e-Coops

WASHINGTON—Orders for long-lasting U.S.-made goods rose in June, the government reported Thursday, but were below Wall Street expectations and a measure of business spending in the data fell unexpectedly, prompting concern about economic growth.

In another report, the number of new claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell unexpectedly in the latest week to the lowest in more than two months.

The employment figures did little to sooth investors considering the disappointing durable goods data in a climate of fear that credit could be drying up.

New orders for goods meant to last at least three years rose 1.4 percent in June on an increase in nondefense aircraft. Wall Street economists had been looking for an increase of 1.8 percent.

Within the report, nondefense capital goods orders excluding aircraft — seen as a good gauge of business spending — fell 0.7 percent, well below economists’ expectations for an 0.8 percent gain.

The bond market extended price gains on the data, while equities indexes fell across the board after the open.

The data added to overall concerns about the economy and a worsening climate for deal financing as investors continue to fret that the crisis in the subprime mortgage sector could lead to a sharp reduction in the availability of credit.

“It’s not good, really,” said Michael Metz, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York.

“You ex out transportation, it’s certainly a disappointment,” he said, referring to durable goods orders excluding transportation, which fell 0.5 percent. Economists had expected an 0.5 percent gain.

Investors found some minimal solace in the report showing initial jobless claims for state unemployment benefits fell for the third week to 301,000 in the week ended July 21 from an upwardly revised 303,000 the prior week.

That marked the lowest level of weekly initial jobless claims since May 12, and was below expectations for a reading of 310,000.

Stagecoach, best known in London for running South West Trains and as co-owner of Virgin Trains, is to take over running the Manchester Metrolink from , which operates London’s Docklands Light Railway.

Stagecoach which beat off competition from Keolis, the French company that co-owns Southern and Southeastern railways, will operate the 23 miles of tram network in Manchester as well as new services to outlying parts of Greater Manchester.

The business carries 20m passengers a year and is worth 22m in new revenues to Stagecoach, which operates buses in the city and has tram network experience in Sheffield.

‘We believe there is significant potential for growth,’ said Stagecoach director Ian Dobbs.

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Stagecoach bosses’ 15m bonanza
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WASHINGTON (AP) Documents indicate eight congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration’s terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004, contradicting sworn Senate testimony this week by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The documents underscore questions about Gonzales’ credibility as senators consider whether a perjury investigation should be opened into conflicting accounts about the program and a dramatic March 2004 confrontation leading up to its potentially illegal reauthorization.

A Gonzales spokesman maintained Wednesday that the attorney general stands by his testimony.

At a heated Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Gonzales repeatedly testified that the issue at hand was not about the terrorist surveillance program, which allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on suspects in the United States without receiving court approval.

Instead, Gonzales said, the emergency meetings on March 10, 2004, focused on an intelligence program that he would not describe.

Gonzales, who was then serving as counsel to Bush, testified that the White House Situation Room briefing sought to inform congressional leaders about the pending expiration of the unidentified program and Justice Department objections to renew it. Those objections were led by then-Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey, who questioned the program’s legality.

“The dissent related to other intelligence activities,” Gonzales testified at Tuesday’s hearing. “The dissent was not about the terrorist surveillance program.”

“Not the TSP?” responded Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. “Come on. If you say it’s about other, that implies not. Now say it or not.”

“It was not,” Gonzales answered. “It was about other intelligence activities.”

A four-page memo from the national intelligence director’s office says the White House briefing with the eight lawmakers on March 10, 2004, was about the terror surveillance program, or TSP.

The memo, dated May 17, 2006, and addressed to then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert, details “the classification of the dates, locations, and names of members of Congress who attended briefings on the Terrorist Surveillance Program,” wrote then-Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte.

It shows that the briefing in March 2004 was attended by the Republican and Democratic House and Senate leaders and leading members of both chambers’ intelligence committees, as Gonzales testified.

Schumer called the memo evidence that Gonzales was not truthful in his testimony.

“It seemed clear to just about everyone on the committee that the attorney general was deceiving us when he said the dissent was about other intelligence activities and this memo is even more evidence that helps confirm our suspicions,” Schumer said.

Bush acknowledged the existence of the classified surveillance program in December 2005 after it was revealed by The New York Times. In January, it was put under the authority of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for judicial review before any wiretaps were to be approved.

Asked for comment on the documents Wednesday evening, Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said Gonzales “stands by his testimony.”

“The disagreement referenced by Jim Comey in March 2004 was not about the particular intelligence activity that has been publicly described by the president,” Roehrkasse said. “It was about other highly classified intelligence activities that have been briefed to the intelligence committees.”

The disagreement over whether to renew the program led to a dramatic, and highly controversial, confrontation between Gonzales and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft on the night of March 10, 2004.

After briefing the congressional leaders, Gonzales testified that he and then-White House chief of staff Andy Card headed to a Washington hospital room, where a sedated Ashcroft was recovering from surgery. Ashcroft had already turned over his powers as attorney general to Comey.

Comey was in the hospital room as well, and recounted to senators in his own sworn testimony in May that he “thought I just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man, who did not have the powers of the attorney general because they had been transferred to me.”

Ultimately, Ashcroft sided with Comey, and Gonzales and Card left the hospital after a five- to six-minute conversation.

Gonzales denied that he and Card tried to pressure Ashcroft into approving the program over Comey’s objections.

“We never had any intent to ask anything of him if we did not feel that he was competent,” Gonzales told the Senate panel Tuesday. “At the end of his description of the legal issues, he said, ‘I’m not making this decision. The deputy attorney general is.’ And so Andy Card and I thanked him. We told him that we would continue working with the deputy attorney general and we left.”

Democrats and Republicans alike expressed disbelief at Gonzales’ version of events.

“There’s a discrepancy here in sworn testimony,” Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said after listening to Gonzales, raising the possibility of a perjury inquiry. “We’re going to have to ask who’s telling the truth, who’s not.”

Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, top Republican on the panel, also disregarded Gonzales’ description. “I do not find your testimony credible, candidly,” he told the attorney general.

House and Senate lawmakers who attended the Situation Room briefing are divided on the accuracy of Gonzales’ account of that meeting, which he said concluded by a “consensus in the room from the congressional leadership is that we should continue the activities, at least for now, despite the objections of Mr. Comey.”

Three Democrats Д House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller and former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle Д dispute Gonzales’ testimony. Rockefeller called it “untruthful,” and Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said the speaker disagreed that it should be continued without Justice Department or FISA court oversight.

On the other hand, former GOP House Intelligence Chairman Porter Goss, “does not recall anyone saying the project must be ended,’ spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise Dyck said. And former Senate Republican leader Bill Frist stopped short of confirming or denying the meeting’s outcome.

“I recall being briefed with the others about the program and it was stated that Gonzales would visit with Ashcroft in the hospital and that our meeting was part of the administration’s responsibility to discuss with the leadership of Congress,’ Frist said in a statement.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 30 (UPI) — A new study conducted by Roper found nearly 90 percent of Americans think solar electricity should be an option for all new home construction.

That figure in the study, commissioned by Sharp Electronics Corp., is up significantly from one year ago when it was 79 percent.

Three-quarters of survey respondents perceive solar power to be more important than ever, evidence that Americans recognize the value of solar as a clean, renewable form of energy. The survey was conducted in May among 1,004 adults to measure their perceptions of solar power.

“More and more, consumers are interested in solar energy, as the results of this survey clearly show,” said Ron Kenedi, vice president, Solar Energy Solutions Group, Sharp Electronics Corp. “The message from consumers to homebuilders is clear — builders can differentiate themselves while satisfying customer needs by offering solar electricity on any home they build.”

There is a gap in understanding that solar electricity operates just like regular electricity and is the same kind of electricity that a local utility company provides. So even as consumers embrace the technology, they are not fully aware of its capabilities and they have misconceptions about how a solar energy system works in a home. Survey respondents were more likely to recognize solar could turn lights on (82 percent) and heat bath water (82 percent) or a swimming pool (80 percent), than power common electric devices like computers or appliances (71 percent).

The poll’s margin of error was 3.1 percentage points.

TAMPA, Fla.—He lies flat, unseeing eyes fixed on the ceiling, tubes and machines feeding him, breathing for him, keeping him alive. He cannot walk or talk, but he can grimace and cry. And he is fully aware of what has happened to him.

Four years ago almost to this day, . was shot in the back of the head at point-blank range in a Baghdad marketplace. His spinal cord was shattered, and cardiac arrests stole his vision and damaged his brain.

He is one of the most severely injured soldiers Д some think the most injured soldier Д to survive.

“Three things you would not want to be: blind, head injury, and paralyzed from the neck down. That’s tough,” said Dr. Steven Scott, head of the at the Tampa VA Medical Center, where Briseno has twice been hospitalized for extensive care. In recent days, Briseno was hospitalized yet again, this time at the Washington, D.C., VA Medical Center.

As a high schooler, Briseno liked the Discovery Channel and CSI, and wanted to be a forensic scientist or investigator. He was 20 years old, attending George Mason University, when he was called up from the reserves and sent to war.

After he was shot, he was flown to Kuwait and then to a military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. His parents and two sisters rushed to his side.

“They told us, ‘Prepare for his service.’ That’s how bad he was,” said his father, Joseph Briseno Sr., a retired career Army man.

But he survived. From Germany, he went to in Bethesda, Md., then to in Richmond, Va. In December 2003, he went home, to Manassas Park, Va., where his parents, Joseph Sr. and Eva, quit their jobs to care for him.

“All our savings, all our money, was just emptied … the 401(k)s, everything,” said Joseph Briseno, who took a new job a year and a half ago to make ends meet.

Various charities, especially http://www.rebuildingtogether.org/, raised money to renovate their basement, supply a backup generator for the medical equipment, and install a lift so they can hoist “Jay,” as they call him, into a chair and bathe him in a handicapped accessible bathroom.

http://www.rebuildingtogether.org/.

“If you asked me this from the very beginning, if we can handle it, I wouldn’t lie to you. I would say no, that there is no way. There’s no way that we’re going to learn all these things. But my wife and I, we learned everything. We are the respiratory technician, we are the physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists … his wound care nurse,” Joseph Briseno said.

“It’s a lot of work and it’s hard, and some days are harder than the other days. But we don’t take this as a burden for us because he’s our son. We will do everything for him.”

The family has help from VA-provided nurses, but not around the clock. Jay’s mother and father often do overnight duty, making sure their son is turned every four hours so he does not develop bedsores, which can become infected and threaten his life. If they do not turn him and keep him on schedule, he does not sleep well and becomes agitated.

At the Tampa VA, a nurse taught Jay Briseno to swallow his saliva Д a big step that allowed him to have some pureed foods instead of just tube-feeding. He has not been able to handle any solid food, though Д his injuries are too profound.

More recently, the Tampa staff tried to wean him from the respirator. This involved painstaking therapy to strengthen his diaphragm by placing weights on his belly and gradually increasing the air pressure on the machine to try to create resistance and muscle strength. So far, it hasn’t worked.

He has had other trials: surgeries, procedures and medications for bladder problems, high blood pressure, the opening for his breathing tube, dead tissue on his tongue Д even an ingrown toenail. The latest is the bone disease, osteoporosis.

He can respond to questions by grunting or grimacing, and occasionally can say “mom” or “go,” but not consistently. He often opens his mouth.

“We believe he is very frustrated because he wants to say something. Those are the hardest times for us, especially when he’s sick or not feeling well. He just lays there. We don’t know what’s wrong with him,” Joseph Briseno said.

They pray that he will continue to improve, not get worse. And they hope to move to Tampa, where they believe their son can get the best care.

“We always have hope. One day at a time Д that’s the way we live our lives,” the elder Briseno said. “We’re so lucky to have him. He was a very good son from the very beginning. God gave Jay to us and he’s a blessing to us.”