WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prospects for a law to create a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants brightened on Saturday after major business and labor groups reached an agreement on a guest-worker program, a source familiar with the deal said.
The agreement was reached on Friday night in a conference call between the head of the Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue, and the president of the AFL-CIO labor organization, Richard Trumka, with New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer acting as the mediator, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A guest-worker program has been a major stumbling block to efforts by a bipartisan group of senators known as the Gang of Eight to reach a compromise on a way to create a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, most of whom are Hispanics.
Labor unions have argued against a guest-worker program, worrying that a flood of low-wage immigrant laborers would take away jobs from Americans. The agreement covers the pay levels for low-skilled workers and provides labor protections for American workers.
Under the deal, a new "W Visa" would be created for employers to petition for foreign workers in lesser skilled, non-seasonal non-agricultural occupations. This could include jobs in hospitality, janitorial, retail, construction and others.
The W Visa would not be considered a temporary visa as workers would have the ability to seek permanent status after a year, according to details of the agreement released by the AFL-CIO.
The program would begin on April 1, 2015, unless there is a need to extend the start date by six months.
At the beginning, 20,000 visas would be permitted and the figure would rise to 35,000 visas the following year, 55,000 in the third year and 75,000 in the fourth.
The cap can never be below 20,000 or above 200,000 in any year.
WOOING HISPANIC VOTERS
"We have created a new model, a modern visa system that includes both a bureau to collect and analyze labor market data, as well as significant worker protections," Trumka said in a statement. "We expect that this new program, which benefits not just business, but everyone, will promote long overdue reforms by raising the bar for existing programs."
Schumer briefed White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough on Saturday on the breakthrough, the source said.
The agreement still must be approved by the Gang of Eight senators, four Democrats and four Republicans. If, as expected, they do so, a broad new immigration bill would be advanced in the Senate in the coming weeks.
In recent days, the immigration effort had been stalled by failure to forge an agreement on the guest-worker program, although the White House insisted that progress was being made.
President Barack Obama wants to fulfill a campaign pledge by gaining passage of a law that would create a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants currently in the country. He has vowed to do what he can on immigration through executive actions in the absence of legislation.
Immigration long has been a controversial issue in the United States and previous efforts to craft a comprehensive overhaul of American immigration laws have failed, with Democrats and Republicans remaining far apart.
Many Republicans previously had taken a hard position against illegal immigrants. Obama's unsuccessful Republican challenger last year, Mitt Romney, had advocated "self-deportation" of illegal immigrants. Republicans in Arizona and other states passed tough laws cracking down on illegal immigrants.
But the mood for a deal is ripe because Republicans saw Hispanic-Americans vote overwhelmingly for Obama and other Democratic candidates in last November's elections and they need to woo this increasingly important voting bloc.
Many Republicans see gaining favor with Hispanic voters, who are 10 percent of the U.S. electorate and growing, as a matter of political survival.
Republicans want to ensure that security along the U.S.-Mexican border is improved before immigrants can get on a path to citizenship. Obama feels security is sufficient but this disagreement is not seen as a deal-breaker.
"We're seeing right now a good bipartisan spirit," Obama told Spanish-language network Univision on Wednesday. "I want to encourage that and hopefully we'll be able to get it done."
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Will Dunham and Eric Beech)
As much as we're intrigued by the prospect of Twitter's music app, the rumored emphasis on SoundCloud would potentially limit the selection given major label resistance to giving away ad-free content: we'd expect a lot of DJ sets and indie demos. A supposed leak from AllThingsD has Twitter catering to the less adventurous among us by adding Vevo support. While the full workings of the rumored app remain a mystery, Twitter would reportedly play Vevo's mostly pop-oriented music videos through a custom player. It might not be the only service involved, too: the same tips suggest that Twitter wants to round up multiple services, and the two that have surfaced so far are just the first to hop aboard. We have a hunch that the expanded app (if real) won't make the originally claimed March launch when we're already at the last weekday of the month, but the latest tidbit suggests Twitter is far from giving up on turning microblogs into mini jukeboxes.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Authorities in southeastern Tennessee are searching for a man who was thrown from an experimental aircraft while he was learning to fly from an instructor.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports ( ) that police in Collegedale and the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office on Friday were searching the ground for the man, who has not been identified. http://bit.ly/11YgGrn
Collegedale Municipal Airport employee Lowell Sterchi said the man was being trained by an instructor in his Zodiac 601 aircraft at about 2,500 feet when the canopy came off.
The man's seat belt was not fastened and he was thrown out from the plane over the East Brainerd and Apison areas of the county.
Sterchi said the instructor, who Sterchi would not identify, landed the plane and was not physically hurt. Sterchi said the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have been notified.
What was supposed to be a lighthearted Halloween social spent with friends turned into a terrifying ordeal for a Winnipeg man after he was attacked by a total stranger, spent days in a coma and needed months off work to recover.
Prosecutors are now seeking a three-year prison term for Leigh James Bryant, 25, who admitted Thursday he was responsible for lashing out and pummelling the victim, possibly believing he was being mocked over a drink-spilling mishap.
Bryant pleaded guilty to a single charge of aggravated assault in the Court of Queen?s Bench stemming from the Oct. 30, 2010 incident.
Bryant and the victim separately attended a weekend costume-party social at the Travelodge Winnipeg East hotel on Alpine Avenue.
Bryant purchased a number of shots and was trying to navigate a crowded area with the drinks on a tray near where the victim ? dressed as a ?rescued Chilean miner? in honour of the internationally-acclaimed rescue mission ? was standing nearby with friends, Crown attorney Scott Cooper said.
Somebody, but not the victim, bumped Bryant and his shooters tumbled, drawing his ire. When he looked up, he saw the victim laughing, Cooper said. However, evidence showed he just happened to be laughing while talking with someone else, said Cooper.
?Whether Mr. Bryant took that as laughing at the fact that he dropped the drinks or not is not entirely clear ? however, what Mr. Bryant did is approach (the victim) and punched him once in the face,? the Crown attorney said.
The punch caused the innocent partygoer to tumble backwards down a small flight of stairs. Bryant hit him again as it happened and the victim bashed his head on the floor.
As he lay out cold, Bryant slipped on his rubber party mask and fled out an exit door. The victim spent five days in a coma, suffered a brain bleed and it was feared he?d suffered a permanent brain injury.
After extensive rehabilitation, including speech therapy, the victim regained his health.
?Luckily he made a full recovery through significant efforts of his own,? said Cooper.
Medical reports will be tabled when the case returns to court in June.
Defence lawyer Eric Wach will request a two-year sentence for Bryant, court was told. No information was provided Thursday about Bryant?s background or personal circumstances.
Thursday night, there are two games each in the East and West regions of the NCAA tournament. In the East: Miami vs. Marquette and Indiana vs. Syracuse. In the West: Ohio State vs. Arizona and Wichita State vs. La Salle.
By Pat Murphy,?Staff / March 28, 2013
Members of the Indiana men's basketball team are seen during practice for a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in Washington. Indiana plays Syracuse on Thursday.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
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Big 10 conference representatives Indiana and Ohio State, seeded No. 1 in the East?and?No. 2 in the?West respectively, look to continue their quest for another?collegiate?championship this week.?The NCAA men's basketball tournament is down to the final 16 schools that will play in four regional sites. We didn't forget that both Michigan and Michigan State, fellow Big 10 members, also remain very much alive in the tourney.
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But for our purposes here, we'll take a look at the East region games, taking place Thursday night?at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. This is the only one of the four regions where the top four seeds reached the round of 16, just as the men's basketball tournament selection committee drew it up almost two weeks ago.
Miami vs. Marquette
Game one of the evening will pit second seed Miami of Florida against Marquette, the region's third seed. The Hurricanes, out of the Atlantic Coast Conference, defeated both Pacific and Illinois on their way to our nation's capital. Point guard Shane Larkin, son of Baseball Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, runs the show for Miami. Unfortunately for the 'Canes, they will be without the services of center Reggie Johnson, who injured a leg against?Illinois according?to a?school statement.
Miami head coach Jim Larranaga, who led George Mason University to the 2006 Final Four, has a great deal of respect for Marquette's defense.
"Well, we've watched them throughout the Big East ... and they're just a very hard-nosed defensive team. They play ... maybe harder than anybody we've played against all season," Larranaga told reporters on Tuesday.
The Golden Eagles have used that strong defense to survive and advance, coming from behind to edge Davidson in the second round and hanging on to nip Butler in Round 3. Marquette guard Vander Blue is one of the top scorers in the NCAA tournament, averaging 22.5 points per game.
Indiana vs. Syracuse
Thursday night's second game features East top seed Indiana and fourth seed Syracuse. The Hoosiers, who spent 10 weeks ranked No. 1 in the country, cruised past James Madison, then overcame a second half deficit to defeat Temple.
The Orangemen crushed Montana by 47 points in their first tournament game. But things weren't so easy against California in the next round, as the Golden Bears made Syracuse work for a six-point victory.
Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...
The boom in new oil and natural gas flowing through U.S. pipelines is beginning to ripple through the wider American economy.
Just ask Edrick Smith.
In September, Smith traded temp agency jobs for full-time employment with Baltimore-based Marlin Steel Wire Products, which makes wire baskets for industrial customers. An experienced machinist, Smith is now expanding his skills by learning to set up and operate factory robots.
?Knowing each and every machine in here gives me an opportunity to make good money, and to educate myself more,? he said. ?This is my career.?
Smith?s hiring was just one of thousands of openings created indirectly by a new boom in domestic oil and natural gas drilling ? a bounty so rich that it has even caught energy industry insiders by surprise. In part 2 of our four-part ?Power Shift? special report, we examine how the explosion in drilling in places like North Dakota and West Texas is spreading through the general economy ? despite controversy over the potential environmental impact of the new industry practices.
Marlin Steel Wire, for example, has expanded its payroll and invested in high-tech equipment to keep up with a steady pick-up in orders from other U.S. manufacturers. Orders are rising, said owner Drew Greenblatt, because his customers are receiving a widening discount in the price of natural gas and electricity.
?That?s making U.S. companies that used to be at a price disadvantage now uniquely positioned to win contracts they never won in the past -- or haven?t for a while,? he said. ?Everyone talks about what?s going on in North Dakota, but it?s filtering down now to conventional factories throughout America."
Some analysts believe the energy cost savings for businesses, factories and consumers will last for decades.
?This is not going to be a one- or two-year thing,? said Ross Eisenberg, head of energy and resources policy at the National Association of Manufacturers. ?We?re going to see lower natural gas prices for a long, long way into the future.?
Booms, busts and booms Since the first gusher of oil spewed from of the ground above the Spindletop salt dome outside Beaumont, Texas, more than a century ago, the U.S. energy industry has enjoyed its share of booms and busts. After peaking in the early 1970s, U.S. oil and gas production began to decline as thousands of depleted wells were shut down. The U.S. rapidly became dependent on foreign suppliers to fuel its economy.
About a decade ago, advanced oilfield production technologies like hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," and horizontal drilling began to reverse that trend. Many of the now-bountiful fields being brought back on line were mothballed long ago when the remaining ?tight? oil and gas deposits were considered too costly or technically difficult to produce.
?It is a sizeable opportunity,? said John Larson, an economist with IHS Global Insight. ?It?s a game changer.?
Interactive map: Where US energy is produced
The economics of production have also played a role in the boom. A tripling in the market price of a barrel of crude over the past decade supports widespread use of costly extraction methods that didn't make sense when energy prices were lower.
Barring an unanticipated setback, so-called ?unconventional? oil and gas production is expected to continue to grow over the next two decades. Over that period, the industry is expected to make more than $5 trillion in new capital investment that will support more than 3.5 million jobs by 2035, according to the financial analysis firm IHS Global Insight.
That economic impact of such spending already is spreading, especially to companies that rely heavily on natural gas as a raw material or energy source and investing and hiring.
Steel makers, for example, benefit from both the lower cost of manufacturing and from strong demand for steel pipe used for oil and gas drilling. Companies in the steel rustbelt of Pennsylvania and Ohio are polishing up aging plants to replace coal with cheaper natural gas. Others are setting up shop closer to major gas distribution hubs like Louisiana, where steel giant Nucor is investing $750 million to fire up a new plant later this year.
Chemical, plastics and fertilizer makers, who rely on natural gas both as a raw material and an energy source, have also been expanding production. Last year, Dow Chemical announced a $4 billion investment in facilities, part of some $15 billion in expansion plans announced by Gulf Coast chemical makers. And Vancouver-based Methanex Corp. decided last year to spend $425 million to disassemble an idled methanol plant in Chile and move it lock, stock and pipeline to Louisiana.
In December, economists with UBS bank tallied some $65 billion in announced construction of new plants related to cheaper natural gas, and said another 11 plants had been announced worth billions more.
As groundbreaking on these projects gets under way, the dividends from the energy boom will flow even further ? to construction companies, engineering firms, materials and equipment suppliers and lenders who help finance the projects.
That, in turn, will help shore up state and federal budgets. The added revenue ? from income taxes on new jobs created, corporate taxes on added oil and gas profits and state and federal royalty payments ? could top $2.5 trillion through 2035, according to IHS Global Insight.
Though prices at the gas pump have remained stubbornly high -- primarily because stepped-up U.S. production makes up relatively small percentage of the global supply, which drives oil prices -- American households are also getting a big break on the lower cost of natural gas and electricity. Larson, the IHS economist, estimated that the energy ?dividend? amounts to about $1,000 a year per household and will double by 2035.
?It?s a fairly substantial return of wealth to the American consumer," he said.
Increased U.S. oil and natural gas production also promises to help rebalance the long-running trade gaps that have weakened the dollar. If the U.S. moves from a net importer to a net exporter of energy over the next decade, as some experts project, oil will flip from being a source of trade deficits to an important contributor on the positive side of the ledger. With China?s energy-hungry economy expected to continue to rely on imported oil, some analysts believe Beijing may soon begin swapping its huge pile of U.S. Treasury bonds for barrels of West Texas crude.
Slideshow: Drilling down and out in Texas
America?s growing energy independence also has been fueled by gains in efficiency: U.S. vehicles are squeezing more mileage from every gallon of fuel, and high-tech heating and cooling units and green building techniques and materials have cut energy bills for commercial and residential buildings by 10 percent since 2005.
Challenges remain To be sure, there are forces that could delay ? or even derail ? the ongoing energy boom. The drop in natural gas prices has already slowed production of some projects that become too costly when gas prices are too low.
Lower oil prices could have the same impact, but it?s not clear that added U.S. supplies will be sufficient to make a dent in global oil prices, especially if OPEC producers like Saudi Arabia throttle back on supplies to maintain current prices.
But some experts are more bullish on the prospects for a second energy windfall as increased U.S. supplies of oil rein in global prices. Citibank analyst Edward Morse thinks that by the end of the decade, added U.S. output will pull global crude prices back down to a range of $70 to $90 a barrel ? a savings of as much as 30 percent.
That kind of price drop would further amplify the economic boost from lower natural gas prices already flowing through the economy.
Last year, for example, the U.S. consumed roughly 7 billion barrels of oil at an average price of about $100 a barrel. A 30 percent discount on that oil bill works out to about 1.3 percent of gross domestic product. In an economy growing at roughly 2 percent a year, the impact of that dividend would be substantial.
Other factors could slow development. Widespread environmental concerns about the impact of hydraulic fracturing on water supplies have delayed drilling of the Marcellus shale field in New York, where the state Assembly recently voted to extend a moratorium for another two years. In California, the state Legislature is considering at least eight bills to regulate expanded production in the Monterey shale field, estimated to be one of the largest deposits in the country.
Oil and gas producers also face a looming labor shortage as a generation of petroleum engineers and geologists approach retirement age. Their departure is compounded by a dearth of trained younger workers to take their places. From a peak of 11,000 students enrolled in geology and petroleum engineering programs at 34 universities in 1983, only 1,500 were enrolled in 17 programs by 2004, according to a 2007 report from the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.
Finally, transportation bottlenecks have already slowed the distribution of new energy supplies and could further slow future expansion. Expanding the existing pipeline network, which was planned and constructed decades ago, long before new drilling techniques rewrote the U.S. energy map, is already raising safety and environmental concerns.
Complete coverage: Power Shift: America's drive for energy independence
The most visible controversy ? construction of the proposed $7 billion Keystone pipeline through the nation?s heartland ? could be the opening round of ongoing local battles over the build-out of the network required to get new supplies of oil and natural gas from producer to consumer.
?We imported natural gas this winter to the Northeast because we don?t have the capacity yet to move the gas where we need it,? said Larson. ?As a country, we need to address the issue of how we develop the infrastructure we need to enable this energy to flow to where it?s needed.?
Coming next Monday: How American energy independence could change the world.
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BRUSSELS (AP) ? The European Union is considering beefed up measures for stranded passengers to get compensation and find quicker ways to get home.
EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said Wednesday that a new package with improved measures would also boost carriers from the 27 member nations in global competition since consumers would be drawn to companies offering the best conditions.
Under the proposals, Kallas said that if carriers cannot reroute passengers themselves within 12 hours 'they must find another airline' or other transportation, tightening the deadline and forcing them to even consider booking on competing companies.
Kallas' proposals now will be taken up by the European parliament and the 27 member nations.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) ? Prosecutors in Poland say a man was charged with murder in the double homicide of a young female harpist and a security guard in the building of a philharmonic in western Poland.
The two victims were found dead Friday morning in separate areas of the building of the Lower Silesia Philharmonic in Jelenia Gora.
A spokeswoman for local prosecutors, Violetta Niziolek, said Monday a suspect, identified only as Michal M., has been questioned and was charged with murder. He has been put under arrest for three months, pending further investigation.
Niziolek said the harpist was strangled and the guard died of wounds to the head.
Authorities said the harpist, in her late 20s, had traveled from Warsaw to Jelenia Gora to perform in a concert.
KC hasn't drafted a quarterback in first round since 1983, making Alex Smith just latest in long line of somebody else?s discarded quarterback
Pat Semansky / AP
When Alex Smith arrives in Kansas City, he'll simply be the latest in a long line of veteran QBs for K.C.
THE BIG READ
BY JOE POSNANSKI
updated 2:49 a.m. ET March 8, 2013
Thirty years ago, the Kansas City Chiefs were on the clock trying to determine their destiny as a football team. They were lousy ? and had been, on and off, for a decade. They had just fired their coach ? a likable World War II veteran with an English history degree from Harvard named Marv Levy. They had drawn fewer than 12,000 people to their last game in 1982. They desperately needed to win back a city that had given up on them.
The Chiefs had the seventh pick in the draft. They wanted a quarterback. This would become perhaps the most famous quarterback draft of them all. John Elway was the first pick. Dan Marino was on the board when the Chiefs drafted. Jim Kelly was on the board. But the Chiefs had something very specific in mind. They wanted a leader. They wanted a winner. They did not just want someone Kansas City could rally around ? they wanted someone to build an entire future around.
They took Todd Blackledge, a bright and driven quarterback who had led Penn State to the national title. And, no, it didn?t work out.
That was the moment it all changed. That was last time the Kansas City Chiefs went looking for a young quarterback to build the future around. For the next 30 years, the Kansas City Chiefs would build their future on quarterbacks on other teams.
* * *
There is no sure way to find a franchise quarterback. You could draft a quarterback with the first overall pick, if your team happens to be bad enough to get that first pick. That might be the most likely way to find a franchise quarterback. That?s how Pittsburgh acquired Terry Bradshaw, how Denver got Elway. You might get Eli Manning or Troy Aikman or Joe Namath that way. Then again, you might get David Carr or Tim Couch or JaMarcus Russell.
(The ideal way happened in Indianapolis where in 1998, with the first pick, the Colts took Peyton Manning. He dominated the game for more than a decade and led the Colts to annual playoff appearances and a Super Bowl title. When he got old, the Colts got the No. 1 pick again and took Andrew Luck, who looks like he might do similar things.)
You could try your luck later in the first round ? Marino and Kelly and Aaron Rodgers certainly turned out to be great picks. But those first-round picks could just as easily have turned out like Brady Quinn and Kyle Boller and J.P. Losman and David Klingler. Of the 119 first-round quarterbacks taken after the first pick, only about half started 50 NFL games, and only 39 percent played even in a single Pro Bowl.
You could draft a sleeper after the first round and develop him ? that?s how San Francisco got Joe Montana (3rd round), how New England got Tom Brady (6th round), how San Diego got Dan Fouts (3rd round), how Green Bay got Bart Starr (17th round!). But you should know, since 1950, more than half the quarterbacks taken second round or later (56.6 percent if you?re scoring at home) never started a single game in the NFL.
Well, yes, there?s another way. There?s the Kansas City Chiefs way. You could go and get somebody else?s discarded quarterback. You can get them when they?re young, the way Green Bay did when it got a raw Brett Favre from Atlanta. You can get them when they?re old, the way Oakland did when it scooped up a 32-year-old Jim Plunkett. You might con teams for them, the way New Orleans did with Drew Brees. You might give them a chance after they had been rejected, the way Baltimore did with John Unitas and St. Louis did with Kurt Warner.
These quarterbacks mentioned, of course, are the winning lottery tickets. The bet is that if you get someone else?s quarterback, you know more or less what you?re getting. You get a player with some experience, a player who has dealt with NFL adversity. You might get to skip some steps and plug that quarterback right into the starting lineup without enduring the young quarterback growing pains.
Of course, at the same time, you are almost always getting a quarterback that, for whatever reason, the other team really does not want.
The Kansas City Chiefs have been snapping up lottery tickets since that draft day debacle in 1983. They have not taken a single quarterback in the first round since the Blackledge miss. They have not taken a quarterback in the second round in more than 20 years. (Only the New Orleans Saints boast a similar streak of avoiding QBs high in the draft.) This year, they have the first pick in the NFL Draft ? and that?s the quarterback spot. Teams have taken a quarterback first overall in the each of the last four drafts (Indianapolis: Luck; Carolina: Cam Newton; St. Louis: Sam Bradford; Detroit: Matt Stafford) and in 12 of the last 15 drafts.
The Chiefs will not take a quarterback. This much is sure. It is widely believed they will take Texas A&M tackle Luke Joeckel, but even if they go in a different direction they won?t take a quarterback. We know this because the Chiefs just traded draft picks to San Francisco for Alex Smith, a one-time first overall pick who the 49ers moved to backup quarterback at the end of the year. This isn?t the first time Chiefs traded for a 49ers backup quarterback. It?s the fourth.
Yes, this is how the Chiefs have been doing business for many years. They hope this time it will work.
* * *
Last season, you might recall, there was a bit of controversy in Kansas City when some fans at Arrowhead Stadium cheered after quarterback Matt Cassel got hurt. Offensive tackle Eric Winston spoke out about it. There was much handwringing about how many fans actually cheered and whether they were really cheering his injury and whether Winston?s comments were fair. There?s no reason to revisit all of it.
But there is a larger point: Kansas City is hard on quarterbacks. This is true in every NFL city, but for some reason people don?t think of Kansas City this way. Many of the stories about the Cassel injury had some reference like ?Even genteel Kansas City? or ?Kansas City, a place known for its friendliness.? Well, Kansas City can be genteel, and it?s certainly friendly. It?s a wonderful place. But it eats up quarterbacks.
Focus On Sport / Getty Images
Len Dawson is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but that makes him a rarity among Chiefs quarterbacks.
I can?t tell you how many times Hall of Fame Len Dawson, the city?s greatest quarterback and a television personality in town since his playing days, told me stories about the boos he heard when he was playing. He says he did not mind (?Part of the deal,? he says) and I believe him ? Lenny the Cool had that ability to separate himself from it all.
But it takes that sort of thick skin to survive, and not many people have that. Steve Bono once made a little joke about how the worst restaurant in San Francisco tops the best restaurant in Kansas City, and then he expanded on that joke by making specific cracks about Kansas City restaurant owners. He followed this up with a woeful 68.0 quarterback rating in 1996 and he was so mercilessly despised in town that, at the end, he semi-broke down during a tear-stricken newspaper interview.
Another Chiefs quarterback, Elvis Grbac, reached a Pro Bowl, but after one tough loss he talked about a dropped pass by saying,? I can?t throw the ball and catch it too.? This became a catch phrase in Kansas City, not in a good way, and he left for Baltimore right after his Pro Bowl year. One year later, he was out of football.
There are a lot of stories like that. Kansas City is no different from other cities where pro football is the unifying presence ? the quarterback is under more intense scrutiny than the mayor or the school superintendent or just about anybody else. Ron Jaworski will tell you Philadelphia was a tough place to play, but Kansas City was plenty tough too.
The Chiefs made a conscious decision, after watching Todd Blackledge falter (he started 29 games, completed 48 percent of his passes and posted a 60.1 quarterback rating) to keep bringing in veteran quarterbacks. As one former Chiefs executive told me: ?Kansas City has this reputation as a great place, and it is a great place. But we always knew: it would be a tough place for a young quarterback to grow up.?
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Draft a QB? Not if you're KC
The Big Read by Joe Posnanski: The Chiefs haven't?went looking for a young quarterback to build the future around since?1983. Will that change this year?
If Albert won't play RT, who will?
??ProFootballTalk: The Chiefs released RT Eric Winston, and the ripple effect has already been felt. LT Branden Albert took to twitter to say he's not interested in switching to the right side of line. If Albert doesn't, who does play RT for Kansas City?
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Airline passengers will be able to carry small knives, souvenir baseball bats, golf clubs and other sports equipment onto planes beginning next month under a policy change announced Tuesday by the head of the Transportation Security Administration.
The new policy conforms U.S. security standards to international standards, and allows TSA to concentrate its energies on more serious safety threats, the agency said in a statement.
The announcement, made by TSA Administrator John Pistole at an airline industry gathering in New York, drew an immediate outcry from unions representing flight attendants and other airline workers, who said the items are still dangerous in the hands of the wrong passengers.
Transport Workers Union Local 556, which represents over 10,000 flight attendants at Southwest Airlines, called the new policy "dangerous" and "shortsighted," saying it was designed to make "the lives of TSA staff easier, but not make flights safer."
"While we agree that a passenger wielding a small knife or swinging a golf club or hockey stick poses less of a threat to the pilot locked in the cockpit, these are real threats to passengers and flight attendants in the passenger cabin," the union said in a statement.
The policy change was based on a recommendation from an internal TSA working group, which decided the items represented no real danger, said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the agency.
The presence on flights of gun-carrying pilots traveling as passengers, federal air marshals and airline crew members trained in self-defense provide additional layers of security to protect against misuse of the items, he said. However, not all flights have federal air marshals or armed pilots onboard.
The new policy permits folding knives with blades that are 2.36 inches or less in length and are less than 1/2-inch wide. The policy is aimed at allowing passengers to carry pen knives, corkscrews with small blades and other knives.
Passengers also will be allowed to bring onboard as part of their carry-on luggage novelty-sized baseball bats less than 24 inches long, toy plastic bats, billiard cues, ski poles, hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks and two golf clubs, the agency said. The policy goes into effect on April 25.
Security standards adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. agency, already call for passengers to be able to carry those items. Those standards are non-binding, but many countries follow them.
Box cutters, razor blades and knives that don't fold or that have molded grip handles will still be prohibited, the TSA said.
Reaction to the changes was mostly positive among travelers interviewed Tuesday at Los Angeles International Airport.
"I figure small knives are appropriate and fine," said Becca Wong of Los Angeles. "People carry pocket knives on them daily on the street so I'm just as at risk there versus on an airplane. So I'm not really too concerned about it."
"Just a little small pocketknife that most people have isn't going to do a whole lot of damage to anybody," agreed Matt Shaw of Los Angeles. "I don't think it's that big a deal."
"I carry a pocket knife as well," said Tunde Akinyele of Los Angeles. "But I know when I travel I leave it at home. They were taking those small knives that you use to clean your fingernails ? those, no. But a pocket knife, I would say, yes, that is a weapon. It can be used to harm somebody on the flight. So I would say still we shouldn't allow that yet."
The policy change got a thumbs up from Dean Rhymer, a Junior Los Angeles Kings hockey player who strode into the terminal carrying a hockey stick. "I think it'll be helpful. It's easier to carry it on to bring it places."
The items that will be permitted under the new policy don't present any greater danger than other everyday items that passengers can turn into weapons, aviation security consultant John L. Sullivan said. A pen or a toothbrush can be sharpened into a knife like the "shivs" inmates sometimes make in prisons, he said. Some airlines have returned to using real glassware and silverware in first class, rather than plastic or paper, he noted. Glasses can be broken and used as weapons, he added.
"There are a lot of things you can use on an airplane if you are intent on hurting someone," said Sullivan, co-founder of the Welsh-Sullivan Group in Dallas. "Security is never 100 percent."
But speaking as a passenger, he said, the "last thing I need is someone getting on a plane taking up valuable space with their pool cues and hockey sticks."
Douglas Laird, a former security director at Northwest Airlines and now a security consultant, said the change was long overdue. He said security should focus more on profiling passengers and less on what they're carrying.
"After 9/11, TSA did a lot of things pretty fast without thinking it through. They have better things to do than look for a guy who's got a 2-inch knife," he said.
There has been a gradual easing of some of the security measures applied to airline passengers after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In 2005, the TSA changed its policies to allow passengers to carry on airplanes small scissors, knitting needles, tweezers, nail clippers and up to four books of matches. The move came as the agency turned its focus toward keeping explosives off planes, because intelligence officials believed that was the greatest threat to commercial aviation.
And in September 2011, the TSA no longer required children 12 years old and under to remove their shoes at airport checkpoints. The agency recently issued new guidelines for travelers 75 years old and older so they can avoid removing shoes and light jackets when they go through airport security checkpoints.
___
Associated Press writers Eileen Sullivan in Washington, David Koenig in Dallas and Raquel Maria Dillon in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
___
Follow Joan Lowy on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy
Colon cancer screening doubles with new e-health record use Public release date: 4-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rebecca Hughes hughes.r@ghc.org 206-287-2055 Group Health Research Institute
Group Health randomized trial in Annals of Internal Medicine shows cost saving
SEATTLEResearchers used electronic health records to identify Group Health patients who weren't screened regularly for cancer of the colon and rectumand to encourage them to be screened. This centralized, automated approach doubled these patients' rates of on-time screeningand saved health costsover two years. The March 5 Annals of Internal Medicine published the randomized controlled trial.
"Screening for colorectal cancer can save lives, by finding cancer earlyand even by detecting polyps before cancer starts," said study leader Beverly B. Green, MD, MPH. "But screening can't help if you don't do itand do it regularly," added Dr. Green, a family physician at Group Health and an affiliate investigator at Group Health Research Institute.
More than one in 20 Americans will develop colorectal cancer, which is second only to lung cancer in causing deaths from cancer, Dr. Green said. Screening for colorectal cancer is strongly recommended for everyone age 50 to 75 years, but almost half of Americans do not get screened regularlyfar below the screening rates for cervical and breast cancer.
"It's important to find ways to ensure that more people are screened for colorectal cancerand keep being screened regularly," Dr. Green said. "I've seen patients die from this cancer. So I was thrilled to find that our intervention doubled screening rates and kept them up to date regularly over two years in people who hadn't been getting regular screening."
The SOS (Systems of Support to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening) trial started by identifying 4,675 Group Health patients, age 50 to 73, who weren't up to date for colorectal cancer screening. Then they were randomly assigned to one of four stepped groups:
The first group received "usual care," which includes both patient and clinic reminders for those overdue.
The second group received this plus "automated" care, which included a letter telling them they were due for colorectal cancer screening and a pamphlet about screening choices and the pros and cons of three screening options recommended by Group Health and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force: fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) yearly; flexible sigmoidoscopy every five years (with one FOBT in between); or colonoscopy every decade. Those patients who didn't call to schedule a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy received a FOBT kit in the mail with illustrated instructions and a postage-paid return envelope and a reminder letter three weeks later if the kit was not completed.
The third group received usual care, automated interventions, and an additional step called "assisted" care if they still had not completed screening. Assisted care included a medical assistant calling patients to ask which screening option they preferred and provided simple assistance to get this done, such as sending a request for a colonoscopy to their physician, or reviewing the FOBT instructions.
The fourth group received usual care, automated, the assisted intervention, and an additional step called "navigated" care if they were still overdue for screening or requested a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy during the automated or assisted steps. Navigated care included a nurse calling to advise patients and facilitate their screening, for those who wanted help in making their choice or didn't get screened after the medical assistant's call. Patients who chose colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy were helped with making an appointment and preparing for the procedure and followed until the test was completed.
Each step of the SOS intervention raised the percentage of patients who were current for colorectal screening for both years: 26 percent for usual, 51 percent for automated, 57 percent for assisted, and 65 percent for navigated care.
The two-year costs of the automated intervention plus the screening were actually $89 lower than if the patients had received only usual care. The reason: compared with patients who received usual care, more of those in the automated care group happened to choose FOBT instead of sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy. And the kit costs much less than the procedures do.
"Traditionally, the onus has been on each primary-care doctor to encourage their patients to get health screening tests on schedule," Dr. Green said. Group Health pioneered using a centralized registry to remind women to be screened regularly for breast cancer. "We borrowed that approach and applied it to colorectal cancer," she added. "We empowered patients to do testing on time, by giving them options, or sending them a FOBT kit by default if no choice was made."
What's next? "We plan to test whether improved adherence persists for more than two years," she said. This is particularly important for patients who choose FOBT, because it should be repeated every year. "We are also testing this intervention in 'safety-net' clinics, which serve low-income people," Dr. Green added. More of those clinics now have electronic health records and can now leverage these to provide population-based care, similar to Group Health and Kaiser Permanente.
###
The SOS trial was supported by grant R01CA121125 from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Green's co-authors at Group Health Research Institute were Assistant Investigator Jessica Chubak, PhD, MBHL, Senior Biostatistician Melissa L. Anderson, MS, and Analyst Programmer Sharon Fuller. Dr. Green has a joint appointment as an assistant clinical professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and Dr. Chubak is also at the University of Washington School of Public Health. Their other co-authors were Ching-Yun Wang, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in Seattle; Richard T. Meenan, PhD, of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, in Portland, OR; and Sally W. Vernon, PhD, of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
Second study in same issue
Other Group Health researchers published a different study of colorectal screening in the same issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine: Diana S.M. Buist, PhD, and Carolyn M. Rutter, PhD, senior investigators; Jessica Chubak, PhD, an assistant investigator; Aruna Kamineni, PhD, a research associate; Eric Johnson, MS, a biostatistician; and Joseph Webster, a programmer/analyst.
In people of average risk at four HMO Research Network sites, including Group Health, they found that screening colonoscopy was associated with reduced risk of newly diagnosed late-stage cancers for both left- and right-sided colorectal cancers. Screening sigmoidoscopy was associated with a reduced risk of left-sided, but not right-sided, late-stage colorectal cancers. (Cancers differ depending on whether they are on the left or right side of the bowel.)
They published with colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, in Philadelphia; the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, in Boston; the University of Massachusetts Medical School, in Worcester; the University of Washington School of Public Health, in Seattle; the National Cancer Institute, in Bethesda, MD; Meyers Primary Care Institute/Reliant Medical Group, in Worcester; HealthPartners Health System, in MN; Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, in WI; Kaiser Permanente Northwest, in Portland, OR; Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Oakland, CA; and Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, in Honolulu.
Annals of Internal Medicine
Established in 1927 by the American College of Physicians (ACP), Annals of Internal Medicine is the premier internal medicine journal. Annals of Internal Medicine's mission is to promote excellence in medicine, enable physicians and other health care professionals to be well informed members of the medical community and society, advance standards in the conduct and reporting of medical research, and contribute to improving the health of people worldwide. To achieve this mission, the journal publishes a wide variety of original research, review articles, practice guidelines, and commentary relevant to clinical practice, health care delivery, public health, health care policy, medical education, ethics, and research methodology. In addition, the journal publishes personal narratives that convey the feeling and the art of medicine.
HMO Research Network
The HMO Research Network includes 19 research centers, each associated with a health care delivery system. Researchers at the centers collaborate on multi-site studies in real-world health care settings across the United States and in Israel. With access to information on more than 16 million ethnically and geographically diverse patients, these researchers are finding solutions for common and rare health problems. Since 1994, the Network has been answering pressing questions about keeping people healthy and delivering effective care.
Group Health Research Institute
Group Health Research Institute does practical research that helps people like you and your family stay healthy. The Institute is the research arm of Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative, a consumer-governed, nonprofit health care system. Founded in 1947, Group Health Cooperative coordinates health care and coverage. Group Health Research Institute changed its name from Group Health Center for Health Studies in 2009. Since 1983, the Institute has conducted nonproprietary public-interest research on preventing, diagnosing, and treating major health problems. Government and private research grants provide its main funding.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Colon cancer screening doubles with new e-health record use Public release date: 4-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rebecca Hughes hughes.r@ghc.org 206-287-2055 Group Health Research Institute
Group Health randomized trial in Annals of Internal Medicine shows cost saving
SEATTLEResearchers used electronic health records to identify Group Health patients who weren't screened regularly for cancer of the colon and rectumand to encourage them to be screened. This centralized, automated approach doubled these patients' rates of on-time screeningand saved health costsover two years. The March 5 Annals of Internal Medicine published the randomized controlled trial.
"Screening for colorectal cancer can save lives, by finding cancer earlyand even by detecting polyps before cancer starts," said study leader Beverly B. Green, MD, MPH. "But screening can't help if you don't do itand do it regularly," added Dr. Green, a family physician at Group Health and an affiliate investigator at Group Health Research Institute.
More than one in 20 Americans will develop colorectal cancer, which is second only to lung cancer in causing deaths from cancer, Dr. Green said. Screening for colorectal cancer is strongly recommended for everyone age 50 to 75 years, but almost half of Americans do not get screened regularlyfar below the screening rates for cervical and breast cancer.
"It's important to find ways to ensure that more people are screened for colorectal cancerand keep being screened regularly," Dr. Green said. "I've seen patients die from this cancer. So I was thrilled to find that our intervention doubled screening rates and kept them up to date regularly over two years in people who hadn't been getting regular screening."
The SOS (Systems of Support to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening) trial started by identifying 4,675 Group Health patients, age 50 to 73, who weren't up to date for colorectal cancer screening. Then they were randomly assigned to one of four stepped groups:
The first group received "usual care," which includes both patient and clinic reminders for those overdue.
The second group received this plus "automated" care, which included a letter telling them they were due for colorectal cancer screening and a pamphlet about screening choices and the pros and cons of three screening options recommended by Group Health and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force: fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) yearly; flexible sigmoidoscopy every five years (with one FOBT in between); or colonoscopy every decade. Those patients who didn't call to schedule a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy received a FOBT kit in the mail with illustrated instructions and a postage-paid return envelope and a reminder letter three weeks later if the kit was not completed.
The third group received usual care, automated interventions, and an additional step called "assisted" care if they still had not completed screening. Assisted care included a medical assistant calling patients to ask which screening option they preferred and provided simple assistance to get this done, such as sending a request for a colonoscopy to their physician, or reviewing the FOBT instructions.
The fourth group received usual care, automated, the assisted intervention, and an additional step called "navigated" care if they were still overdue for screening or requested a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy during the automated or assisted steps. Navigated care included a nurse calling to advise patients and facilitate their screening, for those who wanted help in making their choice or didn't get screened after the medical assistant's call. Patients who chose colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy were helped with making an appointment and preparing for the procedure and followed until the test was completed.
Each step of the SOS intervention raised the percentage of patients who were current for colorectal screening for both years: 26 percent for usual, 51 percent for automated, 57 percent for assisted, and 65 percent for navigated care.
The two-year costs of the automated intervention plus the screening were actually $89 lower than if the patients had received only usual care. The reason: compared with patients who received usual care, more of those in the automated care group happened to choose FOBT instead of sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy. And the kit costs much less than the procedures do.
"Traditionally, the onus has been on each primary-care doctor to encourage their patients to get health screening tests on schedule," Dr. Green said. Group Health pioneered using a centralized registry to remind women to be screened regularly for breast cancer. "We borrowed that approach and applied it to colorectal cancer," she added. "We empowered patients to do testing on time, by giving them options, or sending them a FOBT kit by default if no choice was made."
What's next? "We plan to test whether improved adherence persists for more than two years," she said. This is particularly important for patients who choose FOBT, because it should be repeated every year. "We are also testing this intervention in 'safety-net' clinics, which serve low-income people," Dr. Green added. More of those clinics now have electronic health records and can now leverage these to provide population-based care, similar to Group Health and Kaiser Permanente.
###
The SOS trial was supported by grant R01CA121125 from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Green's co-authors at Group Health Research Institute were Assistant Investigator Jessica Chubak, PhD, MBHL, Senior Biostatistician Melissa L. Anderson, MS, and Analyst Programmer Sharon Fuller. Dr. Green has a joint appointment as an assistant clinical professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and Dr. Chubak is also at the University of Washington School of Public Health. Their other co-authors were Ching-Yun Wang, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in Seattle; Richard T. Meenan, PhD, of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, in Portland, OR; and Sally W. Vernon, PhD, of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
Second study in same issue
Other Group Health researchers published a different study of colorectal screening in the same issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine: Diana S.M. Buist, PhD, and Carolyn M. Rutter, PhD, senior investigators; Jessica Chubak, PhD, an assistant investigator; Aruna Kamineni, PhD, a research associate; Eric Johnson, MS, a biostatistician; and Joseph Webster, a programmer/analyst.
In people of average risk at four HMO Research Network sites, including Group Health, they found that screening colonoscopy was associated with reduced risk of newly diagnosed late-stage cancers for both left- and right-sided colorectal cancers. Screening sigmoidoscopy was associated with a reduced risk of left-sided, but not right-sided, late-stage colorectal cancers. (Cancers differ depending on whether they are on the left or right side of the bowel.)
They published with colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, in Philadelphia; the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, in Boston; the University of Massachusetts Medical School, in Worcester; the University of Washington School of Public Health, in Seattle; the National Cancer Institute, in Bethesda, MD; Meyers Primary Care Institute/Reliant Medical Group, in Worcester; HealthPartners Health System, in MN; Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, in WI; Kaiser Permanente Northwest, in Portland, OR; Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Oakland, CA; and Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, in Honolulu.
Annals of Internal Medicine
Established in 1927 by the American College of Physicians (ACP), Annals of Internal Medicine is the premier internal medicine journal. Annals of Internal Medicine's mission is to promote excellence in medicine, enable physicians and other health care professionals to be well informed members of the medical community and society, advance standards in the conduct and reporting of medical research, and contribute to improving the health of people worldwide. To achieve this mission, the journal publishes a wide variety of original research, review articles, practice guidelines, and commentary relevant to clinical practice, health care delivery, public health, health care policy, medical education, ethics, and research methodology. In addition, the journal publishes personal narratives that convey the feeling and the art of medicine.
HMO Research Network
The HMO Research Network includes 19 research centers, each associated with a health care delivery system. Researchers at the centers collaborate on multi-site studies in real-world health care settings across the United States and in Israel. With access to information on more than 16 million ethnically and geographically diverse patients, these researchers are finding solutions for common and rare health problems. Since 1994, the Network has been answering pressing questions about keeping people healthy and delivering effective care.
Group Health Research Institute
Group Health Research Institute does practical research that helps people like you and your family stay healthy. The Institute is the research arm of Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative, a consumer-governed, nonprofit health care system. Founded in 1947, Group Health Cooperative coordinates health care and coverage. Group Health Research Institute changed its name from Group Health Center for Health Studies in 2009. Since 1983, the Institute has conducted nonproprietary public-interest research on preventing, diagnosing, and treating major health problems. Government and private research grants provide its main funding.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 4-Mar-2013
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