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Show DAILY Thursday, Februaty 16, 2006 HERALD Phone. cable battle over video services Study shows limited benefits chairman andchief executive, Jennifer C. Kerr RES, é THE A told the Senate Commerce Committee. “Where thereis wireline competition, cable prices are morethan 15 percent lower,” added Ivan Seidenberg,chairman andchief executive of Verizon Communications Inc. Cable companies dispute WASHINGTON — Forcon- competition. They want Congress to makeit easier for them toroll out thew new video services that would competewith cable. The cableindustry protests that such governmentassistance would create an unfair advantage for the phone com- that the franchising process is a drag on competition. They accuse the Bell companies of trying to skirt rules that would bring serviceto all neighborhoods of a community, wealthy and poor alike — an accusation the Bells deny. “It is not hardto get a franchise if you are a competitor. What's hardto do is to go in and ask for a special deal,” Thomas Rutledge, chief operating officer of New York-based Cablevision Systems Corporation, told the committee. “If you goin andaskfor a new deal that says,‘I can only build the affluentareas,’ ... then you have a hardtime.” Consumer advocatespressed panies andhurt consumersin poor communities. Bothsides on Wednesday took their arguments to Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are consideringlegislation to ease phone companies’ entryinto subscription video services. Cable companies have long had to secureindividual licenses, or franchises, from each of the thousands ofcities and towns wherethey wanttosell their service. But the phone companies, hoping to speed a process they say cantakeupto 18 months, are asking Congress and the statestointerveneto eliminate for more competition, but they also urged lawmakersto require phone companiesto offer servicesto an entire franchise area, “Thereis no reason why they shouldn't be able to serve everyone in a community,” said Gene Kimmelman,vice president of federal and internationalaffairs at Consumers Union. Sens. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., haveboth introduced legislation to speed up the franchising process for new market from calcium and vitamin D players. The bills would still let cities negotiate some terms of video ises. The House is considering similar legislation. Evenso,analysts don't expect much movement on the JeffDonn | THE ASSOCIATEDPRESS Medicine, were a long-awaited offshoot of the big national 's for broad Pl telecom reform including franchiserelief are fairly low this year because there are too BOSTON -— For years, doctors have been telling older therapy knownas the Women’s HealthInitiative. The outcome affects an enormous number ofpeople, since an estimated 10 million Amerians have break-prone bones thanks to osteoporosis. One of two women will suffer such a fracturein her lifetime. For women over age 50, fed- many unsettled major issues,” said Paul Gallant, media policy analyst at Stanford Washing: ton Research Group. Among them,he said, was reforming the Universal Service Fund that subsidizes both phoneandInternet services in rural areas, Gallant says the best hope the Bell ies haveis to press lawmakersto break up a broadertelecom bill and considerissues such as video franchising separately, as stand-alonelegislation. The Texas legislature passed _ a bill last year thatlet the phonecarriersget a license for TV services from the state, rather than having to go city by city. The Bells hope other states will follow suit. Verizon launched its first subscription TV service last fall in Keller, Texas. The company has contracts to offer video seryices in other Texas cities as well as in the states of ing fractures of all kinds. - However, some benefit seemed apparent. Women over age 60 reduced their chances of hip fracture by 21 percent with the supplements. And those who took their supplements study of diet ations issue anytime soon. womento take calcium and vitamin D tablets to protect their as they age. Now,the biggest study ever ; to examine the value of that timeworn advice suggests the supplements conveyonly limited protection. Calcium andvitamin failed to protect against most fractures in the mostly low-risk women. At the same time,the supplements did seem to offer some benefit against hip breaks among womenover 60 and those who took the pills faithfully. The study is “not as ringing an endorsementof calcium as one might like,” said one of the researchers, Dr. Norman Lasser at New Jersey Medical School. Evenso, he and other experts are urging womentostick with governmentadvice to keep taking the supplements anyway. “We don't want to send the messageto people to throw awaytheir calcium pills, which was mywife's first reaction,” Lassersaid. “Westill do believe... that maintaining an adequatecalcium intakewill lay the founda- most regularly lowered their risk by 29 percent. “There's probably a small benefit,” said Dr. Joel Finkelstein, of Massachusetts General Hospital, who wrote an editorial to accompany the study. “It’s a good start, but women at higherrisk need to know it’s not enough.” Manyexperts downplayed the meaning of the negative finding. Dr. Bess Dawson-Hughes, a Tufts University vanexpert eral gyidelines recommend 1,200 cium and 400-600 international units of vitamin D daily from diet and,if needed, supplements. The seven-year study of 36,282 women ages 50 to 79 gavehalf the participants 1,000 milligrams of calcium and 400 who eT eats other half took dummypills. However, many were also taking their own supplements before the research began, and they wereallowed to keep doing so; whether they were assigned to the test group or the comparison group. These extra supplements may have helped the womenstay healthy but ironically diluted the findings, since any benefit is harder to show against a backdrop of fewerfractures. Also, womenin the study were taking hormone pills, which probably further cut the numberoffractures. The study showed better hip bone density in the group given supplements, but they ranked no betterstatistically in avoid- need it together with people who aren't taking it, and you find nothing — andthat really isn't all that surprising,” she said. _ Someresearcherssaid the effect would have beenclearer. with higherdoses of vitamin D, perhaps upto 1,000 units daily. The vitamin helps the body absorbcalcium and promotes muscle health, reducingfalls. The study did show significantside effect with the diet supplements: a 17 percent increase in the risk of kidney stones. But several doctors downplayed thatrisk, saying hip fractures are typically much worse than kidney stones. te SAFF, SAVE UP TO o% those time-consuming require- ments. Phonegiants like AT&T and Verizon say the current sys- tem is outdated and is choking competition. “If we were somehow able to sign one franchise agreementeveryweekof the year, it's going to take us 30 years to complete this process,” Edward Whitacre, AT&T Inc.'s California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania andVirginia. AT&Tis also offering video servicein the San Antonio area and expects to havea fuller rollout this year in moret 20cities. "1 tion for bone health,” added * lead author Dr. Rebecca Jackson at Ohio State University. The findings, published today in the New EnglandJournal of Presidents’ Chertoff draws criticism from hoth parties Lara Jakes Jordan THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Acknowl- edging delayed aid and fumbled coordination, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesdaythe federal response to Hurricane Katrina fell far short of providing immediate help to the Gulf Coast that could have saved lives, Chertoff’s Senate testimony came the same day a House panel released a scathing report concluding that deaths, damage andsuffering could have been di dif the White House andfederal, state andlocal officials had responded more urgently to Katrina. “There are manylapses that occurred,andI've certainly spenta lot of time personally, probablysince last fall, thinking about things that might have been donedifferently,” Chertoff told the Senate HomelandSecurity and Governmental Affairs Committee about the Aug. 29 storm. Hecalled the hurricane “one of the most difficult and traumatic experiences of mylife.” Katrina was oneofthe costliest and deadliest natural disasters in U.S.history,killing more than 1,300 people, causing tens ofbillions of dollars in damage and forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes. The House report —called “A FailureofInitiative” — found ample fault with state and local officials,including delays in ordering early evacuations in New Orleans.Butit also criticized President Bushforfailing to get moredeeply involved as the crisis unfolded. In a sampling of 63 communications to the White House that the report documents,at least eight were dated before Katrina's Aug.29 landfall. The documents show that presidential advisers were warned about potential disaster as early as Aug.27. 75% OFF Ladies’ Fall & Winter Better Career & Casual Collections from Nygard, Classic American Designers & more. 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