Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Beckham hopes to finish best MLS season with title
CARSON, California (AP) — If David Beckham's five-year football odyssey in the United States is about to end, he'll go out playing at his highest level in five years.
The English superstar hasn't decided where he'll play next season, but he's determined to lead the Los Angeles Galaxy to a Major League Soccer championship this month.
"Obviously, if you look at statistics and the games I've played, it is the best season since I moved to L.A.," Beckham said Wednesday after the Galaxy prepared for the home leg of their playoff matchup with New York. "It's nice to have that at 36 years old, because people start to doubt you, but it's the best season I've had since I moved here. The …
F1 in 2011 needs more show, less hype
PARIS (AP) — Give the drivers push-button rockets, give them tire-slashing blades like on James Bond's Aston Martin, give them something, anything, to make Formula One more interesting next season. Please.
What a crushing anticlimax. The much-hyped but ultimately tedious season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix delivered more proof, as if more proof was needed, that the sport's fatal flaw is a continued shortage of exciting overtaking.
With four drivers in contention for the world title at this supposedly grand finale in the exotic surrounds of the Middle East, with long-shot Lewis Hamilton blustering that he was ready to drive his wheels off to win because he had nothing to lose, …
FULL-SCALE CHANGE
Fresh meat for plaintiffs' lawyers."
This is the colorful phrase Fred Sullivan summoned to describe employers in Massachusetts - and, more specifically, what he believes they will become after (and perhaps even before) July 13. That's the date when new legislation regarding the state's wage-and-hour statutes will take effect.
In a way, the measure involves a simple change of one word in one sentence of a statute. But the shift in terms, from 'may' to 'shall' with regard to the awarding of triple damages for violations of those wage-and-hour laws, could have some serious ramifications for area employers and perhaps for the state's economy as well, said Sullivan, a principal …
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Jazz Beat Mavericks 116-110
Deron Williams had 20 assists and 17 points, and Utah rallied for a 16-0 run late in the fourth quarter to beat the Dallas Mavericks 116-110 Monday night after the Jazz blew a huge lead.
The Jazz took a 21-point lead shortly after forward Andrei Kirilenko was knocked out of the game with a hip injury on a flagrant foul by Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki in the first quarter. But they allowed the Mavericks to creep back and take a late lead before Utah's rally at the end.
Utah made all 18 free throws in the fourth quarter and improved to 26-3 at home, the best home record in the league.
Mehmet Okur had 20 points and 12 rebounds and Carlos Boozer scored 28 …
Geithner facing own stress test amid economic woes
In any other year, Timothy Geithner already would have spent a week at tennis camp in Florida, sharpening his skills and kicking back with a group of friends that includes the mentor who helped put him on the fast track to the top of the Treasury Department.
Instead, Barack Obama's 47-year-old treasury secretary is in his office before dawn most days, grabbing lunch at his desk and juggling three Blackberries as he tries to untangle the wreckage of a financial system gone sour.
He's been pilloried for lousing up his tax returns, battered by bad reviews of his earliest policy pronouncements and pelted with resignation calls from congressional critics.
…When home is where the job is, woes attend
When Jennifer Beaver's son, Jamie, reacted fussily to his firstround of immunizations at 3 months, she tucked him into a carrierstrapped across her chest and kept him close to her all day.
"He got the nurturing he needed and I finished the project I wasworking on," said Beaver, a writer and public relations consultantwho works out of her Long Beach, Calif., home.
With her fax machine, portable personal computer, two telephonelines and an answering machine, Beaver easily keeps in touch with herclients, who include some very large corporations.
"Working at home makes me more productive," said Beaver. "Idon't waste three hours every day dressing formally and …
Facebook moving HQs in California
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook is moving its headquarters out of Palo Alto, California, to the former campus of Sun Microsystems in Menlo Park.
The online social network, which has about 2,000 employees worldwide and 1,400 in Palo Alto, said Tuesday it will begin the move in June or July. But the company will continue to occupy its Palo …
New UN resolution aims at nuclear-free world
With U.S. President Barack Obama presiding over an historic session, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a U.S.-drafted resolution Thursday aimed at ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
Russia, China and developing nations supported the U.S.-sponsored measure, giving it global clout and strong political backing.
The resolution calls for stepped up efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote disarmament and "reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism."
It was only the fifth time the Security Council met at summit level since the U.N. was founded in 1945. And Obama was the first American president to preside over a …
TICKET LINE
The groups will first play the Alpine Valley Music Theatre inEast Troy, Wis., at 7:30 p.m. July 20, and then move a little closerto city fans with a concert at 7:30 p.m. July 27 at the New WorldMusic Theatre in Tinley Park.
Alpine Valley is at the Junction of County D and Wisconsin 120,and the New World is at 19100 S. Ridgeland.Tickets, priced at $37.75 and $47.75, go on sale at 10 a.m.today. Call (312) 559-1212.ON SALE TODAYRialto Square Theatre Fall '96 Shows; acts include the Coasters,the Drifters and the Platters, 8 p.m. June 8; Trisha …
Blue Jackets-Wild Sums
| Columbus | 0 1 1—2 |
|---|---|
| Minnesota | 2 2 0—4 |
First Period_1, Minnesota, Cullen 1 (Bouchard, Latendresse), 1:10. 2, Minnesota, Scandella 1 (Spurgeon), 16:20 (pp). Penalties_Schultz, Min (holding), 3:24; Koivu, Min (tripping), 11:03; Mayorov, Clm (interference), 14:46.
Second Period_3, Minnesota, Heatley 1 (Bouchard, Zidlicky), 10:40 (pp). 4, Columbus, Dorsett 1 (A.Johnson, Carter), 17:53. 5, Minnesota, Setoguchi 1 (Heatley, Koivu), 18:51. Penalties_Carter, Clm (cross-checking), 3:03; Spurgeon, …
US general in Afghan war to explain remarks Wed.
The U.S. commander of the war in Afghanistan is at the Pentagon, starting a day of meetings to explain derogatory remarks about the Obama administration that he and his aides made in a magazine article.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal was meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, …
Sluggish economy slows park momentum
The recession. A longer-than-expected process to get plans approved. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Those events delayed construction and leasing activity last year for four large industrial business parks in Central Pennsylvania, said real estate developers and agents involved with the projects. While several of their warehouses were built and leased in 2001, the agents and developers acknowledged that projects progressed more slowly than they had hoped.
The owners of Crossroads Commerce Center, a 500,000-square-foot distribution center in Middlesex Township, Cumberland County, had hoped to have the building fully leased by early 2002. Now, the owners Equilibrium Equities Inc. of New York City and Conewago Enterprises Inc. of Hanover, York County - wish to have their building fully leased by late 2002.
Equilibrium Equities also plans to build a 705,000-square-foot distribution center within the existing Fairview Industrial Park in Fairview Township, northern York County. In June, that developer's president said he was in serious talks with a company that wanted to lease half of the proposed building's available space. No companies have signed leases yet, and Equilibrium
Equities doesn't expect any will until 2003.
In North Middleton Township, Cumberland County, a Reno, Nev.-based developer intends to build a 3.2-million-square-foot distribution center called Cumberland Logistics Park. The developer, DP Partners, had hoped to start on the first of four or five buildings by summer 2001. That didn't happen. Construction is now expected to begin in late spring or summer.
Finally, at Blue Mountain Logistics Park in West Hanover Township, Dauphin County, DP Partners has had trouble landing tenants for its 1.5-million-squarefoot distribution center's final two buildings. After finding companies to occupy nearly 1.1 million square feet, one of the developer's executives estimated the company would have the park fully leased by June 2001.
That didn't happen. The company hopes to lease the third building by the end of the first quarter, but it is uncertain when a fourth would be built, a real estate agent said.
The following is a more detailed look at the four industrial business park projects that stalled in 2001, with an update on who's leasing space, when prospective tenants are expected to sign leases, and why commitments have been harder to come by.
Crossroads Commerce Center
Genco Inc., a Pittsburgh-based logistics, warehousing and supply-chain management firm, is leasing 160,000 square feet in Crossroads Commerce
Center. Genco's manufacturing services division moved into the distribution center in October. The company is using its space to store products for Kraft Foods' Nabisco division.
Adam Meinstein, president of Equilibrium Equities, the co-owner of the building, said he is negotiating with three consumer product manufacturers who are interested in leasing space in the 500,000-square-foot commerce center. He declined to disclose the names of those prospective tenants, as no leases have been signed yet. Meinstein, who had originally hoped to have his building fully leased by early 2002, aims to have it fully leased by the end of 2002. The commerce center was built on speculation. "If not for Sept. 11, we'd have had more tenants by now," Meinstein said. "What happened Sept. 11 has slowed down our leasing a bit. Tenants have been slower to make commitments."
But business may be about to pick up.
Jim Adams, vice chairman of Genco, said he is negotiating with two consumer product manufacturers that want Genco to handle their returns processing, distribution, transportation management and warehousing. Those prospective tenants are interested in occupying a combined 360,000 square feet, he said. Genco hopes to hear from the interested parties by mid-January, he added.
If those companies decide to move their operations into the commerce center, Genco would lease more space, Adams said. As a third-party contract distributor, Genco structures its lease agreements to mirror the needs of its customers, he explained, requiring that the customers sign contracts stating how much space they need and how long they need it. Genco employs about a dozen workers in the commerce center, Adams said. If the two interested parties contract with Genco, 60 to 70 more jobs would be created, he said.
The economic slowdown has left Genco relatively unscathed, Adams said.
"The economy doesn't have the level of adversity on our business as it does on some other manufacturing or retail businesses," he said. "We've seen slightly lower activity with our individual customers, but because we've added new customers, our business continues to grow." Genco has 13 warehouses in Cumberland, Dauphin and Lebanon counties, Adams said.
Fairview Industrial Park distribution center
Equilibrium Equities has made lease proposals to two durable-goods manufacturers that are interested in moving into a proposed 705,000-square-foot distribution center to be built in Fairview Industrial Park. Each company is interested in leasing 300,000 square feet to 400,000 square feet, Meinstein of Equilibrium Equities said.
"I'd love to say these potential deals are newsworthy, but I could end up having the same conversation with you in six months," Meinstein said. "My expectation is that this project won't get leased until 2003, because it's such a large project."
Meinstein declined to disclose the interested companies, saying only that both companies do business in the Harrisburg metropolitan area.
Unlike Equilibrium's Crossroads Commerce Center project, the distribution center plan is being erected on a build-to-suit basis, meaning construction won't begin until leases are signed. Equilibrium's construction costs will total about $17 million, Meinstein said. Again, Meinstein said that the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has slowed his project.
"Things were modestly slower before Sept. 11, and the events of that day affected people's decision-making abilities," Meinstein said. "The challenge in our market has not been developers competing against developers; it's been corporate contractions."
Cumberland Logistics Park
In September, developer DP Partners received approvals from North Middleton Township to build a 3.2-million-square-foot distribution center. That approval process, which began in November 2000, took longer than the developer expected, said Michael Alderman, a partner with the Industrial Properties Group at NAI/Commercial-Industrial Realty Co. His Wormleysburg-based real estate firm is marketing the property for the developer. Although the developer has the township's permission to start, DP Partners might not break ground until the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation OKs the project.
Deborah Steffee, manager of North Middleton Township, said she hopes the developer will receive its two approvals from PENNDOT by the end of the first quarter. The developer needs PENNDOT to approve its highway occupancy permit application and its traffic impact study, she said. In essence, PENNDOT needs to see how the developer's project would affect state highways and intersections, and what roadway improvements the developer would need to make, if any, to reduce congestion.
Glenn Rowe, district traffic engineer for PENNDOT, was unsure when the developer would receive those approvals.
DP Partners hopes to begin construction on the first of four or five buildings planned for the industrial park in late spring or early summer, Alderman said. That building would be 805,000 square feet. The other buildings would range between 473,000 square feet and 1.4 million square feet, Alderman said.
DP Partners had intended to begin construction in summer 2001. The Industrial Properties Group hopes to have a tenant signed by mid-2003, he said.
The slower-than-anticipated approval process isn't the only reason the project has been delayed, Alderman said.
"This year has been marked by a recession, which may have had some effect on our leasing activity," he said.
Blue Mountain Logistics Park
Several companies want to lease Blue Mountain's third building, a 252,000square-foot structure that DP Partners completed the week of Dec. 10, said Alderman, who is in charge of leasing this project, as well. But no one has signed on the dotted line. He declined to identify the prospective tenants.
In an interview earlier this year, Aaron Paris, vice president and chief operating officer of DP Partners, said he expected the company would have the 1.5-millionsquare-foot industrial park fully leased by June 2001. Tenants have not yet been identified for the third building and a planned 137,000-square-foot warehouse, the park's final building. The first three buildings were speculative; the final building will be constructed on a build-to-suit basis, Alderman said. That decision was made recently, after the developer decided it was too risky to build another warehouse on a speculative basis, he said, It hasn't been determined when construction would begin on the final building, he said.
In early 2001, two companies began leasing space in Blue Mountain. One company is The Order People Co., a subsidiary of United Stationers in Des Plaines, Ill., an office equipment supplier. The other is OneSource Logistics, a division of C&S Wholesale Grocers of Brattleboro, Vt., a wholesale food distributor. Those companies share a 770,000-square-foot distribution center.
In April, UPS e-Logistics Inc., a division of Atlanta-based United Parcel Service, agreed to lease a 324,000-square-foot warehouse. Since then, no agreements have been signed.
INDUSTRIAL, PARKS IN THE MAKING
Blue Mountain Logistics Park: Construction is nearly finished on the 1.5-millionsquare-foot distribution center on 95 acres in West Hanover Township, Dauphin County. DP Partners of Reno, Nev., is developing the project. Three of the four buildings are completed. So far, there are three tenants:
* The Order People Co., a subsidiary of United Stationers in Des Plaines, Ill., an office equipment supplier;
* OneSource Logistics, a division of C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc. of Brattleboro, Vt., a wholesale food distributor; and
* UPS e-Logistics Inc., a division of Atlanta-based United Parcel Service.
Crossroads Commerce Center: A 500,000-square-foot distribution center that was completed this past summer in Middlesex Township, Cumberland County. The owners are Equilibrium Equities Inc. of New York City and Conewago Enterprises Inc. of Hanover, York County. Construction costs were about $12 million, said Adam Meinstein, Equilibrium's president. The center is south of where Interstate 81 crosses the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Genco Inc., a Pittsburghbased logistics, warehousing and supply-chain management firm, leases 160,000 square feet in the center.
Cumberland Logistics Park: A 3.2-million-square-foot distribution center that is planned for 222 acres in North Middleton Township, Cumberland County. DP Partners a Reno, Nev.-based industrial/commercial developer, hopes to begin construction in late spring or early summer on the first of four or five buildings. That first building will have 805,000 square feet. No tenants have signed leases yet.
Fairview Industrial Park distribution center: A 705,000-square-foot distribution center to be built in Farview Industrial Park, Fairview Township, northern York County. Equilibrium Equities plans to begin constructing the distribution center by late 2002. Meinstein estimates construction costs will be about $17 million. No tenants have signed leases yet.
Jordanian man pleads guilty in Dallas bombing plot
Hosam Smadi parked a sport-utility vehicle in the garage beneath a Dallas skyscraper, activated a timer connected to what he thought was a bomb and used a cell phone to try remotely detonating the explosive he had spent months working to obtain.
Smadi, 19, who pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, had hoped the bomb would bring down the 60-story building, kill thousands of office workers and create financial havoc.
Instead, he was arrested, having been supplied with a fake truck bomb by undercover FBI agents posing as al-Qaida operatives.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn deferred a decision on whether to accept the Jordanian teenager's plea Wednesday, saying she preferred to hear more evidence and wait until sentencing. She did not immediately schedule a sentencing hearing. His trial had been set for next month.
The charge is punishable by life in prison, but if Lynn accepts the plea agreement, Smadi would serve no more than 30 years and then be deported. Prosecutors have agreed to drop a charge accusing him of bombing a public place.
"Today's guilty plea underscores the continuing threat we face from lone actors who, although not members of any international terrorist organization, are willing to carry out acts of violence in this country to further the terrorist cause," said David Kris, the assistant attorney general for national security.
Peter Fleury, Smadi's public defender, told the judge that a prison doctor and a physician working for the defense have diagnosed his client with schizophrenia. Smadi is taking anti-psychotic and antidepressant medications.
"I feel differently when I take them," Smadi told the judge.
Fleury has argued in earlier court filings that Smadi exhibited signs of depression and mental illness when his parents separated and that he "completely fell apart" when his mother died of brain cancer.
After the hearing, Fleury said his client is neither political nor religious.
"This case has been a complete mystery," Fleury said. "Everybody who has met Hosam Smadi thinks he is a nice, kind, generous man. And yet he did this terrible thing."
Throughout the rearraignment hearing, Lynn took pains to ensure Smadi understood the ramifications of his plea. An interpreter translated her questions into Smadi's native Arabic. Smadi, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and leg shackles, said he understood her and frequently responded directly to Lynn in accented English, politely addressing her as "Judge" and "Your Honor."
Smadi said he came to the United States when he was 16 and was educated here through the 11th grade.
When questioned by the judge, Smadi acknowledged leaving what he thought was a truck bomb in a garage beneath the 60-story Fountain Place building in September.
In his signed statement, Smadi said he parked the truck, activated a timer connected to the decoy, then rode away with an undercover agent and waited to watch the explosion.
The FBI said it had been monitoring Smadi after discovering him on an extremist website last year. Investigators said he acted alone and wasn't affiliated with any terrorist organizations.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have said Smadi came to the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2007, but overstayed the time he was allowed to be in the country.
___
Associated Press writer Terry Wallace contributed to this report.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Italians again poised to rule in UEFA Cup
The UEFA Cup has belonged to Italian teams in the '90s, so itwould make sense if the decade closed with an all-Italian final.
Bologna plays Olympique Marseille (France), and Parma playsAtletico Madrid (Spain) in the semifinals today.
Parma is favored, but Bologna is the underdog. Marseille,however, is not overconfident."Since the World Cup, French teams have gotten rid of theirinferiority complex when they take on the Italian sides, but they(Italian teams) have this capability to beat anyone," Marseillesweeper Laurent Blanc said.Defender Patrick Blondeau (knee) could miss the game forMarseille. Marseille's Italian forward Fabrizio Ravanelli, a veteranof many Serie A battles, has a wealth of inside information onBologna."I know the Bologna team nearly as well as I know my wife," hesaid. "You can bet they are going to play their match of the season,maybe of their life."Atletico Madrid will have a difficult time containing forwardsHernan Crespo and Enrico Chiesa, but Parma might have a tough timestopping Jose Mari Romero and Juninho, especially with Italiannational team defender Fabio Cannavaro suspended for the game.SHADES OF 1950: Dan Califf scored in the 11th minute Monday togive the United States a 1-0 victory against England in theAmericans' opener at the FIFA World Youth Championship in Kano,Nigeria.Califf scored off a pass from Francisco Gomez, and Tim Howardmade several big saves. The United States is tied for the Group Elead with Cameroon, which beat Japan 2-1. Humberto Perez,Sun-Times wires
Insurers make pitch for health coverage mandate
The health insurance industry said Wednesday it will support a national health care overhaul that requires them to accept all customers, regardless of pre-existing medical conditions, but in return it wants lawmakers to mandate that everyone buy coverage.
Lawmakers have signaled their intent to craft health care legislation early next year, and the insurance industry's support would make passage easier. That legislation is expected to closely track the proposals of president-elect Barack Obama. However, Obama separated himself from his Democratic challengers by opposing an individual mandate for adults to buy health insurance.
More lawmakers may agree to a mandate if it means the insurance industry will back those efforts. They'll remember it was the industry's opposition 15 years ago that helped scuttle former President Clinton's health plan.
The board of directors for America's Health Insurance Plans agreed to the trade-off Monday night. The board endorsed the proposal after a series of hearings in various states.
"We hope this will be a contribution to help members of Congress fashion their proposal," said Karen Ignagni, president and chief executive officer of the trade group. "We're going to provide all the technical background that we have assembled, all the experience we've assembled at the state level, and we're going to work very hard with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. We want to make sure that whatever reforms are advanced, no one falls through the cracks."
Obama's health plan calls for a health insurance exchange, a sort of government-run shopping center where customers could go to select from private plans or a plan administered by the federal government. Any insurer that wants to participate in that exchange must accept all customers regardless of pre-existing health conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease.
Insurers will want to participate in the exchange because government subsidies will make it easier for millions of people to buy coverage from them. But the insurers say that experience in the states shows the coverage guarantee often made it harder for people to find coverage. That's because insurers raised premiums to meet the expense of covering all applicants with chronic health conditions.
"They ended up making the problem much worse," Ignagni said of the state efforts. "The data is clear about the need to have everyone part of the system."
Analysts say Massachusetts is an example where the coverage guarantee has worked well, but it's also a state that requires everyone to buy health coverage or suffer a tax penalty.
Some key Democratic lawmakers have already expressed support for an individual mandate. The concept was a centerpiece of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care plan. It was also part of the blueprint offered last week by Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
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