Government investigates Hyundai brake problems

DETROIT — U.S. safety regulators are investigating complaints of brake problems on Hyundai Genesis full-size luxury cars.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the probe affects about 40,000 cars from the 2009 model year.

The agency has received 23 complaints of that drivers had to push harder than normal on the brake pedal to make the car stop. One driver crashed into a stopped vehicle while another had to use the emergency brake to stop, sending the car into a spin.

No injuries have been reported. Several complaints alleged that the problem was traced to a faulty antilock brake computer.

The investigation will determine if the problem is big enough to cause a recall.

It's the first investigation since the 16-day partial government shutdown began on Oct. 1.

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McDonald's 3Q profit rises, revenue misses Street

OAK BROOK, Ill. — McDonald's third-quarter profit rose 5 percent, as the world's biggest hamburger chain benefited from a Monopoly promotion in the U.S. and strength in the U.K. and Russia.

But revenue missed analyst expectations and shares slid more than 2 percent in premarket trading.

After outperforming rivals for years, McDonald's has struggled recently as it faces heightened competition, shifting eating habits and tough economic conditions around the world. Late last year, its monthly sales at stores open at least a year fell for nearly the first time in a decade.

"Our results reflect McDonald's ability to grow amid the broad-based challenges of the current environment by focusing on those areas of the business within our control," said CEO Don Thompson.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, net income rose to $1.52 billion, or $1.52 per share. That compared with $1.46 billion, or $1.43 per share, last year. Analysts expected $1.51 per share, according to FactSet.

Revenue rose 2 percent to $7.32 billion from $7.15 billion last year. Analysts expected $7.33 billion.

McDonald's, based in Oak Brook, Ill., said sales in stores open at least 13 months rose 0.9 percent, including a 0.7 percent rise in the U.S. and a 0.2 percent rise in Europe. The measure, considered important because it gauges growth at continuing locations after stripping out recently opened and closed stores, fell 1.4 percent in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions.

U.S. results benefited from its Monopoly game and the introduction of Mighty Wings as a national limited time offer.

Looking forward, McDonald's expects fourth quarter sales in stores open at least 13 months will be on par with the third quarter's 0.9 percent rise.

"While we are focused on strengthening our near-term performance, the current environment continues to pressure results," Thompson said.

To push up sales, the company has been taking a two-pronged approach. On the one end, it's playing up its Dollar Menu and other affordable options to draw in customers who may be watching their spending more carefully. The strategy has forced rivals Burger King and Wendy's to more aggressively push deals and promotions as well. Some analysts have worried that the strategy could eat into profit margins and indeed, McDonald's said margin percentages are expected to continue to decline in the fourth quarter.

At the same time, McDonald's is also trying to adjust its image and menu to better reflect shifting eating habits. In the U.S., for example, the company recently rolled out chicken wraps and the option to substitute egg whites in any of its breakfast sandwiches. Early next year, it also said it will start giving customers the option to pick a salad instead of fries with their value meals.

McDonald's has more than 34,000 locations around the world.

Shares fell $2, or 2.1 percent, to $93.20 in premarket trading. The stock closed Friday at $95.20, up about 8 percent since the start of the year.

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Hasbro 3Q results climb, helped by tax adjustment

PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Hasbro's third-quarter net income rose 17 percent, buoyed by a favorable tax adjustment and higher sales. Its adjusted results and revenue topped analysts' estimates.

Sales were strongest in the girls' category led by My Little Pony products and showed an increase in games, while sales in the boys' category fell and preschool sales slipped. Its stock edged up in premarket trading on Monday.

The quarterly results come as toy makers gear up for the holiday season, which can account for up to half their annual revenue.

The No. 2 toy maker earned $193 million, or $1.46 per share, for the three months ended Sept. 29. That compares with $164.9 million, or $1.24 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding 18 cents per share for the tax adjustment and restructuring and pension charges of 3 cents per share, earnings were $1.31 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected adjusted earnings of $1.30 per share, on average.

Revenue for the Pawtucket, R.I., company rose 2 percent to $1.37 billion on strong sales overseas and in its girls category and entertainment and licensing segment. Wall Street was calling for revenue of $1.35 billion.

Shares of Hasbro added 44 cents to $47.68 in premarket trading about 90 minutes ahead of the market open.

By category, Hasbro reported its strongest sales in the girls category — which was up 29 percent on the successful debut of My Little Pony Equestria Girls as well as the debut of Nerf Rebelle and increased sales of Furby and other My Little Pony products.

Sales of games rose 6 percent, its fourth straight quarterly increase. This was helped by higher sales of Jenga, the Elefun & Friends collection, Magic: The Gathering and the launch of the new Telepods game platform that includes the Angry Birds Star Wars II game.

In the boys category, sales dropped 17 percent as the Marvel and Beyblade brands faced tough year-ago comparisons. There were increased sales of Transformers and Star Wars products.

Preschool sales dipped 2 percent, but there were higher sales of the Play-Doh, Sesame Street and Transformers Rescue Bots products.

International sales increased 11 percent, helped by favorable foreign exchange rates and better sales in Europe, Latin America and the Asia Pacific region. Hasbro said that sales in the games, girls and preschool categories climbed overseas.

President and CEO Brian Goldner said in a statement that Hasbro Inc.'s business continues to improve in emerging markets, with growth of 22 percent in the quarter.

Sales for the entertainment and licensing unit rose 13 percent as it benefited from the addition of Backflip Studios. Sales for the U.S. and Canada fell 5 percent, stung by lower sales in the boys and preschool categories. Sales for the girls category climbed in the region, while the games category reported flat sales.

Last week Mattel Inc. reported its quarterly profit and revenue improved on increased sales of Barbie and Monster High dolls.

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Stock futures edge higher as earnings loom

NEW YORK — U.S. stock futures are rising slightly at the beginning of a busy week of corporate earnings reports.

Dow Jones industrial futures are up 4 points at 15,320. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 futures are up 1 point at 1,738. Nasdaq futures are up 8 points to 3,350.

Fast-food chain McDonald's Corp.'s stock fell after it issued a tepid outlook. It's down almost 2 percent at $93.41.

Stocks driving the Dow in premarket trading include AT&T, up almost 2 percent at $35.30. The telecom giant announced a deal to lease or sell the rights to 9,700 wireless towers for $4.85 billion.

Investors will get a long-awaited look at an important economic indicator on Tuesday, when the September U.S. unemployment report comes out after being delayed by the government shutdown.

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Obama to address widespread health care problems

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is expected to acknowledge that widespread problems with his health care law's rollout are unacceptable, as the administration scrambles to fix the cascade of computer issues.

Obama was scheduled to speak Monday from the Rose Garden, his first health care-focused event since the scope of the problems became apparent. The troublesome rollout of the health care exchanges has been a glaring embarrassment for Obama's signature legislative achievement.

White House officials say the president will discuss steps the administration is taking to address the failures, including ramping up staffing at call centers where people can apply for insurance by phone. The Department of Health and Human Services says it is also bringing in technology experts from inside and outside of government to help diagnose the issues.

HHS, in a memo released Sunday, said it was also putting in place "tools and processes to aggressively monitor and identify parts of HealthCare.gov where individuals are encountering errors or having difficulty using the site, so we can prioritize and fix them."

Obama will be flanked at the Rose Garden event by people the White House says have already enrolled during the first three weeks of sign-ups. Enrollment figures are being closely guarded by the administration, which plans to release the first round of data in mid-November.

Officials did say over the weekend that nearly a half million applications have been filed through the federal- and state-run exchanges. Users must file applications before they can enroll, in part to find out whether they are eligible for government subsidies.

The White House also says about 19 million people have visited HealthCare.gov since Oct. 1.

Administration officials initially blamed a high volume of interest for the frozen screens that many people encountered. Since then, they have also acknowledged problems with software and some elements of the system's design.

Despite the widespread problems, the White House has yet to fully explain exactly what went wrong with the online system consumers were supposed to use to sign up for coverage.

In an ironic twist, the troubles with the health care rollout were overshadowed by Republican efforts to delay or defund "Obamacare" in exchange for reopening the government during the 16-day shutdown. The bill that eventually reopened the government included no substantive changes to the health care law.

Some Republicans are now calling for the resignation of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The White House says it has complete confidence in her. House Republicans have scheduled a hearing next week to look into the rollout problems.

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Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

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Startup has skin in the game

A Colombian company offering new hope to burn victims and other patients who suffer skin tissue loss is one of the 26 MassChallenge top finalists who'll compete on Oct. 30 for a piece of the start-up accelerator's $1.5 million in cash prizes.

Keraderm was founded in Bogota in 2010 by a group of plastic surgeons, who set out to find an affordable, painless way of treating tissue loss resulting from burns, ulcers, tumors and trauma.

The typical treatment calls for a graft to be taken from a patient's healthy skin and meshed to cover a large wound — a surgical procedure that often results in severe pain, significant scarring and, sometimes, rejection by the patient's body.

But Keraderm's team found that by taking a sample of healthy skin less than one centimeter in diameter from behind a patient's ear, within five to seven days they could reproduce the skin cells and plant them on a collagen sheet four times the size of a business card to cover the wound, said Jorge Soto, the company's chief financial officer.

"It starts to heal the injury by accelerating the growth of healthy skin cells," Soto said. "In 20 to 40 days, the wound is completely healed."

The patent-pending procedure, which eliminates the need for an operating room and anesthesia as well as the possibility of rejection, has been successfully done on more than 100 patients so far in 11 different hospitals in Colombia and entails no pain or scarring, he said.

A 10-by-10-centimeter sheet of skin also costs $550, significantly less than a skin graft operation does.

"There are other variations of what we're doing," Soto said, "but we haven't been able to find anyone doing the same thing."

Keraderm hopes to expand the procedure in Latin America before bringing it to the United States, where it would need to be tested in a clinical trial to gain regulatory approval.

That's a process that would take the kind of money the company, which has only eight employees including Soto, does not yet have, he said.

The team bootstrapped the start-up with $50,000 and in 2012 raised an additional $300,000 from angel investors, allowing it to open a lab in Bogota that June, Soto said.

But even if Keraderm doesn't win any money in MassChallenge, he said, the four-month accelerator, for which they were selected out of a field of nearly 1,200 applicants, has been worth it.

"I never even thought I was going to be here," Soto said. "It's going to help me a lot to show we have a product that is working."

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Shutdown coverage benefits cable news networks

NEW YORK — The federal government shutdown damaged the reputations of Washington politicians but proved good business for the cable television news networks — and taught some reporters new benefits of virtually instant communications.

CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC saw their viewership increase during the 16-day partial shutdown, peaking at more than five million Wednesday evening when Congress passed a compromise bill to put the government back online.

"It was a drama," said CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash, who logged many hours of airtime along with Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News and Mike Emanuel of Fox. "Whenever there's a drama, people are interested."

MSNBC, which has struggled in this post-election year, saw its average prime-time viewership jump 35 percent to 978,000 this month through Wednesday, compared to the first nine months of the year, the Nielsen company said. Fox, which chose not to make any of its reporters available for this story, was up 9 percent to 2.22 million in the same period (although the network also benefited from a prime-time schedule change this month). CNN improved by 11 percent to 721,000.

The news networks brought their traditional hallmarks of crisis coverage to the political machinations, including "countdown clocks" that marked each second closer to a debt limit deadline. The story meant brutal hours: O'Donnell, who filed for MSNBC, CNBC and NBC News, was at work past 3 a.m. Eastern the first night of the shutdown, then back at 6 a.m. for "Morning Joe."

There were many strong points to the coverage, particularly when reporters didn't fall back on cliches like declaring winners and losers for an event that did few people proud, said Jane Hall, a journalism professor at American University.

"It certainly gave voice to the American people disgusted over this and there were a number of good stories about the impact of the shutdown on government workers," Hall said.

Social media was a big help, O'Donnell said. She would hear from people outside the Capitol cocoon through Twitter and email, with many raising questions she used in her reporting. She was asked how the shutdown would affect Social Security or back pay for government workers. NBC used a "dearcongress" hashtag on Twitter to encourage questions.

Sometimes the concerns were very specific, like when shrimp fishermen asked about access to launches on federal land, which she took to an individual congressman in the affected area.

"That was a real-time experience of the shutdown that did not compare to anything in a crisis that we had covered before," O'Donnell said.

In the past, Bash said she'd often need to plead with producers for time off the air to report. In this case, it wasn't really necessary: Her sources would text, tweet or email information while she was on the air. When President Barack Obama spoke to the nation on Thursday, Bash had instant reaction from several Republicans minutes after he left the podium.

When Republicans and Democrats weren't talking to each other, Bash found that they would talk through her.

"I'll report something or I'll tweet something and I'll get a call from a source pushing back or trying to shape it — not because it's a message to the world, but because it's a message to the other side," she said.

Bash would set up live shots in the hallway between Speaker John Boehner's office and the floor of the House of Representatives, a passageway teeming with sources.

Even though TV reporters love few things more than airtime, by the end even that was wearing off.

"There's always a rush in covering a big story," Bash said. "But at a certain point, you want your government to work a little better, regardless of what you do for a living."

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EDITOR'S NOTE — David Bauder can be reached at dbauder@ap.org or on Twitter@dbauder. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/david-bauder.

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AP CEO: Press freedom v. security a 'false choice'

DENVER — Governments that try to force citizens to decide between a free press and national security create a "false choice" that weakens democracy, and journalists must fight increasing government overreach that has had a chilling effect on efforts to hold leaders accountable, the president and CEO of The Associated Press said Saturday.

Gary Pruitt told the 69th General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association that the U.S. Justice Department's secret seizure of records of thousands of telephone calls to and from AP reporters in 2012 is one of the most blatant violations of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution the 167-year-old news cooperative has ever encountered.

The Justice Department action involving the AP resonated far beyond the U.S., including Latin America, where journalists for decades have fought to exercise press freedoms under authoritarian regimes, Pruitt said.

"The actions by the Department of Justice could not have been more tailor-made to comfort authoritarian regimes who want to suppress the news media. 'The United States does it too,' they can say," Pruitt said.

A free and independent press "differentiates democracy from dictatorship; separates a free society from tyranny," he said.

"Governments who try to set up a situation where citizens think they must choose between a free press and security are making a mistake that will ultimately weaken them, not strengthen them. It's not a real choice. It is a false choice."

Pruitt said he was encouraged by proposed Justice Department guidelines, introduced after the records seizure, that would give news media advance notice of subpoenas so the press can challenge those actions in court; protect not just phone records but reporters' email, text messages and other forms of electronic communication; and guarantee that journalists won't be prosecuted for doing their jobs.

"But you can bet that we will be watching closely to make sure they are implemented and enforced," Pruitt said.

In 2012, the Justice Department secretly obtained records of work, cell and home numbers of AP journalists, as well as AP bureau numbers in New York, Washington, D.C., Hartford, Conn., and the AP number in the U.S. House of Representatives press gallery. It did so after an Associated Press story revealed the foiling of a plot in Yemen to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner at a time the Barack Obama administration was insisting publicly that it had no information about terrorist organizations plotting attacks on the United States in that period.

The Justice Department was trying to identify who leaked information for the AP story — but it didn't tell the AP about its phone records seizure until a year after the story ran.

The seizure was "hardly a surgical strike on a few carefully chosen targets. It was overbroad, sloppy and a fishing expedition into a wide spectrum of AP news journalism and journalists — most of whom had nothing to do with the issues in question here," Pruitt said.

It also differed from the National Security Agency's broad monitoring of global communications because it was specifically directed at locating the source of AP's reporting.

Just as alarming, the seizure has intimidated both official and nonofficial sources from speaking to the AP and numerous other news organizations, even about stories not related to national security, Pruitt said.

"Now, the government may love this. I think they do. But beware a government that loves secrecy too much," he said.

And the challenge isn't going away, Pruitt said.

"The attack on journalism — here in the United States and throughout the rest of the world — is not going to cease any time soon. In fact, I think it will become even more difficult to counter as technology gives governments very powerful tools to monitor the actions and communications of citizens and journalists," he said.

The Miami-based Inter American Press Association has about 1,400 member news organizations and promotes press freedoms throughout the Americas.

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English URL: www.ap.org/content/press-release/2013/the-free-press-vs-national-security-a-false-choice

Spanish URL: www.ap.org/content/press-release/2013/libertad-de-prensa-vs-seguridad-nacional-un-falso-dilema

Portuguese URL: www.ap.org/content/press-release/2013/imprensa-livre-vs-seguranca-nacional-a-falsa-escolha

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Massport to hit up pols

Massachusetts Port Authority officials — already facing a ticking clock to grab vital federal funding — are prepping to start a Beacon Hill blitz this week to pitch a $300 million plan to dredge Boston Harbor, hoping to convince lawmakers to bankroll nearly a quarter of it.

The four-year project to deepen the Hub's vital maritime channels could double the amount of cargo containers that pass through Boston Harbor — a 
$42.5 million business for Massport last year — and will help it vie for the bigger cargo ships primed to hit East Coast ports starting in 2015, officials say.

But they admit they're already playing catch-up to other ports' dredging projects, making lobbying efforts — both federally and at the state level — crucial to keeping them competitive.

"We want to make sure we're putting our best foot forward and make the case for federal funding, and make the case for state funding. But it's kind of a chicken-and-egg process," Massport CEO Thomas Glynn said, noting the board has yet to vote on the project but could within four months. "We have to tell the board, then we have to go to the State House, so we kind of go back and forth."

Their first targets are East Boston lawmakers, whose sometimes prickly history with the agency mean Massport pitches always require a grain of salt, said Eastie state Rep. Carlo Basile.

"I just don't take their word for it. I do my own due diligence," said Basile, who plans to meet with Massport officials Tuesday. He admitted he's aware of little to no complaints from past dredging projects rolled out in 2001, 2005 and 2008, but warned, "that's not to say it can't happen this time."

"It's a much bigger project," Basile said. "I'm still waiting to hear a lot of details."

Massport spokesman Matthew Brelis, said, "We talk with legislators all the time on a host of things," but noted for the dredging project officials are starting with lawmakers from "impacted communities" before moving on to others.

Massport officials are counting on as much as 
$170 million in federal money for the project, with $65 million each coming from the agency and the state.

Secretary of Transportation Richard Davey, who chairs the Massport board, implored members that "we shouldn't do anything right now that would preclude us from the $170 million," likening the shot at the federal funds to waiting for Halley's Comet.

"You can call it Davey's Comet," he told the board during a Thursday meeting.

When Congress will act to award the money, however, is unclear, especially in the wake of the government shutdown, Glynn said.

"Everything is up for grabs down there until it's final," he said. "(Other ports) are a little bit ahead of us in terms of making their request ... but we have enough time. It's a question of it's a moving target."

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What to do when battery is on its last legs

I have a 2005 Hyundai Tucson with 90,000 miles on it. I've never had a problem since I purchased the vehicle, but I'm worried the battery will fail sometime soon because of its age. I'm planning to change the battery myself but I'm concerned about the computer and electronics due to the temporary loss of power during the replacement process. What should I do before and after changing the battery?

Just drive the car. Replacing the battery, which of course requires disconnecting the vehicle's electrical system from the original battery, will do no harm to the vehicle's electronics. You'll likely have to reset the radio station pre-sets and the engine management system will take a few miles of driving to "re-learn" your driving characteristics, but you probably will not notice anything.

Perhaps the more relevant question at this point is: Should you replace the battery now or wait until it fails? Being a founding member of the "Snug America" club and not wanting to part with any more of my hard-earned dollars than absolutely necessary, I lean toward the latter. Most batteries will develop symptoms of impending failure such as slow engine cranking speeds, giving you a heads-up that it's time for a new one. But batteries can and do fail suddenly and completely without warning.

So when I suspect a battery might be on its last legs, I carry a portable battery booster in the vehicle. Then, if the battery does fail, — at any time and for any reason — I can jump-start the vehicle to complete my trip.

This, by definition, is the Murphy's Law of automobiles — if you have a spare part with you, you'll probably never need to use it!

And finally, to put your mind at ease, have the original battery tested at a local parts store. A load test or electronic test will give you an idea of how much life your battery still has.

I have a '93 Buick Riviera with the 3800 V6 engine and 182,000 miles. When I start the engine it makes a "thudding" noise four to five times. It has done this intermittently for the past three years. One mechanic told me it could be a cracked flywheel. Can you help?

Does this noise primarily occur on a cold start after the car's been sitting for at least several hours? Also, watch the oil pressure warning light carefully as you start the engine — do the "thuds" last precisely until the warning light goes out? If so, the noise may be due to worn main or rod bearings. Once oil pressure is up, the excess clearance is buffered by the oil film and the noise stops.

A cracked flex plate/flywheel or loose torque converter mounting bolts could cause a similar noise, but for three years without some type of failure? Other possibilities include a broken or failed engine/drivetrain mount or an engine startup misfire.

Regardless of the cause, at 20 years old and nearing 200,000 miles, I'm not sure I'd be willing to spend much on repairs. If the vehicle is still nice, keep an eye out for a used or rebuilt engine. Remember the automotive version of Murphy's Law.

We have a 2008 Buick Lucerne. This fall we will be leaving the state for about seven months. Should we disconnect the battery? Will this mess up the computers? Also, should I use a trickle charger or a float charger? What's the difference?

I recommend disconnecting the battery — it is safer and will cause no harm as described above — and connect a float charger or battery maintainer like Battery Tender to keep the battery safely charged while you're away.

A trickle charger continuously charges the battery at a low amperage rate, which can lead to overcharging and battery failure. A battery maintainer charges and holds the battery at its optimum voltage safely for an indefinite period.

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