Hillary Clinton released from the hospital

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has been released from a New York hospital after being treated for a blood clot, the State Department announced on Wednesday.
"Her medical team advised her that she is making good progress on all fronts, and they are confident she will make a full recovery," State Department spokesman Philippe Reines said in a statement. A date has not been set for her to return to work.
Clinton was admitted to the hospital on Sunday for treatment of a blood clot related to a concussion she suffered after fainting in December. Her doctors said the clot was located "in the space between the brain and the skull behind the right ear," and she was treated with blood thinners.
Clinton is expected to step down as secretary of state this month. President Barack Obama has named Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry to succeed her.

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Runaway Alaska oil rig dragged two tugs for miles

 The runaway oil rig that ran aground in Alaska on New Year's Eve dragged two vessels trying to control it more than 10 miles toward shore in just over an hour before the crews cut it loose to save themselves in "near hurricane" conditions.
Details were still emerging on Wednesday from the U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Dutch/Shell, the company at the center of a controversial and accident-prone Arctic oil drilling program of which the Kulluk drillship is a vital part.
They paint a frightening picture of the 28,000-tonne, saucer-shaped rig being thrust toward the shore on waves up to 35 feet high driven by winds up to 62 mph, pulling its main towing vessel, the Aiviq, and a tug, the Alert, behind it.
"We are talking about near hurricane-strength conditions," said Darci Sinclair of the Kulluk Tow Incident Unified Command, set up by the U.S. Coast Guard and the companies involved. "Regaining control became extremely challenging."
The unified command said the Kulluk was still aground on Sitkalidak Island in the Gulf of Alaska, but "upright and stable". Updates were available at www.kullukresponse.com.
The 30-year-old Kulluk is operated by Noble Corp and was refitted by Shell for its summer 2012 drilling expedition in the Beaufort Sea off northern Alaska.
Shell spent $4.5 billion preparing for extraction activities there and in the Chukchi Sea further east, but has yet to complete a single well, while facing some embarrassing setbacks.
Headlines that raise questions about the wisdom of drilling so far north in such a environmentally delicate and technically challenging place were not expected so early in 2013, given that activity stopped for the season two months ago.
Any Kulluk damage could threaten Shell's 2013 drilling program because its oil-spill plans require a second rig to be available at all times in case a relief well needs to be drilled to kill the well. That is the Noble-owned Discoverer, which would also be unable to drill without another rig nearby.
David Smith, spokesman at the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement in Washington DC, said his division would not yet speculate on the summer. The earliest date that the drilling season could have started last year was July 1.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said the Kulluk's hull appeared sound after a few over flights. More were planned on Wednesday, with more than 600 people supporting the response.
"This is a very large and complex response and it is important that the American public and our elected officials understand the dangerous and difficult challenges being faced by the response crews," Rear Admiral Thomas Ostebo, commander of the Coast Guard in Alaska, said in the statement.
The Kulluk was on its way south for the winter. It had been towed east from the Beaufort, and then south through the Bering Strait that separates the northernmost U.S. state from Siberia.
On December 28, about half way to its winter destination in Seattle, and 50 miles south of Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska, engine failure struck the Aiviq - an icebreaker that is less than a year old, and whose name means "Walrus".
The weather was already rough and the Kulluk's 18-strong crew was lifted off, when a doomed four-day battle to keep the Kulluk off the rocks began.
The effort ran into deeper difficulty a few hours after nightfall on December 31, with the shore less than 19 miles away.
Aiviq, one of two vessels attached at the time, lost its line. It was re-attached, and battled on against the elements along with the Alert, but the coastline kept getting closer as the storm pushed all three vessels north-eastwards.
At 8:15 p.m. on Monday (January 1, 0515 GMT), the order came to cut the Kulluk lines to save the Aiviq, the Alert and the crews.
At 8:30 p.m., the lines were cut, and by 8:48, a trajectory map on the unified command website shows, the Kulluk was aground about 1,600 feet from the shore on Sitkalidak Island, near the larger Kodiak Island. The Kulluk, the wind, and the waves had dragged Aiviq and Alert more than 10 miles in just over an hour.
The vessel settled on what one Coast Guard official described as "loose rock and sand".
Noble had no immediate comment. Shell in London has made a series of statements on the progress of the operation, but had nothing to add on Wednesday, and referred calls to the unified command. Shell in Houston could not be reached for comment.
"ONE DISASTER TO THE NEXT"
The spill risk from the drillship is limited to the 143,000 gallons of ultra-low-sulfur diesel and 12,000 gallons of other oil products on board. Still, opponents of Arctic drilling said the accident showed Shell was unable to keep the Arctic safe.
"Shell has lurched from one Arctic disaster to the next, displaying staggering ineptitude every step of the way," Greenpeace campaigner Ben Ayliffe said on Wednesday.
"Were the pristine environment of the frozen north not at risk of an oil spill it would be almost comical. Instead it's tragic," Ayliffe said. "We're moving closer to a major catastrophe in the Arctic and the U.S. government appears unwilling to provide either the needed oversight or emergency backup the company's incompetence requires."
Shell's Arctic campaign has been bedeviled by problems. The Coast Guard briefly detained the Discoverer in December in Seward, Alaska, on safety concerns. A mandatory oil-containment barge, the Arctic Challenger, failed for months to meet requirements for seaworthiness, and a ship mishap resulted in damage to a key piece of equipment intended to cap a blown well.
Asked why the Kulluk was still at sea two months after work stopped, one contract drilling source said the "demobilization" process after drilling can take days or weeks depending on the rig model and its anchoring. It was also possible the weather was rough enough over the last few months to delay transit.
Replacing the Kulluk, if it ends up being badly damaged, would add to the cost of the accident for Shell, which must reimburse the federal and state governments for response costs.
The Discoverer, which it has under a contract with Noble, costs Shell $240,000 per day - or a few-hundred million dollars over the life of the two-year contract. Shell had to spend $292 million upgrading the Kulluk, when was built in 1983 and had been slated to be scrapped before Shell bought it in 2005.

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Fiscal Cliff Compromise: Winners, Losers and Those in Between

The ink was still wet on Congress' fiscal-cliff fix Wednesday morning when Americans started lumping themselves into the winners and losers circles.
And like a Venn diagram of politics, the circles overlapped with many dubbing themselves as part-loser, part-winner. Compromise is one way to view it: While Congress compromised over who qualified as wealthy, families across the country saw comprise in their own lives: Sure, they're spared income-tax increases, but they hand over that juicy 2-percentage-point payroll tax cut.
Most Americans will reap the boons of the compromise: a continuation of the Bush-era tax cuts for those making less than $400,000, more unemployment benefits for those who need them, help for small businesses, and extensions of the Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit and college tuition breaks.
But it's Congress' failure to renew the cut in payroll taxes that garnered attention Wednesday. Those taxes, which fund Social Security, will again sap pocketbooks like they did prior to 2011.
Yahoo News asked Americans to pinpoint how the legislative deal will affect their families' short-term planning and long-term goals. How will the increase in payroll taxes hit their bottom line? What particular portions of the legislation impact them most?
"There are clearly winners and losers here," S.W. Hampson, a New Orleans filmmaker, wrote Wednesday in a first-person perspective. "Winners: The unemployed. Losers: Individuals making $400,000 per year and couples making $450,000 per year. The Biggest Loser: Me, the working man."
Hampson, 29, says he will see about an $800 decrease in take-home pay in 2013 because of the increase in payroll taxes. In the long-term, he'll be more frugal while paying off student loans, keeping a roof over his head and putting food on the table. In the short-term, he says he'll cancel a modest trip to visit family. Ending these economy-boosting tax breaks doesn't add up to him.
"Those extra few dollars a week mean a lot to me as a person working paycheck to paycheck. It isn't like that money is going into savings; it is money I would be spending, hence stimulating the economy," Hampson says.
Finding his expendable income sliced in half, he took to Twitter, telling his followers: "Bureaucratic red tape is eventually replaced by legislative duct tape…until the whole thing falls apart. #USProblems #DC'Solutions'"
Fiscal-cliff effects could've been worse
In Omaha, Neb., Amber Weinacht is more equivocal.
The 35-year-old single mother of three children, ages 14, 11 and 6, says she's counting on the $1,000-per-child tax credits to curb expenses. But the legislation will take around $32 more from her paycheck monthly for Social Security benefits.
"That is a week's worth of gas, or an entire month's supply of milk for my family," Weinacht writes. "Yearly, this adds up to about $350. I cringe when I think of where our family budget will take cuts. It is already mighty lean."
Still, the tax credits, coupled with tax breaks for her residential-cleaning business, make the deal seem not so sour.
"I am hoping that things will even out at the end of the year. I will still be getting the same amount on my tax returns that I am getting now, which is a nice safety net for my family to look forward to. All in all, I guess the deal doesn't seem so bad," Weinacht says.
Fiscal cliff deal gets a 'C' in my book, or ledger
John A. Tures is a political science professor, so he's naturally graded Congress on its efforts to avoid the fiscal cliff.
For the short-term, Congress earns an A-.
Long-term, it nearly fails, bringing home a D-.
"Watching the fiscal cliff deal debate go down was a lot like political theater, but its conclusion would have consequences for me," the LaGrange, Ga., resident writes. "After all, any deal, or lack of one, would lead to changes in taxes and a potential panic on Wall Street."
In the next few years, he and his family are helped by the income-tax extension, reprieve of Medicare payments to doctors and $2,000 worth of child tax credits. He writes: "Contrary to popular belief, professors don't make anywhere near $400,000, and I'm married to a teacher (our household income is way below $450,000), so those tax cuts sticking around help."
But the long-term future isn't so rosy: "One of the biggest shortcomings was the lack of deficit reform. By not cutting spending, and allowing low tax rates to stick around, the fiscal cliff deal could add to the overall debt by $4 trillion. This doesn't affect families like me immediately, but such debt is unsustainable. If it leads to future tax hikes, massive cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and the elimination of college tuition tax breaks and Pell Grants, the short-term success the deal has for my family won't be worth it. Hopefully, the new Congress will have more appetite for long-term spending reforms, keeping more of what we need, and less of what we don't."
Legislation's Medicare provisions a relief
For Marla Mayes' parents, rescuing Medicare payments to doctors may literally be life-saving.
Mayes' parents suffer from a variety of conditions: renal kidney failure, diabetes, high blood pressure, lung cancer and more. Had Congress not reached the fiscal cliff compromise, Medicare payments to doctors could have been cut by nearly 27 percent.
"Most of Dad's doctors were going to drop him," Mayes, who works as an unpaid caregiver for her folks in Merritt Island, Fla., writes. "Most of my folks' doctors already have big office signs stating they are not accepting any new Medicare patients."
Without the Medicare provisions extended, she could forget about a second opinion and likely not a first one. When her 79-year-old father had dialysis problems, a second surgeon spotted a tumor on his lung in an x-ray. Immediate surgery and a biopsy followed.
"I can't fathom trying something like that if the fiscal cliff deal had not passed," Mayes says.

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Senior trapped in Mississauga, Ont., nursing home elevator for more than a day

BRAMPTON, Ont. - Officials are investigating after an elderly woman was trapped in an elevator at her Mississauga, Ont., nursing home for more than 24 hours.
Peel Region chair Emil Kolb said Wednesday in a statement that the senior was trapped in the elevator at the Malton Village Long Term from the evening of Dec. 23 until early Christmas morning.
Kolb says the woman had been out with her family on Dec. 23 and was dropped off at the front door that evening, but staff thought she was staying with family when she didn't return to her room.
It's believed she became trapped in the elevator between floors on her way to her room and it no one realized that she was missing until 24 hours later.
A search was begun and she was finally found in the malfunctioning elevator, was treated at the scene by paramedics and taken to hospital for evaluation.
Kolb says she returned to the centre on Christmas Day by dinnertime and although she is recovering well, she remains under close observation.
Kolb called the incident "very distressing" and said it was "very unhappy news on what should be one of the most joyous (days) of the year."
"My distress was certainly far less than that of the resident and her family," he added.
"We consider this an extremely serious failure," Kolb said.
The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care was advised of the incident and Kolb said regional officials are co-operating fully with the investigation.
He said action has already been taken to ensure residents on leave from the centre are accounted for on their return, including requiring that families and residents sign in and out of the centre.
"No resident or family should ever have to experience such an event again," Kolb said.

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McConnell: Fiscal cliff deal not great, but it shields Americans from tax hike

Editor's note: This op/ed is by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
The first day of a new Congress always represents a fresh start. This year, it also presents a perfect opportunity to tackle the single-greatest challenge facing our nation: reining in the out-of-control federal spending that threatens to permanently alter our economy and dim the prospects and opportunities of future generations of Americans.
Earlier this week, I helped negotiate an imperfect solution aimed at avoiding the so-called “fiscal cliff.” If I had my way taxes would not have gone up on anyone, but the unavoidable fact was this if we had sat back and done nothing taxes would have gone up dramatically on every single American, and I simply couldn’t allow that to happen.
By acting, we’ve shielded more than 99% of taxpayers from a massive tax hike that President Obama was all-too willing to impose. American families and small businesses that would have seen painfully smaller paychecks and profits this month have been spared. Retirement accounts for seniors won’t be whittled down by a dramatic increase in taxes on investment income. And many who’ve spent a lifetime paying taxes on income and savings won’t be slammed with a dramatically higher tax on estates.
Was it a great deal? No. As I said, taxes shouldn’t be going up at all. Just as importantly, the transcendent issue of our time, the spiraling debt, remains completely unaddressed. Yet now that the President has gotten his long-sought tax hike on the “rich,” we can finally turn squarely toward the real problem, which is spending.
Predictably, the President is already claiming that his tax hike on the “rich” isn’t enough. I have news for him: the moment that he and virtually every elected Democrat in Washington signed off on the terms of the current arrangement, it was the last word on taxes. That debate is over. Now the conversation turns to cutting spending on the government programs that are the real source of the nation’s fiscal imbalance. And the upcoming debate on the debt limit is the perfect time to have that discussion.
We simply cannot increase the nation’s borrowing limit without committing to long overdue reforms to spending programs that are the very cause of our debt.
The only way to achieve the balance the President claims to want is by cutting spending. As he himself has admitted, no amount of tax hikes or revenue could possibly keep up with the amount of money Washington is projected to spend in the coming years. At some point, high taxes become such a drag on the economy that the revenue stalls.
While most Washington Democrats may want to deny it, the truth is, the only thing we can do to solve the nation’s fiscal problem is to tackle government spending head on — and particularly, spending on health care programs, which appear to take off like a fighter jet on every chart available that details current trends in federal spending.
The President may not want to have a fight about government spending over the next few months, but it’s the fight he is going to have, because it’s a debate the country needs. For the sake of our future, the President must show up to this debate early and convince his party to do something that neither he nor they have been willing to do until now. Over the next two months they need to deliver the same kind of bipartisan resolution to the spending problem we have now achieved on revenue — before the 11th hour.
When it comes to spending, the time has come to rise above the special interest groups that dominate the liberal wing of the Democratic Party in Washington and act, without drama or delay. The President likes to say that most Americans support tax hikes on the rich. What he conveniently leaves out is that even more Americans support cuts. That’s the debate the American people really want. It’s a debate Republicans are ready to have. And it’s the debate that starts today, whether the President wants it or not.

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Heads roll on Black Monday as seven coaches fired

 Heads continued to roll for under-achieving head coaches across the National Football League as the Philadelphia Eagles' Andy Reid, Buffalo Bills' Chan Gailey and Cleveland Browns' Pat Shurmur were all fired on what has become known as Black Monday.
The unemployment ranks swelled even further later on Monday with the Chicago Bears' Lovie Smith, Kansas City Chiefs' Romeo Crennel, San Diego Chargers' Norv Turner and Arizona Cardinals' Ken Whisenhunt also getting the axe to bring the total to seven teams with head coaching vacancies.
The 5-11 Browns, who closed out the season on Sunday with a 24-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, were among the first to begin house cleaning by announcing Shurmur and general manager Tom Heckert had been relieved of their duties.
The news was quickly followed by the 6-10 Bills confirming they had sacked Gailey and the 4-12 Eagles announcing Reid was being relieved of his duties after 14 years in charge.
Reid's departure had been widely expected but still came as shock to many after a mostly successful tenure in Philadelphia leading the Eagles to six NFC East titles, five NFC championship games and a Super Bowl appearance in 2004.
His 140 victories are a franchise record and rank 22nd on the all-time NFL coaching list.
But a bitterly disappointing 2012 campaign that ended in a 42-7 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday signaled to owner Jeffrey Lurie that is was time for a change.
"Andy Reid won the most games of any head coach in Eagles' history and he is someone I respect greatly and will remain friends with for many years to come," said Lurie in a statement. "But, it is time for the Eagles to move in a new direction.
"Andy leaves us with a winning tradition that we can build upon and we are very excited about the future."
UNEXPECTED FIRING
If there was a surprise it came in Chicago where Smith was sacked despite guiding his team to a respectable 10-6 record and narrowly missing out on a playoff berth.
In nine seasons in Chicago, Smith posted a record of 81-63 in leading the team to an NFC championship and Super Bowl appearance in 2006.
But in five of the past six seasons, the Bears have failed to make the playoffs and after a sparkling 7-1 start to the 2012 campaign stumbled down the stretch to again miss out on the post-season.
After a league worst 2-14 season, that earned the Chiefs the number one pick in 2013 draft, it came as no surprise that Kansas City would be looking for a new head coach.
It was a difficult season on and off the field for Crennel, who watched the losses pile up then looked on as linebacker Jovan Belcher shot himself dead at the team's training facility after killing his girlfriend.
San Diego fired both coach Turner and general manager A.J. Smith after the team went 7-9 and missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season.
Arizona also removed its coach and general manager with Rod Graves dismissed along with coach Whisenhunt.
The Cardinals started the season 4-0 but won only one other game as quarterback problems beleaguered the team.
Black Monday began with the Jacksonville Jaguars announcing they had fired general manager Gene Smith and was followed by the New York Jets dumping GM Mike Tannenbaum.
The Jets, however, ended the speculation swirling around Rex Ryan by confirming the under-fire head coach would be back next season.
"Rex Ryan will remain the head coach of our football team. I believe that he has the passion, the talent, and the drive to successfully lead our team," said Jets owner Woody Johnson on the team's website.
After a tumultuous 6-10 season, overshadowed by a quarterbacking controversy around the use of incumbent Mark Sanchez and polarizing Tim Tebow, Ryan was widely expected to pay for the Jets under-achieving results with his job.
With Ryan back for next season the speculation will now center on the futures of Sanchez and Tebow in New York.
The Jets' sputtering offense ranked 30th among 32 teams, generating an average of just 299 yards per game.
Changes had been expected in Jacksonville after the toothless Jaguars finished the season tied with the Chiefs for the NFL's worst record (2-14).
"Now it is time for the Jacksonville Jaguars to begin a new chapter," new owner Shahid Khan said in a statement. "We're not looking back.
"I've made it clear from Day One that we pledge nothing less than to deliver the first Super Bowl championship to Jacksonville.

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Ryan stays as Jets coach, GM Tannenbaum fired

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Mike Tannenbaum pulled out a letter as he stood in front of the New York Jets players for one last time.
It was a farewell address to the group of men he signed, traded for and drafted over the last seven years as the team's general manager. He choked back tears as he read it, and received a round of applause when he was done.
"It was really heartfelt," defensive end Mike DeVito said Monday. "I know Mike, and he'll bounce back."
The Jets fired Tannenbaum after a dismal 6-10 season, but owner Woody Johnson announced that Rex Ryan will be back for a fifth season as the team's coach.
"I believe that he has the passion, the talent, and the drive to successfully lead our team," Johnson said of Ryan in a statement.
The futures of both Tannenbaum and Ryan were unclear after a 28-9 loss to Buffalo on Sunday, a miserable finish to the team's first losing season in Ryan's four years as coach. While it appeared Tannenbaum was a likely goner, it was believed Ryan might also be on shaky ground.
Ryan's scheduled news conference with the media Monday afternoon was postponed amid speculation that there could be several changes on the coaching staff. Offensive coordinator Tony Sparano is expected to be fired after one season, although no coaching moves were immediately made by Johnson after a staff meeting. Defensive coordinator Mike Pettine's status is uncertain after he turned down a contract extension earlier in the year, while special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff retired following Sunday's game.
Johnson started shaking things up early by parting ways with Tannenbaum, who had been with the organization since 1997. Johnson said he has consulted with several "football executives" and also hired a search firm to help aid in finding a new GM. Former Colts vice chairman Bill Polian, 49ers director of player personnel Tom Gamble, Texans director of college scouting Mike Maccagnan, Ravens assistant GM Eric DeCosta and Raiders director of personnel Joey Clinkscales — who was previously a member of New York's front office — could all garner attention from the Jets.
"My goal every year as owner is to build a team that wins consistently," Johnson said. "This year, we failed to achieve that goal. Like all Jets fans, I am disappointed with this year's results. However, I am confident that this change will best position our team for greater success going forward."
The Jets were a team in turmoil from the moment they acquired quarterback Tim Tebow in a trade with Denver last March. The move was made by Tannenbaum and highly criticized by fans and media — and failed in just about every way.
Tebow was brought in as a backup for Mark Sanchez and expected to play a key role in certain offensive schemes. He played sparingly, and spent several weeks out of the lineup with injured ribs.
Meanwhile, Sanchez was having a poor season, the Jets kept losing and Tebow never got a chance to be the No. 1 quarterback.
"I underachieved and didn't play the way I'm capable of playing," Sanchez said. "I want another crack at this thing."
Tebow's time with the Jets began with a splashy news conference, but his one and likely only season ended with the popular backup going out quietly as he wasn't available to the media as the players cleared out their lockers.
Tannenbaum's tenure as the Jets' GM included two trips to the AFC championship game. He had two years left on his contract, but Johnson made the change after the Jets failed to make the playoffs for a second year in a row.
In a statement, Tannenbaum thanked Johnson for "the opportunity of a lifetime" and added that "there are champions on this team that haven't been crowned yet."
Tannenbaum was hired as the team's director of player contract negotiations in 1997, and served in various other roles before replacing Terry Bradway as general manager in 2006.
With a knack for navigating the NFL's salary cap, Tannenbaum was never afraid to make splashy signings or trades — Tebow, Brett Favre, LaDainian Tomlinson, Santonio Holmes and Plaxico Burress, to name a few. He also made his mark on draft day, bringing in some of the team's best players such as Darrelle Revis, Nick Mangold, D'Brickashaw Ferguson and David Harris. But Tannenbaum had more misses than hits in recent drafts, with Vernon Gholston, Vladimir Ducasse and even Sanchez high-round picks that didn't perform as expected.
The trade for Tebow was perhaps the biggest mistake. By acquiring Tebow last March, the Jets brought in a player with immense popularity to provide a spark to the offense — just a matter of days after giving Sanchez a contract extension that included $8.25 million in guarantees for next season. Many fans and media argued that rather than trade for Tebow, Tannenbaum could have addressed some of the Jets' more-pressing needs, such as the offensive line, wide receiver and depth on defense.
The next GM will face an unstable salary cap situation, along with a dozen players scheduled to become unrestricted free agents, including starters Dustin Keller, LaRon Landry, Yeremiah Bell, Shonn Greene and Brandon Moore. Decisions will also have to be made on high-priced and aging veterans such as Calvin Pace and Bart Scott.
Meanwhile, that new GM will also have to work with Ryan, who has two years remaining on his contract and is two years removed from the second of consecutive trips to the AFC championship game.
"I'm excited that Rex is going to be here," Mangold said. "I know he has a passion and a fire for this game and for this team. We have to do a better job on the field, and that starts here shortly."

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Buffalo Bills fire coach Chan Gailey

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Chan Gailey didn't work out after three losing seasons, leaving the Buffalo Bills looking for their fifth head coach since 2001.
The Bills fired Gailey on Monday after he failed to deliver on his vow to transform a losing franchise into a playoff contender. Gailey's entire staff was fired, too, but the status of general manager Buddy Nix remained uncertain.
Gailey's teams lost twice as many games as they won, going 16-32 over three seasons. The Bills have now posted eight straight losing seasons, and closed with a second straight 6-10 mark after beating the New York Jets 28-9 on Sunday.
"I understand this is a business," said Gailey, who had at least one year left on his contract. "We didn't get the job done."
Gailey spoke for a little over a minute. He declined to take questions, while growing emotional at one point. Among the assistants fired were assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt.
"I've been called two other times to get things turned around, was able to do it," Gailey said, referring to previous stops with Dallas (1998-99) and Georgia Tech (2002-07). "We weren't able to get this one done soon enough, and I understand that completely."
It was a disappointing finish for a team that had much higher aspirations. The Bills spent much of the past 14 months securing their best player, re-signing receiver Stevie Johnson and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to lucrative multiyear contracts.
The spending spree reached its peak in March, when they signed defensive end Mario Williams to a six-year, $100 million contract.
"It's always disappointing," said defensive tackle Kyle Williams, one of the only players left in the locker room when the team announced Gailey's firing.
What frustrates Williams more is how the Bills keep making changes without getting any results.
"I get tired of losing," Williams said. "More than anything, I get tired of putting in tons and tons of work. And it's hard sitting here talking to you guys at the end of December feeling like another one kind of slipped through your fingers."
What's next remains unclear. Nix was at the team's facility Monday, but he nor the team provided any indication as to whether he'll be retained.
Gailey's dismissal is a significant setback for Nix. The general manager announced in November that Gailey wasn't going anywhere, because another coaching change would stunt the team's development.
The Bills, however, closed by losing seven of their final 10 games.
Bills owner Ralph Wilson had initially backed Nix's build-through-the-draft approach. Three years ago, the 94-year-old owner said he expected the rebuilding process could take as long as five years.
CEO Russ Brandon has been unhappy with the criticism leveled at the Bills, and how it's translated into poor ticket sales. Buffalo failed to sell out its four final home games.
One option is for the Bills to make a splash in hiring their next head coach, as they attempted in their previous search.
After firing Dick Jauron in November 2009, Wilson expressed a desire to open his checkbook to lure a high-profile coach to Buffalo only to be rebuffed by Mike Shanahan, who instead landed in Washington.
The most high-profile candidates available include coach-turned-broadcaster Jon Gruden and Andy Reid, who was fired by Philadelphia on Monday. Then there's two candidates in the college ranks, Oregon's Chip Kelly and Penn State's Bill O'Brien, who had numerous friends and former colleagues on Gailey's staff.
An offensive specialist, Gailey was unable to spark the Bills popgun attack under Fitzpatrick. The Bills finished 19th in the NFL in yards gained and 21st in points this season. Gailey was faulted for under-utilizing the offense's most dynamic threat, running back C.J. Spiller.
"It's sickening," running back Fred Jackson said, referring to how the Bills failed to play up to expectations. "As players, we had the highest hopes out of everybody. And for us to fall short of that, we don't like it at all. It's depressing."
Ultimately, it was the Bills' porous defense that doomed Gailey.
The Bills allowed 400-plus points in each of the past three seasons, including 435 this year — the second-most in team history. Though Williams' presence improved the pass rush, Buffalo became the NFL's eighth team, and first since the 1986 Jets, to allow 45 points four times in one season.
Fitzpatrick's status is uncertain in part because he's due a $3 million bonus in March. He went 16-29 since taking the starting job three games into the 2010 season.
Fitzpatrick declined to speculate on his future. After speaking to reporters, Fitzpatrick hugged Johnson, and the two left with the receiver's arm over the quarterback's shoulder.
Reading from notes he jotted on a Bills pad, Gailey's eyes welled with tears when he credited Bills fans for their loyalty, and Buffalo for being a passionate football city.
"I think that the next staff will have a great opportunity for success, and make this another great football franchise," Gailey said. "This will probably be, and I say probably, but I think it will be the first place that's ever fired me that I'll pull for.

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Chiefs fire Crennel, restructure organization

the end of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, in Denver. Denver won 38-3. …more
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs are doing more than looking for a new coach after firing Romeo Crennel on Monday. They're changing the entire structure of the organization.
Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said in an interview with The Associated Press that he will hire the next head coach and that person will report directly to him. That's a departure from the previous 53 years in Kansas City, where the head coach had always reported to the general manager.
"The reason for it is I think it gives us the best chance of hiring the most outstanding coach," said Hunt, who had already begun working the phones to find Crennel's replacement.
Hunt relieved the 65-year-old Crennel of his duties after a 38-3 loss to Denver on Sunday that finished off a 2-14 season, tied for the worst in franchise history. But he has not made a decision on the future of GM Scott Pioli, whose job has hung in the balance for weeks.
"I don't have a timeline laid out on that," Hunt said. "Obviously the beginning of February, there are a lot of important events related to the upcoming draft, the combine and so forth, and we want to be solidified in that regard before that."
The Chiefs will have the No. 1 pick for the first time since joining the NFL.
The Chiefs' only victories this season were against New Orleans and Carolina, the latter coming one day after linebacker Jovan Belcher shot his girlfriend to death and then drove to the team's practice facility and turned the gun on himself as Crennel and Pioli looked on.
Crennel seemed to know the end was coming Sunday night when he was asked to defend his job and said, "If your criteria is wins and losses, there's not much defense."
"The NFL is a performance-based league, and we weren't able to win," Crennel said in a statement Monday. "As for my future, I'm planning to take some time to reflect on this season, evaluate everything, and make a decision based on what's right for myself and my family."
The only other time the Chiefs finished 2-14 was 2008, the year before Pioli was hired. They were 2-12 in 1977, the only other time they've failed to win at least three games.
"It's a tough day, but I can't say I didn't see it coming," said right tackle Eric Winston, among several players cleaning out their lockers Monday.
With five players voted to the Pro Bowl last week, there are certainly pieces in place for the Chiefs to make rapid improvement. But four of them were inherited by Pioli's regime, and that haul of Pro Bowl players may have been Crennel's biggest indictment.
"You always want to be able to give a head coach as long as you can to build a program. I just felt we really were not headed in the right direction," Hunt said. "The Pro Bowl balloting tells us a little about what coaches and players around the league think about the roster, that there's some very talented players. But at the same time, we all know there are holes."
The biggest hole is at quarterback, where the Chiefs benched Matt Cassel and his $63 million contract in favor of Brady Quinn, who struggled all year and is now a free agent.
The Chiefs' inept offense managed 18 touchdowns in 16 games, finished minus-24 in turnover margin and lost nine times by two touchdowns or more. Along the way, they broke an 83-year-old NFL record by not holding a lead in regulation until their ninth game.
"It has been by far the hardest year I've ever had as a professional," Hunt said. "I was miserable throughout the season, just in terms of what I was seeing. It was so hard on me because I want the team to succeed, not only for everyone in this building but most importantly for our fans. It just killed me that we weren't competitive. I hated it."
Crennel, whose career record as a head coach is 28-55, was hired in 2010 as defensive coordinator. Respected by his players, he was appointed interim coach last December when Pioli fired Todd Haley with three games left in the season.
Crennel immediately brought a sense of stability to a floundering franchise, defeating the previously unbeaten Green Bay Packers and winning at Denver in the season finale.
With the support of the players, Pioli made Crennel the permanent coach a few weeks later, giving him another opportunity as a head coach after four failed seasons in Cleveland.
This season was a disappointment from the start, too. The Chiefs were blown out by the Falcons in their opener, trounced by the Bills and later lost eight consecutive games.
Empty seats began to multiply at Arrowhead Stadium, once one of the NFL's most intimidating venues. An organized fan rebellion paid for banners to be towed behind airplanes asking for Pioli to be fired, and the majority of fans dressed in black for a home game against Cincinnati.
Nothing Crennel did seemed to work, either.
He fired himself as the defensive coordinator and turned those duties over to linebackers coach Gary Gibbs. He shuffled his quarterbacks, changed inspirational posters outside the locker room and even tinkered with the way practice was run.
But injuries were numerous, turnovers plentiful and penalties crippling as blown assignments became the hallmark of a team that was rarely competitive in games.
Then came the morning of Dec. 1, when tragedy struck.
Belcher, a part-time starter, shot the mother of his 3-month-old daughter, Kasandra Perkins, multiple times at a home not far from Arrowhead Stadium. The linebacker then sped to the team's practice facility and was confronted by Pioli, who tried to talk him out of more violence.
After thanking Pioli and Crennel for his chance in the NFL, Belcher shot himself in the head.
The Chiefs played the following day against Carolina, and Crennel was praised for the way he stoically led a team in turmoil. Kansas City put together its best performance in a 27-21 victory.
It wound up being their last win. The Chiefs were blown out by Cleveland, shut out by Oakland and beaten by the Colts before an embarrassing finale against the Broncos.
That was enough to finish Crennel, and enough to put Pioli's future in jeopardy.
"I kept looking for the team to improve, to show signs that we were turning the corner," Hunt said, "and we just never got there.

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Who might fill the NFL coaching openings

When NFL coaching jobs open, the names Jon Gruden, Bill Cowher and Tony Dungy immediately surface as potential candidates.
Much more likely than any of those Super Bowl winners returning to the sideline for 2013 would be the hirings of more obscure assistant coaches such as Mike Zimmer, Mike McCoy and Gus Bradley.
And Jon Gruden's younger brother, Jay.
Sure, some of the best-known coaches, including Andy Reid, Lovie Smith and Ken Whisenhunt, who lost their jobs Monday, will be in the mix. So might college coaches Chip Kelly of Oregon and Bill O'Brien of Penn State.
Maybe even Nick Saban, although leaving Alabama for the NFL is a long shot.
Bringing in highly accomplished coordinators has been the most common route for NFL teams lately. Cincinnati's Zimmer and Gruden and Denver's McCoy top most lists, along with Bruce Arians, who went 9-3 as Indianapolis' interim coach this season.
"Obviously, he's earned any phone call he gets, he's earned that right," Colts coach Chuck Pagano said of Arians, who replaced him for 12 games while Pagano underwent chemotherapy for leukemia. "And let me just say this, we do not want to lose Bruce Arians. We know who he is and what he's meant to this football team ..."
Zimmer was turned down twice last season after interviewing with Tampa Bay, which brought in Rutgers coach Greg Schiano, and Miami (Green Bay offensive coordinator Joe Philbin). The defensive mastermind still wants to be a head coach somewhere, but isn't getting his hopes up.
"Honestly, I don't listen to that stuff anymore," he said in early December. "Honest-to-God's truth. I've had for so many years, have people say, 'This is your year.' Then at the end of the year for about three days I'm totally depressed because I see this guy get a job, that guy get a job, that guy get a job.
"So it's in my best interest not to think about it, talk about it and just try to do the best job I can because I'm like (everybody else), I get disappointed too."
Gruden, who cut his coaching teeth in Arena Football and has revived Cincinnati's offense around Andy Dalton and A.J. Green, got some interest from other teams after last season. He quickly took himself out of the running, but might get more suitors with seven jobs open.
So might McCoy, whose adaptability is unquestioned after he adjusted Denver's offense for Tim Tebow's skill set last season, then made Peyton Manning's transition from the Colts to the Broncos so smooth.
Arians joined the Colts after he was released as Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator. When Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia, Arians stepped in and guided a team that went 2-14 a year ago into the playoffs.
Bradley has helped Pete Carroll build a physical, sometimes intimidating and always effective defense in Seattle. That style of defense will be attractive to teams such as the Bears, Browns and Eagles who have to deal with cold weather late in the schedule.
Kelly is one of the most intriguing candidates. The NFL is loath to admit it is enamored of anything college teams do, but Kelly's wide-open, speed-based offense has lots of pro franchises salivating.
He has been mentioned for most NFL openings, and that figures to continue.
Retreads also will get interviews, and not only the coaches who were canned on Monday. Denver defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio and Atlanta DC Mike Nolan might have earned another chance.
"When you're a young guy and you haven't been there, the urgency and desire to get that opportunity is such that you'd take just about any job given to you," said Del Rio, who was in charge in Jacksonville for nine seasons. "I don't feel that way now. If there's something that fits and the right situation comes along, so be it. But in the meantime, I'm all in, 100 percent as a lieutenant on this staff. I'm somebody that John Fox, John Elway ... and the players can count on. I'm 100 percent invested in helping them be their best.

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