Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Injured boxer Christy Martin's home burglarized
APOPKA, Fla. (AP) — Deputies say someone burglarized the Florida home of boxer Christy Martin while she was in the hospital with gunshot and stab wounds.
Orange County Sheriff's Office spokesman Jim Solomons says a friend contacted authorities after going to the Apopka-area home to pick up some belongings for Martin. It's not clear if anything was stolen.
Christy Martin was a pioneer in …
Israelis sue Al-Jazeera over Lebanon war reporting
A group of Israelis wounded by Hezbollah rockets during the 2006 war are suing the Arab news network Al-Jazeera for allegedly aiding the Lebanese guerrillas with its reporting.
An Israeli lawyer representing the group of 91 said on Tuesday the lawsuit was filed on Monday in a New York federal court.
The plaintiffs seek $1.2 billion in damages.
Attorney Nitzana …
Allison Miller
LOS ANGELES
Allison Miller
ACME
As the recent "Soci�t� Anonyme" exhibition at UCLA's Hammer Museum helpfully reminded us, painterly pluralism is nothing new. But tor all its diversity, avant-garde modernism was largely predicated on imperatives, on overturning old paradigms for something more visionary-whether futurism or Fauvism, Surrealism or geometric abstraction. I must admit I often get a little perplexed about what the imperatives might be for contemporary painting, beyond the laws of supply and demand, and the speculative whims of fashion.
But while I wait for an imperative to emerge, I'm willing to settle for some simple painterly intelligence that …
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Chavez threatens to seize control of Venezuela's largest food producer
President Hugo Chavez threatened on Sunday to seize control of businesses caught hoarding products, and set his sights on Empresas Polar _ Venezuela's largest food producer and distributor.
If officials discover that companies sit on goods for months to later sell them at inflated prices, they "should be seized and taken under government control," Chavez said.
He called Polar a "clear example" of a business that could be taken over.
The Venezuelan leader's threats came as the country struggles with sporadic shortages of some basic foods, including sugar, cooking oil, milk, black beans, eggs and chicken.
Chavez _ a …
Big quakes rock Solomon Islands, tsunami unleashed
A tsunami unleashed by a major earthquake plowed into the Solomon Islands on Monday with the crashing waters devastating at least one village.
Initial reports said no one was seriously hurt.
A series of major quakes have rocked the South Pacific region since Sunday, with three powerful temblors striking Monday, including a 7.2 magnitude tremor. The Solomon Island's National Disaster Management Office said reports of the devastation were beginning to filter in late Monday.
The tremors were centered beneath the ocean floor near the town of Gizo, which was badly damaged in April 2007 when a 8.1-magnitude quake sent a tsunami crashing into the coast, …
`Firecracker' explodes with comic treasures
In Jobs' second act with Apple, a dramatic revival
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Steve Jobs' resignation as Apple Inc.'s CEO on Thursday was freighted with sentimental significance, the curtain call on a dramatic 14-year performance in which he rescued one of the world's most beloved brands from the brink of technological irrelevance.
As second chances go, Jobs' stewardship of Apple since returning in 1997 to the company he created with a high school friend in a Silicon Valley garage in the 1970s is widely seen as nothing short of first-class. And his job isn't done; he's staying on as chairman, where it remains to be seen how meaningfully his role in product design will change.
As mercurial as many employees and suppliers and business …
Aide: Israeli PM considering settlement freeze
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will approve hundreds of new housing units in West Bank settlements before slowing settlement construction, two of his aides said Friday, in an apparent snub of Washington's public demand for a total settlement freeze.
At the same time, however, Netanyahu would be willing to consider suspending construction on most of the lands Palestinians claim for a future state for several months, the aides said.
But since that would occur only after the new units and some 2,500 others currently under construction are completed, the move would not amount to the freeze the Palestinians have set as a condition for the resumption of peace …
KUP'S COLUMN
The Mouse That Roared: The Disney Company's $19 billion purchaseof Capital Cities-ABC network was one of the best-kept secrets inHollywood, where everybody knows everybody's name and innermostsecrets. How this massive deal was kept quiet would make anotherBarbarians at the Gate - the book and movie based on the $25 billionRJR Nabisco deal, the only one larger than Disney's acquisition ofABC. Most of the media was so wrapped up in the pending purchase byWestinghouse of CBS that the much bigger story went undetected. ("Andnow the Nightly News, brought to you by Mickey Mouse.")
FIRST STOP FOR TOM MURPHY, chairman of Capital Cities-ABC, andMichael Eisner, CEO of Disney, was …
Final Glance: Railroads companies
NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of some top railroads companies were mixed at the close of trading:
CSX fell $.43 or 1.7 percent, to $25.05.
Canadian National fell $.60 or .8 percent, to $77.65.
Canadian …
Weekend storms kill at least 15 in US
A line of thunderstorms brought heavy flooding and tornados to Mississippi and Tennessee over the weekend, leaving at least 15 people dead, officials said.
At a Sunday news conference, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said it will likely be days before floodwaters recede enough to thoroughly assess the damage to roads and bridges. Emergency officials sought help from the state's Army National Guard, and urged people to stay off roads and interstate highways turned into raging rivers.
Authorities were …
Davenport hands Hingis a rare loss
Fourth-seeded Lindsay Davenport squandered a 5-0 lead and twomatch points in the third set Saturday before recovering to beattop-seeded Martina Hingis 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the semifinals of theAcura Classic in Manhattan Beach, Calif.
Hingis, who had won 17 consecutive matches since losing theFrench Open final to Iva Majoli in June, was beaten for only thesecond time this year. She's 56-2 in 1997.
"I'll just start again," she said. "You're never happy when youlose, but it makes it easier for me."Hingis, 16, said she was tired after playing her thirdtournament in California in as many weeks. She won titles in PaloAlto and San Diego the last two weeks."Sometimes …
Davis Cup: Argentina leads Sweden 2-1 after doubles victory
David Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas beat Jonas Bjorkman and Robert Lindstedt 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 to give Argentina a 2-1 lead over Sweden in their Davis Cup quarterfinal on Saturday.
"This was a crucial point. Without this doubles victory, things would have gotten very complicated," Argentina team captain Alberto Mancini said. "Our players entered the court playing very solidly, very confidently."
Argentina has won 11 straight Davis Cup ties at home since 1998. The winner will face Russia or the Czech Republic in the semifinals.
The Argentines, supported by a crowd of more than 10,000 at Parque Roca tennis stadium, broke their Swedish foes once in each of the first two sets before dropping serve for the first time in the third. It compensated in the third with two more breaks of service.
Mancini cited Canas as the key to victory.
"Willy really played a great match and he played well and served well from the start," Mancini said. "It was a very even match. The Swedes played very well most of the time, but our team was very solid."
The Argentines broke Lindstedt for a 6-5 lead and served out for the set. In the second set, Argentina broke Bjorkman to go ahead 5-4 and then closed it out, after Sweden saved six set points, on Canas' serve.
Bjorkman again was the victim early in the third set, broke to put Argentina ahead 2-1.
An exchange of breaks between Canas and Lindstedt, in which both double faulted, left Argentina with a 5-4 lead. Nalbandian then closed out the victory.
"It was a very close match and it turned only on a few points," Lindstedt said. "They took their chances better than we did."
Captain Mats Wilander said Sweden will have to regain the momentum on Sunday.
"Nalbandian is very good in singles and in doubles, and Canas served very well," Wilander said. "But there is no reason that we cannot win tomorrow's two singles."
Nalbandian, who didn't serve well Friday in his four-set victory over Thomas Johansson, said he felt more in form Saturday.
"This was such a big point and the support of the crowd really helped move us a long," said Nalbandian, who repeatedly used hand gestures to spur on the raucous crowd. "It was a pleasure to win this point for Argentina."
Sweden and Argentina are playing each other for a fourth time, and for the third straight year.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
ShowCase
What: Alternative Rock
Where: London, ON
Visit: www.cordcalling.com
On paper, London. ONs Cordcalling have a lot in common with The White Stripes. The male/ female guitar/drum duo plays loud, blues-influenced rock; however, the similarities largely end there.
Cordcalling's somewhat experimental approach allows them to work a lot of sound into tight two-piece compositions. The husband and wife duo of Denise and Brian Conway take their songs in any number of directions. "What I Have" boasts a country-blues feel while "When I Scream" contains a lot more garage and punk.
The pair recently recorded their debut fulllength, Obsessed By The Light, which followed a well-received three-song EP While Cordcalling have a lot of experience playing to London's healthy music scene, they're hoping the strength of their new songs will give them the opportunity to tour outside of lheir hometown, exposing them to new authences. The band's willingness to incorporate a wide-range of influences into their sound is a bit of a risky endeavour. And while the band occasionally misses the mark, there is enough done right to demonstrate that the young band is developing what promises to be an exciting approach to music.
What: Hip-hop
Where: Brampton North, ON
Visit: www.promofm.com/ibkredible
lbukun Akmgbola was born in Nigeria and moved to Toronto's Rexdale neighbourhood in 1995 where he grew up immersed in hip-hop culture. He started writing songs at 10 years old and today, the 19-year-old calls Brampton home and performs under the moniker I.B.Kredible.
His songs play like recipes lor pop music success with high production values and lyrics common amongst rappers such as the chart-topping Drake. With slick production, well-managed samples, and tight, consistent lyrics, Kredible's songs should have no problem lilting into playlists at clubs, gyms, and on music television.
His first single, "My LiIe is a Movie" was recorded with his group StacDeck Music. Kredible says: '"My Life Is A Movie' represents a direct description of what the song is about and what it means. When people hear about the song, I want them to be able to view the lyrics as though I was telling the story of their lives."
It's this balance of pop accessibility and honesty that makes Kredible stand out trom other independent hip-hop acts. "My Life is a Movie" or "Gettin' High" play like they already belong on top-40 radio. And while many might be quick to brush off the pop side of hip-hop, there's no denying that the masses love it: so why not root for one of our own to succeed?
What: Alternative Rock
Where: Toronto
Visit: www.benhur.ca
Benhur's songs might seem like radio-ready alternative rock, but beneath the surface there's some rich and highly-textural things going on. It's a sound that one wouldn't expect trom a band with but a single EP under their collective belt (2009s Tryst).
Benhur began in Toronto when frontman and main songwriter Ben Nissan finished law school and decided that working 80-hour weeks at a Bay St. law firm might not be what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. Nissan confesses that he tried practicing law, but at work, making music was always on his mind.
So Nissan put away the suits, rounded up some likemmded musicians (Danilo Baracho on bass, Steve Frize on lead guitar, and Mateus Macedo on drums) and started writing. The EP had play on some commercial radio stations as well as overseas radio and the band complemented the coverage by playing at a number of Toronto's best-known clubs. The band recently re-entered the studio and is writing a handful of songs to release as singles. This summer, they're hoping to play some of the many great music festivals happening across the country. Fans of U2 and Coldplay should be sure not to miss the chance to see them if they make it through their town.
[Sidebar]
If you are an unsigned artist and would like to be a part of Showcase, please submit your EPK at www.sonicbids.com/cmshowcase.
Selected artists will also appear on the Canadian Musician website, www.canadianmusician.com, with one song streaming in MP3 format.
[Author Affiliation]
Ben Conoley is a freelance journalist living in Fredericlon. NB. He has written lor chartattack. Exclaim!, Alternative Press, and more. Ben is also a proud member of the Polaris Music Prize jury.
Sony profit plunges from year earlier
Sony Corp.'s profit plunged to $326.9 million (34.98 billion yen) _ about half what the Japanese electronics and entertainment company recorded the previous year.
Faltering results at Sony's mobile phone joint venture Sony Ericsson, price competition in its core electronics sector and a strong yen that eroded sales were behind the results released Tuesday.
Also Tuesday, Sony lowered its full-year profit forecast to 240 billion yen ($2.24 billion) from its earlier forecast for 290 billion yen ($2.71 billion) profit, blaming expected poor results at Sony Ericsson and a pessimistic outlook for its electronics business.
Earnings for the quarter ended June 30 were impacted by the absence of a blockbuster film like "Spider-Man 3," which lifted the performance of Sony's movie division in the same period a year earlier.
In a bit of bright news, the Tokyo-based maker of the PlayStation 3 game console and Walkman player turned profitable in its struggling video game section in the latest quarter, in contrast to losses the previous year.
Sony also said quarterly sales were strong for its Bravia liquid crystal display TVs, the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Portable handheld game machine.
Sony recorded 66.46 billion yen in profit during the fiscal first quarter the previous year.
Quarterly sales were just about unchanged at 1.979 trillion yen ($18.5 billion), compared with 1.977 trillion yen a year ago.
That was largely because of an unfavorable currency exchange rate as the yen appreciated against the dollar by nearly 16 percent from the previous year, according to Sony. In the local currency, sales jumped 8 percent on year, it said.
GOP candidates spar on Social Security in debate
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry have sparred over Social Security's future during Monday's Republican presidential debate, with each pointing to passages in the other's book that could be damaging in a general election.
Perry has defended calling the entitlement a "Ponzi scheme", a characterization of fraud that Romney calls "unnecessary, over the top" language that scares seniors, a key voting bloc.
Perry says others have used similar language to describe the program and says Romney was just as reckless when he likened the program to a criminal enterprise in his book.
Perry says he would guarantee the program for older Americans but adds that the program needs to be adjusted for younger workers. Romney says the program is essential and is vowing to defend it.
Police: US teen sold stepsister, 7, for party sex
It started with a party invitation to a 15-year-old girl from some men she knew. She took her 7-year-old stepsister to an apartment down the street from their home near the Statehouse, where the girls had been hanging around outside on a Sunday afternoon.
For the younger girl, police say it quickly descended into a horrifying ordeal in which she was gang-raped by as many as seven men as her sister not only watched but got paid by those who did it.
Their parents, none the wiser, thought maybe they had run away.
"We're talking about a kid who told her sister to go into an apartment and let people rape her," said Trenton police Capt. Joseph Juniak. "It's unfathomable."
The teen has been charged with aggravated sexual assault, promoting prostitution and other crimes. Her name was not released because of her age, but the county prosecutor plans to ask the court to try her as an adult. In the meantime, she is being held at the Mercer County Youth Detention Center.
The 7-year-old had wanted to tag along because she was worried about the 15-year-old's safety, Mayor Doug Palmer said.
When the girls didn't return home by 4:30 Sunday afternoon, their parents called police, believing the older one had run away from home and taken her younger sister with her.
In fact, they were down the street inside a 13th-floor apartment at Rowan Towers, a high-rise complex so dangerous that police are hired as security guards at night.
"They keep it clean on the outside, but it's what's on the inside that you have to worry about," said neighbor William Johnson, who says police are coming out of the building all the time.
Inside apartment 13-C, police said, the 7-year-old was soon left alone as her sister headed to a back bedroom to sell sex to several men. When she came out into the living room, she handed her 7-year-old sister money and encouraged her to let the men touch her.
"It went from touching to straight out assault and rape," Juniak said. "They threatened to kill her if she screamed or told anyone."
Afterward, the child put on her clothes and left. Her sister stayed behind with the men.
Two women found the child crying outside the apartment and walked her home, where police were waiting.
The child told them what happened and was treated at a hospital. When police located the 15-year-old later that night, she also told them what happened and was arrested.
Palmer said the crimes are among the worst he's seen in 20 years as mayor.
"It's sickening," he said. "The police are taking this personal. I know there's a place in hell for all the people that participated in this and I'm sure they will get there."
"Personally, as a father with a 7-year-old daughter, I can't imagine the horror," Palmer added.
Lauren Kidd, a spokeswoman for New Jersey's Children and Families department, said state and federal confidentiality laws prohibit the agency from commenting about possible prior involvement with the family. But Juniak indicated the department may have had previous contact with the older girl.
Police are now scouring video surveillance from lobby and elevator cameras to try to identify everyone at the party. They believe there were about a dozen people in the apartment, mostly teenage boys and men who police say likely broke in _ a fairly common occurrence in the crime-plagued neighborhood that sits in the shadow of the Statehouse's golden dome.
Last week, police responded to a home invasion there and a shooting just outside the lobby.
Police Director Irving Bradley Jr. said the building's management company, Interstate Realty Management Co., has been working with police to curb the violence.
"This is incredibly disturbing," said Laura Zaner, a spokeswoman for IRM.
Two private security guards man the lobby doors during the day. At 5 p.m., two police officers take over.
Bradley said the company is installing more cameras and had just hired a third officer to work the night shift to allow two officers to do hourly hallway patrols. He said Sunday may have been the first day they were supposed to have started the patrols.
Chalia Johnkins, who lives around the corner from the Towers, said gatherings of men are commonplace and police should have known something unsavory was happening.
"The police who were supposed to be on patrol should be held responsible," she said. "They could have prevented this. These weren't regular guards. They were police and they still didn't see the baby crying?"
Annette Lartique, the city councilwoman who represents the area where the crime occurred, said the community would expect nothing less than the prosecution of everyone involved to the fullest extent of the law.
"I know we are going to send a message on this one," she said. "Everybody will pay a price _ from the person who opened the door to the person who pushed the elevator button."
___
Associated Press writer Angela Delli Santi contributed to this report.
Elephants are quick learners, offer helping hand
WASHINGTON (AP) — Elephants quickly learn to lend each other a helping hand — ah, make that a helping trunk.
In a series of tests, the giant mammals learned to cooperate to solve a problem, researchers report in Monday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Elephants are socially complex, explained lead researcher Joshua M. Plotnik.
"They help others in distress," he said. "They seem in some ways emotionally attached to each other, so you would expect there would be some level of cooperation."
However, he added, "I was surprised how quickly they learned."
The elephants caught on as quickly as chimpanzees, elevating themselves to such heady company as great apes, dolphins and crows, according to Plotnik, of the department of experimental psychology at England's Cambridge University.
The tests, conducted in Thailand, involved food rewards placed on a platform on the ground connected to a rope. The elephants were behind a fence. To get the food, the elephants had to pull the two ends of the rope at the same time to drag the platform under the fence. Pull only one end and all you get is rope.
Six pairs of elephants were tested 40 times over two days and every pair figured it out, succeeding on at least eight of the last 10 trials.
Then the scientists tried releasing the elephants into the test area separately, up to 45 seconds apart. The elephants quickly learned to wait for their partners, with a success rate of between 88 and 97 percent for various pairs on the second day.
However, one young elephant had what the researchers termed an "unconventional" solution to the problem. As Plotnik and co-authors explained, the elephant firmly put one foot on the end of her rope, "forcing her partner to do all the work to retrieve the table."
In another experiment, the researchers left only one end of the rope within reach of the elephants, with the other end coiled on the table. The elephants didn't bother to pull the rope, seeming to recognize that it wouldn't work if their partner couldn't pull the other end.
It is hard to draw a line between learning and understanding, the researchers concluded, but the elephants did engage in cooperative behavior and paid attention to their partner.
Adam Stone, elephant program manager at Zoo Atlanta, said it was significant that the elephants learned quickly.
"We're learning about the amazing mind of the elephant," he said.
It was long thought that learning and cooperation were limited to primates, and "it's interesting to see that these other species are on the ball," Stone said.
Understanding how they think could help find ways to protect them in the wild, he said, noting that the greatest danger to elephants in Asia is people.
Don Moore, associate director of animal care science at the Smithsonian's National Zoo, said observations of elephants have suggested that they cooperate, but it hadn't been experimentally tested before.
"Elephants are big, they're social, they live long lives and they're really, really smart," he said.
Stone and Moore were not involved in the research, which was supported by the U.S. Department of Education and other groups.
___
Online: http://www.pnas.org
US top court nominee faces partisan questioning
President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee faced tough Senate questioning Tuesday, especially from Republicans who want to portray her as inexperienced and too politically liberal to fairly interpret the U.S. Constitution.
Barring unexpected missteps, however, Elena Kagan was expected to win approval of the Democrat-dominated Judiciary Committee and then the full Senate before the top U.S. court opens its next session later this year.
Questioning during the hearing, expected to last until late this week, likely will be particularly detailed because Kagan has never served as a judge and, therefore, has left behind no body of written decisions to reflect her interpretation of the law.
At the opening of questioning Tuesday, Kagan took on the role of professor, telling senators that the job of a justice is to heed the U.S. Constitution where it is explicit and apply it to "new situations and new contexts" when it is more vague.
"Sometimes they laid down very specific rules, and sometimes they laid down broad principles. Either way, we apply what they say, what they meant to do, and in that sense we are all originalists," the former Harvard Law School dean said, referring to the framers of the Constitution.
Kagan sits before senators a second time, having already been confirmed as Obama's solicitor general, the chief administration lawyer who argues cases before the Supreme Court. She now is defending her qualifications to sit on the nine-member court to replace Justice John Paul Stevens, a liberal stalwart who has retired.
The hearing began Monday with ideological divisions quickly displayed in senators' opening statements.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, the committee chairman, called Kagan's views "well within the legal mainstream."
He cautioned his colleagues against trying "to impose an ideological litmus test to secure promises of specific outcomes in cases coming before the Supreme Court."
Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican, countered that her "career has been consumed more by politics than law."
"It's not a coronation but a confirmation process," said Sessions.
The Republican lines of attack were well developed as the hearing began.
Sessions said Kagan had "less real legal experience of any nominee in at least 50 years." He said her decision to bar military recruiters from Harvard Law School's career services office violated the law _ a legal conclusion disputed by the White House.
Several Republicans also expressed concerns Kagan would become a judicial activist like Justice Thurgood Marshall. Kagan frequently refers to the legal standards of that liberal icon for whom she served as a Supreme Court clerk in the late 1980s.
The 50-year-old Kagan would be Obama's second selection for a life term on the top court. Last summer Sonia Sotomayor became the first Hispanic U.S. Supreme Court justice.
Democrats said they too would focus on judicial activism but of the conservative variety. Several Democratic senators complained that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, nominated by former President George W. Bush, has pushed an ultraconservative interpretation of America's founding law.
In her opening statement, Kagan was a model of restraint, choosing her words with great care and telling the panel she would approach all cases with "evenhandedness and impartiality." The nominee insisted she would be properly deferential to Congress while safeguarding individuals' rights.
The Supreme Court is one of three branches of the U.S. government, designed in the Constitution with separate but equal powers.
The court was established to decide on the constitutionality of laws and the way they have been interpreted by judges in lower courts. That gives it huge power in deciding whether laws enacted by Congress and their application by the president's executive branch are constitutional.
Kagan spoke of her immigrant grandparents and noted that her mother spoke not a word of English until she started school. She twice mentioned that she was the head of a law school, but never said it was Harvard, one of America's most elite institutions.
She billed herself as a consensus-builder for the ideologically polarized court and said she would emulate retiring Justice Stevens by "listening to each party with a mind as open as his ... to render impartial justice."
Even so, Republicans were set to question Kagan on controversial issues from gun owners' rights to abortion to campaign finance, arguing that she'd bring liberal politics and an antimilitary bias to the job of a justice.
Kagan, who would be only the fourth woman to ever serve on the court, would not likely change the ideological makeup of the divided court, since she would replace the liberal Stevens. But she would add relative youth to the liberal wing of the court, which became more conservative under Bush.
Kagan brings a stellar legal resume to the job, with the exception of never having served as a judge. Her background includes education at Princeton, Oxford and Harvard, clerked under Marshall, worked in private practice, taught at and became the first woman dean at Harvard Law School and served in the White House under former President Bill Clinton.
Refiner Petroplus filing for insolvency
LONDON (AP) — Swiss-based Petroplus Holdings, Europe's largest independent oil refiner, said Tuesday that it was filing for insolvency after failing to reach an agreement with its lenders on its $1.75 billion credit line.
Petroplus said the lenders had filed notices of acceleration, effectively placing the company in default, and appointed an administrator for the Swiss company's U.K. assets.
It is preparing to file for insolvency in Switzerland and other countries where it has subsidiaries. The company has refineries in Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany and England.
Petroplus, which reported a net loss of $413 million in the first nine months of last year, said last week it had decided to sell the facility in France and might do same with the Swiss and Belgian sites.
"We have worked hard to avoid this outcome, but were ultimately not able to come to an agreement with our lenders to resolve these issues given the very tight and difficult European credit and refining markets," chief executive Jean-Paul Vettier said in a statement from company headquarters in Zug, Switzerland.
Trading in the Petroplus shares had been suspended on Monday. On Tuesday, they plummeted 84.4 percent to 0.23 Swiss francs.
The company's troubles already have forced a halt to production at the Cressier refinery in northwest Switzerland, but that has not caused any disruption to the nation's fuel supplies.
Petroplus had announced on Dec. 30 that it would temporarily shut down the Petite Couronne, France; Antwerp, Belgium; and Cressier refineries in January "given limited credit availability and the economic climate in Europe."
The company was downgraded by Standard & Poor's late last year from B to CCC+.
In Britain, the Unite union said 1,000 jobs were at stake at Petroplus' Coryton refinery, which represents a tenth of Britain's refinery capacity and is a key supplier for the London area.
"This is a hammer blow for the people who work at the refinery in Coryton, who have been kept totally in the dark over the negotiations in Switzerland but have today received the news they most feared," said Richard Howitt, a member of the European Parliament who represents the area.
PricewaterhouseCoopers said it had been appointed administrator of the refinery plus two other Petroplus sites in Britain, a storage facility and a development center.
"Our immediate priority is to continue to operate the Coryton refinery and the Teesside storage business without disruption while the financial position is clarified and restructuring options are explored," said Steven Pearson, one of the joint administrators.
"Over coming days we intend to commence discussions with a number of parties including customers, employees, the creditors and the government to secure the future of the Coryton and Teesside sites," he said.
Employees were working at the refinery as normal but no shipments of refined products were being made, a condition imposed by the lenders, Margrave said.
Refinery profitability has been squeezed as operating expenses and the cost of crude oil rose faster than the value of the products, and the economic slowdown in Europe has added to the pressure.
A survey by energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie in 2010 found that 29 of 96 refineries in the European Union did not generate a positive net cash margin.
___
Geir Moulson in Berlin and Frank Jordans in Davos contributed to this report.
Italy's extra troops to stay for Afghan vote
Italy's defense minister says some 400 troops sent to Afghanistan for the August presidential election will stay there to help with security for next month's runoff vote.
Ignazio La Russa told reporters in Rome Tuesday that he hoped the Nov. 7 runoff and related procedures such as vote-counting and validation would take about a month to six weeks, and the soldiers would return after that.
Italy has contributed some 2,800 troops to the NATO mission in Afghanistan, and sent in the extra 400 for the elections.
Last month, a bomb attack in Kabul killed six Italian soldiers and rekindled a debate over Italy's participation in the mission and the prospects to end the eight-year-old war.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Lost Atlantic Division sinks lower than Atlantis
In the still of the night, before David Stern could reach for awhistle, someone backed up the truck and dumped the NBA's AtlanticDivision into our laps.
It is a group of teams -- New Jersey, Boston, New York, Torontoand Philadelphia -- so horrifying, to look at the Atlantic standingsis to stare into a bleak abyss of basketball wilderness.
Every team in the Atlantic Division is under .500. Many of themare, like, way under .500, so far under they're closer to China than.500.
The rallying cry in these parts?
"First team to 30 wins is going to the dance!!!"
The best player in the division -- Allen Iverson -- is in exile.The best guards in the division -- Isiah Thomas (Knicks), MauriceCheeks (76ers) and Doc Rivers (Celtics) -- are on the bench,beleaguered head coaches. The best team in the division -- the Nets -- recently scored 157 points in a game and lost.
Let's consider those Nets for a moment.
The good news is that this is a contract year for Vince Carter;the bad news is that he might be negotiating that contract with Wu-Tang Clan.
Perhaps some of you know that music impresario Jay-Z is a part-owner of the Nets. The rapper is helping spearhead a drive for a newarena in Brooklyn, where the Nets hope to relocate. Here is Jay-Z'sBrooklyn, as characterized by the opening lyrics from his song"Brooklyn's Finest":
You motherf-----s, think you big time?
F-----' with Jay-Z, you gon' die, big time!
Here come the 'Pain'! (sound of gunshots)
Golly jeepers, I love this game.
Frankly, this is mild stuff for Jay-Z. Sure, he reportedly ownsless than 1percent of the team, but Jay-Z is just as much a face ofthe Nets as Jason Kidd is. And considering that commissioner Sternis a despotic image czar, you have to ask:
What the #*&@#!% is going on here?
(If the Nets ever make the NBA Finals again, maybe Jay-Z willbreak new ground by ending his rendition of the national anthemwith, "Yo, bitch!")
As for the on-court quality of the Nets and their rivals, an all-star team culled from the Atlantic Division these days might finishthird in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Heck, the WashingtonGenerals could win the Atlantic Division, assuming they ever came totheir senses and fired Red Klotz.
In fact, the Atlantic could plummet to historic depths,potentially challenging what social critics consider to be the threeworst collective examples of post-1950 American culture:
- The Van Patten Hollywood dynasty: Dick Van Patten, Joyce VanPatten, Timothy Van Patten, Vince Van Patten, Nels Van Patten, JamesVan Patten and Talia Balsam, daughter of Joyce Van Patten and MartinBalsam. That's a lot of chewed-up scenery. To be fair, Timothy hasdirected a lot of classy TV shows, and Dick and Vince have beenvisionary poker commentators.
- Burger King's current breakfast menu: The fare includes theCroissan'wich, the Double Croissan'wich, French Toast Sticks and theEnormous Omelet Sandwich, which is "crispy bacon, sizzlin' sausage,melted American cheese and fluffy eggs piled high on a split-topbun." Gout not included.
- ABC's Friday prime-time comedy lineup, 1988-89 season: We'retalking "Full House," "Perfect Strangers," "Mr. Belvedere" and "Justthe Ten of Us." Yeah, like we needed to see three guys raising threekids, a Bronson Pinchot buddy comedy, Bob Uecker not callingbaseball and a spinoff of "Growing Pains."
Now, here's the great thing about the Atlantic Division. Let'ssay you're the A.I.-less 76ers on an 11-game losing streak with arecord of 5-18. If you can win, say, six of your next 15 games, youcould move into first place!
Maybe Jay-Z will pen a rap about the Atlantic Division. I'm surehe'll use bad words.
ASK THE SLOUCH
Q. Does breaking his wrist falling out of a golf cart putNASCAR's Jimmie Johnson in the Dumb Hall of Fame? (Stephen Pierce;New Berlin, Wis.)
A. In the summer of '62, I suffered a sports hernia when I fellout of a shopping cart at Safeway reaching for Fritos.
Q. In college football, why isn't the play whistled dead when theholder of a field goal or extra point has one knee on the groundwhile holding the ball? (Dave Dickerson; Pittsburgh)
A. Boy, that would cut down on field-goal and PAT attempts, nowwouldn't it?
Q. Had you taken steroids, do you think your number of ex-wiveswould've exceeded Barry Bonds' home-run total? (Tom Hoffner;Broadview Heights, Ohio)
A. Actually, it's possible I would've been the Babe Ruth ofbigamists.
Q. Any truth to the rumor that NFL Films will title the 2006Cincinnati Bengals highlight video "The Longest Yard"? (Dave Scocca;Carrboro, N.C.)
A. Pay the man, Shirley.
You, too, can enter the $1.25 Ask The Slouch Cash Giveaway. Juste-mail asktheslouch@aol.com, and if your question is used, you win$1.25 in cash!
GOLDEN OLDIES
Many people buy used cars instead of new. Each week, SundayAutoTimes features a test of a late-model used car by auto reporterDan Jedlicka - along with the car's average retail value asdetermined by price guides. This review originally appeared inJanuary, 1993.
British hold 2 thieves for ransom, lawyer says
Two Chicago jewel thieves are being held for ransom in Britishprisons, according to their Windy City lawyer.
The ransom demand: location of a $1 million gem and informationon the crime syndicate.
Attorney Anne Burke said that's the real reason the Brits areholding onto her clients, Joseph "Jerry" Scalise and Arthur "TheGenius" Rachel.
Burke said Scotland Yard detectives recently have been visitingScalise in his prison on the Isle of Wight in an apparent effort tolearn the whereabouts of the Marlborough diamond.
The precious stone was part of a $3.6 million 1980 jewel heistfor which Scalise and Rachel received 20-year sentences three yearsago.
Acting on behalf of the U.S. Justice Department, the ScotlandYard sleuths also are pumping Scalise for information on mob bossAlbert Caesar Tocco.
Tocco is cappo of Chicago's southern suburbs. Scalise toiledfor him as a soldier.
Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic also are interested ina possible mob role in the 1980 theft.
Burke, who has been visiting Scalise to discuss the case, willfile a brief with the Justice Department later this week assertingthat both clients should be returned to this country under the termsof a treaty between the two countries.
The treaty provides that Americans serving time in Britain canbe returned to serve out their sentences here, and vice versa forBritish prisoners held in the United States.
The Justice Department has balked at return of Scalise andRachel on the grounds their crime was "heinous" and they are notcandidates for rehabilitation.
Burke argues there's nothing heinous about a jewel robbery andsaid her clients have been model prisoners.
Although heavily guarded, she said, Scalise is allowed to jogand has been growing vegetables for his island prison. He hasn'ttried to escape from the island, she said, and Rachel hasn't tried toescape from Durham prison near London.
Burke said the overseas isolation is a hardship for both menbecause they are cut off from regular visits by relatives andfriends.
Scalise's father exhausted his funds on legal fees before Burketook up the case, and the 70-year-old Chicagoan has managed toarrange occasional visits with his son by taking a job as aninternational airlines courier.
Burke, wife of Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), said she decided tofile her brief after meeting with Justice Department officials inWashington and asking exactly why her clients can't come home again.She said she failed to get a straight answer.
Helen G. Kushnick, Leno's ex-manager
NEW YORK Helen Gorman Kushnick, who managed Jay Leno's rise fromsmall-time comic to host of "The Tonight Show" but was fired asexecutive producer four months after Leno replaced Johnny Carson, hasdied.
Ms. Kushnick, 51, who had battled cancer for several years, diedWednesday at her home in Manhattan, said Jane Rosenthal, a closefriend.
In the weeks after Leno took over as full-time host of "TheTonight Show" in May, 1992, the show sustained an avalanche ofcriticism as ratings dipped deeper than expected.
Ms. Kushnick was fired after she was accused of demanding thatguests booked by "Tonight" not appear on rival talk shows. Herdisappointment over the dismissal lasted for years, said her longtimeLos Angeles attorney, Barry Langberg.
"She was hurt by it, and she didn't ever stop being hurt by it,including Leno's treatment of her," Langberg said.
Leno did not wish to comment on her death, a spokeswoman for"The Tonight Show" said.
"She had a tough side to her. She was a negotiator, she waspersistent, but she also was a very generous, loyal person," Langbergsaid.
Survivors include a daughter, Sara Rose, and a brother, JosephGorman.
Theodore Sorensen, top JFK aide, dies at 82 in NYC
NEW YORK (AP) — Theodore C. Sorensen, the studious, star-struck aide and alter ego to President John F. Kennedy whose crisp, poetic turns of phrase helped idealize and immortalize a tragically brief administration, has died at age 82.
Sorensen's passing Sunday came just as supporters of his friend and boss were preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of a very different moment in history: The election of Kennedy as president and the speech that remains the greatest collaboration between Sorensen and Kennedy and the standard for mfodern oratory.
With its call for self-sacrifice and civic engagement — "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" — and its promise to spare no cost in defending the country's interests worldwide, the address is an uplifting but haunting reminder of national purpose and confidence, before Vietnam, assassinations, Watergate, terrorists attacks and economic shock.
Sorensen died at noon at a New York hospital from complications of a stroke, his widow, Gillian Sorensen, said.
Sorensen had been in poor health in recent years and a stroke in 2001 left him with such poor eyesight that he was unable to write his memoir, "Counselor," published in 2008. Instead, he had to dictate it to an assistant.
President Barack Obama issued a statement saying he was saddened to learn of Sorensen's death.
"I know his legacy will live on in the words he wrote, the causes he advanced, and the hearts of anyone who is inspired by the promise of a new frontier," Obama said.
Of all Kennedy's inner circle, special counsel Sorensen ranked just below Kennedy's brother Bobby. He was the adoring, tireless speechwriter and confidant to a president whose term was marked by Cold War struggles, growing civil rights strife and the beginnings of the U.S. intervention in Vietnam.
Some of Kennedy's most memorable speeches, from his inaugural address to his vow to place a man on the moon, resulted from such close collaborations with Sorensen that scholars debated who wrote what. He had long been suspected as the real writer of the future president's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Profiles in Courage," an allegation Sorensen and the Kennedys emphatically — and litigiously — denied.
They were an odd, but utterly compatible duo, the glamorous, wealthy politician from Massachusetts and the shy wordsmith from Nebraska, described by Time magazine in 1960 as "a sober, deadly earnest, self-effacing man with a blue steel brain." But as Sorensen would write in "Counselor," the difference in their lifestyles was offset by the closeness of their minds: Each had a wry sense of humor, a dislike of hypocrisy, a love of books and a high-minded regard for public life.
Kennedy called him "my intellectual blood bank" and the press frequently referred to Sorensen as Kennedy's "ghostwriter," especially after the release of "Profiles in Courage." Presidential secretary Evelyn Lincoln saw it another way: "Ted was really more shadow than ghost, in the sense that he was never really very far from Kennedy."
Kennedy's daughter, Caroline Kennedy, called Sorensen a "wonderful friend and counselor" for her father and all of her family.
"His partnership with President Kennedy helped bring justice to our country and peace to our world. I am grateful for his guidance, his generosity of spirit and the special time he took to teach my children
Sorensen's brain of steel was never needed more than in October 1962, with the U.S. and the Soviet Union on the brink of nuclear annihilation over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. Kennedy directed Sorensen and Bobby Kennedy, the administration's attorney general, to draft a letter to Nikita Khrushchev, who had sent conflicting messages, first conciliatory, then confrontational.
The carefully worded response — which ignored the Soviet leader's harsher statements, and included a U.S. concession involving U.S. weaponry in Turkey — was credited with persuading the Soviets to withdraw their missiles from Cuba and with averting war between the superpowers.
Sorensen considered his role his greatest achievement.
"That's what I'm proudest of," he once told the Omaha (Nebraska) World-Herald. "Never had this country, this world, faced such great danger. You and I wouldn't be sitting here today if that had gone badly."
Of the many speeches Sorensen helped compose, Kennedy's inaugural address shone brightest. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations includes four citations from the speech — one-seventh of the entire address, which built to an unforgettable exhortation: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
Much of the roughly 14-minute speech — the fourth-shortest inaugural address ever, but in the view of many experts rivaled only by Lincoln's — was marked by similar sparkling phrase-making:
— "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
— "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."
— "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate."
As with "Profiles in Courage, Sorensen never claimed primary authorship of the address. Rather, he described speechwriting within Kennedy's White House as highly collaborative — with JFK a constant kibitzer.
In April 1961, weeks into the Kennedy presidency, the Soviet Union launched the first man into orbit. Less than a month later, Alan Shepard became the first American in space with a 15-minute suborbital flight. The idea of a moon landing "caught my attention, and I knew it would catch Kennedy's," Sorensen recalled. "This is the man who talked about new frontiers. That's what I took to him."
Shortly after Shepard's landmark flight, Kennedy said: "I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth." U.S. astronauts met that deadline in July 1969.
Sorensen would witness a brief revival of Kennedy-era idealism with the presidential election of Obama, whom Sorensen endorsed "because he is more like John F. Kennedy than any other candidate of our time. He has judgment as he demonstrated in his early opposition to the war in Iraq."
A year after Obama's election, Sorensen said he was disappointed with the president's speeches, saying that Obama was "clearly well informed on all matters of public policy, sometimes, frankly, a little too well informed. And as a result, some of the speeches are too complicated for typical citizens and very clear to university faculties and big newspaper editorial boards."
Theodore Chaikin Sorensen was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on May 8, 1928.
He graduated from Lincoln High, the University of Nebraska and the university's law school. At age 24, he explored job prospects in Washington, D.C., and found himself weighing offers from two newly elected senators, Kennedy of Massachusetts and fellow Democrat Henry Jackson, from Washington state.
As Sorensen recalled, Jackson wanted a PR. man. Kennedy, considered the less promising politician, wanted Sorensen to poll economists and develop a plan to jump-start New England's economy.
"Two roads diverged in the Old Senate Office Building and I took the one less recommended, and that has made all the difference," Sorensen wrote in his memoir. "The truth is more prosaic: I wanted a good job."
At the 1956 Democratic National Convention, the charismatic Kennedy attracted wide attention as a candidate for vice president. He eventually withdrew, but his exposure at the convention led to a flurry of invitations to speak around the country.
During the next four years — the de facto beginning of Kennedy's presidential run — he and Sorensen traveled together to every state, with Sorensen juggling various jobs: scheduler, speechwriter, press rep.
After Kennedy's thousand days in the White House, Sorensen worked as an international lawyer, counting Anwar Sadat among his clients. He stayed involved in politics, joining Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1968 and running unsuccessfully for the New York Senate four years later. In 1976, President Jimmy Carter nominated Sorensen for the job of CIA director, but conservative critics quickly killed the nomination, citing — among other alleged flaws — his youthful decision to identify himself as a conscientious objector.
___
Associated Press writer Mike Stewart and AP National Writer Hillel Italie contributed to this report.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Alonso to reveal plans after Brazilian GP
Two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso says he's thrilled with his ride for 2009, though he won't reveal any more details about the contract until after this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix.
"(I'm) very happy," the Renault driver said on Thursday, adding that an announcement should be made next week.
Whether Alonso stays at Renault or moves to another team has been one of the most anticipated decisions of the year, because it will also have a bearing on the future of other drivers.
"With Alonso's indecision, other teams tend to wait, too," said Nelson Piquet Jr., Alonso's teammate.
Piquet Jr., son of three-time world champion Nelson Piquet, may lose his ride if Alonso decides to stay at Renault. If the Spaniard moves to Honda, for example, than it's Rubens Barrichello who may have to find another ride next season.
Alonso won both of his titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006 before moving to McLaren last year. But after being at odds with rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton and team principal Ron Dennis, Alonso moved back to Renault for this year.
He struggled in his return, winning only nine points in his first seven races. However, Alonso and Renault improved considerably in the last half of the season, with two wins and top-four finishes in six of the last seven races.
"I'm happy with the effort from the team to put a good car together at the end and to improve," Alonso said. "The season was difficult, but the team did a huge effort to put some new parts in the car, and some of them worked very well."
Alonso enters the year-ending Brazilian GP sixth in the standings with 53 points, 41 behind leader Hamilton. Alonso has 34 points more than teammate Piquet Jr., however.
Alonso said the lowest point of his season was at the European GP in Valencia, Spain, where Williams' Kazuki Nakajima crashed into him from behind at the beginning of the race.
"I was in front of my fans, in front of my people and I did only one lap," Alonso said.
The highlight was the victory at the Singapore GP.
"It was the first night race and we got the win," Alonso said. "It was completely unexpected."
Despite the problems with Hamilton last year, Alonso said the British driver was the clear favorite to clinch the title on Sunday against home-crowd favorite Felipe Massa of Ferrari.
"Seven points is a big lead," Alonso said.
Former home ec teacher drenched with compliments.(Food)
After 100 years, more or less, of teaching home economics, Ruth Anerino particularly remembers one young man of about 16.
His mother had died several years before he walked into her home ec class at Glenbard South High School to learn how to cook. That year Ruth taught her class how to prepare an entire Thanksgiving dinner, each small group taking part of the meal.
For extra credit, this one young man prepared the entire Thanksgiving feast for his family - and cleaned up. After the holiday, he returned to school with his signed extra credit sheet, filled with family compliments.
"That was really special," she says. "I knew his mother wasn't around anymore, and he stepped up to the plate and did that."
That young man was just one of hundreds of memorable students from Glenbard South and East high schools, says Ruth, who found teaching young people as satisfying as sharing a pot luck dinner at church in her native Iowa.
"Some became chefs, others just loved cooking," she says. "I tried to teach the whole person, to give them a sense of family and tradition. It was like planting seeds for life."
Ruth's career dates back to the '70s, before Title IX brought gender equity to school programs. She remembers teaching a boys' chef class at Glenbard South, a program that steered young men toward careers in cooking while girls were guided into classes for home cooking. When all that changed, Ruth was delighted to welcome young women into the career-path program.
Today when she runs into former students, Ruth basks in their compliments and assurances that she taught them how to appreciate food and everything that goes into serving it.
Now Ruth, of Glen Ellyn, teaches food service sanitation to adults working in restaurants, nursing homes, day care centers and other food-serving facilities.
At home, after she thoroughly washes her hands, of course, Ruth enjoys cooking for 14-year-old twin sons Eric and Scott, and her husband, Greg. (Her two older sons have moved away.)
Among her favorite recipes are a variety of wild rice dishes that she learned while visiting Minnesota's upper Mississippi Valley, an area known for wild rice cultivation.
"I was in a drama group that traveled throughout Minnesota performing at churches and staying with local families," she says. The families often served wild rice dishes, full of that nutty, full-bodied taste she enjoys.
Several of Ruth's wild rice recipes are based on one easy Wild Rice Casserole, a flavorful blend of wild rice, onions, carrots and celery. From that she makes creamy Wild Rice Soup with ham, Chicken Wild Rice Salad seasoned with tarragon and Chicken Divan.
"I keep bags of this casserole in the freezer, ready to use," says this truly organized mom.
While she loved being a high school teacher, Ruth finds that cooking at home is not nearly as surprising, even with the twins and around to cause mischief.
At school, the adolescent boys in her class felt duty-bound to play tricks on her. One gag they found wildly funny was tying a rubber band around the sink spray nozzel so that if Ruth turned on the water when she checked their work station she would get soaked.
Are you paying attention, Eric and Scott?
- Laura Bianchi
- Do you know a good cook? To suggest someone to be profiled in this column, send the cook's name, address and phone number to Laura Bianchi c/o Cook of the Week, Daily Herald Food section, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006 or e-mail us at food@@dailyherald.com.
Wild Rice Casserole
1 pound (2 cups) wild rice
2 onions, diced
2-3 carrots, diced
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 cup hot water
4 tablespoons stick margarine
1 quart chicken broth
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a 9-by-13-inch casserole combine rice, onions, carrots, celery, seasoned salt, pepper, water, margarine and chicken broth. Cover with foil and bake for 2 hours.
Serves eight.
Nutrition values per serving: 299 calories, 8 g fat, 49 g carbohydrates, 5 g fiber, 10 g protein, 2 mg cholesterol, 945 mg sodium.
Wild Rice Soup
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup flour
4 cups chicken broth
3 cups cooked wild rice casserole (see recipe at right)
1 cup ham, cooked and minced
2 cups half and half
Chopped, slivered almonds, for garnish
In a saucepan melt the margarine; add flour, blending with a whisk. Cook until mixture thickens and bubbles. Blend in chicken broth, bring to a boil.
Stir in wild rice and ham. Blend in half and half. Simmer 5 minutes and garnish with chopped, slivered almonds just before serving.
Serves eight.
Nutrition values per serving: 421 calories, 33g fat, 26 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, 7 g protein, 54 mg cholesterol, 1,219 mg sodium.
Chicken Wild Rice Salad
1 cup white salad dressing
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
4 cups chicken, cooked and diced
4 cups cooked wild rice casserole (see recipe at right)
1 can (8 ounces) water chestnuts, drained and diced
Cashews, green grapes, raspberries or mandarin oranges for garnish.
In a small bowl combine the salad dressing, milk, lemon juice, tarragon, seasoned salt and pepper.
In a separate bowl combine the chicken, rice and water chestnuts. Pour dressing over chicken mixture; cover and refrigerate at least 2
hours.
Before serving garnish with cashews, green grapes, fresh raspberries or mandarin orange slices.
Serves eight.
Nutrition values per serving: 214 calories, 9 g fat, 10 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 23 g protein, 79 mg cholesterol, 382 mg sodium.
Former home ec teacher drenched with compliments.(Food)After 100 years, more or less, of teaching home economics, Ruth Anerino particularly remembers one young man of about 16.
His mother had died several years before he walked into her home ec class at Glenbard South High School to learn how to cook. That year Ruth taught her class how to prepare an entire Thanksgiving dinner, each small group taking part of the meal.
For extra credit, this one young man prepared the entire Thanksgiving feast for his family - and cleaned up. After the holiday, he returned to school with his signed extra credit sheet, filled with family compliments.
"That was really special," she says. "I knew his mother wasn't around anymore, and he stepped up to the plate and did that."
That young man was just one of hundreds of memorable students from Glenbard South and East high schools, says Ruth, who found teaching young people as satisfying as sharing a pot luck dinner at church in her native Iowa.
"Some became chefs, others just loved cooking," she says. "I tried to teach the whole person, to give them a sense of family and tradition. It was like planting seeds for life."
Ruth's career dates back to the '70s, before Title IX brought gender equity to school programs. She remembers teaching a boys' chef class at Glenbard South, a program that steered young men toward careers in cooking while girls were guided into classes for home cooking. When all that changed, Ruth was delighted to welcome young women into the career-path program.
Today when she runs into former students, Ruth basks in their compliments and assurances that she taught them how to appreciate food and everything that goes into serving it.
Now Ruth, of Glen Ellyn, teaches food service sanitation to adults working in restaurants, nursing homes, day care centers and other food-serving facilities.
At home, after she thoroughly washes her hands, of course, Ruth enjoys cooking for 14-year-old twin sons Eric and Scott, and her husband, Greg. (Her two older sons have moved away.)
Among her favorite recipes are a variety of wild rice dishes that she learned while visiting Minnesota's upper Mississippi Valley, an area known for wild rice cultivation.
"I was in a drama group that traveled throughout Minnesota performing at churches and staying with local families," she says. The families often served wild rice dishes, full of that nutty, full-bodied taste she enjoys.
Several of Ruth's wild rice recipes are based on one easy Wild Rice Casserole, a flavorful blend of wild rice, onions, carrots and celery. From that she makes creamy Wild Rice Soup with ham, Chicken Wild Rice Salad seasoned with tarragon and Chicken Divan.
"I keep bags of this casserole in the freezer, ready to use," says this truly organized mom.
While she loved being a high school teacher, Ruth finds that cooking at home is not nearly as surprising, even with the twins and around to cause mischief.
At school, the adolescent boys in her class felt duty-bound to play tricks on her. One gag they found wildly funny was tying a rubber band around the sink spray nozzel so that if Ruth turned on the water when she checked their work station she would get soaked.
Are you paying attention, Eric and Scott?
- Laura Bianchi
- Do you know a good cook? To suggest someone to be profiled in this column, send the cook's name, address and phone number to Laura Bianchi c/o Cook of the Week, Daily Herald Food section, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006 or e-mail us at food@@dailyherald.com.
Wild Rice Casserole
1 pound (2 cups) wild rice
2 onions, diced
2-3 carrots, diced
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 cup hot water
4 tablespoons stick margarine
1 quart chicken broth
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a 9-by-13-inch casserole combine rice, onions, carrots, celery, seasoned salt, pepper, water, margarine and chicken broth. Cover with foil and bake for 2 hours.
Serves eight.
Nutrition values per serving: 299 calories, 8 g fat, 49 g carbohydrates, 5 g fiber, 10 g protein, 2 mg cholesterol, 945 mg sodium.
Wild Rice Soup
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup flour
4 cups chicken broth
3 cups cooked wild rice casserole (see recipe at right)
1 cup ham, cooked and minced
2 cups half and half
Chopped, slivered almonds, for garnish
In a saucepan melt the margarine; add flour, blending with a whisk. Cook until mixture thickens and bubbles. Blend in chicken broth, bring to a boil.
Stir in wild rice and ham. Blend in half and half. Simmer 5 minutes and garnish with chopped, slivered almonds just before serving.
Serves eight.
Nutrition values per serving: 421 calories, 33g fat, 26 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, 7 g protein, 54 mg cholesterol, 1,219 mg sodium.
Chicken Wild Rice Salad
1 cup white salad dressing
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
4 cups chicken, cooked and diced
4 cups cooked wild rice casserole (see recipe at right)
1 can (8 ounces) water chestnuts, drained and diced
Cashews, green grapes, raspberries or mandarin oranges for garnish.
In a small bowl combine the salad dressing, milk, lemon juice, tarragon, seasoned salt and pepper.
In a separate bowl combine the chicken, rice and water chestnuts. Pour dressing over chicken mixture; cover and refrigerate at least 2
hours.
Before serving garnish with cashews, green grapes, fresh raspberries or mandarin orange slices.
Serves eight.
Nutrition values per serving: 214 calories, 9 g fat, 10 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 23 g protein, 79 mg cholesterol, 382 mg sodium.
Former home ec teacher drenched with compliments.(Food)After 100 years, more or less, of teaching home economics, Ruth Anerino particularly remembers one young man of about 16.
His mother had died several years before he walked into her home ec class at Glenbard South High School to learn how to cook. That year Ruth taught her class how to prepare an entire Thanksgiving dinner, each small group taking part of the meal.
For extra credit, this one young man prepared the entire Thanksgiving feast for his family - and cleaned up. After the holiday, he returned to school with his signed extra credit sheet, filled with family compliments.
"That was really special," she says. "I knew his mother wasn't around anymore, and he stepped up to the plate and did that."
That young man was just one of hundreds of memorable students from Glenbard South and East high schools, says Ruth, who found teaching young people as satisfying as sharing a pot luck dinner at church in her native Iowa.
"Some became chefs, others just loved cooking," she says. "I tried to teach the whole person, to give them a sense of family and tradition. It was like planting seeds for life."
Ruth's career dates back to the '70s, before Title IX brought gender equity to school programs. She remembers teaching a boys' chef class at Glenbard South, a program that steered young men toward careers in cooking while girls were guided into classes for home cooking. When all that changed, Ruth was delighted to welcome young women into the career-path program.
Today when she runs into former students, Ruth basks in their compliments and assurances that she taught them how to appreciate food and everything that goes into serving it.
Now Ruth, of Glen Ellyn, teaches food service sanitation to adults working in restaurants, nursing homes, day care centers and other food-serving facilities.
At home, after she thoroughly washes her hands, of course, Ruth enjoys cooking for 14-year-old twin sons Eric and Scott, and her husband, Greg. (Her two older sons have moved away.)
Among her favorite recipes are a variety of wild rice dishes that she learned while visiting Minnesota's upper Mississippi Valley, an area known for wild rice cultivation.
"I was in a drama group that traveled throughout Minnesota performing at churches and staying with local families," she says. The families often served wild rice dishes, full of that nutty, full-bodied taste she enjoys.
Several of Ruth's wild rice recipes are based on one easy Wild Rice Casserole, a flavorful blend of wild rice, onions, carrots and celery. From that she makes creamy Wild Rice Soup with ham, Chicken Wild Rice Salad seasoned with tarragon and Chicken Divan.
"I keep bags of this casserole in the freezer, ready to use," says this truly organized mom.
While she loved being a high school teacher, Ruth finds that cooking at home is not nearly as surprising, even with the twins and around to cause mischief.
At school, the adolescent boys in her class felt duty-bound to play tricks on her. One gag they found wildly funny was tying a rubber band around the sink spray nozzel so that if Ruth turned on the water when she checked their work station she would get soaked.
Are you paying attention, Eric and Scott?
- Laura Bianchi
- Do you know a good cook? To suggest someone to be profiled in this column, send the cook's name, address and phone number to Laura Bianchi c/o Cook of the Week, Daily Herald Food section, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006 or e-mail us at food@@dailyherald.com.
Wild Rice Casserole
1 pound (2 cups) wild rice
2 onions, diced
2-3 carrots, diced
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 cup hot water
4 tablespoons stick margarine
1 quart chicken broth
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a 9-by-13-inch casserole combine rice, onions, carrots, celery, seasoned salt, pepper, water, margarine and chicken broth. Cover with foil and bake for 2 hours.
Serves eight.
Nutrition values per serving: 299 calories, 8 g fat, 49 g carbohydrates, 5 g fiber, 10 g protein, 2 mg cholesterol, 945 mg sodium.
Wild Rice Soup
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup flour
4 cups chicken broth
3 cups cooked wild rice casserole (see recipe at right)
1 cup ham, cooked and minced
2 cups half and half
Chopped, slivered almonds, for garnish
In a saucepan melt the margarine; add flour, blending with a whisk. Cook until mixture thickens and bubbles. Blend in chicken broth, bring to a boil.
Stir in wild rice and ham. Blend in half and half. Simmer 5 minutes and garnish with chopped, slivered almonds just before serving.
Serves eight.
Nutrition values per serving: 421 calories, 33g fat, 26 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, 7 g protein, 54 mg cholesterol, 1,219 mg sodium.
Chicken Wild Rice Salad
1 cup white salad dressing
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
4 cups chicken, cooked and diced
4 cups cooked wild rice casserole (see recipe at right)
1 can (8 ounces) water chestnuts, drained and diced
Cashews, green grapes, raspberries or mandarin oranges for garnish.
In a small bowl combine the salad dressing, milk, lemon juice, tarragon, seasoned salt and pepper.
In a separate bowl combine the chicken, rice and water chestnuts. Pour dressing over chicken mixture; cover and refrigerate at least 2
hours.
Before serving garnish with cashews, green grapes, fresh raspberries or mandarin orange slices.
Serves eight.
Nutrition values per serving: 214 calories, 9 g fat, 10 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 23 g protein, 79 mg cholesterol, 382 mg sodium.
Former home ec teacher drenched with compliments.(Food)After 100 years, more or less, of teaching home economics, Ruth Anerino particularly remembers one young man of about 16.
His mother had died several years before he walked into her home ec class at Glenbard South High School to learn how to cook. That year Ruth taught her class how to prepare an entire Thanksgiving dinner, each small group taking part of the meal.
For extra credit, this one young man prepared the entire Thanksgiving feast for his family - and cleaned up. After the holiday, he returned to school with his signed extra credit sheet, filled with family compliments.
"That was really special," she says. "I knew his mother wasn't around anymore, and he stepped up to the plate and did that."
That young man was just one of hundreds of memorable students from Glenbard South and East high schools, says Ruth, who found teaching young people as satisfying as sharing a pot luck dinner at church in her native Iowa.
"Some became chefs, others just loved cooking," she says. "I tried to teach the whole person, to give them a sense of family and tradition. It was like planting seeds for life."
Ruth's career dates back to the '70s, before Title IX brought gender equity to school programs. She remembers teaching a boys' chef class at Glenbard South, a program that steered young men toward careers in cooking while girls were guided into classes for home cooking. When all that changed, Ruth was delighted to welcome young women into the career-path program.
Today when she runs into former students, Ruth basks in their compliments and assurances that she taught them how to appreciate food and everything that goes into serving it.
Now Ruth, of Glen Ellyn, teaches food service sanitation to adults working in restaurants, nursing homes, day care centers and other food-serving facilities.
At home, after she thoroughly washes her hands, of course, Ruth enjoys cooking for 14-year-old twin sons Eric and Scott, and her husband, Greg. (Her two older sons have moved away.)
Among her favorite recipes are a variety of wild rice dishes that she learned while visiting Minnesota's upper Mississippi Valley, an area known for wild rice cultivation.
"I was in a drama group that traveled throughout Minnesota performing at churches and staying with local families," she says. The families often served wild rice dishes, full of that nutty, full-bodied taste she enjoys.
Several of Ruth's wild rice recipes are based on one easy Wild Rice Casserole, a flavorful blend of wild rice, onions, carrots and celery. From that she makes creamy Wild Rice Soup with ham, Chicken Wild Rice Salad seasoned with tarragon and Chicken Divan.
"I keep bags of this casserole in the freezer, ready to use," says this truly organized mom.
While she loved being a high school teacher, Ruth finds that cooking at home is not nearly as surprising, even with the twins and around to cause mischief.
At school, the adolescent boys in her class felt duty-bound to play tricks on her. One gag they found wildly funny was tying a rubber band around the sink spray nozzel so that if Ruth turned on the water when she checked their work station she would get soaked.
Are you paying attention, Eric and Scott?
- Laura Bianchi
- Do you know a good cook? To suggest someone to be profiled in this column, send the cook's name, address and phone number to Laura Bianchi c/o Cook of the Week, Daily Herald Food section, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006 or e-mail us at food@@dailyherald.com.
Wild Rice Casserole
1 pound (2 cups) wild rice
2 onions, diced
2-3 carrots, diced
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 cup hot water
4 tablespoons stick margarine
1 quart chicken broth
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a 9-by-13-inch casserole combine rice, onions, carrots, celery, seasoned salt, pepper, water, margarine and chicken broth. Cover with foil and bake for 2 hours.
Serves eight.
Nutrition values per serving: 299 calories, 8 g fat, 49 g carbohydrates, 5 g fiber, 10 g protein, 2 mg cholesterol, 945 mg sodium.
Wild Rice Soup
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup flour
4 cups chicken broth
3 cups cooked wild rice casserole (see recipe at right)
1 cup ham, cooked and minced
2 cups half and half
Chopped, slivered almonds, for garnish
In a saucepan melt the margarine; add flour, blending with a whisk. Cook until mixture thickens and bubbles. Blend in chicken broth, bring to a boil.
Stir in wild rice and ham. Blend in half and half. Simmer 5 minutes and garnish with chopped, slivered almonds just before serving.
Serves eight.
Nutrition values per serving: 421 calories, 33g fat, 26 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, 7 g protein, 54 mg cholesterol, 1,219 mg sodium.
Chicken Wild Rice Salad
1 cup white salad dressing
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
4 cups chicken, cooked and diced
4 cups cooked wild rice casserole (see recipe at right)
1 can (8 ounces) water chestnuts, drained and diced
Cashews, green grapes, raspberries or mandarin oranges for garnish.
In a small bowl combine the salad dressing, milk, lemon juice, tarragon, seasoned salt and pepper.
In a separate bowl combine the chicken, rice and water chestnuts. Pour dressing over chicken mixture; cover and refrigerate at least 2
hours.
Before serving garnish with cashews, green grapes, fresh raspberries or mandarin orange slices.
Serves eight.
Nutrition values per serving: 214 calories, 9 g fat, 10 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 23 g protein, 79 mg cholesterol, 382 mg sodium.
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