Tiffany Lee wanted a car. She was weary of the two-hour bus ride to her job at a UCLA Health System clinic. She hated having to ask friends to drive her 7-year-old son to his

But as a single mother with three children, bad credit and a $27,000-a-year salary, she couldn't find a bank or dealership willing to give her a loan.

Then a friend steered her to Repossess Auto Sales in Hawthorne.

Another buyer might have balked at the deal she was offered. Lee figured she had no choice. She put $3,000 down and drove off in a 2007 Ford Fusion,

$387 a month for four years. The interest rate: 20.7%, nearly triple the national average for a used-car loan.

A year and a half later, Lee fell behind on her payments and filed for bankruptcy. So she was relieved when the dealership called and offered to make her loan more affordable. The sales manager even promised to throw in a free smog check. Lee, 35, drove back to Repossess Auto on a rainy Monday evening, handed the keys to an attendant and sat down with the manager.

Moments later, she said, employees parked four cars tightly around the Ford, blocking it in.

There would be no new deal. Lee's car was being repossessed. She and her children waited in the rain until a friend could drive them home.

Lee, who described that night as “one of the worst experiences of my life,” had stumbled into the bare-knuckle world of Buy Here Pay Here used-car sales.

In this little-known but fast-growing corner of the auto market, dealers command premium prices for road-worn vehicles and finance the sales at interest rates that can top 30%.

In a kind of financial alchemy, they have found a way to turn clunkers into cash cows and make money off the least creditworthy customers: the millions of Americans who are stuck in low-paying jobs, saddled with debt and unable to qualify for conventional auto loans.

For most of those people, having a car is the only way to stay employed, and they'll accept almost any terms to get one.

Buy Here Pay Here lots sold nearly 2.4 million cars nationwide last year, up from 1.3 million a decade ago, according to CNW Marketing Research.

CNW estimates that there are more than 33,000 such lots nationwide, compared with about 20,000 dealerships selling new cars. Buy Here Pay Here dealers make $80 billion in loans every year, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Although dealers are loath to open their books, profit margins average nearly 40%, according to a trade group, the National Alliance of Buy Here Pay Here Dealers. That's twice what new-car dealers make.

Many of the lots require customers to return once or twice a month to make loan payments in cash -- hence the term Buy Here Pay Here.

A key reason for the industry's growth in tough times is that dealers can come out ahead whether or not customers keep up with their loan payments.

About 1 in 4 buyers default. In the real estate and credit card industries, that would be bad news. In the world of Buy Here Pay Here, it's just another avenue for profit: The car can be repossessed and put back on the lot for sale in short order. A new buyer makes a down payment, takes on a high-interest loan and the cycle starts anew.

Provided they don't get wrecked, these recycled vehicles just keep paying dividends. At some dealerships, cars have been sold and resold over and over -- three, four, even

times apiece, motor vehicle records show.

Summary: First of three parts


At Massachusetts hospitals, women are increasingly running the show.

Women lead 28, or one-fourth, of the 111 hospitals licensed by the state, excluding behavioral health and psychiatric facilities. That’s a far greater share of the top spots than in the state’s 100 largest public companies, where only six women are in charge.

The latest woman to take the reins is Karen Moore, chief executive of Marlborough Hospital, who last week joined a senior management team made up almost entirely of women. In this era of reform, industry analysts say, women are well suited to lead hospitals as the focus turns from generating fees for service to reengineering patient care to get the greatest value from every health care dollar.

Ellen Zane recently retired as chief executive of Tufts Medical Center.

Teamwork, multitasking, and communication - traits women are known for - are becoming critical as health care providers are increasingly called on to work together to create more efficient business models, according to the Massachusetts Hospital Association. Hospital chiefs must also deal with everyone from security guards to neurosurgeons to politicians, and women are especially adept at navigating among different kinds of people, said Ellen Zane, who recently retired as chief executive of Tufts Medical Center.

“The day of silos, with medical centers and people pounding their chest for what they can accomplish in their own little fiefdom, are over,’’ Zane said.

Across the country, about a quarter of hospitals are run by women, about the same percentage as in Massachusetts. But nationally, many of these hospitals are small, rural facilities, while in Massachusetts, women are in charge of world-class institutions, such as Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital Boston, and Boston Medical Center.

Women also lead several major health care advocacy groups in the state: the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, the Massachusetts Medical Society, Health Care for All, and the Massachusetts Hospital Association.

In Massachusetts, the state’s progressive leanings have probably contributed to a culture that appears to be more open to women running prominent institutions, health care specialists said. The Massachusetts Hospital Association has also held an annual conference for the past decade to promote women’s leadership - the only such health care association event of its kind in the nation.

Women have historically had a large presence in health care, from nurses to nuns. And as women started climbing the corporate ladder across many industries in the past few decades, the many women in medical fields ascended along with them.

Moore’s career path into the executive suite is similar to those taken by other women in health care. She began her career in 1977 as a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, and quicklybecame a nurse manager. She moved on to vice president positions at several hospitals around New England, then in 2008 took over as chief executive of Kindred Hospital Park View in Springfield, before taking charge of Marlborough Hospital.

Moore said her experience as a nurse manager is particularly important. Nurse managers have clinical and leadership skills, making executives with that background well equipped to lead hospitals as the health care process is put under the microscope.

“It’s the only profession that is trained and educated and studies patient care delivery models,’’ said Moore, 55. “Fifteen years ago I can remember being the only female at the senior leadership table.’’

Today, when Marlborough Hospital’s top six executives meet, it’s all women - except for financial officer Steve McCue. McCue also works as chief financial officer for an affiliated institution, Clinton Hospital. He’s the only man on that hospital’s leadership team, too.

He said he doesn’t think about the gender of his peers, but is well aware that women play a critical role in the industry.

“It does take a special something to be in health care,’’ he said, “and I think women just certainly are more compassionate than men.’’

But that doesn’t mean they don’t have a sense of humor.

After just a few days on the job, Moore joked that she had already figured out McCue’s role: “He’s our token man.’’

Summary: Of the 111 acute care, chronic disease, and rehabilitation hospitals licensed by the state, 28 are run by women. Women are well suited for the job in the era of health care reform, industry insiders say, as the focus turns from generating fees for service to reengineering the patient care process to get the greatest value out of every health care dollar. Teamwork, multitasking, and communication - traits women are known for - are becoming critical.


As the Global Ambassador for the Avon Foundation,

knows that in the U.S. and worldwide, one in three women will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes. As a mother, she wants her kids to know that, too.

"We talk about domestic violence and what that means," Witherspoon, 35, told PEOPLE Tuesday at the 2nd World Conference of Women's Shelters in Washington, D.C., about educating

"Although the concept is somewhat foreign to them, they're starting to understand that this happens to families in our country and all throughout the world."

Witherspoon's two children – daughter Ava, 12, and son Deacon, 8 – have also talked with their mother about a recent public case:

by Chris Brown on then-girlfriend

in February 2009, after which

"My daughter knows what happened. My son knows as well," says the Oscar winner. "We talk about what is abuse. I think it's important to talk to our daughters – and our sons – in order to educate them at an early age about what's appropriate and what is absolutely not acceptable."

Luckily for Witherspoon, she's found herself in a happy relationship and marriage with

. The couple's first wedding anniversary is next month.

"I don't know what we're doing, but I'm very excited!" she says. "It happened so fast – it all went so quickly."

Summary: The Avon Global Ambassador makes it a priority to educate her young children on abuse


9th Wonder: A Wonderful Professor

Grammy award-winning producer, 9th Wonder, not only spends most of his days in the studio, but also the classroom. He's co-teaching the "Sampling Soul" class at Duke University, part of a huge movement of hip-hop based classes on college campuses across America. Gary Hamilton reports and produces with Evan Groll for CBSNews.com and Channel One News.

Summary: Snooki, a.k.a. Nicole Polizzi, has confirmed to US Weekly that she is indeed 15 weeks pregnant and engaged to fellow "Jersey Shore" star Jionni LaValle. CBSNews.com's Ken Lombardi reports.


NORTH ADAMS — Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival quickly earned a reputation as a particularly smooth-running event, but there are always some logistical kinks to work out. Even for the band.

“There’s a practical issue that has been established in my mind and I think will be unwavering, and that is my resolve not to get in the dunk tank ever again,” confides Jeff Tweedy, Wilco’s frontman and guiding spirit.

When his band first created a festival in its own image at MASS MoCA in 2010, Tweedy took a shift sitting atop a carnival-style dunk tank as fans chatted him up and vied for a chance to send him plunging, repeatedly, into cold water. Lesson learned: It made for good sport, but left the singer with a hoarse tickle in his throat for his festival-closing acoustic set.

Other than the hazards of full-body water submersion, the festival treated fans and bands very well its first year and during a repeat act in 2011 (when concertgoers were doused in torrential rains during Wilco’s opening set).

After taking a year off, Solid Sound returns to North Adams Friday through Sunday, with a hand-picked lineup led by Wilco performances the first two nights.

“Everything on the bill is pretty much stuff that we are either in love with or somebody in the band has a deep affection for,” Tweedy explains, speaking on the phone from a car ride with his family to see the touring production of “The Book of Mormon” in Chicago.

That undercard includes Neko Case, White Denim, Yo La Tengo (playing two sets, including a live, late-night film score), Low, and the only United States tour date currently scheduled for the Dream Syndicate, who recently interrupted a hiatus of 20-plus years.

The hyphen-jazz trio Medeski Martin & Wood closes the festival “with special guests,” so an impromptu, valedictory mash-up of festival performers, including members of Wilco, is likely.

John Hodgman, the Brookline native and multi-platform purveyor of dry humor, also hosts a comedy cabaret featuring Al Madrigal, Reggie Watts, and Needham’s own Jen Kirkman.

Hodgman says he and the three comics will take turns performing, and likely cross-pollinate as well. But he’s leaving room for surprises.

“You’re going to be able to see three of the funniest and arguably most exciting solo performers of any medium onstage, before you get to go see a Wilco concert,” Hodgman says, when asked about the format. “Frankly I don’t know why I have to sell this so hard to you.”

The festival vibe is decidedly idiosyncratic, with workshops on hot sauce microbrewing and ax restoration, and a bird of prey show-and-tell. (A spot on the festival map is also designated for improv quilting.) Though a clinic on raising backyard chickens may seem of the chic, urban-farmer ethos, partnerships with homegrown Berkshire organizations should ground the proceedings in some earthy cred.

The boundary between rock festival and museum gallery is purposely blurred: Some bands play semi-announced “pop-up” sets amid MoCA’s exhibits; attendees will browse an immersive installation Tweedy designed to evoke Wilco’s recording space, The Loft; and last time, Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche wandered through the museum’s gallery of Sol LeWitt wall drawings while leading an improvisational jam on oversized instruments situated throughout.

This year Kotche contributes two new installations. A four-channel sound collage of self-recorded audio snippets will re-create “the din of the sound of touring life,” he explains. And on two sets of “earth drums” — large instruments buried on the festival grounds, with only the drum heads exposed — fans are encouraged to communicate with each other through Morse code.

“It might sound amazing, it might sound [terrible],” says Kotche, who was inspired by the idea that the earliest drums may have been animal hides stretched across holes dug in the ground, which he remembers reading about, as a teenage drum student, in the work of musician/historian James Blades.

Another occasion-specific twist comes Friday, when Wilco plays an all-request set of songs selected at random from an untold number suggested by fans online. Mimicking a bit from the Johnny Carson-era “Tonight Show,” Hodgman will also host a mid-set “Stump the Band” segment with fans.

Tweedy says the band’s preparation for this may even feed its future work.

“Any time you make yourself sit down and learn a great song that you really love but haven’t figured out exactly how it’s put together, that’s always good for you. Hopefully that’ll have some impact down the road. It always does, when you take the time to do something a little out of your comfort zone.”

But that’s not to say the festival’s quirks are all part of some master plan.

“If there’s comedians, that’s something we feel strongly should be part of the aesthetic. If there’s a falcon, it’s just because that sounds awfully cool to have at your festival,” Tweedy says, laughing.

Summary: When his band first created a festival in its own image at MASS MoCA in 2010, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy took a shift sitting atop a carnival-style dunk tank as fans chatted him up and vied for a chance to send him plunging, repeatedly, into cold water. Lesson learned: it made for good sport, but left the singer with a hoarse tickle in his throat for his festival-closing acoustic set. Other than the hazards of full-body water submersion, the festival treated fans and bands very well its first year and during a repeat act in 2011 (when concertgoers were doused in torrential rains during Wilco’s opening set). After taking a year off, Solid Sound returns to North Adams Friday through Sunday, with a lineup led by Wilco performances the first two nights.


A Michelangelo statue wrapped in plastic at the V&A. Click to enlarge. Photograph: Tereza Zelenkova

A statue by Michelangelo shrouded in cellophane, Sigmund Freud's leather armchair and the grave of the French philosopher George Bataille are among the arresting black-and-white images in The Absence of Myth, an intriguing exhibition by Tereza Zelenkova at Legion TV in east London.

The show is a small, one-room affair, but it is brimming with ideas and is further testimony to the richness of Zelenkova's dark imagination, which draws on the writings of Freud, Rimbaud and Bataille as much as any visual touchstones.

Born in the city of Ostrava in the Czech Republic, Zelenkova lives in London, having completed an MA in Photography at the Royal College of Art in 2012. I've been aware of her work since she was selected for the Fresh Faced & Wild Eyed exhibition, dedicated to the best graduate work, at the Photographers' Gallery in 2011. Back then, her series Supreme Vice addressed the revival of occult beliefs in the 19th century in a rather oblique way. It was published in a limited-edition book, now sadly out of print, by Morel. Though her work remains elusive – and richly allusive – her vision has deepened since then.

She is, she says, an intuitive photographer, who pursues her obsessions though her photography and, latterly, her writing. I was struck by the strange, melancholy beauty of the text that accompanies her images in The Absence of Myth. In her musings on Paris for instance, she seems to think out loud, but in a way that pulls you into her sombre landscapes and interiors, while also capturing the strange sense of dislocation foreign cities can induce in the solitary visitor.

"And so, sitting at Places des Vosges, surrounded by strangers," she writes, "once again I'm thinking about the past of the last few days, but also the past of centuries lived on the dusty streets of Paris. The strange silence of Monday afternoon and the lack of sleep brings a feeling of slightly altered consciousness. The only thing that binds me to reality is the place, the sound of fountains, and the endless circulation of water falling from dozens of small lion heads, only to be pumped back up in order to fall down again, and to repeat this over and over, like a cyclic poem, like history itself."

Bataille, you feel, would have approved. In the small book that accompanies the exhibition, these words appear in an extended meditation opposite an image of the mysterious Temple de la Sybille, which sits on a wooded promontory above a still lake in Parc des Butes Chaumont, Paris. Daydream and melancholia are constants in her work, as is the shadow of her literary influences. Her portrait of the young Rimbaud is a photograph of him extracted from a group portrait made in 1872 by the painter Henri Fantin-Latour.

It emphasises his ragamuffin beauty and looks, surreally, like a blurred photographic portrait. In her portrait of Freud's chair, which is really a portrait of Freud, she shows how it echoes the African sculptures he surrounded himself with. A rather grotesque object, it also resembles both the human and phallic form and, as Zelenkova notes, "haunts the study with Freud's eternal presence."

Zelenkova's photography draws on, and suggests, Freud's notion of the unconscious. But there is also something of the latter-day surrealist about her. For evidence, look no further than Cometes (2012) – the title translates from the Greek as both "comets"and "long-haired" – currently on show at the Saatchi Gallery as part of the New Order: British Art Today group show. Shot on the streets of Prague with an unforgiving flash, it nevertheless seems to belong to another time and place – as do many of her photographs. This is not to do with nostalgia or her use of black-and-white, but is rooted perhaps in a sense of personal and creative displacement: a dissatisfaction with the rush and clatter of contemporary culture.

What I most like about The Absence of Myth, though, is the silence of her images and the way that silence lets her ideas breathe. I hope she keeps writing, because the words work so well as an atmospheric accompaniment to the images, and adds to the sense of a singular vision at work. It is a strange and oblique one – and all the more hauntingly powerful for that.

Summary: Sean O'Hagan: This rising star's dark imagination is given free rein in a spooky new show, which features shots of a Michelangelo wrapped in cellophane and the great psychoanalyst's armchair


PICTURE the facade of a once-grand Florida hotel, the vaguely Spanish sort that went up in St. Petersburg in the 1920's - all pinkish plaster, tile roofs, balconies here and there, plus towers that look like an infidel's minarets. The hotel is by the sea, with a swimming pool for those who don't like sand between their toes. Affording minimal shade from the sun are tall, ancient royal palms, no longer in the peak of condition.

Now picture that same hotel in the throes of one of those conventions by which such hotels survive today. The place is crawling with bizarre guests, including people dressed as carrots, tomatoes, lettuce and celery. There are television crews, gawkers, autograph hunters. Banners, pennants and placards hang inside the hotel and out, welcoming delegates, touting candidates, selling vitamins, hair sprays, tonics, dehyrated seaweed and such.

''Health'' is the watchword as well as the name of the organization that has gathered here in not-so-solemn convention. ''It behooves us to make wise decisions today,'' says someone to whom no one pays attention.

So begins Robert Altman's buoyant carnival of a movie, ''Health,'' a surrealistic political satire that may not always be on target, or even know what its target is, though it is nearly always funny. It's what W.C. Fields would have called a ''moulage'' composed of throwaway jests and rude japes, big comic set pieces and other bits of business that pass so quickly they seem to be subliminal.

By all conventional standards, ''Health'' is, I suppose, a mess, but it is a glorious one in the recognizable manner of a major film maker who sometimes gets carried away - by his subject, by his own enthusiasms and those of his actors, and by the collaborative creative process he loves. As do so many of his films, ''Health'' gives one the feeling of being on a nonstop party with the people who made it.

Though it was planned for release during the 1980 Presidential campaign, ''Health'' was withheld from showings here until now, reportedly because there was a change in management at 20th Century-Fox, the company that produced it, and the members of the new administration had no great faith in the director. By labeling the film ''unreleasable,'' they also would reaffirm their own credentials at the expense of the reputation of the previous management.

Mr. Altman got a bum rap.

''Health,'' which opens today at the Film Forum, is no undiscovered masterpiece, but it is one of the most appealing entertainments that Mr. Altman has ever put together. It ranks somewhere below the great Altman films - ''Nashville,'' ''Thieves Like Us'' and ''M*A*S*H,'' but far above ''Images,'' ''Quintet'' and ''A Perfect Couple.'' To be more specific, I'd put it on a par with ''The Long Goodbye'' and ''Popeye,'' which I liked immensely.

Though ''Health'' does have a screenplay - attributed to Frank Barhydt, Mr. Altman and Paul Dooley, who also plays in the film, it doesn't have much in the way of a story. It seems almost to be a series of improvisations conceived in the midst of the sort of lunatic confusion that is the movie's ambience.

The delegates of Health, an organization with political power in a nation increasingly obsessed with physical fitness, are meeting to choose a new president. The front-runner for the job is Esther Brill (Lauren Bacall), known as ''the first lady of health,'' a remarkably well-preserved woman of 83 who attributes her great looks to her virginity. Every orgasm, she warns, takes 28 days off a woman's life. Though Esther looks super, she has an unfortunate tendency to slip into states of suspended animation when she is tired or bored.

Her principal rival is Isabella Garnell (Glenda Jackson), a nononsense woman who preaches against commercialism and for health with all of the humorless fury of a prophet. Isabella is not a popular candidate. She's incapable of speaking in ordinary sentences. When she opens her mouth large sections of speeches fall out, intact.

The ubiquitous third-party candidate is Harold Gainey (Mr. Dooley), self-styled ''little guy,'' who wants to see democracy - and his own business interests - served by his election.

Among the other people on hand is Gloria Burbank (Carol Burnett), who was once - I think - ''the U.S. protein adviser to the United Nations,'' and has come to this convention as the President's personal observer. ''He's very pro-health,'' she tells everyone within range. There are also Harry Wolff (James Garner), Esther Brill's world-weary campaign manager, who also happens to be Gloria's ex-husband; Dick Cavett, who plays himself, most engagingly; Bobby Hammer (Henry Gibson), a nationally known dirty-trickster, working on someone's behalf; Sally Benbow (Alfre Woodward), the hotel's skeptical manager, a woman who refuses to scrape the bark off a palm tree for the breakfast of one fussy guest.

The film apparently wants us to believe that Miss Bacall's octogenarian represents Dwight D. Eisenhower and that Miss Jackson's Isabella Garnell is Adlai Stevenson, but the analogies don't hold. If ''Health'' doesn't work as a satire of particular personalities, it does have a lot of random fun at the expense of the rituals and rhetoric of our political processes. The film also is not above the occasional use of the kind of bad joke I admire: ''How do you stand on breasts?'' the candidate is asked. ''What?'' ''I mean, breastfeeding.''

The performers are all fine, beginning with the stars, especially Miss Burnett, right on down to the uncredited extras, including the person inside the tomato costume who, at a key moment, jumps into the hotel pool to save a drowning man. Have you ever seen someone in a tomato costume try to swim?

''Health'' is a comic panorama of sight and sound, of crazy images perceived out of the corner of the eye, of overheard lines of dialogue that lead nowhere but stick in the mind, of people hustling fads and their own interests in the cause of Western civilization and profits. It's less a movie than a wicked Mardi Gras parade and, I admit, I enjoyed every minute of it.

''Health,'' which has been rated PG (Parental Guidance Suggested), contains some mildly vulgar language and situations.

HEALTH, directed and produced by Robert Alt- man; written by Frank Barhydt, Mr. Altman and Paul Dooley; cinematography by Edmond Koons; film editor, Dennis M. Hill; sound mixer, Bob Gravnor; released by Twentieth Century- Fox. At Film Forum 1, 57 Watts Street. Running time: 96 minutes. This film is rated PG.

Isabella Garnell . . . . . Glenda Jackson

Gloria Burbank . . . . . Carol Burnett

Harry Wolff . . . . . James Garner

Esther Brill . . . . . Lauren Bacall

Dick Cavett . . . . . Himself

Harold Gainey . . . . . Paul Dooley

Colonel Cody . . . . . Donald Moffat

Bobby Hammer . . . . . Henry Gibson

Willow Wertz . . . . . Diane Stilwell

Fred Munson . . . . . MacIntyre Dixon

Sally Benbow . . . . . Alfre Woodard

Dr. Ruth Ann Jackle . . . . . Ann Ryerson

Jake Jacobs . . . . . Allan Nicholls

Daisy Bell . . . . . Margery Bond

Lily Bell . . . . . Georgann Johnson

Iris Bell . . . . . Mina Kolb

Henderson . . . . . Bob Fortier

Gilda . . . . . Nancy Foster

The Steinettes . . . . . Julie Janney, Diane Shaffer, Nathalie Blossom, Patty Katz

Photo: photo of Carol Burnett


The 49ers formally hitched their franchise to Colin Kaepernick on Wednesday, making him not only the quarterback of the present, but of the long-term future.

By the contract's terms, he'll be the 49ers quarterback through 2020, likely long after Jim Harbaugh has pursued his next challenge, after the 49ers championship-caliber defense has changed over, many years after Frank Gore has exited stage left. The new stadium smell will have faded by the time Kaepernick's contract is up.

By then we'll know if this is a good deal.

We don't right now because Kaepernick has what baseball geeks call an SSS - small sample size. He has started just 23 regular season games. But in his short career, he has taken the 49ers to one Super Bowl and to the brink of another. The six-year extension, which makes Kaepernick one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the league, was simultaneously predictable and risky.

The 49ers were willing to take that risk in a quarterback-driven league. They didn't want to wait until Kaepernick's bargain-basement final contract year was up, didn't want to use a franchise tag on him in 2015, didn't even want to wait until the investigation by the Miami police is officially over. That's how strong their faith is in Kaepernick: that he will become great, that his version of events in Miami is the truth, that their confidence in him will be rewarded.

With $61 million in guaranteed money, the 49ers anointed Kaepernick the leader of the team, the star of Levi's Stadium and one of the league's elite.

The annual average of his deal will make him the second-highest paid quarterback in the league, behind Aaron Rodgers. The other highest paid players on the list include other Super Bowl winners, but also players considered grossly overpaid for their accomplishments, like Tony Romo.

Where will Kaepernick fit in? The list also includes the Ravens' Joe Flacco, whose $120.6 million payday blew apart his team. Kaepernick's cap number is reportedly small this year, which will allow the 49ers to sign other players to new contracts in the short term. But $126 million is still a huge hit over time and will restrict the 49ers' flexibility.

The news was roundly applauded. I first heard about the contract from Steve Bono while at the John Madden-Steve Mariucci bocce tournament in Livermore. I was curious what my host thought.

"They needed to do that," said Mariucci, the former coach of the 49ers and an NFL Network analyst. "They needed to get it done. Now they can focus on winning games. Colin can focus on winning games.

"They were going to get this done eventually, so why not get it done now? It clears up a lot of question marks. It's a good move."

I asked if he thought the contract held a risk because Kaepernick appeared to regress last year. The 49ers' overall offense was ranked 24th. It was 30th in passing, Kaepernick was 20th in passing yards and 10th in quarterback rating, and the 49ers were cautious about letting him use his legs during the regular season. It's a quarterback-driven league because the NFL has become a sophisticated passing league, but the 49ers don't play that way.

"Quarterbacks get paid to do one thing - win games," Mariucci said. "How you do it is up to you and the team. Didn't he get them one play from the Super Bowl?"

Indeed he did, but it was a bad play, one that Kaepernick said on Wednesday still haunts him. It was the final moment of a disappointing fourth quarter in the NFC Championship Game that his detractors point to as evidence that he's still not among the league's superstars.

Kaepernick acknowledged that he needs to get better.

"Progressions, getting through reads, making better decisions in certain situations," he said. "Those are always things you're trying to improve, and it's always easier in hindsight to say, 'I should have done this. I could have done this.' But it's something you try to work to make sure, in hindsight, you're making the right decisions."

You might have noticed that there are a lot of words strung together in that answer. At his Wednesday news conference, Kaepernick presented a different side than the curt, disinterested quarterback we've seen during the past two seasons. He says he's not any different - that he just doesn't want to give any information away to opponents. That's an absurd premise (one likely drilled into him by Harbaugh) to anyone who has seen Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or Drew Brees field questions.

More likely, Kaepernick has been coached by his agents in the offseason as they prepared for the mega payday. They almost certainly encouraged him to let down his chip-on-the-shoulder guard he's put up and let the nice kid from Turlock shine through.

He's being paid like the leader of the team, so now, presumably, he'll be acting like the leader of the team. For now and the long-term future.

Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. E-mail: akillion@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annkillion

Summary: Niners are betting their QB will play as he's being paid: among NFL elite  By the contract's terms, he'll be the 49ers quarterback through 2020, likely long after Jim Harbaugh has pursued his next challenge, after the 49ers championship-caliber defense has changed over, many years after Frank Gore has exited stage left.  The six-year extension, which makes Kaepernick one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the league, was simultaneously predictable and risky.  With $61 million in guaranteed money, the 49ers anointed Kaepernick the leader of the team, the star of Levi's Stadium and one of the league's elite.  The annual average of his deal will make him the second-highest paid quarterback in the league, behind Aaron Rodgers.  The other highest paid players on the list include other Super Bowl winners, but also players considered grossly overpaid for their accomplishments, like Tony Romo.  Kaepernick's cap number is reportedly small this year, which will allow the 49ers to sign other players to new contracts in the short term.  "Quarterbacks get paid to do one thing - win games," Mariucci said.  At his Wednesday news conference, Kaepernick presented a different side than the curt, disinterested quarterback we've seen during the past two seasons.


FORTUNE — Twitter is now four or five weeks away from going public. It will be a major event on both Market Street and Wall Street, despite some of this morning’s naysayers. And that’s going to be it for a long, long time.

From my perspective, Twitter is one of five consumer-facing Internet juggernauts that came of age in the midst of America’s financial crisis. The other four — Facebook FB , LinkedIn LNKD , Groupon GRPN and Zynga ZNGA — already priced IPOs, albeit with different aftermarket results. If you want to be generous, throw Pandora P , Yelp YELP and Zillow Z into the mix.

But once Twitter goes public, I don’t see another consumer-facing tech giant on the IPO horizon for quite some time. Or at least not one that passes the “Does my mother know about this company?” test. Both Box and Dropbox will raise lots of money from the public markets next year, but the average American will pay as little attention to these as they did to WorkDay WDAY .

There are plenty of companies that we once thought would be part of the next consumer-facing wave, including Foursquare and Quora. But it isn’t quite working out that way. AirBNB and Spotify? Perhaps, but not in 2014. That’s probably also true for Uber, although it would have better odds. And Evernote seems intent on removing itself from the conversation.

On the surface, this only should matter to venture capitalists and bankers. What I wonder, however, is if it will have some sort of broader ripple effect in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

In other words: Does a prolonged lack of high-profile tech IPOs decrease young technologist interest in launching new companies (as opposed to going to work for established ones)? Does it even mildly stem the flow of talent into Silicon Valley (yes, I know that neither Groupon nor Zillow are based there)? I’ve never met anyone who says they moved to Palo Alto because of The Social Network, but the influence of that film and its subject’s real-life cohort have no doubt been influential. Enterprise tech successes are no doubt impressive (and arguably better businesses), but they don’t necessarily stir the same type of passions.

So what we know is that this is the end. What we don’t know is what follows.

Sign up for Dan Primack’s daily email newsletter on deals and deal-makers: GetTermSheet.com

Summary: Twitter's upcoming IPO marks the end of an era, and there are a lot of questions about what comes next.


The Assassination of Richard Nixon

Sean Penn gives a high-octane performance in Niels Mueller's movie with daring 9/11 associations, based on a true story from the 1970s. Penn is the prickly office furniture salesman who blames his problems on the government and plots to hijack an airliner and crash it into the White House. Out on April 8.

The prestigious Photographers' Gallery award exhibition features monumental images of war in the Middle East, refugee camps and war crimes trials by Luc Delahaye; JH Engström's images of loneliness and intimacy; Jörg Sasse's manipulated "tableaux" of archive and found images; and Stephen Shore's take on everyday America. At the Photographers' Gallery, London WC2, from April 8 to June 5. Details: 020-7831 1772 .

Muscular, committed film-making is on offer from this tough British film by Saul Dibb; it tackles the issue of gun crime and the black community. It stars Asher D from So Solid Crew as Ricky, who is released from a young offenders unit and finds himself in the middle of a violent feud involving his best friend. Out on April 8.

Bloody Sunday: Scenes from the Saville Enquiry

The latest tribunal drama from Britain's leading political theatre: Richard Norton-Taylor has condensed the six-year Saville Inquiry into the shooting of 13 civil rights marchers in Londonderry on January 30 1972. At the Tricycle Theatre, London NW6, from April 7 to May 7. Box office: 020-7328 1000.

Deborah Warner directs one of Shakespeare's trickiest political plays. Simon Russell Beale as Cassius, Ralph Fiennes as Mark Antony and Anton Lesser as Brutus head a stellar cast.

At the Barbican Theatre, London EC2, from April 14 to May 14. Box office: 020-7638 8891.

Best known as Iran's leading film-maker, Kiarostami is also an installation artist, photographer and poet. As part of a London-wide season (including a film retrospective at the NFT), the Victoria and Albert museum will be showing Kiarostami's photographs from April 14, and two installations: Trees without Leaves (from May 3 to June 12) and Ta'ziyeh (from May 1 to 8).

At the V&A, London SW7, from April 14 to June 19. Details: 020-7942 2000.

Fight through crowds of gushing celebrities for the final concert of the lauded American singer-songwriter's UK tour, promoting the splendid album Want Two. At the Shepherd's Bush Empire, London W11, on April 15. Box office: 0870 771 2000.

DV8 Physical Theatre in Just for Show

After five years, DV8 are back with a new work that examines the tyranny of image. Lloyd Newson and his international company ask what it means to live in a world where looking good has superseded being good. At the O'Reilly Theatre, Dublin, from April 21 to 23. Box office: 00 353 1 858 6644. Then touring.

Dangerous Liaisons, the story that made sex gods of Alan Rickman and John Malkovich, is fascinatingly transplanted to 18th-century Korea by director Je-Yong Lee. The film's eroticism, mystery and poignancy are captivating. Out on April 22.

The highlight of the South Bank's Peter Maxwell Davies fest is this concert conducted by Oliver Knussen, including a rare performance of one of his greatest achievements. Revelation and Fall is a setting of a poem by Georg Trakl, transformed into an expressionist theatre piece of astonishing dramatic force. At Queen Elizabeth Hall, London SE1, on April 22. Box office: 0870 382 8000.

This sparky anti-clerical satire from Iran has kicked off a Life-of-Brian style controversy on its home turf. It's about a cat burglar who escapes from prison disguised as a mullah and finds himself in charge of a local mosque. Daring, almost sensational stuff in our self-censoring age. Out on April 22.

Ornette Coleman - 75 this year - remained an enfant terrible a lot longer than most jazz giants. Headlining a promising Cheltenham festival, the saxophone and harmony revolutionary explores his freewheeling and joyously convoluted original themes in the company of two double-bassists and his son Denardo, a drummer. At Cheltenham Town Hall (01242 227979) on May 1, and the Barbican, London EC2 (0845 120 7550), on May 2.

Time seems to have done nothing to diminish Nancy Sinatra's weirdness quotient. Thirty years ago, it was all songs about being the reincarnation of Phaedra and unsettling love duets with her father; now she takes tea with Morrissey and sings the songs of Jarvis Cocker, suggesting that almost anything could happen at this show.

At the Shepherd's Bush Empire, London W12, on May 1. Box office: 0870 771 2000.

The RSC continues its commitment to new writing with David Greig's topical play about relations between America and the rest of the world. Amanda Harris, Malcolm Storry, David Rogers head the cast, and the Royal Court's Ramin Gray directs.

At The Other Place, Stratford-on-Avon, from April 27 to July 9. Box office: 0870 609 1110.

Henry IV Parts One and Two

The twin summits of Shakespeare's genius kick off the National's new Travelex £10 season. Michael Gambon plays Falstaff with Matthew Macfadyen as Prince Hal, David Bradley as the titular king and John Wood as Shallow. Nicholas Hytner directs these archetypal state-of-the-nation plays. At the National Theatre, London SE1, from May 2 (Part One) and May 3 (Part Two). Box office: 020-7452 3000.

We'll see several incarnations this summer of keyboard legend Herbie Hancock - a hero to jazz fans and pop/funk listeners alike. This series of gigs finds him in an acoustic-piano quartet setting with up-and-coming young partners (May 2, May 17); at the Barbican in collaboration with various samplers and electronica artists (May 28); and with the London Symphony Orchestra for his George Gershwin arrangements (May 29). At Cheltenham Town Hall (01242 227979) on May 2, and the Barbican, London EC2 (0845 120 7550) on May 17, 28 and 29.

No director is a bigger devotee of the grotesque, dispossessed and unhappy in America than Todd Solondz, that master of postmodern alienation. With this movie, the boundaries of good taste are creaking and snapping. Out on May 6.

The Montreal-based sextet's debut album, Funeral, could be t he best of the year so far, and their two previous live shows have been breathlessly called a "life-changing experience" by several overexcited critics. A guaranteed treat. At MDH, Manchester (0161-832 1111), on May 4. Then touring.

Gael García Bernal, who starred in The Motorcycle Diaries and Bad Education, is the big draw in this revival of Lorca's sweaty Spanish tragedy. Rufus Norris, fresh from his Almeida triumph with Festen, directs Tanya Ronder's new translation. At the Almeida Theatre, London N1, from May 6 to June 18. Box office: 020-7359 4404.

A groundbreaking installation artist in the 1960s, Ed Kienholz went on to collaborate with Nancy Reddin Kienholz until his death in 1994. His installations included harrowing, moving and sometimes hilarious tableaux - re-creating bars, brothels, mental wards and scenes of American might and misery. A timely reassesment. At Baltic, Gateshead, from May 14 to August 29. Details: 0191-478 1810.

David Warner, one of the major discoveries of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s, returns at long last to the Shakespearean stage. Steven Pimlott, who has a great gift for redefining classics in small spaces and who has helped put Chichester back on the map, directs. At the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, from May 7 to September 10. Box office: 01243 781312.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

George Lucas's last Star Wars prequel will test his fans' faith in him to the limit. Phantom Menace was dire, The Attack of the Clones not much better. Will it show that these sequels were the worst idea anyone has ever had? Or will Lucas - one of the most remarkable independent film-makers in Hollywood history - be spectacularly redeemed? Out on May 19.

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant

Gerald Barry's latest opera, based on Rainer Werner Fassbinder's screenplay, is due on stage at the London Coliseum in September. The world premiere, though, goes to his home town, in a concert performance conducted by Gerhard Markson with the RTE Orchestra and a cast led by Mary Plazas. At the National Concert Hall, Dublin, on May 27. Box office: 00 353 1 417 0000.

It is 23 years since the National's famous revival of Frank Loesser's musical - time for a new look at a Broadway landmark. Michael Grandage directs with Ewan McGregor, Jane Krakowski, Douglas Hodge and Jenna Russell playing Runyon's fabled denizens of Times Square. At the Piccadilly Theatre, London W1, from May 19. Box office: 0870 060 0123.

George Piper dances in Naked

Ballet Boyz William Trevitt and Michael Nunn have commissioned long-term collaborator Russell Maliphant to create their first full- length company piece. Six characters and a dramatic story of desire and retribution promise an intriguing showcase for the Boyz and their four dancers. At Sadler's Wells, London EC1, from June 4 to 11. Box office: 0870 737 7737.

The Mexican artist's first major show here in over 20 years will inevitably be a blockbuster. An accidental surrealist, lacerating self-portraitist and cultural icon, Kahlo was a woman whose troubled personal life was entwined with the political and social upheavals of her age. At Tate Modern, London SE1, from June 9 to October 9. Details: 020-7887 8000.

The 2005 Aldeburgh festival opens with the first opera by Richard Ayres, the British-born, Dutch-resident composer. The Cricket Recovers is based on a children's story by Toon Tellegen that is a mixture of Roald Dahl, Samuel Beckett and A A Milne, according to Ayres. At Snape Maltings on June 10. Box office: 01728 687110.

A documentary investigating the porn film from 1972 that made filth semi-respectable. During Watergate, Deep Throat lent its title to the language of political sleaze, and the testimony from its star, Linda Lovelace, that she was exploited and sexually assaulted was an inspiration to feminists. Out on June 10

Once it was known only as Donington, a land in which displeasure was expressed by throwing urine-filled bottles. Today, it's Download, offering 57 varieties of hard rock from Feeder, Garbage, Velvet Revolver and - perhaps as the result of some kind of clerical error - Billy Idol. At Donington Park, Derby, from June 10 to 12. Box office: 0870 400 0822.

For the first time, the 51st Venice Biennale is directed by two Spanish curators (Rosa Martinez and Maria de Corral). The British pavilion shows new (and so far, secret) digital works by Gilbert and George. Most visitors' curiosity, though, will be reserved for China, showing for the first time. Frequently unbearable, but always unmissable. At the Biennale de Venezia Giardini, and elsewhere, from June 12 to November 6. Details: www.labiennale.org

Thanks to Neil Strauss's infamous band biography, The Dirt, British audiences may be more familiar with Mötley Crüe's revolting backstage excesses than their music, which makes this less a reunion tour than a chance for the 1980s hair metal veterans to redress the balance.

At SECC, Glasgow, on June 14. Box office: 0870 040 4000.

Patti Smith has taken the curator's baton for this year's South Bank mini-festival. Good news. The New York punk pioneer is on a career high after 2003's spectacular album, Trampin', and remains thrillingly unpredictable as ever. At the Royal Festival Hall, London SE1, from June 11 to 16. Box office: 0870 401 8181.

These days, their albums are of mixed quality, but on stage REM remain a beguiling prospect. In their live show, songs from last year's almost wilfully boring Around the Sun provide helpful lulls in which to visit the lavatory. At Lancashire County Cricket Ground on June 17. Box office: 0161-832 1111.

Private Lives/ Much Ado About Nothing

Peter Hall's Bath summer seasons are an annual treat. Thea Sharrock, after her success with Blithe Spirit, directs an even better Coward play, while Hall tackles Much Ado About Nothing with Janie Dee as the mercurial Beatrice.

At the Theatre Royal, Bath, from June 22 to August 6 (Private Lives) and June 29 to August 6 (Much Ado). Box office: 01225 448844.

This flamboyantly cosmopolitan collaboration brings together the dance visions of Akram Khan and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, with composer Nitin Sawnhey and artist Antony Gormley. Zero degrees is the point at which they all meet. At Sadler's Wells, London EC1, from July 8 to 16. Box office: 0870 737 7737.

Brian Ferneyhough's "opera" comes to the Coliseum for a single concert performance courtesy of ENO and the BBC. It's not so much a stage work, more a collection of independent concert pieces linked by the life of the philosopher Walter Benjamin, but it contains enough highly wrought vocal and instrumental writing to make it worthwhile. At the Coliseum, London WC2, on July 9. Box office: 020-7632 8300.

Aix is the best of all European festival cities, and its trump card this year is the return to opera of director Patrice Chéreau. Working again with the designer of his famous 1976 Ring cycle, Richard Peduzzi, Chéreau takes charge of a new production of Mozart's most elusive opera. Daniel Harding conducts. At the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence from July 9. Box office: 00 33 442 173 434 or www.festival-aix.com

St Petersburg's powerhouse ballet company is back in a season poised between its classical past and its mission to modernise. At one extreme, Uliana Lopatkina heads the company in Swan Lake; at the other, they dance full evenings of ballets by William Forsythe and George Balanchine. At the Royal Opera House, London WC2, from July 18. Box office: 020-7304 4000.

Fresh from his success with choreographing musicals, Cooper turns to a full-length ballet - and an ideally sexy narrative to showcase the stage partnership of him and his wife Sarah Wildor. Just as promisingly, design and direction are by Les Brotherstone. At Sadler's Wells, London EC1, from July 21 to August 14. Box office: 0870 737 7737.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl is suddenly hot in Hollywood, and this Tim Burton film is the first adaptation of his funky children's classic since the Gene Wilder version in 1971. Johnny Depp is Willy Wonka; Christopher Lee is Wonka's father and Helena Bonham Carter is Mrs Bucket. Out on July 29.

Summary: From Frida Kahlo at the Tate to Mötley Crüe on the road, our critics present a guide to the best shows, gigs and exhibitions of the coming months.


60: Sixty Years of Sculpture in the Arts Council Collection Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, until 25 June

Modern art was a joke long before it was even a twinkle in the eye. Satirists were always dreaming up ludicrous new movements that would later come into being. A French wag showed an all-white canvas, to widespread mirth, back in the 19th century. Action-painting (unthinkable!) was anticipated by cartoonists many decades in advance. As long ago as 1931 Jacob Epstein, grumping about the way things were going - more or less to the dogs - quipped that if there was any more emphasis on materials above all else then he could foresee 'as a logical conclusion, an exhibition of stones'.

Richard Long started exhibiting stones, in all seriousness, about 40 years later. Epstein would probably have been disgusted. But he is not in this survey of post-war British sculpture and Richard Long is - with a ring of stones that now looks about as establishment-official as an Epstein.

All art, even the most extreme and advanced, is eventually cleansed and softened like a sea-washed stone by time, museums and history. So you might expect to walk through this show, this history of sculpture, and find that everything in it, bar perhaps the most recent, has gone the way of the Long. But surprisingly enough that turns out not to be the case: over and again one sees the radicalism of this three-dimensional work.

The Arts Council Collection - that great lending library, that largest of all British art galleries without walls - is 60 this year. It is celebrating with a show of 60 artists represented by 60 works: curating by numbers. That is rather the way things were done in the past; Sculpture 1960-67 would be a typical touring show of the past, rather rigorous and objective. This selection is very respectful, too, as well as concise and compact - Hepworth to Hirst - but it has a largely unintended effect, I suspect, of raising and lowering your sense of certain artists.

Take Henry Moore, archdeacon and chief personality of British sculpture, maker of the most popular and recognisable public monuments (with Moore's successor in all these roles, Antony Gormley, a close second). Moore is represented by Head of A King, small in that it is only lifesize, but a study for the colossal works you can see outside in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. This bronze bust, with its beak-like jaw, its tribal crown, its inevitable holes, is trying so hard to look totemic and ethnic, out of the mythic past - all the things Moore later commodified into one of the biggest careers of the century. But on this scale what you see is the opportunistic collaging of other people's art, from Picasso to Egyptian beast-gods; up close, you can really see the joins.

And then again an artist championed by Moore (chief sculptural adviser to the Arts Council: what a conflict of interest) - namely Lynn Chadwick. Instead of those Fifties arrowhead figures that became Chadwick's stock in trade, as familiar as Hepworth's eggs, there is a most beautiful and complex piece. The Seasons, so tiny and fragile, conjoins a striated leaf form, suggesting both a whole forest and a fossilised winter, with a sea coral flourishing like summer. And all balanced on delicate half-human, half-animal legs - nature condensed in a sonnet.

The council says this is just the story of its collection, rather than British sculpture itself. But really the council is too modest. This is a kind of pocket history - from the obsession with materials, to spiky 'geometry of fear' anatomies in the Fifties , from New British Sculpture (Richard Deacon, Tony Cragg, Bill Woodrow et al) to constructivism, conceptualism, assemblage, installation and so on, from chisels to Julian Opie's computers. It is marvellous to see the new generation scotching the old. Walk from all those Fifties plinthed bronzes to a Sixties steel Anthony Caro and you see the radicalism of his achievement. Totally rejecting the organic, let alone the figurative; not on a pedestal (still his most famous gesture) and painted shiny blue, it unfolds along the floor rather like a plough, though heaven forbid you should think anything so rustic.

History runs through everything. Robert Adams's free-form tree is the quintessential Festival of Britain commission, declaring internationalism and modernity. The Boyle Family's chunk of Seventies street has a nostalgic milk bottle caught in its surface. Mary Kelly's famous Eighties Post-Partum Document incises her struggle to find a decent nursery in Hackney on ancient tablets - Exhibit A in any feminist history of British art.

There are tremendous works in this collection. Some are too rarely brought out: John Davies's Figures with Slats, for instance, is a startling presence, a plaster-grey man with a seraphic smile, lines pencilled all over him, in gouache clothes - somewhere between drawing, painting and sculpture. Others should be somewhere on perpetual display. Richard Wentworth's Toy, a little sardine can afloat on a battleship-gray tub, could hardly be a more sardonically compressed memento of the Falklands.

Too much went wrong in the Eighties. Art market prices soared so high that by the Nineties the council couldn't afford representative pieces - a big Hirst or Emin, a gleaming Kapoor, anything sizeable by Mark Wallinger, Ron Mueck or Marc Quinn. All they have here of Rachel Whiteread, and it says more about the price of reputations than art, is a pair of bronze doorknobs, remnants of her most famous cast, House.

Even Whiteread, hardly a sensationalist, has had a shocked response in her time. In many ways, sculpture has been almost more controversial in the 20th century than any other form of British art. Moore was thought 'offensive to all sensitive people'. Caro was outrageously industrial. Long and co were walking charlatans. Continue onwards to the shark, the bed, the blood head, even last year's Turner winner, Simon Starling, with his hut: to use that old-fashioned term, transgressions seem to have taken place in three dimensions.

Perhaps that is why the very latest work here, by the post-YBA generation of Eva Rothschild, Gary Webb and others, strikes rather less. Pleasant and adept it may be with form and colour, but it seems so concerned with art history; and how traditional it looks in an age when sculpture has become the most elastic of terms.

For whenever art expands, it gets designated as sculpture - everything from walking expeditions to videos to keeping a diary of hard times in Hackney. This very wide embrace, of course, is what produces such a fantastically various collection and now such an exhilarating exhibition.

Summary: Art: An exhilarating exhibition of post-war British sculpture reveals it as perhaps the most radical art form of the 20th century, says Laura Cumming, with an ever-expanding variety of material and form. And not a shark in sight ...


10/24/2014 AT 08:00 AM EDT

Mama June is fighting back.

June Shannon, 35, the matriarch on TLC's

, has denied reports this week that she is

– writing on Facebook that she left the man 10 years ago.

"It isnt true i promise," she writes. "My kids r #1 priority over anything else and I would never put them in danger period over this or anything else they r my life this is my past I left him 10 yrs ago for it and I wouldn't go back."

The man, Mark McDaniel, 53, was convicted of aggravated child molestation and imprisoned in June 2004.

There was no immediate reaction from TLC to Shannon's statement. Earlier this week, the network said: "We are very concerned about this new information and are reassessing the future of the series."

– who is father to 9-year-old Alana Thompson, aka Honey Boo Boo – last month after a decade together.

Summary: She says she left the man 10 years ago, and wouldn't put her children in danger


A friend sent me the attached video (below) a few weeks ago. I’d seen it before. Maybe you have too. It’s been viewed 16 million times since it was posted in 2012, and voted up nearly 100,000.

I was reminded of it this week reading through the juicy nuggets reporters were pulling out of Apple’s latest Definitive Proxy Statement. Angela Ahrendt’s $73.4 million. Tim Cook’s $9.22 million.

I could poke fun at the editors at Bloomberg, so impressed by Cook’s comp (“more than double his pay in 2013″). Does no one there remember writing this silly headline?

Apple CEO Cook’s 2011 Comp Worth $378M

But I’m not laughing, and this bit of agitprop — worthy of Apple-compensation-committee-member Al Gore — is one of the reasons:

If you don’t think vast and growing wealth disparities are dangerous, just look around the world.

Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter at @philiped. Read his Apple AAPL coverage at fortune.com/ped or subscribe via his RSS feed.

Summary: You don't have to be a bomb thrower to be troubled by Apple's compensation levels.


Grantchester 10 p.m., WGBH 2

This is a light “Masterpiece Mystery!” miniseries set in the early 1950s that has some dark underpinnings. On one level, James Norton’s Anglican vicar Sidney Chambers is helping a local detective (Robson Green) solve crimes; he’s an amateur sleuth wearing a collar. On another level, it’s a portrait of Sidney’s post-traumatic stress from World War II and his struggles with class boundaries between him and the one he loves.

Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials 2015 8 p.m., CBS

Have you seen a commercial for this yet? Boomer Esiason and Katharine McPhee host a look at the best commercials to air during past Super Bowls. They also preview 2015 Super Bowl commercials.

A bunch of shows are leaving us this season, including “Parks and Recreation,” “Mad Men,” “Nurse Jackie,” and this fine adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s fiction. Look for the focus to stay on the relationship between Timothy Olyphant’s Raylan and Walton Goggins’s Boyd in the final episodes. “We didn’t want to outstay our welcome,” executive producer Graham Yost said last week. He’s a wise man.

The Americans 10 p.m., FX

This excellent spy drama returns for season three, with Elizabeth and Philip getting asked by their Russian handlers to recruit their 16-year-old daughter, Paige. I can’t wait — this was one of last year’s best dramas, despite repeated snubs by the Emmy Awards.

This series, from “Friday Night Lights” executive producer Jason Katims, developed a fiercely loyal following during its six-season run. This week the show ends, with a few returning characters, including Matt Lauria’s Ryan and Sarah Ramos’s Haddie.

Moone Boy 8 p.m., WGBH 2

This sweet series, originally on Sky1 in the United Kingdom and on Hulu here, is playing on PBS. It’s worth a gander, if you like coming-of-age stories with a surreal twist. Co-written by and costarring Chris O’Dowd, the show follows a 12-year-old boy growing up in rural Ireland. O’Dowd, from “Bridesmaids” and “Girls,” plays the boy’s imaginary friend.

The Lion in Winter 3:45 p.m., TCM

A little Katharine Hepburn and old-school family histrionics for your Saturday afternoon? James Goldman won an Oscar for best screenplay for this 1968 film, and Hepburn tied with Barbra Streisand for best actress.

Summary: Critic Matthew Gilbert’s guide to what’s on TV this week.


The death of Joan Rivers last fall after a common procedure to examine her digestive tract sparked concern about outpatient surgical centers.

Would the comedian be alive today if she had been treated in a hospital? That’s difficult to say. But it’s clear doctors are doing more outpatient procedures — some of them complicated — and not always on the appropriate patients. So it’s important to make sure that you’re a good candidate before surgery is scheduled, and to know what to look for in a facility.

The number of outpatient procedures done each year has tripled in the past three decades to about 54 million. People are now going to those facilities for everything from biopsies and knee surgery to mastectomies. Among the most common procedures are cataract surgery, colonoscopy, and endoscopy, the procedure Rivers reportedly had. Many clinics are privately owned by physicians; others are affiliated with hospitals, sometimes located on hospital grounds.

Though outpatient surgery in general seems safe, some procedures are riskier than others. Your risk also depends on your anesthesia. For deep sedation, or general anesthesia, an anesthesiologist who’s a physician (not a nurse) should always oversee your care, said Dr. Orly Avitzur, medical adviser to Consumer Reports.

It’s challenging to find information about specific centers. Unlike hospitals, most outpatient surgery clinics aren’t required to report infections or other complications, and they aren’t inspected by a single organization. That makes it difficult for consumers to compare facilities. Lisa McGiffert, director of the Consumer Reports Safe Patient Project, said more oversight is needed.

Even a simple procedure in a good center can be a bad idea if you have a serious health problem. In that case, “you face a much higher risk of serious complications and would be better off in a hospital, which can respond to emergencies,” said Consumer Reports’ chief medical adviser, Dr. Marvin M. Lipman. Be leery of outpatient procedures if you have a history of the following: a bleeding disorder; chronic lung disease; congestive heart failure; a heart attack within the past four to six months; serious arrhythmia; serious weight problems; or uncontrolled diabetes.

1. Is it accredited? Check for Medicare certification or accreditation from the Joint Commission, Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, or Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program.

2. Who owns it? Outpatient clinics can be a profitable business, so many doctors have invested in them. But that raises ethical concerns because they might have a vested interest in doing more procedures. And just because a doctor owns a facility doesn’t mean it’s the best place for you. So be wary if you are referred to a clinic that’s owned by your doctor.

3. Who is the anesthesiologist? If you need general anesthesia, make sure you’re under the care of someone board-certified.

4. How much experience does the doctor have? Look for someone who has done your procedure at least 50 times in the past year.

5. What’s the emergency plan? Ask whether there’s resuscitative equipment on site and whether your doctor is certified in advanced resuscitation techniques if something goes wrong.

6. How close is a hospital? Your doctor should have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital in case of an emergency.

7. What’s the infection rate? Ask how many patients have to be hospitalized because of infections after your procedure. “The goal should be zero,” McGiffert said.

8. What should I do before I’m discharged? Get the number of a nurse or doctor to call if you have a problem. Also ask about signs and symptoms to watch for.


updated 03/04/2015 AT 06:10 PM EST

•originally published 03/04/2015 AT 05:20 PM EST

Before you go waving off

as just another procedural on CBS,

has this to say about the spinoff: This offers a whole new – and scary – way at looking at technology.

"We've known crime for a long time, but we haven't known crime like this, and the truth is we have this technology incredibly enmeshed in our lives now,"

about the drama that debuts Wednesday on CBS. "Crime has moved so much into this world of technology. It's kind of like when the original

started. People didn't really understand forensics. Now, if you say you have DNA evidence, it's like, 'Forget it. Good luck, buddy. You're done.' "

"This show is looking at the world of technology in a way no show ever has," continued Arquette, who

for her supporting role in

. "When I read the material as a regular person with a few devices, I was like, 'Are you serious? That's capable of that? People are really doing that?' "

Inspired by real-life cyber psychologist Mary Aiken,

stars the Oscar winner as special agent Avery Ryan, who heads up the cyber crime division of the FBI, the unit whose focus is solving illegal activities that live online.

If anything, the show could inspire parents to talk more with their kids about the potential dangers of technology.

"I have this line in one of the episodes where I say, 'No adult would ever let their child go outside and play with a 45-year-old stranger, but in these online gaming worlds they're doing it everyday.' It's the truth," Arquette said.

"I'm not saying this is a show for 9-year-olds, but I think teens and pre-teens will probably watch this show, might get a little scared and realize why their mom is nagging at them to not do this or that. Maybe it'll start a conversation, and I think awareness as a parent is always a good idea."

Summary: The Oscar-winning actress returns to CBS Wednesday to star a new drama


03/26/2015 AT 02:00 AM EDT

Well, that's one way to deal with Los Angeles traffic.

had some company on his drive to work on Wednesday. And who better to join him in some carpool karaoke than

Corden put the radio on and as the opening bars of "Always Be My Baby" began to play, Carey announced, "I'm not singing today. I was up all night."

But she chimed right in as Corden – who seriously challenges Jimmy Fallon when it comes to enthusiastic displays of excitement – got his groove on.

And he knew all the words. To every song. From "Fantasy" to "Vision of Love" to "Thirsty."

At one point Corden, 36, who was trying to do an American accent while Carey, 44, played a Brit, asked the singer how many number ones she's had. The answer is 18, which prompted the

star to talk about her age and start to primp in the mirror on the visor.

"You're so hot. Stop it," he said as she took off her sunglasses, giving him a sideways glance and a smile. "I'm a married man. You've gotta stop what you're doing, cause I know exactly what you're doing. Oh my goodness. I can read you like a book."

Summary: The singer sang along to some of her most famous songs in a segment on The Late Late Show on Wednesday


David (left) and Brooklyn Beckham

04/17/2015 AT 08:10 PM EDT

's 41st birthday, but Brooklyn Beckham had another reason to celebrate on Friday, when he officially hit one million followers on

, aspiring soccer player and coolest 16-year-old on the planet took to the photo-sharing site to post a video thanking his fans for the follows, captioning it, "Reached 1 million followers on my mums birthday. Thank u guys so much #ismydadcoolerthanme."

But Beckham was promptly put in his place by his arguably "cooler" dad,

, in a hilarious cameo.

The soccer star reminded his son that he has more followers – 52 million.

Summary: Brooklyn's new Instagram video begs the question: Who is the coolest Beckham of them all?


05/06/2015 AT 08:30 AM EDT

revels in the knowledge that his participation on

has served to inspire others. But he also hopes his personal journey can serve as a cautionary tale for anyone who loses hope in the wake of overwhelming odds.

When Galloway returned home to Alabama after losing his arm and leg when his Humvee triggered a roadside bomb, the 33-year-old vet tried to hide his true feelings.

"I had this mentality that this isn't a big deal. I can make this happen," Galloway told PEOPLE. "I can make it my own. Everyone kept telling me I was going to go through some stages of depression whether I realized it or not. I was like, not me. I portrayed myself as this invincible person to everyone I knew."

Even when his facade started to crumble, Galloway said he couldn't confess the depth of his despair – even to his then-wife, Tracy.

"I didn't want to tell anybody. Everyone was so impressed with how well I was doing, so I hid it from everyone," Galloway recalls. "After

played that package of me hiding it from everybody, I had buddies of mine call me to say they didn't realize I went through that."

What he did go through was a whole lot of pain and drinking.

"I drank and I would just sit at home. Or I would go out drinking all the time. I was partying like nothing was wrong," Galloway recalled. "But then there were those moments that I would just sit at home and drink, by myself. Stay up all night."

Galloway said his life turned around one day when he looked in the mirror and saw how out of shape he had become.

"I still had two limbs. I could do something with that," Galloway said. "I thought about my kids and how I wasn't being a good father."

Summary: The Army vet reflects on his extraordinary journey from the Iraq War to DWTS


H&M has outlined a plan to stay in fashion as it recruits employees to work at its fast-growing fleet of stores, but also sees rivals getting more vocal about compensation.

The Sweden-based retailer is launching a national recruiting campaign this fall meant to attract new talent to its expanding fleet of stores, the first campaign of its kind from the retailer as it aims to talk more about compensation, benefits and career opportunities at the retail chain. The high-profile move comes at a time when major retail chains such as Walmart WMT and Target TGT have recently generated headlines for their plans to raise salaries for their lowest-paid workers.

“The hope [of this campaign] is to attract across-the-board, super strong talent in the U.S.,” Daniel Kulle, president of H&M North America, told Fortune.

Some of the benefits H&M wants to tell potential new employees about: the average part time sales advisor makes $10.76 while the average for full time retail employees is $12.03, both well above the federal minimum wage of $7.25. H&M is also rare in that it is a retailer that gives part-time employees paid vacations and also pays for seven holidays. Birthdays are also paid time off. H&M said in the past, it hasn’t always communicated its benefits, but wants to be more vocal today.

“Sometimes when you come from Europe, you are a little naïve that everyone understands that,” Kulle said.

H&M employs about 13,000 people in the U.S., including the roughly 2,800 new jobs it added last year. The company expects to add roughly the same amount of employees this year, as it plans to open 61 new stores, including a Herald Square flagship location in New York City that will be the retailer’s largest location when it opens on May 20. H&M is anticipating to expand annually at a rate of 10% to 15%, which means the U.S. store count will be well above 400 by the end of 2015.

While the U.S. is the company’s second-largest sales market after Germany, it is also one of H&M’s greatest growth markets. Sales in the U.S. leapt 26% for the year ended Nov. 30, among the better performing markets that H&M serves. The fast-fashion retailer has won over shoppers by churning out new trendy designs quickly, taking away business from teen-focused retailers and other rivals that take longer to replenish their stores.

H&M says that beyond the entry-level jobs it is looking to hire for, another benefit is the retailer’s practice of elevating retail employees to the corporate level. Currently 35% of employees in the corporate office began their career as sales associates.

While Kulle himself wasn’t initially hired by H&M as an associate (though he did take a few months to train on that level to learn about the company), he says his 19-year career at H&M highlights the company is a perfect fit for employees looking to advance their career.

“It shows that if you have the right attitude, then you can more or less do whatever you want,” he added. “Everything is possible at H&M.”

Summary: Retailer is getting more vocal about compensation as rivals tout their higher pay.


The stock market registered a broad advance yesterday in heavier trading, apparently because of Wall Street's growing conviction that interest rates would continue to decline.

The Dow Jones industrial average, which was in the plus column throughout the session, closed up 8.84 points, to 892.69. For the week, the Dow rose 6.75 points.

In the overall market, advancing issues on the New York Stock Exchange outnumbered declining stocks by more than a 2-to-1 ratio. Turnover on the Big Board expanded to 55 million shares from 43.8 million shares on Thursday as institutional participation increased. Discount Rate Drop Cited

Analysts noted that the Federal Reserve had bolstered investors' hopes for lower interest-rates late Thursday when it reduced the discount rate it charged member banks for loans to 12 percent from 13 percent.

However, Stephen S. Weisglass, president of Ladenburg, Thalmann & Company, was not optimistic over the market's outlook. ''The market is now in its 10th week of an upswing which should continue until the Dow reaches the 920 level sometime within the next three to five weeks,'' he said.

Mr. Weisglass predicted that the next major move in the market would be downward because interest rates would move higher as the recession ended and corporate borrowing needs increased. He said that by late spring the Dow should drop to 720 to 750.

There were few major price changes yesterday. Cooper Laboratories, which makes medical and dental products, advanced 1 3/4 points, to 30 3/4, after the company indicated that its fourth-quarter profits would be up considerably. Union Camp Up 1 7/8, to 50 1/4

Union Camp gained 1 7/8, to 50 1/4, after the paper and packaging company agreed to sell its Moore-Handley Inc. unit to a private investor group.

Amax, a natural resources company, moved ahead 2 1/4 points, to 50 3/4. The company has been regarded as a takeover candidate. Some of the transportation issues also advanced. Missouri Pacific rose 2 points, to 85 1/2; Overnight Transportation 1, to 27 1/4, and Southern Pacific 7/8, to 42 1/8. Reflecting the strength in the group, the Dow Jones transportation average rose 3.37, to 395.03.

Most of the technology issues finished mixed. Among the decliners, Teledyne dropped 5 1/2, to 134 1/4; Tandy 1 3/4, to 32 5/8; Honeywell 1/2, to 71 1/2, and Storage Technology 3/4, to 37 3/8. On the upside, Texas Instruments added 1 7/8, to 82 1/8; Motorola 1, to 66 3/4, and International Business Machines, the most actively traded issue on the Big Board, 3/4, to 54 5/8.

Prices on the American Stock Exchange closed higher, with the market-value index up 2.37, to 330.12. Zimmer Homes advanced 1 1/8, to 19 1/4, after the mobile-home builder declared a 9-for-5 stock split.

Alpha Industries, which makes microwave components, fell 3/4, to 28 3/4. The company made an offering yesterday of 500,000 shares of its common stock.

In the over-the-counter market, McRae Oil and Gas slipped 7/8, to 21 1/2, after the company announced that its merger talks with Petro-Lewis had been ended. Petro-Lewis, which is traded on the Amex, closed unchanged at 19 1/4. The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.98, to 200.88.

Illustrations: diagram of market profile for Friday, Dec. 4, 1981


* Alabama Power Co. filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission an offering of $100 million of first-mortgage bonds to be sold through public bidding.

* Consolidated Petroleum Industries said its board had authorized the purchase of up to 100,000 shares of the company's common stock.

* Consumers Power Co. said it had filed a proposed public offering of 2 million common shares and $100 million of first-mortgage bonds due Sept. 15, 1991.

* Continental Cablevision Inc. said it had filed for the proposed initial public offering of 2 million common shares to be underwritten by a nationwide group of underwriters headed by Morgan Stanley & Co.

* Dynatech Corp. said it had signed a new $12 million seven-year multicurrency revolving credit and term loan agreement with First National Bank of Boston.

* First Savings Association of Wisconsin has announced a public offering of 1,197,440 common shares at $12 a share. The offer is being made through an underwriting group managed by Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. and Robert W. Baird & Co.

* Florida Power Corp. has filed for a proposed public offering of 3 million common shares through an underwriting group led by Kidder, Peabody and Merrill Lynch.

* Louisville Gas and Electric Co. has filed 1.5 million shares of common stock to be sold through underwriters headed by J.J.B. Hilliard and W.L. Lyons Inc.

* Private Export Funding Corp. will issue $100 million of new fiveyear notes priced at 100 with 16 1/4 percent coupons. Co-managers of the issue are Salomon Brothers and Merrill Lynch.

* Rite-Aid Corp. completed the secondary distribution of 140,000 shares of common stock, according to Bear, Stearns & Co.

* Total Petroleum of North America Ltd. said it had filed a proposed public offering by Hanover Petroleum Corp. consisting of $60 million principal amount of subordinated notes due Sept. 15, 1986, with warrants attached.


Challengers of New York City's redistricting plan may one day succeed in increasing the number of minority candidates elected to office. For now, they will have to settle merely for increasing the number of elections the city must hold.

At a special session last week, the State Legislature decided that the once-delayed primaries for city- and borough-wide offices, including Mayor and Comptroller, would take place Tuesday, with the general election on Nov. 3d, as planned. After a debate Lieut. Gov. Mario M. Cuomo said may have been ''unseemingly,'' the lawmakers also voted to let candidates for Council-at-large seats run at the same time. But when the Justice Department objected, city election workers scurried to polling places to tape over the names of at-large as well as other council candidates, on the ballots.

Another set of contests will be required to fill those jobs, but the dates cannot be set until the Justice Department decides whether the council's redistricting plan satisfies the requirements of the Voting Rights Act. Meanwhile, this week's balloting will cost the city $1.5 million more than it would have had it been held on schedule, a Board of Elections official said, and the figure will rise when the council races are held.

The city's failure to ''preclear'' the newly drawn districts with Washington led to the court-ordered postponement of the Sept. 10 contests. However, rather than redraw the district lines, the city, with the aid of the politically connected law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison, will attempt to defend them. That can only anger critics of the plan, who contend it would decrease the percentage of minority representatives when their share of the population ha s increased.

Mayor Koch also showed some anger last week, charging that a radio ad run by his Democratic challenger, Frank Barbaro, sought to ''appeal to racial prejudice'' by accusing him of attempting to deprive minorities of ''the power'' of their vote. ''A pipsqueak like Ed Koch is not going to intimidate me,'' Mr. Barbaro replied.

Illustrations: photo of Board of Election worker


CENTERPORT IN April of 1980, the concrete structural supports for the mill dam tidal gate system here were found to be deteriorating. As administrators from the Town of Huntington and Suffolk County move closer to resolving their differences over the projected refurbishment of the area, local residents, businessmen and town offigials are expressing concern over the delay of the repair.

''It's all strictly political,'' said Leonard T. Stevenson, head of the Centerport Civic Association, in reference to the delay. ''The county and the local administration are passing the buck back and forth. I don't think it's going to be resolved before Election Day.''

Although the county has committed itself to the project, no date can be set for the repair until some legal problems are worked out. In 1774, Silvanus Townsend completed the first recorded damming of Centerport Harbor to create a power source for his grist mill. In 1936, the Town of Huntington spent $32,000 to build the mill dam bridge and tidal gate system on the same site as the Townsend grist mill. The tidal gates were constructed to help create a pond out of what would otherwise have been just a southerly extension of the harbor. Besides its esthetic appeal, the pond is used for ice skating in winter and rowboating in warmer weather.

Pressure from outside rising tides forces tidal gates open, allowing rising water to enter a pond area. When the tide begins to ebb, the gates close under the pressure of the receding tide. When working properly, the gates will retain a level of water slightly below that of high tide. The pond water remains trapped behind the tidal gates until they are opened at a time when the tide is low in the rest of the harbor.

In April of last year it was found that a substantial amount of water was leaking from the pond through a hole in the tidal gate substructure. The Town of Huntington retained the Atlantic Diving Company for approximately $10,000 to examine the damage and estimate the cost of its repair.

''The structure that supports the tide gates has become eroded,'' said John Panaseny, engineer for the town. ''The water is rushing out beneath the footing of the bridge. We've ordered that the gates be locked open because, by forcing water beneath the footing'' - with the gates closed - ''we are undermining the tidal gate structure and endangering the bridge itself.''

Additionally, he pointed out, a whirlpool forms on the pond side of the gates as water leaks back into the harbor. This condition is deemed potentially dangerous to any swimmer or waterfowl venturing too close to the gates.

Last fall, Huntington's head of environmental protection, Dr. Malcolm Hair, approached Suffolk County Legislators Robert J. Mrazek and John J. O'Neil and asked that the county -which until 1972 was responsible for maintenance of the bridge - provide the town with funds for the emergency repair of Centerport's damaged gate system. The County Legislature approved the resulting co-sponsored resolution, and the work was to have been completed last April. However, when the contract reached the desk of the Huntington Town Supervisor, Kenneth C. Butterfield, he took strong exception to several phrases in the agreement.

''There were all sorts of caveats and covenants that they requested us to acquiesce to,'' Mr. Butterfield said. ''After the repairs were made, the county would look at how we maintained the gates and, if in the discretion of the Commissioner of Public Works, we weren't doing it right, the entire cost of the project could be charged back to the town.

''He also would further have the right to deny any or all aid to the town for all other projects. That was an onerous addition to an otherwise straightforward aid contract.''

With the unanimous support of the Huntington Town Board, the Supervisor refused to sign the contract. Ultimately, after almost a two-month delay, Mr. Butterfield unilaterally struck out the offending legal language and returned the contract to the county. The two municipalities have been waging a battle of wills over the contractual phrasing ever since.

''If the reaction from the town had been immediate, it could have been discussed and brought to a head a heck of a lot sooner,'' said Mr. O'Neil, who will oppose Mr. Butterfield in the November race for Supervisor.

''When the damage was first discovered, it was a 3-inch-by-5-inch opening,'' Mr. Panaseny said. ''It is now three or four times as large.''

Although Deputy County Executive Frank Jones has acknowledged the county's commitment to do the Centerport repair work, the County Department of Public Works is unhappy about the precedent of a town's refusing to follow what has been to date a standard requirement for any county-assisted projects.

Since the order was issued by the town to fasten open the tidal gates, there have been numerous complaints by residents about the pond's not being regularly filled with water.

''You can't believe the odor of the pond when it's empty with the sun beating down on it,'' Leonard Stevenson said. ''And esthetically, it's down the drain completely.''

''It's affecting my business drastically,'' said Stephen Hughew, owner of the Thatched Cottage, a catering establishment on the shore of the mill pond. ''I can almost prove a loss of close to $60,000 this year. Would you want to sit next to a mudflat and have a cocktail party?''


THE father figure in Bill Thompson's adaptation of ''Hansel and Gretel'' is a performer who lives for art but can't eke out a living. He represents man's spiritual nature, which needs to be nourished against materialistic odds.

The theme proved portentous. After last Sunday's twilight performance of the fable at the Harry Chapin Center for the Performing Arts in Huntington Station, the theater, which had been on the brink of bankruptcy, shut its doors permanently.

The following evening, the board of directors met and found no alternative but to cancel the balance of the season because of insufficient funds. Regrets to subscribers were mailed yesterday. Tomorrow, the legal steps are expected to begin.

The theater in all its phases - the subscription series for theatergoers, the Arts-in-Education program that toured the schools, the Theater Institute (a drama school) and the Theater for Young People's productions (such as ''Hansel and Gretel'') will have traveled the final route, from Chapter XI, under which it was functioning since last March - a plan that allowed it to continue operations as long as no further debts were incurred - to Chapter VII, final liquidation.

The demise of what had originally been known as the Performing Arts Foundation signals the end of an era and raises questions about the real existence of the theatrical component of the Island's so-called ''cultural renaissance.'' (The organization's name change occurred after the singer Harry Chapin, who became chairman of the board and the institute's principal benefactor in 1975, died last July.)

The Performing Arts Foundation, according to Mr. Thompson, its last producer, was ''the Island's premier cultural organization, with its longest history, most prestigious record and broadest service.'' The era began in 1966, when the foundation was formed for the mission of bringing theater, dance and music of professional caliber into the schools. Theater was the priority and became the sole objective before long, expanding into two divisions - one company that traveled to the schools, and one that performed for general audiences on the home stage.

This was a community-oriented theater all the way. Then Jay Broad came along as artistic head, with Mr. Chapin backing him up as a reenergizing force, reaching out for corporate and community support. There were aggressive advertising campaigns. For the first time on the Island, an art form was being merchandised and marketed - a trend of the times.

Mr. Broad had the then fashionable philosophy of producing new plays exclusively. The PAF Playhouse, expanding in all directions, became prestigious and outgrew its own physical proportions. A spanking new showplace opened in 1979, but the plays were poorly received.

Mr. Broad was replaced by Mr. Thompson, who had to deal with the theater's $500,000 worth of debts. Last March, the new theater had to be vacated, the season was cut short and the PAF Playhouse was back in its old site, at the other end of the parking lot.

When this season opened, the theater was $100,000 short of meeting a proposed $900,000 budget. Operating costs, which came to $20,000 a week, could no longer be pared down. The next play, which was scheduled to open Friday, was a one-man piece - a late substitution for a previously scheduled two-character work.

As a consequence of Chapter XI status, no credit could be established. A total of 4,700 subscriptions had been received. According to Mr. Thompson, either 5,500 would have saved the season, or else what he termed ''a dramatic, intervening variable'' - in other words, cash, from some unexpected, unfor eseen, untapped source.

Why did the theater fail? A variety of reasons have been advanced by people familiar with its operation:

- The theater's expansion was a case of ''too much, too soon.'' To those who took pride in the sense of hometown communi ty theater, it shouldn't hav e happened at all. The whole philosophy was wrongheaded and opportuni stic; the mentality smacked of Broadway.

- Some subscribers - in its heyday, the theater had lured 14,000 of them -were so alienated by poor plays that they vowed never to return, and didn't. The failure to finish last season diminished audience confidence. The move back to the small playhouse was another factor.

- The theater's location, in Huntington Station, was too isolated in the first place, unaccompanied as it was by a sense of event, by what Mr. Thompson calls a ''spinoff'' to night and street life.

- The death of Mr. Chapin was a devastating blow: the force was gone. Fund-raising efforts, from raffles to benefits, produced disappointing results this year, a ''fall-off'' in all cases. People didn't have money to spare or were afraid to spare it.

The demise of PAF leaves a number of question for the Island. Is theater, after all, an elitist pastime? What is happening to the value of the live theater experience in our lives? Can the Island support a real resident theater? Do people want one?

Is the proximity to Broadway a very real threat to local theater? (A survey of the composition of Broadway theater audiences, published by the League of New York Theaters and Producers, revealed that residents of Nassau and Suffolk Counties represent a significantly high percentage of the Broadway theater audience - more so than any suburban area except Fairfield County.)

What is the current state of theater on the Island? There remains one solidly professional company, the Nassau Repertory, which has yet to find a suitable performing space and is playing in a recycled junior high school. Then there is a smattering of small-scale, earnest local companies. The Northstage Theater Restaurant, which mounted full-scale musical productions, gave that up last year in favor of popular ''one-night stand'' entertainment - rock, folk music, comedy acts and the like.

For Mr. Thompson, the Huntington Station theater's dissolution does not mean disillusion. Conceding ''a monumental loss and a resulting tragic vacuum,'' he maintains that ''despair is not part of my personality.''

Characteristically, Mr. Thompson had looked ahead, perceiving hopefulness in the titles of his first two plays this season: ''The Imaginary Invalid,'' which was seen by 7,700 people - roughly 80 percent of the theater's capacity - and ''Starting Here, Starting Now,'' which played to 7,600 people. about 75 percent capacity).

Ironically, Mr. Thompson noted, the most recent Theater for Young People production played to 98 percent capacity, and the touring program was reaching 110,000 children in seven school districts.

In the death of the Chapin Center, Mr. Thompson sees an inherent warning - ''that it can happen'' - to other arts organizations, principally, the Long Island Philharmonic and the Eglevsky Ballet, the two remaining cornerstones of the ''cultural renaissance.''

Mr. Thompson said: ''If the community does not nurture the larger purpose of art - those peak, profound experiences that make us better people - then we'll just turn into isolated shadows. People have to be introspective and look to what they value within their own region.

''Awareness of the arts must continue. Out of the ashes of PAF, something must spring forth. There's a momentum here that is not dead. There's a larger vision. Harry Chapin had it. Art helps you get through the stuck places. This is one we didn't get through.

''But there's an after-image of which I'm proud. Maybe people will think of the provocative, the challenging, the entertaining evenings, the times well spent.''