Many Mass. companies can't find skilled workers

BOSTON — A Massachusetts business group is calling for changes in the state's education system in light of a report that shows more than two thirds of the state's employers report difficulty hiring appropriately skilled employees.

The report by the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education scheduled for release Monday says bolstering the state's public schools is viewed as a critical step in producing more workers with the right skills to succeed in a technology driven economy.

The Boston Globe (http://b.globe.com/NJhy10 ) reports that the survey, part of which is included in the 120-page report, found that 69 percent of the 334 employers who responded said they experienced difficulty hiring employees with the appropriate skills, while 84 percent said school systems require moderate to major changes.

The survey was conducted by MassINC Polling Group.

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Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com

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In California, chefs fight for bare-hand contact

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As the happy hour crowd poured in on a recent weeknight, the kitchen and bar staff at Hock Farm restaurant scrambled to meet the incoming orders.

One used her hands to toss locally grown Romaine hearts with anchovy dressing in a metal bowl, while another, facing diners from behind a marble countertop, used his fingers to sprinkle cojita cheese and red onion into chicken tacos.

A gloveless bartender wedged an orange slice on the edge of a white wine spritzer.

All of them were breaking a state law that took effect in January, but won't be enforced until July.

California is a straggler in banning bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food. A state-by-state review of food codes shows 41 other states have a version of the legislation signed last year by Gov. Jerry Brown.

In all these states, chefs and bartenders must keep bare hands off food going straight to the plate or the drink glass, from the rice in a sushi roll to the mint in a mojito. Instead, they must use utensils or gloves. Hock Farm owner Randy Paragary says bringing this rule to California disrupts well-established hand-washing routines, generates unnecessary waste and restricts his employees' in their craft.

Hearing restaurant owners echo his concerns about the law's inflexibility, state legislators are considering a reversal before inspectors begin slapping fines on eateries this summer.

Since 1993, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recommended a hands off approach in restaurants and bars as a staple of basic hygiene. Even with good hand-washing, it takes only a few norovirus particles — the most common cause of foodborne illness — to infect diners, the FDA says.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that workers touching food provided the most common transmission pathway for food-originated norovirus outbreaks between 2001 and 2008, the most recent comprehensive review of data available.

"It's an additional barrier to help protect the food," said Liza Frias, environmental health manager for the city of Pasadena and chairwoman of California's Retail Food Safety Coalition, which represents regulators and business groups. "You have everyday consumers who are looking for glove use."

The other barriers, experts say, are keeping sick workers out of the kitchen and ensuring strong hand-washing.

Major chain restaurants are used to gloves and generally shrug at this kind of regulation. The California Restaurant Association had opposed the bill until last year, when it recognized the widespread practice wasn't going away.

To higher-end restaurants such as Hock Farm, the mandate came as an irritating surprise. Sacramento's dining scene emphasizes using fresh, locally grown food as part of the farm-to-fork movement. And Paragary, the Hock Farm owner, says gloves would undermine the transparent kitchen-to-plate step his customers observe.

"You'll feel like there's a doctor back there preparing your food," he said.

Another Sacramento restaurateur, Randall Selland, calls the new law an unnecessary infringement on highly regarded establishments, saying it's better suited for fast food and production-line restaurants.

"If people get sick at my restaurant, they are going to stop coming," Selland said. "You have got to give restaurants some trust."

Many of the states with the bare-hand ban, and even the FDA model code, allow for exceptions. That discretion lies with local health agencies in California, and the potential for inconsistencies and added work for regulators and businesses alike has been controversial.

Food codes in Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon and Wyoming encourage minimal contact but do not ban bare-hand contact outright. Lawmakers in South Carolina are considering a ban this year, while Tennessee plans to implement one by 2015.

Ravin Patel, executive chef at Ella near the Capitol, said he didn't notice much difference in kitchen procedures after moving in 2009 to California from New York, which has prohibited bare-hand contact since 1992.

But that doesn't mean the kitchen staffs in New York restaurants are always wearing gloves.

"It just becomes common practice that you don't touch food as much," said Patel, adding that New York restaurateurs found ways around the requirement. "When the health inspector comes, you slap on a bunch of gloves."

Similarly, many New York bartenders still work barehanded, dropping limes into gin-and-tonics but keeping a pair of tongs handy for visits by inspectors, said Aaron Smith, executive director of the U.S. Bartenders' Guild.

Smith also is managing director of the bar 15 Romolo in San Francisco. He says law-abiding employees cannot find an easy work-around for some mixology steps, such as fusing mints and herbs into his bar's signature, pricey drinks.

"They are trying to get expressive oil into the flavor and smell of the cocktail, and you are lacing that with the smell of latex and powder" using gloves, Smith said.

A petition by bartenders calling for an exemption from the "disposable glove law" gathered 11,000 signatures and caught the attention of state Assemblyman Richard Pan, D-Sacramento.

The new law arose last year from the Assembly Health Committee, which Pan chairs. He's now seeking a do-over.

Pan, a pediatrician, said he and other lawmakers thought some eateries, such as sushi restaurants, could easily get an exception provided they showed good hygiene. But once the law took effect, it became apparent that some local inspection agencies were applying a blanket approach.

"It's not about whether you wear gloves or not," Pan said. "It's about how clean the surfaces (touching food) are. We need to have the conversation go back to, 'This is about food safety.'"

Even gloves can spread contamination if they are not changed regularly, said Don Schaffner, a food scientist at Rutgers University.

In February, Pan introduced AB2130, which seeks to repeal the new regulation and revisit the entire issue, perhaps to forge a compromise. Whatever that bill's fate, public health experts say getting businesses on board with the spirit and purpose of food safety regulations is just as important as passing new laws.

"The bigger picture is whether businesses know what the risk factors are and how to control them," said Ben Chapman, an assistant professor at North Carolina State University who has studied restaurant hygiene. "Having a policy doesn't mean it actually works ... Prove to a patron that your people wash their hands all the time and the right way."

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Camera used on moon landing sold for $758,489

VIENNA — It was put on auction as the only camera that made it to the moon and back. And it had its price — nearly $760,000.

The Hasselblad 500 sold over the weekend is described by Vienna auctioneers Galerie Westlicht as part of the equipment carried by the 1971 Apollo 15 mission — and the only camera ever brought back from the moon. It says the others were left behind to make room for mineral samples.

Galerie Westlicht identifies the new owner as Japanese businessman Terukazu Fujisawa. It says the owner of an electronics chain placed his winning bid of 550,000 euros by phone. Bidding started Saturday at 80,000 euros — just over $110,000.

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Survey: Economists see US growth pickup this year

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the pace of U.S. economic growth seen speeding up later this year and next, many business economists expect the Federal Reserve to end its bond purchases this fall or even earlier.

The consensus of the 48 economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics is that bad weather cut first-quarter growth to a weak annual rate of 1.9 percent, but that growth could exceed 3 percent by year's end. NABE's report, released Monday, covered a survey period from Feb. 19 through March 5.

Their forecast for average U.S. economic growth of 2.8 percent this year is better than the 2.5 percent rate they predicted in NABE's December survey. Those surveyed expect consumer spending to now increase 2.6 percent in 2014, not 2.4 percent, as hourly wage growth is forecast to rise faster than inflation. GDP is expected to grow an average 3.1 percent in 2015.

"Conditions in a variety of areas — including labor, consumer and housing markets — are expected to improve over the next two years, while inflation remains tame," NABE President Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist of the National Retail Federation, said in a statement.

Given the stronger growth forecast, 57 percent of the economists surveyed believe the Federal Reserve will end its bond purchases in the fourth quarter, as the central bank has signaled it plans to do. Another quarter think it will happen even before that, though 17 percent think the Fed will keep buying bonds into 2015.

The Fed has been buying bonds for the past several years with the aim of driving down long-term interest rates to stimulate spending and economic growth. Now that the economy is slowly but steadily improving, it has been tapering those purchases. At each of its last three policy meetings, including last week's, the Fed cut bond purchases by $10 billion to the current pace of $55 billion a month. There are six meetings left in 2014.

One-third of respondents said the Fed could even raise short-term interest rates this year, though more than half think it won't happen until next year. Fed Chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday that with the job market still weak, the central bank intends to keep short-term rates near zero for a "considerable" time and would raise them only gradually. She also said the Fed wouldn't be dictated solely by the unemployment rate, which Yellen feels overstates the health of the job market and the economy.

Yellen appeared to jolt investors last week when she tried to clarify the Fed's timetable for raising the short-term rate. She suggested that the Fed could start six months after it halts its monthly bond purchases. That would mean the rate could rise by mid-2015. A short-term rate increase would elevate borrowing costs and could hurt stock prices. Stocks fell after Yellen's mention of six months. The Dow Jones industrial average ended that day down more than 100 points.

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Health law birth control coverage before justices

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration and its opponents are renewing the Supreme Court battle over President Barack Obama's health care law in a case that pits the religious rights of employers against the rights of women to the birth control of their choice.

Two years after the entire law survived the justices' review by a single vote, the court is hearing arguments Tuesday in a religion-based challenge from family-owned companies that object to covering certain contraceptives in their health plans as part of the law's preventive care requirement.

Health plans must offer a range of services at no extra charge, including all forms of birth control for women that have been approved by federal regulators.

Some of the nearly 50 businesses that have sued over covering contraceptives object to paying for all forms of birth control. But the companies involved in the high court case are willing to cover most methods of contraception, as long as they can exclude drugs or devices that the government says may work after an egg has been fertilized.

The largest company among them, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., and the Green family that owns it, say their "religious beliefs prohibit them from providing health coverage for contraceptive drugs and devices that end human life after conception."

Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby has more than 15,000 full-time employees in more than 600 crafts stores in 41 states. The Greens are evangelical Christians who also own Mardel, a Christian bookstore chain.

The other company is Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. of East Earl, Pa., owned by a Mennonite family and employing 950 people in making wood cabinets.

The administration says a victory for the companies would prevent women who work for them from making decisions about birth control based on what's best for their health, not whether they can afford it. The government's supporters point to research showing that nearly one-third of women would change their contraceptive if cost were not an issue; a very effective means of birth control, the intrauterine device, can cost up to $1,000.

"Women already have an income gap. If these companies prevail, they'll have a health insurance gap, too," said Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center.

The contraceptives at issue before the court are the emergency contraceptives Plan B and ella, and two IUDs.

The government also argues that employers would be able to invoke religious objections under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act to opt out of other laws, including those governing immunizations, minimum wages and Social Security taxes. The Supreme Court previously has rejected some of these claims in cases decided before the law's enactment.

The issue is largely confined to family-controlled businesses with a small number of shareholders.

A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found 85 percent of large American employers already had offered such coverage before the health care law required it. There are separate lawsuits challenging the contraception provision from religiously affiliated hospitals, colleges and charities.

The federal appeals court in Denver ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby. Conestoga Wood lost its case at the federal appeals court in Philadelphia

In many respects, Hobby Lobby is the sort of company Obama would be pointing to as he advocates for corporate responsibility and a higher minimum wage.

Hobby Lobby's base pay for full-time employees is almost twice the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. They are offered health insurance, dental coverage and a retirement savings plan. Hobby Lobby stores close most nights at 8 p.m., which the company says is aimed at allowing employees to spend more time with their families.

The Greens say they have no desire to make health care decisions for their employees, but neither do they want to contribute to services to which they object.

One key issue before the justices is whether profit-making corporations may assert religious beliefs under the 1993 religious freedom law or the First Amendment provision guaranteeing Americans the right to believe and worship as they choose. The court could skirt that issue by finding that the individuals who own the businesses have the right to object.

The justices still would have to decide whether the birth control requirement really impinges on religious freedom, and if so, whether the government makes a persuasive case that the policy is important and is put in place in the least objectionable way possible.

Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood say the burden they face is clear in the $100-a-day fine they would have to pay for each employee for not complying with the contraception provision. By contrast, businesses that choose not to offer health insurance at all can pay a tax of $2,000 a year for each employee.

One potentially underemphasized aspect of the case is that there is no requirement that employers offer health insurance. They could pay the tax, which will be cheaper in many instances, according to Georgetown University's Martin Lederman, who has advanced the argument.

But Mark Rienzi, a Catholic University professor who is on the Hobby Lobby legal team, said Hobby Lobby would be at a competitive disadvantage with other employers who offer health insurance. "Their view is and has always been that they want to take really good care of their employees and their families," Rienzi said.

The companies say they believe life begins at conception, and they oppose only birth control methods that can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus, but not other forms of contraception. There is dispute over whether any of these contraceptives works by preventing implantation, but the administration has not raised that issue in this case.

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Follow Mark Sherman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/shermancourt

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Health law birth control coverage before justices

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration and its opponents are renewing the Supreme Court battle over President Barack Obama's health care law in a case that pits the religious rights of employers against the rights of women to the birth control of their choice.

Two years after the entire law survived the justices' review by a single vote, the court is hearing arguments Tuesday in a religion-based challenge from family-owned companies that object to covering certain contraceptives in their health plans as part of the law's preventive care requirement.

Health plans must offer a range of services at no extra charge, including all forms of birth control for women that have been approved by federal regulators.

Some of the nearly 50 businesses that have sued over covering contraceptives object to paying for all forms of birth control. But the companies involved in the high court case are willing to cover most methods of contraception, as long as they can exclude drugs or devices that the government says may work after an egg has been fertilized.

The largest company among them, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., and the Green family that owns it, say their "religious beliefs prohibit them from providing health coverage for contraceptive drugs and devices that end human life after conception."

Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby has more than 15,000 full-time employees in more than 600 crafts stores in 41 states. The Greens are evangelical Christians who also own Mardel, a Christian bookstore chain.

The other company is Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. of East Earl, Pa., owned by a Mennonite family and employing 950 people in making wood cabinets.

The administration says a victory for the companies would prevent women who work for them from making decisions about birth control based on what's best for their health, not whether they can afford it. The government's supporters point to research showing that nearly one-third of women would change their contraceptive if cost were not an issue; a very effective means of birth control, the intrauterine device, can cost up to $1,000.

"Women already have an income gap. If these companies prevail, they'll have a health insurance gap, too," said Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center.

The contraceptives at issue before the court are the emergency contraceptives Plan B and ella, and two IUDs.

The government also argues that employers would be able to invoke religious objections under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act to opt out of other laws, including those governing immunizations, minimum wages and Social Security taxes. The Supreme Court previously has rejected some of these claims in cases decided before the law's enactment.

The issue is largely confined to family-controlled businesses with a small number of shareholders.

A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found 85 percent of large American employers already had offered such coverage before the health care law required it. There are separate lawsuits challenging the contraception provision from religiously affiliated hospitals, colleges and charities.

The federal appeals court in Denver ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby. Conestoga Wood lost its case at the federal appeals court in Philadelphia

In many respects, Hobby Lobby is the sort of company Obama would be pointing to as he advocates for corporate responsibility and a higher minimum wage.

Hobby Lobby's base pay for full-time employees is almost twice the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. They are offered health insurance, dental coverage and a retirement savings plan. Hobby Lobby stores close most nights at 8 p.m., which the company says is aimed at allowing employees to spend more time with their families.

The Greens say they have no desire to make health care decisions for their employees, but neither do they want to contribute to services to which they object.

One key issue before the justices is whether profit-making corporations may assert religious beliefs under the 1993 religious freedom law or the First Amendment provision guaranteeing Americans the right to believe and worship as they choose. The court could skirt that issue by finding that the individuals who own the businesses have the right to object.

The justices still would have to decide whether the birth control requirement really impinges on religious freedom, and if so, whether the government makes a persuasive case that the policy is important and is put in place in the least objectionable way possible.

Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood say the burden they face is clear in the $100-a-day fine for each employee they would have to pay for not complying with the contraception provision. By contrast, businesses that choose not to offer health insurance at all can pay a tax of $2,000 a year for each employee.

One potentially underemphasized aspect of the case is that there is no requirement that employers offer health insurance. They could pay the tax, which will be cheaper in many instances, according to Georgetown University's Martin Lederman, who has advanced the argument.

But Mark Rienzi, a Catholic University professor who is on the Hobby Lobby legal team, said Hobby Lobby would be at a competitive disadvantage with other employers who offer health insurance. "Their view is and has always been that they want to take really good care of their employees and their families," Rienzi said.

The companies say they believe life begins at conception, and they oppose only birth control methods that can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus, but not other forms of contraception. There is dispute over whether any of these contraceptives works by preventing implantation, but the administration has not raised that issue in this case.

___

Follow Mark Sherman on Twitter @shermancourt

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Hub hosts fest on music tech

Artists, researchers and hackers are getting together in Cambridge this weekend to promote and advance music technology.

"The Music Tech Fest is a festival of music ideas," said Michaela Maga, one of the festival's organizers. "We gather the whole music technology ecosystem under one roof."

The festival draws a wide range of participants, from small startups to academics to corporate giants.

"What was exciting about this event was the ability to bring the hacking community and the artistic community and the scholarly community together," said Nancy Baym, a researcher at both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Microsoft New England's NERD Center.

That combination is the point of music tech, said Peter Torpey, who works in the MIT Media Lab, in the Opera of the Future group. Torpey is focused on developing technology for the future of performance and composition, among other things. Torpey has worked on creating a symphony composed by an entire city.

"Music technology is just part of the tool set we use to create the works, to reach out to people and to tell stories," he said.

The festival will finish with a hackathon, teaming up artists and techies.

"A beatboxer will come to a hacker and say, 'I'd love for this to be able to do this precise thing to aid my performance'," Maga said. "We are very hands on and we allow people to show off their idea, demo it, perform it, invite other people to collaborate with them."

Last year, the winning hack was a teaching guitar with an iPad modified to work as a key and motion-based synthesizer.

The Music Tech Festival will be in seven cities around the world this year, but Boston is the only stop in the United States.

Maga said many cities, including New York and Los Angeles, are clamoring for the festival to come, but they chose Boston because of the combination of research institutions, entrepreneurs and arts.

Baym said the combination of music and entrepreneurship in Boston creates a unique environment.

"You've got this incredible array of music that happens here," she said. "There's both a really healthy music community and a really healthy technology community."

Earlier this month, streaming giant Spotify bought music intelligence company the Echo Nest, based in Somerville. 
Spotify has said it will keep the company in Somerville, and it will operate as 
Spotify's research and development office.

Key investors and Boston entrepreneurs have said the move will significantly increase the number and stature of Boston's music tech engineering talent.

"I imagine The Echo Nest will be expanding over time," said Paul 
Lamere, director of developer platform for the Echo Nest. "Lots of people who are passionate about music and technology will have a place in or near Davis Square."

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Rescuing data from ransom

A cloud backup firm is flourishing thanks to a malicious software capable of wiping out all of a government agency's, business' or PC user's data in one fell swoop unless the victim pays a ransom.

Intronis this year plans to add 45 employees to the 80 it has in Chelmsford and is eyeing undisclosed competitors to acquire as CryptoLocker and copycat "ransomware" wreak havoc, infecting more than 12,000 computers in the space of a single week alone, according to security software maker Bitdefender Labs.

"It's a diabolical twist on an old scam," said Intronis CEO Rick Faulk. "All your files are frozen. If you pay the ransom, they tell you you'll get a key to unlock your files. If you don't pay, all your files are destroyed. You might as well take your computer and drop it off a bridge."

Intronis protects against such "gremlins," which often are unleashed when people click on a link or an attachment from someone they don't know, Faulk said.

"We copy all of your data to our servers, located off site, so you can get your data back," he said.

The 11-year-old company charges by the gigabyte, an amount that can total "between the low hundreds and low thousands of dollars per year" — "very inexpensive insurance for what you're getting," Faulk said.

Last November, Swansea police ponied up $750 online for an encryption key to unlock their files after CryptoLocker ransomware installed a timer on their computers, giving them 100 hours to pay.

"CryptoLocker is prolific; the FBI has come across numerous cases in the United States and around the world," Jennifer Shearer, an FBI spokeswoman, said in an email. "No one has been prosecuted to date."

Because each circumstance is different, Shearer declined to advise people whether they should pay the ransom.

"Ideally, everyone would back up his computer files; that's just good cyber hygiene," she said. "If a user will lose files of great personal or professional value and does not have any other way to recover that information, he should consider the time it would take to recreate those files and whether or not it's worth paying a ransom."

Even paying one, however, is no guarantee that people will get their files back, said Eric Kuznitz, vice president of Wizard Computer Services, a Canton company that provides Intronis' backup solution to its clients.

"We had a client pay a ransom before they called us, so they lost their money and their files," he said.

Besides never clicking on links or attachments from people you don't know, Kuznitz recommended making sure your computers and servers are updated regularly and your important data is backed up, ideally both on and off site, in case of a break-in or fire.

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Hope for mortgage forgiveness tax relief, extenders

WASHINGTON — Here's some good news for 
homeowners worried that Congress will fail again to renew popular tax benefits for use in 2014 — especially those allowing for mortgage debt forgiveness, write-offs for energy-saving improvements and mortgage insurance premiums.

Though there has been no formal announcement, the Senate Finance Committee under new Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), expects to take up a so-called "extenders" package within weeks, sometime this spring. "This is high on 'Wyden's' priority list," according to a source with direct knowledge of the committee's plans. That's an important change from last December, when then-Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who is now ambassador to China, let 50-plus corporate and individual tax benefits expire. The House also took no action to extend.

As a result, several key tax code housing provisions lapsed into a legislative coma. Without reauthorization retroactive to Jan. 1, they could disappear from the code and not be available for transactions this year. Both Baucus and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) focused on wholesale rewrites of the tax code last year rather than spending time on extending special-interest tax provisions.

But now there are signs that at least some of the expired housing benefits could be back on Congress' to-do list. What are these "extenders," as they are called on Capitol Hill?

Tops on the list is the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, a law that has saved large numbers of 
homeowners from hefty tax bills — close to an estimated 100,000 taxpayers in 2011, the latest year for which IRS estimates are available. First enacted in 2007 with menacing clouds of the housing bust on the horizon, the law carved out a special exception to the general rule in the tax code: When you are relieved of a debt burden by a creditor, the amount forgiven is treated as income subject to taxation at ordinary rates.

For qualified homeowners whose mortgage debt was reduced or written off by lenders in connection with loan modifications and short sales, the law said, the forgiven amounts would not be taxable. However, the 2007 carve-out for mortgages was temporary. Congress was required to extend it periodically — which it failed to do last Dec. 31. At least one state has a partial remedy for congressional inaction, however: California owners who sell homes through short sales are not subject to taxation on the amounts forgiven, a legal interpretation confirmed by the IRS.

Also part of the housing benefits that Congress failed to extend last December: A $2,000 tax credit for construction of energy-efficient new homes, deductions for home improvements that conserve energy, and write-offs for the mortgage insurance premiums that many borrowers pay in connection with low-downpayment loans.

Though Wyden is planning to take up an extenders bill soon, that does not guarantee that any specific tax law provision will be part of the bill the Finance Committee ultimately considers. Most tax analysts expect that a final bill will include some form of renewal.

The home energy conservation tax programs also are likely to be included in the Senate bill.

Meanwhile, in the House, Camp has not indicated when he plans to take up the extenders. He recently unveiled a comprehensive tax reform plan that would lower tax brackets, increase standard deductions and eliminate or sharply curtail most longtime housing tax benefits — including mortgage interest and property tax write-offs. Camp's bill did not mention reauthorization of the now-expired housing extender items, but he asked colleagues for their views on what might be retained in a large bill.

If, as expected, the Senate Finance Committee approves and the full Senate passes some form of extender package — including two or three of the housing provisions — election-year pressure on Camp to pass some version will be intense, despite his preference for comprehensive tax reform, which has no chance of passage in 2014.

Bottom line: Though there are hurdles ahead, the outlook for renewal of mortgage forgiveness debt relief — and possibly other housing benefits — looks more promising now than it has in months.

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Driver wonders if antilock brakes all that effective

I have two cars with ABS — a 1999 Buick Regal and 2013 Toyota Corolla. I am wondering if ABS is really the best way for stopping on an icy road. This past week I had several occasions where I tried to stop as I approached a stop sign, but when applying and maintaining brake pressure the ABS engaged but did little to stop the car as I kept sliding. Then I did the old-fashioned pumping of the brakes with much better results! The ABS seemed to not work well on icy roads compared to the pumping technique. Is this only my experience or am I using ABS incorrectly?

Considering that antilock braking systems are capable of recognizing wheel lockup and modulating/releasing hydraulic pressure to restore rotation of the wheel many times per second — much, much faster than the human foot can accomplish — ABS should be more effective than pumping the brakes in slippery conditions.

But there may be mitigating factors. First, if the anxiety of not stopping as quickly as the situation warrants causes the driver to continue to press harder and harder on the brake pedal, the ABS tends to cycle more slowly because of the much larger releases of hydraulic pressure required to restore wheel rotation. These much deeper modulations will increase stopping distance measurably.

Recognize what provides the "best" stopping traction on ice — it's that moment just before and as the wheel/tire begins to lock up. At that instant the tread blocks on the tire surface are at the edge of their maximum traction, just before sliding. Since the ABS system can recognize and release hydraulic pressure at that precise moment much faster than the human foot, ABS should stop better on ice.

Is it possible the pumping action can be more effective? Not in my experience, but perhaps in a scenario where the locked wheel/tire is actually melting the ice under the tread. This is entirely speculative on my part — just trying to envision a scenario where pumping the brakes might be more effective.

But here's the bottom line. Neither ABS nor pumping the brakes can overcome the laws of physics. Experiencing either action is confirmation of going too fast and/or braking too late for existing conditions. On glare ice, I still want an ABS system to minimize the consequences of my mistake.

I have a 2014 Hyundai Sonata. Since I purchased it the catalytic converter makes a ticking noise when it gets hot. I had a previous 2012 Sonata that never had this issue — any thoughts?

The ticking sound from the exhaust as it cools down is completely normal. The sound is generated by the extraordinarily hot metal in the forward sections of the exhaust, including the converter and its heat shield, contracting as it cools. No worries. And I think you'll find that this ticking during cooldown will fade as you accumulate more miles on the vehicle.

How does really cold weather affect hybrid vehicles? I am thinking of buying one but not if they don't work well in really cold weather. Also, what if I go south in the winter — can my hybrid just sit in the garage for several weeks without any problem?

With a gas/electric vehicle, expect to see more "gas" operation in cold weather. More energy is needed to operate the vehicle and warm its interior. So the car likely will rely more heavily on its internal combustion engine and use more fuel. But even with the lower efficiency and reduced "hybrid benefits," the vehicle still will "work" reliably. And parking a hybrid for weeks, even months, won't be any more of an issue than with a conventional vehicle.

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

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