Chicago man, 56, charged in stabbing at Michigan Avenue hotel

Authorities have charged a Chicago resident with attempted murder in connection with a stabbing Saturday evening near the front of a North Michigan Avenue hotel, police announced early Monday.

Jimmy Harris, 56, has been charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated battery with intent to do great bodily harm and one count of aggravated unlawful restraint.

The charges stem from an attempted robbery Saturday evening in which a 67-year-old man was stabbed in the neck Saturday evening near the front of the Westin Hotel, authorities and witnesses said.

A second man was cut trying to stop the assailant from fleeing, police said.

The incident began shortly before 8 p.m. when the 67-year-old man was stabbed during an attempted robbery, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said, citing preliminary information.

A 35-year-old man was cut in the chest as he tried to capture the assailant, Greer said.

Police took Harris into custody following the incident. A weapon was also recovered, Greer said.

The 67-year-old was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, Greer said. The 35-year-old was taken to Northwestern in good condition.

According to the niece of the 67-year-old man, Jameela Ali, 28, of Lincoln Park, she and her uncle were part of a group of seven dining in a restaurant inside the Westin when her uncle was attacked inside a bathroom. She first heard a commotion inside the bathroom, then saw her uncle, badly injured, struggling with another man outside the bathroom.

"His left eye was bruised, totally swollen shut," Ali said. "There was blood gushing from his neck, blood all over his clothes. He looked like he had been punched in the face several times. I started screaming. I didn't know what to do."

Ali's uncle remained at Northwestern as of 1:30 am. Ali said he suffered a laceration to his external jugular vein and received exploratory surgery to ensure there was no further damage.

By 8:30 p.m., crime scene tape surrounded the entrance to the Westin Hotel on Delaware Street and Michigan Avenue with patches of blood visible on the pavement, and two police cars blocked the street.

Managers at the Westin declined to comment late Saturday and early Sunday.

Olivia Morrow, 18, said she and her friend were returning to the hotel around 8 p.m. to meet their parents when they saw police on the scene.

Morrow said shortly after that she saw about five hotel officials running out of the building toward the stairs leading to the Hancock Tower and the neighboring The Cheesecake Factory Restaurant.

"They had radios and phones in their hands, saying that (the attacker) was last seen running down the stairs," Morrow said.

Genevieve Waldron of Michigan City, Ind., was among the crowd waiting for a table outside when she and her mother saw dozens of officers sprinting toward the restaurant from every direction.

"They were obviously looking for somebody and we were trying to stay out of the way," Waldron said.

A few minutes later, two officers came back up the stairs, flanking a man who was handcuffed, and loaded him into the back of a marked car.

Neither The Cheesecake Factory nor the hotel were evacuated, as guests on the south-facing side of the building peered out of the windows to get a view of the scene. There appeared to be little commotion at the restaurant, where diners poured out into the hallways waiting for a table.

Tribune reporter Liam Ford contributed.

cdrhodes@tribune.com
Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking

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Bieber sweeps American Music Awards with big wins

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Canadian pop star Justin Bieber swept the American Music Awards on Sunday, topping strong competition from Rihanna and Nicki Minaj, and sending newcomers British boybands One Direction and The Wanted home empty-handed.

Bieber, 18, won all three categories in which he was nominated, including the night’s biggest award, artist of the year, over Rihanna, Katy Perry, Maroon 5 and Drake.

“This is for all the haters who thought that maybe I was just here for one or two years, but I feel like I am going to be here for a very long time,” Bieber said on stage, dedicating his first win of the night to his mother, Pattie Mallette, who accompanied him after his widely reported split from girlfriend Selena Gomez.

“It’s hard growing up with everything going on, with everyone watching me. I wanted to say that as long as you guys keep believing in me, I want to always make you proud,” Bieber said at the end of the night.

Bieber, who also won favorite pop/rock male artist and favorite pop/rock album for “Believe,” took to a bare stage to sing an acoustic stripped-down version of his latest single “As Long As You Love Me” before livening up the show with Nicki Minaj for “Beauty and a Beat.”

The American Music Award nominees and winners are voted online by fans, and the awards are handed out during a live three-hour broadcast featuring performances by artists.

R&B singer Rihanna, 24, and rapper Minaj, 29, led the nominees going into Sunday’s awards with four apiece.

Minaj won favorite rap/hip hop artist and rap/hip hop album of the year for “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.” The singer, known for her extravagant on-stage performances, sang her latest hit “Freedom” in a winter wonderland-themed set.

Rihanna came away with one win. She couldn’t make the show because she is in Berlin, midway through a seven-day tour across seven cities around the world promoting her upcoming “Unapologetic” album.

Canadian pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen, 26, picked up the coveted new artist-of-the-year award over One Direction, Australian artist Gotye, indie-pop band fun. and rapper J. Cole. She performed her hit “Call Me Maybe.”

“I am floored,” the singer said, thanking Bieber along with her fans in her acceptance speech.

ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC AWARD

Newcomer British-Irish boy bands One Direction, which had three nominations, and The Wanted, which had one nomination, went home empty-handed, losing out in the favorite pop/rock group category to well-established Los Angeles group Maroon 5.

French DJ David Guetta won the first-ever American Music Award for electronic dance music over DJs Calvin Harris and Skrillex.

“It’s wonderful also to see electronic music recognized at this level in the U.S.,” Guetta said in a taped acceptance speech.

Only 13 of the 20 awards were handed out during the live broadcast. Katy Perry was named favorite female pop/rock artist, Shakira was named favorite Latin artist, while Beyonce was voted favorite soul artist. None of the three attended the show.

Country-pop darling Taylor Swift, 22, scored the favorite female country artist award before performing her latest single “I Knew You Were Trouble” from her chart-topping album “Red,” on a masquerade ballroom-style stage with dancers in tuxedos, gowns and Venetian masks.

R&B star Usher kicked off the night with a medley of his hits on a laser-filled stage, while pop-rocker Pink teamed her performance of her latest single “Try” with a dramatic interpretive dance covered in paint with a male dancer on a stage filled with burning debris.

1990s ska-punk band No Doubt performed “Looking Hot” from their first album in a decade, “Push & Shove,” while rockers Linkin Park performed their latest “Burn It Down” after winning favorite alternative rock band over The Black Keys and Gotye.

Korean rapper Psy didn’t score any nominations, but he was named the AMA new media honoree for his viral hit music video “Gangnam Style,” accompanied by his trademark horse-riding dance.

The star closed out the show with his hit song, joined by surprise guest MC Hammer, one of the pioneering rappers from the 1980s, who was known for his catch phrase ‘Hammer Time.’

Singer Brandy paid tribute to the late Whitney Houston, who died suddenly at age 48 on the night before the Grammy Awards in February this year from accidental drowning.

AMA founder Dick Clark, who also passed away earlier this year, was given a touching tribute by veteran soul singer Stevie Wonder, who sang a medley of hits including “Hotter Than July” and “My Cherie Amour,” against a backdrop of pictures of Clark. Wonder was introduced by “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest, who also paid homage to Clark’s influence.

“Dick loved the power of music and the ability to create pure joy,” Seacrest said.

The awards show, which marked its 40th anniversary this year, treated the audience to some of its greatest moments, including R&B star Beyonce performing “Single Ladies” at the 2008 show, Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff at the 1989 awards show, and various clips of AMA regular, the late singer Michael Jackson.

(Additional reporting by Jill Serjeant, editing by Christine Kearney and Philip Barbara)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Teenage Boys, Worried About Body Image, Take Health Risks

It is not just girls these days who are consumed by an unattainable body image.

Take David Abusheikh. At age 15, he started lifting weights for two hours a day, six days a week. Now that he is a senior at Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn, he has been adding protein bars and shakes to his diet to put on muscle without gaining fat.

“I didn’t used to be into supplements,” said Mr. Abusheikh, 18, who plans on a career in engineering, “but I wanted something that would help me get bigger a little faster.”

Pediatricians are starting to sound alarm bells about boys who take unhealthy measures to try to achieve Charles Atlas bodies that only genetics can truly confer. Whether it is long hours in the gym, allowances blown on expensive supplements or even risky experiments with illegal steroids, the price American boys are willing to pay for the perfect body appears to be on the rise.

In a study to be published on Monday in the journal Pediatrics, more than 40 percent of boys in middle school and high school said they regularly exercised with the goal of increasing muscle mass. Thirty-eight percent said they used protein supplements, and nearly 6 percent said they had experimented with steroids.

Over all, 90 percent of the 2,800 boys in the survey — who lived in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, but typify what doctors say is a national phenomenon — said they exercised at least occasionally to add muscle.

“There has been a striking change in attitudes toward male body image in the last 30 years,” said Dr. Harrison Pope, a psychiatry professor at Harvard who studies bodybuilding culture and was not involved in the study. The portrayal of men as fat-free and chiseled “is dramatically more prevalent in society then it was a generation ago,” he said.

While college-age men have long been interested in bodybuilding, pediatricians say they have been surprised to find that now even middle school boys are so absorbed with building muscles. And their youth adds an element of risk.

Just as girls who count every calorie in an effort to be thin may do themselves more harm than good, boys who chase an illusory image of manhood may end up stunting their development, doctors say, particularly when they turn to supplements — or, worse, steroids — to supercharge their results.

“The problem with supplements is they’re not regulated like drugs, so it’s very hard to know what’s in them,” said Dr. Shalender Bhasin, a professor of medicine at Boston Medical Center. Some contain anabolic steroids, and even high-quality protein supplements might be dangerous in large amounts, or if taken to replace meals, he said. “These things just haven’t been studied very well,” he said.

Anabolic steroids pose a special danger to developing bodies, Dr. Bhasin said. Steroids “stop testosterone production in men,” he said, leading to terrible withdrawal problems when still-growing boys try to stop taking them. Still, the constant association of steroids with elite athletes like Lance Armstrong and Barry Bonds perpetuates the notion that they can be managed successfully.

Online, in bodybuilding forums for teenagers, boys barely out of puberty share weight-lifting regimens and body fat percentages, and judge one another’s progress. On Tumblr and Facebook, teenagers post images of ripped athletes under the heading “fitspo” or “fitspiraton,” which are short for “fitness inspiration.” The tags are spinoffs of “thinspo” and “thinspiration” pictures and videos, which have been banned from many sites for promoting anorexia.

“Lifted b4 school today felt good but was weak as hell,” wrote one boy who said he was 15 and from Tallahassee, Fla., on a message board on Bodybuilding.com in September, saying he bench-pressed 245 pounds. “Barely got it.”

Many of these boys probably see themselves in Mike Sorrentino, “The Situation” from the “Jersey Shore” series on MTV, or the Adam Sackler character, on the HBO series “Girls,” who rarely wears a shirt or takes a break from his crunches.

Mr. Abusheikh, for instance, has a Facebook page full of photos of himself shirtless or showing off his six-pack abs. At his high school, participation in the annual bodybuilding competition hit an all-time high of 30 students this year.

“They ask us about everything,” said Peter Rivera, a physical education teacher at Fort Hamilton High School who helps oversee the competition. “How do I lose weight? How do I gain muscle? How many times a week should I work out?” Some boys want to be stronger for sports, Mr. Rivera said, but others “want to change their body type.”

Compared with a sedentary lifestyle of video games and TV, an obsession with working out may not quite qualify as a health hazard. And instructors like Mr. Rivera say most boys are eager for advice on the healthiest, drug-free ways to get in shape.

With so little known about supplements, it can be difficult, particularly for teenagers, to make wise decisions.

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Investors rush in to rent out foreclosures

The foreclosed home on Kenmore Street in Aurora was an outdated, unkempt eyesore until crews arrived this fall, performing thousands of dollars of work to make it attractive and modern, inside and out.

But it wasn't until workers walked across the street to ask for some water that neighbors Mario Cervantes and Oralia Balderas-Cervantes learned that a corporation, not a consumer, had bought the house, intending to turn it into a rental property. Despite being landlords themselves, the couple aren't sure they like the idea.

"If it's going to be a company that is watching out for the community, yes," Cervantes said. "If it's going to be a company that is watching out for themselves, no."

Added Balderas-Cervantes: "I'd rather see a homeowner. A lot of renters don't care. It's like renting a car versus buying a car. It's different."

Similar scenarios and concerns are unfolding across Chicago and in other markets hard-hit by the housing crisis. Well-capitalized, out-of-town private equity funds are scouring neighborhoods, paying cash for distressed single-family homes and renting them out. The opportunities are plentiful, enabling investment groups to profit from low home prices, rising rents and an increase in the number of potential renters.

The transactions are returning vacant properties to active use. But they also are stoking fears among neighbors and municipalities about the long-term effect of large, private investors — including many that are operating under the radar — in their communities.

"This scares the hell out of me," said Ed Jacob, executive director of Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago Inc. "In this rush to say this is a new asset class, are we creating the next community development problem?

"You talk to them and it's all about neighborhood recovery. They all have the narrative down."

In April, housing research firm CoreLogic named the Chicago area one of the better housing markets for institutional investor funds. It cited the area's large number of foreclosures, which will increase the number of vacant homes, and the estimated rental income relative to the low cost of acquisition.

The general strategy of the companies is the same: buy low, make the necessary upgrades, fill them with tenants and then sell the homes in three to seven years. With companies and analysts anticipating projected returns of at least 8 percent, there also is talk of creating publicly traded real estate investment trusts.

"What this reminds me of is the dot-com boom," said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of Carrington Mortgage Holdings LLC, a California firm whose asset management arm is actively looking in the Chicago market. "That's what this feels like. Every investor in America wants to buy foreclosures and turn them into rentals."

Two statistics increasing that appetite are the homeownership rate and rental rates. Foreclosures, tight lending conditions and wary consumers have pushed down the nation's homeownership rate to 65.5 percent at the end of September, according to census data. Meanwhile, the percentage of vacant rental units has been on a steady decline since 2010 as more people opt for leases rather than mortgages.

Tighter inventories are pushing up rents. As of October, annualized rents in Chicago were up 7.7 percent, more than the national increase of 5.1 percent, online real estate site Trulia found.

But investors aren't flocking to all neighborhoods equally. Most want homes in desirable neighborhoods with strong area employment. They also look at the strength of local rules protecting landlords in disputes with tenants.

After vetting the tenant and securing a lease, property managers say they routinely drive by the homes and sometimes schedule inside inspections to protect their investment.

Weighing risks, rewards

It remains to be seen whether their expectations will be met. One problem with the business model is there's no performance track record to speak of. And as housing prices slowly recover, acquisition costs also will increase and cut into returns.

There also isn't any history on property management firms tasked with overseeing so many scattered-site rental properties. Any well-publicized mistakes involving poorly maintained properties or wronged tenants could taint investors' reputations.

That's one reason why big-name players are likely to avoid buying in neighborhoods where they fear a greater chance of eviction proceedings occurring.

"You make one mistake in those properties and you'll be toast," Sharga said.

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2 hurt in stabbing at North Michigan Avenue hotel

A 67-year-old man was stabbed in the neck Saturday evening near the front of the Westin Hotel on North Michigan Avenue, and a second man was cut trying to stop the assailant from fleeing, authorities and witnesses said.

The incident began shortly before 8 p.m. when the 67-year-old man was stabbed during an attempted robbery, Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said, citing preliminary information.

A 35-year-old man was cut in the chest as he tried to stop the assailant from fleeing, Greer said.

Police took a 56-year-old man into custody following the incident. A weapon was also recovered, Greer said.

The 67-year-old was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, Greer said. The 35-year-old was taken to Northwestern in good condition.

By 8:30 p.m., crime scene tape surrounded the entrance to the Westin Hotel on Delaware Street and Michigan Avenue with patches of blood visible on the pavement, and two police cars blocked the street.

Mangers at the Westin declined to comment late Saturday and early Sunday.

Olivia Morrow, 18, said she and her friend were returning to the hotel around 8 p.m. to meet their parents when they saw police on the scene.

Morrow said shortly after that she saw about five hotel officials running out of the building toward the stairs leading to the Hancock Tower and neighboring The Cheesecake Factory Restaurant.

"They had radios and phones in their hands, saying that (the attacker) was last seen running down the stairs," Morrow said.

Genevieve Waldron of Michigan City, Ind., was among the crowd waiting for a table outside when she and her mother saw dozens of officers sprinting toward the restaurant from every direction.

"They were obviously looking for somebody and we were trying to stay out of the way," Waldron said.

A few minutes later, two officers came back up the stairs, flanking a young man who was handcuffed, and loaded him into the back of a marked car.

Neither The Cheesecake Factory nor the hotel were evacuated, as guests on the south-facing side of the building peered out of the windows to get a view of the scene. There appeared to be little commotion at the restaurant, where diners poured out into the hallways waiting for a table.

Tribune reporter Liam Ford contributed.

cdrhodes@tribune.com

Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking

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NY Times article questions what CEO knew of BBC sex scandal: can Mark Thompson survive?

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – The New York Times has turned its guns on one of its own, and right about now Mark Thompson must be looking for somewhere in the corporate suite to hide.

In a devastating article, the paper of record raises questions about what its newly minted chief executive officer knew about a pedophilia scandal at the BBC and when he knew it. Thompson stepped down as BBC director-general in September and assumed his new perch at The Times on Monday.

Yet his cross-Atlantic transition has been turbulent. He has found himself dogged by the scandal engulfing the BBC after allegations emerged that he tried to prevent an exposé by one of the network’s investigative programs into claims that children’s TV host Jimmy Savile routinely coerced teenage girls into having sex. Savile, who died in 2011, was one of the BBC’s biggest stars.

Thompson has maintained that he learned of the claims against Savile after leaving the BBC, but a legal letter indicates that he was aware of the accusations before he stepped down from his post, according to the article in The Times. In the piece, reporter Matthew Purdy writes that lawyers representing Thompson threatened to sue The Sunday Times over an article it was writing that claimed he had squelched his network’s investigative report on Savile’s sexual behavior. The letter was sent 10 days before Thompson resigned from the BBC.

The Sunday Times is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and is based in the United Kingdom.

“There were other moments during Mr. Thompson’s final months at the BBC – involving brief conversations and articles appearing in London news media – when he might have picked up on the gravity of the Savile case,” Purdy writes. “But the letter is different because it shows Mr. Thompson was involved in an aggressive action to challenge an article about the case that was likely to reflect poorly on the BBC and on him.”

The letter purportedly included a summary of Savile’s alleged abuses. The Times reports that an aide to Thompson said he authorized the letter orally, but was not fully informed about its contents.

After the story broke, speculation mounted on Twitter among media watchers that Thompson’s position at The Times might be in jeopardy.

“The odds on Mark Thompson staying as CEO of the New York Times just changed,” Jay Rosen, a journalism professor at New York University, tweeted.

At the very least, it appears that reporters at the paper have taken to heart Public Editor Margaret Sullivan’s charge to cover the BBC scandal aggressively.

“As the BBC has found out in the most painful way, for The Times to pull its punches will not be a wise way to go,” Sullivan wrote.

As Thompson, still nursing Purdy’s uppercut, just found out, The Times looks ready to put some muscle into it.

TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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The Neediest Cases: Emerging From a Bleak Life to Become Fabulous Phil

For years, Phillip Johnson was caught in what seemed like an endless trench of bad luck. He was fired from a job, experienced intensifying psychological problems, lost his apartment and spent time in homeless shelters. At one point, he was hospitalized after overdosing on an antipsychotic drug.

“I had a rough road,” he said.

Since his hospital stay two years ago, and despite setbacks, Mr. Johnson, 27, has been getting his life on track. At Brooklyn Community Services, where he goes for daily counseling and therapy, everybody knows him as Fabulous Phil.

“Phillip is a light, the way he evokes happiness in other people,” his former caseworker, Teresa O’Brien, said. “Phillip’s character led directly to his nickname.”

About six months ago, with Ms. O’Brien’s help, Mr. Johnson started an event: Fabulous Phil Friday Dance Party Fridays.

One recent afternoon at the agency, 30 clients and a few counselors were eating cake, drinking soft drinks and juice, and grooving for 45 minutes to Jay-Z and Drake pulsating from a boom box.

Mr. Johnson’s voice rose with excitement when he talked about the party. Clients and counselors, he said, “enjoy themselves.”

“They connect more; they communicate more,” he continued. “Everybody is celebrating and laughing.”

The leadership Mr. Johnson now displays seems to be a far cry from the excruciatingly introverted person he was.

As an only child living with his single mother in public housing in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, he said, he tended to isolate himself. “A lot of kids my age would say, ‘Come outside,’ but I would always stay in my room,” he said. He occupied himself by writing comic books or reading them, his favorites being Batman and Spiderman because, he said, “they were heroes who saved the day.”

After graduating from high school in 2003, he worked odd jobs until 2006, when he took a full-time position at a food court at La Guardia Airport, where he helped to clean up. The steady paycheck allowed him to leave his mother’s apartment and rent a room in Queens.

But the depression and bleak moods that had shadowed him throughout middle and high school asserted themselves.

“My thinking got confused,” he said. “Racing thoughts through my mind. Disorganized thoughts. I had a hard time focusing on one thing.”

In 2008, after two years on the job, Mr. Johnson was fired for loud and inappropriate behavior, and for being “unpredictable,” he said. The boss said he needed counseling. He moved back in with his mother, and in 2009 entered a program at an outpatient addiction treatment service, Bridge Back to Life. It was there, he said, that he received a diagnosis of schizophrenia and help with his depression and marijuana use.

But one evening in May 2010, he had a bout with insomnia.

He realized the antipsychotic medication he had been prescribed, Risperdal, made him feel tired, he said, so he took 12 of the pills, rather than his usual dosage of two pills twice a day. When 12 did not work, he took 6 more.

“The next morning when I woke up, it was hard for me to breathe,” he said.

He called an ambulance, which took to Woodhull Hospital. He was released after about a month.

Not long after, he returned to his mother’s apartment, but by February 2011, they both decided he should leave, and he relocated to a homeless shelter in East New York, where, he said, eight other people were crammed into his cubicle and there were “bedbugs, people lying in your bed, breaking into your locker to steal your stuff.”

In late spring 2011, he found a room for rent in Manhattan, but by Thanksgiving he was hospitalized again. Another stint in a shelter followed in April, when his building was sold.

Finally, in July, Mr. Johnson moved to supported housing on Staten Island, where he lives with a roommate. His monthly $900 Social Security disability check is sent to the residence, which deducts $600 for rent and gives him $175 in spending money; he has breakfast and lunch at the Brooklyn agency. To assist Mr. Johnson with unexpected expenses, a grant of $550 through The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund went to buy him a bed and pay a Medicare prescription plan fee for three months.

“I was so happy I have a bed to sleep on,” he said about the replacement for an air mattress. “When I have a long day, I have a bed to lay in, and I feel good about that.”

Mr. Johnson’s goals include getting his driver’s license — “I already have a learner’s permit,” he said, proudly — finishing his program at the agency, and then entering an apprenticeship program to become a plumber, carpenter or mechanic.

But seeing how his peers have benefited from Fabulous Phil Fridays has made him vow to remain involved with people dealing with mental illnesses or substance abuse.

He was asked at the party: Might he be like the comic-book heroes he loves? A smile spread across his face. He seemed to think so.

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Chocolatier finds sweet spot in Belize

Katrina Markoff, the founder of high-end Chicago chocolatier Vosges Haut-Chocolat, is nearing completion on two high-profile projects: a winery-style chocolate facility in Logan Square and an education center at a cacao plantation and eco-lodge in Belize.

Markoff isn't ready to talk about the Logan Square project, her spokeswoman said. But in an interview last week, she said she hopes the Belcampo farm in Belize will become the source of a majority of Vosges' cacao once its plants mature.

The project means Markoff will soon play a role in every aspect of production from seed selection through packaging without having to assume the financial risk of owning a tropical plantation.

Belcampo Group CEO Anya Fernald said the education center that Markoff helped design will open in mid-December, and Markoff will teach her first "master class" on cacao to guests at the 12-room lodge April 23-27. In exchange for her time and expertise, Markoff will receive a better price on the beans.

"I've always wanted to be involved through the full vertical, from actually growing the varietals of cacao I want, and being particular about how they're grown and harvested and fermented and dried," she said.

Once the farm reaches full yield in about five years, Fernald estimated it will produce 250,000 pounds of cacao annually. Already, with only 60 acres planted so far — all under a rain forest canopy — Fernald said Belcampo is already Belize's largest cacao plantation.

"The integrity of that project is really, really unique and special," Markoff said. "Typically when people buy beans to make chocolate, they just buy whatever is available in the commodity market. There's not a lot of control over how it's grafted, where it's planted, how it's nurtured, who's taking care of it. You just don't get that kind of control."

Bluhm continues gambling push

Chicago real estate and gambling executive Neil Bluhm is entering the race to build one of four planned casinos in Massachusetts and has launched an online gaming division in Chicago, said Greg Carlin, chief executive of Bluhm's Rush Street Gaming.

Earlier this year Rush Street hired Richard Schwartz from Waukegan-based WMS Industries and appointed him president of Rush Street Interactive, its new online gaming division.

"We think (Internet gaming) is going to be eventually legalized throughout the country, or in jurisdictions that have bricks-and-mortar casinos," Carlin said. "Illinois is actually a leader in selling lottery tickets online and could be a leader in Internet gaming as well if they get ahead of the curve and pass legislation before some of the other states."

Nevada and Delaware have legalized some forms of Internet gambling.

In recent years, Bluhm has built three casinos: Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, one in Pittsburgh and another in Philadelphia. In October, Bluhm sold his first U.S. casino, Riverwalk Casino and Hotel, in Vicksburg, Miss., for $141 million in cash to Churchill Downs Inc. (Bluhm held a 70 percent stake in Riverwalk.)

Churchill Downs, a horse racing and wagering company, also owns Arlington Park in Arlington Heights. Its largest shareholder is Duchossois Group, founded by Arlington Park Chairman Richard "Dick" Duchossois.

Duchossois has been trying to persuade the Illinois Legislature to approve slots at racetracks, which, if successful, would make Arlington Park a competitor of Bluhm's Des Plaines casino.

As for the Massachusetts casino, the gambling commission there will weigh applications for casino licenses well into 2013.

Alvarez joins Culloton

Public relations firm Culloton Strategies has hired Michael Alvarez, a commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, as senior vice president for public affairs.

As the Sun-Times reported in January, Alvarez, 32, has worked for Barack Obama, Rod Blagojevich and Richard M. Daley — while he has close ties to Ald. Richard Mell, Blagojevich's father-in-law.

In addition to his $70,000 annual salary at the water district, Alvarez has a $60,000-a-year public relations contract with the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority and a "fast-growing" lobbying practice, the Sun-Times reported.

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Metra riders could face fare hike

Many Metra riders could be facing another fare increase this February, just one year after digging deep for the biggest fare hike in the commuter rail line's history.

Metra's board is expected to vote Friday on a recommendation to raise the price of the popular 10-ride tickets about 11 percent, the Tribune has learned.

That would mean an increase ranging from $2.75 to $9.25 per 10-ride ticket, depending on the distance.

If approved, the increase would deprive 10-ride ticket buyers of the discount traditionally associated with the ticket. Currently, 10-ride tickets cost the equivalent of nine rides.

Word of the possible increase did not set well with riders Thursday evening.

Student Satya Shah, 24, of Rogers Park, said that if the price goes up, he'll have to consider taking the CTA from Rogers Park to downtown, even though Metra is closer to his home.

"It's going to hurt the wallet," he said of an increase. "If it works out to be cheaper, I'll take the CTA."

Customers now pay anywhere from $24.75 per 10-ride ticket for close-in Metra zones to $83.25 for the farthest communities.

Ten-ride ticket users account for about 22 percent of Metra's ridership. Customers who use monthly passes — about 57 percent of Metra's riders — and those who buy single tickets would not see their fares increase.

Metra's staff estimates the fare increase would produce $8.3 million in 2013 to help meet the agency's capital needs. Those include system improvements, maintenance and equipment.

Unveiling a proposed 2013 budget totaling $713.5 million last month, Metra officials warned that they would consider "scenarios" for raising fares up to 10 percent but did not specify any options.

Friday's recommendation comes as a result of discussions among board members and Metra staff, officials said.

Spokesman Michael Gillis said Thursday that the agency wants to use the $8.3 million in additional revenue as a match to obtain federal dollars for capital needs.

Metra needs about $7.4 billion over the next 10 years to keep the commuter rail line in what officials call a "state of good repair."

Board members contacted Thursday said they expected to have a thorough discussion of the fare increase Friday before taking action.

If the board approves the increase Friday, Metra still would need to hold a series of hearings to get public comment before the increase would get final adoption. That could come as early as Metra's Dec. 14 meeting.

Arlene Mulder, who represents suburban Cook County on the board, said she had not decided whether she would support the increase.

"I feel we need to cover our costs, but I know a lot of people who are on extraordinarily tight budgets now," said Mulder, who also is the mayor of Arlington Heights. "We can't lose sight of that."

James LaBelle, who represents Lake County, said he supported increasing the price of a 10-ride ticket to cover the cost of 91/2 rides.

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In Gaza, new arsenals include “weaponized” social media

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – There have long been the tools of warfare associated with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: warplanes, mortars, Qassam rockets. Now that list includes Twitter, Facebook, YouTube.

This week the worldwide audience got a vivid look at conflict in the social media era as the Israeli military unfurled an extensive campaign across several Internet channels after conducting an air strike that killed a top Hamas military commander in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

The air strike, which came after several days of rocket attacks launched from Gaza toward targets in Israel, was confirmed by the Israel Defense Force’s Twitter account before the military held a press conference.

The public relations tug-of-war has long been understood as a central element of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinian leaders like Yasser Arafat were credited with skillfully courting international media during the first Intifada to highlight the Palestinian struggle and help sway public opinion.

But the newest technologies, including Twitter and YouTube, have been embraced particularly by the Israeli government, which has perhaps waged an unprecedented social media PR campaign as the conflict escalated this week.

The Israel Defense Force (IDF) has established a presence on nearly every platform available. It launched a Tumblr account Wednesday, posting infographics touting how Israeli forces minimize collateral damage to Palestinian civilians. It prepared Facebook pages in several languages, and even has a bare-bones Pinterest page with photos of troops deployed in humanitarian missions.

On Twitter, the @IDFspokesperson account issued a torrent of tweets that carried hashtags like #IsraelUnderFire and what it said were videos of rockets fired at Israel from Gaza, as well as pictures of wounded Israeli children.

“They are very conscious how things are going to be viewed, perhaps more so because they sense that they are more and more isolated in world opinion, and they are less shouldered by U.S. public opinion,” said James Noyes, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution.

The IDF also posted on Twitter a picture of Ahmed Al-Jaabari, the Hamas commander who was killed, with the word “eliminated” stamped over his face.

Meanwhile, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military group formerly led by Al-Jaabari, also took to Twitter to offer blow-by-blow updates of its fighters shelling Israeli military targets. It publicized deaths of Palestinian children due to Israeli attacks, and used hashtags like “#terrorism.”

HIGH STAKES

At certain points, the two sides clashed head-on.

“We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead,” tweeted @IDFspokesperson after Al-Jaabari was killed.

Al-Qassam (@AlqassamBrigade) shot back at @IDFSpokesperson, warning in a public tweet that the group’s “blessed hands will reach your leaders and soldiers wherever they are,” and that “You Opened Hell Gates on Yourselves” as a result of the air strike.

The exchange raised questions for the new media companies that have vowed to stand behind free speech but perhaps have never before played host to such high-stakes discourse.

Although Twitter regulates against “direct, specific threats of violence,” the two sides tweeted unchecked. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

But on Wednesday, YouTube briefly blocked a grainy IDF video that showed a missile striking Al-Jaabari’s car. The footage, uploaded shortly after the air strike, had drawn hundreds of thousands of views and was flagged by some users as objectionable.

YouTube’s parent Google Inc later reinstated the video and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said there was a lot of “back and forth” among senior executives at Google, including himself and Google Chief Executive Larry Page, over whether to block the footage.

In YouTube’s case, the general rule is that films that “encourage violence and depict violence are not allowed,” said Schmidt, speaking at a conference sponsored by the RAND corporation and Thomson Reuters entitled “Politics Aside,” in Los Angeles.

“The problem is, if we don’t host it, somebody else will. How do we get all of it down?” he added.

‘WEAPONIZED’ SOCIAL MEDIA

Observers say the Israeli military’s social media efforts are a far cry from the 2008 Gaza War, when the IDF launched a YouTube channel for the first time with videos that sought to justify sending troops into Palestinian territory.

“Operation Cast Lead marked the first time they weaponized social media,” said Rebecca Stein, a professor of anthropology at Duke University who has researched how Israeli military officials use social media. “But back then it was very improvisational,” she said.

In 2010, the government seemed to be caught off guard when activists on a humanitarian convoy bound for the Gaza Strip stirred up sympathy by tweeting and webcasting from their boats after they were boarded by Israeli troops.

That year, the Israeli foreign ministry invested more than $ 15 million to better grasp how the government could use social media in a broader campaign to burnish the nation’s image.

Last year, Israeli officials sent a letter to Facebook Inc asking the social network to remove a page calling for a third Palestinian uprising.

On Thursday, as Israel mobilized troops for a potential ground assault reminiscent of 2008, the PR machine that rolled out seemed nothing like the halting efforts of four years prior, Stein said.

“They’ve had to do a lot of learning between then and now and have invested a lot of resources and exponential manpower specifically for an event like this,” Stein said. “In some sense, they’ve been pioneers of social media statecraft.”

(Additional reporting by Tim Reid in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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