An Ohio man had to turn off his phone service because he shares the same name with the umpire who blew a call that cost a Detroit pitcher a perfect game.
The Toledo man says the harassing calls started not long after the bad call on Wednesday night and some were pretty vulgar.
Jim Joyce tells WTOL-TV the confusion came about because umpire Jim Joyce grew up in Toledo …
DAILY MAIL SPORTSWRITER
WINFIELD - Sissonville High's basketball team's offense resembledthe school's never-quite-developed anarchy club.
Meanwhile, Winfield relied on a simple, focused approach: Feed theball inside to its underclassmen.
In the sixth-ranked Generals' 77-60 win here Thursday, 6-foot-2freshman T.L. Asbury scored 17 points and cleaned up seven rebounds,and 6-4 junior Virgil Vanover added 12 points and six boards.
Between them, they made 12-of-13 shots. And when they tired ordrew fouls, 6-6 sophomore Joel Jones (four points) and 6-4 sophomoreJosh Sowards (seven points) picked up where they left off.
"We have a pretty big lineup," said …
A nighttime raid on a compound in eastern Afghanistan sparked a gunbattle that left three people dead, including two children, while six policemen were killed in clashes with the Taliban in the west, officials said Thursday.
The U.S. and Afghan troops raided the compound because they suspected it harbored militants belonging to a suicide bombing network, and they were fired upon as they approached late Wednesday in Bati Kot district in Nangarhar province, said Maj. Chris Belcher, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition.
After the clash, a militant and two children were found dead inside the compound, Belcher said. A woman and another child were wounded, he …
All these politicians who have been in office for years and practice the art of wheeling and dealing as a profession are now claiming ignorance about the governor's dealings. After all, the …
Welcome to another edition of In the Mix...your complete run-down of the who, what, when, where and why of our city's movers and shakers. Black History Month 2007 is in full swing with various celebrations of our rich heritage and history. As I continue my quest to bring you a few of our city's living Black legends, I think you will find this week's column to be something the entire family can enjoy. Stay warm and enjoy.
The legendary Merri Dee...
While attending the grand opening celebration for the brand new WVONAM/1690,1 had the pleasure of conducting an impromptu interview with Chicago's very own Merri Dee. She looks wonderfully ageless and was quick to tell me she feels …
BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina - A 4-year-old boy who disappeared a week ago in northwest Bosnia may be alive and wandering the forest, police said Monday.
Ratko Makaric vanished July 16 from his village of Josipovici when his uncle left him alone for a moment to feed the cattle.
On Sunday, searchers found fresh tracks that match his shoes, and partially eaten fruit.
…
Concerns about bovine tuberculosis have led to the quarantine of 32 cattle herds with about 15,000 adult cattle in north-central Nebraska, officials said Thursday.
The bovine TB investigation has confirmed only two cases of the disease in one Rock County herd, but state Agriculture Director Greg Ibach said the other 31 herds have been quarantined because the animals may have had fence-line contact with the infected herd.
The 32 quarantined herds, which must all be tested for TB, are in Rock, Holt, Loup, Boyd and Brown counties. Ibach said other herds could be added to the quarantine if investigators learn they may have contacted the infected herd.
…
MORE WOMAN POWER: England now has another "member of theso-called weaker sex" in a top governmental role. That resulted …
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Mardy Fish and John Isner defeated Colombia's Robert Farah and Carlos Salamanca 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 to give the United States a 2-1 lead in their Davis Cup World Group playoff on Saturday.
In Sunday's reverse singles on the outdoor red clay court at the Santamaria bull ring in Bogota, Fish is slated to play first against Santiago Giraldo and Sam Querrey faces Alejandro Falla.
Fish could make a bit of history on Sunday. The last American to win three times in a tie was Pete Sampras in the 1995 final in Moscow.
Asked if he would be tired on Sunday, Fish replied: "Not at all. This is what we train for. That's why we got here early."
If Fish …
State lawmakers started poring over a sweeping renewable energy bill Wednesday, establishing battle lines as the measure inches toward a vote.
The bill creates new renewable fuel standards, lifts Wisconsin's ban on nuclear power plants and calls for new vehicle emission standards to match California's. Environmentalists have praised the package, saying it is a key step toward fighting global warming and it will create jobs.
But the state's business community is divided over the bill. Several large employers are on board, but the state's largest business group, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce has blasted it, saying it could cost billions of dollars and …
Secretary of State Jesse White gave two campaign contributors rareironclad leases last December, just two weeks after they bought theChicago buildings.
One of the buildings was bought from the brother of Cook CountyCommissioner Ted Lechowicz, a longtime White ally. The other buildingis now owned by a man who worked in White's office last year.
In an unusual arrangement, White agreed not to cancel either leasefor the first 4 1/2 years of the five-year deals. "It's somethingthat's pretty common on the leases we've inherited in this office,"White spokesman David Druker said.
Most state leases, however, have escape clauses so they can becanceled at any time. …
PEDRENA, Spain (AP) — Seve Ballesteros' funeral will be held Wednesday in his native Pedrena.
The 54-year-old golf great died early Saturday, more than two years after undergoing multiple surgeries to remove a brain tumor.
Ballesteros' brother Baldomero told reporters the funeral will be held at St. Peter's …
SAN DIEGO - Two Defense Department officers testified Wednesday that former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham made phone calls on behalf of a contractor now on trial on charges of bribing the lawmaker.
Brent Wilkes has pleaded not guilty to charges of buying Cunningham's help with cash payments and perks including meals out, shooting lessons, jetboats and weekend stays at the Four Seasons hotel in Las Vegas.
Testimony on the second full day of Wilkes' trial focused on the intricacies of the federal contracting process - so much so that U.S. District Judge Larry Burns at one point called lawyers aside and told them to spare jurors the details.
"I've already given you a note that one person was asleep" in the courtroom, the judge said while admonishing both sides.
Cunningham's calls came during what one witness characterized as a "food fight" between Wilkes and other defense contractors over a pot of money set aside by Congress for converting military records into digital formats.
"I'm talking about constituents all fighting over the same money that's been set aside as an earmark," said Gary Jones, a government technical consultant who oversaw the distribution of $45 million for the program at the Pentagon in the late 1990s.
Wilkes' company, which had lobbied Congress for the earmark, was not initially awarded funds. Jones said that changed after he and other top Pentagon brass received "constant and increasing" pressure from Cunningham.
He described a scene in which Wilkes arrived at Jones' office for a meeting, threw unpaid invoices across his desk and told Jones, "You don't know who you're dealing with." Jones said Wilkes told him he had a meeting with Cunningham later in the day.
Wilkes' attorney, Mark Geragos, said during his cross-examination that Wilkes was upset because he had not been paid for work he had done as a subcontractor on a project connected to the handover of the Panama Canal at the end of 1999. Geragos argued that it was within the rights of a congressman to make sure his interests - and those of his constituents - were protected from bureaucratic interference.
"That's the way our constitutional style of government works," Geragos said. "You can make your strong recommendations but at the end of the day, it's not up to you."
Earlier in the day, a contracting official told jurors that Cunningham called him three times about Wilkes' work for the government.
Paul Behrens said his first conversation with the congressman came during a meeting with Wilkes in a smoke-filled suite at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, when Cunningham called on Wilkes' cell phone to speak with Behrens. Wilkes asked to meet because he was unhappy about a delay in payment for government work he was doing, Behrens said.
Wilkes, 53, is the first person to stand trial in the Cunningham case, the largest of several congressional corruption scandals to have emerged in recent years. He is charged with 14 counts of conspiracy, bribery, fraud and money laundering. If convicted, Wilkes could be sentenced up to 20 years in prison.
Cunningham, a San Diego Republican who was elected to eight terms, is serving more than eight years in federal prison after pleading guilty in 2005 to accepting $2.4 million in bribes from Wilkes and others.
Prosecutors have not decided whether he'll be called as a witness, though Geragos said he'll call the lawmaker to the stand if the government does not.
The New York Police Department says a manhole explosion in New York City has killed one utility worker and injured another.
Consolidated Edison spokeswoman Elizabeth Clark says two workers were splicing cable when the explosion occurred in Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon. The man who died was 26. His 28-year-old co-worker was treated at a hospital and released.
Clark says a fire in the manhole has been extinguished.
Visitation will be today for Elmer C. Ferngren, 75, a retireddivision marshal of the Chicago Fire Dept.
Mr. Ferngren died Thursday at his home in South Holland.
Mr. Ferngren began his career as a fireman in 1944 and waspromoted to captain in 1954. He led Rescue Squad 5 for eight years,became chief of the 19th Battalion in 1962 and was named divisionmarshal in January, 1979.
He retired in August, 1979.
Mr. Ferngren was co-founder and past president of the ChicagoFire Officers Association and, at the time of his death, wastreasurer of the Swedish American Athletic Association.
Survivors include his wife, Suzanne; two sons Carl and William;two daughters Susan Feiler and Patricia Bottano, and a brother,Walter.
Visitation will be from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. today at Edgar FuneralHome, 10900 S. Cicero. Services will be 11 a.m. Monday at thefuneral home. Burial will be in Cedar Park Cemetery, 12540 S.Halsted.
ST. LOUIS -- Bruce Weber summed it up pretty well when he said,"If you're not happy with this, I feel sorry for you. Because lifeain't getting any better."
Still, it's reasonable to wonder how long it will be before lifeapproaches being this good again -- in terms of making a run at theFinal Four.
It's probably a ways off. But Illinois has a chance to continue tobe a contender in the Big Ten and take a shot at the Sweet 16 in theNCAA tournament before facing long odds.
Senior starters Luther Head and Roger Powell Jr. are gone. Barringa shocking development, junior star Deron Williams also is gone. Theonly question there is if he will be one of 16 lottery picks June 28or fall just outside that group.
All is not lost, though. It appears Dee Brown will be back, alongwith James Augustine, to anchor the 2005-06 Illini. Brown might haveplayed his way into the NBA by continuing to shoot the lights out inMarch the way he did in February. But that didn't happen, and heinsists he loves college so much that he's looking forward to anotherseason.
Brown and Augustine are good places to start -- especially in aBig Ten that's still not hitting on all cylinders. Kudos to MichiganState and Wisconsin for their fine NCAA tournament runs. But thereare still a pack of underachievers in the league who have as much, ifnot more, rebuilding to do than Illinois.
The Spartans and the Badgers also have some reloading to do. Andwhile there is reason for optimism at Indiana, Ohio State, Iowa,Minnesota and Michigan, they'll remain underachievers until they dosome achieving.
Meanwhile, athletic director Ron Guenther, who has one of the bestbargains in college sports in Weber, will meet with his coach of theyear this spring and reward him for a job well done. Weber currentlyis signed through 2009 at $550,000 a year.
It's difficult to say what Guenther, who likes to keep successfulcoaches locked up for five years, has in mind for Weber when theyhave their annual sitdown.
But here are some possible starting points: Bruce Pearl, regardedas Public Enemy No. 1 by many Illini fans, recently left Wisconsin-Milwaukee for a reported $800,000 a year at Tennessee. And Bill Selfwas making about $1 million when he left Illinois.
Weber, who genuinely loves what he does, is not about money. Buthe is in a high-risk, high-reward business that is, so a sizableraise seems likely.
Beyond Brown and Augustine, the most intriguing returnee is BrianRandle, a 6-7 sophomore who missed this season with a broken left(shooting) hand. Randle has a chance to be the first true smallforward Illinois has had in years. If Randle delivers on signs thathe'll be a good defender as well as a decent scorer, he'll provide alot of stability.
Warren Carter, a 6-9 sophomore who saw some crunch time, also is apromising returnee. If off-guard Rich McBride, who never seemedcomfortable coming off the bench, finds his shooting touch with moreminutes, that would be a welcome contribution.
Even though seniors Jack Ingram, who became the lone significantreserve, and Nick Smith, who never got beyond his defensiveliabilities, are gone, Illinois figures to have much better depthnext season. It's not hard to improve on what was basically a six-man rotation, and that will soften the blow of losing standouts suchas Williams, Head and Powell.
Calvin Brock, who redshirted as a freshman this season, willcompete for playing time in the backcourt. So will Chester Frazier, a6-2 point guard from Baltimore, and Jamar Smith, a 6-3 shooting guardfrom Peoria Richwoods.
Illinois' other freshman signee, Charles Jackson, a 6-7 powerforward from Georgia, and Marcus Arnold, a 6-8 power forward who satout this season after transferring in from Illinois State, both couldprovide some bulk inside.
If it's quality bulk, Weber will be on his way to fashioning thekind of teams his old boss, Gene Keady, liked: inside muscle andoutside speed. If it's not, Jackson, who was recruited by manyfootball powers as a tight end, would be a plum for Ron Zook.
In other words, the bottom line with recruiting is that Weberhasn't broken through yet. This Final Four appearance ought to help,but that remains to be seen.
It would be nice if Weber could land a blue-chipper such as JonScheyer, the Glenbrook North star who plays for his brother, DaveWeber. Duke seems to be the front-runner there, though.
At some point, Weber will need to start landing the kind ofrecruits who have enabled Illinois to go 141-33 (an .810 winningpercentage) the last five seasons, second only to Duke (150-27,.847).
And he's going to have to do it without American Expresscommercials.
But Weber will work hard at it. And he has a good track record fordeveloping un-hyped recruits.
Fullback Gavin Williams contributed 10 points as Samoa beat Tonga 20-15 in a Pacific Nations Cup rugby match at the Teufaiva Stadium on Saturday.
Williams landed two penalties and the conversions of Samoa's two tries as his team fought back from a 9-7 halftime deficit to post its first win in this season's six-nation tournament.
Winger David Lemi and loose forward Uale Mai scored tries for Samoa who had previously suffered losses to Fiji, the New Zealand Maori and Australia A. Tonga remained winless after four rounds with earlier losses to the New Zealand Maori, Australia A and Japan.
All of Tonga's points on Saturday came from penalties. Flyhalf Pierre Hola kicked three and winger Vungakoto Lilo two.
___
Scorers:
Samoa 20 (Uale Mai, David Lemi tries; Gavin Williams 2 conversions, 2 penalties), Tonga 15 (Pierre Hola 3 penalties; Vungakoto Lilo 2 penalties). HT, 7-9.
IRVING, Texas While Sports Illustrated writer Peter King predictsJay Novacek might not play all season, don't be surprised if thefive-time Pro Bowl tight end attempts to play in the season openerSept. 2 in Chicago.
"He doesn't like to miss (games). The only way he's going tomiss is if he's really hurting," tight end coach Robert Ford said."I like his chances. I might be (crazy), but I know he's verycompetitive. I know he's shooting for the first game."
Coach Barry Switzer is less optimistic: "(Trainer) Jim Maurersaid there's a possibility Novacek might try to do some conditioningnext week. . . . He has pain when he continually runs right now, orhe'd be out there."
Novacek ran for 20 minutes on the treadmill earlier this week.Regardless of when Novacek returns, the Cowboys will be forced tolimit his playing time.
"We'll try to get 10 to 20 plays out of him every game. Thatevery game could be the eighth game, the 10th game or it could be thefirst game. We just don't know," Ford said.
"We'd love to have the man on the field because his presencecauses problems for a defense. But we're also aware when you have anagging back, he can't do some of the things he's done."
Backup Eric Bjornson, whom Ford calls "baby Novacek," has beenhampered by a hamstring injury.
"His progress from his injury has come along well. We're hopingto get some practice time out of him next week," Ford said.
"It's safe to say he should play some in Chicago."
Why presidential success leads to failure
The most common cause of lethality in American politics is success, not failure. Our presidents, governors and mayors-and sometimes our state legislators-are elected to solve certain problems. They usually do. And, afterward, they are dismissed because the problem they specialize in is solved and the remaining issues concern topics at which they are not usually very skilled.
If terrorism were a key concern today, as it was in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, President George W. Bush would have high approval ratings and Rudy Giuliani would be a cinch to win the election. But because of his very success, Bush's approval ratings are in the basement and Giuliani is nine points behind Sen. Hillary Clinton in the most recent matchup polling.
The history of the American presidency is replete with examples of chief executives who were elected to solve a problem, did so, and were defeated over issues with which nobody would have chosen them to deal when they were selected to be president.
Consider the record:
* Lyndon Johnson was elected to complete the work of civil rights and to reduce poverty. He did. But then he fell over the Vietnam War. Nobody would have chosen Johnson as America's expert in dealing with communists in Asia.
* Jimmy Carter was elected to restore integrity in American politics. Without question, he did. But he was defeated because he was weak in the face of the Iran hostage crisis. Being tough was scarcely his specialty.
* We made George H. W. Bush president to wind down the Cold War and, by the end of his term, it was history. But he lost his re-election bid over the economy, never his strong suit.
In George W. Bush's case, he was elected to cut taxes and men re-elected to tame terrorism. Now his party faces defeat over issues such as healdi care, the economy, the trade deficit and, of course, Iraq. But had he been less than totally successful in stymieing new terrorist attacks within the continental United States, we might well value him and his party more.
Historically, it makes sense. We solve the problems on which our democracy focuses, choosing our presidents-for the most part, wisely-to deal with our needs each year and in each cycle in our history.
A big part of the oscillation relates to the historical affinity of each party with each issue. For reasons that go back decades, Democrats are perceived as better able to deal with issues like health care, Social security, Medicare, the elderly, the environment, education and, in most circumstances, the economy. On the other hand, Republicans have a built-in advantage in coping with crime, defense and national security issues, terrorism and taxes. It is always possible for a party to convert an issue to its favor, but it is highly difficult.
After years of effort, Bill Clinton's focus on gun control and extra police brought him even with the Republicans on the crime issue. George W. Bush had to devote his entire 2000 convention and much of his campaign to education to bring Republicans even with Democrats on the issue. In both cases, as soon as the president stopped focusing on the issue, it reverted to its normal partisan skew.
Because each issue is so indelibly identified with one party or the other, as our national focus turns from problems that have been solved (typically those addressed by the incumbent administration) to those which remain unsolved (typically those that are the usual focus of the opposition) the political cycle swings with it.
It is not really a pendulum but rather an upward spiral. Some would call it a screw.
[Sidebar]
Had Bush been less than totally successful in stymieing new terrorist attacks ...we might well value him and his party more.
[Author Affiliation]
Dick Morris is an author and political commentator. To get his columns for free by e-mail several times each week, sign up at DickMorris.com.
Chinese state news agency says that German tourist has been rescued after being buried for 114 hours in earthquake rubble.
The official Xinhua News Agency said the tourist was saved in Wenchuan, the epicenter of Monday's massive earthquake.
The government has said it expects the eventual death to surpass 50,000.
