Metro BRIEFINGS

SEX LASTS: Couples over 60 may get more out of their lovemaking, astudy suggests. It says that more than 1 in 3 married couples inthat age group have sex at least once a week and 16 percent make loveseveral times a week. Moreover, the older couples talk to oneanother and play at romance more. Stories on Pages 1 and 28. SCHOOL BOARD BATTLE: Albert N. Logan, a member of the Chicago Boardof Education since 1990, criticized the School Finance Authority'sinterference with the board Tuesday and threatened to quit. "I amunwilling to be on a board that doesn't have authority to makedecisions," Logan said in a letter to Mayor Daley. Story on Page12. LONG LIFE STORY: Arthur Lang did more, …

Obama confers with leaders of Britain, France

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and his British and French counterparts want Libya to comply immediately with a U.N. Security Council resolution that creates a no-fly zone to protect civilians from attacks by Moammar Gadhafi's forces.

The White House says Obama telephoned British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy Thursday evening after …

AP Interview: IOC close to new sponsorship deals

The International Olympic Committee is close to finalizing deals with new global sponsors for the 2012 London Games.

IOC marketing commission chairman Gerhard Heiberg told The Associated Press that he hopes to wrap up the negotiations in Vancouver at next month's Winter Games.

"We are still speaking to several companies, and we will speak to them just before the games in Vancouver," Heiberg said in a telephone interview. "We are in good communication with some possible sponsors. We are still talking. We are close. We need to finalize."

The IOC currently has nine companies in its top-tier TOP sponsorship program for the …

Heart ailment sends Bradley to hospital

WASHINGTON Bill Bradley suspended his presidential campaign tripin California on Friday because of an irregular heartbeat andrevealed in the process that he has been treated for this conditionsince 1996.

After a morning appearance in Sacramento, Bradley, 56, called offa press conference at the Berkeley Marina, across the bay from SanFrancisco, to seek treatment for atrial fibrillation.

The former New Jersey senator and basketball star was taken toSequoia Hospital near Palo Alto. But his condition had returned tonormal, and he was not treated at the hospital.

"It's more inconvenience than a problem," Bradley campaignspokesman Eric Hauser said.

"I would …

IDIOTIC, ENDEARING AND UNDERCOVER: Undercover Brother

Far exceeding my lowly expectations, the idiotic, yet endearing Undercover Brother unleashes its farcical humor with a reckless abandon that is, at times, infectious and oddly rewarding. Both spoofing and endorsing the Blaxploitation films from the '70s, Undercover Brother begins with a voiceover about how Black culture went through an upswing during the late '60s and then hit a sharp downturn during the '80s and '90s--a downturn evidenced through images of people like Urkel. Combating this decline, though, is our titular hero (played by Eddie Griffin). Looking as if he comes from another era (Griffin might well have stepped out of a re-run of Soul Train with his platform shoes, huge afro …

China's CNOOC says 1H net profit up 89 pct

CNOOC Ltd., China's largest offshore oil and gas producer by capacity, said Wednesday that its net profit jumped 89 percent in January-June thanks to higher output and surging oil prices.

The Beijing-based company, the only one of China's three major state-owned oil companies that does not have a significant refining business, said net profit in the first half of the year was 27.5 billion yuan (US$4 billion), up from 14.6 billion yuan in the same period of 2007.

"Benefiting from high oil prices and effective cost control, the companys net profit for the first half of the year increased significantly," CNOOC's chairman Fu Chengyu said in a …

KANAWHA COUNTY COMMISSION: ; Attorney wants dog law to be made more specific

A local attorney is asking the Kanawha County Commission toconsider revising the language in its newly approved animalordinance, criticizing some of the existing rules for being toovague.

Christopher S. Smith, an attorney with Hoyer, Hoyer and Smith,PLLC, said he was attending Thursday's commission meeting as a doglover and pet owner. He wanted to talk to commissioners about theordinance, which passed in August, and offer suggestions on how itcould be made more effective.

The ordinance, aimed at limiting how and for how long dog ownerscan keep their animals chained outdoors, hasn't taken effect yet. Itpassed with a six-month moratorium to give the county time …

Detection of Forces and Displacements along the Axial Direction in an Optical Trap

ABSTRACT

We present measurements of the forces on, and displacements of, an optically trapped bead along the propagation direction of the trapping laser beam (the axial direction). In a typical experimental configuration, the bead is trapped in an aqueous solution using an oil-immersion, high-numerical-aperture objective. This refractive index mismatch complicates axial calibrations due to both a shift of the trap center along the axial direction and spherical aberrations. In this work, a known DNA template was unzipped along the axial direction and its characteristic unzipping force-extension data were used to determine 1), the location of the trap center along the axial …

Diageo 1H profit up 16.6 percent

Diageo PLC, the world's largest producer and distributor of alcoholic drinks, said Thursday its profit for the last six months of 2008 rose 16.6 percent, but warned the impact of the global recession has intensified, clouding its earnings outlook.

The company reported a profit of 1.14 billion pounds ($1.63 billion), up from 975 billion pounds a year earlier, for the last half of the year, which is the first half of the company's fiscal year. Sales were up 18 percent to 6.7 billion pounds.

Diageo said the effects of the global economic downturn became more pronounced in November and December.

"Current economic trends indicate that consumer …

Marie Agnes Donovan

Marie Agnes Donovan, 77, of Wilmette, widow of Thomas J. Donovan,president of Cartan Travel, died Wednesday at her home after a longillness.

Survivors include two sons, John and Thomas; a …

Kids of Slain Ill. Woman Are Found Dead

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - Three young children were found dead Saturday, hours after a woman was charged with killing their pregnant mother and her fetus in a grisly attack in which her womb was cut open, authorities said.

The two boys, ages 7 and 2, and their 1-year-old sister were found together, the St. Clair County coroner's office said. The location of the bodies was not released.

The kids were last seen Monday with family friend Tiffany Hall, 24, now charged with first-degree murder in the death of their mother. Hall is also charged with intentional homicide of an unborn child, said St. Clair County State's Attorney Robert Haida.

The body of their mother, …

Myanmar ratifies ASEAN charter

Myanmar has ratified a proposed international charter that includes controversial human rights provisions, officials said Monday, a day after regional powers slammed the nation's ruling junta for extending opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's detention.

Myanmar's ratification of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations charter is to be formalized at a ceremony later Monday.

But question marks remain about whether Myanmar's junta, which has jailed hundreds of political dissidents, including Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, is willing to adhere to the principles of human rights and respect for rule of law enshrined in the charter.

It was also unclear …

A year in the life: Quest Center is "Cadillac" of support programs for certification candidates

A year in the life: Quest Center is `Cadillac' of support programs for certification candidates

No man, on a mountain or elsewhere, gets more out of anything than he puts into it.

Be great. Make others great.

Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay who--with Sir Edmund Hillary--became the first mountain climber to reach the top of Mount Everest

Two summers ago, 26 teachers began a yearlong climb to earn National Board certificates through the Chicago Teachers Union Quest Center. By July, 22 of them had completed applications. Now they are awaiting results that will arrive in November.

There's a good chance nearly all of them will succeed. The Quest Center's support program for National Board candidates--Nurturing Teacher Leadership--boasts a 93 percent success rate. Since the program was launched in 1997, 14 of 15 teachers have reached the summit.

Quest is widely regarded as the most effective local support program available for National Board Certification candidates. "They really are the Cadillac of most programs that I know of," says Nancy Schwartz, a regional liaison for the National Board. "It's very structured, and provides tremendous resources. It takes away the mystery of the process."

Indeed, the time commitment alone is intense. From September through March, candidates meet three hours every week, and six hours on the first Saturday of the month. Most sessions follow a strict regimen: 60 minutes of group discussion on a set topic related to teaching, then the rest of the time for smaller working groups to prepare portfolio entries.

The Quest Center's program is distinguished by its use of National Board-certified teachers as mentors and small-group facilitators. They read candidate entries and provide feedback, sharing their own experiences going through the process.

"National Board certification is not our major goal--it's actually our third goal," says program founder Lynn Cherkasky-Davis. Though she herself is not National Board-certified, she served on the organization's board of directors for six years. "Our main goal is to provide professional development. Our secondary goal is to grow teacher leaders."

A push to expand the Quest program has been tempered by concerns that the quality of support it offers candidates may suffer as a result. The challenge is "keeping the quality, growing the quality," says Cherkasky-Davis. Though the size of the candidate pool jumped from 10 in 2000 to 26 in 2001, Quest won't take more candidates than its pool of mentors and facilitators can nurture carefully.

Quest teaches teachers how to look at themselves critically and how to tailor instruction to individual student needs. Very few candidates know how to analyze their own teaching, Cherkasky-Davis notes. The yearlong program begins shortly before school starts.

For a week in August 2000, a group of 26 National Board candidates met at the Quest Center for the first time. Their first task: to select one of 19 National Board certificates to pursue. (An additional four certificates will be offered by 2003.)

Choosing is relatively simple for some. A high school English teacher, for instance, would apply for a certificate in Adolescence and Young Adulthood English Language Arts.

However, the process can get tricky for teachers who work with several grades or who teach more than one subject. National Board requires that more than half of a teacher's students fall into the ages covered by the certificate. A "middle childhood generalist" teaches students aged 7 to 12 years old; an "early adolescent generalist" works with 11- to 13-year-olds. Sixth-grade teachers would fall in either category.

In September, the group begins compiling their portfolios, which include six, 10- to 12-page personal essays on how to teach large and small groups, how to assess student progress and how to work collaboratively with colleagues and parents. Each essay must be supported by evidence--lesson plans, samples of student work, classroom videotapes--that proves candidates actually did what they say they did. (Beginning this fall, National Board has simplified portfolio requirements. Candidates are now required to write only four essays and provide supporting evidence.)

Quest candidates begin with the essays about collaborative work. Later they will move on to the more difficult essays: how to teach a large concept to a group of students with varying ability. Or how to use small groups to help students learn from one another. National Board requires candidates to submit a 20-minute unedited video with each of these essays.

A good 20-minute tape requires shooting hours of classroom footage in order to capture a teacher and class at their best. Oftentimes, an off-hand student comment caught on tape can doom an entire lesson. Jennifer Morrison had to scrap a tape of an otherwise spirited discussion in her English class because one boy's quiet aside--"I'm so bored"--was audible.

Despite the hassle, candidate John Nieciak is sold on taping. "[Video] helps you go back to that experience, assess and then respond to it," he says. "I've shared these videos with students, and they've seen things they'd like to do differently. Kids can do self-assessments, too."

On a Saturday morning in February, candidates are gathered in a sterile conference room to watch a short video on questioning techniques. Afterward, candidates will share their own classroom tapes with their peers and get feedback.

But first, candidate Suzanne Martinez, a technology teacher at Pasteur Elementary, has a few pointers. "When you copy the tape, crank up the volume on your VCR," she advises an upper-grade math teacher. National Board instructions warn that inaudible tapes will be disqualified.

Later that day, Lawrence Elementary science teacher Venita McDonald learns she made that very mistake. A group of candidates who, like McDonald, work with early adolescents, is watching her video of a physics lesson. On the tape, a small group of students is measuring how long it takes a ball bearing to travel through different configurations of plastic tubing.

"We have a loop here--is that going to change anything?" McDonald asks them on the tape. "Should we straighten it out?" Students lengthen the tube, but their comments are inaudible.

"[The students] looked like they were engaged, but you couldn't hear what they were saying," notes facilitator Jean Becker when the tape ends.

McDonald's tape is rejected, but she and the other candidates have a revelation--they've been doing most of the talking. "In those early videos, we were all up in front too much, doing too much of the talking," candidate John Stewart observes.

"[Students] have to do the talking," McDonald realizes.

They begin brainstorming ways that students can visually present what they've learned. "When they were doing data, I had a hard time hearing," says Nieciak. Perhaps the students can make charts, he suggests.

"You know, you're right," McDonald replies, "But how would I do it in the video? On the board, or a transparency?"

"Don't make it too complicated," Becker says.

Picking up on the morning lesson on questioning techniques, Nieciak has another idea. "Ask the kids how they know something."

On a Tuesday in late February, Cherkasky-Davis takes a minute to answer questions before playing a video lecture.

Language arts teacher Sandra Cap wants to know how her work will be assessed. "When [National Board evaluators] read your entries, do they read the whole thing?"

In addition to more than 60 pages of essays and 40 minutes of supporting video tape, entries can include up to 30 pages of students work and other supporting documents, such as lesson plans or letters verifying a teacher's accomplishments.

Cherkasky-Davis assures Cap that assessors read all of the essays and view the videos, then re-read the essays, referring to relevant supporting documents when necessary.

Cherkasky-Davis is ready to move on. The video lecturer is a familiar one: author Alfie Kohn, an outspoken critic of standardized testing and traditional classroom management. Today's topic is how to reduce competition and encourage cooperation among students.

The candidates have seen so many Kohn videos, they groan upon hearing he's the star of today's show. Still, they give him grudging respect. "I have changed a lot of my ways because of him," admits gym teacher Elsie Kindle.

By early March, some candidates have written drafts of their reflective essays and are now getting feedback from each other and their National Board-certified mentor. Cherkasky-Davis passes along a few tips, too.

Candidate Michelle Timble says her writing has improved over successive edits, but it's been a humbling experience to get there. "At first I was like, `Oh, if somebody didn't get that, they must be stupid,'" she says. "Now I'm the stupid one, because everybody's telling me, `No, I don't get that.'"

Timble says she plans to incorporate more writing into her math instruction to deepen students' understanding of concepts. "They can do the skill but they can't write about it," she observes. "If they can't write about it, they haven't internalized it." One idea she considers is having students keep dialogue journals, where they share what they've learned in math with other students.

Timble and her sister, Debbie King, have been teaching in the same CPS schools for five years. "It's so good that we're both in this," King tells Cherkasky-Davis. "I call her 12 times an hour. If she weren't in it, I'd be calling you."

It's nearly the last Tuesday evening meeting, and the deadline is drawing near. Tempers are running short, and tension is running high. One candidate walks out in frustration when a mentor is busy with another teacher.

Stewart gets up for a second round at the dinner buffet. He appears to be more relaxed than any of his peers. "I'm not," he insists. "I took today off. I've been working since 6:30 a.m."

A group of candidates applying for certificates as middle childhood generalists are feeling the stress. A half-eaten pile of Fannie May chocolate bars rests on their table, waiting to be polished off. "I'm gonna vomit or pass out or something," says Timble, who is wrestling with one of her essays.

"So eat some more chocolate, why don't you?" says King. Both sisters laugh as Timble helps herself to more candy.

The last Saturday in March--the target date for packing and mailing portfolios--is here. Only five candidates actually meet the deadline. The rest are still compiling materials to submit and putting them in the order prescribed by National Board guidelines.

"I don't get all the forms," says a frustrated Timble. "They all say the same s--t to me."

Stewart goes over to help her make sense of the instructions. "This is the release form, and it goes here," he says, showing her where the form belongs. Candidates lay out each entry's paperwork along tables or the floor before assembling them into a packet to be placed inside of a coded envelope. The envelopes are then stacked in a precise order and placed inside "the box," an official mailing container that arrived earlier with packing instructions.

Quest's early target date allows candidates a two-week cushion to make the National Board's April 16 deadline. Most have their portfolio boxes ready and mail them out over the next week or so. One candidate waits until the last minute and has to fly to the collection site in San Antonio, Texas, to make it in time.

Today, as Lillian DeGand heads out for the post office, she has a bit of advice for next year's candidates: "Start early!"

"That's what we tell everybody every year, but they don't listen," says Cherkasky-Davis.

"Start early and work like a madman," says DeGand.

The portfolios are done and they've been shipped. In early May, Quest throws a party to celebrate.

Spouses, children, other relatives and even a couple of principals turn out at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza to congratulate the group. During the festivities, two candidates take the floor to share their experiences.

"I used to do a lot of things out of intuition," Nieciak tells the audience. "Now, things are a lot more purposeful in my classroom. I can articulate why I do the things I do.

Elementary teacher Patricia Baggett-Hopkins echoes the sentiment. "I have rejuvenated myself as a teacher. I didn't know it was going to be such a powerful experience."

But candidates have another level to scale.

A daylong set of written tests--called the assessment center--begins this week and continues through early July. Candidates must make an appointment to take the timed exam. Though the precise contents are kept secret, questions can range from planning interdisciplinary lessons to using student work to plan lessons that address individual weaknesses. Since April, Quest candidates have been setting their own study schedules and keeping in touch with mentors for ongoing support.

It's June, and King and Baggett-Hopkins arrive at Timble's home to study. King pulls out a manila envelope containing study questions written by their mentor. Inside, there are three samples of student papers on rocks and soil. The teachers must determine what the students already know and what each student does not yet grasp about the topic, and then devise group lessons that would serve all three.

"All three needed to know how rocks are formed," observes Baggett-Hopkins. They toss out ideas on how to simulate rock and soil formation, like pushing a block of ice across a pan of dirt to simulate a glacier.

While some candidates continue to study in groups, others go it alone. Over spring break, Morrison carted a stack of academic journals recommended by National Board to Jamaica for beach reading. "Each article was between 30 and 60 pages," she says.

A new school year is underway, and the 22 candidates who survived last years journey are anxiously waiting for their results. Final word on whether they reach the summit--National Board Certification--is expected to arrive in late November.

The cycle began again this fall with 24 candidates, eight of whom came from Quest's precandidacy program for applicants who weren't quite ready for the full climb last year. Retired principal Alice Keane led a group of 16 teachers through the biweekly program, designed to give them a taste of the real thing.

Some decided to delay their candidacy a second year. "That really speaks to their motivation," says Keane. "Not every teacher is ready for the certification process."

Still, Keane says the best teaching practices held up by National Board are worth every teacher's notice. "The large majority of teachers would benefit from knowing the standards and trying to meet them," she says.

Richard Prince talks to Steve Lafreniere

STEVE LAFRENIERE: You weren't in Douglas Crimp's "Pictures" exhibition, but a lot of people seem to think you were, maybe because of your later association with Helene Winer, who was at Artists Space before starting Metro Pictures. Did you feel a kinship to the artists In the "Pictures" show?

RICHARD PRINCE: I've never said this before, but Doug Crimp actually asked me to be in that show. I read his essay and told him it was for shit, that it sounded like Roland Barthes. We haven't spoken since. I didn't know anybody in the show at the time. I later became friends with Troy Brauntuch. I still like his work.SL: What you read didn't ring true in terms of what you were doing?

RP: I guess that in those days I didn't particularly understand the relationship between artist and critic, and I didn't care to establish any relationship. Critics tried to tell you what you were doing, and wanted you to make the kind of work that they were thinking about. I probably resented that. I had a similar argument with Craig Owens. We had a difficult exchange and I ended up not talking to him. But I more or less had feelings about what they were describing. We were on parallel roads.

I also didn't understand Crimp's choices. There were a whole bunch of people who could have been in that show, like James Casebere and Jim Welling, or Laurie Simmons and Sarah Charlesworth-but none of them were, and that didn't make sense to me. There didn't seem to be any photography.

SL: Did not being in the show end up affecting your career?

RP: Well, like you said, people seem to think I was in it. People think Cindy Sherman was in it too. I don't know who really ever read that essay. Those shows and essays are for other critics. So I don't know what affects a career. I do know that I would continually change what I did, which didn't help in the beginning, but did in the end.

SL: I'd always assumed that you purposely made your early photos have an amateur look, and that you'd done them quickly. But looking at them today would suggest otherwise. How worked-on were pictures like Untitled (three women looking in the same direction) [1980]?

RP: I had limited technical skills regarding the camera. Actually, I had no skills. I played the camera. I used a cheap commercial lab to blow up the pictures. I made editions of two. I never went into a darkroom. And yes, I really worked hard on Women. I mean, that piece still looks like it was purposely made.

SL: So you sort of fell into photography?

RP: In the early '80s I didn't have the subject matter for painting. I didn't have the "Jokes" until 1986. What I did have was magazines. I was working at Time Life and was surrounded by magazines. I wanted to present the images I saw in these magazines as naturally as when they first appeared. Making a photograph of them seemed the best way to do it. I didn't exactly "fall" as much as steal.

SL: The cliche is that the dealers were all-powerful then. But what about the collectors?

RP: I think certain collections are powerful. I saw one in 1987, at the Merino's in Monaco, where they placed a big Thomas Ruff next to a "Big Nude" by Helmut Newton. They were leaning against the wall. It made me change my mind. In the early '80s, to be collected by Charles Saatchi was another way to be included, to be part of what was happening. To be in instead of out, or so it seemed at the time. Anyway, I was "left out." Nobody bought my early work. I couldn't even give it away.

SL: You don't have such great memories of the collectors.

RP: The Rubells gave pretty good parties. Michael Schwartz started collecting in the mid-'80s, concentrating on about ten artists. I remember one woman collector asking me who "anon." was. She was surprised she didn't know him or her, because they seemed to be listed in a lot of collections. The best thing about being collected is getting money.

SL: Do you think the critics understood what you were doing?

RP: I wasn't aware that there was much critical writing in the '80s about my work. I think people were more focused on David Salle, Schnabel, Fischl, Cindy Sherman, Jenny Holzer.

SL: Well, I remember one person gushing about your work's "complete eventlessness."

RP: That sounds like cartoon language. Kind of like when Susan Sontag describes taking a photograph as "a soft murder."

SL: Longo, Schnabel, Sherman-they've all made movies. I've often wondered why you haven't.

RP: I'm not very collaborative. I like being alone. Working alone. I hate actresses. I don't like having to ask permission. A green light is not something I'd be happy waiting for.

SL: What films back then had an impact on you?

RP: The Road Warrior, First Blood, Alien, Drugstore Cowboy, The Terminator. Did Blade Runner come out in the '80s? If it did, I liked that one-the original, not the director's cut.

SL: In your novel Why I Go to the Movies Alone, there's this notion of "counterfeit memory," the media landscape replacing personal history. Has that idea panned out?

RP: Do androids dream of electric sheep? Virtual reality. Cloning. Sampling. Substitutes. Surrogates. Stand-ins. It's either here or right around the corner.

SL: True, and a lot of art now is addressing those very subjects. Do you have any connection to younger artists?

RP: Most of my connections are with artists who are dead. From Smithson on back. I go to the Met and crash on fourteenth-century icons. Younger ones? I don't know. I like Collier Schorr. John Currin.

SL: What did you make of digital theorists like Gene Youngblood, who found the cautions of people like Rosalind Krauss and Baudrillard alarmist?

RP: I'm not sure what "digital theory" is. I don't know who Gene Youngblood is. I never read Baudrillard. I read Christian Metz. I read Truman Capote. When my little girl falls on the pavement and her teeth go through her lower lip and I have to take her to the hospital and watch her get stitches, I don't really think about "almost real" or "really real." I don't think about what's real anymore.

SL: Have you ever thought of your work as abstract?

RP: The "Joke" paintings are abstract. Especially in Europe, if you can't speak English.

SL: Yes, I Imagine the photos were received somewhat differently outside of the US!

RP: First time I showed my photos was in Germany, 1978. Artists like Kippenberger and Walter Dahn were very supportive. They grew up on Armed Services Radio; they liked rock 'n 'roll; they liked the "Girlfriend" pictures.

SL: So many of those subjects you appropriated then still have pop currency today. There are still biker-chick magazines on the stands, showgirl jokes in Playboy, and Marlboro ads with cowboys. I just looked through my copy of Inside World, and it seemed pretty up to date.

RP: The subject matter that I chose wasn't exactly popular, but it wasn't obscure. It just wasn't fashionable. It was more like mainstream cults. They're still around. They show up at airports. They have their own conventions. They have their own C-SPAN. They call you up just before you sit down to dinner. Anyone can find them.

SL: What was your first thought when you heard that Andy Warhol had died?

RP: Sad. We had the same dentist. I used to run into him in the waiting room. We used to talk about "collecting." This was the early "80s. I had just started collecting first-edition books. He was a great artist.

SL: I recently read an essay that described your work as "tight-lipped in the Warhollan manner." I thought that was pretty funny.

RP: I'm not sure what it means. Close to the vest? All-knowing? Effortless? I remember seeing Warhol interviewed: He let someone else answer the questions for him. He just sat there smiling, like he was throwing his voice. "Tight-lipped"? I'm thinking it might mean "ventriloquist."

SL: There were references to so many bands in your work. Were you inspired by music?

RP: I'm not so sure I was inspired by them, but I liked the Smiths. I saw Sonic Youth in the late '80s in London. They were great. I liked the way they rocked the Kitchen. SL: You worked consistently back then with "trash" imagery, an area that designers also began mining for 'zines and CD covers. Some even mimicked your strategies, like blurring and aggressive cropping. Were you taking notice?

RP: If I noticed anything, I noticed that rock videos in the mid-'80s started using "found" footage and started shooting black-and-white images with color film. SL: The latter I would very much identify with you. Are you still fascinated by muscle cars?

RP: Another "like," another subtext. The movie Vanishing Point. The movie Bullitt. I like the way a particular car gets painted by a teenager, you know, primed and flaked. Carroll Shelby, the guy who put together the 1967 GT500 Mustang, is very cool. This culture is pretty much about extended adolescence.

SL: I met a young woman recently who was wearing an Ed "Big Daddy" Roth T-shirt. She later e-mailed me that she was "into hot rod stuff, Kid Congo Powers, Robert Williams, and Richard Prince." It seemed like a logical paradigm.

RP: I don't know who Kid Congo Powers is. Great name. I know the other two. I wonder if it would have been a logical paradigm if she were wearing a Jackson Pollock T-shirt?

[Sidebar]

'80s AGAIN

GREGORY CREWDSON

Throughout the '80s contemporary photography was polarized between two factions. Documentary photographers searched to find beauty, transcendence, and truth in photographic form, while the first generation of postmodernists completely debunked that tradition, showing all photographs to constructs and fictions. It really seemed like an ideological split at the time; you had to be in one camp or the other. My response was kind of schizophrenic: I made a personal attempt to reconcile the two positions, merging the aesthetics of photographic truth and photographic lie. Today, the contested question of photography's truthfulness has lost its urgency. Photographers use conventions from both traditions to construct their own subjective approaches to the medium.

AS TOLD TO TIM GRIFFIN

[Sidebar]

I GUESS THAT IN THOSE DAYS I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ARTIST AND CRITIC. CRITICS WANTED YOU TO MAKE THE KIND OF WORK THAT THEY WERE THINKING ABOUT. I PROBABLY RESENTED THAT.

[Sidebar]

My father was never home, he was always drinking booze. He saw a sign saying DRINK CANADA DRY. So he went up there.

[Sidebar]

Steve Lafreniere is a writer and independent curator based in New York.

New Hampshire's Need for Speed

Each year, hundreds of thousands of NASCAR fans descend upon Loudon for the thrill of fast cars and high-octane competition while millions more watch the action at the NH International Speedway on television twice a year, shining a national spotlight on the Granite State.

NASCAR, with 75 million fans nationally and second only to the NFL for ratings for televised sports, is an economic behemoth.

The NH International Speedway (NHIS) in Loudon is reaping the rewards with two Nextel Cup events that draw approximately 101,000 per race.

While NHIS is the most recognized and largest track in NH, the Granite State's love affair with fast cars extends far beyond it.

The state has long been among the top five in the country with the most auto racetracks per capita, says Ron Meade, director of special projects at NHIS. There are 15 race car tracks in NH, many of them dragways, which each attract thousands of visitors each year.

New England Dragway in Epping is the second highest revenuegenerating track in the state, bringing in approximately $3 million every seson, says Joe Lombardo, track manager. And that's just what fans are spending at the track. When race fans come to town, they leave a money trail.

"Every type of retail establishment out there benefits in one way or another from the spectators that motor sports facilities bring into their respective communities," Lombardo says.

However, while NHIS and New England Dragway are basking in the winner's circle, some of the state's smaller tracks are stalling and hoping they can shift gears before losing attendance to bigger tracks and other recreation venues.

Big Business in a Little State

Most of NH's race tracks tightly guard their financial information, but the economic impact that the sport has in the state is unmistakable. "Keep in mind that every one of our Nextel Cup races has outdrawn that year's National Football League Super Bowl; so when the state of New Hampshire has something that's bigger than the Super Bowl, that gives you an idea of how big this industry is in this state," Meade says. "Not too many states in the Union have two Nextel Cup events and only 13 states even host one Nextel Cup race."

While it does not release financial information, there is no doubt NHIS is the economic powerhouse of NH's racing industry. Tickets for Nextel Cup events range from $55 to $110 per person. The track operates every day from the beginning of April though the end of October and hosts the oldest motorcycle race in the nation every Father's Day (the event is 81 years old.) NHIS employs 20 people full-time and up to 1,500 during major events. Meade estimates that the track's events have created approximately 1,000 full-time jobs outside the speedway. Approximately 78 percent of the fans attending the Nextel races are from out of state, spending an average of $226.43 per day outside of the speedway, Meade says. "These events really provide additional income to the state that otherwise wouldn't be there," he says.

However, the full economic impact of the sport on the state is unknown as there is no state agency that tracks such statistics. In general, it is estimated that overnight visitors to the state during the summer spend approximately $51.17 per day while day visitors spend $41.77 per day, according to the Institute for NE Studies at Plymouth State College. Even using the dayvisitor figure as a conservative multiplier, Nextel race fans spend approximately $42 million in the state during just one day. "I don't think the state has taken a look at auto racing in the way they probably should," Lombardo says.

Smaller Tracks

Most of NE's 15 auto racetracks are concentrated in the southern tier of the state. The oldest tracks are Twin State Speedway in Claremont, which is 59 years old, and Londonderry Raceway, which has been in operation for 58 years. Many of NH's racetracks are family-run businesses and range in size from a one-sixth-mile track to as long as 1.6 miles. They attract anywhere from 1,000 visitors per event up to the impressive numbers posted at NHIS, with most hosting between 2,500 to 4,000 visitors per event.

The tracks attract a wide crosssection of fans and promote a family atmosphere to reach the widest demographics possible. "We get a range of individuals, from mechanics and factory workers to CEOs of large corporations coming to our facility," says Lombardo at New England Dragway. "Racing is a fairly inexpensive entertainment venue for families. Most people have friends who race and that helps generate interest," he says. The dragway attracts more than 250,000 fans per season, with tickets averaging $20 per person.

Wooing Sponsors

It is the ability of racetracks to repeatedly draw thousands of people to events that makes the sport a prime target for sponsors. Nationally, Fortune 500 companies have recognized the power of such sponsorships, ponying up millions to sponsor teams and events.

NASCAR.com reports that Nextel Cup teams receive $10 million to $20 million from sponsors for primary spots on their cars and others pay up to $1 million for secondary spots. At the local level in NH, though, sponsorships are far more affordable.

Sponsors, ranging from large national corporations to small local businesses, recognize the intensity of fans' loyalty to the sport. "Sponsoring companies perceive this loyalty as extremely valuable to sales of their brand-name products," says Fred Neergaard, public relations director for NHIS. "If they can win the trust of consumers, consumers will stay with them and support them and their products in the same way they support their race teams."

Across the state, national and regional companies - like Sylvania, Chevrolet, 3M, Home Depot, Coca-Cola, Lowe's, Amalie Oil, Toyota, Volvo, and New England Dodge - and a wide range of smaller local businesses sponsor everything from racers to teams to specific nights or events. Every track offers levels of sponsorship and sponsorship packages. These range from a few hundred dollars at smaller tracks to tens of thousands of dollars. Sponsors reap such entitlements as their name on tickets, billboards, the sides of race cars, and on trophies.

New England Dragway offers sponsorships starting at $1,000. "This is for the average individual who might want to advertise their garage or business with a sign package and an ad in our track newspaper," Lombardo says. "Sponsorships can go up to tens of thousands of dollars for larger corporations sponsoring us. This gives them enormous exposure and offers them a different avenue to advertising."

Some tracks produce their own newspaper. New England Dragway, for instance, publishes 45,000 copies of its track newspaper seven times per season, which also highlights sponsors. Sponsor names also appear in the Dragway's printed schedule of events. "We print 100,000 copies of these, so our sponsors are getting a lot of exposure as part of their sponsorship." He notes that while sponsors have always targeted the 18- to 34-year-old male market, they are now noticing a shift in demographics to include 18- to 34-year-old women.

At Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, sponsorships start at $1,000 and go up depending on the event. "If it's a special event, the sponsorship will be more because we are drawing more people and the sponsors will get more exposure and publicity," says Michelle Cloutier, general manager.

It's not just the tracks that seek sponsors. At Sugar Hill Speedway in Weare, sponsorships help racers offset the cost of racing, says Archie Archambault, who, along with his wife Debbie, owns the one-sixth-mile asphalt oval speedway.

"Sponsors get brand recognition from their names appearing on the sides of the race cars, so they are getting exposure throughout the races," Archambault says.

Dick Therrien, general manager for Riverside Speedway in Groveton, held a sponsorship seminar in January to help racers understand how to secure sponsorships. "It was popular with about 40 race teams attending," Therrien says. "Some teams who had trouble getting sponsorships in the past used the formula we suggested and got some good sponsorship dollars."

Tracking Challenges

Some smaller tracks are struggling to hold their own and they admit one of their challenges is competing with a speedway like NHIS. "Everyone is saving to go there during the months of June and July and then the fair season starts. There's lots to compete with and with the economy, people are saving for only one event," says Danielle Purington of Hudson Speedway and Star Speedway in Epping. "We have to be creative and do things like offer special rates for family night or lower ticket prices on certain nights. We also make it cheaper for drivers (to attract more of them) in order to put on a better show."

The tracks contend with a myriad of challenges to keep operating: high insurance costs, the cost of attracting and keeping a dependable workforce, the need to continuously advertise to bring in fans, as well as property taxes and capital investments.

"To make a go of this kind of business, it all starts with good leadership and racing is no different from any other business," says Dennis Fleury, owner of Twin State Speedway. "I don't believe businesses in the industry have to be down because of the economy," he continues. "It's really a matter of going forth with good leadership."

Another challenge is the abbreviated seven-month race season as some tracks only operate one or two days a week. "It's very costly to operate a facility like this," says Jim Lafford, owner of Londonderry Raceway. "We can only use the facility one day a week, which means I have 26 days a year to operate this track and still pay for an entire year's worth of bills. And my mortgage bills don't go away during the winter months."

Smaller speedways are barely hanging on, says Butch Elms, owner of Canaan Fair Speedway, which operates a quartermile dirt track and a one-third-mile asphalt track. "They are holding their own, but they are not moving," he says, adding sponsorships are being affected. Archambault at Sugar Hill Speedway agrees. "Crowds are petering off at the smaller tracks and the cost to racers has gotten more expensive," he says, explaining racers pay $17 for an insurance pass and $20 for an entry fee each week. "We haven't increased our fees for racers or spectators in quite some time. ... Our challenge is to keep down the costs for racers so they keep coming and we can entertain more people to offset the increases in the cost of doing business."

Riverside Speedway is undergoing major marketing strategy changes, including featuring local racers more often. "We will emphasize local short-track racing by bringing back the premier late-model racing division, which is an element that has been missing from the raceway for about five years," Therrien says. The response so far has been favorable, with a large number of local racers already signed up. "This will put a lot more fans back into our bleachers," he says.

Executive Read Course

For some, it's not enough to watch NASCAR - they want to live the high-speed fantasy. If all goes as planned, NH will have its first members-only road course by 2006. "It will operate pretty much like a golf course country club, in that it will be supported by members," says Lloyd Dahmen, president of Club Motor Sports Inc. in Tamworth, of the $28 million project.

Dahmen describes the three-mile road course as a "ribbon through the woods" on the north face of Mt. Whittier. The European-style course, which will be constructed on 250 acres, will have 18 turns for drivers and motorcyclists to enjoy, Dahmen says. Club Motor Sports hopes to break ground on the course this summer should it pass a contentious permitting process. Garages, a locker room with showers, a clubhouse, maintenance facilities, a professional driving school, and a vehicle dynamics area for driver development will be constructed next year. A pool, tennis courts, an automobile museum, a restaurant, and a hotel are planned fore a later date.

In addition to monthly dues, members of Club Motor Sports will pay a one-time initiation fee of $30,000 for a gold membership, $15,000 for silver and $6,000 for bronze that buy members a certian number of hours on the course. So far, 200 people have already signed on as members. The facility plans to operate April through October. Average speeds will range between 50 mph to 60 mph, says Dahmen.

Women's National Basketball Association

W L Pct GB

Detroit 16 7 .696 _

Connecticut 13 10 .565 3

New York 12 10 .545 3 1/2

Indiana 11 11 .500 4 1/2

Washington 8 14 .364 7 1/2

Chicago 7 14 .333 8

Atlanta 3 21 .125 13 1/2

WESTERN CONFERENCE

W L Pct GB

Seattle 15 7 .682 _

San Antonio 16 8 .667 _

Los Angeles 13 10 .565 2 1/2

Minnesota 11 11 .500 4

Sacramento 11 11 .500 4

Houston 11 12 .478 4 1/2

Phoenix 11 12 .478 4 1/2

___

Saturday's Games

Indiana 71, New York 55

Minnesota 87, San Antonio 74

Houston 75, Los Angeles 72, OT

Phoenix 110, Atlanta 84

Sunday's Games

Chicago at Connecticut

Seattle at Washington

Sacramento at Detroit

Hecht scores 2 goals, Sabres beat Hurricanes 5-3

Jochen Hecht scored two goals, and Ryan Miller made 27 saves in the Buffalo Sabres' 5-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday night.

Tim Connolly, Toni Lydman and Tim Kennedy also scored for Buffalo. The Sabres won their third straight to finish 3-1-1 on a five-game trip.

Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek each had two assists.

Sergei Samsonov, Brandon Sutter and Eric Staal scored for the Hurricanes, eight points behind Boston in the chase for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Hurricanes beat division leaders Pittsburgh and Washington in their previous two games but struggled against the Northeast-leading Sabres, who extinguished most of the drama with a four-goal second period.

After Connolly scored on the power play in the first, and Hecht scored consecutive goals early in the second to build the Sabres' lead.

The first came when he charged up the right side and quickly changed from backhand to forehand and smacked the puck through goalie Justin Peters' legs.

Hecht made it 3-0 when Peters overplayed his rush along the left boards, allowing Hecht to wrap the puck around the far side of the net.

Manny Legace replaced Peters at the 8:45 mark of the second after Peters couldn't stop Lydman's wrist shot on a 2-on-1.

The Hurricanes scored their first goal 12 seconds after Lydman's goal, with Samsonov deflecting Brett Carson's wrist shot past Miller.

Buffalo built its lead back to four almost immediately. Kennedy accelerated to the net past Carolina defenseman Brian Pothier, received a pass from Vanek and beat Legace with a nice backhand deke.

The Hurricanes added two goals in the third _ Sutter on a shot from the side boards; Staal on a slap shot on the power play.

The Sabres are nine points ahead of Montreal and Ottawa in the Northeast and return home for consecutive games against their nearest rivals.

NOTES: The teams split the four-game season series. ... Hecht has five points in four games against Carolina. ... Hurricanes defenseman Jamie McBain has five points in his first four NHL games.

Clinton forming panel to test presidential bid

Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton announced Thursday he is forming apresidential exploratory committee and said he will decide next monthwhether to run for the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination.

"I want to make it clear that I have not made a decision as towhether to seek the nomination," Clinton said in a statement issuedby his office in Little Rock, Ark. "But forming an exploratorycommittee will give me a means to look into this in a lot more detailand get the kind of information I need to consider it right now."

Clinton also said he had resigned as chairman of the DemocraticLeadership Council, the organization of moderate Democrats that heused to prod the Democratic Party to recast its image and that hasprovided him with a base for traveling around the country in the lastyear.

At a press conference, Clinton said that under President Bush'sleadership, there is "no national vision, no national partnership, nonational direction, no national policy" to confront the country'scrucial problems.

"I really believe that being a governor gives me a uniqueperspective, because I have to go to bat every day and succeed andfail on the problems that really are . . . central to our country'sfuture."

The five-term governor, who turns 45 next week, said if thepresidential election were held now, Bush would win. "But nobody hasmade the alternative case in a long time," he said.

Most of his advisers believe he will join the contest for theDemocratic nomination, but four years ago he got to the brink ofannouncing his candidacy and then decided not to run.

His announcement came a week after Sen. John D. "Jay"Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) backed away from a presidential bid,disappointing Democrats who saw him as a potentially strong contenderfor the nomination.

The only announced Democratic presidential candidate is formerMassachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas. Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilderformed an exploratory committee earlier this year and is expected tomake a decision on a candidacy next month. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)has established a somewhat less formal "testing the waters" committeebut has been moving forward aggressively and is expected to launchhis campaign in mid-September.

Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.), who ran unsuccessfully in 1988,is in the throes of a final decision on a candidacy. The Rev. JesseL. Jackson, who ran in 1984 and 1988, must soon decide whether toforego the 1992 race in favor of a new television talk show.

Am-Nat to wind up at Sportsman's

The American-National at Sportsman's Park ends a week-longseries tomorrow night and although Hambletonian winner Mack Lobellwon't be there, several other notable entries will.

Tomorrow night's $229,500 3-year-old trot will feature a fieldof 10, including the three-ply entry of Spotlight Lobell, Buckfinderand Manor Victory.

Tonight's $149,500 Am-Nat trot for 3-year-old fillies also lacksa big star but will have a seven-horse field.

Meanwhile, Mack Lobell will be coming to Illinois - but not toChicago. Instead, this year's Hambo - and possible Triple Crown -winner probably will start in the $115,000 Review Stake Aug. 21 atthe Illinois State Fair in Springfield.

A 1:53.3 winner last week in the Hambo at the Meadowlands, MackLobell won the first leg of trotting's Triple Crown by taking the$324,115 Yonkers Trot in a record 1:57.3.

World marks will be on his mind next week at Springfield, whereentrants may set records on the track and patrons will set records atthe betting windows. For the first time, Springfield will offerpari-mutuel wagering, beginning Monday with the first of manyIllinois-bred stakes.

Illinois-bred colts will race Monday, with fillies following onTuesday. Older state-bred performers will go Wednesday in additionto the Grand Circuit horses, which also will compete on Thursday andFriday. The 3-year-old trot will be the highlight Aug. 21, inaddition to time trials.

Jate Lobell has returned to Illinois from New Jersey, and it'spossible Mark O'Mara may start him in Thursday's Review Futurity.The deciding factor probably will be the weather. O'Mara's optionsinclude heading to Montreal for the $600,000 Prix d'ete on Aug. 23. Driver Walter Case Jr., who has won more than 2,300 races though heis only 26, is coming from the Meadowlands to Chicago, where he willhave first call on owner John Carver's horses.

Carver is the western Illinois owner who has invested more than$1 million in harness racing during the past eight months in a bidto have the best stable in Chicago.

Carver has used Dave Magee and Ron Marsh, among others, to drivehis horses this summer in Chicago, but Case recently won a big racefor him in Canada.

China makes early statement at Diving World Cup

LONDON (AP) — Described as "mythical" by one top diver and "breathtaking" by another, the Aquatics Center that will host four events at this summer's Olympics was given a big thumbs-up Monday when the iconic London venue opened its doors for competition for the first time.

Thousands of British fans poured into the sleek, wave-shaped venue to witness the latest test event for the games that doubled as a high-profile Diving World Cup meet, following a similar track cycling competition at the nearby velodrome over the weekend.

China dominated the opening day's action, with Qin Kai and Luo Yutong winning the men's synchronized 3-meter springboard with a score of 445.71 points and double Olympic champion Chen Ruolin topping the scoring in the preliminary round for the women's 10-meter platform. It was an expected show of strength by the Chinese, diving's major power.

But while the weeklong event provides a final opportunity for divers to secure qualification places for London, it also gives many of the world's top performers a precious early chance to sample the atmosphere of an Olympic venue.

The Aquatics Center will also stage swimming, synchronized swimming and modern pentathlon this summer.

"Pools have their own uniqueness, design and engineering to depict culture, history or innovation. This captured all of them," American diver Troy Dumais, a three-time Olympian, told The Associated Press. "These are phenomenal facilities. We don't often get to see things like this and sometimes it can be overwhelming and mythical, and it can throw you out of your routine."

Fortunately for Dumais and his United States partner Kristian Ipsen, it didn't. They finished sixth in the men's event to snatch the final quota place for their country at the Olympics. Malaysia, Ukraine and Canada also qualified a team for the games in that discipline.

"It's not the place we wanted but every competition you learn from. It's job done," Dumais said.

Australian diver Loudy Wiggins was just as taken aback by the 269-million-pound ($426-million) venue.

"I walked in and said, 'Wow, this is incredible.' It's quite spectacular, I'd even go as far as saying it's breathtaking," said Wiggins, who qualified for the final of the women's event. "It's got all the right references. They've pretty much thought of everything."

Some 220 divers from 40 countries are competing in the World Cup, which is expected to be monopolized by the Chinese.

They swept all 10 golds in an unprecedented exploit at last year's world championships and have dominated recent Olympics, making some of their divers household sporting names in the country.

Chen, who won both the 10-meter platform and synchronized 10-meter platform in the Beijing Games in 2008, finished a comfortable first in the women's event Monday, nearly 65 points clear of second-place Yulia Koltunova of Russia.

"The crowd are all very excited," Chen said. "They give you their good support whether your jump is good or bad."

Tom Daley is Britain's big hope in diving after winning gold in the individual 10-meter platform at the 2009 world championships at the age of 15, but even he has acknowledged that China is light-years ahead of the rest when it comes to medal chances.

Daley will compete with Peter Waterfield in the 10-meter synchro on Thursday, meaning British fans had to wait a few days to see one of the poster boys of the games.

In the meantime, the crowd had to settle for Nick Robinson-Baker and Christopher Mears, who finished in 10th place for the 3-meter synchro finals. Britain had already qualified for the Olympics by virtue of its host nation status.

"You hear the crowd clapping for the other teams, it's only a few claps, but when we come on it's like the gladiators are in," Robinson-Baker said.

A total of 3,000 tickets have been sold for each of the three sessions per day for the test event. The capacity will stretch to 17,500 once temporary wings are added to the purpose-built venue, whose spectacular wavelike roof and location in the "gateway" to the Olympic Park makes it the one of the most striking stadiums for the games.

"What a fantastic arena and to fit 17,500 people in it for the Olympics is going to be amazing," Robinson-Baker said.

The Russian pair of Evgeny Kuznetsov and Illya Zakharov finished runners-up behind China, with Malaysia taking the bronze.

Stocks point to higher open with earnings reports

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks appear poised for further gains Monday, after a week in which major indexes reached levels last seen more than two years ago.

Stronger earnings and economic reports helped both the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 index surpass significant milestones last week. The Dow closed above 12,000 and the S&P 500 index above 1,300 for the first time since 2008.

This week is light on economic data, but plenty of companies will release quarterly earnings.

Ahead of the opening bell Monday, toy maker Hasbro reported a drop in quarterly profit. But Hasbro's results still beat analysts' expectations. Loews Corp. said earnings rose 16 percent, even as revenue slipped slightly. Costs fell 5.8 percent.

Lorillard said profits rose 7 percent as the maker of Newport and Maverick brands sold more cigarettes at higher prices. Lorillard rose 4 percent in pre-market trading.

Online company AOL Inc. said early Monday that it will buy the Huffington Post, an online news and opinion website, for $315 million. Arianna Huffington, the site's co-founder and political pundit, will join AOL's management team as part of the deal.

Dow Jones industrial average futures are up 25 points, or 0.2 percent, at 12,070. S&P 500 futures are up 4, or 0.3 percent, at 1,310. Nasdaq 100 futures are up 3, or 0.1 percent, at 2,340.

Stocks made solid gains last week: The Dow rose 2.3 percent and the S&P 500 2.7 percent. Both indexes are trading at levels last seen in June 2008, three months before the worst of the financial crisis.

More silverware for the Transit

BOTH Ford's Transit and Transit Connect have been recognised onceagain by the What Van?

magazine judges and won seven prestigious awards.

Transit Connect has won the Best Light Van and Security awards.

Transit has won Best Large Panel Van, Minibus Award, Safety andSecurity awards, and a commendation for Transit Connect in the EcoVan award.

"These awards are significant for us at Ford.We take our positionas market leader very seriously and we constantly strive not only tomaintain that position, but to improve the dependability andreliability of our vehicles.

"Transit and Transit Connect are magnificent success storiesbecause we always aim to give our customers a contemporary productthat will perform in a demanding commercial environment.

"A well-designed van is not enough though. Today's business peopleneed low cost of ownership combined with safety and security andthat's why they choose Ford, " said Gary Whittam, commercial vehiclesdirector of Ford of Britain.

The safety award is particularly important. Earlier this year,Ford announced that all Transit vans would be fitted with ABS asstandard.

"Unlike many other commercial vehicles, a driver's airbag has beenstandard on all Transits since 2000 and on all Transit Connectssince the launch.

"These awards recognise our safety leadership position and confirmthat the built-in security systems on both Transit and TransitConnect are the best you can get, " he said.

Ducks Rally to Take Stanley Cup Opener

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Travis Moen helped shut down Ottawa's big three, then scored a goal that trio would have been proud of. Moen, part of Anaheim's primary checking unit, took a pass in the slot from Rob Niedermayer and snapped the puck past Ray Emery with 2:51 left, giving the Ducks a 3-2 victory over the Senators in the Stanley Cup finals opener Monday night.

Moen's fifth of the playoffs came after Ryan Getzlaf's tying goal 11:25 earlier erased the 2-1 lead Ottawa carried into the third period.

In the first matchup of the teams this season, Moen, along with Niedermayer and Samuel Pahlsson, held Ottawa's top line of Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley to two assists and handed the Senators their first series-opening loss in these playoffs.

Mike Fisher staked Ottawa to a 1-0 lead in the first period with a power-play goal, and defenseman Wade Redden also scored on the man advantage in the second.

Andy McDonald scored in the first period for the Ducks, who will look to take a 2-0 lead at home on Wednesday night.

The Senators looked ready to win their first Stanley Cup finals game since the franchise was reborn in 1992, but the Ducks fought back and stole it away. Ottawa lost only one game in each of its other three playoff series and now faces its first deficit.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 18 saves to improve to 10-3 in the playoffs. Getzlaf's goal put the Ducks in a great position : Anaheim is 13-0 in the playoffs when scoring at least twice.

Then Moen put them right where they want to be - ahead in the finals.

Even after grabbing an early lead, Ottawa goalie Ray Emery and the rest of the Senators showed a bit of rust in the first period following an eight-day layoff.

After leaving juicy rebounds and looking a bit unsteady in his crease, Emery bounced back in the second period, stopping all 10 Anaheim shots, including one he grabbed out of the air as it threatened to bound past him.

Redden broke a 1-1 tie in the middle frame, making up for losing the puck in the opening period that led to McDonald's tying goal.

It was nearly enough to give the Senators a win in their first venture out of the Eastern time zone since March. Ottawa fell to 7-2 on the road in the playoffs.

The Ducks, off five days since eliminating Detroit, seemed to take control after McDonald tied it, but gave back the momentum to the Senators by taking penalties. That is a common theme for Anaheim, the NHL's most-penalized team during the regular season at 17.8 minutes a game.

It could've been even worse for the Ducks in the second period, but they were able to kill off a 5-on-3 disadvantage that lasted 1:35 - and nearly scored a goal that would've haunted Emery.

With the seconds dwindling on the power play, Emery came far out of his net to save time and fired the puck up ice. The pass was intercepted by Getzlaf outside the blue line, but his quick attempt at a strange empty-net goal went wide.

Not only did Moen, Niedermayer and Pahlsson keep Ottawa scoreless during even-strength play, the unit also got 12 shots on goal.

"Five-on-five we played well," Moen said, "the way we wanted to: physical. They got two power-play goals on us and we have to shore that up."

Alfredsson and Spezza, ranked second and third in postseason scoring, teamed to set up Redden's third of the playoffs. Alfredsson had scored a goal in five straight road games, and Spezza had multiple points in six consecutive away from Ottawa, but both streaks were snapped.

Emery almost pulled it out anyway. He was left to catch his breath following an acrobatic glove save in the second period, taking a moment to kneel in the crease with his back to the ice and his head gazing upward.

That period played out at such a frantic up-and-down pace that there were no whistles for a span of 6:47 - showcasing exactly the action the NHL wanted when rules were changed following the 2004-05 lockout. The Ducks turned it up in the third with 14 shots.

As has been Ottawa's style throughout the opening period of series in this year's playoffs, the Senators grabbed an early lead. While Fisher's power-play goal gave them the edge and some jump, Anaheim's hard-hitters took it away.

"I thought we were physical, and as the game went on, we wore their defense down a little bit," McDonald said.

The best lick of the period came from seldom-used Ducks forward Drew Miller, who rammed Redden along the boards to the right of Emery. Redden fell to the ice and coughed up the puck to Teemu Selanne, who fed it into the slot to McDonald for a snap shot past Emery's glove to tie it at 10:55.

While Ducks teammates Scott and Rob Niedermayer grabbed most of the brotherly headlines in Anaheim, Miller exacted a little revenge for his sibling Ryan, the Buffalo Sabres' top goalie who was eliminated by the Senators in the Eastern Conference finals.

Miller spent all season in the AHL and got only 2:15 of ice time in the playoffs before being scratched the previous 11 games. He made the most of his second shift Monday and was rewarded with four more in the second half of the period.

It was the first time in series-opening first periods that the Senators didn't grab a multi-goal lead.

Notes:@ The Senators hadn't played in the Pacific time zone since Dec. 9, 2005, at Vancouver. ... Ottawa had been 8-0 when scoring first. ... California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dropped the ceremonial first puck.

Chinese dissident gets 11 years for subversion

A Chinese court sentenced a prominent dissident to 11 years on Friday _ the longest term ever handed down for subversion charges, according to rights groups that say it signals the government will take an increasingly hard line against activists in the year ahead.

The sentencing of Liu Xiaobo, after he called for sweeping political reforms and an end to Communist Party dominance, also drew diplomatic criticism, with the United States saying it went against international norms.

Liu was the co-author of an unusually direct appeal for political liberalization in China called Charter 08. He was detained just before it was released last December. More than 300 people, including some of China's top intellectuals, signed it.

The verdict was issued at the No. 1 Intermediate People's Court in Beijing after a two-hour trial Wednesday in which prosecutors accused Liu of "serious" crimes.

The vaguely worded charge of inciting to subvert state power is routinely used to jail dissidents. Liu could have been sentenced for up to 15 years in prison under the charge.

A San Francisco-based human rights group, the Dui Hua Foundation, said it was the longest sentence that it knew of since the crime of inciting subversion was established in 1997.

The state-run Xinhua news agency only reported the news in English _ a sign the government does not want its people to know about Liu's case. Instead, the top Xinhua headline in Chinese declared 2009 a year of "citizens' rights."

The United States and European Union have repeatedly urged Beijing to free Liu.

"We are deeply concerned by the sentence of 11 years in prison announced today," Gregory May, first secretary with the U.S. Embassy, told reporters outside the courthouse. May was one of a dozen diplomats stopped by authorities from attending the trial and sentencing.

"Persecution of individuals for the peaceful expression of political views is inconsistent with internationally recognized norms of human rights," May said.

The German government said Chancellor Angela Merkel was "dismayed" by Liu's sentence.

"I regret it that the Chinese government, despite great progress in other areas, still massively restricts freedom of opinion and of the press," Merkel said in a brief statement released by her office.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters this week that statements from embassies calling for Liu's release were "a gross interference of China's internal affairs."

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Friday the sentence was a setback for Chinese activists.

"Cases such as that of Liu Xiaobo risk not just halting, but seriously reversing that momentum" toward increasing democratic freedoms in China, she said.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said the ruling showed the government would be taking a hard line against human rights activists in the year ahead.

"This verdict is also an explicit warning from the government to China's intellectuals, civil society activists and human rights defenders that the state will severely punish those who the government perceives as a threat to its monopoly on power," said the group's Asia researcher, Phelim Kine.

Another rights group, Chinese Human Rights Defenders, said the ruling shows the government is bent on thwarting any reform and is using the courts to silence its critics.

"Giving such a long sentence to one of China's most prominent dissident intellectuals is a clear sign that the Chinese government is further hardening its stance against political dissent," said Renee Xia, the group's international director.

The defendant's wife, Liu Xia, told The Associated Press that her husband planned to appeal. "Our lawyers are going to talk to the authorities next week about the appeal," Liu Xia said. She said her husband looked calm and asked about family and friends during a brief meeting after the sentencing.

Liu is the only person to have been arrested for organizing the Charter 08 appeal, but others who signed it have reported being harassed.

Abolishing the law on inciting to subvert state power is among the reforms advocated in Charter 08. "We should end the practice of viewing words as crimes," the petition says.

Liu, a former Beijing Normal University professor, spent 20 months in jail for joining the 1989 student-led protests in Tiananmen Square, which ended when the government called in the military _ killing hundreds, perhaps thousands.

Charter 08 demands a new constitution guaranteeing human rights, the open election of public officials, and freedom of religion and expression. Some 10,000 people have signed it in the past year, though a news blackout and Internet censorship have left most Chinese unaware that it exists.

___

Associated Press writers Isolda Morillo in Beijing and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Man pleads guilty in beating death

A West Side man pleaded guilty Friday to the beating death of his 16-year-old girlfriend last month. Trimane Jason Winters, 22, of the 4000 block of West Jackson, pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder, according to Cook County state's attorney's office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton. Winters was charged with the November beating death of Desiree Holmes. Holmes reportedly had an order of protection against Winters at the time. Holmes, of the West Side, went to a hospital Oct. 30 complaining of abdominal pains, police said. She died during surgery Nov. 1. An autopsy found she died of a lacerated liver and blunt trauma to her abdomen caused by an assault, the Cook County medical examiner's office said. Holmes was the mother of a 3-month-old child and lived with her grandmother.

Photo: Trimane Jason Winters

Short session: NFLPA, owners break talks for week

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The NFL commissioner and the boss of the league's locked-out players stood together this week and addressed the league's rookies, a picture of cooperation that raised hopes pro football would soon be back in business.

This, however, is the reality: The league's longest work stoppage has now stretched into July, with gaps that still must be bridged before teams can be assembled and training camps can begin.

The next bargaining session has been scheduled for after the holiday weekend, putting the end point of this labor dispute — now well past the 100-day mark — ever closer to the preseason.

The negotiating teams led by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith met for a couple of hours Friday morning at a Minneapolis law firm with U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan, following a 15-hour Thursday session that stretched past midnight and gave the negotiators a short night's sleep.

Several people familiar with the situation said the talks would resume Tuesday in New York City. The people all spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because Boylan has ordered the details of the talks to be kept confidential.

Goodell, Smith, their colleagues and constituents all appeared in good spirits as they left the office building where they met and either walked away or climbed into black cars waiting by the doors.

But they had little to offer for an update.

"We'll continue to meet next week, and the goal is to get a deal done," Smith said on his way out.

Said NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash: "We'll be back at it again next week."

Friday marked the fourth straight day of discussions, with a handful of owners and players joining their lawyers and leaders for the last two days.

The two sides have been trying to figure out how to agree on the division of revenues for this $9 billion business that has steadily grown in popularity, power and wealth over the last couple of decades as the NFL has become the nation's dominant pro sports league.

The revenue split, a major sticking point all along and particularly over the last couple of weeks, is considered a domino that must fall for a deal to get done.

There are several other issues to iron out as well, since the two sides are essentially creating a new collective bargaining agreement from scratch. The old one expired March 11, and the lockout began the next day. That's also when the NFLPA declared an end to its union status, a move the owners have protested as strategically convenient and have contested in court.

Among the players in Minneapolis this week were Jeff Saturday of the Indianapolis Colts and Brian Waters of the Kansas City Chiefs, with Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys and John Mara of the New York Giants part of the group of owners.

For weeks, owners, players and their representatives have been crisscrossing the country, holding unannounced meetings in spots ranging from a Chicago suburb to the Maryland shore.

This week began with optimism stemming from the joint trip Smith and Goodell took to Sarasota, Fla., to address incoming rookies at an orientation symposium Wednesday morning. But they still left Minneapolis without a deal, and time has become more of a factor in this process.

Training camps start in about three weeks, with the preseason-opening Hall of Fame game scheduled Aug. 7 between the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals. Even missing an exhibition game or two would begin to really cost the league money, not to mention testing the faith of the fans that have made this sport so big.

There also is the wild card of a pending ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the players' antitrust lawsuit against the league, which was filed in Minneapolis and prompted Boylan's involvement as a mediator.

The appellate judges won't wait forever, and one of them warned earlier that neither side will like their decision on the legality of the lockout. But a faction on the players' side believes it's worth waiting on the court's ruling, and the owners have had plans in place for years to endure an extended work stoppage.

___

AP Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner in New York and AP Sports Writers Jon Krawczynski in Minneapolis and Dennis Waszak Jr. in New York contributed to this report.

American League Leaders

BATTING_Kinsler, Texas, .330; Morneau, Minnesota, .325; Mauer, Minnesota, .324; Damon, New York, .319; Pedroia, Boston, .318; Youkilis, Boston, .316; Bradley, Texas, .312; ARodriguez, New York, .312.

RUNS_Kinsler, Texas, 84; Pedroia, Boston, 67; ISuzuki, Seattle, 65; Quentin, Chicago, 64; BRoberts, Baltimore, 64; Markakis, Baltimore, 63; Crawford, Tampa Bay, 63; MiYoung, Texas, 63; JDrew, Boston, 63.

RBI_Hamilton, Texas, 95; Morneau, Minnesota, 73; Quentin, Chicago, 71; Youkilis, Boston, 67; JGuillen, Kansas City, 65; MiCabrera, Detroit, 61; Huff, Baltimore, 61; MRamirez, Boston, 61.

HITS_Kinsler, Texas, 134; Pedroia, Boston, 128; ISuzuki, Seattle, 123; Morneau, Minnesota, 121; Hamilton, Texas, 119; MiYoung, Texas, 119; JoLopez, Seattle, 115.

DOUBLES_BRoberts, Baltimore, 36; Kinsler, Texas, 34; Pedroia, Boston, 29; Huff, Baltimore, 29; JGuillen, Kansas City, 29; Markakis, Baltimore, 27; JoLopez, Seattle, 26; Crosby, Oakland, 26; Peralta, Cleveland, 26; Ibanez, Seattle, 26.

TRIPLES_BRoberts, Baltimore, 8; AJones, Baltimore, 5; Inglett, Toronto, 5; Granderson, Detroit, 5; Crawford, Tampa Bay, 5.

HOME RUNS_Quentin, Chicago, 23; Sizemore, Cleveland, 23; Hamilton, Texas, 21; Dye, Chicago, 21; ARodriguez, New York, 20; Huff, Baltimore, 19; Bradley, Texas, 19; Giambi, New York, 19; MRamirez, Boston, 19.

STOLEN BASES_Ellsbury, Boston, 35; ISuzuki, Seattle, 34; Upton, Tampa Bay, 27; BRoberts, Baltimore, 27; Kinsler, Texas, 23; Rios, Toronto, 23; Crawford, Tampa Bay, 23.

PITCHING (11 Decisions)_Matsuzaka, Boston, 10-1, .909, 2.65; CLee, Cleveland, 12-2, .857, 2.31; ESantana, Los Angeles, 11-3, .786, 3.34; Sonnanstine, Tampa Bay, 10-4, .714, 4.58; Saunders, Los Angeles, 12-5, .706, 3.05; Mussina, New York, 12-6, .667, 3.49; Duchscherer, Oakland, 10-5, .667, 1.82; Padilla, Texas, 10-5, .667, 4.70.

STRIKEOUTS_Burnett, Toronto, 132; Halladay, Toronto, 127; Sabathia, Cleveland, 123; ESantana, Los Angeles, 122; JVazquez, Chicago, 117; Beckett, Boston, 113; FHernandez, Seattle, 109.

SAVES_FRodriguez, Los Angeles, 39; Sherrill, Baltimore, 29; Papelbon, Boston, 28; Nathan, Minnesota, 27; Soria, Kansas City, 25; MRivera, New York, 23; CWilson, Texas, 22.

Action seen in coming months for min. wage, pension reform

BOTH PENSION reform and an increase in the minimum wage have been building steam for several years, but it remains to be seen whether they have enough momentum to move a Republican-controlled Congress and a Republican president this year.

A tentative agreement in the Senate would allow Republicans to bring a minimum wage bill to the floor by Memorial Day, and allow the Democrats to offer a substitute. Meanwhile, House minimum wage supporters have begun urging House Speaker Hastert to follow a similar course.

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions ranking member Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a frequent champion of workers' rights, told a United Auto Workers legislative conference earlier this year that he would fight for a minimum wage increase.

"The minimum wage would have to be $8.05 an hour today, instead of its current level of $5.15, to have the same purchasing power it had in 1968," Kennedy declared. "That disparity shows how far we have fallen short over the past generation from guaranteeing low-income workers their fair share of the nation's prosperity."

Kennedy, the chief sponsor of the Democrats' minimum wage bill, is proposing to raise the current $5.15 per hour by $1.50 over two years, while Republicans favor raising it by $1 over three years.

GOP Seeks Business Perks

A minimum wage hike has not been enacted since 1997, but Republicans are not likely to let it through without adding sweeteners for businesses to offset their expected costs.

A key GOP aide said the Republican bill would include a "blend of minimum wage policy, tax relief policy and any needed labor law changes." Republicans earlier this year pegged the tax relief component at $73 billion, but said it could go higher.

Republicans also are seeking labor law changes that could include allowing employers to address flexible working hours and overtime compensation for hourly wage earners. This is likely to draw fire from Democrats.

The Democrats have yet to decide whether tax relief will be part of their bill, a Kennedy spokesman said.

A key concern for Democrats is that President Bush has indicated he supports a minimum wage increase if states are allowed to opt out of it.

Such an option would not work, Kennedy has insisted. "The federal minimum wage protects the vast majority of workers across the country," he told the UAW. "But those who are at the tender mercy of the states often face real hardship. The state minimum wage is $1.60 an hour in Wyoming, $2.65 an hour in Kansas and $3.35 an hour in Texas - and that's unacceptable."

Hastert Awaits Senate Action

The House appears further behind in tackling the minimum wage issue. "We're going to wait and see what the Senate does," said a Hastert spokesman. However, the Hastert spokesman said he did not think a minimum wage hike would be part of the broad tax package based on Bush's tax cut plan.

"We don't want to cost our members any votes on the most important tax package of the year," the spokesman said.

"The best way to put more money in the pockets of American working families is through tax relief - which the president is pursuing vigorously," added a spokesman for House Education and the Workforce Chairman Boehner.

Meanwhile, the pension reform issue keeps chugging along.

Even though it has been nearly four years since they began pushing it, Reps. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., are confident that the time is at hand to pass their pension reform bill.

"We know there won't be a deal with Social Security in 2001, but we can deal with private savings," Cardin told CongressDaily.

Portman-Cardin seeks to increase the amount of money employees can contribute to their retirement plans, improve the portability of such plans and encourage businesses to offer plans to their rank-and-file employees.

A senior GOP House member suggested that Portman-Cardin could be a good way to "pull the train" on taxes. He pointed to the fact that more Democrats seem to be getting on board.

"Given the economy, it could be very helpful," the House member said of the Portman-Cardin proposal.

However, pension reform was not included in the $1.6 trillion Bush tax cut plan that was forwarded to Capitol Hill earlier this year.

House Ways and Means Chairman Thomas said that since the pension bill already has passed the House, "it may not need as much vetting as other things." Thomas said he would explore pension reform and other issues in tax bills following Congress' spring recess (see related article, page 10).

Senate Version Has 15 Cosponsors

Meanwhile, Senate Finance Chairman Grassley and ranking member Max Baucus, D-Mont., introduced their version just before the spring recess. Their proposal is comparable to House bill, and started out with 15 Senate cosponsors.

Outside experts believe that legislation along this line is likely to pass this year. "The only question now is when," said James Delaplane, vice president for retirement policy at the American Benefits Council.

"Partly because the bill is tax-related, its fate rises and falls depending on the fate of tax bills," he added.

Reform of pension laws is seen as increasingly necessary as Americans move from job to job - and as the fate of Social Security reform remains unclear. "We need to give people new tools to save," Delaplane said.

Kennedy Considers Pension Support

The House effort on pension reform is expected to begin in earnest in midto late summer, a source close to Boehner said. Hearings will probably take place before then, the source added.

The Senate effort - which has the support of Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Jeffords - contains three tax credits not in the House bill, to help small businesses.

The credits would assist some businesses with costs to start up pension plans and help defray some of the costs of contributing to the retirement plans of rank-and-file workers.

The bill also includes an individual, non-refundable tax credit to help lowincome individuals make contributions to individual retirement accounts or employer-sponsored defined contribution plans, such as 401(k) plans.

Jeffords held hearings last year on concerns that older workers were at a disadvantage when their companies converted their pension plans to cash balance plans. The Senate bill is expected to address this issue.

Even Kennedy, who has opposed similar provisions before, indicated through a spokesman that he would likely support the Senate bill because of changes that would make it more worker-friendly. Kennedy has said he wants to put pension reforms "on the agenda" but to get rid of language that "disadvantages workers."

Other Items May Be Attached

Other items could move hand-inhand with pension reform.

Among them are ways to increase stock options and investment opportunities for workers and modernization of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act - although the recent instability in the stock market may give Congress members pause.

A recent study by the Wharton School concludes that stock options are still in demand and increase shareholder value. Companies that grant more stock options to managers and technical and non-technical staff perform better than companies that do not offer stock options to those types of workers, the study said.

Boehner, who introduced ERISA reforms in the last Congress, plans to work on the issue again and focus on allowing companies to give employees investment advice and on modernizing prohibited transaction requirements.

Action seen in coming months for min. wage, pension reform

BOTH PENSION reform and an increase in the minimum wage have been building steam for several years, but it remains to be seen whether they have enough momentum to move a Republican-controlled Congress and a Republican president this year.

A tentative agreement in the Senate would allow Republicans to bring a minimum wage bill to the floor by Memorial Day, and allow the Democrats to offer a substitute. Meanwhile, House minimum wage supporters have begun urging House Speaker Hastert to follow a similar course.

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions ranking member Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a frequent champion of workers' rights, told a United Auto Workers legislative conference earlier this year that he would fight for a minimum wage increase.

"The minimum wage would have to be $8.05 an hour today, instead of its current level of $5.15, to have the same purchasing power it had in 1968," Kennedy declared. "That disparity shows how far we have fallen short over the past generation from guaranteeing low-income workers their fair share of the nation's prosperity."

Kennedy, the chief sponsor of the Democrats' minimum wage bill, is proposing to raise the current $5.15 per hour by $1.50 over two years, while Republicans favor raising it by $1 over three years.

GOP Seeks Business Perks

A minimum wage hike has not been enacted since 1997, but Republicans are not likely to let it through without adding sweeteners for businesses to offset their expected costs.

A key GOP aide said the Republican bill would include a "blend of minimum wage policy, tax relief policy and any needed labor law changes." Republicans earlier this year pegged the tax relief component at $73 billion, but said it could go higher.

Republicans also are seeking labor law changes that could include allowing employers to address flexible working hours and overtime compensation for hourly wage earners. This is likely to draw fire from Democrats.

The Democrats have yet to decide whether tax relief will be part of their bill, a Kennedy spokesman said.

A key concern for Democrats is that President Bush has indicated he supports a minimum wage increase if states are allowed to opt out of it.

Such an option would not work, Kennedy has insisted. "The federal minimum wage protects the vast majority of workers across the country," he told the UAW. "But those who are at the tender mercy of the states often face real hardship. The state minimum wage is $1.60 an hour in Wyoming, $2.65 an hour in Kansas and $3.35 an hour in Texas - and that's unacceptable."

Hastert Awaits Senate Action

The House appears further behind in tackling the minimum wage issue. "We're going to wait and see what the Senate does," said a Hastert spokesman. However, the Hastert spokesman said he did not think a minimum wage hike would be part of the broad tax package based on Bush's tax cut plan.

"We don't want to cost our members any votes on the most important tax package of the year," the spokesman said.

"The best way to put more money in the pockets of American working families is through tax relief - which the president is pursuing vigorously," added a spokesman for House Education and the Workforce Chairman Boehner.

Meanwhile, the pension reform issue keeps chugging along.

Even though it has been nearly four years since they began pushing it, Reps. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., are confident that the time is at hand to pass their pension reform bill.

"We know there won't be a deal with Social Security in 2001, but we can deal with private savings," Cardin told CongressDaily.

Portman-Cardin seeks to increase the amount of money employees can contribute to their retirement plans, improve the portability of such plans and encourage businesses to offer plans to their rank-and-file employees.

A senior GOP House member suggested that Portman-Cardin could be a good way to "pull the train" on taxes. He pointed to the fact that more Democrats seem to be getting on board.

"Given the economy, it could be very helpful," the House member said of the Portman-Cardin proposal.

However, pension reform was not included in the $1.6 trillion Bush tax cut plan that was forwarded to Capitol Hill earlier this year.

House Ways and Means Chairman Thomas said that since the pension bill already has passed the House, "it may not need as much vetting as other things." Thomas said he would explore pension reform and other issues in tax bills following Congress' spring recess (see related article, page 10).

Senate Version Has 15 Cosponsors

Meanwhile, Senate Finance Chairman Grassley and ranking member Max Baucus, D-Mont., introduced their version just before the spring recess. Their proposal is comparable to House bill, and started out with 15 Senate cosponsors.

Outside experts believe that legislation along this line is likely to pass this year. "The only question now is when," said James Delaplane, vice president for retirement policy at the American Benefits Council.

"Partly because the bill is tax-related, its fate rises and falls depending on the fate of tax bills," he added.

Reform of pension laws is seen as increasingly necessary as Americans move from job to job - and as the fate of Social Security reform remains unclear. "We need to give people new tools to save," Delaplane said.

Kennedy Considers Pension Support

The House effort on pension reform is expected to begin in earnest in midto late summer, a source close to Boehner said. Hearings will probably take place before then, the source added.

The Senate effort - which has the support of Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Jeffords - contains three tax credits not in the House bill, to help small businesses.

The credits would assist some businesses with costs to start up pension plans and help defray some of the costs of contributing to the retirement plans of rank-and-file workers.

The bill also includes an individual, non-refundable tax credit to help lowincome individuals make contributions to individual retirement accounts or employer-sponsored defined contribution plans, such as 401(k) plans.

Jeffords held hearings last year on concerns that older workers were at a disadvantage when their companies converted their pension plans to cash balance plans. The Senate bill is expected to address this issue.

Even Kennedy, who has opposed similar provisions before, indicated through a spokesman that he would likely support the Senate bill because of changes that would make it more worker-friendly. Kennedy has said he wants to put pension reforms "on the agenda" but to get rid of language that "disadvantages workers."

Other Items May Be Attached

Other items could move hand-inhand with pension reform.

Among them are ways to increase stock options and investment opportunities for workers and modernization of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act - although the recent instability in the stock market may give Congress members pause.

A recent study by the Wharton School concludes that stock options are still in demand and increase shareholder value. Companies that grant more stock options to managers and technical and non-technical staff perform better than companies that do not offer stock options to those types of workers, the study said.

Boehner, who introduced ERISA reforms in the last Congress, plans to work on the issue again and focus on allowing companies to give employees investment advice and on modernizing prohibited transaction requirements.