Bay State sued over
 campaign finance law

A conservative Arizona think-tank and two Bay State businesses filed suit yesterday to change a state campaign finance law that allows unions to contribute up to $15,000, but blocks businesses from doing the same.

"I don't have the same voice, the same horse in the race, as my friends in the unions," said Michael Kane, who owns 126 Self Storage in Ashland and is a director of the conservative Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. "It's really about fairness and equity. We're not asking for anything more."

The Arizona-based Goldwater Institute filed suit in Suffolk Superior Court on behalf of 126 Self Storage and 1A Auto in Pepperell.

"There is no legitimate justification for allowing unions to contribute thousands of dollars to candidates, parties and political committees, while completely banning any contributions from businesses," the lawsuit says. "This lopsided ban on political contributions violates Plaintiffs' rights of equal protection, free speech, and free association protected by the Massachusetts and United States constitutions."

State law allows certain groups that do not have any corporate money, including unions, to donate up to $15,000 to candidates, but corporations are banned from making any campaign contributions.

Jason Tait, a spokesman for the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, declined to comment on pending litigation.

Steven Tolman, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, said businesses already have enough power and influence.

"It's shocking that a right-wing funded group would want to come up in Massachusetts and challenge or try to make an argument that corporations don't have enough political juice," Tolman said. "It's absolutely outrageous."

Massachusetts is one of seven states that allow union donations, but bar business contributions, Goldwater attorney James Manley said.

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Uber partners with Starwood, giving hotel points for rides

NEW YORK — Uber is partnering with hotel chain Starwood to give riders a bit more incentive to choose the ride-hailing service over a taxi.

Uber passengers can now earn one Starwood rewards point for each dollar they spend on a ride in a car found through the San Francisco-based company's mobile app. Guests spending the night at one of Starwood's 1,200 hotels will earn two to four points per dollar spent, depending on their level of status with Stamford, Connecticut-based Starwood. Points can't be earned until the Uber passenger spends at least one night during the calendar year at a Starwood hotel.

Free hotel nights start at 3,000 points for the lowest tier of hotels, like the Four Points by Sheraton Tucson Airport in Arizona, and can be as high as 35,000 points a night for properties like the St. Regis Princeville Resort in Hawaii.

This is the first global deal where ground transportation passengers can earn hotel points for trips.

This potentially helps Uber in big cities such as New York, San Paulo, Brazil and Bangalore, India where it's going head to head with established taxi companies and car services.

Some airport car services do offer passengers airline miles for their trips, but those programs are open to a number of airlines. This new Uber partnership is exclusive to Starwood. Neither company would disclose the terms of the deal.

The hotel company, known for its Sheraton, Westin and W brands, already has similar partnerships with Delta Air Lines and Emirate Airline.

"Our guests get to us in many different ways," says Mark Vondrasek, Starwood's senior vice president of loyalty and partnership marketing. Through these partnerships, "we're trying to get members to concentrate their stays with us."

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Scott Mayerowitz can be reached at http://twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott.

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Blizzard of app use in Boston during snowstorms

Snowbound Bostonians turned to their mobile devices to get through the recent run of storms, sending app usage up as much as 30 percent when local colleges canceled classes or the MBTA halted service.

App usage increased between 17 percent and 29 percent during five snow days from Jan. 27 to Feb. 15, according to Localytics, a Boston application marketing and analytics company.

"The biggest thing that surprised me was just how much higher the app usage was," Localytics business analyst Dave Hoch said. "We looked at devices in Boston, which is a pretty big sample, and to see something up 30 percent higher on given days is a very big jump."

Localytics used a 30-day baseline average from Jan. 15 to Feb. 15 to make the comparison and based its analysis on its clients' approximately 28,000 apps.

The highest increases were on days when colleges closed down: 24 percent on Jan. 27, 29 percent on Feb. 2 and 27 percent on Feb. 9.

Not surprisingly, weather was the top app category, seeing increased usage of 46 percent. Retail therapy also apparently helped people cope with the snowiest month on record: Shopping app usage increased 37 percent on the snow days.

"One of the big takeaways to that is just because your brick-and-mortar store is closed, as long as you have a good mobile presence like an app, you don't have to lose all that valuable business," Hoch said.

Photography apps also saw a big bump in use — a 37 percent increase — as Hub residents documented the snowfall and crazy snow antics to share on social media and elsewhere. Books and news apps saw 30 percent and 25 percent increases, respectively, while gaming app usage jumped 23 percent.

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Massachusetts may cut coastal building

Massachusetts is considering limiting development in "high-hazard" coastal areas after decades of vicious, costly storms and predictions of many more in years to come, according to a state commission's draft report.

The report by the Massachusetts Coastal Erosion Commission, created by the Legislature in 2013, says one way to reduce the impact of erosion and flooding on property, infrastructure and natural resources is by siting new development and substantial redevelopment away from such areas.

"The recommendation was to evaluate potential setback approaches," said Bruce K. Carlisle, a commission member and director of the state Office of Coastal Zone Management. "It stopped short of recommending a setback approach."

The report calls for, among other things, adopting the 2015 International Building Codes for structures in floodplains and assessing the impact of rising sea levels during regulatory review of coastal projects.

The report also recommends a voluntary program to buy back high-hazard or storm-damaged properties after cost/benefit analyses.

"This is a provision of the environmental bond bill ... that did pass the state Legislature last July, so that's the authorization, but it has to be appropriated," Carlisle said. "The secretary (of energy and environmental affairs' office) is looking at that provision, but that's really all we can say at this time."

Massachusetts is a state where people have long treasured their beachfront homes, but taxpayers and insurance rate payers have borne the brunt of the high cost of bailing out storm-ravaged homes.

Since 1978, Federal Emergency Management Agency payments for Massachusetts storms with coastal impacts such as flooding and erosion have totaled more than $600 million. Over the past 30 years, the average erosion rates range from 8.70 feet per year in Yarmouth on Cape Cod to 0.99 feet per year in West Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard.

"We as human beings want to live as close to the water as we can, but we have to realize we're not in control of everything," said Paul Schrader, a commission member who has lived in Sandwich for 18 years. "Climate change is causing more violent storms. If we don't take a cautious approach, then we suffer very sad consequences."

After a series of public hearings next month, the commission will issue a final report to the Legislature in the spring or summer, Carlisle said.

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Eatery hit by marathon bomb to close doors

Forum, the Boylston Street bar and restaurant at ground zero of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, will close March 1 due to a large rent increase, according to owner Boston Nightlife Ventures.

"Unfortunately, the current real estate climate on Boylston Street has motivated Forum's landlord to raise rent this year by nearly three times our current rate," president Euz Azevedo said in a statement yesterday. "This rent increase makes it financially impossible for Boston Nightlife Ventures to operate and sustain a business at a location that means so much to us and to our city."

The second bomb exploded outside of Forum on April 15, 2013, while it was hosting a Joe Andruzzi Foundation fundraiser. The former New England Patriot was on-site and sprang into action along with staff and other party-goers to aid victims injured by the blast.

The restaurant, which suffered significant damage, reopened that August after reconstruction.

"With insurance claims still backed up by bureaucracy, our road to financial recovery was knowingly long," Azevedo said. "Boston Nightlife Ventures would like to offer our sincere gratitude to Forum's incredible staff and to each and every one of our patrons, from our regulars to those who came in after the marathon to show their support. We cried together, we smiled together — none of these times will be forgotten."

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The Ticker

Fed: Student loan 
deliquencies soar

Student loans had a higher delinquency rate than credit cards, auto loans and home mortgages over the past three years, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported recently.

Outstanding student loans in the country have reached $1.16 trillion, an increase of $77 billion from a year ago. About 11.3 percent were in default — more than 90 days delinquent — in the last quarter of 2014, compared with 11.1 percent in the previous quarter.

By comparison, 3.5 percent of car loans were past due, as were just 3.1 percent of mortgage loans.

"Although we've seen an overall improvement in delinquency rates since the Great Recession, the increasing trend in student loan balances and delinquencies is concerning," Donghoon Lee, research officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said in a statement.

But even as borrowers struggle to make payments, more continue to jump into the loan pool to help finance their schooling. Moreover, the age of student-loan borrowers is creeping upward. More than a third are older than 40, according to the New York Fed's Liberty Street Economics blog.

Vermont defends Gruber contract

A top aide to Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin is defending the administration's handling of a contract with Massachusetts Institute of Technology health economist Jonathan Gruber, after criticisms were lodged by the state auditor.

Administration Secretary Justin Johnson made public his reply to Vermont Auditor Doug Hoffer, in which Johnson says officials in the state office of health care reform kept a close eye on work done by Gruber.

Hoffer says the evidence suggests that Gruber overstated the hours worked by a $100-per-hour research assistant, and that top state health care officials ignored the obvious signs that something was amiss.

The state rewrote its contract with Gruber after he generated national headlines when videos were released of him talking about the "stupidity of the American voter."

Today

 Standard & Poor's releases S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices for December and the fourth quarter.

 The Conference Board releases the Consumer Confidence Index for February.

TOMORROW

 Commerce Department releases new home sales for January.

THE SHUFFLE

CBRE Group Inc. announced that Todd Trehubenko has joined CBRE Capital Markets' debt & structured finance team as senior vice president. Based in Boston, he will originate multifamily loans with a particular focus on FHA-insured debt. Trehubenko previously worked at Walker & Dunlop, and also served as CEO of Recap Real Estate Advisors in Boston.

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Boston area rental rate skyrockets

Boston rents were up 
4.6 percent in January from a year earlier, according to new data — an ongoing trend that tenant advocates say is pricing more people out of the city.

Boston's median rent last month was $2,149, compared to the national median, which was up 
3.3 percent to $1,350, according to the research branch of Zillow, the real estate and rental market website.

"It's a crisis," said Kathy Brown of the Boston Tenant Coalition. "Think about how many living-wage — let alone minimum-wage — workers it would take to pay $2,149 a month, especially if you factor in all your other bills. This is why we've seen so many people getting pushed out of Jamaica Plain and across the city."

Renting is often considered a stepping stone to home ownership, but since 2000, rents have grown about twice as fast as wages, leaving many renters further and further away from their goal of saving enough for a down payment on a house in Boston, said Svenja Gudell, Zillow's senior director of economic research.

Greg Vasil of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board said the answer is to build more housing.

"It really is a supply-and-demand issue," Vasil said. "If there was more of a supply, it should cause rents to drop."

But Brown said that the majority of apartments being built in the city are luxury units, well beyond the grasp of even the middle class.

Under the city's Inclusionary Development Program, a developer is supposed to either make 
13 percent of the total number of units being built affordable, or pay $200,000 per unit into a fund the city can use to build affordable housing. The coalition wants the city to increase the portion of affordable units to 25 percent, and says the amount per unit a developer can alternatively pay should equal the building's price per unit.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh said in a statement, "In 2014, we announced a robust housing plan, with a goal to build 53,000 new units of housing by 2030, including 20,000 middle-income units. We are laying the groundwork to get to that number, making funds available for affordable housing development, creating incentives for developers to invest, and evaluating our IDP program. With 8,000 units of housing under construction now, we're creating new supply to answer the demand for housing, which will drive down the cost of housing in the city of Boston."

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Boston.com hires two editors

Boston Globe affiliate website Boston.com yesterday announced the hiring of two new editors to "strengthen a website beset by controversy."

Editor Tim Molloy and Deputy Editor Kaitlyn Johnston will begin March 16.

"Bringing in two great, experienced journalists with sound judgment and strong experience can only improve our process for telling great stories," Corey Gottlieb, Boston.com's general manager, told the Herald. Molloy was the digital editor for the PBS news magazine "Frontline." Johnston was digital editor at Boston magazine.

Boston.com was stung when a former deputy editor hawked T-shirts poking fun of a Harvard professor embroiled in a $4 flap with a Chinese restaurant owner — a story she reported on — and posted an article accusing the professor of sending a racist email. Another editor was fired for making light of death threats to U.S. House Speaker John Boehner.

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Business Protocol: Use LinkedIn to stand out

LinkedIn, with 300 million users worldwide, takes networking to the stratosphere.

Forget Facebook, that's for connecting with friends. Twitter is too cryptic. Instagram, too visual.

LinkedIn is a perfect online portal to share your professional accomplishments and career ambitions. But don't treat it too casually.

When posting to Linked-

In, remember to use a professional writing style, post a professional headshot and be more selective in sharing news. You want to be tactical and strategic to stand out with recruiters.

As for your LinkedIn profile, craft a professional headline and summary which says you are ready for prime time. Your employment history should be accurate and cover 10 years — list more only if your background is particularly impressive or relevant.

Dates and information should be accurate; inconsistencies will be exposed and can kill your professional reputation.

When it comes to sharing profiles, promote those you believe would be a good fit. Forward job listings to others, where appropriate, and pave the way for introductions to others. ("Be a friend to get a friend.")

When it comes to adding photos, avoid you at the beach, partying, or looking provocative. They're all a turn-off for recruiters.

As for updates, maintain balance in your update frequency. Frequent updates on Twitter are acceptable, if not required, to show you get it.

On LinkedIn, keep your update topics professional. Post creative information and links; establish yourself as a resource.

When it comes to the all-important recommendations, follow these quick tips:

• Select a few (raving fans!) who can articulate how you distinguish yourself; let others speak on your behalf.

• Request recommendations from colleagues after you have worked for or with them for at least six months. Offer to provide talking points.

• Be careful of pressuring anyone to write a reference and give more than you receive.

When mulling a connection request, try calling the person first. You'll increase your chances of being successful. When accepting requests to connect, be discerning and personalize the message once you do welcome someone onboard.

But, remember no app or website will ever replace the impact of a one-on-one personal connection.

Judith Bowman is the president and founder of Protocol Consultants International and author of "Don't Take the Last Donut: New Rules of Business Etiquette" and "How to Stand Apart @ Work … Transforming Fine to Fabulous!" Email: Judith@ProtocolConsultants.com.

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IUDs, hormone implants growing more popular among US women

CHICAGO — Long-acting but reversible methods of birth control are becoming increasingly popular among U.S. women, with IUDs redesigned after safety scares and the development of under-the-skin hormone implants, a government report shows.

Birth control pills remain the most popular contraceptive method nationwide, but intrauterine devices and implants are more effective at preventing pregnancy and they last for several years.

Highlights of the new report, released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

RISING USE

National surveys show 7 percent of U.S. reproductive-aged women used long-acting contraceptives in 2011-13, up from less than 2 percent in 2002. The most popular are IUDs, T-shaped devices containing hormones or copper that are inserted into the womb. They can work for up to about 10 years. Implants are matchstick-size plastic rods containing hormones that are inserted beneath the skin of the upper arm. They last about three years. Both types can cost hundreds of dollars but should be covered with no co-pays by most insurance plans under contraception mandates of the Affordable Care Act.

Long-acting contraceptives were used most by women in their mid-20s and 30s — 11 percent or more than double the rate in younger or older women. They were also more popular with women who had at least one child, versus those who'd never given birth. Use increased among whites, blacks and Hispanics from 2006-2013.

HISTORY

IUD use dropped sharply nationwide after serious complications linked with a now-defunct brand in the 1970s, but other brands have been redesigned. Hormonal implants using several small rods were introduced in the United States in the 1990s; single-rod implants became available about 10 years later.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended IUDs and implants as the most effective forms of reversible birth control in 2011 and called them safe for most women. Both long-acting methods are nearly 100 percent effective, with lower failure rates than birth control pills, patches and injections.

The brief report suggests newer IUD designs and availability of implants that last as long as some IUDs may make these methods appealing for more women, though it doesn't include specific reasons for the rise in popularity. 

OTHER METHODS

Among the nearly 61 million U.S. women aged 15-44, almost two-thirds used some form of contraception in 2011-13, an earlier CDC report found. Pills were the most common, used by 16 percent. About 15 percent chose sterilization but its popularity declined during those years. About 9 percent chose male condoms, which unlike pills and long-acting forms, protect against sexually transmitted diseases.

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Online:

CDC: http://tinyurl.com/86pez7a

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AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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