Dodger duds rekindle Maddux's spark

Figures, huh? It's laughably typical of the Cubs and their drearyplace in sporting life that Greg Maddux, who couldn't get Ronnie [Woo-Woo] Wickers out for three months, pitched six no-hit inningsThursday night in his Los Angeles Dodgers debut. I don't likeperpetuating any wives' tales that Wrigley Field is a spooked housewhere dreams go to die, forcing even the most regal legend toresurrect his mystique elsewhere.

But what else are we to think after Maddux, he of the 4-11 recordsince May and 5.46 ERA in his last nine Cubs starts, held thebaseball world transfixed until a 46-minute rain delay in Cincinnatiprompted manager Grady Little to yank him in the seventh? This …

Best Fifty Women in Business: Marilyn C. Zywiec

MARILYN C. ZYWIEC

PRESIDENT

COMPUTER INFORMATION SYSTEMS INC.

SILVER SPRING TOWNSHIP, CUMBERLAND COUNTY

Education: bachelor's degree in applied mathematics, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Primary job function: provide computer-system support and problem resolution, local-area networking, custom system development and accounting system training and support

Company description: information technology for smallbusinesses services.

Most influential role model: The three who had the most impact on my life are my other, Pauline Canfield; my husband, Wayne; and Ed Messner, president of the West Shore Chamber of Commerce.

Best piece of …

BCE hires auditor to review KPMG solvency opinion

BCE Inc. said it hired PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in an effort to help the Canadian telecom giant complete a $35 billion deal to go private later this week.

PricewaterhouseCoopers was hired to help convince auditor KPMG LLC that BCE, the parent of Bell Canada, will remain solvent after the deal is completed. To close the deal on Thursday as scheduled, KPMG must sign off on the solvency opinion.

Late last month, KPMG said it did not believe BCE could remain …

Rock's greatest star became the scale for musical success

HOLLYWOOD Was Elvis Presley really rock's greatest star?

Yes - and the contest isn't even close.

You could throw out half of Elvis's 38 Top 10 hits and he'dstill be No. 1.

That's what makes his story so sad.

There was no concept of art in the early days of rock, and theonly measurement of accomplishment that he knew was fame.

Lord Acton warned about the corrupting effect of absolute power,and no one in rock - not the Beatles, not Dylan, not Springsteen -has experienced a power as absolute as Elvis's. And his audiencewillingly served him. Their job was not to question, but to adore.

Still caught up in the magic of the spell that …

A festival feast: Boar's Head and Yule Log celebration remembers medieval holiday, cuisine

DAILY MAIL STAFF

With Christmas and New Year's celebrations complete, it's time toreflect upon the meaning of the season.

Christ Church United Methodist helps people do that with itsBoar's Head and Yule Log Festival, set for 7 p.m. Friday andSaturday.

It is designed after a medieval celebration that customarilycapped the Christmas season in the manor houses of England andFrance, beginning Dec. 25 and continuing for 12 days. It was the onlytime of year peasants could leave behind the drudgery of hard work tomake merry with royalty.

The history of the festival dates back to medieval England,specifically Queens College in Oxford in 1340.

As the …

New arrests made in Thai, Cambodian child sex abuse cases

A German man caught in bed with a 14-year-old Cambodian girl has been arrested in one of several new suspected pedophile cases in Southeast Asia, police said.

The arrest came after police in Thailand detained a British man on suspicion of pedophile activities, and officers in Vancouver held a Canadian whose extradition to face a child sex charge _ also in Thailand _ had been sought.

Keo Thea, deputy chief of Cambodia's anti human-trafficking police, said Friday that police in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, raided the German suspect's hotel room Thursday and found him with the girl. He will face charges in court, Keo Thea said.

In Canada, Orville …

APNewsBreak: College athletes press NCAA reform

More than 300 major college football and men's basketball players are telling the NCAA and college presidents they want a cut of ever-increasing TV sports revenue to fatten scholarships and cover all the costs of getting a degree, with athletes picking up still more grant money when they graduate.

The players from Arizona, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Purdue and UCLA have signed a petition asking the NCAA to "realize its mission to educate and protect us with integrity." The National College Players Association, an athletes' advocacy group, provided The Associated Press with copies of the document for release Monday. Players started sending the petition to the NCAA last week.

The …