Peninsula Daily News for Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Business
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B4
Speculators to blame for gas prices, senators say
 $ Briefly . . . Builders’ outlook falls in April WASHINGTON — Homebuilders are more pessimistic about the housing market this month, a dismal sign at the start of the springbuying season. The National Association of Home Builders said its index of industry sentiment for April fell back down to 16. It had risen modestly in March to 17, after four straight months at 16. Any reading below 50 indicates negative sentiment about the market. The index hasn’t been above that level since April 2006. Last year was the worst in more than a decade for sales of previously owned homes and the worst for new-home sales in nearly a half-century. Economists expect home prices will hit bottom later this year before a modest recovery takes hold.
FAA suspends two WASHINGTON — Federal aviation officials say another air traffic controller has been suspended, this time for watching a movie when he was supposed to be monitoring aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement Monday that it had suspended a controller and a manager at a regional radar facility in Cleveland that handles high-altitude air traffic. The air traffic control facility became aware that the controller was watching a DVD early Sunday morning when his microphone was inadvertently activated. For more than three minutes, the movie’s
Politics and Environment
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Peninsula cost flattens
since mid-February. Crude jumped to $147 a barrel in 2008, and gasoline averaged as high as $4.11 a gallon, before the U.S. economy plunged into recession in 2009.
Peninsula Daily News and Associated Press
The price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas appeared to level off on the North Olympic Peninsula in the past week after soaring to the $4 level at several Peninsula stations the week before. The average Peninsula price, based on an informal Peninsula Daily News survey, is $3.96. The prices fluctuate from $3.879 in East Jefferson County to $3.999 in eastern Port Angeles. Some prices above $4 are reported on the West End, which characteristically is higher because of the longer transportation need. The AAA auto club reports the average price of a gallon of gasoline in Washington state is $3.92. That’s 9 cents higher than the national average and up 4 cents in a week and 23 cents in a month. U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell are blaming commodity speculators for pushing up the
soundtrack was transmitted over the radio throughout the air traffic area he was monitoring. The controller became aware of the problem when contacted by the pilot of a military plane. The incident follows at least five cases of controllers falling asleep on duty.
Nonferrous metals NEW YORK — Spot nonferrous metal prices Monday. Aluminum -$1.1966 per lb., London Metal Exch. Copper - $4.2722 Cathode full plate, LME. Copper - $4.1940 N.Y. Merc spot Mon. Lead - $2730.00 metric ton, London Metal Exch. Zinc - $1.0822 per lb., London Metal Exch. Gold - $1493.00 Handy & Harman (only daily quote). Gold - $1492.30 troy oz., NY Merc spot Mon. Silver - $42.780 Handy & Harman (only daily quote). Silver - $42.957 troy oz., N.Y. Merc spot Mon. Platinum - $1790.00 troy oz., N.Y. (contract). Platinum - $1785.80 troy oz., N.Y. Merc spot Mon.
Oil prices down
The Associated Press
Sen. Maria Cantwell talks with Ballard Oil Co. President Warren Aakervik Jr. after a news conference she held with him, Sen. Patty Murray and others Monday in Seattle. price of gasoline. They held a news conference Monday in Seattle to call for federal regulators to crack down on speculation. Cantwell said the U.S Commodity Futures Trading Commission has authority under the 2010 Wall Street Reform bill. The public affairs office at the commission referred a caller seeking comment to the commission’s website, which indicates it has proposed commodity future contract limits that are still in the public comment stage. On Sunday, New York
became the sixth state to top $4 a gallon for the average price of gasoline, joining Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii and Illinois, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge. Gasoline in Washington, D.C, also averaged above $4. The national average for gasoline has increased for 26 straight days and is now at $3.83 per gallon, up 29 cents from a month ago. Some analysts expect rising global fuel costs will eventually hurt crude consumption and likely trigger a drop in oil prices, which are up 29 percent
Oil slipped more than 2 percent Monday after Standard & Poor’s lowered its long-term outlook for U.S. debt (see story, Page A3 today), raising concerns about the economy. Another move by China to slow inflation in that country also helped push prices down. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude fell $2.54, or 2.3 percent, to settle at $107.12 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Economists are watching for signs that high fuel prices are taking a toll on the economy. Industry surveys suggest that drivers are cutting back on gasoline purchases. The combination of stagnant wages and rising food and energy costs has prompted some economists to lower their growth estimates for the economy in the first quarter by half.
Report inspires probe of Three Cups of Tea Peninsula Daily News news services
NEW YORK — Viking, the publisher of Three Cups of Tea, said Monday it was reviewing the best-seller following claims that parts of the inspirational book by Greg Mortenson were fabricated. An account of his work building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Mortenson’s book has sold
Peninsula Daily News and The Associated Press
millions of copies. CBS’s “60 Minutes� said in a Sunday broadcast that parts of Mortenson Mortenson’s account of a failed attempt in 1993 to climb the world’s second-highest peak, K2, and being kidnapped in Pakistan in 1996,
were untrue, citing several people interviewed The “60 Minutes� report also suggested that Mortenson’s charitable organization, the Central Asia Institute, was plagued by mismanagement and inappropriate spending and had taken credit for building schools that don’t exist. “Greg Mortenson’s work as a humanitarian in Afghanistan and Pakistan has provided tens of thou-
sands of children with an education,� Carolyn Coleburn, a spokeswoman for Viking, said in a statement. “‘60 Minutes’ is a serious news organization and in the wake of their report, Viking plans to carefully review the materials with the author.� Mortenson has defended the information in the book but has also said that it was based on a “compressed version of events.�
Microsoft at high court
New law protects against info-tech thieves
Software giant seeking patent infringement reversal
OLYMPIA — Gov. Chris Gregoire has signed into law a bill aimed at protecting companies from competitors who use stolen information technology to develop their products. The bill was Microsoft’s top legislative priority this year as the company fights software and hardware piracy coming out of Asia and Latin America. The new law will allow a company to sue businesses
Peninsula Daily News News Services
FOUND:
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idea, fearing it could draw them into costly litigation if one of their overseas suppliers is found to have used stolen IT. Microsoft representatives said the bill will provide incentives for manufacturers to ensure their technology is acquired legally.
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that use stolen or misappropriated information technology to manufacture products sold in Washington state. The state also may pursue legal action in such cases. Retail companies like Wal-Mart have opposed the
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dard in civil suits. Using the heightened standard “makes no sense,� Hungar said, and “ensures the enforcement of invalid patents.� But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan disagreed, citing a 1934 decision in which Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo wrote that the presumption that patents were valid was “not to be overthrown except by clear and cogent evidence.� Hungar said the decision should apply only in limited circumstances that were not present in Microsoft’s challenge.
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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments from Microsoft Corp. asking it to overturn a $290 million patent infringement judgment against the world’s largest software maker, Some justices suggested that the court’s precedents were at odds with Microsoft’s position. The lawsuit contended that Microsoft Word had infringed i4i’s tools for editing documents. Microsoft argued that the patent was invalid.
At the district court trial, the judge told a jury that it should find the patent invalid only if Microsoft could satisfy a heightened standard, that of presenting “clear and convincing evidence� of invalidity. Thomas G. Hungar, a lawyer for Microsoft, said that was a mistake. The proper standard, he said, was proof by a “preponderance of the evidence,� meaning that Microsoft should have had to prove only that the patent’s invalidity was more likely than not. That is the usual stan-
The Associated Press
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