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From left, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Sen. Michael Bennett, D-Colo., address the media during a news conference after their tour of the Mexico border with the United States on Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in Nogales, Ariz. The senators are part of a larger group of legislators shaping and negotiating details of an immigration reform package vowed Wednesday to make the legislation public when Congress reconvenes next month. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
From left, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Sen. Michael Bennett, D-Colo., address the media during a news conference after their tour of the Mexico border with the United States on Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in Nogales, Ariz. The senators are part of a larger group of legislators shaping and negotiating details of an immigration reform package vowed Wednesday to make the legislation public when Congress reconvenes next month. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tour the Nogales port of entry during their tour of the Mexico border with the United States on Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in Nogales, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left, speaks to the media as, from second left, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Michael Bennett, D-Colo., and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., listen in during a news conference after their tour of the Mexico border with the United States on Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in Nogales, Ariz. The senators are part of a larger group of legislators shaping and negotiating details of an immigration reform package vowed Wednesday to make the legislation public when Congress reconvenes next month. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Sen. Michael Bennett, D-Colo. second right, speaks, as, from left, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., listen during a news conference after their tour of the Mexico border with the United States on Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in Nogales, Ariz. The senators are part of a larger group of legislators shaping and negotiating details of an immigration reform package vowed Wednesday to make the legislation public when Congress reconvenes next month. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., makes a point as he is joined by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Sen. Michael Bennett, D-CO, during a news conference after their tour of the Mexico border with the United States on Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in Nogales, Ariz. A group of influential U.S. senators shaping and negotiating details of an immigration reform package vowed Wednesday to make the legislation public when Congress reconvenes next month. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) ? A bipartisan group of senators crafting a sweeping immigration bill vowed Wednesday that they would be ready to unveil it when Congress reconvenes in less than two weeks after getting a firsthand look at a crucial component of their legislation: security along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The four senators ? Republicans John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona and Democrats Chuck Schumer of New York and Michael Bennet of Colorado ? are members of the so-called Gang of Eight, which is close to finalizing a bill aimed at securing the border and putting 11 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship
The lawmakers' reassurance that their work would be complete by the week of April 8 came after a public feud erupted between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO over a low-skilled worker provision in the bill ? a spat that remained alive Friday as Congress began a two-week recess. But Flake noted Wednesday that negotiations over the worker program had resumed; an AFL-CIO negotiator also confirmed the talks were back on.
During the tour, the senators saw border agents apprehend a woman who had climbed an 18-foot-tall bollard fence.
"You can read and you can study and you can talk but until you see things it doesn't become reality," said Schumer, who toured the border for the first time. "I'll be able to explain this to my colleagues. Many of my colleagues say, 'Why do we need to do anything more on the border?' and we do. We should do more."
President Barack Obama has urged Congress to pass immigration reform this year. While ceding the details of the negotiations to Congress thus far, the president has stepped to the forefront of the debate this week to prod lawmakers to finish work on the bill.
Border security also is critical to McCain, and other Republicans, who contend that some areas along the border are far from secure.
The senators' tour Wednesday ? by both ground and air ? allowed them to review manned and unmanned drones and different types of fences. They also watched as vehicles going to and from Mexico were scrutinized by border agents at the checkpoint in Nogales.
"In so many ways, whatever your views are on immigration, Arizona is ground zero," Schumer said. "What I learned today is we have adequate manpower, but not adequate technology."
With top Republicans and Democrats focused on the issue, immigration reform faces its best odds in years. The proposed legislation will likely install new criteria for border security, allow more high- and low-skilled workers to come to the U.S. and hold businesses to tougher standards on verifying their workers are in the country legally.
The bill is expected to be lengthy and cover numerous issues, including limiting family-based immigration to put a greater emphasis on skills and employment ties instead. McCain and Schumer promised the overhaul would pay for itself, while cautioning that their proposed border security package would be costly.
"Nobody is going to be totally happy with this legislation, no one will be because we have to make compromises," McCain said.
Bennet said the Gang of Eight has agreed to put border security before a path to citizenship, but are opposed to double-sided fences along the length of the U.S.-Mexico border. Some lawmakers in Arizona want more border fences.
"There is not one simple solution to the issue of border security," Bennet said. "This isn't as simple as someone on the East Coast saying 'We need a fence everywhere or we don't.'"
The senators stressed only comprehensive immigration reform, not piecemeal solutions, had any hope of passing both chambers of Congress.
"We are not going to slice it up," McCain said.
The legislation was initially promised in March. Immigration proponents have said the group needs to introduce legislation soon, while some Republican lawmakers complain the process has moved too quickly.
If passed, the legislation could usher in the most sweeping changes in immigration law in nearly 30 years.
___
Cristina Silva can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/cristymsilva
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When our noses pick up a scent, whether the aroma of a sweet rose or the sweat of a stranger at the gym, two types of sensory neurons are at work in sensing that odor or pheromone. These sensory neurons are particularly interesting because they are the only neurons in our bodies that regenerate throughout adult life?as some of our olfactory neurons die, they are soon replaced by newborns. Just where those neurons come from in the first place has long perplexed developmental biologists.
Previous hypotheses about the origin of these olfactory nerve cells have given credit to embryonic cells that develop into skin or the central nervous system, where ear and eye sensory neurons, respectively, are thought to originate. But biologists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have now found that neural-crest stem cells?multipotent, migratory cells unique to vertebrates that give rise to many structures in the body such as facial bones and smooth muscle?also play a key role in building olfactory sensory neurons in the nose.
"Olfactory neurons have long been thought to be solely derived from a thickened portion of the ectoderm; our results directly refute that concept," says Marianne Bronner, the Albert Billings Ruddock Professor of Biology at Caltech and corresponding author of a paper published in the journal eLIFE on March 19 that outlines the findings.
The two main types of sensory neurons in the olfactory system are ciliated neurons, which detect volatile scents, and microvillous neurons, which usually sense pheromones. Both of these types are found in the tissue lining the inside of the nasal cavity and transmit sensory information to the central nervous system for processing.
In the new study, the researchers showed that during embryonic development, neural-crest stem cells differentiate into the microvillous neurons, which had long been assumed to arise from the same source as the odor-sensing ciliated neurons. Moreover, they demonstrated that different factors are necessary for the development of these two types of neurons. By eliminating a gene called Sox10, they were able to show that formation of microvillous neurons is blocked whereas ciliated neurons are unaffected.
They made this discovery by studying the development of the olfactory system in zebrafish?a useful model organism for developmental biology studies due to the optical clarity of the free-swimming embryo. Understanding the origins of olfactory neurons and the process of neuron formation is important for developing therapeutic applications for conditions like anosmia, or the inability to smell, says Bronner.
"A key question in developmental biology?the extent of neural-crest stem cell contribution to the olfactory system?has been addressed in our paper by multiple lines of experimentation," says Ankur Saxena, a postdoctoral scholar in Bronner's laboratory and lead author of the study. "Olfactory neurons are unique in their renewal capacity across species, so by learning how they form, we may gain insights into how neurons in general can be induced to differentiate or regenerate. That knowledge, in turn, may provide new avenues for pursuing treatment of neurological disorders or injury in humans."
Next, the researchers will examine what other genes, in addition to Sox10, play a role in the process by which neural-crest stem cells differentiate into microvillous neurons. They also plan to look at whether or not neural-crest cells give rise to new microvillous neurons during olfactory regeneration that happens after the embryonic stage of development.
###
California Institute of Technology: http://www.caltech.edu
Thanks to California Institute of Technology for this article.
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Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
Share ] Contact: Nick Hanson
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Mayo Clinic
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- It appears that the majority of spouses/partners of physicians in the United States are happy with their relationships, according to Mayo Clinic research. Of the about 900 spouses/partners of physicians who responded to a national survey, 85 percent said that they were satisfied in their relationship and 80 percent said they would choose a physician spouse/partner again if they could revisit their choice. These values are similar to those of married adults in the U.S. overall. The study appears in the March edition of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Consistent with the changing demographic characteristics of U.S. physicians, the study indicated one-fourth of the spouses/partners of physicians are men. The study also found that, independent of age or sex, most spouses/partners work outside the home. And of that group, most work 30 hours per week or more, with nearly 40 percent working full time.
Satisfaction strongly related to the amount of non-sleeping time spent with their physician partners each day. Despite their overall satisfaction, spouses/partners reported their physician partners frequently came home irritable, too tired to engage in home activities, or preoccupied with work.
Physicians' personal relationships are often believed to suffer because of the demanding and consuming nature of their work. Despite these stereotypes, there is little evidence in the findings to suggest physicians have lower-quality relationships or are more likely to go through divorce, says Tait Shanafelt, M.D., first author of the study and a Mayo Clinic hematologist and oncologist.
"The findings challenge a number of stereotypes about physician relationships," says Dr. Shanafelt. "While every relationship has challenges, our research shows that on the whole doctor's spouses and partners are extremely happy in their relationships."
###
The study was funded by the American Medical Association and the Mayo Clinic Department of Medicine Program on Physician Well-being.
About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit http://www.mayoclinic.com and http://www.mayoclinic.org/news.
Journalists can become a member of the Mayo Clinic News Network for the latest health, science and research news and access to video, audio, text and graphic elements that can be downloaded or embedded.
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Public release date: 28-Mar-2013 Share ] Contact: Nick Hanson
newsbureau@mayo.edu
507-284-5005
Mayo Clinic
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- It appears that the majority of spouses/partners of physicians in the United States are happy with their relationships, according to Mayo Clinic research. Of the about 900 spouses/partners of physicians who responded to a national survey, 85 percent said that they were satisfied in their relationship and 80 percent said they would choose a physician spouse/partner again if they could revisit their choice. These values are similar to those of married adults in the U.S. overall. The study appears in the March edition of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Consistent with the changing demographic characteristics of U.S. physicians, the study indicated one-fourth of the spouses/partners of physicians are men. The study also found that, independent of age or sex, most spouses/partners work outside the home. And of that group, most work 30 hours per week or more, with nearly 40 percent working full time.
Satisfaction strongly related to the amount of non-sleeping time spent with their physician partners each day. Despite their overall satisfaction, spouses/partners reported their physician partners frequently came home irritable, too tired to engage in home activities, or preoccupied with work.
Physicians' personal relationships are often believed to suffer because of the demanding and consuming nature of their work. Despite these stereotypes, there is little evidence in the findings to suggest physicians have lower-quality relationships or are more likely to go through divorce, says Tait Shanafelt, M.D., first author of the study and a Mayo Clinic hematologist and oncologist.
"The findings challenge a number of stereotypes about physician relationships," says Dr. Shanafelt. "While every relationship has challenges, our research shows that on the whole doctor's spouses and partners are extremely happy in their relationships."
###
The study was funded by the American Medical Association and the Mayo Clinic Department of Medicine Program on Physician Well-being.
About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit http://www.mayoclinic.com and http://www.mayoclinic.org/news.
Journalists can become a member of the Mayo Clinic News Network for the latest health, science and research news and access to video, audio, text and graphic elements that can be downloaded or embedded.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/mc-mcs032813.php
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Mar. 26, 2013 ? Among patients with the lung disorder non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis, treatment with the antibiotic azithromycin or erythromycin resulted in improvement in symptoms but also increased the risk of antibiotic resistance, according to two studies appearing in the March 27 issue of JAMA.
Bronchiectasis is characterized by abnormal widening of the bronchi (air tubes that branch deep into the lungs) and can cause recurrent lung infections, a disabling cough, shortness of breath, and coughing up blood. "If progressive, this process may lead to respiratory failure and the need for lung transplantation or to death," according to background information in one study. Macrolide (a class of antibiotics) antibiotics have antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties that conceivably would provide effective treatment of bronchiectasis. These antibiotics have been shown beneficial in treating cystic fibrosis (CF), and findings from small studies suggest a benefit in non-CF bronchiectasis.
Josje Altenburg, M.D., of the Medical Centre Alkmaar, the Netherlands, and colleagues conducted a multicenter trial to investigate whether 1 year of low-dose macrolide treatment added to standard therapy is effective in reducing exacerbation frequency in patients with non-CF bronchiectasis. The randomized, placebo-controlled trial was conducted between April 2008 and September 2010 in 14 hospitals in the Netherlands among 83 outpatients with non-CF bronchiectasis and 3 or more lower respiratory tract infections in the preceding year. Patients received azithromycin (250 mg daily) or placebo for 12 months.
Forty-three participants (52 percent) received azithromycin and 40 (48 percent) received placebo and were included in the modified intention-to-treat analysis. A total of 117 exacerbations treated with antibiotics were reported during 1 year of treatment, 78 of which occurred in the placebo group. "During the treatment period, the median [midpoint] number of exacerbations in the azithromycin group was 0, compared with 2 in the placebo group. Of the 40 participants receiving placebo, 32 (80 percent) had at least 1 exacerbation during the study period. In the 43 participants receiving azithromycin, 20 (46.5 percent) had at least 1 exacerbation in the same period, yielding an absolute risk reduction of 33.5 percent. The number of patients needed to treat with azithromycin to maintain clinical stability was 3.0," the authors write.
"Gastrointestinal adverse effects occurred in 40 percent of patients in the azithromycin group and in 5 percent in the placebo group but without need for discontinuation of study treatment. A macrolide resistance rate of 88 percent was noted in azithromycin-treated individuals, compared with 26 percent in the placebo group."
"We conclude that macrolide maintenance therapy was effective in reducing exacerbations in patients with non-CF bronchiectasis. In this trial, azithromycin treatment resulted in improved lung function and better quality of life but involved an increase in gastrointestinal adverse effects and high rates of macrolide resistance," the authors write.
In another study, David J. Serisier, M.B.B.S., D.M., F.R.A.C.P., of Mater Adult Hospital, South Brisbane, Australia, and colleagues tested the hypothesis that low-dose erythromycin would reduce pulmonary exacerbations in patients with non-CF bronchiectasis with a history of frequent exacerbations.
The study consisted of a 12-month randomized controlled trial of erythromycin in currently nonsmoking, adult patients with non-CF bronchiectasis with a history of 2 or more infective exacerbations in the preceding year. The study was undertaken between October 2008 and December 2011 in a university teaching hospital. Patients received twice-daily erythromycin ethylsuccinate (400 mg) or matching placebo. The primary measured outcome was the annualized average rate of protocol-defined pulmonary exacerbations (PDPEs) per patient. Secondary outcomes included macrolide resistance and lung function.
Six-hundred seventy-nine patients were screened, 117 were randomized (58 placebo, 59 erythromycin), and 107 (91.5 percent) completed the study. The researchers found that erythromycin significantly reduced PDPEs (76 for the erythromycin group vs. 114 for the placebo group; average 1.29 vs. 1.97 respectively, per patient per year). The number of patients treated with erythromycin who had zero PDPEs was 20 (vs. 16 for placebo), and 10 patients had more than 2 PDPEs (vs. 18, respectively).
Erythromycin also reduced PDPEs in the prespecified subgroup with baseline Pseudomonas aeruginosa airway infection. In addition, there were significantly fewer total respiratory events (total PDPEs plus non-PDPEs) in the erythromycin group (111 vs. 176 for placebo; average, 1.88 vs. 3.03 per patient per year).
"Erythromycin reduced 24-hour sputum production and attenuated [lessened] lung function decline compared with placebo. Erythromycin increased the proportion of macrolide-resistant oropharyngeal streptococci," the authors write.
"In conclusion, long-term low-dose erythromycin significantly reduced exacerbations, protected against lung function decline, reduced sputum production, and significantly increased macrolide resistance in oropharyngeal streptococci. The bacterial resistance caused by macrolide therapy mandates a cautious application of this therapy in clinical practice. Further studies are needed to evaluate the possibility that P aerugmosa-infected individuals with frequent exacerbations may represent an appropriate subgroup for limitation of this therapy."
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Scott Smith
Corona Arch near Moab, Utah. The arch has become popular for adrenaline junkies seeking a thrill by swinging through the 140-foot sandstone arch.
By Andrew Rafferty, Staff Writer, NBC News
A 22-year-old man recreating what has recently become a popular stunt was killed after apparently leaving too much slack in the rope he was using to swing through a massive sandstone arch in Utah, police said Monday.?
Kyle Lee Stocking, of West Jordan, and five friends hiked to the Corona Arch in southeastern Utah on Sunday to attempt the stunt made famous on YouTube.
But Stocking miscalculated the length of the rope he used to swing from the 140-foot sandstone arch and struck the ground when he jumped, according to the Grand County Sheriff's Office.
County deputies, search and rescue personnel and paramedics all responded to the accident, but Stocking was pronounced dead at the scene.
Internet videos have popularized the dangerous activity, which involves using a rope to swing like a pendulum through massive arches and canyons. A YouTube video titled "World's Largest Rope Swing," shot at the same arch where Stocking attempted his swing, ?has garnered more than 17 million views since being posted last month.
By Monday night, the comments page attached to the video had largely turned into a debate about the safety of the activity and the wisdom of bolstering it through a well produced video.
YouTubeThis video of people swinging from the Corona Arch has received more than 17 million YouTube views since being posted in February.
Previously, hiking and adventure companies could charge to take daring patrons to the top of the arch for their chance to get the swing of a lifetime, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
But earlier this year Utah state officials outlawed the activity, largely because of the danger posed ? and a forthcoming land exchange between School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) and?the Bureau of Land Management.
The arch has nevertheless remained opened for private parties wishing to climb or swing.?
"If people want to huck themselves off a cliff or arch that?s their business," said John Andrews, SITLA?s general counsel, told the Tribune in February. "There is a general principle that owners who hold their land open for recreational use are insulated from liability. We felt there was more risk [exposure to the state] if someone operated under a permit and someone got hurt."
Yet prohibiting commercial outfitters from professionally charging for swinging adventures has raised objections from those who say people will swing regardless, so it would be better to do it with some professional oversight.
"If you don?t do it exactly right you can die,"?Thad James,?owner of the Utah outfitter High Adventure, told the Tribune when the ban first went into effect.
A spokeswoman for the Bureau of Land Management told the Associate Press on Monday they will be ?"taking a closer look at appropriate ways to balance and manage these activities on public lands."
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Emilio Morenatti / AP
Hooded penitents from the La Paz brotherhood walk to the church to take part in a procession in Seville, Spain, on March 24, 2013.
Christian believers around the world are marking the Holy Week of Easter in celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. On Sunday, hundreds of processions were held in towns and cities across Spain.
In his?Palm Sunday service at the Vatican, Pope Francis?appealed to?the crowd to shun corruption and reach out to "the humble, the poor, the forgotten."
Eloy Alonso / Reuters
Women wearing traditional mantilla dresses smoke outside a church before taking part in the Brotherhood procession of "Los Estudiantes" (The Students) at the start of Holy Week in Oviedo, northern Spain, on March 24, 2013.
Emilio Morenatti / AP
"Costaleros" from "La Estrella" brotherhood, wait their turn to carry over their backs the portable dais platform which supports a statue of Jesus Christ during a procession in Seville on March 24, 2013.
Marcelo Del Pozo / Reuters
Penitents pass a man with a dog as they walk to a church before taking part in the procession of "La Paz" (Peace) brotherhood during Holy Week in the Andalusian capital of Seville, March 24, 2013.
Jon Nazca / Reuters
Film actor and director Antonio Banderas, second right, sings a song to the Virgin inside a church as he takes part as a penitent in the "Lagrimas and Favores" brotherhood in a Palm Sunday procession in Malaga on March 24, 2013.
Cristina Quicler / AFP - Getty Images
A penitent of the "La Paz" brotherhood holds a religious item with an image of the Virgin Mary as he takes part in a procession in Seville on March 24, 2013.
Emilio Morenatti / AP
A waiter tries to see from a window as the procession of "La Paz" brotherhood passes along a street in Seville on March 24, 2013.
Eloy Alonso / Reuters
Spanish legionnaires carry a statue of the Christ of the Mercy into church after the Palm Sunday procession of the "Estudiantes" brotherhood was suspended due to rain in Oviedo on March 24, 2013.
Jon Nazca / Reuters
A crying woman is comforted by fellow penitents inside a church where they took shelter from the rain during the "Lagrimas y Favores" (Tears and Favors) brotherhood Palm Sunday procession in Malaga on March 24, 2013.
Jon Nazca / Reuters
Penitents light their candles as they take part in the "Humildad" (Humility) brotherhood Palm Sunday procession in Malaga on March 24, 2013.
?
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Stocks closed up on Wall Street Friday as Nike and other major companies issued strong earnings reports.?Investors took advantage of the market's down week and ramped up their buying of stocks.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange, Friday. Stocks rose on Wall Street, bolstered by strong company earnings.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
EnlargeStrong company earnings boosted?stocks?on Wall Street Friday. Investors also saw a chance to add to their holdings after declines earlier in the week.
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Nike reported a surge in quarterly profit, sending its?stock?price to a record. Tiffany topped earnings predictions, boosted by demand from customers in Asia.
Investors were also drawn by a pause in the market's big run-up. The Standard & Poor's 500 index logged its second weekly decline of the year, despite Friday's gains.
The damper on U.S.?stock?markets was caused by another worrisome chapter in Europe's debt crisis, and some disappointing corporate news.
The Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus, a banking haven, is struggling to devise a plan to avoid financial collapse.?Stocks?were also weighed down on Thursday by weak sales from Oracle. That news brought down technology?stocks.
FedEx ended the week 10 percent lower after it reported a drop in quarterly profit and cut its annual earnings forecast on Wednesday. The company is a gauge of the economy because so many shoppers and businesses use its shipping services.
On Friday, investors took advantage of the market's down week and ramped up their?stock?buying.
A resilient global economy has encouraged investors to pick up?stocks?on any dips, said Ron Florance, managing director of investment strategy at Wells Fargo Private Bank.
"We still have an astonishing amount of money sitting on the sidelines," said Florance.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 90.54 points, or 0.6 percent, to 14,512.03 Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 11.09 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,556.89. The Nasdaq composite gained 22.40 points, or 0.7 percent, to 3,245.
Nike shares hit an all-time high, rising $5.93, or 11 percent, to $59.53 after the company reported a 55 percent spike in quarterly net income. Tiffany rose $1.32, or 1.9 percent, to $69.23 after its strong fourth-quarter earnings.
For the week, though, the S&P 500 was seven points, or 0.3 percent, lower than it was at the start of trading on Monday.
The index last logged a weekly decline Feb. 22, falling 0.3 percent, after investors were spooked by the minutes from the Federal Reserve's January policy meeting. The minutes revealed disagreement over how long to keep buying bonds in an effort to boost the economy.
The Dow shed a fraction of a percentage point this week.
A pause in the?stock?market run-up is now due because gains this year overstate the improvement in the economy, said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
The biggest risk to the market run-up this year will come when the Fed faces increasing pressure to end its stimulus program. That could happened if the economy continues to improve and?stock?markets rise, said Sandven.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.93 percent from 1.92 percent.
Among other?stocks?making big moves Friday;
? Micron Technology rose 97 cents, or 10.7 percent, to $10.05 despite reporting a loss in its fiscal second-quarter later Thursday. The chipmaker said that revenue grew 3 percent, to $2.08 billion, better than analysts had expected.
? Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc. climbed $1.24, or 25.6 percent, to $6.08 Friday, after the drug developer reported strong data from a mid-stage study of a potential chronic rash treatment.
? Marin Software, a marketing software company, rose $2.26, or 16.1 percent, to $16.26 on its market debut. The San Francisco-based company raised $105 million in its initial public offering.
? AK Steel Holding fell 16 cents, or 4.6 percent, to $3.31, after projecting a larger-than-expected first-quarter loss because a previously expected seasonal increase in demand for steel hasn't materialized.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Pe8cdub5iyk/Stocks-rise-on-strong-company-earnings
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Investigators are looking into whether a paroled white supremacist may have killed a pizza delivery man and gunned down the top prisons official in Colorado before he led Texas authorities on a wild chase and shootout. NBC's Kristen Dahlgren reports.
By Kristen Wyatt, Nicholas Riccardi, The Associated Press
Attorney Jack Ebel testified before the Colorado Legislature two years ago that solitary confinement in a Colorado prison was destroying the psyche of his son, Evan.?
When Jack Ebel's longtime friend, Gov. John Hickenlooper, was interviewing a Missouri corrections official for the top prisons job in Colorado, he mentioned the case as an example of why the prison system needed reform. And once Tom Clements came to Colorado, he eased the use of solitary confinement and tried to make it easier for people housed there to re-enter society.
Now authorities are investigating whether Evan Spencer Ebel, who was paroled in January, is linked to the assassination of Clements, who was shot and killed Tuesday night when he answered the front door of his house in a rural neighborhood.
The bullet casings from that shooting are the same type as those found at the site of a bloody gun battle Thursday between Evan Ebel and Texas law enforcement officers that ended with Ebel being shot and killed, according to court records.
The car Ebel drove matched the description of the one spotted outside Clements' house on the night of the prison director's death. Authorities also found a Domino's pizza delivery box in the trunk and a jacket or shirt from the pizza chain. Denver police say Ebel is now a suspect in the Sunday slaying of pizza delivery man Nathan Leon.
Hickenlooper confirmed his relationship with Jack Ebel to The Denver Post and KUSA-TV Friday evening and then in a written statement Friday night. State records show Ebel donated $1,050 to the governor's 2010 campaign. But there's no indication that Hickenlooper's relationship with the Ebels played a role in the shooting.
Hickenlooper denied having any role in Evan Ebel's parole.?
Related:?White supremacist eyed in slaying of Colorado prisons chief
"Although Jack loved his son, he never asked me to intervene on his behalf and I never asked for any special treatment for his son," Hickenlooper's written statement said.
State prisons spokeswoman Alison Morgan said Evan Ebel was paroled Jan. 28 as part of a mandatory process after serving his full prison term. He had most recently been sentenced to four years for punching a prison guard in 2008, according to state records.
Hickenlooper said he never mentioned Ebel's name to Clements or anyone else connected with the prisons system. He said he only heard about the role of his friend's son Thursday night.
"I didn't know Evan was out," the governor told The Denver Post and KUSA, adding that he called Jack Ebel after being told of the connection. "He was distraught, he was devastated. I've never heard him so upset, and he's had some hard things in his life."
Lt. Jeff Kramer of the El Paso County sheriff's office said Friday evening that he was unaware of the relationship between Hickenlooper and Ebel's father.
Jack Ebel did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment.
A federal law enforcement official said Ebel was a member of a white supremacist prison gang, the 211s. The official wasn't authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Colorado officials wouldn't confirm Ebel's membership but placed state prisons on lockdown Friday afternoon.
Legal records show Ebel was convicted of several crimes in Colorado dating back to 2003.
Scott Robinson, a criminal defense attorney and media legal analyst, represented Ebel in 2003 and 2004. He said Ebel had been sentenced to a halfway house for a robbery charge in 2003 before he was accused in two additional robbery cases the following year that garnered prison sentences of three and eight years.
Related:?Man in Texas car chase, shootout may have ties to Colorado prison chief death
"I thought he was a young man who was redeemable, otherwise I wouldn't have taken the case," Robinson said, saying he didn't recall the details of the case.?
Robinson said he knew Ebel before he got in trouble. He said Ebel had a younger sister who died in a car accident years ago.
Vicky Bankey said Ebel was in his teens when she lived across from him in suburban Denver until his father moved a couple of years ago. She remembers seeing Ebel once jump off the roof of his house. "He was a handful. I'd see him do some pretty crazy things," she said.
"He had a hair-trigger temper as a kid. But his dad was so nice," Bankey said.
Hickenlooper agreed that Evan Ebel had "a bad streak" that his parents had tried to correct.
"The events of the past few days have been devastating for all involved," he said in the written statement. "I am in shock and disbelief about how everything seems connected in this case. It makes no sense. Tom's death at the hands of someone hell-bent on causing evil was tragic in every way. It also now appears Tom's killer may have had another victim. Our hearts and prayers are with Nathan Leon's family as well."
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers P. Solomon Banda, Dan Elliott, Colleen Slevin, Alexandra Tilsley and Catherine Tsai in Denver; Thomas Peipert in Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Angela K. Brown in Decatur, Texas.
? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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One of the biggest challenges of retirement is making sure your money will last the rest of your life?however long that might be. You can only estimate how many years you will live, and you have to manage your finances so your savings will last for that unknown number of years. Here are some ways to make sure you will have money coming in, no matter how long you live:
Social Security. Social Security is your first line of defense against outliving your savings because these payments will continue for the rest of your life and are adjusted for inflation each year. Anyone who qualifies for Social Security will never completely run out of money, but could have to cut their standard of living to survive on their Social Security payment if they exhaust all other sources of income. Since this is the only guaranteed source of income most retirees have, it's a good idea to try to increase the amount you will get. Common strategies for boosting your Social Security payments include making sure you have at least 35 years of covered earnings, claiming spousal payments, and delaying claiming up until age 70. "Get your [online] Social Security statement from the Social Security Administration and then go through that information and use it to decide when to claim Social Security," advises Troy Von Haefen, a certified financial planner for Von Haefen Financial Management in Nashville.
[Read: 12 Ways to Increase Your Social Security Payments.]
A pension. Workers fortunate enough to get a traditional pension through their jobs generally have a second guaranteed source of monthly retirement income. Most private-sector pension plans are insured by the PBGC, which guarantees pension benefits up to certain annual limits and will pay out benefits if your former employer goes out of business. However, workers with traditional pensions are increasingly being offered lump-sum pension payouts, which do not come with the same protections. If you don't manage a lump sum prudently or you live longer than you expected, you could end up spending that money too quickly.
[Read: The Best Tax Breaks for Retirement Savers.]
An annuity. Immediate annuities allow you to hand over a chunk of your retirement savings to an insurance company in exchange for guaranteed monthly payments for the rest of your life. The costs and fees of some annuities can be high, and you generally won't be able to pass the money you use to purchase an annuity on to heirs. But you gain a predictable monthly income, even if you live past age 100 or the stock market takes another dive, as long as the insurance company stays in business. "With the insurance company annuity, the insurance company guarantees that the money will last the rest of your life no matter how long you live," says Steve Vernon, a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and author of "Money for Life: Turn Your IRA and 401(k) into a Lifetime Retirement Paycheck." "If you want that lifetime guarantee, you are going to have to trade off access to your money. With most annuities, once you give your money over to the insurance company, you can't get it back other than the monthly paycheck."
Systematic withdrawals. Disciplined investors may be able to gradually draw down their savings in such a way that it is likely to last as long as they live. Many financial advisers recommend withdrawing no more than about 3 or 4 percent of your retirement savings, perhaps adjusted for inflation, each year. This strategy carries the risks that your investments could perform poorly, that you will live longer than expected, or that you will simply fail to stick to the plan and spend more than you should. However, that money will be available to you to use for emergencies, such as medical bills or home repairs. And if you end up dying sooner than expected, your heirs will get the money. If you are an especially gifted investor, you'll also get to keep your investment gains. "With a systematic withdrawal scheme, if you live a long time or have a poor investment experience, you might run out of money or you might pass away before you run out of money and have a lot of money left to leave to your heirs or charity," says Vernon. "Looking forward, we may not have the interest rates to support the 4 percent rule. We're moving toward 3.5 or 3 percent as a safer withdrawal rate."
[Read: How to Take 401(k) Withdrawals.]
Pay off your house. Paying off your mortgage eliminates one of your biggest monthly bills and allows you to use your savings for other expenses besides housing. The equity in your home could also be tapped for extreme emergencies, via a second mortgage or reverse mortgage. "If you pay off your house, that's a guaranteed return of 3 to 4 percent," says Stephen Curley, a certified financial planner and director at Water Oak Advisors in Winter Park, Fla. "If you go into retirement debt-free and owning your house outright and you are able to take out 4 percent of your portfolio along with Social Security and meet your retirement needs, that is the best-case scenario. And if you can't stand the capital market, you should maybe buy a fixed immediate annuity."
Read more on U.S. News
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Earlier on Huff/Post50:
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/23/retirement-savings-retirement-planning_n_2932788.html
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FILE - A Wednesday, July 18, 2007 photo from files showing Russian exile Boris Berezovsky, a close friend of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko who was poisoned by Polonium 2-10, speaking to the media in a news conference in London. United Kingdom police have said that Berezovsky has been found dead Saturday March 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)
FILE - A Wednesday, July 18, 2007 photo from files showing Russian exile Boris Berezovsky, a close friend of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko who was poisoned by Polonium 2-10, speaking to the media in a news conference in London. United Kingdom police have said that Berezovsky has been found dead Saturday March 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)
FILE - A Sunday, April 18, 1999 photo from files showing Boris Berezovsky as he arrives at Moscow's Sheremetiyevo-I international airport. United Kingdom police have said that Berezovsky has been found dead Saturday March 23, 2013.(AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel, File)
FILE - A Monday, April 28, 2008 photo from files showing Boris Berezovsky as he arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice in London for his hearing against Roman Abramovich. United Kingdom police have said that Berezovsky has been found dead Saturday March 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)
LONDON (AP) ? Boris Berezovsky, a self-exiled and outspoken Russian tycoon who had a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was found dead in southeast England on Saturday. He was 67.
In recent years, the one-time Kremlin powerbroker-turned-thorn in Putin's side fended off verbal and legal attacks in cases that often bore political undertones ? and bit into his fortune.
The cause of Berezovsky's death was not immediately clear, and Thames Valley police said it was being treated as "unexplained." The police would not directly identify him, but when asked about Berezovsky by name they read a statement saying they were investigating the death of a 67-year-old man at a property in Ascot, a town 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of London.
Lawyer Alexander Dobrovinsky told Russian state TV that his client ? who had survived assassination attempts in the past ? lately had been in "a horrible, terrible" emotional state.
"All he had was debts," Dobrovinsky told Russian state TV. "He was practically destroyed. He was selling his paintings and other things."
A mathematician-turned-Mercedes dealer, Berezovsky amassed his wealth during Russia's chaotic privatization of state assets in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. In return for backing former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, he gained political clout and opportunities to buy state assets at knockdown prices, making a fortune in oil and automobiles.
He also played a key role in brokering the rise of Yeltsin's successor, Vladimir Putin, in 2000. But Berezovsky later fell out of favor with Putin, and eventually sought political asylum in the U.K. in the early 2000s to evade fraud charges he contended were politically motivated.
Berezovsky was one of several so-called Russian "oligarchs" to butt heads with Putin.
After coming into power, the Russian president effectively made a pact: the oligarchs could keep their money if they didn't challenge him politically. Those who refused often found themselves in dire circumstances. Some were imprisoned ? like the former Yukos Oil chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky ? while others, like Berezovsky, fled Russia.
The assets of these pariah businessmen, meanwhile, were acquired by state corporations or cooperative tycoons, often at bargain prices.
Over the years, Berezovsky accused Putin of leading Russia toward dictatorship and returning it to a Soviet-style system of state monopoly on the media.
In the U.K., Berezovsky allied himself with an array of other Kremlin critics. Among them was ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, who fled Russia with Berezovsky's help after accusing officials there of plotting to assassinate political opponents.
Litvinenko died on Nov. 26, 2006, after drinking tea laced with a lethal dose of the rare radioactive isotope polonium-210 in a London hotel. From his deathbed, Litvinenko accused the Kremlin of orchestrating his poisoning, and British police named former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi as the prime suspect.
Both Lugovoi and the Kremlin denied the accusations, with the former instead claiming that Berezovsky ? whom Russia repeatedly sought to extradite on a wide variety of criminal charges ? engineered Litvinenko's death as a way of embarrassing the Kremlin and buttressing his refugee status.
Berezovsky, who considered Litvinenko a close friend, consistently denied the allegations. In 2010, he won a libel case against Kremlin-owned broadcaster All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting, which aired a show in which it was suggested he was behind the former agent's poisoning.
Berezovsky, too, was the target of assassination attempts. In 1994, a car bomb injured him and killed his driver. He also said he briefly fled the U.K. in 2007 when British intelligence services told him his life was in danger.
"I was informed by Scotland Yard that there was a plot to kill me, and they recommended to me to leave the country," he told The Associated Press at the time. Scotland Yard later arrested a man on suspicion of conspiring to murder the tycoon.
More recently, Berezovsky has made headlines for costly legal battles that have dealt serious blows to his finances.
Last year, the Russian business magnate was ordered to pay 35 million pounds ($53.3 million) in legal costs to fellow Russian Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, after losing a multimillion-dollar legal battle against him.
Berezovsky had claimed that Abramovich cheated him out of his stakes in the oil group Sibneft, arguing that he blackmailed him into selling the stakes vastly beneath their true worth after he lost Putin's good graces.
But a judge threw out the case in August, ruling that Berezovsky was a dishonest and unreliable witness, and rejected Berezovsky's claims that he was threatened by Putin and Alexander Voloshin, a Putin ally, to coerce him to sell his Sibneft stake.
It also recently emerged that Berezovsky ran up legal bills totaling more than 250,000 pounds in just two months of a case against his former partner, Elena Gorbunova, with whom he had two children and who claimed the businessman owed her millions.
Earlier this week, The Times of London newspaper reported that Berezovsky was selling property ? including an Andy Warhol portrait of the former Soviet Union leader Vladimir Lenin ? to settle his debts and pay expenses owed to lawyers.
The Russian president's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said in a telephone interview on state television that Berezovsky had sent a letter to Putin about two months ago asking to be allowed to return to Russia. In the letter, Berezovsky acknowledged having made many mistakes, Peskov said.
Peskov said he did not know how Putin reacted to news of the death.
"But you can say that information about the death of someone, no matter who he was, cannot elicit positive emotions," the spokesman said.
___
AP writer Lynn Berry in Moscow contributed to this story.
Cassandra Vinograd can be reached at http://twitter.com/CassVinograd
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JERUSALEM (AP) ? President Barack Obama was interrupted by a heckler while giving a speech to an audience of Israeli university students, but he didn't lose his cool.
The president was talking about the U.S. being a close ally to Israel when the heckler piped up. The crowd shouted him down.
"This is part of the lively debate that we talked about," said an unruffled Obama. "This is good."
That got him a standing ovation from many of the students.
"I have to say we actually arranged for that because it made me feel at home," Obama said, grinning. "I wouldn't feel comfortable if I didn't have at least one heckler."
Obama went on to deliver an impassioned appeal for Israel to recognize that compromise will be necessary to achieve lasting security.
___
Obama has permitted TV crews with live microphones to accompany him at virtually every stop in Israel, giving a rare and fascinating glimpse at the joking and small talk that takes place on the sidelines of official visits.
In Jerusalem on Thursday, Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Israel Museum, where they examined the Dead Sea Scrolls. Reading a passage from Isaiah from a facsimile of a scroll, Netanyahu explained: "It says, 'Nations should not lift swords unto nations and they shall know war no more."
The phrase forms the lyrics to a popular Hebrew folk song often used as a rallying call for peace.
Obama marveled that the Hebrew language had not changed much over the centuries.
Minutes later, during a tour of a technology exhibit, the two leaders stopped by a display of a robotic snake that can burrow into rubble during rescue operations. The three-foot contraption wriggled and separated and reared up. "Let me just say, my wife would not like this," Obama said, grinning.
At a brain imaging display, a scientist explained that the first step in studying brain function is taking accurate measurements of the brain. "That presupposes there is something to measure, right?" Netanyahu joked.
Developers of a driver assistance device that detects road obstacles described how their Mobileye protected passengers by sensing a car's proximity to other cars.
"Pedestrians, too?" Obama asked. "Pedestrians, cars...," one of the developers replied.
"Dogs?" Obama wondered. "Not dogs," came the reply.
___
For Obama, this was personal. The president reflected repeatedly on his experience as a father and an African American as he contemplated the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Standing alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, Obama contrasted the experience of children growing up amid the conflict to that of his two daughters, who in an earlier period in American history would have been denied the opportunities granted to others.
"Those of us in the United States understand that change takes time, but it is also possible," he said.
Later, in Jerusalem, Obama cited Martin Luther King Jr. and likened the story of the upcoming Jewish holiday of Passover to the experience of blacks in the U.S. who were freed from slavery and persecution.
Of the Passover story, Obama added: "For me personally, growing up in far-flung parts of the world and without firm roots, it spoke to a yearning within every human being for a home."
And the president veered briefly off of his prepared remarks to scores of Israeli students to convey a lesson he took away from meeting earlier in the day with Palestinian students in the occupied West Bank.
"They weren't that different from my daughters. They weren't that different from your daughters or sons," he said. "I honestly believe that if any Israeli parent sat down with those kids, they'd say, 'I want these kids to succeed. I want them to prosper. I want them to have opportunities just like my kids do.'"
___
At the White House, Obama is used to bestowing medals on combat veterans, both living and deceased, as well as famous Americans, scientists, inventors and others.
But on Thursday, it was his turn to bow his head and accept one for himself.
During a state dinner at Israeli President Shimon Peres' official residence, Peres presented his American counterpart with the Medal of Distinction, the highest honor the Jewish state bestows on civilians. An announcer said it was for Obama's "unique and significant" contributions to Israel's security.
"This award speaks to your tireless work to make Israel strong," Peres said during his toast. Then he put the large, round medal dangling from a wide, dark-blue ribbon with a white stripe down the middle around Obama's neck.
The medal features the North Star to symbolize the right path. Also on the medal is a menorah ? the emblem of Israel and a symbol of the link between past and present. It is inscribed with the words from Samuel 9:2, "from his shoulders and upward."
Obama wore the medal as he delivered his reciprocal toast.
"This is an extraordinary honor for me and I could not be more deeply moved," he said.
___
During portions of the dinner that were open to media coverage, Obama and Netanyahu continued the newfound chumminess they displayed a day earlier.
Seated next to each other at a rectangular head table draped in white cloth and adorned with white tulips and orchids, the two leaders were seen leaning in and whispering to one another, laughing and smiling as they awaited Peres' remarks. At one point, they hid their mouths behind their hands strategically to thwart lip readers and microphones in the room.
Obama and Netanyahu have had a prickly relationship, but they have put on a happier face during Obama's first visit to Israel as president.
Among the 120 dinner guests seated at similarly decorated round banquet tables were Justice minister Tzipi Livni; Avigdor Lieberman, a Netanyahu ally; and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida, the chair of the Democratic Party.
The invite list led to some interesting pairings.
Seated together at one table were a rabbi from the Western Wall and a Muslim cleric. At another table sat Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to Washington; Yair Lapid, the new star of Israeli politics and a leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party; Yuli Eidelstein, a hard-line Likud lawmaker who is a former Soviet political prisoner and the new speaker of Israel's parliament; U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Livni.
What were they served? A fish appetizer, a duet of beef and lamb on a potato tart, salad, and a plate of fruit, ?clairs, dates and other pastries and sweets.
___
In the most emotional moment of the tech tour, Obama and Netanyahu encountered a Druze Israeli war veteran and a U.S. army veteran, both paralyzed from the waist down. Both demonstrated how they were able to walk with the help of crutches and a computerized exoskeleton that supported their legs as they moved.
Obama gave both presidential "challenge coins," used to recognize veterans for their service.
The army veteran, Theresa Hannigan, a 60-year-old from Long Island, N.Y., was learning how to use the motorized aides, called the ReWalk, at the Bronx VA hospital. She implored Obama to help the device obtain FDA approval. Her voice breaking, Hannigan stood straight and hugged Obama.
The system is made by an Israeli company called Argo Medical Technologies. Its exoskeleton suit uses computers and motion sensors to allow paraplegics to walk with motorized legs that power knee and hip movement.
Obama offered a personal reflection. "Michelle's father had MS, so he used crutches until he was probably 45, 50, then got a wheelchair."
Netanyahu replied: "This would have given him a different life."
___
Peres is making sure that controversy over a tree brought to Israel by Obama does not upset the deep-rooted ties between the countries.
Obama brought the magnolia tree as a gift, and planted it at Peres' official residence during a welcoming ceremony Wednesday. Israeli media later reported that the tree would have to be uprooted and tested to make sure it complied with agricultural import regulations.
Peres' office quickly denied the report. It said agriculture officials would conduct "all the necessary tests" required by law but stressed the checkup would be done "without removing the tree from the place where it was planted, as agreed."
___
Associated Press writer Daniel Estrin contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-notebook-obama-heckler-shouted-down-010552485--politics.html
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