Subcontractors must pay Social Security: ; Law doesn't allow extra contributions to your IRAs

Q. My wife is a court reporter who works for a private firm as asubcontractor. We each started Roth IRAs last year. Since my wife isself-employed and pays no Social Security, can she contribute morethan $2,000?

T.S.

Knoxville, Tenn.

A. I don't know how your wife is getting away with not payingSocial Security. She is obligated as a self-employed person to paythe self-employed rate, which is slightly over 15 percent.

I urge you to have an appropriate tax preparer take a look atyour taxes and very possibly submit an amended return. It'sunequivocal that if your wife is working as a subcontractor she isas responsible for the Social Security deductions as any …

Denharco launches four new harvesting heads

The CTL veterans at Denharco launched a new line of what they are calling "Ultra-Performance" harvesting heads at the recent D�mo For�t 2000 logging show held in late May in 4 northern Quebec. The Series 300 includes four heads, the DH321, DH326, DHT326 (hardwood head with topping saw), and DH328 with cutting capacities ranging from 21 to 28 inches and weights from 2,200 to 4,200 lbs depending on size and options chosen. Features include feed speeds to 18 ft/sec and Supercut 100 saws with auto tensioning. "Denharco is renowned for the quality, performance and reliability of its forest harvesting equipment," says Fred Glucksman, …

Bryant leads season-opening Champions Tour event

With a slim lead on a defenseless course, Brad Bryant won't dare look in the rearview mirror in the Champions Tour's season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship.

"You just keep the pedal to the metal and hope the transmission don't blow," said Bryant, who shot a 7-under 65 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead over Bernhard Langer after two rounds in the winners-only event.

Bryant, who birdied nine holes in the opening round, set the pace early by birdieing six of his first 10 holes and capped his round with a 10-foot birdie putt on 18 for a 15-under 129 total.

The big-hitting Texan is seeking his …

Jones twins carry banner for Conant

Now, Conant can zero in on bigger things.

With the Jones twins, Eric and Mark, assaulting the field at theMid-Suburban meet Friday, the Cougars' third straight conferencechampionship looked like a small task for the area's No. 1 rankedteam.

Conant placed first in each event. Eric won four events,including the all around, vault, parallel bars and high bar. Marcwon the pommel horse and tied for first on still rings as Conantscored 165 points, highest in school history.

"This was a great score heading into state," Conant coach EdRaymond said. "We were hoping for 165 coming in. As long as we stayhealthy, I don't think we should have too much trouble at …

Bay Homers Twice As Pirates Edge Cubs

CHICAGO - Jason Bay and the Pittsburgh Pirates don't plan on celebrating their move out of last place for long.

Bay homered twice and Jose Bautista scored the go-ahead run in the ninth inning on a wild pitch as the Pirates escaped the cellar in the NL Central with a 6-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.

The Cubs (55-83) have lost five straight against the Pirates (56-83) and fell behind Pittsburgh into last place in the division for the first time this season.

The Pirates started the season 0-6 and had sat at the bottom all year.

"It's a little moral victory for us," Bay said. "You don't want to run around and throw a party because you got …

Pirelli starts new Chinese operations

Italian tiremaker Pirelli & C. SpA said Tuesday that it began producing high-performance car tires at a new factory in China's Shandong Province.

Pirelli invested nearly US$100 million (euro67.4 million) to build the factory, which will be making tires destined for China and the main markets in the Asia-Pacific area.

The new plant is in the same area as a truck tire factory opened in 2005. It has a manufacturing capacity of about 3 million pieces per year.

"Following the investment in …

Rew basking in 'Sunshine' -- and don't it feel good

Even if Kimberley Rew isn't quite a household name, the guitarist has spent an enviable three decades in music. He helped establish the absurdist career of Robyn Hitchcock, with whom Rew created the Soft Boys' cult classic "Underwater Moonlight." In 1997, his "Love Shine a Light" notched the only British win in the last three decades at the prestigious Eurovision Song Contest. Rew is best known, however, for writing a single bubblegum classic -- an earworm that has both elated and vexed with its undeniable catchiness.

Katrina and the Waves' "Walking on Sunshine" invaded American radio 25 years ago and never left. Rew and his former bandmates will celebrate the silver anniversary …

Roman Ondák

OXFORD, UK

MODERN ART OXFORD

March 12-May 20

Curated by Michael Stanley

Slovakian neo-Conceptualist Roman Ond�k creates powerful works of art through seemingly simple shifts. During the 2009 Venice Biennale, he famously turned his country's pavilion inside out, allowing the surrounding garden to occupy the building's interior. In another recent piece, he transformed viewers into subject matter, directing gallery attendants to mark visitors' names and heights on the museum wall in an …

39 people injured after accident at church concert

At least 39 people were injured, three of them seriously, when the floor of a local church filled with teens collapsed during a concert.

Police said about 1,000 youths were at the Central Heights Church in Abbotsford, British Columbia, to hear the Christian rock band Starfield when a large area in front of the stage gave way Friday night, sending people in the crowd falling several feet (meters) into the basement below.

By late evening, David Plug, a spokesman for the local health authority said 23 people were treated in the Abbotsford Regional Hospital, while hospitals in the nearby cities of Chilliwack, Mission and Langley treated 16 people between …

[ METRO BRIEFS ]

Woman set home afire, cops say

A Round Lake Beach woman accused of setting her house on firewhile her four children were inside has been charged with aggravatedarson, police said. No one was injured in the blaze, which began at arear outside wall about 1:25 a.m. Friday and was quicklyextinguished. Debra J. Barraza, 41, first blamed the fire on a friendbut then was charged after she admitted starting it, Round Lake Beachpolice said. The children are ages 14, 15, 18 and 20, police said.Bail for Barraza was set at $200,000. She remained in the Lake CountyJail. Police contacted the Department of Children and FamilyServices, and the children were staying at an undisclosed …

Uncontested consolidation

When you walk into the office, it doesn't look much different than any other modem workplace. On the wall behind the reception desk, the name O'Brien & Sanderson gleams in big, brass letters and employees work diligently in their cubicles. It all sounds fairly commonplace, as professional offices go, but there's so much more to this particular business. Behind the gleaming letters, diligent employees and cubicles' there lies a history, rich in principles and commitment, that has become an integral part of the services that O'Brien & Sanderson extends to clients.

In 1929, Fort Wayne was home to many businesses, one of which was Citizens Bank. Following the stock market …

Chiefs QB Croyle out for season

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Brodie Croyle limped off with a sprained right knee against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, his first game back since separating his shoulder in the season opener.

After the game, Chiefs coach Herm Edwards said Croyle's injury would end his season.

The oft-injured Croyle, back after missing four games, was injured on Kansas City's 14th play …

Vatican Opposes Removal of Feeding Tubes

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican reiterated Friday that it considers the removal of feeding tubes from people in vegetative states to be an immoral act.

The Vatican issued the statement in response to questions from bishops in the United States in July 2005 - just months after the case of an American woman, Terri Schiavo, made world headlines.

She died March 31, 2005, in a Florida hospice after her parents unsuccessfully battled a court order to have her feeding tube removed. She died 13 days after the tube was removed.

"A patient in a 'permanent vegetative state' is a person with fundamental human dignity and must, therefore, receive ordinary and proportionate care which includes, in principle, the administration of water and food even by artificial means," the Vatican said in a statement.

At the time, the Vatican condemned Schiavo's death as "arbitrarily hastened" and called the removal of her feeding tube a violation of the principles of Christianity and civilization.

Friday's statement said the Vatican was asked whether the administration of food and water to a patient in a vegetative state was morally obligatory except when they cannot be assimilated by the patient's body or administered without causing significant physical discomfort. The answer was yes.

The statement said exceptional cases, such as the inability of a patient to cope with feeding or food shortages in poverty-stricken or remote areas, "take nothing away from the general ethical criterion."

The Vatican noted that Pope John Paul II told a 2004 medical conference on ethical dilemmas that providing food and water to people in vegetative states should be considered natural, ordinary and proportional care.

Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., chairman of the U.S. bishops Committee for Doctrine, said the American bishops hoped the Vatican's explanations would provide guidance to pastors, ethicists, doctors, nurses and families involved in the issue.

Boat sinking after whaling clash in Antarctica

A conservation group's boat had its bow sheared off and was taking on water Wednesday after it collided with a Japanese whaling ship in the frigid waters of Antarctica, the group said. The boat's six crew members were safely rescued.

The clash was apparently the most serious in the past several years, during which the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has sent vessels into far southern waters to try to harass the Japanese fleet into ceasing its annual whale cull.

Clashes using hand-thrown stink bombs, ropes meant to tangle propellers and high-tech sound equipment have been common in recent years, and collisions between ships have sometimes happened.

The society said its boat Ady Gil _ a high tech speed boat that resembles a stealth bomber _ was hit by the Japanese ship the Shonan Maru near Commonwealth Bay and had its bow sheared off.

"The condition of the Ady Gil now is that it is inoperable and the crew of the Ady Gil has been transferred to our other vessel, the Bob Barker," Locky Maclean, the first mate of the society's lead ship told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

The Ady Gil's captain had stayed on board to try to save equipment from the boat "before it floods too severely," he said.

Japan's Fisheries Agency, which has no direct involvement in whaling but overseas all the country's fishing operations, said it was still checking details about the clash.

"We have confirmed that there was a collision, but we have no other details. We have not heard that any boats have sank. We are now trying to confirm details of why the collision occurred," said Fisheries Agency spokesman Toshinori Uoya.

Uoya said there were no injuries on the Japanese side, but said he was not sure about the Sea Shepherd crew members.

Sea Shepherd sends boats to Antarctic waters each southern summer to try to stop the Japanese whaling fleet killing whales under what it calls a scientific whaling program. Conservationists and many countries say the program is a front for commercial whaling.

Earlier Wednesday, the Institute of Cetacean Research, the nonprofit organization that conducts the hunt, said in a statement that one of the ships in the whaling fleet was attacked by the Ady Gil, but it did not mention a collision.

It said the Ady Gil arrived on the scene at about 1800 GMT and that its crew threw ropes at the whaling mothership, the Nisshin Maru. It said another Sea Shepherd vessel, the Bob Barker, had already arrived in nearby waters.

The Ady Gil came "within collision distance" of the Nisshin Maru's bow and repeatedly dangled a rope in the water in an attempt to entangle the ship's rudder and propeller, and lobbed small projectiles designed to release a foul smell.

The whalers responded by firing high-powered hoses to keep the Sea Shepherd vessels away.

"The obstructionist activities of the Sea Shepherd threaten the lives and property of those involved in our research, are very dangerous and cannot be forgiven," the statement said.

Each side routinely alleges the other engages in dangerous activity during what has become a cat-and-mouse chase in one of the world's most remote and isolated regions. Australia and New Zealand _ which both have Antarctica territories and are among the closest nations to the waters where the hunt goes on _ have urged both sides to show restraint, warning that they are far from rescue of anything goes wrong.

Japan's whaling fleet in November left for its annual hunt in the Antarctic waters. Uoya said that for security reasons, details of the fleet's composition, the number of whales it hopes to take and the number of crew members is not being released to the public.

____

Associated Press Writer Eric Talmadge in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Caption Only [Color Photo: Jon Sall/Sun-Times / Dye & Dry: Jermaine Dye's...]

Caption text only.

Euro falls vs US dollar as markets wait for Fed hints

The euro fell Monday against the U.S. dollar, which continued its recent modest rally as markets awaited hints from the U.S. Federal Reserve about interest rate moves and economic figures from Washington.

The euro purchased US$1.5442 in afternoon European trading, down from US$1.5480 late Friday in New York.

The dollar rose to 103.99 Japanese yen from 103.09 yen on Friday, while the British pound rose to US$1.9572 from US$1.9519 in New York.

The dollar has now risen 3.6 percent since hitting an all-time low of US$1.6018 against the euro on April 22, climbing on the belief that the U.S. Fed may finished cutting interest rates and that the U.S. economy may avoid a severe recession.

Investors were looking ahead to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech Tuesday for further indications about the Fed's intentions on interest rates.

The Fed has lowered its rates seven times in seven months to 2 percent, a major factor causing the dollar to sag against the euro. Though lower interest rates can spur a nation's economy, they can weigh on its currency as traders transfer funds to countries where they can earn higher returns _ and interest rates are higher in Europe.

Traders were waiting to see whether Bernanke's remarks Tuesday would confirm the widespread impression that the Fed's last rate cut of a quarter point on April 30 would be the last in its easing series.

"Much of the recent dollar appreciation is on the back of speculation that the country's economy may have turned something of a corner so anything that serves to derail this observation will ultimately end up weighing on the greenback," said James Hughes, a market analyst at CMC Markets.

"The assumption, however, remains for the time being that the Fed is nearly at the end of its accommodative approach to monetary policy and the run of cuts we've seen of late will not continue for much longer."

There was also a focus on the U.S. retail sector for indications about the strength of the American economy. Retail sales figures come out Tuesday, with the consumer price index numbers scheduled for Wednesday _ all amid a raft of earnings reports from major U.S. retailers, including Wal-Mart.

Gavin Friend, the head of foreign exchange strategy at Commerzbank in London said that from a fundamental perspective, the dollar will most likely weaken again if the numbers are poor.

"U.S. retail sales figures come out tomorrow, and we're expecting soft numbers," Friend said

He said expects slow or even negative growth in the U.S. through the rest of the year driving the dollar lower, but without visiting "any real slide."

In the 15-nation Euro zone, he said he expects data improving, which will prop up the euro.

Even though the euro has come under pressure and there has been a bit of a "reorientation in the U.S. economy" that has worked in favor of the dollar, it does not mean the euro is down and out, said Howard Archer, the chief UK and European economist at Global Insight, in London.

"We think the euro will trade at around US$1.55 for an extended period," Archer said, noting that the European currency will probably spike higher, but not until later this year or next. "We think the euro could have a final flourish toward the end of the year," he said.

Dollar General plans to add stores

Discount-store operator Dollar General Corp. said it plans toopen 625 new stores and hire more than 6,000 workers in 2011.

The company said Monday the store openings will be in 35 statesit currently operates in as well as in three new states:Connecticut, Nevada and New Hampshire. It also plans to remodel orrelocate 550 stores.

Dollar General spokesman Mike Machak said the company currentlyoperates more than 161 stores in West Virginia.

"We're not releasing information about the number of new storesopening in any states or cities," he said. "In general, given 6,000new jobs are being created in 2011, it will be spread across thestates we serve."

Machak said 11 stores undergoing a remodel or on schedule forremodeling in 2011 are in West Virginia. They are in Charles Town,Craigsville, Elkins, Gilbert, Glen Daniel, Grantsville, Keyser,Petersburg, Ronceverte, Wellsburg and Weston.

Dollar General, based in Goodlettsville, Tenn., currentlyoperates 9,200 stores and employs 88,000 people.

Its stores have gained market share from competitors such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., as consumers count pennies because of highunemployment and the uncertain economy.

Grand jury weighs sodomy claim against NYPD cops

On the afternoon of Oct. 15, a body piercer named Michael Mineo was approached by a group of police officers who thought he was smoking marijuana. Mineo fled into a subway station, argued with the officers, and was issued a ticket for disorderly conduct.

But what really happened inside that subway station is highly contested, and has led to one of the most explosive allegations of police brutality by the NYPD in recent memory.

Mineo claims four officers assaulted him in horrific fashion, yanking down his pants and sodomizing him with a walkie-talkie antenna so brutally that he was left bleeding. He says the officers then put him into a police car, and, unsure what to do with him, let him go with a minor ticket and told him to keep his mouth shut. He spent the next four days in a hospital.

The police department says Mineo's claims are greatly exaggerated, denying that he was sodomized and describing the altercation as a "scuffle." Police officials say that witness accounts back up their claim.

The Brooklyn District Attorney is taking the allegations seriously enough that he convened a special investigative grand jury to decide whether to bring charges against the officers.

"Because it's a special grand jury, they will only focus on this case," said Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University. "What he's created is a separate track, solely for this case, that exhibits his agreement that this is serious enough to warrant a concentrated look."

The grand jury must sift through contradictory and possibly confusing evidence, and legal experts say it could take a few weeks before any decisions are reached.

The evidence will likely include medical reports, scientific tests of the walkie-talkie, and testimony from witnesses and the officers.

Both sides say they have witnesses who either saw the attack or didn't see it, including a transit worker and his 12-year-old son who said they didn't witness the alleged sodomy even as Mineo was yelling out that he was being "violated."

But a law enforcement official confirmed reports Friday that a transit officer involved in the incident has volunteered to speak to prosecutors, and that his account may support Mineo's.

Prosecutors had not yet spoken to the officer as of Friday. But initial conversations with his lawyer suggest he "backs up the victim," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the grand jury investigation had not been completed.

Hospital discharge papers reviewed by The Associated Press show that upon arrival at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center on Oct. 15, Mineo was diagnosed with "anal assault." The hospital discharge papers from Oct. 19 said Mineo arrived at the hospital complaining he had been assaulted by police with a foreign object.

A second law enforcement official told the AP that a baton and a radio antenna taken from the locker of one of the officers was tested and found Monday to be negative for fecal matter, blood and tissue. Results from DNA tests that could yield more evidence were pending. The official spoke on the condition of anonmyity because the investigation is ongoing.

Questions have also surrounded the disorderly conduct ticket that the officers issued Mineo.

The ticket shows he had identification on him, but his attorneys say he didn't. The summons describes the offense as "blocking vehicle and pedestrian traffic causing public alarm and fear," and doesn't mention anything about drugs.

In addition, there is at least one outstanding warrant on Mineo _ for drinking alcohol in public _ that was either ignored or undiscovered by the officers issuing the summons.

The saga has drawn considerable attention, with the Rev. Al Sharpton showing up at Mineo's hospital bed last weekend after he suffered complications from his injuries.

It has also evoked comparisons to Abner Louima, who was beaten and sodomized with a broomstick in a police precinct by officers in one of the worst cases of brutality in NYPD history.

But there are many differences between the two cases. The 1997 case stoked racial tensions in the city, with Louima being black and the officers white. Mineo is white, and the officers are black, white and Hispanic.

From the beginning, police have made it clear that they welcome a thorough grand jury investigation.

"We are working closely with the district attorney," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Friday. "Our Internal Affairs Bureau people are very much involved in the investigation as it is conducted through the auspices of the grand jury."

It is unclear what charges the grand jury might be considering. But legal experts said that if the officers are indicted, it will likely be some form of assault, and if Mineo's story is found to be false, it's not likely he would face any additional charges.

The officers are still on duty but have been assigned to administrative duties because members of the press were attempting to interview them, police officials said. The fact that the NYPD kept the officers on duty after Mineo came forward signals that they have strong doubts about the allegations.

The case is also being investigated by the police department, but the department must wait until the district attorney's investigation is completed before interviewing the officers.

___

Associated Press Writer Tom Hays contributed to this report.

Browns' Quinn expected to play with broken finger

Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn broke his right index finger in Monday night's win over Buffalo but will try to play Sunday against the Houston Texans.

The team initially thought Quinn only bruised his hand after banging it on the helmet of a Bills player, but X-rays taken after practice Wednesday revealed a fracture on the tip of his finger. A specialist at the Cleveland Clinic cleared Quinn to play.

Making his second career start, Quinn stayed in against Buffalo and finished 14 of 36 for 185 yards.

Browns coach Romeo Crennel said Quinn, who recently took over the starting job from Derek Anderson, was able to grip the ball during practice.

The second-year QB will wear a splint when he is not on the field.

Of secondary concern

The Bears' uneven play at cornerback in training camp might be of double concern. First and foremost, it portends trouble for a defense that will be facing some of the best quarterbacks in the league this season, including Donovan McNabb, Kurt Warner, Ben Roethlisberger, Carson Palmer, Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers and Matt Hasselbeck.

Secondly, you have to wonder if the Bears are getting a false positive with the breakout performances they've seen from bigger receivers such as 6-3 Brandon Rideau and 6-2 Devin Aromashodu. Veteran cornerback Charles Tillman has yet to practice, and Zack Bowman went down with a hamstring strain.

The hope is that the secondary will play significantly better in the second week of camp, in part because it will be healthier. Bowman and Danieal Manning are expected back, and the other members of the group should have their legs underneath them.

''You have to train hard to play well,'' defensive backs coach Jon Hoke said. ''You want practice to be a very hard, demanding thing so that game days become a little bit easier. We have some guys down, but they will have plenty of time to get back. They will get rest before they have to play a game in the season, but it's important to put in the work right now.''

Nobody wants to admit the Bears are working harder in training camp than they have in previous seasons under coach Lovie Smith, but they have spent a lot of time in pads. The secondary, in particular, is doing an inordinate amount of backpedaling and lateral-movement drills.

SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM

''I dream about backpedaling,'' cornerback Nathan Vasher said with a laugh. ''Through [organized team activities] and the first week of training camp, we've probably backpedaled enough to get from [Bourbonnais] to Soldier Field -- a lot of miles. Your body takes time to get used to it. Nothing shocks your body like backpedaling, planting and breaking with the kind of violence and intensity we do it with, so it takes some adjusting to.''

Corey Graham isn't dreaming about backpedaling, but he's one of a group dealing with the consequences of so many short, quick steps on a nightly basis.

''We're waking up in the middle of the night rubbing our legs,'' Graham said. ''Hopefully, that pays off during the season.''

Hoke said nobody does a better job of working with players than Rusty Jones, the team's strength and conditioning coordinator. But even Jones' proven program, which helps reduce strains and tears associated with dehydration, has been coming up short in the secondary.

''You have to train your body to know how to backpedal and plant and drive,'' Hoke said. ''Rusty can't train all those muscles. Rusty does a great job, but for that specific skill set, he can't do it all. So they just have to keep doing it and doing it and doing it. It's all about training your body. We are a little behind on shuffle technique, just moving laterally. You have to train those muscles. They will be sore for a few days with it, but you have to train.''

ABILITY TO MULTITASK

If there is an upside to the Bears' injury woes in the secondary, it's that quite a few players are being asked to do a lot of different things. When Tillman went down, for instance, Graham, who was moved to safety in the offseason, had to be moved back to cornerback. Manning was moved to safety in addition to his nickel-back duties. Graham then was worked at nickel when Manning went down.

''You would rather have a player zero in at one position, but in pro football, you better have multitaskers,'' Hoke said. ''You are dealing with a 53-man roster with 45 playing on game day. It's been my experience that the more guys can do, the better off the team will be. If they can multitask and play several positions, it gives you a little more flexibility on defense. You don't get into panic mode as fast. You know they might not be as good, but at least you can function as a defense and they can fill their role.''

Nobody aspires to be limited to the role of utility infielder. An established position is preferred, but playing time is what it's all about in professional sports.

''I just go out and play wherever they ask me to play, if it is safety, corner or nickel, it doesn't make a difference,'' Graham said. ''It's still not set in stone where I am going to be, but hopefully, I will be somewhere. I could be doing anything. You guys are going to have to wait it out and see what happens same as I do. I don't mind it at all as long as I get on the field.''

Bowman will be back this week, but given his injury history, the hamstring strain is a bit scary. Tillman should be back for the preseason finale, meaning he'll have a couple of weeks before the start of the season. Graham looks like a pretty good option at this point.

Comment at suntimes.com.

Color Photo: Scott Stewart, Sun-Times / Cornerback Corey Graham returns an interception for a touchdown during practice Saturday at Soldier Field. ;

NEWS

Norplant maker agrees to settle claims The manufacturer ofNorplant have agreed to offer cash settlements to more than 36,000women who charged that severe side effects from the contraceptivedevice were downplayed. American Home Products Corp. said todaythat its Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories subsidiary will settle the claimsof women who said they suffered nausea, irregular menstrual bleeding,headaches and depression after using Norplant. "Settling these caseswas purely a business decision," Joseph M. Mahady, president ofWyeth-Ayerst, North America, said in a prepared statement. TheDallas Morning News reported today that American Home could end uppaying more than $50 million to end five years of litigation overNorplant. The settlement offers $1,500 to each woman who filed suitbefore March 1, the newspaper said. Breakthrough reported in Mideasttalks With a Palestinian official reporting a breakthrough on anIsraeli withdrawal from the West Bank, the top Palestinian negotiatormet with his Israeli counterpart a final time today before leavingfor a briefing with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Thenegotiator, Saeb Erekat, was originally scheduled to meet Albright inWashington today. Instead, he met with his counterpart, Gilead Sher,in Israel. He now plans to see Albright on Friday. The talks cameas a Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, saidan agreement had been reached on a timetable for Israel's withdrawalfrom the West Bank. Web site told to stop posting Ford news FordMotor Co. won a temporary restraining order against the producer ofan Internet site that the automaker says illegally reveals companysecrets. A federal court in Detroit told Robert Lane to stoppublishing confidential documents provided by Ford employees. Fordplans to seek a permanent ban on Lane's site (www.blueovalnews.com)at a hearing Monday. Lane said he is trying to arm consumers withup- to-date information - including confidential environmental tests,reports on assembly glitches and photos of future products - so theycan make informed decisions about Ford purchases. Lane was orderedto tell the court within 10 days which Ford documents he has and whogave them to him. He also must stop displaying the automaker'strademark blue oval insignia on his site. Dry heat makes fightingfires tough Thousands of firefighters are battling blazes across theWest, where lightning, wind, 100-degree heat and low humidity havefueled the flames as vacationers head to the forests for late-summercamping. About 300 wildfires, mostly caused by lightning, wereraging in California, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Idaho. The blazeshave burned at least 40,000 acres of brush and trees and are blamedfor at least one death. Most of the blazes have been in NorthernCalifornia, where National Weather Service forecasts for hot and dryweather worried firefighters. Man held in stabbings on Amtrak trainA man stabbed and wounded two conductors and a passenger aboard anAmtrak train outside Cleveland early today, police said. A suspectwas arrested when a passenger, in a crowd leaving the stopped train,told police, "That's him. That's him." The man stabbed oneconductor, then started slashing at people within his reach, woundingthe two other victims, Olmsted Township police Chief DennisMcCafferty said. The three victims were hospitalized, as was a womanwho complained of chest pains. The suspect was treated for a cut onone hand. Aaron Hall, 41, was arraigned on charges of attemptedmurder and held on $1 million bond pending a preliminary hearingTuesday. He didn't enter a plea.

France wants to work quickly with US on Mideast

France's foreign minister says he hopes to work quickly with the new U.S. administration on settling Mideast tensions.

But Bernard Kouchner also told France-Info radio that France and Europe should not wait for President-elect Barack Obama to "solve all our problems" and should continue diplomatic efforts after 22 days of violence in Gaza.

Kouchner said in Tuesday's interview that he knew key players in the incoming administration and that he wanted to cooperate "very quickly" with Obama's choice for secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.

France played a vocal role in efforts to stop the Israeli offensive in Gaza and rocket fire from Hamas militants. French President Nicolas Sarkozy traveled to the region twice in peacemaking efforts.

WOODSTOCK 25 YEARS AFTER // A New Generation Migrates to the Festival "Nation"

In the 25 years since the three-day "Aquarian Exposition" invaded MaxYasgur's farm, the word "Woodstock" has become synonymous with amassive communal celebration of diversity and transcendence throughmusic. In other words, rock 'n' roll at its very best. Butdespite the presence of rock legends such as the Who and JimiHendrix, the music wasn't what made the event symbolic of a cultureand an era. There had been massive music festivals before -including the vastly superior 1967 International Pop Festival atMonterey, Calif. - but they went largely unnoticed outside the rockworld. What made this festival different was that it didn't work.In many ways, the festival was a spectacular failure. But out of theadverse conditions of three days of peace, music and mud came afeeling of community - "the Woodstock Nation" - that has come tosymbolize the entire '60s. "Woodstock only seemed to mean that,`Now we're ready to run the world,' " said Paul Williams, foundingeditor of the rock magazine Crawdaddy and the writer who covered thefestival for Playboy. "It was just a particular moment in timewhere it seemed like some kind of critical mass had been reached. Itwas an illusion, but it was an extraordinary illusion to be in themiddle of." Williams and others have said that musically, thefestival was a disappointment. (Jerry Garcia let Williams crash inhis hotel room, but that didn't stop the critic from noting that theGrateful Dead played horribly.)

Many of the other major acts - including Janis Joplin, the Band,and Hendrix - complained that their performances were ruined by stagemonitors that didn't work and helicopters that drowned out the music.

Robbie Robertson told biographer Barney Hoskyns that, "As amusical experience for the Band, we were like orphans in the storm."

The show was also an organizational disaster. Michael Lang andhis co-promoters were unprepared for the half-million people whoshowed up. (They expected 200,000.) Control broke down early on and,much to their chagrin, the fences were torn down. Ordeal for concertgoers

"There were water-main breaks and an increasing need for moredoctors and helicopters," Lang wrote in Woodstock FestivalRemembered. "Most people didn't know that there was a National Guardplatoon standing by in Albany with helicopters in case the crowd gotout of hand, but they saw that the plan was not feasible."

A highlight of the epic film "Woodstock" was promoter BillGraham offering his solution: digging trenches around the site,filling them with oil and setting them on fire to keep out those whodidn't have tickets. (That plan wasn't feasible, either.)

Time after time, those interviewed in Michael Wadleigh'sOscar-winning documentary talk about the traffic shutting down theNew York State Thruway, as if that accomplishment was on a par withstopping the war in Vietnam.

These days, traffic jams are something to be avoided. Lang andthe other promoters of Woodstock '94 have actually gotten theauthorities - the Man! - to close several exits on the Thruway.Concertgoers will park miles away and be bused to the site.

In 1969, New York State officials declared Sullivan County adisaster area, and the Army was called in to help feed the masses ofhungry, wet music lovers.

In 1994, the Fine Host corporation is manning 900 food boothsunder an exclusive agreement with Woodstock Ventures. There areplans for several hundred automatic teller machines on the site, butcash will only be good for buying special script that can then beexchanged for food, water, souvenir T-shirts or Haagen-Dazs, theofficial ice cream of Woodstock '94.

This time, 12 miles of secure fencing ring the concert site, andit won't be coming down.

The differences between the first concert and the 25thanniversary are more than just ironic examples of the times they area-changin'. They get to the heart of why we remember the original atall.

Idealists talk about the festival proving to the world that500,000 young people united by music could form a community - a cityof their own - that could function in peace and harmony even in theface of hunger, rain and a lack of portable toilets.

There was one death at Woodstock but, yin and yang, there wasalso one birth.

But the optimism spawned at Yasgur's farm was short-lived. Onlyfour months afterward, the Rolling Stones' free festival at AltamontSpeedway in California ended in violence because of similarly poorplanning and lax security. More lucky than good

Lang and his fellow promoters had simply been lucky.

Twenty-five years later, we remember Lang's Aquarian Expositionnot because it was bigger than Altamont or Monterey Pop or any of theother music festivals before or since. We remember it because of themedia coverage.

The festival was the first time the media covered youth cultureas more than just a novelty, like bobby-soxers fainting at the sightof Elvis or the Beatles. The passion inspired by those artists couldbe dismissed as teen hysteria, and the demonstrations in Chicago in1968 could be attributed to the instigation of a small but vocalgroup of radicals.

But reporters had to take Woodstock seriously. It shut down theThruway!

"It was an extraordinary event and the media picked up on it,"Williams said. "After that, it was over-hype."

The media didn't necessarily get the facts right. Remember: It was the press that substituted the now-ubiquitous "Woodstock" forthe festival's actual title.

Nevertheless, America stared in awe at the colorful picturestransmitted from Yasgur's farm. And what it saw was a generationripe for marketing.

The recurring comment by Sullivan County residents in Wadleigh'sfilm is that those weird-looking young people were actually verynormal and polite - and they were great for the local economy.

Within months of the '69 festival, there were Woodstock-likecommercials featuring throngs of young people holding hands, teachingthe world to sing and drinking Coca-Cola. Now, Pepsi ismanufacturing commemorative Woodstock Cola.

After Woodstock and Altamont, outdoor concerts became anindustry. Twenty-five years later, people paid $118 to see theEagles at the World Music Theatre in Tinley Park.

In 1969, Lang sold the film rights for the festival to WarnerBros. for $150,000. (The company went on to make $35 million on themovie.) Big profits

This time, the promoter is retaining a piece of the $135 ticket,the $49 pay-per-view cable special, the PolyGram CD and the proposedmovie, and he hopes to spin off a line of Woodstock clothing and achain of restaurants to rival the Hard Rock Cafe.

"Back in the 1960s, there was some small sphere of our livesthat was still outside the marketplace, and that's what Woodstock wasall about," said Sut Jhally, professor of communications at theUniversity of Massachusetts at Amherst. "But the marketplace seemsto have triumphed over everything, including Woodstock."

Sorry, but this is just nostalgic baby boomer myopia.Commercial concerns don't necessarily detract from music or communalexperiences. Witness Lollapalooza.

The lesson of Woodstock is that marketing, media, youth cultureand rock 'n' roll are inextricably linked. And they were even in theAge of Aquarius.

Contributing: The Los Angeles Times

Pugslee Atomz fills post-Nacrobats vacuum

MF Doom, gunkhole, Pugslee Atomz with Intel

and drawings created live by comic book artists Jim Mahfood, JoseGaribaldi, Dave Crosland and Mike Biance

*11 p.m. Saturday

*Metro, 3730 N. Clark

*Tickets, $17 (18-over show)

*(773) 549-0203

For a decade, Chicago rapper Pugslee Atomz was synonymous with theNacrobats, a hip-hop collective with a constantly shifting rosterthat would flux in numbers from dozens to few.

Last year, the Nacrobats disintegrated.

"It felt kind of weird at first because I was so used to thinkingabout a group of people," Pugslee says. "Everything would revolvearound making the group known, not just Pugslee and some people. It'sbeen kind of wild to be like, 'Practice! Oh, I can practice.' Becausenow all I need to practice is myself and [DJ] Intel. It's been a loteasier and there is more time to focus on my ideas."

Atomz has taken advantage of this freedom by putting together anew CD, becoming a television host and continuing his work on radio.

Later this month, Chicago-based Audio 8 Recordings will releasehis latest solo CD, "Playing with Matches," which chronicles theChicago graffiti scene of the early 1990s.

"I'm painting a picture of the everyday life of a graffiti writer,the trials and tribulations," he says. "It's kind of similar to how50 Cent is to gangster culture. I'm giving the inside scoop andtalking about how [graffiti] brings you to all of the hip-hopelements."

Atomz says he was inspired to do the project because he's seen asplintering in the hip-hop culture between the elements of DJ-ing,break dancing, MC-ing and graffiti writing.

"When I was a kid, everything went hand-in-hand. If you didgraffiti, you were into rhyming," he says. "Now everything is gettingbigger and there is corporate money. If they are giving money for DJbattles, some people might think it's not important anymore to lookat the other stuff. I had to bring it all back together."

Saturday's show at Metro is a pulling together of differentelements in its own right as Chicago hip-hop merges with the comicbook world of this weekend's Wizard World Chicago convention.

"It will be wild," Atomz says. "There will be classic guys like MFDoom [KMD, Madvillain] doing their thing onstage, while guys like JimMahfood [40 oz. Comics] are doing sketches live onstage and in thebalcony."

But Atomz isn't only focusing on his rhyme book. He recentlybecame host of "Barbershop Hip Hop," a Chicago cable-access programthat places a spotlight on local hip-hop and hip-hop artists who areplaying in Chicago.

Atomz says the creator of the show, Slim the Barber, asked him tocome on board as the host.

"I studied video in college and loved it," Atomz says. "So far,the reaction to the show has been really good."

Shot at the Model Barbershop at 3452 W. Irving Park, the nextepisode of the show airs on Saturday at 11:30 p.m. on Channel 19 inChicago. All episodes also can be seen online atwww.barbershophiphop.com.

His foray into TV hasn't interrupted Atomz's job as co-host of"CTA Radio" every Wednesday night from 9 p.m. to midnight on WHPK-FM(88.5). Atomz, Thaione Davis, DJ Verve and Cosmo Galactus take to theairwaves each week to promote fresh Chicago hip-hop.

"It's become a staple in South Side hip-hop," Atomz says. "We havea pretty open-door policy in terms of letting people get heard andget some feedback and criticism." Artists who would like to havetheir music played on the show can e-mail Atomz at ctaradio@hotmail.com.

Despite all of his new and continued work, Atomz has not ruled outreviving the Nacrobats name with new projects.

"There probably will be [a new Nacrobats], because it seems liketurnover in the roster has gone in two-year spurts since 1993," Atomzsays. "But I think it will be more like the traditional albums I usedto do, where it will just be a compilation of artists I like."

David Jakubiak is a local free-lance writer.

Readers defend Reinsdorf, Diamond in religion flap

Dear Zazz: I read your column about Jewish people who were madthat Neil Diamond gave a concert in Chicago on the Jewish New Year.One reader said United Center co-owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who isJewish, was forsaking his religion just to earn money from theconcert.

This is not the first time Reinsdorf has been attacked on aJewish issue. Enclosed is a column by Joseph Aaron of the ChicagoJewish News - and my response.

KEN COOPER, ChicagoDear Ken: Thanks for sending me Aaron's column. I also thoughtAaron was off base.His column was written last summer, when Bulls owner Reinsdorfwas in contract negotiations with Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman andcoach Phil Jackson. In essence, Aaron wrote that if Reinsdorf didn'tsign these players and their coach to the contracts they sought, "thepotential for anti-Semitism is enormous." Aaron believed that ifReinsdorf let any of his stars go, Chicagoans would be angry at himfor being a "cheap Jew."Aaron wrote that because Reinsdorf has called himself "just afat Jewish kid from Brooklyn," he must realize "that to be a publicJew is to be a spokesman for, and a representative of, the Jewishpeople."Your response, Ken, is on target. You wrote: "Should everyJewish businessman operate on the premise that if he tries to make aprofit, he'll be labeled?" Of course not.As I see it, a businessman such as Reinsdorf has to actaccording to a sense of fair play. He shouldn't throw his moneyaround, be a hostage to employees' demands, and purposely make badbusiness decisions just so anti-Semitic critics won't call him acheap Jew.Of course, as it happened, Reinsdorf came to terms with Jordan,Rodman and Jackson. If he hadn't, many Chicagoans might have hatedhim. But my bet is that few of them would have focused on hisreligion. Aaron's comments were misguided.Dear Zazz: I never thought I'd defend Reinsdorf, but kudos tohim for not backing down.Neil Diamond is entitled to perform any time he chooses. I'veworked on Christmas. I wouldn't want anyone telling me that I can'twork Dec. 25 merely because I'm Catholic.Also, don't non-Jews also have the right to see Diamond perform?Maybe that's the only date he could get to Chicago, and he decided tosacrifice his holiday for the good of his fans.M.O.Dear Zazz: It was OK by me that Diamond performed on RoshHashanah. It seems a lot of his Jewish fans didn't go, and for thefirst time in a long time, I was able to get decent seats for hisshow.SAT UP CLOSEDear Zazz: As a practicing Roman Catholic, I do not have theright to judge the actions of other Catholics - that's God's job. Noone should accuse you of betraying your religion if you observe aholy day according to your conscience.L.S.Dear Zazz: I don't hear Christians complaining that there areconcerts scheduled, or that the NFL plays football on the day Jesuswas born. No one complains that the NBA plays on Easter.If Neil Diamond wants to perform on a Jewish holiday, that's hisbusiness.NOT OFFENDEDDear Zazz: As it was said by a great religious leader, whosename is so often intoned when people stub their toes, "Let he who iswithout sin cast the first stone."F.M.Write Zazz, Box 3455, Chicago 60654.

US January construction drops 0.7 pct to near decade-low as activity falls for second month

WASHINGTON (AP) — US January construction drops 0.7 pct to near decade-low as activity falls for second month.

Mexico, Maya Rebel Leaders Discuss New Round of Talks

SAN MIGUEL Maya guerrilla leaders and Mexican governmentofficials met in a jungle village Sunday to resume talks aimed atending a 15-month-old rebellion in the southern state of Chiapas.

The government said three senior Interior Ministry officialsand eight envoys of the Zapatista National Liberation Army opened themeeting before midday in San Miguel, a village on the edge of theLacandon Jungle, to discuss the site and agenda for full-scale peacenegotiations.

The Zapatistas, mostly Maya peasants, took up arms on NewYear's Day, 1994, to demand greater democracy and indigenous rights.

It was not immediately clear if the rebel leader SubcomandanteMarcos was at the meeting, which was the first between the two sidessince President Ernesto Zedillo ordered thousands of troops into thejungle two months ago in an unsuccessful attempt to capture Marcos.

During that offensive, army troops seized dozens of rebel-heldvillages, but Marcos escaped deeper into the jungle with his troops.Zedillo quickly suspended the arrest order in a bid to draw rebelleaders back to the negotiating table.

Sunday's meeting was expected to last several hours.

Red Cross officials and non-governmental civilian groups weredeployed in San Miguel to escort the rebel envoys to and from themeeting and prevent any clash between the Zapatistas and army troopsin the area.

The last round of formal peace talks broke down in March, 1994,and both sides have so far failed to agree on an agenda, with theZapatistas demanding national democratic reforms and the governmentseeking to limit the scope of talks to conditions inside Chiapas.

The village of San Miguel is a former guerrilla strongholdwhich, unlike virtually all others in the region, was not seized bythe army in February. The village's men fled when army troops sweptthrough rebel territory, but their families stayed behind underprotection of the International Red Cross.

San Miguel lies on the edge of the jungle about 20 milessoutheast of Ocosingo, which saw the heaviest fighting in the firstdays of the rebellion.

At least 150 people were killed in those early days, but therehas been virtually no fighting since then.

Impact of shuttle's loss reverberates worldwide

Onlookers view a piece of debris believed to be from the spaceshuttle Columbia today in a parking lot near downtown Nacogdoches,Texas.

Budget Israel

BUDGET ISRAEL

Looking for a meaningful '99 summer in Israel?

Would you believe programs for under $1,600?

THE GOAL: Spend the summer in Israel.

THE AGE PROFILE: Twenty-something.

THE PROBLEM: Didn't plan ahead, don't have much cash.

THE CHALLENGE: Find a meaningful Israel summer program for under $1,600, including air fare.

THE RESULTS: Surprisingly, it can be done, even as you read this newspaper.

It's far away and it's costly, and the vast majority of American Jews have never been there, yet it's Israel -- and almost anyone will tell you that an experience there can have a powerful impact on a Jewish life.

With that in mind, and recalling that college-agers are notoriously blase when it comes to planning ahead, the Jewish Star set out to determine whether it's still possible to enjoy a meaningful program in Israel this summer on a low budget.

We waded through websites, we saw brochures, we noted the hundreds of different programs available, and from that effort came up with a few suggestions on how to make an Israel experience a reality, even on such short notice. They are not the only possibilities, nor necessarily the best ones, but they do demonstrate some of the options.

HOW TO START: It's hard not to despair sometimes about the vacuity of the World Wide Web, but when it comes to planning a trip to Israel there's no doubt that this vast virtual realm is the first reservoir into which to dunk your toe.

It's easy, it's quick, and you frequently get information presented in a lively format. At the better websites, you can even apply online, or e-mail a question.

The problem is that the Web makes available so much information that sifting through it can be tedious and frustrating. You could begin with the shotgun approach of aiming your computer's browser to general resources like Yahoo.com, Lycos.com, Maven.co.il, or even www.campcorner.com.

A targeted approach, however, is more efficient (and for parents produces fewer grey hairs).

Go to the surprisingly useful site run by the Jerusalem Post, the English-language daily newspaper (www.jpost.co.il/Info/Education).

Here you'll find brief descriptions of 26 study opportunities in Israel, with links to a group's website.

There aren't as many programs listed here as there are at the Israel Experience website (where they give 278 programs; www.israelexperience.org/ie_new/planning/viewallprogs.asp), but the good thing about the Jerusalem Post website is that it offers a brief overview of each program, and its web links are up-to-date (that is not the case for the Jewish/Israel Traveler, http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~jsu/travel.html).

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: What you get out of a trip to Israel depends on what you're looking for, what you put into it, and a host of other factors.

The bottom line is that there's no doubt that quality programs are still available at unbelievable prices.

Those which most successfully combine quality and low cost are undoubtedly the yeshiva summer programs.

For example Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem has a JLE (Jewish Learning Exchange) Israel Experience beginning in June and ending in August for college-age and professional men with little or no Jewish background to explore their heritage through study and travel in the Land of Israel. It also has a great website.

COST: $1,499 (includes round trip airfare, room and board, tuition, touring), but students are invited to apply for scholarships which can reduce that to $599 (or even lower for college students who live or study in the Chicago area).

The yeshiva's North American office can be reached at 800-431-2272.

A yeshiva that offers separate summer programs for men and women is Mayanot Institute of Jewish Studies, located in downtown Jerusalem. The program begins the end of June and runs to early August.

COST: $499 plus airfare. Scholarships are available.

The program attracts young men and women from a variety of educational backgrounds and differing levels of observance, offering the study of classic Jewish texts, Jewish history and thought, special lectures and tours.

The Mayanot North American office can be reached toll-free at 888-629-2668.

Aish HaTorah, located right across from the Western Wall, offers study programs for men and women from a variety of back-grounds.

COST: As low as $1450, airfare included, for the Jerusalem Fellowships program that runs July 12-Aug. 8. Numerous other summer programs are also available, and costs can go as low as airfare only.

For more information call 800-FELLOWS.

The yeshivot all offer a variety of full-year study programs, and some can be joined for part of the year. Scholarships are available. Mayanot is offering a tuition-free year of study for selected students, beginning in Sept. It is an accredited institution, so college credit may be available.

For those more interested in work than study, a program to check out is Volunteers for Israel.

Participants spend three weeks on a military base, living and working side-by-side with Israeli soldiers in maintenance jobs.

Volunteers are free for Shabbat, generally have one organized day-trip a week and several evenings a week hear lectures on contemporary Israel.

The program, which operates year-round, attracts a wide age range, but during the summer most volunteers are young people.

COST: There is no charge for the program itself. Participants pay a registration fee of $100, plus the airfare, which this summer is around $1200 from Chicago. Youth fares are also available. Summer departure dates are July 12 and Aug. 9.

This is a program that attracts repeat participation. Pamela Lazarus, president of the local Volunteers for Israel group, leaves next month for her fourth time as a participant. Her daughter, 22, is currently with the program for her second time.

Aside from its affordability, Lazarus says the appeal of the program is that it is "a chance to actually experience Israeli life."

The local Volunteers for Israel office can be reached at 847-677-3817.

Livnot U'lehibanot -- the cumbersome name means "to build and be built" -- offers two to three-week summer programs starting at $600, six-week programs starting at $1,000 and 10 weeks at $1,500, with scholarships available. Airfare is additional.

The short programs this summer begin July 5, Aug. 2 and Aug. 30.

The program is located in Jerusalem and Tsfat, and combines study with restoration and building work. It is geared to those with little Jewish background.

Once the most popular way to visit Israel at very little cost was to volunteer on a kibbutz. Now, many of the kibbutzim no longer accept volunteers and the communal way of life itself has changed drastically since the settlements were established.

Nonetheless it is still possible to spend time on a kibbutz, on programs run by the Kibbutz Program Center.

One of these, the "Volunteer Plus", is for ages 18-25 and runs for five weeks, starting July 20. Participants work a full day on the kibbutz, six days a week, in exchange for room and board.

COST: $400, plus airfare.

Another kibbutz program, for ages 18-28, combines work with studying Hebrew and some touring. It begins July 11 and goes for six weeks.

COST: $870 plus airfare.

Information is available by calling 800-247-7852.

CAVEAT: While it is still possible to spend time in Israel this summer at a reatively low cost, it is clear that planning ahead has obvious advantages.

For one thing, scholarship money is depleted or gone in many cases.

The WUJS summer semester program, for example, at a cost of $800 plus airfare, is above our $1,600 limit. While space is still available on this program, which is based in the Negev town of Arad, it is too late to apply for financial assistance.

Planning would allow for participation at many of the Israel programs accessible through the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. Need-based scholarships are offered, and must be applied for well ahead of time.

For information call the Federation at (312) 444-2895.

Finally, the greatest portion of the cost of many of the programs is the airfare. Group fares are available, but summer is peak travel time. Joining a program that begins before or after the summer months can reduce the costs.

Early on in the NBA finals, Del Harris was asked if this could... [Derived headline]

DALLAS -- Early on in the NBA finals, Del Harris was asked ifthis could be the first of many trips for the Dallas Mavericks.

Harris hesitated -- probably because he was the wrong guy to ask.

Harris, you see, remembers making his first appearance in thefinals as a coach and figuring that a return would follow shortly.

That was 25 years ago.

Often a victim of bad luck and worse timing, Harris didn't getback until this season as an assistant under Avery Johnson. TheMavericks trailed the Miami Heat 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Tuesdaynight.

"We're not sure we'll ever get back again," Harris said. "We wantto make the most of it. We've seen these windows close for whateverreason."

Shaquille O'Neal and Moses Malone are among the dominant big menwho played under the 69-year-old Harris. Still, he found thatgetting back to the finals was harder than he imagined.

Even Pat Riley eventually learned that lesson.

When he began his coaching career with the Lakers in the early1980s, Riley quickly came to expect he would be playing games deepinto June. Things came so easily, that he once guaranteed a repeattitle at one of the Lakers' victory parades.

Then he left and realized how good he had it. He managed one moretrip during all those seasons coaching the New York Knicks and hisfirst stint in charge of the Heat, when there was no Magic Johnsonor Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to throw the ball to when times got tough.

"My first nine years, I got a spot of a lot of games, a lot ofchampionships; seven finals in nine years," Riley said. "So to me,it seemed like it was automatic. Then after I left L.A., I realizedhow hard it was to get there.

"You've got to have great players, you've got to have a greatorganization, and you've got to have a lot of luck. This year, weput together a real good team with some great players. We've hadsome luck along the way, and here we are, we have an opportunity towin one. But I understand what (Harris) is saying. It's not easy toget back."

Riley's team includes Alonzo Mourning and Gary Payton, gold-medal winners who are near the end of careers that have seen themwin plenty of individual awards but no NBA championship rings.

But their wait doesn't compare to the one Harris endured.

He led the Houston Rockets to the 1981 NBA finals, where theylost to the Boston Celtics. He eventually moved on to Milwaukee,first as Don Nelson's assistant and then as the head coach for alittle more than four seasons. The Bucks won plenty of games, butthere was always someone better standing in their way.

The Bucks of the '80s had to go through the powerful Boston andPhiladelphia teams just to make it out of the Eastern Conference,and by the early '90s the Detroit Pistons and Michael Jordan's Bullswere on top.

He thought he had a great chance in Los Angeles, where he wonmore than 50 games three times as the first coach charged withmaking the O'Neal-Kobe Bryant partnership work.

"I had a great young team, and it was the team that ended upwinning three championships, but I just had them a little early,"Harris said.

As good as O'Neal and Bryant were, the real dominant duo in theWest in the mid-'90s was John Stockton and Karl Malone in Utah. TheLakers won 56 games in 1996-97 and 61 the next season, but wereknocked out by the Jazz in both seasons.

The second one was the real killer for Harris. With O'Neal outfor nearly a quarter of the season with an injury, the Lakersfinished just behind the Jazz for the best record in the West andhome-court advantage.

"Now if Shaq hadn't missed 21 games, I think we would have hadthe best record in the league and things might have been different,"Harris said.

He was fired early in the next season, and the Lakers startedtheir run of three straight titles under Phil Jackson the nextseason.

So when the long-awaited second chance finally arrived, Harrisknew there was an urgency to take advantage of it.

"I'm hoping we can win this one," Harris said, "because I don'tthink I can go another 25 years to get to the next one."

Early on in the NBA finals, Del Harris was asked if this could... [Derived headline]

DALLAS -- Early on in the NBA finals, Del Harris was asked ifthis could be the first of many trips for the Dallas Mavericks.

Harris hesitated -- probably because he was the wrong guy to ask.

Harris, you see, remembers making his first appearance in thefinals as a coach and figuring that a return would follow shortly.

That was 25 years ago.

Often a victim of bad luck and worse timing, Harris didn't getback until this season as an assistant under Avery Johnson. TheMavericks trailed the Miami Heat 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Tuesdaynight.

"We're not sure we'll ever get back again," Harris said. "We wantto make the most of it. We've seen these windows close for whateverreason."

Shaquille O'Neal and Moses Malone are among the dominant big menwho played under the 69-year-old Harris. Still, he found thatgetting back to the finals was harder than he imagined.

Even Pat Riley eventually learned that lesson.

When he began his coaching career with the Lakers in the early1980s, Riley quickly came to expect he would be playing games deepinto June. Things came so easily, that he once guaranteed a repeattitle at one of the Lakers' victory parades.

Then he left and realized how good he had it. He managed one moretrip during all those seasons coaching the New York Knicks and hisfirst stint in charge of the Heat, when there was no Magic Johnsonor Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to throw the ball to when times got tough.

"My first nine years, I got a spot of a lot of games, a lot ofchampionships; seven finals in nine years," Riley said. "So to me,it seemed like it was automatic. Then after I left L.A., I realizedhow hard it was to get there.

"You've got to have great players, you've got to have a greatorganization, and you've got to have a lot of luck. This year, weput together a real good team with some great players. We've hadsome luck along the way, and here we are, we have an opportunity towin one. But I understand what (Harris) is saying. It's not easy toget back."

Riley's team includes Alonzo Mourning and Gary Payton, gold-medal winners who are near the end of careers that have seen themwin plenty of individual awards but no NBA championship rings.

But their wait doesn't compare to the one Harris endured.

He led the Houston Rockets to the 1981 NBA finals, where theylost to the Boston Celtics. He eventually moved on to Milwaukee,first as Don Nelson's assistant and then as the head coach for alittle more than four seasons. The Bucks won plenty of games, butthere was always someone better standing in their way.

The Bucks of the '80s had to go through the powerful Boston andPhiladelphia teams just to make it out of the Eastern Conference,and by the early '90s the Detroit Pistons and Michael Jordan's Bullswere on top.

He thought he had a great chance in Los Angeles, where he wonmore than 50 games three times as the first coach charged withmaking the O'Neal-Kobe Bryant partnership work.

"I had a great young team, and it was the team that ended upwinning three championships, but I just had them a little early,"Harris said.

As good as O'Neal and Bryant were, the real dominant duo in theWest in the mid-'90s was John Stockton and Karl Malone in Utah. TheLakers won 56 games in 1996-97 and 61 the next season, but wereknocked out by the Jazz in both seasons.

The second one was the real killer for Harris. With O'Neal outfor nearly a quarter of the season with an injury, the Lakersfinished just behind the Jazz for the best record in the West andhome-court advantage.

"Now if Shaq hadn't missed 21 games, I think we would have hadthe best record in the league and things might have been different,"Harris said.

He was fired early in the next season, and the Lakers startedtheir run of three straight titles under Phil Jackson the nextseason.

So when the long-awaited second chance finally arrived, Harrisknew there was an urgency to take advantage of it.

"I'm hoping we can win this one," Harris said, "because I don'tthink I can go another 25 years to get to the next one."

CHEERS TO YOUR HEART

Because eating fish and drinking wine have similar heart-healthy effects, researchers conducted a study, published in the American Heart Journal, to determine if these substances might be working together. Half of the 353 men participating in the study were instructed to eat a Mediterranean-style diet, which is naturally rich in the omega-3 fatty acid ALA (alpha-linolenic acid). The body is able to convert some ALA to EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid)-the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish. The other half ate a typical Western-style diet. Both groups included fish. The men were then divided into four groups based on alcohol (mostly wine) intake. After 15 months, ornega-3 fatty acid levels were higher in men on the Mediterranean-style diet, and alcohol drinkers from both diet groups had higher levels than nondrinkers. Mediterranean-style dieters who were also regular wine drinkers had the highest levels. Researchers concluded that alcohol-particularly wine-might help to convert ALA into EPA and DHA.

`Crown of iron' gives downtown unique identity

Bruce Lord, who owns an office building at 228 S. Wabash, has acommanding view of the Loop L. That's fine with him, except for onething.

"It'd be nice if they could put rubber tires on the cars toreduce the noise a little," he said.

Down at street level, a French artist stood among the L'sshadows. Artistry showed in his description of the scene: "The skyis of iron and perpetually growls a rolling thunder."Same sentiment - but with nearly a century separating them.Lord spoke in 1997. The artist wrote his observations shortly afterthe L opened downtown in 1897.Chicago's downtown had about a 60-year head start before the Larrived, but the two have grown up together. The L carries in itsdaily bumps and grinds attributes that have shaped the city'sbusiness core, mostly for the better.Start with the noise. Walk the streets below the L today, andyou get more of an "old Chicago" feeling. Stores and offices crowdthe vision. Many of the buildings are older, but even newer onesencourage street life.The L lowers rents right next door. Landlords have to dosomething because of the din, so they rent to single-store retailersand other small firms."The L really introduced a diversity to downtown, and it'shelped downtown retain diversity over the years," said Perry Duis, anassociate professor of history at the University of Illinois atChicago.An example is South Wabash, with its longtime concentration ofmusic businesses, said John McDonald, UIC economics professor."My great-grandfather was a concert pianist, and he had hisstudio on South Wabash," McDonald said. "That's where you'd have ittoday."The diversity hasn't always been so positive, said real estateconsultant Jared Shlaes, who recalled that when he started in thebusiness in 1954, buildings along Lake Street looked like dumps. Atother times, the retail row along Wabash Avenue has appeared haggard,and Van Buren Street once was known for flophouses.Chicago's downtown would be where it is without the L, but theiron crown gave it a boost early on by certifying it as the place tobe.McDonald said the L focused and intensified the demand forbusiness real estate in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Commercial and industrial uses spread across land that had beenresidential. People didn't mind moving farther out because the Lmade it easier to get to work.To illustrate the trend, McDonald noted that populationdensities in and near the Loop doubled between 1870 and 1900 butdeclined after 1910.The trend has been arrested lately as the Loop and adjacentstreets have become more popular places to live. Developers havebought outdated office buildings and warehouses and peddled the spaceto people who prefer the city's action to the suburbs' slumber.The L contributed to an office construction boom from about 1900to 1915, the greatest in the city until the speculative 1980s.The L never was beautiful, strictly speaking, but it sported anintricate "built-up" steel construction that many appreciated eventhen. Angled steel was riveted to flat steel, which was riveted toeven more steel to make massive structural members. Then the wholepiece was braced even more.To last another 100 years, all the L really needs now is routinemaintenance, on which the CTA spends $100,000 to $200,000 a year.Rail ties of creosote pine last about 20 years, and rails last up to50 years, except at stations, where the braking of trains wears themdown in as little as a decade. Every seven years, it gets a $7million paint job.Before expressways influenced development patterns, transitlines were a premier force. Their role still can be seen in today'sdowntown market, where the most leasing and new construction aregoing on near the two Metra stations in the West Loop.The Loop has had its hard times, but a strong economy, a surgein tourism and more housing throughout central Chicago have helped itrebound. So has the access the L continues to provide, a conveniencethat Schaumburg and Naperville envy.The L has been called "a steel girdle" for Chicago's businesscommunity, a view now out of date. Our whole notion of whatconstitutes downtown has been changed by the expansion of commercefar beyond the L's limits. Listen to people talk about "goingdowntown," and they could be referring to everything from the LincolnPark Zoo to McCormick Place.Now the L is more like a necklace complementing the city'seconomy. Tear it down and life would go on, but something oftangible and sentimental value would be missing."The L is Chicago," said Duis. "It creates a sound and a feelthat is Chicago."

Sports on TV, radio

Friday TV

CYCLING

Tour De France Stage 18, VS., 6:30 a.m.

GOLF

PGA: Canadian Open, GOLF, 1 p.m.

LPGA: Evian Masters, GOLF, 4:30 …

Ammonia system fix.

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This project won the 2009 Milton W. Garland Commemorative Refrigeration Award for Project Excellence, which is presented by ASHRAE's Refrigeration Committee to recognize the designer and owner of a non-comfort cooling refrigeration application that highlights innovation and/or new technologies.

When temporarily fixing a refrigerant leak is cheaper than permanently repairing the leak, a problem can last for a long time. In this case, at a brewery run by the San Miguel Corporation in the Philippines, the problem lasted for nearly a decade at a cumulative cost of $648,000 for the monthly charging of the tanks with refrigerant.

The problem began in 1989 when an expansion project at the brewery called for the installation of 12 jacketed beer fermenter/ storage steel cylindro-conical tanks (CCT), each measuring at least 8 m (26 ft) (diameter) by 20 m (66 ft) (height). Each tank was enveloped with a metal jacket where ammonia flows continuously to maintain a -7 [degrees]C (19.4 [degrees]F) …

CARDS DEAL A HAND OF POP CULTURE.(ARTS & ENTERTA)

Byline: LUKAS I. ALPERT Associated Press

The pacesetters of pop culture rarely emerge from the Department of Defense, where the search for weapons of mass destruction isn't outstripped by the hunt for the next mood ring.

When it came to Iraq's ``Most Wanted'' playing cards, though, the military wonks were way ahead of the pack.

Since the now-famous decks of cards were handed out to troops last year, political lampoonists from both sides of the aisle have anted up with decks of their own.

In the great poker match of political novelty items, humorists, companies and Web sites are peddling more than a half-dozen decks, taking swipes at usual …

Wylie dump trailer.(PRODUCT SHOWCASE: Trailers)

Wylie's new dump trailer can carry a skid steer to a jobsite, be loaded with soil, rocks or other materials and hydraulically dump those materials where needed.

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* Can be towed behind any 3/4-ton or larger truck

* Heavy-duty frame is …

Grain futures trade mixed, livestock prices rise

CHICAGO (AP) — Grains futures traded mixed Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Wheat for July delivery slid 4.5 cents to $8.10 a bushel; July corn fell 2 cents to $7.435 a bushel; July oats added 3 cents to $3.81 a bushel; while July soybeans dipped 0.75 cent to $13.84 a …