Partners income up despite insurance activity losses

Partners HealthCare Systems's operating income climbed during the first quarter of fiscal year 2015, but it continues to see losses in insurance activity.

Health care provider activity brought in $67 million in operating income, and the Neighborhood Health Plan saw $7 million in operating income in the three months that ended Dec. 31.

However, the $7 million includes a premium deficiency reserve set aside in fiscal year 2014 — without that, insurance activity would have seen a loss of $20 million.

Partners, the state's largest hospital and doctors' group, reported $45 million in operating income for the first quarter of last year, including $44 million from provider activity and $1 million from insurance activity.

"Maintaining our focus on the cost-effective, efficient delivery of care, Partners' health care providers generated a strong operating margin, which enables us to reinvest in population health management programs to further improve the patient experience," said Peter K. Markell, chief financial officer and treasurer for Partners HealthCare, in a statement yesterday. "However, our insurance plan, NHP, still faces a significant challenge with respect to receiving adequate rates from the state for the care of MassHealth members."

Total operating revenue at Partners increased $201 million to $2.8 billion in the first quarter.

According to Partners' quarterly report, "total operating expenses increased $173 million (7 percent) to $2.8 billion, due to higher wages and benefits, supplies and medical insurance claims."

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Cherokee Trailhawk chief in its class

With unmatched off-road capabilities and superior highway manners, the Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk blows away its competition with features and performance.

With a powerful 3.2-liter V6 24-valve engine, the compact sport utility vehicle accelerates quickly to pass cars on the highway with ease. A nine-speed automatic transmission smoothly changes gears as you move faster. The shift knob is leather-wrapped but the manual override seems to be counter-intuitive — move the knob up to shift down and down to shift up.

Jeep's selectable 4x4 modes allow the driver to dial in current conditions like snow, sand, mud and rock. It also has an automatic mode that lets a computer make these decisions for you. The Cherokee has a four-wheel-drive low mode for extra low-speed traction and earns its trail-rated certification in every way.

The Trailhawk will help you start an ascent on a hill automatically as well as help you control your speed on a descent. A rear axle disconnect feature only engages when necessary for improved fuel efficiency. It has a beefed-up off-road suspension and 17-inch aluminum wheels with all-
terrain tires that can take what Mother Nature dishes out.

The steering on this Jeep is stiff and responsive. Its leather-wrapped steering wheel is comfortable to grip and its mounted controls give the driver access to the phone and stereo controls as well as the on-board computer.

The electronics array is also well above average for its class. It features a premium navigation system that is designed with logic in mind. It is easy to enter a destination and it gives clear and concise directions. The Cherokee also has Sirius XM radio with traffic and travel weather alerts that are displayed on a 7-inch multi-view display. Bluetooth pairing is accomplished with ease and the rearview mirror has a microphone for hands-free conversations.

The Trailhawk also has a remote starter, keyless entry and start, rear power liftgate and a rear back-up camera.

Seating is quite comfortable with eight-way power adjustable leather-trimmed seats and adjustable lumbar support. The second row of seats is also comfortable and provides decent legroom for passengers.

The cabin feels roomy in spite of the lack of space a small SUV affords. Hidden storage areas help make this car feel roomier. There's storage accessed by a flip-up passenger cushion in the front seat. The doors have big pockets, the dashboard has a storage area and there are recesses in the deck of the cargo area in the rear.

All in all, this Jeep is head and shoulders above the other cars in its class and is worthy of its higher price tag.

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The Ticker

Connector extends sign-up deadline

The Massachusetts Health Connector is extending until Feb. 23 the deadline to complete an application and pick a health plan.

The deadline had been tomorrow, but officials pushed it off a week because heavy snowstorms have made it hard for some people to sign up for insurance.

The Feb. 23 deadline for making a payment stays in place.

Connector officials said they wanted to give people extra time, given the burden many have had as they've had to dig out from the successive storms.

The Connector's call center won't be taking calls tomorrow due to the storm, but will make return calls to consumers who have requested them. It has expanded hours through Feb. 23, including weekend hours on Saturday, Feb. 21, and Sunday, Feb. 22, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., and on Monday, Feb. 23, from 
7 a.m.-9 p.m.

Caesars suit vs. 
panel dismissed

A Massachusetts court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Caesars Entertainment against the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. After the panel's background investigation on Caesars turned up concerns about an investor in the company, Suffolk Downs dropped the gaming giant from its resort proposal to win the single casino license for the Boston area in October 2013. Caesars was replaced by Mohegan Sun, which subsequently lost the bid to Wynn Resorts in Everett.

• Prelert, the leading provider of machine learning anomaly detection, announced that John O'Donnell has joined the company as chief financial officer.

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25 NY wineries taking part in Boston Wine Expo for 1st time

ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo says representatives from more than two dozen wineries across New York state are in Massachusetts for one of the premiere wine trade shows in the nation.

Cuomo says 25 New York wineries are participating in the Boston Wine Expo being held Saturday and Sunday at the Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center. The governor says it's the first time New York wineries are attending the Boston event, one of the largest wine-related gatherings in the Northeast.

Staffers with the state's Taste NY program will also be in Boston to promote the Empire State's wine industry. The state was named Wine Enthusiast magazine's Wine Region of the Year" last October.

The New York wineries represented at the Wine Expo include businesses located in the Finger Lakes, New York City and Long Island.

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Car buyers, 
dealers thinking presidential

When you think of Presidents Day, images of family gatherings and barbecues on the beach don't immediately come to mind. No, this holiday is about one thing, and one thing only — getting a good deal on a car.

"There are certain dates you use as benchmarks, and for car dealers in Massachusetts, Washington's birthday is a focal point to get people thinking about car sales," said Robert O'Koniewski, executive vice president of the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association. "It's just a week or two before spring training for the Red Sox, people can see light at end of the tunnel. And by the third week of February, the Daytona 500 is running, so people are getting amped up about cars."

Edmunds, an automotive resource for consumers since 1966, evaluates vehicles and provides free information at its website, Edmunds.com. Features editor Mike McGrath — a Bay State native — lists recommended "best-value" buys in six segments, including five sedans, priced from the lowest MSRP. Check back on Monday for best choices among crossovers, trucks and SUVs.

2015 Honda Accord

"It's no accident that the Accord is a perennial best-seller," McGrath said. "Ample room, powerful and efficient four-and-six cylinder engines, a smooth ride and a darned nice interior add up to a vehicle that may not be the cheapest, but still feels like a great value." Americans bought 388,374 Accords in 2014, the fifth-most sold vehicle in the U.S., according to Autodata. (MSRP: $22,105, MPG: 27 city/36 highway)

2015 Ford Fusion

What would a list of reliable car values be without a Ford on it? "Without a doubt, the Fusion is the looker of the midsize sedan segment," McGrath said. "And thankfully, beauty here is more than skin-deep. The Ford drives great and has a host of niceties and safety equipment." And of note to snow-weary Bay Staters: "The Fusion's also available in all-wheel drive, a rare feature in this class," McGrath pointed out. (MSRP: $22,500, MPG: 25/37)

2015 Subaru 
Impreza

New England and Colorado are Subaru's top two U.S. markets. That's almost entirely due to the slick winter weather in those locales, and the fact that Subaru vehicles have standard all-wheel drive. And when the weather is nicer, the impressive handling makes for peppy driving. A price point that starts at just over $18,000 provides additional allure. (MSRP: $18,195, MPG: 28/37)

2015 Volvo S60

Available all-wheel drive is a recommended option, but the front-wheel-drive base model Volvo can still negotiate all but the worst Mother Nature can deal out. Turbocharged engines provide power without slashing fuel efficiency. A bevy of "gee-whiz" standard features — Bluetooth compatibility, satellite radio, a USB port, and Volvo's City Safety system — also entice. The S60 is really a luxury car without a luxury car cost. (MSRP: $33,950, MPG: 25/37)

2015 Chevy Volt

It's not cheap, but Volt drivers will recover a lot of cost in fuel economy. "If you've got a short commute and can live with a four-seat car, keep this one on your list," McGrath said. The next-generation Volt arrives late this year, and its electric-only range will increase to 50 miles. (MSRP: $34,345, MPG: 101/93)

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Hot Property: New promotions try to lure renters

Sign an apartment lease and enter a raffle to win a $5,000 gift card.

With nine new apartment complexes opening in Boston and Cambridge this year, competition for renters is heating up, and some buildings that opened within the past year or so and still haven't fully leased up are offering new promotions to entice renters.

The 328-unit Batch Yard apartment complex in Everett is offering a Willy Wonka-influenced "Golden Ticket Contest" at the former Charleston Chew factory. Renters who sign a lease between Jan. 1 and mid-March are eligible for the $5,000 drawing March 18.

"The odds of winning are good," said Danielle Bertulli, senior sales and marketing associate for the Batch Yard, which is 33 percent leased. "The raffle is just another way to get people out to our property and give them another incentive to sign on."

The raffle joins other rent concessions already in place at the Batch Yard, such as a "look and lease" incentive that offers $500 to those who sign leases within 48 hours of touring an apartment. And if the renter moves in within 30 days, one month's rent is free.

The Lumiere, a 163-unit complex in Medford that's 39 percent leased, is offering a Valentine's Day special on select apartments, says property manager Robin Boersner. If you sign a lease by Monday, you get one month of free rent if you move in by April 1. With a deposit down within 48 hours of signing, you get an extra $1,000 off. And they'll throw in a free garage space, too.

The Flats on D in South Boston is fighting this winter's doldrums by offering a chance to win $1,500 in a travel giveaway raffle to renters who sign leases this month, with a drawing March 1.

"Generally if one building is offering concessions, others do so as well," said Alissa Issom, property manager of Flats on D, which is 69 percent leased. "But we were looking to do something different."

The Flats on D, along with some other new buildings, doesn't offer free rent incentives. These rental complexes rely on pricing set by revenue management software such as YieldStar and Rainmaker LRO, which adjusts apartment prices daily based on supply and demand.

"It compares our rents along with 20 competitors and sets prices," said Issom. "It really levels the playing field."

"The software reduced the price of some two-bedrooms to the point where I thought 'really?'" said Erica Stockton, property manager at The Commons at Southfield in Weymouth. "But when those apartments rented, the price of other two bedrooms went back up."

But plenty of other buildings that use revenue management software also offer additional incentives.

The Victor, a 286-unit complex near North Station, resets apartment prices every 24 hours, but also gives a $500 American Express gift card to renters who move in within two weeks of signing a lease, in addition to two free months on any vacant apartment.

"Boston is a tough market and renters in the city are being conditioned to getting two free months on leases, which is going to make retention tough," said Hilary Behrens, community manager of The Victor, which is 93 percent leased. "If you can save up to $8,000 a year in rent with incentives, you get accustomed to moving every year."

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Boston app startup catches eye of Richard Branson

Wanderu, travel czar Richard Branson's new favorite startup, yesterday launched its free bus- and train-booking app for iPhone and iPad, with plans to debut an Android version within the next two months.

The Boston startup was among three companies invited recently to Necker, Branson's private island, to pitch to the Virgin Group founder and a panel of other judges at his Extreme Tech Challenge after being culled from more than 2,000 applicants at last month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

"It was an incredible experience because I look up to him. He's the king of transportation," Wanderu CEO Polina Raygorodskaya said of the man behind Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Trains and the space tourism company Virgin Galactic. "He said he's very excited about us simplifying the booking process for bus and train travel."

The app allows people to type in any city, address or point of interest and then finds them the lowest fare from among the bus and train companies that Wanderu partners with, as well as directions to the nearest station.

It also allows people to put together trips with multiple connections and saves their favorite routes and all their reservations in one place so that they can board with a confirmation number, rather than fumbling for tickets.

Since it launched a desktop version of its service in 2013, Wanderu has had 5 million users, growing by 400 percent quarter over quarter, Raygorodskaya said.

Its next stop after launching its Android app will be expanding to Mexico and other countries, she said.

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The Ticker

Facebook to let someone run account after you die

Facebook is making it easier to plan for your online afterlife.

The world's biggest online social network said yesterday that it will now let users pick someone who can manage their account after they die. Previously, the accounts were "memorialized" after death, or locked so that no one could log in.

But Facebook says its users wanted more choice. Beginning in the U.S., Facebook users can pick a "legacy contact" to post on their page after they die, respond to new friend requests and update their profile picture and cover photo. Users can also have their accounts deleted after their death, which was not possible before.

If you want someone to manage your account after you die, click on the upside-down triangle on the top right corner of your page, open "settings" and find "security." For U.S. users there will be an option to edit your legacy contact, who must be a Facebook user. But you don't have to pick someone else to manage your account. You can also check a box to permanently delete your account when you die.

Expedia to buy rival Orbitz for $1.3B

Expedia said yesterday that it is buying rival Orbitz Worldwide Inc. for about $1.3 billion. The deal adds the Orbitz brand and sites including CheapTickets and HotelClub to a lineup that already includes names such as Hotels.com, Hotwire, Trivago and Australia's Wotif.com. Expedia is also in the process of buying Travelocity.

In a conference call with analysts, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that even though big in the online segment, his company is "only a small player" in a
 $1.3 trillion travel market that includes giants such as Google and many newcomers. Expedia says its bookings account for only 4 percent of global travel spending.

The purchase of Orbitz would leap Expedia ahead of The Priceline Group Inc. in travel bookings, although Priceline would still be larger by revenue and stock market value. Besides its namesake website, Priceline owns Booking.com, Kayak and restaurant-reservation site OpenTable.

CBS profits up on Thursday football

CBS Corp., owner of the most-watched U.S. TV network, reported slightly higher-than-expected quarterly revenue and profit, helped by its Thursday night football broadcasts.

CBS won the rights to broadcast eight Thursday night NFL games during the 2014 season, giving it one of the most highly prized programs on a night coveted by advertisers.

• Burlington-based Circor International, a provider of valves and other highly engineered products for markets, including oil and gas, power generation and aerospace and defense, announced that Erik Wiik, left, will join the company as group president. Wiik currently is executive vice president and regional president of Aker Solutions North America.

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Connector still experiencing delays

The Bay State's health insurance website is improving, but remains a work in progress, with an online payment system that is causing frustration, state officials said yesterday.

Consumers continue to experience long wait times due to heavy volumes at call centers.

"There is significant work left," said Maydad Cohen, who was tapped by Gov. Deval Patrick to overhaul the website after it crashed, creating a backlog of 72,000 paper applications and daily website outages.

The online payment set-up — separate from the Connector's insurance website — has been "clunkier" and not instantaneous, Cohen said. "We've made tweaks throughout."

The final day for applying for health insurance in 2015 and picking a plan is Sunday. Feb. 23 is the deadline to pay for coverage in a Health Connector plan.

The Connector is extending the hours of availability for its call center and walk-in offices. If severe weather hits the state over the weekend, the call center will limit operations.

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New York Times media columnist David Carr dies at 58

David Carr, the iconoclastic media columnist for the New York Times, died Thursday while working at the Times' office, according a report posted late Thursday on the Times' website. He was 58.

The New York Times reported that he collapsed in The Times newsroom, where he was found shortly before 9 p.m. EST. He was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the Times.

Earlier in the evening, he moderated a panel discussion about the film "Citizenfour" with its principal subject, Edward J. Snowden; the film's director, Laura Poitras; and Glenn Greenwald, a journalist.

Carr wrote the Media Equation column for the Times' Business section. He was also known to showbiz figures from his stint several years ago as the Times' award season correspondent for the Carpetbagger blog.

Carr was prominently featured in the 2011 docu "Page One: Inside the New York Times." He joined the Times in 2002. Before that, he was a contributing writer to the Atlantic Monthly and New York magazine. In the mid-1990s he was editor of Washington, D.C.'s City Paper.

Carr was candid about his past battles with drug addiction. In 2008 he published the nonfiction book "Night of the Gun," which revisited his experiences as a drug abuser and used traditional reporting techniques to fill in gaps and misperceptions from his own memory.

"His plainspoken style was sometimes blunt, and searingly honest about himself," the Times said in its story. "The effect was both folksy and sophisticated, a voice from a shrewd and well-informed skeptic."

On Monday, he wrote about the revelations that the NBC anchor Brian Williams had lied about being in a helicopter under fire in Iraq in 2003."We want our anchors to be both good at reading the news and also pretending to be in the middle of it," he said.

Carr's survivors including his wife, Jill Rooney Carr, and three daughters.

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

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John R. Lakian hit with fraud charges

John R. Lakian, who made unsuccessful bids for the Republican nomination for Massachusetts governor in the 1980s and for U.S. Senate nearly a decade later,­ is accused of scheming to defraud investors and banks of millions of dollars, according to federal prosecutors in New York.

Lakian, 72, and Dianne W. Lamm, 54, pleaded not guilty Feb. 4 to securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities, wire and bank fraud, according to U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch. They were released on $2 million bond, pending a March 20 status conference.

The two investment managers are accused of stealing investors' money to keep for themselves and to pay for restaurant ventures, prosecutors said.

"As alleged, Lakian and Lamm preyed upon more than 100 investors, in multiple schemes, stealing their hard-earned money to use for their own purposes," Lynch said in a statement. "They similarly dis­regarded the interests of lending institutions by submitting forged documents to banks in an attempt to fraudulently secure more than $8 million in loans."

A woman who answered the phone at Lakian's Manhattan address said he was unavailable. Lamm said: "I have no comment, other than to say that (the charges) are all false."

If convicted, the two face up to 30 years in prison for the bank fraud count, 20 years for each of the securities fraud counts and 5 years for the securities and wire fraud conspiracy counts.

In 1982, Lakian lost the Republican nomination for governor following reports that he lied on his resume. He unsuccessfully sued The Boston Globe for libel. His losing streak continued in 1994, when he lost the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate to Mitt Romney.

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South Bay Center owner plans nearby mixed-use project

The owner of South Bay Center has plans for a large mixed-use project that would include a hotel, movie theater and up to 500 units of multi­family housing next to the Dorchester shopping center.

The "town center" project proposed by retail real estate developer Edens would encompass 10 acres and several new six-story buildings that also would include some 115,000 square feet of commercial/retail space, two parking garages and new internal roadways, sidewalks and open space.

The hotel would have between 150 and 200 rooms, while the cinema would be about 65,000 square feet, the Columbia, S.C., company said yesterday in a letter notifying the Boston Redevelopment Authority of its plans.

Edens, which said it will submit more detailed plans to the city within 60 days, did not return calls for comment.

The six parcels of land slated for the project are bounded by South Bay Center to the northwest and currently include a concrete plant, parking lots and vacant commercial/industrial, office and retail buildings.

Edens' plans must go through the BRA's large project review process.

"The proposed project would create a brand-new community from what is currently an under-utilized industrial area," BRA spokesman Nick Martin said. "We look forward to reviewing more detailed plans and continuing a dialogue with neighbors there. At first blush, it's an exciting proposal that would complement the adjacent South Bay Center and surrounding neighborhood."

South Bay Center opened in 1994. Edens bought it from original developer Samuels & Associates in 1998 and expanded it eight years later to include a Super Stop & Shop and two restaurants after paying $14.2 million for an adjacent eight-acre warehouse site. South Bay Center now encompasses 527,000-plus square feet, with other major retailers including Target, Home Depot, Old Navy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Marshalls and T.J. Maxx.

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Challenges lie ahead for new director of Mass Health Connector

Leadership changes, a board shakeup, improved communication and a better Obamacare website are all top priorities as the new executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector tries to reform the troubled agency.

"If this were climbing Mount Everest, this would be base camp," Louis Gu­tierrez told the Herald yesterday. "There are still several major milestones to go."

Among them:

• Improve the "crucial" relationship between the connector and MassHealth — one of the key downfalls cited for the botched launch of the Obamacare site last year.

• Replace top brass, including completing the search to fill the job of Chief Operating Officer Roni Mansur, who left Jan. 31, and the position of chief financial officer, which has been vacant for several months. Although he praised the "very committed team," Gutierrez vowed: "There will be changes within the organization."

• Upgrade the website to handle complicated transactions and require fewer calls to customer support centers.

• Gutierrez said it was too early to say whether the state might try to opt out of part of Obamacare, but noted: "The federal government is allowing some leeway in terms of how states implement their programs in the next couple years, so we want to examine our options."

Gov. Charlie Baker is also shaking up the connector board, installing Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders as chairman and shifting Administration & Finance Secretary Kristen Lepore into a seat on the board reserved for the head of MassHealth or his designee. Baker will file a bill soon that will make the HHS secretary the connector board chairman.

Gutierrez left a private-sector job as the principal of the IT consulting firm Exeter Group to head the connector. He has also worked in technology roles both at the state and Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan.

"Throughout, there's this thread of wanting to apply the best there is in current technology to public purposes," said Gutierrez of his prior work. "This really is a dream role for doing that."

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CBS '60 Minutes' correspondent Bob Simon dies in car crash

NEW YORK — Longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent Bob Simon, who covered riots, Academy Award-nominated movies and wars and was held captive for more than a month in Iraq two decades ago, died in a car crash on Wednesday. He was 73.

"CBS Evening News" anchor Scott Pelley, his eyes red, announced the death in a special report.

"We have some sad news from within our CBS News family," Pelley said. "Our colleague Bob Simon was killed this evening."

"Vietnam is where he first began covering warfare, and he gave his firsthand reporting from virtually every major battlefield around the world since," Pelley said.

A town car in which Simon was a passenger hit another car stopped at a Manhattan traffic light and then slammed into metal barriers separating traffic lanes, police said. Simon and the town car's driver were taken to a hospital, where Simon was pronounced dead.

The town car driver suffered injuries to his legs and arms. The driver of the other car was uninjured. No arrests were made, said police, who continued to investigate the deadly accident.

Simon was among a handful of elite journalists to cover most major overseas conflicts and news stories since the late 1960s, CBS said. He covered stories including the Vietnam War and the Oscar-nominated movie "Selma" in a career spanning five decades.

He had been contributing to "60 Minutes" on a regular basis since 1996. He also was a correspondent for "60 Minutes II."

He was preparing a report on the Ebola virus and the search for a cure for this Sunday's "60 Minutes" broadcast. He had been working on the project with his daughter, Tanya Simon, a producer with whom he collaborated on several stories.

Anderson Cooper, who does occasional stories for "60 Minutes," was near tears talking about Simon's death. He said that when Simon presented a story "you knew it was going to be something special."

"I dreamed of being, and still hope to be, a quarter of the writer that Bob Simon is and has been," the CNN anchor said. "... Bob Simon was a legend, in my opinion."

Simon joined CBS News in 1967 as a reporter and assignment editor, covering campus unrest and inner-city riots, CBS said. He also worked in CBS' Tel Aviv bureau from 1977 to 1981 and in Washington, D.C., as its Department of State correspondent.

Simon's career in war reporting began in Vietnam, and he was on one of the last helicopters out of Saigon when the U.S. withdrew in 1975. At the outset of the Gulf War in January 1991, Simon was captured by Iraqi forces near the Saudi-Kuwaiti border. CBS said he and three other members of CBS News' coverage team spent 40 days in Iraqi prisons, an experience Simon wrote about in his book "Forty Days." Simon returned to Baghdad in January 1993 to cover the American bombing of Iraq.

Simon won numerous awards, including his fourth Peabody and an Emmy for his story from Central Africa on the world's only all-black symphony in 2012. Another story about an orchestra in Paraguay, one whose poor members constructed their instruments from trash, won him his 27th Emmy, perhaps the most held by a journalist for field reporting, CBS said.

He also captured electronic journalism's highest honor, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, for "Shame of Srebrenica," a "60 Minutes II" report on genocide during the Bosnian War.

Former CBS News executive Paul Friedman, who teaches broadcast writing at Quinnipiac University, said Simon was "one of the finest reporters and writers in the business."

"He, better than most, knew how to make pictures and words work together to tell a story, which is television news at its best," Friedman said.

Simon was born May 29, 1941, in the Bronx. He graduated from Brandeis University in 1962 with a degree in history. He is survived by his wife, his daughter and his grandson.

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Amy Pascal talks getting 'fired,' Sony hack and Angelina Jolie emails in candid interview

Six days after stepping down as co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Amy Pascal broke her silence on Wednesday at the Women in the World conference in San Francisco during a candid interview with journalist Tina Brown.

"All the women here are doing incredible things in this world. All I did was get fired," she said, according to the Recode site.

Among the topics discussed were the hacked email exchanges between herself and producer Scott Rudin, the "The Interview's" bad reviews, and the pervasive gender gap in Hollywood.

Pascal recounted the moment in November when she realized that her emails at Sony would be exposed.

"I ran this company and I had to worry about everybody who was really scared...People were really scared...But nagging in the back of my mind, I kept calling (the IT department) and being like, 'They don't have our emails, tell me they don't have our emails,'" she said. "But then they did. That was a bad moment. And you know what you write in emails."

Right off the bat, Brown asked Pascal about the racial emails about President Obama, causing the 56 year-old exec shook her head.

"It was horrible. That was horrible," Pascal said. "As a woman, what I did was control how everybody felt about themselves and about me...and there was this horrible moment when I realized there was absolutely nothing I could do about whether I'd hurt people, whether I'd betrayed people."

Pascal also said, "There is nothing you can do. You can't say anything. You can't explain anything. It's just there."

As for her exchanges with Rudin on Jolie, whom he called a "minimally talented spoiled brat," she said: "Angie didn't care."

"Everybody understood because we all live in this weird thing called Hollywood," she said. "If we were all actually were nice, it wouldn't work."

When asked about underpaying Jennifer Lawrence in "American Hustle," Pascal scoffed.

"I've paid (Jennifer Lawrence) a lot more money since then, I promise you … Here's the problem: I run a business. People want to work for less money, I pay them less money...Women shouldn't be so grateful. Know what you're worth. Walk away."

Brown later said that "The Interview" was a pretty bad movie, to which Pascal replied, "You don't get to choose what you stand up for."

This past week, Sony Pictures Entertainment announced a partnership to make new Spider-Man movies with Marvel Studios, which Pascal will produce as part of her new studio deal with Sony.

"The worst thing you can do is be on the sideline," she said.

The studio also recently announced an all-female "Ghostbusters" reboot with Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy.

"It's about time we have a female action series," Pascal declared.

As for the most important thing she learned from the hacked emails? "Say exactly what you think directly to people all the time," she said. "In the moment, the first time."

When Brown countered that Hollywood stars were sensitive than most people, Pascal snickered.

"They're bottomless pits of need. You've never seen anything like it," she said. Then added sarcastically: "They are so great. They're this magical thing that no one else can be. They're filled with the need to be loved … but that's because they're magical."

The executive also had harsh words for the press when asked if she was surprised about the reaction to her emails.

"I'm not supposed to say anything about that," she said. "But I will say that I was. People found reasons that going through my trash and printing it was an ok thing to do. They found a way to justify that. And they have to live with that."

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

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'The Daily Show': who will take over for Jon Stewart?

Let the comedy stampede begin. Jon Stewart's announcement of his departure from the anchor desk at Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" later this year is sure to set off a frenzy of jockeying among comedy talent to fill his considerable shoes.

There's no doubt that "Daily Show" will continue on in its current form after Stewart exits. Comedy Central execs see the half-hour faux newscast as a franchise in "The Tonight Show" vein that can run for decades. Stewart took over the show in 1999 from original host Craig Kilborn.

Comedy Central execs have been preparing for the possibility that Stewart would move on as his most recent contract wound down this year. Whoever follows him on the show will face the extremely tricky task of keeping it vital in the political and cultural arenas.

Stewart's gift has been to tackle headline-making subjects with humor but also enough bite and perspective to make the show relevant to the national conversation on everything from presidential campaigns to divisive social issues. Stewart, by many accounts, is not only is the face of the show but also the driver of many editorial decisions.

The immediate speculation about possible successors ranged from the show's existing pool of correspondents to female candidates given the lack thereof in the latenight arena.

Some speculated that "Daily Show's" husband-and-wife correspondent team Samantha Bee and Jason Jones could take over with a dual-anchor format, which would be a first for the show. The two shot a family comedy pilot for TBS, "Vacationland," late last year that they co-wrote and star in. But undoubtedly anchor slots at "Daily Show" would be hard for them to turn down if offered.

Bee has been with "Daily Show" since 2003; Jones joined the roster two years later.

Other female names mentioned included Amy Schumer, who has scored with the Comedy Central audience with her "Inside Amy Schumer" series. Amy Poehler also has ties to the cabler as an exec producer of "Broad City," and she's just wrapped her seven-season run as the star of NBC's "Parks and Recreation." Sarah Silverman could be a contender, as could "Daily Show" alum Olivia Munn.

Another current "Daily Show" player, Aasif Mandvi has been regular since 2006 and has experience as a writer and in numerous stage and film productions. Jessica Williams is a fast-rising star who signed on in 2012, but she may be seen as not having enough experience yet to take the helm of the "Daily" machine.

Sources close to the situation said that Comedy Central honchos are still far from a decision and that all options -- from existing "Daily" players and alumni to established names to newcomers -- will be considered.

Chris Hardwick is in the Comedy Central family as host of "@midnight," the pop culture quiz and chat show that follows the "Daily Show/"Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore" block. But his persona as a fan's fan might not be the right fit for the show that tackles weighty issues and non-celebrity interviews at times.

Established comedians including Joel McHale and Ricky Gervais could be in the mix as well. One name that is not on the market is John Oliver, the "Daily Show" alum who scored with his own weekly newscast-style show for HBO, "Last Week Tonight." Oliver has a long-term contract with HBO for the show, which bowed last year to generally rave reviews.

Industry insiders are also supremely curious about Stewart's next move. His longtime agent, James Dixon, just moved into the WME fold after selling his Dixon Talent banner to the agency.

Stewart signaled his interest in career moves beyond the "Daily Show" desk in 2013 when he took a hiatus from the show to direct his first movie, the indie drama "Rosewater," which was released late last year to a mixed reception and underwhelming B.O. But there's no question that Stewart will leave "Daily Show" later this year with immense clout and plenty of options.

"He's not quitting to do nothing," a top tenpercenter noted.

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

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Britain starts public trial of driverless cars

LONDON — Britain began testing driverless cars in four cities Wednesday, launching the first official trials ahead of a series of planned rule reviews to accommodate the new technology.

Four types of autonomous vehicles under trial — including a shuttle that looks like a larger golf cart and a compact two-seater "pod" car — were unveiled in London. Officials and journalists tried out the shuttle at the event, taking short rides around a public square.

The project was "still in the early days," Transport Minister Claire Perry said, but she added the new technology has the potential make roads safer and attract global investment.

Britain has ambitions to lead development in driverless cars, which are also being tested in U.S. cities by companies including Google. Auto companies from Mercedes-Benz to Nissan are also developing self-drive vehicles, though most are not ready to go on public roads and highways.

Regulation and legal changes are a major hurdle, and it would be some years before highly automated cars feature on the roads.

Britain's government says the next step is for officials to publish guidelines for companies to test the cars in "real-life scenarios" on roads — including highways — by summer. All cars in the trials will have a qualified driver present so that they can take control should anything go awry.

Domestic road regulations will be reviewed by 2017, but officials say fully driverless cars are unlikely to be used on roads until 2030.

The British government is spending 19 million pounds (US$29 million) on four trial centers around the country.

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Brian Wlliams suspended from NBC News for six months

Hoping to tamp down a controversy growing around one of its best-known on-air personalities, NBC News on Tuesday suspended Brian Williams, the most-watched evening-news anchor in the U.S., from his duties as chief anchor and managing editor of "NBC Nightly News" for six months without pay in the wake of a scandal over misleading statements he made about his time covering the Iraq War in 2003.

The furor over Williams' embellishments have engulfed NBC News since early last week, when his account of facing enemy fire while riding in a helicopter in 2003 was challenged by Iraq veterans. Williams' last broadcast took place on Friday. Lester Holt will continue as substitute anchor.

NBC News has launched an internal probe of Williams' statements about the Iraq helicopter incident as well as other reporting that has since been challenged, NBC News said in a statement released Tuesday evening.

"We have concerns about comments that occurred outside NBC News while Brian was talking about his experiences in the field," NBC News president Deborah Turness said in a memo distributed Tuesday night.

Williams' suspension was "severe and appropriate," NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke said in the statement, but he also asserted that Williams "deserves a second chance, and we are rooting for him" even though he called the anchor's actions "inexcusable."

The decision was made jointly by Turness; Pat Fili-Krushel, chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group, to whom Turness reports; and Burke.

At the heart of the matter is Williams' falsification during several public appearances and on CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" of an incident that took place on a reporting trip to Iraq. A helicopter carrying Williams and his crew never came under fire, but a Chinook copter that was more than an hour ahead of that aircraft did. Williams by his own admission conflated the two air trips and made it seem as if he were under fire. Oddly enough, on a 2003 broadcast of "Dateline," Williams reported the trip more or less accurately.

For NBCU the ramifications of his actions may be severe. Williams' newscast has been the steadfast asset in NBCUniversal's entire news portfolio. Its "Today" morning show remains in second place behind "Good Morning America" after ceding the top spot in 2012. "Meet the Press" is trying to gain traction after the ouster of one anchor, David Gregory, and the installation of another, Chuck Todd. Business-news network CNBC is struggling in daytime, so much so that the company said it will no longer do business with advertisers based on Nielsen ratings starting in the fourth quarter of this year. And MSNBC is trying to recalibrate itself in the wake of a ratings drop after thriving as a liberal-tilting news network.

Under Williams, "Nightly" has successfully fended off a challenge from ABC's "World News." With new anchor David Muir at its helm, that evening newscast has made strides in the audience most coveted by advertisers in news programming, adults 25-54. Whether "Nightly News" can fend off Muir in Williams' absence remains to be seen.

In recent days, Williams' ability to anchor the newscast was thrown into increasing degrees of doubt. News outlets began investigating any number of claims he made about past reporting exploits, including time spent covering Hurricane Katrina. Questions were raised about why NBC News had not forced Williams to stop telling the helicopter tale. And the propriety of having an anchor who lied about his own on-the-job actions telling the nation about developments in the world of politics and foreign affairs seemed skewed.

"While on Nightly News on Friday, January 30, 2015, Brian misrepresented events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003. It then became clear that on other occasions Brian had done the same while telling that story in other venues. This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian's position," Turness said in the memo.

NBC is essentially following a textbook play. When other TV-network correspondents have made serious gaffes, their networks have suspended either them or their producers, sometimes both. In some cases, the reporter must struggle to find normalcy.

Claims made in a 2004 edition of the now-defunct "60 Minutes II" newsmagazine about President George W. Bush's service in the National Guard in the 1970s turned out to be based on documents that could not be authenticated. In the aftermath of that report, CBS set up an independent investigation, which led to the firing of the segment's supervisor. Three other supervising execs were asked to resign. The report tarnished the reputation of CBS News anchor Dan Rather, who delivered the segment.

In 2013, CBS News suspended "60 Minutes" correspondent Lara Logan and a producer, Max McClellan, after a report they delivered on an Oct. 27 broadcast of the newsmagazine that year turned out to be based largely on the accounts of a source who provided inaccurate information. CBS made its decision after having Logan deliver an apology on air, and then investigating the process behind the report.

Williams has been a near-ubiquitous presence at NBC, making appearances on everything ranging from "Saturday Night Live" to "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." For six months, at least, he will stay off the TV screen. All kinds of things can happen in half a year in the TV industry, and what happens at the end of Williams' suspension remains to be seen.

Here is Turness' full memo:

We have decided today to suspend Brian Williams as Managing Editor and Anchor of NBC Nightly News for six months. The suspension will be without pay and is effective immediately. We let Brian know of our decision earlier today. Lester Holt will continue to substitute Anchor the NBC Nightly News.

Our review, which is being led by Richard Esposito working closely with NBCUniversal General Counsel Kim Harris, is ongoing, but I think it is important to take you through our thought process in coming to this decision.

While on Nightly News on Friday, January 30, 2015, Brian misrepresented events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003. It then became clear that on other occasions Brian had done the same while telling that story in other venues. This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian's position.

In addition, we have concerns about comments that occurred outside NBC News while Brian was talking about his experiences in the field.

As Managing Editor and Anchor of Nightly News, Brian has a responsibility to be truthful and to uphold the high standards of the news division at all times.

Steve Burke, Pat Fili and I came to this decision together. We felt it would have been wrong to disregard the good work Brian has done and the special relationship he has forged with our viewers over 22 years. Millions of Americans have turned to him every day, and he has been an important and well-respected part of our organization.

As I'm sure you understand, this was a very hard decision. Certainly there will be those who disagree. But we believe this suspension is the appropriate and proportionate action.

This has been a difficult time. But NBC News is bigger than this moment. You work so hard and dedicate yourselves each and every day to the important work of bringing trusted, credible news to our audience. Because of you, your loyalty, your dedication, NBC News is an organization we can - and should - all be proud of. We will get through this together.

Steve Burke asked me to share the following message.

"This has been a painful period for all concerned and we appreciate your patience while we gathered the available facts. By his actions, Brian has jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News. His actions are inexcusable and this suspension is severe and appropriate. Brian's life's work is delivering the news. I know Brian loves his country, NBC News and his colleagues. He deserves a second chance and we are rooting for him. Brian has shared his deep remorse with me and he is committed to winning back everyone's trust."

Deborah

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

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Stocks muted ahead of emergency meeting on Greek debt

SEOUL, South Korea — Global stocks were muted Wednesday as investors turned their focus to an emergency meeting of eurozone finance ministers that will discuss Greece's appeal for more generous bailout conditions.

KEEPING SCORE: France's CAC 40 fell 0.4 percent to 4,675.42 and Germany's DAX edged down 0.2 percent to 10,737.80. Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.4 percent to 6,799.73. Futures augured a weak start for Wall Street. S&P 500 and Dow futures were both down 0.2 percent.

GREEK DRAMA: Finance ministers from euro nations are holding an emergency meeting in Brussels on Greece later Wednesday, which will be the group's first opportunity to hear directly from the new government. Greece wants to renegotiate the terms of its international bailout that has imposed years of punishing austerity on the country; the current agreement expires in late February. Speculation that Greece could be granted extra time to hold new negotiations buoyed markets Tuesday. On Wednesday, however, there was somewhat less optimism — the Athens index was down over 3 percent.

THE QUOTE: "The headlines out of this meeting will dictate the price action for global markets," Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG, said in a commentary. "At the moment, it seems European leaders and Greece are willing to meet each other in the middle and this has comforted investors' concerns after the aggressive tone by Greek Prime Minister Tsipras over the weekend."

ASIA'S DAY: South Korea's Kospi rose 0.5 percent to 1,945.70 and China's Shanghai Composite added 0.5 percent to 3,157.70. Stocks in Southeast Asia and Taiwan also rose. Hong Kong was among the few Asian markets in the red; the Hang Seng fell 0.9 percent to 24,315.02. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5 percent to 5,769.10. Japan was closed for a holiday.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 29 cents to $49.73 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $2.84 to close at $50.02 a barrel on Tuesday. The International Energy Agency said that the recent rebound in oil prices "will be comparatively limited in scope."

CURRENCIES: The dollar strengthened to 119.75 yen from 119.35 yen. The euro inched down to $1.1316 from $1.1319.

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Greg Anthony due back in court on prostitution charge

WASHINGTON — Basketball analyst Greg Anthony is due back in court in Washington on a charge of soliciting a prostitute.

Anthony pleaded not guilty to the charge earlier this month and is due in court for a hearing Wednesday.

Anthony is charged with soliciting a prostitute at a Washington hotel Jan. 16. Court documents say he responded to an escort ad authorities placed on the classifieds website Backpage.com.

The 47-year-old former NBA player was suspended by CBS and Turner Sports following his arrest. Anthony apologized in a statement to his wife, family and colleagues, calling his actions a "lapse of judgment."

Anthony had been in the nation's capital to announce a basketball game between Michigan State and Maryland in suburban Washington.

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Robots replacing human factory workers at faster pace

WASHINGTON — Cheaper, better robots will replace human workers in the world's factories at a faster pace over the next decade, pushing manufacturing labor costs down 16 percent, a report Tuesday said.

The Boston Consulting Group predicts that investment in industrial robots will grow 10 percent a year in the world's 25-biggest export nations through 2025, up from 2 percent to 3 percent a year now. The investment will pay off in lower costs and increased efficiency.

Robots will cut labor costs by 33 percent in South Korea, 25 percent in Japan, 24 percent in Canada and 22 percent in the United States and Taiwan. Only 10 percent of jobs that can be automated have already been taken by robots. By 2025, the machines will have more than 23 percent, Boston Consulting forecasts.

Robots are getting cheaper. The cost of owning and operating a robotic spot welder, for instance, has tumbled from $182,000 in 2005 to $133,000 last year, and will drop to $103,000 by 2025, Boston Consulting says.

And the new machines can do more things. Old robots could only operate in predictable environments. The newer ones use improved sensors to react to the unexpected.

In a separate report, RBC Global Asset Management notes that robots can be reprogrammed far faster and more efficiently than humans can be retrained when products are updated or replaced — a crucial advantage at a time when smartphones and other products quickly fade into obsolescence.

"As labor costs rise around the world, it is becoming increasingly critical that manufacturers rapidly take steps to improve their output per worker to stay competitive," said Harold Sirkin, a senior partner at Boston Consulting and co-author of the report. "Companies are finding that advances in robotics and other manufacturing technologies offer some of the best opportunities to sharply improve productivity."

Boston Consulting studied 21 industries in 25 countries last year, interviewing experts and clients and consulting government and industry reports.

The rise of robots won't be limited to developed countries with their aging, high-cost workforces. Even low-wage China will use robots to slash labor costs by 18 percent, Boston consulting predicts.

Increasing automation is likely to change the way companies evaluate where to open and expand factories. Boston Consulting expects that manufacturers will "no longer simply chase cheap labor." Factories will employ fewer people, and those that remain are more likely to be highly skilled. That could lure more manufacturers back to the United States from lower-wage emerging market countries.

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Samsung reveals potential for smart TVs to eavesdrop

SEOUL, South Korea — Watch what you say in your living room. Samsung's smart TV could be listening. And sharing.

Voice recognition technology in the South Korean company's Internet connected TVs captures and transmits nearby conversations.

The potential for TVs to eavesdrop is revealed in Samsung's smart TV privacy policy available on its website.

"Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition," the policy said.

For the voice command feature to work, the TV listens for speech which is translated by third-party software into text and sent back to the TV as a command. Samsung declined to name the software company. The TV also transmits other information including its unique identifier.

Samsung said data collection is aimed at improving TV performance but users can disable it.

In a statement, the company said it takes consumer privacy "very seriously."

"We employ industry-standard security safeguards and practices, including data encryption, to secure consumers' personal information and prevent unauthorized collection or use."

It is not the first time that smart TVs sparked privacy concerns. In 2013, the owner of a LG Electronics smart TV revealed it was sending information about his viewing habits back to the company without consent and without encrypting data.

LG has also experimented with displaying targeted ads on its smart TVs, which requires collecting and utilizing user data, such as their location, age and gender.

___

Link to Samsung's privacy policy for smart TV: http://www.samsung.com/sg/info/privacy/smarttv.html?CID=AFL-hq-mul-0813-11000170

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Coke benefits from higher prices in North America

NEW YORK — Coca-Cola reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday as it worked on trimming costs and fetched higher prices for sodas in North America.

The world's biggest beverage maker has been struggling to boost global sales volume amid economic volatility overseas and a shift away from soda back at home.

To make up for weak volume gains, it's using a variety of tactics, including a focus on "mini-cans" and smaller bottles in the U.S. that are positioned as premium products and help boost revenue.

For the quarter, the company's soda volume in North America was flat, while volume for non-carbonated drinks rose 3 percent. Its "price/mix" for the region, which factors in the price and size of its products, rose 4 percent.

"A lot of it was driven by the smaller cans, which are more premium-priced," said Kathy Waller, Coca-Cola's chief financial officer, in a phone interview.

To keep pace with changing tastes, Coca-Cola has also diversified and owns an array of brands including Honest Tea and Zico coconut water that better fit with prevailing health trends. It also recently began the national rollout of Fairlife, a "premium" milk that promises more protein and less sugar.

Still, about 70 percent of Coca-Cola's global sales volume comes from carbonated soft drinks, according to Ali Dibadj, a Bernstein analyst.

For 2014, Coca-Cola said volume rose 2 percent, including a 1 percent boost in carbonated soft drinks. That was in line with its performance the previous year.

The shift away from soft drinks in the U.S. comes amid a proliferation of options in the beverage aisle. Between 2001 and 2006, an internal study by Coca-Cola found that 30 percent of the industry's growth was driven by categories that hadn't existed five years earlier.

Soda also has a bad reputation for fueling weight gain, and has been criticized by health advocates at home and overseas. In Mexico, Coca-Cola said overall volume declined by 1 percent for the quarter, although the company did not specify how much soda volume fell. Performance in the country has been hurt by a tax on sugary drinks that went into effect last year.

In a statement, CEO Muhtar Kent said the company sees 2015 as a "transition year," noting that it would take time for the company to see the benefits of its recently announced efforts. The company has said it's working on reducing costs by $3 billion a year. Earlier this year, it said it was cutting up to 1,800 jobs as part of the push.

For the period ended Dec. 31, Coca-Cola Co. said it earned $770 million, or 17 cents per share. Excluding one-time items such as unfavorable currency exchange rates and expenses related to its cost-cutting plan, it earned 44 cents per share. That topped the 42 cents per share analysts expected, according to Zacks Investment Research.

A year ago, it earned $1.71 billion, or 38 cents per share.

Total revenue slipped to $10.87 billion, but beat Wall Street expectations of $10.77 billion.

Shares of Coca-Cola rose 3 percent in premarket trading.

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4 ways Sony and Marvel can fix 'Spider-man'

Now that Sony and Marvel Studios are collaborating on ways to breathe new life into "Spider-Man" on the bigscreen, here are some things they could do to fix the franchise.

Find a New Star: Andrew Garfield may have proved his love for the character at San Diego Comic-Con, but his portrayal of the web slinger just wasn't what fans were looking for, especially as Peter Parker. As Sony and Marvel look to reboot the series, a number of other actors could be great for the role, including Donald Glover, Dylan O'Brien and Logan Lerman. Why not Zac Efron?

Make Him an Avenger: Fans are clamoring to see Spider-Man join Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the rest of the Avengers on the big screen and with the third film, "The Avengers: Infinity War" broken up into two films in 2018 and '19, there's room to add him into the action to fight Thanos but also before that, too. He's a key part of the "Civil War" storyline, which is meant to kick off a new seven year film plan for Marvel's movies. With Sony loosening its grip on Spider-Man, the character can now be woven into the next "Captain America," too.

Move Past the Origin Story: We get it. Peter Parker was bit by a spider and Uncle Ben dies. It's like watching Bruce Wayne's parents get shot over and over again or the Kents find Superman's space ship. We've seen the origin story too many times. Let's move on and see another side of Spider-Man that doesn't dwell too much on the teen angst but explores the decades of storylines from the Marvel comibooks.

Watch the Tone: Moviegoers were turned off by the wandering tones of Sam Raimi's third "Spider-Man" and parts of Marc Webb's "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," where campy comedy removed audiences from the rest of the film -- think the Tobey Maguire's jazz number in "Spider-Man 3" or pulling down the pants of Rhino in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." As ridiculous as the world of "Guardians of the Galaxy" may be, the light hearted nature of the film and its characters always meshed together because James Gunn found the heart of the film and what made a talking tree and racoon worth caring about. Spider-Man is a snarky character. Let him have fun, just as long as the audience is too.

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

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Republicans probe White House's 'inappropriate' influence over FCC's net neutrality proposal

Leaders of House and Senate oversight committees are calling on the FCC to turn over communications they had with White House officials over chairman Tom Wheeler's net neutrality proposal, in a query that focuses on whether the administration "inappropriately influenced" the agency.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Wheeler on Monday, asking a series of questions over the proposal and for copies of correspondence between the FCC and the White House related to Internet regulation. That request follows a letter sent by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, asking for correspondence, documents, meeting minutes and calendar logs related to the proposal.

Last week, Wheeler unveiled the outlines of a proposal to reclassify the Internet as a Title II telecommunications service, a regulatory move designed to give the FCC the authority to impose robust rules of the road for broadband service. The proposal, met with support from public interest groups but fierce opposition from Internet service providers, would prohibit ISPs from blocking or throttling content, as well as from charging sites for speedier access to their subscribers.

Wheeler's approach marked a shift from an earlier proposal that didn't reclassify the Internet but instead relied on existing authority in which ISPs would be prohibited from conduct that was "commercially unreasonable." Net neutrality advocates sounded the alarm, arguing that such an approach would not prevent ISPs from creating "fast lanes" for those content companies who pay for faster delivery speeds to customers.

But Wheeler's plans changed after President Obama announced his support for reclassification in November.

Johnson said in his letter that he was looking at "whether the White House and the FCC respected proper boundaries established by Congress between the Executive Branch and independent agencies." He cited reports that Wheeler was prepared to circulate a "draft proposal at odds with the president's views," but then quickly pulled back and cancelled a vote on net neutrality scheduled for November.

"The FCC's new position on net neutrality is not only a monumental shift from chairman Wheeler's original net neutrality proposal but also a large deviation from the light regulatory touch applied to broadband services since the Clinton administration," Johnson said in a statement. "The decision is wrong, and the process raises serious questions about the president's inappropriate influence over what is supposed to be an independent agency that derives its authority from Congress and not the White House."

A spokeswoman for Wheeler said that they are reviewing the letter.

Republicans proposed their own net neutrality legislation last month, including provisions that would ban ISPs from blocking and throttling of content, as well as paid prioritization, but Democrats have balked. The legislation would prohibit the FCC from reclassification, and also restrict the agency from other types of oversight over the Internet. The White House, meanwhile, has said such legislation is unnecessary.

The FCC is scheduled to vote on the net neutrality proposal on Feb. 26.

Wheeler did not address the GOP queries on Monday, when he spoke at the Silicon Flatirons Center in Boulder, Colo.

In his prepared remarks, Wheeler said that he changed his approach "after listening to countless consumers and innovators" and he "became concerned that the relatively untested 'commercially reasonable' standard might be subsequently interpreted to mean what was reasonable for the ISPs' commercial arrangements. That, of course, would be the wrong conclusion. It was a possibility that was unacceptable."

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

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Auto review: Jeep enters compact crossover class with the Renegade, a cute little bruiser

I always wanted a Jeep Wrangler, but it seemed too much of a toy for a girl who didn't have a lot of disposable income. So I bought a pickup truck. It felt more sensible, and I could still go out after work with the guys and indulge in hill climbs and off-road adventure. To a point. That point was where the dirt roads turned into paths that were just too tight to maneuver with my big truck, and when I wanted to take more than one friend along.

What I needed was the 2015 Jeep Renegade, Jeep's first compact ute with room for five (barely). It's a true Jeep in the most rut-busting sense of that brand, but with a practical and civilized carlike side. And then there is its adorably macho design, compliments of two recent graduates of Detroit's prestigious College for Creative Studies. Katniss Everdeen would be using it as her getaway car. With a flame job, of course. Make of that mishmash what you will, but I'm standing by it.

Cut to the chase. There are four Renegade personalities, starting with the base Sport model, which will get you into the woods for $18,990. It has front-wheel drive, which people in the Snow Belt favor, but to get farther down the rutted path, you'll need the Sport 4X4 ($20,990). I would also add a rearview camera for $195. There are nine great exterior color choices. Check out Omaha Orange on the exceptional vehicle configurator at Jeep.com.

The Latitude ($22,290) has fewer color choices (six) but more amenities, like the rearview camera, snazzier aluminum wheels, a roof rack, heated rear mirrors, and the Uconnect touchscreen and Bluetooth among them. My fave options: 4X4 ($2,000) and the Cold Weather group (a mere $545), which has my essential luxuries — heated seats, heated steering wheel (!) and heated windshield de-icer. If you want the vast array of safety technology and driving alerts, look at the Safety and Security group ($595) and the Advanced Technology group ($995).

Both Sport and Latitude models are powered by a 1.4-liter, 160-horsepower, turbocharged four-cylinder engine. The transmission is a six-speed manual. If you want the optional nine-speed automatic, you'll have to also get the bigger 2.4-liter, 180-horsepower four-cylinder, for an extra $1,400. Both excellent engines come from Fiat. As a serious off-roader, I have always favored automatic transmissions to do the quick shifting in sticky situations when you can't let off the gas.

The high-end Renegades are the Limited (for the most sophisticated Jeeper) and the Trailhawk (a dream package for dedicated off-roaders), both with the bigger engine and nine-speed automatic, along with a long list of cool standard features. The Limited is more the Sunday-go-to meeting, premium Renegade — all leather inside, the rearview camera and dual-zone temperature controls, a bit over the top for such a diminutive vehicle. The right options for this buyer would be the Advanced Technology ($995) and Safety and Security ($595) groups. If you want the 4x4 version, it will be another $2,000.

At $26,990, the four-wheel-drive Trailhawk is at the very top of the Renegade food chain. It brings the off-road fun to a more technical level with an advanced SelecTerrain 4X4 system, protective transmission and transfer case skid plates, more ground clearance and suspension travel, front and rear tow hooks (don't laugh), roof rails, and hill descent control. Fave options: remote start ($200), Navigation and SiriusXM satellite radio ($1,245).

Some of you might howl bloody murder when you find out that this little Jeeplet was assembled in Italy and built on the Fiat 500X's architecture. But don't fool yourself about why Fiat bought Chrysler in the first place. It was all about the world-renowned Jeep brand and fun quotient. And it's entirely possible that more Renegades will be sold in Europe than in the United States.

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THE BASICS

Price Range: $18,990-$26,990 (prices include destination charge)

EPA Fuel Economy: not available

Competition:

Chevrolet Trax $20,995

Nissan Juke $21,075

Kia Soul $16,015

Fun-O-Meter: 10!

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ABOUT THE WRITER

Jean Jennings is a veteran automotive journalist with three decades of experience sharing her zany take on the world of cars. She is the former editor in chief of Automobile Magazine and is a frequent on-air commentator. Visit her website at www.jeanknowscars.com.

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©2015 Jean Knows Cars, LLC; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Wynn expecting a big win

Wynn Resorts is projecting big money from its casino in Everett, telling investors the Boston-area resort will be a winner for Wynn and Massachusetts.

"We are going to be responsible for $50 million a month in revenue for this state, probably another $50 million in related revenues to all the surrounding communities," said Ian Coughlan, president of Wynn Resorts-Macau on an earnings call last week. "To be in Boston, Massachusetts, and in the metropolitan area in Everett and have almost four million people where we're the only game in town is scintillating."

It is unclear exactly how much of the $50 million would come from gaming revenue, but William Thompson, a professor and gaming expert at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said those estimates put annual revenue above $2 billion — more than Wynn Las Vegas sees in a year.

"It's possible, but boy it's ambitious. On the other hand if anybody can do it, he can. He's proven his ability to do it," Thompson said.

In the earnings call, Coughlan said the resort's effective monopoly on gaming will mean more success compared to other Wynn casinos.

"We've never ever been in the position we were the only game in town," he said.

In its application to the Gaming Commission, Wynn said it expects to have a significant advantage over other casinos in the country by 
being in Boston.

"These (gross gaming revenue) projections imply that the Wynn Resort in Everett would be the highest grossing casino (non-Native American) in the United States (outside of Las Vegas), generating significant revenue premiums to casinos in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland," the application says.

Wynn has publicly put the budget for its resort in Everett at $1.6 billion, but Coughlan said Wynn's budget is between $1 billion and $1.75 billion. He said the casino will have a massive impact when it is up and running.

"We are going to be the one of the top five private employers in the history of the state of Massachusetts," Coughlan said. "We are going to employ thousands and thousands of people. It's the largest construction budget in the recent history in Massachusetts, maybe forever."

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Jean’s Hot List: Four EVs to charge up your life

Good news for planet Earth! Here are four alt-energy vehicles that manufacturers have unveiled so far in 2015.

CHEVROLET BOLT CONCEPT

This small but mighty Chevy is still in concept form, although it's expected to go into production next year. The promise of a 200-mile range and a price of $30,000 is as fetching as its metallic orange paint job. But then, open the doors and this is the interior? Wowsa! Sexy, space age, and within fiscal striking distance! It should be a popular choice.

2016 CHEVROLET VOLT

A Tesla for the people? Well, some might think so. The original Volt hit the market four years ago. The folks at Chevy have been refining the battery, style, interior tech, and everything else customers told them they liked and didn't like about it. (Volt owners are cultish in their devotion.) Now out in a 2.0, this sweet electric ride has a range of 50 miles on a charge, a host of driver awareness and assistance technologies — including forward collision alert — and tons of tech such as 4G LTE wireless hotspot in the car, an inductive charger that you just lay your phone on, and lots more. More on this car here: http://www.jeanknowscars.com/car-life/events/2016-chevrolet-volt/.

2016 MERCEDES-BENZ C350 PLUG-IN HYBRID

Green luxury has arrived! This plug-in hybrid is sporty and fast. It's comfy and luxurious on the inside as you'd expect from a Mercedes C-Class, but with less gas-consumption guilt and up to 20 miles of range on electricity alone. In fact, that zoomy interior will no doubt benefit from the quiet of an electric ride. Finally the high-thread-count crowd gets a plug-in ride.

2016 HYUNDAI SONATA PHEV

First things first. PHEV means Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle. This car is a plug-in hybrid version of Hyundai's already popular Sonata. It's a lot like the fossil-fuel-sipping Sonata but with some aerodynamic improvements, netting it an electric-only range of 22 miles. Connect the car to your phone via Bluetooth, download an app, and you can connect to the car for a health report and to schedule charging it when rates are lowest.

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ABOUT THE WRITER

Jean Jennings is a veteran automotive journalist with three decades of experience sharing her zany take on the world of cars. She is the former editor in chief of Automobile Magazine and is a frequent on-air commentator. Visit her website at www.jeanknowscars.com.

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©2015 Jean Knows Cars, LLC; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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World stocks lower on poor China trade, Greek turmoil

HONG KONG — Global stock markets were weighed down Monday by weak Chinese trade data and the new Greek prime minister's vow to renegotiate an international bailout that imposed harsh budget austerity.

KEEPING SCORE: European shares were lower in early trading. France's CAC-40 lost 1.2 percent to 4,632.85 and Germany's DAX fell 1.6 percent to 10,670.22. Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.7 percent to 6,802.46. U.S. stocks were poised to open lower, with Dow and S&P 500 futures down 0.4 percent.

CHINA TRADE: Investors were reacting to Chinese trade data released Sunday that showed imports fell nearly 20 percent over a year earlier in January. Chinese economic data is usually volatile at the beginning of the year because of Lunar New Year holidays, which falls in January or February each year. But the particularly sharp fall added to worries that the world's second biggest economy is still weakening after growth in 2014 hit a 24-year low. Exports were also weak, dropping 3.2 percent from a year earlier. The data sent most global indexes lower except in China itself, where investors gambled that more stimulus was in store.

ANALYST VIEW: The China "data point to a challenging environment for export growth in 2015, and increased our conviction that both monetary and fiscal policies must ease more aggressively to support growth in the coming months," HSBC economists Julia Wang and Jing Li wrote in a research report.

GREEK FEARS: European markets were gloomy were after the new prime minister of Greece outlined his government's policy statement to lawmakers on Sunday, declaring an end to austerity. Alexis Tsipras's demands for a "bridge agreement" giving Greece and its creditors time to negotiate a new debt deal raised fears of what would happen if the Mediterranean country does not get one by the end of its bailout after Feb. 28. Greece and its European creditors states will discuss the issue at a series of high level meetings this week.

ASIA'S DAY: Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.6 percent to close at 24,521.00 and South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.4 percent to 1,947.00. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.1 percent to 5,814.90. Benchmarks in Taiwan, Singapore and New Zealand also closed lower. However, the Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China rose 0.6 percent to 3,095.12 on stimulus bets. Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.4 percent to 17,711.93.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude was up 77 cents to $52.46 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.21 to close at $51.69 a barrel on Friday.

CURRENCIES: The dollar slipped to 118.62 yen from 119.14 yen in late trading Friday. The euro rose to $1.1280 from $1.1315.

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Boys rule at Hasbro as superheroes, Transformers lift 4Q

PAWTUCKET, R.I. — The appetite for superheroes and robots in disguise led to a healthy fourth-quarter at Hasbro even as a shift toward electronics has challenged the traditional toy industry.

Hasbro said Monday that toys geared toward boys increased 21 percent, with a strong showing from Transformers, Nerf and Marvel.

The company boosted its quarterly dividend and increased the number of its own shares targeted for buybacks.

There were two hurdles during the quarter: the strong U.S. dollar and declining sales in toys for girls. Hasbro's rival Mattel, which makes the Barbie doll, has seen a similar decline recently.

Hasbro said revenue would have climbed 7 percent if it weren't for a $93.4 million drag from foreign exchange.

Net income reached $169.9 million, or $1.34 per share, for the quarter. Earnings adjusted for pretax gains came to $1.22 per share, which was in line with Wall Street expectations, according to a poll by Zacks Investment Research.

Revenue climbed to $1.3 billion from $1.28 billion, but that was still short of the $1.34 billion analysts were looking for, according to Zacks.

Sales of merchandise for girls fell 10 percent during the quarter and game sales declined 4 percent.

Last month Mattel Inc. said that weak Barbie doll sales weighed down its fourth quarter. That company's chairman and CEO resigned.

Hasbro in September wrested the rights from Mattel for the dolls of Disney's blockbuster "Frozen," and will begin producing them next year.

For 2015, Hasbro reported a profit of $415.9 million, or $3.20 per share. Its adjusted profit was $3.15 per share, which was better than expected. Revenue was $4.28 billion and, like the quarter, fell a bit short of projections.

Hasbro raised its quarterly dividend by 7 percent to 46 cents per share, from 43 cents per share. The dividend will be paid on May 15 to shareholders of record on May 1.

Hasbro Inc., based in The Pawtucket, Rhode Island, also authorized an additional $500 million in share repurchases.

The company's stock jumped more than 4 percent to $58.22 in early trading.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap ) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on HAS at http://www.zacks.com/ap/HAS

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Keywords: Hasbro, Earnings Report

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Ronan Farrow charts new course at MSNBC

The roving news correspondent worked his sources in Paris for days, with nary a chance to eat. His efforts paid off, with a couple of exclusive interviews with interesting people affected by the tragic Charlie Hebdo murders. Next he had to prepare to meet with whistleblowers in the United States who were ready to slip him damning details about the way the nation's government treats its veterans.

Was it CNN's Anderson Cooper? CBS' Scott Pelley? ABC's David Muir? No, this was Ronan Farrow.

If that name is surprising, well, MSNBC hopes it won't be going forward. Farrrow's MSNBC program, "Ronan Farrow Daily," has been dogged by cancellation rumors for months (though none of them have proven out) and that speculation that has been bolstered by the program's decidedly lackluster ratings. But MSNBC has plans for the Rhodes Scholar and former Obama foreign policy official whose youth (he is under 30) and family background (he is the son of actress Mia Farrow) have brought an extreme degree of attention to his fledgling effort in the world of cable-news.

"It's about diving in deep," says Farrow during a recent interview while reporting in Paris. His goal is to travel to places where big stories erupt, then find underreported facets, like discovering individuals whose lives have been changed by the news. He really enjoys "finding the human piece to tell the bigger story and push forward the narrative," he says.

MSNBC executives acknowledge Farrow's daytime program has not won in the viewership game, but suggest they see potential, both for TV and for grabbing attention from viewers who watch the news in new ways. Farrow has proven skilled in nabbing interviews with everyone from Mitt Romney to Angelina Jolie to Jeannette Bougrab, the partner of slain Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier, who gave a heart-wrenching account of life in the days after the terrorist attack on that publication. "I worked every angle and every connection that I had and ever worked with in government, and knew through random online connections," Farrow says of his work to secure interviews while in France.

These kinds of exchanges, executives suggest, spread quickly on social media and generate digital impressions that are likely to be valuable as viewers rely on connections other than cable subscriptions to gain access to video. In 2013, according to the Pew Research Journalism Project, 82 percent of Americans said they got news on a desktop or laptop, while 54 percent said they got news on a mobile device. Pew said 35 percent reported that they get news in this way "frequently" on their desktop or laptop, and 21 percent from a mobile phone or tablet.

"We have to look beyond cable ratings," says Izzy Povich, vice president of talent and development at MSNBC, in an interview, adding , "Ronan is somebody who really can be a content provider on different platforms, and I do think that's the future of where we are headed."

Even so, viewership for "Ronan Farrow Daily" has been disappointing. In some months since the program launched, it has not been able to attract on average even 50,000 viewers between 25 and 54, the audience most desired by advertisers in news programming, according to Nielsen data. In contrast, Farrow's feed on Twitter has 272,000 followers. In December, "Ronan Farrow Daily" lured an average of 206,000 viewers overall, according to Nielsen, and 41,000 in the demo. Rival programs on Fox News Channel and CNN performed significantly better.

MSNBC's plan sprouts alongside a January unveiling of a new streaming-video hub, Shift, which offers programming and personalities not typically seen on the cable outlet. Other TV-news networks are trying similar stuff. CBS News has launched CBSN, a daily broadcast sent via streaming video that emulates something one might see on a cable network. In both cases, the media outlets are stocking the venture with new talent and contributions from staff already in place.

The anchor says he's just getting the opportunities he has craved after working hard to establish himself in a new milieu since the launch of his program last February. "It's a completely hectic, makeshift process. You are building the airplane at the same time you are flying it," he says of getting started on his own hour-long show. Even so, he's had the same aspiration since he began on MSNBC: "I want to be on the ground and connecting with people, and I want that to really be reflected on the show." Still, he acknowledges, "you can't just jump into the deep end like that. You've got to earn your stripes."

Indeed, Farrow has put a lot of focus on fundamentals, says Kathy O'Hearn, executive producer of "Ronan Farrow Daily, and a TV-news veteran who has executive-produced "This Week with George Stephanopulos" on ABC and "Topic A," an interview show built around Tina Brown, at CNBC. "He just gets better every day," she says. "The arc has been learning the mechanics of it, the judgment calls."

In recent months, Farrow has had more of an opportunity to get out of the studio. He visited Dallas to cover the recent Ebola outbreak there. He traveled to the Midwest to examine terrorist recruitment in the United States, and spent a week in the western U.S. to look at life around the U.S. border, embedding with agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

He is also trying to do work that requires more depth of reportage. In December, Farrow launched an investigative series, "Inside the V.A.," based on his follow-up of a 2009 NBC News investigative report looking at how 10,000 U.S. veterans may have been infected with viruses during routine colonoscopies due to mistakes made in cleaning and configuring equipment. He is working with NBC News' investigative unit to track what he calls "the human cost of having to grapple with dysfunctional medical care. It's a really horrible story."

Farrow's increased presence from sundry locales is part of a broader MSNBC strategy to get its anchors out from behind their desks and out to where news is breaking. The network, known for its tilt toward the liberal and progressive side of the political aisle, has seen ratings slump in recent months and has made strides to broaden the issues is tackles.

The intense spotlight that was put on his program when he first started was overwhelming, Farrow says: "That's the understatement of the year" (Some viewers may have tuned in to see if he would comment on allegations made by his sister last February in The New York Times about alleged sexual abuse by filmmaker Woody Allen, her adoptive father who is said to be Farrow's father and who denied the allegations). Viewers may not have been aware he was taking a new step in a journey that has often included interesting paths, such as a degree from Yale Law School and founding the U.S. State Department's Office of Global Youth Issues.

"If you look at my career, such as it is, I wanted to go strike out, do something totally different from the family I grew up in, to do something worthwhile that I care about, make things better, stand apart in that way," says Farrow. "The scrutiny is something out of my control. It's not the easiest thing to deal with, I'll be completely honest, but there are a lot of worse crosses to bear."

Meanwhile, MSNBC would like to see his show perform better on TV. "I'm not satisfied" with the ratings, says O'Hearn, who believes Farrow is gaining an audience and making a name for himself in other ways. "The scrutiny has been a challenge, but we are hopefully out from under that right now. The kinds of things we have been doing have had a tremendous amount of feedback. A series from "Ronan Farrow Daily" called "Transgender Society," has been nominated for an award by GLAAD, the advocacy organization for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.

Farrow intends to press forward. "It's a lot of hard work getting into the nitty-gritty and talking to everyone and never sleeping and not really eating," he notes. To stand out in the modern TV-news landscape, that level of activity may be de rigueur.

22.26 | 0 komentar | Read More

App tracking appetite gets NIH grant

Researchers at UMass Medical School and Worcester Polytechnic Institute have received a
$2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a smartphone app that will take a bite out of overeating caused by stress.

Development of the Re-lax app and a series of pilot clinical studies of 120 patients with obesity to evaluate the app's effectiveness will be led by Sherry Pagoto, associate professor in the Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine at UMass Medical School, and Bengisu Tulu, associate professor at the WPI Foisie School of Business.

"The app is different from others because it brings stress into the context of diet and exercise," Pagoto said. "My clinical and research experience shows that stress is a major reason people fail to follow through with lifestyle changes, which is what inspired this work."

Relax will entail both a mobile app that will enable patients to track their daily activities, and a web-based tool clinicians will be able to use to access patient information and help plan their treatment.

In addition to usual diet and exercise tracking, Pagoto said, the app also will help patients track both their stress and stress-induced eating and give them opportunities to do brief, relaxation exercises such as mindfulness meditation.

Using barcode scanning of foods, GPS technology and patients' text inputs, Relax will track their daily activities, eating patterns, exercise, mood and stress-inducing events, and provide them with an itemized list of the foods they ate and the times of day that were most stressful, illustrating the relationship between the two,

Data will be uploaded to a cloud-based platform to give clinicians guidance about when patients are experiencing stress and emotional eating, what foods they eat at those times and how often they do relaxation exercises — all information that clinicians during traditional weight-loss counseling sessions have to spend time soliciting from patients or gleaning from records.

By using the Relax web tool, clinicians will be able to more quickly get to the core of what's causing patients' eating habits, resulting in better outcomes with fewer visits to their doctors or counselors, Tulu said.

"We think that if you can shorten the time counseling takes," she said, "the money you save can be used to reach more patients."

The three-year project will track 120 patients to determine the app's effectiveness.

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Brian Wiliams on hiatus as NBC investigates

Brian Williams' decision to temporarily step away from "NBC Nightly News" amid a swirling controversy over false comments he made about his war reporting in Iraq won't be enough to salvage his free-falling career, say media analysts, who are calling on the high-profile anchor to answer tough questions during his self-imposed hiatus.

"He could come back and recover and it could be just fine — or we may never see him again," Kelly McBride, an expert on ethics for the journalism think tank the Poynter Institute, told the Herald. "NBC is going to have to do lots of question-asking and then come out publicly and say 'this is what we know for sure and this is what is true and this is what isn't.' Then — after all that — they're going to have to decide whether they're going stand behind him or not."

Admitting that it "has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news," Williams announced yesterday that as managing editor of "NBC Nightly News" he is taking himself off the broadcast for several days. Weekend anchor Lester Holt will fill in, he said.

"Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us," Williams wrote.

NBC News refused to comment yesterday on when or whether Williams would return and who would decide his future.

"I think it is all going to depend on what he does while he is off," said Al Tompkins, the Poynter Institute's senior faculty member for broadcasting and online. "Transparency will help them an awful lot ... He's come out and said he's going to be off the air for a while. Well, what is he going to do during that 'while' that will help provide answers to the questions? And will those answers do anything to calm the waters — that's what is going to matter."

Stressing that "going into hiding never, ever helps," Tompkins said the best course of action for both Williams and NBC will be to make the findings of the network's internal investigation public.

"They've said they're going to do an internal investigation and that's fine — but that investigation is going to have to be highly public, otherwise what value is the report," Tompkins asked. "They're going to have to release their findings and own up to them."

NBC News President Deborah Turness said Friday that an internal investigation had been launched after questions arose over Williams' false on-air statements that he was in a helicopter hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq in 2003.

Since Williams' apology Wednesday, questions also have been raised about his claim that he saw a body or bodies in the Hurricane Katrina floodwaters that hit New Orleans in 2005.

"Having Brian Williams sitting there right now is just too problematic for the network," said Tobe Berkovitz, a media analyst and professor at Boston University. "You can be sure that everyone is burning up YouTube looking at every clip, quote and appearance that Brian Williams has ever made looking for more of these follies and no one can withstand that kind of scrutiny. Unfortunately for him, that's the microscope that he is currently under."

Herald wire services contributed to this report.

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Advocates say 150,000 need more fuel assistance due to harsh winter

Advocates for the poor are calling on state officials to provide immediate aid to approximately 150,000 low-income Massachusetts households — about one-third of them seniors — who have exhausted their fuel-assistance benefits due to one of the coldest winters in recent memory.

In the Boston area alone, approximately 18,000 families have used up their federal benefits and confront stark choices: whether to pay for heat and rent, or whether to pay for food, medicine or electricity, said John Drew, president and CEO of Action for Boston Community Development.

"So many people are hurting this winter, and with weather like this, there doesn't seem to be any end in sight," Drew said. "Oil prices are down, but this has not been a normal winter. And electricity costs have gone way up."

The maximum federal fuel-assistance benefit is $1,025 for the poorest families — those with total incomes below the federal poverty level of $23,850 for a family of four.

On Jan. 21, Massachusetts received an additional $13 million in federal fuel assistance for qualifying residents, bringing the total fiscal year 2015 award to more than $144 million. But that $13 million divided among 150,000 households comes to just $86.66 per family.

That is not enough to pay for even half what Sydney Fuller-Jones says she owes for the gas that heats the Mattapan apartment where she lives with her 13-year-old twins.

Although they are in no imminent danger of losing their heat because of the self-imposed moratorium Massachusetts utilities have on shutting off heat from Nov. 15 to April 1 to customers who demonstrate financial hardship, the growing amount she owes puts her deeper and deeper into a debt she sees no way out of.

Since her husband died in 2011, Fuller-Jones has been the sole breadwinner in the family. And of the $1,800 in pay the 52-year-old administrative assistant takes home each month, $1,400 goes toward rent, and $400 pays for her car and insurance. The rest — food, clothes, electricity — she pays for with credit.

"I don't want to break down, but I just can't keep up," she said. "I have bouts of anxiety and struggle with depression. But I have to keep going for my children."

Last year, the state provided $20 million to increase benefits for heating assistance for families such as hers.

State Rep. Brian Dempsey (D-Haverhill), chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said Friday that lawmakers will determine what options they have while dealing with a 
$768 million budget deficit.

Elizabeth Guyton, Gov. Charlie Baker's press secretary, said he "understands this year's bitterly cold weather presents serious challenges for many. The administration will work with the Legislature to ensure that the necessary fuel assistance resources are available to the most vulnerable during the winter months."

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The Ticker

EPA to help towns adapt to flooding

Two Massachusetts communities have been chosen to receive help from the Environmental Protection Agency in finding ways to become more resilient to flooding.

Scituate and Newburyport were chosen to receive EPA technical assistance through the agency's "Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities" program. The projects will involve a team of EPA-led experts and will include the public in workshops.

Scituate Town Administrator Patricia Vinchesi said the town is significantly affected by coastal storms that tax its infrastructure, residents and resources. Newburyport Mayor Donna Holaday said the town has increasingly experienced severe flooding and coastal erosion during storms.

TUESDAY

• Commerce Department releases wholesale trade inventories for December.
• Labor Department releases job openings and labor turnover survey for December.

WEDNESDAY

• Treasury releases federal budget for January.

THURSDAY

• Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.
• Commerce Department releases retail sales data for January.
• Freddie Mac releases weekly mortgage rates. L Commerce Department releases business inventories for December.
• The TJX Cos., a Framingham-based off-price retailer, announced that William H. Swanson has been elected to its board of directors. Swanson is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Raytheon Co.

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