Austin rides Weatherby's 32 points: Stover adds 24 as Black Bears punch ticket to regionals.

Weatherby blistered Minor for 32 points, 21 of which came in the second half, and Stover added 24 as Austin overcame a five-point halftime deficit to take the win away from home.

"Late in the season, we haven't been great at winning these close games," Austin head coach Bruce Hamilton said. "Tamara took over and did a great job."

Austin (20-12) reaches the Northwest Regionals in Hanceville for the first time since 2001 when the Lady Black Bears lost to Decatur 62-53 in the finals.
The Lady Black Bears will face region rival Bob Jones, a 75-35 winner of John Carroll, on Tuesday at noon.
Weatherby and Austin took advantage of having watched videotape of Minor in the days before the game, Hamilton said. In that tape, Minor (23-6) showed a 1-3-1 defense that propelled the Lady Tigers to a postseason homecourt advantage.

However, that same defense played into the hands of Austin, Weatherby said.
"The 1-3-1 is really one of our strengths to play against," Weatherby said. "We have such great penetrators that can get to the baseline where it's open."
In fact, she put on a clinic as to how to beat the defense.

With Austin down 37-34 fewer than two minutes into the second half, Weatherby turned on her competitive drive.
She drove for a layup to cut the score to 37-36 before Minor's Candance Beverly hit one of two foul shots.
On the ensuing possession, Weatherby again hit a layup after driving the baseline. Kyla Jones missed a shot for Minor, and Weatherby again hit a layup, this time giving Austin a 39-38 lead.

Minor, though, came right back, building to a 44-42 lead. Again Weatherby came through, this time hitting another layup and adding a free throw to give the Lady Black Bears a 45-44 lead.
Still, Austin couldn't advance the lead, eventually falling behind again, this time 54-51 when Minor's Jones sank a 3-pointer to begin the final quarter.

But when Minor faltered because of fatigue in the fourth quarter, Austin only got stronger because of a schedule full of tournaments and tough games.
"You can contribute our strength of schedule," Hamilton said.
The frenetic pace of the final eight minutes played into the strengths of the Lady Black Bears, whose half-court offense ate up a tired Minor.

"I kind of thought the pace of the game would be in our favor," Minor head coach Kevin Tubbs said. "You've got to give them the credit for scoring and getting fouled."
Minor's lack of energy played a huge part in the Lady Tigers going scoreless for more than three minutes late in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Weatherby and Stover iced the game from the free-throw line.
Both combined to go 7-for-12 from the foul line in the last two and a half minutes as Minor continued to launch long field goal after long field goal.

"From the start, we didn't want this to be our last game," Weatherby said. "We sold out and laid it on the line and gave it our all."

Mandeville-based Vitality puts local flavor into health food in La.

At five Vitality locations in south Louisiana, diners can order traditional red beans and rice on Mondays, shrimp gumbo on Fridays and bread pudding every day of the week. But most of the usual fat, sugar or heavily processed ingredients will be missing.

All but one of six Vitality Juice, Java and Smoothie Bar franchises licensed through the Mandeville-based company are in Louisiana, with the sixth in Albuquerque, N.M. While the menus feature indigenous cuisine, the offerings are far from typical.
Founder Catherine Wilbert said the idea for her company sprang from her own frustration in finding healthy, affordable cuisine.

Most Vitality menu items range from $6 to $9. On her Web site, she claims America's growing taste for "conscious living" focuses attention on the food they consume and its environmental impact.

Vitality emphasizes organic and natural ingredients. Its Web site, www.vitalityjuice.com, carries a banned items list, which includes hydrogenated fats, MSG and bleached flour. Vitality outlets offer free-range ostrich burgers and organic, no-sugar-added smoothies served in corn-based, compost-ready cups.

Can Vitality's healthy living business model pay off in Louisiana? Fatimah Conley-Mayfield and her business partners, Dana Douglas and Chontay McKay, are betting it will.

The 20-something trio, friends from college at Miami University in Ohio, opened their first Vitality franchise at 1205 St. Charles Ave. in October.
Only Douglas, a lawyer, is originally from New Orleans. McKay is a pharmaceutical sales representative from St. Louis who moved after Hurricane Katrina to open the business with her friends. Conley- Mayfield is from Indianapolis but lived in Los Angeles and the New York area before moving here in 2000 with her husband, New Orleans trumpeter Irvin Mayfield, to attend law school.

The New Orleans Vitality store owners believe in holistic approaches to health and are optimistic they can help customers learn to count calories and adopt healthier lifestyles.
"You've got to put your money where your mouth is," Conley- Mayfield said of her willingness to open a health food business in post-Katrina New Orleans. She said she feels blessed to live in a place with such a deeply engrained cultural heritage, including an unparalleled culinary tradition.

Conley-Mayfield even encourages indulgence every now and then. There is a time and place, she said, for great New Orleans cuisine.
"Savor our local flavor," she said. "But for people who are here every day, there has to be something else. We can't eat like tourists every day and live to tell about it."
Conley-Mayfield said she's been pleasantly surprised by Vitality's reception in New Orleans.

Revenues have consistently kept pace with expenses. "Some months we're surprised," she said. The St. Charles Avenue store is one of the company's top three franchises in lunch, groceries and smoothie sales.
Summer months have been a little slow, she said, but things will pick up again when school starts next month.
Conley-Mayfield is also surprised by some customers attracted to her store. Some are people who "wouldn't be considered our typical demographic."

On a recent weekday, Vitality served a diverse crowd of lunch customers, including a few well-heeled housewives and a couple in for smoothies after a workout.
There were also at least five construction workers. On his break from a nearby renovation job, Austin Tillotson bypassed the Popeye's a block away to try Vitality for the first time.

"It's not bad," he said, as he ate the last few bites of his turkey burger.
Wilbert said she's been "thrilled" by local response to the Vitality concept.
"I had people tell me, 'Are you insane? You'll never sell wheatgrass in New Orleans, Louisiana.' And we sell a ton of wheatgrass. I believe that everything is about education," Wilbert said.

20 IN THEIR 20S.(2007 Book of Lists and Detroit yearbook)(rankings of young businessmen)

Crain's Detroit Business

In 2006, Crain's picked its inaugural class of 20 in their 20s.
The concept is something of a riff on our 40 under 40, with a twist: Instead of looking for nuts-and-bolts business success as a primary qualification, we sought young people making their marks in creative fields and demonstrating innovation.

Kenneth Anderson, 30
Artist director and vice president, Mosaic Youth Theatre
Detroit
Was one of nonprofit's first students 14 years ago. Came back direct Mosiac's programs, including establishing a singing program there.

Qasim Basir, 26
CEO and founder, Qproductions L.L.C.
Detroit
Writer, lead actor, director of "1 Nations 2 Worlds,'' a full-length movie shot in Detroit in 2004. Screenings and speaking engagements from the movie turned into a full-time job.

Austin Black II, 26
Sales and marketing associate, Detroit Urban Living L.L.C.
Detroit
Helped to create City Living Detroit, a nonprofit that promotes the city as a vibrant urban center.

William Cartwright, 28
Co-owner and general manager, The Woodward
Detroit
Wanted to open restaurant after helping a relative do the same thing in Florida. Found investors to back his restaurant, which has an interior he designed.

Newcombe Clark, 26
Associate, Bluestone Realty Advisors
Ann Arbor
An advocate for keeping young people in Ann Arbor. Hosts art and cultural exhibitions in his loft.

Matthew Clayson, 26
Project manager, Tourism Economic Development Council, Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau
Detroit
Used grassroots organizations and bloggers to improve the "World is Coming, Get in the Game'' campaign for Super Bowl XL.

Natalie Finn, 26
Account executive, Campbell-Ewald
Warren
Created a package of ads for Chevrolet that features the Detroit hip-hop duo Slum Village that ran on Def On Demand, a Comcast pay channel that targets the hip-hop audience.

Darren Hitz, 29
Founder and owner, Adventure Bachelor Party L.L.C.
Franklin
Turned idea of planning bachelor parties around adventures such as rafting and skydiving into a full-time business.

Elizabeth Isakson, 25
Curator and vice president, Cubegallery Inc.
Hamtramck
Created a line of T-shirts called Trophy Wife Clothing. Built online art gallery to show off up-and-coming artists.

Jason Jones, 29
COO, Urban Innovation Group
Detroit
Acquires and renovates residential properties in the city of Detroit. Projects include the 72-unit Islandview Apartments and the 112-unit Savarine.

Jay Kakaty, 28
Attorney, Einheuser & Associates P.C.
Royal Oak
Developed firm's entertainment practice. Represents up-and-coming Detroit entertainers.

Kelli Kavanaugh, 30
Writer, Model D Media
Development consultant, Gateway Communities Development Collaborative
Detroit
Her advocacy for the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit led to streetscape improvements and new streetlights on Michigan Avenue.

Sarah Lurtz, 25
Director/designer and co-owner, Pure Detroit Design Lab/Wound Menswear
Detroit
Co-founded Pure Detroit Design Lab and has her own line of clothes. Hosted fashion show on the Detroit People Mover.

Annie Martin, 30
Acquisitions editor, Wayne State University Press
Detroit
Spotted a market for Michigan writers and developed a series for Wayne State University Press called the Made in Michigan Writers Series. Found funding for the project.

Christen McArdle, 29
Executive director, Ann Arbor Film Festival Inc.
Ann Arbor
Worked for three years at a Los Angeles film production company before leading the revitalization of the Ann Arbor Film Festival.

Rebecca McGrane, 30
Project manager, General Dynamics Land Systems
Sterling Heights
Overseeing the development of a "concept tank''' for the U.S. Army Future Combat Systems, a $22 million project.

Bryce Moore, 30
Co-owner, Context Furniture L.L.C.
Royal Oak
Began building furniture while attending the University of Montana. Started furniture company in 2002 and built reputation as a designer.

Jeremy Nelson, 28
Chief information architect, Washtenaw Community Health Organization
Ypsilanti
Created an electronic health record system called Encompass for four c ounty community mental health agencies. System has saved money, identified additional Medicaid coverage and improved office visits.

Erin Norton, 29
Owner and head designer, Retro Rags Collection
Rochester
Developed a line of T-shirts that feature long-gone Detroit bars and is marketing the concept in other cities.

Kate Richard, 29
Owner, Shoe La La L.L.C.
Birmingham
Started women's clothing store and designer shoe boutique. Leads greater Detroit chapter of Ladies Who Launch.

Fired teacher Austin rehired, replacing popular after-school program supervisor

Three years ago, the Kanawha County school board fired Pratt Elementary School special education teacher Lisa Austin. School officials alleged that Austin solicited cayenne pepper from a school cook to smear on a student's tongue, deliberately passed gas on a teacher's aide and parent, and displayed a student's glass eye to students and school employees, saying, "This eye is looking at you."
Four months later, a state grievance board judge overturned the board's decision and ordered them to rehire Austin.

Now school officials have hired Austin to oversee a free after- school program at Elk Elementary Center. It's a federally funded program that Elk Elementary parents say they do not want.

Austin will, in effect, replace Sam Stewart, who has supervised the school's paid after-school community education program for children during the past seven years.

Stewart made $63,000 last year - $33,500 as a teacher and $29,500 as the after-school program supervisor. His combined salary was more than all but a handful of top school administrators.

School officials have criticized Stewart for ordering R-rated videos and $300 worth of crab legs and shrimp with taxpayer money. They say he spends most of his time in his office each afternoon, while children watch Disney movies.
"They basically just watch movies," said Assistant Superintendent Leonard Allen. "It's not a structured program. I don't know what Mr. Stewart does other than organize the program."
School board members will try to sort out the matter at a meeting tonight.
Austin did not return phone messages left at school and his home Wednesday.

Angry Elk parents plan to present a 400-signature petition in support of keeping Stewart's program.

"There's going to be a big confrontation," said Lisa Smalley, president of Elk's Parent Teacher Organization.
"Parents are getting things shoved on them. Why are they trying to replace a Cadillac with a Yugo? It's just ridiculous."

Here's why: School officials say Stewart's program doesn't stress academics. They have a $1.5 million 21st Century Learning Grant to provide after-school programs at five county schools. Elk is one of them.
They promise six certified teachers, free transportation to selected pickup sites and free after-school day care for at least three years.

"Why would anyone balk at that?" asked county schools Superintendent Ron Duerring.
Stewart said school officials won't be able to top his program. The Governor's Cabinet on Children and Families commended it as an "exemplary" early childhood education program. It also was recognized by the Pew Charitable Trusts foundation.

Children create arts and crafts every afternoon, Stewart said. They practice karate, complete homework assignments in "Homework Club," jump in a Jupiter Jump and watch movies - "Aladdin," "The Little Mermaid," "The Lion King" - but only once a week.

"They're jeopardizing an exemplary program," Stewart said. "This should be in every major school in the county.

"This has been my heart and soul. I love it."

He believes school officials' criticism of him is unfair.
Yes, staff members ordered R-rated videos from a mail-order movie club, but it was a mistake, he said. The employees reimbursed the school.
And yes, Stewart ordered the seafood from Sam's Club, but it was for the kids, not him. He organized a beach party last summer. It was the first time some of the children had sampled shrimp and crab legs.
Stewart said poor children aren't shut out of the program. Fees are charged on a sliding scale. Some kids get in free, he said.

School officials have offered Stewart a teaching job in the new program. He'll still oversee his program an hour each morning, as well as on Fridays and during part of the summer.
They called Austin an "excellent" teacher and predict she will do an "outstanding" job.
Austin was placed at Elk Elementary in 1997 after an administrative law judge overturned her firing by the Kanawha County school board.

During grievance hearings, Austin acknowledged that she deliberately passed gas beside a teacher's aide, but said it was a joke. She said she never expelled gas on a parent at Pratt Elementary.
Austin also acknowledged she threatened to put cayenne pepper on a misbehaving student's tongue. But that, too, was a joke, she said.
She said she displayed the student's glass eye to show a substitute teacher how to replace it in an eye socket. She admitted saying, "This eye is looking at you," to a secretary while displaying the artificial eyeball.

Austin said she had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, according to grievance records. She attributed some of her behavior to the disorder.

Gullit 'not listed'

A NIGERIAN soccer official said last night that five Dutch coaches, including Wim Jansen, have been shortlisted for the vacant national coaching job.

Austin Akosa, head of the three-man team that toured Europe in search of a coach, dismissed claims that Ruud Gullit, former player- manager of English premier league club Chelsea, was among those earmarked as a possible replacement.

"Dutchmen Henk Ten Cate, Wim Jansen, Thijs Libregts, Aad de Mos and Wim Rijsbergen are the only five coaches on the list we have sent off to the NFA," state-run News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted Akosa as saying.

Gullit has been out of a coaching job since last February when he was sacked by Chelsea.
The Nigerian coaching job has been vacant since the World Cup when the contract of former coach Bora Milutinovic, appointed in December to guide the Olympic champions through the World Cup, ended in a second round defeat to Denmark.

The new foreign coach has the immediate task of qualifying the West Africans for the 2000 African Nations' Cup in Zimbabwe. Nigeria play Burkina Faso in October in one of the qualifying matches for the tournament.

Interview: Kim Winser: Living the life of luxury

FROM her offices above Aquascutum's grand flagship store on London's Regent Street, retail tycoon Kim Winser keeps a close eye on who is hot, and who is not. Jaeger, Hugo Boss, Burberry and Austin Reed are among the retailers lining the famous street, and the chief executive of Aquascutum can see for herself which is attracting most customers and which is selling off stock at a discount.

Winser, the former boss of Scottish knitwear group Pringle, saw Austin Reed's problems contribute to it being bought this month by Darius Capital for GBP 49m and now she looks forward to seeing changes there.
Chatting in her office on a cold midweek morning, she says: "At one end you have got M&S doing a very good job. Then there are brands that are hanging in there and perhaps not doing a particularly good job.

"Austin Reed has just been bought. They are sat over the road from us and I think it would be nice to see windows without red tickets there.

"Of course Austin Reed and M&S aren't competitors [to Aquascutum]. This is a global business with more business offshore than onshore."
Conscious of Aquascutum's reputation as a luxury brand, Winser quickly adds that Hugo Boss, Burberry, Paul Smith and Gieves and Hawkes are her company's "real" competition.

Winser, a former M&S director, has a reputation for turning around ailing retailers and made her name transforming Pringle, where she grew sales from GBP 10m to GBP 100m and was awarded the OBE for her services to textiles.
She quit Pringle in November 2005 and said at the time she was taking some time to consider her options.
In April this year she resurfaced at Aquascutum, a venerable British brand with a reputation for making quality but rather fusty and old-fashioned clothes.
The company was founded in 1851, has earned five Royal Warrants, and was favoured by 'A list' Hollywood stars such as Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren, and more recently Warren Beatty and Mia Farrow.
But despite making revenues of GBP 220m last year, the company is loss-making. Rival brands such as Burberry, Mulberry and Pringle have reinvented themselves and grown while it has stagnated.
Winser has spent the last six months looking at the way the group operates and describes the period as "challenging".
Staff and directors have been hired and fired, a major advertising campaign launched, new goods have appeared on the shelves and stores given a much-needed makeover.

And that is just for starters. Winser says the task she faces in turning around Aquascutum is very different to that at Pringle.
She says: "Aquascutum has strong infrastructure - it has a strong retail positioning with nearly 300 stores. The weakness is that we haven't been focused on brand, product and marketing.

"It's completely different [to Pringle]. Both are old British brands but at Pringle it was about building, starting from nothing. It had no shops, no accessory business and no overseas business.

"One of the exciting things [at Aquascutum] is that we have got a business to develop."
One of Winser's first moves was to sack three directors and replace them with four new ones.

"They weren't the right people to market the business or the luxury brand," she says succinctly.
The sheer size of Aquascutum poses problems as well as opportunities for Winser and her team. The group has branded stores and concessions in other shops in Europe and Asia, and introducing one way of operating in all 300 or so outlets is a major challenge.
She says: "Previously the business was sleepy and traditional and the marketing and branding was similar. The goods needed a lot of work and you had to do up the stores.

"The collection that was in Japan, Hong Kong and China had nothing to do with what we have in a collection here. That's changed - we will have a global collection."
The most high-profile part of Winser's turnaround plan to date has been an advertising campaign fronted by former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan and model Julia Stegner.
She says: "I brought in Pierce and Julia. We have now just shot the second campaign for spring 2007. We have done up the stores in London and Tokyo and I plan to do all the stores by next year. It's not huge capital expenditure. It's promoting what we have and better product."
She says the work in London and Tokyo is already paying off, with a 47 per cent year-on-year increase in footfall and 32 per cent uplift in sales in these two stores in the last nine weeks.

"It's not bad and it's only got some good products," she says.

"It's starting to come together quite nicely."

Winser was born the second of four children in Helensburgh. She travelled a lot as a child as her father was in the Royal Navy, and ended up at school in Hampshire. Despite being bright she was not academic and chose to join M&S as a management trainee in 1977. The move paid off, and she rose through the ranks to become head of womenswear with a place on the board of directors.
Her big break came when she was appointed at Pringle in 2000 and managed to turn it around. Winser has been listed number three in the Wall Street Journal's list of Europe's most successful businesswomen and Management Today named her as one of Europe's most powerful women.

But is turning around Aquascutum a bridge too far, even for Winser?
Aquascutum has been owned by a Japanese publicly listed group, Renown, since 1990. In November 2005, Japanese private equity group Kaleido Holdings bought 22 per cent of Renown and brought in Winser to run Aquascutum.
She says: "Sales are GBP 220m and I want to double that by the end of 2010. The money allocated to invest is around GBP 40m. This year and next year will be expensive - we won't get that much in sales and have to invest in shop-fitting. I see 2007 as year one, 2008 may be break-even."

Growing sales is one thing, but making a profit is another, and critics of Winser point out that she failed to make a profit at Pringle, despite reviving the brand's tattered reputation.
Winser defends herself saying: "But you have to remember what it was. It was nothing. You can't make a fashionable brand overnight. I have just come back from New York... and you see [Pringle goods] there. That's brilliant and I'm very proud."

Winser says the main drivers for doubling Aquascutum's sales will be launching the accessory business and expanding in America. A store will open in New York in 2008 and concessions will open elsewhere in the country in 2007.
Marketing will be integral to her plans and Winser, who lives in Berkshire, is returning to Scotland next month to speak at the Marketing Society Conference in Edinburgh.
Winser will discuss the tangible benefits that proper marketing can give to business. "I'm quite passionate about the results that marketing gives you. Marketing has got to deliver, and for us, it's about: when you do this, this is what happens to the business."

If Winser's plans succeed, she says that in five years' time, the group will be a serious player in luxury tailoring.

"We will have a serious accessory business. We will develop more in Europe - it has real potential. We are opening our showroom in Italy in January. We will be in Moscow and Paris.

"The wholesale side of the business will see dramatic growth. In Asia we are quite well spread, some of the smaller stores will become bigger we are talking to franchisees in the Middle East."
If she is successful, Winser is unlikely to be short of job offers from one of the other retailers on Regent Street.

D-Day for Ashton as RFU look to future.

England head coach Brian Ashton will discover his fate later today when Rob Andrew presents his RBS Six Nations review to the Rugby Football Union's management board.

The security of Ashton's position has been the subject of intense speculation as critics question his ability to lead England, despite their second-place finish in the championship.
His future has been complicated by reports that Andrew, the RFU's director of elite rugby, has been engaged in talks with Martin Johnson over the creation of an allpowerful managerial role.

The appointment of England's 2005 World Cup-winning captain would receive universal approval; yet the 39-year-old's lack of experience in the position counts against him.
Johnson's presence would also impinge on Ashton's duties because the two-time Lions captain would demand an input in, or control of, selection and tactics and spurn the offer of a figurehead role.
Since Ashton's elevation to head coach in December 2006, he has requested the aid of a manager but has also made it clear that the man chosen should operate in the background and not be involved in the decision-making process.

The 61-year-old even stated he would not want a personality such as Johnson involved, so any such move would force him to reconsider his position - even if Andrew wanted to keep him.
The make-up of the national coaching team is also an area of concern, which is sure to be highlighted when the management board convene to discuss Andrew's report.

Assistant coaches John Wells and Mike Ford were already in place when Ashton succeeded Andy Robinson and talk of disunity among the trio persists.
Lurking on the periphery of the discussions is Jake White, South Africa's World Cup-winning coach who is available and has repeatedly expressed his interest in the England job.

Austin Healey - another former player with no tracksuit experience - has also been mentioned as a possible addition, although his primary function as a backs coach would clash with Ashton's field of expertise.
Suggestions that Shaun Edwards might be approached seem born more out of hope than reality, because the in-demand Wasps head coach appears committed to Warren Gatland and Wales.
A further sub-text is Andrew's own position. It was Twickenham's rugby supremo who initially appointed Ashton and then backed him again with a one-year rolling contract, after England had reached the World Cup final.

Were Andrew to dispense with or demote Ashton at this stage, it would inevitably reflect on his own judgment.