Americans riding public transit in record numbers

LOS ANGELES -- Americans are boarding public buses, trains and subways in greater numbers than any time since the suburbs began booming.

Nearly 10.7 billion trips in 2013, to be precise — the highest total since 1956.

The new numbers come from the American Public Transportation Association.

Transit ridership has now fully recovered from a dip caused by the Great Recession. With services restored following economy-driven cutbacks, the numbers appear set to continue what had been a steady increase.

Expanding bus and train networks help spur the growth, as does the nation's urban shift.

The sprawling city of Houston had a large ridership gain. So did Los Angeles, Seattle, Miami, Denver and San Diego.

The New York area's behemoth transit network saw the greatest gain, accounting for one in three trips nationally.

Marijuana sales tax results expected this week

DENVER -- Colorado is waiting for its first look at the recreational pot market this week when the Department of Revenue reports how much dispensaries paid in sales taxes in January.

The Department has hinted that it may release January sales tax figures Monday. It would be the first accounting of how many people bought pot when retail sales began in January.

The tax haul is expected to outpace projections of about $70 million this year.

Lobbying has already grown intense at the Capitol for how those dollars should be spent. Gov. John Hickenlooper sent an elaborate plan to legislative budget-writers last month detailing $134 million in spending from combined medical and recreational pot taxes.

Ultimately lawmakers will decide how to spend all but $40 million already designated for school construction.

Asian stocks tumble on weak China, Japan data

MANILA, Philippines -- Asian stock markets sank Monday, battered by weak Chinese trade and a reduced estimate for Japan's economic growth. Shares in Malaysia Airlines tumbled on news of the weekend disappearance of one its jets enroute to Beijing.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.1 percent to 15,111.92 and China's Shanghai Composite slid 1.7 percent to 2,023.22. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.6 percent to 22,294.87.

Markets were also down in Australia, Taiwan, South Korea and Southeast Asia.

Data released on the weekend showed China's exports fell by an unexpectedly large 18 percent in February, possibly denting hopes trade will help drive the slowing economy while communist leaders push ambitious reforms.

China's official 2014 economic growth target of 7.5 percent, announced last week by Premier Li Keqiang, assumes trade also will grow by 7.5 percent. But customs data show combined imports and exports so far this year have shrunk by 4.8 percent.

Meanwhile, Japan reported Monday a record current account deficit for January, and lowered its economic growth estimate for the October-December quarter to 0.7 percent from 1 percent.

Andrew Sullivan of Kim Eng Securities in Hong Kong said sentiment was affected by the weak data from China and from Japan.

"Whilst there are technical factors behind the China data which means it is not as bad as the first look suggests, I think this morning we see selling first and asking questions later," he said in a market commentary.

Shares of Malaysian Airlines System Bhd., the holding company of Malaysia Airlines, were down 8 percent on the Kuala Lumpur stock market.

One of its Boeing 777 jets went missing early Saturday morning on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Search and rescue efforts in the South China Sea have not yet identified any debris.

On Friday, the Standard & Poor's 500 closed roughly flat, up a point, or 0.05 percent, to 1,878.04. The Dow Jones rose 30.83 points, or 0.2 percent, to 16,452.72 and the Nasdaq composite lost 15.90 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,336.22.

In the oil market, benchmark U.S. crude for April delivery was down 16 cents at $102.42 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose The contract rose $1.02 on Friday to settle at $102.58.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3885 from its previous close of $1.3875. The dollar fell to 103.10 yen from 103.16 yen.

Associated Press Business Writers Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo and Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed to this report.

Recreation company Pool Corp. declares dividend

COVINGTON, La. -- Recreational supplies distributor Pool Corp. has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 19 cents a share.

The dividend is payable March 27 to shareholders of record on March 13.

Covington-based Pool distributes swimming pool and related backyard products.

Air testing at nuclear dump shows no contamination

CARLSBAD, N.M. -- New air testing in the nation's only underground nuclear repository showed no detectable radioactive contamination from a leak last month, the U.S. Department of Energy said Sunday.

Officials at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad said in a statement that the results came in as four more employees tested positive for low levels of radiation. The Energy Department earlier reported that 13 other workers were exposed, but they say all 17 aren't likely to face any serious health effects and that there appears to be no danger aboveground.

Investigators sent instruments used to measure air quality and radioactivity underground Friday and Saturday in the first step toward resuming operations at the plant, which has been shut down since early February when a truck caught fire in a separate incident.

Air tests were done on a shaft and elevator system used to take personnel underground as well as the shaft that provides ventilation below the surface. Initial results indicate no contamination in the air or on the measuring equipment, officials said.

Meanwhile, federal officials say four additional workers now have tested positive for low-level radiation because the results took several weeks to come back. Those employees were part of the first crew to come on shift after the leak on Feb. 14. Thirteen employees working at the time of the leak also tested positive for contamination.

Donavan Mager, a spokesman for Nuclear Waste Partnership LLC, which runs WIPP, said urine samples for all 17 tested negative, indicating none of them actually inhaled any radioactive particles.

"That's a good sign," Mager said. "We don't want to diminish the impact of employee health, but again, it's a very positive sign that there will be no lasting health effects."

Mager said employees have been able to work without having to wear protective equipment in the weeks since the leak.

WIPP officials say they may send personnel into the mine by the end of the week. Jose Franco, manager of the DOE's Carlsbad Field Office, said days ago that the timing of cleanup, and the resources and costs involved, won't be known until crews can actually enter.

Sensors alerted officials to a release of radiation on Feb. 14. Monitors as far as half a mile away later detected elevated levels of plutonium and americium in the air.

The repository stopped taking shipments after a truck hauling salt through the facility's tunnels caught fire Feb. 5. Officials say the two incidents aren't related.

WIPP is the nation's first underground nuclear repository and the only facility in the country that can store plutonium-contaminated clothing and tools from Los Alamos National Laboratory and other federal nuclear sites.

Vt. bus drivers, union reach deal to avert strike

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- The union that represents almost 70 Vermont bus drivers is holding a negotiating session with the Chittenden County Transportation Authority in hopes of averting a strike.

As off 11 p.m. Saturday, the drivers who carry about 9,500 people a day in the state's largest county and the Chittenden County Transportation Authority were still at the bargaining table. There is no immediate word on details of the talks.

The drivers say that if no deal is reached they will go on strike on Monday.

At issue are working conditions, part-time drivers, and working hours.

Driver Rob Slingerland says they're hoping for a new contract.

General Manager Bill Watterson says he's hopeful an 11th hour agreement can avoid a strike.

A's considering temporary home if lease expires

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff is considering moving the team to a temporary location if he can't extend a two-year lease with the Oakland Coliseum.

The San Jose Mercury News (http://tinyurl.com/nk77emv ) reported Sunday that Wolff is considering an existing venue or constructing a temporary stadium somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area to house the A's if he can't extend the lease.

The lease expires after the 2015 season. Wolff said he hopes to extend the lease, but he needs to make plans in case that doesn't happen.

Wolff co-owns Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes. A new 18,000-seat stadium is being built in San Jose for the soccer team. Wolff said he asked the architect of that project to look into temporary housing for the A's.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said Wolff has on several occasions told him of a desire to find a temporary home for the A's and that Wolff has looked at several venues in the area.

The A's have been searching for a new home for five years, complaining that the Oakland Coliseum is dilapidated and not conducive to baseball. The stadium remains the only venue in the country that hosts a Major League Baseball team and a National Football League team, the Raiders. The government officials who manage the coliseum are planning renovations and are working to keep the A's in Oakland.

Wolff signed an agreement with San Jose city officials to build a new stadium there. But Commissioner Bud Selig informed Wolff this summer that MLB had turned down the team's proposal. MLB considers San Jose to be the San Francisco Giants "territory" and won't let the A's move there without the Giants' agreement.

A judge tossed out the city of San Jose's lawsuit claiming MLB violated antitrust laws in blocking the A's move south.

MLB and San Francisco Giants officials didn't return calls.