Blanco like Beckham? Fire touts 'unique' catch; Mexican star shuns comparison of marquee players

Fire president John Guppy loved the sign a fan brought to thewelcoming ceremony for Cuauhtemoc Blanco at Toyota Park. It read,"Who needs Beckham when you have Temo?"

Blanco, who signed a three-year, $6million contract on Tuesday,follows England's former captain, David Beckham, as one of MajorLeague Soccer's first "designated players." Each team can go aboveits salary cap to bring in one high-profile player.

Blanco's contract pales in comparison to the one Beckham signedwith the Los Angeles Galaxy, but that hasn't kept him from beingtabbed "the Mexican Beckham" by Chicago fans and media.

"I wouldn't call him the Mexican Beckham," Guppy said, "but he'svery …

A look at Molson Coors 3Q results by unit

Here's how Molson Coors Brewing Co.'s units performed in the third-quarter:

CANADA: Net revenue rose 9 percent to $539.8 million, while volume rose 2.5 percent. Sales to retailers rose 0.4 percent.

BRITAIN: Net revenue fell 7.4 percent to $313.4 million, …

Strong finish puts No. 25 Cincinnati in mix

CINCINNATI (AP) — Power forward Yancy Gates was feuding with the coach and hardly getting onto the court. Cincinnati appeared headed for another late-season meltdown that would keep it out of the NCAA tournament again.

But everything changed in a six-game span.

The Bearcats (24-7, 11-7 Big East) have won five of their last six, knocking off Louisville, Connecticut and Georgetown twice. They put themselves in line for their first NCAA tournament appearance in six years and moved back into the rankings at No. 25 on Monday.

In three weeks, their season did a 180-degree turnaround.

"Since that moment," coach Mick Cronin said, "they've really dug in and played …

Network president prepares for big changes, busy life

GRAND RAPIDS - Kym Duursma has been on vacation - and she deserves it. Since she took over as president of The Network, Grand Rapids' LGBT center, last December, she has been hard at work creating little changes in preparation for a big future.

Previously, Duursma's involvement with The Network had been minimal. As an educator at Planned Parenthood, a job she still holds, she would often do sexuality education with people in prison and substance abuse treatment programs. Her job carried her to The Network, where she began doing sex and HIV workshops. She claims that the two jobs fit together perfectly. "It all meshes," she asserts of her work at Planned Parenthood and The Network. …

Wife of Cuba's Acting Leader Dies at 77

HAVANA - Vilma Espin Guillois, the wife of acting President Raul Castro and a former rebel fighter who served for decades as first lady of the Cuban revolution, was mourned across the island Tuesday.

Espin, 77, died Monday afternoon after "the long illness she was afflicted with" worsened in recent weeks, according to Cuban state television. Authorities did not disclose the illness, but she was said to have suffered from severe circulatory problems in recent years.

An official period of mourning was in effect through 10 p.m. Tuesday as Cubans remembered Espin both as a guerrilla fighter who helped bring her future husband Raul and brother-in-law Fidel to power a …

Receptionist a 'hero' in New York center massacre

The two receptionists at the U.S. community center barely had time to react when a gunman stormed in the front door and shot them at close range before firing on a roomful of immigrants taking a citizenship class.

One receptionist survived, playing dead, before crawling under a desk and calling 911.

Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said she stayed on the phone for 90 minutes, "feeding us information constantly," despite a serious wound in the abdomen.

"She's a hero in her own right," he said.

The gunman killed 13 people _ a dozen in the classroom _ before apparently killing himself.

Four people were critically …

Inflation up here

WASHINGTON While the cost of living in Chicago rose 0.7 percentlast month, it increased only 0.3 percent nationwide, the governmentsaid today. The national increase is the first inflation break forconsumers since Iraq's Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait sent oil pricesskyrocketing.

In Chicago, food and beverage costs were up 0.8 percent. Alsohurting the pocketbook was an 8.2 percent increase in gas heatingcosts. That contributed to an over-all 0.7 percent rise in Novemberhousing costs. Apparel costs showed the steepest increase overOctober figures, rising 1 percent in the area.

For the first 11 months of 1990, the consumer price index shotup 6.1 percent in Chicago, the …