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Missing man in AP photo heading home with family

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 07 Januari 2014 | 00.24

WASHINGTON — A missing man who was reunited with his family after he was photographed while pressed against a steam vent to keep warm in downtown Washington is on his way back home to upstate New York.

Family friend Peter Gugino (guh-GEE-noh) says 20-year-old Nicholas Simmons was discharged from a hospital Sunday night and spent the night in a Washington hotel with his father and older brother. Gugino says the three men are now heading home by car to Greece, N.Y.

An Associated Press photographer snapped a picture of Simmons on Saturday morning to illustrate the unusually cold weather in the region. After the photo was published, it was brought to the attention of his parents, who had reported their son missing on New Year's Day.


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Correction: Health Overhaul-Rural Challenges story

FREEPORT, Fla. — In a story Jan. 4 about rural health, The Associated Press erroneously attributed a quote to Kevin Riley, a former vice president and spokesman for Florida Blue. The following information should have been attributed to Jon Urbanek, the company's current vice president and spokesman:

"It is tough in part because of the distances people have to drive in those large, rural counties to reach providers," Urbanek said.

The company has held town-hall style meetings throughout the state and has sent representatives to Wal-Marts in rural areas to discuss coverage with customers.

"There are two or three counties that only have one hospital and is a difficult piece," Urbanek said.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Providing health care complicated in rural areas

Signing up rural Americans for health care complicated by distances, technology and tradition

By MELISSA NELSON-GABRIEL

Associated Press

FREEPORT, Fla. (AP) — In this rural part of the Panhandle, Christopher Mitchell finds few takers when he delivers his message about the importance of exploring insurance options under the federal health overhaul.

People in the conservative-leaning area tend to have a bad impression of President Obama's signature law because of negative messages they hear on talk radio or from friends, said Mitchell, marketing director for a network of nonprofit health clinics. Even for those with insurance, a doctor's visit may require a long drive because there are few providers in the area — and some are selective about the coverage they accept.

Around the country, advocates spreading the word about the Affordable Care Act in rural areas face similar difficulties. Coupled with the well-publicized glitches for the online insurance marketplaces, their stories illustrate the broader challenges in meeting President Barack Obama's goal of reducing the number of uninsured in places with some of the highest percentages of uninsured residents.

"I tell people that I am not here to advocate for the law, I am here to support the law and empower people to be able to use and understand the law," said Mitchell, whose employer, PanCare of Florida, received a federal grant for outreach efforts. "But when people are hearing over and over and over that is bankrupting America, it is hard to break through."

On a recent afternoon, Mitchell made his pitch to half a dozen patients in the waiting room of a low-slung brick clinic surrounded by pine trees on the two-lane state road that serves as Freeport's main street. In areas like this — where one-story houses and mobile homes sit far apart on lots of tan, sandy soil and pine needles — many poor residents could benefit from federally subsidized health insurance but aren't open to it.

Among those unconvinced by Mitchell's pitch was Laressa Bowness, who brought her father to the clinic for dental care.

"I get frustrated because I hear so much stuff. The politicians who put the system into place have lost their sense of reality. They don't understand what people who work face," said Bowness, who added that most people she knows don't have health insurance because they simply cannot afford it.

In a sparsely populated area of Michigan, retired nurse Sue Cook crisscrosses the 960-square mile Sanilac County to help people sign up for insurance through the online exchange. The spread-out county has only 42,000 residents.

"There are many challenges we're facing right now," said Cook, who leads an all-volunteer team of health care professionals at Caring Hearts Clinic in Marlette, 65 miles north of Detroit. "You've got somebody in the northeast part of the county that has no transportation to get here to even sign up.

"We're finding that even if I go to the far end of the county, there's the issue of not having Wi-Fi to hook up to," she said. "Those are huge hurdles for us to try to conquer in a large county like this."

Kathy Bannister recently signed up with Cook's help after many failed attempts. The self-employed beautician secured a plan from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan with a monthly payment of $215 after subsidies. She now pays $500 for a comparable plan from the same insurer.

"The whole idea was to make it easier for people," said Bannister, 51, who had a heart-valve replacement 13 years ago. "I'd been calling and calling and calling, and a lot of people would have given up. It's discouraging."

To the north, Nick Derusha is director of the health department for four Upper Peninsula counties with a high rate of uninsured residents: Mackinac, Luce, Alger and Schoolcraft. The region covers a vast expanse but only consists of about 35,000 people.

Barriers faced by people in the area include a shortage of health workers, a lack of transportation and Internet and cable connectivity.

"There are many barriers to care, as well as health care coverage alone," Derusha said.

Rudey Ballard, an insurance broker in Rexburg, Idaho — population 25,000 — has been selling health care policies for two decades. In addition to his brokerage downtown, his six-person office staffs a small kiosk at the local Wal-Mart, just down the hill from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple that dominates the rural skyline.

Rexburg is Republican country — all local lawmakers are GOP, and residents voted overwhelmingly for presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2012. Ballard sometimes finds himself the target of criticism when he's manning the Wal-Mart booth.

"I've actually had people come up to me and boo me," he said. "They come up to me and go 'Boo, hiss. Boo, hiss. I will never sign up that.'"

Back in Florida, Mitchell had no takers during his afternoon of trying to get people to sign up. Some in the small waiting room told him that even with federal subsidies they would face a choice between utilities, food, gas or monthly health insurance. One woman asked Mitchell about the fine for not having health insurance. She laughed and said the $95 is much more affordable than a monthly health insurance bill.

Walton County, with about 58,000 residents, stretches from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to the Alabama border in the north. While there are wealthy neighborhoods along the coast, most of the county looks more like Freeport. For the ZIP code surrounding the town, census data shows that the median household income is around $43,000 and the poverty rate is around 12 percent.

Because Florida opted not to take additional funding from the federal government to expand Medicaid coverage, many people who would qualify for Medicaid under the federal guidelines do not qualify under the state's guidelines. People can appeal their Medicaid eligibility and seek help in reducing insurance premiums, but that doesn't always work.

Florida Blue, the state's Blue Cross Blue Shield network, is the only insurer providing coverage in all of the state's 76 counties. Jon Urbanek, the company's vice president, said serving rural Florida can be a challenge.

"It is tough in part because of the distances people have to drive in those large, rural counties to reach providers," Urbanek said.

The company has held town-hall style meetings throughout the state and has sent representatives to Wal-Marts in rural areas to discuss coverage with customers.

"There are two or three counties that only have one hospital and is a difficult piece," Urbanek said.

Walton County residents have 13 plans to choose from under the Affordable Care Act with monthly premiums ranging from $232 to $402 and deductibles from $850 to $12,700 for a 40-year-old male, according to information from Florida Blue.

The county has seven to 12 physicians for every 10,000 residents, but the vast majority of doctors is in the southern part of the county, according to a study by the Florida Department of Health. The leaves residents of rural areas north of Interstate 10 with a long drive to reach providers. Florida as a whole averages 22 physicians for every 10,000 residents, according to the 2012 study.

Part of PanCare's strategy is employing people like Joe Manning, a lifelong resident of the Panhandle who knows many people in the small towns in Walton County.

Manning said the key to finding coverage in rural Florida seems to be patience and a willingness to fill out all of the forms that might help someone get a reduction in premiums. But a mistrust of both government and technology can complicate things.

"You have to be willing to go through the whole process," he said. "Some people walk away as soon as you start asking them to put their personal information in the computer. They do not trust the government with that information."

___

Associated Press writers Jeff Karoub in Detroit and John Miller in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.


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Boeing 787 deliveries beat goal last year

CHICAGO — Boeing delivered 65 of its 787s last year, even though deliveries were halted for a four months because of battery problems.

Boeing was able to step up the pace once deliveries resumed in May, and it handed over 25 of the jets during the final quarter of last year.

Boeing said Monday it delivered a total of 648 planes in 2013, a new record. That appears to put the Chicago company ahead of European competitor Airbus, which has said it expected to deliver about 600 jets for the year.

Boeing's other deliveries included 440 of its 737s and 98 of its long-range 777s.

Boeing and Airbus are both in the midst of a boom in aircraft orders, driven by growing affordability of air travel in Asia and Latin America.


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Global tech spending seen slipping 1 pct in 2014

LAS VEGAS — The Consumer Electronics Association estimates that global spending on technology will slip 1 percent in 2014 to $1.06 trillion as the lower average selling price of smartphones and tablets offsets unit growth in markets like China.

The decline is off the peak of $1.07 trillion estimated for 2013.

Steve Koenig, the association's director of industry analysis, issued the forecast at the opening of the annual International CES gadget show on Sunday.

The retreat doesn't reflect less consumer appetite for what Koenig called the "dynamic duo" of tech gadgets. Spending on smartphones and tablets is still expected to account for some 43 cents of every dollar spent on technology this year.

But the average price of smartphones, for example, will fall from $444 in 2010 to an estimated $297 this year, despite the number of smartphones sold rising to 1.21 billion up from 1.01 billion.

"These lower-end devices are what's required to penetrate most deeply into these emerging markets," he said.

Smartphones and tablets remain such key drivers of technology spending that they are eating into other categories of devices like point-and-shoot cameras, video cameras, portable GPS devices and handheld gaming devices.

However, within other categories of devices there are a few pockets of growth, including wearable devices.

Smartwatch sales are expected to be 1.5 million units globally this year, up from 1 million in 2013, said Shawn DuBravac, the association's chief economist.

"This is a very nascent market. We're still looking for that killer application for that particular device," he said.

Ultra HD televisions, which roughly quadruple the number of pixels of a high-definition set, are also seen taking off.

There were 60,000 such sets sold in the U.S. alone last year, a number expected to hit 485,000 this year, the association said. However, that's still a small number compared to the nearly 40 million TVs sold in the U.S. each year, DuBravac said.


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Mohegan Sun reaches labor pact with unions

BOSTON — Mohegan Sun has reached agreements with two labor groups to hire union carpenters and tradesmen should it win approval to build a casino in Revere.

The company also said Sunday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with several other Boston unions to allow for unionization of the casino's permanent workforce.

Mohegan Sun is vying for the state's only gambling license in the Boston area. Company executives have proposed a $1.3 billion resort on about 42 acres of land owned by Suffolk Downs horse track in Revere.

"A Mohegan Sun resort casino in Revere will bring thousands of good union jobs and a boost in economic development and tourism to the area," Mitchell Etess, chief executive of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, said in a statement to The Boston Globe (http://b.globe.com/1iJ7UZt ).

A Revere casino, including hotels and restaurants, would create 2,500 construction jobs, officials said.

Mark Erlich, executive secretary-treasurer of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, said he is confident the compact will open positions for local workers.

"With the unemployment rate of skilled trades still high, families are struggling and a potential project of this size is critical to getting people back to work," he said in a statement.

Revere residents will vote on a referendum regarding the casino Feb. 25.

The Mohegan Sun proposal is competing with a proposal for a casino in Everett by Wynn Resorts for the sole casino license in the Boston area.

___

Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com


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Stocks trade mixed on Wall Street

NEW YORK — Stocks were mixed Monday morning at the start of the first full week of trading of the year, extending their sluggish start to 2014.

KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 fell one point, or 0.1 percent, to 1,830, as of 10:51 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed two points to 16,473. The Nasdaq composite fell 14 points to 4,119.

The stock market is getting the year off to a poor start. The S&P 500 fell for the first two days of the year since 2005 as falling oil prices weighed on energy stocks.

HOSTILE HABERDASHER: Men's Wearhouse is going hostile in its takeover bid for Jos. A. Bank Clothiers. A $1.61 billion bid announced early Monday comes four months after Jos. A. Bank made its own takeover bid for its larger rival. Men's Wearhouse rejected the offer and bid for Jos. A. Bank. After failing to reach a deal, Men's Wearhouse is going directly to Jos. A. Bank shareholders. Jos. A. Bank rose $2.57, or 4.7 percent, to $57. Men's Wearhouse climbed $1.72 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $56.95.

RADIO STAR: Sirius XM rose 25 cents, or 6.9 percent, to $3.81 after Liberty Media said late Friday that it wants to take full ownership of the satellite radio company in a deal that would value it at nearly $23 billion.

PET PEEVES: PetSmart fell $1.65, or 2.3 percent, to $70.13 after Deutsche Bank analysts advised their clients to sell the company's stock, predicting the pet retailer will struggle as it faces increased competition.

TREASURIES AND COMMODITIES: The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.96 percent from 3 percent on Friday. The price of oil was flat at $93.95 a barrel. Gold was little changed from Friday at $1,239.20 an ounce.

THE ECONOMY: U.S. service companies grew at a steady but slightly slower pace in December as sales dipped and new orders plunged to a four-year low, according to a report from the Institute for Supply Management. The report suggests that growth may remain modest in the coming months.

U.S. factory orders climbed in November, led by a surge in aircraft demand. And businesses stepped up spending on machinery, computers and other long-lasting goods that signal investment. Factory orders rose 1.8 percent in November, the Commerce Department said Monday.

TREND REMAINS INTACT: Despite the sluggish start to the year, the market's trend higher should remain intact for January, said Randy Frederick, Managing Director of Active Trading & Derivatives at the Charles Schwab Center for Financial Research.

"I'm pretty optimistic for the month of January," said Frederick. "There just aren't a lot of catalysts out there to make the market go lower."

The S&P 500 rose almost 30 percent last year and the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq composite also surged.

COMING UP THIS WEEK: The minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee will be released on Wednesday. They will offer insight into the Fed's thinking after it began winding down its monthly $85 billion bond-buying program. The highlight of the week will likely be Friday when the Labor Department releases its jobs report for December. That's going to influence the Fed's decision as to the pace at which it reduces its bond purchases in coming months.


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Mass. gas prices up another penny

BOSTON — The cost of a gallon of gasoline in Massachusetts has inched up another penny in the past week.

AAA Southern New England reported Monday that self-serve, regular is now selling for an average of $3.47 per gallon.

Current in-state prices are 6 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and 2 cents higher than at the same time a year ago.

The Massachusetts price is also 15 cents per gallon higher than the national average.

AAA found a price range of 26 cents for self-serve, regular, from a low of $3.35 to a high of $3.61 per gallon.


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US services index slips on sharp fall in orders

WASHINGTON — U.S. service companies expanded at a steady but slightly slower pace in December as sales dipped and new orders plunged to a four-year low. The report suggests economic growth may remain modest in the coming months.

The Institute for Supply Management said Monday that its service-sector index fell to 53 last month, down from 53.9 in November. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion.

A measure of new orders plummeted 7 points to 49.4, the first time it has dropped below 50 since July 2009. A gauge of business stockpiles also fell sharply.

But a gauge of hiring increased 3.3 points to 55.8, evidence that services firms are adding more jobs.

That's a good sign for December's jobs report, which will be released Friday.

The survey covers businesses that employ 90 percent of the workforce, including retail, construction, health care and financial services firms.

Anthony Nieves, chairman of the ISM's services survey, said the declines in orders and business stockpiles likely occurred after "a little bit of excess" had built up in anticipation of the winter holidays. He expects the orders index to recover in the coming months.

The rise in hiring suggests companies are still "confident enough in the pipeline to add jobs," he added.

The drop in new orders would point to slower growth, if it continued, economists said. But most expect the decline will be temporary.

"This will likely prove to be transient, rather than the start of a new trend," said Thomas Feltmate, an economist at TD Bank. "As ... consumer confidence continues to improve, we expect to see an acceleration in consumer spending in 2014, which should prove supportive of future supplier orders."

Other economists noted that severe weather last month could have hampered business for many firms. One company in the arts, entertainment and recreation industry told the ISM that "both customers and employees were unable to reach the workplace" because of bad weather.

Service companies have grown at a modest pace this year. It has averaged 54.7 over the past 12 months.

The survey typically tracks growth in consumer spending, which drives 70 percent of economic growth.

Spending by consumers was restrained for most of last year. But Americans have opened their wallets a bit more in recent months. That could push the index higher in 2014.

Retail sales posted healthy gains in November and December, according to government figures. The biggest increases were at auto dealers, furniture stores, and at electronics and appliance stores. Those outlets have benefited as Americans have purchased more homes and cars. Online shopping has also grown at a strong pace.

However, traditional retailers, such as department stores and clothing stores, haven't benefited as much. Many were disappointed by this season's holiday sales.

The dip in the services index comes after the ISM said Thursday that its manufacturing index remained near a 2 ½-year high in November. Measures of new orders and employment grew at a faster pace, pointing to higher output in the coming months.

The economy expanded at a 4.1 percent annual pace in the July-September quarter, buoyed by a big increase in companies' stockpiles. That was the fastest pace in nearly two years. Growth was likely slower in the October-December quarter because inventory building probably didn't boost growth by as much.

But economists are getting more optimistic about the fourth quarter. Many now expect growth will reach 2.5 percent to 3 percent at an annual rate, up from estimates of around 2 percent just a few weeks ago.


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US factory orders up on planes, business spending

WASHINGTON — U.S. factories orders climbed in November, led by a surge in aircraft demand. And businesses stepped up spending on machinery, computers and other long-lasting goods, a sign of investment that could fuel economic growth.

Factory orders rose 1.8 percent in November, the Commerce Department said Monday. That follows a 0.5 percent decrease in October.

Orders received by manufacturers totaled a seasonally adjusted $497.8 billion in November, the highest level on records dating to 1992. Orders have increased 2.5 percent over the past 12 months.

The improvements could signal accelerating growth in 2014. Americans are buying more cars and homes, increasing demand for steel, furniture and other goods. That has led factories to hire more workers, generating additional economic momentum.

Still, overall economic growth remains modest by historical standards. And though factory orders have strengthened in recent months, their growth rate has slowed during the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis.

A 21.8 percent jump in volatile aircraft orders drove the November gains. But orders rose in many other categories, a sign of strength at factories and confidence among companies.

Core capital goods, a proxy for business investment, rose 4.1 percent. Economists watch this category because it excludes volatile orders for aircraft and defense equipment.

Demand also rose for construction machinery, computers, communications equipment, furniture and motor vehicle parts.

Most of the gains occurred in long-lasting goods, which increased 3.4 percent in November. Orders for nondurable goods such as food products, clothing and paper rose a modest 0.3 percent.

Separate economic reports indicate that manufacturing has remained strong and could drive further growth.

Factory activity in December remained near a 2½-year high, according to the Institute for Supply Management. The trade group said last week that its index of manufacturing activity slipped to 57 in from 57.3 in November. That's still the second-highest reading since April 2011. And any reading above 50 signals growth.

Manufacturers have also bolstered hiring in recent months. Factories added 66,000 jobs from July through November, according to government's employment reports. The government releases its December employment report on Friday.


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World stocks struggling on US data, Fed concern

LONDON — World markets were struggling Monday after a mixed batch of indicators from the U.S., the world's largest economy.

The report from the Institute for Supply Management showed that sales in the U.S. services sector dipped and new order plunged to a four-year low in December. The impact of the survey, however, was offset somewhat by other data showing businesses stepped up spending on capital goods like machinery and computers, a promising sign for growth.

Britain's FTSE 100 ended the day flat at 6,730.73 while Germany's DAX shed 0.1 percent to 9,428.00. France's CAC-40 dropped 0.5 percent at 4,227.54. Asian indexes closed lower.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 both fell 0.3 percent, to 16,428.67 and 1,825.98.

Looking ahead, investors are waiting to scrutinize the minutes of the Federal Reserve's December meeting, due Wednesday, amid expectations it might accelerate the pace of reducing its monetary stimulus on the back of rising economic momentum. The monthly U.S. jobs report on Friday will also be key in shaping market sentiment.

In China, trade, inflation and loans data due later in the week will color regional sentiment. Two surveys last week showed manufacturing activity has weakened in December, which analysts said pointed to a downturn in business cycle.

Analysts at Credit Agricole CIB said it was increasingly clear that China's growth has peaked and entering an economic downturn, which will hurt regional exports.

"When China sneezes, markets worry that the whole region will catch a cold," its economist Dariusz Kowalczyk said in a commentary.

In Europe, the focus will be on inflation figures on Tuesday, which could affect the European Central Bank's monthly policy meeting on Thursday. Although it is not expected to cut interest rates, it may offer more loans to banks to increase the flow of credit and help the eurozone's weak recovery.

Earlier, China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 1.9 percent to 2,043.01, extending losses from last week. Tokyo's Nikkei shed 2.4 percent to 15.908.88 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.6 percent to 22,684.15. Benchmarks in Singapore, Indonesia, New Zealand and Australia also declined. However, South Korea's Kospi bucked the trend to add 0.4 percent.

In currencies, the dollar weakened, dropping 0.4 percent against the Japanese yen, to 104.39 yen. The euro rose 0.3 percent to $1.3637.

Benchmark oil for February delivery rose 26 cents a barrel to $93.70 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.48 to close at $93.96 on Friday.


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