POLITICAL BRIEFING

Life after Yates: State Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston) islaying the groundwork to run for Congress after the 83-year-old Rep.Sidney R. Yates (D-Ill.) retires.

One of the most senior members of Congress, Yates has not saidwhether he plans to seek another term. Neither Schakowsky nor twoother Democrats contemplating a run in the congressional districtthat includes the North Side and northern suburbs say they will runagainst Yates, who holds what politicians regard as a "Jewish seat."

"Right now, I am assuming he is going to run (in 1994)," saidSchakowsky. She is starting to organize now, she said, because "ittakes time to put together a serious campaign. I want …

Israel expects new Lebanese Cabinet to keep truce

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel says it expects Lebanon's new government to honor the truce that ended the 2006 summer war between Israeli troops and the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group.

Lebanon this week formed a Cabinet dominated by Hezbollah and its allies. The move capped Hezbollah's steady rise over decades from a guerrilla group fighting Israel to Lebanon's most powerful …

Correction: Toyota marketing story

In a story March 7 about Toyota's new ad campaign, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Toyota didn't respond to requests for comment. The company did provide information about the ad campaign, which was included in …

Bin Laden could still get away Reporter finds loose Pakistan border, Taliban sympathizers

Helicopter gunships, military authorities have assured the UnitedStates, are guarding mountain passes against infiltration. APakistani spokesman has gone so far as to publicly deny that any al-Qaida fighters have made it across the border into Pakistan.

But junior officers speculate that such assurances are given tomake "the Americans feel good." In reality, they say, border tribalpopulations have long been pro-Taliban and pro-al Qaida, the manyroutes over the mountains are impossible to monitor, and escape isentirely possible. Countless painted slogans and posters of Osama binLaden are visible in towns and villages throughout the three keytribal "agencies"--Kurram, …

Reports: Munich to sign striker Nils Petersen

MUNICH, Germany (AP) — Bayern Munich has reportedly agreed to sign striker Nils Petersen for €2.5 million ($3.5 million) from second-division side Energie Cottbus.

The Sueddeutscher Zeitung newspaper reported Saturday that the 22-year-old Petersen — topscorer in Germany's second division with 24 goals — will sign a three-year contract with Bayern after a medical examination next week.

Kicker …

Rays select SS Tim Beckham with top pick in draft

With the clock on the large television monitor ticking down to zero and a cluster of fans chanting from the balcony, commissioner Bud Selig stepped to the podium and announced that the Tampa Bay Rays had selected high school shortstop Tim Beckham with the No. 1 pick in the baseball draft.

Oh, how times have changed.

The annual 50-round marathon that began Thursday is no longer strictly held by conference call. A portion of the first day was televised live for the second consecutive year from Disney World with about 400 boisterous fans and autograph seekers in house, along with some of baseball's biggest names, including Hall of Famers Al Kaline, Billy Williams and Dave Winfield.

"It's come a long way," said former major league pitcher Brian Anderson, recalling 15 years ago when he gathered with family and friends around a telephone in his Ohio apartment waiting for a call from the team drafting him.

"You didn't even know what time the draft started then. I found out the night before," the third overall pick in 1993 added. "This is awesome. This is great for the game."

Only one thing was missing _ prospects.

One, Aaron Hicks, a high school outfielder and alumnus of baseball's Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Calif., attended with his family and went on stage to shake hands with Selig and pose for pictures after the Minnesota Twins made him the 14th pick.

Many in the crowd wore Rays T-shirts and cheered wildly when Selig announced the selection of Beckham, the talented high school shortstop from Griffin, Ga., that Tampa Bay picked over Florida State catcher Buster Posey.

Beckham was recognized as one of the best pure athletes in the draft and labeled a legitimate five-tool player. He established himself as the top prep prospect in the nation with solid performances at last summer's high school showcase events and hit .482 with six homers, 13 doubles, 41 RBIs and 23 stolen bases as a senior.

"I found out this morning. ... The scouting director gave me a call and the general manager gave me a call. It was crazy. I was about to do a back flip in my room," Beckham said.

"It means everything in the world. I've worked this hard the last three or four years, me and my brothers and my dad. This means all the hard work paid off. I hope to become an All-Star and after that I want to become a Hall of Famer."

With the second pick, the Pittsburgh Pirates chose sweet-swinging Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez. Florida high school first baseman Eric Hosmer went third to the Kansas City Royals, and the Baltimore Orioles took top college pitching prospect Brian Matusz out of San Diego with the fourth pick.

This is the second year in a row the Rays have had the No. 1 pick. David Price, a hard-throwing left-hander from Vanderbilt, was the choice in 2007 and is off to a great start with Class-A Vero Beach.

Beckham is the third high school shortstop taken No. 1 overall in the last five years, joining Justin Upton (Arizona, 2005) and Matt Bush (San Diego, 2004).

While there's always pressure to get the No. 1 pick right, the improving Rays imposed some extra heat on themselves this time because they're hoping it will be years before they'll be in a position to select first again.

Tampa Bay whittled its list of candidates for the top pick to five, then trimmed it to two _ Beckham and Posey, a converted shortstop who developed into one of college baseball's top offensive and defensive catchers over the past year.

"It was an active debate, but I think at the end of the day when push came to shove and we were racing time, I think it was pretty clear to everybody that Tim Beckham was the guy at the top of our board," Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said.

"We feel like he's got an advanced approach to the game, a genuine enthusiasm for what he does, and we feel like he's got a great chance to be an impact player in the major leagues."

The Rays called Posey a few hours before the draft to inform him that they were going to select Beckham. The Florida State star, hitting a Division I-leading .468 heading into this week's NCAA super regionals, wound up going to the San Francisco Giants with the fifth pick.

The Florida Marlins, picking sixth, took California high school catcher Kyle Skipworth, whom many consider the top prep prospect at his position since Joe Mauer was selected No. 1 overall by Minnesota seven years ago.

Rounding out the top 10, the Cincinnati Reds took Miami slugger Yonder Alonso seventh, the Chicago White Sox picked Georgia shortstop Gordon Beckham (no relation to Tim) eighth, the Washington Nationals tabbed Missouri pitcher Aaron Crow and the Houston Astros selected Stanford catcher Jason Castro.

It's the fourth time Tampa Bay has had the No. 1 pick in the club's 11-season history. It picked outfielders Josh Hamilton in 1999 and Delmon Young in 2003.

The Rays think the 18-year-old Beckham is more advanced offensively than defensively at this point, but they're confident he has the athleticism, work ethic and attitude to become a complete player.

Second baseman Jemile Weeks, brother of Milwaukee's Rickie Weeks, was one of three University of Miami players selected in the opening round, going to the Oakland Athletics at No. 12.

While six first basemen were selected within the first 23 picks, only two pitchers _ Matusz and Crow _ were taken in the top 10. But seven pitchers were chosen during a 10-pick stretch from No. 19 to No. 28, where the New York Yankees went for California prep right-hander Gerrit Cole.

Two teams, Minnesota and the New York Mets, had two picks in the first round.

After taking Hicks at No. 14, the Twins selected Miami pitcher Carlos Gutierrez 27th. The Mets took Arizona State first baseman Ike Davis 18th and South Carolina shortstop Reese Havens 22nd.

Davis is the son of former big league pitcher Ron Davis. Daniel Schlereth, the University of Arizona pitcher selected 26th by the Diamondbacks, is the son of former Denver Broncos offensive lineman and current ESPN football analyst Mark Schlereth.

In the sixth round, the Chicago White Sox selected Wichita State center fielder Kenny Williams Jr., son of the team's general manager.

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AP Sports Writer Charles Odum in Griffin, Ga., contributed to this report.

Credit crunch makes borrowing harder for Florida

The nation's credit crunch has frozen Florida's ability to borrow money, but that isn't yet causing problems for the state, a top state money manager said Tuesday.

Florida has been unable to borrow money for nearly three weeks, said Ben Watkins, director of the division of the state's Division of Bond Finance.

As such, the state cannot issue bonds for schools, roads or programs to purchase environmentally sensitive land, Watkins said.

Florida, which works on bonds months in advance, is not in a dire need for extra cash, he said.

"It's not creating a problem for us currently," Watkins told Gov. Charlie Crist and members of the Florida Cabinet. "But if this goes on for an extended period of time we will be challenged to have access to the credit markets."

Florida has more than $24 billion in debt. Each year, it borrows anywhere from $1 billion to $2 billion. Two-thirds of the money the state has borrowed has gone to pay for new buildings for schools, community colleges and universities.

The money is paid back through various taxes like those on utility bills and money from selling items such as lottery tickets.

The ongoing credit crisis could eventually affect other functions of state government.

Florida has billions in the state treasury and its massive pension plan for state workers, teachers and county employees that are spread out through various types of investments.

Bob Milligan, the interim executive director of the State Board of Administration, said that the state's $125 billion retirement plan is still relatively healthy and that Florida has a nearly $9 billion surplus.

"We take the ups and we take the downs and we're able to work our way through them," said Milligan.

Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink on Tuesday also remained cautiously optimistic that the state treasury, which holds the money collected from taxes and fees used to pay for day-to-day operations, can weather the current economic crisis.

Although the state does not invest money from the $20 billion to $24 billion treasury in stocks, it does place the money in banks or purchases bonds and securities issued by corporations.

When Sink came into office in 2007, she put in guidelines that limited how much the state could invest with a single financial institution. Last year, the state still found itself holding some mortgage-backed securities that were damaged because of the credit crisis.

While Florida did sell at a loss some holdings with Lehman Brothers earlier this month, there is no need for the state to rush into the market and sell off its current investments at a loss, Sink said.

Sink, a former president of Bank of America operations in Florida, was adamant that something needed to be done quickly to stabilize the financial markets.

"We are in a very critical situation in our country," she said. "If a solution is not found by the Congress, then the whole financial economy is faced with a crisis of enormous proportion."