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Show 0 A4 A I l V fiiilmurtf row iillct ti Inn', ruhl MID t Primaries ( f M Ho " ' .. iU) Mr. h S .tVS ' W A I X nt KKiniiriK in ()n and Ir,is Ino next major conlcst is April 22 in Pennsylvania, rn.iking fur an uniiMi.i!l long sirctt h M'iccn in this heavily compacted rn election season.; Wyoming w ill hold caucuses on Saturday, and Mississippi hiis a primary Tuesday. But neither is likely to reshape the essential dynamic of the contest, which has become the most compel itive presidential nominating fight in at least 40 years. That promises at least another seven weeks of campaigning, unless Obama and his allies among the "superdelegates" many of can prethem party leaders vail upon Clinton to abandon her quest. That seemed unlikely lues-danight. At a raucous victory party in Ohio's capital city, the New York senator told a ballroom full of backers, "As Ohio goes, '.so goes the nation. Well, this nation's coming back and so is this campaign. People of Ohio have said it loudly and clearly, 'we're going on, we're going strong and we're going all the way.' " Tuesday was the last big day of balloting on the Democrat's election calendar with 370 pledged delegates at stake in four contests and voters responded as they have throughout the campaign, turning out !;ilM y record numbers. in In Ohio, they braved raw, weather, including freezing rain in the north and flood warnings across most of the state. Citing the conditions, and a shortage of paper ballots in some precincts, state officials went to court to extend the polling hours in several places. Obama, bidding to become the nation's first black president, entered the day with consecutive victories and hoped to force Clinton from the race by taking Ohio and late-wint- 1 1 i v. - RICK BOWMER, j Associated Press .... ;. Texas. Clinton s top advisers - including her husband, the had said former president she needed victories in both states to remain viable. But on Tuesday, Clinton seemed to back away from that assessment, intimating that a victory in Ohio alone could persuade her to continue, even if Obama maintained his lead in delegates. "My husband didn't get the nomination wrapped up until June. That has been the tradition," Clinton told reporters, though she failed to note the primaries when he first ran in 1992 were much more spread out. As of today, well over half the states have voted, Dallas airmont Hotel. (It was kept covered until McCain officially went over the top.) Huckabee dropped out of the race less than an hour after the last polls closed in El Paso. Addressing his supporters in Irving, the former Arkansas governor said he called McCain moments earlier to con- gratulate him and offer "to do everything possible to unite our party" and "unite our country so that we can be the best nation we can be." A short time later, McCain addressed supporters in Dallas, his wife, Cindy, beaming by his side. McCain claimed the nomination, just a few months after many had declared him politically dead, "with confidence, awarding more than 80 percent of the delegates to the humify and a great sense of responsibility." party's national nominating convention. Signaling the broad outlines of his fall campaign, McCain Even before the first polls scolded the two Democrats closed, Obama was bracing for the race to continue, citing for opposing the war in Iraq, accused them of offering "big plans to campaign ahead of the contests in Wyoming and government." solutions and, in a veiled shot at Obama's Mississippi. "Either way, we'll go on," he told reporters in San speechifying, suggested Americans "aren't interested in an Antonio. election that offers platitudes On the Republican side, Mcinstead of principles." Cain entered the day all but "Our campaign must be certain to clinch the delegates n and will be more than another needed to secure the GOP and eliminate Huckatired debate of false promises, bee. Aides printed up a banempty sound bites or useless ner with the number 1,191 arguments from the past that and hung it in a ballroom at address not a single Ameri nom-inatio- MATT SLOCUM, can's concern for their family's security," McCain said as supporters, some in cowboy boots and hates, erupted in cheers. Earlier Tuesday, stumping in San Antonio, McCain expressed his eagerness to start the fall campaign. Asked to predict his likely opponent, McCain told reporters at the Armadillo Palace, a local theater, he would wait for Democrats to settle their fight. "We will have stark differences," he said, regardless of whom he faces in the fall. Clinton and Obama did their best over the last two weeks to play up their own differences, which are comparatively small. They mainly ignored Vermont and Rhode Island, save for token stops. Instead, they bounced between Texas and Ohio, between sunshine and snow, and states with vastly different cultures and economic outlooks. Ohio has lost much of its . . . . sales-ta- x bill. That "It's a complicated challenge with lots of moving parts," said Rep. could raise around $12 million, but who that wouldn't have much impact on Becky Lockhart, the $2.6 billion project, even though added that House Republicans will it's more than a billion dollars likely take a position today. Going with the shorter proposal cheaper than the previous proposal. will save money but probably not The shorter proposal will also create an admitted bottleneck at the time. It's still being considered a already nasty Point of tbe Mountain. That was considered, Valentine project that will take about a said, and the slowing economy may year and a half of p.anning before actually help there because of lower going to contract sometime in the summer of 2009. projected home sales in the SaraAs for through the rest of toga Springs and Eagle Mountain Utah County? areas. "I think that's going to be some"We feel like we have just a little bit of breathing room in the section thing a future Legislature is going to have to wrestle with," Valentine we're talking about," he said. Senate Republicans endorsed the said. plan on Tuesday, and while House I Rette Speight contributed to this Republicans talked about it, they did not take a position. report. tenth-of-a-ce- 15 Continued from A l Speaker Greg Curtis, said lawmakers aren't trying to shortchange Utah County. vAny time you're looking at spending $2.7 billion I don't think you're getting nickeled and dimed," he said. I le said that Salt Lake County had to complete many of its projects after the main work had been done such as the 12300 South interchange, and UDOT left everything north of 600 North in Salt Lake City alone. The Legislature has already tried to offload some of the cost of through Utah County onto the county by sponsoring a new, optional sub-prim- in California, with the rest in Utah and Arizona. Premier had $7 million in assets. Both funds were managed by Thompson Consulting. To solicit funds, according to the lawsuit, the defendants told investors the company would invest their money through a "short straddle or strangle" strategy where it would "write offsetting put and call options on market indices like the Standard & Poor 500 Index, and that it would closely track the movement of the indices and close out risky positions." "On at least one occasion, Thompson and Condie told investors there would have to be a complete collapse of the free market system in the United States for the fund to lose its principal," the SEC suit said. In Morley's case, Thompson Consulting invested his funds six-ye- in March 2007 in put options on the stock of New Century Financial Corp., the nation's e No. 2 lender, one month before the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Creditors cut off its financing amid growing loan defaults and delinquencies. When New Century's stock price collapsed, and the put options had to be exercised, the value of Morley's investment shrank from $5 million to $2.5 million, according to the SEC suit. To make up for Morley's losses, Condie, an unlicensed investment adviser, improperly transferred $3 million from other investors into Morley's account, M&K Holdings, the SEC suit said. About $2 million of that money was transferred by Condie into Willowbend sub-prim- Property mixed-us- e Co. LLC, a 109-acr- e project in Vernal blame international trade and the impact of globalization. The North American Free Trade Agreement became a central issue, with both Democrats vowing to renegotiate the deal with Canada and Mexico. But Clinton seemed to gain the upper hand in the final hours of the campaign, seizing on disputed reports that an Obama economic adviser had assured the Canadian government that Obama's talk was simply campaign rhetoric. A "wink-wink,- " Clinton called it. Obama and the Canadian government both denied the assertion. Still, the focus on pocketbook issues seemed to help Clinton, as it did in New Hampshire, where she faced a similar door-die test. Exit polls found that Ohio voters who were anxious about their family finances or overall economy said they favored Clinton over Obama. More significantly, Clinton manufacturing base to foreign carried many of the groups that formed the early back countries and many there . collapsed. Apex tad $54 million in assets and more than 90 investors, a majority of whom were " .; Associated P'ess tells supporters he's dropping out of the Republican presidential race at a primary watch party, Tuesday, in Irving, Texas, after John McCain clinched the nomination. "We kept the faith," he told his rally attendees. no-ba- seeking a court order to recover those funds. In Tuesday's lawsuit, the SEC accused Thompson Consulting and its principals, Kyle Thompson, David Condie (Morley's cousin) and Sherman Warner, of lying to investors by saying their principal investment in two hedge funds Apex Equity Options Fund and Premier Portfolio would be protected through conservative trading strategies, when instead their money was leveraged in highly risky investments that failed e when the market " Mike Huckabee ) Continued from Al rr- - ; F had faxed the booking report to the ICE office. "She told me that during her discusContinued from A l , sion about this individual that 'The made two calls to the ICE office in agent did not have time to come down and interview and to let him Orem before Hernandez was released " on bail. go,' Dawe wrote. ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley said Hernandez, of Orem, was arrested the agency was not made aware of T by Spanish Fork police on Jan. 31 and Hernandez's arrest in a timely fash-io- a booked into the Utah County Jail on a Haley said ICE agents attended charge of negligent homicide, a Class the arraignment that Hernandez A misdemeanor. Police said he lost control of his car on an icy road and missed, and went to his apartment in slid into Albert Burns, killOrem, which had been vacated. ik r "We weren't able to determine his ing him. Hernandez was also charged Gabriel Hernandez with driving on a denied license and ;teiage without interviewing him ameMaining the biographical infordriving with no insurance. mation that we need," she said on On Thursday, Hernandez missed his arraignment at Spanish Fork's 4th about an hour later as his mother was Tuesday. District Court, and a il warrant Haley also said that ICE's primary paying his bail, she wrote. The clerk also wrote that she faxed a booking was issued for his arrest. Burns's goal is to remove illegal aliens from the United States, not to assist local wife fears that Hernandez fled to his report to the ICE office. law enforcement with prosecutions. Because the charges against Hernative Mexico and will never face be- When it orders immigration holds on justice. ,' nandez were misdemeanors and cause he had no history with ICE, the inmates, ICE prioritizes the "worst In a report, Diana Carrasco, a of the worst," Haley said, including booking clerk at the Utah County Jail, agent said "to go ahead and let him violent offenders and suspects with said she made two calls to the ICE post bail and that they would watch terrorism connections. office in Orem asking if the agency for him to go to court. If he was con"When ICE takes custody or places victed of the charges then they would wanted the jail to put an immigration hold on Hernandez so they could inplace a hold on him," Carrasco wrote. a detainer on an individual, it's to initiate removal proceedings," Haley said. In another report, Deputy Trish vestigate his immigration status. She But had ICE been made aware of Dawe said she spoke to Carrasco a made the first call when Hernandez was booked into the jail and the other few days later and asked whether she Hernandez's arrest and charges in SEC i. vN Sen. Barack Obama, D HL, and his wife, Michelle, speuk to reporters on their flight to Sun Anionio on Tuesday. Release 1-- i time, Haley said the agency would have placed a hold on him so it could have investigated his immigration status. Tracy said ICE agents had told the jail numerous times in the past that they usually only order holds on inmates who are facing aggravated or felony charges, who have a felony conviction on their records or who have been deported in the past. Since no ICE hold was ordered for Hernandez, he was allowed to make bail. The $2,300 bail, $230 of which Hernandez had to pay for his release, was determined by a bail schedule established by the state. Jail officials suspected that Hernandez may have been in the country illegally .ijut without an ICE hold, they had no grounds to deny him the same bail granted to anyone else, Tracy said. If they had, he said, it would have constituted a federal civD rights violation. "We don't set that bail, and he has due process rights, and so if he can make the bail and he has no other holds, no other warrants ... he's going to be allowed to bail out," Tracy said. Tracy said the jail has no way to verify immigration status on its own and has no authority to hold suspect , Idol Continued from A 1 (Contestants had to 'fess up about theirs during the show.) In a taped segment before his performance, Herd moment hapnandez said his pened when he discovered he had "a red-face- d booger" in his nose following a photo shoot. Fox and the producers have declined to comment about Hernandez. In 2003, semifinalist Frenchie Davis was dismissed from "Idol" because of her appearance on an adult Web site, but Antonella Barba remained in the competition last year after racy photos of her surfaced on the Internet. Third-plac- e finisher Nikki McKib-bi- n from the first "Idol" season briefly worked as stripper before the show, pea-size- that's partly owned by Morley. The other $1 million remained in the M&K account, the suit said. "I've no reason, no knowledge, no evidence to believe Morley or his wile know that the money was misappropriated. That's why they're named as relief defendants in the case, which is sorrieone who received money wrongfully appropriated by the defendants," said Tom Melton, senior regional trial attorney with the SEC Morley denied receiving the funds, describing himself as a victim of Thompson's bad investment. "I invested $5 million with Thompson Consulting, which managed my investment account. I withdrew $2 million of my own money from that account to invest in Willowbend. Then in August, I got a call bone of her campaign. She won the votes of two in three white women and almost six in 10 white men, according to interviews conducted for TV networks and The Associated Press. Clinton also enjoyed an edge among voters making less than $50,000 a year, who comprised about half the electorate. She lost narrowly among independents and young white voters, eating into two groups that formed an important part of Obama's coalition. That reversed the pattern in recent ' contests, in which Obama eroded Clinton's base of support. The Illinois senator performed best, as he has throughout the campaign, winning 9 among blacks in 10 of their votes voters under age 30, college ates and those making more than $100,000 a year. But they were outnumbered by those over age 65. And those older voters were behind Clinton by an equally solid -l margin. ed or confirmed illegal aliens on immigration violations. Jail officials will contact ICE to ask if agents want to order a hold so they can investigate when an inmate sets one of several triggers. The primary trigger, Tracy said, is if the inmate was born outside the U.S. The flap over Hernandez's release comes as the Legislature concluded its debate over a comprehensive immigration bill. The bill, which was submitted to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. on Tuesday, includes a number of reforms, including giving police officers more authority to enforce immigra-tio- n laws. J,une Christ ensen, a neighbor of Burns, said she and her husband, Ken, are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Hernandez's and conviction. She said anyone with information on his whereabouts should contact the Spanish Fork Po' lice Department. "I'm sure that he didn't mean to do it, but he was driving without the privilege in the United States," she said of Hernandez, "We just want to bring him in if we can find him." ar-re- Jeremy Duda can he reached at 344-256- 1 or jdudaC" heraldextra.com. according to Joe Cannizzaro, president of McKibbin's record label, Chenoa Music. Like Hernandez, McKibbin wasn't dismissed from the show when her history as a stripper was publicly revealed nor was it disclosed on the show. Dick's Cabaret manager Bryan told the AP he was aware that Hernandez was a vocalist, but that Hernandez never sang at the club. Bryan said he now believes Hernandez stopped working at the strip club on Sept. 30, 2007, because of his participation in "Idol." On a video posted on Americanldol. com, Hernandez said he broke the lease on his apartment and lived out of his car before auditioning for "Idol." And, when asked in a Q&A posted on the site which talent would he would most like to have if he couldn't sing, Hernandez responded: "Dancing! I'm horrible at that." from Thompson saying that the remaining $3 million of my investment is completely gone. I don't know how it could be asserted that I've benefited or received the $3 million from other investors when I'm out $3 million of my money," Morley said. Morley said Thompson Consulting had sole control of M&K, which was set up to invest hiis money. "I was told Thompson was selling insurance premiums on options, and they had indicated to me that the investment is completely safe and not a risk to capital. They told me there was no way I could lose any principal," Morley said. "Several of the attorneys I consulted last year told me there was no way to recover my money, because Thompson Consulting wasn't insured." In an effort to recoup previous losses, Thompson ' Consulting invested in July and August of last year all of Apex and Premier's assets in unhedged options tied to the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, which measures market volatility on theS&P500. Virtually all of those funds were wiped out when the markets plunged in e as the lending crisis deepened. "When the S&P 500 went down in August, the volatility index went up, and the call options they had written became more expensive to buy back. They used up the $60 million in investors funds to buy those contracts," Melton said. mid-Augu- st sub-prim- Grace Leong can be reached at or at gleong heraldextra.com. 344-291- 0 |