China's inflation stays at 2.3 percent in July

BEIJING — China's consumer price index rose 2.3 percent in July from a year earlier, well below the ruling Communist Party's 3.5 percent target for the year.

The latest inflation rate was unchanged from June, according to data released Saturday by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The rise in the index was driven largely by higher food prices, which increased by 3.6 percent. Prices for fruits and eggs rose the fastest.

Experts expect the inflation to stay stable this year, leaving room for interest rate cuts or other measures to stimulate the economy if necessary.

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Boston trackers chart outbreak

HealthMap.org, a high-tech infectious disease tracking system run by Boston epidemiologists, has emerged as a critical tool in the battle against Ebola in West Africa — tracking its rapid and unusual spread ahead of official reports by monitoring thousands of local news and social media sources.

'It's been doubling up for months now," Harvard Medical School professor John Brownstein, co-founder of HealthMap, said about the rising Ebola numbers, with nearly 2,000 cases and nearly 1,000 deaths. "These things are generally fairly well contained in time and space, but this wasn't. June is when the cases really started to pile up."

HealthMap, run by Boston Children's Hospital researchers, began tracking the current outbreak March 19 when it picked up on local news reports from Kenya.

The group started putting out alerts and feeding information to the World Health Organization, which reported its first confirmed case March 23. Since then, the HealthMap team has created an interactive Ebola map.

"Part of our effort is not just to help governments, but also to give people a better idea of what's happening," Brownstein said. "This type of tracking is an important piece to understanding what's happening in places without very good public health infrastructure."

When HealthMap was launched in 2006, it was met with some skepticism from some epidemiologists, co-founder Clark Freifeld said, because its information, while fast, is not officially verified like World Health Organization alerts. But, he said, "Now this type of stuff is almost taken for granted in the field, and there's a lot more people doing work with these sources."

Dr. Brad Crotty, a clinical informatics expert at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center who is not part of HealthMap, said there is still work to be done to tune out "background noise" — inaccurate or misleading information.

"You can get early signs, but they're not always right," Crotty said.

Sumiko Mekaru, who oversees HealthMap operations, said it's meant to complement traditional public health reports, not replace them.

"It's not the gold standard, but we get things close and we get things fast," she said.

Members of the HealthMap team are now working on software that will allow researchers to forecast where an outbreak is headed and when, and plan to test a model this coming flu season.

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Ex-Microsoft manager: 2 years for insider trading

SEATTLE — A former senior Microsoft manager who pleaded guilty to feeding inside information to a stock trader was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for insider trading.

The U.S. attorney's office says the two men made $415,000 from three trades.

Brian Jorgenson, 32, was a senior manager in Microsoft Corp.'s Treasury Group when he provided the information to his friend Sean Stokke, 28, of Seattle, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court. They were accused of trading on three corporate developments: two quarterly earnings reports and Microsoft's 2012 investment in Barnes & Noble Inc.

"I cheated," Jorgenson told the court Friday. "I tried to take a shortcut for my own financial gain ... I persuaded myself it was a gray area, when it clearly was black and white."

Jorgenson's codefendant, Stokke, was sentenced last month to 18 months in prison.

"Western Washington abounds in publicly traded companies with thousands of insiders who have daily access to market-moving information," U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan said. "The sentence in this case should serve as a warning to others who might be tempted to engage in this conduct."

The pair accumulated Barnes & Noble stock options in advance of Microsoft's announcement that it was investing in the company's digital book business, the FBI said. The announcement caused Barnes & Noble's stock to jump by nearly half, and the pair made $184,000.

They are also accused of trading on Microsoft's failure to meet earnings expectations in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 and Microsoft's increased first-quarter profit in fiscal 2014.

Jorgenson, a married father of four from the north Seattle suburb of Lynnwood, joined Microsoft in January 2011.

When Jorgenson was charged last December, Microsoft said in a written statement that the company has no tolerance for insider trading. "We helped the government with its investigation and terminated the employee," the statement said.

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Nevada complaint seeks to require condoms in porn

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Judge grants preliminary injunction to Lionsgate over 'Expendables 3' piracy

Lionsgate was granted a preliminary injunction on Friday in its attempt to limit the scope of piracy of "The Expendables 3" after a leaked high-quality copy of the film showed up on file-sharing sites.

U.S. District Judge Margaret Morrow earlier this week issued a temporary restraining orderbarring six sites from linking or hosting copies of the movie. But she extended that to an injunction after none of them responded.

Her order also prohibits any third party from "taking any action that induces, causes or materially contributes to" the infringement of Lionsgate's copyright, including hosting, linking or providing access to such things as torrent files and trackers. She also ordered banks, payment processors and advertisers to shut down accounts connected to the sites.

In court filings, Lionsgate said that the copy of the movie was obtained through "fraudulent or otherwise unlawful means." Within days of its July 24 discovery of the leak, the film was available on hundreds of websites. As of July 31, it was downloaded 2.1 million times worldwide on peer-to-peer networks, including 247,000 downloads in the U.S., according to the studio. About 21,000 of them were in the Los Angeles area.

Lionsgate also estimates that the movie was downloaded or streamed on "hundreds of thousands, or millions" of time outside of peer-to-peer networks. The studio's contractor, MarkMonitor, sent 2,770 takedown notices, and while most complied, the studio named some of those that did not in its complaint. They include limetorrents.com, billionuploads.com, hulkfile.eu, played.to, swankshare.com and dotsemper.com.

Lionsgate said that an investigation of the leak is ongoing.

(C) 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Market Basket cuts hours of hundreds of part-timers

Hundreds of part-time Market Basket employees will be without a job come Monday as store managers scramble to keep up with the demands of the embattled grocery chain's leadership, and while the company promises there will be no layoffs, those on the front lines are telling a different story.

"They are just trying to cover themselves here. The fact of the matter is that we can't schedule these people to work, and on Monday they won't have any more shifts," said Glenn Connors, who manages the Brockton Market Basket. "We had to tell these people that they can't come back to work next week. My employees are horrified."

Store managers were notified by Market Basket co-CEO Felicia Thornton last Friday that they "need to schedule staff levels necessary to serve your current customer base and maintain store conditions," according to an email obtained by the Herald.

In the wake of the ongoing protests to reinstate fired CEO Arthur T. Demoulas, Market Basket's shelves have been nearly empty, and its customers have gone elsewhere.

With plummeting revenues, store managers are forced to make cuts, and the only option is to part ways with hundreds of part-time employees.

"It's almost like they're trying to set us up," said Scott Ivers, manager of a store in Lowell. "They told me I had to make payroll and keep the store going. If I had to do the math and make payroll, I'd have to lay everyone off. This is the only way we can physically do this and even come close."

Market Basket, meanwhile, maintains managers are not being asked to lay anyone off.

"Store directors were not instructed to lay off associates, but to adjust hours to meet current demand," the company said in a statement. "It is our hope that we will be back to normal business levels in the not too distant future and all associates will be back to a full schedule."

According to the statement, Thornton also told all store managers "to let their associates know that they are not laid off."

Semantics didn't matter to Matt Forrest, 21, a grocery clerk who works summers at a Lowell Market Basket to help pay his way through college.

"It's really stressful for me because I'm a student and I have to buy books and get ready for school. I'm just trying to get by," he said. "I've been working in this store for a while, and now I can't come in on Monday. This really is terrible."

Attorney General Martha Coakley yesterday set up a hotline for Market Basket employees to call after her office received "more than 100 calls over the last 24 hours," according to a statement. Coakley and New Hampshire Attorney General Joseph Foster sent a letter to Market Basket brass to remind them of the laws regarding worker termination.

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Logan employees hold rally for higher wages, union

Mobilizing to form a union in a quest for "livable wages," service workers at Logan International Airport rallied yesterday, flanked by Democratic pols, including gubernatorial candidates Attorney General Martha Coakley and state Treasurer Steve Grossman.

Employees who work for contractors secured by airlines, including cabin cleaners, wheelchair assistants and baggage handlers, make as little as $8 an hour with few, if any, benefits, and are fighting for increased pay and a "livable wage," said Roxana Rivera, district leader for SEIU 32BJ.

"Workers have been playing by the rules," she said. "They have been coming to work every day to keep the airport running, now the only thing we are asking for is decent wages."

Coakley told the crowd that service employees deserve to "make a living wage and get ahead just like everybody."

Grossman said, "Let's talk to Massport. Let's talk to public officials. Every public official who is not standing with us today is standing on the other side."

Massport in a statement said it is "sympathetic to the concerns raised regarding working conditions and take them seriously. This matter is primarily one between private employers — hired by the airlines — and their workforce."

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Live large in Danvers 
brick estate

A million dollars buys a lot less house these days, and it's become the going rate for two-bedroom condos in Boston's most desirable neighborhoods.

But with this brick estate at 9 Kenmore Drive in Danvers, you get a lot of house for $1.15 million — six bedrooms, six bathrooms, an attached three-car garage and almost 10,000 square feet of living space in­cluding the finished basement.

The custom Mediterranean-style house, located in a choice neighborhood near St. John's Prep, features five marble fireplaces, oak floors with inlays, tall windows and has a showpiece entry foyer and two double-height great rooms. It's set on more than a half-acre that backs up to town-owned conservation land.

The beautiful back yard features a large slate veranda leading down to a built-in heated swimming pool with a cabana. The front and back yards are landscaped with fig, peach and apple trees and many flowering bushes.

Since it was built in 1992, the home has been in the family that owned the now-closed Despina's Place, a Greek/pizza eatery on Mass. Ave. in the Back Bay.

"This isn't a house that was built to be sold, but for someone to live in for a lifetime," said owner George Tzantyos, whose relative, original owner John Gikas, passed away in 2009.

The house can support a large extended family or someone who wants live-in help, as its finished basement has a full kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, cedar closet and several bedrooms. There are twelve heating zones and central air conditioning.

It's not the easiest house to sell, admits listing agent Gail Tyrrell of Re/Max Advantage in Salem, who recently reduced the price from $1,430,000. Although it was built with high-­quality finishes, the 1990s-era colored bathroom fixtures look outdated.

"Buyers are looking for the latest and greatest finishes," Tyrrell said. "But this large home has everything else a buyer could want, all the high-end bells and whistles. To reconstruct this home today would cost well over $2 million."

But even if the kitchen could use some freshening up, it's spacious — with lots of cabinets, a central island, newer wall ovens and electric cooktop, and a glass-­enclosed breakfast room with views out to the back yard.

The soaring barrel-­vaulted grand foyer has granite floors and a mahogany bridal staircase with a large crystal chandelier.

Corinthian columns on either side of the foyer lead to formal living and dining­ rooms with inlaid hardwood floors, crown molding and floor-to-ceiling windows. The living room has a marble fireplace and the dining room a large crystal chandelier. There's also a mahogany-­lined private library with another marble fireplace.

There's a great room off the foyer with 25-foot vaulted ceilings, a marble fireplace and glass doors out to the veranda and pool and a second vaulted great room off the kitchen that also opens to the veranda.

"It's a house that can hold lots of people," Tzantyos said. "The original owner did a lot of entertaining here."

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GM issues third recall on SUVs that can catch fire

General Motors' troubles with safety recalls have surfaced in another case, this time with the company recalling a group of SUVs for a third time to fix power window switches that can catch fire.

The problem, revealed in documents posted by federal safety regulators this week, is so serious that GM is telling customers to park the SUVs outdoors until they are repaired because they could catch fire when left unattended.

The vehicles will be left outside for a while. Parts won't be ready until October at the earliest, according to GM. The automaker also has ordered its dealers to stop selling the SUVs as used cars until they are fixed.

The recall covers about 189,000 vehicles in North America, mainly from the 2006 and 2007 model years. Models affected include the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainer, Isuzu Ascender and Saab 97-X. The recall was one of six announced by GM on June 30 that covered 7.6 million vehicles.

GM is in the midst of the biggest safety crisis in its history, touched off by the delayed recall of 2.6 million older small cars to fix faulty ignition switches. The company has issued a record 60 recalls this year covering nearly 29 million vehicles.

Before this year, GM had been reluctant to issue recalls, at times opting for lower-cost fixes for safety problems. It's been fined $35 million by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for lapses in reporting the ignition switch problems, which it blames for at least 13 deaths.

After the ignition switch debacle, GM did a companywide safety review, appointed a new global safety chief and pledged to recall cars quickly.

The SUV problem first appeared early in 2012 when NHTSA began investigating consumer complaints of fires in the driver's-door switches that control power windows.

At first, GM tried to address the issue with a "service campaign," where it sent letters to owners telling them that water can find its way into the switches, causing rust that can result in short circuits, overheating and possibly fires. The campaign, which wasn't a recall, extended the warranty and offered service only to vehicles that exhibited the problems. It was limited to 20 states and Washington, D.C., where salt is used to clear roads in the winter.

But in August of 2012, under government pressure, GM recalled 278,000 of the SUVs in the cold-weather states and offered extended warranties to the rest of the country. NHTSA kept investigating, and 10 months later, GM expanded the recall nationwide.

By then, NHTSA and GM had received 242 complaints, including 28 about fires. There were no injuries.

In one complaint filed with NHTSA from October of 2008, a woman reported that the alarm sounded while her 2006 TrailBlazer was parked in her driveway. When she looked outside, it was in flames. Firefighters put out the blaze and told her it started in the driver's door.

"The fire burned the entire driver's side of the vehicle, a portion of the front passenger seat and the roof," she wrote. People filing complaints are not identified by the agency.

The fix used by GM last year was to put a protective coating around the window switch circuit boards, which is less costly than replacing the switches. But starting this April, GM received complaints that the switches malfunctioned in SUVs that had been repaired. So in June, it decided to do the third recall and replace all of the switches.

"We are recalling them because the fix that we put in did not work," spokesman Alan Adler said Thursday. "We're taking care of it. We're doing the right thing."

Initially GM tried the service campaign because number of incidents was low, he said. It was limited to the cold-weather states because salty water made the switches corrode quickly and incidents were few in warmer states, Adler said.

Letters notifying owners about the SUV recall should be mailed soon. Owners will get a second letter sometime from October to December telling them when parts are available to fix the vehicles.

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Kim Kardashian and Kanye West buy big suburban mansion

We know we're a bit behind the 8-ball on this but a complicated computer snafu tied our digital hands for the last nearly 24 hours. However, in the interest of keeping up the celebrity real estate Joneses and just in case any of the children somehow missed it, celebrity gossip juggernaut TMZ swears that reality television supernova Kim Kardashian has somehow convinced her high-minded rapper husband Kanye West to drop twenty million bucks on a freshly constructed mansion in the same family friendly, equestrian oriented and guard gated Hidden Hills community where her momager Kris Jenner already lives is a large but much smaller mansion.

Don't none of ya'll misunderstand Your Mama as Hidden Hills naysayer, 'cause we're not. Just because it's not our particular cup of suburban real estate tea doesn't mean it's not a much touted, well-groomed and exceedingly affluent enclave long favored by the rich and/or famous. Should they choose, Mister and Missus Kardashian can invite neighbors who Jennifer Lopez, Drake, Leann Rimes and Eddie Cibrian, Nicolette Sheridan, and Jessica Simpson to their housewarming party and it will no doubt be a fine place to bring up their directionally named baby.

• BUYERS:Kim Kardashian and Kanye West
• LOCATION: Hidden Hills, CA
• PRICE: (reportedly) $20,000,000
• SIZE: 15,667 square feet, 8 bedrooms, 8 full and two half bathrooms.

The 3.01-acre spread, originally listed in April 2013 and last listed for $20,995,000, was previously owned by rock 'n' roll royal Lisa Marie Presley but her former mansion was torn down a few years ago to make way for a sprawling compound that includes a stone-faced manor house lovingly described in digital marketing materials as a "French Country masterpiece."

The unquestionably stately abode has 8 bedrooms, 8 full and 2 half bathrooms including a house-sized master suite with private retreat, dual bathrooms, extensive closets and dressing areas, fitness room and a private terrace with spa. Three of the mansion's eight fireplaces are in the formal living room, formal dining room and custom paneled library. Less formal family and entertainment spaces include a three island kitchen, family room, home theater with upholstered walls and a suede-walled game room with wet bar.

The fully landscaped estate has two swimming pools, two spas, two barbeque centers, two vineyards, three fountains, a sport court and rose garden, over an acre of lawn and a gated motor court bigger than a 7-11 parking lot. In addition to the main house there's a 1,050-square-foot entertainment pavilion as well as a secluded pool house/guest house with fireplace and bathroom.

Kanye still owns a minimalist apartment in lower Manhattan and a contemporary art-filled abode in the Hollywood Hills he's had on and off the market for years -- it's not currently listed on the open market -- while Kimmy sold her Bev Hills bachelorette pad in February 2013 for $3.9 million. So the scuttlebutt goes, once the full-scale and no-doubt supremely price renovations are complete, K-K intend to flip the mock-Med manse in the Bel Air Crest community they bought in January 2013 for $9 million.

(C) 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Market Basket workers keep faith, but feel $$ pinch

After their third consecutive day of booing potential applicants away from Market Basket job fairs, protesters claim they are winning — but acknowledged the prolonged dispute is putting pressure on their families.

"If they end up hiring all of the two dozen people who made it inside today they can put one of them at every third store and see how well that works out for them," said Steve Paulenka, a recently fired 40-year supervisor who has been on the front lines of the dispute. "I was here both Monday and Tuesday, and I don't think that there were 20 people who went in over those two days."

Angel Rivera, 32, a personal care attendant from Lawrence, made the trip to yesterday's fair at an Andover Market Basket warehouse with his girlfriend but left after he spotted the charged-up mob of people picketing.

"All of this mess here, it's not worth it. I just wanted extra work," he said.

But Jeandri Lizardo, a 17-year-old Lawrence High senior, braved the boos to fill out her application.

"My mom dropped me off and since I saw the angry mob over there, I snuck my way in to go into the office," she said. "I do need the job, and it was their decision to be angry."

The embattled company remained mum yesterday on whether the search for replacements is paying off. Repeated calls to Market Basket management spokespeople were not returned yesterday. The company had advertised an email address for applicants who were unwilling to face the protesters.

Market Basket warehouse workers and drivers are feeling the pinch since they left their jobs July 18.

"They are the ones who have made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us," said Tom Trainor, a fired grocery supervisor.

Gary Hendrigan, 56, a warehouse driver, said he walked off the job out of loyalty to deposed CEO Arthur T. Demoulas, but he's concerned for the financial wellbeing of the younger warehouse workers, some of whom have babies and small children.

"Right now I have enough faith that this is going to work," Hendrigan said. "I have a good savings account. My father taught me well. I can hang in there for a while. Some of the younger guys can't."

Michael Perez, 27, a fired five-year poultry selector at the Andover warehouse, said he and the rest of the "chicken room" workers were lining up to support the protesters because "they're like my family" while lamenting the budget crunch the dispute has caused at home.

"I've got two kids and my girlfriend's pregnant. ... It's tough because I'm not well off, but I'm gonna stick it out because I know Artie will take care of me when I go back," Perez said. "You've got this one-percenter who seems to think that just because his pockets are big he can just take over and bully all of us because we're little guys. We want our boss back. We want our CEO back. He's the guy who helps me take care of my two kids."

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Checking out the new Foursquare

On the verge of obsolescence, the formerly popular social check-in app Foursquare reinvented itself yesterday as a local search and review expert that has all the makings of a Yelp-killer.

From the moment you open the app and see the sleek, intuitive interface, it's apparent Foursquare is taking aim directly at Yelp's two biggest weaknesses: design and credibility.

The clearinghouse of local reviews has become the default local search app simply due to its massive scale, but it has long been ripe for a face-lift. And we've just learned that customers can be fined for writing negative reviews. Further calling Yelp's reliability into question is that the reverse also remains true: Businesses often give coupons and incentives for sugar-coated reviews.

But Foursquare's local review service puts heavy emphasis on reviews from professionals (think magazines and travel guides). And it's just plain easy to use.

Foursquare burst onto the scene five years ago with a novel idea: People should let others know where they are. And whether people were at their day job or their favorite dive bar, check-ins became all the rage. Foursquare planted the seeds of the selfie-obsessed culture of oversharing that we know today. At one point, a Facebook friend of mine was even routinely checking in at his weekly appointment with the psychiatrist, leading him to be dubbed the virtual "mayor" of a mental health facility.

But Foursquare's problem soon became evident: There was no barrier to entry for competitors. Soon every app with social network integration simply wrapped in its own check-in feature. Foursquare lost all relevance.

Companies founded around a single idea or product are notoriously bad at pivoting. Corporate inertia has harmed many companies competing in a fast-changing technology landscape, from Friendster to AOL to Blackberry to Kodak. Not Foursquare.

Foursquare announced earlier this summer it would split its app into two new services: Swarm for location-sharing, and Foursquare for local recommendations and reviews.

It's a brilliant strategy, providing a place for the last remaining stalwarts of the old app while simultaneously launching a dramatic revamp.

But make no mistake, Foursquare has a long road ahead. Yelp has a critical mass, and that's a hard thing to change. Plus, we all love those classic Yelp horror stories: long and painfully detailed descriptions of the time you left the salon with green hair or found a human finger in your clam chowder. But while Yelp will likely be around for quite some time, there's room for competition.

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Mixed report on effect of Obamacare medtech tax on Massachusetts jobs

Many of the biggest medical device companies continue to grow despite an Obamacare medical device tax, according to a new report, but industry leaders in the Bay State say small and medium companies are in a holding pattern.

A report by EP Vantage found that 12 of the 15 biggest medical technology companies increased their head count last year.

"The story in medtech employment over the course of 2013 is one of slow and steady growth," the report said.

But companies in Massachusetts are not seeing the same growth, said Tom Sommer, president of the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council.

"I don't see that it necessarily rings true for Massachusetts medtech companies," Sommer said. "I'm not hearing anecdotally any reports of job growth."

Sommer said a combination of the 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices that became law as part of Obamacare and "a real focus on cost reduction" have slowed employment growth in small and midsized companies.

He said many companies are refocusing on cost-effective products amid a dramatic shift in the health care industry.

"Right now I think there's so much in flux in the health care environment that many medtech companies are not making long-term job growth plans," he said.

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The Ticker

Pfizer pays $35M to settle marketing case

Pfizer will pay $35 million to resolve allegations by 42 states that its subsidiary, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, illegally marketed an organ transplant drug for unapproved uses. Massachusetts will get $726,000 under the settlement.

The states' attorneys general said yesterday that Wyeth, which Pfizer bought in 2009, trained sales representatives to encourage doctors to prescribe Rapamune for uses other than preventing rejection of transplanted kidneys.

Rapamune was approved in 1999 for use in kidney transplant patients. Promoting drugs for uses not cleared by the Food and Drug Administration is illegal.

Experts divided on job impact of robots

A new survey released yesterday by the Pew Research Center's Internet Project and Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center found that, when asked about the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, nearly 1,900 experts and other respondents were divided over what to expect 11 years from now.

Forty-eight percent said robots would kill more jobs than they create, and 52 percent said technology will create more jobs than it destroys.

Vineyard town can challenge gaming hall

A federal judge has ruled that a Martha's Vineyard town and a local taxpayers association can join the state's lawsuit challenging plans to build a gambling facility on tribal land on the resort island.

Judge F. Dennis Saylor yesterday said both the town of Aquinnah and the Aquinnah/Gay Head Community Association have legal standing to intervene in the case because both were party to a 1983 settlement between the state and the Aquinnah Wampanoags that gave the federally recognized tribe ownership of roughly 400 acres on the western tip of Martha's Vineyard.

TODAY

•  Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.
•  Federal Reserve releases consumer credit data for June, 3 p.m.
•  Selected chain retailers release July sales.

TOMORROW

• Labor Department releases second-quarter productivity data.
• CohnReznick, the 10th largest accounting, tax and advisory firm in the U.S., has announced that Keith Denham, left, will join the firm as managing principal and national director of CohnReznick Advisory Group. Denham will lead the national advisory services arm of the firm.
•  FORGE Worldwide has promoted Nicholas Vitale to studio manager from designer/production. Vitale will be responsible for print production and vendor management at the agency.

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Obama indicates opposition to Internet 'fast lanes'

When President Obama spoke at the U.S.-Africa Business Forum on Tuesday, he was asked about his position on net neutrality, the rules of the road for the Internet that are pending before the FCC.

At the center of the debate is whether the FCC will pass rules that will allow Internet providers to strike deals allowing content companies to gain speedier and better access to the consumer, known as paid prioritization or "fast lanes."

Asked about the topic, Obama said, "One of the issues around net neutrality is whether you are creating different rates or charges for different content providers. That's the big controversy here. You have big, wealthy media companies who might be willing to pay more but then also charge more for more spectrum, more bandwidth on the Internet so they can stream movies faster or what have you.

"And I personally -- the position of my administration, as well as I think a lot of companies here is you don't want to start getting a differentiation in how accessible the Internet is to various users. You want to leave it open so that the next Google or the next Facebook can succeed."

Groups like Move On and Credo cited the remarks as meaning that Obama favors banning paid prioritization altogether. "This is significant progress in the fight to restore and protect net neutrality," MoveOn said in a letter to supporters. "If we seize this moment, it could be a turning point."

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler's proposal would prohibit commercially unreasonable practices by Internet providers, a standard that critics say would be too weak to prevent paid prioritization deals. So Wheeler also is asking for public comment on whether the FCC should ban paid prioritization outright, or even reclassify the Internet as a telecommunications service. The latter would give the FCC greater regulatory oversight.

(C) 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Samsung, Apple agree to drop lawsuits outside US

SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung and Apple Inc. have agreed to end all patent lawsuits between each other outside the U.S. in a step back from three years of legal hostilities between the world's two largest smartphone makers.

However, Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday that it and Apple will continue to pursue existing cases in U.S. courts. The two companies did not strike any cross-licensing deal.

"Samsung and Apple have agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States," the South Korean company said in a statement. "This agreement does not involve any licensing arrangements, and the companies are continuing to pursue the existing cases in U.S. courts."

The announcement is a significant lessening of corporate hostilities after years of bitter patent disputes over the intellectual property rights for mobile designs and technology. The legal fights spanned about a dozen countries in Asia, North America and Europe.

Lawsuits and other legal actions by Samsung and Apple will come to an end in countries including Germany, England, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, Japan and Australia.

The patent cases in the U.S. have come with bigger awards for damages than other countries. In May, a California jury awarded Apple $119 million in a patent battle with Samsung. The same jury also ordered Apple to pay $158,400 to Samsung finding that Apple had infringed one of Samsung's patents in creating the iPhone 4 and 5. In a separate 2012 jury verdict, Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $930 million. Samsung appealed.

Some analysts said the two companies would eventually bury the hatchet and sign a cross-licensing deal, following the usual pattern of patent cases in the technology industry. There were earlier signs that tensions had eased between two companies. The two agreed to drop their appeals at the U.S. International Trade Commission in June.

But at other times, it seemed the differences were too wide to be bridged. The chief executives of both companies reportedly met several times at the recommendation of a U.S. judge to discuss out of court settlements.

Not all outcomes from the patent actions were damaging to Samsung and Apple. While the two rivals faced damage claims and sales bans of old products here and there, Samsung vaulted to the leading position in the global smartphone market during the last three years.

The series of high-stake lawsuits over some of the world's most popular gadgets began in April, 2011 when Apple accused Samsung, the maker of Galaxy phones, of slavishly copying the iPhone. Samsung responded by charging Apple of stealing its mobile technology.

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German factory orders decrease in June

BERLIN — German factory orders were down in June compared to the previous month due to a decrease of large orders.

The Federal Statistics Office said Wednesday that industrial orders were 3.2 percent lower than in May, when they also fell by 1.6 percent.

Orders from inside Germany dropped 1.9 percent and those from countries outside the euro zone fell by 4.1 percent.

New orders from other countries in the 18-nation Eurozone fell by 10.4 percent.

The Federal Statistics Office said that geopolitical developments and risks were a likely cause for the decrease in new orders and that they expected only moderate development in the coming months.

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Apple expected to announce iPhone 6 on Sept. 9

There's finally a date for the iPhone 6 announcement: Sept. 9.

According to influential tech blog Re/Code, Apple will formally unveil its latest smartphone next month.

The device is expected to feature a 4.7-inch screen, larger than any iPhone before it. Apple has also been said to be working on a 5.5-inch version of the iPhone 6, but recent reports have said Apple may not announce that version until later this year or possibly in early 2015.

By releasing a larger-screen iPhone, Apple hopes it can better compete against the likes of Samsung and HTC, whose devices feature screens larger than the 4-inch iPhone 5s.

The iPhone 6 is also expected to be thinner than its predecessors and feature an all-new, very metallic design.

Apple declined to comment.

———

©2014 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by MCT Information Services

Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com

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Cars.com sale shows success, struggle for news companies

WASHINGTON — The Gannett Co.'s announcement Tuesday that it was buying out its four media partners in Cars.com to the tune of $1.8 billion is both a success story for the struggling newspaper sector and a sign of the challenges ahead.

The largest U.S. newspaper publisher, Gannett said it was buying the 73 percent stake held by its partners in Classified Ventures, the parent of popular auto shopping website Cars.com. Selling stakes to Gannett were McClatchy, Tribune Media Co., Graham Holdings Co. and A.H. Belo Corp.

And as had been predicted by several industry watchers, Gannett also reorganized into two publicly traded media companies, leaving its newspaper publishing operations in one standalone business and lumping its digital ventures into a new company that also will retain Gannett's vast broadcast holdings.

The deal provides Gannett, publisher of USA Today, with sole control of a profitable digital site and gives the sellers an infusion of cash at a time of high valuations for Internet ventures.

"This was one of those acquisitions, simply put, that makes perfect sense financially and strategically," said Gracia Martore, president and CEO of Gannett, during a call with investment analysts.

As its sole owner, Gannett can "take the business to the next level," said Martore, adding that she will become the CEO of the new publicly traded company that combines higher-growth broadcast and digital holdings.

In an interview, McClatchy CEO Patrick Talamantes hinted that the sale marked a milestone.

"We were in it for 17 years. It was a joint venture for all that time. As often happens to joint ventures, eventually there is an ownership transition," he said. "There has been enough change amongst the ownership group, and change among each owner even, that it just made a lot of sense for some owners to move on and for Gannett to provide the means by which the others could move on."

Here's why the sale marks a milestone. When started in 1997, Classified Ventures was a way in which newspaper publishers could share the risk in creating a digital company that helped offset what became a massive loss of print revenues from classified advertising. At the time, classifieds were disrupted by Craigslist and other online-only sites.

But the newspaper companies stuck together and turned Cars.com and similar sites into important online companies in their own right. The sale for $1.8 billion speaks to how well that venture did and the potential it offers going forward.

"They're moving from a startup (business) to an ownership mode," said Ed Atorino, a veteran securities analyst specializing in media for New York-based The Benchmark Co.

Cars.com, which has 10 million monthly unique users and lists 4.3 million new and used cars from 20,000 dealers, has grown steadily since its creation in 1997. The sale of Cars.com comes seven months after Cox Enterprises paid $1.8 billion for a 25 percent share of Autotrader.com, the leading auto site with 14 million unique users a month.

"All that has happened is the market for Internet assets became stronger and stronger," said Talamantes, adding that revenue from the sale — which will net McClatchy about $406 million after taxes — will enable the company to reinvest in new Internet ventures. "Cars.com only addresses a fairly limited segment of our overall business. We think that by selling the asset that we're are able to benefit our entire portfolio of advertising business and not just the automotive segment."

Analysts such Atorino were quick to warn, however, that shrinking print advertising revenue continues to dampen the longer-term outlook for newspapers — one reason Gannett pared off its newspaper arm.

"Newspapers have a challenging environment. And television is booming. End of story," said Atorino.

Media companies have been competing increasingly for advertising revenue against digital-only companies like Google and Facebook, which have captured the lion's share of digital advertising gains.

"I don't think Gracia (Martore) is going to put Google out of business," said Atorino.

The deal is part of a bigger strategic shift at Gannett and within the media sector to pare off the more profitable broadcast operations from the struggling newspaper business.

"It says that the broadcast industry is basically very healthy. They continue to have the benefit of a tremendous amount of political advertising," said Rick Edmonds, a media analyst at the Poynter Institute, which offers journalism training in St. Petersburg, Fla., and online.

Broadcast stations are also now receiving transmission fees from cable companies, a relatively new development, and that adds to their improving revenue outlook.

"That's a big new source of revenue. A number of these companies … have expanded by purchasing other operations," said Edmonds, noting that having newspaper holdings "is kind of a drag on the broadcast and digital-ventures side."

There is a potential silver lining for newspapers, however.

"The theory is they'll do better in a company by themselves. They won't necessarily be last in line to get capital or management attention," he said.

Gannett's move follows other media companies that have separated their print and broadcast holdings. These include Belo, News Corp., Tribune and Scripps/Journal Communications. Tribune finalized its splitting of media holdings on Monday, while E.W. Scripps and Journal Communications on July 30 announced their intent to merge broadcast operations and then spin off newspaper publishing.

Gannett executives said they will use cash on hand and issue new bonds to help finance the acquisition of Cars.com and creation of a new standalone company, not yet named.

"One of the smartest things Gannett is doing is not putting any debt on the newspaper operation they're spinning off," said Craig A. Huber, an independent media research analyst at Huber Research Partners.

For McClatchy, he said, the sale allows it to work off more of its high debt. The $406 million in estimated after-tax proceeds from the sale, he said, will help knock down the approximately $1.5 billion of debt on the Sacramento, Calif.-based company's balance sheet.

"It's kind of like selling your wife's wedding ring, your very best asset, but it gives them breathing room to pay down debt," said Huber. "It's a good thing for McClatchy — they'll be able to lower their huge debt load."

Investors seemed to agree. Shares in Gannett and McClatchy opened up strong but lost most of Tuesday's early gains in a down day for equities on the New York Stock Exchange. McClatchy closed up nine cents to $4.65 a share, while Gannett finished off by 45 cents to $33.87.

McClatchy has sold a number of assets in the past year, including its stake in the Apartments.com website, the Anchorage Daily News and McClatchy-Tribune Information Services, a joint wire service now operated by Tribune.

McClatchy said the timing of the sales were coincidental and did not represent any change in strategy.

———

©2014 McClatchy Washington Bureau. Distributed by MCT Information Services

Visit the McClatchy Washington Bureau at www.mcclatchydc.com

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GM reveals pricing on Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon pickups

General Motors set a wide range of prices for its 2015 mid-size trucks — with starting prices as low as $20,995 — as the auto industry's pickup tug-of-war intensifies.

GM said the base model of the four-cylinder extended-cab Chevrolet Colorado pickup will start at $20,995 while the souped-up crew-cab, six-cylinder version of its cousin, the GMC Canyon pickup, will cost $37,875. The Colorado and the Canyon will hit showrooms in the fall.

GM is under pressure to differentiate its midsize trucks from its full-size duo, the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra — and price is a distinguishing factor.

By comparison, the regular cab 2014 Silverado starts at $24,585.

GM is diving back into the midsize pickup truck segment after ceding the business to the Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier the last few years. Ford killed the Ranger and Chrysler ditched the Dodge Dakota; that left midsize pickup buyers with no domestic option until now.

———

©2014 Detroit Free Press. Distributed by MCT Information Services

Visit the Detroit Free Press at www.freep.com

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States increasingly raising transportation taxes

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — States are taking it upon themselves to raise revenues for roads and mass transit as federal lawmakers remain stymied on long-term highway funding.

An Associated Press review found that one-fourth of the states have enacted transportation funding increases in the past year and a half, and at least a dozen others are studying it.

Missouri voters will decide Tuesday whether to impose a three-quarters cent sales tax for transportation.

The push for more funding comes as revenues from federal and state fuel taxes are deteriorating because of more fuel efficient cars, a decline in per capita driving and stagnant tax rates.

Congress recently approved a 10-month patch for its highway trust fund but still has not addressed a long-term transportation funding plan.

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LG headphones get job done, but at hefty cost

LG Heart Rate Monitor Earphones (Best Buy, $179.99)

LG has started an entirely new product category by deciding to stick heart rate sensors into something you're already likely wearing while you're working out. These double-duty headphones are Bluetooth-enabled and connect to an accompanying LG fitness app for iOS and Android. A blood-flow sensor hides directly in the right earbud.

The good: These earbuds are as comfortable as any you'll find, and you don't need to stay tethered to your smartphone or iPod to listen to music. What's more, they seem to be accurate.

The bad: The high price is hard to justify with less-than-stellar sound quality. And while these earbuds are hands-free, they're not exactly wireless, with a controller that needs to be clipped to whatever clothing you're wearing.

The bottom line: A wearable product that actually works! Cool.

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NIH's Fauci says vaccine for Ebola not far away

WASHINGTON — The nation's top infectious disease official says there's hope that a vaccine against Ebola will be available as early as next July.

Dr. Anthony Fauci (FOW'-chee) of the National Institutes of Health says such a preventive vaccine has been successfully tested with monkeys.

Fauci tells "CBS This Morning" that human trials with volunteers will commence in September, and by July it should be ready.

He also says people shouldn't have concerns that two infected patients were brought here from West Africa, saying they can be handled safely.

More than 1,300 people have been stricken in West Africa, and nearly 730 have died in Guinea, Liberia and Sierre Leone.

Ebola currently has no vaccine or antidote. It is contracted through close contact with bodily fluid and blood, unlike other airborne viruses.

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Wal-Mart's website to personalize shopping

NEW YORK — Wal-Mart, in its latest bid to compete with nemesis Amazon.com, is rebuilding its website to further personalize the online shopping experience of each customer.

Wal-Mart is rolling out a feature that will enable its website to show shoppers more products that they may like, based on previous purchases. It will also customize Wal-Mart's home page for each shopper based on the customer's location, local weather and the customer's search and purchase history.

So if a new mom just bought a stroller or crib on Walmart.com, the revamped website might recommend diapers and car seats, too. And if someone who lives in Dallas searches the website for sports jerseys, Walmart.com could suggest Rangers or Dallas Cowboy gear.

The increased personalization is part of a series of changes to improve the online shopping experience of its customers that are rolling out now and over the next few months. The retailer is looking to boost its business online at a time when its U.S. discount division has seen disappointing sales.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s e-commerce sales increased by 30 percent to over $10 billion in its fiscal year that ended Jan. 31. By comparison, Wal-Mart's U.S. discount division has had five straight quarters of sales declines at stores opened at least a year. Wal-Mart sees big growth opportunity in the online business: Online sales still are only a fraction of the $473 billion Wal-Mart generated in overall annual revenue, dwarfed by Amazon's $60.9 billion in annual sales.

The move to personalize websites for shoppers has become a top priority for traditional brick-and-mortar retailers like Wal-Mart as they play catch up with Amazon.com, the online king that pioneered customizing content for shoppers. Retailers increasingly are trying to use their reams of customer data they get from mobile devices and computers to personalize their websites and ultimately, boost sales.

Other retailers, including home-improvement chain Home Depot and office-supplies retailer Staples, have been working to personalize the online shopping experience. In fact, a quarter of customers who visit Home Depot's home page see product recommendations that are based on recent purchase or browser history, according to the company.

Retailers have seen benefits in personalizing their websites for customers, as well as other efforts to improve the online shopping experience. Overall, Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru said that changes in customization can help lift a retailer's online sales in the mid-single digits.

Wal-Mart said that customers have responded well to improvements it has made to its website in the past two years, including quadrupling the assortment of items it offers online to 8 million. For example, when Wal-Mart updated its search tool, it saw a 20 percent increase in shoppers completing a purchase after searching for a product using the new search engine.

Among the other changes, Wal-Mart has redesigned the site to cater to tablets as well as other devices. That means that the content and images are now adjusted to the size of the screen. So shoppers will see more columns of products on bigger screens.

Shoppers will see other improvements. Walmart.com will be testing a quicker online checkout process over the next couple of months. That means customers will view one page instead of six before clicking on the "buy" button. And the company will be able to update Web pages within minutes instead of days.

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Follow Anne D'Innocenzio at — http://www.Twitter.com/adinnocenzio

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Stocks recover some ground but questions remain

LONDON — Global stock markets recovered some recent lost ground Monday in the wake of last week's U.S. jobs data. However, questions over whether the recent sell-off in markets, which saw the Dow Jones industrial average in the U.S. slip into negative territory for the year, was over.

KEEPING SCORE: In early afternoon trading, France's CAC-40 rose 0.8 percent to 4,236 while Germany's DAX rose 0.2 percent to 9,230. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.5 percent to 6,711. Futures suggested a solid Wall Street rebound — Dow futures were up 0.3 percent while the broader S&P 500 futures rose by the same rate too.

ANALYST TAKE: "Despite this slightly positive start to the week, there does appear to be a little caution in the markets," said Alpari analyst Craig Erlam. "Investors are a little concerned that the sell-off which started last week is not over and could lead to something much bigger."

US JOBS: Last Friday's U.S. employment data helped calm the mood in markets. The figures showed the U.S. generated more than 200,000 jobs for a sixth straight month. At the same time, most economists don't think the pace of job growth is enough to cause the Federal Reserve to speed up its timetable for raising interest rates. Most still think the Fed will start raising rates to ward off inflation around mid-2015.

PORTUGESE BANK BAILOUT: In Europe, the main piece of news was the announcement by Portugal's central bank late Sunday that it will provide 4.9 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in an emergency rescue to prevent the collapse of ailing bank Banco Espirito Santo, one of the country's biggest financial institutions.

ASIA'S DAY: China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped 1.7 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.3 percent. South Korea's Kospi added 0.4 percent but Tokyo's Nikkei 225 ended down 0.3 percent at 15,474.50.

CURRENCIES, OIL: The currency markets were flat from last Friday's close, with the dollar steady at 102.57 yen and the euro flat at $1.3424. Benchmark U.S. crude for September delivery was down 31 cents at $97.57 per barrel.

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Cool idea for saving produce

A MassChallenge finalist is developing mobile refrigeration units that run on sun and water and are capable of saving the nearly one-half of developing-world produce that spoils before it ever reaches the consumer.

Evaptainers was the brainchild of Quang 
Truong, who was taking a class at MIT called "Development Ventures" last year, when his professor posed a challenge to the class: Think of a major problem in the developing world, and then come up with a solution.

"I've been to many developing countries over the years, and the one thing I've always noticed was how much produce spoiled," said Truong, a 27-year-old graduate of the Tufts Fletcher School, where he studied agriculture. "It's a huge problem a lot of agencies and governments are trying to deal with."

In his travels, he also had come across a "cool" invention, developed by a Nigerian, called the Pot-in-Pot Preservation Cooling System, essentially a small earthenware pot within a larger one, separated by a layer of wet sand.

The inner pot is filled with produce and covered with a wet cloth. And as the water in the sand and cloth evaporates, the temperature of the inner pot drops by as much as 40 degrees.

For farmers trying to get their produce to market, however, it had one important drawback, Truong said: The pots break easily, making them impractical to transport.

"I thought, hey, there's this really simple invention," he said. "Can I just make it mobile?"

Truong teamed up with a friend, Spencer Taylor, and founded Evaptainers, combining the time-tested evaporative cooling technique of the pot-in-pot system with modern design and materials.

In place of earthenware pots, Evaptainers are made of a breathable crate with wheels on one end and a storage container nestled inside. Between the crate and the container is an evaporative medium such as jute, sawdust or ceramic beads, supplied with water from a tank in the lid. When water evaporates from the medium into ambient air, latent heat is carried by evaporation into the surrounding environment, reducing the temperature inside the container to keep the produce cold.

Currently, Truong and Taylor are building their initial field test unit, which they hope to use in a three-month pilot in Morocco either late this year or early next year. If the pilot is successful, the two would sell Evaptainers for $80 to $120 to agricultural cooperatives there, allowing farmers to nearly double the amount of produce they could sell, with no more work, said Taylor, 32.

In the future, the co-founders said, Evaptainers also could be sold in the U.S. for use in farmers markets, farm shares and campsites.

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5 things to know about Ebola outbreak in W. Africa

Three West Africa nations are struggling to control an outbreak of Ebola. The virus was first discovered nearly four decades ago in Congo in a village near the Ebola River. Since then there have been sporadic outbreaks.

Five things to know about Ebola and how it is spread:

1. WEST AFRICA OUTBREAK NOW LARGEST IN HISTORY. The current outbreak in the neighboring countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone has sickened more than 1,300 people and killed more than 700 since March. The outbreak is unusual for West Africa as the disease is typically found in the center and east of the continent.

2. SOME PEOPLE HAVE SURVIVED EBOLA. While the fatality rate for Ebola can be as high as 90 percent, health officials in the three countries say people have recovered from the virus and the current death rate is about 60 percent. Those who fared best sought immediate medical attention and got supportive care to prevent dehydration even though there is no specific treatment for Ebola itself.

3. EBOLA CAN LOOK LIKE OTHER DISEASES. The early symptoms of an Ebola infection include fever, headache, muscle aches and sore throat. It can be difficult to distinguish between Ebola and malaria, typhoid fever or cholera. Only in later stages do people with Ebola begin bleeding both internally and externally, often through the nose and ears.

4. EBOLA IS ONLY SPREAD THROUGH CLOSE CONTACT. The Ebola virus is not airborne, so people would have to come into direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. These include blood, sweat, vomit, feces, urine, saliva or semen — making transmission through casual contact in a public setting unlikely.

5. FEAR AND MISINFORMATION. In the three countries, health workers and clinics have come under attack from panicked residents who mistakenly blame foreign doctors and nurses for bringing the virus to remote communities. Family members also have removed sick Ebola patients from hospitals. Government officials have stepped up efforts to isolate patients, educate the public, check travelers and tighten borders to prevent the disease's spread.

___

Online:

WHO: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/en

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US doctor with Ebola in Atlanta for treatment

ATLANTA — The first Ebola victim to be brought to the United States from Africa was safely escorted into a specialized isolation unit Saturday at one of the nation's best hospitals, where doctors said they are confident the deadly virus won't escape.

Fear that the outbreak killing more than 700 people in Africa could spread in the U.S. has generated considerable anxiety among some Americans. But infectious disease experts said the public faces zero risk as Emory University Hospital treats a critically ill missionary doctor and a charity worker who were infected in Liberia.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has received "nasty emails" and at least 100 calls from people saying "How dare you bring Ebola into the country!?" CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden told The Associated Press Saturday.

"I hope that our understandable fear of the unfamiliar does not trump our compassion when ill Americans return to the U.S. for care," Frieden said.

Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who will arrive in several days, will be treated in Emory's isolation unit for infectious diseases, created 12 years ago to handle doctors who get sick at the CDC, just up the hill. It is one of about four in the country, equipped with everything necessary to test and treat people exposed to very dangerous viruses.

In 2005, it handled patients with SARS, which unlike Ebola can spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

In fact, the nature of Ebola — which is spread by close contact with bodily fluids and blood — means that any modern hospital using standard, rigorous, infection-control measures should be able to handle it.

Still, Emory won't be taking any chances.

"Nothing comes out of this unit until it is non-infectious," said Dr. Bruce Ribner, who will be treating the patients. "The bottom line is: We have an inordinate amount of safety associated with the care of this patient. And we do not believe that any health care worker, any other patient or any visitor to our facility is in any way at risk of acquiring this infection."

Brantly was flown from Africa to Dobbins Air Reserve base outside Atlanta in a small plane equipped to contain infectious diseases, and a small police escort followed his ambulance to the hospital. He climbed out dressed head to toe in white protective clothing, and another person in an identical hazardous materials suit held both of his gloved hands as they walked gingerly inside.

"It was a relief to welcome Kent home today. I spoke with him, and he is glad to be back in the U.S.," said his wife, Amber Brantly, who left Africa with their two young children for a wedding in the U.S. days before the doctor fell ill.

"I am thankful to God for his safe transport and for giving him the strength to walk into the hospital," her statement said.

Inside the unit, patients are sealed off from anyone who doesn't wear protective gear.

"Negative air pressure" means air flows in, but can't escape until filters scrub any germs from patients. All laboratory testing is conducted within the unit, and workers are highly trained in infection control. Glass walls enable staff outside to safely observe patients, and there's a vestibule where workers suit up before entering. Any gear is safely disposed of or decontaminated.

Family members will be kept outside for now.

The unit "has a plate glass window and communication system, so they'll be as close as 1-2 inches from each other," Ribner said.

Dr. Jay Varkey, an infectious disease specialist who will be treating Brantly and Writebol, gave no word Saturday about their condition. Both were described as critically ill after treating Ebola patients at a missionary hospital in Liberia, one of four West African countries hit by the largest outbreak of the virus in history.

There is no proven cure for the virus. It kills an estimated 60 percent to 80 percent of the people it infects, but American doctors in Africa say the mortality rate would be much lower in a functioning health care system.

The virus causes hemorrhagic fever, headaches and weakness that can escalate to vomiting, diarrhea and kidney and liver problems. Some patients bleed internally and externally.

There are experimental treatments, but Brantly had only enough for one person, and insisted that his colleague receive it. His best hope in Africa was the transfusion of blood he received including antibodies from one of his patients, a 14-year-old boy who survived thanks to the doctor.

There was also only room on the plane for one patient at a time. Writebol will follow in several days.

Dr. Philip Brachman, an Emory public health specialist who led the CDC's disease detectives program for many years, said Friday that since there is no cure, medical workers will try any modern therapy that can be done, such as better monitoring of fluids, electrolytes and vital signs.

"We depend on the body's defenses to control the virus," Dr. Ribner said. "We just have to keep the patient alive long enough in order for the body to control this infection."

Just down the street from the hospital, people dined, shopped and carried on with their lives Saturday. Several interviewed by the AP said the patients are coming to the right place.

"We've got the best facilities in the world to deal with this stuff," said Kevin Whalen, who lives in Decatur, Ga., and has no connection to Emory or the CDC. "With the resources we can throw at it, it's the best chance this guy has for survival. And it's probably also the best chance to develop treatments and cures and stuff that we can take back overseas so that it doesn't come back here."

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Medical Writers Mike Stobbe and Marilynn Marchione reported from New York and Milwaukee. Video journalists Ron Harris and Alex Sanz in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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Explorer’s odd symptoms point to torque converter

My 2000 Ford Explorer 4-liter Control-Trac 4WD has 120,000 miles on it. At 84,000 miles the O/D (overdrive) light began flashing randomly. The shop identified fault code P0741, indicating a potential issue with the transmission. I chose to keep driving the vehicle and the transmission has not failed yet, but I've noticed something peculiar. The light will begin flashing at specific locations on the routes I commonly take, and always where there is a power line overhead. It is also directional. The light will flash, for example, if I'm headed north but not if I'm headed south on the same road. Is there a sensor that could be sensitive to temperature and magnetic flux? Is the transmission failing?

Magnetic flux? Interesting thought, but highly unlikely. (I did have an early computerized fuel-injected vehicle — a beautiful '77 Cadillac Seville — that could be turned off by keying the microphone on a nearby handheld walkie-talkie. Took a while to figure what was shutting down the car as I drove out to a corner of the racetrack to observe my Skip Barber students! Apparently, the RF signal from the radio was interfering with the PCM and shutting down the engine.)

But as much as I'd like to believe that "magnetic flux" could be the culprit, the fact that the event only seems to trigger the O/D warning light rather than affecting any or all of the other computerized systems in your vehicle points to some more earthbound cause.

The P0174 code is triggered when the PCM detects excessive torque converter clutch (TCC) slippage under normal driving. Have you noticed whether the light comes on as you are driving slightly uphill? The extra load on the drivetrain may generate excess slippage in this location, but of course driving in the opposite direction on the same piece of road would be downhill, far less likely to generate TCC slippage.

TCC slippage does not mean impending transmission failure, but it does mean the TCC is worn, the transmission fluid is significantly contaminated and/or hydraulic pressure is somewhat low.

At the current mileage my suggestion is to add half a can of SeaFoam Trans-Tune to the transmission fluid and hope this reduces the symptoms, and continue to drive the vehicle until something catastrophic happens — then decide whether to repair or replace the vehicle.

I recently purchased and am restoring a 1971 Volvo 1800E. This car is fuel-injected. Do you believe it is necessary to use a lead alternative additive until the day I need a valve job and can add hardened valve seats? Should I try to purchase non-oxygenated gasoline?

This is an older question I "rediscovered" recently, but since it's the heart of the summertime collector-car driving season, I thought it worth answering — sorry for the delay.

To my knowledge, most carmakers were installing hardened valve seats by about 1970, so I don't think you need to be particularly concerned about excess wear unless you are really "leaning" on the engine — full throttle, high RPM — regularly.

Most so-called lead substitutes are not actually tetra-ethyl lead, which is no longer permitted in highway-use motor fuels, they are similar "metallics" that hopefully perform the same cooling and lubricating functions to prevent valve seat overheating, sinking and erosion.

I do, on the other hand, believe you should seek out, purchase and use non-oxy fuel for your older vehicle to protect fuel system components from contamination and corrosion. These parts, including the fuel tank and fuel lines, were not designed for oxygenated fuels.

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. We cannot provide personal replies.

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Massachusetts big on farm-fresh goods

Massachusetts has the sixth-largest number of farmers markets in the nation, as farmers turn to new venues to supplement their incomes and consumers seek out ways to buy fresh, local food, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's newly updated National Farmers Market Directory.

Over the past year alone, the number of farmers markets in the state has risen 5.9 percent to 306, just behind California, New York, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois, Anne Alonzo, administrator of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, said as she kicked off National Farmers Market Week.

"The growth of farmers markets and the buy-local movement is a reflection of citizens wanting to know where their food comes from, who grew it and how, combined with a genuine interest in supporting local agriculture," said Greg Watson, state Department of Agricultural Resources commissioner.

Since 2006, federal Farmers Market Promotion Program grants totaling more than $1 million have funded 15 Massachusetts projects, Alonzo said.

And now, it's easier than ever to find them. The National Farmers Market Directory (farmersmarkets.usda.gov) lists 8,268 markets, a 76 percent increase since 2008, and allows people to search by zip code and product mix, as well as providing directions and operating times.

Farmers markets "bring urban and rural communities together while creating economic growth and increasing access to fresh, healthy foods," Alonzo said.

Bob Marshall of Marshall's Farm in Gloucester said about 30 percent of his income comes from farmers markets, where he has been selling produce and honey for the past five years.

"It's a great way to sell what you grow because not everybody can drive to a farm," Marshall said. "This way, I can bring fresh produce to the city, and I can help a person eat better and get healthy."

One of his regulars at the Allston Village Farmers Market is Lisa Drayton, who has lost 50 pounds in the year since she started going.

"I went from being the takeout queen to making everything myself," said Drayton, 47, of Brighton. "I love being able to ask the farmers questions, like do they use pesticides or GMOs. I also like knowing I'm supporting the local economy. I'm helping these little guys. And they're helping me."

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