Coach says Italy could stay home from Euro 2012

ROME (AP) ? Italy coach Cesare Prandelli says it wouldn't bother him if his team withdraws from the European Championship while Italian soccer is engulfed in a huge match-fixing scandal.

The investigation into corruption led to 19 arrests this week, with Zenit St. Petersburg defender Domenico Criscito dropped from Prandelli's squad after being questioned at the national team's training headquarters.

Financial police also examined the banking records of goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon on suspicion he made large bets, but news reports say he has been cleared of wrongdoing.

Prandelli spoke to RaiSport in Zurich, where Italy will play Russia in an exhibition match, its last warm-up before leaving for Poland.

He says "if you told us that for the good of football we should not participate, it wouldn't be a problem for me."

Associated Press

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Video: Illinois State Rep. gives screaming rant on pension bill

Week in celebs: Bieber's accident, more

??TODAY.com?s Courtney Hazlett and comedian Chuck Nice run down the week?s celebrity news, including Justin Bieber?s wild week, Jessica Simpson?s Weight Watcher?s deal and Madonna's return to the concert stage.

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'Anything goes' now in campaign financing?

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Is it "anything goes" now in America's campaign finance system?

John Edwards is acquitted of using campaign cash as hush money. There's an explosion of high-dollar super political action committees in the presidential race. It's all stoking criticism of revisions and regulatory loopholes in a system that was intended to keep better control of political money after Watergate.

Loosening the law has made it easier for politicians to butt up against the legal line ? if not cross it ? and for wealthy Americans to influence who wins office, from the White House on down.

All told, the immense amount of money in American campaigns, the cozy relationships between candidates and their financial backers ? and now, too, a seeming lack of accountability for alleged rule-breakers ? is fueling the public's long-standing distrust of its politicians and doubts about the credibility of the system.

"There's not much for voters to have faith in," says Trevor Potter, a former Federal Election Commission member and a proponent of campaign-finance reform. "We don't have much of a campaign-finance system at this stage, and we are wide open to the possibilities of corruption."

Spanning many weeks, the Edwards trial in North Carolina showcased what prosecutors said was a classic case of misusing campaign funds: Here was a former presidential candidate, they said, who channeled large sums of money from a deep-pocketed donor to cover up a love child and a mistress. But jurors acquitted Edwards, in part because the statute he was charged under required him to know he was breaking the law.

Jurors said the government didn't prove that. Said one, Sheila Lockwood: "I just felt that he didn't receive any of the money, so you can't really charge him for money that he got."

Campaign finance laws have changed remarkably since Edwards ran for the White House four years ago.

Had he been a candidate this year, and had his backers wanted to help him, they could have established a super PAC and donated unlimited amounts of money that could have been used in any number of ways. It's unclear if that still would have been legal for the uses in his case, although the super PACs have been able to take more risks than the campaigns they support. Super PACs are barred from coordinating with a candidate.

But it doesn't seem that clarity is coming anytime soon. The FEC can't agree on new regulations.

Take last December, when a Republican super PAC asked commissioners if it could "fully coordinate" with a Senate candidate. The commission deadlocked on a 3-3 vote after a heated discussion.

Michael Toner, a Washington lawyer and election law expert, said it would be a mistake to conclude that the failed prosecution of Edwards means that campaign finance violations will not be prosecuted.

"There's no question that there were relatively unique facts in the Edwards case," he said, and that there are other areas in campaign law where wrongdoing is clear cut ? such as contributions from foreigners.

It's not just the FEC. A divided Congress has shown no appetite to take up the issue in earnest despite calls for an overhaul by Democrats after a series of federal court rulings ? including the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision in 2010 ? started to deregulate the system.

Political gridlock and regulatory ambiguity have paved the way for an unprecedented amount of spending from outside groups and special interests. Campaigns, political parties and super PACs supporting President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney have raised more than $400 million apiece, figures that put the election on track to cost more than $1 billion.

Despite claims of independence, super PACs have incredibly close ties to the candidates they're working to help elect.

Restore Our Future, supporting Mitt Romney, shares office space with the same consultants who help Romney's own campaign. The groups insist there is a "firewall" ? the workspaces are separated, they have said, by a conference room. A former White House spokesman, Bill Burton, runs the Priorities USA Action super PAC with its goal of helping Obama win a second term.

The fuzzy rules have super PACs pushing the limits. Many have nonprofit arms that legally don't have to disclose their donors. Some mega-donors ? notably casino mogul Sheldon Adelson ? have said they will be giving their money to these shelters to avoid public scrutiny.

"That's exactly what the laws we have are supposed to prevent," Potter said, "that one candidate for public office is not completely beholden to an individual and his interests."

We've been here before.

Congress began to change how Americans fund their elections in the mid-1970s after slush funds and cover-ups forced Richard Nixon's resignation.

"I believe that one of the crucial factors in determining whether or not we consider a government democratic is not how much power public officials have, but rather how public officials secure and retain their offices," Lawton Chiles told his colleagues on the Senate floor in April 1974.

Since then, there's been no shortage of instances of questionable relationships between politicians and the people who bankroll their candidacies.

On the Democratic side, hundreds of Obama's major backers have had repeated access to his top advisers or have attended glamorous state dinners. The White House has declined to offer complete details on those meetings. And on the Republican side, GOP super PACs have faced their own troubles in disclosing donors required under existing rules. Some major contributors have been listed in federal data with ambiguous addresses or shell corporations.

Situations like those have fueled voter distrust of both parties.

Republican Sen. John McCain, a major player in campaign-finance reform, has warned the current system is so influenced by wealthy donors that it will require "major scandals" before it is fixed. Conversely, anti-reform advocates have said campaign-finance deregulation is more faithful to free-speech protections afforded by the First Amendment.

One thing certain in an otherwise uncertain campaign finance landscape is that no changes are imminent. This will be the system at least through the November election.

___

Follow Jack Gillum on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jackgillum

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NY suit over 'Spider-Man' musical airs in court

NEW YORK (AP) ? A judge warned lawyers at the end of a two-hour hearing Friday that she may narrow the scope of a lawsuit stemming from the Broadway production of "Spider-Man."

U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest said she had not yet decided whether to eliminate from the litigation a three-page outline that Director Julie Taymor created before the musical's script was written and before she was fired last year and the script was rewritten.

In a lawsuit, Taymor said the current hit Broadway production, "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," was based on the unlawful use of her copyrighted written works. It said producers did not honor her right to approve changes to her book of the musical, and they have refused to pay her contractually guaranteed authorship royalties. The lawsuit said damages would exceed $1 million, and included demands for profits resulting from the unauthorized use of her material.

Taymor, who was not in court Friday, was fired in 2011 as the $75 million production sputtered despite three months of preview performances. The musical was rewritten and it successfully reopened. Taymor sued the producers in November and they countersued. The producers say Taymor's treatment was based on pre-existing "Spider-Man" comics and films.

During Friday's arguments, attorney Dale Cendali argued on the producers' behalf, saying what Taymor wrote in her original proposal for the musical assembled the most obvious elements of comic books and Spider-Man movies. She noted that Taymor cited the Spider-Man movie in her proposal, known as a treatment.

Cendali said she had "never seen a case where someone made a more blatant admission that they were copying an earlier work."

She added: "They can't monopolize Spider-Man. They don't own Spider-Man."

Arguing on behalf of Taymor, attorney Charles Spada insisted that his client created new material for the Broadway production, including a new character playing a pivotal role.

"There is originality," he said. "This is not just a case about a compilation."

The judge said she would like to view a video of the Broadway production, though Cendali said she wanted precautions taken to ensure it does not appear on the Internet.

At one point, Forrest noted that she has special expertise on the hearing's subject.

"I've got a 10-year-old son. I know a lot about superheroes," she said.

The judge also is deciding the fate of counterclaims brought against Taymor by the show's producers. She did not hear arguments, saying she would rely on written submissions.

A trial is scheduled for January.

Associated Press

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List Building Guide: A Business Lifeline - IdeaMarketers.com

Are you in the market for a list building guide? We all know how important building lead lists can be to your online business. New clients are the lifeline for all successful businesses. Acquiring a good-sized contact list can help us market to a targeted audience. If they've offered up their name or email address, chances are they are intrigued by the products or services your business has to offer.

If you take a close look at successful entrepreneurs in your niche, chances are the size of their list directly correlates to their financial growth. If you're truly in your industry for the long haul, building a list may prove to be the difference between success and failure. Entrepreneurs should begin accumulating a contact list immediately upon launching their business.

The task of building a list of potential customers and buyers is actually a skill in the sense that your work is never done. Entrepreneurs should always be attempting to acquire new subscribers, readers, and potential clients. If interested in reading a list building guide, it is important to become well-versed with the basics.

Why is Building a List So Important?!

The list that you personally build serves as your own personal source of traffic. If individuals are willing to share their contact information, they must have enjoyed or respected your content and are willing to give their contact information to receive any products, services of further information you're offering.

Building a large list can prove to be an incredibly empowering feat. Individuals with a large and responsive number of subscribers can essentially direct traffic from their personal page to anywhere online.

To be clear, an email address is like gold in the online marketing world. If you use a third-party line of communication, like social networking platforms, your traffic could suddenly stop if a company changes or ceases to exist. Having an email address provides a direct line of communication between you and your subscribers regardless of what might happen elsewhere.

Traffic is Profitable

You can direct your list via email to your blog other web pages and so generally, the larger your list, the more traffic your page can potentially get. Just let me clarify; traffic in the online world is the amount of visitors your site receives.

Traffic is a remarkably accurate predictor of profit. High traffic can easily be translated into income in most niches. You're probably thinking, "The more people on my list, the more clients I have." While that is certainly accurate, that isn't the only way in which an increase in traffic can benefit you.

Being found by search engines can drastically increase profit. If your page garners a large following, you can put an opt-in box on the page and gain more subscribers by offering a free service, product or information.

Search engines will also be flagged if there are loads of people coming to your web pages. As a result they will look at your content as being more relevant and rank you higher. This search engine recognition provides an incredible boost to your business. It's kind of ironic that the process of building a list can result in a list building guide itself!

Steps Towards Success

There are various proven steps and strategies that result in a bolstered contact list. Constructing a squeeze page, offering freebies, and establishing an auto-responder are among the strategies that will almost certainly result in an increase in traffic.

The process of building a responsive list of subscribers that are ready to purchase the services and products you offer can prove to be frustrating and difficult. If you need a further push in the right direction, I recommend delving into a reliable and proven list building guide!

Merv Stevens works in Internet and Network Marketing. For tips,advice and help on finding the best list building guides, go to his website: www.WealthSuccessVentures.com. Act now and discover how to earn 100% commissions online by using a simple 3-step process that anyone can do... and it takes only a few minutes a day.

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Gov't cracking down on unsafe bus companies

FILE - In this March 12, 2011 file photo, emergency personnel investigate the scene of a bus crash on Interstate-95 in the Bronx borough of New York. Twenty-six bus operations that transported more than 1,800 passengers a day along Interstate 95 between New York and Florida have been closed for safety violations in what federal officials say is the government's largest single safety crackdown of the motor coach industry in at least a decade. (AP Photo/David Karp, File)

FILE - In this March 12, 2011 file photo, emergency personnel investigate the scene of a bus crash on Interstate-95 in the Bronx borough of New York. Twenty-six bus operations that transported more than 1,800 passengers a day along Interstate 95 between New York and Florida have been closed for safety violations in what federal officials say is the government's largest single safety crackdown of the motor coach industry in at least a decade. (AP Photo/David Karp, File)

FILE - In this March 12, 2011 file photo, Emergency personnel investigate the scene of a bus crash on Interstate-95 in the Bronx borough of New York. Twenty-six bus operations that transported more than 1,800 passengers a day along Interstate 95 between New York and Florida have been closed for safety violations in what federal officials say is the government's largest single safety crackdown of the motor coach industry in at least a decade. (AP Photo/David Karp, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Twenty-six bus operations that transported more than 1,800 passengers a day along Interstate 95 between New York and Florida have been closed for safety violations in what federal officials say is the government's largest single safety crackdown of the motor coach industry.

Teams of officials for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, armed with legal orders declaring the bus operations imminent hazards to public safety, swooped down Wednesday on companies based in six states: Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Officials withheld details about the operation until Thursday.

The shutdown orders were aimed at the companies' headquarters and at bus pickup locations. Most of the 233 bus routes serviced by the companies either departed from or terminated in New York City's Chinatown district.

Besides the shuttered bus operations, 10 people ? company owners, managers and employees ? were ordered to stop all involvement in passenger transportation operations, including selling bus tickets, the Transportation Department said.

The shutdowns are the culmination of a yearlong investigation by the safety administration that focused on three primary companies: Apex Bus Inc. and I-95 Coach Inc., both of New York, and New Century Travel Inc. of Philadelphia. Each of the three companies oversaw a broad network of other bus companies, officials said. The other bus operations targeted in the crackdown were companies that were affiliated with one of the three primary companies but have other names.

Phone calls and emails to the three companies seeking comment were unanswered.

The shut-down companies are "very, very bad actors," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Thursday.

"This is a huge, big deal for us today," LaHood told reporters on a conference call. "This isn't some overnight deal ? this is something we've been working on, and we want people to know bus safety is one of our top priorities."

Safety officials have long complained that their attempts to put unsafe bus operators out of business are frequently thwarted by "reincarnated carriers" that simply reopen for business under a different name or in a different location, or that transfer their buses to an affiliated company that shares similar ownership. Buses belonging to such rogue companies are known in the industry as "ghost" buses because they are frequently painted white with relatively little decoration to make it easier to repaint them with a new company name.

The motor coach industry transports more than 700 million passengers a year in the U.S., roughly the same as the domestic airlines.

Bus industry officials said they have been urging the government to crack down on unsafe operators and were aware of the investigation before the shutdowns.

"These businesses have been doing all they can to operate far below the accepted level of safety," said Dan Ronan, a spokesman for the American Bus Association.

Wednesday's shutdowns applied to nine active bus companies; 13 bus companies that had lost permission to operate but were continuing to operate anyway; three companies that were in the process of applying to the government for operating authority; and a bus ticket seller.

Federal safety investigators found all of the carriers had multiple safety violations, including a pattern of using drivers who didn't have valid commercial driver's licenses and failing to administer alcohol and drug tests to drivers, according to the safety administration. The companies also operated buses that had not been regularly inspected and repaired, and their drivers were violating work schedule and rest requirements and didn't have proper qualifications, officials said.

The safety administration began investigating the network of carriers operating along I-95 following a series of deadly bus crashes last spring.

On March 12, 2011, a bus returning to Chinatown from an overnight trip to a casino in Connecticut hit a barrier in the Bronx, toppled on its side and slid into a sign pole with such force that it was sheared in half from front to back. Of the 32 people on the bus, 15 were killed, and the rest were injured, some severely. The driver, Ophadell Williams, has pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

Documents released by federal accident investigators show the bus was speeding at the time of the accident and that Williams' driving privileges had been suspended 18 times over 20 years. World Wide Travel of Greater New York, the bus company, was ordered to shut down for safety violations after the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board is scheduled to hold a meeting Tuesday to determine the probable cause of the crash.

In May 2011, a bus traveling from Greensboro, N.C., to Chinatown veered off I-95 in Virginia, hit an embankment and overturned. Four passengers were killed, and 50 were injured. The driver acknowledged falling asleep, according to court documents.

The bus operator, Sky Express Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., had been cited for 46 violations of driver fatigue rules in two years. The company was ordered to shut down after the accident, but within days it resumed business under two new names, according to the Transportation Department. That prompted a second shutdown order from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Several other bus companies were also ordered to shut down last summer after a comprehensive compliance review of their operations.

"The investigation of those operators uncovered additional problems and serious safety violations with other I-95 carriers, and ... investigators have been working diligently ever since to establish the links between the bus networks," the safety administration said in a statement.

But the safety administration, which works with states to enforce safety regulation of interstate bus companies, is overburdened, an NTSB report released last fall said. There are 878 federal and state inspectors able to conduct safety reviews of 765,000 bus and truck companies, or an average of slightly more than one inspector for 1,000 companies, the report said.

There were 24 motor coach crashes last year, resulting in 34 fatalities and 467 injuries, according to an unofficial tally kept by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

___

Follow Joan Lowy at http://www.Twitter.Com/ap_joan_lowy

___

Online:

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration: http://fmcsa.Dot.Gov

Associated Press

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