The 19-year-old Spieth tapped in for par on the par-four 18th hole to defeat 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson, who won the tournament last year, and Canadian David Hearn after the trio finished the regulation 72 holes tied at 19 under par.

The three players all parred the first four holes of the playoff despite having chances to win at TPC Deere Run, setting up the finish in Silvis, Illinois.

Spieth, a two-time U.S. Junior Amateur champion, became the youngest player to win on the tour since Ralph Guldahl won the Santa Monica Open 82 years ago.

(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

Reps. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Xavier Becerra of California, Steve Israel of New York, Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts, and Henry Cuellar of Texas have all paid their dues, literally.

But the apple polishers are way outnumbered by the laggards. The members of leadership who have paid zero in dues include Reps. Diana DeGette of Colorado, Maxine Waters of California, Robert Brady of Pennsylvania, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, and Bennie Thompson of Mississippi. And despite having more than $2.7 million and $1.1 million in their respective campaign accounts, Reps. Lloyd Doggett of Texas and Gerald Connolly of Virginia have not paid their dues.

On the whole, though, there has been a noticeable step up in member participation this cycle, a Democratic campaign operative said.

Check out the .

WATERLOO, Ontario (Reuters) - BlackBerry Ltd signaled on Tuesday that a licensing deal, or even an outright sale of the company, was still a possibility, pleasing shareholders still reeling from the disappointing debut for its new line of smartphones.

Chief Executive Thorsten Heins, responding to a question about whether he was looking into strategic alternatives, said he is open to all options that create value for shareholders. He emphasized that the company has so far focused on creating value through the launch of its new devices powered by an all-new BlackBerry 10 operating system.

"This is a long-term transition for the company, but I can assure you that we're pushing very hard," Heins said at the company's annual shareholder meeting. "BlackBerry will pursue every opportunity to create value for shareholders."

His remarks that BlackBerry was also open to any and all licensing opportunities, sent shares higher in morning trading.

John Goldsmith, deputy head of equities at Montrusco Bolton, which owns more than 1.5 million BlackBerry shares, believes that BlackBerry may well be pressed into striking such a deal.

"I think they're on a very short leash," said Goldsmith, referring to BlackBerry's management. "I wouldn't be surprised if within the next two quarters there is a definitive announcement with regard to other options that this company could be looking at whether that's putting itself for sale or some other option."

The company's stock had dropped more than 30 percent after it posted disappointing second-quarter results in late June and forecast an operating loss in the current quarter.

A bigger concern for investors, was the fact that it sold fewer-than-expected BlackBerry 10 devices in their first full quarter on the market, offering little evidence that it could quickly win back market share from Apple Inc's iPhone, Samsung's Galaxy devices, and other phones powered by Google's Android operating system.

Even so, some investors believe many other companies would relish the prospect of getting their hands on the new platform.

"I can see why this guy is confident," said Ross Healy, a portfolio manager with MacNicol & Associates, whose clients own BlackBerry shares. "He is talking about partnerships and being open to talks and I don't think you say that unless you've really had a talk or two with interested parties - and that gives you some confidence."

At the meeting, held at BlackBerry's home base in Waterloo, Ontario, Heins conceded that BlackBerry has a tough road ahead as it attempts to turn around its fortunes, but he insisted it was on the right track.

Heins said BlackBerry was already seeing small signs of market-share gains in the top-end of the ultra-competitive smartphone market.

"Before you go into any strategic option, I think you have to create value. And the value of the company 15 months ago was way less than what it is today," he said.

CLOCK TICKING

Despite the company's confident tone, many investors agree that the clock is ticking for BlackBerry, which is caught in a squeeze on both the high- and low-ends of the smartphone market.

BlackBerry 10 devices hit store shelves this year just as the high-end smartphone segment had begun to show some signs of saturation. Last week, Samsung reported results that fell shy of expectations, while Apple earlier this year reported its first quarterly profit decline in more than a decade.

On the mid- to low end, competition is growing intense, with Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei Technologies and ZTE gaining ground.

Even so, BlackBerry said it remains determined to stick to its plan and is not re-thinking its strategy in any manner.

"We as a board remain completely supportive of management," said the company's chair, Barbara Stymiest, adding that she was confident the turnaround plan would succeed.

Shareholders voted on Tuesday to elect all the company's director nominees to its board. They also approved the plan to change the company's name to BlackBerry Ltd from Research In Motion Ltd, a move that had been announced in January.

BlackBerry shares closed almost 1 percent higher at $9.64 on the Nasdaq on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha, additional reporting by Peter Henderson; Writing by Cameron French; editing by Frank McGurty and Gunna Dickson)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In the first 10 minutes of the second season of HBO drama "The Newsroom," creator Aaron Sorkin hits viewers with half a dozen news themes, an intense legal discussion, a flashback and SOPA.

Yes, SOPA, the acronym for the Stop Online Piracy Act being debated in Congress. It's the kind of complex topics that will keep news junkies and fans of Sorkin's chaotic television newsroom on their toes for season two, which premieres Sunday.

Although the first season of "The Newsroom" has a good chance of picking up Emmy nominations next week, including for best drama, Sorkin's creation was picked apart by the critics.

Now the writer who made his name with the Emmy-winning drama "The West Wing" and won a writing Oscar for "The Social Network" begins this season with something to prove.

In a sign of what's at stake, Sorkin told The Hollywood Reporter that for season two he re-wrote the first three episodes and had to re-shoot chunks of the first and second at a cost of several million dollars to HBO, owned by Time Warner.

"The Newsroom" stars Jeff Daniels as gruff news anchor Will McAvoy, bent on delivering a nightly newscast that tackles the tough news issues, regardless of ratings pressures. He is supported in his quest by his former love and producer MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer), his boss (Sam Waterston) and smart staffers whose fragile personal lives enrich each episode.

In the first season, Sorkin was criticized for presenting a sanctimonious view of the news, with "New York Times" critic Alessandra Stanley saying: "'The Newsroom' would be a lot better if the main characters preached less and went back to reporting."

For this season, Sorkin hired a dozen consultants, mostly journalists, to help him navigate the news. But he insists he is not out to tell the world how to produce news.

"This show isn't meant to be a 'here's how you do it' kind of thing," Sorkin told Reuters this week. "It's a workplace show."

NO STATEMENT ON MEDIA

The Sorkin-created workplace is a bewildering environment, rife with his trademark, detail-filled dialogue and breaking news events, most of which happened in the real world. Add to that a complex legal case that will thread its way through entire season.

In the first few minutes of season two, Will McAvoy is in deep trouble with his corporate masters for calling the conservative Tea Party movement "the American Taliban."

A corporate lawyer played by show newcomer Marcia Gay Harden says to Will: "Fourteen months ago, you went on the air and called the Tea Party the American Taliban. What happened then?" Will responds "A lot."

The viewer is then pulled into the vortex of news from the year before in flashback, from the campaigning of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney to the rebel victory in Libya to Occupy Wall Street to SOPA. And then there is a fictional story about U.S. use of chemical weapons code-named "Genoa," based on a real 1998 story that got CNN in trouble. It will be the bete noire for "News Night" this season.

Daniels, who may also be an Emmy contender, believes Will McAvoy's objectives are not just the stuff of fiction.

"I think there are shows out there that are trying to do, and successfully do, what Will is trying to do ... And that is to tell the truth," he said.

Sorkin, for his part, says he is not selling "The Newsroom" as a critique of today's news media landscape.

"I think it's impossible to make any statement about the media," Sorkin said. "There's just so much of it. It's so big."

(Additional reporting by John Russell; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The biggest operator of Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans is teaming up with the largest U.S. Spanish-language media network to explain Obamacare to Hispanics in California, New York, Colorado and Georgia.

A partnership announced on Thursday by WellPoint Inc, Univision Communications Inc and healthcare marketer HolaDoctor Inc will include 70 town hall meetings in the four states, 30-second TV and radio ads, regular newscast segments devoted to subject and an online insurance center to guide consumers through the intricacies of coverage.

The initiative, one of many outreach efforts expected in the coming months to help explain President Barack Obama's healthcare law, will begin next month and run through March.

America's 52 million Hispanics are a main audience for the roll-out of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which will offer health coverage to millions of uninsured people through new online insurance exchanges in all 50 states and expanded Medicare coverage in about half the country.

U.S. Census data show that about one in three Hispanics lacks health coverage, while many have low-to-moderate incomes that could qualify for Medicaid or federal subsidies to help pay for private insurance. In California alone, about half of the 2.6 million people with incomes low enough to qualify for subsidies are Hispanic, according to the administration.

But experts say most Hispanics are unfamiliar with the health benefits under Obamacare, which comes into full force on January 1.

"You really have to start at that square one. People need to first understand what the value of health insurance is and then what's coming under healthcare reform," said Robyn Gilson, WellPoint's staff vice president for multicultural marketing.

WellPoint is expected to become one of the biggest participants in the new insurance marketplaces, which are slated to begin enrolling consumers on October 1. The Indianapolis-based insurer currently sells health plans under the Blue Cross Blue Shield license in 14 states.

Gilson said WellPoint turned to Univision's television and radio operations as a trusted voice in the Hispanic community. New York-based Univision has two broadcast TV networks, 10 cable networks, 62 local TV stations and 69 radio stations.

California, Colorado, New York and Georgia are all WellPoint markets with large Hispanic populations.

Depending on the success of the initiative, Gilson said the outreach effort could be expanded to more areas.

(Reporting by David Morgan.; Editing by Caroline Humer and Andre Grenon)

The pair were joint leaders at five-under following the third round, with several other contenders within striking distance at the 2018 Ryder Cup venue.

Yet Northern Ireland's McDowell, the 2010 U.S Open champion, and Sterne both birdied two of their first six holes to ensure they were in prime position to keep their rivals at a distance.

McDowell bogeyed the par-four seventh, only his fourth of the week, but picked himself up to birdie the ninth and 10th as Sterne began to falter.

The South African fell away after the turn, bogeying the 12th, 16th and 17th.

McDowell hit a superb birdie on the 17th to add a final flourish and add to his wins at the RBC Heritage in South Carolina and the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Bulgaria.

He ended with a four-under 67 and winning total of nine-under 275.

McDowell, who missed the cut at last week's Irish Open in what has been a year of fluctuating results for the Ryder Cup stalwart, moved to second behind Justin Rose in the Race to Dubai rankings.

"It's very special after the last couple of months," McDowell told the European Tour website (www.europeantour.com).

"It's been a bit of a battle. It's been a funny year. My game has not felt far away most weeks but I have missed a lot more cuts than normal and missing cuts hurts.

"It certainly motivated me a lot the last few weeks. The U.S. Open was a tough one to take and missing the cut in Ireland last week.

"It made me more hungry to want to be in positions like I was this afternoon."

Sterne, also a winner on the tour in 2013, finished the round on even par and five-under for the tournament, while Spain's Eduardo de la Riva and England's Graeme Storm were tied for third a shot further back. (Reporting by Josh Reich; editing by Toby Davis)

Vivus shares rose as much as 6 percent in morning trading on the Nasdaq before easing back to be up 2.5 percent in early afternoon trading.

Privately held Menarini will sell the drug, avanafil, as Spedra in Australia, New Zealand and 40 European countries.

Avanafil has not been launched in the United States despite being cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration more than a year ago because Vivus has been unable to find a partner to sell it - among the complaints of 9.9 percent shareholder First Manhattan Co.

Vivus will get an upfront payment of 16 million euros, and is eligible for up to 79 million euros in milestone payments above royalties on Spedra's sales.

The erectile dysfunction drug will be Vivus's second product on the market after weight-loss drug Qsymia, whose sales have struggled to reach anywhere near analysts' expectations.

First Manhattan nominated a slate of new directors and even proposed a new chief executive for Vivus in March, criticizing the company for a poor launch of Qsymia.

Vivus said on Tuesday that First Manhattan has been offering only "uncertainty and delay" in its efforts to shake up the company's board.

"FMC's 'plan' - to the extent they have one - appears to revolve solely around doing things that the Vivus board and management team are already doing, 'fixing' things that aren't broken," Vivus said in a statement.

The company said its management was already doing what needed to be done to unlock the full sales potential of Qsymia.

First Manhattan and Vivus will face off on July 15 when shareholders vote on the alternative board nominations.

Vivus shares were up 2.5 percent at $12.86 in early afternoon trading.

(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui and Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Maureen Bavdek and Don Sebastian)

Lawson, 53, is hugely popular in Britain for her television cooking shows, which she presents in her trademark flirtatious manner, and line of cookbooks. She is also widely known in the United States, Australia and other English-speaking countries.

"I feel that I have clearly been a disappointment to Nigella during the last year or so," the 70-year-old former advertising tycoon told The Mail on Sunday newspaper.

"I am disappointed that she was advised to make no public comment to explain that I abhor violence of any kind against women, and have never abused her physically in any way."

In June, a tabloid newspaper published photographs of Saatchi with his hand around his wife's neck, with her in tears, while they were having dinner on the terrace of a seafood restaurant in London's upmarket Mayfair.

Saatchi attempted to downplay the photos, saying they depicted a "playful tiff" with his wife of 10 years, but Lawson, the daughter of former British finance minister Nigel Lawson, moved out of the family home soon afterwards and has not made a public commented on the incident.

Saatchi accepted a police caution for assault after the row but groups campaigning against domestic abuse and violence against women have complained over the lack of action taken against him.

Lawson married Saatchi in 2003 after her first husband, journalist John Diamond, died of throat cancer. She has two teenage children, Cosima and Bruno, from her first marriage.

Saatchi ran the world's largest advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi with his brother in the 1980s.

(Reporting by William James; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

Principals, teachers, and students all feel the pressure of these high-stakes exams.

"If a school does not make adequate yearly progress for several years in a row," according to Bob Schaeffer, the public education director of FairTest, "a school can be reconstituted, which means the staff is replaced."

Many states have additional consequences for students. Schaeffer says they use test scores for "grade promotion, gifted-and-talented promotion, graduation (about half the states have exit exams), and scholarship aid."

Twelve-year-old Zion knows how important these tests are for his futureand the future of his school. "It's a big test," he says.

His story is captured in , a five-part video series about the state of public education in America. In the videos, we hear from the actual kids affected by our troubled school system.

"When I'm about to bubble in the answer, I hope I don't get it wrong," Zion says.

The fifth-grader attends Micheltorena Elementary in Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood. His school has made a positive transformation in the last few years, but many students struggle with testing.

"We went up nine consecutive years and then we took a drop, and we're still not quite where we were before the drop," Micheltorena principal Susanna Furfari says.

Furfari says she understands, "that you have to have some measure of a school if it's failing." But she feels testing should be seen as just one measure of achievement instead of the only indicator. "Of course, we want our APIs to go up," she says, "but that doesn't really feel like a measure of what we're doing. We're doing a lot of things well."

"The tests," Zion echoes, "don't define who you are."

Related stories on TakePart:

Inside Syria, government troops advanced into rebel-held areas of the central city of Homs, pushing into a heavily contested neighborhood after pummeling it with artillery that drove out opposition fighters, an activist said.

The election of Ahmad al-Jarba as the head of the Syrian National Coalition came during a meeting in Turkey in what was the second attempt in recent months by Assad's opponents to unify their ranks.

The opposition bloc is primarily composed of exiled politicians with little support among Syrians back home who are trying to survive the third summer of conflict that has killed more than 93,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes.

Al-Jarba's election suggests the opposition is trying to unite despite its differences after Assad's forces gained ground last month in and around the strategic town of Qusair near the border with Lebanon.

It also underscored the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Qatar who are vying for influence among the Sunni-dominated Syrian opposition. Both have been prominent backers of forces struggling to oust Assad.

The Saudi-backed al-Jarba won 55 votes, edging out Qatar-endorsed businessman Mustafa Sabbagh who got 52 votes, according to a statement from the 114-member SNC in Istanbul, where many of Syrian opposition figures are based. The SNC statement did not say who the remaining members voted for.

Al-Jarba, a 44-year-old lawyer with a law degree from Beirut's Arab University, is from Syria's northeastern province of Hassakeh and is a member of the powerful Shammar tribe that extends into Iraq. He was a little-known anti-Assad figure before Syria's civil war though he was detained in March 2011 days after the uprising against Assad began. It was his second arrest, following one in 1996 when he was held for two years because of anti-government activities.

After his release, al-Jarba left Syria in August in 2011 and became active in the opposition. He is close to secular politician Michel Kilo's Democratic Bloc, which recently joined the SNC. Al-Jarba could not be immediately reached for comment after his election Saturday.

An SNC statement quoted him as saying that his priorities will be "to follow-up on the situation inside Syria, especially in Homs," and that "all efforts should be in this direction."

But even with al-Jarba's election, it is unclear if the SNC can overcome deep divisions among its politicians.

Also, the council has in many ways become irrelevant to rebels battling regime troops in Syria, despite its appointment in March of Ghassan Hitto as head of an interim government meant to administer areas seized by the rebels. So far, Hitto has not formed a Cabinet.

The vote in Turkey came as the U.S. and Russia hope to bring the warring sides in Syria together at an international conference in Geneva. The SNC said recently it will not attend the Geneva talks unless they are about Assad handing over power.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. welcomed al-Jarba's election and would work with him "to prevent the total collapse of Syria into chaos."

The U.S. also urged the Syrian opposition to unite, Psaki said, adding that a "united opposition is essential to achieve a negotiated solution."

Assad has repeatedly dismissed his political opponents as foreign-directed exiles who don't represent the people of Syria. The president also has shrugged off international calls to step down, saying he will serve the rest of his term and may consider running for another one in next year's presidential elections.

In Syria, meanwhile, government troops gained ground in the rebel-held Khaldiyeah district of Homs. The push was the first significant gain in the city for Assad's forces. Government troops have been waging an eight-day campaign to seize parts of the central Syrian city that has been in rebel hands for more than a year.

Tariq Badrakhan, an activist based in the neighborhood, said government troops used rockets, mortars and cannon fire to flush out the area's "first line of defenses" on Friday evening. The offensive continued Saturday morning, he said via Skype, as explosions were heard in the background.

"We feel like they are shaking the sky," Badrakhan told The Associated Press.

Another activist said eight rebels were killed in the fighting. He requested anonymity because rebels have accused him in the past of damaging their morale by reporting their casualties. He could not confirm that government forces had entered Khaldiyeh but said the report was consistent with the fighting he was following there. State-run media said government forces had seized buildings in the nearby Bab Houd area.

Fighting also continued Saturday in the northern city of Aleppo, a crucial stronghold for the rebels, as well as the Damascus suburb of Qaboun.

The Syrian conflict, which began with months of peaceful protests against the Assad regime more than two years ago, deteriorated into an all-out civil war after a violent government crackdown.

Government forces, sometimes backed by fighters of the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, have recently launched a major countrywide offensive to reclaim territory lost to rebels, who operate in chaotic groups with ideologies ranging from secular to hard-line Islamic extremists. Hard-line Sunni Muslims from other countries have also joined the fighting.

The fighting in Syria has increasingly taken on sectarian undertones as Assad enjoys support from many in his Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, while the rebels are mainly Sunnis.

Activists, who consider Homs "the capital of the revolution," say the regime wants to capture the entire city to include it in a future Alawite state stretching to the coast, where many believe Assad would take refuge in a last resort.

In the vote in Turkey, the SNC also elected three vice presidents, including Mohammed Farouk Taifour, a senior official with Syria's Muslim Brotherhood. The other two vice presidents are Salem al-Muslit and prominent opposition figure Suhair Atassi. Badr Jamous was voted in as the SNC's secretary general.

___

Associated Press writer Diaa Hadid contributed to this report.

Follow Dia Hadid at www.twitter.com/diaahadid .