Anika Noni Rose as Disney's Princess Tiana now on DVD

When Anika Noni Rose met with Disney years ago, she never thought she'd be approached about a history-making role.

Yet, she was.

Rose is Disney's first African American princess, Tiana, in The Princess and the Frog. The movie was recently released on DVD and Blu-Ray disc.

"I always wanted to be a Disney voice, but I didn't know it would be this. When I met with Disney I had many voices ready in my pocket. I thought I would be the best duck or something completely different," the Connecticut-bom actress told reporters in Chicago as frog earrings dangled from her ears during a recent roundtable discussion to promote the film's video release.

There will be scenes …

Police: roadside Bomb wounds Pakistani troops

A roadside bomb exploded Tuesday near a military truck in northwestern Pakistan, wounding at least five troops and one civilian, officials said.

Local police chief Ibrahim Khan said the bomb was apparently attached to a bicycle and went off in the town of Kohat, about 40 miles south of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province.

He said the injured had been transported to a hospital, where all were listed in stable condition.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas confirmed the attack, but provided no further details.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but it comes two days after a suicide bombing outside a …

The north-east's ever-expanding waste line

The digger lurches in the darkness, shredded paper billowingaround it like snow.

In a giant barn near Oldmeldrum, a new industry is in full swing.

A lorry is being loaded with 27 tonnes of waste paper, ready tomake its three-times-a-week trip to Wales.

As it gets ready to leave on its 400-mile journey, a smaller onearrives with waste paper uplifted from the streets of Ellon.

This is just some of the 11,000 tonnes of paper now beingrecycled in Aberdeenshire every year.

The council formerly paid to dispose of its waste paper but thepressure to be green has made recycled paper a valuable commodity.

Now Aberdeenshire Council has three "bulking …

China: Cotton Imports May Be 40% Less Next Year

China consumes a third of the world's cotton, but may import 40% less of the fiber next year on expectation that domestic production will reach a 20-year high, the U.S. Agriculture Department said.

Imports may decline to 1.1 million tons, or 5 million bales, in the year beginning on August 1st, the Department's Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report. Imports are expected to more than double to 1.83 million tons in the current marketing year, the report said.

The U.S. is the dominant supplier of cotton to China. Fewer purchases by the world's most populous nation may crimp New York cotton futures, which have gained 11% this year. About 60% of the 870,059 tons of cotton …

Stones thrown, tear gas fired at Athens march

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Riot police made heavy use of tear gas and stun grenades to disperse youths throwing stones and petrol bombs at a large march through central Athens Wednesday to protest the Greek government's harsh austerity measures.

The clashes came during a 24-hour general strike that brought most public services to a halt, idled all trains and island ferries, grounded flights for four hours and disrupted public transport.

The unions, like many economic experts, question the effectiveness of more austerity at a time when the economy badly needs growth — or possibly a debt restructuring — to emerge from its debt hole.

The country is expected to need more …

Hiddink to leave as Russia coach

Guus Hiddink will leave as coach of Russia's national team when his contract expires on June 30, raising the prospect of him taking a job, with a number of suitors at club and national level.

Hiddink guided Russia to the semifinals of the 2008 European Championships but the team fell short of qualifying for this year's World Cup.

Hiddink wrote in a Dutch newspaper column that he had spoken with new Russian federation president Sergei Fursenko and "it was decided that we will part ways after the expiration of my contract on June 30."

"We decided this now in order to give the federation enough time to look for a successor," he …

Seinfeld's romance amounted to nothing

Remember when Jerry Seinfeld took up with Jessica Sklar - a merefour months after she wed New York theater heir Eric Nederlander?Well guess what? After all that - including Nederlander divorcingSklar forthwith - Seinfeld and his former lady love are now said tobe kaput. MORE ROMANCE: Gossip lovers are all atwitter about VanityFair's interview with Ellen Barkin, expected to be the next bride ofRevlon head guy Ron Perlman. While Barkin is "ringless" in thestory, the actress sports a knuckle-size yellow diamond Harry Winstonsparkler when she appears anonymously in an ad in the same issue forthe Mondo di Marco clothing line. New York sources report,meanwhile, that the cosmetics czar …

NC AG investigating 15 lenders over foreclosures

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's attorney general is investigating the state's 15 largest mortgage lenders, questioning them about procedures used in foreclosure.

Attorney General Roy Cooper has asked each of the lenders to stop foreclosure proceedings during the review. He wants the companies to show that their procedures comply with the law.

Cooper says the investigation began in late …

Analysis: Has Iraq war really ended for Obama, US?

President Barack Obama kept a promise but took a risk in boldly declaring an end to 7 1/2 years of war in Iraq and asserting that America had turned the page both at home and abroad on the costly, divisive conflict.

In relatively brief but politically freighted remarks from the Oval Office on Tuesday night, Obama lavished praise on America's military men and women, saying they had "stared into the darkest of human creations _ war _ and helped the Iraqi people seek the light of peace."

Obama's second address to the nation shifted quickly, however, to politics, with a reminder of his erstwhile opposition to the deeply unpopular war, a position that …

European commission focuses on renewable energy sources

In early April, the European Commission proposed a four-year program,"Intelligent Energy for Europe" (2003-2006), that will continue the Commission's current energy framework program, scheduled to end this December. With a budget of 215 million euros (-$190 million), the program will implement a strategy outlined in a Nov. 2000 paper based on renewable energy sources (e.g., solar, wind, biomass) and energy savings. Currently, 5.6% of Europe's energy supply is generated by renewable sources. The program's goal is to more than double this figure to 12% by 2010. Another goal is to improve energy efficiency by 1 % per year.

This …

Cher says goodbye to farewell tour with 200-show engagement at Las Vegas' Caesars Palace

Cher said farewell, but not goodbye.

Two-and-a-half years after the final show of her three-year "Farewell" concert tour, the Oscar-, Emmy- and Grammy-award winner announced last week that she had signed on for a three-year, 200-show engagement at Caesars Palace.

Cher told AP Television the move was less a change of heart than a way to do what she still loves _ performing _ without the rigors of touring.

"I wouldn't have to move. I wouldn't have to travel. I could just stay there. Because that's what I really can't do anymore, is I can't go on the road. It's just too much. It's just too impossibly hard. And I started there, and I …

Microsoft Web site aims to make your house a Hohm

Microsoft Corp. is slowly beefing up a Web site aimed at helping people monitor their home energy use and pinpoint ways to cut costs.

The site, called Microsoft Hohm, launched last summer. People can enter details about their home, such as when it was built and what kind of heating system and thermostat it has.

Hohm can also be hooked up to users' utility accounts, though so far this only works in some areas of Washington, California and the Midwest. Microsoft models year-round weather conditions and other factors using a mix of its own software and research from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to come up with a …

European court cuts Alstom cartel fine

BRUSSELS (AP) — Europe's highest court is lowering the fines France's Alstom and a Siemens subsidiary have to pay for participating in a cartel, but approved the fine for Siemens's mother company.

In 2007, the European Commission, the EU's antitrust watchdog, fined 20 companies €750.7 million for fixing prices for gas-insulated switchgear, heavy electrical equipment used at auxiliary power stations.

The European Court of Justice ruled Thursday Alstom SA's fine should be cut to €58.52 million from €65.03 million, while that for Siemens Transmission & Distribution should fall to €30.15 million from €45.36 million.

However, the court maintained the biggest fine of €396.56 million against Munich-based Siemens AG.

Appeals from several Japanese companies are still to come.

'Celebrity' dig reflects US culture, history

When John McCain decided to cast Barack Obama as a feckless upstart, an empty suit, he reached for the dirtiest word he could use: "celebrity."

"He's the biggest celebrity in the world," a female narrator warns in breathless tones for a McCain ad, "but is he ready to lead?" Chants of "O-bama! O-bama!" form a mischievous backtrack to fleeting images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton _ one a troubled singer and the other a socialite who is famous for, well, being famous.

What McCain and his image-makers don't bother to tell us is that all serious presidential candidates are celebrities. In fact, some of our greatest presidents have benefited politically from our celebrity culture _ and many shape the ubiquity of it all. Presidents and presidential candidates are not merely well-known, which in itself is enough to make them celebrities; their families, their health histories, their habits and hobbies and once-closeted skeletons are as open to the public as the pages of People magazine.

Oh, and there's this other small point McCain left out: Last month, he created his own celebrity.

Ten days ago, few people in the lower 48 could have named Alaska's governor, much less tell you that Sarah Palin is a mother of five _ a moose-hunting, corruption-busting "hockey mom" with a pregnant teenage daughter, a son headed to Iraq and a raft of Internet rumors about her personal and professional life. The image has overwhelmed the reality of her relatively thin resume _ she's nearly three years younger than Obama and barely into her first term as governor.

We think we know Palin. After all, that's her face on the covers of People ("Sarah Palin's Family Drama") and Us Weekly ("Babies, Lies & Scandal"), where we read about her affinity for BlackBerrys and breast pumps. Though not all the news is good _ for celebrities, it rarely is _ the fact and fiction of Palin's freshly carved image help her, and perhaps McCain, connect with Americans.

Many voters see a bit of themselves in Palin even while she stands above the populace _ the classic celebrity duality of fame and attainability that has always accounted for the allure of stars in American culture. Why else would celebrity magazines spend millions of dollars for photos of stars acting "just like us" _ fetching coffee, toting groceries, playing with their kids in the park?

While the culture of celebrity dates to the early 19th century in politics, the Hollywood ethic is everywhere today. It extends to athletic fields, board rooms and even church pulpits, where evangelists like Rick Warren preach to 20,000 people every week and write mega-selling books.

"People want to find candidates appealing and find some qualities where they're like me or they're better than me," says Victoria Ott, a historian at Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama who studies the pre-Civil War era.

She points to Andrew Jackson, the self-styled populist who called himself "Old Hickory" and touted his war record. His allies cast rival John Quincy Adams as an elitist with the slogan, "Vote for Andrew Jackson, who can fight. Not for John Quincy Adams, who can write."

Nearly 180 years later, the celebrity machine is churning out the same pablum, albeit electronically and instantaneously. Now it's Vietnam POW John McCain who can fight and best-selling author Barack Obama who can write.

Abraham Lincoln edited his speeches before sending them off to newspapers, and his image-makers marched into a convention hall with two fence rails placarded, "Abraham Lincoln, The Rail Candidate for President in 1860." A celebrity was born, later to be deified upon his assassination and now celebrated daily at the Disney-influenced Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Ill.

In the 19th century, three developments fueled the celebrification of politics: a new form of communications (the telegraph), the proliferation of a largely partisan and affordable medium (newspapers) and the democratization of the electoral process that gave more people the vote. The same dynamics are driving the culture of celebrity today, though with different platforms: the Internet, blogs and Obama's drive to swell voter registration rolls with young voters.

Teddy Roosevelt, the rugged outdoorsman. John F. Kennedy, the dashing war hero. Ronald Reagan, the morning-in-America optimist. No less than Kennedy's "Rat Pack," these presidents were celebrities.

"What we're looking for in any celebrity is the marvel of discovery," says Jim Broussard, a historian at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa. "A movie star is a celebrity because we see them in movies and we think they're great. I want to be him or like him. Obama's celebrity comes from the fact that a lot of people are hungry for something and all of a sudden they find it and say, 'This is terrific.'"

What are people hungry for? Fame, power, money, attention, status _ those you can experience vicariously through the pages of People. But if the civic side of the American culture is hungry for change, then Obama and Palin _ though polar opposites in their politics _ are the equivalent of the Hollywood starlet who's discovered at a diner: an overnight sensation.

"We're thirsty," Broussard says, "and along comes the water."

What Michael Jordan is to sports, Rick Warren is to religion, Steve Jobs is to business and Madonna is to music _ that's what McCain, Palin, Obama and Democratic running mate Joe Biden are to politics. Created and marketed as brands, sometimes long after they're effective (Michael Jordan is retired) or dead (Elvis has left the building, but he still sells), political figures are worshipped and consumed, even when they don't deserve the adulation or when the celebrification overwhelms real issues like the war in Iraq and the economy.

McCain's chief adviser, Rick Davis, might have been right when he said this election is not about issues. It certainly won't be about issues alone. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates," he said.

In fact, Americans pick a president the way they select a car. Sure, some of us know our way around an engine and read the consumer reports but at the end of the day, you don't buy a car without a test drive _ without knowing how it feels and knowing what how it makes you feel about yourself. It's the same with politicians. The campaign is a test drive, and we want a gut check.

Presidents and presidential candidates are celebrities, imperfect models of what we are and what we want to become. "A celebrity is known for being known," Broussard says, "and known for being a bit like us and a bit better than us." And only then, if they're both, will we actually buy the car.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE _ Ron Fournier covers politics for The Associated Press. Comments about Measure of a Nation can be sent to measure(at)ap.org.

GERMAN BIOGAS EXPERIENCE AND LESSONS FOR WISCONSIN

Delegation of Midwestern energy policy analysts and University of Wisconsin graduate students visited Germany to examine on-farm biogas production as a source of renewable energy.

A delegation of midwestern energy policy analysts and University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate students visited Germany in Fall of 2010 to examine on-farm biogas production as a source of renewable energy. Germany is the world leader in biogas project deployment, with an estimated 6,000 operational biogas plants at the beginning of 2011 (Budzianowski 2011). In the Midwest United States, however, biogas remains a relatively untapped resource due to concerns regarding economic feasibility and a lack of agreement on deployment strategies or regulatory policies. The biogas industry in Germany has been operating for more than 15 years and offers examples of technology, policy, and development models that could benefit the U.S. as it continues to develop a robust biogas industry. The delegation explored Germany's success with biogas projects to identify which opportunities or successful models could be replicated.

The major driver of the explosive growth in the German biogas industry can be attributed to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (RESA). A provision from this policy guarantees electric grid connection and a premium rate for the renewable electricity supplied (Table 1). Guaranteed rates, or feed in-tariffs, vary by energy technology and system capacity. For biogas, the policy includes a base rate and additional bonus rates for use of different materials, emission reductions, biomethane production, or combined heat and power usage. The basic tariff rate combined with bonus payments can result in a buyback rate ranging from euro 0.12/kWh to euro 0.30/kWh ($0.16$0.40/kWh) for a < 150 kW system. All of the project developers, industry representatives, and government officials we met with in Germany credited RESA as the driving force behind biogas development. The German feed-in tariff model might not be a precise fit for U.S. development, but it speaks to the importance of public policy as a key industry driver.

BIOGAS PLANT TOURS

The delegation visited seven different biogas facilities that encompassed family-owned/operated systems to cooperative models. These biogas plants were selected to demonstrate the diversity of creative ownership models and economically feasible utilization of the outputs associated (i.e., gas, solids and heat).

Single Family Farm

The delegation visited two different families that own/operate their biogas system. Both maintain less than 100 head of dairy cows and operate with manure and plant feedstock, such as corn silage. Both farms combust the gas to generate electricity, producing five to ten times the amount needed for on-farm uses. The excess is sold to the local power companies. Both producers utilize the waste heat generated from electricity production for on-farm uses and report the digester investment had a five to six year payback. Interestingly, these farmers confirmed that energy production revenues were the primary motivation in their decision to install anaerobic digesters. One estimated that 80 percent of his annual revenue was derived from energy production.

One family also owns/ operates a second digester that only processes plant material (primarily harvested grasses and corn silage with some crop residues); no animal manure is used. This digester, operational since 2006, has a "triple ring" design (one large tank with three internal tanks laid out as concentric circles) allowing for flexible use of the chambers depending on feedstock availability. The design reduces heat loss by sharing walls and enables better feedstock mixing compared to large tanks. The biogas plant is completely automated and powers a 500 kW engine generator set; waste heat is used to dry wood for residential fireplaces.

Biogas Cooperative Near Pfullendorf

The delegation visited a biogas facility jointly owned by three farmers, located on the outskirts of Pfullendorf. The plant produces 1.2 MW of electricity from purpose-grown plant feedstocks and five percent manure. All of the feedstocks (primarily corn) are transported to the plant from nearby farms as silage and are not pretreated prior to digestion. The resulting digestate is applied to farm fields as fertilizer. While some biogas is used on-site, approximately 80 percent is piped to the neighboring town (approximately 1 mile) and combusted for electricity generation. The waste heat associated with this combustion meets the heating and cooling requirements of a large supermarket.

Biogas Cooperative Near Freiburg

Biogas plants cooperatively owned by multiple farmers can offer other opportunities due to an increase in the economy of scale. A large project near Freiburg processes 135 tons/day of purposegrown crops per day from, fields within a 13-mile radius. Digested solids are spread on surrounding cropland as fertilizer. The biogas plant began operating in 2006 and is expecting a 5- to 10year payback period.

This digester is only one of approximately 40 projects out of Germany's 6,000 biogas plants where the biogas is used to produce renewable natural gas, or biomethane (Rutz et al., 2010). The project generates 1 MW of electricity, which is used to operate the facility. Additionally, 1,000 cubic meters/hour of raw biogas are sold to the local power utility every hour. The utility upgrades the biogas to biomethane (95 percent methane) and injects approximately 500 cubic meters into the conventional natural gas pipeline. The German feed-in tariff policy was amended to provide a bonus payment for upgrading raw biogas to biomethane. The utility receives the bonus since it owns and operates the upgrading equipment.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WISCONSIN

The potential for agricultural biogas development in Wisconsin and the Midwestern U.S. is significant. Three general principles drawn from the success of Germany's biogas industry - innovative business models, adaptable scales and designs, and innovative inputs and end uses - can help Wisconsin fully capitalize on the state's biogas opportunity.

Innovative Business Models

The German biogas business environment showcases a variety of ownership models. Some producers retain single ownership of their projects, shouldering the entire capital investment and operational costs, but are the sole recipients of a stable source of income. Dairy farmers reported that the majority of their on-farm income, as much as 80 percent, was attributed to biogas production. Some producers noted that securing commercial financing to install or improve anaerobic digesters was easier than securing financing for more traditional farm investments, such as herd expansion. The 20-year guaranteed rate provided by Germany's RESA makes biogas investments more secure than investments subject to commodity price fluctuations.

Farmers opting for co-ownership of biogas facilities cited the benefits of distributing the capital cost of the project, dispersing the investment risk, and sharing the management burden. Limited time and financial resources motivated these producers to enter into such agreements with business partners or family members.

We also met with producers who sought out partnerships with private businesses or nearby communities as end-users of their product. Incentives in RESA motivated producers to identify new uses for their combustion waste heat by exploring partnerships with private companies and public buildings, such as hospitals and government offices.

One producer entered into a splitownership arrangement with a local energy utility. The farmer owns the anaerobic digester system and produces the biogas, while the utility owns the equipment to upgrade the biogas to meet natural gas injection requirements. Under the terms of their agreement, the local utility agrees to purchase a fixed amount of biogas at a fixed rate under a long-term contract, creating a secure market for the farmer's biogas. The local utility, with more capital and more experience, is in a much better position to capitalize on the natural gas injection opportunities than a single farmer.

Lessons Learned: According to the Wisconsin Agricultural Biogas Casebook (Kramer 2009), three different business models exist among Wisconsin's 31 operational on-farm digesters: 71 percent are owned by the farmer, 19 percent are split-ownership (farmer owns the digester, third-party company owns and operates everything else), and 10 percent third-party ownership (farmer owns nothing and typically sells manure to the operator and buys back electricity and bedding). While different farm-specific reasons have driven these business models, there is ample opportunity for creative ownership and operating models to spawn widespread investment in Wisconsin. One example is pairing biogas with existing ethanol plants to digest their organic waste stream, with the biogas providing the electricity and heat needed for the energy intensive process of producing ethanol from corn.

Adaptable Scales And System Designs

Anaerobic digester technology is remarkably flexible. Each system can be designed to meet the specific needs of a site. In Germany, we saw small-scale manure-based systems on farms with 70 head of milk cows, expansive 3 MW systems operating solely on field crop inputs, and everything in between. However, the majority of on-farm systems (over 3,000) in Germany exist on small dairies with less than 100 head of milk cows (Hambrick et al., 2010). These systems are made profitable by digesting plant feedstocks in addition to animal manure. Germans cited support for rural livelihoods as an important societal value, and some producers even suggested that without the steady income stream from biogas, small dairy farms in Germany might not exist today. To ensure that small farms stay competitive in the green energy marketplace, RESA provides a higher base rate for small-scale producers (currently euro0.1167/kWh) than for larger producers (currently euro 0.0779/kWh for the largest). Despite the incentives for smaller systems, producers were quick to note that the high capital costs associated with biogas production - which can be attributed to cost increases in raw materials like cement and steel - have led the current industry to trend toward larger systems.

Anaerobic digester systems can also range from basic to sophisticated designs. Basic systems like standard plug-flow designs popular in the U.S. are still used in Germany, but newer, innovative designs are also being deployed. In response to the demand for technological innovation and support, a robust biogas technology industry has developed in Germany.

Lessons Learned: All of the 31 operational digesters analyzed in the Wisconsin Agricultural Biogas Casebook operate on farms with greater than 500 head of dairy cows. However, there are over 12,500 licensed milk herds in Wisconsin representing over 1.26 million dairy cows. Since 82 percent of these herds are located on farms with less than 100 head, the typical farm has not entered into the biogas market. As demonstrated in Germany, biogas systerns can be viable, and critical, to sustaining small (less than 100 head) farms. This creates an opportunity for policies and incentives to engage widespread investment in the typical Wisconsin dairy farm.

Innovative Inputs And End Uses

Germany has been able to stimulate the use of specific inputs and promote specific end uses for the gas to best accommodate the country's unique assets and needs. Though unexpected by our delegation, use of field crops for biogas production was very common in Germany. Producers reported an average yield four to five times higher for crop inputs compared to manure. As a result, most of the agricultural biogas systems in Germany use field crops as their primary feedstock. However, the German populace is sensitive to debates about food vs. fuel and has expressed serious concerns about the potential for land use change and increased commodity prices resulting from new demand for field crop inputs. In response, the German government introduced a new incentive program offering ?0.04/kWh for biogas producers whose systems utilize at least 30 percent manure.

Germany has pioneered development of new end uses for waste heat and new technologies for safe direct injection of upgraded biogas into existing natural gas pipelines. Both have been driven by the feed-in-tariff, which provides an extra bonus per kilowatt-hour. Creative uses for waste heat abound in the country. One entrepreneur, for example, is paid a tipping fee from a local municipality to receive the town's biosolids, which are dried using waste heat from biogas combustion and formed into pellets. The project receives an additional ?0.03 per kWh for utilizing the waste heat. The pellets are burned, along with coal, to power a nearby cement factory.

Lessons Learned: Of the 31 operating digesters on 21 different farms analyzed in the 2010 Wisconsin Agricultural Biogas Casebook, 20 farms use the biogas to generate electricity/heat. One farm used the biogas for heat/flare operation. All 21 farms digest manure with six farms accepting substrates from off-farm entities (receiving revenues from tipping fees and increased electricity production). Thus, 71 percent of Wisconsin's biogas system are reliant upon on-farm products and are not integrating additional waste streams to maximize biogas production.

The German biogas development model demonstrates that the possibilities for U.S. biogas deployment are vast. While the three general principles just described contributed to Germany's biogas success and are applicable to Wisconsin, it is important to keep in mind the social and policy context that helped to create Germany's thriving biogas industry. German energy policy, specifically the feed-in tariff system prescribed by the Renewable Energy Sources Act, has been instrumental in promoting and regulating the biogas industry in a way that reflects the social values of German citizens (although there is sensitivity to the "food vs. fuel" issue with purpose-grown energy crops, which could likely be similar in Wisconsin). To fully develop Wisconsin's biogas opportunity, policymakers must consider the unique social values of Wisconsinites and institute policies that stimulate biogas development in a way that is consistent with Wisconsin's specific assets and needs.

[Sidebar]

Bernd Roth Farm operates two anaerobic digesters in series (above) that process manure from a herd of 75 dairy cows and crop silage. The J�rgen Fischer biogas plant (left) has been operating for over 1 0 years, generating 500 kW of electricity from a 90-head dairy.

[Sidebar]

The biogas plant near Pfullendorf, cooperatively owned/operated by three farms, digests purpose-grown energy crops (primarily corn) and five percent manure.

[Sidebar]

Biogas produced by a plant near Freiburg is sold to a local power company that upgrades it to pipeline 3UaIHy and injects it into the natural gas istribution network.

[Reference]

REFERENCES

Budzianowski, W.M., Chasiak, I. (2011) The Expansion of biogas fuelled power plants in Germany during the 2001-2010 decade: Main sustainable conclusions for Poland. Journal of Power Technologies 91 (2) p. 102-113.

FRGrRESA (2010). German Renewable Energy Sources Act. Federal Republic of Germany.

Hambrick, W., Jungjohann, ?., Chi�, ?., Flynn, H. "Beyond Biofuels: Renewable Energy Opportunities for U.S. Farmers". Heinrich Boll Stiftung, 2010.

Kramer, J. (2009). Wisconsin Agricultural Biogas Casebook, Focus on Energy; Public Service Commission of Wisconsin.

Rutz, D., Ferber, E., Janssen, R. "Biogas Market in Germany". Presentation on October 20, 2010. http://www.biogasin.org/events2.html .

[Author Affiliation]

The authors' affiliations are as follows: Amanda Bilek, Great Plains Institute in Minneapolis, MN; Aleia McCord, CHANGE-IGERT, Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Steve Plachinski, CHANGE-IGERT and Short Elliot Hendrickson Inc., Sheboygan, WI; Gary Radloff, Wisconsin Bioenergy Institute (WBI), University of Wisconsin, Madison; and Jeffrey A. Starke, CHANGE-IGERT ade/ Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY (and corresponding author; Jeffrey. S tarke@ usma.edu). This research was funded from National Science Foundation (CHANGE-IGERT, UW-Madison), The Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, The Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative, and the Great Plains Institute.

Gameday Primer

Coastal Carolina at West Virginia Site: Mountaineer Field(60,000) Kickoff: 3:30 p.m., Saturday TV: Big East local (WCHS inCharleston) Radio: Noon, pregame on Mountaineer Sports Networkstations (Tony Caridi, play-by-play; Dwight Wallace, analyst; JedDrenning, sidelines) 2009 records: Coastal Carolina 5-6 (3-3 BigSouth Conference); West Virginia 9-4 (5-2 Big East Conference) Theline: None Polls: West Virginia: No. 25 AP media; tie No. 24 17 USAToday coaches Series: First meeting The coaches (years, record, almamater, record vs. foe): Coastal Carolina: David Bennett(Presbyterian 88; 8th season at Coastal Carolina, 50-29; 14thoverall, 113-46; 0-0 vs. West Virginia) West Virginia: Bill Stewart(Fairmont State 75; 3rd season at West Virginia, 19-8; 6th overall,27-33; 0-0 vs. Coastal Carolina) Chants meeting: * The Chanticleers,an FCS program, open their eighth season of football against afourth major college program. Coastal lost 66-10 in a 2008 opener atNo. 22 Penn State, then fell 18-0 at Kent State and 49-3 at Clemsonlast season. CCU, picked third in the seven-team Big South race, isgetting a $350,000 guarantee for todays visit. * In 2006, Coastalbecame the first (and still the only) Big South Conference team toreach the FCS playoffs, getting an at-large berth in the 16-teamfield with a 9-2 record. CCU lost to defending champ AppalachianState in the first round. In 2010, an expanded, 20-team FCS fieldwill give the Big South its first automatic playoff bid. Theopponent Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Location: Conway, S.C.Enrollment: 8,300 Conference: Big South

Fest thrives with Vargas in the director's chair

CHICAGO LATINO

FILM FESTIVAL

When: Friday through April 29

Where: Landmark Century Centre Cinema, 2828 N. Clark; Facets Multimedia, 1517 W. Fullerton

Tickets: $10 (festival passes available)

Phone: (312) 409-1757;

www.latinoculturalcenter.org

The Chicago Latino Film Festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary, thanks to the steadfast work of its founder and executive director Pepe Vargas.

Along the way, the festival has gained an international reputation for showcasing the best in Latin cinema and has attracted a strong local and national following among film lovers.

"Being the best is something we take seriously," Vargas said. "Over the years, we've worked diligently with few resources to get where we are today."

The festival began as a student recruitment event at St. Augustine College with 14 films projected onto a wall. No students were recruited, and the school canceled it after its second year.

But Vargas, who organized the festival, saw something happening.

"The first year, 500 people came," he recalled. "The next year, there were 3,500, and I knew there were people out there interested in these films."

Vargas is determined to make each festival better than the last.

"We work within the mentality that we are here to make a difference," he said. "It would be stupid for us to waste such an opportunity.

The festival, which is thought to be the oldest of its kind in the country, has grown from a budget of $10,000 in its third year to $1.2 million. Approximately 35,000 film fans attend the many screenings, which this year include 115 features, documentaries and shorts from all over Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, Portugal and the United States.

Festival selections range from major releases to smaller independent films.

The opening night film -- "El Regalo (The Gift)," by the husband-and-wife team Cristian Galaz and Andrea Ugalde -- was a box-office phenomenon in Chile. "Arrancame la Vida (Tear This Heart Out)," by Roberto Sneider, won wide acclaim in Mexico. And the melodrama "Lo Mejor de Mi (The Best of Me)," from Spanish director Roser Aguilar, was a hit on the festival circuit.

On the independent side there is "Silent Shame," a drama directed by Tadeo Garcia, about a young man who finds his mother's diaries and discovers a painful family history.

Chicago filmmaker Dalia Tapia, who produced "Silent Shame," sees the festival as the perfect opportunity to "tell universal stories."

"Coming from an underrepresented population -- female and Latino -- this is a venue for us to tell our stories," Tapia said. "Pepe has paved the way for many of us."

Vargas is proud of the fact that the festival focuses on the entire Latino culture.

"We aren't interested in the culture of only one country," the Colombian-born Vargas said. "We are interested in the whole package. The aim of the festival is to enhance the unity among these nationalities. We get cultural input from everywhere."

For years, Vargas has been trying to establish a permanent home for the Latino Cultural Center of Chicago, which runs the fest. He believes it's an important outlet for a city in which 20 Latin nationalities co-exist.

The organization works to showcase the best in Latin theater, dance, visual art and film at events throughout the year.

"The Cultural Center is a bridge to Latin culture not only for Latinos but for everyone of every nationality," Vargas said.

Vargas hopes he is getting closer to his dream of building the center in a downtown location. He says he has been in discussions with the city in hopes of procuring a piece of land.

"Then we will engage in a capital campaign to raise the money," he said. "We want to share the offerings of our culture with all of Chicago. Ours is a universal message."

Various directors, producers and actors will participate in post-screening discussions at the festival. All films are screened in their original language with English subtitles.

Coming Friday: Check out the Movies section for Bill Stamets' capsule reviews of films in the festival.

Color Photo: The Chilean blockbuster "El Regalo (The Gift)" is the opening-night offering at the 25th annual Chicago Latino Film Festival. ; Color Photo: Brian Jackson, Sun-Times / Pepe Vargas, founder and executive director of the Chicago Latino Film Festival, is working on building a permanent downtown home for the Latino Cultural Center of Chicago, which he calls "a bridge to Latin culture." ;

Stannard leads Australia to victory in London 7s

Captain James Stannard touched down and kicked two conversions Sunday to lead Australia to a 19-14 win over South Africa in the final of rugby union's London Sevens.

Australia led 7-0 when Brackin Karauria-Henry scored a try that Stannard converted but South Africa rallied for 7-7 at halftime.

The scrumhalf then touched down at the start of the second period, but his missed conversion gave South Africa the chance to go 14-12 up with four minutes left through Fabian Juries' converted try.

However, Henry Vanderglas got Australia's third try with 90 seconds remaining and Stannard added the extras.

Cecil Afrika then looked set to score a winning try but Stannard was covering and managed to execute a match-saving tackle.

Series leader Samoa won the last three tournaments in Hong Kong, Adelaide and Las Vegas but went empty handed after losing 24-12 to South Africa in the cup semifinals.

Samoa still leads with 140 points through seven rounds, with New Zealand in second place on 133.

New Zealand edged Fiji 26-24 to win the second-tier plate, while Canada beat the United States 22-17 in the bowl semifinals and then won the title with a 19-17 win over Portugal.

Kenya beat France 24-21 to take the shield.

Australia is tied for third place with Fiji on 102 points ahead of next week's Edinburgh Sevens.

NICB launches effort to prevent fraud

PALOS HILLS, III. - Special insurance industry teams will be assisting law enforcement and insurance companies in identifying and cataloging vehicles damaged by Hurricane Katrina to prevent their fraudulent resale to unsuspecting consumers in the future.

Robert M. Bryant, president and CEO of the National Insurance Crime Bureau dispatched special catastrophe teams to Baton Rouge, La., and Mobile, Ala., in mid-September. The effort is expected to last from six months to a year.

Authorities estimate that thousands of vehicles have received damage from flooding in the New Orleans area alone. That number is expected to grow as claims from Mississippi are processed.

Bryant explained that unscrupulous salvage operators and dealers often try to conceal the fact that vehicles have been damaged by a natural disaster from potential buyers.

"By creating a registry of damaged vehicles now, the potential for this type of fraud can be greatly reduced," he said. In addition to vehicles, NICB is also alerting disaster victims to be aware of the potential for fraud that exists as efforts to repair and rebuild get underway.

Japanese shares tumble 2nd straight session

Japanese shares tumbled sharply for a second straight session Monday, dragged down by growing gloom over corporate earnings and the state of the U.S. economy.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 156.09 points, or 1.19 percent, to 12,938.50 _ the first time the index has closed under the 13,000 level since July 18. The broader Topix index slid 1.94 percent to 1,248.25.

Investors continued the sell-off this week after driving the Nikkei down 2.11 percent Friday.

Automakers fell particularly hard, following news at the end of last week that U.S. auto sales slumped to a 16-year low in July as car makers were unable to keep up with consumers' growing demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Mazda Motor Corp. plunged 8.76 percent to 552 yen after posting a 13 percent drop in North American sales during the month.

Nissan Motor Co. _ Japan's third largest carmaker _ lost 4.83 percent to 788 yen after reporting Friday that its net profit for the April-June quarter dropped 42.8 percent.

Also taking a beating was major trading house Mitsui & Co., which shed 8.60 percent to 1,956 yen. The company said Monday that its net profit for the first quarter through June fell 43.1 percent.

Banks continued their retreat as well, with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group down 6.90 percent at 729,000 yen and Mizuho Financial Group slumping 4.73 percent to 483,000 yen.

"Expectations for recovering earnings for banks were not high compared with last year, when there were prospects for interest rate hikes," said Deutsche Securities analyst Shin Tamura in a research note. "Flagging (net operating profit), higher credit costs, and indications that profits will be disappointing ahead have continued exerting downward pressure on bank stocks," he said.

Gainers included communication, pharmaceutical and electric and gas issues.

In currencies, the dollar gained slightly to 107.81 yen late Monday afternoon from 107.68 late Friday. The greenback climbed against the euro, which was trading at US$1.5586 from US$1.5564.

Rescuers pull victims from Indonesian landslides

Rescuers pulled out corpses from villages devastated by landslides on Indonesia's Java island as authorities struggled Thursday to get heavy lifting equipment to the affected areas.

Officials said 36 corpses had been recovered and that 42 other people were buried and feared dead.

Most of the victims were killed in a single landslide Wednesday in the Karanganyar district in central Java that buried a group of residents dining together after cleaning up from an early, smaller landslide.

"I am searching for my cousin and my sister who are still buried beneath the mud," said Wiryo Hamidi as he dug barehanded through the remains of his village. "I hope we can find them today so I can bury them."

Hillsides collapsed onto houses and claimed victims in at least seven other places in the mountainous region, which had been lashed by hours of torrential rain.

Villages, police and soldiers working mostly with bare hands or simple agricultural tools uncovered two more corpses in Karanganyar on Thursday morning, one of them a young child, said Heru Aji Pratomo, the head of the local disaster coordinating agency.

"Everyone is working hard, we have good spirits," he told el-Shinta radio station.

He said 36 corpses had been recovered so far in Karanganyar, with at least 30 other people buried and feared dead.

Other officials have given slightly different tolls for the number of dead and buried.

A dozen other people were killed, or were missing and feared dead, elsewhere in the region, officials said.

Pratomo said rescuers were using high-powered hoses to wash away at the mud, but blocked roads and the remote location of the landslide meant that mechanical diggers and backhoes had yet to arrive.

Seasonal rains and high tides in recent days have caused widespread flooding across much of Indonesia, the world's fourth most-populous nation. Millions of people live in mountainous regions and near fertile flood plains that are close to rivers.

The latest disasters occurred on the third anniversary of a massive earthquake off Sumatra in December 2004 that triggered a tsunami. That killed more than 230,000 people and left a half-million homeless in a dozen countries.

Judge Stops Discharge of Gays

WASHINGTON A federal judge in Brooklyn, N.Y., expressed doubtMonday that the military would be harmed by having homosexuals in itsranks, and temporarily stopped the Clinton administration fromdischarging six gays.

Judge Eugene H. Nickerson became the first federal judge to acton the administration's policy against gays, which took effect Feb.28, and on the 1993 law that Congress passed in support.

This marked the sixth time in the last year that a federal courthas stopped the military from discharging service members becausethey are gay. The five previous rulings involved restrictions ongays that have been replaced by the administration.

Administration lawyers have argued that the new policy is moretolerant of gays' remaining in the service, so long as they do notengage in homosexual acts and do not discuss their homosexuality.

The policy, called "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue," isaimed at homosexual behavior, not at the abstract idea thatindividuals may think of themselves as gay or lesbian, those lawyershave said. Homosexuals, they add, may remain in uniform if theyprove - when challenged - that they are not homosexual.

But Nickerson noted in a 25-page opinion that the policyrequires the discharge of those found to have merely "a propensity"to engage in homosexual conduct, and does not give such individuals arealistic option to counter that finding.

"To invite someone to prove that he or she does not have aninborn tendency seems like a hollow offer," the judge wrote. "Themessage to those with such an orientation appears to be not to avoidprivate homosexual acts but to stay in the closet and to hide theirorientation."

Nickerson did not issue a final ruling. His ban on disciplinaryaction by the Pentagon against gays is limited to protection for thesix people who filed the constitutional challenge and stays in effectuntil a final ruling.

The Justice Department had no comment on whether it would ask ahigher court to lift the limited ban imposed by Nickerson.

ARL MSRC Increases Computer Capability

The U.S. Army Research Laboratory Major Shared Resource Center (ARL MSRC) in Adelphi, MD, one of DOD's four supercomputing sites for its High Performance Computing Modernization Office (HPCMO), announced that it is increasing its computing capability from 9.1 trillion to 36 trillion floating-point operations (TFLOPS) by adding three computing systems to its already robust spectrum. The added power will make the ARL MSRC one of DOD's largest computing centers, an investment estimated at $20 million.

"This increase in computing capability will give DOD scientists and engineers the ability to solve complex, 3-D, time-dependent, physics-based problems in a timeframe that can provide the data necessary to assist with weapon development and procurement decisions," said Charles J. Nietubicz, Acting Deputy Director, Computational and Information Sciences Directorate (CISD).

The three systems, which are the first major commodity-based symmetric multiprocessor supercomputers used in the HPCMO, will be introduced at ARL this summer. The most powerful of the new systems, a 2,132-central processing unit (CPU) Linux NetworX Evolocity II� system, will increase ARL MSRC computational capability by more than 15 TFLOPS. The system will consist of 1,066 nodes, each equipped with two Intel� Xeon(TM) 3.6-GHz processors, 1.5 GB of memory per CPU and will use the Myrinet(TM) interconnect. This system will be ranked as one of the top 10 most powerful computer systems in the world.

A second system, a 2,304-CPU cluster from IBM�, will comprise 1,152 dual-2.2 GHzAMD Opteron(TM) processors and a Myrinet interconnect. The system will increase ARL MSRC computational capability by more than 10 TFLOPS. This system will also have a top 10 world-computer system ranking.

The third system, a Silicon Graphics� 256 processor single system image SGI� Altix� system with SGI NUMAlink(TM) interconnect, will add an additional 2 TFLOPS to the high-performance computing (HPC) environment.

Raytheon engineers will work with government partners to integrate, install, test and transition these new systems for production use by fiscal year end. This acquisition and system integration will be the HPCMO's first major introduction into the commodity space, and ARL will be the program leader in production commodity clusters. With these upgrades, ARL will become the first and only center in the HPCMO providing greater than 10 terabytes (10,000 GB) of memory.

"The ARL MSRC serves a diverse, technically challenging HPC user population," said Denice P. Brown, Acting ARL MSRC Center Director. "The selection of Linux NetworX, IBM and SGI systems provides the flexibility to meet users' diverse challenges."

Established in 1996, ARL MSRC helps DOD focus and exploit HPC technology for military advantage across the battlespace. This customer-focused, world-class computational facility supports DOD's research and development, science and technology and test and evaluation communities with some of the world's newest, scalable, parallel computers. These supercomputers feature shared and distributed memory architectures. Researchers use ARL MSRC facilities to model and simulate systems, explore chemical reactions, study and design weapon systems, analyze sensors and experimental data and develop new composite materials.

This new equipment is part of the HPCMO's Technology Insertion 2004, an initiative to modernize DOD's HPC capabilities. For more information, contact Tonya Johnson at (301) 394-4456 or ltjohnson@arl.army.mil.

Tastings around town

Quartino626 N. State

The Italian-American Chamber of Commerce Midwest hosts a tasting of Sicilian wines at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 15 at the restaurant; $50. (312) 553-9137 ext. 23; iacc-chicago.com.

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse933 N. Skokie, Northbrook

Charlie Campbell of California's Silver Oak Cellars is the guest host of a four-course dinner at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 16; $115 (708) 383-7543.

Chen's Chinese and Sushi3506 N. Clark

The restaurant offers a class on Asian-themed martinis from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Aug. 16; $20 includes light food and martini tastings. (773) 549-9100.

Leopold1450 W. Chicago

The restaurant's four-course rose dinner, offered from 5 to 11 p.m. Aug. 17, highlights Austrian and French wines; $60. (312) 348-1028.

Cityscape Bar350 W. Mart Center

The bar hosts a free tasting of California organic and biodynamic wines from 6 to 7 p.m. Aug. 18. RSVP required: cityscape@mart plaza.com; (312) 836-5000.

Le Titi de Paris1015 W. DundeeArlington Heights

The restaurant features wines from the West Coast, specifically California, Oregon and Washington, in a 7:30 p.m. dinner Aug. 19; $85. (847) 506-0222.

Send details on drink-related events at least one month in advance to tastings@suntimes.com.

Silver Oak CellarsBlack Dog Gelato

List of recent Nobel Prize in chemistry winners

Recent winners of the Nobel Prize in chemistry, and their research:

___

— 2011: Daniel Shechtman, Israel, for his discovery of quasicrystals.

— 2010: Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki, Japan, and Richard Heck, United States, for their work that has helped give mankind new medicines and revolutionary materials such as plastics.

— 2009: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas Steitz, United States, and Ada Yonath of Israel for creating detailed blueprints of the protein-making machinery within cells, research that's being used to develop new antibiotics.

— 2008: Osamu Shimomura, Japan, and Martin Chalfie and Roger Y. Tsien, United States, for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP.

— 2007: Gerhard Ertl, Germany, for studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces, research that has advanced the understanding of why the ozone layer is thinning, how fuel cells work and even why iron rusts.

— 2006: Roger D. Kornberg, United States, for work on how information stored within a gene is copied and transferred to the parts of cells that produce proteins.

— 2005: Yves Chauvin, France, and Robert H. Grubbs and Richard R. Schrock, United States, for their work and exploration of metathesis.

— 2004: Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko, Israel, and Irwin Rose, United States, for their work in how cells break down.

— 2003: Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon, United States, for their research on how key materials enter or leave cells in the body and their discoveries concerning tiny pores called "channels" on the surface of cells.

— 2002: John B. Fenn, United States, Koichi Tanaka, Japan, and Kurt Wuethrich, Switzerland, for developing methods used in identifying and analyzing large biological molecules.

— 2001: William S. Knowles and K. Barry Sharpless, United States, and Ryoji Noyori, Japan, for showing how to better control chemical reactions, paving the way for drugs to treat heart ailments and Parkinson's disease.

— 2000: Alan J. Heeger and Alan G. MacDiarmid, United States, and Hideki Shirakawa, Japan, for the discovery that plastic conducts electricity and for the development of conductive polymers.

— 1999: Ahmed H. Zewail, United States, for pioneering the investigation of fundamental chemical reactions, using ultra-short laser flashes, on the time scale on which the reactions actually occur.

— 1998: Walter Kohn, United States, for the development of density-functional theory in the 1960s that simplifies the mathematical description of the bonding between atoms that make up molecules, and John Pople, Britain, for developing computer techniques to test the chemical structure and details of matter.

World stocks down on Europe, China growth doubts

World stock markets were in retreat Thursday amid new concerns about Europe's economic outlook after a warning Spain's debt rating may be downgraded and evidence that China's manufacturing growth is slowing.

Oil prices fell below $75 a barrel in Asia as wilting stock markets dragged down the confidence of crude investors. The yen was virtually unchanged against the dollar, while the euro gained some ground.

U.S. markets were set to slide further. Dow Jones futures were down 16 points, or 0.2 percent, at 9,700 and S&P 500 futures were off 2.8, or 0.3 percent, at 1,023.80. Similarly, in Europe, markets were down. Britain's FTSE 100 index of leading shares was lower by 1.3 percent to 4,855.66, Germany's DAX dropped by 1.1 percent to 5,900.28, and France's CAC-40 was down 1.8 percent to 3,379.10.

A key central bank report released Thursday showed business confidence among Japan's biggest manufacturers improved for a fifth straight quarter, but the Tokyo market was taking its cues from Wall Street, which closed out a painful second quarter Wednesday, leaving investors with heavy losses.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index closed down 191.04 points, or 2 percent, to 9,191.60 _ a seven-month low and extending losses from Wednesday's fall of nearly 2 percent.

"Sentiment in Asia takes its clues from movement on Wall Street and in the eurozone," said Ben Kwong Man Bun, chief operating officer at KGI Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong. "The Nikkei is following the trend in the U.S."

On Wall Street, stocks had their worst quarterly performance since the financial crisis. The Standard & Poor's 500 index, considered by many professional investors to be the best measure of the market's health, lost 11.9 percent for the quarter. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 10 percent. Both indexes are at their lows for 2010.

Other major forces rattling the markets: worries about Europe's ability to cope with debt problems and surveys out of China showing a weakening in its manufacturing in June for a third month.

Moody's Investors Service placed Spain's sovereign debt rating "on review for possible downgrade" Wednesday because of weak economic prospects. Spain _ one of Europe's most indebted countries _ has only just crawled out of nearly two years of recession after a boom, fueled by construction and free-flowing credit, imploded.

The nation's public coffers have been drained by spending to cope with a jobless rate that now stands at 20 percent. Spain is under intense international pressure to slash a ballooning deficit.

South Korea's Kospi index shed 0.7 percent to 1,686.24, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 tumbled 1.5 percent at 4,237.50.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 1 percent to 2,373.79. Markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan also fell. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was closed for a public holiday.

In currencies, the dollar was little changed from 88.36 yen in New York late Wednesday. The euro rose to $1.2287 from $1.2233.

Benchmark crude for August delivery was $1.08 to $74.57 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 31 cents to settle at $75.63 on Wednesday.

Mark Recchi hoping to get name on Cup 1 more time

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Bruins thought they knew what they were getting when they traded for Mark Recchi during the 2009 stretch run.

A prolific playmaker. A gifted puck-handler. A veteran leader whose experience would help calm his younger teammates in the playoffs. What they didn't expect from Recchi, who turned 43 last month: a youthful outlook that has infected the Boston roster with energy.

"At the age he's at, the way he's performing is pretty incredible," Bruins coach Claude Julien said after Recchi moved into 12th place on the NHL's career scoring list. "He brings some wisdom in the dressing room, but he also brings some enthusiasm. He's young at heart, and players sense that."

The oldest active player in the NHL, Recchi scored his 1,532nd career point in a 3-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night to surpass Paul Coffey on the all-time list. Everyone ahead of Recchi — Bruins great Ray Bourque is 11th with 1,579 — is either in the Hall of Fame or not yet eligible.

"It's big names that he's passing there, and it's crazy how many points it is," said Bruins center Patrice Bergeron, who seemed even more excited than Recchi when the milestone was reached. "I'm just happy to be on the ice with him and to have a chance to enjoy something like that. ... He's obviously going to be a Hall of Famer, and I feel blessed that I have a chance to be with him and learn from him."

Originally a fourth-round draft pick by the Penguins way back in 1988, Recchi is a seven-time All-Star whose 576 goals put him 19th all-time and 956 assists have him 13th. He is fifth — it'll be fourth before the season is up — with 1,647 games played, and the leader among active players.

"It's double-plus what I thought I was going to play," Recchi said Tuesday night, still wearing the 1970s-era windbreaker given to the Bruins' star of the game. "I thought I would be lucky to play 10 years, and I would have been very fortunate to play 10 years. And here I am 22 years later, and I'm still having fun and still enjoying myself.

"I wasn't even supposed to make it, never mind do this stuff. I was a 19-year-old draft pick, and small back then," said Recchi, who is now listed as 5-foot-10 and 195 pounds. "They drafted monsters back then, no matter what. I had to work hard to get there, and I had some people who believed in me as well."

Recchi won the Stanley Cup in 1991 with Pittsburgh, his third season, and again with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006, his 17th. In Boston, he has been lining up not only with twentysomethings like Bergeron or David Krejci, but also 19-year-old Tyler Seguin, the No. 2 overall pick in the draft.

"(Bergeron) has been a big help to me since I've been here, he's kept me young and kept me going," Recchi said. "It's been fun, it's been fun with all these guys, they've made it really enjoyable for me. And hopefully we can continue this thing for along time."

And the feeling's mutual.

"Even though he's been playing for 22 years, it's amazing the way that he gets ready for games and practices," said Bergeron, who's 25. "He's always bringing his A-game and his 100 percent effort, and it's something that I want to duplicate. And it's amazing, the way he prepares and on and off the ice, his leadership. All that stuff, I'm learning a lot from."

The Bruins were tied for the best record in the NHL when they acquired him at the 2009 trading deadline to add a little experience for the playoffs. Boston lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals that year, and again last season despite opening a 3-0 lead over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Recchi decided to give it at least one more try last summer, re-signing with the Bruins for one year and a chance to get his name on the Cup one more time.

"I'm hoping we go on a long ride, it just makes it real easy for me to say, 'See you later,'" he said Tuesday night. "If we win a championship, I'm gone."

If not?

"Then we'll see. We'll see if I can recover," Recchi said. "(I'll) take three weeks, a month, see if my body and my head is ready to get back in the grind physically doing the stuff I need to do to get ready for next year."

Big Dig Political Battle to Move to Court

BOSTON - The political battle over the fatal Big Dig tunnel collapse is moving to the courtroom as embattled Massachusetts Turnpike board Chairman Matthew Amorello fights to keep his job.

A Supreme Judicial Court justice scheduled hearings for Wednesday on a lawsuit filed by Amorello to keep his $223,000-a-year chairman's post after 12 tons of concrete ceiling panels crushed a car July 10, killing 39-year-old Milena Del Valle.

Gov. Mitt Romney has for years has been calling for new leadership at the Turnpike Authority, and has intensified his criticism since the tunnel collapse. Also before the court Wednesday is a lawsuit against Amorello filed by Romney appointees to the Turnpike board who claim Amorello has usurped their duties.

Romney plans a hearing Thursday to consider demoting Amorello.

"The governor has invented a power he does not have," said Amorello's 12-page lawsuit, filed Monday.

Romney says the ceiling panel collapse shows that Amorello is incapable of overseeing the $14.6 billion highway project. But Amorello's lawsuit contends the governor isn't able to show that his alleged mismanagement rises to the level of 'malfeasance, misfeasance, or willful neglect of duty' - a standard the court set when another governor tried to fire two members of the authority's board.

The Big Dig project, which buried Interstate 93 under downtown Boston and linked Interstate 90 to Logan International airport, took more than a decade to complete with delays and cost overruns. It has been plagued by leaks, falling debris and problems blamed on faulty construction.

After the fatal ceiling collapse, the governor took over the inspections, repair work and decisions on when to reopen the tunnels from the Turnpike Authority after filing emergency legislation.

On Tuesday, Romney said the discovery of more problems is delaying the reopening of the Big Dig tunnels. He originally had hoped that at least one of the two tunnels closed since the accident could open by this week, but now says he won't "guesstimate" on a timeline for repairs.

"What's happened is there continue to be revelation of new issues, new problems," Romney said.

The governor said one of his main concerns are three massive ceiling fans that may be held aloft with an inadequate fastening system.

Romney said his engineers are not only worried about the epoxied bolts used to attach the fans - two of which weigh 6,200 pounds and one 4,500 pounds - but the entire apparatus fastening them to the connector tunnel where Del Valle was killed.

Romney had previously talked about the fans as potential trouble spots because of the bolt-and-epoxy system, which has been the focus of investigations surrounding the collapse. The ceiling panels that crushed her car were held up by epoxied bolts.

He said the mounting list of concerns include three loose bolts in a ceiling panel in the westbound entrance to Ted Williams Tunnel, which extends Interstate 90 between downtown Boston and Logan International Airport, and the discovery of another location in the tunnel network where the epoxy-and-bolt system was used.

Big Dig Political Battle to Move to Court

BOSTON - The political battle over the fatal Big Dig tunnel collapse is moving to the courtroom as embattled Massachusetts Turnpike board Chairman Matthew Amorello fights to keep his job.

A Supreme Judicial Court justice scheduled hearings for Wednesday on a lawsuit filed by Amorello to keep his $223,000-a-year chairman's post after 12 tons of concrete ceiling panels crushed a car July 10, killing 39-year-old Milena Del Valle.

Gov. Mitt Romney has for years has been calling for new leadership at the Turnpike Authority, and has intensified his criticism since the tunnel collapse. Also before the court Wednesday is a lawsuit against Amorello filed by Romney appointees to the Turnpike board who claim Amorello has usurped their duties.

Romney plans a hearing Thursday to consider demoting Amorello.

"The governor has invented a power he does not have," said Amorello's 12-page lawsuit, filed Monday.

Romney says the ceiling panel collapse shows that Amorello is incapable of overseeing the $14.6 billion highway project. But Amorello's lawsuit contends the governor isn't able to show that his alleged mismanagement rises to the level of 'malfeasance, misfeasance, or willful neglect of duty' - a standard the court set when another governor tried to fire two members of the authority's board.

The Big Dig project, which buried Interstate 93 under downtown Boston and linked Interstate 90 to Logan International airport, took more than a decade to complete with delays and cost overruns. It has been plagued by leaks, falling debris and problems blamed on faulty construction.

After the fatal ceiling collapse, the governor took over the inspections, repair work and decisions on when to reopen the tunnels from the Turnpike Authority after filing emergency legislation.

On Tuesday, Romney said the discovery of more problems is delaying the reopening of the Big Dig tunnels. He originally had hoped that at least one of the two tunnels closed since the accident could open by this week, but now says he won't "guesstimate" on a timeline for repairs.

"What's happened is there continue to be revelation of new issues, new problems," Romney said.

The governor said one of his main concerns are three massive ceiling fans that may be held aloft with an inadequate fastening system.

Romney said his engineers are not only worried about the epoxied bolts used to attach the fans - two of which weigh 6,200 pounds and one 4,500 pounds - but the entire apparatus fastening them to the connector tunnel where Del Valle was killed.

Romney had previously talked about the fans as potential trouble spots because of the bolt-and-epoxy system, which has been the focus of investigations surrounding the collapse. The ceiling panels that crushed her car were held up by epoxied bolts.

He said the mounting list of concerns include three loose bolts in a ceiling panel in the westbound entrance to Ted Williams Tunnel, which extends Interstate 90 between downtown Boston and Logan International Airport, and the discovery of another location in the tunnel network where the epoxy-and-bolt system was used.

Haggard concedes buying drugs, but not sex; He says he threw 'meth' away.(PAGE ONE)

Byline: Valerie Richardson, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

DENVER - A leading evangelical yesterday denied having sex with a male prostitute but acknowledged buying drugs and receiving a massage from him.

The Rev. Ted Haggard, who stepped down Thursday as head of the National Association of Evangelicals and as senior pastor of his church pending an investigation, told a cluster of reporters from his car that he bought methamphetamine from prostitute Mike Jones, but later threw it away.

"I was tempted. I bought it, but I never used it," said Mr. Haggard, who gave the impromptu interview as he left his Colorado Springs home with his wife, Gayle, and three of his five children.

As his wife watched him silently from the passenger seat, he said he was referred to Mr. Jones for a massage by a Denver hotel.

Mr. Haggard's version of events received an unexpected boost from Mr. Jones yesterday morning after he failed a polygraph test conducted on the air from the KHOW-AM studio in Denver.

The polygraph's administrator, John Kresnick, said the results "indicated deceptions," but acknowledged that the outcome could have been skewed because Mr. Jones said he was operating on little sleep and a migraine headache.

The scandal erupted Thursday when Mr. Jones told Denver NBC affiliate KUSA-TV and KHOW talk-show host Peter Boyles that he had a three-year affair with Mr. Haggard, widely recognized as one of the nation's leading evangelical ministers.

Colorado conservatives immediately cried politics, criticizing the accusations as a thinly veiled "November surprise" designed to cut into support for Amendment 43, the traditional-marriage measure on Tuesday's ballot.

"Ted Haggard is a friend of mine, and it appears someone is trying to damage his reputation as a way of influencing the outcome of Tuesday's election," said James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family.

Mr. Jones said he decided to go public after learning the man he knew as "Art" was, in fact, Mr. Haggard, and that he was a key proponent of Amendment 43.

Mr. Jones, who said he advertised himself as a male escort on the Internet, also discovered that his client opposed Referendum I, a first-of-its-kind ballot measure that would sanction same-sex partnerships.

"It made me angry that here's someone preaching about gay marriage and going behind the scenes for gay sex," Mr. Jones said in the radio interview.

A Public Opinion Strategies poll released Thursday showed Amendment 43 leading with 53 percent in favor and 43 percent opposed. Meanwhile, Referendum I had lost support and was trailing with 47 percent in favor and 49 percent opposed, according to the Rocky Mountain News, which commissioned the survey.

But Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli said Mr. Jones might have inadvertently damaged his cause. Backers of Referendum I have tried to keep the campaign's focus on human rights, he said, while Mr. Jones' accusations raise the specter of seamy hotel-room trysts.

"His goal was to affect the outcome of these ballot measures, but I think it's going to have the opposite effect," Mr. Ciruli said. Homosexual rights advocates "have done everything possible to keep the gay lifestyle out of it, and instead on the front page you have a male prostitute, secrecy, sex and drugs, and these were the exact topics proponents of domestic partnerships were trying to avoid."

As evidence of the affair, Mr. Jones produced voice-mail messages purportedly from Mr. Haggard. A voice-recognition specialist hired by KUSA-TV said Mr. Haggard's voice and that of the man leaving the message were "probably" the same person.

"Hi Mike, this is Art, I am here in Denver and sorry that I missed you. But as I said, if you want to go ahead and get the stuff, then that would be great. And I'll get it sometime next week or the week after or whenever," said one message released by KUSA-TV.

Mr. Haggard yesterday acknowledged calling Mr. Jones. "I did call him. I called him to buy some meth, but I threw it away," he said. "I did not ever use it with him."

Mr. Haggard, 50, said he voluntarily suspended himself as senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, the 14,000-member megachurch he founded out of his basement in 1985.

Mr. Haggard, who had been president since 2003 of the NAE, has participated in conservative Christian leaders' conference calls with White House staffers.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto said yesterday that Mr. Haggard had visited the White House once or twice and participated in some of the conference calls.

"This is a personal issue for someone. It's something that Reverend Haggard needs to deal with, with his family and his church," Mr. Fratto said.

*This article was based in part on wire service reports.

CAPTION(S):

Mike Jones told the Associated Press on Thursday that evangelical leader Ted Haggard paid him to have sex as many as 36 times over three years. [Photo by Associated Press]

The Rev. Ted Haggard stopped to talk to reporters as he drove from his home with his wife, Gayle, in Colorado Springs, Colo. He acknowledged buying methamphetamine but denied having sex with Mike Jones, who advertises himself as a male escort. [Photo by Associated Press]

Haggard concedes buying drugs, but not sex; He says he threw 'meth' away.(PAGE ONE)

Byline: Valerie Richardson, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

DENVER - A leading evangelical yesterday denied having sex with a male prostitute but acknowledged buying drugs and receiving a massage from him.

The Rev. Ted Haggard, who stepped down Thursday as head of the National Association of Evangelicals and as senior pastor of his church pending an investigation, told a cluster of reporters from his car that he bought methamphetamine from prostitute Mike Jones, but later threw it away.

"I was tempted. I bought it, but I never used it," said Mr. Haggard, who gave the impromptu interview as he left his Colorado Springs home with his wife, Gayle, and three of his five children.

As his wife watched him silently from the passenger seat, he said he was referred to Mr. Jones for a massage by a Denver hotel.

Mr. Haggard's version of events received an unexpected boost from Mr. Jones yesterday morning after he failed a polygraph test conducted on the air from the KHOW-AM studio in Denver.

The polygraph's administrator, John Kresnick, said the results "indicated deceptions," but acknowledged that the outcome could have been skewed because Mr. Jones said he was operating on little sleep and a migraine headache.

The scandal erupted Thursday when Mr. Jones told Denver NBC affiliate KUSA-TV and KHOW talk-show host Peter Boyles that he had a three-year affair with Mr. Haggard, widely recognized as one of the nation's leading evangelical ministers.

Colorado conservatives immediately cried politics, criticizing the accusations as a thinly veiled "November surprise" designed to cut into support for Amendment 43, the traditional-marriage measure on Tuesday's ballot.

"Ted Haggard is a friend of mine, and it appears someone is trying to damage his reputation as a way of influencing the outcome of Tuesday's election," said James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family.

Mr. Jones said he decided to go public after learning the man he knew as "Art" was, in fact, Mr. Haggard, and that he was a key proponent of Amendment 43.

Mr. Jones, who said he advertised himself as a male escort on the Internet, also discovered that his client opposed Referendum I, a first-of-its-kind ballot measure that would sanction same-sex partnerships.

"It made me angry that here's someone preaching about gay marriage and going behind the scenes for gay sex," Mr. Jones said in the radio interview.

A Public Opinion Strategies poll released Thursday showed Amendment 43 leading with 53 percent in favor and 43 percent opposed. Meanwhile, Referendum I had lost support and was trailing with 47 percent in favor and 49 percent opposed, according to the Rocky Mountain News, which commissioned the survey.

But Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli said Mr. Jones might have inadvertently damaged his cause. Backers of Referendum I have tried to keep the campaign's focus on human rights, he said, while Mr. Jones' accusations raise the specter of seamy hotel-room trysts.

"His goal was to affect the outcome of these ballot measures, but I think it's going to have the opposite effect," Mr. Ciruli said. Homosexual rights advocates "have done everything possible to keep the gay lifestyle out of it, and instead on the front page you have a male prostitute, secrecy, sex and drugs, and these were the exact topics proponents of domestic partnerships were trying to avoid."

As evidence of the affair, Mr. Jones produced voice-mail messages purportedly from Mr. Haggard. A voice-recognition specialist hired by KUSA-TV said Mr. Haggard's voice and that of the man leaving the message were "probably" the same person.

"Hi Mike, this is Art, I am here in Denver and sorry that I missed you. But as I said, if you want to go ahead and get the stuff, then that would be great. And I'll get it sometime next week or the week after or whenever," said one message released by KUSA-TV.

Mr. Haggard yesterday acknowledged calling Mr. Jones. "I did call him. I called him to buy some meth, but I threw it away," he said. "I did not ever use it with him."

Mr. Haggard, 50, said he voluntarily suspended himself as senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, the 14,000-member megachurch he founded out of his basement in 1985.

Mr. Haggard, who had been president since 2003 of the NAE, has participated in conservative Christian leaders' conference calls with White House staffers.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto said yesterday that Mr. Haggard had visited the White House once or twice and participated in some of the conference calls.

"This is a personal issue for someone. It's something that Reverend Haggard needs to deal with, with his family and his church," Mr. Fratto said.

*This article was based in part on wire service reports.

CAPTION(S):

Mike Jones told the Associated Press on Thursday that evangelical leader Ted Haggard paid him to have sex as many as 36 times over three years. [Photo by Associated Press]

The Rev. Ted Haggard stopped to talk to reporters as he drove from his home with his wife, Gayle, in Colorado Springs, Colo. He acknowledged buying methamphetamine but denied having sex with Mike Jones, who advertises himself as a male escort. [Photo by Associated Press]

Haggard concedes buying drugs, but not sex; He says he threw 'meth' away.(PAGE ONE)

Byline: Valerie Richardson, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

DENVER - A leading evangelical yesterday denied having sex with a male prostitute but acknowledged buying drugs and receiving a massage from him.

The Rev. Ted Haggard, who stepped down Thursday as head of the National Association of Evangelicals and as senior pastor of his church pending an investigation, told a cluster of reporters from his car that he bought methamphetamine from prostitute Mike Jones, but later threw it away.

"I was tempted. I bought it, but I never used it," said Mr. Haggard, who gave the impromptu interview as he left his Colorado Springs home with his wife, Gayle, and three of his five children.

As his wife watched him silently from the passenger seat, he said he was referred to Mr. Jones for a massage by a Denver hotel.

Mr. Haggard's version of events received an unexpected boost from Mr. Jones yesterday morning after he failed a polygraph test conducted on the air from the KHOW-AM studio in Denver.

The polygraph's administrator, John Kresnick, said the results "indicated deceptions," but acknowledged that the outcome could have been skewed because Mr. Jones said he was operating on little sleep and a migraine headache.

The scandal erupted Thursday when Mr. Jones told Denver NBC affiliate KUSA-TV and KHOW talk-show host Peter Boyles that he had a three-year affair with Mr. Haggard, widely recognized as one of the nation's leading evangelical ministers.

Colorado conservatives immediately cried politics, criticizing the accusations as a thinly veiled "November surprise" designed to cut into support for Amendment 43, the traditional-marriage measure on Tuesday's ballot.

"Ted Haggard is a friend of mine, and it appears someone is trying to damage his reputation as a way of influencing the outcome of Tuesday's election," said James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family.

Mr. Jones said he decided to go public after learning the man he knew as "Art" was, in fact, Mr. Haggard, and that he was a key proponent of Amendment 43.

Mr. Jones, who said he advertised himself as a male escort on the Internet, also discovered that his client opposed Referendum I, a first-of-its-kind ballot measure that would sanction same-sex partnerships.

"It made me angry that here's someone preaching about gay marriage and going behind the scenes for gay sex," Mr. Jones said in the radio interview.

A Public Opinion Strategies poll released Thursday showed Amendment 43 leading with 53 percent in favor and 43 percent opposed. Meanwhile, Referendum I had lost support and was trailing with 47 percent in favor and 49 percent opposed, according to the Rocky Mountain News, which commissioned the survey.

But Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli said Mr. Jones might have inadvertently damaged his cause. Backers of Referendum I have tried to keep the campaign's focus on human rights, he said, while Mr. Jones' accusations raise the specter of seamy hotel-room trysts.

"His goal was to affect the outcome of these ballot measures, but I think it's going to have the opposite effect," Mr. Ciruli said. Homosexual rights advocates "have done everything possible to keep the gay lifestyle out of it, and instead on the front page you have a male prostitute, secrecy, sex and drugs, and these were the exact topics proponents of domestic partnerships were trying to avoid."

As evidence of the affair, Mr. Jones produced voice-mail messages purportedly from Mr. Haggard. A voice-recognition specialist hired by KUSA-TV said Mr. Haggard's voice and that of the man leaving the message were "probably" the same person.

"Hi Mike, this is Art, I am here in Denver and sorry that I missed you. But as I said, if you want to go ahead and get the stuff, then that would be great. And I'll get it sometime next week or the week after or whenever," said one message released by KUSA-TV.

Mr. Haggard yesterday acknowledged calling Mr. Jones. "I did call him. I called him to buy some meth, but I threw it away," he said. "I did not ever use it with him."

Mr. Haggard, 50, said he voluntarily suspended himself as senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, the 14,000-member megachurch he founded out of his basement in 1985.

Mr. Haggard, who had been president since 2003 of the NAE, has participated in conservative Christian leaders' conference calls with White House staffers.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto said yesterday that Mr. Haggard had visited the White House once or twice and participated in some of the conference calls.

"This is a personal issue for someone. It's something that Reverend Haggard needs to deal with, with his family and his church," Mr. Fratto said.

*This article was based in part on wire service reports.

CAPTION(S):

Mike Jones told the Associated Press on Thursday that evangelical leader Ted Haggard paid him to have sex as many as 36 times over three years. [Photo by Associated Press]

The Rev. Ted Haggard stopped to talk to reporters as he drove from his home with his wife, Gayle, in Colorado Springs, Colo. He acknowledged buying methamphetamine but denied having sex with Mike Jones, who advertises himself as a male escort. [Photo by Associated Press]