Hearings set for Healthy Indiana Plan expansion

INDIANAPOLIS -- Two public hearings are scheduled this week on Gov. Mike Pence's plan to use Medicaid funds to expand the Healthy Indiana Plan to provide insurance under the federal health care overhaul.

The Family and Social Services Administration said the hearings will be held Wednesday and Thursday on the state government campus in downtown Indianapolis. Wednesday's hearing begins at 9 a.m. in Conference Center Room B at the Indiana Government Center South. Thursday's begins at 1 p.m. in Room 156-B at the Statehouse.

The FSSA also announced Friday that it has posted a draft of the proposed Medicaid waiver to pay for the HIP expansion and other related documents on the Healthy Indiana Plan website at http://bit.ly/1mdO9Ye .

Pence's proposal, which needs the approval of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, could cover as many as 350,000 uninsured Indiana residents who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. HIP currently provides health savings accounts to about 40,000 people.

Indiana has been seeking federal approval to use HIP, which was established in 2008 under former Gov. Mitch Daniels, as its vehicle to cover more uninsured residents.

The revised proposal would offer two tiers of coverage. The first would provide very limited coverage at little or no cost to people with household incomes below 100 percent of the federal poverty level. A higher level called HIP Plus would include dental and vision coverage, a comprehensive drug program and maternity services. Participants would pay $3 to $25 per month, based on income.

A third option would give workers who can't afford their employers' health care can help with their premiums from the state.

The proposal would use federal Medicaid funds and expand the state's hospital assessment fee to cover the cost.

In addition to the public hearings, the FSSA said it will hold public meetings across Indiana to discuss the proposal. The first one to be announced will be held at 11:30 a.m. EDT Thursday at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Mishawaka, near South Bend.

The agency plans to submit the proposed waiver to federal officials in late June. A 30-day comment period ends June 21.

Deadly car crash on Jeita road

BEIRUT: Two people, including a child, were killed and four others wounded in a traffic accident on the Jeita-Zouk Mosbeh road Monday.

The National News Agency said the child suffered from serious injuries and died shortly after arriving at the hospital.

No other details were given.

Businesses see opportunity in Chiquita's return

NEW ORLEANS -- A hundred years ago, New Orleans was the largest importer of bananas in the United States. The presence of Chiquita's predecessor, United Brands, allowed several local institutions — such as Ochsner Health System, Louisiana State University and Tulane University — to extend their international reach to Central and South America.

United Brands operated in New Orleans for nearly seven decades before leaving for Gulfport, Mississippi, in the 1970s. Its departure coincided with rapid growth in competing markets, such as Houston and Miami, and the erosion of New Orleans' relationships with Latin America.

Business leaders predict that Chiquita's return, which company representatives and Louisiana officials announced recently, could help rebuild many of those ties.

Pan-American Life Insurance Group's origins are directly tied to the growth of the banana industry. New Orleans native Crawford Ellis founded the company in 1911 to provide personal and business insurance to people and businesses in Central and South America. Chiquita is still one of its regional accounts, so its return to New Orleans is good news for the company, Pan-American President, CEO and Chairman José Suquet said.

"I believe (Chiquita's announcement) is as good an opportunity as we have seen in the last 40 years to help re-establish our presence in Central America," Suquet said. "Both Houston and Miami are more expensive and busier markets. We can provide an attractive alternative compared to them."

Business leaders and economic developers say New Orleans faces several challenges before it can compete with those markets. The lack of direct flights to Central America tops the list.

Before Hurricane Katrina, Taca Airlines operated direct flights from New Orleans to Honduras among other Central American countries. Efforts to bring the airline back failed two years ago. Since then, Greater New Orleans Inc. and the New Orleans Aviation Board have continued efforts to lure Taca as well as convince Copa Airlines of Panama to offer a direct flight to Panama City.

The lack of direct air service is a major impediment to Ochsner Health System's ability to increase its prominence in Central America. Every year it serves approximately 3,000 to 4,000 patients from Central and South America who visit Ochsner for their health care needs.

That market could continue to grow, said Ana Hands, vice president of International and Transplant Services for Ochsner. Since the 1960s, the health system has made significant efforts to attract medical students and offer health services in Central and South America. Honduras continues to be its largest international market, but Miami and Houston are big competitors for those patients.

"We have many loyal patients who don't want to go anywhere else and have been coming to us for the past three or four generations," Hands said. "Younger people are more likely to go to Miami where they can get a direct flight than coming back here. It's a big challenge for us."

Greater New Orleans Community Data Center research shows that in 1970, New Orleans had about the same number of jobs as Houston. Over the next 40 years, Houston added about 260,000 jobs, a 200 percent increase. The increase in New Orleans was 20 percent over the same time span. The local stagnation was the result of oil and gas companies moving to Houston.

At the same time, many international businesses relocated to Miami. The city should have taken better advantage of its location at the mouth of the Mississippi River, connecting it to "north-south trade routes" that link the U.S. heartland to South America, GNO Inc. President and CEO Michael Hecht said.

"We lost these companies and industries through neglecting our ideal geography," he said.

Suquet added that further expansion at the Port of New Orleans should coincide with the ongoing expansion of the Panama Canal in order for New Orleans to compete with Miami and Houston. Doing so will allow the city to forge and renew business links with Latin America.

"Chiquita could help the viability of building those relationships." Hecht said. "I don't think this is going to be an isolated event. We could build a critical mass of companies that have ties and growing business to the south.

"This stagnation didn't happen by accident and it wasn't predestined. But now for the first time in decades, we have strong business and political leadership."

Information from: New Orleans CityBusiness, http://bit.ly/1gDTMhn

Neighbors help keep Detroit aquarium store afloat

DETROIT -- Kevin Johnson loves fish. Loves them so much that he spent a life working with them. So when the owner of the aquarium supply shop where he'd worked for years announced a couple years ago that the store was closing for good, he was adrift.

"I was shocked," the 49-year-old Detroiter told the Detroit Free Press (http://on.freep.com/1vewjuM ). "We were all shocked. It was like all our store. We were like family here. To come in and be like, 'That's it,' — what do you mean? Nobody could do nothing."

It was hard to tell who was more affected by the news — the staff or the residents around the store, who would soon step in to make sure there wasn't yet another subtraction from their neighborhood.

Johnson became infatuated with aquariums when he was about 7, when he visited his brother and marveled at the fish swimming so gracefully in his tanks.

He got his own aquariums, began breeding fish at home and eventually started his own fish tank cleaning business called Kaptain Kev's Kleaning. Even when he got a nonfish job stocking shelves at Meijer, he'd find himself checking on the fish in the handful of tanks they kept at the back of the store.

"I think there should be an aquarium in every house in the world," he said enthusiastically, noting that the children's hospitals among his customers have installed and stocked aquariums to soothe anxious children.

"It's very therapeutic and relaxing. If I'm stressful from bills, a lot of times I just go home and look at the fish and go, man, this is so relaxing, the bubbles and the fish moving back and forth. It's extremely calming."

It was natural that he'd wind up at Exotic Aquarium, the neighborhood fish store that had been on Detroit's west side since 1951, a short walk from his house. For 20 years, he devoted himself to that store, as did the residents nearby.

And suddenly, it was over.

"One day you've got a job and the next day you don't," said Tador Hawkins, 23. He, too, loved fish tanks, and he, too, spent years working at the neighborhood aquarium store. "It was basically, 'Your last day is Friday. See you around.' "

Johnson was determined not to let it end like that.

He offered to buy what was left in the old store and start his own. The owner sold him the fish, their tanks and the crickets and crumbs that feed them for $2,300.

It wasn't hard finding an empty storefront in a neighborhood full of them, and his eye settled on one just a short walk from the old store. But then a relative offered him a discounted retail space out in safer, cleaner West Bloomfield. It made sense to take it.

The neighbors heard of his plan to start his own business and came by.

"People said, 'You're really going to do it? That's amazing. But Kevin, don't leave,' " he remembered.

In a city lacking such basics as department stores and movie theaters, a specialty store focused on fish tanks might seem to make an insignificant impact.

But to the neighbors, every mom-and-pop store that stayed in the neighborhood was important, even if they didn't need fish supplies all that often.

Hawkins, who grew up just blocks from the store, understood the dynamic at work.

"I understand it's bad here, I understand the climate and the crime level. We're working on it," Hawkins said. "But in the meantime, to help keep some of those problems down, this gives people something ... to do. When you take everything out of the city, when you strip it, when businesses leave the city, it really affects the rest of the community."

The employees, he said, used to walk to a hardware store around the corner for basic supplies. It's gone now. They'd bring back carryout lunch from the diner up the street. Gone, too. They'd get ceramic aquarium decorations custom made at a little shop on McNichols. Gone. The neighbors had seen too many of these little stores close, and didn't want yet another empty building in their midst.

Johnson decided to stay.

As he began slowly building his store, the neighbors would come by to chip in. Someone dropped off free cans of paint. Someone else called Johnson now and then at night if they saw anything suspicious at the store. Even a distributor sensed what was at stake, and would bring more fish than Johnson ordered without charging.

The Rev. Prince Miles lives in Southfield, but makes a point to drive to Kev's Aquarium for supplies that often cost less than the gas to get here. He said neighbors admired what he called Johnson's integrity and the fact that he chose to stay when so many others had left.

"He needs to be supported," said the bowler-hatted reverend. "And this is the way his customers think — 'This black man is doing the right thing. He's building his community, he's building his neighborhood and I'm gonna help him do that.' "

It took a year of hard work to get the store open.

At first Johnson was on his own. The old store's owner vanished. Most of the other staff from the old store found other jobs, including Hawkins, the kid who'd hung around the store so much, he once was offered a job there. But now Hawkins was working just across the street, standing on the curb holding a big sign, waving people into a cell phone store.

Johnson knew how hard Hawkins always worked, the pride he took in cleaning the fish tanks, the enthusiasm with which he offered new ideas to an indifferent owner, like creating tutorial videos for customers. If you join me at the new store, Johnson told him, I'll make you the manager.

The pair worked day and night in their empty storefront, often until 3 in the morning, right until opening day. Once again, people had a place nearby to get ghost shrimp and fire eels, stingrays and gobys.

"Everybody was so happy," Johnson said. "Everybody was in here. I remember the week we opened I said we might do $500. We did $3,000. People were just so ecstatic — 'Kevin, you did it!' "

The store is half the size of the old one, marked only by small handmade signs, and a banner that pokes out of a plantless pot of dirt out front. It's still Johnson's work in progress.

But it's a living part of the neighborhood, a small business still standing, made real in part by the will of the people around it.

"It's a symbiotic relationship, kind of like the crab and the goby," Hawkins said of the store's place in the neighborhood. "You got the little goby, the crab digs the hole, the goby lives in it with the crab, the crab protects the goby, the goby protects the crab. They both have a place to live, they work together to keep the hole up. That's how it works."

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Information from: Detroit Free Press, http://www.freep.com

This is an AP Member Exchange shared by the Detroit Free Press.

Gretna approves plan for hotel

GRETNA, La. -- The Gretna City Council has approved a site plan for a 123-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel.

The New Orleans Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/1p0A3OQ ) the tract is a recently annexed parcel north of the West Bank Expressway.

The hotel is the first phase of a development by Bui Nguyen on an 11-acre site that formerly was part of the Terrytown community and was annexed by Gretna earlier this year at Nguyen's request.

Nguyen plans more development at the site, including retailing.

The Courtyard by Marriott is expected to be completed by mid-2015.

Officials have discussed designating the site as an economic development district to redirect some of the expected new tax revenue back into the development. However, the city administration hasn't submitted a formal proposal to the council.

Program spotlights eateries offering coast seafood

JACKSON, Miss. -- No two industries were more affected by the explosion in 2010 of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig than restaurant/hospitality and commercial fishing on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

The oil spill that spewed hundreds of millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico kept tourists away and left Gulf Coast-caught seafood with a black eye among consumers.

However, a new promotional effort has been launched to assist those industries' recovery, and it is being funded by BP, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon.

Inspired by the success of the Mississippi Blues Trail and Mississippi Country Music Trail, Mike Cashion, executive director of the Mississippi Hospitality & Restaurant Association, has unveiled the new Seafood Trails Program, a tourism-promotion initiative that spotlights restaurants that offer Gulf Coast-caught seafood.

Cashion said last year's program "Every Shrimp Has a Tale" — also funded by a BP Tourism Promotional Fund grant and aimed at giving consumers a chance to track their shrimp from the Gulf to their plate — was successful, and BP wanted a similar program this year. However, the Every Shrimp Has a Tale Program was limited to a 13-week run, was very technical and expensive, relying entirely on BP funding.

So, looking to 2014 Cashion had a different vision.

"I wanted to create a legacy program, one that was less technical and expensive and could stand on its own and benefit restaurants and the seafood industry long after the BP grant money is gone," Cashion said.

"We have music trails here in Mississippi, and other states have culinary or food trails. We're looking to do the same here in Mississippi, creating a trail that is more narrowly focused on seafood from the Gulf of Mexico."

Cashion said the Seafood Trails is a pilot program and is currently open to Gulf Coast restaurants only. However, if the program shows returns, the trail could expand in the future to include any Mississippi restaurant meeting the program's requirements.

Backers are buoyed be the early response. Cashion held a news briefing on the new initiative in Gulfport on May 7. More than two dozen restaurateurs attended. By May 9, Cashion had "a stack" of applications from prospective program participants on his desk.

"All I kept hearing from attendees (of the news briefing) was, 'This is a no-brainer,'" Cashion said, "and we have gotten heavy media coverage."

When asked if he felt that the public relations nightmare cause by the 2010 oil spill was behind local restaurants and the Mississippi seafood industry, Cashion hesitated, then said, "Well, it's changing."

To be considered for inclusion in the Seafood Trails Program, restaurants must offer at least five menu items featuring seafood caught in the Gulf of Mexico through Dec. 14. Cashion and Grady Griffin, the association's educational director, will oversee the project, and a focus group will manage marketing and advertising as well as media purchases.

Other criteria include:

— During the time periods selected, participating restaurants must exhibit marketing material as provided and as applicable.

— Participating restaurants agree to train and educate their staff on the Seafood Trails Program to enhance the guest experience. The association will, at the invitation of the participant, provide on-location service training for the participating restaurant at no cost to the restaurant.

— The association will play no role in either pricing of product or pricing of menu items. Securing approved product is the responsibility of participating restaurants, and it will provide consultation whenever possible.

— For grant reporting purposes, participating restaurants must submit to the restaurant association information on any sales increase or decrease over the same period from the previous year and provide operator feedback on the pros and cons of the program.

— Participating restaurants agree to comply with the provisions of the program's memorandum of understanding. Under no circumstances may participating restaurants misrepresent product being featured in the Seafood Trails Program. Featured products must be of Gulf of Mexico origin.

— Participating restaurants will be subject to random product audits to ensure the integrity of the marketing claim.

In the event of a material breach of any of the provisions of this agreement, the restaurant association can discontinue the participation of the non-compliant restaurant.

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Online:

Seafood Trails Program, http://www.mhra.org

Century-plus-old farm protected under easement

YORK TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- A Washtenaw County farm that has been in the Rogers family for more than a century will remain under agricultural use, thanks to a preservation agreement with the nonprofit Legacy Land Conservancy.

The Ann Arbor News (http://bit.ly/1kggak5 ) says the family was the first to establish a farm in the York Township area in the 1800s.

Current owner Kendall Rogers has placed a conservation easement agreement on 159 acres of farmland. Now, 240 of the farm's 460 acres are protected from future development.

Rogers says he and his father farmed the land for a long time, and now his grandson Aaron can continue to farm their land. The farm is about 10 miles south of Ann Arbor.

The Legacy Land Conservancy was founded in 1971 and protects about 5,500 acres.

French company to fight ruling in UT consumer suit

SALT LAKE CITY -- A Paris-based company says it will fight a U.S. judge's ruling against its attempt to force a Utah couple to pay a $3,500 penalty over a critical online review.

Descoteaux Boutiques SARL, the parent company of online retailer Kleargear.com, issued separate statements this week saying John and Jen Palmer of Layton were aware of the company's "non-disparagement clause" in its sales contracts with customers.

"The non-disparagement agreements are not new among employees, partners and customers across the globe," Kleargear.com spokesman Vic Mathieu said in a statement. "Our sales contract is enforceable under the laws of the United States because business transactions are exempt from First Amendment rights ... If a customer disagrees with any merchant of policies, they are free to shop elsewhere."

U.S. District Judge Dee Benson entered a default judgment on April 30 in favor of the Palmers after Kleargear.com failed to respond to the couple's lawsuit over the $3,500 penalty. He ruled the Palmers owe nothing to Kleargear.com, but the gadget retailer owes them a sum to be determined at a June court hearing.

Jen Palmer posted a critical review about Kleargear.com on RipoffReport.com after her husband never received two gifts he ordered for her, prompting Kleargear.com to notify the couple in 2012 that they had 72 hours to remove the negative review or pay $3,500 because it violated the non-disparagement clause.

The couple refused, saying the clause was not in effect when the items were purchased and the terms violated the First Amendment. They also note RipoffReport.com has a policy of not removing posted reviews.

Mathieu said Descoteaux Boutiques was never properly served the lawsuit in Paris under terms of the Hague Convention. He accused the couple's attorney, Scott Michelman of the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Public Citizen Litigation Group, of concealing that information from the court to improperly obtain a default judgment against the company.

Once the company is served, he said, it will move to vacate the judgment and "litigate" the case.

"If DBS is presented with an order for judgment on the above-mentioned civil action ... we will not honor it," Mathieu said. "In addition, such an invalid judicial resolution will not serve to dissuade Kleargear or other retailers from binding their customers to non-disparagement terms."

Mathieu also criticized John Palmer, saying he became "belligerent" toward employees and threatened to defame Kleargear.com if he did not receive free merchandise after his payment method was declined for an order in December 2008.

Jen Palmer denied the allegation and referred further questions to Michelman.

KlearGear.com notified credit bureaus of the couple's failure to pay, which led to a poor credit rating that delayed a car loan and prevented them from securing a loan for a broken furnace, according to the couple's suit.

"If Kleargear decides to appear in court at long last, we welcome the opportunity to demonstrate that the Palmers are entitled to relief, either because of the company's default or on the merits," Michelman told KUTV-TV.

Michelman maintains the company's non-disparagement clause is "one-sided contractual fine print to try to bully unsatisfied customers into silence."

KlearGear.com sells a wide range of merchandise, including computer-themed gifts, apparel, gadgets and private label merchandise, according to its website.

"We Stand in Awe of Your Service": President Obama Makes a Surprise Trip to Thank Troops in Afghanistan

President Obama made a surprise visit to Bagram Airfield today to thank the American troops and civilians stationed there for their service.

Following an opening performance by Brad Paisley, the President addressed about 3,000 troops in a hangar on the base.

He let them know that he was there "on a single mission" -- and that was to say thank you.

"I thank you as your Commander-in-Chief because you inspire me," the President said. "Your willingness to serve, to step forward at a time of war, and say 'send me,' is the reason the United States stays strong and free. Of all the honors that I have serving as President, nothing matches serving as your Commander-in-Chief."

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Utah company to help restore US Capitol dome

SALT LAKE CITY -- A Utah company will play a major role in a two-year, $60 million renovation of the U.S. Capitol dome.

Historical Arts & Casting Inc. of West Jordan has finalized a contract to replace much of the cast iron that makes up the dome.

While much of the Capitol building is made of stone, the dome itself is made of cast iron painted to look like masonry.

Robert Baird of Historical Arts & Casting told the Deseret News (http://bit.ly/1jSrT9h ) that the cast iron "has started to crack and break as waterproofing has failed."

The dome has more than 1,000 cracks and flaws that need to be fixed, and iron pieces in the worst shape will be shipped to Utah.

The company will use original parts as models to create new components of the exact same size and shape.

Electricity restored to Millstone after outage

WATERFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut's nuclear plant in Waterford has restored power, several hours after an electrical short likely caused an outage.

Spokesman Ken Holt said Millstone Power Station was not operating on Sunday, but power had been restored by early afternoon. The plant shut at about 7 a.m. and switched to diesel power.

Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the regulatory agency, says Connecticut Light & Power determined that a short in a power line was the likely culprit.

A spokeswoman says CL&P is investigating and would not confirm the cause of the outage.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says automatic trips of the reactors were uncomplicated, safety systems functioned properly and public health and safety are not affected.

The plant is owned by Dominion Resources Inc.

Sheehan says Millstone will have to go through many steps before operations resume.

Court scratches $475,000 award for blind vendor

DETROIT -- The Michigan appeals court has thrown out a decision awarding $475,000 to a blind man who sold food and objected to competition at a state building in Detroit.

The court says the Michigan Commission for the Blind can't be ordered to make financial awards. It reversed a decision by Ingham County Judge Paula Manderfield.

Ron Fellows had vending machines and sold coffee at Cadillac Place from 2005 to 2008. He was unhappy because the state also allowed non-blind businesses to operate in the building, including Subway.

Michigan law says blind people shall operate snack shops in state buildings. But the other businesses already had leases before the state moved into Cadillac Place, the former headquarters of General Motors.

'X-Men' dominates holiday box office with $91M

LOS ANGELES -- A team of mutants overpowered one massive mutant monster at the box office during the Memorial Day holiday.

Fox-Marvel's "X-Men: Days of Future Past" debuted with $91 million beating last weekend's No. 1 hit, the Warner Bros. sci-fi adventure "Godzilla," which earned $31.4 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"Days of Future Past" is estimated to earn nearly $110 million over the four-day extended holiday weekend, which would make it the fifth-highest Memorial Day opener just after last year's $117 million-grossing "Fast & Furious 6." "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" holds as the highest Memorial holiday debut ever with $140 million in 2007.

It appears the attention "Days of Future Past" director Bryan Singer has received lately due a sexual assault lawsuit didn't deter fans from flocking to the theater. The director dropped out of doing any press for the film following the allegations because he didn't want to divert attention from the movie.

"Rarely do outside situations impact the box office," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak. "The true fans, all they care about is the movie."

"Days of Future Past" is the second-highest opener in the "X-Men" franchise after Brett Ratner's "X-Men: The Last Stand" debuted over Memorial Day weekend with $123 million in 2006.

The film brings together a massive star-studded cast including Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Peter Dinklage and Ellen Page.

Globally, "Days of Future Past" opened No. 1 in 119 countries with $262 million, the highest grossing opening weekend worldwide of the "X-Men" franchise and the biggest Fox International opening weekend ever.

"This is a franchise that started back in 2000, which predated the first 'Spider-Man' movie by two years so 'X-Men' started the renaissance in the world of big superhero movies," Dergarabedian said.

The Warner Bros. romantic comedy "Blended" debuted at No. 3 with a lackluster $14.2 million. In the movie, Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore team up for the third time following "The Wedding Singer" and "50 First Dates."

Though Sandler's "Grown Ups 2" grossed $247 million worldwide, his box office success has teetered over the years. His 2012 comedy "That's My Boy" earned only $58 million globally, while his 2011 films, "Jack and Jill" and the Jennifer Aniston co-starring "Just Go With It" gained $150 million and $215 million worldwide, respectively.

Universal's Seth Rogen and Zac Efron-starring lewd comedy "Neighbors" took in $14 million as it crosses the $100 million mark domestically with $114 million overall.

Sony's "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" rounds out the top five with $8 million in its fourth weekend, while Disney's "Million Dollar Arm" followed close behind with a solid $7.1 million in its second weekend.

Four comedies populated the top 10 with Fox's "The Other Woman" landing at No. 7 and Jon Favreau's "Chef," at No. 9.

In 2013, Memorial Day weekend was the biggest grossing weekend of the year with $314.2 million over the four-day holiday that saw "Fast & Furious 6," "The Hangover Part III" and the animated "Epic" debut.

"This year it will be more like $230 million," said Dergarabedian, who notes that next year has a shot at being a record-breaking Memorial weekend due to the debut of Marvel's "Avengers" sequel "Avengers: Age of Ultron."

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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.

1."X-Men: Days of Future Past," $91 million ($171.1 million international).

2."Godzilla," $31.4 million ($35 million international).

3."Blended," $14.2 million ($2.1 million international).

4."Neighbors," $14 million ($8.2 million international).

5."The Amazing Spider-Man 2," $8 million ($11.2 million international).

6."Million Dollar Arm," $7.1 million.

7."The Other Woman," $4 million ($3.8 million international).

8."Rio 2," $3 million ($5 million international).

9."Chef," $2.2 million ($425.000).

10."Heaven Is for Real," $2 million.

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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to Rentrak:

1. "X-Men: Days of Future Past," $171.1 million.

2. "Godzilla," $35 million.

3. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," $11.2 million.

4. "Neighbors," $8.2 million.

(tie) "Coming Home," $8.2 million.

5. "Frozen," $7 million.

6. "Rio 2," $5 million.

7. "The Other Woman," $3.8 million.

8. "Qu'est ce qu'on a fait au Bon Dieu?!," $3.6 million.

9. "Obsessed," $2.2 million

10. "Blended," $2.1 million.

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Cost questioned as Vermont hospital nears opening

BERLIN, Vt. -- With Vermont's new state psychiatric hospital preparing to receive its first patients in July, some lawmakers are questioning its costs, including a staff-to-patient ratio nearly twice that of the closed Vermont State Hospital.

Jeff Rothenberg, CEO of the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital in Berlin, said the new facility's state-of-the-art design — with four separate units — will require a lot of staff to provide top-notch psychiatric care.

It will be a big change from the Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury, a 19th-century facility that lost its federal certification and funding about eight years before flooding from Tropical Storm Irene forced it to close in 2011.

"We will no longer rely on a decrepit hospital to house those patients, but instead provide all levels of care in a variety of settings closer to their homes and communities," Gov. Peter Shumlin said in April 2012 as he signed a law to revamp the mental health system, in part by placing patients in smaller settings.

But openings of two facilities that were to be part of that decentralized system — in Burlington and St. Albans — have been delayed, and lawmakers say that's at least partly due to the higher-than-expected costs of the Berlin facility.

"I think we are spending more than we anticipated," said Rep. Mary Hooper, a member of the House Corrections and Institutions Committee and a Democrat representing Montpelier. "There's no doubt in my mind that we have not created parts of the system that we said we were going to."

Lawmakers budgeted $19.3 million to run the Berlin hospital for the 2015 fiscal year. That's less than the $22 million spent at the Waterbury hospital the year before it closed, but Waterbury was more than double the size.

In the newly designed mental health system, Berlin's 25 beds for the most acutely ill patients will be supplemented by 14 at the Brattleboro Retreat and six at the Rutland Regional Medical Center.

The Berlin facility will have a direct-care staff-to-patient ratio of 5-to-1, according to a chart prepared by Rep. Anne Donahue, R-Northfield, a member of the House Human Services Committee, with a daily cost per patient of $2,247.

That compares to a staff-to-patient ratio of 3.4-to-1 at Brattleboro, with a daily cost per patient of $1,468, and a staff-to patient ratio in Rutland of 4-to-1, with a daily per patient cost of $1,444. Waterbury had a direct-care staff-to-patient ratio of 2.7-1. Donahue said she based her chart on numbers from the Department of Mental Health.

Rothenberg defended the new facility's planned staffing levels. "The facility design was focused on creating as positive a patient experience as possible, recognizing that the majority of admissions would be involuntary in nature," he said in an email.

The idea was that some patients housed at the Waterbury hospital — a locked, acute-care psychiatric ward — might be better off in less intrusive and less restrictive settings. Several such facilities have opened around the state, but they haven't shrunk the acute-care population by much.

Donahue noted that Berlin, Brattleboro and Rutland would have a combined total of 45 beds, not much less than the 54 beds that Waterbury had. In addition, Middlesex has a seven-bed facility that houses forensic patients, or those referred to the mental health system by Vermont's criminal courts, she said. That brings the total of beds to 52, just shy of Waterbury's capacity.

Camellia Home Health enters Alabama market

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Camellia Home Health & Hospice, has acquired Lawley Premier Hospice Care of Rainbow City, Alabama.

The acquisition marks Mississippi-based Camellia's entrance into the Alabama market.

Camellia already operates home health and hospice services in Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and Tennessee. Camellia plans to retain former Lawley employees.

Lawley Hospice has operated since 2008, serving patients primarily in Etowah, Cherokee, Calhoun and St. Clair counties of Alabama.

Abb Payne, president of Camellia, says the hospice will continue operating under the Lawley name, and owner Brent Lawley will remain as the facility's top administrator.

Camellia was founded in Hattiesburg in 1974. It employs 950 people and also operates services providing private duty nursing, pharmacy services, and urgent care facilities.

Spirit Aerosystems in hunt for defense work

WICHITA, Kan. -- The aircraft parts maker created when Boeing Co. spun off its Wichita commercial airplane business in 2005 is looking to expand its work for the military.

Spirit Aerosystems remains one of Wichita's largest employers and is a major supplier of fuselages and other components for planes built by Boeing and Airbus.

Now, the company is working to capitalize on the size of its manufacturing operation and its expertise with metals and composites through partnerships with contractors that build aircraft for the military, The Wichita Eagle reported (http://bit.ly/1lGWhiB ). It's searching for opportunities to build large metal or composite structures for the defense market.

"We've got to do a lot of marketing to make sure the aerospace and defense industry understands Spirit's capability," said Phil Anderson, Spirit's senior vice president of defense and contracts.

Today, only 5 percent of Spirit's revenue is derived from the defense market. Commercial aerospace will remain its primary business, but the goal is to increase revenue from military work to 10 to 15 percent of revenue over the next five to 10 years, Anderson said.

Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with the Teal Group, calls it a wise move.

"Diversification is always a good strategy," he said. It will help Spirit hedge against a downturn in the commercial market.

Spirit has a lot of volume on commercial programs, which gives it an advantage in going after defense work, Aboulafia said.

The company also has a record with the military, having won work in 2010 on major structural cockpit and cabin components of the Sikorsky CH-53K heavy lift helicopter being built for the Marine Corps.

"They've had enough success (in defense) to make this encouraging," Aboulafia said of Spirit's strategy.

The downside is, "there just aren't that many programs to go after," he said.

So far, Spirit has mainly used commercial aircraft platforms to build structures for defense products.

Sweets makers work to keep names off e-cigarettes

RICHMOND, Va. -- Owners of brands geared toward children of all ages are battling to keep notable names like Thin Mint, Tootsie Roll and Cinnamon Toast Crunch off the flavored nicotine used in electronic cigarettes.

Now the owners of those trademarks are fighting back to make sure their brands aren't being used to sell an addictive drug or make it appealing to to children.

General Mills Inc., the Girl Scouts of the USA and Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. are among several companies that have sent cease-and-desist letters to makers of the liquid nicotine demanding they stop using the brands and may take further legal action if necessary.

The actions highlight the debate about the array of flavors available for the battery-powered devices that heat a liquid nicotine solution, creating vapor that users inhale. The Food and Drug Administration last month proposed regulating electronic cigarettes but didn't immediately ban on fruit or candy flavors, which are barred for use in regular cigarettes because of the worry that the flavors are used to appeal to children.

It's growing pains for the industry that reached nearly $2 billion in sales last year in the face of looming regulation. E-cigarette users say the devices address both the addictive and behavioral aspects of smoking without the thousands of chemicals found in regular cigarettes.

There are about 1,500 e-liquid makers in the U.S. and countless others abroad selling vials of nicotine from traditional tobacco to cherry cola on the Internet and in retail stores, often featuring photos of the popular treats. Using the brand name like Thin Mint or Fireball conjures up a very specific flavor in buyers' minds, in a way that just "mint chocolate" or "cinnamon" doesn't.

"Using the Thin Mint name — which is synonymous with Girl Scouts and everything we do to enrich the lives of girls — to market e-cigarettes to youth is deceitful and shameless," Girl Scouts spokeswoman Kelly Parisi said in a statement.

The issue of illegally using well-known brands on e-cigarette products isn't new for some. For a couple of years, cigarette makers R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and Philip Morris USA have fought legal battles with websites selling e-cigarette liquid capitalizing on their Camel and Marlboro brand names and imagery. The companies have since released their own e-cigarettes but without using their top-selling brand names.

"It's the age-old problem with an emerging market," said Linc Williams, board member of the American E-liquid Manufacturing Standards Association and an executive at NicVape Inc., which produces liquid nicotine. "As companies goes through their maturity process of going from being a wild entrepreneur to starting to establish real corporate ethics and product stewardship, it's something that we're going to continue to see."

Williams said his company is renaming many of its liquids to names that won't be associated with well-known brands. Some companies demanded NicVape stop using brand names such as Junior Mints on their liquid nicotine. In other cases, the company is taking proactive steps to removing imagery and names like gummy bear that could be appealing to children.

"Unfortunately it's not going to change unless companies come in and assert their intellectual property," he said.

And that's what companies are starting to do more often as the industry has rocketed from thousands of users in 2006 to several million worldwide, bringing the issue to the forefront.

"We're family oriented. A lot of kids eat our products, we have many adults also, but our big concern is we have to protect the trademark," said Ellen Gordon, president and chief operating officer of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. "When you have well-known trademarks, one of your responsibilities is to protect (them) because it's been such a big investment over the years."

Michael Felberbaum can be reached at http://bit.ly/1dbspXO.

Nasrallah says the resistance protects the president not vice versa

BEIRUT: Hezbollah Chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah Sunday said his party sought a president that would back rather than conspire against the resistance.

“We don’t want a president to protect the resistance. The resistance in Lebanon is the one that protects the state, the people and sovereignty,” Nasrallah said during a televised speech.

“We want a president that does not conspire against us or backstab us, but remain solid on their position to support the resistance ... that’s not a difficult condition,” he added.

This was a breaking news item, click here for full story

Nasrallah: March 14 sought to extend Sleiman's term

BEIRUT: Hezbollah Chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah Sunday accused his rivals in the March 14 coalition of seeking to extend President Michel Sleiman's term rather than elect a new head of state.

“They did not have an intention at all to elect a president before May 25 but to extend the president’s mandate ... and they offered us so many things in exchange,” Nasrallah said.

This was a breaking news item, click here for full story

Nasrallah urges swift presidential election

BEIRUT: Hezbollah Chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah Sunday urged rival groups to resolve the presidential deadlock in the shortest time possible, adding that his group sought a president who would back, rather than abandon, the resistance.

During his speech commemorating the withdrawal of the Israeli Army from south Lebanon in 2000, Nasrallah said Syria and the so-called “resistance axis” would emerge victorious over what he described as a conspiracy to divide the region.

“Starting today, we have entered a very critical phase in Lebanon, which we should deal with in a calm manner to preserve civil peace and stability,” Nasrallah said via a television screen in the southern village of Bint Jbeil as Lebanon celebrated Liberation Day.

“What is important is to exert all efforts to shorten the period of time [in vacuum] and have an elected president as soon as possible, rather than observe and wait for regional developments,” he added.

Lebanon plunged into a presidential vacuum Sunday with the end of President Michel Sleiman’s six-year term and no candidate capable of garnering the required majority to win.

Nasrallah said the Lebanese still had a chance to elect a “Lebanon-made” president, who he said should be “strong, capable of preserving stability and peace, backed by his environment and the people, capable of reassuring the various political groups and be able to truly help Lebanon overcome this difficult phase.”

The Hezbollah chief also spoke about negotiations between MP Michel Aoun and head of the Future Movement former PM Saad Hariri, saying Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea’s candidacy was aimed primarily at obstructing Aoun’s chance of becoming president.

“This challenging candidacy was only announced to cut short another candidacy ... because we and they know that the latter [Geagea] did not have a chance of reaching the post,” Nasrallah said.

He also accused his rivals in the March 14 coalition of seeking to extend Sleiman’s term

“They did not have any intention at all to elect a president before May 25 but [instead intended] to extend the president’s mandate ... and they offered us so many things for such a purpose,” he added.

Nasrallah, whose ties with Sleiman deteriorated in recent months over the former president’s opposition to Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria, also said his group sought a president who would not backstab the resistance.

“We don’t want a president to protect the resistance. The resistance in Lebanon is the one that protects the state, the people and the sovreignty,” he said.

“We want a president that does not conspire against us, [does] not backstab us, and remains solid on their position to support the resistance ... that’s not a difficult condition,” Nasrallah added.

Housing still has plenty of room for improvement

By Kevin G. Hall McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- Sales of new homes picked up in April, the Commerce Department said Friday in the last of several reports this week showing improvement from the dismal winter period.

Analysts, however, still expect a weaker 2014 for housing than first thought.

The latest reason why came Friday, when Commerce reported that sales of new single family homes rose at annualized rate of 6.4 percent in April. That’s an improvement over March but is 4.2 percent below sales in April 2013. The majority of new homes sold in April were priced between $200,000 and $400,000.

“New Home Sales Bounce Back to Mediocrity,” said the headline of an analysis by forecaster IHS Global Insight.

A day earlier, the National Association of Realtors reported that April brought only modest improvement in home sales. Sales of single family homes, townhouse and condos rose by an annual rate of 1.3 percent last month, to 4.65 million from 4.59 million in March, but that was 6.8 percent lower than the number of units sold in April 2013.

“Some growth was inevitable after sub-par housing activity in the first quarter,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors’ group, pointing to expected growth in both the inventory of homes for sale and actual sales. “Annual home sales, however, due to a sluggish first quarter, will likely be lower than last year.”

The new-home sales, however, brought a bit more reason for hope.

“New home sales are now running slightly above their average level of the last 12 months and paint a stronger picture of the home sales market than the existing home sales data—although the price data point to the median new home price being slightly lower than a year ago,” John Ryding and Conrad DeQuadros, economists with RDQ Economics, wrote in a note to investors. “The supply of unsold homes appears fairly well contained in relation to sales, which we think will support home construction activity going forward.”

Both reports gave little relief to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, whose controversial bond buying program is supposed to help lower lending rates, spur greater home affordability and thus help the broader economy. That effort is being tapered down and is expected to end this year, although the weak housing numbers may argue for a slower pace of withdrawal.

Yellen testified earlier this month about renewed weakness in the housing sector, and the minutes from the last meeting of Fed policymakers show that others Sashared her concerns.

“They saw a range of factors affecting the housing market, including higher home prices, construction bottlenecks stemming from a scarcity of labor and harsh winter weather, input cost pressures, or a shortage in the supply of available lots,” said the minutes from the April 29-30 Fed meeting, released with a lag on Wednesday. “A couple of participants noted that mortgage credit availability remained constrained and lending standards were tight compared with historical norms, especially for purchase mortgages.”

McClatchy reported on May 8 that cash purchases of homes are reaching record levels in many states across the nation. Despite lending rates that are very low by historical standards, many Americans can’t get, or don’t want, a mortgage.

“The market for lived in homes is not out of the woods yet: access to credit still poses a major challenge to buyers,” said Stephanie Karol and Patrick Newport, economists with IHS Global Insight, in an analysis of the latest existing home sales.

Other analysts cautioned that existing home sales reflect contracts signed months earlier.

“We will, therefore, need a couple more months of data before we can assess to what extent the most recent decline in home sales was a temporary result of bad winter weather rather than a pullback resulting from higher mortgage rates,” wrote Ryding and DeQuadros. “It is worth noting that home price gains have slowed significantly in recent months, which we judge to be an encouraging development from the perspective of financial stability.”

Rising home prices have actually weighed against purchases, making homes less affordable.

On a positive note, the California Association of Realtors reported Thursday that 88.4 percent of home sales last month in the Golden State were non-distress sales, their highest level since late 2007.

That only 11.6 percent of all sales were distress sales is heartening, because in April 2013 they represented 24.6 percent of all sales. Because of its size, economic trends in California weigh heavily on the rest of the nation.

In a speech Thursday, John Williams, the president of Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, acknowledged that “the wind has been taken out of the sails” for home sales, but expected that “housing should begin to provide the support to the recovery we’ve been waiting for.”

Trial date set for company's dispute with port

LAKE CHARLES, La. -- A state District Court judge has set an Oct. 27 trial date in lawsuit by Lake Charles Stevedores against the Port of Lake Charles.

The American Press reported (http://bit.ly/1eOXZNb) Judge Sharon Wilson set the date in the case, which includes allegations the port misappropriated funds.

The claims are just one aspect of a complicated case that addresses multiple contracts over a 50-year period.

Wilson also ruled on technical pleadings filed by the port's attorneys to amend earlier filings. In October 2013, former state District Judge Wilford Carter ruled in favor of Lake Charles Stevedores, granting the company $5.56 million in damages from the Port of Lake Charles.

Of the three motions heard May 19 in a two-hour hearing, none sought to have Carter's decision overturned.

The lawsuit was filed in March 2013 after termination of Lake Charles Stevedores' long-term contract for unloading services at the city docks in 2011.

Tom Flanagan, owner of Lake Charles Stevedores, obtained the contract a few years before, and the port canceled it.

Attorneys for Lake Charles Stevedores allege the port misappropriated public funds by paying the previous owners, Cooper T. Smith and Cavalair, $1.3 million in damages.

They claim the contract was canceled without cause, but the port cited a poor safety record among other factors.

"I find that there was in the record by the port allegations that Lake Charles Stevedores, while Mr. Flanagan owned it, did not do everything he should have done," Carter wrote in his October ruling.

But, he said, if officials of the port did have reasonable cause to cancel the contract, they waived that right because they didn't mention it in the letter of termination he determined that they therefore owed the Lake Charles Stevedores for canceling the contract.

"The port chose as a business decision to get out of this contract, and there are consequences to getting out of a contract," Carter wrote.

Wilson made it clear in the May 19 proceedings that she did not intended to revisit the judgment by Carter.

London-based green sedan service debuts in DC area

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- Another car service has come to Maryland.

London-born Green Tomato Cars crossed the pond to launch service in the Washington area this month, serving the region that includes Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland. The company also runs to and from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Green Tomato, which is classified as a sedan service, has some similarities to Uber, in that customers can seek a ride through a mobile app. But it touts an environmentally friendly service, provided by a fleet of hybrid cars.

Ricky Moskowitz, co-founder of the Washington operations, said the location was chosen because the company wanted a region on the East Coast of the United States where residents have a great interest in green services.

The soft launch in Washington started in February, but the service fully launched in the week of May 12. Green Tomato now has about 25 cars in the area, which run at $3 per mile, with a 25 percent discount for customers who use the mobile app.

As with similar services, customers can reserve a ride in advance. But they can get a ride at the last minute via mobile app, on the company's website or over the phone.

Community colleges train workers to fill manufacturing vacancies

U.S. manufacturers face a growing challenge of finding skilled workers. Currently, there are about 600,000 manufacturing job vacancies, and 2.7 million manufacturing employees are expected to retire in the next decade, according to industry groups. Northern Virginia Community College is one of a growing number of schools training workers for the manufacturing industry.

Affordable Care Act, spending cuts slow health care hiring

By Kevin G. Hall McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- In the dark hours of the Great Recession, it was one of the few economic bright spots.

Week in, week out, the health care sector was adding jobs _ at a time when construction, manufacturing and retail hiring were mired in quicksand.

Now, health care is a laggard. Health care hiring continues, but it’s rising this year at a stubbornly slow annual rate of 1.4 percent, hit by a sluggish economic recovery, mandatory cuts in government spending and streamlining required by the Affordable Care Act.

That’s down from 1.6 percent in 2013, and 1.8 percent for 2012 and 2011. From 2004 to 2008, the rate of growth in hiring exceeded 2 percent, peaking in 2008, the year the financial crisis began, at 2.7 percent.

“Throughout the recession and recovery, non-health-care jobs were slowly climbing back but health care was pretty steady,” said Ani Turner, the deputy director of the Altarum Institute’s Center for Sustainable Health Spending, a nonpartisan research center that studies health care costs.

Some analysts say it’s partly a side effect of the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare, which aims to penalize inefficiency and waste. It also intends to slow rising health care costs, which were accounting for a greater share of the nation’s economy every year.

“It can’t continue to grow to 18 percent, 19 percent or 21 percent” of the economy, said Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody’s Analytics. “The side effect of that is slower growth in health care employment.”

Over a longer horizon, the retirement of baby boomers will increase the demand for medical services. The Labor Department projects that five of the six occupations with the largest rates of growth in employment over the next decade will be in health care. Personal care and home health aides top the list, each projected to grow by nearly 50 percent over the decade.

But for now, the health care sector is readjusting.

Politicians from both parties have a hand in the slowdown in hiring, which economists view as necessary. Budget-cutting Republicans forced a 2 percent reduction on certain payments to providers under Medicare, the government health care program for people over 65. What happens in Medicare ripples across the entire health care sector.

And Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act as a way to expand health insurance coverage, paid for by streamlining what and how the government spends on health care. Since 2011, the rate of growth in health care prices has slowed.

“If you are going to constrain spending growth, and if you are going to slow the growth of health care as a percentage of the economy . . . then eventually that’s going to translate its way into jobs,” said Turner.

That’s not something the White House advertises. In the 2014 Economic Report of the President, the Obama administration devotes an entire chapter of the annual report to the health care law, touting how it’s already helped lower costs across the health care system.

Its only reference to jobs, however, wasn’t about lost health care jobs but rather that lower spending on health care eventually boosts hiring across the economy by “increasing firms’ incentives to hire additional workers.”

Cutting waste out of the health care system, said experts, necessarily results in the disappearance of some jobs in the sector.

“It’s fundamentally tied to bending the cost curve in health care,” said John Challenger, who heads Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a consultancy that specializes in workplace trends.

Personnel costs are the highest in the services sector, and health care providers lagged other industries in embracing technology to become more productive, he said. Despite all the new technology used in medical diagnosis and treatment, the use of technology for administration and management has lagged, suggesting further hits on hiring ahead as the industry updates its office technology.

“That’s happened in so many industries that were much more paper-dependent,” Challenger said. “The health care sector has a long way to go there.”

Health care providers blame the slowdown on changes in government programs.

“The steady drip of those cuts . . . hasn’t helped,” said Greg Crist, spokesman for the American Health Care Association, the trade group for nursing homes, which accounted for more than a quarter of health care employment in April.

The sluggish recovery, marked by minimal wage growth, may also weigh on the demand for expensive medical services.

“People are being cautious about discretionary care and even going in to see the doctor,” said Turner, noting that insurers are also providing incentives to reduce patient stays and treatment in emergency rooms. “All of these things serve to reduce hospital services.”

A detailed look by McClatchy at a decade of hiring data across the health care sector confirms a broad slowdown, albeit with great differences within the sector.

_ Ambulatory care services _ jobs in medical care that doesn’t require hospitalization _ grew at a rate of 2.7 percent over the past three months ending in April. That’s slightly below last year’s full-year rate of 2.9 percent and below the 3-percent-plus rate from 2004 to 2008.

_ The growth rate of hiring in physicians’ offices held steady at 2 percent for each of the last two years, improving to an annualized rate of 2.3 percent for the first four months of this year.

_ Outpatient care centers saw annual hiring grow by 3.5 percent in 2011, 4.5 percent in 2012, 5.2 percent in 2013 and 5.6 percent over the first four months of this year.

_ Hospitals account for about 1 in 3 health care jobs but they haven’t seen their rate of hiring grow faster than 1.2 percent since 2008. Last year it grew at the dismal rate of 0.3 percent, and the rate shrank 0.1 percent over the first four months of this year.

“There’s just been a piling-on from federal programs that has really been straining hospitals, and in response hospitals have been cutting costs,” said Caroline Steinberg, vice president of the American Hospital Association and head of health-trends analysis. “Sixty percent of hospital expenses are labor. They really need to look carefully at how they’re staffing.”

So goes hiring in nursing-care facilities, which also connect directly to Medicare. Their rate of hiring fell by 0.4 percent in 2012 and 0.5 percent last year. The slide continues this year, with nursing-care facility hiring shrinking by 0.3 percent from January through April.

Changes to Medicare and state-run Medicaid programs also have weighed on hiring, Crist noted.

Specifically, he pointed to the Affordable Care Act’s productivity adjustment, credited as a factor that’s helping to slow the rate of growth in health care spending. It affects the formula used to calculate Medicare payments to providers, and it reduces fee increases at a rate equal to the economy-wide increase in the rate of productivity _ the measure of worker’s per-hour output.

The improving jobs market, oddly enough, also weighs on nursing-home hiring. Jobs there, said Crist, tend to be at the lower end of the pay scale, so it becomes harder to hire workers when other sectors are hiring.

“They are skilled professionals, but they’re often faced with the choice of . . . as the economy improves, staffing levels (elsewhere) improve,” said Crist, whose trade group has supported efforts to expand visas in order to have documented immigrants fill the hiring gap.

With ‘Internet of Things,’ your fridge will know when milk is low

WASHINGTON -- The “Internet of Things” is here.

Americans are adapting to a world in which virtually everything _ from cellphones and cars to washing machines and refrigerators _ is going to be connected to the Internet or networks. Many of these devices will _ and do _ “talk” to one another via tiny sensors that function almost like human senses, logging information such as temperature, light, motion and sound.

Theoretically, the sensors could allow a new refrigerator, for example, to send an alert to a homeowner’s smartphone whenever the fridge is running low on milk. This concept of device conversation is known as the Internet of Things. The technology will make life easier, but it also means more people are vulnerable to device malfunction or hacking.

Experts and government officials acknowledge the transformative power of the Internet of Things. But the authors of a White House report in May on the effects of big data _ including all the information that devices collect _ are also concerned about the potential for privacy abuses that comes with the technology.

These innovations raise “considerable questions about how our framework for privacy protection applies in a big data ecosystem,” the report says. And the rate of development is only picking up pace.

Deepti Rohatgi, a policy adviser at Lookout, a mobile security firm in San Francisco, said that each day more than 30,000 new apps were created for almost a billion mobile devices. Further, a 2011 report from Cisco Systems, which designs, makes and sells computer networking devices, projected that by the year 2020, some 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet or networks, an average of just under seven connected devices per person.

Rohatgi said that one of the ways to ensure information security was to follow the example of Google Glass, a wearable computer that looks like eyeglasses but works like a smartphone.

Google launched an “Explorer Program” last year that allowed individuals _ specifically developers and hackers _ an opportunity to test the prototype. Not only did this give Google a chance see how the public would react to the technology, but it also allowed people with technical know-how to alert Google to potential privacy problems they found in the new product.

That’s exactly what happened, Rohatgi said.

“Lookout got ahold of a Google Glass and we found a vulnerability with some of their software,” she said. “We reported it to Google, and they patched it immediately. That’s a great example of how they were willing to share their technology with a group of hackers to say, ‘Help us find what the problems are before they’re released to the public.’ ”

The White House report cites several examples of how tech innovation and big data are being used.

Lights can detect sound, speed, temperature and carbon monoxide levels from parking lots, schools and public streets; vehicles can record driving data that can be used to build better and safer transportation systems; and some home appliances can tell owners when to dim lights even when they’re thousands of miles away.

Most of the data these devices collect is innocuous. But there’s still a chance, if small, that third parties could hack in and get very detailed pictures of their users’ lives. Worse, it’s possible that a malfunction _ with, say, a “smart” toaster _ might cause a fire when no one is home, or a malicious person would hack into a car that’s traveling on the interstate at 70 mph.

“Once the Internet of Things is fully blossomed, there are going to be billions of devices with billions of sensors, and having a human review how every piece of software touches those sensors _ it’s impossible,” Rohatgi said.

Because it’s impossible to review all that code, conversations between inventors and developers are crucial, she said.

“Talking to folks who are really familiar with how these devices can be used for harm, educating them on what good practices are, what are best practices and just having a dialogue with people” before a product is released is “incredibly important,” Rohatgi said.

April marked 41 years since the world’s first mobile phone call was made. Martin Cooper, who conceived the idea while working for Motorola in the 1970s, led the team that ultimately developed and marketed the cellphone.

Despite privacy concerns, Cooper remains optimistic about the future of the Internet of Things.

“We are most productive when we use wireless technology,” he said recently at a conference in Washington.

He cited poverty, health care and education as three major worldwide issues that can be transformed by continued innovation.

“In each of those areas,” Cooper said, “we are on the verge of revolutions.”

The Medill News Service is a Washington program of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

U.S. wins trade dispute with China over duties on cars, SUVs; 2nd win since March

GENEVA -- The World Trade Organization ruled Friday that China had violated trade rules when it slapped punitive duties as high as 21 percent on America-made cars and sport utility vehicles.

The ruling was an enormous victory for U.S. automotive manufacturers, coming at a time of rising tensions between the U.S. and China on a range of strategic issues. It was the second time in two months that the U.S. has won a WTO trade case against China. In March, the WTO ruled that China had restricted trade by imposing export duties on so-called rare earth elements, the lightweight, superconductive minerals that are critical to a wide range of high-tech products.

Michael Froman, the U.S. trade representative, hailed Friday’s ruling, which will have the effect of cutting the cost of U.S.-made cars and SUVs imported for sale inside China.

The U.S. auto industry employs nearly 850,000 workers throughout the country, from Michigan to California.

“The message is clear: China must follow the rules, just like other WTO members,” Froman said. He promised to continue to press China to change trade practices “that unfairly restrict U.S. exports.”

Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker offered similar praise, saying the ruling “supports U.S. automakers and other U.S. exporters that have been forced to bear the burden of China’s opaque trade . . . system.”

The WTO’s decision was issued by a three-member dispute panel chaired by a former Canadian trade minister, Pierre Pettigrew. The panel said China should “bring its measures into conformity” with its WTO obligations by dropping the duties.

The duties _ fees that an importer must pay on items it wishes to sell inside China _ were imposed in 2011 in response to a 2009 petition from Chinese auto manufacturers that U.S. automobiles with large engines were being sold at unfairly low prices.

One set of duties ranged from 2 percent to 21.5 percent of the value of the vehicle, while another set ranged from 6.2 percent to 12.9 percent. They were applied to vehicles with an engine capacity of 2.5 liters or greater and affected popular American SUVs, including the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Buick Enclave, the Cadillac Escalade and others.

The U.S. complained that the duties had been imposed simply to hurt American sales. China is the second largest export market for U.S. autos, after Canada, accounting for 13 percent _ $8.5 billion _ of U.S. auto exports.

“This is about jobs,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., in praising the WTO’s decision. “Today’s ruling is a major victory for American workers and manufacturers and another blow to China’s continued illegal trade practices. It is long past time China recognize that its repeated attempts to flout the rules will not be tolerated.”

Rep . Sander Levin, D-Mich., called the outcome “a significant victory in the fight against China’s practice of retaliating and intimidating those who dare to stand up to it.”

“The United States will not shy away from enforcing U.S. trade laws, and we certainly won’t tolerate the intimidation that China demonstrated in starting the investigation challenged in this dispute,” Levin said.

Praise for the ruling came from Republicans as well, with Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, calling it a “major victory,” and Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, who once served as U.S. trade representative, calling it “a victory for autoworkers . . . across the country.”

China claimed during the panel’s proceedings on the U.S. complaint that it had ended collecting the duties on Dec. 15 and that therefore the panel had no basis to reach a decision. But in its decision, the panel said that China had presented no proof the duties have been repealed. “As far as the official record of this dispute is concerned, we are not in a position to find that the measures have been terminated,” the panel wrote.

Both China and the U.S. have the right to appeal the panel’s findings.

Zarocostas is a McClatchy special correspondent.

Lebanon's patriarch meets Abbas in Holy Land

BEIRUT: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Sunday with Lebanon's Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai in the West Bank town of Bethlehem during the prelate's visit there.

According to the National News Agency, Abbas honored Rai with the highest Palestinian order called "the Star of Jerusalem" in the presence of a number of Palestinian officials, including Prime Minister Rami Hamadallah and several ambassadors.

The Roman Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Michel Sabbah was also present.

Earlier, Rai attended the open-air mass led by Pope Francis at the Manger Square, outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Although his visit to occupied Jerusalem has stirred controversy in Lebanon, with some describing it as a mistake, Rai stood firm on his trip, maintaining that he means to reinforce the Christian identify in the city.

Rai’s visit is the first by the head of the Maronite Church to the Holy Land since the state of Israel was founded in 1948, and is intended to fit in with Pope Francis’ three-day pilgrimage to Jordan, Israel and Palestine that began Saturday.

Rai has also said that his visit was aimed at welcoming the pope to Jerusalem and Jordan, which he said fell under his church prerogative as the patriarch of the east and the Antioch.

4.2 earthquake hits Lebanese coast: center

BEIRUT: An earthquake registering 4.2 on the Richter scale hit five kilometers north of Jbeil on the Lebanese coast Sunday, the National Center for Geophysical Research said.

In a statement, the center said the earthquake struck at 3:23 p.m.

“It is just a regular earthquake that we are used to witnessing every year in Lebanon,” a spokesperson from the center told The Daily Star.

“There is nothing to worry about at the moment,” he added.

Speaking to The Daily Star, residents of Beirut and Jbeil confirmed that they had felt the earthquake.

The incident which happens occasionally in the country has dominated social media, with the hashtag #earthquake on Twitter trending topic in Lebanon.

While some Lebanese Twitter users warned of an aftershock, others joked about people tweeting before taking cover.

"Back in the days, the first thing I'd do during an #earthquake was take cover. Today, I run to #twitter. How lovely #Tokyo to #Beirut," Marina Chamma tweeted.

The earthquake, measuring fairly low on the Richter scale, has had no reported casualties, yet some Twitter users still expressed worry, with this tongue-in-cheek tweet from Lea Mehanna: "I don't wanna die in my purple monkey pajamas #earthquake."

New Jersey-to-Philly commuters face rough summer

CAMDEN, N.J. -- Commuters between southern New Jersey and Philadelphia are in for a rough summer.

Work on the tracks and electrical systems on the PATCO Speedline will mean a less frequent schedule for the train line used by 40,000 per day and closed car lanes on the Ben Franklin Bridge, which carries trains — and 100,000 cars daily — over the Delaware River,

"I have no choice but to catch the train because the parking is horrible and expensive over there," Juanita King, who works as a scheduler at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Hospital, said before she hopped on her train recently at Camden's Ferry Avenue Station, a popular place for park-and-ride customers from Camden and Gloucester counties.

A round-trip ride from there is $4.50 a day and most of the parking is free.

If King drives to work from southern New Jersey, she'd pay a $5 bridge toll and parking expenses starting at $9 if she could arrive in time for the early-bird rate.

The Delaware River Port Authority, which operates PATCO and four bridges, is replacing the tracks and ties on the train line for the first time since the 1980s and electrical systems that in some spots date to 1935.

DRPA CEO John Hanson, who has attended forums for commuters and greeted them at train stations, was out the other morning handing information cards to drivers at the toll lanes of the Ben Franklin. He is encouraging commuters to telecommute, car pool or use other bridges if they can while construction lasts. And if none of those solutions work for them, they'll need to leave early or prepare for delays.

He said the $103 million PATCO overhaul is due and there is no way to do it without inconvenience.

Starting June 3, the train tracks on the south side of the bridge will be closed. During that time, they will be taken out and then rebuilt. When that project is over, the same will be done on the north tracks. Altogether, the track replacement will take about four months.

While the track work is going on, one of the seven traffic lanes over the bridge will be closed at rush hours; two lanes will be closed at other times.

After the tracks are rebuilt, the electrical systems will be replaced. That will take almost two more years and will sometimes cause delays.

Work on the line began in March, starting Friday afternoons and lasting through the weekend.

Ed Bogaard, another University of Pennsylvania Hospitals scheduler, said he's on probation at work for showing up late because of train delays.

But Judi Burrell, a legal secretary at a big law firm, said her bosses know about the delays and are being flexible.

Still, she said, she's trying to figure out if there's a bus that would be a better option for her for the next few months.

There is some relief coming for commuters: About the same time the tracks are rebuilt, all the PATCO train cars will be refurbished.

FIFPro wants UEFA to ease Man City, PSG sanctions

LISBON, Portugal -- Players' union leaders want UEFA to ease the punishment imposed on Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain for breaking "Financial Fair Play" rules.

FIFPro Europe President Bobby Barnes hopes UEFA can find "some way of lessening the blow" to avoid excluding players from Champions League squads.

"The last thing we want is for players to miss the Champions League," Barnes told The Associated Press ahead of the final on Saturday, calling for "maybe a staged or phased version of the punishment."

A UEFA panel's sanctions for overspending include cutting senior player quotas for Man City and PSG to 21 from 25 in next season's competition.

That is intended to force clubs to promote home-trained young talent instead of relying so much on expensively bought players. Some elite players could be left ineligible to play in UEFA competitions.

Still, Barnes sees room for negotiation because UEFA has not yet specified how many homegrown players must be included in the 21.

"If there is a discussion to be had with UEFA then FIFPro would like to be involved in it," the former West Ham United and England youth player said. "With the best will in the world, players are not responsible for the financial running of the football club."

Squad limits were among wideranging penalties announced this month for nine European clubs, including fines of 60 million euros ($82 million) for the champions of England and France.

It was unclear if Man City and PSG must still select at least eight homegrown players — including four trained at the club, and four more within its home country — or be allowed as few as five.

UEFA said in a statement to the AP that it will give detail "in the coming days how it will apply the homegrown player element of the sanctions settlements."

Any relaxation on squad limit rules is likely to irritate many in the 200-member European Club Association, who have curbed spending to meet UEFA's demands.

The ECA, like FIFPro, has been a key stakeholder in UEFA's lengthy introduction of the new rules.

Barnes stressed that FIFPro "totally supports" the project.

"We understand something has to be done," he said. "I would like to think that if it happens in a phased way, it gives people an opportunity to get used to it and adjust."

Barnes said FIFPro also wants UEFA to look at relaxing rules on suspensions for yellow cards that forced Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso to miss his team's 4-1 extra-time win over Atletico Madrid on Saturday.

The Real Madrid midfielder's one-match ban was triggered by receiving his third yellow card of the competition in the semifinals, the second leg against Bayern Munich.

UEFA operates different rules in its European Championship finals tournament. Yellow cards are wiped from disciplinary records after the quarterfinals to ensure no player misses the final for a yellow card offense.

FIFA has the same system at the World Cup.

Auto parts price-fixing probe rattles industry

WASHINGTON -- An investigation into price-fixing and bid-rigging in the auto parts industry has mushroomed into the Justice Department's largest criminal antitrust probe ever, and it's not over yet.

The investigation, made public four years ago with FBI raids in the Detroit area, has led to criminal charges against dozens of people and companies, stretched across continents and reverberated through an industry responsible for supplying critical car components.

The collusion has also saddled U.S. drivers with millions of dollars in extra costs.

"It's a very, very safe assumption that U.S. consumers paid more, and sometimes significantly more, for their automobiles as a result of this conspiracy," Brent Snyder, a deputy assistant attorney general in the antitrust division, said in an interview.

So far, 34 individuals have been charged and 27 companies have pleaded guilty or agreed to do so, the Justice Department says. Collectively, they have agreed to pay more than $2.3 billion in fines. New cases have arisen with regularity, with Attorney General Eric Holder promising last September that investigators "would check under ever hood and kick every tire."

The most recent development came Thursday, when an executive from a Japanese company was charged with conspiring to fix the prices of heater control panels sold to Toyota and with persuading workers to destroy evidence.

Officials say the investigation stands out not just for its scope but also for the cooperation the authorities have received from Japan, Australia and other countries. Despite the challenges of prosecuting foreign nationals, the Justice Department has won guilty pleas from a series of Japanese executives who opted to get their punishment over with rather than remain under indictment in their home countries and subject to career-crippling travel restrictions.

Though the techniques and strategies sometimes differed, the executives generally carried out the collusion by trading coded emails, meeting at remote locations and destroying documents to avoid paper trails.

With an eye toward eliminating competition and maximizing profits, they exploited an industry that experts say is in some ways vulnerable to collusion: There are a finite number of purchasers and suppliers, there's steady pressure among companies to cut prices — and car parts, unlike certain products that have a great deal of variability — are generally standardized and homogeneous.

"The firms will just make more money if they're able to reach and stick to an agreement to collectively charge higher prices so that customers can't get them to bid against each other," said Spencer Weber Waller, director of the Institute for Antitrust Consumer Studies at the Loyola University Chicago law school. "The problem is, of course, it's a felony in the United States."

The Justice Department first publicly surfaced aspects of the investigation when FBI agents in Detroit raided the offices of Denso Corp, Yazaki North America and Tokai Rika. All three companies have pleaded guilty to their roles in price-fixing and bid-rigging schemes.

Since the raids, the probe has broadened to encompass about $5 billion worth of auto parts, including seat belts, ignition coils, steering wheels, air bags, windshield wipers and rubber parts that dampen vibration.

Similar cartels have formed in industries ranging from oil and gas to cement and vitamins, though there's debate among economists about how long they can last, given the constant incentive for one member to cheat the others and the tendency to collapse under their own weight as they keep growing, said Daniel Crane, a University of Michigan law professor.

But the collusion in these cases, which in some instances lasted more than a decade, was "deftly done," said Joe Wiesenfelder, executive editor of Cars.com, who has followed the auto parts investigation.

"If they get too greedy and they make their prices too high, then someone smells a rat," he said. "When they set their prices and fixed their prices, they had to do it in a way that wasn't obvious and that took into account the entire market, including suppliers that weren't involved."

Wiesenfelder said that while the collusion affected car consumers, it's hard to tell how much the investigation has been noticed by the average driver.

"It's kind of abstract to consumers," he said. "It's not that prices were fixed on cars. That would really hit home."

But there are indications the industry is chastened.

For instance, Bridgestone Corp., a tire and rubber company that pleaded guilty this year, announced that it would strengthen its compliance, discipline employees and withhold a portion of compensation from certain board members and executives.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department says it's looking into additional misconduct in an investigation that bears all the hallmarks of classic antitrust law-breaking.

"This one," Snyder said, "has it all."