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Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Obama administration had advance warning on Fisker
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Newly released documents show that the Obama administration was warned as early as 2010 that electric car maker Fisker Automotive Inc. was not meeting milestones set up for a half-billion dollar government loan, nearly a year before U.S. officials froze the loan after questions were raised about the company's statements.
An Energy Department official said in a June 2010 email that Fisker's bid to draw on the federal loan may be jeopardized for failure to meet goals established by the Energy Department.
Despite that warning, Fisker continued to receive money until June 2011, when the DOE halted further funding. The agency did so after Fisker presented new information that called into question whether key milestones ? including launch of the company's signature, $100,000 Karma hybrid ? had been achieved, according to a credit report prepared by the Energy Department.
The December 2011 credit report said "DOE staff asked questions about the delays" in the launch of the Karma "and received varied and incomplete explanations," leading to the suspension of the loan. Fisker had received a total of $192 million of the $529 million loan before it was suspended.
In the June 2010 email, Sandra Claghorn, an official in DOE's loan program office, had written that Fisker "may be in limbo due to a lack of compliance with financial covenants" set up by the Energy Department to protect taxpayers in the event of default. Another document, from April 2010, listed milestones that Fisker had not yet met.
Aoife McCarthy, a spokeswoman for the Energy Department, said the June 2010 email was taken out of context.
"The document shows that one person at a meeting discussed the possibility that Fisker might not meet a financial commitment" required by the Energy Department, McCarthy said in an email late Tuesday. DOE received the needed certification five days later and subsequently made the loan payment, she said.
The Associated Press obtained the Fisker documents ahead of a House hearing scheduled for Wednesday on the federal loan to the troubled car maker, which has laid off three-fourths of its workers amid continuing financial and production problems.
The potential loss of $171 million would be largest loss of federal loan money since the 2011 failure of solar panel maker Solyndra, which declared bankruptcy and laid off all its workers after receiving a $528 million loan from the Energy Department.
The Energy Department seized $21 million from Fisker this month as it continued to seek repayment from the car maker for the 2009 loan. A payment from Fisker was due Monday, but was not made, a DOE official said.
Henrik Fisker, the company's namesake and founder, was scheduled to testify at Wednesday's hearing. Fisker, who was forced out as CEO as the company's troubles mounted, said in prepared testimony that he remained proud of the company's "cutting edge technology," which he said could "pave the way for a new generation of American car manufacturing."
Fisker disputed claims by some critics that the Anaheim, Calif.-based company needed the federal loan to survive. Fisker said a high-ranking Energy Department official approached him in 2008 and asked him to apply for the loan, which is intended to boost electric cars and other advanced vehicles.
"At that time, we already had significant financial backing from private investors," Fisker said in the prepared testimony. In all, the company received more than $1 billion in private financing, he said.
The company met initial milestones set up by the Energy Department before informing the department that it would not meet future goals on time, Fisker said. He denied that any political influence was used to obtain the loan or in negotiations over its terms.
"I am not aware and do not believe that any improper political influence was used in connection with the company's loan application or subsequent negotiations with the Department of Energy," Fisker said.
Vice President Joe Biden announced in late 2009 that Fisker would reopen a shuttered former General Motors factory in Wilmington, Del., to produce plug-in, electric hybrid vehicles. The plant was never completed and never produced any cars.
Fisker said the company was hurt badly by the 2008 recession and by the bankruptcy of A123 Systems, a Massachusetts company hired by Fisker to make batteries for the Karma. A bankruptcy judge granted Fisker $15 million in a claim against A123 for breach of warranty, a fraction of Fisker's initial claim.
Fisker has not built a vehicle since last summer and has failed to secure a buyer as its cash reserves have dwindled.
___
Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-administration-had-advance-warning-fisker-062250966--finance.html
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Fully integrate your iPhone into your car with the Volkswagen iBeetle
Volkswagen recently introduced the iBeetle at the?2013 Shanghai Auto Show. ?The new models of the Beetle and Beetle Cabriolet?will be the first “of the Volkswagen Group in which the iPhone will become an integrative component.” ?The car’s dock holds the iPhone 5 as seen in the image, and you can access all your normal iPhone [...]
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Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Study: Lax attitude on teens and Rx drug abuse
WASHINGTON (AP) ? More parents need to talk with their teens about the dangers of abusing Ritalin, Adderall and other prescription drugs, suggests a new study that finds discouraging trends on kids and drug use.
When teens were asked about the last substance abuse conversation they had with their parents, just 14 percent said they talked about abusing a prescription drug, said the report being released Tuesday by The Partnership at Drugfree.org.
"For parents, it really comes down to not using the power they have because they don't think this is an immediate problem, meaning their own home, own neighborhood kind of thing," says Steve Pasierb, president of the partnership. "They believe that this is probably a safer way, not as bad as illegal street drugs."
By comparison, most teens ? 81 percent ? said they have talked about the risks of marijuana use with their parents. Almost the same number said they have discussed alcohol with their parents. Almost one-third said they have talked about crack and cocaine.
Some parents didn't see a significant risk in teens misusing prescription drugs.
One in six parents said using prescription drugs to get high is safer than using street drugs, according to the survey. Almost one-third of the parents said attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications such as Ritalin or Adderall can improve a child's academic or testing performance even if the teen does not have ADHD.
For Tracey and Jeff Gerl, of Cypress, Texas, their son's drug abuse problem was a shock.
"We just didn't know," said Jeff. He and his wife had the "drugs are bad" talk with their son, Nick, and thought he got the message. They called the parents of friends when he said he was spending the night to make sure an adult would be home. They tried to get to know his friends. Despite their efforts, Nick started smoking pot at the age of 12.
In an AP interview, Nick said he and his friends often raided their parents' medicine cabinets for anything they could get their hands on ? codeine, Xanax, Ritalin. Some kids, Nick said, would have "skittles parties," where the teens threw all the pills they poached from home into a big bowl, mixed them up and then took a few without knowing exactly what they were ingesting.
By 14, Nick's parents knew something was wrong. The day before he turned 15, they sent Nick to The Center for Success and Independence in Houston for 7 ? months of substance abuse treatment. It wasn't easy on anyone in the family ? Nick, his two younger brothers and his parents. Nick tried to escape twice, but made it through the program and has been sober now for a year.
"My family life is a lot better. I'm realizing there are fun things in life that I can do sober," said Nick, now 16. "I got a chance to get clean and I have my whole life ahead of me."
One in four teens in the study said they had misused or abused a prescription drug at least once. That's up sharply, a 33 percent increase, in the last five years. One in eight teens report misusing or abusing the drugs Ritalin or Adderall ? stimulants prescribed to treat ADHD. Other national studies also have seen a rise in abuse numbers for these stimulants among teens.
The partnership's Pasierb says parents need to talk early and often with their children about the dangers of drugs, including prescription drugs. "They need to tell their children that this isn't healthy for you and it will break my heart if you do this."
Looking back, Tracey Gerl says she should have listened to her gut more when she first suspected Nick might be using drugs.
"If it doesn't seem right, it's not," said Gerl. "Don't ever be naive to think it's not my kid."
For parents who want to clean out their medicine cabinets of old, unused or expired prescriptions ? the Drug Enforcement Administration and Justice Department is sponsoring a "take-back" day. Collection sites will be set up around the country on April 27 where people can safely toss away their unwanted medicine. Information about sites near you is available at: http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/ .
The partnership's study was sponsored by the MetLife Foundation. Researchers surveyed 3,884 teens in grades 9-12 with anonymous questionnaires that the youngsters filled out at school from February to June 2012. The teen sample has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points. For the adults, the sample was 817 for surveying conducted from August to October 2012, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
Based in New York, The Partnership at Drugfree.org is formerly The Partnership for a Drug-Free America. The nonprofit group launched its new name in 2010 to position itself as more of a resource to parents and to avoid the misperception the partnership is a government organization.
___
Online:
Report will be available at 12:01 a.m. EDT: http://www.drugfree.org
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Monday, April 22, 2013
Exclusive: China seeks to lock iron ore importers into trading platform
By Ruby Lian and David Stanway
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China will refuse to grant new licenses to iron ore importers unless they participate in a domestic trading platform, in a fresh move by the world's biggest iron ore consumer to wrestle pricing power away from global miners.
China, which buys around two-thirds of the world's 1-billion-tonne plus sea-borne iron ore, has been attempting to regain the upper hand in pricing the steel making raw material since grudgingly accepting an industry-wide shift to spot pricing after four decades of a yearly-set price ending in 2010.
Under new rules, traders and steel mills seeking a new license to import will now have to trade at least 551,155 tons of iron ore on the platform set up by the China Beijing International Mining Exchange (CBMX), a document on the regulations obtained by Reuters showed. Only Chinese firms are eligible for import licenses.
China's first physical iron ore trading platform competes with the globalORE platform in Singapore, but the new rules, in a country with tens of thousands of iron ore traders, could give CBMX more business and boost liquidity.
Global miners BHP
China has long suspected that iron ore pricing is manipulated by some miners and traders and wanted a platform that it deems more transparent, although miners may be wary of Beijing gaining control if more business flows to the exchange, particularly after Chinese pressure over ore price levels.
Last month, China's top economic planning agency accused the world's top three miners and some traders of manipulating the market to push up prices that soared more than 80 percent to near $160 a 1.1 ton <.io62-cni> in February from three-year lows in September.
"Some traders have already been verbally informed of this new rule and they are keen to increase trade on the platform to get the import qualification," said an industry source familiar with the matter.
CBMX launched the physical trading platform, together with its own iron ore pricing index, on May 8, 2012, hoping to boost its price-setting influence in its biggest commodity import by volume.
The new requirements were drawn up by the China Iron and Steel Association and the China Chamber of Commerce of Metals Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters, a unit that helps regulate iron ore trade on behalf of the Ministry of Commerce of China, industry sources said.
Officials at the two organizations could not immediately be reached for comment.
A CBMX official declined to comment.
Firms applying for new licenses will have to show that they have traded a minimum of 551,155 tons of iron ore with CBMX since it was launched, according to the list of requirements in the document distributed to traders.
They also stipulate that companies should have imported more than 1 million tonnes last year.
Steel mills applying for a license are also required to have an annual output of more than 1 million tonnes of crude steel and steel making facilities that meet state environmental requirements, according to the document.
Importers already holding a license would not be affected by the new regulations, officials at two state-owned Chinese traders said.
BOOSTING TRADE TO BECOME BENCHMARK
Since the iron ore market moved to daily pricing, a battle between pricing platforms and exchanges has been underway to become the benchmark for the world's second-largest commodity market after oil.
Attracting the highest volume of trade is key to winning the benchmark battle. The CBMX has moved ahead of globalORE to date in 2013 in terms of the volume of iron ore traded.
The CBMX has hosted 5.92 million tonnes of trade in 2013 as of April 12, according to data from the exchange. globalORE has seen only about 1.9 million tonnes this year, according to industry sources.
That is a reversal from last year, when the CBMX saw 7 million tonnes traded of the 93 million tonnes of iron ore it put on offer in 2012. globalORE traded a total of 9.62 million tonnes of iron ore since it was launched on May 30, 2012.
Traders said there was a risk the new requirements might not operate as designed, noting that it was possible to get around them by conducting "paper only" transactions on the exchange with no actual delivery.
"The exchange does not need undertake responsibility for participants to eventually settle the physical delivery, that means they can default after they make the deal on the platform," said a trader in Shanghai.
Beijing has long tried to impose more control on how iron ore trading is regulated, seeking big reductions in the number of licensed traders and trying to crack down on speculative reselling. But smaller players in the industry have often found ways around the regulations.
The list of companies with import licenses is not made public, but about 120 companies are eligible, according to industry sources.
Iron ore buyers who do not have a license would have to go through importers with a permit to purchase iron ore on their behalf on a commission basis.
(Additional reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Ed Davies and Simon Webb)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-china-seeks-lock-iron-ore-importers-trading-211540457--finance.html
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Officials identify firefighters killed in deadly Texas blast
By Tim Gaynor and Colleen Jenkins
WEST, Texas (Reuters) - Texas officials released the names of four volunteer firefighters on Sunday killed in a deadly blast in this close-knit Texas town, as authorities identified the center but not the cause of last week's deadly fertilizer plant blast.
Among the dead named at a news conference outside city hall in West, Texas, were brothers Doug and Robert Snokhous, remembered by their family as "lifelong best friends" who lived half a mile from each other and worked together at an ironworks in nearby Waco.
"Doug and Robert could always be seen together, whether they were hunting, working on cars, golfing or cooking barbecue at the volunteer fire departments cook-off," their family said in a statement read to reporters.
"They were always together and we were always comforted that they were together at the end."
The brothers were among 14 people, nearly all of them emergency responders, killed when a blast on Wednesday flattened the fertilizer plant and smashed several blocks of the small town, about 80 miles south of Dallas. They are survived by their wives, children and grandchildren.
A liaison official for the Texas Line of Duty Death Task Force, which cares for the families of fallen first responders, read a statement for Dane and Rhonda Chapman, whose son Jerry Chapman died in the blast.
The Chapmans - who stood silently, their heads bowed - remembered him as man who had "found his passion and life." His faith in God and his fellow firefighters "gave him the strength to lay down his life for others," they said.
Officials identified a fourth firefighter, Kevin Sanders. His family said he gave his life protecting others, adding simply: "We love him and will miss him very much."
The explosion at the privately owned West Fertilizer Co retail facility gutted a 50-unit apartment complex, demolished about 50 houses and battered a nursing home and several schools. Dozens more homes were reported damaged.
A reporter allowed into the evacuated blast zone on Sunday said the roof was torn off the apartment complex. Large chunks of concrete hurled from the plant littered the complex grounds hundreds of yards (meters) away, and a basketball court was unrecognizable except for the toppled goals, according to a pool report.
"This is like a war zone," said Brian Hoback, a national response team investigator for U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, among more than 60 federal and state personnel working at the scene.
Assistant State Fire Marshal Kelly Kistner said a probe had identified a "large crater at the seat" of the blast, but neither its cause nor the location of the fire that preceded it have been determined.
Authorities have said there was no indication of foul play at the plant, which was last inspected for safety in 2011, according to a risk management plan filed with the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Officials said the death toll remained at 14. McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara said he did not know of anyone still unaccounted for, despite persistent rumors.
Matt Cawthon, chief deputy sheriff for McLennan County, said two of the dead were near or in the apartment complex. He was unable to give their age or gender.
A male resident from the nursing home died en route to the hospital after being evacuated, although it appeared his death was not directly caused by the blast, Cawthon said.
MEMORIES OF TRAUMA
An elementary school in the town is due to reopen on Monday, with additional temporary classrooms for students from another local school closed since the blast.
Officials announced a memorial service would be held for the first responders on the Baylor University campus in Waco, about 20 miles to the south, at 2 p.m. CDT (3 p.m. EDT) on Thursday.
As the probe into the blast continued, hundreds of residents of the town, known locally for its Czech heritage, sought healing at church services on Sunday.
About 200 people - including farmers, military veterans and migrant workers - packed into the Church of the Assumption in the center of the town for Catholic mass.
Father Boniface Onjefu offered prayers for the 14 dead and nearly 200 injured in the blast, urging the congregation to "be strong and move our beloved city ahead. God is with us."
Larry Kaska, who lost his home on the north side of town, said the mass led by Onjefu brought "some healing" to residents as they started to rebuild their shattered lives.
"We're turning ... getting back to some normalcy again," said Kaska, who is now living at his nephew's home. "Just hearing his prayers and comfort, and (knowing) that people are being supportive ... help you out."
But for some at the church service, it was too early to speak of healing. Among them was Silvestre Duran, a Mexican migrant whose wife, Lucy, had suffered flashbacks since being injured as the blast tore through the nursing home where she worked.
Her face was marked by burns, and she had multiple stitches in her right ear. Their daughter, who also worked at the nursing home, was injured in the explosion too.
"A lot of people have memories that will be with them for a long time," Silvestre said.
Another churchgoer, who identified himself only as a farmer who had lived in West all his life, was still struggling to come to terms with the toll on the town.
"I lost three of my best friends ... I should have been maybe there with" them, he said, clearly shaken. "I just consider myself and my family blessed ... If you don't have faith in the good Lord, you have nothing."
(Editing by Barbara Goldberg, Paul Thomasch and Eric Walsh)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/officials-identify-firefighters-killed-deadly-texas-blast-001829832.html
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Stem cell transplant restores memory, learning in mice
Apr. 21, 2013 ? For the first time, human embryonic stem cells have been transformed into nerve cells that helped mice regain the ability to learn and remember.
A study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is the first to show that human stem cells can successfully implant themselves in the brain and then heal neurological deficits, says senior author Su-Chun Zhang, a professor of neuroscience and neurology.
Once inside the mouse brain, the implanted stem cells formed two common, vital types of neurons, which communicate with the chemicals GABA or acetylcholine. "These two neuron types are involved in many kinds of human behavior, emotions, learning, memory, addiction and many other psychiatric issues," says Zhang.
The human embryonic stem cells were cultured in the lab, using chemicals that are known to promote development into nerve cells -- a field that Zhang has helped pioneer for 15 years. The mice were a special strain that do not reject transplants from other species.
After the transplant, the mice scored significantly better on common tests of learning and memory in mice. For example, they were more adept in the water maze test, which challenged them to remember the location of a hidden platform in a pool.
The study began with deliberate damage to a part of the brain that is involved in learning and memory.
Three measures were critical to success, says Zhang: location, timing and purity. "Developing brain cells get their signals from the tissue that they reside in, and the location in the brain we chose directed these cells to form both GABA and cholinergic neurons."
The initial destruction was in an area called the medial septum, which connects to the hippocampus by GABA and cholinergic neurons. "This circuitry is fundamental to our ability to learn and remember," says Zhang.
The transplanted cells, however, were placed in the hippocampus -- a vital memory center -- at the other end of those memory circuits. After the transferred cells were implanted, in response to chemical directions from the brain, they started to specialize and connect to the appropriate cells in the hippocampus.
The process is akin to removing a section of telephone cable, Zhang says. If you can find the correct route, you could wire the replacement from either end.
For the study, published in the current issue of Nature Biotechnology, Zhang and first author Yan Liu, a postdoctoral associate at the Waisman Center on campus, chemically directed the human embryonic stem cells to begin differentiation into neural cells, and then injected those intermediate cells. Ushering the cells through partial specialization prevented the formation of unwanted cell types in the mice.
Ensuring that nearly all of the transplanted cells became neural cells was critical, Zhang says. "That means you are able to predict what the progeny will be, and for any future use in therapy, you reduce the chance of injecting stem cells that could form tumors. In many other transplant experiments, injecting early progenitor cells resulted in masses of cells -- tumors. This didn't happen in our case because the transplanted cells are pure and committed to a particular fate so that they do not generate anything else. We need to be sure we do not inject the seeds of cancer."
Brain repair through cell replacement is a Holy Grail of stem cell transplant, and the two cell types are both critical to brain function, Zhang says. "Cholinergic neurons are involved in Alzheimer's and Down syndrome, but GABA neurons are involved in many additional disorders, including schizophrenia, epilepsy, depression and addiction."
Though tantalizing, stem-cell therapy is unlikely to be the immediate benefit. Zhang notes that "for many psychiatric disorders, you don't know which part of the brain has gone wrong." The new study, he says, is more likely to see immediate application in creating models for drug screening and discovery.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison. The original article was written by David Tenenbaum.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Yan Liu, Jason P Weick, Huisheng Liu, Robert Krencik, Xiaoqing Zhang, Lixiang Ma, Guo-min Zhou, Melvin Ayala, Su-Chun Zhang. Medial ganglionic eminence?like cells derived from human embryonic stem cells correct learning and memory deficits. Nature Biotechnology, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nbt.2565
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/Dn4FJ19YaLw/130421151613.htm
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