They introduced Boston to the top designers

Bloggers are abuzz with the big fashion news about Louis closing. The Louis legacy, started by Murray Pearlstein, father of current owner Debi Greenberg, is both impressive and transformative.

Before Louis, Boston didn't have the pleasure of knowing high-end European designers such as Marni and Dries Van Noten. Greenberg brought those and many others here. Recently, she invited in designer Jason Wu to meet clients.

It all started with a pawn shop in Roxbury opened by Greenberg's great-grandfather Louis and continued with her pops Murray, famous for introducing Boston to Armani, the three-piece suit, pastels for men and more.

The store's move to Fan Pier sparked mixed emotions in shoppers and employees as the Newbury Street location was a stylish mainstay. Fashion designer (and former Louis customer) Daniela Corte reminisced about the old Louis.

"It's sad. I bought so many amazing pieces that I still own and love. I had so many great moments there. When they moved they lost me," Corte said.

Even if you couldn't afford to shop at the Newbury site, you still might go in for lunch at Cafe Louis (later called restaurant L), which introduced the city to master chef Michael Schlow. You could also browse the first floor, filled with apothecary items, quirky home wares, international mags and vintage finds. Level 1 also featured one of the coolest music bars around with a curated collection run by in-house DJ Felix Cutillo.

"Louis was a leader in this industry doing things that no one else was doing. Like the music bar. They did it and then Bergdorf Goodman followed," Cutillo said. "It was about a lifestyle, music, fashion food and everyone wanted to be a part of it."

Goodbye Louis. Thanks for the memories.

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Retirement suits Louis

Legendary Boston luxury clothing retailer Louis will close in July, ending a 90-year era of catering to the Hub's fashion elite.

The store's lease on the South Boston waterfront is not due to expire until 2020, when condominiums are going up at its Fan Pier location, said Debi Greenberg, Louis's president and owner. But Greenberg said she turned down developer Joe Fallon's offer of space on the first floor of the new building, Twenty Two Liberty.

"He wanted a commitment, but I'm 60 years old, and I just really wasn't ready," said Greenberg, who bought the boutique from her father, Murray Pearlstein, in 1993 and broke the news that it would be closing to her 20 employees yesterday.

"Moving to a new space, to make it right, you would really have to invest," she said. "What I'm hoping to do is community work. I travel six months a year and work six days a week. I want to give back."

In 2010, she made the bold decision to move the boutique from its upscale location at the corner of Newbury and Berkeley streets in the Back Bay to a smaller one tucked behind a towering building on Fan Pier, a move that seemed to defy good business sense.

But since then, sales have risen year over year, Greenberg said, adding that her typical customer "looks for a little more calmness" than the iconic Newbury Street location offered.

When it opened in 1925, LouisBoston, as it was known then, was a men's clothing store serving "executives, politicians and old Boston blue-bloods who wanted the best quality," said Norwell retail consultant Michael Tesler. "That isn't true today. ... That's where Louis had to evolve from."

The store, which has been in Greenberg's family for four generations, added fashion forward women's clothing in the mid-1970s.

Louis joins other luxury brands that are shuttering their unprofitable stores, said Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute, a boutique research and consulting firm.

"There's so much competition," Pedraza said. "Some stores are not able to attract enough millennials, and a lot of millennials don't have the money."

Donna Goodison contributed to this report.

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SpaceX launches for NASA, no luck with rocket landing at sea

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX pulled off another successful launch of supplies to the International Space Station on Saturday, but its revolutionary attempt to land the leftover booster on an ocean barge fared less well.

The company's billionaire founder Elon Musk said the first-stage of the unmanned Falcon rocket made it to the platform floating a couple hundred miles off Florida's northeastern coast. But the booster came down too hard and broke apart, he said.

"Close, but no cigar this time," Musk said via Twitter. He said it bodes well for the future, though.

It was the first time anyone tried anything like this. Musk maintains that recovering and reusing rockets is essential for bringing down launch costs and speeding up operations.

The primary mission for SpaceX was delivering more than 5,000 pounds of supplies ordered up by NASA, including hasty replacements for experiments and equipment lost in the destruction of another company's cargo ship last fall, as well as extra groceries. Belated Christmas presents were also on board for the six space station astronauts.

"Hurrah! A #Dragon is coming to visit bringing gifts," Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti said in a tweet from orbit.

Without interfering with the $133 million delivery, Musk had fins for guidance and landing legs installed on the first stage of the rocket, and positioned a modified barge off the coast of Jacksonville. A ship with SpaceX staff watched from a safe 10 miles away as the 14-story booster approached the platform, marked with a giant X.

Musk reported that the platform itself — 300 feet by 100 feet, with wings stretching the width to 170 feet — was fine following the attempted touchdown well before dawn. But he said some of the equipment on deck will need to be replaced. There ended up being no good video of the "landing/impact," he said in a tweet, noting it was "pitch dark and foggy" out in the ocean.

"Will piece it together from telemetry and ... actual pieces," he said.

Brief TV images from booster cameras, broadcast by NASA, showed water bubbles.

In the weeks preceding the landing test, Musk had estimated there was a 50-50 chance, at best, that the Falcon's first-stage booster would land vertically on the platform. A pair of attempts last year to bring boosters down vertically on the open ocean went well, but company officials conceded before Saturday's try that a platform touchdown was considerably more challenging.

Once separated from the upper stage of the rocket Saturday, the main booster re-ignited as planned for the flyback, according to SpaceX. Automatic engine firings maneuvered the booster down toward the autonomous, modified barge. The Air Force maintained the ability, as always, to destroy the booster if it strayed off course.

NASA watched the post-launch drama with keen interest, but its biggest focus was on the Dragon racing toward the space station. The capsule is due to arrive there Monday.

The shipment — the sixth by SpaceX since 2012 — is needed more than usual because of the recent loss of another company's supply ship.

Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket exploded seconds after liftoff in October, destroying the entire payload and damaging the Virginia launch complex. That rocket is grounded until next year.

This SpaceX delivery was supposed to occur before Christmas, but was delayed by a flawed test-firing of the rocket. Then a problem with the rocket's steering system cropped up at the last minute during Tuesday's initial launch attempt.

NASA is paying SpaceX and Orbital Sciences to keep the space station stocked in the wake of the retired shuttle program. The $1.6 billion contract with SpaceX calls for 12 flights; the $1.9 billion contract with Orbital calls for eight. SpaceX also returns items to Earth; Orbital cannot.

Russia and Japan will make their own supply runs this year.

SpaceX, headquartered in Hawthorne, California, also has been contracted by NASA to develop beefed-up Dragons for astronaut rides to the space station, beginning as early as 2017. Boeing also is hard at work on a manned capsule. In the meantime, NASA is paying tens of millions of dollars to Russia for each U.S. astronaut launched aboard the Soyuz spacecraft.

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Online:

SpaceX: http://www.spacex.com/

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

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It’s a Whole new story at 
old Herald site

Whole Foods Market debuted its newest Boston store in the South End yesterday — its second largest in the region and considered a flagship for its North Atlantic division — and co-CEO Walter Robb sees room in the Hub for another of its size.

"We've seen the city evolving, so we have lots of plans," the Boston native said. "The opportunity to come in here and get 50,000 square feet — that's hard to do these days, and I do think there's another one (in the future pipeline)."

The Austin-based natural and organic food company entered Massachusetts in 1992 with its $26.2 million purchase of the former six-store, Boston-based Bread & Circus.

Its South End supermarket is in National Development's $200 million Ink Block project, the former Boston Herald headquarters site for more than half a century, and it memorializes the newspaper's history throughout its decor.

"It will be a great part of the community, but I'm also blown away by how much recognition of the Herald has been preserved," said Herald Publisher Patrick J. Purcell, a minority investor in the Ink Block project.

Newton's National Development worked for five years to bring a supermarket there, according to managing director Ted Tye.

"But no one quite got this neighborhood and what we were trying to do," Tye said. "Is it Chinatown? Is it the South End? Is it safe? There was a little risk at the time. (Whole Foods) set the tone for what we're trying to do here — nice, upscale development."

South End resident John Young was shopping at the new Whole Foods just after its opening yesterday.

"We've had a wonderful Foodie's (Urban Market in the South End), but we've been hankering for a Whole Foods," he said. "Now I don't have to get deep lines in my hands carrying heavy bags all the way from (the Symphony Whole Foods)."

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Massachusetts investment adviser, companies charged by SEC

BOSTON — Officials with the Securities and Exchange Commission say they've charged a Massachusetts investment adviser and his companies on allegations they misappropriated at least $16 million belonging to a fund managed by some of the defendants.

The SEC announced the charges Friday against 40-year-old Daniel Thibeault of Framingham and several companies the agency said he controls, including Graduate Leverage LLC, GL Capital Partners LLC and GL Investment Services LLC, all based in Waltham.

The SEC alleges Thibeault and GL Capital Partners were the investment advisers to a fund called the GL Beyond Income Fund and misappropriated at least $16 million from the fund to use for personal expenses and to run other businesses.

Thibeault and his lawyers didn't immediately return messages Friday.

Thibeault also was charged with securities fraud last month.

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Tiger Woods lists private Swedish island compound

Although Tiger Woods hasn't been married to his Swedish ex-wife Elin Nordegren since 2010 he's just now getting around to selling a private island he owns near Stockholm for an undisclosed amount.

• SELLER: Tiger Woods
• LOCATION: Lake Mälaren, Sweden
• PRICE: Undisclosed
• SIZE: 62 acres with multiple residences

To be honest, children, Your Mama has no idea when they bought it or how much Mister Woods and his ex-wife paid for the long and slender, 62-acre island that is, as far as we can tell, remote yet just an hour by boat or car from Stockholm. The island is accessible by prop plane, helicopter or boat, the latter of which can be docked along the long quay that extends off a huge deck with hot tub. A three story ferry boat is included with the sale but, as per digital marketing materials the various residences' furnishings are not.

Listing details describe a newly built main house constructed of timber harvested on the island along with a vintage hunting lodge with wine cellar and a separate stable block with machine room and caretaker quarters. Naturally the famous philanderer and 14-time major winner installed half a dozen tee-off areas and the island has the remains of some sort of 11^th Century Viking fort.

The erstwhile couple's former home in Windermere, FL, was sold off -- it's now owned by left-handed professional golfer Bubba Watson -- and Mister Woods built-himself an extensive and very contemporary bachelor pad compound on several ocean and sound fronting parcels in Hobe Sound, FL, that now include 3.5 acre backyard golf course. In early 2011 Miz Nordegren, who recently graduated from the prestigious Rollins College with a degree in psychology, shelled out $12,250,000 for a 9,000-square-foot-plus 1930s mansion on a 1.39-acre oceanfront lot in North Palm Beach that she razed and replaced with an even bigger one custom-built to her specifications with features like a home theater with stadium seating, and 1,100-square-foot gym, a 70-foot long swimming pool, a pool cabana and a guest house.

Listing: Vladi Private Islands

© 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Obama proposes publicly funded community college for all

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama wants publicly funded community college available to all Americans, a sweeping proposal that would make higher education as accessible as a high school diploma to boost weak U.S. wages and skills for the modern workforce.

The initiative's price tag has yet to be revealed, and it faces a Republican Congress averse to big new spending programs. Obama was promoting the idea in a visit Friday to Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, Tennessee, and in a video message posted to Facebook Thursday evening.

"Put simply, what I'd like to do is to see the first two years of community college free for everybody who is willing to work for it," Obama said in the video. He spoke seated on the front of his desk from his office aboard Air Force One, in the midst of a three-day tour to preview the agenda he'll be outlining in his Jan. 20 in the State of the Union address.

"It's something that we can accomplish, and it's something that will train our work force so that we can compete with anybody in the world," Obama said.

Administration officials on a conference call with reporters Thursday evening said the funding details would come out later with the president's budget next month. They estimated 9 million students could participate and save an average of $3,800 in tuition per year. That suggests an annual cost in the tens of billions of dollars.

Students would qualify if they attend at least half-time, maintain a 2.5 GPA and make progress toward completing a degree or certificate program. Participating schools would have to meet certain academic requirements.

The White House said the federal government would pick up 75 percent of the cost and the final quarter would come from states that opt into the program.

The idea got a chilly response from House Speaker John Boehner's office. "With no details or information on the cost, this seems more like a talking point than a plan," said spokesman Cory Fritz.

In his 2013 State of the Union address, Obama proposed universal preschool, which Congress did not take up because of cost. Obama policy adviser Cecilia Munoz pointed out that even without federal action, many states are taking up the idea and expanding preschool.

And she pointed out that a Republican — Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam — last year signed into law a pioneering scholarship program called Tennessee Promise that provides free community and technical college tuition for two years. It has drawn 58,000 applicants, almost 90 percent of the state's high school seniors. Munoz said Obama's proposal, America's College Promise, was inspired by the popular Tennessee plan and a similar program in Chicago.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a former education secretary who is set to take over the Senate committee that oversees education, said states and not the federal government should follow Tennessee's lead. He said Washington's role should be to reduce paperwork for the student aid application and fund Pell grants for low-income students that would result from an expansion of community college enrollment.

"The reason Tennessee can afford Tennessee Promise is that 56 percent of our state's community college students already have a federal Pell grant, which averages $3,300, to help pay for the average $3,800-per-year tuition. The state pays the difference — $500 on average," Alexander said in a written statement issued just before he boarded Air Force One for the trip along with fellow Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker.

Obama also was being joined on the Tennessee visit by Vice President Joe Biden. They also planned to visit a manufacturing facility, Techmer PM in Clinton, Tennessee, to promote a second proposal to create a fund to help low-wage workers with high potential get training in growing fields like energy, information technology and advanced manufacturing.

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Education Writer Kimberly Hefling contributed to this story

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Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler

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The Ticker

Dun & Bradstreet buys NetProspex for $125M

Dun & Bradstreet, the world's leading source of commercial information and insight on businesses, announced yesterday it has acquired NetProspex, a Waltham-based company offering contact data and data management service, for $125 million. NetProspex, which employs 125, will continue to operate out of its Waltham office with CEO Michael Bird becoming general manager of the new Dun & Bradstreet NetProspex division.

J.C. Penney to shut 40 stores, 2 in Mass.

J.C. Penney Co. said yesterday that it will close about 40 U.S. stores this year, including two in the Bay State, at the Hanover Mall in Hanover and the Silver City Galleria in Taunton. The nationwide closings would cut about 2,250 jobs. Most of the stores will close by April 4, the Plano, Texas-based department store operator said.

MIT gets $118M gift for real estate lab

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology yesterday announced it has received a $118 million gift from an alumnus to advance socially responsible and sustainable real estate, with a focus on China.

The gift from Samuel Tak Lee, who earned two degrees from MIT in the early 1960s, is one of the largest in the school's history.

The money will be used to establish the Samuel Tak Lee MIT Real Estate Entrepreneurship Lab, and will fund student fellowships and support research on real estate and urbanization.

Coca-Cola to cut up to 1,800 jobs

Coca-Cola Co. will cut as many as 1,800 jobs, or about 1 percent of its global workforce, as the world's largest beverage company reduces costs amid a sales slump.

The first employees to be fired were notified yesterday and more jobs will be eliminated in the coming months, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The cuts will stretch across Coke's corporate headquarters and North American operations, both based in Atlanta, as well as its international units.

Today

• Labor Department releases employment data for December.
• Commerce Department releases wholesale trade inventories for November.
• The Charlestown, R.I.-based Randall Family of Cos., which includes Kinlin Grover Real Estate on Cape Cod as well as Page Taft and Randall Realtor in Rhode Island and Connecticut, has announced the appointment of Kathy Forrester, left, as marketing director. Forrester has previously held marketing management positions at Hydroid, AMA Nantucket, Talbots and Walt Disney World.

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Facebook buys video-compression startup Quickfire

Facebook, in a clear signal of its expanding video ambitions, has acquired video-compression technology company QuickFire Networks.

Facebook did not disclose terms of the deal. San Diego-based QuickFire has developed technology to reduce bandwidth required to deliver video over the Internet.

Currently, Facebook serves an average of more than 1 billion videos per day. Under the Facebook deal, some "key members of our team will be joining Facebook and we will wind down our business operations," QuickFire CEO Craig Lee wrote in a post about the deal Thursday.

© 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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US gains 252K jobs; unemployment falls to 5.6 pct.

WASHINGTON — The United States capped its best year for hiring in 15 years with a healthy gain in December, and the unemployment rate hit a six-year low. The numbers support expectations that the United States will strengthen further this year even as overseas economies stumble.

The government said Friday that employers added 252,000 jobs last month and 50,000 more in October and November combined than it had previously estimated. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.6 percent from 5.8 percent in November. The rate is now at its lowest point since 2008.

Still, wage growth remains weak. Average hourly pay slipped 5 cents in December. And the unemployment rate fell partly because many of the jobless gave up looking for work and so were no longer counted as unemployed.

Even so, nearly 3 million more people are earning paychecks than at the start of 2014 — the largest annual job gain since 1999. Gas prices have also plunged, which will give consumers — the main driver of the U.S. economy — a further boost in coming months.

"We are in a recovery that is accelerating," said Michael Strain, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

The unemployment rate is now near the 5.2 percent to 5.5 percent range that the Federal Reserve considers consistent with a healthy economy — one reason the Fed is expected to raise interest rates from record lows by midyear.

Yet for now, the plummeting oil prices and weak pay growth are helping keep inflation even lower than the Fed's 2 percent target rate. Many economists think inflation may fail to reach even 1 percent this year. A result is that the Fed could feel pressure to avoid raising rates anytime soon.

"There is still room for stimulus without having to worry about inflation taking off," Strain said.

Most economists forecast that the U.S. economy will expand more than 3 percent this year. If it does, 2015 would mark the first time in a decade that growth has reached that level for a full calendar year.

American businesses have been largely shrugging off signs of economic weakness overseas and continuing to hire at solid rates. The U.S. economy's steady improvement is especially striking compared with the weakness in much of the world.

Europe is barely growing, and its unemployment rate is nearly double the U.S. level. Japan, the world's third-largest economy, is in recession. Russia's economy is cratering as oil prices plummet. China is straining to manage a slowdown. Brazil and others in Latin America are struggling.

Fears about significantly cheaper oil spooked investors earlier this week before financial markets recovered. But most economists remain optimistic that lower energy prices will benefit U.S. consumers and many businesses.

The drop in average hourly pay last month to $24.57 followed a downward revision to November's average pay gain. Hourly pay over the past two months has now risen just a penny.

During 2014, average wages rose just 1.7 percent, not much above the inflation rate, which was 1.3 percent. As hiring ramps up and the unemployment rate falls, those pressures should, at least in theory, compel employers to raise pay to attract workers. But that trend has yet to emerge.

The fall in average pay may actually reflect economic strength, said John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo. Silvia suggested that the healthy hiring of recent months means that "many of these new hires are entry-level workers and would be paid less" than experienced employees.

Last month, the number of unemployed fell 383,000 to 8.7 million. Fewer than one-third of people out of work found jobs. The rest stopped looking. The percentage of Americans who are either working or looking for work fell back to a 37-year low last touched in September.

The brightening jobs picture has healed some of the deep scars left by the Great Recession. The number of people who have been unemployed for more than six months fell 27 percent last year. And the number working part time who would prefer full-time work dropped 12 percent.

Still, to keep up with population growth since the recession began, the economy would need to create 4.9 million additional jobs, according to the Brookings Institution.

Economists expect more healing this year. Goldman Sachs estimates that additional spending on restaurants, auto dealers and other goods and services resulting from lower energy prices will lead to 300,000 more jobs this year than if oil prices had remained at their levels of six months ago.

Spending at retail stores and restaurants rose in November by the most in eight months, an early sign that Americans are spending some of the savings they are enjoying on gas-pump prices.

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AP Economics Writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.

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Charlie Baker thinks outside box with Pine St.

A business started­ by New England's largest homeless shelter has grown into a thriving enterprise that's even catering some of Gov.-elect Charlie Baker's inaugural events.

Based at Boston's Pine Street Inn, iCater is pro­viding boxed lunches for student volunteers at today's inauguration and cookies at tonight's festivities at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

"We were thrilled when we found out we were catering the inauguration," executive chef Frank van Overbeeke said. "It's quite eye-opening for the shelter guests we train."

Started in 2000 under the name Abundant Table, the business prepared meals for nonprofits before changing its name and branching out into corporate catering in 2011. Since then, iCater has built a growing roster of clients, including Boston Medical Center, Tufts University and the Boston Foundation.

"The food is always fresh, the people are polite, and it's good value for your money," said Linda Brown, resident services coordinator for Morville House, which provides subsidized housing for low-income seniors in Boston. "Plus, it's convenient."

Under van Overbeeke's supervision, iCater's team of four cooks, 25 trainees and five kitchen helpers prepare more than 3,500 meals daily, grossing $1 million a year, which goes to the Pine Street Inn's Food Services Training Program.

"I've learned so much — how to prepare different foods, how to work together," said Tishka Alston, 45, who graduated from the program last fall.

Since 2000, iCater has trained 725 shelter residents, and graduates have gone on to jobs at eateries including Myers and Chang, Legal Seafoods and Flour Bakery.

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Boston rolls dice on suit

Boston appears poised to turn back millions of dollars it is due from Wynn Resorts because it has sued the state Gaming Commission challenging the validity of the license issued to the Las Vegas gaming giant's planned casino in neighboring Everett.

Wynn attempted to deliver a check to Boston for $1 million, an up-front payment due this month as a condition of its license, but it was rejected by the city's corporation counsel, Eugene O'Flaherty.

"Pursuant to the content of the complaint filed by the City of Boston and the disagreement over the lawful issuance of the license award you reference, we will not accept the check," O'Flaherty wrote Monday night in an email obtained by the Herald to Wynn lawyer Jacqui Krum, who'd written O'Flaherty asking how the money should be delivered.

The denial raises the question of whether the city will also reject other money intended to lessen the impact of the planned casino, including a piece of a $17.5 million fund for communities that, like Boston, aren't deemed casino host or surrounding communities. Wynn paid $7.5 million into the fund, which Boston expressed interest in pursuing in November. Applications for the money are due Feb. 1.

Asked if the city plans to turn down other money owed by Wynn, Bonnie McGilpin, spokeswoman for Mayor Martin J. Walsh, said the city "is now engaged in litigation and therefore cannot comment on specifics related to the lawsuit."

"Mayor Walsh is taking­ this action to protect the city and the neighborhood of Charlestown," she said. "Every remedy was exhausted to date and now this matter is in the hands of the litigators seeking to present this case in court on behalf of the city."

Wynn's $1 million payment was technically made to an escrow fund controlled by the Gaming Commission for dispersal, but Boston is declining to collect it. Spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said the commission isn't sure how long it will hold on to the funds.

"At this point, we will hold that in escrow until they are ready to claim it," Driscoll said.

The conditions on Wynn's license say the $1 million up-front payment was to cover additional public safety resources to handle increased traffic, facilitate water transportation to the casino and support community programs in bordering Charlestown.

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Hingham beach outpost on Sullivan’s menu

Sullivan's, a landmark South Boston food stand that's been selling hot dogs and other fare on Castle Island since 1951, is exploring a Hingham outpost.

Hingham Bathing Beach trustees are in talks with the third generation of Sullivan's operators to open a seasonal concession offering the same food and affordable prices as in Southie.

"That's something we've prided ourselves on since my grandfather opened in 1951 — to provide quality food at reasonable prices," Brendan Sullivan said.

It would be Sullivan's first expansion. "We always thought about it the last few years, but never made any moves until this opportunity arose," Sullivan said. "It's a very similar situation from what we have now and what the trustees would like, so I think we are a perfect match for them."

For the trustees, it's an opportunity to give beach-goers regular access to rest­rooms not provided by the current bathhouse, open from July to Labor Day for three or four hours around high tide, trustee Alan Perrault said. "The concessionaire is responsible for keeping them open during the hours it's open, so we'll get that coverage," he said.

Sullivan's at Hingham Bathing Beach would be smaller than the Castle Island stand, where throngs of people line up for half-price dogs on opening weekend, usually the last weekend in February. It would operate on the same timetable, weather permitting, through the last weekend of November.

The next step is negotiating a lease and permitting.

"We're at the very beginning stages," Sullivan said. "I would love to have it open by the end of next summer, but that might be pushing it."

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FBI director: Sony hacker sloppiness helped establish North Korea link

FBI director James Comey, expressing "very high confidence" that North Korea was behind the cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, on Wednesday revealed more details of how the bureau established the link to Pyongyang.

"The Guardians of Peace would send emails threatening Sony employees and would post online various statements explaining their work," Comey said at a cybersecurity conference in New York. "In nearly every case, they would use proxy servers to disguise where they were coming from ... But several times they got sloppy, either because they forgot or because they had a technical problem. They connected directly, and we could see them, and we could see that the IP addresses that were being used to post and to send the emails were coming from IP [addresses] that were exclusively used by the North Koreans."

Comey's comments came after private security experts raised major doubts that North Korea was behind the attacks. Last week, officials from cybersecurity firm Norse Corp. met with FBI officials to go through its own evidence of the cyberattack, blaming not North Korea but an ex-employee who calls herself "Lena"and at least six outside hackers.

But the FBI said they had "no credible information to indicate that any other individual is responsible for this cyber incident." The White House announced additional sanctions on North Korea on Friday.

At the conference, Comey said he has "very high confidence about this attribution, as does the entire intelligence community." But he added, "I want to show as much as I can to the American people about the why, and I want to show the bad guys as little as possible about the how, how we see what we see. Because it will happen again, and we have to preserve our methods and our sources."

Comey said he did urge the intelligence community to declassify additional information about how the FBI identified IP addresses.

"It was a mistake [by the hackers] that we haven't told you about before that was a very clear indication of who was doing this," he said. "They would shut it off very quickly once they realized the mistake but not before we saw and knew where it was coming from."

James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, also spoke at the conference, held at Fordham University. He named North Korean general, Kim Yong-chol, as responsible for overseeing the attack. The general heads North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau.

"Cyber is a powerful new realm for them," Clapper said, adding that it provides "maximum influence at minimal cost."

Clapper said over the weekend, he saw "The Interview," the movie said to be the motive for North Korea's action. "It's obvious to me the North Koreans don't have a sense of humor," he said.

© 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Realty queen Teresa Giudice heads to the Big House and drops price on her house

Monday "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Teresa Giudice simultaneously surrendered to the authorities to serve her 15-month sentence for bankruptcy fraud in a Danbury, CT, minimum security Federal prison and slashed the asking price of her flashy faux château in leafy Towaco, NJ, from $3.499 million to $2.999 million. (The property was initially listed in September 2014 at $3.999 million.)

The table up turning "housewife" and cookbook entrepreneur and her muscle-bound husband Joe, who will serve his four-year sentence after his wife is released, purchased the 3.77-acre property that backs up to Interstate 287 in 2002 for $540,000. The (in)famously spendthrift pair -- they filed bankruptcy in 2009 but withdrew their case in 2011 after investigators started poking around looking for the exact sorts of financial malfeasance that eventually got them both convicted -- proceeded to erect an exceptionally garish, marble encrusted manifestation of their apparently ersatz wealth.

Listing details show the 10,044-square-foot pile -- an architectural hot mess of the highest order -- has six bedrooms and six bathrooms including a vast master suite with fireplace, three custom-fitted walk-in closets and an onyx-tiled bathroom with -- natch -- gold-plated fixtures. Not surprisingly, there's a double staircase in hotel lobby-scaled foyer which listing details kindly call a "Cinderella staircase. The formal living and dining rooms both have fireplaces and the former a melodramatically double height ceiling. Slightly less ostentatious family quarters include a library/office and a granite countered kitchen with high-grade appliances and an adjoining dining area. In addition to a good-sized family room there's well-stocked children's play room with pink walls and a leopard print sofa and a roomy game room where a built-in bar does battle with several pieces of exercise equipment. Somewhere there's a wine making room with burnt orange walls.

Outside, the gated grounds include large and largely featureless lawns, a small pond, and a grimly over-scaled porte-cochere stuck like a barnacle to one end of the house. There's also, or at least once, a chicken coop as well as a chain link fenced dog run, an attached garage and a two-car detached garage with attached office.

As far as Your Mama can tell, the couple still own a ragged looking house in Lincoln Park, NJ, currently listed for $179,000 -- just over the $170,000 they paid in 2005 -- as well as canal-front house along the Jersey Shore in Manahawkin, NJ, that's currently listed at $315,000, well under the $347,000 they paid in 2005.

© 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Shell, villagers agree to $83.5 million for huge oil spill

JOHANNESBURG — Oil giant Shell has agreed to pay a Nigerian fishing community 55 million pounds (about $83.5 million) for the worst oil spill in Nigeria, an unprecedented settlement that experts say could open a floodgate of litigation there and abroad.

Wednesday's agreement ends a three-year legal battle in Britain over two spills in 2008 that destroyed thousands of hectares (acres) of mangroves and the fish and shellfish that sustained villagers of the Bodo community in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta.

It "is thought to be one of the largest payouts to an entire community following environmental damage," said Martyn Day of the claimants' London lawyers, Leigh Day & Co.

"We hope that in future Shell will properly consider claims such as these from the outset and that this method of compensation, with each affected individual being compensated, will act as a template for Shell in future cases" in Nigeria and elsewhere. Shell Nigeria is 55 percent owned by the Nigerian government.

George Frynas, who has researched and published for 20 years about community conflict and litigation, said the agreement has "enormous importance" that "may open the floodgates for other communities around the world to sue companies."

Lawyers around the world will be watching closely and looking for ways to bring more cases to U.S. and U.K. courts because the amounts involved are so huge, he said.

The last precedent-setting case saw Shell paying compensation of just over $300,000 in Nigeria in 1994. Frynas is a professor at Britain's Middlesex University Business School.

Murtala Touray of IHS Country Risk said Nigerian courts could now be inundated with similar compensation litigation.

Nigeria's oil-rich southern Niger Delta suffers hundreds of oil spills every year and villagers have been in conflict with oil companies for decades. Typically, victims spend years battling a corrupt Nigerian court system only to come away with a pittance, Frynas said.

Touray called Wednesday's agreement a significant and precedent-setting development that "will create huge expectations among the communities of instant transformation of their lives from poverty to opulence."

Bodo community leader Chief Sylvester Kogbara described more modest aspirations.

He told The Associated Press that villagers are discussing setting up as petty traders and other small businesses until their environment is restored. Under the agreement, some 15,600 fishermen and farmers get 2,200 pounds ($3,340) in a country where the minimum monthly wage is less than $100.

About $30.4 million awarded to the community in the settlement will be used to provide needed basic services, Kogbara said.

"We have no health facilities, our schools are very basic, there's no clean water supply," he said.

Villagers began receiving payouts on Tuesday, according to Pastor Christian Kpandei of the Center for Environment, Human Rights and Development in the Niger Delta.

Shell also has agreed to a long-overdue cleanup, but a U.N. report has said it could take 30 years to properly restore the ruined mangrove swamps.

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US trade deficit hits 11-month low of $39 billion

WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit fell in November to the lowest level in 11 months as crude oil imports dropped to a two-decade low.

The trade deficit narrowed to $39 billion in November, down 7.7 percent from a revised October deficit of $42.2 billion, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. U.S. exports slipped 1 percent to $196.4 billion, with sales of commercial airliners falling.

Imports dropped even faster, falling 2.2 percent to $235.4 billion. That was primarily a reflection of foreign oil declines. The volume of crude imported in November hit its lowest level since 1994, while the average price dropped to a two-year low.

The U.S. trade deficit is being helped by falling global oil prices and a boom in U.S. energy production, which has lessened America's reliance on imports.

The November deficit was the lowest since a trade gap of $37.4 billion in December 2013. Through the first 11 months of 2014, the deficit is running 5.1 percent above the same period in 2013.

The smaller-than-expected deficit for November caused some economists to boost their growth forecasts for the final three months of the year.

Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said trade should be less of a drag on the economy than he had previously expected and is now projecting overall economic growth of 2.25 percent in the October-December quarter. Other economists are more optimistic and estimating growth of 3 percent in the fourth quarter.

Many economists believe the trade deficit will keep rising in 2015, reflecting an expanding U.S. economy that will be importing more foreign products than U.S. producers will be selling overseas. American manufacturers are grappling with weakness in a number of major export markets such as Europe and Japan, as well as a strengthening U.S. dollar that makes American goods more expensive for foreign consumers.

A rising trade deficit acts as a drag on economic growth, but economists are still forecasting that overall growth this year will be stronger than in 2014.

In November, the politically sensitive trade deficit with China dropped 8 percent to $29.9 billion but remained on track to set a new all-time high for the year. America's deficit with China is the largest for any country. It has added to pressure on Congress and the Obama administration to take tougher actions against what critics see as unfair Chinese trade practices such as the country's manipulation of its currency to gain trade advantages over American companies.

The widening trade gap with China comes at a time when the Obama administration hopes to finally get Congress to approve the fast-track authority it needs to wrap up a major 12-nation trade agreement with Pacific Rim countries known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The administration sees the trade deal as one of the areas where President Barack Obama may be able to find common ground with Republicans who took control of the Senate this week and now control both chambers of Congress.

The U.S. deficit with the European Union dropped 7.4 percent to $11.8 billion in November as imports from that region fell more than U.S. exports. There is concern that an economic slowdown in Europe will dampen U.S. export sales.

For the first 11 months of 2014, U.S. energy exports are up 9.6 percent compared with the same period in 2013, putting them on track to hit a record even with the recent fall in prices.

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Al Getler named new publisher of Burlington Free Press

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Al Getler, group publisher of the North of Boston Media Group, has been named publisher of the Burlington Free Press.

In taking over at the Free Press, Getler returns to Gannett Co. Inc., where he spent nearly a decade with the Newspaper Network of Central Ohio in various marketing and circulation roles. He also was publisher of The Advocate.

Getler also has worked for The Record in Troy, New York, The Press of Atlantic City in New Jersey and the North Jersey Media Group.

At the Free Press, Getler succeeds Jim Fogler, who left in September to become vice president of business development for Party City.

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Survey: US companies stepped up hiring in December

WASHINGTON — U.S. businesses ramped up hiring last month in the latest sign that the nation's economy is expanding despite worries about global growth that have sent financial markets tumbling.

Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that companies added 241,000 jobs in December, up from 227,000 in November. That suggests Friday's government report on December job gains will also be healthy.

The ADP numbers cover only private businesses and sometimes diverge from the government's more comprehensive report, which includes government agencies.

Economists forecast the government's figures will show that employers added 240,000 jobs in December, according to a survey by financial data provider FactSet. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 5.8 percent.

Hiring was solid across most large industries and company sizes. Manufacturers added 26,000 jobs, the second-highest monthly total in 2014 and up from 16,000 in November. Construction firms added 23,000, up from 20,000 the previous month.

Small companies with fewer than 50 employees gained 106,000 jobs, up from 99,000 in November. Medium-sized firms gained 70,000 jobs and large companies 66,000.

Strong economic growth has encouraged employers to ramp up hiring. The economy expanded at a 5 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the healthiest pace since 2003. And that followed 4.6 percent growth in the April-June quarter.

Employers added nearly 2.7 million new jobs in the first 11 months of last year, the most since 1999. Still, the job market is not yet back to full health. There are about 9.1 million unemployed people, up from about 7.5 million before the Great Recession. And 6.8 million people are working part-time but would prefer full-time work, up from just 4.1 million before the downturn.

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Monsanto earnings fall 34 percent on lower corn seed sales

ST LOUIS, Mo. — Monsanto said Wednesday that its earnings fell 34 percent in its first fiscal quarter as South American farmers cut back on planting corn, reducing demand for the company's biotech-enhanced seeds.

U.S. farmers harvested record crops of soybeans and corn last year, sending prices on those food staples to their lowest levels in years. That has resulted in farmers in South America and elsewhere reducing the number of acres they dedicate to corn. The company said lower corn plantings in the U.S. will likely reduce second quarter results by 5 to 10 percent compared with the prior year.

Monsanto said its business was also affected by reduced cotton planting in Australia and a shift in timing for its chemical business.

The St. Louis-based company reported a profit of $243 million, or 50 cents per share, down from $368 million, or 69 cents per share, in the prior year period. Earnings, adjusted to account for discontinued operations, came to 47 cents per share in the most recent quarter.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 34 cents per share.

The agriculture products company's revenue fell more than 8 percent to $2.87 billion in the period, on lower sales of corn seeds and herbicide. Analysts expected $2.96 billion, according to Zacks.

Monsanto expects full-year earnings in the range of $5.75 to $6 per share.

The company's shares rose 74 cents to $116.99.69 in premarket trading shortly before the market open.

Monsanto has dominated the bioengineered-seed business for more than a decade and recently began developing products specifically for emerging markets like Argentina, Brazil and parts of Asia. The company is also making investments in computerized tools for the agricultural sector.

Monsanto executives predict this expanded portfolio of offerings will help the company double its earnings per share over the next five years.

"The near-term headwinds in agriculture persist, but our ability to deliver new solutions to help farmers improve yields while efficiently using resources provides the opportunity to deliver growth in both the current environment and over the longer-term," said CEO Hugh Grant in a statement.

The company's biotech seeds have genetically engineered traits that the company says benefit farmers enough that they come out ahead, despite their higher costs.

Total seed and seed license revenue declined to $1.62 billion from $1.67 billion with higher soybean sales partially offsetting lower sales of the company's best-selling product, biotech corn seeds.

Sales of the company's signature herbicide, Roundup, and other chemicals declined to $1.25 billion from $1.47 billion.

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Mercedes-Benz debuts concept driverless car of future at CES

LAS VEGAS — The car of the future according to Mercedes-Benz is one that drives itself, has seats inside that swivel to face each other and features a computerized brain that can watch a pedestrian walk by and even offer a digital projection of a crosswalk to help the person cross the road.

The carmaker unveiled the sleek concept car that it is calling F 015 Monday night at the International CES showcase for consumer electronics.

Mercedes-Benz turned a stage inside The Cosmopolitan on the Strip in Las Vegas into a scene usually reserved for annual car shows attracting a swell of photographers on stage afterward.

The company's leader Dieter Zetsche says there are still questions about driverless cars that require answers but the time is right to think about the car of the future.

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Samsung calls on a friend in Hollywood to help sell more TVs

With increased competition from Chinese brands stealing away a larger percentage of its market share, Samsung called in one of its friends in Hollywood to help make its new hardware at the Consumer Electronics Show a little more attractive.

Only minutes into its press event in Las Vegas, on Monday, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment president Mike Dunn took the stage to throw his support behind Samsung's SUHD TV.

"We are focused on breaking down barriers and innovating across our business so we can deliver a movie experience for consumers that's richer and deeply immersive. Samsung UHD provides stunning picture quality and true-to-life colors that are delighting consumers at home," Dunn told a massive gathering of international press, a turnout so large that it made Samsung look as if it was giving a presentation at San Diego's Comic-Con.

Perhaps those in the audience were hoping for another Michael Bay moment, in which the director abruptly left the stage when a teleprompter didn't work during Samsung's CES press event last year, creating an awkward but highly buzzed about scene.

They didn't get that this year.

Instead, a smooth presentation showcased new 4K TVs -- Samsung's latest entry into the smart TV biz, with the new line of high-end SUHD flatscreens expected to be released sometime this spring.

The electronics is throwing considerable weight behind UHD TVs this year, with lower prices and larger screens expected to help replace aging flatscreens in homes and be especially embraced in emerging markets.

Fox and Samsung formed a relationship last year as part of the studio's inhouse innovation lab, which is focused on embracing digital platforms as a way to make homevideo releases more attractive -- especially to consumers' wallets. If they're spending more time at home, why not get them to spend more money on movies and TV shows, goes the thinking.

And without content, electronics like home theater systems just look cold.

Samsung plans to release nine SUHD LCDs this year, with the curved JS9500 -- measuring 65- and 85-inches in width -- serving as its flagship (see above).

The units use nano-crystal technology to present the best color and contrast while using very little power. The TVs provide viewers with 64 times more color expression than conventional TVs, and produce images with much darker blacks and an elevated brightness up to 2.5 times brighter than other flatscreens, as well as double the color adjustment points for the most accurate color display, according to Samsung. As for the 'S' in SUHD, it doesn't stand for anything.

The company said it achieved all that with Fox's help, remastering scenes from Ridley Scott's "Exodus: Gods and Kings."

To hype the capabilities of its new SUHD LCD TVs, Samsung turned to film colorist Stephen Nakamura, who worked on "Exodus," as well as Fox's "X-Men: Days of Future Past," with Nakamura taking the stage to call Samsung's SUHDs "the best TVs I've ever seen. They are a big leap forward for the consumer experience."

Samsung, of course, isn't trying to relinquish its stronghold over the home entertainment biz, having dominated sales of TVs and other hardware for nearly a decade. It controlled 60% of the flatscreen market in 2014, the company said, with half of it made up of curved screens.

During its presentation, Samsung also noted that all of its smart TVs will now be run using Tizen, a Web-based software designed to be faster and enable more apps to be designed for its screens. The software was used to design a new user interface for its smart TVs, being unveiled at CES, that Samsung considers more "playful."

Samsung also promoted its UHD Video Pack, in partnership with M-GO, a joint venture between Technicolor and DreamWorks Animation. Fox distributes DWA's films and homevideo titles.

The company also made a big push for its Milk streaming service. After starting with music and moving into video, Milk VR will soon offer up content for Samsung's Gear virtual reality headset.

Samsung's press event came the same day that the company joined Fox to become part of a new UHD Alliance, made up of electronics manufacturers and the major studios to promote 4K content, and "deliver a consistently excellent viewing experience at home," Dunn said.

"We have to make it easy for consumers to know which products and what content will give them the true UHD experience," Dunn added. "The UHD Alliance will help consumers and content creators identify high-quality UHD technology. This space is evolving rapidly, with many features, such as resolution, high dynamic range, wide color gamut and immersive audio. The UHD Alliance is a huge step forward for our industry."

(C) 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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TV makers design for streaming video to stay relevant

LAS VEGAS — Does anyone just watch TV anymore? The dramatic shift toward online and mobile viewing is driving television set makers to design as much for streaming video as for watching broadcast or cable channels.

Traditional TV is far from dead, but these days viewers care less about watching shows live and even prefer saving certain series to watch all at once in an evening or weekend of binge-watching. Broadcast networks and hundreds of cable channels share viewer attention with thousands of online services, including amateurs creating their own series on YouTube. Already, Netflix has outbid traditional channels for hits such as "House of Cards." And Dish this week announced it will sell online access to a bundle of channels including live sports network ESPN for just $20 a month. Online video will account for a third of all video viewing in 2020, up from about 10 percent in 2013, predicts The Diffusion Group, a research firm that specializes in Internet video.

So how to keep the television set, that focal point of the American living room for decades, relevant? Design for online video.

At the International CES gadget show this week in Las Vegas, TV makers unveiled new models with 4K resolution, or four times the clarity offered by today's high definition TVs. They are pushing the features even though not a single TV channel is yet available in 4K. But Internet services such as Netflix, Amazon and M-Go are starting to offer 4K video.

Sony on Monday promised to create more 4K content to watch on those sets. Four popular shows from its entertainment division — "The Goldbergs," ''The Blacklist," ''Masters of Sex" and "The Night Shift" — will soon be available in 4K and it's working with partners including Netflix and YouTube to deliver more 4K streaming video.

"It's going to be the first format primarily driven by streaming," says Jim Funk, a senior vice president at Roku Inc., which makes streaming TV devices.

Beyond 4K, Sharp developed an engineering trick to make its high-end set look even sharper. Samsung added a nanocrystal semiconductor layer to make colors purer and the screen brighter. LG is pushing organic LED screens with richer colors and pure black — the kind typically limited to smaller displays such as phones because of price.

And Internet connectivity is becoming standard in sets, the way all TVs are color now. LG and Samsung also have ways to easily switch video between TV and mobile devices, so that if you're watching a movie on a phone, you can continue it on your TV as soon as you get home.

The Consumer Electronics Association expects TV sales to increase 2 percent to 251 million units this year. The average screen size is projected to be 40 inches, up from 31 inches in 2007. CEA predicts more than 23 million of the units will be 4K TVs this year, about 2.5 times the shipments in 2014. That's even with the explosion of viewing on tablets and smartphones.

People tend to use phones and tablets while traveling or for shorter video, says Tim Alessi, head of new product development for home entertainment at LG Electronics USA. For a full-length movie, viewers want to replicate the theater in the home. That's only done through a big TV set.

"When I want a full home-entertainment experience, especially with my family and friends, the TV is still the best way to do that," agrees Tim Baxter, president and chief operating officer of Samsung Electronics America.

And just as TV makers are hopping on the online train, so are content providers. Traditional channels are becoming available without the need for a cable or satellite subscription. Satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp. is the latest, offering its Sling TV package of channels, including ESPN and CNN, for delivery entirely over the Internet. The availability of ESPN addresses a major reason people still keep their TV service — live sports. Sony also has an Internet television service expected to debut by the end of March — PlayStation Vue — and HBO and Showtime plan to debut Internet-only subscription offerings this year. The packages are aimed at the millions of so-called cord-cutters or "cord-nevers" that find cable and satellite bundles too pricey and don't subscribe to either, turning instead to Hulu, Google's YouTube and Amazon.

Lesley H. Stahl, 31, is one potential customer of an Internet-only offering. She and her husband never considered cable when they bought a new house in Sunnyvale, California, figuring they had been mostly watching video online anyway. But Stahl says she would be cautious about subscribing to new channels, as she's used to just waiting until Hulu or Amazon gets the show. She said costs for individual subscriptions add up, and there's only so much time to watch.

"There's not any one TV show I'm so addicted to that I'm going to pay extra," she says. "At a certain point, we're just spending a whole lot of money."

These Internet offerings alone won't accelerate cancellations of cable or satellite services, says Joel Espelien, senior analyst for The Diffusion Group. But they might get more people to downgrade to lower tiers, he says, and use the savings to buy specific channels or services of interest.

Or a brand-new 4K TV?

___

AP Technology Writer Brandon Bailey contributed to this report.

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Hyundai Motor to spend $74B over 4 years on facilities, R&D

SEOUL, South Korea — Hyundai Motor Group, the world's fifth-largest automaker, said Tuesday it plans to spend 81 trillion won ($73.7 billion) over the next four years on factories, research and a new headquarters.

The announcement comes after Hyundai Motor Co. last week forecast the slowest annual sales growth in more than a decade. The South Korean government has pressured businesses to stop hoarding cash reserves and instead invest and hire more.

Hyundai said the average annual spending during the four years is a 35 percent increase from 2014.

The company plans to build two new factories in China, which will start operating in late 2016 and 2017 as its existing factories reach full capacity. Its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. is also expanding the capacity of its existing Chinese factory.

The group will also build new headquarters including auto-themed exhibition halls, hotels and shopping malls in Gangnam, a trendy district in southwestern Seoul. It said in September that it would pay $10.1 billion for a 79,342 square meter (854,030 square foot) plot of land for the new headquarters that the auto group believes will burnish its brand.

The expansion of factories at home and abroad and the construction of the new headquarters in Seoul will account for more than half of the four-year investment at 49.1 trillion won.

The group will spend 31.6 trillion won on research and development for low emission vehicles, smart cars and other technologies. By 2018, its affiliated companies will hire 7,345 employees in R&D including about 3,000 workers to develop low emission and smart car technologies.

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If the Shoe Fits: Coach buying Stuart Weitzman for $530M

NEW YORK — Luxury handbag and accessories company Coach is expanding its footwear collection, buying Stuart Weitzman Holdings LLC from private equity firm Sycamore Partners for about $530 million.

Coach Inc. will also make up to $44 million in contingent payments to Sycamore Partners if certain revenue targets are hit over the three years after the deal closes.

Coach is in the midst of transforming its brand, working to reduce the level of its promotions and changing product offerings. The company previously announced that it plans to close about 70 underperforming stores in fiscal 2015 as it tries to make its business more competitive with fast-growing rivals.

Stuart Weitzman had approximately $300 million in revenue for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2014. The brand is currently available in 70 countries. Its products are sold in fine specialty and department stores globally and in its own retail stores in the U.S. and Europe.

"We are excited to be working with the Coach team and leveraging its strong infrastructure to help us drive efficiency and expand our product mix to an even broader consumer base worldwide," Stuart Weitzman, creative director and executive chairman of Stuart Weitzman Holdings, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Weitzman will remain in his roles with the company.

New York-based Coach said it will finance the deal with available cash and other sources of financing available to it in the credit and capital markets. The acquisition is expected to add to its earnings per share, excluding transaction-related costs.

The deal is expected to close by May.

Coach's stock rose 46 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $37.19 in premarket trading shortly before the market open. Its shares were down 34 percent over the past year through Monday's close.

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Raise your home's IQ: smart gadgets take center stage at CES

LAS VEGAS — Imagine a world in which your garage door opens automatically as you pull into the driveway. The living room lights and heater turn on — perhaps the oven starts warming up, too. In the so-called "smart home," cars, appliances and other devices all have sensors and Internet connectivity to think and act for themselves, and make your life easier.

We're not there just yet, but we're getting closer.

The smart-home concept is known in tech circles as the Internet of Things. Current iterations primarily include our ability to control gadgets such as lights and security alarms or view data remotely through a smartphone app. At the International CES gadget show in Las Vegas this week, manufacturers will promote more devices and functionality. Some gadgets will be able to talk directly with one another, not just to an app. The four-day show opens to the public Tuesday.

The Internet of Things could mean big business for gadget makers. The Consumer Electronics Association projects sales of smart energy and security systems alone will total $574 million this year, a 23 percent increase from 2014. Although that pales by comparison to the $18 billion spent on TVs and displays, growth has been swift. In terms of people smartening up their homes in earnest, though, it will probably be another two years before devices are cheap and widespread enough for the typical consumer, says Eduardo Pinheiro, CEO of Muzzley, which makes a hub that allows devices to talk to each other.

For now, the smart home is more about possibilities than practice. Many companies exhibiting at CES are laying the foundation for what a smart-home system will eventually do, hoping to entice consumers to start thinking about upgrading to smart gadgets. It's not always an easy sell.

Consider wearable devices that track fitness and other activities. In many cases, the novelty wears off quickly, and devices end up in drawers. But what if a wearable device that tracks sleep could tell the coffeemaker to start brewing as soon as you awoke? When the coffee's done, what if the sprinklers on the front lawn automatically turned off so you didn't get wet walking out the front door to work?

For example, Lucis Technologies will soon ship a smart-lighting device called NuBryte that can learn your behavior, such as what time you tend to come home. Sensors can turn on the night light if you wake up to use the bathroom but switch on brighter lights during the day. A coffeemaker from Smarter will soon use data from fitness trackers such as Fitbit. If you had a bad night of sleep, the coffeemaker will know to make the java stronger that morning. Other products focus on better notifications: a battery for a smoke detector to alert you on your phone when the alarm goes off, or a bracelet that vibrates when the baby cries in its crib. (Moms rejoice: the bracelet is even smart enough to alternate which parent it alerts to get up.)

"It's got to be something people are seeing it can do and want it to do," says Chris Penrose, AT&T's senior vice president for the Internet of Things. "It's got to make their lives better and be incredibly easy to use."

"True consumer value will come when devices work in concert with one another and in many cases across manufacturers," adds Brett Dibkey, a Whirlpool Corp. vice president. "The home adapts to the way consumers live rather than the other way around."

At CES, Whirlpool will showcase dryers that can run at a slower, energy-saving cycle if you aren't home and thus aren't in a rush. The dryer integrates with Google Inc.'s Nest smart thermostat, which has sensors to figure out that no one's home and then lowers the heat automatically. Meanwhile, a smart-home hub called DigitalStrom plans to take cues from Nest. If Nest is trying to cool down the house, for instance, DigitalStrom will lower automated window shades to block out sunlight.

These are the building blocks for an eventual automated home. Once those building blocks are in place, services can better predict what you want. For example, Netflix is already good about recommending movies to watch based on your preferences, but it might suggest something different if it could read data from a wearable device or camera and tell that you're with friends, or stressed out, says Shawn Dubravac, senior director of research with the Consumer Electronics Association.

As we get closer to being able to live like the Jetsons, manufacturers will have to convince consumers that the technology is secure from hackers — and that convenience and peace of mind are worth any risks.

Ann Poletti, who now uses the Nest thermostat at her home in San Francisco, said her first apartment burned down, so she is sensitive to making sure all her appliances are off. The Internet of Things would let her check remotely.

"Toothbrushes and ironing boards, one day it will all be connected. I think that's great," says Poletti. "Some people don't want all the data out there. I'm worried about access to my bank account, less so about whether my heat is going on or off."

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Wynn closes on $35M purchase of Everett casino site

Wynn Resorts has finalized the $35 million purchase of its 33-acre casino site in Everett, taking the contaminated property out of the hands of owners with ties to a convicted felon and mob associate.

Wynn had three months from the formal awarding of its license in November to close on the Mystic River parcel.

"The acquisition of the property keeps us on schedule and moving closer to construction,'" said Robert DeSalvio, president of Wynn Everett. "Today, we hit the 'go' button and we're not stopping until a spectacular Wynn Resort with a new waterfront public park for all to access and enjoy is completed."

The former Monsanto chemical site was owned in part by two developers, Dustin DeNunzio and Anthony Gattineri, who have been indicted on wire fraud and other charges for allegedly working to conceal the ownership stake of convicted felon Charles Lightbody. Lightbody has also been indicted.

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Hedge fund founder, 70, slain in New York City apartment

NEW YORK — A 70-year-old hedge fund founder has been found shot dead inside his Manhattan apartment.

Thomas Gilbert was shot in the head at his Beekman Place residence on the East Side on Sunday, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police were questioning his 30-year-old son, Thomas Gilbert, Jr., on Monday. No charges have been filed.

It was not immediately known if he had a lawyer.

Police said a handgun was found near the body.

The elder Gilbert founded Wainscott Capital Partners Fund in 2011. The fund, which focuses on biotech and health care industries, has $200 million in assets.

Industry publication Hedge Fund Alert said in an August 2013 article that the fund had a net return of nearly 25 percent in 2012.

Gilbert previously co-founded Syzygy Therapeutics, a biotech asset acquisition fund. He also was founder and CEO of an online teacher-education company called Knowledge Delivery Systems Inc.

He was a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School.

The shooting was a rare act of violence on Beekman Place, a tony enclave just north of the United Nations in the Sutton Place neighborhood.

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US to resume first beef imports from Ireland since mad cow

LONDON — Ireland says the United States will permit imports of beef from the country — the first European Union state allowed to resume sales since the mad cow disease scare over 15 years ago.

Simon Coveney, Ireland's minister for agriculture, food and the marine, issued a statement Monday announcing that access to the lucrative U.S. market came after American authorities inspected Ireland's beef production systems. Authorities estimate annual exports could be worth at least 25 million euros ($30 million).

The U.S. lifted its ban on beef from the EU in March 2014, but inspections were necessary before exports were allowed to resume.

Mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is fatal to cows and can cause a fatal human brain disease in people who eat meat from infected cows.

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Carmakers finish strong in 2014, are even better days ahead

DETROIT — Buoyed by a resurgent economy, holiday sales, cheap gasoline and a love affair with pickup trucks, Americans headed to car dealers in droves last month, pushing full-year sales to what's likely to be the highest level since 2006.

Fiat Chrysler, Nissan, Honda and General Motors all reported strong December and annual U.S. sales early Monday, with Nissan and Honda hitting record numbers for the year. Ford faltered during the year but it remained the top-selling brand in the U.S.

The figures pointed to a strong finish for 2014. Analysts are predicting sales of 16.5 million vehicles, up 6 percent from last year and a return to pre-recession levels. And analysts say Americans will continue to buy cars in big numbers this year. They're predicting sales of 17 million for the first time since 2005, close to the record of 17.3 million set in 2000.

Kelley Blue Book expected December sales to be up nearly 10 percent over the previous year to 1.5 million, thanks to holiday promotions and milder-than-usual weather. Automakers report U.S. December and full-year U.S. sales on Monday.

"Automakers should be grinning as they close the books this year," said John Krafcik, president of the TrueCar.com auto buying site.

Fiat Chrysler led the way with a 16 percent increase over 2013, selling just over 2 million cars and trucks. It was the company's best year since 2006. Nissan and Honda also reported gains in December with both Japanese automakers setting sales records.

Fiat Chrysler was led by the Ram pickup truck, with sales up 24 percent for the year. Pickup truck sales rebounded for nearly all automakers through 2014 as small businesses regained confidence and gas prices fell, making the trucks more attractive. Sales of the Jeep Cherokee small SUV were seven times larger than last year, reaching nearly 179,000. Jeep brand sales rose 41 percent for the year to more than 692,000 vehicles, an annual record.

SUVs of all sizes also were hot sellers last year as buyers went for higher seating positions and better cargo-hauling space.

Nissan said its sales grew 11 percent for the year to 1.39 million to set an annual record for the company. Nissan brand sales were up 12 percent for the year, led by the redesigned Rogue small SUV with sales up 22 percent.

At General Motors, a 19 percent sales gain in December helped drive annual sales up 5 percent to 2.94 million cars and trucks. In December, the Buick brand posted a 32 percent sales gain, while GMC was up 23 percent. Both brands advertised 20 percent discounts off sticker prices. GM's full-size pickups, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, each posted gains of more than 30 percent for the month. The company sold over 81,000 big pickups.

Honda said its sales last year rose 1 percent to 1.54 million cars and trucks. That was enough to post the second-best results in company history and a record for the Honda brand. Honda was led by the CR-V small SUV with a 10 percent sales gain to 335,000. That broke the SUV's annual sales record.

Despite strong sales of the new aluminum-body F-150 last month, Ford sales were flat for the year at 2.5 million. But Ford laid claim to being America's top-selling brand for the fifth straight year, and the F-Series remained the top-selling vehicle in America. Ford's December sales were up 1 percent from a year ago for its best December since 2005. Big pickup sales were flat compared with last year at just over 74,000.

Low interest rates and loosening credit standards are drawing buyers. Gas prices — which started the year down 33 percent to $2.23 per gallon nationally, according to AAA — are giving buyers more confidence, whether they're buying their first subcompact or upgrading to a bigger SUV.

And people continued to buy more expensive vehicles. TrueCar reports that the average sales price in 2014 hit more than $33,000, up 1.9 percent from a year ago.

Sales growth is likely to slow this year. That could mean more discounts for buyers, since it will be harder for automakers to maintain growth in a slowing market.

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