PATTANI, Thailand (AP) — Police say Islamist militants have killed a Thai soldier in an ambush in the country's insurgency-plagued south.
Police Lt. Col. Sathid Chansorn says the soldier was killed when gunmen attacked the troops with automatic weapons during a routine patrol Wednesday in the southern province of Yala.
Sathid says Islamic …
Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone criticized promoters of the Chinese Grand Prix on Friday but said the contract for the race will continue.
Ecclestone said the rolling contract "will go on" while bemoaning the lack of local publicity and declining crowds for the Shanghai event.
"The contract is ongoing here," Ecclestone said. "We renew every five years. It'll go on, it's a rolling contract."
Stands were all but empty for Friday's practice sessions, the first of the fourth GP weekend of the season.
"It's a shame because the whole venue is super," Ecclestone said. "They've not promoted it …
DAILY MAIL STAFF
The people at John Adams Middle want to set the record straight.
The South Hills school is not the spoiled brat of the KanawhaCounty school system. If anything, it's the red-headed stepchild.
"There's a major misconception out there that John Adams getseverything," said Arlie Woods, chairman for the Local SchoolImprovement Council there. "The truth is we don't get everything."
Schools in the George Washington attendance area met with boardmembers Monday night to discuss concerns, and let board members knowthat even though many people in the county think too much money goesto the South Hills schools, there are still major facility …
The weak dollar is posing a big challenge for Airbus and the company is open to aircraft deals in euros or in a basket of currencies to offset the impact of the declining greenback on the European aircraft manufacturer's profits, a company official said Sunday.
"The weak dollar is a huge challenge for us as the aviation industry trades in dollars and a lot of the world's manufacturers are based in the U.S.," Airbus spokesman David Velupillai told Dow Jones Newswires at the Dubai air show, which opened Sunday in this booming Gulf city-state.
A weak U.S. dollar does not make the planes more expensive, but it does lower the company's profits since …
Lightning struck and killed a recently married Chinese couple as they climbed an undeveloped section of the Great Wall in Beijing, a state-controlled newspaper said Sunday.
The force of the lightning strike caused the pair to fall from the 164-foot (50-meter) -high wall in Huairou, a Beijing suburb, the Beijing Times newspaper reported.
Rescuers arrived about two hours later but the couple, who married late last year, had already stopped breathing, the report said. They were both 27 years old.
Calls to authorities in Huairou rang …
I couldn't believe it when I heard reports that Lavelle hadordered his staffers to secretly visit a warehouse, break the sealson ballot boxes and suddenly find the exact number of write-inballots needed to force a runoff election in the 26th Ward.
I asked myself why Lavelle would damage his personal image byopenly violating an Illinois statute and a Circuit Court order forthe benefit of fading Machine bosses.
Over all, Lavelle's conduct Thursday left the impression thatthe voters of Chicago cannot trust the …
NEW YORK - Wells Fargo & Co. is introducing a new money transfer program designed to make it easier for customers to send money to family members living in Mexico, India and other foreign countries.
The service, Wells Fargo ExpressSend, which begins operation Tuesday, will provide people sending the money with more information on fees while making it easier for recipients to get the money that's transmitted.
Wells Fargo customers will be able to send the money account to account, account to cash, cash to cash and cash to account, the San Francisco-based bank said in a statement. The money can be picked up at the branches of specified overseas banks and at their …
Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi is encouraged by the legspinning performances in England by Anil Kumble and Mushtaq Ahmed ahead of the World Twenty20 next month.
The 29-year-old Afridi recently took 10 wickets in five one-day matches against Australia, sharply turning his legspinners to become the highest wicket-taker from either side in a series Pakistan lost 3-2.
India's Kumble and Pakistan's Mushtaq had successful stints in English county cricket before quitting the international game.
"Both of them have taken lots of wickets in England and I'll be looking to take my inspiration from them," Afridi said in an ICC newsletter released …
Bond for a Chicago Fire Department paramedic was increased$200,000 Friday after he was accused of attempted attacks of twoNorth Side women.
Jay Katz, 29, who prosecutors said posed as an exterminator toget into the victims' apartments, was charged April 3 with raping an18-year-old woman, also of the North Side. Katz was freed on $75,000bond in that attack.
The newer charges stem from two attacks committed less than 30minutes apart near Oakdale and Pine Grove on Dec. 4, said John Kirby,an assistant Cook County state's attorney.
Katz, a fire department …
SYDNEY (AP) — Results of weekend 22nd-round matches in Australia's National Rugby League:
St. George Illawarra 19, Sydney Roosters 12
Newcastle 30, Bulldogs 6
South Sydney 34, …
Panasonic Corp. said Friday it aims to catapult sales by more than a third in three years in an aggressive bid to become the dominant electronics company in green technologies.
The Japanese electronics giant is targeting revenue of 9.5 trillion yen ($101.7 billion) in the fiscal year ending March 2013, up from the 7 trillion yen ($74.9 billion) it estimates this year.
In the year through March 2019, it wants to expand sales above 10 trillion yen, with its battery and energy systems operations accounting for a third.
Panasonic, the world's biggest maker of plasma TVs, said it intends to transform its energy systems division into its flagship …
These are the texts of the two letters sent to Joseph CardinalBernardin. They are signed George S. Spence, detectives said. Theletter dated May 5 says:
"There is a verse in the Bible that reads, `Truth shall set youfree.' I have the knowledge. I know the truth. I am free. Thattruth gives me power. I am reluctant to use that power.
"However the ill-gotten gains of fraud and con men must beconfiscated. You are frauds and con men and your ill-gotten gainsshould be confiscated. I'm going to confiscate $100,000 of yourill-gotten gains.
"You can send me a certified bank check in the amount of$100,000. Otherwise I will destroy at least $1 million worth of …
Who are the nicest people at the BBC's Natural History Unit? Well,we hear that Kate Hopkins and Martyn Harries are sound guys. Andbacking that claim up is the Royal Television Society, who praisedKate and Martyn's audio excellence at the recent Craft and DesignAwards.
The pair's work on BBC1 programme The Crossing, part of theMassive Nature series, charted the progress of migrating wildebeestas they crossed the Mara river. RTS judges said it was "an original,indeed epic, work where no single sound is out of place".
Kate and Martyn (who also blows a trumpet with local soulsensations Gee Baby I Love You) were handed their award by veterannewscaster Moira Stuart at the Savoy Hotel in London.
SO, what treats have "management" got in store for the "staff" forChristmas? A party? Secret Santa? A fat bonus? A one-way ticket toManchester? Tell Uncle Mole all about it. Best Christmas office-hell-type anecdote wins a fabulous prize. All right, an un-proofed copy ofClare Francis' new novel sent for review, and any other random crapI can find on my desk before the New Year clear-out.
WHAT channel employs the TV-type observed pulling the old "do youknow who I am" routine to a harassed staff member at a busy Bristoleatery? Obviously a station hardly anyone watches, or one with aREALLY good make-up department, because both our spy and the waiterhad to scratch their heads to put a name to the face as the "star"complained loudly about the chip-and-pin machine not workinginstantly.
To those seated in our chum's position it looked like the waiterhad to peer over the personality's shoulder to read their name offtheir credit card. Either that or they were making a note of the pinnumber.
FINALLY, in the interests of being first with a seasonal gag, Ihear that Evening Post features hack Tom Henry is in Finland on oneof those "meeting Santa on his home turf" stories that come around atthis time of year. His copy deadline is today.
But how is the boy Henry to write, let alone file, his story fromthe frozen wastes of Scandinavia? Or wherever the hell Finland is.Easy. He's taken a Lapp top. Get it? A Lapp ... oh never mind.
ATLANTA (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is making a "major announcement" Saturday on whether he will abandon his shaken campaign after a woman's allegation of an extramarital affair.
It is the latest — and perhaps final — twist in a saga that has taken the Georgia businessman from longshot to surprise front-runner to embattled tabloid subject.
Cain arrived at his home Friday afternoon to talk with his wife of 42 years, Gloria, in their first face-to-face meeting since the allegation of a 13-year affair was made public this week. Cain's campaign also has been rocked by multiple sexual harassment allegations. He denies wrongdoing.
A political novice, Cain had leveraged strong anti-tax tea party support to hurtle to the front of the pack in October, casting himself as an antiestablishment outsider. His catchy 9-9-9 tax overhaul proposal helped his rise.
The main beneficiary of Cain's fall has been former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, who has risen steadily in polls nationally and in early voting states. Gingrich has emerged as the main challenger to fellow front-runner Mitt Romney in the Republican race to take on President Barack Obama next year.
Earlier Friday, in a speech in South Carolina, Cain would not disclose whether he would drop out but told supporters to stay tuned. He said he would clarify the next steps of the campaign and assured backers the affair claim was "garbage." But he also said he needed to consider what he would do with campaign donations already accepted if he dropped out of the race.
"My wife and family comes first. I've got to take that into consideration," Cain said.
Cain had not seen his wife since Ginger White, 46, came forward and said she had a sexual affair with Cain that lasted more than a decade. He has said they were only friends but acknowledged that he helped pay her monthly bills and expenses. His wife, Cain said, did not know of the friendship with White.
Cain said he is reassessing whether his presidential bid is still viable. But it was difficult to imagine a path forward with just a month until the leadoff Iowa caucuses.
A Des Moines Register poll released Friday showed Cain's support plummeting, with backing from 8 percent of Republican caucusgoers in Iowa, down from 23 percent a month ago.
Fundraising has also fallen off. He issued an email appeal to supporters on Friday asking for donations, in an attempt to gauge whether his financial support has dried up.
Cain's campaign was sent reeling when it was revealed a little more than a month ago that the National Restaurant Association paid settlements to two women who claimed Cain sexually harassed them while he was president of the organization. A third woman told The Associated Press that Cain made inappropriate sexual advances but that she didn't file a complaint. A fourth woman also stepped forward to accuse Cain of groping her in a car in 1997.
Cain has denied wrongdoing in all cases.
And his campaign was taking some steps to blunt the allegations, unveiling a "Women for Herman Cain" webpage with testimonials from female backers, some urging him to stay in the race.
It was led by Gloria Cain.
Carlos Gomez capped a three-run seventh inning against All-Star Cliff Lee with an RBI groundout, and the Minnesota Twins came back again to beat the Cleveland Indians 4-3 Sunday and send them to their eighth straight loss.
Lee (11-2) lost for the first time in nine starts, hurt by a rare lack of control in the seventh that helped the resourceful Twins put together another one of their small-ball rallies. They batted eight times that inning and hit the ball out of the infield only twice.
Lee needed 37 pitches to finish the seventh, hours after he was named to the AL squad. He walked two, including Denard Span with the bases loaded, and wasted a 3-1 lead cushioned by Jhonny Peralta's two-run homer in the sixth.
Lee had issued just 17 walks in 111 2-3 innings all season before Sunday.
Glen Perkins (5-2) allowed seven hits in seven innings for Minnesota before turning the lead over to Matt Guerrier and Joe Nathan. Named to his third All-Star team before the game, Nathan got three outs for his 25th save.
Since losing 12-2 to the Indians in Cleveland on June 12, the Twins are 18-3. They have swept four of their last six series.
Until Span started the sixth with a triple, the only hits by the Twins didn't leave the infield _ a popped-up bunt by Alexi Casilla that just cleared Lee's head and a grounder that Gomez beat out, drawing a brief argument about the call from Indians manager Eric Wedge.
Lee struck out Gomez after Span's triple and traded an out for a run when Casilla hit a grounder to shortstop, still taking a 3-1 lead into the seventh.
But with one out, Craig Monroe walked. Delmon Young reached on an infield single when third baseman Andy Marte lost the ball trying to pull it from his glove after a diving stop and a spin move left him on the ground.
Brendan Harris followed with a single to load the bases, and Punto pulled the Twins within one with his base hit on a 3-1 pitch. Lee went to a 3-1 count again on Span, and ball four tied the game. Gomez gave Minnesota its first lead on his groundout to shortstop.
Perkins, who hasn't lost in seven starts since May 30, has been one of Minnesota's most consistent starters. The left-hander has allowed three runs or less in his last six appearances.
He's been prone to the big hit, though, and Peralta made him pay after a string of nine straight batters retired. Ben Francisco stroked a single to put a runner on. Then Peralta atoned for his previous at-bat _ an inning-ending double-play bouncer with two on _ by putting a 1-0 pitch 20 rows up into the left-field seats. That was his 13th homer of the season, and it stretched the margin to 3-0.
Cleveland's once-stacked lineup has slipped, and injuries to Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez are glaring factors. But Kelly Shoppach has hit well as the regular catcher with Martinez on the disabled list. He's batting .310 (22-for-71) with eight doubles, four homers and 13 RBIs in 21 games since Martinez's injury in the middle of June.
Wedge said this weekend, though, that the team hasn't talked about moving Martinez to first base once he's healthy. The Indians are still evaluating Shoppach and his ability to play close to every day.
Notes:@ Injured Indians starter Fausto Carmona threw a strong bullpen session of 35 pitches before the game, and he's set for 50 pitches Tuesday as he progresses toward a return in the second half. ... Casilla stretched his hitting streak to 13 games.
Edward Hopper
MUSEUM OF FlNEARTS
May6-August 19
Curated by Judith Barter, Franklin Kelly, and Carol Troyen
Tate Modern mounted a major Edward Hopper show only a few years hack, hut it never made it to the States. The current retrospective's co-organizing museums (the MFA and the exhibition's two travel venues) evidently feel the time is right for US audiences to view this most popular-and familiar-of national icons. Will the survey be a box office-friendly replay of the Whitney's comprehensive 1980 Hopper survey or an altogether fresh take? Indeed, might Hopper here emerge as the crypto-modernist he was, his "realism" cloaking a canny grasp ot Romanticism, Precisionism, and even Surrealism? All the key images must be included, given the show's boasting of approximately one hundred paintings, watercolors, and prints-so the burden of proof looks set to fall on the catalogue by Troyen and four other scholars. Travels to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Sept. 16, 2007-Jan. 21. 20OS; Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 16-May 11, 2008. -David Anfam
Chicagoans Jodie Christian, a pianist, and Mwata Bowden, a reedplayer, have been named recipients of the 1994 Jazz Master Awards byArts Midwest. Also named by the Minneapolis-based serviceorganization was alto saxophonist and Duke Ellington alumnus NorrisTurney, an Ohioan.
Christian, a co-founder of Chicago's Association for theAdvancement of Creative Musicians, has distinguished himself in awide spectrum of styles. He is valued as one of the city's finestaccompanists.
Bowden, a high-ranking member of the association who was deanand director of its school, leads bands including the Sound Spectrumand is a longtime member of 8 Bold Souls.
Recently, Turney has appeared several times in Chicago with agroup of Ellingtonians, as well as the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.
The Jazz Master Awards, now in their fifth year, include a$5,000 prize. Candidates are nominated by the jazz community and thegeneral public. Past Chicago winners include Von Freeman, FredAnderson and John Young.
Celette North America hosted a dinner for collision industry leaders on Friday, Nov. 4, as part of NACE, rewarding two of those leaders in a drawing held at the event.
Rob Waters, of Stuttgart Auto Body in Englewood, Calif., won $750 to spend on his choice of snowmobiling trips to West Yellowstone, Mont. Waters will have to keep his eye on the snowfall totals in the area before he sets off on his choice of a Yellowstone National Park wildlife and geyser tour or a ride through the extensive trails on the west side of the park.
The fixture bench company also presented Franko Mirabile of the ICC Groups in Corona, Calif., with an all-expense paid trip to the Vienne Jazz Festival. Vienne is an ancient city in the south of France in the Rohn River Valley. The festival is held in a Roman amphitheater and has an international following.
Kim Tae-kyun drove in the only run Monday to help South Korea beat defending champion Japan 1-0 and finish first in Pool A of the World Baseball Classic.
Both teams had already advanced to the second round, and Monday's game was to determine the seedings. Japan will face the Pool B winner in the second round while South Korea takes on the Pool B runner-up in its first game on March 15.
Japan beat South Korea 14-2 Saturday but couldn't come up with timely hits after Kim gave his team a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning on a grounder down the third base line, scoring Lee Jong-wook from second.
"Japan beat us in the first game so it was nice to come back and get the win in this game," Kim said. "Japan's pitchers have a tendency to pitch inside. I just kept that in mind and was pleased to get a big hit."
South Korea starter Bong Jung-keun held Japan to three hits over 5-1/3 scoreless innings to pick up the win. Japan starter Hisashi Iwakuma, a 21-game winner last season for the Rakuten Eagles, gave up one run on two hits over 5-1/3 innings and took the loss.
"South Korea's pitchers were very good and that's why our hitters weren't able to show their ability," said Japan manager Tatsunori Hara. "But both teams are going to the next round and I'm sure we will represent Asia well."
Japan had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth. Ichiro Suzuki got his first hit of the game with a one-out single to center off South Korea reliever Ryu Hyun-jin.
Suzuki advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Hiroyuki Nakajima, but Norichika Aoki grounded out to the pitcher to end the inning.
Nakajima has been one of Japan's best hitters in the opening round of the WBC and many will question Japan manager Tatsunori Hara's decision to have him bunt in that situation.
South Korea squandered a chance to widen the lead in the top of the seventh. Kim Hyun-soo led off with a walk and advanced to third on a double by Kim Tae-kyun. Lee Dae-ho then hit into a fielder's choice double play before Lee Yong-kyu lined out to center field.
South Korea improved to 3-1 while Japan dropped to 2-1.
Monday's game was the latest edition of an intense rivalry between the two baseball-loving nations. Saturday's 14-2 win was called after seven innings under the tournament's mercy rule.
South Korea beat Japan twice in the Beijing Olympics before going on to win the gold medal. The Koreans also beat Japan twice in the 2006 WBC before Japan defeated the Koreans in the semifinals.
Japan defeated Cuba 10-6 in the final to win the inaugural WBC.
Buying everything from compact discs to groceries, American consumers have made the Internet a virtual shopping center.
Now there's new merchandise at the mall: health insurance.
Insurers have been slower to offer group products than individual policies online. But several local insurers offer group policies, and one company plans to allow businesses to get rate quotes for group plans in 2001.
Among the local insurers with online products are Highmark Inc., headquartered in Pittsburgh and East Pennsboro Township, Capital Blue Cross and HealthAmerica, both in Susquehanna Township.
The personal nature of health care means that buying health insurance online presents both opportunities and challenges to consumers and businesses who shop online.
"(Buying insurance online) is very convenient, but the consumer should be careful," said Mick Meckler, Capital Blue Cross vice president of information technology. "Privacy and security are issues of great concern."
Capital Blue Cross offers rate quotes for individual insurance products, such as Medigap policies, on its web site, www.capbluecross.com, and hopes to add rate quotes for small group products next year, Meckler said. Capital Blue Cross began offering the online quotes in June, and the site has received about 4,000 hits to date.
To get a rate quote for an individual family on the Capital Blue Cross site, consumers choose one of five product options, enter their family size and Zip code and submit their request. They receive a quote almost immediately. They can then download enrollment forms, which they mail to the company.
Selling group insurance products online is not as common in the industry as individual products, Meckler added.
"Group products are much more complicated, and it's harder to put them into an online format," he said.
However, at Coventry Health Care Inc. in Bethesda, Md., insurance brokers can use the Internet to check rates and enroll individuals in small group plans that have between two and 50 people, according to Harry Fox, the company's vice president for e-business. Coventry is the parent company of HealthAmerica.
Highmark offers a group product sold exclusively online to employers. Employees then use the insurance company's web site, www.highmark.com, to create an insurance policy tailored to their specific needs, said Kim Bellard, Highmark's vice president of indemnity and special products.
"The Internet allows us to give consumers a variety of choices," Bellard said. "We see it as a real tool to become closer to our customers."
Selling products online might be the most obvious way that insurance companies are tapping into the Internet market, but it is only the tip of the iceberg, Fox said. Companies also are using the Internet to allow subscribers to manage their policies, give physicians an easier way to communicate with health plans and provide health care-related information.
For example, Highmark's new NaviNet service allows providers to use the Internet to check the status of claims, review referrals and request authorizations.
The Internet also has improved insurance companies' ability to answer subscribers' inquiries, said Bob Grim, Capital Blue Cross vice president of customer service.
"Customers can use e-mail to contact us at any time of day or night," he said. "We're trying to make dealing with us as simple as possible."
And this strategy appears to be working. While Capital Blue Cross received 208 online inquires in August 1999, the company received 561 inquires this August, Grim added.
Yet, providing personal health information via the Internet is something that many consumers are wary of, said Geoffrey Dunaway, director of the bureau of accident and health for the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.
Before deciding to buy a policy online, a consumer should use another Internet resource: www.insurance.state.pa.us, the department's own web site. There, a consumer can research an insurance company, learn whether the company is licensed to do business in the state, what products it offers and whether there have been any complaints against the company.
A little bit of research can go a long way. If a consumer purchases insurance online from a company that isn't licensed to do business in Pennsylvania, the Insurance Department may be powerless if a problem arises, Dunaway explained. HealthAmerica recognizes consumers' fears and makes sure that all information transmitted online is encrypted, Fox said.
"It's like a Fort Knox over the Internet," he said.
At Capital Blue Cross, one employee's job is to try to break into the company's site and plug any security gaps before they compromise subscribers' privacy, Meckler said.
Although Internet privacy is a hot topic, the paper-based world isn't perfect either, Dunaway said.
"When you think about it, privacy and security is just as tenuous in the paper-based world as it is in the online world," he said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States said Tuesday that Syrian President Bashar Assad has failed to prove himself a worthy leader nearly two months after being challenged by President Barack Obama to guide his country toward a democratic transition or leave power.
In endorsing Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's declaration that Assad has "lost legitimacy," the White House moved closer to openly declaring its desire for regime change in Syria.
"Increasingly you're seeing President Assad lose legitimacy in the eyes of his people," Obama said in an interview with CBS News. "He has missed opportunity after opportunity to present a genuine reform agenda."
Presidential spokesman Jay Carney added that Assad was "not indispensable."
The more aggressive U.S. posture followed Monday's storming by an angry mob of the U.S. Embassy and American ambassador's residence in Damascus.
"We've been very clear that what we've seen on the part of the Syrian regime has been an unacceptable degree of brutality, directed at its people," Obama said. "We've certainly sent a clear message that nobody can be messing with our embassy, and that we will take whatever actions necessary in order to protect our embassy. And I think they've gotten that message."
Meanwhile, the State Department reported the U.S. Embassy in Syria was operational again Tuesday and that officials were able to work with Syrian authorities on improving security. Repairs were made to windows and cameras, and the Syrian foreign ministry returned an American flag that had been taken down by demonstrators.
"Things are improving on that front," spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. "We do think that there is better attention now to our security."
She credited Syrian authorities for increasing security outside the embassy and residence, and for arresting six people in connection with Monday's events. She said they should now be subject to a free, fair and transparent judicial process.
Nuland also said Ambassador Robert Ford spoke Tuesday with Syria's foreign minister to follow up on U.S. concerns and that a "much more collaborative tone" emerged from the meeting. But she stopped short of thanking the Syrian government for its new spirit of cooperation.
Asked about Clinton's declaration that Assad has lost the legitimacy to lead his country, and its repitition by the White House on Tuesday, Nuland said that the Syrian leader failed to meet Obama's challenge of nearly two months ago: to lead a democratic transition or "get out of the way."
"What have we seen since then?" Nuland asked. "A Syrian government that continues to beat, imprison, torture, slaughter its own people."
She said Clinton on Monday wanted to dispel the myth that Assad was needed in Syria. And she said the U.S. was sympathetic with people refusing to join a dialogue with Assad while it takes place alongside "awful violence."
Also in Washington on Tuesday, the spokesman for Syria's Embassy to the U.S. said he was leaving his position.
"I leave my position during the most difficult yet promising of times in Syria's modern history," Ahmed Salkini wrote in an email. "I have been pained by every drop of Syrian blood lost. Still, I am certain of, and comforted by, the fact that Syria will emerge from this crisis more democratic, unified, freer and stronger than ever."
VALDEZ People throughout Alaska, so heavily dependent on oiland fishing, agreed to silence their anger for five minutes Sunday toremember the way things were before a tanker spilled 10.1 milliongallons of oil in an area rich in wildlife.
Some hung their heads while others stared straight ahead as iflost in thought in Cordova, a small fishing community.
Beforehand, a folk singer played on the emotions of the 200people at Cordova High School's gymnasium when he sang, "I betcha ifthis had happened off of Kennebunkport, it'd have been cleaned up thevery same day."
Kennebunkport is the Maine community where President Bush keepsa seaside home. Some here have accused the Bush administration ofbeing unresponsive to the Alaska spill, the worst in the nation'shistory.
Schoolchildren presented a mural of how Prince William Soundlooked before the spill and a book on how they would remove it.
One child wrote she would ask her dad to clean it up. Anothersaid he would let tanker captains drink only water - a reference tothe sobriety test that Capt. Joseph Hazelwood failed after his vesselrammed a reef, causing the spill.
The period of silence was requested by Gov. Steve Cowper to markthe 30 days since the spill occurred.
"This disaster has almost turned us into people who aren'thuman. We've been running on adrenalin just to get thingsaccomplished," said Belle Mickelson, who teaches commercial fishingat Cordova High School. "We need a quiet time to reflect on why we'rehere doing this and to get set for the long haul. A Band-Aid isn'tgoing to fix this."
A storm with winds up to 30 m.p.h. and 9-foot seas, meanwhile,pushed oil to unstained shores over the weekend and forced a cleanupcrew to take shelter.
"We expect to have some pretty severe weather for a few days,"said Bill Lamoreaux, an Alaska Environmental Conservation Departmentsupervisor. "It will definitely have an impact on skimmingoperations."
The crude oil from Alaska's North Slope poured from the ExxonValdez on March 24 after the tanker hit a reef in Prince WilliamSound, an important fishing area at the southern end of the Alaskanpipeline.
Inadequate equipment and a slow response complicated recovery ofthe oil, which has been driven by currents to Kodiak Island, thenation's No. 1 fishing port.
Thousands of birds and marine mammals have been killed by theoil, and biologists fear many more will die.
Fishermen frustrated by the pace of the cleanup have taken tosea in a makeshift flotilla, using scoops and buckets to gather theoil that threatens their livelihood.
Angry letters to the editor occupied five pages of Sunday'sAnchorage Daily News. Comments included a suggestion that Exxonexecutives be tossed into pools of oil and a proposal that residentsdonate to the recovery effort the dividend checks of several hundreddollars that they get annually from oil profits.
"We thought we could have our cake and eat it too," saidMickelson. "We're going to have to look within ourselves and ask,`How much oil are we using?' "
Skimmers, including the 425-foot Vaidogubsky pledged to thecleanup effort by the Soviet government, have run into mechanicalproblems trying to gather the heavy, wind-whipped crude. The Sovietsadjusted their equipment and hoped to resume sucking up oil gatheredat Gore Point, a spectacular rock outcropping in the Gulf of Alaska.
Dennis Kelso, state environmental conservation commissioner saidhis agency believes oil still may be leaking from the Exxon Valdez,which is being repaired in Prince William Sound. Exxon and the CoastGuard said no oil is leaking.
Kelso's agency has asked the Coast Guard for permission toanchor a vessel next to the tanker to test the water and determinethe source of an oily sheen.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Digital video recording service provider TiVo Inc. posted a narrower fourth-quarter loss Wednesday, beating Wall Street expectations.
The Alviso-based company reported a quarterly loss of $18.7 million, or 19 cents per share, for the three months ended Jan. 31. In the same period last year, TiVo's net loss was $21.1 million, or 25 cents per share.
Net revenues climbed to $77.6 million from $60.1 million a year ago. Excluding hardware sales, service and technology revenue rose 22 percent to $57.4 million, compared with $47 million for the year-ago period.
Analysts, on average, were expecting a loss of 36 cents per share on service and technology revenue of $55 million, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.
TiVo said its total number of subscribers grew to 4.4 million, up slightly from the previous quarter.
Tivo shares rose 20 cents, or more than 3 percent, to close at $6.14 on the Nasdaq Stock Market and gained 41 cents in extended trading after the company issued its quarterly results.
Stock prices have been falling sharply of late. But there is noevidence yet that there is any panic among small investors.
And that's what should worry you.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 120 points two weeks ago.And stocks fell another 138 points last week, pushing the Dow waydown to 3,635.
Birinyi Associates, which monitors professional trading, saysthat two significant computerized selling programs kicked in after3:30 p.m. on Friday, March 25, and changed what was an otherwise calmday into a bloodbath.
The day started quietly and remained calm, even though the Dowfell 48 points the previous day.
Traders say the professional selling programs late in the day onMarch 25 seemed to be timed almost to the minute to when interestrates on the government's 30 year bond moved above 7 percent.
There is a reason for this. When interest rates started soaringearlier this month because of worries over the Whitewater scandal,bonds were able to rebound before they crossed the 7 percent level.
Barron's, the weekly financial newspaper, said that the FederalReserve was responsible, stepping in and purchasing bonds to keep therate from crossing that threshold. The Fed denied doing so.
But that really doesn't matter. What counts is the fact thatnobody did anything heroic to keep the long-term bond rate below 7percent. When neither the Fed nor a big buyer was willing to go outon a limb, professional traders got spooked.
And professional traders are all that matter right now. They'vehad almost total control of the market for more than two weeks.
Go back to March 17, St. Patrick's Day. With a triple witchinghour looming the next day, traders manipulated stock prices higher bynearly 17 points. The next day, when stock index futures, indexoptions and stock options all were expiring simultaneously, thetraders were able to goose the market higher by another 30.51 points.
Everyone cheered those two big gains. But these last few weeksthe pros have started to beat up on stock prices. They are doing itin a sneaky way - striking late in the day when almost no one islooking.
And one of these days small investors are going to notice.They'll notice, for instance, that the Dow is down 3.2 percent fromwhere it was when the year began. And they'll notice that theStandard & Poor's 500-stock index is down 4.2 percent. Next they'llstart looking at those signs in the bank window advertising rates onsix-month Treasury bills at 3.75 percent. And it won't be longbefore that 3.75 percent rate will look very attractive next to aloss in the stock market.
And, if we're unlucky, a lot of small investors will startnoticing this at the same time. That's when the stock market crisisthat some of us have been warning of will happen.
Americans are investing their money differently than in thepast. For the first time in history, mutual funds have almost asmuch in assets as banks. The trouble is, the money in mutual funds -even if the funds are purchased through a bank - is not insured.
This is a very dangerous situation.
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan understands the dangers.The pros who've been fooling around with the stock market for thelast few weeks - and, for that matter, years - understand all ofthis. But the little guy doesn't.
I prefer to call what has happened by its rightful name - abubble. It's no different from the bubble that afflicted the realestate market in the 1980s. At some point people question why theyare buying houses, or stock, at inflated prices. And they stopbuying them.
Someday the small investor - the amateur on a fling in the stockmarket - is going to say goodbye to Wall Street. That's when allhell will break loose.
If the pros aren't careful, that day could arrive soon.
John Crudele is a syndicated financial columnist. His addressis P.O. Box 610, Lincroft, N.J. 07738.
Retired federal judge Michael Mukasey was sworn in Friday as the nation's 81st attorney general, filling a vacancy left when Alberto Gonzales resigned amid questions about his credibility.
Mukasey was sworn in at a private Justice Department ceremony about 16 hours after he narrowly won Senate confirmation. The third attorney general of the Bush administration, Mukasey, 66, inherits a Justice Department struggling to restore its independent image with more than a dozen vacant leadership jobs and little time to make many changes before another president takes office.
Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said Mukasey was joined by family members at the closed-door ceremony lasting two to three minutes. After taking the oath, Mukasey headed immediately into meetings with senior Justice Department officials, including a briefing on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Mukasey "got right to work," Roehrkasse said.
Mukasey served nearly two decades as a federal district judge in Manhattan and oversaw many of the nation's highest profile terror cases in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. He now has 14 months to turn around the demoralized Justice Department and its 110,000 employees after almost a year of scandal that forced the resignation of his predecessor and cast doubt on the government's ability to prosecute cases fairly.
Andrew Kent, a constitutional law professor at Fordham Law School in the Bronx, said it's unclear how much Mukasey can get done.
"It just seems inconceivable that there'd be any major changes in legal policy, in the president's approach to the war on terror at the behest of an outsider to the administration _ which is what Mukasey is," Kent said.
Mukasey's first full day on the job will be Tuesday. A public swearing-in ceremony is being planned for next week, and Mukasey is expected to address Justice Department employees for the first time afterward.
The Senate confirmed Mukasey minutes before midnight Thursday by a 53-40 vote _ which critics noted marked the narrowest margin to confirm an attorney general in more than 50 years. His confirmation briefly stalled over his refusal to say whether he considers an interrogation tactic known as waterboarding a form of illegal torture.
But Mukasey made clear to senators he won't tolerate politics influencing decisions about prosecuting cases or hiring career attorneys _ allegations being investigated now in an ongoing inquiry into last year's firings of nine U.S. attorneys.
The scandal, which led to Gonzales' ouster in September, tarnished the Justice Department's long-held independent image and prompted a flood of resignations from its senior officials.
Twelve of the highest-ranking department jobs _ including the No. 2 and 3 spots and six assistant attorney generals _ currently are held by officials who have not been confirmed by the Senate. Two other senior officials have announced their resignations and are expected to leave shortly.
Having temporary officials filling in at the top jobs creates some uncertainty in the department, said William Barr, who was attorney general during the administration of former President George H.W. Bush.
"It could affect their ability to be decisive on issues because everything they do could potentially become an issue in their confirmation," said Barr, now general counsel at Verizon Communications Inc.
Among Mukasey's top priorities will be to soothe employees at Justice Department headquarters in Washington and in the 94 U.S. attorneys offices nationwide with promises to administer the law fairly and without political bias. That could also help restore public confidence, said Eric Holder, who served as deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration.
"Internally, there is a morale problem the likes of which I have never seen before," Holder said. "Externally, there is a crisis of confidence that the nation has with regard to the department."
Mukasey "has to move swiftly and tangibly in order to restore faith in the integrity of the decision making at Justice. He has to show that he, not political operatives at the White House, is making the calls at Justice," Holder said.
Department officials maintain they have already taken steps to fix internal policies that let politics seep into daily operations. They include:
_Allowing U.S. attorneys to decide whom to hire as trial prosecutors, even in cases where the U.S. attorney is only serving in an interim basis. During Gonzales' tenure, former department White House liaison Monica Goodling gave hiring preference to Republican Party activists. Now, Justice headquarters only weighs in when hiring might affect the agency budget.
_Reversing an order that gave Goodling and former Justice chief of staff Kyle Sampson authority to hire or fire about 135 politically appointed Justice Department employees. That authority has been reassigned to the deputy attorney general's office, where it previously had been.
_Revising the process to appoint immigration judges to make sure career Justice employees have significant input.
_Making sure career employees are involved in hiring entry-level attorneys for the department's Honors and Summer Law Interns programs. Critics say Goodling rejected applicants from Ivy League and other top law schools for young conservative attorneys.
Zach Carter, a former U.S. attorney in Brooklyn and longtime Mukasey friend, said it won't take long for the Justice Department to bounce back once its lawyers believe they have a steady and smart leader committed to restoring its independence.
"I'm not saying Mike's a messiah, but people are waiting for that," Carter said. "I think he will be welcomed by those career employees in the department who are as committed to professionalism in the department, as he is."
It's hard to find a winner on the baseball strike field ofschemes.
But among the broadcast networks, ABC has the most to lose if aprolonged baseball strike wipes out postseason play.
That network is poised to pass CBS in Nielsen's prime-timeratings in the upcoming season. But ABC, a partner along with NBC inthe Baseball Network deal, would lose its share of regional telecastsand the highly rated league-championship playoff games if the workstoppage were to continue through October.
ABC executives were looking forward to higher prime-time ratingsand advertising revenues with the network's scheduled coverage of theWorld Series. Both ABC and NBC would miss the chance to promotetheir new fall programming during baseball telecasts.
"If the strike runs through September," said Janice Gretemeyer,ABC's East Coast public relations chief, "ABC plans to proceed withits regular weekly entertainment and news programming in primetime."
CBS and Fox stand to gain if the strike runs through the fall.
That's because CBS, which ended its baseball deal last year,would not face World Series competition from rival ABC.
And Fox, with its new rights to National Football Conferencetelecasts, will have a sports alternative ready. WFLD-Channel 32,Fox's Chicago station, will air the preseason football game betweenthe Denver Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers at 7 p.m. Friday -even if there is no strike.
Cable's ESPN, TBS and SportsChannel would lose viewers withoutmajor-league baseball. "With the close divisional races and theindividual records that could be broken this season, a baseballstrike would be a shame," said ESPN spokesman Rob Tobias. "A strikewould affect our ratings on Wednesdays and Sundays, but we won't knowby how much unless it happens."
Lessening the strike effects for the cable channels is the factthat almost 70 percent of the 162-game baseball season would becompleted by Friday, and no postseason games were scheduled on cable.
Networks, independent stations like Channel 9 and cablechannels would offer commercial rebates and find new sponsors forsubstitute programs. Reruns and old movies are cheaper thanbaseball, so lower expenses can help offset the loss of games.
"Because we're so closely identified with baseball, peopleassume a strike is a catastrophe for us," said Dennis FitzSimons,Chicago-based president of Tribune Television and executive vicepresident of Tribune Broadcasting. "But it's not nearly as great aspeople imagine."
Tribune owns WGN-Channel 9, WGN-AM (720) and baseball broadcastoutlets in four other major markets.
FitzSimons declined to say how much revenue Tribune Co. standsto lose in advertising revenue. But he noted that 80 percent of theseason's scheduled telecasts already have aired, and that revenuesare far greater in the second quarter (April to June) than in thethird, anyway.
Tod A. Jacobs, analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.,estimates the strike could cost Tribune shareholders just 5 cents ashare. (Tribune is expected to earn $3.27 per share.)
FitzSimons said Tribune stands to save expenses in the form ofbaseball rights fees and production costs in the event of a strike.But he added, "From all standpoints, we'd rather not have a strike."
PBS, meanwhile, has an ace in the hole. The public TV networkwill present "Baseball," a "nine-inning" documentary miniseries by"Civil War" filmmaker Ken Burns, starting at 8 p.m. Sept. 18 onWTTW-Channel 11.
Contributing: Robert Feder and Della de Lafuente
NEW YORK - Rupert Murdoch has entered a dark horse in high-stakes races before, and won. On Monday, the News Corp. media titan trots out the Fox Business Network.
Two years in the making, the channel will challenge General Electric Co.'s highly profitable CNBC network as it seeks to redefine business news for average Americans faced with increasingly complex decisions about their financial futures.
Murdoch already has knocked CNN off the cable news throne with Fox News Channel. Can he do the same to NBC Universal's profit machine, whose audience of affluent professionals is one of the most sought-after advertising targets?
"CNBC has a monopoly on an in-demand demographic, but never underestimate Murdoch," said Porter Bibb, a managing partner at Mediatech Capital Partners, a financier of media businesses. "Success might take a while, but this is the right thing for them to do."
Fox defines success - aside from ratings - as expanding the business news audience by "demystifying" the subject, according to Kevin Magee, the Fox News executive vice president in charge of the new business channel. There are plenty of people not watching business news because it's presented in an "off-putting" way, he said.
Magee would not disclose the programming schedule, citing competitive concerns. But FBN's flashy Web site promises the network will cut through jargon to speak to the average investor, echoing comments by Murdoch last month that his channel will be for Main Street instead of Wall Street.
Other executives at Fox News have said CNBC is not friendly enough to business and focuses too much on scandal instead of positive corporate deeds.
They "intend to target middle America," said Chris Roush, a business journalism professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. That likely means coverage of such topics as how to save for retirement or get the lowest credit card rates, or when is the right time to buy a house, he said.
Bibb said that strategy could attract a solid audience: "Every poll shows that people are concerned with economics above all else, except maybe war."
Although CNBC says it's not worried - "The question isn't whether we're ready for them, but whether they're ready for CNBC," said network president Mark Hoffman - it has already made changes that some see as a reaction to Fox. CNBC has added a business newsmagazine, retooled its pre-market show "Squawk Box" and added the personal investing program "Fast Money." Personal finance guru Suze Orman has been hired for a weekend show.
Bloomberg TV, the only other dedicated business network, also has recently spruced up its shows, putting more anchors on TV and less scrolling data.
The tactic of selling business news to the consumer has failed before - CNNfn folded two years ago. Roush said CNN didn't invest enough time or money in the channel, a mistake Murdoch is not likely to repeat.
Magee wouldn't disclose any cost figures or a timeline for reaching profitability at FBN. SNLKagan media analyst Derek Baine estimates FBN will lose about $185 million over four years before posting a profit in 2011. But Murdoch has shown he is willing to spend heavily over long periods to get what he wants.
Murdoch recently surprised the newspaper world with a rich, unsolicited bid for Dow Jones & Co., netting him the crown jewel of business news publications, The Wall Street Journal. He was derided 11 years ago when he started Fox News Channel, but it charged past industry leader CNN in six years and hasn't been caught since. Fox News averages 1.5 million viewers a day, while CNN draws 758,000 - virtually the same number as when it had the field to itself.
Fox thinks it can expand the total number of niche viewers again, playing down the idea of a direct competition with CNBC. "Our goal is essentially to broaden the pie that watches business news," Magee said.
In charge of the new network is Roger Ailes, the man credited with changing cable news by making Fox News a personality-driven channel. He also ran CNBC in the early 1990s. Neil Cavuto, the popular Fox News Channel host with the highest-rated business program on cable, is managing editor of business news and will also work as an anchor.
Many of his colleagues are attractive young women with backgrounds in news and business, led by Alexis Glick, a former CNBC correspondent and co-host of NBC's Today Show. David Asman, host of Fox News's "Forbes on Fox," is also expected to have a prominent anchor role.
The network landed its first bona fide business-world star last week: Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of computer and printer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. known for her flamboyant personality.
"I like the talent they have hired, and I think they can deliver a mainstream business program," Roush said. But that may not be what advertisers want - or the way to make money with a business channel.
CNBC attracts a wealthy audience of financial professionals and business executives, which allows it to demand premium prices from advertisers. The network collected $250 million in ad revenue last year, for an estimated operating profit of $60 million, despite a paltry average daytime viewership of 267,000. CNBC is available in 90 million of the nation's 110 million households.
"It's not about ratings for CNBC, it's about the demographic," Bibb said.
Fox Business Channel, which will start in about 30 million households, already has the distribution to get more viewers than CNBC. But if the demographic is different, advertisers might not pay as much.
"They will have a much tougher time making money than people think," Roush said.
And that, Bibb said, is why Fox has spent more time talking about the incumbent than its own programs.
"Ailes is trying to convince advertisers that his network is a viable competitor - before it even has an audience," he said. "Fox wants to ride the wave of high-priced advertising targeted at financial professionals that CNBC has been mining." Those are primarily insurers and financial services firms like ETrade and Ameriprise, and high-end travel and hotel companies.
"They're basically saying, 'Trust what we're doing here because of our success with Fox News,'" said Sheri Anne Brill, a senior vice president at Carat Group, a media services firm.
Brill says Fox will get the ad volume it wants because of Ailes and the cachet of being with a potential winner from the start. Fox has said it can deliver a well-heeled demographic, noting that its news channel's viewership is more affluent than that of both CNN and MSNBC.
But Roush thinks FBN eventually will veer away from Main Street and fight for the high rollers.
"This network will end up being a lot more like CNBC than what they let on," he said. "In six or nine months, we'll see a lot about Wall Street and the stock markets."
Bibb said Fox probably would succeed if it went that way, because "Murdoch's got an ace in the hole" - The Wall Street Journal.
CNBC has an exclusive agreement with the paper through 2012, although analysts expect Murdoch to try to buy out the deal. Magee said the contract doesn't cover all Journal content, and that "the lawyers are going through it."
When Murdoch gets his hands on the Journal, then the competition will really begin, Bibb said.
"When he starts the WSJ Network or something with that brand, then he can go head-to-head with CNBC - and kick butt."
The directors of Fortis NV, one of Europe's biggest banks, replaced its chief executive after the bank suspended dividends and took other unpopular measures to shore up its cash reserves.
The board of directors of the Belgian-Dutch bank said Friday that Jean-Paul Votron will leave his job after four years "by mutual agreement in the interest of the group."
Herman Verwilst, Votron's deputy and the chief operating officer, was named interim CEO while the bank looked for a permanent replacement, both inside and outside the company, said a statement following a board meeting in Brussels.
The announcement was delayed until after markets closed, but shares fell 4.2 percent Friday to euro9.45 (US$14.96) on the Euronext exchange.
The board meeting was called hastily in response to shareholder anger at a plan announced last month to boost reserves by euro8.3 billion (US$13.14 billion).
Under the plan, Fortis said it would issue euro1.5 billion (US$2.4 billion) worth of new shares and suspend the payment of a euro1.3 billion (US$2.06 billion) dividend for the first half of in 2008. The full year dividend will be paid in shares, further preserving capital _ but diluting the stock.
Fortis shares have shed roughly half their value since it joined a three-bank consortium last year, led by the Royal Bank of Scotland, that acquired Holland's largest bank, ABN Amro. The euro70 billion (US$111 billion) deal was the largest takeover in banking history.
Fortis' share of the package was worth euro24 billion (US$38 billion). The acquisition came as all banks were reeling from the global credit crisis, and Fortis had to write down some euro6 billion (US$9.5 billion) in investments.
Because of the ABN Amro deal, Fortis was compelled to sell commercial banking activities in the Netherlands to meet European Union competition requirements. It said last month the terms of the sales were not as favorable as expected.
In the latest deal, the bank announced two days ago it had sold its hedge fund International Asset Management Ltd. to the fund's managers. The value of the sale was not announced. IAM controls euro2.7 billion (US$4.3 billion) in assets.
Votron came to Fortis in 2004 after starting his career in Unilever where he managed international sales, then moved to Citibank.
The statement by the board said it had supported Votron's moves to join the ABN-Amro takeover, and had backed the solvency plan announced last month.
Verwilst served for two years with the International Monetary Fund and was briefly in the Belgian parliament before joining private banking in 1992.
Oct. 27--EAST MIDDLEBURY, Vt.--Tom Halnon's dream is about as green as it gets here. He's spent seven years designing and building a home by hand, with wood cut on his own property.
Powering the home with the winds gusting over Breadloaf Mountain seemed a natural -- after all, this is the state that passed strict clean-air laws before it was hip, a place that sparks visions of environmental purity, and where out-of-staters slap "Vermont-made" on everything from soda to syrup.
But Halnon and other Green Mountain residents are learning a bitter lesson as the nation braces for a second year of high heating prices: Even in Vermont, renewable energy hasn't taken hold. Halnon is facing complaints from neighbors who don't want a 111-foot wind turbine to mar their forest view, and the state's lack of rebates and its cumbersome permitting process are huge roadblocks to his efforts.
"You have to be a zealot to do renewable power here," said Halnon, 42, who grew up one mountain over from where he's building his home. "This house is what I hold important for my family, for myself. I want it to be self-sufficient and in harmony with the land. It turns out this would be far easier for me to do in New Jersey than Vermont."
Vermont's struggles speak to at least some of the troubles the rest of New England can expect when it comes to switching to alternative forms of energy. The six states are an isolated island when it comes to fossil fuels, the only geographical region without an oil refinery and at the end of any oil and gas pipeline. And it uses tons of the black stuff -- most homes in New England were built at the height of the oil boom, and their owners have been slow to switch to more stable forms of heat, such as natural gas.
The last energy crisis was supposed to change the region's dependence on oil and its attitude toward renewable energy. But the tax breaks on alternative energy sources dried up by the mid-1980s and expensive solar panels and gritty wood stoves were abandoned as oil prices plummeted.
Attempts to capture New England's strong winds for commercial use have resulted in a huge wind farm in Searsburg, about 100 miles south of Halnon's house, but it powers only a minuscule number of homes. A western Maine wind farm was abandoned in 1995 after protests over aesthetics, and the company went bankrupt. Meanwhile, an offshore wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod remains a dream.
New England's total residential energy consumption from renewable sources, meanwhile, hovers around 4 percent, according to the US Energy Information Administration, and is about equally spread throughout the six states. The figures do not include hydroelectric power, which some consider renewable. Others argue against hydropower's green status because the rivers on which the dams are built eventually silt up and because the structures prevent fish from swimming upstream.
Unlike other states, though, Vermont has no state budget for renewable energy and it has not deregulated its electrical industry -- which has helped other states like Massachusetts set aside millions for alternative energy efforts.
"The state paralysis in energy can be summed up in one word: Hydro-Quebec," said Lewis Milford, president of Clean Energy Group, a nonprofit Vermont organization dedicated to alternative energy. "In 1990, we entered into a contract to buy power from Canada that doesn't end until 2017 and that has crowded out any other creative investment. We can't afford to use renewables because we are locked into this contract."
Of course, Vermont has lived up to its green image in at least some areas. Several state buildings and about 20 schools are heated by wood chips. Federally funded experiments are researching the value of producing electricity from manure. State officials say they should also be commended for embracing the Searsburg wind farm and a large wood-burning power plant in Burlington.
But the state has a long way to go to see masses of people using alternative forms of energy. Two years ago, Vermont passed a law that allows homeowners using renewable energy to tie into power grids and have the meter run backward.
So far, however, only 30 people have done so. There is a sales tax exemption on renewable power structures that will hook into the grid, but it is a far cry from the 50 percent rebate California offers. The numbers of solar homes in Vermont are estimated only in the hundreds in a state of 600,000 people.
"People have this view for Vermont as leading the way for environmental law -- everyone in Vermont must recycle, be vegans -- and in many ways we fulfill that image," said Andrew Perchlik, part-time renewable energy coordinator for the state and founder of Renewable Energy Vermont, an industry group. "But we still haven't pushed renewables as a state yet."
Halnon says nowhere is that more visible than at his unfinished home. He explored wind energy in 1998, after the law was passed allowing him to tie into a power grid. Told to wait because the rules were still not set, he got tired after two years and in June filed his application. After two hearings, he's still waiting.
He can't put the plumbing in until the heat is installed and he can't put heat in until he knows how the home is going to be powered. So he, his wife and their two children are living above a garage next to the house.
"I think the state should be an advocate for renewable energy, not deter people who want to do it," Halnon said. "It's frustrating to try to do something which benefits society and feel noble and to be treated by the state as if it was jeopardizing the public good."
Part of Halnon's trouble, however, is more universal: It's expensive and, to some, ugly.
A new wind turbine can retail at more than $25,000. Meanwhile, several of Halnon's neighbors are upset that the turbine "will be an eyesore near one of only two state-designated scenic roads," said attorney Gary Karnedy, who represents Watson Scott and Duncan Rollason, owners of land adjoining Halnon's. Wind has been a huge aesthetic issue throughout New England, with many feeling the steel structures mar the landscape as much as any cellular tower does.
"Vermont has a history of a working landscape. And as people look at farm silos and tractors as `isn't that quaint,' they should see wind turbines as part of that working landscape," said David Blittersdorf of NRG Systems, which builds wind-measuring devices. "We need leadership from the state to say this is important."
Blittersdorf and others, however, remain optimistic. When state solar panels were stolen from a kiosk next to the State Police barracks in Middlesex two years ago, it was considered by some a good sign.
"At least someone thought they were valuable," said Scudder Parker, director of Vermont's energy efficiency division. "You have to have a long view on this."
To see more of The Boston Globe, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.boston.com/globe
(c) 2000, The Boston Globe. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
To Frustration of Some, Vermont Slow to Embrace Renewable Energy.(Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News)Oct. 27--EAST MIDDLEBURY, Vt.--Tom Halnon's dream is about as green as it gets here. He's spent seven years designing and building a home by hand, with wood cut on his own property.
Powering the home with the winds gusting over Breadloaf Mountain seemed a natural -- after all, this is the state that passed strict clean-air laws before it was hip, a place that sparks visions of environmental purity, and where out-of-staters slap "Vermont-made" on everything from soda to syrup.
But Halnon and other Green Mountain residents are learning a bitter lesson as the nation braces for a second year of high heating prices: Even in Vermont, renewable energy hasn't taken hold. Halnon is facing complaints from neighbors who don't want a 111-foot wind turbine to mar their forest view, and the state's lack of rebates and its cumbersome permitting process are huge roadblocks to his efforts.
"You have to be a zealot to do renewable power here," said Halnon, 42, who grew up one mountain over from where he's building his home. "This house is what I hold important for my family, for myself. I want it to be self-sufficient and in harmony with the land. It turns out this would be far easier for me to do in New Jersey than Vermont."
Vermont's struggles speak to at least some of the troubles the rest of New England can expect when it comes to switching to alternative forms of energy. The six states are an isolated island when it comes to fossil fuels, the only geographical region without an oil refinery and at the end of any oil and gas pipeline. And it uses tons of the black stuff -- most homes in New England were built at the height of the oil boom, and their owners have been slow to switch to more stable forms of heat, such as natural gas.
The last energy crisis was supposed to change the region's dependence on oil and its attitude toward renewable energy. But the tax breaks on alternative energy sources dried up by the mid-1980s and expensive solar panels and gritty wood stoves were abandoned as oil prices plummeted.
Attempts to capture New England's strong winds for commercial use have resulted in a huge wind farm in Searsburg, about 100 miles south of Halnon's house, but it powers only a minuscule number of homes. A western Maine wind farm was abandoned in 1995 after protests over aesthetics, and the company went bankrupt. Meanwhile, an offshore wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod remains a dream.
New England's total residential energy consumption from renewable sources, meanwhile, hovers around 4 percent, according to the US Energy Information Administration, and is about equally spread throughout the six states. The figures do not include hydroelectric power, which some consider renewable. Others argue against hydropower's green status because the rivers on which the dams are built eventually silt up and because the structures prevent fish from swimming upstream.
Unlike other states, though, Vermont has no state budget for renewable energy and it has not deregulated its electrical industry -- which has helped other states like Massachusetts set aside millions for alternative energy efforts.
"The state paralysis in energy can be summed up in one word: Hydro-Quebec," said Lewis Milford, president of Clean Energy Group, a nonprofit Vermont organization dedicated to alternative energy. "In 1990, we entered into a contract to buy power from Canada that doesn't end until 2017 and that has crowded out any other creative investment. We can't afford to use renewables because we are locked into this contract."
Of course, Vermont has lived up to its green image in at least some areas. Several state buildings and about 20 schools are heated by wood chips. Federally funded experiments are researching the value of producing electricity from manure. State officials say they should also be commended for embracing the Searsburg wind farm and a large wood-burning power plant in Burlington.
But the state has a long way to go to see masses of people using alternative forms of energy. Two years ago, Vermont passed a law that allows homeowners using renewable energy to tie into power grids and have the meter run backward.
So far, however, only 30 people have done so. There is a sales tax exemption on renewable power structures that will hook into the grid, but it is a far cry from the 50 percent rebate California offers. The numbers of solar homes in Vermont are estimated only in the hundreds in a state of 600,000 people.
"People have this view for Vermont as leading the way for environmental law -- everyone in Vermont must recycle, be vegans -- and in many ways we fulfill that image," said Andrew Perchlik, part-time renewable energy coordinator for the state and founder of Renewable Energy Vermont, an industry group. "But we still haven't pushed renewables as a state yet."
Halnon says nowhere is that more visible than at his unfinished home. He explored wind energy in 1998, after the law was passed allowing him to tie into a power grid. Told to wait because the rules were still not set, he got tired after two years and in June filed his application. After two hearings, he's still waiting.
He can't put the plumbing in until the heat is installed and he can't put heat in until he knows how the home is going to be powered. So he, his wife and their two children are living above a garage next to the house.
"I think the state should be an advocate for renewable energy, not deter people who want to do it," Halnon said. "It's frustrating to try to do something which benefits society and feel noble and to be treated by the state as if it was jeopardizing the public good."
Part of Halnon's trouble, however, is more universal: It's expensive and, to some, ugly.
A new wind turbine can retail at more than $25,000. Meanwhile, several of Halnon's neighbors are upset that the turbine "will be an eyesore near one of only two state-designated scenic roads," said attorney Gary Karnedy, who represents Watson Scott and Duncan Rollason, owners of land adjoining Halnon's. Wind has been a huge aesthetic issue throughout New England, with many feeling the steel structures mar the landscape as much as any cellular tower does.
"Vermont has a history of a working landscape. And as people look at farm silos and tractors as `isn't that quaint,' they should see wind turbines as part of that working landscape," said David Blittersdorf of NRG Systems, which builds wind-measuring devices. "We need leadership from the state to say this is important."
Blittersdorf and others, however, remain optimistic. When state solar panels were stolen from a kiosk next to the State Police barracks in Middlesex two years ago, it was considered by some a good sign.
"At least someone thought they were valuable," said Scudder Parker, director of Vermont's energy efficiency division. "You have to have a long view on this."
To see more of The Boston Globe, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.boston.com/globe
(c) 2000, The Boston Globe. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
To Frustration of Some, Vermont Slow to Embrace Renewable Energy.(Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News)Oct. 27--EAST MIDDLEBURY, Vt.--Tom Halnon's dream is about as green as it gets here. He's spent seven years designing and building a home by hand, with wood cut on his own property.
Powering the home with the winds gusting over Breadloaf Mountain seemed a natural -- after all, this is the state that passed strict clean-air laws before it was hip, a place that sparks visions of environmental purity, and where out-of-staters slap "Vermont-made" on everything from soda to syrup.
But Halnon and other Green Mountain residents are learning a bitter lesson as the nation braces for a second year of high heating prices: Even in Vermont, renewable energy hasn't taken hold. Halnon is facing complaints from neighbors who don't want a 111-foot wind turbine to mar their forest view, and the state's lack of rebates and its cumbersome permitting process are huge roadblocks to his efforts.
"You have to be a zealot to do renewable power here," said Halnon, 42, who grew up one mountain over from where he's building his home. "This house is what I hold important for my family, for myself. I want it to be self-sufficient and in harmony with the land. It turns out this would be far easier for me to do in New Jersey than Vermont."
Vermont's struggles speak to at least some of the troubles the rest of New England can expect when it comes to switching to alternative forms of energy. The six states are an isolated island when it comes to fossil fuels, the only geographical region without an oil refinery and at the end of any oil and gas pipeline. And it uses tons of the black stuff -- most homes in New England were built at the height of the oil boom, and their owners have been slow to switch to more stable forms of heat, such as natural gas.
The last energy crisis was supposed to change the region's dependence on oil and its attitude toward renewable energy. But the tax breaks on alternative energy sources dried up by the mid-1980s and expensive solar panels and gritty wood stoves were abandoned as oil prices plummeted.
Attempts to capture New England's strong winds for commercial use have resulted in a huge wind farm in Searsburg, about 100 miles south of Halnon's house, but it powers only a minuscule number of homes. A western Maine wind farm was abandoned in 1995 after protests over aesthetics, and the company went bankrupt. Meanwhile, an offshore wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod remains a dream.
New England's total residential energy consumption from renewable sources, meanwhile, hovers around 4 percent, according to the US Energy Information Administration, and is about equally spread throughout the six states. The figures do not include hydroelectric power, which some consider renewable. Others argue against hydropower's green status because the rivers on which the dams are built eventually silt up and because the structures prevent fish from swimming upstream.
Unlike other states, though, Vermont has no state budget for renewable energy and it has not deregulated its electrical industry -- which has helped other states like Massachusetts set aside millions for alternative energy efforts.
"The state paralysis in energy can be summed up in one word: Hydro-Quebec," said Lewis Milford, president of Clean Energy Group, a nonprofit Vermont organization dedicated to alternative energy. "In 1990, we entered into a contract to buy power from Canada that doesn't end until 2017 and that has crowded out any other creative investment. We can't afford to use renewables because we are locked into this contract."
Of course, Vermont has lived up to its green image in at least some areas. Several state buildings and about 20 schools are heated by wood chips. Federally funded experiments are researching the value of producing electricity from manure. State officials say they should also be commended for embracing the Searsburg wind farm and a large wood-burning power plant in Burlington.
But the state has a long way to go to see masses of people using alternative forms of energy. Two years ago, Vermont passed a law that allows homeowners using renewable energy to tie into power grids and have the meter run backward.
So far, however, only 30 people have done so. There is a sales tax exemption on renewable power structures that will hook into the grid, but it is a far cry from the 50 percent rebate California offers. The numbers of solar homes in Vermont are estimated only in the hundreds in a state of 600,000 people.
"People have this view for Vermont as leading the way for environmental law -- everyone in Vermont must recycle, be vegans -- and in many ways we fulfill that image," said Andrew Perchlik, part-time renewable energy coordinator for the state and founder of Renewable Energy Vermont, an industry group. "But we still haven't pushed renewables as a state yet."
Halnon says nowhere is that more visible than at his unfinished home. He explored wind energy in 1998, after the law was passed allowing him to tie into a power grid. Told to wait because the rules were still not set, he got tired after two years and in June filed his application. After two hearings, he's still waiting.
He can't put the plumbing in until the heat is installed and he can't put heat in until he knows how the home is going to be powered. So he, his wife and their two children are living above a garage next to the house.
"I think the state should be an advocate for renewable energy, not deter people who want to do it," Halnon said. "It's frustrating to try to do something which benefits society and feel noble and to be treated by the state as if it was jeopardizing the public good."
Part of Halnon's trouble, however, is more universal: It's expensive and, to some, ugly.
A new wind turbine can retail at more than $25,000. Meanwhile, several of Halnon's neighbors are upset that the turbine "will be an eyesore near one of only two state-designated scenic roads," said attorney Gary Karnedy, who represents Watson Scott and Duncan Rollason, owners of land adjoining Halnon's. Wind has been a huge aesthetic issue throughout New England, with many feeling the steel structures mar the landscape as much as any cellular tower does.
"Vermont has a history of a working landscape. And as people look at farm silos and tractors as `isn't that quaint,' they should see wind turbines as part of that working landscape," said David Blittersdorf of NRG Systems, which builds wind-measuring devices. "We need leadership from the state to say this is important."
Blittersdorf and others, however, remain optimistic. When state solar panels were stolen from a kiosk next to the State Police barracks in Middlesex two years ago, it was considered by some a good sign.
"At least someone thought they were valuable," said Scudder Parker, director of Vermont's energy efficiency division. "You have to have a long view on this."
To see more of The Boston Globe, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.boston.com/globe
(c) 2000, The Boston Globe. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
To Frustration of Some, Vermont Slow to Embrace Renewable Energy.(Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News)Oct. 27--EAST MIDDLEBURY, Vt.--Tom Halnon's dream is about as green as it gets here. He's spent seven years designing and building a home by hand, with wood cut on his own property.
Powering the home with the winds gusting over Breadloaf Mountain seemed a natural -- after all, this is the state that passed strict clean-air laws before it was hip, a place that sparks visions of environmental purity, and where out-of-staters slap "Vermont-made" on everything from soda to syrup.
But Halnon and other Green Mountain residents are learning a bitter lesson as the nation braces for a second year of high heating prices: Even in Vermont, renewable energy hasn't taken hold. Halnon is facing complaints from neighbors who don't want a 111-foot wind turbine to mar their forest view, and the state's lack of rebates and its cumbersome permitting process are huge roadblocks to his efforts.
"You have to be a zealot to do renewable power here," said Halnon, 42, who grew up one mountain over from where he's building his home. "This house is what I hold important for my family, for myself. I want it to be self-sufficient and in harmony with the land. It turns out this would be far easier for me to do in New Jersey than Vermont."
Vermont's struggles speak to at least some of the troubles the rest of New England can expect when it comes to switching to alternative forms of energy. The six states are an isolated island when it comes to fossil fuels, the only geographical region without an oil refinery and at the end of any oil and gas pipeline. And it uses tons of the black stuff -- most homes in New England were built at the height of the oil boom, and their owners have been slow to switch to more stable forms of heat, such as natural gas.
The last energy crisis was supposed to change the region's dependence on oil and its attitude toward renewable energy. But the tax breaks on alternative energy sources dried up by the mid-1980s and expensive solar panels and gritty wood stoves were abandoned as oil prices plummeted.
Attempts to capture New England's strong winds for commercial use have resulted in a huge wind farm in Searsburg, about 100 miles south of Halnon's house, but it powers only a minuscule number of homes. A western Maine wind farm was abandoned in 1995 after protests over aesthetics, and the company went bankrupt. Meanwhile, an offshore wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod remains a dream.
New England's total residential energy consumption from renewable sources, meanwhile, hovers around 4 percent, according to the US Energy Information Administration, and is about equally spread throughout the six states. The figures do not include hydroelectric power, which some consider renewable. Others argue against hydropower's green status because the rivers on which the dams are built eventually silt up and because the structures prevent fish from swimming upstream.
Unlike other states, though, Vermont has no state budget for renewable energy and it has not deregulated its electrical industry -- which has helped other states like Massachusetts set aside millions for alternative energy efforts.
"The state paralysis in energy can be summed up in one word: Hydro-Quebec," said Lewis Milford, president of Clean Energy Group, a nonprofit Vermont organization dedicated to alternative energy. "In 1990, we entered into a contract to buy power from Canada that doesn't end until 2017 and that has crowded out any other creative investment. We can't afford to use renewables because we are locked into this contract."
Of course, Vermont has lived up to its green image in at least some areas. Several state buildings and about 20 schools are heated by wood chips. Federally funded experiments are researching the value of producing electricity from manure. State officials say they should also be commended for embracing the Searsburg wind farm and a large wood-burning power plant in Burlington.
But the state has a long way to go to see masses of people using alternative forms of energy. Two years ago, Vermont passed a law that allows homeowners using renewable energy to tie into power grids and have the meter run backward.
So far, however, only 30 people have done so. There is a sales tax exemption on renewable power structures that will hook into the grid, but it is a far cry from the 50 percent rebate California offers. The numbers of solar homes in Vermont are estimated only in the hundreds in a state of 600,000 people.
"People have this view for Vermont as leading the way for environmental law -- everyone in Vermont must recycle, be vegans -- and in many ways we fulfill that image," said Andrew Perchlik, part-time renewable energy coordinator for the state and founder of Renewable Energy Vermont, an industry group. "But we still haven't pushed renewables as a state yet."
Halnon says nowhere is that more visible than at his unfinished home. He explored wind energy in 1998, after the law was passed allowing him to tie into a power grid. Told to wait because the rules were still not set, he got tired after two years and in June filed his application. After two hearings, he's still waiting.
He can't put the plumbing in until the heat is installed and he can't put heat in until he knows how the home is going to be powered. So he, his wife and their two children are living above a garage next to the house.
"I think the state should be an advocate for renewable energy, not deter people who want to do it," Halnon said. "It's frustrating to try to do something which benefits society and feel noble and to be treated by the state as if it was jeopardizing the public good."
Part of Halnon's trouble, however, is more universal: It's expensive and, to some, ugly.
A new wind turbine can retail at more than $25,000. Meanwhile, several of Halnon's neighbors are upset that the turbine "will be an eyesore near one of only two state-designated scenic roads," said attorney Gary Karnedy, who represents Watson Scott and Duncan Rollason, owners of land adjoining Halnon's. Wind has been a huge aesthetic issue throughout New England, with many feeling the steel structures mar the landscape as much as any cellular tower does.
"Vermont has a history of a working landscape. And as people look at farm silos and tractors as `isn't that quaint,' they should see wind turbines as part of that working landscape," said David Blittersdorf of NRG Systems, which builds wind-measuring devices. "We need leadership from the state to say this is important."
Blittersdorf and others, however, remain optimistic. When state solar panels were stolen from a kiosk next to the State Police barracks in Middlesex two years ago, it was considered by some a good sign.
"At least someone thought they were valuable," said Scudder Parker, director of Vermont's energy efficiency division. "You have to have a long view on this."
To see more of The Boston Globe, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.boston.com/globe
(c) 2000, The Boston Globe. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
