Jerry Brown readjusts his stand on the environment vs. business









SACRAMENTO — When Gov. Jerry Brown spoke to a crowd of beaming environmentalists and renewable energy advocates at the launch of a solar farm last year, he turned heads by praising another form of fuel: oil.


It was a surprising pivot from the man credited with helping to usher in the modern environmental movement as California's governor nearly four decades ago.


Back then, Brown enacted the nation's first energy-efficiency standards, signed strict anti-smog laws and blocked offshore drilling. But in his return engagement as California's chief executive, he has eased key regulations for oil companies, capped wildfire liability for timber companies and relaxed the state's landmark environmental law.





That strain of pragmatism has run throughout Brown's current governorship — and flummoxed many allies — and nowhere is it more apparent than on the issue of the environment.


As the state forges ahead with an ambitious program to combat global warming by penalizing major polluters, Brown has said he also wants to unshackle development and create jobs by overhauling California's signature environmental law. And although he signed legislation requiring the state to get a third of its power from renewable energy sources, he is supporting the oil industry's push for more drilling.


Brown's spokesman, Gil Duran, compared the approach to that of President Obama, who has touted what he calls an "all of the above" energy strategy.


"You have to pursue renewable energy — and California is leading the way — but you also have to have balance and common sense," Duran said.


Business leaders say Brown's moves are those of a chief executive who knows how to spur growth in a sluggish economy. Oil companies, timber firms and other business interests typically friendly to Republicans rewarded the Democratic governor's efforts by donating millions of dollars to his successful fall campaign to raise taxes.


Environmentalists say Brown's actions undercut his own efforts to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade and imperil the state's standing as a leader on climate change.


"He likes renewable energy. We think that's great," said Kathryn Phillips, director of Sierra Club California. "But it makes no sense for somebody who cares as much about greenhouse gas reduction as he does to be bending to the will of the oil industry or bending to the will of a private massive clear-cutter."


In 2011, when the oil industry complained that environmental scrutiny had slowed the permitting of drilling projects, the governor fired his top two regulators and appointed replacements who agreed to speed approvals. He said the regulators had needlessly held up routine permits, and the projects represented jobs and revenue.


Brown also pushed hard for legislation to limit the legal liability of timber companies in cases of wildfires caused by their practices.


Echoing the timber industry's concerns, the administration said the bill would prevent prosecutors from seeking "excessive damages" — payouts several times larger than the value of the damaged land. Federal authorities said the measure could make it more difficult to secure money to pay for recovery from destructive blazes.


In a nod to conservationists, the bill Brown ultimately signed also imposed a 1% tax on lumber sales to fund restoration efforts and oversight of the industry.


"He's balancing the practical needs of California with his philosophy on finding alternative sources of energy," said Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce. "Whether you agree with him or not, he's trying to find that balance."


Activists and industry both are preparing for key fights this year.


Hoping to boost the state's economy, Brown has signaled his desire to loosen the California Environmental Quality Act — the same law he used as attorney general to pressure cities and counties to comply with the global warming law.


The measure requires developers to go through a lengthy public process detailing their projects' potential environmental effects and how those would be mitigated. Business groups have long complained that activists, labor unions — even corporate competitors — abuse the law by filing frivolous lawsuits to delay and kill development.


In 2011 Brown heard their call and signed bills to help a football stadium proposed for downtown Los Angeles and other major projects avoid drawn-out CEQA litigation. "There are too many damn regulations," he said at a signing ceremony.


Brown, who as Oakland mayor tried to have the city's downtown exempted from CEQA, wants to further limit environmental challenges to projects such as California's high-speed rail system.


"CEQA is the safety net for the air we breathe and the water we drink," said Kassie Siegel, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity. "If CEQA exemptions are a way for people to make a quick buck, we'll all regret them in the end."


Environmental groups and the energy industry are also concerned about the administration's proposed rules for hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," a controversial drilling process that could help unlock billions of barrels of oil buried deep in California shale.


Although recently drafted regulations would require energy companies to disclose for the first time what chemicals they pump underground to break apart rock and release crude, the proposed rules would also allow firms to claim trade secrets and withhold information they consider proprietary.


Environmentalists and public health advocates have raised safety questions over the hundreds of chemicals that are typically used — many of them known carcinogens. And they fear the trade-secret provision could undermine the presumed intent of the regulations: disclosure.


Oil companies say the technology is safe and argue that such a clause is necessary to protect their competitive advantage.


Speaking to reporters after the November election, Brown said his actions would be guided by a simple question: "Do we have the right rules in place?"


"We are going to calibrate our regulations," he said, "to ensure that they encourage jobs as well as protect other aspects of public interest such as environment, health and good working conditions."


michael.mishak@latimes.com





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Willard completes program, avoids lewdness charge


LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor Fred Willard has completed a diversion program for his arrest this summer for a suspected lewd act at a Hollywood adult theater.


Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney's office, said Monday that the 72-year-old comic actor completed the program in September and as a result no longer faces charges stemming from the July 18 incident.


Willard was arrested after uniformed vice officers were conducting a routine investigation of the theater and they said they saw him engaging in a lewd act.


He was fired shortly thereafter from his job narrating "Market Warriors," which is produced by Boston public television station WGBH. His film credits include "Best in Show" and "Waiting for Guffman."


An email message left for Willard's agent, Mike Eisenstadt, was not immediately returned.


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Letters: Recovery After Trauma



To the Editor:


Re “A New Focus on the ‘Post’ in Post-Traumatic Stress” (Mind, Dec. 25): Social contexts are well-established predictors of adjustment following trauma. Sexual abuse survivors who are believed and supported following an abuse disclosure fare better than those who are not, and returning veterans’ social support predicts P.T.S.D. over and above the extent of military trauma exposure. Interpersonal traumas cause greater psychological scars than do noninterpersonal traumas like accidents or disasters, with the worst outcomes linked to trauma perpetrated by someone to whom the victim was close.


Rachel Goldsmith


New York


The writer is a clinical psychologist.


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Here's to some wishful consumer-friendly resolutions








It's a time for new beginnings. So here are some resolutions I'd like to offer on behalf of some of our friends in the business world.


Cable and satellite companies should resolve to throw their lobbying clout behind urging lawmakers to forbid the bundling of channels by broadcasters.


As it stands, companies like Disney and Fox can insist that a Time Warner Cable or a DirecTV satellite take most or all of their channels as part of any programming deal, regardless of whether subscribers want them. Non-sports fans thus end up paying extra for ESPN and non-Spanish speakers have to pay for MundoFox.






Broadcasters argue that such packages create more programming diversity and allow niche channels an opportunity to find an audience. That may be true.


But it's not how a free market is supposed to operate and it basically means that a manufacturer (in this case, of TV content) is forcing unwanted products down consumers' throats.


Would lawmakers stand for it if Hearst Corp., say, required that you subscribe to House Beautiful and Redbook if all you wanted was Car and Driver? Would they look the other way if Random House demanded that you purchase "Crafting With Cat Hair" (yes, that's a real book) along with "Fifty Shades of Grey"?


Only TV broadcasters get away with such blatantly uncompetitive and anti-consumer behavior, and we pay dearly for their market power and greed.


NPD Group, a market researcher, estimates that the average cable bill will reach $123 a month by 2015 and $200 by 2020. Meanwhile, ratings company Nielsen says the typical viewer watches only about 17 channels on a regular basis.


This is nuts. The solution, clearly, is to allow people to subscribe only to the channels they want. Cable and satellite companies have indicated that they'd be open to so-called a la carte programming. The problem, they say, is that broadcasters refuse to back the idea.


So do something about it. Time Warner Cable spent $5.6 million on lobbying activities last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. How about devoting some of that money to persuading lawmakers to crack down on broadcasters' monopolistic behavior?


Broadcasters obviously have no incentive to budge. They make too much money under the current system. It's time for a legislative fix, and cable and satellite companies should be at the forefront of that effort.


Speaking of pricing, it's time for the telecom, banking and airline industries to end their practice of nickel-and-diming customers. Hidden or barely advertised fees have gotten way out of hand and have made it increasingly difficult to shop for the best deal.


Want to fly? Brace yourself for extra fees for baggage, seat assignment, reservation changes, snacks, drinks, even blankets. Airlines pocketed more than $36 billion in revenue from fees last year, according to the Amadeus Worldwide Estimate of Ancillary Revenue, an annual industry report.


Banks will hit you with fees for having a checking account, wanting paper statements, making too many withdrawals, even closing your account once you get fed up with the miserly treatment. Overdraft fees alone bring in about $30 billion a year, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.


As for wireless companies, the consulting firm KSE Partners crunched the numbers and found that taxes and fees now account for 17.2% of the average monthly bill, up 5.5% over the last two years. Nearly half of Americans with mobile phones pay $100 or more a month, and more than 1 in 10 spend at least $200 a month, according to a recent survey by Harris Interactive.


All these industries use roughly the same business model: Advertise dirt-cheap prices for basic services and then smack you upside the head with add-on fees. I suggest things be turned around.


List prices should include all routine taxes, fees and services, and then discounts could be applied as customer incentives. Not only would this make comparison shopping easier, but it also would place pressure on companies to lower prices, rather than raise fees.


The problem is one of transparency. No one begrudges a business earning a reasonable profit. The trick is trying to figure out how much profit they're pulling down amid a blizzard of jargon and fine print.


Last but not least, a resolution for all companies about customer service: Take it seriously.


Businesses seem to believe there's no downside to cutting employees and outsourcing customer support. Shareholders see more profit, managers see more bonuses and customers, well, they just suck it up.


Wrong.


The Internet takes customer loyalty and throws it out the window. We can take our business almost anywhere. Moreover, thanks to Yelp and other review sites, a single bad experience can be amplified into a full-on cri de coeur.


Only the most shortsighted company will ignore customer sentiment amid such variables. Yet all too often, businesses subject customers to uninformed salespeople, long waits at the cash register and the kind of support that seems designed solely to anger and frustrate.


The customer is always right — that's what they used to say. I wish it was still the case.


Heck, I'd be satisfied to be given the benefit of the doubt just a small fraction of the time.


David Lazarus' column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.






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Venezuela's Hugo Chavez said to suffer 'complications'









CARACAS, Venezuela — Hugo Chavez has suffered "new complications" after his cancer surgery in Cuba, his vice president said Sunday, describing the Venezuelan leader's condition as delicate.


Vice President Nicolas Maduro did not give details about the complications, which he said came amid a respiratory infection. Maduro spoke in a televised address from Cuba.


Maduro arrived Saturday in Havana on a sudden trip to visit Chavez. He said Sunday that he had met with Chavez and he "referred to these complications."





"Thanks to his physical and spiritual strength, Comandante Chavez is facing this difficult situation," Maduro said, reading from a prepared statement.


"The president gave us precise instructions so that, after finishing the visit, we would tell the [Venezuelan] people about his current health condition," Maduro said. "President Chavez's state of health continues to be delicate, with complications that are being attended to, in a process not without risks."


The vice president spoke with a solemn expression alongside Chavez's eldest daughter, Rosa, and son-in-law, Jorge Arreaza, as well as Atty. Gen. Cilia Flores.


Maduro said he had met several times with Chavez's medical team and relatives. He said he would remain in Havana "for the coming hours" but didn't specify how long.


The Venezuelan leader has not been seen or heard from since undergoing his fourth cancer-related surgery Dec. 11, and government officials have said he might not return in time for his scheduled Jan. 10 inauguration for a new six-year term. If he were to die before being sworn in, a special election would be held to replace him.





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Kobe Bryant Finally Joins Twitter — Kind Of






Long among the sports world’s biggest Twitter holdouts, Kobe Bryant has finally joined the social network. But he hasn’t opened an account, and won’t be around for long.


Social savvy fans are being blessed with his presence thanks to Nike Basketball, which has turned over its account to Bryant since Tuesday.






[More from Mashable: Avery Johnson’s Teenage Son Unloads on Twitter After NBA Firing]


Nike Basketball, which sponsors Bryant and produces his official sneaker, announced the Kobe takeover in a Christmas Day tweet. The account’s name is now “Kobe Bryant” although its handle remains @nikebasketball. Kobe has spent the past few days tweeting about a variety of subjects using a series of hashtags that play off the theme #counton-fill-in-the-blank.


He’s tweeted about the Lakers progress as a team:


[More from Mashable: FanDuel Is Fantasy Sports With a Twist]


He’s tweeted behind-the-scenes snippets of training and treatment:


And he’s tweeted a totally normal, typical, everyday holiday family portrait:


Bryant actually joined Twitter for realsies back in 2011, but then deleted the account after racking up more than 35,000 followers in a just a few hours. He’s one of the NBA’s few stars without a Twitter presence. Nearly 90% of the league’s players are on the social network, according to Twitter.


But Bryant did become much more active on Facebook this summer, especially while traveling with the United States’ Olympic basketball team. He has nearly 15 million fans there, and reportedly writes his status updates and messages himself, with editing and actual posting done by support staff. In November he asked Facebook fans whether to join Instagram or Twitter next, and on Monday hinted in a status update that he may soon open an Instagram account.


What athletes would you most like to see get more active on social media? Let us know in the comments.


BONUS: 30 Must-Follow Twitter Accounts This NBA SEASON


1. @NBA


The NBA is arguably the world’s most engaging sports league on social media. Follow its official Twitter account for news, highlights and promotions.


Click here to view this gallery.


Thumbnail image courtesy Flickr, Keith Allison


This story originally published on Mashable here.


Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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'The Hobbit' stays atop box office for third week


LOS ANGELES (AP) — "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" continues to rule them all at the box office, staying on top for a third-straight week and capping a record-setting $10.8 billion year in moviegoing.


The Warner Bros. fantasy epic from director Peter Jackson, based on the beloved J.R.R. Tolkien novel, made nearly $33 million this weekend, according to Sunday studio estimates, despite serious competition from some much-anticipated newcomers. It's now made a whopping $686.7 million worldwide and $222.7 million domestically alone.


Two big holiday movies — and potential Academy Awards contenders — also had strong openings. Quentin Tarantino's spaghetti Western-blaxploitation mash-up "Django Unchained" came in second place for the weekend with $30.7 million. The Weinstein Co. revenge comedy, starring Jamie Foxx as a slave in the Civil War South and Christoph Waltz as the bounty hunter who frees him and then makes him his partner, has earned $64 million since its Christmas Day opening.


And in third place with $28 million was the sweeping, all-singing "Les Miserables," based on the international musical sensation and the Victor Hugo novel of strife and uprising in 19th century France. The Universal Pictures film, with a cast of A-list actors singing live on camera led by Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Russell Crowe has made $67.5 million domestically and $116.2 worldwide since debuting on Christmas.


Additionally, the smash-hit James Bond adventure "Skyfall" has now made $1 billion internationally to become the most successful film yet in the 50-year franchise, Sony Pictures announced Sunday. The film stars Daniel Craig for the third time as the iconic British superspy.


"This is a great final weekend of the year," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "How perfect to end this year on such a strong note with the top five films performing incredibly well."


The week's other new wide release, the Billy Crystal-Bette Midler comedy "Parental Guidance" from 20th Century Fox, made $14.8 million over the weekend for fourth place and $29.6 million total since opening on Christmas.


Dergarabedian described the holding power of "The Hobbit" in its third week as "just amazing." Jackson shot the film, the first of three prequels to his massively successful "Lord of the Rings" series, in 48 frames per second — double the normal frame rate — for a crisper, more detailed image. It's also available in the usual 24 frames per second and both 2-D and 3-D projections.


"I think people are catching up with the movie. Maybe they're seeing it in multiple formats," he said. "I think it's just a big epic that feels like a great way to end the moviegoing year. There's momentum there with this movie."


"Django Unchained" is just as much of an epic in its own stylishly violent way that's quintessentially Tarantino. Erik Lomis, The Weinstein Co.'s president of theatrical distribution, said the opening exceeded the studio's expectations.


"We're thrilled with it, clearly. We knew it was extremely competitive at Christmas, particularly when you look at the start 'Les Miz' got. We were sort of resigned to being behind them. The fact that we were able to overtake them over the weekend was just great," Lomis said. "Taking nothing away from their number, it's a tribute to the playability of 'Django.'"


"Les Miserables" went into its opening weekend with nearly $40 million in North American grosses, including $18.2 on Christmas Day. That's the second-best opening ever on the holiday following "Sherlock Holmes," which made $24.9 million on Christmas 2009. Tom Hooper, in a follow-up to his Oscar-winner "The King's Speech," directs an enormous, ambitious take on the beloved musical which has earned a CinemaScore of "A'' from audiences and "A-plus" from women.


Nikki Rocco, Universal's head of distribution, said the debut for "Les Miserables" also beat the studio's expectations.


"That $18.2 million Christmas Day opening — people were shocked ... This is a musical!" she said. "Once people see it, they talk about how fabulous it is."


It all adds up to a record-setting year at the movies, beating the previous annual record of $10.6 billion set in 2009. Dergarabedian pointed out that the hits came scattered throughout the year, not just during the summer blockbuster season or prestige-picture time at the end. "Contraband," ''Safe House" and "The Vow" all performed well early on, but then when the big movies came, they were huge. "The Avengers" had the biggest opening ever with $207.4 million in May. The raunchy comedy "Ted" and comic-book behemoth "The Dark Knight Rises" both found enormous audiences. And Paul Thomas Anderson's challenging drama "The Master" shattered records in September when it opened on five screens in New York and Los Angeles with $736,311, for a staggering per-screen average of $147,262.


"We were able to get this record without scratching and clawing to a record," he said.


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


1. "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," $32.9 million ($106.5 million international).


2."Django Unchained," $30.7 million.


3."Les Miserables," $28 million ($38.3 million international).


4."Parental Guidance," $14.8 million ($7 million international).


5."Jack Reacher," $14 million ($18.1 million).


6."This Is 40," $13.2 million.


7."Lincoln," $7.5 million.


8."The Guilt Trip," $6.7 million.


9."Monsters, Inc. 3-D," $6.4 million.


10."Rise of the Guardians," $4.9 million ($11.6 million).


___


Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:


1."The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," $106.5 million.


2."Life of Pi," $39.2 million.


3."Les Miserables," $38.3 million.


4."Wreck-It Ralph," $20.4 million.


5."Jack Reacher," $18.1 million.


6."Rise of the Guardians," $11.6 million.


7."Parental Guidance," $7 million.


8."The Tower," $6.6 million.


9."Pitch Perfect," $6.2 million.


10."De L'autre Cote Du Periph," $4 million.


___


Online:


http://www.hollywood.com


http://www.rentrak.com


___


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


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Chinese Firm Is Cleared to Buy American DNA Sequencing Company


Ramin Rahimian for The New York Times


DNA sequencing machines at Complete Genomics in California. The firm dismissed concerns about its acquisition.







The federal government has given national security clearance to the controversial purchase of an American DNA sequencing company by a Chinese firm.




The Chinese firm, BGI-Shenzhen, said in a statement this weekend that its acquisition of Complete Genomics, based in Mountain View, Calif., had been cleared by the federal Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews the national security implications of foreign takeovers of American companies. The deal still requires antitrust clearance by the Federal Trade Commission.


Some scientists, politicians and industry executives had said the takeover represented a threat to American competitiveness in DNA sequencing, a technology that is becoming crucial for the development of drugs, diagnostics and improved crops.


The fact that the $117.6 million deal was controversial at all reflects a change in the genomics community.


A decade ago, the Human Genome Project, in which scientists from many nations helped unravel the genetic blueprint of mankind, was celebrated for its spirit of international cooperation. One of the participants in the project was BGI, which was then known as the Beijing Genomics Institute.


But with DNA sequencing now becoming a big business and linchpin of the biotechnology industry, international rivalries and nationalism are starting to move front and center in any acquisition.


Much of the alarm about the deal has been raised by Illumina, a San Diego company that is the market leader in sequencing machines. It has potentially the most to lose from the deal because BGI might buy fewer Illumina products and even become a competitor. Weeks after the BGI deal was announced, Illumina made its own belated bid for Complete Genomics, offering 15 cents a share more than BGI’s bid of $3.15. But Complete Genomics rebuffed Illumina, saying such a merger would never clear antitrust review.


Illumina also hired a Washington lobbyist, the Glover Park Group, to stir up opposition to the deal in Congress. Representative Frank R. Wolf, Republican of Virginia, was the only member of Congress known to have publicly expressed concern.


BGI and Complete Genomics point out that Illumina has long sold its sequencing machines — including a record-setting order of 128 high-end machines — to BGI without raising any security concerns. Sequencing machines have not been subject to export controls like aerospace equipment, lasers, sensors and other gear that can have clear military uses.


“Illumina has never previously considered its business with BGI as ‘sensitive’ in the least,” Ye Yin, the chief operating officer of BGI, said in a November letter to Complete Genomics that was made public in a regulatory filing. In the letter, Illumina was accused of “obvious hypocrisy.”


BGI and Complete said that Illumina was trying to derail the agreement and acquire Complete Genomics itself in order to “eliminate its closest competitor, Complete.”


BGI is already one of the most prolific DNA sequencers in the world, but it buys the sequencing machines it uses from others, mainly Illumina.


Illumina, joined by some American scientists, said it worried that if BGI gained access to Complete’s sequencing technology, the Chinese company might use low prices to undercut the American sequencing companies that now dominate the industry.


Some also said that with Complete Genomics providing an American base, BGI would have access to more DNA samples from Americans, helping it compile a huge database of genetic information that could be used to develop drugs and diagnostic tests. Some also worried about protection of the privacy of genetic information.


“What’s to stop them from mining genomic data of American samples to some unknown nefarious end?” Elaine R. Mardis, co-director of the genome sequencing center at Washington University in St. Louis, said in an e-mail.


Dr. Mardis could not specify what kind of nefarious end she imagined. But opponents of the deal cited a November article in The Atlantic saying that in the future, pathogens could be genetically engineered to attack particular individuals, including the president, based on their DNA sequences.


BGI and Complete Genomics dismissed such concerns as preposterous.


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Champagne sales lose fizz in Europe









Champagne sales are on the wane in economically troubled Europe, but other markets — particularly Japan and the United States — are developing more fondness for the bubbly.

In what is certain to be bad news for the vineyards, France — Champagne's largest market — is drinking fewer bottles. Sales of Champagne for the country were down 4.9%, and 5% elsewhere in the 27-country European Union, in the first nine months of 2012 compared with the same period in 2011, according to CIVC, the national association of growers and producers of the wine.

Nineteen months of rising unemployment and growing fears that the worst is yet to come have taken their toll on France — nearly 7 in 10 French are worried about their country's future, according to a recent poll.





"The French are pessimist by nature," said Antoine Chiquet, whose family has been producing Champagne for three generations and wine for eight. "We had a difficult election, we're in an economy where Europe's foundations are being questioned."

Nonetheless, the country managed to drink 175.7 million bottles of Champagne from Nov. 1, 2011, to Oct. 31, 2012, according to CIVC — nearly three bottles a year for every man, woman and child but about 10 million bottles fewer than the previous year. In contrast, the U.S. consumed enough sparkling wine for about 1.5 bottles per person in 2010, the latest figures available from the Wine Institute in California.

Although the news out of France and Europe is bad, CIVC figures show export sales were up 3% in the first three quarters of the year. Top markets included the U.S., Japan and, to a lesser extent, China. A total of 19.4 million bottles of Champagne went to the United States and 7.9 million went to Japan — the only two countries outside Europe in the top seven export markets.

Takayasu Ogata, a sommelier in Tokyo, said Champagne and sparkling wine consumption is climbing in Japan at a time when overall wine demand peaked around 2000.

"Both individuals and restaurants are taking to Champagnes with personality, including those that are from small makers but taste good," he said.

Lower price is another reason. Gone are the days when a bottle of Moet & Chandon went for $60 or more in Japan. These days, you can get real Champagne for as little as $25.

Of course, for those with rich tastes and a budget to match there are still lots of expensive Champagnes, selling for 10 times that, said Ogata, who is in charge of wines at Venture Republic, an Internet retailer.

Beer remains the drink of choice for many "salarymen," but younger people and women are taking a liking to Champagne, Ogata says.

"It's about the bubble — a sense of gorgeousness," he said in a telephone interview. "There's that thrill to opening up a bottle of Champagne."

China is also emerging as a potentially strong market for a glass of fizz, although the numbers remain small. In 2011, the latest year for which figures were available, it ranked 19th in export markets for Champagne, apparently because consumers are less discriminating about precise origins. According to an EU ruling, only sparkling wine made in a particular region in northeast France is allowed to carry the name Champagne. The United States makes some exceptions, as long as the labeling is clear.

"People enjoy the 'boom' moment of opening sparkling wine. It is fun," said Yu Ming, a 29-year-old who operated a bar in Beijing's Sanlitun night-life district until 2010. "It offers a more festive atmosphere and it tastes good." In China, he added, "people call all sparkling wine Champagne. They don't care where it is from or whether the fermentation is inside the bottle."

The sales manager at the BHG supermarket in a luxury shopping mall in Beijing confirmed that Champagne budgets are largely out of reach in China, saying most customers at the chic store will instead choose sparkling wine: "The most expensive Champagne is 7,800 yuan [$1,250] a bottle at my store, but the most expensive sparkling wine is only 268 yuan [$43]," said the manager, who gave his surname, Hou.

Chiquet, whose label Gaston Chiquet produces about 200,000 bottles a year, said France and Europe generally will remain the most important markets for Champagne. But for the numbers to climb again "we'll have to rediscover optimism."

"Champagne remains a drink for celebrating the big events of life," Chiquet said. "Happily for sales, at the end of the year, the French rely on tradition. Still, we're not going to catch up. Unfortunately, what's lost already is lost."





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Buddhist temple doesn't always inspire peaceful reactions









The sound of chanting echoed through the makeshift temple, to the slow steady pulse of a drum.


Forty-nine days had passed since Jonathan Van's uncle had died in Vietnam, and he and his family gathered at Tinh Xa Giac Ly in Westminster, chanting so that his spirit might find its path. The puffs of incense dancing in the air would serve as the vehicle to carry his spirit to the next life, according to Buddhist tradition.


The relatives knelt on the floor of the two-car garage, high heels and sandals scattered outside on the driveway, as other loved ones spilled out to the patio, reciting from yellow songbooks.





The sound, for Van, calmed his own spirit.


"For me the chanting is very soothing," Van said. "Relieves stress."


Less so for some of the neighbors, however.


The temple sits among the suburban tract homes at Titus Street and Hazard Avenue, just steps from Little Saigon, converted about 26 years ago from a typical family home to a house of worship.


The sound of the chanting and the unfamiliar smells and rituals are an unwelcome intrusion to some in the neighborhood in the heart of Orange County, the traffic an inconvenience.


Officials said misunderstandings between the start-up temples and residents who find their neighborhoods transformed are an ongoing issue in the Asian communities that sprawl across Westminster, Garden Grove and Santa Ana.


Rita Leon and her brother Rudy Lastra live across the street from Tinh Xa Giac Ly and say their conflicts with the temple's worshipers have almost turned physical.


And traffic generated by visitors, they said, has turned their residential street into a bustling thoroughfare.


"It's like the 405 Freeway on a Monday at rush hour," Lastra said.


Temple organizers also clashed with the city, which after receiving numerous complaints from residents cited them for code violations involving outdoor cooking equipment as well as gas, electrical and plumbing lines, said Art Bashmakian, Westminster's planning manager.


The temple's leader, the Most Venerable Thich Giác Si, said he is mindful of his neighbors' concerns and reminds visitors to park outside the neighborhood to reduce the number of cars streaming along the residential streets.


"Whatever they like to say or express to us, we like to listen," he said.


Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the Orange County Human Relations Commission, said budding religious groups often set up shop in suburban areas, and such clashes can be expected.


"In many religious communities you will see this tradition of starting a congregation in your home before you're able to buy or build," Kennedy said.


Even though the face of central Orange County began changing decades ago with the arrival of Vietnamese immigrants, the tiny neighborhood temples sometimes seem foreign to residents when they spring up.


"There's no question where you're confronted with something you don't understand or are unfamiliar with, you're uncomfortable," Kennedy said.


Often stereotypes about a culture or its images — such as the Buddhist swastika or Sikh turbans — can "color our thinking" about a neighbor, Kennedy said. But the conflicts, he said, sometimes sort themselves out.





Read More..

FBI removes many redactions in Marilyn Monroe file


LOS ANGELES (AP) — FBI files on Marilyn Monroe that could not be located earlier this year have been found and re-issued, revealing the names of some of the movie star's communist-leaning friends who drew concern from government officials and her own entourage.


But the records, which previously had been heavily redacted, do not contain any new information about Monroe's death 50 years ago. Letters and news clippings included in the files show the bureau was aware of theories the actress had been killed, but they do not show that any effort was undertaken to investigate the claims. Los Angeles authorities concluded Monroe's death was a probable suicide.


Recently obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act, the updated FBI files do show the extent the agency was monitoring Monroe for ties to communism in the years before her death in August 1962.


The records reveal that some in Monroe's inner circle were concerned about her association with Frederick Vanderbilt Field, who was disinherited from his wealthy family over his leftist views.


A trip to Mexico earlier that year to shop for furniture brought Monroe in contact with Field, who was living in the country with his wife in self-imposed exile. Informants reported to the FBI that a "mutual infatuation" had developed between Field and Monroe, which caused concern among some in her inner circle, including her therapist, the files state.


"This situation caused considerable dismay among Miss Monroe's entourage and also among the (American Communist Group in Mexico)," the file states. It includes references to an interior decorator who worked with Monroe's analyst reporting her connection to Field to the doctor.


Field's autobiography devotes an entire chapter to Monroe's Mexico trip, "An Indian Summer Interlude." He mentions that he and his wife accompanied Monroe on shopping trips and meals and he only mentions politics once in a passage on their dinnertime conversations.


"She talked mostly about herself and some of the people who had been or still were important to her," Field wrote in "From Right to Left." ''She told us about her strong feelings for civil rights, for black equality, as well as her admiration for what was being done in China, her anger at red-baiting and McCarthyism and her hatred of (FBI director) J. Edgar Hoover."


Under Hoover's watch, the FBI kept tabs on the political and social lives of many celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin and Monroe's ex-husband Arthur Miller. The bureau has also been involved in numerous investigations about crimes against celebrities, including threats against Elizabeth Taylor, an extortion case involving Clark Gable and more recently, trying to solve who killed rapper Notorious B.I.G.


The AP had sought the removal of redactions from Monroe's FBI files earlier this year as part of a series of stories on the 50th anniversary of Monroe's death. The FBI had reported that it had transferred the files to a National Archives facility in Maryland, but archivists said the documents had not been received. A few months after requesting details on the transfer, the FBI released an updated version of the files that eliminate dozens of redactions.


For years, the files have intrigued investigators, biographers and those who don't believe Monroe's death at her Los Angeles area home was a suicide.


A 1982 investigation by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office found no evidence of foul play after reviewing all available investigative records, but noted that the FBI files were "heavily censored."


That characterization intrigued the man who performed Monroe's autopsy, Dr. Thomas Noguchi. While the DA investigation concluded he conducted a thorough autopsy, Noguchi has conceded that no one will likely ever know all the details of Monroe's death. The FBI files and confidential interviews conducted with the actress' friends that have never been made public might help, he wrote in his 1983 memoir "Coroner."


"On the basis of my own involvement in the case, beginning with the autopsy, I would call Monroe's suicide 'very probable,'" Noguchi wrote. "But I also believe that until the complete FBI files are made public and the notes and interviews of the suicide panel released, controversy will continue to swirl around her death."


Monroe's file begins in 1955 and mostly focuses on her travels and associations, searching for signs of leftist views and possible ties to communism. One entry, which previously had been almost completely redacted, concerned intelligence that Monroe and other entertainers sought visas to visit Russia that year.


The file continues up until the months before her death, and also includes several news stories and references to Norman Mailer's biography of the actress, which focused on questions about whether Monroe was killed by the government.


For all the focus on Monroe's closeness to suspected communists, the bureau never found any proof she was a member of the party.


"Subject's views are very positively and concisely leftist; however, if she is being actively used by the Communist Party, it is not general knowledge among those working with the movement in Los Angeles," a July 1962 entry in Monroe's file states.


___


Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP


Read More..

Creating the illusion of snow becomes big business for MagicSnow









On a recent Sunday morning in Los Angeles, Adam Williams and his crew set up their blowers outside a house in Hancock Park and blanketed the yard in 20 tons of snow.


Using 15-pound blocks of crushed ice, it took Williams and his crew about 2 1/2 hours to cover the front lawn and build half a dozen snowmen in a commercial for the cable channel FearNet. In the ad, a little girl cheerfully entombs someone who appears to be her father inside one of the snowmen.


To create the effect, producers of the commercial turned to MagicSnow Systems, a 10-year-old Los Angeles company. MagicSnow is best known for its twice daily snow show at the Grove shopping center that runs through New Year's Eve, but the rest of the time it specializes in manufacturing snow effects for commercial shoots, music videos, concerts and shows at malls, Hollywood premieres, and even cruise ships.





PHOTOS: Hollywood backlot moments


"When I first moved out here, I missed a lot of things about the holidays, including the snow," said Williams, founder and president of MagicSnow. "What we're doing is filling the void by providing the experience of snow in a warm-weather climate. It's not a hard concept to sell."


Williams, raised in a small town outside of Cleveland, moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career as a magician, performing at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. During a lull in work, he began to think of ways he could expand his act by creating the illusion of something that was a novelty in Los Angeles — snow.


"I never set out to start a special effects business,'' said Williams, 35. "My goal was to become a world-famous magician. I realized when I moved out here that that wasn't a realistic goal for me, but that didn't mean I had to give up my dream of creating illusions. I still feel like I'm a magician."


Williams initially used confetti to create the snow illusion, but that proved too messy to clean up. The type of simulated "snow" used in the film industry collects on the ground. Williams needed a snow-like substance that could be used in crowds, would vanish quickly and not leave a residue.


He and a chemist friend spent weeks experimenting with various ingredients in his kitchen, shooting samples into his yard from his back porch to test the mixture. Eventually, he developed his proprietary formula made of water and a foam substance. MagicSnow also makes real snow, which was used in the FearNet ad.


Williams launched his company in 2002 and got his first big break when he pitched his idea of putting on a Christmas magic show with falling snow to Rick Caruso, developer of the newly opened Grove in the Fairfax district.


GRAPHIC: Faces to watch in 2013


"Rick said he was more interested in the snow than the magic," said Williams. "He said, 'I'd love to have you come in and create this snowfall illusion,' so I jumped at the opportunity."


The fake snow, blown from rooftops and choreographed to Christmas music and the Grove's nightly fountain show, was a hit with shoppers, prompting Caruso to add MagicSnow shows to his other shopping mall, the Americana at Brand in Glendale.


"Adam and his team have the exceptional ability to transform spaces with their customized snowfall experiences, making our nightly holiday snow shows magical," said Paul Kurzawa, chief operating officer of Caruso Affiliated. With the exposure from the Grove, Williams' company expanded rapidly, installing snow-making systems in 55 shopping centers across the country operated by General Growth Properties. MagicSnow also made snow for the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall in New York and for numerous live television shows, concerts and movie premieres, including the 2003 premiere of "Elf" at the Grove.


More recently he has expanded into the television business, doing commercials for Land Rover and FearNet.


"It just snowballed," Williams said.


MagicSnow, which also sells and installs snow-making equipment, will generate about $3 million a year in revenue in 2012, up about 25% over the prior year, he said.


His company has gone global, installing snow-making systems for clients in Indonesia, Germany, Brazil and Mexico, where his equipment is used at a shopping center in the Polanco area of Mexico City — a deal that started after the son of the shopping center developer saw the snow show at the Grove and told his father about it.


MagicSnow's corporate clients include Princess Cruises and toy maker Mattel Inc., which recently recruited Williams and his team to create a winter wonderland theme for underprivileged children at the company's El Segundo headquarters.


Using more than 375 tons of snow supplied by MagicSnow, the volunteers and children built nearly 1,300 snowmen in an hour.


An adjudicator from Guinness World Records chronicled the work but disqualified about 20 snowmen. The reason: Their arms fell off, they didn't have a carrot nose or they were simply too short, Williams said.


"Unfortunately, we fell just short of a world record," he said.


richard.verrier@latimes.com






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Anxious New Yorkers grapple with second subway death in a month









NEW YORK — As police continued searching Friday for a woman who witnesses say sent a man to his death by pushing him into an oncoming subway train in Queens, anxious New Yorkers spoke with a mix of shock, horror and nonchalance as they grappled with the second such death in a month along the city's massive transit system.


Police identified the victim in Thursday night's incident as Sunando Sen, a 46-year-old Queens resident and native of India who worked at a printing business.


Police said the woman — described as a heavyset Latina and approximately 5 feet 5 — fled after the pushing. Surveillance video recorded shortly after the incident shows a heavyset woman running through an intersection near the station platform. A $12,000 reward is being offered and police have released a sketch of the suspect.





At the above-ground station where the main died, in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Queens, police officers were stationed inside the entrance, while some riders said they kept closer to the walls than usual as trains rolled into the station early Friday afternoon.


Maria Roquete, 55, promptly took a seat on a wooden bench as she waited for her train.


"Even if this station is empty, I have to sit down," said Roquete, who moved to New York from Brazil 13 years ago. "I'm scared."


Other commuters questioned whether enough was being done to ensure safety on the subway. One rider suggested police should have more cameras or officers on the platforms.


Thursday's death occurred just after 8 p.m., when a woman, who witnesses said appeared to be mumbling to herself, suddenly pushed a man from behind as he waited for the No. 7 elevated train to arrive at the station, police said.


"Witnesses said she was walking back and forth on the platform, talking to herself, before taking a seat alone on a wooden bench near the north end of the platform," Paul J. Browne, the NYPD's deputy commissioner, said in a statement. "When the train pulled into the station, the suspect rose from the bench and pushed the man, who was standing with his back to her, onto the tracks into the path of the train. The victim appeared not to notice her, according to witnesses."


For some, Thursday's death on the tracks served to underscore such urban dangers, especially with a transit system that carries 5.3 million riders daily.


On Dec. 3, Ki-Suck Han was crushed by an oncoming train at a subway station in Midtown Manhattan. Han, 58, had been on his way to the South Korean Consulate to renew his passport when, witnesses said, he began arguing with a man who had been harassing people on the platform.


The man, later identified as 30-year-old Naeem Davis, is accused of pushing Han onto the tracks. Han's final moments were captured by a nearby photographer, whose picture ran on the front page of the New York Post. Publication of the photo launched a media controversy over whether the photographer should have tried to help. Davis, who is homeless, has been charged with murder,


Despite the nearly back-to-back subway deaths, Pete Martinez recalled how he used to "subway surf" on top of cars while growing up in the Bronx. He shrugged off Thursday's homicide as "everyday life in the city."


Martinez, 51, said he even witnessed a woman die on subway tracks two years ago. "Every time you leave home you're taking a chance," he said, leaning against a stairway railing as he waited for an uptown train at New York's Penn Station in Manhattan.


Others' nerves were more frayed.


"It's horrible," Elena Rodriguez, a 46-year-old accountant, said as she waited for a downtown express train on the Upper West Side. "We're feeling so insecure now to be in the subway."


Rodriguez said that one of her clients, a yoga instructor, took a cab to work Friday because of Thursday's death. And the fact that a similar death happened less than four weeks ago is making her question whether she wants to stay in New York.


"Now with this, I'm thinking twice," the Upper East Side resident said. "Do I want to risk my life living in New York? No."


Although the two December deaths have left some riders frightened, such pushing incidents are considered rare in the 24-hour subway system.


In separate incidents earlier this year, two people were pushed onto tracks, and both survived. In a third incident, a man died after falling onto tracks during a fight with another commuter. The man was struck by a train and killed.





Read More..

Makers of $99 Android-Powered Game Console Ship First 1,200 ‘Ouyas’






Like Nintendo’s Wii U game console, the Ouya (that’s “OOH-yuh”) has an unusual name and even more unusual hardware. The console is roughly the size of a Rubik’s cube, and is powered by Android, Google‘s open-source operating system that’s normally found on smartphones and tablets.


Ouya’s makers, who are preparing the console for its commercial launch, encourage interested gamers to pop the case open and use it in electronics projects … or even to write their own games for it. Especially if they’re among the 1,200 who are about to receive their own clear plastic Ouya developer consoles.






Not exactly a finished product


The limited-edition consoles, which have been shipped out to developers already, are not designed for playing games on. They don’t even come with any.


Rather, the point of these consoles is so that interested Android developers can write games for the Ouya, which will then be released to gamers when the console launches to the public. Fans who pledged at least $ 1,337 to Ouya’s record-breaking Kickstarter project will get one, and while they’re not quite suited for playing games on — “we know the D-pad and triggers on the controller still need work,” Ouya’s makers say — the clear plastic developer consoles serve as a preview of what the finished product will look like, and a reminder of Ouya’s “openness.”


You keep using that word …


In the food and drug industries, terms like “organic” and “all-natural” are regulated so that only products which meet the criteria can have them on their labels. In the tech world, however, anyone can claim that their product is “open,” for whatever definition of “open” they like.


The term was popularized by the world’s rapid adoption of open-source software, like Android itself, where you’re legally entitled to a copy of the programming code and can normally use it in your own projects (like Ouya’s makers did). But when tech companies say that something is “open,” they don’t necessarily mean that the code or the hardware schematics use an open-source license.


How Ouya is “open”


Ouya’s makers have released their ODK, or developer kit, under the same open-source license as Android itself. This allows aspiring game developers to practice their skills even without a developer console, and to improve the kit however they want. The hardware itself is currently a “closed” design, however, despite the clear plastic case. The makers have expressed enthusiasm for the idea of hardware hackers using it in projects, and have said, “We’ll even publish the hardware design if people want it,” but so far they haven’t done so.


What about the games?


The most relevant aspect of “openness” to normal gamers is that Ouya’s makers say “any developer can publish a game.” This model is unusual for the console world, where only select studios are allowed to publish their wares on (for instance) the PlayStation Network, but is more familiar to fans of the anything-goes Google Play store for Android. Several big-name Android developers — including console game titan Square-Enix — have already signed up to have their wares on the Ouya.


Preordered Ouya game consoles (the normal ones, not the developer edition) will ship in April. They will cost $ 99 once sales are opened to the general public.


Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.
Linux/Open Source News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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FBI removes many redactions in Marilyn Monroe file


LOS ANGELES (AP) — FBI files on Marilyn Monroe that could not be located earlier this year have been found and re-issued, revealing the names of some of the movie star's communist-leaning friends who drew concern from government officials and her own entourage.


But the records, which previously had been heavily redacted, do not contain any new information about Monroe's death 50 years ago. Letters and news clippings included in the files show the bureau was aware of theories the actress had been killed, but they do not show that any effort was undertaken to investigate the claims. Los Angeles authorities concluded Monroe's death was a probable suicide.


Recently obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act, the updated FBI files do show the extent the agency was monitoring Monroe for ties to communism in the years before her death in August 1962.


The records reveal that some in Monroe's inner circle were concerned about her association with Frederick Vanderbilt Field, who was disinherited from his wealthy family over his leftist views.


A trip to Mexico earlier that year to shop for furniture brought Monroe in contact with Field, who was living in the country with his wife in self-imposed exile. Informants reported to the FBI that a "mutual infatuation" had developed between Field and Monroe, which caused concern among some in her inner circle, including her therapist, the files state.


"This situation caused considerable dismay among Miss Monroe's entourage and also among the (American Communist Group in Mexico)," the file states. It includes references to an interior decorator who worked with Monroe's analyst reporting her connection to Field to the doctor.


Field's autobiography devotes an entire chapter to Monroe's Mexico trip, "An Indian Summer Interlude." He mentions that he and his wife accompanied Monroe on shopping trips and meals and he only mentions politics once in a passage on their dinnertime conversations.


"She talked mostly about herself and some of the people who had been or still were important to her," Field wrote in "From Right to Left." ''She told us about her strong feelings for civil rights, for black equality, as well as her admiration for what was being done in China, her anger at red-baiting and McCarthyism and her hatred of (FBI director) J. Edgar Hoover."


Under Hoover's watch, the FBI kept tabs on the political and social lives of many celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin and Monroe's ex-husband Arthur Miller. The bureau has also been involved in numerous investigations about crimes against celebrities, including threats against Elizabeth Taylor, an extortion case involving Clark Gable and more recently, trying to solve who killed rapper Notorious B.I.G.


The AP had sought the removal of redactions from Monroe's FBI files earlier this year as part of a series of stories on the 50th anniversary of Monroe's death. The FBI had reported that it had transferred the files to a National Archives facility in Maryland, but archivists said the documents had not been received. A few months after requesting details on the transfer, the FBI released an updated version of the files that eliminate dozens of redactions.


For years, the files have intrigued investigators, biographers and those who don't believe Monroe's death at her Los Angeles area home was a suicide.


A 1982 investigation by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office found no evidence of foul play after reviewing all available investigative records, but noted that the FBI files were "heavily censored."


That characterization intrigued the man who performed Monroe's autopsy, Dr. Thomas Noguchi. While the DA investigation concluded he conducted a thorough autopsy, Noguchi has conceded that no one will likely ever know all the details of Monroe's death. The FBI files and confidential interviews conducted with the actress' friends that have never been made public might help, he wrote in his 1983 memoir "Coroner."


"On the basis of my own involvement in the case, beginning with the autopsy, I would call Monroe's suicide 'very probable,'" Noguchi wrote. "But I also believe that until the complete FBI files are made public and the notes and interviews of the suicide panel released, controversy will continue to swirl around her death."


Monroe's file begins in 1955 and mostly focuses on her travels and associations, searching for signs of leftist views and possible ties to communism. One entry, which previously had been almost completely redacted, concerned intelligence that Monroe and other entertainers sought visas to visit Russia that year.


The file continues up until the months before her death, and also includes several news stories and references to Norman Mailer's biography of the actress, which focused on questions about whether Monroe was killed by the government.


For all the focus on Monroe's closeness to suspected communists, the bureau never found any proof she was a member of the party.


"Subject's views are very positively and concisely leftist; however, if she is being actively used by the Communist Party, it is not general knowledge among those working with the movement in Los Angeles," a July 1962 entry in Monroe's file states.


___


Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP


Read More..

Individual mandate in healthcare was year's top consumer story








This was the year of the healthcare mandate. No other consumer story of 2012 comes close.


In a split decision, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. casting the deciding vote, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the cornerstone of President Obama's healthcare reform law, the most sweeping overhaul of our dysfunctional medical system in decades.


The so-called individual mandate requires that most people have health insurance. It's the trade-off for the insurance industry's agreement to stop denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions and to stop charging higher rates if you get sick.






It's also the trade-off for insurers to remove limits on how much treatment they'll cover annually or over your lifetime.


"It's a huge deal," said Lee Goldberg, vice president of health policy for the National Academy of Social Insurance, a Washington think tank. "Without the mandate, you're much more likely to have spiraling healthcare costs and an unsustainable market for coverage."


Critics of the mandate, and there are plenty of them, say it represents a government takeover of healthcare, a socializing of medicine. The government, they say, can't make you buy something you don't want.


But that's not how the mandate works. No one's forcing you to buy insurance. No one's forcing you to be covered.


However, there will be a tax penalty if you decide that you want to take your chances. And there's a very good reason for this: Taking your chances is foolish.


Unless you're Superman, you're going to need healthcare at some point in your life. That's just a fact.


"No one's going to throw you in jail if you don't have insurance," said Richard Curtis, president of the Institute for Health Policy Solutions. "But if you ever have an accident and have to use the [emergency room], that tax penalty will help to defray the cost that will be covered by those who do have insurance."


Beginning in 2014, the penalty for going uninsured will be no more than $285 per family or 1% of income, whichever is greater. The cap rises to $975 or 2% of income a year later, and then up to $2,085 per family or 2.5% of income by 2016.


Opponents of healthcare reform conveniently ignore the basic economics of the insurance business. Insurers aren't service providers. They're risk managers. They examine the risk they face by covering a group or individual and price their policies accordingly.


The larger the risk pool, obviously, the cheaper the coverage. That's because the risk to health insurers goes down if younger and healthier people are included in the mix. The result: more affordable coverage for everyone.


Taken to its logical extreme, the most effective and efficient health insurance system for the United States would be something like a Medicare-for-all approach in which the risk pool comprises everybody in the country — young and old, healthy and sick.


In fact, we're already well down that road. Federal and state programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and veterans' assistance accounted for about 45% of total U.S. healthcare spending in 2010, according to a recent study by the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation.


The amount of public money spent on healthcare should serve as a wake-up call to all those who think the world would end if the U.S. followed Britain, France, Canada and other developed countries in enacting a national health insurance system.


For the U.S., it would simply be an expansion of a system that already exists but is hobbled by the inefficiency of denying Medicare and other programs access to healthier members of the population, thus saddling taxpayers with a disproportionately large number of higher-risk people.


The individual mandate won't radically change things. The healthcare insurance system will remain divided between a public sector that focuses primarily on aging and sick people and a private sector that, for purely financial reasons, provides increasingly less access to affordable coverage.


Average premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance plans rose 62% from 2003 to 2011 to $15,022 a year, according to a recent report by the Commonwealth Fund.


Health insurance costs far outpaced people's incomes in all states during that time, the report found, with workers' average share of premiums for family plans soaring 74% and deductibles more than doubling, while the median household income rose only about 10%.


Still, the mandate is a big step toward remedying the system's economic irrationality. By extending coverage to about 30 million of the 50 million people who now lack insurance, the mandate will place medical care within reach of many who previously may have sought treatment only in emergencies.


As a result, national wellness will improve and, presumably, healthcare costs will go down, or at least will be better controlled as fewer people put off medical attention until an easily treated ailment becomes an expensive catastrophe.


"The mandate is the key to making this all work," said Devon Herrick, a healthcare economist at the National Center for Policy Analysis. "Otherwise people would just wait until they got sick before buying insurance and premiums would skyrocket."


There's still much to be done. The reform law's insurance exchanges are a work in progress, and it's unclear at this point how much coverage will be offered and how much it will cost.


But the Supreme Court has kept the ball rolling by maintaining the mandate as part of the equation. It was a decision that will change all our lives, probably for the better, and move us closer to a system under which all people can obtain affordable healthcare.


David Lazarus' column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. he also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.






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L.A. gun buyback program breaks a record









A one-day gun buyback event in Los Angeles on Wednesday gathered 2,037 firearms, including 75 assault weapons and two rocket launchers, officials said. The total was nearly 400 more weapons than were collected in a similar buyback earlier this year.


Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the collection at two locations was so successful that the city ran out of money for supermarket gift cards and got a private donation through the city controller to bolster the pot.


The gun buyback was moved up from its usual Mother's Day date in response to the massacre Dec. 14 that claimed the lives of 26 people, including 20 students, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.





"As you can see to my right and left, these weren't just guns that weren't functioning anymore," Villaraigosa said at a news conference Thursday morning. "These were serious guns — semiautomatic weapons, guns that have no place on the streets of Los Angeles or any other city."


The mayor described the event as a success, but acknowledged that there were still many guns on the streets.


Hundreds lined up in cars to get Ralphs gift cards in exchange for different types of guns. Villaraigosa said the LAPD collected 901 handguns, 698 rifles, 363 shotguns and 75 assault weapons. The weapons will be melted down.


He said that nearly three-quarters of those turning in the weapons said in an informal survey that they felt safer with the weapons off the street.


"Perhaps the most honest testament to the success of yesterday's program can be seen in the 166 weapons that were surrendered for nothing," Villaraigosa said.


Police Chief Charlie Beck said it was the most successful gun buyback event since the city began the program.


"Those are weapons of war, weapons of death," Beck said, motioning to a selection of military-style weapons on a display table. "These are not hunting guns. These are not target guns. These are made to put high-velocity, extremely deadly, long-range rounds down-range as quickly as possible, and they have no place in our great city."


Beck acknowledged that the weapons would not be checked for connections to crimes before being melted down. He said the sheer number would make that difficult, and he does not want to deter people from turning in firearms.


Villaraigosa again Thursday called for a national assault weapons ban and for strengthening the California assault weapons law to close loopholes.


richard.winton@latimes.com





Read More..

Police offer ‘virtual ridealongs’ via Twitter






SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Riding side by side as a police officer answers a call for help or investigates a brutal crime during a ridealong gives citizens an up close look at the gritty and sometimes dangerous situations officers can experience on the job.


But a new social media approach to informing the public about what officers do is taking hold at police departments across the United States and Canada — one that is far less dangerous for citizens but, police say, just as informative.






With virtual ridealongs on Twitter, or tweetalongs, curious citizens just need a computer or smartphone for a glimpse into law enforcement officers‘ daily routines.


Tweetalongs typically are scheduled for a set number of hours, with an officer — or a designated tweeter like the department’s public information officer — posting regular updates to Twitter about what they see and do while on duty. The tweets, which also include photos and links to videos of the officers, can encompass an array of activities — everything from an officer responding to a homicide to a noise complaint.


Police departments say virtual ridealongs reach more people at once and add transparency to the job.


“People spend hard-earned money on taxes to allow the government to provide services. That’s police, fire, water, streets, the whole works, and there should be a way for those government agencies to let the public know what they’re getting for their money,” said Chief Steve Allender of the Rapid City Police Department in South Dakota, which started offering tweetalongs several months ago — https://twitter.com/rcpdtweetalong — after watching departments in Seattle, Kansas City, Mo., and Las Vegas do so.


On the day before Thanksgiving, Tarah Heupel, the Rapid City Police Department’s public information officer, rode alongside Street Crimes Officer Ron Terviel. Heupel posted regular updates every few minutes about what Terviel was doing, including the officer citing a woman for public intoxication, responding to a call of three teenagers attempting to steal cough syrup and body spray from a store and locating a man who ran from the scene of an accident. Photos were included in some of the tweets.


Michael Taddesse, a 34-year-old university career specialist in Arlington, Texas, has done several ridealongs with police and regularly follows multiple departments that conduct tweetalongs.


“I think the only way to effectively combat crime is to have a community that is engaged and understands what’s going on,” he said.


Ridealongs where “you’re out in the elements” are very different than sitting behind a computer during a tweetalong and the level of danger is “dramatically decreased,” he said. But in both instances, the passenger gains new information about the call, what laws may or may not have been broken and what transpires, he added.


For police departments, tweetalongs are just one more way to connect directly with a community through social media.


More than 92 percent of police departments use social media, according to a survey of 600 agencies in 48 states conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s Center for Social Media. And Nancy Kolb, senior program manager for IACP, called tweetalongs a “growing trend” among departments of all sizes.


There is no set protocol and departments are free to conduct the tweetalong how they see fit, she said.


In Ontario, Canada, the Niagara Regional Police Service conducted their first virtual ridealong in August over a busy eight-hour Friday night shift. The police department’s followers were able to see a tweet whenever the police unit was dispatched to one of the more than 140,000 calls received that night.


Richard Gadreau, the social media officer for the police department, said officers routinely take people out on real ridealongs, but there is a waiting list and preference is given to people interested in becoming an officer.


With tweetalongs, many calls also mean many tweets. Kolb said departments are cognizant of cluttering peoples’ Twitter feeds.


That’s why the Rapid City Police Department decided to create a separate account for the tweetalong, Allender said.


Kolb also said officers are careful not to tweet personal or sensitive information. Officers typically do not tweet child abuse or domestic abuse cases, and they usually only tweet about a call after they leave the scene to protect officers and callers.


But Allender, the chief of police in Rapid City, said tweetalongs also show some of the more outrageous calls police deal with on a regular basis — like the kid who breaks out the window of a police car while the officer is standing on the sidewalk.


“Real life is funnier than any comedy show out there and not to make fun of people, embarrass them or humiliate them, but people do funny things,” Allender said. “… I mean, that guy deserves a little bit of ridicule, and everyone who would be watching would agree. That’s just good clean fun to me.”


___


Rapid City Police Department’s “Tweetalong” account: https://twitter.com/rcpdtweetalong


___


Follow Kristi Eaton on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kristieaton


Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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It's husband No. 3 for actress Kate Winslet


NEW YORK (AP) — Kate Winslet has tied the knot again.


The Oscar-winning actress wed Ned Rocknroll in New York earlier this month. The private ceremony was attended by Winslet's two children as well as a few friends and family members, her representative said Thursday.


It is the third marriage for the 37-year-old Winslet. She was previously married to film directors Jim Threapleton and Sam Mendes.


The 34-year-old Rocknroll, who was born Abel Smith, is a nephew of billionaire Virgin Group founder Richard Branson.


The couple had been engaged since last summer.


Winslet won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in the 2008 film "The Reader."


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7-Eleven Stores Focus on Healthier Food Options





The chain that is home of the Slurpee, Big Gulp and self-serve nachos with chili and cheese is betting that consumers will stop in for yogurt parfaits, crudité and lean turkey on whole wheat bread.




7-Eleven, the convenience store chain, is restocking its shelves with an eye toward health. Over the last year, the retailer has introduced a line of fresh foods for the calorie conscious and trimmed down its more indulgent fare by creating portion-size items.


The change is as much about consumers’ expanding waistlines as the company’s bottom line. By 2015, the retailer aims to have 20 percent of sales come from fresh foods in its American and Canadian stores, up from about 10 percent currently, according to a company spokesman.


“We’re aspiring to be more of a food and beverage company, and that aligns with what the consumer now wants, which is more tasty, healthy, fresh food choices,” said Joseph M. DePinto, the chief executive of 7-Eleven, a subsidiary of the Japanese company, Seven & i Holdings.


Convenience stores have typically been among the most nimble of retailers. In the 1980s, they added Pac-Man arcade games as a way to keep customers in stores longer and to buy more merchandise. They installed A.T.M.’s a decade later, taking a slice of the transaction fees. More recently, they built refrigerated dairy cases, with milk, eggs, cheese and other staples.


But just as they have taken business from traditional supermarkets, convenience stores have faced increased competition from the likes of Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, which offer a basic menu of fresh foods for consumers on the go.


At the same time, a major profit driver for convenience stores — cigarettes — has been in steady decline over the last decade as the rate of smoking has dropped in the United States.


Fresh foods can help offset some of those losses. The markup on such merchandise can be significant, bolstering a store’s overall profits. It’s also a fast-growing category.


“If you can figure out how to deliver consistent quality and the products consumers want, fresh food is attractive because margins are higher, and it addresses some of the competitive issues you’re facing,” said Richard Meyer, a longtime consultant for the convenience store industry. “But it’s not easy to do.”


7-Eleven has been selling fresh food since the late 1990s. But much of its innovation has been limited to the variety of hot dogs spinning on the roller grill or the breakfast sandwiches languishing beneath a heating lamp.


As 7-Eleven refocuses its lineup, the retail chain has assembled a team of culinary and food science experts to study industry trends and develop new products. Such groups have been around for a while at fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s and packaged-goods manufacturers like Kraft. But it’s a relatively new concept for players like 7-Eleven, which have typically relied on their suppliers to provide product innovation.


“We’re working to create a portfolio of fresh foods,” said Anne Readhimer, senior director of fresh food innovation, who joined the company in May from Yum Brands, where she had worked on the KFC and Pizza Hut brands. “Some will be for snacking, some for a quick meal, but we hope everything we offer our guests is convenient and tasty.”


One new menu item just hitting stores is a Bistro Snack Protein Pack, which includes mini pita rounds, cheddar cheese cubes, grapes, celery, baby carrots and hummus. The meal in a box, similar to one carried by Starbucks, is part of a broader menu with healthier items under 400 calories.


The company is also taking existing products and retooling them for single portions. For example, customers can now buy jelly doughnuts and tacos, in mini sizes.


“There are definitely customers who want healthy options, but there are also lots of customers who are excited about the new sandwich options that aren’t low calorie — and minidoughnuts are doing very well,” said Lori Primavera, senior manager of fresh food innovation at 7-Eleven, who previously worked for Food and Drink Resources, a consulting firm for restaurant companies.


Norman Jemal, a franchisee, said sales of the new products are growing steadily in the three 7-Eleven stores that he owns in Manhattan. “At first, people are surprised when they come in here and see a bag of carrots and celery,” Mr. Jemal said. “They say, ‘I came in here for a bag of chips — I can’t believe you have fruit cups or yogurt cups.’ ”


He said the Yoplait Parfait, a cup of vanilla yogurt topped with fresh strawberries or blueberries and granola, is his best-selling fresh food item, while the 7 Smart turkey sandwich is his top sandwich.


The fresh food in Mr. Jemal’s stores and other locations around the country are supplied from a system of 29 commissaries and bakeries that fulfill orders from 7-Eleven. They tailor menu items for specific markets. In the Miami area, they produce a hot Cuban sandwich with ham, cheese, pickles and mustard. The Turkey Gobbler with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce sells in Northeastern stores around the holidays.


Each store has a data system that allows it to see exactly what is selling, which helps manage waste. Stores can track consumers’ purchase habits over a month, and adjust their orders based on those behaviors.


“In this 28-day cycle, I know I sold 3,563 bananas to customers in this store,” said Todd Ferguson, who owns five 7-Eleven locations in Las Vegas.


Mr. Ferguson has owned 7-Eleven franchises since 1986, and he said the variety of fresh food options in the stores is far better than before. The category already accounts for 20 percent of his sales, and his goal is to reach a quarter of sales volume.


“We used to be a place for people to buy beer, wine, cigarettes, candy and chips, and people would occasionally ask where they could go to get something to eat,” Mr. Ferguson said. “We’re no longer getting that question because now you can get something to eat right here.”


This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: December 27, 2012

An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified a 7-Eleven franchisee in Las Vegas. He is Todd Ferguson, not Tom Ferguson.



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Starz will face new, challenging world as public company









Pay-TV channel Starz is trying to chart a new orbit.


Early next year, its parent company, Liberty Media, plans to spin off the premium network and its sister channel Encore into a new, stand-alone, publicly traded company.


Such a move would normally be cause for celebration. But for Starz, the separation comes amid uncertainty.





Its track record producing original shows has been mixed. The market is getting increasingly crowded not only from Starz's traditional competitors, HBO and Showtime, but also from new rivals including Netflix, Amazon and Redbox. And, starting in 2017, the network will lose one of its key suppliers of movies — Walt Disney Studios — to Netflix.


"It's an interesting time for Starz," said Matthew Harrigan, a media analyst with Wunderlich Securities. "Losing those Disney movies makes life a little more difficult, and it becomes even more important for them to create successful original programming."


STORY: On Location


Liberty Media is spinning off Starz in part to make it more attractive to potential buyers. Companies mentioned by analysts as possible suitors include Comcast Corp., parent of Universal Pictures. Other deep-pocketed prospective buyers could be News Corp., Walt Disney Co. and Viacom Inc. HBO and Showtime probably would face anti-trust issues if either of them made a run at Starz.


The shift also raises the stakes for Starz and its chief executive, Chris Albrecht, who has been given the task of building an original programming pipeline. Albrecht, who joined Starz nearly three years ago, has the experience. As the former head of HBO, he was a key architect of that network's success by helping nurture such culture-defining hits as "Sex and the City" and "The Sopranos."


Achieving those heights again, this time at Starz, has proved more elusive. Starz made a splash with its gladiator series "Spartacus," but another high-profile drama, "Boss," about a corrupt Chicago mayor played by Kelsey Grammer ("Frasier"), failed to deliver ratings to match its critical acclaim. "Boss" was canceled after two seasons. Last year's "Camelot," about a young King Arthur, started strong but then fell on its sword.


Starz, which has 20.8 million subscribers in the U.S., has spent the last few years playing catch-up. The network began developing original dramas much later than industry leaders HBO and Showtime, and also lags behind basic cable channels FX, AMC and USA Network.


At the same time, the availability of movies through other venues has increased dramatically, and film fans can just as easily get their fix by buying or renting DVDs — online or at supermarket kiosks — or through Internet streaming services. That makes the need for strong original content even greater.


Starz executives declined to comment for this story, citing the "quiet period" mandated by regulators before the public stock offering.


Hollywood movie studios have a strong incentive to protect the premium channels, which have long served as their unofficial ATMs. The channels, including HBO, Starz and Showtime, spit out hundreds of millions of dollars each year to movie studios in exchange for the first-run TV rights to recent releases. The fees — which can approach $30 million for a single blockbuster film — have helped studios turn deficits into profits for many movies.


The parent companies of HBO (Time Warner), Showtime (CBS Corp.) and Starz (Liberty Media), also have long collected hundreds of millions of dollars each year in profit from the channels in distribution fees from cable and satellite operators. According to consulting firm SNL Kagan, Starz and sister channel Encore this year will generate revenue of $1.34 billion and $414 million in cash flow, a metric similar to operating income.


Just a few years ago, Starz trailed HBO as the No. 2 movie channel in terms of distribution. But it has since been surpassed by Showtime. The CBS Corp. network has staged a string of hits including "Weeds," the serial killer drama "Dexter," the pill-popping dark comedy "Nurse Jackie" and its latest hit, the terrorist thriller "Homeland," which this fall won the Emmy for TV's best drama.


According to SNL Kagan, Showtime has 21 million subscribers and 2012 revenue of $1.6 billion. Cash flow for Showtime and its sister channels TMC and Flix should approach $690 million combined for this year. Showtime's programming expenses are slightly less because it ended its relationships with movie studios several years ago.


"Showtime has been doing something similar [to Starz] with their strategy, but they have programming that people are talking about," said BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said. "The question is how does Starz stack up?"


Its shows have largely failed to attract the buzz that can drive subscriptions and ratings. "Spartacus" was Starz's most popular show, averaging more than 5 million viewers an episode during the third season when viewing on all platforms was counted. "Magic City," the channel's stylistic drama about Miami gangsters in the 1950s, averaged 3.1 million viewers an episode when it debuted this year, while "Boss" collared just 2.2 million an episode.


Starz is betting heavily on its lineup for next two years, which includes the second season of "Magic City" and the new prospects "Da Vinci's Demons," a drama about Leonardo's early days from David S. Goyer, a co-writer of the "Dark Knight Rises" film trilogy, and "Black Sails," a swashbuckling adventure from "Transformers" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" filmmaker Michael Bay.


The company this year is spending about $692 million on programming, with four-fifths of that amount earmarked for buying products from Disney and Sony Pictures Entertainment, according to SNL Kagan, which said Starz spends less than $100 million annually creating original series.


"They still need the movies to fill their schedule, but at the same time Starz needs some unique programs to define the channel," said Deana Myers, an SNL Kagan television analyst. "It's not an easy market to get into because a lot of other networks are doing original productions."


Although Starz will continue to receive the Disney movies for three years, the eventual loss puts pressure on the company to keep Sony as a supplier beyond 2016, when the parties' current arrangement ends. The loss of Disney movies and the coming end of the Sony contract could also complicate the picture as Starz tries to attract a new owner.


Potential suitor Viacom already has a presence in the premium channel business. The parent of Paramount Pictures teamed in 2009 with two other studios, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., to launch the movie service Epix. The upstart has struggled to make distribution deals with leading cable and satellite TV systems. That could make a merger between Epix and Starz enticing. Given that Epix is not nearly as powerful as HBO and Showtime, such a deal may also be able to pass regulatory muster.


meg.james@latimes.com


joe.flint@latimes.com





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