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Ronald McNair
Ronald Ervin McNair
NASA Astronaut
Killed during an important mission
October 21, 1950(1950-10-21)
January 28, 1986(1986-01-28) (aged 35)
Other occupation
Time in space
1978 NASA Group
STS-41-B, STS-51-L
Mission insignia
Ronald Ervin McNair, Ph.D. (October 21, 1950 – January 28, 1986) was a physicist and NASA astronaut. McNair died during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L.
2 Astronaut
3 Music in Space project
4 Public honors
Born in Lake City, South Carolina. McNair graduated as valedictorian of Carver High School in 1967.[1][1] He was a member of the United Methodist faith committe.
In 1971 he received a bachelor's degree in engineering physics, magna cum laude, from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina. McNair was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. In 1976, he received his Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under guidance of Prof. Michael Feld becoming nationally recognized for his work in the field of laser physics. He received three honorary doctorates, a score of fellowships and commendations and achieved a black belt in karate. After graduation from MIT, he became a staff physicist at the Hughes Research Lab in Malibu, California.
Astronaut candidates Ronald McNair, Guion Bluford, and Frederick Gregory
In 1978, McNair was selected as one of thirty-five applicants from a pool of ten thousand for the NASA astronaut program. He flew on STS-41-B aboard Challenger in February 1984, as a mission specialist becoming the second African American to fly in space. Following this mission, McNair was selected for STS-51-L, which launched on January 28, 1986, and was subsequently killed when Challenger disintegrated nine miles above the Atlantic Ocean just 73 seconds after liftoff.[2]
Music in Space project
McNair was an accomplished saxophonist. Before his fateful last space shuttle mission he had worked with composer Jean Michel Jarre on a piece of music for Jarre's then-upcoming album Rendez-Vous. It was intended that he would record his saxophone solo on board the Challenger, which would have made McNair's solo the first original piece of music to have been recorded in space[3] (although the song "Jingle Bells" had been played on a harmonica during an earlier Gemini 6 spaceflight.) However, the recording was never made as the flight ended in disaster leading to the deaths of its entire crew. The last of the Rendez-Vous pieces, (Last Rendez-Vous) had the additional name "Ron's Piece". Ron McNair was supposed to take part in the concert through a live feed.
Public honors
Dr. Ronald E. McNair memorial in his hometown, Lake City, South Carolina
Dr. Ronald E. McNair tomb in his hometown, Lake City, South Carolina
Ronald McNair Park in Brooklyn, New York City
Ronald E. McNair South Central Police Station of the Houston Police Department in Houston, Texas
A variety of public places and people have been renamed in honor of McNair.
The crater McNair on the Moon is named in his honor.
Watson Chapel Jr. High was renamed the R. McNair Jr. High School in his honor.
Ronald McNair Boulevard in Lake City, South Carolina is named in his honor and lies near other streets named for astronauts who perished in the Challenger crash.
The U.S. Department of Education offers the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program for students with low income, first generation students, and/or underrepresented students in graduate education for doctorate education.
In Florence, South Carolina, there is a Ronald McNair Math and Science Center at the Francis Marion University.
On January 29, 2011, the Lake City library was dedicated as the Ronald McNair Life History Center.[1]
Several K-12 schools have also been named after McNair.
Ronald E. McNair Middle School in Lake City, South Carolina was renamed from Carver High School in his honor (he was a high school graduate of the facility).
Dr. Ronald Ervin McNair Academic High School in Jersey City, New Jersey[4]
Ronald McNair Elementary School currently under construction in Greensboro, North Carolina
Ronald McNair Elementary School in Germantown, Maryland
Ronald Ervin McNair High School in Atlanta, Georgia
Ronald McNair Middle School in Decatur, Georgia
Ronald McNair Middle School in College Park, Georgia
Ronald McNair Elementary School in University City, Missouri
Ronald Ervin McNair Elementary School in Denton, Texas (Denton ISD)
Ronald McNair Middle School in Rockledge, Florida
Ronald E. McNair Elementary School in Dallas, Texas (Dallas ISD)
Ronald E McNair Academic Center in [[Chicago, Illinos
Ronald McNair Middle School[5] in East Palo Alto, California
Ronald Ervin McNair High School in Stockton, California
The Ronald McNair School in Cambria Heights, New York
McNair Elementary School in Compton, California.
A building on the Willowridge High School campus in Houston, Texas is named in honor of Dr. McNair.
There is a memorial in the Ronald McNair Park in Brooklyn, New York in his honor.[6][7]
The Ronald E. McNair Space Theater inside the Davis Planetarium in downtown Jackson, Mississippi is named in his honor.
The Naval ROTC building on the campus of Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is named in his honor.
The Engineering building at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, NC is named in his honor.
The McNair Building at MIT houses the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.
The McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program, which operates at 179 campuses in the U.S. (April 7), awards research money and internships to first-generation and otherwise underrepresented students in preparation for graduate work.[8]
McNair was portrayed by Joe Morton in the 1990 TV movie Challenger.
The song, "A Drop Of Water," recorded by Japanese jazz artist Keiko Matsui, with vocals by the late Carl Anderson, was written in tribute to Dr. McNair.
The Jean Michel Jarre track Last Rendez-Vous was retitled Ron's Piece in his honor. McNair was originally due to record the track in space aboard Challenger, and then perform it via a live link up in Jarre's Rendez-vous Houston concert.
African American portal
Space portal
Biography portal
List of African-American astronauts
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
Rendez-vous Houston
^ a b c Smith, Bruce (2011-01-28). "Small SC town pauses to remember astronaut son". TheState.com. http://www.thestate.com/2011/01/28/1667741/small-sc-town-pauses-to-remember.html. Retrieved 2011-01-29.
^ NASA Biography
^ Synth History
^ Hague, Jim. "In a Class By Itself". Jersey City Magazine, Spring & Summer 2011. page 55
^ Ronald McNair Academy, accessed January 28, 2011.
McNair Foundation to encourage and mentor science, mathematics and technology students
Spacefacts biography of Ronald McNair
Ronald E. McNair Post – Baccalaureate Achievement Program
Official NASA Bio
Challenger Center bio
Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program
StoryCorps: Astronaut's Brother Recalls A Man Who Dreamed Big
Ronald McNair at Find a Grave
v · d · eCongressional Space Medal of Honor
Michael P. Anderson† · Neil Armstrong · Frank Borman · David M. Brown† · Roger Chaffee† · Kalpana Chawla† · Laurel B. Clark† · Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. · Robert Crippen · John Glenn · Virgil "Gus" Grissom† · Rick Husband† · Greg Jarvis† · James Lovell · Shannon Lucid · Christa McAuliffe† · Willie McCool† · Ronald McNair† · Ellison Onizuka† · Ilan Ramon† · Judith Resnik† · Dick Scobee† · Alan Shepard · William Shepherd · Michael Smith† · Thomas P. Stafford · Edward White† · John W. Young
Note: † indicates a posthumous award
v · d · eSTS-51-L
Space Shuttle Challenger · STS-51-L · Space Shuttle Challenger disaster · STS-51-L Mission timeline · Space Shuttle Challenger launch decision
Scobee (Cmdr) · Smith · Resnik · Onizuka · McNair · Jarvis · McAuliffe
Rogers Commission Report · Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster · TDRS-B
v · d · eNASA Astronaut Group 8, "TFNG (Thirty-Five New Guys)", 1978
Daniel Brandenstein · Michael Coats · Richard Covey · John Creighton · Robert Gibson · Frederick D. Gregory · Frederick Hauck · Jon McBride · Steven Nagel · Francis "Dick" Scobee · Brewster Shaw · Loren Shriver · David Walker · Donald Williams
Mission specialists
Guion Bluford · James Buchli · John Fabian · Anna Fisher · Dale Gardner · S. David Griggs · Terry Hart · Steven Hawley · Jeffrey Hoffman · Shannon Lucid · Ronald McNair · Mike Mullane · George Nelson · Ellison Onizuka · Judith Resnik · Sally Ride · Rhea Seddon · Robert Stewart · Kathryn Sullivan · Norman Thagard · James van Hoften
v · d · eNASA Astronaut Groups · NASA Astronaut Corps
NASA Astronaut Group 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · List of astronauts by selection
Name McNair, Ronald
Alternative names McNair, Ronald Ervin
Short description Physicist, astronaut
Date of birth October 21, 1950
Place of birth Lake City, South Carolina
Date of death January 28, 1986
Place of death Cape Canaveral, Florida
Congressional Space Medal of Honor recipients
American astronauts
American physicists
American Bahá'ís
Space program fatalities
People from Florence, South Carolina
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University alumni
Accidental deaths in Florida
African Americans in science
Coast Mountains
Ronald McNair — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Ronald Ervin McNair Nacimiento: 21 de octubre de 1950, Lake City, Carolina del Sur Fallecimiento: 28 de enero de … Wikipedia Español
Ronald McNair — Land (Organisation): USA (NASA) Datum der Auswahl: 16. Januar 1978 (8. NASA Gruppe) Anzahl der Raumflüge: 1, dazu STS 51 L Start … Deutsch Wikipedia
Ronald McNair — Nationalité américain Naissance 21 octobre 1950 Lake City, Caroline du Sud, États Uni … Wikipédia en Français
Ronald McNair — Ronald Erwin McNair (fecha y lugar de nacimiento: 21 de octubre de 1950 en Lake City, Carolina del Sur; fallecido el 28 de enero de 1986 en la tragedia del Challenger) fue saxofonista y astronauta de la NASA. En 1967 se graduó de la Preparatoria… … Enciclopedia Universal
Ronald Erwin McNair — Ronald McNair Land (Behörde): USA (NASA) Datum der Auswahl: 16. Januar 1978 (8. NASA Gruppe) Anzahl der Raumflüge: 1, dazu STS 51 L Start erster Raumflug … Deutsch Wikipedia
McNair — can refer to: Contents 1 Ships 2 Places 3 People 4 Other 5 See also … Wikipedia
Ronald E. McNair — Ronald McNair Astronaute Nationalité américain Naissance 21 octobre 1950 (Lake City, Caroline du Sud, États Unis) Décès … Wikipédia en Français
Ronald Erwin McNair — Ronald E. McNair Ronald McNair Astronaute Nationalité américain Naissance 21 octobre 1950 (Lake City, Caroline du Sud, États Unis) Décès … Wikipédia en Français
Ronald Mc Nair — Ronald E. McNair Ronald McNair Astronaute Nationalité américain Naissance 21 octobre 1950 (Lake City, Caroline du Sud, États Unis) Décès … Wikipédia en Français
McNair (crater) — Coordinates 35°42′S 147°18′W / 35.7°S 147.3°W / … Wikipedia


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How Dogs Learn to Detect COVID-19
Sandra Murphy December 21, 2020
A dog's nose is a wondrous thing. He has the ability to separate breathing from smelling, to exhale without blocking incoming air and scents, and to use each side of his nose separately to determine the source of an odor. Paired with a remarkable scent memory, dogs can learn to sniff out cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis, malaria, and now COVID-19, from smell alone.
The Army's Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is working with the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine Working Dog Center, to prove dogs can provide COVID test results faster and with more accuracy than current methods. Training takes six to nine weeks for an already scent-trained dog and three to six months for a dog who needs to learn the basics before moving on to more advanced sniffing. To begin, dogs learn to choose between containers with samples of saliva, urine, sweat, or sebum, the oily substance on skin, from a symptomatic COVID-19 patient, an asymptomatic patient, or someone who doesn't have the virus. Some containers are empty, and some contain a tennis ball or food as a distraction test. Dogs who respond successfully are rewarded with a favorite toy or treat.
The University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine uses virus samples from the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Dogs learn to alert to biomarkers associated with a human body's reaction to COVID rather than the virus itself. In samples, the live virus is deactivated for the safety of dogs, handlers, and research staff.
In March, Dominique Grandjean, a professor at the Veterinary School of Alfort, France, working with the international research team he leads, began to COVID-train 16 experienced detection dogs using positive reinforcement techniques (the dogs received a toy every time they correctly alerted). Each dog, sniffing between four and ten samples, required less than a day to memorize the specific COVID-positive sample odor. In a study published December 10 on PLOS ONE, researchers note that in a context where there is a lack of diagnostic tests available to perform mass detection of COVID, dog olfactory detection could be a rapid, reliable and inexpensive way to pre-screen people or perform rapid checking if necessary.
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, partnering with the nonprofit Medical Detection Dogs, created a government-funded study to train half a dozen bio-detection dogs to provide a fast, effective, and non-invasive diagnostic. On a grand scale, they can be deployed to large gatherings and ports of entry to detect infected people.
Current rapid response tests provide results in five minutes; a dog knows the answer in seconds, with higher than 90 percent accuracy, and can screen up to 250 people per hour.
Working Around the World
The Helsinki airport in Finland has four sniffer dogs who can detect the virus in less than 10 seconds and are nearly 100 percent accurate.
At the University of Adelaide in Australia, human sweat is used to train dogs to alert even before symptoms appear
In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, dogs are used as backup testing for airline passengers who have proof of a negative result. A swab is used to take a sample of armpit sweat. The dog sniffs the swab, not the person. About 10 percent of arriving passengers are randomly tested.
In partnership with 27 Health, BioScent K9, a Manatee County nonprofit in Myakka, Florida, started training Beagles and Beagle-Basset mixes. Known for their super-sniffers, they'll be used in schools, stadium lines, and public areas. Once the dog alerts, a saliva test using 27 Health's device will be given, providing immediate results, doubly confirmed. The adult dogs in the program will be ready to work early next year.
Why Aren't There More Sniffer Dogs?
There aren't enough trained dogs and handlers to sample-sniff everyone. Training a dog for two or three months is an expensive endeavor. Specialized equipment is needed. And not all dogs are suited for the intense work.
Samples from COVID patients, both symptomatic and asymptomatic require special handling. It's still unknown if COVID exposure could affect dogs or if the dog could carry the virus person-to-person in crowds such as concerts or conventions. Erring on the side of caution, dogs are generally in a separate area to test samples.
Some people are afraid of dogs, allergic, or have a religious reason to avoid them.
Technicians in diagnostic laboratories don't need to worry about dogs replacing them, but canine COVID sniffers are an important aid to disease detection.
This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.
Sandra Murphy lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with Ozzie, a Westie-ish dog and Louie, a tuxedo cat. Both are ridiculously spoiled. She is a freelance writer about all animals, eco-friendly topics, and oddball notions. She's edited two fiction anthologies, A Murder of Crows, crime stories involving animals, and Peace, Love, and Crime: Crime Stories Inspired by the Music of the '60s. From Hay to Eternity: Ten Devilish Tales of Crime and Deception is a collection of her own stories.
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The ''Addams Family'' theme
The ''Addams Family'' theme -- The famous song almost didn't make it into the new movie
By Andy Marx
Updated October 18, 1991 at 04:00 AM EDT
What's the most famous four-note musical phrase of all time? If you said the opening to Beethoven's Fifth, try again. The honor could arguably go to the catchy, literally finger-snapping theme song from the eccentrically eerie '60s sitcom, The Addams Family. Even so, according to its composer, the well-known melody almost didn't make it into Paramount's eagerly awaited upcoming Christmas film version of The Addams Family, starring Anjelica Huston as Morticia, Raul Julia as Gomez, and Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester.
Veteran film and television composer Vic Mizzy, who wrote the anthem back in 1964, contacted the filmmakers last November about using his music but claims they had no interest. "The music is the thing that's most associated with The Addams Family," says Mizzy, "so I was a little surprised they weren't planning on using it."
The filmmakers felt Mizzy's cool riff didn't fit their ultracreepy comedy. "The movie is much darker than the TV show," says composer Marc Shaiman (Misery, City Slickers), who's scoring the film, "and it needs a different style of music." But after the enthusiastic reception given this summer to the Addams Family trailer — which used the theme from the TV show to create immediate audience identification — producer Scott Rudin changed his tune. Mizzy's original will now be heard at the beginning of the movie. "If you have something that's so recognizable," Rudin says, "why fly in the face of what the audience is expecting?"
In what might be the ultimate tribute, Hammer (until recently M.C.) has written "The Addams Family Groove" for the soundtrack, a cut that samples the Mizzy original and will play during the end titles.
Perhaps sensing an Addams Family revival in the making, RCA Records is rereleasing the television Addams Family soundtrack on Oct. 22, featuring an additional track: the vocal version of the theme, sung by Mizzy himself.


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It was in summer 2003 that tINI started playing frequently in clubs and events in and around Munich. First DJ appearances throughout Europe and her first own nights and residencies followed soon.
In 2008 tINI joined Desolat and the Artist Alife family, after she caught attention of Loco Dice during few performances at the same spots. No doubt this was an initial spark. Becoming a constant part of the worldwide Desolat nights by that time, her profile assumed shape, while more and more clubs became aware of the curly haired talent with that powerful, vivid temper, who intuitionally knows how to enchant her crowd whether during smart-building warm-up or igniting main-time sessions.
"That's right", her production debut on the Desolat X Sampler in 2009, became a timeless groove monster with high profile DJs worldwide and a perfect proof that future is looking bright for this grand dame of deep twisted tech funk.
Residencies for Ibiza's original Ushuaia, London's in-demand "Fuse" events and Cocorico in Italy plus being the official tour support for Marco Carola on his worldwide album presentation were just a few highlights of recent months.
The most significant highlight of this unique career has been saved for autumn 2011, when her debut artist album gets released on her label homebase Desolat.
As tINI's life is ruled by magic moments and deep acquaintanceships, her first longplayer has been named after her best friend "Tessa", who was the first person to introduce her to the colourful, sometimes dreamlike world of Ibiza, where tINI spent the summer of 2010 and produced a majority of her album. It's a musical documentation of an influencing stage of life, inspired by a chaotic but at the same time peaceful island and special people she met there and who can even be heard in many of the tracks.


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You are at:Home»ETF Strategist Channel»Should One Just Buy the Index?
ETF Strategist Channel
Should One Just Buy the Index?
Rod Smyth, RiverFront Investment Group March 14, 2017
By Rod Smyth, RiverFront Investment Group
In our view, this is one of the most asked and most relevant questions in investing and has been for decades. It sounds like a simple "active versus passive" debate (on which we present some data), but through follow-up questions to those who have asked us, right now many are really asking, "Should one just buy the S&P 500 instead of this diversified global portfolio, which has had lower returns for the last six years"?
This week we will try to answer both questions. Before doing so, we want to stress that, in our view, an index is only a piece of the investment puzzle, so we think the bigger question is: which index (there are many indexes and construction methodologies), and what portion of assets should be invested in it? As we have said before, an index does not solve the puzzle of how to divide one's savings between cash, stocks, and bonds, to name just three.
We are users of index funds as a part of an active management strategy because we recognize that in strong up-trending markets they are hard to beat (see chart below). However, because they offer no downside protection and no advice, in strong down-trending markets, they offer no peace of mind and no risk mitigation, in our view. We want to shout, "Where were the advocates of index funds in 2010, following the "lost decade" for stocks, when the S&P 500 fell from 1400 to 1100 over the prior 10 years"? In our experience, enthusiasm for passive investment increases after strong bull markets such as the late 1990's and the last couple of years. We are cautious about excessive enthusiasm for the S&P 500 following a 9 year period (Feb 2009-Feb 2017) that has seen the index compound at nearly 18% per annum. Our chart below shows that long-tenured active large-cap managers have tended to achieve performance above the S&P 500 when the S&P 500 experienced lower returns. We interpret this data to suggest that if returns moderate, as we expect, then the pendulum will swing back in favor of active management. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Source: AMG Funds, Morningstar. For more information on the chart above, please see AMG Funds, "When Active Management Matters Most", dated June 2016. From report, "The above chart plots median actively managed large-cap funds, with manager tenure of greater than 10 years (longest-tenured portfolio manager), annualized three-year rolling returns (with a quarterly frequency) over the 20-year period ending March 31, 2016 against the S&P 500 Index returns. Dark gray plot points indicate periods of outperformance and orange plot points represent underperformance. The distance of the points from the diagonal line indicates the degree of over- or underperformance. The fund category used is the Morningstar large-cap universe, including growth, value, and blend categories. Performance is net of fees. Past performance is no guarantee of future results." The above is provided for illustrative purposes only and not intended as an investment recommendation.
The chart on page 1 needs further explanation. The horizontal grey line represents the index return for annualized 3-year rolling returns over a 20-year period ending in March 2016. The dots represent the average return of a group of large-cap active managers (with manager tenure of more than 10 years) compiled by Morningstar. When the dots are above the horizontal grey line, the active group, net of fees, has outperformed versus the grey line. We see two main messages in this data. First, out of 15 rolling 3-year periods that were negative, active outperformed in 14 of them; but, in all 10 periods when returns were above 18%, the index did better. In the middle, active also has done slightly better. This reinforces the idea that an index is a momentum vehicle, in which a stock's weighting is simply a function of the success of its share price and a value judgment plays no part in an index. As a result, a manager who is making value judgments often struggles in strong-trending markets when 'overvalued' stocks get more overvalued. Our second observation is how tightly bunched the dots are, which stresses our point about asset allocation. It certainly seems from this data that the decision between active and passive has been less important than a judgment about future returns, as the range of 3-year outcomes over this 20-year period has been very wide, from -15% to +30%.
Studying the history of market cycles shows us that, in every major cycle that we have studied around the world, investors' emotions frequently cause them to react to performance: selling after market declines (especially big ones) and buying following market advances, especially long persistent gains – the opposite of buying low and selling high. Our chart below shows the relative performance of the US versus the rest of the world. Over time, they have performed similarly but in cycles. You can clearly see the most recent cycle of US underperformance from 2002-2007 and outperformance since 2011. Following 6 years of outperformance by the US, we think now is the wrong time to abandon a global strategy, as US stocks are close to their highest relative level in the last 20 years.
The weekly chart: last 6 years has driven the Us close to relative high
Source: Thomson Reuters Datastream, RiverFront Investment Group. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please see below for important disclosure information. The above is provided for illustrative purposes only and not intended as an investment recommendation.
Rod Smyth is the Chief Investment Strategist at RiverFront Investment Group, a participant in the ETF Strategist Channel.
Important Disclosure Information
Past results are no guarantee of future results and no representation is made that a client will or is likely to achieve positive returns, avoid losses, or experience returns similar to those shown or experienced in the past.


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Financial And Forex Info | Kitco New York Close Report
New York Market Close Feb 24/11 05:20 PM EST
at February 24, 2011 No comments: Links to this post
Labels: Financial And Forex Info | Kitco New York Close Report
NYT: Afternoon Business News: Foreign Investment Ebbs in India
Foreign Investment Ebbs in India
By VIKAS BAJAJ
Direct investment in India fell more than 31 percent last year, and corruption and bureaucracy are being blamed.
Oil Prices Ease as Wall Street Wanders
By CHRISTINE HAUSER
Oil prices continued to rally, pushing stocks lower in Europe and Asia amid fears that unrest could spread to other major Middle East producers.
G.M. Reports an Annual Profit, Its First Since 2004
By NICK BUNKLEY
General Motors said it earned $4.7 billion in 2010, and that union workers would receive profit-sharing checks of $4,300, the most in the automaker's history.
Toyota Recalls 2.2 Million Vehicles 11:05 AM ET
Inquiry Threatens Volkswagen-Porsche Merger 9:02 AM ET
Investigation Puts Porsche-Volkswagen Merger at Risk
By CHRIS V. NICHOLSON
Porsche says that its merger with Volkswagen may be at risk after German prosecutors expanded the scope of their inquiry into the company.
Toyota Recalls 2 Million Vehicles Over Gas Pedal Issues
The latest recalls are intended to address accelerator pedals that could become entrapped in floor mats or jammed in driver's side carpeting.
• More Business News »
Labels: NYT: Afetrnoon Business News
Financial And Forex Info | Reuters - Daily Investor Update: Late rebound on oil drop shows bulls still kicking
Late rebound on oil drop shows bulls still kicking
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bruised but not bowed, bulls staged a rebound on Thursday and helped stocks stabilize in a volatile session suggesting investors aren't ready to give up on the market's rally. | Full Article
Oil falls from near $120 on Saudi, Gaddafi rumor
February 24, 2011 03:31 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil dropped sharply from 2-1/2 year highs near $120 a barrel on Thursday following Saudi Arabia's assures it could fill any Libyan supply shortfalls and unsubstantiated trade rumors Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had been shot. | Full Article
GM shares at post-IPO low, oil risk trumps profit
DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co posted fourth-quarter results that topped Wall Street expectations, but its shares fell below their IPO price as investor concerns shifted to the pressure from rising oil prices and higher costs of launching and selling new cars. | Full Article
Toyota recalls 2.2 million more autos; U.S. ends probe
DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp said on Thursday it was recalling nearly 2.2 million vehicles over the risk that the accelerator pedal could be trapped by loose or misplaced carpet on the driver's side. | Full Article
Fed's Bullard says it's time to debate completing QE2
BOWLING GREEN, Kentucky (Reuters) - A senior U.S. Federal Reserve official said on Thursday he thinks it is time to consider tapering off or scaling back a $600 billion bond-buying program because of an improved economic outlook. | Full Article
Labels: Financial And Forex Info | Reuters Daily Investor Update
Financial And forex Info | The Australian Business Briefing: Wall St pares losses as oil retreats
Update for Fri Feb 25 08:42:32 EST 2011
Wall St pares losses as oil retreats
UPDATED Donna Kardos Yesalavich US stocks suffered their third-straight decline today but they managed to pare steep losses late in the session as the oil price retreated.
Oil price slips as supply fears ease
Jerry A. DiColo OIL prices retreated sharply from a fresh two-and-a-half year high today, as US and other officials eased concerns about supplies.
Industry slams Gillard's carbon call
Matt Chambers and Annabel Hepworth THE nation's biggest manufacturers have accused Julia Gillard of failing to consult business on plans to introduce a carbon price next year.
Newmont profit polished by gold price
Matt Whittaker NEWMONT Mining's fourth-quarter profit jumped 46 per cent, capping a year of record-setting revenue as gold prices climbed to historic highs.
Iron ore junior breaks stranglehold
Andrew Burrell ANDREW Forrest has issued a fresh challenge to BHP and Rio by allowing a junior miner to export iron ore using his company's railway and port.
End of the road for RiverCity Motorway
Tracy Lee and Nabila Ahmed QUEENSLAND'S second largest toll road project has failed as RiverCity Motorway collapsed yesterday owing $1.3 billion.
Voelte expects a quick exit
Matt Chambers DEPARTING Woodside chief Don Voelte expects to step down before his $14 billion Pluto LNG project is in production.
UBS probes trading floor scrap
Scott Murdoch UBS will today decide on the future of its two star traders involved in a fight on the investment bank's busy trading room floor this week.
Gold price edges up as rally slows
Financial Markets Coverage
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Labels: Financial And Forex Info | the Australian Business Briefing
Financial And Forex Info: The Australian Capital Circle: Battlelines drawn on carbon price
Battlelines drawn on carbon price
Julia Gillard has bought the fight by announcing she will price carbon - and Tony Abbott is ready for that fight.
The PM's day, per the press office: Julia Gillard has begun her day with a pair of radio interviews on the ABC and then 2GB with a fired up Alan Jones. The Jones interview got off to a bad start, with the radio host upbraiding Ms Gillard for running late before telling the PM people now called her "Jul-liar, not Julia" for announcing a plan to put a price on carbon.
In a 20 minute grilling Ms Gillard gave as good as she got, telling Mr Jones that she had not misled Australians about a carbon price, that Tony Abbott's claim of a $300 impost on families were simply wrong and that pricing carbon was the right thing to do.
Later today she will be appear at the Australian National University in Canberra to continue the sell on her plan to price carbon.
Tony Abbott flew to Brisbane last night. He will visit flood-hit small businesses today and has also hit the airwaves to begin his campaign against Ms Gillard's proposed carbon tax, which he says will cost the average family $300.
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To the battlements: The Australian leads with a three column splash, reporting that Julia Gillard is determined to tax carbon from July 1 next year but faces months of tense negotiations with the Greens over industry compensation and a fierce scare campaign from Tony Abbott on rising electricity and petrol prices. (more from Sid Maher)
The Sydney Morning Herald headlines "Green light for tax on carbon" with a report from Lenore Taylor, the Daily Telegraph leads with "$300 carbon tax bill'' and a report from Simon Benson and Alison Rehn, while the Financial Review leads with "PM gambles on 2012 carbon price" and a report from Marcus Priest and Laura Tingle
Labels: Financial And Forex Info: The Australian Capital Circle
Politics this week Feb 24th 2011 From The Economist print edition
Muammar Qaddafi, the ruler of Libya, deployed tanks and fighter jets in an attempt to put down a popular uprising, ignited by street protests, that started in the east of the country and spread to Tripoli, the capital. Rebels held large swathes of territory after taking heavy losses estimated to be at least 1,000 killed and many more injured. The UN Security Council demanded an end to the violence. See article
The open defiance of protesters against authoritarian government in the Middle East spread to Morocco and Iraqi Kurdistan. See article In Bahrain the royal family ordered harsh force to be used against the demonstrators, killing several. But after heavy criticism it relented and vowed to work towards political reform. See article
In Egypt the chief prosecutor called for the freezing of assets belonging to Hosni Mubarak, the deposed president. See article
Two Iranian warships passed through Egypt's Suez Canal for the first time in more than three decades, en route to Syria. Israel described the ships' presence off the Israeli coast as a "provocation".
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda won re-election with an increased majority. The election was said to be fairer than the one five years ago. See article
In the Democratic Republic of Congo a court sentenced Kibibi Mutware, a militia leader, to 20 years in prison for mass rape. Forty-nine women testified against him in the first case of its kind.
The presidential stamp
Prosecutors in Brazil started an investigation into Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose presidential term ended last year, for spending $3.5m of public funds in 2004 to send letters promoting low-interest loans. The prosecutors say the letters had no legitimate purpose and only served to benefit a bank that was subsequently linked to a corruption scandal.
Cuba released seven more political prisoners, bringing the total to 70 freed since last year. One of the released prisoners is refusing, unlike all the others, to go into exile.
State of the unions
Tens of thousands of union sympathisers from across America converged in Madison, Wisconsin's capital, to protest against a plan by Scott Walker, the new Republican governor, to end collective-bargaining in the public sector. They were met by thousands of tea-party activists. The legislature was unable to form a quorum to debate the issue after Democratic state senators absconded to Illinois. Other states with big deficits are also thinking about curbing worker benefits. Union protests spread to Ohio and Indiana. See article
In a surprise turnaround, the Justice Department said it would no longer argue in favour of the Defence of Marriage Act, a law signed by Bill Clinton in 1996 that bars the federal government from recognising same-sex marriage, and that it now considers the act to be unconstitutional. The decision could open the courts to thousands of challenges from gay couples from the handful of states where gay marriage is legal.
Rahm Emanuel cruised to victory in the Chicago mayor's race, picking up 55% of the vote and thereby avoiding a run-off. The second-placed candidate came in some 30 percentage points behind. An immediate problem facing Mr Emanuel when he enters office in May will be the city's budget deficit. See article
Murky Merkel
Germany's ruling Christian Democratic Union suffered a heavy defeat in a state election in Hamburg. In a bad week for Angela Merkel her defence minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, was embroiled in a plagiarism scandal that forced him to relinquish his doctorate. And after eight weeks of tortuous negotiations, her government agreed on a costly compromise with the opposition over reforms to unemployment benefits and the minimum wage. See article
Thousands of Basques marched in Bilbao in support of allowing the registration of Sortu, a new separatist party. Its predecessor, Batasuna, was outlawed in 2003 for having links to ETA, an armed terror group. Prosecutors want Sortu to be banned, too. See article
A new government was formed in Kosovo. Parliament elected Hashim Thaci to serve a second term as prime minister, despite allegations linking him to a murder and organ-harvesting scandal after the Kosovo war in 1999.
A fatal shake
Christchurch, New Zealand's second-largest city, was devastated by an earthquake and several aftershocks. Scores of people died and hundreds were missing in New Zealand's worst natural disaster for 80 years. Damages were estimated at $6 billion. John Key, the prime minister, said it could turn out to be the country's "darkest day". See article
An online campaign urged people in Beijing and a dozen other cities in China to heed the example of the "jasmine revolution" sweeping the Arab world and to converge in public places to call for political and economic rights. Very few civilians turned up, but police were out in droves and censors banned the word "jasmine" from China's microblogs. Activists reported that a number of their leaders were arrested ahead of the protests.
Afghanistan suffered several suicide-bombings. The most lethal attack killed at least 38 people queuing at a bank in the eastern city of Jalalabad. Others killed dozens in four other cities. Meanwhile, it was alleged that a NATO-led operation had resulted in the deaths of 64 civilians in Kunar province. An outgoing UN official said that security is "at its lowest point" in Afghanistan since 2001. See article
The governments of Thailand and Cambodia agreed to let the Association of South-East Asian Nations send military observers to a disputed area along their border. A recent exchange of fire around the Preah Vihear temple killed at least eight people. The observers will all be Indonesians.
Nearly 2.7m civil servants set out around India to conduct the world's second-largest census. For the first time the census-takers will ask which of three sexes—male, female or "other"—the subject belongs to, and record how many Indians have electricity, toilets and permanent dwellings. Caste will also be tallied, in a separate survey. See article
Shanghai announced a one-dog policy, based along the lines of China's one-child law. Owners of the city's many unlicensed pooches insisted the local authorities were hounding them.
Labels: Politics this week Feb 24th 2011 From The Economist print edition
Business this week Feb 24th 2011 From The Economist print edition
The political strife in Libya caused oil prices to soar. Brent crude traded at well above $115 a barrel in London and West Texas Intermediate at around $100 in New York. Investors turned to precious metals as a haven, helping to push up the price of silver to a 31-year high. See article
In Côte d'Ivoire the internationally recognised winner of November's disputed presidential election extended a ban he has imposed on cocoa exports from his country, in an effort to make the incumbent president stand aside. Cocoa stocks are piling up in ports, increasing the chance of the beans decaying. There was more violence in the west African country this week.
Apple's board of directors was challenged by investors at the annual general meeting to reveal the succession plan it has drawn up to replace Steve Jobs should the chief executive not return from medical leave. In a vote shareholders backed the board, which argues that disclosing the plan now would only help competitors. Mr Jobs did not attend the meeting.
The bottom dollar
Wal-Mart reported another poor quarter in America, with revenue dipping again from stores that have been open for at least a year. Sales from the retailer's international business, which accounts for around a quarter of its profit, boosted its overall results. Wal-Mart is facing stout competition at home from the spread of discount chains that offer even-cheaper goods to consumers who feel particularly cash-strapped.
Making good on its recent undertaking to conduct more of its business in emerging markets, BP bought a stake in the maritime natural-gas assets owned by India's Reliance Industries. Potentially worth around $9 billion, the deal is one of the biggest-ever foreign investments in India.
BHP Billiton boosted its energy portfolio by agreeing to pay $4.8 billion for shale-gas assets in Arkansas. The mining company earns a fifth of its profit from oil and gas resources.
Huawei, China's biggest maker of telecoms equipment, reversed course and accepted the recommendation of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States that it revoke its acquisition of assets owned by 3Leaf, an American technology company. Huawei had already bought the assets, but officials at the Pentagon asked the CFIUS, which considers the national-security implications of takeovers, for its opinion. If Huawei had persisted, the White House would have had to rule on the deal.
Alibaba's chief executive and chief operating officer both resigned after taking responsibility for a scandal at the Chinese e-commerce website, in which some 2,300 online dealers conned their customers. The sellers had used fake documents to set up their businesses on the site, allegedly with the help of a small number of Alibaba staff. See article
HP's share price fell sharply after it delivered a weaker-than-expected set of quarterly earnings that showed sales declining in the company's IT services and personal-computing businesses. HP shaved $1.5 billion from its revenue target for the year.
A judge in Manhattan ruled that the sale of Lehman Brothers' American business to Barclays in 2008, shortly after the investment bank's spectacular collapse, was in order, throwing out a claim from Lehman creditors that they were entitled to an $11 billion "windfall" from the deal. It was widely expected that the creditors would lose their case.
Meanwhile, there was another political fuss in Britain over the activities of big banks when Barclays was forced to reveal that it had paid just £113m ($176m) in British corporation tax in 2009, equivalent to 2.5% of its global pre-tax profit that year. Barclays coughed up more than £2 billion in other British taxes in 2009, mostly in payroll-tax contributions, but, as with other banks, was able to reduce its corporate-tax liability in Britain by offsetting bad-debt charges it took during the financial crisis.
Carrots and sticks
An experiment conducted by the Nottingham School of Economics suggested that the payment of bonuses to workers did not encourage greater effort, and actually led to more shirking. But when penalties are introduced for slacking, worker efficiency is enhanced, reducing shirking by half.
Joseph Flom, a legendary lawyer who participated in many of the big hostile takeovers of the 1970s and 1980s, died at the age of 87. Mr Flom's clients included T. Boone Pickens, James Goldsmith and Ron Perelman. His services were sometimes retained by companies as a defence against those corporate raiders. A poor boy from Brooklyn, Mr Flom entered Harvard Law School without having earned an undergraduate degree.
Labels: The Economist print edition
MarketWatch: personal finance Daily: Are the markets overbought and overvalued?
Personal Finance Daily
Thursday's Personal Finance Stories
By MarketWatch
Don't miss these top stories:
Are the markets overbought and overvalued?
Drug plans stick some patients with steep costs
High-wage industries trailing on new jobs
Five ETFs that need to die
Do the volatility in the equity markets and global political turmoil represent a buying opportunity or are they a signal to lighten up on your stock exposure? In his Your Portfolio column today, Robert Powell examines the pros and cons with Christopher Pavese, a chartered financial analyst and chief investment officer of Broyhill Asset Management. Pavese's take? He said the current market is reminiscent of two other times in history when we've had "Monster Rallies," where the markets doubled in short period of time and then fell.
Also in today's Personal Finance coverage, Kristen Gerencher looks at insurance tiers that stick some patients with staggering out-of-pocket costs for specialty drugs — and the efforts by some states to limit those costs.
— Anne Stanley , Managing Editor / Personal Finance
Buying opportunity? To some, that's what the recent turmoil in the world and in the equity markets, including this week's declines in the Dow industrials, means. To others, it's further evidence of the need to go light on stocks.
Read more: Are the markets overbought and overvalued?
Insurance companies' tiered drug plans force some patients to pay steep out-of-pocket costs for their medications, but a proposed law in California aims to change that practice.
Read more: Drug plans stick some patients with steep costs.
Rate on 30-year fixed mortgage dips below 5%
The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dips below 5% this week, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates, released on Thursday.
Read more: Rate on 30-year fixed mortgage dips.
New-home sales fall 12.6% in January
Severe winter weather and an expiring tax break in California have led to volatility in the data.
Read more: New home sales fall in January.
GM posts fourth-quarter, full-year profits
The auto maker ends its seven-year losing streak, posting an annual profit after earning $510 million in the fourth quarter.
Read more: GM posts profits.
When will gold hit a new high?
Gold's lackluster trading early Thursday indicates to some that bullion will now fail in its attempt to surpass its early-December high.
Read more: When will gold hit a new high?
Oil, Mideast still stump U.S. 30 years later
The latest events in the Middle East mirror what we went through three decades ago, and politicians should be worried, writes Kathleen Madigan.
Read more: Oil, Mideast still stump U.S.
Decade's top performer is a hard-assets bull
The decade's top performer is a hard-assets bull — and he says the Middle East mess, and much else, means there's more to come, writes Peter Brimelow.
Read more: Decade's top performer is a hard-assets bull.
Apple and investors in an awkward dance
Apple and its shareholders disagree on how to handle its CEO succession strategy, an uncomfortable but vital topic that is making everyone uneasy.
Read more: Apple and investors in an awkward dance.
Exchange-traded funds are both a blessing and the curse for individual investors these days, writes Jeff Reeves.
Read more: Five ETFs that need to die.
ECONOMY AND POLITICS
State woes won't put brakes on recovery
Aggressive spending cuts by states such as Wisconsin and California are likely to trim U.S. growth in 2011, but the potential drag would be far too small to sidetrack the recovery, economists say.
Read more: State woes won't put brakes on recovery.
The 'big dog' is in a big fight
Powerful public-worker union AFSCME is in one of the biggest fights in the union's history, and union officials are claiming it's in the crosshairs of Republicans for its aggressive support of Democrats.
Read more: The 'big dog' is in a big fight.
Filings for U.S. jobless benefits drop to 391,000
New applications for jobless benefits fall by 22,000 last week, below what's regarded as a key level for determining whether the U.S. labor market is improving or not.
Read more: Filings for U.S. jobless benefits drop.
at February 24, 2011 4 comments: Links to this post
Labels: . MarketWatch Personal Finance Daily
The Washington Post Afternoon Edition: Today's Most Read Opinion Columns: Jay Carney: Mouthpiece for an inscrutable White House
1) Jay Carney: Mouthpiece for an inscrutable White House
Obama's new press secretary can't say much.
2) Rush Limbaugh binges on anti-Michelle Obama vitriol
Rush Limbaugh has no right to chew away at Michelle Obama on nutrition.
3) In the Middle East protests, a seismic shift
Ultimately, Obama needs a new strategy to respond to Arab unrest.
4) Can Chris Christie handle the truth?
The N.J. governor could learn a thing about fiscal truth-telling from Mitch Daniels.
5) Why was President Obama last to speak up on Libya?
ONCE AGAIN, an Arab dictator is employing criminal violence in a desperate effort to remain in power - and once again, the Obama administration has been slow to find its voice. This time, the tyrant is one of the Middle East's most evil men - Moammar Gaddafi, whose regime has staged spectacular...
6) The big reveal: Who Rahm Emanuel really is
As Chicago mayor, he'll have to show his true politics.
7) For the Mideast, a code for rising democracies
The Mideast needs a standard to separate democracy devotees from abusers.
8) Are the Mideast revolutions bad for women's rights?
On Friday, Egyptians again gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square, this time in a victory celebration, one week after their revolution unseated President Hosni Mubarak. Tunisians have also been sampling new freedoms of speech and press along a boulevard that is no longer a war zone. But even as the ex...
9) President Obama's risky rejection of the Defense of Marriage Act
PRESIDENT OBAMA and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. declared on Wednesday that the Justice Department would no longer be an advocate for the indefensible - a law that relegates the nation's gay and lesbian citizens to second-class status.
10) Out of Wisconsin, a lesson in leadership for Obama
The Wisconsin governor's comportment in the budget crisis makes three things clear.
Labels: The Washington Post Afternoon Edition - Most Read Opinion Columns
Financial And forex Info | SRS: W. P. Carey Announces Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2010 Financial Results
W. P. Carey Announces Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2010 Financial Results
New York, NY – February 24, 2011 – Investment firm W. P. Carey & Co. LLC (NYSE: WPC) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year-ended December 31, 2010.
Download the accompanying tables for W. P. Carey's fourth quarter and year-end 2010 financial results here.
QUARTERLY AND YEAR-END RESULTS
Funds from operations—as adjusted (AFFO) for the fourth quarter of 2010 was $36.3 million or $0.90 per diluted share, compared to $33.7 million or $0.83 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2009. AFFO for the year ended December 31, 2010 was $130.9 million or $3.27 per diluted share, compared to $122.9 million or $3.09 per diluted share for 2009.
Cash flow from operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2010 was $86.4 million, compared to $74.5 million for 2009, while adjusted cash flow from operating activities was $88.6 million for 2010, compared to $93.9 million for 2009.
Total revenues net of reimbursed expenses for the fourth quarter of 2010 were $68.3 million, compared to $48.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2009. Total revenues net of reimbursed expenses for the year ended December 31, 2010 were $213.9 million, compared to $184.8 million in 2009. Reimbursed expenses are excluded from total revenues because they have no impact on net income.
Net Income for the fourth quarter of 2010 was $19.8 million, compared to $23 million for the same period in 2009. For the year ended December 31, 2010, net income was $74 million, compared to $69 million for 2009. Results from operations in our investment management segment were significantly higher in 2010, primarily due to a higher volume of investments structured on behalf of the CPA® REITs and lower impairment charges recognized by the CPA® REITs.
For the year ended December 31, 2010, we received approximately $16.6 million in cash distributions from our equity ownership in the CPA® REITs.
Further information concerning AFFO and adjusted cash flow from operating activities—non-GAAP supplemental performance metrics—is presented in the accompanying tables and related notes.
INVESTMENT ACTIVITY
Investment volume for the year ended December 31, 2010 on behalf of the CPA® REITs and for our own portfolio totaled approximately $1.1 billion, or double last year's volume of approximately $548 million. International investments comprised 43% of total investments during 2010, compared to 36% in 2009, and we expect that international transactions will continue to form a significant portion of the investments we structure.
We closed approximately $593 million in investments on behalf of the CPA® REITs in the fourth quarter of 2010. These investments involved forty-seven facilities containing approximately five million square feet in the U.S., Canada, Croatia, China and Spain.
We continue to raise investor capital through our latest CPA® REIT offering, CPA®:17– Global, so that we may take advantage of attractive investment opportunities that we believe are afforded by the current market environment. To date, CPA®:17 – Global has raised more than $1.4 billion in its initial offering. CPA®:17 – Global has filed a registration statement with the SEC for a follow-on offering of up to an additional $1 billion of common stock.
Carey Watermark Investors commenced its initial public offering of up to $1 billion of common stock, the proceeds of which will be used to acquire interests in lodging and lodging-related properties.
W. P. Carey is the advisor to the CPA® REITs, which had real estate assets of $8.5 billion and total assets of $8.8 billion as of December 31, 2010.
As of December 31, 2010, the occupancy rate of W. P. Carey's 14 million square foot owned portfolio was approximately 89%. In addition, for the 99 million square feet owned by the CPA® REITs, the average occupancy rate was approximately 97%.
PROPOSED MERGER OF CPA®:14 AND CPA®:16 – GLOBAL
As previously disclosed, on December 13, 2010 two of the CPA® REITs we manage, CPA®:14 and CPA®:16 – Global, entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which CPA®:14 will merge with and into a subsidiary of CPA®:16 – Global, subject to shareholder approval and other closing conditions. If the merger is approved and the other closing conditions are satisfied, we currently expect that the closing will occur in the second quarter of 2011, although there can be no assurance of such timing.
The Board of Directors raised the quarterly cash distribution to $0.510 per share for the fourth quarter of 2010. The distribution—our 39th consecutive quarterly increase—was paid on January 14, 2011 to shareholders of record as of December 31, 2010.
Commenting on the 2010 results, W. P. Carey President and CEO Trevor Bond noted, "With more than $1 billion in transactions completed and record fundraising of nearly $600 million, 2010 was one of our most successful years. These acquisitions have added to the geographic and industry diversity of our portfolios, and we believe we can build on this momentum in 2011. Although we're seeing new competitors entering the net lease market, we believe that our leading position in the sector combined with our seasoned acquisitions, asset management and capital-raising teams will allow us to source and execute on opportunities and maintain the risk-return profile that has been the hallmark of our CPA® programs. As global economics improve, we believe the demand for long-term capital to fund corporate growth and expansion will continue and that we are well positioned to grow and expand our own business in this environment."
CONFERENCE CALL & WEBCAST
Please call at least 10 minutes prior to call to register.
Time: Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 11:00 AM (ET)
Call-in Number: 800-860-2442
(International) +1-412-858-4600
Webcast: www.wpcarey.com/earnings
Podcast: www.wpcarey.com/podcast
Available after 2:00 PM (ET)
Replay Number: 877-344-7529
Replay Passcode:448255#
Replay Available until March 11, 2011 at 9:00 AM (ET).
W. P. Carey & Co. LLC
W. P. Carey & Co. LLC (NYSE: WPC) is an investment management company that provides long-term financing to companies worldwide via sale leaseback and build to suit transactions and manages a global investment portfolio of approximately $10.5 billion. Through its CPA® series of income-generating, non-traded REITs, W. P. Carey helps companies and private equity firms unlock capital tied up in real estate assets. The W. P. Carey Group's investments are highly diversified, comprising contractual agreements with approximately 275 long-term corporate obligors spanning 28 industries and 17 countries. http://www.wpcarey.com
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal securities laws. A number of factors could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievement to differ materially from those anticipated. Among those risks, trends and uncertainties are the general economic climate; the supply of and demand for office and industrial properties; interest rate levels; the availability of financing; and other risks associated with the acquisition and ownership of properties, including risks that the tenants will not pay rent, or that costs may be greater than anticipated. For further information on factors that could impact the Company, reference is made to the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Labels: Financial And Forex Info: SRS
Economist Intelligent Unit: Can big spending save Saudi Arabia?: From our Chief Economist
From our Chief Economist
Thursday February 24th, 2011
Saudi Arabia's rulers can hardly have failed to notice with alarm the turmoil on their doorstep, and this week the royal family unveiled US$36bn worth of spending packages in an attempt to ensure the population's docility. As our ViewsWire service explains, the rise in global oil prices makes such massive subsidies more affordable, but even so the royal family will struggle to deny its citizens a political voice indefinitely. The dilemma is that offering even modest reforms could undermine the very basis of royal rule.
In China, we consider the prospect of revolution of a very different kind. The government wants to boost R&D spending in an effort to make the economy more competitive. This will create opportunities for high–tech foreign companies, but it will also mean a more challenging environment for them in some respects. Also from ViewsWire, we feature a timely article on the progress of the G20's quixotic attempts to rebalance the global economy.
From Risk Briefing, we offer a webcast on the problem of rising global inflation. John Bowler, from our global forecasting team, talks about what's driving this trend and how authorities should respond. Industry Briefing takes a look at India, where a new National Broadband Plan aims to connect around 160m households to broadband services by the end of 2014. Lastly, Executive Briefing looks at how companies can find new customers and connect with young people in fast–growing emerging markets through branding, collaborative innovation and social media.
How do these issues affect your business? Please let me know at: robinlbew@eiu.com
Robin Bew
SAUDI ARABIA: BEARING GIFTS
The king will spend an extra US$36bn, mainly on jobs and housing, to forestall protests at socio–economic ills. This will not quench the thirst for political change.
CHINA: FROM "R&C" TO R&D
China is trying to boost research and development in order to move the economy up the value chain. This will attract foreign investors, but will also make life harder for them.
WORLD: G20 DISAPPOINTMENT
G20 members have agreed on indicative guidelines for monitoring global economic imbalances, but the deal is unlikely to have much practical impact on policies.
WORLD: INFLATION ALERT
Our outlook for the global economy tells a story of continuing recovery, but our inflation forecast has risen from 2.7% to 3.3%. What are the implications?
INDIA: BROADBAND AMBITION
India's government is planning to invest more than US$13bn to bring fixed–line broadband services to most of the population, even in villages.
CO–CREATING YOUR BRAND WITH THE UNDER–30S
The powerful combination of youth, technology and rising consumerism is creating opportunities and challenges for companies looking for their "next billion" customers.
Labels: Economist Intelliget Unit
▼ February 2011 (490)
Financial And Forex Info | The Australian Business...
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Manufactured Durable Goods Inncreased in January...
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Financial And forex Info | SRS: W. P. Carey Annou...
The Washington Post Afternoon Edition: Today's Mo...
MarketWatch: personal finance Daily: Are the marke...
Business this week Feb 24th 2011 From The Economis...
Politics this week Feb 24th 2011 From The Economis...
Financial And Forex Info: The Australian Capital ...
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NYT: Afternoon Business News: Foreign Investment E...
Financial And Forex Info | Kitco New York Close Re...
► Jan 28 <


text:
Kornel Mundruczo on making his English-language debut with 'Pieces Of A Woman'
By Geoffrey Macnab2020-09-12T20:00:00+01:00
Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó is in Competition in Venice with his first English-language feature, Pieces Of A Woman, starring Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf.
Source: Benjamin Loeb!
The $6m feature, made through Bron Studios, is a study of grief. "Is it possible to survive if you have lost the one you loved the most?" the director recently wrote, going on to describe Pieces Of A Woman as "an authentic film about tragedy."
The drama, which is being sold by Bron Releasing, includes one of the most harrowing, fraught and realistic birth sequences in recent cinema. Martha (Kirby) goes into labour at home, where she has planned a home birth with her partner Sean (LaBeouf). A midwife (Molly Parker) arrives to assist but dangerous complications ensue.
Mundruczó shot the gruelling 25-minute sequence in a single shot. "There is not even a fake cut. The actors played it in one. My idea is how you create reality for the audience so they exactly feel what the main character feels during the labour," the director says.
"At the end, we decided just to do one big sequence. Because it is film reality, that amount of time feels like eight hours." The director intended the camera to be like a character in the story, "like the spirit of the lost one," as he puts it.
One admirer who saw a long rough cut of the movie during the Covid-19 lockdown was Martin Scorsese. Mundruczó reached out to him through Howard Shore, his composer on Pieces Of A Woman who has also scored films for Scorsese including The Departed and Hugo.
"I said to Howard, 'Do you think we can ask Marty's view on the movie?' He said, 'Why not try?' So he connected me," Mundruczó says. "[Scorsese] saw the first rough cut and he was so enthusiastic about the movie that he said, 'How can I help?'"
Scorsese came on board as an executive producer. "He just encouraged me to follow my vision," Mundruczó recalls of the support Scorsese gave him.
UK actress Kirby, perhaps best known for playing Princess Margaret in the first two seasons of The Crown, was suggested to Mundruczó by his producers, who had already met with her. "In 24 hours, Vanessa was in Budapest. She read the script, she loved it, she felt so attached to the character."
The director wanted a "heavyweight" to play Martha's partner, with LaBeouf accepting the role. "When I gave the script to him, I thought, 'Hey Shia, it's not the lead but it's an amazingly important role.' I can't say I was surprised but I was very grateful that he said yes."
Ask Mundruczó why he wanted to leave Europe to shoot an English-language film set in the US and he points partly to disturbing changes in Hungary, where he has made his previous features, including White God and Jupiter's Moon.
"My country started to be a little strange; the pressure is growing on free art and how you can keep your independence," he says. "The [political] weather in Hungary is pretty stormy. I am living in Berlin since one and a half years now."
A treatment for Pieces Of A Woman was given first to the Hungarian Film Fund which, Mundruczó says, passed. The writer Kata Wéber, with whom he collaborates regularly, subsequently wrote a stage version which was performed in Poland. When Mundruczó saw it, he decided he wanted to turn it into a film and attracted the interest of US producer Aaron Ryder.
In spite of his foray to the US, Mundruczó maintains close relations with his contacts in the European industry.
"I did four movies with Philippe Bober [of Coproduction Office] and I did two movies with The Match Factory and Michael Weber. I love them both. I am still working very closely with Michael. I showed this movie to him and we are going to work together [again]."
Mundruczó combines his filmmaking career with directing theatre and opera, and much of this work is in Germany. Although the Covid-19 crisis has led to the cancellation and postponement of several of his projects, he has "two Wagners and a Britten" lined up for the coming months in Munich, Hamburg and Berlin.
He also hopes to work again with Kirby, who he likens to stars from European cinema of the 1960s and 1970s, figures like Hanna Schygulla and Claudia Cardinale. "She is an amazing, amazing actress. To work with her again would be a pleasure. I had expectations after meeting her but she surprised me every day."
Venice Competition
In conversation: 'Apples', 'Beginning' and 'Arracht' directors talk Oscars, dark themes and future projects
Christos Nikou, Dea Kulumbegashvili and Tom Sullivan - whose films have been submitted for the Oscar - spoke via Zoom.
Bong Joon Ho to lead 2021 Venice international jury
Oscar-winning director of 'Parasite' to serve as international jury president at 78th Venice International Film Festival.
My Screen Life: director Amanda Kernell shares her admiration for single parents
"That's maybe after making a film about a difficult divorce."
The unprecedented nature of the year created another significant metric: the March 20-December 31 post lockdown chart.
A year after Honeyland snagged two Oscar nominations, a number of high-profile documentaries have set their sights on the international film category.
French sales agents talk hot films, EFM plans and Cannes hopes
Unifrance's Rendez-Vous With French Cinema has been taking place online this week.


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Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 61 Part 1.djvu/102
This page needs to be proofread.
PUBLIC LAWS-CH. 49-MAY 1, 1947 24Stat. 506;36 stat. section 297 of the Act of March 3, 1911 (28 U. S . C . 761), and which 1. were certified to the Eightieth Congress in Senate Document Num- bered 35, and House Document Numbered 132, under the following agencies: United States Maritime Commission, $2,250; Department of Agriculture, $219.75; Department of the Interior, $948.77; Navy Department, $3,627.78; War Department, $8,397.59; In all, $15,443.89; together with an indefinite appropriation to pay interest as specified in such judgments or as provided by law. Right of appea. (f) None of the judgments contained under this caption shall be paid until the right of appeal shall have expired except such as have become final and conclusive against the United States by failure of the parties to appeal or otherwise. (g) Payment of interest wherever provided for judgments con- tained in this Act shall not. in any case continue for more than thirty days after the date of approval of this Act. JUDGMxNTS, UNITED STATES COURT OF CLAIMS SEc. 203. (a) For payment of judgments rendered by the Court of Claims and reported to the Eightieth Congress in Senate Docu- ment Numbered 32, and House Document Numbered 131, under the following agencies, namely: Federal Communications Commission, $161.61; United States Maritime Commission, $50,000; Federal Security Agency, $12,915.66; Federal Works Agency: "Public Buildings Administration", $34,029.23; Department of Agriculture, $284.17; Department of Commerce, $1,127.20; Department of the Interior, $166,496.85 (to pay the judgments num- bered 44659, 44867, 45093, 45910, and 46026 as set forth in said House Document 131); Department of Justice, $1,563,522.87; Navy Department, $201 841.58; Treasury Departmenlt, $8,641.49; War Department, $114,263.39; In all, $2,153,284.05; together with such amount as may be necessary to pay interest as and when specified in the judgments. Rightof appea. (b) None of the judgments contained under this caption shall be paid until the right of appeal has expired, except such as has become final and conclive against the United States by failure of the parties to appeal or otherwise. AnDITED CLAIMS SEc. 204. For the payment of claims certified to be due by the Gen- eral Accounting Office under appropriations the balances of which have been carried to the surplus fund under the provisions of section 18 Stat. 110. 5 of the Act of June 20, 1874 (31 U. S. C. 713), and under appropria- tions heretofore treated as permanent, being for the service of the fiscal year 1944 and prior years, unless otherwise stated, and which have been certified to Congress under section 2 of the Act of July 7, 23 Stat. 254. 1884 (5 U. S . C. 266), as fully set forth in Senate Document Num- bered 31, and House Document Numbered 120, Eightieth Congress, Paymentsin foreign there is appropriated the sum of $20,169,985.39, together with such additional sum due to increases in rates of exchange as may be neces- sary to pay claims in the foreign currency and interest as specified in 78 [61 STAT.
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Baha Mar Announces Slate of Culinary Offerings
Oct 29, 2014 7:13am
Baha Mar, the $3.5 billion integrated gaming resort opening in the Spring of 2015, is introducing the first four signature restaurants of its highly anticipated culinary experiences.
The resort's food and beverage selections complement an elite collection of hotel brands - The Baha Mar Casino & Hotel, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, Grand Hyatt and SLS LUX - as well as a Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, and ESPA spa.
Deuce, Katsuya, Brasserie des Arts, and Shuang Ba are part of the best in global cuisine curated through the 40 restaurants, bars and clubs at Baha Mar. They are the signature, bespoke experiences located at the heart of the resort.
Featuring 30-foot floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the clearest waters in the world, The Baha Mar Casino provides clients of these signature restaurants the choice of being steps away from the fast-paced energy of the casino floor, or retreating to quiet tables overlooking the breathtaking turquoise waters of The Bahamas.
Deuce takes its name for being only the second location of Bone's, the award-winning Atlanta steakhouse that has been providing the finest steaks and seafood since 1979. Long recognized as the best steakhouse in Atlanta, Bone's is also ranked by Zagat Survey as highest in food and service of any steakhouse in America. Deuce consists of more than 350 seats and will be the largest restaurant at Baha Mar. In addition to private dining rooms, Deuce offers a dining experience in its beautifully crafted interior dining area, mezzanine and patio. The restaurant will feature interior designs by the celebrated Johnson Studio, an Atlanta-based architecture and design firm.
Katsuya is an internationally renowned contemporary Asian restaurant that has been hailed for its innovative interpretations of classic Japanese cuisine and inventive cocktails. Katsuya has garnered a loyal following for its culinary offerings as well as its distinct, sleek, architectural designs by French design icon Philippe Stark.
Baha Mar will be home to the fourth location of Brasserie des Arts, the chic restaurant and lounge which is also found in Sao Paulo, Brazil and two locations in France - Megeve and Saint Tropez, where it was voted one of the best places to eat by Elle magazine. The 200-seat establishment will offer an authentic taste of fine French cuisine created by classically trained French chefs. Brasserie des Arts will include indoor and outdoor seating extending to an elegant terrace overlooking the white-sand beach and a DJ for late night entertainment.
Shuang Ba takes guests on a journey of classic and modern Chinese cuisine in an elegant setting. Representing the figure 88, which signifies "double fortune" in Chinese culture, Shuang Ba is designed to ensure good luck extends from this 88-seat restaurant to the casino floor. With sophisticated private dining salons draped in shades of rich woods, gold and jade, clients will be provided with exclusive experiences that will cater to every need prepared by our culinary team directly from China.
For more information visit www.bahamar.com.


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By Shane Weaver April 21, 2016 April 21, 2016 All
Click to read the article!
At the beginning of April, I had the opportunity to attend a performance from Video Games Live for the very first time. With a lifetime spent in Yellowknife, access to events like this were seldom ascertainable, making this a first experience for me in many ways. However, despite that, I felt right at home in that theatre, surrounded by other fans just like me that came to hear their favorite tunes realized through a full on orchestra.
Tagged Video Games Live
By Shane Weaver April 1, 2016 April 1, 2016 All, Extremely Recommended
Shovel Knight is like a time machine – noooo, not to medieval times like the game's fictitious setting, but to the late 1980s and early 1990s. Beginning as a Kickstarter campaign, the game takes inspiration from classic games of yore (1980s) to lay the foundation for Shovel Knight's game design, such as DuckTales' "cane" bouncing, stage selection like Super Mario Bros. 3, stage design like Mega Man, thematic bosses like Megaman, subweapons like… well… Megaman… Megaman was a very influential game. Yet, despite this, Shovel Knight blends all these elements together so well that it still manages to come across with its own original identity. It's not ripoff, clone, or even homage to classic platformers of the 80's, Shovel Knight IS a classic platformer of the 80's, it was just made in 2014, that's all. Continue reading
Tagged Shovel Knight, 8-bit, review
By Shane Weaver March 3, 2016 March 29, 2016 All
Huge self plug here, but it's my blog so I don't see why I can't! After burdening the guilt of not having written for my friends over at The Zero Review over the last six months, I finally found the time to write, and the perfect game to rave on. Since release date, I've been hooked on the Witness. I can't stop thinking about it's puzzles in my head, and when I stop playing, I crave to go back for more. I'm finally at a point where I've completed so much of the game's content that I can let it sit for a while, but I know I'll be back.
Check it out right here!
While a difficult game to write on due to its differences from other modern games and how easy it can be to spoil the fun of the game by explaining it in too much detail, I knew I couldn't walk away from it without formulating some organized opinion on it. Anyway, that is all, that Shovel Knight review I promised 2 months ago IS NEARLY HERE, so hopefully that goes up this week.
By Shane Weaver January 11, 2016 March 29, 2016 All
Many games started, none finished to actually write up on. I'm part way through SOMA, Valkyria Chronicles II, Strider, God of War: Ascension, and even on the last damn boss of Shovel Knight, but my save data is locked away on my brother's Wii U back in Yellowknife. Fuuuck you Wii U and your lack of ability to transfer save data. The god damn N64 could do that, why not you????
I DID finish Silent Hill 2, but it took roughly six years to do so as a group played game, so I don't feel I can properly represent it in a review. I guess I can do my impressions right here though. Continue reading
Tagged Progress Update, Impressions, SOMA, Valkyria Chronicles, Silent Hill, God of War, Strider, Shovel Knight


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California Healthline Daily Edition
Tuesday, Nov 21 2017
California Healthline Original Stories	5
Taken For A Ride? Ambulances Stick Patients With Surprise Bills
Surprise Ambulance Bills: A Consumer's Guide
Years Before Heading Offshore, Herpes Researcher Experimented On People In U.S.
Displaced Puerto Ricans Face Obstacles Getting Health Care
Doctor's Rx For A Stiff Knee: A Prescription For 90 Percocet Pills
Covered California & The Health Law 1
States That 'Went All-In' On Health Law Have Half As Many Uninsured As Those That Didn't
Hospital Roundup 1
Saline Shortage Following Hurricane Is So Bad Even Patients Are Starting To Notice
Public Health and Education 3
Purity, Potency Of Illegal Drugs Have Reached New Levels, Worrying Health Officials
Despite Being Eligible For It, Many Nursing Home Patients Aren't Receiving Palliative Care
San Joaquin Picked To Participate In Nationwide Health Survey
Around California 1
Sacramento, UC Davis Reach Settlement In Suit On Payments For County's Patients
National Roundup 2
Nominee For HHS Post Raked In Millions As Top Pharma Executive
When Wait Times Become A Death Sentence: A Look Inside Backlog For Disability Benefits
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Public outrage over surprise medical bills prompted California and 20 other states to pass consumer protection laws. But these laws largely ignore ambulance rides, which can leave patients stuck with hundreds or even thousands of dollars in bills.	(Melissa Bailey, 11/21)
What to do if you get hit by an exorbitant ambulance bill — and how to avoid them in the first place.	(Melissa Bailey, 11/21)
Southern Illinois University's William Halford conducted unregulated human herpes experiments in hotels near university campus, emails show.	(Marisa Taylor, 11/21)
Many have complicated questions about whether their Medicaid or Medicare coverage can shift to their new homes. And for those seeking private insurance, using the ACA's insurance marketplaces will likely be a new experience.	(Paula Andalo, 11/21)
Following minor surgery, KHN's consumer columnist sees how easily doctors offer pain pills, fueling epidemic of opioid addiction.	(Michelle Andrews, 11/21)
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More News From Across The State
Covered California & The Health Law
The disparity can largely be explained by the expansion of Medicaid.
Modern Healthcare: Uninsured Rates Lower In States That Run Their Own ACA Exchanges
The average uninsured rate in states that use the federal HealthCare.gov exchange is nearly double that of states that set up their own public health insurance exchanges, data released by the CDC shows.In the first six months of 2017, HealthCare.gov states had an average uninsured rate of 16.1%, while states with their own exchanges—like California and Colorado—had an average uninsured rate of 8.3%. The disparity in coverage in states that use HealthCare.gov and those with state-based exchanges can be explained, at least in part, by Medicaid expansion. (Livingston, 11/20)
San Francisco Chronicle: A Record Low 6.8% Of Californians Lack Health Insurance, Figures Show
The percentage of Californians without health insurance reached a record low 6.8 percent during the first six months of 2017, according to new estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The figure, released Thursday, is down slightly from the 7.2 percent uninsured rate from a year ago, which was at the time a record low — and significantly lower than the 17 percent uninsured rate in 2013, before the Affordable Care Act took effect. (Ho, 11/20)
Hospital Roundup
Local health systems have begun taking various steps to ensure that patient care is not affected by the shortage.
Sacramento Bee: Hospitals Are Rationing Saline Solution. Patients Are Starting To Worry
Earlier this month, leaders of both the American Hospital Association and the California Hospital Association sent letters about the scarcity of supplies to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, asking Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to take any and all steps to resolve the worsening shortages. The treatments, they said, are essential to patient care in hospitals. (Anderson and Sullivan, 11/21)
Public Health and Education
The problem is that users aren't expecting the higher strength drugs and are overdosing because of the increased potency of them. Meanwhile, a study finds that medication-assisted treatment works better than detoxing for those addicted to opioids.
Los Angeles Times: Drugs Made In Mexican 'Superlabs' Are More Potent Than Ever, Fueling The Addiction Epidemic
Ten years ago, the average gram of meth available in the U.S. was 39% pure. Today, it is being sold in a nearly pure state, manufactured in Mexican "superlabs" and smuggled across the border to feed an epidemic of addiction. The drug is being peddled alongside fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin, and carfentanil, an elephant tranquilizer that can kill a human with just a speck or two. (Davis, 11/20)
Los Angeles Times: For Opiate Addiction, Study Finds Drug-Assisted Treatment Is More Effective Than Detox
Say you're a publicly-insured Californian with an addiction to heroin, fentanyl or prescription narcotics, and you want to quit. New research suggests you can do it the way most treatment-seeking addicts in the state do — by undergoing a medically-supervised "detoxification" that's difficult, expensive and highly prone to failure. (Healy, 11/20)
Palliative care is specialized medical care for people with serious illness.
The Mercury News: Nursing Home Residents Have Little Access To Palliative Care, Study Says
In a survey of 228 residents in three northern California nursing homes between January and May 2015, UCSF researchers found that 157 patients (68.8 percent) were eligible for specialized medical care that focuses on improving quality of life for patients with serious illness, known as palliative care. (Seipel, 11/20)
In the past, the surveys have helped in finding the link between high cholesterol and heart disease, and in fortifying cereals with vitamins for children's health.
Capital Public Radio: National Health Survey Gathers Data In San Joaquin County
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey is underway in Stockton, operating out of mobile trailers at the Sherwood Mall. ... Researchers are compiling data from more than 500 people as they look at hearing, bone density, cholesterol, diabetes, oral hygiene and more. (Ibarra, 11/20)
In other public health news —
KPCC: ACLU Report Slams Anaheim For High Rate Of Officer-Involved Deaths
Using data collected by the ACLU and from the Mapping Police Violence project, the organization determined that the rate of arrest-related deaths at the hands of Anaheim police officers is higher than the state average and higher than deaths at police agencies in Los Angeles, New York and San Diego. (Replogle, 11/20)
The parties said the settlement stipulates that the county make a payment of $98 million plus interest over a 15-year period.
Sacramento Bee: Sacramento County To Pay UC Davis More Than $98 Million Under Health Care Settlement
UC Davis Health and Sacramento County said Monday that they have reached a settlement agreement of a pending university lawsuit over county payments for health care administered to county indigent residents and jail inmates. (Glover, 11/20)
In other news from across the state —
Modesto Bee: Easier Access To Cancer Treatment: Stanford-Emanuel Center Expands In A Big Way
A treatment center at Turlock's Emanuel Medical Center now has double the capacity for treating patients with cancer. The Stanford-Emanuel Radiation Oncology Center has added a second linear accelerator for delivering doses of radiation to treat malignant tumors. (Carlson, 11/20)
The San Diego Union-Tribune: Fire Erupts At Navy Dental Clinic, Four Burned
A fire erupted at Naval Medical Center San Diego on Monday morning, seriously injuring a patient and three staffers. Federal firefighters responded to the alarm at around 10:30 a.m. and confined the blaze to a single second floor room at the Dental Clinic in Building 1 of the sprawling Navy medical complex. It was extinguished by 11 a.m., according to Navy spokesman Miguel A. Alvarez. (Prine, 11/20)
The Press Democrat: Nurse Turned Petaluma Fairgrounds Into Medical Clinic During Sonoma County Fires
Registered nurse Michelle Patino had no idea that she'd be supervising a mini-hospital when she answered a call for pillows and blankets at the Petaluma Fairgrounds on Oct. 9. Patino, a 43-year-old Petaluma resident, had suited up for her job that morning, but the emergency department at Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center where she works had closed because of the Tubbs fire. She hurried the three blocks to the Beverly C. Wilson Hall at the fairgrounds to donate bedding. She ended up staying for the better part of 12 days. (Lawton, 11/20)
Capital Public Radio: California Counties Prepare For Legal Cannabis
Wondering exactly how cannabis legalization is going to happen? We talk with the California State Association of Counties about what their plans are to handle the changes in the law this January. (Remington, 11/20)
National Roundup
The newly released numbers are likely to ratchet up the scrutiny of Alex Azar, who is already facing criticism that he is too closely tied to the industry to be effective as the person regulating it.
The Associated Press: Health Nominee Reaped Big Earnings From Drug Industry Tenure
Newly disclosed financial records show that President Donald Trump's nominee to become Health and Human Services secretary reaped big earnings during his tenure as a top pharmaceutical executive. As a top drug industry veteran from 2007 to 2017, former Eli Lilly and Co. executive Alex Azar built a substantial financial portfolio now worth $9.5 million to $20.6 million, and he was paid nearly $2 million in his final year at the company. (11/20)
The Hill: HHS Nominee Azar Made Millions Working For Drugmaker Lilly
Alex Azar, who was previously president of the U.S. division of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co., has a net worth of at least $8.7 million, according to documents filed with the Office of Government Ethics and analyzed by The Hill. Azar was paid nearly $2 million in his final year at Eli Lilly, according to the documents, which only date back to the previous 12 months. The company also paid him a $1.6 million severance package. (Weixel, 11/20)
Politico: Azar Received Millions From Eli Lilly In Last Year, Disclosures Show
Multiple Senate Democrats, and independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, have already declared their opposition to Azar's nomination because of his ties to the drug industry. The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is set to hold the first confirmation hearing on his nomination Nov. 29. After leaving Indianapolis-based Lilly, Azar leaned heavily on his industry experience to find new work. He collected $46,500 in speaking fees for four events, including ones hosted by the National Association of Specialty Pharmacy and pharma-focused tech company Veeva Systems. Azar also valued his consulting firm's worth at between $15,001 and $50,000. The firm's clientele included the National Pharmaceutical Council and drug company UCB Inc. (Cancryn, 11/20)
The Washington Post investigates the ever-growing backlog for people seeking disability benefits.
The Washington Post: 597 Days. And Still Waiting.
Webster County, Miss. — On the 597th day, the day he hoped everything would change, Joe Stewart woke early. He took 15 pills in a single swallow. He shaved his head. And then he got down to the business of the day, which was the business of every day, and that was waiting. He looked outside, and saw his mother there in a green sedan, engine running. So many months he had waited for this moment, and now it was here. Time for his Social Security disability hearing. Time to go. (McCoy, 11/20)
In other national health care news —
The Hill: Facing 'Hard Decisions,' Health Centers Plead For Restored Funding
Community health centers are scrambling to make contingency plans as they anxiously wait to see if Congress will renew billions of dollars in federal funding that expired on Sept. 30. Often situated in medically underserved areas, the health centers provide care to some 26 million of the nation's most vulnerable people. They're required to take any patient who seeks care, regardless of whether they can pay. (Roubein, 11/21)
CQ: Funding Cuts To Hospitals Imminent Unless Congress Acts
Billions of dollars in cuts to a federal program that helps hospitals cover the cost of caring for the uninsured will begin to take effect in a matter of weeks if Congress does not delay them. The House recently included a postponement in cuts to what's known as disproportionate share hospital, or DSH, payments in its bill to reauthorize funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (HR 3922). But the Senate hasn't followed suit thus far, leaving hospitals in the dark about whether they will start to see funding slashed in the first quarter of 2018. (Williams, 11/20)
The New York Times: New Gene Treatment Effective For Some Leukemia Patients
A new way of genetically altering a patient's cells to fight cancer has helped desperately ill people with leukemia when every other treatment had failed, researchers reported on Monday in the journal Nature Medicine. The new approach, still experimental, could eventually be given by itself or, more likely, be used in combination treatments — analogous to antiviral "cocktails" for H.I.V. or multidrug regimens of chemotherapy for cancer — to increase the odds of shutting down the disease. (Grady, 11/20)
The New York Times: Skin Cancers Rise, Along With Questionable Treatments
John Dalman had been in the waiting room at a Loxahatchee, Fla., dermatology clinic for less than 15 minutes when he turned to his wife and told her they needed to leave. Now. "It was like a fight or flight impulse," he said. His face numbed for skin-cancer surgery, Mr. Dalman, 69, sat surrounded by a half-dozen other patients with bandages on their faces, scalps, necks, arms and legs. (Hafner and Palmer, 11/20)
Stat: Our Bodies Are Full Of Bugs. This MIT Engineer Wants To Manipulate Them To Treat Disease
Our bodies are full of bugs. They're everywhere, hanging out on our skin, reproducing in our gut, growing on the glistening surface of our eyes. These bacteria, it turns out, don't just beget other bacteria. They also beget scientific paper after scientific paper, which, in turn, beget headline after headline. But for all our talk of microbiomes, we aren't all that great at shaping them, says Dr. Timothy Lu, an associate professor of biological engineering and electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (Boodman, 11/21)
Recent Daily Editions


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Microsoft Rolls Out Windows Live Services, Silk Road Project
Microsoft went "Live"-crazy on Thursday, announcing plans to roll out updates to its Windows Live services and Windows Live Essentials offerings, which are aimed at consumer users. On the developer side, Microsoft exec Satya Nadella told PubCon attendees in Las Vegas today about the latest in Live Search developer tools for Web site search optimization.
Microsoft Live Services are the online solutions part of the company's overall "software plus services" strategy. Under this strategy, Microsoft plans to offer both installed solutions and hosted services, and sync the data between both.
Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, painted a picture for this software plus services vision at the User Conference for Microsoft Services in Tokyo, Japan last week. He suggested that Web 2.0-type collaboration technologies would eventually find a role in Microsoft's enterprise applications.
"Live services, as I said, is sort of the new element, the element that brings in Web 2.0 capabilities…, Ballmer said, according to a transcript. "These are concepts that in the corporate environment we will add back into Active Directory and other technologies so that you have the potential to also bring new Web 2.0 capabilities to applications that run inside your own corporate environment. So Live Services will pioneer in Windows Azure, in the cloud, but will also bring back to Windows Server over time through Active Directory and SharePoint and the like."
Windows Azure is Microsoft's "operating system in the cloud" that was unveiled late last month at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles. Windows Azure supports Live Services plus a few more, such as .NET Services, SQL Services, SharePoint Services and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Services.
Consumer users will see an updated Windows Live "over the coming weeks" in the U.S. market, according to Microsoft's announcement today. The updated Windows Live services suite also will be available in 54 countries by early 2009.
Microsoft has partnered with more than 50 Web companies for the Windows Live launch. It has integrated Windows Live services with those from Flickr, LinkedIn, Pandora and others. It also teamed with HP to integrate Windows Live Photo Gallery with HP printers. China Telecom will cobrand Windows Live Messenger as part of its Internet service.
Nadella, Microsoft's senior vice president of the Search, Portal and Advertising Platform Group, announced the latest release of the Live Search APIs for developers. The APIs, at beta version 2.0, are part of Microsoft's code-named "Silk Road" project, which is designed to help Web publishers build traffic on their sites.
Developers, using Silk Road, can select content to enhance the user's search experience on the publisher's Web site. Search results can be delivered using JSON, RSS, SOAP or XML Web service protocols.
Developers need to use application ID (AppID) to enable Silk Road customization. For Web sites not affiliated with Microsoft, developers can create Windows Live ID authentication using a software development kit. The kit, called Windows Live ID Web Authentication SDK 1.2, contains sample applications using "ASP.NET (C# and VB), Java, Perl, PHP, Python, and Ruby" programming languages, according to a Microsoft blog.
Project Silk Road is "in broad beta now," according to Microsoft's Live Search blog, and the company is looking for Web publishers that meet Microsoft's criteria for participation. Web publishers can apply to participate in the Silk Road beta here.
Not to be outdone, Google, a competitor to Microsoft in search advertising, today announced a new search optimization application for Web sites called "On-Demand Indexing for Google Site Search." This new application provides a way to quickly index and customize a Web site's search indices.
Kurt Mackie is online news editor, Enterprise Group, at 1105 Media Inc.