t’s one the perks for the Charlotte Bobcats now that the Hall of Famer owns the team. Only being a big player in free agency isn’t on Jordan’s agenda — or even possible.

Unlike the New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets and Chicago Bulls, the Bobcats have no salary-cap space to participate in the summer free agency bonanza that could include James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire.

And Jordan doesn’t mind. In moving from a minority investor with the final say on personnel decisions to the first former player be a majority owner of an NBA team, Jordan is preaching patience with his roster. He is vowing not to get into luxury tax territory with his payroll and showing distaste for what he feels is overblown hype for free agency this summer.

“That doesn’t guarantee that New York is going to be in the playoffs,” Jordan said shortly after his $275 million purchase of the team was approved last week. “Everybody is second-guessing themselves. I like where we are. If I were to unload everybody on our team just so we can clear [salary-cap] space, does that mean they’re going to come to Charlotte? It’s no guarantee.”

read more at:

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/03/22/bobcats.jordan.ap/index.html

Nashville health officials say they know how to shrink waistlines, and a new $7.5 million federal grant will get the city started.

One of five children and two of three adults in the city are overweight, and obesity-related medical costs in the state were more than $1.5 billion in 2008. The state’s ranking as fourth fattest in the nation is a glaring reminder of the work that needs to be done.

“For the first time, our children may not live as long as we do because of obesity, diabetes and a failure to eat healthy and partake in physical activities,” said Dr. Bill Paul, director of the Metro Public Health Department. “We want to make Nashville healthier. We’re already starting.

Nashville was the only city in the state to get the federal money, though Shelby, Knox and Hamilton counties also applied.  More than $372 million was awarded to 44 cities nationwide for the initiative, Communities Putting Prevention to Work, aimed at reducing obesity and smoking, and increasing physical activity. Adults and children will be targeted.

read more at:

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100324/NEWS01/3240380/Nashville+gets++7.5+million+to+fight+obesity

Boos erupted from the 150 or more people attending the Metro school board meeting Tuesday night as board members narrowly approved a $633 million budget that cuts hours for some 600 bus drivers and contracts out all janitor jobs and groundskeeping work.

he budget passed 5-4 and will go to Mayor Karl Dean to become part of Metro’s complete budget proposal for 2010-11. That spending plan — or an alternative — must be approved by Metro Council by the end of June.

Earlier in Tuesday’s meeting, board member Ed Kindall proposed putting $4 million back in the budget to keep custodians and groundskeepers as school system employees. That was shot down; again the vote was 5-4.

Board members appeared hesitant to talk about the budget. Some tried to explain their reasons for voting for it to the crowd, which included janitors,bus drivers and their supporters.

read more at:

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100324/NEWS04/3240378/Nashville+school+board+passes+budget+by+5-4+vote

President Obama will sign an executive order Wednesday that ensures that existing limits on the federal funding of abortion remain in place under the new health care overhaul law.

Unlike the signing of the health care bill into law Tuesday, which was conducted under the glare of media cameras, the event Wednesday will be closed to the news media.

It will be attended by Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan and 12 of his anti-abortion Democratic House colleagues, without whose help the landmark overhaul bill would not have passed, political observers say.

The White House said the executive order reaffirms longstanding restrictions on the federal funding of abortion in the new law.

“While the legislation as written maintains current law, the executive order provides additional safeguards to ensure that the status quo is upheld and enforced, and that the health care legislation’s restrictions against the public funding of abortions cannot be circumvented,” the White House said.

Stupak said the order makes very clear that the current law applies to the new law.

At one point, the abortion issue nearly derailed the bill. But then Obama promised the executive order to the anti-abortion Democrats. The lawmakers switched their votes to “yes” to help pass the reform bill 219-212 on Sunday night.

Stupak had led the anti-abortion Democrats in opposition to the Senate bill, because he said it would allow federal funding for abortions beyond the current limits of cases of rape or incest, or if the woman’s life is in danger.

read more at:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/24/obama.abortion/index.html

Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao has dropped a shock hint that he might quit the ring — because his mother does not want him to fight anymore.

Pacquiao is widely expected to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a much-hyped showdown later this year, but the 31-year-old claims his place in boxing history is already assured following the successful defense of his WBO welterweight crown against Joshua Clottey last week.

“I reached my dream as a boxer without Floyd Mayweather in my career. I do not need him, they are the ones who need me,” he told reporters as he returned home to his customary hero’s welcome in the Philippines on Monday.

The fighter, known as “Pacman” by his fans, is now concentrating on his political career. He is standing for election in the Sarangani province on May 10, on the platform of opposition senator Manuel Villar’s Nacionalista Party.

health-care reform legislation

Reps. Jim Cooper of Nashville and Bart Gordonof Murfreesboro voted for the legislation, while Reps. John Tanner of Union City and Lincoln Davis of Pall Mall voted against it.

Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Brentwood also voted against the legislation.

Elsewhere in the state, Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis voted for the bill, while Republican Reps. Zach Wamp of Chattanooga, Phil Roe of Johnson City, and John Duncan of Knoxville voted against it.

Sunday’s first vote was on a Senate-passedhealth-care reform bill, which the House passed 219-212. That bill will now go to the White House for signing. The second vote was 220-211 to pass a package of revisions to the Senate-passed bill. The Senate is expected to begin debating the revisions this week.

“The bottom line is that this legislation offers the only realistic hope that most Americans have for getting a fair deal in today’s private health insurance markets,” Cooper said in a statement.

“This is not a government takeover of those markets, but a way to encourage better private-market competition.”

Cooper noted that most Nashville-area hospitals, doctors and nurses, along with the AARP, favored the legislation. But he also complimented those who opposed the legislation.

“They actually help me make sure that more people in Congress do their homework and pay attention to America’s financial problems,” he said. “They are strengthening our democracy with their voices.”

Cooper said thousands of lives “literally will be saved due to the greater affordability of health insurance.”

“This is as major a public health accomplishment as reducing car wrecks or finding a cure for a dread disease. One of the lives saved could be yours,” Cooper said.

He said voting for the bill could be politically risky, “but I think most folks back home want me to do what is right, not just what’s temporarily popular.”

James had 29 points against the Bulls to push his total to 15,026.

Three points short of the milestone when the night began, James soared in for a hard right-handed dunk on a break about 4:40 into the game. He then hit two free throws about 40 seconds later, giving him 15,001 career points

James reached the milestone at 25 years, 79 days, and he did it in his 540th game. Bryant was 27 years, 136 days and playing his 657th game, according to STATS LLC, when he did it for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Tiger Woods said Sunday that he is focused on “living a life of amends” after “living the life of a lie” in one of his first interviews since a November car crash outside his home unleashed a media frenzy amid rumors of extramarital affairs.

The brief, five-minute interview on ESPN was one of two the professional golfer granted Sunday afternoon at the Isleworth golf club near his home outside Orlando, Florida. The Golf Channel simultaneously aired its similarly brief interview with Woods on Sunday night.

Woods credited inpatient and outpatient therapy for helping him start the process toward making amends.

“It was tough,” he told ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi of the therapy. “To look at yourself in a light that you never want to look at yourself, that’s pretty brutal. … I saw a person that I never thought I would ever become.”

Woods said two of his lowest points in the past four months came when he had to tell his wife, Elin Woods, and his mother about his affairs.

“Those are the two people in my life who I’m closest to, and to say the things that I’ve done, truthfully to them, is … honestly … was … very painful,” he said.

Woods told The Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman that his mentor and father, the late Earl Woods, “would be very disappointed in me.”

“I wish I could have had his guidance through all of this,” he told Tilghman. “Have him help straighten me up. I know he would have done it.”

President Obama will sign a landmark $875 billion health care reform bill into law at the White House on Tuesday, according to two Democratic officials familiar with the planning. The bill passed the House of Representatives late Sunday night. It was approved by the Senate in December.

A separate package of changes passed by the House on Sunday still needs to be approved by the Senate. The officials noted that the Senate cannot begin debate on the package before Obama signs the underlying bill into law. The bill passed in a 219-212 vote after more than a year of bitter partisan debate. All 178 Republicans opposed it, along with 34 Democrats.

The measure constitutes the biggest expansion of federal health care guarantees since Medicare and Medicaid were enacted more than four decades ago.

he overall $940 billion plan is projected to extend insurance coverage to roughly 32 million Americans who don’t have it now. It represents a significant step toward the goal of universal coverage sought by every Democratic president since Harry Truman.

Most Americans will now be required to have health insurance or pay a fine. Larger employers will be required to provide coverage or risk financial penalties. Total individual out-of-pocket expenses will be capped and insurers will be barred from denying coverage based on gender or pre-existing conditions.

The compromise package would add to the bill’s total cost partly by expanding insurance subsidies for middle- and lower-income families. The measure would scale back the bill’s taxes on expensive insurance plans.

Angelina Joliemet with Haitian earthquake survivors living in camps and visited a flattened school Wednesday, the second day of a visit as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations’ refugee agency.  The actress, representing the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, flew by helicopter to the southern city of Jacmel where she visited a camp for Haitians made homeless. Some 500,000 people are living in camps around the country since the Jan. 12 earthquake. She also visited a school destroyed by the quake.  Jolie later met with President Rene Preval about challenges confronting the country since the disaster.

Her visit began Tuesday when she met with U.N. officials in Port-au-Prince and visited an SOS Villages camp for orphans outside the capital.

Jolie also toured a Doctors Without Borders hospital in a Port-au-Prince suburb, waving to onlookers. She and husband Brad Pitt have contributed $1 million to Doctors Without Borders for its emergency medical operations in Haiti.