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Ga. Tech chooses Dayton's Gregory for rebuilding

Brian Gregory is ready to get started on rebuilding Georgia Tech's beleaguered basketball program.

He certainly wasted no time getting the attention of his new players.

"He's not a pushover," freshman forward Jason Morris said Monday, shortly after Gregory met with the team and was introduced as the Yellow Jackets coach. "He's going to get what he wants. Whatever it takes, (even) if he has to break you down to your lowest point to build you back up."

Gregory coached at Dayton the past eight years before agreeing to take over at Georgia Tech, a program that fell on hard times after reaching the national championship game in 2004.

Paul Hewitt was fired shortly after the team wrapped up its fourth losing season in the past six years with an ugly loss in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

The 44-year-old Gregory said all the tools are in place to restore the Yellow Jackets to national prominence, including a strong recruiting base, membership in a leading basketball league and a prominent history that he plans to tap into.

"We need to reconnect and re-engage with our former players," he said. "Their blood, sweat and tears made our program what it is today."

But Gregory received a rather rude welcome from one of the current players when Iman Shumpert, the team's leading scorer, tweeted right in the middle of Gregory's introductory news conference that he would test his NBA options.

"Ok...I've decided to test the waters and put my name in the 2011 NBA Draft," the junior wrote.

He hasn't hired an agent, meaning he could still return to Georgia Tech for his final year. Shumpert averaged 17.3 points a game this season.

"I reached this decision before meeting the new coach...i didn't know I was meeting him today," Shumpert tweeted.

Gregory said he met with the entire team an hour before his news conference, but didn't get a chance to meet with anyone individually. He plans to sit down with Shumpert as soon as possible.

"It's in his best interests to do that with the junior year he had," the new coach said, shrugging off any suggestion that Shumpert's tweet was poorly timed. "He's a good enough kid and a smart enough kid and the program means enough to him that he'll do the right thing."

Gregory received a six-year, $6-million contract to coach at Georgia Tech, where the athletic program is saddled with heavy debt and further burdened by a $7.2 million buyout that Hewitt is owed over the next five years.

Athletic director Dan Radakovich insisted money was not a limitation in his coaching search.

"The fit was more important than paying the large dollars," he said. "If there was someone we thought was a better fit, maybe we could have gone there. But I look at this as being a great individual for who we are at Georgia Tech and where we want to go."

Gregory went 172-94 at Daytona. He guided the Flyers to a pair of NCAA appearances, reaching the second round in 2009 with an upset of West Virginia. Dayton also won the NIT in 2010, beating North Carolina in the championship game.

Dayton had only one losing season under Gregory and won at least 20 games five times. But the team is coming off a disappointing season, going 7-9 in the Atlantic 10 and 22-14 overall. The Flyers failed to reach the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row, losing to Richmond in the final of the A-10 tournament.

They settled for a bid to the NIT and were defeated by the College of Charleston 94-84 in the opening round.

"Sometimes you don't really know a coach until they've had some adversity and you see how they come back from it and how they handle it," Radakovich said.

The Yellow Jackets sure had plenty of adversity. They went 13-18 this season and finished 11th in the ACC at 5-11 before losing to Virginia Tech 59-43 in the opening round of the conference tournament. Hewitt was fired two days later.

Making the rebuilding job more difficult for Gregory: Georgia Tech won't have a true home arena his first season. The school is building a new campus arena on the site of Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Until it opens in 2012, the Yellow Jackets will split home games between downtown Philips Arena and suburban Gwinnett Arena.

Gregory hopes to turn that into a positive.

"There's a great opportunity next year in terms of reaching out and maybe even getting to more fans," he said.

There was speculation the Yellow Jackets would pursue one of the coaches who made a splash in this year's NCAA tournament, such as Richmond's Chris Mooney or VCU's Shaka Smart.

But Mooney signed a 10-year contract extension with the Spiders on Sunday night after leading them to the round of 16. Smart's team is still alive in the NCAA tournament, reaching the Final Four for the first time.

So the job goes to Gregory, who served as an assistant at Michigan State during two Final Four appearances, including the 2000 national championship.

One of Gregory's top priorities will be re-energizing Georgia Tech's fan base.

As the losing seasons piled up, home attendance dipped dramatically. The Yellow Jackets failed to sell out any games this season at the 9,100-seat arena, averaging just 6,095 per contest.

Georgia Tech made five NCAA tournament appearances under Hewitt but managed only one winning season in the ACC — 9-7 during the Final Four year. His overall mark of 190-162 included a dismal 72-104 record in conference play.

The empty seats ended Hewitt's career, even though the lucrative contract he signed after the Final Four season gave him an automatic rollover and left the school with no choice but to pay the huge buyout.

Radakovich, whose predecessor negotiated the Hewitt contract, said there was no such rollover in Gregory's deal.

"You can look in there all you want," the AD quipped. "You won't find it."

Key US lawmaker opposes arming Libya rebels

A key US lawmaker said Wednesday he opposed arming Libyan rebels until the United States knows more about them, warning those weapons might "later fall into the hands of bad actors."

"We need to be very careful before rushing into a decision that could come back to haunt us," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a Republican, said in a statement.

His comments came as lawmakers wrestled with how best to help insurgents against embattled Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi's four-decade rule and bolster efforts to protect civilians from his troops.

Some in the US Congress have called for arming the rebels, saying their outgunned, ragtag forces are no match for Kadhafi's loyalists, while others have warned that US weapons could end up in the hands of Islamist extremists.

Similar divisions have emerged among Washington and its allies, with key leaders including President Barack Obama refusing to rule in, or out, such a step.

NATO's top commander said Tuesday that intelligence reporting on Libya's rebels has shown "flickers" of an Al-Qaeda or Hezbollah presence but that the opposition leaders appear "responsible."

"It's safe to say what the rebels stand against, but we are a long way from an understanding of what they stand for," said Rogers. "Even if you think you know them, you can't guarantee that those weapons won't later fall into the hands of bad actors," said Rogers.

"We don't have to look very far back in history to find examples of the unintended consequences of passing out advanced weapons to a group of fighters we didn't know as well as we should have," he said.

Thousands attend funeral for slain Ga. officer

Thousands of people mourned a slain Georgia police officer whose killing led to a days-long manhunt for a suspect who surrendered live television.

Almost 2,500 people — including law enforcement officers from Georgia and elsewhere — packed the Classic Center theater for the funeral of Athens-Clarke County Officer Elmer "Buddy" Christian, the Athens Banner-Herald reported.

Hundreds more lined the streets as a horse-drawn hearse took his body to Evergreen Memorial Park for burial. One of Christian's hobbies was shoeing horses for friends and family.

Jamie Hood, 33, fatally shot Christian on Tuesday and also shot and seriously wounded Officer Tony Howard, police say. Hood was taken into custody late Friday after requesting that a news crew document his surrender.

Hood had been holed up with nine hostages at an Athens apartment. Five exited the apartment along with him. Hours earlier he had released four others.

Randy Crowe, pastor of Hull Baptist Church, where Christian was a member, cautioned relatives, friends and co-workers against letting anger consume them.

"Does (Hood) know the devastation he caused?" Crowe asked. "Does he know what he has taken away from this family, from his friends here today and from his comrades?"

As Hood was being taken into custody late Friday, he told WXIA-TV in a brief videotaped interview, "I regret killing that officer."

When asked what he meant, a handcuffed Hood said, "That officer. That innocent officer. I regret that ..." Asked for more details, Hood said, "You know, they killed my brother. They were going to kill me."

Hood was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1997 for armed robbery and released in 2009. In 2001, while Hood was serving time, his 22-year-old brother Timothy Hood was shot and killed by an Athens police officer. Investigators said at the time that Timothy Hood pulled a gun on an officer and was shot when the weapon jammed.

"Buddy has already forgiven the man who shot him," Crowe said. "Buddy has already talked to the Lord about him."

Christian, who was 34, leaves behind Melissa, his wife of 15 years, and two children — 2-year-old Wyatt and 5-year-old Callie.

Christian became a police officer in 2002, fulfilling his lifelong dream, Crowe said.

"He knew the danger," Crowe said. "He knew the risk. But a police officer is what Buddy wanted to be. He wanted to help people.

Christian started out as a beat officer and then moved to traffic enforcement, said police Chief Jack Lumpkin.

"He demonstrated exceptional skills and abilities at helping people solve problems and an excellent work ethic," Lumpkin said.

Athens-Clarke County has established a memorial fund at Athens First Bank & Trust and Lumpkin assured Christian's wife and children they would not be forgotten.

"The Athens-Clarke County Police Department will be there for you over the long haul," he said.

Hood is also suspected in the December slaying of county employee Kenneth Omari Wray, Tom Smith, the assistant police chief in Athens-Clarke County, told the Banner-Herald. Tuesday's shootings happened as officers were seeking Hood in connection with a kidnapping. Smith says the person kidnapped 31-year-old Judon Brooks, was connected to Wray but wouldn't elaborate.

Police said Hood lured Brooks to his parents' home Tuesday telling him he wanted to "show him something." Brooks arrived at the home to find Hood and four masked gunmen inside, police said.

The men bound Brooks' feet and hands and Hood asked him for addresses of people Brooks knew and threatened to kill him, police told the newspaper. The men may have wanted information linked to Wray's slaying, which police think was drug-related, police said.

The men forced Brooks into the trunk of a car and drove off, police said. Brooks freed his hands, popped the trunk and escaped when the car stopped at a red light, police said.

Police issued an alert for Hood and Howard spotted Hood's brother driving an SUV and pulled him over. Jamie Hood got out and shot Howard, police said.

Christian, who was in the area on an unrelated call, stopped to assist a third officer who had Matthew Hood in custody. Hood ran up to Christian's car and shot him through the window and then shot Howard a second time, police said. Howard remains hospitalized but is expected to recover.

Hood then fled on foot, carjacked a car and disappeared, police said, sparking a massive manhunt that came to its end late Friday evening after a seven-hour standoff.

Hood was arrested and charged with murder and 13 other felonies. Police say more charges are likely.

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Information from: Athens Banner-Herald,

New Drug May Boost Hepatitis C Treatment

Boceprevir, a protease inhibitor, along with peginterferon and ribavirin increases response rates in previously untreated patients," said Dr. Raj Reddy, co-researcher of one of the studies and director of hepatology and medical director of liver transplantation at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

"Also, with this new strategy you have the potential of reducing the duration of therapy, from 48 weeks to 28 weeks," he added.

"We have turned the corner, a bit, and we have a combination treatment that is likely to be more effective in more people," he said.

For his study, 1,097 people, 159 of whom were black, who had not been treated for hepatitis C were randomly assigned to one of three groups. All groups were treated with peginterferon and ribavirin. After four weeks, one group also received a placebo for 44 weeks; another group had boceprevir added to their treatment for 24 weeks. The third group was given the three drugs for 44 weeks.

Among non-black patients, 40 percent achieved a sustained response to standard care. But as many as 68 percent of those also receiving boceprevir achieved sustained response at 28 weeks, the researchers found.

For black patients, the response rate was 23 percent for those receiving standard care and up to 53 percent with the addition of boceprevir.

The most severe side effect was anemia, which was seen in 13 percent of those receiving standard care and in 21 percent of those receiving all three drugs, Reddy's team noted.

In the other study, a group led by Dr. Bruce R. Bacon, director of the gastroenterology and hepatology division at St. Louis University Health Sciences Center, tested boceprevir on 403 patients with chronic hepatitis C. These patients had been previously treated with peginterferon and ribavirin.

Again, patients were divided into three groups similar to those in the other study. For those receiving boceprevir, the response rate was as high as 66 percent, compared with 21 percent for those receiving only peginterferon and ribavirin, the researchers found.

For patients who had no detectable hepatitis C RNA, the response rate to boceprevir was as high as 88 percent, the researchers noted.

As in the other study, anemia was the most serious side effect, affecting up to 46 percent of those taking boceprevir and 21 percent of those on standard care.

"The addition of boceprevir to peginterferon-ribavirin resulted in significantly higherrates of sustained virologic response in previously treated patients with chronic HCV (hepatitis C)genotype 1 infection, as compared with peginterferon-ribavirin alone," the authors concluded.

Commenting on the studies, Dr. Donald M. Jensen, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center and author of an accompanying journal editorial,said "there is a significant improvement in sustained response [with boceprevir], which really relates to cure of hepatitis C."

Jensen noted that a similar drug is also being tested. "These drugs will offer patients a significant advantage over current therapy," Jensen said.

Hepatitis C affects at least 3.2 million Americans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 12,000 people die each year from liver disease and cancer caused by hepatitis C. There is no vaccine for hepatitis C, the researchers note.

Many people with hepatitis C are symptom-free and don't know they are infected, Jensen said. When symptoms do appear, it can be too late to treat the disease effectively, and the only option then is a liver transplant, he added.

More information

For more information on hepatitis C, visit theU.S. National Library of Medicine.

Republicans grill Bernanke over inflation threat

WASHINGTON – Members of Congress sharply questioned Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Wednesday over whether the Fed's policies are raising the risk of higher inflation in the months ahead.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he is concerned that the Fed won't be able to detect inflation until "the cow is out of the barn" and inflation is already spreading dangerously through the economy.

Bernanke acknowledged that inflation is surging in emerging economies. But he downplayed the risks to the U.S. economy, even as lawmakers expressed concerns about rising gasoline and food prices.

Inflation in the United States remains "quite low," Bernanke said. He blamed higher prices on strong demand from fast-growing countries such as China_ not the Fed's policies to stimulate the economy, including buying $600 billion worth of Treasury debt.

Bernanke's remarks suggest the Fed will stick with the bond-buying plan through June, as scheduled. The program is aimed at invigorating the economy by lowering rates on loans and boosting prices on stocks.

It was Bernanke's first appearance before the House since Republicans took control last month. He faced tough questions from them, despite being a member of the party.

Ryan worries that the Fed's stimulus policies, including the debt purchases, could trigger inflation or fuel speculative buying of stocks or other assets.

"Many of us fear monetary policy is on a difficult track," Ryan said.

Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., seemed skeptical of the Fed's ability to fend off inflation before it gets out of hand. In the Fed's history, when did the Fed "get it right?" Rokita asked.

Bernanke said former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker brought down double-digit inflation during the 1980s by pushing up interest rates to levels not seen since the Civil War.

The Fed chief said he was confident the Fed has the political will to boost interest rates and snuff out inflationary forces before they take hold.

Bernanke did acknowledge that rising gas prices are a threat to the economy. Prices have been around $3 a gallon nationally. If they were to go above $4 a gallon, that would "take a significant amount of disposable income away from people," he said.

Still, Bernanke defended the bond-purchase program. He said it is needed to ease high unemployment and credited all the Fed's stimulus policies with creating or saving 3 million jobs over the past several years.

The unemployment rate was 9 percent in January after the fastest two-month decline in 53 years.Bernanke said the drop is encouraging but cautioned that it will take four or five years for hiring to return to normal — around 5 percent or 6 percent. He said the economic recovery won't be assured until companies step up hiring on a consistent basis.

Ryan and Bernanke agreed that Congress and the White House must have a plan to reduce the government's $1 trillion-plus deficits.

Ryan favors budget cuts to get the deficits under control.

Bernanke didn't endorse any specific policies on deficit-cutting. He said lawmakers should hold off on spending cuts or tax increases until the economy is in better shape.

Bernanke again warned Republicans that they shouldn't play political games with the Treasury Department's request to raise the government borrowing authority.

Treasury has asked to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling. House Republicans have vowed to make deep spending cuts a precondition.

"We do not want to default on our debts. It would be very destructive," Bernanke said.

At the same time Bernanke was testifying, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, held a hearing on whether the Fed's bond-buying program and record-low interest rates can really help create jobs. Paul, an outspoken critic of the central bank, favors abolishing the Fed.

Lawmakers at that hearing also expressed concerns that the Fed's policies will spur inflation.

"If the Fed didn't see this mess coming, will they see the recovery starting in time to turn off the printing presses to stop inflation," asked Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla. "I am not sure their vision in the future will be any better than in the past."

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AP Economics Writer Martin Crutsinger contributed to this report.