RG3 defends himself as Redskins await knee results

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — As the Washington Redskins awaited word on Robert Griffin III's health, teammates defended the rookie quarterback's decision to keep playing after reinjuring his right knee.

Griffin also chimed in. He did not appear in the locker room during the two hours it was open to reporters Monday morning, but he offered some thoughts on Twitter.

"Many may question, criticize & think they have all the right answers. But few have been in the line of fire in battle," Griffin tweeted.

The Redskins were expected to announce results of Griffin's MRI later Monday.

Already playing with a heavy black brace in his third game since spraining a lateral collateral ligament, Griffin hurt the knee again when he fell awkwardly while throwing a pass in the first quarter of Sunday's 24-14 playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Griffin stayed in the game, but he was far from his usual self, clearly favoring the knee and unable to run with the world-class speed that helped define his play early in the season.

Then, in the fourth quarter with the Redskins trailing by seven, the knee buckled the wrong way when Griffin tried to field a bad shotgun snap. The Seahawks recovered the fumble deep in Washington territory, setting up a short field goal that helped put the game out of reach. Griffin was done for the evening.

If Griffin had been pulled earlier, the critical turnover might not have happened. And, of course, his knee probably wouldn't be hurt as badly as it is.

"I thank God for perspective and because of that I appreciate the support from everyone. I also appreciate the criticism," Griffin tweeted.

Coach Mike Shanahan said after the game he essentially left the decision for Griffin to keep playing in Griffin's hands, and Griffin said he would probably have defied his coach if ordered to the bench.

"It's a slippery slope, I guess you can say, because you want to help the team," said receiver Pierre Garcon, who faced similar questions this season while dealing with a painful toe injury. "But you want to help yourself in the long run and your career.

"You want to look out for all sides, but it's hard to really know exactly if you're doing the right thing because if you sit out and the team losses, it's like 'I could probably have helped.' If you go out there and don't help the team, it's like, 'I probably should've sat out.' You've just got to make a decision and live with it."

Shanahan was scheduled to address reporters Monday afternoon, but said after the game that he perhaps should have pulled Griffin sooner.

"It's a very tough decision," Shanahan said Sunday. "You have to go with your gut. You have to go with your gut and I did. I'm not saying my gut is always right, but I've been there before. In different situations, I get to know Robert better as time goes on and I'll know how stubborn he is — probably more so as time goes on. He's a competitor and I'll probably second guess myself. ... In the second half, should you have done it earlier? I think you always do that, especially after you don't win."

Shanahan's take is muddled by contradictory details that have emerged from the game in which Griffin originally hurt the knee last month against the Baltimore Ravens.

The coach said at the time he was told by orthopedist James Andrews on the Redskins sideline that Griffin was cleared to return to the game, but Andrews told USA Today over the weekend that he didn't get a chance to examine the knee during the one play Griffin sat out after the initial injury.

Shanahan explained the discrepancy by saying Andrews gave the OK for Griffin to return just by watching the quarterback run without doing an examination. Either way, the various versions of what happened cast more doubt on the protocol the Redskins use to determine whether someone is fit to keep playing.

The play-hurt dilemma is a factor every weekend in the NFL. Redskins left guard Kory Lichtensteiger had to leave Sunday's game in the first quarter because he could no longer play on a sprained left ankle that kept him out of practice all week.

"I went out there," Lichtensteiger said. "But, in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have done it."

Griffin's injury and the playoff loss put a damper on the end of one of the best Redskins seasons in two decades. Washington rallied from a 3-6 start to win the NFC East after four straight last-place finishes. Assuming Griffin's knee will again be fully healthy, the future looks brighter than at any time since the Super Bowl era under coach Joe Gibbs in the 1980s and early 1990s.

"I think people have really learned around here — if you're down by seven, people aren't packing it in," said safety Reed Doughty, wrapping up his seventh season in Washington. "People aren't getting that 'Oh, the way things used to be' kind of feeling."

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Letterman says he sees psychiatrist weekly

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — David Letterman says he sees a psychiatrist once a week, part of his attempt to be the person he once believed he was.

The late-night talk show host gave an extraordinary interview to Oprah Winfrey in which he talked about his feuds with her and Jay Leno, and his own effort to make amends for the affairs that became public three years ago when a man tried to extort him.

The interview aired Sunday night on Winfrey’s OWN network after it was done in November.

The CBS host says his wife has forgiven him for his transgressions and his life is more joyful than ever, but he hasn’t necessarily forgiven himself.

Letterman also called his late-night rival Leno the funniest guy he’s ever known.

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Organ donations fall in Germany after scandal

BERLIN (AP) — Organ donations have dropped sharply in Germany following a scandal over alleged corruption at several transplant clinics.

The German Foundation for Organ Transplantation says the number of organs donated fell almost 13 percent to 3,917 last year, the lowest figure in a decade.

Several German clinics are being investigated over allegations that doctors manipulated waiting lists to help some patients appear sicker than they were and so receive transplants sooner.

The foundation said Monday that the scandal had "massively shaken" the public's faith in the transplant system.

Some 12,000 people in Germany require organ transplants each year.

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Jimmy Kimmel moves to late-night's sweet spot

LOS ANGELES (AP) — During production of his final post-midnight show, Jimmy Kimmel's studio audience waited patiently while he taped a string of promotional spots.

"Hey, Denver: You, me, now at 10:35. Let's not be weird about this," the host quipped to the camera in his Hollywood Boulevard studio.

"This will be good for us," Kimmel said earnestly in another local station promo.

The message in each spot — whether "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is on at 11:35 p.m. in the East and West or earlier elsewhere — is that Kimmel will be playing in the same league as veterans Jay Leno and David Letterman, starting Tuesday with guests Jennifer Aniston and No Doubt.

The message Kimmel delivered to a recent teleconference was equally concise: He won't be changing his style for the move, pushing aside conventional wisdom that edgier late-night humor won't play in Peoria or elsewhere before the clock strikes 12.

It's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," after all, that has given the world such brashly funny videos as the Matt Damon-Sarah Silverman musical romp with bleep-worthy lyrics.

"There's this idea that you need to broaden the show or make it ... more wholesome or something like that. And I think that's a little bit out-of-date, that perception," Kimmel told reporters.

"I guess only time will tell," he added, in his typically low-key delivery.

Just as with Kimmel's promised approach to the most coveted time period in late-night, ABC is taking a bold step by swapping "Nightline" with his show. The news program, offering viewers a non-talk show option, has been the period's ratings leader.

But the network likely won't be sweating the early returns, according to analyst Brad Adgate of Horizon Media. He says putting Kimmel into the pre-midnight pocket, when more viewers are still up and watching, is a strategy aimed at an inevitable future.

"Leno and Letterman aren't going to be doing this forever," Adgate said, and ABC gives him a head start on establishing himself by putting him on now.

"This is something you may scratch your head at now, but in five years from now he's the incumbent and the leader" in the time period, the analyst said.

Long-term schemes, of course, don't always pan out. Despite anointing Conan O'Brien as its new "Tonight" host five years before he made the move in 2009, NBC ended up with a mess on its hands that saw O'Brien bolt to TBS and Leno retake "Tonight" in 2010 after his short-lived prime-time series.

Whether Kimmel gets a jump on his opponents-to-be — with Jimmy Fallon the expected pick for "Tonight" — being the late-night ruler is a far different proposition than in Johnny Carson's day. The "Tonight" institution, operating virtually unopposed, could average a nightly audience of as much as 15 million.

That's unimaginable in today's fragmented TV world. Leno claims the top talk-show spot with some 3.5 million average viewers, followed by Letterman on CBS with 2.8 million. "Jimmy Kimmel Live" was drawing under 2 million nightly viewers at 12:05 Eastern but, according to Nielsen Co. ratings, finished up 2012 with a 10-year viewership high.

The demographics also have changed, with more advertiser-favored young viewers gravitating to cable options such as Adult Swim or Comedy Central and increasingly likely to catch up online with the best moments of network late-night.

But the 11:35 p.m. East-West sweet spot remains the prize, and Kimmel may have more than the desire to succeed in mind. While he's a long-time admirer of Letterman, he's taken sharp public jabs at Leno, including blaming him for O'Brien's ill-fated tenure at "Tonight."

So Kimmel is humble about competing directly with Letterman (calling him a "legend in broadcasting" who shouldn't bat an eye at the prospect of new competition) but is throwing elbows at Leno, especially over the "Tonight" plan to get out ahead of "Jimmy Kimmel Live" by airing at 11:34 p.m. Eastern.

"Well, I think NBC has had a lot of success moving Jay Leno earlier so it makes perfect sense," he said, dryly, referring to Leno's short-lived prime-time stint. Kimmel dismissed the time-shifting as likely a brief "trick" to protect "Tonight" ratings, one that ultimately won't matter.

"This really isn't about the first month or about the first week or about the first night, it's a long-term thing," Kimmel told reporters. "If we do well the first week, I'm sure there will be a lot of press given to that. But what really matters is how you do in May, and that's when we'll really know ... where we stand."

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BofA to pay $3.6B to Fannie Mae

CBS MoneyWatch's Alexis Christoforous reports for CBS2. (1/7/2013)

Reuters

9:44 a.m. CST, January 7, 2013

Bank of America on Monday announced roughly $11.6 billion of settlements with mortgage finance company Fannie Mae and a $1.8 billion sale of collection rights on home loans, in a series of deals meant to help the bank move past its disastrous 2008 purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp.

The settlements and transactions and other charges will result in Bank of America posting only a small profit for 2012's fourth quarter. The bank is due to report results Jan. 17.

Bank of America is paying $3.6 billion to Fannie Mae and buying back $6.75 billion of bad loans from the mortgage company to clear up all claims that government-owned Fannie Mae had made against the bank.

Fannie Mae and its sibling, Freddie Mac, have been pushing banks to buy back loans they sold to the two companies that never should have been sold to them because the loans did not meet the companies' criteria for purchasing.

Bank of America said most of the settlement would be covered by reserves, and another $2.5 billion, before taxes, that it set aside in the fourth quarter.

A separate settlement over foreclosure delays will result in Bank of America paying $1.3 billion to Fannie Mae, the mortgage company said. Bank of America had already set aside money to cover most of that, but took another $260 million charge in the fourth quarter to cover the balance.

Bank of America also sold the rights to collect payments on about $306 billion of loans to Nationstar Mortgage Holdings and Walter Investment Management Corp. Nationstar is paying $1.3 billion for the right to service some $215 billion of loans, while Walter Investment is paying $519 million for the right to service about $93 billion of mortgages.

Reuters first reported that Bank of America was talking to Nationstar and Walter Investment on Friday.

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Man killed in expressway shooting

There is one person dead and another injured after a fatal shooting on the Dan Ryan.

Staff report

3:02 p.m. CST, January 6, 2013

An early morning shooting on the Dan Ryan Expressway near Canalport Avenue left a 22-year-old man dead and another man injured, authorities said.

Both men were traveling northbound in a Nissan Sentra when shots rang out about 2:35 a.m., Trooper Ivan Bukaczyk of the Illinois State Police said.

Following the shooting, the damaged car pulled up to Rush University Medical Center, with two of its occupants bleeding from gunshot wounds.

The driver was not hurt in the shooting, according to a police spokeswoman. A fourth person, who was sitting next to the driver at the time of the shooting, fled from the vehicle at some point, according to the spokeswoman.

Police said they believe the shots came from another vehicle but they have been unable to come up with a description of the other vehicle.

The two men who had been shot were rear-seat passengers. The deceased man was sitting directly behind the driver as bullets hit the body and shattered the windows of the vehicle, the spokeswoman said.

Lavonshay Cooper, of the 4200 block of West Cortez Street, was pronounced dead at 3:05 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

A police source said Cooper was on parole.

The other man who was shot was transferred to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, where he was treated and later released, police said. Reports had earlier listed him in critical condition, the spokeswoman said.

State Police officers located the scene of the shooting and were able to collect evidence, Bukaczyk said.

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Cars, homes smarten up at Vegas tech extravaganza

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - At the world's largest technology conference that kicks off on Monday, the most intriguing innovations showcased may be gadgets and technology that turn everyday items into connected, smarter machines.

This year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas promises a new generation of "smart" gadgets, some controlled by voice and gestures, and technology advancements in cars, some of which already let you dictate emails or check real-time gas prices.

Pundits have long predicted that home appliances like refrigerators and stoves will be networked, creating an "Internet of things." With advancements in chips and the ubiquity of smartphones and tablets, it's now happening.

"We've been talking about this convergence of consumer electronics and computers and content for 20 years. It will actually be somewhat of a reality here, in that your phone, your tablet, your PC, your TV, your car, have a capability to all be connected," said Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.

Despite the absence of tech heavyweights Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp, CES still draws thousands of exhibitors, from giants like Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to startups hungry for funding.

Wireless chip maker Qualcomm Inc's CEO, Paul Jacobs, opens the festivities with a keynote speech on Monday, taking a spot traditionally reserved for Microsoft, which decided last year to sever ties with the show.

Jacobs said in a recent interview on PBS that he will show how wireless technology will be pushed way beyond smartphones into homes, cars and healthcare.

SMARTER SMARTPHONES

With venues spanning over 32 football fields across Las Vegas -- more than 1.9 million sq. ft. (176,516 sq. meters) -- CES is an annual rite for those keen to glimpse the newest gadgets before they hit store shelves. The show, which started in 1967 in New York, was the launch pad for the VCR, camcorder, DVD and HDTV.

While retailers prowl for products to fill their shelves, Wall Street investors look for products that are the next hit.

Intel and Qualcomm are expected to highlight improvements in "perceptual computing," which involves using cameras, GPS, sensors and microphones to make devices detect and respond to user activity.

"The idea is that if your devices are so smart, they should be able to know you better and anticipate and react to your requirements," said IDC analyst John Jackson.

This year, snazzier TVs will again dominate show space, with "ultra high-definition" screens that have resolutions some four times sharper than that of current displays. The best smartphones will likely be reserved for launch at Mobile World Congress in February.

There will also be a record number of auto makers showing the latest in-vehicle navigation, entertainment and safety systems, from Toyota's Audi to Ford, General Motors and Hyundai. The Consumer Electronics Association has forecast the market for factory-installed tech features in cars growing 11 percent this year to $8.7 billion.

BMW, for one, already provides speech recognition that is processed instantly through datacenters, converted into text and emailed without drivers taking their hands off the wheel. The luxury carmaker also offers data about weather, fuel prices and other items.

"Automotive has been this backwater of technology for a long time. Suddenly, we're seeing a lot of real innovation in automotive technology," Scott McGregor, CEO of chipmaker Broadcom, told Reuters ahead of the show.

(Editing by Edwin Chan and Leslie Gevirtz)

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Ravens lead Colts 17-9 after 3 quarters

BALTIMORE (AP) — Joe Flacco's 20-yard TD pass to Dennis Pitta and two long completions to Anquan Boldin lifted the Baltimore Ravens to a 17-9 lead over the Indianapolis Colts through three quarter of Sunday's AFC wild-card game.

Flacco connected with Boldin on receptions of 50 and 46 yards in the third period. The first didn't lead to a score, but the second got Baltimore to the Indy 15. After a penalty, Pitta slipped free in the flat to take a short pass and score.

The Colts came back with a 15-play, 72-yard drive. But as in the first half, they sputtered and Adam Vinatieri kicked a field goal, this one from 26 yards.

After a scoreless first quarter marked by sloppiness on both sides, Baltimore took a 10-6 halftime lead.

Ray Rice broke free for a 47-yard gain on a screen pass, setting up Vonta Leach's 2-yard TD run. The Pro Bowl backfield was bolstered by the kick returns of another Pro Bowl player, Jacoby Jones.

Vinatieri's 47-yard field goal late in the second quarter and his 52-yarder as the half ended gave Indianapolis its points at halftime.

In between, Rice, who earlier lost a fumble, broke free over the middle on a short pass, got a superb block from wide receiver Torrey Smith and got to the Indy 2.

Leach surged in on the next play.

Vinatieri, who knows something about postseason kicks — he made two Super Bowl-winning field goals with New England — matched rookie Justin Tucker's 23-yarder with his first kick with 2:25 to go in the half.

After a scoreless first quarter that included one turnover by each team, Baltimore moved 66 yards in 10 plays, including 37 yards rushing by backup halfback Bernard Pierce. Tucker made it 3-0.

Early in the second quarter, Ravens star linebacker Ray Lewis dropped a potential interception, which drew a huge groan from the crowd. Lewis has announced he will retire when Baltimore's playoff run ends.

Jones, who had 94 yards on kick returns in the half, got the Ravens going early with a 34-yard punt runback down the left sideline. A 24-yard pass to Ed Dickson brought Baltimore close, but Rice fumbled at the Colts 11.

Indianapolis then put together an impressive drive to the Baltimore 30 before rookie quarterback Andrew Luck was stripped of the ball by Paul Kruger, the Ravens' leader in sacks. Pernell McPhee recovered, but Flacco nearly threw an interception three plays later and the Ravens had to punt.

The visitors were introduced before the game as Chuck Pagano and the Indianapolis Colts, and the former Ravens defensive coordinator received warm applause from the fans. Pagano left before this season for Indianapolis, and missed 12 games while undergoing treatment for leukemia.

When a helmetless Lewis emerged from the tunnel during introductions, nearly everyone in M&T Bank Stadium stood and cheered his dance, cameras and cellphones taking photos of Baltimore's most popular player.

Colts offensive coordinator Bruce Arians was hospitalized with an undisclosed illness Sunday morning, and was not at the game. The team said he was doing well, and quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen was calling the plays in Arians' absence.

Arians went 9-3 while taking over for Pagano.

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‘Chainsaw 3-D’ carves out No. 1 debut with $23M

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It took Leatherface and his chainsaw to chase tiny hobbit Bilbo Baggins out of the top spot at the box office.

Lionsgate‘s horror sequel “Texas Chainsaw 3-D” debuted at No. 1 with $ 23 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The movie picks up where 1974′s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” left off, with masked killer Leatherface on the loose again.

Quentin Tarantino‘s revenge saga “Django Unchained” held on at No. 2 for a second-straight weekend with $ 20.1 million. The Weinstein Co. release raised its domestic total to $ 106.4 million.

After three weekends at No. 1, part one of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” trilogy slipped to third with $ 17.5 million. That lifts the domestic haul to $ 263.8 million for “The Hobbit,” the Warner Bros. blockbuster that also has topped $ 500 million overseas to raise its worldwide total to about $ 800 million.

Also passing the $ 100 million mark over the weekend was Universal’s musical “Les Miserables,” which finished at No. 4 with $ 16.1 million, pushing its domestic total to $ 103.6 million.

Like other horror franchises, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” has had several other remakes or sequels, but the idea always seems ripe for a new wave of fright-flick fans. Nearly two-thirds of the audience was under 25, too young — or not even born — when earlier “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” movies came out.

“It’s one of those that survives each generation. It’s something that continues to come back and entertain its audience,” said Richie Fay, head of distribution for Lionsgate.

“Texas Chainsaw” drew a hefty 84 percent of its business from 3-D screenings. Many movies now draw 50 percent or less of their revenue from 3-D screenings, but horror fans tend to prefer paying extra to see blood and guts fly with an added dimension.

In narrower release, Matt Damon‘s natural-gas fracking drama “Promised Land” had a slow start in its nationwide debut, coming in at No. 10 with $ 4.3 million after opening in limited release a week earlier.

Released by Focus Features, “Promised Land” stars Damon as a salesman pitching rural residents on fracking technology to drill for natural gas. The film widened to 1,676 theaters, averaging a slim $ 2,573 a cinema, compared with $ 8,666 in 2,654 theaters for “Texas Chainsaw.”

Hollywood began the year where it left in 2012, when business surged during the holidays to carry the industry to a record $ 10.8 billion at the domestic box office.

Overall business this weekend came in at $ 149 million, up 7 percent from the same period last year, when “The Devil Inside” led with $ 33.7 million, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com. But with strong business on New Year’s Day last week, Hollywood already has raked in $ 254.2 million, 33 percent ahead of last year.

Box-office results ebb and flow quickly, so that lead could vanish almost overnight. But with a steady lineup of potential hits right through December, studios have a chance at another revenue record this year.

“The month that we had at the end of last year that led us to a record year continued right through New Year’s and on now to the first official weekend of 2013,” said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “We’re looking for an even stronger year this year. That’s in the realm of possibility. But we have 51 weekends to go.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Texas Chainsaw 3-D,” $ 23 million.

2. “Django Unchained,” $ 20.1 million.

3. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” $ 17.5 million.

4. “Les Miserables,” $ 16.1 million ($ 14.5 million international).

5. “Parental Guidance,” $ 10.1 million.

6. “Jack Reacher,” $ 9.3 million ($ 22.3 million international).

7. “This Is 40,” $ 8.6 million.

8. “Lincoln,” $ 5.3 million.

9. “The Guilt Trip,” $ 4.5 million.

10. “Promised Land,” $ 4.3 million.

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

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Your medical chart could include exercise minutes

CHICAGO (AP) — Roll up a sleeve for the blood pressure cuff. Stick out a wrist for the pulse-taking. Lift your tongue for the thermometer. Report how many minutes you are active or getting exercise.

Wait, what?

If the last item isn't part of the usual drill at your doctor's office, a movement is afoot to change that. One recent national survey indicated only a third of Americans said their doctors asked about or prescribed physical activity.

Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation's largest nonprofit health insurance plans, made a big push a few years ago to get its southern California doctors to ask patients about exercise. Since then, Kaiser has expanded the program across California and to several other states. Now almost 9 million patients are asked at every visit, and some other medical systems are doing it, too.

Here's how it works: During any routine check of vital signs, a nurse or medical assistant asks how many days a week the patient exercises and for how long. The number of minutes per week is posted along with other vitals at the top the medical chart. So it's among the first things the doctor sees.

"All we ask our physicians to do is to make a comment on it, like, 'Hey, good job,' or 'I noticed today that your blood pressure is too high and you're not doing any exercise. There's a connection there. We really need to start you walking 30 minutes a day,'" said Dr. Robert Sallis, a Kaiser family doctor. He hatched the vital sign idea as part of a larger initiative by doctors groups.

He said Kaiser doctors generally prescribe exercise first, instead of medication, and for many patients who follow through that's often all it takes.

It's a challenge to make progress. A study looking at the first year of Kaiser's effort showed more than a third of patients said they never exercise.

Sallis said some patients may not be aware that research shows physical inactivity is riskier than high blood pressure, obesity and other health risks people know they should avoid. As recently as November a government-led study concluded that people who routinely exercise live longer than others, even if they're overweight.

Zendi Solano, who works for Kaiser as a research assistant in Pasadena, Calif., says she always knew exercise was a good thing. But until about a year ago, when her Kaiser doctor started routinely measuring it, she "really didn't take it seriously."

She was obese, and in a family of diabetics, had elevated blood sugar. She sometimes did push-ups and other strength training but not anything very sustained or strenuous.

Solano, 34, decided to take up running and after a couple of months she was doing three miles. Then she began training for a half marathon — and ran that 13-mile race in May in less than three hours. She formed a running club with co-workers and now runs several miles a week. She also started eating smaller portions and buying more fruits and vegetables.

She is still overweight but has lost 30 pounds and her blood sugar is normal.

Her doctor praised the improvement at her last physical in June and Solano says the routine exercise checks are "a great reminder."

Kaiser began the program about three years ago after 2008 government guidelines recommended at least 2 1/2 hours of moderately vigorous exercise each week. That includes brisk walking, cycling, lawn-mowing — anything that gets you breathing a little harder than normal for at least 10 minutes at a time.

A recently published study of nearly 2 million people in Kaiser's southern California network found that less than a third met physical activity guidelines during the program's first year ending in March 2011. That's worse than results from national studies. But promoters of the vital signs effort think Kaiser's numbers are more realistic because people are more likely to tell their own doctors the truth.

Dr. Elizabeth Joy of Salt Lake City has created a nearly identical program and she expects 300 physicians in her Intermountain Healthcare network to be involved early this year.

"There are some real opportunities there to kind of shift patients' expectations about the value of physical activity on health," Joy said.

NorthShore University HealthSystem in Chicago's northern suburbs plans to start an exercise vital sign program this month, eventually involving about 200 primary care doctors.

Dr. Carrie Jaworski, a NorthShore family and sports medicine specialist, already asks patients about exercise. She said some of her diabetic patients have been able to cut back on their medicines after getting active.

Dr. William Dietz, an obesity expert who retired last year from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said measuring a patient's exercise regardless of method is essential, but that "naming it as a vital sign kind of elevates it."

Figuring out how to get people to be more active is the important next step, he said, and could have a big effect in reducing medical costs.

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Exercise: http://1.usa.gov/b6AkMa

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AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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