Justin Logton, left, is the new manager at Renault dealer CityMotors' business centre on Whitby Road.
Mr Logton has run business fleet accounts in the South West forthe last three years and has a background in banking, IT recruitmentand business-tobusines sales.
Along with Peter Neale, the company's new nationa fleet businessspecialist, he will take care of business fleets for City Motors'national and local clients. …
ABSTRACT
Introduction: This paper examines secular trends in violence among Ontario students between 1983 and 2001, and variation by sex.
Methods: Using data from the Ontario Student Drug Use Survey, we examined self-reports of assault, weapon carrying, and gang fighting based on 10 cross-sectional surveys from 1983 to 2001. Respondents were derived from representative samples of Ontario students in grades 7, 9, 11, and 13 (OAC) who completed in-class anonymous self-administered surveys. Data were weighted to account for the complex survey design and analyzed using logit trend analyses.
Results: Short-term trends (1991-2001) showed assault, weapon carrying, and gang …
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says Iran's calls for Irael's destruction are "abhorrent" and that Britain will remain at the forefront of efforts to block Tehran's efforts to acquire nuclear arms.
He says Iran must either halt its nuclear program or face international isolation.
The British leader made the remarks to …
WASHINGTON - Terrorism at home and war abroad have affectedeverything from the toys Americans buy to the people they payattention to.
It has made volunteering in and lavish corporate holiday partiesout. Americans are opting for homey pursuits like renting movies andwhen they do venture out of town, it's not so far. They went tochurch in great numbers after the Sept. 11 attacks, but that surgeappears to be leveling off.
Things have been shaken up in government, too. Ideas once bandiedabout with passion have had to step back and take a number.
These days, many eyes are on the FBI, the law enforcement agency.Few eyes are on that other FBI - President Bush's …
NEW YORK (AP) — Dow Jones industrial average falls …
NASA workers facing the end of the space shuttle era are getting $15 million from the federal government to help them find new jobs.
Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis announced the emergency grant Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
She said the grant will assist about 3,200 workers who will be affected by …
OAKLAND, Calif. - In the last three regular seasons, the OaklandAthletics' good pitching consistently beat good hitting - and inOctober, the formula failed.
This season, the A's again have plenty of good pitching with TimHudson, Barry Zito and Ted Lilly. But those standout starters arefacing the Boston Red Sox - one of the most fearsome offensive teamsin baseball history.
"It's an interesting contrast between the two teams," Oaklandmanager Ken Macha said. "They have a tremendous offense, and we'regoing to have to try to stop that offense. We probably have thepitching to do it ... but the first round of the playoffs is short.Anything can happen."
Of course, …
Alessio Di Mauro believes he's being used as a scapegoat for the match-fixing scandals surrounding tennis and that his nine-month ban for betting is too severe.
"The sentence is too harsh," Di Mauro was quoted as saying in Sunday's Gazzetta dello Sport. "I made a silly mistake and I'm being punished excessively. I could go down in history as the only player banned for betting in tennis."
On Saturday, Di Mauro became the first player sanctioned under the ATP's new anti-corruption rules.
The 124th-ranked Italian was also fined US$60,000 (euro41,000) after being found guilty of making 120 bets with an online bookmaker from Nov. …
Chopin, Frédéric (-François)(actually, Fryderyk Franciszek), greatly renowned Polish composer, incomparable genius of the piano who created a unique romantic style of keyboard music; b. Zelazowa Wola, near Warsaw, in all probability on March 1, 1810, the date given by Chopin himself in his letter of acceptance of membership in the Polish Literary Soc. in Paris in 1833 (but in his certificate of baptism the date of birth is given as Feb. 22, 1810); d. Paris, Oct. 17, 1849. His father, Nicolas Chopin, was a native of Marainville, France, who went to Warsaw as a teacher of French; his mother, Tekla Justyna Krzyzanowska, was Polish. Chopin's talent was manifested in early childhood; at the age of eight, he played in public a piano concerto by Gyrowetz, and he had already begun to compose polonaises, mazurkas, and waltzes. He received his primary musical instruction from the Bohemian pianist Adalbert ywny, who resided in Warsaw at the time. A much more important teacher was Joseph Eisner, director of the Warsaw School of Music, who gave him a thorough instruction in music theory and form. Chopin was 15 years old when his Rondo for Piano was publ, in Warsaw as op.l. In the summer of 1829 he set out for Vienna, where he gave highly successful concerts on Aug. 11 and Aug. 18, 1829. While in Vienna, he made arrangements to have his variations on Mozart's aria Là ci darem la mano, for Piano and Orch., publ, by Haslinger as op.2. It was this work that attracted the attention of Schumann, who saluted Chopin in his famous article publ, in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of Dec. 7, 1831, in which Schumann's alter ego, Eusebius, is represented as exclaiming, "Hats off, gentlemen! A genius!" The common assumption in many biographies that Schumann "launched" Chopin on his career is deceptive; actually Schumann was some months younger than Chopin, and was referred to editorially merely as a student of Prof. Wieck. Returning to Warsaw, Chopin gave the first public performance of his Piano Concerto in F minor, op.21, on March 17, 1830. On Oct. 11, 1830, he was soloist in his Piano Concerto in E minor, op.11. A confusion resulted in the usual listing of the E-minor Concerto as first, and the F-minor Concerto as his second; chronologically, the composition of the F-minor Concerto preceded the E-minor. He spent the winter of 1830–31 in Vienna. The Polish rebellion against Russian domination, which ended in defeat, determined Chopin's further course of action, and he proceeded to Paris, visiting Linz, Salzburg, Dresden, and Stuttgart on the way. He arrived in Paris in Sept. 1831, and was introduced to Rossini, Cherubini, and Paër. He also met Bellini, Meyerbeer, Berlioz, Victor Hugo, and Heinrich Heine; he became particularly friendly with Liszt. Paris was then the center of Polish emigration, and Chopin maintained his contacts with the Polish circle there. He presented his first Paris concert on Feb. 26, 1832. He also taught the piano. The Paris critics found an apt Shakespearean epithet for him, calling him "the Ariel of the piano." In 1834 he went with Hiller to Germany, where he met Mendelssohn and Clara and Robert Schumann. In July 1837 he went with Pleyel to London. In 1836 he met the famous novelist Aurore Dupin (Mme. Dudevant), who publ, her works under the affected masculine English name George Sand. They became intimate, even though quite incompatible in character and interests. Sand was …
A fundraiser hosted by local organization Justice For Jeremy will be held at 6 p.m. May 4 at the restaurant Memphis Smoke in Royal Oak.
The purpose of the fundraiser is to help fund the private investigation into the murder of Jeremy Brent Waggoner, a well-known Royal Oak hairstylist who was brutally murdered in Detroit in 2008. The funds raised will also be used to build a reward fund.
Waggoner was a hairstylist at Michael Angelo Hair Salon in Royal Oak who lived with his partner of seven years in a home just east of Indian Village, Detroit. The 37-year-old openly gay man had the day off of work on June 9, 2008 and had just spoken to a co-worker in what was purported to be …
MCLEAN, Virginia (AP) — Capital One Financial Corp. says its second-quarter profit climbed 50 percent. The financial services company is also announcing a $2 billion stock offering.
The McLean, Va. company said Wednesday its net income rose to $911 million, or $1.97 per share, compared with $608 million, or $1.33 per share, a year ago.
Revenue for the period ended June 30 increased 2 percent to $3.99 …
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — A Mexican teacher is denying she locked a 7-year-old child inside a classroom for hours as punishment.
Teacher Zulema Garza says it was an accident. She says she didn't realize the boy was still inside the classroom in the city of Monterrey when she locked the door and went home Monday.
Garza spoke to TV Azteca on Wednesday, a few hours before state police officers took her in for questioning.
Police rescued the boy around midnight Monday, when they found him sleeping under the teacher's desk.
The boy's mother has filed a criminal complaint.
She says the teacher had abused her son at least once before by taping him to the legs of a desk.
A Carol Stream woman charged with the attempted murder of herstepdaughter has been segregated from other prisoners in the Du PageCounty Jail after a weekend altercation with another inmate, thecounty sheriff's police chief, Joseph Caulfield, said yesterday.
Catherine Hozian, 26, was threatened Saturday night, he said, bya second inmate, whom he refused to name, who told Hozian: "If I hada knife, I'd cut your head off."
Hozian and the other inmate were isolated in separate cells,Caulfield said, a move Hozian's attorney protested in a Wheatoncourtroom.
Schaumburg attorney James Driscoll told Du Page Circuit JudgeRobert A. Nolan that he plans to file a motion to ask that his clientbe removed from the isolated cell.
"My client is very distraught," Driscoll said. "I don't see whyshe has to be locked up when (the altercation) was initiated by theother inmate." He said he believed the altercation stemmed from "thenature of my client's charges."
Hozian's 7-year-old stepdaughter was found wandering along adesolate Du Page County road earlier this month. The girl reportedlytold police that Hozian had strangled her unconscious and left herfor dead in a nearby field.
Carpentersville police and Kane County authorities are alsoreinvestigating the 1982 death of the girl's 5-year-old brother,which was ruled at the time to be accidental.
America also has more deaths by guns in a single week than allof Western Europe has in a year. Yet gun lovers want us to believethere is no connection between our surplus of guns and our surfeit ofdeaths by the gun.
Gun numbers, we are told, do not matter - except when there aretoo few of them to guarantee our safety. How could the number ofguns matter when it is people who kill, not their weapons?Only in the surreal world of gun lobbyists could a person likeTanya Metaksa, the dragon lady of the NRA, actually liken her causeto that of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Come again? What is thepoint of this comparison? She answers: "It's not the kind of caryou're driving, but the person behind the wheel." But MothersAgainst Drunk Driving has nothing against cars. It is alcohol theyare blaming for deaths when people indulge in it before getting intothe cars.The true parallel to Mothers Against Drunk Driving would beSarah Brady's crusade, which might be called Wives Against CrazedGunmen.It is quite true that people kill, that the weapon itself isinnocent. We do not "execute" the weapon (as the ancient Greeks usedto do). But the people who kill are gun-crazy. They think guns areessential to their manhood, liberty, self-expression andself-determination. This has little, anymore, to do with hunting.One does not usually hunt with a handgun or an assault weapon.Other countries have no problem seeing the correlation betweenour gun mania (resulting in high gun ownership) and our gun deaths.They are trying to prevent the invasion of the American madness.That is why Britain recently banned all guns but .22-caliber ones.That is why the United Nations has set up a panel to study ways ofreducing "the excessive and destabilizing accumulation and transferof small arms" from country to country. The NRA is shocked by theseefforts. Metaksa has summoned Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) to intensifyhis hostility on all things the United Nations is up to.Her lobby gave money to activists trying to prevent the banningof guns in Australia and New Zealand. We complain about Chinesemoney being spent in our elections, but NRA money spent to influenceforeign governments' domestic legislation seems to be all right.Now, to show just how concerned it is, the NRA is setting up aninternational lobby. According to a report by Katharine Seelye, thiswill be called the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting.Sport is not at issue. Metaksa herself indirectly admits that whenshe says the international body will stand shoulder-to-shoulder withthe NRA "to defend the Second Amendment."There are only three things wrong with that:All those other countries are not subject to the U.S. Constitution,including our Second Amendment.The Second Amendment authorizes the government's militia; it hasnothing to do with hunting.Even if it had to do with hunting, the flow of handguns and assaultweapons would be outside its purview.Guns matter more than victims to gun worshippers, and the NRAwill not rest until all the world is killing itself with guns at thesame massive rate we Americans have achieved. Guns do not kill. Gunnuts do.Garry Wills is adjunct professor of history at NorthwesternUniversity and winner of numerous awards, including the PulitzerPrize.
Brazil's most industrialized state lost 10,000 jobs in October as the global financial crisis shook Latin America's largest economy, the nation's most influential business group said.
Following the announcement by the Sao Paulo Federation of Industries, Brazil's biggest real estate developer said Friday that it was putting off some apartment building projects and would cut an unspecified number of jobs in coming months.
The job losses for Sao Paulo state were the first registered for the month of October in five years, the federation said. Most affected were businesses that make leather products, shoes and furniture.
Brazil was enjoying an extended economic boom before the financial crisis hit in October. Since then, shares of big Brazilian companies and the nation's currency have been battered as foreign investors reduce holdings in favor of investments seen as safer in times of turmoil.
Real estate developer Cyrela Brazil Realty SA said its building project delays were directly related to the uncertainty about Brazil's economy because of the global slowdown.
The real estate sector has been one of Brazil's hottest in recent years, as droves of Brazilians getting bigger paychecks took advantage of easier credit terms to take out loans and buy apartments and houses.
But the global credit crunch has prompted lenders to reduce the amount of time buyers are given to pay off their loans. That's also affected purchases of everything from appliances to vehicles in the nation of nearly 190 million.
Major auto makers with big Brazilian operations have idled factories and sent workers home on paid vacation because of plummeting car sales.
A U.S. Marines commander said Wednesday his troops have killed 400 insurgents in southern Afghanistan since late April.
Col. Peter Petronzio, the commander of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, said the figure came from the governor of the southern Helmand province where his troops have been deployed since late April.
Some 2,200 U.S. Marines moved into the town of Garmser in Helmand province to clean the area of insurgents.
Helmand province is the world's largest opium poppy growing region, the main ingredient in heroin. It is also the area with the highest level of insurgent activity in the country.
After months of fighting around Garmser, Petronzio said the area is not yet secure but is more stable.
"The Taliban proved they wanted to fight for Garmser and we took the fight to them," he told a news conference in Kabul.
Petronzio said NATO and Afghan forces are committed to completing their mission in an area that is an important gateway for insurgent fighters smuggling weapons from Pakistan.
"If the Taliban are waiting for us to leave, they will have a very long wait," he said.
More than 2,100 people _ mostly militants _ have been killed in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan this year. More than 8,000 people died in attacks last year, according to the United Nations, the most since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
Last week the Pentagon announced it has extended the tour of the 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan, after insisting for months the unit would go home on time. The unit will stay an extra 30 days and go home in early November rather than October, officials said.
Papers stuffed into a drawer and forgotten could end up costingWest Virginia $20 million in lost tax revenue, state officials fear.
A lawyer for the Department of Revenue has asked the state SupremeCourt to consider waiving a rule that sets a 60-day deadline forcontesting rulings by the state's Office of Tax Appeals.
State revenue officials want to appeal the office's December 2003order that granted refunds requested by several coal companies. Withinterest, the refunds would total around $20 million.
But state officials missed the February 2004 deadline. The reason:a state Tax Division lawyer misfiled the adverse ruling when it wasfirst received.
"He put something in a file cabinet and he forgot about it,"Managing Deputy Attorney General Barbara Allen told the justicesTuesday.
Allen did not name the lawyer, but said he had been a 30-yeardivision employee who has since left state government.
"As far as I know it was the only mistake he made," Allen said."This was once-in-a-lifetime negligence."
The state Tax Division did not realize it had missed the deadlineuntil a lawyer for one of the coal companies phoned, 10 days after ithad expired, asking about the case.
Allen argued that such neglect by a lawyer for the state can befound excusable. Prior rulings have shown flexibility regarding suchthings as missed deadlines when the negligent lawyer's client was anindividual or business, she said.
"Here, there's no fail-safe mechanism, and I believe that probablyhas constitutional implications," Allen said. "It could have far-reaching effects on the public fisc."
Lawyers for the coal companies want the deadline upheld. A KanawhaCircuit judge ruled against the Tax Division in March, prompting theSupreme Court appeal.
But as the justices consider the division's appeal, a pendingSupreme Court case could render it moot. The refunds involve stateseverance taxes, which a group of coal companies have challenged asan illegal intrusion on interstate commerce. A ruling on thatchallenge is expected by year's end.
Michelle, e-mailANSWER: First, I would try in the neighborhood from shore on the FoxRiver. Below the dams from St. Charles to Montgomery has beenproductive. If you have a boat, the best now is probably Braidwood,south of Joliet. From shore or boat, the bass fishing is very goodat La Salle Lake, south of Seneca. You can rent a boat at La Salle(815) 357-1116, unless it's a windy day when the lake shuts down.Boat fishing for smallmouth has been decent at Heidecke Lake. Boatrental can be made at (815) 942-4000.
BILBAO, Spain (AP) — Athletic Bilbao midfielder Ander Herrera will undergo surgery after injuring his right knee in Sunday's game at Espanyol.
The Spanish club announced on Monday that Herrera will have surgery to repair cartilage on Tuesday, but did not say how long the 22-year-old playmaker is expected to be sidelined for.
Herrera helped Spain win the Under-21 European championship this summer.
The National League man thought for a moment, then answered:
"In the American League."
Why there, and not in the NL?
"In the National League, they're laying off his slider. In theAmerican, they haven't seen it. They'll swing at it, for a while."
He was talking about the famous Carlton hard slider that looksto the hitter like a fastball that will nick the corner of the plate,before it breaks out of the strike zone and leaves him swingingfoolishly. That is, it breaks out of the strike zone on one ofSteve's good days, when he is throwing hard. Other days, it justlays over the plate like a fat pheasant on the first day of huntingseason.
I went to Wrigley Field yesterday in search of answers to theCarlton question, because it became apparent "Lefty" would pausebriefly in his downhill slide and model a White Sox uniform beforeretiring for good and awaiting election to Cooperstown.
I talked to Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates, men who have seenCarlton in his prime and the way he is now. Because most playersdon't like to talk about the shortcomings of opponents, I tradedanonymity for frankness. The testimony was mixed.
"Not throwing good at all," said a Cub who has watched Carlton for many years. "He's lost the velocity. There's no bite on hisslider. He can't strike anybody out with it any more." Another Cubsaid neither fastball nor slider were thrown with the old zip whenthe Cubs hammered Carlton June 16 in Wrigley Field. Both had to beeffective for Carlton to win, he said.
A Cub official said Steve's "fastball" had been clocked at 80m.p.h. his last time out with San Francisco, before the Giants talkedhim into "retiring" so they could fill his spot on the roster with ayounger pitcher. However, a Pittsburgh coach said the speed had beena respectable 86 and 87 July 26, the last time the Pirates saw Lefty,"but he can't do that consistently any more. He shut Pittsburgh outfor seven innings that day and beat them.
Four Cub hitters who have faced him many times felt Carltonstill could pitch, but two added qualifications. Steve's mechanicswere messed up when the Phillies released him June 26, one Cub said. "If he gets his mechanics back, he can still pitch." Anotherwondered if Carlton's rotator cuff, a problem last year, was entirelysound. ("He can pitch if he's healthy.")
When the story broke the Sox were serious about picking up boththe 41-year-old Carlton and 37-year-old George Foster, just dumped bythe New York Mets, a clever headline writer on this newspaper taggedthe news: "Sox explore fossil fuel." Indeed, it is easy to jump tothe conclusion Ken "Hawk" Harrelson has abandoned the youth movementof recent weeks and is trying to rub dry old bones together and starta fire in the remainder of 1986.
The "Hawk" wouldn't talk about these signings yesterday, becausewaivers wouldn't clear on these geezers until today and Detroit alsowas interested in Foster. But someone in the Sox hierarchy insistedthis sudden reverence for age was deceiving. "Have you looked at ourDL lately?" he asked, indicating Harrelson was just trying to survivethe recent decimation of his team by injuries.
To be sure, with Greg Walker, Bob James and Neil Allen disabled,it is time to patch the ship with any driftwood that floats by. Only the cheeriest optimistwould say the Sox remain in the championship race in the AL West, butneither California nor Texas is the 1927 Yankees, so they might stillmake it interesting if Carlton and Foster have enough breath left tofog a mirror. More realistically, the signing of these codgers wouldgive the appearance the Sox management had not thrown in the towel,and might lure curiosity seekers and paleontologists to Comiskey Parkin the weeks remaining. The Sox still have young pitchers of promise on their AAA roster inBuffalo. Bringing them up would seem more in tune with a youthmovement than signing Carlton. But Harrelson would rather let themripen for 1987. Though he promoted Bob Thigpen from AA Birmingham inthis emergency, he prefers not to serve youngsters to major leaguehitters before their time.
At the same time, Harrelson reportedly was using some of hispitching prospects to bait his hook for a deal with Montreal forAndre Dawson. A Dawson deal would make more sense than the signingof Carlton or Foster, though Andre, too, is getting long in the toothat 32. Dawson remains an excellent player and could supply punch theSox have missed since the decline of Greg Luzinski and Ron Kittle.Andre could restore badly needed star quality the Sox now lack.
Dawson's bum knee would last longer on Chicago's real grass thanon Montreal's artificial turf. Who would be squeezed out of the Soxoutfield? Harold Baines may be the best right fielder in the game,and that is Dawson's position. Daryl Boston or John Cangelosi wouldhave to make room.
The imminent arrival of Carlton and maybe Foster raises thequestion again of whether athletes know when they are through. Oneveteran Cub told me he was sure Carlton still could pitch, becauseSteve himself said so. He would be too proud, this Cub theorized, tomake a fool of himself and try to stay around beyond his time.
I don't believe that. Most athletes have to be told when it istime to go. The Phillies and Giants have tried to tell Carlton.Since Pete Rose is his own manager, it has remained for him to lookinto the mirror and tell himself. At 45, that truth is dawning onhim.
The numbers are there to be read, Carlton's 5.89 earned-runaverage and Rose's .204 batting average. I doubt any of us want tosee this pair linger on stage until they are hooted off. We'd rathertheir images live brightly in our memories as they were, two of thevery best who ever played.
President Bush was not only ratifying Bill Clinton's edicts inlast week's run-up to Earth Day. Free market activists who considerthemselves allies were told to sit down and shut up about thegreening of the new president.
Fred Smith, president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute,found that out. He and other conservatives have tried to keep Bushfrom appeasing environmentalists, getting him to renege on hiscampaign promise to regulate industrial emissions of carbon dioxide.But Smith has lost favor at the White House. Bush politicalstrategist Karl Rove personally accused him of peddling falseinformation that carbon dioxide emissions control was advocated in anearly draft of Bush's first speech to Congress. Rove also chidedSmith's organization for bragging about changing the president'sposition.
Sniping at allies typifies how far off track the Bush White Househas been on the environment in contrast to its generally competentperformance. Lack of preparedness for the left's assault when Bushbegan to roll back Clinton's 11th-hour rulings was followed by lastweek's dash for the green bandwagon.
Having suspended tougher regulations on arsenic levels in waterwithout proper explanation, the president reversed course. Hecontinued even after Earth Day, this week ratifying Clinton's ban onsnowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. Theappearance of retreat in the face of negative polls looked more likethe failed presidency of the senior George Bush than Ronald Reagan'ssuccessful tenure.
Last week's rush toward Earth Day peaked Thursday at the WhiteHouse Rose Garden in an event that bordered on parody. Flanked bySecretary of State Colin Powell and Environmental Protection Agencyadministrator Christie Whitman, the president announced he will signa dubious Clinton-drafted treaty banning toxic chemicals anddeclared: "Now a Republican administration will continue and completethe work of a Democratic administration. This is the wayenvironmental policy should work."
More than rhetoric disappointed Bush supporters. Approval ofClinton's regulation on reporting lead content that will burdenBush's small-business constituency was fiercely opposed by the SmallBusiness Administration in an April 9 memo to the EPA: "We cannotrecall in more than three decades of reviewing environmentalregulations a more egregious example of a total disregard of thescience."
Bush's OK of the Clinton edict barring development of wetlandsangered the National Association of Home Builders, which plans to goto court against it. Joining in that lawsuit will be the NationalFederation of Independent Business, an integral part of the Bushcoalition in last year's campaign.
Conservative business organizations and think tanks are not onlyunhappy with the substance of Bush's turnaround but feel they havebeen cut out of the process and cannot adequately express theirviews. In Congress, Republicans complain that the administration hasdevastated their strategy for coping with Clinton's leftoverregulations.
Green activists who never have a good word for Bush's policies arefinding entrance into the White House easier for them than for thepresident's friends. John Howard, a Democrat who advises Bush on theenvironment in Washington as he did in Austin, recently brought tothe White House an ardent supporter of the Kyoto global warmingaccord previously repudiated by the president: Eileen Claussen of thePew Center on Global Climate Change. Were they cooking up Bush'sforthcoming proposals on global warming?
Howard is the likely source of Bush's ecologically extreme embraceof regulating carbon dioxide industrial emissions in last autumn'scampaign speech at Saginaw, Mich. (not some anonymous interloper, assuggested by top Bush aides). Just how sincere the president is inhis disavowal of the speech was cast in doubt last weekend, whenWhitman told me on CNN that Bush reneged on carbon dioxide onlybecause opposition to it would endanger his proposed control of otherindustrial emissions.
Nobody has yet won or lost the presidency on the environment, butBush's performance exposes a political vulnerability. The assault onhis pro-economic growth positions generated polls showing troubleamong suburban swing voters, which in turn led to his abandonment offriends and appeasement of enemies.
New York City has set a record for the snowiest month in its history.
The National Weather Service says the slow-moving storm that blanketed Central Park with nearly 21 inches (533 millimeters) of snow has made this February the snowiest month in the city's history.
Pete Wichrowski of the National Weather Service says 20.9 inches (53 centimeters) of snow fell from the storm in Central Park, pushing the city's total for the month to 36.9 inches (94 centimeters) and easily beating the previous high of 30.5 inches (77 centimeters), set in March 1896. It also topped the previous high for the month of February, 27.9 inches (71 centimeters) in 1934.
The National Weather Service has been keeping records since 1869.
Chinese shares were mixed Monday amid fears the year's biggest initial public offering might depress the market by flooding it with new shares.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index shed 33.38 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 3,080.56 while the Shenzhen Composite Index for China's smaller second exchange edged up 0.4 percent to 1047.07.
Investors were unnerved by the weekend announcement that regulators have approved a 42.6 billion yuan ($6.2 billion) IPO by China State Construction Engineering Corp.
"The China Construction offering was so big that it made investors uneasy," said Zhou Lin, an analyst for Huatai Securities in the eastern city of Nanjing.
Investors also were skittish after Friday's report that Chinese trade fell for an eighth straight month in June, even though the decline was less severe than in May.
"Although the decline of trade narrowed, after all it was a fall," Zhou said.
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., China's biggest commercial lender, fell 1.5 percent to 5.16 yuan. Bank of China Ltd. lost 2 percent to 4.42 yuan, while China Construction Bank Ltd. withered 2.1 percent to 6.03 yuan.
Oil stocks fell after crude dropped below $60 per barrel in Asia.
PetroChina Co., Asia's biggest oil and gas producer, lost 0.9 percent to 14.43 yuan, while China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. gave up percent to yuan.
China Eastern Airlines Corp. and Shanghai Airlines Co. both surged 5.1 percent following an announcement that China Eastern will acquire the smaller carrier. China Eastern rose to 5.60 yuan, and Shanghai Airlines to 6.22 yuan.
In currency markets, the yuan strengthened to 6.8322 to the U.S. dollar, up from Friday's close of 6.8325.
The U.N. nuclear agency has approved technical aid for Syria despite suspicions that the country had a secret atomic program that could be used to make weapons.
The decision appeared to be a defeat for the U.S. and its allies. They called for rejection of the package meant to help Syria set up a power-producing reactor.
Western critics expressed their concerns about the deal in the text that approved it after three days of deadlock.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is probing allegations that Syria had a covert program. It has said that intelligence reports indicate that a site bombed by Israel last year was a nuclear reactor. Washington says the facility was almost completed and ready to produce plutonium, a fissile warhead component.
Frosty's Chevron, the little gas station in downtown Charlestonwith full-service pumps and free air for your tires, is closing.
Marvin Gray said high gas prices didn't get him down.
It's just time to retire.
"I'm just worn out," said Gray, 64.
Gray has leased and run the station and repair shop at the cornerof Washington Street East and Brooks Street since 1996. But he'sbeen in the gas station business for almost 40 years. He ran ahandful of stations in Huntington and Kanawha City and has served asexecutive director of the West Virginia Gasoline Dealers and AutoRepair Association since 1975.
He also runs a car parts company and an insurance agency inHuntington, where he lives.
"A 16-hour day is not unusual for me," he said.
This week at the gas station near the Clay Center, customers wholearned the place was closing all had a similar reaction.
"I'm going to be so sad to see it go," said Rebecca McDonald, ofCharleston.
McDonald said she'd just moved to the city a few years ago whenher car broke down.
"This was the only place I knew and they helped me out," shesaid. "I've always liked it because you could bring your car in andstill be able to walk around downtown."
Gray almost has a built-in clientele at the station. Many of hisregular customers work at Charleston Area Medical Center's GeneralHospital, which is right across the street, and at the post officeand Department of Health and Human Resources building just a fewblocks over.
He also has several dozen contracts to provide automotive repairsfor local businesses.
"That's the thing that's hardest about this," he said. "A lot ofour customers say they don't know what they're going to do."
Frosty's - set to close Oct. 9 - is one of a dying breed.
Gray said "hundreds of people" still drive up to his full-service pump and pay extra to get their tanks filled.
"There are a lot of people who really don't like to do itthemselves, and there aren't many places where you can get thisanymore," Gray said.
And in addition to the free air - only a handful of stationsaround Kanawha County don't make customers pay to pump up theirtires - Frosty's offers some other perks.
For quite some time, Gray has been giving out free bottles ofwater with every 8-gallon purchase of gas.
It's just one way he tried to keep customers coming back as fuelprices skyrocketed.
Gray has been through enough ups and downs to know what works.
He got into the business in 1971, after wrapping up a 10-yearcareer in the Marines and two tours in Vietnam.
"Back then, being in the service station business was kind oflike the American dream," Gray said.
When he got out of the Marines, the McDowell County native wentto the Huntington College of Business.
He'd only been running his first gas station for about four yearswhen he took the job as executive director of the gas dealers'association, which reorganized itself in 1975.
Since then he's tried to help his colleagues cope with all thechanges, from oil embargos in the '70s to the price panic the pastfew years.
Still, many of his friends and competitors, faced with decliningprofits, have already closed their doors.
Having the repair shop on site helped out financially, Gray said.
He was able to keep up with bookkeeping at his three businessesuntil 2004 when his business partner, Rick Lester, died at 51 aftera battle with cancer.
Gray said he cut hours at Frosty's some time ago, downsizing hisstaff from three to two mechanics: Billy Harding, 43, and Don Baley,62.
Gray praises them as perfect workers, and they're veterans of thebusiness.
Baley has been at Frosty's for almost 20 years, and he's planningto retire soon, Gray said.
Harding said he's had six or seven offers from other employerssince they learned Frosty's will close.
He's not sure yet which one he'll accept. Right now, he said he'sfocused mostly on telling customers goodbye.
"You do business with these people time after time, for years,"Harding said. "You see them so often, it's like some of them arefamily. I'm gonna miss them."
Harding has worked at Frosty's for 28 years, under the originalowner Harold "Frosty" Canter.
Gray bought the shop from Canter's widow, who let him keep the"Frosty's" name.
He doesn't own the property or the gas pumps - he leases them -and he said the owners aren't sure yet what they'll do with theplace.
Gray already has sold off all the car repair equipment to aHuntington shop.
When he gets settled into retirement, he plans to spend more timewith his family, which is spread across the country. He and his wifeof 30 years, Rose Marie, have six children and 11 grandchildrenbetween them.
He said he hopes Frosty's always will be remembered as more thanjust a gas station.
"We tried really hard to keep that old image," he said. "It was aservice station."
Contact writer Kris Wise Maramba at kriswise@dailymail.com or 304-348-1244.
NEW YORK (AP) — The cast of "Glee" could be planning a Michael or Janet Jackson tribute — that's if one of the stars of the TV musical show, Amber Riley, can get her way.
"I think it would be prolific for us to do Janet Jackson," said Riley, who stars as divalike glee club member Mercedes Jones.
Riley also said a tribute to the King of Pop is overdue.
"We did a mini tribute to Michael Jackson, but we really want to do a full tribute to Michael Jackson because his music is so timeless, so we really want to touch (on) that," she said.
The cast's sixth CD, "Glee: The Music, Vol. 5," will be out on Tuesday. It will feature covers of Michael's "Thriller" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)," as well as the original songs "Loser Like Me" and "Get It Right," a first for the Grammy-nominated act.
Adam Anders, the show's executive music producer, is more interested in covering "some ABBA because I'm Swedish."
"That would be a lot of fun (and I) love the harmonies," he said.
Anders also said it "would be really cool" to remake the 1983 No. 1 song "Africa" from rock group Toto.
The cast of the Fox TV series will kick off a 16-city North American tour on May 21 through June 18; they'll tour Europe for five dates in late June. The cast currently leads with most songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with 120 entries.
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Online:
http://www.fox.com/glee
http://www.gleethemusic.com/us/home
"You gay kids are a lot of laughs. Thanks for the invite to celebrate our jointly shared June 19th birthday. I turn 39 this year," winks Sr. Serena Scatterpin, Renegade Sisters of Mary. "Born on the cusp."
"How old are you, Ron? You don't look a day over 40. And what better proof ofthat: you're blushing. Goes fashionably well with your designer paisley shirt, tactfully open to show a curlicue or two of chest hair," coos Sister, sipping her second Gin & Tonic, taste enhanced with a naughty slice of cucumber.
"Old fogies like Charles don't blush. Although God knows he needs to. For old time's sake. It's sad. Blushing these days is a lost art. Blame it on gay pride parades, …
A congressional official says the Energy Department is lending $5.9 billion to Ford Motor Co. and providing about $2.1 billion in loans to Nissan Motor Co. and Tesla Motors Inc. from a $25 billion fund to develop fuel-efficient vehicles.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu was announcing the first loan recipients Tuesday at Ford's Research and Innovation Center in Dearborn, Michigan.
The loans to Ford will help the …
ST. GEORGE, Utah - The leader of a polygamous sect insisted a 14-year-old girl surrender her "mind, body and soul" to an older cousin, despite her objections to being married, a prosecutor said Thursday.
Warren Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is charged with rape by accomplice in the case. As his trial opened, prosecutors said he told the girl she risked salvation if she refused to enter a religious union with her 19-year-old cousin.
The girl first had sex with her cousin months after their ceremonial marriage in a Nevada motel, Washington County prosecutor Brock Belnap said. When she later complained to Jeffs, he replied: …
WEAVERVILLE -- A slowing economy and less demand for compact discs, digital videodiscs and cassettes has forced Sonopress Corp., which …
Byline: Associated Press
CONCORD, N.C. - Ryan Newman dominates qualifying at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Jimmie Johnson dominates the races.
The pair will start on the front row in the Bank of America 500.
Newman captured his seventh career pole at the track when he knocked Johnson off the top spot with a speed of 189.394 mph in qualifying Thursday night.
Johnson, who has won five of the past 12 races at LMS, will start second after a lap of 188.990 for Saturday night's race, which marks the halfway point in the Chase for the Nextel Cup championship.
Bobby Labonte qualified third, followed by points leader Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne and …
With his office finally restored after a failed uprising by hardliners, Boris Yeltsin has every reason to steer his country toward stable, democratic government. It's the one sure way to let the Russian people, not old-line communists, decide their future.
Yet Mr. Yeltsin is lately showing a disturbing, undemocratic side to his nature -- one that communist tyrants would no doubt look upon with approval. He has banned Russia's highest tribunal, the Constitutional Court, on the grounds that it had played a "negative and collaborationist role" in the uprising. His move was retribution for the court's ruling against his decree dissolving the parliament that had …
A layer of ice and nearly a foot of snow made some Nebraska highways treacherous Tuesday, part of a storm system that also interfered with Minnesota schools.
The National Weather Service posted winter weather advisories covering sections of Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and northern Iowa.
The Nebraska Department of Roads reported no highway closures Tuesday but warned of icy conditions in southwest Nebraska.
Chase County emergency manager Paul Kunnemann said he and his wife had driven back to their home in Imperial, in the state's southwest corner, late Monday from Colorado.
"There was ice underneath the snow," Kunnemann …
Now that George W. Bush is firmly president, it might be worthasking why. The paradox of election 2000, as this column has noted,is that a Republican was handed the White House by the bestpresidential result for the left since 1964. In other words, thecombined vote of Al Gore and Ralph Nader came to 52 percent of thepopular vote-compared with Bill Clinton, who never won an actualmajority of voters, and to Jimmy Carter, who managed a technicalknock-out of 50.01 percent.
What explains this leftward swing in the electorate? There seem tobe three possible explanations. The first is that the voters havechanged their values. David Brooks pointed out in the Weekly Standardthat …
Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany) and Praxair are jointly developing semiconductor processing materials, beginning with gases and wet chemicals for copper circuit board interconnects. The companies are sharing …
BRIDLINGTON Town were today held at home 1-1 by Kidsgrove Athletic.
The Seasiders looked to be on course to take maximum points until …
Byline: John D. McClain Associated Press
Consumer spending posted its largest increase in three years in 1989, the government said Monday, and analysts said robust incomes should result in continued purchasing strength in the first quarter of 1990.
The Commerce Department said spending totaled $3.47 trillion, a 7.3 percent gain over 1988 and the sharpest advance since a 6.1 percent increase in 1986.
At the same time, it said personal incomes rose 9 percent to $4.43 trillion last year, up from 7.6 percent in 1988 and the fastest advance since rising 9.5 percent in 1984.
"You look at those numbers and you kind of wonder why everybody was …
A wax museum on the Las Vegas Strip is unveiling a statue of President Barack Obama in a replica of the Oval Office just in time for Monday's Presidents Day holiday in the U.S.
The display was …
LONDON - A jury that convicted four men of plotting to bomb London's public transport system on July 21, 2005, was dismissed Tuesday after failing to reach a verdict against two other defendants.
Judge Adrian Fulford told the jury of nine women and three men on Monday that he would accept 10-2 majority verdicts on Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 34, and Adel Yahya, 24. He dismissed the jury after less than two hours of deliberations on Tuesday.
Asiedu and Yahya did not react as the judge dismissed the jury.
Authorities believe the failed attacks on three subway trains and a double-decker bus were a deliberate echo of the suicide bombings that killed 52 passengers on the …
Multi-pane windows, columns, a rectangular transom and an arch over the the entry door lend refinement to this three-bedroom home. Inside, the sunken great room creates a charming first impression. A solarium with yard access and a computer center are just two of the touches on this plan.
SPECS
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THE Lounge Bar in Lansdowne Road, Bridlington, is holding a Women Vs Drag Charity Night tonight.
All men must wear women's clothing, ball gowns if possible, and all women must wear the same.
The …
Byline: KURT WACHENHEIM Colonie
Never mind about Saddam Hussein's nuclear warheads and biological weapons which can doom mankind. What the world really wants to know is this: Whom …
Home prices rose in May for the second straight month as federal tax incentives pulled more buyers into the market.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index released Tuesday posted a 1.3 percent increase in May from April.
Nineteen of 20 cities showed price gains month over month. Only Las Vegas recorded a price decline.
The gains underscore the …
Although human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is considered a sexually transmitted infection, it can also be transmitted by non-sexual routes including perinatal transmission, autoinoculation and heteroinoculation and, possibly, indirect transmission via fomites.1-3 Acquisition of maternal genital HPV infection by infants at birth has been proposed by several researchers.2,4,5 Newborn babies are exposed to maternal cervical HPV infection which persists for at least six months.5 Neonatal infections are predominantly of HPV types 16 and 18 and persist in the neonatal genital area as well as in their oral cavity. In a study by Cason et al.5 the transmission rate of infection from …
Bellco CU has signed an ATM outsourcing pact with Diebold, which will include upgrading its ATMs for enhanced deposit automation functionality.
The outsourcing agreement calls for Diebold to provide end-to-end solutions and services including deposit automation, cash handling, currency management, ATM maintenance service and software deployment. The partnership provides a single point of contact for Bellco's ATM delivery channel, allowing the credit union to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and trim administrative requirements.
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Boogeyman From ``Carrie'' to his new online publication ``Riding the Bullet,'' Stephen King has given America the willies for more than a quarter of a century. An auto accident last summer almost did to the author what assorted beasties have always done to his imperiled characters. Luckily, he'll be around to watch himself profiled on A&E's ``Biography'' at 8 tonight.
Teeny bopping If you know someone whose age is in the upper single digits, or maybe a bit higher, there's no ignoring the fact that Britney Spears is performing at the Pepsi Arena at 7:30 tonight. It's a pretty safe bet she'll be belting out her eminently danceable hit `` ... Baby One More Time,'' as …
Australian Open head-to-head matchups:
Men's Final
Roger Federer (1) vs. Andy Murray (5)
Murray leads 6-5
2005 Bangkok, F, hard-indoor, Federer, 6-3, 7-5.
2006 Cincinnati, R32, hard-outdoor, Murray, 7-5, 6-4.
2008 Dubai, R32, hard-outdoor, Murray, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4.
2008 U.S. Open, F, hard-outdoor, Federer, 6-2, 7-5, 6-2.
2008 Madrid, SF, hard-indoor, Murray, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
2008 Tennis Masters Cup, RR, hard-indoor, Murray, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5.
2009 Doha, SF, hard-outdoor, Murray, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-2.
2009 Indian Wells, SF, hard-outdoor, Murray, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
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September 15-19: Compu Expo '93, a major trade fair for the local computer industry, Dominicana Fiesta Hotel, Santo Domingo, Dominican …
In a clinical trial at Duke University Medical Center, researchers are testing the use of high-intensity sound waves to treat early-stage prostate cancer. The nonsurgical technique, which is widely used in Europe, is not FDA-approved for use in the U.S.
The purpose of the trial is to test the safety and effectiveness of the technique, called high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), as the initial treatment in men with newly-diagnosed, localized prostate cancer. Researchers will compare the technique with cryotherapy, a common treatment that involves freezing the prostate gland.
According to Christopher Schneider, president of medical devices at HealthTronics, Inc., the company sponsoring the clinical trial, different types of HIFU technology have been tested in clinical trials at Indiana University School of Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, Baylor College of Medicine, and the University of …
