Disgraced health blogger Belle Gibson has had her own words used against her in the Federal Court in Melbourne, over allegations she misled customers by falsely claiming she had healed her terminal cancer naturally.

Ms Gibson, and her company, Inkerman Road Nominees Pty, were scheduled to appear for a hearing with Consumer Affairs Victoria.

Ms Gibson failed to show up, however the hearing proceeded without her.

The consumer watchdog has accused Ms Gibson of "unconscionable conduct" related to the promotion of her Whole Pantry app and book, which included claims that she healed herself naturally with wholefoods and wellness, after being diagnosed with brain cancer in 2009 and given four months to live.

She has since admitted she never had cancer.

Media training for interviews for the book tour were part of what Consumer Affairs labelled “misleading and unconscionable conduct”.

In the video, Ms Gibson says she has “a really stabbing pain in my stomach which I want to crawl on the floor with”.

When asked if she feels like dying she answers “yeah… and I’m fine with that”.

Ms Gibson previously told 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown "I thought I did have cancer".

Appearing on the program in June last year, Ms Gibson claimed she was misdiagnosed by an immunologist and neurologist called Mark Jones.

"I believed I was having radiotherapy. When he gave me medication, I was told that it was oral chemotherapy. I believed he was a real doctor," she said.

Sales of the book and the app brought in more than $420,000.

In March last year, it was revealed Ms Gibson had failed to donate a promised $300,000 of the proceeds from her business to nine charities.

An investigation found only one charity received funding of $4,000.

© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2016

Summary: Disgraced health blogger Belle Gibson has failed to appear in court over allegations she misled consumers by falsely claiming she had healed her terminal cancer naturally.


A team of leading alcohol researchers are assessing the effectiveness of Queensland's contentious liquor licensing laws.

The team is developing unique data sets covering assaults, emergency department and ambulance presentations, noise complaints, and pedestrian counts.

The researchers are also interviewing patrons in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley and West End, Surfers Paradise and Cairns as part of the two-year project evaluating the laws which include a statewide 2am last drinks call.

In examining the impact of the new liquor licensing regime, the researchers are evaluating the success of targeted policing initiatives, education, liquor licensing and compliance, precinct management, police and court powers, and monitoring and measuring efforts.

Project leader Professor Peter Miller said the $1.2 million federally and state funded research project was extremely important to the health and wellbeing all Australians.

"The Queensland government's decision to implement a comprehensive set of policies ... now provides a major opportunity to evaluate these measures and their impact on the community," Prof Miller said.

Under the laws introduced on July 1, licensed premises can only operate until 2am, unless they are within a designated safe night precinct where last drinks end at 3am.

There is also a ban on the sale and supply of rapid intoxication drinks after midnight includes jelly shots, bombs and those containing more than 45 millilitres of spirits or liqueur.

The state's lockout laws aren't due to start until February.

The research is due to wind up on June 1, 2018 with a report to be provided to the Queensland government four months later.

Summary: Leading Australian alcohol researchers are evaluating Queensland's contentious liquor licensing laws, which include a statewide 2am last drinks call.


Soccer star Megan Rapinoe has been following Colin Kaepernick's lead with the national anthem. Unlike Kaepernick, one of her employers is the national team.

On Thursday night, Rapinoe, who has been playing for the USWNT since 2006, knelt during the national anthem. This was expected. On Sept. 4, Rapinoe knelt during the national anthem before her NWSL match for the Seattle Reign.

"It was a little nod to Kaepernick and everything that he's standing for right now," Rapinoe said after that match. "I think it's actually pretty disgusting the way he was treated and the way that a lot of the media has covered it and made it about something that it absolutely isn't ... Being a gay American, I know what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties."

The Reign supported Rapinoe: "We recognize Megan's decision was offensive to some and a source of inspiration to others."

The Washington Freedom, Rapinoe's next opponent, did not, playing the national anthem before Rapinoe came out of the locker room on Sept. 7. "It's f***ing unbelievable," Rapinoe said afterwards.

On Thursday, during a 9-0 beatdown of Thailand in Columbus, U.S. Soccer panned Rapinoe's action in this statement released to ESPN:

"Representing your country is a privilege and honor for any player or coach that is associated with U.S. Soccer's National Teams. Therefore, our national anthem has particular significance for U.S. Soccer. In front of national and often global audiences, the playing of our national anthem is an opportunity for our Men's and Women's National Team players and coaches to reflect upon the liberties and freedom we all appreciate in this country. As part of the privilege to represent your country, we have an expectation that our players and coaches will stand and honor our flag while the National Anthem is played."

Megan Rapinoe takes a knee for the national anthem in a US uniform. Unprecedented in international soccer history based on my research.

— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) September 16, 2016

Megan Rapinoe shows that white solidarity against police violence - which also affects white folks - is not complicated. You just do it.

— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) September 16, 2016

Did Megan Rapinoe kneel during the Thailand national anthem, a country with human trafficking issues? Because she did during the U.S. anthem

— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) September 16, 2016

Rapinoe, 31, has 116 caps, is 18th on the USWNT with 31 career goals and 11th on the all-time assists list with 40. She has a World Cup title, a World Cup runner-up finish (making one of the most famous crosses in women's soccer history along the way) and an Olympic gold medal. In July, Rapinoe was named to the Rio Olympic roster just seven months after tearing her ACL for the third time in a December training session.

But Rapinoe is also one of five USWNT players, along with Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, Becky Sauerbrunn and Hope Solo, to file a federal complaint charging U.S. Soccer with wage discrimination in March.

After Thursday's win, Rapinoe said to ESPN, "I'm very proud to pull on this shirt and play for this country, and also represent my country in a different way in speaking out for people that are oppressed."

Obviously, at the moment, U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati does not feel the same way. This reaction from the U.S. Soccer Federation may come as a surprise, considering the USWNT has an especially young and liberal fan base, but the conflict also shows how touchy this subject is at the national-team level. Kaepernick, acting on his own for a San Francisco-based team he gets millions of dollars to play for, looks different to certain people than Rapinoe's kneel in a red, white and blue uniform paid for by a national governing body.

Rapinoe and the USWNT go back to work Sunday in Atlanta against the Netherlands. The squad has two more fall friendlies in October, both against Switzerland, in Sandy, Utah (outside Salt Lake City) and Minneapolis.

-- Follow Jeffrey Eisenband on Twitter @JeffEisenband.

american flag, Colin Kaepernick, Equal Pay, Flag, Gay, lesbian, Megan Rapinoe, National Anthem, NWSL, Olympics, peaceful protest, Protest, Seattle Reign, Soccer, sunil gulati, US Soccer, USA, USWNT, Women's Soccer, World Cup

Summary: U.S. Soccer blasted Megan Rapinoe for abusing her privilege as an American soccer player by kneeling during the national anthem against Thailand.


Americans should vote for Donald Trump as president or risk being dragged into a nuclear war, according to a Russian ultra-nationalist ally of President Vladimir Putin who likes to compare himself to the US Republican candidate.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a flamboyant veteran lawmaker known for his fiery rhetoric, told Reuters Trump is the only person able to de-escalate dangerous tensions between Moscow and Washington.

By contrast, Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton could spark World War Three, said Zhirinovsky, who received a top state award from Putin after his pro-Kremlin Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) came third in Russia's parliamentary election last month.

Many Russians regard Zhirinovsky as a clownish figure who makes outspoken statements to grab attention but he is also widely viewed as a faithful servant of Kremlin policy, sometimes used to float radical opinions to test public reaction.

"Americans voting for a president on November 8 must realise that they are voting for peace on Planet Earth if they vote for Trump. But if they vote for Hillary it's war. It will be a short movie. There will be Hiroshimas and Nagasakis everywhere."

Zhirinovsky likes to shock liberal public opinion and he has frequently heaped scorn on the West, which he and Russian nationalists regard as decadent, hypocritical and corrupted by political correctness.

Clinton has accused Trump of being too cosy with Putin and questioned his business interests in Russia.

Zhirinovsky described Clinton as "an evil mother-in law" and said her record as secretary of state under Obama in 2009-2013 showed she was unfit to lead her country.

"She craves power. Her view is that Hillary is the most important person on the planet, that America is an exceptional country, as Barack Obama said," said Zhirinovsky. "That's dangerous. She could start a nuclear war."

In typically chauvinistic remarks, Zhirinovsky said Clinton's gender should also bar her from the presidency.

"Most Americans should choose Trump because men have been leading for millions of year. You can't take the risk of having one of the richest, most powerful countries led by a woman president," he said.

Asked about lewd comments Trump made about women in 2005 that have harmed his campaign, Zhirinovsky defended the Republican: "Men all round the world sometimes say such things that are just for their comrades. We must only consider his business (and political) qualities."

Summary: Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a flamboyant veteran lawmaker, told Reuters Donald Trump is the only person able to de-escalate tensions between Moscow and Washington.


Labor has urged crossbench senators to consider the economic and jobs impacts before making a deal with Malcolm Turnbull over paid parental leave.

Independents Derryn Hinch and Nick Xenophon are edging closer to an agreement with the coalition which would put the axe to taxpayer-funded parental leave entitlement for up to 80,000 women - saving the budget about $1.2 billion.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the law change would undermine a push to improve women's workforce participation.

"If Mr Turnbull wants to talk up job creation ... (and) is committed to helping people find work and stay at work, drop the absurd paid parental leave propositions," Mr Shorten told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.

The prime minister and his deputy Barnaby Joyce have completed a week-long visit to Queensland where they talked up the need for job-creating projects such as roads, dams, tourism and the national broadband network.

Asked about the prospect of a deal on parental leave, Mr Turnbull said he would work with the crossbenchers.

"We're very committed to ensuring our national economic plan delivers the growth, the jobs that we need, and it does so above all else in a manner that is fair," he said of the scheme changes.

Labor may be taken out of the picture when the bill comes up for a vote in parliament.

Senator Xenophon is open to supporting the plan that aims to stop parents claiming both employer and government paid leave, provided the start date is delayed until October 2017.

"The January 1st start date has caused much angst and distress amongst expectant mums," Senator Xenophon said.

Fellow crossbencher Derryn Hinch, who also supports a delay to the start date but wants it set at July, says he'll sit down with Senator Xenophon to negotiate.

"We can probably get (the legislation) across the line."

Meanwhile, the prime minister took aim at Queensland's Labor government for holding up economic growth and jobs by playing politics with new dams.

"It's like they have to placate the Left of their own party or the Greens," Mr Turnbull said, launching a $440 million water plan.

"You're either serious about promoting productivity and exports and jobs and investment in the north, or you're not. We're serious. And to do that you need to put the dollars to work to build the industry."

Queensland Water Minister Mark Bailey said the federal government had offered 15 proponents funds for feasibility studies, but Mr Joyce had failed to tell them they would only receive their funding in arrears.

This meant the state government had to find $15 million to cover the cost of feasibility studies.

Mr Bailey said it was also misleading for Mr Turnbull to say the state was holding up projects.

"For them to be running around saying they would give an automatic $130 million for Rookwood Weir when their own policy says it is subject to the business case is simply misleading Queenslanders," Mr Bailey said.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said handing Mr Joyce a $440 million pork barrel was a "recipe for disaster".

Summary: As Malcolm Turnbull talks up the benefits of roads and dams for jobs, Labor says the government is sending mixed messages on parental leave.


A Western Australian man has turned $10 into almost a quarter of a million dollars with what’s been called one of the most freakish bets in Cup history.

The West Australian has identified the lucky punter as Bakers Hill man Josh Webber, who reportedly couldn’t believe his luck yesterday when he checked his Sportsbet app.

The 26-year-old had reportedly put most of his money on Who Shot Thebarman, which ran in fifth place.

He had, however, also placed a few “little outside punts on” and upon refreshing his app, realised he had accidently picked the first four horses to cross the finishing line, in the correct order.

“I thought I had them boxed but with the odds I think it must have been in order,” he said.

“It was just a stab in the dark.”

Josh Webber accidentally picked the first four horses to cross the finishing line, in the correct order. (AAP)

Sportsbet’s Christian Jantzen said Mr Webber was an “absolute genius”.

"Punters outsmarted us by backing Almandin at the ridiculously big odds of $301 earlier in the piece and even today they kept getting stuck into her. The person who won nearly a quarter of a million dollars on the First Four is an absolute genius," Mr Jantzen said.

Mr Webber, who runs the Loosefoot Saloon Bar, said he plans to take his staff out for a Christmas Party and to put the rest of the winnings back into the business by installing an in-house TAB.

© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2016


A man has been arrested after a high-speed chase on the wrong side of the main freeway between Melbourne and Geelong.

Police say a 27-year-old man fled the scene of a crash between a stolen car he was driving and a truck before he stole another car from a woman on Wednesday morning.

Witness Aaron told 3AW he was subsequently forced to get out of the way as the alleged thief sped towards him on the wrong side of the Princes Freeway.

The 27-year-old was eventually intercepted and arrested.

Summary: Police have arrested a man after a hig-speed chase sparked by a collision and carjacking in Melbourne.


Sixty years ago today Melbourne burst onto the international stage when it hosted the 1956 Olympics.

The opening ceremony at the iconic MCG on November 22 welcomed hundreds of international athletes, watched by a capacity crowd of 103,000 spectators.

It was distance runner Ron Clarke who became the symbol of the games, lighting the cauldron at the opening ceremony on that day.

The games were also very successful for Australian athletes, especially in the pool.

With the likes of Dawn Fraser and Murray Rose, the country dominated, Melbourne Cricket Club librarian David Studham said.

"They won every single freestyle event in the mens and womens (categories)," Mr Studham said.

"We've never had a swimming team like it."

The legacy of the Melbourne Olympics will be celebrated on Tuesday, as young and old athletes gather to mark the anniversary.

Various 1956 and 2016 Olympians will attend a reception at Government House, including rower Josh Dunkley-Smith and Rio water polo athlete Rowie Webster.

The public can also see memorabilia of the 1956 Olympics at the MCG's National Sport Museum and the MCC library.

The 1956 Games cauldron is on display, while gold medals from sprinter Betty Cuthbert and swimmer Murray Rose are also at the National Sports Museum.

In the library, an organising committee report is on display, showing the signatures of most of the 1956 gold medallists.

Summary: It's been 60 years since the world's eyes were fixed on Melbourne as the Olympics came to town.


A driver who fled the scene of a fatal crash at Newcastle has been charged with dangerous driving.

The incident rook place in Wickham just after 9am on Wednesday, when the man allegedly crashed his ute into a motorised scooter ridden by local woman Jennifer Bates, who was on her way to work, the Newcastle Herald reported.

Ms Bates, 36, was rushed to hospital but died on arrival.

The crash sparked a short manhunt which ended when the 31-year-old turned himself in on Wednesday afternoon.

He was charged with dangerous driving occasioning death and failing to stop and assist a victim, police said.

He's been granted conditional bail and is due face the local court in February.

Ms Bates, an architect and passionate environmentalist, had just received a promotion to senior project manager of NSW Public Works department's Newcastle office.

Summary: A man who allegedly fled the scene after crashing into a woman on a scooter, who later died in Newcastle Hospital, has been charged.


Ten Chinese men face possible life imprisonment in Australia after being charged with trying to smuggle 186kg of cocaine with an estimated value of more than $60 million.

The group, aged between 23 and 50, were arrested after their 50-metre vessel was escorted into Hobart on Friday following a lengthy investigation at sea involving the military and border force.

A search of the boat, a former research vessel, took days and on Wednesday Tasmania Police assistant commissioner Glenn Frame revealed a haul worth about $60.45 million.

"Authorities located approximately 186kgs of the suspicious substance, which had been compressed into bricks and wrapped in plastic," Mr Frame said.

"Forensic testing has indicated the substance is cocaine, and further analysis will be conducted to determine the exact weight and purity."

The boat was first detected in international waters off Western Australia and was tracked south where suspicions were raised further as it started circling.

Border force personnel boarded the boat which was subsequently escorted by the navy's HMAS Adelaide into Hobart.

"The investigation into the origin and destination of the drugs is continuing, however it is unlikely that a criminal venture of this nature would target the small Tasmanian market," Mr Frame said.

Each of the crew has been charged with attempting to import a commercial quantity of cocaine, an offence which police said carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

They remain in custody following a series of brief court appearances and are due to face a magistrate again on January 13.

"The vessel will remain in Hobart while (police) work with other agencies to undertake environmental and biosecurity procedures including the removal of fuel and food," Mr Frame said.

Summary: A foreign boat allegedly used to smuggle drugs was carrying more than 185kg of cocaine, say police who have charged 10 men.


The Turnbull government has given its strongest signal yet that a deal is in the wind with the United States to settle 1,800 refugees from Nauru and Manus Island.

The Australian newspaper reported Australia and the US were expected to announce the resettlement arrangement within days.

Speculation has been mounting about a deal since Australia announced at Barack Obama’s global migration summit in New York in September that it would take refugees from camps in Costa Rica.

Since then, the Coalition government has introduced legislation to place a lifetime ban on asylum seekers who have arrived by boat from ever travelling to Australia once they are resettled in other countries.

The defence industry minister, Christopher Pyne, would not confirm the deal but he said if it did happen it would be a win for the government.

“If it’s the case, it will be another great achievement from the Turnbull government,” he said on Channel Nine.

Pyne said there was plenty of time to make an announcement before the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president on 20 January.

Trump said he would put a blanket ban on Muslim immigration and then “suspend immigration from areas of the world when there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe, or our allies”.

Among those on Manus and Nauru are people from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Iraq. There are some who are stateless.

Some refugees and asylum seekers expressed their support for the potential deal.

Many have spent years in the offshore processing system and, unless they have family in Australia, no longer desire to come to Australia. They still say they cannot go home, but because of the treatment they have received – for which they blame the Australian government – many are asking for refuge from any other refugee-convention signatory.

Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian journalist detained on Manus Island, told Guardian Australia he was sceptical of the reports but most other detainees he had spoken to would be happy to go to the US.

“Be sure that most people would love to go to America, but some people need to join their families in Australia,” he said. “I think Australia has to respect them because they want to join their families.”

Hundreds of men are currently involved in court action in Papua New Guinea, seeking compensation for their detention which the PNG supreme court ruled illegal and unconstitutional this year.

“For me it’s hard to accept to go to America because [the Australian government] has tortured me for about four years, and now to say ‘go to America’, I question the Australian government,” Boochani said.

“How can I get what’s right from a country like Australia that violated my human rights?”

Another said he would like to go to the US, but not before he was compensated for his treatment. The Iranian refugee, who did not wish to be named, has been physically assaulted twice since being detained on Manus Island.

“They took my past three years of life. I was born in 1992 and when I arrived here I was almost 21 years,” he said. “Now I’m 24. I missed best days of my life to go and have fun or go to university or play sport. The Australian government keep me in indefinite detention. They have to pay for this.”

A young man held on Nauru said he had dreamed of coming to Australia and joining the defence forces, but he believed the US was a good option.

Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese said a deal would be a good thing.

“These are people who are refugees, who have been found to be refugees, who, if they are settled in a country like the United States, that will be a good thing,” he said.

Kon Karapanagiotidis, the chief executive of the asylum seeker resource centre, said the deal sounded positive but he was waiting for details on whether it would include all refugees on the island, and how quickly the transfer would happen.

“From day one it’s always been about safely resettling people who are seeking safety,” he told Guardian Australia. “We know that’s not possible on Nauru and we know that’s not possible in PNG.”

Karapanagiotidis said their preference had been to have people settled in Australia because they were Australia’s responsibility, but “if there is a deal to resettle all of them safely, quickly, in America, in a country where they will in fact be safe and settled, that’s our priority.”

“The most important thing is that it’s done quickly and urgently given the imminent danger and risk and the extreme poor state of physical and mental health of so many of them.”

He said he wasn’t interested in politics, but all credit for any deal would go to groups and individuals who had campaigned against the camps for years rather than to the government, which he feared may use the deal as a Senate bargaining chip for its visa ban legislation.

The Coalition has refused to comment or speculate on potential third-country negotiations to resettle the refugees.

On Melbourne radio station 3AW on Friday, the prime minister maintained his silence on the issue.

“There’s always speculation about these things ... and we never comment on them,” he said.

The Coalition’s latest migration bill, which would impose a lifetime ban on an estimated 3,100 people, has passed the lower house of parliament but is yet to clear the Senate.

Labor, Andrew Wilkie, Cathy McGowan, Greens MP Adam Bandt and Nick Xenophon Team MP Rebekha Sharkie voted against the bill in the lower house.

The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, said the government had support for the bill amongst the Senate crossbench. He would need eight of the 10 remaining crossbenchers to pass the bill.

Summary: Australian newspaper says deal between two countries is expected to be announced within days


HOW does a majority theater support minority playwrights?

You probably stumbled over the phrase "majority theater." It is awkward, but no more awkward than "minority playwrights"; it's just unfamiliar. Majority groups don't need such ID tags. They're considered the norm.

"Electricidad," a 2005 show by Luis Alfaro, who has lost his job as director of new play development at the Center Theater Group in Los Angeles.

What should theaters do to foster the work of minority playwrights?

Jerry Quickley, whose "Live From the Front" is to be part of Solomania! this year.

Kia Corthron's "Slide, Glide the Slippery Slope," a Center Theater Group production from 2003, when Gordon Davidson was artistic director.

In traditional mainstream theater, that "majority" consists of playwrights, producers and directors who are largely white, male, middle class and free of physical disabilities. So let's rephrase the question: how do mainstream theaters make space for all those minorities, those "others" whose lives are rarely shown on their stages?

Recently, this familiar question has aggressively reared its head in Los Angeles. Michael Ritchie, the new artistic director of the powerful Center Theater Group, announced that starting in July, four programs devoted to minority play development would be eliminated: Other Voices (for the disabled), the Latino Theater Initiative, the Asian Theater Workshop and the Blacksmyths Theater Lab. These labs were founded in the 1980's and 90's by Mr. Ritchie's predecessor, Gordon Davidson, and their goal was to commission and develop new works.

The Center Theater Group is made up of the 750-seat Mark Taper Forum, the 2,000-seat Ahmanson Theater and the Kirk Douglas, a new 300-seat theater devoted to new plays in Culver City. In explaining his decision, Mr. Ritchie said the programs were not effective in getting plays onstage, generating only dead-end readings and workshops. Those are "a luxury we can no longer afford," he said. "We have to focus on production and focus less on play development."

Of course no one claims there is only one blueprint for nurturing talent, and Mr. Ritchie insists that he is committed to developing works by minorities. Still, the announcement had a grim symbolic resonance, especially coming shortly after Los Angeles elected its first Latino mayor in more than a century. For the moment, something tangible was being replaced by something hypothetical.

The issue has resonance far beyond the West Coast. What is the role of powerful theaters like the Center Theater Group, or Lincoln Center and the Public Theater in New York, or the Arena Stage in Washington, in developing other voices?

The Cuban-American playwright Eduardo Machado, who got his first big break at the Mark Taper in the early 1990's, says the big nonprofits are not doing enough. Mr. Machado now heads Intar in New York, the only company in the United States devoted to works in English by Latino writers. Like all small companies, Intar must fight for every arts council dollar it gets. "If none of the minority theaters get city money, isn't it the responsibility of the bigger companies to represent the entire population?" Mr. Machado asked. "They're public institutions, not private enterprises."

After all, if minorities are still marginal in the theater, it's a different story outside the stage door. The majority of Angelenos are not white. And though the majority of Angelenos are women (as are the majority of Americans), inside the theater, women are just one more underrepresented group.

When Ellen Stewart founded the La MaMa Experimental Theater in New York City more than 40 years ago, she wanted to create a truly international center for artists. She calls it a theatrical pot in which no culture melts down. "You put work in and you take work out," she said. "You give others your choices; you get their choices. You infuse each other."

This vision is rarely found in the United States. Chay Yew, the playwright and director who ran the Taper's Asian Theater Workshop and is now out of his job, is right to ask: "Is the theater still doing an effective job of reflecting and representing the world we live in, or is it merely reflecting a select few? If so, we deserve the dwindling, aging audiences."

In Mr. Davidson's time, the Taper mounted six productions a year and the Ahmanson was mainly devoted to touring shows. The theater has grown and its policies have changed. This time, the board wanted an artistic director who could mount 20 or so productions a year. For the 2005-2006 season, six are planned for the Taper, seven for the Ahmanson, and nine for the Kirk Douglas.

The Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts, where Mr. Ritchie was stage manager for years and then artistic director from 1996 through 2004, has long been famous for elegant, crowd-pleasing productions that feature celebrated playwrights (Chekhov, Shaw, Coward, Miller), and star well-known-to-famous actors (Blythe Danner, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sam Waterston, Jesse L. Martin and Kate Burton, Mr. Ritchie's wife). His tenure there has been described as profitable and successful.

The Center Theater Group's offerings this season make Mr. Ritchie's commercial focus very clear. The lineup is tasteful, respectable and very conventional. The Taper season includes works by David Mamet, Alfred Uhry and Chekhov (a "Cherry Orchard" that will star Annette Bening).

The Ahmanson will import brand-name hitmakers like Robert Wilson, Matthew Bourne and Dame Edna. The Web site tells potential ticket buyers that "We are in final negotiations with major British talent" for a production of "The Importance of Being Earnest."

Mr. Ritchie proudly cites two new musicals that he hopes the organization will send to Broadway. One, still in development, involves the music of Kander and Ebb; the other, "The Drowsy Chaperone," is an homage to 1920's Broadway musicals. Clearly this is the "everything old is new again" principle.

The Mark Taper Forum's two world premieres will explore the range of the history play. Robert Schenkkan, best known for the sprawling, romantic "Kentucky Cycle," will be represented by "Lewis and Clark Reach the Euphrates." And Culture Clash, a dynamic trio of Latino writer-actors, will present "Power and Water," a tough-minded look at Los Angeles history. This work, Mr. Ritchie said, represents part of his streamlined new model for play development: "I came to them and told them: you have a slot. I will guarantee you a production. Now let's develop a piece."

The other minority voices will be heard in the small Kirk Douglas. Nilo Cruz, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Cuban-American playwright, is adapting "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings," a story by Gabriel García Márquez, for young audiences. Another program will be devoted to a group of solo artists. Given the disproportionate number of women and minorities in solo performance, variety should be no problem.

Still, so far, no female playwrights appear on the roster of 22 plays this season, although "The Drowsy Chaperone" does have has a female lyricist. Otherwise, as the former head of the Blacksmyths lab, Brian Freeman, observed: "It's jaw-dropping, the sheer number of plays by white men."

Mr. Ritchie insists the doors are still wide open to minority writers. "The difference is, it's one door," he said.

In an ideal world there should be just one door. In the real world, though, that door usually isn't wide enough for minorities or women to pass through until labs and workshops devoted to their work become part of an institution.

The Center Theater Group's minority labs had problems; work too rarely made it to the main stage. And Mr. Ritchie's view of what he called the "slow, meandering process" of play development was shared by some lab veterans. Readings and workshops that lead nowhere can feel like slow torture if the theater's artistic director ignores them.

But Mr. Ritchie didn't have to ignore them. The labs used to hold a yearly festival of readings called "New Plays for Now"; it was supposed to provide the Taper and other interested Los Angeles theaters with plays they could develop.

"Last spring we flagged the plays we thought were most likely for production," Mr. Freeman said. "Michael did not attend a single one. When questioned about it, he said he doesn't believe in readings."

On that point Mr. Ritchie agreed, saying: "I generally don't attend readings. My strength is getting plays from the page to the stage." To which Mr. Freeman responded: "What does that say to actors, directors, audiences? It's about not being in the conversation."

So who is Mr. Ritchie including in the conversation about what gets produced? I find it distressing that Luis Alfaro, who had run the Latino Playwrights Initiative before being made director of new play development, lost his job. And I find it distressing that there is only one minority woman on Mr. Ritchie's artistic staff. No one should have to bear that burden, artistically or practically.

When I asked Mr. Ritchie who else on his staff would be on the lookout for interesting new work by nontraditional writers, he assured me, "Oh, virtually everybody."

More specifically, he promises joint productions with small Los Angeles companies that cultivate new writers, directors and actors. This season, for example, he will join forces with the Robey Theater, a black company, and the Greenway Arts Alliance to produce Thomas Gibbons's "Permanent Collection" at the Kirk Douglas. Mr. Ritchie proudly said: "The idea for us is not to take ownership of the production, but to give those companies greater exposure. The intent is that it's more to their benefit than to ours to do those productions."

Hopefully, such money and exposure will benefit the playwrights and the companies. But this plan is hardly daring. The Robey produced "Permanent Collection," which has had more than 20 productions around the country, last year. And Mr. Gibbons is white.

At this point, I'm sure, some readers are thinking, "Talent is not an equal opportunity employer." It certainly isn't. Most of the plays produced by traditional mainstream theaters are written by white men; many of these plays are terrible. Quality isn't the barrier. Access is. Experience is. Exposure is.

Loy Arcenas is a Filipino-American set designer who has worked for some of the best theaters in the country. He is directing now, at the Ma-Yi theater in New York, which presents plays by Asian-American writers. "You don't just become a good writer or terrific writer," he said. "You need to be helped. Nurtured. You have to have the ability to fail. The only way you can do that is to be put in the same league as everybody else."

Directors, producers, even audiences need to be nurtured too. Our cultural realities are changing rapidly. How does art map those changes? How do we learn to see the world differently and stretch our imaginations in unexpected ways?

Asked about his theater's place in the city of Los Angeles, where whites now make up only about 30 percent of the population, Mr. Ritchie answered: "Los Angeles is probably the most diverse and vibrant city in America right now. It's to our well-being to be as diverse and vibrant as possible."

Let us hope he lives up to the far more eloquent words of Joseph Papp. Papp's Public Theater helped create a long, still singular tradition of artistic excellence through diversity. Thirty years ago, he wrote: "What fills me with everlasting hope is the diversity of the people who make up this impossible cosmopolis. ... New York's energy has always come from the bottom of the heap, the minorities ... the Irish after the potato famine, Italians, Jews, Puerto Ricans. ... And long before any of them, the blacks. As Shakespeare wisely said, 'the city is the people.' I say amen to that."

Summary: At the Center Theater Group, four programs for minority playwrights have been eliminated.  What does this mean for traditional mainstream theater?


Monday, September 11th 2000, 2:14AM

Now that the UN Millennium Summit officials have officially left town, take advantage of the lighter traffic to get out and around to a Derek Jeter signing, an appearance by the "Monday Night Football" commentators and events commemorating Jenny Lind Day. It's the beginning of "A Week to Remember Alzheimer's" and first day of a San Domenico salute to the different grains of Italian rices for risotto.

Â When Derek Jeter was 8, he decided he wanted to play for the Yankees, and his parents helped him work out a game plan. Learn how he did it when he reads and signs his "The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your Dreams." 12:30 p.m., free. Barnes & Noble, 600 Fifth Ave., via B,D,F,Q to 47th-50th Sts.; (212) 957-2890

Â On this day in 1850, P.T. Barnum sponsored the American debut of the Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind. Scene of that concert, Battery Park, celebrates with an all-day festival including a dramatic reading, a concert of period music and a tree commemoration. Noon-evening, free. Near Castle Clinton, via 4,5 to Bowling Green or 1,9 to South Ferry; (212) 866-2086.

Â Composer Philip Glass and two librettists discuss their choral "Symphony No. 5" in the series "Works and Process at the Guggenheim." 8 p.m., $10-$15. 1071 Fifth Ave., via 4,5,6 to 86th St.; (212) 423-3587.

Â British author Doris Lessing reads from her new novel, "Ben, in the World," more about a demonlike child trying to make his way. 7 p.m., free. Fales Library, 3rd floor, NYU, 70 Washington Square South, via A,B,C,D,E,F,Q to W. Fourth St.; (212) 998-8816.

Â Find out how it feels to play Saint-Saens' seductive priestess when Metropolitan Opera star Denyce Graves discusses her role in "Samson et Dalila." 6:15 p.m., $15-$17. Kaplan Penthouse, 10th floor, Rose Building, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, via 1,9 to 66th St.; (212) 769-7028.

Â In a 10-day sale, fashion wigs and hairpieces are marked down up to 50%, in some cases from $800 to $400. 9 a.m.-5 p.m., $125-$400. Jacquelyn Hairwear, 15 W. 37th St., via B,D,F,Q,N,R to 34th St.; (212) 302-2266.

Â Join a MetLife drive to help alleviate the New York Blood Center's shortage. 8:30 a.m.- 1:45 p.m. 1 Madison Ave., Metroplaza 2B, via 6 to 23rd St.; (212) 578-4946.

Â In a production mixing the funky groove of MTV with the heart and soul of PBS, 10 choreographers and singers from South Africa present "Destination Groove," a Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS performance to support the fight against the disease in South Africa. 8 p.m., $25. Limelight, 47 W. 20th St., via F to 23rd St.; (212) 840-0770.

Â An "Update on the Herpes Simplex Virus" covers transmission rates, asymptomatic viral shedding, ongoing clinical trials and drug studies, with a Q&A session following the lecture. 7:30 p.m., $5. Hunter School of Social Work 129 E. 79th St., via 6 to 77th St.; (212) 628-9154.

Â Tykes 18-23 months old and kids ages 3-4 take nature miniwalks, create crafts and do other introductory nature activities in seven-session programs starting today at Alley Pond Environmental Center. 9:30 a.m., $75.25- $113.75. 228-06 Northern Blvd., via LIRR to Douglaston; (718) 229-4000.

Â Soprano Ellen Young and pianist Carol Binklowski present a program of Jenny Lind's songs, some with maritime themes, plus historical anecdotes and slides. 6 p.m., free. Whiteman Gallery, 209 Water St., via 2,3,4,5,A,C,J,M to Fulton/Broadway-Nassau; (212) 748-8786.

Â Cast members of "Chicago" and "Fosse" join dancers from Silver Belles, Young Hoofers, Jane Comfort and Company and A Few Good Men Dancin' to explore the range of jazz dance in the 2000 Dance Series. 7 p.m., free. World Trade Center Plaza, via A,C,E to Chambers St./WTC; (212) 435-6600.

Â Learn and practice Yiddish and get into the holiday spirit studying Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkoth in a four-session course opening today at the Central Queens YM & YWHA. 10 a.m., $10-$15. 67-09 108th St., via G,R to 67th Ave.; (718) 268-5011.

Â Try three kinds of rice - superfine-grain arborio, long-cooking carnaroli and versatile semi-fine grain vialone nano - at San Domenico N.Y. Riso Bello Risotto Festival. Noon-2:30 p.m. and 5:30-11 p.m., $18.50. 240 Central Park South, via 1,9,A,B,C,D to 59th St./Columbus Circle; (212) 265-5959.

Â Customers donating old suits to "Bottomless Closet" receive a Harper's Bazaar pink mesh tote bag filled with nail polish, socks, magazines, snacks and a 10% coupon for a suit purchase. 10 a.m.-7 p.m., free. Henri Bendel suit department, 712 Fifth Ave., via E,F to Fifth Ave.; (212) 247-1100.

Â Supplant the likes of Terry Bradshaw, Dennis Hopper and James Coburn when Punch cigars uses digital technology to place your photo in a copy of an ad from their famous Punch and Judy celebrity ad campaign. 11 a.m.-2 p.m., free. Famous Cigar, 55 W. 39th St., via B,D,F,Q to 42nd St; (212) 221-1408.

Â The Empire State Building is lighted purple and white today to herald "A Week to Remember Alzheimer's." Also, the NYC Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association holds a session for medical and day-care service officials and Friends and Relatives of the Institutionalized Aged to discuss "Alzheimer's Disease: Community Resources Through the Continuum of Care." 6 p.m., free but pre-registration required. 360 Lexington Ave., 5th floor, via 4,5,6,7,S to 42nd St.; (212) 983-0700.

Â On Jenny Lind Day, we're trilling a greeting for Harry Connick Jr. (33), Brian De Palma (60), Lola Falana (57), Amy Madigan (49) and Kristy McNichol (38).

Meet and mingle with "Monday Night Football's" Dennis Miller, Al Michaels and colleagues when they answer questions and hand out game tickets, autographed footballs and other premiums at ESPN Zone. 11:30 a.m., free. Broadway at 42nd St., via 1,2,3,9,A,C,E,N,R to Times Square; (212) 921-3776.

Hear string works by Haydn, Schoenberg and Beethoven in the first performance in a series of four concerts by the American String Quartet. 8 p.m., $5-$15. Manhattan School of Music, Broadway at 122nd St., via 1,9 to 125th St.; (212) 749-2801, ext. 528.

Â Fall registration begins for children, teens and adults at all skill levels for courses in music, dance, drama, visual arts and video. 2-6 p.m., $100-$300. Henry Street Settlement, Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand St., via B,D,Q to Grand St.; (212) 598-0400.

Â Learn about wholesale pricing and view the vast cut-flower and foilage selection in a behind-the-scenes "Flower Market Tour." 9 a.m., $45. Meet under the McDonald's canopy, west side of Sixth Ave. at 28th St., via 1,9 to 28th St.; (212) 757-0915, ext. 200.

Â Beginners and intermediates are invited to trial classes in yoga with instruction in toning and stretching. 7 p.m., free but preregistration required. Central Queens YM & YWHA, 67-09 108th St., via G,R to 67th Ave.; (718) 268-5011, ext. 220.

Â Former Poetry Project coordinator Marcella Durand, fiction writer Lynne Tillman and United Artists Books editor Lewis Warsh read from their own works at the Drawing Center's Line Reading. 7 p.m., free. 35 Wooster St., via N,R to Wooster St., (212) 219-2166.

Â Five-hundred participants are expected for deejay dancing, hors d'oeuvres and light buffet at a Marion Smith Professional Singles Dance. 6 p.m., $20. Iguana, 240 W. 54th St., via B,D,E to Seventh Ave.; (212) 765-5454.

Â Asiatica shows its fall collection of jackets, shirts, vests and skirts, plus patchwork bags, scarves and jewelry. 1-5 p.m., Mark Hotel, 25 W. 77th St., via 6 to 77th St.; (212) 744-4300.

'NEWS 2 AT 4' TUESDAY

How much is too much? A look at the regulation of after-school activities. Also, comedian Jim Gaffigin introduces his fall CBS sitcom, "Welcome to New York." 4 p.m., WCBS/Ch. 2.

Summary: DEREK'S DREAMS Â When Derek Jeter was 8, he decided he wanted to play for the Yankees, and his parents helped him work out a game plan. Learn how he did it when he reads and signs his "The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your Dreams."12:30 p.m., free. Barnes & Noble, 600 Fifth Ave., via B,D,F,Q to 47th-50th Sts.; (212) 957-2890 JENNY,


By ANTHONY McCARTNEY, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- Michael Jackson's doctor will learn his punishment Tuesday for ending the life and career of one of pop music's greatest entertainers and for leaving his three children without a father.

Conrad Murray is set to be sentenced for involuntary manslaughter after a six-week trial that presented the most detailed account yet of Jackson's final hours but left many questions about Murray's treatment of the superstar with an operating-room anesthetic as he battled chronic insomnia.

Prosecutors want Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor to sentence Murray to a maximum four-year term that likely would be cut at least in half due to jail overcrowding. Defense attorneys want probation for the cardiologist, saying he will lose his ability to practice medicine and likely face a lifetime of ostracism.

Jackson's family members will have an opportunity to speak before Murray is sentenced, although it remained unclear if any planned to make a statement. The singer's mother Katherine and several siblings routinely attended the trial, and members of the family cried after Murray's verdict was read in court.

SEE PHOTOS FROM THE CONRAD MURRAY TRIAL:

Conrad Murray Sentencing And Press Conference

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 29: Dr. Conrad Murray sits in court after he was sentenced for the involuntary manslaughter of singer Michael Jackson at the Los Angeles Superior Court on November 29, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. Judge Michael E. Pastor sentenced Murray to four years in the Los Angeles County Jail for the involuntary manslaughter of Jackson. A restitution hearing has been scheduled for January 23, 2012 to determine the amount of restitution to be paid to the Jackson family. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni-Pool/Getty Images)

USERS WHO VOTED ON THIS SLIDE

Jackson's death in June 2009 stunned the world, as did the ensuing investigation that led to Murray being charged in February 2010.

Murray told detectives he had been giving the singer nightly doses of propofol to help him sleep as he prepared for a series of comeback concerts. Propofol is supposed to be used in hospital settings and has never been approved for sleep treatments, yet Murray acknowledged giving it to Jackson then leaving the room on the day the singer died.

Murray declined to testify during his trial but did opt to participate in a documentary in which he said he didn't consider himself guilty of any crime and blamed Jackson for entrapping him into administering the propofol doses. His attorneys contended throughout the case that Jackson must have given himself the fatal dose when Murray left the singer's bedside.

In their sentencing memorandum, prosecutors cited Murray's statements to advocate that he receive the maximum term. They also want him to pay restitution to the singer's three children - Prince, Paris and Blanket.

It's unlikely that Murray can pay any sizable sum, including the $1.8 million cost of his funeral. He was deeply in debt when he agreed to serve as Jackson's personal physician for $150,000 a month, and the singer died before Murray received any money.

During Murray's trial, a jury heard a slurred recording of Jackson found on Murray's cell phone. The doctor or his attorneys never explained in court why he recorded the impaired singer six weeks before his death, but it revealed the ambition of the entertainer who burst on the scene as a baby-faced member of the Jackson Five in the 1970s.

"We have to be phenomenal," he was heard saying about his "This Is It" concerts in London. "When people leave this show, when people leave my show, I want them to say, `I've never seen nothing like this in my life. Go. Go. I've never seen nothing like this. Go. It's amazing. He's the greatest entertainer in the world.'"

Jackson's comeback attempt came after he had been pushed into obscurity. Despite his acquittal of child molestation in 2005, Jackson went into seclusion, leaving his lavish manor Neverland Ranch and moving to the Middle East and Las Vegas, where he first met Murray.

Prosecutors said the men's relationship was corrupted by greed. Murray left his practices to serve as Jackson's doctor and look out for his well-being, but instead acted as an employee catering to the singer's desire to receive propofol to put him to sleep, prosecutors said.

Murray showed no emotion when he was convicted.

"The defendant has displayed a complete lack of remorse for causing Michael Jackson's death," prosecutors wrote in a filing last week. "Even worse than failing to accept even the slightest level of responsibility, (Murray) has placed blame on everyone else, including the one person no longer here to defend himself, Michael Jackson."

Murray's attorneys are relying largely on 34 letters from relatives, friends and former patients to portray Murray in a softer light and win a lighter sentence. The letters and defense filings describe Murray's compassion as a doctor, including accepting lower payments from his mostly poor patients.

"There is no question that the death of his patient, Mr. Jackson, was unintentional and an enormous tragedy for everyone affected," defense attorneys wrote in their sentencing memo. "Dr. Murray has been described as a changed, grief-stricken man, who walks around under a pall of sadness since the loss of his patient, Mr. Jackson."

Pastor also will review a report by probation officials that carries a sentencing recommendation. The report will become public after Murray is sentenced.

The report may also feature input from the doctor, who was heard during the trial in a lengthy interview recorded by police.

Murray's trial was closely watched by Jackson's fans in the courtroom, on social networking sites and via live broadcasts online and on television. Fan groups are planning to return to the courthouse and vie for the few public seats that will be made available for the sentencing.


We’re here at the New Music Seminar in Los Angeles, where Spotify CEO and Co-founder Daniel Ek just gave a keynote about the state of the music industry and his company’s approach to generating revenue for artists in the age of peer-to-peer file-sharing.

Although there were no major announcements surrounding the question on everyone’s mind, “When will Spotify launch in the U.S.?”, we wanted to break out a few of the more important talking points, relevant not just to musicians and folks in the industry but to the majority of us as consumers of music in some way, shape or form.

- People listen to more music than ever by a more diverse cadre of artists. There has to be a way to monetize it, both giving consumers what they want and getting artists paid.

- Access Everywhere could be a much bigger business than we’ve ever seen. People value their music library. Portability is key: If you could access all of that in a legal way wherever you go, that’s something people are willing to pay for.

- There are billions of transactions on peer-to-peer networks every day. Even if we could figure out how to get pennies from each one, music would be a bigger business than it’s ever been.

- Spotify now has more than 250,000 subscribers in the seven countries where it’s rolled out. It’s growing by a couple of thousand subscribers per day.

- Subscription users get the client without ads, the mobile client (rolled out for iPhone, Android, Nokia phones and more to come), better audio quality and exclusive tracks.

- Eight million tracks cleared and licensed. Users can also buy tracks a la carte, and even subscribers actually also buy tracks.

- Seven million users have created 100 million playlists. Each playlist can be shared by e-mail, Facebook and Twitter. Thirty percent of playlists contain albums, counteracting the idea that the album is dead.

- Twitter is one of Spotify’s biggest traffic sources. People are discovering much of their new music through Twitter referrals.

- The next major trajectory of Spotify will be social. We didn’t know this in the beginning, but social is the key. People are sharing their music across borders, and musicians are gaining popularity outside of their home markets. People can discover new artists based on similarity to music they already like, and take advantage of the long tail.

- New artists are breaking on Spotify: One unnamed Swedish act had zero airplay and tiny record sales, but a million plays on Spotify. When they booked their next tour, they sold out 10 shows within hours and the fans in the audience already knew the lyrics.

- Spotify’s front page generates huge exposure for unknown artists. The “What’s New” section includes a mix of 50% established artists and 50% randomly generated new artists. In Europe, three million people see this page per day and get exposed to on average 40 new artists per day. Artists featured in “What’s New” get an immense amount of new traffic.

- Spotify has a ton of data that can help artists, labels and managers figure out who and where their fans are — and how to monetize them. The next step for Spotify is data transparency: becoming that platform where artists can access the data. This is the kind of data iTunes doesn’t share.

- Subscription is a model that consumers don’t really understand yet, and will take some time to build. There’s a lot of skepticism from past experiments like Rhapsody. What’s different now is that both broadband and mobile are ubiquitous, and there will be a lot more music consumption across a range of devices.

- We want to open up the platform to various kinds of payments. It shouldn’t matter if you’re on Verizon or AT&T or whatever carrier — you should be able to pay through them. Users who aren’t subscribers still buy lots of tracks a la carte, and even subscribers also still buy tracks.

- Spotify’s vision is to be “the cloud that everyone’s talking about” — hear a track somewhere, find it on Shazam and get it on Spotify. You should have it immediately on your car stereo, too. When you get home, it’s already on your playlist. It’s your music library wherever you go.

What do you think of the subscription model for music? If you’re in a country where Spotify currently operates, what do you think of the service?

Summary: Spotify CEO and Co-founder Daniel Ek gave a keynote about the state of the music industry at the New Music Seminar in Los Angeles.


By Jason Notte The Street

Now that NFL fans and commentators are done throwing their temper tantrum about replacement refs, can we get some games televised?

The NFL's regular referees returned more than a week ago after the entire football-watching world had itself a good cry over the "fraud" being perpetuated on fans, the atrocities of subjective penalty calling and such high-minded notions as the integrity of the game. Fans in the San Diego and Tampa/St. Petersburg areas would have joined them, but they were too busy watching some other market's game while their home team was busy being booted off television for insufficient attendance.

That's the order of march in today's NFL average-joe replacement refs missing a few calls early in the season? Can 'em and pay the regular refs immediately. But average-Joe fans can't watch a game in their area when lofty ticket prices and a floundering economy keep them away from stadiums their tax dollars paid for? Forget 'em. Let the bums buy a ticket if they want an NFL team.

While some say an NFL market missing a broadcast may not seem as important to some fans as, say, a questionable call over mutual possession, NFL blackouts have the potential to affect the pro sports landscape far more deeply that a few weeks of replacement officiating. Here are just five reasons why the NFL and its fans should turn their attention to the blackout issue immediately:

1. The NFL's answer isn't working: For much of the blackout rule's existence, an NFL team's home game was blacked out when it didn't sell out a game 72 hours before kickoff. This year, the NFL gave teams the option of reducing the blackout ceiling to 85 percent of total capacity, with any revenue from tickets sold above that margin going into a collective pot to be split among all teams.

The San Diego Chargers, a team prone to blacking out home games in recent years, opted to decline the NFL's offer and wound up blacking out a home game against the Atlanta Falcons two weeks ago at Qualcomm Stadium when both teams were 2-0.

Even teams that took up the NFL's offer have had to black out games this year. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have blacked out two games thanks to the tough math required to reach 85 percent capacity.

2. The blackouts themselves aren't working: After spending two seasons with much of the home slate blacked out, fans in Tampa seem just fine with keeping the team of billionaire owner Malcolm Glazer (pictured below) team off local airwaves while he tinkers with Machester United and takes $15 million for 30 years from taxpayers to maintain Tampa's Raymond James Stadium. In the words of the folks at SportsFans.org, "The Bucs owners either 1) don't actually care about their fans or 2) don't realize that they're only exacerbating the waning interest in their team by continuing to black out game after game or 3) both."

It's a similar situation in San Diego, where billionaire owner Alex Spanos wants a new facility but spurned the new NFL blackout policy that would keep home games on air. Fans are OK with paying to watch a game, but professional stadium politics isn't that game.

3. Blackouts = blackmail: Why didn't the Chargers embrace the NFL's lower blackout threshold? Let team spokesman Bill Johnson explain, as he did to NFL San Diego this year:

"Lowering the benchmark to 85 percent would substantially impact our ticket revenues. A team like the Chargers, whose revenues are already limited by an older, antiquated stadium, can't afford to lose such an import revenue stream."

Did you catch that? San Diego's blackouts are the stadium's fault and it's the taxpayer's fault for not giving the team the shiny new plaything it wants. Buffalo has taken a similar stance on desired improvements to Ralph Wilson Stadium, saying the hundreds of millions in renovations are necessary to update a stadium where attendance isn't what it used to be. Both franchises have had no problem blacking out local fans in recent years and each has openly flirted with other towns -- the Chargers with L.A. and Chula Vista and the Bills with Toronto. The not so subtle message is that if taxpayers don't pony up, the team is gone. It's a move that worked without blackouts in Minnesota earlier this year, but blackouts don't seem to have changed many minds in the aforementioned blackout markets.

4. The league is now blacking out paying customers: Fans have already petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to make it reconsider cable and satellite television's blackout rules, but just about every fan pays into the television infrastructure the NFL uses. Not only do their taxes maintain public airwaves, but their cable and satellite fees support ESPN, the NFL Network and other channels that show local teams. Perhaps the strongest argument comes from fans who pay hundreds of dollars a year for DirecTV's Sunday Ticket and still can't watch blacked-out local games. When the argument changes from "Cough it up, cheapskate" to "Cough up some more, cheapskate," you're treading the fine line between commerce and extortion.

5. It's about to get far worse: Since the mid-'90s, Los Angeles lay fallow as an NFL city. Promises to move a team there have been as empty as Los Angeles Coliseum on an NFL Sunday.

Now, thanks to the Los Angeles City Council, every small-market NFL team's nightmare is now a reality. Last month the council unanimously approved plans to build a $1.5 billion stadium in downtown Los Angeles, which means owners complaining about old stadiums in San Diego, St. Louis and Buffalo or worried about delicate attendance figures in Jacksonville now have a boogeyman to frighten the faithful into compliance.

"We're not trying to steal a franchise and we're not trying to force them to move before they make a decision to move," Tim Leiweke, CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group, the company behind the project, told ESPN. "That's up to the individual owners out there today. But we will be very active in letting them know, despite what a lot of people thought, we have a deal with the city, we've gone through this process and we are shovel-ready."

The problem is that tactic doesn't always work. Los Angeles is the only market the NFL has completely abandoned since the Portsmouth Spartans left Ohio in 1934. The NFL doesn't like losing markets of any size and any move will likely leave a temporary vacancy. Just because a market's fans can't support a team during a down economy doesn't mean they won't pack the place when it inevitably bounces back.

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Summary:
By Jason Notte
The Street
Now that NFL fans and commentators are done throwing their temper tantrum about replacement refs, can we get some games tele...


The pitcher's mound became a theater Saturday night as the A's began their playoff run. The performances spoke of virtuosity and dominance, offset by anxiety and courage. Justin Verlander was a study in the art of pitching, something worth dwelling upon. Pat Neshek was a veritable meteor in comparison, his path burning indelible impressions in the mind.

What the A's lost to Verlander and the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the Division Series, by a score of 3-1, they gained from the resolve of their teammate. Neshek was only three days removed from the inconceivable tragedy of losing his newborn son, Gehrig John. He had flown into Detroit to join his teammates Friday, and now he was ready to resume his career, heart pounding, tears right on the verge of release.

"I was trying to just get back to normal," he said. "My wife and I sat in the house that first and second day, and I don't know if I could have made it a third day. She said I needed to get out of there for a little bit. We thought it was the right choice, and it definitely was."

It was the idea of his compassionate manager, Bob Melvin, to not only employ his crestfallen relief pitcher, but to honor him with a "GJN" patch on the right sleeve of every A's player. This was no easy task. Steve Vucinich, whose work in the A's home and visiting clubhouses dates back to 1974, contacted a company in Dallas that "I knew could turn it overnight. I told 'em not to wait for MLB approval; just start the process. We got the initial size we wanted, with stick-on patches so they wouldn't have to be sewn on. Around 9 o'clock this morning, they got here."

Neshek was stunned by the gesture. "They told me yesterday and I broke down, right in front of everybody," he said. "I thought that was really, really special. These guys, they've been so awesome. I don't think I could have come back (this soon) without all the messages, tweets and texts they sent me."

There was no doubt in Neshek's mind that he'd be at least available to pitch. Melvin was completely on board, but when the call went out for the right-handed reliever with one out in the seventh inning, no one knew what to expect - especially the man himself.

"They say when you get on the baseball field, you block everything else out, but I was thinking about him the whole time," he said. "I just kinda grabbed the ball and threw it. I didn't really know what was happening - it sort of did itself. It sounds so cliché, but I felt like I had someone looking down on me."

Neshek stood calmly in his street clothes amid a large group of reporters, lucid and forthright despite the mist in his eyes. He chuckled nervously at times, a wry brand of levity to help maintain his composure. And when all those writers and TV people were done, Neshek patiently accommodated a fresh wave of humanity. Throughout the clubhouse, teammates could only shake their heads in admiration.

"What he's been through, no one should have to experience that," said Brandon Moss. "I can't even imagine his feelings. I wouldn't want to. The way he came out and pitched, and kept his emotions in check, shows a lot about the man he is."

Working in relief of Jarrod Parker with one out and runners on first and second, Neshek got Omar Infante to hit into a forceout, with a runner advancing to third. Then he ended the inning by throwing a textbook breaking pitch for a swinging third strike on Austin Jackson - "probably the best slider I've had all year," he said in amazement.

Neshek was breathing hard, like a man who'd just finished the 800 meters, as he jogged off the field. Jonny Gomes, the team's heart and soul, was the first to greet him on the dugout steps. Neshek tapped the "GJN" patch on his sleeve and tried to keep it together.

"It looked like he was about to cry," said Vince Cotroneo of the A's radio broadcast crew. "Just like the rest of us."

The rest of the game seemed little more than an afterthought. Verlander left after seven innings of utter mastery, his 11 strikeouts including three on 88-mph changeups and eight with his four-seam fastball, darting wickedly away from the left-handed hitters, in the 96-99 mph range.

"I got maybe one pitch from him over the middle of the plate," said Moss, who fanned three times. "He painted the outside corner of the plate with every pitch he had, all night. Oh, my gosh. But that's who he is. You just have to go out there and hope he's not having a good night. Maybe something happens, like it's too cold and he can't find his sleeves."

In the clubhouse aftermath, Verlander and the Tigers got the usual lame questions about "how important" it was to win the opener. Of course, it was important. The series could just as easily take a 180-degree turn in Game 2. Something concrete was learned in the A's clubhouse, though, something they won't soon forget. There are many levels of triumph.

Bruce Jenkins is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. E-mail: bjenkins@sfchronicle.com

Summary: The pitcher's mound became a theater Saturday night as the A's began their playoff run.  The performances spoke of virtuosity and dominance, offset by anxiety and courage.  Pat Neshek was a veritable meteor in comparison, his path burning indelible impressions in the mind.  What the A's lost to Verlander and the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the Division Series, by a score of 3-1, they gained from the resolve of their teammate.  Melvin was completely on board, but when the call went out for the right-handed reliever with one out in the seventh inning, no one knew what to expect - especially the man himself.  [...] when all those writers and TV people were done, Neshek patiently accommodated a fresh wave of humanity.  Working in relief of Jarrod Parker with one out and runners on first and second, Neshek got Omar Infante to hit into a forceout, with a runner advancing to third.  [...] he ended the inning by throwing a textbook breaking pitch for a swinging third strike on Austin Jackson - "probably the best slider I've had all year," he said in amazement.  Verlander left after seven innings of utter mastery, his 11 strikeouts including three on 88-mph changeups and eight with his four-seam fastball, darting wickedly away from the left-handed hitters, in the 96-99 mph range.


SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt | Tue Jul 1, 2008 6:06pm EDT

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - The African Union called on Tuesday for a national unity government in Zimbabwe after the widely condemned re-election of President Robert Mugabe in a violent poll ruled unfair by monitors.

A summit of the pan-African body, which had been divided over what to do about Zimbabwe, adopted a resolution calling for Mugabe to enter negotiations with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who withdrew from the election because of violence.

The resolution fell short of the much tougher statement wanted by some African nations but it was a rare AU intervention in an internal political dispute and an unprecedented rebuff to Mugabe, previously feted as a liberation hero.

Before the two-day summit ended, Zimbabwe's neighbor Botswana called for Mugabe to be barred from both the AU and southern African regional body SADC.

It was the toughest public statement from one of Zimbabwe's neighbors since Mugabe was sworn in on Sunday following a one-candidate election condemned by monitors and much of world opinion as violent and unfair.

"In our considered view... the representatives of the current government in Zimbabwe should be excluded from attending SADC (Southern African Development Community) and African Union meetings," Botswana Vice President Mompati Merafhe said, according to a text of his remarks.

Botswana said Mugabe's participation in African meetings "would give unqualified legitimacy to a process which cannot be considered legitimate." It said the government and opposition must be treated as equal in any mediation.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has also called for Mugabe, 84, to be suspended from the AU after an election which extended the veteran leader's 28-year rule.

European Union president France said the EU would only accept a Zimbabwean government led by Tsvangirai, echoing a Western position that Mugabe was now an illegitimate leader.

Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in the first round of the election on March 29 but withdrew from the runoff after he said pro-government militias killed 86 of his supporters.

The summit in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh was dominated by a deepening political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, whose once prosperous economy is racked by the world's highest rate of inflation, food and fuel shortages and 80 percent unemployment.

The Botswana statement underlined the deep rifts both within Africa as a whole and among Zimbabwe's neighbors over how tough to be with Mugabe. The summit overran by several hours because of the attempt to reach consensus on the issue.

Regional power South Africa, the designated mediator in Zimbabwe, has resisted open condemnation. The summit called for SADC mediation, which has been led by President Thabo Mbeki, to continue.

Mbeki is under criticism in the region and at home for what is seen as ineffective mediation that favors Mugabe.

Mugabe made a long address to the final session of the summit in which he attacked his critics both in Africa and outside but did not object to the resolution, Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told reporters.

"There was a lengthy debate, many views were put forward including very critical views of the Zimbabwean ruling party and the president," Zaki said.

Summit delegates said earlier the leaders were divided between those who wanted a strong statement about Zimbabwe and others who were reluctant to publicly censure Mugabe.

The adopted resolution was submitted by a security troika of SADC comprising Tanzania, Swaziland and Angola, which had called for the vote to be postponed.

Negotiations look like being difficult despite the pressure from the summit, which called on the two sides to refrain from action that "may negatively impact on the climate of dialogue.".

Mugabe spokesman George Charamba earlier rejected ideas being floated for a Kenyan-style power-sharing deal and MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti, who was jailed for two weeks before the vote, said there was no chance of negotiations.

Biti said Mugabe's decision to go ahead with the June 27 election "totally and completely exterminated any prospects of a negotiated settlement."

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the party would respond to the AU resolution on Wednesday.

The resolution said summit leaders were deeply concerned by the situation, but were convinced the Zimbabwean people "will be able to resolve their differences and work together once again as one nation, provided they receive undivided support from SADC, the AU and the world at large."

In a sign of the depth of divisions, Charamba accused Odinga -- who has called for Mugabe to be expelled from the AU -- of having bloodstained hands from the crisis in his country, in which 1,500 people died earlier this year.

"Odinga's hands drip with blood, raw African blood. And that blood is not going to be cleansed by any amount of abuse of Zimbabwe. Not at all," he told reporters.

Odinga joined a power-sharing government with President Mwai Kibaki under an AU-backed deal to end the Kenya crisis.

Tsvangirai left the Dutch embassy in Harare on Tuesday after taking refuge for more than a week, the Dutch government said.

As expected, the summit did not back a U.S. push for United Nations sanctions against Mugabe, including an arms embargo.

So far only Western powers have imposed financial and travel sanctions against the Zimbabwean leader and his top officials.

(For further stories on Zimbabwe please click)

(Additional reporting by Cynthia Johnston and Daniel Wallis in Sharm el-Sheikh, Nelson Banya and MacDonald Dzirutwe in Harare,

Marius Bosch in Johannesburg; Writing by Barry Moody; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)


Long missing from the biotech and high-tech map of the region, Holyoke is finally finding an advantage in its location on the western end of the Massachusetts Turnpike: It’s much faster to reach than some of the most connected places on the Internet.

Beginning this summer, life-sciences companies in the Boston area will be able to send troves of data to a new state-affiliated computing facility in Holyoke in a fraction of the time it would take to ship it to a commercial data center. Located at the new Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center, the life-sciences facility could lead to breakthrough drugs and other products by making it easier, faster, and even cheaper for companies to investigate leads involving large amounts of data.

That should encourage smaller operations “to try things that might fail more,” said Paul Brown, chief architect of the start-up Paradigm4, which developed a key database used in one of the nation’s largest genome projects. “Firms are going to be prepared to do things with much higher potential payoff but lower chance of success.”

The $4.5 million life-sciences computing cluster was funded by a state grant and will be installed at the Holyoke center this summer. The initiative aims to give life-sciences efforts better access to cloud computing — or the use of multiple powerful computers simultaneously to crunch data too complex for a single computer. These very large datasets, including things like genome sequences and other life-science data, are known as Big Data.

Cloud computing is available through commercial vendors such as Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc, but using them can be both costly and too slow. Just getting Big Data to computing clusters powerful enough to analyze it can be an elaborate ordeal that can take days. The size of such files can easily overwhelm the computer networks and Internet connections of most small companies, and there are bottlenecks and traffic jams along the way that further slow down delivery.

Indeed, Internet transmission can be so slow that it is quicker for companies to ship or drive their data to a computing center.

“The fastest way to get a large puddle of data from New York to LA is called the sneakernet,” Brown said. “You get a graduate student, you buy him a bus ticket, and you send it that way.”

But the life-sciences cluster in Holyoke has access to dedicated 10-gigabit-per-second fiber- optic lines that can make shipping a huge amount of data from Boston a breeze. One terabyte store of data — about 1 million average-size photos — can take a mere 15 or 20 minutes to travel from one of the universities in Greater Boston participating in the project to Holyoke; using the typical connections available to small businesses, a similar shipment could take days or weeks.

“It’s like having a new Highway 90, but for data,” said Christopher Hill of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the principal investigator for the project. “It’s a new virtual highway from all these universities to this facility in Holyoke.”

The one catch is that the super-fast link is between the Holyoke facility and the five schools involved in the project: MIT, the University of Massachusetts, Harvard University, Northeastern University, and Boston University. Companies that want to send data to Holyoke would still have to get it to the schools first for high-speed transit.

Another feature of the project is that it should be cheaper for companies to use the Holyoke computers over a commercial cloud center, because the life-sciences cluster is funded by the state and its maintenance costs are underwritten by the five-university consortium.

“The data is local. You don’t have to move it up into some storage cloud, buy the storage cloud from a provider, like Google or Amazon, then compute it. This is in our backyard. It’s easy to consume, and it’s cost-effective,” said chief health care strategist David Dimond of EMC Corp., the Hopkinton-based computer storage giant.

EMC is one of a number of heavyweight business partners backing the venture; others include IBM Corp., AstraZeneca PLC, Pfizer Inc., Merck & Co., and Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc. Officials from those companies are helping in the design of the center and will probably collaborate with experts from the universities to use the center’s resources. Through such collaborations, industry researchers will be able to “peek inside” the computers as they churn through problems, said Prashant Shenoy of the University of Massachusetts, an investigator on the project.

“Because we own the machines, we can get a much deeper idea of how researchers are using the machines than if they used the commercial cloud,” he said.

One enterprise that expects to use the Holyoke computer cluster is hack/reduce, a Cambridge nonprofit that helps companies with Big Data challenges and hosts hack-a-thons at its Kendall Square offices. Hack/reduce expects to use the Holyoke cluster to run frequent public computing challenges on life-sciences projects.

Its founder, Chris Lynch, said those sessions will help the Holyoke center build a bridge to the entrepreneurial community in Boston and Cambridge.

“It’s really providing a platform for engagement,” Lynch said.

The end goal of the life-sciences cluster, said the director of the Holyoke center, John Goodhue, is to promote collaborative research between companies and academics in genomics and related fields, with an eventual aim of developing diagnoses and treatments that are specific or unique to each patient or illness. For example, being able to distinguish the genetic fingerprint of one cancer tumor from another may allow researchers to develop singular treatments for each patient.

The Holyoke cluster is also expected to help small and big companies alike tackle problems not well suited to the commercial cloud, said John Reynders, the head of AstraZeneca’s informatics research and development.

Some problems can easily be split into parts that run on separate computers. Other challenges can’t be split easily, because the sets of computers performing different tasks need to constantly interact with one another as they puzzle through the data. That’s something the Holyoke facility can do, but a commercial cloud operator cannot, Reynders said.

For example, scientists might be searching for a common biomarker among Alzheimer’s patients who have responded well to a single medication, which requires sophisticated analysis across multiple data sets.

“You have to bring together imaging data, genetic data, clinical data, proteomic data,” Reynders said. “That’s the kind of puzzle we see the platform . . . being able to help us crack.”

AstraZeneca is among the big companies that expect to take advantage of their proximity to the Holyoke facility for experiments with Big Data.

“Certainly having an environment like Holyoke —that’s going to allow us to tackle very challenging computational and data-centric problems in life sciences — that’s something very exciting for us,” said Reynders.

Summary: Beginning this summer, life sciences companies in the Boston area will be able to send huge troves of data to a new state funded, university-run computing facility in Holyoke at a fraction of the time it would take to ship it off to a commercial data center.The life-sciences facility could lead to breakthrough drugs and other products by making it easier, faster and even cheaper for local companies to investigate new leads involving large amounts of data. That should encourage smaller firms to “to try things that might fail more,” said Paul Brown, Chief Technical Officer of the start-up Paradigm4, which developed a key genome database. “Firms are going to be prepared to do things with much higher potential payoff, but lower chance of success.”


A delivery truck driver died Monday when he was crushed by steel rebar he was unloading at the 49ers stadium construction site in Santa Clara, the second worker fatality there in four months, authorities said.

Edward Lake II, a 60-year-old Vacaville resident who was engaged to be married, died at a hospital shortly after the 6:30 a.m. incident, said Turner-Devcon, the general contractor for the stadium project.

As state and local agencies began investigating the accident, the contractor shut down the job site for the day, but said later that workers had been cleared to return Tuesday, at which time they would take part in safety meetings and be offered counseling.

Jonathan Harvey, a co-director of the project for Turner-Devcon, said workers were devastated.

"I think at first it was shock, but then it was - it's tragic," he said. "We had a fellow co-worker lose their life, and I think that sank in really quick. It's pretty emotional. It's a little banged up in there."

The $1.2 billion stadium, to be called Levi's Stadium, is being readied to open for the 2014 season.

Peter Melton, a spokesman for Cal/OSHA, the state agency that investigates workplace deaths and injuries, said Lake died "when a bundle of rebar he was unloading fell on him."

Lake was an employee of Gerdau, a multinational steel company headquartered in Tampa, Fla. In a statement, Gerdau officials said he worked out of Napa Reinforcing Steel, one of two Bay Area locations where the company fabricates rebar.

"We extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends," the statement said.

Lake, who was the father of a grown daughter, had been retired. But he was "bored" sitting at home and decided to go back to work in recent months, said neighbor Laura Graves, 36. That meant leaving home at 4 a.m., but he never complained, she said.

"We were just talking a couple of days ago," Graves said. "He was telling me how much he loved his job."

She described Lake as a "very kind and loving person" who would do "anything for anybody at any point in time." Her voice broke as she described Lake as "like a dad to me," dispensing advice on life.

His death is "hard to believe," she said. "It's still sinking in."

Records show a division of the steel company, Gerdau Reinforcing Steel West of San Diego, was cited for an unspecified violation this year by regulators, who sought to fine Gerdau. The citation related to a job in Rohnert Park.

Turner-Devcon of San Jose is a joint venture between Turner Construction Co. of New York and Devcon Construction Inc. of Milpitas. The venture has no history of Cal/OSHA violations, and the agency last conducted a planned inspection of the firm in 2004.

The 49ers, in their own statement, said, "Our sincerest thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and co-workers affected by this tragedy."

The death came three days after California regulators concluded that an earlier fatality at the site was an unexplained accident that did not merit sanctions for the companies involved.

Donald White, 63, died June 11 after he was hit with an elevator counterweight while on a ladder at the bottom of a shaft.

"We are not going to cite them for that," Melton said Monday. "It appears the deceased knew the elevator was in motion - he was an experienced mechanic - and for whatever reason he stayed where he was."

Melton said White had been in communication with another worker operating the elevator - and, in fact, had sent the worker up in the elevator to retrieve a tool.

The state agency investigated the role of the elevator construction company, Schindler Elevator Corp. of San Leandro, and Turner-Devcon.

The victim's son, Cody White, 32, of Redwood City, said his father had spent 43 years in the elevator construction trade. He said the death is as much a mystery now as when it happened.

"It doesn't make any sense," Cody White said. "Why would he be there? He (knew) where to be and where not to be."

He said his father had told him that crews at the Levi's Stadium site were working hard to meet construction deadlines.

"When you are trying to rush a stadium so quick, accidents will happen," Cody White said. "One thing my dad told me is that everyone was working hard out there. He said, 'Everybody is out there busting his ass to finish their job.'

"When you rush out there, of course, somebody is going to get hurt."

Henry K. Lee and Jaxon Van Derbeken are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com, jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee, @jvanderbeken

Summary: A delivery truck driver died Monday when he was crushed by steel rebar he was unloading at the 49ers stadium construction site in Santa Clara, the second worker fatality there in four months, authorities said.  Edward Lake II, a 60-year-old Vacaville resident who was engaged to be married, died at a hospital shortly after the 6:30 a.m. incident, said Turner-Devcon, the general contractor for the stadium project.  Bundle of rebarPeter Melton, a spokesman for Cal/OSHA, the state agency that investigates workplace deaths and injuries, said Lake died "when a bundle of rebar he was unloading fell on him."  In a statement, Gerdau officials said he worked out of Napa Reinforcing Steel, one of two Bay Area locations where the company fabricates rebar.  Records show a division of the steel company, Gerdau Reinforcing Steel West of San Diego, was cited for an unspecified violation this year by regulators, who sought to fine Gerdau.  The 49ers, in their own statement, said, "Our sincerest thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and co-workers affected by this tragedy."  The death came three days after California regulators concluded that an earlier fatality at the site was an unexplained accident that did not merit sanctions for the companies involved.  The state agency investigated the role of the elevator construction company, Schindler Elevator Corp. of San Leandro, and Turner-Devcon.


Local comic E.J. Murphy is a graybeard when it comes to the Boston Comedy Festival’s stand-up competition. When he picks up the microphone to enter the fray Sunday night at the Davis Square Theatre, competing in a field of 96 comedians of wildly varying backgrounds and experience, he will have appeared in 10 editions of the contest.

“It’s a no-brainer to do it, because only good things can happen and it’s local for me,” says Murphy. The 41-year-old Vermont native already headlines occasionally around New England and appeared on the second stage at the Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival, featuring Dave Chappelle, in September. But the career of a stand-up comedian is a matter of breaks both big and small, and the Boston Comedy Festival competition, which features judges from various sectors of the industry, has the potential to offer both.

“You want to hit the ball out of the ballpark, and you’d [love] to have somebody from ‘Conan,’ any major late-night TV show, or Jimmy Fallon’s producers to see you,” says Murphy. “That would be a dream come true. But to me, it’s all worth it if you can network a little bit and maybe push yourself a little forward.”

The competition is only one part of the festival, now in its 14th year. Nationally known comics including Andy Kindler, Judah Friedlander, and Kevin Meaney as well as local headliners will be performing throughout the week at various venues around Boston. (Go to bostoncomedyfest.com for a complete schedule and ticket information.) The stand-up contest will culminate in a final round Nov. 16 at the Somerville Theatre featuring the last eight comics standing.

The judges in the eight-round preliminaries and four-round semifinals could include a booker from a local or regional club, someone who books cruise lines or military tours, or scouts from television networks. “They each look for different things, because a college agent books a different kind of comedian than a cruise ship [booker] does,” says festival founder Jim McCue. “The talent buyers may see something in one act that is more appropriate to what they’re booking.”

Some comedians get an immediate boost from getting into the semifinals, as Shane Mauss did when he carried a buzz from the Boston Comedy Festival to the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo., his big career break. But the effect is usually more cumulative. “It can’t hurt for somebody to see me do really well,” says 33-year-old Weston native Selena Coppock. “Probably nothing will happen overnight, but maybe down the road they’ll be like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve heard of the girl Selena Coppock here and there.’ Maybe if they’re looking for clients in six months or a year, they’ll think of me. Or if they hear about an opportunity, they’ll think of me.”

Coppock is participating in the contest for the third time, and the festival for the fourth time. Now based in New York, she has been on VH1 and released a book, “The New Rules for Blondes,” under the HarperCollins imprint It Books in April. Those gigs upped her profile, but it takes constant work to sustain a comedy career. “You’ve got to be very prolific and be performing all the time and hope that maybe there are some people in the audience who can make some breaks for you,” she says.

When Robbie Printz won the competition in 2002, he had just moved back to Boston from Los Angeles. It helped remind people he was back in town, and participating in future festivals got him lucrative work on the cruise ship circuit. “The winning just gave me a lot of positive press and gave me a good headline to put on promotional information,” he says. “It’s nice to have winning a competition under your belt.”

There is $10,000 in prize money for the winner, which is a consideration for most of the comedians, though in such a crowded field expectations are tempered. Coppock says the money would be a nice boost, and it might give a comedian some cash to invest in his or her career. “If you want to fly yourself out to do a bunch of gigs in Los Angeles, now you sort of have the cushion to do that and maybe stay there for a couple of weeks,” she says. “For a lot of comedians, it can just make life easier.”

For younger comedians, like 21-year-old Emerson student Jamie Loftus, the competition is more about the experience. “I’m not anticipating a win at all,” she says. “I think if anything it’s a cool chance to do a set in front of people who are more experienced than I am.” To Loftus, a screenwriting and radio major who graduates in December, advancing in the competition would be an opportunity to meet other comedians outside of her college community. “The further you get in this competition, the more people you’re going to meet,” she says. “The more people you meet, the better chance you have to work with them later on. It may be more of a networking thing than the actual title if you keep progressing and you keep talking to people. “

Though she has only been doing comedy for two years, this will be Loftus’s third competition. They have become a norm at festivals, even if that’s uncomfortable for some. Eddie Brill is the former talent booker for “Late Show With David Letterman” and creative director of two comedy festivals — The Great American Comedy Festival and the Woodstock Comedy Festival. He subscribes to the philosophy that artists shouldn’t be in competition with one another. But he knows it’s a way to create a buzz for a festival, so he runs one with the Great American Comedy Festival, but pays all of his comics in the competition the same money.

“I don’t like competitions, but I know audiences love them,” says Brill. “From a business perspective, it’s smart to have a comedy competition.” He says once a comedian is worrying about competition, that comedian has already lost. There are too many variables to worry about — a certain judge may not like a certain style of comedy, or a lesser comedian might have the set of his or her life while a better comedian has an off night. What attracts Brill as a booker is confidence. “The key is that you go in thinking of it as fantastic stage time in a great venue surrounded by like-minded, top-notch comedians,” he says.

Ultimately, the competition is a way to get into the room with people who might be able to help a comedian’s career. They still have to perform, and even winning the competition doesn’t guarantee anyone will pay attention. According to JoAnn Grigioni, vice president of talent at Comedy Central, it’s a nice credit to have, and she doesn’t overlook it, but evaluating talent is a personal job.

“Whether they participated and placed or maybe participated and didn’t place doesn’t ultimately have an effect on my decision,” she says, “because I’m evaluating someone on their own merits and how I feel they fit with the Comedy Central brand for whatever show I happen to be booking.”

Summary: Local comic E.J. Murphy is a graybeard when it comes to the Boston Comedy Festival’s stand-up competition. When he picks up the microphone to enter the fray Sunday night at the Davis Square Theatre, he will have appeared in 10 editions of the contest. The career of a stand-up comedian is a matter of breaks both big and small, and the Boston Comedy Festival competition, which features judges from various sectors of the industry, has the potential to offer both.