“Animal Practice” star Joanna Garcia has given birth to a baby girl. The 33-year-old actress welcomed her first child on Monday with her baseball player husband Nick Swisher. The news of the newborn’s arrival came after Nick, 32, was placed on the paternity leave list on Tuesday by the Cleveland Indians. Indians manager, Terry Francona, ...
Your business will suffer if you do not consider the benefits of internet marketing, as more and more people now use the internet as a tool for searching for businesses, products and services. Marketing your services or products online offers many advantages. This article has some useful advice and information about getting started in Internet marketing.
A link that appears on every single page of a website is called a ?site-wide link.? Usually, you will find that webmasters place them towards the bottom of each page. These links are useful for directing traffic to key areas of your site, especially pages which encourage visitors to learn about products or place an order. A site-wide menu with organized links is also helpful in directing traffic to other website pages. Any menu needs to have structure, and have descriptions that make it easy to use.
Always focus your attention on meta tags when your site is being coded. Site visitors will not be able to see these tags, but search engines will. These invisible tags let search engines know important information about your site and its content. The most significant meta tags on your site will be the first ones you add, so you should be sure they accurately describe your site. Remember not to overuse meta tags. Use alternative tags sometimes. Spend plenty of time finding the keywords that will attract visitors.
Use your HTML coding to make sure the important parts of your article are in bold. If you use the bold HTML tag, the search engine spiders know that important text will follow it. This can also be a straightforward way to guide your reader?s attention to whatever information you want to highlight. Your keywords should also appear in your post?s title.
There are many different ways to generate more product sales online. Just because many webmasters use techniques that work for them does not means you should not try new options. A website or other web content can spread very quickly if it become popular. If you post content that gets a ?buzz? as many people share it with others, your online sales could enjoy a nice bump. There?s no guaranteed method of predicting what will catch on, but if you share unique and amusing content, you have a chance of going viral. Watch videos so you can find what appeals to the general internet user.
There are many more Internet marketing strategies that you can use. This is just the beginning. To enhance you strategy?s success, keep seeking more tips to improve your business.
Researchers from the University of Hawaii ? Manoa (UHM) School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) developed species distribution models of the six dominant Hawaiian coral species around the main Hawaiian Islands including two species currently under consideration as threatened or endangered. They found the order of coral abundance (from highest to lowest) around the main Hawaiian Islands to be Porites lobata, Montipora patula, Pocillopora meandrina, Montipora capitata, Porites compressa, and Montipora flabellata.
Environmental factors (wave energy, shape of the seafloor, water clarity, depth, rugosity (roughness of the seafloor), geological island age, and organic sediment content) are known to influence Hawaiian reefs. However, this is the first study to systematically examine the influence of these factors on the distribution and abundance of coral species across the entire seascape of shallow reefs in the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI).
"Average wave height and maximum wave height were the most influential variables explaining coral abundance in the Hawaiian Islands," reported Erik Franklin, lead author of the study and Assistant Research Professor at the UHM Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. "Our models also identified relationships between coral cover and island age, depth, sunlight, rugosity, slope, and aspect (direction a slope faces)."
In general, coral cover was predicted to be highest in primarily wave-sheltered coastlines and embayments. Reefs with highest cover were concentrated in Kaneohe Bay on Oahu; the wave-sheltered reefs of Molokai, Lanai, Maui, and Kahoolawe; and the Kohala coast of Hawaii.
To construct the species distribution and abundance models, researchers integrated field surveys for corals (data provided by the US National Park Service and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) with environmental data of wave exposure (data provided by UHM Department of Ocean and Resources Engineering), benthic geomorphology, and sunlight from 2000 to 2009.
Regional-scale mapping of coral species from these models provide a framework for population modeling and marine spatial planning of Hawaiian coral reefs. The geographic characterization of coral reefs would benefit greatly from the improved coral distribution and abundance information generated from coral distribution models. Data from these models can be incorporated into marine conservation plans or used for threat assessments to reefs.
"For example," Franklin says, "our results were recently used in the management plan review process of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary as they considered the distribution and abundance of animals other than whales."
One advantage of this integrative, modeling approach is that researchers are able to consider a broader range of areas than field surveys alone and, therefore, can provide a truer picture of total abundance. "We were most surprised at the high relative abundance of Montipora patula which is currently under consideration for listing as a threatened or endangered species," reported Franklin. Montipora flabellata, the other coral species under consideration as a threatened or endangered species, was not as abundant as the other five species.
Franklin and colleagues are in the process of extending the modeling approach to include additional marine species in Hawaii such as reef fish and include additional environmental variables to try to improve the predictive capacity of the models. Ideally the results will continue to inform marine resource management in the Hawaiian Islands.
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E C Franklin, P L Jokiel, M J Donahue (2013). Predictive modeling of coral distribution and abundance in the Hawaiian Islands. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 481:121-132; doi: 10.3354/meps10252.
University of Hawaii ? SOEST:
Thanks to University of Hawaii ? SOEST for this article.
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TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp cut its sales targets for digital cameras, smartphones and tablets by 13-17 percent for the year to end-March 2015, but said there were "encouraging" signs of a revival in its electronics business.
CEO Kazuo Hirai told a press briefing on Wednesday that Sony would assess a proposal from its biggest shareholder, billionaire Daniel Loeb's Third Point LLC hedge fund, that the group should sell up to a fifth of its music and movies business, which includes artists such as Adele and hit franchises like "Spider-Man".
Loeb argues a partial spin-off of Sony Entertainment would free up cash to help the struggling electronics division and could boost Sony's stock price by 60 percent.
Third Point's "proposal is one that affects a core part of Sony's business and the direction of our management, so the Sony board will give it thorough consideration before replying to Mr. Loeb," Hirai said.
Sony has relied on entertainment and insurance profits to offset losses from TVs and other consumer devices.
Sony shares charged to their highest in more than 2 years on Wednesday after the Nikkei newspaper said Sony's board would consider evaluating Loeb's proposal. The stock closed up 5.9 percent at 2,290 yen.
Sony trimmed its 2014-15 camera sales target to 1.3 trillion yen ($12.7 billion) and now expects smartphone and tablet sales of 1.5 trillion yen.
"While there are encouraging signs of change, the revival of our electronics business remains our task," Hirai said, pointing to strong demand for Sony's new Xperia smartphone and mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. He said Sony was keeping to its strategy to revive the struggling business around cameras and mobile and PlayStation gaming devices.
Hirai, however, slashed his operating profit margin target for the gaming business to 2 percent in the year to March 2015, from an earlier outlook for 8 percent.
Sony, which expects smartphone sales to rise by more than a quarter to 42 million in the current year to end-March, is battling with China's Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp and South Korea's LG Electronics for third place in the $225 billion global market behind Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc.
For the current business year, Sony predicts its operating profit will be around 230 billion yen ($2.24 billion), little changed from last year when it booked one-off gains from selling assets including its U.S. headquarters in New York.
Sony's overall target for 2014-15 sales of 8.5 trillion yen and an operating margin of more than 5 percent is unchanged, with Hirai predicting the electronics business would account for 6 trillion yen of revenue. By the end of the revival plan, the three core businesses - cameras, mobiles and gaming - will account for 65 percent of the electronics division's sales and 80 percent of operating profit.
Referring to the lower smartphone sales target, Naoki Fujiwara, a fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management, said: "It would be better to adjust to a realistic side rather than staying overly ambitious. In reality, there's fierce competition in the smartphone industry."
(Reporting by Tim Kelly, with additional reporting by Ayai Tomisawa; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
Coach Kevin O'Sullivan speaks to Florida Gator third basemen Josh Tobias. /GatorCountry.com photo by Saj Guevara.
The month of May couldn?t have gone any worse for Kevin O?Sullivan and the Florida baseball team. The Gators kicked the month off by getting swept at LSU and then lost five of their remaining nine games the rest of the way to compile a 4-8 record for the month.
It was a free fall that all could have been forgotten had the Gators been able to put up a good showing in Hoover, Alabama in the SEC Championship.
After finishing the regular season with a 29-27 (14-16 SEC) record, the Gators were given the eighth seed in the tournament and played in a single elimination game against the ninth seeded Aggies of Texas A&M.
Genetic marker associated with risk for pulmonary fibrosisPublic release date: 21-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lori J. Schroth ljschroth@partners.org 617-534-1604 Brigham and Women's Hospital
A genetic risk factor for pulmonary fibrosis, an uncommon but deadly lung disease, may be effective in identifying individuals at risk for this disease
Boston, MA New research from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) finds that a genetic risk factor for pulmonary fibrosis, an uncommon but deadly lung disease, may be effective in identifying individuals at risk for this disease. These findings will be presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference and publish online simultaneously at the New England Journal of Medicine on May 22 and will appear in the July 4, 2013 print edition.
"While this variant of the MUC5B gene is fairly common, pulmonary fibrosis is not. Our findings suggest that pulmonary fibrosis may be a part of a much more common, but likely less severe, syndrome and could potentially be predicted on the basis of the MUC5B genetic variant," said Gary M. Hunninghake, MD, MPH, a physician researcher in the pulmonary and critical care division at BWH and co-corresponding author of the research paper. "While too early to tell how important this variant may be in clinical practice, this finding could open new research avenues into this disease."
Researchers looked at a common variant of the gene for mucin-5B, a protein that is a component of the mucous produced by the bronchial tubes associated with associated with pulmonary fibrosis. Their goal was to determine whether this common gene variant was also associated with interstitial lung disease in the general population. To do this, researchers reviewed CT scans of more than 2,600 adults who did not have a clinical diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis. Researchers found imaging evidence of interstitial lung abnormalities (lung inflammation and scarring) in about 9 percent of those over age 50. In this age group, these abnormal findings were significantly more common among the 19 percent of people with the MUC5B genetic variant. While these abnormalities do not necessarily indicate a disease that will progress, the presence of these abnormalities was associated with more shortness of breath and cough as well as smaller lung sizes and ability to transfer oxygen.
"Our findings provide important insights into the pulmonary effects of a common genetic variant in the general population, and they also suggest that the clinical condition pulmonary fibrosis may be part of the broader spectrum of abnormalities that includes more subtle and asymptomatic findings," said George O'Connor, MD, professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, director of lung research at the Framingham Heart Study, and a senior collaborator in this study.
Future research efforts will focus on identifying which people with imaging abnormalities are at greatest risk for progression to pulmonary fibrosis, and reciprocally, why some people "at-risk" for pulmonary fibrosis do not develop a clinical disease. The authors believe that this work may eventually pave the way for efforts aimed at preventing pulmonary fibrosis.
###
In addition to Hunninghake, other researchers from BWH included Hiroto Hatabu, MD, Yuka Okajima, Mizuki Nishino, MD, Tetsuro Araki, Oscar Zazueta, Sila Kurugol, James Ross, Ral Estpar, Ivan Rosas, MD, and George Washko, MD. In total, twenty-one authors shared credit for the paper, including researchers at Boston University School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Colorado.
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (K08 HL092222, 5R21CA11627, K25 HL104085, R01 HL116473, K23 HL089353, R01 HL116473 and R01 HL107246), the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (R01-HL095393, R01-HL097163, P01-HL092870, and RC2-HL101715) and the U.S. Veterans Administration.
Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a 793-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare. BWH has more than 3.5 million annual patient visits, is the largest birthing center in New England and employs more than 15,000 people. The Brigham's medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in patient care, quality improvement and patient safety initiatives, and its dedication to research, innovation, community engagement and educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, involving nearly 1,000 physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by nearly $625 million in funding. BWH continually pushes the boundaries of medicine, including building on its legacy in organ transplantation by performing the first face transplants in the U.S. in 2011. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies, OurGenes and the Women's Health Initiative. For more information and resources, please visit BWH's online newsroom.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Genetic marker associated with risk for pulmonary fibrosisPublic release date: 21-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lori J. Schroth ljschroth@partners.org 617-534-1604 Brigham and Women's Hospital
A genetic risk factor for pulmonary fibrosis, an uncommon but deadly lung disease, may be effective in identifying individuals at risk for this disease
Boston, MA New research from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) finds that a genetic risk factor for pulmonary fibrosis, an uncommon but deadly lung disease, may be effective in identifying individuals at risk for this disease. These findings will be presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference and publish online simultaneously at the New England Journal of Medicine on May 22 and will appear in the July 4, 2013 print edition.
"While this variant of the MUC5B gene is fairly common, pulmonary fibrosis is not. Our findings suggest that pulmonary fibrosis may be a part of a much more common, but likely less severe, syndrome and could potentially be predicted on the basis of the MUC5B genetic variant," said Gary M. Hunninghake, MD, MPH, a physician researcher in the pulmonary and critical care division at BWH and co-corresponding author of the research paper. "While too early to tell how important this variant may be in clinical practice, this finding could open new research avenues into this disease."
Researchers looked at a common variant of the gene for mucin-5B, a protein that is a component of the mucous produced by the bronchial tubes associated with associated with pulmonary fibrosis. Their goal was to determine whether this common gene variant was also associated with interstitial lung disease in the general population. To do this, researchers reviewed CT scans of more than 2,600 adults who did not have a clinical diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis. Researchers found imaging evidence of interstitial lung abnormalities (lung inflammation and scarring) in about 9 percent of those over age 50. In this age group, these abnormal findings were significantly more common among the 19 percent of people with the MUC5B genetic variant. While these abnormalities do not necessarily indicate a disease that will progress, the presence of these abnormalities was associated with more shortness of breath and cough as well as smaller lung sizes and ability to transfer oxygen.
"Our findings provide important insights into the pulmonary effects of a common genetic variant in the general population, and they also suggest that the clinical condition pulmonary fibrosis may be part of the broader spectrum of abnormalities that includes more subtle and asymptomatic findings," said George O'Connor, MD, professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, director of lung research at the Framingham Heart Study, and a senior collaborator in this study.
Future research efforts will focus on identifying which people with imaging abnormalities are at greatest risk for progression to pulmonary fibrosis, and reciprocally, why some people "at-risk" for pulmonary fibrosis do not develop a clinical disease. The authors believe that this work may eventually pave the way for efforts aimed at preventing pulmonary fibrosis.
###
In addition to Hunninghake, other researchers from BWH included Hiroto Hatabu, MD, Yuka Okajima, Mizuki Nishino, MD, Tetsuro Araki, Oscar Zazueta, Sila Kurugol, James Ross, Ral Estpar, Ivan Rosas, MD, and George Washko, MD. In total, twenty-one authors shared credit for the paper, including researchers at Boston University School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Colorado.
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (K08 HL092222, 5R21CA11627, K25 HL104085, R01 HL116473, K23 HL089353, R01 HL116473 and R01 HL107246), the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (R01-HL095393, R01-HL097163, P01-HL092870, and RC2-HL101715) and the U.S. Veterans Administration.
Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a 793-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare. BWH has more than 3.5 million annual patient visits, is the largest birthing center in New England and employs more than 15,000 people. The Brigham's medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in patient care, quality improvement and patient safety initiatives, and its dedication to research, innovation, community engagement and educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, involving nearly 1,000 physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by nearly $625 million in funding. BWH continually pushes the boundaries of medicine, including building on its legacy in organ transplantation by performing the first face transplants in the U.S. in 2011. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies, OurGenes and the Women's Health Initiative. For more information and resources, please visit BWH's online newsroom.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Insight: The fight for North Dakota's fracking-water market
WATFORD CITY, North Dakota (Reuters) - In towns across North Dakota, the wellhead of the North American energy boom, the locals have taken to quoting the adage: "Whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting." It's not that they lack water, like Texas and California. They are swimming in it, and it is free for the taking. Yet as the state's Bakken shale fields have grown, so has the fight over who has the right to tap into the multimillion-dollar market to supply water to the energy sector.
Analysis: At margins of shale oil boom, a tempered euphoria
HOUSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - For the past three years, the boom in the U.S. shale oil industry has outstripped all expectations. Production surged far faster than any forecasts; drillers raced to secure space in new pipelines to get their crude to market. Now, at the periphery, that may be changing - at least for a while.
Imran Khan's party wins revote in Karachi, protests expected
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Cricket hero Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf party won a revote in an upmarket constituency of Karachi on Sunday, unofficial results showed, a day after gunmen killed a party leader, setting the stage for protests and counter-protests. Khan blamed the killing of Zara Shahid Hussain on the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) party, which has a stranglehold on the city. Furious MQM leaders denied responsibility, condemned the killing and demanded a retraction from Khan.
Chinese Premier Li seeks trust in India, border issue irks
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is seeking to build trust with India on his first foreign trip since taking office, which comes just a few weeks after a military standoff between the Asian giants on their ill-defined border in the Himalayan mountains. The number two in the Chinese leadership offered India a "handshake across the Himalayas" in an editorial published on Monday in The Hindu newspaper and said that together the emerging economic giants could become a new engine of the world economy.
Hezbollah steps up Syria battle, Israel threatens more strikes
AMMAN (Reuters) - Lebanese Hezbollah militants attacked a Syrian rebel-held town alongside Syrian troops on Sunday and Israel threatened more attacks on Syria to rein the militia in, highlighting the risks of a wider regional conflict if planned peace talks fail. Activists said it was the fiercest fighting in Syria's two year-old civil war involving Hezbollah, a Shi'ite group backed by Iran which they said appeared to be helping President Bashar al-Assad secure a vital corridor in case Syria fragments.
Bombs kill at least 20 in mainly Shi'ite areas of Iraq capital: police, medics
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Eight car bomb blasts in mainly Shi'ite districts of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, killed at least 20 people on Monday, police and medics said. Earlier, at least 10 people were killed in two car bomb explosions in the predominantly Shi'ite southern city of Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad. (Reporting by Kareem Raheem; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Exclusive: Bangladesh factory banned by Wal-Mart still makes Wrangler shirts
GAZIPUR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - A Bangladesh factory where Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Inditex SA inspectors spotted cracks in the wall this month is still making Wrangler shirts for the world's largest apparel maker, U.S.-based VF Corp. VF confirmed on Saturday it was still using Liz Apparels to make its clothing following an inspection ordered by the factory owner, Nassa Group, on May 12. VF, whose other clothing brands include North Face, Timberland and Nautica, said its philosophy was to "stay and improve" working conditions.
Gunmen storm Egyptian security post in lawless Sinai Peninsula
ISMAILIA (Reuters) - Gunmen stormed an Egyptian security forces base in the Sinai Peninsula at dawn on Monday and exchanged gunfire with forces inside the base before retreating, security sources said. The gunmen attacked the base in the Al-Ahrash area in North Sinai from a truck and fired automatic weapons, but the attack did not result in any casualties.
Venezuela says taking steps to restore U.S. diplomatic ties
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's recent designation of an acting head of its diplomatic mission in the United States shows the OPEC nation's desire to restore full diplomatic relations, the foreign minister said in an interview broadcast on Sunday. Disputes between Caracas and Washington were common during the 14-year-rule of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, leaving both nations without ambassadors in each other's capitals.
North Korea fires short-range missiles for two days in a row
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired a short-range missile from its east coast on Sunday, a day after launching three of these missiles, a South Korean news agency said, ignoring calls for restraint from Western powers. Launches by the North of short-range missiles are not uncommon but, after recent warnings from the communist state of impending nuclear war, such actions have raised concerns about the region's security.
Imagine this scenario at your local home improvement retail chain; you walk in and fill out an application for a credit card to take advantage of a great introductory interest rate or perhaps an interest free or payment period.
Your FICO scores are at or near 800 so you know the processing is just a formality and you expect to be instantly approved.
You are surprised when the customer service agent tells you that you?ve been denied a store credit card not because of your credit risk but rather because YOU don?t have a job.
You calmly explain that you?re a non-working spouse and that your husband has a full time job.
Sorry, no dice. You?ve just been caught up by the ?anti housewife? rule?and you?re not alone.? Fast forward?
?Anti-Housewife? Credit Rule Gets the Axe
Call it a late Mother?s Day present, call it smart rule making, call it what you please but the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau just picked up a bunch of fans by axing that so called ?Anti Housewife? rule caused by the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, or more informally referred to as the ?CARD Act.?
The Act meant to protect consumers from getting into credit card debt without a way to pay it back, which makes perfect sense.
But, the way the rule was interpreted required lenders to verify that an individual had the ability to pay back their debts, which meant no income, no credit, no exceptions.
The problem is that there?s an army of non-working spouses that were no longer to able to get credit on behalf of their household, even if their spouse was working.
The CFPB figured that some 16,000,000 consumers would be negatively impacted by the rules as written and embarked on the process of modifying such that it made more practical sense.
Last October the CFPB made it known that they were going to change the rule to allow lenders to consider an applicant?s 3rd party income.
The ?anti housewife? moniker comes from the supposition that more non-working spouses are women than they are men. And while I have no data to back this up, I believe it?s true.
How Consumers and Retailers Benefit from the Change
The rule was also acting as an incentive for applicants to be dishonest on their credit applications. In the boxes asking for income it was too easy to simply write the household?s income rather than your own individual income.
And, because most credit card applications are processed without any sort of verification of income, being dishonest with your answers would likely work, but also left the applicant in the unenviable position of having just lied on their credit application, which could be considered fraud.
Retailers should also be very pleased with the CFPB?s move. They don?t want to deny any credit worthy applicant, including non-working spouses. The CFPB?s actions now re-open the underwriting process to once again rely on credit risk rather than capacity metrics.
The Bad News
Consumers who are under 21 years old will still have to be able to prove that they?ve got an income or some other capacity with which to pay their bills.
Their alternative?get a co-signer, which is about as dangerous of a credit move as you can make.
And, the CFPB?s move still requires that you have reasonable access to some form of 3rd party income. So, consumers without any access to funds still cannot get a credit card regardless of their age.
John Ulzheimer?is the President of Consumer Education at?SmartCredit.com, the credit blogger for?Mint.com, and a contributor for the?National Foundation for Credit Counseling.? He is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring and identity theft. Formerly of FICO, Equifax and Credit.com, John is the only recognized credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry. The opinions expressed in his articles are his and not of Mint.com or Intuit.?Follow John on Twitter.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) ? Arkansas' state treasurer was accused Monday of taking at least $36,000 in cash ? sometimes stashed in a pie box ? from a broker who later came to manage a large share of the state's $3.3 billion stock and bond portfolio.
Democrat Martha Shoffner, who made her initial court appearance Monday, said she had no plans to resign despite members of her own party joining Republican calls for her to step down.
Shoffner and was released on her own recognizance. She was also ordered to surrender her passport.
Federal prosecutors allege Shoffner accepted $12,000 a year from a broker who would sometimes deliver cash in a pie box, pie included. The broker is cooperating with investigators.
"The allegations against Ms. Shoffner are serious and they completely erode the public trust that we put in our elected officials, if they prove to be true." U.S. Attorney Chris Thyer said at a news conference.
Shoffner told reporters outside the courthouse Monday that she does not intend to resign. She was re-elected in 2010 and has faced inquiries over the past year about the way her office has handled state investments.
She didn't enter a plea Monday, and her attorney, Chuck Banks, said she'd plead not guilty at the appropriate time. A federal grand jury will decide whether to indict Shoffner, who is charged with attempt and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right. A next court date was not set.
Shoffner spent the weekend in Pulaski County Jail.
"This has been a very, very tough proceeding for her and a tough weekend," Banks said. "I'm going to send her home right now. We're going to get some rest, and I will talk to her this afternoon about preparing her defense."
An affidavit filed in Little Rock federal court said a broker ? unidentified in court documents ? would roll up money in $6,000 increments and have it delivered to Shoffner's office in a pie box. The document, by FBI Special Agent Richard McLain, said the broker has been granted immunity in exchange for his or her cooperation.
Shoffner was criticized in a legislative audit last year for bond sales that blocked the state from earning more than $400,000.
"(The broker) began receiving more of the state's bond business after he/she began paying Shoffner $6,000 cash every six months," the affidavit said. The broker "recognized his/her bond business with the state grew because of the payments he/she made to Shoffner."
The affidavit said the payments were made after Shoffner asked the broker for $1,000 a month to pay her rent in Little Rock.
The state's top elected officials, including Gov. Mike Beebe, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, called for Shoffner to resign.
"I think she should resign immediately," said Beebe, adding that the details provided by prosecutors are so specific that Shoffner has been rendered unable to lead.
"It would be very hard, in my opinion, for that office to properly function under her continued leadership," the Democrat added.
The heads of the Democratic and Republican parties also said Shoffner should step down.
"The incompetence that has been uncovered, the criminal charges that are pending, and the distraction from her office that due process will involve make her unfit to continue in her service as State Treasurer," Arkansas Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb said.
When asked after the hearing whether she planned to step down, Shoffner responded: "No, not at this moment."
Banks said he "probably" would advise Shoffner to resign, but that the call is ultimately up to her.
"If she cannot properly perform her duties and responsibilities and still protect herself in a crime accusation, then to me it would be something for strong consideration," he told reporters.
The affidavit said Shoffner was arrested at her home in Newport in a sting operation. The broker agreed to record the meeting and bring $6,000 stashed in a pie box, the affidavit said.
Shoffner was arrested after the broker left her home and special agents with the FBI executed a search warrant. The affidavit said the $6,000 was located inside a cigarette package in Shoffner's kitchen.
"Shoffner admitted she knew it was wrong to accept the payments," the affidavit said.
Thyer said he did not know how much the state had invested with the broker, or how much commission the broker made from the bond transactions. Thyer said it wasn't an easy decision for prosecutors to grant immunity to the broker, who he wouldn't name.
"It was a decision made out of necessity more than anything else," Thyer said. "At the core of this particular conspiracy as alleged in the affidavit there were two people, and if both of those two people remained silent we would not be here today."
Shoffner told The Associated Press in a September interview that she was trying to maximize profits for the state when she sold the bonds early.
"We're here to work for the people of Arkansas," Shoffner said at the time. "We're the safekeepers of the money and, as I said, that's my responsibility. I certainly want to work with audit in whatever avenue they want to follow."
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Associated Press Writer Chuck Bartels contributed to this report.
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Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's government upgraded its assessment of the economy in May for the first time in two months, in a sign growth is accelerating as exports and factory output pick up.
The economy is gradually recovering, according to the government's monthly economic report released on Monday. That was an upgrade from last month, when the government said the economy was showing signs of recovery but still had some weak spots.
Japan's gross domestic product expanded in January-March at its quickest pace in a year, data showed last week, as gains in consumer spending and a rebound in exports helped the economy recover from a slump last year.
The upgrade highlights the success of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies, which combine stimulus spending with aggressive monetary easing to pump-prime the economy and are resulting in a sharp weakening of the yen.
"We expect the economy to continue to recover as exports improve and as economic stimulus and monetary policy steps bolster sentiment," the Cabinet Office said in the report.
Abe, who is preparing to lead his Liberal Democratic Party in an upper house election in July, has put in place aggressive monetary easing and heavy fiscal spending with the aim of beating 15 years of nagging deflation.
The policy mix, dubbed "Abenomics", has pushed the yen to a 4 1/2-year low and sparked about a 75 percent rally in Japanese shares since November.
The government said exports are showing signs of recovery, which was in an upgrade from last month as the weak yen pushes up export volumes of cars, steel and chemicals, according to the Cabinet Office. That marked the second consecutive month of upgrades.
The report said factory output is gradually recovering, which was the first upgrade in two months. In April, the Cabinet Office said output was only showing signs of recovery.
Private consumption is recovering and capital expenditure is bottoming out, the Cabinet Office said, which was unchanged from last month's report.
The Bank of Japan stunned global financial markets last month by agreeing to double the amount of government debt it holds over the next two years to end deflation and achieve its 2 percent inflation target.
The overhaul of monetary policy has helped shares rally and pushed down the yen, but it caused yields to rise temporarily, leading the BOJ to boost money market operations to reduce volatility and push yields lower.
(Reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Kim Coghill)
In the early 1950s cities across the U.S. spent hundreds of thousands of dollars outfitting their children with military-style dog tags. Why were we giving kids something that's usually reserved for people at risk of dying horrifically in the line of duty? Because in the era of duck and cover, kids were on the front lines.
NEWARK, N.J (AP) ? An airline official says a US Airways Express flight with 34 people aboard was forced to make a belly landing at Newark International Airport after experiencing landing gear trouble. No injuries were reported.
US Airways spokesman Davien Anderson says a turboprop plane that left Philadelphia shortly before 11 p.m. Friday landed safely at Newark with its landing gear retracted at about 1 a.m. Saturday.
Anderson says the flight, being operated by Piedmont Airlines, was carrying 31 passengers and three crew members. He says the plane circled Newark in a holding pattern while working to get the gear down. After several failed attempts, the plane landed on its belly.
Anderson says the passengers were evacuated to the terminal by bus. He says US Airways is cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the incident.
(Phys.org) ?Yawn. Two startup visionaries claim they have just the device to replace keyboard and mouse forever and ever. Where have you heard that before. But maybe these two have something important. Meron Gribetz, the startup founder and CEO and Ben Sand, the co-pilot and evangelist, are behind something called the Meta wearable computer headset, which consists of stereoscopic glasses and camera. It's the way computers always should have been: wearable, viewed through both eyes, and directly controlled using the entire arms and hands, according to its founder and CEO Gribetz. The belief is that the future of computing is in this technology that can display information from the real world and control objects with one's fingers, Tony Stark-style, at low latency and high dexterity. Meta founder and CEO Gribetz referred to the technology as the keyboard and mouse of the future.
Meta grew out of a Columbia University project where a team built advanced surface tracking algorithms. The algorithms allow the anchoring of virtual content to the real world, without use of fiducial markers.
The Meta effort in wearable computing eyewear is not to be treated as competition for Google Glass, which may be an easy connection to make once the words wearable computing and spectacles are mentioned. The Meta team makes a point of calling out the two as different. As their promotional video said, "This is true augmented reality, not just popups from the corner of your eye." The Google Glass display is different, as Meta's is in the center of the field of view rather than above the eyeline. The role of the two are different, if one thinks of Google Glass as a helpful companion while navigating city streets, looking for landmarks, restaurants, or translations for signs in foreign languages. Meta's augmented reality eyewear is immersive applied to games, for example, played in front of your face or to working on a surface, while you use your hands to interact with your virtual reality. The system includes 3-D glasses supplied by Epson and a 3-D camera to track the user's hand movements.
This is a technology project that dates back several years, when the initial concept for a dual screen 3-D interface took hold. Lab work on the software and hardware included building the first 3-D occlusion algorithms to mesh the real and virtual world together in realtime. Supported platforms are Windows 32bit/64bit. Other platform support is still in development. Scenarios in which the Meta system might be applied include surgeons who could be assisted by floating 3-D models of CAT scans
A number of sites commenting on the device made note of its less than ideal bulky looks, calling attention to the big size of the glasses. Meta's team is planning to improve on the looks, though, and intends to have a next iteration as lighter and more fashionable. meta is a Y Combinator backed augmented reality venture and right now, the focus, in the form of a Kickstarter campaign, is to lure more developers on board, and their campaign seeks funds for making the Meta systems for application developers. The goal is $100,000; the project will be funded if at least $100,000 is pledged by June 16. At the time of this writing, they raised $75,393.
A "meta 1 Dev Kit" will be available for $750. The SDK provides gestures and finger tracking, general depth data that works with objects in range of the depth camera, RGB data and surface tracking (access planes and meshes of surfaces in the real world, so virtual objects can be anchored to them, or augmented in other ways.
"Our software stack is very open. Our depth camera exposes all depth data at the low level and at the higher levels give you access to object meshes, fingers/hands and gestures."
Explore further: Google Glass may run with laser-projected keyboard
More information: www.kickstarter.com/projects/551975293/meta-the-most-advanced-augmented-reality-interface
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Pope Francis on Saturday and, apparently responding to his criticism of a heartless "dictatorship of the economy", called for stronger regulation of financial markets.
On Thursday, Francis appealed in a speech for world financial reform, saying the global economic crisis had made life worse for millions in rich and poor countries.
Merkel visited Rome for a few hours specifically to meet the pontiff and spoke with him privately in his library for 45 minutes, unusually long for a private papal audience.
She told reporters afterwards that the scandals and excesses criticized by Francis earlier in the week showed that vital checks and balances had not been functioning properly.
"Crises have blown up because the rules of the social market have not been observed," she said, adding that tightening financial market regulation would be a main objective of the meeting of leaders of Group of 20 economic powers in September.
"We have made progress but we are nowhere near a point where we could say that the kind of derailment that leads to market crises could not happen again and so the issue will again play a central role at the G20 meeting this year," she said.
"It is true that economies are there to serve people and that has by no means always been the case in recent years."
Merkel, the daughter of a Lutheran minister, said she and Francis had spoken mainly about globalization, the European Union and the role of Europe in the world.
"Pope Francis made it clear that we need a strong, fair Europe and I found the message very encouraging," said Merkel, head of the Christian Democratic Union, which has a strong Catholic component.
In his first major speech about finance since his election in March, Francis had also urged states to take greater control of their economies and protect the weakest.
Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany before the country was re-unified, said both she and Francis had "lived under dictatorships", referring to the military junta that ruled the pope's native Argentina from 1976 to 1983.
Merkel gave Francis, who lived briefly in Germany when he was a Jesuit priest, three volumes of poetry by Friedrich H?lderlin and 107 CDs of music by German conductor and composer Wilhelm Furtwaengler.
"I don't know if you will have the time to listen to all of them," she joked as she gave him the music.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unprecedented Justice Department searches of journalists' phone records. IRS targeting of conservative political groups. Spiraling sexual assault rates in the U.S. military. And the downplaying of the first killing of an American ambassador in 30 years.
In a matter of days, alarming accounts have emerged regarding the actions of five key U.S. federal government bureaucracies: the Justice Department, the Internal Revenue Service, the State Department, the CIA and the Pentagon.
For commentators on the right, the reports are final proof of the raft of conspiracy theories focused on President Barack Obama. For commentators on left, they are non-scandals that Republicans exaggerate for political gain. Obama is either the devil or Obama is an angel. Our endless left-right debate misses more serious problems.
For liberals, the reports are a worrying sign of Obama's struggles to carry out his second-term agenda. For conservatives, they show that even if a Republican wins the White House, Washington is increasing unmanageable.
First, Obama's woes. Some of his wounds are self-inflicted. For five years the Obama administration has displayed a destructive tendency to try to have it both ways. In a press conference Thursday, the president did so again.
In lawyerly responses, Obama said he supported journalists' constitutional right to report but stood by the fact that his administration has carried out more criminal leak investigations than all previous administrations combined. He called for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but prevaricated on how the United States would respond to apparent Syrian government chemical weapons attacks.
Obama came into office promising openness. But from counter-terrorism to domestic policy, his White House has been secretive, insular and controlling. Yes, Republicans are bent on destroying Obama's presidency, but an aloof president has alienated his Democratic allies.
Congress is no better. Each two-year term seems to set new standards for political trench warfare. One-third of the committees in the Republican-controlled House are investigating the administration. Some on the far right call for Obama's impeachment.
During President George W. Bush's second term, a similar pattern emerged. Representative Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) carried out exhaustive hearings on the administration's misdeeds in Iraq. And some talked of impeaching Bush. The current Republican effort is broader than the Democratic one. But the goal is the same: Smear one's opponent first, legislate second.
Smear is the operative word as well in an increasingly partisan news media. Commentators on Fox and MSNBC earn millions oversimplifying complex problems, denigrating their political opponents and pandering to the far right and far left. Fox has been consistently worse.
After months of pedaling Benghazi conspiracy theories, Fox's Sean Hannity declared this week that the IRS was targeting "those that desire to make America a better place to live." Roger Ailes and company look likely to again overplay their hand and, unintentionally, help Obama.
The IRS actions, from targeting conservative tax-exempt organizations to lying to members of Congress, were outrageous. But so far, no evidence has emerged that the White House knew of the effort. And responsibility for the soaring number of sexual assaults in the military lies primarily with Pentagon, not the White House.
But both scandals show a larger problem. Legislative deadlock makes governance more difficult. Ambiguous regulations have complicated the IRS's job of screening political groups. And there is limited agreement in Congress on how to reform the military's antiquated system for prosecuting sexual assault.
Regarding Benghazi, there are some criticisms that can and should be made of the administration. Locked in a fiercely contested re-election campaign, Obama downplayed the role of al Qaeda in the attack in his initial public statements.
But Republicans exaggerate the impact of the careful terminology Obama used. At most, the effort succeeded for several weeks. By Election Day, the fact that al Qaeda-linked terrorists had killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans was well known.
Far-right claims that Obama or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally blocked aid to Benghazi before or during the attack are baseless and absurd. Neither would want an American ambassador killed in the middle of a presidential campaign.
Instead, blame for Benghazi lies across the government.
House Republicans' rejection of $450 million in State Department requests for additional security funding since 2010 intensified the department's dependence on private contractors to guard its facilities. When the Libyan government banned such firms, the department's understaffed Diplomatic Security Service had only a handful of personnel to deploy in Libya. Charlene Lamb and three other State Department officials were relieved of their duties after rejecting repeated requests for additional security from American officials in Libya.
Privately, career diplomats have also questioned Stevens' decision-making. They expressed surprise at his choice to spend the nights of September 10 and 11 in Benghazi, which had already experienced a series of anti-Western attacks. Brief, unpredictable day visits make it more difficult for attackers to plan assaults, they said.
And as Jake Tapper correctly pointed out in a May 15 piece for CNN, the Benghazi facility was, in fact, primarily a CIA outpost. Of the roughly 30 people evacuated from the site, 20 were CIA employees. State Department officials had an informal arrangement with the CIA to provide security if needed. When the attack unfolded, both the CIA and military were unprepared.
The 100 pages of emails released by the White House on Wednesday raise more questions for Clinton than for Obama. The State Department, not the White House, mounted an intensive effort to eliminate references to al Qaeda from much-disputed talking points. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, for example, should disclose who she was referring to when she cited the concerns of her "building leadership."
In the weeks ahead, perceptions of Obama will likely harden. The right will see him as dastardly. The left will view him as a victim of Washington's gutter politics. Most probably, his biggest sin is being aloof and disengaged.
But Obama's failings are only part of the problem. An increasingly polarized Washington is devouring its own. Ceaseless, take-no-prisoners political warfare, not nefarious White House plots, ravages government.
(David Rohde is a Reuters columnist but his opinions are his own.)
(David Rohde is a columnist for Reuters, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a former reporter for The New York Times. His latest book, "Beyond War: Reimagining American Influence in a New Middle East," was published in April.)
CONCORD, N.C. ? There is that lasting image of Dick Trickle in the Winston 500 lighting up a cigarette while driving his stock car with his knees during a caution lap.
He places the cigarette through a hole he carved in his helmet for a quick toke and exhales.
The green flag hits and out the window goes the cigarette butt and back to racing goes Trickle.
"Dick always had a cigarette lighter in his car," said fellow NASCAR driver Geoff Bodine.
Trickle was a unique driver with a unique name who found cult-like status before his death Thursday.
Trickle, whose larger-than-life personality and penchant for fun won him legions of fans despite a lack of success beyond the nation's small tracks, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said. He was 71.
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said authorities received a call believed to be from Trickle, who said "there would be a dead body and it would be his." Authorities tried to call the number back, but no one answered.
Trickle's body was found near his pickup truck at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Boger City, N.C., about 40 miles northwest of Charlotte. Sheriff's Lieutenant Tim Johnson said foul play was not suspected.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Dick Trickle on his passing today," NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said. "Dick was a legend in the short-track racing community, particularly in his home state of Wisconsin, and he was a true fan favorite. Personalities like Dick Trickle helped shape our sport. He will be missed."
Trickle earned his reputation as a successful short track driver before joining the Winston Cup series and earning rookie of the year in 1989 at age 48.
He competed in more than 300 Cup races. Although he never won a Cup race and won only two Busch Series races, Trickle earned cult status in the 1990s.
Former ESPN anchor Keith Olbermann would regularly mention where Trickle finished after talking about each NASCAR race. It caught on and drew snickers from race fans around the country.
Bodine said there was only one way to describe Trickle, a native of Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.
"Fun," Bodine said. "Just plain fun."
Trickle was never one to be told how to live his life.
"It's all just sad," Bodine said in a telephone interview. "We don't understand why he would do this. Hopefully we will all learn why he would do that. There was something that triggered him to take his own life. We are all really saddened by this in the racing community."
NASCAR does not keep track of short-track records, but according to the (Milwaukee) Journal-Sentinel, Trickle won more than 1,000 short-track races throughout the country during his prime. He was a seven-time winner in the regional ARTGO Challenge Series in the late 1970s and mid `80s. Trickle also captured the ASA AC-Delco Challenge Series in back-to-back years in 1984-85 before turning to Cup racing.
"Dick Trickle was one of the best race drivers of the `80s, no one knew how many races he won," said Humpy Wheeler, the former president of Charlotte Motor Speedway. "He was right there with Red Farmer and other short track drivers ? the wins kind of got so big that they blended into each other. He was a product of the rich Wisconsin soil, where they race eight races a week in the season, and he could win all of them."
Wheeler said he asked Trickle to try NASCAR in the 1980s, but Trickle initially declined because he was so successful on the short track circuit.
"He could not make enough money then as he could on those Midwest tracks, so he deferred," Wheeler recalled. "For a guy who really won at least 700 races, I could see why. In those days, unless you were a top Cup driver, you couldn't win enough money to overcompensate for that."
Trickle eventually did move to NASCAR, settling into Iron Station, N.C., where he lived for more than 20 years. Bodine said Trickle was full of stories and popular because of it.
"People everywhere knew his name," Bodine said. "That's why they used his likeness in that movie `Days of Thunder.' He was such a character."
The main character in that popular niche racing movie, played by Tom Cruise, was named Cole Trickle.
Bodine said that a few years ago he had to back out of a celebrity cruise for patients who were on kidney dialysis. He asked Trickle to fill in.
"He made such an impression on people on that ship that everyone wanted to know when Dick was coming back," Bodine said. "They loved him. They tell me he was the last man to leave most of the bars on the ship and I believe it."
Bodine also recalled inviting Trickle to compete in one of his bobsled events in 2004 at Lake Placid, N.Y.
He said Trickle went down the first time and crashed. After being cleared by doctors to continue, Trickle tried again and crashed in the same place.
"They were doing interviews with him on TV and he was like, `I don't know what happened, I did the exact same thing I did the first time,'" Bodine said. "And we're all looking at him like, `Hey Dick, maybe that was the problem.'"
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
May 15 (Reuters) - Post positions for the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes, to be run at Pimlico on Saturday (Post Position, Horse, Jockey, Trainer, Odds) 1. Orb, Joel Rosario, Shug McGaughey, even 2. Goldencents, Kevin Krigger, Doug O'Neill, 8-1 3. Titletown Five, Julien Leparoux, D. Wayne Lukas, 30-1 4. Departing, Brian Hernandez, Al Stall, 6-1 5. Mylute, Rosie Napravnik, Tom Amoss, 5-1 6. Oxbow, Gary Stevens, D. Wayne Lukas, 15-1 7. Will Take Charge, Mike Smith, D. Wayne Lukas, 12-1 8. Govenor Charlie, Martin Garcia, Bob Baffert, 12-1 9. ...
Google's major developer conference, Google I/O, went down this week. Was it a bit of a letdown? Probably. Did cool stuff still come out of the event? Eh? Maybe? We discuss these topics and more this week on the TC Gadgets podcast. In fact, we even had Frederic Lardinois join as a guest, along with John Biggs, Matt Burns, Jordan Crook (that's me!), Romain Dillet, and Darrell Etherington as Bob McKenzie.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama picked a senior White House budget official to become the acting head of the Internal Revenue Service on Thursday, the same day another top official announced plans to leave the agency amid the controversy over agents targeting tea party groups.
Obama named longtime civil servant Daniel Werfel as the acting IRS commissioner. Werfel, 42, currently serves as controller of the Office of Management and Budget, making him a key player in implementing recent automatic spending cuts known as the sequester.
"Throughout his career working in both Democratic and Republican administrations, Danny has proven an effective leader who serves with professionalism, integrity and skill," Obama said in a statement. "The American people deserve to have the utmost confidence and trust in their government, and as we work to get to the bottom of what happened and restore confidence in the IRS, Danny has the experience and management ability necessary to lead the agency at this important time."
Werfel replaces Steven Miller as acting IRS commissioner. Miller was forced to resign Wednesday amid the growing scandal, though he is still scheduled to testify Friday at a congressional hearing.
Also Thursday, Joseph Grant, one of Miller's top deputies, announced plans to retire June 3, according to an internal IRS memo. Grant is commissioner of the agency's tax exempt and government entities division, which includes the agents that targeted tea party groups for additional scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status.
Grant joined the IRS in 2005 and took over as acting commissioner of the tax exempt and government entities division in December 2010. He was just named the permanent commissioner May 8.
When asked whether Grant was pressured to leave, IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said Grant had more than 31 years of federal service and it was his personal decision to leave.
Before he joined the IRS, Grant was a top official at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
Grant's predecessor at the IRS was Sarah Hall Ingram, who is now director of the agency's Affordable Care Act Office. Ingram was in charge of the tax exempt division when IRS agents first started targeting conservative groups.
The IRS said Ingram was assigned to help the agency implement the health care law in December 2010, about six months before an inspector general's report said her subordinate, the director of exempt organizations, learned about the targeting.
Still, the fact that she was in charge of the division when the targeting first started is sure to give Republicans fodder in their fight against Obama's health care law. The Republican-led House voted 229-195 Thursday to repeal the health care law.
Werfel agreed to head the IRS through the end of September, the White House said. Presumably, Obama will nominate a new commissioner by then.
IRS commissioners serve five-year terms and must be confirmed by the Senate. Werfel won't need Senate approval because he is a temporary appointment. The Senate, however, confirmed Werfel for his current position without opposition in 2009.
Werfel has had several jobs at the Office of Management and Budget and worked there during President George W. Bush's administration. He has also been a trial attorney in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.
"He is an immensely talented and dedicated public servant who has ably served presidents of both parties," Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a statement. "Danny has a strong record of raising his hand for ? and excelling at ? tough management assignments."
Former Bush chief of staff Joshua Bolten said Werfel was highly regarded by the Bush White House and that departing Bush budget officials recommended Werfel for controller to the incoming Obama camp after the 2008 election.
"He was consummately professional, well organized and effective," said Bolten, who also served as Bush's budget director from 2003 to 2006.
Werfel takes over an agency in crisis and under investigation. The IRS apologized last week for improperly targeting conservative political groups for additional, sometimes burdensome scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status. The practice went on more than 18 months, diminishing the ability of these groups to raise money during election cycles in 2010 and 2012, said an inspector general's report released this week.
The report did not indicate that Washington initiated the targeting of conservative groups. But it did blame ineffective management in Washington for allowing it to happen.
On Thursday, Obama dismissed the idea of a special prosecutor, saying probes by Congress and the Justice Department should be able to figure out who was responsible.
"Between those investigations I think we're going to be able to figure out exactly what happened, who was involved, what went wrong, and we're going to be able to implement steps to fix it," Obama said at a Rose Garden press conference.
Obama promised to work with Congress in its investigations, and he reiterated that he did not know that conservative groups were targeted until it became public last Friday.
"I promise you this, that the minute I found out about it, then my main focus was making sure that we get the thing fixed," Obama said.
Don't look for the controversy to subside.
Three congressional committees are investigating, and the FBI has launched a criminal probe.
On Friday, Miller is scheduled to testify before the House Ways and Means Committee. Also testifying is J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.
Ways and Means Committee members are expected to grill Miller over why he failed to tell lawmakers that conservative groups were targeted, even after the agency said he was briefed in May 2012.
"The IRS has demonstrated a culture of cover up and has failed time and time again to be completely open and honest with the American people," said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. "The committee and the American people deserve honest answers from Mr. Miller at our hearing this Friday."
Miller, a 25-year career civil servant at the IRS, took over the agency in November, when the five-year term of Commissioner Douglas Shulman ended. Shulman was appointed by President George W. Bush.
At the time when tea party groups were targeted, Miller was a deputy commissioner and Grant's supervisor.
The Senate Finance Committee said it will hold a hearing on the matter Tuesday. The House Oversight Committee is to hold a hearing Wednesday.
On Thursday, Senate Republicans called for yet another investigation into whether agents in the same Cincinnati office that targeted conservative groups released confidential taxpayer information from some of those groups.
The Journalism website ProPublica reported this week that the IRS had released nine pending confidential applications of conservative groups to ProPublica late last year.
The IRS said in a statement that the inspector general already had investigated the matter, and "found these instances to be inadvertent and unintentional disclosures by the employees involved."
___
Associated Press writer Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.
___
Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap
“Animal Practice” star Joanna Garcia has given birth to a baby girl. The 33-year-old actress welcomed her first child on Monday with her baseball player husband Nick Swisher. The news of the newborn’s arrival came after Nick, 32, was placed on the paternity leave list on Tuesday by the Cleveland Indians. Indians manager, Terry Francona, ...
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Public release date: 21-May-2013
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Google's major developer conference,