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Saturday, February 2, 2013

Mattel 4Q results miss Wall Street's expectations

FILE - Mattel headquarters is shown in El Segundo, Calf., in this Aug. 14, 2007 file photo. Barbie maker Mattel Inc.'s annunced Friday Feb. 1, 2013 that fourth-quarter net income fell 17 percent, weighed down by a litigation charge. Its performance missed Wall Street's expectations for the critical holiday period. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) ? Barbie maker Mattel Inc.'s fourth-quarter net income fell 17 percent, weighed down by a litigation charge.

Its performance missed Wall Street's expectations for the critical holiday period, and its shares fell almost 2 percent in premarket trading. It also raised its dividend.

The world's largest toy maker earned $306.5 million, or 87 cents per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31. That compares with $370.6 million, or $1.07 per share, a year ago.

Removing the litigation charge, earnings were $1.12 per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $1.15 per share.

Revenue for the El Segundo, Calif.-based company rose 5 percent to $2.26 billion from $2.15 billion. Wall Street forecast $2.3 billion.

The November through December holiday period is key for toy makers because it can make up to 40 percent of their revenue during the time. Toy sellers have been under pressure as more kids clamor for electronic gadgets like tablets. In addition, toy sellers like Wal-Mart and others have been cautious ordering inventory.

Worldwide gross sales for the Mattel girls and boys brands climbed 5 percent in the quarter. The figure jumped 55 percent for its other girls brands, mostly because of its Monster High products. At American Girl, worldwide gross sales increased 13 percent. The figure rose 6 percent for Fisher Price.

Results were not as good for Barbie, which reported a 4 percent decline in worldwide gross sales. The Wheels segment, which includes Hot Wheels, Matchbox and the Tyco R/Co brands, posted a 1 percent dip primarily due to Matchbox.

The company's entertainment business, which includes Radica and Games, dropped 13 percent mostly because of weaker sales of Cars 2 products.

Its shares dropped 68 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $36.95 in premarket trading.

Its full-year net income edged up 1 percent to $776.5 million, or $2.22 per share, from $768.5 million, or $2.18 per share, in the prior year. Annual revenue increased 2 percent to $6.42 billion from $6.27 billion.

Mattel also announced Friday that its board declared a first-quarter dividend of 36 cents per share. This is up 16 percent from the prior-year period. The dividend will be paid on March 8 to shareholders of record on Feb. 22.

Mattel's financial report follows a dismal revenue preannouncement by Hasbro last week.

Mattel's smaller rival, which makes board games like Scrabble and toys including Furby, said its fourth-quarter revenue failed to meet expectations because of weaker-than-expected demand over the holidays. It plans to cut about 10 percent of its workforce and consolidate facilities to reduce expenses. Hasbro Inc. reports its final results for the quarter on Thursday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-01-Earns-Mattel/id-7b8b1ce6c3b64ca0988a9f2519c00a0f

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'Warm Bodies': The Reviews Are In!

The zombie rom-com earns accolades from critics for its genre-bending take on the undead.
By Amy Wilkinson

Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer in "Warm Bodies"
Photo: Summit Entertainment

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1701212/warm-bodies-reviews.jhtml

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Healthy schools: Goodbye candy and greasy snacks

FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2012 file photo, side salads, apple sauce and plums await the students of Eastside Elementary School in Clinton, Miss. The government for the first time is proposing broad new standards to make school snacks healthier, a move that would ban the sale of almost all candy, high-calorie sports drinks and greasy foods on campus. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Goodbye candy bars and sugary cookies. Hello baked chips and diet sodas.

The government for the first time is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful, a change that would ban the sale of almost all candy, high-calorie sports drinks and greasy foods on campus.

Under new rules the Department of Agriculture proposed Friday, school vending machines would start selling water, lower-calorie sports drinks, diet sodas and baked chips instead. Lunchrooms that now sell fatty "a la carte" items like mozzarella sticks and nachos would have to switch to healthier pizzas, low-fat hamburgers, fruit cups and yogurt.

The rules, required under a child nutrition law passed by Congress in 2010, are part of the government's effort to combat childhood obesity. While many schools already have made improvements in their lunch menus and vending machine choices, others still are selling high-fat, high-calorie foods.

Under the proposal, the Agriculture Department would set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on almost all foods sold in schools. Current standards already regulate the nutritional content of school breakfasts and lunches that are subsidized by the federal government, but most lunch rooms also have "a la carte" lines that sell other foods. And food sold through vending machines and in other ways outside the lunchroom has not been federally regulated.

"Parents and teachers work hard to instill healthy eating habits in our kids, and these efforts should be supported when kids walk through the schoolhouse door," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Most snacks sold in school would have to have less than 200 calories. Elementary and middle schools could sell only water, low-fat milk or 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice. High schools could sell some sports drinks, diet sodas and iced teas, but the calories would be limited. Drinks would be limited to 12-ounce portions in middle schools, and 8-ounce portions in elementary schools.

The standards will cover vending machines, the "a la carte" lunch lines, snack bars and any other foods regularly sold around school. They would not apply to in-school fundraisers or bake sales, though states have the power to regulate them. The new guidelines also would not apply to after-school concessions at school games or theater events, goodies brought from home for classroom celebrations, or anything students bring for their own personal consumption.

The new rules are the latest in a long list of changes designed to make foods served in schools more healthful and accessible. Nutritional guidelines for the subsidized lunches were revised last year and put in place last fall. The 2010 child nutrition law also provided more money for schools to serve free and reduced-cost lunches and required more meals to be served to hungry kids.

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat, has been working for two decades to take junk foods out of schools. He calls the availability of unhealthful foods around campus a "loophole" that undermines the taxpayer money that helps pay for the healthier subsidized lunches.

"USDA's proposed nutrition standards are a critical step in closing that loophole and in ensuring that our schools are places that nurture not just the minds of American children but their bodies as well," Harkin said.

Last year's rules faced criticism from some conservatives, including some Republicans in Congress, who said the government shouldn't be telling kids what to eat. Mindful of that backlash, the Agriculture Department exempted in-school fundraisers from federal regulation and proposed different options for some parts of the rule, including the calorie limits for drinks in high schools, which would be limited to either 60 calories or 75 calories in a 12-ounce portion.

The department also has shown a willingness to work with schools to resolve complaints that some new requirements are hard to meet. Last year, for example, the government relaxed some limits on meats and grains in subsidized lunches after school nutritionists said they weren't working.

Schools, the food industry, interest groups and other critics or supporters of the new proposal will have 60 days to comment and suggest changes. A final rule could be in place as soon as the 2014 school year.

Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, says surveys done by her organization show that most parents want changes in the lunchroom.

"Parents aren't going to have to worry that kids are using their lunch money to buy candy bars and a Gatorade instead of a healthy school lunch," she said.

The food industry has been onboard with many of the changes, and several companies worked with Congress on the child nutrition law two years ago. Major beverage companies have already agreed to take the most caloric sodas out of schools. But those same companies, including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, also sell many of the non-soda options, like sports drinks, and have lobbied to keep them in vending machines.

A spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association, which represents the soda companies, says they already have greatly reduced the number of calories kids are consuming at school by pulling out the high-calorie sodas.

___

Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-01-Healthier%20School%20Foods/id-473d63976e1740f08f5df6083ddb6f04

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Overdose education, bystander nasal naloxone rescue kits associated with decreased opioid overdose death

Public release date: 1-Feb-2013
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Share ]

Contact: Jenny Eriksen Leary
jenny.eriksen@bmc.org
617-638-6841
Boston University Medical Center

(Boston) In a study of communities in Massachusetts with high numbers of opioid overdose deaths, the implementation of overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) was associated with a significant reduction in opioid overdose death rates. Led by researchers at Boston Medical Center (BMC), Boston University Schools of Medicine (BUSM) and Public Health (BUSPH) in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) and published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), this study provides observational evidence that OEND is an effective public health intervention to address the epidemic of fatal opioid overdose.

Opioids include substances such as heroin and prescription pain relievers, namely hydrocodone, oxycodone, codeine, morphine and fentanyl. The rate of opioid overdose continues to rise and is a major cause of preventable death. Opioid related overdose deaths have exceeded the number of motor vehicle deaths each year since 2005 in Massachusetts and are the leading cause of injury death in the commonwealth.

OEND is an innovative, community-based intervention that educates people at risk for overdose and potential bystanders on how to prevent, recognize and respond to an overdose. It also equips these individuals with a naloxone rescue kit. Naloxone, which may be administered by injection or by nasal spray, is a safe and effective antidote that reverses the life-threatening effects of an opioid overdose.

Between 2006 and 2009 in 19 communities with a high prevalence of opioid overdose deaths, Massachusetts OEND programs organized, funded and supported by MDPH trained 2,912 potential bystanders who reported 327 rescues. After adjusting for community level factors, including the use of addiction treatment and doctor shopping for prescription opioids, communities with low levels of OEND training had 27 percent lower opioid overdose death rates and communities with high levels of OEND training had 46 percent lower opioid overdose death rates compared to communities with no training.

"Opioid overdose is a major public health problem for which we have few proven solutions. This study provides observational evidence that OEND can have a population-level dose effect in reducing overdose death rates, where the greater the implementation, the greater the impact," said Alexander Walley, MD, MSc, an attending physician in general internal medicine at BMC and the study's lead author. Walley is an assistant professor of medicine at BUSM and medical director for the MDPH's Opioid Overdose Prevention Program. "Together with a recent study, which demonstrated that OEND is highly cost effective, it appears that OEND is a promising, scalable and affordable tool to save lives from opioid overdose."

###

Funding for this study was provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under award number 1R21CE001602 (Principal Investigator: Walley). To view the article on the BMJ website, go to http://www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bmj.f174.

Go to www.overdosepreventionalliance.org/p/od-prevention-program-locator.html for information on the closest overdose prevention program. Go to www.prescribetoprevent.org if you are a health care provider interested in prescribing naloxone rescue kits.

Written by Tiffany Groover, MD, MPH

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?

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.

Overdose education, bystander nasal naloxone rescue kits associated with decreased opioid overdose death Public release date: 1-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jenny Eriksen Leary
jenny.eriksen@bmc.org
617-638-6841
Boston University Medical Center

(Boston) In a study of communities in Massachusetts with high numbers of opioid overdose deaths, the implementation of overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) was associated with a significant reduction in opioid overdose death rates. Led by researchers at Boston Medical Center (BMC), Boston University Schools of Medicine (BUSM) and Public Health (BUSPH) in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) and published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), this study provides observational evidence that OEND is an effective public health intervention to address the epidemic of fatal opioid overdose.

Opioids include substances such as heroin and prescription pain relievers, namely hydrocodone, oxycodone, codeine, morphine and fentanyl. The rate of opioid overdose continues to rise and is a major cause of preventable death. Opioid related overdose deaths have exceeded the number of motor vehicle deaths each year since 2005 in Massachusetts and are the leading cause of injury death in the commonwealth.

OEND is an innovative, community-based intervention that educates people at risk for overdose and potential bystanders on how to prevent, recognize and respond to an overdose. It also equips these individuals with a naloxone rescue kit. Naloxone, which may be administered by injection or by nasal spray, is a safe and effective antidote that reverses the life-threatening effects of an opioid overdose.

Between 2006 and 2009 in 19 communities with a high prevalence of opioid overdose deaths, Massachusetts OEND programs organized, funded and supported by MDPH trained 2,912 potential bystanders who reported 327 rescues. After adjusting for community level factors, including the use of addiction treatment and doctor shopping for prescription opioids, communities with low levels of OEND training had 27 percent lower opioid overdose death rates and communities with high levels of OEND training had 46 percent lower opioid overdose death rates compared to communities with no training.

"Opioid overdose is a major public health problem for which we have few proven solutions. This study provides observational evidence that OEND can have a population-level dose effect in reducing overdose death rates, where the greater the implementation, the greater the impact," said Alexander Walley, MD, MSc, an attending physician in general internal medicine at BMC and the study's lead author. Walley is an assistant professor of medicine at BUSM and medical director for the MDPH's Opioid Overdose Prevention Program. "Together with a recent study, which demonstrated that OEND is highly cost effective, it appears that OEND is a promising, scalable and affordable tool to save lives from opioid overdose."

###

Funding for this study was provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under award number 1R21CE001602 (Principal Investigator: Walley). To view the article on the BMJ website, go to http://www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bmj.f174.

Go to www.overdosepreventionalliance.org/p/od-prevention-program-locator.html for information on the closest overdose prevention program. Go to www.prescribetoprevent.org if you are a health care provider interested in prescribing naloxone rescue kits.

Written by Tiffany Groover, MD, MPH

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/bumc-oeb020113.php
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Friday, February 1, 2013

Wyoming House passes bill meant to invalidate proposed gun laws

Cody, Wyoming (Reuters) - The Wyoming House of Representatives passed two bills on Friday geared toward protecting or expanding gun rights in the state, including one aimed at nullifying some of the new federal gun restrictions proposed by the Obama administration.

Both bills, which passed 46-13, head to the Republican-dominated Senate, where their prospects for passage were considered good. Republican Governor Matt Mead has not said whether he would sign either measure into law.

One of the bills, the so-called Firearm Protection Act, would seek to invalidate any new federal bans or restrictions on semi-automatic firearms or ammunition magazines. It also precludes state enforcement of those restrictions, if passed at the federal level.

The move comes amid a renewed debate over gun control in the United States following a shooting rampage at a Connecticut elementary school in which 20 first-graders and six adults were killed.

In the wake of that shooting and outcry, President Barack Obama has proposed reinstating a ban on the sale of military-style assault weapons, limiting the capacity of ammunition magazines and more extensive background checks of prospective gun buyers.

Wyoming Representative Kendell Kroeker, who sponsored the bill, said during debate that the U.S. government could not regulate guns in Wyoming because it "does not have that jurisdiction" in the state.

But Democrat Mary Throne opposed the measure, calling it an attempt at state nullification of a federal law, something southern states tried before the Civil War and during the era of segregation.

"That wasn't exactly a bright, shining moment in our history," Throne said. "Certainly, if we want to make a statement, we can do it. But let's not pretend it's consistent with the Constitution, because it's not."

NULLIFICATION

Wyoming is one of several states where legislators have proposed laws seeking to nullify new federal gun restrictions, said Jon Griffin, a policy associate with the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Among the other states where such laws have been introduced this year are Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, he said.

The second bill advanced by the Wyoming House would let school district employees and parents of students carry concealed guns on campus if they have a permit issued by local law enforcement officials and notified school administrators.

"I'll just remind you that I think an armed society is a safe society," said Republican Representative Allen Jaggi, a former teacher who sponsored the Citizens' and Students' Self-Defense Act.

But Representative Jerry Paxton, a Republican gun owner and former school principal, said he had serious concerns about concealed guns in schools.

"I love guns, but I love kids more," said Paxton, a Republican who voted for the bill after it was amended to exclude students.

Wyoming passed a law in 2011 allowing residents over 18 to carry concealed guns with no permit, except in certain places like schools, courthouses, churches, bars and jails.

Another state law exempts guns manufactured and used solely within Wyoming from U.S. gun laws, claiming the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution does not apply to them.

Jim King, a Univesity of Wyoming political science professor, said efforts like the proposed federal gun law nullification bill were often as much about pushing back against federal control as they were about guns.

"Wyoming political culture is very much one that considers the federal government suspiciously, and is very assertive of state prerogatives," King said.

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wyoming-house-passes-bill-meant-invalidate-proposed-gun-011107693.html

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Mystery oil sheen tracked in Gulf of Mexico

On Wings of Care

A surface slick seen in aerial photos taken on Jan. 27 near the site of the 2010 BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is more than seven miles long.

By John Roach, Contributing Writer, NBC News

A persistent, mysterious "oil sheen" in the Gulf of Mexico near the site of BP?s Deepwater Horizon disaster grew to more than seven-miles long and one-mile wide during a recent stretch of calm seas, based on aerial observations made by a former NASA physicist turned environmental activist.

"We had maybe three or four days (of calm weather) and that?s all it took for the stuff to build up considerably," Bonny Schumaker, the physicist who now runs the non-profit On Wings of Care, which makes regular flights over regions of the Gulf affected by the 2010 oil spill.

In a flight report from Jan. 27 posted on the group?s website, she described the oily expanse as "huge."

Schumaker first noticed the sheen in September 2012, when it was also reported by BP to the National Response Center, the point of contact for all oil spills and other discharges into the environment. Since then, BP has inspected the well site four times with underwater robots and found it secure.?

The company "also capped and plugged an abandoned piece of subsea equipment known as a cofferdam that was identified as a potential source of the sheen," reads a statement BP provided to NBC News via email on Wednesday.

The cofferdam is the 40-foot-tall, 86-ton steel containment dome that was used in the early stages of the response in an attempt to trap the leaking oil and funnel it to the surface.

"BP continues to work closely with the U.S. Coast Guard to investigate possible sources of a sheen in the vicinity of the (2010 spill site)," the company?s statement said.

Source a mystery
According to Schumaker, scientists who have sampled the sheen on several occasions "have consistently found the presence of alpha olefiens, which is a chemical bond signature of a man-made chemical you would not find in pure crude form."

That suggests, she explained, that the source of the sheen is "residual material coming from the wreckage." If so, as far as impact is concerned, that is good news since it "would imply that it is finite in volume and temporary in time. There will be an end to it."

Ian MacDonald is an oceanographer and oil spill expert at Florida State University. Another possibility, he explained to NBC News, is that the sheen is from a "natural seep that somehow became more active than it was before because prior to 2011 or so we had not seen abundant oil slicks at that location."

Images from Schumaker?s flights also indicate the presence of a new drilling platform in the vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon incident and these fresh oil sheens.?

"That doesn?t indicate culpability on anybody?s part ? I want to emphasize that," MacDonald said. "But it does indicate that if you?re trying to do due diligence and monitoring a post-accident site of great interest the way the Deepwater Horizon site is, these are some of the things that you face."

Whatever the source, the volume of oil coming to the surface is no cause for alarm, MacDonald noted. There are many natural seeps in the Gulf of Mexico that produce similar-sized persistent surface sheens. "It doesn?t rise to the level of being an imminent threat to wildlife or the marine ecosystem," he said.?

The concern, he noted, is trying to sort out its source. "The chemical data are a bit ambiguous." Some analyses he?s seen suggest the presence of drilling fluid, which is consistent with what Schumaker has heard. But other analyses, from other sources that he said he?s privy to, find no drilling fluid.

In that case, it?s possible that the wreckage in 2010 somehow opened up a new fault on the seafloor. That possibility is inconsistent with BP?s findings, but would nevertheless indicate potential for an indefinite release of oil.

Dearth of wildlife
Regardless of the source of the sheen, more disheartening to Schumaker is the "dearth of marine life" in a 30 to 50 mile radius of the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. She?s flies just about every month all year long.?

"Since the fall of 2011, now about 14 months, I see no turtles, few if any dolphins, few if any rays ? Manta rays, cownose, golden rays, any of them ? few sharks, few bait balls, all of the things we used to see," she said.

That doesn?t mean the wildlife is dead, she noted, but what they eat may no longer be plentiful. As a result, they are going elsewhere to find food.?

A study published in August 2012 found that dispersants used during the spill response may have damaged the microoganisms at the bottom of the food chain, which would have dire implications for fish and larger sea animals.

"I guess the Gulf of Mexico in these parts is a stinky, dead desert for its previous visitors," Schumaker said in an email to NBC News.

John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, check out his website.

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/31/16792048-mystery-oil-sheen-grows-near-site-of-bp-gulf-disaster-says-researcher

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Exclusive: Ocwen in lead to buy Ally mortgage servicing rights - sources

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ocwen Financial Corp is in the lead to buy Ally Bank's $122 billion of mortgage servicing rights, two sources familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

The deal is expected to be valued at around $1 billion, said one of the sources, who declined to be identified because details of the auction are not public.

Ally received five bids for the MSRs, and the winner is expected to be announced shortly, the source said.

An Ally spokeswoman declined to comment. A call to Ocwen was not immediately returned.

Auto lender Ally Financial, the parent of Ally Bank, announced in October that it was selling $122 billion of mortgage servicing rights.

(Reporting By Jessica Toonkel in New York, Rick Rothacker in Charlotte; editing by John Wallace)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-ocwen-lead-buy-ally-mortgage-servicing-rights-150148422--sector.html

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