Report: Cost to raise today's child tops $245,000

WASHINGTON — A child born in 2013 will cost a middle-income American family an average of $245,340 until he or she becomes an adult, with families living in the Northeast taking on a greater burden, according to a report out Monday.

Those costs — food, housing, childcare and education — rose 1.8 percent over the previous year, the Agriculture Department's new "Expenditures on Children and Families" report said. As in the past, families in the urban Northeast will spend more than families in the urban South and rural parts of the U.S., or roughly $282,480.

When adjusting for projected inflation, the report found that a child born last year could cost a middle-income family an average of about $304,480.

The USDA's annual report, based on the government's Consumer Expenditure Survey, found families were consistent in how they spent their money across all categories from 2012 to 2013. The costs associated with pregnancy or expenses accumulated after a child becomes an adult, such as college tuition, were not included.

In 1960, the first year the report was issued, a middle-income family could spend about $25,230, equivalent to $198,560 in 2013 dollars, to raise a child until the age of 18. Housing costs remain the greatest child-rearing expense, as they did in the 1960s, although current-day costs like childcare were negligible back then.

For middle-income families, the USDA found, housing expenses made up roughly 30 percent of the total cost of raising a child. Child care and education were the second-largest expenses, at 18 percent, followed by food at 16 percent.

Expenses per child decrease as a family has more children, the report found, as families with three or more children spend 22 percent less per child than families with two children. That's because more children share bedrooms, clothing and toys, and food can be purchased in larger, bulk quantities.

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Online:

The USDA's full report: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/CRC/crc2013.pdf

USDA's "Cost of Raising a Child" calculator: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/tools/CRC_Calculator/default.aspx

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ABC News anchor Elizabeth Vargas returns to rehab

ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas is continuing her battle against alcohol addiction and has headed back to rehab, she confirmed to several outlets on Sunday.

The "20/20" co-anchor has been open with the public about her struggle in the past. While on vacation in California this weekend, she checked into a treatment facility.

"As so many other recovering alcoholics know, overcoming the disease can be a long and incredibly difficult process. I feel I have let myself, my co-workers and most importantly my family down and for that I am ashamed and sorry," Vargas said in a statement.

The 51-year-old was in a treatment facility for several weeks last fall. She opened up about her addiction in January during an interview with "Good Morning America" co-anchor George Stephanopoulos, admitting that she had reached out for help.

"I am. I am an alcoholic," she said. "It took me a long time to admit that to myself. It took me a long time to admit it to my family, but I am."

She went into detail about her addiction, and revealed that she was in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Vargas has been with 1996. There's been no word on when she will return to work.

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

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Maine woman sues GM after suffering burn

YARMOUTH, Maine — A woman who says she suffered a third-degree burn from a heated seat in Chevrolet Suburban has sued General Motors.

Emma Verrill says in her suit filed in U.S. District Court in Portland that GM failed to adequately test the rear seat heaters to prevent them from reaching "dangerously high temperatures that would burn human flesh."

Verrill is paralyzed from the waist down and can't feel hot and cold in her lower body.

She tells the Portland Press Herald her burn was so serious it required surgery and months in bed.

She's seeking unspecified damages.

Verrill grew up in Yarmouth and now lives in Texas.

GM denied the seat heater was defective or dangerous, denied causing Verrill's injury, and denied knowledge of a defect or failure to fix a defect.

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Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com

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Dollar General enters bidding for Family Dollar

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — There's now a bidding war for Family Dollar, with Dollar General offering about $9.7 billion for the discounter in an effort to trump Dollar Tree's bid.

Dollar General Corp. said Monday that it would pay $78.50 per share in cash, 3 percent higher than Family Dollar Stores Inc.'s Friday closing price of $76.06.

Last month Dollar Tree Inc. made an $8.5 billion bid for Family Dollar. It offered to pay $59.60 in cash and the equivalent of $14.90 in shares of Dollar Tree for each share they own. The companies put the value of the transaction at $74.50 per share at the time. Including debt and other costs, the companies estimated the transaction to be worth more than $9 billion.

Dollar General said that its offer would create a business with almost 20,000 stores in 46 states and sales of more than $28 billion. The Goodlettsville, Tennessee, company anticipates annual savings of $550 million to $600 million three years after the transaction closes.

Representatives for Dollar Tree and Family Dollar did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The jockeying to secure Family Dollar comes as discounters look to fend off competition from companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has been stepping up its courtship of lower-income customers.

Dollar stores grew during the recession as people across income groups searched for cheaper options. To attract a broader array of customers, they also expanded their offerings to include more groceries and brand-name products, instead of just the party favors and other knickknacks people often associated with them.

More recently, however, sales at dollar stores have been suffering because the lower-income customers who go to them are facing persistent job instability and slow wage growth in the aftermath of the recession. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kroger Co. also have been opening smaller store formats to directly compete with dollar stores.

Dollar General and Family Dollar sell products are various prices. At Dollar Tree, everything at its stores costs just a buck.

Family Dollar has come into play because of its business struggles. The Charlotte, North Carolina company has been shuttering stores and cutting prices in hopes of boosting its financial performance. In June investor Carl Icahn urged the company to put itself up for sale.

Dollar General said that it believes it can quickly and effectively address any antitrust issues and is willing to divest up to 700 of its stores in order to get the necessary approvals for the transaction. Dollar Tree had agreed to divest 500 of its U.S. stores for its proposed deal.

If a deal goes through, Dollar General said that Chairman and CEO Rick Dreiling has agreed to postpone his retirement until May 2016 in order to help with the integration of the two companies. Dreiling has also agreed to remain as a director — and would be willing to serve as chairman — if asked by the board and elected by shareholders.

Dollar General said that Goldman Sachs and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. have agreed to provide committed financing, which would include the $305 million termination fee due to Dollar Tree if Family Dollar chooses a deal with Dollar General instead.

Dollar General's board unanimously approved the Dollar Tree deal. Its stock rose $5.04, or 8.8 percent, to $62.50 in premarket trading.

Shares of Dollar Tree, which is based in Chesapeake, Virginia, fell 60 cents to $55 before the market open.

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Forensic nursing has challenges, rewards

If you watch "CSI" shows, you know what forensic nurses do.

In addition to dealing with the emotional trauma of patients who are crime victims, they collect evidence.

"I define forensic nursing as anything where medical and legal intersect," said forensic nurse Katie Davis, who works in the emergency room at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Needham.

Nurses such as Davis are specially trained to work with crime victims, and know how to preserve evidence for crime lab testing. They are experts in working with traumatized patients — victims of gunshot or stab wounds, sexual assaults, domestic violence and elder or child abuse — and are able to put them at ease in order to take detailed statements that will be used as part of police investigations.

Davis also serves on a state panel that investigates child fatalities.

"Forensic nursing is not for everyone," Davis said. "It's a really tough job. You see the worst of the worst — rape, child sexual assaults and fatalities. You have to be able to see the silver lining in all the trauma."

Like most forensic nurses, Davis is a designated Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, doing forensic exams and administering the state-
approved evidence collection kit. These forensic nurses from around the state are on-call and respond within an hour to sexual assault cases. Examinations can take three to six hours, and the nurses often testify in court.

A sex assault nurse examiner takes a 40-hour certificate training program, although some complete master's programs in the specialty.

Liz Henderson, a clinical nurse specialist in forensics at Massachusetts General Hospital, has worked in the hospital's ER and burn unit for the past 14 years.

Henderson's interest in forensics was sparked in her previous career as a firefighter and emergency medical technician, which until recently she did part time in addition to working as a nurse.

"Working as a paramedic I saw that a lot of things were not saved and that evidence was ruined," Henderson said. "That made me want to go into forensic nursing, to teach others how to properly and objectively collect evidence while also offering compassionate care to victims."

In the MGH burn unit, Henderson has done forensic work on burns caused by arson fires as well as assaults with scalding water.

Her work in Mass General's ER has exposed her to many situations in which she had to preserve evidence of a crime, from bar fights to domestic assaults, as well as all manner of wounds.

"Forensic nurses bring a special skill set," Henderson said. "They know how to measure and document a wound before it is altered, and how to cut clothing around wounds carefully, how to preserve gunshot residue. They know what kind of body, hair and fluid samples are needed for testing by crime labs and the importance of the preservation of the chain of evidence for legal proceedings."

Forensic nursing has been recognized as a specialty by the American Nurses Association since 1995. Since then, various degree programs have sprung up.

Henderson and Davis both have master's degrees in forensic nursing from Boston College's Connell School of Nursing. The comprehensive program involves learning the science of forensics, as well as courses on victimology and the legal and court systems, and labs in evidence processing.

BC nursing school professor Ann Burgess, one of the pioneers in the teaching of forensic nursing, said forensic nurses primarily work in emergency rooms, but there are some in psychiatric hospitals, prisons, law offices and on cold case squads in police departments.

"Forensic nursing has come a long way in being recognized as an important specialty in nursing," said Burgess, who has an award by the International Association of Forensic Nurses named after her that's given annually to individuals who have made exceptional research contributions to forensic nursing. "Our goal is to have a forensic nurse in every hospital's emergency room."

Both Davis and Henderson have a new designation called "advance practice forensic nurse" from the International Association of Forensic Nurses. This designation requires an advanced forensics nursing degree and more than 2,000 hours of supervised practice.

"Forensic nurses can become like nurse practitioners and make an impact on problems like domestic violence," Davis said.

Henderson, who is now working toward a doctorate in forensic nursing, said a big part of her role is educating other nurses on the job. She has created a forensic cart for the Mass General ER that has information about safeguarding evidence as well as containers and bags to collect clothing and samples, and she produces a weekly newsletter that discusses forensic techniques and protocols.

Burgess said that the field is constantly changing due to new technology and protocols, and that forensic nurses are now called upon as expert witnesses.

"I am working on a case that links seven separate crimes to one individual through DNA," Burgess said. "With all the advanced evidence collection techniques out there and the rise in crime, the need for forensic nurses is growing."

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Site lets job seekers ‘upskill’

When Iba Masood and Syed Ahmed graduated from college in 2010 and 2011, respectively, they initially had trouble finding jobs.

Like many of their classmates, they had the education, but not the specific skill sets that some companies were looking for.

So in 2012, they created Gradberry, a website that allows students and graduates to "upskill" through interactive, online courses and find jobs and internships, and allows employers to find new talent.

"Industries are currently in flux and constantly changing, and universities haven't been able to keep up with the new tools of the trade that graduating students need," said Masood, co-founder and CEO of Gradberry, now a finalist in the MassChallenge startup accelerator and competition.

Many business schools don't teach students how to use the software tool Salesforce, for example, a skill that many employers require for sales and customer relationship management positions.

"Gradberry aims to fill that gap," Masood said.

The website offers both free and paid courses taught by experts in areas such as technology entrepreneurship, social-media marketing, HTML5 and digital photography. Prices for paid courses generally range from $49 to $99. And once you've completed all the lessons in a course, you earn a certificate that you can add to your Gradberry talent profile.

You can also search for internships, freelancing opportunities and full-time jobs on the website, and employers can search for job candidates by browsing through their talent profiles.

Viveka Mishra, a fellow MassChallenge finalist, used Gradberry to post a job last week for a full-time marketing position at her company, PegaSense.

"The site was incredibly simple to use, and the posting itself was nestled in between Amazon job postings," Mishra said. "When I posted the job, Gradberry tweeted an energetic, 'PegaSense is looking for a marketing rockstar,' with a link to the posting to their massive amount (11,100) of Twitter followers."

"Using Gradberry has been great marketing for PegaSense," she said, "and we've since been in contact with high-caliber candidates from across the globe."

Worldwide, Gradberry has 38,000 users and will never charge people applying for jobs, Masood said, but the company will begin charging employers by next year for premium services such as training for 
employees or advanced filtering that will allow companies to search for prospective job applicants by their universities and majors.

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Tax holiday lures Massachusetts shoppers

Shoppers packed stores as the state's sales tax holiday kicked off yesterday, with retailers anticipating a blockbuster weekend at the registers in the doldrums of summer.

"We are expecting to see a pretty big weekend," said Bill Rennie, vice president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. "We're expecting big crowds this weekend, a lot of traffic in the stores."

A spokesman for the Northshore Mall in Peabody said stores were busy yesterday, and so were the parking lots.

"You can definitely see the influx of traffic compared to a typical Saturday in August," said Rich Balest. "Northshore is looking pretty good right now."

The big box stores and electronics retailers were seeing the most traffic, he said.

Rennie said the association's members expect to rack up close to $500,000 in sales this weekend.

"Interest is as high as it's been in years past," Rennie said.

The state department of revenue estimated the state missed out on roughly $24.6 million in uncollected sales tax last year. That was the fourth straight increase over the year before.

Many stores doubled their staffing levels and across the state malls rolled out the promotions and gimmicks. The Simon Malls, which include the Northshore Mall, Square One Mall and South Shore Plaza, had extended hours, and the Northshore Mall had puppies on hand so people could take a break from sales tax-free shopping and play with the dogs.

Antonio Duarte said his freezer broke a week ago and he waited for the tax holiday to take a trip to the Northshore Mall to replace it.

"It comes at the right time," Duarte said. "I saved a few bucks."

Stacey Stanley is building a new house, and needed some supplies from the plumbing supply store, she said.

"It just so happened to fall on the tax-free holiday, so we said might as well," she said. "I think it's great, maybe they should do it twice a year."

Still, not everyone was buying into the sales tax holiday, which suspends the sales tax for items up to $2,500 — a $150 savings on the maximum amount.

"If Macy's decided to have a storewide sale for 6.25 percent, no one would show up for that," said Edgar Dworsky, founder of Consumer World. "It's very big hype."

Still, he said the holiday can help people save on specific items.

"People are going to save the most on big-ticket items, stuff for which normally it hurts if you have to pay sales tax on it," he said. "Just because it's 6.25 percent less expensive, that's no reason to buy it if you don't need it."

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Fed suit on title insurance kickbacks should be wake-up call

WASHINGTON — A new federal court suit alleging kickback violations by one of the country's top-producing real estate sales teams raises an unsettling question for homebuyers: Could your agent or broker be pocketing under the table large chunks of what you pay for title insurance?

Some legal analysts say the litigation should be a wake-up call for realty brokers and their customers nationwide. It focuses fresh attention on the often murky financial relationships that exist between title insurance agencies and realty firms — relationships that have been drawing increasing scrutiny from the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore earlier this month, alleges that the Creig Northrop Team P.C. — a real estate group ranked among the highest-grossing nationwide in recent years — received payments totaling $1.3 million between 2001 and 2014 from a title insurance company, which the complaint characterizes as illegal "kickbacks" that were never disclosed to buyers. The plaintiffs also allege that the defendants used "sham" employment and marketing agreements to disguise the true nature of the payments.

The Northrop team is affiliated with Long and Foster Real Estate Inc., the largest independent brokerage in the country. Timothy Casey, an attorney representing both the Northrop team and Long and Foster, said he had no comment on the case, pending authorization from his clients to do so. Lakeview Title Insurance Co., which allegedly paid kickbacks in exchange for referrals of business by the Northrop team, did not respond to a request for comment. The defendants' answer has not yet been filed.

The filing seeks class action status, $11.2 million in "compensatory damages" for the plaintiffs, plus potentially millions more in other damages. A related suit sought and was granted class action status by the same federal court earlier this year. In that case, the Northrop team and Long and Foster denied any wrongdoing.

The court ultimately dropped Long and Foster from the class action, having found no evidence that Long and Foster had participated in the Northrop team's alleged actions.

The new suit, brought by Nancy Wade and Janice Rulli, who purchased a home in Ellicott City, Md., through the Northrop team, seeks to reinstate Long and Foster as a defendant with new allegations that an employee of the brokerage firm not only was aware of the allegedly illegal payments, but "admonished and disciplined" sales agents when they did not steer business to the title agency.

The complaint alleges that Carla Northrop, vice president of the team, received $775,000 from Lakeview Title over a six-year period under an "employment arrangement" that required little or no work — she had no office space, no set hours, no cellphone or business cards — yet was compensated with one-half of the title insurance premiums charged to home purchasers who were referred by the Northrop team.

No one can predict how the court system ultimately will rule on the allegations in the Northrop case. But real estate industry experts say it highlights an area of growing sensitivity for brokers and agents. Though federal prohibitions against kickbacks for business referrals have been in place for decades, regulators and consumer attorneys are becoming more aggressive in challenging "marketing" and employment compensation deals that can add significant amounts to brokers' incomes, but discourage their buyers from shopping for lower-cost or better settlement services.

Such arrangements are widespread, said New Orleans attorney Marx Sterbcow, and "a lot of them" are vulnerable to legal attack.

According to Sterbcow, payments for questionable "marketing services" can range into the hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in the case of large brokers or involve more modest payments to small brokerages or even to individual agents who have negotiated arrangements with title and other vendors.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has begun stepping up its own investigations and enforcement actions against brokers and title companies, especially on alleged referral-fee arrangements and inadequate disclosures provided to consumers.

It recently settled with one large realty broker for $500,000.

Under federal law you are free to shop for title and other services.

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The Ticker

Google buys Calif. photo co. Jetpac

Tech giant Google has purchased the startup Jetpac, creator of software that analyzes the pictures cybernauts post on the Internet and works up urban guides from the information it extracts from them, the Jetpac Web site said.

Founded in 2011 with headquarters in San Francisco, Jetpac compiles information from the photos that users post on social networks, for example on Instagram, the property of Facebook, and by means of an advanced system of artificial intelligence, creates guides with the information it extracts from them.

The usual pictures of food, buildings, people and decorative elements circulated by Instagram enrich the useful content of Jetpac's online guides to the habits, activities, curiosities and leisure-time possibilities that each city has to offer.

The monetary value of the acquisition has not been revealed.

TOMORROW

•  National Association of Home Builders releases housing market index for August.

TUESDAY

• Commerce Department releases housing starts for July.
• Labor Department releases Consumer Price Index for July.

WEDNESDAY

• Federal Reserve releases minutes from its July interest rate meeting.

THURSDAY

• Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.
• Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates,
• National Association of Realtors releases existing home sales for July.
• Conference Board releases leading indicators for July.
•  Ted Finnerty, left, joins the Boston office of JLL from the New York office, where he was a vice president and associate director. Prior to coming to Boston, Finnerty led the 12-person capital improvement team for the Empire State Building. His experience also includes a number of tenant fit out projects of varying sizes for a variety of clients. Finnerty is a LEED Accredited Professional and was named to Real Estate New York's "Top 30 Under 30" list in 2007.
•  Nick Herz has joined Boston Realty Advisors as a managing director and shareholder in the Capital Markets group. Herz will focus on expanding investment sales, debt finance, and equity placement activities. Prior to joining Boston Realty Advisors. Herz served as senior vice president in the Capital Markets groups at CB Richard Ellis/New England and Colliers International.

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Malibu fault code affected by which engine powers it

Code P0172 came up in my 2010 Chevy Malibu. The dealer charged me $100 to troubleshoot the code. I was told that all the sensors were good and to run the gas tank low and fill up with high-octane gas. Does going to high-octane gas make any sense to you? The "Check engine" light is still on and I'm concerned that if another code comes up I'll never know. What do you think?

If the engine in your vehicle is the 2.4-liter inline four-cylinder, the P0172 indicates a rich fuel/air mixture. The long-term fuel trim is beyond the range of adjustment based on the oxygen sensor feedback to the PCM. Look for a leaking fuel pressure regulator or fuel injector, or a restriction in the induction system like a clogged air cleaner or collapsed induction hose. Other possibilities include fuel contamination in the crankcase, a faulty PCV or evaporative emissions system, or contaminated fuel. If it is a fuel issue such as an excess amount of alcohol, the dealer's advice might help.

All bets are off if it's a V-6 engine because the P0172 code would indicate a rich mixture on cylinder bank 1 only. If this is the case, look for a mechanical issue with an injector or fuel pressure regulator.

By the way, you may be able to avoid the diagnostic charge in the future. A number of auto parts stores will plug a scanner into the diagnostic link on your vehicle and read any stored fault codes — at no charge. Taking advantage of this service not only can save you money, but arm you with accurate diagnostic information when you take the vehicle to the dealership or service agency.

I am having a problem with my 2000 Chrysler minivan that I bought new. It had 175K on it the first time it stalled on me. Since no one could figure it out I just let it go until now. The problem is after driving the car for at least 40 minutes in very hot weather with the A/C on, the car starts to lose power as if it is running out of gas. The accelerator doesn't respond and as I put my foot on it, the car sputters worse and worse and eventually dies. When I try to restart it and it starts it runs really rough and eventually dies. The first few times I had it towed, and of course by the time it got there [service agency], it fired right up. There were no error codes and no one could figure out what was wrong. I learned that if I just let the car cool down for about 45 minutes it would start and run fine for a long period.

In the rest of your letter you mentioned having the crankshaft and camshaft position sensors replaced, but I doubt this fixed the issue. From your description, the engine is suffering from a loss of fuel pressure. If it is heat-related — high underhood temperatures — it would be labeled "vapor lock," where the fuel boils in the fuel rail, generating air bubbles that disrupt fuel delivery. Try carrying a spray bottle of water with you, and when this happens again open the hood and cool the underhood components of the fuel system with water. If the car restarts and runs cleanly, it's vapor lock. Servicing the cooling system and ensuring good airflow through the A/C condenser and radiator can help lower underhood temperatures.

If the water doesn't help, it's possible that it's a failing fuel pump or that debris in the fuel tank is slowly clogging the fuel strainer surrounding the fuel pickup as you drive. This would also cause a loss of fuel pressure, but after sitting the debris can fall away from the strainer, allowing the car to run fine again — for a while.

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 paul brand@startribune.com. Please explain the problem in detail and include a daytime phone number. Because of the volume of mail, we cannot provide personal replies.

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