ST. LOUIS - As hordes of other St. Louis Cardinals fans turned out Sunday to swaddle themselves in their team's improbable World Series title, Dave Huyette was counting his blessings rather than the riches he might have received had greed overtaken sportsmanship.
Just three days earlier, Huyette briefly held history in his hands from a World Series game considered one for the ages, winning the dash to a walkoff, 11th-inning home run ball David Freese plunked onto a grassy knoll behind Busch Stadium's center-field fence, propelling the Cardinals into the decisive Game 7 they won the next night.
The Illinois radiologist with a 5-year-old son could have cashed in, given that iconic home run balls have fetched tens ? at times hundreds ? of thousands of dollars on the memorabilia market. But Huyette would have none of that, knowing that giving the ball to Freese "was the honorable thing to do." So he did.
On Sunday, there were no regrets.
"I'm not financially needy, and I knew I didn't want any money," Huyette, 39, told The Associated Press by telephone from his home in Maryville, Ill., figuring hawking the ball stood to make him "an enemy in my town."
Freese ? named the MVP of the World Series and the NL championship series before it ? rewarded Huyette after Thursday night's game with an autographed bat, a baseball signed by the Cardinals and a picture with him. An auto-parts company threw in tickets for Huyette to the series' finale.
Valuable spoils indeed, all of them partly because Huyette ? an Iowa native attending his first-ever World Series game ? had positioned himself for that rare moment when luck and history collide, even if initially he wasn't even planning to be there.
Huyette had shelled out nearly $1,100 for tickets to Game 6, which he planned to attend with Chicago Cubs-loving pal Jeremy Reiland only to see it postponed for a day to Thursday because rain loomed in St. Louis. Huyette mulled selling the tickets, voicing to Reiland indifference about going. Reiland talked him out of it.
From their right-centerfield seats on Thursday night, Huyette and Reiland ? two in a record crowd of 47,325 ? had an inkling a home run ball would come their way and for each of the last four innings they waited for it. They knew chasing down a home run ball could get them ejected, but they waved that off.
"At least half-jokingly, I was putting my foot up over the rope as if I was going to be springing onto the grass," recalled Huyette, who even texted a half dozen people to watch for them on television going after a home run ball.
"I just kinda had a feeling," he said. "I'm not sure why."
With two outs and down to his last strike as the Cardinals trailed by two in the bottom of the ninth, Freese bounced a game-tying triple off the right-field wall. With the score again knotted at 9 in the bottom of the 11th, as Reiland was returning from a restroom run, Freese turned heroic.
"I just heard the crack of a bat," then the wild cheering as the trajectory of the ball headed his way. Huyette was on the grass before the ball hopped to a stop there, then quickly gobbled up the souvenir.
Huyette, fearing others would try to wrestle the keepsake away from him, stuffed it down his pants ? "outside the underwear," he joked.
"I worried that if I held the ball up, someone would take it or rip my arm off," he said. "Jeremy is a lot more of a (baseball history) aficionado than me. He said, 'You have to get the ball back (to Freese). You'll be on TV ? that's enough.'"
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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HBT: Tony La Russa announces Monday that he is retiring as manager of the world champion St. Louis Cardinals.
ATLANTA (AP) ? A new study suggests that when parents are deployed in the military, their children are more than twice as likely to carry a weapon, join a gang or be involved in fights.
And that includes the daughters.
"This study raises serious concerns about an under-recognized consequence of war," said Sarah Reed, who led the research of military families in Washington state.
Last year, nearly 2 million U.S. children had at least one parent serving in the military. Deployment can hurt a family in a variety of ways. There's stress while that parent is overseas and in danger, as the remaining parent has to shoulder all responsibilities and family roles shift. There can also be challenges after deployed parents' return, especially if they were physically or psychologically damaged.
The effect of military deployment on kids is an emerging field of research. The new study is considered the first of its kind to focus on those affected by deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. It's unique in that it looked at a statewide swath of the population in comparing the behavior of kids in military families to children in non-military families.
The study, to be presented Monday at a public health conference in Washington, D.C., was based on a 2008 questionnaire survey of about 10,000 students in the 8th, 10th and 12th grades in Washington. That state has the sixth largest active duty population in the country.
About 550 of surveyed children said they had a parent deployed to a combat zone in the previous six years.
The study tried to account for potential differences in educational background and other issues between military families and the general population that might skew the results.
Even after taking steps to account for such differences, the researchers found that high school-age daughters of deployed parents were nearly three times more likely than civilian girls to be in a gang or get into a fight. They were more than twice as likely to carry a weapon to school. There were similar increases among boys of deployed families when compared to civilians.
To be sure, such behavior in boys is more common ? the rate of boys from deployed families involved in such violent behaviors was twice as high as for girls in deployed families. For example, 14 percent of girls from these military families said they had been in fights, compared to 28 percent of boys.
Nevertheless, experts say the findings contradict the traditional view that girls under stress exhibit "internalizing" behaviors, like becoming depressed or thinking about suicide, while boys are the ones who "externalize" through violent behavior
The new research may be something of a wake-up call for health professionals who deal with military families, one expert suggested.
"Maybe if we make assumptions about children, we may overlook other ways they may be suffering," said Dr. Gregory Gorman, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.
Additional research is needed to confirm the findings, said Reed, who has since left the University of Washington and is now a social worker with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. For example, the survey found that 10 to 20 percent of the adolescents in deployed families said they were in gangs. That's surprisingly high ? more like something seen in New York City in the 1950s. Perhaps a larger, more national study would produce a lower number.
But it's not surprising that kids in deployed families would seek out other kids to help them deal with stress, said Gregory Leskin, a UCLA psychologist who is director of a military family program at the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
"Adolescents may be able to get lost in social networks," he said.
SAN DIEGO ? A soldier who was killed in a bomb explosion last week in Afghanistan was on his 14th combat deployment ? including four tours in Iraq and 10 in Afghanistan ? making him the Army Ranger with the most deployments killed in action, an Army spokeswoman said Thursday.
Sgt. 1st Class Kristoffer B. Domeij enlisted several months before 9/11 and had served in hundreds of missions. He was killed with two other soldiers in a bomb explosion Saturday in the Taliban heartland of Kandahar province.
"To volunteer that many times to deploy speaks volumes to Kris' character and dedication to his country," said Tracy Bailey, spokeswoman for the 75th Ranger Regiment, based at Ft. Benning, Ga. "He was larger than life. The man everybody wanted to be around."
Domeij was awarded two Bronze Stars for his service overseas and will be awarded a third Bronze Star posthumously, along with the Purple Heart, according to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
"He was one of those men who was known by all as much for his humor, enthusiasm, and loyal friendship, as he was for his unparalleled skill and bravery under fire," said Lt. Col. David Hodne, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, in a statement. "This was a Ranger you wanted at your side when the chips were down."
The 29-year-old California native is one of hundreds of Rangers whose deployments during the war on terror number in the double digits.
Rangers are deployed more often than regular soldiers on shorter, more intense tours ? often the tours are four months long and include 400 to 500 combat missions. They usually return to the United States for about eight months of training and then head out again, Bailey said.
Domeij, a native of Santa Ana, Calif., is survived by his wife and two daughters. He had requested that family members not speak to the media after his death.
"Rangers as a whole are quiet professionals and I don't know his reasoning behind it, but many Rangers don't see the need to advertise what they do," Bailey said.
Col. Mark W. Odom, commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment, said in a statement that Domeij was a "game changer" who "had the value of an entire strike force on the battlefield."
Also killed in the attack was 20-year-old Pfc. Christopher A. Horns of Colorado Springs, Colo., a Ranger who was on his first deployment. Both Domeij and Horns were based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
1st Lt. Ashley White of the North Carolina National Guard also died in the explosion. The 24-year-old was the first casualty in the Army's wartime attempt to gain the trust of Afghan women by using specially trained female troops.
WASHINGTON ? Frustrated with union-friendly decisions from the National Labor Relations Board, Republicans hope to cut off the agency's power by denying President Barack Obama the chance to name members while the Senate is in recess.
The five-member board is now down to three members, and another will leave at the end of the year. The remaining two members could not legally issue decisions or make new rules.
"What they would be doing quite explicitly is trying to keep an agency from functioning through this maneuver," said former board member Wilma Liebman, a Democratic appointee whose term ended in August.
For months, House Republicans have convened brief, pro forma sessions whenever Congress is away to prevent the Senate from going into a full recess. The tactic has kept Obama from using recess appointments to bypass the Senate to name members of the labor board, choose a new chief of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and appoint other officials unlikely to win Senate confirmation.
The labor board is a lightning rod in the ideological war between businesses and unions over the right of workers to organize. But the long-simmering conflict has boiled over this year. Republicans say the board has taken unprecedented steps that are unacceptable to business.
"Unfortunately, the board's activism requires using all options available to stop their job-destroying agenda," said Minnesota Rep. John Kline, GOP chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Democrats say the GOP tactic will hamstring the board and keep it from enforcing the law. "It would paralyze the labor board, which will paralyze the labor movement, which is the point," said New Jersey Rep. Rob Andrews, a Democrat on the Education and Workforce committee.
The board has proposed new rules that would speed up union elections, giving employers less time to counter organizing drives. It also decided to let smaller groups of workers try to form unions, which could make it easier for unions to gain a foothold in some companies.
The most high-profile outrage for Republicans, though, is a complaint filed earlier this year against Boeing Co. by the NLRB's acting general counsel. The complaint accuses the company of illegally retaliating against unionized workers in Washington state by opening a new plant in South Carolina, a right-to-work state where labor unions' power is limited.
Republicans call the Boeing complaint an unfair government intrusion into a legitimate business decision. Last month, the GOP-controlled House passed legislation that would undercut the Boeing case by stopping the NLRB from ordering an employer to shut down plants or relocate work, even if a company violates labor laws. But the measure is going nowhere in the Democratic-run Senate.
A spokesman for Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi, top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said the board appears headed for two-member gridlock unless the White House sends up nominees that can satisfy both parties.
"Our goal is to see the administration send up qualified nominees that the members can confirm," said Frank Macchiarola, a staff director for Enzi.
Some Republicans say they are simply adopting the same tactics that Senate Democrats used during former President George W. Bush's second term, when they stayed in session to prevent recess appointments.
From 2008 to 2010, the labor board endured a record 27 months when it had too few members to operate. Senate Democrats had refused to fill vacant seats during Bush's final year in office, angered by a series of pro-business rulings. Then it was Senate Republicans' turn to stall when Obama sent up his own nominees, deemed too sympathetic to labor.
During that time, the board's two members, one Democrat and one Republican, decided cases on which they could agree and postponed ? sometimes for years ? those on which they couldn't. But the Supreme Court ruled last year that two members were not enough to decide any case before the board.
Obama finally made two recess appointments in March 2010, including Craig Becker, a former union lawyer whose views Republicans considered too radical. Becker's recess appointment will expire at the end of this year, and Republicans have made clear they will block an effort to confirm him through the regular nomination process.
White House spokesman Eric Schultz declined to comment on the GOP tactics.
Both Republican and Democratic presidents have made recess appointments to bypass the Senate's authority to confirm nominees. President George W. Bush made more than 170 such appointments in his two-term presidency. Obama has made 28 recess appointments so far.
Without a quorum of three members, NLRB staff can still carry out the agency's core functions, such as issuing complaints, investigating labor law violations and overseeing union elections. About 95 percent of cases are resolved without ever being appealed to the five-member board.
But the board still hears appeals on hundreds of cases each year, some of which can lead to new policies or change existing case law. Democrats warn that businesses caught violating labor laws could simply appeal their cases to delay fines and penalties, knowing they would never be heard while the board lacks a quorum.
It could also prevent the board from ruling on the Boeing case. The action is currently being heard by an administrative law judge in Seattle, but any ruling would not be effective until the full board ruled on appeal.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 26, 2011) ? The pigmented cells called melanocytes aren't just for making freckles and tans. Melanocytes absorb ultraviolet light, protecting the skin from the harmful effects of the sun. They also are the cells that go haywire in melanoma, as well as in more common conditions as vitiligo and albinism.
Naturally, researchers would love to study melanocytes in the laboratory. There's just one problem -- melanocytes from adult skin don't grow very well in the lab. Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found a way to create melanocytes from mouse tail cells using embryonic stem cell-like intermediates called inducible pluripotent (iPS) cells.
Xiaowei Xu, MD, PhD, associate professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, is senior author the study, which appears online in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology ahead of the December print issue. Xu and his team converted mouse tail-tip fibroblasts into iPS cells using four genes, which were first described by Shinya Yamanaka in 2006, producing pluripotent cells similar to embryonic stem cells, but without the concomitant ethical issues.
According to Xu, these lab-made melanocytes promise benefits in areas from tissue transplantation to drug discovery. "This method really has lots of clinical implications," says Xu. "We are not quite there yet, but this is an early step."
For example, by collecting a tissue sample from patients with, say, vitiligo, and converting it to iPS cells, researchers can study what goes wrong as those cells differentiate into melanocytes. Or, they can study the development and possible treatment of melanoma.
Xu's new study is the first to report creating melanocytes from iPS cells in mice, and builds on his previous work. Xu's lab was involved in the first study to work out the conditions for differentiating human embryonic stem cells to melanocytes in 2006. Earlier this year, a Japanese team became the first to differentiate human iPS cells to melanocytes.
Transformation of Cells
Initially, the researchers from Xu's lab introduced the four Yamanaka genes into mouse cells by infecting the cells with transgenic viruses. Between 0.5% to 0.8% of fibroblasts treated in this way converted to iPS cells in Xu's lab -- a rate that is consistent with other researchers' findings, he says. But his team also could achieve the same result (albeit at lower efficiency, 0.01%) using a non-viral "transposon" called piggyBac. Finally, the researchers showed they could differentiate both iPS cell populations into melanocytes in about two weeks by feeding the cells a defined cocktail of growth factors.
According to Xu, the growth factor cocktail used in the present study differs somewhat from the formulation his lab worked out several years ago for human embryonic stem cells. Among other things, it works in the absence of the growth factor Wnt3a and the carcinogen TPA, both of which are required for human melanocyte differentiation. TPA, especially, could be problematic for possible cell-based therapies, in that it is tumorigenic. It remains to be seen, however, whether human iPS cells can also be differentiated in the absence of this compound, Xu notes.
His study's implementation of piggyBac in creating the iPS cells (a technique first published by Canadian researchers in 2009) could possibly extend the technique's clinical value, he adds. Unlike viruses, which insert their genetic cargo into the host genome, thereby raising concerns of genetic alterations in the infected cells, piggyBac delivers genes without permanently altering the host genome.
Other authors include Penn researchers Ruifeng Yang, Min Jiang, Suresh Kumar, and Ted Xu, as well as Fei Wang of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Leihong Xiang of Fudan University, Shanghai.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin.
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Journal Reference:
Ruifeng Yang, Min Jiang, Suresh M Kumar, Theodore Xu, Fei Wang, Leihong Xiang, Xiaowei Xu. Generation of Melanocytes from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 2011; DOI: 10.1038/jid.2011.242
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
ATLANTA ? Police guarded newly-cleared plazas early Wednesday in Atlanta and Oakland, Calif., after clearing Occupy Wall Street protest camps in both cities. Dozens of demonstrators were arrested in swift crack-downs by riot squads after local authorities lost patience with the rallies.
Helicopters hovered and trained spotlights on downtown Atlanta as police in riot gear moved into a small city park just after midnight and arrested more than 50 protesters who had been there in tents for about two weeks.
Police and some neighbors in cities around the country have started losing patience as protesters prepare to settle in for winter in camps without running water or working toilets. Businesses and residents near New York's Zuccotti Park, the unofficial headquarters of the movement that began in mid-September, are demanding something be done to discourage the hundreds of protesters from urinating in the street and making noise at all hours.
In Oakland, riot police cleared protesters from in front of City Hall on Tuesday morning, leaving a sea of overturned tents, protest signs and trash strewn across the plaza. Hundreds of officers and sheriff's deputies went into the two week-old encampment with tear gas and beanbag rounds around 5 a.m., police said.
Eighty-five people were arrested, mostly on suspicion of misdemeanor unlawful assembly and illegal camping. About 170 protesters were at the site.
Early Wednesday, police stood guard and metal barricades surrounded Atlanta's Woodruff Park, which was where ? like in many American cities ? protesters had camped out to rally against what they see as corporate greed and a wide range of other economic issues. Before police marched in, protesters were warned a couple times around midnight to vacate the park or risk arrest.
Inside the park, the warnings were drowned out by drumbeats and chants of "Our park!"
Organizers had instructed participants to be peaceful if arrests came, and most were. Many gathered in the center of the park, locking arms, and sang "We Shall Overcome," until police led them out, one-by-one to waiting buses. Some were dragged out while others left on foot, handcuffed with plastic ties.
Oakland was less peaceful. Police fired tear gas and beanbag rounds as they cleared out the makeshift city Tuesday. After nightfall, protesters gathered at a downtown library and began marching toward City Hall in an attempt to re-establish a presence in the area of the disbanded camp.
They were met by police in riot gear. Officers cleared the area by firing tear gas over a roughly three-hour stretch of evening scuffles.
In Atlanta, State Sen. Vincent Fort was among those arrested after coming to the park in support of the protesters. He said the police presence was "overkill."
"He's using all these resources ... This is the most peaceful place in Georgia," Fort said, referring to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. "At the urging of the business community, he's moving people out. Shame on him."
Police included SWAT teams in riot gear, dozens of officers on motorcycles and several on horseback. By about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday the park was mostly cleared of protesters.
"It's real simple: This is a crisis of priorities that this small group of campers ... is the greatest threat in this city. It's outrageous," said organizer Tim Franzen.
The protesters who were arrested have bond hearings at Atlanta Municipal Court starting at 8 a.m., the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Several protesters with signs waited outside the courtroom for the hearings to begin.
Reed said he was upset over an advertised hip-hop concert that he said drew 600 people to the park over the weekend but didn't have a permit and didn't have security guards to work the crowd, calling it irresponsible.
Reed told reporters he had serious security concerns that he said were heightened Tuesday when a man was seen in the park with an assault rifle. The mayor said authorities could not determine whether the weapon was loaded, and were unable to get additional information about it.
An Associated Press reporter talked to the man with the gun slung across his back earlier Tuesday as he walked in the park. He wouldn't give his name, but said he was an out-of-work accountant who doesn't agree with the protesters' views, but was there, armed, because he wanted to protect the rights of people to protest. There's no law that prevents him from carrying the weapon in public, but several police followed him for about 10 minutes before moving off.
___
Associated Press reporters Terry Collins in Oakland, Calif., and Marcus Wohlsen contributed to this report
BEIJING ? The chief of Europe's bailout fund visited Beijing on Friday to discuss possible terms for a bond sale aimed at raising money from China and other non-European investors.
Klaus Regling, chief executive of the European Financial Stability Facility, said he is not holding negotiations with China as a potential investor. He said the fund is still talking to investors to decide the terms for raising new bailout money authorized this week by European leaders.
European leaders agreed this week to increase the bailout fund's size from 440 billion euros ($624 billion) to as much as 1 trillion euros with money raised from outside investors, including sovereign wealth funds.
Regling said China has purchased EFSF bonds before but he declined to say how much.
The European bailout fund is developing two schemes to increase its financial firepower. The first would allow the fund to act as an insurer for bonds issued by weaker governments such as Spain or Italy. The second would be a fund to provide extra money to the EFSF.
Regling said he would meet with officials of China's finance ministry and central bank.
"It will be interesting to listen to them, like I listen to investors from many other parts of the world," he said. He said the fund's managers want to find out how to structure investments "so that the money will actually come" from China and other investors.
Regling said the meetings were not negotiations with potential investors, but "regular consultations at an early phase."
Asked about suggestions that China might impose political conditions on a contribution, Regling said Chinese officials had not raised that issue with him. Some European and Chinese commentators have suggested Beijing might press Europe for trade concessions or to refrain from human rights criticisms.
"I have not been confronted with this," Regling said. "I am not talking on behalf of the European Union, so I am the wrong person" to discuss such issues.
Chinese leaders have expressed sympathy and promised to support the European Union, their country's biggest export market. But they have made no specific public commitments of money or other aid.
Regling said he would present the bailout fund's bonds as a potential commercial investment to China once the details are worked out, and hoped that Chinese officials would find the terms attractive.
He noted that China regularly needs to find safe investments for its multibillion dollar monthly trade surpluses.
"I am optimistic we will have a longer term relationship," he said.
Eva Longoria hit the Glamour Reel Moments premiere red carpet on Monday in Hollywood, wearing a bright blue dress for her directorial debut. Eva, who looked stunning in her blue dress, told In Touch she chose her outfit because she was going to the state dinner at the White House after the premiere, and she thought it looked democratic.
The actress, whose short film premiered at the event, also discussed her inspiration for giving back. ?I have a very philanthropic family, so I was raised with charity giving and compassion. I?m inspired mostly by my older sister who has special needs, Lisa. So being part of her world and seeing people who don?t have what you have and who need more than you need kind of instills in you this empathy and compassion for life.?
Now that she?s had a hand in acting and directing, what does Eva prefer? ?I like them both. Directing definitely gives you more control of the end product. As an actor you just show up and look pretty, say your lines, say them right. But as a director, you have total control of the editing and the final product and the music, I mean just everything, so it was definitely different muscles that you had to use.?
Will she ever direct a feature film? ?I?ll definitely be doing a feature length in the future, not any time soon because it takes a lot of time.?
(Reuters) ? New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick can become the most successful partnership in the National Football League (NFL) with a victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
With a victory, Brady and Belichick will surpass the record number of wins for a quarterback-head coach partnership, which stands at 116 and was set by the Miami Dolphins pair of Dan Marino and Don Shula.
A recent NFL Network documentary showed the close way Brady and Belichick prepare for each game -- analyzing opponents, working out game plans -- and the quarterback believes he has benefited from the continuity of 12 seasons working together.
"It's been very important for me to never really change offenses or learn new terminology and I think we've just built on it over the years - things I learned 12 years ago when I came here," Brady said this week.
"There are certain plays in our offense that I've literally run thousands of times. You make a lot of mistakes over the course of those plays and you learn from them and hopefully you don't make them again. It's great for a quarterback to have that continuity with coaching and obviously the terminology of the plays. It's been a huge benefit."
A victory on Sunday will have to be a very hard-earned result as Pittsburgh, beaten in the Super Bowl by Green Bay last season, may have been written off in some circles but they are putting together another solid season (5-2).
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has passed for 1,937 yards and after some injury problems hampered him in the early weeks, he is starting to look like the mobile and aggressive player who is such a threat.
The Patriots (5-1) and Steelers have been two of the dominant forces in the AFC over the past decade - eight of the last 10 AFC championship games have featured one of the teams and they met each other in the 2001 and 2004 editions.
Last year's regular season meeting at Pittsburgh ended in a 39-26 win for New England with Brady throwing three touchdowns and running in another and Steelers receiver Mike Wallace expects another high-scoring encounter.
"You can't go out and score seven points and beat the Patriots," he told reporters.
Denver Broncos (2-4) quarterback Tim Tebow continues to provide great material for America's multitude of sports talk radio shows as he faces the Detroit Lions (5-2) a week after rallying his team to a remarkable overtime win over Miami.
The Philadelphia Eagles (2-4) need to start winning and beating divisional rivals if they are to make anything of their highly-anticipated season and that makes their home game with NFC East rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, close to a 'must-win' for coach Andy Reid's team.
The New York Giants (4-2) can strengthen their position at the top of that division with a victory over winless Miami (0-6) while the AFC West leading San Diego Chargers (4-2) have a tricky divisional test against the Kansas City Chiefs (3-3).
The Buffalo Bills (4-2) will play host to the Washington Redskins (3-3) in Canada this weekend as part of a five-year deal the team signed in 2008 to play one home game in Toronto each year.
The defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers (7-0), the league's only undefeated team, have a bye week.
A new report indicates a big jump in Android Market applications, just one day after another report found that Android tablets had taken more than one-quarter of world market share from Apple's iPad. According to mobile-research firm Research2Guidance, the Android Market has been undergoing what it described as "exponential growth."
In the recently completed third quarter of this year, the number of active mobile apps in the Market was about 319,000. This is lower than the 460,000 in Apple's app store, but the firm found that, on average, each Android developer has placed more than six apps in the Market since its launch, while iOS developers have only placed an average of four each.
500,000 vs. 600,000
If measured as total number of applications published, rather than active mobile apps, the Android Market has had about 500,000 and the App Store about 600,000. Over 37 percent were later removed from the Market for various reasons, while the App Store removed only about 24 percent. Some of the reasons for removing apps included multiple trials, incompatibility with the latest operating system, developer abandonment and low quality.
But, in a way, the comparison of how many have been published and later removed is apples and oranges. Google lets virtually any app get published, and later removes the bad ones, while Apple has a rigorous approval policy that occurs prior to publishing.
When measured by the user base, the research firm projects that the user base for the Android Market will actually exceed Apple's by this year's end.
A new analysis from ABI Research shows that Android phones are now downloading more apps total than iPhones, and have a 44 percent worldwide share of mobile app downloads. However, it also notes that there are now 2.4 Android handsets for every iPhone, which means that each Android phone is downloading half as many apps as each iPhone.
'Apple's Superior Monetization'
ABI also noted that Android handset shipments in the second quarter increased by 36 percent year-over-year, while the iPhone increased 9 percent.
A key for Apple is whether the best third-party developers continue to write for its platform. ABI said in a statement that "Apple's superior monetization policies attracted good developers within its ranks, thus creating a better catalog of apps and customer experience," which is helping to maintain its developer ranks.
Android's key advantage, the report said, is its open-source nature, which has rapidly expanded the installed base and made an attractive target for developers.
On Friday, a report from research firm Strategy Analytics found that the worldwide market share of Apple's iPad, which had been 96 percent of the tablet category earlier this year, was now at 67 percent. Android tablets accounted for 27 percent, up from 2.3 percent at the end of 2010. This dramatic change in market share occurred even though Apple increased its unit sales by 20 percent from the second to the third quarter.
RICHMOND, Va. ? Reynolds American Inc., the nation's second-biggest tobacco company, said Tuesday its third-quarter profit fell nearly 4 percent on charges related to legal cases and other costs.
But the maker of Camel, Pall Mall and Natural American Spirit brand cigarettes said its earnings excluding those items rose nearly 4 percent as higher prices, productivity gains and selling more of its smokeless tobacco brands that include Grizzly and Kodiak offset cigarette volume declines.
The company remains focused on delivering sustainable growth, "even with a difficult economic and competitive environment," CEO Daniel M. Delen said in a news release.
Reynolds American, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., said its net income fell to $367 million, or 63 cents per share, for the period ended Sept. 30, down from $381 million, or 65 cents per share, a year ago.
Earnings adjusted for the charges related to claims in lawsuits from smokers injured by their cigarette use and other costs were 70 cents per share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected 73 cents per share.
Revenue excluding excise taxes slipped about 2 percent to $2.2 billion from $2.24 billion, but beat analyst estimates of $2.16 billion.
Its shares fell 85 cents, or about 2.2 percent, to $38.52 in morning trading.
Reynolds American said the number of cigarettes it sold fell 6.8 percent during the quarter to 18.7 billion cigarettes. That compares with its estimate of a total industry decline of 6.4 percent.
U.S. tobacco companies cautioned last quarter that third-quarter cigarette volume comparisons and profitability would be hurt because wholesalers stocked up more than usual in that period last year.
The company sold less than 1 percent more of its Camel brand and volumes of Pall Mall grew about 2 percent. The brands account for about 60 percent of the company's total cigarette volume.
Camel's market share remained stable at 7.9 percent of the U.S. market, while Pall Mall's market share grew 0.7 percentage points to 8.6 percent.
The company has promoted Pall Mall as a longer-lasting and more affordable cigarette as smokers weather the weak economy and high unemployment, and has said half the people who try the brand continue using it. It said premium-priced products continue to face challenging market trends as consumers have less disposable income.
"There is significant kind of down-trading going on in the marketplace in general," Delen said in a conference call with analysts. "Pall Mall is effectively competing for some of those downtraders, but there are significant opportunities for consumers if they want to go down below Pall Mall to be able to do so."
Reynolds American and other tobacco companies are also focusing on cigarette alternatives such as snuff and chewing tobacco for future sales growth as tax hikes, smoking bans, health concerns and social stigma make the cigarette business tougher.
The company sold 7 percent more of its smokeless tobacco brands, chiefly on an increase of 9 percent for Grizzly. Its American Snuff subsidiary's U.S. market share of the segment grew 1.1 percentage points to 31.6 percent.
Reynolds American also tightened its full-year forecast for earnings between $2.63 and $2.68 per share, excluding charges related to legal cases, tax items and other costs.
Analysts expected earnings of $2.65 for the year.
Reynolds American on Tuesday also said its board of directors approved an increase in the quarterly dividend of 3 cents per share, or 5.7 percent, to 56 cents a share. The new dividend will be paid Jan., 3 to shareholders of record on Dec. 9.
Rival Lorillard Inc., the nation's No. 3 cigarette maker, said Monday its net income fell nearly 3 percent in the third quarter as higher costs offset selling more cigarettes at higher prices. It sold about 3 percent more cigarettes on gains of 2.5 percent from Newport and 7 percent from its low-priced Maverick brand.
Altria Group Inc., owner of Marlboro maker Philip Morris USA, is set to report its results Thursday.
___
Michael Felberbaum can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/MLFelberbaum.
??Substantial wealth inequality is so embedded in American political culture that, standing alone, it would not be sufficient to trigger citizen rage of the type we are finally witnessing.?
At Mother Jones, Glenn Greenwald looks back at the history of inequality, examining the founding fathers? view of inequality as ?not merely inevitable, but desirable,? as well as its lasting pervasiveness and acceptance. He asks what has drawn people to the Occupy protests now, finding answers in the perversion of the legal system.
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??? Lisa Dusenbery is the Editorial Assistant at The Rumpus. Besides writing, her interests include dancing, practicing winking, and the smell of basements. She is a recent convert to San Francisco, CA. More from this author ?
President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011. Obama is on a three-day trip to the West Coast. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011. Obama is on a three-day trip to the West Coast. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
In this Oct. 6, 2011 photo, Gan Golan, of Los Angeles, dressed as the "Master of Degrees," holds a ball and chain representing his college loan debt, during Occupy DC activities in Washington. As President Obama prepared to announce new measures Wednesday to help ease the burden of student loan debt, new figures painted a demoralizing picture of college costs for students and parents: Average in-state tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose an additional $631 this fall, or 8.3 percent, compared with a year ago. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
DENVER (AP) ? President Barack Obama recalled his struggles with student loan debt as he unveiled a plan Wednesday that could give millions of young people some relief on their payments.
Speaking at the University of Colorado Denver, Obama said that he and his wife, Michelle, together owed more than $120,000 in law school debt that took nearly a decade to pay off. He said that sometimes he'd have to make monthly payments to multiple lenders, and the debt meant they were not only paying for their own degrees but saving for their daughters' college funds simultaneously.
"I've been in your shoes. We did not come from a wealthy family," Obama said to cheers.
Obama said it's never been more important to get a college education, but it's also never been more expensive. Obama said his plan will help not just individuals, but the nation, because graduates will have more money to spend on things like buying homes.
"Our economy needs it right now and your future could use a boost right now," Obama said.
Obama's plan will accelerate a measure passed by Congress that reduces the maximum required payment on student loans from 15 percent of discretionary income annually to 10 percent. He will put it into effect in 2012, instead of 2014. In addition, the White House says the remaining debt would be forgiven after 20 years, instead of 25. About 1.6 million borrowers could be affected.
He will also allow borrowers who have a loan from the Federal Family Education Loan Program and a direct loan from the government to consolidate them into one. The consolidated loan would carry an interest rate of up to a half percentage point less than before. This could affect 5.8 million borrowers.
Student loans are the No. 2 source of household debt. The president's announcement came on the same day as a new report on tuition costs from the College Board. It showed that average in-state tuition and fees at four-year public colleges rose $631 this fall, or 8.3 percent, compared with a year ago. Nationally, the cost of a full credit load has passed $8,000, an all-time high.
Student loan debt is a common concern voiced by Occupy Wall Street protesters. Obama's plan could help him shore up re-election support among young voters, an important voting bloc in his 2008 election. But, it might not ease all their fears.
Anna Van Pelt, 24, a graduate student in public health at the University of Colorado Denver who attended the speech, estimates she'll graduate with $40,000 in loans. She called Obama's plan a "really big deal" for her, but said she still worries about how she'll make the payments.
"By the time I graduate, my interest rate is going to be astronomical, especially when you don't have a job," Van Pelt said. "So it's not just paying the loans back. It's paying the loans back without a job."
The White House said the changes will carry no additional costs to taxpayers.
Last year, Congress passed a law that lowered the repayment cap and moved student loans to direct lending by eliminating banks as the middlemen. Before that, borrowers could get loans directly from the government or from the Federal Family Education Loan Program; the latter were issued by private lenders but basically insured by the government. The law was passed along with the health care overhaul with the anticipation that it could save about $60 billion over a decade.
The change in the law was opposed by many Republicans. At a hearing Tuesday, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., who chairs a subcommittee with oversight over higher education, said it had resulted in poorer customer service for borrowers. And Senate Republicans issued a news release with a compilation of headlines that showed thousands of workers in student lending, including those from Sallie Mae Inc., had been laid off because of the change.
Today, there are 23 million borrowers with $490 billion in loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program. Last year, the Education Department made $102.2 billion in direct loans to 11.5 million recipients.
_____
Hefling reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Kristen Wyatt contributed to this report.
_____
Kimberly Hefling can be followed at http://twitter.com/khefling
All those runners who seemed to be ignored while passing numbers flew off the charts earlier this season are resurfacing ? in a big way. Joining the always reliable Adrian Peterson and the resurgent Arian Foster this weekend were the likes of DeMarco Murray, Matt Forte, and Shonn Greene. With injuries hitting a bunch of starters, some new names could join them as the ground game has even more impact in the NFL.
The emergence of Murray was the most notable and spectacular development. His first touch was for a 91-yard touchdown, and he built on it through the Cowboys' rout of the Rams, finishing with a team record 253 yards rushing. Yes, Murray outdid even the best production for one game by Emmitt Smith and Tony Dorsett.
"I never thought in a million years that I'd ever have a day like this," Murray said. "This is what I've been working hard for since my Pop Warner days."
Pop Warner-style offenses, where teams run, run and then run some more, never will resurface in the NFL. Pro football is a passing game, and the record-setting stats early in the 2011 schedule prove that.
But running backs are undergoing a revival and Sunday underscored it.
We've come to expect big showings from Peterson, who despite playing behind a rookie quarterback making his first start, Christian Ponder, and facing the defending Super Bowl champs, had 175 yards and a touchdown in a 33-27 loss to Green Bay. Foster led the league in rushing in his breakout 2010 season and, after battling injuries this year had a huge game in a 41-7 romp past Houston: 115 yards rushing and two scores, 119 receiving and another TD.
Supporting Foster was Ben Tate with 104 yards on the ground. Like Foster the previous year, Tate is making up for a lost season. A second-round draft pick in 2010, he broke his right ankle in the preseason and didn't play again. Foster wasn't used much in his rookie season of 2009, appearing in only six games and gaining 257 yards rushing.
With the re-emphasis on running, three players who surpassed 100 yards on the ground Sunday will take on added importance for their teams: Atlanta's Michael Turner, Chicago's Forte and the Jets' Greene.
Turner has rushed down this road before and is an established star. Forte, in a bitter contract impasse with the Bears, needs to be special because the quarterbacking and receiving are unpredictable. And, of course, they play in Chicago, where Soldier Field is anything but a passer's paradise late in the season.
Greene, who went for 112 yards in New York's 27-21 win over San Diego and was particularly effective in the second half when the Jets rallied, is a key to the team's "ground and pound" philosophy. If the offensive line gets its act together, it is one of the more formidable blocking units around. Greene needs to capitalize on their work.
"Now this, it came together for the most part," Jets guard Brandon Moore said of the running game. "We're just kind of streaming along, staying with that physical attack and style on offense, getting downhill runs . and moving people off the ball."
Some of the guys who will be toting the ball came into the season as backups or backups to the backups. Tim Hightower's left knee buckled in Washington's loss to Carolina and rookie Roy Helu takes over with Hightower gone for the season. Darren McFadden, the league's leading rusher, went down against Kansas City and his sub in Oakland, Michael Bush, isn't an every-down back, meaning speedy rookie Taiwan Jones could see some time.
Seattle's Marshawn Lynch is having back issues and Justin Forsett is one of his replacements. Tampa Bay's Earnest Graham, a solid and versatile back who was filling in for LeGarrette Blount (left knee) left the loss to Chicago in London with a right ankle problem. Next up for Tampa: Kregg Lumpkin.
At least Denver has a former starter to take over for Willis McGahee if his broken right hand sidelines him. Then again, Knowshon Moreno has been a disappointment, which could lead to Lance Ball getting the ball.
Regardless, considering the weather hasn't even gotten bad anywhere in the NFL, running backs will be prominent the rest of the way, especially when the elements become a factor.
Sure, you may be fast asleep in your warm comfy bed back stateside, but we're here at Nokia World in London, gearing up for a Windows Phone-packed keynote with CEO Stephen Elop. The excitement begins at 9AM local time (translated to your time zone below), so tune in just before for the play-by-play.
Psst... and toss your own time zone / day in comments below!
10:00PM - Hawaii (October 25th) 01:00AM - Pacific (October 26th) 02:00AM - Mountain (October 26th) 03:00AM - Central (October 26th) 04:00AM - Eastern (October 26th) 09:00AM - London (October 26th) 10:00AM - Paris (October 26th) 12:00PM - Moscow (October 26th) 05:00PM - Tokyo (October 26th)
Contact: Pressoffice Pressoffice@esrc.ac.uk Economic & Social Research Council
The Olympic and Paralympic Games are one of the most prestigious events in the world and in 2012 all eyes will be on London. The well published post - 2012 Games legacy includes world class sports facilities, a woodland park, new homes, shops and restaurants. What isn't clear is what will happen to the high level security measures that will be left behind after the Games.
Criminologist Dr Pete Fussey believes that there will be a significant use of surveillance during the games, such as fixed and mobile video cameras. In addition, new structures such as bollards and barriers are being introduced to aid security which will have an impact on the urban environment.
Dr Fussey will talk about these issues and invite public discussion at the first of three events on the Olympics to be held during the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) Festival of Social Science 2011. He believes that there is an important debate to be had about the impact that increased surveillance and security measures could have on the communities of East London once the games have finished.
"Given the amount of terrorist threats on recent large sporting events, security requirements have become increasingly central to Olympic planning. This has led to the construction of a range of highly equipped units monitored by a range of surveillance technologies. This in turn, raises questions of what will become of these spaces once the Games are finished and the site is transformed into urban parkland," said Dr Fussey. "Further questions exist over the revival and renewal of the area, which could be seen as upsetting the traditional urban balance."
As an expert in security and counter-terrorism, Dr Fussey believes that these issues of the legacy of the Olympics need to be more widely debated. "For example during the Seoul and Tokyo Olympics, private security guards were seen for the first time in those countries and they remained once the Olympics had gone. This sort of thing raises questions about what is needed to police a global event and what happens afterwards. How many of these security measures will remain in place and what impact will they have on these communities long after the Olympics has ended?"
The talk is the first of three given by Essex University experts on aspects of the Olympics on successive evenings. Psychologist, Dr Dominic Mickelwright will talk about how Olympic athletes achieve feats of exceptional performance, and Dr Marjana Johansson, a lecturer in management, will discuss the Olympics as a global brand, and the association of the games with other global brands.
###
For further information contact
Dr Gary Williams
Email: gcwill@essex.ac.uk
Telephone: 01206-874070
ESRC Press Office:
Danielle Moore
Email: danielle.moore@esrc.ac.uk
Telephone 01793-413122
1. The 2012 Olympic experience
Organiser: Dr Pete Fussey, University of Essex
Date: 31 October 2011 18.00-19.30
Venue: The Minories Bistro, Colchester
Audience: Suitable for a general audience
For more information: The 2012 Olympic experience
2. Press release is based on research by Dr Pete Fussey, Living in surveillance societies. His main research interests focus on surveillance and security with particular reference to counter-terrorism and, also, major events. For more information see Dr Pete Fussey.
3. The Festival of Social Science is run by the Economic and Social Research Council which runs from 29 October to 5 November 2011. With events from some of the country's leading social scientists, the Festival celebrates the very best of British social science research and how it influences our social, economic and political lives - both now and in the future. This year's Festival of Social Science has over 130 creative and exciting events aimed at encouraging businesses, charities, government agencies; and schools or college students to discuss, discover and debate topical social science issues. Press releases detailing some of the varied events are available at the Festival website. You can now follow updates from the Festival on twitter using #esrcfestival
4. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. It supports independent, high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. The ESRC's total budget for 2011/12 is 203 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes. More at http://www.esrc.ac.uk
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Pressoffice Pressoffice@esrc.ac.uk Economic & Social Research Council
The Olympic and Paralympic Games are one of the most prestigious events in the world and in 2012 all eyes will be on London. The well published post - 2012 Games legacy includes world class sports facilities, a woodland park, new homes, shops and restaurants. What isn't clear is what will happen to the high level security measures that will be left behind after the Games.
Criminologist Dr Pete Fussey believes that there will be a significant use of surveillance during the games, such as fixed and mobile video cameras. In addition, new structures such as bollards and barriers are being introduced to aid security which will have an impact on the urban environment.
Dr Fussey will talk about these issues and invite public discussion at the first of three events on the Olympics to be held during the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) Festival of Social Science 2011. He believes that there is an important debate to be had about the impact that increased surveillance and security measures could have on the communities of East London once the games have finished.
"Given the amount of terrorist threats on recent large sporting events, security requirements have become increasingly central to Olympic planning. This has led to the construction of a range of highly equipped units monitored by a range of surveillance technologies. This in turn, raises questions of what will become of these spaces once the Games are finished and the site is transformed into urban parkland," said Dr Fussey. "Further questions exist over the revival and renewal of the area, which could be seen as upsetting the traditional urban balance."
As an expert in security and counter-terrorism, Dr Fussey believes that these issues of the legacy of the Olympics need to be more widely debated. "For example during the Seoul and Tokyo Olympics, private security guards were seen for the first time in those countries and they remained once the Olympics had gone. This sort of thing raises questions about what is needed to police a global event and what happens afterwards. How many of these security measures will remain in place and what impact will they have on these communities long after the Olympics has ended?"
The talk is the first of three given by Essex University experts on aspects of the Olympics on successive evenings. Psychologist, Dr Dominic Mickelwright will talk about how Olympic athletes achieve feats of exceptional performance, and Dr Marjana Johansson, a lecturer in management, will discuss the Olympics as a global brand, and the association of the games with other global brands.
###
For further information contact
Dr Gary Williams
Email: gcwill@essex.ac.uk
Telephone: 01206-874070
ESRC Press Office:
Danielle Moore
Email: danielle.moore@esrc.ac.uk
Telephone 01793-413122
1. The 2012 Olympic experience
Organiser: Dr Pete Fussey, University of Essex
Date: 31 October 2011 18.00-19.30
Venue: The Minories Bistro, Colchester
Audience: Suitable for a general audience
For more information: The 2012 Olympic experience
2. Press release is based on research by Dr Pete Fussey, Living in surveillance societies. His main research interests focus on surveillance and security with particular reference to counter-terrorism and, also, major events. For more information see Dr Pete Fussey.
3. The Festival of Social Science is run by the Economic and Social Research Council which runs from 29 October to 5 November 2011. With events from some of the country's leading social scientists, the Festival celebrates the very best of British social science research and how it influences our social, economic and political lives - both now and in the future. This year's Festival of Social Science has over 130 creative and exciting events aimed at encouraging businesses, charities, government agencies; and schools or college students to discuss, discover and debate topical social science issues. Press releases detailing some of the varied events are available at the Festival website. You can now follow updates from the Festival on twitter using #esrcfestival
4. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues. It supports independent, high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector. The ESRC's total budget for 2011/12 is 203 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and independent research institutes. More at http://www.esrc.ac.uk
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 24-Oct-2011
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