In HP-Autonomy debacle, many advisers but little good advice

(Reuters) - When Hewlett Packard acquired Autonomy last year for $11.1 billion, some 15 different financial, legal and accounting firms were involved in the transaction -- and none raised a flag about what HP said Tuesday was a major accounting fraud.

HP stunned Wall Street with the allegations about its British software unit and took an $8.8 billion writedown, the latest in a string of reversals for the storied company.

HP Chief Executive Meg Whitman, who was a director at the company at the time of the deal, said the board had relied on accounting firm Deloitte for vetting Autonomy's financials and that KPMG was subsequently hired to audit Deloitte.

HP had many other advisers as well: boutique investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners to serve as its lead adviser, along with Barclays. Banking advisers on both sides of the deal were paid $68.8 million, according to data from Thomson Reuters/Freeman Consulting.

Barclays pocketed the biggest banker fee of the transaction at $18.1 million and Perella was paid $12 million. The company's legal advisers included Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Drinker Biddle & Reath; and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which advised the board.

On Autonomy's side of the table were Frank Quattrone's Qatalyst Partners, which specializes in tech deals and which picked up $11.6 million.

UBS, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America were also advising Autonomy and were paid $5.4 million each. Slaughter & May and Morgan Lewis served as the company's legal advisers.

While regulators in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, are likely to spend many months if not years investigating what happened, legal experts said on Tuesday that it wasn't clear if any of the advisers would ultimately be held liable.

"The most logical deep pocket would be the acquired firm's auditors, who should have allegedly caught these defalcations," said James Cox, a professor at Duke University law school who specializes in corporate and securities law. Since both auditors missed the problems and it appeared to have taken HP a while to catch it after it took over Autonomy, the auditors may have a strong defense.

"You can have a perfectly sound audit and still have fraud exist," he said. A Deloitte UK spokesman said the company could not comment and would cooperate with any investigations.

The law firms and the bankers will likely argue that they were not hired to review the bookkeeping and had relied on the opinion of the auditors, securities law experts said.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the HP-Autonomy transaction added that the big-name banks on Autonomy's side were brought in days before the final agreement was struck. These sources said the banks were brought on as favors for their long relationships with the companies, in a little-scrutinized Wall Street practice of crediting -- and paying -- investment banks that actually have little do with the deal.

LAWSUITS, REPUTATIONS AT STAKE

Plaintiffs lawyers said they were taking calls from investors about HP on Tuesday. Darren Robbins, a San Diego-based plaintiff lawyer who represents shareholders, said the tech icon appears to have spent billions on a shoddy company without undertaking the proper due diligence, and thus misrepresented its finances to investors.

"I think they have serious troubles," he said.

But plaintiff lawyers may have difficulty bringing so-called derivative lawsuits against professional services firms, said Brian Quinn, an M&A professor at Boston College Law School. In those cases, plaintiff lawyers can sue third parties, such as auditors, on behalf of HP -- but they must convince a judge that HP's board is unfit to pursue those claims itself. In this situation, though, HP's board disclosed the alleged fraud itself, Quinn said.

Even if the bankers and lawyers escape any legal problems, they could suffer a reputational hit. The scrutiny could be particularly unwelcome for Perella Weinberg: the firm advised Japanese camera maker Olympus' acquisition of British Gyrus -- a transaction that prompted investigations in the United States, United Kingdom and Japan into fees and payments made by Olympus.

Olympus had hired Perella to execute the transaction, which included a fee paid to "advisers" of $687 million - way beyond the usual scale for a transaction valued at only $2 billion. Perella was not implicated in the matter.

Meanwhile, the most controversial banker involved in the HP-Autonomy deal, Frank Quattrone of Qatalyst, represented Autonomy and played a key role in getting HP to pay a high price.

A star investment banker in the 1990s, Quattrone had worked at Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse, and helped arrange some of the biggest tech initial public offerings of the era, including Amazon.com Inc and Cisco Systems Inc.

But his time at the top of Silicon Valley was curtailed by charges that he blocked an investigation into IPO kickbacks. After two trials failed to resolve his case, he ultimately reached a deal with prosecutors.

His return to the Silicon Valley M&A scene has impressed many in the tech world.

"His reputation is at an all-time high right now," said Dan Scheinman, the former head of mergers and acquisitions at Cisco who has worked with Quattrone on several deals.

Analysts almost uniformly deemed the $11.1 billion he got HP to pay for Autonomy as overly rich -- a compliment to him at the time, but possibly a hollow success if HP's allegations prove true.

(Reporting By Nadia Damouni and Nicola Leske in New York and Andrew Callus in London. Additional reporting by Dan Levine in San Francisco.; Editing by Peter Lauria, Jonathan Weber, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Janet McBride)

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Jack Taylor scores 138 points for Grinnell

Jack Taylor's performance left even Kobe Bryant impressed.

The Division III guard shattered the NCAA scoring record with 138 points, hoisting a mind-boggling 108 attempts — or one shot every 20 seconds — in eclipsing the previous record by 25 points.

Taylor made 27 of 71 3-point attempts, was 52 of 108 overall from the field and added seven free throws on 10 attempts while playing 36 minutes in Grinnell's 179-104 victory over Faith Baptist Bible on Tuesday night in Grinnell, Iowa.

"That's crazy, man. I don't care what level you're at. Scoring 138 points is pretty insane," the Lakers' superstar said after Los Angeles' victory over the Nets.

Even Taylor was having a hard time processing his feat.

"I don't think reality has set in yet," said the 5-foot-10, 170-pound sophomore from Black River Falls, Wis.

That's partly because Taylor was coming off a poor shooting weekend and started Tuesday's night game off slow — at least according to his standards. His coaches figured the best way to get him on track was for him to keep chucking, so that's what Taylor did.

"Maybe my cold shooting from the weekend was affecting me," Taylor said. "But then they started to drop."

Taylor had 58 points at halftime.

Then he got hot.

Taylor was 32 of 58 from the field — including 18 3s — in the final 20 minutes and averaged an astonishing four points a minute in the second half.

"It felt like anything I tossed up was going in," Taylor said.

Bryant, who has a shoe that bears his Black Mamba nickname, has a theory.

"He must have been wearing the Mambas, man. Only Mambas have no conscience to shoot the ball that much," said Bryant, who has an 81-point game, second-best in NBA history, on his resume.

Rio Grande's Bevo Francis held the NCAA scoring record with 113 points against Hillsdale in 1954. In 1953, Francis had 116 against Ashland Junior College. Frank Selvy is the only other player to reach triple figures, scoring 100 points for Division I Furman against Newberry in 1954. The previous Grinnell record was 89 by Griffin Lentsch last Nov. 19 against Principia.

Taylor recently transferred to Grinnell, located about 50 miles east of Des Moines, after playing one season for Wisconsin-La Crosse. Under coach David Arseneault, the Pioneers press and shoot 3s like nobody else in the country at any level. They've led the nation in scoring for 17 of the past 19 seasons while ranking first nationally in 3-point shooting for the 15 of those past 19 years.

Taylor's game was so astounding it overshadowed the 70 points Faith Baptist's David Larson had on 34-of-44 shooting.

Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks were amazed by Taylor's accomplishment when they heard about it after their victory in New Orleans.

"I never heard of nothing like that. That's like a video game," Anthony said, an incredulous look on his face. "How can you shoot 100 times, though?"

He joked that from now on when someone asks if he's taking too many shots, he'll mention "that someone shot it 108 times."

Raymond Felton also was astounded by the 108 shots.

"His elbow has got to be sore," Felton said.

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AP Sports Writers Brett Martel in New Orleans and Greg Beacham in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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Follow Luke Meredith on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LukeMeredithAP

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Elmo left behind on 'Sesame Street' as actor exits

NEW YORK (AP) — Even on "Sesame Street," where everything is famously A-OK, problems can arise for its residents.

And that includes the Muppets. Cookie Monster grapples with an eating disorder. Oscar the Grouch gets cranky. Mr. Snuffleupagus gets the blues.

But Elmo seemed immune to any of that. Since enjoying his breakout success more than two decades ago, the 3 1/2-year-old red monster has radiated good cheer, love and trilling giggles. No wonder everyone — adults as well as children — adore him.

The key to Elmo is "his innocence, his positiveness and his sweetness," according to Kevin Clash, the man who created him and once told The Associated Press, "I would love to be totally like Elmo."

Now Clash has been scandalously separated from Elmo and from "Sesame Street," the TV series where he reigned behind the scenes for 28 years.

Clash spoke of "personal matters" as the cause of his resignation Tuesday after an unthinkable nine-day stretch that began with an unnamed man in his 20s claiming he had sex with Clash at age 16. That allegation was quickly recanted. But then came another accusation of sexual abuse, and a lawsuit.

That second accuser, a 24-year-old college student named Cecil Singleton, said the actor had engaged in sexual behavior with him when he was 15. He is suing Clash for $5 million.

"I am deeply sorry to be leaving," said Clash in his parting statement, "and am looking forward to resolving these personal matters privately."

But privacy may no longer be possible for Clash, the 52-year-old divorced father of a grown daughter who acknowledged last week that he is gay. Singleton's lawyer, Jeff Herman, said he has been contacted by two other potential victims of Clash and expects additional legal action.

At a news conference Tuesday, Singleton said he and Clash met on a gay chat line and then, for a two-week period, they engaged in sexual contact, though not intercourse. Sex with a person under 17 is a felony in New York if the perpetrator is 21 or older.

Singleton said he didn't know Clash's profession until years later, when he Googled the man's name.

"I was shocked when I found out what he did for a living," said Singleton.

Now that career has ended for Clash, who, in his dream job as a puppeteer for "Sesame Street," was assigned a little-used puppet now known as Elmo, then turned him into a star. In the process, Clash won 23 daytime Emmy awards and one prime-time Emmy. He published his 2006 autobiography, "My Life as a Furry Red Monster," and was the subject of the 2011 documentary "Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey."

Elmo overshadowed Big Bird and other "Sesame" Muppets in popularity and screen time, while marginalizing the cast of live actors. Since 1998, he has had his own show-within-a-show on "Sesame Street" in addition to appearances elsewhere in the hour.

He is also a major moneymaker for Sesame Workshop, the New York-based company that produces the show, and for licensees. At his merchandising height in 1996, he inspired the Tickle Me Elmo doll, which became a cultural phenomenon and that Christmas season's hottest toy.

This year's Elmo dolls, "LOL Elmo," which giggles, and "Let's Rock! Elmo," which sings and comes with a microphone and drum set, haven't made any of this year's hot toy lists. Even so, Elmo toys probably account for one-half to two-thirds of the $75 million in annual sales the "Sesame Street" toy line generates for toy maker Hasbro, estimates BMO Capital Markets analyst Gerrick Johnson.

Johnson said he wasn't sure how this week's news might affect sales of Elmo toys this holiday.

"How many people are going to want to explain to their kid why they're not getting an Elmo?" he asked.

On Tuesday, Hasbro issued a statement saying "We are confident that Elmo will remain an integral part of Sesame Street and that Sesame Street toys will continue to delight children for years to come."

Despite his resignation, Clash will remain an integral part of "Sesame Street" for the foreseeable future. Taping of season No. 44 will wrap by mid-December and will begin airing next September, according to someone close to the show who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of its production. That means new episodes with Clash performing as Elmo will presumably continue well into 2014.

As for who might take over as Elmo, other "Sesame Street" puppeteers were already being trained to serve as Clash's stand-in, Sesame Workshop said. It's part of an understudy policy being adopted for all the major Muppet characters.

But no one knows how Elmo will fare going forward. Will the jokes spurred by Clash's downfall leave a lasting mark on Elmo's image? Will there be parents who see him tainted by association with the man who brought him to life?

In the wake of a personal tragedy that may still be unfolding, Elmo's innocence, positiveness and sweetness will be put to the test.

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AP Television Writer David Bauder and AP Retail Writer Mae Anderson contributed to this report.

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Hostess, union fail to reach deal

Hostess Brands Inc, the bankrupt maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, said on Tuesday that it failed to reach a deal in mediation with the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union.

The company, which operates three facilities in Illinois, including in Schiller Park and Hodgkins, said it will have no further comment until a hearing scheduled for Wednesday before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

A representative of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) did not immediately respond for comment.

The ailing company, which also makes Wonder Bread and Drake's cakes, went to bankruptcy court on Monday to seek permission to liquidate its business, claiming that its operations were crippled by the bakers' strike and that winding down was the best way to preserve its dwindling cash.

But Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain of the Southern District of New York urged the sides into a private mediation, prompted by a desire to protect the more than 18,000 jobs at stake.

The 82-year-old Hostess runs 33 bakeries, 553 distribution centers, about 5,500 delivery routes and 527 bakery outlet stores throughout the United States. Bakery operations ceased last week, though product deliveries to stores continued in order to sell already-made products.

The company has blamed union wages and pension costs for contributing to its unprofitably. Hostess Chief Executive Gregory Rayburn has also said the company's labor contracts have deterred would-be bidders for the company and its assets.

Aside from its unionized workforce, analysts, bankers and restructuring experts have said that a fleet of inefficient and out-of-date factories has also eaten up costs. They have said the brand names were likely to be more valuable once they were separated from the factories and sold to non-union competitors.

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Deadly Indiana home explosion investigated as homicide

INDIANAPOLIS -- The house explosion that killed two people and destroyed several homes in an Indianapolis neighborhood is now being investigated as a homicide, authorities said, though no suspects have been named.

Indianapolis Homeland Security Director Gary Coons announced the criminal investigation Monday evening, shortly after a funeral was held for the husband and wife who had lived next door to the house where investigators believe the blast occurred.

"We are turning this into a criminal homicide investigation," Coons said after meeting with residents, the first public acknowledgement by investigators of a possible criminal element to the Nov. 10 explosion.

Search warrants have been executed and officials are now looking for a white van that was seen in the subdivision on the day of the blast, Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry said. Federal authorities are offering a $10,000 reward for information in the case.

Curry said the investigation is aimed at "determining if there are individuals who may be responsible for this explosion and fire," but neither he nor Coons took questions or indicated if investigators had any suspects. No arrests have been made.

A lawyer representing Monserrate Shirley and Mark Leonard, who lived in that home that is believed to have exploded, said Tuesday that the couple was bewildered by the new direction of the investigation.

Randall Cable said in a statement that Shirley and Leonard have "cooperated fully" with investigators and that they want the cause "of this horrific and saddening tragedy to be determined."

Officials say they believe natural gas was involved in the explosion, which destroyed five homes and left dozens damaged. Investigators have focused on appliances in their search for a cause. The explosion caused an estimated $4.4 million in damage.

"We thought something like this was not just an accident," said Doug Aldridge, who heads the neighborhood Crime Watch.

Aldridge said he and other residents frequently saw a white van parked outside the home, though he didn't know who owned it. He said residents are angry and upset but that he expects most of them to stay in the neighborhood.

Hundreds of people attended the funeral Monday for John Dion Longworth, 34, and his 36-year-old wife Jennifer Longworth.

She was a second-grade teacher remembered for knitting gifts for her students, while her husband, an electronics expert, was known as a gardener and nature lover. The school where Jennifer Longworth taught was closed Monday so teachers and students could attend the funeral.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard told reporters after attending the Longworths' funeral Monday that he had been having a hard time coming to terms with what happened.

"There is a search for truth and there is a search for justice," Ballard said.

John Shirley, who co-owns the house with his ex-wife, Monserrate, has told The Associated Press that he had recently received a text message from his 12-year-old daughter saying the furnace in the home had gone out.

Monserrate Shirley said Leonard had replaced the thermostat and that the furnace was working. Cable has said the daughter told her mother she had smelled an odd odor in recent weeks, but they hadn't reported it.

Shirley and Leonard were away at a casino at the time of the blast, Cable said. The daughter was staying with a friend, and the family's cat was being boarded.

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HP says discovered accounting "failures" at Autonomy deal

(Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co said on Tuesday it took an $8.8 billion charge related to its acquisition of software firm Autonomy, citing "serious accounting improprieties," as it swung to a fourth-quarter loss.

HP said personal computer sales shrank again and its quarterly revenue fell 6.7 percent.

The stock lost 11.8 percent to $11.73 in premarket trading.

The company, fresh off a nearly $11 billion charge last quarter for its EDS services division, said more than $5 billion of the Autonomy charge was tied to "improprieties, misrepresentation and disclosure failures" discovered after a whistleblower came forward.

HP said it has referred the matter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division and the UK's Serious Fraud Office for civil and criminal investigation. It said it will take legal action to recoup "what we can for our shareholders."

The charge and the revenue miss were driving down shares, said Neil MacDonald, an analyst at Gartner.

"Earlier in the year when HP took a charge for EDS, the question we had was, 'When are you going to take the charge for Autonomy'? It was clear they had overpaid," MacDonald said. "At least they came clean about it."

The Silicon Valley technology company, in the midst of a multiyear turnaround plan, said the charge is linked to the "associated impact of those improprieties, failures and misrepresentations on the expected future financial performance of the Autonomy business over the long-term."

The rest of the Autonomy charge is related to the declining value of HP's stock and the difficulties of achieving anticipated synergies and market performance.

HP stock is down 48.4 percent year to date.

HP said the accounting issues occurred prior to its acquisition of Autonomy in 2011 for $11.5 billion.

It launched the internal investigation, which included an outside firm's forensic review, after a senior member of Autonomy came forward after founder Mike Lynch left. HP pushed out Lynch in May after its software division posted disappointing results.

Net revenue fell 6.7 percent to $29.96 billion for the fourth quarter ended October 31 from $32.12 billion a year earlier. Analysts, on average, expected $30.43 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue from all of its main business units fell, with the personal computer division recording the steepest drop at 14 percent.

HP reported a quarterly net loss of $6.85 billion, or $3.49 a share, versus a profit of $239 million, or 12 cents, a year earlier.

The sprawling company, which employs more than 300,000 people globally, is undergoing a restructuring aimed at focusing on enterprise services in the mold of International Business Machines Corp.

(Reporting by Poornima Gupta in San Francisco and Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Jeffrey Benkoe)

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Blue Jays hire Josh Gibbons as manager again

TORONTO (AP) — Josh Gibbons was hired as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays for the second time Tuesday, returning to a team that just invigorated its roster after a blockbuster trade with the Miami Marlins.

Gibbons managed Toronto 2004-2008 and had a 305-305 record, making him the third winningest manager in franchise history.

He succeeds John Farrell, who spurned Toronto for his dream managing job in Boston. Gibbons, however, takes over a very different team from the one Farrell managed.

The surprise announcement came a day after the Blue Jays completed a mega deal in which they acquired All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes and pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle from Miami. Toronto agreed to the trade last week and Commissioner Bud Selig approved it Monday. The Blue Jays, extraordinarily busy in this offseason, also announced the signing of free agent outfielder Melky Cabrera.

Toronto general manager Alex Anthopoulos had said he wanted someone who was familiar with the organization and city. Anthopolous was an assistant GM when Gibbons managed Toronto. Gibbons joins Cito Gaston as managers serving two stints with the Blue Jays.

His best season was in 2006, when Toronto went 87-75 to finish second in the division — the same season he had a well-publicized blowup with players Shea Hillenbrand Ted Lilly.

Gibbons most recently managed the San Antonio Missions of the Texas League (AA) in the San Diego Padres' organization last season. He also had three seasons as the Kansas City Royals' bench coach.

Gibbons joined the Blue Jays' coaching staff in 2002 as a bullpen catcher and was promoted midseason to first base coach. He served in that capacity until replacing Carlos Tosca in 2004. Before joining the Blue Jays the first time, Gibbons spent 11 seasons working with the New York Mets.

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Lindsay Lohan, Liz Taylor and pages of “what ifs” for TV’s “Liz & Dick”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Making a movie about Elizabeth Taylor takes courage. Casting wayward starlet Lindsay Lohan as the Hollywood screen legend was both daring and asking for trouble.

And indeed, trouble is what producers got during the shooting of Lifetime TV movie “Liz & Dick” – but they say the payoff made it all worthwhile.

“Let’s say that producing a movie with Lindsay Lohan is not for the faint of heart,” said executive producer Larry Thompson. “I turned 50 shades of white during production…But the risk was worth the rewards; the pain was worth the pleasure.”

“Liz & Dick,” which premieres on November 25, recounts the scandalous and tumultuous romance between Taylor and British actor Richard Burton in the 1960s and 70s. Lohan is one of the few people ever to have portrayed the diamond-loving, larger-than-life, two-time best actress Oscar winner on screen.

The idea was irresistible. Who better than Lohan, 26, a former child star herself, would know the pressures of having her every move scrutinized by the media, the allure of drink and drugs, and the thrills and risks of living life on the edge?

“I think Lindsay Lohan…literally knows no boundaries and that becomes dangerous and exciting. And she has the ability to bring to the screen and her performance that danger, that raw emotion,” Thompson told reporters ahead of the premiere.

“If you are going to make a movie about Taylor, you damn well want some great magic. And we felt that Lindsay Lohan could bring that.”

Some reviews for “Liz & Dick” have been savage. The Hollywood Reporter called Lohan “woeful as Taylor from start to finish” and the TV movie “an instant classic of unintentional hilarity.” Variety was kinder, calling Lohan “adequate” and the film “hammy” but “pretty good, all things considered.” Both noted casting Lohan was a sound publicity move.

Thompson however is proud of the 90-minute TV film. “I think people will see (New Zealand actor) Grant Bowler as Richard Burton just steals your heart, and Lindsay Lohan breaks it.”

PAGES OF ‘WHAT IFS’

After five years of legal troubles, numerous trips to jail, rehab, and courtrooms, the “Mean Girls” star was looking for a project that could re-establish the credentials that had once made her among the most promising young actresses in Hollywood.

But her past brought problems with insurance for the movie, shooting schedules and the personal setbacks Lohan faced during the making of the TV film earlier this year.

Thompson said the deal with Lohan included “pages and pages of ‘what if’ clauses. What if there is a car accident? What if there is a violation of probation and she would be incarcerated? She might be the most insured actress to ever walk on a soundstage.”

The clauses were needed. During shooting, Lohan was involved in a serious car crash in the California beach city of Santa Monica, and on a separate occasion she was rushed to the hospital suffering from what as described as “exhaustion and dehydration.”

And just as Taylor and Burton were hounded by (and sometimes courted) the media during their highly public extra-marital affair, Lohan and the production staff had the paparazzi to deal with.

“There were paparazzi following us around, hanging out of trees every day. And while we were making a movie about Elizabeth Taylor being followed by paparazzi, we had real paparazzi following our paparazzi following Elizabeth Taylor. So it was life imitating art, art imitating life,” said Thompson.

Thompson acknowledged that fans of Taylor, who died in 2011 at age 79 after eight marriages – two of them to Burton – will believe there is no actress who could possibly play her. Burton died in 1984 at the age of 58.

Yet Lifetime chose Lohan also in the hope she would bring a younger generation of her own fans to the movie.

“A lot of young people today think Liz Taylor is an old woman sitting in a wheelchair next to Michael Jackson, whereas our movie is about the young, vibrant, highest-paid movie star in the world at the height of her beauty and power,” Thompson said.

As for whether he would work again with Lohan despite the challenging shoot?

“Sure,” Thompson said.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Christine Kearney and Lisa Shumaker)

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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New push for most in US to get at least 1 HIV test

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's a new push to make testing for the AIDS virus as common as cholesterol checks.

Americans ages 15 to 64 should get an HIV test at least once — not just people considered at high risk for the virus, an independent panel that sets screening guidelines proposed Monday.

The draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are the latest recommendations that aim to make HIV screening simply a routine part of a check-up, something a doctor can order with as little fuss as a cholesterol test or a mammogram. Since 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has pushed for widespread, routine HIV screening.

Yet not nearly enough people have heeded that call: Of the more than 1.1 million Americans living with HIV, nearly 1 in 5 — almost 240,000 people — don't know it. Not only is their own health at risk without treatment, they could unwittingly be spreading the virus to others.

The updated guidelines will bring this long-simmering issue before doctors and their patients again — emphasizing that public health experts agree on how important it is to test even people who don't think they're at risk, because they could be.

"It allows you to say, 'This is a recommended test that we believe everybody should have. We're not singling you out in any way,'" said task force member Dr. Douglas Owens of Stanford University and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.

And if finalized, the task force guidelines could extend the number of people eligible for an HIV screening without a copay in their doctor's office, as part of free preventive care under the Obama administration's health care law. Under the task force's previous guidelines, only people at increased risk for HIV — which includes gay and bisexual men and injecting drug users — were eligible for that no-copay screening.

There are a number of ways to get tested. If you're having blood drawn for other exams, the doctor can merely add HIV to the list, no extra pokes or swabs needed. Today's rapid tests can cost less than $20 and require just rubbing a swab over the gums, with results ready in as little as 20 minutes. Last summer, the government approved a do-it-yourself at-home version that's selling for about $40.

Free testing is available through various community programs around the country, including a CDC pilot program in drugstores in 24 cities and rural sites.

Monday's proposal also recommends:

—Testing people older and younger than 15-64 if they are at increased risk of HIV infection,

—People at very high risk for HIV infection should be tested at least annually.

—It's not clear how often to retest people at somewhat increased risk, but perhaps every three to five years.

—Women should be tested during each pregnancy, something the task force has long recommended.

The draft guidelines are open for public comment through Dec. 17.

Most of the 50,000 new HIV infections in the U.S. every year are among gay and bisexual men, followed by heterosexual black women.

"We are not doing as well in America with HIV testing as we would like," Dr. Jonathan Mermin, CDC's HIV prevention chief, said Monday.

The CDC recommends at least one routine test for everyone ages 13 to 64, starting two years younger than the task force recommended. That small difference aside, CDC data suggests fewer than half of adults under 65 have been tested.

"It can sometimes be awkward to ask your doctor for an HIV test," Mermin said — the reason that making it routine during any health care encounter could help.

But even though nearly three-fourths of gay and bisexual men with undiagnosed HIV had visited some sort of health provider in the previous year, 48 percent weren't tested for HIV, a recent CDC survey found. Emergency rooms are considered a good spot to catch the undiagnosed, after their illnesses and injuries have been treated, but Mermin said only about 2 percent of ER patients known to be at increased risk were tested while there.

Mermin calls that "a tragedy. It's a missed opportunity."

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'Trapped' on Broadway? R. Kelly is working on it

NEW YORK (AP) — Is Broadway ready for Twan, Sylvester, Pimp Lucius and "the package"? R. Kelly thinks so — and says he's working to bring the wacky characters and plotlines in his even wackier "Trapped in the Closet" series to the Great White Way.

The superstar announced Monday night that he's had an offer to bring the cult classic to the stage, and he may even be in some performances.

"To transform it into a Broadway version, that's what I'm working on," he told a packed house at the Sunshine Theater, where he unveiled the latest chapters in "Trapped in the Closet," which will debut on the IFC channel on Friday.

Kelly gave no other details about a possible Broadway adaptation of the wildly popular video opera. It got its start from a stirring series of songs Kelly debuted in 2005, which ended with a cliffhanger. The songs captured so much attention that Kelly made an over-the-top video series about it that just got crazier and crazier as he added more chapters.

Kelly has often referred to "Trapped" as an alien, and on Monday, he said: "I'm glad to be one of the astronauts to take this thing to the unknown."

He thanked the enthusiastic crowd for accepting the series, and admitted that he always wanted to act: "Somehow, I landed 'Trapped in the Closet' from being silly."

He also joked about the ridiculous nature of the series.

"I'm just having a lot of fun. I don't have a job, so I sit in the studio all day and think of stuff to do and this is just something stupid I've done that's been successful for me," he said. "I'm having a lot of fun with it."

The latest chapters introduce a few new faces, and like the others series, ends with a cliffhanger. While it's taken Kelly five years to add these latest chapters, Kelly says he won't take as long to produce more.

"I want everybody to know I've got 85 chapters of 'Trapped in the Closet' waiting in the studio for y'all," he said. "The chapters that are coming — the show, we call it — is going to exceed every chapter that you have ever seen."

Kelly capped off the evening with a rendition of one of his biggest hits, "I Believe I Can Fly," for the audience.

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Online:

http://www.r-kelly.com

http://www.ifc.com

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Nekesa Mumbi Moody is the AP's Global Entertainment & Lifestyles Editor. Follow her at http://www.twitter.com/nekesamumbi

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