High-energy Zook stil firing on all cylinders

Caption …

The Politics of Social Risk: Business and Welfare State Development

The Politics of Social Risk: Business and Welfare State Development. By Isabella Mares. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. xvii + 319 pp. Figures, tables, references, index. Cloth, $65; paper, $24. ISBN: cloth 0-521-82741-8; paper 0-521-53477-1.

Isabella Mares's book is not a history, but it will be of interest to historians nonetheless. She has developed a theoretical model in order to explain the behavior of employers when they are faced with the introduction of an institutionally organized social security system. By comparing events in Germany and France between the years 1880 and 1990, she confirms her theory that employers did not always oppose the introduction of …

Feds question system for locating design errors

A safety investigator probing the Minneapolis highway bridge collapse said Friday that existing state and federal design review processes may not be adequate to detect design errors.

Joseph Epperson told the National Transportation Safety Board that neither Minnesota nor federal officials detected a design error on the Interstate 35W bridge span.

Back in the 1960s, when the Interstate 35W bridge was erected, Epperson said, the federal government and the states relied on the seal of the engineer who signed off on the project. The engineer for the Minneapolis bridge is deceased.

The five-member board plans to vote later Friday on the probable cause of …

Park District, Bears in scuffle over skyboxes

The football game between the Chicago Bears and the St. LouisCardinals apparently won't be the only confrontation at Soldier Fieldtonight as Bears management squares off again with the Park District.

Bears President Michael McCaskey has invited some disadvantagedchildren to watch preseason action from two skyboxes normallyreserved for Park District bigwigs and their friends. And McCaskeyhasn't yet issued tickets - as Bears management has over the years -to Park District officials intending to use the skyboxes.

The Bears say they control the four boxes, along with 60 othersthey rent out, but the Park District says it owns the disputed four.

The children …

Winfield 76, Scott 43

Scott (12-9, 7-5 Cardinal) FG FT Pts.

Nick Cabell 2-7 0-2 6

Josh Sheets 0-1 0-0 0

Jeremy Grant 2-2 4-6 8

Zach Green 5-14 6-11 19

Lou Green 2-6 1-2 5

Jordan Bradford 0-3 4-6 4

Nick Mullins 0-0 1-2 1

Brandon Bias 0-0 0-2 0

Brandon Woodruff 0-2 0-0 0

Brandon Kirk 0-0 0-0 0

Blake Isenberg 0-1 0-0 0

Terry Baldwin 0-0 0-0 0

Totals 11-36 16-31 43

Percentages .306 .516

Winfield (17-5, 9-3 Cardinal) FG FT Pts.

T.L. Asbury 8-15 2-3 19

Tyler Kovarik 1-3 0-0 3

Virgil Vanover 4-6 1-1 9

Jeremy Stone 5-11 3-4 15

Tim Gladis 2-4 2-2 6

Andrew Ricks 4-10 0-1 …

France investigating Adidas sale settlement

PARIS (AP) — Paris prosecutors have opened an investigation into an arbitration deal over the sale of sportswear maker Adidas — a case that has threatened to ensnare Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.

Separately, a special French court is considering investigating the role that Lagarde — now a top candidate to run the International Monetary Fund — may have played in the arbitration. She has denied any …

Retrial clears former Basque separatist leader

MADRID (AP) — Spain's National Court has acquitted a former Basque separatist leader who was sentenced to two years in prison for defending terrorism.

Arnaldo Otegi, one-time leader of the outlawed Batasuna party, linked to the armed group ETA, was convicted in 2010 for defending terrorism while paying homage in 2005 to an imprisoned ETA member.

But the Supreme Court ordered a …