Airport app lands just in time

Local entrepreneur Wayne Chen wants his new app to take off with harried air travelers — literally.

The 67-year-old has created Connect On Time, a free app for iPhones and iPads that provides customized maps of 42 global airports and calculates how much time travelers actually need to reach their respective flight gates upon their arrival.

"In doing my research, there isn't any place else you can get this kind of info," Chen, president of Mo'zippity Apps in Marlboro, told the Herald. "I've flown enough and gotten lost enough to say, 'There's a way to solve this.' "

Connect On Time, the first app from Mo'zippity, a division of Chen's IT company WT Chen & Co. Inc., comes free with three activated airports — Abu Dhabi International, Honolulu International and London's Stansted Airport.

The app's other 39 airports, including Logan International Airport, can be accessed for $1.99 apiece, Chen said.

Connect On Time users can view a detailed yet scaled map of an entire airport, complete with gate locations, and passport and security control checkpoints they must pass through. Upon typing in a starting location and a "go to" location, the app calculates within 15 to 30 seconds how long it can take to get from one checkpoint to the other, Chen said.

Connect On Time also contains dropdown menus with information about terminal shuttles and airline locations.

Chen added Mo'zippity is working to increase the app's airport count to include all of the world's top 100 busiest airports; make the app available for Android devices; and give it multiple language capabilities.

"Last year the number of individuals that flew exceeded one billion for the first time and that number is expected to increase in the next 10 years by another billion," Chen said. "Lots of travelers are going to be seniors as well as Asians flying to Europe and the U.S., which is a driver and motivator for me to have multiple language versions."

Chen said Connect On Time's database of airport information was largely collected by him and other staff physically walking through all airports included on the app.

"Every airport just confirmed for us that airport signage is confusing, airport personnel aren't helpful and comprehensive airport maps are scarcer than hen's teeth," Chen said. "The information is needed because millions of people are late and hundreds of millions of people are always stressed out."

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Leaders laud contest to grant $ to struggling communities

Community leaders from the Hub's more economically hard-hit cities hailed a competition launched by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston last week as a necessary tool to spur cross-sector partnerships and improve the health and well-being of lower-income residents.

"You just have to walk down Broadway Street and you will see hundreds of people that wake up every day to open their small businesses. The ideas, the willingness, the energy to work and be creative is there," said Lawrence CommunityWorks Co-Executive Director Nelson Butten about the Working Cities Challenge. "This is a great opportunity for promoting collaboration within the different organizations, both private and nonprofits."

All 20 cities eligible for multi-year grants, including Brockton, Everett, Lowell and Fall River, have submitted letters of intent to enter the competition.

The Commonwealth, Massachusetts Competitive Partnership and Living Cities, a philanthropic collaborative of 22 of the world's largest foundations and financial institutions, will provide up to eight awards ranging from $50,000 to $700,000.

Winners will be chosen in January 2014, officials said.

"America looks mostly like these small cities and not like the big cities, so we need to figure out ... how do we build upon what we have," said Living Cities President and CEO Ben Hecht.

Lawrence is hoping to increase the earning power of residents, promote better community health, and allow local and immigrant businesses to grow.

Chelsea-based nonprofit, The Neighborhood Developers, meanwhile, is working with other partners to improve the city's Shurtleff-Bellingham neighborhood, and create a community school in Revere that provides educational opportunities for families and working adults, said Executive Director Ann Houston.

"It's certainly gotten a lot of important conversation going," Houston said about the initiative.

Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren added, "This project alone can't turn around the employment situation in Massachusetts, but in these cities I think that it can help lay the groundwork for why both the communities and the businesses will look to expand in Massachusetts."

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Cities: deal us in big time

Host cities and towns negotiating with proposed resort casino operators shouldn't get too greedy, according to one gaming expert.

"It does not help you to encourage massive promises — the politicians may like it, the lawyers may like it, but it doesn't help," said Jacob Miklojcik of Michigan Consultants, which does gaming industry financial analysis. "If you make outrageous demands, then the people say yes and two weeks later they try to renegotiate."

Community costs and benefits of building gambling resorts in East Boston/Revere, Everett and Milford will be the subject of a free "Casinos: Deal Us In?" forum at Suffolk University on Thursday.

"Given that this summer many of the communities will be voting on host benefit packages, we thought it might be useful to have a comparative conversation, or a collective conversation, around these community benefits," said Richard Taylor, business law director of the Sawyer Business School's Center for Real Estate at Suffolk.

Host community agreements will play a key role in the application process for prospective casino operators Suffolk Downs/Caesars Entertainment, Wynn Resorts and Foxwoods Resort Casino as they compete for the sole Greater Boston casino license. The plans — which stand to bring tens of millions of dollars to the communities, infrastructure improvements and jobs — must be included in their site-specific, phase two applications to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission that are due by December.

"Community mitigation is critically important in the application process, and every applicant will be expected to really put their best foot forward in introducing an effective and innovative (plan)," spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said.

So far, only Everett has an agreement, and a June 22 city vote on Wynn's proposed $1.2 billion casino along the Mystic River has been set.

Wynn has agreed to give hiring preference to Everett citizens for 8,000-plus construction and permanent jobs, and make a good-faith effort to hire Everett contractors and suppliers.

Host community plans for Boston and Revere are expected next.

"We've had great dialogue with both our host communities … over the last year and look forward to completing host community ... agreements in the coming weeks," said Suffolk Downs chief operating officer Chip Tuttle.

Cash flow during the final planning and development also is a big concern for communities.

"The casino should be asked to front-load some type of fund for the expenses of the community, even if those dollars are offset against any future payments by the casino once operating," Miklojcik said.

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Are you a tax cheat if you shop online tax-free?

WASHINGTON — Buy anything on the Internet lately without paying sales tax? In all but a few states, you're probably a tax cheat.

That's right, even if Internet retailers don't collect sales tax at the time of the purchase, you're required by law to pay it in 45 states and the District of Columbia.

Here's the problem for states: hardly anyone pays the tax, and there's not much states can do about it.

The Senate is expected to pass a bill Monday making it easier for states to collect sales taxes for online purchases. Some of the nation's largest retailers are rejoicing. But small-business owners who make their living selling products on the Internet worry they will be swamped by new requirements from faraway states.

"It's a huge burden for a company like ours," said Sarah Davis, co-owner of Fashionphile.com, a California-based company that sells high-end pre-owned handbags and purses. "We don't have an accounting department, we've got my father-in-law."

Davis started the company in 1999 and now runs it with her brother-in-law. They have 26 workers and three stores, in Beverly Hills, San Diego and San Francisco. Last year, Fashionphile.com did $10 million in sales, the vast majority of it online, Davis said.

Fashionphile.com sells bags directly from its website and on eBay. The company collects sales taxes from customers who live in California, but not from people who live in other states, Davis said. Under the law, states can only require stores to collect sales taxes if the store has a physical presence in the state.

That means big retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target, with stores all over the country collect sales taxes when they sell goods over the Internet. But eBay, Amazon and other online retailers don't have to collect sales taxes, except in states where they have offices or distribution centers.

As a result, many online sales are essentially tax-free, giving Internet retailers an advantage over brick-and-mortar stores.

But the purchases aren't really tax free under the law.

In states with sales taxes, if you buy something from an out-of-state retailer and don't pay taxes, you are supposed to pay those taxes when you file your state tax return, said Neal Osten, director the Washington office of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Only Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon have no sales tax. Alaska has no state sales tax but does have local ones.

Unpaid sales taxes are usually referred to as "use taxes" on state income tax returns. Use taxes apply to purchases made over Internet, from catalogs, television and radio ads and purchases made directly from out-of-state companies. State officials, however, complain that few people pay these taxes, Olsten said.

"I do know about three people that comply with that," says Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., the main sponsor of the Senate bill.

Enzi's bill would empower states to require businesses to collect taxes for products they sell on the Internet, in catalogs and through radio and TV ads. Under the bill, the sales taxes would be sent to the states where a shopper lives.

Businesses with less than $1 million a year in out-of-state sales would be exempt.

The Senate is expected to pass Enzi's bill Monday. Already, the measure has survived three procedural votes. President Barack Obama supports it, but the bill faces an uncertain fate in the House where some Republicans consider it a tax increase.

Supporters say the bill is about fairness for local businesses that already collect sales taxes, and lost revenue for states. Many governors, both Republicans and Democrats, have lobbied the federal government for years for the authority to collect sales taxes from online sales.

The issue is getting bigger for states as more people make purchases online. Last year, Internet sales in the U.S. totaled $226 billion, nearly 16 percent more than the previous year, according to Commerce Department estimates.

States lost a total of $23 billion last year because they couldn't collect taxes on out-of-state sales, according to a study by three business professors at the University of Tennessee. About $11.4 billion was lost from Internet sales; the rest came from purchases made through catalogs, mail orders and telephone orders, the study said.

The study was done for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"This is a sales and use tax which is on the books," said Michael Kercheval, president and CEO of the International Council of Shopping Centers. "This isn't a tax issue. It's a tax collection issue."

Kercheval's group is part of a broad coalition of retailers that supports Enzi's bill, including Internet giant Amazon, which says it wants a uniform national policy for collecting taxes on Internet sales.

Supporters say the bill makes it relatively easy for Internet retailers to comply. States must provide free computer software to help retailers calculate sales taxes, based on where shoppers live. States also must establish a single entity to receive Internet sales tax revenue, so retailers don't have to send them to individual counties or cities.

"The same software that allows people to figure out shipping costs by ZIP code can figure out what the taxes are," Kercheval said.

Opponents say the bill doesn't do enough to protect small businesses. EBay wants to exempt businesses with less than $10 million in sales or fewer than 50 employees.

"Complying and living under the tax laws of 50 states is a major undertaking because the process of complying with tax law goes far beyond just filling out the right forms," said Brian Bieron, eBay's senior director of global public policy. "You have to deal with the fact that all of these government agencies can audit you and can question you and can actually take you into court and sue you if they think you are doing something wrong."

Davis, the co-owner of Fashionphile.com, said even with free computer software, her business doesn't have the manpower to separate sales taxes for each state and meet each state's deadline to send in the money.

"We collect and pay sales tax here in California and we're happy to do that. We receive benefit from that. We can influence lawmakers locally on how those taxes are spent and how much those are and how they're collected," Davis said.

"I don't feel the same about Indiana."

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

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New jobs and energy gains helping lift US economy

WASHINGTON — A stronger-than-expected April rebound in job creation and recent dramatic discoveries of vast U.S. oil and gas reserves are helping to lift the American economy out its long funk.

The economic advances also are drawing attention to the importance of private-sector innovation rather than government policy in fostering growth.

The Labor Department's report that payrolls expanded by 165,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate declined to a four-year low of 7.5 percent does not represent explosive job growth by any measure.

Yet that report offers a big sigh of relief to President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress.

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Navy, NASA credit unions offering zero-down mortgages

WASHINGTON —
Who says lenders need to charge you a cash down payment when you take out a mortgage in this era of hyper-strict underwriting?

Just about everybody:

• The biggest sources of home loan money — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — won't fund a loan without a down payment. Even then, if your down payment is less than 20 percent, they require private mortgage insurance.
• Federal banking regulatory agencies have proposed — but have not yet finally adopted — a regulation requiring a 20 percent minimum down payment as the new standard for safe lending and best pricing.
• Congressional critics complain that the Federal Housing Administration's current 3.5 percent minimum is part of the reason the agency is now in financial hot water. They want 5 percent down at least.
• Financial analysts and mortgage industry experts argue that requiring some amount of "skin in the game" is essential to provide borrowers a stake in the transaction.

But hold on. Two prominent federally chartered credit unions beg to differ with this consensus opinion. They have quietly been running what they consider to be successful, carefully administered zero-down-payment programs for borrowers for much of the past two years, and are seeing almost no defaults or foreclosures.

The giant Navy Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in the country with 4 million members, offers a zero-down option for qualified home purchasers coast to coast with no mortgage insurance. On top of that, it allows "seller concessions" — contributions by sellers of homes to defray buyers' closing costs — as high as 6 percent of the home price.

The maximum loan amount is $1 million, but typical loans are in the $200,000 range. The program is targeted especially at first-time purchasers since they often are short on down-payment cash, but may otherwise be creditworthy. Navy Federal says it has closed $740 million of these zero-down mortgages in the last 12 months alone. The credit union retains all loans in its investment portfolio and services them on its own.

As you might guess, there are some key qualifications: You have to be a member of the credit union or an immediate relative of a member. Members include all branches of the military, active and retired, along with defense-related contractors. The credit union estimates the total potential reach of eligibility nationwide is 12 million people. You need to pass underwriting muster in terms of income and reserves, and you need moderately good — not perfect — credit scores. Delinquencies on the program to date: well under 1 percent, according to Katie Miller, vice president for mortgage products.

Meanwhile, NASA Federal Credit Union has started marketing its own version of zero down. It is currently restricting loans to qualified members buying homes in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area but could expand to other areas, depending on local housing market conditions. Maximum loan amount is $650,000. Seller concessions are capped at 3 percent. Underwriting is rigorous and preferred FICO credit scores start in the mid-700s. Delinquencies over the past year and a half: zero, according to Bill White, NASA Federal's vice president for real estate lending. Foreclosures: zero.

So what's the significance of these two programs for the current debates underway on Capitol Hill and among banking regulators on the subject? Should the government mandate 20 percent down for everybody? 10 percent? Should zero down ever be permissible?

Tom Lawler, head of Lawler Economic and Housing Consulting LLC, says that as a general matter, "zero down payment is just bad public policy." Frank Nothaft, chief economist for giant investor Freddie Mac, maintains that "the more equity cash up front you have, the better" the loan is likely to perform. Both Lawler and Nothaft agree, however, that with strict underwriting at application combined with intensive servicing — getting in touch with borrowers at the first hint of trouble and working with them — zero-down loans can perform well in healthy housing markets.

Though the Navy Federal and NASA Federal programs are relatively young, their minimal delinquencies to date could have an important message for regulators: The size of the down payment is just one piece of the puzzle.

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Skier visits up 20 percent at Northeast ski areas

PORTLAND, Maine — Buoyed by plentiful snow and good weather, Northeast ski resorts rebounded this past winter from a lackluster 2012 season that was plagued by lack of snow and high temperatures.

For the 2012-13 ski season, ski areas in New England and New York had an estimated 13.3 million skier and snowboarder visits, according to the National Ski Areas Association. That's up 20 percent from 11 million skier visits the previous winter.

David Behany of Brewer said it was one of the best ski years he's seen in his 45 years of skiing.

"I'd say it was in the top seven or eight," said Behany, 52. Behany, who works at Ski Rack Sports in Bangor, skied nearly 60 days this winter at western Maine's Sugarloaf resort; his wife went 89 times.

Nationally, U.S. ski areas had an estimated 56.6 million skier and snowboarder visits during the season, an 11 percent increase over the prior winter and the largest year-over-year gain in 30 years, according to the NSAA's preliminary year-end survey report. All regions of the country saw an increase. State-specific tallies were not available.

The lack of snow and high temperatures made for a dismal 2011-12 ski season for many New England mountains.

By contrast, this past winter was a snowy one, luring skiers and snowboarders back to the slopes. Portland, Maine, had nearly 100 inches this winter, up from 44 inches the year before. Concord, N.H., had 82 inches, up from 49 inches.

And with a cold April, ski mountains in northern New England stayed open longer than last year, when record-high temperatures in March forced many to shut down. Sugarloaf and Vermont's Sugarbush and Killington resorts were still open this weekend.

At Bretton Woods in New Hampshire, spokesman Craig Clemmer said the season's final ticket sales figures are still being tallied, but it looks like the season will stand as one of the top five ever. New snowmaking equipment allowed the resort to open with more terrain than usual, and there were mid-winter conditions consistently from Nov. 15 to April 15, he said.

"Mother Nature smiled upon us and technology backed us up," Clemmer said.

Some years, "all of a sudden the bottom drops out," when the weather turns warm and the season ends abruptly, he said. This year, the resort considered staying open even longer. "There was phenomenal snow quality this year," he said.

Although the season started off tentatively with the first major snowstorm not arriving until late December, New Hampshire's Waterville Valley ended up being open for 147 days, the longest season in its history, said CEO Chris Sununu. Overall, the resort saw a 23 percent increase in skier visits this winter over last year, he said.

The Vermont Ski Areas Association won't release its official 2012-13 ski numbers until June, but early indications are the season was well above average and far ahead of the 2011-12 season.

Spokeswoman Sarah Neith said the association has gotten a few end-of-season surveys and things are looking good.

"Some are reporting double-digit increases over last year," she said.

One of the keys to the season was that there was snow during all the major holiday periods, she said. Sugarbush set a one-day record for skier visits on Dec. 28, with a 9 percent increase over its previous high.

Scott Brandi, who operates West Mountain in Glens Falls, N.Y., and is president of Ski Areas of New York, said the state's ski mountains were buoyed by good weather and a March that will be the benchmark for all future Marches. Revenue and number of skiers jumped 3 to 5 percent over 2011-12, he said.

"As a rebound season for us in New York coming off the prior year, which was one of the worst in history, New York state did very, very well," Brandi said.

The season also stretched from 90 to 100 days last year to 120 to 130 days this season, Brandi said.

In Maine, Freeport Ski and Bike shop co-owner Jamie Richardson saw a lot of people get skis tuned that looked like they'd been sitting idle for a while. Beginner ski sales were also up, he said.

"That suggests that people who don't tend to go skiing were getting out there," Richardson said. "They're a big part of it. The hardcore people always find their way to the mountains, no matter how bad the year."

Sunday River, Maine's most-visited mountain with more than half a million annual skier visits, had a 7 percent increase this winter, said spokeswoman Darcy Morse.

"Busy is good," she said.

____

Associated Press writers Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H., Wilson Ring in Montpelier, Vt., and Rik Stevens in Albany, N.Y., contributed to this report.

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Compulsive gambling funds off pace of new casinos

HARTFORD, Conn. — Tom Leksan lost nearly everything when gambling became an addiction with easy access to casinos.

Once an Ohio lawyer, Leksan lost his job and marriage because of gambling, specifically blackjack. He had been gambling for years, he said, but did not become a problem gambler until he became hooked on riverboat casinos in nearby Indiana.

"I think the casinos thrive off the compulsive gambler," said Leksan, now a car salesman in northern California. "They pay lip service to treating problem gambling, but that's their bread and butter."

The unrelenting spread of casino gambling across America is reaping billions of dollars for the industry and government coffers but is also creating more compulsive gamblers. Addiction experts say the sums spent by states for treatment and counseling are too little to keep pace.

Even after the worst recession in decades and during a weak economic recovery, developers are building new casinos and adjoining attractions with the blessings of cash-hungry states. Ohio opened its first casinos last year, casino developers are vying for permission to build three casinos in Massachusetts, and New York City's new Resorts World Casino at the Aqueduct racetrack is also shaking up casino gambling in the Northeast.

Advocates for an expansion of treatment services point to enormous gaps between the money states are taking in and what they are spending on compulsive gambling. For example, casinos and card rooms in Pennsylvania generated about $2.3 billion in revenue in 2010 and the state transferred $17.5 million in casino revenue into its Problem Gambling Treatment Fund between 2007 and last year.

Connecticut's casinos, off-track betting and the state lottery generated nearly $659 million in state revenue in 2012 while problem gambling services that include counseling, treatment and a toll-free phone number for gamblers received $1.9 million.

"Even as you see an expansion of gambling you're not seeing a level playing field in treatment," said Mark Vander Linden, president of the Association of Problem Gambling Service Administrators.

Linden's organization, in a 2010 report, found that 37 states were providing public funding for gambling programs — at a combined total level of just over $58 million. Nevada alone reported casino and card room gambling revenue that year of $10.4 billion, according to Casino City's North American Gaming Almanac.

About 2.6 million gamblers characterized as pathological, or unable to resist the impulse to gamble, are estimated to need treatment each year, the Association of Problem Gambling Service Administrators says.

Problem gambling is defined as behavior that causes physical, psychological, social or job disruptions. It is progressively addictive as gamblers become preoccupied with betting and require more frequent bets with more money. It can be as mild as spending too much at a slot machine, card table or convenience store selling lottery tickets or taken to the extreme, compulsive gambling results in overwhelming debt, divorce and sometimes crime such as embezzlement to raise money to pay off gambling debts.

Ray Pineault, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, said Mohegan Sun and neighboring Foxwoods Resort Casino contribute plenty — nearly $326 million last year as required by their agreement with the state — but the state spends too little to treat problem gambling.

"I don't think the state does significant funding," he said.

Rep. Stephen Dargan, the House chairman of the Connecticut legislature's public safety committee, which oversees the two casinos, said finding money is always a struggle.

"There's only so many dollars out there," he said.

In addition, without an expansion in gambling in Connecticut and no Internet gambling, no one is clamoring for more funding. "Everything is pretty much status quo," he said.

Donald Weinbaum, executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, where gambling has been legal for decades, said the state's Internet gambling law signed by Gov. Chris Christie in February will lead to a big boost in financing problem gambling programs. Each casino that wins state approval to operate Internet betting will be required to pay $250,000 a year.

It's the first time casinos are being forced to pitch in to help finance such services, he said, and will boost current funding of $850,000 a year for treatment, prevention, education and other services that has held steady for about three years.

Massachusetts state Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, a principal architect of legislation in 2011 allowing up to three resort casinos and a slot machine parlor, said gamblers from his state are spending money in casinos in neighboring states, leaving Massachusetts to treat problems related to their gambling troubles.

"If they're addicted, they leave their money and come home with their problems," he said.

Massachusetts nearly doubled its annual problem gambling budget from $1 million, to $1.8 million — even before opening the doors to their first gambling hall — but Gov. Deval Patrick cut funding to about $1.3 million as part of spending reductions across state government.

Keith Whyte, executive director, of the National Council on Problem Gambling, said prevention and education programs have succeeded in reducing problem gambling and keeping the number fairly stable.

"With expansion, I'm not sure we'll ever be able to knock it back down," he said. "This is an addiction where state government is intimately involved and quite complicit," Whyte said.

Part of the challenge in getting funding to treat gambling addiction is its invisibility, advocates say.

"It's a very hidden disease," said Arnie Wexler, a onetime gambling addict and former head of the New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling. "You can't see it. You can't smell it. There are no track marks, no dilated pupils."

Treatment options in various states include phone or in-person counseling and public education in schools and churches.

In Connecticut, gamblers can find help at more than a dozen outpatient clinics and in one 20-bed facility where they can stay for up to two weeks for individual and group counseling.

"It's a respite for someone who needs to get out of their environment for a period of time," said Jim Crean, director of outreach and community relations at the Midwest Connecticut Council on Alcoholism.

Gamblers also may have their names included on lists to be kept from entering casinos. In Pennsylvania, 5,111 people have asked to be on the list over the past six years, said Doug Harbach, spokesman for the state Gaming Control Board. Gamblers who are listed and are caught gambling when they try to cash out their winnings are charged with summary trespass, Harbach said. About 875 violations have been issued.

Another concern is that a rising number of problem gamblers are young. Industry leaders, law enforcement and New Jersey officials gathered in Trenton recently to consider new preventive and treatment ideas to expand services to young at-risk problem gamblers. They emphasized the need to use social media promoting preventive measures at grade school and high school levels.

Gambling therapist Stephen Garbarini said he sees more young people requiring treatment and expects that trend to continue with online betting.

The expansion in gambling in Massachusetts will come with some innovative steps to deal with addiction. One requirement calls for intervention treatment centers at the casinos, a first in the nation, according to Marlene Warner, executive director of the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling. Gamblers will be able to stop in for advice or referrals.

Casinos also will be required to pay 5 percent of their proceeds from the state's 25 percent tax on gross gaming revenue into a trust fund for programs to prevent and treat addiction and other gambling problems.

"We took advantage of the opportunity to address problem gambling while everybody was paying attention to gambling," Warner said. "There's a lot of prevention work to be done."

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Experts warn about donation drives after bombing

BOSTON — At least two online campaigns aimed to help David Henneberry buy a new boat after his was shot up while a Boston Marathon bombing suspect hid inside. And a handful of drives have cropped up to help the family of Martin Richard, the 8-year-old killed in the attack.

Neither recipient had anything to do with setting up those fundraisers.

That didn't stop the sites from raising tens of thousands of dollars, while campaigns on similar "crowdfunding" sites have raised millions combined for other victims.

That's on top of the nearly $28 million given to The One Fund, a more traditional relief fund established by top state officials.

Such giving is the reliable flipside to tragic events, with the Internet bringing heightened levels of immediacy, publicity and generosity. But charity watchdog groups warn not all giving opportunities are equal, with online drives more prone to confusion, scams or misuse of money.

An advantage to crowdfunding sites, which essentially provide a platform for individuals to set up their own fundraising efforts, is the speed at which they can start soliciting donations. For instance, the site GoFundMe had marathon victim relief campaigns going by 10 a.m. the day after the bombings. It now hosts more than 40 individual marathon-related campaigns that have raised $2.7 million.

But that ease of setting up a fund drive means less scrutiny of the fundraisers using the sites, which may be known only by a picture and a short testimonial.

"There may be little oversight going in, in terms of how the money is actually spent, and whether it's going to the appropriate parties," said Bennett Weiner, chief operating officer of the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance.

Examples of fraud after tragedy are plentiful. After Hurricane Katrina the FBI found 4,000 bogus websites that stole donors' money and personal identification.

And it raises questions when the beneficiary of an online campaign doesn't even know about it.

Henneberry, of Watertown, said he had "nothing, nothing, nothing" to do with any drives to raise money for a new boat.

A spokesman for the Martin family said it has approved only The Richard Family Fund, which has its own site.

The lack of an initial connection with a fundraiser doesn't mean the money won't eventually get to the intended recipient. A spokesman for Crowdtilt, where a campaign raised more than $50,000 for Henneberry, said they sent him the payment Friday.

And bombing victims say the sites offer a convenient way for people to directly give to their specific needs, and can be tremendously encouraging.

"My sisters and mother would read the comments (from donors) to me while I was in the hospital, and it really helped me in my recovery there," said Brittany Loring, the beneficiary of a campaign on the GiveForward site. Loring required three operations after her left leg was badly injured by shrapnel from the first blast.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley's office is checking out fundraisers and has yet to find fraud, said spokesman Brad Puffer. But it's promoting vigilance.

"We simply encourage people to do their homework and give wisely," Puffer said,

Ken Berger of the watchdog group Charity Navigator prefers well-established charities or credibly backed efforts like The One Fund, founded by the governor of Massachusetts and mayor of Boston.

Such groups leave long paper trials and do robust vetting before they distribute money, he said. The tradeoff is the process takes weeks, which can be a lot less satisfying than an instant Internet donation, he said.

Berger added, "The faster you go, the greater the risk."

Dan Borochoff, of Charity Watch, said the same emotions that spur remarkable giving are used to take advantage of people. Ultimately, Borochoff said, people are free to throw their money away, but they shouldn't make it easy for the people trying to take it.

"Ignorant bliss is what they are going for," he said. "If you really care, you're going to be more responsible."

Brad Damphousse, chief of executive of GoFundMe, said his site takes significant steps to verify campaign organizers, including checking the linked Facebook account and affirming account payment information.

He added there's a natural social safeguard, since strangers usually won't donate to a site until they see dollars from an organizer's closest family and friends first.

"The earliest donors are essentially vouching for the authenticity of a given campaign," said Damphousse, whose company charges a fee of 5 percent of each donation.

Tom Teves, whose oldest son, Alex, was one of 12 killed during the 2012 movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., said raising money is an irrelevancy to someone in the midst of grief. But he and other family members of mass murder victims are pushing a National Compassion Fund, which he described as similar to The One Fund, to increase equity and transparency for victims.

Having a primary entity collecting and distributing money transparently can simplify things for people going through the unthinkable.

"You don't understand where you're at," Teves said. "You're just trying to literally figure out how you are going to stand up and keep breathing."

Erika and Leonardo Galvis, whose parents were badly injured in the marathon bombings, said they didn't think to set up a campaign on GiveForward until days after the bombings, and then only after their parents had been through surgeries that pointed to a long recovery with large and uncertain costs.

It's not easy to think in such practical terms amid the shock and disbelief over what happened, Erika said.

"It's very hard to focus on the fund," she said. "But we have to do it."

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CNN's Kurtz apologizes for errors in Collins story

NEW YORK — Media critic Howard Kurtz is apologizing for several errors in a column he wrote about gay basketball player Jason Collins this past week.

Kurtz is the host of CNN's "Reliable Sources." He brought two other media critics onto his show Sunday to question him about the story written on The Daily Beast suggesting Collins had hidden a previous engagement to a woman when he came out as gay in a Sports Illustrated story.

In fact, Collins had disclosed the engagement.

Kurtz says he was not only wrong on the facts, but he also shouldn't have written the story in the first place and was too slow to correct himself.

He promised to rebuild trust with viewers and asked them to consider his full career as a media critic.

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