Investors atwitter over Boston visit

Twitter's top executives are expected to meet with prospective investors in Boston Thursday as part of a multi-city roadshow to promote what could end up being one of the largest Wall Street initial public offerings in history.

San Francisco-based Twitter, which is expected to start trading on Nov. 7 under the ticker symbol "TWTR," plans to sell 
70 million shares at $17 to $20 each to raise as much as $1.4 billion, according to a regulatory filing. If all the shares are sold, the underwriters will have the option to buy another 10.5 million shares.

Twitter's conservative valuation and its decision to trade on the New York Stock Exchange are both attempts to avoid a repeat of Facebook's May 2012 IPO, which set expectations too high and was marred by technical glitches for which the Nasdaq was later fined.

"They don't want to make the same mistakes Facebook did," said Todd Van Hoosear, vice president of public relations and stakeholder engagement at HB Agency in Newton.

Max Wolff, chief economist and strategist for ZT Wealth in New York, said he wants to know Twitter's time frame to break even. Last week, the seven-year-old company disclosed that it lost $65 million in the third quarter, three times as much as in the same period a year earlier. It was Twitter's biggest quarterly loss since 2010.

The company, headed by 
CEO Dick Costolo, also needs to demonstrate how it's going to monetize its international users, Wolff said. Right now, 75 percent of its revenue comes from this country, but 75 percent of its users live outside the United States.

In addition, Twitter needs a "discovery plan" that will make it as easy to find people to follow as it is on Facebook and Google, he said.

"In order to be the true powerhouse Twitter could and should be, it needs to solve that problem," Wolff said.

The company also needs a plan to monetize Vine, the popular mobile service it bought earlier this year that lets users capture and share short, looping videos, he said, and Twitter needs a self-serve ad platform to attract small and regional advertisers.

"There's a huge opportunity for Twitter as a second screen for television, especially for events like premieres, the Grammys and the Super Bowl, when everyone's tweeting," said David Gerzof Richard, Emerson College professor of social media and marketing.

Herald wire services contributed to this report.

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Style built in to sunny, 4-level Newton condo

This updated townhouse in Newton's Auburndale neighborhood may not look large from the outside, but it has four levels with 3,000 square feet of airy living space.

The four-bedroom end-unit at 580 Auburn St. is part of the three-building, six-townhouse Auburn Woods development built in 2000. The current owners have updated their unit, replacing carpeting in all the bedrooms and a washer/dryer and adding custom built-ins and window treatments throughout. The townhouse, which includes two bedroom suites and a basement-level two-car garage, is on the market for $875,000.

Set back from the street, the exterior of the unit is gray clapboard with white trim and there's a covered front entryway. The door opens into a spacious L-shaped oak-floored foyer lined on one side with custom built-in cabinets added in 2010, and there's an adjacent half bath with a pedestal sink.

In one direction the foyer leads to a sunny living room with oak floors, recessed lighting and a three-part picture window. Against one wall sits a gas fireplace with a carved wood mantel.

A wide archway leads into an oak-floored formal dining room with three 6-over-6 windows and a glass door that leads out to a brick patio in a small back yard area.

A wall opening and French doors lead into an open kitchen/family room. The recessed-lit kitchen has 27 white wood cabinets and Uba Tuba granite counters. A center island holds a Jenn Air gas stovetop and white oven below. A white G.E. dishwasher is also original to the unit but a white Kitchen Aid refrigerator was added in 2010. The oak-floored family room area has a wall of 6-over-6 windows, recessed lighting, oak floors and French doors. A built-in with cabinets and bookcases, as well as space for a flat screen TV, was added in 2010.

There are three bedrooms on the second floor via a stairway in the foyer and all off a carpeted hallway. The master bedroom suite, recarpeted in 2010, has a good-sized bedroom and walk-in closet. The en suite master bathroom has beige marble floors and surround for a whirlpool tub. There's also a walk-in shower and a double-sink vanity topped with white Corian.

The second bedroom also has updated carpeting and a three-part picture window as well as a built-in dresser and mirror added three years ago. A third bedroom, currently used as a home office, has a wall-length built-in desk, cabinets and bookcase. An additional bathroom on this floor has white ceramic tile floors and a Fiberglas shower, and there's an alcove with a full-size front-facing Bosch washer and dryer.

The entire third floor is taken up by a second bedroom suite with a large carpeted bedroom under the eaves with recessed lighting and a wall-length built-in window suite. There are three closets, two of which run under the eaves, and an en-suite bathroom with white ceramic tile flooring, a Fiberglas shower and Corian-topped vanity.

The current owners added a carpeted exercise room in the unit's basement. There are also unfinished storage areas, one of which holds a gas-fired central heating and cooling system. And there's direct access to a two-car garage.

There's not much yard space — just a small landscaped front yard framed by a stone wall and back yard strip of grass and a stone wall ­— but there is a common grass and wooded area off to the left of the unit. There's also a paved area for guest parking.

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Still king of the road

Since fat and happy is not a good way to go through life, engineers of the once-massive Range Rover put it on a diet, trimming 900 pounds. Still, the mighty 2013 Range Rover — with aluminum frame components and lighter-weight body steel — remains the royalty of SUV elegance.

The classically styled luxury SUV still tips the scales at a kingly 5,542 pounds, and it will never top the charts in fuel economy, managing only 13 in the city and 19 on the highway. I squeezed out a couple of miles per gallon more on the highway but one does not buy this vehicle for fuel cost savings.

The Range Rover channels its long lineage and strikes a bold, angular profile with Space Age-style grill and LED lighting display. Don't let the traditional truck-like look fake you out — this is a technically refined auto.

Powerfully built, this machine easily holds its own in performance to match up to muscle cars such as the Ford Mustang and super sport sedans such as the BMWs and Mercedes in instant acceleration. The 510-horsepower, 5.0-liter supercharged V-8 mated to an eight-speed transmission will spin the tires with a punch of the gas and jolt you back into the seat while rocketing to 60 mph in just under five seconds.

And take a $112,000 Range Rover off-road? Of course. Use the branded Terrain Response 2 computer-aided auto-adjust system to propel the truck confidently down dusty trails, through 36 inches of water or glide smoothly over highways. The SUV senses the type of surface you're on and adjusts the power output to the all-wheel-drive to match.

The Supercharged Edition includes a long list of niceties such as a panoramic sunroof, 21-inch wheels and four-zone climate control. The spartan interior is well made and fitted with 
high-quality leather, wood and plastics. The dash and interior is so reserved that even the ghostly electronic gauges seem an afterthought. However, the Meridian-based infotainment center rocks, and the plethora of information about the car seems endless, right down to the display for the power output to each wheel.

Although the seats look fantastic donned in oxford leather, I found the driver's chair lacking lateral support and actually very firm as compared to the seats in the smaller LR2 I tested last spring. I thought those may have been some of the best I've ridden in.

The sight lines are excellent through plenty of acoustic buffered glass and from the tall driving position. The high vantage spot gave me excellent vision from the helm of the full-sized machine. The rear seat is huge and with a push of a button folds down, creating a massive cargo area. I really liked the electronically controlled split tailgate for getting my gear in and out.

Safety concerns are packed into every exterior corner where sensors for the backup alerts, blindspot monitors and forward collision sensors are mounted. The Surround Camera System displays all your viewpoints on the dash, even while you're driving.

The starting price is $99,995 for a vehicle that was born on the farm, can still be driven in your Wellingtons and chase livestock — it also is meant to be piloted wearing your oxfords to the company's front row parking.

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Another month of fixes for health care website

WASHINGTON — It should be working well by the end of November. That's the Obama administration's rough timetable for completing a long list of fixes to HealthCare.gov, the new, trouble-plagued website for uninsured Americans to get coverage.

Summarizing a week's worth of intensive diagnostics, the administration acknowledged Friday the site has dozens of complex problems and tapped a private company to oversee fixes.

Jeffrey Zients, a management consultant brought in by the White House to assess the extent of problems, told reporters his review found dozens of issues across the entire system. The site is made up of layers of components that are meant to interact in real time with consumers, government agencies and insurance company computers.

It will take a lot of work, but "HealthCare.gov is fixable," Zients declared.

The vast majority of the issues will be resolved by the end of November, he asserted, and there will be many fewer screen freezes. He stopped short of saying problems will completely vanish.

The troubles have been nightmarish for the White House, which had promoted enrollment to be as simple as making a purchase on Amazon.com. This week, President Barack Obama declared himself frustrated by the setbacks while still trumpeting the benefits of the health care law and encouraging consumers to apply by phone if the website proved a hindrance.

In his weekly radio and internet address Saturday, Obama vowed that "in the coming weeks, we are going to get it working as smoothly as it's supposed to." In the meantime, he encouraged the public to call 1-800-318-2596 or visit LocalHelp.HealthCare.gov.

"We're only a few weeks into a six-month open enrollment period, and everyone who wants insurance through the marketplace will get it," he said.

As part of its effort to repair the system, the administration said it is promoting one of the website contractors, a subsidiary of the nation's largest health insurance company, to take on the role of "general contractor" shepherding the fixes.

Quality Software Services Inc. — owned by a unit of UnitedHealth Group— was responsible for two components of the government's online insurance system. One is the data hub, a linchpin that works relatively well, and the other is an accounts registration feature that initially froze and caused many problems.

HealthCare.gov was supposed to be the online portal for uninsured Americans to get coverage under Obama's health care law. Envisioned as the equivalent of Amazon.com for health insurance, it became a huge bottleneck immediately upon launch Oct. 1. The flop turned into an embarrassment for Obama and will likely end up as a case study of how government technology programs can go awry.

The briefing from Zients came a day after executives of QSSI and the other major contractor, CGI Federal, told Congress that the government didn't fully test the system and ordered up last-minute changes that contributed to logjams. Next week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is scheduled to testify.

Visiting a community health center on Friday in Austin, Texas, Sebelius said that "in an ideal world there would have been a lot more testing" but added that her department had little flexibility to postpone the launch against the backdrop of Washington's unforgiving politics. House Republicans trying to defund the nation's health insurance program precipitated a government shutdown.

In the Republican address, Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, asked whether the problems evident now foreshadowed future troubles with the health care law.

"In a few short months, families across the country will be subject to penalties under the law's individual mandate," he said. "How can the administration punish innocent Americans by forcing them to buy a product many cannot afford, from a system that does not work?

Zients gave some new details about the extent of the problems, but administration officials are still refusing to release any numbers on how many people have successfully enrolled. Although 700,000 have applied for coverage through the new online markets, it's believed only a fraction of that number actually managed to sign up. Before the website went live, an administration estimate projected nearly 500,000 people would sign up in October alone.

The marketplaces are the gateway to obtaining health insurance under the new health care law, which requires most Americans to have coverage by Jan. 1. Middle-class people who don't have insurance on the job can purchase a private plan with new tax credits to make the premiums more affordable. Low-income people will be steered to an expanded version of Medicaid in states that agree to extend the safety net program.

The federal government is running the insurance markets or taking the lead in 36 states. The rest were set up by states themselves.

Consumers have until Dec. 15 to sign up for coverage to take effect Jan. 1. Under the law, pre-existing medical conditions will no longer be a barrier. But the markets also need lots of young, healthy customers to keep premiums affordable. Open enrollment season extends until Mar. 31.

Zients said almost daily fixes are already having an impact. For example, more than 90 percent of users can now complete one of the first steps, creating an account.

But the application process, which involves submitting and verifying personal information and income details, remains "volatile," he said. At one point, as few as one-third of users were getting through that part.

Zients said there are two big categories of problems. Performance issues involve the speed and reliability of the website. Functional issues are bugs that keep the software from working as intended. Among the high-priority issues is that insurers are getting enrollments with incomplete, incorrect or duplicative information.

___

Online:

Obama's address: http://www.whitehouse.gov

Republican address: http://www.gop.gov

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Feds give $20.5M grant to aid Dorchester plan

A $100 million redevelopment in Dorchester that includes housing, a food business startup incubator and other improvements will revitalize the Quincy Corridor neighborhood and be the model for future such projects across the city, local and federal officials said.

The Quincy Corridor Choice Neighborhood Transformation Plan, fueled by a $20.5 million grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, will completely transform a four-block stretch, according to Jeanne DuBois, executive director of the Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corp.

"Today marks the start of a new era for your neighborhood," Mayor Thomas M. Menino told the crowd of people yesterday gathered outside the former Pearl Meat factory, which will become an incubator for small food businesses that are expected to create new jobs in the area. "This grant is so important to this neighborhood, it's not just about a building," said Menino. "It's how you build people's opportunities."

The project includes redevelopment of the Woodledge/Morrant Bay HUD housing development into 129 affordable family homes, and a "maker space," to connect residents with high-tech skills.

"All of a sudden you're going to see all this activity," DuBois said. "It's going to feel like more of an urban village."

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said of the five cities nationwide awarded the Choice Neighborhood grant, Boston is the first to implement its plan.

"What we saw was a deep partnership that had been working in this neighborhood for years with a very clear vision of how to bring all the pieces together," Donovan said. "We want to replicate it all over the country."

That vision of a revitalized neighborhood without gentrification and exorbitant home prices, DuBois said, should be followed in other parts of Boston, as well. The plan initially called for more housing units, but it changed once community residents said job-creating facilities, such as the food incubator, were crucial.

"If you really listen to people in the neighborhood, it's about their quality of life," she said.

Menino said the key is to target development both for current and future residents.

"The most important thing is to continue to rebuild these neighborhoods so people can continue to live in them," he said. "It's time for all of us to make sure the results are there for the community. We have to invest in people."

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Hub home inventory way down this fall

A year ago housing inventory levels statewide were down 17 percent from the previous year. Well, here we are a year later and things are pretty much the same — which isn't necessarily a bad thing. That is, unless you're a buyer looking to find a home in the city of Boston.

The fall market is typically the second busiest time of the year for real estate transactions after the spring market. Yet where is the inventory? According to Otis & Ahearn Real Estate, the downtown Boston market currently has 328 units versus 531 units at the same time last year, which is a decline of 62 percent. At the same time, the average price of sold units year to date is $727,457, up from $660,864 last year. That's a 9 percent gain. The downtown market includes these neighborhoods: Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Bay Village, East Cambridge, Charlestown Navy Yard, Chinatown, Fenway, Financial District, Leather District, Midtown, North End, South Boston, South End, Seaport, West End and Waterfront.

So where is the inventory? Private sellers seem to be more hesitant to put their homes on the market, as they have no place to go. And with an abundant supply of new development inventory just a few years ago, developers who put the brakes on projects then for various reasons, including lack of financing, are now trying to play catch up. But that will take time.

With the last new building selling out at a record pace (Millennium Place in Downtown Crossing), there's not much left on the horizon for new inventory. The bulk of inventory currently being built is to be leased and not sold, although that could change as developers see the continued need for new supply. In any case, the time frame for these projects to be built is anywhere from 30 to 48 months from breaking ground to obtaining their certificates of occupancy, so any new inventory should come in about three years.

"In the downtown market there is only 1.5 months of supply inventory," said Kevin Ahearn, president of Otis and Ahearn. "Since 2004, the city has lost 1,100 units of sales priced at under $500,000." To this end, says Ahearn, "the city and the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) are working to promote both higher density and height construction to help with this lack of lower priced inventory."

Two of the three strongest city markets (Back Bay and South End) have just 138 units between them, according to information gathered from the Multiple Listing Service Property Information Network.

Surprisingly, other than the latest bit of sluggishness in the market due to the government shutdown, which sparked a bit of fear with consumers, the market has held steady here in Boston.

According to Ahearn, "The city of Boston should have a record year in terms of overall number of transactions (with the exception of 2004 and 2005) since 1998."

Charlie Abrahams is a licensed real estate agent in Boston who works with buyers and sellers and can be reached at: Bostonrealestate@charlieabrahams.com.

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Somerville 3D printer co. raises Form-idable $19M

Somerville startup Formlabs has raised 
$19 million in institutional capital — a rare feat, even for a company responsible for the top-grossing tech project on Kickstarter.

The makers of the Form 1 3D printer already are expanding into an 11,000-square-foot facility in Somerville and will use the money to expand product research and development, grow customer support teams and drive international growth, said co-founder Maxim Lobovsky.

"There is still a wide open space in front of us to continue innovating and bringing incredible new products to the market," Lobovsky said. "With these new resources, we'll be able to continue to push the envelope, making extraordinary tools available around the world."

DFJ Growth led the financing round, together with Pitango Venture Capital, Innovation Endeavors and several returning angel investors.

"They have an opportunity to become a huge company in the desktop 3D printing space," said Barry Schuler, managing director of DFJ Growth in Menlo Park, Calif.

"We think that's the beginning of a big revolution in the way products are designed and manufactured."

The financing follows Formlabs' breakout Kickstarter campaign last year, when the company raised $2.95 million from thousands of backers in 35 countries for its high-performance 3D printer.

Backers on the crowdfunding site can expect greater service worldwide, new software features and continued innovation in affordable, high-performance digital fabrication tools, Lobovsky said.

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Climate’s changed at National Grid

Delivering clean, reliable, affordable energy well into the future is one of the greatest global challenges, National Grid CEO Steve Holliday told executives in Boston yesterday.

"Based on trends over the last few years, 2012 was supposed to be the year when investment in renewables globally surpassed fossil fuel generation for the first time," Holliday said during a speech before the Boston College Chief Executives' Club of Boston. "That didn't happen. Investment in fossil fuel generation started to increase again at the same time global renewable investment dollars tailed off, partly as a result of a drop in wind and solar generation costs."

The utility is "fundamentally changing how we operate" to address four areas of the global energy challenge: aging infrastructure, a revolution in energy supplies, extreme weather conditions, and an aging workforce and skills gap, according to Holliday.

The revolution in energy sources is being driven by aging power stations and wires, a growing realization of the impacts of climate and the need to reduce carbon emissions, and shale gas, according to Holliday.

The impacts of increasing extreme weather on National Grid were evident in 2011, when it "learned some hard lessons" responding to Hurricane Irene and an October nor'easter. "Our ... restoration efforts were, frankly, disappointing," Holliday said. "Our planning didn't account for the magnitude of the logistical challenges hitting our electricity and gas networks simultaneously, across three states and numerous regions. We now look at future scenarios, which include events we haven't seen before, to make sure we are better prepared."

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John Connolly, Martin Walsh appeal to CEOs

Boston's mayoral candidates made their cases to business leaders yesterday, emphasizing their strengths and plans for the city, but hitting on many of the same points — even touting the same accomplishment.

Speaking in back-to-back addresses and question-and-answer sessions to the Alliance for Business Leadership's annual CEO Summit, state Rep. Martin J. Walsh and City Councilor John R. Connolly laid out their views of what the city needs for business to prosper, with plenty of overlap:

•  Both candidates stressed the importance of education. Both said students should have two paths after graduation: higher education or a vocation that can lead to a high-paying job, including in manufacturing. "The Boston public schools have to matter for everyone, especially the business community," Connolly said.

• Walsh and Connolly both said any benefits to business and the economy must be tied to middle class housing improvements, specifically changes in height and density restrictions. "We can't be afraid of going up," Walsh said.

• Both said they support raising the minimum wage, and creating a regional economy with surrounding communities.

• Each emphasized his part in bringing drugmaker Vertex Pharmaceuticals to the Seaport from Cambridge. Vertex founder and former CEO Joshua Boger, in the audience, said both had legitimate claims to the accomplishment, calling it a "consensus" move.

For business leaders, those similarities may not be a bad thing.

"Most all of us were very impressed by both," Alliance president James Boyle said. "They both seemed to be very bright and had obviously spent years reflecting how they could best contribute."

Still, there were some small but noticeable differences.

Asked what he could offer the business community that his opponent could not, Walsh spoke about his plan to fold economic agencies including the BRA, tourism bureau and the EDIC into one office.

"I have a vision to grow business in Boston," he said. "I've looked at the different aspects of it as far as creating new opportunities and retention of older businesses."

Responding to the same question, Natasha Perez, a spokeswoman for Connolly, said in a statement he "will not be obligated to a narrow set of interests. He will be a strong, independent mayor who will always put the city's interests first."

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Kelly car dealers tops to work for

Five of Kelly Automotive Group's Massachusetts stores are among the 100 best dealerships to work for in North America, according to the most recent edition of Automotive News.

Dealer Brian Kelly's Nissan stores in Lynnfield and Woburn, his Honda store in Lynn, and his Infiniti and Volkswagen stores in Danvers all made the short list of the nation's pre-eminent newspaper covering the automotive industry.

"We try to take good care of our employees, and they take care of the customers," Kelly, 61, told Automotive News.

Brian Heney, director of operations for Kelly Automotive Group, said its 400 employees enjoy good benefits, flexible hours and upward mobility within the company.

"It's a great recipe for a good workplace and a successful business," Heney said. "If our employees are happy, we'll have happy customers."

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Penalties sought for Teamsters big

New England's top Teamsters union leader faces penalties that could range from a reprimand to permanent expulsion for allegedly threatening to punish supporters of rivals to his union allies in a Rhode Island union local election.

The Independent Review Board — formed under a federal court order in 1992 to investigate allegations of corruption, domination or control in the Teamsters — has recommended charges against Boston-based Local 25 president Sean O'Brien, who allegedly threatened to retaliate against Teamster members for exercising federally protected "rights to seek election to office and support the candidates of one's choice."

O'Brien also is a regional vice president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and president of Joint Council 10, which settles disputes for New England locals, 
including East Providence's Local 251.

In a speech at a campaign event for Joseph Bairos, an incumbent Local 251 secretary-treasurer up for re-election, O'Brien said anyone who "takes on" Bairos and his team have "got a major problem," according to IRB documents.

O'Brien was referring to Teamsters for a Democratic Union, a reform group opposing incumbent Local 251 officers.

"They'll never be our friends," O'Brien said. "They need to be punished, and they need to be held accountable for their actions."

O'Brien's spokeswoman, Melissa Hurley, said, "There's an internal process that takes place ... We're going to let that process run its course."

IBT's executive board must decide this week to file charges against O'Brien or refer the matter back to the IRB. "The charges will be brought against him — not much doubt about that," IRB administrator John J. Cronin Jr. said. "There are a wide range of penalties ... from fines and reprimands to permanent expulsion."

A suspension could thwart O'Brien's local and national Teamster ambitions, according to David Levin, a TDU organizer. "I think he's trying to get out in front of it and get a short suspension and be back in time to maintain his eligibility."

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Duke of Windsor's Cadillac coming to NYC auction

NEW YORK — A 1941 Cadillac custom-built for the Duke and Duchess of Windsor is heading for a New York City auction.

Dubbed "The Duchess," the limousine features rose-colored broadcloth upholstery, four jewelry cases and three cigar lighters.

It's estimated to fetch between $500,000 to $800,000. It's being sold Nov. 21 by Sotheby's and RM Auctions.

General Motors delivered the limo to the Windsors at the Waldorf Astoria, where they had a suite. The duke paid $14,000 for it.

One of the first Cadillacs to have power windows, it's fitted with satin privacy curtains.

It's being sold with the car title bearing the duke's signature.

The current owner is a Birmingham, Ala., food critic and Cadillac collector. Morgan Murphy found it in a barn next to a tractor in Texas in 2005.

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Amazon ups free shipping minimum

Amazon.com hiked its minimum purchase for free online shipping for the first time in more than 10 years, just days before it also starts collecting state sales taxes for the first time from Massachusetts customers.

The world's largest online retailer yesterday increased its minimum order size for free "Super Saver Shipping" to $35 from $25.

The change comes as it prepares to start charging the 6.25 percent state sales tax on purchases by Bay Staters on Nov. 1 — a move expected to generate $36.7 million for the state in the next seven months of the fiscal year, according to the Department of Revenue.

The state announced last December that it had reached a collection agreement with Amazon, which reported $61.09 billion in total sales last year, after the company opened a Cambridge software office and bought a North Reading robotics company.

"There's still a lot of others we need marketplace fairness with, and that's only going to come with passage of legislation through Congress," said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts.

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College prices appear to be moderating

WASHINGTON — There's some good news on college tuition. Yes, the cost has gone up — but not as much in the past.

For in-state students at a four-year public college or university, published tuition and fees increased this year on average $247 to $8,893. That's a 2.9 percent increase — the smallest one-year increase in more than 30 years, the College Board said Wednesday in its annual report on college prices.

Out-of-state prices, as well as the costs to attend public two-year colleges and private institutions rose but they also avoided big spikes, said Sandy Baum, co-author of the report. These more moderate increases could lessen concern that an annual rapid growth is tuition prices in the new normal.

"It does seem that the spiral is moderating. Not turning around, not ending, but moderating," Baum said.

The average published cost for tuition and fees at a private college for the 2013-14 academic year was $30,094 — up $1,105. An out-of-state student at a public college or university faced an annual average price tag of $22,203, which is up $670. The average price tag to for an in-state student to attend a two-year institution was much less at $3,264 — up $110.

Most students don't actually pay that, though. There are grants, tax credits and deductions that help ease the cost of going to college. About two-thirds of full-time students get grants, most from the federal government.

But, in the two years leading up to the 2012-2013 school year, the federal aid per full-time equivalent undergraduate student declined 9 percent, or about $325.

That means students have to foot more of the bill themselves.

"The rapid increases in college prices have slowed, however, student and families are paying more because grant aid is not keeping up," said David Coleman, president of the College Board.

While the average published price for tuition and fees for a private college is $30,094, the net price is $12,460 — up $530 from last year. The net price is what they actually pay after grants. There were years this decade that saw the net price going down, but it has gone up the last two years.

The average published in-state price for tuition and fees at a public four-year school is $8,893, but the average net price is about $3,120.

Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education, in a statement called it "troubling" that overall grant aid is not keeping up with prices. Her organization represents the presidents of U.S. colleges and universities.

"Institutions are committed to holding down costs, but it is equally important for state and federal governments to play their part to make college affordable," she said.

The College Board is a not-for-profit membership group that promotes college access and owns the SAT exam.

The report spells out the large declines in state appropriations given to public institutions in recent years. These cuts have been blamed for rises in college costs. Other causes often cited range from the high cost of health care for employees to the demand by students for flashier campus amenities.

Among the other findings in the report:

— Adding in costs for room and board to live on campus, average annual published costs: At public, four-year universities, $18,391 for in-state students and $31,701 for out-of-state students; $40,917 for private colleges and universities; $10,730 for in-state students at public two year schools.

— The average published tuition and fees at for-profit institutions increased by $70 to $15,130 — an increase of less than 1 percent.

— New Hampshire and Vermont had the highest published in-state tuition and fees at both four-year and two-year institutions. Wyoming and Alaska had the lowest published in-state tuition and fees at a four-year institution, while California and New Mexico had the lowest in-state among two-year schools.

— In 2012-2013, $238.5 billion in financial aid was issued to undergraduate and graduate students in the forms of grants from all sources, Federal Work-Study, federal loans and federal tax credits and deductions. Also, students borrowed about $8.8 billion from private, state and institutional sources.

— About 60 percent of students who earned bachelor's degrees in 2011-2012 graduated with debt, borrowing a total of $26,500 on average.

___

Online: http://www.collegeboard.org/

___

Follow Kimberly Hefling at http://www.twitter.com/khefling

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China banking worries weigh on markets

LONDON — Worries over the Chinese banking sector weighed on markets Wednesday, a day after weak U.S. jobs data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve won't be reducing its monetary stimulus anytime soon.

News that the U.S. generated only 148,000 jobs in September, below the consensus among analysts for around 180,000, prompted stocks in Europe and the U.S. to rally. However, that momentum came to a grinding halt during the Asian trading session following a report that the amount of bad loans written off by China's largest banks swelled in the first half of the year.

"Yesterday's 'bad news is good news' interpretation of the U.S. non-farm payroll figures only carried the markets so far before they ran out of steam," said Alastair McCaig, market analyst at IG. "An Asian sell-off has dampened equity markets' enthusiasm."

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.5 percent at 6,664 while Germany's DAX fell 0.4 percent to 8,911. The CAC-40 in France was 0.8 percent lower at 4,261.

Wall Street was poised for a lower opening, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures down 0.5 percent.

Much of the focus later will be on the next batch of U.S. economic data as well as a raft of quarterly earnings updates from the likes of Boeing, Caterpillar and AT&T.

A solid earnings season has been one reason why the S&P has hit a series of record highs, along with delayed expectations of when the Fed will begin "tapering" its stimulus.

Max Cohen, a trader at Spreadex, says earnings have beaten analyst estimates at 74 percent of the 141 companies of the S&P that have released their results so far, while 53 percent exceeded sales projections.

Elsewhere, the dollar consolidated, particularly against the euro, after falling back in the wake of the payrolls figures — the euro was 0.1 percent lower at $1.3755, just shy of its near two-year high of $1.3793.

Earlier in Asia, China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.3 percent to 2,183.11 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.4 percent to 23,999.95. Japan's Nikkei 225 tumbled 2 percent to 14,426.05 as the yen gained against the U.S. dollar, which can hurt sales and profits at Japanese exporters. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3 percent to 5,356.10.

Oil prices remained under pressure too, with the benchmark New York rate down $1.06 at $97.25 a barrel.

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WellPoint's 3Q profit falls 5 pct, forecast climbs

INDIANAPOLIS — WellPoint Inc.'s third-quarter earnings fell 5 percent, but the nation's second-largest health insurer's results topped Wall Street expectations. The company hiked its 2013 forecast, citing in part gains it expects from the health care overhaul.

Shares of the Indianapolis company jumped in premarket trading Wednesday about three hours before the market opening.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield insurer said its performance so far and coming market changes under the overhaul prompted it to raise its forecast for 2013 adjusted earnings to at least $8.40 per share. That's up from its previous forecast for at least $8 per share and well beyond the $8.26 per share average that analysts surveyed by FactSet expect.

The company didn't elaborate in a Wednesday morning statement on how the overhaul will affect its business.

The law aims to provide health insurance coverage to millions of uninsured people, and it took a major step toward that goal on Oct. 1, when enrollment started for plans that begin coverage Jan. 1. The overhaul calls for an expansion of the state-federal Medicaid program and also provides income-based tax credits to help people buy coverage on health insurance exchanges.

Analysts and investors expect the overhaul's coverage expansion to affect WellPoint more than other insurers because the company derives a large portion of its business from the individual market and through smaller employers who cover their workers.

Investors haven't been sure how much business insurers like WellPoint will lose or gain because of these exchanges, and analysts say that has made them wary of buying the stock.

The business impact so far has likely been light. Computer glitches tied to the largely online exchanges have frustrated consumers in many states as they have tried to shop around for coverage.

Overall, WellPoint said it earned $656.2 million, or $2.16 per share, in the quarter that ended Sept. 30. That compares to $691.2 million, or $2.15 per share, last year, when the company had more shares outstanding. Earnings excluding one-time items totaled $2.10 per share.

Analysts expected, on average, earnings of $1.81 per share, according to FactSet.

Operating revenue, which excludes investment gains or losses, soared 17 percent to $17.73 billion and topped analyst expectations for $17.66 billion.

WellPoint shares climbed 2.3 percent, or $2.05, to $90.48 in premarket trading.

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After 2-week delay, September jobs report due

WASHINGTON — September employment data is finally set to appear Tuesday after being delayed two weeks by the partial government shutdown.

Economists forecast that employers added 180,000 jobs in September, according to FactSet. That would be a slight improvement from August's gain of 169,000. And it would be much better than the average 155,000 jobs a month added from May through August. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 7.3 percent.

The job market has stumbled in recent months after starting the year with some promise.

The jobs report is carrying less weight than usual because the shutdown has likely slowed growth and hiring. And the September figures are certain to be revised two weeks later, when the government reports on October hiring. Some experts predict October numbers will be disappointing.

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Asia stocks waver ahead of US jobs report

BANGKOK — Asian stock markets wavered Tuesday as investors battened down for U.S. earnings and the September employment report that was delayed by the government shutdown.

Benchmarks in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and South Korea fell while Japan and Australia posted modest gains. Stock markets in Southeast Asia were mixed. Oil traded below $100 a barrel.

Markets are absorbing quarterly U.S. earnings, with about 30 percent of S&P 500 companies releasing results this week, and also awaiting the September jobs report which was delayed more than two weeks.

U.S. employers are forecast to have added 180,000 jobs, up from 169,000 in August. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 7.3 percent, which will support arguments in favor of the Federal Reserve continuing its super easy monetary policy.

Employers are adding jobs at only a modest pace, and many of the hires are in lower-paying industries. Economists think the shutdown slowed growth in the October-December quarter and likely dampened hiring.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average was up 0.2 percent at 14,723.44 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5 percent to 5,378.

Seoul's Kospi lost 0.1 percent to 2,051.65. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.5 percent to 23,324.50 and China's Shanghai Composite Index was off 0.7 percent at 2,214.51.

Benchmarks in India and Singapore rose while Indonesia and Thailand fell.

Monday's batch of U.S. earnings were mixed. McDonald's confirmed that it faces greater competition, shifting eating habits and tough economic conditions around the world. The share price of toy maker Hasbro spiked sharply after reporting better-than-expected results.

The S&P 500 closed up a fraction of a point at 1,744.66, an all-time high, its third consecutive record close. The Dow Jones industrial average edged down 7.45 points, or 0.1 percent, to 15,392.20. The Nasdaq composite rose 5.77 points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,920.05.

Benchmark crude for November delivery was down 27 cents at $98.95 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The November contract expires Tuesday.

Oil closed below $100 a barrel Monday for the first time since early July as U.S. supplies keep rising and the risks of disruption to Middle East shipments subside. The contract fell $1.59 to $99.22

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3667 from $1.3673 late Monday. The dollar rose to 98.31 yen from 98.18 yen.

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Study: Flavored small cigars are popular with kids

ATLANTA — The first study of cigars flavored to taste sweet suggests they're a hit with underage smokers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that about 1 in 30 middle and high school kids say they smoke the compact, candy- or fruit-flavored cigars. The percentages rise as kids get older, to nearly 1 in 12 high school seniors.

The results — based on a 2011 survey of nearly 19,000 students, grades 6 through 12 — were published online Tuesday by the Journal of Adolescent Health.

There are no restrictions on sales of flavored cigars except in Maine, Maryland, New York City and Providence, R.I.

The sale of cigarettes and cigars to those under 18 is illegal but CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden says the cigars are as dangerous as cigarettes and that the marketing of such products seems intended to interest kids in smoking.

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SAP profits up 23 percent as cloud computing grows

FRANKFURT, Germany — Business management software company SAP AG says net profit rose 23 percent in the third quarter as its cloud computing business grew rapidly and the company kept down costs by holding down hiring of new employees.

The company, based in Walldorf, Germany, said Monday that net profit rose to 762 million euros ($1.036 billion). Revenues grew 2 percent to 4.045 billion euros.

Cloud computing revenues more than tripled to 191 million euros from 63 million euros. In cloud computing, companies access software on SAP's computers over the Internet rather than having it installed and maintained on-site — saving them money.

That business remains smaller than SAP's older business selling on-site software to manage customer companies' business functions, but the company says it is the key to the industry's growth. Co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe said Monday that the industry move to cloud and mobile computing was a "fundamental transition" of the computer industry and the company was "clearly leading" the switch to the new way of doing things.

Chief financial officer Werner Brandt said in a statement that the company had "a very strong performance in the third quarter" despite shifts in currency exchange rates that affected the company's revenue figures. The company cited a "mixed market environment" in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; Europe has been struggling with slow growth and high unemployment in countries such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Ireland.

The company said cloud computing would bring in revenue at the rate of 1 billion euros a year by year end, and repeated its goal of 2 billion euros in 2015.

The company said third-quarter profits grew faster than sales in part because of cost discipline including restraint in hiring. CFO Brandt said the company added only 380 people from the same quarter a year ago, not counting those at companies it has acquired. SAP had 66,061 full-time workers at the end of the quarter.

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Bacteria found in breast milk sold on Internet

CHICAGO — Human breast milk is sold for babies on several online sites for a few dollars an ounce, but a new study says buyer beware: Testing showed it can contain potentially dangerous bacteria including salmonella.

The warning comes from researchers who bought and tested 101 breast milk samples sold by women on one popular site. Three-fourths of the samples contained high amounts of bacteria that could potentially sicken babies, the researchers found. They did not identify the website.

The results are "pretty scary," said Dr. Kenneth Boyer, pediatrics chief at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who was not involved in the study. "Just imagine if the donor happens to be a drug user. You don't know."

The research published in medical literature cites several cases of infants getting sick from strangers' milk.

Breast milk is also provided through milk banks, whose clients include hospitals. They also charge fees but screen donors and pasteurize donated milk to kill any germs.

With Internet sites, "you have very few ways to know for sure what you are getting is really breast milk and that it's safe to feed your baby," said Sarah Keim, the lead author and a researcher at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. "Because the consequences can be serious, it is not a good idea to obtain breast milk in this way."

The advice echoes a 2010 recommendation from the federal Food and Drug Administration.

"When human milk is obtained directly from individuals or through the Internet, the donor is unlikely to have been adequately screened for infectious disease or contamination risk," the FDA says. "In addition, it is not likely that the human milk has been collected, processed, tested or stored in a way that reduces possible safety risks to the baby."

The researchers believe theirs is the first study to test the safety of Internet-sold milk, although several others have documented bacteria in mothers' own milk or in milk bank donations. Some bacteria may not be harmful, but salmonella is among germs that could pose a threat to infants, Boyer said.

Sources for bacteria found in the study aren't known but could include donors' skin, breast pumps used to extract milk, or contamination from improper shipping methods, Keim said.

The study was published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

There are many milk-sharing sites online, including several that provide milk for free. Sellers or donors tend to be new mothers who produce more milk than their own babies can consume. Users include mothers who have difficulty breast-feeding and don't want to use formula and people with adopted infants.

Breanna Clemons of Dickinson, N.D., is a donor who found a local woman who needed breast milk through one of the online sites where milk is offered free.

"A lot of people are like, 'Ewww, it's weird,' but they haven't been in a situation where they didn't want their child to have formula," or couldn't produce enough milk, Clemons said. She said she shared her medical history with the recipient.

Clemons is breast-feeding her 7-month-old and stores excess milk in her freezer. Every few weeks, she meets up with the recipient and gives her about 20 6-ounce bags. Clemons said the woman has a healthy 9-month-old who "loves my milk."

Keim said it's unclear if milk from sites offering donated milk would have the same risks because donors might be different from those seeking money for their milk. And in a comparison, the researchers found more bacteria in breast milk purchased online than in 20 unpasteurized samples donated to a milk bank.

Bekki Hill is a co-founder of Modern Milksharing, an online support group that offers advice on milk donation. She said there's a difference between milk sellers and donors; milk donors "don't stand to gain anything from donating so they have no reason to lie about their health."

Hill, of Red Hook, N.Y., used a donor's milk for her first two children and plans to do so for her third, due in February, because she doesn't produce enough of her own.

"Breast milk is obviously the preferred food" for babies, she said.

___

Online:

Pediatrics: http://www.aap.org

___

Follow AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner .

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Hasbro 3Q results climb, helped by tax adjustment

PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Hasbro's third-quarter net income rose 17 percent, buoyed by a favorable tax adjustment and higher sales. Its adjusted results and revenue topped analysts' estimates.

Sales were strongest in the girls' category led by My Little Pony products and showed an increase in games, while sales in the boys' category fell and preschool sales slipped.

Its stock rose in premarket trading on Monday.

The quarterly results come as toy makers gear up for the holiday season, which can account for up to half their annual revenue.

The No. 2 toy maker earned $193 million, or $1.46 per share, for the three months ended Sept. 29. That compares with $164.9 million, or $1.24 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding 18 cents per share for the tax adjustment and restructuring and pension charges of 3 cents per share, earnings were $1.31 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected adjusted earnings of $1.30 per share, on average.

Revenue for the Pawtucket, R.I., company rose 2 percent to $1.37 billion on strong sales overseas and in its girls category and entertainment and licensing segment. Wall Street was calling for revenue of $1.35 billion.

Shares of Hasbro added 34 cents to $47.58 in premarket trading about three hours ahead of the market open.

By category, Hasbro reported its strongest sales in the girls category — which was up 29 percent on the successful debut of My Little Pony Equestria Girls as well as the debut of Nerf Rebelle and increased sales of Furby and other My Little Pony products.

Sales of games rose 6 percent, its fourth straight quarterly increase. This was helped by higher sales of Jenga, the Elefun & Friends collection, Magic: The Gathering and the launch of the new Telepods game platform that includes the Angry Birds Star Wars II game.

In the boys category, sales dropped 17 percent as the Marvel and Beyblade brands faced tough year-ago comparisons. There were increased sales of Transformers and Star Wars products.

Preschool sales dipped 2 percent, but there were higher sales of the Play-Doh, Sesame Street and Transformers Rescue Bots products.

International sales increased 11 percent, helped by favorable foreign exchange rates and better sales in Europe, Latin America and the Asia Pacific region. Hasbro said that sales in the games, girls and preschool categories climbed overseas.

President and CEO Brian Goldner said in a statement that Hasbro Inc.'s business continues to improve in emerging markets, with growth of 22 percent in the quarter.

Sales for the entertainment and licensing unit rose 13 percent as it benefited from the addition of Backflip Studios. Sales for the U.S. and Canada fell 5 percent, stung by lower sales in the boys and preschool categories. Sales for the girls category climbed in the region, while the games category reported flat sales.

Last week Mattel Inc. reported its quarterly profit and revenue improved on increased sales of Barbie and Monster High dolls.

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Big Hugs Elmo, others make Target's hot toy list

NEW YORK — An Elmo that gives out hugs, Barbie's Dream House, and a new striped Furby all made Target Corp.'s list of top toys for the holiday season.

Retailers place their bets early on which toys will be hits and then spend heavily to market them to spur sales during the holiday season. It's a crucial time because holiday sales can make up to 40 percent of a retailers' annual revenue.

Toy sales have been weak in North America, Europe and Australia, due to a weak video game market, an uncertain economy and continued popularity of electronic gadgets like smartphones and tablets. BMO Capital Markets analyst Gerrick Johnson estimates total toy revenue will be down 2 percent to about $21 billion.

Among the top picks: Sesame Street's Big Hugs Elmo, a mechanical Elmo that gives out hugs and sings songs; Hasbro's Furby Boom, a robotic toy pet; a Target exclusive Mattel Monster High doll called Power Ghouls; and SpinMaster's Flutterbye Flying Fairy, a doll that can flutter on air.

This year, for the first time the retailer is adding electronics, video games and sporting goods to its top toy list. Several are exclusives at Minneapolis-based Target including LeapFrog LeapPad2 Explorer Disney Princess Bundle, a tablet for kids that includes Disney Princess sticker sheets and digital wallpaper, and a Razor Lighted Wheel-A-Scooter.

To promote its "hot toys," Target is featuring Jonna Mendez, a former CIA agent turned toy expert, who is giving tips to parents on how to figure out which toys kids really want at abullseyeview.com in October and November.

For a full list of Target's 33 top toy picks go to Target.com/KidsGifts

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Startup has skin in the game

A Colombian company offering new hope to burn victims and other patients who suffer skin tissue loss is one of the 26 MassChallenge top finalists who'll compete on Oct. 30 for a piece of the start-up accelerator's $1.5 million in cash prizes.

Keraderm was founded in Bogota in 2010 by a group of plastic surgeons, who set out to find an affordable, painless way of treating tissue loss resulting from burns, ulcers, tumors and trauma.

The typical treatment calls for a graft to be taken from a patient's healthy skin and meshed to cover a large wound — a surgical procedure that often results in severe pain, significant scarring and, sometimes, rejection by the patient's body.

But Keraderm's team found that by taking a sample of healthy skin less than one centimeter in diameter from behind a patient's ear, within five to seven days they could reproduce the skin cells and plant them on a collagen sheet four times the size of a business card to cover the wound, said Jorge Soto, the company's chief financial officer.

"It starts to heal the injury by accelerating the growth of healthy skin cells," Soto said. "In 20 to 40 days, the wound is completely healed."

The patent-pending procedure, which eliminates the need for an operating room and anesthesia as well as the possibility of rejection, has been successfully done on more than 100 patients so far in 11 different hospitals in Colombia and entails no pain or scarring, he said.

A 10-by-10-centimeter sheet of skin also costs $550, significantly less than a skin graft operation does.

"There are other variations of what we're doing," Soto said, "but we haven't been able to find anyone doing the same thing."

Keraderm hopes to expand the procedure in Latin America before bringing it to the United States, where it would need to be tested in a clinical trial to gain regulatory approval.

That's a process that would take the kind of money the company, which has only eight employees including Soto, does not yet have, he said.

The team bootstrapped the start-up with $50,000 and in 2012 raised an additional $300,000 from angel investors, allowing it to open a lab in Bogota that June, Soto said.

But even if Keraderm doesn't win any money in MassChallenge, he said, the four-month accelerator, for which they were selected out of a field of nearly 1,200 applicants, has been worth it.

"I never even thought I was going to be here," Soto said. "It's going to help me a lot to show we have a product that is working."

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AP CEO: Press freedom v. security a 'false choice'

DENVER — Governments that try to force citizens to decide between a free press and national security create a "false choice" that weakens democracy, and journalists must fight increasing government overreach that has had a chilling effect on efforts to hold leaders accountable, the president and CEO of The Associated Press said Saturday.

Gary Pruitt told the 69th General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association that the U.S. Justice Department's secret seizure of records of thousands of telephone calls to and from AP reporters in 2012 is one of the most blatant violations of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution the 167-year-old news cooperative has ever encountered.

The Justice Department action involving the AP resonated far beyond the U.S., including Latin America, where journalists for decades have fought to exercise press freedoms under authoritarian regimes, Pruitt said.

"The actions by the Department of Justice could not have been more tailor-made to comfort authoritarian regimes who want to suppress the news media. 'The United States does it too,' they can say," Pruitt said.

A free and independent press "differentiates democracy from dictatorship; separates a free society from tyranny," he said.

"Governments who try to set up a situation where citizens think they must choose between a free press and security are making a mistake that will ultimately weaken them, not strengthen them. It's not a real choice. It is a false choice."

Pruitt said he was encouraged by proposed Justice Department guidelines, introduced after the records seizure, that would give news media advance notice of subpoenas so the press can challenge those actions in court; protect not just phone records but reporters' email, text messages and other forms of electronic communication; and guarantee that journalists won't be prosecuted for doing their jobs.

"But you can bet that we will be watching closely to make sure they are implemented and enforced," Pruitt said.

In 2012, the Justice Department secretly obtained records of work, cell and home numbers of AP journalists, as well as AP bureau numbers in New York, Washington, D.C., Hartford, Conn., and the AP number in the U.S. House of Representatives press gallery. It did so after an Associated Press story revealed the foiling of a plot in Yemen to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner at a time the Barack Obama administration was insisting publicly that it had no information about terrorist organizations plotting attacks on the United States in that period.

The Justice Department was trying to identify who leaked information for the AP story — but it didn't tell the AP about its phone records seizure until a year after the story ran.

The seizure was "hardly a surgical strike on a few carefully chosen targets. It was overbroad, sloppy and a fishing expedition into a wide spectrum of AP news journalism and journalists — most of whom had nothing to do with the issues in question here," Pruitt said.

It also differed from the National Security Agency's broad monitoring of global communications because it was specifically directed at locating the source of AP's reporting.

Just as alarming, the seizure has intimidated both official and nonofficial sources from speaking to the AP and numerous other news organizations, even about stories not related to national security, Pruitt said.

"Now, the government may love this. I think they do. But beware a government that loves secrecy too much," he said.

And the challenge isn't going away, Pruitt said.

"The attack on journalism — here in the United States and throughout the rest of the world — is not going to cease any time soon. In fact, I think it will become even more difficult to counter as technology gives governments very powerful tools to monitor the actions and communications of citizens and journalists," he said.

The Miami-based Inter American Press Association has about 1,400 member news organizations and promotes press freedoms throughout the Americas.

___

English URL: www.ap.org/content/press-release/2013/the-free-press-vs-national-security-a-false-choice

Spanish URL: www.ap.org/content/press-release/2013/libertad-de-prensa-vs-seguridad-nacional-un-falso-dilema

Portuguese URL: www.ap.org/content/press-release/2013/imprensa-livre-vs-seguranca-nacional-a-falsa-escolha

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What to do when battery is on its last legs

I have a 2005 Hyundai Tucson with 90,000 miles on it. I've never had a problem since I purchased the vehicle, but I'm worried the battery will fail sometime soon because of its age. I'm planning to change the battery myself but I'm concerned about the computer and electronics due to the temporary loss of power during the replacement process. What should I do before and after changing the battery?

Just drive the car. Replacing the battery, which of course requires disconnecting the vehicle's electrical system from the original battery, will do no harm to the vehicle's electronics. You'll likely have to reset the radio station pre-sets and the engine management system will take a few miles of driving to "re-learn" your driving characteristics, but you probably will not notice anything.

Perhaps the more relevant question at this point is: Should you replace the battery now or wait until it fails? Being a founding member of the "Snug America" club and not wanting to part with any more of my hard-earned dollars than absolutely necessary, I lean toward the latter. Most batteries will develop symptoms of impending failure such as slow engine cranking speeds, giving you a heads-up that it's time for a new one. But batteries can and do fail suddenly and completely without warning.

So when I suspect a battery might be on its last legs, I carry a portable battery booster in the vehicle. Then, if the battery does fail, — at any time and for any reason — I can jump-start the vehicle to complete my trip.

This, by definition, is the Murphy's Law of automobiles — if you have a spare part with you, you'll probably never need to use it!

And finally, to put your mind at ease, have the original battery tested at a local parts store. A load test or electronic test will give you an idea of how much life your battery still has.

I have a '93 Buick Riviera with the 3800 V6 engine and 182,000 miles. When I start the engine it makes a "thudding" noise four to five times. It has done this intermittently for the past three years. One mechanic told me it could be a cracked flywheel. Can you help?

Does this noise primarily occur on a cold start after the car's been sitting for at least several hours? Also, watch the oil pressure warning light carefully as you start the engine — do the "thuds" last precisely until the warning light goes out? If so, the noise may be due to worn main or rod bearings. Once oil pressure is up, the excess clearance is buffered by the oil film and the noise stops.

A cracked flex plate/flywheel or loose torque converter mounting bolts could cause a similar noise, but for three years without some type of failure? Other possibilities include a broken or failed engine/drivetrain mount or an engine startup misfire.

Regardless of the cause, at 20 years old and nearing 200,000 miles, I'm not sure I'd be willing to spend much on repairs. If the vehicle is still nice, keep an eye out for a used or rebuilt engine. Remember the automotive version of Murphy's Law.

We have a 2008 Buick Lucerne. This fall we will be leaving the state for about seven months. Should we disconnect the battery? Will this mess up the computers? Also, should I use a trickle charger or a float charger? What's the difference?

I recommend disconnecting the battery — it is safer and will cause no harm as described above — and connect a float charger or battery maintainer like Battery Tender to keep the battery safely charged while you're away.

A trickle charger continuously charges the battery at a low amperage rate, which can lead to overcharging and battery failure. A battery maintainer charges and holds the battery at its optimum voltage safely for an indefinite period.

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Massport to hit up pols

Massachusetts Port Authority officials — already facing a ticking clock to grab vital federal funding — are prepping to start a Beacon Hill blitz this week to pitch a $300 million plan to dredge Boston Harbor, hoping to convince lawmakers to bankroll nearly a quarter of it.

The four-year project to deepen the Hub's vital maritime channels could double the amount of cargo containers that pass through Boston Harbor — a 
$42.5 million business for Massport last year — and will help it vie for the bigger cargo ships primed to hit East Coast ports starting in 2015, officials say.

But they admit they're already playing catch-up to other ports' dredging projects, making lobbying efforts — both federally and at the state level — crucial to keeping them competitive.

"We want to make sure we're putting our best foot forward and make the case for federal funding, and make the case for state funding. But it's kind of a chicken-and-egg process," Massport CEO Thomas Glynn said, noting the board has yet to vote on the project but could within four months. "We have to tell the board, then we have to go to the State House, so we kind of go back and forth."

Their first targets are East Boston lawmakers, whose sometimes prickly history with the agency mean Massport pitches always require a grain of salt, said Eastie state Rep. Carlo Basile.

"I just don't take their word for it. I do my own due diligence," said Basile, who plans to meet with Massport officials Tuesday. He admitted he's aware of little to no complaints from past dredging projects rolled out in 2001, 2005 and 2008, but warned, "that's not to say it can't happen this time."

"It's a much bigger project," Basile said. "I'm still waiting to hear a lot of details."

Massport spokesman Matthew Brelis, said, "We talk with legislators all the time on a host of things," but noted for the dredging project officials are starting with lawmakers from "impacted communities" before moving on to others.

Massport officials are counting on as much as 
$170 million in federal money for the project, with $65 million each coming from the agency and the state.

Secretary of Transportation Richard Davey, who chairs the Massport board, implored members that "we shouldn't do anything right now that would preclude us from the $170 million," likening the shot at the federal funds to waiting for Halley's Comet.

"You can call it Davey's Comet," he told the board during a Thursday meeting.

When Congress will act to award the money, however, is unclear, especially in the wake of the government shutdown, Glynn said.

"Everything is up for grabs down there until it's final," he said. "(Other ports) are a little bit ahead of us in terms of making their request ... but we have enough time. It's a question of it's a moving target."

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