Public League football playoffs set to start Wednesday

The long road to next month's Prep Bowl at Soldier Field gets underway this week as the Public League playoffs begin with first round games on Wednesday.

The top seed in the playoffs is Robeson, which finished an unbeaten season at 8-0 and captured the Land of Lincoln Conference title.

The Red Raiders will face Phillips Thursday in a 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Stagg Stadium.

"We had just a great regular season, now we want to continue playing well now that the playoffs have arrived," Robeson head coach Fabray Collins said.

In one of the key games of the final week of the regular season, Hyde Park captured the Windy City Conference championship with a 30-6 victory …

Edwards Jabs Clinton for Leaving SC

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said South Carolina voters should question Hillary Rodham Clinton's commitment to the state since she left in the run-up to the state's primary.

"After the debate, she flew out and she's been gone and she won't be back until I don't know _ later in the week or until primary day," Edwards told a crowd of about 150 people in this small city on Wednesday. "What are the chances she's coming back when she's president of the United States?"

Clinton took part in Monday night's debate in Myrtle Beach and then left to campaign in states scheduled to hold contests Feb. 5, including California, New Mexico …

Can you trust your aqueous system simulations?

Most chemical engineers don't appreciate the peculiarities of process engineering of an aqueous system. So, they cannot make informed decisions when developing simulations.

The result, too often, is modeling mayhem.

The chemical process industries (CPI) face a continuing challenge to more efficiently use water as well as to comply with pollution-control laws. Expertise in understanding and characterizing aqueous systems clearly can play a critical role in succeeding in both efforts.

Aqueous chemical systems can be readily assessed and interpreted using predictive models. Such models allow complex processes to be treated in a systematized way and, consequently, to …

NORAD boss: Russian attack could've happened in US

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colorado (AP) — The suicide bombing at Moscow's busiest airport is a tragedy that "could have just as easily happened here," the commander of NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command said Tuesday.

"People think of us and the Russians as adversaries, and we're not, and particularly in this area," Adm. James Winnefeld said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We feel very badly for what happened to them in Moscow because that could have just as easily happened here."

Military-to-military relations between the U.S. and Russia are improving, Winnefeld said, and it's possible he will meet with Russian commanders in Russia if the two sides can work out the …

Redd Scores 26 As Bucks Beat Lakers

Michael Redd scored 26 points and helped hold Kobe Bryant in check as the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Los Angeles Lakers 110-103 Wednesday night for their fourth straight victory.

The Bucks held Bryant to a relatively quiet 27 points on 7-of-18 shooting, including only six points in the fourth quarter.

After a slow start, Bryant scored 15 points in the third, ending the quarter with a 3-pointer and two free throws to give the Lakers an 80-75 lead going into the final period.

Milwaukee opened the fourth quarter with a 13-3 run, taking an 88-83 lead on Redd's layup with 6:48 remaining.

The Bucks then stamped out a potential Lakers rally with good outside shooting down the stretch, getting 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions from Bobby Simmons and Charlie Villanueva, and a jumper by Mo Williams to go up 101-93 lead with 2:43 left.

The Lakers pulled to within four on a layup by Luke Walton with 54 seconds left. Williams hit a pair of free throws on the other end, but Villanueva fouled Walton, who hit two free throws to cut the Bucks' lead to make it 103-99 with 36 seconds left.

After Villanueva hit two free throws, Bryant missed a 3-pointer. Bryant's dunk with 12 seconds left was his only field goal of the fourth quarter.

Williams added 18 points for Milwaukee.

The Bucks had won three straight coming into Wednesday's game, including a 111-107 victory at Cleveland Tuesday night for their first road.

Andrew Bynum added 16 points as the Lakers four-game winning streak came to an end.

It's the second in a series of three major tests for Milwaukee's often-maligned defense. Milwaukee beat Cleveland on Tuesday despite 34 points from LeBron James. After facing Bryant on Wednesday, they'll have to defend the Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki on Saturday.

Bryant had only six points at halftime. Even surprising, he took only five shots in the half.

The Bucks held Bryant scoreless through much of the first quarter, until the Lakers' superstar hit a pair of free throws with 3:42 left.

Lamar Odom stole the ball on the Bucks' next possession and threw a long outlet pass to Bryant, who finished with an emphatic one-handed slam to put the Lakers ahead 20-12.

Bryant began to assert himself right away in the second half, opening with a jump shot. Bryant also picked up a technical foul midway through the quarter after he was called for carrying the ball.

Milwaukee center Andrew Bogut, who was coming off back-to-back double-doubles, was held to 13 points after getting into early foul trouble. He fouled out late in the fourth.

Rookie Yi Jianlian added 12 points for Milwaukee.

Stocks slump on weak revenues from Goldman, IBM

U.S. stocks are falling after revenues from Goldman Sachs and IBM came in lower than investors expected.

The miss from the leading investment bank early Tuesday was the latest sign of weakness in revenues in this corporate earnings season. Late Monday, IBM reported revenues that were also lower than expected.

A downbeat report on the housing sector didn't help. The Commerce Department said home construction fell last month to the lowest level since October.

In the opening minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 120.26, or 1.2 percent, to 10,034.17. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 11.90, or 1.1 percent, at 1,059.35 and the Nasdaq composite index fell 30.12, or 1.4 percent, to 2,168.11.

Former Police chief turns self in to face charges

Officials say Rio's former police chief has turned himself in to face charges that include money laundering and corruption.

Federal court officials say Alvaro Lins was taken into custody Tuesday night on charges of money laundering, criminal association and facilitating contraband while serving as police chief from 1998 to 2002.