US cold, steady China help lift oil prices

The price of oil stayed above $100 a barrel Tuesday on expectations cold weather in the U.S. and steady Chinese growth will underpin demand.

Benchmark U.S. crude for March delivery was up 35 cents to $100.65 a barrel at 0750 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Due to the President's Day holiday, the contract's last physical settlement was Friday, when it fell 5 cents to close at $100.30.

Severe cold weather in the U.S. has been boosting energy prices. The U.S. East Coast is expected to get more snow, and the cold is extending to other states.

Optimism that China's economy is still healthy after credit growth increased in January also helped lift energy prices.

Talks begin Tuesday among Iran and six world powers on finalizing a deal to control Iran's nuclear program. The outcome could have an effect on oil prices as Iran is a major oil producer and reduction of sanctions would allow the country to export more of its crude.

Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, edged down 13 cents to $109.05.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

— Wholesale gasoline rose 0.8 cent to $2.98 a gallon.

— Heating oil added 0.5 cent to $3.021 a gallon.

— Natural gas gained 31 cents to $5.524 per 1,000 cubic feet.

House passes drone, government surveillance bills

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- The state House on Monday passed two bills that would restrict the use of drones and government surveillance in Washington state.

House Bill 2789, which was approved by an 83-15 vote, would limit the purchase and use of unmanned aircraft systems by state and local agencies.

Under the measure, state agencies and municipal governments could only obtain drones or other unmanned aircraft after getting approval from their governing body. The drones could only be used with a search warrant and in other circumstances including: emergencies with an immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury; criminal emergencies with immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury with no time to get a warrant; for military training on a base; training and testing of devices if no personal information is collected; a governor-declared state of emergency; or for an operation such as environmental or wildlife monitoring.

Agencies using drones would have to prepare annual reports available to the public that describe details of their use. Anyone who claims that a violation of the provisions has injured his or her business, person or reputation could sue the agency for damages, attorney fees and other litigation costs.

Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, said he supported the bill because technology now allows people to be watched without their knowledge.

"This calls for reasonable regulation so we don't have warrantless searches of the public, to control what might be fishing expeditions," he said.

Rep. Christopher Hurst, a former police officer, spoke against the bill, saying the technology should be allowed to develop further before restrictions are put in place that are difficult to remove.

"Although well-intended, this legislation is premature," he said.

Also Monday, House Bill 2178 passed by a vote of 92-6. It would ban the unauthorized use of drones, or other unmanned aircraft with sensing devices, above private property. Under the measure, drones, including those capable of gathering personal information such as photos, could be used on private property if landowners or tenants give permission and if the drones are labeled with the owner's contact information.

The bill also states that unmanned aircraft could be flown over public land if they don't unreasonably interfere with the rights of others or aren't otherwise prohibited by law. Violation of the rules could result in a gross misdemeanor charge.

Both bills will now head to the Senate for consideration.

Newcomer vintners shaking up Chilean wine scene

MAULE VALLEY, Chile -- Sven Bruchfeld doesn't mind if you don't like his wine, as long as some people love it.

He's part of a bold new wave of independent vintners who are challenging Chile's reputation for producing oceans of agreeable but predictable wines. Their quirky, small-batch harvests are capturing the attention of wine connoisseurs at home and abroad.

"We need wines that are polemical, that are not liked by everyone, that generate controversy and spark conversations," said Bruchfeld, a Chilean of German ancestry who is owner and chief winemaker at the Polkura winery.

The independents have broken away from Chile's industrial wine culture to lovingly squeeze out small lots of wines, usually using organic, even spiritually tinged theories of winemaking.

In Alvaro Espinoza's vineyard in the Maipo Valley south of Santiago, a horse plows along rows of grapevines in the shadow of the Andes mountains while a solar panel powers the irrigation. In the Maule Valley farther south, Pilar Miranda also farms with horses and when her wine is ready for bottling, she punches the corks in by hand.

"This new generation is much more conscious about environmental problems and more committed to healthy, sustainable agriculture ... and also for the production of wines that have a stronger connection to the Earth," said Espinoza, whose Antiyal wines regularly break into the 90s in respected ratings.

"That's why I think this new generation of winemakers and entrepreneurs is going to change Chile's image globally."

Chile has been making wine since the mid-1500s, when Spanish settlers brought the first vines to the coast-hugging nation. And it has grown into the world's No. 7 wine producer, with an output of nearly 1.3 billion liters last year. About 480 million liters of bottled wine were exported.

While major producers such as Concha y Toro also release batches of world-class wines, critics have long complained that Chilean wine overall was too industrial and fixated on volume.

"It had quality but lacked character, and there was no space for the small winemaker," said Patricio Tapia, Chile's most respected wine writer.

But in the past decade "a new generation has been born, and Espinoza was the precursor," said Tapia, author of the "Descorchados" wine guide.

The 52-year-old Espinoza who apprenticed at wineries abroad as well as in Chile was among the first to embrace the "biodynamic wine" movement that was taking root in Europe and the United States.

Based on the writings of Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, it forbids artificial pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers and it sees farms as living organisms affected by the cycles of the moon and planetary alignment, as well as seasons.

Like Espinoza, most of the new vintners emerged from the country's old wine industry, either working at corporate winemakers or studying enology at local universities.

But some have also come from abroad: an Italian count, a former Canadian ski coach and a Swiss lawyer are among the 18-member Chile-based Movement of Independent Vintners.

The artisanal producers have pounced on long-abandoned vines or set up shop in forgotten wine zones, while others have experimented with new combinations of grapes, regions, temperatures and terrains.

In the quest for a more interesting wine, they've experimented in extreme places: from the icy south to northern areas in the heart of the Atacama desert. The result has been a rich mosaic of styles.

They often use rustic but proven methods such as manual corking and egg-shaped concrete vats and earthenware pots for fermentation.

"For us it's about getting back to our roots to make some great juice," said Miranda, 40, who started making wines in the garage with her ski-coach Canadian husband and created the whimsically named Garage Wine Co.

The couple's mountain-grown cabernet blend and cabernet Franc and a dry-farmed, single varietal Carignan are mostly sold in boutique wine shops in San Francisco, New York and London for $20 to $30 a bottle. "I'm going to call them hipster shops," said her husband, Derek Mossman, who began the company in his garage. "We don't compete with the big players from Chile, but rather with the independent offerings from the south of France, Spain, Italy and California."

In the Colchagua Valley, Polkura focuses on syrah grapes to produce 2,000 cases a year. Its name means yellow stone in the native Mapudungun tongue and comes from the yellow granite spread in the area's clay soils. Polkura's winemakers say the decomposed granite "gives the wine minerality and elegance, while the clay provides body and structure."

Its 2008 syrah made it into the Top 100 list for both Wine Spectator and Decanter magazines. And its Block g+i won the Southern Hemisphere's best syrah in Australia's "Five Nations Wine Challenge."

Prestigious mainstream vineyards such as Lapostolle, owned by the heirs to the Grand Marnier liquor fortune, also have embraced biodynamics. Its Clos Apalta, a blend of carmenere, merlot and cabernet sauvignon, was named Wine Spectator's wine of the year for 2008.

"More people are experimenting, searching for new frontiers and new techniques," said Andrea Leon, Lapostolle's winemaker. The results "express a place of origin and a particular vision of wine that doesn't have to be the same."

For Peter Richards, author of "The Wines of Chile," "It's not an overstatement to say that the very future of Chilean wine is being decided right now."

"Chile can stay in a dependable, reliable but slightly unexciting mode, or it can choose to spread its wings and really try to discover its potential for fine wine," said Richards, one of the world's 314 certified "masters of wine."

"It's very exciting to see the beginnings of this revolution. The flame is still small but it continues to grow. It just needs more fanning."

Colo. pot aids kids with seizures, worries doctors

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The doctors were out of ideas to help 5-year-old Charlotte Figi.

Suffering from a rare genetic disorder, she had as many as 300 grand mal seizures a week, used a wheelchair, went into repeated cardiac arrest and could barely speak. As a last resort, her mother began calling medical marijuana shops.

Two years later, Charlotte is largely seizure-free and able to walk, talk and feed herself after taking oil infused with a special pot strain. Her recovery has inspired both a name for the strain of marijuana she takes that is bred not to make users high — Charlotte's Web — and an influx of families with seizure-stricken children to Colorado from states that ban the drug.

"She can walk, talk; she ate chili in the car," her mother, Paige Figi, said as her dark-haired daughter strolled through a cavernous greenhouse full of marijuana plants that will later be broken down into their anti-seizure components and mixed with olive oil so patients can consume them. "So I'll fight for whoever wants this."

Doctors warn there is no proof that Charlotte's Web is effective, or even safe.

In the frenzy to find the drug, there have been reports of non-authorized suppliers offering bogus strains of Charlotte's Web. In one case, a doctor said, parents were told they could replicate the strain by cooking marijuana in butter. Their child went into heavy seizures.

"We don't have any peer-reviewed, published literature to support it," Dr. Larry Wolk, the state health department's chief medical officer, said of Charlotte's Web.

Still, more than 100 families have relocated since Charlotte's story first began spreading last summer, according to Figi and her husband and the five brothers who grow the drug and sell it at cost through a nonprofit. The relocated families have formed a close-knit group in Colorado Springs, the law-and-order town where the dispensary that sells the drug is located. They meet for lunch, support sessions and hikes.

"It's the most hope lots of us have ever had," said Holli Brown, whose 9-year-old daughter, Sydni, began speaking in sentences and laughing since moving to Colorado from Kansas City and taking the marijuana strain.

Amy Brooks-Kayal, vice president of the American Epilepsy Society, warned that a few miraculous stories may not mean anything — epileptic seizures come and go for no apparent reason — and scientists do not know what sort of damage Charlotte's Web could be doing to young brains.

"Until we have that information, as physicians, we can't follow our first creed, which is do no harm," she said, suggesting that parents relocate so their children can get treated at one of the nation's 28 top-tier pediatric epilepsy centers rather than move to Colorado.

However, the society urges more study of pot's possibilities. The families using Charlotte's Web, as well as the brothers who grow it, say they want the drug rigorously tested, and their efforts to ensure its purity have won them praise from skeptics like Wolk.

For many, Charlotte's story was something they couldn't ignore.

Charlotte is a twin, but her sister, Chase, doesn't have Dravet's syndrome, which kills kids before they reach adulthood.

In early 2012, it seemed Charlotte would be added to that grim roster. Her vital signs flat-lined three times, leading her parents to begin preparing for her death. They even signed an order for doctors not to take heroic measures to save her life again should she go into cardiac arrest.

Her father, Matt, a former Green Beret who took a job as a contractor working in Afghanistan, started looking online for ways to help his daughter and thought they should give pot a try. But there was a danger: Marijuana's psychoactive ingredient, THC, can trigger seizures.

The drug also contains another chemical known as CBD that may have seizure-fighting properties. In October, the Food and Drug Administration approved testing a British pharmaceutical firm's marijuana-derived drug that is CBD-based and has all its THC removed.

Few dispensaries stock CBD-heavy weed that doesn't get you high. Then Paige Figi found Joel Stanley.

One of 11 siblings raised by a single mother and their grandmother in Oklahoma, Stanley and four of his brothers had found themselves in the medical marijuana business after moving to Colorado. Almost as an experiment, they bred a low-THC, high-CBD plant after hearing it could fight tumors.

Stanley went to the Figis' house with reservations about giving pot to a child.

"But she had done her homework," Stanley said of Paige Figi. "She wasn't a pot activist or a hippy, just a conservative mom."

Now, Stanley and his brothers provide the marijuana to nearly 300 patients and have a waitlist of 2,000.

The CBD is extracted by a chemist who once worked for drug giant Pfizer, mixed with olive oil so it can be ingested through the mouth or the feeding tube that many sufferers from childhood epilepsy use, then sent to a third-party lab to test its purity.

Charlotte takes the medication twice a day. "A year ago, she could only say one word," her father said. "Now she says complete sentences."

The recovery of Charlotte and other kids has inspired the Figis and others to travel the country, pushing for medical marijuana laws or statutes that would allow high-CBD, low-THC pot strains.

Donald Burger recently urged a New York state legislative panel to legalize medical marijuana while his wife, Aileen, was in the family's new rental house in Colorado Springs, giving Charlotte's Web to their daughter Elizabeth, 4. The family only relocated to Colorado after neurologists told them Elizabeth's best hope — brain surgery — could only stop some of her seizures.

"It's a very big strain being away from the rest of our family," Aileen Burger said recently while waiting for her husband to return from a trip to sell their Long Island house. "But she doesn't have to have pieces of her brain removed."

Ray Mirazabegian, an optician in Glendale, Calif., brought Charlotte's Web to his state, where medical marijuana is legal. He convinced the Stanley brothers to give him some seeds he could use to treat his 9-year-old daughter Emily, who spent her days slumped on the couch. Now, she's running, jumping and talking. Mirazabegian is cloning the Charlotte's Web seeds and has opened the California branch of the Stanleys' foundation.

Mirazabegian has begun to distribute the strain to 25 families and has a waitlist of 400. It includes, he said, families willing to move from Japan and the Philippines.

Follow Nicholas Riccardi on Twitter at http://bit.ly/1eKVMQg .

Report: On-time college graduation low in Ind.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Most full-time college students in Indiana do not graduate on time, according to a new report that looks at whether people are completing college and how long it's taking them.

The report, released Tuesday, places Indiana University in Bloomington at the top of overall completion rates at about 83 percent. Ivy Tech Community College is at the bottom with about 28 percent. But only about half of IU Bloomington students graduate on time, and less than 4 percent graduate on-time from Ivy Tech.

The report, completed with data from the state Commission for Higher Education and the National Student Clearinghouse, factors in students who transfer and graduate from another university or take longer to get a degree. Numbers reflect student data from 2007 to 2013 in community colleges and from 2005 to 2013 for other institutions.

Higher Education Commissioner Teresa Lubbers said on-time graduation should be a priority for the state. "The best policy for students and the state is, whenever possible, on-time completion," Lubbers said.

Completion rates factor into state higher education performance-based funding, which is recommended by the commission. A higher on-time completion rate means more state dollars.

Indiana colleges and universities now offer incentives to get students out the door faster. IU froze tuition rates for sophomores on track to complete their degrees, and Indiana State University will pay tuition for students who meet strict criteria but don't get their degree on time.

Traditional four-year universities, such as IU and Purdue University in West Lafayette, come out on top in terms of on-time graduation. Ivy Tech, where many students are older and work full-time jobs on top of taking classes, doesn't fare as well, President Tom Snyder said.

"Overall, the commission objectives are really important and we're striving to do that, but when you look at our performance versus four-year regional campuses, we're pretty competitive," Snyder said.

State Rep. Matt Pierce, D- Bloomington, said more emphasis should be placed on helping to keep students who already have a few years of college under their belt from dropping out instead of focusing on students who take one or two extra years to get their diploma.

Students who take extra time to deal with mental illness, a family death or a change of major end up paying the price, Pierce said. Students lose financial aid after four years, which Pierce said also compounds issues for students working part-time to pay for their education.

"There's definitely an issue there, but you have to step back and look at what's causing it," said Pierce, who also works as a professor at IU in Bloomington. "I don't think (members of the Commission for Higher Education) have a good handle on the root issue."

The increased cost to students is another reason the commission wants students to finish on time.

"The reality is for those students who are receiving financial aid, it runs out in four years," Lubbers said.

Snow in upper Midwest disrupts air travel

Travelers suffered through another difficult day Monday as winter's icy grip caused airlines to delay and cancel more flights.

By late afternoon Monday, nearly 1,200 flights in the U.S. had been canceled and an additional 3,000 had been delayed, according to tracking service FlightAware.com.

Chicago was hit hardest, as the area was caught in a storm that was expected to drop up to 8 inches of snow by Monday night before moving into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Tuesday.

Nearly 500 departures were canceled Monday at Chicago's two big airports, O'Hare and Midway, and many flights headed to the city were also scrubbed, FlightAware said. The Chicago department of aviation said most of the cancellations were proactive — announced ahead of the storm.

American Eagle, the regional affiliate of American Airlines, and Southwest, which has a big operation at Midway, had canceled more than 200 flights each. ExpressJet, which operates regional flights for bigger carriers, had dropped more than 180.

Through last week, airlines had canceled more than 75,000 domestic flights since Dec. 1, the highest total since the U.S. Department of Transportation started keeping track in the winter of 1987-1988.

No-contact advisory issued for after manure spill

MONTEREY TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Health officials have issued a no-contact advisory for water in Bear Creek and the Rabbit River following a liquid manure leak from an open-air lagoon at a western Michigan dairy farm.

The Grand Rapids Press reports (http://bit.ly/1chNaEp ) the advisory from the Allegan County Health Department covers the Rabbit River to where it enters the Kalamazoo River at New Richmond.

The department says Monday that fishing and other recreational activities should be postponed until the advisory is lifted.

The state Department of Environmental Quality says it began investigating Friday after getting calls about a possible spill. Temperatures were in the teens Monday, and the DEQ says cold weather helped lessen potential problems with the manure and bacteria.

The DEQ says the leak from a farm in Monterey Township was stopped Saturday.

Alcoa to close Australian smelter and mills

SYDNEY -- Aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. has announced it will permanently close an Australian smelter and two rolling mills because they are not financially sustainable.

The New York City-based company said in a statement Tuesday a review of its 50-year-old Point Henry smelter at Geelong in Victoria state "has no prospect of becoming financially viable."

Alcoa says the rolling mills in Geelong and in Yennora, in New South Wales state, which serve the Australian and Asian can sheet markets have been impacted by excess capacity.

Alcoa chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld said: "Despite the hard work of the local teams, these assets are no longer competitive and are not financially sustainable today or into the future."

The smelter will close in August and the mills by the end of 2014.

Dentists cite low, slow KanCare reimbursements

TOPEKA, Kan. -- Low reimbursement rates are preventing many dentists from accepting patients covered by Kansas' managed care plan running Medicaid, with delays in getting paid also contributing to the problem, dentists say.

The reimbursement rate for KanCare patients is about 40 percent of his fee, Manhattan dentist E. Hamrick Swan Jr. told the Topeka Capital-Journal (http://bit.ly/1f7E0eF ).

The low rates are partly responsible for a shortage of dentists in areas where many of the patients are covered by KanCare, he said.

"The Legislature has put it on dentists' back to support these people," he said. "They're underserved because nobody can afford to make a living at 40 percent of their fee."

Swan still takes KanCare patients, but said he will need to reduce how many new ones he accepts. In order for practices serving a large number of KanCare patients to survive, they need to have a majority of patients paying through private insurance, he said.

"If the percent of patients (covered by Medicaid) hits 40 or 50 percent, you're having trouble," he said. "It's getting very difficult to meet all of my obligations."

The switch to KanCare includes a requirement that rates couldn't fall below their 2012 levels, said Aimee Rosenow, spokeswoman for Kansas Department of Health and Environment's health programs.

The state spent $57.3 million on dental care for KanCare recipients in 2013, up from $50.7 million for Medicaid dental services in 2012, she said, adding that none of the rates were reduced before or after KanCare.

But they haven't gone up very much, either, said Kevin Robertson, executive director of the Kansas Dental Association, especially when the costs to dentists of providing services continue to rise. Some dental offices are reporting trouble getting paid because the managed care organizations running KanCare want to preauthorize some procedures and sometimes refuse to pay part of the bill, he said.

East Topeka Dental Associates doesn't take KanCare patients, office manager Jodi Hauschild said, but its two-day clinic in Holton can take a limited number.

Low reimbursement rates limit how many patients the Holton clinic can accept, she said, and the length of time to process KanCare claims also creates headaches because it often takes more than a month to get paid.

Despite that, dentists Benjamin Rutherford and Carrie Peterson accept some KanCare patients in Holton because so few other providers do, Hauschild said.

White House: Stimulus bill was good for economy

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- The costly $787 billion spending bill that President Barack Obama signed into law soon after taking office boosted the economy and helped avoid another Great Depression, the White House said in a status report on Monday's fifth anniversary of the law's enactment.

Republican leaders in Congress took note of the anniversary, too, but argued that the bill spent too much for too little in return.

White House economic adviser Jason Furman said the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act made other targeted investments that will pay dividends for years to come.

By itself, the stimulus bill saved or created an average of 1.6 million jobs a year for four years through the end of 2012, Furman said in a White House blog post.

Half of the total fiscal support for the economy, or about $689 billion, from the recovery act and subsequent measures was in the form of tax cuts directed mostly at families. The remainder was spent on such things as rebuilding roads and bridges, preventing teacher layoffs and providing temporary help for people who lost their jobs or needed other assistance because of the poor economy.

The report said recovery act spending will have a positive effect on long-run growth, boost the economy's potential output and ultimately offset much of the law's initial cost.

More than 40,000 miles of roads and more than 2,700 bridges have been upgraded, nearly 700 drinking water systems serving more than 48 million people have been brought into compliance with federal clean water standards and high-speed Internet was introduced to about 20,000 community institutions.

"While these figures are substantial, they still nevertheless understate the full magnitude of the administration's response to the crisis," Furman wrote.

He noted that the report focused solely on the effects of fiscal legislation. It did not evaluate other administration policies that aided the recovery, such as stabilizing the financial system, rescuing the auto industry and supporting the housing sector.

Republicans were in less of a mood to celebrate.

"The 'stimulus' has turned out to be a classic case of big promises and big spending with little results," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a written statement. "Five years and hundreds of billions of dollars later, millions of families are still asking 'Where are the jobs?'"

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., argued that Obama could put the nation's finances on a more solid footing and create jobs by taking steps to roll back regulations and finally approve the Keystone XL pipeline project from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

"Five years later, the stimulus is no success to celebrate," said McConnell. "It is a tragedy to lament."

Furman said the economy is "undoubtedly in a stronger position" because it has grown for 11 straight months, although not at a pace that would be considered robust. Businesses have also added 8.5 million jobs since early 2010. Obama initially sold the stimulus as an investment that would produce a dramatic decrease in unemployment that ultimately did not materialize.

Unemployment remains high, at 6.6 percent in January, though it has fallen considerably since reaching double-digit highs early in Obama's administration. Some of the decline, however, is due to people dropping out of the workforce. People aren't considered unemployed if they aren't looking for work.

"While far more work remains to ensure that the economy provides opportunity for every American, there can be no question that President Obama's actions to date have laid the groundwork for stronger, more sustainable economic growth in the years ahead," Furman said.

Obama planned to discuss the economy Tuesday at a suburban Washington distribution center for the Safeway grocery store chain. On Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden will mark the recovery act's fifth anniversary during a visit to America's Central Port in Granite City, Ill.

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Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://bit.ly/1cSYSCg

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Online:

Recovery act report: http://1.usa.gov/1gWSc97

Philippines says on track to reach growth targets

MANILA, Philippines -- A senior official says the Philippines is on track to achieve its target of economic growth averaging 7-8 percent for the next several years.

Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said Monday that challenges remain in cutting poverty, increasing investment and creating quality jobs.

The government has a six-year development plan through to 2016 that hopes to spread the benefits of economic growth to the country's poor.

Apart from the growth target, the government wants to reduce unemployment to 6.5-6.7 percent and slash poverty to 18-20 percent of the population from 25.2 percent.

The economy grew 7.2 percent last year despite a series of disasters including Typhoon Haiyan.

Cabela's co-founder Richard Cabela dies at 77

OMAHA, Neb. -- Richard Cabela, a co-founder of outdoor outfitter Cabela's, died Monday. He was 77.

Cabela, who went by Dick, died at his home in Sidney, where the company is based, said spokesman Joe Arterburn.

The company that sells outdoor gear and sporting goods got its start humbly in 1961 when Cabela bought $45 of fishing flies in Chicago. When the flies didn't sell quickly at the family's furniture store in Chappell, Neb., Cabela started selling them through the mail with his wife, Mary, and brother, Jim.

Dick Cabela's first successful ad in Sports Afield magazine offered five free fishing flies as long as the buyer paid 25 cents shipping and handling. That led to the development of the Cabela's catalog. Today, the company has 50 retail stores across the U.S. and Canada. Last year, it had $3.6 billion in revenue.

Current Cabela's CEO Tommy Millner said Dick and Jim Cabela made it possible for people to find quality outdoor gear no matter where they lived.

"The outdoor industry has lost an innovative thinker and a tireless supporter of wildlife and habitat conservation," Millner said. "The business world has lost a true original, who built a business model that will be studied and emulated for years; a man who, through perseverance and hard work, achieved the American Dream."

Dick continued to serve as Cabela's chairman until June 2013, when he moved into a chairman emeritus role and Jim Cabela became chairman.

Dick Cabela was honored for his business accomplishments and his commitment to conservation. He was named to the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame in 2006 and Nebraska Business Hall of Fame in 1994.

Safari Club International recognized Dick Cabela in 2001 for his efforts to preserve the tradition and heritage of hunting. Cabela's retail stores all feature displays of mounted animals and birds in different outdoor settings.

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Online:

Cabela's Inc.: www.cabelas.com

Silver Airways cuts fares between Tupelo, Atlanta

TUPELO, Miss. -- Silver Airways will offer one-way tickets between Tupelo and Atlanta for $48, plus tax, beginning by the end of the month.

Such tickets currently cost between $55 and $166, depending on the day of departure.

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (http://bit.ly/1cifiXR) reports the fare reduction comes on the heels of Silver's decision to reduce the number of weekly flights from 36 to 24, starting March 3.

Tupelo officials had asked the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based airline to reduce the number of flights in hopes of improving Silver's performance, which has been fraught with cancellations and delays since its service began 16 months ago.

Passenger boardings have plummeted since Silver began service in October 2012. Boardings fell to 5,331 last year, a 31 percent drop from a year earlier and the lowest total in some three decades. In January, there were only 340 boardings, a 7 percent drop compared to a year earlier. Some of the change is due to the reduction in the number of flights.

Silver is being paid a $7 million annual subsidy through the federal Essential Air Service program to provide air service for Tupelo, Greenville, Hattiesburg/Laurel and Meridian.

Silver announced Friday it was ending service between Cleveland, Ohio, and five smaller cities - Jamestown, N.Y.; Bradford, DuBois and Franklin, Pa.; and Parkersburg, W.Va., on May 15.

Dave Pflieger, president and CEO of Silver Airways, said in a news release that "multiple factors have combined to make it economically impossible for us to continue flying" between Cleveland and the five markets.

Silver Airways will retire its fleet of five remaining Beech 1900D aircraft and will "retrain or redeploy the Cleveland-based pilots and maintenance workers for our core fleet of 28 advanced Saab 340B Plus aircraft used in other markets."

Tupelo Regional Airport Executive Director Josh Abramson said the change will help Silver's pilot shortage and also save the company some operating expenses.

More aid for Greece to be decided 'after summer'

BRUSSELS -- A decision on whether crisis-stricken Greece gets more financial assistance or debt relief won't be made until "after the summer," a top eurozone official said Monday.

Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who also chairs the meetings of the eurozone's 18 finance ministers, said Greece's debt burden "has to be reduced; the question is who does it and how to do it."

He insisted, however, that there's no urgent need to make a decision as Greece's current 240 billion-euro ($330 billion) bailout program provides enough financing through August — provided the country meets its fiscal and reform targets.

Dijsselbloem's remarks put an end to speculation that Greece's international creditors — the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank — might agree to some form of debt relief before European Parliament elections in May to boost the country's governing pro-reform camp.

EU officials have been vague about what additional aid Greece may get — the carrot of more help has been dangled if Greece met certain budget targets, which it is close to doing.

They have hinted at providing another, albeit smaller bailout, but also at lowering the interest rates Greece pays on loans and further extending the time the debts have to be repaid.

However, many analysts say Greece can only return to sustainable growth if its creditors agree to write off some of their loans. That may be a step too far for some governments given the potential fallout at the ballot box.

Greece has been at odds since September with its creditors. Though the country has made great strides in getting its public finances into shape over the past few years, there are concerns that it's dragging its feet on agreed fiscal targets and structural reforms, such as overhauling its labor market, and privatizing state assets.

In a potentially positive development for Greece, the so-called troika of creditors, said Monday its team of inspectors will return to Athens by the end of the week. Their return and approval of Greece's reforms is a necessary precondition for the disbursement of the next batch of Greece's bailout loans. Athens needs to get its hands on the cash by May to service a debt repayment of around 10 billion euros.

"There is progress but there's no guarantee of a positive outcome," cautioned Dijsselbloem, adding that much remained to be done despite recent "remarkable progress."

Since 2010, Greece has been relying on official rescue loans as the impact of the financial crisis laid bare the scale of the country's budget mismanagement. In return, successive governments have had to slash salaries and pensions, raise taxes and sell off assets to reduce debt and make the economy competitive.

"There is still plenty of hard work to do," Olli Rehn, the EU's top economic official, said in Brussels. "It is important that the country intensifies economic reforms."

Greece's private creditors have already taken a hit on their holdings, but the country's debt level is still considered to be unsustainably high at about 175 percent of its economic output.

The country is still struggling through a six-year recession, while unemployment has risen to about 28 percent.

Disillusion remains a feature of Greek public life after years of crisis. On Monday, the country's civil servants union announced plans to hold two 48-hour strikes this month and next to protest planned layoffs and closures of government-run agencies considered unproductive.

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Derek Gatopoulos in Athens contributed reporting.

Okla. pharmacy responds to Mo. execution drug suit

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma pharmacy has submitted a sealed response to a Missouri death row inmate's lawsuit accusing it of illegally providing Missouri with a made-to-order drug to be used in his lethal injection.

The Apothecary Shoppe, of Tulsa, filed its response to Michael Taylor's lawsuit last week after getting permission from U.S. District Judge Terrence Kern to keep its response sealed. The company hasn't publicly acknowledged that it supplies a compounded version of pentobarbital to Missouri for use in lethal injections, as Taylor alleges, and says it can't because of a Missouri law requiring the identities of those on the state's execution team to be kept confidential.

"It's based on Missouri law," was all that one of the pharmacy's attorneys, Michael Lewis, would say about the case when reached by phone Monday.

Kern issued a temporary injunction barring the pharmacy from selling the compounded drug to Missouri, if it has been doing so. He scheduled a hearing for Tuesday to weigh arguments about whether the pharmacy's response should remain sealed. The hearing will remain closed to the public pending a ruling on the matter.

Taylor, 47, is scheduled to die on Feb. 26. He pleaded guilty to abducting, raping and stabbing to death a 15-year-old Kansas City girl in 1989.

In his lawsuit, Taylor alleges that Missouri corrections officials turned to The Apothecary Shoppe to supply compounded pentobarbital because the only licensed manufacturer of the drug refuses to provide it for lethal injections. That company, Illinois-based Akorn Inc., agreed to that condition when it bought the exclusive rights to the drug in January 2012 from a Danish company that had produced it under the trade name Nembutal.

Taylor contends that several recent executions in which compounded pentobarbital was used showed it would likely cause him "severe, unnecessary, lingering and ultimately inhumane pain."

Within 20 seconds of receiving his lethal injection on Jan. 9 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, 38-year-old Michael Lee Wilson said: "I feel my whole body burning." This statement describes "a sensation consistent with receipt of contaminated pentobarbital," Taylor alleges.

The lawsuit also cites the Oct. 15, 2012, execution in South Dakota of Eric Robert. Robert, 50 cleared his throat, gasped for air and then snored after receiving the lethal injection, which included compounded pentobarbital. His skin turned a purplish hue and his heart continued to beat for 10 minutes after he stopped breathing, the lawsuit contends. It took 20 minutes for authorities to finally declare Robert dead.

"These events are consistent with receipt of a contaminated or sub-potent compounded drug," the lawsuit says.

Taylor's lawsuit questions whether the Tulsa pharmacy can legally produce and deliver compounded pentobarbital. It says the pharmacy is not registered as a drug manufacturer with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and alleges that it violates federal law each time it delivers the drug across state lines to Missouri corrections officials.

2 Mich. reps want better security guard training

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. -- Two lawmakers from the Detroit area are calling for passage of a bill that would establish basic training requirements for security guards in the state.

The legislation backed by Democratic Reps. Rudy Hobbs and Thomas Stallworth III is being introduced in the wake of the death of a 25-year-old man following a confrontation with security guards at a shopping mall.

According to Hobbs and Stallworth, Michigan is one of the few states that don't require training for security guards, even when they're armed.

McKenzie Cochran died last month. The Ferndale man was pepper-sprayed and restrained by guards after a shop owner at Northland Center in Southfield felt threatened and called for help.

Police are investigating, and medical examiners are awaiting toxicology results to help determine a cause of death.

SD lawmaker wants to tighten payday loan rules

PIERRE, S.D. -- After negotiating with representatives of the payday lending industry, Rep. Steve Hickey has come up with a proposal he hopes the South Dakota Legislature will pass to put restrictions on the short-term loans he says can trap poor people in crippling cycles of debt.

The Sioux Falls Republican said industry representatives were alarmed last year by his effort that would have placed a proposed law on the statewide ballot to cap interest rates for such loans. He said he agreed to stop the ballot effort if they would cooperate to write reasonable regulations.

The compromise resulted in a bill that instead of limiting interest rates for short-term loans would impose additional state regulations and limit the size of loans based on a borrowers' ability to repay. The House Commerce and Energy Committee will hold a hearing on the measure Wednesday.

"You would think any reasonable, responsible lender would ensure a person borrowing the money can indeed pay them back. Stunningly, this industry doesn't operate like that," Hickey said. "They get people in, give them money and keep flipping the loans many times over. It's extremely profitable for them. It's a debt trap."

Current law puts a limit of $500 on a short-term loan or the total balances of all loans made by a lender to a customer. Hickey's bill would change that to $700, but the loan could not exceed 25 percent of the borrower's gross monthly income.

The measure also would limit loan renewals or rollovers, give borrowers a chance to cancel loans within a day of making a deal, allow extended payment plans with no additional finance charge and require lenders to provide information on loans to the state Banking Commission.

One of the lenders Hickey worked with to develop the proposal is Advance America, a South Carolina-based company that has offices in South Dakota and 28 other states.

Jamie Fulmer, the company's senior vice president of public affairs, said Advance America likes some parts of the bill but has reservations about other provisions. The company's support for the bill depends on how it might be changed during the legislative process, he said.

Fulmer said state and federal regulations must strike a balance between making sure people can get the loans they need and protecting them from making bad credit choices.

Responsible short-term lenders don't make loans to people who cannot repay them, Fulmer said. A typical borrower needs money to pay a utility bill, cover car repairs or take care of other unexpected expenses, he said. Such loans are usually repaid when borrowers get their next paychecks.

It's cheaper for a person to pay a $19 charge on a $100 loan than to pay a $35 overdraft fee for writing a check, Fulmer said.

"While there are those who feel this is an issue that needs immediate attention, the fact of the matter is consumers who use these products and services in South Dakota and elsewhere are overwhelmingly satisfied," Fulmer said.

Only about 200 complaints were filed against Advance America nationwide last year, Fulmer said, and the company made 10 million loans.

Hickey said there are good and bad companies in the short-term lending industry. He said the state needs to know more about the lenders, the terms of their loans and whether people are able to repay those loans.

Hickey said if short-term lenders don't support the bill and the Legislature rejects it, he can always resume the effort to put a proposed rate cap on the ballot for a statewide vote.

Snow in upper Midwest disrupts air travel

Travelers are suffering through another difficult day as winter's icy grip causes airlines to delay and cancel more flights.

By late afternoon Monday, nearly 1,200 flights in the U.S. had been canceled and 3,000 more had been delayed, according to tracking service FlightAware.com.

Nearly half of the canceled flights are at Chicago's two big airports, O'Hare and Midway, where the forecast calls for snow into Monday night.

Through last week, airlines have canceled more than 75,000 domestic flights since Dec. 1, the highest total since the U.S. Department of Transportation started keeping track in the winter of 1987-1988.

Aoun says met with Hariri, Nasrallah

BEIRUT: Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said Monday he had met recently with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah in an attempt to reconcile conflicting views between the two main rival factions.

In an interview on the FPM’s official Facebook page, Aoun said: “Certainly, anyone who wants to undertake a mediation attempt to reconcile viewpoints between opposing sides should talk to all the parties. Based on this, I had met with [former] Prime Minister Saad Hariri and also with Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah.”

However, Aoun did not say where he met Hariri, head of the Future Movement, who has been living out of Lebanon for more than two years for security reasons, or what was discussed during the meeting.

The FPM leader’s previous meetings with Nasrallah were held at the latter’s house in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Aoun and Nasrallah signed a memorandum of understanding in February 2006 as part of their political alliance.

Aoun’s rare meeting with Hariri was followed by a major breakthrough in the Cabinet formation last month when the head of the Future Movement said he was ready to share power with Hezbollah in a coalition government.

Also, contacts between the Future Movement and the FPM resulted in a compromise between the two sides to resolve the row over the rotation of ministerial portfolios, which held up the Cabinet formation for weeks. Aoun said he expected the presidential election, scheduled in May, to be held on time.

In recent weeks, FPM lawmakers have held a series of meetings with various political parties, including the Future Movement, in a bid the MPs said was to promote understanding among rival factions.

However, Aoun’s political opponents claim that the FPM lawmakers’ moves were aimed at promoting the chances of the FPM leader in the forthcoming presidential election.

Berri: Gulf states should play mediating role in Saudi-Iranian rift

BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri called on Gulf countries to play a mediating role between Iran and Saudi Arabia and encourage rapprochement, as he left Kuwait to continue his tour of the region in Tehran Monday.

“I asked the Kuwaiti emir to mediate between Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and he reassured me he would do everything possible to bring their points of view together,” Berri told Al-Rai, a Kuwaiti newspaper, in an interview to be published Tuesday.

Prior to his departure, Berri said he considered strengthening the Army an urgent issue for Lebanon. “Today, I consider strengthening the Lebanese Army a national priority,” he said.

“Lebanon is about to turn into a [new] front line in the Syrian [war], that is already plaguing Tripoli, Hermel and Akkar,” Berri said during a dinner held Sunday by the Lebanese ambassador in his honor.

“The truth is that all of Lebanon is a target – its Army, its resistance, its regions, its capital and its [southern] suburbs – and not just political figures,” he added.

Lebanon continues to feel the repercussions of the conflict in Syria, with recurrent armed clashes in the northern city of Tripoli between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Border regions in Akkar, in the north, and Arsal, in the northeast, have also come under repeated Syrian bombardment since the uprising began in March 2011.

The southern suburbs of Beirut and the northeastern town of Hermel, areas where support for Hezbollah runs high, have also been the scene of recent car bombings linked to the Syria crisis.

Berri assured Lebanese living in Kuwait that Lebanon “will not fall,” despite the threat of terrorism.

He stressed that Lebanon would not remain “neutral” in the face of Israeli attacks, and vowed to continue supporting the aspirations of the Palestinian people.

“I support an Arab Lebanon which favors a political solution in Syria and agreement among Syrians to improve the regime,” he said. “[I support] an Arab Lebanon that favors a united Iraq and Egypt.”

He said Lebanon should not only be strong in its “resistance” along the national borders, but should also work toward resolving the socioeconomic crisis, and holding timely presidential and parliamentary elections based on a new electoral law.

Upon his arrival in Iran, Berri issued a statement calling for the presidential election to be held on time “before May 25, since the constitutional period for holding the election is between March 25 and May 25.”

“In a country like Lebanon, there must be an agreement, and when I said that I would not discuss this issue before March 25, it was not because I want to postpone it, God forbid, but on the contrary, we want to hold a presidential poll but we need to set the foundations first and get the political parties together to secure quorum,” so constitutional deadlines are not broached, he said in the statement.

On the advisories warning Kuwaitis and other Gulf nationals against travel to Lebanon, Berri said the rationale behind them was unfair: “Security incidents, demonstrations and road blockages can happen in any European and Gulf state or any country in the world.”

“This [advisory] which was implemented by the Gulf states is not in the interests of Lebanon or Arabs in general. If Kuwaiti, Saudi or UAE nationals are subject to any kind of danger I wouldn’t say this, but when the incidents in Lebanon are due to external elements, which could occur in any country, then I must say these words and insist on my point of view.”

Gulf states, including Kuwait, have advised their citizens to avoid all travel to Lebanon and urged those in the country to leave given the tense security situation.

Salam assumes office with little fanfare

BEIRUT: Preparations were underway at Beirut’s Grand Serail Monday as Lebanon’s new Prime Minister Tammam Salam made the transition to replace his predecessor after a new Cabinet was formed over the weekend.

Unlike at ministries, there is no official handover ceremony between prime ministers. So when Salam arrived at the Grand Serail at 9 a.m. Monday, former Prime Minister Najib Mikati was nowhere to be seen, and neither were his staff. Salam, who was accompanied by his adviser Hisham Jaroudi and a number of escorts, was instead greeted by Cabinet Secretary-General Souheil Bouji and other Serail employees.

All elevators were stopped as Salam and his convoy made his way to his office on the second floor.

Salam received a warm Western welcome Monday, and was visited by American Ambassador David Hale and British Ambassador Tom Fletcher. He also received a blessing from Bkirki from Bishop Boulos Sayah, who headed a delegation on behalf of Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai.

The premier also received a visit from his wife Lama Badreddine, who arrived at the Serail around 11 a.m.

Journalists also tried to enter Salam’s office to congratulate him, but were denied entry, prompting complaints. The only other small hiccup occurred when reporters noticed that the media office’s coffee maker was missing, but it was later discovered that the machine was privately owned by the former premier’s staff and so had been reclaimed.

The new 24-member Cabinet, equally divided between the March 8 and March 14 coalitions and centrists, was formed over the weekend after an 11-month political deadlock. It faces tough political, security and economic challenges, including how to cope with the more than a million refugees who have fled to the country since the uprising began in Syria in March 2011.

Abdel-Sattar al-Laz will replace Fares Gemayel as the prime minister’s new media adviser, while Nafez Kawas, the media attaché, is waiting to take over the office of Khodor Taleb, an adviser of Mikati’s who went back to work for local newspaper As-Safir.

Ramez Dimashkieh will become director of Salam’s office, and will also be working with a number of other advisers.

The security team, which handles the safety of the Grand Serail and personally attends to the prime minister, will remain in the hands of Brig. Gen. Ahmad Hajjar.

Lacking the hustle and bustle of previous times, the Serail’s current atmosphere suggests a lack of advisers and staff. Instead, there is a pervasive feeling that things are not yet completely settled and remain in flux, as Salam waits for members of the National News Agency to join his team along with others whom the prime minister might need.

The new premier did not partake in any official activities Monday afternoon. He is set to be at the presidential palace in Baabda Tuesday morning to choose a committee that will be responsible for drafting the ministerial statement. The group is expected to include a minister from each political party participating in the Cabinet.

Under the law, the government has one month from the issuance of the ministerial decrees to present its ministerial statement to Parliament for it to receive a vote of confidence.

If the Cabinet is unable to agree on a formula, the government will be considered resigned, according to the Constitution.

Such an incident, however, has yet to occur in Lebanese history.

As Salam took up his post, new Environment Minister Mohammad Mashnouk was also heading to his ministry, where he took over the office from Nazem Khoury.

Before leaving the Serail Monday, Mashnouk said the ministerial statement would aim to stick to the common goal of maintaining calm in the country, citing Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s televised speech Sunday night as an example.

Political sources close to the government formation issue told The Daily Star Monday it was important not to rely on statements released by the new ministers or political party officials in the government. The sources noted that the ministerial statement would be short.

The sources added that the newly formed Cabinet was an exceptional one whose main purpose was to manage and oversee the presidential election and work on the adoption of a new electoral law.

The sources did not rule out the possibility of officials “bidding” against one another while drafting the ministerial statement, but said that if some of their stances concern the need to uphold the Baabda Declaration, or reject the “Army, resistance, people” formula, there was no doubt that Salam’s government would soon turn into a caretaker one. In such an event the president would have to call for parliamentary consultations to choose another official to entrust with the formation of a new government.

Husband allegedly kills wife by poisoning

BEIRUT: A woman has died after being allegedly poisoned by her husband, a local non-governmental organization said Monday, which if true would be the latest in a string of domestic violence-related murders in Lebanon.

Roy Hayek reportedly poisoned 30-year-old Christelle Abu Shaqra with a toxic substance normally used as a pesticide, a KAFA representative told The Daily Star.

Abu Shaqra’s relatives said the couple, who lived in the Beirut suburb of Ain al-Rummaneh, had been separated for two months and that she had moved into her parents’ house a few weeks ago.

“Christelle came to us 10 months ago seeking legal consultancy regarding divorce and custody for her only child. ... She was subjected to domestic violence,” said Rima Abinader, a social worker with KAFA.

She added that Abu Shaqra stopped visiting the NGO after it provided her with a lawyer.

“Maybe we could have resolved her issues, and she would not have not ended up like that,” she said.

The family of Abu Shaqra alleged that Hayek had a long history of abusing his wife.

“He used to take his pistol and shoot at her, and he even tried to remove a tattoo she had on her arm with an iron,” Abu Shaqra’s mother, dressed in black, told a local television station.

She said Hayek phoned her around 11 a.m. Saturday, saying Abu Shaqra was unconscious and at Hayek Hospital.

“She stunk of the smell of poison,” the mother said. She filed a lawsuit against Hayek immediately after her daughter died.

“If there is any kind of justice in Lebanon, they should hang him,” Abu Shaqra’s distraught father said.

Hayek has been summoned by a judge and released on bail, a security source told The Daily Star.

If true, Abu Shaqra would be second victim of domestic violence this month alone. Manal Assi died on Feb. 8 after her husband reportedly beat her with a pressure cooker the night before.

A parliamentary committee has approved an amended draft law criminalizing domestic violence in Lebanon, but the full Parliament has failed to consider the bill.

Ahmad Hariri: New Cabinet an ‘achievement for all’

BEIRUT: The formation of the new government is an achievement for all of Lebanon and has returned the country to a time when Hezbollah did not have a veto over Cabinet policy, the Future Movement’s secretary-general told The Daily Star.

Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria will also guarantee the party’s military defeat and herald its end as a powerful force in Lebanon, Ahmad Hariri said.

In an interview with The Daily Star hours after the announcement of a new Lebanese government Saturday, Hariri discussed his party’s policy priorities, the coming battle over the ministerial policy statement, presidential elections, relations with Hezbollah and the start of trial at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Hariri described the Cabinet formation as “an achievement for all the Lebanese” who had suffered due to the instability brought about by Hezbollah’s participation in the war in Syria.

He said the Future Movement agreed to join the Cabinet to ensure presidential elections happened on time. While the Cabinet does not have a “magic wand,” he said, it will strive to stop the social, economic and security decline in Lebanon.

Hariri also said the Cabinet formation had major political implications. The new government ended the era of what he described as the “coup government” of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, returning Lebanon to what he called the “pre-May 7” era.

Hezbollah fighters seized control of West Beirut on May 7, 2008, after months of political paralysis prompted by an attempt by Fouad Siniora’s government to shut down the party’s telecommunications network.

The fallout from the crisis led to the Doha Agreement, which gave Hezbollah and its allies a blocking third of the seats in the Cabinet under the understanding that it would not use that advantage to topple the government.

But Hezbollah-allied ministers walked out of Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s government in January 2011 due to disagreements over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the court prosecuting those responsible for former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s assassination, which was widely expected to indict members of Hezbollah.

Hailing the new Cabinet, Ahmad Hariri said: “Every step we take that returns prestige to the state is a victory for our movement.”

He also addressed criticisms by his party’s popular base over its decision to form a government with Hezbollah. The Future Movement previously maintained that Hezbollah’s withdrawal from Syria was a precondition to forming a government. But Hariri said the Future Movement knew it would not be able to change Hezbollah’s position.

“In politics we have to prioritize mind over emotion,” he said, adding that the move stemmed out of pragmatism in order to protect Lebanon from dangers that included suicide bombers and rising extremism.

However, Hariri described Hezbollah as “another side of the coin” to the fundamentalist groups fighting in Syria.

“What is happening in Syria is a devastating sectarian war between Sunni extremists and Shiite extremists,” he said. “We are outside this scene, and we fight against it.”

In addition, Hariri said that Hezbollah’s participation in the Syria was strategically beneficial to its opponents in Lebanon.

“Hezbollah’s participation in Syria is the beginning of the end of that party – militarily and morally and with their own hands,” he said. “They went themselves to a bloody quagmire [from which] they will not emerge victorious.”

Hariri said it was apparent that it was impossible to conduct a dialogue with Hezbollah “as long as it looks upon other Lebanese as weak and itself as strong.”

“We do not care about Hezbollah,” he added. “ Hezbollah has illusory dreams of victory. What we care about is the Shiite sect.”

Hariri said Hezbollah’s defeat in Syria ought to be followed with a broader reconciliation in Lebanon with the country’s Shiites.

One of the issues now facing the Cabinet is what to adopt as it ministerial policy statement, something Hariri said would be a core issue for the Future Movement.

He said the bloc would not allow the inclusion of the last government’s formula, “the Army, the people, and the Resistance,” which enshrines Hezbollah’s role as part of the country’s defense strategy:

“That is definite, because Hezbollah went to Syria and left the people and Army in Lebanon.”

He also said the party would insist that Lebanon adhere to various U.N. Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 1559, which calls for Hezbollah’s disarmament.

The Future Movement will also seek to include in the ministerial statement its proposal for expanding the STL’s mandate to include all attacks in Lebanon after 2005, the end of the tribunal’s jurisdiction.

On the presidency, Hariri said the Future Movement would prefer the next president to be from its fold, but that it was too early to discuss potential candidates.

Hariri also broached the recent start of trial at the STL, saying it signified his bloc’s demand for “justice, not revenge.”

But he said the political consequences of the trial would be “major” if the suspects were convicted.

The STL has indicted five members of Hezbollah in connection with the Valentine’s Day bombing in 2005 that killed Rafik Hariri and 21 others and plunged Lebanon into political turmoil. The trial of four of the suspects in absentia began last month at the tribunal’s headquarters in The Hague.

Hezbollah has refused to hand over any of the suspects and accuses the court of being a U.S.-Zionist conspiracy to undermine it.

“If these accused are not handed over then an entire party will be accused of assassinating Rafik Hariri,” Hariri said. “There is an opportunity to deliver the accused to the tribunal now.”

Hariri said Hezbollah recognized that it could not end the tribunal, as the Mikati government sent funds to the STL three times despite the party’s strong presence.

“ Hezbollah knows that it is not possible to stop the train of international justice,” Hariri said.

The Future Movement’s control of the Justice, Telecommunications and Interior ministries in the new Cabinet will ensure that cooperation with the STL continues, he said.

Hariri also addressed the issue of the return of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri to Lebanon, backing his decision to remain outside the country for security reasons.

“Mohammad Shatah was killed 50 meters from Central House,” he said, referring to the assassination of the former finance minister in December near Saad Hariri’s Downtown residence and the Future Movement’s headquarters. “It was a message to Saad Hariri: You are not safe meters away from your house.”

The attack was the latest in a string of political assassinations that have largely targeted the Future Movement’s members.

Hariri also acknowledged that Lebanon faced a problem of extremism but accused the March 8 political bloc of painting the entire Sunni sect with an extremist brush. He blamed rising extremism among a minority of Sunnis on images of the massacres in Syria and Hezbollah’s participation there and rhetoric that accuses Sunnis in Lebanon of betraying the country.

He also said certain “intelligence agencies” were using extremists to carry out attacks in Lebanon. He declined to specify which ones.

Praising the Army’s recent arrest of Naim Abbas, a man linked to several suicide bombings in Lebanon, he called the military a “guarantor of security.”

Disabled journalist to sue MEA over boarding denial

BEIRUT: A wheelchair-bound woman who was prevented from boarding a Middle Eastern Airlines plane confirmed to The Daily Star Monday that she planned to file a lawsuit, after staff at the company allegedly humiliated her for not being able to walk.

The accusations were roundly denied by MEA, who said Rola al-Helou did not make her needs clear in advance.

Helou, a journalist and poet, said airline staff told her she could not board her flight to Cairo Sunday because she was alone and then taunted her by challenging her to get up and walk to prove she was able-bodied.

She said she was planning to file a lawsuit over MEA’s treatment of her. “My lawyer is studying the case and is going to take the necessary measures,” she told The Daily Star.

Helou, who travels often and always on her own, said she made clear that she had special needs when she booked her flight to the Egyptian capital with Lebanon’s national carrier at their office in Jal al-Dib, Metn.

But when she arrived at the counter to check in, she was told that she could not board the plane without an escort.

The check-in employee verified with her supervisor, and “he could not be convinced,” Helou said.

Angry, Helou rhetorically asked if she should get up and walk. She said the employee then rudely told her to do exactly that.

“I felt down, I cried and I was depressed,” she said. “My disability has never been an obstacle for me.”

The story was soon picked up by the media and sparked outrage on social media outlets, with many, including the Lebanese Physical Handicapped Union, calling on the airline company to issue an apology.

In a statement, the LPHU warned that they would lead a campaign to boycott MEA if their demands were not met and that they would monitor the airlines’ behavior with travelers with disabilities from now on.

“This happens at Beirut airport a lot, very often,” LPHU head Sylvana Lakkis told The Daily Star. “It’s happened to me. We only know about the ones who report it, but there are many more who don’t.”

“They often forget the special needs information that you submit online,” she said. “So when you get to the airport for check-in, then you have to do this all over again.”

Lakkis accused the airport and MEA of not having adequately trained staff.

“The disability team there have very little training, if they have any at all. They don’t know how to carry people. ... They also don’t know how to put someone in a wheelchair. ... Or sometimes they provide wheelchairs that are too big or too small or else break easily.”

People with special needs, Lakkis noted, included pregnant women, parents with small children and the elderly, making this issue about more than just people with disabilities.

In a statement Monday, MEA said it “abides by all international laws and respects the needs of people with special needs,” adding that it recently opened a special office for such customers.

The airline also insisted their employee did not insult Helou and suggested it had been the opposite:

“We also need to recall the necessity of appropriate language [when dealing] with company employees.”

Helou denies that she was rude.

According to the MEA statement, Helou said while booking her flight that she could walk from her wheelchair to the plane. MEA admitted, however, that she had requested assistance when booking previous flights with the airline.

MEA’s public relations office told The Daily Star it did not have any further comment.

The airline said it provided travel to approximately 100 passengers with special needs daily, including four to five cases of complete paralysis, “without facing any problem.”

Veteran journalist May Chidiac, who lost her left arm and leg in a car bomb in 2005, released a statement Monday in support of Helou, but said it was “unjust” to generalize given that MEA had so far “succeeded in maintaining a high level of modernity and sophistication in dealing with customers.”

Job fair planned in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. -- More than 25 companies, some seeking forklift operators, accounting clerks, sales representatives and various other employees, will be part of the Mid-Mississippi Area Job Fair on Feb. 27.

The Neshoba Democrat reports (http://bit.ly/1dPrJqI ) Lowe's Home Improvement hopes to fill nine positions, mostly customer service associates for such departments as tools and hardware, paint, building material, inside and outside lawn and garden and plumbing.

Representatives from Hardy Manufacturing Co. seek to fill production line positions while Citizens Bank will also seek employees for various positions.

Tyson Foods says it has 25 positions to fill.

The job fair is part of the Governor's Job Fair Network and will be from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Neshoba County Coliseum.

Hy-Vee grocery chain buying specialty pharmacy

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Hy-Vee grocery chain is acquiring a specialty pharmacy based in Nebraska.

Hy-Vee said Monday that it has agreed to purchase Amber Pharmacy, which is based in Omaha, Neb.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The employee-owned grocer says the acquisition of Amber will help it expand its pharmacy services for complex cases and for patients dealing with chronic illnesses.

Amber Pharmacy has locations in Omaha, Chicago, Dallas and Philadelphia. It will continue to operate independently of Hy-Vee.

Hy-Vee operates 235 stores in eight states. It is based in West Des Moines.

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Hy-Vee Inc.: www.hy-vee.com

Amber Pharmacy: http://bit.ly/1bGCph2

W.Va state senator introduces flood insurance bill

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A bill that would create a private flood insurance option was introduced in the West Virginia Senate on Monday.

Sen. Rocky Fitzsimmons, the bill sponsor and a democrat from Ohio County, said federal law changes in 2012 under the Bigger-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act have caused significant increases in premiums for West Virginia.

"The National Flood Insurance Program sustained billions of dollars in losses related to costal properties after Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Katrina. I think a lot of inland properties, especially West Virginia, were kind of an afterthought," he said.

The increase in insurance premiums has meant homeowners across the state can no longer afford flood insurance on their primary property, Fitzsimmons said.

He added that West Virginians are familiar with inland flood risks, which are drastically different than those in coastal areas. "Most homeowners affected by increased flood insurance costs are trying to protect their primary residence, not a vacation home," he added.

Fitzsimmons said the increase in cost also has affected home sales across the state. Prospective home buyers who secure a loan through a bank are required to purchase flood insurance. Many individuals are having trouble selling and buying homes in West Virginia because of the insurance increase, he said.

The bill introduced Monday also would allow a greater option of flood insurance plans. In addition to purchasing a plan to replace a home, homeowners could opt to only insure the outstanding amount of their loan.

Senate Bill 621 has been referred to the committee on Banking and Insurance.

The Bigger-Watters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 reauthorized and revised the National Flood Insurance Program. The act increases flood insurance for, among other things, severe repetitive loss properties and damaged properties by requiring premium increases of 25 percent per year until premiums meet the full actuarial cost.

Unemployment now nation's top concern, new Gallup poll finds

The nation's top concern -- unemployment, according to a new Gallup survey.

Twenty-three percent mentioned jobs as the country's number one problem, with "the economy in general" second at 20 percent. Dissatisfaction with government was close behind at 19 percent.

"Economic issues again lead Gallup's measure of what Americans see as the most important problem facing the nation," said a Gallup analysis.

"Concerns about the government, at least as measured by responses to this open-ended question, have faded since the government shutdown in October."

The survey found that worries about the economy and jobs "may be linked to weakther-than-hoped-for jobs reports and flat job growth the past few months," Gallup found.

"The rise in mentions of unemployment specifically may also be related to declining concerns about the government. In inverse fashion, mentions of unemployment decreased last fall as mentions of government dissatisfaction rose.

"Now that the shutdown is over and the government has successfully passed a budget and avoided another debt ceiling shutdown, Americans appear to have shifted their focus away from the government and back to the still relatively weak job market."

Duke Energy to shed Midwest generation business

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Duke Energy says it will get out of the wholesale power-generation business in the Midwest because the financial results are too volatile.

The company owns a stake in 11 power plants in Ohio and one each in Illinois and Pennsylvania.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke said Monday that it will take an accounting charge of between $1 billion and $2 billion on its first-quarter results, which are scheduled for release Tuesday. The write-down will be considered a special item and won't affect Duke's adjusted earnings per share, the company said. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect the company to posted adjusted profit of 95 cents per share.

Last week, Ohio regulators rejected a $729 million Duke rate-increase request. The Duke CEO had said the decision in that case could influence whether the company sold its generation business in the state.

Duke said it would take 12 to 18 months to sell the six plants that it owns outright and its interest in the other seven. Six burn coal, six run on natural gas, and one burns oil. The plants can generate 6,600 megawatts of power and employ about 600 people.

The "merchant" plants, which sell electricity on the wholesale market to other companies, "have delivered volatile returns in the challenging competitive market in the Midwest," CEO Lynn Good said in a statement. "This earnings profile is not a strategic fit for Duke Energy."

A Duke spokesman said the company hopes to find a single buyer and is confident none will need to be shuttered.

The company said it will keep its regulated utility operations in Ohio and Kentucky, which serve 1.3 million customers. Duke has 7.2 million electric utility customers in the Southeast and Midwest and other commercial power facilities.

Twin River casino preps for Mass. gambling threat

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The chairman of Twin River says the casino company is well-positioned to meet the threat of expanded gambling in Massachusetts, with the addition of table games and the acquisition of a resort casino in Mississippi.

Chairman John Taylor cites as key to the company's strategic plan the introduction last year of blackjack, roulette and other table games at the Lincoln casino and the planned purchase of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Biloxi. That deal, dubbed an "important piece of the puzzle," is expected to close in June or July.

Taylor also said Twin River is investing heavily in staff training to deliver a high-quality experience for players.

"We're getting ready for what's going to come," he said in an interview, referring to the 2011 Massachusetts gambling law, which authorized the licensing of up to three casinos, including one in the southeastern region, and a slots parlor.

According to one estimate, Massachusetts residents have been shelling out about $1.1 billion a year on gambling in Rhode Island and Connecticut, which is home to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Rhode Island fully expects its neighbor to recapture some of that spending: State gambling revenue here is anticipated to drop by $422 million over five years, beginning in fiscal year 2016, because of expanded gambling across the border.

Gambling, including the lottery, is the third-largest revenue stream in Rhode Island's budget.

The casino competition could come relatively close to Lincoln-based Twin River. Foxwoods last month announced plans to build a $750 million resort casino in Fall River, Mass. In addition to a casino of some 140,000 square feet, the facility would include 20 restaurants, a hotel, a convention center, a spa and an entertainment center for concerts and other events.

The Massachusetts casino law gave preference to a federally recognized Indian tribe in the southeast region, and the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe signed a compact with Gov. Deval Patrick. But the state gambling commission later approved opening up the region to commercial applicants given legal uncertainties about the tribe's plan for a facility in Taunton.

Asked about the impact a Fall River casino would have on Twin River, Foxwoods CEO and President Scott Butera said the two facilities would be very different, with his emphasizing luxury. "This is not a gambling hall — this is a destination resort," he said.

Taylor called Twin River a "convenience" casino that's easy for players to get to.

"We're going to focus on delivering a great customer experience for people who come," he said. "We think we're going to be able to deliver a more intimate player experience than a destination casino."

The addition of table games — 14 more were added in December to the original 66 — has attracted new players, according to Taylor. They are younger and there are more men, some of whom bring others who end up feeding the slots. They also eat and drink: Food and beverage sales are up 30 percent over the last eight months, according to Taylor.

"It's really done a lot for the business," he said.

Meanwhile, Twin River is pushing ahead with plans to purchase the Biloxi resort casino. The casino property has more than 1,300 slot machines and 50 table games, and the 12-story hotel has 325 rooms with a spa, fitness center and pool.