Judge orders limited use of Falmouth wind turbines

BARNSTABLE, Mass. — The town of Falmouth was ordered by a judge on Friday to limit the hours two town-owned wind turbines operate after neighbors blamed them for a series of health problems.

Effective immediately, the energy-generating turbines at the Cape Cod town's wastewater treatment facility are only allowed to operate from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. on every day of the week except Sunday, and are not allowed to operate at all on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day, Superior Court Judge Christopher Muse wrote in the decision.

Neil and Elizabeth Andersen, who live about a quarter of a mile from the turbines, said they caused "continuous insomnia, headaches, psychological disturbances, dental injuries, and other forms of malaise" they had not suffered prior to the turbines' construction.

"The court finds the Andersens claims that they did not experience such symptoms prior to the construction and operation of the turbines, and that that each day of operation produces further injury, to be credible," the judge wrote.

Continued operation of the turbines at previous levels put residents at risk of "irreparable physical and psychological harm," he judge wrote.

The environmental group Wind Wise Massachusetts called it a landmark decision.

"This is believed to be the first time that a court in the U.S. has ruled that there is sufficient evidence that wind turbines near residential areas are a health hazard to families living nearby," said Virginia Irvine, president of Wind Wise Massachusetts.

The decision has repercussions in other Massachusetts towns where wind turbines are being blamed for health problems, Neil Andersen said.

"It's torture," he said of the turbines' noise and pressure effects. "But this decision is a victory. It gives us some relief."

The 1.65 megawatt turbines were erected about 3½ years ago to power the treatment plant and to create revenue for the town by selling electricity back to the grid.

They ran 24/7 at first, but more recently have been running from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m. daily, he said.

Each turbine is almost 400 feet tall from the ground to the tip of the blade at its highest point.

They have been the subject of disagreements and lawsuits between town boards and townwide votes on whether to dismantle them entirely.

The town argued against restricting the hours of operation, saying shorter hours would reduce revenue from sales of energy back to the grid. The judge rejected that argument.

The town's lawyer was not immediately available to comment on the judge's decision.

The judge told the sides to work on a mitigation plan and submit it to the court in 75 days.

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Modern upgrade, authentic charm

This turn-of-the-century townhouse on Beacon Hill with five levels of living space was updated in a way that preserved its authentic charm while adding contemporary features.

The 10-room single-family brick rowhouse at 22 Joy St. — built in 1890 — was completely redone in 2006 with a granite, cherrywood and stainless-steel kitchen and a spacious top-floor master bedroom suite. The 3,096-square-foot home with formal dining and living 
areas, double Victorian parlors with wood-burning fireplaces, and a private courtyard and third-floor deck is listed for $2,700,000.

The makeover also 
included a two-zone gas-fired heating and central air-conditioning system, new electrical and plumbing, five updated bathrooms and 
recessed lighting throughout. The brick exterior was repointed and large four-pane windows had their rope-and-pulley systems updated with custom shutters. But much of the original woodwork, including door and window moldings, wide-pine floors, staircases, wood-burning fireplaces and top-floor wood beams, has been retained.

You enter through a double set of wood doors into an oak-floored foyer with a sweeping staircase. A formal dining room to the right is walled off from the foyer and accessed through French doors around a corner. The dining room has a wood-burning fireplace, recessed lighting and an original 
exposed beam.

The adjacent living room also has an original wood-burning fireplace and a 
recessed-lit tray ceiling with an exposed beam. In one corner is a wet bar added in 2006 with Green Goddess granite counters and a Marvel wine cooler. Windows from this room and the adjacent kitchen look out on a narrow 
private courtyard.

You step down from here into a long kitchen and breakfast nook with four large windows overlooking the courtyard and a leaded glass door that opens onto it.

Redone in 2006, the 
kitchen has dark cherry­-wood floors, light cherrywood cabinets and Green Goddess granite countertops. There are also two stainless-steel sinks, two wall ovens and two wine coolers. Stainless-steel appli­ances also include a Sub-
Zero refrigerator, G.E. Profile dishwasher and gas stovetop with a Zephyr hood.

A restored original winding staircase leads up to the second floor, where there are two Victorian parlors with original wide-pine floors and pine wainscoting. The front parlor, currently outfitted as a home office, has two tall windows, recessed lighting, and a wood-burning fireplace with a marble mantel.

The back parlor, currently outfitted as a den, has its own wet bar with Green Goddess granite and a Marvel wine cooler and an original brick fireplace. Off this room is a small bedroom, and there's a half-bath off the hallway.

There are two more bedrooms on the third floor with restored pine floors, recessed lighting and large windows. The front bedroom has a wood-burning fireplace, and the rear bedroom opens out onto a good-sized private deck. There's a full bathroom on this floor with a Green Goddess granite vanity and a white-tiled walk-in shower.

The entire fourth floor of the townhouse is a master bedroom suite with vaulted
ceilings, original wood beams and exposed brick walls. The oak-floored bedroom has custom lighting and lots of closet space. The en-suite master bathroom, also with oak floors, has a clawfoot tub as its centerpiece.

There's a marble-line shower and wood vanity topped by white vessel sinks and high-end wall faucets.

The finished basement has beige ceramic tile floors. There's a family room, off which is a European full bathroom with a showerhead in the wall. Off the family room is a closet with a Kenmore washer and 
dryer, and closets holding the home's two-zone heating and central air-conditioning system replaced in 2006.

There's also an exercise room with barrel vaulted openings for storage, and stairs up to a bulkhead that opens into the courtyard.

Parking is on-street with a residential permit, as there is no on-site space.

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Guilty plea in bird deaths at wind farms a first

WASHINGTON — A major U.S. power company has pleaded guilty to killing eagles and other birds at two Wyoming wind farms and agreed to pay $1 million as part of the first enforcement of environmental laws protecting birds against wind energy facilities.

Until the settlement announced Friday with Duke Energy Corp. and its renewable energy arm, not a single wind energy company had been prosecuted for a death of an eagle or other protected bird — even though each death is a violation of federal law, unless a company has a federal permit. Not a single wind energy facility has obtained a permit.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based company pleaded guilty to killing 14 eagles and 149 other birds at its Top of the World and Campbell Hill wind farms outside Casper, Wyo. All the deaths, which included golden eagles, hawks, blackbirds, wrens and sparrows, occurred from 2009 to 2013.

"Wind energy is not green if it is killing hundreds of thousands of birds," said George Fenwick, president of the American Bird Conservancy, which supports properly sited wind farms. "The unfortunate reality is that the flagrant violations of the law seen in this case are widespread."

There could be more enforcement. The Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating 18 bird-death cases involving wind-power facilities, and about a half-dozen have been referred to the Justice Department.

Wind farms are clusters of turbines as tall as 30-story buildings, with spinning rotors as wide as a passenger jet's wingspan. Though the blades appear to move slowly, they can reach speeds up to 170 mph at the tips, creating tornado-like vortexes. Eagles are especially vulnerable because they don't look up as they scan the ground for food, failing to notice the blades until it's too late.

"No form of energy generation, or human activity for that matter, is completely free of impacts, and wind energy is no exception," the American Wind Energy Association said in a statement.

The case against Duke Energy and Duke Energy Renewables Inc. was the first prosecuted under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act against a wind energy company. The Obama administration has championed pollution-free wind power and used the same law against oil companies and power companies for drowning and electrocuting birds.

"In this plea agreement, Duke Energy Renewables acknowledges that it constructed these wind projects in a manner it knew beforehand would likely result in avian deaths," Robert G. Dreher, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, said in a statement.

Duke has a market capitalization of nearly $50 billion.

"We deeply regret the impacts of golden eagles at two of our wind facilities," Greg Wolf, president of Duke Energy Renewables, said in a statement. "Our goal is to provide the benefits of wind energy in the most environmentally responsible way possible."

A study in September by federal biologists found that wind turbines had killed at least 67 bald and golden eagles since 2008. Wyoming had the most eagle deaths. That did not include deaths at Altamont Pass, an area in northern California where wind farms kill an estimated 60 eagles a year.

An investigation in May by The Associated Press revealed dozens of eagle deaths from wind energy facilities, including at Duke's Top of the World farm, the deadliest for eagles of 15 such facilities that Duke operates nationwide.

In 2009, Exxon Mobil pleaded guilty and paid $600,000 for killing 85 birds in five states. The BP oil company was fined $100 million for killing and harming migratory birds during the 2010 Gulf oil spill. And PacifiCorp, which operates coal plants, paid more than $10.5 million in 2009 for electrocuting 232 eagles along power lines and at its substations.

The wind farms in Friday's settlement came on line before the Obama administration drafted voluntary guidelines encouraging wind energy companies to work with the Fish and Wildlife Service to avoid locations that would impact wildlife. Companies that choose to cooperate get rewarded because prosecutors take it into consideration before pursuing prosecution.

Once a wind farm is built, there is little a company can do to stop the deaths. Some companies have tried using radar to detect birds and to shut down the turbines when they get too close. Others have used human spotters to warn when birds are flying too close to the blades. Another tactic has been to remove vegetation to reduce the prey the birds like to eat.

As part of the agreement, Duke will continue to use field biologists to identify eagles and shut down turbines when they get too close. It will install new radar technology, similar to what is used in Afghanistan to track missiles. And it will continue to voluntarily report all eagle and bird deaths to the government.

The company will also have to apply for an eagle take permit and draft a plan to reduce eagle and bird deaths at its four wind farms in Wyoming.

Duke's $1 million will be divided. The fine — $400,000 — will go into a wetlands conservation fund. The state of Wyoming gets $100,000. The remainder will be used to purchase land or easements to protect golden eagle habitat and for projects aimed at minimizing interactions between eagles and wind turbines in Wyoming.

___

Associated Press writer Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyo., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Dina Cappiello on Twitter at www.twitter.com/dinacappiello

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Obama seeks to shift focus to economic progress

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says the U.S. economy is improving even if its progress has been overshadowed by political gridlock and the messy rollout of his health care law.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama is seeking to shift the focus away from negative headlines. He says jobs have been created, the auto industry is recovering and deficits are falling.

But Obama says if Democrats and Republicans were working together, the economy could be even further along. He's accusing Republicans of wasting time with dozens of votes to repeal his health care law.

In the Republican address, Rep. Michael Burgess of Texas says despite Obama's promise, some who like their doctor may lose their doctor. He says the U.S. should scrap Obama's health law and start over.

___

Online:

White House address: www.whitehouse.gov

Republican address: www.gop.gov

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China company sorry for oil blasts that kill 47

BEIJING — China's largest oil refiner apologized Saturday for explosions from a ruptured oil pipeline that killed 47 people and injured 136 others in one of the country's worst industrial accidents of the year.

Sinopec's expansion of petrochemical projects has met with resistance from members of the public, and Friday's blasts in the eastern port city of Quingdao will likely add to growing concern about safety and environmental risks. The accident was the deadliest involving Sinopec.

The explosions ripped slabs of pavement, and online photos showed bodies, overturned vehicles and shattered windows in nearby buildings. Black smoke rose above gigantic fuel silos and darkened much of the sky over a bay area.

The pipeline, owned by Sinopec, ruptured and leaked for about 15 minutes onto a street and into the sea before it was shut off. Hours later, as workers cleaned up the spill, the oil caught fire and exploded in two locations, the city government said.

Fu Chengyu, chairman of Sinopec, issued a public apology Saturday morning, according to a company statement. He said that Sinopec will collaborate with a State Council investigation group.

"We will investigate the incident with responsibility and give timely reports," another Sinopec statement said.

The Qingdao Environmental Protection Bureau said barriers had been set up to contain the oil as it spread into the sea, but that a mixture of gas and oil from a storm sewer exploded and caught fire over the sea.

More than 3,000 square meters (32,000 square feet) of sea surface was contaminated, the city government said.

Authorities said the oil seeped into underground utility pipes, which could have been a factor in the blasts, but they did not elaborate. They assured the public that the explosions did not affect any petrochemical plants or military facilities in the seaside district and that air quality remained good after the disaster.

About 18,000 residents were evacuated in the wake of the blasts, and power was restored to all but two residential neighborhoods, authorities said.

Of the 136 people hospitalized, 10 were in critical condition, the city government said.

The Beijing News cited a resident surnamed Gao as saying he was driving past Qingdao's Huangdao district when he felt the force of the blasts, and then realized the ground in front of him had fractured. The air was pungent, many cars on both sides of the road were overturned and there was dark smoke rising in the distance, he said.

"It felt like an earthquake, and I was dumbstruck," Gao said, adding that there was chaos on the street as people ran, panicking, in all directions.

Authorities ruled out terrorism but the incident remained under investigation, it said.

President Xi Jinping urged local officials to go all out in finding missing people, treating the injured and finding the cause of the accident, state TV broadcaster CCTV said.

It was China's second-deadliest industrial accident of the year, behind a chicken factory fire in June in Jilin that killed 121 people.

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Experts: HealthCare.gov fix needs more time, money

NEW YORK — Technology experts say healing what ails the Healthcare.gov website will be a tougher task than the Obama administration acknowledges.

"It's going to cost a lot of tax dollars to get this done," says Bill Curtis, senior vice president and chief scientist at CAST, a French software analysis company with offices in the U.S.

Curtis says programmers and systems analysts start fixing troubled websites by addressing the glitches they can see. But based on his analysis of the site, he believes the ongoing repairs are likely to reveal even deeper problems, making it tough to predict when all the site's issues will be resolved.

"Will it eventually work? Yes, because they have to make it work," he says. But it'll be very expensive."

Curtis and other technology executives say the site's problems are the result of poor management of its many working parts. They also believe, as Congressional testimony has revealed, the site suffered from a lack of testing once all its systems were in place.

The federal health insurance exchange website —which cost taxpayers more than $600 million to build, according to the Government Accountability Office— has been crippled by technical problems since its Oct. 1 launch. Since then, everyone from top White House officials to the contractors who worked on the site have been called before congressional committees to determine what went wrong and who is to blame.

The White House originally promised to have the site running smoothly by the end of November. But at a news conference last week, President Obama said he couldn't guarantee that the site will be completely bug free by then.

The HealthCare.gov site is supposed to serve as a marketplace where people can enter their personal information, search and sign up for required health care coverage. But the site is a patchwork quilt of sorts. It pulls together a slew of contributions from various government contractors and attempts to join the structure with the systems of participating insurance companies.

Experts say the amount of information coursing through HealthCare.gov dwarfs that of any other government website, making it more similar to a high-traffic e-commerce operation such as Amazon.com or eBay. They contend the government didn't design the site with the kind of retail-like infrastructure it needs to keep up with demand and failed to knit its pieces together in an efficient way.

Curtis says visible parts of the website's programming code reveal a host of analytic and data coordination failures — a red flag that the site wasn't designed by people with a lot of experience building high-traffic websites. He notes that government projects are typically awarded to the lowest bid, a factor that limits the amount of money a contractor can make. As a result, bid-winners don't always assign their top people to those jobs.

Himanshu Sareen, CEO of Icreon Tech, a New York-based web and mobile design and development firm, says the government has made some progress fixing the site in recent weeks, but there are still big problems. He worries that the website is operating at half the capacity that it needs to.

Indeed, fewer than 27,000 people signed up for insurance through the federal website during the first month of open enrollment in the 36 states, according to federal health officials. Nearly 1 million more applied for coverage and were waiting to finalize decisions.

Sareen says he's shocked that so few people have been able to sign up. He says the government should focus on fixing the website's telephone support centers, the place where many frustrated insurance seekers are looking for help.

Michael Smith, a vice president of product development and operations for Compuware Corp., says the site's operations have improved significantly. Recent testing of HealthCare.gov's visible parts done by Compuware APM show seven states with unacceptable response times, down from 26 states on Oct. 25.

Even so, Smith says the government needs to inform the public that it takes time and patience to fix problem websites.

"They're building something that's never been built before, so there's no prescription for how to do it," Smith says.

And there's no better way to improve public opinion than to fix the site as quickly as possible, says Wally Krantz, creative director for The Brand Union, a global brand strategy consultancy that works with clients ranging from Time Warner Cable to The Coca-Cola Co.

Krantz says people will forget about its technical problems once they get their insurance coverage.

"If they ultimately get the website working, it'll just be another thing that people who want it to fail will bring up," Krantz says. "I don't think this story has legs beyond that."

___

Follow Bree Fowler on Twitter at http://twitter.com/APBreeFowler

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Luxury rental tower springs up

If you've driven down Essex Street in Boston heading toward South Station, you've undoubtedly noticed the construction project that's been in development at 120 Kingston St.

The project, which broke ground in September 2012, is within months of completion. For Forest City, which is developing it with the Hudson Group, it's the first such project in Boston to date.

Located on the edge of Boston's Chinatown, this new luxury rental development will include 240 studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and penthouse contemporary residences available for lease in the spring. Officially known as the Radian, the development will offer modern rentals on the Rose Fitzgerald ­Kennedy Greenway and will feature panoramic views of Boston along with luxury amenities and services for residents.

Additionally, Radian will have 4,500 square feet of retail space available on the ground floor with an outdoor patio perfect for a restaurant and cafe.

The retail space is being marketed by Jesse Baerkahn and Dave Downing of Graffito SP, a team with extensive experience in ­urban place-making in Boston and Cambridge. Graffito SP helped transform Kendall Square into a retail and restaurant destination by bringing Area Four, Commonwealth, FireBrand Saints and Tatte Bakery to the neighborhood. In Boston, the firm just completed work on the restaurant and coffee bar at District Hall and The Club by George Foreman III in Fort Point.

"Radian is the premier rental tower opening downtown next year. As the gateway to the Greenway, Radian is at the nexus of three vibrant neighborhoods and will become a new icon in the Boston skyline," said Doug Arsham, vice president of development for Forest City Boston. "Our vision is to offer an enhanced living experience through top-of-market finishes, services and amenities, while also offering a respite from the bustling city life. We are very pleased with the initial response we received for Radian, on the first day that our teaser website launched we received approximately 100 inquiries."

Keep this property on your list if you're in the market to lease. With a location that's ideal for the downtown professional, it's set to fill up very quickly.

Charlie Abrahams is a licensed real estate agent in Boston who works with buyers and sellers and can be reached for any additional information at: Bostonrealestate@charlieabrahams.com

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Land deal may not hurt Wynn bid

The head of the state Gaming Commission yesterday said a federal investigation into whether a businessman with a criminal record is a secret part-owner of the Everett site of Steve Wynn's proposed $1.3 billion casino may not affect Wynn's chances of being approved for the sole gaming license in Eastern Massachusetts.

"We are investigating this. We have been for some time," Stephen Crosby, the commission's chairman, said when asked about the probe into whether Charles A. Lightbody is a hidden investor who stands to make millions if the casino is awarded the license.

Based on what he's seen so far, Crosby added, "It didn't have anything to do with Wynn. This is nothing Wynn knew anything about."

Lightbody, 59, was originally one of the owners of the 30-acre site, but withdrew before Wynn optioned it late last year, Lightbody's attorney, Timothy Flaherty said.

Wynn Resorts yesterday said in a statement the gaming commission's Investigations and Enforcement Bureau raised concerns about "potential participants who had not been disclosed to us. Those concerns were denied by the selling group ... but the IEB still had outstanding concerns regarding the selling group."

As a result, Wynn Resorts is amending its option agreement to clearly confirm ownership and cut the option price to reflect fair-market value without casino use, the company said.

Lightbody, who was convicted of assault in 2001 and larceny in 2007, was arrested last month on charges of assault and battery for allegedly hitting the head of the union that represents Suffolk Downs' betting clerks at a pro-casino rally in Revere.

Everett City Councilor Michael McLaughlin said he trusts the gaming commission to conduct its own investigation.

"The people of Everett have spoken," McLaughlin said, referring to last summer's overwhelming vote in favor of the casino. "We welcome Steve Wynn and his development."

The gaming commission yesterday scheduled a suitability hearing for Wynn's project Dec. 16, and one for MGM's proposed Springfield casino Dec. 9.

Also yesterday, Suffolk Downs, whose former partner, Caesars Entertainment, withdrew because of concerns about debt and purported mob links, told the commission that it expects to have a new gaming partner in the coming weeks. Chip Tuttle, the racetrack's chief operating officer, proposed shifting the site of the casino from East Boston and Revere to Revere only after East Boston voters rejected the project. The commission said it would consult with its lawyers before deciding whether to permit the change.

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Apple takes $290M bite of Samsung

In an industry where ripping off another company's ideas is the norm, Samsung took copycatting too far with its mobile devices, according to a federal jury that ruled yesterday that the Korean manufacturer must pay Apple $290 million on top of $600 million from a previous judgment.

Samsung took a calculated risk by using design elements that were dangerously similar to Apple's. The original model of its Samsung Galaxy series of mobile devices, the S i9000, has the same outer frame, screen and icon placement as the iPhone, specifically the 3Gs model — including those handy phone and mail shortcuts anchored to the bottom of the home screen. And the original Galaxy Tab is nearly the mirror-image of the original iPad in terms of appearance.

Many have argued that it was unfair for the government to issue such broad patents in the first place. Should Apple really own design characteristics as basic as a rectangular frame with curved edges? But guess what — before the iPhone, there were no smartphones that looked like that. And not every smartphone that followed looked like that.

Microsoft smartphones are the best example. They neither look nor act like 
Apple devices. But the U.S. consumer electronics market isn't necessarily the greatest judge of innovation, with Windows phones still struggling to gain market share.

Samsung actually sold more mobile phones nat­ionwide than Apple in 2011. The smartphones cited in the lawsuit generated 
$7.5 billion in revenue from June 2010 to June 2012, 
so I'd say that calculated risk paid off for Samsung. Big time.

And Samsung's troubles with Apple might not be over. While testing the new Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom yesterday — which is supposed to be a 
truly unique smartphone 
because its face looks like a digital camera — I realized the back of the device is the twin to my iPhone 5. They literally share a footprint.

Not that Apple has the moral high ground on 
intellectual property. The company has been subject to its own set of patent claims, including one by Boston University alleging that it stole an engineering professor's manufacturing technique for blue LEDs.

So don't expect the 
mob­ile patent wars — which have embroiled Google and HTC as well — to end anytime soon. The greatest idea these com­panies have had in a long time is to lawyer up.

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Jury awards $24.4M to parents of Tufts patient

The parents of a boy whose intestines were damaged by an infection that went undetected in Tufts Medical Center's neonatal intensive care unit for nearly a day have been awarded a 
$24.4 million judgment by a jury, but will receive only $5.3 million under a prior deal between the parties.

Edward Xu, who is now 9 years old, was a premature newborn when he got the infection that distended his belly.

Lawyer Benjamin Nov­otny, with Lubin and Meyer, said Edward's parents 
alerted a doctor who ordered
X-rays after 11 hours, but 
those only captured the
half of his belly that was not infected. Nov­otny said it took another 13 hours before doctors realized what was wrong.

Yesterday, a jury returned a verdict that orders the hospital to pay $24.4 million to Edward's parents. However, both sides had agreed to limit the payout to $5.3 million under a deal that would have ensured some payment to the family regardless of the verdict.

"I'm just happy to see the family get the help that they need," Novotny said. "His parents take a bag of fluid and they tie it to a pole 
beside his bed. The bag feeds a tube in his chest. For eight to 10 hours a night he stays hooked up to these machines. It will be like this for the rest of his life."

The boy underwent emergency surgery to remove the damaged and infected lengths of his intestine, but the medical costs involved in his care are more than $2,000 a week, Novotny said.

Tufts yesterday defended its care of the boy.

"We have reviewed this case thoroughly and Edward was monitored closely by a team of experienced medical experts. They performed early medical and surgical interventions to save his life, using the most advanced techniques," the hospital said in a statement following the verdict. "Our care team is saddened that the best medicine available could not give him a better outcome."

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Casino repeal group files 90,000 signatures

Organizers of the Repeal the Casino Deal campaign yesterday said they had collected and filed more than 90,000 signatures from across the state — roughly 20,000 more than they set out to gather to get the measure on the 2014 statewide ballot.

"The momentum gathered by the local votes against casinos has been awe-inspiring, and we're so thankful to all the people who got us this many signatures to repeal this bad deal for our commonwealth," John Ribeiro, chairman of the grass-roots group, said in a statement.

The campaign gained momentum after the votes defeating casino proposals in East Boston, Palmer and Milford. The signatures must still be certified by Secretary of State William Galvin, and the group must make its case to the Supreme Judicial Court since Attorney General Martha Coakley has ruled the casino repeal question is not eligible for the ballot.

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Tough odds for Wynn, MGM

The two remaining casino applicants face a trial by fire next month when they go through suitability hearings before the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, a vetting process that already has eliminated two contenders in what is fast becoming — to casino operators, at least — the toughest state in the nation to take a gamble.

With the demise of Foxwoods in Tuesday's referendum, Wynn Resorts' Everett proposal is the sole applicant for the casino license in the eastern region and MGM's Springfield plan is all alone in the west.

"These states are asking us to come and spend billions of dollars," Steve Wynn, head of Wynn Resorts, complained in Las Vegas last month after Suffolk Downs' partner, Caesars Entertainment, withdrew because the commission raised concerns about debt and purported mob links. "Now what if we were any other business? They would stand on their head and spit wooden nickels to get billions of dollars invested. But we find ourselves being treated, in many respects, as if they are doing us a favor."

There's only one problem with the last part of that argument, according to Whittier Law School professor I. Nelson Rose, a leading gambling expert.

"Wynn is absolutely correct; they are doing you a favor," Rose said. "Massachusetts is not doing things the way other states are. They're tougher. Getting a license is a gift. It's a privilege."

New Jersey regulators raised red flags about MGM's Macau casino's relationship with Hong Kong businesswoman Pansy Ho over her father's alleged ties to Chinese organized crime, and that may be a sticking point in the vetting process, said Rose, although MGM has said it's confident it won't be an issue.

"They've all had problems," said the Rev. Richard McGowan, a Boston College professor and expert on gaming. "The commission's going to want to know where they're getting their financing, how sure it is, what kind of partners they're going to have, whether they've been involved in any illegal activities."

If MGM and Wynn can't answer all of those questions to the commission's satisfaction, it's possible Massachusetts may end up with no casino at all, McGowan and Rose said.

The third proposal that got an affirmative community vote, Suffolk Downs, is set to meet with the Gaming Commission today, and may still be in the running if it can find a new casino partner who meets regulators' approval to build on its property in Revere.

Both Gov. Deval Patrick and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo yesterday said the casino law is working.

"I don't think you'd want to have a casino for the sake of having a casino," said DeLeo. "I think at the end of the day, if folks are going through the process, if they pass the process, if they pass the local approval, then I think we have a real player that we would like to have there."

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Two biotechs get $100M-plus injections

Two Cambridge biotech companies added more than $100 million to their coffers yesterday, but for every different reasons.

Moderna, a biotech company that developed a way to force specific cells to manufacture drugs on demand, announced it raised $110 million in a new financing round, led by Flagship Ventures.

"We are pleased with the confidence and enthusiasm that our investors continue to demonstrate by providing the resources to advance Moderna's clinical development platform," Stephane Bancel, president and CEO of Moderna, said in a statement.

Bancel, noting Moderna has now raised 
$450 million in total, said the funding will allow it to continue its work without jumping on the recent biotech IPO bandwagon.

Also yesterday, pharmaceutical giant Vertex announced it had sold the royalty rights to Incivo — a hepatitis C drug — to Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V. for $152 million.

Vertex said the sale will allow it to continue to focus on its cystic fibrosis drug.

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Harvard sues over bell crack

Harvard University has resorted to legal action to settle a dispute over a cracked church bell whose morning tolls were the bane of many a bleary-eyed freshman.

The Ivy League school is suing Chime Master Systems, accusing the Ohio company of installing a defective clapper that allegedly caused the almost 5,000-pound Harvard Yard bell to crack in 2011 and produce an "abnormally loud and noticeably harsh" sound when rung, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Boston on Monday.

Harvard wants Chime Master, which was hired in 2006 to maintain the bell and recommended a custom replacement clapper in 2011, to pay damages for alleged negligence and breach of warranty.

"As a result of Chime Master's improper work, Harvard has incurred costs in determining the cause of the crack in the Memorial Church bell and will incur great expense for its replacement," Harvard's complaint states.

Chime Master president Jeff Crook referred calls to his insurance company's attorney, who declined comment.

Cast in England, the Memorial Church bell was donated in 1932 by then-Harvard president A. Lawrence Lowell and installed as part of the church's dedication in honor of Harvard students who died in World War I.

A 24- to 30-inch crack in the bell was noticed a little more than two months after the clapper was installed, according to court documents. An electronic chime is now used and, like the bell, is rung at 8:40 a.m., and every hour on the hour from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"Regarding repair or replacement, no final determination has been made about next steps," a Harvard official said yesterday.

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Shift in Fed stimulus views spooks global stocks

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Global stock markets, except Japan, were in the red Thursday amid jitters over new signals from the U.S. Federal Reserve that it may cut monetary stimulus sooner than expected.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares fell 0.3 percent to 6,659.10 and Germany's DAX lost 0.6 percent to 9,148.18. The CAC-40 in France shed 0.7 percent to 4,259.53. Futures suggested modest gains on Wall Street, with Dow futures up 0.2 percent and S&P 500 futures up 0.1 percent.

Minutes from the Fed's latest policy meeting showed that the central bank would likely start tapering off its bond purchases in "coming months" if the job market improved further. Fed members also weighed the possibility of slowing the purchases even without clear evidence of a strengthening job market.

The Fed's $85 billion monthly bond purchases have kept interest rates low to spur spending and growth but also sent a wave of investment into stocks in search of higher returns.

Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said in a market commentary that reduction of the bond purchases could begin as early as January, contrary to some expectations that the stimulus could stay until March at least.

"Together with extensive discussions on alternative policy response to keep rates low ... it indeed looks increasingly likely that the focus is now on keeping rates low after tapering, rather than delaying tapering," it said.

The Fed's stimulus, in its various guises, has helped shore up risky assets such as stocks around the world and emerging market currencies, over the past few years as the money created has been recycled through financial markets.

Earlier in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.5 percent to 23,580.29 and China's Shanghai Composite eased 0.04 percent to 2,205.77. Seoul's Kospi was down 1.2 percent to 1,993.78 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 retreated 0.4 percent to 5,288.32.

Japan's Nikkei 225 bucked the trend to rise 1.9 percent to 15,365.60, boosted by a weaker yen.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude for January delivery was down 11 cents at $93.74 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract for December, which expired Wednesday, fell 1 cent to close at $93.33.

The euro was little changed at $1.3436. The dollar rose to 100.84 yen from 100.21 yen.

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Staples posts 3Q profit despite restructuring

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Staples Inc. reported a profit of $135.2 million for its third quarter, a year after the office supply company said heavy restructuring expenses led to a loss.

The Framingham, Mass., company said Wednesday it absorbed $64 million in charges before taxes for employee severance and other restructuring activities in this year's quarter, as it continued work on its strategic plan.

Like other office-supply retailers, Staples has been facing tough competition from discounters and online retailers. It has been investing more in its online and mobile efforts and expanding the product assortment that it offers to its business customers.

The company based in Framingham, Mass., said it still faces weak demand for core office supplies, but is seeing growth in tablets, breakroom supplies and copy and print services and is aggressively managing expenses.

Overall, the performance translated into earnings of 21 cents per share for the three months that ended Nov. 2. That compares to a loss of $596.2 million, or 89 cents per share, last year. Adjusted results this quarter totaled 42 cents per share, not counting the restructuring costs.

Revenue fell nearly 4 percent to $6.11 billion due in part to foreign exchange rates and 107 store closures in North America and Europe over the previous year.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected, on average, earnings of 42 cents per share on $6.19 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

Revenue from North American locations open for at least a year fell 3 percent. This figure, which excludes online sales, is seen as a key metric for retailers because it strips out the volatility of newly opened and closed locations.

The company repeated a forecast it made in August for 2013 adjusted earnings ranging from $1.21 to $1.25 per share.

Analysts expect $1.23 per share, on average.

Shares of Staples rose 16 cents, or 1 percent, to $15.50 in premarket trading. They have climbed 35 percent in regular trading so far this year.

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Mass. to get $34M from JPMorgan

Banking giant JPMorgan Chase will pay $13 billion — with $34.4 million going to Massachusetts — in the largest settlement from a single group in history, to settle claims by the federal government that it misrepresented investments, leading to the housing bubble.

Under the settlement, JPMorgan acknowledged that it made "serious misrepresentations to the public" about residential mortgage-backed securities, leading in part to the financial crisis, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

"Without a doubt, the conduct uncovered in this investigation helped sow the seeds of the mortgage meltdown," said Attorney General Eric Holder in the statement.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, who took part in the suit against JPMorgan, said the settlement sends a message. "This settlement today is part of our ongoing effort to hold Wall Street accountable for its role in the financial crisis," she said in a statement.

Massachusetts will use some of the money to repay PRIM, the state pension program that invested in JPMorgan securities, and set aside a portion for consumer relief.

"We are pleased to have concluded this extensive agreement with the President's RMBS Working Group and to have resolved the civil claims of the Department of Justice and others. Today's settlement covers a very significant portion of legacy mortgage-backed securities-related issues for JPMorgan Chase, as well as Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual," chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement.

Much of the settlement will be used to repay investors, but JPMorgan will pay $4 billion for consumer relief and a $2 billion fine.

On Friday, JPMorgan announced it had reached a $4.5 billion settlement with 21 major institutional investors over similar claims.

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Nordblom plans 602 apartments in South End near old Herald site

A new development featuring more than 600 residential units has been proposed for the booming South End area opposite where the Herald once stood.

The proposed development at 345 Harrison Ave. would consist of two buildings — 13 and 14 stories tall — spread over two acres, according to documents filed with the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

The project would include ground-level retail outlets and restaurants, topped by 602 rental units and a "green" roof above the parking garage.

"In many ways, the neighborhood has been 'frozen in time' and has not benefited from the cultural and architectural renaissance enjoyed by the balance of the South End," the project proposal, filed by developer Nord-blom Co., says.

At least 10 percent of the apartments would be considered affordable housing by the city, the proposal said.

The development would replace the warehouse currently used by Graybar Electric Co. On the former Herald site across the street, development on the "Ink Block" is already under way, a project that will include nearly 500 luxury condos and rental units, as well as a Whole Foods supermarket.

Nordblom's proposal includes access from the Ink Block to the Silver Line on Washington Street.

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Foxwoods loses Milford hand

The state's eastern casino license region has been pared down to just one contender with a successful host community vote — Everett's Wynn Resorts proposal — after Milford voters rejected Foxwoods yesterday in a classic "David vs. Goliath" beatdown, with a grassroots effort that trounced the casino by a 2-1 margin.

With 57 percent of registered Milford voters casting a ballot, casino foes defeated the proposal 6,361 votes to 3,480.

"From our very first meeting held around a kitchen table, we acknowledged that we would be fighting a David vs. Goliath battle," Casino-Free Milford co-chairmen John Seaver and Steve Trettel said in a joint statement. "We knew we would never be able to match the dollars of the Foxwoods campaign. We also knew that money does not buy everything. ... We worked together, and we prevailed."

"It's disappointing, but we have to respect the decision," said Foxwoods President and CEO Scott Butera. "It would have been a project that the commonwealth and the town of Milford would have been proud of."

It was just the latest casino snub by voters. Milford's nay vote follows East Boston's rejection of Suffolk Downs — which is now scrambling to cobble together a Hail Mary deal in Revere only. That currently leaves Wynn in Everett with the eastern region's only host community yea vote, though the deal still needs Gaming Commission approval. Voters also have rejected western Massachusetts casino bids in Palmer and West Springfield. Springfield voters approved an MGM casino, but that also has yet to pass a Gaming Commission suitability hearing.

Suffolk Downs has not announced a new partner since cutting ties with Caesars Entertainment over Gaming Commission concerns about debt and purported mob links. Foxwoods' Butera, when asked whether he would consider teaming up with the racetrack in Revere, said, "We haven't thought about anything like that at this point."

In Milford, opponents said a casino would inundate Milford with as many as 7 million visitors a year, bringing traffic, crime and lower property values. Proponents said it would bring Milford $34 million annually and create 3,500 jobs and a $1 million scholarship fund for local students.

"We're disappointed, but not surprised," said Mike Kaplan of Citizens for Milford's Future, which received $24,000 in funding from Foxwoods, which spent more than $800,000 to the $23,770 spent by Casino-Free Milford.

"It's easy to stay the same," Kaplan said. "People wanted to keep the town the way it is and not risk anything But if you're not going to take any risks, you're not going to get any benefits."

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GM re-enters small-pickup market with Colorado

DETROIT — GM has reimagined its small pickup truck to cater to outdoorsy folks who haul smelly wet dogs and kayaks. In other words, Subaru buyers.

The new Chevrolet Colorado, to be unveiled Wednesday at the Los Angeles Auto Show, has little in common with the old version, which was noisy with a cheap-looking hard plastic interior that didn't appeal to many buyers.

The 2015 model weighs 900 pounds less and is 16 inches shorter than its brawny cousin, the full-size Chevy Silverado. And it's equipped with bike racks and other accessories that GM hopes will lure Subaru customers — relatively affluent people that GM calls "lifestyle" buyers.

To do so, GM knows it must make in-roads in California, Colorado, New York and other places where such buyers are abundant.

Subaru's sales, led by the Forester small SUV, have grown more than 61 percent in the past two years. Subaru doesn't sell a pickup, but its all-wheel-drive hatchbacks are popular with people who spend a lot of time outdoors, particularly on the coasts.

GM wants to replicate that success with a U.S. brand.

"If there was a brand, a domestic brand, that could fill that space and really provide those types of things, we thought Chevy was a good place to do it," said Alan Batey, global Chevrolet chief, at a preview of the Colorado last week in Detroit where he spoke while standing beneath giant posters of people surfing, skiing and bicycling.

The Colorado, and its GMC sister, the Canyon, also will be aimed at another market: workers who need trucks, but not as big as the Silverado or the GMC Sierra. The smaller trucks, Batey said, do more than look good.

"We didn't want to just create a really pretty truck that's accessorized but can't do anything," he said.

In the late 1990s, the small-truck market in the U.S. was over a million vehicles, but as automakers like Ford and GM pulled out, it dwindled to less than 300,000 annually.

GM stopped making the old Colorado last year. In the past four years, sales never topped 39,000 nationwide.

The new version is due out next fall. It takes aim at the Toyota Tacoma, the most popular small truck in the U.S. with sales of over 141,000 in 2012.

Here are highlights of the Colorado:

INSIDE: Touch-screen and multiple USB ports for iPods, phones and other devices. Still has knobs and big buttons for climate controls. Six standard air bags, standard rear-vision camera. Interior with far less hard plastic than the old Colorado.

OUTSIDE: Rounded fenders, wheels and tires pushed wide for athletic stance. Low-slung windshield for aerodynamics and sportier looks. Door panels fit into roof line. Step built into rear bumper for easy climbing into bed. Cross members for racks that bolt into bed. Rack options for bicycles, kayaks, skis, etc. Cargo can be stowed beneath the racks.

UNDER THE HOOD: Two aluminum-block engines in first year, a 193-horsepower, 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine and a 3.6-liter V6 with an estimated 302 horsepower. In second year, a diesel engine will be available. Six-speed automatic transmissions; two- or four-wheel drive.

GAS MILEAGE: Not released. Jeff Luke, chief truck engineer, says GM is expecting best-in-class mileage with the four-cylinder engine. A four-cylinder, manual transmission Toyota Tacoma gets up to 23 mpg in combined city and highway driving.

CHEERS: Trucks look rugged and have great convenience features for people who want to haul bikes or kayaks. GM promises they'll be capable of towing and hauling heavy payloads.

JEERS: GM has to pay for the capital cost of developing the new trucks. That could mean prices close to competitors' larger trucks. Pricing announced later. Also, trucks will be available only in versions with back seats. That could add to price.

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Google to pay $17M to settle privacy suit

Computing giant Google will pay $17 million, including more than $350,000 to Massachusetts, to settle allegations the company tracked some consumers' Web usage without their knowledge.

The suit, brought against Google by 37 states and Washington, D.C., alleged Google misled users of Apple's Safari Web browser by ignoring default settings that disabled third-party advertising cookies from mid-2011 to early 2012.

Under the settlement, the Mountain View, Calif. company will pay Massachusetts $357,000 — a number based on the population of the state relative to others involved in the suit — and does not admit guilt or wrongdoing.

"Consumers have the right to make informed decisions with respect to their privacy online, and those choices should be respected," said Attorney General Martha Coakley, one of the 37 state AGs who brought the suit.

The cookies were used to collect users' browsing information, which was then sent to advertisers.

Google also agreed to take steps to improve the information it gives consumers about cookies, and to no longer use code to circumvent default settings.

"We work hard to get privacy right at Google and have taken steps to remove the ad cookies, which collected no personal information, from Apple's browsers. We're pleased to have worked with the state attorneys general to reach this agreement," a Google statement said.

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Westboro IT co. raises $58M, to hire 150

A Westboro-based IT infrastructure company has raised $58 million, which it plans to use to hire 150 more people in Massachusetts over the next year.

SimpliVity's goal is to simplify IT infrastructure by taking 12 different products — such as storage and networking — and assimilating them into a single building block that it calls the Omni Cube, said CEO Doron Kempel, who founded the company in 2009.

"We've developed a new data architecture, data that filters any redundancy so that only unique data is stored, which increases the performance of the system and reduces the amount of space and power that is required," Kempel said.

This "architecture" also allows for a single person to manage data globally from a single location, he said.

Matt Murphy, general partner at Kleiner Perkins, the Menlo Park, Calif., firm that led both a $25 million funding round for SimpliVity last year and the latest round, said the firm acted because of an "acceleration of enterprises building out their own cloud-like infrastructure."

"There are between eight and 11 new products you need to manage and work well together," Murphy said. "The beauty of SimpliVity is they did it all in one appliance. They're really taking on IBM, EMC, VMware, Dell. All of them are talking about making their own solution, but they're late to the market."

SimpliVity released its product earlier this year, Kempel said, and since then, demand has soared.

"We need to grow as quickly as possible," he said. The company, which has 100 employees in Westboro, expects to hire another 150 in Massachusetts over the next year, including 50 more engineers within the next four months.

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Milford casino rolls dice today

A sharply divided Milford goes to the polls today to decide whether to allow a $1 billion Foxwoods casino to be built there, as a new poll finds that a majority of Massachusetts residents back casinos for the state, but not in their backyards.

The two sides are campaigning down to the wire, with dozens of volunteers from both Casino-Free Milford and Citizens for Milford's Future planning to offer rides to the polls and standing at key intersections throughout the day with signs.

"We feel like the support is with us," said Geri Eddins, a 20-year resident and spokeswoman for Casino-Free Milford. "As far as Milford's finances go, our town is on solid ground, and we do not need a casino. By allowing a casino into Milford, we would be sacrificing our quality of life."

Whether Eddins' group, which raised about $24,000 as of Oct. 31 for its campaign, is any match for Foxwoods, which has spent $790,000 for everything from an office in Milford to advertising, canvassing, lawn signs, T-shirts, bumper stickers and a voter survey whose results it declined to reveal last night, remains to be seen.

"As an attorney, I'm all about the facts," said Mike Kaplan, chairman of Citizens for Milford's Future, which received $24,000 from Foxwoods, mostly for advertising and mail solicitations. "This project would create 3,500 jobs and $34 million annually to our town. ... We can do a lot of things with that money, including decreasing taxes."

A statewide phone survey of 517 adults conducted earlier this month by Western New England University Polling Institute found that 61 percent said they favor establishing casinos in the state, but 55 percent said they would oppose having one in their community.

"The poll results suggest there is a 'not in my backyard' mindset when it comes to casinos in Massachusetts," said Tim Vercellotti, the institute's director and a professor of political science at the university. "Residents still seem to want casinos, just not too close to home."

So far, Wynn in Everett is the only contender for the sole resort casino license in Eastern Massachusetts to have staged a successful host community vote, although Suffolk Downs may re-emerge as a candidate in Revere if it manages to find a casino operator as a partner.

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The Ticker

Dow, S&P pull back from record highs

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq ended lower yesterday while the Dow Jones industrial average failed to close above its milestone level of 16,000 hit yesterday as stocks sold off late in the session following Carl Icahn's cautious comments on the equities market.

The Dow and the S&P 500 retreated from record levels with less than an hour to go in the session. The Dow rose 14.32 points, or 0.09 percent, to end at 15,976.02. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slipped 6.65 points, or 0.37 percent, to finish at 1,791.53. The Nasdaq, which had been down slightly for most of the day, slid 36.90 points, or 0.93 percent, to end at 3,949.07.

Madoff victim pool expanded

Victims of infamous Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff who had money invested through outside "feeder funds" are now eligible to seek compensation, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office announced yesterday.

Over 10,000 people — the so-called "third party" investors — lost money they had invested with outside financial firms that in turn invested it with Madoff.

These investors can now submit claims with a separate fund controlled by a Department of Justice-appointed administrator.

CNBC's Bartiromo moving to Fox

High-profile business television personality Maria Bartiromo, nicknamed the "Money Honey," is leaving CNBC after 20 years to take a job at rival Fox Business Network, according to a source familiar with the matter. CNBC President and Chief Executive Mark Hoffman announced Bartiromo's departure in a memo to employees yesterday, and said she will leave the company when her contract expires on Sunday.

Today

 Labor Department releases the third-quarter employment cost index.

 Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks at the National Economists Club.

TOMORROW

 Commerce Department releases retail sales data for October.

 Labor Department releases Consumer Price Index for October.

 Commerce Department releases business inventories for September.

 National Association of Realtors releases existing home sales for October.

 RODE Architects, an emerging firm specializing in design for the urban environment, is proud to announce that Andres Bernal, left, associate AIA, LEED AP, has joined the firm as a designer with a focus on urban design and architecture.

 BG Medicine Inc. announced Stephen P. Hall as the company's executive vice president, chief 
financial officer. Hall most recently held the position of vice president finance at Stemline Therapeutics.

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European carmakers get 2nd hopeful sign

MILAN — The European car market may have seen the bottom.

The European carmaker's association reported Tuesday that EU passenger car sales rose in October for the second consecutive month. It is the first time since September 2011 that European car sales have grown two straight months — a sign that perhaps the gloom in the car market is about to lift.

Sales in the European Union rose 4.7 percent to just over 1 million units. Italy was the only major market with a contraction, down 5 percent.

There remains cause for caution: Despite the month-on-month increase, October sales were still the second-lowest for the month in the decade since the association started compiling statistics.

For the first 10 months of the year, sales were down 3 percent.

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All the dirt on the best Roomba yet

iRobot Roomba 880 ($699.99, irobot.com)

The new Roomba robotic vacuum features a totally rebuilt dirt removal system that does away with those pesky bristles, which do little more than become tangled with hair and debris. The Roomba 880 automatically will vacuum your floors at a preset time, and is more powerful and efficient than previous models.

The good: iRobot has gone to great lengths to make sure you'll never need to use an upright vacuum again. The Roomba 880 is quieter, faster and just darn better than its predecessors.

The bad: If only you could afford a Roomba for each story of your home! But barring a future Roomba that climbs stairs, robotic vacuums are for single-story living.

The bottom line: This is an amazing robotic vacuum for certain living situations and individuals who can afford the steep price. You'll only need to plug in that old-fashioned vacuum for the occasional food spill.

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Yankee Candle creates tasty scents at its ol’ factory in Western Mass.

Imagine walking into a friend's home for dinner and getting a whiff of ... Oh, yum! What's that? Turkey, stuffing, and is that homemade pie? But when you sit down it's leftover meatloaf fresh from the microwave.

To pull the trick, all your friend needs is Yankee Candle's latest limited-edition creations Turkey & Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce and Sweet Potato Pie. Perfect for… Well, just who does want a candle that smells like America's favorite meal?

"It's for the person who doesn't cook, or the one who needs a last-minute gift, or who can't get enough of the smells of Thanksgiving," Yankee Candle PR director Karen Woods said. "These candles are fun and whimsical. They have a novelty nod to them, but we've done the market research and know they'll connect with customers."

They'll also give our troops something to be thankful for — the South Deerfield-based company will donate $1 to the USO Holiday Box Program for each candle purchased.

Yankee Candle is the Apple of scents — the industry leader with more than 150 fragrances and 500 company-owned retail stores. As Woods explains, the company does extensive research, uses focus groups and closely follows trends. While it seems like some of the candles are "out there" — earlier this year, the man candle collection included "First Down" and "Riding Mower" — there's a method to the madness.

"Men are just 10 percent of our purchasers but they're 35 percent of our users," Woods said. "Look at coffee and ice cream flavors. Who would have thought of spicy ice cream or flavored creamers 20 years ago? Like those markets, we're watching trends."

Before you disagree, put down your Dunks pumpkin white chocolate iced latte and Ben & Jerry's vanilla Greek frozen yogurt with a honey caramel swirl.

But not every Yankee Candle devotee is sold on fake food scents. Outside the company's Faneuil Hall store, Maureen Vilanova of Boston said pie was fine but turkey went "a little overboard."

"I'm not sold on all these Thanksgiving candles, they're not for me," Vilanova said, echoing a few of her fellow shoppers. Then she added, "But I always shop at Yankee Candle. I love a lot of their candles."

That's what Woods wants to hear. She knows some of the strange offerings won't appeal to everyone, but has confidence the company's customers will remain loyal to the brand. Which means once Turkey & Stuffing is gone, they may take a chance on Snowflake Cookie or Merry Marshmallow next month.

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Google takes flight to NSA

Google is becoming a leading voice against government cyber-spying, with rank-and-file employees as well as top executives issuing scathing — and even expletive-laced — rebukes of the National Security Agency.

The unusual activism by Google — which ironically enough has been on the receiving end of frequent privacy complaints itself — follows newly disclosed documents by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden alleging that the NSA secretly had hacked Google's private data storage centers around the world.

Google's top security exec testified before a Senate subcommittee last week that the future of cloud computing — the practice of storing information on the Internet rather than on site — is threatened by these allegations of government spying.

If people don't trust their data is secure on the Internet, he said, they'll store it on a hard drive instead, reversing one of this decade's most fundamental computing innovations, and potentially resulting in untold economic losses.

Other tech giants on the receiving end of alleged government spying have chosen to write letters and seek new laws allowing them to release national security requests for data.

But Google's reaction has been far more explosive:

• On Oct. 30, Brandon Downey, a Google security engineer, took to his Google Plus page to publish a response to new allegations of NSA spying. "(Expletive) these guys," Downey wrote. Though Downey wrote that his opinions weren't those of his employer, they did seem to reflect the general sentiment of the company.

• Six days later, one of Downey's colleagues, Mike Hearn, wrote on his Google Plus page that he joined Downey in "issuing a giant (Expletive) You" to the NSA and adding, "Thank you Edward Snowden."

• That same week, Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, called the alleged spying "outrageous," and said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal: "There clearly are cases where evil people exist, but you don't have to violate the privacy of every single citizen of America to find them."

In testifying before the Senate subcommittee, Google's information security director, Richard Salgado, highlighted an estimate from Cambridge-based Forrester Research that the NSA's PRISM project, leaked to the media in June, could mean up to $180 billion in losses — or a 25 percent hit — to the cloud computing industry 
by 2016.

Those estimates were made before the latest news broke about the NSA having compromised Google's cloud servers.

Salgado testified data localization efforts are already beginning in South America.

If they become more widespread, he said, "Then what we will face is the effective Balkanization of the Internet and the creation of a 'splinternet' broken up into smaller national and regional pieces with barriers around each of the splintered Internets to replace the global Internet we know today."

The effects on Boston's innovation economy would be disastrous, with cloud computing services estimated to comprise 20,000 jobs in the area by 2015.

I never pegged Google for a privacy activist, but money, like politics, can make strange bedfellows.

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Final cut for pot dispensaries

After paring down the number of prospective medical marijuana dispensaries to 158 applicants qualified to compete for the 35 slots statewide, Massachusetts public health officials are waiting to see how many of those proposals will be submitted by Thursday for the final selection process.

"All applications are due Nov. 21 and must be delivered in person between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. at 250 Washington Street," state Department of Public Health spokeswoman Anne Roach said, explaining that even those who will select the finalists don't know right now how many of the proposals that initially qualified will go ahead with the challenging phase 2 applications.

Among the initial applicants were doctors, lawyers and former lawmakers.

"We put the applications out, they're very substantial applications, and people have been working on that," Roach said.

Under the law, each county will have at least one, or a maximum of five, dispensaries.

"Phase two applications will be evaluated by a selection committee and scored on such factors as ability to meet the health needs of registered patients, appropriateness of the site, geographic distribution of dispensaries, 
local support, and plans to ensure public safety," according to DPH.

Cities and towns aren't allowed to permanently ban the dispensaries from their communities, but they can zone where they can be located.

In addition to enacting regulations and launching the competitive application process, DPH officials are also working on a computer system to track patients and doctors who use the dispensaries.

The selection process aims to provide high standards of safety, Roach said, while moving quickly to get the medical marijuana law up and running as soon as possible. Department officials expect the selected dispensaries to be named in January, she said.

"We're hoping to make that announcement early next year," Roach said.

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Once a leader, Oregon exchange struggles

PORTLAND, Ore. — With all the problems facing the rollout of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, nowhere is the situation worse or more surprising than in Oregon, a progressive state that has enthusiastically embraced the federal law but has so far failed to enroll a single person in coverage through the state's insurance exchange.

Despite grand ambitions, an early start, millions of dollars from the federal government and a tech-savvy population, Oregon's online enrollment system still isn't ready more than a month after it was supposed to go live. The state has resorted to hiring or reassigning 400 people to process insurance applications by hand.

"We're all surprised and frustrated that we're in the position that we're in now," said Jesse O'Brien, a health care advocate at the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, which lobbied for the exchange.

The state has received about 18,000 paper applications, at 19 pages each, and is scrambling to manually file and clear them. State officials have not been able to say when they expect the online system to launch, nor have they established a deadline to submit paper applications in order for coverage to begin Jan. 1. Meanwhile, the exchange's board is demanding answers from the executive director about when the website will work and how his team will get people enrolled on time.

For consumers, the application process can be long and frustrating.

"I've been trying since the very first day of October just to try to find out the coverage I could get," said Donna George, 43, a bookkeeper from Bend, Ore., who's been uninsured for three years.

When the online system wouldn't work, George submitted a paper application Oct. 7 for herself and her husband. Finally, on Nov. 12, she received an enrollment packet that tells her how much of a tax credit she'll receive and lays out her coverage options. She's now waiting to meet with her insurance agent to pick a plan and return the forms.

Oregon has long prided itself on being a leader in health policy. Its Medicaid system has been a testing ground for new innovations since the early 1990s. The state started laying the groundwork for an insurance exchange a year before Congress passed the health care law that called for one in every state. Gov. John Kitzhaber, a former emergency room physician, is a respected voice on health reform.

The state also has a large population of young, underemployed progressives who might provide a burgeoning market for affordable coverage. Its ultra-competitive health care market led to lower-than-expected premiums. Lawmakers from both parties have embraced the law. And the Portland area is a thriving hub of technology companies known as the Silicon Forest.

In other words, Oregon had everything going for it.

But its exchange, known as Cover Oregon, became a victim of its own lofty ambitions and the state's stubborn refusal to dial them back until it was too late.

While exchanges in many states are telling applicants who appear to qualify for Medicaid to contact a separate agency, Oregon insists its exchange must be a "one-stop shop" for both Medicaid and private insurance. The state also wants its exchange to eventually be able to help enroll people in a wide array of public-assistance programs, not just health care.

Exchange leaders stuck with their plan even as risk consultants warned repeatedly that they were in danger of missing the Oct. 1 deadline to launch.

"We won't know whether we made the right decisions until our system is up and running," said Amy Fauver, chief communications officer for Cover Oregon. "But we're going forward in the way we feel we can best serve Oregonians."

Exchange officials say they haven't fully launched their website because their software still can't accurately determine whether applicants are eligible for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, particularly for people with complex family arrangements.

Kitzhaber, a Democrat, has pledged that the problems won't "interfere with our objective of making sure that every Oregonian that wants to be enrolled" by the start of the new year "is, in fact, enrolled."

Oregon does have one big success to brag about. The state has enrolled 70,000 people in Medicaid, reducing the ranks of the uninsured by more than 10 percent. The large number of Medicaid enrollments came in large part thanks to a "fast-track" enrollment process approved by the Obama administration. Using income data already on file, the state mailed a simple seven-question Medicaid enrollment form to people in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program who qualify for health coverage under the federal health law's expansion of Medicaid.

Pressure is growing on exchange officials to fix their problems. U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, a moderate Democrat who took heat after voting for the health care law, released a sharply worded statement on Friday demanding that the exchange and its main contractor, Oracle, make it work.

"The implementation of Oregon's health insurance marketplace has been abysmal," Schrader said. "The current situation is completely unacceptable, and I expect much more from a state with a reputation for being an innovator in the field of health care."

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Follow AP writer Jonathan J. Cooper at http://twitter.com/jjcooper .

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Obama struggles to save his cherished health law

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's health care law risks coming unglued because of his administration's bungles and his own inflated promises.

To avoid that fate, Obama needs breakthroughs on three fronts: the cancellations mess, technology troubles and a crisis in confidence among his own supporters.

Working in his favor are pent-up demands for the program's benefits and an unlikely collaborator in the insurance industry.

But even after Obama gets the enrollment website working, count on new controversies. On the horizon is the law's potential impact on job-based insurance. Its mandate that larger employers offer coverage will take effect in 2015.

For now, odds still favor the Affordable Care Act's survival. But after making it through the Supreme Court, a presidential election, numerous congressional repeal votes and a government shutdown, the law has yet to win broad acceptance.

"There's been nothing normal about this law from the start," said Larry Levitt, an insurance expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. "There's been no period of smooth sailing."

Other government mandates have taken root in American culture after initial resistance. It may be a simplistic comparison, but most people automatically fasten their seat belts nowadays when they get in the car. Few question government-required safety features such as air bags, even if those add to vehicle costs.

Levitt says the ACA may yet have that kind of influence on how health insurance is viewed. "An expectation that everybody should have health insurance is now a topic of conversation in families," he says.

That conversation was interrupted by news that the HealthCare.gov website didn't work and that people with coverage were getting cancellation notices despite Obama's promise that you can keep your insurance.

Obama maneuvered this past week to extricate Democrats from the cancellations fallout.

The president offered a one-year extension to more than 4.2 million people whose current individual policies are being canceled by insurers to make way for more comprehensive coverage under the law. This move by the White House was intended to smooth a disruption for which his administration completely failed to plan.

But it also invited unintended consequences, showing how easily the law's complicated framework can start to come loose.

State insurance commissioners warned that the president's solution would undermine a central goal of the law, the creation of one big insurance pool in each state for people who don't have access to coverage on their jobs. Fracturing that market could lead to higher future premiums for people buying coverage through the law's new insurance exchanges, which offer government-subsidized private insurance.

That Obama is willing to take such a gamble could make it harder for him to beat back demands for other changes down the line.

On the cancellations front, the president seems unlikely to break through. He may yet battle to a political draw.

Obama realizes it's on him to try to turn things around, and quickly. In the first couple of weeks after the website debacle, Obama played the sidelines role of "Reassurer-in-Chief." Now he's on the field, trying to redeem himself.

"I'm somebody who, if I fumbled the ball, I'm going to wait until I get the next play, and then I'm going to try to run as hard as I can and do right by the team," Obama said Thursday at a news conference.

Making sure the website is running a lot better by the end of the month may be his best chance for a game-changing play.

Although only 26,794 people signed up in health plans through the federal site the first month of open enrollment, 993,635 applied for coverage and were waiting to finalize decisions. For many it took hours of persistence, dealing with frozen screens and error messages. When states running their own sites are included, a total of 1.5 million individuals have applied.

The law's supporters believe that's evidence of pent-up demand, and so far the insurance industry agrees. Public criticism of the administration by industry leaders has been minimal, even though insurers also have been on the receiving end of the website problems. Compounding the lower-than-expected sign-ups, much of the customer data they got was incomplete, duplicative or garbled.

Insurers, eager for the new business expanded coverage would bring, are pressing the administration to clear a route for them to sign up customers directly. Such workarounds may put Obama back on track toward his goal of signing up 7 million people for 2014. Medicaid expansion, the other arm of the law's push to cover the uninsured, signed up 396,000 people last month, a promising start.

With the website troubles, a national effort to promote insurance enrollments has been dialed down. Groups ranging from liberal activists and civic clubs to health promoters were mobilized and waiting. But there was little they could do. Advertising campaigns have been postponed. As the year-end holidays approach, both volunteers and the people they would be trying to reach have other priorities.

Whether enthusiasm among the rank-and-file supporters of the law will come surging back is one of the big unknowns for a president who has acknowledged the need to restore his credibility on health care.

"I think people have lost confidence in the ability of this working," said Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger. "And we've still got the anti-Obamacare folks out there taking full advantage." Praeger is a Republican who believes her state should have helped implement the law.

Skittishness among supporters was evident in the 39 House Democrats who Friday bolted their party to vote for Republican legislation on cancellations, ignoring Obama's veto threat.

Politics is not the only consideration.

The people who are signing up now are likely to be those with unmet medical needs. Younger, healthier customers probably don't see much reason to spend their time tangling with the website. To hold down costs, the law aims for a mix that includes a hefty proportion of younger enrollees whose medical expenses are low.

"Everybody said the website would be up and running the first day," said Praeger. "The longer it takes, the more people are going to question whether this is going to work."

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Geithner to join private equity firm

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who played a central role in the government's response to the financial crisis of 2008-2009, is joining private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC.

The firm announced Saturday that Geithner will serve as its president and managing director starting March 1.

Geithner led the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for more than five years before becoming Treasury secretary in 2009, when the economy had sunk into a deep recession.

Few Treasury secretaries received as much scrutiny. Supporters credited Geithner with helping prevent the recession from spiraling into a second Great Depression by stabilizing the banking system and restoring investor confidence. Critics said he was too cozy with Wall Street.

Warburg Pincus said that Geithner would advise the firm on strategy, investing, investor relations and other topics. The New York-based firm has been involved in buyouts of such well-known companies as luxury department store chain Neiman Marcus and contact lens maker Bausch + Lomb.

The firm declined to comment on Geithner's compensation. Through an aide, Geithner declined an interview request.

Geithner, 52, stepped down from Treasury in late January, days after President Barack Obama was sworn in for a second term. He was the last of Obama's original economic advisers to leave the administration, and was succeeded as Treasury secretary by Jack Lew.

In an interview with The Associated Press on his last day in office, Geithner said that the economy was "stronger than people appreciate" and predicted a pickup in growth. He defended his role in bailouts for large banks — steps designed to stabilize the financial system — but acknowledged that he would never win over his critics because it was hard to convince people about the dangers posed by the financial crisis.

The official who oversaw taxpayer bailouts of the banks, for example, criticized Geithner for allowing insurance giant American International Group to pay huge bonuses to executives. AIG got the biggest bailout of the financial crisis.

Geithner's appointment calendar from 2009 detailed his extensive contacts with CEOs of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup.

Since leaving office, Geithner signed a deal with Random House's Crown Publishers to write a behind-the-scenes book about the response to the economic crisis and has given speeches.

Geithner has spent most of his career in government, although he had an early stint at Kissinger Associates, the consulting firm formed by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Geithner joined the Treasury Department in 1988 and served as undersecretary for international affairs during the Clinton administration. He worked at the International Monetary Fund from 2001 until 2003 before being named president of the New York Fed.

Private equity firms pool money from clients such as pension funds and other institutional investors to buy companies or stakes in companies. They try to improve the financial results of a company with the goal of reselling it at a profit.

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Trans fat ban irks eateries

Many local restaurants and bakeries could be forced to revise their menus and change their food — thanks to the Food and Drug Administration's decision to ban artery-clogging trans fats — not long after they scrambled to meet different trans fat guidelines.

Bob Luz, president of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said many establishments already made major modifications to their food in order to be officially "trans fat-free," a description the FDA said required less than .5 grams of trans fats per serving in 2006. Now, more modifications will have to be made to completely eliminate the artificial trans fats.

"All of the hard work and effort that everybody put into achieving that .5" is for naught, Luz said. "They're going to have to go back to the drawing boards. That's going to be costly, that's going to take time."

The FDA is collecting comments for two months before determining a timetable to phase-out trans fats. Different foods may have different schedules, depending on how easy it is to find substitutes.

Luz said he would have no problem with the FDA regulation if it did not undo the previous guidelines.

"This would not be a major hurdle if not for the .5 definition," Luz said.

Several towns in Massachusetts already have banned trans fats, including Brookline and Chelsea.

Richard Katz, owner of Katz Bagel Bakery in Chelsea and an ardent opponent of the ban, said he was forced to stop making his popular apple and raspberry turnovers. He said he tried to make them without shortening, but "customers came back the next week and said what was wrong with your turnovers?"

While he has no illusions about trans fats' lack of nutritional value, Katz said restaurants and customers should be able to choose what to eat.

"You don't have to eat trans fats every single day, have them once in a while," he said. "People continue to smoke, they continue to drink and they continue to eat."

Katz decided to continue to use trans fats in his chicken pot pie and pie crusts, although he no longer makes the turnovers.

"People love my chicken pot pies. They love the crust because my crust is good," Katz said.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents the country's largest food suppliers, said in a statement that manufacturers have lowered the amount of trans fats in food by more than 73 percent since 2005.

Many high-profile restaurants have largely eliminated trans fats already, including Friendly's and Dunkin' Donuts. Only 18 items out of 547 on the Dunkin' Donuts master menu contain trans fats. The Canton-based chain voluntarily eliminated a majority of the trans fats in its menu items in 2007.

Dunkin' Donuts spokeswoman Michelle King said the company is "assessing" the FDA decision to phase out trans fats and "will continue to monitor the issue."

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Young entrepreneurs get real

A group of entrepreneurs, armed with business plans, prototypes and mock-ups, pitched their start-ups to a panel of potential investors, and then got back to work on college applications.

High school seniors taking an entrepreneurship class at Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, presented business plans Wednesday for companies ranging from a recipe website that links with grocery delivery companies to a running-shoe sole that tells the wearer when shoes need to be replaced.

"We're putting them in real situations. It's so authentic," said teacher Kevin Bau.

Students pitched their companies to a panel of "sharks," including Michael Bronner, founder of Digitas and natural food company UNREAL, and Jeremy Levine, founder of StarStreet and a BCDS alum.

"I actually felt like I was running a small business," said Isabel Hechavarria, who pitched Bella, her line of swimwear made from material that lets the wearer get an all-over tan.

Bronner said the students' detailed pitches and business plans impressed him. "I've seen presentations from kids coming out of college, honestly, that are not as strong as these," he said.

After the pitches, Hechavarria was approached by one of the judges about setting up a "game-changing" conversation, according to Lisa Trask, the other teacher in the class.

"This is definitely a case of the classroom and real-world experience overlapping and transitioning, and she'll have the support of the school to pursue this endeavour," Trask said.

Trask would not say which entrepreneur was involved or what the talks were regarding, but during Hechavarria's pitch and after, several of them expressed interest and said if they became involved they would seek a celebrity endorsement.

Other CEOs said they were interested in pursuing the proposals beyond the class, but said they would likely take some time before they did so.

Steve Gold, an entrepreneurship professor at Babson College who is not involved in the BCDS class, said the program will be valuable for all the students. He said skills critical to entrepreneurship, such as communication, organization and leadership, all translate to nearly every other job.

"It's the kind of thing that benefits everybody, no matter what path these students take in life," Gold said.

Bau said one of the main goals of the class, now in its second year, is to help students understand that they can make an impact in whatever field they go into.

"You don't have to fit into the existing structure exactly as it is," Bau said.

"I think it's going to change their lives," Bronner said.

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Pontiac problem is a thing called piston slap

I have a 2003 Pontiac Vibe with 135,000 miles on it. This past winter it would knock for a minute or so on a cold start. A GM tech told me that it has a cold piston slap and it will go for a long time. I could faintly hear it this summer. Could it be anything else? Is there something I need to do so it will last two to three more years and 60,000 miles?

Hoping to get close to 200,000 miles out of this or any engine is a worthy goal but of course there are no guarantees, knock or no knock. The GM tech is likely correct. Piston "slap" occurs when the excess clearance between the piston skirt and the cylinder wall allows the skirt to "slap" the wall as combustion pressure drives it downward in the cylinder. As the piston warms up and expands a bit, the clearance is reduced and the noise stops. And as the tech said, this isn't particularly harmful and does not mean impending failure. The engine in my '70 Corvette with 120,000 miles on it has reminded me it has a slight piston slap every time I have started it for the past 20 years!

A mechanic's stethoscope can pinpoint the particular piston/cylinder in question. If disabling the spark for that cylinder during a cold start test, which eliminates combustion pressure that slaps the piston skirt against the cylinder wall, eliminates the knock, it's piston slap.

If it is piston slap, don't worry about the noise and just drive the car. The only "repair" would be a complete engine overhaul that would not be economically justifiable.

There's one more possibility: combustion chamber deposit interference, or CCDI. This occurs when carbon deposits build up on the top of a piston and/or the roof of the combustion chamber to the point where there is physical contact between the two on cold starts until all the components warm up and expand enough to eliminate the contact. Again, like piston slap this isn't particularly harmful, but unlike piston slap it may be easily "fixable."

A professional or DIY induction cleaning with SeaFoam or GM Top Engine Cleaner can remove the carbon build-up and eliminate the noise.

L L L

I would like to better understand oil change intervals on little used vehicles. I have a '77 F-150 that I use around the ranch about 20 hours and maybe five miles per year. I completely rebuilt the engine and the oil I put in more than five years ago is still honey-colored. Am I hurting the engine? Seems silly to change it every year, but is there a shelf life?

In this case the word "silly" is synonymous with "wasteful." I just checked the date I last changed oil and filter on the aforementioned 'Vette and it was 2009 — four years ago. In that time I've driven the car fewer than 2,000 miles so I guess you've reminded me it's time to change it again.

But I have no worries that I'm hurting this engine, or any other "low annual time/mileage" engines I own and operate. The oil in these engines is subject to very little fuel/combustion blow-by contamination. The only time-based deterioration is oxidation from exposure to air inside the engine.

I think you're safe, but it's probably time for an oil and filter change. Save the old oil for recycling or use in topping up oil levels on your other low-annual-time engines.

Paul Brand, author of "How to Repair Your Car," is an automotive troubleshooter, driving instructor, and former race car driver. Readers may write to him at Star Tribune, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55488 or via email at paulbrand@startribune.com. Leave a daytime phone number.

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