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Beasley falls hard, taken to locker room

MIAMI (AP) — Michael Beasley's return to Miami ended painfully for the Minnesota forward, who was helped to the locker room after a hard fall while driving for a score against his former team.

Beasley landed awkwardly after making a layup with 8:10 remaining until halftime, immediately grabbing his left hip after falling on his side to the court. He got up and took a few steps, face writhing in pain, before going down again near the Timberwolves' bench and needing assistance to reach the locker room.

Beasley was quickly diagnosed with a bruise and was getting X-rays, which were negative, the Timberwolves said.

It was Beasley's first game back in …

Jaime Ayovi leads Ecuador over US 1-0

HARRISON, New Jersey (AP) — Substitute Jaime Ayovi scored in the 79th minute to give Ecuador a 1-0 away win over the United States in a friendly on Tuesday.

Ayovi broke free of defender Tim Ream and headed Walter Ayovi's cross to the left of goalkeeper Tim Howard in one of the few scoring chances for either team.

The U.S. has won only once in five games under new coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

Ayovi also scored the first goal Friday as Ecuador opened World Cup qualifying with a 2-0 home win over Venezuela.

___

Lineups:

United States: Tim Howard, …

CITY DESK

BOISE WEEKLY PUBLISHER CALLS FOR SALARY CUTS

On Friday, Dec 5, Boise Weekly publisher Sally Freeman asked the staff at Idaho's only alternative weekly newspaper to take a 10 percent cut in pay through the end of February, optimistic that revenue would rebound by spring. Freeman told the staff the cuts were necessary to make up for a shortfall in November advertising revenue and a bleak outlook for the coming months.

After the quick announcement at BW's regular Friday staff meeting, Freeman cried briefly and offered to meet with each employee individually. When Freeman bought the paper with thenhusband Bingo Barnes in August 2001, she faced an even more daunting …

Builders Put Headquarters Up for Sale

How bad is the housing market? Bad enough that a cash-strapped builders' group is forced to sell its own home.

Three years after moving into its posh, new $3.5 million headquarters, the Home & Building Association of Greater Grand Rapids is putting the building up for sale.

Chief Executive Judy Barnes said the association is hampered by the weak economy, a sluggish residential building industry and declining membership. The setbacks have resulted in some pledges made toward paying for construction of the 15,000-square-foot headquarters going unfulfilled.

The association spent $1.5 million of its own money on the building. The remainder was to …

Czech Republic takes 2-1 lead over US in Fed Cup

Lucie Safarova beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 6-1 Sunday to give the Czech Republic a 2-1 lead over the United States in the Fed Cup semifinals.

The Czech Republic needs just one more win in the best-of-five series to reach its first Fed Cup final since the country came into existence after the break up of Czechoslovakia in 1993.

"It would be fantastic to reach the final," Safarova said. "We need three points and I believe that we'll make it."

Czechoslovakia won five Fed Cup titles, the last in 1988.

Safarova broke Mattek-Sands in the opening game of the first set and again in the ninth when she converted her …

Marinades Put Extra Pizzazz in Grilled Chicken

It's perfect. It's quick and easy, relatively cool, cheap andreadily available, ideal for just about every summer meal.

What is this magic formula? You may already have it in yourrefrigerator and your backyard. It's chicken on the grill, and itshour has come.

"Chicken is particularly good on the grill," said ThomasIngalls, co-author with David Barich of the new book Chicken on theGrill (HarperPerennial, $17). It's lean and tasty, and it's easilyenhanced with other flavors through marinating and basting.

Grilling, Ingalls and Barich note in their introduction, has along history in the United States, "from the planked and smoked fishof the Northwest …

LA pushing to become nation's mass transit leader

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The region famous for jilting the street car to take up a love affair with the automobile is trying to rekindle its long ago romance with commuter rail.

If successful, the novel plan to borrow billions from the federal government, led by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, would result in the largest transit expansion project in the nation.

Los Angeles County voters agreed two years ago to pay a half-cent sales tax over the next 30 years to extend train and rapid bus lines, projects that would routinely require federal assistance.

But the mayor, who sits on a county transportation board, wants a loan instead of Washington handouts to get the …

NYC auction set for rare portrait of Russian czar

A miniature portrait of Russia's Peter the Great in a diamond-encrusted frame will be auctioned in New York City. Its importance was discovered only recently by the Arizona family that had owned it for decades.

Experts believe as few as 10 of the portraits were bestowed by the czar on subjects who provided exceptional service. Until the latest …

Okla. ordeal recalled // Witnesses describe agony, horror of blast

DENVER In wrenching testimony that brought two jurors to tears, amother sobbed Friday as she described how Oklahoma City bombingrescuers carried out dead children as she anxiously waited for herson.

"They started bringing our babies out in those sheets, and theylaid them by my feet," said Helena Garrett, who ran to the federalbuilding's day-care center after the bombing. "They started making aline of them."

Her own 16-month-old son, Tevin Garrett, who was at the center,was later found dead. She said he was identified by a fingerprintsample lifted from a mirror that he used to look at and kiss.A female juror cried into a blue tissue. A man on the panelsoon …

Wednesday's Champions League Results

…

(Home teams listed first)
Round of 16
Second Leg

Lufthansa 1st-half passenger figures rise

Deutsche Lufthansa AG says the number of passengers flying with the airline, Germany's biggest, was up 1.8 percent in year-on-year terms in the first half of 2010.

Lufthansa said Friday that it carried nearly 27.2 million passengers from January to June. It said passenger numbers were up in all regions but particularly in the Middle East and Africa.

…

Consumers in No Hurry to Get Lead Out Of Tap Water

After seeing the recent headlines about excessive lead in thedrinking water of Chicago suburbs, thousands of worried consumersrushed out to buy filters and bottled water, right?

Wrong.

Even though the lead content exceeded new federal standards,there's been no rush away from the tap.

"We have not made a single sale as a result of it," says ScottCrawford of Bensenville-based U.S. Water Works, which sells treatmentequipment. "There's been very, very little response."

Chicago area Culligan dealers took a more aggressive approach,launching an ad campaign that offered free testing of water for lead.But fewer than 25 responded to it, and many of those had lead levelsbelow the new standards, says Charlie Forness of Greater ChicagoCulligan in Wheeling.

"There was a slight response," he says. "Very slight."

At Hinckley & Schmitt, a big Chicago bottled-water company, "Wedid have some increase in sales the same day the media stories hit,but I wouldn't say it was a tremendous upsurge," says spokeswomanDebbie Lawrence.

How many new customers?

"No more than 10," she says. "We had more of a response whenthe Iraqi war was on and people were afraid (Iraqi ruler SaddamHussein) was going to put cyanide in the water."

That cyanide scare illustrates a point made by Lawrence andothers - the media seem to constantly report so many new hazards inevery mundane aspect of life that consumers are tired of worrying.

"People are just so bombarded with everything these days," saysCrawford, of U.S. Water Works. "Unless they know they have a problemor someone gets sick from it, they don't do anything. It's justanother worry among many."

Lately, that's particularly true of drinking water. The reportsabout lead levels in July were followed by other reports about thedangers of chlorine in the water, says Larry Rogers of Puro FilterCorp. in Chicago. It all contributes to "a mentality thatsomething's going to get you sooner or later," he says.

In fact, lead is worth worrying about, particularly foryoungsters and pregnant women. Chronic, low-level exposure can causepermanent learning disabilities and hyperactive behavior in children,and even more damage in developing fetuses.

The Environmental Protection Agency is crusading against lead inwater, imposing stricter limits and forcing communities across thenation to conduct tests, in part because of its success controllinglead elsewhere. Lead-based paint and leaded gasoline, big sources oflead exposure in the past, are now banned. Another source, leadsolder used in food cans, is becoming very rare as well.

As for cleaning up water that contains lead, the bad news isthat simple charcoal filters don't do the job.

Reverse-osmosis systems are effective, but they're moreexpensive, work slowly and leave the water with a flat taste. Thesame goes for distillers, which also are hard to maintain and costlyto operate. Special anti-lead filters are available, but they tendto have limited capacities.

The best hope may come from municipal water departments, whichare now adding anti-corrosion chemicals that help prevent lead fromleaching into the water from pipes and plumbing solder. Meanwhile,consumers are being advised to simply run the faucet for a fewminutes in the morning to clear out water that sat in the pipesovernight.

Another round of tests is scheduled over the next six months to see if the municipal measures are effective. If they're not, andlead levels remain high, a second round of publicity might finallystimulate the sales of filters and bottled water that were expected with the first, says Puro Filter's Rogers.For both the consumers and the sales personnel, he says, "It's await-and-see approach."

LA Port approves plan for cleaner-running trucks

Commissioners at one of the nation's major seaports unanimously approved Thursday a final prong of a landmark plan intended to clean up some of America's dirtiest air.

The 4-0 vote by the Los Angeles Harbor Commission would usher in a new generation of cleaner-running trucks to carry goods in and out of the Port of Los Angeles each day. Truck traffic _ an estimated 70,000 trips daily at the adjacent ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach _ is considered a key culprit in the region's notoriously polluted air.

The plan still must be approved by the City Council.

But the plan and a key element _ requiring thousands of independent drivers to become employees of licensed trucking companies _ face an almost certain legal challenge that could delay environmental gains for years, as well as lead to higher prices for consumers, critics claim.

It is also unclear how the plan would dovetail with the neighboring port in Long Beach, which earlier adopted a plan that allows independent truckers to continue hauling goods, although with tough emission standards for their trucks.

"The next venue for the proposal will be in the court," Curtis Whalen of the Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference, an affiliate of trade group American Trucking Association, said in a statement. The Los Angeles plan will "undermine ... a workable clean-truck program."

At a news conference after the vote, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the city's harbor was at the forefront of efforts to shift to cleaner energy in an era of climate change. He blamed pollution at the port for causing a raft of health problems for local residents.

Los Angeles "has said enough is enough," the mayor told a cheering crowd, as ship horns sounded in the distance. In just months, "children will breathe easier, and so will their grandchildren."

Convinced of the legal soundness of the approach, commissioners insisted it was the best way to regulate thousands of independent drivers while ensuring port security and good maintenance of the truck fleet.

Under the plan, the nearly 17,000 independent truckers who work at the port would be required to become employees of trucking companies. The companies _ licensed motor carriers _ would be responsible for purchasing and maintaining trucks that meet tougher federal emissions standards. Independently owned trucks comprise more than 85 percent of the those going in and out of the ports.

To take effect, it must also be approved by the City Council.

The trucking companies will be eligible for grants covering up to 80 percent of the cost of newer, cleaner-burning trucks. And the port will also offer drivers $5,000 (euro3,242) to retire trucks built before 1989.

In time, port officials predict truck pollution could be slashed by as much as 80 percent in the region.

The current truck fleet is "made up of drivers earning low pay, driving dirty trucks and who may not meet security requirements," said commission President S. David Freeman.

Labor supports the plan. Some critics have charged it is little more than a thinly veiled effort to unionize low-wage drivers, a claim disputed by the commission.

"We want clean air, we want good jobs, we want to grow the port," said Maria Elena Durazo, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. "This proposal will give that to us."

In an editorial Thursday, the Los Angeles Times described the trucking plan as "an untested attempt at regulating the business that might run afoul of interstate commerce laws. By passing it, harbor commissioners will all but assure a legal battle that may go on for years."

In an earlier vote, the sister ports each voted to require trucks to meet tougher 2007 federal emissions standards by Jan. 12, 2012, along with a $35 (euro23) cargo fee to pay for the newer, cleaner-running trucks.

Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster said Los Angeles' decision could open the way to a long, expensive legal fight that would undercut the purpose of the plan _ cleaning up the air. Moreover, he said many independent drivers do not want to become trucking company employees.

"I think our plan is better. It doesn't place in jeopardy the clean-air program itself," Foster said.

Obama, Clinton campaign in western states holding last primary contests

With no end in sight to the hard-fought Democratic presidential battle, both Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton were already launching their campaigns Saturday in western states that will be among the last to hold primary contests.

Obama and Clinton were scrapping for every last nominating convention delegate in a contest that is now expected to continue through the last scheduled primary contests on June 3 in South Dakota and Montana.

At the start of the primary season, Montana Democrats had little reason to expect that the presidential candidates would be paying much attention to their state's primary in which only 17 delegates are at stake.

But on Saturday evening, both Clinton and Obama were scheduled to speak at the state party's annual dinner in Butte, which was expected to draw about 4,000 Democratic activists.

Obama said he understood that Democrats are becoming a little restless with the protracted race between himself and Clinton, but he expected the party will come together behind its eventual nominee before its national convention in Denver.

"We are going to be unified by the time we get to Denver in August," Obama told a packed rally that drew 8,000 people Saturday on a cold, snowy day to the University of Montana's sports arena in Missoula.

Obama stressed environmental issues in his speech, acknowledging his suport of clean-energy technology might worry voters in a region that produces a lot of coal.

"I know Montana's a coal state. My home state, Illinois, is a coal state, but we've got to make sure that we are investing in technologies that capture carbon because we can't sustain the planet the way that we're doing it right now," Obama said. "Look at this incredible landscape around you. We've got to pass that on."

Accusing President George W. Bush of weakening civil rights, Obama appealed to the independent pioneer tradition of his audience. "If you live out here in Big Sky Country, I know you believe in civil liberties," he said.

Clinton began the day by making her first presidential campaign visit to Oregon, which holds its primary on May 20. Several thousand people packed a gymnasium and an overflow room at a high school in Hillsboro to hear Clinton.

Clinton also focused on the environment, saying the northwestern state was a role model for several of her priorities such as promoting wind power. She promised investments in "green manufacturing," which would be partially paid for by removing tax subsidies for big oil companies.

While the Democrats battled on, Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain was trying to broaden his appeal beyond the voters who cast ballots in last winter's Republican primaries, calling for a presidential campaign that is more like a respectful argument among friends than a bitter clash of enemies.

"We have nothing to fear from each other," the Arizona senator said as he wrapped up a weeklong biographical tour. "We are arguing over the means to better secure our freedom, promote the general welfare and defend our ideals."

After a series of stops earlier in the week that emphasized his military service, McCain spoke on the steps of the Yavapai County Courthouse in Prescott, Arizona, his home state where he launched his political career by winning election to Congress in 1982.

McCain said that if elected, he would attempt to govern in a bipartisan spirit, and sharpened that theme in a news conference shortly after his speech.

"I have a record unmatched by either Senator Hillary (Rodham) Clinton or Senator (Barack) Obama of reaching across the aisle," he said. He said his record demonstrates "the environment for working together is clearly there."

A Gallup poll showed Obama with a a slight lead nationally over Clinton in the Democratic presidential race, at 49 percent to 44 percent. The survey conducted April 1-3 had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Obama leads in the delegate count, 1,635-1,501, according to The Associated Press. Because of the way Democrats apportion delegates, Clinton is not likely to catch Obama even if she has a strong showing in the remaining 10 contests, including the 158 at stake in the next contest in Pennsylvania on April 22.

That leaves the race largely in the hands of the 800 so-called superdelegates _ party leaders, lawmakers and officials who are not bound by state results when casting their vote.

Clinton's chances of catching Obama were further dimmed Friday when Michigan Democrats announced there would be no do-over of that state's Jan. 15 primary. Democrats in Florida had already announced there would be no revote there.

Both the Michigan and Florida primaries were essentially nullified after they were moved into January in violation of national Democratic party rules. The party voted to strip both states of their delegates and all the candidates, including Clinton and Obama, signed a pledge not to campaign in either state.

On Saturday, Clinton strengthened her pitch to allow the disputed primary results to be counted in the nominating contest, noting the vote totals had been officially recognized in each state.

"Some say their votes should be ignored and the popular vote in Michigan and Florida should be discounted. Well, I have a different view," Clinton said at a rally in Hillsboro, Oregon. "The popular vote in Florida and Michigan has already been counted. It was determined by election results, it was certified by election officials in each state, it's been officially tallied by the secretary of state in each state, and the question is whether those 2.3 million Democrats will be honored and their delegates seated by the Democratic party."

Both states saw record turnout in their primaries and the former first lady won both contests. Her campaign has pressed hard for the results to be recognized, even as the Obama campaign has argued Clinton is trying to circumvent rules she agreed to long ago.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has been conferring with party leaders in both states, hoping to find a way to seat their delegations. The Obama campaign has proposed a 50-50 split of both states' delegations, an option Clinton advisers have resisted.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton dismissed Clinton's latest call to recognize the Florida and Michigan's results.

"Senator Clinton herself said these contests 'didn't count for anything.' But now that it serves her own political self-interest, she's trying to change the rules and count the results of contests where she and every other candidate pledged not to campaign," Burton said. "In Michigan, Senator Obama wasn't even on the ballot. Our focus should now be on seating the Michigan and Florida delegations in a fair manner."