Q Did the Seahawks sign Chad Ochocinco or T

Those guys will need to be on the ball again this week, getting plenty of pressure on Warner.This has largely been a series in which the home team wins. Before a 26-20 loss at Qwest last season, the Hawks had won five straight home games against Arizona.On top of that, Seattle has historically played very well in pre-bye games, with a league-best record of 16-4.Given how much this game means to Seattle, that should be enough for them to play at least as well as they did last week. Three and out: Q&AQ: Might we see a lot of Edgerrin James against his old teamA: This is the second reunion game for James this season, and he surely would love to stick it to the Cardinals, who kind of jerked him around after last season, not releasing him until after they had drafted Beanie Wells in April.He carried the ball 16 times against Jacksonville, but that was clean-up duty after Hasselbeck had thrown four touchdown passes.James will probably get a few more carries than normal (he’s averaging about seven), but he will still be No. 2 behind Julius Jones.Q: Did the Seahawks sign Chad Ochocinco or T.J. HoushmandzadehA: At first, T.J.’s offseason bravado was refreshing. When he predicted that he and Matt Hasselbeck would have great seasons and go to the Pro Bowl after leading the Hawks to the playoffs, you had to nod your head and say, “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.” But his constant griping for the ball is getting to be annoying.The guy is 10th in the league with 27 catches. But for him that’s a low number: reportedly the lowest through five games since 2005. He’s probably annoyed that Nate Burleson has three more catches and one more touchdown and has been targeted four more times (49 to 45).It’s understandable that Housh wants to earn his $8 million a year, as he said Friday.

But he needs to realize the Seahawks have a number of legitimate receivers (Burleson, Deion Branch, John Carlson) and that Hasselbeck will find the open guy.Housh also hinted that he hasn’t been 100 percent healthy, which seems to contradict what he said a few weeks ago about being able to beat his defender 95 percent of the time.We like his competitiveness and desire to win, but it’s time for T.J Hush-mandzadeh to shut up and just show up Otherwise, he risks becoming the next Shaun Alexander. And we all know how that turned out.Q: Why are Patrick Kerney and Deion Branch being paid so muchA: We asked this question very early last offseason and said Kerney and Branch each needed to take pay adjustments to account for the fact that neither could stay healthy.Well, we were right.Branch missed the first two games of the season and Kerney missed last week...and the Hawks didn’t miss either one of them.Kerney will make $7 million this year, including a previously paid $3 million roster bonus, and will count a team-high $10.1 million against the salary cap.Branch is being paid almost $5 million and counting $7.34 million. By the way, Trufant and Walter Jones, who have not played this season, are both counting over $9 million. Two former sports reporters freed from the constraints of traditional print media write about the hot topics on both the Seattle and national sports scenes. No deadlines, no word count, no press box decorum we're Outside The Press Box ..

President Barack Obama's proposed $825 billion stimulus, but likely will not feel any effects until late this year. ChinaThe program, which Obama said on Friday could be approved by mid-February, is intended to create or save 3 million to 4 million jobs and help the United States pull out of a year-long recession.One goal of the plan is to spur investment in energy-saving technologies, which could boost demand for windmills, electric-grid components and other heavy equipment.Executives at both GE and United Tech this week cited the stimulus as a factor that could boost their results, though the companies and investors agree that it will be some time before they start to see sales related to the program."We think it could help us by the second half of the year and more realistically could help us in 2010," said Keith Sherin, GE's chief financial officer.But the world's largest maker of jet engines and electricity-producing turbines is not factoring stimulus-related spending into its 2009 financial planning."We don't have anything that we're specifically counting on from the stimulus," Sherin said in an interview.Obama's proposal includes $550 billion of government spending and $275 billion of tax cuts.NOT JUST WATCHING WASHINGTONBoth conglomerates generate about half their sales outside the United States, so they are not just looking at Washington's efforts to spark the ailing economy."Based on the intensive global stimulus efforts underway today, we still expect a modest recovery in the latter part of 2009," said Greg Hayes, CFO of United Tech, the world's largest maker of elevators and air conditioners, on a conference call with analysts.For example, executives with Hartford, Connecticut-based United Tech said sales at their Otis elevator unit could start to pick up as China's stimulus plans take effect.Analysts agreed the program could directly spark demand for wind mills, solar panels as well as energy-saving devices."It's more than two or three quarters away in terms of when it will have a material impact, but it's definitely helpful to the GEs of the world out there that supply power generation products," said Morningstar analyst Daniel Holland. stimulus could in particular boost demand for products made by its Carrier air conditioner, Fire and Security and Otis elevator units."We actually are optimistic that we will get a little bit of a bump just from those particular programs," Hayes said.Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE has been in talks with the Obama administration about its plans, Sherin said."We've been carefully working with the administration about what can help the country create more jobs and what can help us with renewable energy and energy independence and what can help us with health care productivity, things that are part of the administration's new platforms," Sherin said.Investors see opportunity for GE and United Tech in the stimulus, though they agree it will be some time before they feel it in terms of revenue."Maybe beginning in the fourth quarter when a contractor starts to subcontract for some equipment from GE or (United Tech) they would begin to see that at least go into their backlog, which is always a good indicator of future business for them," said Douglas Ober, CEO of Adams Express Co in Baltimore, Maryland, which counts GE and United Tech among its top holdings. "I suspect that the bulk of funds that they might see would not hit till 2010."(Reporting by Scott Malone, editing by Leslie Gevirtz) H China. Avista Requests Recovery for Costs in Washington and Idaho to Upgrade Systemand Meet Growing Energy DemandCompany also requests reduction in power cost surchargesSPOKANE, Wash., Jan.

23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ Avista (NYSE: AVA) has todayfiled requests with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission(WUTC) and the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (IPUC) to increase electricand natural gas rates to recover costs for generating and purchasingelectricity to serve growing energy needs, for investments made to continueupgrading the company's aging infrastructure, and to comply with environmentaland legal requirements. At the same time, the company is proposing a reductionin the existing power cost surcharges in both states, which would offset aportion of the proposed rate increases.(Logo: http://)The WUTC has up to 11 months and the IPUC has up to seven months to review therespective filings, which are discussed in sections below.Included in the filings are costs for generating and purchasing power whichhave increased over last year due in part to the need to replace expiringlow-cost power contracts and to acquire new resources to serve customer energyneeds.Customer growth along with aging infrastructure, such as generation plants,power lines and poles, and substations, requires Avista to continue investingabout $200 million a year in system upgrades to ensure the ongoing safe andreliable delivery of energy. Both the relicensing costs and compensation tothe Coeur d'Alene Tribe for the recently announced Settlement Agreement werereviewed by the WUTC and the IPUC in Avista's prior rate filings, but recoverywas deferred until the present filings.The requested natural gas increase in both states is driven primarily byincreased operating costs and upgrades in the distribution system whichdelivers natural gas directly to customers."We are continuing to aggressively manage our costs, while at the same timeensuring that we meet growing customer demand with energy that is reliable andbrings with it a high level of customer satisfaction," said Scott Morris,Avista chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer.To reduce costs and realize efficiencies, Avista has delayed until 2013 theconstruction of its 50 megawatt Reardan Wind Project, projected to cost over$125 million. The delay is partly because of the company's ability to meet itsrenewable resource requirements and growing customer demand with ongoingupgrades at the company's hydroelectric facilities and renewable energycredits. Other cost savings measures include, but are not limited to, officersforegoing salary increases in 2009 and cancelling plans to constructadditional office space, instead purchasing an existing office building for asavings of over $9 million in capital construction costs."We know that price increases will result in energy bills that may be moredifficult for some of our customers to manage," Morris said. "That's why weare, among other cost-saving actions, continuing to work toward a resolutionwith the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) on the Residential ExchangeProgram, which would restore to Avista customers their fair share of thebenefits of the federal hydropower system through a monthly credit on electricbills for our residential and small-farm customers. We also recently receivedapproval to reduce natural gas prices through the purchase gas costadjustments, which reduced the natural gas costs for our customers inWashington by 3 percent and by 4.7 percent in Idaho.