user: News: Pope Francis has been made an

To commemorate the occasion, the team gave him a framed jersey, which has 'Pope Francis' and the number 90 stitched on the back.

They also took a moment to coach the Pope on one of their signature moves – spinning the ball on one finger.

Prior to meeting with the Pontiff, the Globetrotters entertained onlookers in St. Peter's Square with a sampling of their mesmerizing basketball skills.

They were there in 2000 also and paid a visit to Pope John Paul II, the team

Title: Pope Francis named an honorary member of The Harlem Globetrotters - AOL.com


News: Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, is a pleasant stadium — handsome, easily reached by public transportation, child-friendly and packed with diverting food choices in those all-too-frequent moments when the team itself loses its entertainment value. In fact, one of the few things that feel wrong with Citi Field is its name.

Make that: one of the few things that continue to feel wrong. Frowns have been abundant ever since the Mets, in 2006, accepted Citigroup’s reported offer of $20 million a year for 20 years for the privilege of slapping its name on the stadium’s facade.

But a financial stain that now threatens the team reinforces why many noses have wrinkled in distaste over the choice.

The Mets’ owners, Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, stand accused in a lawsuit of having enriched themselves through their long and close connection to the execrable Bernard L. Madoff, whose Ponzi scheme, the lawsuit says, should have been evident to them. The trustee for Madoff victims, who is suing Messrs. Wilpon and Katz, seeks so much money from them, $1 billion, that their ability to hold onto the team has been thrown into doubt.

Both men call the trustee’s tactics “outrageous” and his allegations unfounded. Mr. Wilpon has said that he was as much a victim of Mr. Madoff as anyone. But he and Mr. Katz are in trouble. They need money, and have already begun looking for someone to buy a minor share of their ball club.

No matter how the lawsuit plays out, the rancid air of impropriety now permeates the Wilpon-Katz Mets, unlikely to be cleansed soon, if ever. The situation is hardly improved by that name above the ballpark entrance.

Thanks to a bailout by American taxpayers, Citigroup has rebounded from its near-death experience in 2008. But it remains a symbol of all that went haywire on Wall Street and propelled the United States economy toward disaster.

Bad enough that the Mets’ owners are enduringly scarred by their Madoff connection. By clinging to the Citi name, they are also saying they have no qualms about identifying themselves with a central player in one of the biggest financial debacles in this country’s history.

Is this, some might wonder, truly good for New York?

Its taxpayers, remember, are on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars that went into building this stadium and a companion ballpark for the Yankees, in the form of infrastructure improvements and tax-exempt financing. New Yorkers thus have a stake in what one of the city’s most prominent structures is called.

Plenty of alternatives to the sullied Citi name have been suggested. (A favorite here remains Debits Field, but that sort of change is not about to happen.)

The name Shea Stadium served just fine for many years. There is no reason why it couldn’t do so once again. The ballpark that went by that name may not have been the finest, but it had the advantage of honoring someone who did something that was actually useful. William A. Shea, a power broker of the first order five decades ago, helped bring National League baseball back to New York after the Giants and the Dodgers had fled to California.

The city cannot compel the team and Citigroup to agree to a divorce, amicable or otherwise. But as the Mets’ landlord, the city could lean awfully hard. Our billionaire mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, would seem uniquely positioned to deal persuasively with others who dwell in the income stratosphere.

City Hall is disinclined to act, though. Its consistent policy has been that “we’re going to honor the lease agreement, which gives them the authority to designate a sponsor,” said Frank Barry, a Bloomberg spokesman. “Them” referred to the team’s owners.

Indeed, the city’s lease with the Mets bestows on them “the exclusive right to designate the name of the stadium,” with a couple of exceptions. The sponsor’s name or logo may not be obscene. “Nor,” the lease says, “shall it be antithetical to the character of the stadium as a prominent symbol of the city.” Purveyors of tobacco products — don’t forget who the mayor is — are the only ones singled out as being antithetical.

It will have to be left to others, then, to decide if the behavior of Citigroup, which helped bring about the worst financial crisis in eight decades, meets the dictionary’s definition of obscene as “offensive to one’s feelings, or to prevailing notions, of modesty or decency.”

Title: Metsâ Owners and Fiscal Scandals


News: When planning for their child’s future, many couples consider factors such as proximity to extended family and length of one’s daily commute.

But a host of economic considerations come into play as working parents decide where to raise families, and with nearly 60% of of “married-couple families with children” now including two working parents, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, those factors are only becoming more relevant.

Personal finance site NerdWallet partnered with Business Insider to create this list of the Best Cities For Working Parents. In ranking each city, NerdWallet took four factors into account: Cost of living in that city, cost of child care, quality of available education, and the percentage of households with children.

In considering cost of living, NerdWallet analysts looked at median household incomes and factors including mortgage and real estate expenses, insurance, and utilities. Child care costs are attributed to a 2013 report from ChildCare Aware Aware of America, and data from nonprofit Great Schools, which compares standardized test scores from public and private schools to state averages, was used to determine education quality.

Topping the list is Gilbert, Arizona. Situated southeast of Phoenix, Gilbert has a median household income of nearly $78,000 and more than three quarters of households include children. Strong school ratings and child care costs ranging from $,7398 to $8,671 (for a four year old or an infant, respectively) keep the city squarely at the head of the pack. Chandler, Arizona, and Mesa, Arizona, also crack the top 10.

Texas is also strongly represented at the top of the list. Plano, Texas, comes in second, bolstered by a high median income and strong ratings for local schools. The report also notes that major employers Dell Dell Services, Toyota Motors, J.C. Penney, and Siemens Siemens PLM Software all have corporate headquarters located in the “Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex,” of which Plano is a part.

Garland, Texas, and El Paso El Paso, Texas also represent the lone star state in the top 10.

Fremont, California, provides high tech industry salaries and Irvine, California, offers excellent schools. “Horse capital of the world” Lexington, Kentucky makes the list, with excellent schools and low child care costs. Chesapeake, Virginia, is the lone east coast city in the top 10, offering the winning combination of a low cost of living and high wages.

A diverse representation of cities across the country populates the 100 cities that make up the full list, including major metropolises like New York, Boston, Chicago, and Seattle.

For the full list of the Best Cities For Working Parents, see below.

In pictures: The Top 10 Cities For Working Parents

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Title:

assistant: The Best Cities For Working Parents