Specs for HTC’s ‘M7′ phone may include 1.7GHz quad-core CPU, 4.7-inch full HD display









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Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan-Tatum expecting baby






NEW YORK (AP) — The Sexiest Man Alive will soon be a sexy dad.


Actor Channing Tatum and his wife Jenna Dewan-Tatum are expecting their first child in 2013, their reps confirm.






The news was first reported by People.com, which named Tatum the Sexiest Man Alive in November.


The couple, who recently co-starred in the film “10 Years,” met on the 2006 dance film “Step Up,” and wed in 2009.


Besides a baby, the new year will be a busy year for the parents-to-be. Tatum has at least four movies in the works while Dewan-Tatum appears on this season of “American Horror Story: Asylum” and has a TV movie called “She Made Them Do It” premiering Dec. 29 on Lifetime.


___


Online:


http://channingtatumunwrapped.com/


http://jennadewanunwrapped.com/


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Aid: African Children Still at Risk of Pneumonia Despite Ceramic Stoves





Small ceramic indoor stoves, such as those sold by women in AIDS self-help groups in Africa, do save fuel and cut down on eye-irritating smoke, a new study has found — but they do not save children from pneumonia.


The study, published in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, compared 168 households in rural Kenya that used either “upesi jiko” stoves or traditional three-stone indoor fires. The former — the name means “quick stove” in Swahili — has a locally made ceramic firebox that sells for $3. Clay and mud must be built up around it to insulate it and support the pot.


Since it uses less wood, it saves local forests. But it has no chimney, so the smoke stays indoors.


Biweekly visits by researchers found that children in both the stove and open-fire homes got pneumonia equally often. Pneumonia is a leading cause of death for infants in poor countries, and a 2008 study showed that the fine particles and toxic gases in cooking smoke inflame their lungs, doubling the pneumonia risk.


Two years ago, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton committed $50 million in American aid to help the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves get 100 million efficient stoves into households by 2020. But experts are still divided over which stove to pursue; chimneys do not solve all the problems, and stoves with fans burn more cleanly but are expensive and fragile.


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Reyes goes craft with Windy City deal









Independent breweries are still a niche category in the marketplace, but interest in them continues to grow.


Reyes Beverage Group, a division of global food and beer distributor Reyes Holdings of Rosemont, said Sunday it has reached an agreement to purchase Windy City Distribution, a well-regarded distributor of craft beers.


Brothers Jim and Jason Ebel founded Windy City in 1999. The firm operates as a distributor across eight northern Illinois counties for more than 40 craft breweries, such as Tyranena, Lagunitas and Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales. The Ebels also are the brewers behind Warrenville-based Two Brothers beer.





The deal, which is expected to close by the end of the year, is yet another sign of the coming-of-age of the craft beer scene, which is now much more part of the mainstream beer industry. In 2012, 442 craft breweries opened, according to the Beer Institute. The Brewers Association, a trade association, said sales of craft brews increased 14 percent in the first half of 2012 and volume jumped 12 percent.


While the beer industry overall has shown limited growth, the explosive interest in craft beer is enticing giants such as Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser, and MillerCoors, both of which have struggled to enter the craft market on their own. Since acquiring Chicago's Goose Island in 2011, Anheuser-Busch has aggressively expanded that well-known label. Earlier this year, it revealed plans to increase Goose Island's distribution to all 50 states, making it one of the few craft brands with a true national footprint.


Reyes' Chicago Beverage Systems and Windy City will not integrate their operations. Windy City's president, Bob Collins, and his management team will join Reyes. Chicago Beverage Systems distributes Miller, Coors and Heineken brands, among others.


"Windy City Distributing will be a new entity in our network focused solely on the craft beer market," said Ray Guerin, chief operating officer of Reyes Beverage Group. "I look forward to working with Windy City to learn more about servicing the craft beer industry while providing Reyes Beverage Group's expertise to help Windy City expand."


Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Both companies are privately held.


mmharris@tribune.com


Twitter @chiconfidential





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Gunman's school rampage may have been stopped short

CBS 2's Lou Young reports.









NEWTOWN, Conn.—





The gunman in the Connecticut shooting rampage was carrying an arsenal of hundreds of rounds of especially deadly ammunition — enough to kill just about every student in the school if given enough time, authorities said Sunday, raising the specter that the bloodbath could have been far worse.


Adam Lanza shot himself in the head just as he heard police drawing near to the classroom where he was slaughtering helpless children, but he had more ammunition at the ready in the form of multiple, high-capacity clips each capable of holding 30 bullets.








The disclosure on Sunday sent chills throughout this picturesque New England community as families sought to comfort each other during church services and vigils devoted to impossible questions like that of a 6-year-old girl who asked her mother: "The little children, are they with the angels?"


With so much grieving left to do, many of Newtown's 27,000 people wondered whether life could ever return to normal. And as the workweek was set to begin, parents pondered whether to send their own children back to school.


Gov. Dannel Malloy said the shooter decided to kill himself when he heard police closing in about 10 minutes into the attack.


"We surmise that it was during the second classroom episode that he heard responders coming and apparently at that decided to take his own life," Malloy said on ABC's "This Week."


Authorities said they found multiple 30-round magazines and hundreds of unused bullets at the school, which enrolled about 670 students.


"There was a lot of ammo, a lot of clips," said state police Lt. Paul Vance. "Certainly a lot of lives were potentially saved."


The chief medical examiner said the ammunition was the type designed to break up inside a victim's body and inflict the maximum amount of damage, tearing apart bone and tissue.


Newtown officials couldn't say whether Sandy Hook Elementary School, where the shooter killed 20 children and six adults, would ever reopen.


"We're just now getting ready to talk to our son about who was killed," said Robert Licata, the father of a boy who was at the school during the shooting but escaped harm. "He's not even there yet."


Jim Agostine, superintendent of schools in nearby Monroe, said plans were being made for students from Sandy Hook to attend classes in his town this week.


The road ahead for Newtown was clouded with grief.


"I feel like we have to get back to normal, but I don't know if there is normal anymore," said Kim Camputo, mother of two children, ages 5 and 10, who attend a different school. "I'll definitely be dropping them off and picking them up myself for a while."


Also Sunday, a Connecticut official said the gunman's mother was found dead in her pajamas in bed, shot four times in the head with a .22 caliber rifle. The killer then went to the school with guns he took from his mother, got inside by breaking a window and began blasting his way through the building.


As President Barack Obama prepared to visit later Sunday and churches opened their doors, federal agents checked out dozens of gun stores and shooting ranges across Connecticut, chasing leads they hoped would cast light on Lanza's life.


Malloy offered no possible motive for the shooting, and police have found no letters or diaries that could shed light on it.


School officials were discussing how to send survivors back to class, but Newtown police Lt. George Sinko said he "would find it very difficult" for students to return to the school. But, he added: "We want to keep these kids together. They need to support each other."


Jennifer Waters, who at 6 is the same age as many of the dead but attends another school, came to Mass at Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic church with lots of questions.


"The little children — are they with the angels?" she asked her mother.





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Art for Wealth’s Sake: Art Basel Paints a Picture of Miami’s Separate and Unequal Worlds






It’s 10 p.m. on a Friday night. A naked girl is splashing about in the swimming pool at the Standard Hotel Miami. She is from New York and runs a nonprofit for homeless teens. We’ll call her Liz: “You’re so boring!” she yells from the middle of the pool.


It was a common refrain here during Art Basel Miami Beach—now the world’s largest contemporary art fair—where many of earth’s most privileged humans gather for a week of champagne and gawking at art (and at each other) in the sun.






The poolside celebration was for Terry Richardson, a fashion photographer known for his sexually charged (or sexually abusive, depending on your source) shoots. A cell phone company, HTC, spent $ 100,000 to sponsor the party, a book release for Richardson. This is a typical event, one of hundreds that occur during what is commonly referred to as “Basel.”


MORE: Scenes From a Class War (VIDEOS)


Basel is now 11 years old. It’s gone from a decent sized art fair to an international marketing and branding orgy with few parallels. Because all the big collectors fly down private, and scores of cool young New Yorkers file in on JetBlue, luxury brands rush in to hit both their “target demos” and “tastemakers” in one shot.


In terms of tourism dollars, Basel is Miami’s highest grossing week. Hotels on South Beach were demanding thousands per night for rooms. The fair’s main sponsor was the honorable UBS, the very same Swiss bank that just settled a billion dollar fraud case with international authorities. UBS not only robs the world and stashes terrorist/dictator cash, it sponsors art fairs too—cool guys.


Most Miamians don’t care about Art Basel. The city is only 11 percent white (far and away the primary Basel target demographic), and most of the 40 percent Hispanic and 20 percent black populations live far from the South Beach glam, many in poverty. Miami has the second widest gap between rich and poor in America, after New York. Blacks make an average of $ 15,000 a year. Whites double that, at $ 37,000. But at $ 19,000, the city’s majority Hispanics aren’t doing so well either.


Disparity defines the art world too, with its hungry artists and rich collectors and patrons. So it’s fitting that the largest contemporary art fair in the world happens in Miami.


Few people are more detached from the short-end reality of income disparity than the global art tribe. These arbiters of the cultural elite fly around the world to various openings and fairs then retreat to galleries, museums and studios in their home cities before heading out again. Of course, there are exceptions. Some artists at Basel retain a socio-politico aesthetic. A good example is Barbara Krueger, whose text-orientated pieces mocking consumerism and political power were selling for $ 200,000 to $ 500,000 and became the talk of the fair.


Bearing many hallmarks of a third world city, Miami breaks down into two distinct populations. The rich live across Biscayne Bay on beautiful beaches and gated islands. The poor are stretched across downtown’s grid, where every block headed west from the bay is worse than the one before it. The city has few economically diverse neighborhoods.


The two Miamis can easily be visited on the same day. Last week. Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez, the New York Yankee third baseman with the largest sports contract in history, was having a party in his $ 30 million modernist manse.


I skipped A Rod’s soiree, mainly because I hate the Yankees, to hang out with Dee, a 22-year-old drug dealer who lives on west 20th Street downtown. All he wanted was customers: “Man, who down here needs anything? I’m fucking broke. I live in the projects with my aunt. Gotta get out.”


Dee said he’d take any job—as in, “I’ll work at Chick-fil-A, man!” Saddled with a criminal record, he’s never been hired anywhere.


We cruised over to 75th Street, the main drag in Little Haiti, where public housing is painted lime green and similarly awesome pastel paint jobs cover buildings advertising W.I.C and Western Union.


“There are no banks here,” Dee tells me. “We don’t have enough money.”


UBS—where are you?


The South Beach Basel crowd hosted quite a few Hurricane Sandy benefits. But I didn’t find one art world benefit for Miami’s poor. There is a definite willful ignorance in plopping your billionaires down at dinners and six-figure parties in the name of “culture” while ignoring masses of people who are in dire need of said culture and are readily at hand: The impoverished residents of Miami.


Back in New York, I catch up with Liz, the naked pool gal. She’s in Tompkins Square Park, the epicenter of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Stella is smiling. Her art world disdain has clearly dried off.


“I have no idea why I was in Miami,” she says. “Who were those people? Why are they so boring, and why did that one guy in the black suit keep saying Le Baron over and over again?”


Around the same time I get a text from Dee. “You know anyone still down here? Tryna get that $ .”


I inform Lee that Le Baron is a Parisian disco that does a chic party every night of Basel.


Lee receives this information as she’s handing out clean needles and Narcan to the local crust punk populace, all of whom she knows by name.


“Do these people really care?” she asks.


Sadly, Basel people do seem to express more concern about French discos and wearing aggressive outfits than they do about the inequality in America—maybe best seen in Miami’s two worlds.


I have an idea for Art Basel next year. In the process of exchanging all those millions for bought and sold visions, try and help some of the people from Miami.


Are wealthy visitors obligated to alleviate some of the local misery when they party in the midst of poverty? Take a position in COMMENTS.


These are solely the author’s opinions and do not represent those of TakePart, LLC or its affiliates.


Related Stories on TakePart:


• Dispatch From Morocco: ‘Excuse Me, Aren’t We About to Start a War Here?’


• America, Syria and the State of Child Soldiering 2012


• Census Shows Sharp Increase in U.S. Poor



Ray LeMoine was born in Boston and lives in New York. He’s done humanitarian work in Iraq and Pakistan and has written for various media outlets, including the New York Times, New York Magazine and the Awl.


Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Actor Depardieu puts Paris house up for sale






PARIS (Reuters) – French actor Gerard Depardieu, accused of trying to escape the taxman by buying a house just over the border in Belgium, has put his sumptuous Parisian home up for sale.


Depardieu, the latest wealthy Frenchman to seek shelter from government tax hikes, is selling a vast early 19th-century manor house in the Saint Germain district of the capital, playground of writers, jazz musicians and art dealers over the decades.






His real estate agent declined to say how much he was asking for a property that is on a list of protected national monuments and, as well as the main house, has a swimming pool, landscaped gardens and an ultramodern annex that once served as a theatre.


News of the Parisian sale plan came a day after French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault described Depardieu’s behavior as “pathetic” and unpatriotic at a time when the French are being asked to pay higher taxes to reduce a bloated national debt.


An angry member of parliament has proposed that France adopt a U.S.-inspired law that would force Depardieu or anyone trying to escape full tax dues to forego their nationality.


The 63-year-old “Cyrano de Bergerac” star recently bought a house in Nechin, a Belgian village a short walk from the border with France, where 27 percent of residents are French nationals, local mayor Daniel Senesael told French media on Sunday.


Depardieu also enquired about procedures for acquiring Belgian residency, he said.


The move comes three months after Bernard Arnault, chief executive of luxury giant LVMH and France’s richest man, caused an uproar by seeking to establish residency in Belgium – a move he said was not for tax reasons.


Belgian residents do not pay wealth tax, which in France is now levied on those with assets over 1.3 million euros ($ 1.7 million). Nor do they pay capital gains tax on share sales.


Socialist President Francois Hollande is pressing ahead too with plans to impose a 75-percent supertax on income over 1 million euros.


While Depardieu’s real estate agents did not comment on the price being sought for the Paris property, a local newspaper suggested it could be in the region of 50 million euros.


At average prices quoted on the Internet, a property of that size would command upwards of 20 million, without the additional status of a national monument, celebrity appeal or the artwork renovation commissioned by Depardieu when he bought it in 2003.


Depardieu’s agents declined to comment.


(Reporting by Brian Love and Gerard Bon; editing by Andrew Roche)


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Dr. William F. House, Inventor of Cochlear Implant, Dies





Dr. William F. House, a medical researcher who braved skepticism to invent the cochlear implant, an electronic device considered to be the first to restore a human sense, died on Dec. 7 at his home in Aurora, Ore. He was 89.




The cause was metastatic melanoma, his daughter, Karen House, said.


Dr. House pushed against conventional thinking throughout his career. Over the objections of some, he introduced the surgical microscope to ear surgery. Tackling a form of vertigo that doctors had believed was psychosomatic, he developed a surgical procedure that enabled the first American in space to travel to the moon. Peering at the bones of the inner ear, he found enrapturing beauty.


Even after his ear-implant device had largely been supplanted by more sophisticated, and more expensive, devices, Dr. House remained convinced of his own version’s utility and advocated that it be used to help the world’s poor.


Today, more than 200,000 people in the world have inner-ear implants, a third of them in the United States. A majority of young deaf children receive them, and most people with the implants learn to understand speech with no visual help.


Hearing aids amplify sound to help the hearing-impaired. But many deaf people cannot hear at all because sound cannot be transmitted to their brains, however much it is amplified. This is because the delicate hair cells that line the cochlea, the liquid-filled spiral cavity of the inner ear, are damaged. When healthy, these hairs — more than 15,000 altogether — translate mechanical vibrations produced by sound into electrical signals and deliver them to the auditory nerve.


Dr. House’s cochlear implant electronically translated sound into mechanical vibrations. His initial device, implanted in 1961, was eventually rejected by the body. But after refining its materials, he created a long-lasting version and implanted it in 1969.


More than a decade would pass before the Food and Drug Administration approved the cochlear implant, but when it did, in 1984, Mark Novitch, the agency’s deputy commissioner, said, “For the first time a device can, to a degree, replace an organ of the human senses.”


One of Dr. House’s early implant patients, from an experimental trial, wrote to him in 1981 saying, “I no longer live in a world of soundless movement and voiceless faces.”


But for 27 years, Dr. House had faced stern opposition while he was developing the device. Doctors and scientists said it would not work, or not work very well, calling it a cruel hoax on people desperate to hear. Some said he was motivated by the prospect of financial gain. Some criticized him for experimenting on human subjects. Some advocates for the deaf said the device deprived its users of the dignity of their deafness without fully integrating them into the hearing world.


Even when the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology endorsed implants in 1977, it specifically denounced Dr. House’s version. It recommended more complicated versions, which were then under development and later became the standard.


But his work is broadly viewed as having sped the development of implants and enlarged understanding of the inner ear. Jack Urban, an aerospace engineer, helped develop the surgical microscope as well as mechanical and electronic aspects of the House implant.


Karl White, founding director of the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management, said in an interview that it would have taken a decade longer to invent the cochlear implant without Dr. House’s contributions. He called him “a giant in the field.”


After embracing the use of the microscope in ear surgery, Dr. House developed procedures — radical for their time — for removing tumors from the back portion of the brain without causing facial paralysis; they cut the death rate from the surgery to less than 1 percent from 40 percent.


He also developed the first surgical treatment for Meniere’s disease, which involves debilitating vertigo and had been viewed as a psychosomatic condition. His procedure cured the astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. of the disease, clearing him to command the Apollo 14 mission to the moon in 1971. In 1961, Shepard had become the first American launched into space.


In presenting Dr. House with an award in 1995, the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation said, “He has developed more new concepts in otology than almost any other single person in history.”


William Fouts House was born in Kansas City, Mo., on Dec. 1, 1923. When he was 3 his family moved to Whittier, Calif., where he grew up on a ranch. He did pre-dental studies at Whittier College and the University of Southern California, and earned a doctorate in dentistry at the University of California, Berkeley. After serving his required two years in the Navy — and filling the requisite 300 cavities a month — he went back to U.S.C. to pursue an interest in oral surgery. He earned his medical degree in 1953. After a residency at Los Angeles County Hospital, he joined the Los Angeles Foundation of Otology, a nonprofit research institution founded by his brother, Howard. Today it is called the House Research Institute.


Many at the time thought ear surgery was a declining field because of the effectiveness of antibiotics in dealing with ear maladies. But Dr. House saw antibiotics as enabling more sophisticated surgery by diminishing the threat of infection.


When his brother returned from West Germany with a surgical microscope, Dr. House saw its potential and adopted it for ear surgery; he is credited with introducing the device to the field. But again there was resistance. As Dr. House wrote in his memoir, “The Struggles of a Medical Innovator: Cochlear Implants and Other Ear Surgeries” (2011), some eye doctors initially criticized his use of a microscope in surgery as reckless and unnecessary for a surgeon with good eyesight.


Dr. House also used the microscope as a research tool. One night a week he would take one to a morgue for use in dissecting ears to gain insights that might lead to new surgical procedures. His initial reaction, he said, was how beautiful the bones seemed; he compared the experience to one’s first view of the Grand Canyon. His wife, the former June Stendhal, a nurse, often helped.


She died in 2008 after 64 years of marriage. In addition to his daughter, Dr. House is survived by a son, David; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.


The implant Dr. House invented used a single channel to deliver information to the hearing system, as opposed to the multiple channels of competing models. The 3M Company, the original licensee of the House implant, sold its rights to another company, the Cochlear Corporation, in 1989. Cochlear later abandoned his design in favor of the multichannel version.


But Dr. House continued to fight for his single-electrode approach, saying it was far cheaper, and offered voluminous material as evidence of its efficacy. He had hoped to resume production of it and make it available to the poor around the world.


Neither the institute nor Dr. House made any money on the implant. He never sought a patent on any of his inventions, he said, because he did not want to restrict other researchers. A nephew, Dr. John House, the current president of the House institute, said his uncle had made the deal to license it to the 3M Company not for profit but simply to get it built by a reputable manufacturer.


Reflecting on his business decisions in his memoir, Dr. House acknowledged, “I might be a little richer today.”


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Hillshire Brands starting up in new space

Hillshire Brands, formerly known as Sara Lee, is prepare to move their operation from a Downers Grove corporate campus to a downtown Chicago location. (Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune)









Hillshire Brands was literally on the move this past week.


The $4 billion meat company, carved from Sara Lee Corp. and anchored by Hillshire Farm, Jimmy Dean and Ball Park brands, moved from a gleaming, glassy corporate campus in Downers Grove — complete with a fountain in a man-made lake — into a refurbished industrial building in Chicago's noisy West Loop.


Aside from the logistical ballet in relocating about 600 employees and contractors, the move is expected to stimulate a new and innovative culture that Hillshire needs for growth.








Sara Lee began working on the move about a year ago when it signed a lease for the building at 400 S. Jefferson St. After spinning off its international beverage business, Sara Lee changed its name to Hillshire Brands in June and turned to a new management team. CEO Sean Connolly calls the move part of Hillshire's "rebirth."


On Wednesday evening, technical staff began disconnecting office computers, and employees were asked to work from home.


Moving trucks arrived in Downers Grove on Thursday and were to haul office contents in reusable plastic crates 23 miles to the new space by Friday evening. On Saturday, IT staff were to reconnect computers, copiers and printers with the expectation that on Monday, Hillshire employees can begin work. The company has declined to say how much it's spending on the move or building out the new space.


Moving a corporate headquarters is a complex undertaking.


"It's really about those hundreds of details you have to keep track of," explained Brian Hunter, a 12-year veteran of the company's real estate department whose team orchestrated the move. He came with plenty of experience. Seven years ago he consolidated three company offices and 1,100 employees at the Downers Grove campus. But this move is part of something bigger.


"This isn't a coming together under one roof," Hunter said. "It's completely different, a rebirth if you will. We've disposed of several businesses, spun off some things and emerged with a new name, new culture and new leadership. And that was a reason for selecting a location where Hillshire could take the entire building, rather than rent a few floors in a skyscraper.''


A major challenge was making the move work within four months, starting Aug. 1, when Hillshire got access to the interior of the building. That's when crews began constructing pantries, kitchens, cubicle pods, offices, conference rooms and private phone booths, a nod to employees who lost offices as part of a more open floor plan.


Built in 1944 to house a lithograph company, the building is probably known to thousands of baby boomers because it was used as an examining and entrance station for inductees into the armed forces during the Vietnam War.


The building largely was vacant when Sterling Bay Cos. purchased it late last year, then spent $24 million on renovations over roughly an eight-month period. Windows were added, walls and two internal water towers were taken down, and the roof was replaced.


The space's modern look — white walls and splashes of lime green and bright orange in the furniture and upholstery — is offset by lingering elements of the old building. For instance, holes from old conduit boxes still show, an effort to be "authentic," Hunter said.


Open communication


A lesson Hunter learned from the office consolidation seven years ago is that there's no such thing as too much communication. Earlier this year he launched a monthly newsletter called "the 411 on 400" a nod to the company's new address on South Jefferson Street. Recently it morphed into a weekly email, reminding employees how to pack and when, and what to expect. The tone was lighthearted. In keeping with his jovial spirit, Hunter dusted off his old hard hat from the last move. It has a Sara Lee logo on one side, so he slapped a Hillshire Brands sticker on the other.


Town hall meetings were held, at which employees were shown mock-ups of their future workspaces and photos of what was being built. Hunter's presentations included virtual tours. In addition, some team leaders took their people on building tours. Some made practice runs of their new commutes, as some employees' trips will lengthen significantly.


With the idea of getting employee buy-in, Hunter's team put four types of cubicles on display at the company's campus and asked for feedback. Employees voted for their favorites online, and the company purchased the cubicles with the most votes.


The communication efforts appear to have made a difference.


"I have never felt like I was in the dark," said Mike Schwartz, a 31-year-old assistant brand manager for Ball Park. He also credited Hunter's team with having "done a very good job being honest about the move."


Schwartz, who lives in Glenview, had a 35-minute driving commute to Downers Grove. The move to the West Loop will stretch his commute beyond an hour. That includes driving to the train, a Metra ride and walking to the office. But Schwartz said he's looking forward to the "excitement and energy" of a downtown work environment. He's also looking forward to catching up with grad school friends who live in the city, either at lunch or with beers after work.





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Barrington High School dance cancelled after rumors









Barrington High School District 220 has cancelled a dance scheduled for this evening following rumors about someone planning to bring a gun to the event, the district's superintendent said in an email to parents today.


Barrington High School had planned to hold a dance spoofing the supposed prediction of the Mayan Calendar that the world will end Dec. 21. But this morning, word spread among students that someone might bring a gun to the dance, according to an email from District Superintendent Tom Leonard.


School officials and police had not been able to confirm whether the rumor is credible, but in light of Friday's mass killing in Connecticut, officials decided to cancel the event, Leonard said in the email.





By about 4:30 p.m., there had been no arrests in connection with what had been circulating among students, and police were investigating whether any actual threat occurred or was credible, Barrington Police Chief Daniel Libit said in an email.


"Every threat, no matter how flippant, is regarded seriously – including severe consequences for those involved. This no joking matter," Leonard said.


"We won't risk student safety or the possibility a copycat assailant could try to inflict violence at one of our own schools," Leonard said in the email. "Some will say we are overreacting, but we have no reservations about being exceedingly cautious given the current atmosphere and our ongoing focus on protecting students."


Although threats in 2008 against the Barrington High School prom resulted in tightened security and not that dance's cancellation, Leonard said that the information about possible threats came several days before the prom, and authorities were better able to set tighter security and investigate the threats in advance of the prom.


chicagobreaking@tribune.com


Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking





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