Christoph Waltz, Adele among early Golden Globe winners

BEVERLY HILLS (Reuters) – Austrian actor Christoph Waltz and Adele notched early wins at the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, while “Lincoln” and Iran hostage thriller “Argo” were in a close race for the top honor, best movie drama.

Waltz carried off the Golden Globe for best supporting movie actor for his role as a dentist-turned-bounty hunter in Quentin Tarantino‘s quirky slavery Western “Django Unchained.”

“Let me gasp!” said Waltz. “It’s extraordinary … Quentin, my indebtedness and gratitude to you know no words.”

British Grammy-winning singer Adele, in her first major public appearance since giving birth in October, shared the trophy for performing and co-writing the best original song, “Skyfall,” for the James Bond movie of the same name.

Comedians Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, hosting the Globes for the first time, got the ceremony off to a rollicking start with jokes about some of the top Hollywood stars in the audience, and impersonations of Johnny Depp and Julianne Moore.

Pointing out “Zero Dark Thirty” director Kathryn Bigelow at the glitzy dinner, Poehler said she had not been closely following the controversy over the torture scenes depicted in the thriller about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

But, she added, “when it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron,” Poehler quipped, to roars from the audience. Bigelow is the former wife of Cameron, director of blockbusters “Avatar” and “Titanic.”

“Meryl Streep is not here. I hear she has the flu, and I’m told she is amazing in it,” Poehler joked about the esteemed actress.

The Golden Globes, handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, has become the entertainment industry’s second-biggest awards show after February’s Oscars, or Academy Awards.

But its influence on the Academy Awards has been somewhat sapped this year because Oscar nominations were announced three days ago, instead of a week after the Globes awards show.

TV HONORS FOR ‘HOMELAND’

Unlike the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes also honor television dramas and comedies.

On Sunday they chose Showtime terrorism thriller “Homeland” as best drama series, and the show’s Damian Lewis as best actor for his role as a Marine returning from Iraq who is turned by Muslim extremists.

HBO’s drama “Game Change” about Sarah Palin’s 2008 run for U.S. vice president won best TV film, while Moore won for her portrayal of the polarizing former Alaska governor.

In the movie category, “Lincoln,” Spielberg’s account of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln’s battle to end slavery, went into the evening with a leading seven nominations.

But it faces strong competition from “Argo,” and “Django Unchained,” which started the evening with five nominations.

“Zero Dark Thirty” and visually arresting shipwreck tale “Life of Pi” round out the best dramatic film contest.

The Golden Globes also hand out prizes for best comedy or musical, where the lavish screen version of hit stage musical “Les Miserables” is facing strong competition from comedy “Silver Linings Playbook.”

Jennifer Lawrence won the award for best actress in a comedy movie for her role as a young widow in “Silver Linings Playbook.”

“Les Miserables” stars Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway hoped to take home a Golden Globe later on Sunday.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Pharmacies Pressed to Meet High Demand for Flu Vaccine

Pharmacies around the city struggled to meet the demand for flu vaccinations on Sunday, a day after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo declared a public health state of emergency in response to a drastic increase in the number of flu cases this year.

Andrew Kelly/Reuters

People lining up for influenza vaccines at a New York drugstore.

In Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Harlem and places in between, pharmacists were turning away people looking for the last line of defense against a virus that appears to be stronger than ever.

“Just to let you know, I can only take one more on the line,” said Carlos Collazo, a pharmacy intern who was called in to work at a Rite Aid in Park Slope, Brooklyn, on his day off. Those who missed the cut, like Tamika Louissaint and her sister, Doris, had to look elsewhere in the neighborhood or put off the injection at least another day, while drugstores waited for more shipments.

“I was a little bit nervous because of the warning,” Doris Louissaint said, referring to Mr. Cuomo’s declaration. “I’ll go someplace else with her.” The sisters walked away.

The city Health Department said it could not provide data on the availability of vaccines. There were shortages in some areas but they were not pervasive, a spokesman for the department said. Yet an informal telephone survey of a dozen drugstores in neighborhoods across the city found that all but three had run out of the vaccine. Most that had exhausted their supplies said they expected to replenish them by Monday.

The governor’s emergency declaration on Saturday temporarily suspended a state law that prohibits pharmacists from vaccinating children.

There have been nearly 20,000 cases of influenza reported across the state so far this season, according to state health officials. That is four times the number of positive laboratory tests reported last season.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said that the flu had reached epidemic levels nationwide, and local health officials said that was true for New York City as well.

At Mr. Collazo’s store, on the corner of Seventh Avenue and Fifth Street, more than 30 people had signed up for shots by early Sunday afternoon and nearly 60 had signed up on each of the two days before that. The number of vaccinations on a normal day is five.

People who get vaccinated every year joined newcomers prompted, or frightened, into action by the recent warnings.

“It has been insane,” Mr. Collazo said, adding that most people whom he turned away were polite and understanding.

Lucas Watkins missed his usual vaccination in the fall but decided to get the shot when his girlfriend’s boss came down with the flu. When he was turned away from the Rite Aid in Park Slope, his second failed attempt that day, he simply pivoted and left for another drugstore down the way, joining many others on the same parade.

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Some Illinois coal plants looking to clean up

BALDWIN, Ill. ——

Nowhere is coal's effect more visible than here at Illinois' largest coal-fired power plant, where the train cars are flipped upside down, tracks and all, to feed boilers the size of skyscrapers.

Once reviled as one of the dirtiest coal plants in the U.S., today the Baldwin plant is a different kind of poster child.

Last month, Houston-based Dynegy Inc. completed $1 billion in environmental upgrades at Baldwin and its three sister Illinois plants, a calculated bet that it will emerge as one of the coal plant operators left standing as rivals are clobbered by a depressed electricity market that leaves little money to add federally mandated pollution controls.

Dynegy's move, together with the closures of several coal-fired plants in and around Chicago, should add up to cleaner air for Cook County, which has consistently failed to meet federal health standards for air quality.

The pollution spewing from three massive smokestacks at Baldwin, about a five-hour drive southwest of Chicago, had plagued the city and other downwind communities for decades, contributing to the smog and soot that trigger asthma and other ailments.

"Hundreds of people in the state have died in recent years and thousands have been sickened simply because they had no choice but to breathe the pollution being pumped out by huge coal power plants. What we are starting to see now are the real health benefits of legal enforcement actions taken years ago," said Brian Urbaszewski, director of environmental health programs for the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago.

The closures of the coal-burning Crawford and Fisk power plants in Chicago and the State Line plant just across the border in Indiana mirror a story playing out across the country. The abundance of natural gas, a cheaper fuel than coal, has cut into profits of coal plant operators just as states and the federal government have pressed for expensive pollution upgrades.

The Brattle Group, a financial consulting firm, predicts that one-fourth of the nation's coal-fired electricity will be wiped off the map by 2016; more than 100 coal-fired generating units have been mothballed since 2009. The state's other two major coal plant owners — Ameren Corp.'s generating arm and Edison International's Midwest Generation — largely have been cast off by their parent companies because of poor financial performance. And they have pleaded with regulators for more time to meet pollution standards.

As a result of upgrades, it is more costly to operate Baldwin and Dynegy's other Illinois coal plants in Wood River, Havana and Hennepin than those of competitors. But Dynegy doesn't expect that to be a burden long term. Fewer players making electricity means surviving power plant operators will receive higher payments from grid operators that pay reservation fees for power.

"There's short-term pain until you flush the noncompliers out of the game," said Robert Flexon, Dynegy's president and chief executive.

Longer term, if coal-fired plants keep closing as Dynegy anticipates, it expects to earn $100 million more per year beginning in 2016 in so-called capacity payments from grid operators.

Cleaning up

Dynegy's decision to upgrade its plants was not altogether altruistic. The improvements stem from a 2005 settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice that set deadlines for the company to clean up its plants or close them.

The Baldwin plant, an hour's drive from St. Louis, is massive; its white smokestack plumes can be seen for miles in this flat farming area. Its fuel comes in by rail.

The cars, brimming with 120 tons of coal every 2 1/2 minutes, are flipped over, rails and all, only to return full in an eight-day loop that begins in Wyoming. The amount of coal burned every two months is enough to fill Willis Tower.

It is just the start of a laborious process that strips the coal of toxic pollutants. Truckloads of lime are shipped to the plant each day to supply the sulfur dioxide scrubbers. After the coal is burned, the resulting coal gas is piped to the building-size scrubbers, each containing 20 nozzles that spray a mixture of limestone and ash to chemically remove the sulfur dioxide.

The pollutants bind to the slurry mixture, drop to the bottom and are recycled, while the coal gas pushes through to two smaller buildings called "bag houses," essentially giant filters that catch tiny particles that would otherwise enter the air.

To avoid nitrogen oxide emissions, the coal is burned at a lower temperature.

All told, improvements since 1998 have reduced 93 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions, 85 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions and 88 percent of particulate matter emissions, according to Dynegy.

"All that's really coming out that stack now is carbon dioxide and water vapor," Dave Glosecki, Baldwin's maintenance director, told a group during a recent plant tour.

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NHL lockout officially over

Chicago Blackhawks winger Bryan Bickell talking about the end of the NHL lockout and the challenges of playing a shortened season. Bickell talked Friday following an informal practice at Johnny's IceHouse West.

By Chris Kuc




Tribune reporter

9:38 p.m. CST, January 12, 2013

It's back to work for the NHL.

The lockout that paralyzed the league for 119 days officially ended Saturday night when the NHL and NHLPA signed a Memorandum of Understanding -- a mini version of the collective bargaining agreement -- after the union ratified the agreement that was reached last Sunday earlier Saturday.

The Blackhawks will start training camp on Sunday.

As previously reported, the Chicago Blackhawks will open the season Jan. 19 with an afternoon game against the Kings in Los Angeles. The NHL released the regular-season schedule and the Hawks face a tough test right out of the gate with 10 of their first 12 games on the road while Disney on Ice and the Bulls occupy the United Center.
The Hawks' home opener is Jan. 22 against the St. Louis Blues.

ckuc@tribune.com

Twitter @ChrisKuc

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Microsoft taps Krikorian to help run its Xbox business

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it hired technology entrepreneur Blake Krikorian to help run its Interactive Entertainment Business as the world’s largest software company plans bigger things for its Xbox gaming console.

Krikorian will be corporate vice president for the Interactive Entertainment Business, reporting to Marc Whitten, chief product officer for the division, Microsoft added.

The appointment follows Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Krikorian’s company, id8 Group R2 Studios, which had developed an application that allows users to control home heating and lighting systems from smartphones.

Microsoft is trying to transform Xbox from a gaming device into a broader service that controls most aspects of home entertainment, including music, movies, TV and sports.

“We look forward to his contribution to our team as Xbox continues to evolve and transform the games and entertainment landscape,” Whitten said in a statement.

Krikorian’s Sling Media – which was sold to EchoStar Communications in 2007 – made the Slingbox device for watching TV over the Internet.

Krikorian resigned from Amazon.com Inc’s board in late December after about a year and a half as a director at the company, the Internet’s largest retailer.

(Reporting By Alistair Barr; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

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Milan Fashion Week starts on somber note

MILAN (AP) — Milan Fashion Week started off on a somber note Saturday, as the design world maintained a vigil for the missing CEO of the family-run Missoni fashion house.

The Italian National Fashion Chamber urged the fashion community to post messages on social networks to keep pressure on authorities not to abandon the search for Vittorio Missoni and five others who disappeared aboard a twin-engine plane near Venezuelan islands on Jan. 5.

Designers expressed their solidarity with the family on the first day of menswear previews Saturday.

“No one better than me can understand the pain and anguish that they are experiencing, the suffering of the sister Angela,” Donatella Versace told Italian reporters before her menswear preview. Versace’s brother, Gianni, the founder of the company, was killed by a gunman in Miami in July 1997.

Despite the uncertainty, the Missoni fashion house confirmed its menswear preview show for Sunday. In a message posted on Facebook, designer Angela Missoni, Vittorio’s sister, expressed gratitude for messages of support. Their brother, Luca, a trained pilot, was in Venezuela helping with the search.

“They did very well to confirm the appointment with the new collection. Vittorio would have done the same,” said Mario Boselli, head of the fashion chamber.

Thirty-seven brands were holding fashion shows to present their menswear collections for next winter over four days.

___

DOLCE&GABBANA

Dolce and Gabbana’s menswear collection for next winter is pure masculinity, infused with southern romanticism.

With motifs of winter roses, illuminated Madonnas and baroque embossing, the 2014 winter menswear collection evokes the design house’s Sicilian roots. And to drive home the point, the designing duo chose ordinary Sicilians as their models, as they have done in the past, filling the runway with men who were more muscular, with more pronounced features and often shorter than those usually seen in fashion.

Cinched high-waist pleated pants strongly suggested a bygone era. Trouser lengths varied from calf to ankle, straight or cuffed, while jacket, coats and vests ranged from short waist cuts to long overcoats.

In its most basic iteration, the collection featured black pants paired with white blousons or dark ribbed sweaters — the clothes of a craftsman, a fisherman, a laborer. Detailing like an overlay of white lace on the blousons elevated the look far above mere utility.

And there were also garments fitting of the merchant class — rich brocade jackets and thick furry overcoats and velvet suits. These more formal clothes, including a dark suit jacket overlayed with white lace and finished with velvet trim, could be worn for business, a personal celebration or to Sunday Mass.

___

BURBERRY PRORSUM

Tradition meets innovation in Burberry Prorsum‘s new winter looks for men.

The “I Love Classics” collection — or made more technology-friendly, I (heart) Classics — focuses heavily on outerwear, from the classic trench and duffel, to topcoats, Chesterfields and bombers.

While diving deep into Burberry’s archives, designer Christopher Bailey managed also to have fun, adding a touch of whimsy with repeating heart motifs and oversizing military-inspired accents.

“I liked the idea of celebrating things that are familiar, classic, the kind of classic Burberry, classic menswear,” Bailey said backstage. “But I wanted to be playful as well.”

Bailey married innovation and levity in traditional coats made of light-weight transparent rubber with a repeating heart lining. Bailey said Burberry developed the rubber to be silky to the touch. Cashmere also gets special treatment, with new finishes and bonding to alter the texture.

Colors followed the classic line — camel, bone, olive, navy and black — with deep reds and dark royal purple.

Maintaining a light mood, animal prints also accented classic bags, complementing the Burberry check pattern, and also adorned shoes and boots. Animal print sunglasses complete the look.

___

JIL SANDER

Tall, almost Puritan collars gave gravitas to Jil Sander’s first winter menswear collection since returning to the label she founded.

The ample lapels made prominent in the collection for next fall/winter often contrasted in tone or texture with the jacket or sweater they accented, and were sometimes layered over more traditional notched lapels. Short-cropped hair kept the focus on neckline.

Suit jackets were kept mostly shorter and allowed to billow slightly in the back. This permitted whimsical layering with longer sweaters underneath — and most of the suits were finished with sweaters, crew necks or mock turtlenecks, rather than shirts. Pants were straight, and ankle-length, giving way to well-polished boots.

While the looks adhered to the line’s minimalist credo — simplicity and clean lines — there was nothing austere about it.

The colors and fabrics were both lush and luxurious. Crimson, cobalt and pine contrasted soothingly with more sober grays and black. Even strong shades were easy on the eyes. Materials included chunky corduroy, cashmere knit and leather.

For fun, Sander offered sleeveless pull-over vests, leaving arms and shoulders bare, and sometimes bi-colored in Harlequin fashion. For more serious moments, there were double-breasted pinstripes, distinguished with monochrome panels.

___

ZEGNA

Cyber-kinetic patterns give energy to classic looks by Ermenegildo Zegna.

Zegna signals a push for innovation in the title of the collection: “Style for Change.”

Zegna zips up the double-breasted suit with graphic lines, while repeating patterns of dots fused into lines give motion to overcoats.

Gray dominates the collection, giving it an urban flair.

The basic look forms around suits, paired with slim, elegant ties or scoop-neck sweaters. Trousers are straight cut without being tight, and might include a cummerbund that elongate the look.

Much attention is flourished on collars, which when small might be decorated with a clip, or when oversized adorned with a clasp.

Textures operate in contrast. Soft alpaca coats are worn over tailored suits.

Shoes taper to a point, while bags span a range from travel backs to computer totes.

Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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City Room: Cuomo Declares Public Health Emergency Over Flu Outbreak

With the nation in the grip of a severe influenza outbreak that has seen deaths reach epidemic levels, New York State declared a public health emergency on Saturday, making access to vaccines more easily available.

There have been nearly 20,000 cases of flu reported across the state so far this season, officials said. Last season, 4,400 positive laboratory tests were reported.

“We are experiencing the worst flu season since at least 2009, and influenza activity in New York State is widespread, with cases reported in all 57 counties and all five boroughs of New York City,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement.

Under the order, pharmacists will be allowed to administer flu vaccinations to patients between 6 months and 18 years old, temporarily suspending a state law that prohibits pharmacists from administering immunizations to children.

While children and older people tend to be the most likely to become seriously ill from the flu, Mr. Cuomo urged all New Yorkers to get vaccinated.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said that deaths from the flu had reached epidemic levels, with at least 20 children having died nationwide. Officials cautioned that deaths from pneumonia and the flu typically reach epidemic levels for a week or two every year. The severity of the outbreak will be determined by how long the death toll remains high or if it climbs higher.

There was some evidence that caseloads may be peaking, federal officials said on Friday.

In New York City, public health officials announced on Thursday that flu-related illnesses had reached epidemic levels, and they joined the chorus of authorities urging people to get vaccinated.

“It’s a bad year,” the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, told reporters on Thursday. “We’ve got lots of flu, it’s mainly type AH3N2, which tends to be a little more severe. So we’re seeing plenty of cases of flu and plenty of people sick with flu. Our message for any people who are listening to this is it’s still not too late to get your flu shot.”

There has been a spike in the number of people going to emergency rooms over the past two weeks with flulike symptoms – including fever, fatigue and coughing – Dr. Farley said.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Mr. Cuomo made a public display of getting shots this past week.

In a briefing with reporters on Friday, officials from the C.D.C. said that this year’s vaccine was effective in 62 percent of cases.

As officials have stepped up their efforts encouraging vaccinations, there have been scattered reports of shortages. But officials said plenty of the vaccine was available.

According to the C.D.C., makers of the flu vaccine produced about 135 million doses for this year. As of early this month, 128 million doses had been distributed. While that would not be enough for every American, only 37 percent of the population get a flu shot each year.

Federal health officials said they would be happy if that number rose to 50 percent, which would mean that there would be more than enough vaccine for anyone who wanted to be immunized.

Two other diseases – norovirus and whooping cough – are also widespread this winter and are contributing to the number of people getting sick.

The flu can resemble a cold, though the symptoms come on more rapidly and are more severe.

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The story behind Tribune's broken deal

At the end of 2007, real estate tycoon Sam Zell took control of Tribune Co. in a deal that promised to re-energize the media conglomerate. But the company struggled under the huge debt burden the deal created, and less than a year later, it filed for bankruptcy.

One of Chicago's most iconic companies — parent to the Chicago Tribune — was propelled into a protracted and in many ways unprecedented odyssey through Chapter 11 reorganization.

On Dec. 31, after four years, Tribune Co. finally emerged from court protection under new ownership, but at a heavy cost. The company's value was diminished, its reputation was tarnished and its ability to respond to market opportunities during its long bankruptcy was constrained.

Tribune Co.'s bankruptcy saga began as an era of superheated Wall Street deal-making fueled by cheap money was coming to an end. The company's tale is emblematic of the American financial crisis itself, in which a seemingly insatiable appetite for speculative risk using exotic investment instruments helped trigger an economic collapse of historic proportions.

Tribune reporters Michael Oneal and Steve Mills, in a four-part series that begins today, tell the story of Tribune Co.'s journey into and through bankruptcy, throwing a spotlight on the key decisions and missed opportunities that marked a perilous time in the history of the company, the media industry and the economy.

Read the full story, "Part one: Zell's big gamble," as a digitalPLUS member.
To view videos and photos and for a look at the rest of the series visit, chicagotribune.com/brokendeal.

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Wife of former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. resigns from council post

Chicago Tribune political editor Eric Krol phones in to discuss the resignation of Alderman Sandi Jackson and the future of the Chicago City Council. (Posted: January 11, 2013).

After weeks of rumors and equally strenuous denials, Sandi Jackson resigned as Chicago's 7th Ward alderman Friday, the latest chapter in the stunning, scandal-laced downfall of what had been one of the city's most prominent and powerful political duos.

The decision by Ald. Jackson, who was elected in 2007, came less than two months after husband Jesse Jackson Jr. quit the congressional seat he had held for 17 years amid ongoing federal ethics probes into his campaign finances and a diagnosis of bipolar depression.

In her resignation letter to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Sandi Jackson alluded to her husband's medical problems by saying she was dealing with "very painful family health matters," making no mention of whether she had become ensnarled in his legal problems. She said the ward and the city "deserve a partner who can commit all of their energies to the business of the people."

"I value the public trust which has been bestowed upon me and take my responsibility to safeguard the interests of my constituents seriously," wrote Jackson, whose resignation is effective Tuesday. "Likewise, I am unapologetically a wife and a mother and I cannot deny my commitment to those most important personal responsibilities."

Ald. Jackson could not be reached for comment, and Jackson Jr. declined to comment at the couple's Washington home.

The mayor, in a statement, thanked Jackson for her service and leadership and said the process "to identify a replacement" will begin early next week. It will be Emanuel's first appointment of a City Council member since his 2011 election as mayor.

A month ago, political chatter swirled that she might seek the South Side and south suburban 2nd Congressional District seat given up by her husband. But Sandi Jackson denied she was interested in the job and vowed to stay on the City Council.

"I will finish my term. I intend to finish my term," she said then. "Unless something catastrophic happens — I could step outside and get hit by a bus today."

Then-Rep. Jackson Jr. appeared to try to shield his wife in his Thanksgiving eve resignation letter to Republican House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio. In the letter, Jackson Jr. publicly acknowledged for the first time that he was under federal criminal investigation into alleged misuse of campaign dollars.

"I am doing my best to address the situation responsibly, cooperate with the investigators, and accept responsibility for my mistakes, for they are my mistakes and mine alone," the former congressman wrote. "None of us is immune from our share of shortcomings or human frailties, and I pray that I will be remembered for what I did right."

For years, the former congressman had used his federal campaign fund to pay his wife hundreds of thousands of dollars as a political consultant. Since 2006, Jackson Jr.'s federal campaign fund has sent more than $280,000 to Sandi Jackson's two local campaign funds, state records show. Such transfers are legal.

Jackson Jr. had often noted his decision to run for Congress in 1995 was motivated by his wife, who had worked in Washington and on Democratic campaigns prior to their 1991 marriage. She previously had worked for the U.S. Export-Import Bank and was deputy director for training at the Democratic National Committee.

In February 2007, she was elected as 7th Ward alderman after defeating Darcel Beavers, the daughter of Cook County Commissioner William Beavers. Darcel Beavers had been appointed to the council by then-Mayor Richard Daley. Jackson later defeated Commissioner Beavers as Democratic ward committeeman.

Those victories were steps toward erasing once-powerful political rivals, including brothers William and Robert Shaw, and an attempt to create a dynasty of Jackson-backed politicians. Those Jackson Jr. allies, though, now largely have gone by the wayside, including former state Sen. James Meeks, former state Rep. David Miller of Lynwood and former state Rep. Robin Kelly of Matteson. Kelly is seeking Jackson's former congressional seat among 17 Democrats that have filed.

But the Jackson brand became tarnished in late 2008 when allegations surfaced that supporters of the then-congressman offered to raise up to $6 million for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich in exchange for the governor appointing him to the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama's election.

Then-Rep. Jackson never was charged in the case that sent Blagojevich to prison, but a House ethics committee probe into the allegations was later eclipsed by a Washington-based federal criminal investigation of his campaign fund use.

In addition, Jackson Jr. apologized after reports surfaced in 2010 that a fundraiser had flown a female "social acquaintance" to Chicago at the congressman's request. Sandi Jackson issued her own statement at the time, saying the couple had for months been trying to deal quietly with the "painful and unfortunate situation."

Still, Jackson Jr. easily won re-election last year, despite having taken an initially undisclosed medical leave from Congress in June. His lone general election campaign outreach effort was an automated call to voters placed shortly before the election.

Since he stepped down, rumors persisted that Sandi Jackson also would vacate her aldermanic seat, which she held by traveling from the family's Washington home to attend City Council meetings. Her decision Friday was a surprise to some, not as much to others.

"I didn't see very many good things coming," Ald. Daniel Solis, 25th, said of the Jacksons' saga. "I thought it would get more and more publicity, and none of that would be flattering."

"She was one of my favorite colleagues," said Ald. Willie Cochran, 20th. "It makes me heavy-hearted because of the troubles her family is having."

Emanuel had been preparing for an eventual resignation, sources close to the mayor indicated. But the 7th Ward political territory has been decimated by what has happened to the Jacksons, as well as to William Beavers, who is facing federal corruption charges.

Emanuel spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton said the mayor "is looking for someone who has a history of community involvement and engagement" and is expected to set out his plans by early next week.

Tribune reporters David Kidwell and John Byrne in Chicago and Katherine Skiba from Washington contributed.

hdardick@tribune.com

rap30@aol.com

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A sense of dread shrouds Nintendo’s Wii U

The latest Wii U sales numbers are out from Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom — and unease is deepening. In Japan, Famitsu Magazine reported Wii U weekly sales slipping to 70,000 units from 76,000 units during the important period ending in January 6. This is the week many Japanese teenagers spend their New Year’s money and sales of consoles tend to bounce. During the week, the portable 3DS sold 305,000 units, up sharply from the already impressive 266,000 units in the previous week. The seven-year-old Sony (SNE) PlayStation 3 managed to increase its sales to 64,000 units from 54,000 units. The equally ancient PSP climbed to 53,000 from 34,000. Even the star-crossed PS Vita managed to vault to 31,000 from 18,000.

[More from BGR: LG reportedly halts Nexus 4 production to make way for new Nexus device]

As Wii U sales are mired close to PlayStation 3 levels in Japan, it is getting hammered by the aging Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox 360 in America. NPD just reported that Xbox 360 moved 1.4 million units in December while Wii U limped through the holiday season with 460,000 units. This is below the 600,000 unit level that the earlier Wii console managed years ago against a much younger console competition in 2006. Back then, Wii launched head-to-head with Sony’s PlayStation 3 in the US market, and the Xbox 360 had been launched just one year earlier.

[More from BGR: BlackBerry Z10 shown off in leaked marketing materials]

In 2012, Wii U debuted against two rival home consoles that were more than half a decade old. The results are not pretty. Meanwhile in the U.K., the Wii U shifted 40,000 units during its launch weekend, but none of the titles cracked the top 10 of the GfK game software chart.

It is clear that the lack of compelling software is hurting Wii U right now. Nintendo (NTDOY) wanted to push it out well before the buzz around the next generations of Sony and Microsoft consoles started building. The problem with the rush is that Wii U is now facing several fallow months before big titles arrive. The January-April sales period could be spectacularly ugly and may cause real damage to Nintendo’s home console reputation if it leads to U.S. sales dipping below 300,000 a month and Japanese sales dipping below 30,000 a month. The danger here is that if consumers start suspecting that the Wii U is a lame duck, they may choose to wait for one of the big rival vendors to roll out some spectacular hardware next winter.

All in all, it’s hard to avoid the notion that the console gaming universe is shrinking. In the U.S., game software sales contracted by a disastrous 26% in December. PS Vita is in dire straits and may leave Nintendo’s 3DS as the only viable portable console in 2014. Wii U is wobbling badly, possibly leading to a 2014 scenario when only Sony and Microsoft are left standing in the home console battle. U.S. consumers are still wild about huge, violent console epics like Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed and Halo. Those are titles that define PlayStation and Xbox. The casual gaming that defines Wii U is under siege by the smartphone/tablet gaming frenzy that shows no sign of abating.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

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