Better safe than sorry

Your guide to business & accounting on the Internet

I lost my cellphone while skiing this winter. I quickly realized that I must have dropped it at the top of the hill, since I had just made a phone call. Not a problem - I grabbed my cell-equipped Blackberry and phoned my number, hoping someone might hear my cell ringing.

No such luck. Imagine my surprise when I later found it at the ski club's lost and found. A ski patrol had spotted my cell whizzing down the hill and retrieved it at the bottom. (Given that the hill was rather icy, it wasn't surprising that my phone could ski as well as I can.)

This anecdote isn't important, other than it made me think about all …

South Korea struggles to clean up blackened shore after country's largest oil spill

Thousands of people used shovels and buckets Sunday to clean up a devastating oil spill at a scenic beach on South Korea's western coast, some battling headaches and nausea from the stench.

About 7,500 volunteers, local residents, civil servants and members of the coast guard, police and military scooped up oil that began washing ashore at Mallipo beach Saturday from a damaged supertanker, the Coast Guard said.

Still more worked aboard 105 ships along South Korea's western coast trying to clean the sea.

The Coast Guard said late Sunday 514 metric tons (565 tons) of oil had been collected, which would amount to about 5 percent of the total …

Orders streaming in for new Tesla electric sedans, to be released in 2011

Tesla Motors says orders have been streaming in for its electric Model- sedans due to begin rolling off assembly lines in 2011.

The U.S. automaker said it has received 520 orders for the sedans since the Model- was unveiled in Southern California last week.

"Frankly the number of cars reserved in the first week has exceeded our optimistic internal projections," said Tesla chief executive Elon Musk.

"Enthusiasm surrounding the Model- is proof that there's pent-up demand for more affordable, fuel-efficient vehicles -- including those made in America."

Tesla's state-of-the-art five-seat sedan is expected to be one of the first mass-produced, highway-capable …

A new star on the edge of the horizon

As a kid, I remember when McDonald's was on top of the heap in fast food restaurants. In fact, it had just about all of the market. It was unimaginable that another fast food chain would come along and try to compete with the burger powerhouse.

So, along came Burger King. The first Burger King in my town opened just a half block away from McDonald's. Then, next thing you know, there was a Wendy's, then a Taco Bell, which all have their own segment of the fast food market.

That same scenario replays itself everyday in many different industries. Just look at the changes in the automobile industry over the last 20 years.

Well, there's a terrific story in the golf …

Italy Boots Germany 2-0 to Reach Final

DORTMUND, Germany - For nearly two hours, Germany probed, Italy held firm and penalty kicks seemed inevitable. Then with two stunningly swift strikes in the last two minutes, Italy unraveled it all - the tension, the match, the Germans' dream of lifting the World Cup trophy in Berlin.

First came the left-footed shot that Fabio Grosso twisted into the far side of the net in the 119th minute. Then Alessandro Del Piero clinched the 2-0 win a minute later with a counterattacking goal as the Germans pressed frantically to equalize.

"Italy deserved to win," Italy coach Marcello Lippi said. "We controlled the play more than Germany did and, in the end, we got these two great …

Bakery allegedly discards employee's severed arm

A Spanish trade union is suing a bakery that allegedly threw the severed arm of an employee into a bin after it was amputated in an accident with a kneading machine. The Workers Commissions said in a statement Wednesday that Bolivian immigrant Franns Rilles lost his left arm in May 28 at the Rovira bakery in the eastern Valencia region.

The union said that while Rilles was being taken …

THE LAW

What is it? 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period with job guaranteesupon return to work. Health benefits continue. Who gets to leave? New parents - men or women - after childbirth or adoption. Employees who need to care for a sick child, spouse or parent. Workers who suffer serious illnesses. Who's affected? …

Wright's 9 3s lift Warriors over Timberwolves

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — On the list of big signings over this blockbuster NBA free agent summer, Dorell Wright landing in Golden State barely even registered.

Everyone is starting to take notice now.

Wright scored a career-high 30 points and set a franchise record with nine 3-pointers to lead Golden State to a 104-94 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night, snapping the Warriors' five-game losing streak.

"It's been 10 times better than what I thought it would be," said Wright, who had averaged 6.3 points a game in his first six seasons with Miami. "I'm enjoying myself. We've struggled the past few games, but I think we're going to get back on the right track …

Retired US general links gays in army to genocide

A retired U.S. general says Dutch troops failed to defend against the 1995 genocide in the Bosnian war because the army was weakened, partly because it included openly gay soldiers.

The comment by John Sheehan, a former NATO commander who retired from the military 1997, shocked some at a Senate Armed Services Committee, where Sheehan spoke in opposition to a proposal to allow gays to serve openly in the U.S. military. Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin told Sheehan he was "totally off-target."

Sheehan said European militaries deteriorated after the collapse of the Soviet Union and focused on peacekeeping because "they did not believe the …

U.S. is losing ground in the world of digital innovation

Ever since the personal computer came on the scene in the 1970s,the United States has dominated the digital world.

Even where foreign innovators struck first, or at the same time asAmericans, it was America that exploited the technology best. Forinstance, one of the best-known early PCs, the Sinclair, was aBritish invention, but it lost out because of poor marketing.

But the tectonic plates are shifting under the digital world. ThePC is very slowly giving way to a host of other digital devices ableto do digital tasks-especially to tap into the Internet simply andreliably. That gives foreign companies a real opening that couldthreaten American leadership in the …

US appeals court upholds Obama health care law

WASHINGTON (AP) — A conservative-leaning panel of U.S. appellate judges is upholding President Barack Obama's health care law as constitutional, helping set up a Supreme Court fight.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington issued a split opinion Tuesday upholding the law. The court agreed to dismiss a Christian legal group's lawsuit claiming the requirement that all Americans get health …

Study: New treatment may combat drug-resistant flu

A new and unlicensed treatment for swine flu could be used in patients who have Tamiflu-resistant viruses, doctors say.

In an article published Friday in the medical journal Lancet, British doctors describe how they used an intravenous form of the antiviral Relenza to treat a 22-year-old woman who had a severe case of swine flu. Relenza is usually inhaled via the nose, and is not licensed to be given intravenously.

The woman had recently undergone chemotherapy for Hodgkin's disease. After catching swine flu, her lungs filled with fluid and she was put on a ventilator to help her breathe. Despite days of being given Tamiflu, inhalable Relenza, and other …

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President Barack Obama will not adopt a policy to tax motorists based on how many miles (kilometers) they drive instead of how much gasoline they buy, his chief spokesman said Friday.

Press secretary Robert Gibbs commented after Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told The Associated Press that he wants to consider the idea, which has been proposed in some states but has angered many drivers.

"It is not and will not be the policy of the Obama administration," Gibbs told reporters, when asked for the president's thoughts about the policy and LaHood's remarks.

Gasoline taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to raise enough money to keep the nation's transportation system moving, LaHood told the AP in an interview Thursday.

"We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled," the former Illinois Republican lawmaker said Thursday.

LaHood spokeswoman Lori Irving said Friday that the secretary was speaking of the idea only in general terms, not as something being implemented as administration policy.

Most transportation experts see a vehicle miles traveled tax as a long-term solution, but Congress is being urged to move in that direction now by funding pilot projects.

The idea also is gaining ground in several states. The governor of Idaho is talking about such a program. A North Carolina panel suggested in December the state start charging motorists a quarter-cent for every mile as a substitute for the gas tax. Rhode Island's governor, however, has expressed opposition to a panel's recommendation in December that the state charge motorists a half-cent for every mile driven in addition to the gas tax.

A tentative plan in Massachusetts to use GPS chips in vehicles to charge motorists by the mile has drawn complaints from drivers who say it is an Orwellian intrusion by government into the lives of citizens. Other motorists say it eliminates an incentive to drive more fuel-efficient cars since gas guzzlers will be taxed at the same rate as fuel sippers.

Besides a tax, more tolls for highways and bridges and more government partnerships with business to finance transportation projects are other funding options, LaHood, one of two Republicans in Obama's Cabinet, said in the interview Thursday.

"What I see this administration doing is this _ thinking outside the box on how we fund our infrastructure in America," he said.

Nigeria: Rights worker says civilians being killed

Nigeria's League for Human Rights says overzealous security forces are killing innocent civilians as the military tries to crush an Islamist militant sect.

League director Shamaki Gad Peter tells The Associated Press that rights workers saw the bodies of up to 20 people after troops began an offensive on the sect's headquarters in Maiduguri on Wednesday.

He says they were unarmed and some were shot from behind and assumed to be trying to escape the mayhem. The rights worker says many other innocent people have been arrested.

The government has blamed the Boko Haram sect for days of violence in Muslim-dominated northern Nigeria and was hunting down sect members on Thursday.

Chevron Among Big Movers on Wall Street

NEW YORK - Stocks that were moving substantially or trading heavily Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market:

NYSE

MGM Mirage Inc., up $17.03 at $79.98.

Billionaire financier Kirk Kerkorian said he is interested in acquiring two properties owned by the casino operator, including the Bellagio Hotel.

Chevron Corp., down 65 cents at $82.18; Dynegy Inc., down 34 cents at $9.83.

The world's second-largest oil company said it will sell its 12 percent stake in power producer Dynegy.

Fremont General Corp., up $2.89 at $10.

The company agreed to sell its commercial real estate lending business, and some of its loan portfolio, for $1.9 billion to iStar Financial Inc.

NASDAQ

Staples Inc., down 62 cents at $25.05.

The world's largest office products retailer reported light first-quarter sales, and nudged its profit guidance lower.

XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., up 2 cents at $11.16.

The satellite radio company reported that it continued to experience service outages for the second-straight day because of software problems.

Whole Foods Markets Inc., up 70 cents at $40.56; Wild Oats Markets Inc., up 7 cents at $17.26.

Whole Foods, an organic market chain, extended its offer for Wild Oats Markets to June 20 from May 22. Whole Foods agreed to buy its rival for about $565 million.

Support group available for those who are hirsute

Dear Diane: I would like to respond to "So Sad" and shareinformation for all women who are hirsute (have excessive facialhair).

I have suffered from hirsutism since I was 12 years old. I amnow 33, and the accusations have been painful and many.

I have been ridiculed and humiliated. I have been called a man,a lesbian, a transsexual and a transvestite - all because I havefacial hair. Think of the pain it causes a woman to be accused ofthese things just because she has facial hair. This hurts deeply.

I wish people would stop to think of the damage these commentscan do to someone's emotional well-being. How would they feel if theshoe were on the other foot?

I have never written to an advice columnist before, but I wouldlike to share this information. There is a group for hirsute women,thank God: the Daughters of Hirsutism Association.

I SHARE YOUR PAIN, TOO

Dear Diane: On behalf of the Daughters of Hirsutism Association,I would like to thank you for your kind and sincere response to "SoSad."

I encourage your readers to be more sensitive and understandingwhen they meet a child or woman with facial hair. As for familymembers, I implore you to be supportive and sensitive to your lovedone.

My food for thought is this: Because a woman has facial hairdoes not mean that she is masculine, a transvestite, etc. Pleasethink twice before you make comments about or ostracize a woman orchild who is hirsute.

I would like to tell "So Sad" that she is not alone.

The Daughters of Hirsutism Association is a nationalorganization in the United States and Canada. The group assists thehirsute woman through networking, educational seminars, supportgroups and workshops.

The association also offers referrals. Write. Join. Thereare many like you out there searching for a solution.

Our address is Daughters of Hirsutism Association, Box 2871,Chicago 60690-2871.

JENNIFER SMITH,

FOUNDER AND

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Dear Diane: In your answer to "So Sad," you addressed theemotional difficulty and ignorance still surrounding the verydelicate subject of hirsutism. Your advice was excellent.

I am sure you are aware that a lot of publicity has been givento devices that do not achieve permanent hair removal.

Electrology is an emerging allied health field and isrecognized by the medical field as the only method of permanent hairremoval.

The American Electrology Association is the largest professionalorganization in the field for the permanent removal of unwanted hair.Our standards represent the only comprehensive effort to guideelectrologists nationally in the areas of sterilization, safety andhygiene.

The certified professional electrologist designation guides thepublic in selection of a professional electrologist.

A list of the CPEs in your readers' areas and a copy of thebrochure "Is Electrology for You?" will be sent upon request andreceipt of a self-addressed, stamped business-size envelope.

Write to the American Electrology Association, 106 Oak RidgeRd., Trumbull, Conn. 06611.

TERESA E. PETRICCA,

CPE, PRESIDENT

Dear Diane: I enjoy reading your column in the ChattanoogaTimes, and I appreciate and respect the answers you give to the manytroubled letter-writers.

I was particularly interested in a letter from "So Sad," a37-year-old woman who says she's very hirsute and is ridiculed byvirtually everyone, including her husband, which I think isdisgraceful. She was probably hairy, or getting hairy, when theymarried. Why is he now down on her?

Anyway, she sounds like the woman of my dreams, at least from aphysical standpoint, and I wish I could meet her and express myfeelings.

Diane, would it be totally out of the question for you to giveme her address, or for you to pass my letter on to her? Whateveryour decision, I will respect it.

Thank you and keep up the good work! CHATTANOOGA

Dear Chattanooga: Though it is my policy not to put one readerin contact with another, I am sure your letter will make the day for"So Sad" - and for other readers with hirsutism.

Need advice or have advice to give? Send your questions forDiane Crowley to Box 3254, Chicago 60654. Diane answers letters asfast as she can, but regrets that the volume of mail prohibitspersonal responses to many letters. Have a question for Sunday'sDaily Double? Call (312) 321-2003 to have your message taped.

Key court date Tuesday in cell number portability battle Carriers oppose pending mandate to let users keep numbers when switching

For years, U.S. cell phone carriers have fought efforts to cureone of the nagging complaints of their customers: They can't keeptheir phone number if they switch to another service provider.

But as a key court date in the dispute approaches Tuesday, some ofthe cellular companies have adopted a tactic that puts them squarelyat odds with their land-line rivals. Now, these wireless carriers saythe Federal Communications Commission's pending requirement mandatingsuch "number portability" should also force land-line carriers to letcustomers switch their traditional home phone number to a cell phone.

If the FCC agrees, the new position by the CellularTelecommunications & Internet Association, the industry's tradegroup, could accelerate the trend of people dropping their wiredservice and going completely wireless.

Industry observers say the stakes couldn't be higher as the FCCworks to require cellular number portability by Nov. 24. Althoughcarriers are reluctant to acknowledge it, portability could cause adramatic increase in "churn," the rate at which customers ditch theircell service for a competitor. That would increase costs for thealready profit-challenged cellular industry and could spark anotherround of price wars.

"It's basically the nightmare before Christmas" for wirelesscarriers, said Roger Entner, an analyst with Yankee Group, a Bostontechnology consulting firm. He forecasts that increased churn broughton by number portability will cost the industry $3 billion in thefourth quarter this year and the first quarter next year due to sales-related expenditures such as increased commissions and phone-purchase subsidies.

The cellular industry is still fighting to prevent portability--which has already been delayed three times--from happening at all. Atnext week's hearing, industry lawyers are scheduled to appear beforethe U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, wherethey will argue that the FCC doesn't have the legal authority toforce them to transfer numbers.

The cellular industry has long argued that implementing thetechnology to make portability possible is costly. But industryexperts say carriers have already spent a significant portion of themoney needed to make the changes. The real reason behind carriers'opposition--and their new attempt to spread the requirement totraditional carriers--is the fear of losing customers.

Keeping down customer defections is vital: It generally takesnearly a year for a carrier to earn its money back from the cost ofacquiring a customer. The average customer stays with a carrier forroughly three years, translating to two years of operating profit.But if monthly churn rises from its current level of 2.8 percent to,say, 6 percent, it means a carrier's profitable period could bereduced to as little as four months before the subscriber moves onand the carrier has to start the process all over.

Currently, land-line subscribers can switch their numbers to cellphones in only very limited instances when their land-line carrier's"rate center" is in the same location as their cellular carrier's.

Consumer groups want as much portability as possible to promotegreater choice. "We need wire-line-to-wireless portability, becausewireless services are the only real competition we're gong to haveagainst the wire-line monopolies in the near term," says ChrisMurray, legislative counsel for Consumers Union.

Wall Street Journal

Jury convicts 3 North Carolina men in terror trial

NEW BERN, N.C. (AP) — A federal jury has convicted three North Carolina men in a trial that centered on a plot to carry out terrorist attacks on a U.S. Marine Corps base and against overseas targets.

The jury reached its verdict Thursday after deliberating for more than a day.

The verdict against Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, Ziyad Yaghi and Hysen Sherifi was reached after a month-long trial. Yaghi and Sherifi were convicted on all counts. Hassan was acquitted on a single count but convicted on all others.

Prosecutors say the men were part of a small group based near Raleigh that planned to carry out jihadist attacks against the U.S. military and targets in other countries.

Three other men arrested in 2009 in connection with the plot pleaded guilty earlier this year.

American Completes Sun-Times Purchase

Illinois-based American Publishing Co. today completed itsacquisition of the Chicago Sun-Times, Pioneer Press and StarPublications.

Sam S. McKeel, president and chief executive officer of ChicagoSun-Times Inc., said the closing of the sale Thursday marked thebeginning of a review of the newspaper's current growth plans.

"We're looking at our own long-term strategies for growth andhow they will be affected by new ownership - with a different balancesheet and more resources," McKeel said. "This provides us with anopportunity to take a look at everything we do, not only on thepublishing side but internally as well."

American Publishing, based in West Frankfort, Ill., a subsidiaryof Hollinger Inc. of Vancouver, B.C., owns more than 280 newspapersin the United States and publishes the Jerusalem Post, Israel's onlyEnglish-language daily. Hollinger also owns the London DailyTelegraph, the Sunday Telegraph and newspaper properties in Canadaand Australia.

American Publishing owns 97 dailies and 71 weekly newspaperswith a total paid circulation of 802,000.

The Chicago Sun-Times, the nation's ninth-largest metropolitandaily, has a daily circulation of 535,793 with readership of about 2million. Pioneer Press and Star publish 60 weekly and bi-weeklycommunity newspapers in the metropolitan Chicago area. They have acombined circulation of more than 240,000.

Gasol is hoping he'll get to stay with the Lakers

EL SEGUNDO, California (AP) — Pau Gasol felt simultaneously hurt and hopeful Saturday as he left the Los Angeles Lakers' training complex for maybe the final time — or maybe just the final time until Sunday.

Although Gasol has no idea whether his first practice of training camp will be his last with the Lakers, he's still hoping something will happen to keep him with the club that seems determined to trade him.

"It's not been easy," Gasol said. "Mentally and emotionally, it's a hard situation to deal with because the situation is out of your control. Even knowing that, it's still hard."

The four-time All-Star is the centerpiece of the Lakers' pursuit of Chris Paul, New Orleans' superstar point guard. The NBA stunningly rejected a megatrade on Thursday that would have sent Gasol to Houston and Lamar Odom to the Hornets, yet the three teams went back into negotiations a day later in hopes of salvaging the deal — and sending Gasol and Odom away from their beloved club just when they thought they had a reprieve.

"If the NBA hadn't stopped it, I would be gone," Gasol said. "I wouldn't be here. It's tough to keep your balance. At the same time, I'm happy it hasn't happened, because my heart is here, my mind is here. I want to be here."

Odom didn't report to practice at the Lakers' training complex on Saturday, instead getting a physical elsewhere. Gasol showed up and worked out with his longtime teammates at what's turning into an awkward training camp for new coach Mike Brown.

So why would a player with Gasol's accomplishments and pedigree stick by a team that apparently doesn't want him? Just in case the deal can't be completed, Gasol wants to learn about Brown's new tactics while forming a bond with teammates who might be his opponents this season.

"This is what I love to do," Gasol said. "I've been through so much here. We won two championships in 3 1/2 seasons. I was looking forward to winning another one, making another run. I love practicing with my teammates. It was hard for me to sit down with my quad, just watching and sitting. Today I wanted to try it, and I was able to go and practice without too much soreness."

Gasol's honest love for the franchise must be painful for the Lakers, who uniformly praise him as a fine teammate and one of the NBA's best big men. Gasol's arrival in early 2008 catapulted the Lakers into three consecutive NBA finals with Gasol as Kobe Bryant's top lieutenant, and his fluent Spanish has endeared him to Latino fans across Los Angeles.

"I've always been a committed and respectful person, and I will continue to be," Gasol said. "Whatever happens, hopefully it'll happen quick, so I can adjust to the idea, to either idea — whether it's staying here and preparing myself for a very challenging season full of goals and exciting things, or a change in scenario."

Gasol hasn't been able to talk to Odom, who showed up briefly at the Lakers' training complex on Friday for a meeting with general manager Mitch Kupchak, but left without practicing.

"I'm sure it hasn't been easy for him, either," Gasol said. "He has been here longer than I have. You try to make the city you play in your home, but it's hard to do it because once you get established and comfortable and settled, anything can happen. It's part of the business."

Brown still has no idea which big men will suit up for him in two weeks when the Lakers host the Chicago Bulls in their Christmas season opener. The new coach has no choice but to proceed while Kupchak and the Lakers' brass attempt to land arguably the NBA's best point guard at the cost of decimating their enviable frontcourt depth and talent.

"His length and his skill set and all that stuff, it's hard to replace," Brown said of Gasol. "He's a very good player. His mood was good. Going what he went through and what Lamar went through, it's a tough thing to deal with. So, you respect that and you give those guys space. You let them be."

Bryant has remained publicly neutral about the Lakers' decision, neither endorsing a potential deal for Paul nor expressing support for Gasol and Odom.

When asked if Gasol's presence was awkward Saturday, Kobe summed up the weekend with his typical brevity: "Nope."

Resetting immune system in bid to beat scleroderma

First Bari Martz's fingers turned blue. Then she started gasping for breath, and her joints stiffened so that she couldn't even open her hands. Doctors diagnosed scleroderma, part of an insidious family of diseases where the immune system attacks a patient's own body, sometimes enough to kill.

Worsening rapidly, the Florida woman took a gamble: Doctors stored stem cells from her blood and then wiped out her faulty immune system. Her reinfused stem cells seem to have let a healthy new immune system take root, stopping more damage and, nearly two years later, letting her lungs and joints heal enough for better function.

Studies here and in Europe are aiming to reset immunity for patients with severe scleroderma _ work that, if successful, could cast new light on numerous autoimmune diseases, from lupus to multiple sclerosis.

While early reports are promising, it remains experimental, recruitment is slow and a fundamental issue is unsettled: Do doctors need to take the radical step of killing all the bad immune cells, or just suppress their function?

"The notion that more immunosuppression is better is somewhat logical," says Dr. Ellen Goldmuntz of the National Institutes of Health, which is funding some of the research. "The question's how best to do it."

Autoimmune diseases are among medicine's most frustrating mysteries: What makes an immune system that worked fine for years suddenly run amok, and why are middle-aged women most vulnerable? And arguably most mysterious is scleroderma, where the immune system somehow mistakenly attacks connective tissues that support the skin and internal organs _ thickening skin, stiffening joints, destroying blood vessels, and sometimes killing through kidney and lung failure.

About 300,000 Americans have various forms of scleroderma, often confined to the skin. But a third have systemic scleroderma, the most severe form that invades internal organs. Only the cancer drug cyclophosphamide is proven to slow severe scleroderma, but its effects are modest. About half of severely affected patients die in five years.

Enter stem cell transplants. Similar to a bone marrow transplant, it's a risky treatment usually reserved for leukemia. A type of stem cell that generates immune-system cells is culled from patients' blood, and then radiation or chemotherapy or both destroy circulating immune cells _ leaving the person vulnerable to life-threatening infections until the stem cells are returned and produce again.

Why would reinfusing a patient's own stem cells help? The theory is that someone genetically predisposed to certain autoimmune diseases stays healthy until something in the environment triggers misfiring immunity _ meaning stem cells shouldn't be diseased, explains Dr. Keith Sullivan of Duke University, who is leading the largest study of the transplants, called the SCOT trial.

About 30 hospitals in the U.S. and Canada are recruiting 226 patients with severe scleroderma to be randomly assigned either the stem cell transplant or a year of cyclophosphamide at doses 50 percent higher than is standard today.

A pilot study of nearly three dozen scleroderma patients, published last year, counted eight transplant-related deaths, teaching researchers to take some extra safety steps including shielding lungs and kidneys during radiation. Still, 64 percent of transplant survivors got no worse for a median of four years and counting _ and some had remarkable healing of damaged skin and lungs.

In-depth looks at a few transplant recipients show immune cells can "come back in a reprogrammed and normalized way," Sullivan says. Researchers recently reported a regrowth of blood vessels once thought impossible.

"There wasn't a choice," Martz, now 49, of Parkland, Fla., says of volunteering for the SCOT trial. She was losing about 10 percent of lung function a month, and feared she had less than a year left to live when she underwent her January 2007 transplant. "If I died from it, well, at least I went out fighting."

For now, "I'm great," she says. Her lung function jumped and is still improving, she can flex her hands again, and can even climb stairs, if slowly. "I'm continuing to get better."

A similar scleroderma study is under way in Europe; smaller pilots in lupus and a few other autoimmune diseases have signaled promise; and other U.S. researchers are trying stem cell transplants as a boost to a suppressed, not destroyed, immune system.

One hurdle to finishing these studies and learning if the approach really works: Transplants cost $125,000 to $175,000, and while some insurers pay for patients enrolled in government-certified studies, others won't. Martz's primary insurer in Florida refused; a backup policy from her husband, a retired New York police officer, did pay.

___

EDITOR's NOTE _ Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

Johnson Controls promises stability

Executives from the former York International Corp. and Johnson Controls Inc. appeared together at a recent national trade show under the slogan, "Together we can do more."

The catchphrase was coined to convince 60,000 attendees at the International Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration Exposition in Chicago last month that the merger of the multibillion dollar companies would help their business.

"Everyone wanted to know what we were going to do as a combined team," said C. David Myers, president of the building efficiency business at what is now called -York, a division of Johnson Controls." Myers had been York International's president and chief executive officer.

Many HVAC representatives wanted to know if York would continue to serve its residential customers, said Darryll Fortune, director of public relations with Johnson Controls Group.

"That was the biggest question. And the answer is, 'Yes.' We'll keep it as it is," Fortune said.

But for local York employees, the largest question is whether the corporate giant will keep its business in Central Pennsylvania.

"We have a wait-and-see attitude," said Blaine Cunningham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1872, which represents 267 workers at York's Grantley facility "We're trying to set up meetings to see what direction they're going to take the plant in."

In December, Johnson Controls purchased York International for $3.2 billion. The deal was not only big in Central Pennsylvania; it was one of largest in the state last year, said David Taylor, vice president of communications with the Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association.

Johnson Controls is one of the world's largest suppliers of automotive components. It also is a major manufacturer of building infrastructure systems. The Milwaukee-based firm has about 120,000 employees worldwide.

York employs about 1,700 workers in Central Pennsylvania, according to Business Journal records. The two companies started discussing a merger about nine months ago and announced their plans in August. The deal was finalized in December.

The merger of the two companies will allow each company to supply products and services to the other's customers. For instance, Johnson can offer its own integrated controls and York's HVAC/refrigeration systems. York can offer its residential customers fire and security controls for their buildings.

Hospitals, schools and other facilities are independently shopping for HVAC and building control systems today, Myers said. The merger will allow customers the opportunity for "one-stop shopping."

It also will give Johnson a stronger position in growing international. markets, especially China, Central Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

It is still uncertain what will happen in Central Pennsylvania. The exact implications of York's sale will become clear in the next 18 months, Johnson executives said.

While the merger is expected to increase business, it did not come without some difficulty.

Since December, more than 200 workers have been laid off at York International's former headquarters in Spring Garden Township. Most of the positions were administrative, attorneys, accountants and senior managers who duplicated jobs at Johnson's Milwaukee headquarters. A dozen union employees were among those who lost their jobs, Cunningham said.

While Myers acknowledged morale was down collectively at the York County facility, most employees in the rest of the company understood some layoffs had to occur. Many workers are pleased about the merger.

"For the people directly impacted, certainly this has been a tougher situation," Myers said.

The company sponsored a job fair earlier this month to help the displaced professionals find new employment.

Local industry analysts are withholding judgment on the merger, but they say it appears the deal may be a positive thing for Central Pennsylvania.

The fact that Johnson viewed the York International purchase as a complement to its own business instead of as a competitor they were trying to eliminate is an encouraging sign, Taylor said.

Ken Slaysman, associate professor of business with York College of Pennsylvania, pointed out that IndustryWeek magazine identified Johnson Controls as one of its 50 Best Manufacturing Companies in 2005.

Becoming part of such an outstanding performer may mean that York International's performance in its sector may improve. That's great for the region, Slaysman said.

But not being headquartered in York may reduce the company's stake in the community.

"I stress may because only time will tell," Slaysman wrote in an email response.

US productivity up in 4Q as labor costs fall

Worker productivity rose more than expected in the October-December quarter as companies squeezed more output from their employees.

The Labor Department said Thursday that productivity rose by a seasonally adjusted 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter, above analysts' expectations of a 6 percent rise.

The department also said labor costs fell 4.4 percent, the fourth straight decline. Falling labor costs can boost company profits. Hourly compensation rose 1.5 percent, the department said. But costs fell because the rise in compensation was much less than the productivity increase.

And the number of workers filing initial claims for jobless benefits rose unexpectedly last week, evidence that layoffs are continuing and jobs remain scarce, the department said.

The rise in claims is the fourth in the past five weeks. Most economists thought claims would resume a downward trend evident in the fall and early winter. The four-week average, which smooths fluctuations, rose for the third straight week to 468,750.

Productivity is up 5.1 percent in the past four quarters, the department said, the most since the 12 months ending with the first quarter of 2002.

Productivity often rises at the end of recessions as companies ramp up output before hiring new workers. Rising productivity can raise living standards in the long run. But it can also make it easier for companies to put off new hiring.

Output rose 7.2 percent, the department said, the largest increase since the third quarter of 2003. Hours worked rose 1 percent, the first increase since the second quarter of 2007.

Employers have shed 7.2 million workers since the recession began. Productivity has jumped as the economy has begun to recover. The nation's gross domestic product, the broadest measure of output, rose 5.7 percent in the October-December quarter, the fastest rise in six years.

The good news for workers is that economists say the increase in productivity is unsustainable. They expect that companies will soon have to increase hiring to maintain production.

Productivity is the key ingredient to rising living standards. It enables companies to pay workers more without raising prices and spurring inflation.

Players Will Whiff Owners Again

Some people never learn.

Major league baseball owners are pitching into the winds ofeconomic history with their ludicrous attempt to win back control ofthe national pastime.

The baseball strike that began on Aug. 12, the eighth workstoppage since 1972, merely confirms what most everyone alreadyknows: While major league baseball players are fighting for freemarket economics, the owners are using old-fashioned deception andpower politics to impose socialism for the rich. Given the wayhistory works, a grand slam victory for the players is likely.

The baseball strike centers on one issue only: owners' effortsto link a proposal to share revenues among themselves with a salarycap that would limit the amount of money teams could spend on playersalaries.

It's hard to muster sympathy for players. The median playersalary is $410,000 a year and the average is $1.2 million. Thirteenmajor leaguers earn more than $5 million a year, and player salarieshave increased more than 20-fold since 1975.

But big player salaries are possible only because baseballprofits are huge and asset values are rising through the roof. Ipersonally know a limited partner in the Chicago White Sox whoseoriginal, six-figure investment has appreciated in value more than10-fold. The Cincinnati Reds, located in baseball's smallest mediamarket, pulled down profits every year between 1984 and 1992. Andthe hapless San Diego Padres have attracted the interest of buyersonce the strike finally is settled.

Still, major league baseball owners want to limit player wagesto 50 percent of gross revenues, a huge reduction from themarket-driven rate of 58 percent. Yes, the National BasketballAssociation has a salary cap tied to 53 percent of general revenues,and the National Football League has a salary cap tied to 64 percentof general revenues. However, those salary caps are more generous tobegin with and are loaded with exemptions that allow salaries toapproximate market values. Just ask Horace Grant.

In their zeal to obscure the real issue, power, baseball ownerssay they need a cap for two reasons: Too many teams lose money, andthere is insufficient competition between large- and small-marketclubs.

Not true. The owners won't provide reliable statistics aboutwhich team actually is losing money. At first, they said 19 clubswere losing money. When it was revealed that the White Sox and LosAngeles Dodgers were among the 19, the owners revised the number ofmoney-losing teams to 12. Anyone care to guess the real number?

And for competition, just read the latest standings. As of Aug.12, the baseball team with the second lowest payroll, the MontrealExpos, had the highest winning percentage in all of baseball. Theteam with the second-highest payroll, the Detroit Tigers, was nearrock-bottom. One baseball franchise owned by a major media company,the Atlanta Braves, is a star performer. The other owned by a mediacompany, the Chicago Cubs, is a flop.

Conventional wisdom has it that time is on the owners' side.Nonsense. Like the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries,major league baseball owners are a cartel that has lost astranglehold of its market. That's the way history works. Theowners' efforts to win back some of that power won't work.

No matter how hard individual owners try, incentives in a cartelfor individual members to cheat eventually overtakes the incentivesto collude. It happened twice to owners in the 1980s and there's noreason to believe it won't happen again.

The Berlin Wall has come down since the last time baseball wasstopped by a labor dispute. You wouldn't know it listening to ownersplead for rich-man's socialism. History's on the players' side.

Mark N. Hornung is editor of the Chicago Sun-Times editorialpages.

Europeans concerned about US climate commitment

Despite widespread optimism that President-elect Barack Obama will adopt policies more to their liking, some European officials are preparing to be disappointed on global warming.

European leaders have expressed hopes Obama would quickly break from the Bush administration and support a global agreement to limit greenhouse emissions blamed for global warming. But some are tempering their expectations that the United States can shift quickly enough to sign a deal by the end of next year.

Though Obama has supported the kind of limits on emissions envisioned by international negotiators and spurned by President George W. Bush, it appears that Congress may not be ready to back him immediately.

The top European Union official in Washington, John Bruton, says there is growing concern that Congress could upend a global deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol that they hope to sign at a meeting in Copenhagen at the end of 2009.

"What many are worried about is that the United States won't be ready for Copenhagen," Bruton, the EU commission's ambassador in Washington, said in an interview.

Bruton, a former Irish prime minister, said it will be very hard to negotiate a treaty unless Congress has signaled that it would back it. Any treaty agreed to by U.S. negotiators would have to be ratified by the Senate to take effect and the full Congress would have to implement the curbs on emissions. Bruton says the U.S. will not be taken seriously unless Congress passes legislation with some caps before Copenhagen.

"The absence of such legislation would make Copenhagen very difficult," he said.

The 27-nation European Union already has agreed to reduce its emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and is looking for a similar commitment from the U.S. Negotiators also hope to include in a deal quickly-developing countries such as China and India, which, like the United States, are leading emitters of greenhouse gases. Bruton said that is unlikely without U.S. action.

"I think that the idea that the United States would be able to persuade the Indians or the Chinese to make painful commitments in Copenhagen when it hasn't made any commitments itself in the form of legislation is somewhat naive, to put it mildly," he said.

Already, an influential senator has said legislation next year was unlikely.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, the chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, said this month that while every effort should be made to cap greenhouse gases, the economic crisis, the transition to a new administration and the complexity of setting up a nationwide market for carbon pollution permits preclude action in 2009.

That reality could lead to disappointment in Europe, which has high expectations for Obama.

"A lot of Europeans don't understand that a president is not all-powerful in the American political system," Bruton said. "What I would hope is that President Obama and the congressional leadership would be able to fast-forward this legislation so that it will be passed in 2009."

Another senior European official, foreign policy chief Javier Solana, said this week in Washington that he expects Obama to spur Congress to pass legislation when he takes office.

"I think they will be very fast," he said. "I don't expect to be disappointed."

"Escaping" the truck formula

Chief engineer Keith Takesawa guided the creation of a comfortable. roomy SW that survives Ford's truck tests.

He dreamed of flying jet fighters, but for most of his 27-year tenure at Ford Motor Co., Keith Takasawa has been piloting trucks. His latest project-- chief engineer of 0204 (the Ford Escape subcompact sport-utility and its European cousin, the Ford Maverick/puts the 49-year-old engineer atthe center of a crucial joint-development project with Ford affiliate Mazda. The program required Takasawa to move to Hiroshima, Japan, for more than two years.

Prior to the Escape,Takasawa was a business director in the Large Car Vehicle Center, working on projects such as the reconstituted Thunderbird.

He also headed up the 1995 revamp of the Ford Explorer and Ranger that included a new powertrain, and served as program manager for the first-generation Windstar minivan. He began his Ford career in 1973 on heavy-duty truck brakes.

Q: What was Ford's major input in this project?

A: Mazda has no real knowledge of the U.S. truck market so we brought our light-truck experience, That helped in numerous ways, including marketing concepts and equipment There were 250 Ford engineering requirements that had to be met Among the things driven by the Ford requirements were the ability for trailer towing, adequate engine cooling and safety-related design. The vehicle had to pass our truck durability tests. We expect the Escape to get a 5-star rating in the pavemment crash tests.

Q: How did you size up the competition as you started the Escape program?

A: In the entry-level sportutility segment, some of the competitors were too car-like, like the Honda CR-V The Toyota RAV4 is a unique animal, its substantially smaller We wanted to be bigger than that, so we settled on a size like the CR-U Butthe CR-V doesn't perform well in mud and sand. The RAV4 does better there. We also looked atthe Jeep Cherokee, and then as they came out the Nissan Xterra and Suzuki Grand Vitara. We think we're breaking new ground with the Escape.

The front compartment has almost as much room as a Grand Cherokee. It also has a wider track by two inches, although the body width is not much different

Q: Since Ford and Mazda were both doing their own programs before the tIZ04 program started, why didn't you use one of the existing projects?

A: After the programs came together, we took one more hard look atthe joint platform stables. Butthe answer was that there were too many customer compromises with any of the existing platforms. With the Contour; rf you kept the chassis and floor pan, then the people package was very inferior To meet the durability requirements, you would have to rework the underbody structure and make changes to accept an independent rear suspension. And there were rear seat issues with the Contour

Mazda had similar problem areas, particularly in durability. The 626 platform had a bigger package area. We could have patched the platform to make it work, but then you would need to rework the structure far the rear suspension.

Q: What was your reaction when told that the Escape would be Ford's first production hybrid-electric vehicle?

A: My first reaction was noc one of terror I thought this is really neat, this is the best vehicle to do a hybrid on. We need bo be developing cleaner vehicles, and mainstream vehicles with the flexibility and capability of an SW is dead on. To make the biggest impac you need to make HEVs out of mainstream vehicles.

Dale Jewel

'Journey Of Hope'

Cancer brings uncertainty into anyone's life. But one thing that Frank Claudio is certain of is that when people are faced with cancer, they don't want treatment that is simply 'good enough.'

That belief became the pervasive theme as Mercy Medical Center's Sr. Caritas Cancer Center was designed and constructed, and Claudio, the center's director, said the ultimate look and feel of the center reflects that.

The center is nearing completion and is slated to open on Oct. 26.

"One thing we never want to lose sight of is that we offer compassionate, highquality care," said Claudio, "and the center's design reflects that. Everything here, in essence, is designed to help the patient."

A path painted on the floor in soft colors - blues, violets, and greens - and lined with tinted windows and skylights begins at a private entrance in the rear of Mercy Medical Center and was planned to make a visit to the building as simple and calming as possible. In short, Claudio said the design represents a 'journey of hope.'

"We kept in mind what people value," Claudio said. "The natural lines, diffused light, and cool colors - they can all help the patient. We kept curves and lines constant throughout the entire center. It's all designed to be modern and functional, too; in this space, patient care and design go hand in hand."

Artistic Integrity

A patient's journey begins in one of two waiting rooms, where a large stained glass window depicting an angel greets visitors. The one-of-a-kind window was created by nationally-known artist Steven Lavaggi, who specializes in inspirational sculptures, murals, and paintings. All staff areas are out in the open so patients always have contact person close at hand, including a full-time staff member of the American Cancer Society, who will work directly from the center in order to provide services for patients on site.

"This is the first time this has ever been done at Mercy," Claudio said. "We're trying to forge a more unified relationship with ACS, so patients can receive services more easily."

A door framed by frosted glass leads into the clinical area of the cancer center, where a series of rooms offer quiet comfort for patients in need of explanation, information, or just a place to regroup. The Pastoral Care, Patient Care, Education and 'Quiet' Rooms are all housed in a private corridor, and were included in the center's design to ensure that a patient's resources include not only treatment, but solace as well.

Throughout the center, natural light has been incorporated to maintain an ,atmosphere that promotes the same protected feeling as the private rooms, and strays from the clinical feel of most medical centers.

"Nothing looks like a hospital here," Claudio said. "Patients should feel as comfortable as possible; it's one of the steps of the process. There should be no surprises."

The goal of reducing the stress and fear of a visit to the cancer center extends to the treatment rooms, which Claudio said are traditionally intimidating to anyone. Scanning and treatment equipment are most often massive contraptions, and radiation machines require closing 36,000-pound doors when in use. Mercy has taken steps to camouflage the equipment with strategic walls and cabinet doors that hide as much of the hardware as possible. Treatment tables are lower than most patients are used to, in an effort to ease getting on and off, and bathrooms have been placed adjacent to treatment rooms so patients don't have to walk through the center in dressing gowns. Back-lit photos of pastoral scenes have also been mounted on walls and ceilings, giving patients a focal point during treatment. All of the photos were chosen by a focus group composed of patients in Mercy's older cancer center, Claudio said.

Technical Merit

The center's unique design elements are not the only aspect that Claudio is proud of, however; the artfully painted walls house one of the most state-of-the-art cancer center treatment facilities in the region, including a CT scan and simulator system, a treatment planning area, in which specialists process the information gleaned from scans and determine the best course of therapy, and two linear accelerators, or Linacs - radiation-treatment machines that are equipped to treat patients with the newest technology available.

The Linacs can treat a patient in one of two ways - using 3-D Conformal Radiation Therapy, the industry standard, or Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), a radiation method that can pinpoint a cancerous area more accurately and reduce the spread of radiation to healthy tissue.

IMRT is not a replacement for 3-D conformal, according to Tim Klapproth, a certified medical dossimetrist at the cancer center, but rather is a very technical enhancement that is still being studied nation-wide so it can be used in the most effective way possible.

"3-D conformal is considered the Cadillac of radiation treatment," Klapproth said, "Whereas IMRT is the Mercedes 760. It's meant to be an enhancement such as to provide the maximum potential for cure in cancer cases that warrant such treatment."

Further, IMRT reduces the variation of radiation absorption levels across a targeted area. A cancerous tumor, for example, could receive varying levels of radiation using the 3D conformal method ranging from very low levels to very high levels; the more precise IMRT delivers a constant level. IMRT is also not typically used for more advanced cancer cases, Klapproth said, but rather is more beneficial to patients with early-stage tumors. Offering IMRT at the Sr. Caritas Cancer Center will, therefore, provide the best possible chance to patents with early-stage cancers to stop the disease in its tracks.

"As a community hospital, it's a primary goal to prevent damage," he said. "It's a quality-of-care issue, and this improves our quality. Having IMRT allows us to stay right on the edge of cancer treatment for this community."

Regardless of what treatment option is chosen by the cancer center team, though, a patient's treatment experience is driven by the treatment-planning area, which connects and controls all of the patient's information from start to finish. Klapproth calls the planning area the hub of the wheel, while the different services at the center are the spokes.

"The whole system is very technically driven," he said, adding that CT Simulator information on a patient is fed to the treatment planning area via a digital scanning system called Pinnacle (Klapproth said the system is ranked number one in the industry) then analyzed by a dossimetrist and a physician. The information and a proposed treatment plan is then fed into a digital patient record system, which is in turn sent to the Linac room to be utilized.

"We have everything on the patient. It enables us to analyze a patient's treatment and also gives us three points at which information can be checked and rechecked."

"Everything ultimately comes back to quality of care," added Claudio. "Just one treatment - one person - could have 15 people working with them in one day and that doesn't include the people behind the scenes. The technology and the people running it make the most optimal plan for every patient."

A New Chapter

At the end of a patient's treatment, after they have traveled through the entire center, the building's cyclical design directs the patient to the same point at which they began, a starting point as well as a finish line, capped with a pyramid-shaped skylight.

When the center opens later this month, it will have effectively doubled the size and scope of Mercy's cancer services. The project carried an $8.6 million price tag, but as Claudio repeated throughout a tour of the facility, 'good enough' was not enough for him or the center's staff.

"When it's your mother, your brother, your sister, your friend, you don't want "good enough." You want the best care you can possibly receive. And I really believe we will offer the best care."

House Democrats Pass Contempt Citations

WASHINGTON - The House Judiciary Committee voted contempt of Congress citations Wednesday against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and President Bush's former legal counselor, Harriet Miers.

The 22-17 party-line vote - which would sanction the pair for failure to comply with subpoenas on the firings of several federal prosecutors - advanced the citation to the full House.

A senior Democratic official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the House itself likely would take up the citations after Congress' August recess. The official declined to speak on the record because no date had been set for the House vote.

Committee Chairman John Conyers said the …

`Crimen' doesn't pay, but it sure is funny.(Arts and Lifestyle)

"EL CRIMEN PERFECTO"

Not rated. In Spanish with subtitles.

THREE STARS (out of four)

Bed salesman Rafael (Guillermo Toledo) expects to be named manager, but his rival, Don Antonio (Luis Varela), wins the bid. After Don suffers a sudden demise at Rafael's hands, Rafael and plain salesgirl Lourdes (Monice Cervera) dispose of the body. Things only get worse when Lourdes makes Rafael her sex slave and blackmails him. Caustically funny and about as romantic as a colonoscopy, "El Crimen Perfecto" is a cautionary fable about making our own hell on earth. (At Kendall Square Cinema) - STEPHEN SCHAEFER

"GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK"

Rated PG

THREE STARS (out of four)

Before even the great Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) was the beloved newsman, a gravelly voiced knight-errant waging warfare against fascism and oppression, initially by broadcasting from London during the Blitz. After World War II, when McCarthyism fell across the land, Murrow took on the great beast himself, Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy, played Zelig-style by the senator himself in archival footage. Though very narrowly focused, "Good Night, and Good Luck" is a relevant and well-meaning love letter to the trailblazing newsman. (At the Loews Boston Common and Harvard Square.) - JAMES VERNIERE"THE GOSPEL"

Rated PG

ONE STAR (out of four)

David (Boris Kodjoe) is the son of Pastor Fred Taylor (Clifton Powell), who commits more time and strength to his church than to his family. Distancing himself from his father after his mother's death, David hits it big as an r & b superstar. When Pastor Fred becomes ill, David returns home to Atlanta to take care of him, only to realize his church lies in jeopardy. Canceling upcoming tour dates, David organizes a charity event to save the church, learning important lessons along the way. It's a standard, decent idea but is executed in a contrived way that inspires the kind of awe that only comes from a bad place. (At Loews Boston Common.) - CHELSEA BAIN

"IN HER SHOES"

Rated PG-13

THREE STARS (out of four)

Rose Feller (Toni Collette) is a Princetoneducated attorney whose job is to pick up the pieces whenever her party girl sister Maggie (Cameron Diaz) gets herself into a new disaster. After Rose and Maggie have a disastrous falling out, Maggie leaves Philadelphia for a Florida assisted-living facility to find Ella Hirsch (Shirley MacLaine), the maternal grandmother she and Rose believed to be dead. Based on a novel by Jennifer Weiner, "In Her Shoes" is a good, solid sisterhood-is-powerful-when-it-isn't-hell-on-earth family fable. (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.

"TWO FOR THE MONEY"

Rated R

ONE STAR (out of four)

Walter Abrams (Al Pacino) is a sports-betting impresario and obnoxious blowhard. Abrams offers phone-betting whiz Brandon Lang (Matthew McConaughey), whose dream of professional football stardom ended with a broken knee, a chance at the big time. The film is a grotesque failure and all the characters run the gamut from the merely unsympathetic to the absolutely loathesome. At the end of "Two for the Money," characters are on the verge of winning or losing millions of dollars, and you sit there thinking: Who cares what happens to these idiots? (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.

"WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT"

Rated G

THREE AND ONE HALF STARS (out of four)

The annual Giant Vegetable Competition is approaching, and Wallace (voice of Peter Sallis) and Gromit are trapping hordes of strangely quirky rabbits and housing them in their basement. When an experiment involving "rabbit rehabiliation" goes horribly wrong, a mysterious beast of gigantic proportions begins a reign of vege-terror and Wallace and Gromit are commissioned to ride to the rescue. The film has enough wacky inventiveness and pure silliness to entertain both children and adults. (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.

- Boston Herald film clips compiled by Heather V. Eng.

`Crimen' doesn't pay, but it sure is funny.(Arts and Lifestyle)

"EL CRIMEN PERFECTO"

Not rated. In Spanish with subtitles.

THREE STARS (out of four)

Bed salesman Rafael (Guillermo Toledo) expects to be named manager, but his rival, Don Antonio (Luis Varela), wins the bid. After Don suffers a sudden demise at Rafael's hands, Rafael and plain salesgirl Lourdes (Monice Cervera) dispose of the body. Things only get worse when Lourdes makes Rafael her sex slave and blackmails him. Caustically funny and about as romantic as a colonoscopy, "El Crimen Perfecto" is a cautionary fable about making our own hell on earth. (At Kendall Square Cinema) - STEPHEN SCHAEFER

"GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK"

Rated PG

THREE STARS (out of four)

Before even the great Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) was the beloved newsman, a gravelly voiced knight-errant waging warfare against fascism and oppression, initially by broadcasting from London during the Blitz. After World War II, when McCarthyism fell across the land, Murrow took on the great beast himself, Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy, played Zelig-style by the senator himself in archival footage. Though very narrowly focused, "Good Night, and Good Luck" is a relevant and well-meaning love letter to the trailblazing newsman. (At the Loews Boston Common and Harvard Square.) - JAMES VERNIERE"THE GOSPEL"

Rated PG

ONE STAR (out of four)

David (Boris Kodjoe) is the son of Pastor Fred Taylor (Clifton Powell), who commits more time and strength to his church than to his family. Distancing himself from his father after his mother's death, David hits it big as an r & b superstar. When Pastor Fred becomes ill, David returns home to Atlanta to take care of him, only to realize his church lies in jeopardy. Canceling upcoming tour dates, David organizes a charity event to save the church, learning important lessons along the way. It's a standard, decent idea but is executed in a contrived way that inspires the kind of awe that only comes from a bad place. (At Loews Boston Common.) - CHELSEA BAIN

"IN HER SHOES"

Rated PG-13

THREE STARS (out of four)

Rose Feller (Toni Collette) is a Princetoneducated attorney whose job is to pick up the pieces whenever her party girl sister Maggie (Cameron Diaz) gets herself into a new disaster. After Rose and Maggie have a disastrous falling out, Maggie leaves Philadelphia for a Florida assisted-living facility to find Ella Hirsch (Shirley MacLaine), the maternal grandmother she and Rose believed to be dead. Based on a novel by Jennifer Weiner, "In Her Shoes" is a good, solid sisterhood-is-powerful-when-it-isn't-hell-on-earth family fable. (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.

"TWO FOR THE MONEY"

Rated R

ONE STAR (out of four)

Walter Abrams (Al Pacino) is a sports-betting impresario and obnoxious blowhard. Abrams offers phone-betting whiz Brandon Lang (Matthew McConaughey), whose dream of professional football stardom ended with a broken knee, a chance at the big time. The film is a grotesque failure and all the characters run the gamut from the merely unsympathetic to the absolutely loathesome. At the end of "Two for the Money," characters are on the verge of winning or losing millions of dollars, and you sit there thinking: Who cares what happens to these idiots? (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.

"WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT"

Rated G

THREE AND ONE HALF STARS (out of four)

The annual Giant Vegetable Competition is approaching, and Wallace (voice of Peter Sallis) and Gromit are trapping hordes of strangely quirky rabbits and housing them in their basement. When an experiment involving "rabbit rehabiliation" goes horribly wrong, a mysterious beast of gigantic proportions begins a reign of vege-terror and Wallace and Gromit are commissioned to ride to the rescue. The film has enough wacky inventiveness and pure silliness to entertain both children and adults. (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.

- Boston Herald film clips compiled by Heather V. Eng.

`Crimen' doesn't pay, but it sure is funny.(Arts and Lifestyle)

"EL CRIMEN PERFECTO"

Not rated. In Spanish with subtitles.

THREE STARS (out of four)

Bed salesman Rafael (Guillermo Toledo) expects to be named manager, but his rival, Don Antonio (Luis Varela), wins the bid. After Don suffers a sudden demise at Rafael's hands, Rafael and plain salesgirl Lourdes (Monice Cervera) dispose of the body. Things only get worse when Lourdes makes Rafael her sex slave and blackmails him. Caustically funny and about as romantic as a colonoscopy, "El Crimen Perfecto" is a cautionary fable about making our own hell on earth. (At Kendall Square Cinema) - STEPHEN SCHAEFER

"GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK"

Rated PG

THREE STARS (out of four)

Before even the great Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) was the beloved newsman, a gravelly voiced knight-errant waging warfare against fascism and oppression, initially by broadcasting from London during the Blitz. After World War II, when McCarthyism fell across the land, Murrow took on the great beast himself, Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy, played Zelig-style by the senator himself in archival footage. Though very narrowly focused, "Good Night, and Good Luck" is a relevant and well-meaning love letter to the trailblazing newsman. (At the Loews Boston Common and Harvard Square.) - JAMES VERNIERE"THE GOSPEL"

Rated PG

ONE STAR (out of four)

David (Boris Kodjoe) is the son of Pastor Fred Taylor (Clifton Powell), who commits more time and strength to his church than to his family. Distancing himself from his father after his mother's death, David hits it big as an r & b superstar. When Pastor Fred becomes ill, David returns home to Atlanta to take care of him, only to realize his church lies in jeopardy. Canceling upcoming tour dates, David organizes a charity event to save the church, learning important lessons along the way. It's a standard, decent idea but is executed in a contrived way that inspires the kind of awe that only comes from a bad place. (At Loews Boston Common.) - CHELSEA BAIN

"IN HER SHOES"

Rated PG-13

THREE STARS (out of four)

Rose Feller (Toni Collette) is a Princetoneducated attorney whose job is to pick up the pieces whenever her party girl sister Maggie (Cameron Diaz) gets herself into a new disaster. After Rose and Maggie have a disastrous falling out, Maggie leaves Philadelphia for a Florida assisted-living facility to find Ella Hirsch (Shirley MacLaine), the maternal grandmother she and Rose believed to be dead. Based on a novel by Jennifer Weiner, "In Her Shoes" is a good, solid sisterhood-is-powerful-when-it-isn't-hell-on-earth family fable. (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.

"TWO FOR THE MONEY"

Rated R

ONE STAR (out of four)

Walter Abrams (Al Pacino) is a sports-betting impresario and obnoxious blowhard. Abrams offers phone-betting whiz Brandon Lang (Matthew McConaughey), whose dream of professional football stardom ended with a broken knee, a chance at the big time. The film is a grotesque failure and all the characters run the gamut from the merely unsympathetic to the absolutely loathesome. At the end of "Two for the Money," characters are on the verge of winning or losing millions of dollars, and you sit there thinking: Who cares what happens to these idiots? (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.

"WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT"

Rated G

THREE AND ONE HALF STARS (out of four)

The annual Giant Vegetable Competition is approaching, and Wallace (voice of Peter Sallis) and Gromit are trapping hordes of strangely quirky rabbits and housing them in their basement. When an experiment involving "rabbit rehabiliation" goes horribly wrong, a mysterious beast of gigantic proportions begins a reign of vege-terror and Wallace and Gromit are commissioned to ride to the rescue. The film has enough wacky inventiveness and pure silliness to entertain both children and adults. (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.

- Boston Herald film clips compiled by Heather V. Eng.

`Crimen' doesn't pay, but it sure is funny.(Arts and Lifestyle)

"EL CRIMEN PERFECTO"

Not rated. In Spanish with subtitles.

THREE STARS (out of four)

Bed salesman Rafael (Guillermo Toledo) expects to be named manager, but his rival, Don Antonio (Luis Varela), wins the bid. After Don suffers a sudden demise at Rafael's hands, Rafael and plain salesgirl Lourdes (Monice Cervera) dispose of the body. Things only get worse when Lourdes makes Rafael her sex slave and blackmails him. Caustically funny and about as romantic as a colonoscopy, "El Crimen Perfecto" is a cautionary fable about making our own hell on earth. (At Kendall Square Cinema) - STEPHEN SCHAEFER

"GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK"

Rated PG

THREE STARS (out of four)

Before even the great Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) was the beloved newsman, a gravelly voiced knight-errant waging warfare against fascism and oppression, initially by broadcasting from London during the Blitz. After World War II, when McCarthyism fell across the land, Murrow took on the great beast himself, Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy, played Zelig-style by the senator himself in archival footage. Though very narrowly focused, "Good Night, and Good Luck" is a relevant and well-meaning love letter to the trailblazing newsman. (At the Loews Boston Common and Harvard Square.) - JAMES VERNIERE"THE GOSPEL"

Rated PG

ONE STAR (out of four)

David (Boris Kodjoe) is the son of Pastor Fred Taylor (Clifton Powell), who commits more time and strength to his church than to his family. Distancing himself from his father after his mother's death, David hits it big as an r & b superstar. When Pastor Fred becomes ill, David returns home to Atlanta to take care of him, only to realize his church lies in jeopardy. Canceling upcoming tour dates, David organizes a charity event to save the church, learning important lessons along the way. It's a standard, decent idea but is executed in a contrived way that inspires the kind of awe that only comes from a bad place. (At Loews Boston Common.) - CHELSEA BAIN

"IN HER SHOES"

Rated PG-13

THREE STARS (out of four)

Rose Feller (Toni Collette) is a Princetoneducated attorney whose job is to pick up the pieces whenever her party girl sister Maggie (Cameron Diaz) gets herself into a new disaster. After Rose and Maggie have a disastrous falling out, Maggie leaves Philadelphia for a Florida assisted-living facility to find Ella Hirsch (Shirley MacLaine), the maternal grandmother she and Rose believed to be dead. Based on a novel by Jennifer Weiner, "In Her Shoes" is a good, solid sisterhood-is-powerful-when-it-isn't-hell-on-earth family fable. (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.

"TWO FOR THE MONEY"

Rated R

ONE STAR (out of four)

Walter Abrams (Al Pacino) is a sports-betting impresario and obnoxious blowhard. Abrams offers phone-betting whiz Brandon Lang (Matthew McConaughey), whose dream of professional football stardom ended with a broken knee, a chance at the big time. The film is a grotesque failure and all the characters run the gamut from the merely unsympathetic to the absolutely loathesome. At the end of "Two for the Money," characters are on the verge of winning or losing millions of dollars, and you sit there thinking: Who cares what happens to these idiots? (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.

"WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT"

Rated G

THREE AND ONE HALF STARS (out of four)

The annual Giant Vegetable Competition is approaching, and Wallace (voice of Peter Sallis) and Gromit are trapping hordes of strangely quirky rabbits and housing them in their basement. When an experiment involving "rabbit rehabiliation" goes horribly wrong, a mysterious beast of gigantic proportions begins a reign of vege-terror and Wallace and Gromit are commissioned to ride to the rescue. The film has enough wacky inventiveness and pure silliness to entertain both children and adults. (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.

- Boston Herald film clips compiled by Heather V. Eng.

`Crimen' doesn't pay, but it sure is funny.(Arts and Lifestyle)

"EL CRIMEN PERFECTO"

Not rated. In Spanish with subtitles.

THREE STARS (out of four)

Bed salesman Rafael (Guillermo Toledo) expects to be named manager, but his rival, Don Antonio (Luis Varela), wins the bid. After Don suffers a sudden demise at Rafael's hands, Rafael and plain salesgirl Lourdes (Monice Cervera) dispose of the body. Things only get worse when Lourdes makes Rafael her sex slave and blackmails him. Caustically funny and about as romantic as a colonoscopy, "El Crimen Perfecto" is a cautionary fable about making our own hell on earth. (At Kendall Square Cinema) - STEPHEN SCHAEFER

"GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK"

Rated PG

THREE STARS (out of four)

Before even the great Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) was the beloved newsman, a gravelly voiced knight-errant waging warfare against fascism and oppression, initially by broadcasting from London during the Blitz. After World War II, when McCarthyism fell across the land, Murrow took on the great beast himself, Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy, played Zelig-style by the senator himself in archival footage. Though very narrowly focused, "Good Night, and Good Luck" is a relevant and well-meaning love letter to the trailblazing newsman. (At the Loews Boston Common and Harvard Square.) - JAMES VERNIERE"THE GOSPEL"

Rated PG

ONE STAR (out of four)

David (Boris Kodjoe) is the son of Pastor Fred Taylor (Clifton Powell), who commits more time and strength to his church than to his family. Distancing himself from his father after his mother's death, David hits it big as an r & b superstar. When Pastor Fred becomes ill, David returns home to Atlanta to take care of him, only to realize his church lies in jeopardy. Canceling upcoming tour dates, David organizes a charity event to save the church, learning important lessons along the way. It's a standard, decent idea but is executed in a contrived way that inspires the kind of awe that only comes from a bad place. (At Loews Boston Common.) - CHELSEA BAIN

"IN HER SHOES"

Rated PG-13

THREE STARS (out of four)

Rose Feller (Toni Collette) is a Princetoneducated attorney whose job is to pick up the pieces whenever her party girl sister Maggie (Cameron Diaz) gets herself into a new disaster. After Rose and Maggie have a disastrous falling out, Maggie leaves Philadelphia for a Florida assisted-living facility to find Ella Hirsch (Shirley MacLaine), the maternal grandmother she and Rose believed to be dead. Based on a novel by Jennifer Weiner, "In Her Shoes" is a good, solid sisterhood-is-powerful-when-it-isn't-hell-on-earth family fable. (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.

"TWO FOR THE MONEY"

Rated R

ONE STAR (out of four)

Walter Abrams (Al Pacino) is a sports-betting impresario and obnoxious blowhard. Abrams offers phone-betting whiz Brandon Lang (Matthew McConaughey), whose dream of professional football stardom ended with a broken knee, a chance at the big time. The film is a grotesque failure and all the characters run the gamut from the merely unsympathetic to the absolutely loathesome. At the end of "Two for the Money," characters are on the verge of winning or losing millions of dollars, and you sit there thinking: Who cares what happens to these idiots? (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.

"WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT"

Rated G

THREE AND ONE HALF STARS (out of four)

The annual Giant Vegetable Competition is approaching, and Wallace (voice of Peter Sallis) and Gromit are trapping hordes of strangely quirky rabbits and housing them in their basement. When an experiment involving "rabbit rehabiliation" goes horribly wrong, a mysterious beast of gigantic proportions begins a reign of vege-terror and Wallace and Gromit are commissioned to ride to the rescue. The film has enough wacky inventiveness and pure silliness to entertain both children and adults. (At AMC Fenway, Loews Boston Common and suburban theaters.) - J.V.

- Boston Herald film clips compiled by Heather V. Eng.

'Stop whining'; GM's Wagoner sees a new boom coming, challenges critics of his incentive strategy.(General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner)(Cover Story)

Byline: Dave Guilford

Saying that the industry is on the verge of a golden age, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner declared he has had enough of critics who claim his use of incentives is hurting the industry.

``I say it's time to stop whining and play the game,'' Wagoner told an industry audience on the eve of the National Automobile Dealers Association convention here. ``Looking at GM, we're going to do what's best for us.''

Citing his company's gains in profits and market share last year, Wagoner added: ``What I know is that GM's strategy is working very well for us. So guess what? This year we're going to keep pushing.''

But Wagoner also …