Offshore demand resurrects Houma's Leevac shipyard

HOUMA, La. -- With oil and gas companies thirsting for more supplies on deepwater platforms and rigs, orders for new ships to truck everything from drilling mud to macaroni and cheese have climbed. That demand has one old Houma shipyard roaring back to life.

Inside a metal hangar alongside the Prospect Street Overpass in Houma, sparks flew and hammers pounded echoes off of ships' steel hulls on a recent Wednesday morning.

In the backdrop, floating on the Houma Canal at the foot of the bridge and abutment of Leevac's shipyard, sat the unfinished shell of Tidewater Marine's latest offshore supply boat.

When finished, it will be the first new ship to emerge from the 45-year-old facility since 1973.

The hustle of activity comes nine months after Covington-based Leevac purchased the yard in July from Tidewater, which operated it as a private repair shop under the name Quality Shipyards since 1992.

"We acquired the facility as part of a larger merger with Zapata," said Tidewater Executive Vice President Joe Bennett. "At one time, we had over 200 vessels operating in the Gulf of Mexico, so it made sense to have our own facility. Today, we operate maybe 10 or 12 boats."

For Leevac, the expanse of space surrounding the yard and four functional dry docks made the spot a fit at a time when dock space in south Louisiana is at a premium.

Since buying the Houma yard, Leevac has invested more than $1 million in renovations that Gaiennie said where "much needed." The number of hourly workers employed at the shipyard has more than tripled, from just 45 on July 1 to just under 200 in March. By 2016, the company plans to employ 361 hourly workers in Houma, a 700 percent increase.

To manage the yard, Leevac pulled former Bollinger Vice President Larry Vauclin out of retirement. Vauclin was yard superintendent the Quality Equipment Shipyards facility first opened in 1969.

In the world of deepwater drilling, where depths and distances are measured in 10,000s, size is everything. Leevac needed a larger assembly space to deliver the football-field-size service boats the companies like Hornbeck Offshore and Tidewater Marine demand to stay competitive.

"When we opened this shipyard (in 1969), the biggest thing we were building was 165 feet long," Vauclin said. Most service boats on order today are 270 feet or longer.

Leevac's Houma acquisition is also part of a long-term strategy to diversify its services and customer base. If and when supply boats are no longer in demand, Leevac will have the built-in capacity to service supply boats, tugs and inland vessels cheaply and quickly.

"A lot of our customers are based here, and at the same time we have a lot of resources here," Vice President Dan Gaienne said, pointing to the propellers on the back of the new Tidewater ship as an example.

Schottel Marine Propulsion delivered the thrusters, which can rotate 360 degrees to steer the ship in any direction. Schottel christened a new North American headquarters on Industrial Boulevard in Houma in October.

Gaienne spent almost as much time describing work to be done as he did hyping the newly renovated fabrication facility.

"There is still a lot of work to be done here," Gaienne said. "The whole idea here is quick turnaround; that is the game these days. We can use this space here to expand our usable slip space, which will increase our capacity and get the vessels out of traffic in the canal."

Another top priority is adding and renovating structures to bring as much of the manufacturing operation indoors as possible. Leevac has already renovated the yard's largest building, where welders cut and assemble the steel plates used on hulls.

Still, the skeleton of a wheelhouse and crews quarters sat gleaming in the sunlight as several workers pounded away.

"The idea behind purchasing this facility is that it allows us to complete assemblies that were too large for our Jennings shipyard," Gaienne said. "Eventually, all of our ships will come here for final preparations before being sent out for sea trials."

While the 15-foot depth of the Houma Navigation Canal has proven restrictive for the Port of Terrebonne, Leevac said the new space is an improvement on the basis of convenience alone.

"We have had some small problems, more with the height of the ships than with the depth," Gaienne said. "In some cases, we have to move the boat downstream of the (Prospect) bridge for final assembly."

Problems aside, Gaienne said the yard is a big boost for Leevac given the scarcity of available port space in south Louisiana.

"This gives us as many as two additional boats a year," Gaienne said. "A year ago, we were talking about having to send these boats to Lake Charles to be finished. We are happy to be here in Houma."

Demand increasing for paid caregivers

By DOLLY A. BUTZ

SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- When they married 31 years ago, Dave Johnson joked that someday his younger wife, Alicia, would be pushing him around in a wheelchair.

The 66-year-old Sioux City man never thought he would instead be taking care of Alicia Johnson, 53, who suffers from congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and diabetes. Sometimes her asthma attacks are so severe that she passes out. She was hospitalized nine times last year.

Dave Johnson shuttles his wife to doctor appointments, helps administer her breathing treatments every four hours, cooks meals and cleans the one-and-a-half story Leeds home they put on the market to cover the cost of medical bills.

A year ago, the couple began receiving help from nurses and home health aides provided through Hospice of Siouxland's Palliative Care program.

"They're like our right arm. We've called them for everything," Alicia Johnson told the Sioux City Journal (http://bit.ly/1hLATG9).

Their story is not unique.

Director Linda Todd said Hospice of Siouxland tries to fill the gaps in health care delivery that exist in the community. As baby boomers age and numerous home health aides and nurses in their 50s and 60s retire, Todd said, the demand for paid caregivers will only increase.

By 2020 Iowa will need 95,000 paid caregivers. The average annual turnover rate for the profession in the state is more than 60 percent, according to the Iowa CareGivers Association. The organization founded by Di Findley, a 13-year nurse aide, estimates that to keep up with the turnover, Iowa employers spent $193 million to recruit and train new staff in 2012.

"It's been a pretty invisible workforce," Findley said. "It doesn't matter if you've been working in this field for a year or even 40 years, they're still viewed as entry-level workers, and that's just not right."

Encouraging people to join the caregiver workforce can be a hard sell. Ninety percent of caregivers in Iowa are women who earn between $9 and $11 an hour. Twenty-five percent of them don't have health insurance, according to Findley.

The job involves frequent bending and lifting and has one of the highest rates of occupational injury, particularly to the low back. In-home paid caregivers in rural areas drive long distances to reach clients' homes, and those working in long-term care facilities often tend to a high number of patients.

Doris Shoultz, who has worked for Hospice of Siouxland since 1991, said the occupation also takes an emotional toll.

"Some of the hardest things are having people die of your age and younger," she said. "It's just very heartbreaking to see the emotional struggles of their families and their friends."

As the health care system focuses on prevention and wellness rather than sickness and disease, more people are planning to spend their golden years in their own homes.

Last summer, surgeons at Mercy Medical Center amputated Gary Kelley's left leg. The 66-year-old spent three months at Holy Spirit Retirement Home before returning to his handicapped accessible condo on the city's east side. Mercy Home Care provided wound care and antibiotic infusions until his wife, Helen, 72, could take over. Without assistance, Kelley said he doesn't think he would be able to remain in his home. He developed an infection after surgery.

"Because of the extensive wound I had, if I came home they didn't think my wife could take care of it," he said. "At that time I don't think that she would because it was quite large."

Medicare no longer pays for the days patients spend in a hospital that aren't medically necessary. If patients' needs go unmet after they're discharged, they'll end up back at the emergency room.

"We see people coming out of the hospital who are very sick. Huge needs. Lots of needs," Todd said.

Jane Arnold, vice president of operations for UnityPoint at Home, a company that provides a wide range of home care services in Siouxland, said the biggest challenge facing the health care industry is shifting resources from hospitals and long-term care facilitates into the home.

"Historically (home care) has been a smaller portion of it," she said. "Now it's becoming a larger focus within the health care system and with the changes with the Affordable Care Act."

UnityPoint at Home, Arnold said, is partnering with St. Luke's College to give nursing students an opportunity to spend time training in the home environment. Mike Stiles, the college's chancellor, said he doesn't think hospitals will struggle to find certified nursing assistants and nurses in the near future as much as home care companies will.

"I think there will be a lot more care provided in places and settings other than the hospitals, and that's where we're going to have shortages, particularly because the skill sets that are necessary haven't been fully determined yet," he said. "I think the landscape is going to be changing drastically in the next decade — more emphasis on the physician level, more emphasis on primary care, and less emphasis on specialty care."

Chris Severson, assistant administrator at Holy Spirit Retirement Home, said she isn't concerned about a potential paid caregiver shortage. The long-term care facility on the city's west side is a teaching facility that trains Briar Cliff University and Western Iowa Tech Community College students.

"They get experience for geriatrics, and that fulfills their commitment to their education," she said. "Fortunately for us, we have nurses that come back and apply here because they like the environment."

Findley thinks allowing paid caregivers to specialize and receive training in areas such as dementia, Alzheimer's disease and autism will draw more people to the field.

"People who enter it for the right reasons find it very rewarding," she said. "It's the toughest job you'll ever love."

---

Information from: Sioux City Journal, http://bit.ly/1qXEyrX

This AP Member Exchange was shared by the Sioux City Journal.

Military couple gets $35K dream wedding

COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. -- The bride wore white, with a veil and a flowing gown.

She also wore a nervous grin, the expression of someone who can't believe what is happening.

That's because the bride, Paige Collins, had just been given a $35,000 wedding.

In an historical farm recently, she married Army Sgt. Cody Bauman in a ceremony complete with flowers, drinks, horse-drawn carriage, DJ for the reception dance and food for 130 guests.

"This is really amazing," said the bride, gazing around the party at the Hope Glen Farm in Cottage Grove.

She and the groom had planned a bare-bones courthouse ceremony, which was all they could afford. Instead, a new group called the Fairy Godmother Project Minnesota organized and paid for a wedding that left the couple nearly speechless.

"This just seems way too good to be true," Bauman said. "Why would anyone do this for us?"

The idea for the Godmother Project, which pays for weddings for people in the military, came to Terri Uy-Lennon last fall.

Uy-Lennon, owner of Uy-Lennon Floral and Events in East Bethel, met the bride-to-be while working on another wedding-related job.

While asking about flowers for her wedding, Uy-Lennon said, Collins explained that her fiance was a soldier stationed in Afghanistan. The bride-to-be said they didn't have much money or time to plan a wedding.

"Her story touched me. I have a soft spot for military families," Uy-Lennon told the St. Paul Pioneer Press (http://bit.ly/1np8j2L).

So she approached a friend, Amy Coppersmith who owns Coppersmith Photography of Rogers. "I asked Amy, 'Why don't we adopt her and become her fairy godmother?' "

They played with the idea, and soon the Fairy Godmother Project was hatched.

Coppersmith met with Collins. "She was struggling to get it together," said Coppersmith. "We told her, 'We want to be your fairy godmother.' "

Recalled Collins: "I was kind of shocked."

Uy-Lennon and Coppersmith have dozens of connections in the local wedding industry. They started making calls.

By the time they finished, more than 30 businesses agreed to help— caterers, florists, hairstylists, a videographer, bakers.

The details of a large-scale wedding are overwhelming to any couple. Who would remember to order outdoor gas-power heaters? Or find separate contractors for table linens or lighting?

Uy-Lennon even customized an accessory for Bauman and his Army friends — "bullet boutineers" made of brass shell-casings and blue delphiniums.

The ceremony in a gazebo was preceded by Spanish violin music, as the hyacinths on the trellis gently moved in the breeze. The bridesmaids filed in, wearing sea-foam dresses and cowboy boots.

Next came Bauman, an eight-year veteran of two tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq.

He wore a uniform laden with about 15 medals and ribbons.

Finally, Collins appeared, with an attendant holding the train of her dress, as four photographers and videographers documented her every move.

When ceremony was done, the groom's father, Jerome Bauman of Buffalo, shook hands in a reception line.

"I was ecstatic when I heard about this," he said. "It's awesome. What a great gift."

The party continued in the restored barn, where Kevin Lindee used a cloth to touch up the frosting on the "Orry-Orry-Oreo" cake he had donated.

"This is such a great idea!" said Lindee, owner of Ganache Desserts and Confections in Minneapolis. "I wanted to be involved with this."

Off to one side, Uy-Lennon leaned wearily against a post. "We did it," she sighed. "It's our first inaugural wedding. I haven't really slept at all."

The fledgling group still doesn't have a website or nonprofit tax status, but Uy-Lennon said the first effort was a success. She hopes to keep giving away entire wedding ceremonies to military couples, annually.

Bauman said he and his new wife will be moving to his post at Fort Knox in Tennessee. There, he hopes to enter the Army's Green Beret program.

But before he left the farm, he made sure the people who made the dream-wedding possible felt appreciated.

"There are not enough thank-yous in the world for these people," said Bauman.

---

Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://bit.ly/1f9N4jY

An AP Member Exchange Feature shared by St. Paul Pioneer Press

Mazda recalls 109,000 older SUVs for rust problem

DETROIT -- Mazda is recalling 109,000 Tribute SUVs in cold-weather states to fix rusting frame parts.

The recall covers SUVs from the 2001 through 2004 model years. Mazda says in documents filed with U.S. safety regulators that the frame can rust and a wheel control arm can separate from it. That could result in a loss of steering control.

The SUVs were originally sold or registered in 20 states and Washington, D.C., where salt is used to clear snow and ice from roads.

Dealers will install a reinforcement brace to fix the problem. Mazda says it will notify owners by letter when parts are available.

The same problem caused a recall of nearly 386,000 older Ford Escapes earlier this month. The Escape and Tribute are nearly identical vehicles.

Health care site flagged in Heartbleed review

WASHINGTON -- People who have accounts on the enrollment website for President Barack Obama's signature health care law are being told to change their passwords following an administration-wide review of the government's vulnerability to the confounding Heartbleed computer virus.

Senior administration officials said there is no indication that the HealthCare.gov site has been compromised and the action is being taken out of an abundance of caution. The government's Heartbleed review is ongoing, the officials said, and users of other websites may also be told to change their passwords in the coming days, including those with accounts on the popular WhiteHouse.gov petitions page.

The Heartbleed computer bug has caused major security concerns across the Internet and affected a widely used encryption technology that was designed to protect online accounts. Major Internet services have been working to insulate themselves against the bug and are also recommending that users change their website passwords.

Officials said the administration was prioritizing its analysis of websites with heavy traffic and the most sensitive user information. A message that will be posted on the health care website starting Saturday reads: "While there's no indication that any personal information has ever been at risk, we have taken steps to address Heartbleed issues and reset consumers' passwords out of an abundance of caution."

The health care website became a prime target for critics of the Obamacare law last fall when the opening of the insurance enrollment period revealed widespread flaws in the online system. Critics have also raised concerns about potential security vulnerabilities on a site where users input large amounts of personal data.

The website troubles were largely fixed during the second month of enrollment and sign-ups ultimately surpassed initial expectations. Obama announced this week that about 8 million people had enrolled in the insurance plans.

The full extent of the damage caused by the Heartbleed is unknown. The security hole exists on a vast number of the Internet's Web servers and went undetected for more than two years. Although it's conceivable that the flaw was never discovered by hackers, it's difficult to tell.

The White House has said the federal government was not aware of the Heartbleed vulnerability until it was made public in a private sector cybersecurity report earlier this month. The federal government relies on the encryption technology that is impacted — OpenSSL — to protect the privacy of users of government websites and other online services.

The Homeland Security Department has been leading the review of the government's potential vulnerabilities. The Internal Revenue Service, a widely used website with massive amounts of personal data on Americans, has already said it was not impacted by Heartbleed.

"We will continue to focus on this issue until government agencies have mitigated the vulnerability in their systems," Phyllis Schneck, DHS deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity and communications, wrote in a blog post on the agenda website. "And we will continue to adapt our response if we learn about additional issues created by the vulnerability."

Officials wouldn't say how government websites they expect to flag as part of the Heartbleed security review, but said it's likely to be a limited number. The officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the security review by name.

Pistons using search firm to help find new GM

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- The Detroit Pistons will use the executive search firm Korn Ferry to help with their pursuit of a new general manager.

Joe Dumars stepped down as team president earlier this week, leaving Detroit looking for a general manager and coach after missing the playoffs the last five seasons. Korn Ferry will assist, but the ownership group will ultimately run the process.

Coach Maurice Cheeks was fired in February, and interim coach John Loyer is expected to be included in the search for a full-time replacement. Assistant general manager George David and director of basketball operations Ken Catanella are expected to be included in the search for a new GM.

NC State study: Dan River water safe for farm use

By EMERY P. DALESIO The Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Farmers along the Dan River can use surface water for crops and livestock because toxic sludge from a massive coal ash spill has settled to the bottom, a report by university researchers found.

Three North Carolina State University scientists found that lead, arsenic, copper and other byproducts of coal burned at a Duke Energy Corp. power plant have declined sharply since the Feb. 2 spill. None of the hundreds of water samples tested exceeded guidelines for cattle drinking water supplies, according to the report this week by agriculture professors with backgrounds in how water, chemicals and soils interact.

Duke Energy did not pay N.C. State scientists Dean Hesterberg, Matthew Polizzotto and Carl Crozier for their research but did provide them with data that was already publicly available, company spokesman Jeff Brooks said Friday.

"We've heard concerns and questions from residents along the river about safety of water for livestock and other animals as well as for agricultural operations," Brooks said. "We hope that this report can provide some information to address those concerns, and help reinforce data that we've found that demonstrates that the river is returning to normal water-quality levels."

About a dozen farms grow crops or graze cattle along the river near the Virginia border, The News & Record of Greensboro reported (http://bit.ly/1nfG3Ck). They include Jerry Apple, who was encouraged to hear he could use the river to irrigate his corn fields near the Rockingham County community of Ruffin.

"I kinda thought that was what the deal was gonna be from what I heard, but I hadn't heard a statement for sure," Apple said. "That's good."

The report counsels farmers to draw water from near the river's surface to avoid coal ash that filtered to the bottom. Farmers shouldn't irrigate after rains which could kick up heavy metals that settled to the riverbed, the report said. Agricultural users also should monitor the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website and other sources of water-quality information for any increases in contaminants, the report said.

A collapsed pipe at Duke Energy's Eden power plant triggered the spill that polluted 70 miles of the Dan River. The nation's largest electric company reported Thursday that it had spent $15 million so far on cleanup. The company also has started trying to dredge some of the spilled ash from the riverbed.

Duke Energy can't yet estimate its costs from new laws affecting how the company handles the ash at its 33 coal ash dumps in North Carolina, or from future legal claims, litigation or environmental fines, the company said in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Environmentalists want state officials to require Duke Energy to remove more than 100 million tons of the toxic ash away from waterways to lined landfills licensed to handle hazardous waste. Coal ash contains chemicals that are harmful to people and wildlife, including arsenic, mercury and lead.

Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into the state's oversight of Duke's coal ash dumps.

Emery Dalesio can be reached at http://bit.ly/1gQwqX7.

Ohio's jobless rate dips to 6.1 percent in March

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio's unemployment rate dropped in March to 6.1 percent, its lowest level in six years, according to state job figures released Friday.

The seasonally adjusted rate last month fell from 6.5 percent in February, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said. It's the state's lowest jobless rate since April 2008.

Ohio's rate is below the national rate, which was 6.7 percent in both February and March.

Job and Family Services spokesman Ben Johnson said the state's unemployment rate fell because more people were working and the size of the labor force shrank.

"It was not exclusively one or the other," Johnson said in an interview.

Gov. John Kasich's presumptive Democratic rival in the gubernatorial election claimed the decline in the unemployment rate could be attributed to Ohioans giving up on their job search.

"This jobs report demonstrates that Governor Kasich's policies only work for a select few," Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald said in a statement.

Employment in the state has been growing over the last 12 months, while the size of the labor force has been relatively stagnant, Johnson said. Last month, the state added 12,000 jobs, while the labor force dropped by about 11,000.

Johnson said there's no way to know right now whether the decrease is indicative of a larger issue or whether it's a one-month anomaly.

Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols praised the rate. "It's encouraging to see things going in the right direction and the state getting back on track, but we have a lot more work still to do," he said in a statement.

The state says Ohio's nonfarm wage and salary employment increased 600 over the month, from 5,282,300 in February to 5,282,900 in March.

About 4,800 jobs were added in the leisure and hospitality industry. Gains in construction jobs were offset in part by losses in manufacturing, mining and logging sectors. Professional and business services added 3,200 jobs, while the educational and health services sector saw an increase of 2,400.

The state had a loss of 4,900 jobs in the trade, transportation and utilities sector. Government employment also shed 3,200 positions.

The number of unemployed has decreased by 68,000 in the past 12 months to 353,000 from 421,000.

Philadelphia chocolate store: Tax issue resolved

PHILADELPHIA -- A Philadelphia chocolate maker and candy store says it has resolved a tax issue that threatened to shutter the establishment days before Easter.

Blasius Chocolate Factory says on its Facebook page that the problem had been solved and the store "is open now forever. No more tax issues."

Mark McDonald, spokesman for Mayor Michael Nutter, told Philly.com (http://bit.ly/1eHFGxW ) that the shop signed an agreement to pay delinquent taxes and made a down payment on Thursday afternoon.

City officials had moved to close the store in the city's Kensington neighborhood Wednesday over $12,000 in unpaid taxes. Owner Phil Kerwick had disputed the amount.

The firm has been hand-making chocolates since the 1920s. It's noted for buttercreams and giant Easter eggs.

Dutch man's case linked to Amanda Todd

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Canadian police confirmed Thursday an arrest has been made in the Netherlands in the case of a Canadian teenager who was blackmailed into exposing herself in front of a webcam. The 15-year-old later committed suicide after detailing her harassment on a YouTube video watched by millions around the world.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Insp. Paulette Freill said a suspect has been arrested in the Netherlands and charged with extortion, luring and criminal harassment and possession of child pornography for the purpose of distribution. The 35-year-old man has been identified under Dutch privacy laws only as "Aydin C."

Freill declined to release specifics of the case but said there were other victims in Canada and internationally. Dutch prosecutors said the man is suspected of blackmailing girls in the U.S., Britain and the Netherlands. Canadian police said they would seek extradition.

Amanda Todd brought the problem of cyber bullying to mainstream attention in Canada after she posted a video on YouTube in which she told her story with handwritten signs, describing how she was lured by a stranger to expose her breasts on a webcam.

The picture ended up on a Facebook page made by the stranger, to which her friends were added.

She was repeatedly bullied, despite changing schools, before finally killing herself weeks after posting the video. It has now been viewed more than 17 million times.

"This is truly a day we have been waiting for," said Carol Todd, Amanda's mother. She wiped away tears as she thanked police.

Dutch prosecutors said they filed indecent assault and child pornography charges against the man. Lawyer Christian van Dijk earlier confirmed to The Associated Press that one of the charges against his client involved a 15-year-old girl from British Columbia.

Aydin C., who has dual Dutch and Turkish nationality, has been in detention since he was arrested in January in a vacation house the town of Oisterwijk. He lived alone, and has no wife or children.

Prosecutors first publicized his case after a preliminary hearing Wednesday at which his detention was extended for three months.

"The suspicions against the man are that he approached underage girls via the Internet and then seduced them into performing sexual acts in front of a webcam," prosecutors said in a statement.

"He is suspected of subsequently pressurizing them to participate in making new material."

They noted Aydin C. is also thought to have blackmailed adult men in a somewhat similar way, by convincing them that he was an underage boy, convincing them to perform sexual acts on camera, and then threatening to turn the images over to the police.

National prosecution spokesman Paul van der Zande said Aydin C. must first go through his Dutch legal process before he can be extradited to face separate charges in Canada.

Lawyer Van Dijk said he doesn't believe prosecutors have sufficient evidence to convict his client, and said that even if there is evidence of unlawful activity on his computer, it may have been hacked.

"Prosecutors seem to think they have a big fish here, but if I see the evidence, it's not much," he said. "Lots of references to IP addresses and such."

Dutch prosecutors said they were cooperating with other national authorities, including the British.

Van Dijk said U.S. and Norwegian authorities are also involved in the case.

He said so far Aydin C. hasn't entered any plea.

"He's exercising his right to remain silent."

Toby Sterling reported from Amsterdam.

Should College Dropouts Be Honored By Their Alma Maters?

Audio for this story from Tell Me More will be available at approximately 3:00 p.m. ET.

From a Top Gun sequel starring drones to Howard University's pick of Puff Daddy as its commencement speaker, the Barbershop guys weigh in on the week's news.

New York's Muslims Push For Public Schools To Close For Eid Holidays

President of the Muslim Democratic Club of New York Linda Sarsour discusses why she wants the city's public schools to close on holidays like Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

To Fight Extremism, Don't Alienate Troublemakers At The Mosque

Audio for this story from Tell Me More will be available at approximately 3:00 p.m. ET.

In the fight against Islamic extremism, the president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council says that intervention within the community is more effective than external surveillance and secrecy.

15 Years After Columbine, Are Schools Any Safer?

The mass shooting at Columbine High School spurred schools to adopt "zero tolerance" policies. Do they work? NPR Education Correspondent Claudio Sanchez and former principal Bill Bond discuss.

New Americans turn to goats to address food demand

COLCHESTER, Vt. -- A bunch of kids in a minivan are solving twin challenges in northern Vermont: refugees struggling to find the food of their homelands and farmers looking to offload unwanted livestock.

The half dozen kids — that is, baby goats — that arrived last week at Pine Island Farm were the latest additions to the Vermont Goat Collaborative, a project that brings together new Americans hungry for goat meat with dairy goat farmers who have no need for young male animals. Some dairy farmers who otherwise would discard bucklings at birth or spend valuable time finding homes for them now can send them to Colchester, where they will be raised and sold to refugees, some of whom have spent full days traveling to Boston or New Hampshire for fresh goat, or have settled for imported frozen meat.

When community organizer Karen Freudenberger realized that the roughly 6,000 new Americans from southeast Asia, Africa and elsewhere living in the Burlington area were buying what amounted to 3,000 goats a year from Australia and New Zealand, she saw an opportunity. Since some of them had been farmers raising goats in their native countries, why couldn't they do it in Vermont, prized for its working landscape and locally raised foods?

"People keep saying, are you sure you can sell all those goats? We are sure we can sell all those goats," said Freudenberger, who helped launch the project.

Now in its second year, the collaborative includes two families from Bhutan and Rwanda who are raising about 200 baby goats that will be slaughtered on site and sold in the fall.

While there are no federal statistics on goat meat consumption, the USDA says demand for it is increasing, driven in part by a growth in ethnic populations. The U.S. had 2.3 million head of meat goats in January 2013, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, with Texas producing the most, followed by Tennessee.

Some of the refugees Freudenberger has worked with had trouble communicating with farmers when trying to buy fresh goat meat, while others were questioned by authorities for slaughtering an animal by the side of the road or for having a goat in a car. They are looking forward to being able to select, buy and slaughter their goats in a matter of hours instead of making the long, expensive trip to Boston, said goat farmer Chuda Dhaurali.

"It's very helpful," he said. "They are so excited."

"The whole project is really designed around trying to meet this particular niche demand that this community has ... in a way that meets the particular cultural and taste desires of their communities," Freudenberger said.

The project is a collaboration between the Vermont Land Trust, which is giving the farmers access to the farm property on the Winooski River, and the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, now called AALV. The idea is that the land will be transferred to a cooperative entity representing the new American population and that group will take over the costs of the land — such as the insurance and taxes, Freudenberger said.

A grant of about $20,000 from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters helped to get Dhaurali started last year with electric fencing, feed and other supplies. Another Vermont Working Lands grant of more than $10,000 helped create the custom slaughter facility. The project subsidizes the farmer for the first year, but when they sell the goats in the fall, it allows them to finance future years.

Last year the project sold about 100 goats to families from more than 15 nationalities. Often, whole families including grandparents visit the farm to pick out the goat. Goat buyers can slaughter the animals on site the way they are accustomed to.

"It's more than just the meat — the nutritional side of it. It's also very cultural in terms of the way that people are wanting to participate in the whole process," Freudenberger said.

And Dhaurali, who is from Bhutan and spent 18 years as a refugee in Nepal, said many of the older members of Vermont's Nepalese community don't care for the taste of chicken, beef or pork.

The Vermont Goat Collaborative could grow to about 400 goats, with three families sharing the barn and pasture. That's far from meeting the demand, but that's not the idea. The project is designed to be a model that could be transferred to other farms and states. It already has sparked interest in Maine, New Hampshire and North Carolina.

"The idea is not to get our farm huge so that we can send our goats all over the country, but it's to get a working a model that then can be transferred and tweaked given people's particular situations to make it work," Freudenberger said.

Oklahoma-based Sonic plans expansion over 10 years

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma-based Sonic Corp. plans to open 1,000 new drive-in restaurants nationwide over the next 10 years, expanding the chain by about 30 percent, the company said.

"It can be a matter of pride in a lot of small towns when you get your first Sonic, so we still have a lot of towns around the state to grow," said John Budd, Sonic's chief development and strategy officer.

Sonic now has about 3,500 drive-ins in 44 states, with hopes to expand into all 50 states, Budd said.

Budd told The Oklahoman (http://bit.ly/1mjHQ6W ) that the company's core market has always been Oklahoma and Texas, but said Sonic is making adjustments to the design of its restaurants to suit other climates. In colder areas, for example, Sonic has added dining rooms in addition to its typical patio seating.

"The core of the brand is as a drive-in, and we expect it will remain that way," Budd said.

The company hopes to add 40-50 new locations in the next year, 60 to 70 locations in the following year and 80 to 90 locations in the third year.

"Eventually, we hope to be in the triple digits every year," Budd said.

Sonic said it expected total employment to grow from about 150,000 workers system-wide to 200,000 in the next 10 years, though most of the growth will be at new locations and not Sonic's headquarters in Oklahoma City, he said.

Unemployment rates fall in 21 US states last month

WASHINGTON -- More than two-thirds of the states reported job gains in March, as hiring has improved for much of the country during what has been a sluggish but sustained 4 1/2-year recovery.

The Labor Department said Friday that unemployment rates dropped in 21 states, rose in 17 and were unchanged in the remaining 12. Meanwhile, hiring increased in 34 states and fell in 16.

The unemployment rate varies from as low as 2.6 percent in North Dakota to as much as 8.7 percent in Rhode Island. South Carolina has experienced the sharpest rate decline over 12 months to 5.5 percent from 8 percent.

The rate nationwide stayed at 6.7 percent in March for the second straight month. That national rate stayed flat because someone was hired for almost every person who entered the job market last month.

Employers added 192,000 jobs nationwide in March, close to the average monthly gains of the past two years.

Ohio experienced the largest month-to-month drop in its unemployment rate: 0.4 percentage points to 6.1 percent. That steep drop occurred because the state added 12,000 jobs last month, while the total number of people in its job market fell 11,200 to 5.75 million.

Unemployment rates can fall when people leave the job market, as well as when employers hire.

North Carolina reported the second largest year-over-year drop in the unemployment rate: a 2.2 percentage point decrease to 6.3 percent. Part of that decline came from the loss unemployment benefits for jobless workers. Because those workers needed to look for jobs in order to receive benefits, the loss of the jobless aid likely caused them to give up their hunts and no longer be counted as unemployed.

Several states continue to lag the gains made across the country. Unemployment remains elevated in Nevada (8.5 percent), Illinois (8.4 percent), California (8.1 percent) and Kentucky (7.9 percent).

Chobani to expand beyond top-selling Greek yogurt

NEW YORK -- Chobani plans to expand beyond its Greek yogurt cups this summer as it faces intensifying competition in the fast growing category.

Starting in July, the company plans to offer Chobani Oats, which is yogurt mixed with fruit and oats; a dessert called Chobani Indulgent and new flavors for kids.

Later this year, the Norwich, N.Y.-based company will also introduce savory dips, Chief Marketing Officer Peter McGuinness said in a phone interview. Chobani has been testing such offerings at its cafe in New York City's SoHo neighborhood.

The privately held company has grown quickly over the last several years, riding the surge in popularity of Greek yogurt, and is the biggest seller of Greek yogurt in the U.S. But competition has been increasing, with General Mills and Danone investing more heavily in their Greek yogurt brands. Whole Foods recently decided to stop carrying Chobani to make room for other Greek yogurt alternatives.

McGuinness said Chobani Oats will be company's first product specifically designed to compete in the breakfast category. He said it will be positioned to compete with "bars, cereal and oatmeal" rather than other yogurts. Although the oats will be mixed into the yogurt, he said they will be "al dente" and not "mushy." The cups will cost slightly more than its core yogurt cups at between $1.20 and $1.50.

As for the company's plans to raise capital to fund its expansion, he said executives are "still in discussions."

Plan would allow private money vehicle for mall

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. -- The developers of an outlet mall in Southaven want to create a public improvement district so they can pursue private financing for infrastructure improvements to the site.

Outlet Shops of the Mid-South would locate on a 324,000-square-foot facility to be built in Southaven.

A public improvement district would have a board of directors that may issue bonds and collect assessments from property owners in the district to pay for the infrastructure improvements such as water and sewer systems, roads and other improvements.

The debt is not backed by the city, county or the state.

Since the 33 acres where the $165 million outlet mall will be built at Interstate 55 and Church Road is within the city limits of Southaven, developers must petition the city to allow the establishment of the district.

The city must hold a public hearing within 45 days of filing of the petition.

A public notice about the hearing must also be published at least once a week for four weeks before the hearing.

Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite tells The Commercial Appeal (http://bit.ly/1kI2TjJ) the city council will meet Monday to look at the proposal and to set a date for a public hearing

"By law, for a public improvement district to be created within the city limits of the municipality, the city has to approve that.

"We have to approve a public hearing, and then later we may approve the actual PID. The PID has its own board and can raise private financing by issuing bonds," Musselwhite said.

"The PID affects no one except the people in the PID, and in this case that would be the retail businesses," Musselwhite said. "It will have no impact on the citizens within the city of Southaven."

Memphis-based developers Poag & McEwen Lifestyle Centers, part of the development group building the outlet mall, has already qualified and been approved for $34 million in sales tax rebates.

Judge agrees to prevent removal of charity bins

YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- A judge has agreed for now to prevent a Michigan township from forcing the removal of a Maryland-based nonprofit's outdoor clothing donation bins from the area.

U.S. District Court Judge Denise Page Hood this week granted a request by Planet Aid for a temporary restraining order. The charity has 16 clothing and shoe collection bins on commercial properties in Washtenaw County's Ypsilanti Township and said it was being unfairly targeted.

Elkridge-based Planet Aid got the OK from property owners to put in bins. Officials in Ypsilanti Township, near Ann Arbor, were enforcing a decades-old zoning decision requiring accessory structures to be approved by the Planning Commission.

Ypsilanti Township's attorney Doug Winters tells The Ann Arbor News (http://bit.ly/1ntMhMv ) the township received complaints about the cleanliness, orderliness and placement of the bins.

Asia stocks rise in abbreviated trading

BEIJING -- Asian stocks were mostly higher in trading muted by Good Friday observance.

Markets in Europe, the U.S. and many countries in Asia were closed for the holiday. Oil trading also was suspended.

Among the markets that traded, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 0.7 percent to 14,516.27 while China's Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.1 percent to 2,097.75 after data earlier this week showed economic growth slowed to its lowest level since 2012.

Seoul's Kospi added 0.6 percent to 2,004.28 and Taiwan's Taiex rose 0.3 percent to 8,966.66. Benchmarks in Malaysia and Thailand were slightly higher.

On Thursday, global stocks were subdued after Google and IBM reported weak results, even though General Electric was optimistic and Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley beat expectations.

On Wall Street, the Standard & Poor's 500 rose two points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 1,864.85. The Dow Jones industrial average, however, fell 16 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 16,408.54, hurt by the big drop in IBM.

The euro inched down to $1.3820 from $1.3816 late Thursday. The dollar was little changed at 102.42 yen from 102.43 yen.

Police: No injuries after Tech Center response

WARREN, Mich. -- Police say a hazardous materials situation at a General Motors Co. facility north of Detroit has been cleared with no injuries.

The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News report crews responded to reports early Friday of an ammonia leak at the Tech Center in Warren.

Warren police Lt. Dan Novak says employees who were at the facility shortly after 5 a.m. were cleared out but allowed back inside a few hours later.

WWJ-AM reports that most workers at the Tech Center hadn't been expected to be on the job Friday because it was Good Friday.

Jumblatt undecided on presidential candidate

BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt said in comments published Friday that he is still undecided on which candidate he will endorse for the presidency.

“I will choose [a candidate] at the last minute after consulting my conscience and my partners,” he told Al-Ousbou Al-Arabi magazine.

“I consult Speaker Nabih Berri first, the Future Movement and other sides,” Jumblatt said.

“I will not declare anything about the subject and I prefer we have [announced] candidates with clear economic and social platforms.”

Jumblatt also denied media reports that he would not vote for Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea or Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun.

“I never said that,” he said.

The two-month constitutional deadline for electing a new president started on March 25 and Parliament is set to meet next Wednesday to elect a new president.

Jumblatt also reiterated his criticism of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and blamed him for the deterioration of war-torn Syria.

“Bashar Al-Assad, with his megalomania and stubbornness, wanted to punish his people and refused to listen to their righteous demands,” he said.

“Whether we liked Hafez al-Assad or not, we have to admit he built a strong Syria whose role [in the region] cannot be overlooked. The son destroyed it all,” Jumblatt said.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Raad, head of the Hezbollah parliamentary bloc, said his party would support a presidential candidate who defends the resistance.

“We want a candidate who will support and protect the resistance strategy and who is keen on the unity of the Lebanese people,” Raad said during a memorial service in south Lebanon.

Chinese trade group to mediate shoe factory strike

BEIJING -- A Chinese government trade union says it will mediate a labor dispute in which tens of thousands of workers have joined a massive strike against the world's largest shoemaker.

Guangdong Federation of Trade Unions said Friday that it had instructed its municipal branch in the southern city of Dongguan to find a resolution to the strike.

More than 30,000 workers in the 10 plants run by Taiwanese-owned Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings) Ltd. have staged work stoppages this week to demand the company make social security contributions as required by Chinese law and meet other demands.

Yue Yuen makes shoes for companies including Nike and Adidas.

Blumenthal: Metro-North fined $552,000 past decade

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal says Metro-North Railroad has been fined $552,000 over the past decade for safety violations and defects.

The Connecticut Democrat called it a shameful record that shows an urgent need for immediate attention to safety and reliability.

Blumenthal says there were 139 violations since 2004. He says per 100 miles of track, Metro-North had five times the number of safety defects than any other commuter railroad in the country.

The data was provided to Blumenthal by the Federal Railroad Administration.

A message left with Metro-North seeking comment wasn't immediately returned. A spokeswoman said this month the commuter railroad generally does better during federal inspections than most railroads.

The railroad had two derailments last year, one in New York City that left four passengers dead and one in Bridgeport that injured dozens.

Italian defense official in Lebanon for brief visit

BEIRUT: An Italian delegation headed by Deputy Secretary of Defense Domenico Rossi arrived in Beirut Friday for a one-day visit.

A source at Beirut airport said the delegation, which arrived from Italy on board a military plane, will inspect Italian troops serving as part of the U.N. peacekeeping force in south Lebanon.

The delegation will leave Lebanon later Friday, the source told The Daily Star.

Future denies Hariri in Lebanon for election

BEIRUT: A Future Movement source denied Friday that Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri would return to Lebanon to attend the parliamentary session to elect a new president new week.

“Such allegations are not true,” the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Star.

“Hariri has no intentions of coming back to Lebanon at the moment,” the source added.

Future MP Ahmad Fatfat also told The Daily Star that there was no information regarding the return of the Future Movement leader, who has been out of the country for nearly three years.

Tripoli MP Samir Jisr, also from the Future bloc, told the voice of Lebanon radio station earlier in the day that Hariri might attend next week’s parliamentary session to elect a president.

Jisr was not available for a comment on his claims.

Speaker Nabih Berri had called for a session on Wednesday to elect a new head of state. However, chances of electing a president during the session remain low, with both the March 8 and March 14 blocs still deliberating their candidates. The two-month constituional deadline to elect a new president ends on May 25.

Hariri hinted in a television interview in Cairo in February that he might return to Lebanon for the presidential election.

“My return to Lebanon is dependent on the political and security moment [as] I see fit. We have presidential elections that should take place and I will not be absent from it and I will be a part of it,” Hariri said.

Hariri left Lebanon in early 2011, months after the collapse of his National Unity government. He has repeatedly cited security concerns for his absence.

Obama Wants To Sell Exports To Asia, But Critics Aren't Buying

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hide captionMembers of Japan's farmers association protest against the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks at a rally in Tokyo in March 2013.

Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images

Members of Japan's farmers association protest against the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks at a rally in Tokyo in March 2013.

Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images

Next week, President Obama is going to Asia, where he'll talk up a proposed deal to increase U.S. trade with that region.

If he succeeds, he could open up huge new markets for U.S. farmers and manufactures, strengthen U.S. influence in Asia and set a path to greater prosperity.

At least, that's what the White House says.

Critics say that cheery outlook is all wrong. They believe the Trans-Pacific Partnership would lead to environmental harm, more expensive prescription drugs and a less open Internet. Worst of all, the deal would have a "devastating impact" on U.S. jobs, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., says.

Everyone agrees on this: The TPP would be a big deal.

Such a trade pact would pull together the United States, Japan, Australia and nine other countries whose collective gross domestic product accounts for 40 percent of all the goods and services produced in the world. The deal would influence geopolitics, the economy and the future of global trade.

The Government Shutdown

Obama's Absence At Asia Summit Seen Hurting U.S. Trade

Could something that momentous really get approved in the Age of Gridlock? Why are critics and supporters so riled up — and far apart?

Let's break it down.

WHAT? The agreement would create a tariff-free trade zone where partners could enjoy much closer economic ties. For example, Japan could sell cars in this country without facing the current 2.5 percent tariff and U.S. farmers could sell lots of chickens in Asia. Everything from Washington state apples to Australian zucchini could be affected.

WHO? The TPP would include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. And here's the big thing: the partnership does not include China. By pulling together the economic powerhouses of North America with Japan, the agreement would create an enormous counterweight to China's rising economic power.

WHY? Supporters say the pact would advance U.S. geopolitical aims by reminding smaller Asian nations that China is not the only attractive business partner.

Moreover, it would help U.S. companies expand, supporters argue. Currently, U.S. exports are limited because "a typical Southeast Asian country imposes tariffs that are five times higher than the U.S. average, while its duties on agricultural products soar into the triple digits," the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says. The TPP would eliminate such barriers.

Parallels

Battle Of The Bottom Feeder: U.S., Vietnam In Catfish Fight

Opponents say the pact would hurt U.S. workers.

"TPP would force Americans to compete against workers from nations such as Vietnam, where the minimum wage is $2.75 per day," DeLauro said on a press call this week. "It threatens to roll back financial regulations, environmental standards, and U.S. laws that protect the safety of drugs, and food and the toys we give to our kids."

WHERE ARE WE? Many issues have been settled, but several sticking points remain. For example, Japan has been insisting on keeping tariffs high on rice imports and the U.S. has been trying to delay removal of tariffs on Japanese auto imports.

Formal negotiations kicked off in 2010, with the work heating up one year ago when Japan officially joined in.

The White House originally had hoped that Obama's trip to Tokyo and other Asian capitals would yield a big announcement about TPP. But the tour, which begins Wednesday, now looks less promising. Most analysts say it seems unlikely Obama will nail down even a broad agreement in principle, let alone a detailed pact.

HOW CAN THEY MOVE FORWARD? One important step would be for Congress to renew "fast-track authority," which expired in 2007. That authority sets up a legislative process wherein Congress can hold only yes-or-no votes on trade pacts, with no amendments.

Presidents always want such authority, saying they cannot negotiate trade deals only to have Congress tack on amendments after the fact. If all 12 countries in the TPP were to do that, the process might never end because the agreement would keep changing with each amendment in each country.

But in January, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said he opposes renewal of fast-track authority and added that "everyone would be well-advised just not to push this right now."

Some members of Congress have complained that they don't even know what might be right or wrong with the deal because negotiations are being done behind closed doors.

20 Years Of NAFTA

Economists Toast 20 Years Of NAFTA; Critics Sit Out The Party

For example, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told the Senate that "the majority of Congress is being kept in the dark as to the substance of the TPP negotiations, while representatives of U.S. corporations — like Halliburton, Chevron, PHRMA, Comcast, and the Motion Picture Association of America — are being consulted and made privy to details of the agreement."

PROSPECTS? Obama has a tough battle ahead, but says he is hopeful about winning over Democrats. He says any final agreement would actually "raise the bar" for workers.

In his State of the Union address, Obama promised to support expanded trade that will "protect our workers, protect our environment and open new markets to new goods stamped 'Made in the USA.' "

Chelsea Clinton Announces She's Pregnant

Chelsea's parents — Bill and Hillary — sent out tweets confirming the news. The former president wrote that he's excited to add a new line to his Twitter bio: grandfather to be.

Rapides Parish sues former Coliseum design firm

ALEXANDRIA, La. -- The Rapides Parish Police Jury has filed a lawsuit against the architectural firm that formerly headed the Rapides Parish Coliseum renovation project.

The Town Talk reports (http://townta.lk/1qTjByq ) the suit against Barron, Heinberg & Brocato Inc., filed last week, seeks reimbursement of nearly $630,000 the parish spent on the Coliseum project while BH&B was in charge.

The jury terminated its contract with BH&B in August after the firm reported it could not complete the project within the $23 million budget.

Judge to interview experts in Detroit bankruptcy

DETROIT -- A former New York lieutenant governor is among the candidates to be interviewed as a possible expert in the Detroit bankruptcy case.

Judge Steven Rhodes wants a set of fresh, experienced eyes to offer opinions as Detroit tries to emerge from bankruptcy this year.

Richard Ravitch and others will be interviewed by Rhodes in court Friday.

The 80-year-old Ravitch has had a long career in public service in New York and has been outspoken about financial risks faced by states and local governments. He tells The Associated Press that many promises no longer are affordable.

Ravitch says Detroit is the most dramatic example of "what happens when you kick the can down the road." He says he would work for free.

SIU to keep fall tuition for newcomers unchanged

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- New students at Southern Illinois University won't be paying more for tuition this fall.

WSIU Radio (http://bit.ly/QrXVMH) reports the university system's trustees on Thursday opted against raising the tuition by 3 percent for newcomers to the Carbondale campus and 5 percent for those in Edwardsville.

The board's chairman, Randal Thomas, says there was no traction for boosting tuition costs, especially as the university system takes on a new president at the first of next month.

Trustees will consider proposals for fee increases at their meeting in May.

Information from: WSIU-FM.

Jackson airport addressing life after Southwest

JACKSON, Miss. -- The Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport is delaying security checkpoint upgrades and improvements to the concourse after a downgrading of its revenue bonds by Fitch Rating Service.

Fitch dropped the rating to BBB+ from A- on the heels of Southwest Airlines' decision to stop nearly two decades of service on June 7.

Fitch said the loss of the airport's second-largest carrier could bring higher fees to airlines and higher costs to passengers. This is already occurring, Fitch said, citing the airport's increase of landing fees by 18 percent and parking fees 8 percent at the beginning of FY2014. The airport also implemented of an additional 15 percent landing fee increase effective in May to offset future declines in revenue caused by Southwest's departure.

Nearly two-thirds of the Jackson Airport Authority's operating revenues of $17.6 million come from non-airline sources. Parking revenues alone count for approximately $6.1 million, Fitch said.

Dirk Vanderleest, Airport Authority executive director, told the Mississippi Business Journal (http://bit.ly/1kpHyvg ) Fitch's designation of a "stable" credit outlook for the airport assures borrowing costs won't go up on the $39.4 million bond issue "at this time."

"We're still investment grade," Vanderleest said. "We have the capacity for timely payments."

The security and terminal improvements are part of the airport's $88 million five-year capital improvement plan. In capital plan includes design and construction of a new quick-turnaround car rental facility.

Delaying the projects by up to 12 months keeps the debt off the books as Fitch Ratings makes further evaluations of the Airport Authority's credit worthiness, Vanderleest said.

Southwest represents 27 percent of available seats and its departure means a loss of direct service to Houston Hobby, Orlando and Chicago Midway airports.

A determination will have to be made on what the Southwest loss translates to in terms of "the overall cost per passenger" after June 7, Vanderleest said.

It will take at least six months of enplanement totals to gain a fix on the financial consequences of the loss of Southwest, he said.

Vanderleest said Delta Airlines has agreed to increase its seat offerings by at least 10 percent in July when it replaces its regional jets at Jackson-Evers with 7/17 aircraft.

United will bump up total seat availability by 35 percent by adding a daily direct flight to Chicago O'Hare and 1.5 flights a day to Houston's George H. Bush International.

The loss of Southwest leaves the airport without a direct flight to Orlando, a popular vacation destination.

"We are talking to some other carriers about that direct service," Vanderleest said.

SC awaiting state unemployment figure for March

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- State officials will reveal if South Carolina's unemployment rate is continuing to fall.

The Department of Employment and Workforce on Friday is expected to release the state's jobless rate for March.

Unemployment in South Carolina has fallen nine months in a row and was 5.7 percent in February.

That decline, from 6.4 a month earlier, marked the steepest one-month drop recorded since officials started keeping track of employment numbers almost 40 years ago.

Nationally, the unemployment rate was 6.7 percent in March.

Updated Obamacare Enrollment Exceeds Estimates

Audio for this story from Morning Edition will be available at approximately 9:00 a.m. ET.

President Obama said enrollment under the Affordable Care Act reached 8 million after the deadline was extended by 2 weeks. The figure represents a turnaround from the disastrous debut of the website.

Hezbollah suspects planned attack against Israelis: report

BEIRUT: One of the two suspected Hezbollah members held in Thailand confessed to planning an attack against Israeli tourists on April 13 during the Jewish festival of Passover, the Bangkok Post reported Friday.

French-Lebanese national Daoud Farhat and Lebanese-Filipino national Youssef Ayad were arrested earlier this week on suspicion of having links to Hezbollah.

The two arrived in Thailand several days before Passover which also coincided with the Thai festival of Songkran.

Although it was Farhat’s first trip to the country, Ayad had visited Thailand 17 times before, the paper said.

The post quoted Assistant National Police Chief Winai Thongsong as saying that the men were arrested at different locations in Bangkok after Thai police received intelligence from Israel about a planned attack during Passover in Khao San Road, popular among Israeli tourists.

The paper also quoted an anonymous investigator saying that police were in pursuit of at least nine people suspects of having links to Hezbollah.

A source close to the investigation told the post that Ayyad confessed “his group entered Thailand to carry out a bomb attack against Israeli tourists and other Israeli groups on Khao San Road during Songkran.”

"Now we can seize materials, such as nails and bolts, used in making bombs from their homes in Bangkok,” the source said.

"We are taking the holder of the Philippines passport to Rayong province to search for more bomb-making material kept there," the source added, noting that the arrest of the men foiled the attack.

Winai said the two men would be deported back to the last countries they traveled from after police finalize their investigation.

National Security Council chief Lt Gen Paradorn Pattanatabut confirmed Thai authorities are focusing on the capture of another foreign terrorist.

Original reports indicated that a three-member Hezbollah ring allegedly entered Thailand but the post said the third suspect, identified as Bilal Bahsoun, may not have entered the country.

Jackson airport addressing life after Southwest

JACKSON, Miss. -- The Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport is preparing for life after Southwest Airlines. The airline will shut down in Jackson on June 7 after 20 years.

One results of that departure is to delay security checkpoint upgrades and improvements to the concourse after a downgrading of the airport's revenue bonds by Fitch Rating Service.

Fitch says the loss of the airport's second-largest carrier could bring higher fees to airlines and higher costs to passengers. Some of those increases have already taken effect.

Dirk Vanderleest, Airport Authority executive director, told the Mississippi Business Journal (http://bit.ly/1kpHyvg) delaying the projects by up to 12 months keeps the debt off the books as Fitch Ratings makes further evaluations of the Airport Authority's credit worthiness.

Southwest represents 27 percent of available seats in Jackson.

Brewers seeks to rekindle Belgium's love of beer

DWORP, Belgium -- The ruby lettering on the front of the old corner pub "In de Welkom" has peeled almost beyond recognition. Owner Leza Wauters, a tough 87-year-old, is holding on to her business but can't say how much longer. Sooner or later, yet another bar with a warm "Welcome" will be gone.

Serving local geuze, triples and pils beers for generations, the pub has embodied what the drink means to Belgians — bringing together families and friends with cheers of "sante" and "gezondheid," gulping down tasty suds before ordering more.

Now, the tables are often empty, a sign of the hard times many pubs like these have fallen upon as Belgians have stopped drinking beer like they used to. The beer industry, meanwhile, has increasingly relied on exporting the world-class beers to far-flung markets.

Not good, they say here.

The Belgian beer federation is trying to rekindle local interest in the drink with a "Proud of our Beers" public awareness campaign, including a tricolor national flag with the middle yellow turned into a glass of beer.

"Belgian beer made in Belgium but not drunk in Belgium is not really Belgian beer anymore," said Gert Christiaens, the owner of the Oud Beersel brewery, which won a silver medal at the World Beer Cup last week with his geuze, a sour beer made through natural fermentation.

"If it is not in their roots anymore and they cannot pass it on to the next couple of generations, then we've lost. We cannot claim the heritage of Belgian beer if nobody knows about it," he said.

Beer consumption in Belgium is still relatively high — at 74 liters (16.2 gallons) a head annually. But that is a 27 percent drop since 1992.

In just about any town or village, pensioners can point out the places were bars used to be, and are now gone. Guidea, the research institute of the industry, says the number of drinking establishments has declined from 38,128 in 1983 to 17,512 in 2012, the last year on record in this nation of 10.5 million.

Exports, meanwhile, have risen, from 5.47 million hectoliters in 2000 to 11.69 million a dozen years later to account for roughly two-thirds of production now.

Sven Gatz, the head of the Belgian Brewers federation, says the overall trend is not good for the local industry.

"You cannot be a strong beer country only exporting beer," he said at his gilded, baroque headquarters on one of Europe's finest squares, the Brussels Grand Place, proof of the exalted status beer has in this country.

It's not only about boosting current sales but about preserving for the future the identity and national heritage that had made the Belgian beers famous in the first place, he argued. In a globalized market, that identity is valuable.

Leza Wauters remembers the good times well. "Oh, we had more than 50 cafes in Dworp," she said of the bucolic village 15 kilometers (10 miles) south of Brussels, part of a hilly area of pastures whose landscapes, and beers, figured in the paintings of the famous artist Breughel. "It was incredible - it was almost like everyone had a cafe."

Now the village's pubs can be counted on two hands, she said.

Her granddaughter Barbara Danis fondly remembers time spent at the "In de Welkom" but recognizes its days may be numbered. Most clients are of an older generation that used to congregate daily in the pubs but that is now fading away.

"You used to have card players who came here every day," she said. Now, her grandmother complains, those games are over.

Younger clients are tough to attract because they prefer to enjoy drinks at home. They move around mainly by car — and have to heed modern drunk driving laws — whereas clients in older times would walk to their local pub. Laws prohibiting smoking in pubs have also hurt business.

Siene Verhelst, who ducked into the "In de Welkom" after a walk in the surrounding woods to order an amber Westmalle trappist beer, pondered: "You are lucky to be here, because this can be over next week."

Part of the decline in interest in beer was also due to the growing industrialization of beer production that often alienated locals.

"In the 1960s to the eighties, the bigger breweries took over the midsized breweries, the midsized breweries took over the small brewers and there was consolidation," said Gatz. That has reduced the amount of choice and severed the sense of identification a local population had with their local brew.

The world's largest brewer, AB Inbev, is an extreme example. Part of the Belgium-based conglomerate originated in the country but it has become so large that most of its brands are foreign — Budweiser, Corona, Beck's.

There is some hope, however, that the beer culture might be revitalized by what is, ironically, a global trend — the surge in microbreweries.

Next door to Dworp is Buizingen, where Kloris Deville and his dad Bart have turned Den Herberg — "The Inn" — into a thriving little pub over a half dozen years with heaving weekend clientele, partly because they started their own microbrewery in the back.

Bart Deville says he's produced up to a dozen new beers and is finding huge demand — he has a huge storage room full of a new brew for which he still has to find a fitting name.

Microbreweries have found success across the globe, but Belgians are inspired by their particularly rich and long tradition.

It is what moved Gert Christiaens to drop a career in the telecoms services and become a brewer. Twelve years ago, at the age of 25, he was shocked to hear a bartender tell him that his favorite geuze would soon be extinct, as the brewery had closed down.

"A couple of days later I rang the brewery," he said, and now Christiaens brews the Oud Beersel gueze himself, winning global prizes along the way and expanding his business to make it sustainable.

"I did not want this heritage of Belgium to disappear," he said.

---

AP Video journalist Mark D. Carlson contributed to this story

Ag economists help farmers plot insurance coverage

STONEVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi growers at some point this fall will have to make a momentous, one-time decision on how best to insure their livelihood over the next five years.

In arriving at that decision, they will depend in large part on agricultural economists such as those at the Mississippi State University Delta Research and Extension Service who are now assembling projections to help in making that decision.

All the while, U.S. Department of Agriculture specialists are working to draft regulations mandated by the Agricultural Act of 2014, which after more than a year of rancorous debate, was signed into law Feb. 7.

By law, the federal regulators have 180 days from the law's signing to produce the complex set of rules. That would place its release date sometime in August, at the latest.

For now, however, growers in the Mississippi Delta have a more immediate concern: getting their crops in as untimely rains continue to pass through the area, soaking fields and idling tractors.

At the Delta Research and Extension Service offices, economists are using projections developed at the University of Missouri to assemble spreadsheets into which area growers will be able to plug their individual crop allocations and other variables to help determine, on a commodity by commodity basis, which of two principal crop insurance programs to subscribe to.

"We're doing the arithmetic," Larry Falconer, one of four agricultural economists spearheading the effort. "We're trying to put together tools that reflect the best information we can to support the provisions of the 2014 act."

While much remains unknown as growers and agricultural economists alike await the final regulations, much has been laid out.

Direct payments, for instance, which had been mailed to growers whether they incurred losses or not since the program was established in 1996 are now a thing of the past. Counter-cyclical payments also have been done away with.

Moreover, cotton is no longer considered a Title I crop, and, as such, Falconer said, "cotton growers will receive a transition payment in the fall."

Falconer said cotton growers are no longer eligible for Agriculture Risk Coverage or Price Loss Coverage — the two new crop insurance programs from which growers will be choosing. Cotton acres will now be termed generic, providing an avenue to crop insurance.

"They didn't just chuck it in the wastebasket and say, 'fellows, youre out of luck,'" Falconer said.

Growers' calculations will rely, in part, on guesswork.

"Nobody has a crystal ball," Falconer said.

They do, however, have econometric models to work from.

The Farm Bill includes funding for land-grant universities, such as Mississippi State, to develop the spreadsheets and other tools to assist growers in determining their best coverage options.

According to Congressional Budget Office projections, crop insurance subsidies are expected to comprise 8 percent of the $489 billion, five-year farm bill, or just more than $39 billion.

Signup for 2015 coverage "probably will be in the fall," Falconer said. "I've heard some folks say the signup will be extended into January of next year, but the agriculture secretary (Tom Vilsack) has said it will be this fall, which I take to mean after harvest and before Christmas."

By then, Falconer said, 2013 data will be complete, eliminating at least one uncertainty, "and we'll have a better feel than we have now."

Falconer and his colleagues including two outlook economists will continually be refining their calculations as the signup date approaches, finessing their models to best serve area growers.

It is a responsibility fraught with uncertainty.

"Every five or six years, you get the (farm) bill," Falconer said, "and you feel the pressure."