Lampert plans to be a new kind of merchant

He's been a big-time investor in the retail sector for more than 15 years and was chairman of Kmart after it emerged from bankruptcy about a decade ago. A few years later, he paired it with once-dominant Sears.

Yet even as Eddie Lampert is poised next month to add the role of chief executive to that of chairman at retail giant Sears Holdings, he's still characterized generally as just a hedge fund guy.

This, Lampert suggested in a rare interview Tuesday, fails to acknowledge changes in the 21st century retail industry as well as the Hoffman Estates-based company he seeks to revive.

"The most successful guy in retail right now is Jeff Bezos, and he was a (Wall Street) hedge fund guy," Lampert, 50, said by phone. "I think a lot of times when people talk about merchants it's almost a nostalgic look back at the time where the world moved at a very different pace and information was very different."

Lampert has decided to succeed Lou D'Ambrosio, who is leaving to tend to a family health issue. Critics complain that this is just the latest missed opportunity to have a world-class merchandiser run the struggling company.

"So it's Eddie Lampert who's going to be there, and he's a smart guy and insightful when it comes to doing deals, but he doesn't have a track record at running a retail operation," said Evan Mann, an analyst with Gimme Credit.

Lampert argues that a new kind of sales, one that encompasses e-commerce, traditional bricks-and-mortar, mobile and more, requires a new kind of merchant.

"Trying to move the volume of products we're talking about from place to place to get it ultimately into the customer's hands, to price these items, to market these items, I think the retail business is incredibly complex," Lampert said. "But if you get it right, it's a beautiful thing."

"I'm not denying that there are still great merchants," he said. "But to operate a company of the size of Sears Holdings or Wal-Mart or Target or Home Depot or Lowe's, you need a combination of skills, and each of those skills needs to be sufficiently strong."

Lampert can make the case that he is a modern-day merchant. He still hasn't proved he's a good one. For six successive years, Sears Holdings has seen no top-line growth, due to slipping sales and store closings.

"I understand and I appreciate people looking at same-store sales as an indicator," D'Ambrosio said during the call. "I think when you look at the financial shape of the company, there's clear progress."

D'Ambrosio noted four consecutive quarters of EBITDA growth and the fact the company raised $1.8 billion of liquidity in 2012 while reducing net debt by $400 million.

Overshadowed in Monday's news of the leadership change were other glimmers of hope: Sears' domestic comparable-store sales for the nine weeks ended Dec. 29 were up 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the strategy of technological convergence, which included a loyalty program, has yielded a wellspring of consumer data and changed customers' relationship with the retailer. Kmart and U.S. Sears' online sales are up 20 percent.

"It's never a good time for a transition, but what I would tell you is, five years ago, we put in place a more distributed leadership structure," Lampert said. "Despite what people may have said or written, there is a difference between a chairman role and a CEO role, and I've never been in the CEO role in this company."

D'Ambrosio predicted Lampert will offer strategic continuity. But handicappers have long questioned whether the old horse had any giddy-up left in its step to catch up to and keep pace with Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon.

And not to beat a dead metaphor, but the suspicion among many all along has been that Lampert saw neither a thoroughbred nor tireless workhorse in the parent of Sears and Kmart as so many parts to be cut up, boiled down and sold off.

"I was very clear why we put these companies together and what our goals were," Lampert said. "It was really to allow both Sears and Kmart to compete in what I thought was going to be a more challenging but evolving industry. The framework which was placed upon me and the company was: 'OK, this was all about real estate. It's about selling real estate.' Then when we didn't sell real estate, it became: 'Well, they missed the opportunity in 2006, 2007 to sell the real estate.'

"I've never denied there was substantial real estate value in the company," he said. "Suffice it to say that … the most value can be created if we actually transform it."

Fortune in 2006 called Lampert "the best investor of his generation." A Forbes contributor last year ranked him No. 2 on a list of the worst CEOs, and while acknowledging Lampert was Sears Holdings' chairman and not CEO, the contributor argued that "Lampert has called the shots, he's missed every target" and that he had "destroyed Sears."

D'Ambrosio said he doesn't recognize the Lampert he sometimes sees described by critics.

"I've never worked with somebody who understands business models and how to re-imagine a business model and has a view on the way buying will change going forward better than Eddie," D'Ambrosio said.

It turns out, his image is the thing he's least interested in selling at Sears Holdings.

"I do think what we've been trying to do at the company has been very clear," Lampert said. "If people want to doubt it or put a spin on it, they're entitled to do it. We just have to perform."

philrosenthal@tribune.com

Twitter @phil_rosenthal

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Field Museum team helps uncover T. rex of the sea

Research and planning are often key factors scientists cite when they make a great discovery. Only rarely does being out of shape play a role.

But Field Museum scientist Jim Holstein said being dog-tired after a long day of trekking through a Nevada mountain range led to his find of a new type of prehistoric marine reptile that on Monday was laid out, in fossil form, on a table in the Chicago museum.

The 28-foot-long animal is now known as Thalattoarchon saurophagis, "lizard-eating ruler of the seas," a member of the very successful ichthyosaur family that lived, for the most part concurrently with dinosaurs, for 160 million years.

It died roughly 244 million years ago and is the earliest type of ichthyosaur — and only the second on record — to show signs of being a "superpredator" that ate animals of its own size atop the marine food chain in a manner similar to a killer whale, said Nadia Frobisch, lead author of the paper describing the new species that appeared in Monday's electronic issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Before getting its new scientific name, it was known simply as "Jim," after Holstein, who credits his discovery to being the most exhausted of the original search party 141/2 years ago.

He was in central Nevada's Augusta Mountains, returning to camp along a high ridge after a day of searching for fossils in an ancient seabed turned mountainside.

His colleagues, Martin Sander and Olivier Rieppel, were seasoned climbers, cheery as they contemplated dinner. Holstein was not, and was especially tired after a long hot day toward the end of an exhausting expedition.

"They both walked over this animal," Holstein said Monday. "My head hung low."

And because of that he saw in the rock, near some juniper bushes along a wild mustang trail, the skull of the ichthyosaur that, upon closer examination, turned out to have a distinctive feature.

Ichthyosaurs — from the Greek for "fish lizard" — were once plentiful in what is now Nevada. The creature, a reptile that evolved from a land to sea animal and resembled a dolphin, is the official state fossil.

But most had more modest teeth, suitable only for dining on smaller marine life. The teeth of the specimen Holstein found were large and had two cutting surfaces, suggesting it might have killed and eaten other large animals.

Finding a big specimen is one thing. Excavating it is quite another.

"It's very, very difficult terrain, very difficult to get these fossils out of these mountains," said Rieppel, the Field's Rowe Family Curator of Evolutionary Biology.

In addition to that, the trio didn't fully understand the potential significance of what they had found, Sander said in an email. So "Jim" was entered into Sander's field notes for the expedition on July 24, 1998 and essentially forgotten for seven years, when it caught the attention of some of Sanders' students at the University of Bonn in Germany.

"Lars (Schmitz) and I stumbled over the notes that Martin had taken on that last field day ... which said 'large ichthyosaur discovered with cutting edges on the teeth,'" Frobisch, then a University of Chicago postdoctoral scholar who now works at a museum in Berlin, recalled via email.

"This immediately gripped our attention, as there is only one very poorly preserved ichthyosaur known from the Himalaya region to have cutting edges on the teeth."

Sander recalled Schmitz, Frobisch and another student "storming into my office one day and demanding to go" and see this animal.

After a 2005 scientific conference in Arizona, Sander, Frobisch and Schmitz returned to the scene and confirmed the finding. "We knew it was quite likely it was a new taxon," or population group, said Schmitz, who now teaches at the Claremont Colleges in California

The National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration provided a $20,000 grant to excavate the fossil, a spokeswoman said. An almost monthlong trip in 2008 brought the skeleton, encased in an estimated 3,000 pounds of rock, to the Field, where preparators have been working on separating it from earth since.

The Field hopes to eventually put the relatively intact skeleton on display, Rieppel said, but the top priority has been to examine the most significant parts of the fossil in order to identify it definitively as a previously unknown ichthyosaur.

For now, the head and a roughly 3-foot vertebrae section from near the tail are in a third-floor office at the museum. Chunks of rocks containing other bones rest on an adjacent table.

It looks a little rough. Holstein described the head, flattened and condensed by fossilization, as looking "like a killer pancake right now." But it is a killer pancake with scientific significance.

"Our 'Jim' was the first in a long row of 'T. rexes' of the sea," Sander said. "At the level of the ecosystem, the discovery is important because the presence of a top predator indicates that (roughly) 242 million years ago, 8 million years after the catastrophe (when life on earth nearly ended at the end of the Permian period, 250 million years ago), the modern ecosystems had evolved in the sea. Nothing fundamentally happened since then. The food web remained the same, only the players changed.

"To put it in one sentence, the discovery shows two new things: What the first top predator in the sea was like and how quickly it evolved after the catastrophe."

sajohnson@tribune.com

Twitter @StevenKJohnson

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'Bama bashes Notre Dame 42-14 in BCS title game

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Barely taking time to celebrate their latest national championship, Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide are ready to get back to work.

That's how they make it look so easy.

In what must be an increasingly frustrating scene for the rest of college football, another season ended with Saban and his players frolicking in the middle of a confetti-strewn field. Eddie Lacy ran all over Notre Dame, AJ McCarron turned in another dazzling performance through the air, and the Tide defense shut down the Fighting Irish until it was no longer in doubt.

The result was a 42-14 blowout in the BCS title game Monday night, not only making Alabama a back-to-back champion, but a full-fledged dynasty with three crowns in four years.

This one was especially satisfying to Saban.

"People talk about how the most difficult thing is to win your first championship," he said. "Really, the most difficult one to win is the next one, because there's always a feeling of entitlement."

Rest assured, that feeling won't last long in Tuscaloosa.

While Saban insisted he was "happy as hell" and "has never been prouder of a group of young men," it was hard to tell. He was already talking about reporting to the office Wednesday morning and getting started on next season.

"One of these days, when I'm sitting on the side of the hill watching the stream go by, I'll probably figure it out even more," Saban said. "But what about next year's team? You've got to think about that, too."

So, in short order, he'll be talking with underclassmen about entering the NFL draft, making sure everyone goes back to class on schedule, and getting started on that next depth chart.

"The Process," as he calls it, never stops.

"We're going to enjoy it for 24 hours or so," Saban said.

No. 2 Alabama quieted the top-ranked Irish on the very first drive — so much for waking up the echoes — and could've started the celebration at halftime, heading to the locker room with a commanding 28-0 lead.

The Tide (13-1) pushed it out to 35-0 midway through the third quarter on the third of McCarron's four touchdown passes, a 34-yarder to Amari Cooper with a defender nowhere in sight.

At that point, Alabama was on a 69-0 blitz in national title games, having scored the last 13 points in its 2010 triumph over Texas and blanked LSU 21-0 for last year's BCS crown.

When Everett Golson finally scored for Notre Dame (12-1) with about 4 minutes remaining in the third, it snapped a scoreless stretch of nearly two full games — 108 minutes and 7 seconds — by the Tide.

"It was just a complete game by the offense, defense and special teams," said Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley, the defensive MVP with eight tackles, one of them behind the line.

Despite the dazzling numbers by McCarron — 20 of 28 for 264 yards — he was denied a second straight offensive MVP award in the title game. That went to Lacy, who finished with 140 yards rushing on 20 carries and scored two TDs. Not a bad finish for the junior, who surely helped his status in the NFL draft should he decide to turn pro.

Lacy also was MVP of the Southeastern Conference championship game, rushing for a career-best 181 yards in the thrilling victory over Georgia that gave Alabama a chance to repeat as champion.

The Tide will have some big holes to fill, no matter who decides to leave school early, with offensive tackle D.J. Fluker and cornerback Dee Milliner also pondering their draft prospects. There's not a lot of seniors on the roster, but All-America linemen Barrett Jones and Chance Warmack and safety Robert Lester are among those who definitely won't be back.

But Alabama had some huge holes to fill a year ago, too, with five players drafted in the first 35 picks.

That worked out just fine.

The Crimson Tide wrapped up its ninth Associated Press national title, breaking a tie with Notre Dame for the most by any school and gaining a measure of redemption for a bitter loss to the Irish almost four decades ago: the epic 1973 Sugar Bowl in which Ara Parseghian's team edged Bear Bryant's powerhouse 24-23.

"The process is ongoing," said Saban, tightlipped as ever and showing little emotion after the fourth BCS national title of his coaching career. "We have a 24-hour rule around here. We enjoy everything for 24 hours."

Notre Dame went from unranked in the preseason to the top spot in the rankings by the end of the regular season, winning two games in overtime and three other times by seven points or less.

But the long wait for a championship — the Irish haven't finished No. 1 since 1988 — will have to wait at least one more year.

"They just did what Alabama does," moaned Manti Te'o, Notre Dame's star linebacker and Heisman Trophy finalist, trying to digest an embarrassing loss in his final college game.

Golson will be back.

He completed his first season as the starter by going 21 of 36 for 270 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. But the young quarterback got no help from the running game, which was held to 32 yards — 170 below its season average.

"We've got to get physically stronger, continue close the gap there," said Brian Kelly, the Irish's third-year coach. "Just overall, we need to see what it looks like. Our guys clearly know what it looks like now — a championship football team. That's back-to-back national champions. That's what it looks like. That's what you measure yourself against there. It's pretty clear across the board what we have to do."

Kelly vowed this was only beginning, insisting the bar has been raised in South Bend no matter what the outcome.

"We made incredible strides to get to this point," he said. "Now it's pretty clear what we've got to do to get over the top."

Alabama is already there but still longing for more, not content even after the second-biggest rout of the BCS era that began in 1999. The only title game that was more of a blowout was USC's 55-19 victory over Oklahoma in the 2005 Orange Bowl, a title that was later vacated because of NCAA violations.

You could almost hear television sets around the country flipping to other channels as Alabama poured it on, a hugely anticipated matchup between two of the nation's most storied programs reduced to a laugher when the Tide scored on its first three possessions.

"We're going for it next year again," said offensive tackle Cyrus Kouandijo, only a sophomore and already the owner of two rings. "And again. And again. And again. I love to win. That's why I came here."

___

Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963

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Mariah Carey increased security in feud with fellow “Idol” judge

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Pop diva Mariah Carey said she hired increased security following what she described as threats reportedly made against her by fellow ‘American Idol‘ judge Nicki Minaj, according to an interview on ABC News.

Carey, 42, one of three new judges to join the “American Idol” panel for the hit talent show’s new season on January 16, told Barbara Walters in an interview airing on Monday, “it felt like an unsafe work environment.”

“Anytime anybody’s reeling threats at somebody, you know, it’s not appropriate,” Carey said.

“I’m a professional. I’m not used to that type of environment,” she said, adding that she hired extra security.

The diva was alluding to widely reported tension between her and Minaj, who were seen arguing with one another in a video from the show’s audition phase.

Walters has reported that, according to Carey, others on the “Idol” set heard Minaj go further and say, off-camera, “If I had a gun, I would shoot that bitch.”

Minaj, a Trinidadian-born singer and songwriter, previously denied making any remarks about firearms, but Carey told Walters that beefing up her security “was the appropriate thing to do.”

“Sitting there on the road with two babies, I’m not going to take any chances,” she said, referring to her 20-month old twins with husband Nick Cannon.

But in a sign of media savvy, she noted that “for all the drama, I hope it helps the show.”

Walters also asked Carey about reports she is being paid $ 18 million for each “Idol” season.

“I think we’re in the ballpark, (but) I can’t even talk about those things,” the singer replied.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Paul Simao)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down

WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.

Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer.

"There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer advocacy groups.

But bad diets, lack of physical activity and obesity together wield "incredible forces against this decline in mortality," Brawley said. He warned that over the next decade, that trio could surpass tobacco as the leading cause of cancer in the U.S.

Overall, deaths from cancer began slowly dropping in the 1990s, and Monday's report shows the trend holding. Among men, cancer death rates dropped by 1.8 percent a year between 2000 and 2009, and by 1.4 percent a year among women. The drops are thanks mostly to gains against some of the leading types — lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers — because of treatment advances and better screening.

The news isn't all good. Deaths still are rising for certain cancer types including liver, pancreatic and, among men, melanoma, the most serious kind of skin cancer.

Preventing cancer is better than treating it, but when it comes to new cases of cancer, the picture is more complicated.

Cancer incidence is dropping slightly among men, by just over half a percent a year, said the report published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Prostate, lung and colorectal cancers all saw declines.

But for women, earlier drops have leveled off, the report found. That may be due in part to breast cancer. There were decreases in new breast cancer cases about a decade ago, as many women quit using hormone therapy after menopause. Since then, overall breast cancer incidence has plateaued, and rates have increased among black women.

Another problem area: Oral and anal cancers caused by HPV, the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, are on the rise among both genders. HPV is better known for causing cervical cancer, and a protective vaccine is available. Government figures show just 32 percent of teen girls have received all three doses, fewer than in Canada, Britain and Australia. The vaccine was recommended for U.S. boys about a year ago.

Among children, overall cancer death rates are dropping by 1.8 percent a year, but incidence is continuing to increase by just over half a percent a year. Brawley said it's not clear why.

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'Downton,' 'Girls,' 'Idol' and more this January

NEW YORK (AP) — Where once the post-holiday schedule was a blizzard of chilly reruns, January is aburst with premieres and finales.

Already, the much-adored British miniseries "Downton Abbey" has made its much-awaited season return Sundays on PBS.

On IFC on Fridays, the hilarious "Portlandia" is back for its third season of sketch comedy poking fun at the peculiarities of Portland, Ore., starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein.

And NBC's mystery melodrama "Deception" has arrived on Mondays. Meagan Good stars as a detective going undercover at the home of a rich family with whom she was once friendly, to investigate a murder within the clan.

On Tuesday, PBS' "American Experience" begins a three-week documentary miniseries, "The Abolitionists," spotlighting Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Brown and Angelina Grimke.

Also on Tuesday, the FX drama "Justified" is returning for its fourth season of Kentucky hill-country crime-fighting led by Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (series star Timothy Olyphant).

On Thursday, comedic action centers at the White House with the premiere of NBC's "1600 Penn." Josh Gad ("The Book of Mormon") stars as the goofball son of the incumbent U.S. president (played by Bill Pullman) who keeps the first family in a stir, yet manages to make everything turn out all right by the final fade-out.

The Gallaghers of "Shameless" are a much different family. In this dark comedy, William H. Macy stars as the boozy single father of a brood of kids who manage their ragtag Chicago homestead in spite of Dad's overindulgences. Also starring Emmy Rossum, it returns Jan. 13 for its third season on Showtime.

Also on Jan. 13, HBO's comedy "Girls" returns for a second season sure to be at least as ballyhooed, discussed and argued about as the first. Lena Dunham (who also writes, produces, directs and created the series) stars as one of a quartet of twentysomething gal pals in New York.

Right after "Girls," HBO launches the second season of "Enlightened," an affecting comedy starring Laura Dern as a confused New Age-y activist who's bent on changing the world.

What was Carrie Bradshaw like before Sarah Jessica Parker and "Sex and the City"? Find out on "The Carrie Diaries," which debuts on the CW on Jan. 14. AnnaSophia Robb stars as the high-school era Carrie in this likable prequel.

"American Idol" returns on Jan. 16 on Fox. Veteran judge Randy Jackson will be joined by Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban. Ryan Seacrest, as always, is the affable host.

After five seasons, Fox's lovably inscrutable sci-fi series "Fringe" concludes its head-scratching run on Jan. 18. Stars include Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson and John Noble.

Fox's bloody suspense drama "The Following" premieres Jan. 21. Kevin Bacon stars as a former FBI agent drafted back into service to chase a serial murderer and his vicious disciples.

My, how Spartacus' army has grown! Commanding thousands of freed slaves, Spartacus is primed to bring down the entire Roman Republic as the final season begins for "Spartacus: War of the Damned," Jan. 25 on Starz. Liam McIntyre plays the rebel leader.

The world of "Dallas" will be rocked during its second season with the death of arch-villain oilman J.R. Ewing (played, of course, by Larry Hagman, who passed away in November while the series was in production). Also starring Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray, this rebooted (so to speak) version of the long-running CBS prime-time soap returns on TNT on Jan. 28.

FX weighs in with an edgy new drama "The Americans" on Jan. 30. It stars Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell as two KGB agents posing as the heads of a normal American household in the 1980s, as they work tirelessly to bring down the U.S. on behalf of Mother Russia.

On Jan. 31, NBC unveils a new medical drama "Do No Harm." Steve Pasquale ("Rescue Me") stars as a neurosurgeon with a great bedside manner who inconveniently shares a body with his sociopathic alter ego.

The same night, NBC closes the book on the brilliant mockery of "30 Rock." This Tina Fey comedy wraps seven seasons of making fun of pop culture, modern life and especially its own real-life broadcast network — which, like the rest of the TV universe, has even more midseason goodies in store come February.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE — Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore(at)ap.org and at http://www.twitter.com/tvfrazier

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Sears CEO D'Ambrosio to step down

Sears Holdings Corp. said Monday night that Chief Executive Officer Louis D'Ambrosio will step down Feb. 2, due to family health matters, and Chairman Edward Lampert will add the role of CEO.

The surprise move fuels uncertainty at the Hoffman Estates-based company, which has struggled for years to re-establish itself as a department store in an ultracompetitive retailing industry dominated by low-price giant Wal-Mart and big box and specialty stores.

Shares of Sears Holdings were up 2.3 percent in premarket trading on the news.

The decision by Lampert, a hedge fund operator who is the company's biggest shareholder, to take over day-to-day control represents a reversal from his naming of D'Ambrosio as chief executive nearly two years ago after operating with an interim CEO.

"In light of Lou's decision to step down, the board feels it is important that there is continuity of leadership during this important period of transformation and improvement at Sears Holdings," Lampert said in a statement. "I have agreed to assume these additional responsibilities in order to continue the company's recovery and sustain the momentum we are experiencing, as well as further the development of the management team under the distributed leadership model, which provides our business unit leaders with greater control, authority and autonomy."

Sears Holdings, which operates Sears and Kmart, also updated its fourth-quarter earnings outlook Monday night. The company said it expects to report a net loss $280 million to $360 million, or $2.64 to $3.40 per diluted share, for the quarter ending Feb. 2. The loss includes a charge of about $450 million because of pension settlements and an additional $42 million in pension expenses.

Excluding pension expenses, Sears said it expects to earn $132 million to $212 million, or $1.25 to $2 per share.

Analysts polled by Bloomberg had been expecting adjusted net income of about $137 million.

For the fiscal year, Sears said it expects to lose $721 million to $801 million, or $6.80 to $7.56 per diluted share, which includes pension-related costs and other adjustments reported late last year. Excluding those items, the company said it expects to lose $123 million to $203 million, or $1.16 to $1.92 per share.

D'Ambrosio became CEO after working for the company as a consultant. The 16-year veteran of IBM Corp. had been CEO of a telecommunications company before joining Sears.

"I have worked very closely with Eddie over the past two years. I can say this: there is simply no one in the world that cares more about Sears Holdings and has thought more deeply about our company than Eddie," D'Ambrosio wrote to employees.

Lampert gained control of Sears in 2005 after engineering the merger between Kmart and Sears Roebuck & Co. For years, speculation about Lampert's intentions for the company focused on the value of its real estate, but under D'Ambrosio, Sears appeared to pay more attention to retail aspirations.

The company reported improved performance — it beat Wall Street expectations — in the previous quarter, but Sears stock has lost more than 35 percent of its value since November, closing Monday at $42.92, up 1.7 percent.

 Crshropshire@tribune.com | Twitter: @corilyns 

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House drops assault weapon ban plan, may tackle pension reform

The clock is ticking for Illinois lawmakers to come to an agreement on the pension crisis. CBS 2's Courtney Gousman reports.

SPRINGFIELD — With time running short in the lame-duck session, state lawmakers on Sunday dropped hot-button issues dealing with guns and marijuana but kept alive hopes of reforming pensions and giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

The slimmed-down agenda unfolded rapidly as the House, returning to the Capitol for the first time in a month, pulled an assault weapons ban from consideration and the sponsor of legislation to allow Illinoisans to use marijuana for medical purposes said the chances of quick passage is unlikely.

The spotlight on whether Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and legislators can come together on financial changes to the state's $96.8 billion government worker pension debt intensified Sunday. House Republican leader Tom Cross of Oswego signed onto a plan offered by two House Democrats and urged GOP members to support it.

Still, Cross acknowledged that Senate President John Cullerton believes a different measure is the only one that meets a state constitutional prohibition against impairing or diminishing public pensions. Cullerton's version, previously passed by the Senate, offers state employees a trade of access to state health care in return for a reduction in retirement benefits.

"Nobody has any idea what the court's going to do," Cross said. "We all have lawyers. There are a lot of lawyers in Chicago. People have opined on what works and doesn't work. The reality is, nobody knows."

Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said the administration, which wants the package passed before a new Legislature is seated Wednesday, is "encouraged with the momentum."

The pension proposal's fate is uncertain should it pass the House. The Senate went home Thursday but Cullerton left open the possibility of coming back. Cullerton spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon said senators would return to Springfield Tuesday "to review and hear" a significant pension reform bill if one is passed by the House.

"I can't make any predictions beyond that," she said.

When the governor and legislative leaders met Saturday, Cullerton said at various points he would lobby against the House plan, Cross said. But Cross also said Cullerton indicated that he would allow for a Senate vote if the pension measure passed the House.

Still, if Cullerton balks at the House pension plan, Springfield could devolve into an all-too-familiar political game: The House passes one version of legislation, the Senate passes another, lawmakers pat themselves on the back and then blame the other chamber for failing to achieve needed reform.

Among the key features of the House plan is a freeze on cost-of-living increases for all workers and retirees for as long as six years, although the length of time was still under discussion Sunday night. Once the cost-of-living bumps resume, they would apply only to the first $25,000 of pensions. The inflation adjustments also would not be awarded until a person hits 67, a major departure among public employees who have been allowed to retire much earlier in some cases and begin reaping the benefits of the annual increases immediately.

Under the proposal, employee contributions to pensions would increase 1 percentage point the first year and 1 percentage point the second year. A lid would be put on the size of the pensionable salary based on a Social Security wage base or their current salary, whichever is higher.

The goal is to put in place a 30-year plan that would fully fund the Illinois pension systems, which are considered the worst-funded in the nation.

Meanwhile, a proposal to allow undocumented immigrants to qualify for Illinois driver's licenses could get its first House test today. Sponsoring Rep. Eddie Acevedo, D-Chicago, said he would call the Senate-passed bill on the House floor if it advances from committee.

Also Sunday, a House panel defeated a bill to require companies to file public disclosure forms when they pay no state income taxes.

rlong@tribune.com

rap30@aol.com

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Hitting a high Note: 'phablets', chips to drive Samsung fourth quarter profit

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics, the world leader in mobiles and memory chips, likely earned a quarterly profit of $8.1 billion, as it sold close to 500 handsets every minute and as demand picked up for the flat screens it makes for mobile devices, including those for rival Apple Inc products.

That run of five straight record quarters may end in January-March on weak seasonal demand, though a strong pipeline of smartphones - the South Korean group's biggest earner - and improving chip prices have eased concerns that earnings growth could slow this year, powering Samsung shares to record levels.

"Guidance is unlikely to disappoint given new product launches and a further upturn in cyclical parts of the business," said Morgan Stanley analyst Shawn Kim. "Smartphone momentum has not decelerated, despite Apple's new iPhone, and the business continues to be driven by its flagship products.

"This time, it's the Galaxy Note II ... with the upside in unit shipments mainly from the U.S. We expect strong momentum to continue in the first quarter."

While Apple rolled out just a single new smartphone, the iPhone 5, last year globally, Samsung bombarded the market with 37 variants tweaked for regional and consumer tastes, from high-end smartphones to cheaper low-end models. By comparison, Taiwan's HTC Corp released 18 models, Nokia 9 and LG Electronics 24.

Samsung, valued at close to $230 billion, gives its October-December earnings guidance on Tuesday before the market opens. The full earnings release is expected by January 25.

A HIGH NOTE

Shipments of Samsung's flagship Galaxy S III, which overtook the iPhone 4S in the third quarter to become the world's best-selling smartphone, are likely to have slipped to around 15 million in the last quarter from 18 million in July-September. But estimated sales of around 8 million Galaxy Note II phone-cum-tablets, or 'phablets', should more than make up for that - pushing overall smartphone shipments to around 63 million, analysts estimate.

There has been increased speculation that Samsung will launch the next version of its Galaxy S in the first quarter, possibly with an unbreakable screen and full high-definition quality resolution boasting 440 pixels per inch, as well as a better camera and a more powerful processor.

"Samsung's smartphone shipments are likely to grow even in a seasonally weak first quarter. The early launch of the Galaxy S IV would drive second-quarter growth momentum," said BNP Paribas Securities analyst Peter Yu, who predicts Samsung's 2013 operating profit will grow 25 percent to almost $35 billion.

Samsung is forecast to raise its smartphone sales by 35 percent and widen its lead over Apple this year, driven by its diversified product line-up, said Neil Mawston, Executive Director at market researcher Strategy Analytics, which forecasts Samsung will sell 290 million smartphones this year, up from a projected 215 million in 2012.

Apple's smartphone sales are projected to reach 180 million this year, up by a third from last year's 135 million.

STRONG NUMBERS

Samsung is likely to say on Tuesday that its October-December operating profit increased 65 percent to 8.7 trillion won from a year ago, a Reuters survey of 16 analysts showed. That would be 7 percent higher than its previous record of 8.1 trillion won in July-September.

Profits from the mobile division are seen slightly higher, at around 5.8 trillion won, than the previous quarter's 5.63 trillion won - and more than double last year's level. A recovery in chip prices and flat screens may have also boosted its component earnings, propelled by booming sales of mobiles carrying Samsung's chips, micro-processors and flat screens.

Reflecting the upbeat outlook, shares in Samsung, Asia's most valuable technology stock, last week hit a life high of 1.584 million won ($1,500). The stock gained 44 percent in 2012, easily outpacing a 9 percent rise on the broader Korean market and topping Apple's 31 percent increase.

The shares eased a third of one percent on Monday.

Samsung, LG Electronics and four Taiwan companies were last week fined millions of dollars for allegedly manipulating liquid crystal display panel prices in China in 2001-06, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

(Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

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Here come the big boys

Here come the big boys.

The NFL's wild-card weekend is over, with nary an upset. Moving on are division winners Green Bay, Houston and Baltimore, along with NFC West runner-up Seattle and the only rookie quarterback still standing: Russell Wilson.

Ahead are some daunting challenges as the Ravens visit Denver, the Texans go to New England, the Packers head to San Francisco and the Seahawks journey to Atlanta.

Only the Seahawks-Falcons isn't a rematch.

Seattle isn't intimidated one bit about facing the NFC's top seed.

"Despite the fact that we have a 'nobody' team," Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman said after Sunday's convincing 24-14 comeback win at Washington, "a team not full of first-rounders and things like that, we have a lot of guys that play at a high level."

Of course, so do the Falcons (13-3), Broncos (13-3), Patriots (12-4) and 49ers (11-4-1).

"They have a great coach and a great quarterback and they have great role players on their team," Texans running back Arian Foster said of the Patriots, who routed Houston 42-14 last month. "I have a lot of respect for them, but we can play ball, too."

The Texans beat Cincinnati 19-13 on Saturday, then Green Bay took out Minnesota 24-10. In Sunday's other game, Baltimore eliminated Indianapolis 24-9.

The playoffs continue next Saturday with Baltimore (11-6) at Denver, followed by Green Bay (12-5) at San Francisco. The Broncos beat the Ravens 34-17 three weeks ago, while the 49ers knocked off the Packers 30-22 in the season opener.

On Sunday, it's Seattle (12-5) at Atlanta, followed by Houston (13-4) visiting New England.

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Ravens at Broncos

Not only is Baltimore thrilled to keep playing and keep star linebacker Ray Lewis' career going, but the Ravens got the opponent they sought for the divisional round.

"I wanted Denver," said Anquan Boldin, who set a franchise record with 145 yards receiving, including the clinching touchdown against Indianapolis (11-6). "Because they beat us. We'll make it different."

Lewis made 13 tackles in his first game back in nearly three months. He ended his last home game in Baltimore before his impending retirement by lining up at fullback for the final kneel-down. Then Lewis went into a short version of his trademark dance before being mobbed by teammates. He followed with a victory lap, his right triceps, covered by a brace, held high in salute to the fans.

Joe Flacco became the first quarterback to win a postseason game in each of his first five seasons and John Harbaugh is the first coach to do so.

"I love our team," Lewis said, "and I'm really looking forward to going out there and playing them next week."

The loss ended the Colts' turnaround season in which they went from 2-14 to the playoffs in coach Chuck Pagano's first year in Indianapolis. Pagano missed 12 weeks while undergoing treatment for leukemia and returned last week.

Andrew Luck completed 28 of 54 passes, the most attempts by a rookie in a playoff game, for 288 yards.

Packers at 49ers

It's been a long time since these teams met on kickoff weekend, and much has changed.

Green Bay has become a bit more balanced on offense and somewhat stingier on defense than it was back in September. San Francisco has second-year quarterback Colin Kaepernick instead of Alex Smith, and receiver Michael Crabtree finally has developed into a threat.

The Packers held league rushing king Adrian Peterson to 99 yards in beating the Vikings (10-7), 100 yards less than he got on them the previous week.

"I don't think we had our identity at that point," QB Aaron Rodgers said of the Packers team San Francisco beat. "We were trying a lot of different things."

Seahawks at Falcons

Atlanta has flopped in its last three playoff games, including losing at home to Green Bay two years ago in a similar scenario.

Seattle won't bring as high-powered an offense as the Packers did to Atlanta, but it's versatile enough with the creative Wilson, bulldozing halfback Marshawn Lynch and a deep group of receivers.

The most significant challenge for the Falcons, though, will be a defense that completely shut down the Redskins and a hobbling Robert Griffin III for the final three quarters of their wild-card game.

Washington (10-7) had 129 yards in the first quarter and 74 for the rest of the game.

"Seventy yards in 3½ quarters is ridiculously good defense," coach Pete Carroll said after his Seahawks won their sixth straight and snapped Washington's seven-game winning streak.

Texans at Patriots

Both teams say the Monday night romp by New England on Dec. 10 is not an indicator of what's ahead. For their sake, the Texans better hope that is true.

"We didn't play our best football up there and we hurt ourselves with penalties and mistakes," said Foster, who rushed for 140 yards and a TD against the Bengals (10-7). "Anytime you give (the Patriots) opportunities, they'll take advantage of them. But we'll play our best up there."

They have no choice, and Patriots coach Bill Belichick fully expects a tighter game.

"When you play a team twice during the season, the games are totally different. They never go the same way," Belichick said. "We'll be able to certainly look at some of the matchups individually, guys that faced each (other) in the game. As far as plays and calls and things like that matching up, I'm sure they'll have some new wrinkles. I'm sure we'll have some, too. It will be totally different."

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Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

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