Danny Puff

HOUSTON (AP) A cruise line says it is making the passengers stranded aboard a disabled ship in the Gulf of Mexico as comfortable as possible with running water and some working bathrooms, contradicting the accounts of some passengers who told relatives of filthy, hot conditions and limited access to food.

The ship, the Carnival Triumph, is still at least a day from being guided to a port in Mobile, Ala.

Carnival President Gerry Cahill said Tuesday the ship has running water and most of its 23 public restrooms and some of the guest cabin bathrooms were working. He downplayed the possibility of an outbreak of disease from unsanitary conditions, saying the ship had not seen an abnormal number of people reporting to the infirmary as being ill.

"No one here from Carnival is happy about the conditions onboard the ship," Cahill said at a news conference in Miami. "We obviously are very, very sorry about what is taking place."

Jimmy Mowlam, 63, whose 37-year-old son, Rob Mowlam, got married Saturday onboard the ship, said his son told him by phone Monday night that there is no running water and few working toilets. He said passengers were given plastic bags to "use for their business."

Despite a forecast of brisker winds and slightly higher seas, the Coast Guard and Carnival said they did not expect conditions to deteriorate aboard ship.

A cold front was expected to cross the central Gulf where the vessel is under tow, bringing north and northwesterly winds of 15 to 25 mph and seas of 4 to 6 feet, said Dennis Feltgen, spokesman for the National Hurricane Center.

However, such conditions shouldn't affect conditions aboard ship, said Bill Segelken, spokesman for the Coast Guard Galveston command center.

The ship was about 200 miles south of Mobile, Ala., as Tuesday faded into Wednesday, the Coast Guard said. Carnival says the ship is expected to arrive in Mobile on Thursday.

The ship left Galveston, Texas, for a four-day cruise last Thursday with 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew members. The ship was about 150 miles off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Sunday when an engine room fire knocked out its primary power source, crippling its water and plumbing systems and leaving it adrift on only a backup power.

No one was injured in the fire, but Carnival spokeswoman Joyce Oliva said Tuesday that a passenger with a pre-existing medical condition was taken off the ship as a precaution.

Everyone else likely will have to remain onboard until the ship reaches Mobile, Ala., which is expected to happen Thursday, weather permitting.

Besides two tugs, at least two other Carnival cruise ships have been diverted to the Triumph to leave supplies and a 210-foot Coast Guard cutter was at the scene, Coast Guard Petty Officer Richard Brahm said Tuesday.

Mowlam said his son told him the lack of ventilation on the Triumph had made it too hot to sleep inside and that many passengers had set up camp on the ocean liner's decks and in its common areas. Mowlam said he wasn't sure where his son was sleeping.

"He said up on deck it looks like a shanty town, with sheets, almost like tents, mattresses, anything else they can pull to sleep on," said Mowlam, of the southeast Texas town of Warren. His son is from nearby Nederland.

Mowlam said his son indicated that passengers are trying to make the best of a bad situation.

"So far people have been pretty much taking it in stride," Mowlam said his son told him.

Rob Mowlam told his father the ship's crew had started giving free alcohol to passengers.

"He was concerned about what that was going to lead to when people start drinking too much," Mowlam said.

Other passengers have described more dire conditions, including overflowing toilets and limited access to food.

Jay Herring, a former senior officer for Carnival Cruise Lines, said one of the biggest concerns crew members will have until the ship docks is the potential for disease outbreak, particularly norovirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea.

"Housekeeping, others are probably working double shifts to keep the mess clean and wipe down and sanitize all the common areas," said Herring, who worked for Carnival from 2002 to 2004 and spent four months on the Triumph.

Carnival hasn't determined what caused the fire, said Oliva, the company spokeswoman.

The National Transportation Safety Board announced Tuesday it has opened an investigation into the cause of the fire. The NTSB said the Bahamas Maritime Agency will lead the investigation because the ship carries a Bahamian flag.

The ship was originally going to be towed to a port in Progreso, Mexico, but after currents pushed it northward, the company decided to take it to Alabama, saying it would make it easier for passengers without passports to get home.

Cahill said Carnival has reserved more than 1,500 hotel rooms in Mobile and New Orleans for Thursday. The company plans to return passengers back to Houston on Friday using charter flights.

A similar situation occurred on a Carnival cruise ship in November 2010. That vessel, named Splendor, was stranded with 4,500 people aboard after a fire in the engine room. When the passengers disembarked in San Diego, they described a nightmarish three days in the Pacific with limited food, power and bathroom access.

Cahill said the Spendor's fire was different because it involved a "catastrophic explosion" in a diesel generator, and the Triumph's fire had "some other cause." He could not say what the economic impact will be due to the fire aboard the Triumph. The impact from the Splendor was $40 million, he said.

Carnival canceled the Triumph's next two voyages, scheduled to depart Monday and Saturday. Passengers aboard the stranded ship will also receive a full refund.

___

Associated Press writers Terry Wallace in Dallas and Christine Armario in Miami contributed to this report.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) The man who was arrested after attempting to upstage Adele at Sunday's Grammy Awards has a new message for the singer: "help me."

Vitalii Sediuk says his appearance onstage at the Grammys was a spontaneous event and that he is only now realizing that it might have legal consequences for him. The Ukrainian journalist, who did not have a ticket to the awards show, spent several hours in police custody before being released with a trespassing citation and a March 4 court date.

Sediuk briefly took the microphone Sunday night before Adele accepted her award. He only got a few words out before Jennifer Lopez shooed him away.

"It was spontaneous," Sediuk said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "It was not planned of course"

He said he realizes now that he may be banned from covering award shows, which would be problematic for a reporter who's already got a reputation for awkward celebrity encounters. Last year, Will Smith slapped Sediuk, 24, after he tried to kiss him on a red carpet, and he drew Madonna's ire a year earlier by presenting her a bouquet of flowers she hated.

He said he hopes that Adele, who called Lopez her "good luck charm" at Sunday's show, will help him out of his latest mess.

"Oh Adele. Help me not to go to jail," Sediuk said.

He said he arrived at the show in a car that had access to the red carpet, and he did a few interviews before attempting to follow Nicole Kidman into the show. She stopped to talk to reporters and he then followed in Katy Perry all without a guard ever stopping him to ask for a ticket. Once inside, he got a seat near the stage, apparently taking Adam Levine's seat.

"I didn't really think about the fact that I didn't have the ticket," he said.

Publicists for the Grammys did not return email messages about security at the event. The show received additional police protection due to the ongoing hunt for ex-officer Christopher Dorner, who is suspected of three killings and has stated a desire to target police and their families.

Los Angeles police said Sediuk was arrested by private security who were responsible for making sure those at the show belonged.

Sediuk said he had to get creative because he didn't get a media credential for the show. Before going onstage, Sediuk said he had been daydreaming about receiving an Academy Award. He also said he wanted to be able to send in an interesting report. The incident is unlikely to shock those who know Sediuk, he said. "It was not a surprise to them."

He said he hopes the incident exposes some security flaws. "It's their fault as well," he said.

In addition to being slapped by Smith, Sediuk garnered attention for giving Madonna a bouquet of hydrangeas at the 2011 Venice Film Festival. The actress-singer promptly stashed them under a table, declaring, "I absolutely loathe hydrangeas."

Lopez looked less than pleased but remained composed during the incident Sunday. Sediuk's stunt went largely unnoticed until his arrest was first reported Monday night by The Hollywood Reporter.

"Like Adele said, she's her good luck charm," Lopez's publicist Mark Young wrote in an email Tuesday.

Publicists for Adele and Levine didn't return messages seeking comment.

Sediuk said that he was initially excited about the whole incident, but he is now more apprehensive about the prospect of going to court. He still thinks the stunt was worth it.

"I don't regret doing anything," he said.

___

Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

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PATHUMTHANI, Thailand (AP) Nearly 4,500 Thai contestants celebrated after setting a world record for the most people dancing with hula hoops simultaneously in one place.

Guinness World Records adjudicator Seyda Subasi-Gemici said Tuesday that 4,483 people had swung hula hoops to dance music for seven minutes without interruption.

The event drew 5,000 participants to an open-air stadium at Thammasat University, but 517 contestants dropped off after they failed to keep their hoops up.

The event, organized by the Public Health Ministry's Department of Health, was aimed at creating health awareness among Thais.

The previous world record was set in Taiwan in 2011, when 2,496 participants swung hula hoops in a continuous motion for 2 minutes.

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Guns. Jobs. Energy. Technology. Climate. Education. Transportation. President Barack Obama touched on these issues and more during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night. What did viewers think? Yahoo News asked them for their quick-hit responses. Here's a sampling of their reaction that they wrote after the address.

***

Lofty, for sure, but short on specifics: The big question that remains after Obama's State of the Union address is: How? He presented some lofty ideas without a real explanation of how they can be implemented.

The best idea I heard was his "Fix It First" program. It sure sounds a lot like Roosevelt's New Deal package from the 1930s. Its programs put people to work in the Great Depression. They worked for an honest wage while improving structures and parks in their communities. That type of program is long overdue here in present-day America! It's time to stop writing unemployment checks and start making jobs for those who can and who want to work. It's time to stop funding the lifestyles of people who simply don't want a job.

The biggest joke of the evening? The home refinance plan.

-- Ronna Ross Pennington, Arkadelphia, Ark.

***

Move forward on tomorrow's tech: Two phrases in President Obama's State of the Union address jumped out at me -- "brain mapping" and "clean energy." These are phrases it is hard to imagine Mitt Romney having used if he had won the election.

The State of the Union is typically long on rhetoric and short on specifics, and Obama's most recent was no exception. However, his mention of the need for the government to actively support emerging technologies, such as brain mapping and clean energy, shows an understanding of where the world is heading.

Beyond offering hope for humanity, leading-edge technology areas like brain mapping and clean energy offer huge potential sources of revenue down the road -- the kind of revenue that will more than make upfront investment worthwhile. Ultimately the two parties offer a choice between accepting the future and clinging to the past, and no country ever moved forward by looking backward.

-- Dan Berthiaume, Haverhill, Mass.

***

Be wary of politicizing gun deaths: Obama spoke about gun control, and he saved the best for last. I am undecided on the issue, but I do know that, statistically, 27 deaths in a year do not make a difference. However, when you personalize a death, be it one, or 27, it speaks to our sympathies. No one wants to see people murdered, at least I don't. What I do want is a politician who can see the underlying issue and not the headline. That is what bothers me so much about the politicizing of the Newtown tragedy; after all, I live in Connecticut and don't think that in my lifetime, the tragedy will ever be forgotten.

-- Morris Armstrong, Danbury, Conn.

***

Education is central to success: My daughter will be entering preschool next year. I'm in college right now, getting my graduate degree. And I come from a family of educators; my mother is a teacher and my grandmother was a teacher's aide, and I'm studying to be a special education teacher.

Obama did a good job of emphasizing the importance of a quality education to the health of our nation. He spoke of how a better education system can keep jobs in America and ultimately help improve the economy. Children truly are a country's biggest resource; raise and educate them well, and you have a solid foundation for a successful next generation.

Part of education reform in this country is to make sure teachers have good job prospects and adequate salaries, thus improving job performance, and this is one issue I felt was lacking in the State of the Union address.

-- Vanessa Bartlemus, New York

***

Will call for bipartisanship work?: I was struck most by his call for congressional action. In his opening remarks, Obama quoted John F. Kennedy: "The Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress." The president went on to ask for bipartisan cooperation in addressing issues, such as creating new jobs, helping families refinance their mortgages, redesigning America's high schools, and increasing the minimum wage. When it came to immigration reform, President Obama challenged Congress to send him a bill, saying, "Let's get this done."

I will be watching to see if Congress can, in fact, get anything done. President Obama said, "The American people don't expect government to solve every problem. They don't expect those of us in this chamber to agree on every issue. But they do expect us to put the nation's interests before party."

Yes, President Obama, we do.

-- Tarissa Helms, Lee's Summit, Mo.

***

Veterans' issues hit close to home: President Obama's fifth State of the Union address was his most ambitiously forward-thinking yet. Here in San Diego, the mention of a need to ensure our veterans get access to world-class medical treatment -- including mental health treatment -- will be very important news. Thanks to the Marine and Navy facilities in our county, veterans' affairs hit very close to home.

Also of interest in my local region: the proposal by the president to raise minimum wage to $9, which is a full dollar more than the state's minimum wage is now. In a county where the cost of living often outstrips the median income like ours, every dollar truly counts.

-- James Schlarmann, San Diego

***

Manufacturing resurrection is key: He called on the country to "reignite the true engine of America's economic growth-- a rising, thriving middle class." He noted that while corporate profits continue to rise, the minimum wage has remained stagnant over the past decade. His agenda includes the American Jobs Act, which aims to assist job growth without increasing the federal budget, and bringing many modern manufacturing jobs to the United States. This change would be greatly welcomed in my home city, Newport, R.I., where unemployment remains around 10 percent.

-- Eric Jonathan Martin, Newport, R.I.

***

Do domestic drone targets deserve a vote?: He invoked the memory of high-profile victims of gun violence and led the chorus of support with a "they deserve a vote" rally cry.

I found it somewhat disingenuous that President Obama would choose to rally his supporters by saying that they deserve a vote. This is a very populist angle, an angle that seems fundamentally at odds with another recent hot-button issue his administration is facing, an issue that he chose to avoid tonight.

The issue of the president's "kill list" has drawn criticism from even some of his staunchest supporters. It has drawn the ire of conservatives and liberals alike. A Department of Justice memo that leaked revealed the fact that the White House is practicing a tyrannical form of pre-emptive strikes against our very own citizens. The president apparently feels it is OK to assassinate an American citizen if they are deemed a threat to our nation's security. The problem here is that the guidelines are sketchy at best and that it places some very strong powers, with potentially dire consequences, in the hands of one man in a government that is supposedly bound by a system of checks and balances.

-- S.W. Hampson, New Orleans

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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The "ugliest woman in the world" was buried in her native northern Mexico on Tuesday, more than 150 years after her death and a tragic life spent exhibited as a freak of nature at circuses around the world.

Born in Mexico in 1834, Julia Pastrana suffered from hypertrichosis and gingival hyperplasia, diseases that gave her copious facial hair and a thick-set jaw. These features led to her being called a "bear woman" or "ape woman".

During the mid-1850s, Pastrana met Theodore Lent, a U.S. impresario who toured the singing and dancing Pastrana at freak shows across the United States and Europe before marrying her.

In 1860, Pastrana died in Moscow after giving birth to Lent's son, who inherited his mother's condition. The son died a few days later, and Lent then toured with the mother and son's embalmed remains. After changing hands over the ensuing decades, both bodies ended up at the University of Oslo in Norway.

"Imagine the aggression and cruelty of humankind she had to face, and how she overcame it. It's a very dignified story," said Mario Lopez, the governor of Sinaloa state who lobbied to have her remains repatriated to her home state for burial.

"When I heard about this Sinaloan woman, I said, there's no way she can be left locked away in a warehouse somewhere," he said.

Crowds flocked to the small town of Sinaloa de Leyva on Tuesday to pay their respects to Pastrana, who was buried in a white coffin garlanded with white roses.

"The mass was beautiful," said New York-based Mexican artist Laura Anderson Barbata, who has led a nearly decade-long campaign to have Pastrana returned to Mexico for a proper Catholic burial. "I was very moved. In all these years I've never felt so full of different emotions."

(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Simon Gardner and Christopher Wilson)

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NEW YORK (AP) Lady Gaga says she's "heartsick" to postpone four shows after sustaining an injury that's left her unable to walk.

A Tuesday news release says performances set for Feb. 13-14 in Chicago, Feb. 16 in Detroit and Feb. 17 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, have been postponed due to a case of synovitis, a severe joint inflammation.

Gaga took to Twitter to explain, saying she injured herself during a performance some time ago and her condition has worsened, leaving her immobile following Monday's concert in Montreal. She's been hiding the injury from her staff, but can no longer perform.

"I've been hiding a show injury and chronic pain for sometime now, over the last month it has worsened," she wrote. "I've been praying it would heal".

The remainder of the "Born This Way Ball" tour is expected to continue on schedule, beginning with a two-night stand in Philadelphia on Feb. 19-20. Makeup dates for the missed shows will be announced later.

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[Updated at 8:31 p.m. PT]

In a press conference, LAPD spokesman Andy Smith denied multiple reports claiming that the body of fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner was found inside a burned out cabin near California's Big Bear Mountain. Smith said the smoldering cabin is still "simply too hot" for authorities to investigate the scene and said it could still take several days for authorities to fully investigate the scene and identify Dorner's body, if it is in fact found on the scene.

"That was a mistake. If someone said it was all-clear two hours ago, that was a mistake," Smith told reporters, adding that the LAPD planned to hold another press conference Wednesday morning.

Earlier reports from multiple sources claimed that the body of shooting suspect Christopher Dorner, the subject of a week-long manhunt, had been removed from a cabin destroyed by fire this afternoon. The Associated Press, ABC News, CNN and Los Angeles Times are reporting the news, with an AP alert specifically stating that a "charred body found in rubble of burned cabin in Southern California mountains," was reported to be that of Dorner.

CNN also reported earlier that law enforcement officials are currently conducting a forensic exam on the body in an attempt to confirm that the body belongs to Dorner. But Smith said none of those earlier reports are accurate.

Police believe the disgruntled ex-LAPD officer barricaded himself in the mountain home following a deadly shootout with officers earlier Tuesday.

A single gunshot was heard from inside the cabin just before the fire broke out around 4:30 p.m. PT, a law enforcement source who requested anonymity told the AP.

Fox News and CBS News both earlier reported that Dorner died inside the charred cabin.

Officials were waiting for the fire to burn out before approaching the ruins to search for a body, the AP reported.

The L.A. Times gave this account on how the final moments unfolded:

According to a law enforcement source, police had broken down windows, pumped in tear gas and blasted a loud speaker urging Dorner to surrender. When they got no response, police deployed a vehicle to rip down the walls of the cabin "one by one, like peeling an onion," a law enforcement official said.

By the time they got to the last wall, authorities heard a single gunshot, the source said. Then flames began to spread through the structure, and gunshots, probably set off by the fire, were heard.

[From earlier reports]

The cabin where former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner is believed to be barricaded is now on fire.

Media at the scene reported hearing numerous rounds of ammunition going off about the time the fire became fully involved. It is unknown if police and the suspect exchanged shots or if the rounds were ignited by the blaze.

It is also not known if Dorner is still inside, but according to police radio traffic, officers at the scene seem to be taking a wait-and-see approach.

Thick black smoke and flames can been seen coming from the mountain cabin, but tactical units are requesting that fire personnel stay back.

Overheard from authorities on the police radio channel:

"Hold until we start mop up with fire."

"Still not ready for fire. There's a lot of smoldering."

"More ammo going off."

"Fire doing quite well. I'm going to let it go."

Police want to let the fire burn through the basement as a precaution before entering. A firefighter raised in that residence is on the scene, and tells officers that the basement is 12 x 15 feet. The ceiling of the basement is wood.

Police captain to officers surrounding the house: "If you see something catching on fire that's not supposed to be you let me know, otherwise let it go."

Police now asking if the firefighter familiar with the house knows if there would be any reason for ammunition to be stored in the home. Firefighter has not been in the residence in years so he doesn't know.

Kyle Martin, whose family owns the burning cabin, just told CNN that it was not being rented at the time. He said it does have electricity, but no internet, phone or cable.

Police are assembling a 10-man team to keep an eye on the garage.

NBC News reports that the second officer wounded during the shootout earlier Tuesday is in serious condition, but is expected to survive.

[From earlier events]

Police said Dorner fled inside the cabin after after reportedly killing one deputy and wounding another during a gun battle earlier this afternoon.

Authorities have the cabin surrounded near Big Bear Lake, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Dozens of SWAT officers and armored vehicles have been sent to the scene.

"Enough is enough. It is time to turn yourself in," LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said during a televised press conference. "It's time to end the bloodshed."

Cmdr. Smith said Tuesday's shootout between Dorner and officer occurred about 12:30 p.m. when deputies responded to a call about a vehicle have been stolen by a man resembling the wanted ex-officer.

According to the L.A. Times:

"Hundreds of rounds" were exchanged in about half an hour during the gun battle between fugitive former police officer Christopher Dorner and law enforcement officers Tuesday afternoon, sources said.

Days ago, Dorner broke into a cabin off Route 38, a source said. He allegedly tied up the couple inside and held them hostage until Tuesday morning when he left. It is unclear whether Dorner stole their vehicle or another, but Fish and Wildlife officers knew to be on the lookout for a white pickup truck when they spotted Dorner driving one and attempted to stop him, the source said.

A spokeswoman with the San Bernardino sheriff's office said the two wounded deputies were transported from the area via air ambulance. Their conditions were not immediately known.

During the shootout, police said Dorner apparently fled into a nearby cabin.

"Suspect is pinned down next to the shooting scene," a San Bernardino dispatcher could be heard saying over a police radio channel. "Marshals have a positive ID and visual of the suspect."

A 3-mile-wide perimeter has been set up by police, and authorities were asking news helicopters not to broadcast live video of the cabin.

[SLIDESHOW: Manhunt for former LAPD officer]

"We don't want to tip our hand," Cmdr. Smith said.

Residents in the area were being told to stay inside and lock their doors. The California Highway Patrol has closed all highways near the scene.

"People should stay away from that area. It is not safe right now," a police spokeswoman told KTLA-TV.

Dorner has been on the run for seven days. He is accused of killing three people--including one police officer--last week.

The 33-year-old former naval and LAPD officer turned triple-murder suspect, has been at the center of a massive manhunt stretching from the Bernardino Mountains where his burned-out pickup truck was found last week to the Mexican border.

In a manifesto posted online earlier this month, Dorner promised "unconventional and asymmetrical warfare" against the LAPD, which fired him in 2008. On Saturday, actor Charlie Sheen who was mentioned in Dorner's online manifesto released a video pleading with the accused killer to call him.

On Saturday, police conducted a door-to-door search for Dorner in Big Bear Lake, Calif., but snowfall hampered their efforts in the surrounding mountains.

On Sunday in Los Angeles, an increased police presence was seen at the Grammy Awards, which some thought Dorner might target. In Northridge, Calif., a home improvement store was evacuated after a report of a possible Dorner sighting, hours after the LAPD announced a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest.

"This is the largest local reward ever offered, to our knowledge," Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said at a news conference. "This is an act of domestic terrorism. This is a man who has targeted those that we entrust to protect the public. His actions cannot go unanswered."

Yahoo News staffers Dylan Stableford, Liz Goodwin and Eric Pfeiffer contributed to this report.

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Lady Gaga said on Tuesday she was suffering from a severe inflammation of the joints that left her temporarily unable to walk, forcing her to postpone a handful of upcoming shows on the North American leg of her world tour.

"I am completely devastated and heartsick. I've been hiding this injury and pain from my staff for a month, praying it would heal, but after last night's performance, I could not walk," the singer said in a statement.

Her condition is called synovitis, an inflammation that sometimes follows a sprain, strain or injury.

Gaga posted a similar message in a series of tweets to her 34 million Twitter followers.

"I will hopefully heal as soon as possible and be at 500 percent again, which is what you deserve," she said.

"The Edge of Glory" singer postponed shows in Chicago on Wednesday and Thursday, in Detroit on Saturday and in Hamilton, Ontario, on Sunday.

Lady Gaga, 26, has been on the road for two years on her "Born This Way Ball" world tour. Her website showed tour dates through March 20.

The 200-plus date tour has taken the singer across six continents and was ranked as the sixth top-grossing tour of 2012 by Billboard magazine.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant and Cynthia Osterman)

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DENVER (AP) Three decades after snowboarders barged their way onto the mountain, Shaun White is a household name and the sight of an iPod-wearing teenager carving turns down the hills of a family resort doesn't even raise an eyebrow.

Those are good things, industry leaders say, because snowboarding is now firmly entrenched in the mainstream it once disdained.

Those are bad things, those leaders also say, because snowboarding is susceptible to the same ups-and-downs other snow sports face especially since the Great Recession hit in late 2007.

Recent studies by industry groups show snowboarding is no longer growing at the relentless pace that defined much of its first 30 years. Sales in 2011-12 fell between 19 and 31 percent, depending on the region of the country studied. Participation fell 7.5 percent nationwide.

Jake Burton, the man who perfected the modern-day snowboard and brought it to the masses back in the 1980s, recently sent a letter to his employees stating his concern about the trends but downplaying the well-circulated idea that snowboarding is losing its edge.

"I take exceptions to some of the comments and people trying to reach conclusions," Burton said in an interview with The Associated Press at the annual Snowsport Industries America Snow Show. "Last year was an incredibly rough year for snow sports in general. It just didn't snow anywhere across the country. Skiing took a hit. Snowboarding took a hit. Everyone took a hit."

Indeed, warm weather and light snowfall around the country caused a big downturn in snow sports; participation in alpine skiing also fell by 11.4 percent, according to a study by RRC Associates, also known as the Kottke National End of the Season Survey.

Burton, however, also recognizes the need to be more active in bringing people into snowboarding.

"We were relying for so long on just this magnetism of snowboarding," he said. "Now, we've got to work harder to figure out how to get more kids in the products and more women into the sport. It's a wakeup call."

The SIA statistics show 65 percent of snowboarders are males, while 72 percent of the boys are between 13 and 34.

Eleven percent of skiers fall in the 6-12 age group, while that group makes up 10 percent of snowboarders.

There are no statistics for kids under 6. Burton wants to see that group on snowboards almost as soon as they can walk.

As the core group of Burton employees have grown older and had kids, they've looked for ways to realize that. Among them is a contraption called the riglet essentially a leash that parents can attach to their young children's snowboards to keep them close and help them stay upright.

The snowboards themselves are being built smaller, geared for young children. New, kid-sized terrain parks are also being added at some resorts. The main message here: Snowboarding is hard to pick up and the industry has to do more to help kids get involved.

Another factor in snowboarding's lower numbers is that all the edgy pastimes that used to be exclusively for snowboarders have made their way into the ski world, as well. Skiers ride on halfpipes, go down slopestyle courses. The curvier, sidecut technology that was once unique to snowboards made its way to skis, as has much of the sensible, young-looking gear that used to be exclusively for snowboarders.

While White goes for his third straight gold medal in the halfpipe next year at the Sochi Olympics, he'll share the halfpipe with skiers, who will make their debut there. Slopestyle is being introduced for both snowboarding and skiing. In short, action sports are, more than ever, the domain of both skiers and snowboarders, not only the latter.

"I think there was a huge wave of popularity for snowboarding, probably a decade ago," said Chris Stiepock, the vice president of ESPN's X Games events. "Then, the ski technology changed, so you had twin tips and skiers could start to ski backward and go into jumps backward."

Tom Wallisch, the 2012 Winter X Games champion in skiing slopestyle, represents the highest level of a growing number of athletes who experimented on skateboards and snowboards as a kid, but eventually found he could enjoy all the same opportunities on skis.

"Skiing is the only thing I've ever been truly good at in my life," Wallisch said. "On skis is where I'm the best I can be. It's where I feel most comfortable."

Burton figures there's no use fighting that trend. Yes, he says, skiing has co-opted some of its advances from snowboarding.

"But what can we complain about?" Burton said. "Skiing gave us all these resorts. They gave us steel edges. We certainly grabbed our share from them."

The RRC Associates study caught the eye of many in the snowboarding industry and created some angst.

"Today, there is every indication that the growth in snowboarding we took for granted has stalled, and visitation from snowboarding is headed toward a path of substantial decline," wrote Nate Fristoe, RRC Associates director of operations, in the National Ski Areas Association Journal.

That triggered Burton's letter to the employees at his company, based in Burlington, Vt. Burton has between 40 percent and 70 percent of a market, depending on the sector, that's valued at somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion each year, depending on whether apparel is included in the math.

"We just have to keep nurturing our sport and lifestyle as best we can," he wrote.

___

AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.

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NEW YORK (AP) The percentage of minority actors working on Broadway and at the top 16 not-for-profit theater companies in New York City rose to 23 percent during the 2011-2012 season, but whites continue to be overrepresented, according to a new report.

The Asian American Performers Action Coalition released its second annual look at ethnic representation on New York stages and found that minority actors overall saw a 2 percent increase from the previous season.

It found that African-American actors were cast in 16 percent of all roles, Hispanics in 3 percent and Asian-American actors in 3 percent. Caucasians filled 77 percent of all roles, far outweighing their respective population size in the metro and tri-state areas.

According to 2010 U.S. Census numbers, blacks make up 23 percent of the city's population and 17 percent of the tri-state area; Hispanics made up 28.6 percent of the city and 22 percent of the tri-state area; and Asian-Americans comprised 13 percent of the city and 9 percent of the tri-state area. Whites are 33 percent of the city and almost 62 percent of the tri-state's population.

Black actors increased their representation by 2 percent compared to last season, while Hispanics stayed the same as last season, and Asian-Americans saw their numbers tick up by 1 percent.

For the second year in a row, the not-for-profit sector lagged behind the commercial sector when it came to hiring minorities. Minority employment for the non-profit companies fell below 20 percent for the second year in a row.

While the numbers of black and Latino actors on non-profit stages increased, the number of Asian-American actors hasn't budged from the 2 percent-mark for the past three years. By comparison, five years ago Asian-Americans represented 7 percent of working actors.

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Online: http://www.aapacnyc.org

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