Riccardo Muti a $2 million man for CSO

You can't put a price on genius. But when it comes in the form of a world-renowned maestro, the bill usually tops $1 million.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is no exception: Superstar conductor Riccardo Muti earned about $2.2 million in salary, performance fees, and recording and broadcast fees in 2011, his first full calendar year with the symphony, according to a CSO estimate provided to the Tribune this week -- the first time Muti's annual pay has been made public.

CSO Association President Deborah Rutter said Muti, who became CSO music director Sept. 1, 2010, "has brought to the CSO and Chicago a musical genius and charisma that has transformed the musical landscape of our city and the classical music world."

Contributions and ticket revenue reached all-time highs this year at the CSO.

"The musicians continue to be head over heels in love with their music director," Rutter said, "and we have seen that pride extend throughout the city."

Conductors' responsibilities vary widely from city to city and from conductor to conductor. For example, Muti's predecessor, Daniel Barenboim, earned $1.9 million in his last full tax year, 2005, but some of that payment was for work as a soloist. In addition to conducting the CSO, Barenboim, who left the CSO in June 2006, was also a renowned pianist.

San Francisco Symphony conductor Michael Tilson Thomas earned $2.41 million, and the Metropolitan Opera paid conductor James Levine $2.06 million in tax year 2010 (which lasts from mid-2010 to mid-2011). Orchestras in Boston, New York and Philadelphia also paid out more than $1 million to conductors that year.

Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor Gustavo Dudamel earned $985,363 in salary and benefits for tax year 2010, also his first full year.

Muti's contract runs through August 2015. When he missed five weeks of concerts in late 2010 and early 2011 due to illness, he continued to receive his music director salary but did not receive performance fees.

Oak Park-based arts consultant Drew McManus said Muti's pay is "entirely in line with comparable budget size orchestras."

McManus said that in an ideal situation the benefits of a good maestro more than pay for its cost, since "that artistic momentum will help ticket sales, donations, and — especially important for an orchestra of the CSO's size — (attract) national sponsors."

Whether that happens, he said, is "the $2 million dollar question, and it really depends on each individual group."

Rutter said Muti's arrival "has bolstered earned and contributed revenues for the CSO."

Like many orchestras around the country, the CSO faces some financial difficulties, including two straight years of operating losses and a 48-hour musician strike in September.

The current base salary for CSO musicians is $145,860, a spokeswoman said. Principals can make well over $200,000 with benefits, tax forms show.

Muti's job entails conducting 10 weeks of subscription concerts per year (about one third of the CSO's season) as well as domestic and international tours. His compensation includes performance fees paid for all such appearances. (Conducting the CSO at Ravinia is not part of his job.)

The maestro also participates in auditions and appointments to the orchestra and in "community engagement programs," according to a CSO statement, and he is responsible for programming decisions and "the overall artistic vision for the institution." A spokeswoman noted that Muti donates his performance fees for two concerts per year back to the CSO.

Tribune Newspapers' Mike Boehm contributed.

hgillers@tribune.com

Twitter @hgillers

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RIM jumps 10 percent in Toronto trade after Goldman upgrade

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A young model was either insane, or a calculating, quick-thinking murderer who feigned mental illness when he killed and castrated his lover, a prominent Portuguese journalist, in their New York hotel room last year, a jury heard on Wednesday. No one disputes that Renato Seabra, 22, killed Carlos Castro, 65, in January 2011. Seabra pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to a charge of second degree murder, and his trial reached closing arguments at Manhattan criminal court. ...

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After Rondo ejected, Nets beat Celtics 95-83

BOSTON (AP) — Doc Rivers wants the Boston Celtics to be tough — not violent.

The message came too late for Rajon Rondo.

The Celtics point guard was ejected from Wednesday night's game against the Nets when he retaliated for a hard foul against Kevin Garnett by shoving Brooklyn forward Kris Humphries into the courtside seats. Rondo, Humphries and Nets forward Gerald Wallace were ejected, and Brooklyn held on to win 95-83.

"All that stuff, that's not toughness," Rivers told reporters, calling his team soft. "That foul was a hard foul. It was an unnecessary foul. The play was over and then he pushed him down in the air. But I think that's what they think of us: They think they can push you around."

Joe Johnson scored 18 points and Andray Blatche had 17 points and 13 rebounds as the Nets opened up a 21-point, first-half lead and took advantage of the loss of the Celtics' All-Star to win for the ninth time in 11 games.

Garnett had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Paul Pierce added 14 points for Boston. Rondo had three assists before he was kicked out, ending his streak at 37 games with double-digits — tied for second-longest in NBA history.

The Nets led by eight after one quarter and scored 19 of the first 25 points in the second to make it 47-26. Boston cut the deficit to 14 points and trailed by 16 when Garnett took an off-balance jumper from the right baseline and Humphries leveraged him to the floor with his left arm.

Rondo trailed the play with a two-handed shove that sent Humphries into the courtside seats.

"Kevin could have gotten hurt. He's in the air. He took a bad fall. And so Rondo saw that and probably reacted, and over-reacted, obviously," Rivers said. "I can't get in anybody's head. But at that point we're getting our tails kicked and we're probably frustrated."

Wallace soon entered the fray by shoving Garnett. Nets point guard Deron Williams said Humphries, who did not speak to reporters after the game, had scratches on his head and neck.

After the game, Humphries posted a picture of his scratched left shoulder with the comment: "Anyone know where I can quick get a Tetnis shot in Boston?"

While the rest of the players remained by their benches, coaches and officials tried to break up the skirmish.

"I think guys just try to defend themselves," Nets coach Avery Johnson said. "I think the league should really take that into account. Because I don't know if guys can just walk away all the time. They've got to kind of protect themselves."

The referees went to the scorer's table to watch the incident on replay, and their verdict was announced over the public address system: Two technical fouls for Humphries, one for Wallace — his second of the game, ending his night — and one for Garnett.

Rondo was simply ejected.

"Rondo initiated everything that proceeded after the foul," crew chief James Capers said in a pool report provided to reporters. "And when he and Humphries go into the stands, they are involved in a fight. Fighting is an automatic ejection."

Rondo left the Celtics locker room before it was opened to reporters, and was unavailable for comment.

"We all back each other," Garnett said. "We take a lot of pride in putting on this jersey. I know I do. This ain't the Girl Scouts or the Boy Scouts. That's what it is. It's the NBA. You've got to get used to it."

When the free throws were done, Boston trailed 51-38, and the Celtics never got closer than nine points after that.

Rondo has had a history of petulance, including a one-game suspension during the opening round of last year's playoff series against Atlanta after he chest-bumped referee Marc Davis while complaining about a call in the final minute of a Boston loss.

During the 2011-12 regular season, he was suspended for two games for throwing a ball at an official.

"Usually he goes after the refs," Rivers said. "This was another guy, so this was better."

He has also come under criticism for selfishness this season for re-entering a 20-point loss to Detroit in the fourth quarter to keep his streak alive.

Notes: Rondo's streak of 10 or more assists dated to March 11 of last season. That ties John Stockton for second-longest in NBA history. Magic Johnson holds the record at 46 consecutive games in the 1983-84 season. ... U.S. Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman was in attendance. ... Rivers said Johnson is one of his best friends. The two had dinner together on Tuesday night. ... Garnett tied John Havlicek for 18th on the NBA career list with 1,270 games played. ... Pierce passed Bob Pettit for 13th on the NBA's all-time list for free throws made with 6,183. ... Celtics F Jeff Green sprained his right knee in the second half but was able to return. Boston F Chris Wilcox left the game due to illness. ... The teams next meet on Christmas Day in Brooklyn. ... The Nets were playing their third game in four days.

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Simple measures cut infections caught in hospitals

CHICAGO (AP) — Preventing surgery-linked infections is a major concern for hospitals and it turns out some simple measures can make a big difference.

A project at seven big hospitals reduced infections after colorectal surgeries by nearly one-third. It prevented an estimated 135 infections, saving almost $4 million, the Joint Commission hospital regulating group and the American College of Surgeons announced Wednesday. The two groups directed the 2 1/2-year project.

Solutions included having patients shower with special germ-fighting soap before surgery, and having surgery teams change gowns, gloves and instruments during operations to prevent spreading germs picked up during the procedures.

Some hospitals used special wound-protecting devices on surgery openings to keep intestine germs from reaching the skin.

The average rate of infections linked with colorectal operations at the seven hospitals dropped from about 16 percent of patients during a 10-month phase when hospitals started adopting changes to almost 11 percent once all the changes had been made.

Hospital stays for patients who got infections dropped from an average of 15 days to 13 days, which helped cut costs.

"The improvements translate into safer patient care," said Dr. Mark Chassin, president of the Joint Commission. "Now it's our job to spread these effective interventions to all hospitals."

Almost 2 million health care-related infections occur each year nationwide; more than 90,000 of these are fatal.

Besides wanting to keep patients healthy, hospitals have a monetary incentive to prevent these infections. Medicare cuts payments to hospitals that have lots of certain health care-related infections, and those cuts are expected to increase under the new health care law.

The project involved surgeries for cancer and other colorectal problems. Infections linked with colorectal surgery are particularly common because intestinal tract bacteria are so abundant.

To succeed at reducing infection rates requires hospitals to commit to changing habits, "to really look in the mirror and identify these things," said Dr. Clifford Ko of the American College of Surgeons.

The hospitals involved were Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles; Cleveland Clinic in Ohio; Mayo Clinic-Rochester Methodist Hospital in Rochester, Minn.; North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in Great Neck, NY; Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago; OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, Ill.; and Stanford Hospital & Clinics in Palo Alto, Calif.

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Online:

Joint Commission: http://www.jointcommission.org

American College of Surgeons: http://www.facs.org

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AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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Lindsay Lohan arrested on assault charge in NYC

NEW YORK (AP) — Actress Lindsay Lohan was arrested Thursday after police said she hit a woman during an argument at a New York City nightclub.

The "Mean Girls" and "Freaky Friday" star was arrested at 4 a.m. and charged with third-degree assault.

She left a police precinct nearly four hours later with a black jacket pulled over her head. She was wearing leggings, a green mini skirt and high-heels, and drove off in a black SUV with a driver and another man who was seen going in and out of the precinct.

She allegedly got into the spat with another woman at Club Avenue, in Manhattan's Chelsea section. She struck the woman in face with her hand, police said. The woman did not require medical attention.

Lohan's publicist did not immediately return a call for comment.

The arrest is Lohan's latest brush with law enforcement in New York City.

She was involved in a NYPD investigation in September after alleging a man had assaulted her in a New York hotel, but charges against the man were later dropped.

Also in September, the actress was accused of clipping a man with her car outside another Manhattan nightclub, but prosecutors chose not to move ahead with charges.

In October, police were called to her childhood home on Long Island after a report of fight between her and her mother. An investigation revealed "no criminality."

The actress was also involved in a car accident in California this summer that sent her and an assistant to a hospital, but didn't result in serious injuries for anyone. The accident remains under investigation.

In May, she was cleared of allegations that she struck a Hollywood nightclub manager with her car.

Lohan remains on informal probation for taking a necklace from a jewelry store without permission last year. That means she doesn't have to check in with a judge or probation officer but could face a jail term if arrested again.

Her latest film, "Liz & Dick," in which she portrays screen icon Elizabeth Taylor, premiered on Lifetime on Sunday.

Lohan also recently filmed "The Canyons," an indie film written by "Less Than Zero" and "American Psycho" author Bret Easton Ellis.

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Starbucks sells $7-a-cup coffee

Starbucks serves up $7 cup of coffee. (Source: WPIX - New York)

Coffee aficionados have a difficult decision to make: Spend $7 on a full lunch or on a single cup of Starbucks coffee?

The brew in question: The Seattle giant’s new Costa Rica Finca Palmilera, its most expensive offering ever and also one of its rarest. The coffee is part of the company’s Reserve line and costs $7 for a grande cup.

An 8-ounce package costs $40. The uber-premium beans and brew are available only in 46 Starbucks stores in Portland and Seattle, as well as a licensed store in Idaho and Starbucks’ Roy Street Coffee & Tea offshoot in Washington.

There are more than 11,000 Starbucks stores nationwide.

Online, Starbucks has already sold out of a similar offering – the Costa Rica Tarrazu Geisha, listed on the website as having “rose petal aromas with ripe banana and subtle red current notes and silky mouth feel." The 450 half-pound bags of beans available were snapped up within 24 hours of being offered Nov. 8.

Both kind of beans are known as Geisha heirloom varietals, named for the village in Ethiopia where they were first discovered before making their way to Central America in the 1950s.

Starbucks justifies the high price by explaining that Geisha plants don’t produce many cherries, making the beans extremely rare and also full of concentrated flavor. This is the company’s first go-round with Geisha beans.

Now Starbucks is working through 3,800 pounds of Finca Palmilera beans, which feature notes of white peach and pineapple, spokeswoman Alisa Martinez said.

“It leaves a tingly, kind of light feeling,” she said. “It’s a very exquisite coffee.”

But try telling that to the consumers pranked by comedian Jimmy Kimmel this week, who set up a fake taste test in Hollywood asking people to distinguish between standard coffee and what was supposedly the “Finca Palmilera” brew. Turns out, both cups contained the same basic Joe.

“I feel like this is a test to find out just how stupid we are,” Kimmel said on his show. “Although, while it’s ridiculous to spend $7 on a cup of coffee, it’s actually not that much more ridiculous to spend $4 on a cup of coffee.”

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Powerball sales 'blistering' as jackpot hits $500 million

The Illinois Lottery says Powerball tickets are selling at a "blistering" pace as the jackpot reached $500 million.

Over a 30-minute period around the middle of the day Tuesday, the Illinois Lottery sold more than $200,000 in Powerball tickets across the state.

Lottery officials expected the pace of sales to increase even more ahead of tonight's drawing for the largest jackpot in Powerball history.

A $656 million Mega Millions jackpot set a world lottery record in March. That prize was split three ways. One of the winning tickets was held by Merle and Patricia Butler of Red Bud in southern Illinois. The retired couple took home nearly $119 million.

Powerball has not had a winner for two months, and the pot has already grown by nearly $175 million due to brisk ticket sales after no one won the top prize in Saturday's drawing.

The next drawing for the prize on Wednesday night would dish out a whopping $327.4 million and counting if paid as a lump sum. Alternatively, the $500 million can be paid out in an annuity over three decades.Powerball is sold in 42 states,Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

There have been nearly 300 jackpot winners over the past 20 years, taking home payouts of over $11.6 billion.

Among dreamers across the nation lining up at an Arizona grocery store in Tucson for a shot at Wednesday's prize was metal shop worker Errol Simmons, 54, entrusted with a list of lucky numbers by a dozen or so co-workers.

"I've got to get this right," he said as he checked through the list. "I don't want to be the guy who lost us half a billion dollars because I couldn't count.

"If we win, I'll buy a new truck," he said. "For each day of the week."

Looking sharp in a blue pin striped suit, Portland, Oregon, financial adviser Aaron Pearson, 36, said he was taking care to pick his own numbers for the first time - although he was unsure what he would do with the huge jackpot should he win.

"I have no idea. I'd invest it and live off of it. I'd give to charities. I'd start a foundation," he mused.

The chance of winning the jackpot are about one in 175 million, compared to about one in 280,000 for being struck by lightning.

Despite the long odds, the record payout has drawn interest from around the world, said Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, where Powerball is based. Lottery officials have received calls and emails from people outside the United States asking if they can buy a ticket from afar. They cannot.

"Sales across the country are just through the roof. It means lots of people are having fun with this, but it makes it difficult to keep up with the (jackpot) estimate."

The previous top Powerball prize of $365 million was won in 2006 by ConAgra slaughterhouse workers in Nebraska.

Associated Press and Reuters contributed

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BlackBerry maker RIM loses patent dispute with Nokia

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Canada's Research In Motion (RIM) has lost a contract dispute over the use of Nokia patents in a case which could halt sales of its BlackBerry phones if it does not reach a deal to pay royalties to the Finnish company.

Nokia said on Wednesday a Swedish arbitrator had ruled that "RIM was in breach of contract and is not entitled to manufacture or sell WLAN products without first agreeing royalties with Nokia."

Wireless local access network (WLAN) technologies, usually marketed under the WiFi brand, are used across BlackBerry devices and by most other smartphones.

Nokia, which is trying to boost its royalty income as its phone business slides, said it had filed cases in the United States, Britain and Canada to enforce the arbitrator's ruling.

"This could have a significant financial impact to RIM, as all BlackBerry devices support WLAN," IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo said.

RIM declined to comment. At 6 a.m. EDT its Frankfurt-listed shares were down 5 percent at 8.245 euros. Nokia shares were down 1.6 percent at 2.526 euros.

"If a sales ban was imposed it would be a massive blow for RIM as it manages its transition to the new BlackBerry 10 software platform," said Canalys analyst Pete Cunningham.

However, analysts think it is much more likely that RIM will reach a royalty agreement with Nokia to avert such an outcome.

RIM, a smartphone pioneer, hopes new devices using BlackBerry 10 software, due early 2013, will rescue it from a prolonged slump in the face of competition from the likes of Apple and Samsung.

RIM promises its new devices will be faster than previous smartphones, and will have a large catalogue of applications, which are crucial to the success of any new line of smartphones.

CONTRACT ROW

Nokia said it signed a cross-license agreement with RIM covering standards-essential cellular patents in 2003, a deal that was amended in 2008.

RIM sought arbitration in March 2011 with the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, arguing the license should be extended to cover WLAN patents.

The arbitration tribunal concluded a nine day hearing in September 2012 and it issued a decision on November 6, Nokia said in a U.S. court filing seeking to enforce the ruling.

During arbitration RIM did not contest it manufactures and sells products using WLAN technology in accordance with Nokia's WLAN products, Nokia said, quoting the tribunal decision.

Nokia, along with Ericsson and Qualcomm, is among the leading patent holders in the wireless industry. Patent royalties generate annual revenue of about 500 million euros ($646 million) for Nokia.

Based on a Nortel patent sale and Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, some investors and analysts say Nokia's patent portfolio alone merits its current share price of around 2.50 euros.

However, the patent market has cooled since those deals were made and industry experts say that fair value of patents in large portfolios is $100,000 to $200,000, pricing Nokia's portfolio at up to 0.50 euros per share.

(Editing by David Goodman and Mark Potter)

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AP source: ACC presidents vote to add Louisville

The Atlantic Coast Conference's presidents and chancellors have voted unanimously to add Louisville as the replacement for Maryland, a person familiar with the situation said Wednesday morning.

The person said ACC leaders also considered Connecticut and Cincinnati over the past week before choosing to add the Cardinals from the Big East. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the ACC has not publicly discussed future expansion plans.

The vote came during a conference call of ACC presidents and chancellors, the person said.

It's unclear exactly when Louisville will join the ACC. The Cardinals will be the seventh Big East school to leave for the ACC in the past decade.

This latest rapid-fire round of realignment was set off last week by the Big Ten's additions of Maryland and Rutgers, which will join that conference in 2014.

On Tuesday, the Big East added Tulane for all sports and East Carolina for football only, also beginning in 2014.

Adding Louisville would bring the ACC to an even 14 full members, with Pittsburgh and Syracuse beginning conference play in 2013.

Two months ago, the ACC announced the addition of Notre Dame for all the conference's sports but football, with the fiercely independent Fighting Irish committing to play five ACC football opponents each season. Most of Notre Dame's non-football sports have competed in the Big East since 1995.

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AP Sports Writer Joedy McCreary in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.

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Van Gogh, John Lennon letters coming to NY auction

NEW YORK (AP) — An upcoming auction of over 300 historical documents includes rare letters written by Vincent van Gogh, George Washington, John Lennon and other iconic figures.

The property of an anonymous American collector is being offered by Profiles in History in an online and phone auction on Dec. 18.

Among the highlights is a two-page letter from Washington to an Anglican clergyman.

Another top item is a signed van Gogh letter, written in 1890, to Joseph and Marie Ginoux, who were proprietors of the Cafe de la Gare in Arles, France, where the Dutch post-impressionist artist lived for a time.

Each of those letters is estimated to bring $ 200,000 to $ 300,000.

A handwritten letter from John Lennon to Eric Clapton has a pre-sale estimate of $ 20,000 to $ 30,000.

The collection will be exhibited Dec. 3-9 at Douglas Elliman’s Madison Avenue art gallery.

Washington‘s letter was written on Aug. 15, 1798, to the Rev. Jonathan Boucher, amid an undeclared naval war with France. Washington thanks Boucher for sending him his “View of the Causes and Consequences of the American Revolution,” a book of 13 discourses Boucher preached.

“Peace, with all the world is my sincere wish, I am sure it is our true policy — and am persuaded it is the ardent desire of the Government,” the former president and Founding Father wrote.

In a Jan. 20, 1890, four-page letter, handwritten in French to his friends Monsieur and Madame Ginoux, van Gogh wishes the ailing proprietress a speedy recovery.

“Illnesses are there to make us remember again that we are not made of wood,” the artist wrote. “That’s what seems the good side of all this to me. Then afterwards one goes back to one’s everyday work less fearful of the annoyances, with a new store of serenity.” Van Gogh died less than seven months later.

He suffered from acute anxiety and bouts of depression throughout his life. Madame Ginoux and the cafe were frequent subjects of his work.

The eight-page letter from Lennon is a draft he wrote to Clapton on Sept. 29, 1971, and signed “John and Yoko.” The whereabouts of the final version is unknown.

Lennon writes candidly about his admiration for the great British guitarist and suggests forming a “‘nucleus’ group (Plastic Ono Band) . — and of course had YOU!!! In mind as soon as we decided.” He writes that drummer Jim Kelnter, artist Klaus Voormann, pianist Nicky Hopkins and producer Phil Spector “all agreed so far” to join.

“Anyway, the point is, after missing the Bangla-Desh concert, we began to feel more and more like going on the road, but not the way I used with the Beatles — night after night of torture. We mean to enjoy ourselves, take it easy, and maybe even see some of the places we go to! We have many ‘revolutionary’ ideas for presenting shows that completely involve the audience .”

Other luminaries whose papers will be sold include Lou Gehrig, Louis Pasteur, Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, Giuseppe Verdi, Peter Tchaikovsky, Cole Porter, King Henry II and Napoleon I.

The December auction is the first of several sales that will be held over two years. The entire collection contains 3,000 items.

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Online:

Information on how to bid is available on www.profilesinhistory.com.

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