Stock investors hit from all sides in January

NEW YORK — Stock investors were hit from all sides in January.

Concerns about the global economy and U.S. company earnings, as well as turmoil in emerging markets, led the Dow Jones industrial average to its worst start since 2009. However, many investors remain hopeful that the problems will not spill over into the rest of 2014.

They even see the downturn as healthy, given the U.S. market's rapid rise last year.

The Dow slid 5.3 percent in January while the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.6 percent and the Nasdaq composite declined 1.7 percent.

Investors entered the year with some degree of skepticism and nervousness. The stock market went basically straight up in 2013. The S&P 500 index ended 2013 with a gain of nearly 30 percent, its best year since 1997.

"No amount of negative news could derail the market last year," said Jonathan Corpina, a floor trader at the New York Stock Exchange with Meridian Equity Partners.

But no stock market can go straight up forever.

Many investors expected 2014 to be a more muddled and volatile year for the market. Market strategists late last year were looking for the S&P 500 index to notch a modest gain of 4 percent to 6 percent, ending in the range of 1,850 to 1,900.

Investors were also looking for more pullbacks this year and possibly a correction, the technical term for when a stock market index like the S&P 500 falls 10 percent or more. Three months ago, analysts at Goldman Sachs said there was roughly a 60 percent chance that a correction would happen this year.

"People did look at these stock market valuations at the beginning of the year with a degree of nervousness," said David Kelly, chief market strategist with J.P. Morgan Funds. "A correction would probably be healthy for the market."

But many investors were surprised by January's turbulence. With one exception, the Dow had triple-digit moves every trading day in January.

Still, with the broader S&P 500 index down just 3.6 percent from its January 15 peak, the downturn is hardly severe.

"There's been some negative news out there — the economic data, corporate earnings and what's now going on in emerging markets — but I'm not convinced the headlines are bad enough to be a catalyst to push us into a correction," Corpina said.

Investors point to the December jobs report, released on Jan. 10, as the event that started the troubles. The U.S. government said employers created only 74,000 jobs in December, the worst month for job creation in since 2011 and far below expectations.

Up until then, weeks of data showed the U.S. economic recovery was accelerating. U.S. companies were selling record levels of goods overseas; layoffs had dwindled; and the Federal Reserve was pulling back on its economic stimulus program, citing an improving economy.

Many investors called the December jobs report as a statistical fluke. But the report has weighed on stocks all month, investors say.

"It set a negative tone for the market," Kelly said.

Other economic reports also painted a picture of U.S. economic growth possibly flattening out instead of accelerating.

Investors combined these economic worries with mixed signals from U.S. companies.

Wall Street is in the middle of earnings season, when the country's major corporations report results for the final three months of the year. Half of the members of the S&P 500 have reported, and the results have been mixed. While fourth-quarter corporate earnings are up a respectable 7.9 percent from a year earlier, companies have been cutting their full-year outlooks and reporting weaker sales, according to data provider FactSet.

Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, said Friday that earnings may come in at the low end or below its prior forecasts. It also expects sales at stores open at least a year to be flat. The company previously forecast that sales would be modestly higher.

Wal-Mart's forecast echo the comments from Macy's, Target, Best Buy and other retailers.

Of the companies who have reported so far, 44 companies have cut their full-year profit outlooks while 10 have increased their outlooks, according to data from FactSet.

Adding to concerns about the U.S. economy and earnings were problems in overseas markets.

The bad news started with China. A recent report showed manufacturing activity in the world's second-largest economy unexpectedly contracted in January. The report added to other recent signs that the Chinese economy was slowing down after years of massive growth.

Then came currency troubles in smaller emerging markets, particularly Turkey, South Africa and Argentina.

All three saw their currencies fall sharply against the dollar, as investors began to pull out of emerging markets and return their money to less-risky parts of the globe.

"These governments were financing themselves with (foreign investor money), and now that these investors are looking to go home, there's no source of money to replace them," said Krishna Memani, chief investment officer at Oppenheimer Funds.

On Friday, the U.S. stock market closed out January on another down note. The Dow fell 149.76 points, or 0.9 percent, to 15,698.85. The S&P 500 dropped 11.60 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,782.59 and the Nasdaq lost 19.25 points, or 0.5 percent, to 4,103.88.

Investors shouldn't panic yet, money managers say.

They will get the January jobs report next week. Also, another 93 members of the S&P 500 are scheduled to report earnings.

"A 5 percent decline in equities is not an earthshattering event by any measure, particularly after last year," Memani said. "It's still way too early to give up on equities."

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AP Business Writer Alex Veiga contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

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Mass. women promote Cape Ann gourmet sea salt

GLOUCESTER, Mass. — The location of the harvest is a secret because ... well, because the Salt Ladies want to keep it that way. And it does not do to cross the Salt Ladies.

The unseasonably balmy 40-degree temperatures of Martin Luther King Jr. Day have drawn Alison Darnell and Heather Ahearn — along with their 28 large plastic buckets — to this small public beach that, for reasons of competitive advantage, shall remain nameless.

Even on holidays, the salt show must go on.

Waterproofed from their feet up and double-gloved, the two women spend the next hour lugging the empty buckets into the sea and returning to terra firma with 5 gallons of pristine Cape Ann seawater in each — the very nectar that begins the process to produce mounds of pure gourmet sea salt for discerning gourmands and seat-of-the-pants cooks alike.

Ahearn and Darnell are founders, senior executives, cooks and chief seawater Sherpas for Atlantic Saltworks, a fledgling North Shore-based company that produces gourmet sea salt for sale on the company's website and, up to this point, at a limited number of retail locations, such as The Cave in Gloucester.

They started the company in August. Basically, at least for now, it is run out of their respective homes — Salem for Ahearn and Wakefield for Darnell.

When it's time to cook the salt from the seawater, operations shift to the shared commercial kitchen the company leases in Amesbury, where the seawater is boiled to produce the briny flake finishing sea salt that is the rage in the cooking world. The yield is about 3 ounces per gallon of water.

"It just tastes better," Darnell said. "We don't use anti-caking agents like a big company might use, and we don't take anything from the salt, and we don't add anything to it."

Once collected, the seawater is allowed to settle. Then it is filtered to remove organic impurities and boiled to produce the salt.

The whole enterprise started with the boiling of 1 gallon of seawater out of Salem Harbor on Ahearn's kitchen stove, just to see if they could do it.

"We actually made salt, and we were hooked," Darnell said. "But it's one thing to boil down a gallon of water on your stove to produce salt and another to consistently produce the finest flake."

The women, both 39, hold MBAs from Babson College and day jobs in traditional businesses. But that 1 gallon of water turned their hearts to salt.

The idea in hand, they embarked on their research.

They investigated the history of salt and identified those companies — such as Maldon Salt Co., in Essex, England — regarded as the producers of the finest flake and finishing salt. They checked with local and state regulatory about the propriety of freely harvesting seawater from public areas and with health agencies for the applicable standards.

Then they hit the road, traveling the North Shore coastline from Newburyport to Salem, sampling and testing the seawater, searching for the right salinity and the highest purity. That search ultimately led them to Cape Ann, where they found what they considered the very best water for what they believe is the among the best sea salts anyone is making.

"We narrowed it down to a couple places we liked because of the taste of the salt and because they just felt like it was the right places to be," Ahearn said.

They even performed a blind taste-test of salts made from seawater from varying spots.

"It was very slight, but you could tell the difference ,and we knew that one was slightly better than the other," Darnell said. "It's amazing what we've learned in a short time. Salt is all we talk about. My husband is so bored with it."

Though they started the company in August, Darnell said they didn't even attempt their first sale until November. Much of the work now involves marketing the product and getting the word out to chefs and everyday cooks, making them aware of the daily uses for what often is regarded as a somewhat precious spice.

"We don't want folks to think of it as so super-special that you're only going to take it out and use it on special occasions," Darnell said.

They've also expanded their product line to include salt blends and are looking at the possibility of expanding into brines or spice rubs.

The marketing is a bit of a small-ball effort, involving word-of-mouth and local food shows. Joey Ciaramitaro gave them a shout-out on the highly popular "GoodMorningGloucester" blog. They also have been invited to showcase their salt at some of the region's most prestigious food shows, such as Eat Boutique magazine's Boston Holiday Market during the Christmas season, as well as the upcoming SoWash open market in Boston.

The goal for Atlantic Saltworks is to centralize cooking and packaging operations in one exclusive location, with Gloucester as the women's primary choice.

"I have to say we've felt extremely welcome in Gloucester," Ahearn said.

In crafting their own Gloucester connection, according to Justin Demetri — a Cape Ann historian with the Essex Shipbuilding Museum — the Salt Ladies will add to a long historical line of Gloucester's connection with salt.

"Gloucester, at the turn of the (19th) century, was the world's largest importer of salt," Demetri wrote in response to an email request. "It was the largest fishing fleet in the Western Hemisphere and one of the last great salt fish ports.

The death knell for the industry, however, came with the establishment of fresh fish markets in Boston and elsewhere around 1850.

"As people's tastes changed, salt fish's market share would slowly decrease," Demerit said. "By the arrival of flash freezing in the 1920s, Gloucester's salt fishing fleet was on its last legs."

Now, almost 100 years later, Gloucester's role in the salt business may be reawakening — thanks to the Salt Ladies.

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Silverado redo earns its awards

Never one to shy from a full-sized pickup truck fight, Chevy redesigned the 2014 Silverado 1500 by trimming some weight, updating the interior and reworking the engine to improve gas mileage. And for this year it's captured Truck of the Year honors from the North American Truck and Car Awards and Motor Trend.

Going nose to nose with the Ford F150, Dodge Ram and Toyota Tundra, Chevy throws its elbows around by combining a refined ride and burly off-road capabilities. Underneath the good-looking body are upgraded shocks, underbody shields and a heavy-duty air cleaner.

Our spacious crew cab tester was fitted out with the Z71 package, upscaling the truck with a luxury finished leather cabin, Bose stereo, a full array of built-in electronics including a 110-volt outlet, five USB outlets, Bluetooth and MyLink. Along with hill and trailer descent controls the $850 Driver Alert package provides a seat vibrating alarm when you're too close or have strayed from your lane. The back-up camera is helpful even though the rear vision is excellent.

The V-8 5.3-liter ECOtec3 engine makes 355 horsepower providing 11,000 pounds of towing and you'll be hard-pressed to know when the fuel-saving cylinder deactivation feature kicks in turning the V-8 into a gas sipping V-4. It also has good acceleration and the 6-speed transmission is smooth. Rated mileage for this engine is 16 miles per gallon in the city and 22 on the highway. The quiet and compliant Silverado is a nice-riding truck owing to improved shocks and dampers. But don't let the smooth ride fake you out. You'll still get some bumping about on rough roads so keep the lid on your coffee.

During my test period I battled a couple of decent snowstorms and the all-wheel drive was flawless. I simply left the Auto setting on and never even had to give it a second thought, confidently plowing through piles of snow, slush and ice.

The exterior, at first glance, hasn't changed much. A huge, squared off, heavily chromed front end remains while some body sculpting creates better aerodynamics. The EZ Lift tailgate and bed include step-up slots in the bumper and hand grips on the rails. LED lighting is new for both the interior and exterior. The crew doors have been changed to front hinges squeaking out a couple of extra inches of interior space.

Even with all the creature comforts added on, the core of the Silverado is a workhorse. Fitted out with either a 5-foot 8-inch or 6-foot 6-inch bed, you're talking about maxing out the payload to nearly a ton. So while you're not going to want to hose out the interior of a leather-laden Z71, it still means business on the worksite, yet will clean up for an evening in the city. And hey, it's a truck, so there's plenty of personal storage space starting with a huge padded center console, two glove boxes and cup holders galore.

Despite recent accolades, Silverados aren't moving off the lots quickly so excellent deals can be had.

With a base of $43,650, our tester with the LTZ Plus Package upgrade priced out at $50,475 — it's a big ticket but competitively positioned. All that being said some model Silverados can be leased for as little as $170 per month.

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Toney chains end health coverage

Add Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue to the list of retailers ending health insurance for part-timers in response to new Obamacare regulations.

The chains decided to no longer offer coverage to associates who average less than 30 hours of work per week, spokeswoman Tiffany Bourre confirmed.

"As are all U.S. employers, we are reviewing our benefits programs as they relate to the recent health care reform," she said. "Since the coverage provided through federal and state exchanges provides the best avenue for our part-time associates … we will no longer offer medical coverage to this group."

The change took effect Jan. 1 for Saks and starts March 1 for Lord & Taylor. It will affect less than 1 percent of 44,000 associates, Bourre said.

Citing health care reform, discount chain Target Corp. last week also said it would stop health insurance for its part-timers.

"It's always disappointing if a company puts their bottom line ahead of employees' welfare," said Amy Whitcomb Slemmer, executive director of Boston's Health Care for All. "It adds to the insecurity of their employees and makes them less attractive workplaces."

Macy's and Bloomingdale's also dropped their "limited" plan for part-timers on July 1 because it wouldn't have met 
Affordable Care Act requirements, and a more premium plan would have been cost-prohibitive for workers, spokesman Jim Sluzewski said.

"We offered part-time associates access to a temporary plan to get them through until Dec. 31, 2013 — when the Affordable Care Act took effect," he said.

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Obama running out of reasons to reject Keystone XL

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is running out of reasons to say no to Keystone XL, the proposed oil pipeline that's long been looming over his environmental legacy.

Five years after the pipeline's backers first asked the Obama administration for approval, the project remains in limbo, stuck in a complex regulatory process that has enabled Obama to put off what will inevitably be a politically explosive decision. But the release Friday of a long-awaited government report removes a major excuse for delay, ramping up pressure on the president to make a call.

The State Department's report raised no significant environmental objections to the pipeline, marking a victory for proponents, who argue the project will create jobs and strengthen America's energy security.

Environmentalists disagree and insist approval would fly in the face of Obama's vaunted promise to fight climate change, even as the report gives him political cover to approve it. They argue the report, which provides a detailed assessment of tar sands emissions, offers Obama more than enough justification to oppose the pipeline.

Obama is not tipping his hand. But the White House pushed back on the notion that the pipeline is now headed for speedy approval. Only after various U.S. agencies and the public have a chance to weigh the report and other data will a decision be made, said White House spokesman Matt Lehrich.

"The president has clearly stated that the project will be in the national interest only if it does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution," Lehrich said, echoing a declaration Obama made in a speech laying out his climate change plan.

A final decision isn't expected until this summer, at the earliest, meaning the verdict could potentially come in the run-up to November's midterm elections, in which energy issues are likely to be a factor in some key races. The decision might also coincide with the Obama administration's release of new emissions rules for existing power plants that are also politically contentious.

Because Keystone has become a proxy for the broader battle over energy vs. environment, Obama's decision will have an outsized impact on his environmental legacy. The issue has taken on a life of its own, trailing Obama seemingly wherever he goes.

Protesters, one who dresses as a polar bear, show up regularly outside the White House and at Obama events across the country to demonstrate against it. Both sides have run television ads urging Obama to take their side on the pipeline, which would carry oil from tar sands in western Canada 1,179 miles to a hub in Nebraska, where it would connect with existing pipelines to carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.

"Sometimes you don't get to choose the symbol of an issue — they get chosen for you, and there's no better example of that than Keystone," said Daniel J. Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress and a Keystone opponent. "His decision on this issue will symbolize his record on climate and energy for people on both sides of the debate."

If Obama gives Keystone the green light, environmental groups that are already upset with him for promoting domestic oil and gas drilling are sure to pile on. Moreover, it's unlikely to win him any accolades from Republicans. Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster, said rather than give Obama credit for finally making the decision they wanted, Republicans will criticize him for taking so long.

Ironically for Obama, who has been seeking out opportunities to act unilaterally in the face of congressional gridlock, this is one decision the president may wish weren't up to him. Republicans seized on Obama's vow to use his "pen and phone" to take executive action this year as they urged him Friday to sign the pipeline's permit.

"Please pick up that pen you've been talking so much about and make this happen," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

The White House has sought to dodge questions publicly about the pipeline by arguing the review process is housed at the State Department, which has jurisdiction because the pipeline would cross a U.S. border. But privately, administration officials concede that Obama will decide an issue of this magnitude.

Obama doesn't just face domestic pressure on the issue — Canada has been angered at the long delays of the project it needs to export its growing oil sands production. Obama meets with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a trilateral summit in Mexico in a few weeks.

Obama blocked the Keystone XL pipeline in January 2012, saying he did not have enough time for a fair review before a looming deadline forced on him by congressional Republicans. That delayed the choice for him until after his re-election.

Now that the review is complete, other government agencies have 90 days to comment. Then Secretary of State John Kerry makes a recommendation to Obama on whether the project is in the national interest, taking into account Obama's pledge that the effect on greenhouse gas emissions will be part of that equation.

The State Department report Friday said Keystone is unlikely to significantly impact oil sands extraction or the demand for heavy crude oil at U.S. refineries. Keystone opponents called the report flawed and argued it ignored evidence.

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Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report.

___

Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler

Follow Josh Lederman at https://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

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Porter Sq. Galleria goes to L.A. firm

The Porter Square Galleria has a new owner under a $35.55 million deal that closed yesterday.

Los Angeles real estate investment management firm CBRE Global Investors bought the 57,265-square-foot retail center from KS Partners.

Built in 1989, the property is 100 percent leased, with a two-level Walgreens, Anna's Taqueria, Potbelly Sandwich Shop and Rock'N Fitness as tenants.

"This is part of our urban retail plan for a fund that is sponsored by CBRE Global Investors," senior managing director Kim Hourihan said. "We loved the location, being right at a T stop and ... sort of the crossroads there in Cambridge."

The galleria is an "urban retail trophy" in a highly developed area, which is very popular now with investors, said a source close to the deal, who also cited the square's "great" demographics.

KS Partners, a real estate investment and development company with offices in Woburn and New York, could not be reached.

The sale was brokered by Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, which declined comment.

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They’re sold on Magoun Square

If you want to gauge the energy in Somerville's Magoun Square, take a look at the retail storefronts and the empty lots and old garage sites filling up with new housing.

Two years ago there were about a dozen empty storefronts in the retail district at the intersection of Broadway and Medford Street, but now there's a new sign and new venues such as Daddy Jones Bar, Modelo Butcher Market, K-2 Beer & Wine shop and Pennypacker's, a food truck gone brick and mortar, joining the popular Olde Magoun's Saloon.

Winchester natives Greg Huber, 29, and Leah Gallagher, 27, bought a top floor condo in an old Victorian here less than a year ago and already two new single-family houses have sprouted up across the street. Side-by-side auto body and glass shops will soon be sites for about 25 units, the Sons of Italy wants to add housing to its property, and there's talk of other deals recently signed or about to be.

"We're thrilled that we bought in Magoun Square," said Gallagher, who commutes to her financial services job in downtown Boston. "We have friends our age who are also looking to buy here because housing is still reasonably priced and it's a great neighborhood to raise a family."

The Magoun neighborhood got a big boost with the 2012 opening of Maxwell's Green, a successful 199-unit high-end apartment and townhouse complex built on a brownfields former factory site — a project that drew the attention of Huber and Gallagher to the area. And then there's the long-delayed Green Line extension from Lechmere, which will stop along Lowell Street when it opens in 2018. And the Somerville bike path is coming up to the area from Davis Square this spring.

Longtime residents such as Courtney O'Keefe, a former alderman and advocate for the neighborhood, knows that the area her parents moved to 30 years ago to open a sub shop is about to change.

"You'd like to keep it as a little secret, a hidden gem, but the word is getting out," said O'Keefe, 33, who moved back. "But there is some room for growth here that fits in with the neighborhood and maintains what's now a nice balance between longtimers and newcomers."

O'Keefe adds that the rebirth of the retail district has been more important than the promise of the Green Line. "I've been saying all along not to put all our eggs in the Green basket," she said.

Other Somerville locals such as Dimitra Tsourianis Murphy also see the potential. After working for the Lyons Group opening and managing hip Hub venues, she returned to her roots and bought a building in Magoun Square and just over a year ago opened Daddy Jones Bar, a cocktail bar with Greek food and a neighborhood feel that draws natives and newcomers.

"Magoun Square used to be a drive-through area and now there's a reason to pause here," said the 33-year-old Murphy, who says the square could use some clothing shops as well as a local business association. "I'm seeing a lot of young families moving in, which is really great for the neighborhood."

You can still buy a single-family here in the mid-$400,000s, unlike Davis Square a mile away where housing prices are astronomical. Few want to see that happen in Magoun, but condo conversions are picking up.

"There's still old-timers here with two-family houses who live in one unit and rent the other to one of their kids," said Ted Tobin of KSS Realty, which co-developed Maxwell's Green. "But there's more young buyers looking to get in on the ground floor of something special. Being able to wake up and have places to go in your own square adds to the appeal. This area has a bright future."

Huber and Gallagher are already thinking of buying an investment property in the neighborhood.

"I'm a real believer in Magoun Square," said Huber, who commutes to his medical sales job in Burlington. "It's a nice, homey place, and the retail area has just taken off. There's no doubt it's up and coming."

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John Henry makes himself Globe publisher, Sheehan to be CEO

Red Sox owner John Henry named himself publisher of The Boston Globe yesterday and former Hill Holliday head Mike Sheehan as chief executive officer — a move that demonstrates Henry's day-to-day focus on the broadsheet, Sheehan told the Herald.

"He's going to be very active in the strategic direction overall at the Globe, which he's eminently capable of doing," said Sheehan. "It's a reflection that he is going to be active. ... This is not a hobby."

Henry will focus on strategy, while Sheehan will handle business growth and a still-to-be-hired chief operating officer will oversee the day-to-day business operations, said Sheehan.

Asked if former Hill Holliday executive Jack Connors — who once tried to buy the paper — would be involved with Henry's venture, Sheehan said, "That's a question for John, but I've not heard that."

Sheehan officially resigned as Hill Holliday chairman about 10 days ago and had been serving as an ad consultant to Henry before the two discussed the leadership structure this week, he said.

"I've spent 30 years with CFOs and CEOs of companies helping to build their business," said Sheehan. "Now I get to apply that specifically to the Globe."

Henry takes over for former publisher Christopher Mayer, who announced his abrupt resignation a few hours after Henry addressed the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce earlier this month.

Sheehan, like Henry, stressed the importance of the Hub remaining a two-newspaper town.

"I believe the stronger the Herald is, the stronger the Globe is," said Sheehan, "and the stronger Boston is."

Sheehan is also the treasurer of The One Fund Boston, the charity that raises money for Boston Marathon victims.

Henry declined comment to the Herald yesterday through a spokeswoman, but said in a statement: "My main role as publisher is to ensure that the Globe has the right management and that management has the resources to accomplish its mission."

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Panel: We’d refund $85M casino fees

The state Gaming Commission is advancing an idea to refund casinos their hefty $85 million licensing fee if a well-funded push to overturn the Bay State's gaming law is successful, which would put a serious crimp in the state budget that relies on those fees to fund transportation and other projects.

A commission rep has been asked to testify about the issue at an upcoming hearing of the Joint Committee on Economic Development, which is studying the ramifications of the effort to put a casino repeal question on the November ballot. License applicants are concerned they will pay the license fee — $85 million for a resort casino, $25 million for a slots parlor — and have nothing to show for it if gaming is outlawed.

"That's not fair," Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby said. "We hear that, and one reasonable fix would be for the Legislature to do whatever it would have to do to make that money refundable in the unlikely event that that all happened."

Crosby said any legislative fix should be in place before Feb. 28, when the commission will award the state's first and only slots parlor license. The chairmen of the joint economic development committee, Sen. Gale Candaras of Wilbraham and Rep. Joseph Wagner of Chicopee, did not return calls for comment.

This year's state budget originally counted on $195 million in licensing revenue from two casinos and one slots parlor, but that was recently adjusted to $110 million out of concern one of the casinos would be licensed too close to the end of the fiscal year.

"The budget is built on a number of assumptions that we closely monitor throughout the year, and this is one," said Alex Zaroulis, spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Administration and Finance.

Gov. Deval Patrick's budget for next year anticipates $53 million in gaming license revenue and $20 million in taxes on revenue a new gaming facility will generate. Patrick's office declined to comment on whether he'd support refunding the money if the casino law is overturned.

The group working to strike down the casino law, Repeal the Casino Deal, raised $175,476 last year, and is petitioning the Supreme Judicial Court to get on the November ballot over the objection of Attorney General Martha Coakley, who argues the question would violate the implied contractual rights of license applicants. A coalition of casino and slots proponents have hired a lawyer, Carl Valvo, and filed a motion to intervene in the case. The court will hear arguments in May.

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New Seaport rentals launch

Transportation and retail needs of the South Boston waterfront are being pushed to the forefront as the building boom continues with the latest luxury apartment building officially opening yesterday.

"It's going to propel the conversation, the public policy, to address these issues," said John Drew, developer of Waterside Place on Congress Street.

Drew said a Silver Line extension and basic services such as a pharmacy and a grocery store are needed as more residential units are built in the area.

Waterside Place includes 236 rental units, and recently opened apartment building 315 on A has 202 units. Another 684 units are being developed.

"We have great opportunity, we also have great challenges," said state Rep. Nick Collins who represents South Boston. "Transportation infrastructure and operation needs are dramatically changed."

The Boston Redevelopment Authority launched a South Boston retail survey in December, asking residents and people who work in the Seaport District if they are satisfied with the number of stores. Those results are being reviewed, but the BRA said there were more than 1,700 responses.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh said fixes to transportation and retail issues will be coming.

"You're going to start to see the amenities come now," Walsh said. "You're talking of an area that's never been developed and all of a sudden we're developing it."

Melina Shuler, a spokeswoman for the BRA, said "we're working on a multi-agency transportation plan to ease traffic, working to bring a greater mix of housing affordability to the area, and we're encouraging more retail."

Waterside Place includes 10,000 square feet of planned retail space.

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LG throws rivals a curve

Maybe I'm not hip enough. But I don't understand why anyone needs a smartphone with a curved screen. And I've given it a lot of thought since I received the LG G Flex — the world's first slightly flexible, subtly curved smartphone.

Give LG credit for this: When was the last time you saw a smartphone with an entirely new form factor? Manufacturers are too busy ripping off each other's designs and suing one another over patent infringement to innovate regularly. So I do appreciate that LG tried to reimagine the conventional rectangular slab design. And the company added to the Android operating system a dual-window multitasking feature that is quite convenient.

But the Flex, available for $299.99 on contract through AT&T Wireless, is flawed. The curved screen is supposed to match the contours of the side of your face, making for a more comfortable talk experience. But I have yet to find any 6-inch screen, curved or not, that doesn't require earbuds. The curve does reduce screen glare.

What's more, for a curved screen to be truly useful, it needs to be bendy. But my gripe is that the Flex isn't flexible enough. I think because it was marketed as flexible, I was hoping to snap it around my wrist like one of those bracelets from the '80s. In truth, the curve was much more subtle than I expected.

Perhaps I'm missing the allure, because product designers have long imagined flexible screens. Samsung is coming out with its own curved smartphone, the Galaxy Round, and others will likely follow. But to me, a curved screen smartphone seems like a solution looking for a problem. Yet I do see the benefit of having a curved screen in one product category: the smartwatch.

My guess is that if there's any appetite for a curvaceous piece of technology, the company that will satisfy it is Apple. The Cupertino giant is reportedly working on an iWatch, and I wouldn't be surprised if it hits shelves this summer, and by then all these curved-screen smartphones will seem, well … behind the curve.

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Ax falls in scandal over Harvard’s Romanian forests

Harvard University's Romanian timberland investments have put it at the center of an international bribery and money laundering scandal.

Romanian authorities last week arrested a former Harvard investment agent on charges that he accepted $1.3 million in bribes, a Canary Islands trip and a Chrysler Sebring for facilitating the university's purchase of woodlands at artificially inflated prices.

Dragos Lipan Secu allegedly colluded with unnamed sellers of the land that the Harvard-owned Scolopax SRL bought from 2007 to 2009, according to Romanian prosecutors.

"This whole matter harmed Scolopax's shareholders because the forest lands were overpriced, and the difference went to the 
defendants," said Livia Saplacan, a spokeswoman for the Romanian Anti-Corruption Department.

Harvard said Secu's relationship with Scolopax ended in December 2012. "This matter pertains to actions of an outside contractor who is no longer associated with Harvard Management Co.," spokesman Kevin Galvin said, referring to the firm that manages Harvard's endowment. "We are aware of the allegations and gathering further information."

Harvard is the largest private owner of Romanian forests, with 86,486-plus acres, according to Romanian news reports.

There's a lot of institutional money in timberland, according to Jack Lutz, timberland economist at Rowley's Forest Research Group. "The returns have been decent at times," he said, noting they're less volatile and conserve capital. "It tends to be an inflation hedge." ­— dgoodison@bostonherald.com

Herald wire services contributed 
to this report.

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City Council seeks end to channel freeze-out

Boston City Councilors waded into a fee dispute between DirecTV and The Weather Channel yesterday, passing a resolution asking them to iron out their stormy relationship, and the national weather channel thanked the city for speaking up.

"As a Bostonian myself, I know that weather in New England is to be taken seriously. I hope that DirecTV either waives their steep cancellation fees for viewers­ that want to switch to a new provider who carries our channel or that they come back to the negotiating table so that The Weather Channel is restored to the more than 300,000 DirecTV households in the Commonwealth," Weather Channel CEO David Kenny said in a statement.

DirecTV customers lost The Weather Channel earlier this month when the companies could not come to agreement on fees paid by the satellite service to the channel. DirecTV officials could not be reached for comment.

Weather Channel meteor­ologist Jim Cantore wrote an open letter to DirecTV, saying, "It's a dangerous gamble to put lives at risk for a penny."

The resolution, filed by Councilor Stephen Murphy, asked "DirecTV and The Weather Channel to continue negotiations until a fair and desirable conclusion is reached that allows Boston residents access to the top rated weather service."

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Cutbacks harsh medicine

Biotech and health care industry leaders yesterday warned that pressures to control health care costs under state law and Obama­care could have a chilling effect on innovation in the Hub.

The fear is that health care providers and insurers will try to trim costs by choosing­ lower-priced treatments instead of newer therapies that may be more effective, but also more pricey.

"Nobody in this room, I don't think, is against evolving­ our model and making it more efficient. But the path to get there is going to lead to very, very bad consequences if we're not careful," Geoff MacKay, president and CEO of the Canton company Organogenesis, said at a Massachusetts Biotechnology Council event yesterday.

Organogenesis laid off research scientists last year after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services decided to pay less for the company's wound-healing treatment, Apligraf.

Federal and state regulators are pushing the health care industry toward new payment models that reward providers for keeping costs down by keeping patients healthy. MacKay said uncertainty about the future of health care payments is trickling into the research sector.

"The cost to get (a new treatment) approved is significantly higher from a regulatory point of view," he said. "And if you invest the time and the money and take the risk, if there's a precarious reimbursement setting, the whole equation is in jeopardy. Innovation is in jeopardy."

MassBio President Robert Coughlin echoed those concerns, telling the Herald, "We need to develop policies that won't hinder innovative products."

Massachusetts has about 56,000 workers in bio­pharma, but employment growth in the sector has fallen behind other research hubs, according to MassBio.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh told the crowd he would work to support the biotech industry's growth in Boston's Innovation District, but also in the city's Dudley Square and Mattapan neighborhoods.

Walsh added that he would take a regional approach to growth.

"If one of the other cities­ or towns is able to grow their industries, it helps us all," he said.

"I'm not going to look to Cambridge and Somerville and say, 'OK, we're going to try to move businesses over here.' I'm going to look at how do we attract more businesses."

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Shares extend losses in wake of Fed stimulus cut

TOKYO — Shares were lower Thursday as weak economic data from China and Japan deepened jitters over ongoing reductions in U.S. monetary stimulus.

The U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to further "taper," or reduce, its mortgage and long-term bond purchases roiled markets, cutting short a rebound spurred by aggressive interest rate hikes by the Turkish central bank.

In early European trading, Germany's DAX fell 0.3 percent to 9,313.41. Britain's FTSE 100 drooped 0.4 percent to 6,521.48 and France's CAC 40 lost 0.3 percent to 4,142.75.

Futures foreshadowed a stable day on Wall Street, with Dow and S&P 500 futures each up less than 0.1 percent.

Markets remained uneasy over the Fed's announcement Wednesday that it would continue to cut back on asset purchases that have supported the U.S. economic recovery by keeping interest rates low.

Though the rationale for the "tapering" of such purchases is that the economy no longer needs extraordinary support, an unknown but significant amount of those funds flowed into stocks and other assets with higher returns. The prospect that those sources of liquidity may dry up has rattled markets across the globe.

In Asia, continued upward pressure on the yen, viewed as a safe haven from turmoil in emerging markets trading, dragged Japan's Nikkei 225 index lower. It fell 2.5 percent to 15,007.06, regaining some ground lost after the government reported retail sales fell 1.1 percent in December from the month before.

The release of a survey confirming that China's manufacturing contracted in January added to the gloom, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 0.5 percent to 22,035.42.

Markets in Taiwan and South Korea were closed on the eve of the lunar new year. Shares in Australia, New Zealand, mainland China, Indonesia, Singapore, India and the Philippines fell, while Malaysian shares rose.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. oil for March delivery was up 23 cents to $97.59 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 7 cents to close at $97.43 on Wednesday.

In currencies, the euro fell 0.3 percent to $1.3613. The dollar edged 0.2 percent higher to 102.29 yen.

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Insurer WellPoint's 4Q profit drops 68 percent

INDIANAPOLIS — WellPoint's fourth-quarter earnings tumbled 68 percent, as customers of the nation's second largest health insurer raced to use their coverage last fall before it became cancelled under the health care overhaul.

The Indianapolis company said Wednesday that its medical expenses spiked 18 percent to $14.58 billion due in part to higher use of individual policies in advance of the overhaul's coverage expansions, which unfolded this year.

Insurers typically see a rise in use at the end of each year as patients pay up their deductible, or the out of pocket cost before most coverage starts, and then use their coverage before that deductible renews in the new year. But WellPoint said it also saw a jump in use from patients who wanted to take advantage of their policies while they still had them.

Millions of consumers nationwide received notices from their insurers last fall that their plans were being canceled because they didn't meet coverage requirements established under the overhaul, the federal law that aims to cover millions of uninsured people.

Complaints over these notices eventually led President Obama to announce that people could keep their individual policies if state regulators approved.

But WellPoint spokeswoman Kristin Binns said health care use started climbing after customers received their notices and before Obama made that announcement in November. The insurer runs Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in 14 states, and its biggest market, California, did not allow for plans to be continued. The insurer did not say how many of its customers received cancellation notices.

Nationwide, The Associated Press has estimated that a total of at least 4.2 million people received the notices. The overhaul helped many of them find new coverage by providing income-based tax credits that customers can use to buy a plan on state-based insurance exchanges that also started last fall.

Overall, WellPoint earned $148.2 million, or 49 cents per share, in the quarter that ended Dec. 31. That's down from $464.2 million, or $1.51 per share, in the final quarter of 2012. Earnings excluding one-time items totaled 87 cents per share.

Analysts expected 86 cents per share, according to FactSet.

Operating revenue jumped 16 percent to $17.65 billion. That excludes investment gains or losses. Analysts expected $17.8 billion.

WellPoint said results also were affected by a charge it booked for unloading its 1-800-Contacts business and by a higher income tax expense.

The insurer's stock dropped $1.05 to $83.25 in early premarket trading.

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Web attack traffic soars

The U.S. had the third-highest percentage of observed cyber attack traffic in the third quarter of 2013, and hackers managed to shut down websites more often in the first three quarters of the year than in all of 2012, according to a new report.

Akamai, the Cambridge company that delivers almost one-third of all Web traffic, observed attack traffic originating in 185 countries or regions during the third quarter, up 10 over the previous one, according to the company's "State of the Internet" report.

Thirty-five percent of attack traffic was carried out by computers in China, 20 percent was carried out in Indonesia, and 11 percent was carried out in the U.S., up from 6.9 percent the previous quarter, the report found. What's unknown is where the people who were controlling those computers are from, said David Belson, the report's editor.

"We believe these countries have large numbers of compromised computers that are being used to originate malicious traffic," Belson said.

One of the most common types of attacks is a distributed denial of service — or DDoS — in which thousands of computers controlled by one person overwhelm a website, making it inaccessible, said Charlie Miller, a security engineer at Twitter.

Akamai customers reported 281 such attacks in the third quarter, down from 318 in the previous one. However, the total number of DDoS attacks in the first three quarters of last year — 807 — was greater than the 768 reported in all of 2012.

"It could be the toolkits available to launch these attacks are becoming more easily accessible," Belson said. "Or it could be that more Akamai users are reporting them."

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Nintendo profit falls on sluggish Wii U sales

TOKYO — Profit at Nintendo Co. fell 30 percent in the first nine months of the fiscal year as sales of Wii U home consoles, 3DS devices and game software languished. Top executives announced they would take pay cuts.

The Japanese maker of Super Mario and Pokemon video games reported Wednesday a 10.2 billion yen ($99 million) profit from April to December, down from 14.55 billion yen a year earlier. It did not break down quarterly numbers.

Nintendo's president, senior managing director, managing director and directors said they will take a pay cut for five months starting in February to take responsibility for the poor performance.

President Satoru Iwata's pay will be halved, two representative directors including reputed game creator Shigeru Miyamoto, were hit with a 30 percent cut. The other seven board members will lose 20 percent of their pay, according to the company.

The popularity of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets has been drawing consumers away from consoles devoted to games. Nintendo has resisted changing its business to incorporate such devices.

"It would be a positive surprise if Nintendo comes out with an online game strategy for smartphones, although the market doesn't expect that move," said Tomoaki Kawasaki, senior analyst at IwaiCosmo Securities Co.

Consumers will still buy Nintendo games if they are wowed by them, but that hasn't been happening, he said.

The Kyoto-based company this month forecast a loss of 25 billion yen ($242 million) for the fiscal year through March 2014. It had earlier forecast a profit of 55 billion yen ($532 million). Nintendo had profit of 7 billion yen last fiscal year.

Nintendo slashed its annual forecast for Wii U sales from 9 million units to just 2.8 million, fewer than a third of its earlier estimate.

The company said it sold 2.4 million units in April through December, a slower pace than 3 million units in the same period of 2012.

"In the fourth quarter, we expect sales to decrease significantly due to seasonal factors as the year-end sales season concludes," Nintendo said in a statement.

Nintendo also cut the sales forecast for its hand-held 3DS video game devices to 13.5 million units from 18 million units for the fiscal year.

The company is expecting software sales to struggle as well.

Nintendo's philosophy is to take the road less traveled and "they have been steadfast in sticking to that strategy," said Eiji Maeda, senior analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.

Nintendo hits a home run once in a while, said Maeda, noting that the Wii and DS devices were hits.

The weak yen, which is generally a plus for exporters such as Nintendo, was not enough to offset the damage from sluggish sales. Nintendo racked up a foreign exchange gain of 48 billion yen ($465 million) during the first three quarters, more than double the same period the previous year.

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Group aims to improve food at Pa. corner stores

PHILADELPHIA — From the outside, Carmen Medina's convenience store appears to be an oasis in the food desert of gritty north Philadelphia, from its bright yellow-and-white striped awnings to the fake palm tree sculptures on the sidewalk.

A glimpse inside proves the image is no mirage. The Indiana Food Market is part of the Healthy Corner Stores Network, which aims to teach residents about nutritious eating through grocery promotions and outreach efforts like cooking demonstrations.

Customers were recently offered slices of pizza made on-site with store-bought ingredients: whole-wheat tortillas, tomato sauce, part-skim mozzarella cheese and diced green peppers and onions.

"We try to get people to try a sample, and in that process we talk to them about eating whole grains, and trying out new things, and showing them where healthy items are in their corner store," said program educator Maria Vanegas.

Led by the Philadelphia health department and The Food Trust, the corner store initiative has enlisted about 650 of the city's 2,000 or so corner stores to broaden their inventory of fresh produce, whole grains and low-fat dairy.

The healthy products appear to be selling. Data collected by The Food Trust, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit dedicated to ensuring access to healthy affordable food, indicates store owners have reported profits on those items and expanded their supply.

Corner groceries are a critical source of food in many poor urban neighborhoods without full-service supermarkets. About 21 percent of Philadelphians have limited supermarket access, compared with 8 percent of the U.S. population overall, according to a 2012 study by The Reinvestment Fund, a nonprofit that finances neighborhood revitalization in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Experts say many purchases made in corner stores — like chips, candy and soda — are calorie-rich and nutrient-poor, contributing to higher rates of obesity and related chronic diseases among low-income residents.

Yet people's food choices are influenced by what is available, said Dr. Giridhar Mallya, the health department's director of policy and planning. What if stores carried healthier options?

The Food Trust began working with the city in 2010 to find corner store owners willing to sell more wholesome fare. Some feared they'd end up losing money on unsold, spoiled produce; others said they wanted to offer better food but didn't know where to start, program senior associate Brianna Almaguer Sandoval said.

The corner store initiative offers four levels of participation. At the lowest tier, a store owner could get a $100 incentive to introduce four healthy items and receive training on how to buy, price and promote fresh produce. Higher-level stores get free mini-refrigeration units, special shelving and signage.

Last summer, Indiana Food Market became one of five stores at the top tier. Medina, the manager, got the colorful new exterior awnings, an eye-catching refrigerated produce case and a special display for whole grains. English and Spanish signs steer the mostly Latino clientele to healthier choices. And the market got a "Fresh Corner" kiosk for pamphlets, recipe cards and cooking demonstrations, where Vanegas made pizza in a toaster oven.

The program has been well received by customers, Medina said, noting they often ask when the food lessons are scheduled. Oatmeal, fruit and whole-grain rice have become big sellers, she added.

"People have started to buy new things and healthy things, and it's really great," Medina said in Spanish, according to a translation by Vanegas.

Shopper Sarita Falu said it's important for the market to sell fruits and vegetables, since many residents don't have the means to get to a supermarket regularly. But she didn't expect Medina to have people like Vanegas interacting personally with customers.

"I was very surprised that she'd actually have somebody here giving us that knowledge of nutrition," Falu said.

Mallya cautioned that it's too early to know whether the marketing effort is affecting consumer buying habits. But early data from two top-tier stores shows produce sales up 50 percent and bottled water sales up 76 percent compared with lower-level stores, according to The Food Trust.

The city has invested about $1.5 million in the program since 2010. The Food Trust could not provide exact numbers on its budget; several foundations and government agencies have paid for various aspects of the initiative, which has expanded to Camden, N.J., and the Philadelphia suburbs of Norristown and Chester.

Similar, smaller-scale interventions at corner stores in Baltimore have been studied by Johns Hopkins University nutrition professor Joel Gittelsohn, who found significant increases in the purchase of healthy foods.

He said the ideal solution would be to put more supermarkets in these communities, which are sometimes referred to as food deserts.

"But we're a long away off from that," Gittelsohn said. "Why not work with the existing infrastructure and improve it?"

___

Follow Kathy Matheson at www.twitter.com/kmatheson

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Demand for planes boosts Boeing 4Q profit

Boeing's fourth-quarter profit rose 26 percent as it delivered more commercial airplanes — a speedup that it says will continue this year.

Boeing says it will deliver 715 to 725 planes this year, a boost of at least 10 percent from last year.

In the fourth quarter, Boeing Co. earned $1.23 billion, or $1.61 per share, well ahead of expectations of analysts surveyed by FactSet. Profits grew in both its commercial airplane and defense businesses.

Revenue rose 7 percent to $23.79 billion.

Orders from airlines around the world have pushed both Boeing and competitor Airbus to build more planes than ever before.

Its shares slipped in premarket trading, however, as earnings guidance for this year missed estimates.

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Connector-fix price tag unknown

Massachusetts Health Connector officials, who admitted in October they've incurred "substantial costs" as a result of developing manual workarounds to the disastrous $69 million state Obamacare website, still aren't saying exactly how much that price tag has ballooned.

The Herald first reported Thursday that state officials knew as early as February — nine months before the launch — that parts of the site would probably be delayed.

In an Oct. 25 memo, Dr. Jay Himmelstein of UMass Medical School lamented to website developer CGI that the state has "already incurred substantial costs to develop and implement operational workarounds."

But state officials yesterday refused to say exactly how "substantial" those costs have become.

"The commonwealth is committed to holding CGI accountable for the cost of workarounds made necessary by their IT system failures, and is exploring ways to do so," said spokesman Jason Lefferts. "The workarounds and alternative pathways to coverage have allowed us to maintain our existing gains in coverage while offering subsidized health insurance to thousands of new people through the Affordable Care Act, despite CGI's shortcomings."

A CGI statement said: "CGI and its more than 300 team members working on the Connector site are dedicated to delivering continuous improvements in system performance and the user experience for the residents of Massachusetts." Flummoxed Bay Staters have encountered long waits and crashes while trying to sign up for federally mandated health insurance.

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Mass. grants $40 million for health initiatives

BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick has announced that more than $40 million in grants will be awarded to community-based programs for preventing chronic illnesses by cutting health care costs.

Nine community-based partnerships, including the Boston Public Health Commission, city of Worcester and city of Lynn are among the recipients.

The initiative is intended to reduce costs tied to diseases such as diabetes, obesity and asthma that can be prevented if people know how to maintain and manage their health.

Each of the grantees under the Prevention and Wellness Trust Fund will receive up to $250,000 initially.

Additional funding will be awarded for grantees that show promise over the next three years. Funding will be subjected to the specific health and cost savings benchmarks administered by the Department of Public Health.

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Siemens net profit rises 20 percent, orders up

FRANKFURT, Germany — Industrial equipment maker Siemens AG said quarterly net profit rose 20 percent as the company moved past one-time charges for delays delivering high-speed trains.

Net profit rose to 1.46 billion euros ($2 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2013, the company's fiscal first. That was up from 1.21 billion euros a year ago.

Last year the company had 116 million euros in charges connected to delay in production of trains for Germany's railway company, and a 150 million euro loss at its solar power business. This year's figure also had stronger gains for real estate sales.

But while the bottom line improved, a stronger euro and slower demand in emerging markets hurt top-line revenues. They were down 3 percent at 17.325 billion euros.

Orders — a key determiner of future profits — rose 9 percent. Saudi Arabia helped with a 1.6 billion euro order for two driverless subway lines in the capital, Riyadh.

CEO Joe Kaeser called it a "sound quarter," adding that "market conditions were not in our favor."

Siemens said Tuesday expects "challenging" markets this year. It predicted it would grow net profit by 15 percent, assuming flats sales with currency effects excluded.

The Munich-based company also said it was withdrawing its listing on the New York Stock Exchange. It says the U.S. accounted for less than 5 percent of its global trading volume and that ending the listing would simplify financial reporting. Siemens has traded as ADRs, or American Depositary Receipts.

Siemens shares rose 1.6 percent to 98.98 euros in morning trading in Europe.

Siemens makes a wide range of heavy equipment and infrastructure, including trains, power turbines, and medical diagnostic devices.

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India's central bank hikes key interest rate

NEW DELHI — India's central bank raised its key interest rate for the third time in four months Tuesday and its governor said combating stubbornly high inflation is the top priority despite an "increasingly worrisome" slowdown in economic growth.

The announcement of a quarter percentage point increase in the lending rate Tuesday to 8 percent sent Indian stocks lower, adding to losses accumulated during a sell-off in emerging markets that began late last week.

Investors had hoped that the Reserve Bank of India would leave the rate at which it lends to banks unchanged after a dip in December inflation to 6.2 percent and a decline in the current account deficit.

Reserve Bank chief Raghuram Rajan said Tuesday that inflation is a far greater short-term risk to the economy than slower growth because it hurts the poor the most and discourages spending.

"The so-called trade-off between inflation and growth is a false trade-off in the long run," Rajan said. "It is possible to bring inflation under control without a substantial sacrifice of short-term growth, provided we do what is necessary and are patient."

At the same time, the central bank cut its economic growth forecast for the fiscal year ending March to 4.6 percent from 5 percent.

Still, he predicted the economy could recover to 5-6 percent growth in the year ending March 2015 provided the global economy improves, inflation eases and investment projects worth more than $63.5 billion move ahead.

The Sensex index was down 0.3 percent to 20,644.53 on news of the rate increase.

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'Long-term unemployment' _ one mom's story

AURORA, Ill. — Down the road from an emergency food pantry where a small crowd waits for the chance to gather free groceries, there is a church sign that reads: "If you need help, ask God. If you don't, thank God."

Debbie Jurcak, one of those in line, will tell you that it is indeed divine help — or, anyway, faith-based organizations — that she and her family have relied on in recent weeks. Late last month, the federal government ended her unemployment benefits, six months after she was laid off from an administrative job.

Having passed that six-month mark, she had joined the ranks of the "long-term unemployed," a growing group of more than 1.3 million Americans for whom Congress recently declined to extend benefits. It is a label that Jurcak, a former teacher with two master's degrees, never expected would apply to her.

"It's not something you want to go around talking about all the time. I think a lot of people don't share what the depth of their need is," the 43-year-old mother of three said, wiping tears from underneath her glasses as she waited for her turn at the West Suburban Community Pantry, outside Chicago.

"But ... there's no room for pride," she added, "because we all come to a point in our life — whether it's financial reasons, or medical reasons, or mental health reasons, or whatever they are — where you recognize your need for help."

Turns out, Jurcak is one of the lucky ones, or so she hopes. After months applying for jobs, she learned just days after her visit to the pantry, that she got a customer service job, which she starts this week. It's only temporary for now and the pay is modest. But if she proves herself, there's a good chance she'll be hired permanently, she said.

Her husband Frank is working for a temp agency, driving a forklift or delivering documents for $12 an hour. He, too, is awaiting word on a full-time job, his in law enforcement.

Permanent employment would mean major changes for this family and for their children, who were on the verge of eviction after Jurcak's benefits expired last month.

But many other American parents are still struggling to find work.

A recent report from the Urban Institute found that, in an average month, there are still three times as many children living with parents who've been out of work more than six months as there were in 2007, before the recession hit. And Illinois is among the states with the highest percentage of children in that predicament — with nearly 5 percent of them living with parents who are long-term unemployed, according to the report.

Unemployment benefits are certainly not a cure-all, said Julia Isaacs, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, who co-authored the report. But they do help cushion the negative impact that unemployment, and resulting poverty, can have on outcomes such as school performance, she said.

For the Jurcaks, it's easy now to look back and see how they would have done things differently.

But Debbie Jurcak says there was no way of knowing how bad things would get after she left a teaching job in 2009 to spend time at home with her newborn daughter, Ella, who's now 4.

In the years that followed, Frank's assignments as a commercial diver at nuclear facilities began to dwindle. Two years ago, with bills mounting, they sold their four-bedroom home in a short sale and moved their kids to a new school district.

Eventually, Frank was permanently laid off, leading him to the temporary jobs while he looked for permanent work.

Debbie, meanwhile, had gotten the administrative job in the fall of 2012, but was laid off last May when her company had to cut back. While receiving unemployment benefits, she said she constantly sought work, reasoning: "My full-time job is finding a job and taking care of my kids."

Through it all, she and Frank have tried to shield their children as best they can — not always successfully.

Though Ella still went to preschool, she often told her parents she missed her daycare friends. Sometimes, she'd bring out her piggy bank and announce, "I have money!"

The two older children, ages 13 and 16, have had an even greater sense of the growing desperation from their mom and from Frank, who is their stepdad.

"They definitely know we've been struggling," Debbie Jurcak said. She and Frank have tried to absorb as much of the negative impact as they can.

To maintain a semblance of normalcy even with money tight, for instance, they bought their kids Christmas gifts. But when the letter about unemployment benefits arrived just after the holiday, it was difficult to hide the panic.

Unable to cover January rent, the couple sought emergency aid from the Society of St. Vincent De Paul — an organization that regularly collects clothing and household donations from residents at their apartment complex. Their church plans to help them with February's rent payment, bridging the gap from the loss of Jurcak's unemployment benefits to her first paycheck.

Even before those benefits were cut off, the couple had sold many of their household belongings at secondhand shops to help pay the bills.

Still, Jurcak's 16-year-old son Dakota, a sophomore in high school, doesn't want anyone's pity.

"I don't feel, like, sad," he said. "We're fortunate just to be where we are now. My heart goes out to all the people who don't have what we have."

Indeed, though their apartment is a tight fit for five people, they have a home — no small thing in these days of extreme cold — and food on the table. He and his siblings all have their own rooms. He sleeps in the den, using a curtain for a door. And the living room serves as a bedroom for his parents, who sleep on a pull-out sofa bed.

Debbie Jurcak has used the dining room table as her office, scouring job sites and making calls to set up interviews. She's also used her time to apply for state assistance, food stamps and state and federal medical insurance — until they're more financially stable.

Both of her daughters have some health issues, and medical bills have been mounting, along with everything else.

Jurcak found this new job with the help of a member of the family's church, after sending out hundreds of applications, most of which received no response.

Often, she said, her education seemed to work against her.

"The impression that employers seem to have is, 'You're not going to stay,'" Jurcak said. Or she said they'd tell her, they were only looking for candidates who met the minimum requirements for the job.

"They'd say I'm over-qualified."

At the West Suburban Community Pantry, where Jurcak has gotten many of her groceries in recent months, workers say it's not unusual to see unemployed professionals, including the occasional out-of work CEO — even as the economy improves. And always, there are families.

Volunteer Julie Benario recalls one young mom with three children who became overwhelmed each time she visited the pantry.

"She'd get in her car and cry because people were so nice to her," Benario said.

Jurcak understands. One day, hopefully soon, she said, she vows to "pay it forward" and be the one to do the giving.

She also hopes members of Congress will find a way to reinstate long-term benefits, at least until the economy is stronger. Democrats are proposing extending the benefits from six to 11 months. Republicans have questioned how to pay for that.

"I don't want to rely on my government — and quite frankly, I'm not convinced that it's really government's role to do all that it is asked to do," Jurcak said. "But it shouldn't ignore the needs of the people either."

Her voice shook when she said "ignore."

"Maybe until you're in the situation, you don't really get it."

___

Martha Irvine is an AP national writer. She can be reached at mirvine@ap.org or at http://twitter.com/irvineap

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Keyboard for iPad Air a best bet

Logitech Ultrathink Keyboard Cover for iPad Air ($99.95, AppleStore.com)

It was unfortunate iPad Air owners had to wait so long for keyboard accessories to hit the shelves.

They're not cheap, but Logitech's keyboard is tailor-made for the iPad Air, with a magnetic hinge that allows it to double as a cover.

The good: Though it's not a full-sized keyboard, fast typing is possible on this device once you get the hang of it. The keys feel substantial.

The bad: It may be the thinnest offering around, but that doesn't mean it lives up to its "ultrathin" promise.

This keyboard will nearly double the thickness of your iPad.

You also have to remember to switch the keyboard on and off manually because auto-pairing is not an option here.

The bottom line: If you're looking for a keyboard case that also protects the back of your iPad, try the ZAGGkeys Folio instead.

Otherwise, this is your best bet for an iPad Air keyboard.

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Intravenous nurses make points

Being an intravenous nurse involves a lot more than sticking patients with needles.

This specialty branch of nursing, with teams in most major hospitals, requires specialized training to install complex central catheters and to operate new technology making them safer to implant and less apt to cause infections.

There are 13 nurses on South Shore hospital's IV team, who work 24/7 offering support to 36 departments in the hospital.

Clinical coordinator and team leader Irma Sivieri has 10 years experience as a nurse, eight of them as an IV nurse.

"The IV team is a support team for other nurses in all aspects of vascular access," Sivieri said. "We're like the 'A' team. Nurses call us and we have to come in and help them immediately."

Many hospital patients probably remember a nurse calling in a member of an IV team to put in an intravenous fluid line, finding the right vein in the arm and inserting it on the first try. The regular nurse may not be able to find a vein because a patient is elderly, obese or has had a lot of other infusions.

But often their work is a lot more complicated. They are called in to assess patients who need IVs for long-term antibiotic treatment or for drugs that inflame veins. They put in peripherally inserted central catheters also known as PICC lines, a complicated procedure that involves running a catheter from the arm up and over to the superior vena cava, a vein just above the heart.

"I had a 95-year-old patient who was bleeding and her blood pressure was very low and they couldn't get an IV in her," Sivieri said. "We managed to get a central line in to stabilize her."

The South Shore IV team puts in about 600 PICC lines a year.

To help with the process, IV nurses learn to operate high-tech equipment such as the Site Rite Vision catheter system, which uses ultrasound to locate veins in the arm and to help thread the PICC line 40-50 centimeters from the arm vein to the superior vena cava.

To put in PICC lines, nurses must have the CRNI — Certified Registered Nurse Infusion — credential, which requires 1,600 hours of nurse IV experience and passing a written national exam.

"To be a good IV nurse, you have to have the skills and be passionate about doing it, said Laurie Hayes, a member of South Shore's IV team with 15 years of experience. "People often mistake IV nurses for phlebotomists."

Debra Ayers was a med/surg and ER nurse for seven years before joining South Shore's IV team two years ago.

"You have to command respect and be able to build rapport with patients in less than 10 minutes," said Ayers, who also teaches in the nursing program at Quincy College. "IV nursing is not generally taught in nursing school. You have to learn it on the job. And you have to have your anatomy down cold to know where every vein is."

Randall Barnes, a former IV nurse and president of the New England Chapter of the Infusion Nurses Society, says that IV teams have become critical to many hospitals because those who have them have lower rates of infections from IVs and infusions. Patient satisfaction is also better, which rewards the hospitals with higher Medicare payments.

The Bay State INS chapter is the largest in the United States with 189 members, 60 percent of whom are hospital IV nurses and 40 percent who do home care.

The South Shore Visiting Nurse Association has its own IV team, which serves patients at home in some 39 surrounding communities, said Mary Walsh, who founded the South Shore team and has been an IV nurse since 1984. She said IV nurses help discharged patients continue antibiotic treatments and even some chemotherapy at home.

"You're often working with a whole family, teaching them how to flush lines and keep everything antiseptic," said Walsh, who is now the chief nursing officer at Hebrew Senior Life's NewBridge on the Charles retirement community, where she oversees IV resources in its 48-bed rehabilitation center.

With new technology coming, Walsh adds that IV nurses will be able to place even more complicated catheters such as internal jugular lines.

After years as an IV nurse, Barnes now has a job at Bard Access Systems, developer of the Site Rite 
ultrasound catheter system, educating IV nurses on the new technology.

Barnes said the perception of the specialty has changed. IV nursing used to be more synonymous with infusion nursing, but Barnes said the new skills and technology are being used more for IVs than for chemotherapy infusion.

"It used to be that IV nurses were those nearing retirement who want to ease off a bit," he added. "But today it's a very busy job."

Sivieri said there are multiple calls for IV help at any one time, and that team members must be able to prioritize which ones are the most important.

"To be a good IV nurse, you need to be able to work independently and to work on a teamss," Sivieri said. "And you have to be a 
decision maker. You may be alone on an overnight shift and it's your call."

Patient safety is a big concern in placing advanced catheters, and South Shore's protocol is to have two nurses to install PICC lines.

"You must be 100 percent focused on the job," said Ayers. "It's challenging work for a nurse, but I like the variety of the job. Every day is different."

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Sochi to be 'mobile games'

If the 2012 Olympics in London were the first-ever "social games," then Sochi's festivities will be the first "mobile games."

AT&T, Samsung, NBC and Team USA are just some of the big names that have developed mobile apps for the 2014 Winter Olympics, which begin next week.

The offerings range from cheesy games to useful encyclopedias of Olympic knowledge, allowing spectators to virtually follow the path of the torch, keep tabs on their favorite teams and view exclusive content.

Whether you want to track the multiple Bruins players who will be representing their home countries, stay in the loop on Andover native halfpipe skier Annalisa Drew, Sudbury figure skater Simon Shnapir, Melrose bobsledder Steven Langton, or the many members of the women's ice hockey team who hail from the Bay State — the following apps are your best bets:

• Team USA Road to Sochi app (iOS and Android): The best part about this sleek, well-designed app is the ability to add your favorite players to your own "team."

That makes it so their results, recent videos and more are at your fingertips. Users can also send a virtual "cheer" to athletes.

• The Olympic Athletes' Hub (iOS and Android): This app goes beyond Team USA to include thousands of social media profiles of Olympians.

The Athletes' Hub also tells you what's trending on Twitter so you won't miss any high-profile meltdowns.

• AT&T's #itsOurTime app (iOS and Android): For the patriotic diehards among us, this app invites users to videotape themselves chanting "U-S-A!"

If you can get past the awkwardness, this app is surely one that the athletes will check to get fired up.

• Sochi.ru 2014 (iOS and Android): This app can help you plan that last-minute trip to Sochi. And if a trip isn't in the cards, it also helps you feel like you're there. The Sochi app features information on every event, each mile of the torch's relay through Russia, and an interactive map of the Olympic village.

• NBC Sports Live Extra (iOS and Android): This is the only way to watch each sporting event live while you're on the go, but it was plagued with problems during the 2012 games in London.

Unfortunately, you have to be a paid cable subscriber and will need your user name and password for your account to gain access to live streaming.

The performance of this app is partly responsible for the now-infamous hashtag #NBCFail that was trending two years ago, so here's hoping it has improved.

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Rider’s ‘ghost bike’ spurs safety innovation

The white "ghost bike" at Huntington Avenue and Forsyth Street haunted Amir Farjadian and Qingchao Kong each time they rode past it on their way to Northeastern University.

It had been left there in June 2012 in memory of Kelsey Rennebohm, a Boston College graduate student and fellow bicyclist who died after a collision with a bus. And although the two engineering students didn't know Rennebohm, the ghost bike was enough to make them rethink their focus on stationary bicycles at Northeastern's Biomedical Mechatronics Laboratory.

"We found there were many products out there for exercise but almost nothing for safety, even though almost two people die every day in this country due to cycling accidents," Farjadian said, "and more than 130 people are injured."

Working with a team of undergraduate students led by Professor Constantinos Mavroidis, the two Ph.D. candidates began work last year on an accident-prevention system designed to turn any bicycle into a "smart bike."

Consoles attached to the front and back of the bicycle project lasers onto the road, creating a virtual bike lane that blinks if a car intrudes.

The consoles also contain sensors to determine the bike's proximity to objects moving around it.

"Based on that distance," Farjadian said, "we can calculate the relative speed and predict whether the two are about to collide."

If they are, a speaker on the front console emits a sound similar to that of a car horn to alert both the cyclist and the driver.

LED turn signals are built into the front and rear consoles and automated through a smartphone app and GPS.

A cyclist who's unsure of directions simply enters the destination and follows the turn signals.

If the cyclist is approaching an intersection without slowing down, Kong said, the bike's handlebars vibrate.

The entire system will retail for about $100 and could be on the market by the end of the year, Mavroidis said.

"Cycling has many benefits — for your health, for your wallet, for the environment," Farjadian said.

"If we can do something about the safety, we'll have addressed the one thing that's missing."

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After loss, LG sees lower profit, currency risks

SEOUL, South Korea — LG Electronics Inc. is forecasting lower earnings from its mobile business this quarter and risks from swings in Latin American currencies after posting an unexpected loss in the final three months of 2013.

The latest results from LG Electronics, the world's second-largest TV maker and a major device supplier, underline how it is being squeezed between Japanese competitors and its bigger South Korean rival Samsung Electronics Co.

LG is battling Japanese manufacturers such as Sony and Panasonic that are expanding market share in televisions, helped by the weak yen. The company is struggling to make money from the smartphone market where Samsung and Apple Inc. have grabbed the lion share of the profits.

LG Electronics suffered a loss in the final quarter of 2013 because of the stronger South Korean currency while higher marketing costs and falling smartphone prices continued to batter its mobile business.

The South Korean tech company said Monday its net loss for October-December was 63.4 billion won ($58.5 million). That's far smaller than a 478.2 billion won loss a year earlier. But analysts polled by FactSet expected net income of 147.8 billion won. Sales for the fourth-quarter inched up 1 percent from a year earlier to 14.9 trillion won.

The maker of G flex smartphone said the quarterly loss, the first in four quarters, was mainly due to foreign exchange movements. The company blamed the strong local currency against the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen as well as fluctuations in currency rates that usually mean higher costs. LG manufactures most of its home appliance products in South Korea and ships overseas.

Chief Financial Officer Jung Do-hyun said unstable currency movements in Latin America and other emerging markets would remain a big risk. About 20 percent of LG's mobile phone sales came from Brazil and other South American countries last year. Argentina's peso lost 16 percent over two days last week.

Among LG's consumer electronics businesses, mobile was the only division that lost money during the fourth quarter.

Profit at LG's flagship TV business surged to 174.3 billion won from a mere 800 million won a year earlier. That was thanks to improved sales of LCD TVs in developed countries and efficient marketing spending to promote high-tier televisions, LG said.

But LG's mobile communications business lost 43.4 billion won, staying in red for a second quarter, despite higher sales from increased smartphone shipments. Shipments of its flagship G2 and other smartphones reached 13 million units in the quarter, a record high for the company.

LG attributed the mobile division's loss to increased spending on marketing and declining smartphone prices, an issue that nags other mobile phone vendors as growth in smartphone sales slows in developed countries.

The company said its mobile phone sales will improve when new products are released later this year. But analysts questioned if LG's upcoming devices can compete with the successor to Apple's iPhone 5S.

Jung said the company will likely report lower operating income for the first three months of this year as sales of TVs and mobile phones drop during a typically slow season for the consumer electronics.

For 2014, LG forecast a 7 percent gain in annual revenue and about a 20 percent increase in capital spending. The company said it budgeted 3 trillion won for capital expenditure for this year. The company's guidance for 2013 capital spending was 2.5 trillion won.

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German TV: Snowden says NSA also spies on industry

BERLIN — Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden claims in a new interview that the U.S. agency is involved in industrial espionage.

German public television broadcaster ARD released a written statement before an interview airing Sunday night in which it quotes Snowden as saying that if German engineering company Siemens had information that would benefit the United States — but had nothing to do with national security needs — the National Security Agency would still use it.

ARD did not give any further context and it was not clear what exactly Snowden accused the NSA of doing with such information.

Snowden faces felony charges in the U.S. after revealing the NSA's mass surveillance program. He has temporary asylum in Russia.

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Grocer powers on with idea

State permitting will pave the way for food waste from 213 Stop & Shop supermarkets to be converted into energy to power the grocery chain's Freetown distribution center.

Quincy-based Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. plans to build a multimillion-dollar, 12,000-square-foot, clean-energy processing center — known as a product recovery operation (PRO) — that will use anaerobic digestion to convert food products not suitable for consumption into electricity and heat for the warehouse and produce a fertilizer byproduct.

The company hopes to bring the facility online early next year. It's the first of its kind in Massachusetts, and a first for the chain, which now sends food waste from its stores to composting and animal feed facilities.

"The PRO will convert these spoiled food products into a clean, odorless gas to fuel a generator that will produce electricity (and heat) to help operate the Freetown distribution center," spokesman Greg O'Brien said.

The 1.1-million-square-foot distribution center operates around the clock. The PRO will process an average of 95 tons of food waste per day and will be able to produce 1.137 megawatts of power for up to 40 percent of the center's electrical needs and backup power in case of an outage.

The state Department of Environmental Protection issued permits for the project Thursday.

"This is really an innovative approach," DEP spokesman Joseph Ferson said. "It dovetails with the Patrick administration's goal of diverting organic waste out of landfills and incinerators to anaerobic digesters to really turn trash into a valuable resource for renewable energy."

Food and other organics account for 25 percent of the state's solid waste stream, and the DEP has a goal to reduce organics disposal by 450,000 tons per year by 2020. It's now finalizing regulations that will require institutions that generate one ton or more of food waste per week to donate or repurpose what's usable and ship what's remaining to an anaerobic, composting or animal-feed operation.

Stop & Shop, which will apply for a 10 percent federal investment tax credit for the project, does not yet have a firm handle on total costs, according to O'Brien.

He stressed that Stop & Shop will continue to donate to food banks. "This is spoiled food that cannot be consumed," he said. It will include unsold food including produce, bakery and deli items, products past expiration dates, and rejected food products from the distribution center.

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Smoking out the rough idle and stalling of Expedition

I have a 2001 Ford Expedition with the 5.4-liter V8 and 103,000 miles. At 98,000 miles it developed a rough idle and began stalling at stop signs.

My local mechanic noticed low fuel pressure and replaced the fuel filter and fuel pump. It ran good but then the "Check engine" light came on and the rough idle and stalling returned. The mechanic could not find anything wrong but a scan found codes P0171 and P0174. Another mechanic came up with the same codes and checked for vacuum leaks but could not find any. I have continued to drive the vehicle and the "Check engine" light is still on. Any suggestions?

My Alldata automotive database confirmed that the P0171 and P0174 codes indicate a lean fuel/air condition from both cylinder banks. Since technicians have checked for but not found the problem, I'd suggest a "smoke" test to help identify any vacuum leaks. This simple test involves introducing a non-toxic smoke into the crankcase under low pressure and then watching for any smoke escaping from the engine, induction system or vacuum lines.

Also, a ruptured diaphragm in the fuel pressure regulator, located on the fuel rail downstream of the fuel injectors, could cause low fuel pressure as well as fuel leakage directly into the intake manifold. If there's
liquid fuel in the vacuum line at the regulator, the diaphragm is ruptured. Rough idle and stalling at stops are often symptoms of a failed fuel pressure regulator.

I own a 2008 2.4-liter four-cylinder Toyota Camry with 98,000 miles that I service every 5,000 miles. For the past 15,000, miles I have had to add 2 to 2 1⁄2 quarts of engine oil between changes. The service writer at the Toyota dealership tells me that 1 to 1  1⁄2 quarts every 5,000 miles is normal for these aluminum engines. I have not noticed a decrease in engine power or any smoke from the tailpipe. I bought this car new expecting to get 200,000 miles out of it. I think this is a lot of oil for a car to burn.

One quart per 2,000 miles is completely within Toyota's "normal" oil consumption guidelines of one quart per 1,200 miles. Your concern is due to the change in oil consumption. Has oil use continued to increase? Or is it stable at this rate? Unless or until the consumption rate increases to excess, I would not be particularly concerned.

Unless oil use is being caused by a clogged PCV system or "sticky" piston rings, there's no easy "fix." You could try de-carbonizing the rings/grooves to free any sticking rings that could increase the amount of oil reaching the combustion chambers. Remove the spark plugs after shutting down the hot engine and pour an ounce or so of SeaFoam directly into each cylinder. After an hour or overnight, temporarily disable the ignition and fuel injection and crank the engine to expel any liquid in the cylinders. Reinstall the plugs, re-enable the ignition and injection, then start and drive the vehicle for at least 20 minutes.

I use "high-mileage" oil and change it every 3,000 miles on my two high-mileage cars. What kind of oil should I use when topping up the oil between changes during this very cold weather? Would 0W-20 full synthetic be the best bet? What is your opinion on using 0W-20 full synthetic for the regular oil changes during the cold months?

When adding oil between oil changes, use the same brand/viscosity already in the crankcase. Adding a different oil isn't harmful but the additive package and viscosity are likely not the same. I don't think 0W-20 would be a good choice in high-mileage vehicles unless the carmaker suggests it in the service recommendations. For most modern engines a full synthetic 5W-30 would be a good choice in cold temperatures.

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, Minn., 55488 or via email at paulbrand@startribune.com. Please explain the problem in detail and include a daytime phone number.

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Perks entice top engineers

As Boston's tech scene explodes and successful companies continue to grow at a breakneck pace, firms are stepping up to make sure top engineers end up at their desks and not at the business next door.

"If you want access to the best talent, you have to compete," said Andy Palmer, CEO and co-founder of Data-Tamer. Data-Tamer offers $5,000 referral bonuses, 16 weeks of parental leave, and lunch daily, part of an effort to sell the Cambridge company as an attractive place to work.

"These are the kinds of things that people sort of expect," Palmer said. "The best people have options, always have options."

"Everyone is trying to pitch the angle that makes them sexier than the guy next door," said Steve Conine, co-founder, chairman and CTO of e-commerce company Wayfair. "It's an employee's market."

Eliot Knudsen, a field engineer at Data-Tamer, said he is routinely approached about possible job opportunities. "I'm sent messages by recruiters maybe every couple days, several times a week," Knudsen said.

Knudsen said many of the messages are from recruiting companies, but some are internal recruiters at major companies, who reach out directly to gauge interest in a job.

Companies that are on the cusp of rapid growth are making sure they have the talent they need for the next step.

"People we're trying to hire are all actively recruited by other people," said John Nagro, director of engineering for HubSpot.

HubSpot gives $10,000 referral bonuses for successful hires, and offered a $30,000 referral bonus — paid twice — for hired candidates last summer. As companies such as Wayfair, HubSpot and newly public Care.com grow in market share and value, they are hiring engineers to keep pace.

"It's always competitive to hire engineers in Boston. That will only continue to be a challenge," said Sarah Hodges, vice president of marketing for Smarterer, which helps companies make smarter hires, and co-founder of Intelligent.ly, a professional development firm for start-ups.

Still, it is not all about the money.

"Money's not enough to attract great talent," Hodges said. "It's more important than ever to think about cultivating talent from within and building a really great culture."

Knudsen said he chose 
Data-Tamer not for the benefits or daily lunch, but because he saw an opportunity to grow as an engineer.

"The best people have the opportunity to work for companies that are not only interesting to work for and have competitive compensation, but are companies that have an inspiring mission," Palmer said.

Nagro cites the culture and opportunity to ship code daily as some reasons why engineers choose HubSpot.

"It's a very competitive market," Nagro said.

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Police arrest man in Japan tainted food scandal

TOKYO — Japanese police arrested a factory worker at a plant that churned out food laced with pesticide, which led to massive poisoning and a recall of more than 6 million packages of frozen food.

Police on Sunday identified the suspect as Toshiki Abe, 49, a worker at the subsidiary of Maruha Nichiro Holdings Inc., where the tainted food was found. Abe was arrested Saturday and has denied the charges, police said.

As many as 2,800 people across Japan may have been sickened by the tainted food, including pizzas, croquettes and pancakes manufactured at the plant in Gunma prefecture, north of Tokyo.

Abe is suspected of lacing the food with poison four times in October, and malathion, the pesticide used, was found in his possessions, according to Kyodo News service. Other details were not immediately available.

Maruha Nichiro has announced executive pay cuts and said that President Toshio Kushiro and the president of the subsidiary were resigning in March to take responsibility for the food poisoning.

The Tokyo-based manufacturer has repeatedly apologized and bought full-page ads in major newspapers to apologize and warn people not to eat any of the possibly tainted food.

Malathion, used in farming and gardening, can cause death in high concentrations, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

No life-threatening illnesses from Maruha's products have been reported, but public trust in food safety has been badly shaken.

Late last year, a slew of top-notch hotels and department stores acknowledged the food they were serving or selling weren't what they were billed to be, but cheaper substitutes.

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