Most Recent Posts: 2015-05-03

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Las Vegas High School Has A Proud History Of Political Involvement

When Hillary Clinton's campaign was looking for a place for her to make an announcement this week about immigration policy, it chose Rancho High School in Las Vegas.

Clinton visited this school in 2007, when she was running for president the first time. Barack Obama visited the campus twice during that campaign season. The backdrop wasn't a coincidence.

Rancho High School's population is 70 percent Hispanic, and it has a proud history of political involvement.

Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks with student Betsaida Frausto on May 5 at Rancho High School in Las Vegas. Clinton said that any immigration reform would need to include a path to "full and equal citizenship." Ethan Miller/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Right now, two former students are competing for a congressional seat. Others serve in the Nevada State Legislature. One of the teachers, Isaac Barrone, is on the North Las Vegas City Council.

"I don't think it's out of character to say that a school — Rancho High School — it's kind of the pulse and the center of the Latino community," Barrone says.

Barrone is an advisor to the school's largest and most socially engaged club, the Hispanic Student Union. Teacher Reuben DeSilva is the other advisor.

"There's symbolism at this high school," DeSilva says. "You come to Rancho High School, you are actually showing that you care about the community."

As classes let out on a recent afternoon, teenagers fill the hallways. The student body is remarkably diverse. Only about 10 percent of students are white, and two-thirds of those on campus are classified as economically disadvantaged.

Fewer than half go on to college. Betsaida Frausto, a junior with a GPA in the stratosphere, plans to be among those who do.

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"It is special," Frauster says. "It's amazing, in my experience. If I had to choose to go to another school and Rancho was an impossibility, I don't know what I'd do."

Frausto is what's known as a DREAMer. She came to the country illegally as a child, but she dreams of going to Yale and becoming a doctor. First, she hopes to be elected treasurer of the Hispanic Student Union.

When local politicians need people to knock on doors around election time, they turn to the students in the club. Frausto volunteered for a congressional campaign last fall.

"We canvassed to get our voice out, to allow others to hear our story and make sure people know that voting is the way to go," she says.

DeSilva says he's amazed at how engaged the students are.

"They could say no," he says. "It's usually on a Saturday, but they'll go out there. Even to me, it baffles me sometimes. I'm like, 'You know, you could be sleeping in,' and they'll knock on doors and work. It's pretty astounding to see just how willing they are to actually get out."

Another politician visit helped put Rancho High School on the map. In October 2010, Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle visited Rancho's Hispanic Student Union and told the kids they looked Asian. Some were recording on their cell phones.

"I don't know that all of you are Latino," Angle said. "Some of you look a little more Asian to me."

The statement went viral.

Club member Brandon Willis, who is African-American, says he loves the Hispanic Student Union.

"Everyone's like, 'Why are you in HSU? You're not even Hispanic," Willis says. "Why would I not be in HSU? It's awesome!"

Willis wants to be president of the United States, and he's serious about it. He says his teachers at Rancho High School convinced him it's possible.

"I want to change the world for the better," he says. "The way I see it, to change the system, you have to be part of the system and then change it from the inside."

Mubarak And Sons Sentenced (Again) To 3 Years For Corruption

Ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak and his two sons to three years in prison today in a retrial of the corruption case brought against them in the wake of the 2011 'Arab Spring' uprising that deposed the long-time ruler.

"The ruling of the court is three years in prison without parole for Mohamed Hosni Mubarak and Gamal Mohamed Hosni Mubarak and Alaa Mohamed Hosni Mubarak," Judge Hassan Hassanein announced on Saturday, according to Reuters.

It is the latest in a long and winding judicial road for Mubarak.

Last year, an Egyptian court overturned Mubarak's murder conviction stemming from his alleged order to kill hundreds of anti-government protesters in the run-up to his ouster.

The case decided on Saturday refers to as the "presidential palaces" affair and relates to charges that Mubarak and his sons embezzled millions in state funds over the period of the leader's 30-year rule.

As Reuters explains:

"Last May, Mubarak was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of diverting public funds earmarked to renovate presidential palaces and using the money to upgrade family properties. His two sons were given four-year jail terms in the same case.

"In January, Egypt's high court overturned the convictions, and the case went back to court for retrial."

According to The Associated Press, the verdict includes a $16.3 million fine to be paid by the three men and calls for the return of the $2.7 million they embezzled.

A lawyer for Mubarak says the judge's decision can be appealed, according to AP.

Arab Spring

Hosni Mubarak

Egypt

Is Peanut Butter The Best Present For Malnourished Teen Moms-To-Be?

Pregnant mothers are often reminded that they're eating for two. But 17-year-old Gladys barely has enough food for one.

Gladys, who is pregnant with her first child, lives in Malawi, a country with widespread poverty and malnutrition. In 2012, 78 out of every 1,000 children died before they turned 5, according to UNICEF. Nearly half of all children are stunted. That means their height is below the fifth percentile for their age, and they are prone to chronic diseases and tend to struggle in school.

Time for a peanut butter break. Courtesy of Project Peanut Butter hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of Project Peanut Butter

Time for a peanut butter break.

Courtesy of Project Peanut Butter

Now one pediatrician is tackling the problem by focusing not just on the children but young mothers like Gladys. And he's using peanut butter as his tool.

The problem is, malnutrition often starts in the womb. "A third of stunting occurs before birth and there's nothing you can do once the child is born," says Dr. Mark Manary, a pediatrician at Washington University in St. Louis and the founder of Project Peanut Butter.

His Malawi-based organization uses a locally produced high-calorie, nutrient-rich peanut paste called chiponde to treat malnourished children in Malawi, Sierra Leone and Ghana. It's one of many therapeutic foods aid agencies used to treat severe malnutrition.

Manary's latest study, called Mamachiponde, tests how effective the product is in helping pregnant adolescents in southern Malawi deliver a healthy baby. An estimated 1 in 36 women in the country dies from pregnancy complications. Young teenagers are the most vulnerable, he says: "Many are still girls. The body hasn't had correct nutrition to develop completely."

Since last spring, Manary and his team has worked with 15 clinics in Malawi to enroll pregnant women, 16 and up, whose mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) is less than 23 centimeters, or 9 inches. That's a sign of malnutrition.

The mothers-to-be are given a two-week supply of one of three treatments. One group gets corn soy blend fortified with folic acid and iron, the Malawi standard supplement for pregnant women. Another gets the corn blend plus prenatal vitamins. The third group receives chiponde, which has twice the recommended intake of proteins, vitamins and other nutrients.

When the mothers run out of the food, they return to the clinic for another two-week supply. They keep getting treatment until their arm circumference is more than 23 centimeters. The team then monitors the mother until she gives birth. Ideally, she would deliver a baby heavier than 5.5 pounds — the World Health Organization cutoff for low birth weight. But Dr. Peggy Papathakis, the study's director on ground, says she'd like to see a newborn be at least 3,000 grams, or 6.6 pounds.

In late April, Gladys, the 17-year-old, gave birth to her first child. The baby girl clocked in at 5.7 pounds after having been part of the study for roughly a month. The mother reported that she ate all the food she'd been given, but Papathakis remains doubtful.

Gladys lives in a small home with her husband, mother and seven younger siblings. "Ideally our foods are for the pregnant woman," says Papathakis, a nutritionist from California Polytechnic State University. "But you can imagine, there is no way she is going to keep that for herself."

So nurses often coach the pregnant young mothers on how to explain to their families that the food is important for the mother and the baby.

More than 1,000 women and teens have been enrolled in the study, and researchers expect to test a total of 2,000 girls by 2016 with the help of a $50,000 grant from The Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science. It explores a field that hasn't been studied enough, says Mireille Mclean, the institute's associate director and one of the judges. "Right now we consider that an adolescent pregnant woman has the same needs as an adult woman but it's probably not true."

Mclean says she hope the study will help generate nutritional guidelines that are geared toward teen mothers.

The Mamachiponde study is a good start to a complex issue, says Dr. David Sanders, a pediatrician at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, who isn't involved in the study. But he says that the key to helping young women in Malawi is preventing unwanted pregnancy.

Sanders applauds Manary for producing the chiponde in Malawi -- that's good for the economy — rather than flying in therapeutic food from outside "You have to in the long run improve people's livelihoods," he says. "We can do that in part by ensuring that these kind of interventions stimulate local productivity and put more money in the pockets of poor peasants."

Sanders also warns against turning a food problem into a medical one by making people think they are getting medicine. It's more helpful, he says, to clearly tell the mother that their children are eating peanuts. That way the mothers will know that the key to stopping malnutrition isn't some mysterious medicine but something that they can get locally and add into their diets.

For now, Papathakis says she's happy to just be helping a group of women too often neglected: "You don't get a healthy infant unless you have a healthy mother."

peanuts

pregnant teenagers

malawi

пятница

As Ebola Leaves Liberia, Measles Make A Forceful Comeback

On the northern side of Monrovia, a team of nurses are vaccinating children on the veranda of the AfroMed clinic. Tables with boxes of rubber gloves and vaccine coolers are arranged in the shade out of the intense, tropical sun.

A mother rocks her crying baby, who's just been jabbed with the measles shot. Martina Seyah, who brought her 2-year-old daughter, Irena, to get the shot, says parents in the neighborhood are very worried their kids could get measles or other diseases.

Just as Liberia is getting ready to declare itself Ebola-free, another disease has cropped up. This January a measles outbreak erupted. So far this year, there've been 562 cases; seven were fatal.

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"To have this number in just the first quarter of the year is definitely a huge outbreak," says Dr. Zakari Wambai, head of the World Health Organization's immunization program in Liberia. He says in the eight years he's been in the country, there has never been a measles outbreak anywhere near this scale. Now cases are being reported all across the country.

The eruption of measles, he says, is a direct result of the Ebola outbreak.

That's because when Ebola hit, it caused an almost complete collapse of health care in Liberia, including routine childhood immunization programs. Once clinics did start to reopen, parents didn't want to bring their kids anywhere near health care centers, which had been hotbeds of Ebola transmission.

"Because of Ebola there was the suspension of routine immunization services in many parts of the country," Wambai says. "Also we couldn't conduct the follow-up campaign scheduled for last quarter of 2014."

And it's not just measles that's making a comeback after the collapse of Liberia's vaccination programs.

Whooping cough has again reared its head in two parts of the country and sickened more than 500 children. Liberians had almost forgotten about this disease because of the high immunization coverage. In 2013, the World Health Organization reported that Liberia vaccinated 89 percent of all 1-year-olds against whooping cough.

But that high coverage was in the years after Liberia's brutal civil wars and before the arrival of Ebola.

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The Ebola outbreak killed more than 4,600 Liberians, including 189 health care workers. The unabated spread of the virus forced hospitals and clinics to close, and it undermined Liberians' confidence in what was already a weak public health care system.

Now as Liberia moves on from Ebola, rebuilding the health care system and restoring its immunization programs are two of the government's top priorities. As part of that effort, the country launched a nationwide measles vaccination campaign on Friday. Health officials hope to reach almost 700,000 children in a country of 4 million people.

Liberian officials are hoping to vaccinate 95 percent of children under 5 years old against measles. They tried a similar campaign back in February when the measles outbreak was just gaining steam. But that effort failed, and again Ebola was to blame.

That February immunization drive had coincided with the launch of an experimental Ebola vaccine for adults. Parents confused the two and refused to bring their children to the health clinics.

Officials say they've sent out Red Cross and other volunteers to assure parents that this immunization drive is only about protecting their kids from measles.

immunization

vaccination

ebola

measles

Liberia

Would Lower Shoe Tariffs Actually Encourage American Jobs?

The Nike Corporation says the lower tariffs promised by a proposed Asia-Pacific trade deal would allow it to speed up development of advanced manufacturing, supporting up to 10,000 domestic jobs over the next decade.

The announcement comes as President Obama visits Nike headquarters to promote the trade deal, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP. Critics have questioned the Beaverton, Ore. backdrop, noting that Nike currently manufactures virtually all of its shoes and apparel in low-wage countries such as Vietnam.

"Footwear tariff relief would allow Nike to accelerate development of new advanced manufacturing methods and a domestic supply chain to support U.S. based manufacturing," the company said in a statement.

U.S. companies and consumers paid $2.7 billion dollars in tariffs on shoes last year, according to the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, an industry trade group. Of that total, only about $460 million would be subject to relief under the trade deal. China, the number one source of America shoe imports, is not part of the agreement, though it could conceivably join in the future.

The shoe tariff reduction under the Trans-Pacific Partnership would only cover some countries where American shoes are produced. China, the number one producer for the U.S. is not covered by the current TPP proposal. Nike, Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America hide caption

itoggle caption Nike, Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America

The potential tariff relief on shoes from countries that are part of the deal represents a fraction of Nike's profit last year of $2.7 billion, on sales of $28 billion. (A company spokesman declined to say what fraction of total U.S. shoe tariffs are for Nike shoes.)

"U.S. manufacturing would allow Nike to deliver product faster to market, create innovative performance footwear, provide customized solutions for consumers, and advance sustainability goals," the company said in its statement.

"This advanced manufacturing model is expected to lead to the creation of up to 10,000 manufacturing and engineering jobs in addition to thousands of construction jobs and up to 40,000 indirect supply chain and service jobs in the United States over the next decade."

Critics of the trade deal were not impressed. "Just last year alone Nike cut half the number of American manufacturing jobs it now says it would create over a decade if TPP is enacted," said Lori Wallach, the director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. "Nike's job creation claim mimics the broken job creation promises that multinational corporations have used to push for past controversial trade pacts, only to turn around and offshore U.S. jobs after the pacts took effect."

Nike employs 26,000 people in the U.S. A million more work in the overseas contract factories that supply the company's products.

In its most recent sustainability report, Nike noted that nearly a third of those factories fall short of its own labor improvement targets, with wages and work hours the biggest complaints. Obama says one goal of the trade deal is to raise labor standards throughout the participating countries.

Oil Companies Look To Fill Employment Gap With More Women

Look at the oil business and you'll notice it's mostly men. That's a problem for an industry that needs legions of new workers to replace retirees in coming years.

The industry hasn't always treated women fairly, but now it needs them.

The oil business just 30 years ago was a lonely place for the few women who chose to work in it. Rayola Dougher, senior economic adviser at the American Petroleum Institute, says attending industry conferences made that clear.

"I'd look out and there'd just be a sea of blue suits," Dougher says. "It was a little lonely for a while but now I see more and more women."

Amy Myers Jaffe also started her career back then, as a journalist covering the oil industry. Today she's executive director of energy and sustainability at the University of California, Davis. She says the environment early on wasn't always comfortable for women, even on the white-collar side of the oil business.

"You had these stories that would circulate about hunting trips or fish fries where the industry was in the practice of having prostitutes attend," she says.

As an expert on global energy policy, Jaffe often is invited to speak at oil industry conferences. One that stands out in her memory included a hospitality suite with women at the front door, wearing not much more than bathing suits.

"I remember joking at the time — maybe we should get a suite and hire the Chippendale men," Jaffe says. "And that would make the industry understand what it's like to be a woman executive and have to go to a hospitality suite with these women greeters."

It took a while, but most of the industry got the message, she says — conferences are more professional now. But women are still underrepresented in the oil business.

An American Petroleum Institute study released last year showed women make up only 19 percent of the oil industry's work force. That's compared to 47 percent in the overall U.S. workforce.

"It's certainly something we're very concerned about," says Richard Keil, senior media relations adviser at ExxonMobil. His company hires a lot of engineers and scientists, and in the future, ExxonMobil wants a larger share of them to be women.

The oil giant holds an annual "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day." The company also sends its female engineers and scientists to middle schools as mentors and instructors, "all aimed at getting [female students] interested in the subject and preparing them for taking math and science courses in high school that will help them study engineering in college," Keil says.

The API report on women in the oil business projects the share of woman in white-collar jobs will increase. But on the blue collar side, the report's authors believe the percentage of women will decline even further.

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It's not because women can't do the work. Claire Kerstetter is proof of that.

"I never saw myself being out in the field, getting dirty, swinging a sledgehammer," Kerstetter says.

She studied public relations in college and now she's a technician on fracking jobs in Pennsylvania. Usually she's the only woman on the drill site, but says that hasn't been a problem.

"All the guys that I worked with offered a helping hand when I first started," she says, "but when I rejected it and told them I just wanted to do it for myself, I got their respect really quickly."

Kerstetter landed the job after finishing a three-week training course at the Pennsylvania College of Technology. School President Davie Jane Gilmour says the college teaches other skills valuable in the oil industry, such as welding and diesel engine repair.

Gilmour encourages young women to pursue work in male-dominated fields.

"Yes, you may be a pioneer in some senses," she tells them, "but I have a feeling by the time they graduate in four years there'll be plenty more women in the workforce for them."

Beyond seeing it as an interesting career, Gilmour says the pay can be quite good and there are plenty of companies that want to hire more women.

oil business

oil

Would More Trade Help The Job Market Run Faster Or Trip It Up?

The Labor Department's latest report shows employers created 223,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate went down another notch to 5.4 percent.

So, yay!

But study the wage figures in Friday's report — and your "yay" turns to "meh."

Workers got raises of just 0.1 percent in April. Over the past year, wages advanced only 2.2 percent, a pace that amounts to treading water for most families. The average workweek has stalled at 34.5 hours, unchanged from the previous month — and from a year ago.

So workers aren't getting longer hours or fatter raises, even though the private sector has added 12.3 million jobs over 62 straight months, the longest streak on record.

Both President Obama and labor leaders want to end this long period of wage stagnation. But they are locked in a bitter dispute over whether a proposed trade deal would help or hurt workers' wallets.

On Friday, just hours after the jobs data were released, Obama visited the Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., to talk up the advantages of completing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP.

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Japan's Abe Pushes The Pacific Trade Deal Onto Center Stage

He says that if Congress were to expand trade among the U.S. and 11 Pacific Rim nations, it would help the sportswear giant create more high-paying jobs for Americans. "Let's just do it," Obama told the Nike gathering.

Nike says that under the TPP's terms, Americans would pay much less in tariffs on footwear. As a result of those savings, the company would be able to move forward with plans to develop advanced manufacturing facilities in the United States, which in turn would create 10,000 good jobs.

In a phone interview Friday, Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said that's exactly what the president wants to see — more high-paying jobs resulting from the opening of new markets and lowering of tariffs.

Moreover, Obama wants the TPP to force Asian nations to raise labor standards, which then would "give U.S. companies less incentive to ship jobs overseas," Furman said.

"There's no doubt that the process of globalization has created a lot of opportunities for American companies, but it also created challenges for American workers," he said. "The TPP is designed precisely to better manage the process of globalization" to help U.S. workers export more and face less wage competition from Asian workers.

Many labor and environmental leaders aren't buying those arguments. They say Nike has long been a leader in outsourcing factory jobs and lacks credibility on employment issues.

"The Nike brand was built by outsourcing manufacturing to sweatshops in Asia," said Murshed Zaheed, deputy political director at CREDO, a group opposed to TPP. "President Obama should listen to his party's base, and stop pushing this titanic job-killing corporate power grab."

While Obama and many Democrats may disagree over the impact of this trade deal, there is little argument that the labor market could still use some help. Economists generally described April's employment growth as "solid" but also noted that March's original count of 126,000 net new jobs added was revised downward to just 85,000.

Doug Handler, the chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight, said the latest report shows "an economy that is now growing at moderate rate [but] not as good as in mid-2014."

The Obama administration wants to strap a booster rocket onto the labor market. It cannot count on getting more economic stimulus from the Republican-controlled Congress, and it's impossible to get more monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve, which already has cut interest rates to extreme lows — and is considering when to raise them.

So that leaves exports as the best tool available to create more jobs, the argument goes.

"If you're opposed to these smart, progressive trade deals, then that means you must be satisfied with the status quo," Obama said at the Nike event. "And the status quo hasn't been working for our workers."

He said the TPP could make the labor market much better and that if it couldn't, "I would not be fighting for it."

Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, was not buying his pitch, or Nike's: "Under this unrealistic best-case scenario of an additional 10,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs, less than 2 percent of the more than 1 million workers who make Nike's products would be U.S. workers."

Wages

employment report

Jobs

trade agreement

Nike

Would More Trade Help The Job Market Run Faster Or Trip It Up?

The Labor Department's latest report shows employers created 223,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate went down another notch to 5.4 percent.

So, yay!

But study the wage figures in Friday's report — and your "yay" turns to "meh."

Workers got raises of just 0.1 percent in April. Over the past year, wages advanced only 2.2 percent, a pace that amounts to treading water for most families. The average work week has stalled at 34.5 hours, unchanged from the previous month — and from a year ago.

So workers aren't getting longer hours or fatter raises, even though the private sector has added 12.3 million jobs over 62 straight months, the longest streak on record.

Both President Obama and labor leaders want to end this long period of wage stagnation. But they are locked in a bitter dispute over whether a proposed trade deal would help or hurt workers' wallets.

On Friday, just hours after the jobs data were released, Obama visited the Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., to talk up the advantages of completing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP.

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Would Lower Shoe Tariffs Actually Encourage American Jobs?

The Two-Way

223,000 Jobs Added In April; Unemployment Rate Dips To 5.4 Percent

It's All Politics

Obama Laces Up To Tout Asian Trade Deal At Nike

Business

Japan's Abe Pushes The Pacific Trade Deal Onto Center Stage

Moreover, Obama wants the TPP to force Asian nations to raise labor standards, which then would "give U.S. companies less incentive to ship jobs overseas," Furman said.

"There's no doubt that the process of globalization has created a lot of opportunities for American companies, but it also created challenges for American workers," he said. "The TPP is designed precisely to better manage the process of globalization" to help U.S. workers export more, and face less wage competition from Asian workers.

Many labor and environmental leaders aren't buying those arguments. They say Nike has long been a leader in outsourcing factory jobs, and lacks credibility on employment issues.

While Obama and many Democrats may disagree over the impact of this trade deal, there is little argument that the labor market could still use some help. Economists generally described April's employment growth as "solid," but also noted that March's original count of 126,000 net new jobs added was revised downward, to just 85,000.

Doug Handler, the chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight, said the latest report shows "an economy that is now growing at moderate rate [but] not as good as in mid-2014."

So that leaves exports as the best tool available to create more jobs, the argument goes.

He said the TPP could make the labor market much better and that if it couldn't, "I would not be fighting for it."

Lori Wallach, director Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, was not buying his pitch, or Nike's: "Under this unrealistic best-case scenario of an additional 10,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs, less than 2 percent of the more than 1 million workers who make Nike's products would be U.S. workers."

Wages

employment report

Jobs

trade agreement

Nike

Would Lower Shoe Tariffs Actually Encourage American Jobs?

itoggle caption Nike, Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America

Nike employs 26,000 people in the U.S. A million more work in the overseas contract factories that supply the company's products.

Being A Loyal Auto Insurance Customer Can Cost You

Many companies reward their most loyal customers with incentives, discounts and freebies. But in car insurance, the opposite can actually happen. A driver can be punished with a higher premium just for being loyal to the company.

It's called price optimization, and it happens to lots of people all the time. A driver could have no history of accidents but all of a sudden their car insurance goes up.

Justin Mulholland is a financial adviser whose company manages money for people at the University of Michigan. He owns a Ford Focus, a Buick LeSabre and a Chevy Venture. He got a pretty good rate from the insurance company he chose. And for two years, all was well.

Then he received a notice that his premium was going up. The increase "was pretty substantial — it was about $100 a year," Mulholland says.

A guy who helps people manage their money most likely pays attention to his own as well.

"I got on the phone with another friend of mine who sells insurance and he got me a deal with Cincinnati Insurance that brought it down to what it was before, and it's stayed there ever since," Mulholland says.

"They'll give you a discount for loyalty. But, they'll give you a 10 percent discount after they've raised your rate 25 percent."

- Bob Hunter, Consumer Federation of America

Mulholland's lack of loyalty in the face of a premium increase means he's less likely to be snared by the insurance practice called price optimization.

"Well, it's really profit maximization," says Bob Hunter, with the Consumer Federation of America. He says insurance companies can buy software that compiles an astonishing amount of data on everyone who buys almost anything, anywhere.

"They have all the information on what you buy at your grocery store. How many apples, how many beers, how many steaks," he says. "They have all the information on your house. They have incredible amounts of information on are you staying with Direct TV when Verizon is cheaper."

A sophisticated algorithm crunches that data and spits out an index showing how sensitive a customer is to price increases. Only the insurance company knows the index. Clients may see a loyalty discount on their premiums but Hunter says it may not be what it seems.

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"They'll give you a discount for loyalty," Hunter says. "But, they'll give you a 10 percent discount after they've raised your rate 25 percent."

This can mean as much as a 30 percent rate difference between two drivers with the same risks. Only one's a shopper and one's not.

Rich Piazza, chief actuary for the Louisiana Department of Insurance, says this it's pretty complicated.

"As regulators, we're not always on the cutting edge of these changes in modeling and ratemaking practices, so we have to catch up sometimes," he says.

But unlike Hunter, Piazza's not convinced the practice is widespread. And he's not yet sure that it's wrong. He says insurance companies have many legitimate reasons to raise rates or charge a customer more than the next person. The company's costs go up. Every driver is different, and poses different risks.

"Insurance pricing rating is discriminatory," Piazza says. "It always has been."

But is it fair to discriminate based on a quality totally unrelated to risk? Maryland, Ohio and California say it isn't and have explicitly banned price optimization.

So far only Allstate has disclosed that it uses the price optimization tool. In a statement, the American Insurance Association said "the auto insurance market remains very competitive and consumers have numerous options available to them."

Hunter says even if all people do is suspect they're being price optimized they can still fight back.

"Shopping around will foil price optimization because if you shop around, the insurance company's going say, 'This guy's gonna leave if I raise the price, so let's hold it down.' "

Cars

insurance

четверг

'Haqqathon' Takes Anti-ISIS Fight To Cyberspace

In Arabic, haqq is the word for truth.

Last week in the United Arab Emirates, group of Muslim scholars held what they called a "haqqathon" – a hackathon meant to create new ways for Islamic scholars to connect with young Muslims and, by doing so, defuse violent extremists like the self-proclaimed Islamic State.

The competition took place in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, on the sidelines of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies. More than 400 Muslim clerical scholars — Sunni, Shiite and others — gathered for the second year to talk about how extremists are hijacking Islam, and what to do about it.

The urgency for something like the haqqathon is clear, because groups like ISIS have had great success recruiting young people on social media.

"We do want to start speaking the same language as our youth," said Zeshan Zafar, the group's executive director. "What is that language, and who are the individuals that need to be part of that whole mix as well. So that's vital for us."

Zafar, working with the Virginia-based business incubator Affinis Labs, helped choose the participants, who included a journalist with the British newspaper The Guardian, a psychologist, an imam who is also an attorney in the U.K., a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry and others.

"I'm hoping that in the channels and the energy that is being created here we'll have something that's very, very relevant, and we actually invest into, incubate until we get an actual end product that is really worthy and ... develops that connection between scholars, all the way down to the grassroots," Zafar said.

China, India Surpass Mexico As Leading Sources Of New Immigrants To US

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate a change in the flow of immigrants arriving here from around the world, and offer a look at what the nation will look like the future.

The political debate today in Washington remains focused on the status of Hispanic immigrants – people from Latin America still dominate the population of legal and undocumented immigrants in the US. But it's now China that sends more immigrants to the United States. According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 147,000 Chinese arrived in 2013 — the last year for which full data is available. India is second; the source for 129,000 immigrants to the US. Mexico was the country of origin for 125,000 immigrants. Korea, the Philippines and Japan are also leading countries of origin. The data include undocumented immigrants.

The new numbers were presented last week the Population Association of America conference in San Diego.

According to Eric Jensen, Statistician/Demographer with the Census Bureau's Population Division, China's rise to the top comes amid a decade-long surge in Asian migration, and a simultaneous decline in people arriving from Mexico.

Jensen says the change in immigrant flows affects the racial and ethnic makeup of the United States.

"While Hispanics are still the largest racial or ethnic minority group, a larger percentage of the Asian population was foreign-born (65.4) compared with the Hispanic population (35.2) in 2013. Given the numbers above, it is likely that the contribution of immigration to overall population growth will be greater for Asians than for Hispanics," says Jensen.

The new numbers do not surprise demographers.

"We have continued employment opportunities in the United States for people in Asian countries, some in high-tech and engineering," said William Frey of the Brookings Institution. "Many come here to study in graduate schools and wind up staying here."

In Mexico, the economy has gradually improved and population growth is slowing, Frey said.

"On the other hand," he added, "a lot of the kinds of low-wage jobs that attracted people from Mexico and other Latin American countries to the United States have dried up due to the Great Recession and the word has gotten out."

Frey is the author of Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics Are Remaking America. He says the diversity boom America will experience in the next few decades will be as important as the Baby Boom was in the last half of the 20th century.

"As the older, Anglo population grows older, we need all of these younger people from Latin America and Asia and elsewhere to build up our labor force. So this is a different country we're going to have," says Frey.

Power Problems: Puerto Rico's Electric Utility Faces Crippling Debt

As a U.S. territory with tropical weather and beautiful beaches, Puerto Rico has a lot going for it. But there are downsides to living on an island. A big one is the cost of energy.

All the electricity on the island is distributed by the government-owned Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, also known as PREPA. Power on the island costs more than in any U.S. state, except Hawaii.

And that's not the biggest problem.

"PREPA is very damaged, very distressed," says Lisa Donahue, an expert on fixing utility companies that are in trouble. "PREPA needs a lot of work."

Puerto Rico is caught in a financial crisis and fixing the energy company is crucial to the island's economic future.

After years of borrowing to cover budget deficits, the U.S. territory is more than $70 billion in debt. The biggest chunk of the debt, more than $9 billion, is owed by PREPA.

Donahue is PREPA's chief restructuring officer. She was hired by the company's board to overhaul and modernize the power company.

She recently told skeptical members of the island's Senate, "We have one chance to do this right, and to set PREPA on the right path and to fix it for the future of Puerto Rico."

The high cost of electricity and the problems with the power company are a leading topic in the newspapers, cafes and on talk radio in Puerto Rico.

Sonia Vazquez met us outside the power company offices in San Juan, carrying a file of bills and correspondence some eight inches thick. She says her monthly power bills make no sense.

"Why am I paying so much?" Of her monthly statement, she says, "It's really difficult to understand it."

Sonia Vazquez, residential energy customer in San Juan is fighting PREPA, the energy utility agency. Marisa Penaloza/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Marisa Penaloza/NPR

Sonia Vazquez, residential energy customer in San Juan is fighting PREPA, the energy utility agency.

Marisa Penaloza/NPR

Nearly four years ago, Vazquez began contesting part of her bill each month. The fearless 60-year-old now owes the power company nearly $10,000 and has no intention of paying.

"They're supposed to detail to me everything that they're charging me," she says. "Why am I paying something that I don't know what's contained in it?"

Many in Puerto Rico share Vazquez's dissatisfaction with the island's state-owned power company including, perhaps surprisingly, Jose Maeso, Puerto Rico's top energy official.

He says there are many problems with PREPA.

"We have about 50 percent more of the capacity than we need right now. Along with that," he says, "most of the plants are very old — 50, 60 years. The infrastructure is not prepared to be modern, to be competitive."

It's a grid and series of power plants built when Puerto Rico nurtured dreams of industrialization. Decades later, many power plants sit idle, but customers are still paying for them.

But only some of the customers are paying. Nearly a third of PREPA's accounts receive subsidized rates that require them to pay little or nothing. That includes many large users. City governments and hotels are officially exempt from paying.

Maeso says others, including the schools and the island's train system, simply don't pay. The rest of PREPA's customers pick up the tab.

"All of us are subsidizing whatever somebody else doesn't pay, even the government itself," he says. "But that definitely needs to stop in order for us to fix the whole system."

An energy restructuring hearing in San Juan. Marisa Penaloza/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Marisa Penaloza/NPR

An energy restructuring hearing in San Juan.

Marisa Penaloza/NPR

After decades of mismanagement, for Puerto Rico's power company, time has run out.

It's $9 billion in debt and now unable to make scheduled payments to creditors. It's operating week to week under a series of temporary agreements with Wall Street firms. And some of those bondholders have said they want to raise rates.

Maeso is concerned about the impact higher rates would have on the island's economy, and its ability to retain factories and large employers who may consider moving elsewhere.

Economy

In Puerto Rico's Debt Crisis, There Are No Easy Solutions

The Salt

Puerto Rico Is Sowing A New Generation Of Small Farmers

Puerto Rico: A Disenchanted Island

As for residential customers, like Vazquez, Maeso says they'll adjust by turning off lights and not using their air conditioners.

It's advice that makes Vazquez angry.

"They don't really care about us," she says. "They just tell me, 'Don't use your dryer. Why don't you put your clothes outside?' They really think that the way we can do it is sacrificing, and paying more. But they subsidize everyone except the people that work."

Puerto Rico's energy problems may come to a head in July when the power authority is expected to default. If that happens, it will be another blow to the island's already staggering economy.

Puerto Rico

energy

financial crisis

среда

In Puerto Rico's Debt Crisis, There Are No Easy Solutions

The island of Puerto Rico is many things: a tropical paradise, a U.S. territory and an economic mess. After years of deficits, state-owned institutions in Puerto Rico owe investors some $73 billion. That's four times the debt that forced Detroit into bankruptcy two years ago. The bill is now due.

One of the most visible signs of the crisis is a tent city on the plaza in front of Puerto Rico's historic Capitol building in San Juan. For several weeks, a group of protesters has been camped out, with signs, rallies and music. The group is opposing plans by Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla to raise taxes to help cover Puerto Rico's crippling debt.

Labor organizer Javier Lopez says, "We want fair reform. Those who have more should pay more, not the working poor."

For months now, the financial crisis has been front page news in Puerto Rico, and people are getting angrier.

Sergio Marxuach, an analyst with the Center for a New Economy in San Juan, says he gets asked about it all the time, on the street and even in his local pharmacy. Marxuach says the pharmacist asked him, " 'Do you think, should I move to Miami? I got this offer to work at a pharmacy in Miami.' I said, 'Well, I have no idea what your financial situation is. I can tell you what's going on in Puerto Rico.' But people are very worried."

For 25 years, Puerto Rico has been caught in a debilitating economic spiral. Decades of recession and slow economic growth forced a succession of governments to take out loans to cover budget deficits.

"What we have been doing is basically borrowing to survive today," Marxuach says. "Unfortunately, our debt levels have gotten to a point where the rating agencies have downgraded our credit to below investment grade."

With a junk status rating, Puerto Rico is trying to negotiate a new bond sale with Wall Street investors. At the same time, the island's troubled energy company, PREPA, is desperately trying to stave off default.

As president of the Government Development Bank, Melba Acosta-Febo is Puerto Rico's point person on its economic crisis. For months, she has shuttled between the island, Washington, D.C., and New York City.

The Salt

Puerto Rico Is Sowing A New Generation Of Small Farmers

The Two-Way

White House Says There Are No Plans To Bail Out Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico: A Disenchanted Island

Puerto Rico's Battered Economy: The Greece Of The Caribbean?

Puerto Rico: A Disenchanted Island

One-Way Tickets To Florida: Puerto Ricans Escape Island Woes

Nearly 20 Wall Street bankers filed out of her office in San Juan just before her interview with NPR. They'd just finished grilling Acosta-Febo for more than an hour, but she was unruffled.

"In these meetings," she says, "most of the questions are very similar questions. I mean, about all issues — liquidity, finances."

Acosta-Febo says the Padilla administration inherited the huge debt and the troubled economy. But after years of mismanagement and borrowing, there aren't any easy solutions.

To deal with its debt, Puerto Rico passed a law that would allow troubled agencies like the state-owned power company to seek bankruptcy protection. A federal judge struck down the law, though, ruling it violated the federal Bankruptcy Code.

The commonwealth is appealing that decision. It's also pushing for a law in Congress to amend the Bankruptcy Code to include Puerto Rico.

In the meantime, the island needs to find money to pay its creditors. And that means raising taxes.

But in Puerto Rico, raising taxes is one thing — collecting them is another. Tax evasion is rampant. A recent study by consultant KPMG reported that Puerto Rico collects just 56 percent of the sales tax that's due.

Economist Marxuach says, "You could see doctors here who charge you on a cash basis only. We're talking people who went to Harvard Med, Johns Hopkins, you know. And would have this sign that said: No Checks, No Credit Cards, No ATM Cards. Just Cash."

To combat tax evasion, Puerto Rico recently passed a law requiring merchants to take some other payment in addition to cash. The Padilla administration also wants to adopt a value-added tax, a consumption tax that would be more difficult to evade.

Development bank head Acosta-Febo concedes that small businesses are likely to take the biggest hit from the new tax. But that's only fair, she says.

"Many of those people don't report the whole revenues or overreport expenses," she says. "So now suddenly, because they're paying consumption, they're paying more. But that's part of what we're doing to curtail tax evasion and to bring more money to the system."

Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla (right) delivers his budget plan for Puerto Rico's upcoming fiscal year at the Capitol in San Juan on April 30. Legislators rejected his call to raise taxes as a way to compensate for the island's rampant tax evasion. Ricardo Arduengo/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Ricardo Arduengo/AP

Ricardo Arduengo/AP

Even some within Padilla's own party are skeptical about raising taxes to pay down the debt. Puerto Rico's House recently voted down his tax plan. San Juan Sen. Ramon Luis Nieves says he believes in the end, the commonwealth may simply be unable to pay its $73 billion debt in full.

"At some point," Nieves says, "we will have to decide either to pay for the debt service, or pay for our schools and hospitals, health care and social services for the poor. I don't want to reach that point."

But without enough money to pay its debts and with bankruptcy currently not an option, ultimately it may not be Puerto Rico, but bondholders on Wall Street who will decide the island's future.

Puerto Rico

financial overhaul

financial crisis

Ladies In The Streets: Before Stonewall, Transgender Uprising Changed Lives

And when a policeman in Compton's grabbed a drag queen, she threw a cup of coffee in his face. The cafeteria "erupted," according to Susan Stryker, a historian who directed Screaming Queens. People flipped tables and threw cutlery. Sugar shakers crashed through the restaurant's windows and doors. Drag queens swung their heavy purses at officers. Outside on the street, dozens of people fought back as police forced them into paddy wagons. The crowd trashed a cop car and set a newsstand on fire.

"We just got tired of it," St. Jaymes told Stryker. "We got tired of being harassed. We got tired of being made to go into the men's room when we were dressed like women. We wanted our rights."

If the famous Stonewall riots in New York City were the origin of this nation's gay rights movement, the Tenderloin upheaval three years before was "the transgender community's debut on the stage of American political history," according to Stryker. "It was the first known instance of collective militant queer resistance to police harassment in United States history."

Stonewall is often thought of as an uprising of gay men. In reality, "it was drag queens, Black drag queens, who fought the police at the famous Stonewall Inn rebellion in 1969," wrote lesbian novelist and playwright Sarah Schulman in a 1985 novel. "Years later, a group of nouveau-respectable gays tried to construct a memorial to Stonewall in the park across from the old bar. The piece consisted of two white clone-like thin gay men and two white, young lesbians with perfect noses. They were made of a plaster-like substance, pasty and white as the people who paid for it."

While the legacy of Stonewall was whitewashed, the rage and resistance of the San Francisco group went largely unremarked — even among each other.

"We didn't think this was a big deal," Ching told me. "It was a natural thing for people to do back then, to protest."

Besides memories of police and patrons who were there that night, the only record of the riot that survived into the present is a short article by gay activist Raymond Broshears. He wrote it for the program of the first San Francisco gay pride parade, in 1972. Decades later, Stryker found his account and began to seek out the whole story. Her search for people who had been in the Tenderloin back then who spent time at Compton's or took part in the riot led her to Ching, St. Jaymes and another trans woman named Felicia Elizondo.

Courtesy of Tamara Ching

Ching grew up in San Francisco. She recalls hanging out with beatniks on Grant Avenue and began doing sex work as a teenager, in 1965. "My mom was an alcoholic and she let me run the streets and do my own thing."

Ching wasn't at the riot that night, but she knew Compton's well. "It was good to go and be seen and talk to people about what happened during the night. To make sure everybody's OK, everyone made their coins, everybody's coming down off drugs and didn't overdose, and that you didn't go to jail that night," she said.

"Compton's nourished people. People would sit there for days drinking a cup of coffee. I would buy a full meal. I don't cook and I loved eating at Compton's — it was like downtown."

The Tenderloin in the 1960s was a red light district and a residential ghetto. Stryker told me that the neighborhood was a particular destination and home to "young people who maybe had been kicked out by their families and were living on the street. And trans people who could lose a job at any moment or not be hired, who wouldn't be rented to, who had to live in crappy residential hotels in a bad part of town, and who had to do survival sex work to support themselves."

"We sold ourselves because we need to make a living but we sold ourselves because we wanted to be loved," Elizondo says in Stryker's film. Ching told me sex work in the Tenderloin empowered her. She had a job with the government but still worked the streets at night.

Whether for survival, pleasure or some combination of both, sex work left women vulnerable to violence and put them in closer contact with police. But even those who weren't hustling had frequent encounters with law enforcement. St. Jaymes, who ran the residential hotel, told Stryker she was arrested frequently, even though she wasn't a sex worker. "If we had lipstick on, if we had mascara on, if our hair was too long, we had to put it under a cap. If the buttons was on the wrong side, like a blouse, they would take you to jail because they felt it was female impersonation."

"The police could harass you at any time," Ching told me. "They would ask you for pieces of ID. You had to have your male ID if you were born male and didn't go through a sex change. They would pat you down, and while they're patting you down, of course they're feeling you up," she continued. "They would arrest you and put you in the big van, Big Bertha, and drive you around town. When they turned a corner they turned sharply, so people would fall. They'd go over a bump, fast down the hill and make you look a mess by the time you got to the booking station."

Police relations with the trans, drag and gay communities in the Tenderloin reached a boiling point in 1966. Across San Francisco resistance was in the air. Local anti-war protests were gaining momentum. Civil rights activists and religious leaders at a Tenderloin church organized to bring government anti-poverty resources to the neighborhood. A group of radical young queers calling themselves Vanguard started pushing back against discrimination by police and business owners. After Compton's management started kicking them out of the restaurant, they picketed outside on July 18, 1966. Viewed in the context of 1960s activism, identity politics and anti-poverty efforts, the riots that occurred a few weeks later seem inevitable.

Though it can take decades to understand motivations for a particular riot or movement of militant resistance in the streets, there are plenty of instances when a group's anger and frustration over injustice is later celebrated as a civil rights victory. We have a parade every year to commemorate the Stonewall riots — three nights when rioters burned down a bar and tried to overturn a paddy wagon. Now that Bruce Jenner has told Diane Sawyer, "I'm a woman," and Oprah interviewed Janet Mock, we can look at a charge like "female impersonation" and see the Compton's riot as another act of resistance against injustice. One day, history books, pundits and academics could very well talk about the recent unrest in Baltimore or Ferguson the same way.

Right after the Compton's episode, Ching heard about what had happened. "To me, nothing was out of the ordinary," she told me. "We lived to survive day to day. We didn't realize we'd made history."

Nicole Pasulka has contributed to Mother Jones, The Believer, BuzzFeed and Vice.

Obama Laces Up To Tout Asian Trade Deal At Nike

President Obama says he wants consumers around the world buying more products stamped, "Made in the U.S.A."

That's one reason he's pushing a controversial Asian trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Obama has chosen a curious setting to make his pitch for the trade agreement this week. He'll be speaking Friday at the Beaverton, Ore., headquarters of the Nike Corporation.

"All of their footwear, all of their clothing is produced in contract factories in places like Vietnam and Indonesia and China," said Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a watchdog group that monitors overseas factories.

"Nike is one of the companies that helped perfect the sourcing model that now defines production in footwear and garments and other major light manufacturing sectors. And it's a model based on cheap labor and poor working conditions," Nova said.

Nike, which had $28 billion in sales last year, did not respond to telephone and email requests for comment.

After a burst of bad publicity in the 1990s, Nike tried to clean up factory abuses such as child labor. But the company's most recent report on "sustainable business performance" acknowledges nearly a third of the factories making its products fall short of Nike's own standards. Hours and wages are the most common complaints.

That raises eyebrows of critics who ask why the president would choose such a setting to make the case for his Asia-Pacific trade deal. The administration says the proposed agreement is designed to raise labor standards in the 12 participating countries including Vietnam, the No. 1 source for Nike shoes.

"The president believes that by raising labor standards and raising environmental standards throughout the Asia-Pacific region, that will level the playing field for American businesses," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. "No longer will companies be able to gain an unfair advantage by capitalizing on low labor standards."

When Nike first blazed the trail of offshore manufacturing in the 1960s, more than 90 percent of the shoes Americans wore were still made domestically. But since then, nearly every other American shoemaker has followed Nike's path, and today more than 99 percent of our shoes are imported, mostly from China, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, who represents Nike's home state of Oregon, is one of the leading supporters of the trade deal. He wrote a letter two years ago arguing there's no justification for the tariffs levied on imported shoes, now that there's virtually no domestic manufacturing left to protect. Shoe tariffs totaled $2.7 billion last year, of which about $460 million was for shoes from countries covered by the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Supporters say lowering those tariffs would give a boost to the shoe design and marketing jobs that are still located in the United States.

"It will help us design more shoes. It will help us sell more shoes. And when we're selling more shoes, we're creating more jobs throughout the supply chain," said Matt Priest, president of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, an industry trade group.

Indeed, the Asia-Pacific trade deal is less about defending labor-intensive manufacturing than promoting intellectual property, services and agriculture sectors where the U.S. has a competitive advantage. But that raises a question: Why doesn't the president's West Coast pitch for the trade deal take him to a movie studio or a rice farm — businesses where the products still say "Made in the U.S.A."?

McDonald's CEO Promises 'Modern, Progressive Burger Company'

Looking for new growth and promising better restaurant experiences for customers, McDonald's President and CEO Steve Easterbrook is changing how the chain manages global markets and plans to boost the number of franchised restaurants.

"The reality is, our recent performance has been poor," Easterbrook said in a video released Monday. "The numbers don't lie. Which is why, as we celebrate 60 years of McDonald's, I will not shy away from resetting this business."

McDonald's will change the way it organizes global markets, putting leaders in charge of four main groups. The new structure relies less on geography and more on market maturity and growth prospects:

The United States: more than 40 percent of operating income in 2014.

International Lead Markets: Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the U.K., where established markets represent another 40 percent of operating income.

High-Growth Markets: China, Italy, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands (10 percent of operating income).

Foundational Markets: Around 100 markets, which will mostly be franchised (independently owned).

Calling it "a global turnaround," Easterbrook, who was named CEO in January — after a year in which global sales and revenue decreased — said McDonald's will become a "modern progressive burger company."

Its slump has also led McDonald's to tinker with its menu — including the addition last month of a $5 burger. NPR's Marilyn Geewax reported for The Salt:

"McDonald's has been struggling in recent years to keep pace with fast-casual chains like Five Guys and Chipotle Mexican Grill.

"So the fast-food giant is testing different menu options to lure back customers. Starting later this month, McDonald's diners will be able to choose a $4.99 sandwich — the Sirloin Third Pound burger."

Other changes Marilyn covered included a new range of toppings, all-day breakfast and new pastries, such as a bundt cake.

Aside from the promises of better food with better service, Easterbrook's video address was also notable for his ability to keep his eyes open for long periods of time without blinking. By our count, in one stretch, he went nearly a minute without closing his eyes.

McDonald's

Fed Chair Yellen's Warning Adds To Recent Market Jitters

Both stock and bond markets had already been having a rough week, and then on Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen added to the jitters.

She warned that stock valuations are "generally quite high," and that "there are potential dangers there."

So if you happen to be an investor who wants to buy low and sell high (and really, who doesn't?), then you might take Yellen's comment as a suggestion that it's time to sell.

And that's just what happened: Measures of U.S. stock prices all slipped — down about 0.7 percent by midday.

Many analysts already had been pointing out that stock prices, relative to corporate earnings, have been higher than their historic norms. So that could mean markets are headed for a rough ride as prices fall back into line with more typical valuations.

But Yellen also called attention to the big picture, noting that while prices might be due for a correction, financial markets are functioning well. "Risks to financial stability are moderated, not elevated at this point," she said.

Yellen made her observations in a discussion with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde during an event organized by the Institute for New Economic Thinking.

Their conversation came at a time when global markets have been jarred by worries about interest rates, oil prices and economic growth. A lot of investors worry because they are seeing oil prices bouncing up to their highest levels this year at more than $61 a barrel. Also, U.S. interest rate likely will go up soon.

And hiring this spring may be coming in weaker than expected. Private U.S. payrolls rose by only by 169,000 jobs in April, according to a report Wednesday by payroll processor Automatic Data Processing and forecasting firm Moody's Analytics. Most economists had expected to see about 205,000 new jobs added last month.

There are wildcards out there, too. Just one example: Greece may not be able to make some massive debt repayments that are due soon.

But before you sell anything based on Yellen's advice, remember she and the Fed made similar remarks last July about some stocks: "Valuation metrics in some sectors do appear substantially stretched — particularly those for smaller firms in the social media and biotechnology industries."

And in the nine months following those remarks, increases in the value of such stocks helped drive the Nasdaq Composite Index up about an additional 13 percent.

stock prices

Janet Yellen

oil prices

Federal Reserve

Smartphones Can Be Smart Enough To Find A Parasitic Worm

Married to a smartphone, this device can detect the Lao lao worm. Daniel A. Fletcher, UC Berkeley hide caption

itoggle caption Daniel A. Fletcher, UC Berkeley

Married to a smartphone, this device can detect the Lao lao worm.

Daniel A. Fletcher, UC Berkeley

Smartphones aren't simply an amazing convenience. In Africa they can be used to make a life-saving diagnosis. In fact, scientists are hoping to use a souped-up smartphone microscope to help them eradicate a devastating disease called river blindness.

Onchocerciasis, as the disease is also known, is caused by a parasite that's spread by flies. Thirty years ago, it was simply devastating in parts of Africa, like Mali.

"We went out to villages where 40 to 50 percent of the adults were blind," says Dr. Gary Weil, a parasitic disease specialist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Worldwide, 300,000 people are blind as a result of this parasite, according to the World Health Organization.

That situation changed dramatically when researchers discovered that a veterinary medicine called ivermectin could prevent river blindness in people. Since 1987, drug-maker Merck has donated more than a billion doses of this drug to fight river blindness and a related disease. The drug is given both as a preventive and after someone is diagnosed.

"The ivermectin has had an amazing effect," Weil says. There's a massive campaign under way to use the drug to eradicate river blindness entirely with an annual dose.

But there's a problem. In some areas, people are also infected by another parasite, a worm called Loa loa. And if someone has a raging Loa loa infection and you give them ivermectin, that can occasionally prove deadly.

The workaround has been to look for Loa loa worms in people before giving them the drug.

"The traditional way of making the measurement involves taking blood smears, looking at them under a conventional microscope by a trained individual, and counting [the worms] manually," says Daniel Fletcher, a bioengineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "And that's a far too laborious and long process to be used in a mass drug-administration program, which is what they were running."

Fletcher has been working on novel ways to use iPhones as the centerpiece of inexpensive, portable microscopes. One day he got a call from Dr. Thomas Nutman at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, asking Fletcher if he could develop a device that could quickly and reliably detect Loa loa in a drop of blood.

The worms don't make this job easy. They hide out in the lungs and "are only present in the bloodstream between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.," Fletcher says. "The tests all have to be done during that time frame, so being quick is really important."

Fletcher's group at Berkeley set to work, and came up with way to detect the squirming motion of those worms when they emerge and circulate in the blood. They report their advance in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

"The phone does pretty much everything," Fletcher says. A health worker collects a pin-prick of blood in a small glass tube and pushes it into a compact and inexpensive microscope adapter that connects to the iPhone.

"You press one button, 'go,' and the phone controls the movement of the sample, controls taking of a video and controls analysis and reporting of the results."

In three minutes, start to finish, the process can tell the health worker whether it's safe to give the person ivermectin. But even producing an answer every three minutes still only translates to 40 results per day per phone, since the tests can only be run during a two-hour period. That's much faster than the conventional method, but the numbers are still daunting.

Weil says it seems useful on a smaller scale, but "I don't see it how it could be scaled up to the scale of tens of millions of people" who currently live in areas where both the Loa loa worm and the river blindness parasite live.

"And it wouldn't just be a one-time test," Weil adds, "since the treatment for river blindness is a once-a-year treatment, every year they would have to be tested."

The real solution, Weil says, is to find a drug that can safely kill both parasites at the same time. Researchers are working on that right now.

river blindness

smartphone

Vatican Affirms Plan To Make Missionary Junipero Serra A Saint

Pope Francis will canonize Spanish missionary Junipero Serra during his visit to the U.S. later this year, the Vatican says, affirming a plan that's drawn criticism over Serra's role in the California mission system of the 18th century.

After announcing his decision in January, Francis didn't wait for the traditional approval of a second miracle before moving ahead with canonizing Serra, whom the pope has praised for his zeal.

"I think it has to be seen from the viewpoint of a Latin American," NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Rome. "A Vatican official told reporters that the canonization will give the United States its first Hispanic saint, and it will help counter what he called an 'Anglo-centric' view of history."

Sylvia adds, "But Native Americans accuse Serra of having helped wipe out their populations by spreading diseases, and they say he brutally imposed conversion."

As Jasmine Garsd reported for the Two-Way when the canonization plan was first announced in January:

"Serra, a Franciscan friar, founded the Mission of San Diego in 1769. As the Spanish army built fortresses nearby, he moved north, creating eight other missions all the way up to the San Francisco Bay.

"As the Spaniards pushed through California, so did diseases, which wiped out large numbers of the native population. Tribes were pushed to convert and to live in the missions, where they were taught to farm. Those who disobeyed were severely punished. It was not unheard of for someone to be whipped to death."

Sylvia reports, "with reference to charges that Serra used corporal punishment on Native Americans, an official of the saint-making office told reporters last month, 'It's not to be excluded, but it wasn't genocide.'"

Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez recently defended Serra against his critics, suggesting that Serra's writings and other records "prove his efforts to defend the native peoples, particularly against the cruelty of the Spanish soldiers and governors," the Catholic News Service reports.

Serra died in 1784. Francis is scheduled to canonize him on Sept. 23, during the pope's visit to Washington, D.C., the Vatican says.

Junipero Serra

Pope Francis

Vatican

Huckabee Hopes Evangelical Voters Are Tying Yellow Ribbons For Him

When Mike Huckabee ran for president eight years ago, he was a new face on the national scene, a fresh upstart former governor of Arkansas and a one-time Baptist preacher, who quickly became a favorite among evangelical voters.

He had an ease on the campaign trail, an openness with the media, and a quirkiness that made him seem like a breath of fresh air.

Now he's back for a second try at the nomination. But this time he'll have to contend with a new crop of young Republican hopefuls.

Even as he sizes up this year's GOP field — including rising Republican superstars like Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Scott Walker — his campaign kickoff Thursday felt like a nod to an earlier time, one of decades past.

There was Tony Orlando on stage, emceeing the event and singing his No. 1 hit — from 40 years ago, "Whoa, tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree, it's been three long years, do you still want me?"

The move is already being lampooned by some:

But Huckabee, who took the stage in his hometown of Hope, Ark. — the same town where Bill Clinton grew up — spoke of the values he was taught as a child. They're values he believes the nation needs to fully embrace today.

"It was here in Hope that I learned how to swim, how to ride a bike, how to read, how to work, and how to play fair," Huckabee said. "I learned the difference between right and wrong. I learned that God loves me as much as He loves anyone, but that He doesn't love some more than others."

Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses in 2008 and seven other states' nominating contests, thanks, in large measure, to conservative Christian voters. He is again reaching out to them.

"We prayed at the start of each day," Huckabee said, "and we prayed again before lunch, and I learned that this exceptional country could only be explained by the providence of almighty God."

Huckabee added that he believes the country has lost its way morally. He pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court's pending decision on same-sex marriage.

"My friends, the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being," he said, "and they can't overturn the laws of nature or of nature's God."

Many in the crowd were sympathetic and came away impressed, but they weren't all sure he would have as easy a time as 2008 coalescing evangelicals around his bid.

"You know, I think he still can do a good job among the evangelical voters, but it's just some people may want that young face — that young politician," said 31-year-old youth pastor Jonathan Montgomery, who was just 23 the last time Huckabee ran. "And so he's going to have his work cut out for him, I believe."

As Huckabee embarks on another race, in which he finds new competition for the evangelical voters he did so well with last time, he also faces a test of whether his old-fashioned personality fits with the times.

Orlando's song is about an ex-convict coming home from prison and is unsure if his girlfriend will still want him after the time away. He anxiously awaits as the prison bus pulls into town, and he looks for whether there is a yellow ribbon tied for him, signifying that he is welcome back.

Orlando could have changed the words from a "three-long-years'" wait to "eight," and it would have been a metaphor for Huckabee's campaign.

(The song pushed yellow ribbons into pop culture and became a symbol not of prisoners returning home but as a way to show support for American hostages in Iran and then later, in the 1990s, of U.S. troops fighting overseas in the first Gulf War.)

Huckabee will find out soon enough if those Iowa evangelicals he was so popular with are going to be tying yellow ribbons for him.

2016 Presidential Race

Mike Huckabee

Republicans

вторник

Obama Laces Up To Tout Asian Trade Deal At Nike

President Obama says he wants consumers around the world buying more products stamped, "Made in the U.S.A."

That's one reason he's pushing a controversial Asian trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Obama has chosen a curious setting to make his pitch for the trade agreement this week. He'll be speaking Friday at the Beaverton, Ore. headquarters of the Nike Corporation.

Nike, which had $28 billion in sales last year, did not respond to telephone and email requests for comment.

That raises eyebrows of critics who ask why the president would choose such a setting to make the case for his Asia-Pacific trade deal. The administration says the proposed agreement is designed to raise labor standards in the twelve participating countries including Vietnam, the number one source for Nike shoes.

Supporters say lowering those tariffs would give a boost to the shoe design and marketing jobs that are still located in the United States.

Indeed, the Asia-Pacific trade deal is less about defending labor-intensive manufacturing than promoting intellectual property, services, and agriculture sectors where the U.S. has a competitive advantage. But that raises a question: Why doesn't the president's West Coast pitch for the trade deal take him to a movie studio or a rice farm ... businesses where the products still say "Made in the U.S.A."

New Jersey Pension Lawsuit Piles On Gov. Christie's Rough Week

It's been a tough week for New Jersey Gov. and possible Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie.

One of his former allies pleaded guilty and two others were indicted for allegedly creating a traffic jam at the George Washington Bridge as political retribution.

Now, New Jersey's highest court is set to hear arguments over one of Christie's signature accomplishments: his pension reform deal.

Christie swaggered onto the national stage as a tough-talking Jersey guy who could get things done by working across the aisle with Democrats. Exhibit A: the pension reform law he signed during his first term as governor.

"How did we do it? Through leadership and compromise. ... Lead on the tough issues by telling your citizens the truth about the depth of our challenges," he said in 2011.

Back then, Christie promised to pay billions of dollars into the state's woefully underfunded pension system. While public sector unions agreed to cuts in benefits.

"This was his go-to watershed breakthrough issue," said Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State University.

"This what catapulted him to the national arena. Now, given that policy is a failure, it's really hard to reclaim that mantle."

In order for the pension deal to add up, the Christie administration optimistically projected that tax revenues would grow quickly. But the state's economy lagged, and the projections didn't pan out. Last year, Christie announced New Jersey would not make billions in payments as promised. So the state's public sector unions sued.

"We have been more than gracious and accommodating to work with the governor. And he hasn't kept up his end of the bargain," said Wendell Steinhauer, president of the New Jersey Education Association.

Lots of states have done a bad job of keeping up with their pension payments. But New Jersey is one of the worst. Its pension system is more than $80 billion in the red. Next year, pension and health benefits for public workers will add up to nearly a quarter of the state's budget. Gov. Christie mostly blames past governors for sticking him with this bill.

"I'm like the guy who showed up for dinner at dessert. And then everybody went to go to the bathroom. And never came back. And I got the check," he said earlier this year.

But that's not entirely accurate, says one former Republican governor of New Jersey, Christie Todd Whitman.

"Obviously, I'm gonna object to the fact that he blames it mostly on me," she told NPR. "Because it just isn't the case if you look at what we did. I mean, he's had what, six years now? You have to own it at some point."

Still, Whitman agrees with Christie that the state needs to get growing costs under control. And no one thinks that will be easy.

"It's not just the immediate hole," said Thomas Healey, who led the governor's bi-partisan pension commission, which continues to push for more cuts. "It's the size of the hole that keeps getting bigger and bigger that's problem."

For now, Christie's own lawyers will be arguing that the 2011 pension law he signed — that signature achievement of his first term — is actually unconstitutional. A trial court sided with the unions and told the governor to pay up. But the Christie administration appealed.

"That's where his presidential campaign makes a solution to the pension problem almost impossible," said Tom Moran, editorial page editor at the Newark Star-Ledger. He and Gov. Christie have clashed at times. But even Moran admits Christie inherited a mess.

"He jumped in front of a speeding train. And he's made it a tiny bit better," he said. "At the same time, he's poisoned the political atmosphere by making a big promise that he broke. So now it's harder to make a second deal, and that's clearly necessary."

Moran thinks Christie might have to agree to some new tax revenues — if only as a gesture of good faith to get the unions back to the negotiating table for more talks. But raising taxes would be political poison for Christie if he decides to run for the Republican presidential nomination.

The state Supreme Court will hear arguments in the pension lawsuit Wednesday. And the grand deal of 2011 looks more and more like ancient history.

In Puerto Rico's Debt Crisis, There Are No Easy Solutions

One of the most visible signs of the crisis is a tent city on the plaza in front of Puerto Rico's historic Capitol building in San Juan. For several weeks, a group of protesters have been camped out, with signs, rallies and music. They're opposing plans by Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla to raise taxes to help cover Puerto Rico's crippling debt.

Labor organizer Javier Lopez says, "We want fair reform. Those who have more should pay more, not the working poor."

For months now, the financial crisis has been front page news in Puerto Rico, and people are getting angrier.

As president of the Government Development Bank, Melba Acosta-Febo is Puerto Rico's point person on its economic crisis. For months, she's shuttled between the island, Washington, D.C., and New York City.

The Two-Way

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Nearly 20 Wall Street bankers filed out of her office in San Juan just before her interview with NPR. They'd just finished grilling Acosta-Febo for more than an hour, but she was unruffled.

"In these meetings," she says, "most of the questions are very similar questions. I mean, about all issues — liquidity, finances."

Acosta-Febo says the Padilla administration inherited the huge debt and the troubled economy. But after years of mismanagement and borrowing, there aren't any easy solutions.

The commonwealth is appealing that decision. It's also pushing for a law in Congress to amend the Bankruptcy Code to include Puerto Rico.

But in the meantime, the island needs to find money to pay its creditors. And that means raising taxes.

Economist Sergio Marxuach says, "You could see doctors here who charge you on a cash basis only. We're talking people who went to Harvard Med, Johns Hopkins, you know. And would have this sign that said: No Checks, No Credit Cards, No ATM Cards. Just Cash."

Government Development Bank head Melba Acosta-Febo concedes that small businesses are likely to take the biggest hit from the new tax. But that's only fair, she says.

Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla (right) delivers his budget plan for Puerto Rico's upcoming fiscal year at the Capitol in San Juan on April 30. Legislators rejected his call to raise taxes as way to compensate for the island's rampant tax evasion. Ricardo Arduengo/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Ricardo Arduengo/AP

Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla (right) delivers his budget plan for Puerto Rico's upcoming fiscal year at the Capitol in San Juan on April 30. Legislators rejected his call to raise taxes as way to compensate for the island's rampant tax evasion.

Ricardo Arduengo/AP

Even some within Gov. Padilla's own party are skeptical about raising taxes to pay down the debt. Puerto Rico's House recently voted down his tax plan. San Juan Sen. Ramn Luis Nieves says he believes in the end, the commonwealth may simply be unable to pay its $73 billion debt in full.

But without enough money to pay its debts and with bankruptcy currently not an option, ultimately it may not be Puerto Rico, but bondholders on Wall Street who will decide the island's future.

Puerto Rico

financial overhaul

financial crisis

ISIS Claims Credit For Shooting In Garland, Texas

The self-declared Islamic State is taking credit for a thwarted attack on a Muhammad drawing contest in Garland, Texas.

According to SITE, a company that monitors jihadist groups, ISIS took credit for the attack in the latest edition its al-Bayan news bulletin. The group identified the two suspects as "two soldiers from the soldiers of the Caliphate."

The AP reports that the Sunni extremist group goes on to warn the United States that more attacks are coming. The wire service adds:

"The statement did not provide details and it was unclear whether the group was opportunistically claiming the attack as its own. It was the first time the Islamic State, which frequently calls for attacks against the West, had claimed responsibility for one in the United States."

Police say two men who have been named as Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi came out of a car firing assault rifles on Sunday.

One officer fired back and killed the men. As we reported, Simpson had been in trouble with the law in the past. In 2011, he was convicted of lying to the FBI, which was investigating a planned trip to fight in Somalia.

According to multiple reports, Soofi was Simpson's roommate.

CNN reports:

"U.S. authorities have said they are investigating whether Sunday's shooting has any link to international terrorism. But there are clues that one of the gunmen was an ISIS sympathizer.

"Moments before the attack, Simpson posted an ominous tweet with the hashtag #texasattack: 'May Allah accept us as mujahideen.' The tweet also said he and his fellow attacker had pledged allegiance to 'Amirul Mu'mineen,' which means 'he leader of the faithful.' CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said that likely refers to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.

"And earlier, Simpson had asked his readers on Twitter to follow an ISIS propagandist. After the shooting, the propagandist tweeted: 'Allahu Akbar!!!! 2 of our brothers just opened fire.'"

Garland, Texas

Prophet Muhammad

понедельник

In A Poor Indian State, She Got First-Rate Care After Her Miscarriage

Two months into my first pregnancy, I suffered a miscarriage and needed to seek medical care.

Although a miscarriage is difficult for any woman to experience, I had access to the best care. My physician was excellent, I trusted her judgment, and the imaging equipment, laboratory facilities and clinical care were all first-rate.

That's not surprising — except that I was then living in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, the capital city of one of India's poorest states.

In 2012, as a freshly-minted pediatrician, I left my home in D.C. to manage a newborn health project aimed at strengthening essential newborn care practices like breastfeeding and infection detection in rural Uttar Pradesh.

In Lucknow, a city of more than 2 million, the gap between rich and poor was a fact of life. For a foreigner like me, who grew up in the United States, it was my first real-life immersion into A Tale of Two Cities.

I could see the disparity on a regular basis. My husband and I lived in a beautiful flat with marble floors, air-conditioning, a lush garden. The lovely woman who cleaned our house, Asha, proudly had us over for chai, showing us her 7 by 7 foot space, a single mat on the floor, no plumbing, shared with her daughter and two young grandchildren — and she was relatively better off than most of the poor in Uttar Pradesh.

The state-of-the-art medical care I received was most certainly not the norm in Lucknow. Thousands of women deliver their babies at home, and care in public hospitals does not always offer significant advantage.

One day, I walked with one of my interns to a public hospital where we were working on a research study. The hospital, which served some of the city's poorest, was just a few miles from where I had received care myself. As we made our way to the pediatrics ward to collect data, we caught a glimpse of a fly-covered corpse of an elderly, frail man, lying to the side of the hospital entrance. Just inside the door were dozens of patients, filling every last space, waiting in the stifling heat to be seen. Some were acutely ill, gasping for breath, or in excruciating pain. Nurses circulated, trying to care for the sickest, but they struggled to keep up. It was a difficult sight; I did my best to stay collected while comforting my young intern, keeping her propped up and hydrated as she grew dizzy and faint.

After a year in India, I moved back to Washington, D.C., where I now work as a newborn technical adviser at Save the Children for the Saving Newborn Lives program. Our goal is to help professionals and ministries of health in Africa and Asia reduce newborn death rates.

Every year, Save the Children releases its State of the World's Mothers Report, highlighting the best and worst places in the world to be a mother. This year, we took a closer look at the disparity between rich and poor children in cities. I thought of my time in India.

That's where the report found the largest gaps between rich and poor. The poorest children in cities across India are three times as likely as the wealthiest children to die before their fifth birthday. In India nearly 300,000 babies die the day they are born — more than any other country in the world, accounting for nearly a third of all newborn deaths worldwide.

And we found that 50,000 mothers die each year in India as a result of birth complications, versus 1,200 in the United States. But the poor bear the greatest burden not only in the developing world but in the U.S. as well. In my hometown of Washington, D.C., the infant death rate in 2012 in the city's poorest section was 14.9 per 1000 live births, more than ten times higher than in the city's wealthiest section.

My personal experiences in India breathe a sense of humanity into the numbers. I don't want to see any mother or child receive inadequate care by virtue of the country they live in, their postal code or the amount of money they can claim to their name.

I am expecting a baby in the coming month. I have some of the worries and anxieties any woman faces with the arrival of a new baby, but losing my own life or the life of my baby is not a fear that occupies my mind. I hope that in the years to come, in India, Washington, D.C., and around the world, all mothers-to-be can feel that same sense of peace.

At a rural newborn care training during my days in Uttar Pradesh, I watched from the corner of my eye as an infant crawled away from his mother and tried to put a rock in his mouth. Both his mom and I lunged toward him, pulling the rock away, gesturing no, then turned to each other and laughed. Kids will be kids, no matter where they live in the world.

Bina Valsangkar is a pediatrician who works with Save the Children's Saving Newborn Lives program.

newborns

maternal health

India

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