Control

The federal government Friday called for all baby boomers to be tested for hepatitis C, which kills more Americans each year than AIDS and is the leading reason for liver transplants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made the recommendation to find hundreds of thousands of people who don't realize that they have the infection, which greatly increases their chances of developing cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus is transmitted by blood, usually through intravenous drug use or transfusions.

In rejecting PSA screening for prostate cancer, an influential federal panel has chipped a cornerstone of preventive medicine, declaring that it's not always best to catch cancer as early as possible. "At best, PSA screening may help only 1 man in 1,000 avoid death from prostate cancer," the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said Monday. "Most prostate cancers found by PSA screening are slow growing, not life threatening, and will not cause a man any harm during his lifetime.

A dream had carried the boys so far from home, some 5,000 miles across the ocean to a cramped and dingy apartment in Philadelphia: a hope that ice hockey could change their lives. Ivan Pravilov could fulfill that dream, they were told. He could take them from the daily grind of post-communist Ukraine to the gleaming ice of the NHL. He'd done it before. He'd done if for Andrei Zyuzin, who went on to play for six NHL teams. He'd done it for Konstantin Kalmikov, a third-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996.

MY WIFE and I just attended the car show. Both of us had few different cars we were interested in looking at. We are serious car-buyers looking for ease in shopping by going to the show. My problem is the parents who bring small children and let them loose in the cars. Where are people's heads at that they let a small child stand on the seat of a Lincoln playing with the steering wheel - while an adult is standing there waiting to check it out? My son and his wife also saw the same thing the night they attended.

I am awed by the story of the 19-year-old unmarried mother of three who "needed" an abortion because she couldn't manage a fourth on welfare. Doesn't she understand what she's doing to become pregnant? Doesn't she know or care about birth control? Don't she and the father realize that they should not beget children that they have no way of supporting? The attitude seems to be, "Poor me, I was just standing here minding my own business and look what happened!" I'm sure taxpaying citizens don't want her to be pregnant again, but abortion is not birth control; in this case it's a sign of a body out of control.

The center of gravity in American life has shifted away from partisan politics and into other areas of activity in which individuals ... have far greater hopes for gaining satisfaction. ... Aiding and abetting such developments is a consumer culture that by and large responds to customer demand by increasing hours, service and product selection ... In a word, American life is increasingly characterized by choice. Which may also explain why people increasingly see politics as irrelevant to their lives: Politics remains fundamentally a realm of control, not choice.

Opponents of the Barnes Foundation's petition to move from Lower Merion to the Parkway claim that part of that petition - the proposal to expand the board of trustees - is a racially-motivated effort by white-dominated foundations to wrest control of the Barnes from Lincoln University, the oldest historically black college in the nation. This serious charge has given both donors and the public pause in considering whether to relocate the magnificent art treasure that is the Barnes Foundation.

If you force-fed horse tranquilizers to "The Bourne Identity," you'd end up with something like "Limits of Control. " It's a postured anti-thriller from Jim Jarmusch, king of the deadpan art film. Jarmusch regular Isaach De Bankole stars as a courier/spy (the anti-thriller gag would have been funnier with Jason Statham) who's hopping about Spain delivering diamonds and other unspecified things to a series of colorful contacts. It's a scenario that allows Jarmusch to play around with a hip cast of stars (Tilda Swinton, Gael Garcia Bernal, Bill Murray, Youki Kudoh, Hiam Abbass)

It was five innings out of 328 in a professional career that began with high expectations and now has spanned three minor-league seasons. No, for a former first-round draft pick, five triple-A innings in the first game of a lazy September doubleheader at Allentown's Coca-Cola Park are nothing to celebrate. Yet Joe Savery said he never felt better about five innings in his life. In his seven games last season with Lehigh Valley, the Phillies' triple-A affiliate, Savery walked 5.5 batters per nine innings.

IRVING, Texas - With a 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole of the Byron Nelson Championship on Sunday, Jason Dufner closed out a 1-stroke victory over Dicky Pride to win for the second time in four weeks. His closing birdie wrapped up a 3-under 67 round for an 11-under 269. Joe Durant shot a 65 to finish in a tie for third at 271 with Henry (68), Marc Leishman (66), and rookie Jonas Blixt (66).   LPGA Tour GLADSTONE, N.J. - Azahara Munoz beat Candie Kung, 2 and 1, to win the Sybase Match Play Championship, a title that was set up when Morgan Pressel was penalized for slow play while in control of their semifinal match.

NEW YORK - Roman Catholic dioceses, schools, and other groups sued the Obama administration Monday in eight states and the District of Columbia over a federal mandate that most employers provide workers free birth control as part of their health insurance. The federal lawsuits represent the largest push against the mandate since President Obama announced the policy in January. Among those suing are the Pennsylvania Dioceses of Pittsburgh and Erie, the University of Notre Dame, and the Catholic University of America.

Crunch time for the Los Angeles Lakers usually belongs to Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, or Pau Gasol. Not Sunday night in Denver. Ramon Sessions and Steve Blake put the dagger in the Nuggets, swishing three-pointers in the final minute to lead the Lakers to a 92-88 comeback win that gave L.A. a three-games-to-one lead in their best-of-seven first-round series. The Lakers can wrap it up Tuesday night when the Western Conference series shifts back to Southern California for Game 5. Bryant (22 points, eight rebounds, six assists)

The Flyers' stars aren't shining. The Devils' stars are. That's one of the many reasons New Jersey has a two-games-to-one lead over the Flyers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The upstart Flyers seemed destined for a spot in the conference finals after pushing aside the Team That Was Supposed to Win the Stanley Cup, the Pittsburgh Penguins, while the aging Devils had to huff and puff in their quarterfinal series to slip past a Florida team that had more losses than wins in the regular season.

Philadelphia police are investigating the cause of a crash that killed a 30-year-old man this morning after he lost control of his vehicle and slammed into a pole near 63rd Street and Woodbine Avenue in West Philadelphia just before 7 a.m. The man was taken to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said. Police did not release the victim's name. Kevin Smith

Firefighters battled a smoky fire in a recycling transfer center on the Delaware River in South Philadelphia for over an hour today before bringing it under control. No injuries were reported in the lunch time fire at the Republic Services Transfer & Recycling Center, 2904. S. Delaware Ave. The fire sent smoke billowing throughout the area, including nearby I-95, and a Hazmat Unit was called in as precaution because of large fuel tank at the facility. The unit's services were not needed.

PYONGYANG, North Korea - North Korea's new leader addressed his nation and the world for the first time Sunday, vowing to place top priority on his impoverished country's military, which promptly unveiled a new long-range missile. The speech was the culmination of two weeks of celebrations marking the centenary of the birth of his grandfather, national founder Kim Il Sung - festivities that were marred by a failed launch Friday of a rocket that generated international condemnation and cost North Korea a food-aid-for-nuclear-freeze deal with Washington.

PITTSBURGH - With less than 13 minutes to play in Game 2 and white towels waving furiously from the largest crowd ever to watch a hockey game at the Consol Energy Center, Philadelphia's favorite mythical character, Rocky Balboa, was featured on the scoreboard that hangs over center ice. "It ain't about how hard you hit," Balboa said. "It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. " For this Flyers team, there is no punch too powerful. On Friday night, the Flyers repeatedly absorbed Pittsburgh's biggest blow.

THE BIGGEST moment of the New York Rangers' postseason-opening win came when play was stopped, and the top-seeded team in the East tried to catch its breath at the bench. The Rangers were nursing a one-goal lead in the second period, but the Ottawa Senators were all over them. Coach John Tortorella used his lone timeout, and shifted momentum completely. Marian Gaborik and Brian Boyle scored minutes apart shortly after, and the Rangers rolled to a 4-2 victory over the visiting Senators on Thursday night.

TUESDAY, the city's Board of Ethics went before City Council in the annual budget beg-a-thon. Although this is an annual rite of passage for every city department, we hope that Council considers the board's plea for an additional $120,000. That would inch the board's budget to just above $1 million. (As a point of comparison, the Council's own budget is $15 million, and it doesn't have to answer any questions about how the money's spent.) Considering the work of the Ethics Board, especially since it was revitalized in 2008, after a tepid reconstitution under Mayor John Street, it's one department of the city whose positive impact is undeniable.