Chicago shows off for Panel

It may be the biggest Chicago road trip since the Blues Brothers hit town . The International Olympic Committee's tour of sites where the city wants to hold the 2016 Summer games .

Members of the Committees inspection team were driven on Sunday to existing facilities , like Soldier Field , and to the sites of those still on drwning board , like Olympic Stadium .

It is arguably the most important day of their nearly week long vist , for the simple reason that it gives organizers the chance to drive home a key point of their bid - that would Chicago's Olympics would be a compact affair .

" Today is the day we can really show that " United States Olympic Committee spokesman Darrly Seilbel said . " The significance of todays is that it's an opportunity not only to show those plans - bring them to life ".

Chicago is the first stop for the Committee inspection team , which will also vist Rio de Jeneiro , Madrid and Tokyo before voting in October on which city will be awarded the games .

Crocs shares hop 21 percent

Share's of Crocs Inc jumped more than 21 percent Thrusday after the Niwot based company annouced a cash tender offer for employee stock options .

Crocs issued the offering in response to sinking market price of its common stock and the subsequent loss in options value , officials said in filing made with the Securities and Exchange Commission .

Wire reported

Charles Manson's New Mug Shot

In his latest mug shot, Charles Manson's wild-eyed stare is gone, as is most of his hair. Except for the swastika he carved into his brow during his murder trial, he could be any gray-bearded senior citizen.

If the photo authorities released early this week is any indication, the leader of a murderous band called "The Family," has mellowed some after almost 40 years in a California state prison.

He has had a lot of alone time.

Manson, 74, is locked away in protective custody, according to Sabrina Johnson, a spokeswoman at Corcoran State Prison in Corcoran, about 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Manson has his own cell. His exposure to prison neighbors that include mass killer Juan Corona and Robert F. Kennedy's assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, is very limited, Johnson said.

Manson and four others -- Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, Charles "Tex" Watson and Leslie Van Houten -- were convicted of murder and other charges in connection with a two-night rampage that left pregnant actress Sharon Tate and seven others dead.

Manson and the four "family" members' death sentences were overturned during the 1970s, when the death penalty laws were ruled unconsitutional. He is quietly serving out his life sentence. Although he once frequently gave bombastic rants on national television, he hasn't granted a media interview in years.

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New mug shot shows aging Manson
Manson receives a lot of mail, and many requests from people who want to visit him, Johnson said. He still occasionally sees a few people.

"Over the years, he's taken some people off the visitor list and put them back on, " Johnson said. "He has the same rights as any other prisoner."

Manson has been disciplined in the past, losing privileges, but he's now in good standing and good health, Johnson added.

All members of the "Manson family" have been up for parole multiple times over the past four decades, but it has never been granted.

Manson's next parole hearing is in 2010. He did not show up for the last one in 2007.

His mug shot, which instantly made its way around the world over the Internet, was taken as part of a regular update of inmate images at the prison. Its release comes ahead of the 40th anniversary of the "Manson family" killings in August 1969.

Van Houten, who was 19 at the time of the killings, was convicted in the murders of Leno LaBianca, a wealthy grocery store owner, and his wife, Rosemary. Van Houten was accused of stabbing Rosemary LaBianca 14 to 16 times in the back.

Van Houten was also convicted of conspiracy in Tate's death and four others at the actress' Beverly Hills home. Tate was about eight-and-a-half months pregnant, and her baby also died in the attack. Manson, Atkins and Krenwinkel also were convicted for those murders.

Atkins, who has been declared terminally ill, was denied a compassionate release from prison in July 2008. She is believed to have been one of the people who stabbed Tate and scrawled the word "pig" in blood on the door of the home the actress shared with director Roman Polanski.

In May 2008, authorities dug for bodies at the Inyo County, California, ranch where Manson and his followers once lived, after police learned that testing had indicated human remains might be buried there. According to authorities, nothing was found.


from CNN

Study says PLAVIX , aspirin prevents strokes

taking the blood thinner Plavix along with aspirin prevents strokes and heart attacts in people with a common heartbeat abnormality that puts them at risk of problems , doctors reported Tuesday .

the usual treatment is the blood thinner warfarin , sold as Coumadin and in generic forms . But finding the right dose is tricky - too little patients can have a stroke ; too much and they can have life threatening bleeding .

That leads of patients to take aspirin instead of warfarin , though it is less effective . The study involved 7,554 patients in the U.S. and 32 other counties . All were treated with aspirin ; half also were given Plavix .

After nearly four years of follow up's , the dual drug treatment lowered a combined measure heart attacts , heart related deaths , strokes , and blood clots by 11 percent .

Israelis Rally Against New Leader

Israelis demonstrators hold banners reading " Peace Now " in Hebrew durning a protest Tuesday against the New Israeli government near the Knesset ,

Israel's parliament , in Jerusalem .

Benjamin Netanyah's government took power Tuesday after a hard fought election and weeks of furious coalition negotiations.

U.S. , Iran vow to work on aiding Afghanistan

In a cautious first step toward unlocking 30 years of tense relations , senior U.S. diplpmat Richard Holbrooke had a brief but cordial meeting with Iran's deputy foreigh minister Tuesday at an international summit on Afghanistan .

The diplomatic approachwas the first official face to face interplay meeting between Obama administration and Iranian regime . Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said talks between Holbrooke and Iranian diplomat Mehdi Akhundzadeh were promising but not not " substantive ".

The meeting between the two came on the sidelines of a session aimed at improving Afghanistan . Akkhundzedeh was critical of Obama's plan to add U.S. troops , saying the money they cost would be better spent on buliding Afghanistan 's own forces .

But the Iranian offical added that his country is " prepared to participate in the plans in line with deeloping and reconstructing Afghanistan ".

Afghanistan and Iran share nearly 600 miles of border, Clinton said the U.S. and Afghanistan share concern over the flow of drugs into Iran .

The meeting " is a promising sign that there will be future cooperations " Clinton said .

Associated press

Congress AIMS to cut Pollution

democratic lawmakers on tuesday proposed cutting greenhouse gases by one-fifth over the next decade , afaster clip than urged by President Obama.

their plan , seen as the first step toward Congress enacting climate legislation this year .

Was crafted to attract broader support among centrist Democrats . It includes measures to spur energy efficiency and to support technology to capure cardin dioxide ,the leading greenhouse gas , from coal burning power plants . The 600 page " discussion draft " will be the basis for climate debates in the coming weeks as th House Energy and Commerce Connittee works to craft a bill by mid May .

The measure offered Tuesday by Democratic Reps . Henry Waxman of Califorina and Ed Markey of Massaschusetts calls for reducing greenhouse gas by 20% from 2005 levels by 2020 , 83 percent by midcentury . Obama has urged similar long term reductions , but has proposed more modest early cuts with reductions of 10 % by 2020.

Evvironmentalists embraced the proposal and said it includdes the kind of flixibilitydesigned to attract enough Democrats those from heavy industry states , for example to get it passed .

By the Associated press