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Small Talk: Made in the USA back in style for small businesses

Sat, 25 May 2013 01:01:06 MDT

Small Talk: Made in the USA back in style for small businesses

By JOYCE M. ROSENBERG The Associated Press

Updated May 25, 2013 01:01AM MDT

When Martin Rawls-Meehan started making adjustable beds in 2004, it was a foregone conclusion that key parts would be made overseas. It was cheaper to manufacture in Taiwan than in the U.S. And from Taiwan it was easier to ship to customers in Asia. But this year, his company, Reverie, began making some of its beds entirely in a factory in New York. Shipping costs from Taiwan have soared between 50 percent and 60 percent since the company was founded. “Shipping costs are tremendous,” he says. “...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Television ratings: KUTV-Channel 2 wins big in late news — again

Fri, 24 May 2013 15:26:15 MDT

Television ratings: KUTV-Channel 2 wins big in late news — again

By Scott D. Pierce The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 24, 2013 03:26PM MDT

The headline for the local TV news ratings is beginning to look familiar — KUTV scores a big victory in the late-news ratings during the May sweeps. That’s 10 undisputed victories in a row for Channel 2 — it’s 11 if you count November 2010, when KUTV and KSL finished in a virtual tie. And, again, it wasn’t close. KUTV scored an 11.3 rating/22 share; KSL a 6.9/14; KSTU-Channel 13 a 5.4/10; and KTVX-Channel 4 a 3.4/7. The scores are based on live numbers as well as same-day DVR viewing for the Mon...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The do’s and don’ts of mortgages and refinancing

Thu, 23 May 2013 18:45:17 MDT

The do’s and don’ts of mortgages and refinancing

By Paul Beebe The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 23, 2013 06:45PM MDT

With Utah’s recovery from the recession outpacing the nation, would-be homebuyers returning to the housing market are stepping into the best interest rate environment in memory. Rates for 30-year fixed mortgages in Utah have stayed mostly below 3.5 percent since last summer, while 15-year rates have drifted downward to around 2.8 percent, according to Bankrate.com. Here is a refresher course to help buyers and owners avoid making the wrong decision about a mortgage or refinancing. There are goo...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Business news briefs

Thu, 23 May 2013 18:51:03 MDT

Business news briefs

staff and news services

Updated May 23, 2013 06:51PM MDT

Gap’s 1st-quarter profits up 43% After years of struggling, Gap is back in style. Gap Inc., which owns the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic clothing chains, reported a 43 percent increase in its fiscal first-quarter net income, as the company continues to reap benefits from the turnaround plan that it began early last year. The Gap also reiterated its full-year earnings outlook. Japan gyrations show vulnerability Japan’s financial markets fluctuated wildly Thursday, underscoring the shakin...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

New home sales up 2.3 percent in April

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:07:26 MDT

New home sales up 2.3 percent in April

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER The Associated Press

Updated May 23, 2013 10:07AM MDT

WASHINGTON • Sales of new homes rose in April to the second highest level since the summer of 2008 while the median price for a new home hit a record high, further signs that housing is recovering. New-home sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 454,000 in April, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was up 2.3 percent from March and just slightly below January’s 458,000. Both January and April had the fastest sales rates since July 2008. The median price of a home sold in Apri...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Rate on 30-year mortgages rises to 3.59 percent

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:51:36 MDT

Rate on 30-year mortgages rises to 3.59 percent

By MARCY GORDON The Associated Press

Updated May 23, 2013 09:51AM MDT

WASHINGTON • Average rates on fixed mortgage rose for the third straight week, hitting their highest levels since mid-March. Still, mortgage rates remained close to historic lows, a trend that should help sustain the housing recovery. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for the 30-year loan increased to 3.59 percent this week. That’s up from 3.51 percent last week and above the rate of 3.31 percent reached in November, the lowest on records dating to 1971. The average ...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Poor or rich?

Thu, 23 May 2013 01:01:05 MDT

Poor or rich?

Updated May 23, 2013 01:01AM MDT

In an interesting study in contrasts, The Tribune Editorial Board hosted two advocacy groups on the same morning this week that could not have had more disparate perspectives on the state of Utahns’ well-being. First came four men representing the Utah Taxpayers Association and the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC, an organization supported by big corporations that advocates for small government and free markets, was in town to present the Beehive State with a sixth No. 1 ranking in ...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Tornado a symptom of a national disease

Thu, 23 May 2013 01:01:05 MDT

Tornado a symptom of a national disease

By KYRIE O’CONNOR

Updated May 23, 2013 01:01AM MDT

By Kyrie O’Connor Houston Chronicle Today is not the day to pile onto the troubles of tornado-torn Moore, Okla., and that’s not my intent. I will, however, say this: To me, the least surprising aspect of the tragedy is that in a town struck by four tornadoes since 1998, including one that took a nearly identical path, there was no real plan for shielding some of the schoolchildren. The city website touts that all the schools have a tornado plan, but what they really had was the illusion of a p...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Health care profiteers

Thu, 23 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Health care profiteers

Updated May 23, 2013 01:01AM MDT

In “The limits of Medicaid” (Opinion, May 11), M. Royce Van Tassel criticizes Obamacare (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) for not improving health, though he agrees that it “nearly eliminated catastrophic out of pocket medical expenditures.” But this is a precise description of what an effective health insurance plan should do. Some people believe the propaganda of insurance companies that they make us healthier, but this is nonsense. They provide zero value to health (as the stu...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Booze and polygamy

Thu, 23 May 2013 01:01:04 MDT

Booze and polygamy

Updated May 23, 2013 01:01AM MDT

Re “Utah senator considers cutting state’s drunk driving threshold” (Tribune, May 16): Well, given the majority of our legislators’ membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it will be no surprise if Utah is the first state to adopt the National Transportation Safety Board’s recent recommendation that states reduce their drunk-driving thresholds to a blood-alcohol level of 0.05 percent. But the existing state laws outlawing polygamy go unenforced. Why is this existing law o...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Business news briefs

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:16:03 MDT

Business news briefs

staff and news services

Updated May 22, 2013 06:16PM MDT

Walmart hires new chief image maker To continue burnishing its image, Walmart has replaced a former Clinton White House aide with a former Bush staff member. It said Dan Bartlett, an adviser to President George W. Bush, will be its new executive over corporate affairs. He succeeds Leslie Dach, who played a role in reinventing Walmart’s image in the face of attacks by labor groups and others during his seven-year tenure. HP 2Q earnings top expectations Hewlett-Packard’s recovery efforts got...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Nation’s CEOs seeing a lot more pay

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:03:03 MDT

Nation’s CEOs seeing a lot more pay

By CHRISTINA REXRODE The Associated Press

Updated May 22, 2013 06:03PM MDT

CEO pay has been going in one direction for the past three years, up. The head of a typical large public company made $9.7 million in 2012, a 6.5 percent increase from a year earlier that was aided by a rising stock market, according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from Equilar, an executive pay research firm. CEO pay, which fell two years straight during the Great Recession but rose 24 percent in 2010 and 6 percent in 2011, has never been higher. Companies say they need to pa...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Why are teens fleeing Facebook for Twitter? Too much drama, too many adults

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:24:31 MDT

Why are teens fleeing Facebook for Twitter? Too much drama, too many adults

By JENNIFER C. KERR The Associated Press

Updated May 21, 2013 10:24PM MDT

Washington • Twitter is booming as a social media destination for teenagers who complain about too many adults and too much drama on Facebook, according to a new study published Tuesday about online behavior. It said teens are sharing more personal information about themselves even as they try to protect their online reputations. Teens told researchers there were too many adults on Facebook and too much sharing of teenage angst and inane details like what a friend ate for dinner. “The key is th...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Wall Street: Stock indexes flip between gains and losses

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:16:17 MDT

Wall Street: Stock indexes flip between gains and losses

The Associated Press

Updated May 21, 2013 10:16AM MDT

NEW YORK • Stock indexes fluctuated in midday trading Tuesday as investors tried to predict the Fed’s next move. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 32 points to 15,366 shortly before 12 Eastern time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index edged up one point to 1,668. The Nasdaq composite rose three points to 3,499. “There’s no compelling reason for the market to go one way or another today,” said Michael Binger, senior portfolio manager at Gradient Investments in Minneapolis, Minn. “And I think a lo...

For Utah college presidents, raise in pay, ire?

Tue, 21 May 2013 07:47:13 MDT

For Utah college presidents, raise in pay, ire?

By Lindsay Whitehurst | The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 21, 2013 07:47AM MDT

Utah public college presidents would get raises of up to 24 percent in July under a plan approved by the Utah Board of Regents. The extra money is designed to bring relatively low Utah salaries closer to rates at similar schools, a move Utah Commissioner of Higher Education David Buhler said is necessary to attract the best leaders. “Decisions they make can have an effect not just on students and faculty, but their decisions can also save the state millions of dollars,” he said. “We understan...

Booze no, guns yes

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:01:03 MDT

Booze no, guns yes

Updated May 21, 2013 01:01AM MDT

The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending that states reduce the allowable alcohol concentration for automobile drivers by more than a third, to 0.05 percent from 0.08 percent (“Safety board considers lowering of legal limit for drunken driving,” Tribune, May 15). There are about 10,000 alcohol-related traffic deaths in the United States each year. Meanwhile, the annual number of firearm-related deaths in the U.S. is around 30,000. There’s an appetite for keeping me from having m...

Resort lodges finish a much better ski season

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:59:32 MDT

Resort lodges finish a much better ski season

By Mike Gorrell The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 20, 2013 12:59PM MDT

Lodging providers in Utah resort communities finished the ski season with improved results from the poor winter a year earlier. Occupancy through the end of April was 61.6 percent in Utah resort towns, up from 57.5 percent a year ago, according to the Denver-based Rocky Mountain Lodging Report. Average room rates, it added, rose $15 a night to $257. The improved performance mirrored results across the West. The Mountain Travel Research Program, also from Denver, said occupancy climbed 5.8 percen...

Half of U.S. public pools contaminated by feces

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:37:38 MDT

Half of U.S. public pools contaminated by feces

By Anna Edney Bloomberg News

Updated May 20, 2013 10:37AM MDT

WASHINGTON • Human feces taints more than half of public swimming pools, a finding U.S. health officials are using to urge better personal hygiene as the summer months approach. E. coli, which indicates the presence of fecal matter, was detected in 58 percent of samples taken from pool filters by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to data released Thursday by the Atlanta-based agency. Pools frequented mostly by children were more likely to test positive for E. coli, w...

USA Football survey shows few youth concussions

Mon, 20 May 2013 09:26:51 MDT

USA Football survey shows few youth concussions

The Associated Press

Updated May 20, 2013 09:26AM MDT

Boston • Fewer than 4 percent of youth players surveyed in a USA Football-sanctioned study suffered concussions in the 10 leagues examined. Most injuries among nearly 2,000 players on more than 100 teams in six states were minor, with the youngsters returning to play the same day. More than 90 percent of the players did not suffer any injuries, and of those who did, the most common were contusions (35 percent) and ligament sprains (15 percent). No catastrophic head, neck or heat-related inju...

As Utah’s star rises after 2 recessions, lessons linger

Sat, 18 May 2013 21:38:52 MDT

As Utah’s star rises after 2 recessions, lessons linger

By Paul Beebe The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 18, 2013 09:38PM MDT

With few exceptions, the pattern of jobs distributed across Utah is largely unchanged after two recessions since the turn of the new century. That underscores not only the unusual diversity of the state’s economy, but it increases the likelihood employment in the state will grow faster than in the U.S. for some time. It’s true the Great Recession gave construction a good drubbing , manufacturing employment ebbed and flowed between 2000 and 2012, and the information sector seems in permanent decl...