Huge fire out at Wis. plant: 'There are 300 workers without a job'

A raging fire at a Wisconsin egg processing plant was brought under control shortly before noon today, but Burlington Mayor Bob Miller said its impact will be felt for a long time in his community and beyond.

Echo Lake Farms Produce Company “is one of the largest employers of the city,” Miller said at a news conference. “There are now 300 workers without a job.”

“I have not seen a fire with this impact,” added Burlington Fire Chief Richard “Dick” Lodle, who has headed the department in southeastern Wisconsin since 1992.

Firefighters from 88 departments in Wisconsin and northern Illinois helped battle the blaze, which started at about 6 p.m. Wednesday. Lodle said the firefighters from other companies have been sent home.

The investigation into the cause continues. It started in a 25,000-square-foot production area of the 70,000-square-foot facility. The second shift was working at the time, but Lodle could not say how many employees were in the area. He noted there we no injuries.

The production area, called “the breaking room,” is where workers separate eggs from their shells. The egg is then sold to restaurants, grocery stores and food suppliers, according to Miller.

“We hope to rebuild and reopen as soon as possible,” Miller said. “We want them to rebuild and put people back to work.”

Company representatives were not available for comment.

Lifelong Burlington resident Scott Ebert called the city a "wonderful, close-knit community."

A maintenance man at the Veterans Terrace banquet hall, where firefighters all morning came in to warm up and grab some food supplied by local business, Ebert said many friends from high school work at Echo Lake.

"Hopefully they'll be able to get back to work," he said.

Miller noted that a meeting is scheduled for workers on Wednesday, when company officials will explain benefits that are available to them.

pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas

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Apple loses a U.S. appeals bid in Samsung patent fight

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Thursday rejected Apple Inc's request to revive its bid for a sales ban on Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone, dashing the iPhone maker's attempt to recover crucial leverage in the global patent wars.

Apple had asked the full Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., to revisit a decision in October by a three-judge panel of the same court. The panel rejected Apple's request to impose a sales ban on Samsung's Nexus smartphone ahead of a trial set for March 2014.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment. A Samsung representative could not immediately be reached.

The fight in appeals court comes after Apple won a $1.05 billion verdict last year against Samsung in a U.S. District Court in California. The same trial judge will preside over the legal battle surrounding the Nexus phone, which involves a patent not included in the earlier trial.

The fight has been widely viewed as a proxy war between Apple and Google Inc. Samsung's hot-selling Galaxy smartphones and tablets run on Google's Android operating system, which Apple's late co-founder, Steve Jobs, once denounced as a "stolen product."

In its October ruling against Apple, the appeals court raised the bar for potentially market-crippling injunctions on product sales based on narrow patents for phone features. The legal precedent puts Samsung in a much stronger position by allowing its products to remain on store shelves while it fights a global patent battle against Apple over smartphone technology.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, in San Jose, California, who has presided over much of the Apple/Samsung litigation in the United States, cited the appeals' court decision in a December order rejecting Apple's request for permanent sales bans on several Samsung phones. Apple has appealed Koh's ruling.

Apple wanted the full Federal Circuit of Appeals, made up of nine active judges, to reverse the earlier ruling. But in a brief order on Thursday, the court rejected Apple's request without detailed explanation or any published dissents.

Several experts had believed that Apple faced long odds, as the legal issues in play were not considered controversial enough to spur full court review.

Apple could still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the high court has made it more difficult for patent plaintiffs to secure sales injunctions in recent years.

The case in the Federal Circuit is Apple Inc. vs Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 12-1507.

(Reporting By Dan Levine; Editing by John Wallace, Grant McCool and Leslie Adler)

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Ready to rumble: Super Bowl fans get in the game

NEW YORK (AP) — You don't have to be a football player to be a part of the action on Super Bowl Sunday.

Coca-Cola is asking people to vote for an online match between three groups competing in a desert for a Coke on Game Day. Pepsi and Toyota are using viewers' photos in their ads. Audi let people choose the end of its Super Bowl ad, while Lincoln based its spot on more 6,000 tweets from fans about their road trips.

These are just some ways advertisers have found to get viewers involved in the excitement on Game Day by luring them online. And they're going well beyond encouraging fans to tweet or "like" their ads on websites like Twitter Facebook.

They're trying to get the most of their Super Bowl ads, which cost nearly $4 million for a 30-second spot, by drawing people online. Companies that advertise during the Super Bowl get a 20 percent increase in Web traffic on the day of the game, according to the analytics arm of software maker Adobe. They also have a higher online audience than average in the week after.

"We're seeing better and more unique ways of getting people involved," said Robert Kolt, an advertising instructor at Michigan State University. "You want people to be engaged."

PepsiCo, which is sponsoring the Super Bowl halftime show, said its goal was to create buzz online with a monthlong campaign that went well beyond a voiceover saying "brought to you by Pepsi."

For about two weeks, Pepsi asked fans online and via a digital billboard in New York's Times Square to submit their photos for a chance to appear in a 30-second "intro" spot to air right before the halftime show.

The company said the effort was more popular than it expected: Pepsi expected to get 2,000 photos, but got 100,000 instead. About 1,000 photos were chosen to be a part of the intro. They will be stitched together in a "flipbook" style video that appears to show one person jumping to the tune of "Countdown," a song by Beyoncé, who is performing during the halftime show.

"We don't just want (viewers) on pepsi.com, we want them telling their friends 'I just did something with Pepsi," said Angelique Krembs, vice president of trademark Pepsi marketing. "You want the friend to tell the friend about Pepsi. You don't want Pepsi to always be the one talking about Pepsi."

Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln enlisted Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," to sift through thousands of tweets submitted by fans about road trips for its Super Bowl spot.

The story line for the 30-second ad, which was developed from 6,117 tweets, features rapper Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons and Wil Wheaton, who acted in the iconic science-fiction series "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

"We drove passed an alpaca farm, a few of them were meandering on the highway and my sister screamed, "It's the Alpacalypse!," reads one tweet.

"Drove through a movie set in Palmdale, Calif., and didn't realize it. Got out and enjoyed the catered food," reads another tweet.

Coca-Cola created an online game that pits a troupe of showgirls, biker-style "badlanders" and cowboys against each other in a race to find a Coke in the desert. Viewers are encouraged to vote for their favorite group and set up obstacles that delay other groups on CokeChase.com. Obstacles include a traffic light or getting a pizza delivered, which waste time.

The game is alluded to in a Super Bowl ad and the winning group — which has the most "for" votes and the least "obstacle" votes will be announced after the game. Coke will also give the first 50,000 people who vote a free Coke. The campaign is more interactive than Coca-Cola's online effort last year, which featured a real-time animation of Polar Bears reacting to what was happening during the Super Bowl.

"Last year's effort was much more passive. It was you watching bears watching the game," said Pio Schunker, senior vice president of integrated marketing. "This year we thought, 'Can we up ante on the fun factor by handing the reins over to consumers?'"

Audi let viewers choose one of three possible endings for its Game Day spot by voting online on Jan. 25 for 24 hours.

The ad shows a boy who gets enough confidence from driving his father's Audi to the prom to kiss his dream girl, even though he is then decked by her boyfriend. Audi allowed people to vote for one of three potential endings for the ad.

In one possible ending, the boy drives home alone in triumphant. Another ending shows him palling around with friends. The third shows the boy going home and finding a prom picture of his parents in which his dad has a similar black eye.

The first ending, called "Worth it," won.

Audi, which declined to say how many people voted, said "Worth It," was by far the most popular, getting more than half of the total views and the most "thumbs up" out of all three versions

"This year, Audi wanted to elevate fan interaction by allowing them to take part in the creative process and have a voice in how our spot should end," said Loren Angelo, Audi's general manager of brand marketing. "

The strategy seems to be working. On YouTube, the Audi ad is the third-most viewed Super Bowl ad so far, with 2.5 million views, behind a Toyota ad staring Kaley Cuoco of CBS' "The Big Bang Theory" and a teaser for Mercedes-Benz featuring supermodel Kate Upton, according to YouTube.com

________

Online:

Coca-Cola "Coke Chase" campaign: www.cokechase.com

Pepsi's "Halftime" campaign: http://halftime.pepsi.com/

Toyota's "Wish Granted" ad: http://www.youtube.com/user/ToyotaUSA?feature=watch

Ford's Lincoln "Steer the Script" campaign: http://www.steerthescript.com/

Audi's "Prom" ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANhmS6QLd5Q

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A Minute With: Rapper T.I. dips into comedy in “Identity Thief”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rapper Tip “T.I.” Harris has seen and done it all – three Grammy Awards, a novel, time in jail, a fashion line, TV reality show, businessman and several movies.

Now the Atlanta-based singer is dipping into comedy, appearing in the film “Identity Thief” as an armed enforcer on the trail of a character played by Melissa McCarthy who is on the run from many of those she’s swindled.

T.I., 32, sat down with Reuters ahead of the movie’s February 8 release to talk about the film, what’s left on his to-do list, and his personal views on gun control.

Q: How did you wind up in a comedic film?

A: “I met with (director) Seth (Gordon) and learned he was the director of one of my favorite comedies, ‘Horrible Bosses.’ I asked him how would this movie compare to ‘Horrible Bosses’ and he said it’s going to be better. I said, ‘I’m in.’”

Q: Were you OK taking a supporting role rather than a lead?

A: “I actually enjoyed the fact that all of the heavy lifting was not on my shoulders. It was Jason (Bateman) and Melissa’s show, so the stage was set for me to not screw it up, you know what I mean?”

Q: Last year you appeared on television’s “Hawaii Five-O” and “Boss.” Do you have role models of hip-hop stars who have successfully crossed over to acting?

A: “Will Smith and Ice Cube. Looking at the roles Cube has been able to acquire, he created those opportunities for himself. So I think I could take that approach.”

Q: Is there a certain perception of you out there that might hinder you from being taken seriously as an actor?

A: “I think people might wonder whether or not T.I. can be anything other than T.I., so it’s constantly having to reassure people that I’m able to do what I already know I can do.”

Q: For some, T.I. is a successful recording artist and for others he’s someone who had several stints in jail on drugs and weapons charges. Can you confidently say that the past is the past?

A: “I’m not gonna say anything. It’s day by day, you know what I’m saying? I’m saying today this is how I am, this is where I am. And tomorrow hopefully will be better than today.”

Q: In 2011 after your last prison term, you showed a softer side by starring in the VH1 reality series “T.I. and Tiny: The Family Hustle,” with your wife and six kids. Was that an attempt to right your past transgressions?

A: “Nah. I think it’s a showcasing of who I am today. I don’t think that it any way diminishes the mistakes of yesterday. It just makes a correction if people assume that the mistakes of yesterday are ever-present today. It gives people a stage of truth and knowledge to judge from. So if you must judge, at least you can judge from fact.”

Q: You’ve just released your eighth album, “Trouble Man II: He Who Wears the Crown.” You also have a your own urban fashion line, A.K.O.O. What else do you need to check off your to-do list?

A: “Just to remain relevant and meaningful to the cool young consumer of today. The cool kids are out there being admired by others in their peer group, so you want to find ways to continue to put yourself on their minds.”

Q: How do you do that?

A: “(Social media) is a big aspect for those kids. … So with Instagram, if you take pictures it has to be a picture worthy of showing. If you say something on Twitter, it has to be something that’s worthy of listening to.”

Q: With gun control being a hot-button topic today, and with your own experiences with firearms, what are your thoughts on gun ownership?

A: “I can’t possess a firearm (due to previous convictions), so whether they make them illegal or not is gonna be the same thing for me. But I see a need for them. I’ve been in circumstances where I’ve had them every day and nothing happened. I’ve been in circumstances where I didn’t have them, and I needed them. In certain areas of society, having a firearm is just as common as having bottled water.”

Q: In what way?

A: “If you’re a shopkeeper, a barbershop owner, a convenience store owner and you handle cash in and out of this area, if everyone knows that you don’t have a firearm, then you are basically prey. In these areas, bullets are just as common as sticks of gum, you know what I’m saying? So I think I speak for those people.”

(Reporting by Zorianna Kit; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Will Dunham)

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Hedgehog Alert! Prickly pets can carry salmonella

NEW YORK (AP) — Add those cute little hedgehogs to the list of pets that can make you sick.

In the last year, 20 people were infected by a rare but dangerous form of salmonella bacteria, and one person died in January. The illnesses were linked to contact with hedgehogs kept as pets, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health officials on Thursday say such cases seem to be increasing.

The CDC recommends thoroughly washing your hands after handling hedgehogs and cleaning pet cages and other equipment outside.

Other pets that carry the salmonella bug are frogs, toads, turtles, snakes, lizards, chicks and ducklings.

Seven of the hedgehog illnesses were in Washington state, including the death — an elderly man from Spokane County who died in January. The other cases were in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Oregon.

In years past, only one or two illnesses from this salmonella strain have been reported annually, but the numbers rose to 14 in 2011, 18 last year, and two so far this year.

Children younger than five and the elderly are considered at highest risk for severe illness, CDC officials said.

Hedgehogs are small, insect-eating mammals with a coat of stiff quills. In nature, they sometimes live under hedges and defend themselves by rolling up into a spiky ball.

The critters linked to recent illnesses were purchased from various breeders, many of them licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, CDC officials said. Hedgehogs are native to Western Europe, New Zealand and some other parts of the world, but are bred in the United States.

___

Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

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NJ Gov. Christie appearing Monday with Letterman

NEW YORK (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will soon be crossing the Hudson River to appear on "Late Show with David Letterman."

CBS says the colorful, outspoken Christie will make his first appearance with Letterman on Monday.

The guest shot follows numerous jokes by Letterman at the expense of Christie and his ample girth.

Christie termed his plumpness "fair game" for comedians at a 2011 news conference. But maybe he'll arrive for "Late Show" with some droll observations of his own to target Letterman.

"Late Show" airs on CBS at 11:35 p.m. EST.

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Slot maker WMS Ind. to be sold for $1.5B

Gaming machines maker WMS Industries Inc. is being swallowed up by larger rival Scientific Games Corp. for $1.42 billion in cash and debt.

The deal announced Thursday values WMS at $26 a share -- nearly 60 percent higher than the stock's closing price on Wednesday. Shares shot up in early trading Thursday after the deal was announced, rising 54 percent to reach $25.14, just under its 12-month high.

Scientific Games primarily makes instant lottery tickets and software. Executives said on a conference call that grabbing WMS will allow it to quickly expand its offerings in arcade-type games, slots and video poker.

While Scientific Games executives on a conference call rejected the characterization that WMS is in the midst of a "turnaround," business has certainly been improving in recent months for the Waukegan-based game maker.

WMS, formerly Williams, said in November is fiscal 2013 first-quarter profit tripled on a combination of higher revenue and lower costs. 

The revenue was driven by new initiatives, including social gaming on Facebook and mobile phones, that's paid off.

Those new ventures have compounded the growth WMS has seen as it gambled on some other new outposts for its business.

In September, it received one of the first licenses to operate online poker games in Nevada, the only state other than Delaware to legalize some form of Internet gambling.                       

Online sites in Nevada are expected to go live in early 2013, but only people physically within that state's borders will be able to play. For everyone else, there's WMS's Facebook app, "Jackpot Party Social Casino."

The companies plan to save about $90 million through operating efficiencies by the third year they're combined. They expect the deal to close by the end of the year, pending regulatory and other approvals.

Executives say they are still working out the details on how the combined company will be run, so there's no word yet on whether the company's headquarters will remain in Illinois or if there will be any layoffs. A spokeswoman for WMS didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

sbomkamp@tribune.com | Twitter: @SamWillTravel

WMS data by YCharts

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$11K reward as White House calls girl's slaying a 'terrible tragedy'

A 15-year-old girl who had recently taken part in inauguration events in Washington was shot to death after leaving her South Side school Tuesday.

With outrage over his daughter's death spreading from City Hall to the White House, Nathaniel Pendleton made a public plea Wednesday for someone to step forward and bring the 15-year-old's killer to justice.

"They took the light of my life," Pendleton said at a news conference, where a $11,000 reward was announced for information about Tuesday's slaying of Hadiya Pendleton. "This guy, whoever he was, the gunman, man, you took the light of my life. Just look at yourself and just know that you took a bright person, an innocent person, a non-violent person."

Shaking his head and collecting himself, he continued, "This kid didn't like violence at all, didn't even like to fight, avoided a fight, moved away from anything that was not positive. She was a majorette, just came back from the inauguration. She was destined for great things and you stripped that from her."

Hadiya, who last week performed at President Barack Obama's inaugural festivities, was killed when a gunman opened fire on a group of students at Harsh Park, just blocks from King College Prep and about a mile from Obama's home in Kenwood on the South Side.

Presidential spokeman Jay Carney, asked about Hadiya's death Wednesday, said it was a “terrible tragedy” any time a young person is struck down “with so much of their life ahead of them.”

“The president and first lady's thoughts and prayers are with the family of Hadiya Pendleton,” he said. “All of our thoughts and prayers are with her family.”

Carney, asked about a petition urging President Barack Obama to attend Pendleton’s funeral, said he was not aware of the petition and had no scheduling announcements to make.

When asked if Obama had reached out to Pendleton’s family, Carney said he had no communications to share with reporters.

Carney also said that when Obama talks about gun violence in America he is not talking only about Newtown (Conn.) or Aurora (Colo.) or Oak Creek (Wis.) or Virginia Tech, but to shootings in Chicago and other parts of the country.

He added that while "we may not be able to prevent every act of gun violence. . .we need to take action to reduce gun violence” and “make sure that we’re doing everything we can in a responsible way to reduce this violence, to protect our children, including Hadiya Pendleton and others.”

Hadiya's death also came up at a news conference by Mayor Rahm Emanuel as a particularly violent January in Chicago draws to a close.

Emanuel called Hadiya "what is best in our city" and urged anyone with information about the slaying to come forward.

"If anybody has any information, you are not a snitch, you're a citizen," the mayor said. "You're a good citizen in good standing if you help."

The mayor said he talked this morning with Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, "going over what we need to do, what differences we have to do, what other tactics we have to adopt." He did not say what plans he and McCarthy discussed.

Later, McCarthy appeared with Hadiya's father at a news conference at Harsh Park to announce the reward.

"The fact is, at this point, we have very little to go on. The fact is that somebody knows something," he said, surrounded by family members and community leaders.

The Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Church on the South Side, said the reward will be "a bounty out on the head of a killer before you kill somebody else.

"Your butt needs to be in jail," he said. "Somebody knows. . .right now, sitting in their home some young person knows, some young friend of theirs knows, some parent knows, some adult knows. Where are you?"

Pfleger compared Hadiya's slaying to the mass murder of school children in Newtown, Conn. "We should be just as outraged," he said.

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RIM, now known as BlackBerry, launches new BB10 line

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd unveiled the long-delayed line of smartphones it hopes will put it on the comeback trail on Wednesday but it disappointed investors by saying U.S. sales of its all-new BlackBerry 10 will start only in March.

Chief Executive Thorsten Heins also announced that RIM was abandoning the name it has used since its inception in 1985 to take the name of its signature product, signaling his hopes for a fresh start for the company that pioneered on-your-hip email.

"From this point forward, RIM becomes BlackBerry," Heins said at the New York launch. "It is one brand; it is one promise."

RIM, which is already starting to call itself BlackBerry, had initially planned to launch the new BlackBerry 10 smartphones in 2011. But it pushed the date back twice as it struggled to work with a new operating system.

Ahead of Wednesday's announcements, analysts had said that any launch after February would be a black mark for the Canadian company.

"The biggest disappointment was the delay in the U.S., that it will take so long before the devices get going there," said Eric Jackson, founder and managing Partner at Ironfire Capital LLC in New York.

Heins said the delays reflected the need for U.S. carrier testing, although carrier AT&T offered few clues on what that meant.

"We are very enthusiastic about the devices. We will announce pricing, availability, and other information at a later date. Beyond that, nothing to add," said spokesman Mark Siegel.

RIM launched its first BlackBerry back in 1999 as a way for busy executives to stay in touch with their clients and their offices, and the Canadian company quickly cornered the market for secure corporate and government email.

But its star faded as competition rose. The BlackBerry is now a far-behind also-ran in the race for market share, with a 3.4 percent global showing in the fourth quarter, down from 20 percent three years before. Its North American market share is even worse: a mere 2 percent in the fourth quarter.

RIM shares tumbled along with the company's market share, and the stock is down 90 percent from its 2008 peak.

The shares fell as much as 8 percent on Wednesday, although they are still more than twice the level of their September 2012 low, reflecting ever-louder buzz about the new devices.

TOUCH COMPETITION

The new BlackBerry 10 phones will compete with Apple's iPhone and devices using Google's Android technology, both of which have soared above the BlackBerry in a competitive market.

The BlackBerry 10 devices boast fast browsers, new features, smart cameras and, unlike previous BlackBerry models, enter the market primed with a large application library, including services such as Skype and the popular game Angry Birds.

The BlackBerry Z10 touchscreen device, in black or white, will be the first to hit the market, with a country-by-country roll-out that starts in Britain on Thursday.

A Q10 model, equipped with small "qwerty" keyboard that RIM made into its trademark, will launch globally in April.

The Z10 device won a lukewarm review from Wall Street Journal tech blogger Walt Mossberg, who complained of missing or lagging features and a shortage of apps.

But David Pogue, who writes for The New York Times, apologized for describing BlackBerry as doomed in the past. The Z10 touchscreen device was "lovely, fast and efficient, bristling with fresh, useful ideas," he said.

Announcements about pricing so far have been in line with expectations. U.S. carrier Verizon Wireless said the phone would cost $199 for a two-year contract, while Canada's Rogers Communications is quoting C$149 ($150) for certain three-year plans.

GLITZY LAUNCH

RIM picked a range of venues for its global launch parties, including Dubai's $650-a-night Armani Hotel, which occupies six floors of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower.

The New York event took place in a sprawling basketball facility on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, just north of the Manhattan Bridge. The BlackBerry has been "Re-designed. Re-engineered. Re-invented," RIM said.

RIM, which is splurging on a Superbowl ad to promote its new phones, also introduced Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Alicia Keys as its global creative director.

"I was in a long-term relationship with BlackBerry, and then I started to notice some new, kind of hotter, attractive, sexier phones at the gym, and I kind of broke up with you for something that had a little more bling," Keys said at the New York launch.

"But I always missed the way you organized my life, and the way you were there for me at my job, and so I started to have two phones - I was kind of playing the field. But then ... you added a lot more features ... and now, we're exclusively dating again, and I'm very happy."

($1=$1.0029 Canadian)

(Writing by Janet Guttsman; Editing by Frank McGurty, Lisa Von Ahn and Peter Galloway)

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Lewis says he's 'agitated,' not angry about story

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Smiling, even laughing, at questions about a report linking him to a company that purports to make performance-enhancers, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis said Wednesday he "never, ever took" the stuff.

Lewis described himself as "agitated," not angry, that the story has become part of the Super Bowl-week prelude to Baltimore's game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

He added that he's certain his teammates won't be distracted by the report in Sports Illustrated. The magazine said Lewis sought help from a company that says its deer-antler spray and pills contain a banned product connected to human growth hormone. The 37-year-old Lewis is the leading tackler in the NFL postseason after returning from a torn right triceps that sidelined him for 10 games.

In a private conversation with Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, and later in the public setting of a news conference, Lewis distanced himself from Sports With Alternatives To Steroids (SWATS). SI reported that company owner Mitch Ross recorded a call with Lewis hours after the player hurt his arm in an October game against Dallas. According to the report, Lewis asked Ross to send him deer-antler spray and pills, along with other items made by the company.

"It's so funny of a story because I never, ever took what he says or whatever I was supposed to do. And it's just sad once again that someone can have this much attention on a stage this big, where the dreams are really real," Lewis said Wednesday, wearing his white No. 52 Ravens jersey, gray sweat pants and a black hat with the team's purple logo. "I don't need it. My teammates don't need it. The 49ers don't need it. Nobody needs it."

The magazine reported that when it spoke to Lewis for its story, he acknowledged asking Ross for "some more of the regular stuff" on the night of the injury and that he has been associated with the company "for a couple years."

Lewis' stance Wednesday was different.

"He told me there's nothing to it. ... He's told us in the past, he's told us now, that he's never taken any of that stuff, ever. And I believe Ray. I trust Ray completely. We have a relationship. I know this man. And I know what he's all about," Harbaugh said. "It's just too bad it has to be something that gets so much play."

Christopher Key, a co-owner of SWATS, said in a telephone interview that the company removed from its website NFL players' endorsements because "all the players were given letters by the NFL two years ago saying they had to cease and desist and could not continue to do business with us anymore."

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello confirmed that, but did not respond to other requests for comment about the company or Lewis' involvement.

Key said the deer-antler products made by SWATS "helped the body repair, regrow and rejuvenate" and that "you will never fail a drug test from taking our product."

He added that SWATS has sold its products to more than 20 college football players each at Southeastern Conference schools Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi, LSU and Georgia.

Alabama has sent two cease and desist letters to the company, university spokeswoman Debbie Lane said, adding: "UA has been aware of this situation for some time, and we have monitored this company for several years."

Auburn spokesman Kirk Sampson said that school sent a cease-and-desist letter in 2011.

In an emailed statement, Ross said: "It is the view of SWATS and Mitch Ross that the timing of information was unfortunate and misleading and was in no way intended to harm any athlete. We have always been about aiding athletes to heal faster and participate at an optimum level of play in a lawful and healthy manner. We never encourage the use of harmful supplements and/or dangerous drugs."

Harbaugh didn't think his players would be bothered a bit by the subject this week, dismissively waving his left hand while saying: "As a football team, it's not even a factor for us."

Known for his frequent references to God and faith, 2001 Super Bowl MVP Lewis called the whole episode a "joke" and a "trick of the devil," adding that he told teammates: "Don't let people from the outside ever come and try to disturb what's inside."

Faced with a handful of questions about SWATS, and on-field topics, Lewis never had to deal with a single reference to a dark chapter in his life: He pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with a double murder after a Super Bowl party at an Atlanta nightclub in 2000.

"We all in here have a past. You know? But how many people actually dwell into it? You know? Nah, it ain't about your past. It's about your future," Lewis said in response to a question about the Ravens keeping focused on Sunday's game.

"And for me and my teammates, I promise you, we have a strong group of men that we don't bend too much," he said, raising a clenched right fist, "and we keep pushing forward. So it's not a distraction at all for us."

Asked about deer-antler spray, San Francisco's tight end Vernon Davis' take was, "I don't think Ray would take any substance."

Carlos Rogers, a 49ers cornerback, chuckled when asked about it and what effect the headlines could have on the Ravens.

"I don't think they'll get a distraction. I don't know what to make of that. I heard it was something that can't be detected. They can't test (for) it, anyway," Rogers said. "Him saying that he's never failed a test, he probably hasn't failed a test for what they test for."

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AP Sports Writer John Zenor in Tuscaloosa, Ala., contributed to this report.

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Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

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

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