Obama told me so: 02/23/14

Sunday, 23 February 2014

Honda taps woman to board, promotes foreigner

TOKYO -- Honda has appointed a woman to its board for the first time and given a major promotion to a foreigner in a sign the automaker wants to change perceptions of a hidebound corporate culture.

Honda Motor Co. announced Monday that technology expert Hideko Kunii, 66, will join the board, and Issao Mizoguchi, a Brazilian of Japanese ancestry, has been appointed operating officer.

The appointments need shareholder approval at a meeting set for June.

Companies have come under fire within Japan for not promoting anyone other than Japanese males.

Putting women in leadership positions is a pillar of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies to revive the moribund Japanese economy.

Toyota has a foreigner on its board, Mark Hogan, formerly of General Motors Co., but has yet to tap a woman.

NABE economists divided over pace of Fed tapering

WASHINGTON -- Business economists are almost equally divided over whether the Federal Reserve will pare back bond purchases at the current pace through year's end or take a small breather to let the economy recover further.

The views were unveiled Monday by the National Association for Business Economics. The NABE conducted its twice-a-year survey of 230 members between Jan. 30 and Feb. 6, before Janet Yellen's first appearance before Congress as Fed chair.

About 43 percent of NABE members thought the Fed would complete its so-called "tapering" in the fourth quarter. About 42 percent thought the tapering would finish in 2015 or later.

At each of the last two policy meetings, the Fed cut bond purchases by $10 billion to the current pace of $65 billion a month. There are seven meetings left in 2014.

A majority of those surveyed agreed with the Fed's gradual end to its accommodative stance, with 57 percent saying current monetary policy is "about right." About 37 percent thought it was "too stimulative."

Cutting back on the bond purchases and the prospect of further cutbacks has already prompted mortgage rates to rise.

Most respondents thought the Fed would wait until 2015 to start raising its key short-term interest rate above the current level near zero. Yellen told Congress earlier this month that the Fed would keep the rate near zero "well past" the time the unemployment rate falls below 6.5 percent, as long as inflation remains low. The unemployment rate was 6.6 percent in January, a five-year low.

About 36 percent of respondents thought the Fed would raise the federal funds rate in the first half of 2015, while 37 percent thought the rate hike would come in the second half. Just 12 percent thought a hike would occur in the second half of this year, while 15 percent thought it would happen in 2016 or later.

As for government spending, 21 percent thought fiscal policy was "too stimulative," while 37 percent thought it was "about right." About 39 percent thought fiscal policy was "too restrictive."

Nearly all the respondents — or 83 percent — did not think Congress should put a permanent cap on the debt limit at its current level around $17 trillion.

Respondents were also split on the economic impact of the new federal health care law. While 18 percent thought the Affordable Care Act would boost growth, 42 percent thought it would have no impact and 30 percent thought it would hurt growth.

California almond farmers face tough choices

FIREBAUGH, Calif. -- With California's agricultural heartland entrenched in drought, almond farmers are letting orchards dry up and in some cases making the tough call to have their trees torn out of the ground, leaving behind empty fields.

In California's Central Valley, Barry Baker is one of many who hired a crew that brought in large rumbling equipment to perform the grim task in a cloud of dust.

A tractor operator drove heavy steel shanks into the ground to loosen the roots and knock the trees over. Another operator, driving a brush loader equipped with a fork-like implement on the front, scooped up the trees and root balls and pushed them into a pile, where an excavator driver grabbed them up in clusters with a clawing grapple. The trees were fed into a grinder that spit wood chips into piles to be hauled away by the truckload and burned as fuel in a power plant.

Baker, 54, of Baker Farming Company, has decided to remove 20 percent of his trees before they have passed their prime. There's simply not enough water to satisfy all 5,000 acres of almonds, he said. "Hopefully, I don't have to pull out another 20 percent," Baker said, adding that sooner or later neighboring farmers will come to the same conclusion. "They're hoping for the best. I don't think it's going to come."

There are no figures yet available to show an exact number of orchards being removed, but the economic stakes and risks facing growers are clear. Almonds and other nuts are among the most high-value crops in the Central Valley — the biggest producer of such crops in the country. In 2012, California's almond crop had an annual value of $5 billion. This year farmers say the dry conditions are forcing them to make difficult decisions.

Gov. Jerry Brown last month declared a drought emergency after the state's driest year in recorded history.

The thirst for water has sparked political battles in Washington, D.C., over use of the state's rivers and reservoirs. This month President Barack Obama visited the Central Valley, announcing millions of dollars in relief aid that in part will help the state's ranchers and farmers better conserve and manage water.

Baker, who favors farming over politics, explained the math leading to his decision. Between now and the summer almond harvest, he would need to irrigate his orchards with scarce, expensive water and pay to have the trees pruned and sprayed. Bringing in bee hives to pollinate the blossoms costs nearly $500 an acre.

That all would amount to a $2.5 million gamble, without knowing if the next couple of months will bring significant rain to the valley floor and snow to the mountains. "You'd have wrapped a lot of money up in those trees to see what happens," he said.

Removing old trees is common practice. Almond trees remain productive for about 25 years, growers said. The state's almond farmers removed over 10,000 acres of trees in 2012, according to a report by the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Most were past their prime. No figures are available on how many orchards farmers are removing today, said department spokesman Steve Lyle.

But Alan Thompson of G&F Agri Service LLC, who leads the crew ripping out Baker's orchards, said the drought spiked his business by 75 percent. This time of year is typically slow, but Thompson, 31, said his heavy equipment operators start at dawn each day and works until sundown, removing orchards in short order.

"We don't even mess around with cutting them up with chain saws," he said. "That grinder is the way to do it right there."

Ryan Jacobsen, executive director of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, said he expects that almond growers will be removing trees through the spring and summer because of the drought. "I have no doubt permanent crops will be taken out because of this," he added.

Tim Lynch of Agra Marketing Group said power plants in the state nearly have more wood chips from almond trees than they can handle. Lynch's firm acts as the middle man between growers getting rid of their trees and the power plants that need bio fuel to burn. The dry weather this winter has allowed growers to work in their orchards that are typically soggy, and the drought pushed them to take out trees earlier than normal, he said.

The high value of almonds has caught the eye of investors in recent years, who paid top-dollar for land to plant almond orchards and cash in on the bonanza. Their value remains strong, making the decision for farmers to remove orchards difficult.

William Bourdeau, executive vice president of Harris Farms in Coalinga, said he and his colleagues within the next 30 days will have to confront the hard decision about scaling back their almond orchards. They've already decided not to plant 9,000 acres of vegetables — including 3,000 acres of lettuce that would have produced 72 million heads and generated 700,000 hours of work.

Next, they may rip out 1,000 acres of almonds, a permanent crop, Bourdeau said.

"I hesitate to use a number that big. Unfortunately, it's going to that big or bigger," he said, still holding out hope the season will turn wet. "We're trying to limp along as long as we can."

Leaving the orchards un-watered and expecting they'll somehow survive the drought is no option, Bourdeau said, because insects infest the dying trees and multiply, spreading to other orchards.

Drawing well water is a bad option, he said. Their wells sink 2,400 feet below ground in his region of the Central Valley, providing water that's unhealthy and compromises the crops for years, if the trees survive at all, he said.

They have considered blending well and surface water to minimize the harm. Or they can remove some almonds to direct their limited water to fewer orchards.

"There's a lot of what-ifs," Bourdeau said. "There's no good decision. It's what's the least worse option."

LG to offer its first smartwatch this year

SEOUL, South Korea -- LG Electronics Inc. says it will launch a computerized wristwatch later this year, entering a nascent market where Samsung Electronics Co., Sony Corp. and smaller companies such as Pebble are already jostling for dominance.

Park Jong-seok, president of LG's mobile communications division, said early smartwatch models failed to demonstrate why consumers should buy them.

Park said LG's smartwatch will be paired with a smartphone.

LG spokeswoman Kim So-yeong declined to comment on news reports that LG will make a version of Google's smartwatch. LG already makes some of Google's Nexus mobile products.

Samsung unveiled two new smartwatches Sunday on the eve of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Oil price rises as US cold forecast to return

The price of oil rose Monday, continuing its climb for a seventh straight week supported by U.S. demand for heating oil amid prolonged cold weather.

Benchmark U.S. crude for April delivery was up 28 cents to $102.48 a barrel at 0620 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 55 cents to $102.20 on Friday.

Despite losses on Friday, oil was up 2 percent over the week amid rising demand for heating oil in the U.S.

Forecasters predicted a return of more cold weather in the coming weeks after a brief warm spell.

Analysts, however, have said oil prices could reverse direction due to a tempering of global demand and ample supplies.

A slower increase in Chinese property prices has added to jitters about the strength of the world's No. 2 economy. A report on manufacturing in China last week suggested global economic growth could weaken, which would reduce demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

Supplies also appeared to be robust in the U.S. despite the higher demand, with weekly crude stocks on a rising trend.

Brent crude, which is used to set prices for international varieties of crude, added 18 cents to $110.03 on the ICE exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading in New York:

— Wholesale gasoline edged up 0.8 cent to $3.011 per gallon.

— Heating oil was up 1.1 cents at $3.05 a gallon.

— Natural gas gained 13.6 cents to $5.148 per 1,000 cubic feet.

She lends new meaning to label 'small business'

AUSTIN, Texas -- Nine-year-old Mikaila Ulmer has raised the bar for kids with lemonade stands everywhere.

Her BeeSweet Lemonade has made that rare jump from neighborhood lemonade stand to the shelves of Whole Foods stores at The Domain and Arbor Hills.

Mikaila added locally harvested honey, fresh mint and flax seed to her great-grandmother's all-natural recipe. It also comes with a dollop of social conscience as Mikaila donates 20 percent of her profits to organizations that help save honey bees.

"I want to help the bees because they are really important," she told the Austin American-Statesman (http://bit.ly/1jDVHmD). "One of every three bites we eat depends on the honey bee."

Lynda Berrios with Whole Foods Market said adding BeeSweet Lemonade to its product mix was a natural.

"How could you not? She's absolutely darling," Berrios said. "She's the total package."

Mikaila's entrepreneurial path started at age 4 with a fear of bees and a need for a project.

Mikaila's parents, Theophilus and D'Andra Ulmer, are both in business. He works in finance and she is in marketing.

"We wanted to teach our kids about business," D'Andra Ulmer said.

The family found great-grandmother Helen's lemonade recipe in a 1940s cookbook.

Mikaila and her father started squeezing lemons and tinkering with the recipe, and her lemonade was a hit at the local Acton Children's Business Fair.

In 2011 Mikaila's recipe was judged most creative lemonade at the Austin Lemonade Day contest.

D'Andra Ulmer said her daughter's big break was when Mike Fried of East Side Pies suggested she should bottle the drink.

Fried said he met the Ulmer family at a community meeting where he was providing the pizza and BeeSweet was being served.

"I thought her focus and drive at such a young age to start a business and her passion about the environment and local issues resonated with me," he said. "She asked if we would sell her lemonade, and I said 'bottle it and we'll carry it.'"

Sisters & Brothers Inc., the maker of SASS salad dressings, bottle the lemonade in South Austin.

"We wanted to keep it in Austin so Mikaila can be involved," D'Andra Ulmer said.

Mikaila is in charge of quality control: She tastes the lemonade hot to be sure the recipe is consistent.

She also does in-store demonstrations and workshops on saving the bees.

Her mother said Mikaila has learned about marketing and profit as well as practicing her writing and math by filling out deposit slips.

Mikaila said she likes having her own money: "I give some, I save some and I spend some."

As for her future, Mikaila said, "I want to keep my business going and I also want to be a doctor or a teacher."

Today BeeSweet Lemonade is available at cafes, food trailers and natural grocery stores, including Max's Wine Dive, Farmhouse Delivery, Barton Hills Food Mart, Quickie Pickie grocery and East Side Pies.

Fried remains impressed.

"We've had Mikaila at the shop a few times, during Lemonade Days, and folks showed up from all over Austin and a few from Round Rock, just for her lemonade," he said. "We knew she had something special."

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Information from: Austin American-Statesman, http://bit.ly/1h43OZN

Eds: This is an AP Member Exchange shared by the Austin American-Statesman.

Asia stocks drop on China economy jitters

MANILA, Philippines -- Asian stock markets mostly fell Monday after a slower increase in Chinese property prices added to jitters about the strength of the world's No. 2 economy.

China's Shanghai Composite Index slid 2 percent to 2,070.70 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.3 percent to 22,278.95. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average was down 0.7 percent at 14,770.17.

In China's 70 biggest cities, average price increases in January for new housing were down 0.7 percentage points from December's rise, while that for secondhand homes declined by 0.4 percentage points. Year-on-year price increases remain substantial, however, at over 20 percent for the eight cities with fastest growth in prices.

Still, the figures sparked a sell-off in mainland developer shares and come on top of a HSBC survey last week that showed a second straight month of contraction in China's manufacturing. An official manufacturing survey is due later this week.

"There will be plenty of nerves that this release could also disappoint," said Stan Shamu, strategist at IG Markets in Melbourne, Australia.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi was off 0.4 percent at 1,949.86 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.2 percent to 5,430.10. Markets rose in Singapore, New Zealand and the Philippines.

Wall Street fell Friday as investors assessed the latest round of company earnings.

The S&P 500 fell 3.53 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,836.25. The index lost 2.38 points for the week and is now 12 points below its record close of 1,848.38, set Jan. 15.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 29.93 points, or 0.2 percent, to 16,103.30.

Benchmark U.S. oil for April delivery up 27 cents at $102.47 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 55 cents on Friday to close at $102.20.

In currencies, the euro dipped to $1.3735 from $1.3737 late Friday. The dollar dropped to 102.31 yen from 102.53 yen late Friday.

Detroit building work brings past out of vault

DETROIT -- Vintage elements of Detroit's old saloons, auto factories and warehouses — many of which have sat empty and crumbling for years — are finding new life as entrepreneurs preserve the historic structures that house them.

Whether it's old-style factory glass windows, 100-year-old tin ceilings or smaller items such as antique electric clocks or wooden doors, Detroit's new wave of business owners is going to great lengths to retain the past. Some apply for historical preservation tax credits to help with the rehab; others take on the additional work — and costs — to maintain original structural and decorative features.

It's a trend common in other cities as well, but design experts say today's Detroit is attractive because of the abundance of uniquely designed buildings available for purchase, according to The Detroit News (http://bit.ly/1bWSQU3 ).

"People are wanting to move into structures that have a lot of history and character," said Ryan Smith, an architect with Detroit-based Kraemer Design Group who's helped rehab a number of historic buildings. "You don't have to convince developers anymore. They know what they want; it's bringing these old buildings back to life."

The examples are numerous, but among the more recent is entrepreneur Andy Didorosi's nearly two-year-old Detroit Bus Co., which moved into a 90,000-square-foot former industrial warehouse in Hamtramck in October. Didorosi plans to purchase the building, which he named Eight & Sand, and has spent about $20,000 to maintain its original features, including a zig-zag shaped roof and an original telephone switch board from its former incarnation as a school.

dPop!, a design firm that's part of the Quicken Loans family of companies, opened in the basement of the former Dime Savings and Loan building (now called the Chrysler House) on Griswold, and built its offices around two former bank vaults with massive, circular vault doors and hundreds of safe deposit boxes.

Watch and bicycle-maker Shinola kept the exposed sky lights, brick work and floor at its new retail store in Midtown, which was formerly a service warehouse for Willys-Overland Motors.

Restoring these buildings helps set cities apart from the suburbs or other urban areas in which developers have built new structures, or gutted the character out of old ones.

"These old buildings often create this very different sense of character and tie somebody to a sense of place and history that you're not going to get from most new construction," said Wendy Hillis, a member of the American Institute of Architects Historic Resources Committee. "I think when you look at a creative class, there's a huge desire to have creative space and ... they're saying it's real cool to have this character and grit and reclaim this."

Bars in Corktown and Greektown have recently rehabbed old saloons and uncovered 1900s-era tile and brick work; and even MotorCity Casino payed homage to its building's original tenant, Wonder Bread, by keeping old signage when the gambling house opened in 1999.

"It's extremely popular right now to move into these historic structures," Smith said. "If you build a new building now, it's hard to get a building with the same character ones in the 1800s had."

Tony Piraino loves the location of his new bar, Firebird Tavern, in the heart of Greektown on Monroe. But he loves the building's 19th-century features more.

Piraino, who bought the building last March, spent eight months rehabbing. He uncovered original brickwork, tin ceilings and wooden floors. Built in the 1880s, the building has housed a saloon, a car seat upholstery manufacturer, barber shop and coffee shop.

"It was a pleasant surprise to see what was here and take that little extra time and care that goes into rehab," he said.

Didorosi's Eight & Sand project has taken a while, too.

Since moving into the space, Didorosi has enlisted help from friends and family in a construction project that likely won't be finished until summer.

The warehouse was built in 1920 and was a storage facility for machine tools, heat treatment furnaces, welding rigs and huge cranes. Didorosi unearthed and un-shuttered old steel case windows and tore down drywall to reveal original wood doors.

Now, the warehouse is home to his bus company, which offers public and private transportation, as well as florist Pot & Box, Reclaim Detroit, a business that works with reclaimed wood, and others. He said the tenants appreciate the warehouse's "super cool history."

"I feel that there aren't many of these buildings left," Didorosi said. "There needs to be an effort toward this preservation downtown and in the neighborhoods."

These types of rehab projects can earn tax breaks from the state, Kraemer Design's Smith said.

If approved and certified through the National Park Service and State Historic Preservation Office — and, for Detroit projects, the Detroit Historic District Commission — builders can receive up to 20 percent off their costs.

"It's pretty significant," Smith said.

He helped design Detroit Labs, an app-development firm that occupies two floors of a 1909 building on Woodward, once home to retailer Lane Bryant and now owned by Bedrock Real Estate. Smith said Bedrock is applying for tax credits, and he was able to salvage original wooden floor joists and studs as decorative design features.

Despite the possibility of financial relief, dPop!, Firebird and Eight & Sand did not apply for the tax breaks.

Melissa Price, director of facilities for Quicken Loans and CEO of dPop!, said the company still saved time and money by keeping some original features, such as the massive vault doors. If they had tried to remove them for a more traditional office, the demolition costs would have been great.

Employees, she said, enjoy working in the midst of the old bank's past.

"It's an honor for us to continue to celebrate its history," Price said. "There's a real beauty of the old Detroit mixing with the new Detroit."

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Information from: The Detroit News, http://detnews.com/

This is an AP Member Exchange shared by The Detroit News.

Nevada congressman goes 'undercover' with UPS

LAS VEGAS -- Rep. Steven Horsford has traded his suit and tie for a brown, short-sleeve UPS uniform — not because he's quitting Congress, but because it's a way to make closer contact with his constituents.

The Nevada Democrat went "undercover" Friday morning to help a UPS driver deliver packages to offices in his Las Vegas-area district.

Horsford made the rounds with driver Mark Sidman, operating the hand-held electronic device that tracks parcels along the delivery route.

"I'm Congressman Horsford. I'm here to deliver your package," he said to one recipient.

Horsford told the Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://bit.ly/1dlSdAT ) he wanted to gain a from-the-ground perspective of the working man and woman in his district.

"Sometimes in Washington you get a little disconnected," he said. "I want to make sure I know what people are actually doing each day. It's hard work!"

Horsford, who is up for re-election to a second term this year, joined other drivers in stretching exercises — a daily routine — at a major UPS processing hub before making the rounds.

He appeared to enjoy himself on the route, introducing himself and making small talk with customers.

He also used the opportunity to make a pitch for an increase in the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour. UPS pays its drivers an average of $32.50 an hour, he said, a salary that maintains a loyal workforce and a healthy bottom line for the company. Even the company's entry-level loaders make $11 to $12 per hour, he said.

"UPS stands as an example of a company that's already doing great things," he said, adding that his first job was cleaning out kennels at night and he also worked at Pizza Hut.

Policy statement panel close to compromise over resistance

BEIRUT: A seven-member ministerial committee is close to reaching a deal over the divisive issue of the resistance in the new Cabinet’s policy statement, officials said Sunday.

The committee, which includes ministers from the March 8 and March 14 parties and centrists tasked with drafting a policy statement, is slated to hold its fourth session Monday under Prime Minister Tammam Salam amid signs that the meeting might be the last.

“Tomorrow [Monday’s] session could be decisive with regard to reaching an understanding on a formula acceptable to all political parties that will not give up the right of the Lebanese in the resistance against Israel,” committee member Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil said in a statement. Khalil belongs to Speaker Nabih Berri’s parliamentary bloc.

A source close to Salam concurred that the committee was working to reach a compromise on the thorny issue of the resistance, or the use of Hezbollah’s arms against Israel.

“The atmosphere [among committee members] is positive. The committee’s meeting tomorrow [Monday] could be decisive and final,” the source told The Daily Star.

“Committee members are working on a compromise formula that stresses the right of the Lebanese to resist the Israeli occupation by all available legitimate means,” the source said.

Committee member Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad Fneish, who represents Hezbollah in the Cabinet, said his party was adamant on adopting the resistance option in the policy statement. “We insist on consecrating our right to the resistance to liberate Lebanese territory and confront the Israeli dangers,” Fneish told The Daily Star.

“It is not possible to relinquish the right of the resistance which had liberated Lebanese territory,” he said, referring to Hezbollah’s guerrilla war that led to Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000, ending an 18-year occupation of a border strip in the area.

Asked if he had presented a proposal on the resistance issue during the committee’s deliberations, Fneish said: “We already have a formula that has been adopted by previous governments. Anyone who wants to amend it can do so.”

He was referring to the controversial tripartite formula of the “Army, the people and the Resistance” that has been mentioned in the policy statements of previous governments. The clause effectively legitimizes Hezbollah’s arms.

The March 14 coalition has strongly rejected this formula and insisted that the Baabda Declaration, which calls for distancing Lebanon from regional and international conflicts, particularly the war in Syria, be adopted in the policy statement.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri reiterated his opposition to the “Army, the people and the Resistance” formula, saying that the Baabda Declaration should be adopted instead in the Cabinet’s policy statement.

He also voiced optimism that Salam’s Cabinet would be granted Parliament’s vote of confidence once differences over the policy statement have been ironed out.

“In my opinion, this Cabinet will win [Parliament’s] confidence. They will find the required wording for the [policy] statement. In Lebanon, there are always people who find solutions in a smooth manner,” Hariri said in an interview with the Egyptian TV channel CBC in Cairo.

March 14 Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb said the committee’s deliberations were seeking to abolish the the “Army, the people and the Resistance” formula in the policy statement.

Harb, who has presented a formula that calls for placing the resistance under state control or under supervision of its authority, said his proposal was based on the predominance of the state and the Constitution.

“We cannot tell the Lebanese that they have a future but we do not have a state,” Harb told MTV Sunday night.

Earlier, Harb, speaking to supporters at his residence in Tannourine, renewed his rejection of the tripartite formula.

“We have participated in the Cabinet on the basis of specific principles and a specific stance, especially since one of those principles is to reject a reinstatement of the tripartite formula of ‘The Army, the people and the Resistance.’ We have linked our continued participation in the Cabinet to this issue,” Harb said. “We cannot reinstate this formula again.”

A committee member said he expected the panel to eventually recommend the adoption of policy statements of previous governments as well as the decisions of the National Dialogue Committee, including the Baabda Declaration.

Once the policy statement has been drafted, the Cabinet can go to Parliament to seek a vote of confidence.

Authorities head off fresh violence in Tripoli

TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Security forces prevented another round of violence in the troubled northern city of Tripoli over the weekend, after political opponents traded accusations over the killing of a senior Arab Democratic Party member.

“The city of Tripoli has witnessed 19 consecutive rounds of violence in the past few years which the Syrian regime and its allies have plotted, and in the process have heavily exhausted the city’s resources and those of its residents, and destroyed peace and stability,” Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said in a statement Sunday.

“Yesterday, the violent scenes nearly played out again after a suspicious crime was committed. However, thanks to the efforts of the city’s honorable officials, notables and politicians, another round was avoided and those who planned it were prevented [from carrying it out],” Rifi added.

“We will continue to prevent similar schemes, which disturb the peace and security of the city,” he said. “As one of Tripoli’s sons and as a member of the executive authority [Cabinet] I will work until the state institutions assume full control of the city’s neighborhoods and security.”

Rifi called on all sects in Tripoli to safeguard the city’s security and refer to state institutions for such matters, namely the judiciary, the security forces and the military establishment, which he said in the past few days had proven they were capable of maintaining security in Tripoli.

“As justice minister, I will push the investigations and measures meant to hold those involved in crimes, bombings and explosions, especially the two that targeted the Al-Salam and Al-Taqwa mosques, accountable for their deeds,” he pledged, calling for the implementation of a comprehensive economic plan for the city, one that will secure jobs for the youth and contribute to the development of the city’s deprived areas.

The recent scare that violence would once again consume the city was prompted last week when Arab Democratic Party Secretary-General Rifaat Eid gave the Lebanese authorities 48 hours to arrest the assassins of Abdel-Rahman Diab or “bear the consequences.”

Diab’s killing Thursday triggered violence that left two people dead and five others wounded.

Eid said Saturday that the 48-hour ultimatum he gave Lebanese authorities following the assassination was aimed at “defusing tensions” among ADP supporters.

“When we announced the 48-hour ultimatum following the killing of Diab, we were trying to cool down the Alawite community and to defuse the people’s anger,” Eid said during a news conference.

“Those hoping that we will strike Tripoli are wrong,” he added.

Diab, an official with the pro-Assad ADP, was gunned down by masked gunmen on a small motorcycle as he drove his Chevy along the coastal Mina highway at dawn.

He died instantly from 12 bullets that pierced his chest, head and neck, security sources had told The Daily Star.

The pro-Assad ADP official said his group “supports the judiciary and the [Lebanese] Army and calls for reconciliation in Tripoli.”

The ADP leader emphasized that his party was not responsible for the twin bombings that targeted the northern city of Tripoli last year.

“We agree with those calling for referring the case [of the twin bombings] as well as the cases of Jabal Mohsen residents who were murdered, to the Judicial Council,” he said, referring to residents of the largely Alawite neighborhood where the party is based.

Recurrent clashes between Jabal Mohsen and the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh have claimed dozens of lives over the past three years.

“We are adamant about our party’s innocence ... and we have evidence against those who tried to implicate us in the blasts,” Eid said.

Civil society in Tripoli organized a march to send a message to opposing political and armed groups in the city of the price they as civilians were paying for their fighting.

The march passed streets between the neighborhood of Al-Farz wil Dam and Al-Nour Square, where they held a demonstration to commemorate all of the 177 victims of the 19 rounds of violence that have targeted their city.

The participants of the march held Lebanese flags and banners demanding that a transparent electoral law be approved and praising the security forces and Army for “protecting the country.”

When they reached Al-Nour Square, the activists observed a moment of silence to honor the victims of violence in the northern city and then chanted the Lebanese national anthem.

“We call on all Lebanese to become real partners. Because what we are living today is what the rulers of this country did to us,” said Amer al-Halabi, the head of the organization Proudly Free Lebanese, which organized the march. “They have caused the deaths of 177 victims due to their loyalty to foreign governments,” he said.

At the very end of the rally participants planted a tree in the roundabout of Al-Nour Square.

Experts urge vaccination drive to save lives

BEIRUT: Many people don’t know the importance of vaccinations – until they become sick with an illness that could have been prevented. To fight this trend, a dedicated group of Lebanese doctors is working to spread awareness of what they say is a global problem that has developed due to a lack of awareness among patients and even many doctors. “A lot of people don’t understand the value of vaccinations,” says Faysal al-Kak, a gynecologist and a senior lecturer in public health at the American University of Beirut.

Through lectures, pamphlets and word of mouth recommendations, Kak and several other doctors are working to raise awareness about the importance of vaccinations for things such as flu, tetanus, certain types of cancer and a range of other preventable infections. The campaign focuses especially on women and the elderly, who don’t tend to pay attention to their own needed vaccinations the way parents of schoolchildren do.

“The majority of people will do the compulsory vaccines – rubella, mumps and measles – for schoolchildren. The problem is when it comes to adults,” he says. “If they’re not vaccinated, they risk infection.”

Vaccines have long been shown to be safe, effective and sustainable, not to mention affordable, costing around $10 per shot on average. The vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles the disease it’s designed to prevent, which in some cases can cause a mild illness that lasts one to two days. By doing this, the agent prompts the body’s immune system to recognize and remember the disease so that it can destroy it during future encounters.

The fee and the momentary prick of the needle is a small price to pay for something that can prevent a range of illnesses including cervical cancer, the second most common form of cancer for women (although the HPV vaccination costs significantly more at around $100 per shot).

The efficacy of vaccinations is reflected clearly in statistics. According to the Center for Disease Control, the United States’ public health institute, the U.S. saw 763,094 cases of measles and 552 deaths from the disease in 1958. By 2008, there were only 64 suspected cases in the whole country. The smallpox vaccine developed in the 1700s has nearly eradicated the disease throughout the world.

Yet it wasn’t until recently that members of the medical community began actively promoting vaccinations by publishing in medical journals and engaging in awareness campaigns. Despite these recent efforts, patients as well as doctors continue to forgo the simple medical procedure.

There are several reasons for this. Sometimes people simply aren’t aware of what’s available, don’t understand how important it is or else worry that the vaccination will be harmful. A 1998 study in the medical journal Lancet linked autism to vaccines, and, although the paper was fully retracted in 2010, concerns still linger among those who aren’t aware of all the facts.

Pregnant women tend to be particularly averse to being vaccinated, despite their immune systems being more vulnerable to easily preventable diseases such as flu.

Anwar Nassar, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at AUB Medical Center and acting chairman of the department, says many of the prenatal patients who are transferred to him haven’t had the necessary vaccinations because their previous doctor hadn’t even offered them.

“I have all of my patients vaccinated,” Nassar says.

He recalls two particularly severe cases in the past couple of years in which unvaccinated prenatal patients at AUBMC had to go to the intensive care unit because they had caught the flu.

Luckily, both women made full recoveries, but he points to a 2011-12 AUB survey that found only 30 percent of prenatal patients were receiving their flu vaccinations. He hopes that next year’s follow-up study will show an improvement.

He is also a champion of the latest inoculation discovery against HPV that became available in 2006. Despite some critics saying more time is needed to test it and observe the side effects, Nassar makes a simple and compelling case for it: “This is the first time there’s a vaccine that protects against cancer.”

Yacoubian urges women to act to win equality

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of weekly articles interviewing pioneering Lebanese women from various sectors.

BEIRUT: Paula Yacoubian’s celebrated composure brusquely vanishes when the discussion veers toward the situation of women in Lebanon. Lebanon’s top female talk show host is uncompromising when it comes to women’s rights.“Women in Lebanon are not even second class or third or fourth class citizens,” she bitterly told The Daily Star. “Discrimination against women has reached unprecedented levels here [in Lebanon]; I find this alarming and outrageous, to say the least.”

Speaking a few weeks ahead of International Women’s Day, which falls on March 8, and against a backdrop of harrowing accounts of domestic violence that have emerged in the media recently, the young journalist was pessimistic.

But Yacoubian argues that women were partly to blame for their ever-worsening state, saying that Lebanese women were not “intelligently” making use of their education.

“Instead of making use of education to improve their condition, the majority of Lebanese women get a degree to improve their marriage prospects or become a socialite,” Yacoubian retorts. “I am very sad to be saying this but this is the ugly truth, unfortunately.”

But she is also perfectly aware that her upbringing and daring choices – Yacoubian is an orphan who married outside her religion – are not necessarily applicable to all contexts.

“Many Lebanese women are helpless most of the time,” she admits. “Let’s face it.”

Having lost her father at a very young age, Yacoubian, 37, was brought up by her late mother Rachelle, with whom she shared a singular relationship.

“When you ask me about the women I admire or the ideal woman, as unoriginal as it may sound, I can’t think of anyone else but my mother,” she says, fighting back tears. “In all fairness, my mother is a role model, she was my driving force.”

“Throughout my career, my mother was my biggest critic and one of the few people who pushed me and forced me to enhance my skills,” Yacoubian adds.

With subtle emotion, the TV host recalls that the only time her mother had positive comments about her work was after her 2013 interview with President Michel Sleiman.

“It wasn’t long before she passed away,” Yacoubian recalls. “She said it was perfect.”

Slowly but surely, Yacoubian climbed the professional ladder. At only 17 she started off as a news anchor at what was known as ICN TV and later held positions at prestigious media outlets including LBCI, ART and Al-Hurra TV.

Now, Yacoubian hosts a weekly talk show on Future TV, “Interviews,” where she hosts politicians from Lebanon and the region. In recent years, Yacoubian and her husband, media mogul Mouafac Harb, founded Integrated Communications, a media services establishment.

But the journey to the top has certainly not been easy, and Yacoubian is comfortable detailing the hurdles she has had to overcome.

“I come from a very modest family that lacks connections,” she confides. “And we all know that without connections or wasta, you can’t get anywhere in Lebanon.”

She likes to recall that during her debut at ICN, she would prefer reading the 8 o’clock news bulletin to an outing at the trendiest nightclub in the city. “You know bizarrely enough I used to have a lot more fun at the job than during an outing, for example,” she notes. “Now, reflecting back, it is fair to say that I did not have a wild youth.”

She also adds that dedication and passion are the key ingredients for success. “I wish Lebanese women would abide by that rule,” she adds.

As for passion, Yacoubian is known to have plenty. At Integrated Communications, Yacoubian trained Lebanese politicians from both camps and she is proud of the results, she says.

“The training we provide is tailored and customized to the trainee’s personality,” she says. “We’re keen to preserve the trainee’s character and we work on fine-tuning several aspects including eye contact, hand gesture and charisma.”

In fact, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s public appearances are said to have improved thanks to training he received from Yacoubian.

But Yacoubian is quick to brush off as “rumors” that she trained Hariri.

“I did not train Prime Minister Hariri,” she says in a categorical tone. “I might have given him some tips here and there but that does not mean I trained him per say.”

About her long-term associate and husband, Yacoubian says Harb played an integral role in advancing her career. “Mouafac is not only a husband, he’s a friend and a partner,” she adds. “I always like to pay tribute to Mouafac because, after my [late] mother of course, he is among the few I trust and he is among the few who are very supportive of me.”

In fact, the couple strives to incorporate their ideas about secularism, openness and equality into the education of their 9-year-old son Paul.

“Paul has been raised not to differentiate between genders,” Yacoubian says.

She maintains that parents should serve as an example to their children.

“I mean when a kid sees his mother playing football with him and his father being supportive of his mother’s career he won’t grow up to become a sexist or misogynist.”

“Also,” she adds, “to the Lebanese women I honestly advise them to go out and fight for their rights because we all know the men in this country will not grant them anything easily.”

A battered Christie to unveil NJ budget proposal

TRENTON, N.J. -- As Gov. Chris Christie prepares to announce his budget plan for the next fiscal year, the New Jersey forecast calls for a rise in tax revenues but also state financial obligations. And there's still the chance of a shortfall between now and the end of June.

Christie will announce his plan Tuesday for the fiscal year starting July 1, also the deadline for the Democrat-controlled Legislature to approve a plan.

With his administration recently besieged by scandal, the governor has not said much about any potential new wrinkles for budget-making outside of a few remarks at his State of the State speech last month when he touched on the debt, pension obligations and tax policy.

The current-year budget is about $33 billion. The next-year budget most likely will be higher. By law, it must be balanced.

The annual deliberations on the state's spending-and-revenue plan come at a time when Democratic lawmakers have said they are less likely to go along with the Republican governor on some issues.

Christie claimed a mandate from voters when he easily won re-election in November. But his standing could be weakened by investigations into massive traffic jams near the George Washington Bridge apparently created by Christie aides as political retribution and from accusations that cabinet members used the prospect of local storm relief to pressure a mayor to support a real estate deal.

The normally gregarious Christie has not taken questions from the media, except for one radio interview, since a news conference Jan. 9 to address the traffic scandal. He hosted a town-hall meeting for residents last week.

David Rousseau, who served as state treasurer under Gov. Jon Corzine and now analyzes budget and taxes for New Jersey Policy Perspective, said he expects state revenues in the next fiscal year to be up by $1.5 billion to $2 billion over the current fiscal year.

But a chunk of that — up to $1 billion — is already accounted for between rising debt-service obligations and pension fund payments. Christie suggested in his January speech that those rising costs could also hamper other plans.

"That's nearly $1 billion we can't spend on education, that we can't invest in infrastructure improvement, that we can't use to put more cops on the street, that won't be available to improve access to health care," the governor said.

Democratic lawmakers took that to mean Christie was suggesting not making the full payments, and they went into defense mode. Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald said it would be a "breach of the public trust" for the state not to fully honor its 2011 deal to increase pension system payments as public workers also were required to contribute more.

Greenwald said that the state has to consider changes to its tax system and that he would lay out options as lawmakers take up budget issues.

Since Christie came to office four years ago, he has been in a tug-of-war with lawmakers over taxes. For the first three years, legislators passed and he vetoed bills to raise taxes on the state's highest earners.

In 2012, he called for across-the-board income tax cuts, which would have helped New Jersey's higher earners the most. He eventually agreed to a plan to cut income taxes based on the taxpayer's property tax bill. New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation and lawmakers liked the plan, but said the state could not afford to cut a revenue source.

Christie has not said whether his tax relief ideas would follow either of those earlier models, or something else.

Staring everyone in the face before getting to the next fiscal year is the question of how the state can balance the current year's budget between now and the end of June.

Last month, the state Treasurer's Office said revenue collections through December were $332 million below the budgeted amounts. On Friday, the Office of Legislative Services — a frequent foil for Christie, but one that has often produced accurate projections — said the shortfall could now exceed $400 million.

Rousseau, the former state treasurer, said the Christie administration apparently was too optimistic with its projections for how quickly the state's economy would improve. He said that leaves the state budget-planners now in a tough spot, deciding whether to hope collections pick up or to make some cuts now that could turn out not to be needed.

"If you underestimate it and it comes May, you only had a month and a half" to balance the budget, he said. And by then, he said, relatively easy ways to do it may not be available.

Casino gambling key to survival for 2 Mass. tracks

BOSTON -- By any measure, horse racing has been in marked decline for years in Massachusetts, leaving operators of the state's two tracks eyeing casino gambling as their last, best hope for survival.

Now, two upcoming votes — one by residents in Revere and the other by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission — could ultimately determine whether thoroughbred racing at Suffolk Downs and harness racing at the Plainridge Racecourse enjoy a resurgence or grind to permanent halts.

A yes vote in Tuesday's referendum would allow Mohegan Sun to continue with a bid for a resort casino on land owned by Suffolk Downs in Revere.

On Friday, the commission is scheduled to award the single slots parlor license in Massachusetts, with Plainridge among three contenders.

Both tracks are likely to close, their owners concede, if the votes don't go their way. And for the estimated 4500 people in Massachusetts who derive income from racing — from horse owners to breeders, jockeys, trainers and track workers — the stakes are also high.

"This is a one and done deal," said Billy Abdelnour, president of the New England Amateur Harness Drivers Club. "This will literally end, finish harness racing, because there is no one waiting in line to build a racetrack in Massachusetts."

According to figures from the state racing commission and a report prepared for Suffolk Downs by Christiansen Capital Advisors, operating losses at the track ranged from $11.8 million to $26.4 million over a five-year period from 2007-2011. The track's handle — the amount wagered on live races — has fallen nearly every year since 2000, from $27.6 million to 6.5 million in 2012, and its purse — the money paid out to horse owners — tumbled from $16 million in 2003 to $9.4 million in 2012.

Plainridge's live handle fell from $2.4 million in 2007 to $1.5 million in 2011 and purses decreased from $3.1 million to $2.5 million during that period, according to a 2012 consultants' report for the racing commission.

The travails of horse racing are not unique to Massachusetts, with comparable declines seen elsewhere in the U.S. and blamed largely on increased competition for gambling dollars from casinos and state lotteries. The "racino," a facility that marries racing and casino gambling, has been one response around the country.

Legislators who crafted Massachusetts' 2011 expanded gambling law clearly saw potential for casinos to help bail out the racing industry. The law requires tracks that win gaming licenses to continue racing, and directs a small percentage of casino proceeds toward boosting purses.

The law, however, does not specifically direct the gambling commission to favor racinos or consider the survival of racing when making casino licensing decisions. The five-member panel has promised to weigh several factors, including potential economic development.

Penn National Gaming, which has applied to operate Plainridge, says the introduction of slot machines revived racing at other facilities the company owns, including its Hollywood Casino brand in Charles Town, W. Va., and Bangor, Maine.

"We don't look at racing as an afterthought," said Eric Schippers, Penn National's vice president for public affairs. "Racing is a critical added amenity that adds to the entertainment value of our customers."

Penn National is competing for the slots parlor license with Raynham Park, a former dog track, and Cordish Cos., which has proposed a facility in Leominster. Raynham's application throws a slim lifeline to the harness industry by proposing up to 40 days of racing at Brockton Fairgrounds, the company said.

The Leominster plan does not include racing but takes a different approach, offering at least $1 million a year in gambling revenue to boost startup medical device technology firms in the region, according to Cordish's president, Joseph Weinberg.

Suffolk Downs originally proposed a combined racetrack and casino on the Boston-Revere border, but that plan was rejected by voters in the East Boston neighborhood, where the track is located. The current plan calls for Mohegan Sun to operate the casino as a separate entity in Revere, but Suffolk Downs has pledged to maintain racing for at least 15 years.

"Our ability to continue racing is very much dependent on the success of Mohegan Sun," said Chip Tuttle, chief operating officer of the 78-year-old track that boasts of hosting some of the sport's most famous jockeys and helping launch the career of the legendary Seabiscuit.

Even with a favorable vote Tuesday, Mohegan Sun would still face competition for the eastern Massachusetts resort casino license from Wynn Resorts in Everett, with a decision from the commission expected by May 30.

Former Va. first lady at heart of gift scandal

By ALLEN G. BREED and BROCK VERGAKIS The Associated Press

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Elaine Kubiak finds it impossible to reconcile the social-climbing, bullying and bizarre-acting former first lady of Virginia being portrayed in federal court papers and the media with the woman she's known for two decades.

The Maureen McDonnell that Kubiak remembers was a thrifty woman of faith who cleaned the house and sprayed for bugs herself; who supplemented the household income by selling vitamins and making custom drapes on the sewing machine future governor Bob McDonnell gave her as a wedding present; who prayed over the car whenever one of their five children went out for a drive.

"I know her as a very, very nice, unassuming person, and a very frugal-living person — a very hardworking person," said Kubiak, whose attorney husband worked and socialized with the ex-governor.

That is not how the U.S. Department of Justice sees it.

Barely a week after McDonnell left office last month, a federal grand jury indicted him and his wife on 14 counts each of trading on their influence to enrich themselves and family members. And while investigators say the once-rising Republican star accepted lavish gifts, golf outings and other favors in exchange for boosting businessman Jonnie Williams and his company, Star Scientific, the 43-page indictment paints Maureen McDonnell as the one who had her hands outstretched the most.

What started with a request for help purchasing a designer gown for her husband's inauguration in 2009 ballooned into gifts of designer clothes and accessories, personal loans, a Rolex watch and a large check for her daughter's wedding reception, prosecutors allege. In return, they say, Williams got special access to state officials, a reception at the executive mansion and McDonnell's endorsement for what was to be Star Scientific's breakthrough product : Anatabloc, an anti-inflammatory.

Both have pleaded not guilty. Bob McDonnell maintains he did nothing illegal for Williams "in exchange for what I believed was his personal generosity and friendship." Maureen and her attorneys have declined comment .

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"Awkward Cinderella trying too hard to fit in at the castle" read one headline in The Washington Post about the 59-year-old first lady when the scandal broke last summer.

Indeed, many in the state have wondered whether this was a case of a one-time middleclass girl trying to fit in to a new world and, in doing so, possibly crossing the line.

For much of her life, extravagance seemed to matter little to Maureen McDonnell.

Born in McLean, Va., she was the third of nine children to Frank and Geraldine Gardner, civil servants who met while working at the FBI — he as an agent, she as a stenographer. Gardner moved the family to Mexico in 1966 to take a string of consular positions.

Maureen attended a high school in the border town of Laredo, Texas, where she won a coveted spot on the high school's nationally recognized dance team and was voted first runner-up for "most beautiful" her senior year . That same year, doctors discovered a tumor in one of her breasts. It was benign, but doctors told her she was predisposed to cancer — a warning that she credits for her lifelong focus on health care and wellness.

"That day in my youth governed my life," she told a crowd at a women's forum in 2010.

After graduation, Maureen followed her parents into civil service. She worked for a time with the FBI, then moved to the State Department, where she rose from secretary-stenographer to an assistant handling security clearances, according to a 2010 interview with Virginia Capitol Connections Quarterly Magazine. She also took classes at a Virginia community college.

During the summer of 1973, the 19-year-old was attending a party when she caught the eye of a young University of Notre Dame student.

After a three-year courtship, Bob McDonnell proposed over a four-pack of "cheap ale" in a grocery store parking lot, his wife told the Washington Post.

"It was very simple," she said in the 2010 interview. "Our life always was."

Bob McDonnell joined the Army, and the couple married in 1976 at Fort Belvoir in northern Virginia.

McDonnell's career as a medical supply officer carried them to West Germany and back to Virginia, where Maureen gave birth to their first of five children, Jeanine, in 1981.

After graduating law school, Bob McDonnell worked his way up in the Virginia Beach commonwealth's attorney's office. In 1991, he won a tight election to the House of Delegates.

Even as her husband's clout grew, Maureen remained thrifty, friends have said. The couple lived in middle-class neighborhoods in suburban Virginia Beach filled with one-story brick homes and traditional two-story colonials that are within earshot of Navy fighter jets roaring overhead. Their children attended public schools. If the kids wanted luxuries, they had to work for them. Jeanine mucked out stalls to pay for horseback-riding lessons, Maureen told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Robyn Deane says her former sister-in-law sold everything from vitamin supplements and skin-care products to home decorating items and teddy bears with Bible verses sewn on their chests.

"She was very much the enthusiastic entrepreneur," Deane told The Associated Press.

A one-time cheerleader for the NFL's Washington Redskins, Maureen brought her enthusiasm to promoting her husband's political career. She was a big part of his successful 2005 campaign for Virginia attorney general and played a crucial role four years later in his quest for the state's highest office, appearing in ads, using her rusty Spanish to court Latino voters and rallying women at campaign events.

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Bob McDonnell's relationship with Jonnie Williams dates to March 2009 when, the federal indictment alleges, members of his staff asked about using Williams' jet in the gubernatorial campaign. But it was a postelection meeting in New York City that prosecutors say began the soon-to-be first lady's too-cozy relationship with Williams.

Williams, the Post reported, mentioned that he was friends with designer Oscar de la Renta. When Maureen McDonnell asked for help finding a dress for the inauguration, the indictment alleges, Williams offered to buy her one.

"I need to talk to you about Inaugural clothing budget," she wrote in an email to one of her husband's senior staffers. "I need answers and Bob is screaming about the thousands I'm charging up in credit card debt. We are broke, have an unconscionable amount in credit card debt already, and this Inaugural is killing us!! "

Staffers convinced her that such a gift would be inappropriate but, according to prosecutors, she told Williams "that she would take a 'rain check' from him."

Once ensconced in the governor's mansion, she oversaw renovations that included refinishing floors, repairing the roof and restoring ceilings. She launched a privately funded project to paint portraits of all surviving first ladies — including a depiction of her the blue inaugural gown she ended up wearing.

But behind closed doors, it was clear this was no Camelot.

Last summer, the Post quoted unnamed sources about an alleged incident in which Maureen McDonnell stripped down to her underwear to show a maid the proper way to scrub a floor, then insisted that two professional staffers do the same.

Former mansion chef Todd Schneider told Washingtonian Magazine that the first lady had a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" personality.

"If the first lady did not get her way, she pouted, screamed, yelled," Schneider, who declined interview requests from the AP, told the magazine. Schneider was fired in 2012 amid a probe of what state police called "improprieties involving the kitchen operation at the governor's mansion."

By late 2011, things had gotten so bad that several members of the staff drafted a letter to the governor to complain about the hostile environment his wife had created, and threatened to resign. Several news outlets have reported about the letter, but it has yet to surface publicly.

An event held a few months later suggests the administration was trying to fix things inside the mansion.

On Jan. 4, 2012, the Performance Management Group at Virginia Commonwealth University put on a team-building event for the first lady's staff that included role playing, leadership coaching and a working lunch session led by Maureen McDonnell.

"You listened when needed, inserted preferences appropriately and were very honest and direct in discussing some events of the past and how they might effect culture," consultant Linda Pierce wrote to the first lady in a Jan. 5, 2012, email.

By early 2012, investigators were investigating Williams, which led to the first couple. Williams has declined to comment.

Schneider had helped cater the June 2011 wedding reception of the McDonnells' daughter, Cailin, for which Williams chipped in $15,000, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors say the Rolex, golf rounds, loans to purchase shares of Star Scientific and even rides in Williams' Ferrari were all quid pro quo for the first couple's help in promoting Star Scientific and its product, Anatabloc — including getting the governor to attend a launch party at the mansion for the supplement billed as billed as showing promise in treating Alzheimer's disease.

In an August 2011 email to her husband and included in the indictment, Maureen McDonnell quoted an analyst who followed Star Scientific's stock as saying, "I am utterly certain that Anatabloc is going to shake our political system to its very roots."

The analyst was right. In a little over a year, Bob McDonnell went from being a possible running mate for GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney to fighting not just for his political future, but for his freedom.

Schneider, the ex-chef, pleaded no contest in September to reduced charges that he stole food from the mansion kitchen and was ordered to pay $2,300 in restitution.

Williams, who stepped down from Star Scientific, has not been charged. Anatabloc is still on the market.

The charges against the former first couple carry potential sentences of up to 30 years in prison and fines ranging from $250,000 to $1 million. Their trial is scheduled for July 28.

At their Jan. 24 arraignment, Maureen McDonnell, looking tired and visibly thinner, told the judge she was taking medications for "concentration" and "anxiety."

Allen G. Breed is a national writer, based in Raleigh, N.C. He can be reached at features@ap.org. Follow him on Twitter at http://bit.ly/1fezt5Y. Brock Vergakis can be reached at —http://bit.ly/1fezqHg

Picayune Item managing editor retiring; 43 years

PICAYUNE, Miss. -- Picayune Item Managing Editor Will Sullivan is retiring Feb. 28, after 43 years in newspapers.

The Item reports (http://bit.ly/1dklQCs ) that he saw evolution from linotypes to computer layout and from film to digital cameras.

He began his career in 1971 at The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, where he received many awards for his writing about agriculture, including his 1982 series "The Hidden War." Those articles, about the Corps of Engineers' purchase of a right-of-way around Granada Lake, prompted farmers to sue the corps. The farmers won.

Sullivan has worked at the Item since September 1989. He says his biggest story there was Hurricane Katrina, which brought many people in from the coast. Sullivan says Pearl River County went from fewer than 40,000 residents when Katrina hit to more than 50,000 afterward.

NH gas, diesel tax sponsor takes on truckers

CONCORD, N.H. -- A Derry Republican wants the trucking industry to support his proposed gas and diesel tax increase or face reductions in the amount of cargo they can haul on New Hampshire highways.

Senate Transportation Chairman Jim Rausch said Thursday he will work to reduce maximum truck weights below 104,000 pounds if his bill to increase the tax by 4 cents a gallon fails.

Rausch he isn't threatening the industry, he said. If there isn't more money to maintain New Hampshire's roads something else has to be done and lowering the weights trucks can carry would cause them less damage.

"All I'm saying is if we can't fix our roads, I believe it is our responsibility to do everything we can to prevent serious damage," said Rausch.

Bob Sculley, president of the New Hampshire Motor Transport Association, said the industry will not drop its opposition to the proposed tax hike it believes is too costly and called Rausch's proposal an act of retaliation.

Rausch insists reducing weights wouldn't be retaliation.

"That's not true. I'm trying to preserve the roads," said Rausch.

Rausch has an ally in his House counterpart: Transportation Chairwoman Candace Bouchard, a Concord Democrat.

"If nobody wants to pay any more, then we have to look at preserving roads and bridges in a manner we can, and some of that will have to be in a reduction of truck weights," she said Friday.

Sculley said a better funding source would be from legalizing casino gambling, which is being considered by the House.

Rausch's bill proposes calculating future increases using the Consumer Price Index. His first calculation would be based on the difference in CPI from 2003 to 2013. Later increases would be every four years and Rausch estimates they would average a penny.

The 18 cent tax would rise about 4 cents per gallon in July under the bill. It has not been increased since 1991 and is the lowest in New England.

Senate Ways and Means Chairman Bob Odell said Thursday he anticipates the bill will receive a favorable recommendation from his committee on March 4 if an amendment is adopted to remove indexing the increases, which drew the strongest opposition.

The 4 cent initial tax increase is projected to raise $32 million annually but it is unclear how much would be used for road improvements and how much to shore up the Department of Transportation, which estimates it will have to lay off nearly half of its workers without more money in the two-year budget that starts on July 1, 2015. The department projects it will have a $49 million deficit in 2016 that grows to $106 million in 2017.

Transportation Commissioner Chris Clement said his department needs operating cash because a series of one-time funding fixes enacted by lawmakers are ending. Even with a tax increase, he would still be forced to lay off some workers, he said Friday.

Without additional money to repair the state's roads and bridges, reducing truck weights will only delay the deterioration of the state's infrastructure, said Clement.

The Senate will vote on the bill March 13. It isn't clear if it will pass because Senate President Chuck Morse, a strong casino backer, opposes hiking the tax.

Gov. Maggie Hassan has said if a consensus is reached on a tax increase, she will sign it.

Governors: 'Obamacare' here to stay

WASHINGTON -- The explosive politics of health care have divided the nation, but America's governors, Republicans and Democrats alike, suggest that President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is here to stay.

While governors from Connecticut to Louisiana sparred on Sunday over how best to improve the nation's economy, governors of both parties shared a far more pragmatic outlook on the controversial program known as "Obamacare" as millions of their constituents begin to be covered.

"We're just trying to make the best of a bad situation," Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, of Iowa, who calls the health care law "unaffordable and unsustainable," yet something he has to implement by law. "We're trying to make it work as best we can for the people of Iowa."

As governors gathered in Washington this weekend, Democratic governors such as Maryland's Martin O'Malley and Connecticut's Dannel Malloy made pitches to raise the minimum wage, while Republican governors such as Louisiana's Bobby Jindal and Indiana's Mike Pence called for more freedom from federal regulations, particularly those related to the health insurance overhaul. But governors from both parties report that a full repeal of the law would be complicated at best, if not impossible, as states move forward with implementation and begin covering millions of people — both by expanding Medicaid rolls for lower-income resident or through state or federal exchanges that offer federal subsidies to those who qualify.

Republican opposition to the law is the centerpiece of the GOP's political strategy ahead of the midterm elections.

Despite a troubled rollout, nearly 3.3 million people have signed up through Feb. 1 for health care coverage under the law. The White House reported that 1 million people signed up nationwide for private insurance under the law in January alone. It remains unclear that the administration will reach its unofficial goal of 7 million people by the end of March, but it still expects several million enrollees by then.

A recent Associated Press analysis of the sign-ups found that six Republican-led states — Florida, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, and Wisconsin — were on pace or better than the states had initially projected.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is among several Republican governors who expanded their state's Medicaid laws under the law.

"The whole dialogue on the Affordable Care Act is about people fighting, causing gridlock and a mess, instead of working on something important like wellness," Snyder said, adding that he still has "a lot of issues" with the overhaul. "But it is the law, so I'm trying to work in that context."

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, who leads the Democratic Governors Association, said governors spent about half of their private lunch session on Saturday discussing the health care law and the tone was much different than in past years.

"Before the election, it felt like a cock fight," Shumlin said, describing the debate over the law during the 2012 campaign. "Down there we were talking about ways to we could cooperate."

"There's no doubt in my mind that the Republicans have accepted that as millions of people sign up for it and finally get the health care they have been dreaming of for their families, nobody's going to take that away," he said.

Yet Republican governors here described circumstances that would hardly befit a dream.

Democrats and Republicans alike complained about major problems with the Medicaid eligibility data that they are receiving from federal exchanges. The 36 states in the federal exchange have noted often incomplete data with the Medicaid information they are receiving.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican who is among his party's most vulnerable incumbents in the fall election, said he's working to expand his state's Medicaid program, but the process had been cumbersome and difficult. He said it still remained unclear, from a fiscal standpoint, if the health care law would be functioning in two years.

"There are a lot more unknowns than there are knowns," Corbett said.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican, said many governors still have concerns about the program, but that outright repeal would be "complicated."

Republican campaign officials, meanwhile, plan to make the health care law the overwhelming focus of the coming midterm elections.

From coast to coast, conservatives are attacking Democrats who supported the overhaul, seizing on problems with the program's website and news that some Americans were forced to change insurers once the law took effect. The conservative group, Americans For Prosperity, has spent more than $20 million on anti-Obamacare television ads in several key states since last August.

The stakes are high for parties battling over control of the House and Senate, while there are also 36 elections for governor, most of them for governors mansions currently held by Republicans. The coming elections also offer prospective 2016 presidential candidates an opportunity to boost their political standing.

Leading GOP figures in the Senate like Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida have been vocal critics of the health care law. Cruz mounted a 21-hour Senate speech against Obama's health law and was tied to the partial government shutdown while Rubio was an early proponent of defunding the health law although he distanced himself from the shutdown.

New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, a first-term Democrat up for re-election in November, said her state would soon expand its Medicaid program to cover 50,000 uninsured residents.

"Overall, I'm very disappointed with the early implementation and rollout," she said. "But I think we are making progress."

Report: Vt. adds at least 2,162 food related jobs

HINESBURG, Vt. -- Vermont Smoke and Cure was growing so fast that the makers of sausage, bacon, ham and other smoked meats moved from Barre into a former cheese factory in Hinesburg two years ago because it had run out of space.

And the company continues to grow. CEO Christopher Bailey says it did $6.4 million in revenue last year compared to $330,000 in 2006.

The growth backs up recent statistics showing Vermont food entrepreneurs have added at least 2,162 new jobs and 199 new businesses since 2009. The numbers are from the 2013 annual report of Farm to Plate, an initiative to boost the Vermont's food and farm economy.

And officials expect the latest agriculture census figures released this week to translate into even more food-related jobs. The figures show that the number of Vermont farms has increased by 5 percent between 2007 and 2012.