First lady plugs 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama on Wednesday gushed over the Oscar-nominated film "Beasts of the Southern Wild," calling it one of the "most powerful and most important" movies in a long time in a ringing endorsement delivered less than two weeks before this month's Academy Awards ceremony.

The first lady commented during a Black History Month workshop at the White House for about 80 middle- and high-school students from the District of Columbia and New Orleans. The movie was set in Louisiana.

Students saw the film, then got to question director Benh Zeitlin and actors Dwight Henry and 9-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis. Wallis stars in the mythical tale of a 6-year-old girl named Hushpuppy struggling to survive in the southern Delta with her ailing father as a storm approaches. Her world consists of a tight-knit, shantytown community on the bayou with wild animals, both real and imagined.

The film won four Oscar nominations, including for best picture, best actress and directing.

Mrs. Obama said she saw the 93-minute film over the summer with a large group of friends and family who ranged in age from 3 to 73, and they were enthralled by it.

"It's rare these days to find a movie that can so completely and utterly captivate such a broad audience and that was one of the things that struck me about this movie," she said. "It managed to be beautiful, joyful and devastatingly honest."

The first lady said "Beasts" makes viewers "think deeply about the people we love in our lives who make us who we are" and shows the strength of communities and the power they give others to overcome obstacles.

"It also tells a compelling story of poverty and devastation but also of hope and love in the midst of some great challenges," she said.

Mrs. Obama also said it was "cool" that "there are so many important lessons to learn in that little 93 minutes."

"That a director and a set of writers and producers can say so much in just 93 minutes," the first lady told the students. "And it doesn't always happen in a movie, quite frankly, but this one did it, and that's why I love this movie so much and why our team wanted to bring it here to the White House and share it with all of you."

Mrs. Obama also used the film to inspire her young audience, noting that Wallis was just 5 years old when she auditioned for the part and Henry, who runs a bakery, had never acted a day in his life.

"You all have to really be focused on preparing yourselves for the challenges and the opportunities that will lie ahead for all of you. You've got to be prepared," she said, urging them to go to school, do their homework every day and follow her husband's example by reading everything they get their hands on.

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Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

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Feds OK insurance exchange partnership

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Wednesday said her department conditionally approved Illinois’ plan to operate a health insurance exchange in a partnership with the federal government, a widely expected move that makes the state the third to receive the official go ahead. 

Sebelius plans to make the announcement Wednesday afternoon at a West Side clinic alongside Gov. Pat Quinn, Sebelius said the approval will allow the state and the federal government to continue work on readying the online marketplace for Oct. 1, when uninsured Illinoisans can begin signing up for health insurance offered under the 2010 health care overhaul law.

Under the partnership model, Illinois will maintain its responsibility for regulating the insurance market, a function that will allow the state to tailor the types of private health insurance plans offered through the exchange. Illinois also will be in charge of customer assistance, which will allow it to conduct outreach efforts and aid people in signing up.

The federal government is responsible for building and operating the exchange.

Illinois becomes the third state to have its partnership plan approved, following Delaware and Arkansas. A handful of other states, including Iowa, Michigan, West Virginia and New Hampshire, also are interested in the partnership model. Other states have opted to set up and run their own exchanges, while a majority refused to participate, relying on the federal government to do so.

Sebelius is in town through Thursday to meet with several large stakeholders, including union leaders, clergy and community groups, to raise awareness about the forthcoming exchanges, a spokesman said.

The exchanges are a crucial part of the government's plan to expand the number of Americans who have some form of health insurance.

Eventually, an estimated 20 million people will benefit from federal tax credits starting in 2014 that will help offset the cost of paying for insurance premiums. Even so, the government estimates that about 6 million Americans will not sign up and will start paying tax penalties in 2014.

In the first year, those penalties are relatively modest, starting at $95 for adults and $47.50 per child. But they’re expected to increase in future years, eventually totaling nearly $7 billion in 2016, an average fine of about $1,200 per person.

While states were given the option of setting up and running their own exchanges, only 18 chose to do so, with most of the rest opting to allow the federal government to operate them, at least in the beginning.

Julie Hamos, director of the state Department of Healthcare and Family Services, has said she hopes to get legislation passed this spring to authorize a purely state-run exchange that will be up and ready in time for open enrollment for 2015.

Meanwhile, consumers can expect a marketing blitz during the summer and into the fall touting the exchanges, which will serve individuals who are not eligible for Medicare or Medicaid and not offered health insurance through their employers.

pfrost@tribune.com | Twitter: @peterfrost

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Fugitive ex-cop in gun battle with authorities, source says

Fugitive former police officer Christopher Dorner allegedly shot and wounded at least two San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies during a shootout with authorities in the Big Bear area Tuesday afternoon, sources said.

Dozens of law enforcement officers were racing to the last reported scene of a gun battle near the 7 Oaks cabin area near Big Bear.

“There are deputies everywhere on the ground and on foot," said Cindy Bachman, a San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman.

The shooting occurred after Dorner burglarized a home, tied up a couple and stole a white pickup truck, sources said. San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Jodi Miller confirmed deputies responded to a vehicle theft about 12:22 p.m., and the resident who reported the theft said the suspect matched Dorner's desciprtion. 

The U.S. Forest Service confirms there was an exchange of gunfire between officers on foot and the suspect, in the Santa Ana River drainage, north of State Highway 38 and south of Big Bear Valley. At least one officer of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife was involved, said John Miller, San Bernardino National Forest spokesman. He is not believed to be injured.

Dorner's status was not immediately known as the gunfight continued.

Officers have crisscrossed California for days pursuing the more than 1,000 tips that poured in about Dorner's possible whereabouts — including efforts in Tijuana, Mexico, San Diego County and Big Bear — and serving warrants at homes in Las Vegas and Point Loma.

Statewide alerts were issued in California and Nevada, and border authorities were alerted. The Transportation Security Administration also issued an alert urging pilots and other aircraft operators to keep an eye out for Dorner.

The search turned to Big Bear last week after Dorner's burning truck was found on a local forest road.

At the search's height, more than 200 officers scoured the mountain, conducting cabin-by-cabin checks. It was scaled back Sunday — about 30 officers were out in the field Tuesday, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said.

Dorner allegedly threatened "unconventional and asymmetrical warfare" against police in a lengthy manifesto that authorities say he posted on Facebook. The posting named dozens of potential targets, including police officers, that Dorner allegedly threatened to attack, according to authorities.

The records state that the manifesto was discovered by authorities Wednesday, three days after the slaying of the two Irvine victims: Monica Quan, a Cal State Fullerton assistant basketball coach, and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, a USC public safety officer.

Quan was the daughter of a retired LAPD captain whom Dorner allegedly blamed in part for his firing from the force in 2009.

The federal documents also provide new details on Dorner's alleged attack against officers early Thursday in Riverside County.

The first shooting was in Corona after an eyewitness reported a person matching Dorner's description at a gas station, telling an LAPD officer "who was detailed to the area to protect one of the officials whom Dorner had threatened," according to the court records.

"When the officer drove by the gas station, the suspect exited his vehicle and fired an assault rifle at the officer, hitting the officer's vehicle," according to the court records.

The LAPD later said the officer received a grazing wound. 

About 30 minutes later, Dorner opened fire on Riverside police officers "who were in the area searching for Dorner," the documents said. On that detail, the account conflicts with a statement provided to the media by Riverside police officials, who said the officers were stopped at a red light and were not looking for Dorner.

Riverside Officer Michael Crain, 34, a married father of two who served two tours in Kuwait as a rifleman in the Marines, was killed in the attack. His partner remains hospitalized, Police Chief Sergio Diaz said, and it was unclear if he would be able to return to active duty.

Dorner was charged Monday with one count of murder, with special-circumstance allegations in the killing of a peace officer and the discharge of a firearm from a vehicle, in connection with Crain's death. He faces three additional charges of attempted murder.

Riverside Dist. Atty. Paul Zellerbach said because of the special-circumstance allegations, Dorner could be eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

--Andrew Blankstein, Richard Winton, Kate Mather, Matt Stevens, Joel Rubin and Julie Cart.

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Apple CEO calls Einhorn lawsuit a "silly sideshow"

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook said the board is carefully considering David Einhorn's proposal for the company to issue preferred stock and return more cash to investors, but he called a lawsuit brought by the star hedge fund manager against Apple a "silly sideshow."

Waving aside Einhorn's assertion that Apple is clinging to a "Depression-era" mentality, Cook said on Tuesday the board is in "very active discussions" on how to dole out more of its $137 billion hoard of cash and marketable securities.

Einhorn and his Greenlight Capital are suing Apple as part of a wider effort to get the iPhone maker to share more of its cash pile, one of the largest among technology companies. They are challenging "Proposal 2" in Apple's proxy statement, which would abolish a system for issuing preferred stock at its discretion.

Einhorn called on Apple to issue perpetual preferred shares that pay dividends to existing shareholders. Such a vehicle, Einhorn says, would be superior to dividends or share buybacks.

Cook gave Einhorn credit for a novel idea, but the usually unflappable chief executive turned slightly impatient when discussing the lawsuit. He was also dismissive of Einhorn's media and legal blitz - which included the lawsuit as well as multiple television and media interviews.

"This is a waste of shareholder money and a distraction, and not a seminal issue for Apple. That said, I support Prop 2. I am personally going to vote for it," Cook told a packed hall at Goldman Sachs' annual technology industry conference in San Francisco.

The conflict over Prop 2 "is a silly sideshow," added Cook, who on Tuesday traded in his usual casual jeans attire for slacks and a dark suit jacket, in a nod to Wall Street. Cook said he thought it "bizarre that we would find ourselves being sued for doing something good for shareholders."

Einhorn's clash with Apple centers on a proposed change to its charter that would eliminate the company's ability to issue "blank check" preferred stock at its discretion. Apple, which said the change would not preclude future issuance of preferred shares, is recommending shareholders vote in favor at its annual meeting on February 27.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. district court in Manhattan, objects to the bundling of the charter change with two other corporate governance-related proposals in "Proposal 2."

The hedge fund manager, a well-known short-seller and Apple gadget fan, counters that striking the preferred-share mechanism from the charter would make it more difficult to issue such securities down the road.

Apple's share price has tumbled in recent months from a high of just over $700 last September. In late afternoon trade on Tuesday, the shares were down around 2.2 percent at $469.30.

DIMINISHING CLOUT

Investors were disappointed that Cook - who rarely makes lengthy public-speaking engagements - did not provide a "more substantial" view on returning cash.

"The only thing that would substantially move the stock would be him saying they were returning cash to shareholders or hinting at a new product," said a manager from a mid-size Dallas hedge fund that owns Apple shares.

"There was a small chance of that happening."

Apple stock is a mainstay of many fund managers' portfolios, with research firm eVestment estimating that 75 percent of U.S. large-cap growth managers had invested more than 5 percent of their portfolios in Apple as of the end of the third quarter of 2012.

But that also increases the pressure on Apple to give away a bigger portion of its cash hoard, which is rising as the share price declines and its outlook grows murkier.

Last March, Apple announced a quarterly cash dividend and a share buyback that would pay out $45 billion over three years. At the time, it was sitting on $98 billion in cash. It has so far returned $10 billion of that, but investors want more.

Apple's own view is that its cash pile is a strategic cushion, offering it more flexibility if a need ever arises, such as a major acquisition. Cook said the company had pondered more than one large acquisition in the past, but none passed its internal test.

The company could well do one in the future if the technology fits, he said.

"We have the management talent and depth to do it," he said. "We don't feel the pressure to go out and acquire revenue."

FREE-WHEELING DISCUSSION

Cook, introduced by Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein at the outset, offered other views on topics from screen sizes and the future of the personal computer to Apple's commitment to "great products."

He disputed a popular view that the smartphone market in developed markets may be saturated.

"On a longer-term basis, all phones will be smartphones and there's a lot more people in the world than 1.4 billion, and people love to upgrade their phones very regularly," he said.

The company is also trying to appeal to cost-conscious customers. Apple has moved to make the iPhone more affordable without introducing a specific cheaper phone, by cutting prices of older models.

"We didn't have enough supply of iPhone 4 after we cut the price," he said. "It surprised us, the level of demand for it."

The chief executive, who departed for Washington, D.C after the conference to join U.S. first lady Michelle Obama at the President's State of the Union address later on Tuesday, otherwise stuck pretty much to his regular script - with a sprinkling of lighter, more personal moments.

He grew animated when praising Apple employees or talking about the company's efforts to improve labor conditions across its sprawling supply chain, and touted the Apple store concept for its uplifting ability.

Cook said that when he is down, he just visits an Apple retail store. "It's like Prozac. It's a feeling like no other."

(The story corrects fourth paragraph to say that Einhorn, not the lawsuit, called for Apple to issue perpetual preferred shares.)

(Additional reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Claudia Parsons and Steve Orlofsky)

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Gonzalez maintains he hasn't used PEDs

VIERA, Fla. (AP) — Gio Gonzalez arrived at spring training with the Washington Nationals on Tuesday and maintained he has not used performance-enhancing drugs.

The Miami New Times reported last month that Gonzalez was among a half-dozen major league players listed as receiving PEDs in purported records of Biogenesis of America LLC, a now-closed anti-aging clinic in Coral Gables, Fla. Gonzalez hopes to be exonerated.

"I feel very confident," the 27-year-old left hander said. "I think that at the end of the day I've never taken performance-enhancing drugs, and I never will."

Gonzalez, a 21-game winner last year, denied the allegations on Twitter on the day they were reported.

"You're stunned. You're shocked," he said Tuesday. "Your name has been brought up out of nowhere. You can't do nothing about it. You just have to wait it out and listen to what's going on. You can't jump the gun. You can't jump to conclusions. At the end of the day you just have to listen in and wait patiently."

Gonzalez said he had been contacted by Major League Baseball officials and has cooperated with their investigation. Gonzalez said he has "done everything that they want, and I feel strong with their program and what they're doing, and at the end of the day I'm waiting on them."

Gonzalez's father, Max, also was listed in the purported Biogenesis records.

"There's no connection for the fact that I say my father admitted that he was a patient there. A legitimate patient," the pitcher said. "And then after that, you know how my father is. ... All of south Florida, all of baseball knows that my father is the most proud father in baseball. He tells everyone about his son. And that's the best I can say. Other than that, I have no clue why my name was on that list, or on a notebook or anything."

Gonzalez doesn't want the allegations to be a distraction for his teammates.

"I'm going to do my best to keep it away from the locker room," he said. "I don't want any of this to be about me. Again, it's about the organization and it's about the team together."

Teammate Drew Storen said he isn't worried.

"Gio's a big part of this team, obviously. He's always been a big character guy for us," Storen said. "I think he'll continue to do that. He'll come in and be able to separate that stuff out. I think that's one of the things our clubhouse has been special for, we're able to cut out the outside factors. . I think we're going to be in good shape. Gio's a stand-up, character guy for us in this clubhouse. It's not going to change a thing."

Gonzalez said he plans to pitch for the United States in next month's World Baseball Classic following an invitation from manager Joe Torre. He figures to bolster a rotation missing David Price, Justin Verlander, Jered Weaver, Clayton Kershaw and Matt Cain.

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Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/khightower

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Pope shows lifetime jobs aren't always for life

The world seems surprised that an 85-year-old globe-trotting pope who just started tweeting wants to resign, but should it be? Maybe what should be surprising is that more leaders his age do not, considering the toll aging takes on bodies and minds amid a culture of constant communication and change.

There may be more behind the story of why Pope Benedict XVI decided to leave a job normally held for life. But the pontiff made it about age. He said the job called for "both strength of mind and body" and said his was deteriorating. He spoke of "today's world, subject to so many rapid changes," implying a difficulty keeping up despite his recent debut on Twitter.

"This seemed to me a very brave, courageous decision," especially because older people often don't recognize their own decline, said Dr. Seth Landefeld, an expert on aging and chairman of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Age has driven many leaders from jobs that used to be for life — Supreme Court justices, monarchs and other heads of state. As lifetimes expand, the woes of old age are catching up with more in seats of power. Some are choosing to step down rather than suffer long declines and disabilities as the pope's last predecessor did.

Since 1955, only one U.S. Supreme Court justice — Chief Justice William Rehnquist — has died in office. Twenty-one others chose to retire, the most recent being John Paul Stevens, who stepped down in 2010 at age 90.

When Thurgood Marshall stepped down in 1991 at the age of 82, citing health reasons, the Supreme Court justice's answer was blunt: "What's wrong with me? I'm old. I'm getting old and falling apart."

One in 5 U.S. senators is 70 or older, and some have retired rather than seek new terms, such as Hawaii's Daniel Akaka, who left office in January at age 88.

The Netherlands' Queen Beatrix, who just turned 75, recently said she will pass the crown to a son and put the country "in the hands of a new generation."

In Germany, where the pope was born, Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is 58, said the pope's decision that he was no longer fit for the job "earns my very highest respect."

"In our time of ever-lengthening life, many people will be able to understand how the pope as well has to deal with the burdens of aging," she told reporters in Berlin.

Experts on aging agreed.

"People's mental capacities in their 80s and 90s aren't what they were in their 40s and 50s. Their short-term memory is often not as good, their ability to think quickly on their feet, to execute decisions is often not as good," Landefeld said. Change is tougher to handle with age, and leaders like popes and presidents face "extraordinary demands that would tax anybody's physical and mental stamina."

Dr. Barbara Messinger-Rapport, geriatrics chief at the Cleveland Clinic, noted that half of people 85 and older in developed countries have some dementia, usually Alzheimer's. Even without such a disease, "it takes longer to make decisions, it takes longer to learn new things," she said.

But that's far from universal, said Dr. Thomas Perls, an expert on aging at Boston University and director of the New England Centenarians Study.

"Usually a man who is entirely healthy in his early 80s has demonstrated his survival prowess" and can live much longer, he said. People of privilege have better odds because they have access to good food and health care, and tend to lead clean lives.

"Even in the 1500s and 1600s there were popes in their 80s. It's remarkable. That would be today's centenarians," Perls said.

Arizona Sen. John McCain turned 71 while running for president in 2007. Had he won, he would have been the oldest person elected to a first term as president. Ronald Reagan was days away from turning 70 when he started his first term as president in 1981; he won re-election in 1984. Vice President Joe Biden just turned 70.

In the U.S. Senate, where seniority is rewarded and revered, South Carolina's Strom Thurmond didn't retire until age 100 in 2002. Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia was the longest-serving senator when he died in office at 92 in 2010.

Now the oldest U.S. senator is 89-year-old Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. The oldest congressman is Ralph Hall of Texas who turns 90 in May.

The legendary Alan Greenspan was about to turn 80 when he retired as chairman of the Federal Reserve in 2006; he still works as a consultant.

Elsewhere around the world, Cuba's Fidel Castro — one of the world's longest serving heads of state — stepped down in 2006 at age 79 due to an intestinal illness that nearly killed him, handing power to his younger brother Raul. But the island is an example of aged leaders pushing on well into their dotage. Raul Castro now is 81 and his two top lieutenants are also octogenarians. Later this month, he is expected to be named to a new, five-year term as president.

Other leaders who are still working:

—England's Queen Elizabeth, 86.

—Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz al-Saud, king of Saudi Arabia, 88.

—Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, emir of Kuwait, 83.

—Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court associate justice, 79.

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Associated Press writers Paul Haven in Havana, Cuba; David Rising in Berlin; Seth Borenstein, Mark Sherman and Matt Yancey in Washington, and researcher Judy Ausuebel in New York contributed to this report.

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Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

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NBC stumbles in deep midwinter freeze, ratings low

NEW YORK (AP) — NBC, after being heartened by some long-sought success this past fall, has fallen into a deep midwinter freeze.

The network has badly stumbled recently, hitting its three lowest viewership levels for a traditional television season in the past four weeks, the Nielsen ratings company said. The only exception came the week NBC televised the Pro Bowl.

NBC expected some tough times with the end of the pro football season and its popular Sunday night game. Two other popular shows, the reality singing competition "The Voice" and the sci-fi drama "Revolution," are on hiatus, which network entertainment President Robert Greenblatt noted a month ago in a bid to lower expectations.

"No one is more aware of what January through March will bring than us," he said.

Yet the depth of NBC's recent troubles has to be disheartening. NBC was feeling good about the musical drama "Smash," yet the 4.5 million people who watched its second-season premiere last week represented its smallest audience. The medical drama "Do No Harm" was cancelled after two weeks when it reached a paltry 2.2 million people last week in the time slot NBC once dominated with "ER."

The detective series "Deception," with Victor Garber, seems headed for a short life after reaching 3.1 million people last Monday. The comedy "1600 Penn," about a family living in the White House, had only 2.6 million people on Thursday, Nielsen said.

The audiences for all four of those series put together roughly equaled the number of people who saw "The Walking Dead," about a sheriff's deputy fighting zombie-like people, on AMC on Sunday night, Nielsen said.

Thirty-three other broadcast programs had bigger audiences than NBC's most-watched show last week, "Dateline NBC." The network has turned over its Friday night schedule to the news division with "Dateline" and Brian Williams' newsmagazine, "Rock Center."

CBS, led by the Grammy Awards, thoroughly dominated prime time on broadcast TV last week. Its average audience was twice that of second-place Fox. Seventeen of the 20 top broadcast programs last week were on CBS, with the exceptions being two episodes of "American Idol" on Fox and ABC's "Modern Family."

CBS averaged 13.2 million viewers for the week (8.0 rating, 13 share). A ratings point represents 1,147,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

Fox was second with 6.5 million (3.8, 6), ABC had 6.3 million (4.1, 7), NBC had 4.3 million (2.8, 5), the CW had 1.6 million (1.0, 2) and ION Television had 1.2 million (0.8, 1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with a 3.7 million prime-time average (1.9, 3). Telemundo had 1.3 million (0.7, 1), UniMas had 960,000 (0.5, 1), Estrella had 230,000 (0.1, 0) and Azteca 130,000 (also 0.1, 0).

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9.6 million viewers (6.4, 12). ABC's "World News" was second with 8.6 million (5.8, 11) and the "CBS Evening News" had 7.5 million viewers (5.0, 9). It was the biggest audience for CBS' evening newscast since January 2009.

For the week of Feb. 4-10, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "Grammy Awards," CBS, 28.38 million; "NCIS," CBS, 21.79 million; "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 18.98 million; "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 16.67 million; "Person of Interest," CBS, 14.88 million; "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 14.27 million; "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 14.12 million; "American Idol" (Thursday), Fox, 13.28 million; "Criminal Minds," CBS, 11.98 million; "2 Broke Girls," CBS, 11.37 million.

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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox and My Network TV are units of News Corp. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. TeleFutura is a division of Univision. Azteca America is a wholly owned subsidiary of TV Azteca S.A. de C.V.

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Online:

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Chicago leads nation in gas-price spikes

Drivers in Chicago are seeing a painful rise in gas prices get even worse this month.

The average price of regular unleaded in the Chicago metro area on Tuesday is $3.93, according to AAA. That's up 12 cents from a week ago. A month ago, the average was $3.42. Statewide, the average is about $3.79, up 8 cents from last week and 46 cents last month.

Prices are rising at pumps across the country, too, but not as dramatically. The national average is $3.60, up about 7 cents from a week ago and 30 cents higher than this time last month.

It's not typical to see gas price spikes at this time of year. Demand is typically low and picks up in the spring before driving season. And in general, gas is cheaper to produce in the winter because refineries can use less expensive blends.

The main reason for the spike is the higher price of crude oil. The price of oil has gone from around $85 a barrel in December to around $97 now because of improving economic certainty as the country moved past the election and the fiscal cliff deadline, according to energy analyst Phil Flynn. It's also being driven by better-than-expected growth in China, the world's second largest economy.

Prices in the Chicago area are typically some the highest in the nation, but the cost of a local fill-up is accelerating at almost double the national rate.

Flynn attributes this to a number of refinery issues in the region. Some scheduled maintenance at refineries -- where gasoline and other products are produced from oil -- occurred earlier than usual, which cut off some supply, affecting prices. Many close at this time of year to start the switchover to lower-emission summer blends of gasoline.

Besides a major overhaul of BP's Whiting refinery, the largest supplier of gasoline to Midwest markets, that's believed to be driving prices higher, a fire temporarily shut down a refinery in northwest Ohio.

AAA, which tracks daily gasoline prices around the country, predicts they will continue their rapid climb as local refinery issues continue into the beginning of peak driving season.

Flynn is more optimistic.

He believes that once the major Whiting refinery overhaul is complete later this year, gas prices will stabilize.

"I'm probably in the minority but I think we are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel," he said.

sbomkamp@tribune.com | Twitter: @SamWillTravel

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Charges in Hadiya Pendleton slaying could come soon: McCarthy

Charges could come this evening against two people being questioned in the shooting death of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said today.
"We will bring this all to closure, probably sometime this evening we're anticipating hopefully that we'll have charges," McCarthy said at a news conference with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez to announce a push for stiffer jail terms for people convicted of gun crimes.
McCarthy declined to provide more specifics, saying the investigation is ongoing.

"We're still doing lineups. We're still crossing some t's and dotting some i's that we need to do before we can get charges approved for these individuals," he said.

Chicago police picked up the two men, 18 and 20, were picked up over the weekend, hours after first lady Michelle Obama attended the funeral for the teenager whose death has become a symbol of escalating violence in Chicago.

The men were pulled over near East 67th Street and South Chicago Avenue late Saturday night or early Sunday morning after detectives canvassed the area of the park where she was shot and killed Jan. 29 and tracked down witnesses, the sources said.

Hadiya was fatally shot in Vivian Gordon Harsh Park, about a mile north of President Barack Obama's Kenwood neighborhood home on the South Side, a little more than a week after the honor student performed with the King College Prep band in Washington during inauguration festivities. Two other teens were wounded.

The shooting in the 4400 block of South Oakenwald Avenue happened after classes were dismissed for the day during finals week at King. Hadiya, a sophomore at King, was at the park with a group of teens, primarily other students from the school, when a male gunman climbed over a fence, ran to the group and started firing, police have said. The shooter escaped in what has been described as a white Nissan vehicle, possibly driven by a getaway driver.

One of the sources said at least one of the men brought into custody was riding in a Nissan Sentra, one of the two vehicles police pulled over when bringing the pair into custody. The source didn't know that Nissan's color.

Police have insisted the teens in Hadiya's group who had gathered in the park were not involved in gangs. But police have been looking into whether the gunman may have mistaken them for rival gang members.

While police and neighbors have generally described Harsh Park and its immediate surroundings as safe, there has been an internal gang conflict brewing in the area between factions of the Gangster Disciples, police said. The two men being questioned Sunday are alleged members of the Gangster Disciples, sources said.

One of the two men has a previous weapons conviction, according to court records.

In addition to Hadiya's homicide, there have been at least three other shootings within blocks of Harsh Park so far this year, according to police records.

No charges have been filed against the men, who are being held at Area Central police headquarters on the South Side.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel personally called Hadiya's parents, Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton and Nathaniel Pendleton, to inform them of the development, according to a source. Nathaniel Pendleton told the Tribune on Sunday night that he didn't want to say too much about the men being questioned because charges have not been filed.
“Right now, we're just happy that Chicago police have some leads and things are moving,” he said.

Shatira Wilks, a cousin of Hadiya's and a family spokesperson, said the development is a “good response” and better news than the family had Saturday.

Arrests and charges “will bring a small level of closure to the family, although (the shooter) still will be allowed to eat, drink, mingle,” Wilks said. “The thing about that is, Hadiya is no longer (able) to do so.”

On how Hadiya's family is doing, Wilks said, “Everyone keeps asking that. I don't know if you'll ever get an answer that we're feeling good or we're feeling fine.”

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Judge speeds up schedule in Apple versus Einhorn case

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A judge approved Apple Inc's request to speed up the schedule in a lawsuit filed by star hedge fund manager David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, part of an effort to get the company to share its huge cash reserves with investors.

U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan of the Southern District of New York on Monday brought forward the legal schedule by a few days at Apple's request, which argued that the issue would have a big impact on the upcoming shareholder meeting on February 27.

Apple told the judge that the request to modify the schedule had the support of Einhorn's counsel.

Einhorn, a well-known short-seller and Apple gadget fan, shocked Wall Street last week by suing Apple to stop the iPhone maker from eliminating from its charter the ability to issue preferred stock without shareholder approval.

He wants Apple to return a bigger piece of its $137 billion cash pile to investors, through the issuance of perpetual preferred shares that pay dividends to existing shareholders.

Einhorn is objecting to how the proposed charter change is bundled together with two other corporate governance-related proposals in the proxy document for the annual meeting.

The lawsuit contends Apple violated Securities and Exchange Commission rules that prohibit companies from "bundling" unrelated matters into a single proposal for a shareholder vote.

Apple says removing the board's ability to issue preferred stock at its discretion heightens governance, because future issuances would then require shareholder approval.

The company will file its response to the lawsuit by the end of Wednesday while Greenlight will file its own response papers by Friday. The judge ordered both parties to appear for oral arguments on February 19.

Apple has said that the proposal in its proxy had the support of many shareholders, and striking such a "blank check" provision from its charter would not preclude preferred share issuances in future.

The law firm of O'Melveny & Myers LLP is representing Apple in the case, with San Francisco-based partner George Riley arguing for Apple.

(Reporting By Poornima Gupta; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

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