Strategy

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.

Pam Chandler decided to accompany her husband, Bob, to the extraordinary auction of an Ocean City, N.J., mansion Saturday to keep him from "going overboard. " But an hour after she toured the 7,000-square-foot Victorian-style house on the Great Bay, she was the one prodding him to stay in the frenzied bidding on the breezy bayside veranda. The Chandlers, who live in Rumson, Monmouth County, with their three children, won the auction, ultimately paying $3.9 million for a property that was listed at about $6.5 million two years ago. It is assessed at $5 million.

It's summer in the city and these guys are about to get a line on the fish in the water at Franklin Roosevelt Park in South Philadelphia. Jason Andreola, 11, (left) and Angelo Flagiello, 12, were betting they could catch something yesterday.

Coach Dave Hoch thought that if his Germantown Academy team could outrebound Malvern Prep's Friars, hold their best player to a reasonable number of points and get its own best player some good shots, it had a chance to win. The Patriots did all three, but the Friars won Tuesday's Inter-Academic League game anyway, 36-31. "I don't know what to say," Hoch said after the game at GA. "We were within 1 point (32-31) with 1 minute, 15 seconds to play, and we were forced to foul their best player.

Collingswood yesterday used a diamond-and-one defense designed to contain Haddonfield's two Division I players, Brian Zoubek and Blake Wilson. The strategy backfired, however, as Haddonfield's less-heralded starters sparked an easy 68-52 Colonial Conference boys' basketball victory. "I thought we did a good job neutralizing Zoubek and Wilson," Collingswood coach Joe McLoughlin said, "but their other guys stepped up. " They especially stepped up during a 15-0 run that gave Haddonfield a 19-4 lead and set the tone before a sellout crowd at Collingswood.

Brian Devine of La Salle had been working diligently on his finishing kick the last few weeks in practice. On Saturday at an indoor meet at East Stroudsburg University, his work paid off. In the Division I (larger schools) distance-medley relay, Devine - running the mile anchor leg - came from third to win the race for teammates Joe Hohenleitner, Greg Ryan and Dave Devine. The Devines are twins and the sons of La Salle coach Pat Devine. Central Bucks West (Greg Dattner, Steve Casale, Mike Petry and Todd Wiley)

Economic-development consultants from HyettPalma Inc. in Alexandria, Va., have quizzed the merchants of Bryn Mawr, surveyed its residents and gathered its shoppers in focus groups as they prepare a business-enhancement strategy. HyettPalma will present its findings at 7 p.m. tomorrow at a public meeting in the second-floor board room of the township administration building. The 90-minute session, led by firm principal Doyle Hyett, also will be televised live on Lower Merion's government-access cable Channel 7. The Bryn Mawr enhancement strategy will include proposals for clustering businesses, marketing Bryn Mawr, managing traffic and improving pedestrian access.

Pittsburgh Steelers' president Dan Rooney had some harsh words for Chuck Noll's coaching strategy and sideline communication in an interview published in yesterday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Rooney said he disagreed with some of Noll's play strategy in Sunday's loss to Cleveland and labeled some plays "stupid. " The Steelers lost the game, 27-7, which dropped their record to 2-10. "At the end of the season, we have to evaluate everything we're doing," Rooney said. GIANTS Phil Simms did not suffer a serious shoulder injury against the Eagles and the New York Giants quarterback probably will play Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, coach Bill Parcells said.

WITH NEITHER the fanfare, flash nor controversy of Mayor Street's Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, City Councilman Wilson Goode has been quietly working on a strategy to revitalize struggling communities. We don't know yet what results will come out of NTI, but we're willing to bet Goode's efforts will have some lasting effects on Philadelphia. Goode's thesis is simple, if unexciting, in its obviousness: People in neighborhoods need better access to money and credit if we expect communities to flourish.

As New Jersey moves to take over the troubled city of Camden, the debate about responsibility and strategy flows back and forth between Trenton and Camden, Democrats and Republicans, executive and legislative branches. The state has little choice but to act. But which of two choices will be made? Continue business as usual: Drip an unending stream of ineffective subsidy, ensuring that the state can never extract itself from the morass that is Camden? Or make a complicated one-time investment loaded with sticks and carrots that connects Camden to the regional economy and provides a real exit strategy?

It took three years, eight months, and 22 days for Sunoco Inc.'s leadership to complete a 180-degree strategy turn. So Monday's announcement that a Texas pipeline operator with the exciting brand name of Energy Transfer Partners L.P. would acquire Philadelphia's Sunoco for $5.3 billion was not unexpected. In fact, with Sunoco's annual shareholders meeting being held in the buyer's home state of Texas on Thursday, maybe it should've been blindingly obvious that Sunoco's final deal was near.

NEW YORK - Rick Santorum doesn't care about the unemployment rate. Newt Gingrich has "more baggage than the airlines. " Both are Washington insiders who have bent their principles for money and influence. So say Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his allies. That advertising playbook has helped make Romney his party's likely presidential nominee and could offer a preview of what awaits President Obama. Voters in early primary states have seen plenty of this ad strategy already: a torrent of attacks on Romney's opponents along with a few positive spots about the GOP front-runner's biography and business experience.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - It all started with Raul Ibanez. After winning the 2008 World Series, the Phillies decided to let their 31-year-old leftfielder, Pat Burrell, walk as a free agent. With his nagging injuries, Burrell seemed to be beyond his best years. That perception turned out to be accurate. Burrell hit .235 with 41 homers over the last three years and retired. But who did the Phillies sign to replace their fading outfielder? Ibanez, who was 36 at the time. It was a sound baseball move - Ibanez hit .264 with 70 homers for three division winning teams - but it also made the Phillies five years older at that position.

The first time around, the prosecution built its case against State Sen. Jane C. Orie slowly, calling the intern who initiated the investigation about illegal campaign work about halfway through its presentation and calling the senator's chief of staff as its penultimate witness. This time, Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Claus started with former University of Pittsburgh intern Jennifer Rioja, followed by key witness Jamie Pavlot. "There was an overall attitude that these actions were OK and even required of staff members," Rioja wrote in a complaint filed with the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office.

THE EAGLES have a 2-week period beginning Monday to use their franchise tag, and general manager Howie Roseman offered no definitive answer as to whether the Eagles will use it to keep wide receiver DeSean Jackson. "We'll keep that internal as we do all contract negotiations," Roseman said yesterday after serving as a guest panelist at Widener Law School. "We like to convey messages to our players and their representative before we do anything else. " However, Roseman spoke fondly of the 25-year-old Jackson, who is a free agent after a contract year that included a holdout, a benching and ongoing questions about how the lack of a long-term deal affected his performance.

What do you think would be the best strategy for Pennsylvania and other states to reduce the risk of voter fraud?

JAMEEL SALEEM wasn't getting the types of parts he wanted when he and his girlfriend moved to Los Angeles to make it big. Saleem rattled off a list: gang banger, parolee, ghost rapper. How could he turn down ghost rapper? "It wasn't a comedy," Saleem said. But instead of waiting around for the right part, Saleem, who spent his early years in Germantown, followed in the footsteps of his hero Woody Allen: He wrote his own material, enlisted girlfriend Kimelia Weathers, picked up a camera and shot a series of YouTube videos.

INDIANAPOLIS - Bill Belichick gave clear instructions to his defensive unit: Let the runner score. Playing the odds and inviting critics, the calculating coach of the New England Patriots told his players to get out of the way, open a wide path for Ahmad Bradshaw and give Tom Brady a chance to win the Super Bowl in the final 57 seconds. Unusual? Certainly. Crazy? Not at all. The strategy failed, and the New York Giants won, 21-17, on Sunday night. But Belichick was certain it gave the Patriots their best opportunity.

Hand weeding is one of the most demanding chores in gardening, but it doesn't have to be that way. Mulching, spraying, plant crowding, and inexpensive stand-up tools can ease much of the back-straining work. And the time to plan for it is now, before you use any of that homemade compost or build your budget for planting supplies. "Weed control is personal," said Barb Pierson, nursery manager for White Flower Farm, a mail-order nursery in Litchfield, Conn. "To me, there are two types of weeds.

When lawyer Carol Fritz decided to add "actress" to her resume last year, one thing stood in her way: She wanted to list her weight as 148, 10 pounds lighter than she actually was. "I like to think of myself as an honest person," the Powelton Village resident says. "I was ready to post that resume on the Internet with that number, so I needed to get there. I just needed an extra push. " That extra push for Fritz was using a financial incentive to help her reach her weight-loss goal.