RISING Louisville Louisville has won six in a row and eight of nine to climb into a first-place tie atop the Big East. The Cardinals have beaten Marquette, Georgetown and Syracuse — heady accomplishments for a team that lost to Seton Hall last month. It gets harder from here: Louisville plays at Pitt on Sunday and then must face Notre Dame, Villanova and Georgetown. The latter game, to be staged in D.C., could decide the conference title.

FALLING Oregon An Elite Eight team last season, Oregon is in real danger of not making the field of 65. The smallish Ducks are 15-11 and 6-8 in the loaded Pac-10, and they've lost seven of 10. Ernie Kent has called his team one of the nation's best offensive units, but Oregon managed only 43 points in losing at Stanford two weeks ago. The Ducks fell to USC on Thursday and play UCLA at Pauley Pavilion today.

Today in History - Feb. 24

Madison decision, the Supreme Court established judicial review of the constitutionality of statutes.In 1821, Mexican rebels proclaimed the "Plan de Iguala," their declaration of independence from Spain.In 1863, Arizona was organized as a territory.In 1920, a fledgling German political party held its first meeting of importance in Munich; it became known as the Nazi Party, and its chief spokesman was Adolf Hitler.In 1942, the Voice of America went on the air for the first time.In 1946, Argentinians went to the polls to elect Juan D. Peron their president.In 1983, a congressional commission released a report condemning the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II as a "grave injustice."In 1988, in a ruling that expanded legal protections for parody and satire, the Supreme Court overturned a $200,000 award that the Rev.

Senate approves tax breaks

John Unger, D-Berkeley, led the chamber into freezing existing property tax rates for anyone over 65 with an annual income of $25,000 or less.Anyone buying certain appliances that cost $2,500 or less could skip the sales tax in the first week of each September in a bill Gov. Joe Manchin offered a few weeks ago. Under a Senate amendment, the tax holiday would end in 2010.Manchin reversed his philosophy a bit, refusing in his first year of office to support the sales tax holiday in back-to-school purchases inaugurated by former Gov. Bob Wise.Senate Minority Leader Don Caruth, R-Mercer, debated Economic Development Chairman Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha, at length over the Republican-led bid to apply the brakes this year to the business franchise tax.All the two agreed on was that the tax is West Virginia's "most onerous" on the business community.But McCabe alluded to a bundle of tax reforms, among them the inventory tax and corporate net income, along with another one-penny drop in the tax on groceries.All told, the tax reductions will rob the state's coffers of between $138 million and $140 million, he said.While things look rosy this year with a whopping surplus, both McCabe and Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, raised the specter of a downtown in the economy — even a recession — and if that occurs, the $70 million loss the Caruth amendment costs would look massive."What if we have a 10 percent reduction in the price of coal?" he asked."That's another $30 million out of the general revenue fund."Suppose, he asked, if lotteries flourish in surrounding states? That could translate into another $50 million setback.But Sen.

Monday wild card

Now, the boys are allowed to make the faux flatulence sounds only in the house and the car. Wonder what the neighbors woulda thought of the Armpit Serenade Contest at Cruisers Mini-Sturgis 2006 at Stateline two days ago? Or the Best Butt Crack Contest? When in Rome

Chris Rock

In a set full of topical material, Rock began with the Democrat presidential primaries and found rich pickings. The face-off between black man and white woman, says Rock, is like a suffering contest. Which oppressed group most deserves a crack at the presidency? This black man won't concede first prize to anyone ("Seabiscuit had a better life than my granddaddy"). But he manages to tread the line between shameless provocation (he suggests that "Barack needs a white woman", because no black woman could be submissive enough to be first lady) and neat new perspective. To what extent is a former presidential wife's claim on "experience" justified, given that "I've been married 10 years, and if my wife came onstage now, y'all would not laugh"?

The politics material devolved into good, but predictable George Bush jokes and an unfortunate gag that seemed to consider US casualties as the worst thing about the Iraq war.