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Muller surprises Cash; Wilander crushes Davis

Unseeded Gary Muller, ranked 173rd in the world, stunnedfourth-seeded Pat Cash Wednesday in the second round of theAssociation of Tennis Professionals Championship at Mason, Ohio.

Cash, the 1987 Wimbledon champion ranked seventh, lost 5-7, 6-3,7-6 (7-5), and became the fifth of the top 10 seeds to be eliminatedin the first two rounds.

Second-seeded Mats Wilander eased into the third round with a6-3, 6-4 victory over Scott Davis.

In evening matches, top seed Stefan Edberg, ranked No. 2 in theworld, ousted Horatio de la Pena of Argentina 7-5, 6-2 and No. 3Jimmy Connors eliminated Nigeria's Paul Wekesa 6-2, 6-2. Seventh seed Lori McNeil topped Sandy …

U.S. Presses China on N. Korea Sanctions

WASHINGTON - The U.S. on Sunday pressed China to enforce the U.N. punishment against North Korea and use economic leverage to persuade the communist ally to renounce its nuclear weapons program and rejoin international disarmament talks.

The chief U.S. diplomat readied for talks in Asia, aware of concerns that the Security Council's resolution might enflame tensions among countries already on edge from North Korea's claimed nuclear test Oct. 9.

Already, sharp divisions have arisen over enforcing the resolution, approved unanimously on Saturday. China, which voted for the penalties, is balking at cargo inspections to prevent trafficking of certain banned weapons and …

Lawrie maintains Johnnie Walker lead

Paul Lawrie completed a second successive bogey-free round Friday with a 3-under 69 giving him a two-stroke clubhouse lead at the halfway mark in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.

The 1999 British Open champion made six birdies and an eagle without dropping a shot in 36 holes and is two ahead of Jonathan Caldwell, a 24-year-old Northern Irishman who shot a 6-under 66.

Jose Maria Olazabal birdied the last for a 68 that included birdies on five of his first six holes. He holds a share of third place with a 5-under 139 along with Soren Hansen, the Danish Ryder Cup player who carded a 70, Gregory Bourdy (68) of France and Shiv Kapur (70) of …

Recovery Has Taken Longer Than Expected

Sports editor's note: Gurnee's Jenny Spangler, who won thewomen's U.S. Olympic marathon trials, is writing a biweekly diaryexclusively for the Sun-Times. Today: The physical toll of running amarathon.

It takes awhile to recover from a marathon.

That's normal.But at the beginning of last week, I was still feeling sluggish,my body wasn't responding and I was tired all the time.Instead of racing through a workout and wanting more, I couldn'twait to finish. I started waking up in the middle of the night,thinking that July 28 was just around the corner. I began wonderingwhat it would be like to finish last in the Olympics.I was starting to get a bit …

Constructed wetlands clean up utility's leachate

"In constructed wetlands, the cleansing processes (physical, chemical and biological) intrinsic to natural wetland ecosystems occur in a highly engineered environment," says John Goodrich-Mahoney of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). "By controlling, amplifying and accelerating these processes, we can develop passive, low-cost systems optimized for the removal of specific chemicals such as trace metals." As a specific example, he names a constructed wetland near Springdale, Pennsylvania that treats metal-bearing leachate from a closed ash management facility. The project, which is expected to save Allegheny Power $2.6 million, received the 1997 Governor's Award for …

UN chief says up to US$20 billion (euro12.83 billion) needed to increase food production

As much as US$20 billion (euro13 billion) may be needed each year to increase food production to combat hunger worsened by soaring fuel and food prices, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said Wednesday.

The U.N. chief told a news conference at U.N. summit on the food crisis that most of that money "will come from concerned countries themselves," but contributions will be needed from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization, and development banks.

"Perhaps as much as US$15 billion to US$20 billion" (euro10 billion to euro13 billion) will be needed annually, he said.

Summit delegates have …

Gunmen fire on al-Sadr backers on eve of protest

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Gunmen fired on supporters of the radical Shiitecleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday, killing one person and wounding twoothers as they made their way to protests planned for the secondanniversary of Baghdad's fall to U.S.-led troops.

In the poor New Baghdad neighborhood, meanwhile, four childrenwere killed Friday when they came across explosives while diggingthrough garbage for metal scraps, witnesses and police said. It wasunclear what caused the blast.

After dark Friday, al-Sadr supporters marched and …

DISCOVERING TORAH

AHASUERUS KNEW HOW TO THROW A party. In fact, at 180 days long, it may have been the longest party ever.

Guests came from 127 countries, and he really went all out. According to Solomon Alkabez's Manot haLevi (1585), a commentary on the Megillah, no dish was served twice. Each cup had a different design. There was an endless supply of food and drink.

All the senses were catered to, except for hearing: Ahasuerus knew that musical tastes vary from one person to another, so in order not to annoy anyone, there was no musical accompaniment at his party.

As if this weren't enough, after that one was over he threw another party -- this time lasting for seven days -- for the …

Biden votes with family in Delaware

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden has cast his ballot.

The Delaware senator voted shortly before 9 a.m. EST Tuesday at a private school about half-mile from his home in the Wilmington area.

Biden walked into the school holding the hand of his mother, Jean Biden.

Biden's wife, Jill, …

Crunch claims store victim

The recession has forced the closure of a shop in Cheddar.

The former Tweentown Stores managed by Mike and Christine Simpsonhas shut its doors due to trading difficulties earlier this month.The owners placed a sign on the door saying they regretted theclosure but were unable to continue in business.

Last November the former …

Liberia's Taylor Boycotts Trial Again

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Former Liberian president Charles Taylor boycotted the resumption of his war crimes trial Monday, again blocking efforts to try him on charges of arming Sierra Leone rebels and orchestrating a murderous terror campaign during that country's 10-year civil war.

"I got a call this morning that Mr. Taylor said he will not be in court," said Vincent Nmehielle, the court's principal defender who is responsible for ensuring Taylor can mount an adequate defense to the charges. "He said the chamber knows why he will not be in court."

Presiding judge Julia Sebutinde angrily responded: "For the record, the chamber does not know. We have not been officially …

Martin Lel and Irina Mikitenko win London Marathon

Martin Lel has won the London Marathon for the third time in four years in a sprint finish.

He made it a Kenyan 1-2 by beating Sammy Wanjiru and finishing in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 15 seconds. Lel also won in 2005 and '07.

Irina Mikitenko has won the women's race in only her second attempt at the distance.

The German broke away at the 38-kilometer (24-mile) mark to win in a time of 2 …

Local Costcos deal with huge egg recall; Notify members who

Mary Ahern woke up Friday "feeling awful," and her condition worsened throughout the day.

The Little Italy neighborhood mother, five months pregnant, had no idea what the problem was until a call came to her home -- at 7 p.m.; an automated message saying she was among Costco customers who'd bought eggs linked to a salmonella outbreak.

By 9 p.m., Ahern, 37, was on her way to Rush University Medical Center, where she was admitted with a case of salmonella illness. A day before, she'd eaten brownie batter made with the last of eggs she'd purchased about a week ago.

"I never would have connected the eggs," said Ahern, an adjunct engineering professor at Northwestern University.

The massive recall, impacting 550 million eggs, hit Costco's Chicago-area stores, as the wholesale warehouse chain on Friday began offering refunds to customers who bought eggs that originated at Hillandale Farms in Iowa, one of two Iowa farms linked to an outbreak of salmonella. It notified about 233,000 customers of about 23 stores in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Nebraska, said Craig Wilson, Costco's assistant vice president of quality assurance and food safety.

Costco also Monday was recalling eggs in California.

Costco shoppers pay for memberships and provide contact information.

"In this case, I'm happy that Big Brother's watching," said Linda Schilling, who on Monday returned the remaining half of the two dozen eggs she'd bought last month.

Schilling, 63, of Hoffman Estates, left the store with more eggs -- those from Pennsylvania. "That's a long way from Iowa," she said. "I'm not one to stay away from eggs for a while."

And Ahern? Well, she turned down egg dishes while at the hospital.

She went with oatmeal.

IDENTIFYING BAD EGGS

Recalled eggs are identified by combinations of brands, plant numbers and production dates.

Dates and codes are found on the end of the egg carton.

The plant number is the four-digit number following the letter "P." The Julian (production) date is the three-digit number.

Latest eggs affected are:

Brands: Hillandale Farms, Sunny Farms and Sunny Meadow in six-egg cartons, dozen-egg cartons, 18-egg cartons, 30-egg package, and five-dozen cases; and Wholesome Farms and West Creek loose eggs in 15- and 30-dozen tray packs.

Plants and production: P1860 - with Julian (production) numbers ranging from 099 to 230; and P1663 - Julian (production) numbers ranging from 137 to 230.

Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Color Photo: Brian Jackson, Sun-Times / One of the brands from one of two Iowa farms that are part of the nationwide egg recall.

WHAT'S UP WITH TOMMY HAWKINS

AGE: 65.

HOME: Los Angeles.

FAMILY: Wife Layla, sons Kevin and David and daughters Traci andKarel.

OCCUPATION: Vice president of external affairs for the Los AngelesDodgers.

POSITIONS: Forward, center.

BASKETBALL BACKGROUND: Hawkins was the Public League scoringchampion in 1954-55, averaging 29 points for Parker High. He was atwo-time All-American at Notre Dame, where his career scoring average(23.0) is third in school history and his career rebounding average(16.7) is second. Hawkins was a defensive specialist in 10 NBAseasons (1959-60 to 1968-69) with the Minneapolis and Los AngelesLakers and the Cincinnati Royals. He broadcast Lakers games for 19years and hosted numerous TV and radio programs, including a jazzshow, before joining the Dodgers. An active community leader, Hawkinsoversees the Dodgers' speakers bureau. He's in the IllinoisBasketball and Chicago Sports halls of fame.

VELVET TOUCH: My father left us when I was 6, so my mother[Juanita] brought up five children by herself. The only time I sawhim after that was at his funeral in North Carolina when I was 11. Wetook a train. Mother was a great-looking lady who managed cafeterias.When she died, I wrote a poem for her funeral program, thanking herfor taking care of us. It was called, 'The Iron Maiden with theVelvet Glove.' I think of her every day."

THAT TODDLIN' TOWN: "I wouldn't have missed the ritual of growingup in Chicago for anything--the playground at 71st and South ParkAvenue [King Drive], White Castles, pizza and, of course, Polishsausages smothered with grilled onions and peppers with cabbage andsauerkraut. One bite, and the juice would explode in your mouth. Theroller rink at Park City on 63rd drew the finest women in Chicago.We'd go round and round to the music of Sterling Todd on the organ."

ABOUT PARKER: "It was just being integrated, so there were onlyabout 25 or 30 blacks. James Armstrong of Carver and I tied for thePublic League scoring title, but I won for making more hoops. Ididn't know how to handle my success. I saw a newspaper headline thatread, 'Hawkins Leads Preps in Scoring.' It scared me so much that Igot off the streetcar and called my mom. She said, 'Calm down, andwe'll talk when you get home.' Another article about me had aheadline, 'You're the Man.' I called my mom again and said, 'Whatdoes it mean to be the Man? I'm not even a man yet."'

ABOUT NOTRE DAME: "I had over 100 [scholarship] offers. Notre Damewas the first place I visited, but that's all it took. I was blindedby the sun off the Golden Dome. There were only 10 blacks in schooland I was the only athlete, but I was never uncomfortable. We wererated eighth my junior year and fourth my senior year with no starterover 6-5. That player was me."

ABOUT THE PROS: "I was lucky enough to have played in a great era.I played with great players such as Elgin Baylor and Jerry West inLos Angeles and Oscar Robertson in Cincinnati and against greatplayers such as Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Bob Pettit and CliffHagan. How's that for an All-Star team?"

ABOUT SHAQUILLE O'NEAL: "A wonderful fellow and a great player. Hecame into the NBA like, 'Fee, fie, foe, fum.' We haven't seen a bigman dominate like Shaq since Wilt."

ABOUT DODGERS GENERAL MANAGER DAN EVANS: "Danny's fit right in.He's shown a natural affinity for the job. His background with theWhite Sox was player development, which is the direction we'retaking. He thrives on communication. We made a bet right away that myschool [Notre Dame] would beat his school [DePaul] in basketball. Helost, so he has to wear an Irish hat and T-shirt all day to work. Thecameras will be rolling."

NOW HEAR THIS: "I give about 300 speeches a year. I spread hot airin every direction. If it moves, I talk to it."

MEETING LAYLA: "We were mutually smitten at a camera shop when Ineeded special handling of photos I'd taken in Israel, Turkey,Ireland and England. We got married after a long friendship. She'sIranian, so I had to go through proper family channels. I took herand her brother out to dinner and proposed in the restaurant. He saidyes, then she said yes."

LIFE TODAY: "I get up every morning at 4, take a long walk withthe dog at our home near the ocean and come back to listen to NancyWilson, Rosemary Clooney, Mel Torme, Perry Como and Jo Stafford. Mydaughters saw me one day with a headset on while wearing my oldParker letter sweater and said, 'What are you listening to, and whatis that you're wearing?' I laughed and said, 'Never mind. Youwouldn't understand."'

Young fathers get a break through two organizations

Rob Layton was 19 years old when he became a father 10 years ago.

But the sudden responsibility of raising a child didn't keep him from leaving Chicago to pursue a degree in communications at Kansas State and Emporia State Universities.

"I wanted to get away from the gangs and drugs and get in a better position to take care of my son," he told the Chicago Defender. "I didn't want to have my child to struggle like I did with my mother, being raised without a father."

Layton, now 30, said he was scared and nervous when his girlfriend told him she was pregnant. But he maintained contact with her and sent money home when he could.

He now feels he has a good relationship with his son, Dion, 10, and the boy's mother.

"I see him every weekend and a couple of times during the week," he said. "I also coach his basketball team."

Layton's experiences led him to work with the Young Fathers Initiative in 2000 to help men who were in his same position. On Saturday, he will hold the second annual Fathers Conference, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the office of Metropolitan Family Services, 3062 E. 91st St.

Metropolitan, which founded the group, helps young fathers from their late teens to early 20s, get jobs and learn better parenting skills.

The conference focus will be on legal issues such as record expungement and child support; health issues that have a more serious effect on African American men; as well as safe sex and substance abuse and how to find employment. Free physical exams will be given to those who attend the one-day conference.

About 35 young men showed up for last year's event, Layton said. This year, he'd like to get at least 60 participants.

"This is a good way for some of these guys to start dealing with their issues and their families," said Layton. "I try to help them get the confidence to face their responsibilities."

In February, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-2nd) presented the initiative with a $100,000 federal grant. "That was a great boost for the program," Layton said.

While teens continue to be sexually active, teen pregnancies dropped steadily in Illinois between 1970 and 2002. According to teenpregnancy.org, there were 66 births per 1,000 girls between the ages of 15-19 in 1970. That number decreased to 42 by 2002.

But those young births still mean that there are younger mothers and fathers who need support for their new responsibilities.

While Layton's organization is helping men on the South Side, another agency is servicing clients from its downtown location.

Shaun Henderson, a high school dropout with a two-year-old child, spent eight months in jail last year for manufacturing marijuana.

He was released in November and became involved with the YES! Fathers Program Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin in December.

His parole officer suggested that he look into it once he was out of jail.

Henderson, 22, was at the Goodwill office at 819 S. Wabash Ave. filling out forms Thursday when he spoke with the Defender.

"I have a job now at a deli on the far South Side," he said. "And I'm liking the fact that I don't have to go to jail to get money."

Henderson took his GED exam two weeks ago and is awaiting the results.

The YES! Fathers Program was the brainchild of Jill Boepple, the manager of workforce development for Goodwill.

She had served on a taskforce that dealt with issues about teen mothers statewide and realized that teen fathers really had no advocates.

"There are a lot of services available to young women but not to young men," she said.

The idea was to create a one-stop career center system for young men, 18-to-21, who are fathers and high school dropouts.

Boepple said that unfortunately, many of the young men who are in those categories are also ex-offenders.

"That kind of comes with the package, as well as gang affiliation," she said. "We know that and just tell them that they have to leave that at the door when they come here."

Boepple said the program staff has learned a lot about gangs through the program.

"Depending on how it's organized, a member sometimes has three families," she said.

"The birth family, the gang family, and if you have children or a job, that's the third one."

The third family is what Boepple wanted to create for the young men in the program.

"We wanted to create a very safe environment for them to come into," she said, "because all of our guys come from every single gang in the city."

Malcolm Jackson, the program coordinator, said that about 60 of his clients are employed. Of that number, 10 have gotten their GEDs, five are in college and four are managers on their jobs.

For information about the Young Fathers Initiative conference, contact Rob Layton at (773) 371-2920.

Article copyright REAL TIMES Inc.

Photograph (Rob Layton)

IRA dissidents claim responsibility for bomb that injured 2 police officers

Irish Republican Army dissidents claimed responsibility Monday for trying to blow up a passing police patrol near the Northern Ireland border over the weekend.

The claim from the Continuity IRA faction came as U.S. President George W. Bush paid a whistlestop visit to Belfast.

Police confirmed that two officers suffered minor injuries when a bomb hidden under a small rural bridge near the border village of Rosslea, about 100 miles (160 kms) southwest of Belfast, partly detonated as the police car passed overhead.

The abortive attack happened Saturday, but police did not disclose most details until after the dissidents issued their claim of responsibility.

A police statement said officers and British army experts found "a substantial amount of homemade explosives" that had failed to detonate beneath the bridge. They also found a lengthy "command wire" leading from the bomb to a spot where IRA dissidents hid nearby, triggering the device as the police car passed.

Tom Elliott, a politician from the Ulster Unionist Party, which represents the British Protestant majority in Northern Ireland, said the Continuity IRA hoped to gain maximum attention for its continued existence by timing its statement to coincide with Bush's visit.

"It is their way of getting noticed, their way of demonstrating their opposition to the peace process, and sending a message to the (pro-British) unionist people and indeed the whole world that they have not gone away," Elliott said.

Several splinter groups continue to plot attacks in defiance of the IRA's decisions in 2005 to disarm and renounce violence. The IRA killed 1,775 people during a failed 1970-97 campaign to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom. The dissidents' violence has caused little damage and virtually no deaths since 1998, when a car bomb killed 29 people in the town of Omagh _ the deadliest blast from the entire conflict.

However, dissidents have increased their efforts to kill members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland in recent months. Two officers survived being struck with shotgun blasts at close range in November, and a police officer suffered serious wounds to his legs and back when a bomb exploded under his car last month.

UCI asks CAS to overturn Swiss decision on Ullrich

The International Cycling Union has asked sport's highest court to force the Swiss Olympic Committee to resume its doping probe against German rider Jan Ullrich.

UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani says cycling's governing body filed its protest to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Officials at the tribunal were unable to immediately comment Friday.

UCI says the Swiss were wrong to stop investigating the 1997 Tour de France champion, who was barred from the event in 2006 because of suspicions of a link with the Operation Puerto doping ring.

Ullrich was investigated by the Swiss because he lives in Switzerland and held a license there until his retirement in February 2007.

Smelt Bring Night Life To the City's Shoreline

A warm night in April. All along the lakefront, from 57th Streetto Montrose Harbor and points beyond, the lights of lanterns andgrills dot the shoreline. On Achsah Bond Drive leading out to thePlanetarium, not one parking space is available at 11 o'clock - atime when the mythological urbanite is said to be behinddouble-locked doors inside a home or apartment.

The smelt are running. And groups of families, older couplesand teenage boys are enjoying the night, perhaps even netting fishfor the barbecue. A vendor walks among them selling balloons.Across Monroe Harbor and beyond Grant Park, the downtown skylineerupts in sparkling shapes, a perfect backdrop for the quiet drama ofcouples strolling around Buckingham Fountain.

For a time, we set aside thoughts of more troubled Chicagostreets and byways. For this, too, is the real Chicago. This isspring. And the smelt are running.

WebMD posts 1Q net loss, higher revenue

Health care Web site operator WebMD Health Corp. posted a first-quarter net loss Tuesday, reversing a year-ago profit as costs grew, but revenue increased thanks to higher ad spending.

The company posted a net loss of $3.8 million, or 7 cents per share, down from a profit of $415,000, or 1 cent per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Excluding items, such as the disposition of its auction rate securities investment, the company would have earned $5.1 million in the latest quarter.

Revenue rose 20 percent to $108 million from $90.3 million.

Analysts, on average, were expecting a profit of 7 cents per share on revenue of $105.3 million, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters. Analysts typically exclude one-time items from their estimates.

For the full year, WebMD is expecting revenue of $510 million to $525 million. Analysts are expecting $519.6 million.

Shares fell $1.59, or 3.4 percent, to $45.71 in after-hours trading. The stock had closed down 84 cents at $47.30.

BET's `Jackie Wilson Story' is booked for national tour

Black Ensemble Theatre's sensational musical "Jackie Wilson Story (My Heart Is Crying, Crying)" to tour various cities in the United States which is scheduled to begin on Jan. 31, the 19th anniversary of the singer's death.

He was a sensational singer and became nationally famous with Raynard Miner's "Your Love Lift Me Higher and Higher". At the time of of his injury he was performing at a New Jersey Supper Club. He remained in a coma for many years before dying at 49 years of age on Jan 21, 1984.

Brian Kabaznick, who recently retired as executive director at Ticketmaster and the not-for-profit Black Ensemble Theater Company are planning the national tour.

In a commemoration of the 19th anniversary of Wilson's death, the tour will began at the New Regal Theater. The amazing entertainer's life will be showcased at the New Regal Theater.

After the kick-off at the Regal, Chester Gregory will repeat his role at the Apollo Theater in Harlem April 3-13. The musical revue will then play major markets in the east and Midwest.'

The Wilson revue originated in February 2000 at the Black Ensemble Theater where it was staged to sold-out houses for more than two years. The national tour of "The Jackie Wilson Story" was a big hit in its own town, and then it was featured for several weeks in Baltimore, Richmond, Norfolk and Louisville before laying at the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, D.C. earning a combined gross of $650,000.

Under the auspices of Kabatznick and producer Taylor other productions of the Black Ensemble Theater Company will tour nationally including "The Other Cinderella," "Doo-Wop Shoo Bop," "Great Women in Gospel," and "Muddy Waters (The Hoochie Coochie Man)."

Actress, director and producer Jackie Taylor has been a pioneer in urban musical theater for more than 25 years. Brian Kabatznick said, "Miss Taylor has developed a roven, winning formula that combines exciting music with a strong story line for perfect universal appeal."

Complimenting Brian, Jackie Taylor said, "Brian's energy, enthusiasm and extensive entertainment experience will help the Black Ensemble realize its goal of developing a national audience for our productions while assisting our long range plans for bilding a new 350-seat theater.

The Black Ensemble Theater Company is located at 4520 N. Beacon St.

Photograph (Chester Gregory II)

He got into technology in 1961 Don Hollis now does consulting, lots of pro bono

Name: Don Hollis

Title: President

Company: DRH Strategic Consulting helps technology and financialservices companies overcome strategic problems

Passion: Collecting Olympic pins

Don Hollis didn't start off as a tech guy. But back then almostnobody did.

An accountant by training, Hollis strayed into computers in 1961,when a computer with 10K of memory (compared to 128,000K today)filled a room, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and ran onthousands of little punch cards. After 13 years working on financialtechnology systems with Cleveland paint conglomerate Glidden and 10years with Chase Manhattan Bank, Hollis found his way to FirstChicago, the precedessor to Bank One.

Hollis retired as executive vice president in 1996, and thesedays, he divides his time between traveling with his family, advisingtechnology- and financial services-related companies, and extensivepro bono work.

Q. How did you become involved with technology so early?

A. When I graduated from Kent State with an accounting degree, Ihad a choice between becoming a graduate assistant at the Universityof Pittsburgh or entering a corporate training program. Since I hadjust gotten married and my wife was pregnant, I decided I needed toget a real job.

Glidden was the only offer I had that fit that need. Their SanFrancisco office was recently acquired, and the integration wasn'tgoing well. For example, they hadn't even done any invoicing for sixmonths because they didn't have the staff. I worked 20 hours a day,and brought in an outside computing contractor to get caught up. Ihad no exposure to technology before that.

Q. When did you really begin to sink your teeth into it?

A. The company started down the road to computing within the year,and needed someone to take care of the West Coast. Since I was theonly person who knew anything about the equipment, the CFO put me incharge. RCA [then a mainframe maker] took me to school and basicallygave me a pre-Computer Science 101 crash course.

I found the building, hired the people, trained the punchcardoperators, built the data center, and wrote the specs for all theaccounting applications for all our businesses on the West Coast. Wedistributed them to programmers all over the country. It was really aspectacular operation for 1961.

Q. How did that affect your career?

A. It wasn't long thereafter that I got promoted to head ofcorporate systems at Cleveland headquarters. So that's really how Igot started in technology. It wasn't any conscious long-range planwhere I identified this huge potential and found a way to get there.It just was necessary to solve a problem. In effect, it found me.

Q. What did you do at First Chicago?

A. I came in as senior vice president of management informationsystems, the same title I had at Chase. After a few years, I tookover the information technology department, where I was responsiblefor the whole commercial side of the business. The bank was 70percent commercial back then, and we provided all thetelecommunications and data processing infrastructure.

My job was so complex they had to break it up into five jobs whenI retired in 1996 because it wasn't a natural aggregation.

Q. What's the biggest technology problem in banking?

A. We need to move towards better authentication technology. ...We should be absolutely identifying who is giving a command andmaking a request. There is no technology constraint.

Dave Lundy is president of DL Strategies, a Chicago-basedstrategic communications firm. He can be reached atdsl@dlstrategies.com

Obama suggests tax credit for business health care

Barack Obama on Sunday proposed up to a 50-percent tax credit for small businesses providing health insurance to their employees, a program he hopes has special appeal to Hispanics and other minority groups struggling for a toehold in the U.S. economy.

The idea had been championed by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, whom Obama vanquished in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"We know that small businesses are the engines of economic prosperity in our communities, especially in Latino communities," Obama said in an address to several thousand Hispanics attending the annual convention of the National Council of La Raza.

"My plan won't impose any new burdens on small businesses. Instead, we'll help them not just create new jobs, but good jobs _ jobs with health care, jobs that stay right here in America, the kinds of jobs we need in our communities," the Illinois senator said.

While the precise cost and details of the program were not immediately available, a campaign statement said the "credit would be fully available to small firms, and would be phased out for medium-sized firms. It would also be phased out for small firms with high-income employees."

The speech is the latest in a series of efforts by Obama to reach out to Latino voters, a constituency over which he and his Republican rival, John McCain, are battling.

"Make no mistake about it: The Latino community holds this election in your hands," Obama said to cheers. "I am here today to make you this promise: I will be a president who stands with you and fights for you and walks with you every single step of the way."

Obama was scheduled to conduct interviews with three Spanish-language media outlets, including Telemundo, later in the day.

Last week, both candidates addressed some 700 Hispanics attending the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference. They agreed to revamp immigration, an issue McCain has made a hallmark but Obama has accused McCain of abandoning after major immigration legislation fell apart last year.

Both McCain and Obama support an eventual path to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the country illegally, although McCain, a senator from the border state of Arizona, has shifted his emphasis to securing the U.S. border before turning his focus back to overhauling immigration laws.

For his part, McCain has a new television ad, titled "God's Children," in which he lauds the military service of Hispanics.

Latinos are expected to impact the voting in such battleground states as Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico and in others with large numbers of Spanish-speaking voters.

A recent AP-Yahoo News poll showed Obama leading McCain among Hispanics, 47 percent to 22 percent, with 26 percent undecided. Yet President Bush captured about 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004, the most ever for a GOP presidential candidate. Democrat John Kerry won 53 percent, down from the 62 percent former Vice President Al Gore received in 2000.

"Right now, I think we're doing well in the polls, but I tend not to trust polls," Obama told reporters on Saturday. "I think we've got to work hard, and any opportunity that I have to tell that story about the work I did as a community organizer, as a state legislator, as well as a U.S. senator, on behalf of issues and causes that are important to the Latino community, I want to seize that opportunity. I'm not as well known in that community as I'd like to be, but my assessment is that we're doing pretty well there right now."

While in California, Obama also attended fundraisers in San Diego and Newport Beach. In San Diego, he was introduced by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a top Hispanic official. In Newport Beach, he told the weekend evening crowd, "I'm still looking for my mimosa." When a woman offered him a sip of hers, Obama imbibed, told her it tasted "nice" but declared to laughter, "I'm more of a Bloody Mary guy."

In addition, Obama made an address via satellite to the American Federation of Teachers convention in Chicago in which he reiterated his education views. The union has endorsed him.

Professor disputes link between fracking, earthquakes

WHEELING - A West Virginia University professor has joinedChesapeake Energy officials in disputing a notion that natural gasdrilling activity contributes to earthquakes, despite officials inArkansas making such a connection.

The number and magnitude of earthquakes in central Arkansas havedeclined noticeably since Chesapeake and another company shut downtwo of its underground injection wells in the area last month,Arkansas officials said.

"We have definitely noticed a reduction in the number ofearthquakes, especially the larger ones," said Scott Ausbrooks,geohazards supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey. "It'sdefinitely worth noting."

The two Arkansas injection wells are used to dispose ofwastewater from gas drilling and fracking. One is owned byChesapeake and the other by Clarita Operating. The two injectionwells at issue dispose of the frack water when it can no longer bere-used by injecting it into the ground.

Similar injection wells are located in West Virginia, and atleast one currently is being drilled in Belmont County.

Tim Carr, WVU's Marshall Miller Professor of Energy, said thereis no evidence that fracking or fluid injection into undergroundwells leads to earthquakes.

In noting the action does cause some "micro-seismic" shifting,Carr said, "These are much, much less than having a large truck goby. They are measured with sophisticated downhole tools and are usedto map fracture stimulation treatments. No one could ever feel oreven detect these events at the surface.

"In terms of inducing earthquakes, fracture stimulation(fracking) would rate very low to non-existent on my list ofconcerns."

In April 2010, a 3.4 magnitude earthquake hit Braxton County,W.Va. In a span of several months, the area was hit by five moresuch quakes. The quakes were small - about a 2.7 magnitude - butlarge enough to catch the attention of state officials.

Carr attributes the West Virginia tremors to natural activity.

"The earth does move and shake, as evidenced by recent events inJapan. Earthquakes in West Virginia are known from throughouthistory," he said.

In Arkansas, the two energy companies agreed March 4 to ceaseinjection operations temporarily at the request of the Arkansas Oiland Gas Commission. Chesapeake officials have said they do notbelieve there is a connection between the injection wells and thearea's seismic activity.

The commission said preliminary studies showed evidencepotentially linking injection activities with nearly 1,000 quakes inthe region over the past six months.

A six-month moratorium on new injection wells in the area tookeffect in January to allow time to determine what relationship, ifany, there is between the wells and the earthquakes.

"We remain confident that the facts and science will lead to amore constructive and satisfactory conclusion to this matter," saidDanny Games, senior director of corporate development forChesapeake's Arkansas operations. "The science continues to point tonaturally occurring seismicity, but to ensure that we provide themost complete expert analysis, we have agreed with the commissionstaff to keep our disposal well temporarily closed."

The Center for Earthquake Research and Information recordedaround 100 earthquakes in the seven days preceding the shutdownearlier this month, including the largest quake to hit Arkansas in35 years - a magnitude 4.7 on Feb. 27. A dozen of the quakes hadmagnitudes greater than 3.0.

In the days since the shutdown, there have been around 60recorded quakes, with only one higher than a magnitude 3.0. Themajority of the quakes were between magnitudes 1.2 and 2.8,according to the center.

Similar to the Marcellus shale underlying West Virginia and partsof Ohio, the Fayetteville shale is a major source of natural gas inArkansas.

Do what you can this month to save face

Now that we've survived April Fool's Day (good thing it wasn'ttoday, otherwise you wouldn't believe a word of what follows), let'ssee what the month has in store for us.

My calendar says it's Keep America Beautiful Month, and a pressrelease from three dental groups says it's also National FacialProtection Month. Which is a nice combination when you think aboutit. If we all protect our faces, the place probably will look better.

Except for the stuff the dental professionals suggest we wear.Helmets, mouth guards, face shields.

They also suggest we use common sense -- "Wear mouth guards forcontact sports (soccer, yes; chess, probably not)" is their keyexample.

Clean up

Speaking of keeping America beautiful, if you're going to cleanyour siding, don't get on a ladder with a bucket of soapy water.

"There's an easier way to make your home look as good as you do,"says Debby Robinson, co-host of a radio show called "Money Pit.""Simply use a pressure washer to blast away the layers of mold andmuck."

You should have seen me before I blasted away the layers of moldand muck. Not a pretty sight.

Paws for reflection

Let's salute the cat survivor of the year, at least in Britain.

An animal charity there called Cats Protection gives severalRescue Cat of the Year awards. This year's long-distance travelwinner is an American cat. Well, probably.

Houston was about 6 months old when she arrived in Aberdeen,Scotland, in a cargo container after a six-week trans-Atlantic voyagethat began in Houston (hence her name), barely alive. No food, nowater. "She must have survived on condensation," the woman whoadopted her says. Vets put her on an IV drip and gave her artificialblood and she gradually recovered.

Cats Protection, which runs shelters and finds new homes forabandoned cats, gave the awards Wednesday night at a charity dinnerat London's Savoy Hotel. There are worse ways to spend your money.

Wanted: $6,000 shower curtain

And this may be one of them. Overheard among three people talkingoutside a new Lincoln Park brownstone: "So if they come back for the$12,000 bathtub, we have to delineate..."

The $12,000 bathtub? Obviously, there are difficult decisionsbeing made here.

Almost two years' tuition at U. of I. -- or the bathtub?

The Hyundai Accent -- or the bathtub?

Seats of higher learning

DePaul University has an ad on the spiffy bus shelter at Fullertonand Stockton.

"You deserve the kind of lumbar support found in upper managementchairs," it reads.

Future Dennis Kozlowskis of the greater Chicago area, take note.

Coffee klatsch

Starbucks held its annual meeting this week, kicking off the three-hour bash with Chairman Howard Schultz conducting a band ofpercussionists, one of whom was CEO Orin Smith on a big pair ofdrums.

Several of the company's executives sang and danced in skitsplayed on a large-screen projector.

Hope they had some of that upper-management-chair lumbar supportafter the show.

Anyway, the meeting also featured a live performance by EmmylouHarris -- whose favorite songs will be on an upcoming Starbucks CD --as well as acrobats.

That wasn't enough for a couple of shareholders, who groused thatthe company doesn't pay dividends. True, but its annual report didinclude a Starbucks card preloaded with $3.50 -- not enough for atotally frou-frou drink, maybe, but still nothing to sneeze at.

Start your day right

An Oregon food gift company is recalling nearly 8,000 packages ofbreakfast cookies because they contain undeclared almonds and pecansand pose a health risk to people with allergies.

The company removed raspberry chocolate "Up With the Sun BreakfastCookies" from stores.

First Pop Tarts, now breakfast cookies. Is it still the mostimportant meal of the day?

Lovely Spam, wonderful Spam

Or is the most important meal any meal that features Spam?

Wednesday was Spam Day in Minnesota (where Spam-maker Hormel isbased), thanks to state Rep. Jeff Anderson, who invited the Spamettesto serenade his fellow public servants.

And in the Philippines, Philip Abadilla has opened the world'sfirst Spam restaurant, Spamjam.

Everything on the menu has Spam in it (thanks, Monty Python)except for the french fries and hot dogs.

Hormel hopes to take the restaurant to other countries.

Contributing: AP, Bloomberg News

Brewers playing small ball // Milwaukee defying wisdom by staying in AL Central race

MILWAUKEE Before the White Sox have any large dreams about catchingthe Cleveland Indians, there's another small problem that must beaddressed first.

The problem is the small-market Milwaukee Brewers, whom - forsome reason - the Sox still don't seem to count in the AmericanLeague Central race.

It's almost as if the Brewers are an invisible nightmare, notthere because the Sox don't want them to be. Of course, the Indiansdon't want them hanging around their dreams, either.But what the Brewers are doing is reality.If there is indeed a two-team race in the Central, it is betweenMilwaukee and Cleveland, with the Sox serving as the afterthought.This sort of thing - small-market teams in contention inSeptember - isn't the way it is supposed to be in today's game.At least, that has been the favorite speech of actingcommissioner Bud Selig. Supposedly, Selig spoke from first-handknowledge, also being the owner of a baseball team - the MilwaukeeBrewers.Isn't it ironic that Selig pushed for revenue sharing and aluxury tax, meaning his team will receive some of the Indians' andSox' money at the end of the year?Maybe Selig's team can use the money to purchase some of theIndians' and Sox' free agents, creating the ultimate irony.But that's getting ahead of what is happening now. And what ishappening, for those who haven't looked, is that the Indians and Soxare making the Brewers look good. And smart.Consider that Albert Belle, Frank Thomas and Jaime Navarro makeas much money as the entire Milwaukee payroll.And consider that the Brewers have made their latest run withouttheir highest-paid player (John Jaha) and highest-paid pitcher (BenMcDonald), a combined $8 million worth of talent.Heck, Jerry Reinsdorf just traded away enough salary to equalabout half the Brewers' payroll.So how have the Brewers done this?Mostly with a collection of has-beens and hasn't-been-yets and amanager who rides a Harley-Davidson and is nicknamed Scrap Iron."One thing we've always done here," said the manager, PhilGarner, "is play hard and play with hope."You would think they need more than hope, considering former CubDoug Jones is their closer and former Sox and Indian Julio Franco istheir designated hitter.Both came to Milwaukee after being released."That's the fun part," Franco said of being in a pennant racesandwiched between the Indians and Sox. "We're winning. I like it."This is a great bunch of guys. They go about their business,have fun and play hard.""Good guys, young, full of energy," said Jones, who hadconverted 28 of 29 save opportunities entering a weekend seriesagainst the National League's surprise team, the Pittsburgh Pirates.Jones blew five of seven opportunities with the Cubs last year."This doesn't surprise me," Jones said of his success. "I'm notdoing anything different than I have in the past."Jones is playing for money usually reserved for third-yearplayers. Franco is playing the rest of this season for the proratedamount of the major-league minimum. But they are happy veterans."This is what you play for," Garner said. "Guys like money whenthey initially get it, but when you play above .500 and get in a racesomewhere, the game is fun."That's as close as Garner gets these days to saying anythingabout a pennant race. In fact, he held a team meeting and forbidanyone from discussing it after the Brewers took a recent nosedive.He figures a team so young is better off not having to deal with thepressure."I think we were looking at a pennant race," Garner said of thebad stretch. "We were trying to play those guys (the Sox andIndians) instead of who we were playing. Consequently, we playedcrappy."We were our own worst enemy. We weren't focusing on what weneeded to do, so I decided to eliminate all that stuff. You can't doanything about what Cleveland or Chicago is doing."But anyone who reads the standings in the daily newspaper . . ."Let's don't get in a conversation that says we're in a pennantrace," Garner said.So has the boycott worked?"We've been playing better since then," Garner says. "I don'tknow if that's it or not."Nobody is quite sure what it is, though the Indians and Soxcertainly have contributed. The truth is the Brewers are the onlyteam in the division that has played better than .500 since theAll-Star break.Can it continue?Well, of the Brewers' last 30 games (the Indians play 33 in thesame stretch), half of them are at home. They end the season with 11of their final 17 games at County Stadium.And that should be good news because they had the highest homewinning percentage in the American League entering the Pittsburghseries. Of course, that makes them among the worst road teams in theleague.They also have had huge mood swings, at times playing well andat times playing like they're in need of psychiatric help."Yeah, we're a case study," Garner said. "We're a Jekyll andHyde."We have not yet gotten to the point a veteran team gets towhere we can be more consistent. So we still get these wildswings."Chalk that up to inexperience. Take away Jones and Franco, andthe Brewers would be younger in average age than the Pirates. Theyalso have been injured, particularly their pitching staff.Just last week, rookie Steve Woodard had his season finishedwith injuries after going 3-2 in six starts. He had replaced injuredJeff D'Amico.No. 1 starter McDonald has been gone since late July, and hisreplacement, Bryce Florie, now has a sore shoulder.The Brewers need help."We're trying," general manager Sal Bando said of attempts toget more pitching. "Good pitching is tough to get. Other teamsaren't in the situation we're in where they have to make a move, sothey can ask for a lot (in a trade)."Gee, if all this had happened earlier, the Brewers might havebeen able to get Wilson Alvarez, Roberto Hernandez and Danny Darwin."If we had been 3 1/2 out and picked up Alvarez and Hernandez,it would have been a shot in the arm," Garner conceded, knowing fullwell his team never could have made that trade with the Sox.But they did almost make one just two weeks ago, when it wasagreed the Sox would send outfielder Dave Martinez for the stretchdrive. That's before the Sox realized they would be aiding andabetting an enemy suddenly ahead of them in the standings. Secondthoughts prevailed.So the Brewers will try to survive with their kids, whosupposedly aren't supposed to know they're in a pennant race.That's OK. Nobody else seems to notice, either. The Indiansworry about the Sox and the Sox worry about catching the Indians.And Wisconsin fans worry about the Packers.It's football season now, meaning it is time to prepare thecheese dip for Sunday afternoons in front of the television.Baseball should be over by now, or so it usually goes. Thus,only 13,065 and 10,886 showed up for midweek games against the TexasRangers.This pennant-race stuff might not last, but the small-marketBrewers have defied the large odds so far."These guys feel like they can beat anybody," said hitting coachLamar Johnson, who played for the '77 South Side Hit Men."This is a team," said pitching coach Don Rowe, who used to workfor the Sox back in the Larry Himes days. "Sometimes when you getbig payroll guys, you get individuals. For us to win, everybody hasto do the job."Big payrolls, obviously, have nothing to do with large dreams.

Pumpkin Hurl now has more than half-mile of room

This year's Pumpkin Hurl in Washington state now has more than a half-mile of space after a squash was tossed 1,866 feet last year.

The Northwest Agriculture Business Center has moved the event from Burlington to a Snohomish County farm with a 3,000-foot gourd firing range.

The sky will rain pumpkins Oct. 4. The center says at least seven teams from the West Coast and Canada will compete this year for prizes and bragging rights.

Defending champion TreBarbaric with be there with its 78-foot-tall pumpkin-pitching machine.

The pumpkin hurler is a war machine from the Middle Ages known as a trebuchet (treh-byoo-SHAY') _ a combination catapult and sling.

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On the Net:

http://www.festivalofpumpkins.org