Delta raises last-minute fares, others follow

A Delta Air Lines Jet takes off from Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport in a 2006 file photo. (Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images / February 21, 2013)

By Gregory Karp




Tribune reporter

4:50 p.m. CST, February 21, 2013

The first nationwide hike in U.S. airfares looks like it's taking hold this week, as Delta Air Lines initiated a ticket-price increase, according to FareCompare.com.

However, the effort is limited -- an increase of $4 to $10 roundtrip on domestic flights booked inside of seven days before departure, most likely to affect business travelers.

Three other attempts to raise fares this year failed. In the hypercompetitive airline business, fares typically increase when one carrier raises prices and others follow. If they don't follow, the initiator usually drops back its fares.

Delta initiated the increase on last-minute fares Wednesday. By Thursday afternoon, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, US Airways and JetBlue Airways had matched it, leaving Chicago-based United Airlines as a significant holdout, according to FareCompare.

"I would be surprised if United doesn't join later this evening," FareCompare CEO Rick Seaney said on his site.

In 2012, airlines attempted 15 fare increases, of which seven stuck, according to Seaney. United started two of the three unsuccessful attempts this year, with Delta trying the other.

gkarp@tribune.com

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Homicide probe under way after 2 women found dead in blaze

Firefighters found the bodies of two women at a South Side residence this afternoon while putting out a fire at the home, according to authorities, and police confirmed foul play is suspected.

The bodies were found about 4 p.m. as firefighters were extinguishing a fire in the 8100 block of South Maryland Avenue, according to Larry Langford, a Chicago Fire Department spokesman.

The victims are a 24-year-old woman and a 43-year-old woman, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Both women were pronounced dead on the scene at 5:35 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office. Their names and home addresses were not being released immediately pending notification of next of kin.

An arson and homicide investigation is under way, said Police News Affairs Sgt. Antoinette Ursitti.

No one is in custody Wednesday night, she said.

Preliminary reports indicate that at least one of the victims was found stabbed to death, and the residence may have been set ablaze to conceal their deaths, sources said.

The bodies, believed to be a mother and daughter, were found in a bathroom, according to a source.

A large kitchen knife was found in the bathroom, near where one body was found in a bathtub and the other on the floor, according to a source, citing initial information.

Chicago police officers sealed off the three-story multi-unit building near the southwest corner of East 81st Street and South Maryland Avenue with yellow and red crime tape. Several onlookers gazed at the building in the fire's aftermath.

Investigators could be seen inside the first-floor apartment unit where the fire erupted, its rear window broken and covered by a tarp. Several men working for two different board-up companies also stood in the alley while police conducted their investigation.

Brittany Pullum was inside her apartment across the alley when she saw black smoke coming from the first-floor unit. She said she then ran outside and saw about 15 to 20 people who evacuated from the fire building.

Pullum said a lady who evacuated told her she called 911.

"It's crazy. It's crazy," Pullum said, still appearing somewhat shocked at the news of the two deaths. "It's scary. Very scary."

One of the fire building's tenants, Alexander Brown, said his wife was home during the fire, but their unit wasn't damaged.

He said their unit, where he's lived for about five years, is next-door to the burned apartment. Brown was outside of the building after the blaze and said he was eager to find shelter because of the frigid temperatures.

Brown didn't know the occupants of the burned unit too well, but he said he's seen two women coming and going from there, periodically.

Police said the two victims were females. Although an autopsy Thursday will determine the official cause of their deaths, police said at least one of the deaths might be a domestic-related homicide.

Police said the fire was confined to the one unit, which appeared badly damaged.

Langford said the investigation has been turned over to the Chicago Police.

chicagobreaking@tribune.com

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Mike Tyson sues Live Nation over embezzlement

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mike Tyson is suing a financial services firm affiliated with Live Nation, claiming it cost him more than $ 5 million due to a former employee’s embezzlement and mismanagement.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles claims an adviser from SFX Financial Advisory Management Enterprises embezzled more than $ 300,000 from the former heavyweight boxing champ. The suit claims the losses hindered Tyson and his wife from emerging from bankruptcy.

SFX is a subsidiary of Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

The case claims Tyson and his wife lost millions more by having to hire new attorneys and advisers to handle their financial affairs, and they had to turn down lucrative contracts.

Messages left for a Live Nation spokeswoman and at the Washington, D.C., offices of SFX were not immediately returned.

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Well: Caffeine Linked to Lower Birth Weight Babies

New research suggests that drinking caffeinated drinks during pregnancy raises the risk of having a low birth weight baby.

Caffeine has long been linked to adverse effects in pregnant women, prompting many expectant mothers to give up coffee and tea. But for those who cannot do without their morning coffee, health officials over the years have offered conflicting guidelines on safe amounts during pregnancy.

The World Health Organization recommends a limit of 300 milligrams of caffeine a day, equivalent to about three eight-ounce cups of regular brewed coffee. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists stated in 2010 that pregnant women could consume up to 200 milligrams a day without increasing their risk of miscarriage or preterm birth.

In the latest study, published in the journal BMC Medicine, researchers collected data on almost 60,000 pregnancies over a 10-year period. After excluding women with potentially problematic medical conditions, they found no link between caffeine consumption – from food or drinks – and the risk of preterm birth. But there was an association with low birth weight.

For a child expected to weigh about eight pounds at birth, the child lost between three-quarters of an ounce to an ounce in birth weight for each 100 milligrams of average daily caffeine intake from all sources by the mother. Even after the researchers excluded from their analysis smokers, a group that is at higher risk for complications and also includes many coffee drinkers, the link remained.

One study author, Dr. Verena Sengpiel of the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Sweden, said the findings were not definitive because the study was observational, and correlation does not equal causation. But they do suggest that women might put their caffeine consumption “on pause” while pregnant, she said, or at least stay below two cups of coffee per day.

---

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: February 20, 2013

An earlier version of this article described incorrectly the relationship between the amount of caffeine a pregnant woman drank and birth weight. For a child expected to weigh about eight pounds at birth, the child lost between three-quarters of an ounce to an ounce in birth weight for each 100 milligrams of average daily caffeine intake by the mother, not for each day that she consumed 100 milligrams of caffeine.

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OfficeMax, Office Depot agree to merger

Office Depot to buy Office Max as an attempt to compete with Staples.

Office Depot Inc. and Naperville-based OfficeMax Inc. confirmed Wednesday that they're planning to merge but left some key questions about the deal unanswered.

The all-stock deal calls for Office Depot to issue 2.69 new shares of common stock for each outstanding common share of OfficeMax. But officials declined to say where the newly merged company would be headquartered, who would sit in the CEO seat or even what it would be called.

OfficeMax CEO Ravi Saligram and Office Depot CEO Neil Austrian presented a united front during a Wednesday conference call with analysts, taking turns to explain the specifics of the deal.

"It takes two to tango," Saligram said. "Lo and behold, Neil and I have decided to tango."

The announcement of a merger, which Saligram said would "create a stronger, more global, more efficient competitor," put to rest years of speculation about a deal. The merger would unite the No. 2 company in the stationery and office supplies industry, Boca Raton, Fla.-based Office Depot, with the No. 3 company, OfficeMax, headquartered off Interstate 88.

A merger between the two chains "has made sense for years," Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter wrote in a note this week.

Market leader Staples also would benefit from a merger, BB&T Capital Markets analyst Anthony Chukumba said.

"Clearly, you can't make this deal work unless you close a bunch of stores," he said. "Store rationalization is long overdue, and Staples will clearly benefit from just having fewer stores to compete with."

OfficeMax, with about 29,000 employees, operates 978 stores, including 10 in the Chicago area. Office Depot has about 39,000 employees and operates 1,675 stores, including seven in the Chicago area.

The two CEOs wouldn't say how many stores would be closed, but Balter has predicted about 600.

If the merger is completed, the company's board would have an equal number of directors chosen by Office Depot and OfficeMax. Based on Wednesday's stock closing price, the deal's value is about $976 million.

The combined company would have $18 billion in sales and achieve $400 million to $600 million in savings over three years, according to company officials.

Office Depot shareholders would own about 54 percent of the company and OfficeMax shareholders 46 percent.

It was not clear, though, whether those stockholders would be satisfied with the deal. One of OfficeMax's largest shareholders, Neuberger Berman, said this week that it would support a deal, depending on the terms.

The deal also is subject to approval by regulatory agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission.

Officials declined to say who would lead the combined business or where it would be located once the "merger of equals" is completed, likely by the end of the year.

"During the appropriate times ... our board will make the right decision," OfficeMax's Saligram said. "Now, we're independent companies, and we've got to go through lots of processes."

Saligram and Austrian will be considered to lead the company, but until a leader is chosen, they will remain in their positions.

"From the time we started talking, Ravi and I have grown very fond of each other. It's very clear we can work well together," Austrian said.

Their proposed partnership didn't begin well. The announcement of the planned merger was buried in an earnings release posted prematurely on the Office Depot website early in the morning, then quickly removed. The companies recovered, and about 8:30 a.m., they issued a joint statement announcing the proposed merger.

The mishap will likely be investigated by stock exchanges and regulatory organizations, according to a Chicago financial attorney.

"I am highly confident that the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the Securities and Exchange Commission will be looking very closely at who pulled the trigger, who knew about this, and was this in good faith?" James McGurk said.

McGurk said he was not suggesting wrongdoing.

"When you think about it, you have two boards, lots of investment advisers, lawyers, and deals break down at the last minute. Are there lots of ways it could happen? Sure," he said.

OfficeMax shares closed Wednesday down 91 cents, or 7 percent, at $12.09. Shares of Office Depot closed down 84 cents, or nearly 17 percent, at $4.18.

Reuters contributed.

crshropshire@tribune.com

Twitter @corilyns

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Jacksons set for plea hearings in D.C. on Wednesday

WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., and his wife, former Chicago Ald. Sandi Jackson, are expected to plead guilty to federal charges Wednesday, when more details may emerge about an alleged crime spree in which he is accused of spending more than $750,000 in campaign cash to buy luxury items, memorabilia and other goods.

Attorneys familiar with public corruption investigations said the amount of campaign cash allegedly converted to personal use in this case is the largest of any that they can remember.

Jackson Jr., who has been largely out of the public eye for eight months, is to appear in court at 9:30 a.m. Chicago time. His wife is to appear at 1:30 p.m. Chicago time. Both Jacksons will stand before U.S. District Court Judge Robert Wilkins.

Sentencing is not expected for several weeks. Jackson Jr. faces up to five years in prison, while she faces up to three years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

Jackson Jr., 47, was in the House of Representatives for 17 years until he resigned last November. Sandi Jackson, 49, was a Chicago alderman from 2007 until she stepped down in January.

He is charged with conspiracy in a case involving a $43,350 men’s Rolex watch, nearly $9,600 in children’s furniture and $5,150 in cashmere clothing and furs, court papers show. She is charged with filing false tax returns for six years, most recently calendar year 2011.

When separate felony charges were filed against them Friday, their attorneys said the two would plead guilty.

Prosecutors also are seeking a $750,000 judgment against Jackson Jr. and the forfeiture of thousands of dollars of goods he purchased, including cashmere clothing, furs and an array of memorabilia from celebrities including Michael Jackson, Bruce Lee and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Jackson Jr. began a mysterious medical leave of absence last June for what was eventually described as bipolar disorder. Though he did not campaign for re-election, he won another term last Nov. 6 while being treated at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. He left office two weeks later, saying he was cooperating with federal investigators.

Married for more than 20 years, the Jacksons have a 12-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son. The family has homes in Washington and on Chicago’s South Side.

Washington defense attorney Stan Brand, the former general counsel of the House of Representatives, said Tuesday that Jackson Jr.’s case involved the largest sum of money he’s seen in a case involving personal use of campaign money. “Historically, there have been members of Congress who either inadvertently or maybe purposefully, but not to this magnitude, used campaign funds inappropriately,” he said.

Brand said that when the dollar figure involved is low, a lawmaker may be fined and ordered to reimburse the money. “This is so large, the Department of Justice decided to make his case criminal,” he said.

Other attorneys said they could not remember a bigger case of its kind. Washington attorney Ken Gross, a former lawyer for the Federal Election Commission, said: “Directly dipping into your campaign coffers, and spending money on personal items, I can’t recall a case where it involved this much money.”

Brand once represented another disgraced Illinois Democratic congressman, Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, who in 1996 pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud. Rostenkowski was later represented by attorney Dan Webb, who is Sandi Jackson’s counsel.

Rostenkowski, who died in 2010, entered his pleas and received his punishment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — the same venue on the Jacksons’ calendars on Wednesday.

kskiba@tribune.com

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Singer Sande in line for big prize at BRIT awards

LONDON (Reuters) – Scottish singer Emeli Sande is favorite to win the coveted British album of the year honor later on Wednesday when the BRIT Awards are handed out in London.

Sande, whose profile received a major boost when she took part in the opening and closing ceremonies at the London Olympics last year, has been nominated for three prizes on British pop’s biggest night.

She was shortlisted for best British female, which she is expected by bookmakers to win, and best British single for “Next to Me”. Sande also features on another contender for the single prize, Labrinth’s “Beneath Your Beautiful”.

Arguably the biggest category is British album, where Sande’s “Our Version of Events” is up against other acts who each picked up three nominations – Mumford & Sons for “Babel” and Alt-J for “An Awesome Wave”.

Sande, who had Britain’s best-selling album in 2012, has hit back at critics who have questioned whether she had been over-exposed in the last 12 months.

“I feel like it’s a bit unfair,” she told the Sun tabloid. “I actually haven’t done that much, but it’s just what I have done have been huge events.

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I worked so hard to get any exposure at all, so I don’t see that as a negative.”

Adele looks set to add to her groaning trophy cabinet with the best single award for James Bond theme “Skyfall”, while U.S. acts Lana Del Rey and Frank Ocean are bookmaker Ladbrokes’ favorites for best international female and male respectively.

“There’s a nailed on favorite in every category and it’s hard to see any last minute upsets at this stage,” said Ladbrokes spokeswoman Jessica Bridge.

It may be that the big surprises this year at the BRITs, which have a reputation of rewarding commercial success over musical originality, came at the nominations stage.

Last month eyebrows were raised when Amy Winehouse was nominated in the British female solo category some 18 months after her death for a chart-topping album of unreleased songs and demos called “Lioness: Hidden Treasures”.

And veteran rockers the Rolling Stones were shortlisted for best live act after they returned to the stage for a short, sellout tour of London and the United States at the end of 2012 to mark 50 years in the business.

The last time the group was nominated for a BRIT was in 1996, and the Rolling Stones are the only act to be nominated both at this year’s ceremony at the O2 Arena and at the first BRIT Awards staged in 1977.

Performing at the awards ceremony will be Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Muse, Robbie Williams, Sande, Mumford & Sons, Ben Howard and One Direction.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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DNA Analysis, More Accessible Than Ever, Opens New Doors

Matt Roth for The New York Times

Sam Bosley of Frederick, Md., going shopping with his daughter, Lillian, 13, who has a malformed brain and severe developmental delays, seizures and vision problems. More Photos »

Debra Sukin and her husband were determined to take no chances with her second pregnancy. Their first child, Jacob, who had a serious genetic disorder, did not babble when he was a year old and had severe developmental delays. So the second time around, Ms. Sukin had what was then the most advanced prenatal testing.

The test found no sign of Angelman syndrome, the rare genetic disorder that had struck Jacob. But as months passed, Eli was not crawling or walking or babbling at ages when other babies were.

“Whatever the milestones were, my son was not meeting them,” Ms. Sukin said.

Desperate to find out what is wrong with Eli, now 8, the Sukins, of The Woodlands, Tex., have become pioneers in a new kind of testing that is proving particularly helpful in diagnosing mysterious neurological illnesses in children. Scientists sequence all of a patient’s genes, systematically searching for disease-causing mutations.

A few years ago, this sort of test was so difficult and expensive that it was generally only available to participants in research projects like those sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. But the price has plunged in just a few years from tens of thousands of dollars to around $7,000 to $9,000 for a family. Baylor College of Medicine and a handful of companies are now offering it. Insurers usually pay.

Demand has soared — at Baylor, for example, scientists analyzed 5 to 10 DNA sequences a month when the program started in November 2011. Now they are doing more than 130 analyses a month. At the National Institutes of Health, which handles about 300 cases a year as part of its research program, demand is so great that the program is expected to ultimately take on 800 to 900 a year.

The test is beginning to transform life for patients and families who have often spent years searching for answers. They can now start the grueling process with DNA sequencing, says Dr. Wendy K. Chung, professor of pediatrics and medicine at Columbia University.

“Most people originally thought of using it as a court of last resort,” Dr. Chung said. “Now we can think of it as a first-line test.”

Even if there is no treatment, there is almost always some benefit to diagnosis, geneticists say. It can give patients and their families the certainty of knowing what is wrong and even a prognosis. It can also ease the processing of medical claims, qualifying for special education services, and learning whether subsequent children might be at risk.

“Imagine the people who drive across the whole country looking for that one neurologist who can help, or scrubbing the whole house with Lysol because they think it might be an allergy,” said Richard A. Gibbs, the director of Baylor College of Medicine’s gene sequencing program. “Those kinds of stories are the rule, not the exception.”

Experts caution that gene sequencing is no panacea. It finds a genetic aberration in only about 25 to 30 percent of cases. About 3 percent of patients end up with better management of their disorder. About 1 percent get a treatment and a major benefit.

“People come to us with huge expectations,” said Dr. William A. Gahl, who directs the N.I.H. program. “They think, ‘You will take my DNA and find the causes and give me a treatment.' ”

“We give the impression that we can do these things because we only publish our successes,” Dr. Gahl said, adding that when patients come to him, “we try to make expectations realistic.”

DNA sequencing was not available when Debra and Steven Sukin began trying to find out what was wrong with Eli. When he was 3, they tried microarray analysis, a genetic test that is nowhere near as sensitive as sequencing. It detected no problems.

“My husband and I looked at each other and said, ‘The good news is that everything is fine; the bad news is that everything is not fine,' ” Ms. Sukin said.

In November 2011, when Eli was 6, Ms. Sukin consulted Dr. Arthur L. Beaudet, a medical geneticist at Baylor.

“Is there a protein missing?” she recalled asking him. “Is there something biochemical we could be missing?”

By now, DNA sequencing had come of age. Dr. Beaudet said that Eli was a great candidate, and it turned out that the new procedure held an answer.

A single DNA base was altered in a gene called CASK, resulting in a disorder so rare that there are fewer than 10 cases in all the world’s medical literature.

“It really became definitive for my husband and me,” Ms. Sukin said. “We would need to do lifelong planning for dependent care for the rest of his life.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: February 20, 2013

An article on Tuesday about the use of DNA sequencing to identify rare genetic diseases misstated the name of a medicine taken by two teenagers who have a rare gene mutation. The drug is 5-hydroxytryptophan, not 5-hydroxytryptamine.

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Kraft acknowledges faults, unveils new path

From new products like Macaroni and Cheese crackers to Oscar Mayer pulled pork, Kraft Foods Group laid out the strategy on Tuesday that took the company's new products "from worst to first."

The Northfield-based maker of Macaroni & Cheese, Planters and Velveeta was spun off from Mondelez International in October.

In 2009, just 6.5 percent of company sales came from new products, whereas 13 percent of sales were attributable to new products in 2012, according to a company estimate.

It's going to be important for Kraft to keep up the pace as it makes its case for remaining an independent company. Competitor Heinz, which has also lagged in innovation, will be snapped up in a Berkshire Hathaway-led consortium of investors later this year.

Presenting at the Consumer Analysts Group of New York Conference in Boca Raton, Fla., Barry Calpino, vice president of breakthrough innovation at Kraft, delineated the company's changes to how it develops and supports new products.

In 2008, Calpino said, "we were the worst by almost any measure," in terms of its innovation. He added that 17 of the year's 19 new product launches were considered failures. Kraft launched products like Bagelfuls, frozen bagels stuffed with cream cheese; Oreo Cakesters, the iconic cookies made out of cake; and cheesy crackers shaped like and named after Macaroni & Cheese that year.

Among 2008 successes were Ritz Fresh Stacks and Starbucks discs for the Tassimo machine, a company spokesman said.

Kraft's 2009 new products performed similarly.

In mid-2010, Calpino said the company brought in an outside firm to study its innovation initiatives. They came back with a succinct statement, he said: "Kraft is where good ideas go to die."

Symptomatic of the problem, Calpino said, was a focus on small ideas, lack of rigor and focus, and little investment in product launches. At the time, he said, innovation was considered a "dead-end job," and employees just accepted that Kraft wasn't good at it.

As a result, he said, Kraft developed an innovation playbook that calls for more investment in fewer, bigger ideas that will receive a lot of support, rather than what he referred to as "Field of Dreams" innovation that amounted to a "build it and they will come" mentality.

Kraft now does more work with its sales team, bringing them into the product development so they could better explain each one's significance to retailers, and investing more heavily behind each launch.

In 2011, Calpino said the company focused its efforts on 13 "big bets," including its MiO brand of water flavoring, Velveeta Cheesy Skillet Dinners and Oscar Mayer Selects, a line of higher-quality meat without artificial preservatives.

In so doing, the company raised its average launch support roughly fivefold, from about $5 million to about $25 million for so-called "big bets." MiO got more than $50 million in support.

MiO, Velveeta Skillets, and Oscar Mayer Selects have become $100 million product platforms, which is an industry sales benchmark for successful product launches.

Calpino said that Kraft is also maintaining focus on its big launches for the first three years rather than moving on after the first year. Other initiatives include improving the level of talent within the organization and appealing more to Hispanics in product development and marketing.

Kraft's major 2013 launches include pulled pork under its Oscar Mayer Selects brand, Cool Whip frostings, and Recipe Makers, a pair of sauce packets to be sold in the pasta and sauce aisle. Consumers add vegetables or protein to the sauces to cook popular dishes like pot roast, sweet and sour chicken, or enchiladas.

As part of the presentation, Kraft CEO Tony Vernon said that Kraft has seen an increasing segment of the population shifting to value priced options. According to company data, 26.5 percent of the population was considered low income in 2009, and that number rose to 28.9 percent in 2012.

"We have an obligation to financially strapped low and middle income families - and I do mean families - that drive America's grocery business," Vernon said. He added that with consumers gravitating the high and low ends of the price spectrum, traditional grocers are getting hurt.

Indeed, local heavyweights like Jewel and Dominick's have been closing stores. Last month, Eden Prairie, Minn-based Supervalu said it had agreed to sell Jewel and four other grocery chains to Cerberus Capital Management, a private investment firm.

"It's critical to have the right price and product offering at every rung on this ladder," Vernon said.

In other words, he said, Kraft needs to have the right products for "a Latina mom who prefers Kool-Aid to Capri Sun," as well as a Baby Boomer who is "choosing Velveeta Skillets over Mac N' Cheese."

Kraft's presentation came on the heels of last week's announcement that fourth quarter sales would be lower than expected after Oscar Mayer cold cuts lost market share to a key competitor, presumably Chicago-based Hillshire Brands.

The company said it expects fourth-quarter net revenues to fall 10.7 percent to $4.5 billion. The final numbers will be reported before the end of March.

Kraft also raised 2013 earnings guidance by 15 cents to $2.75 per share.

The new Kraft Foods Group, which assumed all of the pension obligation for legacy Kraft Foods when it was spun off, also announced a change in the way it handles accounting for its pensions last week.

eyork@tribune.com | Twitter: @emilyyork

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Campaign problems, voter intimidation alleged in Cicero

Allegations such as voters being offered pizza coupons and campaign workers insisting on handling mail-in ballots for town residents have sprung up in Cicero as the heated race for town president heads into its final week.

The Cook County clerk's office has notified law enforcement officials, including the state's attorney's office and the U.S. Department of Justice, of such allegations and other claims of voter intimidation and voter fraud in the western suburb.

Incumbent Larry Dominick is seeking his third term as town president. He will face former McPier executive Juan Ochoa and former town senior services director Joe Pontarelli next Tuesday.

"The state's attorney is out there (in Cicero) this week interviewing people about the allegations," Cook County Clerk David Orr said Monday at a news conference.

Orr said his office has gotten several complaints from voters.

He said he is disturbed about town employees in uniforms who are allegedly campaigning and knocking on doors.

"The impact of that is clearly seen by some voters as voter suppression and intimidation," Orr said. "If a town official comes to your door and you're not necessarily supporting a (certain) candidate, that clearly can be seen as intimidation."

In a letter to town attorney Michael Del Galdo, Orr wrote, "You and your clients are entitled to gather information regarding any aspect of an election, but no campaign is entitled to use the resources of the town in the process."

Orr said he also was upset that Cicero Clerk Maria Punzo-Arias allegedly told a group of senior citizens to deliver their mail-in ballots to her office instead of mailing them to or dropping them off at Orr's office. Courtney Greve, a spokeswoman for Orr, said an official from the state's attorney's office heard Punzo-Arias make the comment at a recent town-sponsored Valentine's Day party.

Punzo-Arias has been interviewed by the state's attorney's office, according to Orr. Punzo-Arias could not be reached by the Tribune for comment.

Cicero spokesman Ray Hanania said town officials are not intimidating voters.

Ochoa, on the other hand, released a statement saying Dominick's people have been harassing Latino voters in particular. The town is 87 percent Hispanic.

Hanania also accused Orr of not investigating claims made by the town that mail-in ballots are coming from vacant homes and properties.

"Orr told us that we need to collect the evidence so we sent people out to do that," Hanania said. "That's why our people (Cicero employees) were out on the street."

According to Greve, the county clerk's office, which she said doesn't take sides, looked into the town's claims and found that most of the mail-in votes are legitimate.

Ochoa said, "We are running a clean campaign. We have every interest in making people feel comfortable so they can come out to vote. It's in our best interest to have a high voter turnout."

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