SHREVEPORT, La. -- The board of Home Federal Bancorp Inc. has declared a quarterly dividend of 6 cents per share on the company's common stock.
The dividend is payable May 5 to shareholders of record on April 21.
Shreveport-based Home Federal Bancorp is the parent of Home Federal Bank, which operates in northwest Louisiana.
BERLIN -- After racing against the clock in an all-night session, the U.N.'s expert panel on climate change was putting the final touches Saturday on a scientific guide to help governments, industries and regular people take action to stop global warming from reaching dangerous levels.
As always when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change adopts one of its high-profile reports, the weeklong talks in Berlin were slowed by wrangling between scientists and governments over which words, charts and tables to use in the roughly 30-page summary of a much bigger scientific report.
The painstaking process is meant to clarify the complex world of climate science to non-scientists but it also reflects the brinksmanship that characterizes international talks on climate action — so far unsuccessful in their goal to stop the rise of man-made carbon emissions blamed for global warming.
"Sometimes it's framed as if what the IPCC does is 'just the facts, ma'am,' and that of course is not accurate," said Steve Rayner, an Oxford scientist who has taken part in three of the IPCC's previous assessments, but not this one.
"It's not pure science and it's not just politics," but a blend of both, Rayner said.
In Berlin, the politics showed through in a dispute over how to categorize countries in graphs showing the world's carbon emissions, which are currently growing the fastest in China and other developing countries. Like many scientific studies, the IPCC draft used a breakdown of emissions from low, lower-middle, upper-middle and high income countries.
Some developing countries objected and wanted the graphs to follow the example of U.N. climate talks and use just two categories — developed and developing — according to three participants who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the IPCC session was closed to the public.
In earlier submitted comments obtained by AP, the U.S. suggested footnotes indicating where readers could "view specific countries listed in each category in addition to the income brackets."
That reflects a nagging dispute in the U.N. talks, which are supposed to produce a global climate agreement next year. The U.S. and other industrialized nations want to scrap the binary rich-poor division, saying large emerging economies such as China, Brazil and India must adopt more stringent emissions cuts than poorer countries. The developing countries are worried it's a way for rich countries to shirk their own responsibilities to cut emissions.
The deadlock over the graphs appeared to have ended early Saturday after 20 hours of backroom negotiations led by IPCC vice chairman Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, a Belgian.
"I offered some Belgian Easter chocolate eggs to the participants of the Contact group at midnight: they helped!" van Ypersele wrote on Twitter early Saturday.
Another snag: oil-rich Saudi Arabia objected to text saying emissions need to go down by 40 percent to 70 percent by 2050 for the world to stay below 2 degrees C (3.6 F) of warming, participants told AP. One participant said the Saudis were concerned that putting down such a range was "policy-prescriptive," even though it reflects what the science says.
The final document, to be released Sunday, is expected to say that a global shift to renewable energy from fossil fuels like oil and coal are required to avoid potentially devastating sea level rise, flooding, droughts and other impacts of warming.
The report on mitigating climate change was the third of the IPCC's four-part assessment on climate change, its first since 2007.
Swedish environmental economist Thomas Sterner, a lead author of one of the chapters in the report, said the IPCC process can be frustrating to scientists.
"There's a fight over every comma sign," he told AP.
In a blog post from Berlin he said scientists addressing the meeting were told to "Keep our statements short and concise, avoid jargon, do not lecture the delegates, do not become emotional."
Chris Field, who co-chaired another IPCC session in Japan last month and sits on the panel's executive committee but did not have a direct role in the Berlin session, said one way to think about the process is that scientists have control of a two-way valve and can move findings into or out of the summary for policy-makers. The governments have a one-way valve and can only move things out of the document.
"The role of this one-way valve is important in thinking about why the findings of the IPCC always feel so measured and carefully couched," he said.
Many of the government interventions are "incredibly helpful" in making the text clearer, he added. "It is a pretty amazing process. But some of the interventions are not quite as time efficient."
BEIJING -- An oil pipe leak caused excessive levels of the toxic chemical benzene in a major Chinese city's water supply, prompting warnings against drinking from the tap and sending residents to queue up to buy bottled water.
The scare, which has affected more than 2.4 million people in the northwestern city of Lanzhou, has once again raised concerns over safety of China's oil pipes.
Last year, a ruptured oil pipeline resulted in explosions in the eastern city of Qingdao, killing 62 people.
In Lanzhou, a crude oil pipeline run by the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. had a leak that tainted the source water feeding a local water plant, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Phone calls to the oil company's local and national offices rang unanswered on Saturday.
The city of Lanzhou said it has been monitoring levels of benzene in water pipes to ensure public safety, while local residents have been lining up to stock up on bottled water.
HAVANA -- A French foreign minister visited Cuba for the first time in more than 30 years Saturday, traveling to the communist-run nation at a time when it is seeking to attract more foreign investment and improve ties with the European Union.
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he met with President Raul Castro for an hour and half, during which the two men "talked about everything, including human rights."
Earlier Fabius met with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez to start the trip, which French officials have said is partly to promote business ties and support French companies that want to do business in Cuba.
"We want to strengthen our ties with South America and particularly with Cuba," Fabius told reporters. "Europe also wants to (strengthen ties) and from that we are going to be able to talk about economic, cultural, political and international issues."
The European Union suspended cooperation with Cuba in 2003 when the island's government jailed 75 dissidents. Dialogue was restored five years later, though it was conditioned on improvements in the human rights situation. In February, the EU's foreign ministers approved talks to negotiate a broad new political agreement with Cuba.
Fabius noted that his visit marked the first time in more than three decades that the chief of French diplomacy had visited the island.
He arrived in Havana from Mexico, where he took part in an official visit by President Francois Hollande.
Cuban lawmakers recently approved a law aimed at making the country more attractive to foreign investors, a measure seen as vital for the island's struggling economy.
There are currently about 60 French companies present in Cuba.
Fabius also noted that Cuba has a debt with European Union countries and said that talks with Havana on the issue would begin in the coming months.
HARTFORD, Conn. -- President Barack Obama has appointed a senior biologist at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection as commissioner of the Council of North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization.
Stephen Gephard has worked as the supervising biologist at the DEEP since 1995. He joins two other commissioners whose appointments were announced Thursday.
The North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization is an international organization established by an intergovernmental convention in 1984 that seeks to restore and manage Atlantic salmon populations. The Gulf of Maine's population of the fish is protected by the Endangered Species Act.
U.S. Rep. Joseph Courtney on Saturday said Gephard will be a strong voice for conservation nationally, and his "broad experience and deep knowledge of biology, conservation, and government's role in protecting our resources will make him an excellent commissioner.
LAS VEGAS -- Some 2,000 union members picketed in downtown Las Vegas on Saturday to draw attention to ongoing contract talks.
Culinary Workers' Union Local 226 spokeswoman Bethany Khan says multiple lines of picketers walked back and forth at entrances to 10 downtown properties.
She says the union is committed to keeping "good, middle-class" jobs in Nevada.
The union represents housekeepers, bartenders, and cocktail and food servers.
Contracts expired last June, and union members voted in February to end a contract extension.
Members voted March 27 to authorize a strike if no agreement is reached.
Culinary and bartender unions have new five-year deals with most large Las Vegas casino operators.
Talks continue with Binion's, the El Cortez, Four Queens, Fremont, Golden Gate, Golden Nugget, Las Vegas Club, Las Vegas Plaza, Main Street Station and The D.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- U.S. Rep. David Cicilline is preparing to meet Rhode Island residents and business owners to discuss how a Republican budget plan endorsed by Congress would affect the state economy and families.
Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan authored the mostly symbolic measure that passed Thursday. It promises a balanced federal ledger in 10 years through sweeping cuts in social spending, including major changes to the health care law.
Cicilline plans to tour a Rhode Island manufacturing business in Smithfield on Monday to discuss how the plan would hit the state economy and manufacturers.
The Democrat will be in Providence on Tuesday and talk about the middle-class tax increase in the GOP budget, and meet with older residents the next day and discuss the plan's effects on Medicare and affordable health care.
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Dance With Fate gave trainer Peter Eurton and the colt's owners a nice dilemma Saturday in the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes, charging past Pablo Del Monte for the victory and a spot in the Kentucky Derby field — if the brain trust wants it.
The decision isn't that simple, even though the Florida-bred colt made a convincing case toward being in the 140th Run for the Roses on May 3 at Churchill Downs.
"I just don't know," Eurton said. "It's three weeks (away) and kind of quick back. I know he loves synthetic better, (likes) turf. I just don't know if he likes dirt.
"I know I'm going to hear it from everybody, though."
Pablo Del Monte and race favorite Bobby's Kitten set the pace nearing the top of the stretch of the Grade 1 race on Polytrack before Dance With Fate began moving through the pack with Medal Count in tow. The winner eventually surged past Pablo Del Monte in the final furlong to beat Medal Count by 1 3/4 lengths, earning his first graded stakes victory and 100 points to the eight he already had for the Derby.
Ridden by Corey Nakatani, Dance With Fate ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.06 and paid $14.80, $6.80 and $5.80. He has three wins and three seconds in eight starts, and his jockey believes he's capable of covering 1¼ miles on the famed track's dirt surface.
"I don't have any doubt he can do that," Nakatani said. "It's just a matter of whether he'll handle the Churchill Downs surface at this point. He's done things right.
"He seems to do well on the grass, and at Churchill, I've won the (Grade 1) Kentucky Oaks on a filly that won on the grass (Pike Place Dancer in 1996) so hopefully we'll get (Dance With Fate) there after this race."
Medal Count returned $7.80 and $5.20 and earned 40 Derby points. Pablo Del Monte paid $6.80 and earned 20 points, and Big Bazinga earned 10 for fourth place.
Medal Count's run was just as impressive, coming just eight days after he rode the rail to victory here in the $100,000 Grade 3 Transylvania. He emerged from that 1 1/16-mile race in good shape, enough for trainer Dale Romans to enter him in a race on a day he would've trained hard anyway.
Despite the risk of running on such short rest, Medal Count and jockey Robby Albarado vindicated Romans with another strong performance, earning Derby points to also give his handlers a choice to ponder.
"There was a lot of pressure coming back in eight days," Romans said, "and I was putting my neck on the line a little bit and open for some criticism. But my horse came through for me. ... If it's up to me, we're going. As long as he's healthy and doing well."
Bobby's Kitten meanwhile faded quickly down the stretch to finish 12th in the 14-horse field. A three-time winner with two thirds in five turf starts coming in, the Kentucky-bred colt couldn't finish the transition to synthetic.
"That was not what we were looking for, but we gave it a try," trainer Chad Brown said. "In the second half of the race, he lost (interest) and didn't seem to care for the track. ... He will be back on turf next time."
LUBBOCK, Texas -- The highest beef prices in almost three decades have arrived just before the start of grilling season, causing sticker shock for both consumers and restaurant owners — and relief isn't likely anytime soon.
A dwindling number of cattle and growing export demand from countries such as China and Japan have caused the average retail cost of fresh beef to climb to $5.28 a pound in February, up almost a quarter from January and the highest price since 1987.
Everything that's produced is being consumed, said Kevin Good, an analyst at CattleFax, a Colorado-based information group. And prices likely will stay high for a couple of years as cattle producers start to rebuild their herds amid big questions about whether the Southwest and parts of the Midwest will get enough rain to replenish pastures.
Meanwhile, quick trips to the grocery store could drag on a little longer as shoppers search for cuts that won't break the budgets. Patrons at one market in Lubbock seemed resigned to the high prices, but not happy.
"I quit buying steaks a while ago when the price went up," said 59-year-old Lubbock resident Len Markham, who works at Texas Tech. She says she limits red meat purchases to hamburger, opting for chicken, pork and fish instead.
Fellow Lubbock resident Terry Olson says she buys chicken and eggs now.
"I don't buy (red) meat, period," the 67-year-old said, admitting there's an occasional hamburger purchase. "Not like I used to because of the price."
Restaurant owners, too, must deal with the high prices. Mark Hutchens, owner of the 50 Yard Line Steakhouse in Lubbock, raised his menu prices for beef items by about 5 percent in November. Since then, the owner of the eatery has tried to make cuts elsewhere to avoid passing it on to customers.
"It really squeezes the small guys more," he said of non-chain restaurants. "You just can't keep going up on people forever. I just think you have to stay competitive and keep your costs low."
White-tablecloth restaurants have adjusted the size of their steaks, making them thinner to offset the price increases, says Jim Robb, director of the Colorado-based Livestock Marketing Information Center. Some places now serve a 6-ounce sirloin, compared to 8- or 10-ounce portions offered years ago, he said.
And fast-food restaurants are trimming costs by reducing the number of menu items and are offering other meat options, including turkey burgers, Robb said. Chain restaurants also try to buy in volume as much as they can, which essentially gives them a discount, Iowa State University assistant economics professor Lee Schulz said.
"That can help them when they're seeing these higher prices," he said. "They can't do anything with the high prices."
The high prices are welcome news for at least one group: ranchers, especially those in Texas who for years have struggled amid drought and high feed prices. Despite the most recent numbers that show the fewest head of cattle in the U.S. since 1951, prices for beef haven't declined along with the herd size as demand has remained strong.
But even as ranchers breathe a sigh of relief, some worry lasting high prices will prompt consumers to permanently change their buying habits — switching to chicken or pork. Pete Bonds, a 62-year-old Texas rancher and president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, said that's a big concern, especially as younger consumers start to establish themselves.
But such fears may be unfounded, Robb said. Three years ago, economists thought consumers would start finding substitutions for beef as the drought spread. "We're surprised we haven't seen more of that," he said.
South Dakota rancher Chuck O'Connor is optimistic that consumers won't abandon beef for good.
"I'm sure some are maybe going to cut back some, but to say that people aren't going to buy it anymore, I don't think that's going to happen," he said, adding, "I hope not."
Beef isn't the only meat with higher price tags. The price of pork also has climbed, largely due to a virus that has killed millions of young pigs. And composite retail prices for chicken in February were $1.95 per pound, the highest since October.
"I think these higher food prices are here to stay, including beef," said Dale Spencer, a rancher in central Nebraska and the former president of the Nebraska Cattle Association. "As we grow the herd, we'll have more supplies and prices should drop some at the market. I would not say a drastic drop."
The long-term trend, Good said, is that more shoppers will choose cheaper hamburger over higher-priced steaks and roasts.
"There's concern for the future but what's the consumer to do?" he said. "Pay the price or do without."
RENO, Nev. -- Downtown Reno has a new casino for the first time since 1995 when the Silver Legacy opened.
Siri's Casino opened its doors Friday at the site of the old Primadonna Club across from Harrah's Reno.
Owner Jeff Siri, who also is president of downtown Reno's Club Cal Neva, says the new casino's theme is based after Miami's South Beach neighborhood.
It features some 140 slot machines, a mermaid fountain, a full bar and a wide range of daiquiri drinks.
Siri says he hopes the casino will help draw more visitors to the downtown and prompt other casinos to open.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday afternoon drew hundreds of people to the casino.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Lawmakers in the football-mad state of Ohio are pushing back against a movement to unionize college athletes.
A measure approved by the state House this past week sets out to say college athletes aren't public employees.
It appears to be the first proposal of its kind to clear a state legislative chamber.
The amendment is in response to a National Labor Relations Board official's recent ruling declaring full-scholarship players at Northwestern University employees and therefore eligible to unionize.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Connecticut are considering a move opposite of the one in Ohio by trying to clear the path for college athletes to unionize if they want.
Observers say they wouldn't be surprised if more states with powerful athletic programs at public universities follow the lead of lawmakers in Ohio.
HARTFORD, Conn. -- President Barack Obama has appointed a senior biologist at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection as commissioner of the Council of North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization.
Stephen Gephard has worked as the supervising biologist at the DEEP since 1995. He joins two other commissioners whose appointments were announced Thursday.
The North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization is an international organization established by an intergovernmental convention in 1984 that seeks to restore and manage Atlantic salmon populations. The Gulf of Maine's population of the fish is protected by the Endangered Species Act.
U.S. Rep. Joseph Courtney on Saturday said Gephard will be a strong voice for conservation nationally, and his "broad experience and deep knowledge of biology, conservation, and government's role in protecting our resources will make him an excellent commissioner.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- As customers hauled off the dwindling inventory of discounted pianos and guitars, Buster Lipham proudly laid out souvenirs on the glass display counter, evidence of his contribution to rock 'n' roll history.
There's the black-and-white photo of a teenage Tom Petty and other kids sitting in Lipham Music when it was on North Main and 10th streets in the mid-1960s.
There's the Allman Brothers Band records At Fillmore East and Idlewild South that list Buster Lipham and Lipham Music in the "thanks to" album credits after he fronted the band $13,276 worth of gear on credit, minus about $6,000 for trade-in equipment.
There's the autographed album "to Buster" from Iron Butterfly.
Lipham shows off photos of the autographed red box-shaped guitar given to him by Bo Diddley, a customer for 40 years, and of Billy Joel and Ray Charles, whom he supplied with pianos during Gainesville appearances.
A customer walks in and urges, "Tell us about Don's call."
Lipham describes how he asked Don Felder, former guitarist for The Eagles, to prove it was him on the phone last week by describing the first two guitars he bought from Lipham and the color of his old Volkswagen Beetle.
It was green.
For 59 years, Lipham Music has sold instruments and equipment to Gainesville musicians and traveling bands, serving as a center of activity during the rise of rock 'n' roll by supplying equipment, jobs and a place to hang out and meet other musicians.
Lipham is retiring at 70 and closing the store. After publicly announcing his intentions last week to close April 15, he said Friday that he expected to sell out of merchandise Friday or Saturday.
Lipham said his wife, Cheryl, the store's bookkeeper, told him it was time to spend more time with their grandchildren.
Val Lipham, Buster Lipham's father, bought the store from C. Asbery Gridley in 1954 after meeting him at a trade show in Chicago. The family moved to Gainesville from west Texas.
The original store, at the time called Modern Music Mart, sold pianos and sheet music at 1025 W. University Ave., now the site of Karma Cream. The store doubled in size in 1957 and started carrying guitars and amplifiers.
In 1960, the store moved to the new Gainesville Shopping Center at 1004 N. Main St. Buster went to work for his father in the mid-1960s at age 21 as business was about to take off thanks to The Beatles.
"When they started, everybody and their brother wanted to play a musical instrument. They created a boom," Buster Lipham said. "Everybody wanted to have a band."
Gainesville bands were well-equipped thanks to Lipham, said Marty Jourard, a professional musician who got his start in Gainesville.
Jourard is working on a book about the era called "Gettin' Down in Gatortown: The Rock and Roll Roots of Gainesville, Florida," which he expects to be released next year by the University Press of Florida.
"He offered credit to teenagers, which nobody else did, so most of the bands in town, no matter how good they were, had Gibson and Fender guitars," Jourard said by phone from his home outside Seattle. "You could get the top stuff and pay it off every week."
"He usually knew their parents anyway. He gave them credit, but he also had it covered a bit because he knew where you lived. Everybody was in the phone book back then."
In his 2008 autobiography "Heaven and Hell: My Life with the Eagles," Felder describes how Lipham gave him a job paying $1.50 an hour so he could pay off a used Fender Stratocaster. Felder gave guitar lessons, and one of his students was young "Tommy" Petty.
Felder also writes that when Bernie Leadon was new to town, he came into the store and asked for the name of the best guitarist in town, so Lipham sent him to Felder. Leadon later would recruit Felder into The Eagles.
Jourard played in several local bands, including two — The Cosmic Blades and Road Turkey — with Stan Lynch, who became Petty's drummer.
"It was a social center, and (Lipham) inadvertently helped a lot of musicians meet and form bands because of that," Jourard said.
Jourard said he was among about 10 local musicians who left for Los Angeles in the early to mid-1970s. He later joined his brother, Jeff, in The Motels, which had two top-10 hits for Capitol Records.
Both future Eagles and Petty — all members of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame — would work in the store.
In the 2005 book "Conversations with Tom Petty" by Paul Zollo, Petty said that when business was slow, Felder would show him how to play the piano.
Lipham Music also had a role in bringing together Petty's Heartbreakers. When two members quit his band Mudcrutch, Petty placed an ad in the store for a drummer that was answered by Randall Marsh. Marsh's roommate, guitarist Mike Campbell, joined in on the subsequent jam session and was invited to join the band and later became the Heartbreakers' lead guitarist.
Petty recalled hearing a young Benmont Tench play the entire Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album on organ in the store. Years later Tench would play keyboards for Petty's bands.
"That store was kind of the hub of everything," Petty told Zollo. "That was where all the musicians went and hung out, and they had this great inventory of instruments and amplifiers. People would come from all over North Central Florida to go to Lipham's. You'd see the Allman Brothers in there. You'd see everybody. And their gear."
Lipham said his store was a destination that drew customers from 11 counties and beyond as a result of some clever advertising. If a band bought their equipment from the store, he would pay for the lettering on their vehicles, making sure to add "equipped by Lipham Music."
Touring bands such as The Royal Guardsmen ("Snoopy vs. the Red Baron"), the Nation Rockin' Shadows, and Ron and the Starfires provided such a rolling promotion.
"We had 17 bands running around the state of Florida with our name on their vehicle," Lipham said.
In the late 1960s, Lipham sponsored the Southeast Music Conference, a contest for unsigned bands. The 1969 contest included The Second Coming, a precursor to the Allman Brothers, who were signed to a record deal by the end of the conference when Duane joined brother Gregg in the band, Lipham said.
The Allman Brothers called him at 2:30 one morning on their way from Macon, Ga., to Miami and met him at the store at 3 a.m. to pick up some gear.
Lipham has copies of the $200 checks the band would send him every couple of weeks in 1970 to pay off their bill. A Fender Bassman amp in the The Big House Museum in Macon is affixed with a Lipham label.
"When the Allman Brothers would come to town, my father was very strict about playing 200-watt Marshalls (amplifiers) inside the store, so we would go outside the store in the Gainesville Shopping Center and set them up, and they could blast them outside," Lipham said. "People from five blocks away would come down to listen to them because they could hear it in the Duck Pond area."
The store moved to its current location at 3433 W. University Ave. in 1976, and Buster Lipham took over as his father retired.
Lipham said the store became less of a regional destination over the years as people started ordering equipment first from national stores using toll-free numbers and later from big-box chain stores and the Internet.
The employees still include local musicians, many of whom were customers as teenagers during the fertile years of Gainesville rock in the late '60s and early '70s.
Gregg McMillan, who plays bass for the Dixie Desperados, has worked off and on at the store since 1979.
Tom Holtz, 62, has worked at the store since 1986 and recalls buying two guitars there when he was 17, one of which was later used by Duane Allman.
"We were always horse-trading guitars," he said.
Holtz said younger customers don't care about the kind of personal relationships the store has developed with musicians.
"Certainly for those of us who have been around a long time, we all know that it's a loss," Holtz said. "There's a sense of history about this store that no other store around this area has ever had."
Holtz said he will have to find another job.
Dan Tampas, 65, plans to retire after 14 years at the store following a 30-year career in computer operations. He also plays with a couple of bands in town.
In addition to the personal touch that musicians received in the store, Tampas said Lipham Music handled a lot of sound system installations for churches all over the area, and supplied PAs and pianos at no charge for charity events.
"I think there will be a hole in this town, I really do," Tampas said.
Customer Julian Chris Kazimier, 66, came in to buy a guitar for his son earlier this week. He teaches beginning guitar classes and said Lipham always gave discounts to his students.
"They stand behind stuff. It's just a great place to do business with," Kazimier said.
"He wants your business, so he always treats you like he wants you to come back."
Lipham said he has worked about six days a week at the store for the past 49 years.
"I love it. I love interacting with people," Lipham said. "I'm going to miss that more than anything."
HARTFORD, Conn. -- A Connecticut official is encouraging taxpayers scrambling to meet the income tax filing deadline to file electronically.
Department of Revenue Services Commissioner Kevin Sullivan says the free Taxpayer Service Center provides secure, electronic filing that takes the guesswork out of calculating state income tax. He says taxpayers also receive a confirmation that their return was received by DRS.
More than 1.1 million state income tax returns had been filed by April 7, with another 500,000 or more expected to be submitted by Tuesday. Officials say the majority of returns — just over 1 million — were filed electronically.
Sullivan says the state has already issued 600,000 refunds worth more than $403 million. He says those who filed electronically and chose direct deposit get refunds faster.
SHREVEPORT, La. -- The board of Home Federal Bancorp Inc. has declared a quarterly dividend of 6 cents per share on the company's common stock.
The dividend is payable May 5 to shareholders of record on April 21.
Shreveport-based Home Federal Bancorp is the parent of Home Federal Bank, which operates in northwest Louisiana.
NEW YORK -- The New York World's Fair of 1964 introduced 51 million visitors to a range of technological innovations and predictions during its run. Fifty years later, some of those ideas have turned out to be commonplace in our world. Others? Not so much.
What they had right:
— "Picturephone": Bell System introduced this innovation, which allowed people to see whom they were calling. It didn't go over well at the time, but it's a concept that's an everyday part of our lives now in apps such as Skype and Facetime.
— Personal use of the computer: Several pavilions had exhibits set up where visitors could ask computers for information and get responses in seconds.
— Robotics: Walt Disney's "It's a Small World" exhibit introduced robotic animation in which characters sing, speak and make lifelike gestures such as smiles and blinks. It's still in use in theme parks and movies today.
— Ford Mustang: The two-seater sports car with its long hood and short rear deck was officially unveiled at the World's Fair and immediately became popular. It has remained in production ever since.
— Touch-tone phones: Originally introduced at the Seattle World's Fair in 1962, this was still the first time many visitors were exposed to this technology.
What they had wrong:
— Colonies on the moon, underwater and in Antarctica: The "Futurama 2" ride from General Motors, which featured images of people living in places where they clearly, uh, don't.
— Paved-over rainforests: Another image from "Futurama 2" featured a machine that used a laser to cut through the rainforests and left behind paved roads.
— Jet packs: There were demonstrations of jet pack power at the fair, with men wearing them and zooming around the grounds. Sadly, they remain a mode of transport found mainly in science fiction.
BATH, Maine -- The U.S. Navy is christening the first ship of its newest class of destroyers.
The 610-foot warship bearing the late Adm. Elmo "Bud" Zumwalt's name will be christened Saturday with a bottle of Champagne across its bow by his two daughters at Maine's Bath Iron Works, where it's being built.
The Zumwalt, the Navy's largest destroyer, features advanced technology that'll allow it to utilize half the crew of existing destroyers. Its stealthy design is aimed at helping the 15,000-ton warship look like a small fishing boat on enemy radars.
Among those attending Saturday's ceremony are Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, Gov. Paul LePage and members of Maine's congressional delegation. The Navy expects the ship to be ready for duty by 2016.
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy is touting the success of a state program that promotes job creation by providing wage subsidies and training grants to small businesses.
The initiative, known as the Subsidized Training and Employment Program or Step Up, help cover the costs of training new hires during the first six months of employment.
Malloy announced Friday that the initiative has led to the hiring of 2,200 new workers.
The governor says the program has helped more than 700 employers fill well-paying jobs and expand their workforce.
The program was included in a bipartisan job creation bill passed by the General Assembly during the October 2011 special session. The initiative has provided $16.5 million in wage and training subsidizes.
The program was later expanded to include a subsidy to companies of any size that hire veterans.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia students are being urged to file paperwork to be considered for state-level grants to help pay for college and career and technical programs.
Officials say students must file their Free Application for Federal Student Aid by Tuesday in order to be considered for the state-level financial aid.
Completing the application allows students to be considered for many types of state and federal financial aid.
State financial aid includes the West Virginia Higher Education Grant program, which offers eligible students up to $2,500 per year to help pay for college expenses.
There's also a West Virginia Higher Education Adult Part-Time Student grant program.
Officials say application completion rates are down slightly from last year, possibly due to recent harsh winter weather.
NEW YORK -- The millions of visitors who attended the New York World's Fair that opened in 1964 were introduced to a range of technological innovations and predictions.
Some of those turned out to be right on the money and others, perhaps thankfully, were way off the mark.
At the Bell System pavilion, engineers touted a "picturephone" that allowed callers to see who they were talking to, a concept that lives on in modern-day apps such as Skype and FaceTime.
Of course, not everything came to pass, like some of the views of the future in the "Futurama 2" ride put together by General Motors. It included scenes of colonies on the moon as well as a machine that used a laser to cut through rainforests, leaving behind paved roads.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Some lawmakers, teens and others say they're excited about a new state law designed to better equip high school students with budgeting and financial skills.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert in a Friday ceremony at the Capitol honored the measure.
Students from Bingham High School in South Jordan attended the event after urging lawmakers to pass the measure.
The law ramps up classes on finance and basic economics that have been required since 2009.
To date, students often take the classes online in order to accommodate busy schedules.
Salt Lake City Democrat Sen. Pat Jones sponsored the measure during the legislative session. She says the virtual lessons have mixed results.
The new law puts $450,000 in state money toward training teachers and related costs.
It goes into effect July 1.
MOSS BLUFF, La. -- A free seminar on starting and financing a small business will be offered April 29 by the Louisiana Small Business Development Center at McNeese State University.
The program is planned from 1-3 p.m. at the Calcasieu Parish Public Library, 261 Parish Road in Moss Bluff.
Among topics covered will be writing a business plan and understanding the information a banker or other lender will need.
To pre-register or for more information, call 337-475-5529 or email lsbdc.msu@lsbdc.org.
Seeking to capitalize on the Supreme Court's recent ruling that eased restrictions on political contributions, Republicans are launching what experts call a new super joint fundraising committee. The Republican Victory Fund will work under the expanded rules set by the court's April 2 ruling in the McCutcheon v. FEC case.
As NPR's Peter Overby reports, the Republican Victory Fund will be able to raise nearly $100,000 each year from each donor. Here's Peter's report for our Newscast unit:
"The Victory Fund will split the cash among the Republican National Committee and the two GOP committees for House and Senate races.
"Until last week's Supreme Court ruling, the $97,200 maximum was about 80 percent of all the contributions a donor could make to candidates and party committees in a two-year election cycle.
"The RNC financed the lawsuit that challenged the aggregate limits; GOP leaders say the new money will revitalize the party organization.
"Critics say it's only a matter of time before congressional leaders also create joint fundraising committees. They could collect six- or seven-figure checks and distribute the funds to candidates aligned with them."
In interviews with veteran campaign finance lawyers in Washington, Peter found that the new arrival of "super joint fundraising committees" could undermine the major political parties, continuing a trend that includes SuperPACs and other entities that skirt national parties as they funnel money toward political campaigns.
After the ruling, "The party committees and all the other groups can jump in with both feet, without worrying about a donor being maxed out," attorney Ken Gross told Peter last week.
Another lawyer, Robert Kelner, said, "The main effect of this decision is that it's going to encourage the development of super joint fundraising committees."
From Politico:
"By lifting the so-called aggregate cap that limited the total amount a single donor could give to parties and candidates, donors no longer have to pick and choose which party committees or candidates to throw their support to. Instead, they're free to support a variety of parties and candidates — and those parties and candidates are now able to partner together to raise those funds."
NEW YORK -- Is the selling over or has it just begun?
That's the question investors are asking after the biggest weekly drop in the Standard and Poor's 500 index since January. The stock market hasn't had a correction, or fall of 10 percent from recent highs, since 2011.
It is inching close to one, at least in technology stocks.
Investors drove the stock market lower for two straight days at the end of the week. Big drops in once-soaring tech stocks sent the Nasdaq below 4,000, and the index has fallen for three weeks in a row.
"The market has been trying to come back, but each time the selling just picks up," said Quincy Krosby, a market strategist at Prudential. "The buyers are just not stepping in."
The first-quarter earnings season has just started, but investors seem in little mood to wait for results. Financial analysts expect earnings for companies in the S&P 500 to drop 1.6 percent from a year earlier, according to FactSet, a financial data provider. At the start of the year, they expected a jump of 4.3 percent.
If profits do fall, it would be only the second quarterly drop in three years.
"Earnings are going to come in on the sloppy side," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital. "The market needs to correct."
Krosby said the market will be focused on the swath of corporate earnings due out next week, such as those for General Electric, Intel and several financial companies. Investors will also closely follow a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.
Investors understand bad weather played a role in the performance of many companies during the first three months of the year, but they still want to hear whether demand for products and services is improving, Krosby said.
"The market is going to try to assess: Is the economy still losing momentum or gaining the traction we need to support valuations?" she said.
On Friday, the Nasdaq dropped 54.37 points, or 1.3 percent, to 3,999.73. It was down 3.1 percent for the week.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 143.47 points, or 0.89 percent, to 16,026.75 on Friday. The S&P 500 fell 17.39 points, or 0.95 percent, to 1,815.69.
Some analysts say a correction in indexes would be healthy for the market, giving it a sturdier base on which to rally.
The Nasdaq is already well on its way. It is now 8 percent below its recent high in March. The S&P 500 is 4 percent off its recent high on April 2.
Among tech stocks making big moves Friday, Netflix fell 2.4 percent, Amazon, 1.7 percent and Google's new Class C shares, 1.9 percent.
JPMorgan Chase fell $2.10, or 3.7 percent, to $55.30 on Friday. The nation's biggest bank by assets said its earnings slid 20 percent in the first quarter as revenue from bond trading and mortgage lending declined.
"They're just struggling to grow, and then they didn't have the strength out of the investment bank to help offset that," said Shannon Stemm, financial services analyst for Edward Jones. "All around, it's just a lackluster quarter for them."
AP Business Writers Steve Rothwell and Alex Veiga contributed to this report.
HOUMA, La. -- With local food becoming more popular, small town roadside fruit stands have been busy carving out their own market share, bumping and edging one another out for prime locations.
The signs start a few hundred yards up the road from a produce stand on U.S. Highway 90 heading east.
"FRESH STRAWBERRIES! LOUISIANA GROWN! $16 PER FLAT! PICKED FRESH! STOP HERE!"
In a small cutaway section of farmland sits Michael Capadona's bright yellow stand. Flats of bright red strawberries greet visitors who pull in and out of the gravel lot next to Lafourche Parish's busiest thoroughfare.
"It has gotten kind of ridiculous," Capadona said. "My family has been in the produce business forever, but things have really gone away from family farms. It's too risky for a lot of people."
On Friday morning Cap's saw a steady flow of traffic. In about 20 minutes, no fewer than 10 cars stopped on either side of the highway. Capadona maintains locations on both sides of the road.
Some came and went purposefully, quickly stocking up with large quantities of produce. Others took more time to smell each piece of produce.
Capadona juggled flats of fruits and vegetables and took several phone calls with suppliers and distributors.
The produce business is perpetually a race against the clock, Capadona said. From the time fruit is picked, the biggest distributors have dibs.
Capadona maintains his own orchard nearby the stands to help supplement what he gets from suppliers. He counts on his relationships and family's generational history in the produce business to help keep profit margins steady.
"It provides my living right now," Capadona said. "We've been blessed to be here for a while."
Capadona set up his stand, Cap's Produce, three years ago after spending a couple years with a group of nomads who jockey for public space along state roads. Last year the stand even starting taking major credit cards using a smartphone device.
That public space has become more difficult to come by for the tailgate sellers who typically jockey for the attention of motorists. Cap's has become a staple in large part because of the advantage his leased location gives him.
"Business has picked up pretty steadily I would say. We do see a lot of return customers now. People really recognize us," Capadona said. "We are blessed to be here. We are literally the first."
Two exits west of Cap's, where La. 182 passes beneath the 90 overpass, Kylie Leblanc of Chauvin was not having quite as much luck spurring business.
Leblanc wakes up in Chauvin at 5 a.m. to make his haul in the back of a Chevy pickup, which he drives to and from Ponchatoula strawberry farms to set up on state-owned lands in his native Terrebonne Parish.
"Eight years ago my wife and I would work in Houma on Martin Luther King," Leblanc said. "It was good back then. We were making $200 or $300 a day, easy."
This year Leblanc lost one of his prime selling locations, near the intersection of Prospect Boulevard and La. 182. "That lady there, she got a lease. We showed up one day, and she had the lease papers."
On Friday Leblanc was relegated to an echoey enclave underneath the U.S. 90 overpass. The land shuddered as tractor-trailers passed. Discarded cigarette packets and soda bottles blew around.
Up the road is Carmen Zeringue of Raceland. Her boss secured a lease for the tract of land sitting just beyond the intersection where the road between Houma and New Orleans widens and cars throttle up to highway speed.
After a cold winter choked off the strawberry-growing season, food stands large and small are scrambling to catch up on late sales. Bigger stands are garnering an advantage in their size and consistency.
Zeringue was showing off ferns and flowers along with her produce.
Capadona coordinates with distributors to offer a full range of produce, in addition to the seasonal specials.
Barring inclement weather, Cap's stays open 365 days a year.
Leblanc still had the price advantage on Friday, with flats going for $15 compared to $16 elsewhere. But without a visible and inviting selling location he struggled to draw a crowd.
"It's getting to the point where, unless you have a lease, it is difficult to make things work," Leblanc, 43, said. "We have a church in Boutte where we sell sometimes. We give him strawberries, and he lets us stay there."
But in an increasingly scaled retail world — Wal-Mart now sells a majority of groceries in some rural markets across the country — bigger stands a bigger chance at surviving and keeping loyal customers.
Capadona said he feels blessed to be in the position to do it.
"This is my passion, to represent those farmers," Capadona said. "We don't have an interstate here. People come through here, and they are looking for a piece of Louisiana. We just try to be one place where they can find it."
BERLIN -- After racing against the clock in an all-night session, the U.N.'s expert panel on climate change was putting the final touches Saturday on a scientific guide to help governments, industries and regular people take action to stop global warming from reaching dangerous levels.
As always when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change adopts one of its high-profile reports, the week-long talks in Berlin were slowed by wrangling between scientists and governments over which words, charts and tables to use in the roughly 30-page summary of a much bigger scientific report.
The painstaking process is meant to clarify the complex world of climate science to non-scientists but it also reflects the brinksmanship that characterizes international talks on climate action — so far unsuccessful in their goal to stop the rise of man-made carbon emissions blamed for global warming.
"Sometimes it's framed as if what the IPCC does is 'just the facts, ma'am,' and that of course is not accurate," said Steve Rayner, an Oxford scientist who has taken part in three of the IPCC's previous assessments, but not this one.
"It's not pure science and it's not just politics," but a blend of both, Rayner said.
In Berlin, the politics showed through in a dispute over how to categorize countries in graphs showing the world's carbon emissions, which are currently growing the fastest in China and other developing countries. Like many scientific studies, the IPCC draft used a breakdown of emissions from low, lower-middle, upper-middle and high income countries.
Many developing countries objected and wanted the graphs to follow the example of U.N. climate talks and use just two categories — developed and developing — according to three participants who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the IPCC session was closed to the public.
By contrast, U.S. delegates wanted the tables to be even more specific, showing which countries belonged to each income category, according to comments to a draft being edited line-by-line in Berlin and obtained by The Associated Press.
That reflects a nagging dispute in the U.N. talks, which are supposed to produce a global climate agreement next year. The U.S. and other industrialized nations want to scrap the binary rich-poor division, saying large emerging economies such as China, Brazil and India must adopt more stringent emissions cuts than poorer countries. The developing countries are worried it's a way for rich countries to shirk their own responsibilities to cut emissions.
The deadlock over the graphs appeared to have ended early Saturday after 20 hours of backroom negotiations led by IPCC vice chairman Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, a Belgian.
"I offered some Belgian Easter chocolate eggs to the participants of the Contact group at midnight: they helped!" van Ypersele wrote on Twitter early Saturday.
Another snag: oil-rich Saudi Arabia objected to text saying emissions need to go down by 40-70 percent by 2050 for the world to stay below 2 degrees C (3.6 F) of warming, participants told AP. One participant said the Saudis were concerned that putting down such a range was "policy-prescriptive," even though it reflects what the science says.
The final document, to be released Sunday, is expected to say that a global shift to renewable energy from fossil fuels like oil and coal are required to avoid potentially devastating sea level rise, flooding, droughts and other impacts of warming.
The report on mitigating climate change was the third of the IPCC's four-part assessment on climate change, its first since 2007.
Swedish environmental economist Thomas Sterner, a lead author of one of the chapters in the report, said the IPCC process can be frustrating to scientists.
"There's a fight over every comma sign," he told AP.
In a blog post from Berlin he said scientists addressing the meeting were told to "Keep our statements short and concise, avoid jargon, do not lecture the delegates, do not become emotional."
Chris Field, who co-chaired another IPCC session in Japan last month and sits on the panel's executive committee but did not have a direct role in the Berlin session, said one way to think about the process is that scientists have control of a two-way valve and can move findings into or out of the summary for policy-makers. The governments have a one-way valve and can only move things out of the document.
"The role of this one-way valve is important in thinking about why the findings of the IPCC always feel so measured and carefully couched," he said.
Many of the government interventions are "incredibly helpful" in making the text clearer, he added. "It is a pretty amazing process. But some of the interventions are not quite as time efficient."
BEIJING -- An oil pipe leak caused excessive levels of the toxic chemical benzene in a major Chinese city's water supply, prompting warnings against drinking from the tap and sending residents to queue up to buy bottled water.
The scare, which has affected more than 2.4 million people in the northwestern city of Lanzhou, has once again raised concerns over safety of China's oil pipes.
Last year, a ruptured oil pipeline resulted in explosions in the eastern city of Qingdao, killing 62 people.
In Lanzhou, a crude oil pipeline run by the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. had a leak that tainted the source water feeding a local water plant, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Phone calls to the oil company's local and national offices rang unanswered on Saturday.
The city of Lanzhou said it has been monitoring levels of benzene in water pipes to ensure public safety, while local residents have been lining up to stock up on bottled water.
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is making his case for equal pay for women — a leading election-year issue for Democrats.
Obama says in his weekly radio and Internet address that it's an embarrassment that women earn less than men even in the same professions and with the same education.
Obama issued an executive order this past week that bars federal contractors from retaliating against employees who discuss their salaries.
Such an order is considered a way for women to become better informed about their pay.
In the Republicans' weekly address, Cathy McMorris Rodgers — a congresswoman from Washington state — says the economy under Obama is hurting women.
She says Republican proposals to help small businesses and increase jobs will benefit all.
---
Online:
Obama address: http://1.usa.gov/1fxQMoK
Republican address: http://bit.ly/1nfTxLG
BEIJING -- A Cathay Pacific flight from New York to Hong Kong was stranded for more than 16 hours in a Chinese city with all 256 passengers kept on board for the entire time late last month because of immigration regulations, bad weather and limits on the crew's work hours.
Flight 831 was diverted to the southern city of Zhuhai on the night of March 30 because of a hail storm. The plane was left sitting on the tarmac for hours until Cathay Pacific sent in a new flight crew, with the first crew having reached work-hour limits.
All passengers remained on board as required by Chinese immigration and customs regulations at Zhuhai, Cathay Pacific said in an emailed statement Saturday.
According to the local Chinese customs district, Chinese officials worked continuously to accommodate the new 16 crew members, who took a high-speed ferry from Hong Kong and entered China through a Zhuhai port before arriving at the airport.
Chinese customs officials set up a temporary workplace at the airport — which does not have a permanent customs office — to process the crew members' paperwork before they flew the plane out of Zhuhai in the early afternoon of March 31, the customs district said.
Cathay Pacific said the plane took off at 1:08 p.m., more than 16 hours after it landed in Zhuhai. The flight arrived in Hong Kong a little over an hour later.
The flight usually takes 15-16 hours, but this flight turned out to be more than 34 hours long with the stopover.
U.S. broadcaster NBC quoted an unnamed passenger who complained that the passengers could not leave the plane while in Zhuhai.
A Chinese government statement did not mention that the passengers were kept on the plane, but said local officials provided them with drinking water and food.
Investors have clipped the wings of high-flying tech stocks in recent weeks, as they re-focus on safer sectors such as utilities, health care and consumer staples. Shares of tech favorites such as Facebook, Netflix and Twitter are 19 percent to 46 percent below their recent peaks.
Here's a look at how far some tech stocks have fallen from recent highs:
— Amazon.com Inc.
Peak: Jan. 22 at $408.06
Friday's closing price: $311.73
Decrease: 24 percent
— Facebook Inc.
Peak: March 11 at $72.59
Friday's closing price: $58.53
Decrease: 19 percent
— Google Inc.
Peak (split-adjusted): Feb. 26 at $615.04
Friday's closing price: $537.76
Decrease: 13 percent
— LinkedIn Corp.
Peak: Sept. 11, 2013 at $257.56
Friday's closing price: $165.78
Decrease: 36 percent
— Netflix Inc.
Peak: March 6 at $458
Friday's closing price: $326.71
Decrease: 29 percent
— Twitter Inc.
Peak: Dec. 26. 2013 at $74.73
Friday's closing price: $40.05
Decrease: 46 percent
— Yahoo Inc.
Peak: Jan. 4, 2000 at $125.03
52-week high: Jan. 8 at $41.72
Friday's closing price: $32.87
Decrease from 52-week high: 21 percent
BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri Saturday called for a legislative session this week to debate and vote on the controversial public sector wage hike bill.
Berri scheduled a session for Tuesday when he will convene Parliament to debate the draft law, approved by the joint Parliamentary committees after a series of lengthy marathon sessions.
MPs failed to reach an agreement on when the wage hikes would come into effect, whether they would be retroactive and if they would be paid in installments. As well as failing to reach agreement on the increase in value-added tax and on details of the raises for teachers.
Tuesday's session will mostly likely witness heated debates among MPs between supporters and opponents of the salary increase, which has been a demand of civil servants and teachers for several years.
In previous committee sessions, MPs approved several means to finance the proposal, estimated to cost the treasury $1.6 billion annually, including raising the 5 percent tax on deposit interest revenue to 7 percent and fines for property violations.
Lawmakers had also proposed to increase the tax on banks’ net profits from 15 to 17 percent and raise the tax on interest earned on deposits from 5 to 7 percent.
The proposed taxes prompted local banks to collectively observe a one day strike in protest of the draft bill, saying alternative means to finance the wage hike should be considered.
MP Walid Jumblatt, head of the National Struggle Front bloc, said his MPs would vote against the bill if "the revenues proposed were not clear."
"We will not vote for any increase ... unless administrative reforms are to be implemented in the public sector," Jumblatt told An-Nahar.
MPs discussed administrative reforms needed in the public sector in order to finance the wage without increasing the public debt.
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