Eats for Easter: Festive finds for Sunday's feast

With Easter only days away, it's time to make decisions onSunday's menu. m mOrange Dream Cake -- a favorite of Pamela Thomas ofChicago and many other readers who shared their versions of thespringtime delight -- would make the perfect finale.

Orange zest gives the cake tiny bursts of flavor, and Miracle Whipadds to its amazing moistness. It's not too heavy or too sweet aftera holiday meal.

Here's the best part: Orange Dream Cake is almost more flavorfulthe second day so it can be baked on Saturday. If you're trying totrim fat and calories, Mary Andrews of Chicago recommendssubstituting fat-free mayonnaise for the Miracle Whip.

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Hire the Right Consultant

Follow these suggestions for identifying and validating a consultant, as well as for making the most effective use of the consultant's expertise.

YOU OR YOUR COMPANY HAS A PROBLEM: perhaps a technical problem, a business problem, a personnel problem. Maybe the problem has not yielded to your repeated attempts to fix it, or maybe you just do not have the resources or the time to tackle it. Chances are that you will look for help from a consultant. But, how do you find one?

Fear not. Consultants are all around us. Some have been in business for a long time, while others have just recently embarked on a consulting career after spending many years in industry. The question, …

Stores see surge in applicants for holiday help

The odds of landing a part-time job at department store operator Bealls Outlet Stores Inc. this holiday season are slimmer than getting into Harvard: It's one out of every 45.

Don't think the chances are any better at 7-Eleven. One California store received more than 100 applicants in a week and a half for jobs that pay $8.50 per hour _ and the retailer doesn't even usually hire holiday workers.

From department stores and convenience chains to call centers, managers who only a year ago had to scramble to fill holiday jobs are seeing a surge in the number of seasoned applicants _ many of them laid off in other sectors and desperate for a way to pay the …

Missing the boat on my trike // Lemond's grand tour a rich hit

PARIS I really liked my first bike.

It was a black-and-white three-wheeler with a rubber bulb for ahorn. Soft seat. Fuzzy handle grips. The sweetest littlevelocipede you ever did see.

I was every bit as cute on it as the kid in the movie "TheOmen," going too fast, bumping into lamps and terrorizing loved oneson stepladders. Mike the Tyke's trike, my uncle called it. Me, hecalled a Tasmanian devil on wheels.

My next bike was a red Schwinn with a mesh basket and aheadlight. I delivered newspapers on it and was very quick,particularly because of a drooling, long-fanged German Shepherd thatkept chasing me like he had just spotted the world's biggest …

Bush Denies Congress Access to Aides

WASHINGTON - President Bush directed former aides to defy congressional subpoenas on Monday, claiming executive privilege and prodding lawmakers closer to their first contempt citations against administration officials since Ronald Reagan was president.

It was the second time in as many weeks that Bush had cited executive privilege in resisting Congress' investigation into the firings of U.S. attorneys.

White House Counsel Fred Fielding insisted that Bush was acting in good faith in withholding documents and directing the two aides - Fielding's predecessor, Harriet Miers, and Bush's former political director, Sara Taylor - to defy subpoenas ordering them to explain their …

Malaysia to deport Singaporean terrorist suspect

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia will deport a Singaporean terrorist suspect on Friday who spent nearly 18 months in detention after authorities tracked him down following his escape from a high-security prison in the city-state.

Mas Selamat Kastari, who is of Indonesian origin and in his late 40s, was the suspected commander of the Singapore arm of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah militant group. He is accused of plotting to hijack a plane and crash it into Singapore's international airport. Jemaah Islamiyah is accused of carrying out the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, that killed 202 people.

After a year on the run, he was captured in Malaysia in April 2009 and …

Obama rallies for a loyalist as final dash begins

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Fighting to the end, President Barack Obama on Friday devoted shrinking campaign time for one endangered Virginia Democrat, calling his bid a national test case of whether a person of integrity can win.

The president, bracing for an election beatdown in a prime electoral atmosphere for Republicans, plunged into a final weekend of campaigning, undeterred by the somber news of a new terrorist threat. He implored a young, raucous crowd in this college town to rally behind first-term Rep. Tom Perriello, who has loyally backed key parts of the president's agenda.

"The reason I am here is because in this day and age, let's face it, political courage is …

South Side youth runs towards ESPY

Defender Staff Report

Nychria Byrd, a sixth grader at Aerial Community Academy on the South Side, is a leading candidate to win an ESPY award.

Sponsored by sports cable television giant ESPN, the ESPY awards annually honors the top achievements in the world of sports. At Defender press time, Byrd was in first place in online voting for the first-ever "Earn Your Stripes" Achievement Award.

The winner will be named during the nationally televised ESPY awards next month in Los Angeles.

Byrd is just one of five nominees for the award from all across the country and the only African American.

A member of the Girls On The Run program, Byrd won the …

Analysis: Decisive Moment for Democrats?

Ohio and Texas loomed large Tuesday for Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, with excrutiatingly close primaries in both states determining the final chapter of a mesmerizing presidential contest.

After 11 straight losses to Obama, Clinton mustered a win in tiny Rhode Island while Vermont delivered an overwhelming victory to Obama. But it was contests in the southwest and in the heartland that would set the direction for the campaign to come.

A primary season notable for its prediction-defying twists and turns lurched into new territory yet again, with Ohio and Texas testing Obama's momentum and organizational muscle against Clinton's gamble that …

Karen Hughes

KAREN HUGHES

Age: 45

Education: B.A., Southern Methodist University, 1977.

Experience: White House counselor, January 2001-present;communications director, Bush gubernatorial offices and presidentialcampaign, 1994-2000; Texas Republican Party …

U.S. attorney's office agrees to investigate Bodden shooting

U.S. attorney's office agrees to investigate Bodden shooting

The United States Attorney's office has agreed to investigate the police shooting of Ricky Bodden, a Dorchester resident who was gunned down in December during a police chase.

"We are agreeing to an investigation," said Samantha Martin, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office.

Bodden's mother and a coalition of activists who met with reporters after meeting with the US attorneys last week said that inconsistencies in the police version of events and the district attorney's refusal to consider the account of a key eye witness cast doubt on the internal investigation conducted by the police …

Myers, Dobbs lead Phillies past Mets in opener

Brett Myers buzzed through the New York Mets' lineup, pitching eight dominant innings and leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-0 victory Friday night that cut their NL East deficit to two games.

Greg Dobbs hit a two-run homer off Mike Pelfrey (13-9), and the Phillies took the opener of a crucial three-game series between the top teams in the division. Philadelphia, which rallied past the collapsing Mets last September, handed New York only its sixth loss in 23 games.

Brad Lidge got through a shaky ninth, retiring Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church with two on to end it.

Shane Victorino helped manufacture a run in the first inning, giving Myers all …

Fur seals swim gauntlet of marine debris to reach Alaska island rookeries

Huge, whiskered male fur seals called "beach masters" are back on St. Paul Island after swimming a gauntlet of lost or discarded fishing gear floating in the Bering Sea.

The males, weighing up to 600 pounds (272 kilograms), arrive at the island's rookeries in May or early June and wait for the females to come onshore to give birth and complete their harems. The scene at first appears idyllic on the treeless, wind-swept island, home to the world's largest population of fur seals.

But a closer look unveils an ugly truth. The fur seal rookeries of St. Paul are an unintentional dumping ground for tons of debris, from plastic bottles and tires to netting and rope in which some seals become fatally entangled.

Some of the junk comes from the domestic fishing fleet _ Alaska produces more than half of the nation's seafood landings _ but much of the debris bears identification from Russia, Japan, Korea and other parts of Asia. It's carried to the islands by ocean currents.

St. Paul Island and neighboring St. George Island, part of the Pribilof chain, have seen declining numbers of fur seals, which were declared depleted in 1988 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The downturn comes decades after the commercial fur seal harvest on St. Paul and St. George was stopped. The population of fur seals in the Pribilofs is less than half of what it was in the 1950s, when between 40,000 and 126,000 animals were harvested annually.

In 2007, 10,140 adult males were counted on St. Paul, a decrease of more than 10 percent from the previous year. Numbers declined 5 percent on St. George, according to the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle. Overall, pup production in the Pribilofs is declining by about 6 percent a year.

Meanwhile, concerns about fur seals becoming entangled in debris and dying are increasing. From 1998 to 2005, there were 795 sightings on St. Paul Island of fur seals that appeared to be entangled in debris. Of those, 337 capture attempts were made and 282 fur seals were disentangled, according to the island conservation office.

"There is a culture that has abused the oceans for decades and decades and that has got to stop," said Bob King, debris coordinator of the Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation.

Cleanup efforts are one way to attack the problem. Last year, 20,000 pounds (9,100 kilograms) of debris were removed from 2 1/2 miles (4 kilometers) of St. Paul Island beaches _ enough to fill two 20-foot (6.1-meter) truck trailers. Cleanup organizers expect even more this year.

In 2006, a stockpile of 157,000 pounds (71,215 kilograms) of marine debris were removed from St. Paul. It cost $114,000 to ship and dispose of the debris at a landfill in Washington state.

"Whoever lost that crab pot mess should pay for it," said Phillip Zavadil, co-director of St. Paul Island's Aleut tribal government Ecosystem Conservation Office, as he and a cleanup crew arrived at a rookery to find several large males surrounding an old crab pot and a mass of jumbled fishing line.

Zavadil approached to get hold of the line but had to back off.

"It is human garbage and I think it is our job to clean it up," said Katiana Bourdukofsky, 23, one of about 20 island residents participating in a five-day cleanup earlier this month.

The work is backbreaking. The masses of line and other junk can weigh hundreds of pounds (kilograms). Removal is difficult, often requiring lifting boulders with a long-handled crowbar or digging out debris embedded in the shoreline.

"1, 2, 3, pull!" yells the crew as they try to yank free a piece of large trawl net. "Stevo, bring that prybar," yells crew chief Dustin Jones.

The crewmembers use knives to cut the large nets into pieces so they can be pulled from shore, loaded onto four-wheelers and trucks and taken to the dump.

In one day, the crew filled 25 1-cubic yard (0.8-cubic meter) sacks with about 400 pounds (181 kilograms) of debris each.

"It never ends," Jones said.

Over the five-day cleanup, 80 sacks were filled.

When Tyler Melovidov, a 16-year-old redhead with a spray of freckles across his face, was asked why he's part of the cleanup, he said, "So this place doesn't look like crap, so the seals don't get entangled in the nets."

In 2007, crews collected 822 pounds (373 kilograms) of debris over a 3/4-mile (1.2 kilometers) stretch of beach on St. Paul. This year, they returned to the same stretch of beach and collected 634 pounds (288 kilograms) of debris, mostly fishing gear. The debris also included a 34-pound (15.4-kilogram) tire and drinking bottles and other plastic containers, aluminum cans and shotgun shells.

Residents of St. Paul, through the island's conservation office, have been cleaning up the debris for more than a decade. Without funding, the effort was small-scale.

The Marine Conservation Alliance, a trade association representing Alaska's groundfish and crab fisheries, got involved several years ago to bring federal money to the cleanup.

Since then, the cleanup has gone statewide, said King.

The job is a big one. Alaska has 44,000 miles (70,808 kilometers) of coastline. Last year, $415,000 was spent on the cleanup. The budget for the 2008 cleanup is twice as large, King said.

No matter what beach is being cleaned in Alaska, it is more or less the same stuff _ fishing nets, line, floats, and lots of plastic, King said.

Last year, 175 tons of trash were removed from Alaska's coastline.

In the Pribilofs this year, a trawl net weighing several tons was found. It probably dates back to the Soviet era, King said.

"You look at all the bottles, the majority of them are Asian. They have Chinese, Korean, Russian and Japanese lettering," King said. "Some is accidental and some is negligent, people without a thought throwing a bottle overboard."

The plan this year is to send much of the debris to a recycler in Washington state where it will be compacted and shipped to Asia. There, it will be turned into plastic pellets where it will be made into plastic items.

"It probably will end up washing back on our beaches one day," King said.

____

On the Net:

http://www.tribaleco.com/entang/

http://www.marineconservationalliance.org

http://www.stpaulisland.net

Lloyd, Duckett Fail to Pay Off for Skins

ASHBURN, Va. - The Washington Redskins invested a lot to obtain Brandon Lloyd, T.J. Duckett and David Patten. So far, they've yet to get much in return.

Lloyd has six catches in five games. Duckett has played in only one game. Patten was inactive for the first time in his career last week. For various reasons, none of the three has found a groove in Washington.

The Redskins sent two draft picks to San Francisco for Lloyd in March, then signed him to a long-term contract extension. Last year, he was the best receiver on a bad team. Now he's having trouble getting open and getting the ball on a team with higher expectations.

"That's hard to explain," coach Joe Gibbs said. "He's out there, he's on every route. He's playing a ton, and probably when we're really operating, he's going to be getting the ball."

Lloyd is on pace to catch 19 passes for the entire season, far from what is expected from the No. 2 receiver in any offense. He said he's adjusted well to the new scheme, but he's also had to adjust to playing in an offense that relies heavily on running back Clinton Portis and fellow receiver Santana Moss.

"I can think of two numbers that need to be called before my number," Lloyd said. "To make this team as successful as it was last year, the playmakers on this team last year need to get the touches before I do, so I'm not in a position to say anything. I'm not in a position to pout. I'm not in a position to be frustrated, because that's not going to help me when my number gets called."

That explanation doesn't mesh with the fact that Antwaan Randle El, the No. 3 wideout, already has 14 receptions with less playing time. Lloyd's slow start does, however, reflect the offense's inconsistency as a whole. The Redskins (2-3) had two explosive victories over Houston and Jacksonville, but the offense has scored only one touchdown in the other three games combined.

The way to stop the Redskins, if the first five weeks of the season are any indication, is to have the cornerbacks and safeties play the deep "Cover 2" zone. The receivers have become so sick of seeing it that Moss this week started to belittle defenses for using it.

"Cover 2, you don't have to do much. That ain't being a great pass defense," Moss said. "I've never played corner before, but I'll be a phenomenal corner in Cover 2."

The Redskins have tried to beat the zone with runs and short passes, but they can't keep their drives alive. The offense is only 6-for-13 in converting third downs with three yards or fewer to go. As a result, they ran only 45 plays in last week's 19-3 loss to the New York Giants.

"The receivers are a lot more difficult to get involved than a running back," assistant coach Al Saunders said. "A running back, you can hand them the ball. The receivers, you've got to throw the ball to them. It involves protection, it involves routes, it involves what the coverage is, it involves accurate throws."

At least Lloyd is getting a chance to make an impact. Duckett and Patten can't even get on the field.

The Redskins traded the equivalent of a third-round pick - the exact compensation will be determined after the season - to get Duckett from Atlanta, a move that smacked of panic because Portis had just gone down with a shoulder injury during preseason.

But Portis already had a backup, Ladell Betts. Even when Portis missed a game, Duckett was able to get only five carries for 24 yards. Otherwise, he hasn't played.

Gibbs keeps saying how badly he feels for the five-year veteran, but the coach said the trade was worth the price.

"That question wouldn't have been asked of me if Clinton had been out three straight games," Gibbs said. "Everyone would say, 'You fumbled that one, didn't you?'"

Patten signed a $13 million, five-year contract as a free agent last year with expectations of being a No. 1 receiver after being part of an ensemble group in New England. He had only 22 catches in 2005 before injuring his knee in November, and the Redskins swatted him down the depth chart in the offseason when they signed Lloyd and Randle El. He has one catch this year for 25 yards.

Patten is 32. Duckett is 25. Neither expected to be a bench-warmer at this point in his career. To their credit, neither has publicly complained.

"It's been an experience, but that's part of the job," Duckett said. "You just prepare and prepare, and when your opportunity comes, take advantage of it."

Said Patten: "Everybody wants to play, everybody wants to suit up, but the bottom line is you're part of a team. You have roles that you have to fill and perform. My role (Sunday) was to be sort of a cheerleader from the sidelines."

Notes:@ CB Shawn Springs took more work in practice Thursday and even had an interception, offering a glimmer of hope that he will make his season debut Sunday against Tennessee. "Getting better," said Springs, who has been out with abdomen and groin injuries. He is listed as questionable on the injury report. ... DE Phillip Daniels (back), DT Cornelius Griffin (hip), LB Marcus Washington (hip), G Derrick Dockery (leg) and Patten (thigh) did not practice, but all are listed as probable. P Derrick Frost (calf) returned to practice and is probable. DT Joe Salave'a (calf) is questionable.

Brown supports Sarkozy's agenda for EU presidency

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he will give full support to France's agenda for reform as it takes over the EU presidency next month.

Brown says he believes "the agenda on migration, on climate change and on the economy will put Europe in a better place over the next few months to deal with the challenges we all face together."

Brown had lunch with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Thursday. They are both heading to a European Union summit in Brussels that will focus on soaring food and fuel prices. France takes the rotating EU presidency from Slovenia on July 1.

Hotshot is in GB squad

A Glastonbury-based Scout has reason to celebrate after beingpicked for the Great Britain junior squad.

Samantha Slade's target shooting skills have seen her take partin a number of events. Group Scout leader Richard Slade said: "Shehas taken part in local, district and county target shootingevents, as well as the Scout National target shooting competitionsthat are held at Bisley and the British National Airgunchampionships."

With her continuing progress, people began to notice herachieving good scores at Bisley and invited her to join the nationalScout target shooting squad. It wasn't long after that, that she wasnoticed by the Great Britain junior squad.

"After Samantha was invited to attend a weekend of training,observation and assessments of her shooting skills by the GB juniorsquad, she was invited to join them," said Mr Slade.

"Her training has begun she will be involved in national andinternational competitions. Obviously, we're all very proud of herand wish her all the best in the future."

Samantha isn't the only scout showing promise with, with JoeThomas from the 4th Glastonbury group in training for the Britishairgun championships, and two other members of the group - TollySnell and Tom Taylor - have been selected for the Somerset team inthe county finals.

A Sandberg error made at second base

Ryne Sandberg is positioned to be excluded from baseball's All-Century team.

The retired Cubs second baseman isn't even on the ballot todetermine the top 25 players. A panel of experts left him off invoting that ends Sept. 15. The panel will add five players tocorrect oversights before the team is announced at the first game ofthe World Series on Oct. 23.

But it won't add players not on the ballot.

"I did not vote for Sandberg," said Ken Shouler, a senior editorat Total Sports, member of the All-Century panel and whose book, TheReal 100 Best Ballplayers of All Time . . . And Why!, was used todetermine the list. "I think it came down to the wire with Sandberg,as it did with a few other players.

"Three books form the basis for the list: The Sporting News book(Baseball's 100 Greatest Players), Total Baseball and my book(available at (800) 997-2945 for $22.95). There are 127 differentplayers across those books. About 90 of my guys from the book are onthe All-Century team.

"Sandberg, if he had played those two years he took off, wouldhave made this list. He was a dominant player but maybe not dominantfor long enough."

If the top 110 players had been included, Shouler thinks thefollowing would have landed on the ballot: Dave Winfield, Wade Boggs,Ferguson Jenkins, Gaylord Perry, Sandberg, Kirby Puckett, AndreDawson, Hoyt Wilhelm, Frank Thomas and Jim Rice.

"The two players I'm most suspicious not being on: Winfield andBoggs. Boggs has the highest batting average ever at (third base):.328. He had four years in which he had 200 hits and 100 walks.Only Lou Gehrig did it more (seven times). Winfield has 465 homeruns, the most of anyone not on the list.

"I think the panelists got it right most of the time."

Kids' TV time beats homework, 4-1

During a week, the typical American eighth-grader spends 21.2hours watching television and 5.5 hours doing homework.

In describing the first results of a study that will follow25,000 eighth-graders through high school and beyond, the NationalCenter for Education Statistics also reported that:

One out of five eighth-graders is unable to do even simplearithmetic involving addition, subtraction, multiplication anddivision.

Only 40 percent can manage the decimals and fractions that makeup the major portion of middle-school instruction.

Fourteen percent are unable to read even at a basic level - theycannot repeat details or express the main thought of what they haveread.

Answering the question about Black leadership

In light of many discussions taking place by us, especially since the last presidential election, I feel compelled to submit a perspective that I have subscribed to regarding the ever-pressing question on Black leadership. I am not the originator of this perspective, but I have witnessed that others who have also subscribed to it are some of the most highly productive, respected treasures in our community.

What follows, are the words of the great Carter Goodwin Woodson. One can find his opinion on the issue of Black leadership in Chapter XI, entitled, "The Need for Service Rather Than Leadership" in his perennial work, The Mis-Education of the Negro:

"In spite of the meager rewards, however, the idea of leadership looms high in the Negro mind. It always develops thus among oppressed people. The term itself connotes a backward condition."

In describing what happens in our zeal to become recognized as leaders, he further writes, "This racial racketeer might be a politician, minister, teacher, director of a community center or head of a social uplift agency. He becomes equal to any task the oppressor may impose upon him and at the same time be artful enough to press his case convincingly before the thoughtless multitude."

He went to great effort in attempting to clearly illustrate the debilitating affects of our preoccupation with the idea of who should lead Black people by stating, "Although there are thousands of Negroes living together in one quarter, they have no business enterprises of worth. The selfish struggle for personal aggrandizement, which has not yet brought either faction more than an appointment on the police force or a clerkship in one of the city offices, thus blocks the social and economic progress of thousands of unoffending people. Sometimes, it grips a community for a whole generation, vitiating the entire life of the people".

Mr. Woodson does not only offer criticism of our behavior, he also presents a very rudimentary blueprint for our liberation - if we have the courage and conviction to implement it.

Finally, this is the legacy he has left for us:

"The race must plan and do for itself. If the Negro could abandon the idea of leadership and instead stimulate a larger number of the race to take up definite tasks and sacrifice their time and energy in doing these things efficiently, the race might accomplish something. If we can finally succeed in translating the idea of leadership into that of service, we may soon find it possible to lift the Negro to a higher level. Under leadership, we have come into the ghetto; by service within the ranks, we may work our way out of it. Under leadership, we have been constrained to do the biddings of others; by service, we may work out a program in the light of our own circumstances. Under leadership, we have become poverty stricken; by service, we may teach the masses how to earn a living honestly. Under leadership, we have been made to despise our own possibilities and to develop into parasites; by service, we may prove sufficient unto the task of self-development and contribute our part to modern culture" (First published, January, 1933.)

Patricia L. Hill is executive director of the African American Police League.

Article copyright REAL TIMES Inc.

Clinton Backs Michigan Revote Plan

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton Saturday said she supported an effort by Michigan Democrats to hold a new primary in June.

"It needs to get resolved and hopefully Michigan by the end of this week will have done that," Clinton told reporters on her campaign plane between stops in Pennsylvania. "I think they are moving in an appropriate direction to have a revote."

Under a plan being finalized by several Democratic members of Congress and other party leaders in Michigan, the state would hold a new primary in early June _ most likely on June 3 _ that would allow its delegates to be seated at the party's national convention this summer in Denver. The state Legislature is expected to take up the matter next week.

The Democratic National Committee punished Michigan and Florida for moving up their primaries before Feb. 5, stripping them of all their delegates. The two states have been struggling to come up with alternative plans, but Michigan appears closer to resolving the matter.

Clinton won the Michigan primary on Jan. 15 and has said she would like those results to stand. But Obama removed his name from the ballot after the DNC stripped the state of delegates for moving up its primary and did not campaign there.

Clinton also won Florida's primary on Jan. 29, where both candidates names were on the ballot but neither campaigned in the state at the request of the DNC.

"I feel really strongly about it," Clinton said. "The 2.5 million people (in Michigan and Florida) who voted deserve to be counted. If it were my preference, we'd count their votes but if not, then they should have the opportunity to have a full-fledged primary waged for them and revote."

Obama currently leads Clinton among overall delegates, 1603 to 1497, and his campaign has been openly skeptical of Clinton's eagerness to seat the delegations from the two disputed states. Spokesman Tommy Vietor Saturday said the campaign was open to a "fair and practical" resolution of the conflict.

"Hillary Clinton said in October the Michigan primary would not 'count for anything.' Now she is trying to change the rules and claim the votes of the primary she said didn't count should be counted," Vietor said. "We will evaluate the details of any new proposed election carefully as well as any efforts to come to a fair seating of the delegates from Michigan."

Clinton marched in two St. Patrick's Day parades Saturday in Pittsburgh and Scranton. In Pittsburgh, she walked the mile-long parade route alongside the city's mayor, Luke Ravenstahl; Gov. Ed Rendell, and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato. Dozens of supporters waving "Hillary 08" shamrocks and green "Clinton Country" signs led the crowd in rousing cheers.

"Happy St. Patrick's Day, Pittsburgh. This is a great parade," Clinton shouted into a microphone near the end of the parade. "Let the luck of the Irish be with us all."

Pennsylvania holds its primary April 22, the next big prize in the nomination race between Clinton and Obama.

Also Saturday, the former first lady said her primary wins in big states like Ohio showed she would be a stronger candidate in the general election against Republican John McCain. Clinton has won just 17 contests compared to 29 for Obama, but her campaign has said many of the states Obama won would not be competitive for Democrats in November.

"I don't think anyone doubts that a Democrat has to have a number of the big states anchored in order to put together the electoral votes needed to win," Clinton said. "I think it is significant that I won Ohio, that I won Florida, I've won the big states that serve as anchors on the electoral map. And I also think it's significant because those states represents a much broader cross section of the voters we're going to need to win in the fall."

Clinton refused to comment on new information about Obama's relationship with Antoin Rezko, a former political patron on trial for felony fraud charges. In interviews with two Chicago newspapers published Saturday, the Illinois senator disclosed he had accepted $250,000 in campaign donations from Rezko _ about $100,000 more than had previously been disclosed.

But on a conference call with reporters, Clinton senior strategist Mark Penn said the new information pointed to a "troubling pattern" of obfuscation.

"We're finding out on Rezko, much of what he said turns out to be just words as we learn more and more information," Penn said.

Obama "has talked about the politics of hope, but he has throughout this campaign launched a series of personal attacks on Senator Clinton, calling her disingenuous," Penn said. "We think now the real question before us is to Senator Obama, is, 'Will you make full disclosure of all this information related to the Rezko matter? Will you put to rest all these troubling questions?'"

Whether Report

For an industry that boasts sturdy materials and powerful machinery, construction can be a delicate business. Especially when the weather doesn't cooperate.

"Last year was kind of an odd year," said Thomas Zabel, president of the O'Leary Co. in Southampton, recalling the late onset of spring in 2006. "The weather kept things slow in the beginning, but then we got busy toward the end of the year."

This year, however, right out of the gate, "we see a lot of opportunities with various types of projects across the board."

Such a difference can be credited to more than just weather, of course. In fact, said Richard Aquadro, president of Aquadro & Cerruti in Northampton, the way the winds of supply and demand blow tends to be more important.

"I think the climate is getting better for contractors," Aquadro said. "The last few years, it was a business owners' market, and they were getting deals of a lifetime. Now, we're getting to a point where we can pick and choose what we're going to build."

More than one of the contractors who spoke with BusinessWest this month brought up the term 'cautious optimism,' only to chuckle about it; they know it's an overused buzzword in a region that tends to stay on an even keel even when other areas of the country alternate between frenetic building booms and periods of economic drought.

Still, some builders are indeed feeling optimistic for 2007, reporting a thaw in what has been for some a relatively cool couple of years - even if spring was a bit late showing up again.

Laying a Foundation

William Crocker, president of Crocker Building Co. in Springfield, said activity has been slow thus far in 2007, but he expects opportunities to present themselves throughout the year.

"We're starting off slower than usual, but our estimating and bidding activity is probably higher than usual for this point in the year. So there are more prospects out there even though there's less work on hand," he said.

"We're coming off four very busy years in a row," he added, "so we do anticipate the next year to shape up pretty well, although there is a fair amount of uncertainty from business owners."

McGraw-Hill Construction, an informational resource for the construction industry, projects a modest 1% decline in total activity nationwide this year, calling the overall forecast "a mix of pluses and minuses."

However, that projection includes an estimated 5% decline in single-family housing construction. The commercial side is stronger, with activity in institutional buildings projected to increase by 7%, manufacturing by 14%, and public works by 5%, following a 10% surge in 2006.

In Massachusetts, meanwhile, "the builders who were busy last year are busy this year, and those in a strong niche market are going to be healthy," said Mary Gately, director of market services for Associated General Contractors of Mass. Those strong markets include health care, higher education, and small retail.

"We're finding from our membership that those in the college and university marketplace or in health care seem to be fairly busy; those seem to be the primary markets," she explained.

Aquadro & Cerruti, for example, has taken on work recently at Amherst College and Smith College, and will begin a job next year at Mass. College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, reflecting a decade-long surge of work for companies in the Pioneer Valley that specialize in highereducation projects. "We're seeing more opportunities," Aquadro said. "The colleges are pretty active."

Meanwhile, virtually every hospital in Western Mass. has recently launched or finished a major building project, including Holyoke Medical Center's recent $11 million expansion, Cooley Dickinson Hospital's just-opened $50 million patient building and surgery center, the $14 million ICU and ambulatory care unit being built at Mercy Medical Center, and Baystate Medical Center's planned $259 million expansion.

At the same time, "I think there's some capacity being reached in the manufacturing and warehouse market," said Peter Wood, vice president of business development for Associated Builders of South Hadley. "I do see the medical and service sectors doing pretty well and expanding. So while I do think capacity has been reached in certain areas, other areas are opening up."

Meanwhile, Crocker said conventional building throughout Western Mass. is generating more activity than the pre-engineered metal side of the business, but added that such trends can shift quickly.

Back to School

Aquadro said builders who compete for public school work could start to see some positive rumblings from that sector after a few years of stagnancy.

Massachusetts was no different from the rest of the country in seeing diminished school construction. According to McGraw-Hill, education-related projects totaled 273 million square feet nationally in 2001, but fell to 209 million, or 23% less, by 2004. In Massachusetts, the decline over the same period was closer to 50%.

"My guess is that will start to change this year," Aquadro said. "There was a moratorium put on a lot of it years ago, and public school building has been pretty slim, but with the new governor, the projects that have been lined up for years could start to move forward."

Aquadro & Cerruti picked up one of the higher-profile jobs in that sector, winning the bid to build the new Holyoke Catholic High School near Elms College in Chicopee.

Meanwhile, for companies that don't rely on publicly funded work, the flow of jobs looks to be steady, Crocker suggested.

"We mainly operate in the private sector, and a large portion of our work is referrals, so we're not necessarily chasing government work," he said. "There are several contractors of our size in this area, and we compete with them for those jobs."

It helps, he said, that Crocker tends to shun very largescale projects, which have not presented the same opportunities in recent years as the smaller jobs the company prefers - those ranging from "$500 to $5 million, and anywhere in between," as he put it.

Aquadro agreed that major projects are slow to emerge off the drawing board. "We'd like to take projects ideally from $10 million to $30 million, but there haven't been a lot of these around, so we've bid for smaller projects," he said. "But we've still found enough work, and we're competitive.

The climate has the all-around appearance of being better and providing more opportunities."

Hammering It Home

Gately said many of her organization's members are more hopeful this year than they were during a slow patch last summer.

"We were holding our breath last year," she told BusinessWest. "The architects' boards weren't moving, and construction is about six months behind the architects. But by the fall and the beginning of this year, those projects were starting to filter down to the construction phase."

"We see a good forecast this year," Wood said. "We're coming off a very strong period, and we have additional projects coming to the construction phase by the summer. I'm looking forward to continued success."

Maintaining a diverse slate of projects is key, said Zabel, whose company recently broke ground on the St. John Pastoral Center in Ludlow and is also building a new hangar for AirFlyte at Barnes Airport in Westfield, among other jobs. He said the aerospace industry and machine shops are showing active growth in the region, among others. "There are many different things out there for us, quite a few opportunities."

Time factors have contributed to the stress that many construction companies are feeling, Crocker said.

"Business owners want projects done sooner than they used to, while town planning requirements take longer and cause delays. But we anticipate doing about as much as we did last year," he said, noting the Belchertown courthouse and a United Rentals facility in Ludlow among the recent projects. "All in all, we're tentatively optimistic."

Yes, there's that word - optimistic - again, as ubiquitous in the spring as hopeful feelings at Fenway Park. But in construction as in baseball, the dog days of summer will be the true measure.

Forecasts

Rain will increase Wednesday evening into early Thursday. Colderair arrives Thursday with rain and snow showers changing to snowshowers by Friday. Marina Jurica

Wal-Mart to make, sell healthier foods

WASHINGTON (AP) — Wal-Mart, the nation's largest grocer, says it will reformulate thousands of products to make them healthier and push its suppliers to do the same, joining first lady Michelle Obama's effort to combat childhood obesity.

The first lady accompanied Wal-Mart executives Thursday as they announced the effort in Washington. The company plans to reduce sodium and added sugars in some items, build stores in poor areas that don't already have grocery stores, reduce prices on produce and develop a logo for healthier items.

"No family should have to choose between food that is healthier for them and food they can afford," said Bill Simon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart's U.S. division.

As the largest grocer in the United States, Wal-Mart's size gives it unique power to shape what people eat. The grocery business is nearly twice the size of No. 2 competitor Kroger. The company also has massive influence on products made by other manufacturers and sold at the store.

Mrs. Obama said the announcement has "the potential to transform the marketplace and help Americans put healthier foods on their tables every single day."

"We are really gaining some momentum on this issue, we're beginning to see things move," she said.

Wal-Mart plans to reduce sodium by a quarter and cut added sugars in some of its private label products by 2015. It also plans to remove remaining industrially produced trans fats.

A number of food makers have made similar moves, lowering sodium in their products based on shopper demand and increasing scrutiny by health groups. Bumble Bee Foods, General Mills Inc., Campbell Soup Co., PepsiCo Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc. all announced sodium reductions to their products in this spring alone.

Food makers say they are trying to reduce sodium gradually, making it a more palatable change to its customers and giving the industry time to reformulate products. Most said they support efforts to curb sodium in American's diets but are waiting to see if the Food and Drug Administration decides to mandate a reduction.

Wal-Mart said it would reduce prices on fruits and vegetables by $1 billion a year by attempting to cut unnecessary costs from the supply chain. The company also said it would work to reduce price premiums on healthier items made with more expensive ingredients.

"Our customers often ask us why whole wheat pasta sometimes costs more than regular pasta made by the same manufacturer," said Wal-Mart's Andrea Thomas, senior vice president of sustainability.

Mrs. Obama has a history of working with Wal-Mart. She once served on the board of Westchester, Ill.-based TreeHouse Foods Inc., a food supplier for the store, but resigned in 2007 while her husband was campaigning for the presidency. Barack Obama had criticized the store over wages and benefits it pays employees.

A case of Money Fever cures anemic bankroll

In the last several months, I've often mentioned a video pokergame called Multi-Pay Poker. We have little high-quality quartervideo poker in the Chicago area, and casinos that offer Williamsmultiple-game machines at the quarter level move high on my list withthis game.

The Williams units are called Multi-Pay Plus - they offerMulti-Pay Poker plus several other games on the same machine. Otherofferings include an interesting twist on video poker called MoneyFever.

Money Fever players want flushes. Lots of 'em. Those in theknow do whatever they can to force a high flush rate.

Most of the time, Money Fever players are up against one of thetoughest pay tables in video poker. In the full-pay version,available in a few Las Vegas casinos, the payoffs per coin assumingfive coins played looks like this:

Royal flush, 800; straight flush, 150; four of a kind, 20; fullhouse, 9; flush, 6; straight, 5; three of a kind, 3; two pair, 1.

There are several other pay tables available. Some reduce fullhouse and flush paybacks to 8-5 instead of the full-pay 9-6; otherscut straights to 4-1 while increasing four of a kind to 25-for-1.All pay tables look nasty, with payoffs starting at two pair,instead of a pair of Jacks or better as is common in most videopoker games. Without those high-pair payoffs, the game is extremelyvolatile. Streaks with no winners at all are much longer than inmost video poker games.

Despite all that, Money Fever can be a high-paying game. DougReul, writing in the May-June issue of Dan Paymar's Video PokerTimes, reported that the full-pay version pays 100.5 percent withexpert play. The versions available in the Midwest are not 100.5percent games, but they're still better than they seem at a glance,paying experts between 97 percent and 98 percent.

Why? Because when the player hits a flush, Money Fever modekicks in. For the next seven hands, the player is paid on each cardof his flush suit. Say a player betting five coins at a time hits aflush in spades. On his next hand he has no winners against the paytable, but winds up with two spades. He receives a five-coin payoffon each spade.

That turns a nothing hand into a 10-coin winner. Do that forseven hands and the Money Fever player pads his bankroll fast.

Strategy for the game has to be broken into two parts - astrategy for when the game is not in Money Fever mode, when we try tomaximize our chances of hitting a flush, and a strategy for thosenext seven hands after a flush, when we try to maximize our Fevermode winnings.

During regular play, we never discard all five cards - astrategy that is unlike Jacks or Better-based games. All handsinclude at least two cards of the same suit. If we have no betteroptions, we keep two suited cards and hope for a three-card draw to aflush that will launch our seven-hand fever.

There are other strategy differences. In Money Fever, we breakup a straight to draw to a four-card straight flush. In Jacks orBetter, we would break up the straight only if we had four cards to aroyal flush.

Four cards to a flush is an important Money Fever hand. Wekeep four cards to a flush even if it includes three cards to aroyal. In Jacks or Better, we'd go for the royal flush.

We also draw to three-card flushes in Money Fever, which we'djust discard in Jacks or Better. In fact, we break up four-cardstraights and even discard pairs to draw to three-card flushes.

In Money Fever mode, our strategy is even more extreme. Wehold most hands that are winners on the regular pay table. But webreak up two pair to hold one or three cards in our bonus suit.

With two pair and two bonus cards, our play depends on whetherthe bonus cards are included in the two pair. If they are, wediscard the fifth card and try for a full house to go with the bonus.If one of our two bonus cards is the extra card, we hold all five.One exception: If the bonus cards form two parts of a straight flushor royal flush, we break up the two pair and just hold the bonuscards.

If we have a bonus card, we toss away pairs and three-cardstraight flushes if they're not in our bonus suit. We dump four-cardstraights even if the fifth card isn't in our bonus suit. We'rebetter off taking the chance that our draw will bring cards in ourfever suit.

If you hit another flush while you're in Fever mode, themachine stores the information until your first seven-hand run iscompleted. Then you start another seven hands of Money Fever.

That's a fever any player would be thrilled to catch.

In Sunday Showcase: nickel comparison.

Send gambling questions to: Casinos, WeekendPlus, ChicagoSun-Times, 401 N. Wabash, Chicago, IL 60611; fax (312) 321-2566; ore-mail (BetKol@aol.com). Check out John Grochowski's Casino Page at:members.aol.com/betkol/index.html

Fishermen seek release points

It grates on my sensibilities when fishing the Chicago lakefront to have to take care of business by swinging open the driver's door, then acting like I am looking for something on the dashboard.

I'm a reasonably respectable 54-year-old with a wife and four kids. There's absolutely no reason I should have to stoop to that.

But it's tough to find a portable toilet or open permanent bathroom on long stretches of the lakefront. For fishermen in particular, it's a dilemma.

Bikers can whiz past at death-delivering speeds to reach a place to take a wizz in minutes. Runners can do the same.

For fishermen, walkers and birders, not so much.

With fishermen, there's also gear. My basic set up — Falcon rod, Shimano reel, lures, wet bag — is worth about $300. My camera and bag doubles that. With a second rod, the value triples.

Not the sort of things you leave unattended to walk a mile or two to find a restroom.

That point was driven home last week, on the North Side and South Side.

On Aug. 1, I fished 39th/Oakwood with Ray Hinton for the reopening of perch season. As the sun rose and the Chatham man sipped coffee, he pointed out that there was no portable toilet in sight.

A few days later, I also checked that wonderful and newly accessible area between 31st and McCormick Place. None there either.

The options are to pack up and drive off or to air your privates in public.

It's ridiculous, and a fixable problem. But it's one the Chicago Park District has known about for decades and not taken care of satisfactorily.

In the past, the issue for fishermen would be hashed out in the mayor's fishing advisory committee with temporary fixes. But that committee has lapsed into rubberstamping park district policies more than being an advocate.

Winter and early spring are far worse for bathroom access when permanent restrooms are closed.

Some winters back, after an ice fishing event at Belmont Harbor, a portable toilet was left on shore. Fishermen took delight that other lakefront users — joggers, dog-walkers, bikers, birders — used it even more than fishermen.

That issue is hardly restricted to the South Side.

The evening of the perch opener, Charlie Yates made a request on Facebook from the North Side.

''May I ask your help regarding Montrose Harbor?'' he asked. ''I've tried two alderman offices and the Park District with no luck. The issue is the fact that on the east side of the harbor there is one of those Porta-Pottys and not too far from that is a permanent facility. Now why can't we fisherman have a Porta-Potty on the west side, the golf course side. I don't think this is an unreasonable request or an expensive one.''

He's absolutely right. Nor am I surprised that when he started a petition, lakefront users other than fishermen wanted to sign it.

Look, most of us who are outdoors a lot have learned to take care of business however necessary.

I put myself through the first couple years of college by landscaping summers in Washington. I can go by a petunia plant — cue the Tiny Tim parody — and you would never know. But nobody should have to do that in a park setting.

Decent bathroom options are a basic service that should be properly provided by the Park District.

Places and faces

John Kidd Jr. earned "Heroes Among Us'' status in the Aug. 15 issue of People for his 20 years of introducing 10,000 urban kids to the outdoors through "Fishin' Buddies!'' . . . Multiple stories swirl around Greg Myerson's possible world-record striped bass (81.88 pounds). He caught it on live eels Thursday night near Westbrook, Conn. The International Game Fish Association currently recognizes a 78-pound striper.

Wild things

The Perseid meteor shower, my favorite sky event, peaks Saturday night, unfortunately on full moon. Better to look before dawn the next couple mornings.

Stray cast

The Sox are like that smallmouth bass you can't quite hook in the eddy behind the big rock. The Cubs are like eDNA testing for Asian carp.

The area between 31st and McCormick Place, shown here after the rain Saturday morning, is like many other long stretches of the lakefront: visually beautiful and vitally lacking in basic creature needs. | Dale Bowman~for the sun-times

Business events scheduled for Wednesday

Major business events and economic events scheduled for Wednesday:

WASHINGTON — Labor Department releases Consumer Price Index for September, 8:30 a.m.

WASHINGTON — Commerce Department releases housing starts for September, 8:30 a.m.

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve releases Beige Book, 2 p.m.

Abbott Laboratories releases quarterly financial results.

American Express Co. releases quarterly financial results.

AMR Corp. releases quarterly financial results.

EBay Inc. releases quarterly financial results.

E-Trade Financial Corp. releases quarterly financial results.

Morgan Stanley releases quarterly financial results.

Supervalu Inc. releases quarterly financial results.

United Technologies Corp. releases quarterly financial results.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. releases quarterly financial results.

FRANKFURT — Event marking the end of European Central Bank head Jean-Claude Trichet's term.

PARIS — Energy ministers and industry leaders meet in Paris to discuss risks to oil markets.

Wal-Mart reverses revenue decline in US business

NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart's effort to reverse a two-year sales slump at its U.S. namesake stores is working.

The world's largest retailer said Wednesday during a meeting with analysts that revenue at its namesake stores in the U.S. that have been open at least a year rose three months in a row in July, August and September after nine quarters of declines.

Wal-Mart had promised a quarterly increase by the end of this year, and Wednesday's news indicates it could make good on that vow in the current quarter, which ends Oct. 28.

"We have had very positive momentum in the back half, especially in the U.S," said Charles Holley, Wal-Mart's executive vice president and chief financial officer. "We have more opportunities to grow more sales in the U.S. and around the world. But we will be deliberate."

Wal-Mart also said it expects its expenses to increase more slowly than its sales for the second year in a row. The last time that happened was 1992, Holley noted. Wal-Mart has vowed to reduce expenses even more aggressively over the next five years and put those savings into reducing the prices its customers pay.

The weak U.S. job market and other economic woes have strained the core low-income shoppers at Wal-Mart's namesake stores in the U.S., while the somewhat higher-income clientele of the company's Sam's Club warehouse stores has been more resilient. Wal-Mart's namesake stores in the U.S. also stumbled in recent years because of mistakes the company made in merchandising and pricing.

The chain, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, now has restocked thousands of products it scrapped in an overzealous bid to clean up its stores. It's also stopped using gimmicks such as slashing prices temporarily on select items and returned to its "everyday low price" strategy, the bedrock philosophy of founder Sam Walton.

Analysts have been closely watching for an end to the sales declines at Wal-Mart's namesake U.S. stores, which account for 62 percent of the company's total revenue. On Nov. 15, Wal-Mart will report its results for the current quarter.

"The progress is now visible in our business," said Bill Simon, president of Wal-Mart's U.S. stores. "We have confidence in our plan."

Mike Duke, CEO of Wal-Mart, told analysts that high unemployment is the top concern among its U.S. customers and many are still buying store-brand goods instead of national brands or opting for smaller packages to save money.

But the company has noticed that lower gas prices in recent months helped raise consumer spending toward the end of the month. Shoppers are still stretched and fragile, only buying what they need. But that loosening up just a bit was encouraging news after Wal-Mart has seen spending around the paycheck cycle become more pronounced over the past 12 to 18 months.

Economists closely watch how Wal-Mart shoppers are behaving since the company can be a bellwether for broader trends in consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy.

In China, Mexico, Brazil with growing markets, Wal-Mart is seeing big opportunities in the rapidly growing middle class.

During the analysts' meeting a few miles from its headquarters, Wal-Mart said it expects its revenue to grow 5 percent to 7 percent in the fiscal year that ends in January 2013.

Additionally, the company outlined plans to open smaller stores in the U.S. and add more square footage overall around the world. Wal-Mart expects to add between 36 million to 39 million square feet globally this fiscal year and 45 million to 49 million square feet next year. It will cut capital spending 7.4 percent in the U.S. next fiscal year but increase capital spending abroad by 12 percent.

Wal-Mart also offered analysts a peak into its holiday strategies. It will add a free shipping alternative to fuel online sales. Customers who spend more than $45 online on clothing and consumables like food can get their bundled purchases shipped free to their home in three to five days. This is the first time Wal-Mart has offered permanent free shipping to customers' homes. The company also plans to spend twice as much on holiday advertising for TV as it did last year. That will help promote its new holiday layaway program, which starts Monday.

Shares rose 48 cents to close at $55.20.

Forgetfulness: A Role in Noncompliance With Antidepressant Treatment

Objectives: To determine the degree of noncompliance with antidepressant treatment in the Alberta population and to investigate the reasons for noncompliance.

Method: We used data from the Alberta Mental Health Survey, a telephone survey conducted in 2003 (n = 5323 adults), to produce population-based estimates of the frequency of noncompliance and the reported reasons for noncompliance.

Results: Reported noncompliance was 41.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 36.9% to 46.6%) for respondents taking 1, 2, or 3 antidepressants. Noncompliance for those taking 1 antidepressant was 42.0% (95%CI, 36.9% to 47.2%), whereas noncompliance for those taking 2 or 3 antidepressants was 39.4% (95%CI, 26.7% to 53.6%). Among respondents currently taking at least one antidepressant, 64.9% (95%CI, 57.4% to 71.7%) reported that forgetfulness was the most common reason for noncompliance. Of respondents taking 1 medication, 64.1% (95%CI, 56.0% to 71.4%) reported forgetfulness as did 71.3% (95%CI, 48.3% to 86.8%) of those taking 2 or 3 medications. Both the frequency of noncompliance and the reported reasons for noncompliance were independent of sex and age.

Conclusion: Our study replicates prior reports that indicate that noncompliance is common with antidepressant treatment. Forgetting to take medication is the most important reported reason for this noncompliance.

(Can J Psychiatry 2006;51:719-722)

Information on funding and support and author affiliations appears at the end of the article.

Clinical Implications

* Noncompliance with antidepressant treatment is a major clinical issue.

* Frequently cited reasons for noncompliance, such as "feeling better" or "side effects," are relatively unimportant.

* Simple memory aids such as dated blister packs, automated voice mail reminders, and patient education might help address this important issue.

Limitations

* These findings are derived from cross-sectional data, so we cannot confirm causal direction of associations.

* To confirm generalizability, we would need Canada-wide data.

* The sample size was too small to examine specific classes of antidepressants.

Key Words: antidepressant, noncompliance, forgetfulness

Noncompliance with prescribed medication is a major issue in medicine (for example, 1-3). Because of the authoritarian connotation of the word compliance, other terms are sometimes preferred, for example, adherence. Since antidepressants must be taken for extended periods of time, in some cases for life, noncompliance may have a significant impact on the individual (for example, relapse) as well as a broader economic and social impact. A metaanalysis revealed that patients suffering from depression are 3 times more likely to exhibit noncompliance with medical recommendations than patients without depression (4). Knowledge in this field is important because it can potentially lead to the development of interventions to improve compliance.

The general consensus is that noncompliance with antidepressant prescriptions is a major problem for depression treatment but that predictors are not well understood. Noncompliance manifests itself in several ways, including failure to fill a prescription, failure to take any medication, early discontinuation of medication (dropout), and failure to regularly take prescribed dosages. A recent survey provides an opportunity to describe noncompliance with antidepressant prescriptions in a population-based sample of adults in Alberta.

Methods

The AMHS was a cross-sectional, random digit dialing-based telephone survey that collected data from 5383 adults. Eligible individuals from various households were contacted and the participation rate among them was 77%. The detailed methods of this survey and its potential vulnerability to bias are described elsewhere (5).

We cross-tabulated raw data and calculated population estimates with 95%CIs, using weighted survey commands in Stata Software, (Release 8; Stata Corp, College Station, TX, 2003). We first determined how many respondents were taking one or more antidepressant medications. Then we examined the prevalence of reported noncompliance for antidepressant use in this subpopulation. Finally, we tabulated the prevalence of self-reported reasons for noncompliance. The latter 2 stages depended on how participants answered 2 questions:

* "When you take antidepressants, are there any days when you took less than you were supposed to?"

Answer: yes or no.

* "Why did you take less antidepressant medication than you were supposed to?"

Answer:

1. You forgot.

2. You felt better.

3. The medicine was not helping.

4. You thought the problem would get better without more medication.

5. You could not afford to pay for the medication.

6. You were too embarrassed to take the medicine.

7. You wanted to solve the problem without medication.

8. The medicine caused side effects that made you stop.

9. You were afraid you would get dependent on the medication.

10. Other reason.

This list was based on the reasons most commonly reported in pilot studies. The interviewers did not read this list to the respondents. The interviewers instead categorized the replies on the basis of the participants' spontaneous responses. The "other reason" response category was used when an answer did not fit into one of the categories or when the interviewer was unsure how to classify a response. The investigators subsequently receded these responses. Participants were allowed to give more than one answer for each antidepressant. Most gave one answer for each medication, but some gave up to 5 answers, all of which are accounted for in our analysis. In cases in which a respondent gave the same reason more than once, we counted this reason only once.

Results

Respondents taking antidepressants were taking between 1 and 3 antidepressants, but most were only taking 1. Population estimates for the proportion of Albertans taking 1, 2, and 3 antidepressants were 6.3% (95%CI, 5.7% to 7.0%), 0.8% (95%CI, 0.6% to 1.1%), and 0.1% (95%CI, 0% to 0.1%), respectively. Stratification of the data by sex and age showed that neither was related to the number of antidepressants taken (data not shown).

Noncompliance was reported by 41.7% (95%CI, 36.9% to 46.6%) of the total sample of respondents taking antidepressants (Table 1). Stratification of the data indicates that neither sex nor age predict the frequency of noncompliance (Table 1). When the data were stratified by the number of antidepressants taken, 42.0% (95%CI, 36.9% to 47.2%) of individuals taking a single medication reported noncompliance. Similarly, 39.4% (95%CI, 26.7% to 53.6%) of participants taking 2 or 3 antidepressants reported noncompliance. These data do not provide statistical evidence that noncompliance was different across these groups. Further, this result does not support the hypothesis that the complexity of the antidepressant regimen is a determinant of compliance.

It is estimated that 64.9% (95%CI, 57.4% to 71.7%) of the population forgets to take its antidepressants, making forgetting the major reason for noncompliance (Table 2). The catch-all category for "other reason," reported by 26.8% (95%CI, 20.6% to 34.2%), was the second most frequent reason for noncompliance. Common examples of these reasons for not taking medication included "ran out," "could not access it," and "did not need it." The population estimates for the 8 other categories were low. Stratification of the data for the subpopulation that forgot showed that neither sex nor age predicts forgetfulness (Table 2). Stratification by the number of antidepressants taken showed that forgetting was reported by 64.1% (95%CI, 56.0% to 71.4%) of respondents taking a single antidepressant and by 71.3% (95%CI, 48.3% to 86.8%) of those taking 2 or 3 antidepressants. The estimates did not provide statistical evidence that the degree of forgetting was different between the 2 groups.

Discussion

Our analysis suggests that noncompliance with antidepressant use is an important issue (Table 1). Contrary to expectation, the data did not suggest that compliance was lower for those taking 2 or 3 medications rather than 1. Neither sex nor age predicted the degree of noncompliance. Forgetfulness was the most frequently reported reason for noncompliance and was not dependent on sex, age, or the number of antidepressants taken (Table 2).

Forgetfulness has not been identified as a major determinant for noncompliance with antidepressant treatment (6,7). Most studies do not include forgetting as a possible reason and most are based on small clinical samples. This raises a public health issue that can be addressed by simple means, for example, dated blister packs, automated voice mail reminders, and patient education. Randomized clinical trials have provided evidence that blister packaging can increase compliance with drug treatment (8,9).

Two important issues require future study: we must identify the subpopulation actually taking antidepressants for depression rather than for other indications, and to assess its clinical significance, we must quantify the extent of noncompliance.

Funding and Support

No funding was obtained for this paper.

Acknowledgement

We thank Jeanne Williams for her assistance with Stata programming.

[Sidebar]

Abbreviations used in this article

AMHS Alberta Mental Health Survey

CI confidence interval

[Sidebar]

R�sum� : L'oubli : un r�le dans la non-observance du traitement antid�presseur

Objectifs : D�terminer le degr� de non-observance du traitement antid�presseur dans la population de l'Alberta et rechercher les raisons de la non-observance.

M�thode : Nous avons utilis� les donn�es de l'enqu�te sur la sant� mentale de l'Alberta, un sondage t�l�phonique men� en 2003 (� = 5 323 adultes), afin de produire des estimations bas�es dans la population de la fr�quence de la non-observance et des raisons d�clar�es de la non-observance.

R�sultats : La non-observance d�clar�e �tait de 41,7 % (95 % intervalle de confiance [1C], 36,9 % � 46,6 %) pour les r�pondants qui prenaient 1, 2 ou 3 antid�presseurs. La non-observance pour ceux qui prenaient un seul antid�presseur �tait de 42,0 % (95 % IC, 36,9 % � 47,2 %), tandis que la non-observance pour ceux qui prenaient 2 ou 3 antid�presseurs �tait de 39,4 % (95 % IC, 26,7 % � 53,6 %). Parmi les r�pondants prenant pr�sentement au moins un antid�presseur, 64,9 % (95 % IC, 57,4 % � 71,7 %) ont d�clar� que l'oubli �tait la raison la plus fr�quente de la non-observance. Parmi les r�pondants prenant un seul m�dicament, 64,1 % (95 % IC, 56,0 % � 71,4 %) ont �voqu� l'oubli, tout comme 71,3 % (95 % IC, 48,3 % � 86,8 %) de ceux prenant 2 ou 3 m�dicaments. Tant la fr�quence de la non-observance que les raisons d�clar�es de la non-observance �taient ind�pendantes du sexe et de l'�ge

Conclusion : Notre �tude reproduit des r�sultats ant�rieurs qui indiquent que la non-observance est fr�quente dans le traitement antid�presseur. Oublier de prendre le m�dicament est la raison la plus importante d�clar�e pour cette non-observance.

[Reference]

References

1. Blackwell B. From compliance to alliance: a quarter century of research. Neth J Med 1996;199:140-9.

2. Cramer JA, Spilker B, editors. Patient compliance in medical practice and clinical trials. New York (NY): Raven Press; 1991.

3. Osterberg L, Blaschkc T. Adherence to medication. New Engl J Med 2005;353:487-97.

4. DiMatteo MR, Lepper HS, Croghan TW. Depression is a risk factor for noncompliance with medical treatment: meta-analysis of the effects of anxiety and depression on patient adherence. Arch Intern Med 2000;160:2101-7.

5. Kassam A, Carter C, Patten, SB. Sedative hypnotic use in Alberta. Can J Psychiatry 2006;51:287-94.

6. Demyttenaere K. Risk factors and predictors of compliance in depression. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2003;13(Suppl 3):S69-S75.

7. Masand PS. Tolerabiliry and adherence issues in antidepressant therapy. Clin Ther 2003;25:2289-304.

8. Simmons D, Upjohn M, Gamble GD. Can medication packaging improve glycemic control and blood pressure in type 2 diabetes? Results from a randomized controlled trial. Diabetes Care 2000;23:153-6.

9. Wright JM, Htun Y, Forman P, Ballard RC. Evaluation of the use of calendar blister packaging on patient compliance with STD syndromic treatment regimens. Sex Transm Dis 1999;26:556-63.

[Author Affiliation]

Andrew G Bulloch, PhD1, Carol E Adair, MSc, PhD2, Scott B Patten, MD, PhD3

[Author Affiliation]

Manuscript received October 2005, revised, and accepted May 2006.

1 Professor, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta.

2 Associate Professor, Departments of Community Health Sciences and Psychiatry, and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta.

3 Professor, Departments of Community Health Sciences and Psychiatry, and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta.

Address for correspondence: Dr AG Bulloch, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Calgary, Faculty of Medicine, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4N1; bulloch@ucalgary.ca

On to the 108th

EDITORIAL Comment

Will the new Congress be banker--friendly?

Banking industry lobbyists will have full plates when the 108th Congress convenes after the first of the year. Although one issue of more than passing interest to bankers - terrorism reinsurance - was squared away in the lame duck session after the November elections, the 107th Congress left some biggies hanging - most notably FDIC reform, bankruptcy reform and the question of banks having authority to deal in real estate.

Many observers see the Republican gains in the House and Senate as positive for banking's agenda. The majority party sets the program, but the majorities are slim in both houses and only time will tell if this Congress is more banker-friendly than the last.

Take FDIC reform. Passed overwhelmingly by the House in a form mostly acceptable to the American Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America, the issue stalled in the Senate with opposition to a major component - increasing the insurance ceiling to $130,000 per account - from the Secretary of the Treasury, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas.

Gramm has retired, of course, and the top Republican on the committee is its soon-tobe new chairman, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama. Like Gramm, he is opposed to raising FDIC insurance to $130,000, as is the top Democrat, Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland and Sarbanes-Oxley Act fame. So there's one tough nut to crack for the lobbyists. It's hard to see the agreed-upon reforms staying together as a package.

How about bankruptcy reform? Larger Republican majorities ought to improve chances for adoption, but they may not be large enough to get past the emotional hangup over bankruptcy options for abortion clinics.

On another hot button issue the odds definitely seem to be stacked against bankers. Sen. Shelby co-sponsored the National Association of Realtors' legislation to bar the Treasury and the Fed from letting banks into real estate brokerage, in spite of enabling legislation in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. "If he (Sen. Shelby) chooses to move the Realtors' bill aggressively," warns the ABA Government Relations staff, "there could be a real problem for us on this issue."

If that's not enough, Sen. Shelby and Sen. Sarbanes are both in favor of stronger privacy rules for the financial services industry and will likely pursue legislation on this issue, according to ABA and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. And Sen. Shelby is reportedly a supporter of the credit union lobby.

The good news may be that not much change is expected by these trade groups in the House Financial Service Committee's agenda. Rep. Michael Oxley (R-Ohio) remains in charge and will probably continue to seek FDIC reform, according to the CSBS. The ranking member in the 107th Congress, Rep. John LaFalce (D-N.Y.) retired and has been succeeded by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). The two have similar views, say ABA and CSBS. Both Congressmen were strong supporters of Gramm-Leach-Bliley and both are high on consumer protection issues.

So, the banking industry has some pretty big battles facing it in the 108th Congress. The point here is not just the lobbyists have their plates full. They are going to need all of the help they can get from the grass roots and that means you, dear reader, and your officers, directors and employees. And maybe you can recruit customers for the cause as well - like credit unions do.

Bill Poquette

Editor

[Sidebar]

"The majority party sets the program, but the majorities are slim in both houses and only time will tell if this Congress is more banker-- friendly than the last."

Avalanche terror as three are swept to their deaths

THREE climbers have died after they were caught in two separateavalanches on Scottish mountains yesterday.

Two were swept to their deaths as they climbed in a five-strongparty, and were caught in a moving wall of snow several hundredmetres in length which hurtled down the Coire na Ciste area of BenNevis.

Their bodies were found by rescuers buried under tons of snow,having been thrown 400 metres down the mountainside.

A third man was carried several hundred feet down the LiathachRidge in Torridon in Wester Ross. He was found alive by a companionsitting on top of the snow and appeared at first to have sufferedfrom just a broken arm.

However, he later died in hospital from internal injuries.

In the third incident, another man was being treated for a headinjury after surviving an avalanche on Beinn an Dothaidh in Argyll.

The alarm was raised on Ben Nevis about 10.50am by anotherclimber who watched in horror as the men were caught in the movingslab of snow.

Some members of Lochaber mountain rescue team walked into thecorrie to begin the search while others were airlifted further upthe mountain by a helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth.

They were later joined by a team from RAF Leuchars, who were onexercise near Newtonmore, and search and rescue dogs.

But both bodies were discovered in an area known as No 3 Gully onthe north face of the mountain.

One body was found in the debris about 12.50pm by rescuers usingsnow probes and a second was discovered about 90 minutes later, alsoburied in deep snow.

The names of the climbers had not been released last night whilenext of kin were being told. Northern Constabulary said a reportwould be submitted to the procurator fiscal.

One of the dead was from the Wiltshire area and the other fromWales. The survivors were still being interviewed last night.

Chief Inspector John Chisholm, of Northern Constabulary, said:"They were all well-equipped, highly experienced and European-accredited climbers. But it appears they were in the wrong place atthe wrong time."

He said a search of the area was carried out in case others werecaught up in the avalanche but no-one else was reported missing.

"Hundreds of people have been on the mountains in the last fewdays and thankfully we have had only one report of an avalanche.

"There was the possibility of more casualties but fortunatelynone occurred."

John Stevenson, leader of Lochaber mountain rescue team, said themen were near the top of the gully when they were struck by the wallof snow.

"They were caught in a slab avalanche which took them down thehill quite a distance and buried them at the bottom."

He said it was not a particularly risky route. "It shouldn't havebeen but we have quite a bit of snow about and the wind tends toshift it quite a bit. Unfortunately, they were just caught in thewrong place at the wrong time.

"These things do happen and I think these boys were just veryunlucky.

"You can see in a few places where the snow tends to build up,you get a very white, smooth finish to it, and these are the kind ofareas you would stay away from."

He said strong winds made conditions difficult for rescuers: "Itwas quite windy and there was always the risk of other slabs comingdown so you have to be very careful when putting people out there."

Avalanche experts said the cause of the avalanche remained amystery. The Sportscotland Avalanche Information Service's (SAIS)report for Lochaber from 6pm on Tuesday to 6pm last night put therisk of avalanches between 200m and 900m as low. Between 900m and1,340m the risk was moderate, with natural avalanches "unlikely" andhuman-triggered avalanches "possible".

Mark Diggins, spokesman for SAIS, said: "This is a tragedy andit's a bit of a mystery. Until we go in to investigate, we cannotsay what happened and how they got avalanched in that location."

He said the area where the incident occurred was on a north-easterly slope. Fresh snow and strong winds had created morehazardous areas but generally on south, west and north-westerlyaspects, and not on easterly faces.

"This avalanche occurred on an east or northern-easterly aspect.But maybe there was an anomaly that created a patch or an area ofunstable snow.

"We are going to send some people to investigate and hopefullyhave some answers soon. We don't know the circumstances of thisincident but we need to learn from it."

SAIS has also been monitoring surface hoar, a phenomenon rare inScotland but seen recently, mainly in the Cairngorms.

Mr Diggins said: "We have had an extremely cold and calm spell.What normally happens is you get a process of freezing and thawingand a consolidation of the snow pack. What we've had recently isalmost the opposite of that because its been so cold the snow hasbecome sugar-like and has not bonded and consolidated."

WHY SO DEADLY?

CLIMBERS across the Highlands had been warned that unusually calmand extremely cold weather has raised the risk of avalanches.

Members of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service have beenmonitoring surface hoar, a phenomenon rarely seen in Scotland.

The snow crystals form a slippery layer when buried under snowand are the cause of many avalanches in the Alps and North America,according to SAIS.

Mark Diggins of SAIS said hoar surface had formed over about tendays of calm and extremely cold weather.

Normally, the crystals, which are created by vapour rising upfrom layers of deposited snow and then freezing on the surface, aredestroyed in a thaw or by high winds.

Mr Diggins said: "What we have got is an unusual climate becauseof this prolonged cold spell.

"This has been throwing up some unusual things, one of them beinghoar surface.

"The crystals can be quite dangerous if buried by further fallsof snow as they form a very, very weak layer. The crystals are a bitlike soap flakes and create a very slippery layer."

SAIS teams have been checking for hoar surface during routineassessments of avalanche risks in the northern and southernCairngorms, Lochaber, Creag Meagaidh and Glencoe.

The SAIS posts reports and forecasts online.

Avalanche terror as three are swept to their deaths

THREE climbers have died after they were caught in two separateavalanches on Scottish mountains yesterday.

Two were swept to their deaths as they climbed in a five-strongparty, and were caught in a moving wall of snow several hundredmetres in length which hurtled down the Coire na Ciste area of BenNevis.

Their bodies were found by rescuers buried under tons of snow,having been thrown 400 metres down the mountainside.

A third man was carried several hundred feet down the LiathachRidge in Torridon in Wester Ross. He was found alive by a companionsitting on top of the snow and appeared at first to have sufferedfrom just a broken arm.

However, he later died in hospital from internal injuries.

In the third incident, another man was being treated for a headinjury after surviving an avalanche on Beinn an Dothaidh in Argyll.

The alarm was raised on Ben Nevis about 10.50am by anotherclimber who watched in horror as the men were caught in the movingslab of snow.

Some members of Lochaber mountain rescue team walked into thecorrie to begin the search while others were airlifted further upthe mountain by a helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth.

They were later joined by a team from RAF Leuchars, who were onexercise near Newtonmore, and search and rescue dogs.

But both bodies were discovered in an area known as No 3 Gully onthe north face of the mountain.

One body was found in the debris about 12.50pm by rescuers usingsnow probes and a second was discovered about 90 minutes later, alsoburied in deep snow.

The names of the climbers had not been released last night whilenext of kin were being told. Northern Constabulary said a reportwould be submitted to the procurator fiscal.

One of the dead was from the Wiltshire area and the other fromWales. The survivors were still being interviewed last night.

Chief Inspector John Chisholm, of Northern Constabulary, said:"They were all well-equipped, highly experienced and European-accredited climbers. But it appears they were in the wrong place atthe wrong time."

He said a search of the area was carried out in case others werecaught up in the avalanche but no-one else was reported missing.

"Hundreds of people have been on the mountains in the last fewdays and thankfully we have had only one report of an avalanche.

"There was the possibility of more casualties but fortunatelynone occurred."

John Stevenson, leader of Lochaber mountain rescue team, said themen were near the top of the gully when they were struck by the wallof snow.

"They were caught in a slab avalanche which took them down thehill quite a distance and buried them at the bottom."

He said it was not a particularly risky route. "It shouldn't havebeen but we have quite a bit of snow about and the wind tends toshift it quite a bit. Unfortunately, they were just caught in thewrong place at the wrong time.

"These things do happen and I think these boys were just veryunlucky.

"You can see in a few places where the snow tends to build up,you get a very white, smooth finish to it, and these are the kind ofareas you would stay away from."

He said strong winds made conditions difficult for rescuers: "Itwas quite windy and there was always the risk of other slabs comingdown so you have to be very careful when putting people out there."

Avalanche experts said the cause of the avalanche remained amystery. The Sportscotland Avalanche Information Service's (SAIS)report for Lochaber from 6pm on Tuesday to 6pm last night put therisk of avalanches between 200m and 900m as low. Between 900m and1,340m the risk was moderate, with natural avalanches "unlikely" andhuman-triggered avalanches "possible".

Mark Diggins, spokesman for SAIS, said: "This is a tragedy andit's a bit of a mystery. Until we go in to investigate, we cannotsay what happened and how they got avalanched in that location."

He said the area where the incident occurred was on a north-easterly slope. Fresh snow and strong winds had created morehazardous areas but generally on south, west and north-westerlyaspects, and not on easterly faces.

"This avalanche occurred on an east or northern-easterly aspect.But maybe there was an anomaly that created a patch or an area ofunstable snow.

"We are going to send some people to investigate and hopefullyhave some answers soon. We don't know the circumstances of thisincident but we need to learn from it."

SAIS has also been monitoring surface hoar, a phenomenon rare inScotland but seen recently, mainly in the Cairngorms.

Mr Diggins said: "We have had an extremely cold and calm spell.What normally happens is you get a process of freezing and thawingand a consolidation of the snow pack. What we've had recently isalmost the opposite of that because its been so cold the snow hasbecome sugar-like and has not bonded and consolidated."

WHY SO DEADLY?

CLIMBERS across the Highlands had been warned that unusually calmand extremely cold weather has raised the risk of avalanches.

Members of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service have beenmonitoring surface hoar, a phenomenon rarely seen in Scotland.

The snow crystals form a slippery layer when buried under snowand are the cause of many avalanches in the Alps and North America,according to SAIS.

Mark Diggins of SAIS said hoar surface had formed over about tendays of calm and extremely cold weather.

Normally, the crystals, which are created by vapour rising upfrom layers of deposited snow and then freezing on the surface, aredestroyed in a thaw or by high winds.

Mr Diggins said: "What we have got is an unusual climate becauseof this prolonged cold spell.

"This has been throwing up some unusual things, one of them beinghoar surface.

"The crystals can be quite dangerous if buried by further fallsof snow as they form a very, very weak layer. The crystals are a bitlike soap flakes and create a very slippery layer."

SAIS teams have been checking for hoar surface during routineassessments of avalanche risks in the northern and southernCairngorms, Lochaber, Creag Meagaidh and Glencoe.

The SAIS posts reports and forecasts online.