Phoenix Suns update:

Off-day Orange Slices ...

* It has been almost five years since the 2007 playoff suspensions of Boris Diaw and Amar'e Stoudemire. Is all forgotten?

That ruling hangs in Suns fans' memories like a haunting shadow but the flashbacks will come before their eyes Tuesday night. Diaw returns as a San Antonio Spur, of all things, and NBA Commissioner David Stern will attend the game.

Stern has been back in the arena fora private All-Star Game announcement in 2008 and the All-Star Weekend itself in 2009 but the former was a controlled business environment on a non-game day and the latter was more of a national, corporate crowd than a Phoenix crowd. This will be Stern's first time to walk among and be seen by Suns fans at their purple palace, although Stern will watch the game from a midcourt suite and likely not be introduced to the crowd.

Stern is in town on other league business unrelated directly to the Suns.

* You can tell the Suns are back in the playoff hunt when the networks are adding their games.

Earlier this season, two Suns games' national telecasts were dropped as they struggled. Today, ESPN has added the Suns' April 13 game at Houston and TNT added the April 24 game at Utah, changing the Utah game time to 7:30 Phoenix time.

* Today's news that Amar'e Stoudemire is out indefinitely after a MRI revealed a bulging disk goes back to the point made in this story that Managing Partner Robert Sarver perhaps was just in making a maximum-salary contract offer with stipulations that protected him against Stoudemire's health issues.

* The best part of the ongoing free throw swish competition has been the celebrations that now include a championship belt to the winner of the post-practice or post-shootaround contest. Ronnie Price has added a new element. After winning the last swish showdown on the road (first to five swishes wins), Price enlisted rookie Markieff Morris to be his hypeman. Pricegreeted the team once this weekendwearing a robeasMorris carried the belt walking behind him.

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Stern visit, TV additions, more slices

Despite a difficult operating environment, the steel giant shows promise.

ArcelorMittal continues to be one of our favorite steelmakers on the basis of valuation and its competitive position, with geographically and operationally diversified assets in both steel and mining. While this is still a weak operating environment, we think market fears are overblown, given the company's emerging-market exposure, asset-optimization plans, and potential for asset sales, as well as our view that steel fundamentals, excluding Europe, will be stronger in 2012 and 2013 than in 2011.

For 2012, management expects global steel consumption growth of 4.5%-5%, including 5% in China, 5.5% in the NAFTA countries, roughly flat in the European Union, and 5.7% for the rest of the world. This is about in line with forecasts made by the World Steel Association and commentary from other steel companies. Our shipment forecast for ArcelorMittal of 3% in 2012 assumes 5% growth in all steel segments other than Flat Carbon Europe, where we expect a 1% reduction. Apparent steel demand weakened in late 2011, but sentiment has improved with many global leading indicators rebounding. In the U.S., energy, equipment, and automotive end markets remain strong with some positive signs for the construction markets, with the Architectural Billings Index breaching 50 and the housing market appearing to have bottomed. Capacity utilization rates for steel producers in the U.S. are at a postrecession peak of nearly 80% despite increased supply. While raw-material prices and steel prices remain volatile, we are encouraged by signs of a widening spread relative to the last several months of 2011.

Bridget Freas, CFA, is a senior analyst with Morningstar covering the steel and aluminum sectors.

Weakness in Europe will cut deep as the recession unfolds, but more than one third of ArcelorMittal's shipments are to emerging markets. The company is already the largest steel producer in Brazil and Africa and the second largest in the Commonwealth of Independent States, and expansion plans are concentrated in Brazil and India. About 40% of EBITDA from the steel segments is generated from assets outside North America and the EU. While China is unlikely to repeat its prior couple of years of double-digit demand growth, we expect a soft landing in 2012, requiring steel demand in line with management's forecast of 5%. Steel consumption is a key component of early-stage economic development, and there is no reason China should be any different. Even while the past couple of years brought acceleration in China, a near-term cooling does not change the long-term growth story. The EU and U.S. are consuming 25%-35% less steel per capita than they did just five years ago, a trend that is not sustainable, while growth in Brazil and India is just starting to accelerate.

We view the company's decision to maintain capital expenditure plans and an annual dividend in 2012 as a sign of confidence. ArcelorMittal has suspended all steel capacity expansion for now, but after $4.8 billion in capital expenditures in 2011, it intends to spend $4 billion-$4.5 billion in 2012. About $3 billion is maintenance spending; the remaining $1 billion-$1.5 billion is focused on mining projects primarily in Canada, Liberia, and Brazil. The majority of these are expected to have an EBITDA payback period of less than 18 months, based on current prices. ArcelorMittal's last-minute cold feet about the Macarthur Coal deal indicates the company will pull back when it lacks confidence.

We do expect iron ore and coking coal prices to fall slowly over the next four years, but we do not view this as a risk to mining EBITDA growth, as any price risk is more than offset by volume growth and further supported by lower output costs per ton as production ramps, particularly for iron ore, which is a much larger component of the mining business.

ArcelorMittal's asset-optimization plan, sustainable cost-cutting efforts, and potential to sell noncore assets provide further protection against weaker-than-expected market conditions, in our view. In September 2011, the company outlined a plan targeting $1 billion of additional EBITDA by the end of 2012 through improvements in core assets--maximizing production at the lowest-cost facilities to increase productivity while scaling back production at less optimal plants to optimize output with no market share losses. It has idled several furnaces across Europe, including in Spain and France, and plans to permanently close 2.6 million tons of previously idled capacity in Belgium, which is expected to produce the bulk of the $1 billion in savings and will be heavily weighted to the back half of 2012. Management has also made strides to take costs out of the producing assets in the past two years, largely related to selling, general, and administrative and fixed costs. The firm had achieved about $4 billion in sustainable cost efficiencies as of the end of 2011, and it intends to achieve an additional $800 million by the end of 2012, largely related to variable costs and operational improvements. Finally, the company currently has $9 billion in investments in associates and joint ventures all over the world. Management believes there are significant noncore assets that do not contribute to the EBITDA line that could be sold at a reasonable valuation in 2012.

More Upside Potential Than Downside Risk for Next Two Years Our fair value estimate is derived from our base-case forecast for ArcelorMittal, which assumes a low-growth scenario overall with a modest recession in Europe, soft landing in China, and continued slow progress in the U.S. Our bear-case scenario assumes a deeper euro debt crisis and a stalling of steel consumption growth rates in 2012-13, which produces a fair value estimate of $29, above where the shares currently trade. While there is a wide range and we are not at the very bottom, our earnings estimates for ArcelorMittal are below consensus for 2012 and 2013. The more bullish consensus forecast further illustrates our view that the market is more spooked than the underlying fundamentals suggest. There could be additional upside potential to our fair value estimate should steel market conditions improve more quickly than we expect.

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ArcelorMittal Still a Steal

I must confess, I am a hypocrite by selecting the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim first. When Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson signed their contracts, I rolled my eyes and said that the additions wouldn't work like the Angels wanted them too.

Then I started thinking about it. I looked at the Rangers' potential injury issues along with the hangover that could result in a slump to either start the season or linger throughout the year.

While that alone could open the door for the Angels, it's clear they have the talent to do it themselves.

It's been debated whether Pujols was suitable for a 10-year contract with the Angels as he's headed toward the twilight of his career. Well, the twilight is still light years away and at the very least, Pujols will give the Angels a benefit in 2012.

They'll also get a boost from C.J. Wilson. Wilson may relate to Carl Pavano stat wise, but he makes the Angels rotation deeper as they already get solid contributions from Jared Weaver and Ervin Santana.

The back of the bullpen might be a question with Jordan Walden getting his first opportunity to close games, but if the rotation can hold up their end of the bargain, they'll be in the mix to unseat the Rangers.

The contracts the Angels doled out last winter may haunt them down the road, but they have an opportunity in 2012 to get something out of it right now. We'll see if they can capitalize.

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MLB Preview 2012: Predicting the American League West Divsion

Video Game Review: Mass Effect 3 by Eric Deters Published: March 23, 2012

The end has come. The Reapers have arrived en masse, and the cycle must begin anew. For fans of Biowares epic science fiction trilogy Mass Effect, the day the final installment in the trilogy was released was among the moments that they had anticipated from the very beginning. The series had been billed as a roleplaying experience where every choice the player made throughout each of the nearly 30-hour long games would carry significant weight in the final outcome of their story, as well as have incredible influence on various minor encounters throughout. Along with that hefty promise, the developers intended to improve on the third-person cover-based combat, making it even more visceral and smooth than in the second game, and put it to further use in a multiplayer mode reminiscent of the Horde mode in the Gears of War franchise. Thats obviously a whole lot to live up to, and considering the unimaginably lofty expectations that fans have for this sweeping conclusion to what has so far been a transcendent roleplaying experience, its pretty impressive that Bioware managed to meet the majority of their promises. That minority, however, does consist of some fairly important issues that really should have been addressed.

Following the end of the previous game in the series (as well as its final DLC pack, Arrival, which you should play to understand its impact on the introduction of the game, if not for the fact that its quite good), Mass Effect 3 sees Commander Shepard attempting to bring together the multitude of races in the galaxy to finally wipe out the Reapers, the race of sentient machines carrying out a cosmic cycle of development and destruction (hence why some fans choose to call them Mecha-Cthulhus) that have just invaded Earth by the beginning of the game. By the time the game begins, Shepard has managed to kill ONE of these monstrosities, and they invade Earth with a force clearly in the hundreds if not thousands. This kind of magnitude serves to emphasize the hopeless situation the galaxy is in; destroying a single Reaper takes entire fleets, and with the various races being as divided by petty conflicts as they are, getting enough firepower to take down a single Reaper is a serious challenge. However, the galaxy is given a chance thanks to blueprints for a Prothean super-weapon found on Mars (in the archives where humans first discovered Prothean technology) known as the Crucible, which is said to be the only way to truly defeat the Reapers once their invasion has begun. There are many other minor plot arcs that make up Shepards quest to win the war, such as resolving the Turian/Krogan/Salarian conflict, getting the Asari to join your cause, dealing with the Quarians and the Geth, and way too much concerning Cerberus, but they all feed in to the main arc of putting together the Crucible and uniting the galaxy to defeat the Reapers.

Among the my favorite elements of Mass Effect 3 is the way it weaves the myriad threads of the prior games by reacquainting you with former allies (for me, at least; some saw this string of coincidences to be a bit unrealistic). As you would expect, every party member from the first game, save the one you sacrificed on Virmire near the games conclusion, will make a rather major reappearance in this game; Garrus joins your party for the third time, making him the only character to do so in every game, Liara applies her knowledge of the Protheans to aid in the completion of the Crucible, and Wrex (if you didnt kill him on Virmire, and if you did, shame on you) is the galactic ambassador for the Krogans. Its like a big reunion of some of the best characters in games, period, and everyone feels important in regards to the plot. Well, with the exception of James Vega, that is (aside from a controversial DLC character, but well get to him later). Vega is the only new party member in the game (the character that makes me hesitant to say that would constitute a pretty big spoiler, along with one of my favorite moments in the game), and hes the typical meat-headed war buddy character common in more action-oriented games like Call of Duty or Battlefield. The thing is, hes not really filling a role that was left open after the other two games and he simply doesnt fit in this universe. His gimmick of calling Shepard Loco (which, if youre a Renegade or simply not in the mood, you can shoot down completely) is only slightly endearing, and he doesnt have the relevance to the plot that our buddy Garrus, who Id call the only one that comes close to his archetype, has in spades. Hes also not given enough depth to make him a worthwhile addition, and considering the fact that the game takes the squad size back down to the originals size of 6 (considering you have the aforementioned DLC, which were still not talking about yet) means that there are no truly great additions to the main cast, unlike in the prior games, where EVERY new character stood out in some way.

Okay, time to talk about From Ashes, the day one DLC containing a new ally and a single mission. This all costs $10, which means that it is WAY over priced (I got it through the Collectors Edition, so thats why I actually have it). The catch is that the ally you get is a Prothean. For non-fans, this means nothing, but for fans, this knowledge is astounding. This is the race whose technology gave humans the capability to travel through space and find the Citadel, and they were all supposedly wiped out by the Reapers. You may be starting to understand why this is a point of controversy among fans. The fact of the matter is that the Prothean companion, named Javik, should be in the game, and not because of the reason that fans pointed out (with EA and Bioware trying to get as much money out of fans as possible). He provides an incredible amount of insight regarding the conflict and various characters on the ship that feels vital to understanding the story as a whole. His position as a character you have to pay $10 for and play through a boring mission with a pretty boring adversary sours this deal a whole lot, and thats what makes this easy to say; you should have Javik in your party, but you shouldnt have to pay for him. Paradoxes are usually fun, but this one is just annoying.

I do have some minor problems with the story that were easy to get over in the long run. Cerberus, your employer from the second game, has a HUGE role to play in this game, and I dont like it, personally. It takes away from the main conflict with the world-ending Reapers (who have far more interesting combat units), even more so than doing odd jobs for the different races to bring them into your cause. In the first game, Cerberus is something you hear more about than you actually encounter. Theyre talked up as terrorists and war criminals, generally people you dont want to mess with. Then, in the second game, when they bring Shepard back to life, he has no choice but to work with them, though their methods dont seem as brutal or gratuitous as the various news stations made them out to be in the first game. The Illusive Man does put man lives at risk through his attempts to gather information on the Collectors, but it all made sense in the end; his ideas were logical and you could see that he had a clear, noble goal in mind. In this game, however, Cerberus is seemingly everywhere just to be a pain in your ass. Given the ending, it makes a tad bit more sense, but the Illusive Man and his right hand man Kai Leng show up at the worst moments doing things that wouldve been downright insane considering their mindset in the second game. Another enemy that I felt took the focus away from the Reapers was the Geth. I get the idea now that these factions were thrown against Shepard because everything WOULD go wrong in these circumstances and there needed to be some variety, but seriously, weve had enough of the Geth. They were amazing enemies in the first game, since they had an interesting backstory and were incredibly menacing due to their ruthlessness. But in the second game, Shepard meets Legion, a Geth that sees himself as against the heretics (this is getting into spoiler territory for Mass Effect 2, but seriously, if you havent played it, something is wrong with you for reading this review), or Geth that follow the Old Machines (the Reapers). Then, through his loyalty mission (which, by the way, are completely removed in Mass Effect 3, much to my chagrin), Shepard and Legion either a) destroy the heretic splinter group or b) rewrite them, effectively brainwashing them to follow Shepard. This is probably the best moral choice in the entire series, but thats beside the point. In Mass Effect 3, your decision didnt accomplish jack and the Quarians have instigated war on the Geth to reclaim their home planet, which results in the Geth rejoining the Old Machines (except for Legion, because hes cool like that). In a game about choice and consequence, this entire segment shouldve been removed. Shepard already solved their conflicts; it hadnt gotten the Quarian homeworld back to the people, but it was close enough. Whyd they have to screw the pooch and give Shepard more problems to solve?

For my last point on the story (I know this review is getting long, but gosh do I love talking about this game), theres the ending. I cant say much about it, but I will say that it does feel like Bioware has kind of cheated us players in some way. The development team promised a huge number of variables figuring into the very end of your game, resulting in a multitude of endings with vastly different outcomes. In the end, thats not the case at all. Your choice at the end is between (as some forum users so elegantly put it) three different colors and the effectiveness of your choice is determined by doing a lot of sidequests in this game only. Sure, factors from the first two games play a part in the story as a whole for this game (which, like I dont believe Ive truly stated yet, is fantastic for the most part), but in the very final cutscene that brings about the total conclusion of this trilogy, none of it really affects the outcome. Not to mention the fact that no real resolution is given to players, especially not for the fate of the galaxy following that devastating war or how it affected your team members or other people you met in your journeys. That is, however, only one of the ways to read that ending.

The other way involves something called the Indoctrination Theory (I wont include a link here, but look it up if youve finished the game), which, if true, is among the most mind-blowingly meta things Ive ever experienced. However, even if it is true, the idea of resolution is missing. So, no matter how you look at it, whether optimistically or pessimistically, Bioware has shipped something of an unfinished story, and thats a shame.

I think its finally time to talk about the gameplay. I mentioned earlier that the gunplay had been made much smoother and quicker, which I believe makes for a far more enjoyable game to play, even from the vastly improved Mass Effect 2. Abilities have been added, such as Nova for the Vanguard (only class I played for the most part), which combines wonderfully with their Biotic Charge ability. These kinds of additions directly improve the flow of combat regarding each class unique abilities, and propagate the brutal, visceral nature of the games new combat system. The biggest addition comes with the weapon system, wherein any class can now use any weapon with efficiency. The weapons can also be modded with different damage, accuracy, or capacity upgrades. However, Shepard cannot wield all of the heaviest weapons he wants if he also wants to make the fullest use of his biotic and tech abilities. As you equip Shepard with weapons, his ability recharge percentage will go down, all the way to -200%. This reconciliation between armed combat and ability-based combat helps players craft their own experience to a great degree, and it allows for some excellent specialization. The designers sought to bring the impactful and exciting combat experience and the roleplaying roots of their science fiction franchise into harmony with one another, and theyve done it wonderfully in my opinion. The new multiplayer mode takes this improved combat experience and takes away much of the story and context in each situation, for better or for worse. It distills that side of the game for those who want it, along with the choice-based level up function (which takes the final stage of the abilities from Mass Effect 2 where you were given two radically different advances and implements them three times for each ability) and weapon system translate well to the challenge of a Horde mode in this series, and in the end, it wasnt a bad addition.

After the first level of Mass Effect 3, I was ready to say that the aesthetic representation hadnt improved much from the second game in the series. While the lighting and cinematic scale were astounding, the facial animation, which is one of the staples of the series and is paramount to selling the believability of the alien races that Shepard interacts with, was just off. However, as the game went on, I stopped noticing anything wrong with that (other than Jessica Chobots role in the game as Diana Allers, a newscaster that tries to get a room on the lower deck of the Normandy and the new Ashley Williams. Seriously, theyre hard to look at) and was simply more blown away with the amazing vistas of destruction and magnitude throughout the main story missions. The incredible score by Jack Wall has also returned, and alums of the original game Faunts have returned to compose this games final credits song, and its just as cool as their previous efforts. I shouldnt even have to mention it, but the voice acting in this game is the industry standard, with a number of both skilled specialists in this field as well as celebrity cameos (including Martin Sheen, Tricia Helfer, Keith David, Steve Blum, and Seth Green).

Originally posted here:
Video Game Review: Mass Effect 3

Two top rated films, one average, one very old cinema and another one re-release is the Ugadi festival offer in Kannada filmdom. For the first time in nearly 170 theatres producers, exhibitor and distributor MN Kumar is releasing crazy star V Ravichandran Nikesha Patel starring 'Narasimha' that has strong shades of storyline of Telugu film 'Simha Rasi' released in 2001.

The second biggest films for the presence of Tamil action King Arjun as Arjun Sarja in Kannada in 'Prasad' a film with purpose on the physically challenged children in the society is produced by the business tycoon Ashok Kheney of NICE.

'Narasimha' in the direction of S Mohan - actor turned writer and director has some new additions to the 11 years old subject. Hamsalekha has rejoined V Ravichandran and given the music. Suresh Byrasandra is the cameraman of 'Narasimha' that also stars Jayanthi, Srinivasamurthy, Padma Vasanthi, Priyanka Chandra, Srinivasa Prabhu, Ravishanker and others.

'Prasad' a poignant story by AKK Entertainment is on the physically challenged child in a middle class family. The fortune of child Prasad father changes and the young boy becomes the swimming champion. Madhuri Bhattacharya, Master Sankalp, Ramakrishna, Ninasam Ashwath, Kshama and others are in the cast. Manoj Sathi has directed this film. Music maestro Ilayaraja has scored the music. Sanjay Malkar has stood behind the camera.

Naveen Krishna and Neethusri starring 'Jeevana Joke Alli' is releasing without publicity in Savitha mini theatre adjacent to Sampige theatre. Jayanth has penned the story, screenplay, dialogues and directed the film. Rajesh Ramanath has scored the music and Gauri Venkatesh is the cameraman.

'Silence' film by Venugopal as director and Krishnamurthy as producer is returning after five years of start. It is based on the two characters in the real life 'Dhandupalya' treacherous gang members.

Another film 'Aa Marma' is releasing again after first release in Uttar Kannada region in Bengaluru city.

Five Kannada films are contesting in the box office with stiff oppositions of other language films like - Naa Ishtam, Yee Rojullo (Telugu), Maasi (Tamil starring Arjun), The Hunger Games (English), Agent Vinod (Hindi) etc.

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Five for festival today!

View more photos and video at Times-Call Media

ERIE -- Erie Middle School is a growing place.

Not

St. Vrain Valley School District officials, from left, Todd Piccone, Dori Van Lone, Brian Lamer and John Creighton tour the construction site at Erie Middle School on Wednesday. The construction is scheduled to be completed in fall of 2013. ( Greg Lindstrom )

Construction is under way while school is in session; some seventh-grade classes have been moved to portable classrooms on the northeast side of the school.

"It seems to be going just fine. ... I think the kids kind of like it," principal Todd Bissell said.

School board members, who toured the building during their study session meeting at the school, seemed excited, especially Dori Van Lone, who lives in Erie.

"Awesome, unbelievable," Van Lone said as she looked around the art room that is going in where the wrestling room used to be.

A music room and new classrooms are being built on the south side of the school, while an auditorium will be added on the west side.

On the east side, south of the main entrance, new eighth-grade classrooms are under construction.

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Erie Middle School growing in every way

March 22, 2012 - Major League Soccer (MLS) Portland Timbers Join the official viewing party Saturday at Dublin Pub Timbers announce $40,000 in community grants for local nonprofits Timbers to face Valencia CF, one of Spain's top clubs, in friendly on May 23 "Timbers In 30' airs Friday on KPTV Fox 12 Gleeson, New Zealand U-23 National Team seek Olympic berth Reserve League kicks off on Tuesday, March 27, for Timbers Timbers coach John Spencer calls Darlington Nagbe's goal against FC Dallas Jewsbury, Chara send message to youth at Csar E. Chvez Leadership Conference Tune in to "Talk Timbers" on 750 AM The Game

PORTLAND, Ore. - The Portland Timbers hit the road for the second straight week, traveling to face the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., at 1 p.m. (Pacific).

Saturday's match at the Revolution will be televised live on ROOT SPORTS, with radio broadcasts on 750 AM The Game and in Spanish on La Pantera 940 AM.

The Timbers (1-0-1, 4pts) earned a point with another come-from-behind performance last Saturday against FC Dallas. Second-year midfielder/forward Darlington Nagbe entered the match as a halftime substitute and quickly provided the equalizing goal in the 51st minute. Following a failed clearance by FC Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, the ball deflected off an FC Dallas defender, creating a 50-50 ball at the edge of the penalty area. Nagbe beat a defender to the ball and slotted a shot past Hartman, who was closing in on him. In addition, Timbers defender Hanyer Mosquera, who made his debut against FC Dallas, earned a place on the MLS Team of the Week honorable mention list.

The Timbers and New England (0-2-0, 0pts) face each other for the one, and only, time during the regular season on Saturday in the home opener for the Revolution. Preceding Saturday's match, the Women's national teams of Brazil and Canada are set to play an international friendly at Gillette Stadium as part of a home-opening doubleheader.

Last season, the Timbers took four out of a possible six points from the Revolution. Portland earned its first road point as an MLS club with a 1-1 draw on April 2, 2011 at Gillette Stadium. Midfielder Jack Jewsbury provided the game-tying goal for the Timbers in the 38th minute. In front of a sold-out crowd at JELD-WEN Field on Sept. 16, 2011, the Timbers defeated New England, 3-0, with Diego Chara and Darlington Nagbe among the goal scorers.

New England, playing with 10 men for 76 minutes, lost 3-0 on the road at Sporting Kansas City last weekend. The Revolution, behind new head coach Jay Heaps and a large cast of new additions are still searching for their first win of the 2012 season.

Join the Timbers official viewing party Saturday at Dublin Pub

Fans are invited to attend the Timbers official viewing parties for road matches at local Timbers pub partners throughout the season. On Saturday, Dublin Pub will host the second viewing party of the 2012 season at 1 p.m. (PT), presented by ROOT SPORTS.

Offering happy hour specials throughout the match, Dublin Pub is also giving those in attendance the chance to win Timbers-related prizes, including a team-signed, retro-inspired third jersey.

See original here:
Timbers Weekly Update

UFC on FX 4's dance card is quickly filling.

The promotion announced a quartet of new welterweight bouts for the event, which takes place June 22 at Revel Casino in Atlantic City, N.J.

Additions for the card include Dan Miller (13-6 MMA, 5-5 UFC) vs. Ricardo Funch (8-3 MMA, 0-3 UFC), Rick Story (13-5 MMA, 6-3 UFC) vs. Rich Attonito (10-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC), Matt Riddle (6-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) vs. Luis Ramos (19-7 MMA, 0-1 UFC), and Brian Ebersole (49-14-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) vs. T.J. Waldburger (15-6 MMA, 3-1 UFC).

The event's main card airs live on FX while preliminary-card fights air on FUEL TV. It's not clear where the above fights will be placed on the lineup.

UFC on FX 4 is the promotion's first trip to Atlantic City in seven years after UFC 53 took place at Boardwalk Hall.

Miller, a longtime middleweight, makes the drop to welterweight out of nothing less than career necessity. The well-liked New Jersey native is 2-5 since a three-fight win streak that began his UFC career, which most recently includes losses to Nate Marquardt and Rousimar Palhares. Although personal and short-notice circumstances have certainly put a harder road in front of him than most, he needs nothing less than an impressive showing to secure his job in the octagon.

Funch is on the rails, as well, having dropped all three of his UFC appearances. Losses to Johny Hendricks, Claude Patrick and, most recently, Mike Pyle have made his octagon career an affair to forget. However, they are the only setbacks in his professional career, and the native Brazilian holds a notable win over Waldburger four years ago.

Story is still trying to regain momentum and may be close to a pink slip. After a six-fight streak saw him earn key wins over Hendricks and Thiago Alves, he's fallen short in his past two outings against Charlie Brenneman and Martin Kampmann.

Attonito, a veteran of "The Ultimate Fighter 11," seems more hot and cold. After emerging from the reality show with a win over the season's bad boy, Jamie Yager, he's hopscotched between wins and losses in his past four outings. While he's outpointed Rafael Natal and Daniel Roberts, he's fallen short to Dave Branch and Jake Hecht. Consistency is what's needed.

Riddle, a "TUF" vet who's fought his entire professional career in the octagon, recently righted his ship with a split-decision win over Henry Martinez, which reversed a two-fight slide in bouts against Sean Pierson and Lance Benoist.

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UFC on FX 4 adds Miller-Funch, Story-Attonito, Riddle-Ramos, Ebersole-Waldburger

It's been an active day around the AFC North as far as free agency is concerned, with the top story being the Cincinnati Bengals signing running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis to a three-year deal.

Along with Michael Bush, Green-Ellis was one of two running backs the Bengals met with earlier this week.

The signing of Green-Ellis likely means that Bush will land with another team.

Green-Ellis, a former New England Patriot, isn't the most explosive runner on the free agent market, likely indicating that that role will be played by a back the Bengals pick up in next month's draft.

However, his third down and goal-line skills, reliable hands (he has yet to lose a fumble in his professional career) and pass-blocking abilities will make him an incredibly useful member of the Bengals' offense.

Green-Ellis rushed 181 times for 667 yards and 11 scores in 2011 and also caught nine passes for another 159 yards.

In other news around the division, the Cleveland Brownsonce incorrectly thought to have interest in Bengals free agent run-stopping linebacker Manny Lawsonhave met with former New York Giants middle linebacker Jonathan Goff, according to the Plain Dealer.

Goff was one of the numerous Giants defenders struck down with injuries last season, missing all of 2011 with a torn ACL.

The Plain Dealer reports that, if he signs, he would be as a depth addition only and would not start.

The Pittsburgh Steelers made two offseason roster additions today, adding tight end Wes Lyons and fullback Will Johnson.

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RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis Joins Bengals and AFC North Free Agency Notes

--BHP estimates that seaborne iron-ore demand will grow at single-digit rate but will remain strong

--Rio Tinto confident of a soft landing for China's economy

--Both BHP and Rio reaffirm plans to continue investing in iron ore businesses

By Alex MacDonald

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Iron ore miners are predicting slower growth in iron ore demand this year as China, the world's second-largest economy, cools but the long-term iron ore outlook remains upbeat, buttressed in part by generally robust Asian demand.

Ian Ashby, president of BHP's (BHP) iron ore division, told reporters in Perth Tuesday that growth in China's demand for steelmaking's raw ingredient will drop "to single digits, if it is not already there." But he noted in a presentation that seaborne iron ore demand is "expected to grow strongly" in the years ahead.

China earlier this year cut its 2012 growth target for gross domestic product, or GDP, to an eight-year low of 7.5% while its trade deficit ballooned to a record $31.48 billion in February.

These figures, combined with a raft of weak survey data that point to deteriorating activity and confidence in manufacturing, have stoked fears that China is slowing at a faster rate than Beijing and many economists thought.

Despite the slower growth, BHP and Rio Tinto (RIO) both said they are pushing ahead with plans to sharply increase their production of iron ore, as well as other commodities. Rio and BHP are the second- and third-largest seaborne iron- ore producers after Brazilian miner Vale SA (VALE).

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Iron Ore Miners Eye Slower China Growth; Upbeat Long-Term