Amazon.com Inc. is exploring an ambitious push to infiltrate the last bastion of traditional pay-television: live sports.

In recent months, the e-commerce giant has been in talks with heavy hitters like the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and the National Football League for the rights to carry live games, according to people familiar with the matter. It also has talked with soccer, lacrosse and surfing leagues, the people said.

With at least some leagues, including the NBA, Amazon has floated the idea of creating an exclusive premium sports package available with its Amazon Prime program, though the details are unclear, the people said. Such a package could attract new members to the $99-a-year Prime program, as well as to a “skinny bundle” of live online channels that Amazon is pursuing.

An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment on its sports efforts.

If Amazon is successful in breaking into the premium-sports market, it could pose a significant threat to traditional pay TV. While streaming services offer a wide array of TV shows and movies, it is hard to find live sports outside of traditional broadcast and cable outlets. That’s why pay-TV executives have long referred to sports as the “glue” that keeps millions of customers paying for relatively pricey bundles of cable channels.

Amazon, meanwhile, is also racing to compete against rival tech giants like Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc., as well as BAMTech, a spinoff of Major League Baseball, which are seeking sports rights to beef up their video offerings. But as traditional pay-TV comes under pressure, and even big sports properties like the NFL suffer TV ratings declines, big leagues are eager to entertain new bidders that might be able to continue driving up their rights fees.

As part of their search, Amazon executives have approached traditional TV networks about game rights they aren’t using. They have asked Univision Communications Inc. if it would consider producing and packaging the Mexican soccer league games that it doesn’t air, one of the people said. And they have approached Walt Disney Co. ’s ESPN and ONE World Sports, which carries niche sports like Russian hockey league matches, for leftover live games, other people said.

Other sporting leagues Amazon has talked with include the collegiate Atlantic Coast Conference, college-sports network Campus Insiders, sports website 120 Sports, the National Lacrosse League, Major League Lacrosse and the World Surf League, people said.

Amazon also is scouting abroad, amid a planned global video expansion. It paid $10,000 for a tender document to potentially bid on the popular Indian Premier League cricket games. And it is discussing licensing an international package of NBA games, a person familiar with the talks said.

“My sense is they are interested in anything that might be out there,” said Chad Swofford, vice president of digital for the ACC college-sports conference.

Amazon could shake up the lucrative sports pay-TV business in part because it takes “such a view of the long game, while near-term financial returns drive the agenda for most companies,” one senior sports executive said.

People familiar with their thinking say Amazon executives are mindful that the premium NFL Sunday Ticket package helped DirecTV attract subscribers in its early days as a cable rival.

Amazon has asked to exclusively license the NBA’s League Pass, which offers live out-of-market games, one person said, but the NBA demurred, having long preferred selling it via multiple outlets. Amazon also is seeking sports packages like NFL Game Pass, which shows replays of past matchups, to sell as an add-on to Prime members the people said.

Leading the talks is Amazon’s head of sports, James DeLorenzo, a former Sports Illustrated executive hired in March. Also on Amazon’s acquisition team: Sunil Dave, a former Dish Network Corp. executive who negotiated with sports networks.

One big hurdle: many premium rights are tied up. The NBA’s deal with ESPN and TNT stretches until the 2024-2025 season, while the NFL’s pacts with ESPN, CBS , Fox and NBC run through early next decade. Many college conferences’ rights lie with various TV networks. And Disney’s recent investment in BAMTech means ESPN’s untapped sports rights likely will land in its coming multisport streaming service with BAMTech, a person familiar with ESPN’s thinking said.

Amazon has the firepower and willingness to bid for top-tier, exclusive sports rights when they become available, people familiar with its thinking say. Coming up next year: the NFL-Twitter deal for streaming 10 games. Amazon had bid for those rights this year, a person familiar with the matter said.

Amazon would be wagering that sports will attract enough new Prime members to offset potentially large yearslong costs. Rival Netflix has long said viewers don’t care to watch sports on-demand after the fact, making it an unattractive investment compared with shows or movies. Already, Amazon’s ballooning investments in video are a drag on its meager profits.

The company may first grab a toehold in the “long tail” of sports, like lacrosse, gymnastics or surfing, sports executives say. Amazon executives believe the e-commerce giant can uniquely target a lacrosse viewer with lacrosse gear, for instance, allowing Amazon to land a greater return on a sports investment, people familiar with the matter said.

“Amazon’s ability to aggregate information about individual consumers is without peer,” said Alexander Brown, chief executive of TV network ONE World Sports.

The ability to re-target consumers could be key to justifying expensive sports rights as traditional networks grapple with declining ratings for some events.

It isn’t uncommon for Amazon to float various ideas and retreat—a potential outcome of its sports foray as well, media executives cautioned. At times there are several overlapping video efforts going on at once—a model that Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos encourages for a bit of “business Darwinism,” one person close to Amazon said.

There is debate internally about whether a sports package should be available free with Prime or as a premium add-on subscription, people familiar with the matter said. It is still possible Amazon may just opt to license channels, like traditional cable distributors do, rather than acquire sports rights.

Write to Shalini Ramachandran at shalini.ramachandran@wsj.com

Summary: Amazon.com has been in talks for live game rights with the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the National Football League and more.


Lester Ralph Jones was convicted Tuesday, in his second murder trial, of killing Paige Birgfeld — a Colorado mother of three who authorities say ran an escort service before she went missing in 2007.

Jones received a life sentence moments after a fresh panel of jurors found him guilty of kidnapping and murdering Birgfeld, whose remains were not discovered until 2012.

Detectives investigating the single mom’s disappearance — and later, her homicide — learned that Birgfeld juggled a number of jobs in order to support her children, including running an escort service under the pseudonym “Carrie.”

Jones was identified as a suspect early on, according to police, who said he was a client and one of the last people to see the Grand Junction, Colorado, mother alive before she disappeared.

According to prosecutors, Jones was a client of Birgfeld’s and killed her in 2007, later dumping her remains in a mountainous region in Colorado’s Delta County. Her car was found burning in a parking lot near her home, and across from Jones’ workplace, the day after she disappeared.

Birgfeld’s body was found by a hiker in 2012, and Jones was charged with her murder more than two years later.

“I don’t know about closure,” Birgfeld’s father, Frank, said soon after her body was found. “I think of my daughter at least three or four times a day every day. The fact that we found out where she is, I don’t know that this is going to change that.”

• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

Birgfeld’s escort work was known to her closest friends but it was a surprise to her parents, PEOPLE previously reported.

“I knew she did exotic dancing and maybe she had some dancers she booked jobs for, but that didn’t matter to me,” one friend told PEOPLE in 2007. “Her actions as a mother spoke much louder than anything else.”

Another said, “There is a very clear line between legal and illegal, and she made sure that line was never crossed. She knew if she crossed that line, she could jeopardize her kids.”

Tuesday’s guilty verdict comes nearly four months after Jones’ first murder trial ended with a hung jury, forcing Mesa County District Judge Brian Flynn to declare a deadlock-driven mistrial.

For Birgfeld’s murder, Jones was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars. He will never be eligible for parole, court records show. For the kidnapping, he received an additional 12-year sentence.

• Pick up PEOPLE’s special edition True Crime Stories: Cases That Shocked America, on sale now, for the latest on Casey Anthony, JonBenét Ramsey and more.

Jones has a history of prior criminal convictions and served brief prison stints for assault and attempted kidnapping, according to court records. His attorney could not be immediately reached about a possible appeal.

Birgfeld’s family did not immediately responded to inquiries.

But the Mesa County Prosecutor’s Office said in an email to PEOPLE, “We believe in our justice system and thank the Mesa County District Attorney’s Office, our investigators and deputies as well as members of the public who put in countless hours of hard work into this case. We also would like to thank the Grand Junction Police Department, Grand Junction Fire Department, Delta County Sheriff’s Office, and Colorado Bureau of Investigation for their work on this case as well.

“While this verdict will not bring Paige Birgfeld back to her family, we are happy it will give her family closure.”

Summary: Lester Ralph Jones was convicted Tuesday of murdering Paige Birgfeld — a mother of three who authorities say ran an escort service


Now that the collapse of Islamic State is within sight in Iraq, a lot rides on whether the Iraqi Shiite militias taking part in that campaign will stop at the international border or will cross into Syria in coming months and open a new phase of that country’s war.

The Hashed al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Forces, which unite several of Iraq’s powerful Shiite militias, were established to combat Islamic State in mid-2014. At the time, the regular Iraqi army collapsed as the extremist group seized the country’s second-largest city of Mosul and advanced all the way to the outskirts of Baghdad, the capital.

While technically under the control of the central government in Baghdad, most of these militias have been trained and armed by Iran and don’t hide their close links with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. On their tanks and armored vehicles, they often fly banners with portraits of the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The current campaign to retake Mosul, the last major population center in Iraq still under Islamic State’s sway, is led by the rebuilt Iraqi army and the federal police. The Shiite militias have deployed to areas west of the city, cutting off Islamic State from its remaining territory in Syria and taking a string of towns along the Syrian border.

Some officials of the Popular Mobilization Forces have already said that they won’t stop at the border and that they received the blessing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to go after his enemies across the frontier.

Iranian officials, too, have openly spoken about using these battle-hardened Iraqi militias in the Syrian conflict once Mosul is finally freed from Islamic State. While Iraqi forces suffered serious casualties in Mosul, they have already reclaimed a significant part of the city; Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi predicted this week that the operation will wrap up in three months.

“We say clearly, if there is a necessity to secure the Iraqi-Syrian border and to prevent terrorists from coming to Iraq, then we may go to Syria to do so,” said Moeen al-Kadhimi, a senior leader of Badr, the most prominent Iraqi Shiite militia, and former chairman of the Baghdad provincial council.

He cautioned, however, that any such cross-border operation would have to be approved by both the Syrian and Iraqi governments, and that the Iraqi militias’ target would be Islamic State and not the other opponents of the Assad regime or the Syrian Kurdish forces.

“They are not our business. The Syrian Arab Army has proved that it is able to defend Syria.”

In Syria, these militias would find a very different demographic makeup. While Iraq is majority Shiite, some 74% of Syria’s population is Sunni, according to Central Intelligence Agency estimates. Islamic State follows an extreme form of Sunni Islam and has driven non-Sunnis from the lands it controls. Mr. Assad and the core of his regime hail from the minority Alawite community, a distant offshoot of Shiite Islam.

“The entrance of tens of thousands of Popular Mobilization Forces fighters in Syria will have a deep impact and will cause a sectarian ignition,” said Riad Hijab, a former Syrian prime minister who now heads the High Negotiations Committee, an umbrella body representing the mostly Sunni opposition and rebel groups backed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.

“They will come under sectarian mottos and will be provocative as they fight Sunnis. This will affect the stability of the region, and not just the Arab region. It will create sectarian confrontation everywhere Sunnis and Shiites are living,” Mr. Hijab said.

Shiite militias from abroad already play a major role in the Syrian conflict. The most important of them is Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has become indispensable for the survival of the Assad regime.

Thousands of fighters from Iraqi Shiite militias such as Al Nujaba and Asaib Ahl al Haq—both part of the Popular Mobilization Forces—have also been flown in recent months to regime-held parts of Syria. There, they have taken part in the takeover of the rebel half of the Syrian city of Aleppo, more than 300 miles from Iraq.

An independent overland entry of much larger Iraqi militia units would, however, be cardinally different from an expeditionary mission to assist Syrian regime forces in Aleppo.

While the Assad regime holds large territory encompassing major population centers of western Syria, there is no contiguity between that territory and Iraq. In eastern Syrian regions abutting Iraq, there are only isolated enclaves of regime control that have to be resupplied by air.

Most of eastern Syria is currently held either by Islamic State, also known as Daesh, or by the Kurdish-dominated alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Sunni Syrian rebels backed by Turkey and Kurdish-led forces backed by the U.S. are separately advancing toward the biggest city in eastern Syria, Raqqa, Islamic State’s de facto capital.

Injecting Iraq’s Shiite militias into this overwhelmingly Sunni region would be a recipe for disaster, cautioned Monzer Akbik, a senior member of the Tayar al-Ghad Syrian opposition group which is allied with the Kurdish forces.

“Sectarian Shiite militias coming into a Sunni area will ruin everything,” he said. “If that happens, maybe people in the area will join Daesh so they can go and fight against the Hashed al-Shaabi.”

Write to Yaroslav Trofimov at yaroslav.trofimov@wsj.com

Summary: The collapse of Islamic State is within sight in Iraq, and now a lot rides on whether the Iraqi Shiite militias taking part in that campaign will stop at the border—or go into Syria to continue the fight. Crossing that line raises risks of new sectarian strife.


A Melbourne cat owner has warned people to keep their pets inside after her beloved cat was shot dead by an arrow.

Maddie Sanft discovered her cat Tui dead on her Ashwood home's driveway, impaled by the arrow on Boxing Day.

"I feel sick to the stomach that someone could do this to my beautiful boy," she posted on social media.

Ms Sanft said police had interviewed neighbours and had collected the "dart" for evidence.

Senior Constable Simon Twarowski said the nature of the crime is concerning.

"Who knows what else they (the offenders) might be using these kind of weapons for," Sen Con Twarowski told Seven News.

Despite police investigating, Ms Sanft has told the Herald Sun she will be looking to relocate.

"We don't feel safe anymore," she said.

Police don't know where or when the cat was injured and are calling for people with any information to call Crime Stoppers.

Summary: A cat has been impaled by an arrow in Melbourne, forcing its owner to plead with fellow cat owners to keep their pets inside.


YouSwop is a new community for bartering stuff you have lying around the house. The site is currently in private beta, and I got a chance to check it out.

With this site, you must use the YouSwop currency in order to participate in the site. Get 5 credits when you sign up, and more when you invite friends. From there, you can list an item to sell, include a photo, and indicate whether or not there are shipping costs involved. If you're looking for something to buy, you can search by tag word or browse through categories, filter by price, date, the item's condition and other factors. YouSwop is looking to build an open community for bartering, so things like charging for shipping costs are discouraged. This will be a bit tricky, as YouSwop is global, and it can become very costly to ship things overseas.

Another hindrance to the building of a community is the inability to view other users' profiles, or rate them as a seller. It will be difficult to reward valued and trusted sellers without some sort of rating system included in YouSwop. The limitations surrounding the number of characters you can use for the description of an item you're selling, as well as other missing tools, like a shipping calculator, makes YouSwop less usable by sellers for practical purposes.

See also: Online Swaps: 8 Sites to Swap Your Stuff

Summary: YouSwop  is a new community for bartering stuff you have lying around the house. The site is currently in private beta, and I got a chance to check it out. With this site, you m...


Everyday low prices on strep-throat exams.

David Scull for The New York Times

Trish Hughes, a nurse practitioner, examines Daniel Mangel, 9.

David Scull for The New York Times

The MinuteClinic in a CVS store in Bethesda, Md., offers its customers a number of vaccines.

That is the basic idea behind a retail approach to routine medical care now catching on among consumers and entrepreneurs. At Wal-Mart, CVS and other chain stores, walk-in health clinics are springing up as an antidote to the expense and inconvenience of full-service doctors' offices or the high-cost and impersonal last resort of emergency rooms.

For a $30 flu shot, a $45 treatment for an ear infection or other routine services from a posted price list, patients can visit nurse practitioners in independently operated clinics set up within the stores  whose own pharmacies can fill prescriptions.

"It was a lot easier to know you can just drive up the block to a clinic, rather than spend time in the pediatrician's waiting room," said Liz Lyons, who recently took her 9-year-old son to have a sore throat swabbed in a clinic at a CVS drugstore in Bethesda, Md.

She made a $10 co-payment, with her husband's insurance picking up the rest of the $59 tab.

About 100 of these clinics, which typically lease space from the host stores, are now operating around the nation. Hundreds more are in the works, bankrolled by a range of competing entrepreneurs who include Stephen M. Case, the former AOL chairman; Richard L. Scott, who once ran the nation's largest hospital chain; and Michael Howe, a former chief executive of the Arby's restaurants group.

Despite their diverse backgrounds, those executives and others share a concept of "consumer-directed health care"  a marketing and political term that usually means higher out-of-pocket medical costs  as a mass-market opportunity. Even some family physicians say the clinics may have their place in the array of American medical offerings.

And most insurers so far are welcoming retail clinics as a way to save money. The uninsured, meanwhile, typically find the clinics more affordable than most alternatives  including the for-profit storefront clinics that have long offered a full range of physician-provided medical services to a walk-in clientele.

Uwe E. Reinhardt, a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, said that the store chains, with their reputations on the line, would insist that the clinics maintain high standards and low error rates. "Primary care is a neglected field in the United States, lagging other economically advanced countries," he said. "The clinics can teach the rest of our health system how primary care could be done and brought to the public."

Whether a fad or the beginning of a fundamental shift, the retail clinic trend comes in response to an erosion in employer-sponsored insurance benefits that is forcing people to pay more or all of their own health costs. It is also a reaction to the growing perception that conventional medical service for routine and preventive care has become too costly and inefficient.

" Starbucks has 10,000 locations; health care is certainly more important," said Mr. Case, who made his name and fortune on the Internet but is now betting that his chain of RediClinics at Wal-Mart, Walgreens and other retailers can be the next big thing.

Mr. Case says his epiphany came a few years ago when he took his young daughter to an emergency room on a Sunday for an ear infection. "We waited four hours and they just weren't able to see us," he recalled. "This is crazy: a society in which everything is convenient other than what people care most about, which is taking care of their health."

Mr. Case's company, Revolution Health Group, has 11 RediClinics now running, including one at a Duane Reade pharmacy on West 50th Street in Manhattan. He plans to open 90 others in various retail chains by the end of this year, and 500 within three years.

Other executives bringing their names and money to the field include Hal Rosenbluth, who sold a travel business to American Express and is now behind a clinic chain called Take Care Health Systems. It has clinics in 16 stores, and Mr. Rosenbluth has raised $77 million with an eye toward expanding to 1,400 in the next few years.

Another in the game is Dr. Glen D. Nelson, a Minneapolis surgeon and investor whose company, MinuteClinic, has branches in 73 stores.

"The clinic concept is a microcosm of what you could do to the whole system to improve it and make it more consumer friendly and economical," Dr. Nelson said.

The licensed nurse practitioners who run most of the clinics typically have advanced training and referral arrangements with local doctors for cases beyond the clinics' scope. When Ms. Lyons recently took her son, Daniel, to the MinuteClinic at the CVS in Bethesda, the nurse practitioner on duty was Trish Hughes, who performed a quick swab test to check for a streptococcal bacterial infection. In less than three minutes, that preliminary test came up negative; the swab was retained for further testing.

Ms. Lyons said she was pleased with the clinic experience. "I will be back," she said.

For Beth Brauning, 54, a self-employed house cleaner who is uninsured, the prices at a clinic in a CVS near Columbus, Ohio, were a big attraction. The nurse practitioner took her blood pressure and wrote two allergy prescriptions she needed.

The bill was $49  "probably half what my doctor would have charged me," Ms. Brauning said. "It was such a good experience for me. You go to an emergency room, it's $300 to walk in the door."

Summary: Walk-in health clinics are springing up in retail stores as an antidote to the expense of full-service doctors' offices.


By JOE NEUMAIER DAILY NEWS FEATURE WRITER

Tuesday, April 27th 2004, 1:02AM

'Saturday Night Live's" Tina Fey has been called the thinking man's sex symbol - but she doesn't understand why fans think she's so hot.

"That's ridiculous!" says Fey, who, as co-host of the "Weekend Update" segment, is the resident sexy girl, smart girl and snarky girl all rolled into one.

"And it's weird, because the other women on the show are so much better-looking. But I guess they're covered in crazy outfits and wigs."

Fey, whose movie "Mean Girls" comes out Friday, told the Daily News that even being listed recently as one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People didn't faze her.

"You know, there's always that one person in the 50 Most Beautiful that makes you say, 'Oh, gimme a break!' But I was proud to be the person on that list that makes women like me say, 'C'mon, her?'

"It's like that list is made up of 47 gorgeous prime-time TV stars, then there's me, a Chinese athlete and a person in a wheelchair.

"I want to be the hero of the average-looking!"

Now she's written and stars in "Mean Girls," about a high school student (Lindsay Lohan) forced to play and fight by the rules of the reigning mob of lipstick-and-liner-wearing teens.

The 33-year-old Fey is the teacher who tries to end the battle of the bitches.

Fey insists that she was average as a teen ("An oily, sweaty, thick-haired mess with big eyebrows," is how she describes herself) at Upper Darby High School outside Philadelphia, where her father was a grant writer for universities and her mom worked in an office.

After graduating from the University of Virginia, Fey went to Chicago to join the Second City comedy troupe.

In 1997, she sent sketches to "SNL" producer Lorne Michaels, and started there as a writer. Two years later she was named the show's first female head writer, and in 2000, she was anointed co-anchor of "Update" with Jimmy Fallon.

One thing fans particularly love is her black-framed glasses, which have achieved a kind of sex-symbol status. She even quips about how her spectacles aren't insured, Ã la Betty Grable's legs in the 1940s.

"They're basically a prop, because I only need them to see far away or to read cue cards," she says.

"I got them in college, but ironically, I always wanted glasses. In high school I had a pair of fake glasses that I would just wear to be cool.

"Who knew that when I wore them on 'SNL' I'd get a weird perverted reaction from some of my fellow comedy writers? 'Hey, I like those glasses, sister!'

"Maybe I should switch to prescription goggles, the kind you wear for swimming. Or maybe a monocle - that'd be great! I could single-handedly bring back monocles!"

As for doing topical humor, Fey says her love of cable news comes in handy.

"Doing shows at Second City, you felt like you had an obligation to be informed. It's been 15 years now that I've been obligated to be informed," she sighs. "It's a burden."

Before becoming an "Update" anchor, Fey wrote the news segment for Colin Quinn. But then she was paired on-air with Fallon - and the chemistry clicked.

"Jimmy and I have never fought over a joke - there've been no fisticuffs," Fey says.

"The trick is to write a joke that's actually a joke and not just attitude; something with a punch line. That's a skill you have to build. And sketches are a different animal - there, you can rely on performance and character."

Summary: SEXY SMARTS MAKE HER AN 'SNL' FEY-VORITE By JOE NEUMAIER DAILY NEWS FEATURE WRITER 'Saturday Night Live's"Tina Fey has been called the thinking man's sex symbol - but she doesn't understand why fans think she's so hot. "That's ridiculous!"says Fey, who, as co-host of the "Weekend Update"segment, is the resident sexy girl, smart girl and snarky girl all rolled into one. "And it's weird, because the other women on the show are so


Posted Jun 5th 2007 6:20PM by TMZ Staff

Big Worm's got a big problem.Faizon Love, star of several movies, including "Friday," "Elf," and "Blue Crush," is being sued by a woman who claims the actor "barbarically assaulted and battered her" after the she allegedly rejected his sexual advances. She also claims he tossed her Gucci purse out of a second story window (a felony in Italy).In a lawsuit filed today in Los Angeles County Superior Court, a stage manager named Beatrice Eliza claims that Love sexually groped her after picking up the actor from Burbank Airport in March. Eliza claims "he did not stop until she threatened to kick him out of the car." According to the suit, that's when the attacks turned violent. Eliza claims that days after the rejection, Love unleashed a bitter attack on the set of a production, ironically titled "Irresponsible Behavior," which resulted in threats, chair-tossing, and two damaged designer handbags.After an argument over a bathroom key escalated into shouting and cursing, Love allegedly grabbed a Louis Vuitton handbag he believed to be Eliza's -- and "attempted to throw it out of the second story window." When one of the producers of the play informed Love that the purse wasn't hers, he grabbed another handbag, a Gucci that actually belonged to Eliza, and sent it out the window!According to Eliza's attorney, LAPD officers arrived on scene shortly after she dialed 911.Eliza, who claims she has "suffered great mental, physical and nervous pain" as a result of the alleged incident, is suing for unspecified damages.Calls to Love's reps were not immediately returned ... no word on the handbags.

Tags: elf, faizon love, FaizonLove

Summary: Big Worm's got a big problem. Faizon Love, star of several movies, including


BY GEORGE RUSH AND JOANNA MOLLOY WITH LOLA OGUNNAIKE AND KASIA ANDERSON

Monday, August 20th 2001, 2:22AM

Can you picture Jeff Bridges mumbling, "You talkin' to me?"

Or Warren Beatty saying, "Fredo, you're my older brother and I love you. But don't ever take sides with anyone against the

Impossible, you say. Yet Bridges turned down the role of Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver," just as Beatty passed on playing Michael Corleone in "The Godfather."

Robert De Niro and Al Pacino may be eternally grateful for those decisions. But some actors can never quite forgive themselves - or their agents - for passing on the role of a lifetime.

Peter Boyle still curses the agent who told him to reject the cop part in "The French Connection" - which won Gene Hackman an Oscar.

"It was the stupidest advice I ever got," Boyle says.

James Woods never knew Quentin Tarantino wanted to cast him as Mr. Orange in "Reservoir Dogs" until he bumped into the director at the premiere and said, "What a great film. I'd have loved to have been in it."

Tarantino replied, "Well, I tried!"

The role, nixed by Woods' agent, went to Tim Roth.

Michael Madsen was unforgettable in "Dogs," but passed when Tarantino offered him the John Travolta part in "Pulp Fiction."

"I chose to act in the stinker 'Wyatt Earp' instead," says Madsen. "I had been doing bad guys, and I wanted to try a Western."

Madsen adds that once he realized his mistake, "Every day I wept. I have never been so depressed."

Frank Sinatra might have been Dirty Harry if an injured tendon hadn't made it hard for him to grip a gun. Paul Newman turned down that role because he didn't like the character's vigilante bent - thus making the day of squinty-eyed Clint Eastwood.

Cary Grant, Rex Harrison and David Niven were all considered for the 007 role before Sean Connery. So was Roger Moore, who eventually did play James Bond in seven films.

Bridget Fonda turned up her nose at portraying a neurotic lawyer named Ally McBeal. "I just didn't want to do TV, no matter how good or fun it was," says Fonda.

Despite these famous turndowns, it seems that no actor has made as many bad calls as James Caan. Among the movies he vetoed: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" ("I thought the script looked too stagey"); "M*A*S*H" ("The war-comedy angle wasn't funny"); "Kramer vs. Kramer" ("The father-son dynamic wasn't right for me") and "Apocalypse Now" ("The war stuff was too weighted down").

"I still regret my decisions," Caan says.

Now if only Madonna would turn down the role of the stranded rich woman in "Swept Away."

KATE HUDSON wears nothing but an enigmatic smile on the cover of InStyle magazine's annual "What's Sexy Now?" issue, out on Friday. "I love nudity," she says. "I grew up in a very open family, and my mother always celebrated the female body. " Hudson says she doesn't mind nude movie scenes, either. "I have such small breasts," she says, "I never feel that [the scenes] are gratuitous!"

Who says it takes two?

Robert Duvall's obsession with the tango may be getting out of hand. When his girlfriend, Luciana Pedraza, isn't around, he says, "Frequently I will tango by myself for several hours."

Duvall, now onscreen in "Apocalypse Now Redux," tells Webster Hall curator Baird Jones, "The great Argentinian tango masters might tango by themselves for six hours in a day."

(Duvall's next directing project, "Assassination Tango," finds him playing a New York hit man on a job in Buenos Aires.)

Meanwhile, Billy Idol would like to clear up a misconception about his song "Dancing with Myself." The sneering rocker tells Nylon magazine that the '80s anthem was "about the end of the disco era," but that "people always think it's about" self-gratification.

Still, he allows, "It can be if you want it to."

Don't bother Tobey McGuire for his John Hancock. "The new Spider-Man is so wrapped up in his own egotistical web that he has earned the distinction of being the worst signer of the year," declares Autograph Collector magazine.

Catherine Zeta-Jones has infected hubby Michael Douglas with brusqueness, the magazine claims. Also accused of being stingy with their signatures are Cameron Diaz, Christy Turlington, Edward Norton, Britney Spears, Katie Holmes and Winona Ryder, who "still likes to use the excuse that she only signs for children," according to the magazine.

What's coming over our jocks? Philadelphia Eagle Sean Landeta has joined Demi Moore and Gwyneth Paltrow in studying yoga. The former Giant, now 39, thinks the stretching he's doing at New York Yoga on E. 86th St. could extend his NFL career.

Meanwhile, 6-foot-2 ex-New Jersey Nets all-star Stephon Marbury (now with the Phoenix Suns) has been risking snickers by studying ballet. Don't think he's given up on nightlife, though. He plunked down $2,000 cash at SoHo's NV club for four bottles of vintage bubbly. He and some buddies popped the corks and guzzled them like tallboys.

MAYOR GIULIANI and Gov. Pataki may not always agree, but that hasn't stopped two people who work for them from falling in love, we hear. Sources say counsel to the mayor Dennison Young, Giuliani's personal legal adviser, is dating Pataki's director of criminal justice, Katherine Lapp. Neither Young nor Lapp returned calls. Â

SUDDENLY, EVERY woman wants the hard body of a commando. Jennifer Lopez studied the Israeli martial art of Krav Maga to prep for her cop role in "Angel Eyes," and there's talk that she may even market the regimen on an exercise video. Lawyer Lisa Bloom, daughter of famed women's rights attorney Gloria Allred, is another Krav Maga devotee. Bloom may put her self-defense skills to good use in her new job as co-anchor of Court TV's show "Closing Arguments." Â

SHANNEN DOHERTY and Alyssa Milano couldn't have been witchier to each other when they co-starred on the WB series "Charmed." Milano tells TV Guide: "There were times when I'd come in and say 'Good morning, Shannen,' and she didn't say anything to me. And there were times when she'd come in and say, 'Good morning, Alyssa,' and I wouldn't say anything to her. We definitely didn't get along."

Summary: Can you picture Jeff Bridges mumbling, "You talkin' to me?"Or Warren Beatty saying, "Fredo, you're my older brother and I love you. But don't ever take sides with anyone against the family again."Impossible, you say. Yet Bridges turned down the role of Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver,"just as Beatty passed on playing Michael Corleone in "The Godfather."Robert De Niro and Al Pacino


Wednesday, November 8th 2000, 2:15AM

On the anniversary of the discovery of the X-ray in 1895, look into new plays about eternal hopes, the latest work by Korean-born novelist Chang-Rae Lee or a tribute to choreographer Anna Sokolow. Expose yourself to haunting Scandinavian rock music, the fun of a new comedy about independent films, the possibilities of powder in a puff. And congratulate yesterday's winners and losers on coming through those tough campaigns.

Â Antiques shoppers find 75 international dealers specializing in late-19th and 20th-century Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Bauhaus and more at this weekend's "Modernism: A Century of Art & Design," opening with a preview benefiting the Brooklyn Museum. 6-9 p.m., $100. Park Ave. Armory, Park Ave. at 67th St., via 6 to 68th St.; (212) 777-5218.

Â Sample patÃ©, quiche, salmon mousse and other French fare when Sephora celebrates Kitten in Paris lily-scented powder in a puff and the unscented Classic Kitten at Sephora. 6-8 p.m., free; $22 for powder. 636 Fifth Ave., via E,F to Fifth Ave.; (212) 929-7979.

Â Daily News reporter Carolina Gonzalez is among the recipients of New Yorkers Who Make a Difference awards (for a story about children who would have benefitted from a summer jobs program) at a United Neighborhood House benefit buffet. 6 p.m., $250. Time & Life Building, 1271 Sixth Ave., via B,D,F,Q to 47th-50th Sts.; (212) 967-0322, ext. 305.

Â Fusing Nordic folk, rock, medieval music and playing on sampled drum-loops, mouth harps, violins and distorted guitars, Garmarna brings its haunting melodies to the World Financial Center. 6:30 p.m., free. Winter Garden, 200 Liberty St, via 1,9 to Cortlandt St.; (212) 945-0505.

Â "The Awakening," Kate Chopin's 1899 novel about a repressed married woman who's attracted to two men who are opposites, gets a modern adaptation. 8 p.m., $15. PS 122, 150 First Ave., via 6 to Astor Place; (212) 477-5288.

Â When a young woman escapes the motorcycle messenger who kidnapped her and falls into the water, does she drown or is she the cabaret singer he finds after his release from prison? Set in seedy Shanghai, "Suzhou River" is a Chinese film tribute to the work of Alfred Hitchcock. 1-10 p.m., various times; $5-$9. Film Forum, 209 W. Houston St., via 1,9 to Houston St.; (212) 727-8110.

Â Acclaimed short-story writer Grace Paley reads from her new collection of poems, "Begin Again," and poet Brenda Coultas presents her own work. 8 p.m., $4-$7. Poetry Project, 131 E. 10th St., via 6 to Astor Place; (212) 674-0910.

Â Robert is waiting for something and someone, and Lily provides him with hope in a story of devotion, desire and deception in a small town. "Michael's No. 1 Fan" opens at the Producers Club II. 8 p.m., $20. 616 Ninth Ave., via A,C,E to 42nd St.; (212) 769-8282.

Â A novelist and an independent film maker give the inside dope on "film rights" and answer questions on how to get works adapted for the screen. 6 p.m., free. Housing Works Used Books Cafe, 126 Crosby St., via N,R to Prince St.; (212) 334-3324.

Â The N.Y. Comedy Film Festival kicks off with a screening of "The Independent," about an eccentric film maker and his spoiled daughter, starring Jerry Stiller and Janeane Garofalo. 8 p.m., $20-$55. AMC Empire Theater, 234 W. 42nd St., via A,C,E to 42nd St.; (212) 479-7363.

Â International designer Eiko Ishioka, who put Jennifer Lopez into skirted armor in "The Cell" and worked on "Bram Stoker's Dracula," talks about her work and signs her book at the Japan Society. 6:30 p.m., $5-$10. 333 E. 47th St., via 4,5,6,7,S to 42nd St.; (212) 832-1155.

Â Opening a 33-performance run, cross-dresser Lypsinka performs her "Boxed Set." 8 p.m., $35. Westbeth Theater Center, 161 Bank St., via 1,9 to Christopher St.; (212) 691-2272.

Â In a gala tribute, Players' Project dances three later works of choreographer Anna Sokolow: "Kurt Weill," "September Sonnet" and "From the Diaries of Franz Kafka." Reception at 7 for 8:30 p.m. performance, $75-$100. Theater of the Riverside Church, Claremont Ave. at 121st St.; (212) 870-6784.

Â 1998 Naumburg Violin Award-winner Axel Strauss plays pieces by Bach, Enescu and Chausson. 8 p.m., $5-$15. Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, via 1,9 to 66th St.; (212) 874-1150.

Â Korean-born novelist Chang-Rae Lee reads from his latest work, "A Gesture Life," about an immigrant whose life unravels as he struggles with choices he made to "fit in." 7:30 p.m., free. Barnes & Noble, 240 E. 86th St., via 4,5,6 to 86th St.; (212) 794-1962.

Â The start of a week-long series of workshops on women and AIDS deals with "HIV Treatment in the Context of Women's Daily Lives." 2-4 p.m., free. Elmhurst Hospital, Main Building, Room A1-22, 79-01 Broadway, via E,F,G,R to 74th St.; (718) 334-3844.

Â Rigid from the waist up, Stars of Irish Dancing perform for MetLife passersby. 12:15 and 1 p.m., free. 200 Park Ave., via 4,5,6,7,S to 42nd St.; (212) 883-2476.

Â The Empire State Building continues its red-and-yellow anniversary salute to the U.S. Marine Corps on its 225th anniversary. Dusk to midnight. 34th St. and Fifth Ave.

Â We're glad the clock's still ticking for Morley Safer (69), and for Mary Hart (49), Patti Page (73), Parker Posey (32) and Bonnie Raitt (51).

Hear about the Uptown Riders, Pythons, Corpians and see their pastimes and rituals - from trophy parties and clubhouse socials to Mississippi mud slides and bikini bike washes - when photographer Martin Dixon discusses his book "Brooklyn Kings: New York City's Black Bikers." 7:30 p.m., free. Barnes & Noble, 675 Sixth Ave., via F to 23rd St.; (212) 727-1227.

A collection of poems, news reports, military and political statements and victim testimonies, "Requiem for Srebrenica" is French director Olivier Py's poignant response to the 1995 Bosnian massacre. 7:30 p.m., $25-$40. BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton Ave., Bklyn., via 2,3,4,5,B,M,N,Q, R to Atlantic/Pacific; (718) 636-4100.

Â In a series on rediscovering faith, author Stephen Dubner, who converted from Catholicism to Judaism, talks about his book, "Choosing My Religion." 6:30 p.m., free. Temple Emanu-El, 10 E. 66th St., via N,R to Fifth Ave.; (212) 744-1400.

Â Spend an evening with Iago, Richard III and Macbeth when illustrious actor Steven Berkoff portrays "Shakespeare's Villains: A Master Class in Evil." 8 p.m., $25. Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette Ave., via 6 to Astor Place; (212) 239-6200.

Â More than 30 health education agencies, hospitals and fitness centers screen for cholesterol, diabetes, depression and weight gain at Healthy Life 2000. 7 a.m.- 7 p.m., free, Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Station, via 4,5,6, 7,S to 42nd St.; (212) 943-1059.

Â At a Community Forum and Diabetes Expo, learn about breakthroughs in treating a disease that results in vision, kidney and cardiovascular problems. 6:30 p.m., free. Roosevelt Hotel, Madison Ave. at 45th St., via 4,5, 6,7,S to 42nd St.; (888) 342-2383.

Â Analyst Stephen Graham lectures on dislocation and splintering within the metropolitan fabric in "Digital Cities: Reorganizing Urban Space in the Global Network Society." 6:30 p.m., free-$7. Benay Venuta Hall, Lighthouse International, 111 E. 59th St., via 4,5,6,N,R to 59th St./ Lexington Ave.; (212) 980-3767.

Â The Organization of Independent Artists mounts the show "Small Worlds," comprising small works by several artists, including handmade paper, digital prints, assemblages and laser prints. 5 p.m., opening reception free. N.Y. Mercantile Exchange, World Financial Center, via 1,2,3,9 to Chambers St.; (212) 219-9213.

'N.Y. LIVE ON CBS 2' THURS.

Â Budget revision techniques, plus actor John Slattery talks about his role in Pinter's "Betrayal," opening next week on Broadway. 4 p.m., WCBS/Ch. 2.

Summary: MOD TREASURES Â Antiques shoppers find 75 international dealers specializing in late-19th and 20th-century Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Bauhaus and more at this weekend's "Modernism: A Century of Art & Design,"opening with a preview benefiting the Brooklyn Museum. 6-9 p.m., $100. Park Ave. Armory, Park Ave. at 67th St., via 6 to 68th St.; (212) 777-5218. MAGNIFIQUE MAKEOVERS Â Sample patÃ©, quiche, salmon mousse and other French


GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE By Frank Herbert. 411 pp. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. $12.95.

ALL fiction writers play God. They dispense blue eyes and good fortune to one character, brown eyes and an early death to another. The power can be intoxicating even when the choices are limited (as in naturalistic fiction) to what the philosophers call consensus reality: blue eyes or brown but never purple polka-dotted. For writers of fantasy, as J.R. Tolkien has pointed out, pretending to be God is an occupational hazard, the only constraint being narrative plausibility: Does the dragon with polka-dotted eyes ''compel belief''?

Because science fiction takes science seriously and because science takes the laws of nature seriously, the s.f. writer cannot simply let his imagination run free when he creates characters, setting and plot; he must always appear to be following some rules - even if he has to make them up himself. No one knows this better than Frank Herbert, whose favorite theme, appropriately enough, is the nature of godhood and what happens to men who reach for it.

In this novel, the fourth but not necessarily the last in his bestselling Dune series, Mr. Herbert reshuffles all the elements of the fictional universe that he created in previous volumes. I cannot imagine anyone making sense of the story without having read the first three books. At times, Mr. Herbert's energy flags; and, behind the understandable world-weariness of his 3,000-year-old hero, we sense the weariness of an author trapped by his own success. Yet against all odds, ''God Emperor of Dune'' compels belief. Once again, the action centers on a planet called Dune. Originally, it was a desert planet, totally without surface water, yet pulsing with life: from the extraordinarily adapted Fremen, who conserve and recycle every drop of precious bodily fluids (including what they call ''the water of the dead'') to the monstrous sandworm, feared and worshipped as the source of melange, a consciousnessexpanding and life-extending drug that holds the key to interstellar flight and therefore to dominion over a far-flung galactic empire.

To some, melange gives the power to foretell the future. Using this power and backed by legions of fanatically loyal Fremen, the protagonists of the earlier novels seized control of the Empire in a bloody jihad, which was supposedly necessary to prevent an even greater catastrophe: the death or enslavement of the entire human race. But the intrigue and derring-do, while handled with a skill and confidence seen all too rarely in science fiction, would not have attracted so large and devoted a readership. The real fascination of the Dune books was Dune itself. So completely did Mr. Herbert work out the interactions of man and beast and geography and climate that the first novel, entitled simply ''Dune,'' became the standard for a new subgenre of ''ecological'' science fiction. That was in l965, and clearly the Fremen's unsentimental reverence for their environment struck a contemporary chord. The first ''Whole Earth Catalog,'' published in l969, listed ''Dune'' as a useful guide to survival attitudes and techniques, no matter what the planet.

In truth, Mr. Herbert's attitude toward the desert planet was ambivalent from the start. A scheme had been set in motion, with the Fremen's approval, to transform Dune into a more conventional, watery world. When the fourth novel begins, this project is almost completed. Irrigated croplands prosper under a blue sky. A handful of ''Museum Fremen'' keep to the old ways for the benefit of tourists.

Only a small patch of desert remains, the private preserve of the God Emperor Leto. To his followers, including an army of dedicated women warriors, he is not just a God but the God. His opponents think of him as the ultimate tyrant. Leto sees himself more modestly as the suffering servant of mankind, doomed to sacrifice his own happiness to insure human survival. And Leto should know - not only has he expanded his innate prescient abilities with melange, he is fully conscious of the memories of all his ancestors. Furthermore, he has literally become, in the flesh if not quite in spirit, the last living sandworm on Dune.


By CORKY SIEMASZKO With News Wire Services

Thursday, June 11th 1998, 2:04AM

Prosecutors yesterday vowed to seek the death penalty against the white Texans charged with chaining a black man to the back of a pickup truck and dragging him to his death.

But officials in Jasper, Tex., said they may have to cut a deal with suspect Shawn Allen Berry, 23.

As grieving relatives of James Byrd Jr. planned his funeral and President Clinton condemned the "outrageous" murder, the father of the accused ringleader yesterday released a letter expressing remorse.

"There is no reason for a person to take the life of another, and to take it in such a manner is beyond reasoning," wrote Ronald King, father of John William King, 23. "I'm sorry."

Berry has fingered King as the man who orchestrated the murder of Byrd on Saturday. He told cops Lawrence Russell Brewer, 31, helped King beat Byrd senseless, then dragged the man by the ankles down a road for 2 miles until his body was torn to pieces.

Berry, Brewer and King are charged with murder. Their case will go before a grand jury next month.

For the men to be charged with capital murder, the state must prove the homicide was committed in conjunction with another crime, such as kidnapping.

"We're pretty satisfied we can," said District Attorney Guy James Gray.

Prosecutors said they probably will need Berry's testimony to build a second felony case against his accomplices.

Meanwhile, about 50 FBI agents were investigating whether the ex-con suspects who were covered with racists tattoos were members of the Ku Klux Klan and could be charged with violating Byrd's civil rights. Federal hate crimes can bring the death penalty.

King allegedly referred to the racist novel "The Turner Diaries" before Byrd was killed.

Charles Lee, grand dragon of one East Texas KKK faction who lives near Jasper, disconnected his phone and refused to speak with reporters about the suspects.

Police said they found racist posters in the Jasper apartment Brewer and King shared. But the black man who lived next door said he never suspected they were racists.

"I thought they were just wild," L. Cartwright told the Houston Chronicle. "I look at prejudice as ignorance, so I thought they were just ignorant."

Clinton denounced the killing as "an act of evil" that all Americans should condemn and called on the citizens of Jasper to pull together.

"I can only imagine that virtually everyone who lives there is in agony at this moment," he said. "But they must reaffirm and so must we that we will not tolerate this."

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson flew to Jasper to help the city's first black mayor, R.C. Horn, weather the crisis.

"These cowards should never walk the street again as free men," said Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP.

Byrd was hitchhiking home Saturday from a niece's bridal shower when Berry, who told cops he and the other suspects had been drinking, pulled his pickup over and offered the man a lift.

A wake for Byrd, 49, a father of three, was set tomorrow, followed by a funeral Saturday.

Summary: Prosecutors yesterday vowed to seek the death penalty against the white Texans charged with chaining a black man to the back of a pickup truck and dragging him to his death. But officials in Jasper, Tex., said they may have to cut a deal with suspect Shawn Allen Berry, 23. As grieving relatives of James Byrd Jr. planned his funeral and President Clinton condemned the "outrageous"murder, the father of the accused ringleader yesterday released


This child is spreading her colorful wings to celebrate Caribbean Heritage Month at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum.

DANCING IN THE ISLES. The Brooklyn Children’s Museum will host its Second Annual Kiddies Caribbean Fiesta. Let your child celebrateby attending a soca-style exercise program at noon, a culinary workshop with a St. Lucian chef at 2:20 p.m., or a steel-pan drum workshop at 3:30 p.m. $7.50. 145 Brooklyn Ave. at St. Marks Ave., Brooklyn. (718) 735-4400.

BRONX BONANZA. Summerstage Kids presents its Annual Bronx Family Day, which allows kids to revel in music, dance and fun activities. Plus, there will be entertainers from the Red Trouser Show and the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. 4-7 p.m. Free. St. Mary’s Park, East 146th St. and St. Ann’s Ave., Bronx.

HANSOME IS AS HANSOME DOES. Rhonda Hansome, who’s appeared on “Saturday Night Live,” brings her “Divorced and Bitter” tour to the Jewel Box Theater. The Bistro Award-winning comic also has opened for Diana Ross, Anita Baker and Aretha Franklin. Proceeds will this show will benefit the nonprofit Workshop Theater Company. 6:30 p.m. $10. 312 W. 36th St., near Eighth Ave. (866) 811-4111.

THE STATE OF THE UNION. “Union Square: Crossroads of New York,” a 90-minute walking tour, will explore the people, the political history and architecture of this neighborhood. 2 p.m. Free. Meet at the Abraham Lincoln statue by the 16th St. transverse in Union Square Park. (212) 517-1826.

WHAT’S COOKIN’. The Cooking Channel will celebrate its second birthday with “Summer Eats” popups at the Brooklyn Flea. Foodies will get a chance to meet culinary celebrities like Baron Ambrosia (“Culinary Adventures of Baron Ambrosia”) and Eden Grinshpan (“Eden’s Eats”). 1 p.m. The Smorgasburg, East River Waterfront, between North Sixth and Seventh St. Info: cookingchanneltv.com.

INDEPENDENCE DAY. Staten Island OutLOUD sponsors a group reading of the Declaration of Independence at the historic Conference House. Explore what the Fourth of July means today and reflect on the work of this country’s Founding Fathers. 2 p.m. Free. 7455 Hylan Blvd., Staten Island. Info: statenislandoutloug.org.

TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL. Bayswater Park hosts the “School’s Out for Summer” extravaganza. Kids can enjoy the petting zoo and bounce house, and there’s live entertainment for the whole family. Noon-3 p.m. Free. Beach 32nd St. and Beach Channel Drive, Queens. (718) 318-4000.

TRY YOUR POTLUCK. Bring a hearty appetite to the Community Potluck and Musical Celebration at Hope Garden. Sample a cavalcade of cultural dishes as you listen to the Paul Johnson Steel Band Quartet. 2-6 p.m. $5. 195 E. Second St. (646) 353-2160.

'SENTIMENTAL' JOURNEY. Award-winning pop-R&B artist Marcus Simeone will sing “Sentimental Favorites” at the Metropolitan Room. He’ll be joined by pianist Tracy Stark, harpist Jose Luis and special guest Tanya Holt. 7 p.m. $20. 34 W. 22nd St. (212) 206-4440.

TUNES ARE BUSTIN' OUT ALL OVER. Singer-songwriter Marc McBarron Kessler will perform his pop-rock songs, joined by J. Michael Reeds, at Don’t Tell Mama. 4 p.m. $10 cover, two-drink minimum. 343 W. 46th St. (212) 757-0788.

Summary: DANCING IN THE ISLES. The Brooklyn Children’s Museum will host its Second Annual Kiddies Caribbean Fiesta. Let your child celebrate various cultural hallmarks with a soca-style exercise program at noon, a culinary workshop with a St.


After finishing the 2011 season on the sideline, it's possible 49ers wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. will begin 2012 in the same spot.

Ginn limped off the field after he was tackled around the right ankle by Broncos linebacker Steven Johnson on a 9-yard reverse in the third quarter of San Francisco's 29-24 preseason win Sunday.

Ginn was taken to the locker room, and X-rays were negative, head coach Jim Harbaugh said. Ginn missed the final two games of the 2011 regular season with a sprained ankle. He then returned for the NFC divisional playoffs, but sustained a knee injury that kept him out of offseason workouts.

If Ginn isn't ready for Week 1 against the Packers, Kyle Williams probably will handle punt-return duties. Williams had two fumbled punts in the NFC Championship Game, but has bounced back with a solid preseason performance.

Williams has averaged 11.6 yards on five punt returns, has a team-high 71 receiving yards and shares team-high honors with five catches. On Sunday, he had a 46-yard catch-and-run on a hitch-route pass from Colin Kaepernick.

Williams "played very well," Harbaugh said. "He played very good in the return game. He played good on the offensive side of the ball."

Dixon runs well: Running back Anthony Dixon had 58 yards on 13 carries and scored on a 26-yard run in the third quarter. Dixon probably is competing with Rock Cartwright for the role of No. 5 running back, which will include plenty of work on special teams.

"He's worked and not worried," Harbaugh said, referring to Dixon's quest to stick on the roster. "It's paid off for him."

Bakhtiari injured: Outside linebacker Eric Bakhtiari sustained an apparent concussion in the second quarter and did not return. Bakhtiari, fighting to make the roster as a No. 4 outside linebacker, took an inadvertent knee to the helmet from defensive tackle Will Tukuafu.

Bakhtiari, 27, sustained a concussion in training camp with the Chiefs in 2011 and was released last August. He also had a concussion in his NFL debut with the Titans on Dec. 13, 2009.

Briefly: Wide receiver Mario Manningham did not travel to Denver after his grandfather died last week. ... Running backs LaMichael James (ankle) and Brandon Jacobs (knee) did not travel. Others who missed the game because of injuries included cornerback Chris Culliver and outside linebackers Cam Johnson and Kourtnei Brown. ... The 49ers lined up 355-pound guard Leonard Davis at tight end for several snaps.

Eric Branch is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.

Summary: Ginn limped off the field after he was tackled around the right ankle by Broncos linebacker Steven Johnson on a 9-yard reverse in the third quarter of San Francisco's 29-24 preseason win Sunday.  Ginn was taken to the locker room, and X-rays were negative, head coach Jim Harbaugh said.  Ginn missed the final two games of the 2011 regular season with a sprained ankle.  Williams has averaged 11.6 yards on five punt returns, has a team-high 71 receiving yards and shares team-high honors with five catches.  Bakhtiari, fighting to make the roster as a No. 4 outside linebacker, took an inadvertent knee to the helmet from defensive tackle Will Tukuafu.


December in the Bay Area: It can be cold, wet, dry and, apparently, record-setting warm.

Downtown Oakland hit 72 degrees Monday, breaking the old high-temperature record of 68 degrees set in 2005, said Austin Cross, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.

"It was pretty nice for a day in December," Cross said. "There was an offshore flow that brought us the warm temperatures instead of our normal sea breeze."

Moffett Field, in Mountain View, tied its record of 69 degrees, set in 1958. San Francisco was 65 degrees downtown, four degrees below its record high. Most other locations in the Bay Area were about five degrees below their records, but still well above normal, Cross said.

But it won't last long. By Tuesday afternoon, a cold storm will blow south from Alaska, bringing rain in the Bay Area and a hefty load of snow in the Sierra. Cold temperatures will remain until Saturday, when more rain will hit the coast, forecasters said.

"A week and a half ago we were maybe one storm away from a significant flood event, and now it is sunny, warm and dry," said Mike Pechner, a meteorologist with Golden West Meteorology. "And now we're looking at another cold system that will replenish the snow we lost during the warm rain."

That will be normal for this time of year, Pechner said.

"The weather pattern turns much colder and remains that way probably up until Christmas," he said. "The cold weather will get folks in the festive mood of the holiday, but it should not harm shopping in terms of a lot of rain."

Between 6 and 10 inches of snow are expected to fall - and stick - in the Sierra above 6,000 feet, Pechner said. Snowflakes could be spotted as low as 3,000 feet starting Wednesday.

"We went from dry to wet to warm and then to cold," Pechner said.

Will Kane is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: wkane@sfchronicle.com

Summary: Record highs but cold rain ahead  Downtown Oakland hit 72 degrees Monday, breaking the old high-temperature record of 68 degrees set in 2005, said Austin Cross, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.  Cold temperatures will remain until Saturday, when more rain will hit the coast, forecasters said.  The cold weather will get folks in the festive mood of the holiday, but it should not harm shopping in terms of a lot of rain.


LOS ANGELES - With just a few short weeks before

, takes over Paramount Pictures Studios, the

has announced the rockstar roster of chefs, bartenders and restaurants participating in the annual Labor Day weekend celebration of the Southern California culinary scene. Each of the five unique events, taking place Friday, August 30th through Sunday, September 1st, will showcase the people, eats and trends at the heart of L.A.'s dining scene along with unlimited tastings and specialty cocktails:

Summary: Los Angeles Times Food Festival to Feature Top Local Toques and Talent


The plants growing in a greenhouse on Erie Street in Cambridge bear neither flower nor fruit and, in truth, are downright homely. Tall plumes of switchgrass, once the dominant species of the North American prairie, are domesticated here, sprouting from black pots under skylights and heat lamps.

Underappreciated switchgrass is experiencing second life as a major science project; it is widely used to make alternative fuels and, on Erie Street, to make plastic. In July, the Cambridge company Metabolix Bioplastics received a US patent for its method of supercharging production of the molecule in switchgrass that is used to make biodegradable plastic, and is now working to produce the polymer in high enough concentrations to make the technique commercially viable.

“It’s a matter of changing the genetic makeup of the plant so that it takes carbon and turns those plants into a plastics factory,” said Metabolix chief executive Rick Eno.

The company’s modifications to switchgrass allow the plant to produce a naturally occurring molecule in unnaturally large quantities. The molecule, polyhydroxybutyrate, or PHB, is responsible for storing energy in plants, much like fat cells store energy in humans. Extracted from switchgrass blades, it also can serve as the raw material for plastic production, replacing the petroleum currently used in manufacturing virtually all of the world’s plastics.

For Metabolix, the patent represents a significant step toward developing a biodegradable plastic material that can compete with the cost of conventional plastics. It comes as the use of bioplastics is soaring around the world. In 2009, global production of compostable bioplastics totaled just 6,000 tons, according to European Bioplastics, a German firm that tracks the industry. In 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, production totaled 675,000 tons, and is expected to top 5 million by 2016.

Dawit Abreham, a greenhouse research assistant at Metabolix in Cambridge, checked the height of genetically modified switchgrass.

Metabolix, meanwhile, received $6 million from the US Department of Energy in 2011 as part of a broad government initiative to promote research and development of biobased products.

Genetically modified switchgrass could supply plastic producers today, but its commercial appeal is limited by its inefficiency. Right now, only 7 percent of each blade of grass, by weight, is PHB. Metabolix is experimenting with increasing that yield in plants at its Cambridge facility, and at a second greenhouse at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Eno estimates the company will have to hit the 10 percent threshold to compete with the cost of petroleum-based plastics.

“It’s definitely achievable; it’s just a matter of time,” said Stephen P. McCarthy, director of the Center for Biodegradable Polymer Research at UMass Lowell. “I think it’s achievable in three to five years.”

If Metabolix nails its target, the next step will be field tests to determine whether its genetically modified switchgrass could be planted in mass quantities, thrive in real weather conditions, and most importantly, offer a cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels.

“We’ve never counted on a green premium — people paying more because it’s green,” Eno said. “What we do see is green differentiation, meaning if a customer has two choices that provide the same performance and one is renewable, quite often the renewable choice gets the nod. People are concerned about the environment, but we have to compete on the economic merits.”

Already, Metabolix has more than 100 clients making biodegradable plastics from molecules the company produces through a different process: fermentation. Down the hall from the greenhouse is a laboratory that resembles a mad scientist’s brewery. Inside 20-liter fermentation vessels, genetically modified microbes feed on sugar, converting carbon into plastic-making polymers similar to the ones produced by switchgrass.

Popular uses for the Metabolix polymers include compostable plastic bags for yard waste and everyday shopping, and agricultural film used to suppress weed growth and retain water. Most client companies are based in Europe, Eno said, though Target has experimented with making biodegradable gift cards, and Papermate with biodegradable pens.

For now, making the molecules through the fermentation initiative is more cost-effective than growing them in switchgrass, which is why fermentation-based plastics already are on the market. But Metabolix is wagering that in the long run, when its modified switchgrass can produce PHB in higher concentrations, plant-based production will be the cheapest option available.

“The benefit of the switchgrass approach is the plant does all the work,” Eno said. “It’s basically just taking CO2, sunlight, and water and producing plastics and chemicals.”

Summary: The plants growing in a greenhouse on Erie Street in Cambridge bear neither flower nor fruit and, in truth, are downright homely. Their yield is visible only under a microscope, which reveals in unruly blades of switchgrass a molecule that could one day form the plastics we use in our everyday lives. “It’s a matter of changing the genetic makeup of the plant so that it takes carbon and turns those plants into a plastics factory,” said Rick Eno, chief executive of Metabolix, a local company that’s essentially trying to grow shopping bags and water bottles out of the ground. Last month, Metabolix received a patent for its method of supercharging production of polyhydroxybutyrate, or PHB, a raw material for plastic production, in switchgrass.


If you've ever dreamed of following the Red Sox on a road trip, or seeing Auburn play in Tuscaloosa, or catching Maroon 5 live in London, well ... seriously, Maroon 5? Really? OK, that's cool. Either way, doing any of the above is now infinitely easier thanks to Travelatus, an all-in-one event-planning hub that helps you score tickets, hotels, and even flights -- everything you need to catch your favorite bands and sports teams around the globe.

You have three search options right out of the gate: 1) type in the team/band you want to see, 2) use the psychic algorithm to provide personal recommendations based on your FB profile, or 3) hit the random result-generating "Some Magic" button and find yourself at… a Bieber concert in Toronto!

Regardless of which option you picked, scroll through a picture-filled list of upcoming games/tours (sorted by date) before deciding that a Red Sox game at Dodger Stadium would, indeed, be pretty awesome. Add the tickets to your "Travel Pack".

But where to stay in LA? Such a sprawling town. Oh look! The next tab provides details on hotels located at (or around) the event. That was easy. If you want to stay on the beach, in a 5-star hotel, or even where they filmed Encino Man, use the filters (distance from venue, budget, etc.) to re-sort the list. Add a hotel to your Travel Pack.

You see where we're going here, right? Tickets are done. Hotel is set. Now it's time to find a flight, train, or bus to get there, and while you're at it you can spy a handy Gmap with directions from the airport to the event venue.

Finally, break out the credit card and head to the checkout (to make sure you don't get Marooned).

If You're Digging Travelatus, Then You'll Probably Also Like Fantrotter. Compare The Two here

Read more stories like this from Thrillist: -- The 9 Swankiest, Tastiest, Booziest Bowling Alleys In America -- The Eight Coolest Bars In New Orleans -- Travel To Shaolin Temple To Learn Kung Fu

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Summary: If you've ever dreamed of following the Red Sox on a road trip, or seeing Auburn play in Tuscaloosa, or catching Maroon 5 live in London, well ... ser...


The man who could fill in for All-Pro linebacker NaVorro Bowman recently discovered his high-profile temp job could last much longer than expected.

Last week, Jim Harbaugh said Bowman could miss at least half the 2014 season after he tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee in the NFC Championship Game.

In Overland Park, Kan., 49ers reserve linebacker Michael Wilhoite, who assumed Bowman would miss far less time, digested the news. And then he went back to work.

"It doesn't change the way I think, it doesn't change my motivation, it doesn't change the way I train. I'm going to do everything the exact same," Wilhoite said in a phone interview. "When Bo's ready to play, that's great for the 49ers. When he's not playing, I'm going to do my best to fill in and help the team win games."

The nose-to-the-grindstone approach has served Wilhoite well. He played at Division II Washburn University in Topeka, Kan., had a stint in the now-defunct United Football League and was a shoe salesman during a soul-searching stretch of football unemployment 26 months ago.

So it's a testament to his tenacity - and talent - that he's in his current spot: He's the logical candidate to fill in for one of the NFL's best players on one of the league's top defenses for a significant part of the 2014 season.

In 2013, Wilhoite, 27, did a commendable job subbing for another All-Pro, Patrick Willis, who missed two games with a groin injury. In wins over the Rams (35-11) and Texans (34-3), Wilhoite had 20 tackles and the 49ers allowed the seventh-fewest rushing yards (18) in franchise history at St. Louis.

Not that Wilhoite, whose 17 special-teams tackles in 2013 ranked second on the 49ers, has the temp spot secured. The competition to spell Bowman promises to be one of the top story lines of training camp. Wilhoite will battle Nick Moody, a 2013 sixth-round pick, and, perhaps, at least one linebacker not on the current roster. Last week, general manager Trent Baalke suggested the 49ers could bolster the spot in free agency or the draft.

"We're going to take a hard look to see if we need to infuse a little bit more competition into that position," Baalke said.

For his part, Wilhoite, an undrafted free agent who was barely recruited out of high school, isn't offended. He's accustomed to being a bit underestimated and, regardless of his background, he's well aware of how the 49ers operate.

"I would expect no less, especially from a championship-caliber team," he said. "I would never expect to go in anywhere and be handed anything. It's never happened like that in my life and I've never wanted it that way.

"On a team like this, it's like I tell everybody, it's not easy being great. It's not relaxing, it's not comforting, it's not easy work. In order to be great, it's going to be hard. It's going t0 be stressful. And there's going to be competition."

Before reporting for the team's offseason conditioning program, which begins April 21, Wilhoite will continue working out at a gym in Kansas City and driving 45 minutes twice a week to work with a personal trainer in his hometown of Topeka.

Before free agency begins March 11, he will also sign a contract to keep him with the 49ers in 2014. As a player with less than three accrued seasons, Wilhoite is an exclusive rights free agent, which means he can sign only with the 49ers. The team will re-sign Wilhoite at some point before the start of free agency.

When will he sign a new contract? Wilhoite is leaving that to his agent. He's too busy readying for what he hopes will be a significant role in 2014.

"I don't know how that (contract) works and I don't want to know how that works, to be honest," Wilhoite said. "All that I'm worried about is getting better."

Eric Branch is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: ebranch@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Eric_Branch

Summary: The man who could fill in for All-Pro linebacker NaVorro Bowman recently discovered his high-profile temp job could last much longer than expected.  Last week, Jim Harbaugh said Bowman could miss at least half the 2014 season after he tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee in the NFC Championship Game.  In Overland Park, Kan., 49ers reserve linebacker Michael Wilhoite, who assumed Bowman would miss far less time, digested the news.  [...] he went back to work.  In 2013, Wilhoite, 27, did a commendable job subbing for another All-Pro, Patrick Willis, who missed two games with a groin injury.  In wins over the Rams (35-11) and Texans (34-3), Wilhoite had 20 tackles and the 49ers allowed the seventh-fewest rushing yards (18) in franchise history at St. Louis.  Wilhoite will battle Nick Moody, a 2013 sixth-round pick, and, perhaps, at least one linebacker not on the current roster.  On a team like this, it's like I tell everybody, it's not easy being great.  It's going t0 be stressful.  [...] there's going to be competition.  Before reporting for the team's offseason conditioning program, which begins April 21, Wilhoite will continue working out at a gym in Kansas City and driving 45 minutes twice a week to work with a personal trainer in his hometown of Topeka.  E-mail: ebranch@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Eric_Branch


To many in Ukraine, a full-scale Russian military invasion would feel like a liberation. On Saturday, across the country’s eastern and southern provinces, hundreds of thousands of people gathered to welcome the Kremlin’s talk of protecting pro-Russian Ukrainians against the revolution that brought a new government to power last week. So far, that protection has come in the form of Russian military control of the southern region of Crimea, but on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin got parliamentary approval for a broad military intervention in Ukraine. As that news spread, locals in at least four major cities in the east of Ukraine climbed onto the roofs of government buildings and replaced the Ukrainian flag with the Russian tricolor.

(PHOTOS: Crisis in Crimea: Unrest in Russian Stronghold)

For the most part, what drove so many people to renounce their allegiance to Ukraine was a mix of pride and fear, the latter fueled in part by misinformation from Moscow. The most apparent deception came on Saturday morning, when the Russian Foreign Ministry put out a statement accusing the new government in Kiev of staging a “treacherous provocation” on the Crimean peninsula. It claimed that “unidentified armed men” had been sent from Kiev to seize the headquarters of the Interior Ministry police in Crimea. But thanks to the “decisive actions of self-defense battalions,” the statement said, the attack had been averted with just a few casualties. This statement turned out to be without any basis in fact.

Igor Avrutsky, who was the acting Interior Minister of Crimea during the alleged assault, told TIME the following afternoon that it never happened. “Everything was calm,” he says. Throughout the night, pro-Russian militiamen armed with sticks and shields had been defending the Crimean Interior Ministry against the revolutionaries, and one of the militia leaders, Oleg Krivoruchenko, also says there was no assault on the building. “People were coming and going as normal,” he says.

But the claims coming from Moscow were still enough to spread panic in eastern and southern Ukraine. On Saturday, pro-Russian activists in the Crimean capital of Simferopol staged a massive demonstration in the city, calling on residents to rally against the “Nazi authorities” who had come to power in Kiev. “What’s happening in Ukraine is terrifying,” says one of the organizers of the march, Evgenia Dobrynya. “We’re in a situation now where the country is ruled by terrorists and radicals.”

That is the picture of Ukraine’s new government propagated in the Russian media, the main source of information for millions of people in eastern and southern Ukraine. For months, Russian officials and television networks have painted the revolutionaries as a fascist cabal intent on stripping ethnic Russians of their rights. Much of the coverage has amounted to blatant scaremongering. The key posts in the new government, including the interim President and Prime Minister, have gone to pro-Western liberals and moderates, and they have pledged to guarantee the rights of all ethnic minorities. But some of their actions have given Russia plenty of excuses to accuse them of doing the opposite.

Within two days of taking power, the revolutionary leaders passed a bill revoking the rights of Ukraine’s regions to make Russian an official language alongside Ukrainian. That outraged the Russian-speaking half of the country, and the ban was quickly lifted. But the damage was done. With that one ill-considered piece of legislation, the new leaders had convinced millions of ethnic Russians that a wave of repression awaited them. So it was no surprise on Friday when a livid mob in Crimea attacked a liberal lawmaker who came to reason with them. Struggling to make his case over the screaming throng, Petro Poroshenko was chased back to his car amid cries of “fascist!”

Making matters worse has been the role of nationalist parties in the new government, including a small but influential group of right-wing radicals known as Pravy Sektor (Right Sector), which embodies some of the greatest fears of Ukraine’s ethnic Russian minority. Its leader, Dmitro Yarosh, has openly referred to Russia as the “centuries-old enemy of Ukraine,” and has spent years training a small paramilitary force to fight what he calls “Russian imperialist ambitions.”

In the past week, Ukraine’s new leaders have been scrambling to figure out what to do with Yarosh. His role in the revolution was too significant for them to write him off. Having suffered dozens of casualties in fighting off police during deadly clashes in Kiev last month, his militia members are idolized as heroes by many supporters of the revolution across the country. “It’s a real problem,” says the pro-Western lawmaker Hrihory Nemiriya, whose fellow members of the Fatherland party now hold the interim presidency and premiership. “Right Sector people are very popular, but they are not in the government.”

Yarosh has, however, been offered top positions in Ukraine’s security structures. Zoryan Shkiryak, a revolutionary lawmaker involved in the negotiations over Yarosh’s role in the government, says the right-wing militant was in the running to become deputy prime minister overseeing the security services. “That was on the table,” Shkiryak tells TIME. After much debate, Yarosh was offered the role of deputy head of the National Security Council, but rejected it as beneath him. In his only interview with the Western press, Yarosh told TIME last month that he planned to turn Right Sector into a political party and run for office. “He could run for president,” adds Nemiriya.

Even that possibility has been enough to horrify the Russians in the east and the south, and Moscow has played on those fears to claim that Nazis are coming to power. On Saturday, when Putin asked his upper house of parliament to allow an invasion of Ukraine, the lawmakers had no trouble coming up with a justification. “What’s happening in Ukraine is a true mutiny, a plague of brown-shirts,” said one of the senators, Nikolai Ryzhkov.

In the Crimean capital of Simferopol, that logic took hold. Thousands of people marched through the streets of the city on Saturday carrying enormous Russian flags and chanting “Fascism will not pass!” Dobrynya, the organizer, said her greatest concern was the role of Right Sector in the new government. “We’re supposed to accept these radicals deciding who is going to rule Ukraine? That can’t happen. So thank God we have these wonderful guardians now,” she said, gesturing toward the battalion of Russian marines who were guarding the Crimean parliament building. In four other cities of eastern Ukraine, major demonstrations called for Russia to send similar contingents to protect them from the “fascists.” Now, with the approval of his obedient legislature, Putin seems to ready to oblige, surely comforted by the fact that cheering crowds would come out to greet the Russian tanks if they do roll over the border into eastern Ukraine.

Summary: Across Ukraine's eastern and southern provinces, hundreds of thousands of people gathered to welcome the Kremlin's talk of protecting pro-Russian Ukrainians against the revolution that brought a new government to power


Martin Parr has said that he doesn't take photographs, he collects them. This terrific show, spread over two floors at Baltic, takes the unusual but inspired approach of combining new work Parr has collected on film alongside the bits of bric-a-brac he collects on impulse.

The centrepiece is a luxurious new series of photographs in which Parr shifts his focus from Middle English mores to produce a devastatingly deadpan critique of the international jet set. Most of these pictures are laugh-out-loud funny, but what really marks them out is Parr's ability to turn a candid snap into a perfect composition. Rows of red-faced revellers at the races invite comparison to William Powell Frith's paintings of Derby day, though the expanses of straining satin owe something to the social satire of the late Beryl Cook.

Parr mimics the poise of a Renaissance panel in a shot of a woman being plied with cigarettes and Pimm's, like the patron saint of inebriation surrounded by her attributes. A sequence shot in St Moritz presents merciless close-ups of collagen, fur and turkey necks. Yet Parr doesn't depend on people to create a satisfying image; he is capable of framing an almost Miró-esque arrangement of peculiarly coloured cocktails and abandoned stilettos.

No less revealing than the photographs are Parr's bits of memorabilia. One wall features an array of plates commemorating the 1984 miners' strike alongside tableware bearing the image of Margaret Thatcher. The Osama bin Laden dartboard looks ridiculous until you consider that the US forces depicted the Iraqi regime as a deck of playing cards. Parr has a set of those, too. And it's unnerving to see a pair of embroidered Afghan prayer mats celebrating the events of 9/11 as a triumph.

Parr's hoard is, above all, a testament to the strange universality of kitsch, and proof that the late 20th/early 21st century will become known as the age of pointless plastic items made in China. Who might have guessed that a pair of Barack Obama "Yes, we can" trainers could already seem as quaint as a Sputnik ashtray? There can be little doubt that it's Parr's world, and we're lucky to live in it.

Summary: Baltic, Gateshead Kitsch, bling and deadpan satire are all on show in Martin Parr's terrific new collection of photographs and memorabilia, writes Alfred Hickling


You can now read 10 articles each month for free on BostonGlobe.com.

The Boston Globe Magazine and The Commonwealth Institute, a local nonprofit, on Thursday opened the survey for their 13th annual Top 100 Women-Led Businesses in Massachusetts list.

This year the survey will include both for-profit and nonprofit organizations and incorporate new ranking criteria. The honorees will be announced Oct. 24 at a breakfast hosted by the institute and will be published in the Oct. 26 issue of the Globe Magazine.

Although revenue (or operating budget) will remain an essential component of the Top 100 list, the magazine and institute will also consider workplace and board diversity, innovation, and the number of full-time employees. Organizations are being asked to take the survey to be considered for the list. Unlike previous years, revenue or budget figures will not be published. To submit a survey for your company, visit the Commonwealth Institute website at www.commonwealthinstitute.org. The deadline is May 30.

There are nearly 200,000 women-owned companies in Massachusetts. The institute is focused on helping women-led businesses become and stay successful.

© 2014 Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC

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Summary: The Boston Globe Magazine and The Commonwealth Institute, a local nonprofit, on Thursday opened the survey for their 13th annual Top 100 Women-Led Businesses in Massachusetts list. This year they will include both for-profit and non-profit organizations and incorporate new ranking criteria. The honorees will be announced October 24 at a breakfast hosted by the institute and will be published in the October 26 issue of the Globe Magazin


Xiaomi, a China-based electronics manufacturer headquartered in Beijing, just surprised everyone by announcing its very first tablet—dubbed a “Mi Pad”—and not just an underwhelming-sounding iPad wannabe, but one with a powerful Retina-caliber display and a high end, PC-like Nvidia processor.

Engadget reports that Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun had said the company wasn’t working on tablet technology as recently as two years ago. That apparently wasn’t true, because Jun just unveiled the Mi Pad at a fan get-together and admitted the company had been working on it all along: an iPad-like tablet priced to threaten at 1,499 Chinese Yuan (about $241) for the 16 GB model, and 1,699 Chinese Yuan (about $273) for the 64 GB version.

Xiaomi’s Android-based Mi Pad sounds powerful indeed on paper, sporting Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra K1 processor (192 cores, allegedly capable of outpacing both Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3), 2 GB of RAM, a 7.9-inch diagonal 2048-by-1536 pixel screen (equivalent to Apple’s iPad mini, with a whopping 326 pixels per inch), a microSD storage slot that’ll let you expand to 128 GB, an 8-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front one, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, stereo speakers and a 6,700 mAh battery.

Engadget says the glossy plastic frame—reminiscent of the iPhone 5c’s—is just 8.5mm thick and weighs just 360 grams (about 0.80 pounds). Xiaomi hasn’t said when the Mi Pad will be available, or where, but the company’s planning a beta test in June.

Summary: Xiaomi's plastic mobile device could be a boon to high-end tablet gamers, for relatively little cost


05/21/2014 at 06:15 PM EDT

Courtesy Santa Ana Police Department

A Southern California man has been arrested for kidnapping, rape and false imprisonment for allegedly abducting a 15-year-old girl and holding her for a decade. Isidro Garcia, 41, of Bell Gardens, California, allegedly kidnapped the teen in 2004 while he lived with her mother, according to reports. The victim, who is married to Garcia, came forward on Tuesday after finding her long-lost sister on Facebook, Santa Ana police reveal. She told police that after allegedly assaulting her mother in August 2004, Garcia drugged her and drove her to a house in Compton, where she was locked overnight in a garage. He kept her there, telling the teen that her family wasn't looking for her and they would be deported if she contacted police, according to authorities. Detectives say he provided the girl with fake identification and used physical and mental abuse to prevent her from fleeing. The girl's mother reported her missing and suspected Garcia of sexually abusing her daughter, but had no evidence. Garcia moved several times with the girl to avoid capture and even arranged for both of them to work for a night cleaning service so that he could keep watch over her, according to police. The woman, now 25, said that she saw no way out of her situation and Garcia forced her to marry him in 2007. They had a child five years later. The victim recently contacted her sister on Facebook and eventually found the courage to contact the police.

Summary: Isidro Garcia allegedly kidnapped the 15-year-old in 2004


NEW YORK — When it came time to renew his company’s health plan last fall, Jerry Eledge found himself in a bind that many small-business owners know all too well.

On one hand, “it’s kind of a moral obligation” to offer insurance, said Eledge, who runs Community Quick Care, a growing chain of primary health care clinics in the Nashville area. And yet, premiums for his existing plan were going up 20 percent, while other group plans promised as much as a 50 percent increase, even as deductibles and copays were becoming less generous.

“We found no really good alternatives for 2014 at all,” he said. “Before Gary came along, we weren’t sure what we were going to do.”

Gary is Gary Adkins, an insurance agent in Brentwood, Tenn., who introduced Eledge to Zane Benefits, a company in Park City, Utah, that offers businesses an online claims reimbursement service. With help from Zane’s software, Eledge created a defined contribution plan for his company. The system has obvious appeal.

It largely frees the company from the headaches of arranging health coverage by reimbursing employees for insurance they buy on their own. At the same time, it allows the company to help its employees find affordable, often cheaper, options on the individual market through Zane. And, importantly, it promises that the contribution the company makes to its employees’ coverage is tax-free for the employees and excluded from payroll taxes for the employer.

That, however, is a promise that Zane Benefits may not be able to keep.

In a technical guidance issued last year and reiterated last month, the Internal Revenue Service issued a clear warning about such health reimbursement arrangements, according to eight health and tax lawyers as well a half-dozen lobbyists and analysts who have followed the Affordable Care Act’s adoption. The guidance “makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for an employer to pay for an employee’s individual insurance with tax-free dollars,” said Seth Perretta, a health and tax lawyer with the Groom Law Group in Washington.

The issue, at least on the surface, is language in the health law meant to make sure there are no dollar limits on the coverage for a person’s basic medical needs, which the law calls essential health benefits. The IRS asserts that a plan reimbursing employees for insurance they buy on their own cannot comply with this prohibition on annual limits because the company’s contribution is by definition limited — even though the health insurance the employee ends up buying would have no annual limits.

The president of Zane Benefits, Rick Lindquist, 29, said the prohibition on limits did not apply to Zane’s plan because premiums were not an essential health benefit.

“We’ve designed an arrangement that takes into account the guidance, and complies with the statutes and regulations as written,” he said.

Before this year, most companies that wanted to make sure their employees had insurance had little choice but to select and manage the plans because they could not be certain their employees would be able to obtain insurance individually. Now, as the Affordable Care Act creates more options on the individual market, the question of whether to continue offering health insurance has intensified, especially for small businesses.

And Zane Benefits is emerging as the leader of a handful of companies — including TASC, HR Simplified, and Freedom Services — hoping to facilitate that transition. According to Lindquist, about 2,600 small businesses use Zane’s software to create and manage health reimbursement arrangements, as these plans are commonly called — lured at least in part by the tax exclusion.

Community Quick Care pays Zane $12 a month for each of its 30 employees to administer the plan. Adkins estimates that employees can buy their own plan for as much as 40 percent less than the same coverage would cost as part of a group. Should they receive government subsidies to buy that insurance — and Eledge estimated up to a quarter of his employees qualify — the savings to the employer can double, Adkins said.

Lawyers following the issue called Zane’s approach risky at best.

“It is abundantly clear that the IRS thinks that you cannot use one of these arrangements to use tax-free dollars to pay for individual health insurance,” said Amy B. Monahan, a law professor at the University of Minnesota.

But Perretta said the Zane plan exploited a weakness in the guidance, which does not specify whether insurance premiums are an essential benefit.

“The Zane arrangement tries to thread a needle,” he said. “It really lives or dies on that ambiguity.”

Elsewhere, he added, the IRS and other agencies have implied that a premium is not an essential health benefit, so for now, Perretta said, the Zane plan could be legal, “but regulators don’t like it.”

Officials from the Treasury Department and the IRS declined to answer questions about the regulations or Zane’s plan, but a Treasury Department official wrote in an e-mailed statement, “This type of reimbursement plan generally would fail to comply with the ACA’s prohibition on annual dollar limits.”

The Treasury official said the government planned to issue further guidance on the matter. But ultimately, it may be up to one of Zane’s clients to persuade a court that the arrangements are legal. The penalty for an employer violating the market reform rules is $100 a day, or $36,500 a year, for each affected employee, although never more $500,000 total.

Lindquist said his agents walked clients through all of the legal risks, but he was confident the plan would withstand scrutiny.

“If we were worried about that, we wouldn’t offer it,” he said.

Adkins, the insurance agent, said he told his 150 small-business clients who had adopted Zane’s software that they had little to fear.

“The purpose of the Affordable Care Act is to get people covered in this country,” he said. “Do you really believe the government is going to penalize that small-businessman $36,000 a year per employee because he had the heart to actually help his employees get as much coverage as they could get?”

And Eledge, of Community Quick Care, said Adkins satisfied him, and his accountant, that the plan would stand up.

“We like it very clear that everything we do as a company is aboveboard and legal,” he said. “I’m not the kind of guy who says, ‘IRS, come get me.’ ”

Summary: Some small businesses are taking a chance on a health insurance strategy the IRS may not support.


06/22/2014 at 09:25 AM EDT

The small town of Springdale, Arkansas, grew by more than 1,000 people this weekend, to include a large accumulation of Duggars celebrating the nuptials of the second daughter in a family of 19 kids.

and reception for Jill, 23, daughter to Jim Bob, 48 and Michelle, 47 of

, greeting and feeding the masses went like clockwork in true Duggar fashion.

"I'm so grateful to all the volunteers who helped put everything together for the wedding," Michelle tells PEOPLE. "Everyone has worked hard and done an amazing job."

Part of that job included making more than 600 cupcakes, 3,000 chocolate-chip cookies and 3,000 root-beer floats for guests to enjoy.

Tables divided into sweet and salty snacks were set up around the grounds of the Cross Church, where the bride and groom said their "I Dos" and guests formed a long, winding line to have a chance to wish the new couple well in their marriage.

were in attendance, as were guests from more than 30 states, according to Jim Bob.

"I think we should have done more pranks at the wedding," Jill's younger brother, Jeremiah, 15, tells PEOPLE with a laugh. "But, they did a good job. Derek is my brother-in-law. He's a good guy. I'm stuck with him now, so good thing."

One memorable reception accessory for guests to view was Michelle's wedding dress hanging on a wooden backdrop (she and Jim Bob have been married for 30 years this summer), accompanied by one of Dillard's father's police uniforms on the other. Dillard's father, Rick, died in 2008, and his mother, Cathy, who is battling cancer, came to wedding directly from the hospital.

Mother of the bride Michelle Duggar's wedding dress and the police uniform of the late Rick Dillard, father of the groom

"We want to think about the importance of marriage," Jill explains to PEOPLE. "And what it means to be married."

The eldest in the Duggar clan, Josh, served as emcee of the reception, pointing people to long folding tables filled with chocolate and vanilla cakes, as well as the tables with the wedding cake.

As the couple departed the reception in a vintage pickup filled with balloons and decorated with the message "Just Married" printed on the rear window, the crowd started chanting, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss" and the newlyweds obliged.

The couple had saved their very first kiss for the moment they became man and wife – and the new Mrs. Dillard tells PEOPLE it is all working out.

"It was worth the wait," she tells PEOPLE, beaming and grasping her new husband's hand.

Summary: Their reception features more than 300 cupcakes, 3,000 root-beer floats and pounds of popcorn