Jason Miller/Getty ImagesPitcher Chris Perez wishes more Cleveland fans were celebrating along with the Indians.The question is being whispered around Cleveland, and in the other corners of the American League: are the Indians for real?They seem to be very real, at least through the first two months of the season, standing fourth in the American League and leading the Central Division with a 24-18 record. The team that was expected to lead the A.L. Central, the Detroit Tigers (20-22), hasn’t yet found a way to win consistently.The Indians came from behind, 5-3, to beat the struggling Tigers on Tuesday at Progressive Field.Terry Pluto, a sports columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, openly marveled at the Indians’ success.“For the Indians, this was more than a 5-3 ... Continue reading →

His death was announced by the Zenith Electronics Corporation, where Mr. Polley began his career in the stockroom before rising through the engineering ranks to invent the device, called the Flash-Matic, in 1955. “Just think!,” an advertisement breathlessly proclaimed that year. “Without budging from your easy chair you can turn your new Zenith Flash-Matic set on, off, or change channels. You can even shut off annoying commercials while the picture remains on the screen.” The Flash-Matic remote, which worked like a flashlight, was shaped like a snub-nosed revolver. The shape was a considered choice on Mr. Polley’s part, as he explained in 2000, letting viewers in the age of ubiquitous TV westerns “shoot out” commercials. Flash-Matic made the TV audience less captive, though also less ... Continue reading →

BY KEACH HAGEY AOL's Patch.com, the online local-news network whose high costs have made it a lightning rod for criticism of AOL's strategy, is laying off about 20 people as part of a broader restructuring. Patch will consolidate its four geographic zones into three by integrating the South and East zones, allowing it cut some managers. No sites will be closed or merged and no local editors or ad managers will be affected. Patch, which has nearly 1,000 full-time journalists, announced the ...BY KEACH HAGEY AOL's Patch.com, the online local-news network whose high costs have made it a lightning rod for criticism of AOL's strategy, is laying off about 20 people as part of a broader restructuring. Patch will consolidate its four geographic zones into ... Continue reading →

By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON | Wed May 23, 2012 12:56am BST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A prostitution scandal in Colombia involving U.S. Secret Service employees did not result in any security breach and was not behavior that reflected the high ethical standards of the agency, the director of the agency said. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan defended the culture of the agency in testimony prepared for a Senate hearing on Wednesday, saying its employees were among the most dedicated and "self-sacrificing" in the federal government. It will be his first public appearance before Congress since the scandal.But in the wake of the scandal over events in the coastal city of Cartagena, Colombia, Sullivan said he has ordered a review that will produce an "action plan" to ... Continue reading →

Susan Watts/New York Daily News Actor Michael McKean is treated at the scene of the accident at West 86th Street and Broadway on the upper West Side. “Laverne & Shirley” star Michael McKean was injured when he was struck by a car on the upper West Side Tuesday afternoon, police sources said. McKean, 64, a New York City native who played Lenny on the hit television show, was seen bleeding from the head after a car barreled into him at W. 86th St. and Broadway just before 3 p.m., witnesses and the FDNY said. The actor, who also portrayed Spinal Tap’s lead singer and guitarist David St. Hubbins in the cult classic “This is Spinal Tap,” was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in critical condition, ... Continue reading →

Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters Facebook on the NASDAQ Marketsite.Just days before Facebook went public, some big investors got nervous about the social network.After publicly warning about challenges in mobile advertising, Facebook executives held conference calls to update their banks’ analysts on the business. Armed with the new information, analysts at Morgan Stanley and other firms started reaching out to their clients to dial back expectations for the Internet company.One prospective investor was told that second-quarter revenue could be 5 percent lower than the bank’s earlier estimates. Another analyst warned that revenue could be light for the next two years.As investors tried to digest the developments, Morgan Stanley was busy setting the price and the size of the I.P.O.While some big institutions chose not to buy the stock, ... Continue reading →

OSSINING, N.Y. – As the Vatican accuses American nuns of spending too much time on human rights and helping the poor, some Catholic activists who support them are organizing vigils and petitions to persuade the church to change its mind."With the sisters, they've worked their fingers to the bone. They deserve more than this," said Eileen Sammon, a parishioner at St. Ann's Church here and a former Dominican nun. "They're like a helicopter hierarchy hovering over the sisters instead of cleaning their own house," referring to the continuing problem of priests' sexual abuse of children.Sammon is organizing a prayer vigil Tuesday in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan with the hope that Cardinal Timothy Dolan will contact the Vatican and ask to have the ... Continue reading →