Tuesday's Sports In Brief

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- NFL

Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula bid an NFL-record $1.4 billion to get the Buffalo Bills and keep them in western New York.

A person with direct knowledge of the sale process confirmed the winning bid to The Associated Press on Tuesday, hours after late owner Ralph Wilson's estate announced reaching a "definitive agreement" to sell the team to the Pegulas. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the sale was conducted privately.

Sports Business Journal first reported the Pegulas' bid earlier in the day.

The price eclipses the previous high of $1.1 billion set in 2009, when Stephen Ross completed his purchase of the Miami Dolphins in a deal that also included the team's stadium.

The person said the Pegulas went well above the Bills' estimated value of $935 million to show Wilson's estate how serious they were in their desire to buy the team. They wanted to submit a bid the Pegulas believed would be significantly higher than other prospective ownership groups were willing — or capable — of matching.

That included a Toronto-based group led by rocker Jon Bon Jovi, which had raised concerns regarding the possibility eventually relocating the Bills north of the border. New York real estate mogul Donald Trump also submitted a formal bid Monday.

The value of the Toronto group's and Trump's bids weren't revealed.

The sale is subject approval by a three-quarters majority of the NFL's other 31 owners, which is expected to come at league meetings Oct. 8.

Under NFL ownership rules, the Pegulas are allowed to own both the Bills and the Sabres because they are located in the same market.

NEW YORK (AP) — The 32 player representatives to the union have delayed a vote on the NFL's proposal for changes to the drug policy that potentially could implement HGH testing.

After a conference call of about one hour Tuesday night during which the proposal was discussed, the player reps opted to take no action. The proposal wasn't delivered to the union until midday.

The union has insisted that a satisfactory proposal to them is the only one that will be voted on. Union spokesman George Atallah said last week that a "piecemeal" agreement didn't interest the players.

The sides have discussed changes to the policy on substance abuse and driving under the influence of drugs/alcohol. A potential hang-up on that issue was the league's desire to immediately discipline players — as well as NFL owners, executives, officials, coaches and league office personnel — arrested for DUIs. NFLPA President Eric Winston told The Associated Press last week that ignoring a player's rights to due process would not be considered by the union.

The NFLPA also is pushing for neutral arbitration in the appeals process and is seeking higher thresholds for positive marijuana tests. But the key element could be a test for human growth hormone.

HGH testing was agreed upon in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement that ended the lockout of the players. But the union has been uncomfortable with the science and the procedures for the testing, as well as how appeals would be handled. The league agreed to an appeal process several years ago.

In marijuana testing, the union feels the league's threshold for a positive test of 15 nanograms per milliliter is too demanding, citing the IOC's threshold of 150 nanograms, 10 times as high.

BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) — Austin "Goose" Gonsoulin, the former Pro Bowl safety for the Denver Broncos and a member of the team's Ring of Fame, has died. He was 76.

Kathy Levingston of Levingston Funeral Home in Groves, Texas, says Gonsoulin died Monday while in hospice care in nearby Beaumont. She didn't have a cause of death but says Gonsoulin was battling prostate cancer.

He was a member of the first Broncos team, fielded in 1960. The team said on its website that he still holds the Broncos record for single-season interceptions with 11. He was a five-time Pro-Bowler. He also was named to the second-team AFL All-Time Team.

Gonsoulin was a standout at Baylor before being drafted in 1960.

Services for the native of Port Arthur, Texas, are scheduled for Saturday.

BASEBALL

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball sent a memo to teams and umpires clarifying this year's experimental rule intended to limit collisions at home plate, saying runners should not be called safe if the ball clearly beats them.

The rule, announced in February, says a catcher can't block the plate if he doesn't have the ball. There have been several disputed calls, including a pair of decisions in the last 5 1/2 weeks that led to runners being called safe after video review.

The guidelines sent to teams Tuesday say the catcher's positioning shouldn't change the call when the throw clearly arrives ahead of the runner. They also say if the catcher is entirely in fair territory, he should not be considered to have blocked the plate.

The new guidelines were tested immediately when Tampa Bay left fielder Matt Joyce threw out the New York Yankees' Stephen Drew trying to score in the fifth inning Tuesday night. Ryan Hanigan gave Drew no lane to the plate as the Rays' catcher waited for the throw, which arrived in plenty of time.

Hanigan tagged the sliding runner and Drew was called out by plate umpire Vic Carapazza. The ruling was upheld following a replay review, leaving the Rays with a 4-3 lead that wound up being the final score.

HOCKEY

Bob Suter, a member of the "Miracle On Ice" team that won the Olympic gold medal in 1980 and the father of Minnesota Wild star Ryan Suter, died Tuesday at the age of 57.

Suter died suddenly in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, and is the first player from the famed 1980 Olympic men's hockey team that upset the Soviet Union and beat Finland for the gold medal to pass away.

Suter did scouting work for the Wild and was a pillar of the youth hockey community and owned a sporting goods store in Madison.

Bob Suter was born in Madison in 1957, starred in high school at Madison East and went on to play for the University of Wisconsin where he helped the Badgers win the national title in 1977.

He was a rugged defenseman for Team USA at the Lake Placid Olympics, playing in all seven games and helping the team to one of the greatest upsets in American sports history.

He was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in 1977 and later signed a free agent contract with the Minnesota North Stars in 1981, but never played a game in the NHL. But he did pave the way for his younger brother Gary and son Ryan to become stars in the league, making the Suters one of the most revered families in hockey.

GOLF

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) — Co-medalists Scott Harvey and Brad Nurski each won two matches Tuesday at Saucon Valley to reach the U.S. Mid-Amateur quarterfinals.

The 36-year-old Harvey, from Greensboro, North Carolina, beat Scott McNeil of Philadelphia 1 up in the second round and topped Kevin Wolf of Lodi, California, 4 and 2 in the third.

The 35-year-old Nurski, from St. Joseph, Missouri, beat Michael Castleforte of Chicago 2 and 1 in the morning and edged Don Bell of Port Orange, Florida, 4 and 3 in the afternoon.

In the upper-bracket quarterfinals, Harvey will play Denver Haddix of Lexington, Kentucky, and 2005 winner Kevin Marsh of Henderson, Nevada, will face Patrick Christovich of New Orleans.

In the third round, Haddix beat Andrew Wyatt of Midland, Texas, 3 and 1; Marsh routed Andy Latowski of Plainsboro, New Jersey, 7 and 6; and Christovich edged Corby Segal of Santa Clarita, California, in 19 holes.

In the lower bracket, Nurski will play Todd White of Spartanburg, South Carolina. Tom Werkmeister of Kentwood, Michigan, will face Michael Harrington of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

In the third round, White topped Matthew Mattare of Jersey City, New Jersey, 2 and 1; Werkmeister edged Shane Sigsbee of Las Vegas 1 up, and Harrington beat Ned Zachar of Bedford, New York, in 19 holes.

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Defending champion Julia Potter won two matches Tuesday at Harbour Trees to reach the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur quarterfinals.

The 26-year-old Potter, a reinstated amateur from Granger, Indiana, beat Charlotte Daughan of Orlando, Florida, 2 and 1 in the second round and topped Lisa Schlesinger of Laytonsville, Maryland, 1 up in the third round.

In the lower-bracket quarterfinals, Potter will play 54-year-old Mina Hardin of La Quinta, California. Mexico's Liisa Kelo Escartin will face Tara Joy-Connelly of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

In the third round, Hardin beat Shannon Johnson of Foxborough, Massachusetts 5 and 4; Kelo Escartin edged Midori Ishii of Torrance, California, 2 and 1; and Joy-Connelly routed Stacy Dennis of Huntsville, Texas, 6 and 5.

In the upper bracket, qualifying medalist Margaret Shirley of Atlanta, the runner-up last year, will play Debbie Adams of Asheville, North Carolina. Meghan Stasi of Oakland Park, Florida, will face Canada's Cristina Proteau.

In the third round, Shirley beat Tobi Herron of Columbus, Indiana, 2 and 1; Adams edged Lynne Cowan of Rocklin, California, 2 up; Stasi beat Linda Jeffery of Abilene, Texas, 3 and 2; and Proteau topped Katie Miller of Jeannette, Pennsylvania, in 19 holes.

HOCKEY

Bob Suter, a member of the "Miracle On Ice" team that won the Olympic gold medal in 1980 and the father of Minnesota Wild star Ryan Suter, died Tuesday at the age of 57.

Suter died suddenly in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, and is the first player from the famed 1980 Olympic men's hockey team that upset the Soviet Union and beat Finland for the gold medal to pass away.

Suter did scouting work for the Wild and was a pillar of the youth hockey community and owned a sporting goods store in Madison.

Bob Suter was born in Madison in 1957, starred in high school at Madison East and went on to play for the University of Wisconsin where he helped the Badgers win the national title in 1977.

He was a rugged defenseman for Team USA at the Lake Placid Olympics, playing in all seven games and helping the team to one of the greatest upsets in American sports history. Suter was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in 1977 and later signed a free agent contract with the Minnesota North Stars in 1981, but never played a game in the NHL.

He paved the way for his younger brother Gary and son Ryan to become stars in the league, making the Suters one of the most revered families in hockey. Ryan played for Team USA as well and is one of the top defensemen in the NHL.

NEW YORK (AP) — A former minor league hockey player was arrested Tuesday on charges he sold illegally obtained prescription painkillers to former hockey player Derek Boogaard before Boogaard died in 2011 of an accidental overdose.

Jordan Hart, 31, of Huntington, New York, was arrested on charges contained in a federal indictment unsealed in New York. Also arrested was a physician's assistant, Oscar Johnson, 59, whose Utah-based employer provided medical services to hockey players.

Johnson was released on his own recognizance after appearing in a Salt Lake City court room before U.S. Magistrate Judge Evelyn Furse. He didn't enter a plea.

If convicted, Johnson faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine on each of 26 counts of illegally providing oxycodone, as well as five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on one count of lying to a federal drug enforcement agent, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rob Lund said.

Hart, charged with a single count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute oxycodone, was released on $500,000 bond after pleading not guilty in New York.

Known as "The Boogeyman," Boogaard was one of the NHL's most feared fighters. The 6-foot-7-inch, 265-pound forward received 589 penalty minutes in 277 career games. After leaving the Minnesota Wild for a four-year deal with the New York Rangers, he scored one goal in 22 games before his season ended with a concussion five months before his death.

COLLEGE

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Ball State athletic director Bill Scholl is joining Marquette University as its new athletic director, Marquette president Michael Lovell announced Tuesday.

Scholl, 57, will start at Marquette in mid-October. The university has been without a permanent athletic director since Larry Williams left in December after holding the job for less than two years. Men's basketball coach Buzz Williams left for Virginia Tech four months later.

Larry Williams was replaced on an interim basis by Bill Cords, who was the athletic director at Marquette for 20 years before retiring in 2006.

Scholl worked at Notre Dame for 23 years, where he was deputy athletic director before joining Ball State in Muncie, Indiana, in 2012.

Gulfstream to build paint facility, add 100 jobs

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Gulfstream Aerospace plans to build a $33 million paint facility near the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in an expansion that's expected to add at least 100 jobs.

The company announced the plan on Tuesday.

The Savannah Morning News reports (http://bit.ly/1wf0Yds) that the facility will be near the company's 680,000-square-foot-plus maintenance building, considered the largest business aviation maintenance facility in the world.

Company officials say the new facility will be one of the most advanced high-tech paint hangars ever built.

Jay Neely, Gulfstream vice president for law and public affairs, said the paint facility is expected to be completed next summer and will bring in at least 100 new jobs.

Neely said that Savannah-based Gulfstream now employs more than 10,000 people in Georgia.

Online stats provide snapshot of W.V. agriculture

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- From corn to cows, a compendium of all things agricultural in West Virginia is now available online.

The Annual Bulletin of the West Virginia Agriculture Statistic Service gathers statistics from surveys conducted throughout the year. The in-depth collection of data is published every five years.

"The data collected by the Ag Statistics Service are invaluable to policy-makers," Agriculture Commissioner Walt Helmick said in a news release. "What these numbers indicate to me is a huge opportunity for West Virginia to expand its economy by growing more of what we eat."

Jefferson County was the state's most prolific corn grower in 2013, producing 1.68 million bushels, the bulletin shows. Greenbrier County was the top cattle county with 33,500 cattle on farms, while Pendleton County had the most sheep, 4,500.

Statewide, there were a total 380,000 beef cattle and 200,000 milk cows, 32,000 sheep and lambs. Poultry operations raised 3.1 million turkeys and produced 96.8 million broilers.

Preston County had the most farms in the state, 1,084. The total number of farms was 21,400, down from 21,500 in 2012. The state's record is 105,000 farms set in 1935.

Most farms in West Virginia are small and family operations. The state ranked first in the nation last year in the percentage of small farms, 97.7 percent, and family farms, 93 percent.

West Virginia also ranked ninth in apple production, which totaled 95 million pounds in 2013.

Sixty-three percent of the state's farms had access to computers and 47 percent had Internet access. But only 32 percent used computers for farm business.

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Online:

To access the data, go to http://1.usa.gov/WUzx9G and click under "West Virginia Publications" and then select "Annual Statistical Bulletin" to view.

Capital One banker upbeat on small business

By JOYCE M. ROSENBERG The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Based on what she's seeing among the bank's more than three million small business customers, Capital One's Keri Gohman is upbeat.

Business owners are reporting better earnings and reinvesting in their businesses and that's translating into a rebound in loan demand, says Gohman, the head of small business banking at the McLean, Virginia-based bank, which has But there's still caution out there. When it comes to reinvesting, many small business owners are taking advantage of cash they set aside.

"We're seeing them coming back from the recession smarter and more thoughtful about their business plans," says Gohman.

Capital One is more confident about lending to small businesses that many lenders considered a bad bet during and after the recession. But if it can't give a loan to a company, Capital One will help it find alternatives.

Gohman spoke recently with The Associated Press about the small business climate. Here are excerpts, edited for brevity and clarity:

Q. How has your small business lending grown since the recession?

A. We went through the Great Recession and we saw our business owners really pull back. We saw that reflected in small business sentiment. They were concerned about the future. We saw them begin to save their cash.

As the economy has started to improve, as sentiment has started to improve, we've seen their earnings begin to recover, we've seen them begin to reinvest in their businesses. Not all business owners are using loans to invest; some are taking advantage of the savings they set aside. Many don't want to become too leveraged. But we've seen our demand pick up. Our application levels are at pre-recessionary levels. We've been growing every year. And we've been able to meet that demand.

Q. Are you concerned that some companies may borrow too much?

A. No, we have continued to be incredibly focused on being responsible lenders. We have business bankers who are expert in credit management and who are specialists dedicated to working with our small business owners. We spend time talking to owners about whether now is the time is appropriate, whether it's something that might be appropriate down the road and how to prepare for it. Or how to structure a loan. It's in our best interest to partner with small businesses to make sure they are making well-informed choices. We continue to have very high standards when it comes to underwriting and we're seeing small business owners really thoughtful. They don't want to be overextended either.

We see business owners looking for lines of credit, which have a lot of flexibility. And many business owners at an earlier stage of their business or coming out of the Great Recession and who are just starting to rebuild their business might take a smaller line of credit and then begin adding to it as they get a more established track record or feel more comfortable taking on more credit risk.

Another part of our business growth is in loans backed by the Small Business Administration. They help us provide loans to companies that might not otherwise qualify or that might not be ready for a conventional loan. In our last survey, we found that while 80 percent of small business owners were aware of SBA-backed loans, a much smaller percentage — under 10 percent — were actually taking advantage of them.

Q. What happens when a loan officer at a branch encourages a company to seek a loan, but underwriters then reject the application?

A. The process starts with our understanding a small business, its business plans, its goals, how it has performed historically. That's the local relationship. We view our loan officers, our team members that are working with the business owner on a day-to-day business as part of a team. They'll communicate with a team of underwriters and a team of support professionals. All of us have a goal to make a responsible decision for that customer.

We go to great lengths to try to find a way to support the business owner as best we can. We have a process where, if we can't do a conventional loan, we see if there is a way to make this work with an SBA-guaranteed loan. We also have a huge number of (small loan program) partners like Kiva, like Accion and we'll partner with them to see if they can help that business owner if they're not quite ready for a conventional loan. If they're not ready for a loan today, we ask, how do we make sure if they want a loan in the future, they make sure they're prepared? That becomes a whole system that supports the business owner.

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Online:

www.capitalone.com

Italy assuages water and electricity crisis

BEIRUT: The an Italian-funded climate change project successfully assuaged the country's electricity and water shortage crisis by installing solar heaters, according to results published Wednesday.

“In a world that is increasingly running low on scarce fossil fuels, investing in new and sustainable energy technologies must be encouraged” said Italian Ambassador to Lebanon Giuseppe Morabito, in a statement released by the Italian Embassy.

The project, titled Mitigation of Climate Change, financed by the Italian government, formally ended during a ceremony which took place Wednesday morning at the Grand Serail, in the presence of Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk.

Machnouk said the project was an example of balanced local development, a key principle the Environment Ministrystrives to implement.

According to the statement, the initiative cost 1, 000, 000 Euros in total.

The project implemented training courses for Lebanese energy experts, conducted awareness campaigns and installed 66 solar water heaters in public utility buildings all over Lebanon.

As such, the initiative facilitated the delivery of hot sanitary water to Red Cross centers, orphanages, retirement homes, prisons and health care centers across the country.

The benefits of the initiative were not restricted to hot water access, it also contributed to reducing energy demand, a decrease in CO2 emissions and reducing the cost of hot water production.

Aoun implies his presidency could resolve hostage crisis

Ibrahim headed to Doha over Lebanese hostage crisis

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Review: Apple Watch looks to be another winner

CUPERTINO, Calif. -- As computerized wristwatches go, the upcoming Apple Watch looks impressive.

I like that it will come in two sizes, so the watch won't feel giant on smaller hands, as some competing watches do.

I also like that Apple will offer a variety of straps and materials, so fitness buffs can get a strap that's stronger and sweat-proof, while those seeking a fashion accessory can opt for an 18-karat gold edition.

Beyond looks, it's great that the Apple Watch isn't simply adopting the smartphone way of doing things. The operating system, Watch OS, was designed specifically for the watch, and its interface relies heavily on the dial to the right, known as the digital crown. Competing watches tend to emphasize the voice and touch controls found on phones.

Of course, it's premature to conclude that you need an Apple Watch. I had only about 45 minutes with the Apple Watch and other new products announced Tuesday. The watch I was allowed to try on was running in a demonstration mode. It'll take more time with the watch — beyond a controlled environment — to make a solid conclusion.

What I'm seeing so far, however, points to another winner for Apple.

The home screen has all your apps, arranged in rows like a honeycomb. You use the dial to zoom in and choose one. The touch screen lets you slide the honeycomb around to see different portions of your app collection. I find this easier than swiping on a small screen to scroll through pages and pages of apps. With the Apple Watch, you can even rearrange apps so that your favorite ones are toward the middle.

App developers will be able to decide what types of notifications appear on the watch and let you take actions such as replying to messages. That's an improvement over existing smartwatches, which largely replicate the notifications sent to your phone. To be compelling, the watch shouldn't duplicate your phone. It should enhance it. Apple seems to get it.

As for using the dial to zoom in and out, Apple says that improves usability because you're not blocking maps and other content on the screen the way pinching in and out would. That makes sense, though I'll need more time with the watch to assess how well the dial works on its own. With your home screen, for instance, you still need the slide apps around.

Another question mark is what kinds of apps will be available for it.

Apple announced a few useful ones, including the ability to unlock your Starwood hotel room with a tap of your watch. That's easier than pulling out your room key from your wallet. BMW also promises one to help you find your parked car in a crowded lot. If it works, that beats walking around in circles.

Apple does have a good track record in getting software developers to make good apps for its systems. Many apps come to iPhones and iPads first, and some have bonus features unavailable on Android. If that trend continues with the Apple Watch, I have no doubt customers will find more useful things to do with it than the smartwatches already out.

Apple Watch will require an iPhone 5 or later and will have a starting price tag of $349, higher than rival watches. Expect to pay even more for the 18-karat gold edition and other premium models. You'll also have to wait until early next year, as Apple won't have Apple Watch available in time for the holidays.

As for products and services that will be available sooner:

— IPHONE 6 and IPHONE 6 PLUS

Apple's new 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus are both larger than the current 4-inch models. They neutralize a key advantage Android phones have had: size.

And Apple managed to make its new phones thinner, with edges that are curved and fit nicely in the hands. Gone is the glass back, reducing the chances of breakage. The back will now be made of aluminum and feel more like an iPad.

To improve one-handed use, both new models will have a feature called reachability. With two light taps of the home screen button, the icons, controls and content on the top half of the screen snap to the bottom, so you can reach them with the same hand. Once you make your selection, everything snaps back to the top.

The iPhone 6 Plus also has new horizontal layouts to take advantage of the larger size.

Of course, apps have long worked either horizontally and vertically. On the Plus, horizontal viewing extends to the home screen, and apps will be able to arrange content in two columns.

When texting, for instance, contacts appear on the left and messages appear on the right. On smaller phones, including the regular iPhone 6, you get one or the other, not both side by side.

It's a small touch, but it shows that larger doesn't necessarily mean making everything bigger. Windows phones also make use of larger screens by squeezing in more content, but with Android phones, text and images just get blown up.

— MOBILE PAYMENTS

Few people use their phones to pay for goods and services at retail stores. That's because it's not difficult to pull out a plastic credit card, however insecure that technology might be. Apple is trying to change that with Apple Pay, which will come to the new iPhones in October and the upcoming Apple Watch when it's out.

Apple improves over existing systems in a few ways:

— Apple already has your credit card information from iTunes, so setting Apple Pay up with your first credit card is easy. To add additional cards, you can either enter the details or snap a photo.

In my brief tests, the phone grabbed my credit card numbers correctly, though I sometimes had to enter my name and expiration date myself because of poor lighting conditions. But grabbing those numbers is a good start, as I'm prone to make typos with 16-digit numbers otherwise.

— Apple uses the phone's fingerprint identification system to authorize purchases. Other wallet apps require passcodes, which can make mobile payments take longer than simply pulling out your credit card.

— Apple stores card information on a secure chip on your device, not on its servers. And it's not even your real card number. Rather, Apple verifies your card information with your bank and then stores an alternative card number.

That way, if a merchant's system gets hacked, only the alternative number is compromised, and that number would require one-time security codes available only with the physical possession of your phone.

— The system works with credit cards issued by a variety of banks, including all three of mine. A payment system called Softcard, formerly known as ISIS, doesn't support any of my three banks. Amazon's Fire phone has a wallet app, too, but it doesn't even do credit cards, which is surprising for a retailer. It works only with gift cards.

Apple Pay's usefulness will be limited until more merchants install the necessarily equipment, but many chains already do and more are coming.

Google invests in California solar power plant

NEW YORK -- Google is helping to convert a one-time oil field into a solar power plant.

The Internet search company is providing $145 million in financing so that SunEdison can build the plant north of Los Angeles in Kern County.

"There's something a little poetic about creating a renewable resource on land that once creaked with oil wells," Google said in a blog post Wednesday.

The plant will be fitted with nearly 250,000 SunEdison solar panels and generate enough energy to power 10,000 homes. Google said the project will bring 650 jobs to the area.

SunEdison Inc. expects the plant to be operational later this year and supply power to utility company Southern California Edison. The plant is owned by TerraForm Power Inc., a subsidiary of SunEdison, based in Beltsville, Maryland.

It is the 17th renewable energy project Google has invested in. It has committed to investing more than $1.5 billion in projects around the country, the Mountain View, California-based company said.

Shares of SunEdison, based in St. Peters, Missouri, rose more than 3 percent in premarket trading.

Moyes reign costs United $90M, but revenue rising

MANCHESTER, England -- Manchester United says it spent more than $8 million paying off David Moyes and his staff, and forecasts a 10 percent slump in revenue because of the club's failure to qualify for European competition.

Moyes lost his job 10 months after succeeding Alex Ferguson.

In its annual financial results, United highlighted a cost of 5.2 million pounds ($8.4 million) "primarily related to compensation payments on loss of office to the former manager and certain members of the coaching staff."

Louis van Gaal replaced Moyes, but has failed to win his first four matches.

United remains a commercial juggernaut, with 2013-14 revenue up 19 percent to a club record 433.2 million pounds ($699 million). But United forecasts revenue in 2014-15 to drop to as low as 385 million pounds ($619 million).

Dollar General goes hostile in bid for rival

Dollar General is going hostile with its $9.1 billion bid for Family Dollar after its rival repeatedly rejected previous offers.

The discount chain has commenced an open offering to investors of Family Stores Dollar Inc. for $80 per share in cash, the same offer that was rejected last week by the company's board.

Shares of Family Dollar jumped 5 percent before the opening bell Wednesday and appeared headed for an all-time high.

Family Dollar, based in Matthews, North Carolina, has voiced concerns about such a deal passing antitrust review. In response to those fears, Dollar General has said that it is willing to divest up to 1,500 stores if the Federal Trade Commission requires it. The company also is offering to pay a $500 million reverse breakup fee if antitrust hurdles get in the way.

Family Dollar Stores Inc. has been exploring a sale amid considerable financial stress and it has shuttered some of its stores and cut prices in an attempt to increase foot traffic. In June, activist investor Carl Icahn urged the company to put itself up for sale.

Family Dollar accepted an $8.5 billion offer from Dollar Tree Inc. a month later. The competing bid includes $59.60 in cash and the equivalent of $14.90 in shares of Dollar Tree for a total of $74.50 for each share held. Family Dollar has backed the bid, saying regulators are less likely to interfere.

There are more similarities, however, between Family Dollar and Dollar General, which stock their shelves with goods that sell for a range of prices. Everything sold at Dollar Tree costs a buck.

Appealing directly to Family Dollar shareholders, Chairman and CEO Rick Dreiling said that a sale to Dollar General would provide them with "immediate and certain liquidity for their shares."

"By taking this step, we are providing all Family Dollar shareholders a voice in this process, and we urge them to tender into our offer," Dreiling said in a news release.

Dollar General's offer expires Oct. 8. The latest bid, which was raised from $78.50 per share initially, represents a premium of nearly 32 percent for Family Dollar stock on the day before the Dollar Tree deal was announced in July.

Family Dollar shares climbed $3.94 to $82.64 in premarket trading. Shares hit record highs of $80.97 earlier this month.

Police arrest suspects behind ISIS graffiti in n. Lebanon

Police arrest suspects behind ISIS graffiti in n. Lebanon

Police Wednesday arrested two Lebanese believed to be behind the outbreak of ISIS-related graffiti threats in various...

Cause of blast at German chemical plant unclear

BERLIN -- Police in northwestern Germany say they have yet to determine what caused a massive explosion that seriously injured one person at a chemical processing company.

Police spokesman Marcus Neumann said Wednesday that investigators had arrived at the site in Ritterhude, near Bremen, but were unable to enter because firefighters were still working to douse the embers.

Neumann said a person who was reported missing turned out to be a 60-year-old company employee who suffered lift-threatening burns when he rushed to the scene of the blast.

The explosion at the Organo Fluid company happened Tuesday at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) and could be heard for miles. About 300 firefighters worked all night to extinguish the intense fire.

Britain and France secure EU's top economic jobs

BRUSSELS -- Britain and France have secured two top positions on economic and financial policy-making in the new European Commission as the 28-nation bloc's executive arm seeks to revive anemic growth and fight unemployment.

Former French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici, who has long criticized EU-mandated austerity policies and called for a more growth-friendly stance instead, will be the new Economics Commissioner, whose responsibility includes policing member states' budgets.

Britain, which has become increasingly euroskeptical and has vowed to renegotiate the terms of its membership, won another important portfolio. Jonathan Hill, the former House of Lords leader, will be in charge of regulating the EU's financial services, which is one of Britain's key industries.

The Commission's President-elect, Jean-Claude Juncker, presented the new line-up Wednesday in Brussels, vowing that his commission will work to kick-start growth, reduce bureaucracy and restore people's faith in the EU. Juncker's team is due to take over in November.

The nominees will undergo confirmation hearings at the European Parliament over the coming weeks. Lawmakers cannot reject specific commissioners, but could block the entire cabinet.

Moscovici's nomination to the top economics job attracted some criticism, not least from hawkish Germany, because France during his tenure as finance minister failed to live up to the very EU-mandated deficit rules that he will now be policing for the entire bloc. In an irony of timing, France announced Wednesday that it won't manage to bring its budget deficit under the tolerated ceiling of 3 percent of gross domestic product through 2016.

In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that "strict spending discipline" remains necessary.

The unemployment rate in the 18-nation eurozone is still a high 11.5 percent, while GDP rose only a meagerly 0.2 percent in the second quarter.

In other moves announced in Brussels, Denmark's former economy minister Margrethe Vestager will become the bloc's powerful antitrust chief. Sweden's Cecilia Malmstroem, currently the EU's Home Affairs Commissioner, will be in charge of trade, overseeing also the negotiations on free trade agreements like the one currently under way with the United States.

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Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed reporting.

Pegulas' $1.4 billion bid to buy Bills pays off

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- The NFL-record bid Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula have made to buy the Bills is already paying off. Their offer of $1.4 billion has quickly resulted in an outpouring of support generated in their adopted home.

The Bills aren't going anywhere thanks to the deep-pocketed Pegulas who reached a "definitive agreement" on Tuesday with late owner Ralph Wilson's estate to buy the team.

The sale is subject to approval by a three-quarters majority of the NFL's other 31 owners, which is expected to come at league meetings on Oct. 8.

The news generated expressions of relief, joy and thanks from Bills fans everywhere.

"It's Christmas morning," said season-ticket holder and noted Bills tailgater Scott Hunsinger. "It really takes a burden off of die-hard fans that we know now that we're not going to lose our team."

One fan was so emotional that he began crying while discussing on WGR Radio what the purchase by the Pegulas meant to him.

Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas could relate. He barely got through a round of golf at Bethpage when he was approached by a Bills supporter seeking a favor.

"He said, 'I'm a Bills fan, and whenever you talk to the Pegulas or see them, just tell them thank you,'" Thomas said. "It was almost as if he wanted to cry. I can understand his emotions. It's Buffalo. You can see how passionate Bills fans are, and how happy they are that the Bills will remain in Buffalo for a long time."

The Pegulas have helped assure that by taking a highly aggressive approach in submitting an eye-popping bid that was confirmed to The Associated Press by a person with direct knowledge of the sale process. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the sale was conducted privately.

The price eclipses the previous NFL-high of $1.1 billion set in 2009 when Stephen Ross completed his purchase of the Miami Dolphins in a deal that also included the team's stadium.

The person said the Pegulas went well above the Bills' estimated value of $935 million to show Wilson's estate how serious they were in their desire to buy the team. They also wanted to submit a bid the Pegulas believed would be significantly higher than other prospective ownership groups were willing — or capable — of matching.

That included a Toronto-based group led by rocker Jon Bon Jovi, which had raised concerns regarding the possibility relocation of the Bills north of the border. New York real estate mogul Donald Trump also submitted a formal bid on Monday.

The value of the Toronto group's and Trump's bids weren't revealed.

The Pegulas, who have a net worth of more than $3.5 billion, made their fortune in the natural gas industry. They had the backing of local business leaders and public officials, and were regarded as the front runner to buy the Bills once they first expressed interest in late May.

The Pegulas were motivated to keep the Bills in Buffalo and preserve Wilson's legacy.

"It is gratifying to reassure these great fans that the two franchises, so important to our region are here to stay," Terry Pegula said in a statement released by the Sabres. "Ralph Wilson left an indelible mark on our community and we will strive every day to honor his legacy."

Wilson, who died in March, was the team's founder and sole owner. He often spoke out and voted against franchise relocation.

"Ralph would have been pleased with the sale of the team to the Terry Pegula family, who have been so committed to Buffalo and the western New York region," Wilson's widow and Bills controlling owner Mary Wilson said. "He loved his team and he cherished the fans, and his legacy will remain for all time."

The agreement came days before the Bills (1-0) are to play their home opener against Miami on Sunday.

The Bills are also holding an invitation-only tribute to their former owner at a downtown Buffalo theater on Friday night. Former players are gathering in Niagara Falls, New York, for a reunion the following day.

The Pegulas, who live in Florida, have established roots in Buffalo since purchasing the Sabres in February 2011. Terry Pegula is from Pennsylvania and became a fan of the Sabres in the mid-1970s. Kim is from the nearby Rochester area.

Their commitment to Buffalo is becoming more evident with the construction of a privately funded $172 million downtown hockey-entertainment complex called HarborCenter that is nearing completion.

Detroit bankruptcy trial on hold after major deal

DETROIT -- A judge has suspended Detroit's bankruptcy trial until Monday to give the city more time to work out details of a settlement with a major creditor.

The time-out Wednesday also gives the city an opportunity to reach other settlements.

The city reached a deal Tuesday with Syncora, a bond insurer that stood to lose $400 million under Detroit's plan to get out of bankruptcy. Detroit would extend Syncora's lease on a tunnel between the U.S. and Canada and also get a long-term lease on a parking garage.

The financier would get 26 percent of what it's owed.

Judge Steven Rhodes is holding a trial to determine if Detroit's bankruptcy exit plan is fair and feasible. Thousands of retirees would see a 4.5 percent pension cut.

AmeriCorps: Changing Lives, Changing America

On September 11, 2009, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama joined AmeriCorps members and volunteers in painting a Habitat for Humanity home in Washington, D.C., joining Americans across the country who marked the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by participating in service and remembrance activities. September 11, 2009. (by Ralph Alswang)

Twenty years ago, our nation started a new chapter in our proud tradition of citizen service. AmeriCorps represented a new way of getting things done: passionate citizens making an intense commitment to solve problems and improve the lives of others while expanding opportunity for themselves.

Since then, more than 900,000 men and women have taken the AmeriCorps pledge, improving the lives of millions of Americans and strengthening the ties that bind us together as a nation. AmeriCorps members are symbols of hope and optimism wherever they serve, and represent the best qualities of our nation and its people.

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UK offers aid for refugee education in Lebanon

BEIRUT: The U.K. is set to offer a long-term assistance plan that would contribute to Lebanon’s efforts to educate thousands of refugee children in its public schools, a British official pledged Wednesday, after Lebanon’s Education Ministry called on the international community to provide necessary funds for the initiative.

“We are here to support [the education minister’s] plan” said Desmond Swayne, minister of state at the U.K. Department for International Development, after a meeting with Education Minister Elias Bou Saab Wednesday.

“We are committed to offering education to young Syrian refugees."

The British official said that the long-term assistance plan would be announced during a U.N. meeting in New York that is set to discuss the international commitment to Lebanon’s plan to provide the “right for education” to Syrian refugees.

Bou Saab warned that Lebanon could not shoulder the burden of educating the refugee children alone.

“The number of refugee students is about 400,000 and our schools can only accommodate 300,000, keeping in mind that the number of Lebanese students in public schools totals 275,000,” he said..

Speaking on his plan to fund the education of refugees, Bou Saab said international aid would help Lebanese public schools to accommodate at least 300,000 refugees for a period of three years.

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Female candidates for Lebanese Parliament rally at Interior Ministry

BEIRUT: Armed with perseverance and determination, numerous elite Lebanese women gathered Wednesday next to the Interior Ministry to stress that the Lebanese political field is incomplete without their participation.

In a patriarchal society where men are in control of most significant decision-making positions, more than 30 women supported by Women In Front NGO are nominating themselves for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

“Our main goal is to shed light on experienced women, push them to decision-making positions and involving them in political life,” said Nada Anid, co-founder of Women In Front.

“The women here today are independent [candidates], but of course they do have their own political views and affiliations,” Anid told The Daily Star while surrounded by enthusiastic women.

Despite women's suffrage in Lebanon being granted in 1953, Lebanese women are still under-represented in the Parliament.

“[Women’s role in political life] is still the same since 1953,” she explained.

“Around 57 percent of parties’ partisans are women, but they aren't in decision-making positions, they are given nonpioneering roles.”

However, Anid believes that over the years, politicians have become more aware about the need to involve women, but don’t know how.

“We know that there’s an intention among [political factions], but it’s yet to be achieve,” she added.

A number of the candidates had nominated themselves for the 2013 parliamentary elections, which were originally set for June 2013 but delayed for 17 months in May last year, Lebanese women will not take no for an answer.

“This is the second time I file for candidacy,” said Olfat al-Sabeh, a business law professor at the Lebanese American University.

Sabeh, an independent candidate, believes that after lawmakers failed to create a new electoral law, a second candidacy became inevitable.

According to Anid, 44 women nominated themselves in 2013, a big increase from the 13 female candidates in the 2009 elections.

“It’s embarrassing when we attend conferences and we tell them that out of the 128 MPs, four are women,” she told the Daily Star.

Explaining that there should be no reason preventing women from contributing to political decisions, Sabeh stressed that women’s quota is the only way out of this problem. Lebanese women are calling for 33 percent of the seats in Parliament to be reserved for female MPs.

“We only want a temporary quota for a round or two, so that people can get used to the presence of women,” she said. “[We want] to prove to the society that women, when sharing political decisions with men, will create great results.”

Although the candidates expressed their rejection of a second extension of Parliament’s term, some thought that it was likely to happen.

“I am going to file my papers today, although I know the elections will not be held,” said Saada Halimeh, a member in the Municipality of Aley.

“However, we can’t leave the political field for them, and we’re here today to make a statement.”

Some candidates had already nominated themselves, while others filed their paperwork Wednesday. Candidates can file their paperwork until Sept. 16.

“We want more support from politicians,” said Elisabeth Sioufi, a lawyer and legal adviser.

Sioufi, a potential candidate, believes these efforts will to empower Lebanese women.

“We were always told that work should be done to prepare Lebanese women to take part in the elections,” she said. “[Well] women are ready now.”

The candidates urged any Lebanese woman who has the potential and fulfills all the legal requirements not to hesitate and nominate herself.

U.S. delivers another batch of weapons to Lebanese Army

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Police arrest group selling fake school documents

BEIRUT: Police Wednesday detained four Lebanese accused of selling fake high school and college certificates online.

In a statement, the Internal Security Forces said investigation into a website called "Buy and Sell in Lebanon" over selling fake school certificates led to the arrest of a 44-year-old Lebanese man.

ISF “lured” the man to the Beirut suburb of Shiyah, detained him and confiscated a high school certificate and three notarized copies that were in his possession.

He confessed to selling fake certificates as well as salary affidavits in cooperation with three other Lebanese who were later arrested.

Investigation is ongoing to arrest a fourth suspect.

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Coakley Will Face Baker In Massachusetts Governor's Race

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Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley celebrates with supporters as she claims victory in the primary election Tuesday in Boston. Elise Amendola/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Elise Amendola/AP

Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley celebrates with supporters as she claims victory in the primary election Tuesday in Boston.

Elise Amendola/AP

Massachusetts Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley and Republican Charlie Baker will face off in November after winning the nominations of their respective parties for governor on Tuesday.

While Coakley won the Democratic primary by a smaller majority than expected, Baker trounced his opponent with more than 74 percent of the votes.

After defeating Steven Grossman and Don Berwick in the primary, Coakley wasted no time pouncing on her new opponent.

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Massachusetts Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker speaks to supporters during his primary election night victory rally Tuesday in Boston. Stephan Savoia/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Stephan Savoia/AP

Massachusetts Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker speaks to supporters during his primary election night victory rally Tuesday in Boston.

Stephan Savoia/AP

"So, Republican Charlie Baker has a very different vision for Massachusetts," she said. "Charlie Baker believes working families should be on their own when their children are sick or when adult parents need care."

In a swanky ballroom at the Fairmont Copley Plaza, she went on the attack, criticizing Baker for not endorsing earned sick time and universal pre-K.

Baker, who celebrated his win at the more low-key Venezia Restaurant in Dorchester, said Democrats haven't proposed any new ideas.

"We have a detailed plan to create jobs from one end of the Commonwealth to the other. They don't. We have a plan to restore fiscal discipline and keep taxes low, they don't," he said to a cheering crowd of supporters.

Most analysts say Baker is at a numerical disadvantage. He needs to court women and the un-enrolled.

Ben Thompson, a 67-year-old from Dorchester, says Baker should also pay attention to minorities.

"In 2010, he conceded the black vote and the Latino vote to Deval Patrick, which made sense in a way," Thompson said. "He wasn't going to win that battle. This is a different election, a different candidate."

Thompson was celebrating Baker's win at the campaign party last night, but he admits he did not vote for Baker in 2010.

"I was a Deval Patrick supporter four years ago," Thompson said. "It was a black thing. Now, it's not. Now, it's issue, not the party — that's why I like Charlie."

Thompson says he likes Baker's positions on welfare and prison reform, and thinks the Republican could peel away some minorities who usually vote Democrat.

A new WBUR poll shows 56 percent of people across the board think Baker is a strong enough leader to be an effective governor. For Coakley, not as many people would say the same. And, in fact, 38 percent do not think she is strong enough leader to be an effective governor.

The poll also suggests far more people see Charlie Baker favorably than unfavorably. That's not the case for Coakley.

Steve Koczela, president of the MassINC polling group, the organization that conducted the survey for WBUR, says Coakley won last night, but the margin of victory is cause for concern.

"She started off half way around the track in the Democratic primary. Very high support, very high name recognition, and still at the end of the day, Steve Grossman almost caught her. So, she's, in a way, got to restart the engine and build some new momentum," he said.

Coakley has suffered from an image problem throughout this race. Fellow Democrats have questioned her viability to capture the corner office because of her loss in the 2010 Senate election.

Baker also faces some long-term challenges having lost the same race to Gov. Deval Patrick four years ago. He still starts off behind Coakley in the polls and has to figure out a way to thread the needle with the women's vote.

East Baton Rouge launches new homebuyer program

BATON ROUGE, La. -- The East Baton Rouge Mortgage Finance Authority has introduced a new program to help low- and moderate-income households move into homes.

The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/1BrI3w0 ) the Capital Advantage Program will provide a competitive 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage and non-repayable grant of up to 5 percent of the original mortgage amount. The grant can be used for a down payment or to cover closing costs. The mortgages will be competitive, but slightly above market rates.

A number of local lenders, including IberiaBank, Whitney, Regions, Investar, Home Bank, SWBC Mortgage and Gulf Coast Bank are participating in the program.

Plans are to open the program up to people living in the eight parishes around East Baton Rouge beginning in early October.

Ocean Springs prepping for Main Street conference

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. -- Ocean Springs will show off its downtown when the regional Main Street conference comes to town next week.

The Sun Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1qKQttJ ) Main Street directors, board members, volunteers and other downtown enthusiasts will converge for Destination Downtown, presented by the Mississippi Main Street Association.

The three-day conference, which rotates among Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas, attracts more than 200 professionals in preservation-based, commercial district revitalization.

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Lebanon investigating grocery store for alleged health violations

BEIRUT: The Economy Ministry is investigating claims of health violations in two supermarkets in the country, saying authorities would take legal measures against the regional chain TSC if the allegations were confirmed.

“A Consumer Protection Unit under the Economy Ministry inspected all TSC branches in Lebanon and took samples from items in fridges and on display shelves,” Minister Alain Hakim said in a statement Wednesday.

“The ministry will take the necessary legal measures within its jurisdiction and in accordance with the consumer protection law to fine the company in case of an issue in one of the samples and refer the violations to the state prosecutor's office.”

Last week, Al-Jadeed Television aired two reports on TSC, or The Sultan Center, alleging that cats were infiltrating the Jnah branch and nibbling on cold cuts and sausages in the display fridge.

The local television published pictures from inside the supermarket, showing remains of cold cuts and cats inside the storage facility.

The second report aired a video, allegedly taken by a health inspector, showing dirt on the floor while the shooter of the video yelled at kitchen workers over how they placed the chicken and meat.

The second report was in the Jounieh branch of TSC, a Kuwaiti retail company that has eight branches in Lebanon and several others in Oman, Bahrain and Jordan.

In its statement, the ministry urged citizens “not to be afraid or frightened” and insisted it was taking care of it.

It also urged people to report any violation through the 1739 hotline or the phone application.

“The Economy Ministry had sent a letter to the Health Ministry, asking it to have hospitals inform the Economy Ministry of cases of food poisoning to track possible health violations,” it said.

Lebanon has been hit in the past three years with scandals involving rotten meat and expired dairy and meat products in storage facilities and supermarkets across the country. The government had arrested several people involved in such scandals.

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Dancers to drivers, disputes abound over who’s an employee

WASHINGTON -- The construction trade is far from the only industry caught up in the debate over who’s really an employee and who isn’t. The problem has entangled exotic dancers, FedEx drivers, college interns and newspapers.

“It’s almost hard to name a field where it’s not an issue,” said David Madland, the managing director of economic policy at the Center for American Progress, a research center in Washington.

Facing a tight economy, a growing number of companies have sought ways to cut costs by wrongly classifying regular employees as independent contractors even though the work they do and how they do it may not have really changed, Madland and other labor experts said.

The debate shook up college sports this year when a National Labor Relations Board officer in Chicago determined that Northwestern University’s football players were not just athletes but also employees under the close direction of their coaches.

There’s no single test for determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. In most cases the issue boils down to control over who determines when and how the work is done and under what conditions. Did the workers have to be on the job at a certain time? Did they have to wear a uniform, for example, or could they work from home in their pajamas?

Last year, a group of 1,245 dancers at the New York-based Penthouse Executive Club reached an $8 million preliminary settlement after a federal court certified a class action lawsuit the dancers had filed alleging the club managers shortchanged dancers by not paying minimum wage and overtime.

Although newspaper carriers traditionally have been treated as independent contractors, the classification issue has arisen in that industry as well.

Two McClatchy newspapers in California, The Sacramento Bee and The Fresno Bee, are fighting lawsuits filed on behalf of a combined 10,000 carriers who claim they were wrongly identified as independent contractors.

While some newspapers have paid million-dollar settlements as part of similar suits, McClatchy and other newspaper companies have successfully defended their practice of treating carriers as independent contractors on various occasions.

Lawyers expect the judge to rule by the end of September on whether The Sacramento Bee carriers were properly classified. The Fresno Bee case is expected in court later this fall.

There also have been cases of so-called misclassification involving college interns and furniture delivery workers. Dozens of lawsuits have been filed on behalf of FedEx drivers.

Jacque Riordon is a former Internal Revenue Service assistant special agent in charge of the Denver field office who has experience catching tax violators. One job she considered after leaving the agency was for contract work at a consulting agency.

“But the contract they sent me looked more like an employment agreement, even though it said contract agreement,” she said. “They wanted to set my hours and dictate how I did my work and when I was in the office and when I could take vacations. And that’s not really the spirit of being a contractor.”

Locke reports for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. We want to know your thoughts and experiences with misclassification. Share your feedback directly with the reporters: mlocke@newsobserver.com or 919-829-8927; or fordonez@mcclatchydc.com or 202-383-0010; or on Twitter @mandylockenews or @francoordonez.

Companies win federal contracts while flouting labor law

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Robert Malick has weathered plenty of uncertainty in the 22 years he’s run a multimillion-dollar heating and air conditioning firm.

His secret to success: Follow the money and the people who can get it.

To do it, his company, Southern Mechanical, landed government-backed housing projects and used a hiring strategy that federal officials have been trying to combat for years. On payroll forms he filed on jobs around the Southeast, his Nashville, Tenn., company left blank a space for tax withholding and explained: “1099 employees pay their own taxes.”

“It puts the monkey on their back to produce instead of being an hourly employee that just hangs out on the job,” Malick said in an interview.

Treating his workers as independent contractors saves Malick on payroll taxes and unemployment insurance, nearly 10 percent of wages. It also may run afoul of numerous state and federal laws and regulations, and it undercuts his competitors.

Southern Mechanical was one of hundreds of companies cashing in on U.S. government-funded projects while likely disregarding the law, a McClatchy investigation reveals.

Roofers, painters and bricklayers paid meager hourly wages are required to file taxes as if they were self-employed, which means paying their share and their companies’ share to Social Security and Medicare. But many live in the underground economy, paying no taxes or less than they owe.

In North Carolina, nearly 45 percent of the 826 companies taking part in construction of federally funded or backed affordable apartments during the recession deducted no taxes from laborers and mechanics. In Texas, as many as one-third of the companies on federally funded projects appear to have misclassified workers.

The problem persisted in Florida, too, where 20 percent of companies on these projects treated manual laborers as independent contractors. The issue isn’t isolated to the South: A random sampling of construction projects across the country shows that 14 percent of 235 companies filing payroll reports withheld no taxes from workers generally considered employees.

Some of those companies had a history of other problems:

– South East Construction Corp. of Wilmington, N.C., had its certificate to do business revoked by the North Carolina secretary of state in 2010 for failure to file taxes with the state Department of Revenue. Two years later, it landed a job doing carpentry work on an affordable housing development in Wilmington. The revocation is still in place, according to records with the secretary of state. The company owner, James Haverly, could not be reached.

– Just a week before VR Enterprises Group of Miami started work on a low-income housing project in Key West, one of its employees filed a lawsuit accusing the company of failing to pay overtime wages. A judge awarded the employee $3,180. Company owner Victor Lavastida now runs a construction company called Brave Builders, which is owned by Sandra Morales. That company is being sued by six former employees, who say wages weren’t paid.

Morales defended her practice of treating workers as independent contractors, saying the general contractor advised her to do that. The general contracting firm didn’t return calls requesting comment.

Southern Mechanical has been treating hourly workers as independent contractors for years in plain sight of the government with no pushback, federal payroll records show.

Although revenue collectors from Washington, D.C., to Indiana and Mississippi have pursued Southern Mechanical for various unpaid tax debts, the company hasn’t been blocked from taking part in government contracts. While the federal government sought $260,000 in unpaid corporate taxes from the company in 2013, Malick’s workers were busy installing units in more than 20 housing projects backed by the government throughout the Southeast.

The government has a history of doing business with companies that have tax or other legal problems. Inspectors at the Government Accountability Office found that at least $24 billion in stimulus funds went to businesses owing more than $750 million in unpaid federal taxes, according to a 2011 report. The year before, GAO investigators found that half of the 50 companies with the most egregious federal labor-standards violations had government contracts.

Even when the proof is volunteered – through the company owners’ admissions in payroll records – regulators rarely take action.

Red flags disregarded or missed

Southern Mechanical was industrious during the construction slump as many competitors limped along. Malick said his firm landed work on more than 50 federally funded or backed projects.

The company more than doubled its operating revenue during the slump, from $6.7 million in 2008 to $15 million in 2012, according to Dun & Bradstreet, a business information company that collects data from lenders.

The general contractors who hired Southern Mechanical to take part in federal contracts either disregarded or missed red flags. Indiana state regulators filed more than 30 tax warrants against Southern Mechanical between 1998 and 2009; in 2001, the state revoked its license to do business there.

The liens involve unpaid sales taxes and haven’t been settled, according to Robert Dittmer, spokesman for the Indiana Department of Revenue. Malick said the issues dealt with a beef he had with a general contractor and that the company was still doing business in the state.

Since 2006, Southern Mechanical’s certificate to do business in North Carolina had been suspended for failure to file annual tax returns, yet the company continued to do business in the state. In July, after being asked by McClatchy about the suspension, the company contacted the Revenue Department and was reinstated by the secretary of state.

The company has another problem in North Carolina: Allowing unlicensed HVAC mechanics to be subcontractors is against the state licensing board’s regulations. While Southern Mechanical itself is licensed, its workers are not. That would be OK if they were treated as employees, but it’s not if they’re independent contractors.

After speaking with a reporter this summer, company officials reported their use of 1099s to the North Carolina licensing board. The board is investigating.

Layers of construction managers, developers and government officials could have stopped Southern Mechanical from treating workers as subcontractors but didn’t.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is ultimately responsible for employees being paid correctly on these projects, but it pushes the task of collecting and reviewing payrolls onto local officials.

HUD doesn’t train the locals to spot the problem of misclassifying workers as contractors, however. Even when HUD labor-compliance officials at the regional office in Atlanta reviewed Southern Mechanical’s records on projects insured by the Federal Housing Administration, they didn’t raise any issues.

Southern Mechanical’s controller said she took the lack of reprimands as a sign the company was doing things properly.

“I’m sure if there was an issue, especially with a HUD job, somebody would have caught it before now,” Shannon Wilkins said.

‘We were just happy to have a job’

Bob Malick opened his firm in 1992 after years as a field supervisor with J.R. Hobbs, a major mechanical company in Georgia. Malick’s father-in-law, Harry Johnson, and brothers soon joined the company.

Southern Mechanical stayed local at first, riding the boom of apartment complex building in the Nashville area. Out-of-state firms also flocked to Tennessee in the mid-1990s, Malick said, taking advantage of the upswing.

When the apartment bubble burst in Nashville, Malick called the connections he’d made with out-of-state contractors.

His prices were competitive, and soon Southern Mechanical’s crews moved into Malick’s native Georgia and neighboring Alabama and South Carolina. The company’s reach expanded west to Mississippi and north to Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. Malick is also licensed to do business in Colorado and Iowa.

To keep pace, Southern Mechanical, like many other construction firms, leaned heavily on immigrant labor.

Zabad Santana remembers the droves of immigrants clamoring for work with companies such as Southern Mechanical in the early 2000s. Santana, a California native born to Mexican immigrants, moved to North Carolina in 2001 to take advantage of the building boom and soon found himself installing air conditioners for Southern Mechanical.

Santana had never built anything before, let alone performed HVAC work. But Santana said in an interview this summer that he was happy to get a wad of cash each Friday from his crew leader, a Hispanic immigrant. At first, he made $7 an hour. Soon, he was bumped to $10.

One day, Santana said, he was invited to dinner by Rick Malick, Robert’s brother. Rick Malick extended an invitation to Santana: Find workers and run a crew for us.

It seemed too good to be true. Without any formal training, without any tools and equipment, Santana could be a boss. He found Hispanic immigrants to work on his crew.

Each week, Santana said, he cashed the check Southern Mechanical wrote him, then distributed cash to the workers he’d recruited. He took out no taxes; he paid no unemployment benefits. Southern Mechanical issued him a 1099 at the end of the year. Santana said the arrangement didn’t sound shady.

He hustled, working seven days a week on jobs throughout the Carolinas and into Virginia.

“We were just happy to have a job,” said Santana.

The Malicks handled all communication with the general contractor, including securing the job. They told Santana where to go and when, and bought all the equipment he installed. When inspectors came to the site, one of the Malick brothers handled their questions, Santana said.

In an interview this summer, Malick described his workforce as “pieceworkers.” He also called them “employees.” On the payroll forms, he indicated they’re both – “1099 employees” – though such a hybrid doesn’t exist in the eyes of the IRS.

Company owners must heed federal law when they choose how to classify their workforces. The deciding factors deal with control – who’s in charge – and what financial investment or gain that worker has. Typically, legitimate subcontractors are paid lump sums, negotiate prices and build enough into the bids to cover overhead and profits.

According to payroll reports the company filed for projects in North Carolina and South Carolina, each mechanic or laborer earned between $10 and $20 an hour. Malick said he buys a workers’ compensation policy to cover everyone, regardless of whether he issues them a 1099 or takes out taxes each week.

Malick said he’d conferred with a lawyer about his practices a decade ago. He said he was advised that treating them as contractors was “the best way to do it” and that it was a “clean” way to do it.

He said he didn’t understand why competitors would find his practice unfair.

“If that is the issue, why don’t they do the same thing?” Malick asked.

Mounting troubles

A slip of the hand while installing air conditioners can cost lives. In the late 1990s, the North Carolina licensing board for life-safety trades such as HVAC, plumbing and fire sprinklers adopted rules that allowed regulators to have more control over the trades.

Anyone doing the work must have a license or be an employee of someone who does. Subcontracting to unlicensed plumbers and mechanics encourages haste, not care, said Dale Dawson, the executive director of the North Carolina licensing board.

Dawson said this summer that Southern Mechanical’s practices conflicted with state codes. His investigation is pending.

This isn’t the first time Southern Mechanical’s employment obligations have come into question.

According to court records, the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development issued an $8,940 lien in 2004 for uncollected unemployment taxes. Companies are obliged to pay that tax on employees, so they may collect unemployment benefits if laid off. Southern Mechanical settled the lien in 2008.

The state tax lien was but one of mounting financial troubles Malick faced in the mid-2000s. The IRS demanded $109,000 in back taxes. Suppliers, who said they were owed more than $1 million for equipment, wanted their debt settled, too. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2004, but it emerged later and continued to operate.

Santana, the labor broker the Malicks had recruited, didn’t know about the company’s brewing trouble. He did know that his checks were arriving more slowly. The final payments for some jobs hadn’t arrived at all.

By Santana’s count, the company owed him nearly $11,000. He said he paid his workers with a cushion he’d planned to spend on his wife and young son.

Santana grew more and more aggravated. One day in 2003, he drove to Nashville to collect his money. Santana said he was offered a truck as payment, rather than cash. He was so eager to finally part ways with the company that he took the keys to the truck and left, he said.

Problems persisted

Southern Mechanical did more work than any other HVAC company on the 64 low-income housing projects HUD funded through the recession in North Carolina. Records show the company also installed units at a high-rise seniors apartment project in Auburn, Ala., as well as an affordable development near Charleston, S.C., both of which were funded in part by stimulus money.

Malick said his company also performed government jobs in Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee.

All told, government jobs held Southern Mechanical steady during the construction slump. In 2012, his company did 22 projects requiring payroll reports to the federal government, Malick said; last year, the number jumped to 28.

Still, the company’s problems persisted over the past several years. According to court records, Johnson, Malick’s business partner and father-in-law, was indicted last fall on charges of stealing money from the company. The criminal case was closed after the company recouped the money, court records show. Johnson couldn’t be reached for comment.

Johnson has since parted ways with the company, said Wilkins, the controller, but the company’s legal troubles brought the scrutiny of the IRS.

In February 2013, the IRS filed a tax lien against Southern Mechanical for $260,000 in unpaid corporate taxes.

The company’s government work went uninterrupted in the 10 months it took to pay off the tax lien. An auditor from the IRS spent many days at the company’s headquarters in Nashville before filing the lien, said Wilkins. The auditor reviewed the company’s records, including its payroll records for employees, Wilkins said.

She offered the IRS auditor’s lack of questions about the company’s employment practices as another sign it’s doing everything right.

Rick Rothacker of The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, David Raynor and Peggy Neal of The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., and Nicholas Nehamas of the Miami Herald contributed to this article.

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Man United spent $8M paying off Moyes and staff

MANCHESTER, England -- Manchester United says it spent more than $8 million paying off David Moyes and his staff, and forecasts a 10 percent slump in revenue because of the club's failure to qualify for European competition.

Moyes lost his job 10 months after succeeding Alex Ferguson.

In its annual financial results, United highlighted a cost of 5.2 million pounds ($8.4 million) "primarily related to compensation payments on loss of office to the former manager and certain members of the coaching staff."

Louis van Gaal replaced Moyes, but has failed to win his first four matches.

United remains a commercial juggernaut, with 2013-14 revenue up 19 percent to a club record 433.2 million pounds ($699 million). But United forecasts revenue in 2014-15 to drop to as low as 385 million pounds ($619 million).

Dollar General goes hostile in bid for rival

Dollar General is going hostile with its $9.1 billion bid for Family Dollar after its rival repeatedly rejected previous offers.

The discount chain has commenced an open offering to investors of Family Stores Dollar Inc. for $80 per share in cash, the same offer that was rejected last week by the company's board.

Shares of Family Dollar jumped 5 percent before the opening bell Wednesday and appeared headed for an all-time high.

Family Dollar, based in Matthews, North Carolina, has voiced concerns about such a deal passing antitrust review. In response to those fears, Dollar General has said that it is willing to divest up to 1,500 stores if the Federal Trade Commission requires it. The company also is offering to pay a $500 million reverse breakup fee if antitrust hurdles get in the way.

Family Dollar Stores Inc. has been exploring a sale amid considerable financial stress and it has shuttered some of its stores and cut prices in an attempt to increase foot traffic. In June, activist investor Carl Icahn urged the company to put itself up for sale.

Family Dollar accepted an $8.5 billion offer from Dollar Tree Inc. a month later. The competing bid includes $59.60 in cash and the equivalent of $14.90 in shares of Dollar Tree for a total of $74.50 for each share held. Family Dollar has backed the bid, saying regulators are less likely to interfere.

There are more similarities, however, between Family Dollar and Dollar General, which stock their shelves with goods that sell for a range of prices. Everything sold at Dollar Tree costs a buck.

Appealing directly to Family Dollar shareholders, Chairman and CEO Rick Dreiling said that a sale to Dollar General would provide them with "immediate and certain liquidity for their shares."

"By taking this step, we are providing all Family Dollar shareholders a voice in this process, and we urge them to tender into our offer," Dreiling said in a news release.

Dollar General's offer expires Oct. 8. The latest bid, which was raised from $78.50 per share initially, represents a premium of nearly 32 percent for Family Dollar stock on the day before the Dollar Tree deal was announced in July.

Family Dollar shares climbed $3.94 to $82.64 in premarket trading. Shares hit record highs of $80.97 earlier this month.

Denmark's Vestager new powerful EU antitrust czar

BRUSSELS -- Former Danish Economy Minister Margrethe Vestager will be taking over as the European Union's powerful antitrust chief in November.

The EU said Wednesday the 46-year-old will take over from incumbent Joaquin Almunia when the 28-nation bloc's new executive Commission takes office.

The Competition Commissioner wields huge executive power in enforcing antitrust law for the EU, the world's biggest economy.

One controversial case Vestager is likely to inherit is the four-year-old investigation on whether Google is abusing its dominant position for Internet searches.

Vestager is a former economics and interior minister from Denmark's center-left coalition government.

Sweden's Cecilia Malmstroem wil be the new Commissioner for Trade in charge of negotiating free trade deals like the one being discussed with the United States. She currently serves as Home Affairs Commissioner.

Stony Brook University receives $25M gift

STONY BROOK, N.Y. -- Stony Brook University has received a $25 million donation from the founder of a hedge fund.

The Long Island-based school says the gift from James Simons and his wife, Marilyn, will boost research by physicists and mathematicians.

The Simons Center for Geometry and Physics was founded in 2008. Experts in the two fields collaborate on researching string theory or quantifying gravity.

Simons was named a member of the National Academy of Science this year. The billionaire founded the Renaissance Technologies in East Setauket, Long Island.

The Simons have given the center a total of $105 million.

The school tells Newsday (http://nwsdy.li/1nKQeLV ) that the $25 million will replenish its endowment and help maintain the building and support its activities.

Trump Entertainment heads to bankruptcy court

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Lawyers for a company that owns two Atlantic City casinos head to bankruptcy court.

A federal judge in Delaware on Wednesday will hold the first hearing into Trump Entertainment Resorts' Chapter 11 filing. It's the fourth such filing for the struggling casino company or its corporate predecessors.

The company owns Trump Plaza, which is closing in a week. It is threatening to close the Taj Mahal Casino Resort on Nov. 13 if it doesn't win salary concession from union workers.

A shutdown which would make the Taj the fifth Atlantic City casino to close this year.

Trump Entertainment Resorts says it has liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million, and assets of no more than $50,000.

As of the end of July, the company employed 2,800 people.

Striking Aerial Photos Show the Unfathomable Hugeness of Industry

"For me, the aerial view shows the world from a different, unusual, and revealing perspective," says German photographer Bernhard Lang. Shot from ultra-light planes and helicopters, Lang's series of photos presents a captivating look at the enormity of industry, from shipping to mining to automotive, and highlights the footprint each has left on the landscape.

In some photos, we see the Opencast Coal Mining Pit of Germany, "one of the largest man-made holes in the world, at nearly 1,500 feet deep, and currently [covering] almost 35 square kilometers," Lang says. "Everything at the mine is at a giant scale: The machines inside...are each the height of 30-story office buildings and twice as long as soccer fields."

Several of the photos capture slight patches of green grass or water peeking through at factories and shipyards, reminding the viewer of what once occupied the space. "I hope these images will show the impact of the human beings on the environment," Lang says. Take a look at his work below:

Originally published in Popular Mechanics