JACKSON, Mich. -- Jackson police say an employee of a steel fabricating company was killed when a steel plate struck him in the center of his body.
The Jackson Citizen Patriot (http://bit.ly/1mJ6nkq ) reports the steel plate fell on the man at a John Crowley Inc. plant on Monday morning. Sgt. Rob Jenks says the man died as a result of the incident.
Police didn't immediately release the victim's name.
GUATEMALA CITY -- The Guatemalan government has declared a state of emergency in 16 of the country's 22 provinces because of a drought that has caused major agricultural losses in Central America.
Agriculture Minister Elmer Lopez said Monday that as of last week more than 236,000 families had been affected mainly in western and central Guatemala.
The state of emergency declaration has to be approved by lawmakers so the government can provide funds to those who have lost their crops, and to stabilize food prices.
Central America is suffering one of its worst droughts in decades, and experts say major farm losses and the deaths of hundreds of cattle in the region could leave hundreds of thousands of families without food.
The losses are largely in the region's staples of corn and beans.
LOS ANGELES -- Americans are doing a better job of making timely credit card payments, even as many lenders increasingly extend credit to more people with less-than-stellar credit.
The rate of U.S. credit card payments at least 90 days overdue fell to 1.16 percent in the April-June quarter — the lowest level in at least seven years, credit reporting agency TransUnion said Tuesday.
The second-quarter credit card delinquency rate is down from 1.27 percent in the same period last year and 1.37 percent in the first three months of this year.
The late-payment rate peaked in the first quarter of 2009 at 3.12 percent, TransUnion said. The firm's data set goes back to 2007 and is drawn from information culled from virtually every U.S. consumer who uses credit.
Average card debt per borrower was up slightly in the second quarter, rising about 0.2 percent to $5,234. It rose 1.4 percent from the first quarter of this year.
Americans still have a limited appetite for debt after gorging themselves on sub-prime mortgages and credit cards before recession seized the country in late 2007.
Credit card borrowing started rising again in 2011, but the increases have lagged far behind other types of debt, including auto and student loans.
All told, U.S. credit card debt has increased 1.3 percent over the past year, reaching $873.1 billion in June, according to the Federal Reserve.
Meanwhile, the number of new credit card accounts opened by consumers increased in the first three months of the year.
The data lag by a quarter, so the latest TransUnion figures cover the January-March period. They show that the number of new credit card accounts rose 17.8 percent to about 11.7 million versus the same period a year earlier.
The share of cards issued to borrowers with less-than-perfect credit increased to 31.2 percent, compared with 27.3 percent a year earlier.
That's still well below the roughly 45 percent share of cards going to non-prime borrowers before the recession, however.
In the VantageScore credit rating scale, consumers with a score lower than 700 on a scale of 501-990 are considered non-prime borrowers.
Lenders also are being more generous with the amount of credit they extend to cardholders.
The average credit limit on new bankcard accounts has increased steadily, rising 29.4 percent to $5,230 over the three-year period ended March 31, TransUnion said.
The increase in card credit limits points to lenders feeling they can take on more risk while giving consumers a bigger credit cushion, said Tony Guitart, TransUnion's director of research and consulting.
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Tax receipts generated from hotel occupancy in East Baton Rouge Parish jumped by more than 35 percent in May, and by 12 percent in June over the same periods in 2013.
The occupancy tax is the sole source of funding for Visit Baton Rouge, which receives 3 percent of receipts. Visit Baton Rouge President and CEO Paul Arrigo tells The Advocate (http://bit.ly/1zsPEaQ ) the May and June figures reflect the beginning of several major events and film productions this summer that helped boost the local travel industry.
NEW YORK -- Airline passengers have come to expect a tiny escape from the confined space of today's packed planes: the ability to recline their seat a few inches. When one passenger was denied that bit of personal space Sunday, it led to a heated argument and the unscheduled landing of their plane, just halfway to its destination.
The fight started on a United Airlines flight because one passenger was using the Knee Defender, a $21.95 gadget that attaches to a passenger's tray table and prevents the person in front of them from reclining.
The Federal Aviation Administration leaves it up to individual airlines to set rules about the device. United Airlines said it prohibits use of the device, like all major U.S. airlines. Spirit Airlines and Allegiant Air take the reclining mechanisms out of their seats, leaving them permanently upright.
The dispute on United Flight 1462 from Newark, New Jersey to Denver escalated to the point where the airline decided to divert to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, according to Transportation Security Administration spokesman Ross Feinstein.
Chicago Police and TSA officers met the flight, spoke to the passengers — a man and a woman, both 48 — and "deemed it a customer service issue," Feinstein said. The TSA would not name the passengers.
The plane then continued to Denver without them, arriving 1 hour and 38 minutes late, according to the airline's website.
The Federal Aviation Administration can impose a civil fine of up to $25,000 for passengers who are unruly. In this case, no arrest was made, according to airport spokesman Gregg Cunningham.
The fight started when the male passenger, seated in a middle seat of row 12, used the Knee Defender to stop the woman in front of him from reclining while he was on his laptop, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak.
A flight attendant asked him to remove the device and he refused. The woman then stood up, turned around and threw a cup of water at him, the official says. That's when United decided to land in Chicago. The two passengers were not allowed to continue to Denver.
Both passengers were sitting in United's Economy Plus section, the part of the plane that has four more inches of legroom than the rest of coach.
Scott Mayerowitz can be reached at http://bit.ly/OGqbLc.
Burger King is in discussions to purchase Tim Hortons. Here's a look at the two restaurants.
Burger King
Established: 1954
Headquarters: Miami
Market capitalization: $11.03 billion, according to FactSet.
More than 13,000 restaurants in 98 countries and territories globally.
Sells burgers, fries, sandwiches, salads, desserts and other goods. Beverages include sodas, frozen drinks, milk, coffee and other items.
Known as home of the Whopper. Nearly all of its restaurants are owned and run by independent franchisees.
Tim Hortons
Established: 1964
Headquarters: Canada
Market capitalization: $10.96 billion, according to FactSet.
More than 4,500 restaurants. This includes 3,630 in Canada, 866 in the U.S. and 50 in the Persian Gulf area.
Known for its doughnuts and coffee, restaurants also sells fruit smoothies, sandwiches, soup, chili, paninis, wraps and baked goods.
The company's co-founder, Tim Horton, played in the National Hockey League for almost a quarter century, with stretches in Toronto, New York, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo.
Purchased by Wendy's International Inc. in 1995. Completed initial public offering and was spun off as a separate public company in 2006.
NEW ORLEANS -- A New Orleans company is voluntarily recalling about 2.2 million beanbag chairs after the chairs were implicated in the suffocation deaths of two children.
The New Orleans Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/1ztyUjz) Ace Bayou Corp. announced the recall Friday along with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The beanbag chairs were sold in a variety of sizes, shapes, colors and fabrics and are filled with polystyrene foam beads. Two children, a 13-year-old boy from McKinney, Texas, and a 3-year-old girl from Lexington, Kentucky, died in separate incidents after they crawled inside the chairs and then suffocated.
The recalled chairs have two zippers that can be unzipped and opened, including one on the exterior cover and another one directly underneath that zipper. The company is offering free "safety enhancement kits" to anyone who purchased the chairs. The kits disable the zippers so that the chairs can no longer be unzipped from the outside.
The beanbag chairs were sold at Bon-Ton, Meijer, Pamida, School Specialty, Wayfair and Wal-Mart stores and online at Amazon.com, Meijer.com and Walmart.com before July 2013 for between $30 and $100.
They were made in China. "ACE BAYOU CORP" is printed on a tag sewn into the chair's cover seam.
The CPSC urged consumers to contact Ace Bayou via the website, www.acebayou.com, for a free repair kit to permanently disable any zippers so that the chairs can no longer be unzipped from the outside.
PARIS -- French President Francois Hollande dissolved the government on Monday after open feuding among his Cabinet over the country's stagnant economy.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls offered up his Socialist government's resignation after accusing France's outspoken economy minister of crossing a line with his blunt criticism of the government's policies. Hollande accepted the resignation and ordered Valls to form a new government by Tuesday.
France has had effectively no economic growth this year, unemployment is hovering around 10 percent and Hollande's approval ratings are sunk in the teens. The country is under pressure from the 28-nation European Union to get its finances in order, but Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg has questioned whether the austerity tack pressed by the EU will really kick start French growth.
Hollande's promises to cut taxes and make it easier for businesses to open and operate have stalled, in large part because of the divisions among his Socialist party.
"A major change in our economy policy," was what Montebourg had said was needed, just days after Hollande had expressly said there would be no change in the government's economic direction.
The minister's comments angered the Socialist leadership, which said Montebourg's job was to support the government, not criticize it from within.
"He's not there to start a debate but to put France back on the path of growth," Carlos Da Silva, the Socialist Party spokesman, told the Le Figaro newspaper.
Montebourg represents the hard-left Socialist base, and his departure from the government is likely to anger many of the voters who brought Hollande to office in 2012. Since that time, France's economy has only worsened, and the sense of impending crisis weighs heavily.
French officials have already made clear that the deficit will again surpass the EU's 3 percent target and are negotiating a delay.
The new government is unlikely to include Montebourg or other left-wing Socialists and there will be no new election. Instead, led by Valls, the new Cabinet is expected to work toward smoother ties with the EU.
Montebourg's criticism of austerity — and his pointed remarks about German Chancellor Angela Merkel — have rankled before.
In an interview last week after Germany's economy also showed signs of stagnation, Montebourg said France's neighbor had been "trapped by the policy of austerity." He went on to say "when I say Germany, I mean the German right wing that supports Angela Merkel. It's not France's job to align itself to the ideological axioms of Germany's right wing."
Merkel on Monday declined to comment directly about France's change in government but said she wishes "the French president success with his reform agenda."
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Associated Press writer David Rising contributed from Berlin.
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Follow Sylvie Corbet at: http://bit.ly/1ws4zWC
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Six thoughts from William Koch, on family, money and politics. From an interview with The Associated Press:
—On his brother Charles: "He likes to do things his own way. He likes to be the boss, as most older brothers do. ... He does like control."
—On his siblings overall: "I once used to say that my brother David collected girlfriends till he got married, then my brother Charles collects money and my brother Fred collects houses and then I collect everything I can."
—On Charles' and David's involvement in politics: "I wonder a little bit about the high profile they've taken but admire them for their passionate beliefs and their putting their money where their mouths are."
—On Charles' political views: "He's a born-again libertarian or a born-again conservative and sometimes born-agains take positions that are a bit extreme."
—On misconceptions about his family: "We're all branded as right-wing extremists or right-wing conservatives and I know my brother David and particularly I don't care if two guys want to get married or two women want to get married. So what? And so I don't think we have what you'd call the Bible-belt attitudes that are thrown onto conservatives. ... Some of my brothers are socially liberal and economically conservative."
—On life: "I've really enjoyed the ride I've had since I left Koch Industries. ... What money does is allow you to act out a lot of your eccentricities. ... I've put a lot of it to good use and I've had a lot of fun with the rest."
MINNEAPOLIS -- Buffalo Wild Wings has made a majority investment in Rusty Taco, seeking to help the chain grow throughout the country.
Dallas-based Rusty Taco Inc. specializes in freshly made tacos. The privately held company has nine restaurants in the Dallas, Denver and Minneapolis/St. Paul areas.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
This isn't the first time Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. has made an investment in another restaurant operator. The Minneapolis company previously made a minority investment in artisanal pizza company PizzaRev. Kathy Benning, Buffalo Wild Wings' executive vice president, chief strategy officer and new business development, said in a statement on Monday that the company is actively looking to make more investments to help build up its brand portfolio.
Buffalo Wild Wings currently has more than 1,030 of its restaurants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Its stock gained $1.14 to $145.44 in morning trading.
MADRID -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel says her country will back Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos's candidacy to be the next head of the Eurogroup, the gathering of eurozone finance ministers that sets important policies for the currency union.
Merkel said Monday that when the term of the current Eurogroup leader, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, ends in January, Germany will support de Guindos to replace him.
She said de Guindos "has been an excellent economy minister in difficult times" and had worked closely with Germany's Wolfgang Schaeuble on many issues during the eurozone's financial crisis.
Merkel was speaking during a press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in the northwestern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela at the end of a two-day visit.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- Frontier Airlines plans to suspend Sioux City service on Oct. 24.
Sioux City airport director Curt Miller says an email from Frontier described the suspension as a seasonal shutdown. He says Frontier indicated it would contact him after Jan. 1 to talk about future flights.
Frontier has been serving Sioux City since June 12 with flights to Denver on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
BEIJING -- Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday on a visit to China hoping the long-time ally and economic giant can help the African nation's ailing economy.
Mugabe, who has been criticized by Western nations for human rights violations, was welcomed with a 21-gun salute at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
"Your Excellency is a renowned leader of the African national liberation movement," Xi said in remarks to Mugabe in a meeting in front of journalists who were briefly allowed into the room. Xi hailed him as an old friend of the Chinese people.
"The traditional friendship between China and Zimbabwe was forged in the glorious years when we stood shoulder to shoulder against imperialism, colonialism and hegemony," Xi said.
The leaders oversaw the signing of a number of agreements, including on economic, trade and tourism cooperation and emergency food donations and concessional loans from China to the southern African nation. No details were immediately released.
Mugabe told Xi that Zimbabwe, being the smaller country, benefited more from the relationship, but said his government would do its best to "reciprocate your friendship."
Zimbabwe, a once-prosperous nation of 13 million people, has struggled since 90-year-old Mugabe defeated rival Morgan Tsvangirai in a 2013 vote marked by allegations of irregularities. Mugabe's victory ended an uneasy power-sharing deal, but foreign investors have been deterred by concerns about corruption and government policies to force foreign-owned and white-owned businesses to cede 51 percent of their shares to black Zimbabweans. Hundreds of manufacturing companies have closed in the past year.
Iraq's prime minister-designate calls on the countries numerous Shiite militias and tribes to come under government...
BEIRUT: The Nusra Front may use force to free militants detained in Lebanon’s prisons, a prominent Nusra commander told the Turkish Anadolu News Agency Monday.
“We may resort to the military option to release our detained [militants] from Lebanese prisons,” he said.
The Nusra Front is believed to be holding three soldiers and 15 policemen, out of the total 29 security personnel and troops held captive by militant groups after the eruption of clashes in the northeastern border town of Arsal.
“We call for honest negotiations because it is the only solution,” said the Nusra Front commander, referring to negotiations with the Lebanese government over the release of abducted security personnel being held by the militant group.
According to the Nusra commander, Hezbollah is preparing to launch an attack on the Syrian region of Qalamoun and is trying to “disrupt negotiations" by forcefully reclaiming the captives.
He warned that such a move would prompt the killing of the captive soldiers.
The Muslim Scholars Committee had been mediating between the militant groups and the Lebanese government in an effort to secure the release of detained security personnel before announcing the suspension of its role Friday.
The militant’s demands remain ambiguous after the government pushed for a media blackout over negotiations.
The Syrian go-between for the militants and the Muslim Scholars Committee, Ahmad al-Qusair, told The Daily Star last week that the release of innocent Islamist inmates in Roumieh featured prominently in the demands. He said that negotiations had come to an impasse because the government considered the militants’ demands as coming at too high of a cost.
The government’s official stand over the militant dossier has been a “no-compromise” policy.
Several officials, including Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk, repeatedly rejected the idea of offering concessions in return for the abducted soldiers, stressing that the release of militants from Roumieh prison was not on the table.
However Sheikh Adnan Amama, spokesperson for the Muslim Scholar’s Committee, told The Daily Star that “the militants we were negotiating with rejected the idea of military action.”
“They didn’t want to be embroiled in a hostile war in Lebanon when their fight was in Syria,” Amama said.
Speaking on the militants’ reported demands for the release of Islamist detainees held at Roumieh prison, Amama said they had yet to reach the stage of listing exact names.
The suspension of the Muslim Scholar’s mediation efforts reflected the challenges in negotiating between the committee and the government; it was unclear which party, local or external, would resume efforts.
The suspension of the committee’s role also appeared to be aimed at giving foreign actors a chance to mediate with Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants entrenched in Arsal’s outskirts.
Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria are still holding 11 soldiers, as well as the body of a deceased soldier. The Nusra Front still holds 15 ISF captives and three Army hostages.
Army intelligence arrest 3 Syrian refugees in the Bekaa on suspicion of associating with Syria’s Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra...
BEIRUT: Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk and Speaker Nabih Berri spoke Monday on the security situation in the border town of Arsal, and on ways to beef up national security and civil peace.
“Consultation with Speaker Berri is always more than necessary. Discussions today focused specifically on the security situation, notably in Arsal and the Bekaa,” Machnouk said after the meeting, according to the National News Agency (NNA).
Machnouk, who represents the Future Movement in PM Tammam Salam’s Cabinet, stressed that Arsal’s security remains an “exclusive priority” for the government, following the showdown that pitted the Army against takfiri militants from Syria earlier this month.
“It is the government’s duty and task to work on reinforcing security in the region of Arsal and boost civil peace there,” Machnouk said.
“The speaker was the first to call for investing in national security. I felt it is my duty to visit him and consult him on that issue in general, and the developments in Arsal in particular, especially on ways to rectify the situation there,” he said, adding that Berri was contemplating several options regarding Arsal. He gave no further details regarding the potential action the government would take.
Berri is head of the Amal Movement, part of the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition which opposes the March 14 camp led by the Future Movement.
At least 60 militants and 19 soldiers were killed in the five days of clashes, which erupted on Aug. 2 after militants from Syria’s Nusra Front and Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) overran Arsal, a town on Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria. The militants pulled out a week later under an agreement brokered by the Committee of Muslim Scholars but took 29 captured security and Army personnel with them.
The militants have placed conditions to free the Lebanese personnel, including the release of militant leader Imad Ahmed Jomaa whose arrest by the Army had triggered the Arsal showdown, and other Islamist prisoners.
NEW YORK -- Stocks are opening higher in the U.S. after central bankers in Europe and Japan said support for their economies would continue.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 64 points, or 0.4 percent, to 17,064 as of 9:35 a.m. Monday.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose eight points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,996. The Nasdaq composite index rose 26 points, or 0.6 percent, to 4,564.
Burger King jumped 14 percent in early trading following news that the fast-food chain is in talks to buy Tim Hortons of Canada.
European markets also rose. The DAX in Germany gained 1.2 percent and the CAC-40 rose 1.3 percent. British markets were closed for a holiday.
Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held at 2.40 percent.
ISLAY, Scotland -- Carl Reavey plunged his nose into the glass, inhaled the amber liquid's scent, then sipped. Slowly.
It's said that Scotch tastes of the place where it is made, so Reavey's Bruichladdich Black Art single malt would offer a touch of barley, a splash of the sea, and a whiff of salt from the island of Islay, 140 miles (225 kilometers) west of Glasgow.
That taste takes time — a long time — to produce, with top-rated Scotch aged for decades. And it means distilleries need to have long-term plans for investments and financing — all of which could be thrown into turmoil in a single day, Sept. 18, when Scotland votes on whether to leave Britain.
Whisky makers and many other businesses are worried about the risks involved in finding themselves overnight in a new country with, among other things, a different currency.
"The uncertainty associated with independence, rather than independence itself, really, I think is the concern," Reavey said.
The most contentious issue so far has been what currency an independent Scotland would use. The central government has ruled out sharing the pound, saying British taxpayers shouldn't be forced to underwrite economic and fiscal policies over which they have no control. Pro-independence leader Alex Salmond has refused to offer a plan B, arguing that the stance of the unity advocates is merely a scare tactic.
For many companies, that's not a bluff worth calling.
If Scotland were to take a new currency, businesses would suddenly find themselves in the position of having to pay back loans they took in pounds with new money of uncertain value. The risk is a new currency would be weaker than the pound because it would be based on an economy, Scotland's, which is smaller than the rest of Britain, which includes England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The currency debate is especially important to Scotland's financial services industry, which accounts for 25 percent of the region's economy, excluding oil and gas. Scotland-based groups such as the Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Life, which rely on the stability provided by the pound, have warned about the potential risks of independence.
Part of that would come from the fact that an independent Scotland may be forced to drop out of the European Union and have to reapply for membership. The union of 28 countries guarantees free movement of money and people — a precious asset for companies, particularly multinational corporations, as well as exporters.
Nine out of 10 bottles of Scotch are sold overseas for a value of 4.3 billion pounds ($7.1 billion) a year. Being outside the EU would raise the prospect of new export duties to the EU, the world's largest trading bloc with over 500 million people. Many distilleries import grain from EU countries to make whisky, something that could become more expensive. Scotland would also have to take on the job of shielding the drink from unfair trading practices, protect its trademarks and safeguard an estimated 35,000 jobs
The broad-ranging uncertainty is the primary weapon of anti-independence campaigners. The key question for voters — not just business owners — is whether Scots would be economically better off if they severed ties with Britain.
Salmond says Scotland will grow rich from its North Sea oil reserves once it is free of meddling politicians in London who have wasted the country's energy wealth. Salmond wants to funnel a portion of that revenue into a special fund like the one in Norway, which has set aside the equivalent of $883 billion for future generations.
"We're not saying that the day after independence we'll all wake up and find there are three taps in every house - whisky, oil and water. We're not saying that," Salmond told The Associated Press. "We're saying if we work together over a period of time, we can build a more prosperous and a more just society."
Alistair Darling, who leads the Better Together campaign, argues that prosperity is best guaranteed by Scotland remaining an integral part of Britain. Darling, who was British Treasury chief at the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, underscores that North Sea oil production is already declining and future revenue is uncertain. He has portrayed the nationalists as deceptive, arguing for example that a 650-page report explaining the nationalists' plans lacks heft — offering more mentions of the celebrity television show "Strictly Come Dancing" than of the whisky industry.
One independent analysis suggests advocates of secession may have overestimated Scotland's energy windfall.
Some 84 percent of British oil reserves are in Scottish waters, meaning an independent Scotland would receive the lion's share of future tax revenue from those assets. That translates to about 7 billion pounds ($11.6 billion) a year based on government forecasts, according to the London-based National Institute for Economic and Social Research. However, an independent state would lose roughly the same amount in transfer payments that the central British government now sends to Scotland, the institute said in a February report.
With North Sea oil production likely to decline beginning in 2018, Scotland may actually be left with a shortfall that would require it to find new sources of revenue to maintain public spending, according to the report.
Whisky differs from oil in that it is not only a source of money and jobs, but has become one of the most pervasive and recognizable symbols for Scotland internationally.
The drink, which has been distilled in Scotland since at least 1494, was popularized globally by Hollywood after World War II. The promotion of single malt whisky added another dimension to the market, which exploded in terms of sales in the last decade.
"You're buying a very carefully made and complex product," said Charles MacLean, a leading expert on Scotland's whisky industry. "You're buying the blood of one small nation."
The members of the Scotch Whisky Association are clear — they will work with whoever is in power. But who will that be?
"If there's one certainty of this process, (it's) that Scotch whisky will still be made in Scotland whatever happens," said David Williams, the association's spokesman.
Attorney General Eric Holder talks with Ferguson, Mo., residents Angela Whitman (left) and Jill Richards on Wednesday at Drake's Place Restaurant about issues surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown. J.B. Forbes/MCT/Landov hide caption
Attorney General Eric Holder talks with Ferguson, Mo., residents Angela Whitman (left) and Jill Richards on Wednesday at Drake's Place Restaurant about issues surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown.
Ferguson, Mo., has seen nearly two weeks of protests after an unarmed 18-year-old African-American man was shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer. This week, a black leader stepped in to help defuse tensions. But it wasn't a civil rights spokesman or the first African-American president. It was Attorney General Eric Holder.
Some political observers are asking why Obama can't seem to speak for himself on race. Many observers argue that Holder often talks frankly about race when the president can't or won't.
Speaking at a Thursday press conference, Holder said, "This has engendered a conversation that I think we ought to have, but we can't stop at that conversation."
Earlier in the week, Holder became the highest-ranking administration official to visit Ferguson. He met with Brown's parents, community leaders and regular citizens. At a local diner, he explained to residents why he came to their troubled town.
"We want to help as best we can. We also want to listen," Holder said. "That's the main part of this trip. We want to hear about issues you all are dealing with and see if there are ways in which we can help."
Many black political thinkers say President Obama himself needs help connecting on this issue and that his Monday remarks on Ferguson fell flat. They say this is the moment that he needs to be "the black president," not just a president who happens to be black.
Mary C. Curtis, a contributor to The Washington Post's "She The People" column, wants Obama to speak more personally about how law enforcement treats African-Americans.
"When he talks about black men being profiled, when he talks about a situation of unrest, he is a person who is president of the United States who has also been profiled," Curtis says.
In Ferguson, Holder shared his own stories of being profiled, explaining to young black people at a community college that he understands their uneasy relationship with police. While that event was closed to the press, in the past, an open mic hasn't stopped Holder from speaking boldly on race.
"In things racial we have always been and, I believe we continue to be, essentially, a nation of cowards," Holder said in February 2009. He offered those remarks at a Justice Department black history month event, just days after he took office.
That kind of blunt talk is what some of the president's black supporters wish Obama would try more often.
But can he?
Comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele built a now famous series of skits around Obama's reserve. The president is played by Peele, and Key serves as his official Anger Translator, Luther. At the heart of each piece is Luther's willingness to say what Obama won't.
Some observers suggest that Holder is Obama's real-life Luther. But also that Ferguson presents a unique challenge to the president.
Andra Gillespie, a professor of political science at Emory University, says that conflicting narratives about Brown's killing — and what happened in the streets afterward — make it tough for Obama to take a stand.
"The facts of the case have come out in a trickle," says Gillespie. "And as the facts have come out, sometimes, they have been met with a very, very tense response in Ferguson. And since the facts of the case have not been 100 percent clear, I think President Obama has been a little reticent to speak out."
Others say that's just an excuse.
"America did not vote for Eric Holder, OK? America voted for Barack Obama," says Jason Johnson, a political science professor at Ohio's Hiram College. He traveled to Ferguson to observe the protests and says having Holder appear there was good, but not enough.
"When it comes to gravitas, power and symbolism, there is no substitute for the president of the United States speaking," says Johnson.
When there were riots after the acquittal of the Los Angeles police who beat Rodney King, Johnson says, people wanted to hear from President George H.W. Bush. They wanted to hear not just about the facts but about his feelings. And they did.
"What you saw, what I saw on the TV videotape was revolting," Bush said. "I felt anger, I felt pain. I thought, 'How can I explain this to my grandchildren?' "
Johnson believes Ferguson represents a similar crisis and that some presidential anger is appropriate. And, he insists, that's not a job Obama should delegate to the attorney general.
NEW DELHI -- India's Supreme Court said Monday that all government allocations of coal reserves to private companies from 1993 to 2010 were conducted illegally, and it will hold a hearing to decide whether to cancel them.
More than 200 coal blocks, or areas of unmined reserves, were allocated during that period to companies for their use in power plants or steel or cement factories. The companies were allowed to sell excess coal on the open market, but the court said commercial sales from the reserves must be suspended until it makes its decision at a hearing on Sept. 1.
The court's ruling extends beyond the initial case — dubbed "Coalgate" by the Indian media — in which the previous Congress party-led government was accused of costing the treasury hundreds of billions of dollars by selling or allocating about 155 coal blocks in 2004-09 without competitive bidding. A report by the country's Comptroller and Auditor General leaked to the media in March 2012 estimated those losses to have been around $210 billion.
The scandal along with other high-profile cases of alleged corruption were seen as a key reason for the Congress party's loss in this year's elections to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pro-business Bharatiya Janata Party.
The court said in its ruling Monday that between 1993 and 2010 there had been "no fair and transparent procedure" in the coal allocation process, "resulting in unfair distribution of the national wealth."
"Common good and public interest have, thus, suffered heavily," said the court, led by Chief Justice R.M. Lodha.
WASHINGTON -- Ten or 12 times a year, Beatrice Adams' daughter would race her frail mother to the emergency room for high blood pressure or pain from a list of chronic illnesses.
Then Adams found a doctor who makes house calls, and the 89-year-old hasn't needed ER care in the nearly two years since.
"I'm not a wimpy female," Adams said as Dr. Eric De Jonge wheeled his medical bag into her dining room and sat down to examine her. "I have only 11 years to make 100, and I'm going to make it."
The old-fashioned house call is starting to make a comeback as part of an effort to improve care for some of Medicare's most frail and expensive patients.
While it may sound like a luxury, bringing team-based primary care into the homes of patients like Adams, according to a new study, actually could save Medicare money by keeping them from needing pricier specialty or hospital care.
"They have a lifeline," explained De Jonge, a co-founder of the medical house call program at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, who led the study.
Such elder care is rare, but is growing. Medicare paid for 2.8 million house calls in 2012, the latest data available, compared with 1.5 million about a decade ago.
There are different kinds of house call programs. De Jonge's aims to provide comprehensive care. Teams of doctors and nurse-practitioners make regular visits to frail or homebound patients whose needs are too complex for a 20-minute office visit even if simply getting there wasn't a huge hurdle.
They can use portable X-rays and do EKGs or echocardiograms right in the living room. They line up social workers for supportive care, spot preventable problems such as tripping hazards, arrange home delivery of medications, and offer round-the-clock phone consultations and same-day urgent visits.
Adams has multiple chronic conditions ranging from hard-to-control blood pressure to congestive heart failure and post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from an assault.
On a recent house call, De Jonge listened for about 10 minutes as Adams got some fears off her chest. "I just shake even thinking about it," she said of the attack that still triggers nightmares. A social worker was helping, she said.
Then came the physical exam. De Jonge already had cut in half the 17 medications other doctors had prescribed. Hhe said Adams' grogginess immediately disappeared.
"One of my favorite things as a geriatrician is eliminating unnecessary medications. You see people blossom," he said.
This visit, De Jonge opened every remaining pill bottle to make sure Adams was taking them properly. Her blood pressure and oxygen levels were fine. Severe swelling in her legs wasn't a sign of any heart trouble, he reassured Adams, just vein damage. She should put her feet up for a while each day.
Does all that effort pay off?
De Jonge and colleagues compared the cost and survival of 722 patients enrolled in their house call practice in recent years with Medicare claims records of 2,161 similarly ill patients who never received home medical care.
Death rates between these two groups were similar. But over a two-year period, total Medicare costs were 17 percent lower for the house-call patients, or an average savings of about $4,200 per person per year, the group reported last month in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. They used more primary care but used less hospital, specialty and nursing home care.
That could add up fast, De Jonge said. Five percent of Medicare patients account for about half of the government insurance program's spending, the kind of frail older people he typically sees.
But house-call providers can be hard to find, and reimbursement is one reason. A doctor can see — and be paid for — about three times as many patients in a day in an office than they can while making house calls because of the travel time, said Constance Row, executive director of the American Academy of Home Care Medicine.
Indeed, De Jonge said reimbursement doesn't completely cover his program's costs; it breaks even thanks to grants and some hospital funding.
Now Medicare has begun a major demonstration project designed to test how well the house-call approach really works — one that for the first time will allow participating providers to share in any government savings that result if they also meet quality-care requirements.
About 10,000 patients who receive home medical care from 17 programs around the country, including De Jonge's, are part of the three-year experiment. To qualify, patients must be among the frailest of the frail, people who probably would qualify for a nursing home if they didn't have some assistance at home, said Linda Magno, who oversees the project for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
It's so difficult to get to the doctor's office that "they tend to cope as best they can until things go downhill and they call 911," Magno said. "Part of the goal is to provide that continuity (of care), that access, so that 911 isn't necessarily the first call you make."
Stay tuned. Two years into the project, Medicare is beginning to calculate which programs met the shared-savings criteria.
WARREN, Mich. -- General Motors Co. says the last remaining 2,500 workers displaced following this month's flooding are returning to work at its Tech Center in suburban Detroit.
The Detroit News reports (http://bit.ly/1qfTIKd ) the automaker says it's reopening GM's Design Center, Design East studios, Engineering Center and Research and Development buildings in Warren on Monday after restoration efforts.
The company says all 19,000 employees and contractors who work at the Tech Center now will be back on the job in Warren. GM had closed many buildings at its Tech Center campus following flooding that filled basements and tunnels connecting facilities.
Many employees worked from home or other sites during the cleanup. Heavy rains on Aug. 11 caused flooding across the Detroit area.
Using the federal income tax system to promote social policy goals is a time-honored strategy for policymakers of both political parties.
The nation's main anti-poverty program, the Earned Income Tax Credit, uses the tax system to supplement the earnings of low-income families. Employer-provided health insurance is tax-free for workers and tax-deductible for companies, a huge boost for workplace coverage.
But some economists say that the chief purpose of any tax system should be revenue collection, and using income taxes to advance social policy makes the code needlessly complicated, while also distorting incentives to work, save and invest.
Some pros and cons of using the tax system to help people pay premiums for private health insurance, as the Affordable Care Act does:
PRO: Could build support for the health overhaul because tax credits have greater political popularity than traditional government spending programs.
CON: Complicates tax filing for many lower-to-middle income people, who may not be able to afford tax-preparation services.
PRO: Avoids the social stigma of Medicaid, the safety-net health care program for low-income people. (Separately, the health law also expands Medicaid.)
CON: Requires people who get the tax credits to accurately project their incomes for the coming year, a real challenge for those who may not have stable employment.
PRO: The Internal Revenue Service has a lot of experience administering tax provisions that serve a social policy agenda, from mortgage deductions for home ownership to child care tax credits that help families.
CON: It constitutes mission creep for the IRS, straining the agency when an estimated $385 billion a year in taxes owed, or more, goes uncollected.
Army intelligence arrest 3 Syrian refugees in the Bekaa on suspicion of associating with Syria’s Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra...
TOKYO -- Sony's PlayStation Network service for video games was unusable from Sunday until Monday afternoon after being flooded by an online attack.
Separately, an American Airlines flight carrying Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley was diverted to Phoenix while the online attack was happening, Sony Computer Entertainment spokesman Satoshi Nakajima said.
An individual or group called Lizard Squad claimed through a Twitter account there might be explosives on the plane, which was en route from Dallas to San Diego. The account also claimed responsibility for the attack on PlayStation Network.
It was still unclear if the account's claims were true, Nakajima said.
Sony's network was compromised for about a month in 2011, including the personal data of 77 million user accounts. The network's security was upgraded to protect against such attacks.
Sony says there was no breach of personal information in the latest incident, which was resolved by Monday afternoon.
Smedley said on Twitter: "Yes, my plane was diverted. Not going to discuss more than that. Justice will find these guys."
American Airlines officials in Tokyo were not immediately available for comment.
BEIRUT: Russia has followed the United States and Britain Monday by pledging support to the Lebanese Army to reinforce its capacities to combat terrorism, with the Russian ambassador saying his country was considering unconditional assistance to the military.
Speaking after a meeting with Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, Russian envoy Alexander Zasypkin said: “We are exploring, with [Lebanese] officials, offering unconditional assistance to the Lebanese Army.”
Bassil said he has asked for Russia’s support to help the Army confront rampant terrorism, in reference to the showdown between troops and takfiri militants from Syria’s Nusra Front and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Arsal, on Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria earlier this month.
“We call for the complete liberation of Arsal [from militants],” Bassil said, stressing that “a security solution, not negotiations,” should be the only way to deal with armed groups.
At least 60 militants and 19 soldiers were killed in the five days of clashes, which erupted on Aug. 2 after militants overran Arsal. The militants pulled out a week later under an agreement brokered by the Committee of Muslim Scholars but took 29 captured security and Army personnel with them.
The militants have placed conditions to free the Lebanese personnel, including the release of militant leader Imad Ahmed Jomaa whose arrest by the Army had triggered the Arsal showdown, and other Islamist prisoners.
Answering reporters’ questions about demands made by Lebanese politicians to deploy international peacekeeping forces to help tighten security along the porous border with Syria, Zasypkin said that Russia sees “no need to expand UNIFIL’s mission to include the borders with Syria.”
US and British ambassadors in Lebanon have already vowed to extend military aid to the Army, including weapons and other equipment, to beef up its ability to curb terrorist action.
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Future MP Ahmad Fatfat Monday said the March 14 coalition welcomed any effort to achieve the presidential election but ruled out an early vote.
“March 14 forces are exerting every effort to hold the presidential election,” Fatfat told reporters at his home in the northern city of Tripoli. “We welcome any positive effort in this regard.”
Lebanon has been without a head of state since former President Michel Sleiman's term ended in May 25, with lawmakers botching several voting attempts due to lack of consensus.
Fatfat, however, saw no chance of an early election.
“There is no [immediate] prospect of the election of a new president,” he said, dismissing local newspaper reports that a new head of state could emerge in September.
Fatfat accused Hezbollah of having an “ultimate interest at this stage” to keep the presidential seat vacant in order to maintain their upper hand on Lebanon.
He also criticized MP Michel Aoun for submitting a draft law suggesting electing the president via popular vote.
“I’m not sure what Gen. Aoun wants. Either he becomes the president or he will accept nothing ... and he hides behind Hezbollah to prevent the election of a new president,” Fatfat said.
“This is why I don’t expect [Aoun] or Hezbollah to be convinced of any initiative launched by Speaker Nabih Berri or MP Walid Jumblatt.”
Berri and Jumblatt had said Sunday that they were working together on a political compromise to break the presidential stalemate.
Fatfat also hailed March 14’s flexibility on the presidential election.
“Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has previously announced his willingness to pull out of the presidential race in favor of a personality that supports March 14’s fundamental principles,” he said.
“This proves March 14’s flexibility in accepting any initiative, after having mulling it of course.”
Speaking on ISIS, Fatfat slammed Jumblatt over his remarks, criticizing him for commenting in defense of Hezbollah but not acknowledging other remarks that he deemed harmful.
“Perhaps we should wait for another statement from MP Jumblatt as he did not respond to remarks made by Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil who said ISIS stretches from Mosul to Baabda,” Fatfat said, adding that he “regrets” that Jumblatt did not see that Bassil’s remarks have harmed the Lebanese government, of which the Druze MP is a member.
Jumblatt had said he disagrees with statements saying Hezbollah and the Islamist State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) were similar.
Fatfat stressed that there cannot be peace and stability in Lebanese as long as Hezbollah continues to fight in Syria.
BEIRUT: Hezbollah called upon its rivals in the March 14 coalition to present a political vision to end the three-month political stalemate since former President Michel Sleiman's term ended.
“We advise March 14 to submit a political vision and tell the people what they want,” Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said in remarks published Monday.
Lebanon has been without a head of state since the May 25 end of Sleiman's term, with lawmakers failing in 10 attempts to elect a successor due to lack of consensus.
“Tell the people what you are doing to address the problem of the country, and what are you positively offering [them],” Qassem told March 14, pointing to the coalition’s contradictory stances on Parliament’s extension.
“You say you oppose the extension of Parliament’s mandate when you are seeking an extension. You have disrupted Parliament under the pretext of electricity workers and its [Parliament’s] illegitimate [role] because the Mikati government had resigned,” Qassem said.
"Rely on your accomplishments and do not count on the achievements of ISIS,” he told March 14 in reference to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS).
ISIS fighters Sunday captured a major military air base in Syria’s northeast, eliminating the last regime-held outpost in a province otherwise already dominated by the jihadist group, activists and state media said.
Tabqa airfield – home to several warplane squadrons, helicopters, tanks, artillery and ammunition bunkers – was the third military base in the area to fall to ISIS in the last month.
Those victories are part of ISIS’ aggressive push to consolidate its hold on northern and eastern provinces in Syria, while also expanding the boundaries of its self-styled caliphate straddling the Syria- Iraq border.
Hezbollah fighters are fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces in the conflict.
March 14 supports the Syrian opposition but has distanced itself from ISIS and other radical groups fighting Assad.
“We have a good opportunity ahead of us. Grab it in order to reach an understanding and dialogue,” Qassem said, addressing March 14.
“We are outstretching our hand. We are ready for an intellectual dialogue to discuss principles. We are ready for a serious dialogue, for agreements, for commitments,” he stressed.
Qassem, nevertheless, did not have high hopes.
“There are no solutions in Lebanon in the foreseeable future,” he said. "It seems that we will have to wait too long for developments in Syria, Iraq and Palestine, and is not clear how long this period will last.”
BEIRUT: Reports that militants with hit lists have returned to the Lebanese border town of Arsal are false, local officials said Monday, after rumors spread that Syrians who clashed with the Lebanese Army earlier this month were attacking locals for collaborating with the military.
“Untrue reports, circulated by certain media to revive rumors alleging that Arsal is harboring armed groups hostile to the military and security institutions, were instigated by parties who are not happy with the arrangement that ended the standoff with the Army,” Arsal Mayor Ali Hujeiri told The Daily Star.
Hujeiri accused unnamed partisans in the village of stirring tensions to place Arsal once again on a collision course with security and the military, in an apparent reference to Hezbollah and its supporters.
He said the “issue of return of the gunmen” to Arsal was brought back into the limelight through the propagation of lies by “certain groups who had wished for a more radical and firmer end” to the clashes, which pitted the Army against militants from Syria’s Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS).
At least 60 militants and 19 soldiers were killed in the five days of clashes, which erupted on Aug. 2 after militants overran Arsal, a town on Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria. The militants pulled out a week later under an agreement brokered by the Committee of Muslim Scholars but took 29 captured security and Army personnel with them.
Echoing the mayor’s comments, Future Movement representative Bakr Hujeiri denied any militants had returned to the town. He explained that instead a number of gunmen “sought to take revenge and settle accounts” of an old feud between a family from Arsal and Syrian refugees, in which people from both sides have been killed.
For his part, Khaled Zeidan, a prominent Arsal local, described the report that the militants had a hit list of Army collaborators as a sham.
“If that was true, all of Arsal’s residents would be on that list, because they all collaborated with the national Army, and have sided with the military institution right from the beginning,” Zeidan said.
WASHINGTON -- They are the outsized force in modern American politics, the best-known brand of the big money era, yet still something of a mystery to those who cash their checks.
They're demonized by Democrats, who lack a liberal equal to counter their weight, and not entirely understood by Republicans, who benefit from their seemingly limitless donations.
These are the Koch brothers, and perhaps the first thing you need to know is that there are four of them.
The constant shorthand reference — "Koch brothers," pronounced like the cola — that lumps them all together shortchanges the remarkable story of four very different people who rode the Koch genes and the Koch money in vastly different directions.
Charles is the steady, driven one. He's grounded in the Kansas soil of their birth.
David is his outgoing younger brother. He's a New Yorker now, and pronounces himself forever changed by a near-death experience.
William is David's free-spirited twin, a self-described contrarian whose pursuits beyond business include sailing, collecting things and suing people (his brothers included).
And then there's the oldest, Frederick, who's as likely to turn up in Monte Carlo as at his apartment on New York's Fifth Avenue and doesn't have much to do with the rest of the lot.
They're all fabulously wealthy, all donate lavishly to charity, all tall — Frederick is the shortest at 6-foot-2 — and all are prostate cancer survivors.
Two of them, Charles and David, have defined the public notion what it means to be a "Koch brother."
In the eyes of the political establishment, it's the willingness to freely spend their awesome wealth in the pursuit of a smaller, more limited government. Among the executive set, it's their success at turning Koch Industries into a corporate behemoth whose reach extends into every corner of American life — toilet paper to jet fuel, fertilizer to cattle.
Among Democrats? Well, it's the idea that success at business allowed them to advance a political agenda that is designed to benefit those businesses.
The other two brothers — known in the family as Bill and Freddie — cut their ties to the family business decades ago and don't show the same passion as Charles and David to change the world. One of them, if you can believe it, has even given money to Hillary Rodham Clinton. (That would be Bill.)
As Bill sizes up his siblings during an interview with The Associated Press: "David and I like off-color jokes, Freddie likes more sophisticated jokes." Charles? "Charles likes golf."
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Let's start with Charles and David, the two in sync on business and politics who most people think of when referring to the "Koch brothers." To even pair these two together risks missing their differences, of both geography and style.
Charles is the white-haired alpha male at the helm of Koch Industries. Midwestern through and through, the 78-year-old still walks up four flights of stairs to work at Koch headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, each morning and eats his lunch in the company cafeteria.
After building Koch Industries into the nation's second-largest private company, he turned his business philosophy into a book, "The Science of Success," drawing on — take a breath here — "economics, ethics, social philosophy, psychology, sociology, biology, anthropology, management, epistemology and the philosophy of science."
"He's the most focused person I've ever met in my life," says Koch Industries general counsel Mark Holden, who's worked at the company since 1995. "A purpose-driven life, that's Charles. It's always, 'What's next? Let's focus. Let's keep moving.'"
What's next has become the next election. After spending decades promoting his libertarian ideas through think tanks and other educational organizations, some of which he founded, Charles wrote in The Wall Street Journal this spring that in the past decade he's seen "the need to also engage in the political process."
And how.
Thanks to changes in the nation's campaign finance laws, it's not possible to know for sure how much he and David have spent to create a sprawling network of groups working to promote free-market views, eliminate government regulations, fight President Barack Obama's health care law, oppose an increase in the minimum wage, shift control of the Senate to Republicans and oust Democratic officeholders — from Obama to folks at the local level.
Money from Charles and David got Americans for Prosperity started, empowering the tea party activists who have tugged Republicans to the right. Eyeing younger voters, they back Generation Opportunity. Older voters? The 60 Plus Association, a conservative alternative to AARP. Their political hub, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, has funneled cash to a Who's Who of conservative groups, including Concerned Veterans for America, the Republican Jewish Coalition and the National Rifle Association.
Critics trace the excesses of the tea party to the Kochs' doorstep, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., regularly takes to the Senate floor to denounce the brothers as greedy billionaires and "oil baron bullies" who are attempting a "hostile takeover of the American democracy."
Says brother Bill: "I think my brothers wish they had as much power as Harry Reid says they do."
But not the profile.
For all the money Charles is pouring into politics, he's never out front waving a banner for their cause. He's more comfortable behind the scenes, particularly as death threats and protests have escalated to match the brothers' political activity.
"It's made them stronger in their resolve," says Holden.
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David, an executive vice president and board member at Koch Industries, is more often the public face of their politics.
He ran for vice president on the Libertarian ticket in 1980, drawing little more than 1 percent of the vote with presidential nominee Ed Clark. He is chairman of the Americans For Prosperity Foundation, a tax-exempt corner of the brothers' network that advances a message of low taxes and limited government.
At 74, with a distinctive bray of a laugh and an aw-shucks manner, David is literally a fixture in New York: His name is splashed across his many charitable causes. Among them: the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center ($100 million), the forthcoming David H. Koch Plaza at the Metropolitan Museum of Art ($65 million), the forthcoming David H. Koch Center for ambulatory care at New York-Presbyterian Hospital ($100 million).
David's money follows his passions — the arts, medical research, education, less-is-more government — and he frequently lands on the Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual list of the country's top 50 most generous donors.
His giving escalated after two searing experiences: his survival of a 1991 plane crash that killed 34 people, and a subsequent diagnosis of prostate cancer that left him believing he didn't have long to live. (His brothers all began regular testing, and caught their cancers much earlier.)
"When you're the only one who survived in the front of the plane and everyone else died — yeah, you think, 'My God, the good Lord spared me for some greater purpose,'" David said in a 2008 interview with Upstart Business Journal.
Dr. Peter Scardino, chairman of the surgery department at New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, to which Koch has donated more than $66 million, said Koch meets with the center's top cancer researchers each year and asks "provocative and interesting and challenging questions."
Scardino said he always warns newcomers who are scheduled to speak before Koch, "Only plan to present your work for 10 minutes because he's going to ask questions and extend it to 30 to 40 minutes."
David is equally passionate about his politics, once telling a reporter for the liberal blog ThinkProgress, when asked if he was proud of Americans for Prosperity, "You bet I am, man oh man." As for the tea party, David said, "There are some extremists there, but the rank and file are just normal people like us. I admire them. It's probably the best grassroots uprising since 1776."
It's the extraordinary success of Koch Industries that has allowed Charles and David to spend so freely. The two are tied for fourth on Forbes' list of the richest Americans, with fortunes of $41 billion each. Since 1961, when their father persuaded Charles to come back to Kansas and work for him, the value of Koch Industries has grown more than 2,400-fold.
The company that was founded by the brother's father in 1940 got its start building oil refineries. It now has 100,000 employees worldwide in a range of businesses that include refining, consumer products, chemicals and electronic components. That red and blue carpeting on Obama's 2008 inaugural podium? Made with fiber from INVISTA, a Koch operation.
Like Charles, David rarely gives interviews; both declined requests to talk for this story.
But David hasn't always been so reticent. In a 2010 interview with New York magazine, he chatted about everything from how hormone therapy for his cancer had affected his sex life to the reason for his knee replacements, joking that "If you spent as many years as I did begging girls for favors, you'd have bad knees too."
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And what of Bill and Freddie — the other Koch brother and the other other Koch brother?
Bill worked for Koch Industries in the 1970s, but he grew frustrated over time about what he saw as Charles' autocratic management style, how much money was being plowed back into the company rather than distributed to shareholders and how much corporate cash Charles was diverting to the Libertarian Party.
"Charles was giving as much to the Libertarians as he was paying out in dividends," Bill once told The New York Times. "Pretty soon we would get the reputation that the company and the Kochs were crazy."
What came next played out over two decades:
Bill enlisted Freddie in a 1980 plan to oust Charles as chief executive. Charles and David derailed it. Bill got fired. Charles and David bought out Fred and Bill for a combined $800 million. Bill had second thoughts and sued for more. In 2000, Charles and David won.
"Financially, we probably made a bad deal," Bill says, then quickly adds: "In my life, I'm happier than I ever have been when I was working at Koch Industries. I'm my own person. I do things that I love. I take chances."
Today, the 74-year-old Bill runs his own energy company, Oxbow Carbon LLC, ranks 122nd on Forbes' richest-people list, and has stopped collecting artwork because he's "run out of wall-space." But he's still suing people, spending more than $25 million on lawsuits against a "hit list" of dealers he's accused of selling fake wine.
He's reconciled with his 19-minutes-older twin, David, whom he considers "an extremely good friend." He describes a "peaceful coexistence" with Charles, but makes mention of a 2012 Forbes article in which Charles would refer to Bill only as "the brother of the twin."
Over the past two decades, Bill has donated more than $1.5 million to various candidates, party committees and causes across the country — both Republican and Democratic — but nothing on the scale of the political activity of Charles and David. (Bill contributed to Clinton back in 1999 when she ran for the Senate. He also gave to Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000.)
Bill knows a thing or two about winning. He spent more than $60 million to claim the America's Cup in 1992.
He gives mixed reviews to Charles' and David's political pursuits. He says he's glad they're "fighting the socialistic trends in this country," but worries that Charles' politics sometimes are a "bit extreme."
He thinks about the shadow that his brothers' political activities casts on him, referring in passing to an IRS audit and wondering if it came about "because my last name is spelled K-O-C-H."
What about Freddie? The oldest brother, who turns 81 on Tuesday, loves restoring castles and historical houses. His whereabouts at any given time are unknown.
"I think he's a resident of Monaco," says Bill, "but he has a place in New York, he has a place in London, he has a place in Austria — he bought Archduke Ferdinand's hunting castle —he has a place in Monaco and then he has a place in Butler, Pennsylvania."
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Associated Press writer Philip Elliott, and News Researcher Judy Ausuebel in New York contributed to this report.
