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The shooting took place about 6:13 p.m. in the 2000 block of East 71st Street — near Jeffery Boulevard —said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Veejay Zala.
One man was shot and died on the scene, the other suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for treatment, said Zala. A condition was not available.
News Affairs had no immediate information on any of the circumstances of the shooting.
chicagobreaking@tribune.com
Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop star Adele is set to attend the Golden Globes ceremony in Beverly Hills on Sunday in what will be her first public appearance since giving birth to a boy in October.
Golden Globe organizers said the 24-year-old British singer would be attending as a nominee, rather than a performer. Her “Skyfall” theme song for the latest James Bond movie is in the running for best original song at the Golden Globes – one of Hollywood’s biggest awards shows.
The “Someone Like You” singer gave birth to her first child in October with her partner, Simon Konecki, but has since kept out of the public eye.
She performed and co-wrote the theme song for “Skyfall,” a $ 1 billion box office hit, while her Grammy-winning heartbreak album “21″ scored the rare feat in December of topping all U.S. album sales for a second straight year.
Adele will find herself mingling with some of Hollywood’s biggest movie and TV stars on January 13, including Golden Globe presenters George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez and Meryl Streep, and nominees such as Jon Hamm, Ben Affleck, Daniel Day-Lewis, Helen Mirren, Leonardo DiCaprio, Anne Hathaway and Kevin Costner.
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Eric Walsh)
Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News
WASHINGTON — For two decades, millions of Americans have taken Ambien to help them sleep at night. But for years, the Food and Drug Administration has gotten complaints that people felt drowsy the morning after taking the medicine or its successors, and sometimes got into car accidents.
On Thursday, after laboratory studies and driving tests confirming the risks of drowsiness, the agency said that women should be taking half as much.
The new recommendation applies to drugs containing the active ingredient zolpidem, by far the most widely used sleep aid. Using lower doses means less of the drug will remain in the blood in the morning hours, and will reduce the risk that people who use it will be impaired while driving.
Sleeping pills have boomed in popularity with the increasingly frantic pace of modern American life. According to IMS, a health care information and technology company, about 60 million prescriptions were dispensed in 2011, up about 20 percent since 2006. About 40 million were for products containing zolpidem.
The agency’s announcement was focused on women because they take longer to metabolize the drug than men. An estimated 10 percent to 15 percent of women will have a level of zolpidem in their blood that could impair driving eight hours after taking the pill, while only about 3 percent of men do, said Dr. Robert Temple, an official in the agency’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
Reports of aftereffects from sleeping pills have circulated for years, and some doctors questioned why the drug agency took so long to act. Mishaps with sleepy driving — and even strange acts of texting, eating or having sex in the night without any memory of it in the morning — have long been familiar to the medical community.
“In this case, the F.D.A. may be behind the 8-ball,” said Daniel Carlat, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Tufts University, referring to residual drowsiness. “This has been a known problem. Few doctors will be surprised hearing about this. They’ll say, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve already seen this in our patients.’ ”
He added that Thursday’s announcement “will be good for public health because it will get patients to ask their doctors about the appropriate dosage.”
Agency officials acknowledged that they had received about 700 reports of driving mishaps with people on zolpidem over the years, with a spike in 2007 after a change in labeling caused more people to call in complaints. But they said it was not easy to draw a direct connection between the reports and the drug. Patients often did not remember what time they took the pill. Sometimes they had been drinking.
It was not until the drug agency reviewed driving simulation studies from controlled trials of the drug Intermezzo, which was approved in 2011 for middle-of-the-night waking, that a more complete picture of the risks emerged. The agency linked the driving simulation information with data from manufacturers on the amount of zolpidem in patients’ blood and determined that levels above about 50 nanograms per milliliter increased the risk of crashing while driving, said Dr. Ellis Unger, an official at the agency’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
Dr. Unger said that all makers of new sleeping drugs would now be asked to conduct driving trials; a spokeswoman clarified that it would not be required.
“A lot of people are wondering about the elephant in the room,” Dr. Unger said. “Why did this take so long? This is science, and our thinking evolves over time.”
The drug agency told manufacturers that the recommended dose for women should be lowered to 5 milligrams from 10 for immediate-release products like Ambien, Edluar and Zolpimist. Doses for extended-release products should be lowered to 6.25 milligrams from 12.5, the agency said. Most sleeping drugs containing zolpidem are now generic.
For men, the agency informed manufacturers that labels should recommend that health care providers should “consider” prescribing lower doses.
Patients taking the higher doses should continue them for the time being, officials said, but should consult with their doctors about lowering them. Doctors can still prescribe the higher dose if the lower one does not work. The lower doses are already commercially available, Dr. Unger said, as they are recommended for older patients.
Sanofi, the manufacturer of Ambien and Ambien CR, said in a statement that it agreed that people taking zolpidem “should always talk to their doctor about the most appropriate dose,” and that the label “provides important information” to determine what that is. The company added that it “stands behind the significant clinical data demonstrating the safety and efficacy of Ambien.”
The drug has also been known to cause sleepwalking incidents, and Dr. Unger said there was evidence that the lower dose might ease such events, though it is weaker than the evidence about next-morning-drowsiness. Dr. Carlat said one of his patients discovered that her weight gain while on the drug was from midnight trips to the kitchen she did not even remember taking.
Dr. Daniel Kripke, professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and a leading critic of sleeping pills, welcomed the move but said the agency was still not doing enough to investigate other possible side effects.
“It’s a very small step in the right direction,” he said. He added that sleeping medications like zolpidem might increase total sleep time by 20 minutes a night, but that most studies suggest that the use of sleeping pills impairs a person’s performance the next day.
Critics of the drug agency said the label on Intermezzo, which very clearly denotes the risks for women, indicate that the agency was aware of these problems earlier.
But Thomas Roth, director of the sleep center at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit who has been a consultant to sleeping pill makers, said that the drug agency had always been concerned about the potential risks with driving, “but they care about it more now.” He said he believed the lower dose would still be effective for many patients.
Agency officials say all patients are unique and doses will need to be tailored. They say the drugs should be prescribed at the lowest dose required.
Dr. Daniel J. Buysse, professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said he already prescribed the lower dose when he feels it is necessary, by telling patients to cut a tablet in half along the score.
“This just tells me, maybe be a little bit more cautious,” said Dr. Buysse, who has been a consultant for drug companies including the maker of Ambien. “But I do not think it will have a big effect on what I do.”
Jewel-Osco stores will be sold to a consortium of investors led by Cerberus Capital Management, Jewel's parent Supervalu said today. (WGN - Chicago)
The deal, valued at $3.3 billion, also includes the Albertsons, Acme, and Shaw stores.
Supervalu also reported earnings of $16 million, or 8 cents per share, in the third quarter ended on Dec. 1, compared with a year-earlier loss of $750 million, or $3.54 per share.
Excluding an after-tax gain related to a cash settlement from credit card companies and after-tax charges primarily related to store closures, it earned $5 million, or 3 cents per share.
As part of the deal, which includes $100 million in cash and $3.2 billion in debt, the five grocery chains will be acquired by AB Acquisition, an affiliate of Cerberus. Other investors in the deal include Kimco Realty Corp, Klaff Realty, Lubert-Adler Partners and Schottenstein Real Estate Group.
Following the sale, which is expected to close in the spring, a newly formed entity called Symphony Investors, led by Cerberus, will purchase up to 30 percent of Supervalu's outstanding shares for $4 each, representing a 50 percent premium over the stock's 30-day average. If Symphony cannot acquire at least 19.9 percent of the outstanding shares at that price, Supervalu must issue additional stock.
Wall Street has long expected Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Supervalu to sell some or all of its assets.
Following the deal, Supervalu will consist of its wholesale grocery business, the Save-A-Lot discount chain, and traditional grocery chains like Cub, Shop N' Save and Hornbacher's.
In a call with investors, outgoing CEO Wayne Sales said the deal brings Supervalu "a very strong balance sheet," and the ability to focus on investments in price reductions, fresh produce, and customer experience at its remaining chains.
The new company is smaller, "with more bandwidth and leadership" to focus on its wholesale business, Save-A-Lot, and its traditional grocery stores, he said.
Sam Duncan, 61, will replace Wayne Sales as CEO. Duncan was CEO of Office Max from 2005 to 2011, and prior to that, was CEO of ShopKo, a Midwestern grocery chain. Five unidentified board members will resign as part of the deal, making room for Duncan, Albertsons CEO Robert Miller, and three new appointees. The size of the board will shrink from 10 to seven.
Concurrent with the announcement, Supervalu announced that it has secured access to a $900 million asset-based credit facility, and a $1.5 billion loan.
This deal ends a long and difficult year for one of the country's largest grocers.
Last April, Supervalu reported a loss of $1.04 billion for fiscal 2012, which included a $519 million operating loss and $509 million in interest expense. Sales also declined 3 percent, to $27.9 billion. In July, the company said it was exploring strategic alternatives, including a sale. Soon after, the company dismissed CEO Craig Herkert, with Chairman Wayne Sales stepping in to helm the troubled grocer.
Cerberus, an investor in the deal to acquire Albertsons in 2006 was long seen as the leading candidate. Last week, rumors that Supervalu was near a deal with Cerberus sent stock soaring nearly 15 percent.
In September, Supervalu said it would 60 underperforming stores, primarily from the Save-A-Lot and Albertsons chains. No Jewel locations were identified at the time. The announcement was particularly troubling to investment community because Save-A-Lot, a hard discount chain, has been Supervalu's primary growth vehicle.
Supervalu has long acknowledged that many of its stores are not price competitive. In 2012, it homed in on Jewel-Osco and the Chicago market. Supervalu surveyed customers and lowered prices throughout the store. When the company reported results for its second fiscal quarter in September, (Supervalu CEO Wayne) Sales said that Jewel had been "competitively priced throughout the store" for about six weeks.
Sales said that the initiative had resulted in "dramatic improvement" in how consumers "think about the quality of products we sell, how they feel about the service they get in various departments" and that the company was pleased with increased unit sales.
After hitting a rough patch that seemed to last for most of 2012, Research In Motion (RIMM) may finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. RIM plans to unveil the finished version of its next-generation BlackBerry 10 platform at a press conference on January 30th, and at least one new smartphone is expected to be revealed during the event. Generating interest in BlackBerry 10 within the crowded global smartphone market will be no easy task for the struggling vendor, but if demand at top Canadian Rogers is any indication, RIM is off to a promising start.
[More from BGR: ‘Apple is done’ and Surface tablet is cool, according to teens]
In mid-December, Rogers began taking reservations for RIM’s first BlackBerry 10-powered handset. The carrier offered almost no information about the BlackBerry smartphone, which has not yet been announced, but asked subscribers interested in purchasing the device to register on the company’s website.
[More from BGR: iPhone 5 now available with unlimited service, no contract on Walmart’s $ 45 Straight Talk plan]
BGR approached Rogers on Thursday to see how subscriber response has been thus far.
“While we can’t release the total number of reservations we have received for the BlackBerry 10 all-touch device, we can say that customer interest is definitely strong and reservations continue daily,” a RIM spokesperson told BGR via email.
The strong response from Rogers subscribers despite being provided only with the knowledge that the device will feature an all-touch form factor and will run the BlackBerry 10 OS is a good sign for RIM.
The vendor has a number of difficult challenges ahead, and convincing current BlackBerry users to upgrade en masse is near the top of the list. Strong early demand at Rogers for RIM’s first BlackBerry 10 handset is clearly a positive sign in this regard, as most early reservations likely came from current BlackBerry subscribers.
This article was originally published on BGR.com
Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Chief Medical Examiner Stephen J. Cina sent a sworn statement to prosecutors on Tuesday explaining why an autopsy was needed in order to ensure a complete investigation.
The exhumation could take place as soon as next week, according to sources familiar with the process.
The mystery surrounding Urooj Khan's death has sparked international media interest.
As first reported by the Tribune in a front-page story on Monday, Khan died suddenly last July just weeks after winning a million-dollar prize.
Finding no trauma to his body and no unusual substances in his blood, the medical examiner's office declared his death to be from natural causes and he was buried at Rosehill Cemetery without an autopsy.
About a week later, a relative told the medical examiner’s office to take a closer look at the 46-year-old’s death. By early December, comprehensive toxicology tests showed that Khan had died of a lethal amount of cyanide, prompting Chicago police and county prosecutors to investigate his homicide.
While a motive has not been determined yet, police haven't ruled out that Khan was killed because of his lottery win, a law enforcement source has told the Tribune.
Khan, the owner of three dry cleaners on the North Side, died before he could collect the lump-sum winnings – about $425,000 after taxes.
The Tribune reported in Wednesday’s newspaper that authorities investigating the homicide executed a search warrant at the home he had shared with his wife, Shabana Ansari.
She later was interviewed by detectives for more than four hours, answering all their questions, according to her attorney, Steven Kozicki.
jmeisner@tribune.com
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The directors of hit television dramas “Homeland” and “Mad Men” were among those nominated for Directors Guild of America (DGA) awards on Wednesday.
They were joined by Lena Dunham for her coming-of-age HBO series “Girls” and actor Bryan Cranston for ABC’s “Modern Family” in the comedy category.
AMC’s “Breaking Bad” director Rian Johnson and Greg Mottola, director of HBO’s “The Newsroom,” rounded out the drama category, in which network television series were shut out.
Showtime’s terrorist-hunting thriller “Homeland” scored nominations for two separate episodes – one directed by Michael Cuesta and another by Lesli Linka Glatter.
Jennifer Getzinger garnered a nomination for boozy workplace period drama “Mad Men” on AMC.
The DGA honors the directors of individual episodes of TV shows, unlike the Emmy and Golden Globe awards that honor series as a whole.
Cranston, star of “Breaking Bad,” received his first DGA award nomination. Mark Cendrowski drew honors for geeky CBS comedy “The Big Bang Theory” and comedian Louis C.K. for his FX show “Louie.”
Beth McCarthy-Miller, a two-time DGA winner for her television work, was nominated for Tina Fey’s NBC comedy “30 Rock,” which will finish up its seven-season run on January 31.
Previous DGA winner Jay Roach will compete again in the television movies and mini-series category for the HBO film “Game Change,” a behind-the-scenes drama about John McCain’s and Sarah Palin’s 2008 run for the White House.
The annual DGA Awards, to be hosted by actor Kelsey Grammer in Hollywood on February 2, will also hand out trophies to the directors of movies, children’s TV, commercials, reality shows and documentaries.
AMC is owned by AMC Networks, CBS and Showtime are divisions of CBS Corp, HBO is part of Time Warner Inc, NBC is owned by Comcast Corp, ABC is part of Walt Disney Co and FX is a division of News Corp.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Xavier Briand)
TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News
The Pap test, which has prevented countless deaths from cervical cancer, may eventually help to detect cancers of the uterus and ovaries as well, a new study suggests.
For the first time, researchers have found genetic material from uterine or ovarian cancers in Pap smears, meaning that it may become possible to detect three diseases with just one routine test.
But the research is early, years away from being used in medical practice, and there are caveats. The women studied were already known to have cancer, and while the Pap test found 100 percent of the uterine cancers, it detected only 41 percent of the ovarian cancers. And the approach has not yet been tried in women who appear healthy, to determine whether it can find early signs of uterine or ovarian cancer.
On the other hand, even a 41 percent detection rate would be better than the status quo in ovarian cancer, particularly if the detection extends to early stages. The disease is usually advanced by the time it is found, and survival rates are poor. About 22,280 new cases were expected in the United States in 2012, and 15,500 deaths. Improved tests are urgently needed.
Uterine cancer has a better prognosis, but still kills around 8,000 women a year in the United States.
These innovative applications of the Pap test are part of a new era in which advances in genetics are being applied to the detection of a wide variety of cancers or precancerous conditions. Scientists are learning to find minute bits of mutant DNA in tissue samples or bodily fluids that may signal the presence of hidden or incipient cancers.
Ideally, the new techniques would find the abnormalities early enough to cure the disease or even prevent it entirely. But it is too soon to tell.
“Is this the harbinger of things to come? I would answer yes,” said Dr. Bert Vogelstein, director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics at Johns Hopkins University, and a senior author of a report on the Pap test study published on Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine. He said the genomes of more than 50 types of tumors had been sequenced, and researchers were trying to take advantage of the information.
Similar studies are under way or are being considered to look for mutant DNA in blood, stool, urine and sputum, both to detect cancer and also to monitor the response to treatment in people known to have the disease.
But researchers warn that such tests, used for screening, can be a double-edged sword if they give false positive results that send patients down a rabbit hole of invasive tests and needless treatments. Even a test that finds only real cancers may be unable to tell aggressive, dangerous ones apart from indolent ones that might never do any harm, leaving patients to decide whether to watch and wait or to go through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation with all the associated risks and side effects.
“Will they start recovering mutations that are not cancer-related?” asked Dr. Christopher P. Crum, a professor at Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the research.
But he also called the study a “great proof of principle,” and said, “Any whisper of hope to women who suffer from endometrial or ovarian cancer would be most welcome.”
DNA testing is already performed on samples from Pap tests, to look for the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes cervical cancer. Dr. Vogelstein and his team decided to try DNA testing for cancer. They theorized that cells or DNA shed from cancers of the ovaries and the uterine lining, or endometrium, might reach the cervix and turn up in Pap smears.
The team picked common mutations found in these cancers, and looked for them in tumor samples from 24 women with endometrial cancer and 22 with ovarian cancer. All the cancers had one or more of the common mutations.
Then, the researchers performed Pap tests on the same women, and looked for the same DNA mutations in the Pap specimens. They found the mutations in 100 percent of the women with endometrial cancer, but in only 9 of the 22 with ovarian cancer. The test identified two of the four ovarian cancers that had been diagnosed at an early stage.
Finally, the team developed a test that would look simultaneously for cancer-associated mutations in 12 different genes in Pap samples. Used in a control sample of 14 healthy women, the test found no mutations — meaning no false-positive results.
Dr. Luis A. Diaz, the other senior author of the report and an associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins, called the research a step toward a screening test that at first blush appears very effective at detecting endometrial cancer, though obviously less so at finding ovarian cancer.
“Probably one of the most exciting features of this approach,” Dr. Diaz said, “is that we wanted a test that would seamlessly integrate with routine medical practice that could be utilized with the same test that women get every day all over the world, the Pap smear.”
But, he added: “We can’t say it’s ready for prime time. Like all good science, it needs to be validated.”
He and other members of the team said it might be possible to improve the detection rate for ovarian cancer by looking for more mutations and by changing the technique of performing Pap tests to increase the likelihood of capturing cells from the ovary. The change might involve timing the test to a certain point in a woman’s monthly cycle, using a longer brush to collect cells from deeper within the cervix or prescribing a drug that would raise the odds of cells being shed from the ovary.
The technique also needs to be tested in much larger groups of women, including healthy ones, to find out whether it works, particularly at finding cancers early enough to improve survival. And studies must also find out whether it generates false positive results, or identifies cancers that might not actually need to be treated.
Michael H. Melner, a program director in molecular genetics and biochemistry for the American Cancer Society, called the research “very promising,” in part because it is based on finding mutations.
“It tells you not just that cancer is there, but which mutation is there,” Dr. Melner said. “As we learn more and more about which mutations are associated with more or less severe forms of cancer, it’s more information, and possibly more diagnostic.”
The public statements came on the third day in a row that different Boeing 787s sustained high-profile problems, including an electrical battery fire on Monday, a fuel leak on Tuesday and a reported problem with the braking system on Wednesday.
"Just like any new airplane program, we work through those issues and we move on," he said. "I am 100 percent convinced that the airplane is safe to fly. I fly on it myself all the time."
Aviation experts, industry analysts and some Boeing customers have echoed that, saying that all new aircraft have such problems for the first year or two and that such glitches don't make flying in a 787 unsafe.
The first 787 Dreamliner was delivered 15 months ago -- more than three years late because of design and production delays -- to a Japanese airline, and there are now 50 Dreamliners in service with various airlines around the world.
Chicago-based United Airlines has six 787s. Since early November, the airline has been flying a temporary 787 route between Chicago O'Hare and Houston, as well as on other domestic routes. The Chicago route is scheduled to end March 29, when United will move the 787s to international routes. United conducted a special inspection of its 787s after an electrical fire occurred on a Japanese Dreamliner on Monday, but United has not released results of that inspection.
LOT Polish Airlines will operate the first regular 787 route out of O'Hare -- to Warsaw -- starting with an inaugural flight scheduled for next week.
The Dreamliner is touted as offering greater passenger comforts and better fuel efficiency than any other airplane in its class, largely due to far more use of light composite materials rather than metals.
However, it has seen its share of problems, including a rash of incidents recently.
Japan's All Nippon Airways said Wednesday that it was forced to cancel a 787 Dreamliner flight scheduled from Yamaguchi prefecture in western Japan to Tokyo due to brake problems. That followed a fuel leak on Tuesday that forced a 787 operated by Japan Airlines to cancel takeoff at Boston's Logan International Airport, a day after an electrical fire on another 787 after a Japan Airlines flight to Boston from Tokyo.
Last month, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered inspections on 787s for a problem with fuel leaks.
In a news conference Wednesday dominated by technical discussions of the 787's electrical systems and batteries, Sinnett emphasized the "redundancies" or backup protections built into the aircraft's electrical systems. For example, the plane has six power generators but can fly with just one functioning, he said.
The 787 more heavily relies on electrical components than any other aircraft, in an effort to shed the weight of traditional pneumatic systems and improve fuel efficiency, he said.
Overall, the plane is meeting goals for fuel efficiency and passenger comfort, Sinnett said. "We're very, very happy with how the airplane is performing," he said.
Asian customers rallied behind the Boeing, saying such troubles were not uncommon on new planes and confirming they had no plans to scale back or cancel orders for the aircraft, which has a list price of $207 million.
Japan is by far the biggest customer for the Dreamliner to date, with JAL and All Nippon Airways (ANA) operating a total of 24 of the 49 new planes delivered to end-December. The aircraft entered commercial service in November 2011, more than three years behind schedule after a series of production delays. Boeing has sold 848 of the planes.
JAL spokesman Kazunori Kidosaki said the carrier, which operates seven Dreamliners, had no plans to change orders it has placed for another 38 aircraft. ANA, which has 17 Dreamliners flying its colors, will also stick with its orders for another 49, spokesman Etsuya Uchiyama said.
State-owned Air India, which on Monday took delivery of the sixth of the 27 Dreamliners it has ordered, said precautionary measures were already in place and its planes were flying smoothly.
"It's a new plane, and some minor glitches do happen. It's not a cause of concern," said spokesman G. Prasada Rao. There was no immediate suggestion that the 787 Dreamliner, the world's first passenger jet built mainly from carbon-plastic lightweight materials to save fuel, was likely to be grounded as investigators looked into the fire incident.
Air China, which sees the 787 as a way to expand its international routes, and Hainan Airlines also said they were keeping their orders for 15 and 10 of the planes.
"New airplanes more or less will need adjustments, and currently we have no plans to swap or cancel orders," said an executive at future 787 operator Hainan Airlines, who was not authorized to talk to the media and did not want to be named.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker, who has previously criticized technical problems or delays with Boeing or Airbus jets, said there were no technical problems with the five 787s currently in use by the Gulf carrier. "It doesn't mean we are going to cancel our orders. It's a revolutionary airplane," he said.
gkarp@tribune.com
Reuters contributed
