "the single is very much the identity of MadRiver."

However, the limited uphill capacity, along with winding trailslined by woods, means there often are no other skiers in sight on thetrails.

"It's worth the wait," Susan Simmons said.

Shareholders also have limited snowmaking to about 15 percent ofthe mountain to hold down costs and to keep the natural snowexperience -- the mountain averages about 250 inches annually.

And although snowboarders represent about 30 percent of thebusiness at more commercial areas, the Glen has banned them since1992 because snowboarders had trouble getting safely off the single-chair lift, Wimble said.

"If we were struggling financially, that's the only thing I see tochange," Wimble said. But with no debt service and no snowmaking, "werun a pretty lean ship to make it work," he said.

And besides, a survey of shareholders a few years ago showed 86percent liked the ban.

AP

If You Go

MAD RIVER GLEN: www.mad riverglen.com or (802) 496-3551. Locatedon Route 17 west in Waitsfield, about three hours from Boston, 51/2 hours from New York City, 21/2 hours from Montreal, and an hour fromBurlington.

RATES: Day rates for the general public are $50 for a full day,$42 for a half-day; for children 6 through high school, and adults 65to 69, $37 for a full-day, $29 for a half-day. Children 5 and underski free when accompanied by an adult. Rates for shareholders:adults, $42.50 for a full day and $35.50 for a half-day; children,$32 for a full day and $24.50 for a half-day.

SCHEDULE: Skiing usually begins mid-December. Shares remain forsale at $1,750 apiece; terms of sale are explained in detail on theWeb site.

Navigating the bump rules

ADVICE FOR THOSE TAX ADVISERS WHO DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT TRANSACTIONS TO USE THE BUMP

There are many reasons why corporations merge. Such a move may enable the losses of one to be used against the profits of the other. A merger may also facilitate combining the business operations of an acquired corporation (Targetco) with those of the acquiring corporation (Buyco). Tax planning for this latter type of combination may also involve the use of the "bump" provisions in section 88 of the Income Tax Act to increase the adjusted cost base of the nondepreciable capital property of Targetco. In order to achieve this objective, it will be necessary to complete a vertical amalgamation or a windup of Targetco into Buyco.

The act recognizes each of these legal mechanisms to effect a vertical merger of two taxable Canadian corporations on a tax-free basis. On an amalgamation, generally the rights, obligations and property of each of the amalgamating corporations become the rights, obligations and property of the amalgamated corporation and there is no need for a separate assignment or conveyance of assets to the corporation created on the amalgamation. All types of amalgamation require that each predecessor corporation must be incorporated within the same jurisdiction. Generally, continuation by one corporation into another provincial jurisdiction or continuation to become a federally incorporated corporation is permitted, with the notable exception of corporations incorporated in Quebec.

Where one wholly owned taxable Canadian corporation is voluntarily wound up into its parent corporation, the liquidators of the estate of the corporation must ensure that the corporation's obligations are appropriately discharged and that the remaining property of the corporation is distributed to its shareholder. Ultimately, the subsidiary corporation will cease to exist and will be granted Articles of Dissolution. Unlike with an amalgamation, in a windup, the property and liabilities of the subsidiary corporation do not automatically become such of the parent corporation. That is why there must be a conveyance of assets from the subsidiary to the parent. Most intangible property must be assigned and registered to the parent and liabilities must be satisfied or assumed by the parent. However, the parent and the subsidiary need not be incorporated under the same corporate statute in order to effect a windup. Legal counsel should be sought to deal with the corporate and regulatory requirements related to winding-- up and amalgamation transactions.

While both a windup and an amalgamation may generally be completed on a tax-deferred basis, in order to achieve the bump on an amalgamation, the parent corporation immediately before the amalgamation must own all the shares of the subsidiary. In the case of a winding-up, at least another taxable Canadian corporation immediately before the windup must own 90% of the issued shares of each class, and persons dealing at arm's length with the parent immediately before the windup must own any shares not owned by the parent.

On a winding-up to which subsection 88(1) applies, or on a vertical amalgamation, there is, generally, no gain on the deemed disposition of the subsidiary's shares by the parent unless the paid-up capital of such shares exceeds their adjusted cost base. Generally, a subsidiary's property that is distributed to the parent on a winding-up is deemed to be disposed of at its cost amount and this becomes the cost to the parent of the property. On an amalgamation, there is a continuity of the tax history of each predecessors based on the rules in Section 87, many of which also apply in the case of a winding-up.

The notable exception to these rules is the bump to the adjusted cost base of certain property of the subsidiary that may be increased to an amount not greater than its fair market value at the time that the parent last acquired control of the subsidiary. (Property must meet certain conditions to be eligible for the bump: see story on www.CAmagazine.com.)

To illustrate the mechanics of the bump, suppose Targetco owns nondepreciable capital property with an adjusted base cost of $100 and a fair market value of $600 at the time Buyco acquired control of Targetco. The adjusted cost base of Targetco's shares is $500 to the parent. Targetco's tax balance sheet at the time of windup is: cash, $100; assets, $1,500 (including the nondepreciable property described above); reserves, $900; liabilities, $300; dividends paid, $0; for a total in equity of $400 (assume retained earnings of $300 and capital stock with $100 of paid-up capital).

Based upon the figures in the table on page 35, the maximum allowable increase to the adjusted cost base of Targetco's nondepreciable capital property is $100, which will result in a new adjusted cost base of $200.

The bump is most often used as a method to dispose of Targetco's redundant assets or transferring assets within Buyco's corporate group following an acquisition transaction. For example, assume Targetco owns the shares of two operating companies, Keepco and Sellco, and that Buyco wishes to acquire only Keepco. Another party, however, is interested in purchasing the shares of Sellco. But the shareholder of Targetco is only interested in selling all the Targetco shares to Buyco. Accordingly, Buyco arranges to acquire all the shares of Targetco, following which Buyco windups or vertically amalgamates with Targetco. As part of the windup or vertical amalgamation, Buyco is able to bump the adjusted cost base of the Selco shares to their fair market value. Buyco then sells the Sellco shares to the third party.

If Keepco and Sellco were divisions of Targetco, and not separate legal entities, it would be necessary for Targetco to transfer Sellco's business assets to a newly incorporated company (Newco) prior to Buyco acquiring Targetco. The very same series of transactions occur, as mentioned earlier, ending with Buyco selling the Newco shares for no capital gain. By using this buy, bump and sell technique, Buyco has effectively been able to achieve its business objective of retaining Keepco while divesting itself of Sellco on a tax-effective basis. Buyco should be aware, however, of the significant complexities inherent in the bump denial rules.

The bump denial rules start from the position that all property is eligible for the bump except ineligible property, which includes:

* depreciable property;

* property transferred to the parent on the winding-up where the transfer is part of a paragraph 55(3)(b) (butterfly) reorganization;

* property (or property acquired in substitution thereof) acquired by the subsidiary from the parent (or a person not dealing at arm's length with the parent) in the same series of transactions or events in which the parent last acquired control of the subsidiary;

* property distributed to the parent on the winding-up, where, as part of the series of transactions or events that includes the winding-up, the parent acquired control of the subsidiary, and any of such property (or property acquired in substitution thereof) is acquired by certain persons who had an interest in the subsidiary before the acquisition of control occurred.

The first three categories of ineligible property are relatively straightforward. That is, no bump is allowed to depreciable property, property acquired as part of a butterfly transaction or property transferred to the subsidiary by the parent (an anti-stuffing provision) as part of the series of transactions. The fourth type of property is more complex. A person described in this category includes one who was or was deemed to be a specified shareholder of the subsidiary at any time during the course of the series of transactions and before the acquisition of control of the subsidiary was last acquired. The definition of specified shareholder is a taxpayer who owns, directly or indirectly at any time in the year, 10% or more of the issued shares of any class of a corporation or one related to that corporation. A specified shareholder does not include a specified person - that is to mean the parent (at the time of windup) or a person related to the parent. There is also the concept of an extended deemed ownership.

This rule is intended to ensure that a bump cannot be obtained where certain shareholders of Targetco reacquire an interest in Targetco's property as part of a series of transactions that includes a disposition of their Targetco shares. If Targetco's property or property that is substituted therefore is acquired in these circumstances, none of Targetco's property may be bumped.

Without the bump, a disposition by Buyco of the Sellco shares would result in corporate income taxes on any gain that were realized based on the historic adjusted cost base of the Sellco shares. Consider this situation. Keepco and

Sellco are wholly owned by Targetco and Targetco is owned equally by 100 shareholders (vendors). Buyco, a wholly owned subsidiary of a nonresident corporation Foreignco, acquires Targetco and offers the vendors 50% cash consideration and the balance of the consideration consists of shares of Foreignco. Buyco then winds up Targetco and intends to bump the adjusted cost base of Keepco's and Sellco's shares and sells Sellco to a third party thinking it has no capital gain on the sale because of the bump. Wrong.

For the purposes of the bump denial rules, the vendors are considered to be specified shareholders of Targetco, after that acquisition, which collectively own substituted property whose fair market value is partly or wholly attributable to Targetco's property that was distributed to Buyco on the windup. As a result, the bump to any of Targetco's property is denied. However, if the vendors were offered Buyco shares as consideration for Targetco, then the bump to Targetco's otherwise eligible property should be preserved. This is because the shares received by the vendors were shares of the parent corporation (Buyco) that was a taxable Canadian corporation.

This is but one example of the complexities with the bump denial rules. There are numerous practical difficulties in interpreting the legislation - one example is the meaning of the phrase "series of transactions.' In addition, there are numerous technical glitches with the legislation that make the bump denial rules among the most challenging provisions in the act to interpret. Tax advisers should exercise extreme care in designing and implementing a transaction to use the bump given these complexities.

[Author Affiliation]

Greg C. Boehmer, CA, is partner and national director of mergers and acquisitions tax practice with Ernst & Young LLP, in Toronto. Manu Kakkar, CGA, CA, MTax, is manager in the core Canadian consulting practice with Ernst & Young LLP, in London, Ont.

[Author Affiliation]

Technical Editor: Michel Lanteigne, FCA, managing partner tax for Canada Ernst & Young LLP

Germany: Refugee numbers up by one fourth

Germany says the number of refugees seeking asylum there has shot up by more than a quarter since the beginning of the year.

The interior ministry says 18,946 foreigners sought asylum in Germany between January and July, an increase of 3,918 or 26.1 percent on the same period last year.

It says most refugees _ more than 3,000 each _ came from Iraq and Afghanistan, and a little more than 1,000 from Iran. Other important countries of origin include Somalia, Serbia, Kosovo, Turkey, Syria, Russia, and Vietnam.

The ministry said Wednesday the number of refugees in July rose by 16.7 percent compared to a month earlier, with Afghans topping the list.

Government probes chelation-heart disease study

Heart attack survivors are again being enrolled in a controversial federal study of an alternative treatment while the government investigates whether they were told enough about possible health risks.

The $30 million study, with 1,500 participants so far, is one of the largest alternative medicine experiments ever launched. It tests high doses of vitamin and mineral supplements and chelation, a treatment used for lead poisoning that has not been proved safe or effective for heart disease.

Researchers suspended enrollment last August, when the federal Office of Human Research Protections began a probe into whether the people in the study were being fully informed of risks and adequately protected.

Chelation (pronounced kee-LAY-shun) involves intravenous doses of a drug, in this case disodium EDTA. Proponents claim it can flush out calcium that has built up in artery walls. Stiff or clogged arteries can lead to heart problems. There already are several conventional treatments for heart disease, including medicines, surgery and artery-clearing angioplasty.

When the study began in 2002, it aimed to enroll 2,400 people at more than 100 sites in the United States and Canada. But recruitment has lagged, and study leaders now hope to enroll at least 1,700.

Last year, several scientists published an article criticizing the experiment and complained to the federal research protection office. The study's consent form does not tell participants that others have died from chelation, the critics say. More than half of the doctors running the study make money by selling chelation treatments _ a conflict of interest, the scientists contend.

The federal agency determined there was merit to the complaint and opened a probe.

"That investigation is still ongoing," said spokeswoman Pat El-Hinnawy.

The study leader, Dr. Gervasio Lamas, and other researchers voluntarily suspended enrollment last fall. Most sites resumed in January, said a spokeswoman for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which is sponsoring the study with the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Lamas recently left the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine and is now with Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida.

A heart institute spokeswoman, Susan Dambrauskas, wrote in an e-mail that the institute would not comment while the federal probe is ongoing.

Chelation has been highly controversial, and the American Heart Association and other groups have spoken out against it. "EDTA isn't totally safe," and carries a risk of kidney failure, bone marrow problems, shock, low blood pressure, convulsions, heart rhythm problems, allergic reactions and breathing troubles, the association's Web site says.

The federal Food and Drug Administration, two leading doctor groups and others have called chelation experimental and of unknown value or risk for heart disease patients.

___

On the Net:

Study: http://nccam.nih.gov/health/chelation/chelationstudy.htm.

Heart Association on chelation: http://tinyurl.com/yrq7bl

Critics' report: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/570625

Low-price focus helps boost Wal-Mart profit as revenue climbs more than 8 pct

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said Tuesday its renewed focus on low prices paid off with a 4 percent rise in profit for its fourth quarter as holiday shoppers bought discounted groceries and home electronics as well as health and wellness products.

International growth also helped boost profit and sales. Stores in 13 countries outside the U.S. accounted for about 25 percent of total company sales in the quarter, up from 23 percent a year earlier.

Wal-Mart said net income in the quarter ended Jan. 31 rose to $4.096 billion (euro2.78 billion), or $1.02 (euro.69) per share, compared to $3.94 billion (euro2.67 billion), or 95 cents a share, a year earlier.

Net sales grew 8.3 percent to $106.27 billion (euro72.09 billion), helped by 18.8 percent international growth and 5.0 percent growth at U.S. Wal-Mart stores. Overall revenue including membership fees rose to $107.43 billion (euro72.87 billion) from $99.078 billion (euro67.21 billion) a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected profit of $1.02 (euro.69) per share on revenue of $106.9 billion (euro72.51 billion).

Wal-Mart forecast earnings per share for the 2009 fiscal year of $3.30 (euro2.24) to $3.43 (euro2.33). The range of 23 analyst estimates for the full year was $3.30 (euro2.24) to $3.55 (euro2.41), according to Thomson.

Chief Executive Lee Scott said Wal-Mart's decision last year to refocus on low prices after a brief foray into fashion and trendier merchandise had paid off in a time of mounting economic uncertainty.

Wal-Mart also made progress on customer service, Scott said. He cited cleaner stores, fewer out-of-stock products and faster checkout lanes.

"The price leadership strategy we put in place at the beginning of the year was exactly the right strategy for our customers around the world in a tough economic environment," Scott said.

Scott said Wal-Mart benefited from a strong holiday business after moving early last fall to discount groceries, toys and home electronics, including name-brand flat-screen televisions and computers. Health and wellness items also sold well, he said.

"We knew our customers would be stretched during the holidays and we made sure they knew that they could count on Wal-Mart for low prices," Scott said.

Scott said the economy remains a critical issue for consumers this year.

"Customers were more cautious in their spending in January. In a volatile economy, I believe we are well positioned to succeed."

Rising fuel costs are putting pressure on margins, said the head of Wal-Mart's U.S. stores, Eduardo Castro-Wright. Diesel for Wal-Mart's huge fleet of trucks rose about 25 percent a gallon last year and Castro-Wright called the issue a "potential headwind" for the year ahead.

Castro-Wright said Wal-Mart is introducing new clothing brands to revive its apparel business, which has lagged other areas of the store. New lines this year include kids' brand Grranimals and more Hannah Montana products licensed from The Walt Disney Co.

For the full 2008 fiscal year ended Jan. 31, Wal-Mart earned $12.73 billion (euro8.64 billion), or $3.13 (euro2.12) a share, up from $11.28 billion (euro7.65 billion), or $2.71 billion (euro1.84 billion), a year earlier. Net sales rose 8.6 percent to $374.53 billion (euro254.06 billion) from $344.99 billion (euro234.02 billion) a year ago. Overall revenue rose to $378.80 billion (euro256.95 billion) from $348.65 billion (euro236.5 billion) a year ago.

PESTICIDE POTATOES PREVAIL

Only a few potato researchers at two prominent land grant universities in the Northwest are studying alternatives to pesticides, according to a new report released yesterday. The report, Digging for Alternatives: An Analysis of Potato Pest Management Research at Two Northwest Land Grant Universities, published by the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP), indicates a strong opportunity for increasing research into alternatives to pesticides.

Digging for Alternatives summarizes interviews with 18 potato pest management researchers at the University of Idaho and Washington State University. Land grant universities are the largest source of publicly funded agriculture in the country, and this report examines whether these two schools are providing adequate alternative potato pest management solutions.

"Potato farming in the Northwest is highly productive, but also extremely pesticide-intensive," states NCAP sustainable agriculture program coordinator Jennifer Miller. "Potatoes use more pesticides than any other crop in the Northwest, using five times the poundage of pesticides per acre compared to apples," she added.

The report indicates that most researchers approach pest problems primarily with the use of chemicals. Although there is currently limited research on alternative potato pest management practices at these universities, researchers are interested in doing more. Researchers noted that several barriers keep them from pursuing research on alternatives to pesticides. One barrier is the difficulty in obtaining funding for this research.

The report also looks closely at a major source of funding for most researchers, the state potato commissions. An analysis of projects funded by the Idaho and Washington state potato commissions over the past six years showed that the commissions primarily fund research that takes a pesticide approach (71 percent of projects), with little emphasis on alternatives. Only 7 percent of the projects study alternative pest management practices.

"Research on alternatives will provide more options for potato farmers in the long run," says Miller. "The farmers and the researchers are interested, and human health and the environment would both benefit. Land grant universities and potato commissions need to make research on alternative pest controls a funding priority."

A copy of the report can be obtained at: www.pesticide.org/DiggingForAlternatives.pdf

Keep up the good habits in securing your homes ; Your viewsPoints of View Sgt Patrick Walsh Billericay police [Edition 3]

THE start of the year has kept my team and I extremely busy. Iwas lucky to have Christmas Day off, but many of my team continuedto work. Already into the full swing of the year, we have beenexecuting lots of warrants to crack down on suspected drugs use andsupply.

We have continued our patrols of burglary hotspots after thereported rise in offences at the end of last year, and so far thisseems to be working as we are seeing fewer offences reported. Iwould urge all residents to keep up good home security habits, andplease lock your uPVC doors with a key.

My team is still working with shops in the High Street using theTownlink system, and we have two more shops signing up to it.

All the action we have been taking on crime in recent weeks is adirect result of the community telling us who is committing crime,so I encourage all of you to call us if you know who is involved incriminality.

If you don't want to speak to police, call Crimestoppersanonymously on 0800 555 111 and they will then pass it on to us.

Incumbent favorite in Slovak presidential runoff

Slovakia's voters are widely expected to elect President Ivan Gasparovic to a second term in office Saturday, as the 68-year-old incumbent faces the country's first female candidate for the largely ceremonial post in a runoff.

Gasparovic has the support of the socialists and nationalists _ the two strongest parties in the three-party governing coalition _ and emerged as the front-runner in the first round presidential election two weeks ago.

Gasparovic won 46.7 percent of the vote in that ballot, and center-right Iveta Radicova advanced into the run-off with 38.1 percent.

The incumbent has campaigned on his record, saying he can offer the stability and continuity that Slovakia needs in the current economic crisis.

The Slovak president has the power to pick the prime minister and to appoint Constitutional Court judges, as well as the power to veto laws. But parliament can override the veto with a simple majority.

Gasparovic, elected in 2004 as Slovakia's third president since the country's independence in 1993, is supported by Prime Minister Robert Fico's left-leaning populist Smer-Social Democracy party and the ultra-nationalist Slovak National Party.

But if he looses, the 52-year-old Radicova would become Slovakia's first female president and its first president not to have been a Communist Party member in the past.

A sociology professor before entering politics, Radicova is deputy chairwoman of the center-right party of former Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda. She served as Labor Minister under Dzurinda, whose political and economic reforms ushered in foreign investment and led the country to join the European Union and NATO in 2004.

Analysts have said her pro-Western orientation could help boost Slovakia's ties with the United States and other Western nations.

Turnout in the first round was relatively low, with only 43.63 percent of Slovakia's 4.3 million eligible voters casting ballots, and Radicova has said she will focus on persuading more people to vote Saturday to help put her on top.

Deal Reached to End Pa. Budget Impasse

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Legislators and the governor brokered a deal that ended the state budget impasse Monday night, and state workers will return to the job after nearly 24,000 people were sent home without pay.

Scores of state parks, state-run museums and driver-license offices around the state were shuttered Monday on orders of Gov. Ed Rendell after a partisan deadlock held up the budget nine days into the new fiscal year.

"This is an agreement where all sides can say that they achieved some of their goals, and that's probably a good budget agreement," Rendell said, declaring himself "very satisfied with where we came out."

The deal addresses some of Rendell's …

`Bad News Bears' swings and misses.(Editorial)

Byline: JAMES VERNIERE

"Bad News Bears"

Rated PG-13. At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.

Two and one-half stars (out of four)

If you were wondering, "Wouldn't it be great if Bad Santa coached the Bad News Bears?" - you can stop now.

Billy Bob Thornton - Bad Santa - together with "Bad Santa" scribes Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, takes on Walter Matthau's immortal Morris Buttermaker, the irrascible ballplayer-turned-coach of the 1976 mini-classic "The Bad News Bears."

This new "Bad News Bears" is based on the 1976 screenplay by Bill (son of Burt) Lancaster, a script that spawned the original Michael Ritchie hit, two sequels and a TV series.

Director Richard Linklater has progressed, if that's the word, from the slackers of "Slacker" and "Dazed and Confused" to the prepubescent misfits of "The School of Rock" and now "Bad News Bears" (in keeping with idiotic current fashion, the "the" has been dropped from the title).

Linklater's new "Bears" team is, yep, more racially diverse. Instead of Tatum O'Neal as Matthau's smart-alecky star pitcher, we get a smart-mouthed and somewhat older Amanda Wurlitzer (real-life sports prodigy Sammi Kraft), the alienated daughter of an ex-girlfriend of one-time-baseball-player-turned-exterminator Morris "the Blade" Buttermaker (Thornton).

When Buttermaker is recruited by multitasking yuppie mom Liz Whitewood (a sexy comic turn by Marcia Gay Harden) to coach the league's worst team, he fills his half-empty beer can with Canadian Club and, ahem, sucks it up. Buttermaker's losers, the Bears, are even more challenging than the 1976 version insofar as one player, Matthew (Troy Gentile), is in a wheelchair and deranged shortstop Tanner (Timothy Deters) pelts players on the opposing team with his mitt as they run the bases past him.

Sporting a Fu Manchu mustache and soul patch and driving a beat-up Caddy ragtop with a duct-taped passenger-side door, Thornton misbehaves and makes politically incorrect remarks a la "Bad Santa." He boozily refers to Matthew as "the crippled kid" and his team as "bronze medalists for the Special Olympics." He thinks James Earl Jones shot Martin Luther King and dubs reports that pesticides are bad for you, "liberal propaganda." He is prone to passing out during practice, and he thinks it's just peachy that his team's sponsor is the "Bo-Peep Gentleman's Club." In an already much-quoted line, he tells his players they "swing like Helen Keller at a pinata party."

But Thornton seldom evokes the deep reserves of benevolence bubbling just beneath Matthau's comical, curmudgeon surface, and he has not nearly perfected the signature Matthau slow-burn.

In a role played by the late Vic Morrow, Greg Kinnear is coach Roy Bullock, the bullying, squeaky-clean coach of the obnoxious, previous champions, aptly named the Yankees.

But like the rivalry between Bullock and Buttermaker, this "Bad News Bears" is flat beer. No one suggests having two ringers on the team, Amanda and the similarly adolescent Kelly (Jeff Davies) might be unfair. The strippers moonlighting as cheerleaders are bogus. And cinematographer Rogier Stoffers ("The School of Rock") makes Encino, Van Nuys and other parts of the Valley look like they're in the grip of the Smog Monster.

Like the original, the new film's score wittily mixes Bizet's "Carmen" with rock and original music, although I wonder about the appropriateness of playing Eric Clapton's "Cocaine" over a burger party celebrating a team win.

("Bad News Bears" contains profanities and sexually suggestive dialogue

`Bad News Bears' swings and misses.(Editorial)

Byline: JAMES VERNIERE

"Bad News Bears"

Rated PG-13. At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.

Two and one-half stars (out of four)

If you were wondering, "Wouldn't it be great if Bad Santa coached the Bad News Bears?" - you can stop now.

Billy Bob Thornton - Bad Santa - together with "Bad Santa" scribes Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, takes on Walter Matthau's immortal Morris Buttermaker, the irrascible ballplayer-turned-coach of the 1976 mini-classic "The Bad News Bears."

This new "Bad News Bears" is based on the 1976 screenplay by Bill (son of Burt) Lancaster, a script that spawned the original Michael Ritchie hit, two sequels and a TV series.

Director Richard Linklater has progressed, if that's the word, from the slackers of "Slacker" and "Dazed and Confused" to the prepubescent misfits of "The School of Rock" and now "Bad News Bears" (in keeping with idiotic current fashion, the "the" has been dropped from the title).

Linklater's new "Bears" team is, yep, more racially diverse. Instead of Tatum O'Neal as Matthau's smart-alecky star pitcher, we get a smart-mouthed and somewhat older Amanda Wurlitzer (real-life sports prodigy Sammi Kraft), the alienated daughter of an ex-girlfriend of one-time-baseball-player-turned-exterminator Morris "the Blade" Buttermaker (Thornton).

When Buttermaker is recruited by multitasking yuppie mom Liz Whitewood (a sexy comic turn by Marcia Gay Harden) to coach the league's worst team, he fills his half-empty beer can with Canadian Club and, ahem, sucks it up. Buttermaker's losers, the Bears, are even more challenging than the 1976 version insofar as one player, Matthew (Troy Gentile), is in a wheelchair and deranged shortstop Tanner (Timothy Deters) pelts players on the opposing team with his mitt as they run the bases past him.

Sporting a Fu Manchu mustache and soul patch and driving a beat-up Caddy ragtop with a duct-taped passenger-side door, Thornton misbehaves and makes politically incorrect remarks a la "Bad Santa." He boozily refers to Matthew as "the crippled kid" and his team as "bronze medalists for the Special Olympics." He thinks James Earl Jones shot Martin Luther King and dubs reports that pesticides are bad for you, "liberal propaganda." He is prone to passing out during practice, and he thinks it's just peachy that his team's sponsor is the "Bo-Peep Gentleman's Club." In an already much-quoted line, he tells his players they "swing like Helen Keller at a pinata party."

But Thornton seldom evokes the deep reserves of benevolence bubbling just beneath Matthau's comical, curmudgeon surface, and he has not nearly perfected the signature Matthau slow-burn.

In a role played by the late Vic Morrow, Greg Kinnear is coach Roy Bullock, the bullying, squeaky-clean coach of the obnoxious, previous champions, aptly named the Yankees.

But like the rivalry between Bullock and Buttermaker, this "Bad News Bears" is flat beer. No one suggests having two ringers on the team, Amanda and the similarly adolescent Kelly (Jeff Davies) might be unfair. The strippers moonlighting as cheerleaders are bogus. And cinematographer Rogier Stoffers ("The School of Rock") makes Encino, Van Nuys and other parts of the Valley look like they're in the grip of the Smog Monster.

Like the original, the new film's score wittily mixes Bizet's "Carmen" with rock and original music, although I wonder about the appropriateness of playing Eric Clapton's "Cocaine" over a burger party celebrating a team win.

("Bad News Bears" contains profanities and sexually suggestive dialogue

`Bad News Bears' swings and misses.(Editorial)

Byline: JAMES VERNIERE

"Bad News Bears"

Rated PG-13. At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.

Two and one-half stars (out of four)

If you were wondering, "Wouldn't it be great if Bad Santa coached the Bad News Bears?" - you can stop now.

Billy Bob Thornton - Bad Santa - together with "Bad Santa" scribes Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, takes on Walter Matthau's immortal Morris Buttermaker, the irrascible ballplayer-turned-coach of the 1976 mini-classic "The Bad News Bears."

This new "Bad News Bears" is based on the 1976 screenplay by Bill (son of Burt) Lancaster, a script that spawned the original Michael Ritchie hit, two sequels and a TV series.

Director Richard Linklater has progressed, if that's the word, from the slackers of "Slacker" and "Dazed and Confused" to the prepubescent misfits of "The School of Rock" and now "Bad News Bears" (in keeping with idiotic current fashion, the "the" has been dropped from the title).

Linklater's new "Bears" team is, yep, more racially diverse. Instead of Tatum O'Neal as Matthau's smart-alecky star pitcher, we get a smart-mouthed and somewhat older Amanda Wurlitzer (real-life sports prodigy Sammi Kraft), the alienated daughter of an ex-girlfriend of one-time-baseball-player-turned-exterminator Morris "the Blade" Buttermaker (Thornton).

When Buttermaker is recruited by multitasking yuppie mom Liz Whitewood (a sexy comic turn by Marcia Gay Harden) to coach the league's worst team, he fills his half-empty beer can with Canadian Club and, ahem, sucks it up. Buttermaker's losers, the Bears, are even more challenging than the 1976 version insofar as one player, Matthew (Troy Gentile), is in a wheelchair and deranged shortstop Tanner (Timothy Deters) pelts players on the opposing team with his mitt as they run the bases past him.

Sporting a Fu Manchu mustache and soul patch and driving a beat-up Caddy ragtop with a duct-taped passenger-side door, Thornton misbehaves and makes politically incorrect remarks a la "Bad Santa." He boozily refers to Matthew as "the crippled kid" and his team as "bronze medalists for the Special Olympics." He thinks James Earl Jones shot Martin Luther King and dubs reports that pesticides are bad for you, "liberal propaganda." He is prone to passing out during practice, and he thinks it's just peachy that his team's sponsor is the "Bo-Peep Gentleman's Club." In an already much-quoted line, he tells his players they "swing like Helen Keller at a pinata party."

But Thornton seldom evokes the deep reserves of benevolence bubbling just beneath Matthau's comical, curmudgeon surface, and he has not nearly perfected the signature Matthau slow-burn.

In a role played by the late Vic Morrow, Greg Kinnear is coach Roy Bullock, the bullying, squeaky-clean coach of the obnoxious, previous champions, aptly named the Yankees.

But like the rivalry between Bullock and Buttermaker, this "Bad News Bears" is flat beer. No one suggests having two ringers on the team, Amanda and the similarly adolescent Kelly (Jeff Davies) might be unfair. The strippers moonlighting as cheerleaders are bogus. And cinematographer Rogier Stoffers ("The School of Rock") makes Encino, Van Nuys and other parts of the Valley look like they're in the grip of the Smog Monster.

Like the original, the new film's score wittily mixes Bizet's "Carmen" with rock and original music, although I wonder about the appropriateness of playing Eric Clapton's "Cocaine" over a burger party celebrating a team win.

("Bad News Bears" contains profanities and sexually suggestive dialogue

`Bad News Bears' swings and misses.(Editorial)

Byline: JAMES VERNIERE

"Bad News Bears"

Rated PG-13. At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.

Two and one-half stars (out of four)

If you were wondering, "Wouldn't it be great if Bad Santa coached the Bad News Bears?" - you can stop now.

Billy Bob Thornton - Bad Santa - together with "Bad Santa" scribes Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, takes on Walter Matthau's immortal Morris Buttermaker, the irrascible ballplayer-turned-coach of the 1976 mini-classic "The Bad News Bears."

This new "Bad News Bears" is based on the 1976 screenplay by Bill (son of Burt) Lancaster, a script that spawned the original Michael Ritchie hit, two sequels and a TV series.

Director Richard Linklater has progressed, if that's the word, from the slackers of "Slacker" and "Dazed and Confused" to the prepubescent misfits of "The School of Rock" and now "Bad News Bears" (in keeping with idiotic current fashion, the "the" has been dropped from the title).

Linklater's new "Bears" team is, yep, more racially diverse. Instead of Tatum O'Neal as Matthau's smart-alecky star pitcher, we get a smart-mouthed and somewhat older Amanda Wurlitzer (real-life sports prodigy Sammi Kraft), the alienated daughter of an ex-girlfriend of one-time-baseball-player-turned-exterminator Morris "the Blade" Buttermaker (Thornton).

When Buttermaker is recruited by multitasking yuppie mom Liz Whitewood (a sexy comic turn by Marcia Gay Harden) to coach the league's worst team, he fills his half-empty beer can with Canadian Club and, ahem, sucks it up. Buttermaker's losers, the Bears, are even more challenging than the 1976 version insofar as one player, Matthew (Troy Gentile), is in a wheelchair and deranged shortstop Tanner (Timothy Deters) pelts players on the opposing team with his mitt as they run the bases past him.

Sporting a Fu Manchu mustache and soul patch and driving a beat-up Caddy ragtop with a duct-taped passenger-side door, Thornton misbehaves and makes politically incorrect remarks a la "Bad Santa." He boozily refers to Matthew as "the crippled kid" and his team as "bronze medalists for the Special Olympics." He thinks James Earl Jones shot Martin Luther King and dubs reports that pesticides are bad for you, "liberal propaganda." He is prone to passing out during practice, and he thinks it's just peachy that his team's sponsor is the "Bo-Peep Gentleman's Club." In an already much-quoted line, he tells his players they "swing like Helen Keller at a pinata party."

But Thornton seldom evokes the deep reserves of benevolence bubbling just beneath Matthau's comical, curmudgeon surface, and he has not nearly perfected the signature Matthau slow-burn.

In a role played by the late Vic Morrow, Greg Kinnear is coach Roy Bullock, the bullying, squeaky-clean coach of the obnoxious, previous champions, aptly named the Yankees.

But like the rivalry between Bullock and Buttermaker, this "Bad News Bears" is flat beer. No one suggests having two ringers on the team, Amanda and the similarly adolescent Kelly (Jeff Davies) might be unfair. The strippers moonlighting as cheerleaders are bogus. And cinematographer Rogier Stoffers ("The School of Rock") makes Encino, Van Nuys and other parts of the Valley look like they're in the grip of the Smog Monster.

Like the original, the new film's score wittily mixes Bizet's "Carmen" with rock and original music, although I wonder about the appropriateness of playing Eric Clapton's "Cocaine" over a burger party celebrating a team win.

("Bad News Bears" contains profanities and sexually suggestive dialogue

CEO of DOW ousted. (News Brief).(Michael Parker)(Brief Article)

Dow Chemical has ousted CEO Michael Parker and replaced him with his predecessor William Stavropoulos. This decision comes after a very disappointing financial performance, as Dow missed its numbers for eight consecutive quarters. Parker took over in November 2000, when Stavropoulos stood down to become chairman. Parker's term as CEO has coincided with one of the biggest downturns in performance in the chemicals sector for …

Farmers market at Parkhurst Hall.

THERE was a distinctive european air to Bexhill's Farmers market at Parkhurst hall on Thursday as 'The Happy Pig' sausage makers introduced their new range of french style sausages.

Proprietor's Keith Beard and Andrew Dyer-Wright said that due to customer demand they made a special trip to France, travelling through Brittany, Normandy and Toulouse to find the french recipes that …

THE VILLAGE PEOPLE: STILL MACHO MEN.(PREVIEW)

Byline: ROGER CATLIN Hartford Courant

What sounded at the time like the ultimate novelty music has somehow become part of the national consciousness.

At ballgames and birthdays, kids' parties and gay discos, it's common to hear the Village People.

At Yankee Stadium, when the grounds crew rakes the infield dirt midgame, it's part of the procedure this year to drop everything and lead the crowd through a rousing ``YMCA''

After riding -- and crashing -- with disco's boom, the Cowboy, the Construction Worker, the Military Guy, the Cop, the Biker and the Indian are icons once more in this improbable age of '70s revival. And they're headed into …

Negotiators scale back UN climate pact ambitions

Negotiators and diplomats were working Thursday on a scaled-back version of a global climate change treaty that could be agreed by next month's deadline, without firm U.S. commitments.

The idea of forging a political agreement, instead of a legally binding treaty, was becoming a more accepted possibility as negotiators acknowledged some nations, including the United States, would not be ready in time for the December U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Senior European officials said they envisioned a political accord emerging from Copenhagen enshrining plans by developed countries to cut carbon emissions and by emerging economies to trim back the …

PERSONAL DAYS

PERSONAL DAYS BY ED PARK NEW YORK: RANDOM HOUSE. 256 PAGES. $13.

A debut novel, set in a midsize metropolitan office, using a first-personplural narrator to capture the collective consciousness of an amorphous workplace we: It's difficult to avoid comparisons between Ed Park's Personal Days and Joshua Ferris's Then We Came to the End. Both books attempt to strike a balance between humor and sympathy, between the indignities of midlevel white-collardom and the quiet nobility of showing up every day to do your job. Under the shared influence of Don DeLiIIo, both apply his signature mixture of uneasy cross talk, misinformation, and paranoia to a period of seemingly random corporate …

Publisher's letter.

Dear readers,with this issue, Bank Technology News introduces a wholly new design, and I'm especially proud that the timing of its debut demonstrates our commitment to keep moving forward despite the tougher market in which we find ourselves today. While the responsibility we feel to our readers and advertisers has never wavered, today's challenging business environment only strengthens our determination to invest in serving you better.

Months in the making, the re-design was driven at every turn by our goal of making the magazine more informative and useful to you-and yes, more entertaining as well. This formidable effort was overseen by Design Director Robert …

BASF May Sell Leather and Textile Chemicals Business.

BASF has announced a reorganization of its performance products business segment, in anticipation of the closing of the company's acquisition of Ciba Specialty Chemicals toward the end of this quarter. BASF says it will "review strategic options" for its leather and textile chemicals business, including a possible divestment of the business, as part of the reshuffle. The planned reorganization, effective April 1, 2009 is designed to "sharpen the company's focus on its customer industries," BASF says. The integration of Ciba's operations with those of BASF is expected to start in the second half of 2009, following a two-month process under which joint teams of BASF and …