Woman abducted, abandoned baby in fake pregnancy scheme, say cops

A Chicago woman has been accused of abducting and abandoning a baby girl in a fake pregnancy scheme designed to help her boyfriend in court, police said.

T’Keyah Williams, 19, of the 7300 block of South Yates Boulevard, was charged with one count of aggravated kidnapping and one misdemeanor count of endangering the life and health of a child, police said.

Police said Williams had designed a scheme to fake a pregnancy to help make the court sympathetic to a boyfriend who was facing drug charges.

Police said that Williams had called a friend and said her parents had thrown her out of her home, and asked for a place to stay.  Williams then went to her parents and told them she was attending a funeral, police said.

Williams attended services following the funeral Monday and then went to the residence of her friend, who is related to the mother of the abducted baby and lives in the same home, police said.

When the baby grew restless and began to cry, Williams offered help to the mother so the mother could sleep, said Melissa Stratton, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department.

While the mother slept, Williams took off with the baby and all of the baby’s belongings, Stratton said.

Police were called about 7 a.m. to the 1600 block of East 74^th Street in the Grand Crossing neighborhood where the infant’s mother, an African national, reported her baby girl missing. The family told police that Williams was the last person seen with the child.

Officers issued a flash message over the police scanner with a description of Williams and the baby girl. Several officers canvassed the area, including Officer Naomi Gibson.

Gibson said at first, Williams was in contact with one of the detectives by cell phone.

“She refused to acknowledge she knew anything about the missing baby,” Gibson said. “I eventually spoke with her personally and she was adamant she didn’t know where the baby was, and she was very convincing.”

Williams’ father eventually drove his daughter to meet with police where she continued to mislead officers about the infant’s whereabouts, police said.

Williams, who was carrying a purse and a pink backpack with baby clothes inside, told officers she must have forgotten to give the items back to the mother, Gibson said.

“She had a sincere face. The kind you would see on TV,” Gibson said.

But parts of Williams’ story didn’t add up, Gibson said. She had told officers she was with her boyfriend the night before, but didn’t realize he had been arrested the same night.

The police, meanwhile, were searching for the baby, knocking door-to-door, asking neighbors for help. One woman told police she had given Williams a white plastic garbage bag to hold baby clothes she was carrying, Gibson said.

Police followed that lead to the area of the 6800 block of South Ridgeland Avenue, about a mile from the infant’s home. Gibson said at this point officers were emotionally drained with the thought that the baby was in a garbage can and possibly harmed.

“We all stood in a circle and were quiet,” Gibson said.  “We were about to break. We couldn’t wrap our minds around looking in garbage for a baby. It must have been God because no one said anything and then we heard a muffled cry.”

Officers found the baby behind a white garbage bag in a car seat with a blanket over her, Gibson said. The temperatures Tuesday at Midway Airport were as low as 26 degrees at 7:13 a.m. before rising to a high of 41 for the day. Stratton said the child was found about 10:40 a.m., and police believe the baby had been outside for about an hour.

“I hollered 'Jesus,' ” Gibson said of finding the infant.

When officers announced the discovery over police scanner radio, cheers erupted, Gibson said.

Gibson and her partner rushed the baby to Comer Children’s Hospital.  “All I could say is we got you now,” she said, adding that, without help from the community, the baby would have continued to be in danger.

Williams was charged Thursday, on her 19^th birthday, and was ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bail, according to court records. She also was given a special condition of wearing an electronic monitor if she makes bond, records said.

dawilliams@tribune.com

Twitter: @neacynewslady

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Exclusive: Facebook offering e-retailers sales tracking tool

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc wants more credit for making online cash registers ring.

Facebook will begin rolling out on Friday a new tool which will allow online retailers to track purchases by members of the social network who have viewed their ads.

The tool is the latest of the new advertising features Facebook is offering to convince marketers that steering advertising dollars to the company will deliver a payoff.

Facebook, with roughly 1 billion users, has faced a tough reception on Wall Street amid concerns about its slowing revenue growth.

"Measuring ad effectiveness and outcomes is absolutely crucial to all types of businesses and marketers," said David Baser, a product manager for Facebook's ads business who said the "conversion measurement" tool has been a top customer request for a long time.

The sales information that advertisers receive is anonymous, said Baser. "You would see the number of people who bought shoes," he said, using the example of an online shoe retailer. But marketers would not be able to get information that could identify the people, he added.

The conversion tool is specifically designed for so-called direct response marketers, such as online retailers and travel websites that advertise with the goal of drumming up immediate sales rather than for longer-term brand-building.

Such advertisers have long flocked to Google Inc's Web search engine, which can deliver ads to consumers at the exact moment they're looking for information on a particular product.

But some analysts say there is room for Facebook to make inroads if it can demonstrate results.

"The path to purchase" is not as direct on Facebook as it is on Google's search engine, said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst with research firm eMarketer. But she said that providing information about customer sales conversion should help Facebook make a stronger case to online retailers.

"It lets marketers track the impact of a Facebook ad hours or days or even a week beyond when someone might have viewed the ad," said Williamson. "That allows marketers to understand the impact of the Facebook ad on the ultimate purchase."

Marketers will also have the option to aim their ads at segments of Facebook's audience with similar attributes to consumers that have responded well to a particular ad in the past, Baser said.

Online retailer Fab.com, which has tested Facebook's new service, was able to reduce its cost per new customer acquisition by 39 percent when it served ads to consumers deemed most likely to convert, Facebook said. Facebook defines a conversion as anything from a completed sale, to a consumer taking another desired action on a website, such as registering for a newsletter.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES

Shares of Facebook, which were priced at $38 a share in its May initial public offering, closed Thursday's regular session at $22.17.

In recent months, Facebook has introduced a variety of new advertising capabilities and moved to broaden its appeal to various groups of advertisers.

Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in October that Facebook saw multi-billion revenue opportunities in each of four groups of advertisers: brand marketers, local businesses, app developers and direct response marketers.

Facebook does not disclose how much of its ad revenue, which totaled $1.09 billion in the third quarter, comes from each type of advertiser. Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser estimates that brand marketers and local businesses account for the bulk of Facebook's current advertising revenue.

Earlier this year, Facebook introduced a similar conversion measurement service for big brand advertisers, such as auto manufacturers, partnering with data mining firm Datalogix to help connect the dots between consumer spending at brick-and-mortar and Facebook ads.

And Facebook has rolled out new marketing tools for local businesses such as restaurants and coffee shops, including a revamped online coupon service and simplified advertising capabilities known as promoted posts.

The new conversion measurement tool is launching in testing mode, but will be fully available by the end of the month, Facebook said.

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; editing by Carol Bishopric)

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No. 23 Michigan tops Iowa 42-17 with Gardner's TDs

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Devin Gardner accounted for six touchdowns to help No. 23 Michigan rout Iowa 42-17 Saturday.

The Wolverines (8-3, 6-1 Big Ten) weren't stopped on offense by the hapless Hawkeyes (4-7, 2-5) until Gardner threw an interception early in the fourth quarter.

Gardner threw three touchdowns and ran for three scores. He became the first Michigan quarterback to account for six TDs since 1983 when Steve Smith had as many passing and rushing scores in a game at Minnesota.

Denard Robinson played after missing two-plus games with nerve damage in his right elbow. Robinson started at running back and took some snaps at QB, but didn't throw a pass.

Michigan running back Fitzgerald Toussaint appeared to break his left leg on his team's first drive.

The Wolverines didn't need Toussaint to beat Iowa, but it will be more difficult to beat Ohio State for a second straight year without him next week.

It looked as if Toussaint's left leg snapped — between his ankle and knee — on his third carry when he was tackled by two Hawkeyes on Michigan's first drive after getting an option pitch from Robinson. Toussaint was carted off the field with his left leg in a brace.

The Wolverines did what they wanted through the air and on the ground against the Hawkeyes.

Gardner was 18 of 23 for 314 yards with TD passes to Roy Roundtree, Vincent Smith and Devin Funchess. Gardner ran for 37 yards, scoring on three short runs to lead a barrage of points that finally ended late in the third quarter.

Robinson ran 13 times for 98 yards, including a 40-yard sprint that included quite a juke along the sideline in the senior's last home game.

The Hawkeyes were officially eliminated from postseason contention by losing five straight games — for the first time since 2000. They'll need to upset Nebraska next week to avoid their longest losing skid since losing the last eight games of the 1999 season, which was Kirk Ferentz's first season as head coach.

Iowa athletic director Gary Barta has publicly supported Ferentz, who he gave a 10-year extension before the 2010 season.

Michigan, meanwhile, has a shot to have a second straight double-digit win season in Brady Hoke's second season in charge of college football's winningest program.

The Wolverines, though, need to beat the Buckeyes on the road and hope the Hawkeyes can stun the Cornhuskers next week at home to earn a spot in the Big Ten title game to have a chance to end an eight-year drought without a conference championship.

Michigan has found a QB to help it close out this season and to give the program high hopes for next year.

The Wolverines — and their fans — have only one game in mind.

Early in the fourth quarter, the crowd at the Big House started to chant: "Beat O-HI-O! Beat O-HI-O!"

Like Hoke, maize-and-blue clad fans don't say "State," when referring to the rival Buckeyes.

The Hawkeyes got running back Mark Weisman, who had been out with a groin injury, back on the field and he ran for 63 yards on 16 carries. Weisman also caught a 13-yard TD pass from James Vandenberg late in the game, but that didn't make the score look much more respectable.

Vandenberg, who was 19 of 26 for 181 yards, threw a 16-yard Henry Krieger-Coble that made it 7-all late in the first quarter in a game that the Wolverines led 28-10 at halftime.

Gardner's third rushing TD and third passing score made it 42-10 after three quarters.

___

Follow Larry Lage on Twitter: http://twitter.com/larrylage

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EU drug regulator OKs Novartis' meningitis B shot

LONDON (AP) — Europe's top drug regulator has recommended approval for the first vaccine against meningitis B, made by Novartis AG.

There are five types of bacterial meningitis. While vaccines exist to protect against the other four, none has previously been licensed for type B meningitis. In Europe, type B is the most common, causing 3,000 to 5,000 cases every year.

Meningitis mainly affects infants and children. It kills about 8 percent of patients and leaves others with lifelong consequences such as brain damage.

In a statement on Friday, Andrin Oswald of Novartis said he is "proud of the major advance" the company has made in developing its vaccine Bexsero. It is aimed at children over two months of age, and Novartis is hoping countries will include the shot among the routine ones for childhood diseases such as measles.

Novartis said the immunization has had side effects such as fever and redness at the injection site.

Recommendations from the European Medicines Agency are usually adopted by the European Commission. Novartis also is seeking to test the vaccine in the U.S.

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Lady Gaga tweets some racy images before concert

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Lady Gaga's tweets were getting a lot of attention ahead of her Buenos Aires concert Friday night.

The Grammy-winning entertainer has more than 30 million followers on Twitter and that's where she shared a link this week to a short video showing her doing a striptease and fooling around in a bathtub with two other women.

She told her followers that it's a "surprise for you, almost ready for you to TASTE."

Then, in between concerts in Brazil and Argentina, she posted a picture Thursday on her Twitter page showing her wallowing in her underwear and impossibly high heels on top of the remains of what appears to be a strawberry shortcake.

"The real CAKE isn't HAVING what you want, it's DOING what you want," she tweeted.

Lady Gaga wore decidedly unglamorous baggy jeans and a blouse outside her Buenos Aires hotel Thursday as three burly bodyguards kept her fans at bay. Another pre-concert media event where she was supposed to be given "guest of honor" status by the city government Friday afternoon was cancelled.

After Argentina, she is scheduled to perform in Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; and Asuncion, Paraguay, before taking her "Born This Way Ball" tour to Africa, Europe and North America.

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Chocolatier finds sweet spot in Belize

Katrina Markoff, the founder of high-end Chicago chocolatier Vosges Haut-Chocolat, is nearing completion on two high-profile projects: a winery-style chocolate facility in Logan Square and an education center at a cacao plantation and eco-lodge in Belize.

Markoff isn't ready to talk about the Logan Square project, her spokeswoman said. But in an interview last week, she said she hopes the Belcampo farm in Belize will become the source of a majority of Vosges' cacao once its plants mature.

The project means Markoff will soon play a role in every aspect of production from seed selection through packaging without having to assume the financial risk of owning a tropical plantation.

Belcampo Group CEO Anya Fernald said the education center that Markoff helped design will open in mid-December, and Markoff will teach her first "master class" on cacao to guests at the 12-room lodge April 23-27. In exchange for her time and expertise, Markoff will receive a better price on the beans.

"I've always wanted to be involved through the full vertical, from actually growing the varietals of cacao I want, and being particular about how they're grown and harvested and fermented and dried," she said.

Once the farm reaches full yield in about five years, Fernald estimated it will produce 250,000 pounds of cacao annually. Already, with only 60 acres planted so far — all under a rain forest canopy — Fernald said Belcampo is already Belize's largest cacao plantation.

"The integrity of that project is really, really unique and special," Markoff said. "Typically when people buy beans to make chocolate, they just buy whatever is available in the commodity market. There's not a lot of control over how it's grafted, where it's planted, how it's nurtured, who's taking care of it. You just don't get that kind of control."

Bluhm continues gambling push

Chicago real estate and gambling executive Neil Bluhm is entering the race to build one of four planned casinos in Massachusetts and has launched an online gaming division in Chicago, said Greg Carlin, chief executive of Bluhm's Rush Street Gaming.

Earlier this year Rush Street hired Richard Schwartz from Waukegan-based WMS Industries and appointed him president of Rush Street Interactive, its new online gaming division.

"We think (Internet gaming) is going to be eventually legalized throughout the country, or in jurisdictions that have bricks-and-mortar casinos," Carlin said. "Illinois is actually a leader in selling lottery tickets online and could be a leader in Internet gaming as well if they get ahead of the curve and pass legislation before some of the other states."

Nevada and Delaware have legalized some forms of Internet gambling.

In recent years, Bluhm has built three casinos: Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, one in Pittsburgh and another in Philadelphia. In October, Bluhm sold his first U.S. casino, Riverwalk Casino and Hotel, in Vicksburg, Miss., for $141 million in cash to Churchill Downs Inc. (Bluhm held a 70 percent stake in Riverwalk.)

Churchill Downs, a horse racing and wagering company, also owns Arlington Park in Arlington Heights. Its largest shareholder is Duchossois Group, founded by Arlington Park Chairman Richard "Dick" Duchossois.

Duchossois has been trying to persuade the Illinois Legislature to approve slots at racetracks, which, if successful, would make Arlington Park a competitor of Bluhm's Des Plaines casino.

As for the Massachusetts casino, the gambling commission there will weigh applications for casino licenses well into 2013.

Alvarez joins Culloton

Public relations firm Culloton Strategies has hired Michael Alvarez, a commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, as senior vice president for public affairs.

As the Sun-Times reported in January, Alvarez, 32, has worked for Barack Obama, Rod Blagojevich and Richard M. Daley — while he has close ties to Ald. Richard Mell, Blagojevich's father-in-law.

In addition to his $70,000 annual salary at the water district, Alvarez has a $60,000-a-year public relations contract with the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority and a "fast-growing" lobbying practice, the Sun-Times reported.

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Hostess to shut down, taking Twinkies with it

Hostess, the company that makes Twinkies and other sugary snacks, has announced it's going out of business following a worker strike.

Hostess Brands on Friday received a court order for an expedited hearing on its request to
liquidate.

The hearing on liquidation request is scheduled for 2 p.m. Eastern time Nov. 19, in bankruptcy court in White Plains, N.Y.

The bankrupt maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, said it had sought court permission to go out of business after failing to get wage and benefit cuts from thousands of its striking bakery workers.

Hostess, which has about $2.5 billion in sales from a long list of iconic consumer brands of snack cakes and breads said it had suspended operations at all of its 33 plants around the United States as it moves to start liquidating assets.

"We'll be selling the brands and as much of the infrastructure as we can," said company spokesman Lance Ignon. "There is value in the brands."

Hostess said a strike by members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union that began last week had crippled its ability to produce and deliver products at several facilities, and it had no choice but to give up its effort to emerge intact from bankruptcy court.

The Irving, Texas-based company said the liquidation would mean that most of its 18,500 employees would lose their jobs.

In the Chicago area, Hostess employs about 300 workers making CupCakes, HoHos and Honey Buns in Schiller Park. Hostess also has a bakery in Hodgkins, where 325 workers make Beefsteak, Butternut, Home Pride, Nature’s Pride and Wonder breads.

Hostess spokesman Tom Becker confirmed that Hostess plants have closed, and the local factories in Hodgkins and Schiller Park ran their last production Friday morning. The company also has a plant in Peoria.

Calls to the Hodgkins and Schiller Park plants were not answered.

"I don't think it's a stretch to say there's a lot of sadness today," Becker said, adding that "18,500 people had jobs yesterday and knew they weren't going to have jobs anymore when they woke up today," referring to Hostess' total employee base.

"It's an extremely difficult decision for the company to have to make to shut down but unfortunately without the full involvement of its employees at the bakery, the company was unable to continue."

A statement on the Hostess Brands website begins with "Hostess Brands is closed."

According to Becker, most of the company's employees had approved an 8 percent pay cut for the coming year, but the members of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union had voted against the reduction and a change in the pension plan. 

Becker stressed that lingering pension obligations and other expenses felled the company, and not demand for its products.

"Demand was never the issue," Becker said, adding that company revenue for the year-ended May 11 was $2.5 billion. "We have very loyal customers who love our products and continued to buy our products."

Hostess had given employee a deadline to return to work on Thursday, but the union held firm, saying it had already given far more in concessions than workers could bear and that it would not bend further. Union officials blamed mismanagement for the company's woes.

The company, which filed for bankruptcy in January for the second time since 2004, said it had filed a motion with U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, New York, for permission to shut down and sell assets.

Hostess has 565 distribution centers and 570 bakery outlet stores, as well as the 33 bakeries. Its brands include Wonder, Nature's Pride, Dolly Madison, Drake's, Butternut, Home Pride and Merita, but it is probably best known for Twinkies - basically a cream-filled sponge cake.

"We do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike," Chief Executive Officer Gregory Rayburn said in a statement. "Hostess Brands will move promptly to lay off most of its 18,500-member workforce and focus on selling its assets to the highest bidders."

The company said in court filings that it would probably take about a year to wind down. It will need about 3,200 employees to start that process, but only about 200 after the first few months.

Gary Stibel, founder of the New England Consulting Group, said "the jury's still out," on the future of Hostess Brands, adding that the firm may be able to "work something out in the eleventh hour."

"There's a lot of activity going on," said Stibel, who added that his group is involved in the conversations, but not representing Hostess. "Let's just say there are a lot of folks who are going to be working over the weekend."

"This is no different than the fiscal cliff," Stibel said. "You've got different parties with very strong points of view, not coming together."

Stibel said the only thing for certain is that "these brands aren't going anywhere."

Union President Frank Hurt said the company's failure was not the fault of the union but the "result of nearly a decade of financial and operational mismanagement" and that management was trying to make union workers the scapegoats for a plan by Wall Street investors to sell Hostess.

Hostess said its debtor-in-possession lenders had agreed to allow it to retain access to $75 million to fund the wind-down process.

The company has canceled all orders with its suppliers and said any product in transit would be returned to the shipper.

Hostess had been gauging acquisition interest for certain brands for months and in late September received "a number of potentially viable proposals" to purchase certain assets.

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst William Chappell Jr. said Flowers Foods Inc. could be among the potential buyers for some Hostess assets. And he said the company's liquidation was a “positive step” for the sector because it will reduce the number of major vendors.

In addition to Flowers, Bimbo Bakeries USA, a division of Mexico-based Grupo Bimbo, and Pepperidge Farm, a division of Campbell Soup Co., were considered prospective buyers, analysts said.

Bloomberg News reported late Friday afternoon that Pabst Brewing Co. owner C. Dean Metropoulos & Co. is considering an offer for the company.

In its filing with the court, the company said it would have incurred a loss of between $7.5 million and $9.5 million from Nov. 9 to Nov. 19 in lost sales and increased costs.

"These losses and other factors, including increased vendor payment terms contraction, have resulted in a significant weakening of the debtors' cash position and, if continued, would soon result in the debtors completely running out of cash," it said.

Hostess had already reached an agreement on pay and benefit cuts with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, its largest union.

In its January bankruptcy filing, Hostess listed assets of $981.6 million. In a February filing, it assessed the value of its patents, copyrights and other intellectual property at some $134.6 million, although it did not break down the value by brands.

The company's last operating report, filed with the bankruptcy court in late October, listed a net loss of $15.1 million for the four weeks that ended in late September, mostly due to restructuring charges and other expenses.

The case is In re: Hostess Brands Inc., U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-22052.

Tribune reporter Emily Bryson York contributed to this story.

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Exclusive: Facebook offering e-retailers sales tracking tool

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc wants more credit for making online cash registers ring.

Facebook will begin rolling out on Friday a new tool which will allow online retailers to track purchases by members of the social network who have viewed their ads.

The tool is the latest of the new advertising features Facebook is offering to convince marketers that steering advertising dollars to the company will deliver a payoff.

Facebook, with roughly 1 billion users, has faced a tough reception on Wall Street amid concerns about its slowing revenue growth.

"Measuring ad effectiveness and outcomes is absolutely crucial to all types of businesses and marketers," said David Baser, a product manager for Facebook's ads business who said the "conversion measurement" tool has been a top customer request for a long time.

The sales information that advertisers receive is anonymous, said Baser. "You would see the number of people who bought shoes," he said, using the example of an online shoe retailer. But marketers would not be able to get information that could identify the people, he added.

The conversion tool is specifically designed for so-called direct response marketers, such as online retailers and travel websites that advertise with the goal of drumming up immediate sales rather than for longer-term brand-building.

Such advertisers have long flocked to Google Inc's Web search engine, which can deliver ads to consumers at the exact moment they're looking for information on a particular product.

But some analysts say there is room for Facebook to make inroads if it can demonstrate results.

"The path to purchase" is not as direct on Facebook as it is on Google's search engine, said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst with research firm eMarketer. But she said that providing information about customer sales conversion should help Facebook make a stronger case to online retailers.

"It lets marketers track the impact of a Facebook ad hours or days or even a week beyond when someone might have viewed the ad," said Williamson. "That allows marketers to understand the impact of the Facebook ad on the ultimate purchase."

Marketers will also have the option to aim their ads at segments of Facebook's audience with similar attributes to consumers that have responded well to a particular ad in the past, Baser said.

Online retailer Fab.com, which has tested Facebook's new service, was able to reduce its cost per new customer acquisition by 39 percent when it served ads to consumers deemed most likely to convert, Facebook said. Facebook defines a conversion as anything from a completed sale, to a consumer taking another desired action on a website, such as registering for a newsletter.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES

Shares of Facebook, which were priced at $38 a share in its May initial public offering, closed Thursday's regular session at $22.17.

In recent months, Facebook has introduced a variety of new advertising capabilities and moved to broaden its appeal to various groups of advertisers.

Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in October that Facebook saw multi-billion revenue opportunities in each of four groups of advertisers: brand marketers, local businesses, app developers and direct response marketers.

Facebook does not disclose how much of its ad revenue, which totaled $1.09 billion in the third quarter, comes from each type of advertiser. Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser estimates that brand marketers and local businesses account for the bulk of Facebook's current advertising revenue.

Earlier this year, Facebook introduced a similar conversion measurement service for big brand advertisers, such as auto manufacturers, partnering with data mining firm Datalogix to help connect the dots between consumer spending at brick-and-mortar and Facebook ads.

And Facebook has rolled out new marketing tools for local businesses such as restaurants and coffee shops, including a revamped online coupon service and simplified advertising capabilities known as promoted posts.

The new conversion measurement tool is launching in testing mode, but will be fully available by the end of the month, Facebook said.

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; editing by Carol Bishopric)

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AP source: Melky Cabrera, Blue Jays reach deal

NEW YORK (AP) — The busy Toronto Blue Jays struck again Friday with their latest big deal: All-Star game MVP Melky Cabrera is set to join them in his return from a drug suspension.

A person familiar with the negotiations said the free agent outfielder and the Blue Jays have reached agreement on a two-year contract worth $16 million. The deal is pending a physical, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because there was no official announcement.

ESPN Deportes first reported the agreement Friday.

Earlier this week, the Blue Jays got All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes and pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle from the Miami Marlins in a blockbuster trade that could involve a dozen players.

Toronto has not reached the playoffs since winning its second straight World Series in 1993, and has often been stuck behind big spenders in the AL East. After going 73-89 this year, the Blue Jays have made quite a splash in the offseason.

The 28-year-old Cabrera was leading the National League in hitting at .346 for the San Francisco Giants when he drew a 50-game suspension Aug. 15 for a positive testosterone test.

Cabrera later asked to be removed from consideration for the NL batting title, feeling it would be a tainted crown — a rule change in the number of required plate appearances for the champion let Giants teammate and eventual NL MVP Buster Posey win at .336.

The Giants didn't put Cabrera on their postseason roster on the way to winning the World Series, even after he became eligible at the start of the NL championship series.

Cabrera hit 11 home runs with 60 RBIs in his lone year with San Francisco. He hit .305 with 18 homers and 87 RBIs the previous season with Kansas City, then was traded to the Giants.

Cabrera made his major league debut in 2005 with the New York Yankees and stayed with them until being traded to Atlanta after the 2009 season.

The Blue Jays had their share of sluggers — Edwin Encarnacion hit 42 homers and two-time home run champ Jose Bautista hit 27 — but didn't score at an exceptional rate.

Toronto averaged 4.42 runs per game last season, slightly below the AL average.

Cabrera is friendly with Encarnacion and Bautista, another reason he felt comfortable joining the Blue Jays.

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Robert Pattinson looks for danger after “Twilight”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Robert Pattinson has set young hearts aflutter as the teen vampire Edward Cullen in the “Twilight Saga” films, but as the sun sets on the franchise that launched his career, the actor is looking for more grown-up and “dangerous” roles.

“Breaking Dawn – Part 2,” released this week, is the fifth and final in the series, and Edward’s character shifts from brooding, tormented lover to a contented husband and father who must protect his family from an ancient vampire clan.

But Pattinson, 26, still has those rakish good looks that drew a screaming fan base and made him a tabloid fixture. While the avid fan excitement around the “Twilight” series overwhelms him, the British actor hopes his audience will follow him as he moves on.

“It’s all about control. Now, I don’t feel like I have any control whatsoever,” he told Reuters with a laugh.

“They’re a very ardent fan base, so to figure out a way to harness that vehement audience, it’s definitely an important thing.”

Pattinson became a pinup as the angst-ridden Edward, but said he wasn’t worried he might be typecast as the perpetual brooding hero. “I’m not particularly brooding in my real life,” he said.

The actor has already been laying the ground for a career beyond “Twilight.” He played a 19th century French gigolo in “Bel Ami” and a billionaire with an existential crisis in David Cronenberg‘s “Cosmopolis,” although both films fared poorly at the box office earlier this year.

Next up is a drama, “Map to the Stars,” again with Cronenberg, and “The Rover,” a Western-style action movie set in the Australian desert.

“Everything I’ve signed up for now is very physical, because I feel like I’ve done quite a few things where I’m quite still. I’m trying to find people that are doing things that feel dangerous,” Pattinson said.

ROMANCE ON AND OFF SCREEN

Away from the series with its apple motif, symbolizing forbidden love, Pattinson’s fame has also been fueled by his off-screen romance with “Twilight” co-star Kristen Stewart, 22, who plays Bella Swan.

Their relationship was thrust into the spotlight in the summer when Stewart publicly admitted she had an affair with her married “Snow White and the Huntsman” director, Rupert Sanders.

The actress apologized in a rare, heartfelt public statement but the affair shocked “Twilight” fans. Pattinson and Stewart have since reconciled, and the paparazzi have spotted them together, but they have stayed mum on their relationship.

“I just try and avoid it,” Pattinson said when asked about the scrutiny of his personal life.

“I don’t think it’s good in terms of a career as an actor. I think being in gossip magazines – I don’t like the whole industry, I think it’s a lazy industry, and it’s a weird media consumer culture,” the actor said.

“(Success) is so much based on luck as an actor. No one knew that the audience would connect to the ‘Twilight’ series the way that they did … it’s just luck, you’ve got to do the things that interest you.”

For now, Pattinson is coming to terms with saying goodbye to the franchise.

“It sounds cheesy, but it’s been such a life-changing experience where you share a bond with people, it’s weird. I remember hearing about ‘Lord of the Rings,’ they all got tattoos … that’d be so funny, maybe we could get a little apple, a ‘tramp stamp’ with an apple,” the actor mused, laughing.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy, Editing by Jill Serjeant, Gary Hill)

Celebrity News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Judge grants Miley Cyrus civil restraining order

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge has granted Miley Cyrus a three-year civil restraining order against a man convicted of trespassing at her home in Los Angeles.

The stay-away order was granted Friday against Jason Luis Rivera by Superior Court Judge William D. Stewart.

The 40-year-old Rivera was convicted in October of trespassing at the singer's home and sentenced to 18 months in jail.

He is scheduled to be released in May. Authorities said at the time of Rivera's arrest in September that he was carrying scissors and ran into the wall of Cyrus' home as if trying to break in.

Rivera did not respond to Cyrus' petition.

The 20-year-old former star of "Hannah Montana" did not attend the hearing. Her attorney Bryan Sullivan declined comment.

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Sources: Liguori planned as next Tribune CEO

When Tribune Co. emerges from bankruptcy, the new owners plan to name television executive Peter Liguori as the company's chief executive, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Liguori is a former top TV executive at Fox and Discovery. The decision to name him Tribune's CEO ends months of speculation and will usher in a new era for the Chicago media company, which owns newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, and television stations.

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday signed off on waivers needed to transfer Tribune Co.'s broadcast properties to the new ownership, the final significant hurdle before the company can emerge from its long-running stay in Chapter 11.

While a date for emergence is not set, the new ownership group controlled by senior creditors Oaktree Capital Management, Angelo, Gordon & Co. and JP Morgan Chase, will likely take the reins by the end of the year. An initial step for the owners will be to appoint a board of directors. It will have final say on who becomes CEO, but sources say the owners have chosen Liguori.

"The decision has been made," one of the sources said.

Los Angeles Times publisher Eddy Hartenstein has been CEO of Tribune Co. since May 2011. A Tribune Co. spokesman declined comment.

A former advertising executive who transitioned into television more than two decades ago, Liguori, 52, is credited with turning cable channel FX into a programming powerhouse during his ascent to entertainment chief at News Corp.'s Fox Broadcasting. More recently, he served as chief operating officer at Discovery Communications Inc., where he helped oversee the rocky launch of the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Liguori is considered by some observers to be a good fit for Tribune and its new owners. While the company's identity is closely connected to publishing, broadcasting is now its headline business and core profit center. One of Liguori's main jobs will be to help maximize TV ratings, advertising dollars and increasingly important affiliate fees for WGN America and Tribune Co.'s 23 local stations, according to industry insiders.

Liguori "is a very, very smart hire for Oaktree and the guys that run the company because I think what Tribune needs more than anything is somebody to kind of build the brands back and make it a true media company, as opposed to just a collection of businesses," said Jeff Shell, London-based president of NBCUniversal International, who worked with Liguori for six years at Fox beginning in 1996. Shell, whose name had once been floated as a candidate for Tribune CEO, spoke recently about his former colleague's potential value as head of Tribune Co.

Liguori, who could not be reached for comment, became president of Fox's FX Networks in 1998, when it was a small basic cable channel airing reruns of everything from "M*A*S*H" to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Elevated to CEO in 2001, he remade FX by offering edgy original programming. Starting with "The Shield" in 2002, Liguori rolled out "Nip/Tuck" and "Rescue Me," creating first-run successes that redefined FX, and perhaps basic cable, in the process.

"FX was a channel, when he took over, a little tiny cable channel losing a bunch of money," Shell said. "He made it into something big by imagining something different, and I think that's what Tribune needs."

Liguori became president of entertainment for Fox Broadcasting Co. in 2005, where he headed program development and marketing. Squeezed out in 2009, he then joined Discovery as chief operating officer, where one of his responsibilities was to oversee the nascent joint venture with OWN.

In May 2011, Liguori assumed the dual role as interim CEO of OWN after inaugural head Christina Norman was forced out at the struggling network. That added responsibility evaporated two months later when Winfrey made herself CEO of OWN. Liguori left Discovery in December and the company eliminated his COO position.

Liguori has been working since July as a New York-based media consultant for private equity firm, the Carlyle Group. He currently serves on the boards of Yahoo, MGM Holdings and Topps.

Tribune Co. has been operating under bankruptcy court protection for nearly four years, having buckled under the $13 billion in total debt it took on after its 2007 buyout. The company's stay in bankruptcy was prolonged by a drawn-out battle for control among creditors.

With the court having finally resolved the major ownership questions, the FCC's decision to grant waivers was the last major piece of the puzzle to come together.

The Federal Communication Commission's Media Bureau issued the waivers of its so-called cross-ownership rules for Tribune's media properties in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, South Florida and Hartford, Conn.

The waivers allow the agency to transfer TV and radio station licenses in those markets to Tribune's new owners, the group led by Oaktree Capital, Angelo Gordon and JPMorgan Chase.

The FCC granted Tribune a permanent waiver for the company's ownership of the Tribune and WGN-TV. The FCC also gave one-year waivers for the Tribune's ownership of the Los Angeles Times and KTLA-TV Channel 5 and for similar arrangements in New York, South Florida and Hartford.

The company would have one year in those four markets to sell either its newspapers or broadcast stations. But the FCC is in the process of considering loosening its media ownership rules to make it easier for companies to get waivers for newspaper and broadcast station combinations in the top 20 markets.

"We are extremely pleased with today's action by the FCC," Hartenstein said in a statement Friday. "This decision will enable the company to continue moving forward toward emergence from Chapter 11, a process we expect to complete over the course of the next several weeks."

Tribune Newspapers reporter Jim Puzzanghera contributed to this report 

rchannick@tribune.com | Twitter @RobertChannick

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Cutler held out of Bears' practice

The Chicago Bears practiced Thursday for the first time since Jay Cutler was knocked out of Sunday’s loss to the Texans, but the quarterback did not participate as he continues his recovery from a concussion.

Jason Campbell ran the first-team offense as the Bears took to the field in preparation for Monday’s game at San Francisco. Cutler has not yet been cleared to return to football activities and his availability for the game remains unknown.

"“I know you have a lot of Jay Cutler questions," coach Lovie Smith said. "There is not a whole lot I can say. He is getting better. Don’t know if he’ll be able to go this week.

Smith would not say if there is a chance Cutler will practice Friday.

Smith did say it was possible that Cutler could play Monday even if he didn't practice this week, although the team prefers that players practice at least once.

Regarding Campbell, Smith said, "If Jason has to play, believe me, we feel real good about him."

Rookie defensive end Shea McClellin also missed practice while recovering from a concussion suffered against the Texans. Rookie wide receiver Alshon Jeffery returned to practice from a broken hand sustained in the Jacksonville game but was limited.

49ers quarterback Alex Smith, who also suffered a concussion on Sunday, was cleared for non-contact practices Wednesday. Barring a setback, it looks like Smith, who is completing 70 percent of his passes, will start against the Bears.

The Bears could be relegated to using Campbell, who they signed to a $3.5 million, one-year contract at the outset of free agency in the event something happened to Cutler. This is the second concussion in three seasons for Cutler, who missed a game in 2010 after suffering a head injury.

Some teammates saw Cutler at Halas Hall before practice and reported he was upbeat.

“He just looks like the same old Jay,” defensive tackle Henry Melton said. “I’m not a doctor, so I can’t really say if he’s going to go or not. But right now he’s looking good, so we’ll just see what happens.”
 
Defensive end Israel Idonije said it’s a fine line when it comes to head injuries and a speedy return.

“He’s a fierce competitor, he’s a tough guy,” Idonije said. “If everything goes through and when he’s ready to play, he’s going to play, he’ll get in the game and he’ll be effective for us and he’ll play well for us. But it’s a game so I don’t think at any time as sharp of a guy as he is he’s willing to risk his livelihood for this one game, especially because it’s a long season and we have plenty of games ahead that we need him for. So, they’re going to make the assessment and when the time is right and he’s ready he’ll be back and we’ll move forward and play a lot of great football games.”

bmbiggs@tribune.com
Twitter @BradBiggs

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Facebook takes another shot at settling privacy lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge said he would consider whether to preliminarily approve Facebook's second attempt to settle allegations the social networking company violated privacy rights.

Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg rejected a proposed class action settlement over Facebook's 'Sponsored Stories' advertising feature. But at a hearing on Thursday in San Francisco federal court, Seeborg was much less critical of a revised proposal and promised a ruling "very shortly."

Five Facebook Inc members filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status against the social networking site, saying its Sponsored Stories feature violated California law by publicizing users' "likes" of certain advertisers without paying them or giving them a way to opt out. The case involved over 100 million potential class members.

As part of a proposed settlement reached earlier this year, Facebook agreed to allow members more control over how their personal information is used. Facebook also agreed to pay $10 million for legal fees and $10 million to charity, according to court documents.

However, Seeborg rejected the proposed deal in August, questioning why it did not award any money to members.

In a revised proposal, Facebook and plaintiff lawyers said users now could claim a cash payment of up to $10 each to be paid from a $20 million total settlement fund. Any money remaining would then go to charity.

The company also said it would engineer a new tool to enable users to view any content that might have been displayed in Sponsored Stories and then opt out if they desire, the court document says.

In court on Thursday, Facebook attorney Michael Rhodes said the settlement provided meaningful protections and that Seeborg's job was to ensure a fair settlement - not write national privacy policy.

"Trust me, I'm not proposing to set grand policy with privacy issues writ large," Seeborg said.

Two children's advocacy groups filed court papers opposing the deal, saying that an opt-in procedure with parental consent should be required before Facebook can use a minor's content in ads.

However, plaintiff attorney Robert Arns said the deal balances the public good with Facebook's ability to run a profitable social networking service.

"We believe we cracked the code so that it's fair," he said.

If Seeborg grants his preliminary approval, outside groups would be able to file further objections before a final hearing.

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is Angel Fraley et al., individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated vs. Facebook Inc, 11-cv-1726.

(Reporting By Dan Levine. Editing by Andre Grenon)

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Miguel Cabrera, Buster Posey win MVP awards

NEW YORK (AP) — Detroit's Miguel Cabrera has won the American League's Most Valuable Player award after becoming baseball's first Triple Crown winner in 45 years, and San Francisco's Buster Posey has been voted the National League honor.

Cabrera received 22 of 28 first-place votes and 362 points from the AL panel of Baseball Writers' Association of America. Los Angeles Angels rookie center fielder Mike Trout had six firsts and 281 points.

Posey got 27 of 32 firsts and 422 points from the NL panel, outdistancing 2011 winner Ryan Braun of Milwaukee, who was second with 285 points.

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Diabetes rates rocket in Oklahoma, South

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's diabetes problem is getting worse, and the biggest jump over 15 years was in Oklahoma, according to a new federal report issued Thursday.

The diabetes rate in Oklahoma more than tripled, and Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama also saw dramatic increases since 1995, the study showed.

The South's growing weight problem is the main explanation, said Linda Geiss, lead author of the report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.

"The rise in diabetes has really gone hand in hand with the rise in obesity," she said.

Bolstering the numbers is the fact that more people with diabetes are living longer because better treatments are available.

The disease exploded in the United States in the last 50 years, with the vast majority from obesity-related Type 2 diabetes. In 1958, fewer than 1 in 100 Americans had been diagnosed with diabetes. In 2010, it was about 1 in 14.

Most of the increase has happened since 1990.

Diabetes is a disease in which the body has trouble processing sugar; it's the nation's seventh leading cause of death. Complications include poor circulation, heart and kidney problems and nerve damage.

The new study is the CDC's first in more than a decade to look at how the nationwide boom has played out in different states.

It's based on telephone surveys of at least 1,000 adults in each state in 1995 and 2010. Participants were asked if a doctor had ever told them they have diabetes.

Not surprisingly, Mississippi — the state with the largest proportion of residents who are obese — has the highest diabetes rate. Nearly 12 percent of Mississippians say they have diabetes, compared to the national average of 7 percent.

But the most dramatic increases in diabetes occurred largely elsewhere in the South and in the Southwest, where rates tripled or more than doubled. Oklahoma's rate rose to about 10 percent, Kentucky went to more than 9 percent, Georgia to 10 percent and Alabama surpassed 11 percent.

An official with Oklahoma State Department of Health said the solution is healthier eating, more exercise and no smoking.

"And that's it in a nutshell," said Rita Reeves, diabetes prevention coordinator.

Several Northern states saw rates more than double, too, including Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Maine.

The study was published in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

___

Associated Press writer Ken Miller in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

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Online:

CDC report: http://tinyurl.com/cdcdiabetesreport

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DA: Heroin charge dropped vs. Bon Jovi's daughter

CLINTON, N.Y. (AP) — Drug charges against Jon Bon Jovi's 19-year-old daughter have been dropped, a central New York prosecutor said Thursday.

Stephanie Bongiovi was found unresponsive by medics after she apparently overdosed on heroin in a Hamilton College dorm early Wednesday. Town of Kirkland police charged Bongiovi, of Red Bank, N.J., and fellow student Ian Grant, also of Red Bank, with possession of a small amount of heroin and marijuana.

Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara said he was dismissing the charges against both students. Under state law, someone having a drug overdose or seeking help for an overdose victim can't be prosecuted for having a small amount of heroin or any amount of marijuana.

The so-called Good Samaritan 911 law signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in July 2011 was designed to reduce overdose deaths by encouraging people to call 911 without fear of being arrested for drug possession. Similar laws have been passed in several other states.

Bon Jovi, 50, is scheduled to perform at a concert to benefit Hamilton's scholarships and arts programs in Times Square on Dec. 5. He has not commented on his daughter's overdose.

He has four children, Stephanie and three sons.

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Eurozone slides back into recession

The Eurozone is back in a recession, its first in three years, as gross domestic product for the debt-plagued 17-nation bloc contracted 0.1 percent in the third quarter from the earlier quarter.

In the second quarter, the currency collective tightened 0.2 percent, according to the official European Union statistics agency, Eurostat. Two consecutive quarterly slips make a recession.

Compared with a year earlier, GDP is down 0.6 percent. Eurostat said last month that unemployment in the bloc was at a record high of 11.6 percent. Protests and strikes rippled across Europe on Wednesday.

Growth in core countries such as Germany and France couldn't counteract the plunges in long-struggling, austerity-bound nations such as Spain and Italy. Portugal took an especially nasty 0.8 percent dive.

Even countries that had been expanding took a dive, with the Netherlands experiencing a 1.1 percent squeeze and Austria contracting 0.1 percent. Germany saw its growth slow to 0.2 percent in the third quarter from 0.3 percent in the second.

France, however, reversed a string of flat or down quarters with 0.2 percent expansion.

The wider, 27-member European Union escaped recession, its GDP advancing 0.1 percent in the third quarter after tightening 0.2 percent in the second. In Britain., fresh off the Summer Olympics, the economy boomed 1 percent after a 0.4 percent drop.

A separate Eurostat report Thursday showed annual inflation in the euro-currency area down to 2.5 percent in October, from 2.6 percent the previous month.

In a speech Thursday, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi urged governments to avoid tax hikes in favor of spending cuts as a strategy for fiscal consolidation. He also stressed the need for "calm pragmatism going forward.

"It is essential that all parties involved in Europe's large and complex path of reforms stick to their commitments," Draghi said.

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Soldier Field to get new sod after rainy Bears' loss

Tribune video by Fred Mitchell.

Soldier Field will get new sod after two inches of rain fell during the Chicago Bears' 13-6 loss Sunday to the Houston Texans and left the turf in poor condition, drawing criticism from Bears kicker Robbie Gould, stadium general manager Tim LeFevour told the Tribune on Wednesday.

Gould -- who on Wednesday afternoon apologized for his remarks -- was among those who criticized Soldier Field personnel for not covering the field with a tarp before the game. 

The middle 40 yards of the field will be removed Thursday and replaced with new sod Friday, LeFevour said.  Shortly after the game, LeFevour and Bears general manager Phil Emery met to begin to take action.

"I very much appreciate our relationship with SMG and the Chicago Park District,” Emery said in a statement Wednesday.  “We have assembled a strong team of members from our staff and theirs that work together to evaluate the field and keep it in excellent condition.  They have done a great job working with us to ensure we have the best playing surface for our players.”

The entire field was resodded six weeks ago before the Notre Dame-Miami game, and the hope was another major resodding would not be necessary until the playoffs, assuming the Bears would be hosting a game.

But the damage incurred Sunday in the areas where linemen trod was too severe.  LeFevour said the areas outside the hash marks are fine and do not need to be addressed.

Addressing Gould's criticisms, LeFevour said the field was covered from Friday through Sunday morning.  Forecasts called for rain to begin between 4:30 and 5 p.m. Sunday evening. Game time was 7:20, and an NFL rule states tarps must be off the field 90 minutes prior to kickoff.

LeFevour said a 50-man crew was ready to cover the field Sunday afternoon if it had been deemed necessary.

LeFevour said it takes about 30 to 40 minutes to cover the field with a tarp, and another 30 minutes to remove it.  So the benefits of covering the field when the rains came would have been minimal, if there were any at all.

In an interview on WMVP-AM 1000, Gould asked why the field was not covered in the hours leading up to the game.  He also said the field has been uneven and treacherous the whole year.

"I don't know what's happening,” Gould said. “This year our field has been really bad. It's been tore up. There have actually been some places on the field where some portions of it have actually sunk to a new low level, and the other spots are high.”

Gould also said, “But it's been really interesting to watch this year how bad our field has really been. I know we have talked about this every single year. ... Can we please get somebody in there that watches a news report?”

LeFevour said the Soldier Field grounds crew monitors the weather constantly.  Bears groundskeepers also are involved in decision making regarding the grass.

Asked about Gould’s criticisms, LeFevour said, “Those are ridiculous comments.  He doesn’t know what he is talking about.  The field has not been an issue all year, and we haven’t heard anyone else complaining.”

LeFevour pointed out that this season after Gould complained about not having enough space on the sideline, Soldier Field roped off a special area where he can practice his kicks.

“He is never satisfied,” LeFevour said.

Told Wednesday that Soldier Field was being resodded, Gould said, "Obviously, they saw it was an issue because if it wasn't an issue, they wouldn't have to resod. Obviously, the field was in pretty poor shape. That's the only reason you resod a field."

Gould later issued this statement apologizing for his remarks:

“I need to apologize to the grounds crew at Soldier Field and our grounds crew for my recent comments regarding the field.  I have since learned a lot more about the NFL’s policies and the measures that are taken at Soldier Field to ensure a reliable and safe playing surface.  It was my mistake to speak prior to having a full understanding.”

Contributing: Vaughn McClure

dpompei@tribune.com

Twitter@danpompei

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Adobe says user forum was breached, takes site offline

BOSTON (Reuters) - Adobe Systems Inc shut down a website where customers share information about using its Connect online conferencing service after the software maker discovered it had been compromised in a data breach.

The company, whose software is frequently targeted by computer hackers because it is widely used to publish digital documents, said on Wednesday that it would reset passwords of the approximately 150,000 members of the site, Connectusers.com.

Adobe said its Connect web conferencing service and other company sites were not breached.

News of the breach surfaced on Tuesday when a hacker claimed in a posting on the Internet to have stolen log-in credentials of 150,000 Adobe customers and partners.

The hacker, who claimed to be from Egypt, released 644 records from the site, including emails, saying the release was done to point out that Adobe is slow in fixing security problems.

The hacker also promised to release data stolen from Yahoo Inc. A Yahoo spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

The Adobe breach was discovered a week after Russian security firm Group-IB said it had uncovered a flaw in Adobe's Reader software that criminals are currently exploiting to attack PCs by infecting them with malicious PDF documents.

Adobe spokeswoman Wiebke Lips said the company is still reviewing that report, though it has not yet received samples of malicious code discovered by Group-IB.

(Reporting By Jim Finkle; editing by John Wallace and Leslie Adler)

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Price edges Verlander for AL Cy Young Award

NEW YORK (AP) — David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays won the AL Cy Young Award on Wednesday in one of the closest votes ever.

Price beat out 2011 winner Justin Verlander by only four points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Other than a 1969 tie between Mike Cuellar and Denny McLain, it was the tightest race in the history of the AL award.

Runner-up two years ago, Price was the pick this time for the league's top pitching prize. He received 14 of 28 first-place votes and finished with 153 points. Verlander was chosen first on 13 ballots.

Rays closer Fernando Rodney got the other first-place vote and came in fifth.

Price went 20-5 to tie Jered Weaver for the American League lead in victories and winning percentage. The 27-year-old lefty had the lowest ERA at 2.56 and finished sixth in strikeouts with 205.

Verlander, also the league MVP a year ago, followed that up by going 17-8 with a 2.64 ERA and pitching the Detroit Tigers to the World Series. He led the majors in strikeouts (239), innings (238 1-3) and complete games (six).

Price tossed 211 innings in 31 starts, while Verlander made 33. One factor that might have swung some votes, however: Price faced stiffer competition in the rugged AL East than Verlander did in the AL Central.

Weaver came in third with 70 points, but was listed second on a pair of ballots. The right-hander threw a no-hitter and had a 2.81 ERA in his first 20-win season but missed time with injuries and totaled only 188 2-3 innings for the Los Angeles Angels.

The top pick in the 2007 amateur draft out of Vanderbilt, Price reached the majors the following year and has made three straight All-Star teams.

Despite going 19-6 with a 2.72 ERA in 2010, he finished a distant second in Cy Young voting to Felix Hernandez, who won only 13 games for last-place Seattle but dominated most other statistical categories that year.

Verlander was trying to become the first AL pitcher to win back-to-back Cy Youngs since Boston's Pedro Martinez in 1999 and 2000. San Francisco right-hander Tim Lincecum did it in the National League in 2008-09.

The NL Cy Young winner was to be announced later Wednesday.

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New gene triples risk for Alzheimer's disease

Scientists have identified a new gene variant that seems to strongly raise the risk for Alzheimer's disease, giving a fresh target for research into treatments for the mind-robbing disorder.

The problem gene is not common — less than 1 percent of people are thought to have it — but it roughly triples the chances of developing Alzheimer's compared to people with the normal version of the gene. It also seems to harm memory and thinking in older people without dementia.

The main reason scientists are excited by the discovery is what this gene does, and how that might reveal what causes Alzheimer's and ways to prevent it. The gene helps the immune system control inflammation in the brain and clear junk such as the sticky deposits that are the hallmark of the disease. Mutations in the gene may impair these tasks, so treatments to restore the gene's function and quell inflammation may help.

"It points us to potential therapeutics in a more precise way than we've seen in the past," said Dr. William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer of the Alzheimer's Association, which had no role in the research. Years down the road, this discovery will likely be seen as very important, he predicted.

It is described in a study by an international group published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.

About 35 million people worldwide have dementia, and Alzheimer's is the most common type. In the U.S., about 5 million have Alzheimer's. Medicines such as Aricept and Namenda just temporarily ease symptoms. There is no known cure.

Until now, only one gene — ApoE — has been found to have a big impact on Alzheimer's risk. About 17 percent of the population has at least one copy of the problem version of this gene but nearly half of all people with Alzheimer's do. Other genes that have been tied to the disease raise risk only a little, or cause the less common type of Alzheimer's that develops earlier in life, before age 60.

The new gene, TREM2, already has been tied to a couple other forms of dementia. Researchers led by deCODE Genetics Inc. of Iceland honed in on a version of it they identified through mapping the entire genetic code of more than 2,200 Icelanders.

Further tests on 3,550 Alzheimer's patients and more than 110,000 people without dementia in several countries, including the United States, found that the gene variant was more common in Alzheimer's patients.

"It's a very strong effect," raising the risk of Alzheimer's by three to four times — about the same amount as the problem version of the ApoE gene does, said Dr. Allan Levey, director of an Alzheimer's program at Emory University, one of the academic centers participating in the research.

Researchers also tested more than 1,200 people over age 85 who did not have Alzheimer's disease and found that those with the variant TREM2 gene had lower mental function scores than those without it. This adds evidence the gene variant is important in cognition, even short of causing Alzheimer's.

"It's another piece in the puzzle. It suggests the immune system is important in Alzheimer's disease," said Andrew Singleton, a geneticist with the National Institute on Aging, which helped pay for the study.

One prominent scientist not involved in the study — Dr. Rudolph Tanzi, a Harvard Medical School geneticist and director of an Alzheimer's research program at Massachusetts General Hospital — called the work exciting, but added a caveat.

"I would like to see more evidence that this is Alzheimer's" rather than one of the other dementias already tied to the gene, Tanzi said. Autopsy or brain imaging tests can show whether the cases attributed to the gene variant are truly Alzheimer's or misdiagnosed, he said.

___

Online:

Medical journal: http://www.nejm.org

Alzheimer's info: http://www.alzheimers.gov

Alzheimer's Association: http://www.alz.org

___

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

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NBC names new top producer for 'Today'

NEW YORK (AP) — NBC News is staying in-house in its effort to turn around the "Today" show.

The network on Wednesday appointed a 23-year veteran of the morning news show as its new executive producer. Don Nash began working for "Today" as a production assistant in NBC's Burbank office in 1989 and will now run the four-hour broadcast.

Nash was most recently senior broadcast producer in the show's control room. He replaces Jim Bell, who shifted to NBC Sports to run its Olympics broadcasts.

After nearly two decades of dominance, "Today" has slipped behind ABC's "Good Morning America" in the ratings.

NBC also added another layer of management for the show, appointing Alexandra Wallace as the network's executive in charge of the program.

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Corzine blamed for fall of MF Global

Poor management decisions by MF Global's former CEO Jon Corzine triggered the brokerage firm's collapse, while lax protections for customer funds contributed to the loss of an estimated $1.6 billion of customer money, U.S. congressional investigators have determined.

Evidence unearthed by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight puts the blame squarely on Corzine, the panel's chairman Rep. Randy Neugebauer, said in a preview of the report that will be released on Thursday.

"The responsibility for failing to maintain the systems and controls necessary to protect customer funds rests with Corzine," the report says. "This failure represents a dereliction of his duty as MF Global's chairman and CEO."

Corzine, a former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs who also served as a U.S. senator and as governor of New Jersey, has denied any wrongdoing.

MF Global filed for bankruptcy more than a year ago, as investors scrambled to pull out funds after revelations the firm bet heavily on European sovereign debt and after credit downgrades.

Regulators, prosecutors and lawmakers have been looking into the estimated $1.6 billion in customer funds revealed to be missing after the firm's collapse.

The House subcommittee said it has held three hearings, interviewed more than 50 witnesses and reviewed thousands of documents from MF Global, its regulators and other sources.

The report will show that risks were exacerbated by an atmosphere at the firm in which no one could question Corzine's decisions, the subcommittee said.

Corzine also kept his own trading activities out of the firm's risk management review process, the subcommittee said. The group said it also found that regulatory agencies had not shared crucial information with each other, and other problems.

A trustee liquidating the company's broker-dealer unit released a critical report in June that said that in his attempt to build the firm into a global investment powerhouse, Corzine failed to address growing liquidity needs.

A spokesman for Corzine did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Jury finds in favor of bartender in cop bar beating case

Former Chicago police Officer Anthony Abbate beats up female bartender Karolina Obrycka at Jesse's Shortstop Inn in Chicago in Feb. 2007.

A federal jury today found in favor of a female bartender who was beaten by an off-duty Chicago police officer in a notorious 2007 attack captured on security cameras.

The jury awarded the bartender, Karolina Obrycka, $850,000 in compensatory damages against the city. Obrycka’s lawyers contended a code of silence protected former chicago police officer Anthony Abbate from punishment until the damning videotape was made public.

Lawyers for the bartender contended a code of silence protected Abbate from punishment until the damning videotape was made public.

Obrycka contended during the trial that Abbate, other officers and higher-ups tried to cover up and minimize her February 2007 beating as part of an unofficial "code of silence" policy within the department.

The trial in federal court came nearly six years after Abbate attacked Obrycka at Jesse's Short Stop Inn when he went behind the bar.

The eight-woman, three-man jury found that Abbate was part of the conspiracy to cover up the beating and that the Police Department had a widespread code of silence that emboldened Abbate to beat up Obrycka.

Jurors held both the city and Abbate responsible but didn’t assess any damages against Abbate personally.

The videotape of Abbate pummeling a woman about half his size marked one of the most embarrassing chapters in recent Chicago Police Department history and contributed to the resignation of then-Superintendent Philip Cline.

Fearful that the department would not discipline Abbate, Obrycka’s lawyers have said they released the videotape to the news media, causing an Internet sensation with the graphic images.

The verdict in the high-stakes trial came after two days of deliberations and a complicated, lengthy trial that saw more than three dozen witnesses offer contradictory and colorful testimony about the beating in Jesse’s Short Stop Inn on the Northwest Side.

At the center of the trial was the allegation that a long-standing code of silence protects officers who use excessive force or engage in other misconduct. As a result, Obrycka’s lawyers maintained that Abbate acted with impunity in the bar because he was unafraid of consequences, the result of the blue wall of silence as well as department’s history of ineffective discipline action against wayward officers.

Just days after the tavern owner installed security cameras, Abbate went into a rage when Obrycka tried to prevent him from coming behind the bar. Abbate, who testified he was drunk after downing multiple alcoholic drinks and shots, tossed Obrycka to the floor and then wailed away at her with his fists and feet.

“Nobody tells me what to do,” Abbate was heard proclaiming on the videotape repeatedly played in court during the three-week trial.

City attorneys argued that Abbate’s actions were simply the result of his being so drunk. He was too intoxicated to think a code of silence would protect him, they said.

Obrycka’s lawyers urged the jury to hold Abbate personally liable for his role in the alleged cover-up that followed the beating. Abbate allegedly threatened to plant cocaine and falsely charge Obrycka if she complained about the beating or released the videotape. Obrycka’s lawyers contended the cover-up even stretched high into Police Department ranks.

At trial, high-level officials from the Police Department and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office clashed over who wanted to aggressively prosecute Abbate. He had originally been charged with just a misdemeanor – a move that one top prosecutor said his office knew nothing about and could have jeopardized plans to charge Abbate with a felony. But police officials contended that same prosecutor had voiced support for a misdemeanor.

After the verdict, Obrycka said she was "speechless."

“I am very happy, justice is served. It’s finally over,” she said as Abbate walked by

asweeney@tribune.com
jmeisner@tribune.com

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