Posted by Ali Stevens on Sunday, December 30, 2012 ??
USA is reporting that Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid will be fired tomorrow.? Hear more on WKOK today and tomorrow on Fox Sports Radio.
Source: http://wkok.info/news/news-news/reid-out-as-eagles-coach/
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(Reuters) - U.S. media giant The Tribune Co, owner of the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, said late on Sunday it will emerge from bankruptcy on December 31, ending four years of Chapter 11 reorganization.
Chicago-based Tribune said it will emerge from the Chapter 11 process with a portfolio of profitable assets that will include eight major daily newspapers and 23 TV stations. The company will also have a new board of directors.
"Tribune will emerge as a dynamic multi-media company with a great mix of profitable assets, powerful brands in major markets, sufficient liquidity for operations and investments and significantly less debt," Eddy Hartenstein, Tribune's chief executive officer, said in an email to employees. "In short, Tribune is far stronger than it was when we began the Chapter 11 process."
As part of the Chapter 11 exit, the company will close on a new $1.1 billion senior secured term loan and a new $300 million asset-based revolving credit facility.
The term loan will be used to fund certain payments under the plan of reorganization and the revolving credit facility will be used to fund ongoing operations, the company said.
Upon exiting bankruptcy, Tribune will have issued to former creditors a mix of about 100 million shares of new class A common stock and new class B common stock and new warrants to purchase shares of new class A or class B common stock.
The current chief executive officer, Eddy Hartenstein, will remain in his role until the new board ratifies the company's executive officers.
The company announced a seven-person board that includes Hartenstein, former Fox Entertainment chairman Peter Liguori, former Yahoo interim CEO Ross Levinshohn and Peter Murphy, Walt Disney's former top strategic planning executive.
Liquori is expected to be named Tribune's new chief executive officer.
In November, Tribune received regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to transfer its broadcast licenses to the owners who will take over the company when it emerges from bankruptcy.
The company's plan of reorganization was confirmed by the Delaware bankruptcy court in July. Tribune's emergence from bankruptcy was conditional on the FCC approving the transfer of the broadcast licenses to new owners.
The case is In re: Tribune Co et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 08-13141.
(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Matt Driskill)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/publisher-tribune-emerge-bankruptcy-december-31-043011786--finance.html
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Osamu Suzuki, left, is the fourth adopted son to run the family company
Like many men in Japan, Tsunemaru Tanaka is looking for a wife. Unlike some, he is prepared to sacrifice his name to get one. If all goes well in 2013, he'll find a bride, her prosperous family will adopt him and he'll take their family name. In an ideal world, he'll run their business too. "I think I have a lot of skills to offer the right family," he says.
The 19th-century industrialist Andrew Carnegie famously said that inherited wealth "deadens talents and energies. Business research generally supports the Carnegie thesis: companies controlled by heirs underperform their professionalised competitors. Except, apparently, in Japan.
Japan boasts the world's oldest family-run businesses, the Hoshi Guest House, founded in 717. And the construction company Kongo Gumi was operated for a record-breaking 1,400 years by a succession of heirs until it was taken over in 2006. Many family firms - car-maker Suzuki, Matsui Securities, and giant brewery Suntory - break the rule of steady dynastic decline, or what is sometimes cruelly dubbed the "idiot-son syndrome".
So how do Japanese firms do it? The answer, apparently, is adoption.Last year more than 81,000 people were adopted in Japan, one of the highest rates in the world. Remarkably, more than 90 per cent of those adopted were adults.
The practice of adopting men in their 20s and 30s is used to rescue biologically ill-fated families and ensure a business heir, says Vikas Mehrotra, of the University of Alberta, the lead author of a new paper on the Japanese phenomenon of adult adoptions. "We haven't come across this custom in any other part of the world," he says.
Though the phenomenon has been previously documented, its impact on economic competitiveness has not. Dr Mehrotra's paper finds not only inherited family control still common in Japanese business, but says family firms are "puzzlingly competitive", outperforming otherwise similar professionally managed companies. "These results are highly robust and... suggest family control 'causes' good performance rather than the converse."
Finding suitable heirs, however, is not as simple as it once was. Japan's sliding birthrate has created many one-child families, and while daughters can manage the company back office, the face out front in this still chauvinistic country must be male, says Chieko Date. She is one of dozens of marriage consultants who bring together ambitious young men and the marriageable daughters of business families. Ms Date is proud of her record. "We bring happiness to both sides," she says.
If the meetings go well, the men agree to drop their own surname and be adopted by their new bride's family, becoming both the head of the family and its business. Ms Date's consultancy claims to have brokered 600 of these marriages - known as "mukoyoshi" - over the past decade. "We believe that this cannot be just a business transaction," she says. If the couples don't like each other, the marriage and the business will fail.
Ms Date screens the men carefully, going only for "top-class" candidates. "I've talked to 20,000 men over the past decade and successfully brokered hundreds of marriages, and I haven't heard of a single divorce," she adds. Just in case, the families of prospective wives will often do a deep background check on their future adoptees, to make sure they don't come loaded with debt, and they're not gay.
Remarkably, some families will bypass a biological son for an adoptee if they feel that nature has shortchanged them - a practice that occurs with "some regularity" says Dr Mehrotra.
Could Japan's unique remedy offer lessons to its prickly neighbour China? It seems unlikely. Chinese businessmen who have come across the practice find it "uncivilised".
Family fortunes: Business dynasties
Toyota
Established in 1937 by Kiichiro Toyoda, above, as a spin-off from his father's weaving company. In 2009, Akio Toyoda, Kiichiro's grandson, pictured, took over as president of the company, which employs 300,734 people worldwide.
Suntory
Founded in 1899 by Shinjiro Torii, below, the brewing giant famous for its whisky is still 90-per-cent owned by the founding family.
Suzuki
Michio Suzuki set up the Suzuki Loom Works during a silk boom in 1909. It is now the ninth largest car-maker in the world. The CEO, Osamu Suzuki, is the fourth adopted son to run the company.
Matsui Securities
A financial company providing online securities trading services, set up in 1931. The company's fourth president, Michio Matsui, was adopted into the family, but this meant ditching his own name.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of private equity firms, including the Carlyle Group
Duff & Phelps
The buyers are offering a premium of 19.2 percent for the company, which closed at $13.05 a share on Friday.
The deal allows Duff & Phelps Corp. a "go-shop" period starting immediately and ending on February 8, 2013, during which it will seek higher offers from other potential buyers.
Centerview Partners is advising Duff & Phelps on the deal, while Sandler O'Neill and Partners, Credit Suisse, Barclays, and RBC Capital Markets are advising the private equity firms.
The agreement includes a break-up fee of $6.65 million from Duff & Phelps if the company abandons the deal for a higher offer before March 8, 2013.
Duff and Phelps Corp. advises clients on areas such as valuation, transactions, financial restructuring, alternative assets, disputes and taxation. It employs more than 1,000 people and has offices in North America, Europe, and Asia.
(Reporting by Sam Forgione; Editing by Jan Paschal)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/private-equity-firms-buy-duff-phelps-665-million-213310085--sector.html
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With some investments already feeling the pain of the looming cliff, millions of Americans are at risk of being affected. The first to consider is the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts, according to CNBC's Jackie Deangelis.
By Allison Linn, TODAY
If you?re the type of person who likes to file your income tax return as soon as possible, then you?ve got another reason to be frustrated by the fiscal cliff stalemate in Washington, D.C.
Most of the tax changes being discussed as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations would go into effect in 2013, meaning that taxpayers would first have to account for them when they went to file those tax returns in early 2014.
But a handful of the provisions under discussion could affect Americans? 2012 taxes. The down-to-the-wire negotiations in the nation's capital could leave the IRS scrambling to adopt the changes in its systems, delaying the agency?s ability to accept some people?s returns.
?Congress oftentimes waits until the last minute to pass legislation, and then that in a turn affects the IRS,? said Bob Meighan, vice president with tax software provider TurboTax.
That's definitely been the case this time around. Just a few days before the end of the year, Congress has not been able to come to an agreement over a series of tax increases that are scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1. President Barack Obama said Friday that he was "modestly optimistic" a deal could still be reached to avert going over the so-called fiscal cliff.?
Acting IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller has already warned that there could be serious filing delays if Congress doesn?t provide a patch for the Alternative Minimum Tax. An IRS spokesman said Friday that the agency did not have any further information beyond the warnings Miller gave to lawmakers in a letter earlier this month.
The AMT is a provision in the tax code that was designed to ensure that wealthy taxpayers have to?pay at least a minimum amount of taxes. It was never indexed for inflation, however, so Congress has had to provide temporary fixes over the years to ensure that lower-income taxpayers aren?t affected.
That hasn?t happened yet this year because of the fiscal cliff stalemate. In the letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp earlier this month, Miller, the acting IRS commissioner, warned that if Congress doesn?t provide a patch this year, then the IRS would have to make significant programming changes to account for that.
?In that event, given the magnitude and complexity of the changes needed, I want to reiterate that most taxpayers may not be able to file their 2012 tax returns until late in March of 2013, or even later,? Miller wrote in the Dec. 19 letter.
Miller also warned that as many as 30 million additional taxpayers could be subject to the AMT if a patch isn?t put in place.
For now, Miller said the IRS is acting as if Congress will provide an AMT patch.
Meighan, of TurboTax, said his company also has prepared its software as if a patch will be in place. But he said the company also is ready to?switch gears quickly if it must.
Meighan said a few other provisions under discussion as part of the fiscal cliff negotiation could affect a minority of taxpayers in 2012. Those include a deduction teachers get for school supplies they purchase for their classrooms and a tuition and fees deduction that applies to some students.
"It's really gotten to a point now where you have the ideological divisions in the country overlapped now with the partisan divisions," said CNBC's Chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood.
The IRS has had to ask people to delay filing their returns before. In 2010, Congress passed last-minute tax law changes on Dec. 17. As a result, the IRS said it wouldn?t be able to accept returns with itemized deductions until February of 2011 because it needed time to adjust its systems.
If people are forced to wait to file their tax returns, that would also mean a delay in getting tax refunds. Roberton Williams, a senior fellow with the Tax Policy Center, said that in turn could have some effect on the economy because many people count on that money to pay off debt or buy big-ticket items.
If the AMT isn?t patched at all, he noted, that would be an even bigger economic hit because some taxpayers wouldn?t get their expected refund at all.
?That will have a major effect on the economy,? Williams said. ?It will be pulling a lot of money out of the economy that people are expecting.?
Despite the Congressional deadlock, experts say they are still assuming a deal will be made to put the patch in place.
?For most people, come 2013 they?ll be able to file their taxes, they?ll get their refund and life goes on,? Meighan said.
When do you usually file your taxes?
?
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Apple's online retail store fell short of customer expectations over the holiday shopping season. Satisfaction with the company's website fell to a four-year low, according to ForeSee's annual Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction Index.?One big problem, no customer reviews to help shoppers decide which product is right for them.?
Apple's score of 80 is still considered very good, but the fact that the company did not make the list of top five online retailers should be a wake-up call. "It is a little bit of a yellow caution flag," said Larry Freed, president and chief executive of Foresee.
Apple's score fell three points from last year, because it did a poorer job helping customers wade through its growing list of products, Freed said. For example, outside of price, the difference between the iPad mini, iPad 2 and iPad with Retina display is not readily apparent for many consumers.
By comparison, Amazon topped the list for the eighth year in a row, despite having a vastly wider variety of products from multiple manufacturers. While Amazon is the equivalent of an online department store, Apple is more of a boutique shop.
Amazon's success is in consistently providing "great features" for customers to find and compare products, Freed said. The site's product reviews are particularly helpful.
"There are no product reviews on Apple's site," he said. "In trying to decide if the (iPad) mini is right for me or not, you're really forced to go somewhere else to get somebody's opinion."
ForeSee's index is based on more than 24,000 customer surveys collected between Thanksgiving and Christmas. A drop in the index is significant because each point on average represents a 14% decline in a site's growth rate in sales, according to Freed. For example, if a site had a 20% growth rate year to year in 2011, then dropping a point this year would cut that rate by 3%.
Apple's decline was not the worst among the 100 companies listed. The biggest drop in customer satisfaction was on J.C. Penney's site, which fell five points to 78. Among PC makers, Dell's site also dropped 3 points, but to a lower overall score of 77.
Like Apple, Dell's problem stems from providing too little assistance in figuring out which PC is the best fit among a wide variety of choices. "When you have too many choices, consumers tend to freeze and don't know what to do," Freed said. "Dell has that [problem]. They've got to simplify how you find what you are looking for."
Apple experienced significant turmoil within its management ranks in 2012, although it's difficult to say whether that contributed to its weaker performance in online customer satisfaction. John Browett, head of Apple's retail operations, was ousted this year after only six months at the helm. He had replaced Ron Johnson, who was responsible for Apple's highly successful retail stores. Johnson left Apple to become CEO of J.C. Penney.
Browett joined Apple from Dixons, a British consumer electronics retailer, where he had been CEO. Browett's troubles at Apple were mostly operational. His plans for cutting costs included reducing employees' hours and freezing hiring, decisions Apple later reversed.
While it would be unfair to pin Apple's latest ForeSee score on Browett, there's no doubt the consumer electronics maker needs to double down on improving its online customer experience to avoid turning the decline into a trend. Apple did not immediately return requests for comment.
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Lead image courtesy of Shutterstock.
Source: http://readwrite.com/2012/12/28/lack-of-online-reviews-hurts-apples-online-store-infographic
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Egypt adopted a postrevolutionary constitution this week. But the Arab nation has only begun to understand that democracy isn't only majority rule.
Members of the constitutional assembly speak during a session at the Shura Council building in Cairo, Egypt, Dec. 26. The official approval of Egypt's disputed, Islamist-backed constitution Tuesday held out little hope of stabilizing the country after two years of turmoil and Islamist President Mohammed Morsi may now face a more immediate crisis with the economy falling deeper into distress.
AP Photo
EnlargeAs many married couples learn the hard way, the greater good can be found simply by listening to each other. That lesson in selflessness is also true for democracies, such as the fledgling one in Egypt, a nation now pivotal to the success of the Arab Spring.
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On Tuesday, Egyptians officially began life under a mostly democratic constitution, nearly two years after the Tahrir Square revolution. But this remarkable feat for the Middle East was hardly a model in how opposing sides in a democracy should listen to each other. In fact, the US State Department issued a stern warning to President Mohamed Morsi about ?the urgent need to bridge divisions, build trust, and broaden support for the political process.?
Many of the steps on the way to the Constitution ? whose bright spot includes regular elections ? ignored the interests of Egypt?s various minorities, from liberal secularists to Coptic Christians. The dominant Muslim Brotherhood, whose party has won three national votes, fell for the notion that the majority should always get what it wants ? a mistake that has been the undoing of many democracies.
?Democracy requires much more than simple majority rule,? said a US State Department spokesman, Patrick Ventrell.
Mr. Morsi, who resorted to temporary tyranny in order to railroad the Constitution, conceded in a speech Wednesday that he had made mistakes ?here and there.? Only after his victory did he display greater sincerity toward including the opposition in the government.
??There is no alternative to a dialogue that is now a necessity,? he told Egyptians.
While the new charter passed with 63 percent of the ballots, voter turnout was low. Only 1 in 5 of eligible voters endorsed the draft document, reflecting a general disgust toward Morsi?s heavy-handed majoritarian rule. The Constitution itself includes vague protections for minorities while giving broad authority to unelected Islamic council.
Egypt is still learning that a republican democracy is merely a means ? and the best one, at that ? to define the public good. This requires a careful balancing between majority rule and minority rights, something that many Americans also fail to understand.
Constitutions, by their very nature, are a way to set down operating principles to run a society, such as basic freedoms, that majorities cannot violate. They are humanity?s way of acknowledging a higher good than temporary individual or collective wants. They are an institutional force to find common ground.America?s founders set up many obstacles to majority rule on purpose. George Washington, for example, defined the role of the Senate ? where the two votes of tiny Rhode Island equal those of California ? as the saucer to cool the hot tea of populist bills passed by the House. A president?s veto can be overridden only by supermajorities in Congress. And the Supreme Court stands guard to keep the majority from stepping on minority rights.
Democracy would also fail if a minority could also command a veto power in every case. Each country must find a solution to the tension between its majorities and minorities as well as between a constitution and the results of elections.
In Egypt?s case, the dominant Islamists have only begun to accept legal protections for non-Muslims based on a concept of citizenship for all. For Islam?s sake, this is the right course. A recent Pew Research Center poll found a majority or substantial minority of people in the Middle East and North Africa believe it is possible to interpret Islam?s teachings in multiple ways.
And as democracy advances in the region, a international group of leading Muslim scholars is leading an effort to define an Islamic basis for citizenship and the rights of minorities.
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?Democracy cannot consist only of two wolves and sheep deciding what to have for dinner. Listening to others in a democracy helps raise individuals out of themselves in hopes of grander visions of the common good. If Egypt can succeed in that, others in the Arab world may follow.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/8Kw-5nPecVw/Egypt-s-big-lesson-in-democracy
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Dec. 27, 2012 ? Two studies in The Journal of General Physiology (JGP) help pave the way for a "shortcut" model-free approach to studying activation of "polymodal" ion channels -- channels that open in response to multiple stimuli. Transmembrane ion channels respond to various physiological stimuli to regulate numerous cellular functions.
Different classes of channels respond to different types of stimuli; some channels, for instance, respond to changes in membrane potential whereas others are activated by ligand binding. Polymodal channels integrate different cellular signals, enabling them to mediate a more precise and flexible physiological response. Understanding the mechanisms involved in polymodal channel activation has been a challenge, however, in part because of the complexity of the models required.
Now, two studies in the January issue of JGP use straightforward thermodynamically rigorous analysis to parse the free energy of polymodal voltage- and ligand-dependent ion channels. In one study, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers Sandipan Chowdhury and Baron Chanda examine the BK channel -- a channel activated by both changes in membrane potential and calcium binding to an intracellular domain. In the second study, Daniel Sigg (dPET Professional Services) explores gating of polymodal ion channels in general. Specifically, the authors show how to use G-V (conductance-voltage), Q-V (charge-voltage) and conductance vs. ligand concentration measurements to extract the free energies of interaction of the modules of a polymodal channel that respond to these distinct modalities
This new approach opens the door for a model-independent way to studying ion channel gating, which could be useful both for constraining future atomic-scale models of channel gating, and in understanding the disruptions that result from disease causing genetic mutations.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/wmMN8N10jQs/121227142955.htm
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New York Jets quarterback Greg McElroy, right, is sacked by San Diego Chargers defensive end Corey Liuget, left, during the second half of an NFL football game on Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012, in East Rutherford, N.J. The Chargers won 27-17. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
New York Jets quarterback Greg McElroy, right, is sacked by San Diego Chargers defensive end Corey Liuget, left, during the second half of an NFL football game on Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012, in East Rutherford, N.J. The Chargers won 27-17. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
New York Jets quarterback Greg McElroy, bottom, is sacked by San Diego Chargers defensive end Corey Liuget, front left, during the second half of an NFL football game on Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012, in East Rutherford, N.J. The Chargers won 27-17. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) ? The New York Jets' wacky quarterback situation took yet another twist.
Greg McElroy has a concussion ? which he didn't reveal until Thursday ? and will be replaced by Mark Sanchez as the New York Jets' starting quarterback in the season finale at Buffalo on Sunday.
Coach Rex Ryan walked into his news conference before practice, took the podium and opened with: "You're not going to believe this."
McElroy, preparing to make his second NFL start in place of the benched Sanchez, was lifting weights Thursday morning and started experiencing headaches, Ryan said. McElroy went to the team's training staff and then revealed he was suffering concussion-like symptoms after being sacked 11 times in the Jets' 27-17 loss to San Diego last Sunday.
McElroy and head trainer John Mellody then went to Ryan to tell the coach the news.
"We come to find out that Greg wasn't exactly truthful with our training staff after the game," said Ryan, who acknowledged he was "stunned" to hear it. "He never disclosed that he had symptoms after the game to our trainers. Right now, he's being evaluated for a concussion."
Ryan said there was no way he would play McElroy against the Bills and the third-stringer will "definitely be out." McElroy had been listed on the injury report Wednesday with a mild abdominal strain, but was a full participant in practice and was expected to play without any issues.
"I admire his courage and everything else, but you have to be truthful and I think that's the lesson learned here with the medical staff," Ryan said. "The fact he really wanted to play, I understand the competitive side of Greg and all that, but the most important thing is the health of the players.
"Obviously, I feel fortunate that something like this showed up without him going out there and putting himself in harm's way."
Ryan chose to start Sanchez over Tim Tebow because the team has just two practices and a walkthrough to prepare before the game.
"Mark has had success earlier in the season against Buffalo and he's very familiar with them," Ryan said. "That's the reason I'm going with Mark."
After finding out about McElroy's condition, Ryan spoke with both Sanchez and Tebow to tell them of his decision.
"Obviously, Tim's not happy with that, as you'd expect," Ryan said.
Sanchez was benched for the first time in his four-year career after turning the ball over five times at Tennessee on Dec. 17. McElroy leapfrogged Tebow on the depth chart to start against the Chargers.
The news comes on the heels of some tension between Ryan and Tebow last week, when the popular backup quarterback told the coach he was "disappointed" at not getting the start and wanted to play "regular quarterback." ESPN New York first reported Sunday that Tebow asked out of the wildcat, and a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed that to The Associated Press. But Tebow insisted Wednesday that he did not ask out of doing anything and acknowledged that Ryan might have misinterpreted what he said.
The two met again last Friday to clear the air, and Tebow reiterated that he was willing to do anything the team asked him to do. Tebow will be the No. 2 quarterback on Sunday at Buffalo, and could play ? but it won't be as the starter.
"Obviously, he'd like a shot at it," Ryan said, "but with the situation the way it is, it's a short window, really, to get the preparation time in and I just think it's best for our football team."
___
Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Senate's top Republican says President Barack Obama has asked congressional leaders to convene at the White House for last-minute talks on a deal that avoids automatic tax increases and broad spending cuts.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says the leaders are expected to meet with the president Friday, just four days before the government goes over the so-called "fiscal cliff" if Congress and Obama don't act.
The meeting would be the first time Obama has huddled with all four leaders since Nov. 16 and would represent that last hope for a deal before the new year. Obama spoke to each leader individually Wednesday before returning from vacation in Hawaii.
Obama and congressional Democrats want a deal that would let tax rates rise for the wealthiest taxpayers.
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DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's parliament has banned on airplanes from flying in the country during the Azan call to Islamic prayer, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Wednesday.
"According to the new directive, airplanes are banned from flying during Azan, especially during the call to morning prayers," Mehr quoted the spokesman for parliament's cultural committee Ali Taheri as saying.
The head of the Aviation Organization, Hamid Reza Pahlevani, said aircraft will be allowed to take off 30 minutes after the call to the morning prayer so that passengers have the time "to carry out their religious duties", the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported.
Iran has practiced Sharia law since its 1979 Islamic revolution. Hardliners have pressed for stricter enforcement of religious measures since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won office in 2005 promising a return to the revolution's values.
Taheri also said serious attention will be given to observing the strict Islamic dress code for women working at airports or airline companies.
Women in Iran are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose clothing to disguise their figures and protect their modesty. Violators can be flogged, fined or imprisoned.
(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-bans-flights-during-call-islamic-prayer-report-100157632.html
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Dec. 27, 2012 ? The rate of people who seek preventive cancer screenings has fallen over the last ten years in the United States with wide variations between white-collar and blue-collar workers, according to a University of Miami Miller School of Medicine study published on December 27 in the open-access journal Frontiers in Cancer Epidemiology.
While earlier diagnoses and improved treatments have increased the number of survivors, cancer remains one of the most prominent chronic diseases and, last year alone, claimed the lives of more than 570,000 people in the U.S.
"There is a great need for increased cancer prevention efforts in the U.S., especially for screening as it is considered one of the most important preventive behaviors and helps decrease the burden of this disease on society in terms of quality of life, the number of lives lost and insurance costs," said lead author Tainya Clarke, M.P.H., research associate in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.
"But despite this," Clarke continued, "our research has shown that adherence rates for cancer screenings have generally declined with severe implications for the health outlook of our society."
For their NIH-funded study, Clarke and her team evaluated the cancer screening behaviors of the general public and cancer survivors to see if government-recommended screenings goals were achieved.
The study looked at cancer screening adherence rates for colorectal, breast, cervical and prostate cancers and compared the screening rates among the general public to all cancer survivors and to the subpopulation of employed survivors.
Results showed that the general public did not meet government recommendations for cancer screenings for any cancer types except colorectal cancer. About 54 percent of the general public underwent colorectal screenings, exceeding the 50 percent goal of the government's "Healthy People 2010" national health promotion and disease prevention initiative.
By contrast, cancer survivors, who are at an increased risk of developing the disease, had higher screening rates and underwent the recommended cancer screenings for all types except cervical cancer, which decreased to 78 percent over the last decade. The study also showed a decline among cancers survivors who sought cancer screenings over the last three years.
The researchers used the recommended cancer screening rates set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and looked at data from the National Health Interview Survey between 1997 and 2010. In total, 174,393 people were included in the study analysis, with 7,528 employed cancer survivors and 119,374 people representing the general population.
In addition, the study showed that among survivors, white collar workers had higher screening rates than blue collar workers -- a crucial discovery that Clarke hopes will help change current job-related policies and overcome disparities within different professions of working cancer survivors.
The researchers speculated that ongoing disagreements among the United States Preventive Services Task Force, American Cancer Society and others over screening guidelines, as well as the decrease in worker insurance rates over the decade may have influenced the decline in screening rates.
Clarke hopes that more comprehensive research will assess the combined factors affecting screening rates and lead to more effective workplace interventions and increase screening within each occupational sector.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/0xGCgb7eTeM/121227080108.htm
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Instructors with the Young Appalachian Musician program will resume teaching evening classes in acoustic instruments beginning the week of Monday, Jan. 7.
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The evening music program is designed to teach students to play acoustic instruments in the traditional way, by ear. Lessons will begin the week of Jan. 7 and are open to all ages from third grade through adults. Instruments include guitar, mandolin, fiddle (old time or bluegrass), and banjo (claw hammer or bluegrass).?
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The six-week sessions will be held at the following locations:?Easley?First Baptist Church in Easley (Tuesday nights),?Pickens?Senior Center (Monday & Thursday nights), Saint Paul UMC (downtown?Greenville) on Thursday nights and The Art Center in?Clemson?on Thursday nights. The cost is $60 per six-week session, and instrument rental is available for $25 per six-week session. The enrollment period is from Dec. 21 through Jan. 10.?
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Anyone interested in signing up for these sessions should contact one of the following program directors:?
For Easley & Greenville, Susan Ware-Snow?(864-979-9188?orsusu9196@gmail.com); for Pickens, Steve McGaha?(864-283-4871?or ?blindpunkin54@yahoo.com); and for Clemson, Ryan Wilson?(864-360-4763?orbipryan@gmail.com).
Like the popular Young Appalachian Musician (YAM) program, the Evening Music Program is sponsored by Preserving Our Southern Appalachian Music Inc. (POSAM), a charitable non-profit organization. For more information on the YAM program, visit?www.YAMupstate.org, call?(864) 878-4257?or e-mailmcdanibw1@gmail.com.
Source: http://easley.patch.com/articles/evening-music-lessons-resume-january-7
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CHICAGO ? A rare "presentation" model of the 1961 Ford Gyron fetched $40,000 at a December auction, commanding nearly four times its estimate.
The buyer was not identified. The model was estimated to fetch $10,000-$15,000 and belonged to Joe Oros, the chief designer of the original Ford Mustang.
The futuristic concept car debuted at the 1961 New York Auto Show and featured two wheels mounted along the car's centerline and a gyroscope for stability. Wright auction house noted in a statement that the full-size Gyron was destroyed in a fire at the Ford Rotunda in 1962 in Dearborn, Michigan.
The car was never produced because the cost of the gyroscope was "prohibitive," according to Wright.
The Gyron predicted the advent of satellite navigation systems, car phones and automated highways. It also featured foot pedals for the driver and passenger to share in the operation of the vehicle.
The Gyron concept was conceived by designer Alex Tremulis, the man who also crafted the Tucker, a rear-engine sedan with a Cyclops Eye ? a third headlight ? that has become the stuff of automotive folklore.
Edmunds says: It may have only been a scale model, but the Ford Gyron at auction is a significant piece of American automotive history.
Source: http://www.insideline.com/ford/rare-1961-ford-gyron-model-fetches-40000-at-auction.html
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FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Key Euribor bank-to-bank lending rates eased on Thursday, having risen in the previous session as earlier comments from a clutch of European Central Bank policymakers played down chances of another ECB rate cut.
Joerg Asmussen, a member of the ECB's Executive Board, said last week he would be "very reluctant" about the ECB cutting its deposit rate - now at zero - any further, adding that "our (monetary) policy is very accommodative".
Another board member, Yves Mersch, said he did not see the logic of a debate about the ECB cutting its main rate from a record low of 0.75 percent. A third board member, Peter Praet, said earlier this month there is little room to cut.
The ECB kept rates on hold this month despite new forecasts suggesting the euro area economy will contract next year as it has this.
On Thursday, three-month Euribor rates, traditionally the main gauge of unsecured bank-to-bank lending, ticked down to 0.185 percent from 0.186 percent.
The six-month rate was unchanged at 0.319 percent while the one-week rate eased to 0.089 percent from 0.090 percent.
Dollar-priced bank-to-bank Euribor lending rates were mixed, with three-month rates falling to 0.57462 percent from 0.57667 percent and one-week rates rising to 0.63692 percent from 0.58167 percent.
($1 = 0.7867 euros)
(Reporting by Frankfurt newsroom; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/euribor-seesaws-policymakers-dispel-rate-cut-hopes-104948213--finance.html
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Toyota Motor Corp. has agreed to pay as much as $1.4 billion to settle U.S. litigation claims that its vehicles suddenly and unintentionally accelerated, according to court filings made public Wednesday.
The company said the deal will resolve hundreds of lawsuits from Toyota owners who said the value of their cars and trucks plummeted after a series of recalls stemming from claims that Toyota vehicles accelerated unintentionally.
Steve Berman, a lawyer representing Toyota owners, said the settlement is the largest in U.S. history involving automobile defects.
"We kept fighting and fighting and we secured what we think was a good settlement given the risks of this litigation," Berman told The Associated Press.
The proposed deal was filed Wednesday and must receive the approval of U.S. District Judge James Selna, who was expected to review the settlement Friday.
Toyota said it will take a one-time, $1.1 billion pre-tax charge against earnings to cover the estimated costs of the settlement. Berman said the total value of the deal is between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion.
Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against Toyota since 2009, when the Japanese automaker started receiving numerous complaints that its cars accelerated on their own, causing crashes, injuries and even deaths.
The cases were consolidated in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana and divided into two categories: economic loss and wrongful death. Claims by people who seek compensation for injury and death due to sudden acceleration are not part of the settlement; the first trial involving those suits is scheduled for February.
The deal includes direct payments to customers as well as the installation of a brake override system in about 3.25 million vehicles, plaintiff attorneys said.?The terms also?include a $250 million fund for former Toyota owners who sold vehicles at reduced prices because of bad publicity, and a separate $250 million fund for owners not eligible for the brake override system.
The settlement would also establish additional driver education programs and fund new research into advanced safety technologies.
"In keeping with our core principles, we have structured this agreement in ways that work to put our customers first and demonstrate that they can count on Toyota to stand behind our vehicles," said Christopher? Reynolds, Toyota vice president and general counsel.
Current and former Toyota owners are expected to receive more information about the settlement in the coming months. Some information is also available at http://www.ToyotaELsettlement.com, a website created for Toyota owners affected by the settlement.
"We are extraordinarily proud of how we were able to represent the interests of Toyota owners, and believe this settlement is both comprehensive in its scope and fair in compensation," Berman said.
Toyota has recalled more than 14 million vehicles worldwide due to acceleration problems in several models and brake defects with the Prius hybrid. Toyota has blamed driver error, faulty floor mats and sticky accelerator pedals for the unintended acceleration.
Plaintiffs' attorneys have spent the past two years deposing Toyota employees, poring over thousands of documents and reviewing software code, but the company maintains those lawyers have been unable to prove that a design defect ? namely Toyota's electronic throttle control system ? was responsible for vehicles surging unexpectedly.
Both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and NASA were unable to find any defects in Toyota's source code that could cause problems.
The company has been dogged by fines for not reporting problems in a timely manner.
Earlier this month, NHTSA doled out a record $17.4 million fine to Toyota for failing to quickly report floor mat problems with some of its Lexus models. Toyota paid a total of $48.8 million in fines for three violations in 2010.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda appeared before Congress last year and pledged to strengthen quality control. Recent sales figures show the company appears to have rebounded following its safety issues.
Information from the Associated Press and Reuters was included in this report.
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/toyota-settlement-over-acceleration-problems-top-1-billion-1C7659318
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Amy Andrews, right, wears a veil while kissing her partner, Jeri Andrews, while waiting to be among the first to be issued a marriage licenses to a same-sex couple, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, in Seattle. Amy wore the same veil during a symbolic, though not legal, marriage ceremony the couple had in 2011.
Couples wait outside of the King County Recorder's Office in Seattle.
Amanda Dollente, left, and her partner, Kelly Middleton, both of Auburn, Wash., display their "No. 1" ticket as first in line to be issued a marriage license to a same-sex couple in Seattle.
Patt Pope, center, reads while waiting in line outside of the King County Recorder's Office as Joy and Jenn McKenna kiss on December 5, 2012 in Seattle.
Melody Platt, left, and her partner Beratta Gomillion wait among the first couples in line to be issued a marriage license to a same-sex couple in Seattle. The couple are planning on getting married on their 32nd anniversary, Monday Dec. 12.
Deb Dulaney, left, watches as her partner, Diane McGee, fills out paperwork for their marriage license at the Thurston County Auditor's office at the courthouse, on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012, in Olympia.
Jeannine Godfrey, left, and Katharine Tossey, right, hold their marriage license at the Thurston County Courthouse in Olympia.
Ashley Cavner, left, and Jessica Lee, both of Vancouver, Wash. are among the first same-sex couples getting marriage licenses.
Lyle Martin, left, and Oday Phimmasone apply for a marriage license at the King County Recorder's Office on December 6, 2012 in Seattle, Washington.
Jocelyn Guzman, left, and Shawn Sanders, kiss as they are among the first same-sex couples getting marriage licenses Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012 in Vancouver, Wash. The couple drove down from Anchorage, Alaska, to be among the first in Clark County to get the license.
Jane Abbott Lighty, left, and Pete-e Petersen embrace after receiving the first same-sex marriage license in Washington state at the King County Recorder's Office on December 6, 2012 in Seattle, Washington.
James Griener, left, and Paul Harris finish their paper work to get a marriage license at Vancouver's Public Service Center on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012 in Vancouver, Wash. Harris is a manager in the records department and arranged that the pair, who have been together for 39 years, could be first to get the paper work that will allow them to marry anytime after a three-day waiting period.
Laurie Johnson and Margaret Witt celebrate attaining their marriage license on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012, at the Spokane County Courthouse in Spokane, Wash.
Bret Goodwin, right, kisses his partner Andy Goodwin in the lobby of the King County Administration Building shortly after the couple received one of the first same-sex marriage licenses issued in the state early Thursday morning, Dec. 6, 2012, in Seattle.
Claudia Gorbman, left, and partner Pam Keeley wear caps both reading "bride" as they display their newly-issued marriage license, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012, in Seattle.
King County Executive Dow Constantine, right , leads a cheer as the clock strikes midnight and he can begin to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples lined-up, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012, in Seattle.
Brendon K. Taga, left, and partner Jesse Page display their marriage license issued by King County Executive Dow Constantine, right, just after midnight, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012, in Seattle. Taga and Page were second in line.
Brendon K. Taga, left, and Jesse Pageat were the second couple to receive a same-sex marriage license in Washington state, at the King County Recorder's Office on December 6, 2012 in Seattle.
Just after 3:00 a.m., Corrinalyn and Jennifer Guyette apply for a marriage license at the King County Recorder's Office on December 6, 2012 in Seattle, Washington. 'It was so great,' said Corrinalyn. The two have been together for six years.
Several of the first couples to receive same-sex marriage licenses in Washington state pose with King County Executive Dow Constantine (top right), who signed their licenses, at the King County Recorder's Office on December 6, 2012 in Seattle.
The first couples to receive marriage licenses in Washington state pose with King County Executive Dow Constantine, who signed their licenses, during a short ceremony at the King County Recorder's Office on December 6, 2012 in Seattle.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/06/same-sex-marriage-washing_n_2253336.html
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NEWARK, N.J. (AP) ? NBA Commissioner David Stern scolded Gov. Christie and said New Jersey "has no idea what it's doing" by seeking to allow sports betting in the state in a deposition published Friday in the ongoing legal battle between the governor, the four major professional sports leagues and the NCAA.
Stern and the heads of Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NHL and the NCAA were questioned recently by lawyers representing the state as part of the leagues' lawsuit seeking to stop New Jersey from instituting sports gambling.
"The one thing I'm certain of is New Jersey has no idea what it's doing and doesn't care because all it's interested in is making a buck or two, and they don't care that it's at our potential loss," Stern said when asked how the advent of sports betting in New Jersey would harm the NBA.
"And wholly apart from the fact that a governor, who's a former U.S. Attorney, has chosen to attack a federal law which causes me pause for completely different reasons since I've at times sworn to similar oaths about upholding the law of the United States," Stern continued.
MLB commissioner Bud Selig said in his deposition he was "appalled" that New Jersey would look to sports gambling as a fiscal solution.
"I know states need money. I really mean that," he said. "I understand all the problems. Federal government needs money, going over a cliff, cities need money. Chris Christie needs money. But gambling is so ... the threat of gambling and to create more threat is to me ? I'm stunned. I know that people need sources of revenue, but you can't ? this is corruption in my opinion.
"I have to say to you I'm appalled. I'm really appalled."
A spokesman for Christie didn't immediately return a message seeking comment Friday.
The leagues and the NCAA sued Christie in August after he vowed to defy a federal ban on sports wagering. The Legislature enacted a sports betting law in January, limiting bets to the Atlantic City casinos and the state's horse racing tracks. The state plans to license sports betting as soon as January, and in October published regulations governing licenses.
A judge is expected to rule this month on the leagues' motion for an injunction to stop the law from taking effect.
In his deposition, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked about holding games in England and Canada, countries with legalized sports gambling. The leagues contend allowing New Jersey to sanction sports gambling would damage their integrity.
"Well, we're playing in their country, we're coming to them," Goodell responded. "And we're only there for a short period of time; we're there for two or three days. It's not what we choose, it's not what we believe is in the best interests of sports, but we don't dictate the rules or the laws."
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the fact that New Jersey's law exempts the state's colleges and any college games played in the state shows that lawmakers recognize gambling "isn't good for our game." He sounded confident when asked if the NHL had contemplated any changes to its policies should New Jersey's law stand.
"Not to sound flip on this point but it's inconceivable to me how we could lose this lawsuit, so we haven't been doing that," he said.
New Jersey's move is seen by supporters as a way to bring new revenue to the struggling casino and racing industries and to reclaim a portion of the billions of untaxed dollars flowing to organized crime or offshore illegal gambling operations.
But in its court filing Friday opposing the state's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, the leagues and the NCAA called Christie's efforts a "blatant violation of federal law" and his constitutional challenges to the federal law "specious."
The 20-year-old federal law at the heart of the dispute, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, prohibited states from authorizing sports gambling, but exempted Nevada and three other states that already had some form of legalized sports betting ? Delaware, Oregon and Montana.
New Jersey claims the law usurps the authority of state legislatures and discriminates by "grandfathering" in some states. The leagues countered Friday that Congress has the power to prevent states from enacting laws that conflict with federal policy, and that the Constitution's commerce clause doesn't require uniformity in its application to different states.
The NCAA has already announced it will relocate several championship events scheduled to be held in New Jersey next year.
___
On Twitter:
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Last month?Apple and HTC signed a ten-year cross-licensing agreement that saw the two companies agree to set aside their gangs of lawyers and get back to creating new and exciting devices. We didn't expect that we'd ever be made privy to the details of the agreement, but seeing as Samsung's lawyers and Apple's lawyers haven't yet managed to hammer out a similar agreement, Samsung found themselves curious about the details. And being that they pay their lawyers in wheelbarrows of won, they were able to make that happen, with some assistance from the court.
The heavily-redacted 140 pages documents were made part of the public record by way of Samsung for today's hearing in their patent trial against Apple in California. AllThingsD's Ina Fried dug into the stack of documents, and while a lot of the nitty gritty details were covered up with thick black lines (many Sharpies were killed in the production of this document), we were able to get an idea of the broad strokes of the deal between Apple and HTC.
As you might expect, Apple's design patents on devices like the iPad and iPhone are not part of the deal, as Apple takes their design patents very very seriously (see: Apple vs. Samsung, parts 1-?). In keeping with that, the agreement sets up an 'arbitration process' for Apple and HTC should the former believe the latter has released a "cloned" product. Seeing as HTC's recent designs have taken a decidedly unique approach to design, we wouldn't consider that clause likely to be invoked any time soon.
Apple has also agreed not to sue HTC over a certain list of their products, but those are redacted. Also redacted are nine patents HTC has not licensed to Apple, otherwise it appears that everything else in Apple's and HTC's patent portfolios are getting shared to prevent further litigation. Unsurprisingly, how much HTC is paying in royalty rates to Apple was also blacked out, though HTC's said before that they don't expect the agreement to have "to have an adverse material impact" on their bottom line. That's what happens when you swap paying for lawyers with paying licensing fees.
Ina Fried was also in the courtroom as Samsung and Apple's lawyers went back to sparring over patents and the like in San Jose today (The Rumble In The Valley?), providing excellent blow-by-blow coverage as United States District Judge Lucy Koh presided over the proceedings. Before things even got started at 1:30 Pacific time, HTC was already involved, arguing that their excessive redactions were within the letter of the order, with HTC having redacted "terms and details irrelevant to this case"; Samsung contends that the agreement with HTC "is proof that Apple was willing and in fact has entered into license agreements concerning at least some of the patents at issue in this case."
In fact, Apple had offered a licensing agreement to Samsung back in 2010. The terms would haven been mighty expensive for Samsung, amounting to around a quarter of a billion dollars annually. Instead, we've been treated to the driest and nerdiest courtroom drama ever. They spent forty-five minutes arguing about damages over the Samsung Prevail today. Yeah, exciting stuff.
Source: AllThingsD (HTC agreement, Trial coverage) via?Android Central
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/thqKWQjOOdc/story01.htm
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FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank pondered an interest rate cut on Thursday and predicted the euro zone economy would shrink again in 2013, leaving the door open to a possible reduction in borrowing costs early next year.
ECB President Mario Draghi said the policymaking Governing Council held a wide discussion on interest rates before opting to leave them on hold. The euro fell against the dollar and the yen in response.
The Council also touched on the idea of cutting its deposit rate into negative territory. By effectively charging banks for their deposits rather than paying them interest, the ECB could push banks to put their money to work elsewhere.
"There was a wide discussion ... but the consensus was to leave the rates unchanged," Draghi told a news conference, a hint that opinions differed about what course to take. When there is unanimity, the ECB chief generally says so.
In the end, the ECB left its main interest rate at a record low 0.75 percent for the fifth month running despite new forecasts which suggest the euro area economy will contract next year as it has this. It left the deposit rate at zero.
On the idea of negative deposit rates, Draghi said: "We briefly touched upon the complexities that such a measure would involve and possible unintended consequences, but we didn't elaborate any further."
The bank's new staff projections put gross domestic product in a range of falling by 0.9 percent to growing by just 0.3 percent next year, suggesting contraction is far more likely than not. Draghi said downside risks prevailed.
In September, the ECB's staff had penciled in a significantly higher range of -0.4 to +1.4 percent for the euro area economy.
"The somewhat downbeat ECB forecasts, the somber tone of the ECB statement and Draghi's admission that the ECB had a 'wide discussion' over many issues including a potential rate cut also keep the door open for a cut in early 2013," said Berenberg Bank economist Holger Schmieding.
The Governing Council's decision to leave its main interest rate unchanged for now matched economists' expectations in a Reuters poll, which also showed opinion was split down the middle over the chances of a cut early next year.
"Later in 2013, economic activity should gradually recover as global demand strengthens and our accommodative monetary policy stance and significantly improved financial market confidence work their way through the economy," Draghi said.
But a political impasse over the United States' fiscal policy, which could presage steep tax hikes and budget cuts if a deal is not reached, could also dampen sentiment for longer, he said.
The level of uncertainty was reflected in the ECB's first attempt to forecast 2014, for which it penciled in growth of between 0.2 and 2.2 percent. The midpoint forecast for 2012 was pushed slightly lower to -0.5 percent.
The ECB will also continue to supply euro zone banks with all the liquidity they ask for in the central bank's refinancing operations at least until July 2013, Draghi said.
WAITING FOR SPAIN
While financial markets have calmed since the European Union and the International Monetary Fund put in place further steps to help Greece, and the ECB promised to do what it takes to preserve the euro, the bloc's economy has sunk into recession from which it shows few signs of emerging soon.
An inflation forecast of 1.1 to 2.1 percent next year -- compared with the ECB's target of close to but below two percent -- means there appears to be plenty of room to cut rates further.
But some at the central bank are wary of taking any action that could see the bloc's governments soft-pedal on budget consolidation efforts. Others, it seems, feel the economy warrants more stimulus now.
Market interest rates vary greatly across the 17-country bloc and the ECB is focused primarily on fixing what it calls the 'transmission mechanism' for passing on its rates to all corners of the euro area before.
The most obvious way of doing that would be using the ECB's yet to be used new bond-buying scheme, which could drive down government borrowing costs.
The ECB has not yet bought any sovereign debt under its new program -- dubbed Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) -- because Spain, which is seen as most likely to become the first country to make use of the new support measure, has not yet fulfilled the precondition of asking for help from the euro zone's rescue fund.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said he wants assurances that ECB intervention would bring down Spain's debt yields, Draghi refused to commit to any targets for bringing down Spanish borrowing costs.
"The conditions under which the OMT is going to be activated are very straight," he said. "They don't talk about negotiations or a certain interest rate or anything like that."
(Writing by Mike Peacock/Paul Carrel. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ecb-holds-rates-economic-outlook-132032643--sector.html
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