Call Colangelo -- quick

So John Paxson is going to dawdle. The Bulls have won exactly one playoff series since the Jordan dynasty -- what, no 10-year reunion? -- yet the boss is in no hurry to repair a master plan that backfired like Acme dynamite in Wile E. Coyote's grill. Never mind that the Bucks, Knicks, Bobcats, Grizzlies, Heat and Hawks all could have coaching vacancies in the coming days.

Mad Pax doesn't care. He says he might need several weeks before hiring his fourth coach in five years, time that frustrated Bulls fans don't have in a city where pro basketball is falling behind hockey as the winter passion.

''I don't have any one person in mind that I want to go after to get this job,'' …

Tania Bruguera

Artist, Havana

A LONG LINE OF PEOPLE waiting to enter a museum seems to be one highly appreciated measure of success for the institution, as if the time lost in the queue is a currency nourishing the museum, as if entering a museum entails an assumption of disinterest in time. Actually, disinterest seems to be a key word when discussing museums, especially the disinterest in risk that is demonstrated time and again as institutions try to transform the instability that characterizes art into a serene experience.

It is possible that by using a business model that equates stability with success, museums evince their desire to increase their chances of being seen as …

Report: Japanese mob boss gave $100,000 to UCLA Medical Center after liver transplant

A Japanese gang boss and another alleged gangster who had liver transplants at the UCLA Medical Center each donated $100,000 (euro64,000) to the US hospital soon after their surgeries, according to a published report.

The donations came from two of four Japanese gang figures who received liver transplants at a time when several hundred Los Angeles-area patients died while awaiting transplants, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The newspaper published a story Thursday about the liver transplants and posted a separate story on its Web site late Friday discussing the donations.

According to the Times, a donation of $100,000 (euro64,000) came from …

Bus scheme in spotlight

A meeting about a new rapid transit bus route through Bath willtake place on Tuesday at 7.30pm.

A presentation will be given by Peter Dawson, manager forplanning and transport policy at Bath and North East SomersetCouncil.

The scheme, which will be funded by a Government cash injectionof pounds54 million, would create a new route across the city fromNewbridge park-and-ride …

Managing the risks in outsourcing

OUTSOURCING Outlook

Lacking the expertise to conduct proper diligence can be a point of vulnerability for clients

Managing risk is a fundamental element of biopharmaceutical management. Exposure to financial loss from clinical and market failure, product liability, regulatory noncompliance, and theft of intellectual property is inherent to the industry, along with common business risks such as fire, computer crashes, and injuries to employees.

Outsourcing adds some complicating aspects to the risk-management equation, but does not fundamentally alter it. Outsourcing heightens awareness of risk in much the same way it spotlights the real costs of drug development. Research and development managers who may have given little thought to the risk and implications of events such as fire, blown batches, or computer crashes for activities conducted inhouse become acutely aware of such issues when they place a project with a contractor.

This awareness, in part, reflects the fact that the outsourcing business relationship exposes one party to the loss-causing actions of the other parties. If a patient dies during a clinical trial as a result of the drug's toxicity, not only is the sponsor likely to be involved in litigation, but also the contract research organization (CRO) managing the trial, the preclinical CRO, and the contract manufacturer - no matter where the initial fault may lie. Despite contractual provisions to protect the parties from each other's negligence, all will pay in the form of delayed development, staff time, legal fees, and damaged reputations. Further, if the problem arose because of the CRO's actions, the sponsor might sue that CRO to recover its losses from a delayed or aborted filing.

Protection

"There are two things that the client is thinking about when contracting with a CRO," said Lynn Rosanno, a former insurance executive who developed some of the first coverage programs for CROs. "One is: Are these people going to make some sort of mistake that leads to this product causing an injury to somebody? The second is: Are they going to make a mistake that I'm not going to pick up on, and, as a result, we won't get FDA approval?"

The first line of defense for all parties in these situations is continuous diligence, just as it is for in-house operations. For the sponsor, this means assessing the CRO's or contract manufacturer's competence and compliance before proceeding to contract, as well as maintaining regular oversight through audits, clinical monitoring, and "man-in-the-plant" arrangements. Contractors must take steps such as reviewing preclinical studies and analytical methods packages to ensure that the product has been well tested and properly handled.

Lacking the expertise to conduct proper diligence can be a point of vulnerability for clients, especially young companies. Sponsors rely on their clinical research and product development staff to manage outside vendors and know what to look for. Is the CRO handling the data properly? In many cases, clients may not have the experience to judge.

Strict compliance with FDA and HHS regulations, including good manufacturing practices, good clinical practices, informed consent, and product labeling, is another line of defense because those regulations are intended to protect research subjects and patients. Such compliance is necessary, but may not be sufficient, risk-management experts warn. A company that uses the defense, "I did everything FDA wanted me to," may not have been doing enough.

Indemnification provisions. In contracts, all parties will insist on protection through indemnification provisions, which specify the risks each party will protect the other from in the event of litigation. CROs want tc ensure that "hold-harmless" or indemnification provisions reach back to the sponsor to ensure that it has protection in place, for instance, in the event that the product isn't safe. Indemnification can become a sticking point in contract negotiations if each party tries to foist risk exposure onto each other. David Shuey, president and chief operating officer of Willis Group (www.willis.com), an insurance brokerage, says that both parties should try to achieve a "mutual hold-- harmless" agreement by which they agree to protect each from the other's negligence.

Nevertheless, warns Philip Fiscus, vice president of insurance underwriter Chubb and Son (www.chubb.com), there are limits to what can be done contractually. "Any entity can try to transfer certain contractual responsibilities, but they can't transfer their own negligence, and that's what many of these companies forget or don't realize. Even though they may contractually attempt to do some traffic control concerning risk, in the event they do something negligent, that would fall outside of that contract and they would still be responsible."

Insurance. The last source of protection is insurance. All parties will carry product liability insurance, and sponsors generally require their contractors to carry professional liability coverage, also known as errors and omissions insurance. The latter coverage deals with a contractor's exposure in the event that it makes mistakes that cause its client financial damage (such as FDA turning down a new drug application [NDA] because the contractor failed to comply with GCPs).

Unforeseen Risk

Another problem area in outsourcing relationships is that risks may be allowed to fall through the cracks between sponsors and contractors. That is, activities and functions that create loss exposure may be overlooked in contracts to the extent that when a loss does occur, neither party will take responsibility for it. Examples include product loss during shipping on a commercial carrier between the manufacturer and sponsor or clinic (generally not covered by conventional property insurance), blown batches, or intellectual property agreements that don't cover all involved at a clinical site.

Risk assessment. "The critical step is to identify the risk," said Shuey, who has conducted risk assessments for a number of CROs and biopharmaceutical companies. "You need to 'free associate,' and ask the right questions: If the key vendor had a fire, what would we do? What measures does the contractor have in place in case a hurricane, disrupts all public utilities?"

Contracts are where a lot of risk-- management concerns get sorted out. Rosanno advises sponsors and CROs to "make sure that the contract is clear about which liabilities are whose under what circumstances, because the contract could get contested in court." In addition, CRO executives must review contracts to ensure that the terms clients are asking for are terms they can deliver.

The Risk Management Gap

A major risk management difficulty in contract drug development is that most parties involved in relationships lack the expertise to evaluate each other's exposure and to set up adequate provisions for managing it. Although the largest pharmaceutical companies have sophisticated risk-management operations, most sponsors and contractors are not large enough to have in-house expertise and may not appreciate the issues.

Most companies with revenues under $100 million put risk management under a financial, human resources, or administrative executive, but these people largely confine their efforts to buying insurance. According to Rosanno, risk managers must be proactive about identifying business activities and contract provisions that may leave the company exposed to risk. "Risk managers have to be 'control freaks'; the onus is on them to put into place the appropriate procedures and be diligent about them. Nobody is going to contact them to do it." The danger, she notes, is that in their desire to make the sale, "The CRO is going to agree to either do things or hold on to certain kinds of liability that do not necessarily belong in their pocket."

Loss prevention. Of course, because it kicks in only after the damage has occurred, insurance should not be the only focus of any company's risk-management efforts. Insurance is a funding mechanism to pay for losses. CROs and sponsors want to prevent those losses. Loss prevention and loss control are key issues in risk management. Table 1 highlights types of risks a biopharmaceutical or contract service provider may be exposed to.

Regardless of how loss exposure is distributed, it is ultimately in the sponsor's best interest to make sure that the possibility of loss is minimized. You can transfer risk, but the ultimate responsibility is with the party that owns the product. At the end of the day, it's not the vendor's name that is on the biological license application or product marketing application - it's the sponsor's name.

[Author Affiliation]

Contributing editor Jim Miller is publisher of Bio/Pharmaceutical Outsourcing Report, (B/POR). PO Box 8163, Springfield, VA 22151-8153, 703.322.4971, fax 703.503.4506, info@pharmsource.com, www.pharmsource.com.

The beat poets pick favorite books

For beginner cooks, the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, 11thEdition (Better Homes and Gardens Books, $25.95). This comprehensivereference features more than 1,200 recipes from basic (hard-cookedeggs) to fancy (chocolate truffle cake) as well as thousands ofuseful photos (illustrating beef cuts, pastas, beans and more), plustiming charts, step-by-step pictures of cooking techniques and evenmicrowave tips. The looseleaf-binder format and wipe-clean cover areuser friendly. Like a home ec class on your bookshelf. The Cook's Bible (Little, Brown, $29.95) could be subtitled "thethinking cook's cookbook." Author Christopher Kimball, editor ofCook's Illustrated magazine, approaches cooking as if it were ascience project. In each of 50 fascinating chapters, he experimentsto find the best way to accomplish a task - say, braising meat orbaking the perfect brownie. Readers come away with scores of secretsand an understanding of how real cooks problem-solve in the kitchen.

Two coffee-table luxuries: The Inn at Little Washington Cookbook: AConsuming Passion, by Patrick O'Connell (Random House, $50), providesa lush glimpse of the picture-perfect inn in the foothills of westernVirginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, where former New York Times foodeditor Craig Claiborne ate "the most fantastic meal of my life."Feast for Life, by Chicagoans Linda Bartlett and Gretchen Jordan(HarperCollins, $35), is a collection of more than 100 celebrityrecipes with wild, funky graphics. Its sale benefits the PediatricAIDS Foundation and Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDSChicago.ALL-TIME FAVORITE: No contest. Perla Meyers' The Seasonal Kitchen:A Return to Fresh Foods (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973, out ofprint) taught me, a child of the '50s, that not all vegetables comefrozen in neat little boxes. That revelation opened up a world ofjust-picked flavors that has thrilled - and nurtured - me ever since.Barbara Sadek is the Sun-Times food editor.Get a Financial Life by Beth Kobliner (Fireside/Simon & Schuster,$11). If you're in your 20s or 30s and worry that your credit carddebt will always exceed your retirement savings, this is the book foryou. Kobliner, a writer for Money magazine, teaches Generation Xerssimple ways to cut debt, invest in the right mutual funds, findlow-cost mortgages and use tax laws to build a nice nest egg.Lucille's Car Care by Lucille Treganowan with Gina Catanzarite(Hyperion, $19.95). Treganowan was a divorced mother working as abookkeeper at an auto shop in the '60s when she decided to pick up awrench and try it herself. Now she's a cable TV star and self-helpauthor, teaching automotive novices everything from how to diagnose aleaking vacuum hose to how to change a fuel filter. A must forconsumers who don't want to be taken for a ride.Never Pay Retail, edited by Sid Kirchheimer (Rodale Press, $27.95).What's the best time of year to save up to 20 percent on adishwasher? Or the best day of the month for antiques? This bookreveals retailers' marketing methods, price markups and the brandsand models considered the best values. Covers everything fromappliances to groceries and clothing.ALL-TIME FAVORITE: The Consumer Bible by Mark Green (Workman,$14.95). Subtitled "1001 Ways to Shop Smart," Green's 656-page bookhelps consumers navigate pitfalls in transactions ranging from homeimprovements to car leasing. Also featured: How to decide whichinsurance to buy, how to avoid high telephone charges and tips forchoosing the best child care. Includes a directory of state consumeraffairs offices and source list.Stephanie Zimmerman is the Sun-Times consumer reporter.Updated and redesigned for its ninth edition, Ray Riegert's HiddenHawaii (Ulysses Press, $15.95) points travelers off the beaten pathto little-known treasures and local favorites. For the series, healso contributes the excellent Hidden San Francisco and NorthernCalifornia, Hidden Southern California and Hidden Maui. The seriesincludes guides to New England, the Carolinas, Florida, the Rockies,the Southwest, California, the Pacific Northwest and - soon - Tahitiand Fiji.Footprint's classic South American Handbook (Passport Books,$39.95), in its 73rd edition, has been joined since 1989 by 14titles, from Pakistan to Indonesia, in the Handbook series. Theyrange in price from $21.95 to $39.95. The newest title is SouthAfrica Handbook ($21.95). The light, hardcover guides arestraightforward, detailed and carefully researched. Thirteencountry-specific titles will debut next spring, retailing from $16.95to $19.95.ALL-TIME FAVORITE: HarperPerennial's Access titles. Beautifullysimple, the color-coded entries are set up by region, complete withhelpful maps, rating systems and price guides. Access Atlanta($18.50) is the newest addition to the 32-title series. New for '97will be a cruise guide. The guides range from $13 to $18.50. AccessChicago ($18.50), now in its third edition, is a must-have for newcity residents.Mi-Ai Ahern is the Sun-Times travel editor.The darnedest thing about attending sporting events is that itprevents you from sitting in an easy chair and reading sports books.But between watching Michael Jordan fallaways and Rashaan Salaamgiveaways in 1996, I was able to sqeeze in some sports literaturetime. My favorite read:High Hopes, by Gary Barnett with Vahe Gregorian (Warner Books,$18.95). Like Phil Jackson's Sacred Hoops (with Hugh Delehanty),this is a coaching book with a different spin. Barnett, thearchitect behind Northwestern's amazing football turnaround, says ofhis postgraduate years, "I began wondering whether I should try tofocus on becoming a famous shrink. The exciting thing would havebeen to go on and get a doctorate in clinical psychology."It's nice he strapped on the whistle, instead.ALL-TIME FAVORITE: North Dallas Forty (out of print). Sure it's anovel, but author Peter Gent was a Dallas Cowboy, and Michael Irvinand Leon Lett could step right onto its pages.Rick Telander is a Sun-Times sports columnist.In Waking Up, Fighting Back by Roberta Altman (Little, Brown andCo., $24.95) the author examines the controversy over the mammographydebate and the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Altman, whowrote The Cancer Dictionary, questions why so many women are stillgetting mastectomies when studies show that survival rates are thesame with lumpectomies. Read this book if you're a woman with breastcancer or think your family members are at risk.Science on Trial by Dr. Marcia Angell (W.W. Norton & Co. $27.50).Angell, who is executive editor of the New England Journal ofMedicine, offers scientific evidence that shows silicone breastimplants don't cause illness. But in the highly charged breastimplant lawsuits involving Dow Corning and other breast implantmakers, Angell says public opinion, politics and the law weremanipulated to create what many now consider to be unfounded concernover breast implants. This book is for those who want to get pastthe litigation and the media hype and want to know the scientifictruth.In the lengthy Ashes to Ashes, America's Hundred-Year Cigarette Warby Richard Kluger (Knopf, $35), the author takes on tobacco giantsPhilip Morris, Brown & Williamson and R.J. Reynolds in a 832-pageinvestigation. Kluger reports on the dramatic rise of the tobaccoindustry and its bright financial health despite growing scientificevidence linking its product to disease and damaging evidence inrecent years about the industry from whistleblowers and liabilitylawsuits.The book that made the biggest impression on me in 1996 was FirstComes Love by National Public Radio commentator Marion Winik(Pantheon, $23). She takes the reader on the life journey she hadwith husband Tony, a gay man with AIDS, from their first meeting atMardi Gras in New Orleans through marriage, the birth of their twosons, his AIDS diagnosis, drug addiction and the trying moment whenshe helped him die. This book will unnerve you as much as it willteach you about love, loss and survival.Della De Lafuente is the Sun-Times health care reporter.Bookshelves are sagging with new tomes on such home andfurnishing topics as, well, how to cure sagging bookshelves.Best coffee-table book: Furniture designer David Linley'sExtraordinary Furniture (Abrams, $65) deals with the unattainable,from Edward I's 13th century Stone of Scone throne to Frank LloydWright's barrel chairs. But he traces their provenance with humor -an 18th century Italian rococo gilt-and-pearl casket stand is "sooutlandish that it almost defies description - not to mentiongravity." Warning: The dust-jacket photo of the Empress Josephine'sbed at Malmaison will outclass any table on which this volume is set.Best primers: Many renovation books this year were built on thesorry notion that the semi-handy can remake themselves as generalcontractors. John Rusk's breezy On Time and On Budget (Doubleday,$21) instead shows how to work with contractors, borrowing from theGetting to Yes negotiation genre. It's a more realistic approach toa task that consumes energy as well as cash.For home buyers and sellers, Peter G. Miller's authoritiveguides are newly revised, including The Mortgage Hunter (HarperPerennial, $13.50).Best housewarming book: With the step-by-step guide in Reader'sDigest New Fix-It-Yourself Manual (Reader's Digest Association, $35),I'm ready to reglue my creaking dining chairs this winter. Diagramsshow how to take apart (and maybe even reassemble) nearly every knownsmall appliance. A companion to the venerable New Do-It-YourselfManual ($35), my favorite workbench book.Stephen Rynkiewicz is the Sun-Times real estate editor.Mother: Photographs by Judy Olausen (Peguin Studio, $24.95)contains original, downright funny photographs by Minneapolisphotograher Judy Olausen of her 74-year-old mother, Vivian Olausen.Judy posed her as "Domestic Hoofer," "Mother as Roadkill," "Mother asDoormat" to make not-so-subtle statements about the place of women.This affordable book also tells us much about our relationships withour moms.CrazySexyCool by the editors of Us Magazine (Rolling Stone Press,$29.95). They're all here: bold portraits of the craziest, sexiest,coolest cats of the '90s, including Brad Pitt, Elisabeth Shue, KatoKaelin, Cindy Crawford, Samuel L. Jackson and dozens more. Daringblack-and-white and color photos are mixed effectively and almostspill off the pages to create a time capsule of our generation. Astylistic look at this era's stylish people.Glimpses Toward Infinity by Gordon Parks (Little, Brown, $45).Only one modern artist could combine his own photographs with his ownpaintings, sprinkle in his own poetry and come through with acoherent statement. Renaissance man Parks has always been able totake us to higher levels of visual acuity. He has never flown higherthan this sublime journey. The beautiful, profound photos hint atwhat we might see if heaven really waits for us.ALL-TIME FAVORITE: Self-Portrait: U.S.A. by David Douglas Duncan(out of print). This year's Democratic Convention in Chicago broughtback memories of this 1969 book. Photojournalists today may havelonger lenses, faster film and quicker cameras, but Duncan'sportraits of the 1968 conventions still put us to shame. His bookbrings politics to life and show its impact. His emotional,powerful, technically perfect images have stood the test of time.Rich Cahan is the Sun-Times photo editor.The End of Science by John Horgan (Addison Wesley, $24). Afterinterviewing many of the most celebrated names in science, such asphysicist Stephen Hawking, paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould andlinguist Noam Chomsky, John Horgan concludes, "the great era ofscientific discovery (probably) is over. . . . Further research mayyield no more great revelations or revolutions, but only incremental,diminishing returns."Horgan variously describes the leading lights of physics,cosmology, evolutionary biology, social science, neuroscience andchaos theory as arrogant, egotistical, fuzzyheaded, cranky or justplain cranks. It's a refreshing change from the worshipful proseemployed by most science writers.ALL-TIME FAVORITE: The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes(Simon & Schuster, $22.95). This long and engrossing narrative from1986 covers virtually every facet of the bomb, from the innerworkings of the atom to the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Rhodes describes how an atomic bomb works, and the enormousindustrial enterprise involved in producing a few pounds of plutoniumand enriched uranium. He explores many related issues, such asHitler's half-hearted attempt to build his own bomb and the savageryof World War II that led to the bomb's use. The first half is heavyon the science of nuclear fission, but you don't need a physicsdegree to understand it. Rhodes leaves it to the reader to decidewhether the United States was justified in using the bomb.Jim Ritter is the Sun-Times science reporter.Ernest Tubb: The Texas Troubadour, by Ronnie Pugh (Duke UniversityPress, $29.95). This is one of the most comprehensive country musicbiographies of recent years. It includes a 70-page discography andcool trivia, like the honky-tonkin' Tubb bragging that he worked forbillionaire Howard Hughes. In 1938 Tubb sold Alamo Beer, which wasbrewed by Hughes' Southern Brewing Co., in the Corpus Christi,Texas, area.Redneck Heaven: Portrait of a Vanishing Culture, by Bethany Bultman(Bantam, $14.95). Bultman doesn't take the typical stereotypicalhillbilly cheap shots. Instead, she has shrewd fun with subjectsthat range from yummy recipes like Spam fritters to redneckgraffiti. Of course, this book isn't available in hardback.Cruising Paradise: Tales, by Sam Shepard (Knopf, $23). My mostmemorable moment of last summer was reading Shepard's cheap hotelessay "Pure Accident" from this collection while staying at theNu-Homa Motel on old Route 66 in Oklahoma City. As I finished thestark story about lumpy motel ceilings and flying mules, a video ofSheryl Crow's "If It Makes You Happy" blared from the cheaptelevision set that was bolted to its stand. True story.ALL-TIME FAVORITE: Remembering America - A Sampler of the WPAAmerican Guide Series, edited by Archie Hobson (Columbia UniversityPress, $24.95). Remembering America collects the best folklore,history and social commentary by the Federal Writers Project(1935-1943), a program of the Works Progress Administration thathelped writers such as Studs Terkel, Saul Bellow and Ralph Ellisonto cut their teeth.Dave Hoekstra is a Sun-Times staff reporter.AIA Guide to Chicago (Harcourt Brace & Co., $22.95). Try readingjust one page. The thick book unmasks Chicago's architecture,covering the city like a blanket. The black and white pictures areclear and well done. There are wonderful essays by AIA executivedirector Alice Sinkevitch, IIT architecture professor KevinHarrington and others.Walter Burley Griffin in America (University of Illinois Press,$40). With Mati Maldre's mesmerizing black and white photography andPaul Kruty's clear text, the book reveals the mastery ofMaywood-born, prairie school architect Walter Griffin, who labored inthe shadow of his boss, Frank Lloyd Wright. It's a greatcoffee-table book.The Sex of Architecture (Harry N. Abrams Publishers, $19.95). Thisbook can be dry, and it does wander pretty far afield sometimes.Still, it's an interesting look, mainly through essays, at the rolewomen have played in architecture, both as architects and as theobjects of men's desire.Lee Bey is the Sun-Times architecture reporter.Cartoonist Scott Adams' The Dilbert Principle (HarperBusiness, $22)is the antidote for an era marked - make that marred - by downsizing,rightsizing, re-engineering and rejiggering the deck chairs on thecorporate Titanic.Through cartoons and accompanying text, Adams and his characterDilbert, the nerdy cubicle denizen, provide readers with laughs ofrecognition at their companies, bosses, co-workers and themselves aswell as voguish business foibles and fads. Adams, a former middlemanager with Pacific Bell, explains business buzzwords such asempowerment, Total Quality Management and change management. And hecuts through the fog of the "great lies of management," such as"Employees are our most valuable asset," "I have an open-door policy"and "The future is bright."The Dilbert Principle will help its readers not only make it tothe next payday, but possibly through the rest of their careers.ALL-TIME FAVORITE: Dilbert, the new champ, takes over fromBarbarians at the Gate, which took a novelistic approach to thegoings-on in the boardroom.Howard Wolinsky is a Sun-Times business reporter.

Vonn Sets Downhill Record, Ligety Wins

In a big day for American skiing, Lindsey Vonn earned the title of best U.S. downhiller Saturday while Ted Ligety won a World Cup giant slalom.

Vonn won a World Cup downhill for the 10th time to break the U.S. record set by Picabo Street (1996) and Daron Rahlves (2006).

I'm really honored," said Vonn, who already clinched the World Cup downhill title. "Picabo has been really behind me my whole career. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to talk to her."

Vonn won in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, in 1 minute, 23.57 seconds. Her fifth downhill victory of the season extended her overall World Cup lead.

With Bode Miller leading the men's overall World Cup standings, this could mark the first time Americans capture the men's and women's overall titles in the same year since Phil Mahre and Tamara McKinney in 1983.

Renate Goetschl of Austria was second in 1:24.18 and Nadia Fanchini of Italy was third. Julia Mancuso of the U.S. was fourth, missing a top-three finish by 0.03 seconds.

Vonn is going after her first overall World Cup crown. She has a 150-point lead on Austria's Nicole Hosp, who finished 27th Saturday.

In Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Ligety earned his first win since a giant slalom victory in South Korea two years ago.

"It's been a long time, a long journey for me," said Ligety, the Olympic combined champion.

Ligety is closing in on his first World Cup giant slalom title with one race left after winning in a combined in 2:24.31. He edging Manfred Moelgg of Italy by 0.15 seconds, and Massimiliano Blardone of Italy was third.

Ligety leads Benjamin Raich of Austria by 27 points.

Miller finished 11th in the giant slalom and kept his overall lead. He's ahead of Switzerland's Didier Cuche by 138 points with five races remaining, including the slalom Sunday and four events next week at the World Cup finals in Bormio, Italy.

Vonn skied without errors on a day when many had trouble with a jump two-thirds down the slope. The course was shortened because of poor visibility near the top.

"I always feel like I can go faster," Vonn said. "But for me, that's too dangerous. There are so many risks you don't need to take. I feel like this season has been a huge step for me because I've figured it out.

"I don't need to go 100 percent and take all the risks every single time. I can ski 90 percent, ski hard and still come down and have a great run."

Mancuso set aside her troubles in training and almost made it an American 1-2 finish.

"I was a little nervous after yesterday," she said. "I did make a mistake and that cost me second place."

Hosp is expected to make up ground on Vonn in the super-combined Sunday. It features a downhill and a slalom _ Vonn's least-favorite discipline.

Miller's rivals for the overall World Cup title, Raich and Cuche, gained ground after finishing fourth and sixth. Miller almost fell in the upper part of the first run and was on the verge of crashing out at the bottom.

"When you make a mistake like that, you have to push hard afterward to make up time," he said. "And I just kept making mistakes after that also."

___

Associated Press writers Graham Dunbar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, and Karel Janicek in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, contributed to this report.