Obama announcing effort to boost high-tech training, hiring

WASHINGTON — Targeting stagnant wages in an otherwise improving economy, President Barack Obama is calling on employers, educational institutions and local governments to ramp up training and hiring of high-technology in an effort to drive up higher-income employment.

Obama has obtained commitments from more than 300 employers as well as local governments in 21 regions of the country to train and hire low-skilled workers and make them proficient for jobs in software development, network administration and cybersecurity.

Under the program, the Obama administration will provide $100 million in competitive grants to joint initiatives by employers, training institutions and local governments that target workers who don't have easy access to training. The money comes from fees companies pay to the government to hire foreign workers under the H-1B visa program.

"Too many Americans think these jobs are out of their reach, that these jobs are only in places like Silicon Valley or that they all require an advance degree in computer science. That's just not the case," said Jeff Zients, director of the White House National Economic Council.

Among the communities that have pledged to participate are New York City, Louisville, Detroit, Nashville, San Francisco, and Kansas City, Missouri.

Obama planned to announce the program, called TechHire, during a speech Monday to the National League of Cities.

The initiative is designed to prepare U.S. workers for a growing number of technology jobs. According to the White House, of the 5 million jobs available today, more than half a million of them are in fields such as software development, network administration and cybersecurity.

Obama's attention to technology comes as the unemployment rate is dropping but wages remain flat.

According to the White House, the average salary for workers with high-tech skills is 50 percent higher than the average private-sector American job.

The administration's plan is for universities and community colleges to provide training, but to also rely on high-tech educational academies, some of which have entered into arrangements with cities to train workers in a matter of months and then help place them in jobs.

The training academies undergo independent studies to confirm the rate of job placements.

"The new training models have really been open to publishing their results ... how many people are getting hired from these training programs," said Megan Smith, the chief technology officer in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

The unemployment rate in February dropped to 5.5 percent but average hourly earnings rose just 3 cents to $24.78 from January. Raising wages has become one of the biggest challenges of the current economic recovery.

"The world's technology needs are just moving a lot faster than traditional education solutions. That's the fundamental problem here," said Louisville, Kentucky, Mayor Greg Fischer, whose city has pledged to expand an existing program with high tech. "So that's why these non-conventional methods are needed right now."

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Czech state clears sale of military aircraft to Iraq

PRAGUE — The Czech Republic's government says it has approved a deal to deliver 15 Czech-made light combat planes to Iraq.

Defense Minister Martin Stropnicky says the military will sell the subsonic L-159 planes for 750 million koruna ($30 million) back to the maker, Aero Vodochody, which will then broker a deal with Iraq because the military is banned by law from selling directly. Stropnicky said Monday Aero is expected to repair the planes and deliver them in two or three years.

The light combat and training planes were made between 1999 and 2003. The Czech army had been trying to sell most of them because it has no use for them.

Last year, the government approved another deal to deliver up to 28 of the aircraft to the United States.

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US stocks make small gains, steadying after big sell off

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks made slight gains on Monday as the market steadied after a big-sell off on Friday. Stocks slumped last week when a strong jobs report boosted expectations that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates this summer.

GM gained after announcing a $5 billion stock buyback to appease an activist investor.

KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose six points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,077 as of 10:55 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 107 points, or 0.6 percent, to 17,961 points. The Nasdaq composite was flat at 4,929.

BUYBACK DEAL: General Motors announced that it would buy back $5 billion of its own stock by the end of the year. The move is part of a deal with Harry Wilson, an activist investor and a former member of the government task force that restructured GM coming out of its 2009 bankruptcy. In exchange, Wilson agreed to withdraw his hostile candidacy for the Detroit automaker's board of directors. GM's stock rose 96 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $37.50.

SIX YEARS ON: A bull market for stocks reached its sixth anniversary on Monday. On this day in 2009, the S&P 500 bottomed out at 676.53 after slumping nearly 60 percent in 18 months in the wake of the housing market collapse and the Great Recession. Since then the index has tripled thanks to a recovering economy and record company earnings.

PROPERTY BID: Macerich, a real estate investment trust that specializes in retail properties, climbed $5.06, or 5.8 percent, to $91.80 after Simon Property bid $16 billion in cash and stock for the company.

APPLE WATCH: Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to unveil the company's smartwatch and make the case for why it's a must-have gadget at a San Francisco event later Monday. Apple teased the smartwatch in September but has given few details. Apple's stock rose $1.43, or 1.1 percent, to $128.05.

FED THINKING: Stocks slumped on Friday after a Labor Department report showed that the U.S. added 295,000 jobs in February. That ratcheted up expectations that Federal Reserve policy makers will raise interest rates as soon as June. The Fed has held interest rates close to zero for more than six years to stimulate growth following the financial crisis and Great Recession.

ECB STARTS QE: The European Central Bank started its 60 billion euro ($65 billion) per month bond-buying program on Monday. The bank hopes the purchases will stimulate the eurozone economy and get inflation back to the bank's target of just below 2 percent. At present, consumer prices in the 19-country currency bloc are falling at an annual rate of 0.3 percent.

EUROPE'S DAY: France's CAC-40 fell 0.6 percent while Germany's DAX was flat. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 0.6 percent lower.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude rose 95 cents to $50.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 19 cents to $59.94 per barrel in London.

BONDS AND CURRENCIES: U.S. government bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.19 percent from 2.25 percent on Friday.

The divergence between the Fed and the ECB's monetary policies has pushed the euro lower against the dollar. After falling to its lowest in 12 years against the dollar on Friday, the euro recovered some ground on Monday, trading at $1.0869. The dollar was flat against the Japanese currency at 120.86 yen.

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Disputing credit report could get easier under new rules

NEW YORK — Disputing a mistake on your credit report could get easier and the effects of medical debt less severe under changes being made by the three largest credit-reporting agencies.

The Monday announcement by the agencies — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — comes after months of negotiations between the companies and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

Consumer advocates have long sought a revamp that would reduce errors on credit report and make correcting them easier. Data collected by the agencies on hundreds of millions of people are used to create credit scores, which can determine who gets a loan and how much interest is paid on it.

"The nation's largest reporting agencies have a responsibility to investigate and correct errors on consumers' credit reports. This agreement will reform the entire industry and provide vital protections for millions of consumers across the country," Schneiderman said in a statement.

Under the changes announced Monday, people who contest items in their credit reports will receive more information concerning those disputes, including instructions on what they can do if they don't like the answer they get. In a bid to increase accuracy, medical debts won't be reported until after a 180-day waiting period to allow time for insurance payments to be applied.

The agencies agreed to remove from credit reports previously reported medical collections that have been or are being paid by insurance companies.

This comes after a move in August by Fair Isaac Corp., the company behind the commonly used FICO credit score, in which it announced that medical debt would have a smaller effect on the score. It also said at the time that debts that go to collection agencies and are repaid wouldn't count against a consumer's FICO score.

Equifax, Experian and TransUnion are honing their focus to better handle disputes with consumers and to help victims of identity theft and fraud.

The three credit reporting agencies will jettison reports on debts that didn't arise from a contract or agreement with the consumer, such as tickets or fines.

The changes are intended to provide people with more transparency and more simple navigation when dealing with the bureaus that hold their credit reports.

The plan gives hope to consumers that have been frustrated with the quality and accuracy of their reports, the National Foundation for Credit Counseling said in a statement.

"The measures taken to improve the consumer experience and data quality are a significant step toward addressing some of the most common complaints about the credit reporting agencies," it said.

A working group will be formed under the agreement to regularly review consistency and to ensure that collected data is applied to consumers uniformly.

The changes will begin to appear over the next several months. Discussions with other attorneys general are ongoing and there remains the possibility for more agreements ahead.

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High court: Amtrak like gov't agency in helping set rules

WASHINGTON — A unanimous Supreme Court says Amtrak is more like a part of the government than a private corporation when it helps federal agencies craft rules to keep trains running on schedule.

The justices ruled Monday that lower courts must consider Amtrak's status in deciding whether Congress can give the passenger rail company power to develop standards other private railroads must follow.

A 2008 law directs Amtrak to work with the Federal Railroad Administration to create standards that let Amtrak keep priority over freight trains along common railroad tracks. But a federal appeals court sided with the freight railroad industry, which said Amtrak was a private organization that could not regulate competitor's actions.

The Supreme Court reversed, saying Amtrak is like a government entity given the reality of federal controls.

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Ice bikes gain traction in bitterly cold Buffalo, New York

BUFFALO, N.Y. — If it were possible for anything to be hot in Buffalo this winter, it was the newfangled "ice bikes" that debuted at an outdoor skating rink.

The bicycles on ice skates were an immediate hit when they glided onto the Ice at Canalside the day the new rink opened on the city's waterfront.

Since that December day, the bundled riders who have ignored breath-taking cold to rent them have convinced inventor Lisa Florczak that she's onto something. That, and the inquiries from several other cold-weather cities in Wyoming, Michigan, Minnesota and Canada interested in rolling them out next year.

"I had no idea if this would work or how people would respond," Florczak said on a recent afternoon as some Parkinson's patients tested the bikes for their exercise potential. "I thought I might end up being the laughingstock of the city."

Instead, she is relishing being part of Buffalo's efforts to revitalize its waterfront and draw people year-round, even when the Lake Erie breeze is something more endured than enjoyed. The bikes give even nonskaters a chance to try out the ice, along with the warm nuts, hot cocoa and craft beer sold at nearby kiosks.

Florczak's family business, Water Bikes of Buffalo, was renting pontoon bikes that let riders pedal the Buffalo River in warmer months when economic development officials put out a call for ideas for the 33,000-square-foot ice rink being built nearby on a recreation of the Erie Canal.

"They said the ice is going to be pretty large, and they thought they might need something more than just skating," Florczak said.

Curling, hockey and broomball leagues emerged.

"I thought: 'What a perfect opportunity to go from water biking to ice biking,'" Florczak said.

She bought a bike off the rack at Wal-Mart and worked with General Welding and Fabricating in Elma on a design. The bikes had to be sturdy, not tip and co-exist with ice skaters. Prototype testing showed that sharper blades, like on ice skates, were too fast, as were flat blades that worked like a ski.

The finished product is a 26-inch bike that sits on a rectangular base with a duller blade replacing the front wheel. Stainless steel so they don't rust in the snow, they ride like a regular bicycle, only without the need to balance. Riders brake by pedaling backward.

"It's pretty neat," said Dave Wolf, of East Amherst, after giving a bike a spin. "They take a little getting used to. No sharp turns. But once you get used to it, it's a pretty nice ride."

Wolf, who has Parkinson's disease, said he rides a three-wheel bike in the nice weather and likes the idea of a winter alternative.

The inaugural year had 15 bikes on the ice on weekends only, with riders paying $10 for a half-hour turn. There are plans to sell kits that will let people convert their own bicycles for about $1,500 and the company is hoping for orders from other cities will make for a busy "offseason."

Ice Bikes of Buffalo, the name Florczak chose for the venture, is laser-cut into the running board. It was important, she said, that her city get its due if the bikes took off. She also wants to keep production local, after seeing relatives lose jobs during Buffalo's economic struggles.

"It's been," she said, "an incredible ride so far."

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Lawyers predict claims for ice falls will be hard to prove

Massachusetts personal injury lawyers say they expect to see an influx of slip-and-fall claims stemming from this winter's record snowfall and ice, both of which have been so extreme that they may make such cases harder to win.

David White of Breakstone, White and Gluck in Boston said his firm has received at least 50 percent more claims this winter.

"We've never had as many phone calls as we've had this year," said White, former president of the Massachusetts Bar Association. "Some of them are slips and falls; others are people being hit by snow and ice falling off buildings."

Other attorneys, such as Frank Antonucci of Springfield, said he has yet to see a large increase in claims, but that doesn't surprise him.

"People with catastrophic injuries don't run to a lawyer; they go to the doctor," Antonucci said. "If there's an increase, I probably won't start to see it until around April. Hopefully, someone in the family was smart enough to take photos (of the scene and the injuries)."

Even with such evidence, he said, negligence may be hard to prove this year. In the past, Massachusetts property owners were 
liable only for injuries caused by "unnatural" accumulations of snow or ice, such as water pouring down the gutter of a house and freezing on the sidewalk, causing someone to slip and fall, White said.

But in 2010, the state's highest court held owners to a higher standard. Because of the availability of everything from salt and sand to shovels, snowblowers and plows, owners have a duty to take "reasonable care" to clear their property of snow and ice, the court ruled.

During most winters, that would make personal injury cases easier to win if someone failed to shovel his sidewalk or plow his driveway, said Robert Feinberg of Feinberg and Alban in Boston.

"It has definitely changed the landscape," he said, "because proving an unnatural accumulation was not always possible."

This year, however, the snow and ice have been so difficult to clear "that it could affect the calculus of what's reasonable," Feinberg said.

"In general, the more severe the injury is, the more likely a jury would be to give the plaintiff the benefit of the doubt" in the small percentage of cases that go to trial, said Scott Tucker, a defense attorney and partner in the Boston firm Tucker, Saltzman and Dyer.

"But in a year like this, everybody realizes sometimes your best efforts aren't enough," Tucker said. "I think jurors will be more likely to identify with the defendant who wasn't able to keep up with this winter's unrelenting storms because there's a good chance the jurors weren't able to, 
either. There's a whole lot of, 'There but for the grace of God go I.' "

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Wicked Good jars cupcake business

Something's cooking in Marshfield — good enough to get the attention of "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary.

The celebrity entrepreneur was in town for a promotional photo shoot with one of his most successful investments to date: Wicked Good Cupcakes, the retail and mail-order bakery headed by mother-daughter duo Tracey Noonan and Danielle Vilagie.

"They were doing $15,000 a month (in revenue) when I met them (in 2013)," O'Leary told the Boston Herald. "Now they're doing over $400,000 a month. We have all kinds of new products and plans for the year ahead."

Noonan and Vilagie opened their first retail location in Cohasset in 2011, achieving national notoriety for their cupcake-in-a-jar concept. Business exploded after their appearance on ABC's "Shark Tank" venture capital competition in April 2013, which the women described as "intimidating."

"You get only one shot in front of them and there are no retakes," Noonan said. "It's nerve-wracking on many levels."

O'Leary, the bottom-line businessman who admitted he has a weakness for cupcakes, invested $75,000, which was used to help build a commercial kitchen in Pennsylvania and a retail outlet at Faneuil Hall.

"That is one damn good jar of cake," O'Leary said during the broadcast.

"You go on the show to get the money," said Wicked Good Cupcakes COO Scott Noonan. "But the bigger impact was the media exposure and now having a partner in your camp like (O'Leary)."

He said Wicked Good Cupcakes' revenue grew 600 percent in 2013 thanks to that single appearance on "Shark Tank." Business rose 50 percent last year and is on pace to add another 45 percent this year. O'Leary made a wise choice: As part of the "Shark Tank" deal, he gets 45 cents of every cupcake sold.

Wicked Good Cupcakes won't yet share the nature of the new product that brought O'Leary to the Noonans' Marshfield home.

"But it was inspired by my 9-year-old niece Samantha (Wheeler)," Tracey Noonan said. "It's her product line. It's a yummy treat that's customizable and giftable."

The new product will launch this fall, in time for the big holiday rush.

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Repair shops unable to find source of van’s ‘clunk’

I have a nice '93 GMC conversion van that has been stored winters since new. There is a clunking sound when moving forward or backward while turning left or right, and it's getting worse. It has been in two shops with no results. One shop removed brake backing plates and lubricated parts, the other said they couldn't tell where the noise was coming from. I feel this needs to be repaired before something happens.

Without identifying which model van — full-size or mid-size — or from which end of the vehicle the clunking originates, troubleshooting is much more difficult. But here are several possibilities:

• If the noise is coming from the front, the most common source is a broken sway bar link. These tend to rust and when broken often generate a solid clunk. Other potential front-end culprits are worn ball joints, control-arm bushings, worn steering tie rods or drag link, a failed shock absorber, broken coil spring or loose steering box or rack. If the vehicle is equipped with a tilt steering wheel, the noise could also originate in the steering column due to a burr or wear in the upper bearing assembly. This noise is typically heard as the steering wheel returns to center.
• If the noise originates in the rear, possible culprits include a rear axle/bearing assembly, differential or spider gear problem, leaf-spring bushing, failed shock or loose exhaust.
• If the clunk originates in the brake system, it could be the brake pads moving back and forth in the calipers. If the issue is with the rear drum brakes, wear on the backing plate can cause the brake shoes to "catch" or clunk when applied.

...

I've been changing my own oil for nearly 50 years and I have some questions. Is there really a necessary difference between 5-20 and 5-30? Why do manufacturers have such odd capacities? My Escape needs 5.3 quarts, my Tacoma uses 5.5 and my son's Contour uses 5.8. Can't they just keep it in full-quart or half-quart amounts for ease of changing? If a car uses a blend can you top the odd amount with a regular oil, blend or full synthetic? Finally, when I first started to change oil I was told to put a bit of oil on the filter gasket to help it seat. Is this correct?

One of the easiest ways to improve fuel economy is to fill the engine with lighter weight oil. The less viscous the oil, the less power needed to pump it through the engine under pressure. I remember when car makers switched from 10W-30 to 5W-30, fuel economy improved by 1/10th of 1 mpg. Today's lubricants are so far superior in performance that we now see 0W-20 oil recommended for many new cars.

Regarding oil capacities, I suspect there are two main factors. First, adequate volume to continually lubricate and cool the engine's mechanical components while maintaining continuous flow during acceleration, braking and cornering. Secondly, design constraints for oil pan size, shape and location. And finally, some engines were designed to metric sizes, which are different than SAE measurements. The issue of partial quarts isn't much of a factor since today's oils come in resealable plastic bottles.

As long as the oil meets the car maker's specs, there is no harm in topping up with petro­leum, semi-­synthetic or full synthetic.

Not only is it a good idea to "wet" the rubber seal on an oil filter to help it seal, partially filling (if possible) the filter before installation helps the engine build oil pressure faster at first start-up.

...

Is it better for mileage or the car to cycle heating/cooling on and off or just leave them on?

Just leave the HVAC system on. Cabin heat is generated by waste heat from the engine in the coolant, so there's no significant cost or impact on the vehicle. The A/C compressor cycles on and off automatically to minimize cost, wear and tear.

Paul Brand, author of "How to Repair Your Car," is an automotive troubleshooter, driving instructor and former race-car driver. Readers may write to him at: Star Tribune, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., 55488 or via email at paulbrandstartribune.com. Please explain the problem in detail and include a daytime phone number. Because of the volume of mail, we cannot provide personal replies.

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Merkel deputy: Flogging case strains Saudi-German relations

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Shortly before meeting with the Saudi king on Sunday, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel criticized a court-ordered punishment against a Saudi blogger who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam on a liberal blog.

The German news agency dpa quoted Gabriel as saying "the harshness of this sentence, especially the corporal punishment, is something unimaginable for us, and of course it weighs on our relations (with Saudi Arabia)."

Raif Badawi was arrested in 2012 after writing articles critical of Saudi Arabia's clerics on a liberal blog he created, which has since been shut down. He was found guilty of breaking Saudi Arabia's technology laws and insulting religious figures through his blog. In addition to the flogging and prison sentence, he was ordered to pay a fine of about $266,600.

His lawyer, prominent human rights defender Waleed Abul-Khair, is serving a 15-year sentence for insulting the judiciary, among other charges related to his political activism.

Badawi received 50 lashes in a public square in the western coastal city of Jiddah in January, but authorities have since delayed further rounds of flogging after widespread criticism from human rights groups and the kingdom's Western allies. The U.S. called on Saudi authorities to rescind the punishment and Sweden's Foreign Ministry summoned Saudi Arabia's charge d'affaires to protest the flogging.

Saudi Arabia made its first official comments on the case on Saturday, saying that it "expresses its intense surprise and dismay" at international media coverage of the case.

The statement, made by an unnamed Foreign Ministry official whose remarks were carried in the state-owned Saudi Press Agency, said the kingdom "does not accept any interference in its internal affairs" and said its judiciary is impartial and independent. The statement added that the kingdom's constitution, based in Islamic law, ensures human rights.

Activist group Avaaz had organized a protest in front of Berlin's Tegel airport before Gabriel's departure Saturday to the Saudi capital of Riyadh. Protesters handed Gabriel a petition urging him to help secure Badawi's release and a letter from Badawi's wife, who lives with their three children in Canada.

Gabriel told protesters that the German government has been working for weeks to secure Badawi's release.

Rights groups argue that the case against Badawi is part of a wider crackdown on freedom of speech and dissent in Saudi Arabia since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. Criticism of prominent clerics is seen as a red line because of their prestige in the kingdom, as well as their influential role in supporting government policies.

Saudi Arabia's Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf, who met Gabriel on Saturday, was quoted by state-linked media as saying that trade between the two countries reached $12.4 billion in 2013, with Saudi exports to Germany accounting for $418 million.

___

Jordans reported from Berlin.

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