Yukon SLT claims high-end territory

Slide into the leather captain's seats, grasp the contrast stitched leather steering wheel, flip on the premium sound system and enjoy the quiet comfortable ride. But make no mistake about it, the fully redesigned 2015 GMC Yukon SLT is still a truck.

So don't be afraid to pack a six-man crew into the three rows of seats, hook on the trailer and get everyone to the job site and — as with many full-sized premium SUVs — you'll still be able to hit the car wash on the way home and take your favorite person to dinner. MSRP of the SLT is $57,735, but add on some niceties and you get the $64,520 test model we drove.

GMC uses the 5.3 Liter 
355 hp V-8 Ecotec3 engine, with its active fuel management system that shuts down four cylinders under certain driving conditions, to average around 18 mpg. I glided up Interstate 95 and got 22-plus on the highway while traveling in effortless comfort. Based on a rear-wheel drive platform the SLT has on-demand all-wheel drive controlled from a switch knob on the dash. I ran into heavy rain during my test and switched to four-wheel drive on the fly and marveled at how secure the truck was in the storm.

The nicely appointed Yukon succeeds in delivering on many fronts, and although its curb appeal may not swivel some heads, the full-sized vehicle is a must shop in the premium workhorse field. Our tester was fitted out with the $3,255 Sun and Entertainment package that added on the sunroof, and upgraded the navigation and sound and rear entertainment systems. The 8-inch touchscreen LCD worked easily, and the smartphone integration was a snap.

I really like the big simple analog gauges on the dash. Forgoing some of the electronic wizardry in other cars, the GMC presents a six-gauge array wrapped around the electronic display that is easy to read.

The safety features engage all the senses. Lighted blind spot alerts, a driver's seat that vibrates when you drift off lane, and audible tones when you get too close keep you on your toes when driving. The front and back parking cameras and electronic assist steering make maneuvering this nearly 6,000-lb truck quite easy. Parallel parking the 17-foot-long truck still takes some skill, but you'll be surprised how manageable the powered rack and pinion steering makes it. Cup holders, a huge center-mounted storage bin and multiple USB connections hint at the workman heritage of these trucks.

An additional $2,000 kicks on the 20-inch aluminum wheels and more importantly the max trailer package — a 4-ton tow capacity. An upgraded rear axle, dash-mounted trailer brake controller, a two-speed transfer case and heavier duty air suspension turning this into a powerful construction workhorse or the king of weekend camping.

The power operated 60/40 split third-row seats fold flat and are a tight fit for adult passengers. Other GMC SUVs, such as the Acadia we tested last fall, are better suited for extra passengers but these will work for short trips or kids. The second-row captain's chairs are sharp-looking and comfortable, though. Lower trim levels use rear bench seats, so this may be a better option if people are the priority.

Available in three trim levels, some of the vehicles the Yukon competes with for your SUV dollars include the Land Rover LR4, Ford Expedition and Toyota Sequoia.

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AG to probe CGI payments

The state will shell out an additional $35 million to developer CGI in a settlement over the disastrous Health Connector website, and Attorney General Martha Coakley has launched an investigation into the Virginia-based company, officials said yesterday.

"There were deficiencies and shortcomings on our part and CGI's part," said state Obamacare czar Maydad Cohen. "That has been well-documented by independent reports and by virtue of the fact we're in the position we're in today."

All totaled, CGI will have recouped $52 million of the original $69 million contract — a cost that skyrocketed to $89 million thanks to cost overruns. But the site was doomed from day one, baffling users with glitches that blocked people with hyphenated names and forced others to falsely identify themselves as prison inmates or mental patients to enroll.

"What a sad state of affairs that you spend that amount of money and there's no accountability at all," said Joshua Archambault of the Pioneer Institute. "If this were the private sector, there would be serious consequences for wasting this kind of money."

The agreement gives Coakley the power to try to recover up to $12 million from CGI under the False Claims Act.

"The failings of the CGI-developed website have been unacceptable, and we are conducting an investigation into their actions to seek to recover money back for taxpayers," said spokesman Brad Puffer.

But GOP gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker shot back: "Investigations cannot undo the taxpayer dollars wasted and the disruption of families' access to health care."

Gov. Deval Patrick defended the settlement in a statement: "This is a pragmatic way to wind up a frustrating relationship. CGI has been a disappointing partner."

CGI had continued working on the day-to-day project as recently as this week, even though Patrick had announced in March that the two sides were "parting ways."

Part of yesterday's settlement included determining the ownership of intellectual property — items such as software and code — that wasn't clearly spelled out in the contract.

CGI workers will remain on the job for the next three months in the transition.

"This agreement recognizes the important contributions made by CGI throughout the project and during the past three months when hundreds of CGI professionals stayed on the job," said CGI spokeswoman Linda Odorisio.

While state officials had blamed CGI for the disaster, documents unearthed by the Herald showed that in-fighting among Patrick administration officials, frequently changing work orders, and the state's obsession with building the "Rolls-Royce" of insurance portals also contributed to the cyber-meltdown.

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The Ticker

FDA approves antibiotic from Lexington's Cubist

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved a new antibiotic from Lexington-based Cubist Pharmaceuticals to treat common skin infections often acquired in the hospital.

Regulators cleared the company's Sivextro as a pill and as an intravenous solution for adults with skin infections caused by bacteria that are often resistant to older antibiotics.

The FDA gave Sivextro an expedited review under a 2012 law designed to encourage drug makers to invest in researching and development of new antibiotics. Under the measure, Cubist will receive an additional five years of exclusive marketing rights to the drug.

Casino hopefuls present traffic plans

Mohegan Sun and Wynn Resorts laid out plans yesterday to help alleviate Boston-area traffic created by their proposed casinos.

The casino giants are vying for the lucrative eastern region gambling license, which is expected to be awarded in late August or early September.

Mohegan Sun officials, at a meeting before state gambling regulators at the Hynes Convention Center, said the casino's planned $1.2 billion resort on the Revere side of the Suffolk Downs horse racing track would include an estimated $45 million in transit-related improvements.

Wynn Resorts officials said their proposed $1.6 billion casino on a former chemical plant site in Everett would include about $50 million in such investments.

Both casino operators put forward a range of traffic-mitigating plans, including improvements to some of the area's most congested traffic circles. The casinos also said they would be limiting employee parking onsite and encouraging mass transit use while also staggering work shifts so that employees are not on the road during rush hour drive times.

Dow, S&P reach record highs

U.S. stocks rose yesterday, driving the Dow and the S&P 500 to close at record highs as the shares of 330 companies hit 52-week highs on the New York Stock Exchange.

The S&P 500 scored its third record closing high in a row while the Dow surpassed its previous record close on June 10. The blue-chip index hit an all-time intraday high at 16,978.02, coming close to the 17,000 mark.

For the week, the three major U.S. stock indexes rose 1 percent as investors brushed off geopolitical concerns about Iraq and focused on the Federal Reserve's comments indicating that it will keep interest rates low for a long period of time.

Sperry Van Ness International Corp., a commercial real estate franchisor based in Boston, announced that Diane Danielson, previously the company's chief platform officer, was promoted to chief operating officer. Danielson is responsible for the day-to-day operations that support the more than 180 Sperry Van Ness franchises nationwide. She previously worked as a new media and marketing technology consultant for several industries.

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Presbyterians to divest as protest against Israel

DETROIT — The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Friday became the most prominent religious group in the United States to endorse divestment as a protest against Israeli policies toward Palestinians, voting to sell church stock in three companies whose products Israel uses in the occupied territories.

The General Assembly voted by a razor-thin margin — 310-303 — to sell stock in Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions. Two years ago, the General Assembly rejected a similar divestment proposal by two votes.

The American Jewish Committee, a policy and advocacy group based in New York, said the vote was "driven by hatred of Israel." But Heath Rada, moderator for the church meeting, said immediately after the vote that "in no way is this a reflection of our lack of love for our Jewish brothers and sisters."

The decision is expected to reverberate beyond the 1.8 million-member church. It comes amid discouragement over failed peace talks that have left activists desperate for some way to affect change and as the broader movement known as BDS — or boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel — has gained some momentum in the U.S., Israel's closest and most important ally.

Presbyterians who advocated for divestment insisted their action was not part of the broader boycott movement. Israeli officials, along with many American Jewish groups, denounced the campaign as an attempt to delegitimize the Jewish state. Separately, the assembly also voted to re-examine its support for a two-state solution.

In a statement on its Facebook page, the Israeli Embassy in Washington denounced the resolution as "shameful."

"Voting for symbolic measures marginalizes and removes its ability to be a constructive partner to promote peace in the Middle East," the statement said.

Omar Barghouti, a co-founder of the BDS movement, praised the vote as a "sweet victory for human rights."

He said Presbyterian supporters of Palestinian rights have introduced divestment into the U.S. mainstream and have given Palestinians "real hope in the face of the relentless and intensifying cruelty of Israel's regime of occupation, settler colonialism and apartheid."

The top Presbyterian legislative body has been considering divestment for a decade. Representatives of the Presbyterian socially responsible investment arm told the national meeting in Detroit that their efforts to lobby the three companies for change had failed. Carol Hylkema of the Israel/Palestine Mission Network, a Presbyterian group that advocates for Palestinians and spearheaded the drive for divestment, said their action was modeled on the divestment movement to end apartheid in South Africa. The 2012 assembly had endorsed a boycott of Israeli products made in the Palestinian territories.

"Because we are a historical peacemaking church, what we have done is, we have stood up for nonviolent means of resistance to oppression and we have sent a clear message to a struggling society that we support their efforts to resist in a nonviolent way the oppression being thrust upon them," said the Rev. Jeffrey DeYoe, of the Israel/Palestine Mission Network.

The vote was the subject of intense lobbying both from within and outside the church. Rabbis and other members of Jewish Voice for Peace, which advocates for Palestinians, lined the halls of the meeting and prayed in vigils outside the convention center wearing T-shirts that read, "Another Jew Supporting Divestment." Other rabbis and their Presbyterian supporters held panel discussions and sent letters to delegates urging them to vote no.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the liberal Union for Reform Judaism, which is the largest branch of American Judaism, addressed the delegates twice, urging them to reject divestment. After the vote, Jacobs said the denomination as a whole is no longer "a partner for joint work on Israel-Palestine peace issues."

In leading an effort to strike down the proposal, Frank Allen of the Central Florida Presbytery told delegates, "Divestment will create dissension. Dialogue and relationship building will lay the groundwork for true peace."

Bill Ward of the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest, based in Spokane, Washington, argued the proposal was not an attack on Israel. The measure adopted Friday reaffirms Israel's right to exist. "It is motivated by stewardship integrity, not partisan political advocacy," Ward said.

Two smaller U.S. religious groups have divested in protest of Israeli policies: the Friends Fiduciary Corp., which manages assets for U.S. Quakers, and the Mennonite Central Committee. Last week, the pension board of the United Methodist Church, the largest mainline Protestant group in the U.S., revealed plans to sell holdings worth about $110,000 in G4S, which provides security equipment and has contracts with Israel's prison system. However, the United Methodist Church had rejected church-wide divestment.

Motorola Solutions said in a statement that the company follows the law and its own policies that address human rights. Hewlett-Packard said its checkpoints for Palestinians were developed to expedite passage "in a secure environment, enabling people to get to their place of work or to carry out their business in a faster and safer way." Caterpillar has said it does not sell equipment to Israel, just to the U.S. government.

A church spokeswoman estimated the value of Presbyterian holdings in the companies at $21 million.

____

Zoll reported from New York.

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Massachusetts job creation strong in May

Massachusetts added more than 9,000 jobs in May and the unemployment rate dropped to 
5.6 percent in what economists called an "encouraging" report after the state lost 2,000 jobs in the previous month.

"It's undeniably a strong report," said Michael Goodman, an economist with UMass Dartmouth. "It's striking that the state has a level of employment that is not only above the pre-great recession peak but above the pre-dot-com bubble peak."

The state added 9,100 jobs across a variety of industries in May.

Leisure and Hospitality, Construction and Education and Health Services were among the sectors that saw solid gains last month.

"The jobs are widespread," said Robert Nakosteen, a UMass Amherst economist. "Very encouraging."

The unemployment rate fell to a near six-year low at 5.6 percent, down from 6 percent last month. The jobless rate has now dropped 1.5 percent since October.

"We are in a strong place within our borders," said Rachel Kaprelian, the state's secretary of labor and workforce development.

The national rate was 6.3 percent in May, unchanged from the previous month.

Despite the down month in April — now revised to 2,000 jobs lost instead of 1,600 — the state job market in is good shape, economists said.

"The trajectory has been upward," Goodman said.

Herald wire services contributed to this report.

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Brighton clinic looks to build housing for veterans

Brighton Marine Health Center Inc. is set to start the permitting process for a 101-unit multifamily development offering affordable rentals to veterans and their families.

The nonprofit plans to partner with Boston's WinnDevelopment on the six-story project, which would be built along Commonwealth Avenue on about 1.5 acres of its 9-acre campus. Eighty percent of the units would be affordable, and 70 percent of those would be reserved for vets and their families.

The 32-year-old health center provides primary care, diagnostic and behavioral health services to uniformed services personnel, retirees and their dependents through the Department of Defense-sponsored US Family Health Plan.

Returning veterans face many challenges as they become acclimated to being home and seek to re-enter the workforce, according to Brighton Marine CEO Michael 
Dwyer. "One such challenge Brighton Marine has recognized is a growing need ... for moderate-income housing," Dwyer said in a statement. "As a result, Brighton Marine decided to leverage its available real estate assets and build moderate-income housing plus a workforce training facility on its site."

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh wants to ensure any hurdles are cleared so the project can be built as quickly as possible, according to Francisco Urena, the city's commissioner of veterans services.

"This ... is not only addressing ... (veteran) homelessness, but also it gives the opportunity for returning veterans ... to meet the residency requirement to be employed with the city," Urena said.

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Back Bay Station deal blasted

The Patrick administration has come under fire for what critics say is an inside deal that will give the owner of the John Hancock Tower exclusive rights to build a skyscraper over Back Bay Station — public property that they say should prompt an open bidding process.

"There are many commercial interests who would drool over the prospect of building in that location," said former state Inspector General Gregory W. Sullivan, now at the Pioneer Institute. "I would call that a wired contract. It would be an outrage to even consider it a possibility of not awarding that to the highest bidder. Those air rights are worth ... a lot of money."

The state Transportation Department said this week it was negotiating solely with Boston Properties to allow it to build a tower and another building over Back Bay Station and an MBTA busway in exchange for financing a $25 million rehab of the transit hub.

Boston Properties bought the Hancock Tower in 2010 for $930 million. It also acquired a parking garage adjacent to the station that it leases from MassDOT for $1.5 million a year.

Back Bay Station — and the air rights above it — are owned by the MBTA, which is required to go out to bid.

MassDOT spokeswoman Cyndi Roy said her parent agency intends to acquire the station from the T to avoid a bid and go ahead with the project, which also involves building over the parking garage.

"Under current statute, the MBTA can lease the property to MassDOT, and MassDOT is not required to bid the property. However, under normal circumstances, we would do that to ensure we get the best deal," she said.

Boston Properties, which did not return multiple messages, has 54 years left on its 99-year garage lease. The company would give MassDOT a lump sum to end that lease and get a new 99-year term, Roy said.

Roy argued the garage lease makes it "nearly impossible" for any other developer to build over the site with Boston Properties as its tenant.

Roy said MassDOT has conducted "internal estimates" on the value of the air rights but she declined to provide them.

One longtime Boston-based developer said the best way to determine the market value of the air rights is put it out to bid.

"It could be $30 million below the market value. …Not putting a major project like this, in the core of the city, out to bid is unheard of," said the developer.

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Kraft Foods recalls 260 cases of Velveeta

NEW YORK — Kraft said Thursday it is recalling its Velveeta cheese product from Walmart stores in as many as 12 states, mostly in the Midwest, because the cheese product lacks the proper amount of preservatives.

Insufficient levels of sorbic acid has led to the recall of 260 cases of Velveeta original pasteurized recipe cheese product because it could cause the cheese product to spoil prematurely or cause food-borne illnesses.

Kraft Foods Group Inc. said the cheese product was sent to three Walmart distribution centers and could have been shipped to as many as 12 states: Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

The company said the code on the packages is 021000611614. The packages also have a date stamp that reads "17 DEC 2014" and the timeframe is between 10:54 and 14:35.

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Life sciences field flourishing in Massachusetts

Massachusetts now ranks sixth in the nation in total life sciences employment but No. 1 in industry jobs per capita, in part due to support from the state, according to Northeastern University's Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy.

By 2012, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the state had 113,678 jobs in the industry, ranking it behind California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. But controlling for population size, Massachusetts, with its smaller population, ranked first in per capita employment, with 17,363 life sciences jobs for every 1 million people — 1.8 times as many as California and 2.3 times as many as New York, said Alan Clayton-Matthews, director of quantitative methods at Northeastern's School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs.

"As of 2014, all 10 of the top 10 drug companies in the world have set up shop in Massachusetts," said Barry Bluestone, director of the Dukakis Center. "Why? Because they wanted a front-row seat to acquire small life science firms and their discoveries."

Bluestone cited the accelerator loans, research and development funds, and other support those firms have received from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, the agency charged with implementing the state's $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative.

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Amazon's smartphone has cool features, but won't set market on Fire

Amazon's new "Fire Phone" will be like crack for impulse shoppers, sporting a new feature called Firefly that is akin to an all-knowing personal shopper, with the ability to identify more than 70 million products using the camera.

But this new push by the e-commerce giant to spread its retail tentacles isn't going to disrupt the smartphone market. It likely will be about as popular as the Kindle — meaning it will capture less than 10 percent market share. It adds to a hardware lineup with a counterintuitive mission: not to make money off hardware sales, but to use the hardware to nudge consumers toward its revenue generators: Amazon Prime frequent subscriber programs, apps and of course, Amazon retail products.

The Firefly feature has its own dedicated button, allowing instant identification of millions of household products, and even identifies the songs and movies playing in the background. And it shows you how to buy those products — on Amazon, of course.

The phone — priced at $199 with an AT&T wireless plan — will ship late next month and includes some features meant to set it apart from Apple and Android. The Fire Phone includes the Mayday button, a crowning feature of the Kindle that provides excellent live tech support directly on your screen. It includes free unlimited cloud photo storage and some intriguing screen enhancements.

Special sensors adjust the Fire Phone's screen depending on how you hold, view and move it. The result, says Amazon, is that apps look more immersive and three-dimensional.

The so-called "Dynamic Perspective" sounds like an extension of the parallax view on my iPhone 5S (which continues to be little more than a distraction). But Amazon says the technology goes further, allowing users to scroll through text or turn to the next page by tilting the phone. If it works perfectly, this could be a nice little convenience. But if the phone starts turning the page and scrolling every time you flinch, it will be a giant, gimmicky annoyance.

Amazon had to include some technology because CEO Jeff Bezos didn't want to spend yesterday's announcement talking about furthering a culture of instant gratification and consumerism.

But I imagine that a few years from now, a small portion of Amazon's 250 million regular customers will regularly have products delivered to wherever they happen to be at the time, thanks to the Fire Phone. If only a small portion of those customers becomes even more addicted to Amazon, then the Fire Phone will have done its job.

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The Ticker

Fed slows bond buy pace but stays mum on rates

The Federal Reserve will further slow the pace of its bond purchases, saying a strengthening U.S. job market needs less support. But it's offering no clear signal about when it will start raising its benchmark short-term rate.

Most economists think a rate increase is at least a year away, despite signs of rising inflation.

The Fed announced its decisions in a statement yesterday after it ended a two-day policy meeting. The statement was nearly identical to the one the Fed issued after its last meeting in April. It reiterated its plan to keep short-term rates low "for a considerable time" after it ends its bond purchases, which have been intended to keep long-term loan rates low.

Minimum wage hike advances through state Legislature

A bill that would raise Massachusetts' $8 per hour minimum wage to $11 per hour by 2017 could soon be law.

The House of Representatives approved a compromise measure yesterday on a 124-24 vote after a brief debate. It was passed by the Senate on a 35-4 vote last week.

The bill does not include automatic adjustments in the minimum wage for inflation, as the Senate had called for in an earlier version.

The bill now goes back to both chambers for a final procedural vote before heading to Gov. Deval Patrick's desk.

Today

• Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.
• Kroger reports quarterly financial results before the market opens.

TOMORROW

• Darden Restaurants reports quarterly financial results before the market opens.
• ProEx, a physical therapist-owned private practice specializing in orthopedics, spine and sports medicine, has announced that Ryan Higgins, left, MPT, OMT, of York, Maine, has been named a staff physical therapist at its Woburn location. Higgins graduated from California State University, Fresno with a masters in physical therapy degree and is a certified orthopaedic manual therapist.
• Pepper Hamilton LLP has announced that Judith Kay Crosby has joined the firm as a partner in the Affordable Housing and Community Development Group within the Financial Services Practice Group resident in the firm's Boston office.

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Lego to introduce mixed digital-physical blocks

NEW YORK — On the heels of success with "The Lego Movie," the Danish toy company is giving kids a chance to put their own blocks on the screen, with a new product line that copies their creations into phone and tablet games.

The Lego Fusion line will launch in August. Each $35 box will contain some 200 bricks and a special plate to build on. Creations on the plate can be photographed with Apple or Android devices and imported into free, downloadable games.

There are several Lego-themed games already, but this is the first time it's blending real and virtual this way. Many toy companies are going down that route, trying to capture some of the attention — and money — that's being diverted from physical products to iPhone and Android games.

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Lawmakers could press Barra on GM report findings

WASHINGTON — Amid a massive recall involving ignition switches and the scandal over the long delay in doing so, the CEO of General Motors is to appear before a House committee today.

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee are likely to express skepticism about some findings of General Motors' own investigation.

According to a congressional aide, members will have more questions about how much CEO Mary Barra knew about the problem when she was GM product development chief. Barra says she only learned of it last year. The GM report exonerated Barra and other top executives.

The aide says former U.S. Attorney Anton Valukas, who was hired by GM to do the investigation, will also testify about his conclusions that a lone engineer was responsible.

The panel's own investigation turned up evidence that more people knew.

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Investors to seek clues from Fed on rate increase

WASHINGTON — A stay-the-course message is expected from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday after it ends a two-day policy meeting.

The Fed will likely approve a fifth cut in its monthly bond purchases because the job market has steadily strengthened. But no clear signal is expected on when the Fed will start raising short-term interest rates from record lows.

The meeting will end with a statement outlining the Fed's plans. The central bank will also update its economic forecasts, and Janet Yellen will hold her second news conference since becoming Fed chair in February.

The Fed got some further cause for discussion just before it started this week's meeting with a report Tuesday of a surprising jump in consumer inflation.

Yet most economists aren't altering their view that the Fed's first rate increase is at least a year away. Analysts cautioned that that time frame could change if inflation were to accelerate. The consumer price index rose 0.4 percent in May, the government said, and has risen 2.1 percent over the past 12 months — roughly at the level of the Fed's target rate for inflation.

It's why the Fed might actually welcome the news of slightly higher inflation. It will help ease long-standing concerns that inflation might be too low. For the past two years, inflation by one key measure has remained under the Fed's 2 percent target.

Investors will be seeking any new clues the central bank might send about when it will finally raise its benchmark short-term rate. That rate has been at a record low near zero since 2008. They will also be looking for hints about how and when the Fed will start unloading its vast investment holdings.

The answers will affect loan rates for individuals and businesses — and perhaps the direction of the economy. Yet few expect to hear anything definitive. The Fed remains in a tentative wait-and-see stance.

Though the central bank has signaled optimism, officials are unsure how much the economy will strengthen the rest of the year. In its updated forecasts, the Fed may downgrade its estimate of growth for 2014 after the government said last month that the economy shrank in the first quarter, depressed by a harsh winter.

Yellen has suggested that the U.S. unemployment rate, now 6.3 percent, overstates the health of the job market and economy. She's also expressed concern that a high percentage of the unemployed — 35 percent — have been out of work for six months or more and that pay is scarcely rising for people who do have jobs.

The minutes of the Fed's last meeting in late April indicated that the central bank has begun discussing the tools it could use to finally pull back the extraordinary stimulus it's provided the U.S. economy since 2008.

Analysts expect at least one announcement when the two-day policy meeting ends Wednesday: That the Fed will make a fifth $10 billion cut in the pace of its monthly bond purchases to $35 billion, a sign of a steadily, if slowly, improving economy. The Fed has been buying Treasury and mortgage bonds to try to keep long-term loan rates low to stimulate the economy.

The Fed will likely end its bond purchases this fall, with its investment portfolio nearing $4.5 trillion. But officials have said that even when they stop buying bonds, they don't plan to start selling any. They plan to keep the Fed's holdings steady by re-investing maturing bonds. In doing so, the Fed will still exert downward pressure on long-term rates.

The Fed has said it will keep its key short-term rate at a record low near zero for a "considerable time" after its bond purchases end. At her news conference, Yellen will likely avoid being pinned down on how long a "considerable time" might be. Last month, she said the Fed expects to start raising rates once it sees enough progress in restoring full employment and inflation has risen to its 2 percent target rate.

Most Fed members expect the Fed to start raising short-term rates between mid-2015 and early 2016. The central bank has stressed that even after it starts raising rates, it will likely keep them unusually low to support the economy.

While economic growth went into reverse in the first quarter, the job market has shown consistent improvement this year. Employers have added 200,000-plus jobs for four straight months. The unemployment rate has dropped to a level the Fed hadn't expected to see until year's end.

But Yellen has stressed that she is studying barometers of the job market beyond the unemployment rate — from the percentage of long-term unemployed among the jobless to the number of part-time workers who would prefer full-time jobs and the percentage of adults either working or looking for work. By those measures, the job market remains subpar, a reason Yellen has cited for the Fed's continued support.

She has also expressed worries that the housing recovery may be faltering. In addition, Fed officials have discussed such geopolitical risks as slow growth in Europe and Russia's aggression toward Ukraine. The newest threat is rising sectarian violence in Iraq, which has sent oil prices up.

This week's meeting brought new faces to debate the issues. Stanley Fischer, former head of Israel's central bank, participated for the first time as the Fed's vice chair, as did Lael Brainard, a former Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, and Loretta Mester, who has succeeded Sandra Pianalto as president of the Fed's Cleveland regional bank.

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Massachusetts pushing to expand use of electric cars in state with rebate, grant programs

BOSTON — Massachusetts drivers buying or leasing new electric cars can begin applying for rebates from the state worth up to $2,500, according to Gov. Deval Patrick's administration.

Department of Energy Resources Commissioner Mark Sylvia said the $2 million Massachusetts Offers Rebates for Electric Vehicles program will let electric car owners or lease-holders receive a rebate on vehicles purchased on or after Wednesday.

Rebates are available on a first-come, first-served basis until all the funds have been used up. All applications must be submitted within three months of the purchase or lease of an electric vehicle.

The state is also accepting applications for a second program aimed at increasing the number of electric cars on Massachusetts roads.

Under that program, the state Department of Environmental Protection will provide half of the funding needed for charging station hardware costs â€" up to $25,000 â€" to encourage employers to install Level 1 and Level 2 charging stations for electric and plug-in electric vehicles.

The workplace charging grant program will also operate on a first-come, first-served basis.

"The deployment of more electric and plug-in vehicles is an important step toward Massachusetts achieving" its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, State Energy Secretary Maeve Vallely Bartlett said.

Funding for both rebate programs comes from Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative auctions.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative refers to the nation's first multi-state "cap-and-trade" program. Massachusetts and the eight other states â€" Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont â€" participate in the program.

Power plants in the states must buy "allowances" allowing them to emit carbon dioxide. The states auction these allowances.

Patrick Administration officials said the state has already invested more than $20 million in electric and alternative fuel vehicles.

In May, Patrick signed an eight-state memorandum of understanding with the goal of having at least 3.3 million "zero emission vehicles" in the states by 2025.

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Review: Value in Amazon Prime goes beyond shipping

AMHERST, Ohio — Spending $99 a year for an Amazon Prime membership to get free shipping hardly seems like a deal. After all, I can usually get free shipping by spending at least $35 on a single order.

But Prime's benefits became apparent gradually over the nine months I've used it.

During a trip last month, for instance, I got started on the first season of "The Good Wife" and read Michael Lewis' "The Blind Side." Last weekend, I added Journey's "Greatest Hits" album to my music library and began watching the spy drama "The Americans." I finished a book on photography on my way to work Monday.

All that came for free with Prime.

Some features work only with a Kindle e-reader or tablet. If Amazon.com Inc. introduces a new smartphone Wednesday, as widely expected, those features will likely work there, too. Amazon might even introduce additional ones just for its phone.

But there's plenty to enjoy, even without an Amazon device:

— UNLIMITED VIDEO:

Since 2006, Amazon has been offering video for download, much like Apple's iTunes. Although TV episodes cost just $2 or $3 each, I hate paying for something that's been shown on television for free.

Amazon changed the dynamics in 2011 when it started offering movies and TV shows to Prime members for free. Unlike Netflix, Amazon offers only part of its collection that way. Video is available on a variety of devices, but not Google's Chromecast or smartphones and tablets running Google's Android system, with the exception of Kindles.

As with Netflix, free video has typically been limited to streaming, meaning you need a persistent Internet connection. But last fall, Amazon began enabling downloads on Kindle tablets. That came in handy during my train trip through Ohio and other states last month, when I kept encountering stretches without cellular service and couldn't watch Netflix.

— EXCLUSIVE VIDEO:

Lately, Amazon has been making exclusive deals to block shows from Netflix, Hulu and other streaming services. Prime is the only way to get free streaming of past seasons of "24" and classic HBO series such as "The Sopranos" and "The Wire." This summer, Amazon is making episodes of two CBS series, "Under the Dome" and "Extant," available through Prime just four days after the broadcast.

Without Prime, you can still buy some shows digitally or on DVD. CBS is also making its shows available for free, though they will carry ads, while Prime will not.

Amazon also has been getting into original programming, though none of its shows has gotten the critical reception that Netflix has had with "House of Cards" and "Orange is the New Black." After getting customer feedback on 14 shows, Amazon ordered full seasons for two comedies and three kids' series. So far, people who don't have Prime aren't able to buy episodes.

— E-BOOKS:

You can borrow one book a month as long as you have a Kindle e-reader or tablet, but you're not offered everything that Amazon makes available for purchase. The selection includes the "Harry Potter" and "Hunger Games" series and several books by best-selling author Michael Lewis. But once I finished those, I struggled to find books of interest.

Each month, Prime members can also choose one of four books to own outright, regardless of whether they own a Kindle device. These books are all published by Amazon. So far, none has interested me enough to get — even for free.

— MUSIC:

This is Amazon's newest benefit, debuting just last week. More than a million songs are available for streaming on Kindle tablets, Web browsers and Amazon's Music app for Apple and Android devices. In some cases, you can download songs for offline playback.

As with books and video, free music is limited to a portion of what Amazon makes available for sale. Universal Music Group's catalog is missing, but you do get Grammies winner Daft Punk and plenty of '80s tracks from Journey and Madonna.

— FOR KIDS:

Amazon's FreeTime Unlimited service offers plenty of kid-friendly apps, books and video for a set monthly price. Prime members still have to pay, but they get a few dollars off the monthly fee.

— SHIPPING:

And of course, there's the free shipping. I started out by saying that I could get free shipping by spending at least $35 on an order. However, that's for standard shipping, which takes up to eight business days. With Prime, I got a $14 corkscrew in just two days.

That said, shipping isn't expensive, and you need up to 20 small orders a year to make it worth the $99 membership fee. Plus, scores of items are excluded from free shipping, including some running shorts I was looking to buy.

The benefits of Prime clearly go beyond free shipping. None of the other perks is enough by itself, but as a package, they make Prime a great value.

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Trial starts for ex-hedge fund owner's brother

NEW YORK — An insider trading trial is set to start in New York for the brother of an imprisoned one-time billionaire hedge fund founder.

Rengan Rajaratnam goes on trial Tuesday, three years after his brother was convicted in Manhattan federal court on insider trading charges. The brother, Raj Rajaratnam, is serving an 11-year prison sentence. The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear further appeals of his case.

Rengan Rajaratnam has pleaded not guilty to securities fraud charges. The charges against him are an extension of charges brought against his brother and two dozen other defendants who pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial. Prosecutors made extensive use of wiretaps in an insider trading case for the first time during the federal probe, which began over six years ago.

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44 luxury Condos eyed for Greenway

A Boston developer is looking to build a 12-story luxury condominium building to fill in one of the missing "teeth" facing the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.

Boston Residential Development's plans for the estimated $40 million India Street project call for 44 condos and some 4,000 square feet of restaurant/retail space on a 7,100-square-foot site that's now a small parking lot.

"It's really a connection of trying to bring the downtown in with the waterfront," said Michael Durand, principal of the real estate development company. "There's been a huge public investment with the Greenway, and now is the time for the private investment to come in and really make it work."

The condos would be a mix of one- to three-bedrooms from 600 square feet to 1,750 square feet.

"There's just been so much apartment development in the city recently that we feel there's some strong demand for some new condominiums," Durand said.

The proposed 117-foot building's height is within the recently codified 120-foot restriction for the Wharf District area known as the Town Cove, which is anchored on the southern portion by Broad Street. That restriction came out of a Greenway district planning study by the Boston Redevelopment Authority that calls for "preserving the scale, character and historic street patterns that mark Town Cove as a distinct and legible Boston neighborhood."

The study also dictates that new development along the Greenway must minimize any shadow impacts over and above those that might be cast by a 100-foot, as-of-right development. Documents filed by the developer yesterday state both would cast a similar shadow that generally would be limited to nearby streets and sidewalks.

"All our results show very minimal impact," Durand said.

A Greenway Conservancy representative could not be reached for comment.

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Forbes: If US isn’t careful there will be another crisis

Steve Forbes, chairman of Forbes Media and former presidential candidate, joined Boston Herald Radio's "Trending Now" yesterday to discuss his new book "Money" and the state of the American economy. Here are excerpts:

Q: How is this book going to help people?

A: It strips away all the confusing jargon of the high priests of the Federal Reserve and others in Washington. Money simply is a measure of value, the way, say, clocks measure time. Money makes it easy to do transactions ... but it must have a fixed value. Imagine what life would be like if we changed the number of minutes in an hour. It would be very confusing, but that's what they do with money. What we advocate in the book ... when we have unstable money you get the kind of crisis we have today. We should go to what we did for the first 180 years of our existence when we had the dollar linked to gold. If we had maintained the growth rates in the last 40 years, our economy today would be 50 percent larger than it is now.

Q: Why are they so resistant to doing this?

A: Because of the way they've been taught economics. It's also a power game. If they're not allowed to print money out of thin air, that means they have to exercise more restraint. They have to be more honest with people about the cost of things. If you're in politics, who wants that?

Q: You warn in your book that if we don't change we're heading for another economic disaster.

A: If they don't know what they're doing, it's like doctors in the days of old who would bleed patients. These folks today are guilty of economic malpractice and as a result, it's just a matter of time until they lurch into another crisis.

Q: Do you think things would have changed if Mitt Romney was president?

A: I think it would have been a very positive change. In 2016 we have a lot of exciting candidates who are going to come up with a lot of Reaganesque positive platforms to run on ... I think we're going to have a very healthy debate going in 2016, which will be good for the country and the world.

Q: Do you see yourself entering politics again?

A: My role now is that of an agitator. I'll get my exercise another way.

Listen to the complete interview at bostonherald.com.

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World stocks mixed as investors wait for Fed

HONG KONG — World stock markets were mixed Tuesday as investors remained cautious ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting that's expected to update forecasts for the world's No. 1 economy.

The economic growth outlook for the U.S. became cloudier after the International Monetary Fund lowered its forecast for 2014 growth to a modest 2 percent from 2.7 percent previously. The Fed's Open Market Committee is expected to follow suit and adjust its projections following the meeting, which concludes on Wednesday, after recent data showed that economy shrank in the first quarter because of a severe winter, while the unemployment rate has improved and inflation has picked up.

"These developments should lead to substantial revisions of the economic projections of FOMC participants," Rabobank strategists said in a report.

In early European trading, Germany's DAX rose 0.8 percent to 9,966.71 while France's CAC 40 climbed 0.5 percent to 4,533.99. The FTSE 100 index of leading British companies advanced 0.3 percent to 6,772.01.

U.S. stocks were poised to open higher. Dow futures gained 0.3 percent to 16,756.00 while broader S&P 500 futures rose 0.3 percent to 1,934.70.

Asian markets were more restrained. Investors in the region were taking a "wait-and-see mode," Credit Agricole CIB strategists said.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.3 percent to close at 14,975.97, rebounding from a sharp 1.1 percent drop the day before as the dollar strengthened 0.2 percent to 102.02 Japanese yen.

South Korea's Kospi added 0.4 percent to end at 2,001.55 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.4 percent to 23,203.59. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.8 percent to 2,066.70. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2 percent to 5,400.70.

In energy trading, benchmark crude oil for July delivery fell 59 cents to $106.31 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 1 cent to $106.90 on Monday.

The euro edged higher to $1.3573 from $1.3572 in late trading Monday.

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Medtronic to buy Irish medical-device manufacturer

U.S. medical device manufacturer Medtronic announced Sunday night that it has agreed to buy Ireland-based competitor Covidien for $42.9 billion in cash and stock.

The combined company would have its executive offices in Dublin, where it could benefit from Ireland's lower corporate tax rates. But the merged company would continue to operate in Minneapolis, where Medtronic employs more than 8,000, the companies said in a statement.

Medtronic is paying a 29 percent premium on Covidien's stock price as of Friday. The shares had closed at $72.02 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The deal is the latest in a series of acquisitions by medical-device manufacturers. The companies are seeking to expand their offerings and contain costs in response to price curbs forced by the nation's new health care law.

In April, Zimmer Holdings, an orthopedic device maker, announced that it was buying Biomet in a $13 billion deal.

Medtronic makes pacemakers and insulin pumps, among other products. Covidien specializes in surgical equipment.

As a result of savings from the deal, Medtronic said it would spend an additional $10 billion over the next decade in investments, acquisitions and research and development in the United States.

"The medical technology industry is critical to the U.S. economy, and we will continue to invest and innovate and create well-paying jobs," Omar Ishrak, Medtronic's CEO, said in a statement.

Efforts by domestic companies to use mergers to reincorporate overseas for tax reasons have raised concern among some U.S. lawmakers. Ireland taxes corporate income at 12.5 percent, compared with a top marginal rate of 39.6 percent in the United States, according to the tax advisory firm KPMG.

Drug-maker Pfizer recently tried unsuccessfully to acquire U.K.-based Astra-Zeneca. The banana-seller Chiquita agreed to buy an Irish firm, Fyffes, in March.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, and 13 other senators introduced a bill in May to restrict the deals.

"These transactions are about tax avoidance, plain and simple," Levin said in a statement. "Our legislation would clamp down on this loophole to prevent corporations from shifting their tax burden onto their competitors and average Americans."

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Kasem was an island of calm in swirl of pop music

LOS ANGELES — In pop culture, Casey Kasem was as sweet and dependable as a glass of warm milk and a plate of chocolate chip cookies, which only made the ugliness of his last few years of life seem more bizarre and tragic.

The radio host of "American Top 40" and voice of animated television characters like Scooby-Doo's sidekick Shaggy died Sunday morning at a hospital in Gig Harbor, Washington. He was 82. He suffered from a form of dementia, and his three adult children from his first wife fought a bitter legal battle with Kasem's second wife, Jean, over control of his health care in his final months.

That made Kasem a fixture on news outlets that feed on the sleazier side of celebrity life at a time when it wasn't clear he was aware of it or even able to understand.

This wouldn't seem all that remarkable for a bad-behaving pop star or actor who shed spouses with the frequency of changing characters. But this was Casey Kasem, whose work epitomized the gentler, romantic side of pop culture, of a time when stars were admired for their celebrity and worshipped for their talent.

"American Top 40," with Kasem's soft, homey voice counting down the hits, was a refuge from shock jocks or the screaming big-city radio voices. It was dependable, broadcast on some 1,000 stations at its peak, so if you were driving in Connecticut or Kansas, California or Kentucky, you could always take a measure of the pop charts with Casey.

Kasem weaved stories around the songs, anecdotes about interactions with fans or gee-whiz tales about how stars got their starts. Seldom was heard a discouraging word, unless it was a starting point for a narrative about coming back from hardship, the darkness before the dawn.

Interspersed in the countdowns were the long-distance dedications, songs played for a long-lost or distant lover in the hope a heart would be stirred. You'd wince at some of the hokey song selections, but only the truly cynic would laugh at the emotion that spilled out of the letters Kasem read.

At the end of the show, always, would come Kasem's signature words of advice: "Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars."

On the first "American Top 40" in July 1970, Kasem counted down to Three Dog Night's "Mama Told Me Not to Come" at the No. 1 spot. As the years went on, Kasem progressed through disco and punk, arena rock and rap. All were welcome under Casey's big tent.

That made him the rare personality who could count the stars among his fans. Reaction to his death Sunday was widespread, from tweeted memories to a dedication from the stage by Elton John at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival.

John sang "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" and said, "Travel safely, my angel," in front of 80,000 fans in Manchester, Tennessee.

Kasem was of Lebanese descent, born in Detroit as Kemal Amin Kasem, and he spoke out on issues promoting greater understanding of Arab-Americans throughout his life. He made his name as a disc jockey, and when his career blossomed in the Los Angeles area, he took on other voice work. He was Robin in the animated "Batman" series. He once said his work on "Scooby-Doo" would outlast anything he did.

He was succeeded at "American Top 40" in 2004 by Ryan Seacrest, a fan who said he used to imitate Kasem counting down the hits when he was a boy.

"When decades later I took over his AT40 countdown show, it was a surreal moment," Seacrest said in a statement. "Casey had a distinctive friendly on-air voice, and he was just as affable and nice if you had the privilege to be in his company. He'll be greatly missed by all of us."

"Scooby-Doo" may last longer, but we'll bet Kasem will most be remembered for "American Top 40" and his place in the continuum of pop music accounting, from "American Bandstand" to "Soul Train," ''Total Request Live" to Spotify playlists.

Hard feelings being what they are, it's difficult to imagine the fight between the people Kasem is leaving behind will simply end with his death. Kasem, at least, is at peace.

And instead of thinking about squabbling, his fans can imagine what it would have sounded like to hear Casey Kasem counting down to John Legend, Pharrell Williams and Iggy Azalea.

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Progress made on a 'bionic pancreas' for diabetics

Scientists have made big progress on a "bionic pancreas" to free some people with diabetes from the daily ordeal of managing their disease.

Doctors say that a wearable, experimental device passed a real-world test by constantly monitoring blood sugar and automatically giving insulin or a sugar-boosting drug as needed.

Doctors tested it for five days in adults and teens with Type 1 diabetes, the kind often diagnosed in childhood. It improved blood-sugar control more than standard monitors and insulin pumps did.

The device was developed at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston University. Results were featured Sunday at an American Diabetes Association conference in San Francisco and were published online by the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Domino's introduces a 'Siri' to take mobile orders

NEW YORK — Domino's is introducing its own version of Siri.

The pizza delivery chain on Monday plans to introduce a function on its mobile app that lets customers place orders by speaking with a computer-generated voice named "Dom." The rollout is part of an ongoing push by Domino's to take business away from rivals and smaller pizza shops by offering more convenient ways to order.

The company says the updated app for iPhones and Android devices will deliver a "human-like, conversational" experience, but notes that it will take some time to work out the kinks in the technology.

"It is not perfect," Domino's CEO Patrick Doyle said in an interview. "This is the sort of thing, like any other really new technology launch, you're going to learn, you're going to get better."

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Supreme Court has 17 cases to decide by June's end

WASHINGTON — It's crunch time at the Supreme Court, where the justices are racing to issue opinions in 17 cases over the next two weeks.

The religious rights of corporations, the speech rights of abortion protesters and the privacy rights of people under arrest are among the significant issues that are so far unresolved.

Summer travel, European teaching gigs and relaxation beckon, but only after the court hands down decisions in all the cases it has heard since October.

In rare instances, the justices will put off decisions and order a case to be argued again in the next term.

This is also the time of the year when a justice could announce a retirement. But the oldest of the justices, 81-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg, has signaled she will serve at least one more year, and maybe longer.

The justices will meet Monday and again on Thursday to issue opinions, and could wind up their work by the end of the month.

A look at some of the cases that remain:

— Contraceptive coverage: Corporations are claiming the right to exercise religious objections to covering women's contraceptives under their employee health insurance plans, despite the new health law's requirement that birth control be among a range of no-cost preventive services included in health plans.

— Abortion clinic buffer zones: Abortion opponents are challenging as a violation of their speech rights a Massachusetts law mandating a 35-foot protest-free zone on public sidewalks outside abortion clinics.

— Cellphone searches: Two cases weigh the power of police to search the cellphones of people they place under arrest without first obtaining a warrant from a judge.

— Recess presidential appointments: A federal appeals court said President Barack Obama misused the Constitution's recess power when he temporarily filled positions on the National Labor Relations Board in 2012.

— TV on the Internet: Broadcasters are fighting Internet startup Aereo's practice of taking television their programming for free and providing it to subscribers who can then watch on smartphones and other portable devices.

— Greenhouse gases: Industry groups assert that environmental regulators overstepped their bounds by trying to apply a provision of the Clean Air Act to control emissions of greenhouse gases from power plants and factories. This case is unlikely to affect the recent proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency to slash carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by nearly one-third by 2030; that plan involves a different part of the same law.

— Union fees: Home health care workers in Illinois want the court to rule that public sector unions cannot collect fees from workers who object to being affiliated with a union.

—Securities fraud: Investors could find it harder to bring class-action lawsuits over securities fraud at publicly traded companies in a case involving Halliburton Co., a provider of energy services.

— "False" campaign claims: An anti-abortion group says state laws that try to police false statements during political campaigns runs afoul of the First Amendment.

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Boston connects to Beijing

New direct air service between Boston and China starts Friday, the latest in a string of nonstop international flights landed by Logan International Airport and perhaps the biggest coup to date.

"Of all the international flights, this is probably the biggest milestone," Massport CEO Thomas Glynn said. "In the global economy, China is the biggest player. Many nonprofit and for-profit businesses in Boston have activity in China."

Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines will start Boston-Beijing service four times per week — on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It will switch to daily flights from July 21 through August — peak China travel season amid strong demand, according to Joel Chusid, Hainan's U.S. executive director.

Hainan already has sold well more than half of the seats for its July and August flights on the 213-passenger Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

"Our bookings are coming in steady," Chusid said, noting Hainan started reservations "pretty early" and has an interline agreement for connections with JetBlue Airways. "It's met our expectations.."

Hainan has set up a Boston office with a general manager and sales, finance and customer support staff.

At Hainan's request, Massport is planning a June 23 meeting for airline officials with local business leaders on Massport's Asia task force that worked toward landing the China service and the nonstop Toyko flights that started in 2012. It will be followed by a luncheon with Gov. Deval Patrick.

"Lasting growth in the 21st-century global economy will come from our competitiveness in global markets," Patrick said in a statement. "Hainan's new flight will better serve our international passengers and build upon our growth strategy to open up Massachusetts to new markets to ensure that we remain competitive for many years to come."

Massport has rebated $540,000 in landing fees and will provide $350,000 in marketing support over two years to Hainan as incentives for starting the Boston service.

"This gives them a little cushion if it takes a while for them to build up their load factor," Glynn said.

Hainan's 36 business-class seats have 74-inch pitches — the space between a point on one seat and the same point on the seat in front of it. The lie-flat seats turn into beds with turn-down service, mattress pad, duvet, sheets, pillows, pajamas and slippers provided.

Menus rotate monthly and include Western and Chinese choices. Recent Chinese dinner selections for the a la carte business-class service from Beijing to Seattle included fried pork stuffed with water chestnut in sweet and sour lychee sauce, pan-fried shrimp mousse with tofu, and sauteed bitter gourd with pickle.

"It's not Panda Express," Chusid said.

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Should new Mustang tires go on the front or back?

I have a 2011 Mustang GT 5.0-liter with 36,000 miles. It has the Brembo brake package and Goodyear F1 tires on it. I'm ready to replace the worn rear tires again with the new OE Goodyears. Last time I replaced the rear tires, I placed the new tires on the front and moved the older front tires to the rear. Now people are telling me that I should place the new tires on the rear drive-axle to reduce the chance of oversteer that might be induced by having too much fun in a curve. With an everyday car I believe that understeer would be the greatest concern, but with 412 horsepower and almost 400 pound-feet of torque, maybe the new tires should be on the back. Which end of the car should the two new tires be placed on my Mustang and is a nitrogen fill worthwhile?

On the back. Like you, my first thought was that new tires should be mounted on the front and the older, worn front tires moved to the rear. Because the front tires do a far higher percentage of braking and, of course, steer the vehicle, my instincts said put the best tires on the front.

However, since loss of traction from the front tires — the "understeer" you mention — is easier to correct than "oversteer" — loss of traction from the rear tires — the recommendation for replacing just two tires is to mount the new ones on the rear.

In short, correcting understeer involves "breathing" back the throttle or modulating brake pressure to help the front tires regain traction. Oversteer, on the other hand, requires an instantaneous steering correction in the direction the back end is trying to go in order to keep the front tires pointed where the vehicle is headed, while at the same time neutralizing the throttle — not accelerating and not decelerating — to stop any wheelspin. If and when the rear end regains traction and wants to snap back — so-called "overcorrecting," a complete misnomer — the steering must be straightened in time with the rear end snapping back to keep the front wheels pointed where the vehicle is traveling.

In the racing schools I teach, we label the correction for oversteer as a three-step process: correct/pause/recover, CPR for short, an easy acronym to remember.

Nitrogen contains no moisture and is less prone to pressure changes with temperature changes, so filling tires with nitrogen makes some sense, but only if you continue to use nitrogen to top up tire pressures.

I own a 2001 Dodge Dakota and would like to clean the engine. Is it OK to take it to a self-service car wash and power-wash it?

It must be. Ever seen a used car on a dealer lot with a dirty engine? It's OK to clean the engine and engine compartment as long as you cover any sensitive wiring and electronics and don't aim the high-pressure spray directly at these components. Remember, engines and drivetrains get wet when vehicles are driven in the rain. The wiring harnesses and connectors used on modern automobiles are designed to be relatively weatherproof.

Motoring Note: Regarding white smoke from the 2003 Honda, reader Paul Harvey offered a good suggestion. "I had a similar problem involving my 2002 Toyota Sienna. One mechanic told me it was caused by a sludge problem and would require an engine replacement. I had thought it was a head gasket problem and took the van to another mechanic, who diagnosed a bad PCV valve. After he replaced it, the problem was solved."

A stuck or clogged PCV valve typically forces oil into the combustion chamber, where it is burned, creating a bluish smoke. So checking the PCV system for proper function is a simple step to possibly explain the sudden appearance of smoke from the tailpipe. Thanks for the suggestion, Paul.

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 paulbrand@startribune.com. Please explain the problem in detail and include a daytime phone number.

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With prices rising, home equity makes a comeback

WASHINGTON — If you're like most homeowners, it's your biggest asset. You can't track it online or check monthly statements sent to you by a bank, but it's crucially important for your personal financial well-being and your retirement planning.

It's your home equity — the difference between the market value of your house and whatever debt you've got on it. Equity for most of us is a big deal and, based on data released last week by the Federal Reserve, Americans' home-equity holdings are booming.

That's great news for most owners — though not all — and for the economy as a whole. The more equity we have, the more likely we are to spend money on goods and services that create more jobs — the so-called "wealth effect."

Now consider these brain-bending big numbers: Thanks to rising prices and substantial continuing pay-downs of mortgage debt, owners' combined 
equity holdings increased by 
$795 billion during the three months between the end of last December and March 31 of this year. Homeowners' equity holdings at the end of the first quarter totaled $10.8 trillion, the highest amount since late 2007 — but still well below the bubble-era record of $13.4 trillion reached in early 2006.

The ongoing boom is also pulling thousands of owners across the country out of real estate purgatory — they've been stuck in negative equity positions, but are now transitioning to positive. According to new estimates from mortgage and housing analytics firm CoreLogic, the owners of 312,000 houses moved out of negative territory during the first three months of 2014.

Now for the sobering side of the home-equity story: Despite the boom in housing wealth underway, many owners are still not able to join the party. About 6.3 million of them remain underwater on their loans. The average amount of negative equity they're carrying is often significant — they owe an average 33 percent more than their house could command in a sale today. That gives you an idea of the widespread pain still being felt in the wake of the bust and recession.

The impact is especially severe for owners who bought with little or nothing down and then loaded on additional debt with second mortgages. The average negative equity balance for owners with two mortgages is about $75,000, according to CoreLogic. For households with one mortgage, the average negative equity is around $52,000.

Also on the sobering side, millions of owners continue to have less equity than they'll need if they want to sell or even refinance. At the end of March, 10 million owners had less than 20 percent equity in their properties and 1.6 million of them had less than 5 percent. Given real estate transaction costs, most people with less than 5 percent equity would have to bring money to the table to pay off the debt on their house when they sell.

Equity holdings are closely linked to market segments — higher-cost houses are less likely to be in negative equity positions than lower-cost homes — and geography. According to CoreLogic, only about 3 percent of homes costing more than $500,000 have negative equity. By contrast, 17 percent of homes costing less than $200,000 are in negative positions.

Not surprisingly, areas of the country that performed worst during the bust — where easy-money financing was most common during the boom — continue to have high rates of negative equity, even well into the housing rebound. But there's one dazzling exception: California. In some inland counties during the recession, toxic financing contributed to home value losses of
50 percent and higher. Yet today, thanks to the most vigorous marketplace rebound of any state, just above 11 percent of California homes are in negative equity. Compare that with 29 percent in Nevada, 27 percent in Florida, 20 percent in Arizona.

Where are average equity levels highest? Texas, where home prices remained modest and affordable during the boom, is at the top. Just 
3.3 percent of Texas homes have debt exceeding their resale values. Rounding out the top five, Montana, Alaska, North Dakota and Hawaii all have less than 5 percent negative equity on average. The District of Columbia, a high-cost market that has seen significant home-price appreciation in the past several years, ranks sixth best in the country with a 5.1 percent negative equity rate.

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