Chargers to Play Sunday in San Diego

TEMPE, Ariz. - The San Diego Chargers were never happier to go home. They will play their game against the Houston Texans when and where it was supposed to be played - on Sunday in Qualcomm Stadium.

"Just getting a chance to say 'You know what, I'm going home' To me that's special," running back LaDainian Tomlinson said in the locker room after the team's final workout in Arizona. "I think these guys feel the same way."

After the Friday practice, the Chargers boarded buses for the airport, then flew back to San Diego. They arrived in a city still dealing with devastating wildfires, although the worst, at least in San Diego County, seemed to be over.

Qualcomm Stadium was closed as an evacuation center on Friday, giving crews two days to get it ready for kickoff.

The stadium's emergency use and the smoky skies led to discussions about moving the game or delaying it until Monday night. The news that the Chargers had hoped for came from the San Diego mayor's office on Friday.

"Early Friday morning the Chargers informed me that the NFL has decided to play Sunday's game as scheduled at Qualcomm Stadium," Mayor Jerry Sanders said in a press release. "The City will be able to provide sufficient public safety personnel to manage a professional football game without impeding ongoing wildfire recovery efforts."

Several players and coach Norv Turner said they expect an emotional scene Sunday.

"Just thinking about it I get goosebumps," Tomlinson said. "I think it's going to be very emotional, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of tears in that stadium."

The Chargers, who had a bye last week, canceled practice Monday, then flew to Phoenix for workouts at the Cardinals' facility Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

"We wanted to come over here and get three good days of practice and not have where we were playing as a distraction," Turner said. "Obviously, we wanted to be at home, wanted to be in our stadium in front of our fans. It's worked out for us."

Quarterback Philip Rivers said Turner never mentioned the uncertainty surrounding the game during practices.

"From a fire and home and town perspective, it's been a rough week for so many people in San Diego who had it a lot tougher than we did," Rivers said. "From a football perspective, it's been challenging, but at the same time it's been good. ... With the right guys, you can make any place work, any situation be a good one."

The mayor's spokesman, Fred Sainz, said Qualcomm was never intended to be a long-term shelter, because it doesn't have a roof and showers weren't available.

"The mayor's concern has always been that evacuees be dealt with correctly and appropriately," Sainz said.

He said the city's three main concerns were that the remaining evacuees could be moved to other sites, that there would be enough police to work a game as usual and that the stadium would be ready.

"When those three boxes were checked off and the mayor felt comfortable, is when we told the Chargers that the stadium could be ready," Sainz said.

Some 46 players, coaches and staff members had to evacuate their suburban homes starting early Monday morning. Among them were Tomlinson, Rivers, Turner, Shawne Merriman, and general manager A.J. Smith. As far as anyone knew, none of them lost their homes.

Four years ago to the week, the Chargers had to move a home Monday night game on short notice to Tempe because Qualcomm was sheltering evacuees from deadly wildfires and the air was fouled by smoke.

This time, the Chargers hope they can provide some relief to a city that could use some.

"Sometimes when you cheer, you're able to let some steam off, just to yell," Tomlinson said. "So hopefully we give them a lot to cheer about on Sunday."

---

AP Sports Writer Bernie Wilson in San Diego contributed to this report.

NY prosecutors announce arrest of reputed Gambino captain

Prosecutors in Brooklyn say a reputed Gambino crime family captain has turned himself in to face charges in a sprawling federal mob case.

Nicholas Corozzo is part of a case accusing reputed mobsters with offenses stretching back three decades.

Corozzo is charged with extorting construction companies, running a major illegal gambling operation and ordering a gangland hit that also took a bystander's life in 1996.

The case brought in February marks one of the largest Mafia takedowns in recent memory. Besides the federal indictment naming 62 defendants, authorities said a separate state investigation resulted in charges against 26 others.

Kennedy released from hospital; heads home to chart treatment for brain tumor

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has been released from the hospital and is heading to his Cape Cod home after being diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor.

The 76-year-old Kennedy waved to a crowd of well-wishers and gave a thumbs-up as he walked out of Massachusetts General Hospital amid heavy security Wednesday. His dogs greeted him at the hospital door.

Doctors say the liberal Massachusetts Democrat "has recovered remarkably quickly" from a brain biopsy conducted Monday. Kennedy will recuperate at home while the doctors await further test results and determine his treatment plan.

Kennedy has a malignant glioma in his left parietal lobe. Experts say such tumors are almost always fatal.

Powertrain braces for modular supply assault

Led by a new Ford purchasing strategy, plus recent announcements by major engine-component suppliers, "modular mania" is about to hit the powertrain arena in a big way.

Beginning with its 2003 model range, Ford will source its transmission components on a modular, rather than individual-part basis. It will require suppliers of such items as clutch packs, torque converter units and control systems to ship them as complete, ready-to-install subassemblies, or risk losing the automaker's business. The move is part of Ford's socalled Powertrain Modularity Strategy, which also involves engine supply.

On the supply side, component giants Eaton Corp. and Teksid S.p.A recently agreed to design, develop, manufacture and market complete cylinder head units for passenger cars and light trucks. The deal, which is globally focused, combines the valvetrain capabilites of Eaton with the aluminum casting expertise and 30-plant capacity of Teksid, a flat Group subsidiary. Eaton will serve as the Tier 1 integrator, assembling the entire cylinder head (complete with camshafts and valvegear) and shipping it to customers' engine plants, ready for fitment to the cylinder block. The Eaton-Teksid deal promises to save time and cost, versus the traditional process of building up heads piece-by-piece in automakers' engine plants.

Freudenberg-NOK will supply total seating systems on a 2001 global engine program, and is developing a similar global transmission sealing deal with Ford.

The moves come as automakers reduce their total number of engine and transmission families, and commonize componentry, as they are also doing in the rest of the vehicle This enables them to also slash their powertrain supply bases, just as they're doing with their other supply chains.

"This is just the beginning of modules' aggressive move into powertrain," observes supplier industry analyst Greg Janicki of CSM Worldwide in Northville, Mich He notes that while modular supply is already utilized in some piston assemblies, intake systems and valvetrain hardware, sourcing tum-key cylinder heads from a supplier would be a profound move for automakers, which have always held engines as a core competency.

"Our suppliers need to be aware of the new strategy," warns Ford advanced technology development engineer Joe Khanuja. He told

AI's sister publication, American Metal Market, that his compny "will be doing business in a new and different way." Many transmission component vendors which currently do not make modules could lose their Ford business, unless they develop modular subassemblies or relinquish their Tier 1 status and become a Ner 2 or lier 3 supplier to another Tier 1 integrator. At a recent metals industry conference, Khan i;ja said Ford has already explained the new powertrain sty to some powertrain suppliers, and will present it to its entire supply chain soon. -Lindsay Brooke

CCC taking Mitchell to court for patent infringement

CCC Information Services is suing its rival, San Diego-based Mitchell International, alleging that the information technology provider has infringed on a patent CCC holds.

CCC, headquartered in Chicago, filed CCC Information Services Inc. vs. Mitchell International Inc. in the United States District Court in the Northern District of Illinois' Eastern Division on April 22. At press time, no trial date had been set nor was there a timeframe available of when the trial may take place. Also at press time, Mitchell had been served with the complaint, but the company had not yet responded to it.

The suit contends that Mitchell violated CCCs Patent No. 5,950,169 by incorporating many of the functionalities protected under the patent into the Mitchell Ultramate Advanced Estimating system (Version 4.8), namely a "parts compare" feature. The patent includes coverage for different feature functionalities, including the parts compare technology. This technology is the subject of one or more claims of CCC's patent.The "System and Method for Managing Insurance Claim Processing" patent was filed in 1995 and issued in 1999. However, CCC began using the technology in November 1995 when it released its Pathways Estimating Solutions system. Mitchell released its Ultramate product that included the functionality in May 2002.

Robert Guttman, senior vice president of general counsel for CCC, says that although similar types of technologies exist, Mitchell has blatantly infringed on CCCs patent and is seeking a judicial determination stating this fact. Mitchell's Ultramate product includes functionality that permits users to process an insurance claim for a vehicle using a graphic user interface. This interface provides an estimate comparison screen that simultaneously displays replacement cost data for OEM parts, recycled parts and aftermarket parts as well as displays a repair cost.

According to the lawsuit, Mitchell's incorporation of a parts compare feature such as this into its Ultramate system violates CCC's patent. "A patent reflects a person's invention and intellectual property," Guttman says. "CCC is a technology company, and its ideas and intellectual property are the company's assets. The law affords protection for these assets, and we have an obligation to protect them."

Mitchell, however, finds the lawsuit preposterous. "We believe that this lawsuit has no basis," says Jim Linder, chairman and CEO of Mitchell in a press release about the lawsuit. He says in the release that Mitchell has been developing its own proprietary database analysis and presentation technology for more than 20 years, and of all the companies in the industry, "Micchell has the least interest in what CCC develops."

Linder asserts that Mitchell is the fastest-growing supplier of process automation technology to the insurance claims industry. For this reason, he says, "Unfortunately, it would seem that some companies would rather litigate than compete. But regardless, we will defend ourselves vigorously against the assertions made in this lawsuit."

Linder also noted that he "found it curious that the lawsuit was the first notice of [a patent infringement] claim by CCC to Mitchell." In response to this remark, Guttman says, "It's not our practice to comment on what they say about us." Guttman did not comment further, citing company policy against commenting on pending litigation. David A. Nelson, attorney with the Chicago-based law firm Latham & Watkins Illinois LLC, is representing CCC in the court proceedings.

[Sidebar]

Damages sought by CCC:

In addition to a judicial determination that Mitchell infringed on CCC's '169' Patent, CCC is seeking the following damages:

* Preliminary and permanent injunctions barring Mitchell from further infringing on the patent.

* Triple monetary damages for willful infringement

* Disgorgement of all profits resulting from the original infringement

* Attorneys' fees.

ABRN JULY 2003

[Author Affiliation]

By Tina Grady

Senior Associate Editor

New Bin Laden Video Marks 9/11 Attacks

CAIRO, Egypt - A still photo released Tuesday from a new Osama bin Laden videotape shows one of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackers, wearing a white turban, superimposed upon an image of a burning World Trade Center.

The videotape had not yet been posted on extremist web sites Tuesday, the sixth anniversary of the attacks. But the IntelCenter, a monitoring group in suburban Washington, said it had obtained the videotape privately and it released two still photos.

One showed bin Laden in front of a brown backdrop. The other showed one of the Sept. 11 hijackers, Walid al-Shehri, in front of the picture of the Trade Center.

The IntelCenter also released a brief quote by bin Laden from the new tape in which he mentions the suicide hijacker, al-Shehri.

"This talk of mine consists of some reflections on the will of a young man who personally penetrated the most extreme degrees of danger and is a rarity among men: one of the 19 champions (may Allah have mercy on them all)," said bin Laden, according to the monitoring group.

Riversides Waiters is still a year away: ; Marshall coach asked standout to not enroll until January

HUNTINGTON - College football terminology, especially inrecruiting, isn't easy to grasp for even high school coaches andplayers.

Riverside's Raheem Waiters wasn't so concerned with redshirts orgrayshirts or any other color of clothing on National Signing Day onWednesday.

Waiters was focused on the green cap - bearing a Marshall logo onthe front - that he fit snugly on his head after he signed aninstitutional letter-of-intent before a gathering of his teachers,coaches and Warriors classmates at a small ceremony in Riverside'sauditorium.

"I'm excited, but at the same time I'm kind of down because Iknow I'm not going to start playing football until next year,"Waiters said. "I'm the first person to sign a D-I footballscholarship from this school, so that's exciting."

Waiters' reference to not playing is because new Marshall CoachDoc Holliday has asked the standout prep receiver to grayshirt,which means he will not enroll at MU until January.

Waiters was the first verbal pledge to Mark Snyder's Class of2010, but he was not among the 25 student-athletes introduced aspart of Holliday's inaugural recruiting class at Marshall.

Once Waiters enrolls, he will instead be considered a part of theClass of 2011, which is why he didn't sign the standard nationalletter-of-intent Wednesday.

That letter is not binding, meaning Waiters is still arecruitable athlete and Holliday cannot comment on him.

According to Riverside Coach Ralph Hensley, Waiters still has ascholarship waiting for him at Marshall when he starts school onesemester later than planned.

"Doc has been good to us," Hensley said.

"He called me as soon as he got the job and said he was going tohonor the scholarship. He talked to me about the grayshirt option,so hopefully (Waiters) will make an impact when he gets down there."

Hensley said the idea behind the grayshirt and delaying Waiters'enrollment is to give the former Warriors star a chance torehabilitate his left knee, an injury he sustained during his seniorfootball season that required him to get reconstructive surgery.

Waiters can continue to strengthen the knee this summer and fall,then enroll at Marshall and participate in spring drills in 2011.

He will still have five years to exhaust his four years ofeligibility starting in August 2011.

"At first it seemed like it was going to be really hard to sitout, but it's going to give me time to get my leg better and getback to 100 percent."

During the ceremony, Riverside athletic director Jason Cantrellpresented Waiters with a framed collage of his accomplishmentsacross three sports. Cantrell and Hensley said it was important torecognize Waiters' achievements to set an example for other studentsand athletes at the school.

"I've been with him four years and I consider him like a son,"Hensley said. "I think once he gets to Marshall and they see him onthe field, and once they see him run, and once they see him catchthe ball, they might go, 'Maybe we got us a steal.'"

Waiters committed to Marshall in June before his senior season.

The 6-foot-2 receiver finished his career with 77 receptions for1,289 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Contact sportswriter Chuck McGill at chuck.mcgill@dailymail.comor 304-348-1712. His blog is at http://blogs.dailymail.com/marshall.