Friday, January 27, 2012
Mortgage settlement between banks, states 'close'
By DEREK KRAVITZWASHINGTON -- A $25 billion settlement between the nation's major banks and U.S. states over deceptive foreclosure practices during the housing crisis is nearing completion.
Five major banks - Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank and Ally Financial (formerly GMAC) - and U.S. states are "very close," Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said Wednesday.
Separately, two officials briefed on internal discussions say a proposed deal could be announced within weeks. Negotiators are finalizing a draft of the agreement, which must be reviewed by state attorneys general. Under the deal, banks would pay states and the federal government, which would fund programs to compensate homeowners.
The two officials asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the deal.Talks have been dragging on for more than a year between major U.S. banks and state attorneys general over fraudulent foreclosure practices that drove millions of Americans from their homes during the housing crisis.
In October 2010, major banks temporarily suspended foreclosures following revelations of widespread deceptive foreclosure practices by banks. That has backlogged millions of foreclosures that must be cleared before the housing market can fully recover.
The settlement would only apply to privately held mortgages, not those held by government-controlled Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
Fannie and Freddie own about half of all U.S. mortgages, roughly about 31 million U.S. home loans.
Individual states can opt out of the proposed deal. Some have disagreed over what terms to offer the banks.
In September, California announced it would not agree to a settlement over foreclosure abuses that state and federal officials have been working on for more than a year.
New York, Delaware, Nevada and Massachusetts, which sued five major banks earlier in December over deceptive foreclosure practices, have also argued that banks should not be protected from future civil liability.
And both sides have also fought over the amounts of money that should be placed in the reserve account for property owners who were improperly foreclosed upon. Many of the details of the deal, including a $25 billion cost for the banks, have been agreed upon, officials say.
---
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Home prices dropping in Brooklyn, Queens
Eyewitness NewsNEW YORK (WABC) -- Home prices are dropping in Brooklyn and Queens. Prices in Brooklyn dropped 4.3 percent, making the median price for a home there about $454,000.
In Queens, the median price is $343,000, down 7 percent from a year ago.
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Seven arrested in Wall Street insider trading bust
Eyewitness NewsNEW YORK (WABC) -- Seven people are charged in an insider trading scheme that prosecutors say netted more than $61.8 million in illegal profits based on trades of a single stock.
Two New York hedge fund executives and a Massachusetts man were among four charged in a criminal complaint in federal court in Manhattan.
The seven people are accused of illegally trading shares of Dell, resulting in the massive profit.
John Hovarth was arrested in Manhattan Wednesday morning, and Todd Newman was taken into custody in Boston.Police say 38-year-old Anthony Chiasson, who co-founded Level Global Investors in 2003, surrendered to authorities. He was not at home when FBI agents arrived at his Upper East Side apartment Wednesday.
FBI agents raided the Midtown offices of Level Global in November of 2010. Level Global managed about $4 billion in assets at the time of the raid, but it closed last year.
Todd Newman was a portfolio manager at hedge fund firm Diamondback Capital Management. Newman was placed on a leave of absence soon after the firm's Stamford offices were raided by federal agents in Nov. 2010.
Newman managed a portfolio of technology stocks for Diamondback.
John Hovarth is an employee of Sigma Capital Management, a firm affiliated with the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors.
Also arrested was Dan Kuo, a portfolio manager with Whittier Capital in Los Angeles.
Kuo was a semiconductor analyst at Bear Stearns until 2008, when he joined Whittier. He also previously worked at Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan.
The three others are cooperating and will not be named by federal prosecutors.
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No tax hike in Cuomo's budget
By MICHAEL GORMLEYALBANY, N.Y. -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday tried to turn his annual budget address into a kickoff for taming Albany's status quo of politics and special interests, which he said serves itself rather than taxpayers, or even children. "We created a sense of optimism and hope," Cuomo said, calling his and the Legislature's first-year accomplishments staggeringly successful. New Yorkers "believe in government. ... They have hope once again for themselves, their state, their families and their communities and that is a great, great gift."
Cuomo seized the moment with lawmakers, one of only two joint meetings all year, and intense statewide media attention. He turned what could have been a dull recitation of his $132.5 billion budget - most of which he said was already agreed to last year through deals with lawmakers - into a rousing reform rally.
He targeted powerful public employee unions in proposed overhauls of public education and public pensions, a fight that's popular in the polls. At every step, he reminded lawmakers from both parties this legislative election year that voters can see them as partners in another year of "staggering ... all-star" accomplishments, or as obstacles to carrying out the will of the people."This is a pro-economic growth strategy based on fiscal discipline, real reform and the exciting area of entrepreneurial government to lead us to a new New York," Cuomo said. "This is posing dramatic change in the system ... what we're talking about here are major shifts. Don't underestimate what we are trying to achieve ... we're changing it from the special interest focus to focus on the people."
His proposal would increase state spending by 2 percent, much of it involving 4-percent school aid and Medicaid spending hikes agreed to last year with legislative leaders. But the overall plan, including federal funding, is a fraction of 1 percent lower than the current budget, and eliminates a $2 billion deficit. Cuomo's plan calls for using $1.9 billion in revenue from a "millionaire tax" approved in December and making just over $1 billion in cuts while embarking on a three-year takeover of Medicaid costs from local governments, now cracking under the $8 billion a year strain.
Cuomo's proposal would also merge some state agencies and withhold increases in state aid to school districts that fail to enact tougher evaluations for teachers and principals. Failure to do so threatens $700 million in federal Race to the Top grants.
Union leaders - primarily those representing teachers and public employees - signaled Cuomo would get fierce opposition.
Richard Iannuzzi, president of the New York State United Teachers union, said Cuomo's 4-percent increase for school aid is still $500 million short, and he'll pursue those funds in the Legislature.
Cuomo also wants a less costly pension tier for new hires, including a voluntary retirement using a type of 401(k) plan that would save state and local governments billions of dollars over 30 years.
"The proposal for a new public employee pension tier is an assault on the middle class and a cheap shot at public employees," said Danny Donohue, president of the Civil Service Employees Association union with 265,000 members. "It will provide no short-term savings and will mean people will have to work longer, pay more and gain less benefit."
Ken Brynien of the Public Employees Federation, which represents 55,000 mostly white-collar members, called it "nothing more than a false choice of accepting severely reduced pension benefits or joining an inefficient 401(k) style pension."
But Cuomo was engaging in a fight some budget analysts have long sought in Albany.
"This budget, if enacted, will mark a second year of serious reform for New York state," said Elizabeth Lynam of the independent Citizens Budget Commission. "It includes an eminently sensible pension reform proposal and another step toward full state financing for the unusually high Medicaid burden now inappropriately placed on the shoulders of local taxpayers."
Like many who watched Albany through years of partisanship that threatened officials' once certain re-election bids, she was skeptical of the policies adopted last year that replaced the usual months-long battles over funding, rather than managing the funds.
"Now, they really seemed to have been able to focus on some of these key issues," Lynam said.
"The pension reform proposal is significantly stronger than last year's," said E.J. McMahon of the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute. "Gov. Cuomo has a continuing capacity to be innovative and creative."
Younger workers, many less interested in long careers, might prefer the portable retirement fund.
"It changes the overall concept of how you look at public employment," said Robert Ward of the Rockefeller Institute of Government.
Cuomo's budget proposal now goes to the Senate's Republican majority and the Assembly's Democratic majority, where the public employee unions have traditionally had great influence over funding and policy.
---
AP Writer Michael Virtanen contributed to this report from Albany.
new york state politics, andrew cuomo, michael bloomberg, politics & elections
Time to dig in! It's Restaurant Week in NYC
Now is your chance to feast on some of New York City's finest cuisine for a fraction of the usual price.
Eyewitness NewsNEW YORK -- It's Restaurant Week in New York City. The promotion is actually longer than a week. It officially began Monday and ends Feb. 10.
The deals include $24 for a three course lunch and $35 for a dinner.
There's a list of participating restaurants at the website, NYCGo.com .---
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World Bank warns of global growth slowdown
By JOE McDONALDBEIJING -- The World Bank warned Wednesday of a possible slump in global economic growth and urged developing countries to prepare for shocks that could be more severe than the 2008 crisis.
The bank cut its growth forecast for developing countries this year to 5.4 percent from 6.2 percent and for developed countries to 1.4 percent from 2.7 percent. For the 17 countries that use the euro currency, it forecast a contraction, cutting their growth outlook to -0.3 percent from 1.8 percent.
Global growth could be hurt by a recession in Europe and a slowdown in India, Brazil and other developing countries, the Washington-based bank said. It said conditions might worsen if more European countries are unable to raise money in financial markets.
"The global economy is entering into a new phase of uncertainty and danger," said the bank's chief economist, Justin Yifu Lin."The risks of a global freezing up of capital markets as well as a global crisis similar to what happened in September 2008 are real."
Developing countries that have enjoyed relatively strong growth while the United States and Europe struggled might be hit hard, Lin said. He said they should line up financing in advance to cover budget deficits, review the health of their banks and emphasize spending on social safety nets.
Many governments are in a weaker position than they were to respond to the 2008 global crisis because their debts and budget deficits are bigger, Lin said at a news conference.
In the event of a major crisis, "no country will be spared," Lin said. "The downturn is likely to be longer and deeper than the last one."
The bank's outlook in its "Global Economic Prospects" report issued twice a year adds to mounting gloom amid Europe's debt crisis and high U.S. unemployment.
"It is very likely that most European countries, including Germany, entered recession in the fourth quarter of last year," said Hans Timmer, the World Bank's director of development projects.
Investors have cut investments in developing countries by 45 percent in the second half of last year, compared with the same period in 2010, Timmer said.
The report follows similar warnings about the global economy by its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund, and private sector forecasters.
For the United States, the bank cut this year's growth forecast to 2.2 percent from 2.9 percent and for 2013 to 2.4 percent from 2.7 percent. As reasons, it cited the anticipated global slowdown and the on-going fight in Washington over spending and taxes.
Global growth might suffer from the interaction of Europe's troubles and efforts by China, India, South Africa, Russia and Turkey to cool rapid growth and inflation with interest rate hikes and other measures, the bank said.
China's expansion slowed to a 2 1/2-year low of 8.9 percent in the three months ending in December from the previous quarter's 9.1 percent.
As Europe weakens, developing countries could find "their slowdown might be larger than is necessary to cope with inflation pressures," Lin said.
A global downturn would hurt developing countries by driving down prices for metals, farm goods and other commodities and demand for other exoprts, the World Bank said.
Slower growth is already visible in weakening trade and commodity prices, the World Bank said.
Global exports of goods and services expanded an estimated 6.6 percent in 2011, barely half the previous year's 12.4 percent rate, the bank said. It said the growth rate is expected to fall to 4.7 percent this year.
Prices of energy, metals and farm products are down 10 to 25 percent from their peaks in early 2011, Timmer said.
The United States is already feeling some pain from Europe's crisis. Exports to Europe fell 6 percent in November, the Commerce Department said last week.
---
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More sharing comes to Facebook with new apps
By BARBARA ORTUTAYSAN FRANCISCO -- Facebook is adding a bevy of new applications to let users share everything from photos of what they cooked for dinner, to details on what they are wearing, to what concert they scored tickets to. The world's largest online social network unveiled more than 60 new apps Wednesday that let users share the tiniest details of their lives on their Facebook profiles, now known as their Timeline.
Facebook users can already share the music they are listening to through apps such as Spotify, or the articles they are reading through Yahoo News and other services. Wednesday's announcement expands the number of available apps to cover a range of topics including food, fashion, travel and reading.
Facebook is calling it "frictionless sharing." It means once you sign up for the apps, they will automatically share your activity through Facebook. That said, users will be able to limit who can see this activity when they sign up for the apps, just as they can limit what friends or groups of friends can see their other Facebook updates.The latest apps include Ticketmaster, reviews site Rotten Tomatoes and Pinterest, which bills itself as an "virtual pinboard" that lets people collect things they find around the Web. Facebook expects developers to create thousands more in the coming weeks and months.
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(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Science & Technology »facebook, science & technology
Negotiations ongoing as transit contract expires
Eyewitness NewsNEW YORK (WABC) -- Contract talks between the MTA and its largest workers union resume Wednesday. The MTA has proposed no wage increases for three years, followed by a 2 percent raise.
The Daily News is reporting that the union president says he'll accept a 1 percent raise for each of the next three years.
New York City transit workers are currently on the job without a contract after the deal with the MTA ran out at midnight Monday. But there is no talk of a strike.Transport Workers Union Local 100 represents 34,000 bus and subway workers.
The MTA says it will continue to negotiate with the union, even though talks over the weekend failed to reach a settlement.
The MTA says the sides are still far apart.
---
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Long Beach to vote on declaring fiscal emergency
Eyewitness NewsLONG BEACH (WABC) -- Long Beach is on its way to declaring a fiscal emergency.
The Long Island community has a new city manager and a new city council.
They are expected to vote on the declaration Tuesday night.
It would give the city manager sweeping authority to tighten and veto spending.---
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Tim Horton's introduces whopping 24-ounce coffee
Eyewitness NewsNEW YORK (WABC) -- If you like your coffee super-sized, Tim Horton's has your cup. The franchise chain's extra large size is now a whopping 24 ounces.
That's its largest cup yet.
To make it happen, Tim Horton's is renaming the small cup extra small. Medium turns into small, and large will become medium. The old 20-ounce extra large is now just large.Prices will remain the same.
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Malloy to back Sunday liquor sales in Connecticut
Governor-elect of Connecticut Dan Malloy on November 3, 2010. (AP Photo / AP Photo/Stephan Savoia) By PAT EATON-ROBBHARTFORD, Conn. -- Gov. Dannel P. Malloy plans to ask state lawmakers to expand the hours of alcohol sales in Connecticut, including Sunday sales at liquor and grocery stores. Malloy has called a Saturday news conference in Enfield to outline his plan, which will include allowing liquor stores to open on Sunday. It would also push back closing times by up to an hour, allowing stores to sell alcohol until 10 p.m. and allow sales at bars and restaurants every night until 2 a.m.
"It's really an issue of competition," said Andrew Doba, the governor's spokesman. "For many of the border towns, it's just easier or cheaper now for someone to head over to Massachusetts, New York or Rhode Island to buy alcohol."
Similar proposals have failed to pass the legislature in past years, despite projections that it could bring in as much as $8 million in additional revenue.Last year, Malloy said he would sign a Sunday sales bill, but did not advocate for it, and it never came up for a vote before the full legislature.
Jay Hibbard, vice president of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, said with the governor's support, he expects voluntary Sunday sales to become the law this year.
"This will benefit the state, the treasury and the citizens," he said. "The governor is doing exactly what citizens are looking to government to do, which is to allow citizens to make the best decisions for their customers, their markets and their own businesses."
Currently, 37 states allow the Sunday sale of alcohol, including 15 states which have legalized the sales since 2002, according to the Distilled Spirits Council.
The Connecticut Package Stores Association has consistently fought Sunday sales, arguing that liquor stores can't afford to open seven days a week, because the cost of additional staff and other operating expenses won't be offset by the sales.
But Carroll Hughes, a lobbyist for that organization, said he believes there is plenty of room for compromise.
"We have no problem accommodating and going into a dialogue about us being open on certain holidays and some Sundays, where those days could be reasonably expected to generate some business," he said. "However, certainly 52 days is not what we have in mind, but we'll certainly be in the dialogue and discussion as to which ones we think might be suitable."
Hughes said liquor store owners would like to see other changes that ease regulations on where liquor stores can buy their products and how much time they have to pay for purchases.
Doba declined to detail everything in the governor's proposal, but said it would be more comprehensive than just expanded hours.
He also pointed out that there will be plenty of time in the legislative process to further shape the bills.
Lawmakers head back to Hartford for this year's General Assembly on Feb. 8.
---
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(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Politics & Elections »connecticut politics, dan malloy, politics & elections
Hackers steal info of 24 million Zappos customers
Eyewitness NewsPORTLAND, Ore. -- Online shoe seller Zappos.com says a hacker may have accessed the personal information of up to 24 million customers.
Customers' credit card and payment information was not stolen, but names, phone numbers, email addresses, billing and shipping addresses, the last four digits from credit cards and more may have been accessed in the attack, according to an email that CEO Tony Hsieh sent on Sunday to employees.
Zappos is contacting customers by email and urging them to change their passwords.
Zappos said the hacker gained access to its internal network and systems through one of the company's servers in Kentucky. Zappos is based in Las Vegas. It is owned by Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc."We've spent over 12 years building our reputation, brand, and trust with our customers," Hsieh said in his email. "It's painful to see us take so many steps back due to a single incident. I suppose the one saving grace is that the database that stores our customers' critical credit card and other payment data was not affected or accessed."
---
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Kraft Foods to lay off 1,600 employees
Eyewitness NewsNORTHFIELD, Ill. -- Kraft Foods Inc. says it will cut 1,600 positions in North America this year as it prepares to split its business in two. The Northfield, Ill.-based food company said Tuesday that it plans to eliminate the positions throughout the U.S. and Canada primarily from sales, corporate and other business units. It will not reduce its manufacturing. About 20 percent of the job eliminations are currently open positions.
Kraft is also reducing the number of its U.S. management centers for its grocery business to two from four.
Kraft announced in August that it would split its snack and grocery business into two companies and said these moves are needed to help the businesses run more effectively.---
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Burger King testing home delivery service
Eyewitness NewsWASHINGTON (WABC) -- Some fans of Burger King will soon get a chance to have it their way at home.
The burger chain is experimenting with home delivery.
It's testing it out in Washington.
There's a minimum order requirement and a $2 delivery charge.---
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Former trailblazer Kodak files for Chapter 11
By BEN DOBBINROCHESTER -- Is Kodak's moment past? The glory days when Eastman Kodak Co. ruled the world of film photography lasted for over a century. Then came a stunning reversal of fortune: cutthroat competition from Japanese firms in the 1980s and a seismic shift to the digital technology it pioneered but couldn't capitalize on. Now comes a wistful worry that this icon of American business is edging toward extinction.
Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday, raising the specter that the 132-year-old trailblazer could become the most storied casualty of a digital age that has whipped up a maelstrom of economic, social and technological change.
Already a shadow of its former self, cash-poor Kodak will now reorganize in bankruptcy court as it seeks to boost its cash position and stay in business. The Rochester, N.Y.-based company is pinning its hopes on peddling a trove of photo patents and morphing into a new-look powerhouse built around printers and ink. Even if it succeeds, it seems unlikely to ever again resemble what its red-on-yellow K logo long stood for - a signature brand synonymous in every corner of the planet with capturing, collecting and sharing images."Kodak played a role in pretty much everyone's life in the 20th century because it was the company we entrusted our most treasured possession to - our memories," said Robert Burley, a photography professor at Ryerson University in Toronto.
Its yellow boxes of film, point-and-shoot Brownie and Instamatic cameras, and those hand-sized prints that made it possible for countless millions to freeze-frame their world "were the products used to remember - and really define - what that entire century looked like," Burley said.
"One of the interesting parts of this bankruptcy story is everyone's saddened by it," he continued. "There's a kind of emotional connection to Kodak for many people. You could find that name inside every American household and, in the last five years, it's disappeared. At the very least, digital technology will transform Kodak from a very big company to a smaller one. I think we all hope it won't mean the end of Kodak because it still has a lot to offer."
Kodak has notched just one profitable year since 2004. At the end of a four-year digital makeover during which it dynamited aged factories, chopped and changed businesses and eliminated tens of thousands more jobs, it closed 2007 on a high note with net income of $676 million.
It soon ran smack into the recession - and its momentum slipped into reverse.
Years of investor worries over whether Kodak might seek protection from its creditors intensified in September when it hired major restructuring law firm Jones Day as an adviser. Its stock, which topped $94 in 1997, skidded below $1 a share for the first time and, by Jan. 6, hit an all-time closing low of 37 cents.
Multiple board members recently resigned, and last week the company announced that it realigned and simplified its business structure in an effort to cut costs, create shareholder value and accelerate its long-drawn-out digital transformation.
The human toll reaches back to the 1980s when Tokyo-based Fuji, an emerging archrival, began to eat into Kodak's fat profits with novel offerings like single-use film cameras. Beset by excessive caution and strategic stumbles, Kodak was finally forced to cut costs. Its long slide had begun.
Mass layoffs came every few years, unraveling a cozy relationship of company and community that was perhaps unequaled in the annals of American business. Kodak has sliced its global payroll to 18,800 from a peak of 145,300 in 1988, and its hometown rolls to 7,100 from 60,400 in 1982.
Veteran employees who dodged the well-worn ax are not alone in fearing what comes next. Some 25,000 Kodak retirees in this medium-sized city on Lake Ontario's southern shore worry that their diminished health coverage could be clawed back further, if not disappear, in bankruptcy court.
It's a long cry from George Eastman's paternalistic heyday.
Founded by Eastman in 1880, Kodak marketed the world's first flexible roll film in 1888 and turned photography into an overnight craze with a $1 Brownie camera in 1900. Innovation and mass production were about to put the world into cars and airplanes, the American Century was unfolding, and Kodak was ready to record it.
"It's one of the few companies that wiggled its way into the fabric of American life and the American family," said Bob Volpe, 69, a 32-year employee who retired in 1998. "As someone at Kodak once said, 'We put chemicals in one end so our customers can get memories out the other."'
Intent on keeping his work force happy - they never organized a union - Eastman helped pioneer profit-sharing and, in 1912, began dispensing a generous wage dividend. Going to work for Kodak - "taking the life sentence," as it was called - became a bountiful rite of passage for generations.
"Most of the people who worked at Kodak had a middle-class life without a college education," Volpe said. "Those jobs paid so well, they could buy a boat, two cars, a summer place, and send their kids to college."
Propelled by Eastman's marketing genius, the "Great Yellow Father" held a virtual monopoly of the U.S. photographic industry by 1927. But long after Eastman was stricken with a degenerative spinal disorder and took his own life in 1932, Kodak retained its mighty perch with a succession of magical innovations.
Foremost was Kodachrome, a slide and motion-picture film extolled for 74 years until its demise in 2009 for its sharpness, archival durability and vibrant hues. In the 1960s, easy-load Instamatic 126 became one of the most popular cameras ever, practically replacing old box cameras. In 1975, engineer Steven Sasson created the first digital camera, a toaster-size prototype capturing black-and-white images at a resolution of 0.1 megapixels.
Through the 1990s, Kodak splurged $4 billion on developing the photo technology inside most cellphones and digital devices. But a reluctance to ease its heavy reliance on film allowed rivals like Canon Inc. and Sony Corp. to rush largely unhindered into the fast-emerging digital arena. The immensely lucrative analog business Kodak worried about undermining too soon was virtually erased in a decade by the filmless photography it invented.
"If you're not willing to cannibalize yourself, others will do it for you," said Mark Zupan, dean of the University of Rochester's business school. "Technology is changing ever more rapidly, the world's becoming more globalized, so to stay at the top of your game is getting increasingly harder."
In November, Kodak warned it could run out of cash in a year if it didn't sell 1,100 digital-imaging patents it's been shopping around since July. Analysts estimate they could fetch at least $2 billion.
In the meantime, Kodak has focused its future on new lines of inkjet printers that it says are on the verge of turning a profit.
It expects printers, software and packaging to produce more than twice as much revenue by 2013 and account by then for 25 percent of the company's total revenue, or nearly $2 billion.
CEO Antonio Perez said in a statement Thursday that the bankruptcy filing is "a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak." The company has secured $950 million in financing from Citigroup Inc., and expects to be able to operate its business during bankruptcy reorganization and pay employees.
On its website, Kodak assured customers that the nearly $1 billion in debtor-in-possession financing would be sufficient to pay vendors, suppliers and other business partners in full for goods and services going forward. The bankruptcy filing in the Southern District of New York does not involve Kodak's international operations.
"To be able to hop from stone to stone across the stream takes great agility and foresight and passion for excellence, and Kodak is capable of that. They have some killer stuff in inkjet printing. It's becoming a profitable product line but what they need is the runway to allow it to take off," Zupan said. "As the saying goes, 'the best way to anticipate the future is to invent it."'
The company and its board are being advised by Lazard, FTI Consulting Inc. and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Dominic DiNapoli, vice chairman of FTI Consulting, will serve as chief restructuring officer. Kodak expects to complete its U.S.-based restructuring during 2013.
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Friday, January 20, 2012
Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang leaving
By MICHAEL LIEDTKESAN FRANCISCO -- Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang is leaving the struggling company as it tries to revive its revenue growth and win over disgruntled shareholders under a new leader. The surprise departure, announced Tuesday, comes just two weeks after Yahoo Inc. hired former PayPal executive Scott Thompson as its CEO.
Yang, 43, endorsed Thompson in his resignation from Yahoo's board of directors. He had been on Yahoo's board since the company's 1995 inception.
"My time at Yahoo, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life," Yang wrote in his letter to Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock."However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo."
Yang is also stepping down from the boards of China's Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. Yahoo is negotiating to sell its stakes in both of the Asian companies as part of its efforts to placate investors.
Besides surrendering the board seats, Yang is giving up his title as "chief Yahoo."
Although a popular figure among Yahoo employees, Yang had alienated the company's shareholders by turning down a chance to sell Yahoo in its entirety to Microsoft Corp. for $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, in May 2008. Yahoo shares haven't topped $20 for more than three years. The stock gained 49 cents to $15.92 in extended trading after Yang's decision was announced.
At the time the Microsoft talks unraveled, Yang was in the middle of an 18-month stint as CEO. Shareholder discontent with his performance in that role led Yang to step aside as CEO and turn over those duties to Silicon Valley veteran, Carol Bartz.
Yahoo's revenue has been falling in recent years even as advertisers have poured more money into the Internet. Much of the money, though, has been going to Internet search leader Google Inc.
and Facebook's online social network, as Yahoo fell further behind in the race to come up with compelling new products.
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(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Science & Technology »yahoo, science & technology
Thursday, January 19, 2012
NYC transit negotiations go on as contract expires
Eyewitness NewsNEW YORK -- New York City transit workers say they'll continue working even though their contract has expired.
Spokesman Jim Gannon of Transport Workers Union Local 100 said negotiations with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority continued on Monday with talks centering on station workers. The contract expired at midnight.
Negotiators working on the main contract issues will resume talks on Tuesday.
The two sides are trying to find common ground for a new three-year collective bargaining agreement covering subway and bus workers.The union is demanding raises to counter the rising cost of living. The MTA is trying to holding to hold down payroll costs as part of statewide budget cuts.
Past contract negotiations have sometimes turned ugly. In December 2005 transit workers struck for three days and stranded millions of commuters.
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Radioactive tissue holders pulled from stores
By CRISTIAN SALAZARNEW YORK -- Metal tissue holders contaminated with low levels of radioactive material may have been distributed to Bed, Bath & Beyond stores in more than 20 states including New York, federal regulators said Thursday. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman David McIntyre said the home products company had pulled the tissue holder from its stores.
He said there is little to no risk to human health - but it's better to avoid unnecessary exposure to radiation.
"If someone has one of these, they could receive a small radiation dose from it," he said. For example, he said someone keeping one of the boxes on a vanity in the bathroom and spending about 30 minutes a day near it for a year would receive the equivalent of a couple of chest x-rays."There's no real health threat from these, but we advise people to return them," he said.
Bed, Bath & Beyond Inc. said in a statement Thursday that its Dual Ridge Metal boutique tissue holder has been carried in about 200 of its stores since July. It said it was recalling all of the tissue holders and asking any customers who bought them to return them for a full refund.
McIntyre said the company had received shipments of the tissue holders in July, August and December, but that only the December one - which contained 220 of the boxes - was determined to have contaminated products. He said the company is still trying to determine whether the other shipments had contaminated products.
Nevertheless, the company said it was asking for customers to return any purchased tissue holders out of an abundance of caution.
The contamination was first discovered in California when two packages bound for Bed, Bath & Beyond stores in Santa Clara and San Jose containing four tissue holders triggered radiation alarms at truck scales, according to a Jan. 6 report posted on the NRC website.
The products were shipped from India through the port of Newark, N.J., the report said. The tissue holders are distributed by Tatara Group of Piscataway, N.J. The Dual Ridge line of products is described on the company's website as having a "brushed finish."
A woman who answered a phone listed for the company declined to comment.
New York health officials said they pulled 12 of the silver boxes from stores in Westbury, Port Chester, Elmsford and Huntington Station. They were tested and found to have low-level radioactivity, said state Health Department spokesman Mike Moran.
The Nassau County Department of Health, where two of the boxes were shipped to the retailer's stores, said the items were removed and taken to a "safe location." The county Health Commissioner reiterated that the boxes posed "no imminent public threat."
State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah said in a statement Thursday that none of the products had been sold at the New York stores.
Authorities said the tissue holders contain manmade cobalt-60, which is used in medical devices and for other industrial applications.
Customers can call Bed, Bath & Beyond at 1-800-462-3966.
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'Spider-Man' producers punch back at Julie Taymor
Posters for the Broadway musical 'Spider-Man Turn: Off the Dark' are seen outside the Foxwoods Theatre on West 43rd Street in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010. (AP Photo / (AP Photo/Charles Sykes) ) By MARK KENNEDYNEW YORK -- Producers of Broadway's "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" have fired back in their legal fight with one-time director Julie Taymor, claiming the woman who they once called a visionary later failed to fulfill her legal obligations, wrote a "disjointed" and "hallucinogenic" musical, and refused to collaborate on changes when the $75 million show was in trouble. In a countersuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Taymor and her company, LOH Inc., the producers argued that the show "is a success despite Taymor, not because of her."
The lawsuit, which quotes from several private emails from members of the creative team, further exposes the deep rift that has opened between former collaborators who seemed to have reconciled - at least through forced smiles - on the red carpet this summer when the musical finally officially opened.
Taymor, who had been the original "Spider-Man" director and co-book writer, was fired from the musical in March after years of delays, accidents and critical backlash. The show, which features music by U2's Bono and The Edge, opened in November 2010 but spent months in previews before officially opening a few days after the Tony Awards in June.In November, the Tony Award-winning director slapped the producers - led by Michael Cohl and Jeremiah J. Harris - as well as Glen Berger, her former co-book writer, with a copyright infringement lawsuit, alleging they violated her creative rights and haven't compensated her for the work she put into Broadway's most expensive musical.
In the new filing, the producers' counterclaims assert the copyright claims are baseless. They also argue that although Taymor was paid to co-write and collaborate on the musical, she refused "to fulfill her contractual obligations, declaring that she could not and would not do the jobs that she was contracted to do." They claim Taymor repeatedly refused to work on changes with other members of the production team.
The producers claim she "caused numerous delays, drove up costs, and failed to direct a musical about Spider-Man that could open on Broadway." Her version of the superhero story, they assert, bears little resemblance to the show that is currently playing at the Foxwoods Theatre.
"Taymor refused to develop a musical that followed the original, family-friendly 'Spider-Man' story, which was depicted in the Marvel comic books and the hugely successful motion picture trilogy based on them. Instead, Taymor, who admits that she was not a fan of the `Spider-Man' story prior to her involvement with the Musical, insisted on developing a dark, disjointed and hallucinogenic musical involving suicide, sex and death," the producers charge in the lawsuit.
They claim Spider-Man was "relegated to a supporting role" while a new Taymor-created villain character named Arachne took center stage. In the version that opened after Taymor left, the role of Arachne was substantially cut.
Charles Spada, an attorney who represents Taymor, said Tuesday that the counterclaims are "baseless." His client, he said, "will continue to vigorously seek enforcement of her creative rights" amid producers' "outrageous mischaracterizations and attempts to besmirch her reputation."
Taymor's lawsuit seeks half of all profits, gains and advantages derived from the sale, license, transfer or lease of any rights in the original "Spider-Man" book along with a permanent ban of the use of her name or likeness in connection with a documentary film that was made of the birth of the musical without her written consent.
It also seeks a jury trial to determine her share of profits from the unauthorized use of her version of the superhero story, which it said was believed to be in excess of $1 million.
After Taymor left, Philip William McKinley, who directed the Hugh Jackman musical "The Boy From Oz" in 2003, was hired to take over. He was billed as creative consultant when the musical opened.
Only Taymor will be considered eligible for the show's Tony Award for the best direction of a musical category.
The stunt-heavy show has been doing brisk business ever since it opened its doors and most weeks easily grossing more than the $1.2 million the producers have indicated they need to reach to stay viable. Over the Christmas holiday, the show earned the highest single-week gross of any show in Broadway history.
Taymor, who helmed "The Lion King," also is seeking compensation through the union that represents theater directors.
The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society filed an arbitration claim in June against the show's producers over unpaid royalties.
On Tuesday, "Spider-Man" producers blasted those claims, saying that "Taymor is an independent contractor, not an employee" and that the society's backing Taymor amounts to "unlawful conspiracy among independent contractors."
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France seeks to brush off S&P's downgrade
By ANGELA CHARLTONPARIS -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy secured a small boost from Moody's rating agency Monday following a bruising downgrade last week of the way the country had been handling its economy and the wider European debt crisis. Moody's said Monday it was maintaining France's top triple A rating and stable outlook, just days after rival Standard & Poor's downgraded the country's debt over concerns over its economy and Europe's ability to get a handle on its debt woes.
Markets appeared to brush off S&P's decision to cut the credit ratings of nine European countries, including France. Though the downgrades late Friday had been expected, they served as a reminder that the 17 countries that use the euro as their currency still have a long way to go to deal with its two-year debt crisis.
Europe's economies will likely remain the focus of attention across markets all week as a number of bond auctions are due at the same time as Greece tries to clinch a debt-reduction deal with its private investors that is considered necessary if it's to avoid a potentially devastating default.Sarkozy, who is in campaign mode ahead of April's elections, traveled Monday to Spain, which was also downgraded Friday by S&P.
In a visit with Spanish King Juan Carlos ahead of his meeting with new Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Sarkozy did not address the downgrade but said, "Spain and France have a lot to do so that Europe can get out of the repeated crises that it have been in for the last three years."
The king said he's confident France and Spain will help Europe find a way out of the crisis, saying the two nations are "struggling together for the advance of a unified and prosperous Europe in solidarity that confronts the crisis with strength."
Back in Paris, Sarkozy's finance minister, Francois Baroin, defended his country's record.
"Investments are rarely without risk," he said at a conference in Paris on Monday. "But if there's an investment without any risk, it's the investment in the sovereign debt of our country, bonds among the most secure in the world."
Sarkozy's budget minister Valerie Pecresse said she was optimistic that S&P's knockdown would not lead to a rise in the country's borrowing costs. A short-term French bond auction later on that day is seen as a test of the impact of the downgrade.
In its announcement, Moody's cited the French economy's overall strength but said bleak growth prospects in France and the region present "risks to the French government's fiscal consolidation plans."
Moody's had said in October it was putting France on review, as Sarkozy and other European leaders struggled to find solutions to Europe's protracted debt crisis.
Moody's said Monday it "will update the market during the first quarter of 2012 as part of the initiative to revisit the overall architecture of our sovereign ratings in the EU."
"France, like other eurozone sovereigns, may face a number of challenges in the coming months. The need to provide additional support to other European sovereigns or to its own banking system cannot be excluded. In that case this could give rise to significant new (contingent) liabilities for the government's balance sheet," Moody's warned.
Moody's notes the government has less room to maneuver than during the 2008 meltdown. "The domestic and external economic growth outlook presents significant risks to the French government's fiscal consolidation plans."
The S&P move was especially brutal for France, one of the world's biggest economies and a financier of bailouts for smaller, poorer eurozone countries.
Sarkozy has yet to speak publicly about the downgrade, leaving his government ministers to try to calm the public.
Pecresse and the prime minister promised to continue cost-cutting reforms, despite criticism from the left - and S&P itself - that austerity measures alone could crimp growth.
Sarkozy's challengers for the presidency have seized on the downgrade as what they call evidence that his policies are wrong-headed and ineffective.
Sarkozy hasn't announced his candidacy but is near certain to seek a second term in two-round elections in April and May. He trails Socialist Francois Hollande in polls and is facing increasing pressure from far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and a centrist, Francois Bayrou.
It will be a bruising battle for Sarkozy, a dynamic leader who has a strong international profile but is widely disliked at home.
Leftists say he has coddled the rich, while many of those who supported him in his 2007 campaign say he hasn't fulfilled his promises.
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Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Madrid and Sarah DiLorenzo in Paris contributed to this report.
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NJ launches prescription monitoring program
By BETH DeFALCOTRENTON -- More than five years after New Jersey passed a law to start tracking prescription drug use, the state is launching a long-awaited database monitoring use of dangerous drugs with the intent of helping doctors spot abusers more quickly and authorities stop drug dealers. The database has been collecting information since Sept. 1; to date, more than 4 million prescriptions have been entered. Starting this month, doctors and pharmacies, including mail-order operations, can access detailed patient information on prescriptions for painkillers, steroids, sedatives and stimulants.
"It's going to allow us to track all prescription filled in the state of New Jersey and into the state of New Jersey by pharmacies that ship into the state," said Thomas Calcagni, the director of the state Division of Consumer Affairs, which will oversee the database.
Including New Jersey, 40 states have such a program, according to the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws.The number of Americans who abuse prescription drugs is greater than those who use cocaine, hallucinogens and heroin combined, according to a 2009 federal survey on drug use.
Push to get the New Jersey program operating became more of a priority following a series of stories by The Star-Ledger of Newark last year that exposed widespread abuse of steroids and human growth hormone by police and firefighters.
"There are benefits coming to this late in the game," Calcagni said. "We've learned a lot from their mistakes."
For example, unlike many of the other states, human growth hormone prescriptions will be tracked.
Law enforcement agencies will have access to the information, but only after obtaining a court order declaring probable cause, a higher standard than in most other states, which only require the search be related to an active investigation.
The Drug Enforcement Administration's New Jersey division "is committed to fighting the prescription drug problem with every available tool possible in order to protect our citizens," said Brian Crowell, special agent in charge of the division. He called the database invaluable in helping stop the spread of drugs.
The program cost $244,000 to set up and will cost $177,000 a year to maintain, but authorities say it will save much more by spotting abusers. The costs are covered in large part through a $350,000 federal grant. Optimum Technology of Columbus, Ohio, was chosen to oversee the database.
New Jersey's program will be more proactive in looking for abuse than many other states where the onus is placed on the doctors and pharmacists to contact law enforcement when they see suspicious activity, Calcagni said. His division will monitor the database for outliers and signs of abuse, warning doctors when patients exceed certain thresholds.
Prescription drug use has been steadily growing in New Jersey and around the country, surpassing cocaine and heroin use, and falling only second to marijuana use.
In 2010, there were more than 7,200 people in New Jersey who were admitted to certified substance abuse treatment programs as a result of prescription painkiller abuse, an increase of nearly 2,000 from the previous year and up more than 5,000 from 2005, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
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Turning cooking oil into biodiesel fuel in NYC
Local gas stations then sell diesel fuel from Tri-State Biodiesel, which can be used by any vehicle that uses diesel. It costs the same, but is much better for the environment.
And Tri-State Biodiesel is busy, making weekly pick ups of used cooking oil from more than 3,000 restaurants throughout the five boroughs.
Cafe Bonjour has been recycling its oil for two years. The service is free and better for the environment, especially considering how they previously disposed of cooking oil."We used to throw it in the sink before, or the garbage," owner Mario Hagag said. "But it's better for everyone if you recycle it."
The collected oil is brought to the company's warehouse in Hunts Points, where it is recycled and purified. Then, it is sent upstate for chemical processing, then to the gas station. The price is the same as regular petroleum-based diesel.
"As an in user, you wouldn't notice the difference between using biodiesel and using diesel fuel, except for that the biodiesel is much better for the environment," Tri-State CEO Brent Baker said. "It's easier on the local air quality, and it's a locally produced fuel."
In fact, biodiesel fuel reduces emissions by about 75 percent and is about 90 percent less toxic than petroleum diesel. The city has been so impressed by the company's work that starting next winter, all New York City buildings will be required to use 2 percent of biodiesel fuel in its heating oil, as a way to further reduce emissions.
Baker considers himself an environmentalist and an entrepreneur. When he started his company in 2004, it was a struggle. Now, he recycles more than 2 million gallons of cooking oil a year.
For more information, visit TriStateBiodiesel.com
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Wednesday, January 11, 2012
MTA to hold hard line in upcoming union negotiations?
Eyewitness NewsNEW YORK (WABC) -- Contract talks between the MTA and their largest union may be turning troublesome.
Reports are that the MTA will hold a hard line on upcoming new contract.
The 35,000-member Transport Workers Union went on strike for their latest contract in 2005. That contract expires Sunday.
The MTA is said to want reduced vacation time, larger insurance payments by members and cuts in overtime pay.---
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