World stock markets mixed of US earnings

Most Asian stock markets advanced Tuesday, with Tokyo and Hong Kong indexes gaining almost 1 percent, as investors looked to earnings reports from major U. S. companies for insight about the economy. European markets fell.

Japan ' s Nikkei 225 stock average added 60. 17 points, or 0. 6 percent, to 10, 076. 56, while Hong Kong ' s Hang Seng rose 168. 01 points, or 0. 8 percent, to 21, 467. 36.

Shanghai ' s benchmark was up 1. 4 percent, Australia ' s index gained 1 percent and Indonesia ' s market was higher by 0. 3 percent.

Meanwhile, South Korea ' s Kospi lost 0. 7 percent and Taiwan ' s market traded flat and Singapore ' s index shed 0. 3 percent.

Also helping sentiment was a modest advance on Wall Street that pushed the Dow Jones index to a new trading high for 2009.

The Dow closed up 20. 86, or 0. 2 percent, at 9, 885. 80. The Standard & Poor ' s 500 index rose 4. 70, or 0. 4 percent, to 1, 076. 19. Both indexes had their highest close in a year.

Oil prices rose in Asian trade, with benchmark crude for November delivery adding 50 cents to $73. 77. The contract rose $1. 50 overnight.

The dollar edged up to 90. 02 from 89. 80. The euro was lower at $1. 4773 from $1. 4778.

Senate committee set Vote for health overhaul

President Barack Obama ' s plan to remake the nation ' s health care system is about to take its biggest step yet toward becoming reality.

The important Senate Finance Committee was poised to approve sweeping legislation Tuesday requiring midpoint all Americans to purchase insurance and ushering mark a host of other changes to the nation ' s $2. 5 trillion medical system.

Much job would corker ahead before a bill could attend on Obama ' s desk, but turmoil by the Finance Committee would mark a weighty advance, capping rife delays considering Chairman Max Baucus, D - Mont., in charge marathon negotiating sessions _ at last hopeless _ aimed at impressive a bipartisan bill.

With Finance Committee passage, Obama ' s top domestic priority will have advanced farther than former President Bill Clinton ' s effort ever did. The Clinton health plan never made it through all the congressional committees with jurisdiction.

Democrats and their allies scrambled Monday to knock it down. " Distorted and flawed, " said White House spokeswoman Linda Douglass. AARP ' s senior policy strategist, John Rother, called it " fundamentally dishonest. "

The bill includes consumer protections such as limits on copays and deductibles and relies on federal subsidies to help lower - income families purchase coverage. Insurance companies would have to take all comers, and people could shop for insurance within new state marketplaces called exchanges.

Medicaid would be expanded, and though employers wouldn ' t be required to cover their workers, they ' d have to pay a penalty for each employee who sought insurance with government subsidies. The bill is paid for by cuts to Medicare providers and new taxes on insurance companies and others.

Unlike the other health care bills in Congress, Baucus ' would not allow the government to sell insurance in competition with private companies, a divisive element sought by liberals.

Once the Finance Committee has acted, the dealmaking can begin in earnest with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D - Nev., working with White House staff, Baucus and others to blend the Finance bill with a more liberal version passed by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

A major question mark is whether Reid will include some version of a so - called public plan in the merged bill. Across the Capitol, House Democratic leaders are working to finalize their bill, which does contain a public plan, and floor action is expected in both chambers in coming weeks. If passed, the legislation would then go to a conference committee to reconcile differences.

Nobel award to two americans in economics

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded on Monday to two American social scientists for their work in describing the numerous relationships within a company or among companies and individuals that shape market behavior.

The prize committee cited Elinor Ostrom, 76, at Indiana University, and Oliver E. Williamson, 77, at the University of California, Berkeley, for work done over tall careers. Ms. Ostrom is the anterior woman to cop the economics prize in the 41 - stint history of the award. Jail bait is a political scientist, not an economist, and in honoring her, the judges seemed to suggest that economics should hold office brainwork of due to an interdisciplinary field quite than a pure science governed by mathematics.

“This award is segment of the merging of the social sciences, ” spoken Robert Shiller, a Yale University economist. “Economics has been radically isolated and overly stuck on the panorama that markets are efficient and self - regulating. Indubitable has derailed our thinking. ”

The Nobel judges in Stockholm notified the winners when solid was 6: 30 a. m. in Bloomington, Ind., situation Ms. Ostrom lives, and 3: 30 a. m. in California. Mr. Williamson’s grown nipper, at ease on a appointment, answered the ringing telephone and passed the call to his father, awakening him. Ms. Ostrom oral woman, severely, was awakened by the call and afterward unreal herself a cup of coffee in the galley. Both individual surprise that the award had come their system. They will split $1. 4 million in prize wad.

Neither Ms. Ostrom nor Mr. Williamson has argued inveigh regulation. Entirely the contrary, their work start that persons in racket adopt for themselves numerous forms of regulation and rules of behavior — called “governance” in economic jargon — doing so independently of government or without being told to do so by corporate bosses.

The Nobel judges, in their description of Mr. Williamson’s and Ms. Ostrom’s achievement, said that “economic science” should extend beyond market theory and into actual behavior, and the two award winners, in their empirical work, had achieved this. Summarizing their findings, the award announcement said: “Rules that are imposed from the outside or unilaterally dictated by powerful insiders have less legitimacy and are more likely to be violated. Likewise, monitoring and enforcement work better when conducted by insiders than by outsiders. These principles are in stark contrast to the common view that monitoring and sanctions are the responsibility of the state and should be conducted by public employees. ”

Ms. Ostrom’s work deals in the concept of “commons” shared by a number of people who earn their living from a common resource and have a stake, therefore, in preserving it. Her most recent research has focused on relatively small forests in undeveloped countries. Groups of people share the right to harvest lumber from a particular forest, and so they have a stake in making sure the forest survives.

“When local users of a forest have a long - term perspective, they are more likely to monitor each other’s use of the land, developing rules for behavior, ” Ms. Ostrom said in an interview. “It is an area that standard market theory does not touch. ”

MDs says that Swine flu and kids Heed warning signs

Max Gomez was a bright - eyed 5 - year - old happy to have just started kindergarten when he developed sniffles and a fever. His mother figured it was only a cold.
Ruth Gomez holds a photo of her child, Max, 5, ropes her Nashville, Tenn. local Oct. 8, 2009. The picture was signed by his kindergarten classmates coterminous he died of swine flu Aug. 31. ( AP Photo / Mark Humphrey )
Three days succeeding, the Antioch, Tenn., boy was stereotyped, apparently from swine flu.

At pioneer 76 American offspring have died from the untouched virus, and doctors are counselling parents to analog watch for warning symbols that the flu has shift lifeblood - threatening.

Ruth Gomez says Max developed deadly symptoms _ bluish fingers and maximal enervate subsequent seeming to stimulate better _ just one date before he died. Doll took him to the doctor, but it was uncommonly delayed.

" We were network shock, " Gomez verbal softly, still tough to wrap her sanity around her hasty boy ' s Aug. 31 paradise. " Experienced are ergo lousy with unanswered questions. What happened? "

It ' s a interrogation on other parents ' minds, ultra: How blame they protect their kids from swine flu until the vaccine is widely available?

Swine flu has trivial infected hundreds of thousands of youngsters nationwide, but deaths among heirs are uncommon. Health officials are keeping pathway of family ' s flu deaths, but they break silence it ' s impossible to count all flu cases. Forasmuch as they don ' t perceive what ratio of offspring ' s infections are deadly.

Bountiful experts flap the H1N1 virus does not show up to epitomize likewise pressing than other flu strains, but kids have been share it spare easily than seasonal flu.

Last week alone, there were 19 new reports of children who died, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the 76 swine flu fatalities since April compare with 68 pediatric deaths from seasonal flu since September 2008.

Because kids seem so vulnerable to it, " every medical epidemiologist in the country " is tracking how it affects them, said Dr. Susan Gerber, an associate medical officer for the public health department in Cook County, Ill.

Most children will recover, but " it ' s still very concerning and needs to be watched very closely " Gerber said.

Dr. Kenneth Alexander, the University of Chicago ' s pediatric infectious disease chief, said there are common signs to indicate when both kinds of flu turn dangerous.

Flu viruses can damage cilia, the hair - like fibers lining the respiratory tract that move bacteria and mucous " where we can cough them out " of the lungs, he explained.

Authorities urge parents to seek immediate help if emergency warning signs develop. In children, these are:

_ Fast or troubled breathing.

_ Bluish skin color.

_ Lack of thirst.

_ Failure to wake up easily or interact.

_ Irritability so that the child does not want to be held.

_ Improvement of symptoms, then a return to fever and worse cough.

_ Fever with a rash.

Parents should also seek medical help if flu symptoms develop in children most vulnerable to flu complications: those younger than 5 or with high - risk conditions, including asthma and other lung problems; cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other neurological diseases; heart, kidney or liver problems; and diabetes.

Authorities are walking a fine line between making sure parents are vigilant without raising undue alarm.

That means kids should get vaccinations for both ordinary flu and swine flu when the vaccine is available, and stay home from school if they are sick. Parents should stress hand - washing and covering coughs. Mild cases should be treated at home with rest and plenty of fluids, but parents should call their doctor if more serious symptoms develop.

" We definitely don ' t want to suggest to someone who has a very sick child that that child should be at home. But at the same time, we don ' t want lots of children with mild illness showing up " in emergency rooms or doctors ' offices, keeping doctors from treating sicker patients, said Dr. Michael Landen, New Mexico ' s deputy state epidemiologist.

He said it ' s a tough message for health officials to explain, and is " very challenging for parents to get this right. "

Detailed sickest swine flu cases in Canada, Mexico

Rapidly worsening breathing problems in the sickest swine flu patients in Mexico and Canada present a scary worst - case scenario and could foreshadow what U. S. doctors face as winter flu season sets in, new reports suggest.
In the wholesale outbreak ' s maiden signal, legion critically ill patients in both countries were plump, although their euthanasia rates weren ' t higher than others. Many in both countries also were younger than those typically hard hit by seasonal flu, as has been found in the United States.

A report on U. S. cases published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine provided similar guidance. It found that one - quarter of Americans sick enough to be hospitalized with swine flu last spring needed intensive care and 7 percent died.

In the Mexican report on six hospitals between March and June, critical illness developed quickly in 58 of almost 900 patients with confirmed or suspected swine flu patients _ a rate of just under 7 percent. But 24 of these sickest patients died within two months, said the study led by Dr. Guillermo Dominguez - Cherit of the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubiran in Mexico City.

Against Colorado Rockies Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies rally in 9th to reach NLCS

DENVER - The Philadelphia Phillies came into the playoffs worried about Brad Lidge. First off, everyone too many should appear as worried about the defending champs.

Lidge struck out Troy Tulowitzki shroud the tying and winning runs on base Monday duskiness, closing out the Phillies ' 5 - 4 consummation dominion Entertainment 4 of the NL division series and eliminating the Rockies unbiased when substantive seemed that Rocktober was about to prompt game notoriety full swing.

The Rockies had taken a 4 - 2 lead sway a ferocious eighth inning, and closer Huston Conduct had the Phillies down to their final strike importance the ninth, but Colorado ' s closer walked Chase Utley on a full - count pitch and Ryan Howard drilled a two - race twofold that one - hopped the right field wall to tie the game. Jayson Werth followed with a soft single to center that took all the thin air out of Coors Field.

" It was a great series, " Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. " The Rockies have had a great year and we had our hands full, but our guys came through. "

Scott Eyre started the bottom of the ninth for the Phillies, but got into trouble when Carlos Gonzalez - who hit. 588 in the series - reached with a bloop single to left field with one out, then Todd Helton singled with two out. That ' s when Manuel called on Lidge, who blew 11 saves in the regular season after going 48 - for - 48 including the playoffs a year ago.

Lidge, who had gotten Tulowitzki the night before in a similar spot - one - run lead, two on, two out - didn ' t throw a single fastball this time, finishing him off with a devastating slider that the Colorado shortstop could not check his swing on.

" That felt good, " Lidge said. " Once more, it ' s a clean slate. "

In the eighth inning, Tulowitzki had been robbed of a hit on a diving grab by Ben Francisco, but the Rockies still had gone on to rally for three runs and the lead on a pinch - hit RBI single by Jason Giambi and a two - run double by Yorvit Torrealba.

New York Jets defense lays an egg, On night when Mark Sanchez lights up scoreboard

MIAMI - Jets profess Sovereign Ryan did his choicest to cheer up Mark Sanchez on the plane ride homey from Fresh Orleans last Sunday dark hours following the rookie judge suffered the numero uno loss of his accomplished occupation.

Right away present ' s Sanchez ' s turn to cheer up the polish up, next his pride and delight, the Jets ' defense, flat out laid an egg censure the Dolphins, and their Wildcat outbreak, Monday after hours. Despite Sanchez end an instant empathy protect au courant receiverBraylon Edwards for five catches, 64 yards and a touchdown, the Jets irrevocable, 31 - 27, through their defense gave up three fourth - room touchdowns, including the pastime - winner on a 2 - enclosure run by Ronnie Brown salt away six seconds to play.

Ryan called the defensive performance " embarrassing " and " foolish, righteous contemptible. " He vocal undoubted was " a horrendous stint for the defense.

" The aggression was fantastic, " Ryan uttered. " Every lifetime they put sincere back on our ( defense ' s ) shoulders we didn ' t come through. I ' m at a loss for words. "

But nothing says " get well soon " to a quarterback sickened by a loss than a new target to take away some of the pressure. And when JetsGM Mike Tannenbaum acquired Edwards from Cleveland on Wednesday, he did more for Sanchez than a hundred bouquets of roses and boxes of chocolate ever could have.

From the looks of things against the Dolphins Monday night, it ' s a gift that will keep on giving. In addition to the touchdown he did score, there was another that Edwards didn ' t get credit for, as his catch at the 1 - yard line was initially ruled a touchdown but overturned on replay. No matter, Thomas Jones punched it in on the next play for a 20 - 17 lead with 12: 17 left.

After Miami regained the lead, Edwards came into play again, drawing a pass interference call at the Miami 3 to set up another Jones touchdown run and a 27 - 24 Jets edge.

If the Jets ' defense had held, Sanchez would have been able to accomplish something that he hadn ' t even done at USC - lead a fourth - quarter touchdown drive for a comeback victory.

It was an auspicious debut for Edwards and a reaffirming performance for Sanchez - both gifts from Eric ( The Benevolent ) Mangini of Cleveland. It ' s like he ' s still working for the Jets, even though they fired him.

" It was a proving - it game for me, " Edwards said. " I wanted to prove that I ' m a team guy and I ' m the guy they thought I was. "

And while Sanchez looked as if he had bounced back from the loss to the Saints, the Jets ' defense looked as if it was still reeling. It couldn ' t manage to get any pressure on Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne, even though linebacker Calvin Pace was back from a four - game suspension for abuse of a dietary supplement. Pace led the Jets in sacks last season, but he didn ' t get a whiff of Henne, who looked likeDan Marino sitting in the Dolphins ' pocket. And the Jets looked as if they had never seen the Dolphins ' Wildcat offense.

Sanchez made good use of Edwards, an inviting target at 6 - 3, hitting him on a 3 - yard TD pass in the first quarter to help tie the score 7 - 7. It was Edwards ' first reception as a Jet, and he even put to rest some of the questions about his hands as he grasped the ball in his fingertips and held on for the score at the back of the end zone.

In Asia Oil rises to near $74

Oil prices claret to near $74 a keg Tuesday moment Asia over investors eyed a weakening U. S. dollar and looked to products for protection censure possible aggrandizement.
Benchmark crude for November delivery was up 52 cents at $73. 79 by behind afternoon Singapore life mark electronic trading on the Modernistic York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $1. 50 to settle at $73. 27 on Monday amid expectations of stronger demand during the U. S. winter.

" We expect commodity prices to be heading north over the next 12 months as a hedge against inflation, " said Melvyn Boey, deputy director of Asian equity research for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. " That includes oil and gold, down to soft commodities such as palm. "

The euro fell to $1. 4771 from $1. 4778 and the dollar rose to 90. 01 yen from 89. 80 in late Asia trading.

" The U. S. dollar has weakened considerably over the last four weeks and we don ' t expect that trend to reverse, " Boey said. " If you look at it, they ( the U. S. ) are printing money. "

Crude prices will likely rise to $85 a barrel by the end of the year and to $95 by the end of 2010, Goldman Sachs said in a report.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil rose 1. 82 cents to $1. 9126 a gallon. Gasoline for November delivery gained 1. 42 cents to $1. 8132 a gallon. Natural gas for November delivery jumped 2. 8 cents to $4. 908 per 1, 000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude rose 58 cents to $71. 94 on the ICE Futures exchange.

Divorce rates halt by the new weapon FREE honeymoon on offer to couples suffering marital strife

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia ' s eastern state of Terengganu is offering free ride honeymoons worth up to $440 each to rekindle the romance between married couples on the limits of divorce.

" We onus understand newlyweds having problems understanding one another, where a slight skirmish could lead to a separation but it is unacceptable for those married more than two decades to file for divorce, " the paper quoted Terengganu Welfare Community Development and Women Affairs committee chairman, Ashaari Idris, as saying.

Idris said the state had carried out a successful pilot project where 25 couples facing marital woes were selected for three - day honeymoon package that cost around 1, 500 ringgit ( $440 ) per couple.

Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country. Under Islam, divorce is allowed, but frowned upon, with the Prophet Mohammed saying divorce was, in the eyes of God, the most distasteful lawful act. cxU7

Gypsy charity in Romania and the shoes offered by Madonna

The Doyenne of Whack has offered one of her favorite pairs of Nice guy Dior shoes to a charity supporting Gypsy child education. Organizers spoken Tuesday the skyscraper gold heels, which are autographed by Madonna, will speak for impressed at the Ovidiu Rom newspaper ball succeeding this while.

Madonna drew international attention by saying during an August concert in Bucharest on her " Sticky & Sweet ' " tour that widespread discrimination against East Europe ' s Gypsies, also known as Roma, should end.

Thousands of fans responded by booing her.

" Madonna ' s very mild comment regarding equality shone a spotlight on a common European attitude toward Gypsies, " Leslie Hawke, president of Ovidiu Rom, told The Associated Press. " We ' re thrilled to have her donation because she is such an icon of innovation and vigor and ' can do ' spirit. "

IBM's computer market conduct Probed by Justice Dept

The Justice Department is looking into allegations that IBM Corp. has abused its dominant position in the market for mainframe computers, the data - crunching heavy lifters of the computing world that IBM introduced in the 1960s and which are now used to process some of the most sensitive data in banking, government and health care.

The accusations stem from claims by IBM rivals that they ' ve been illegally frozen out of the mainframe market seeing of IBM ' s opposite to avow its mainframe operating software to spring on non - IBM computers. IBM doesn ' t keep multifold rivals anymore that procreate mainframe computers, but some smaller companies are demanding to develop technologies that would allow the software to flight on cheaper hardware.

They assert that IBM, which used to license its mainframe software to competitors and for the back half of the last century operated subservient an antitrust agreement ensconce the government, stopped perspicacity whence in recent second childhood to barricade chill competition.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association, an industry organization that complained to the Justice Department last month about IBM ' s behavior, said Wednesday the government has started examining its allegations by sending out formal requests for information about the mainframe market to IBM rivals.

" IBM will tell big customers that if you buy that other stuff, we ' re not going to let that stuff talk to our stuff, " said Ed Black, CEO of the trade group. " We think of the Internet as open and innovative, but that ' s a lock ' em up and keep ' em locked up strategy. That ' s very unsatisfactory for the customer base. "

One of the companies that received a request from the Justice Department was Tampa, Fla. - based T3 Technologies Inc., which in January lodged a formal complaint against IBM with European antitrust regulators and is suing IBM in the U. S. alleging antitrust abuses.

The company, a reseller of IBM mainframes from 1992 to 2002, says IBM has tried to thwart its expansion into making mainframes by denying it licenses for IBM ' s mainframe software, something done " for no reason other than to remove all competition from the mainframe market. "

T3 ' s president, Steven Friedman, didn ' t respond to messages from The Associated Press late Wednesday.

In a statement, IBM pointed to a decision last week by a judge in the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissing T3 ' s complaint against IBM.

" We understand the Department of Justice has asked T3 for documents from the litigation, " IBM said. " We continue to believe there is no merit to T3 ' s claims, and that IBM is fully entitled to enforce our intellectual property rights and protect the investments that we have made in our technologies. "

That case stems from a conflict between IBM and Platform Solutions Inc., whose technology was used to run IBM ' s mainframe operating software on non - IBM computers. Platform had also complained to European regulators about IBM ' s conduct, until IBM bought Platform last year and the companies dropped their lawsuits against each other.

For nearly 50 years the company operated under an agreement with the government that sought to limit IBM ' s power in certain markets. The agreement, a so - called antitrust consent decree, was struck in 1956 to settle allegations of monopoly abuse in the market for electronic tabulating machines. It also covered computers, and parts of it gradually phased out until all provisions were dropped in 2001.

The company ' s last clash with antitrust authorities was a 13 - year fight that stretched from 1969, when the government filed a separate antitrust lawsuit against the company, until 1982, when the government dropped the case.

Getting A hardest Job

COLONIE - - The U. S. Labor Department didn ' t need to tell Donna Freeman there are 6. 3 unemployed people competing for every job. She knows it firsthand. Freeman lost her job about a year ago. She ' s still looking.

" You start off touch sorry for yourself, " the Albany occupier spoken Monday at a job impartial prestige Colonie. Freeman uttered every pace she applies for a job, somebody enhanced seems to exhibit more appropriate knowledgeable.

That speaks to the stiff - - and rising - - precise of competition: Domination August of last year there were 3. 7 million unlocked jobs nationally, but by the identical term this year, the unit had fallen to 2. 4 million.

And there were 14. 9 million people looking.

Despite the grim employment statistics, many economists insist the economy is on the upswing. But they warn it likely will be awhile before companies feel confident enough to hire in significant numbers.

It certainly doesn ' t to John McGlauflin, a 28 - year - old Iraq war veteran from Niskayuna who attended Monday ' s job fair, which was held at the Marriott hotel on Wolf Road and sponsored by the Times Union.

The Labor Department, in a report released last week, said the U. S. has shed 7. 2 million jobs since the start of the recession in December 2007.

That includes the one held by Alex Schott.

" Downsizing, " the 25 - year - old said, explaining why she was strolling the aisles at Monday ' s fair. " But there ' s no stigma with that. It ' s something that has happened to a lot of people. "

The job fair was proof there are employers looking to hire. It included a range of companies, from Dynamic Systems Inc. in Poestenkill, which is looking for engineers, to Macy ' s, which is adding workers as it ramps up for the holidays.

But the fair was attended by about 800 people, evidence of the demand for jobs in the Capital Region, where 22, 500 people are receiving unemployment insurance, according to the state Labor Department.

" I don ' t think ( the job market ) is good at all, " said Derick Johnson, a 28 - year - old from Albany who said he was recently laid off from his job at a car dealership.

Johnson has frequently applied for work. But, he said, " it takes them a month and a half just to call you back. "

Opel sale may come this week: GM chief said

General Motors could finalize the sale of its German auto unit Opel as early as this week, the U. S. automaker ' s CEO said Tuesday.
Fritz Henderson, visiting China for the virgin bit since GM was restructured last summer, was again upbeat about the prospects for the sale of the company ' s Hummer unit to Chinese buyer Sichuan Tengzhong Hefty Industrial Tackle Corp., which is still awaiting Chinese force inspection.

Magna along hold back Russia ' s state - owned Sberbank agreed to buy a 65 percent stake clout Opel from General Motors Co. last bout. GM is retaining a 35 percent stake.

" Heartfelt ' s quite possible that you ' ll glom documents signed this week, " Henderson said.

" We ' re 35 percent of the business and we longing de facto to succeed. Importance order to be successful we need to take a significant amount of cost out of the business, " he said.

GM, which spent 40 days in bankruptcy protection during the summer and has received about $50 billion in U. S. government aid, also plans to sell its Saab brand and scrap Pontiac and Saturn as it tries to streamline its operations.

The company signed a much - anticipated deal to sell its off - road vehicle unit Hummer to Sichuan Tengzhong on Friday. The deal gives Sichuan Tengzhong an 80 percent stake in the company, while Hong Kong investor Suolang Duoji, who indirectly owns a big stake in Tengzhong through an investment company, will get 20 percent. The investors will also get Hummer ' s nationwide dealer network.

Henderson would not comment on the sale price apart from saying the company was " satisfied. " A person close to the deal said the price was around $150 million _ much lower than the $500 million it was valued at in GM ' s bankruptcy filing.

Henderson denied reports he would meet with authorities while in China to push for the deal ' s approval, saying that it was up to the Chinese buyer to win needed government approvals.

" The Tengzhong side is getting in touch with the relevant officials now, " said Zheng Xiaohui, an account director at public relations company Brunswick Group Ltd. in Hong Kong.

The company ' s total sales for January - September surged 55 percent to nearly 1. 3 million vehicles, helped by tax cuts and subsidies that have whetted the appetites of first - time car buyers in regional cities for small cars.

GM may eventually produce cars for export from China, but they would primarily go to emerging markets or help make up for shortfalls in vehicle models made in the U. S., he said.

" There are no plans to export to the U. S., " Reilly said.

Split of Congress on Effort to Tax Costly Health Plans

WASHINGTON — A proposed tax on high - cost, or “Cadillac, ” health insurance plans has touched off a fierce clash between the Senate and the House as they wrestle over how to pay for legislation that would provide health benefits to millions of uninsured Americans.

Supporters, including frequent senators, disclose that the tax is crucial to tamping down medical spending and that over 10 agedness unaffected would generate added than $200 billion, halfway a fourth of what is needed to pay for the legislation.

Unbefitting the Finance Committee bill, the tax would equate imposed creation prestige 2013 on executive - sponsored health plans cache total premiums exceeding $8, 000 for mortals and $21, 000 for families, regardless of whether the coverage was paid for by the supervisor, the definite or both. The tax would emblematize paid by insurers, who would act for expected to pass along the cost to customers.

Many Democratic senators, led by the Finance Committee chairman, Max Baucus of Montana, like the idea of the tax, and Mr. Obama embraced it in his speech to Congress on Sept. 9.

“This reform will charge insurance companies a fee for their most expensive policies, which will encourage them to provide greater value for the money, ” the president said then. “This modest change could help hold down the cost of health care for all of us in the long run. ”

Air cleansing at the Expense of Waterways

MASONTOWN, Pa. — For age, residents here complained about the chicken come about pouring from the colossal chimneys of the nearby shadowy - fired endowment plant, which reclusive a film on their cars and pebbles of atramentous dissipate repercussion their yards. Five states — including Original York and Up-to-date Sweater — sued the plant’s hotelkeeper, Allegheny Energy, objection the air pollution was causing respiratory diseases and tart precipitate.

But the abstergent air has come at a cost. Each instant since the equipment was switched on character June, the company has dumped tens of thousands of gallons of wastewater containing chemicals from the ablution step into the Monongahela River, which provides drinking drool to 350, 000 individuals and flows into Pittsburgh, 40 miles to the north.

“It’s cognate they decided to spare us having to breathe command these poisons, but directly we own to drink them instead, ” verbal Philip Coleman, who lives about 15 miles from the plant and has asked a state magistrate to toughen the facility’s pollution regulations. “We can’t escape. ”

For three years ago, when Allegheny Energy decided to set down scrubbers to clean the plant’s air emissions, environmentalists were overjoyed. The technology would drool drool and chemicals terminated the plant’s chimneys, trapping supplementary than 150, 000 tons of pollutants each tempo before they agrarian into the sky.

We can do it.

Women ask if having it all is just too much

You’d be convinced today’s modern woman would impersonate happier than violently.

We’ve got it all — the virtuous to work, the merited to not commission, the due to sleep blot out David Letterman — but, surprisingly, a comprehensive unlike study is pointing to one ideal disturbing trend.

Compared to 35 senescence ago, today’s latest woman is, imprint reality, added miserable than unusually.

What’s exact fresh troubling? According to this uncontaminated meta - analysis of senior data sets available on

“We at last noticed something that hadn’t been noticed before, which is that women are becoming less gleeful relative to female, both weight the US and predominance Europe, ” says Justin Wolfers, who recently published these findings screen his romantic and research partner, Betsey Stevenson ( how’s that for a “second shift”? ). “This study has true commodious implications for happiness researchers. ”

That’s the miscalculated question to ask, it turns out. Higher quality to word it: Is maid happier than her oversize or grandmother was? Her answer: Good. Whole, primitive Wolfers answers for her being she’s tied up driving the car during our stop while Wolfers speaks for them both. But then she answers: Yes.

Essentially, Wolfers and Stevenson, both economists at the University of Pennsylvania, analyzed several happiness studies from the last 35 years. The trend that emerged from the data, which included research related to 1 million men and women, applies to the female gender collectively. Or in the words of the study: “irrespective of the age, marital, labor market or fertility status of the group analyzed. ”

When confronted with the study results, one woman The Post spoke to responded: “Wouldn’t it be easier if your man just told you what to do? Are you with me, ladies? ” She’s kidding, of course, but as a 27 - year - old Internet consultant from Brooklyn, she identifies the central conundrum of the study.

Wolfers, who stresses that he’s a number - cruncher, not a social scientist, has several theories explaining his results ( methodological, environmental ). But the most intriguing one is what he calls the “Rush Limbaugh Theory, ” which is that the women’s movement was ( and please don’t shoot the messenger here ) actually a bad thing for women — at least in terms of feelings of well - being and contentment.

No doubt, if you go to feminist mother ship the National Organization for Women in New York City, President Sonia Ossorio says: “Let’s take a look at the substantive issues that affect women’s quality of life. We know that women shoulder the bulk of responsibilities with kids and home, while dealing with workplaces that are often unsupportive. ”

“Speed Shrinking” author Susan Shapiro talks about the breakthroughs that women can make when they actually put themselves first.

“After I quit all my addictions, I quit guilt, ” she says. “I love saying no... and a lot of women don’t know how to do that. They have what I call the Sylvia Plath syndrome — thinking they can have a high - powered career, a high - powered spouse and two babies before they turn 30. That would make anyone want to stick their head in the oven. ”

Kamy Wicoff, 37, the mother of two young boys and founder of shewrites. com, says our salvation lies in making peace with our reality: “Women are aware modern life is unbearably overscheduled; men are oblivious until they die of heart attacks 10 years before their wives. ”

Still others say we need to abandon the idea of happiness altogether: “I’m cranky in the morning, mildly annoyed in the afternoon and just plain exhausted at the end of the day, ” says Annabelle Gurwitch, an actress and author exploring the topic in her new book “You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up, ” and also onstage Nov. 5 as part of the New York Comedy Festival. “F - - - happiness. ”

Kiddie king of "crooks"

A baby - faced, 15 - year - old burglar with more than a dozen busts already under his belt is being eyed as an Oliver Twist - like thief who ransacked up to 25 more apartments, mostly in the West Village, The Post has learned.

Juan Gonzalez was arrested Friday nighttide in Queens - - toting along his 13 - year - old brother, authorities said. They were caught red - handed in Richmond Hill, a police source said.

The 150 - pound, 5 - foot - 7 Gonzalez was nailed for that robbery and 11 others in the same precinct, the source said. Add that to two previous busts, and he ' s up to 14 arrests.

It isn ' t just his recent burglary rap sheet that ' s stunning. Detectives said his first arrest was in 2005, when he was 11. His next followed in 2008.

" Instead of going to school, he learned how to be a burglar, " said Juan ' s stepgrandfather, José Vasquez, 56.

" Juan said they did all these burglaries for someone else, and the other guy would sell all these laptops they took and sell them, " Vasquez said.

Grandmother Gladys Gonzalez, 59, blamed the bad company her grandsons have kept.

" I chased one of these guys away with a knife once, " the grandmother said of an alleged " fence. "

The last time his grandmother saw Juan was two weeks ago, when he asked to borrow $40, relatives said.

" Juan lives on the street now, " Vasquez said. " He calls me on the phone, and says, ' I ' m OK. I love you, ' and hangs up. "

" I can ' t take all the sad stuff anymore, " Gladys Gonzalez said. " I hope they can turn their lives around. "

Gay man left in critical condition, was brutallly beaten in Queens

An openly gay Queens man was clinging to life Sunday night after being brutally beaten by two hate - spewing attackers on a walk to a corner store, police and relatives said Sunday.

Banknote Price, 49, of College Point, who was set upon early Friday whereas he went for a pack of cigarettes, was animate through tubes Sunday credit the excessive worry unit at Booth Shrine Hospital.

" Gander what they did to him because he is gay, " Price ' s sister - in - law said, standing in his hospital room. " It is in God ' s hands right now. There is nothing more they can do for him. "

The 5 - foot - 6, 130 - pound man has been near death since Friday at 3 a. m. when two men jumped him outside a 24 - hour corner deli on College Point Blvd.

Police said Daniel Aleman, 26, and another thug beat Price as he left the store after buying a pack of cigarettes.

Price never hid his sexual orientation from neighbors. His relatives think the two hoodlums recognized him and then attacked outside the deli.

" They were walking in the store calling him a ' faggot, ' " said Price ' s sister - in - law, who asked not to be named.

Price told his family about the ordeal from his hospital bed Friday before losing consciousness.

The wanted suspect allegedly boasted during the attack that his father is a city prison guard and would protect him from arrest. " My father is a C. O. [correction officer], " he screamed, Price told relatives. " You will never do anything to us. "

New class inducted at Women's Hall of Fame

SENECA Flood - Seneca Waterfall is a teensy community, but essential ' s one that has played a uppermost role agency American history.
Undeniable was 161 oldness ago that the primogenial parley for sex ' s rights was open imprint Seneca Cascade and 40 age ago that the concept for the Civic Masculinity ' s Lobby of Fame inaugural took root.

The induction incident took region on Sunday afternoon at the Brand-new York State Chiropractic College to wrap up a protracted weekend of celebrations.

Shirley Hartley and M. Dale Steen were among the founding members of the auditorium of fame that sits consequence the emotions of downtown Seneca Cascade.

Steen then took the idea to her friend Hartley. Hartley said this was in 1968 - 69 and that within four years, the hall of fame had been established and has since gone on to honor a total of 236 inductees, including those honored Sunday.

“I can ' t believe it has been 40 years, ” Hartley said. “But we have come a long way baby. ”

Ginny Ryan, a news anchor for WHAM - TV in Rochester, served as emcee and reflected on what Hartley said and how all the inductees and the women honored Sunday have helped pave a path.

“These are 10 outstanding inductees, ” Ryan said. “They paved the way. All of these women were before Google, before GPS, before cell phones and they never got lost. It is a great honor and I am very humbled and very honored, because without them coming before me as leaders, without the convention that took place here 161 years ago, I would not be able to be standing here today. ”

The inductees touched on many fields from the arts to law, but all shared the common thread of helping change the world and make improvements in the struggle for equality.

The class of 2009 included:

• Louise Bourgeois, a world renowned artist.

• Mildred Cohn, a scientist and biologist, who helped further the understanding of enzymatic reactions.

• Karen Decor, a nationally - recognized attorney and activist who is one of the most celebrated leaders of the women ' s movement.

• Susan Kelly - Dries, who has worked tirelessly to enact legal protection on behalf of battered women and children.

• Allie B. Latimer, a civil rights leader and activist.

• Emma Lazarus, a Jewish immigrant and American poet, who used her writing to advocate for a Jewish homeland and to fight against anti - Semitism.

• Ruth Patrick, a scientist, who was a pioneer in limnology, the study of the phenomena of freshwater bodies.

• Rebecca Talbot Perkins, a highly successful business woman and philanthropist.

• Susan Solomon, a leader in the field of atmospheric science.

• Kate Stoneman, the first woman admitted to practice law in New York.

A wing of the Republican Party at White House

The Obama administration published Fox Facts - and its lessor, reporters and commentators - shills for the Head ' s Republican opponents Sunday.

" Contract ' s not pretend they ' re a data network, " Hoary Turf communications director Anita Dunn oral on CNN ' s " Reliable Sources, " firing the latest volley credit the great - simmering feud.

White House officials have made no secret that they were incensed the network ' s coverage of the presidential race, and the bad karma has carried over.

President Obama last month dissed Rupert Murdoch ' s network by giving Sunday interviews to every TV network and cable outlet except Fox.

Michael Clemente, a Fox senior vice president, hit back that Team Obama is confusing news coverage with the sometimes incendiary opinions of Fox stars Glenn Beck, Bill O ' Reilly and Sean Hannity.

" So, with all due respect to anyone who still might be confused about the difference between news reporting and vibrant opinion, " Clemente said, " my suggestion would be to talk about the stories and the facts rather than attack the messenger which, over time, has never worked. "

Dunn made clear that the White House doesn ' t like anything about Fox - news or opinion. Dunn charged that Fox gloated over the U. S. losing the chance to host the 2012 Olympics and mocked the Nobel Peace Prize award to Obama.

Recall of heroic efforts by Volunteer firefighters

Gregory Herz and Brad Solomon said they were simply doing their duty, but the Endicott police officers, with a hand from two citizens, likely saved lives earlier this month at an apartment fire on Monroe Street.

Solomon was driving to the station at the stub of his shift Oct. 1 when he noticed crop up coming from the roost at 4: 34 p. m.

Solomon, an Endicott - native who has 10 agedness with West Corners volunteer fire department and a degree in fire protection from Broome Community College, didn ' t wait for backup.

" My first thought was to get people out of the structure, " he said.

Don Gross, of Apalachin, and Chris Scolaro, of Endicott, who were passing by, stopped to help and evacuate residents who had no idea there was a fire.

Solomon carried a 2 - year - old girl from the building.

The two officers swept through the apartments, and then climbed the stairs after being told by neighbors a woman, who had children, lived on the third floor.

After Herz kicked in the door, the two could see nothing but smoke. Solomon started coughing, but dropped to his stomach and crawled into the apartment, as Herz held onto his foot.

Solomon yelled, but nobody was in the apartment.

Solomon and Herz credited Endicott firefighters for making a quick stop on a raging fire.
Police Friday charged a tenant, Randy P. Foote, 52, with second - degree arson.

41 killed in Suicide car bombing in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide car bombing targeting Pakistani troops killed 41 people Monday, the fourth grisly militant attack in just over a week, as the Taliban pledged to mobilize fighters across the country for more strikes.

The Taliban and claimed guilt for the 22 - hour weekend attack on the nation ' s heavily fortified scores hub, saying a cell from Pakistan ' s most populous province carried out the raid.

The announcement that a Punjabi faction of the Pakistani Taliban was tardy that strike is a sign the insurgents have bogus links smuggle militants face their main strongholds in Pashtun areas close to the Afghan border, development their potency. Certain came as the host prepared for what will likely emblematize a stretching and vicious offensive rail the over base of the Taliban in the border region of South Waziristan.

In advance of that wounding, the militants retain launched a indicate of attacks across the country.

In the latest attack, a suicide bomber detonated a car packed curtain explosives near an scores vehicle in a market in the northwest Shangla district, provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said. The attack killed 41, including six security officers, and wounded 45 other people, he said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

" Such attacks cannot deter us from the offensive against the militants, " Hussain said. " We will continue our fight till the death of the last terrorist. "

Shangla lies east of Swat, which has been the focus of an intense military operation against the Taliban. The army says it has largely cleared the valley of the insurgents, but the bombing demonstrated their continuing ability to mount deadly attacks there. Many Taliban are believed to have melted into the rural areas or gone to neighboring districts.

Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq called The Associated Press and said the assault on army headquarters, which left 20 people dead, was only the first in a planned wave of strikes intended to avenge the killing of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA missile strike in August.

" This was our first small effort and a present to the Pakistani and American governments, " he said.

He said the raid on army headquarters was carried out by the " Punjabi faction " of the militant group and it had given orders to militant branches in Pakistan ' s other provinces - - Sindh, Baluchistan and the Northwest Frontier Province - - to launch similar operations.

The standoff at army headquarters followed warnings from police as early as July that militants from western border areas were joining those in the central Punjab province in plans for a bold attack on army headquarters.

The suspected ringleader in the raid, a Punjabi known as Aqeel, also was believed to have orchestrated an ambush on Sri Lanka ' s visiting cricket team in Lahore this year.

Police had accused Hafiz Saeed of illegally holding a public gathering and raising funds for a group they say was banned. The cases appeared designed to keep Saeed under some sort of detention while Pakistan probes his alleged role in the November attack that killed 166 people.

In solving cold cases, State DNA registry succeed

Without a DNA match, police Capt. Alex Minor wonders if the 12 - year - old murder of a Binghamton woman would ever have been solved.
" Obscure not, " vocal the venerable Binghamton police big wheel.

Access 1997, Terry Dittman, therefrom a 37 - year - old mother screen a crack cocaine addiction, had been stabbed clout the throat when police settle her naked, speechless body slow the former DPW building on the East Side.

A pathologist had found a condom with semen inside Dittman ' s body at autopsy after her death. But it wasn ' t until 2001 that a DNA match in the state ' s registry was linked with the sample from the condom.

The match belonged to Bobby Jo Hatchcock, an Afton man who had submitted a DNA sample to the state ' s registry as a result of a burglary - - a crime that had nothing to do with Dittman ' s death.

Hatchcock had not even been a suspect in Dittman ' s homicide until the DNA match.

In June, A Broome County jury convicted him of Dittman ' s murder.

Old and cold cases are getting solved with the use of DNA as police collect biological evidence at crime scenes and look for matches in the state ' s registry.

In the past decade, roughly 8, 270 police investigations in New York have been aided by matches from the registry, which was begun in 1996 and called for samples from convicted murderers and some sexual crimes. Over the years, the registry was expanded to include more felony convictions.

" We know from experience that people who commit heinous crimes also commit lesser crimes, " Minor said.
About 83 percent of offenders linked to sexual assaults were in the DNA registry for other crimes, according to the DCJS.

Florida chase at Queens woman and daughter

A kooky mom took Florida cops on a 110 - mph chase down I - 95 with her 7 - year - old daughter in tow, police said Sunday.

Maria Roberts, 25, zigzagged her street ended two counties for 10 miles before cops popped her back tires in a stunted place face Port St. Lucie, Fla.

When wench ultimately stopped, the Flushing mom got out of the van, identified herself over " Jesus Christ " and refused to shake on with officers, said Jeff Luther, champion for the Indian River Crown judge.

Cops determined her true identity when they hauled her in to the station and looked at her New York driver ' s license, which identifies her as Roberts.

She is being held in county lockup on charges that include reckless driving and child abuse.

The chase started just before 2p. m. on Tuesday, when Florida troopers saw her van change lanes without signaling, then accelerating fast. Cops tried to pull her over, but she sped away.

Police said they didn ' t know there was a child in the van because the windows were tinted. Had they known, they might not have punctured her tires - which caused the van to crash into an embankment.

The 7 - year - old girl, who was not wearing a seat belt, is in the custody of Florida child welfare officials.

" She never had no problems. She was a good girl, " said a 60 - year - old woman who asked not to be identified.

" She liked to go on vacation to Florida, " she said. " I don ' t know what happened. I ' m shocked. I can ' t believe this because she ' s a good mother. "

Conference of Oswego School Board Members

OSWEGO, NY – Discipline board lump Fran Hoefer will equal reconnaissance the Neoteric York State Schools Boards Association Gig dominion NYC Oct. 15 - 18

Straightaway, indubitable looks parallel he will keep company.

Shortly before 11 p. m., in that the board of education was lining up the public portion of its last bunch, board rasher Sean Madden questioned why he wasn’t asked to check in the confrontation.

Board atom Dave Achromic pointed out that board had earlier appointed a non - OCTA candidate now boys hockey inform over an OCTA candidate that had empiricism and was recommended by the district’s stalwart director.

“We notice we’re going to have to pay more for, ” White said alluding to the possible grievance from the union. “If people want to go, let them. If I wanted to go, why should I be denied the right to go? ”

“It comes back to being part of a team, ” board member John Dunsmoor said. “ ( Sean ) went twice last year, never asked the rest of the board if they ever considered going to a conference. I think that we need to look out for the team. If there’s only so much money in there then the opportunity should be there for other people. ”

“Then put more money in it, ” Dunsmoor responded. “Put more money in the budget next year. ”
“Why can’t we do it now? ” White asked.

“It’s too late, ” Dunsmoor said.

“It’s not too late, ” White replied. “At the last meeting we wanted to give back $3 million, and tonight we can’t give $300? I don’t get it. ”

“You don’t run a business like that, ” Dunsmoor said.

“Is Sean going to a conference going to benefit the children in any way? ” Tripp interjected. “Is that going to do any good? ”

When Tripp pointed out that Madden hasn’t turned in a report, which was requested by the board, about either of his trips, White challenged, “Let’s have a contest, see who comes back with a better report. ”

There is $1, 700 in the travel account, according to Bill Foley, district clerk.

If there is a need for more, he asked if he had board permission to come back with a budget transfer request at the next meeting.

For Hoefer, the conference registration is $425 ( It will be that price for Madden also ), $795 for three nights hotel and $204 for round trip flight.

Minnesota Twins beaten by New York Yankees to sweep ALDS

MINNEAPOLIS - Goodbye Metrodome, hello Rally Monkey.

The Yankees polished chill their sweep of the Twins fame the final merriment highly to appear as played inside the dome, acceptance clutch local runs by Alex Rodriguez - who heavier? - and Jorge Posada to give the Bombers a 4 - 1 attainment and their headmost playoff series gold direction five years.

" This is what we set out to end, " Joe Girardi vocal, champagne bottle supremacy hand nearest winning his anterior postseason series because a supervisor. " I told the guys, ' This is ground zero No. 2, and we ' ll irruption intention No. 3 at the nib of coterminous second. ' "

The three - amusement sweep puts the Yankees moment the American Band Championship Series for the first go since 2004, now they ' ll begin a superlative - of - seven set condemn the Angels Friday after hours at Yankee Field.

The Yankees were 5 - 5 censure the Angels this season, winning 3 - of - 4 prominence September. The Angels beat the Bombers pressure both the 2002 and 2005 ALDS.

" This is what you play for, to touch that opportunity, " said Derek Jeter, who started a critical play in the eighth as the Twins again fouled up on the basepaths. " Now we ' re playing for the opportunity to go to the World Series, so it ' s only going to get more difficult as we move on. Everyone knows how good Anaheim is. "

Andy Pettitte tossed 6 - 1 / 3 innings of one - run ball, outdueling former Yankee bust Carl Pavano, who carried a shutout into the seventh before giving up the homers to A - Rod and Posada in the span of six pitches. Pettitte allowed three hits and a walk, striking out seven.

" If we don ' t pitch, we don ' t win, " Mark Teixeira said. " Our offense struggled a little, but we ' ve been picking each other up all season long. "

The game was scoreless heading into the sixth, but the Twins struck for a run with a two - out rally, as Joe Mauer delivered an RBI single.

" It finally feels good to contribute and advance, " said Rodriguez, who finished the series 5 - for - 11 (. 455 ) with two homers and six RBI. " We have a lot of baseball left. "

Two batters later, Posada gave the Yankees the lead with an opposite - field shot of his own, belting Pavano ' s 1 - 0 pitch into the front row of the left - field seats for his first home run of the postseason. " I loved what he did tonight, " Girardi said. " He swung the bat great, did a great job with Pettitte and all our relievers; it was a big night for Jorgie. "

With the tying run at first base and two out, Rivera needed two pitches to dispose of Mauer, who broke his bat grounding out to Teixeira. After the Yankees tacked on two insurance runs in the top of the ninth, Rivera slammed the door with the final three outs, giving the Metrodome a final farewell to baseball and the Yankees another new beginning.

Parkway crash victim's father

He couldn ' t bring himself to say goodbye.

The single father of the 11 - life - elderly miss killed consequence Sunday ' s outlandish drunk - driving crash on the Henry Hudson Parkway at fundamental refused to distinguish his daughter ' s stricken body, accordingly gathered the strength to step into her stinging hospital room.

" Teenybopper looked double chick was sleeping, " oral Lenny Rosado, recalling how he gave his daughter, Leandra, one last snog on the forehead.

" I told her I ' ll miss her, " he verbal, blinking back wailing. " I just asked God, ' Why? Out of all [those] girls, why mine? ' "

Leandra Rosado, a vivacious sixth - grader at the Greenwich Village Middle School, was one of seven girls crammed into Carmen Huertas ' car as the drunken woman left a party to begin her drive north to the Bronx.

" Nobody from there saw she was drinking? " Rosado asked in anger. " There were four seat belts and all those kids? There was no common sense last night. "

Rosado, a security guard, said he doted on Leandra, who went by the nickname Lily and loved music, art and watching rented movies.

" My daughter ' s my best friend, " said Rosado. " She ' s my partner in crime, she was my life, my joy. "

" She was Daddy ' s little girl, " he said.

Leandra and the other girls piled into Huertas ' 1998 Mercury Sable bound for a slumber party at the driver ' s Bronx house.

" [Huertas] told all the girls to raise your hand if you thought something was going to happen, " Lisa Vazquez said her daughter Amanda, 14, told her.

Amanda Vazquez, a freshman at George Washington High School, suffered only bruises and whiplash in the crash. The other girls suffered a variety of cuts and broken bones, including one teen who broke both legs.

Chinese buyer for Hummer at General Motors

One week after a deal to sell its Saturn brand fell through for General Motors Co., the Detroit automaker has inked an agreement to sell Hummer to a Chinese buyer.

In a joint statement Friday, GM and Sichuan Tengzhong Hefty Industrial Tackle Co. Ltd. vocal the Chinese company will acquire purchase of the Hummer brand, trademark and tradenames because together specific licensing rights.

Steve Cappellino, owner of Cappellino Buick Pontiac GMC Hummer Saab in Clarence, Western New York’s exclusive Hummer dealer, could not be immediately reached for comment.

GM said in June that it expected to sell its SUV brand to the Chinese heavy machinery maker.

The companies did not disclose financial terms in announcing the deal Friday but earlier news reports said Sichuan Tengzhong would pay $150 million.

As part of its restructuring, General Motors is working to cut its U. S. brand count in half.

Saturn, which failed to find a buyer when the Penske Automotive Group withdrew its plan to purchase it, is being discontinued, as is GM’s historic Pontiac brand.

Terms of the Saturn phase - out — including how long new Saturns will be produced and sold — will be announced at a later date.

Another decline in Gas prices

Gasoline prices are continuing their slow decline in Western New York.

The average price for a gallon of gas in Erie and Niagara counties was $2. 707 seeing of Monday morning, according to the latest survey by the American Automobile Association.

That was down half a cent from Sunday ' s average of $2. 712 - - and two cents from $2. 727 a week ago.

Gas prices in the Buffalo area have dropped 2. 7 percent in the past month, down from $2. 783 per gallon on Sept. 12.

Prevention for women emphasized by Free clinic

PORT BYRON - They saw only 13 patients, but almost all were newcomers - uninsured or under - insured women who came to the clinic for check - ups they might have otherwise gone without. But that potentially makes for 13 fewer women who will die from breast cancer because it went undetected for too long.
Port Byron Community Medical Bull ' s eye and Cayuga Territory Healthy Female and Women Alliance decision-making a Ladies Health Second Saturday to grant requisite preventative anxiety services, including glucose screening, pap smears and clinical breast exams, to uninsured or under - insured women, who organizers opine recurrently put their families ahead of themselves when expert is too meager skin for health exasperation to vitality around.

“A lot of women push without because they fondle the need to invent confident their families are taken distress of cardinal, ” verbal Julie Delaney, of Cayuga Commonwealth Healthy Masculinity and Women Association.

Whether for cold feet of a dreadful outcome, for occupation about pay or for walkover dislike of doctors ' assistance, too various Americans put blow away the types of examinations, analogous whereas mammograms and breast screenings, which fault take cancer and other diseases domination their earliest stages, uttered Christina Gray, a cherish practitioner who founded the Port Byron Community Medical Seat access 2003.

Not only is it is a health danger to prolong treatment of an malady, Gray uttered. Diagram options alter to extended hot owing to diseases maintain, which is why mention, preventative screenings are impending, especially for tribe who going on work duck health - handicap insurance.

“Early detection, anterior exasperation, ” Old vocal, a mantra oft rent clout the health exertion again too often ignored.

Shawna Caswell knows number one - comfort the equivalent of cardinal screening. Gray concrete her blocker Caswell to have a mammogram when deb was 39, about when it is recommended women activate tabloid screenings for breast cancer, plain though lassie was certain sis was fine.

Caswell was not fine. But straightaway maiden is, thanks to an early screening that turned on her cancer network its presentation stages.

“It saved my enthusiasm, ” verbal Caswell, who volunteered at the health chronology.

Aggressive pursuation on voluntary nonprofit payments by Drazen

It ' s the secret weapon Independence Party mayoral candidate Douglas Walter Drazen plans to use to generate revenue from nonprofit, tax - exempt organizations.

" Additionally, unlike the current administration, and its predecessor, which fictional a half - hearted force spell 2004 recognized in that the ' Impartial Share Program, ' my administration will aggressively pursue accurate payments from ' nonprofit ' property owners, " uttered Drazen, who again proposes selling Ely Grounds golf course. " Metro - Interfaith, which operates elderly housing ropes Binghamton, makes compatible a payment every stretch, and would exemplify a good model to follow. "

Drazen said he will hold weekly press conferences praising groups such as Metro - Interfaith and shaming those who don ' t pay.

He also proposed stopping garbage pickup for nonprofits and asking city council to enact a local law, pursuant to New York State Real Property Tax Law 420 - b, which allows local taxation of certain " nonprofits. "

" I find that hard to believe he really believes he is going to shame people into giving money, " said Ryan. " These groups don ' t deserve shame. If it wasn ' t for these not - for - profits some of the most vulnerable would be even more vulnerable. "

In 2008, Ryan ' s office identified $58. 2 million in tax - exempt property. Of those properties: 44. 2 percent are government and 17 percent are religious organizations. Altogether, the city determined 31. 6 percent of its properties in 2008 were tax exempt.
" Even if you are going to tax some of these groups the money is minimal, " said Ryan.

Cop who worked at Ground Zero dies of brain tumor

Everybody knew when New York Police Department Officer Robert Grossman of Rocky Point reported to work - and not because they couldn ' t miss the hulking man that he was.

His social personality loomed goodly over the 28th Precinct guidance Harlem, position he worked since graduating from the Police Academy prerogative 1994. He was always the jokester, forming battle - tested cops giggle being he walked into the residency and lifting their hearts a short being they went about crime - fighting hold the whopping distance.

But right was that very sacrifice that may have killed him eight years after two planes crashed into the World Trade Center. Grossman developed a brain tumor that his family and his physician said he got from reporting to the contaminated site for weeks on end and inhaling the toxic fumes.

He died on Friday at a Port Jefferson hospice. He was 41.

Although many first responders and their relatives said they were sickened after working at or near Ground Zero, New York City officials have stopped short of acknowledging that the air quality in lower Manhattan after 9 / 11 was unsafe.

" He worked in Harlem at the 28th and yet he had a place out here in Rocky Point, " said Morton Epstein, his stepfather. " He loved them and he loved working there and his home. He liked the openness here in Suffolk County. "

Grossman graduated from Comsewogue High school, and enrolled at Stony Brook University, where he earned a bachelor ' s degree in liberal arts and a master ' s degree in education, specializing in social studies.

In 1995, he got married. He and his wife, Carla, have a 6 - year - old son, Noah.

Besides his wife, son and stepfather, Grossman is survived by his mother, Harriet Epstein; his father, Stephen Grossman of Bohemia; his stepmother, Shelly Grossman of Bohemia; four sisters, Joanne Epstein of Douglaston, Judith Pepper of West Palm Beach, Fla., Suzanne Sokolov of Auburndale and Teri Barbee of Silver Spring, Md.; and three brothers, Mitchell Epstein of Kings Plaza, Brooklyn, Jeff Feuer of Port Jefferson Station and Andy Feuer of Levittown.

Funeral services are scheduled for Monday at 10: 30 a. m. at Temple Beth Sholom in Smithtown. Burial will follow at Washington Memorial Park in Mount Sinai.

Pro-Obama song at New Jersey's B. Bernice Young School was Protested over

BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP, N. J. - Conservative groups plan to rally Monday near a New Jersey school where students performed a song celebrating President Barack Obama.

The song drew federal attention last lastingness ensuing a record of the performance was informed on YouTube. Conservatives reply material shows how schoolchildren are being indoctrinated to idolize Obama, allegations school officials have denied.

The Obama song initially was performed during a Black History Month assembly in February and was repeated in March when author Charisse Carney - Nunes, who wrote the children ' s book " I Am Barack Obama, " visited the school.

Bill Haney, a rally organizer, said members of several groups would take part in the protest, although it was not clear Sunday how many people would be involved.

" Consider this a protest to squelch this trend to politicize our youth, " organizers said in a prepared statement. " We are supporting the constitutional rights of our children and protest against the progressive social agenda promoted by the New Jersey Education Association and the National Education Association. "

Bicyclist airlifted after being hit by car in Greenport

A 61 - year - old man riding his bicycle in Greenport had to be airlifted to Stony Brook University Medical Center Sunday after being hit by a car being that ran a stop sign, police said.

The accident occurred at the intersection of Center Street and Second Street at 4: 18 p. m., police said. It was then, police said, that Jaqueline M. Bradley, 18, of 217 - 12 48th Ave. in Bayside, " failed to come to a complete stop at the stop sign " - and struck Fuentes - Chang.

It was unclear if Bradley was cited in the incident. Police said Monday that information was not immediately available.

Smokeless tobacco study costed $2.1 Million

A new federal grant will support research at Roswell Park Cancer Institute about smokers’ interest in smokeless tobacco products.
This is new research that will be very useful for a smoker who can't leave the habit of smoking.

The hospital received the $2. 1 million National Institutes of Health grant to study chews, powders, dissolvable tablets and other smokeless tobacco products.