VOL. 40 NO.VOL. 40 NO. 19 WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011

FREE TREE GIVEAWAYS THROUGHOUT THE BORO - PG. 2 NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION

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VOL. 40 NO. 19 WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011

Final

CITY COUNCIL PAYS TRIBUTE TO DR. HOOKER

A 96-year-od Black woman who survived an epic race riot and went on to become the first Black woman in the U.S. Coast Guard was honored by the City Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus for her achievements. Dr. Olivia Hooker was

greeted with a standing ovation in the Council Chambers as she was presented with a City Council Proclamation during a ceremony that was emotional at times. Photo: William Alastriste.

SEE PAGE 3.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011

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NEWS BRIEFS POLICE INVESTIGATE HATE SYMBOL NEAR QUEENS SCHOOL Police are investigating after a noose was found near a Queens school Wednesday.

The hate symbol could be seen hanging from a tree branch in front of a row of apartment buildings in Howard Beach.

The tree is located across the street from the Walter Ward School.

Some residents said that despite the neighborhood’s history of racial tension, things have been getting better. Others, though, say it doesn’t make the image any less disturbing.

“It means that I’m not safe. I mean anyone can come and do the same thing to me,” said one Howard Beach resident.

“Yeah it bothers me. In front of a school or anywhere,” said another.

“That’s disgusting. I see it. It’s a lynchman, a hangman’s noose. I would never think that would happen in this neighborhood,” said a third.

School officials could not say if there was a noose and that no one at the school saw anything.

According to the Department of Education, when the principal heard about it, she went to the location, but there was nothing there.

She said no student was outdoors due to the inclement weather so no one from the school saw it.

The investigation is ongoing.

CENSUS FINDS CITY POPULATION HITS 8.175 MILLION Data from the 2010 U.S. Census shows that the city’s population has reached 8.175 million – a record high.

The 2000 Census showed a population of 8.008 million.

However, the number is far below City Hall’s estimate of 8.4 million.

Numbers released in December showed the state’s total population rose over the past decade to about 19.5 million people.

Some upstate cities saw sharp population decline in the past 10 years. Buffalo’s population, according to the Census, fell 11 percent.

Although it’s taken only once every decade, the Census provides vital information for each of the 50 states. Population information is used by officials to redraw federal and state legislative voting districts, and determine how many representatives are sent to Washington, D.C. Based on the new numbers, New York will be sending 27 representatives to the capitol – down from 29 – for its lowest level in more than 180 years.

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Free tree giveaways throughout the boro

Spring has sprung and despite the temperatures, the borough’s about to blossom starting with the more than 1,000 trees that will be given away to anyone who has a place to plant them.

The free trees are part of the plan to plant one million new trees throughout the city by 2017. The project is the result of a public-private partnership between the city’s parks department and the New York Restoration Project.

“Trees provide invaluable benefits to the city and its residents,” said one project official. “They give us shade

in hot summer months, clean our air and water and encourage neighborhood revitalization.”

The free trees may be planted anywhere, from private yards to community centers, as long as owners approve. Yes! Instructions are included. Each tree will come with directions on how to best take care of it.

There will be a total of six tree giveaways in Brooklyn. The first takes place Saturday at the Putnam Triangle, the intersection of Putnam Ave. and Fulton Street, from 10 a.m. until noon.

Other tree giveaways will take place: — April 16, Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25th Street, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

— April 23, Bed-Stuy Restoration Corp., 1368 Fulton St., 1 p.m.-3 p.m.

— May 7, Holy Cross Church School yard, 2530 Church Ave., noon-2 p.m.

— June 4, Blessed Sacrament Church, 198 Euclid Ave., 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Jury selection in Michael Jackson death case

By ALAN DUKE LOS ANGELES — The judge in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray (right), accused of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson’s death, will launch an investigation into how celebrity news websites obtained questionnaires being used to select a jury.

Still, Judge Michael Pastor said Thursday one website that has a “banner, bold headline indicating it has a copy of the questionnaire” does not have the real thing.

“Not one of the questions posted online is part of this court’s questionnaire — not one,” Pastor said. “It is bogus.”

As lawyers in the case gathered in his courtroom Thursday morning to begin jury selection, Pastor said he would meet with them later in the morning to start his inquiry into the potential leak of the questionnaire.

He had ordered the document sealed until all potential jurors had filled it out and handed it back to the court. The judge said he was concerned about “the potential for mischief that happens, and the real potential for skewing information and impacting juries with areas of concern that they feel they might have to answer a certain way.”

Elevator troubles in the aging courthouse delayed the start of jury selection, with the judge moving his court to the jury assembly room on another floor.

“Because of the elevator situation, we had a lot people running late,” Pas-

tor said.

When the judge asked the 159 potential jurors to raise a hand if they have never heard of the Murray case, two indicated they had not.

Pastor then introduced Murray to the jury pool.

“Good morning, ladies and gentleman,” Murray said as he stood before the people who will decide his fate.

“Good morning,” many of them said in response.

The potential jurors were given a three-page form to complete to determine if they are “hardship qualified.”

Those who swear that their jury service, which is estimated to last 45 days, could cost them their jobs or otherwise be a hardship will be excused, the judge said.

The judge wants to select a pool of 85 to 100 “hardship qualified” potential jurors who would return on May 4 for the final jury selection process.

Until then, lawyers will pour over their answers to the 160 written questions to decide which potential jurors they would want — or not want — to decide the case.

Opening statements and testimony are expected to begin around May 4, with the trial estimated to conclude around July 1, Pastor said.

Murray was Michael Jackson’s personal physician when the pop star died on June 25, 2009, from what the coroner ruled was propofol intoxication. Murray has acknowledged administering propofol, a surgical anesthesia, to Jackson to help him sleep as he was preparing for his “This Is It” comeback tour, which was set to start in London in July 2009.

Murray, who remains free on $75,000 bail, entered a not guilty plea at his arraignment in January.

“Your honor, I am an innocent man,” Murray said at the time.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011

3

City Council pays tribute to Dr. Olivia Hooker A 96-year-od Black woman who survived an epic race riot and went on to become the first Black woman in the U.S. Coast Guard was honored by the City Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus for her achievements.

Dr. Olivia Hooker was greeted with a standing ovation in the Council Chambers as she was presented with a City Council Proclamation during a ceremony that was emotional at times.

“She almost brought some council members to tears,” said East New York Councilman Charles Barron, who presented the proclamation. He also described how East Flatbush Councilman Jumani Williams knelt and kissed Dr. Hooker’s hand.

“She commanded so much respect and passion,” Barron added.

Dr. Hooker was six years old when race riots broke out in her hometown, Tulsa, Ok., in May 1921. The rioting was centered in the city’s Greenwood area, known at the time as the “Black Wall Street” because of the prosperity its 10,000 residents enjoyed.

In less than 24 hours, the commu-

nity was destroyed by whites, some using airplanes to bomb homes and businesses. Death toll estimates range up to 300.

Recalling the riot, Dr. Hooker said in a recent interview, “We lost everything. Everything was down to just bricks and rock.”

For the past several years, Dr. Hooker has spoken out for reparations for those who survived the riot.

In testimony before a U.S. Houses Judiciary Committee, she said, “The injustices we suffered the two days of the riot and the injustices we suffered after the riot when insurance companies failed to pay riot victims for their losses and when court officials summarily threw out our riot victims cases are a blot on Tulsa’s image that have not been erased to today.”

In 1945, Dr. Hooker became the first Black woman to join the Coast Guard. During World War II, she was rejected by the Navy because of her race. She remained in the Coast Guard until 1946.

Photo: William Alastriste

Watchdog: NYC public retirees should pay health premiums

By JOAN GRALLA New York City should require its retired public employees to pay for Medicare Part B premiums — the way all but four states do — instead of fully reimbursing them, according to a report released on Wednesday by a fiscal watchdog group.

New York City, like many of its metropolitan brethren, switches its retirees to the federal Medicare program from the city’s plans when they qualify at age 65.

But the city’s cost of Medicare Part B premiums, which pay for out-ofhospital needs, for example, will hit $2.2 billion by 2015 — a 150 percent increase over a decade, according to a report by the Citizens Budget Commission.

Noting that New York state public

workers have had to pay for part of their health insurance premiums since the 1980s, the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan research group and fiscal watchdog, said in a report: “If retirees paid for half the cost of their premiums, the City would save $620 million in the current year, growing to over $870 million by 2014.”

Many states and cities around the nation, struggling with deficits caused by the recession, are trying to balance their budgets by pruning the costs of their unionized work forces.

This has sparked heated clashes in Wisconsin, where the legality of Republican Governor Scott Walker’s law barring collective bargaining was challenged, to New Jersey, where debates over teachers’ pay

have become a staple part of Republican Governor Chris Christie’s town hall meetings.

New York City is in the midst of negotiating labor contracts with most of its unionized workers.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in his $65 billion budget plan, wants to trim their pension benefits and link wage hikes to higher productivity.

A mayoral spokesman had no immediate comment on the proposal by the Citizens Budget Commission, though in the past Bloomberg has called for union workers to pay a share of their health insurance premiums.

Last week, a majority of voters polled backed various proposals Bloomberg has made to curb labor costs, from reducing pension benefits for new hires to barring public workers from collecting pensions

Obama, allies, defend handling of Libya

By OLIVIER KNOX WASHINGTON — The White House and key allies hit back at sharp criticism of President Barack Obama’s handling of strikes on Libya, saying the future of U.S. ties with emerging Muslim leaders was at stake.

But Republican House Speaker John Boehner pressed Obama in a tough-worded letter to explain his strategy, calling himself “troubled” by the lack of details and demanding to know “what is your benchmark for success in Libya?”

Boehner noted that Obama had called for Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi to leave power, but that the UN Security Council resolution authorizing military force to protect civilians did not endorse regime

change in Tripoli.

“Is it an acceptable outcome for Kadhafi to remain in power after the military effort concludes in Libya? If not, how will he be removed from power?” the lawmaker asked pointedly.

That question came after key U.S. senators said on a conference call arranged to defend Obama’s approach that the president had taken a “cautious and thoughtful” tack and averted “a real slaughter of civilians” in Libya.

The number-two Democrat in the U.S. Senate, Dick Durbin, told reporters that U.S. action reflected Washington’s need to cement ties with new Middle East leaders emerging from recent regional political upheaval.

“What we are trying to assert are the basic values of our country to

make certain that the next generation of leaders in these nations that are undergoing change can identify with the United States,” he said.

Durbin has been asked to explain why Washington had chosen to intervene in Libya in 2011 despite foregoing a military response to the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, widely blamed on Kadhafi’s regime.

“Without judging what was done in 1988, what’s changing today is a question about the future of the Arab world,” he said, saying better U.S. ties to the region “can lead to a much more peaceful and stable world.”

Durbin said he would support holding a formal congressional debate and vote on supporting U.S. efforts in Libya, but stopped short of saying he would seek to start that process himself.

On the same conference call, Sen-

until they turn 65 years old.

In 2009, New York City required teachers to work an extra five years, for a total of 15 years, to qualify for retiree health care. The Citizens Budget Commission said this extension should be required of other public workers.

In 2007, Bloomberg, a political independent, created the nation’s first trust fund to help pay for retiree health care, creating a $70 billion liability. But due to the economic downturn following the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, the mayor and the City Council agreed to withdraw $1.2 billion from the $3.2 billion fund from fiscal 2010 to 2012.

“Depleting the fund for short-term budget relief is short-sighted and neglects the City’s long-term fiscal vitality,” the watchdog Citizens Budget Commission said. ate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, also a Democrat, said seeing Kadhafi leave power was “a long-term goal, hopefully not too long-term, but an important goal.”

At the White House, top Obama aides held a one-hour briefing for outside foreign policy experts, telling them the strikes may have averted the massacre of up to 100,000 people, one attendee said on condition of anonymity.

Top Obama Middle East adviser Dennis Ross told the group: “We were looking at ‘Srebrenica on steroids’ — the real or imminent possibility that up to 100,000 people could be massacred, and everyone would blame us for it,” the source said.

The briefing included officials from the Pentagon, State Department and U.S. Treasury, said one of the guests, confirming a report on the Yahoo new blog “The Envoy” about the confidential session.

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011

JOURNAL OF THE PEOPLE’S PASTOR

From T he Pu b l i sh er ’ s Desk

‘WRITING THE HISTORY I’VE LIVED, LIVING THE HISTORY I WRITE!’

Fifty-two nights and half-a-day in the hospital: My experience

THOMAS H. WATKINS

Debit card overdraft abuse continues

By REV. DR. HERBERT DAUGHTRY

By CHARLENE CROWELL Some of the biggest banks in the nation still collect excessive fees from American families by encouraging overdrafts and manipulating customer accounts. Comments in the media suggesting Americans overwhelmingly choose expensive debit card overdraft coverage overlooks the million of customers at banks that do not offer the high-cost option and ignore the heavy-handed marketing that banks have used to persuade customers to “opt in” to a costly service.

Banks are now required to seek customer permission before approving debit card transactions that would result in an overdraft and its accompanying average $34 fee. The Center for Responsible Lending’s research shows that overdrafts strip $24 billion from checking account holders each year.

While Bank of America and Citibank, two of the nation’s largest banks in terms of deposits, do not charge debit card overdraft fees – saving their customers millions in fees – other banks have launched opt-in marketing campaigns described in an issue brief by the Center for Responsible Lending. It shares how some lenders are targeting customers at greatest risk for frequent overdrafts. The brief is available online.

In other instances, some lenders are also continuing the practice of re-ordering check transactions to further boost overdraft fees. Five civil rights groups including the NAACP, the National Council of LaRaza, the National Coalition for Asian Pacific-American Community Development, the National Urban League, and Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights have jointly asked JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo to discontinue their abusive overdraft practices.

These practices are a financial boon to banks and credit unions but a budget-buster for consumers who keep slim balances in their accounts. They are the most painful for lowincome, single and minority heads of household living paycheck-to-paycheck. With little or no financial cushion in a checking account, multiple, and high-cost overdraft fees add up quickly.

Part Four As the day of the surgery approached, I became 75% sure that I wasn’t going to make it out alive. I began to give hints to my family and friends that it was all over for me. For those who could take it, I would discuss the matter in more details, but I found out that most of the sincerest of Christians, who claimed to believe in heaven, refused to hear or immediately wanted to change the subject when the discussion of death came up, particularly that of loved ones. I often thought of Jesus’ experiences with His disciples as He tried to tell them that He will soon be crucified.

In fact, Peter challenged Jesus in the twenty-third chapter of the Book of Matthew. He said, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” Jesus angrily responded, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” I understood Jesus more when I tried to tell people about my future. They would say, “Oh no, don’t talk like that” or “You’re not going anywhere. Don’t even think about it.” Some people would

even walk away.

I proceeded to lay out my funeral arrangements. I gave a list of the things I wanted: the speakers, the kind of music, and the type of coffin. I also gave details on the way I wanted to be dressed, the time and place of the funeral, etc. I had my mortician pick out the most appropriate cemetery. I conveyed the details of my will. I gave certain assignments to people, regarding my books. I tried to think about all of the details. I wanted to make it easy for my family and friends so they would not have to arrange and make decisions about my funeral. Ms. Leah Daughtry, my firstborn child, who coordinated Dr. Dorothy Height’s funeral arrangements, told me that Dr. Height had written everything down on how she wanted her funeral to be arranged. Her instructions made the planning easy for the funeral arrangers. They didn’t have to make decisions as to who should participate when Dr. Height had already decided.

My family and I also discussed euthanasia, brain death, and unconsciousness which could extend for a long period of time. Did I want to pull the plug, or cease to live, when I became brain dead? We discussed the family dispute in

When a new deposit is made, those monies are reduced immediately by the banker, taking repayment for the amount of this short-term loan and all of the related fees.

Some banks artificially inflate these fees by playing with the order of transactions when they daily balance the books at the close of business.

A video that further explains how banks are gouging customers their practices is also available on the CRL web.

Both items can be accessed from: www.responsiblelending.org.

Consumers should opt out of overdraft “protection” programs and allow their debit card

Continued on page 5

transactions to be declined at no cost when available funds cannot cover a transaction. Other consumer options can link customers’ checking and savings account or establish a low-cost line of credit for overdraft coverage.

From CRL’s perspective, federal bank regulators should take action to ensure that all consumers are protected from overdraft abuse.

— Charlene Crowell is the Center forResponsible Lending’s communications manager for state policy andoutreach. She can be reached at: Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.

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regards to the woman who was unconscious for a long period of time. Her husband wanted to cease life support, but her family disagreed. The dispute between the family and the husband ran for an extended period of time.

Drawing upon scriptures, my family and I came up with an ingenious idea. In the Bible, there’s a story where Daniel prayed 21 days before he got an answer to his prayers. In case I should become brain dead, my family would pray for 21 days, and if God had not answered their prayers for my recovery, then the plug should be pulled, or life support should be ceased.

Time ran out on our discussion as to what I wanted to do with my organs. I was inclined to say, “Yes,” to organ donation, but the question of “Who and which organization would be the recipients?” remained unanswered. Early on, our church was one of the first churches to participate in organ donation programs.

After hearing the impassioned plea of one of our deacons whose life was saved by an organ donated by an unknown donor, no one, surely not I, should say no to organ donations.

The preparation of one’s

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011

Forum

In celebration of the life of Rodney Risley Dent, Esq. On May 28, 1951 in Brooklyn, New York, Rodney Risley Dent became the third son born to the union of Ollie DeLoach Dent and Randolph Risley Dent, Jr. Rodney and his older brothers, Frederick and Ronald, thrived in a joyous household as much loved members of an extended family, which included paternal grandparents Marion Person Dent and Risley Dent and maternal grandparents Mamie Matthews DeLoach and Oliver DeLoach. The Dent and DeLoach families maintained a home that was centered in faith; grounded in a classical education, civic involvement, and ongoing self-improvement. Rodney was encouraged by his parent’s fine example to be active in church attendance, as well as in participation in the church community. In addition, participation in scouting and piano lessons helped round out the activities in the Dent household.

As Rodney grew, his leisure pursuits included a lifelong love of baseball, billiards and golf.

Rodney’s life was built on the foundation of an active faith life, which he maintained until his final day on earth. A lifelong member of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, he served as an Acolyte for many years.

The yearly St. Philip’s Dance Committee could count on Rodney to bring a great gathering of family and close friends to join the revelry.

On Wednesday’s, Rodney insured his mother would be seated nearby for the church’s weekly community pantry which kept her in touch with friends and neighbors. In addition to his attendance and participation at St. Philips, Rodney would join his

father at Antioch Baptist Church.

However, no matter where the Dent family worshiped, Rodney’s participation was ongoing and fervent.

Rodney was a studious child. He attended Holy Rosary Catholic School and St. Mark’s Prep School in New England, and then graduated in the Class of ’69 from Boy’s High School in Brooklyn.

Friends fondly Rodney recall trudging along Stuyvesant Avenue with his leather satchel filled with books; his ever-present glasses, and sporting a pensive look on his face. He was an excellent student; serious about mathematics and grammar, and always focused on getting his homework done.

Rodney was raised in a home in which support of the NAACP was clearly evident. His father, Risley Dent, Esq. served as the Legal Counsel and President of the Brooklyn N.Y. Branch. Rodney worked, alongside his parents, in the NAACP throughout his childhood into young adulthood often assisting his mother in the annual membership drive. Recently, Rodney worked tirelessly to reactivate the Brooklyn Branch of the NAACP with the assistance of Dr. Marcella Maxwell and Rev. Anita Burson. He served on the Executive Committee and as the

The hospital: My experience Continued from page 4 funeral should not be seen as a morbid exercise. It is to face reality. I discovered that it puts life in a proper perspective. It teaches us to value life, appreciate our loved ones, and enjoy the good things in life. In preparing for death, we are taught to prepare to live. I’ve only asked God for three things: 1) No sudden death — I would like to have prepared my loved ones; 2) No prolonged illness; and, 3) No shallow water death. My old friend, Dr. William Augustus Jones, the deceased pastor of Bethany Baptist Church of Jersey City, New Jersey, used to say, “I don’t want to die in shallow waters.” I understood him to mean that he “didn’t want to die doing nothing, kicking around with a small project, or wasting time on small stuff.” When my time comes, I want to be engaged in deep water — in major things, for the good of humanity. After over 50 years of ministry, my time has come with this major surgery. …to be continued.

** Join Reverend Daughtry in Jersey City for the weekly Wednesday Evening Educational, Cultural, and Empowerment Forum from 6pm-8pm for an evening of information, inspiration, and challenge at 315 Forrest Street (Ground Floor), corner of MLK, Jr. Drive. For more info, contact The National Community Action Alliance at (201) 7161585. ** Listen to Reverend Daughtry on the weekly radio program which airs Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. on New York City’s WWRL-AM, dial 1600. ** NEED QUALITY CHILD CARE? Call the Alonzo A. Daughtry Memorial Daycare Center located at: 460 Atlantic Avenue (corner of Atlantic and Nevins) 718 596 1993 333 Second Street (between 4th & 5th Avenues) in Park Slope (718) 499-2066 1005/07 Bedford Avenue (corner of Lafayette) 718 638 7979 Immediate openings are available in a state-of-the-art center.

Chair of Membership. Rodney approached NAACP Membership activity with an unmatched vigor and creativity. During childhood, Rodney’s father, the Honorable Risley Dent, Jr. became the first African American to be elected to the New York State Senate from Brooklyn, N.Y. Tragedy struck: during the election celebration, he suffered a fatal heart attack.

Rodney’s life forever changed, as did the lives of everyone in the Dent household.

Rodney found joy in his participation in Boy Scouts. Scouting activities were Rodney’s passions. He journeyed from Cub Scout to Life Scout at St. Philip’s Church. As an adult, Rodney joined the ranks of Scoutmaster and influenced the growth and development of not only the scouts in the troops he led, but many of Brooklyn’s scout leaders, as well parents of scouts. One of his greatest joys was seeing his sons’ journey through the ranks of scouting with both sons achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. He enjoyed the annual summer scout camping trip to Ten Mile River. Scouting also influenced Rodney’s code of honor as much as his faith did. He approached each with interest and excitement.

With the rise of urban programs in the 1960’s, like many youth of that era, Rodney became active in his community. He worked for the Central Brooklyn Model Cities Program; later becoming a regular U.S. Census Bureau worker. Rodney brought an attitude of success and excellence to a number of other career building jobs. At the same time, Rodney continued his musical pursuits as a professional musician, and was active in a band as a keyboardist and vocalist.

He delighted in those years as a performing artist.

Eventually Rodney became a member of New York’s Finest, The New York City Police Department.

He was the perfect ‘beat’ cop. He knew every facet of his patrol. Rodney knew everyone. People respected him. Even in the most difficult situations, he was able to diffuse volatile moments with his keen intelligence and buoyant demeanor. He never met a person he didn’t like, making friends with the most difficult personalities. Rodney suffered a work related injury which left him incapacitated for a period of time and

later forced him to retire from the NYPD on disability.

On September 14, 1985, Rodney Risley Dent married Cheryle Elise Williams. To this union, two sons were born: Alexander Risley and Randolph Risley, III. Rodney and Cheryle were an enterprising couple.

They worked tirelessly at several successful business ventures, and each was supportive of the other’s talents. Rodney’s marriage ended in divorce. During the course of the marriage, Rodney completed his Bachelor’s Degree at John Jay College in the City University System and in May of 1993, he completed his Juris Doctorate Degree at St. John’s University Law School in Queens. Rodney passed the New York State Bar Examination on his first attempt. He went on to work in the Office of the Brooklyn District Attorney.

Rodney spent much of his early adult life taking care of his mother.

He gathered the mantle around him as an attentive son, escort and confidant, and shouldered the blessing of caretaker for his mother even until his death. He never complained. He patiently waited on her, guided her; attended her meetings with her, and did better than best for his mother.

He never slacked in his duty, and as his mother aged and became less ambulatory, he took to the task caring for her in a manner that maintained her dignity. Rodney became a shining example of how to properly care for an aging loved one.

Among his numerous talents, Rodney was also very good with his hands. He was an expert restorer of hard grained woods, and many homeowners along the eastern seaboard relied on him for restoration advice. Additionally, Rodney developed a deep appreciation for fine art and became an accomplished auctioneer. Brooklyn art patrons looked forward to the Annual Dorsey Gallery Christmas Event where he served as auctioneer. Rodney was a member of the prestigious Comus Social Club of Brooklyn, New York where he served as Treasurer and House Manager until the time of his death.

Rodney Risley Dent’s life ended Sunday afternoon, February 27, 2011 while in the midst of completing a wood restoration project. He is survived by his sons Alexander and Randolph, his mother, Mrs. Ollie DeLoach Dent, two elder brothers, Frederick Walter (Eunice) and Ronald DeLoach (Elizabeth). Surviving also are cousins Oliver, Jeri and Billy Jackson; Kathryn Tollett (Charles), a beloved cousin Lynn, and a host of other cousins, relatives and dedicated friends.

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6

DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011

‘

naTional

Marijuana called pot, grass, weed — and now investment?

By JAMES B. KELLEHER CHICAGO — It has been called a lot of things over the years: grass, Mary Jane, wacky weed. Now, researchers are suggesting a new moniker for marijuana: alternative investment.

A report out this week on the U.S. medical marijuana market estimates the unconventional business already generates $1.7 billion in economic activity a year. But that market could grow fivefold in short order, researchers say, as the list of states that legalize pot for treating a variety of illnesses grows and as more patients try it — and switch.

The study, conducted by See Change Strategy for the American Cannabis Research Institute and Deal Flow Media, a financial research firm specializing in unusual assets, says that of the nearly 25 million Americans who are potentially eligible to use medical marijuana based on their diagnoses, fewer than 800,000 currently do.

That makes the nascent market a potentially attractive one for investors looking for an alternative to the more traditional investment alternatives like art, antiques, wine or coins, one with an upside potential that makes China’s current growth rate look anemic.

Small marijuana plants, available for sale, are shown in a medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland, California.

The opportunities, the authors say, aren’t confined to cultivation and distribution — the riskier parts of the business.

Many perfectly legal products and services, from software and security to hydroponic infrastructure to marketing, communications and consulting, will offer money-making opportunities in the coming years.

But the authors, who surveyed 300 medical marijuana industry insiders, point out that the fastgrowing market faces a daunting

number of hurdles. These include inadequate access to legal capital, unfavorable tax status, a lack of experienced executives, downward pricing pressure and a complex — and contradictory web — of state and federal rules. All this makes investing in marijuana a risky proposition.

There’s also the very real potential for conflict with the criminal gangs that control the much larger $18 billion a year illegal U.S. marijuana market. These conflicts with criminal gangs tend to get settled outside

the judicial system.

Still, the study says the U.S. medical pot market could be nearly half the size of the illegal market — about $8.9 billion — in just five years.

“That’s assuming there are no obstacles,” said Ted Rose, the editor of the study. “I’m not weighing in on whether that’s likely or not. But that $1.7 billion is the real money that’s being made this year.”

To put that in perspective, Lipitor, Pfizer Inc’s cholesterol-reducing drug and the world’s best-selling pharmaceutical, had U.S. sales of $5.33 billion in 2010.

More than a dozen U.S. states and the District of Columbia have legalized the use of marijuana to help patients with chronic illnesses, including cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis.

The survey found that 34 percent of the medical marijuana businesses said regulatory compliance — not customer demand or securing supply — was the top challenge they faced. Another 24 percent said financing was the industry’s most pressing need.

But because the possession and distribution of marijuana remain illegal under federal law, the report’s authors point out that the market is rife with risk, including “the everpresent risk of being shut down or experiencing a property seizure without notice.”

Legislators in three states pass new restrictions on abortion PHOENIX — State lawmakers in Arizona, Kansas and Idaho moved on Wednesday to place new restrictions on abortion, as opponents of the procedure looked to seize on gains by conservatives in the November mid-term elections.

The Kansas Senate adopted a bill to ban abortions after 21 weeks of pregnancy, unless the mother’s life was otherwise at risk or she faced the risk of substantial and permanent danger to her health.

The measure must return to the House to reconcile technical differences with a version of the legislation passed there. Newly elected Governor Sam Brownback, a Republican, is expected to sign the measure into law.

Earlier in the day, the Idaho Senate approved legislation placing similar restrictions on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, sending its bill to the state House of Representatives, where passage is expected.

A National Right to Life Committee representative predicted the legislation will find favor with Idaho’s Republican governor.

A court challenge is expected to Nebraska legislation enacted last year that served as the model for the Idaho and Kansas bills approved on Wednesday.

The U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide in 1973 but allowed states to ban the procedure, unless it risked the woman’s health, after the time when the fetus could

potentially survive outside the womb.

Seventeen states in all are considering bills that would outlaw abortion after 20 weeks of gestation, unless it could be proved the pregnancy endangered the woman’s life. Supporters cite research suggesting a fetus can feel pain at that stage of development.

But data also show the number of abortions performed that late in pregnancy is extremely low. Out of 1,650 abortions performed in 2009 in Idaho, for example, only 14 involved pregnancies at 16 to 20 weeks, according

to state figures.

The Arizona House of Representatives voted to make that state the first in the nation to ban abortions performed on the basis of the race or gender of the fetus.

The legislation would not penalize women who have an abortion for those reasons, but would make it a felony for doctors and other medical professionals to perform such abortions, and prohibit anyone else from paying for them.

Under current Arizona law, a

woman does not need to tell her doctor why she is having an abortion, said Cynde Cerf, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

The bill goes to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer for her possible signature.

Republicans gained seats in state legislatures of Idaho, Kansas and Arizona in the November 2010 mid-term elections, as conservatives seized on voter discontent with President Barack Obama and Democrats in the U.S. Congress.

Daycare owner pleads not guilty to manslaughter

By DEBORAH QUINN HENSEL HOUSTON — The operator of a home day care facility where a deadly fire killed four toddlers pleaded not guilty to 13 charges against her as family members of the victims wept softly in a Houston courtroom.

Jessica Rene Tata, 22, who fled the country after the February 24 fire, sat in a yellow jail jumpsuit as the counts against her were read aloud by Assistant District Attorney Steve Baldassano in the 180th District Criminal Court.

She faces six counts of reckless injury to a child, four counts of manslaughter, and three counts of

abandonment of a child under 15 years of age. Authorities say Tata left the children for a shopping trip before the fire broke out.

She remains in the Harris County Jail with no bond.

At least six bailiffs were on hand to maintain order in the courtroom, where Tata’s family sat in the back row and the victims’ families filled the second and third rows.

Patrick Trahan, a spokesman for the Houston Fire Department, said Wednesday that the investigation continues into the fire that killed Shomari Dickerson, 3; Elias Castillo, 18 months; Elizabeth Kajoh, 20 months; Kendyll Stradford, 20 months; and injured three other toddlers at the West Houston home

where Tata ran the day care.

The U.S.-born daughter of Nigerian citizens had been the subject of an Interpol search for almost a month and was placed on the U.S. Marshals Service list of the top 15 most wanted fugitives.

She was returned to the United States on Monday and spent one night in an Atlanta jail before being returned to Houston early Tuesday morning.

Tata’s mother, Josephine Tata, has said her daughter turned herself at the U.S. Consulate in Nigeria “because it’s the right thing to do.”

However, the U.S. Marshals Service issued a statement that said Interpol agents captured her in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH - 27, 2011 CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 2525 - 27, 2011 DAILY

INTERNATIONAL

77

Japan will review nuclear power policy as crisis persists

By LINDA SIEG & SUMIO ITO TOKYO - Japan will have to review its nuclear power policy, its government top spokesman said on Thursday as radiation from a damaged nuclear complex briefly made tap water Tokyo’s unsafe for babies and led to people emptying supermarket shelves of bottled water.

Engineers are trying to stabilize the six-reactor nuclear plant in Fukushima, 250 km (150 miles) north of the capital, nearly two weeks after an earthquake and tsunami battered the plant and devastated northeastern Japan, leaving nearly 26,000 people dead or missing.

“It is certain that public confidence in nuclear power plants has greatly changed,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yuki Edano told Reuters.

“In light of that, we must first end this situation and then study from a zero base.”

Before last week, Japan’s 55 nuclear reactors had provided about 30 percent of the nation’s electric power.

The percentage had been

expected to rise to 50 percent by 2030, among the highest in the world.

There were no fresh incidents of smoke or steam at the plant on Thursday, but four of the plant’s reactors are still considered volatile, although on the way to stability.

“It’s still a bit early to make an exact time prognosis, but my guess is in a couple of weeks the reactors will be cool enough to say the crisis is over,” said Peter Hosemann, a nuclear expert at the University of California, Berkeley.

“It will still be important to supply sufficient cooling to the reactors and the spent fuel pools for a longer period of time. But as long as this is ensured and we don’t see any additional large amount of radioactivity released, I am confident the situation is under control.”

Tokyo’s 13 million residents were told not to give tap water to babies under 1 year old after contamination hit twice the safety level this week. But it dropped back to allowable amounts on Thursday.

Despite government appeals against panic, many supermarkets and stores sold out of bottled

water.

“Customers ask us for water. But there’s nothing we can do,” said Masayoshi Kasahara, a store clerk at a supermarket in a residential area of eastern Tokyo.

“We are asking for more deliveries but we don’t know when the next shipment will come.”

Radiation above safety levels has also been found in milk and vegetables from Fukushima and the Kyodo news agency said radioactive cesium 1.8 times higher than the standard level was found in a leafy vegetable grown in a Tokyo research facility.

Singapore said it had found radioactive contaminants in four samples of vegetables from Japan.

Earlier, it and Australia joined the United States and Hong Kong in restricting food and milk imports from the zone, while Canada became the latest of many nations to tighten screening after the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

A shipping industry official, meanwhile, said some merchant vessels may be avoiding Tokyo port due to concern that crew members may be exposed to radiation.

Radiation particles have been found as far away as Iceland, and although Japan insists levels are not dangerous to adults, it is the nation’s most testing time since world War Two. DAMAGE The estimated $300 billion damage from the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami makes it the world’s costliest natural disaster, dwarfing Japan’s 1995 Kobe quake and Hurricane Katrina, which swept through New Orleans in 2005.

In Japan’s north, more than a quarter of a million people are in shelters. Some elderly displaced people have died from cold and lack of medicines.

Exhausted and traumatized rescuers are still sifting through the mud and wreckage where towns and villages once stood.

The official death toll from the disaster has risen to 9,523, but is bound to rise as 16,094 people are still missing.

Amid the suffering, though, there was a sense that Japan was turning the corner in its humanitarian crisis. Aid flowed to refugees, and

phone, electricity, postal and bank services began returning to the north, sometimes by makeshift means.

“Things are getting much better,” said 57year-old Tsutomu Hirayama, staying with his family at an evacuation center in Ofunato town.

“For the first two or three days, we had only one rice ball and water for each meal. I thought, how long is this going to go on? Now we get lots of food, it’s almost like luxury.”

Aftershocks are still jolting the country.

Several shook Tokyo on Thursday.

ADMIRATION FOR NUCLEAR WORKERS At the Fukushima plant, technicians have successfully attached power cables to all six reactors and started a pump at one to cool overheating fuel rods.

Nearly 300 engineers, fast becoming national heroes for braving danger inside an evacuation zone, are fighting to cool fuel rods at the reactors.

They resumed work on Thursday at the No.3 reactor, considered the most critical, after a oneday suspension when black smoke was seen

rising.

Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) is trying to restart systems to keep the fuel cool and prevent further radiation leaks or a complete meltdown, the nightmare scenario.

Three TEPCO employees who were working in water to connect a cable were injured by radiation on Thursday and two were taken to hospital with burns, the nuclear safety agency said.

Japan has urged the world not to overreact, and plenty of experts appeared to back that up.

Jim Smith, of Britain’s University of Portsmouth, said the finding of 210 becquerels of radioactive iodine, twice the safety limit, at a Tokyo water purification plant on Wednesday should not be cause for panic. The safety level for adults is 300 becquerels.

“The recommendation that infants are not given tap water is a sensible precaution. But it should be emphasized that the limit is set at a low level to ensure that consumption at that level is safe over a fairly long period of time,” he said.

Assad of fers fr eedom after for ces kill 37

By SULEIMAN AL-KHALIDI DERAA, Syria President Bashar al-Assad made an unprecedented pledge of greater freedom and more prosperity to Syrians Thursday as anger mounted following a crackdown on protesters that left at least 37 dead.

As an aide to Assad in Damascus read out a list of decrees, which included a possible end to 48 years of emergency rule, a human rights group said a leading pro-democracy activist, Mazen Darwish, had been arrested.

In the southern city of Deraa, a hospital official said at least 37 people had been killed there Wednesday when security forces opened fire on demonstrators inspired by uprisings across the Arab world that have shaken authoritarian leaders.

Announcing the sort of concessions that would have seemed almost unimaginable three months ago in Syria, Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban told a news conference the president had not himself ordered his forces to fire on protesters: “I was a witness to the instructions of His Excellency that live ammunition should not be fired — even if the police, security forces

or officers of the status were being killed.”

Assad, she said, would draft laws to provide for media freedoms and allow political movements other than the Baath party, which has ruled for half a century.

Assad, who succeed his late father Hafez alAssed in 2000, had, Shaaban said, decreed the drafting of a law for political parties “to be presented for public debate” and would strive above all to raise living standards across the country.

She said another decree would look at “ending with great urgency the emergency law, along with issuing legislation that assures the security of the nation and its citizens.”

DERAA KILLINGS Security forces opened fire on hundreds of youths on the outskirts of Deraa Wednesday, witnesses said, after nearly a week of protests in which seven civilians had already died.

The main hospital in Deraa, in southern Syria near the Jordanian border, had received the bodies of at least 37 protesters killed Wednesday, a hospital official said.

Around 20,000 people marched Thursday in the funerals for nine of those killed, chanting freedom slogans and denying official accounts that infiltrators and “armed gangs” were behind the killings and violence in Deraa.

“Traitors do not kill their own people,” they chanted. “God, Syria, Freedom. The blood of martyrs is not spilled in vain!”

As Syrian soldiers armed with automatic rifles roamed the streets of the southern city, residents emptied shops of basic goods and said they feared Assad’s government was intent on crushing the revolt by force.

Assad, a close ally of Iran, key player in neighboring Lebanon and supporter of militant groups opposed to Israel, had earlier dismissed demands for reform in Syria, a country of 20 million people run by the Baath Party since a 1963 coup. Assad’s father took personal in 1970.

A government statement had earlier blamed “armed gangs” for the violence in Deraa.

MEMORIES OF HAMA Faced with violence, some Syrians recalled the 1982 massacre in Hama, when Assad’s father sent troops to the conservative religious city to crush the armed wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Human rights groups say at least 20,000 died.

“If the rest of Syria does not erupt Friday, we will be facing annihilation,” said one resident in Deraa, referring to Friday prayers, the only time citizens are allowed to gather en masse without government permission.

DAILY CHALLENGEWEEKEND WEEKENDEDITION, EDITION,MARCH MARCH2525- 27, - 27,2011 2011 DAILYCHALLENGE

AFRICAN SCENE

88

AFRICAN SCENE

f Deserters from Somali insurgency find little help MOGADISHU, Somalia - The Somali government is promising fighters from an al-Qaida linked militia valuable rewards if they desert. Good salaries.

Education. Health care.

But fighters who have fled say they have received little help. That may help explain why there are so few defections from an insurgency with little popular support. It also underscores one key reason that Somalia’s 20-year civil war continues to drag on: a weak, disorganized government.

Somalia’ defense minister said the government is providing defectors with food, accommodation and education, although he declined to provide figures. He said the government - which is in the middle of an offensive - is encouraging fighters to leave militant groups by next Wednesday. He did not say why.

Clinton backs Moroccan autonomy plan for WSahara WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday reiterated US support for a Moroccan plan for autonomy in the disputed Western Sahara.

Clinton, standing with visiting Moroccan Foreign Minister Taeib Fassi Fihri, said the US administrations of president Bill Clinton, president George W. Bush, and now President Barack Obama have steadfastly supported the plan.

“We have stated our belief that Morocco’s autonomy plan is serious, realistic and credible, a potential approach to satisfy the aspirations of the people in the Western Sahara to run their own affairs in peace and dignity,” Clinton told reporters.

The Polisario Front group demands a selfdetermination referendum in Western Sahara, a phosphate-rich territory that was annexed by Morocco after Spain withdrew in 1975. Morocco has only offered greater autonomy.

The two sides have held a series of talks in the United States in recent months but the UN special envoy Christopher Ross says neither side has indicated any willingness to change its position.

The Polisario and Morocco blame each other for the deadlock.

A sixth round of talks on the future of the Western Sahara under the aegis of the United Nations broke up March 9 in Malta without signs of progress.

During a press conference, the Moroccan foreign minister said the two countries “decided to establish a new strategic partnership... to try to work together for the stability and progress in the region of Maghreb.”

On Libya, he expressed hope for a ceasefire: “It’s important first to have a ceasefire and then to have an inclusive dialogue between all the people not only in the east of Libya in Benghazi,” held by rebels, “but also in the west.”

West strikes deep in Libya, Misrata still besieged

By MARIA GOLOVNINA & MICHAEL GEORGY

TRIPOLI - Western warplanes hit military targets deep inside Libya on Thursday but failed to prevent tanks reentering the western town of Misrata overnight and besieging its main hospital.

Air strikes destroyed government tanks on the outskirts of rebel-held Misrata, but other tanks inside the city were not hit, a resident said, underling the difficulty of the U.N. backed military mission to protect Libyans from Muammar Gaddafi.

Gaddafi’s tanks rolled back into Misrata under the cover of darkness and shelled the area near the hospital, which was also under fire from government snipers, residents and rebels said.

“The situation is very serious,” a doctor in the western town said by telephone before the line was cut off.

A resident called Abdelbasset said 6,000 workers and family members from Egypt and other African countries were stuck in the port, under the eye of two Libyan warships which moved in on Wednesday. “They haven’t attacked but if they do, the thousands of workers will be the first victims,” he said.

The continued fighting has strained an international coalition set up to try to stop Gaddafi’s assault on Libyans

seeking an end to his rule, with a growing list of countries wary of attacks on ground troops that could kill civilians.

NATO members are still trying to resolve differences over the command and aims of the international operation in Libya.

Western forces, having taken out Libyan air defenses, moved deeper into Libya and on to other strategic infrastructure.

France said it had hit an air base in central Libya early on Thursday, the fifth night of air strikes by Western powers on Gaddafi’s military and al Arabiya television said planes struck Sabha, a Gaddafi stronghold in southern Libya, on Thursday.

A Libyan official said fuel storage tanks and a telecommunications tower in Tripoli were among places hit by what state television called “colonialist crusaders.” A target in the Tajoura district which a resident said was a military area was also hit twice on Thursday.

Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said strikes had hit military and civilian compounds in the central Jufrah region and other targets in Tripoli, Misrata and south of Benghazi in the east, home to a emerging alternative government.

Libyan officials took Reuters journalists to a Tripoli hospital to see 18 male corpses, some charred beyond recognition, saying they were military personnel and civilians killed by Western bombing overnight.

It was the first time foreign reporters had been shown

alleged victims of the airstrikes and it was not possible to verify how many were civilians. Libya says dozens have been killed; Western forces deny any have been killed in the strikes.

The United States says it has successfully established a no-fly zone over the Libyan coast, begun attacking tanks and now wants to hand leadership of the mission to NATO. “I think this is going to be a matter of days in which you see a movement toward the transition with regard to command and control,” a top aide to President Barack Obama told reporters.

But NATO’s 28 members have been unable to agree how to assume command of an operation whose final objectives remain unclear and face a fourth day of wrangling on Thursday with the main objections from Muslim member Turkey.

Seeking to allay fears of a protracted and bloody conflict, France said it could take days or weeks to destroy Gaddafi’s military, but would not need months.

“You can’t expect us to achieve our objective in just five days,” Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told reporters.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague called for NATO to take over as soon as possible.

“The case for this action remains utterly compelling, appalling violence against Libyan citizens continues to take place exposing the regime’s claims to have ordered a ceasefire to be an utter sham,” he told parliament.

Bloc condemns Ivory Coast attacks on West Africans ABUJA, Nigeria - A regional body is calling on Ivory Coast’s entrenched leader to stop incendiary rhetoric against West African residents in his country, amid a political crisis.

In a letter released Thursday, the Economic Community of West African States condemns inflammatory speech by Laurent Gbagbo and his entourage.

Gbagbo’s youth minister recently called on Ivorians to take up arms against citizens of other ECOWAS states because

Refugees from Ivory Coast walk with their belongings through Grand Gedeh County in eastern Liberia.

ECOWAS is threatening I n t e r n a t i o n a l dential election, but he a military intervention observers say Gbagbo has refused to step to force him out. lost the Nov. 28 presi- down.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH - 27, 2011 DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 2525 - 27, 2011

99

AFRICAN SCENE

Egypt lifts curbs on politics in post-Mubarak era

By DINA ZAYED & PHIL STEWART CAIRO - Egypt approved a law on Wednesday easing curbs that choked political life under deposed President Hosni Mubarak, opening the door for the formation of new parties that will compete in elections this year.

The law is expected to result in a plethora of new parties, including one to be established by the Muslim Brotherhood — an Islamist group that was banned under Mubarak.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, visiting Cairo for the first time since Mubarak was toppled, said Egyptians who had become active in politics should have the time “to develop political parties and to develop organization and structure.”

But he steered clear of an Egyptian debate about the timetable the military has charted toward legislative elections as soon as September — a timeline criticized as too tight by nascent political groups who want to get organized first.

A man walks past members of the police army in front of the Egyptian stock exchange in Cairo.

Photo/Mohamed Abd El-Ghany Some opposition groups, which were crushed for decades by Mubarak, say the schedule favors the well-organized Brotherhood and remnants of Mubarak’s ruling party.

“We are racing against time,” said Shady Ghazali Harb, a member of a coalition of youth groups that mobilized protests against Mubarak.

“They are pressuring us with the time factor because of the insistence on holding elections so soon.”

Asked about the

timetable, Gates said: “I’m absolutely not going to second-guess either the supreme council or the interim government.” He is due to meet the head of the council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Thursday.

Mubarak’s Egypt was a close ally of the United States, which still has close defense ties with the Egyptian military. Washington praised the army’s role during the Egyptian uprising that helped inspire revolts against autocrats across the region.

Washington is also watching closely to see what kind of role the Brotherhood will play in the new Egypt.

The Brotherhood’s “Freedom and Justice Party” is expected to be announced within days.

Its growing prominence, along with more radical Islamist groups that were crushed by Mubarak, has alarmed secular intellectuals and activists who joined forces with the Brotherhood in the uprising.

The Brotherhood has sought to reassure other Egyptians, say-

ing it will not seek a parliamentary majority or the presidency in the elections later this year.

“This is a temporary position until the time there are forces that can compete. At that point, we will take part in the competition,” said Mohamed elBeltagi, a Brotherhood leader.

FORMER MINISTER CHARGED WITH KILLING Under Mubarak’s rule, parties needed a license from a committee headed by the head of the upper house of parliament, who was also a leading figure in the ruling party.

Opposition parties that did exist were at best seen as a joke and at worst pliant tools of the Mubarak administration. The new law requires parties to secure the backing of 1,000 founding members from at least 10 provinces. It removes a stipulation that parties must not have a religious basis, but says they should not discriminate on the grounds of religion.

The military appears keen to relinquish power as quickly as possible to a civilian, elected government.

Egypt passed a milestone on the road to elections at the weekend when amendments

to the constitution were passed by a large majority in a referendum. The changes open up competition for the presidency held by Mubarak for three decades.

The military council issued a constitutional decree on Wednesday which included the amended articles. The decree is designed to “organize authority in the interim period” and will last until legislative and presidential elections are held.

Further legal steps were taken against symbols of Mubarak’s rule. The public prosecutor referred Habib alAdli, the former interior minister, and four other high-ranking officers for trial on charges of killing protesters, disrupting stability, and of spreading “chaos in the country” that harmed Egypt’s economy, a statement said.

A committee set up to investigate violence during demonstrations that toppled Mubarak also laid charges against the former president for intentional murder of protesters, a state newspaper said.

The stock exchange opened for the first time since January and the main index tumbled 8.95 percent.

SAfrican sch ool cuts ties with I sraeli university

By JENNY GROSS JOHANNESBURG A leading South African university is severing ties with Israel’s Ben-Gurion University, acting on calls from hundreds of South African academics and intellectuals for an academic boycott.

It’s a “landmark moment,” the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions said Thursday, praising the University of Johannesburg for being first to sever such ties in a growing campaign to isolate Israel for its attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.

The University of Johannesburg will end the 25-year relationship on April 1, but professors can continue to work individually with Ben-Gurion, Vice Chancellor Adam Habib said.

More than 400 South Africans signed a petition calling for the boycott, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The campaign has resonance coming from a country where activists encouraged international boycotts and sanctions to help end the legalized race discrimination that was apartheid.

Habib said the uni-

versity’s senate committee discussed the issue for two hours on Wednesday then had a secret vote. Sixty percent voted to sever ties, outvoting the remainder who wanted relations with both Israeli and Palestinian universities.

“This is not a boycott of Ben-Gurion,” said UJ’s executive director for advancement, Kerry Swift. “The formal relationship between the institutions is in a sense an obstacle, and the feeling is that we would encourage relationships on an individual basis.”

In Israel, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

said it regretted the decision.

“The only losers in this decision are the people of South Africa,” Ben-Gurion president Rivka Carmi said.

Student association leader Uri Keidar wrote a letter to the South African university saying, “I find it difficult to believe that BGU, the home of 20,000 freethinking students of different religious and ethnic backgrounds, is under this brutal attack.”

Alana Baranov of South Africa’s Board of Jewish Deputies said South Africans “should be serving to provide a tolerant and respectful

place where complex problems can be resolved and we can share resources.

“Academic boycotts are anti-freedom of speech and anti-academic,” she said.

Baranov said the joint research had been done to improve the lives of average South Africans.

The two universities had joint research projects and academic exchanges on biotechnology and water purification, Habib said.

Those fighting to end cooperation have argued that Ben-Gurion has ties to the Israeli Defense Force and is

complicit in their oppression of Palestinians.

“Israeli universities are an intimate part of the Israeli regime, by active choice,” Tutu wrote in a recent essay.

“While Palestinians are not able to access universities and schools, Israeli universities produce the research, technology, arguments and leaders for maintaining the occupation.”

Cooperation between Ben-Gurion University and the former Rand Afrikaans University, which was a whitesonly university under South Africa’s apartheid system, began in 1987. The

DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH - 27, 2011 DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 2525 - 27, 2011

10 10

CARIBBEAN NEWS

CARIBBEAN BRIEFS Turks and Caicos government excludes ONE FAMILY.

Whether West Indian, African or African American.

One God, One Aim, One Destiny.

Jamaican justice ministry denies extradition documents shredded KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Ministry of Justice in Jamaica says that no documents relating to the extradition of alleged drug kingpin Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke have been shredded at the Ministry.

“There was a news report that documents relating to the Coke extradition are currently being shredded at the Ministry. We wish to categorically deny that allegation,” said the ministry in a statement on Tuesday night.

The Jamaica Observer reported, however, that the Ministry did say that documents kept by Verna McGaw, secretary to Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne, were shredded to provide space for her replacement when she transferred from the ministry of last year.

McGaw is currently under the spotlight at the Commission of Enquiry looking into the circumstances of Coke’s extradition to the US after she testified that Lightbourne had instructed her to e-mail attorney Harold Brady about the Coke extradition request.

The attorney general has denied the allegation and her attorney on Tuesday painted her former secretary as a disgruntled employee who may have had a motive to lie on her former boss.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Bruce Golding on Wednesday sought to clarify a controversial statement that he made in the height of the drama over the delay in the signing of the extradition request for Coke.

The request was sent by the United States in

August 2009, but was not signed until May 2010.

In seeking to justify the justice minister’s delay in the signing of the extradition request, Golding had told Parliament last year that constitutional rights do not begin in Liguanea.

The Jamaica Gleaner reported that the comment had been seen as a direct insult to the United States, whose embassy is located in Liguanea, St Andrew.

However, on Wednesday Golding sought to explain his comment.

He said it was merely an attempt to demonstrate that people of both the upper and lower classes should be guaranteed the same constitutional rights.

Cocaine and ganja seized in Suriname PARAMARIBO, Suriname — Authorities in Suriname have confirmed that police squads over the past few days have seized a large quantity of cocaine and marijuana, while several suspects were nabbed.

According to police spokesman, Inspector John Jones, officers from the Arrest Team, the Anti-Narcotics Squad and the Narcotics Intelligence Unit at two different locations on March 22 seized a total of 115 kilos of cocaine allegedly smuggled from Guyana into Suriname.

Part of the cocaine was confiscated at a roadblock in the Coronie District, while the remaining quantity was seized at an undisclosed location in the capital Paramaribo.

Four Surinamese nationals between the ages of 20 and 40 years, including one woman, were arrested.

- Ivan Cairo

reporter from press conferences PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands — Former Progressive National Party (PNP) minister turned radio talk show host and reporter, Robert Hall, has been excluded as a reporter from press conferences with the Turks and Caicos Islands interim government’s Advisory Council.

Hall, who previously appeared on the TCI New Media television station as a talk show host, moved on to Radio Turks and Caicos (RTC) when the New Media government station, which had been started by the PNP, was shut down due to its associated unrecoverable costs Radio Turks and Caicos is also a government owned station, which broadcasts from the capital island of Grand Turk.

Hall, as an employee of RTC, is therefore a government employee.

Many people in the Turks and Caicos have accused Hall of favouring his PNP party and,

while Hall claims to be an unbiased reporter, on numerous occasions he has announced on the air his continuing support for the PNP. As call-ins to his show seem to have fallen off, this has given Hall more time to voice his on-air opinions and he admittedly has raised his voice against the Interim Administration since direct rule came to the TCI in August 2009, as a result of evidence of widespread government corruption aired during the early 2009 Commission of Inquiry.

However, the apparent delay in prosecutions resulting from the Inquiry has caused a something of a public relations gap for the British-run government, which is attempting to assess a massive disarray in public finances and other government administrative difficulties, which the British have said stemmed from mismanagement by the PNP. Halls unbridled admonishment of the

Rights C har ter passed in Jam aica after 20 years KINGSTON, Jamaica - Fifty-one members of Jamaica’s Parliament on Tuesday voted in support of the Charter of Rights Bill, which has been the subject of intense debate for close to 20 years.

The Jamaica Observer reported that the vote was taken at 5.59 pm without drama, when the Bill — An Act to Amend the Constitution of Jamaica to Provide for a Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms and for Connected Matters — was given overwhelming support with 51 MPs voting in favour. Nine MPs were absent for the vote.

The companion provision, an Act to Amend the Constitution of Jamaica, which was piloted simultaneously, was also approved with 50 votes in favour.

At the end of the voting, MPs from both sides of the house rose to their feet applauding.

Opposition leader, Portia Simpson Miller said, “We should do this more often.”

Debate on the new Charter, which will replace Chapter III of the present Constitution, has crossed both political party administrations, with the Bruce Golding-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government being the latest to resume the dialogue in October 2009 but even then there were setbacks.

British reached its zenith recently when he was paid by private sources to travel to Anguilla, where the British governor was imposing increased oversight and withholding approval of a deficit budget proposed by the Anguillan internal government.

In recent days, Hall announced he had accepted payment from the group heading the protests that closed the Providenciales airport road. Hall announced he was paid to set up and broadcast a daylong show at the protest site on public radio.

While Hall announced that he personally favoured the protest but disapproved of the closing of the road, at the same time he gave the microphone to numerous protestors, who themselves were involved in the illegal act of shutting down a public highway.

Few, if any, voices against the protest were broadcast.

In a phone interview aired on local television, Hall admitted he anticipates the cancellation of his show “Expressions”, which airs three days a week for two hours and on numerous occasions has been extended through private funding. However, until cancelled, Hall said he will show up and air the show. Hall said on the air that the current British governmental activities “are not healthy for any of us.”

Last year, Hall announced he was seriously considering dropping out of his broadcasting role and running for leadership of the PNP. However, Clayton Greene became the elected leader when former premier Michael Misick threw his support behind Greene.

Greene, Misick and most former members of the Misick Cabinet were all present at the protest, where Hall was broadcasting on the government-funded station.

BVI up, Bahamas down in global financial centres index ROAD TOWN, BVI — The British Virgin Islands (BVI) has reversed recent trends by becoming the only offshore financial centre to have its rating boosted in the latest Global Financial Centres Index. The improvement comes against a backdrop of decline among all other offshore jurisdictions.

The ninth edition of the GFCI (GFCI 9) revealed that the BVI has improved its GFTI rating by two points, securing 40th place in the rankings outright, having previously shared the spot with Brussels.

BVI’s achievement was made all the more remarkable by the fact that every other offshore centre fell in both the ratings and ranking, continuing a trend that began with the onslaught of the global financial crisis in 2008.

Sheri Ortiz, Executive Director of the BVI International Financial Centre believes the BVI’s boost in the latest edition of the GFCI is testament to the centre’s ongoing commitment to regulation, transparency and continued growth in its financial services offering.

Meanwhile, The Bahamas has slipped another three places to 67th on the GFCI. The Nassau Guardian reported that the jurisdiction’s slip in ranking came along with a fall in its rating, from 529 six months ago to 517, behind all other offshore centres on the list.

DAILYCHALLENGE CHALLENGEWEEKEND WEEKENDEDITION, EDITION,MARCH MARCH2525- 27, - 27,2011 2011 DAILY

NEW JERSEY

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N.J. officials consider creating regional police force in Camden County

By MEGAN DEMARCO CAMDEN COUNTY - A regional police force may become a reality in Camden County, and if successfully implemented that concept could spread to every county in the state, Gov. Chris Christie said today.

Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) threw their support behind the idea today at a meeting with local elected officials, calling it a bipartisan issue that would benefit taxpayers.

“This is a moment that we have to look for efficiencies in policing both in terms of the effectiveness of the policing and also the cost,” Christie said.

Morris and Somerset

counties are also studying the effectiveness of regionalizing their police forces. Christie has also met with Essex and Mercer county officials about providing countywide public safety.

Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo Jr. attended the meeting today.

Sweeney, a longtime proponent of shared services, said regionalizing emergency response in Gloucester County provided real savings for residents.

“The taxpayers of this state need relief.

They’re at a breaking point,” he said. “What has to change is the way we deliver local government.”

All but two of Camden County’s 37 municipalities were represented at the hour-long closed-door meeting at the Blackwood campus of Camden County College.

Officials

emphasized the plan is not just about Camden City, which laid off 168 officers in January.

“You can’t focus on anymore the silos of an individual municipality or one or two. What we have is a cross-jurisdictional nature of crime, going from the cities, between cities, cities to suburbs, to more rural areas,” said Attorney General Paula Dow. Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr. said one idea would create several regional districts within the county with Camden City making up its own division.

Cappelli said while local law enforcement was not represented at the meeting, he has reached out to police and fire unions.

“The unions recognize change is coming and they want to have a seat at the table,” he said, adding that police and fire chiefs are

“begrudgingly” involved. He said “we want their input” but “we will move forward without them.”

John Williamson, President of Camden City Fraternal Order of Police, is not convinced a countywide force would benefit taxpay-

ers. “There’s absolutely no statistical proof that regionalizing police is going to be a benefit to anybody,” he said.

“Camden city needs Camden police officers and Camden fire officers to police and protect the streets.”

Dan Keashen, a

spokesman for Cherry Hill, said Mayor Bernie Platt’s priority is the police department within the town. “Ultimately the Cherry Hill police department in no way, shape, or form is going to be policing Camden City anytime soon,” he said.

Defendant in Newark schoolyard slayings says in statement After adopting tax hike, Ewing he didn’t try to kill girl he cut with machete council discusses cost-saving

By ALEXI FRIEDMAN NEWARK Alexander Alfaro said he had the machete in his hand and was staring straight at his half-brother.

“He looks at me. He tells me, you know what you have to do, or else you know what’s going to happen,” Alfaro said in a recorded statement he made to police and which was played Wednesday at his murder trial in Superior Court in Newark.

“I have to take out the machete and cut her a couple of times.

But I didn’t try to kill her.”

Alfaro was 16 when his half-brother, Rodolfo Godinez, called

him up the night of Aug. 4, 2007, ordering him to bring the weapon to the Mount Vernon Elementary School in Newark, according to the tape.

It was there, prosecutors say, where Alfaro and five other young men set upon four college-bound friends who happened to be hanging out late that night.

“When my brother (Godinez) saw I didn’t try to kill her, he tells Jose to shoot her,” Alfaro says, referring to Jose Carranza who was also charged in the killings. “So he shoots the first girl. Then the second guy. Then the other guy. Then we walk up the stairs.

Then Jose shoots the other girl.”

Killed were Iofemi Hightower and Dashon Harvey, both 20, and

Terrance Aeriel, 18.

Terrance’s sister, Natasha, then 19, was shot but survived.

Prosecutors say Alfaro, now 20, slashed Hightower with the machete, inflicting deep wounds on her head, arm and back.

His chilling account of what occurred that night was recorded Aug. 18, 2007, shortly after he was arrested in Woodbridge, Va., and charged with the murders. It provides the most vivid telling of the triple killing, including how the group confronted the four friends as they tried to retreat into Natasha Aeriel’s Toyota Corolla, then robbed and attacked them.

In the tape, Alfaro also mentions MS-13, the Central American

gang which, prosecutors say, all six defendants had ties to. The killings have been called gang-related.

Before Hightower, Harvey and Terrance Aeriel were shot, they were forced to sit in a row, next to a wall, their hands covering their faces, Alfaro said.

Authorities say Natasha Aeriel was being held a few feet away.

Wednesday would have been Hightower’s 24th birthday. Her mother, Shalga Hightower, who has been in court daily, called it “a bittersweet day for me.” While Alfaro downplayed the machete attack, Hightower said, she needed to hear him admit to it. “That’s about the best birthday gift I could give her.”

options, possible shared 911 services, regional police force

EWING — The decision to adopt a budget that will result in a 30 percent hike in the municipal tax rate was a difficult one for members of the township council, they said during a public hearing Tuesday evening.

“What we did is try to make up for the sins of the past,” said Councilwoman Hilary Hyser, referring to budgeting problems inherited from the previous administration, which left office last year.

The five-hour meeting was attended by more than 200 residents, many of whom criticized the size of the increase, saying they couldn’t afford it.

They also blasted members of council and the township administration for considering the higher spending plan, which peaks at $48.4 million.

The council discussion was not included in a story about the budget adoption yesterday.

Members of council said they would not be immune to the tax hike — an average of $400 on a home assessed at the township average of $125,000. The entire increase will be added to the May tax bills.

- David Karas

New American

The

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DAILY EDITION,MARCH MARCH25-27, 25 - 2011 27, 2011 DAILYCHALLENGE CHALLENGE WEEKEND WEEKEND EDITION,

Celebrate Black Marriage Day

One Thought - One Humanity

For the conclusions of these stories check out the March 24th - March 30th, 2011 issue of The New American, which hits newsstands every Thursday TV Land has given a series order to comedy series “The Exes” (working title) starring “Scrubs” veteran Donald Faison, and “Happily Divorced,” which features “Martin” alum Tichina Arnold. According to the Hollywood Reporter, “The Exes” centers on three divorced men who live together in an apartment across the hall from their divorce attorney.

Wayne Knight, David Alan Basche and Kristen Johnston also star in the project. “Happily Divorced” stars Fran Drescher in her first TV vehicle since the “The Nanny.” It’s based on her real life and centers on L.A. florist Fran (Drescher) as she deals with dating after finding out her realtor husband of 18 years (John Michael Higgins) is gay. Tichina Arnold is joined by Rita Moreno in the supporting cast.

Slim Thug is facing legal action from a man who claims the rapper assaulted him during a business meeting.

Clarence Evans is suing the Hip-Hop star and his affiliate Raymond Thomas II over allegations he was “suddenly and without warning” struck in the face with a pistol, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Texas. Evans alleges the I Run hit-maker, real name Stayve Jerome Thomas, then ordered his associates to take his money. The lawsuit states: “Defendants participated in the attack and directed the other attendees of the business meeting to attack Plaintiff and steal any money Plaintiff had in his pockets at the time. As a result of the intentional and reckless acts and/or omissions of Defendants, Plaintiff suffered severe injuries and damages.” Evans is

seeking an undisclosed amount for medical charges, lost wages, pain and suffering, mental anguish, physical disability and disfigurement Rihanna covers Vogue’s April ‘Shape Issue’ with her fiery red ‘do, and inside the prominent fashion glossy the 23-year-old opens up about her career, body, father and her sprawling new 12-bedroom house in the Hollywood Hills.

The Bajan songstress revealed that she had been eyeing the pad since April 2010, but took the time to shop around before coming to a final decision. “I looked steady for two years, and it is way above the price I was looking for, but I loved it,” she told Vogue, before detailing the house’s interior. “It is all white,” she said.

“There is a gun chandelier in the middle of the living room. In one room, I have this huge black-and-white painting of Bob Marley, and the wallpaper is green, yellow, and red, the African-flag colors.”

Rihanna’s Loud tour is struggling to make some noise in the U.S. the singer has reportedly been urged to axe concerts due to poor ticket sales.

The Umbrella hit-maker was forced to scrap a string of dates on her Last Girl On Earth Tour last year following disappointing sales figures.

B.o.B. appeared in his first Adidas commercial back in July 2010, to the backdrop of his single ‘Magic, a track from his debut album ‘B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray.’ Now the ATL rapper has resurfaced in the sneaker giant’s latest international campaign. The new Adidas “All In” commercial features a series of sport clips,

spliced with footage of the pop star taking the stage in front of a live crowd. But this time, instead of B.o.B.’s music, the ad is set to ‘Civilization,’ the new single from French electro group Justice.

The song will debut on their forthcoming album, due in April.

Kelly Price may have made a gospel album in the past but the soulful songstress is returning to her R&B roots with a new album. The New York native is gearing up for the release of ‘Kelly,’ an effort set to feature production from the likes of Warryn Campbell, Shep Crawford, Jazz Nixon and Lawrence Waddell.

The forthcoming LP, Kelly’s sixth to date, has already spawned two singles: the emotional ballad ‘Tired’ and the Stokley Williams’assisted ‘Not My Daddy.’ Price’s work with the Mint Condition member on the latter track was a natural one.

Author, curator and legendary publicist Bill Adler recently revealed that several items from his vast collection of Hip Hop artifacts are on display at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. Barbara London’s “Looking At Music” series, presently dedicated to 1980s music culture in the city, includes artifacts and visual references to Public Enemy, Afrika Bambaataa and RunDMC. According to his blog on MoMA’s website, the items came from Adler’s personal collection. Throughout the ‘00s, Bill owned and operated the Eyejammie Gallery in Midtown Manhattan. He has also written an authorized biography on RunDMC, Tougher Than Leather.

By JABARI ASIM

adult whites and 60 percent of adult Hispanics are married, only 41 percent of adult African-Americans are.

There are 23 divorces per 1,000 Black couples per year, compared to 19 for whites. The number of unmarried women having children is high for whites and Hispanics as well (25 percent and 42 percent, respectively), but astronomical for African-Americans: 69 percent.

While Black communities are allegedly more opposed to gay marriage than other populations, one can look at those numbers and wonder if African-Americans are beginning to lose faith in marriage of any kind. Wedded bliss once attracted considerably more esteem from African-Americans, especially in the years following emancipation, when Blacks were able to marry legally for the first time.

According to Betty DeRamus, between 1890 and 1940, a slightly higher percentage of Black adults than whites married.

DeRamus is the author of “Forbidden Fruit: Love Stories From the Underground Railroad.” She pored over unpublished memoirs, Civil War records and other materials to document the efforts of couples (some interracial, most of them Black) who risked life and limb to be together.

“We will laud the bold and brave couples around the country that have committed to each other until death do they part,” Nisa Islam Muhammad’s Web site declares. “We want to acknowledge their bravery because in a world where it is far easier to break up a family than it is to get help to stay together, it takes sheer courage to fight for your marriage and resist divorce.”

She is referring to Black Marriage Day, which will be observed March 27. The event, founded by Muhammad in 2003 continues to gather steam. Last year’s activities included workshops and programs in about 70 cities. In churches and community centers, couples gathered to renew their vows and recite a Black marriage pledge. Muhammad hopes to involve 150 cities in this year’s commemoration. She writes, “much of what we hear about marriage in the Black community is a blues song about low (marriage) rates, out-of-wedlock births, escalating divorces and how somebody done somebody wrong.”

I share Muhammad’s distress.

The rates to which she refers are, in the words of the African American Healthy Marriage Initiative, “crisislevel statistics.” While 62 percent of - Full Story In This Week’s New American Newspaper -

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011

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CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, DAILYDAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 -2011 27, 2011

RENOWNED ACTOR JEFFREY WRIGHT JOINS AUTHORS, SCHOLARS AND LOVERS OF DRAMATIC THEATER IN CELEBRATION OF AUGUST WILSON

Ed Bullins will be speaking at the symposium.

The National Black Participating speakers Writers Conference and panelists include King Jr., Biannual Symposium Woodie will be held on Saturday, founder of the New 10 a.m.. – 5 p.m., at Federal Theatre; playThomas Medgar Evers College in wrights and Ed Brooklyn. This year’s Bradshaw theme is “Honoring the Bullins; Professor Dale Work and Life of Byam, director of the August Wilson.� film “August in April;�

Pulitzer Prize-winning and scholars Kimberly playwright August C. Ellis, Donald Gagnon, Wilson was a major con- Paul Carter Harrison, Esmeralda tributor to the canon of and American literature. Simmons. “August Wilson’s rich From “Jitney,� “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom� plays gave life and voice and “Fences� to “Joe to the struggles of Black Turner’s Come and people in this country; Gone� and “Radio Golf,� our celebration of his Wilson’s legacy consists work and life meets the of a cycle of 10 powerful center’s mission to plays that depict the expand the literary African American expe- canon and the general rience in the 20th cen- public’s knowledge of tury, each set in a differ- the literature produced ent decade. His work by Black writers,� stated explores themes such as Dr. Brenda M. Greene, racism, cultural identi- executive director of the for Black ty, family relationships, Center and spirituality. The Literature.

It is wonderful that symposium is dedicated to exploring his work, the Center for Black in particular the impact Literature will devote a of the cultural and his- day to not only one of torical themes of his America’s greatest playwork on the Black wrights, but an individAmerican experience ual who was so committed to Black creative and in literature.

The day-long sympo- expression and empowsium will feature dra- erment that he insisted, matic readings by often at great financial acclaimed actors Jeffrey sacrifice, that Black Wright, star of “A Free directors were always Man of Color� and “Top chosen to direct his Dog/Under Dog,� and plays and that the Black was always Tanya Wright, author press and a cast member of reached out to and supHBO’s “True Blood.� ported. Dr. Greene has

Jeffrey Wright will perform a dramatic reading.

Photo credit: Joan H. Allen

A symposium devoted to August Wilson takes place this weekend.

Photo credit: Joan H. Allen had to battle through an were producing an event ongoing university cri- for a Black university sis to keep her center named after civil rights alive. Her efforts to activist Medgar Evers, a bring a greater aware- conference inspired by ness of Black literature literary activist John through the center and Oliver Killens and honit’s National Writer’s oring this year August Conference should be Wilson -- for which all applauded, and support- members of the Black press should be invited ed.

I was alarmed, how- and none denied.

The cost for the ever, to learn that one of Wilson the events being pro- August duced to help raise Symposium event on funds for the center has Saturday is a $10 generdenied access to the al donation; $5, senior Black press. citizens, students and Unfortunately, it faculty (with ID). This appears that the produc- event is opened to the er and/or its publicist public.

The National Black were not aware they

Woodie King, Jr. will be one of the speakers at the symposium.

Writers Conference ture. The NBWC is pro(NBWC), inspired by the duced by The Center for late John Oliver Killens Black Literature at in 1986, brings together Medgar Evers College, writers, critics, book- CUNY. Co-Sponsored by New sellers, book reviewers, educators, students, and York Council for the Medgar the general public in Humanities, order to establish a dia- Evers College, CUNY, logue on emerging Department of English, Jill Newman themes, trends, and and issues in Black litera- Productions.

DAILY DAILYCHALLENGE CHALLENGEWEEKEND WEEKENDEDITION, EDITION,MARCH MARCH2525- -27, 27,2011 2011

15 15

NEW FEDERAL THEATRE PRESENTS “COOL BLUES� AT ABRONS ART CENTER Woodie King Jr's New Federal Theatre is presenting the world premiere of COOL BLUES

by Bill Harris, directed

by Ed Smith, playing through April 3, 2011 at Abrons Art Center/Recital Hall Theatre, 466 Grand Street.

The cast of 6 are Ezra Barnes,Stephanie Berry,Terria Joseph, Marcus Naylor,Maria Silverman, and Jay Ward. Set design by Anthony Davidson, cos-

tume design by Ali Turns, lighting design

by Shirley Prendergast, and sound design by Sean O'hollaron. Casting

by Lawrence Evans.

It is 1955. B is a Black jazz musician so renowned and innovative that he only needs a single initial to identify him. He shows up unannounced to spend a fateful weekend in the apartment of, Baroness Alexandra Isabella von Templeton (Xan),one of the world's richest

women. His manner and his mood shifts are as mercurial aas his music.

His talent at deception and self defense as agile as his ability to charm.

Has he come to recuperate from recent disastrous events in order to soar into the world again, or has the burden of being a fcutting edge spirit in the war against conformity and racial prejudice taken its ultimate toll?

B is played by Marcus Naylor and is based on

SAVIOUR? By Esther Armah The Dwyer Cultural Center is hosting a free reading of Esther Armah's new play "Saviour?" The play stars Paul Hertel and Leon Addison Brown and is directed by Passion. "Saviour?" is the story of Billy Hall and Michael Jamal Williams III. A client and a lawyer. Two men, one in trouble, one on a mission. One black and one white and both with only 48 hours to face the press with a story that may make or break one or both of them.

Esther Armah is a playwright, an awardwinning international journalist, an author and radio host. Esther has also worked in print, radio and television in the UK, US and Africa for more than a decade. As a playwright, her first play was a one woman show 'Can I Be Me?" adapted from her book. Her second play was 'Forgive Me?', which debuted in June 2008 at 'The Roger Furman Playreading Series' where it broke audience attendance records. It was then selected for the September 2008 'Urban

Stages Playreading Series' and then selected for Mainstage Theatre at the 2009 'Midtown International Theatre Festival'.

'Entitled!' is her third play; it debuted as a staged reading at the 'Dwyer Cultural Center', the new home of The Roger Furman PlayReading Series.

Saviour? is her fourth play. As a New York radio host, Esther can be heard on Wake Up Call on WBAI 99.5FM Monday to Thursday 6 to 8am.

Passion has directed over thirty-five productions, including Another Man's Poison (Off-Broadway), Antigone Asata Shakur, T'was The Night Before Kwanzaa and Real Black Men Don't Sit Crosslegged On The Floor (Best Ensemble Audelco Award.)

Leon Addison Brown has appeared on Broadway in On The Waterfront, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, and Prelude To A Kiss.

Other credits include work at Hartford Theatre Works, Harford Stage, WilliamsTown Theatre Festival,Westport

Passion C o u n t r y Playhouse,Yale Rep,Berkshire Theatre Fes.,Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey,Arena Stage, Baltimore Center Stage,Portland Center Stage,Milwaukee R e p , M i s s o u r i Rep.,Cleveland Playhouse, and Cincinnati Rep. His Film/ TV credits include The Edge, Law & Order, L & A SUV, and The Jury.

New Heritage Theatre Group is the oldest not for profit in New York City, celebrating its 47th year.

The Dwyer Cultural Center is located at 258 St. Nicholas Avenue, entrance on 123rd Street between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and St. Nicholas Avenue.

Performance time is 7PM. Admission is complimentary.

Marcus Naylor and Stephanie Berry in a scene from "Cool Blues" by playwright Bill Harris Theatre he directed the Charlie "Bird" Parker Rothschild.

Playwright Bill award winning, From who died on March 12th, 1955 at age 35 in The Harris is a professor of the “Mississippi Delta�

Baroness's Apartment in English at Wayne State and Ossie Davis' last The Stanhope Hotel. He University. Harris has play “A Last Dance for carved a large piece of had many successful Sybil,� which featured jazz history for himself. productions of his plays Ruby Dee and Earle No other single figure nationwide. Acclaimed Hyman. He is the winS. Epatha ner of the prestigious before or since has exert- actors Richard's ed a greater influence on Merkerson, the late Lloyd his contemporaries and Abby Lincoln, Guy Director's Award from and Denzel the National Black on successive genera- Davis, Washington have Theatre Festival. tions of musicians" Performances of "Baroness Zan is starred in various proplayed by Terria Joseph ductions of his plays. He COOL BLUES will be Through and is based on Baroness is the 2012 Kresge Wednesday evening at Nica de Koenigswarter Foundation's Eminent Friday 7:30pm, Saturday at (Dec 10th, 1913 --Nov Artist.

Director Ed Smith is 3pm & 8pm and Sunday 30, 1988), a British bebop jazz enthusiasts an award-winning direc- matinees at 3pm.

Tickets: $25 and can and member of the tor and educator who prominent Rothschild has directed at theatres be ordered through w w .

International finance around the country, and w dynasty" Born Kathleen in Canada and the West TheatreMania.com.

Anne Pannonica Indies. For New Federal

Woodie King, Jr.’s New Federal Theatre Presents

*Courtesy of Actors Equity

with *Ezra Barnes, *Stephanie Berry, *Terria Joseph, *Marcus Naylor, *Maria Silverman, *Jay Ward Stage Mgr: *Bayo ¡ Asst Stage Mgr: *Rosita Timm ¡ Set Design: Anthony Davidson ¡ Costume Design: Ali Turns ¡ Lighting Design: Shirley Prendergast ¡ Sound Design: Sean O'Halloran ¡ Casting Director: Lawrence Evans

Now thru April 3, 2011 • Wed - Fri 7:30pm, Sat 3:00pm & 8pm; Sun, 3pm

$25/TDF (Wkdys only)

Credit Card: 212-352-3101, or www.theatremania.com, for further info:: 212-353-1176

Henry Street Settlement's Abrons Art Center/Underground Theatre • 466 Grand Street, NYC (bet. Pitt & Willet)

212.598.0400 • www.newfederaltheatre.org

DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011

16

THE RELIGIOUS ROUTE

BY VELMA HART Ms. Pauline Hobson (left), I big you up as did over 25 members of your family on your birthday, March 15th, 2011. Happily celebrated in the inviting apartment of a deserving family gem, where over twenty friends and relatives attended, most traveled from far away.

Places such as Essie Jones, Detroit,Mich., Chet Blair, Media,Pa., James Garrett, Charlotte, N.C., and Helen & Chem, Atl,Ga., and others.

Now hear this, all of the delicious cuisine was brought in a van to the Bronx home for the party and was prepared mostly in Atlanta. What a treat. The agenda of the occasion; Such an array of gifts were given, a real mink vest, a gold necklace and more. Some beautifully read birthday cards, well worth keeping.

When I arrived at the very secured building to attend the birthday party just ahead of me there was a man carrying a gorgeous bunch of colorful flowers. I said to myself, I bet those flowers are being delivered to Ms. Hobson. And sure enough when I got out of the elevator, there he stood to deliver the flowers at the door of Ms. Hobson.

Back to the agenda, the floor was open for words of love, read a couple, one family member summary was that Pauline has always been there for us through the years, Another said, Whenever I get in or have trouble, I go to aunt Pauline, because she is a praying woman.

The above statement stands to bear witness. Ms. Hobson is a member of St. Catherine AMEZ, New Rochelle,

New York. The Reverend Michael Rouse, is the pastor. She has been an active member for over 50 years.

On a wall in her home are many plaques which were presented to honor her by AMEZ. Ms. Hobson serves in lots of ways in her community. She provides transportation to many needy Senior Citizens as does she for those who are far younger than she. It has been my pleasure to know Ms.Hobson both professionally and personally. Women don’t reveal their age, Not so, Ms. Hobson proudly states, I am 90 years of age.

And might I add, she’s looking real good. Ms. Pauline Hobson, may you have many more Happy Birthdays.

Until next time show love.

Heart scan may help cut cholesterol, blood pressure

By FREDERIK JOELVING Calcium heart scans could help people lower their blood pressure and cholesterol levels, according to a new study on the controversial x-ray tests.

Several professional groups are already pushing for more widespread use of the scans, yet they’ve never been shown to cut the risk that people will die from heart disease.

What’s more, recent studies have found no evidence that screening healthy people’s hearts will influence their lifestyle or medication (see Reuters Health story of March 18, 2011).

This lack of encouraging data has led some experts to fear that computed tomography (CT) — a type of highdose x-rays, which include calcium scans — might do more harm than good.

For instance, a typical CT scan exposes patients to several millisieverts of radiation. Experts say that translates into about one extra case of cancer per 1,000 typical scans.

For the new study, Dr. Alan Rozanski of St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in New York and colleagues divided more than 2,100 healthy, middle-aged people into two groups. One got a calcium scan, the other didn’t.

Both groups of participants had some risk factors for heart disease at the outset — such as high blood pressure or obesity, for instance — and got counseling on how to reduce their risk.

Those who got scanned also went through their calcium scores with a nurse practitioner and received a copy of the scan that they could show their own doctor.

Calcium deposits make up part of the cholesterol plaques that clog arteries in people with heart disease. Many experts believe they give a more precise idea of the chances of developing

heart problems down the road.

Writing in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Rozanski and colleagues note that the treatment costs were not appreciably different between the two groups.

Assuming a calcium scan costs $150, they found scanned patients racked up a medical bill of $4,053 over the 4-year study, compared to $3,649 for patients who just got counseling.

More of the scanned participants started taking blood pressure medicine during the study. Overall, they lowered their blood pressure by two points more than those who weren’t scanned over 4 years. Their LDL or “bad” cholesterol also dropped by four points more.

That translated into a tiny decrease in their risk of suffering a heart attack over the next 10 years — less than one percent — according to a statistical model that doctors often use.

But it’s not certain what that drop really means, Dr. Rita F. Redberg, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, told Reuters Health.

“It would be a good thing if that led to a better quality of life or to living longer but we don’t know that,” said Redberg, who wasn’t involved in the study.

Indeed, the number of heart attacks and deaths was actually slightly larger in the group that got calcium scans, although that might have been due to chance.

And there was no difference in the number of people who quit smoking or started exercising regularly — two lifestyle choices that are closely tied to heart disease.

“Certainly I wouldn’t want to recommend getting a scan when there wasn’t any evidence of improvement in clinical events,” Redberg said.

Still, the number of Americans who get these tests has been climbing fast in recent years. According to Redberg, hundreds of thousands of Americans get CT heart scans every year.

Several organizations — including the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology — are pushing the scans in people without symptoms of heart disease, but other experts remain skeptic.

For example, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a federal expert panel, currently discourages routine calcium scans in people who aren’t at increased risk of heart disease.

For those who are, the panel says, there simply isn’t enough evidence to give good advice.

The new study was supported both by public and private money, and some of the researchers have received financial support in the past from medical imaging companies.

U.S. misses goal of wiping out TB by 2010

By JULIE STEENHUYSEN CHICAGO — Despite steady improvements, the United States has failed to make its goal of eradicating tuberculosis by 2010, government researchers said.

U.S. TB rates last year fell to 11,181 reported cases, or 3.6 cases per 100,000 people, a one-year drop of 3.9 percent and an all-time low since national reporting began in 1953, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the disease is proving difficult to target among specific populations, especially among foreign-born individuals, Blacks and people infected with HIV. TB rates are 11 times higher

among people born outside the United States. Among those infected, about 95 percent of Asians, 75 percent of Hispanics, 34 percent of blacks and 20 percent of whites were foreign-born.

Four states — California, Texas, New York and Florida — account for nearly half of all U.S. TB cases, according to the report, which was released on World TB Day. Among those born in the United States, TB rates were seven times higher among Blacks than whites.

TB is caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria. It can be cured with antibiotics but they must be taken daily for months to be effective.

Because people do not always take the drugs as directed, multiple drugresistant strains called have emerged.

The World Health Organization said more than 2 million people will contract drug-resistant TB by 2015.

Cases of TB that is resistant to at least two common treatments, known as multidrug-resistant TB, accounted for 1.3 percent of all U.S. TB cases in 2009, the most recent year for which complete data are available. The rate is largely unchanged from 2008.

Only one case of extensively drugresistant TB — an infection that resists the most highly effective drugs — was reported in the United States in 2010.

Despite missing its goal set in 1989 to eliminate TB by 2010, CDC said it remains committed to eradicating TB in the United States and sees the infection as a global threat.

“Progress in meeting the goal of TB elimination will hinge on improving TB control and prevention activities among disproportionately affected populations,” the CDC said in its weekly report on death and disease.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011

17

enTerTainmenT

Nicki Minaj ready for ‘Pink Friday’ follow-up

By JAYSON RODRIGUEZ Nicki Minaj is still pushing her debut album, Pink Friday, but the Lil Wayne protégé is ready to get back in the studio.

She took time out from recording recently to prep for the I Am Still Music Tour.

“I slowed down because I been rehearsing,” Nicki said. “I couldn’t do a lot of stuff. There’s things that are pending that I have to turn in.”

But prior to the tour kickoff in Providence, Rhode Island, the Queens MC put pen to pad for several contributions to future projects from her Young Money/ Cash Money Records family and another she was particularly tight-lipped about.

“I had to hand in a Carter IV verse.

I handed in a verse to Birdman, and I handed in a verse to a very special lady that I think is gonna rock people’s world,” she said.

“I love keeping secrets,” Nicki added, smiling. “That [last] one is gonna rock some boats.”

Soon, she said, she’ll begin the first stages on her follow-up to Pink Friday. Her video with Rihanna for “Fly” and the “Super Bass” clip are scheduled to arrive next. However, she already has a release date in mind for her sophomore set — though she’s reluctant to broadcast the info.

“I can give you an idea,” she said, coyly. “But I don’t want to. I’d rather not right now. Because then everybody is gonna jump on the bandwagon and say they’re putting out their album the same day.”

YOU CAN ‘FACTOR’ OUT MINAJ FOR SIMON’S NEW SHOW Remember all those rumors about Nicki Minaj being pretty much a done deal as far as being a judge on Simon Cowell’s new “X Factor” show? Well guess what? It’s not a done deal according to TMZ. Rumors of Minaj’s participation on the show have been spreading like wildfire … with Simon Cowell himself fanning the flames … but sources connected to Minaj tell us she won’t be a judge on the show … adding, “There’s nothing going on

with [X Factor].”

Earlier this week, Cowell told reporters that many of the names rumored to be in talks with the show were most likely leaked from his own company in an effort to stir up inter-

est in the show.

Jessica Simpson and Paula Abdul were among the rumored candidates for the judge’s positions … but so far, no word on where they stand with the show.

Smashing Fun!

”

“

Peter Travers

“

Seth Rogen is ” perfect as Paul.

Ray Bennett, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

UNIVERSAL PICTURES PRESENTS IN ASSOCIATION WITH RELATIVITY MEDIA A WORKING TITLE PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH BIG TALK PICTURES “PAUL” SIMON PEGG NICK FROSTMUSICJASON BATEMAN KRIEXECUTIVE STEN WIIG BILL HADER BLYTHE DANNER JOHN CARROLL LYNCH WITH SIGOURNEY WEAVER AND SETH ROGEN AS “PAUL” BY DAVID ARNOLD PRODUCERS LIZA CHASIN DEBRA HAYWARD NATASCHA WHARTON ROBERT GRAF WRITTEN PRODUCED DIRECTED

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BY CHRIS MELEDANDRI MICHELE IMPERATO STABI LE

BY CHRISTOPHER LENNERTZ PRODUCER JOHN COHEN STORY DIRECTED SCREENPLAY

BY CINCO PAUL & KEN DAURIO

BY TIM HILL

BY CINCO PAUL & KEN DAURIO AND BRIAN LYNCH A UNIVERSAL PICTURE SCORE SOUNDTRACK ON BACK LOT MUSIC AND VARÈSE SARABANDE

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011

18

enTerTainmenT

Chris Brown apologizes for ‘GMA’ outburst

By GIL KAUFMAN In what has become a predictable pattern, Chris Brown followed his alleged violent “Good Morning America” outburst with an apology to fans and those who were affected by his actions on Tuesday morning.

In a transcript of an appearance on BET’s “106 & Park” provided to ABC News, Brown said his backstage tantrum at the morning program came after interviewer Robin Roberts deviated from the “talking points” to which Brown’s camp had previously agreed.

“First of all, I want to apologize to anybody who was startled in the office, or anybody who was offended or really looked and [was] disappointed at my actions,” Brown said.

“Because I’m disappointed in the way I acted ... Yes, I got very emotional.

And I apologize for acting like that.”

Brown, who was ordered to take domestic violence prevention courses as part of his probation following a guilty plea in his felony assault case involving ex-girlfriend Rihanna, said that he did not hurt anyone during the “GMA” incident.

He said he felt he had to release “the anger that I had inside of me,” after being thrown off by the questions about the Rihanna case, believing the interview would focus instead solely on his new album, F.A.M.E.

According to a statement from ABC News, “Chris Brown was invited on ‘Good Morning America’ to perform and to be interviewed. There were no talking points offered.”

The singer countered that statement, telling BET that he felt ambushed by the interview, which he claimed deviated from the story line to which his camp had agreed. “A lot of people don’t know what went down, and obviously when I do shows or when I do interviews, we always send out a talking point sheet ... As the interview proceeded, it was kinda thrown off. I was thrown off by it. I felt like they told us this just so they could get us on the show so they can exploit me ... So I took it very, very hard and I really kinda kept my composure throughout the whole interview, although you can see me upset, I kept my composure, I did my performances, and when I got back [stage], I just let off, like, steam in the back. I didn’t physically hurt anyone, I didn’t try to hurt anyone, I just wanted to release the anger that I had inside me because I felt that I worked so hard for this music and ... I felt like people kept just trying to take it away from me.

So yes, I got very emotional, and I wanna apologize for acting like that.”

ABC News reported that letting off that steam included the tossing of a cooler and the smashing of a window in a dressing room that resulted in

glass raining down on the busy sidewalk below the studio. A short time after the dressing-room tantrum, a shirtless Brown was seen leaving the building. He later tweeted (and deleted) the comments, “I’m so over people bring this past sh— up! Yet we praise Charlie Sheen and other celebs for [their] bullsh—.”

According to Roberts — who in late 2009 was granted the first TV interview with the singer about the Rihanna assault — Brown had agreed to talk about his past on the show and was aware there would be Rihanna questions in the mix. The angry outburst caused some experts to question whether Brown has possibly ruined his chance at rebooting his career with the new album, though Billboard reported on Wednesday that Brown is potentially headed to his first #1 album debut on next week’s Billboard 200 albums chart.

“Any time we have a guest here on the program, we let them know ahead of time the subject matter, the topics that we’re going to discuss and we, even right before the interview, I said that to Chris and I was shocked like everybody else was,” Roberts said on Wednesday’s “GMA.” She added that she thought Brown was “joking” when he sulked during the interview in response to questions about Rihanna.

Despite the actions, Brown has been invited to come back to “GMA”

to talk again, and Roberts said on Wednesday that the show wishes him “the absolute best.”

The program’s hair and makeup staff reportedly called security because they heard the commotion in Brown’s dressing room; no charges were filed in the incident and the New York City police did not respond to the scene.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the incident isn’t likely to have any effect on Brown’s probation, though a spokesperson in the probation department handling the singer’s case told MTV News they were unable to comment on his status due to confidentiality laws.

Last month, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg had high praise for Brown in a probation review and agreed to downgrade a restraining order issued against him in the Rihannaassault case.

Rihanna tour dates in jeopardy The Rock in talks for ‘Snitch’ action thriller due to low ticket sales Rihanna has been advised to cancel domestic dates on her Loud tour following low-ticket sales, according to reports.

The singer faced the same problems with her 2010 “Last Girl on Earth” tour, and had to cancel Phoenix, Dallas, Atlanta, Denver and Indianapolis.

After poor U.S. concert pre-sales last month, Rihanna, 23, has reportedly been advised by her manager, Jay Brown, to cancel upcoming domestic dates on her tour.

“It has been a big disappointment,” the New York Post quoted a source as saying. “The ticket sales in big U.S. cities like Boston are so bad, they will barely cover basics like the lighting and other arena costs. Tour managers are begging local radio stations to do giveaways.”

Rihanna is scheduled to perform at T.D. Garden arena in Boston on July 24 with Cee Lo Green. Only 3,700 tickets have been sold, and sources on the tour say she needs to sell at least 15,000 to break even.

They expect more than a half-mil-

By BORYS KIT lion dollars in losses from the Boston concert alone.

Her new manager, Brown, who is part of Roc Nation, is preparing to make changes, sources said.

The tour starts in June 4 in Baltimore and heads to Canada and then around the U.S. before moving to England in August.

“She should’ve been doing theatres and smaller venues. She’s not ready to headline an arena tour,” an insider added.

LOS ANGELES — Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is in negotiations to star in “Snitch,” an action thriller that Ric Roman Waugh is writing and directing for Exclusive Media.

The project has been long in development and at one point was set up at New Line with Carl Franklin directing.

The script centers on a suburban father who is hit hard when his teenage son is sentenced to 30 years under mandatory minimum drug laws. In order to reduce his son’s

sentence, the father goes undercover to help nab a senior drug dealer.

The story is based on a “Frontline” documentary.

Waugh has shown his gritty mettle writing and directing the gritty crime drama “Felon,” which starred Val Kilmer and Stephen Dorff.

Johnson, who oscillates between family movies and hard-edged action films, is in his battle mode.

He last starred in CBS Films’ “Faster” and will next be seen alongside Paul Walker and Vin Diesel in “Fast Five,” Universal’s fifth installment of the Fast and Furious franchise.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011

19

business & Technology

Durable goods orders fall, job market healing WASHINGTON — New orders for long-lasting manufactured goods fell in February, hinting at some unexpected softness in manufacturing activity and business investment plans.

But other data Thursday showed the improvement in the labor market was becoming sustained, with new claims for jobless benefits falling last week and the four-week moving average dropping to it lowest level in more than 2-1/2 years.

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders fell 0.9 percent after a 3.6 percent increase in January. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 1.1 percent increase.

Excluding transportation, orders fell 0.6 percent after dropping 3.0 percent in January.

“Durables were extremely disappointing ... it is not a very good sign for what is happening in the first quarter,” said Rudy Narvas, a senior economist at Societe Generale in New York.

The durable goods report conflicted with other data on manufacturing, which have underscored the strength in factory activity.

A second report from the Labor Department showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 382,000, a touch below economists’ expectations for a fall to 383,000.

The four-week moving average of unemployment claims — a better measure of underlying trends dropped 1,500 to 385,250, the lowest since mid-July 2008 and holding below the 400,000 level for a fourth straight week.

A reading below 400,000 is generally associated with steady job growth, which until recently had eluded the economic recovery.

Employers created 192,000 jobs in February, the most in nine months, after adding a paltry 63,000 new workers in January.

The Federal Reserve has acknowledged the improvement in labor mar-

ket conditions and is generally expected to conclude its $600 billion government bond buying program at the end of June.

Analysts believe the economy is now on course to create at least 150,000 jobs a month over a sustained period, which should prevent the unemployment rate from rising much, even as Americans who had given up looking for work re-enter the job market.

But some caution the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and rising gasoline prices could dent business confidence and cause companies to delay hiring.

There are signs that businesses are starting to tread cautiously.

The Commerce Department report showed non-defense capital goods order excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending, fell 1.3 percent in February after a 6.0 percent fall the prior month.

Economists had predicted a 4.5 percent improvement in this category.

“We all know that housing and consumption will be weak, lagging sectors. So if the business sector’s expansion momentum stalls, this is bad news, creating a risk of disappointing employment gains in coming months,” said Dan Dorrow, head of research at Faros Trading in Stamford, Connecticut.

The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of jobless aid fell 2,000 to 3.72 million in the week ended March 12, the lowest level since September 2008.

The continuing claims data covered the week for the household survey from which the unemployment rate is derived. The jobless rate dipped to 8.9 percent in February from 9.0 percent in January and has dropped 0.9 percentage point in the past three months.

Economists had expected so-called continuing claims to fall to 3.70 million from a previously reported 3.71 million.

GM, Chrysler sue Allied over ‘hostage’ vehicles

By BEN KLAYMAN DETROIT — General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC have sued Allied Systems Holding Inc., accusing the auto hauler of “holding hostage” more than 2,400 new cars and trucks.

GM, in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, charged that Allied breached a contract under which it provides car-hauling services for the U.S. automaker.

“Defendant is holding hostage 1,704 new GM vehicles, with an estimated value of $46.6 million,” according to the lawsuit. “It simply has no claim to the vehicles; they are GM’s property.”

In a separate suit, Chrysler said Allied was holding about 700 of its vehicles.

Allied, which calls itself the largest auto transporter in North America, could not be reached for comment.

GM is seeking immediate return of the vehicles, which include Chevrolet Silverado pickups and Camaro coupes, so it can fill orders. The value of the vehicles will depreciate and customer relations could be hurt if Allied continues to hold them, the lawsuit said.

The automaker also is seeking unspecified damages.

Chrysler filed its lawsuit on Tuesday in Ontario Superior Court, seeking the return of about 700 vehicles, including minivans, held by Allied in

Windsor, Ontario, spokeswoman Katie Hepler said. Chrysler is also seeking damages.

Chrysler said the court issued an order that the automaker was entitled to remove about 200 of the vehicles immediately and it said it had recovered those vehicles.

Chrysler said the court adjourned a hearing regarding the automaker’s remaining vehicles until next Monday or Tuesday.

Other automakers were also affected as Allied ended contracts with Toyota Motor Corp., for which Allied hauls about 20 percent of its U.S. vehicles by truck, and Honda Motor Co Ltd. Toyota said it was unaware of any

TomTom says mapping unit not up for sale AMSTERDAM — Dutch navigation and digital map maker TomTom, which is struggling with competition from map offerings by Google and Nokia, is not looking to sell its mapping unit, denying a report it might consider a sale.

TomTom executive committee member Taco Titulaer told Reuters on Thursday it’s mapping division, formerly known as Tele Atlas and part of TomTom’s content assets, aren’t up for sale.

“Our content assets are core to our strategy and product offering,” said Titulaer adding.

“TomTom is not considering to divest or sell those assets, which includes mapping.”

TomTom bought the digital map maker Tele Atlas in 2008 for 2.9 billion euros, in part to prevent rival Garmin Ltd from getting its hands on the digital maps and also to use

the maps for new revenue streams by building a content and service business.

Mergermarket said TomTom has been rumored to consider selling its mapping division, citing two unanimous industry sources.

One source was cited as saying Google was phasing out its partnership with TomTom and that location-

specific content has lost some of its luster due the rise of Web sites and services such as Twitter, foursquare and Facebook.

Google maps and Navteq, which is owned by Nokia, are TomTom’s commercial rivals in the digital mapping market, which has seen increased offerings of maps on mobile phones, sometimes free of charge.

of its vehicles being held by Allied, while Honda said it had none with the hauler. All affected automakers have shifted the business to other companies.

Ford Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co Ltd. said they continue to work with Allied and there has been no interruption in their deliveries.

GM said in its lawsuit that on March 10 it learned Allied had unilaterally reduced the wages of its Teamsters union employees by 20 percent and the union had responded with a 72-hour strike notice to Allied.

On March 16, Allied demanded from GM a 15 percent price increase, rising each year by 3 percent, plus limitations on the automaker’s right to terminate its contract with Allied and other revisions to the contract, according to the lawsuit.

GM said it responded by calling Allied’s demands “wholly unacceptable.” The next day, Allied said it had reached a deal to avoid a strike, but would no longer serve customers that had not agreed to new contract terms, the lawsuit said.

Chrysler said Allied stopped serving it as well.

GM sought the return of about 1,662 new cars and trucks held by Allied in Dearborn, Michigan, and another 42 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the lawsuit said.

It said Allied has not responded to those requests or surrendered the vehicles.

GM said in the lawsuit the resulting damages will be “substantial” and likely beyond Allied’s ability to satisfy.

The automaker’s contract with Allied to haul new vehicles from plants to dealers and other destinations was for three years beginning on February 1, 2010, according to the lawsuit.

GAMESNUMBERS

20

DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011

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Your Horoscope ARIES (Mar. 21- April 20) Use your added discipline to get what you want.

Build on friendship rather than starting out in an intimate encounter. You are best to keep hard feelings to yourself.

TAURUS (Apr. 21- May 21) You need to do more research before you make your final decision. Try to put your money away for a rainy day. Use your head and do things to your liking.

Put your money into a safe place that will ensure a profit if you let it sit long enough. Satisfy your passionate mood.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) An older loved one may be having problems.

Take some time to change your house around. Secret affairs could cause upset.

GEMINI (May 22-June 21) You are best to stick to basics. Work on getting ahead by picking up added skills. Your intellectual wit will bring greater popularity with your peers. You may need help with your financial situation.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23 -Dec. 21) Look at your options before making commitments that could jeopardize your financial position. This may not be the day to get involved in risky joint financial ventures. Opportunities to pamper yourself may unfold.

CANCER (June 22-July 22) Your partner may blame you for everything.

Look into the cost factor, but don't try to get backing yet. Reciprocate by offering helpful hints.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22.- Jan. 20) You will meet potential new mates through business. Your fight for those less fortunate is not likely to end in sweet victory. Be careful not to sign your time or your cash away.

LEO (July 23-Aug 22) You need to keep the peace and you will have to bend in order to do so. Try to find another time to present work or ideas today. Now is a good time to ask for favors.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 21 -Feb. 19) Be aware of deception when it comes to your position, and be sure not to jump to conclusions. You can make new friends who could turn into intimate connections if you join clubs or take creative courses. You can learn a great deal if you listen to those who are older or more experienced.

VIRGO (Aug. 23 -Sept. 23) Relationships may be hard to handle. Visit friends or relatives you don't get to see very often. Unreliable people will be negative about your ideas.

LIBRA (Sept. 24 -Oct. 23) You can bet that you'll draw attention to yourself.

PISCES (Feb. 20-Mar. 20) You need to be around friends and family. Visit friends or relatives who have been confirmed. Reevaluate your situation.

CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 25 - 27, DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH - 2011 27, 2011 DAILY

DAILY CHALLENGE

21 21

SPORTS

West: Melo trade good, but results may take time

By BRIAN MAHONEY NEW YORK Jerry West believes the Carmelo Anthony trade was good for the Knicks and Nuggets, though neither may know how beneficial for a while.

Knicks fans may be questioning that as their team continues to falter. The highs and lows they feel are just part of sports, though.

For West, they became a health risk.

Watching the teams he assembled as one of the NBA’s best executives caused too much stress for someone battling a heart condition.

He could handle the anxiety and any pain as a Hall of Fame player, but not once he no longer had any control over the outcome.

“When it affects you the way it affects me, and it affects moods, mood swings, lack of sleep, I feel enormous stress and pressure,” West said in a phone interview. “I didn’t feel that as a player. I did not feel that. I just felt these different palpitations where sometimes it felt that your heart was beating completely out of your chest and

New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (7) looks for an open man past Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony Allen (9) every once in a while you get a little lightheaded.

“That wasn’t what I felt as an executive. I felt this frustration, anxiety.”

West was in New York on Wednesday to discuss his fight against atrial fibrillation and to encourage people to get facts about the disease early. He wasn’t diagnosed until long after his playing days, but said medical advances have made early detection far easier now.

He also got to check in on the Knicks, who

fell to 7-10 since acquiring Anthony and 35-36 for the season with a 111-99 loss to the Orlando Magic.

They’ve fallen to seventh place in the Eastern Conference while watching Denver go 11-4 since dealing its superstar, but West said it’s too early for the panic surrounding the Knicks.

“You can’t judge a trade by that, and it also gives them building blocks,” West said before the game. “They got not only Carmelo, they got a tremendous player in Chauncey

Billups. He’s really good and so they got two really good players out of it, but they haven’t played together that long so I don’t say it’s patience, I think to me it’s understandable that they wouldn’t come in and burn the house down as far as winning games.”

West constructed champion Lakers teams in the 1980s and 2000s, then built a contending team in Memphis before retiring in 2007, so he knows about making difficult deals, and understands the results may not come quickly.

“Regardless of how people try to read trades - Denver is playing well, they certainly have more depth now than they had before but the reality of a trade like this, you’re not going to be able to judge this until next year or two years from now,” he said. “Which team is going to prosper the most, which team is going to make progress to the ultimate goal of any franchise, and that’s to win championships.”

Because he was on the East Coast, West was unable to see the Lakers’ triple-overtime victory over Phoenix on Tuesday. He likely wouldn’t have watched it even if he were still running the Lakers.

“I would probably be out in the parking lot ready to kill a player when he made a terrible mistake, and the same player makes the winning basket and you feel good about him again,” West said. “It brings up all kind of different emotions when you have this arrhythmia problem I have and also the things I’ve had to do to cope with it, and those kinds of moments were the ones that were set it off even more so.”

AFib is the most common form of heart

arrhythmia, affecting an estimated 2.5 million Americans. It causes a rapid or irregular heart rhythm and can lead to stroke or heart failure, along with other conditions. There may not be pain like West experiences, making it unknown to many sufferers.

“I feel the symptoms, where a lot of people never feel it and that’s where it’s most dangerous,” he said, “because it can be fatal if you don’t get treated and if you don’t do the right things to help battle this disease.”

West only disclosed his condition two years ago, but he wants others to be aware and discuss it sooner. There is a website, http://www.AFStat.com, which includes an evaluator that allows people to see if they might be at risk, as well as information on medical costs and a place where visitors can share their stories.

“I didn’t know I had it until I was an executive, but I had it when I was a player and that’s what has made I think my participation in this campaign even more fun for me, because I get to tell my story as an athlete, also as an executive,” West said.

Or ia k h i ke y to U Co n n’ s q ue st

By GERRY AHERN ANAHEIM, Calif - For Connecticut, things begin and end with scoring sensation Kemba Walker.

In Thursday’s NCAA West Regional semifinal game against San Diego State, what happens in the middle might matter most.

That’s where Alex Oriakhi comes in.

Oriakhi, a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward, and his fellow big men will share the challenge

of trying to slow down the Aztecs’ deep and devastating frontcourt.

That group includes Kawhi Leonard, Steve Fisher’s best player and a soon-to-be NBA lottery pick.

Oriakhi, who has had somewhat of an upand-down career at UConn, isn’t shying from the challenge or the spotlight. He’s meeting it head on.

“I know I am the key,” Oriakhi said Wednesday. “A lot of responsibility is placed on me for good reason. I know I’m a good player.

They wouldn’t put the

responsibility on me if they didn’t think I could handle it.”

Oriakhi’s recent play would indicate he is up to the task. He’s produced some of his best basketball during the Huskies’ seven-game winning streak, including their dash to the Big East tournament title.

He had 11 rebounds against Cincinnati in a 69-58 third-round NCAA victory after scoring nine points and pulling down 12 boards in drilling Bucknell 81-52 in the second round. In a 76-71 Big East tour-

nament semifinal victory over Syracuse he collected his 10th doubledouble of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Now comes the second-seeded Aztecs, on their own seven-game run, and playing a de facto home game in Southern California at the Honda Center.

Have the No. 3 seed Huskies (28-9) seen anything like San Diego State (34-2), the Mountain West champs, who thrive in the halfcourt and shred opponents on the glass?

“They’re like

Pittsburgh,” Oriakhi said. “They’re athletic and they’re long and they rebound. There’s not a lot of teams like them.”

And there are not a lot of players like the 67 Leonard, who averages 15.6 points and 10.6 rebounds. UConn coach Jim Calhoun said he thought the Aztecs star had a better pro future than BYU’s Jimmer Fredette, the human highlight reel.

“He’s a multidimensional forward who can do so many things,” Calhoun said of Leonard. “He likes to

handle the ball. He can shoot it. He’s a matchup problem from Day One. “Hopefully on the other end we can match him a few times playing smaller and try to cover his post-up ability. ...

He’s a tough matchup because if you go power, he’s going to take you outside, and if you go small, he’s going to take you inside.

“With the way his teammates are playing, getting a couple of double-doubles themselves, he’s a heck of a problem and can cause some sleepless mornings.”

CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 -25 27,- 2011 DAILY DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 27, 2011

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West: Melo trade good, but results may take time

By BRIAN MAHONEY NEW YORK Jerry West believes the Carmelo Anthony trade was good for the Knicks and Nuggets, though neither may know how beneficial for a while.

Knicks fans may be questioning that as their team continues to falter. The highs and lows they feel are just part of sports, though.

For West, they became a health risk.

Watching the teams he assembled as one of the NBA’s best executives caused too much stress for someone battling a heart condition.

He could handle the anxiety and any pain as a Hall of Fame player, but not once he no longer had any control over the outcome.

“When it affects you the way it affects me, and it affects moods, mood swings, lack of sleep, I feel enormous stress and pressure,” West said in a phone interview. “I didn’t feel that as a player. I did not feel that. I just felt these different palpitations where sometimes it felt that your heart was beating completely out of your chest and

New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (7) looks for an open man past Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony Allen (9) every once in a while you get a little lightheaded.

“That wasn’t what I felt as an executive. I felt this frustration, anxiety.”

West was in New York on Wednesday to discuss his fight against atrial fibrillation and to encourage people to get facts about the disease early. He wasn’t diagnosed until long after his playing days, but said medical advances have made early detection far easier now.

He also got to check in on the Knicks, who

fell to 7-10 since acquiring Anthony and 35-36 for the season with a 111-99 loss to the Orlando Magic.

They’ve fallen to seventh place in the Eastern Conference while watching Denver go 11-4 since dealing its superstar, but West said it’s too early for the panic surrounding the Knicks.

“You can’t judge a trade by that, and it also gives them building blocks,” West said before the game. “They got not only Carmelo, they got a tremendous player in Chauncey

Billups. He’s really good and so they got two really good players out of it, but they haven’t played together that long so I don’t say it’s patience, I think to me it’s understandable that they wouldn’t come in and burn the house down as far as winning games.”

West constructed champion Lakers teams in the 1980s and 2000s, then built a contending team in Memphis before retiring in 2007, so he knows about making difficult deals, and understands the results may not come quickly.

“Regardless of how people try to read trades - Denver is playing well, they certainly have more depth now than they had before but the reality of a trade like this, you’re not going to be able to judge this until next year or two years from now,” he said. “Which team is going to prosper the most, which team is going to make progress to the ultimate goal of any franchise, and that’s to win championships.”

Because he was on the East Coast, West was unable to see the Lakers’ triple-overtime victory over Phoenix on Tuesday. He likely wouldn’t have watched it even if he were still running the Lakers.

“I would probably be out in the parking lot ready to kill a player when he made a terrible mistake, and the same player makes the winning basket and you feel good about him again,” West said. “It brings up all kind of different emotions when you have this arrhythmia problem I have and also the things I’ve had to do to cope with it, and those kinds of moments were the ones that were set it off even more so.”

AFib is the most common form of heart

arrhythmia, affecting an estimated 2.5 million Americans. It causes a rapid or irregular heart rhythm and can lead to stroke or heart failure, along with other conditions. There may not be pain like West experimaking it ences, unknown to many sufferers.

“I feel the symptoms, where a lot of people never feel it and that’s where it’s most dangerous,” he said, “because it can be fatal if you don’t get treated and if you don’t do the right things to help battle this disease.”

West only disclosed his condition two years ago, but he wants others to be aware and discuss it sooner. There is a website, http://www.AFStat.com, which includes an evaluator that allows people to see if they might be at risk, as well as information on medical costs and a place where visitors can share their stories.

“I didn’t know I had it until I was an executive, but I had it when I was a player and that’s what has made I think my participation in this campaign even more fun for me, because I get to tell my story as an athlete, also as an executive,” West said.

Or ia k h i ke y to U Co n n’ s q ue st

By GERRY AHERN ANAHEIM, Calif - For Connecticut, things begin and end with scoring sensation Kemba Walker.

In Thursday’s NCAA West Regional semifinal game against San Diego State, what happens in the middle might matter most.

That’s where Alex Oriakhi comes in.

Oriakhi, a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward, and his fellow big men will share the challenge

of trying to slow down the Aztecs’ deep and devastating frontcourt.

That group includes Kawhi Leonard, Steve Fisher’s best player and a soon-to-be NBA lottery pick.

Oriakhi, who has had somewhat of an upand-down career at UConn, isn’t shying from the challenge or the spotlight. He’s meeting it head on.

“I know I am the key,” Oriakhi said Wednesday. “A lot of responsibility is placed on me for good reason. I know I’m a good player.

They wouldn’t put the

responsibility on me if they didn’t think I could handle it.”

Oriakhi’s recent play would indicate he is up to the task. He’s produced some of his best basketball during the Huskies’ seven-game winning streak, including their dash to the Big East tournament title.

He had 11 rebounds against Cincinnati in a 69-58 third-round NCAA victory after scoring nine points and pulling down 12 boards in drilling Bucknell 81-52 in the second round. In a 76-71 Big East tour-

nament semifinal victory over Syracuse he collected his 10th doubledouble of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Now comes the second-seeded Aztecs, on their own seven-game run, and playing a de facto home game in Southern California at the Honda Center.

Have the No. 3 seed Huskies (28-9) seen anything like San Diego State (34-2), the Mountain West champs, who thrive in the halfcourt and shred opponents on the glass?

“They’re like

Pittsburgh,” Oriakhi said. “They’re athletic and they’re long and they rebound. There’s not a lot of teams like them.”

And there are not a lot of players like the 67 Leonard, who averages 15.6 points and 10.6 rebounds. UConn coach Jim Calhoun said he thought the Aztecs star had a better pro future than BYU’s Jimmer Fredette, the human highlight reel.

“He’s a multidimensional forward who can do so many things,” Calhoun said of Leonard. “He likes to

handle the ball. He can shoot it. He’s a matchup problem from Day One. “Hopefully on the other end we can match him a few times playing smaller and try to cover his post-up ability. ...

He’s a tough matchup because if you go power, he’s going to take you outside, and if you go small, he’s going to take you inside.

“With the way his teammates are playing, getting a couple of double-doubles themselves, he’s a heck of a problem and can cause some sleepless mornings.”

DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011 DAILY CHALLENGE WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011

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Fielder is Prince at outset of pivotal season

By TIM BROWN PHOENIX, Ariz. It’s cold and gray and spitting rain on the corner of 51st and Indian School Road, the kind of morning where a single drop of rain to the back of your neck can ruin the whole day.

Prince Fielder is wearing sunglasses.

He’s at first base, defending his plot of grass and dirt against contact plays, a man leaning off third, new manager Ron Roenicke putting the ball in play with back-handed flips, catchers yelling as it skitters away.

Fielder is laughing and pointing and calling off pitcher Randy Wolf, even on a ball Wolf probably should take, because it’s no fun just to stand out there and do nothing and watch everybody else play.

He’s got a ‘fro going that leaks out from under his cap, a beard that’s beginning to show promise, and a grin that seems to swallow up the place.

It’s just into late March and he’s already jawed with San Francisco Giants lefty

Barry Zito and stomped onto the field during a scrape against the Los Angeles Dodgers, after which Dodgers pitcher Roman Colon suggested, “He has to let that ego go a little bit,” at which Fielder stonefaced, “I don’t know him.”

Dale Sveum, the hitting coach, leans on a fungo bat, watches Fielder take another roller away from a pitcher, and says, “He’s just in a really good place.”

That place being Milwaukee, for the time being, though it’s bigger than that.

For all the bellowing coming out of St. Louis about its first baseman, folks in Wisconsin have their own issue with their own guy, and while baseball in St. Louis survives anything, and will the loss of Albert Pujols should it come to that, Prince Fielder walking out on the Milwaukee Brewers could have the more lasting impact.

After all, Fielder is 26, coming up on 27.

Pujols is 31 and will be 32 by next opening day.

Pujols is easily the better player, but for how much longer? Four years? Five? Six, when he’s 37 and Fielder is still just 32?

In St. Louis, baseball sells tickets. The game draws. A good game featuring Pujols draws better, of course.

In Milwaukee, the Brewers were barely clearing two million fans - and some seasons less than that - when Prince arrived. By his breakout season of 2007, when he hit 50 home runs (and Ryan Braun was Rookie of the Year), the Brewers were close to three million, then topped three million the following two seasons.

Beginning in 2001, which was Pujols’ rookie year, Cardinals’ attendance declined for three consecutive seasons.

There could be a thousand reasons for that, none of which would reflect poorly on Pujols, who became the best player in baseball around the time Barry Bonds faded away and hasn’t taken a year off since. (Since 2005, when Pujols won his first MVP, Cards attendance has held steady and healthy - between 3.3 and 3.5 million.)

And you wonder, given the age disparity, where the smart money goes on a long-term contract. The knock on Prince is his weight, and how much longer

he can be heavy and athletic and productive and dependable, which all works at 26. But how about 36?

Asked to push Fielder and Pujols out 10 years, and to project the better coming decade of the two, one veteran scout sided slightly with Pujols.

“Good question,” he said. “But the great ones seem to play well into their 40’s.”

I guess what all this means is you look around the Brewers’ clubhouse and wonder what will become of the organization without Prince. He came along at a time home runs were dying out and in the past four seasons has hit 162 of them (four more than Pujols), and in that time only Ryan Howard and Prince have hit at least 46 in a season twice.

There’s more to Prince, too. He’ll grab a teammate’s lapel and give it a good shake, and he plays big brother to the other 24 when stuff starts going down, and he’ll run the bases like a guy half his size, at least in terms of enthusiasm.

When Roenicke told the Brewers his door was open and would stay open, Prince thought he was talking

specifically to him.

Soon, the man’s going to have a chair named after him in the manager’s office. They’ve talked styles of baseball, and the uniqueness of a walk year, and what this season means to the Brewers, and why it should all work.

And Prince is down with all of it.

“I think we’re good,” he says. “This is the best team overall since I’ve been here.”

If, at the end of it, he does indeed walk - and there’s no one who thinks he won’t - then Prince will have to be OK with that, too.

There was a time, he suggests, when the public conversations about whether he’d be traded or how the Brewers possibly could afford him or about the latest contract negotiations weren’t as easy to live with as he let on.

He says he’s “eliminated all that.”

“At this point,” he says, “I think it’s a lot more centered. Before, it’s unknown when you get to this point. You don’t know what to feel, so you’re a little nervous. Now that I’m here, it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s just baseball.’ “ Fortunately for him and the Brewers, baseball happens to be what

Is Prince Fielder distracted by his contract situation?

Batting .355 with three homers suggests otherwise.

Photo/Kevork Djansezian he does.

“I want him to have a big year, both individually and - because if he has a big year - then our team has a big year,” Roenicke says.

“I’ve told him, don’t get out of your game because of what might happen at the end of the year.”

It’s worked for now.

He’s had a solid spring, batting .355 with three homers.

He looks strong and even slightly leaner. And he’s pleased with his team, and with the new manager leading it, and with whatever’s beyond that.

“I’m happy now,” he says.

Feds anti- doping exper t r ec ounts unmasking ster oid

By PAUL ELIAS SAN FRANCISCO - One of the world’s foremost experts in detecting performanceenhancing drug use among athletes recounted on Thursday for the Barry Bonds jury how authorities unmasked the designer steroid dubbed the “clear.”

Bonds has admitted using the steroid, but said his personal trainer

misled him into believing it was flaxseed oil.

Dr. Larry Bowers, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s chief scientist, told the jury Thursday that his agency anonymously received a syringe with trace amounts of liquid in the summer of 2003.

Scientists using highly technical chemical-detection equipment came up with a recipe for the liquid. Using the recipe, the agency had a batch ginned up and injected into baboons on their way to developing a urine test for the steroid,

also called “THG,” that was put in place by late 2003.

A chemist named Patrick Arnold developed the steroid to evade detection and it was distributed to elite athletes by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative and Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson.

“THG was pretty clever, cleverly designed,” Bowers testified.

Bowers also testified about the side effects of steroids, such an acne breakout and “bloating.”

The government

plans to use that testimony to support the expected testimony of Kimberly Bell, Bonds’ former mistress. Bell plans to testify that she witnessed physical and mental changes in Bonds that prosecutors allege were side effects of steroid use.

With an eye on the forthcoming testimony

by Bell, federal prosecutor Jeff Nedrow asked Bowers what effect steroid abuse could have on testicles.

“They would shrink,” Bowers said.

In court papers filed

before the trial started, prosecutors said Bell is planning to tell the jury that Bonds’ testicles shrank during their nine-year relationship.

Bowers’ testimony Thursday followed the appearance on the witness stand of Bonds’ estranged childhood friend Steve Hoskins.

Hoskins has testified that he strongly suspected Bonds was using steroids between 1999 and 2003. Hoskins on Thursday testified that Bonds’ surgeon, Dr. Arthur Ting, told him that a Bonds elbow

injury was caused by steroid use.

Hoskins testified that around 1999 and 2000 he told Ting that Bonds was using steroids. Ting advised him to tell Bonds to stop using them, Hoskins testified.

Hoskins and Bonds grew up together in a San Francisco suburb.

Hoskins worked for Bonds from 1993 until late March 2003 when Bonds had Hoskins sign a document effectively ending what was a lucrative business arrangement for Hoskins.

DAILY CHALLENGE

S SP PO OR RT TS S WEEKEND EDITION, MARCH 25 - 27, 2011

MARCH MANIA TURNS ‘FINAL’

COLLEGE TEAMS PLAY THIS WEEKEND TO EARN A TRIP TO HOUSTON SE E STORI ES ON PAGE 22