countywide identifiable

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Transparent crab shells could lead to better bendy screens, solar cells (Yahoo! News)

POSTVILLE, Iowa?A group of Jewish boys in yarmulkes and winter coats walked past the "Taste of Mexico" restaurant on Lawler Street last week on their way home from school. Minutes later, a Somali man wearing a keffiyeh scarf around his neck passed by, perhaps on his way to the town's makeshift mosque on Main Street.

This improbably diverse rural town of about 2,000 people in northeastern Iowa suffered a near-fatal shock more than three years ago when a federal immigration raid scooped up 20 percent of its population in a single day. An ultra-Orthodox Lubavitcher Jewish family from Brooklyn bought the town's defunct meatpacking plant in 1987 and attracted workers from Israel, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. The plant became the largest producer of kosher beef in the world. When the plant was raided one spring morning in May 2008, most of the workers on shift were Guatemalan and Mexican, and undocumented. Many workers later said they had been physically or sexually abused at the plant, and at least 57 minors were illegally employed there, some as young as 13.

Six months later, the plant shut down abruptly. Sholom Rubashkin, the chief executive, was convicted of fraud and sent to prison. The national and local news media documented the near-demise of the town that followed, as businesses were shuttered overnight and hundreds of homes abandoned. The town shrank to nearly half its former size, as many of the illegal immigrants who were not netted in the raid left out of fear or because they couldn't find a job.

Immigration is one of the most contentious issues facing the Republican presidential candidates as they prepare for Saturday's debate in Des Moines, sponsored by Yahoo! and ABC News. Earlier this year, Rick Perry's candidacy suffered because of his support for allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at public universities in Texas. Last month, Newt Gingrich struck a moderate tone on the subject, saying, "I don't see how the party that says it's the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century." Other candidates say Perry and Gingrich support policies that amount to amnesty for people who have broken the law. Yahoo News visited Postville to examine what immigration looks like in the Republican presidential campaign's first battleground state, one that is 90 percent white but that has outposts like Postville that are changing the state's ethnic makeup and driving its population growth. Though still less than 4 percent of the population, Iowa's foreign-born population increased by 159 percent between 1990 and 2008, while the native-born population increased by only 5.7 percent.

Today, the meatpacking plant, under new ownership, uses the federal e-verify system to check workers' immigration status. The hourly wage on the poultry line is higher than it was before the raid, but few Iowan-born locals work there. Ridding this small community of its illegal workforce, far from freeing up jobs for American-born citizens, has resulted in closed businesses and fewer opportunities. Even nearly four years later, many homes still remain empty, and taxable retail sales are about 40 percent lower than they were in 2008.

In order to staff its still low-paying jobs with legal immigrants, the new owner of the plant has recruited a hodgepodge of refugees and other immigrants, who often leave the town as soon as they find better opportunities, creating a constant churn among the population. The switch to a legal work force has made the community feel less stable, some locals say, and it's unclear if Postville will again become a place where immigrants will put down roots, raise children, and live in relative harmony with their very different neighbors.

'For me, it was a fairy tale'

Postville thinks of itself as a place where people of all backgrounds and nationalities can come, do hard and unsavory work, and get ahead. Svetlana Vanchugova, who teaches English classes to non-native speakers at the high school, is one such immigrant. Called "Ms. Lana" by her students, Vanchugova came to Postville in?1995 from Ukraine in order to escape an unhappy marriage and to start a new life with her two sons. "For me it was a fairy tale when I first came to this little town," she says.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Postal cuts to slow delivery of first-class mail

FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2011, file photo Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe appears before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee as the panel examines the economic troubles of the Postal Service, a self-funded federal agency, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Seeing no immediate help from Congress, the cash-strapped service is pushing ahead with unprecedented cuts to first-class mail next spring that will slow delivery and eliminate overnight service for the first time in 40 years. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Charts show U.S. Postal Service operating losses and mail volume since

FILE - In this Sept. 15, 2011, file photo Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe speaks at a news conference on changes to the Postal Service that could potentially save as much as $3 billion in Washington. The estimated $3 billion in reductions, to be announced in broader detail on Monday, Dec. 5, 2011, are part of a wide-ranging effort by the Postal Service to quickly trim costs and avert bankruptcy. While providing short-term relief, the changes could ultimately prove counterproductive, pushing more of America's business onto the Internet.( AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2011, file photo Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe speaks before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee as the panel examines the economic troubles of the Postal Service, a self-funded federal agency, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Seeing no immediate help from Congress, the cash-strapped Postal Service is pushing ahead with unprecedented cuts to first-class mail next spring that will slow delivery and eliminate overnight service for the first time in 40 years. From left are Donahoe, John Berry, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Phillip Herr, director of physical infrastructure issues for the Government Accountability Office, and Thomas Levy, chief actuary of The Segal Company, serving as a consultant on postal employee benefits. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Facing bankruptcy, the U.S. Postal Service is pushing ahead with unprecedented cuts to first-class mail next spring that will slow delivery and, for the first time in 40 years, eliminate the chance for stamped letters to arrive the next day.

The estimated $3 billion in reductions, to be announced in broader detail on Monday, are part of a wide-ranging effort by the cash-strapped Postal Service to quickly trim costs, seeing no immediate help from Congress.

The changes would provide short-term relief, but ultimately could prove counterproductive, pushing more of America's business onto the Internet. They could slow everything from check payments to Netflix's DVDs-by-mail, add costs to mail-order prescription drugs, and threaten the existence of newspapers and time-sensitive magazines delivered by postal carrier to far-flung suburban and rural communities.

That birthday card mailed first-class to Mom also could arrive a day or two late, if people don't plan ahead.

"It's a potentially major change, but I don't think consumers are focused on it and it won't register until the service goes away," said Jim Corridore, analyst with S&P Capital IQ, who tracks the shipping industry. "Over time, to the extent the customer service experience gets worse, it will only increase the shift away from mail to alternatives. There's almost nothing you can't do online that you can do by mail."

The cuts, now being finalized, would close roughly 250 of the nearly 500 mail processing centers across the country as early as next March. Because the consolidations typically would lengthen the distance mail travels from post office to processing center, the agency also would lower delivery standards for first-class mail that have been in place since 1971.

Currently, first-class mail is supposed to be delivered to homes and businesses within the continental U.S. in one day to three days. That will lengthen to two days to three days, meaning mailers no longer could expect next-day delivery in surrounding communities. Periodicals could take between two days and nine days.

About 42 percent of first-class mail is now delivered the following day. An additional 27 percent arrives in two days, about 31 percent in three days and less than 1 percent in four days to five days. Following the change next spring, about 51 percent of all first-class mail is expected to arrive in two days, with most of the remainder delivered in three days.

The consolidation of mail processing centers is in addition to the planned closing of about 3,700 local post offices. In all, roughly 100,000 postal employees could be cut as a result of the various closures, resulting in savings of up to $6.5 billion a year.

Expressing urgency to reduce costs, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in an interview that the agency has to act while waiting for Congress to grant it authority to reduce delivery to five days a week, raise stamp prices and reduce health care and other labor costs.

The Postal Service, an independent agency of government, does not receive tax money, but is subject to congressional control on large aspects of its operations. The changes in first-class mail delivery can go into place without permission from Congress.

After five years in the red, the post office faces imminent default this month on a $5.5 billion annual payment to the Treasury for retiree health benefits. It is projected to have a record loss of $14.1 billion next year amid steady declines in first-class mail volume. Donahoe has said the agency must make cuts of $20 billion by 2015 to be profitable.

It already has announced a 1-cent increase in first-class mail to 45 cents beginning Jan. 22.

"We have a business model that is failing. You can't continue to run red ink and not make changes," Donahoe said. "We know our business, and we listen to our customers. Customers are looking for affordable and consistent mail service, and they do not want us to take tax money."

Separate bills that have passed House and Senate committees would give the Postal Service more authority and liquidity to stave off immediate bankruptcy. But prospects are somewhat dim for final congressional action on those bills anytime soon, especially if the measures are seen in an election year as promoting layoffs and cuts to neighborhood post offices.

Technically, the Postal Service must await an advisory opinion from the independent Postal Regulatory Commission before it can begin closing local post offices and processing centers. But such opinions are nonbinding, and Donahoe is making clear the agency will proceed with reductions once the opinion is released next March.

"The things I have control over here at the Postal Service, we have to do," he said, describing the cuts as a necessary business decision. "If we do nothing, we will have a death spiral."

The Postal Service initially announced in September it was studying the possibility of closing the processing centers and published a notice in the Federal Register seeking comments. Within 30 days, the plan elicited nearly 4,400 public comments, mostly in opposition.

Among them:

?Small-town mayors and legislators in states including Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania cited the economic harm if postal offices were to close, eliminating jobs and reducing service. Small-business owners in many other states also were worried.

"It's kind of a lifeline," said William C. Snodgrass, who owns a USave Pharmacy in North Platte, Neb., referring to next-day first-class delivery. His store mails hundreds of prescriptions a week to residents in mostly rural areas of the state that lack local pharmacies. If first-class delivery were lengthened to three days and Saturday mail service also were suspended, a resident might not get a shipment mailed on Wednesday until the following week.

"A lot of people in these communities are 65 or 70 years old, and transportation is an issue for them," said Snodgrass, who hasn't decided whether he will have to switch to a private carrier such as UPS for one-day delivery. That would mean passing along higher shipping costs to customers. "It's impossible for many of my customers to drive 100 miles, especially in the winter, to get the medications they need."

?ESPN The Magazine and Crain Communications, which prints some 27 trade and consumer publications, said delays to first-class delivery could ruin the value of their news. Their magazines are typically printed at week's end with mail arrival timed for weekend sports events or the Monday start of the work week. Newspapers, already struggling in the Internet age, also could suffer.

"No one wants to receive Tuesday's issue, containing news of Monday's events, on Wednesday," said Paul Boyle, a senior vice president of the Newspaper Association of America, which represents nearly 2,000 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. "Especially in rural areas where there might not be broadband access for Internet news, it will hurt the ability of newspapers to reach customers who pretty much rely on the printed newspaper to stay connected to their communities."

?AT&T, which mails approximately 55 million customer billing statements each month, wants assurances that the Postal Service will widely publicize and educate the public about changes to avoid confusion over delivery that might lead to delinquent payments. The company is also concerned that after extensive cuts the Postal Service might realize it cannot meet a relaxed standard of two-to-three day delivery.

Other companies standing to lose include Netflix, which offers monthly pricing plans for unlimited DVDs by mail, sent one disc or two at a time. Longer delivery times would mean fewer opportunities to receive discs each month, effectively a price increase. Netflix in recent months has been vigorously promoting its video streaming service as an alternative.

"DVD by mail may not last forever, but we want it to last as long as possible," Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said this year.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican on the Senate committee that oversees the post office, believes the agency is taking the wrong approach. She says service cuts will only push more consumers to online bill payment or private carriers such as UPS or FedEx, leading to lower revenue in the future.

"Time and time again in the face of more red ink, the Postal Service puts forward ideas that could well accelerate its death spiral," she said, urging passage of a bill that would refund nearly $7 billion the Postal Service overpaid into a federal retirement fund, encourage a restructuring of health benefits and reduce the agency's annual payments into a retiree health account.

That measure would postpone a move to five-day-a-week mail delivery for at least two years and require additional layers of review before the agency closed postal branches and mail processing centers.

"The solution to the Postal Service's financial crisis is not easy but must involve tackling more significant expenses that do not drive customers," Collins said.

In the event of a shutdown due to bankruptcy, private companies such as FedEx and UPS could handle a small portion of the material the post office moves, but they do not go everywhere. No business has shown interest in delivering letters everywhere in the country for a set rate of 44 cents or 45 cents for a first-class letter.

Ruth Goldway, chair of the Postal Regulatory Commission, said the planned cuts could test the limits of the Postal Service's legal obligation to serve all Americans, regardless of geography, at uniform price and quality. "It will have substantial cost savings, but it really does have the potential to change what the postal service is and its role in providing fast and efficient delivery of mail," she said.

___

Online:

Postal Service: https://www.usps.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-04-US-Postal-Problems/id-d9fd090c05dc42da9d7ba8dade05f0b4

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EU seeks to save the euro, but S&P isn't convinced (AP)

PARIS ? Seeking to restore confidence in the euro, the leaders of France and Germany jointly have called for changes to the European Union treaty so that countries using the euro would face automatic penalties if budget deficits ran too high.

But not everyone on Wall Street was reassured that Europe would get control of its 2-year-old debt crisis.

Stock prices rose and borrowing costs for European governments dropped sharply in response to the changes proposed on Monday by French President Nikolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. But some of the optimism faded late in the day when Standard and Poor's threatened to cut its credit ratings on 15 eurozone countries, including the likes of Germany, France and Austria which have been considered Europe's safest government debt issuers.

The announcement came only hours after Sarkozy and Merkel revealed sweeping plans to change the EU treaty in an effort to keep tighter checks on overspending nations. The proposal is set to form the basis of discussions at a summit of EU leaders on Thursday and Friday that is expected to provide a blueprint for an exit from the crisis.

While the Franco-German plan would tie the 17-eurozone nations closer together, a tighter union would likely also result in heavier financial burdens for the region's stronger economies, which have already put up billions of euros to rescue Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Analysts noted that the proposals did not foresee a clear roadmap on how to get the eurozone economies growing again and to reduce funding costs for struggling nations in the longterm.

"If this is all we get it's really very bad news for the future of the euro," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at London's Centre for European Reform.

Many analysts have called on the European Central Bank to intervene in debt markets to lower struggling countries' borrowing costs or the creation of eurobonds ? debt backed by all 17 euro countries.

The euro fell after the S&P announcement, trading down 0.1 percent at $1.339, and trading in futures on the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average turned negative.

After the New York markets closed, S&P confirmed that it had placed 15 nations on notice for possible downgrades. Only two countries that use the euro weren't affected: Cyprus already had that designation and Greece already has ratings low enough to suggest that it's likely to default soon anyway.

France and Germany, the eurozone's two largest economies which currently both have an AAA-rating, quickly came out against the S&P move.

"Germany and France reaffirm that the proposals they made jointly today will reinforce the governance of the euro area in order to foster stability, competitiveness and growth," they said in a joint statement. "France and Germany, in full solidarity, confirm their determination to take all the necessary measures, in liaison with their partners and the European institutions to ensure the stability of the euro area."

Stocks had risen after the leaders of France and Germany called for a new treaty to impose greater fiscal discipline on European countries. Yields on Italian government bonds receded sharply after the new premier Mario Monti introduced sweeping austerity measures over the weekend. That suggests traders believe Italy is less likely to default.

Investors are hoping that the summit of European leaders on Thursday and Friday will produce concrete measures to prevent a messy breakup of the euro currency, which is shared by 17 nations. Markets have been jittery because of fears that the euro might disintegrate, causing a sharp recession in Europe that would spread through the world economy.

"Our wish is to go on a forced march toward re-establishing confidence in the eurozone," Sarkozy said at a news conference in Paris on Monday, with Merkel at his side. "We are conscious of the gravity of the situation and of the responsibility that rests on our shoulders."

EU treaty changes could take months, if not years, to implement and don't wipe away the mountains of government debt dragging down Europe's economy. But preliminary buy-in Friday from the 17 countries that use the euro could set the stage for further emergency aid from the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund or some combination.

"The onus is still on the ECB to print money to make huge loans or bond purchases and draw a line under the crisis," said Jennifer McKeown, senior European economist at Capital Economics. "Perhaps if other member states sign up to Merkel's and Sarkozy's proposals this week the (ECB) will step in."

Sarkozy pledged to have a revised EU treaty ready for signing by March. It would then need to be ratified in each country, which could mean lengthy parliamentary debates or national referendums in some cases.

"A lot depends on the specifics and how these are going to be framed by lawyers," said Piotr Maciej Kaczynski, an expert on EU constitutional issues at the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels.

At the very least, it could take at least 18 months to ratify a new treaty once it has been signed by all heads of state, said Kaczynski. "That is a much longer timeline than what markets might want," he said.

Bond-market analysts said they remain skeptical of Europe's ability to prevent future profligacy. "If you say it strong enough and often enough maybe people will believe it," said Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott. "But I don't think the markets believe 'Merkozy' at this point."

EU governments reacted with caution.

No other EU leaders came out against the Franco-German proposals, but no strong statements in favor were immediately forthcoming. The reaction from Austrian Finance Minister Harald Waiglein was fairly typical: "There is nothing here that contradicts our position," although more details are needed, he said.

The modern EU is based on a set of treaties, dating as far back as the 1950s, when the project of consolidating the continent began. The treaties detail the rules that countries must follow and outline the mandates of institutions like the ECB. The most recent was the Lisbon Treaty, which was ratified in 2009, giving additional powers to the European Commission and European Parliament.

Sarkozy said he and Merkel would prefer that the treaty changes they're proposing be agreed to by all 27 members of the EU. But he left the door open to an agreement only among the 17 euro countries and anyone else "who wants to join us."

Sarkozy and Merkel discussed several broad changes for the EU treaty, but failed to provide much detail. The changes they outlined included:

? Introducing an automatic penalty for any government that allows its deficit to exceed 3 percent of GDP. A majority of nations would need to oppose automatic sanctions for a country to avoid them.

Governments are supposed to abide by the deficit limit under existing rules, but many, including France, have flouted it. Further, punishment only occurs after a majority of euro countries votes to impose them.

? Requiring countries to enshrine in law a promise to balance their budgets.

A key issue for the proposal's final approval will be how much flexibility countries can have to run temporary deficits during economic downturns.

? Pledging that any future bailouts would not require private bond investors to absorb a part of the costs, as was the case for the Greek bailout.

Germany had earlier insisted that Europe's permanent bailout fund would demand private investors take losses if a country in the future needs rescuing.

? Promising to not criticize or otherwise comment on the work of the ECB.

This is intended to ensure the bank's independence and its ability to act without pressure from European leaders.

Sarkozy said more details would be included in a letter sent Wednesday to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

After Sarkozy and Merkel spoke, stocks rose and borrowing rates for governments across Europe plunged, indicating a sharp rise in investor confidence in the continent's ability to resolve the crisis.

France's CAC-40 index climbed 1.2 percent, Germany's DAX rose 0.4 percent and markets outside of Europe also pushed higher, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 1.2 percent.

French banks, which have been hit hard this year over fears about their large exposure to the government bonds of financially weak countries like Greece, saw some of the biggest gains.

Societe Generale's stock price climbed 6.2 percent while BNP Paribas rose 4.9 percent. In Italy, shares of Unicredit rose 5.4 percent while Spain's Santander rose 3.6 percent.

Worries about the stability of the euro reached a fever pitch in recent weeks as the yields on Italy's bonds ? in a nutshell, its borrowing costs ? jumped above 7 percent. That is the level that eventually forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to require bailouts. By comparison, bond yields in Germany, Europe's largest and most stable economy, are roughly 2 percent.

Italian and Spanish bond yields fell sharply on Monday, an indication of growing investor confidence in their financial future. The yield on Italy's benchmark 10-year bond fell from 6.65 percent to 5.93 percent.

Italy, whose government debt is equivalent to 120 percent of the country's annual economic output, needs to refinance $270 billion of its $2.6 trillion of outstanding debt by the end of April.

The size of the problems facing Italy and Spain are considered too large for the existing funds available to the European Financial Stability Facility ($590 billion) and the IMF ($389 billion.) To boost the firepower of the IMF, several economists have proposed that the ECB lend to it.

The big threat to the global financial system is that Europe's debt crisis could spiral out of control.

If governments default on their bonds, banks that own them could take a significant hit. It could become very difficult for these banks to borrow and nervous depositors could flee with their cash. In the worst case, a global financial panic could be triggered, in which banks all over are too skittish to lend to each other. That would cause a credit crunch that deprives businesses of the short-term financing they depend on for day-to-day operations.

With such fears in the air, the United States is ratcheting up its involvement.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Geithner will meet Tuesday in Germany with ECB President Mario Draghi and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble. On Wednesday, he travels to France for talks with Sarkozy and the prime minister-elect of Spain, Mariano Rajoy Brey.

___

Pan Pylas in London, Sarah DiLorenzo in Paris and Raf Casert in Brussels also contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111206/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_financial_crisis

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Monday, December 5, 2011

Obama calls Pakistan leader about NATO airstrikes

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama has told Pakistan's president that the NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers were not deliberate attacks and that the U.S. is committed to a full investigation.

The strikes along the border with Afghanistan last weekend have further strained ties between the U.S. and Pakistan as the Obama administration tries to wind down the war in Afghanistan.

The White House says Obama and Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, reaffirmed their countries' relationship and agreed to keep in close touch.

Obama called Zardari on Sunday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-04-Obama-Pakistan/id-d85957d4154c4353ac83c80bd5b6329d

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Sunday, December 4, 2011

In or out? Cain to say whether he'll stay in race

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks to supporters at The Magnolia Room at Laurel Creek, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011, in Rock Hill , S.C. (AP Photo/ Richard Shiro)

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain hugs a supporter at The Magnolia Room at Laurel Creek, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011, in Rock Hill , S.C. (AP Photo/ Richard Shiro)

ATLANTA (AP) ? Herman Cain is keeping supporters in suspense as he readies an announcement on whether to abandon his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination following a string of sexual harassment allegations and a claim of an extramarital affair.

The Georgia businessman planned to make the announcement Saturday at what was supposed to be a festive grand opening of a new headquarters in Atlanta, rented when Cain sat surprisingly atop the GOP pack.

With the candidate's poll numbers plummeting and fundraising stalled, some campaign aides said privately they expected him to exit the race. But Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon cautioned late Friday that no decision had been made.

A meeting with key staff members was expected early Saturday.

Cain returned to his suburban Atlanta home Friday and met with his wife, Gloria, the first time they have seen each other face to face since 46-year-old Ginger White came forward on Monday and said she and the Republican had carried on a 13-year relationship.

Cain has denied having an affair with White. He said the concern over the toll the allegations were having on his family as well as a candid assessment of whether his campaign could still attract the needed support would inform his decision on whether to press ahead.

On Friday night, even as Cain weighed whether his campaign would move on, volunteers were busy tacking up signs at his headquarters and a contingent of Secret Service agents was inspecting the site in advance of Cain's arrival there.

"We are moving ahead," said Cain's Georgia director David McCleary, who said he had talked to the candidate earlier in the day and describe him as "upbeat."

Cain, the former Godfather's Pizza chief executive who has never held elected office, rose to become an unexpected front-runner in the volatile Republican race just weeks ago. A self-styled outsider, Cain enjoyed strong tea party support from conservatives who viewed him as an alternative to Mitt Romney. His charisma on the campaign trail drew large and enthusiastic crowds.

But under the glare of the national spotlight he fumbled policy questions, leaving questions about whether he was ready for the presidency. Then it was revealed at the end of October that the National Restaurant Association had paid settlements to two women who claimed Cain sexually harassed them while he was president of the organization.

A third woman told The Associated Press that Cain made inappropriate sexual advances but that she didn't file a complaint. A fourth woman also stepped forward to accuse Cain of groping her in a car in 1997.

Cain has denied wrongdoing in all cases.

Polls suggest his popularity has suffered. A Des Moines Register poll released Friday showed Cain's support plunging, with backing from 8 percent of Republican caucusgoers in Iowa, down from 23 percent a month ago.

Fundraising has also fallen off. He issued an email appeal to supporters on Friday asking for donations, in an attempt to gauge whether his financial support has dried up.

"I need to know that you are behind me 100 percent," Cain told backers. "In today's political environment, the only way we can gauge true support is by the willingness of our supporters to invest in this effort."

On Friday, Cain urged backers in South Carolina to look past the allegations.

"There's a lot of garbage on the Internet. There's a lot of garbage out there on the TV. There's a lot of garbage out there about me, don't you know? There's a lot of misinformation out there. You have to stay informed and check out the facts for yourself," Cain said.

He added: "I'm on this journey for a reason. I don't look back."

___

Associated Press writers Philip Elliott in South Carolina and Steve Peoples in New Hampshire contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-03-Cain/id-0481f8efd5884b95ad6ee1372859e173

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Saturday, December 3, 2011

Simon Cowell one of Walters' 'Fascinating People' (AP)

NEW YORK ? Barbara Walters has named talent-show tycoon Simon Cowell, New York Yankees star Derek Jeter and pop singing sensation Katy Perry as three of the year's "10 Most Fascinating People."

Also on the list are businessman and TV personality Donald Trump, the Kardashian reality TV family, plus Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet, the onscreen couple from ABC's comedy hit "Modern Family."

Others include Pippa Middleton, sister of British royal Kate Middleton, and Amanda Knox, the former Seattle exchange student whose four years in custody ended when an Italian court overturned her murder conviction.

A ninth name is yet to be announced. The Most Fascinating Person will be revealed on the broadcast.

The 90-minute special, Walters' 19th annual "Fascinating People" edition, airs on ABC on Dec. 14.

___

ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Co.

___

Online:

http://www.abc.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_en_tv/us_tv_walters_fascinating_people

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Friday, December 2, 2011

GOP governors worry Obama might escape his woes (AP)

ORLANDO, Fla. ? Republican governors, who swept to big victories last year, think President Barack Obama faces huge political obstacles. But they're hardly brimming with confidence about the 2012 election.

Meeting this week in Florida, GOP governors and their advisers fret that their party could lose its advantage on the tax-cut issue by appearing too eager to protect the rich. Some also warn Republican candidates not to reflexively dismiss anti-Wall Street sentiment, which might be seeping more deeply into the middle class than they realize.

Publicly, the governors predict Obama will be a one-term president. But few have stuck their necks out by endorsing any of their party's candidates, even with the Iowa caucus five weeks away.

"Independents are leaning our way, but they're not quite there yet," pollster Glen Bolger told the Republican Governors Association during a panel session Wednesday on the 2012 elections. He said he foresees a very close race.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Obama cannot run on his record, mainly because of the nation's high unemployment rate. So Obama will focus on "tearing down the Republican nominee," Jindal said, predicting a much more negative campaign than in 2008.

Jindal, who backs Texas Gov. Rick Perry, is one of the few Republican governors who has endorsed someone. Most of his colleagues seem wary. Their wait-and-see approach lent a somber tone to the Orlando gathering, which bordered Disney World and might have felt festive if the party were coalescing around one strong contender.

They have plenty of reasons to be cautious, GOP pollster Frank Luntz said in the panel discussion chaired by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. If next year's campaign is couched as a battle over the middle class, Luntz said, "Democrats will win."

Republicans should say they're fighting for "hard-working taxpayers," said Luntz, who is known for conducting focus groups and advising Republicans on precise words to use and to avoid.

He also warned that most Americans support Obama's bid to raise taxes on the wealthiest households, and he urged Republicans not to get engaged in a debate over "taxing" the rich. Instead, he said, they should talk about the evils of "the government taking money from hard-working Americans," no matter how much they earn.

Luntz added, "I'm so scared by this anti-Wall Street effort." He was referring to the Occupy Wall Street movement, which many GOP candidates have criticized, sometimes in sneering terms. Republicans should defend "free enterprise," he said, a term that's preferable to "capitalism."

And Luntz said he thinks former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, generally seen as the party establishment's favorite candidate, has been hurt by a new Democratic video that mocks his changed positions on abortion, gun rights and other issues. The video cleverly uses humor, he said, which is more palatable to voters sick of partisan squabbles.

That's not to say the governors' gathering was all gloom and worry. In an interview, Barbour, who considered a presidential bid of his own, said Obama faces big problems.

"He's very weak by historical standards," Barbour said, with "low job approvals."

"Voters' view of the direction of the country, the results of his policies, the lack of optimism are all terrible indicators," he said.

Barbour added, however, that Obama will have "a gigantic amount of money, and no primary opposition." Barbour, who endorsed a candidate in the 2000 Republican primary but not in 2008, is staying out of this year's contest.

There was scant sympathy at the governors' gathering for presidential candidate Herman Cain, first damaged by sexual harassment allegations and now accused of having a 13-year affair with an Atlanta woman.

"Initially, I think Iowans were certainly understanding and willing to hear his side," Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad told reporters. "But it's been one thing after another after another after another."

There were few signs of governors jumping on the bandwagon of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who many party insiders now see as the likeliest alternative to Romney. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who chairs the Republican Governors Association, repeated his opinion that a current or former governor is probably best-suited to run for president.

A month or so ago, that comment sounded like an even-handed treatment of Perry and Romney. But Perry has struggled to regain his footing after weak debate performances, and Gingrich, who was never a governor, has moved up in the polls.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie repeated his full-throated support of Romney, and predicted he will defeat Obama.

A prized endorsement will come soon from Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, whose state holds its primary after Iowa and New Hampshire voters have their say. Haley told reporters she will announce her preference before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. She offered no hints Wednesday, except to say that Romney and Gingrich appear to be the strongest contenders in her state for now.

"We'll endorse the person who should win, not the person that could win," Haley said. "We will endorse the person that will get the country back on track. ... It's all based on policy."

Branstad, who is staying neutral, urged reporters and political activists to stay calm. For "normal people," he said, "it's still early."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_on_el_gu/us_campaign_gop_governors

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