Focus turns to pilots as hunt for jet widens

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysian authorities Sunday were investigating the pilots of a jetliner missing for more than a week after it was established that whoever flew off with the Boeing 777 had intimate knowledge of the cockpit and knew how to avoid detection when navigating around Asia.

Satellite data suggested the plane flew for at least 7 ½ hours — more than six hours after the last radio contact — and that it could have reached north into Central Asia or deep into the southern Indian Ocean, posing awesome challenges for efforts to recover the plane and flight data recorders vital to solving the mystery of what happened on board.

Given that the northern route would take the plane over countries with busy airspace, a southern path is seen as much more likely. The southern Indian Ocean is one of the most remote stretches of water in the world, the third deepest and has little radar coverage. The wreckage might take months — or longer — to find, or might never be located.

There appeared to be some confusion Sunday as India, one of 12 countries contributing planes and vessels to the search, said it had stopped looking while waiting for confirmation from Malaysia on where to look. Malaysia's acting transport minister tweeted he was in meetings to decide the "next course of action" after Saturday's revelations.

In the first detailed findings on what happened to the plane, Prime Minister Najib Razak said Saturday someone severed communications with the ground and deliberately diverted Flight 370 back over the Malay Peninsula after it departed Kuala Lumpur for Beijing early on March 8.

The revelations raised questions over possible lapses by Malaysian authorities, including why the air force wasn't aware that a jetliner was flying over the country. It also triggered speculation over who on the plane was involved — and what motive they might have for flying away with a plane carrying a 12-person crew and 227 passengers.

If the pilots were involved in the disappearance, where they working together or alone, or with one or more of the passengers or crew? Did they fly the plane under duress or of their own volition? Did one or more of the passengers manage to break into the cockpit, or use threat of violence to gain entry and then pilot the plane?

Malaysian authorities have not ruled out any possibility, and the answers to those questions will have to wait until the flight data recorders are recovered.

Police are investigating all those on board, especially the pilots and anyone else on the manifest with possible aviation experience. That could include past contact with each other, physiological, mental or financial issues or ties to extremist organizations.

Malaysian officials and aviation experts said that whoever disabled the plane's communication systems and then flew the jet must have had a high degree of technical knowledge and flying experience, putting the pilots at the top of the possible suspects list.

"In view of this latest development, the Malaysian authorities have refocused their investigation into the crew and passengers on board," Najib told reporters, reading from a written statement but not taking any questions.

Police on Saturday went to the Kuala Lumpur homes of both the pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27. They have released no details on their investigation so far.

Zaharie, who joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981 and had more than 18,000 hours of flying experience, was known as an avid aviation enthusiast who had set up an elaborate flight simulator at home. Earlier this week, the head of Malaysia Airlines said this was not unusual.

Fariq was contemplating marriage after having just graduated to the cockpit of a Boeing 777. He has drawn scrutiny after the revelation that he and another pilot invited two female passengers to sit in the cockpit during a flight in 2011.

The flight departed Kuala Lumpur at 12:40 a.m. heading toward Beijing. Investigators now have a high degree of certainty that one of the plane's communications systems — the Aircraft and Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) — was partially disabled before the aircraft reached the east coast of Malaysia, Najib said. Shortly afterward, someone on board switched off the aircraft's transponder, which communicates with civilian air traffic controllers.

Najib confirmed that Malaysian air force defense radar picked up traces of the plane turning back westward, crossing over Peninsular Malaysia into the northern stretches of the Strait of Malacca. Authorities previously had said this radar data could not be verified.

The air force has yet to explain why it didn't spot the plane flying over the country, and respond. The search was initially focused on the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, where the plane severed its communication links. That search has now ended.

"One that thing that does bother me greatly is the fact that unidentified aircraft could navigate back over Malaysia and out to sea without a physical or material response to that fact," said Britain-based aviation security consultant Chris Yates. "They were not watching."

Associated Press writers Ian Mader, Eileen Ng and Jim Gomez contributed to this report.

Goodyear unveils next-generation blimp, seeks name

AKRON, Ohio -- The next generation of the well-known Goodyear blimp is getting ready to take flight as the company moves toward replacing its old fleet of airships with a new trio.

The helium-filled airship, assembled at an Akron-area hangar and unveiled there Friday, is bigger, quicker and more maneuverable than earlier models, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said.

The 246-foot airship fits 12 passengers and has a semi-rigid internal skeleton, a feature that wasn't present in earlier models and raises questions about whether it is truly a blimp, though the company still refers to it as such. The structure is covered by a silver, balloon-like body emblazoned with Goodyear's yellow logo on a blue background.

It can travel at up to 73 mph and has custom computer-controlled avionics, an upgrade from the manual flight system used by the blimp pilots since the 1920s, the company said. It plans to build two more.

A spokesman wouldn't specify the cost of the new airship, which is expected to provide a longer flight range and better aerial broadcast capabilities for event coverage.

"The completion of the new blimp marks the beginning of a new era for our airship program and reflects Goodyear's commitment to remaining at the forefront of aerial broadcast coverage and support," Paul Fitzhenry, Goodyear's senior vice president for global communications, said in a statement.

The airship is scheduled to start test flights this month and go into service this summer.

It still needs one component: a name. Ohio-based Goodyear is collecting suggestions through a contest on its website until April 4. Whoever submits the chosen name will get to use the blimp for a day, the company said.

Thousands of suggestions were submitted in 2006 when the company named its Spirit of Innovation blimp, which now operates from Pompano Beach, Fla.

That is where the old Ohio blimp, Spirit of Goodyear, retired. It is being decommissioned this year.

Metal theft bill hung up despite leaders' push

LANSING, Mich. -- Five years after Michigan targeted copper thefts plaguing cities like Detroit and disrupting railroads and utilities, plans to better restrict sales of stolen scrap metal are caught in a legislative fight despite agreement among political leaders and law enforcement that action is needed.

The legislation would tighten rules in what can be a lucrative scrap metal market, giving police and prosecutors more tools to bolster cases against thieves.

Scrapyards would have to take photos or video of metal they buy. Sellers could only be paid by check or money order, or they could redeem their money at an onsite ATM that takes photos of them getting the cash.

Knowingly selling or buying street light poles, guardrails, traffic signs, cemetery plaques and railroad equipment generally would be off limits, too.

But it's one provision — to make people wait three days for payment for copper wire, air conditioners and catalytic converters — that's angering scrap buyers and dividing lawmakers.

The House last year voted 98-9 for a bill with the three-day waiting period. The Senate approved the measure 38-0 but said delayed payment would be unnecessary if the scrap/recycling industry instead created a real-time database of each purchase of pertinent items.

With neither side budging in the new year, one potential compromise being floated would nix the three-day waiting period if payments are mailed.

"It's great for our law enforcement to have an address. No criminal wants to sign the back of a check and go cash it. That's gold for our prosecutors to go in front of a judge with a signed check," said Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, who twice has had catalytic converters stolen from her own vehicle.

Tlaib said she opposes talk of setting a $75 threshold, though, under which sellers could still get money on the spot and not have to wait for the mail.

"A criminal's going to go somewhere, make sure the load is less than $75 and go to the next scrapyard that's less than a mile away and do the same thing. It's not a fix," she said.

In Michigan, especially Detroit, thieves are targeting abandoned dwellings, construction sites and even occupied premises to strip copper wiring, plumbing, window air conditioners and the like.

The state had the ninth-highest number of insurance claims for metal theft in the U.S. in recent years, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Metropolitan Detroit ranked fifth-worst among urban areas.

Current laws subject people who knowingly buy or sell stolen scrap metal to felony penalties. Despite legal requirements that dealers maintain records and sellers show a driver's license, law enforcement says successfully prosecuting cases remains difficult.

In arguing against the three-day waiting period, industry officials say it would punish law-abiding customers and burden honest businesses with mailing and administrative costs. They say police already have tools at their disposal to investigate metal theft such as sellers' names, copies of their IDs, thumbprints and license plates.

"You're taking all these honest, normal people and telling them I can't pay you for three days," said Jonathan Raven, a lobbyist for Lansing-based Friedland Industries Inc.

The law up for revision already includes a requirement that buyers hold onto certain items for seven days, which he said should give police departments enough time to follow leads.

"Since the law passed in 2008, it's been almost impossible to get law enforcement to come out and look at anything," Raven said.

While Gov. Rick Snyder's administration and others have spent more than 2½ years working on the legislation, it's been in the spotlight of late because both the governor and new Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan called for action in their recent annual addresses to residents.

Duggan wants the House, where the bill is pending, to "hang firm" and said recently it's not so much the three-day waiting period that's most important, but mailing payments.

"To be able to have a clear paper trail to the seller is really the most critical piece," he said.

Though the legislation is attracting attention in Detroit, it's sponsored by a Republican from the Thumb region who heard of a man stealing cable from local wind turbines.

Rep. Paul Muxlow of Brown City said he understands scrap dealers don't want more government mandates.

"There's some very good scrap operators, but all of them aren't. We think there are some quite complicit in this whole deal," he said.

House leaders are hopeful a compromise is within reach this month while noting concerns over ironing out how to regulate smaller $5 and $10 transactions.

Sen. Virgil Smith, D-Detroit, who's pushing a related bill to ease prosecutors' evidentiary path in scrap metal cases, said the debate over payments has "taken over" when the focus also should be on funding.

"We thought it was going to work in 2008 and it didn't work," he said. "A law's only as good as its enforcement. We've got to put real money behind law enforcement."

---

Online:

House Bill 4593: http://1.usa.gov/1f6d65n

Navy's Blue Angels return to skies over California

EL CENTRO, Calif. -- The Blue Angels headed back into the wild blue yonder a year after budget cuts grounded the Navy's famous daredevil fliers.

The aerobatics team performed its first 2014 show on Saturday at the Naval Air Facility in El Centro, about 100 miles east of San Diego.

The Blue Angels normally do about three dozen shows annually but got into the air only twice last year.

That was a disappointment not only to aviation fans, but to small communities in outlying areas that count on the tourist dollars they attract.

The Angels' commanding officer, Thomas Frosch, tells the Imperial Valley Press (http://bit.ly/1m7WX5r ) his team spent much of its downtime practicing for this year's full slate of shows.

They'll be at the Los Angeles County Air Show next week.

Brazil's WCup: Anger over waste, poor planning

CUIABA, Brazil -- Pedestrians tiptoe across a road scarred with deep puddles, piles of gravel and a detour sign. Black oily slush leaves no room for missteps or steering mistakes.

The debris in this small city in western Brazil is part of the grand-scale mess of unfulfilled promises. Unfinished infrastructure projects were supposed to create a new metropolis, with modern roads and a light-rail system to whiz passengers to the city center from a gleaming 21st century airport in time for this year's World Cup. From the look of things, they won't be done in Cuiaba — or in the country's other 11 host cities, where many construction plans are hopelessly behind schedule, or have been canceled.

"This work here that's right by the stadium, I think they'll get it finished," said Atilio Martinelli, who runs a locksmith business near the building site. "It'll be done poorly and at the last minute, but they'll at least finish it. But there is no way they'll finish most of the other projects. It's going to be a great humiliation for us."

There was a time when South America's biggest country seemed like the perfect place for soccer's showcase event. It is the game's lone superpower and the home of Pele, its most famous brand. Instead, the country is a logistical mess and bracing for potentially violent anti-government protests like the ones that surrounded a World Cup warm-up tournament last year.

After Brazil was awarded the cup in 2007, politicians promised $8 billion would be spent on 56 airports, subway lines and other projects nationwide, in addition to $3.5 billion for construction or renovation of 12 stadiums for the tournament. Nine of the stadiums are finished, but just seven of the infrastructure projects have been completed with the competition three months away.

— In Belo Horizonte, a planned subway system was scrapped and replaced with bus lines. A new international air terminal was also cancelled.

— In Salvador, another promised subway system was turned over to a private company and work is now scheduled to start after the tournament.

— A new runway was proposed for the World Cup at Rio de Janeiro's main airport. It is unclear now if it will even be built in time for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

— A monorail system officials promised would revolutionize transportation in the Amazon jungle city of Manaus was hastily nixed late last year after government regulators found it wasn't a viable project.

Bemoaning the infrastructure problems became as much a national pastime as soccer.

"They started late and have boxed themselves in. Now they have to redouble efforts to finish stadiums, so much of the good stuff gets left behind," said Victor Matheson, a sports economist at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., in an interview with The Associated Press. What was important gets pushed off, and what's urgent gets done," Matheson added.

The World Cup was to have served as a stepping-out party announcing Brazil's arrival on the global stage.

"The world is going to see a modern and innovative nation," former Sports Minister Orlando Silva wrote in a 2011 editorial in the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper, just months before he was forced from office amid accusations he took kickbacks. "We're working to organize the best Cup in history ... The country can count on it."

Instead the construction delays have become an embarrassment for many, stoking public anger over poor public services, the high cost of living and corruption scandals. Many Brazilians now say that even if their beloved soccer team wins the World Cup on July 13, the country will have already lost.

Professor Paulo Resende of Fundacao Dom Cabral, a well-known Latin American business school, said Brazil is far removed from its "euphoria phase" when it was picked as host seven years ago.

"Now we face the last stage, which is to deliver the minimum necessary to have a nice event," Resende said. "The big dream of urban mobility and airport legacy for the future of Brazil is now reduced to the basics — to maintain the country's image."

Brazil isn't alone among nations whose preparations for the Cup came under fire.

South Africa, the last host, had serious security problems and delivered many works related to the tournament at the last moment. But Brazil is in worse shape, with FIFA President Sepp Blatter saying earlier this year that the country was further behind than any host he had dealt with during his four decades at the world governing body, despite having more time to prepare.

---

The crown jewel in Cuiaba, the capital of Mato Grosso state, was supposed to be a $670 million, 13-mile light-rail system to link the airport to downtown.

Construction for the project is lacerating the city of 600,000, but residents say little is getting done.

Red-mud trenches have been gouged where rails are supposed to go, and several concrete overpasses litter the city, loose links that now only block traffic. A maximum of a half-mile of track has been put down.

Mauricio Guimaraes, who heads the World Cup projects for the Mato Grosso state government, told The Associated Press recently that the rail system was never meant to be linked to the World Cup, though it was the first in Brazil to take advantage of a special financing program set up specifically for the tournament and the Olympics. He guaranteed that the system would be "100-percent finished" by the end of 2014. "Tracks will be going down quickly," he added.

Many doubt those assurances, and fear that momentum will fade altogether once the World Cup is over.

"They (state officials) lied when they promised to finish the light-rail system before the World Cup, even though any serious engineer could see there wasn't enough time," said Bruno Boaventura, a lawyer who heads an anti-corruption organization called Moral. "They lied about the real cost of the system, which has increased and I think will get even worse. Now, they've started to lie about getting 100 percent of the lines done by December."

Others wonder why the mega-project was started in the first place in this rural outpost 150 miles from the Bolivian border. Cuiaba is the capital of Mato Grosso state, famous as the home to 29 million head of cattle — 10 times the human population.

"It always seemed obvious to me that the schedule could not be met as promised," state prosecutor Clovis Almeida Junior said. "And the main reason is the lack of planning, in all aspects. The result is today's situation, which many say qualifies as a mess. But I think we could use stronger words to describe it."

Another bleeding wound is known locally as "The Big Ditch," a project to reroute one of Cuiaba's three main traffic arteries. The half-mile trench passes within a few hundred meters (yards) of the new stadium, and will hinder traffic getting to the stadium — not help it. Small business owners in the area say they were told two years ago when work began that it would be done in a few months. They say they have lost money since then, and now can't get a straight answer as to when the work will be finished.

An airport expansion set to greet fans was plagued by a late start and red-tape, and residents fear it too will not be ready for the throngs who will soon descend for matches, including a June 13 matchup between Chile and Australia.

Single-lane detours stretch for several miles to reach the tiny terminal. Passengers exit into a cloud of dust stirred up by backhoes. Taxis wheel through a bumpy maze of plastic traffic cones, intended to save pedestrians. A giant galvanized metal shed encloses part of the new terminal, mostly girders and beams.

"I am embarrassed to take you here," a cab driver said, calling himself Joao. "Mess, mess, mess. What else can I say?"

---

Matheson, the sports economist, put some of the blame on FIFA and the International Olympic Committee for the skewed priorities, soaring costs and missed opportunities associated with Brazil's preparations.

Brazil is officially spending just over $11 billion on the World Cup, though some think the number is much higher. An additional $15 billion is being spent on the Olympics, to be held in Rio in 2016.

FIFA, soccer's world governing body, is chipping in $1 billion of its own money for the World Cup, which generates more than 90 percent of FIFA's $5 billion income over a four-year cycle.

"The IOC and FIFA want the newest, fanciest, most spectacular facilities for every event," Matheson said. "All the risks are put on the host country or city, but all the revenues are going to the IOC or FIFA."

Eighty percent of the $3.5 billion earmarked for the 12 stadiums is public money, although former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva promised years ago no public money would be used.

At least four of the venues are likely to be "white elephants" in cities without top-division soccer clubs. Cuiaba is a case in point. The city has two teams, each of which draws about 500 fans per match at the dirty-orange Presidente Eurico Gaspar Dutra stadium. The new stadium will seat 42,000 for the World Cup, and 45,000 afterward when FIFA media seats and sponsors areas are removed.

Brazil's former national team coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has been scathing, calling World Cup preparations "a joke."

"We missed an opportunity to show the world what we can do in this country," said Parreira, who led Brazil to the World Cup title in 1994 and is an assistant this year to coach Felipe Scolari. "We know the World Cup is about stadiums, but it's not only about stadiums. Fans can't live in a stadium."

---

In Cuiaba's sweltering heat, 46-year-old maid Evone Pereira Barbosa stands outside a drab-green concrete health clinic called the Policlinica do Verdao, just a few hundred meters (yards) from the new stadium. Thirty people are in a waiting room inside but, with no more seats, she leans against a wall outside.

The downtrodden clinic is typical of many in Brazil, where a woeful public health system is hobbled with crumbling infrastructure and a chronic shortage of doctors, especially in poorer areas. This is part of the reason the government spending billions on the World Cup fuels protesters' rage. At rallies, demonstrators routinely demand "FIFA standard" hospitals, a reference to the high-quality new stadiums. At rallies, demonstrators routinely demand "FIFA standard" hospitals, a reference to the high-quality new stadiums.

Barbosa guesses that half the people in Cuiaba are against Brazil hosting the World Cup — and a new poll backs that sentiment. The respected Datafolha polling group said in February that 52 percent of respondents across Brazil favor holding the event. That's down from 79 percent in 2008. When Brazil was awarded the Cup, few could have imagined such rejection coming from the spiritual home of the world's most popular sport.

Since the protests last June, officials like Guimaraes have worked hard to distance most spending on infrastructure from the World Cup. He argues that if Cuiaba had not spent the money on building a rail line or a new stadium, the funds "would not have gone to health and security." It's cash that comes from different budgets, he said.

But the fine points of budgetary policies are hollow arguments for most in Brazil, where a centuries-old gap between a small elite and poor majority persists. There is widespread, palatable anger toward the government and business leaders over the perception they misspent billions on stadiums that won't benefit people after soccer's big event, or public works projects that may never be finished.

"Ordinary people have been forgotten," Barbosa said. "They invested a lot in the World Cup and forgot the people."

Brazil's WCup: Anger over waste, poor planning

CUIABA, Brazil -- Pedestrians tiptoe across a road scarred with deep puddles, piles of gravel and a detour sign. Black oily slush leaves no room for missteps or steering mistakes.

The debris in this small city in western Brazil is part of the grand-scale mess of unfulfilled promises. Unfinished infrastructure projects were supposed to create a new metropolis, with modern roads and a light-rail system to whiz passengers to the city center from a gleaming 21st century airport in time for this summer's World Cup. From the look of things, they won't be done in Cuiaba — or in the country's other 11 host cities, where many construction plans are hopelessly behind schedule, or have been canceled.

"This work here that's right by the stadium, I think they'll get it finished," said Atilio Martinelli, who runs a locksmith business near the building site. "It'll be done poorly and at the last minute, but they'll at least finish it. But there is no way they'll finish most of the other projects. It's going to be a great humiliation for us."

There was a time when South America's biggest country seemed like the perfect place for football's showcase event. It is the game's lone superpower and the home of Pele, its most famous brand. Instead, the country is a logistical mess and bracing for potentially violent anti-government protests like the ones that surrounded a World Cup warm-up tournament last year.

After Brazil was awarded the cup in 2007, politicians promised $8 billion would be spent on 56 airports, subway lines and other projects nationwide, in addition to $3.5 billion for construction or renovation of 12 stadiums for the tournament. Nine of the stadiums are finished, but just seven of the infrastructure projects have been completed with the competition three months away.

— In Belo Horizonte, a planned subway system was scrapped and replaced with bus lines. A new international air terminal was also cancelled.

— In Salvador, another promised subway system was turned over to a private company and work is now scheduled to start after the tournament.

— A new runway was proposed for the World Cup at Rio de Janeiro's main airport. It is unclear now if it will even be built in time for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

— A monorail system officials promised would revolutionize transportation in the Amazon jungle city of Manaus was hastily nixed late last year after government regulators found it wasn't a viable project.

Bemoaning the infrastructure problems became as much a national pastime as soccer.

"They started late and have boxed themselves in. Now they have to redouble efforts to finish stadiums, so much of the good stuff gets left behind," said Victor Matheson, a sports economist at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, in an interview with The Associated Press. What was important gets pushed off, and what's urgent gets done," Matheson added.

The World Cup was to have served as a stepping-out party announcing Brazil's arrival on the global stage.

"The world is going to see a modern and innovative nation," former Sports Minister Orlando Silva wrote in a 2011 editorial in the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper, just months before he was forced from office amid accusations he took kickbacks. "We're working to organize the best Cup in history ... The country can count on it."

Instead the construction delays have become an embarrassment for many, stoking public anger over poor public services, the high cost of living and corruption scandals. Many Brazilians now say that even if their beloved soccer team wins the World Cup on July 13, the country will have already lost.

Professor Paulo Resende of Fundacao Dom Cabral, a well-known Latin American business school, said Brazil is far removed from its "euphoria phase" when it was picked as host seven years ago.

"Now we face the last stage, which is to deliver the minimum necessary to have a nice event," Resende said. "The big dream of urban mobility and airport legacy for the future of Brazil is now reduced to the basics — to maintain the country's image."

Brazil isn't alone among nations whose preparations for the Cup came under fire.

South Africa, the last host, had serious security problems and delivered many works related to the tournament at the last moment. But Brazil is in worse shape, with FIFA President Sepp Blatter saying earlier this year that the country was further behind than any host he had dealt with during his four decades at the world governing body, despite having more time to prepare.

---

The crown jewel in Cuiaba, the capital of Mato Grosso state, was supposed to be a $670 million, 22-kilometer (13-mile) light-rail system to link the airport to downtown.

Construction for the project is lacerating the city of 600,000, but residents say little is getting done.

Red-mud trenches have been gouged where rails are supposed to go, and several concrete overpasses litter the city, loose links that now only block traffic. A maximum of one-kilometer (half a mile) of track has been put down.

Mauricio Guimaraes, who heads the World Cup projects for the Mato Grosso state government, told The Associated Press recently that the rail system was never meant to be linked to the World Cup, though it was the first in Brazil to take advantage of a special financing program set up specifically for the tournament and the Olympics. He guaranteed that the system would be "100-percent finished" by the end of 2014. "Tracks will be going down quickly," he added.

Many doubt those assurances, and fear that momentum will fade altogether once the World Cup is over.

"They (state officials) lied when they promised to finish the light-rail system before the World Cup, even though any serious engineer could see there wasn't enough time," said Bruno Boaventura, a lawyer who heads an anti-corruption organization called Moral. "They lied about the real cost of the system, which has increased and I think will get even worse. Now, they've started to lie about getting 100 percent of the lines done by December."

Others wonder why the mega-project was started in the first place in this rural outpost 250 kilometers (150 miles) from the Bolivian border. Cuiaba is the capital of Mato Grosso state, famous as the home to 29 million head of cattle — 10 times the human population.

"It always seemed obvious to me that the schedule could not be met as promised," state prosecutor Clovis Almeida Junior said. "And the main reason is the lack of planning, in all aspects. The result is today's situation, which many say qualifies as a mess. But I think we could use stronger words to describe it."

Another bleeding wound is known locally as "The Big Ditch," a project to reroute one of Cuiaba's three main traffic arteries. The 1-kilometer (half-mile) trench passes within a few hundred meters (yards) of the new stadium, and will hinder traffic getting to the stadium — not help it. Small business owners in the area say they were told two years ago when work began that it would be done in a few months. They say they have lost money since then, and now can't get a straight answer as to when the work will be finished.

An airport expansion set to greet fans was plagued by a late start and red-tape, and residents fear it too will not be ready for the throngs who will soon descend for matches, including a June 13 matchup between Chile and Australia.

Single-lane detours stretch for several kilometers (miles) to reach the tiny terminal. Passengers exit into a cloud of dust stirred up by backhoes. Taxis wheel through a bumpy maze of plastic traffic cones, intended to save pedestrians. A giant galvanized metal shed encloses part of the new terminal, mostly girders and beams.

"I am embarrassed to take you here," a cab driver said, calling himself Joao. "Mess, mess, mess. What else can I say?"

---

Matheson, the sports economist, put some of the blame on FIFA and the International Olympic Committee for the skewed priorities, soaring costs and missed opportunities associated with Brazil's preparations.

Brazil is officially spending just over $11 billion on the World Cup, though some think the number is much higher. An additional $15 billion is being spent on the Olympics, to be held in Rio in 2016.

FIFA, football's world governing body, is chipping in $1 billion of its own money for the World Cup, which generates more than 90 percent of FIFA's $5 billion income over a four-year cycle.

"The IOC and FIFA want the newest, fanciest, most spectacular facilities for every event," Matheson said. "All the risks are put on the host country or city, but all the revenues are going to the IOC or FIFA."

Eighty percent of the $3.5 billion earmarked for the 12 stadiums is public money, although former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva promised years ago no public money would be used.

At least four of the venues are likely to be "white elephants" in cities without top-division football clubs. Cuiaba is a case in point. The city has two teams, each of which draws about 500 fans per match at the dirty-orange Presidente Eurico Gaspar Dutra stadium. The new stadium will seat 42,000 for the World Cup, and 45,000 afterward when FIFA media seats and sponsors areas are removed.

Brazil's former national team coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has been scathing, calling World Cup preparations "a joke."

"We missed an opportunity to show the world what we can do in this country," said Parreira, who led Brazil to the World Cup title in 1994 and is an assistant this year to coach Felipe Scolari. "We know the World Cup is about stadiums, but it's not only about stadiums. Fans can't live in a stadium."

---

In Cuiaba's sweltering heat, 46-year-old maid Evone Pereira Barbosa stands outside a drab-green concrete health clinic called the Policlinica do Verdao, just a few hundred meters (yards) from the new stadium. Thirty people are in a waiting room inside but, with no more seats, she leans against a wall outside.

The downtrodden clinic is typical of many in Brazil, where a woeful public health system is hobbled with crumbling infrastructure and a chronic shortage of doctors, especially in poorer areas. This is part of the reason the government spending billions on the World Cup fuels protesters' rage. At rallies, demonstrators routinely demand "FIFA standard" hospitals, a reference to the high-quality new stadiums. At rallies, demonstrators routinely demand "FIFA standard" hospitals, a reference to the high-quality new stadiums.

Barbosa guesses that half the people in Cuiaba are against Brazil hosting the World Cup — and a new poll backs that sentiment. The respected Datafolha polling group said in February that 52 percent of respondents across Brazil favor holding the event. That's down from 79 percent in 2008. When Brazil was awarded the Cup, few could have imagined such rejection coming from the spiritual home of the world's most popular sport.

Since the protests last June, officials like Guimaraes have worked hard to distance most spending on infrastructure from the World Cup. He argues that if Cuiaba had not spent the money on building a rail line or a new stadium, the funds "would not have gone to health and security." It's cash that comes from different budgets, he said.

But the fine points of budgetary policies are hollow arguments for most in Brazil, where a centuries-old gap between a small elite and poor majority persists. There is widespread, palatable anger toward the government and business leaders over the perception they misspent billions on stadiums that won't benefit people after football's big event, or public works projects that may never be finished.

"Ordinary people have been forgotten," Barbosa said. "They invested a lot in the World Cup and forgot the people."

Fiat recalling more than 18,000 2014 Fiat 500Ls

DETROIT -- Chrysler Group is recalling 18,092 Fiat 500L cars in the U.S. because the transmission shifter can be delayed or stop working.

Fiat 500Ls from the 2014 model year are affected. The cars were made between April 5, 2013, and Jan. 22, 2014, at the company's plant in Serbia.

According to documents posted Saturday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, cold temperatures can affect signals sent between the car's main computer and the gear shifter. If that happens, the shifter may not shift out of park or the response may be delayed, increasing the risk of a crash.

Chrysler says no accidents or injuries related to the defect have been reported.

Fiat dealers will replace the shifter module and update the software starting next month. The company will notify owners.

Welcome to Las Vegas sign goes green for Irish day

LAS VEGAS -- Las Vegas is joining with Irish friends and turning the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign green this weekend in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and local officials announced the color-change commemoration Friday, in partnership with Tourism Ireland and Irish celebrity Sybil Mulcahy.

Officials say the sign will stay green until Tuesday.

Parasitic worms found in exotic eel species

MIAMI -- Federal scientists are warning consumers about parasitic worms found in an invasive eel species that's made a home in Florida.

Officials with the U.S. Geological Survey say the worms were found in Asian swamp eels collected between 2010 and 2012. The eels were collected from Florida waters and in ethnic food markets in Orlando, Atlanta and New York City.

The parasites could be transmitted to people who eat raw or undercooked eels. Severe cases of the infection can lead to blindness, paralysis or death.

Swamp eels transported live from Southeast Asia are sold in ethnic food markets nationwide. They also have made their way into waters in Florida, Georgia and New Jersey. The eels have few known predators in the U.S. They also can breathe air and move across land.

Oil spills into Missouri River in North Dakota

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- As many as 33 barrels of oil have been contained after spilling from a well into floodwaters near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers in northwest North Dakota, the state's Department of Health said Saturday.

Ice jams in the rivers resulting from warmer weather have caused the waters to rise and flood at least 16 wells southwest of Williston, but only one spilled Friday, said Kris Roberts, the head of the health department's environmental response team.

"A tank didn't have a sufficient amount of fluid in it to keep it anchored, and it started flooding a bit," Roberts said. "It had about 33 barrels of oil in the tank, and the valve at the bottom of the tank broke."

Roberts said the wells are surrounded by dikes but said one had a breach, allowing the oil to get into the floodwaters. It is unknown exactly how many of the 33 barrels actually spilled.

The well is operated by Colorado-based Zavanna, LLC. The company did not immediately return calls seeking comment. An employee who wouldn't identify himself on Saturday said a company representative would address questions Monday.

The department is monitoring approximately 30 wells that are at risk in that area. Roberts said state officials this week had warned well operators about potential flooding. He said most operators temporarily sealed their wells and moved some of their equipment after the warning, but others didn't take precautions.

"There're a lot of oil companies operating up here that just don't understand the state," Roberts said. "They don't understand how fast floodwaters can rise when you get an ice dam like this. That's what caught some of them."

Zavanna workers used containment booms to trap the oil, according to Roberts. He also said the company owns three other wells that were under water Saturday.

About 17 miles of the Yellowstone River flows through North Dakota before it joins the Missouri River.

The big chunks of ice have created a dam in the Missouri River and caused the waters to accumulate near Williston, said Adam Jones, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck. The river on Saturday was at 26 feet, which is considered to be a moderate flood stage. The Yellowstone River, which at the beginning of the month was at around 5 feet, hit 15 feet on Wednesday.

Jones said the ice jams are expected to start breaking in the next couple of days.

The Red Cross over the weekend deployed a team to assist four families who lost their homes to the Yellowstone River. A spokesman on Saturday said the team helped the East Fairview families arrange temporary housing and provided them food and clothes.

Judge won't broaden Katrina whistleblower case

GULFPORT, Miss. -- A federal judge has awarded legal fees and damages against State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. in a whistleblower lawsuit that resulted in a jury's finding that the insurer defrauded the government involving a policyholder claim after Hurricane Katrina.

However, the judge refused to allow sisters Cori and Kerri Rigsby of Ocean Springs, Miss., to initiate investigations into claims on other properties insured by State Farm.

The Sun Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1fz1eGG ) the judge ruled the whistleblower law limits a lawsuit to a claim for which the Rigsbys were able to offer independent, personal knowledge.

The Rigsbys worked for a contractor to assess damage after the hurricane.

A jury found State Farm avoided paying a policyholder's wind losses by blaming damage on storm surge, which is covered by federal flood insurance.

Bollinger to build 2 more Coast Guard cutters

LOCKPORT, La. -- Bollinger Shipyards will build two more Fast Response Cutters for the U.S. Coast Guard, for a combined price of $80 million.

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., made the announcement in a news release Friday.

In 2008, Bollinger was awarded a contract to build up to 34 FRCs through fiscal year 2014. Thirty of those cutters have been funded.

Bollinger Shipyard employs 850 workers in its Lockport Yard, where the 154-foot vessels are built.

Congress will still have to appropriate the funds for the two cutters.

Bollinger is one of three finalists for a $10.5 billion contract for design and construction of 25 larger Offshore Patrol Cutters. The Coast Guard plans to announce in 2016 which of the three companies will build the OPCs.

Landmark sign will get a remake in Baton Rouge

BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Baton Rouge Coca-Cola Bottling Co. plans to restore the neon Coca-Cola sign that's been in place at Third and Florida streets since 1946.

Downtown Development District executive director Davis Rhorer told The Advocate (http://bit.ly/1idBgOg) the work will include replacing all neon and electronic components on the sign.

The soft drink company's sign was repaired in the mid-1980s, but over the years its red neon dimmed.

In 2002 the sign was restored with the help of the DDD, the Downtown Business Association, the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, power provider Entergy and Baton Rouge Coca-Cola.

The sign is now owned by the Arts Council; Entergy pays for the cost of lighting it.

Restoration work is underway and is expected to take six to eight weeks.

Baton Rouge Coca-Cola is paying the entire cost of the restoration, which company vice president John Miller said should be about $20,000.

"It's such a signature part of downtown," he said. "We want to have it up there in great working order, especially with so many things going on downtown."

Weekly Address: Rewarding Hard Work by Strengthening Overtime Pay Protections

In this week’s address, President Obama highlighted the action he took this week to reward hard work by strengthening overtime pay protections. As part of this year of action, the President has ordered the Secretary of Labor to modernize our country’s overtime rules to ensure that millions of American workers are paid a fair wage for a hard day’s work.

While our economy is moving forward, the middle class and those fighting to get into it are still struggling and too many Americans are working harder than ever just to keep up, let alone get ahead. So, in consultation with workers and business, the Obama administration will update and simplify the rules to reward hard work and responsibility.

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