South Loop residents oppose DePaul arena

The prospect of a DePaul University men's basketball arena being constructed on land just north of McCormick Place is drawing strong opposition from the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance, a South Loop residents' organization, according to a letter released Tuesday.
 
A survey of 700 neighbors of the site, conducted by the community group, found more than 70 percent oppose construction of a Blue Demons arena there, Tina Feldstein, president of the organization, stated in the letter.
 
An arena would not fit within the residential and historic character of the area and could put two landmark structures, the Harriet F. Rees House and the American Book Co. building, at risk, the letter stated. It would also add to traffic congestion and potential rowdiness in an area already overburdened when conventions are in progress at McCormick Place or major events, including Chicago Bears games, are taking place at Soldier Field, Feldstein said in an interview.
 
"We're not against vibrant development, which hotel and retail would bring," Feldstein said. And the group would support an arena at an alternate site on the Near South Side, she said.
 
The letter was written in support of an alternate plan for the so-called "Olde Prairie" blocks, which is being put forward in bankruptcy court by developers Pam Gleichman, Karl Norberg and Gunnar Falk. Their plan calls for hotel and retail development on property directly north of the McCormick Place administrative offices and West Building on Cermak Road.
 
If they lose control of the property, it is expected to go up for auction, making it possible for the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the state-city agency that owns McCormick Place, or other parties to make a run at it.
 
DePaul is weighing several sites, including property near McCormick Place and the United Center on the Near West Side. As well, the Allstate Arena in Rosemont is fighting to retain the team.
 
The neighborhood's opposition adds to resistance by Ald. Robert Fioretti, whose 2nd Ward includes McCormick Place.
 "That is not a place to put an arena -- far away from the school," he said. "I think there are traffic issues related, and it would be a bad deal for taxpayers in these economic times."

Fioretti noted such a project likely would require public subsidy.
 
The Olde Prairie blocks have not been officially designated as a potential site for a DePaul arena, but Fioretti said it is his understanding that they are being seriously considered.
 
Jim Reilly, chief executive officer of the exposition authority, known as McPier, has publicly acknowledged that there have been talks with DePaul. A spokeswoman on Tuesday said it would be premature to comment further at this point.

A DePaul spokesperson could not be reached for immediate comment.
 
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has said he would like DePaul to bring men's basketball back to the city. A spokesman declined comment beyond that.
 kbergen@tribune.com | Twitter @kathy_bergen

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Brewer to sponsor CTA free rides on New Year's Eve

The CTA, which is hiking the price of fare passes by as much as 74 percent next year, offered a New Year’s Eve toast to riders on Tuesday by announcing free rides for eight hours starting late on Dec. 31.

MillerCoors was introduced as the first corporate sponsor of the annual CTA penny rides program, which is in effect from 10 p.m. on New Year’s Eve through 4 a.m. Jan. 1, to provide a safe alternative to drunken driving.

Although the CTA is required by statute to collect fares from passengers, bus drivers and rail station attendants frequently wave revelers aboard on New Year’s Eve without paying the 1-cent fare.

Now that policy will be semi-official under the $1.3 million sponsorship that MillerCoors is paying to the CTA under the three-year deal, CTA president Forrest Claypool said Tuesday at the Clark/Lake station in the Loop, where a display of the Chicago skyline comprised of 8,000 pennies was unveiled.

In return for the sponsorship fee, MillerCoors, the maker of Miller Lite, will mount a marketing campaign called “Great Beer, Great Responsibility’’ on the CTA system and 150,000 farecards with the marketing theme will be sold to riders over the next month, said MillerCoors CEO Tom Long.

Claypool said every penny counts at the CTA – which in 2013 will raise the price of 1-day, 3-day, 7-day and 30-day passes as well as more than double the fare from O’Hare International Airport toward the city to $5 from the current $2.25 – to help balance the agency’s operating budget.

He said collecting the penny fare on New Year’s Eve has been more trouble than it is worth, saying that customers sometimes try to stick a penny into the wrong slot on bus fareboxes, jamming the machines.

An average of 150,000 bus and train rides are taken on New Year’s Eve, CTA officials said.

The CTA recently dropped a 15-year ban on alcoholic beverage advertisements on the CTA system. Alcohol ads are now allowed on CTA trains and at some rail stations, but not on buses. The new ads are projected to bring in more than $1 million a year under the current contract, and millions more under future advertising contracts, officials said.

The MillerCoors agreement is one of the CTA’s first sponsorships. Earlier this year, the transit agency solicited bids for corporate naming-rights sponsorships to assets including Bus Tracker and Train Tracker, the Holiday Train, New Year's Eve penny rides and First Day Free Rides for Chicago Public Schools students. The Chicago Sun-Times signed up to pay $150,000 to help cover the costs of the free rides to schools on Sept. 4.

The transit agency has also offered to sell businesses naming rights and sponsorships to 11 rail stations, mostly on the North Side and downtown as well as at both Chicago airports. The stations are Addison, Belmont, Fullerton, North/Clybourn, Chicago, Grand/State, 79th and 95th on the Red Line; Ashland/63rd on the Green Line; O'Hare on the Blue Line; and Midway on the Orange Line, officials said.

The offer of exclusive naming rights at "L" and subway stations was supposed to help generate more revenue from nontraditional sources and help stave off fare hikes, officials had said.

The CTA’s search for corporate naming-rights sponsorships is being conducted through IMG, a business development consultant.

In 2010, the CTA signed a $3.9 million deal with Apple Inc. to refurbish the North/Clybourn Red Line stop, partly in exchange for a possible future naming-rights contract for the station, which is near an Apple Store. No naming-rights deal has been reached.

jhilkevitch@tribune.com
Twitter @jhilkevitch

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EMC, VMware to merge data and cloud app assets into new group

(Reuters) - EMC Corp, the world's leading maker of corporate data storage equipment, and its publicly-traded subsidiary, software maker VMware Inc, are planning to merge their data analytics and cloud application assets, EMC said on its website.

EMC said on Tuesday the companies expect to combine a number of divisions into the new group - called the Pivotal Initiative - by the second quarter of 2013 and said the specific operational structure will be determined then.

Paul Maritz, EMC's Chief Strategy Officer, will head the group, EMC said.

An EMC spokeswoman declined to elaborate on the plans.

The companies will provide an update on the details of the plans in the first quarter of next year, EMC said.

The move will combine EMC's data analytics division Greenplum and its Pivotal Labs group with VMware's vFabric, SpringSource and Gemstone units as well VMware's data analytics company Cetas and CloudFoundry, a cloud computing platform as a service.

This will affect about 600 employees from VMware and 800 employees from EMC, the company said.

Analysts said the realignment may eventually result in a spin-out of the new group.

"This is a very good move," said Kaushik Roy, a longtime EMC watcher who is a principal with Hercules Technology Growth Capital.

"Both companies have applications that are overlapping," he said, adding that "if things go well they may spin it off".

Tech analyst Alkesh Shah at Buckingham Research Group said the companies could decide on a partial spin-out of the unit in 2014/2015.

"This realignment should enable EMC to position itself more as a Cloud enabler while VMware can concentrate on its expanded strategy of the software-defined datacenter," Shah said.

(Reporting By Nicola Leske, editing by Nick Zieminski)

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Chiefs had given counseling to Belcher, girlfriend

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs officials knew that linebacker Jovan Belcher and his girlfriend were having relationship problems, and the team provided the couple with counseling in an effort to help, a police official said.

Belcher fatally shot Kasandra Perkins, 22, at their Kansas City home Saturday before shooting himself in the head in the Arrowhead Stadium parking lot in front of team officials who were trying to stop him, including general manager Scott Pioli and head coach Romeo Crennel.

Police Sgt. Richard Sharp told The Kansas City Star for a Tuesday story (http://bit.ly/SDwg9m ) that the couple had been arguing over relationship and financial issues for months and that the team had been "bending over backward" trying to help them. Sharp didn't specify how long the couple had been undergoing counseling.

When Belcher arrived at Arrowhead on Saturday, he encountered Pioli in the parking lot and told him the assistance the team had offered hadn't fixed the couple's problems and now "it was too late," Sharp said.

Pioli tried to persuade Belcher to put down his gun as Crennel and linebackers coach Gary Gibbs arrived at the scene.

Belcher thanked the men for everything the team had done for him and asked if Pioli and team owner Clark Hunt would take care of his daughter, The Star reported.

After that, Belcher reportedly said, "Guys, I have to do this."

"I was trying to get him to understand that life is not over," Crennel said Monday. "He still has a chance and let's get this worked out."

When Belcher heard police sirens approaching, he knelt behind a vehicle and shot himself in the head.

Investigators believe Belcher killed himself because he was distraught over shooting Perkins, Sharp said.

"He cared about her," Sharp said. "I don't think he could live with himself."

The night before the killings, Perkins had attended a concert downtown with friends and Belcher had been out at the Power and Light District, police said, while Belcher's mother was watching their 3-month-old baby. Detectives don't know exactly what the couple was arguing about but The Star reported that Belcher was upset that Perkins had stayed out so late.

Autopsies with toxicology tests were performed on both bodies but it could be weeks before results are known, police said.

Police spokesman Darin Snapp said Monday that Belcher's mother was given temporary custody of the couple's daughter.

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CDC says US flu season starts early, could be bad

NEW YORK (AP) — Flu season in the U.S. is off to its earliest start in nearly a decade — and it could be a bad one.

Health officials on Monday said suspected flu cases have jumped in five Southern states, and the primary strain circulating tends to make people sicker than other types. It is particularly hard on the elderly.

"It looks like it's shaping up to be a bad flu season, but only time will tell," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The good news is that the nation seems fairly well prepared, Frieden said. More than a third of Americans have been vaccinated, and the vaccine formulated for this year is well-matched to the strains of the virus seen so far, CDC officials said.

Higher-than-normal reports of flu have come in from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. An uptick like this usually doesn't happen until after Christmas. Flu-related hospitalizations are also rising earlier than usual, and there have already been two deaths in children.

Hospitals and urgent care centers in northern Alabama have been bustling. "Fortunately, the cases have been relatively mild," said Dr. Henry Wang, an emergency medicine physician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Parts of Georgia have seen a boom in traffic, too. It's not clear why the flu is showing up so early, or how long it will stay.

"My advice is: Get the vaccine now," said Dr. James Steinberg, an Emory University infectious diseases specialist in Atlanta.

The last time a conventional flu season started this early was the winter of 2003-04, which proved to be one of the most lethal seasons in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 deaths. The dominant type of flu back then was the same one seen this year.

One key difference between then and now: In 2003-04, the vaccine was poorly matched to the predominant flu strain. Also, there's more vaccine now, and vaccination rates have risen for the general public and for key groups such as pregnant women and health care workers.

An estimated 112 million Americans have been vaccinated so far, the CDC said. Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone 6 months or older.

On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.

Flu usually peaks in midwinter. Symptoms can include fever, cough, runny nose, head and body aches and fatigue. Some people also suffer vomiting and diarrhea, and some develop pneumonia or other severe complications.

A strain of swine flu that hit in 2009 caused a wave of cases in the spring and then again in the early fall. But that was considered a unique type of flu, distinct from the conventional strains that circulate every year.

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Online:

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly

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Fleetwood Mac readies tour and new music

NEW YORK (AP) — Fleetwood Mac is heading back on the road, and that means the top-selling group will release new music — sort of.

On its 34-city North American tour, which kicks off April 4 in Columbus, Ohio, the band will perform two new songs, and it could mean a new album will follow. Or not.

Stevie Nicks recently sang on tracks that Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie worked on, calling the sessions "great." But Nicks also says she's not sure where the band fits in today's music industry.

"Whether or not we're gonna do any more (songs), we don't know because we're so completely bummed out with the state of the music industry and the fact that nobody even wants a full record," she said. "Everybody wants two songs, so we're going to give them two songs."

Nicks said depending on the response to the new tracks — which Buckingham calls "the most Fleetwood Mac-y stuff ... in a long time" — more material could come next.

"Maybe we'll get an EP out of it or something," Buckingham said.

Nicks will continue to record solo albums, though. The group is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the best-selling "Rumours" album, which has moved some 20 million units in the United States. She knows that's not possible again, despite the success of Adele's "21," which has sold 10 million units in America in less than two years.

"This is Adele's 'Rumours,'" Nicks said. "She had a baby, she's going to take a year off to take care of her baby — that's why I never had any kids. She's going to go back and start writing again, you never know what the next record's going to be. Is it going to sell 10 million records? You don't know," she said.

Buckingham said he initially wanted to record a new album, but Nicks "wasn't too into that." But the guitarist and singer knows that new music isn't a priority for the band's fans.

"It wouldn't matter if they didn't hear anything new. In a way there's a freedom to that — it becomes not what you got, but what you do with what you got. Part of the challenge of this tour is figuring out a presentation that has some twists and turns to it without having a full album," he said.

Fleetwood Mac, which was formed in 1967, last released an album in 2003, though they hit the road in 2009. Nicks and Buckingham — who originally joined the band in 1974 as a couple — both released solo albums and toured last year. Buckingham had suggested that Fleetwood Mac tour last year, but says getting everyone to agree was tough.

"If you look at Fleetwood Mac as a group, you can make the case of saying we're a bunch of individuals who don't necessarily belong in the same group together, but it's the synergy of that that makes us so good. But it also makes the politics a little more tenuous," he said. "You can say that not only can it be a political minefield, someone's always causing trouble, right? I caused trouble for years so I can't point any fingers."

The tour also includes cities such as New York, Chicago, Boston, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, and will end June 12 in Detroit.

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Online:

http://www.fleetwoodmac.com/

You can follow Music Writer Mesfin Fekadu on Twitter at twitter.com/MusicMesfin

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Baxter to buy Gambro for $4B

Healthcare products maker Baxter International Inc. said on Tuesday that it would buy privately held Swedish dialysis product company Gambro AB for about $4 billion to expand its kidney therapy portfolio.

Baxter, whose shares were down 1 percent, will finance the deal with debt and cash. The deal marks Baxter's biggest acquisition since Chief Executive Robert Parkinson took the helm in 2004.

Baxter manufactures kidney dialysis equipment, drug infusion pumps and blood therapy products. The Gambro acquisition will round out Baxter's renal business, which accounted for almost one-fifth of the company's 2011 revenue of $13.89 billion.

Gambro is one of the largest makers of equipment for hemodialysis, which is generally performed in a hospital or clinic. The dialysis from Baxter's machines is called peritoneal and can be performed at home.

Gambro's sales have been flat to weaker in recent years, undermined partly by capacity constraints, but Baxter executives voiced confidence during a conference call with analysts that the business can be turned around.

"This is a very large global market and...it's going to continue to grow over the long term," Parkinson told analysts.

"At the end of the day, this is an acquisition that is not dependent on any one pathway for value creation. It is not dependent on a major new product launch or technological advancement, and is not dependent on commercial assumptions that our overly optimistic. This is an acquisition that is dependent on execution," he said. "This is something we know we can do and do well."

He said the planned acquisition did not represent a change in the direction of the company, which also makes drug infusion pumps and blood therapy products.

Shares of Baxter were down 1.1 percent at $65.11 near midday on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year.

TOO PRICEY?

Some analysts said they were concerned by the price tag and that the company will scale back its share buyback program in order to acquire Gambro.

"I think the deal makes sense. I think it does fit well with their existing renal business and I think there probably are synergies, but at the same time it is a lot of cash they are paying for this thing. They are taking on a significant amount of debt," said Michael Matson, an analyst at Mizuho Securities USA.

The Gambro deal marks further consolidation in the kidney dialysis market, where Gambro and Baxter compete against companies including U.S.-based DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. and Germany's Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA .

Analyst Kristofer Liljeberg of Sweden's Carnegie investment bank said the Gambro deal would give Baxter the No. 2 clinical dialysis position, behind Fresenius.

"I think in the longer-term, the ambition is to try to challenge Fresenius," Liljeberg said.

However, he said, Gambro, which is owned by Swedish investment holding company Investor AB and its partly owned private equity company, EQT Corp., had been struggling in recent years with slow growth and price competition.

Liljeberg said the deal was a good one for family-owned Investor, which controls several of Sweden's top companies. Since they bought Gambro, Investor and EQT have sold off its clinics and a blood component business.

A GROWING MARKET

More than 2 million patients globally are on some form of dialysis, and that has been increasing more than 5 percent annually, in part because of the rising rates of diabetes and hypertension.

Excluding special items, Baxter expects the Gambro transaction to reduce earnings per diluted share by 10 to 15 cents in 2013 and be neutral or add modestly to them in 2014. The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year.

Excluding the impact of special items and estimated amortization of intangible assets, the company said the deal should not affect earnings in 2013 and add 20 to 25 cents a diluted share in 2014.

Baxter said it expected the deal to add to earnings per diluted share, excluding special items, after 2014.

The suburban Chicago company said it expected over five years to increase sales by 7 to 8 percent, excluding the impact of currency fluctuations, on a compound annual basis, with earnings per diluted share, excluding special items, rising by 8 to 10 percent.

"Companies like Baxter can unlock a fair amount of value when they find strategic use for their overseas cash," said Piper Jaffray analyst Matt Miksic.

Indeed, Baxter said it planned to finance the deal with cash overseas. Multinational companies that have large international sales often have difficulties moving that cash back to the United States where they can put it to use.

J.P. Morgan was Baxter's financial adviser for the deal.

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Last-minute postponement of federal trial involving Burge

Jon Burge arrives for sentencing in January 2011. He was convicted of lying under oath about police torture. (E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune / December 3, 2012)

By Annie Sweeney




Tribune reporter

11:31 a.m. CST, December 3, 2012

A federal trial over allegations that former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge and other detectives covered up information that would have exonerated a man who spent 26 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit was postponed today at the last minute.

U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo made the surprise announcement at about 10:15 a.m. as a jury was about to be picked.

Bucklo said the trial was postponed until Dec. 17 “due to issues that need to be resolved.”

Over the weekend, attorneys for Burge and the four detectives asked the judge to hold settlement discussions with the lawyers on both sides of the case. Attorneys for Alton Logan opposed any delay in the trial.

The trial stemming from Logan’s lawsuit would mark the first time in two decades that Burge, the disgraced former police commander, will testify in court about one of the numerous civil lawsuits filed against him.

Though he is expected to plead the Fifth Amendment, he will testify by way of videoconferencing from a federal prison in North Carolina, where he is serving a 4 1/2-year  sentence for lying about torture and physical abuse by his crew of detectives.

Logan, though, isn’t alleging he was beaten into confessing to murder by Burge and his men, but rather that they concealed evidence, even from Cook County prosecutors, that would have exonerated him.

asweeney@tribune.com

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Nokia Siemens to sell optical networks unit

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Mobile telecoms equipment joint venture Nokia Siemens Networks, which is focusing on its core business, is to sell its optical fiber unit to Marlin Equity Partners for an undisclosed sum.

Up to 1,900 employees, mainly in Germany and Portugal, will be transferred to the new company, NSN said on Monday.

The company, owned by Nokia and Siemens, has sold a number of product lines since it last year announced plans to divest non-core assets and cut 17,000 jobs, nearly a quarter of its total workforce.

Nordea Markets analyst Sami Sarkamies said he expected more divestments after the optical unit deal. This disposal was a small surprise, he said, because NSN needed some optical technology - where data is transmitted by pulses of light - for its main mobile broadband business.

The move may hint the company is preparing itself for further consolidation in the sector by cutting overlaps with other players, Sarkamies said.

The telecom equipment market is going through rough times with stiff competition. French Alcatel-Lucent is also cutting costs.

($1 = 0.7689 euro)

(Reporting by Harro ten Wold; Editing by Greg Mahlich and Dan Lalor)

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Ruppert, O'Day, White elected to baseball Hall

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Former New York Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert, longtime umpire Hank O'Day and barehanded catcher Deacon White have been elected to the baseball Hall of Fame for their excellence through the first half of the 20th century.

The trio was picked by the Hall's pre-integration committee. The announcement was made Monday at the winter meetings.

Induction ceremonies will be held July 28.

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