Jiwa Lelaki

Boston Herald - Boston Herald

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 22 September 2013 | 23.40

Boston Herald - Boston HeraldAP: Records show Maine gov. tried to jam wind planCasinos tap intelligence network to beat cheatersVenezuela's president in China, signs agreementsGreece resumes talks with its creditorsComputer mishap delays space station supply shipPope offers hope to Sardinia's poor, unemployedHarvard launches a record $6.5B fundraising campaignCo. shows how garden growsHarvard launches $6.5 billion capital campaignWal-Mart driver honored for 4 million accident-free milesWest Hollywood institutes nation's first fur banChiquita seeks dismissal in Colombian caseRussia warns Ukraine against EU dealGunman's employer sought Navy consulting workMicroloans surging in Silicon ValleyUK charges 4 in cyber theft from Barclays BankMagnificent Jag is a treat for allBay State defense firms get work despite cutsCambridge penthouse could be your castleMIT study: U.S. needs to step up manufacturing

http://bostonherald.com/feed/4 en http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/ap_records_show_maine_gov_tried_to_jam_wind_plan AUGUSTA, Maine — Before its public push to have Maine reconsider wind energy proposals, Gov. Paul LePage's administration worked behind the scenes to explicitly derail Norwegian company Statoil's multimillion-dollar agreement with the state for an offshore wind project, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Business & Markets Sun, 22 Sep 2013 12:16:28 -0400 Associated Press 1063310861 http://bostonherald.com/business/technology/technology_news/2013/09/casinos_tap_intelligence_network_to_beat_cheaters UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Casinos in the Northeastern U.S. increasingly are tapping a shared intelligence network to stay ahead of cheaters.A bettor was arrested last week at Connecticut's Mohegan Sun casino after a surveillance worker recognized him from a security bulletin issued by authorities in Louisiana.Mohegan Sun officials say the arrest of the man who was allegedly marking cards with invisible ink represents a culmination of cooperation that began taking off a decade ago. Technology News Sun, 22 Sep 2013 11:13:55 -0400 Associated Press 1063310971 http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/venezuelas_president_in_china_signs_agreements BEIJING — China and Venezuela signed several agreements Sunday during a visit by the Venezuelan president that is meant to strengthen economic ties between the South American nation and its leading creditor.President Nicolas Maduro told his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, that the main goal of his trip was to further consolidate and expand the strategic partnership between the two countries that late President Hugo Chavez began with Chinese leaders. Chavez died in March after 14 years in power. Business & Markets Sun, 22 Sep 2013 10:22:01 -0400 Associated Press 1063310456 http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/greece_resumes_talks_with_its_creditors ATHENS, Greece — Greece has resumed talks with the so-called troika of creditors — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — to review progress in stabilizing the indebted country's finances. Business & Markets Sun, 22 Sep 2013 08:57:34 -0400 Associated Press 1063310511 http://bostonherald.com/business/technology/technology_news/2013/09/computer_mishap_delays_space_station_supply_ship CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A brand new commercial cargo ship making its orbital debut experienced trouble with a computer data link Sunday, and its arrival at the International Space Station was delayed at least two days.The rendezvous was aborted less than six hours before the scheduled arrival of Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Cygnus capsule, packed with 1,300 pounds of food and clothes for the space station crew.The Virginia-based company said it is working on a software repair, but it will be at least two more days until another approach is attempted. Technology News Sun, 22 Sep 2013 07:17:08 -0400 Associated Press 1063310376 http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/pope_offers_hope_to_sardinias_poor_unemployed CAGLIARI, Sardinia — Pope Francis denounced what he called big business's idolatry of money over man as he traveled Sunday to one of Italy's poorest regions to offer hope to the unemployed and entrepreneurs struggling to hang on.Francis left aside his prepared remarks and spoke off the cuff to thousands of people in Sardinia's capital, telling them he knew well what it was like to suffer from financial crisis. He recalled that his Italian parents, who immigrated to Argentina before he was born, spoke about it often at home. Business & Markets Sun, 22 Sep 2013 05:33:21 -0400 Associated Press 1063310211 http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/harvard_launches_a_record_65b_fundraising_campaign Harvard University launched a $6.5 billion fundraising campaign yesterday, an effort that — if successful — will be the biggest fundraiser ever in higher education and will allow the Cambridge university to expand its mission, the university said."No institution of higher education has a more exciting opportunity for innovative growth," Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust told an audience of university officials, alumni and donors. "This campaign must help us support the structures and modes of academic inquiry." Business & Markets Sun, 22 Sep 2013 00:00:00 -0400 Jordan Graham 1063308471 http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/co_shows_how_garden_grows Before this fall, Samantha Swanick had eaten vegetables many times, but the 8-year-old had never thought she would actually grow one."After a few days, you can see them get bigger and bigger," she said Friday at Centerville Elementary School in Beverly, where she and other third-graders carefully tend to three, raised-bed, organic vegetable gardens each week. "You have to put the tall stuff like tomatoes in the back and the small stuff in the front so all of them can have sun and grow. I like the lettuce." Business & Markets Sun, 22 Sep 2013 00:00:00 -0400 Marie Szaniszlo 1063308361 http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/harvard_launches_65_billion_capital_campaign BOSTON — Harvard University launched a $6.5 billion capital campaign Saturday that, if successful, would be the largest fundraising effort in the history of higher education.The school said the campaign had broad goals spanning all its schools and would fund research into neuroscience, stem cell science and low-cost energy for the developing world.The campaign would target major renovations of the university's undergraduate housing and increase its study of new learning and teaching strategies. Business & Markets Sat, 21 Sep 2013 19:02:35 -0400 Associated Press 1063306361 http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/wal_mart_driver_honored_for_4_million_accident_free_miles LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A long-distance truck driver for Wal-Mart has been recognized for traveling 4 million miles without an accident.Warren Greeno of Loveland, Colo., reached the milestone this year. Today, Wal-Mart executives in Arkansas presented him with a new rig painted red.The 59-year-old rolled up the mileage over 31 years and four months, an average of about 500 miles each working day.Greeno said in an interview this week that there were half-dozen near-collisions. He said he waited for "the thump and the crash" but they never came. Business & Markets Sat, 21 Sep 2013 15:49:52 -0400 Associated Press 1063306511 http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/west_hollywood_institutes_nations_first_fur_ban WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — West Hollywood is now the only city in America where it's a crime to sell fur apparel.The Los Angeles Times reports that after years of debate, the ban took effect Saturday.It only applies to apparel that's made to be worn, such as shoes, hats and gloves. Ugg boots can't be sold because they contain shearling, a sheepskin or lambskin pelt that's had limited shearing.The Southern California city calls itself a cruelty-free zone for animals and is famous for animal-friendly laws. Business & Markets Sat, 21 Sep 2013 15:11:44 -0400 Associated Press 1063306406 http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/chiquita_seeks_dismissal_in_colombian_case MIAMI — Faced with potentially billions of dollars in legal liability, Chiquita Brands International is asking a federal appeals court to block lawsuits filed against it in the U.S. by thousands of Colombians whose relatives were killed in that country's bloody, decades-long civil war. Business & Markets Sat, 21 Sep 2013 13:57:43 -0400 Associated Press 1063305776 http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/russia_warns_ukraine_against_eu_deal YALTA, Ukraine — A top Russian official on Saturday warned Ukraine against signing a landmark trade and cooperation agreement with the European Union, saying Moscow would retaliate with trade restrictions that could push this ex-Soviet republic toward default. Business & Markets Sat, 21 Sep 2013 11:10:22 -0400 Associated Press 1063305806 http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/gunmans_employer_sought_navy_consulting_work WASHINGTON — A little more than 24 hours after an IT contractor shot dozen workers at the Washington Navy Yard, the company's CEO told the Navy secretary he had the experience to help improve military security.The email from The Experts chief Thomas Hoshko, which included descriptions of his background and expertise, stunned some Navy leaders in the wake of the shootings Monday that left 13 people dead, including the gunman, former Navy reservist Aaron Alexis. Business & Markets Sat, 21 Sep 2013 11:03:33 -0400 Associated Press 1063305866 http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/microloans_surging_in_silicon_valley SAN JOSE, Calif. — A daycare provider needed cribs and high chairs. A coffee truck needed a generator. A couple renting party supplies needed to move into a storefront.When these Silicon Valley small businesses needed cash, and fast, they didn't find help at a bank. They turned instead to a type of financing more commonly associated with buying a sewing machine for a Guatemalan tailor or a tractor for an African farmer.Microlending, a decades old form of financing for the world's poorest, is now booming in Silicon Valley. Business & Markets Sat, 21 Sep 2013 10:51:07 -0400 Associated Press 1063305801 http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/uk_charges_4_in_cyber_theft_from_barclays_bank LONDON — British police have charged four men in connection with the theft of 1.3 million pounds ($2.1 million) from a Barclays Bank branch.The men — aged between 26 and 47 — were arrested Friday and accused of installing a device on the bank's computer system made it possible to carry out the cyber theft.Police said cash, jewels and thousands of credit cards were found in related searches of addresses in the greater London area. Business & Markets Sat, 21 Sep 2013 04:59:08 -0400 Associated Press 1063305441 http://bostonherald.com/business/automotive/2013/09/magnificent_jag_is_a_treat_for_all It's the chicken or the egg conundrum: Do you want to be the driver of the sleek 2013 Jaguar XJL or the passenger in the elegant cabin?The long wheelbase of the XJL affords rear passengers a playground of luxurious creature comforts. Start with the reclining soft leather seats, drop-down glass trays and personal remote controls for the headrest-mounted entertainment centers. Add a whisper-quiet ride, a footrest to leisurely stretch out your legs, cooled and heated massaging seats and you arrive at work or the weekend estate in style. Automotive Sat, 21 Sep 2013 00:00:00 -0400 Jim Mahoney 1063304386 http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/bay_state_defense_firms_get_work_despite_cuts Massachusetts companies that work with the U.S. Defense Department are still getting contracts in spite of federal budget cuts, but the firms say those contracts tend to be smaller.The Defense Department this week announced more than $865 million in contracts, including $9.9 million to Boston Dynamics of Waltham for work on the Legged Squad Support System, or LS3, a legged robot to help service members carry their gear, following them through rugged terrain and interpreting verbal and visual commands. Business & Markets Sat, 21 Sep 2013 00:00:00 -0400 Marie Szaniszlo 1063304391 http://bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/2013/09/cambridge_penthouse_could_be_your_castle This four-bedroom duplex penthouse condo, the home of former Channel 4 meteorologist Mish Michaels, features a dramatic sweeping staircase that joins what were two separate units.Part of the 113-unit Bay Square condo complex built in 1989, Michaels and her husband, Wes Atamian, combined two units in 2006 to create a showpiece custom-designed penthouse highlighted by a dramatic two-story vaulted turret with a living area overlooking a great room connected by a curving metal staircase. Real Estate Sat, 21 Sep 2013 00:00:00 -0400 Paul Restuccia 1063304401 http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/09/mit_study_us_needs_to_step_up_manufacturing The nation's booming innovation economy is in danger of losing steam and moving overseas unless there is a significant increase in manufacturing in the U.S., according to a new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but Massachusetts is poised to take advantage of such an increase, a state official says. Business & Markets Sat, 21 Sep 2013 00:00:00 -0400 Jordan Graham 1063304411

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Buick LaCrosse gets stuck in park

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 25 Agustus 2013 | 23.40

My car is a 2008 Buick  LaCrosse with the automatic shift on the steering column. It has begun sticking when in "park" and won't release even though I press the brake pedal hard. I had to push the car forward and back before the shift-lever would release. This has happened about five times, the last time while at a GM dealership. They told me that when the car is parked on any type of incline the pressure on the parking "pawl" may cause the problem. They suggest that while the engine is still running in "drive," set the parking brake, then step on the brake pedal, shift into park and then shut off the engine. This seems a rather strange and unorthodox way to solve my problem. And why did it take four-plus years to develop?

Actually, the procedure outlined by the dealer — and the owner's manual — is correct. In setting the parking brake first to immobilize the vehicle, there will be no pressure or leverage on the parking pawl, which physically locks the transmission. This eliminates what's known as torque lock — where the weight of the vehicle is "leaning" on the parking pawl, making disengagement difficult.

The other remote possibility is an issue with the automatic transmission shift-lock mechanism, which requires depressing the brake pedal with the ignition switch turned on to electronically release the shift mechanism.

I don't have a solid answer for why this problem has developed recently other than wear on the pawl or final drive internal gear that the pawl locks when in park. I'd ask the dealer to use the "range selector lever cable adjustment" procedure to check that the shift cable is correctly adjusted.

• • •

I have a 1988 Ford F150 with a 4.9-liter engine and a manual transmission. I have an intermittent problem with the engine cutting out at high rpm. Sometimes it cuts out at a lower rpm or sometimes not at all. The ignition system is the TFI-IV system, which requires no timing adjustment. Any ideas?

The most common cause for intermittent ignition problems with this generation Ford is the module itself. I've removed problematic modules for inspection and found visible air bubbles on the surface of the PC board sealed with a thick layer of silicone. You may be able to find a parts store that can test the module to determine if you need a new one.

• • •

I have a 2006 Toyota  Sienna V6 with 59,200 miles. A notice from the dealer indicated that a valve adjustment should be done on the vehicle. Is this something that needs to be done at this low mileage? The maintenance manual does not have any mention of this requirement.

According to my ALLDATA automotive database, Toyota recommends inspecting that valve adjustment at 60,000-mile intervals. Inspecting valve adjustment requires removing the valve covers, rotating the crankshaft into specific positions and using a feeler gauge to measure valve clearance. On the other hand, adjusting the valves is listed as a 5.9-hour job, meaning a cost of $600 or more.

I can't recommend not having the inspection done at 60,000 miles, but if it were my vehicle and I wasn't hearing any clicking, tapping or unusual valve train noises, well, let's just say I'd keep driving the vehicle.

• • •

I have a 2006 Toyota Highlander, 6-cylinder, that I purchased new. I have an issue that seems to be getting worse since I've had the car. Sometimes when the car is shifting into third gear and going between 35 to 40 miles per hour, the car jerks. If you accelerate quickly it doesn't do it. The Toyota dealer and a transmission shop have looked at it but could not find the problem.

Remember my comments about torque-converter slippage described as shudder, chatter or flutter? Could this be the "jerks"? If this only occurs shifting into third, service literature points toward the "direct and overdrive clutch."

Readers may write Paul Brand at Star Tribune, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., 55488 or via email at paulbrand@startribune.com.

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Patent sought for infant-saving AIR

A pioneering MIT researcher is tackling the huge problem of infant deaths with a simple device he put together on the night he learned that nearly 2 million children die on the day they are born.

"I had a few sensors literally lying in the trash in my lab, so we built it and it works," said Kevin  Cedrone, whose Augmented Infant Resuscitator might just become the next international lifesaver. "When you want to save a life, you really don't want to have to wait until a baby dies to find out you're doing it wrong."

The so-called AIR —  designed to attach to existing infant ventilation equipment — relies on tiny sensors to measure the rate and pressure of air entering a newborn's lungs.

This way, doctors and nurses can immediately tell if they need to speed up or slow down the air flow, or just readjust the ventilation mask covering the baby's nose and mouth.

After putting together the makeshift model, Cedrone met with a team of doctors and engineers to tweak it. The team includes Santorino Data, a pediatrician who specializes in neonatal resuscitation; Craig Mielcarz, an electrical engineer who has produced low-cost, battery-operated medical devices; and Dr. Kristian Olson of Massachusetts General Hospital's Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies.

They're seeking a patent for their product, and hope to sell it someday for as little as $3 each.

Meanwhile, AIR has won top prizes in a variety of competitions, including MIT's IDEAS Global Challenge, Dow's Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge program, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Saving Lives at Birth partnership.

"It has great potential to change something that has a huge impact on the quality of life of infants all around the world," said Kate Mytty, who used to run the MIT IDEAS challenge. "People are trained on infant resuscitators all over the world, but they're still not working well. This makes it possible to understand why these resuscitators aren't working."

Money from those awards will pay to create more models and conduct a clinical trial in Uganda,  Cedrone said.

As for Cedrone, who earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering last year, there's no telling what's next.

"I don't know what the future holds," he said. "Less than a year ago, everything I was doing was aimed at energy. This just kind of came across my radar."

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3-D Pancam's big potential

Video cameras can do a lot today, but picture one that has such varied uses as entertainment, surveillance, facial recognition — even interior design — and you've pretty much got the Pancam — or Eric Prechtl's vision of it, anyway.

With enough seed investment, the founder and president of Axis Engineering Technologies says, he's six months away from producing a polished, three-dimensional, panoramic camera that can send video to a 3-D television. And with the right analytics partners, AET could develop later models with each of those other capabilities.

At MassChallenge, the startup accelerator and competition that's named his company a finalist, "We're analyzing different markets and trying to figure out what is the best one to go after first," he said.

As unlikely as it might seem, the 43-year-old Prechtl's quest to build a smarter camera actually grew out of his efforts more than a decade ago to build a smarter helicopter.

While he was working on his doctorate in aeronautical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he developed an actuator to reduce the amount of vibration in a helicopter, helping it to fly more smoothly and quietly.

"A similar thought process led us to figure out a way to make cameras smarter, including to make them see in 3-D instead of 2-D," Prechtl said.

He describes his working prototype as a "gnarly laboratory device," 24 inches in diameter, with six spokes, each with two cameras at the end.

Each camera, in turn, is capable of capturing 20 frames per second, "creating a panorama very fast."

Because human eyes are spaced only about 2.5 inches apart, the next-generation Pancam will be only 4 inches in diameter.

To adapt it for interior design and renovations, the next step would be to add software to map a still image of a room, Prechtl said.

The same camera could be used for surveillance to track suspicious movements, raising an alert should someone try to access a restricted area, he said.

And because the camera can see in three dimensions, it could be used by police, the FBI and the military for facial recognition because it could distinguish a person's features better than a traditional two-dimensional camera.

All of this technology doesn't come cheaply. Prechtl estimates the finished product, if it's sold commercially, would likely cost between $5,000 and $10,000.

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New Mass. sales tax angers, confuses tech firms

BOSTON — A new Massachusetts sales tax on software and computer services, part of a massive transportation financing plan that became law last month, has been met with anger and confusion in the state's technology sector, prompting calls for its repeal.

Business leaders brand the measure an "innovation tax" that strikes at the heart of ingenuity in Massachusetts, a pioneering state in the computer industry and still a cradle of cutting-edge entrepreneurship. The tax, which took effect July 31, also has been criticized as being so vague as to leave companies and their accountants scratching their heads over what it applies to while state tax officials scramble to sort it all out.

Two prominent business-backed organizations, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and the Massachusetts High Technology Council, are leading an initiative petition that urges lawmakers to repeal the tax when they return from summer recess. At least one bill has already been filed that would do so. If the Legislature doesn't act, opponents will ask voters to kill the tax on next year's state ballot.

In an Aug. 14 memo to legislators, the council's president, Christopher Anderson, said the tax threatens to make the state less competitive at a time when tech companies are expected to lead an economic revival.

"We have the highest percentage of tech workers of any state, the largest number of tech clusters, and a highly educated workforce that is second to none. However, none of the states with which Massachusetts most often competes for high tech jobs has a tax like this," Anderson wrote.

The measure imposes the state's 6.25 percent sales tax on certain computer system design services and the "modification, integration, enhancement, installation, or configuration of standardized or prewritten software." It's unclear if the Democratic-controlled Legislature will revisit the issue.

Sen. Stephen Brewer, D-Barre, chairman of the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee and one of the principal architects of the transportation finance law, said no decisions had been made.

"I would welcome ideas if people had other alternatives," said Brewer. "We are not intractable."

Brewer noted that the tax, originally proposed by Gov. Deval Patrick, is one of several contained in the law that promises $800 million in new revenue for transportation and came in response to concerns from the private sector that the state's aging infrastructure was stunting economic growth.

The state estimated the tax would generate $161 million in the current fiscal year, but a Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation analysis concluded that estimate was based on faulty assumptions about the scope of the tax and pegged the actual impact on businesses at about $500 million.

Responding to the criticism, state officials promised to be as "narrow and conservative" as possible in interpreting the tax, said Amy Pitter, commissioner of the Department of Revenue. Acknowledging her agency was relying on "tax lawyers, not computer programmers," Pitter invited industry representatives to participate in focus groups and share their concerns.

The department issued new guidance last week seeking to clarify aspects of the tax, though it remains a complex patchwork of rules.

For example, customized software that incorporates pre-written software would be taxable, unless the extent of the pre-written material was "inconsequential." A plug-in that helps create a customized version of a product, such as an Excel spreadsheet, would be taxed. But enhancements made to open source software, generally free and downloadable from the Internet, would be exempt.

The revisions did not appear to be softening opposition to the tax, especially among smaller software services firms that say they'll be hurt the most.

"It's a very bad law," said Andy Singleton, founder and chief executive of Assembla, a 7-year-old Needham company that makes Web-based software. "They can't narrow it to the point where it makes sense. It's written to apply to almost anything that a computer programmer does."

The tax could prompt firms to shed jobs or produce more work outside of Massachusetts, Singleton says. Many of Assembla's 40 employees already work outside the state or even the U.S., using an online platform to share tasks.

State officials dispute critics' assertion that the levy is unique, saying most states tax information technology in one form or another. But opponents maintain that only four other states tax computer and software services, all at a lower rate than Massachusetts.

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German magazine: NSA spied on United Nations

BERLIN — The German magazine Der Spiegel says the U.S. National Security Agency secretly monitored the U.N.'s internal video conferencing system by decrypting it last year.

The weekly said Sunday that documents it obtained from American leaker Edward Snowden show the NSA decoded the system at the U.N.'s headquarters in New York last summer.

Quoting leaked NSA documents, the article said the decryption "dramatically increased the data from video phone conferences and the ability to decode the data traffic."

In three weeks, Der Spiegel said, the NSA increased the number of decrypted communications at the U.N. from 12 to 458.

Snowden's leaks have exposed details of the United States' global surveillance apparatus, sparking an international debate over the limits of American spying.

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States that allow private lobbyists in pension

At least 20 states allow some private lobbying groups to tap into often lucrative and safe state pension systems, according to a review by Associated Press reporters across the nation. Legislatures granted such groups access decades ago on the premise that they serve governments and the public, but several states have started to question whether they should be included since they are private entities.

States that allow at least one private lobbying group into the public pension:

— Alabama

— Arizona

— California

— Colorado

— Idaho

— Illinois

— Kansas

— Kentucky

— Maine

— Missouri

— Nevada

— New York

— New Jersey

— North Carolina

— Pennsylvania

— South Carolina

— South Dakota

— Tennessee

— Utah

— Washington

___

Source: AP reporting

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Private lobbyists get public pensions in 20 states

ALBANY, N.Y. — As a lobbyist in New York's statehouse, Stephen Acquario is doing pretty well. He pulls down $204,000 a year, more than the governor makes, gets a Ford Explorer as his company car and is afforded another special perk:

Even though he's not a government employee, he is entitled to a full state pension.

He's among hundreds of lobbyists in at least 20 states who get public pensions because they represent associations of counties, cities and school boards, an Associated Press review found. Legislatures granted them access decades ago on the premise that they serve governments and the public. In many cases, such access also includes state health care benefits.

But several states have started to question whether these organizations should qualify for such benefits, since they are private entities in most respects: They face no public oversight of their activities, can pay their top executives private-sector salaries and sometimes lobby for positions in conflict with taxpayers. New Jersey and Illinois are among the states considering legislation that would end their inclusion.

"It's a question of, 'Why are we providing government pensions to these private organizations?'" said Illinois Democratic Rep. Elaine Nekritz.

Acquario, executive director and general counsel of the New York State Association of Counties, argues that his group gives local government a voice in the statehouse, and the perk of a state pension makes it easier to hire people with government expertise.

"We want the people that work in local governments to continue to be part of the solution," he said. "We represent the same taxpayers."

The debate is more about principle than big money, since the staffs of such organizations are relatively small and make barely a ripple in huge state retirement systems. The eight New York associations, for example, have fewer than 120 total employees out of 633,100 current workers in the state's $158.7 billion pension system.

Still, the issue raises a public policy question as many states and taxpayers struggle to fund their pension obligations required by law.

"There is liability for taxpayers," said Keith Brainard, research director of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. "Providing a pension benefit involves some amount of risk for the state and when you provide access to employees of entities that are not in control of the state."

Unlike state government, for example, these groups aren't bound by salary restrictions — significant salary increases would result in increasing pension benefits.

New York Conference of Mayors Executive Director Peter Baynes, who makes $196,000 a year and gets a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee, argues that his and other associations have been at the fore of pushing to reduce taxpayers' costs, including reducing the costs of the pension system they share.

New York lawmakers recently acted to reduce benefits for future government hires and are proposing 401(k) savings programs for employees instead of traditional pensions.

But such cuts won't affect Baynes. Under the New York Constitution and that of most states, the benefits of those already in the pension system are protected from future cuts.

"It's clear that there's a big problem with hypocrisy when these lobbyists have been pushing austerity and benefit cuts for other government workers while they themselves enjoy solid state pensions," said Michael Kink of the progressive group Strong Economy for All Coalition. "'Do as I say, not as I do' seems to be their approach on retirement cuts."

"Workers who have faced cuts in pay and pensioners have a right to be angry — as do voters," Kink said.

In many states, lobbying groups for states and counties take positions that could conflict with taxpayer interests, such as advocating to weaken caps on property tax increases and boosting state school aid.

But associations of cities, counties and school boards argue that a plausible case can be made for allowing them to get state pensions. These quasi-government organizations operate mostly or solely on dues from their members — local governments or school boards typically — which are paid out of taxpayer-funded budgets. They argue they pool their resources to give a voice to government entities that serve taxpayers.

"It's a technical truism that lobbying groups are not supposed to be in the system," said Richard Brodsky, a former New York assemblyman. "But what they are doing is carrying out missions assigned to them by public officials in the public interest as they understand it."

Which groups get the pension benefit vary widely across the nation.

In Colorado, the list includes the Colorado High School Activities Associations, which runs state sports tournaments. Alabama gives it to the state affiliate of the National Education Association teachers' union. Washington state includes the Washington Apple Commission, which operates like a trade group. North Carolina's state Athletic Coaches Association is included, as is Tennessee's private Industry Council.

New York lawmakers decided years ago to bar any more lobbying and nonprofit groups in the pension system, grandfathering in eight groups.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who supports legislation to cut future hires from such groups out of his state's pension, issued an executive order this month creating a Pension Fraud and Abuse Unit. Among its mandates is to look at "claims of improper participation in the retirement systems."

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Small farmers: Rules could halt local food trend

CONCORD, N.H. — Federal officials say they appreciated hearing from northern New England farmers about proposed food safety rules, but some of the farmers didn't find the experience very valuable.

Hundreds of farmers from Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire attended Food and Drug Administration public hearings last week to discuss proposed rules that require them to take new precautions against contamination. Deputy FDA Commissioner Michael Taylor says many of them likely will be exempt from the rules but don't realize it.

New England farmers have argued that many aspects of the rules were derived from large-scale farming practices that don't apply to smaller farms, and they fear the cost of compliance will drive them out of business. Others say the uncertainty will stifle growth just when the local food movement is gaining steam.

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Nordic editors protest moves against the Guardian

STOCKHOLM — Top editors of the largest Nordic newspapers say that Britain's use of anti-terror legislation to "harass" the Guardian newspaper and people associated with it could threaten news media around the world.

The editors-in-chief of Sweden's Dagens Nyheter, Norway's Aftenposten, Finland's Helsingin Sanomat and Denmark's Politiken said in a joint letter Sunday that they are surprised and concerned "that a stout defender of democracy and free debate such as the United Kingdom uses anti-terror legislation in order to legalize what amounts to harassment of both the paper and individuals associated with it."

British officials have been criticized after using the legislation to confiscate data being ferried to journalist Glenn Greenwald by his partner, David Miranda, and ordering the destruction of computer equipment belonging to Greenwald's newspaper, the Guardian.

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Online: http://www.dn.se/nyheter/varlden/dear-prime-minister-cameron

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