BofA to Charge $5 Monthly Fee for Debit-Card Usage - Wall Street Journal

NEW YORK—Bank of America Corp. plans to charge a $5 monthly fee for its debit-card users, joining a number of other banks that are pressing their customers to help recover lost revenue from new regulations.
Bank of America Corp. plans to charge customers a $5 monthly fee for making debit card purchases starting next year. Andrew R. Johnson joins the PM Hub to explain.
The largest U.S. bank by assets, Bank of America on Thursday said it will begin charging many of its nationwide checking account customers $5 each billing cycle they use their debit card to make a purchase. The fee, set to kick in early next year, will apply to its standard accounts but won't apply to most of its premium accounts targeted at mass-affluent customers. The fee also will not be triggered by transactions made at automated teller machines.
Bank of America and other debit-card issuers, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Regions Financial Corp., are trying to offset an estimated $6.6 billion annual revenue hit stemming from new limits on so-called debit-card swipe fees.
The limits, finalized by the Federal Reserve Board in June, take effect Saturday and will reduce the amount of money merchants pay banks to 24 cents per transaction from a current average of 44 cents. Bank of America has said it expects the caps to erase $2 billion in revenue annually.
"The economics of offering a debit card have changed with recent regulations," a spokeswoman for Bank of America said in a statement Thursday.
The fee will apply to various consumer checking accounts but will not apply to customers in certain premium accounts, according to a memo sent to the bank's executives Thursday. Customers will pay the fee during any billing cycle in which they use their debit card to make a purchase.
"This new fee allows us to continue to offer the convenience of a debit card with the full range of added features customers have come to expect," including fraud protection and monitoring, special savings programs and other services, the bank's memo said.
The addition of fees is not a surprise given the amount of revenue that is on the line for Bank of America and other banks with a large number of debit-card customers, said Brian Riley, a senior research director of bank cards at TowerGroup.
"Bank of America has a real challenge," Mr. Riley said. "They have to solve" how to reduce revenue losses.
Bank of America customers are projected to make $260 billion in debit-card purchases this year, according to Mr. Riley's research based on data from card issuers and Nilson Report.
Alison Miller, a Bank of America customer in West Windsor, N.J., said she would consider changing banks because of the new fee.
"It's just another way of gouging the customer," said Ms. Miller, 65 years old, who uses her debit card several times a week.
While Bank of America is not the first bank to roll out plans to charge customers card-usage fees, its fee is higher than what most other banks are testing or planning to charge.
Wells Fargo said it will charge a $3 fee for debit and ATM card customers in Nevada, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico and Georgia starting Oct. 14. Like Bank of America's, Wells Fargo's fee applies when a customer makes a purchase with the cards and not ATM transactions.
Getty Images The fee won't apply to customers in certain premium accounts.
The San Francisco bank has said it expects to lose $250 million each quarter from the new caps on swipe fees, which stem from a provision called the Durbin amendment in last year's Dodd-Frank financial overhaul legislation.
Wells Fargo is charging the fee as part of a pilot but has not determined whether it will roll it out to all customers, spokeswoman Lisa Westermann said Thursday.
Customer responses to Wells Fargo's announcement has varied, Ms. Westermann said.
"Obviously nobody likes fees," she said. "Some people are going to be unhappy...but you also have other people that understand that" there is a "cost to provide debit-card services."
J.P. Morgan has been testing a $3 fee in a small market in Wisconsin since February. Regions Financial and SunTrust Banks Inc. also have added monthly fees for some debit-card customers.
Citigroup Inc. said last week it was raising fees on certain checking accounts but would not charge fees for using debit cards.
Trish Wexler, a spokeswoman for the Electronic Payments Coalition, a trade group that represents Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc. and several large banks, said the new fees are "unintended consequences that have come up as a result" of the Durbin amendment.
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Illness, Deaths From Listeria-Tainted Cantaloupes Expected to Rise - TIME

Federal health officials said Wednesday more illnesses and possibly more deaths may be linked to an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe in coming weeks.
So far, the outbreak has caused at least 72 illnesses — including up to 16 deaths — in 18 states, making it the deadliest food outbreak in the United States in more than a decade.
The heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said consumers who have cantaloupes produced by Jensen Farms in Colorado should throw them out. If they are not sure where the fruit is from, they shouldn't eat it.
MORE: Listeria-Laced Cantaloupe: 6 Things You Need to Know
Neither the government nor Jensen Farms has supplied a list of retailers who may have sold the fruit. Officials say consumers should ask retailers about the origins of their cantaloupe. If they still aren't sure, they should get rid of it.
"If it's not Jensen Farms, it's OK to eat," said Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC. "But if you can't confirm it's not Jensen Farms, then it's best to throw it out."
Jensen Farms of Holly, Colo. says it shipped cantaloupes to 25 states, though the FDA has said it may be more, and illnesses have been discovered in several states that were not on the shipping list. A spokeswoman for Jensen Farms said the company's product is often sold and resold, so they do not always know where it went.
The recalled cantaloupes may be labeled "Colorado Grown," ''Distributed by Frontera Produce," ''Jensenfarms.com" or "Sweet Rocky Fords." Not all of the recalled cantaloupes are labeled with a sticker, the FDA said. The company said it shipped out more than 300,000 cases of cantaloupes that contained five to 15 melons, meaning the recall involved 1.5 million to 4.5 million pieces of fruit.
The FDA said none of the cantaloupes had been exported, reversing an earlier statement that some of the tainted melons had been shipped abroad.
MORE: Listeria Outbreak in Cantaloupes Is the Deadliest in a Decade
Frieden and FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said that illnesses are expected for weeks to come because the incubation period for listeria can be a month or even longer. That means that someone who ate contaminated cantaloupe last week may not get sick until next month. Jensen Farms last shipped cantaloupes on Sept. 10. The shelf life is about two weeks.
"We will see more cases likely through October," Hamburg said.
The Food and Drug Administration said state health officials found listeria in cantaloupes taken from Colorado grocery stores and from a victim's home that were grown at Jensen Farms. Matching strains of the disease were found on equipment and cantaloupe samples at Jensen Farms' packing facility in Granada, Colo.
Sherri McGarry, a senior adviser in the FDA's Office of Foods, said the agency is looking at the farm's water supply and possible animal intrusions among other things in trying to figure out how the cantaloupes became contaminated. Listeria bacteria grow in moist, muddy conditions and are often carried by animals.
MORE: What's Lurking in Your Meat and Poultry? Probably Staph
The health officials said this is the first known outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe. Listeria is generally found in processed meats and unpasteurized milk and cheese, though there have been a growing number of outbreaks in produce. Hamburg called the outbreak a "surprise" and said the agencies are studying it closely to find out how it happened.
Cantaloupe is often the source of outbreaks, however. Frieden said CDC had identified 10 other cantaloupe outbreaks in the last decade, most of them from salmonella.
Listeria is more deadly than well-known pathogens like salmonella and E. coli, though those outbreaks generally cause many more illnesses. Twenty-one people died in an outbreak of listeria poisoning in 1998 traced to contaminated hot dogs and possibly deli meats made by Bil Mar Foods, a subsidiary of Sara Lee Corp. Another large listeria outbreak, in 1985, killed 52 people and was linked to Mexican-style soft cheese.
Listeria generally only sickens the elderly, pregnant women and others with compromised immune systems. The CDC said the median age of those sickened is 78 and that 1 in 5 who contract the disease can die from it. Symptoms include fever and muscle aches, often with other gastrointestinal symptoms.
Unlike many pathogens, listeria bacteria can grow at room temperatures and even refrigerator temperatures. It is hardy and can linger long after the source of the contamination is gone — health officials say people who may have had the contaminated fruit in their kitchens should clean and sanitize any surfaces it may have touched.
MORE: See TIME's health and medicine covers.
The CDC said Tuesday that 13 deaths are linked to the tainted fruit. State and local officials say they are investigating three additional deaths that may be connected.
The death toll released by the CDC Tuesday surpassed the number of deaths linked to an outbreak of salmonella in peanuts almost three years ago. Nine people died in that outbreak. The CDC reported four deaths in New Mexico, two deaths each in Colorado and Texas and one death each in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Maryland.
New Mexico officials said Tuesday they are investigating a fifth death, while health authorities in Kansas and Wyoming said they too are investigating additional deaths possibly linked to the tainted fruit.
The CDC reported the 72 illnesses and deaths in 18 states. Cases of listeria were reported in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The most illnesses were reported in Colorado, which has seen 15 sickened. Fourteen illnesses were reported in Texas, 10 in New Mexico and eight in Oklahoma.
While most healthy adults can consume listeria with no ill effects, it can kill the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. It is also dangerous to pregnant women because it easily passes through to the fetus. The CDC's Frieden said that two of those sickened were pregnant women but they have since recovered.
—By MARY CLARE JALONICK
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Former Archbishop Hannan Who Gave JFK Eulogy Dies - ABC News

Phillip Matthew Hannan, the former New Orleans archbishop who sought to console a grieving nation with his eulogy for John F. Kennedy and who served more than three decades as the popular leader of his Roman Catholic archdiocese, has died on the 47th anniversary of his ordination.
The 98-year-old clergyman, who was in declining health for years, died peacefully before dawn Thursday. Hannan's body will lie in state at New Orleans Notre Dame seminary for three days starting Monday followed by a funeral mass Thursday afternoon at St. Louis Cathedral here.
Hannan was assigned to New Orleans in 1965 from Washington, where he had been an auxiliary bishop since 1956. When he went to inspect his future haunts at the ancient St. Louis Cathedral — in the riotous French Quarter teeming with tourists, street musicians, mimes and tarot card readers — he showed his unique humor as a churchman.
"This is the only city where an archbishop can walk into his cathedral while a band outside in Jackson Square is playing 'When the Saints Go Marching In,'" he famously quipped.
Hannan was the 11th archbishop in New Orleans history and its most active, combining conservative politics with generous service to the poor. When he turned 75 and had to retire as archbishop, he became president of WLAE-TV, the public television station he founded.
FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2009 file photo, Archbishops Francis Schulte, 82, left, and Phillip Hannan, 96, talk in St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the installation mass of Archbishop Gregory Aymond. Hannan, who gave the eulogy for President John F. Kennedy and later served more than three decades as the head of the New Orleans Roman Catholic Archdiocese, died peacefully early Thursday morning, Sept. 29, 2011. He was 98. (AP Photo/Judi Bottoni, File) Close
When Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963, the president's widow Jacqueline asked Hannan to deliver the eulogy because of his close personal relationship with the president, which dated to the 1940s. He also officiated at a quiet reburial of two Kennedy infants in 1964 so their bodies could be near their father's in Arlington National Cemetery. And in 1968, Hannan traveled again from New Orleans to give the graveside eulogy for Sen. Robert. F. Kennedy.
When Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died of cancer in 1994, Hannan was again at Arlington to preside at a brief service before her burial.
Highlights of his tenure as archbishop included the 1987 visit of Pope John Paul II — a visit that Hannan began angling for in 1984. After a while, said Hannan, "Every time he saw me, he'd simply say, 'New Orleans! New Orleans!'"
Hannan lost a struggle to block the "no nukes" pastoral letter approved by the nation's Catholic bishops in Chicago in 1983. He argued that the politics inherent in the letter could not help disarmament talks.
And he was outspoken in his opposition to legalized abortion. When Sen. Mary Landrieu was running for her first term in 1996, Hannan said it would be a sin to vote for her because of her support of abortion rights.
Despite what were labeled conservative views, Hannan had few peers in liberal social action.
He said he decided to push the diocese to serve the poor when he walked through the city's squalid public housing projects in 1965, shortly after his transfer from Washington.
Hannan created what was at the time the largest housing program for the elderly — 2,780 units — of any U.S. diocese. The archdiocese also operates one of the biggest Catholic Charities in the nation. When Hannan stepped down, its $20 million budget was helping more than 47,000 people a year.
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Jon Huntsman moving campaign headquarters from Florida to New Hampshire - Washington Post

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Jon Huntsman moving campaign headquarters from Florida to New HampshireText SizePrintE-mailReprints By Associated Press,

WASHINGTON — Jon Huntsman is moving his presidential campaign headquarters from Florida to New Hampshire, a sign that his struggling bid for the Republican nomination probably couldn’t survive a poor showing in the nation’s first primary contest.
The former Utah governor will close his national headquarters in Orlando, Fla., and open a new one in Manchester, N.H., his campaign said Thursday. He initially planned to campaign hard in two other early states, South Carolina and Florida.
Loading...CommentsWeigh InCorrections?( no / Associated Press ) - Republican presidential candidate former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman makes a statement during a debate, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011, in Orlando, Fla.

The move also shows that Huntsman has struggled to raise the money he needs to maintain the large, expensive staff he had hired in those three states.
“It is taking advantage of the chaotic nature of this primary by pushing resources where significant traction is beginning to occur,” Huntsman strategist John Weaver said in an email.
Weaver insisted that only two other candidates — former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry — are able to win the Republican presidential nomination. To win in New Hampshire, Huntsman would have to derail Romney, who is the heavy favorite.
“Making this extra push in New Hampshire is prudent and will make a big difference at this point of attack tactically for Gov. Huntsman,” Weaver said.
News of the move was first reported by The New York Times.
Huntsman is trailing far behind his Republican rivals in national polls, but he has seen some improvement in a recent poll of New Hampshire voters.
As part of the shakeup, Huntsman will lay off some staff members. His campaign manager, Matt David, will continue to run the campaign.
The campaign will maintain offices in South Carolina and in Florida. The new Manchester office is set to open in October.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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A 2012 boom for Cain, but winning will be tougher - Reuters

U.S. presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks to delegates during the Republican Party of Florida Presidency 5 Convention in Orlando, Florida September 24, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Phelan Ebenhack
By John Whitesides
WASHINGTON | Thu Sep 29, 2011 5:52pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Herman Cain is on a roll, the latest hot commodity in a constantly shifting 2012 Republican presidential race.
But turning that boomlet into long-term and broad support will be a very difficult task for a novice candidate with no money and a relatively meager campaign organization.
After a surprise win over leaders Rick Perry and Mitt Romney in a Florida Republican straw poll last weekend, Cain surged into third place in a national Fox News poll and earned lots of free publicity with a series of appearances on cable news shows.
Almost overnight, the former Godfather's Pizza CEO went from an afterthought to a legitimate voice in the 2012 race. But many analysts dismissed his straw poll win as more of a sign of unhappiness with the rest of the party's presidential field rather than an endorsement of Cain.
"The future is bright for Herman Cain. Do I think he's going to win the nomination? Absolutely not," Republican strategist Ford O'Connell said.
"But he's answering questions and he's resonating with voters while Romney and Perry are playing a partisan, bickering game of one-upmanship ," he said.
While Perry and Romney have battled at the top of the presidential field, Cain lurked until last week in single digits in the bottom tier of the Republican race, largely unnoticed except during debates.
But Perry has drawn conservative criticism for his views on immigration, and Romney has struggled to conquer conservative doubts about the healthcare overhaul he backed as governor of liberal Massachusetts.
Cain, meanwhile, appeals to social conservatives and Tea Party activists with his blunt views on social issues and a "999" proposal to drastically rewrite tax laws to create a 9 percent business tax, 9 percent individual tax and 9 percent national sales tax.
The Republican race for the right to face President Barack Obama in 2012 has seen several momentum changes already. Michele Bachmann had a short-lived boomlet after winning the Iowa straw poll in August, and Perry surged ahead of his rivals after entering the race last month only to drift back to the pack.
'FLAVOR OF THE WEEK'
Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee who has had her own ups and downs in the polls, had a blunt assessment of Cain earlier this week.
"I guess you could say, with all due respect, he's the flavor of the week," Palin said on Fox News.
Cain's critics have questioned his electability given his low name recognition, lack of political experience and lack of funds. But Cain, who is black, said he could capture a portion of the black vote if he challenged Obama and claimed blacks were "brainwashed" into supporting liberal Democrats.
"African-Americans have been brainwashed into not being open minded, not even considering a conservative point of view," Cain said on CNN. "I have received some of that same vitriol simply because I am running for the Republican nomination as a conservative."
Cain also said he would not endorse Perry, in part because of his policies on the Mexico border and immigration. Perry does not support building a border fence and has backed giving the children of illegal immigrants cheaper in-state tuition in Texas.
Given his longshot status, Cain also has benefited from a lack of scrutiny of his more controversial pronouncements, including his refusal to appoint a Muslim to his Cabinet and his suggestion alligators could be positioned in a moat on the U.S. border with Mexico.
To show long-term staying power in the race, Cain would have to prove he can raise more money and temper his controversial comments.
"Right now, Cain's surge is more of an indictment of Rick Perry and the other candidates," O'Connell said. "But he can leverage this momentum into a meaningful place in the forefront of the debate."
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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Conrad Murray Trial: 911 call played for jurors Thursday - CBS News

Conrad Murray and Alberto Alvarez
(Credit: CBS/Getty Images)
(CBS/AP) LOS ANGELES - Jurors in the trial of Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's personal physician, heard Thursday a 911 call placed by one of Jackson's bodyguards. Prosecutors allege the call was delayed by Murray's attempts at a cover-up.
Pictures: Who's who in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray
Pictures: Michael Jackson's Doctor Trial
Video: Dr. Conrad Murray manslaughter trial begins
Alberto Alvarez was the first bodyguard to reach Michael Jackson's bedroom after the singer's doctor called for help. He testified Thursday that he was told by the Dr. Conrad Murray to gather medicine vials before placing the 911 call.
Alberto Alvarez said Dr. Murray grabbed the vials from a nightstand next to Jackson, who was still in his bed.
"He said 'Here, put these in a bag."' Alvarez said of Murray. Alvarez said at first he thought he was bagging the items in preparation for a trip to the hospital. He said he trusted Murray because he was a doctor.
"In my personal experience, I believed Dr. Murray had the best intentions for Mr. Jackson," Alvarez said. "I didn't question his authority."
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren showed Alvarez and jurors a vial of propofol while the bodyguard was on the stand at the third day of Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial. Murray has pleaded not guilty.
Jurors intently looked at the bottle, which appeared to still contain some liquid.
Prosecutors are calling key witnesses in an attempt to show Murray delayed calling authorities on the day the King of Pop was found lifeless. They are trying to prove he was intent on concealing indications that he had been giving the singer doses of the surgical anesthetic.
At times during Alvarez's testimony, he looked directly at Murray, who occasionally passed notes to his attorney.
When he entered the bedroom, Alvarez said, he saw Jackson's eyes were open and was surprised to see the singer was wearing a condom catheter, a medical device that allows one to urinate without having to get up.
Alvarez testified that Murray only told him Jackson had a bad reaction.
Walgren played Alvarez's 911 call for jurors. "He's pumping the chest, but he's not responding to anything, sir," Alvarez told the dispatcher, urging them to send an ambulance quickly.
He said, after hanging up with dispatchers, he performed chest compressions on Jackson while Murray gave the singer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation efforts. The doctor remarked it was his first time performing the procedure.
"'I have to,"' Alvarez recalled Murray telling him, "'this is my friend."'
Earlier, Alvarez testified that Jackson was in good spirits at a rehearsal on the night before he died.
"He was very happy," Alvarez testified. "I do recall he was in very good spirits."
Prosecutors have been calling witnesses who were with Jackson and Murray the day the singer died.
Authorities accuse Murray of giving Jackson a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol in the bedroom.
The jury has already gotten a glimpse into the entertainer's inner sanctum through photos and testimony.
Alvarez's testimony will likely be challenged by Murray's defense attorneys, who on Wednesday questioned Jackson's head of security and the singer's personal assistant about why they didn't reveal certain details about the day Jackson died to police for at least two months.
Defense lawyer Ed Chernoff asked Faheem Muhammad and Michael Amir Williams about whether they conferred with Alvarez before their interviews with detectives.
Williams, who was Jackson's personal assistant, said his interview with detectives had been delayed. He testified that he received an urgent phone call from Murray on the day of Jackson's death but wasn't told to call 911.
He called Muhammad, who then dispatched Alvarez to Jackson's bedroom on the second floor of the singer's rented mansion in the ritzy Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. The room was off-limits to Jackson's staff and Muhammad paused before racing up the stairs after reaching the mansion just before paramedics arrived.
He described a heart-wrenching scene. By then, he said, Jackson had been removed from his bed and was on the floor, where Murray, sweaty and frantic, was performing CPR.
Alvarez was pacing nervously, Muhammad told the jury. When he saw Jackson up close, he understood why.
"What did you observe about his face," prosecutor David Walgren asked. "That his eyes were open," Muhammad said. "That his mouth was slightly open."
"Did he appear to be dead," Walgren asked.
"Yes."
The bodyguard soon noticed that Jackson's children, Prince and Paris, had gathered by the doorway.
"Paris was on the ground, balled-up crying," Muhammad said. He ushered the children out of the room and then into a sport utility vehicle so they could follow the ambulance to the hospital.
Some of the scenes recounted by Muhammad will likely be repeated Thursday as prosecutors work to fill in other details about Murray's behavior after finding Jackson unconscious.
Also expected to testify on Thursday are Kai Chase, a chef who spoke to Murray briefly on the morning of Jackson's death, and paramedics who also tried to revive the singer. The medics believed Jackson was already dead by the time they arrived, but Murray insisted the performer be taken to a hospital for additional resuscitation efforts.
Prosecutors contend Murray did not tell any of the bodyguards or emergency personnel that he had been giving Jackson propofol and other sedatives to help him sleep.
Chernoff claimed in opening statements that Jackson gave himself the lethal dose.
Much of the trial in later sessions will focus on the science of what killed Jackson and dueling theories of Murray's role.
Complete coverage of the Michael Jackson - Dr. Conrad Murray case on CBS News


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Alabama Immigration Law Should Stay on Hold, Groups Say - BusinessWeek

September 29, 2011, 4:16 PM EDT By Andrew Harris and Laurence Viele Davidson
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- New Alabama immigration laws cleared for enforcement by a U.S. judge should be blocked until a federal appeals court has reviewed legal challenges, a coalition of civil rights groups said.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Southern Poverty Law Center and other groups today asked U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn in Birmingham, Alabama, for an order staying application of those laws she deemed enforcible in a trio of rulings yesterday, while the organizations pursue an appeal.
Blackburn’s decision allows Alabama authorities to question the status of people detained or arrested, upon reasonable suspicion they’re in the U.S. illegally, and criminalizes an illegal resident’s failure to carry alien-registration papers.
Enforcement of the provisions will cause irreparable harm to people who have filed suit challenging the legislation signed into law by Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, the groups said in papers filed at the U.S. court in Birmingham today.
In a separate filing, the organizations said they are asking a federal appeals court in Atlanta to review Blackburn’s decision.
The U.S. Justice Department, which argued that only the federal government is authorized to set immigration policy, is reviewing Blackburn’s ruling, Xochitl Hinojosa, a spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
Federal Law
“We will continue to evaluate state immigration-related laws and will not hesitate to bring suit if, in fact, a state creates its own immigration policy or enforces state laws in a manner that interferes with federal immigration law,” she said.
Nothing in the federal Immigration and Nationality Act “expressly preempts states from legislating on the issue of verification of an individual’s citizenship and immigration status,” Blackburn said in her 115-page ruling. That provision was one she said “concerned her” often during a hearing last month, saying “it might lead to lawsuits.”
Bentley, a first-term Republican, signed the immigration measure into law on June 9. After the U.S. government, church leaders and civil rights groups sued to block it, Blackburn issued a provisional order barring its enforcement on Aug. 29, two days before it was scheduled to take effect.
Bentley, in a statement posted on his website, called the rulings a “victory” for Alabama. “The court agreed with us on a majority of the provisions that were challenged,” he said.
Collect Data
The Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, named in part for its sponsors, Senator Scott Beason of Gardendale and Representative Micky Hammon of Decatur, includes provisions requiring public schools to collect data on the enrollment of children of unlawful residents and criminalizing the failure of illegal immigrants to complete or carry alien registration documents.
Blackburn’s ruling allows Alabama to enforce that part of the law making failure to carry documentation a misdemeanor, as well as the school data portion of the law and a provision enabling police to take drivers arrested without a valid license before a magistrate for determination of their citizenship.
Unlicensed drivers found to be in the U.S. illegally can then be detained for prosecution or turned over to federal immigration agents.
The judge also let stand a provision making it a felony for illegal aliens to enter into business transactions with the state or any of its political subdivisions.
Feeding Needy
Episcopal Bishop Henry Parsley is a member of one of four Christian groups that sued the state in a separate case, saying the law barred their mission to feed and transport the needy. Yesterday’s decision blocks the state from criminalizing such activities.
The group claims a win. By temporarily stopping enforcement of the law’s provision making it illegal to transport or house an undocumented immigrant, the ruling gave the clergy what they sought, said Parsley’s lawyer Augusta Dowd.
“We can conduct our Christian ministries without interference from the state,” Parsley’s attorney, Augusta Dowd, said in a phone interview.
Blackburn issued separate rulings in each of the challenges to the legislation. While her rulings in the church leaders’ case closely tracked those in the U.S. lawsuit decision, the judge faced different issues in a case pressed by lawyers from the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
‘Significant’ Ruling
She blocked a state law provision barring those who are in the U.S. illegally from enrolling in public colleges or being eligible for scholarships and financial aid and requiring any aliens enrolled to have lawful permanent resident status or an appropriate visa.
“I think that’s a significant ruling,” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said in a telephone interview.
“The court acknowledged candidly that in upholding several of the provisions, her decision was in square conflict with those of several other courts,” Gelernt said. “The court also did not discount the very real harms that people in Alabama will suffer as a result of the law.”
“Setting immigration policy and enforcing immigration laws is a national responsibility that cannot be addressed through a patchwork of state immigration laws,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in an Aug. 1 statement when the federal government sued Alabama.
Defending the measure in court filings, Alabama argued that the U.S. sought an unprecedented application of the doctrine of preemption, to prevent the state from legislating upon what the U.S. asserts is a strictly federal matter.
Lawsuits Filed
“Lawsuits have been filed in every state that has passed a strong immigration law,” Bentley said in an Aug. 1 statement e- mailed to Bloomberg News.
“The federal government did not do what it was supposed to do to enforce laws against illegal immigration,” the governor said. “That is why I campaigned on the need for a strong immigration law in Alabama. The legislature passed that law and I signed it. I will continue fighting at every turn to make sure we have a strong immigration law in Alabama.”
Blackburn consolidated the three lawsuits before hearing argument Aug. 24 on the challenges brought by the U.S., church leaders and the ACLU. She dissolved the consolidation order to ease appellate review two days after issuing her Aug. 29 ruling blocking enforcement of the measure.
The cases are Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama v. Bentley, 5:11-cv-2484, Parsley v. Bentley, 5:11-cv-2736, and U.S. v. Bentley, 5:11-cv-2746, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Alabama (Birmingham).
--Editors: Mary Romano, Steve Farr
To contact the reporters on this story: Andrew Harris in Chicago at aharris16@bloomberg.net; Laurence Viele Davidson in Atlanta at lviele@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net.
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With Germany in Fold, Slovakia Is Next Hurdle for the Euro Fund - New York Times

By passing the measure, Germany promised to increase its share of the loan guarantees to 211 billion euros, or about $287 billion, from 123 billion euros, as agreed by national leaders in Brussels back in July. Under the euro zone’s tortuous procedures, however, all 17 European Union countries that use the euro must approve the agreement, a process that has revealed ever more fissures, layers of decision-making and political complexity that add up to a worrisome inability to react quickly and decisively to upheaval in fast-moving financial markets.
“The markets see that Europe cannot decide anything quickly, and uncertainty is always an inducement to speculation,” said Gustav Horn, director of the Macroeconomic Policy Institute in Düsseldorf, Germany.
The process also leaves the European Union potentially hostage to its smaller members. A significant hurdle was overcome when Finland on Wednesday passed the bailout fund despite domestic objections and an unresolved dispute over its demand for collateral from Greece.
Similar fears have been voiced about Slovakia, an impoverished nation from the former Communist bloc whose people suffered mightily to adopt the euro and have little stomach for bailing out richer countries like Greece. Some leading politicians there have been highly critical of the agreement, and the governing coalition itself is divided about supporting the fund.
The speaker of Parliament in Slovakia, Richard Sulik, has said he will do whatever he can to stop the bailout fund from coming to a vote, even as advocates have desperately sought a compromise.
But the combined pressure of the euro zone members will probably be more than Mr. Sulik and other opponents can bear. A spokeswoman for Parliament, Beata Skyvova, said that the speaker and the prime minister met on Thursday, but that no deal had been announced.
Analysts have already said that the fund, even if it passes all 17 countries, would likely be too small to defend against attacks on deeply indebted European nations. Nevertheless, while the German vote perhaps offered nothing more than momentary relief, it was the crucial step to move the fight forward to the next stage.
“Without Germany’s participation, nothing would have been possible,” said Mr. Horn. “This project would have been dead.”
For the beleaguered German leader, Angela Merkel, Thursday’s vote represented a sorely needed victory. Mrs. Merkel has been sharply criticized for her opposition to economic stimulus and disparaged over her slow reaction to the crisis. Under her stewardship, the project of European integration seems to move forward only when forced by circumstances and specifically by financial markets. Yet step by tentative step, move forward it has.
In the historic Reichstag building, graffiti from Red Army soldiers who conquered the capital of Nazi Germany still adorn the walls. Outside the Reichstag, the home of the German Parliament, a protester held up a sign reading “Europe Finance Suicide Fund,” a play on the name for the bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.
“The chancellor’s path is extremely contentious, with the public plainly opposed because it is unclear what limit there is to how far Germany has to jump in to cover Greece’s debt,” said Werner J. Patzelt, a political scientist at the Technical University in Dresden.
The German public is staunchly against paying the debts of other Europeans, stereotyped in the media here as spendthrifts compared to the virtuously parsimonious Germans. But as Europe’s largest economy, Germany is the only nation with the fiscal wherewithal to pull fellow countries in the euro zone out of trouble.
Government statistics Thursday showed that even as economic growth has stalled unemployment continued to fall in Germany, defying the trend that has pushed joblessness higher across Europe but particularly in recession-stricken economies like Greece and Spain. The Federal Labor Agency reported the unemployment rate dropped to 6.6 percent in September from 7 percent in August.
Germany continues to preach savings over stimulus to contain the debt crisis, withstanding sustained pressure from American policymakers, instead opting for the path of fiscal discipline supported by Holland and Finland.
“We here in Germany are now on the right path, and the rest of Europe has recognized that,” said Joachim Pfeiffer, a member of parliament from Mrs. Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union. “Just a year ago we were still fiercely criticized, including by the Americans. Today, Germany is the model for Europe.”
Stefan Pauly contributed reporting.
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Vehicles for terror: Mass. case shows a new tool - CBS News

(AP)  BOSTON — Model airplanes are suddenly on the public's radar as potential terrorist weapons.
A Muslim American from suburban Boston was arrested Wednesday and accused of plotting to attack the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol with remote-controlled model planes packed with explosives.
These are not balsa-wood-and-rubber-band toys investigators are talking about. The FBI said Rezwan Ferdaus hoped to use military-jet replicas, 5 to 7 1/2 feet long, guided by GPS devices and capable of speeds over 100 mph.
Federal officials have long been aware of the possibility someone might try to use such planes as weapons, but there are no restrictions on their purchase — Ferdaus is said to have bought his over the Internet.
Counterterrorism experts and model-aircraft hobbyists said it would be nearly impossible to inflict large-scale damage of the sort Ferdaus allegedly envisioned using model planes. The aircraft are too small, can't carry enough explosives and are too tricky to fly, they said.
"The idea of pushing a button and this thing diving into the Pentagon is kind of joke, actually," said Greg Hahn, technical director of the Academy of Model Aeronautics.
Rick Nelson, former Navy helicopter pilot who is now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Ferdaus would have had to hit a window or other vulnerable area to maximize damage, and that would have taken precision flying.
"Flying a remote-controlled plane isn't as easy as it actually looks, and then to put an explosive on it and have that explosive detonate at the time and place that you want it add to the difficulty of actually doing it," he said.
Ferdaus, 26, of Ashland, was arrested after federal agents posing as al Qaida members delivered what he believed was 24 pounds of C-4 explosive, authorities said. He was charged with attempting to damage or destroy a federal building with explosives.
Ferdaus had a physics degree from Northeastern University and enjoyed "taking stuff apart" and "learning on my own," according to court papers.
The model planes Ferdaus eyed were the F-4 Phantom and the F-86 Sabre, small-scale versions of military jets, investigators said. The F-4 is the more expensive of the two, at up to $20,000, Hahn said. The F-86, one of which Ferdaus actually obtained, costs $6,000 to $10,000 new.
Ferdaus' plan, as alleged in court papers, was to launch three such planes from a park near the Pentagon and Capitol and use GPS to direct them toward the buildings, where they would detonate on impact and blow the Capitol dome to "smithereens." He planned to pack five pounds of plastic explosives on each plane, according to prosecutors.
James Crippin, an explosives and anti-terrorism expert, said that much C-4 could do serious damage — a half-pound will obliterate a car. But he said getting a stable explosive like C-4 to blow up at the right time would have been hugely difficult.
And there were slim prospects of causing any serious damage to buildings like the Pentagon and Capitol, which are undoubtedly hardened to withstand explosions, according to Crippin, director of the Western Forensic Law Enforcement Training Center.
"Basically, I think he's suffering from delusions of grandeur," he said.
Hahn said the heavier of the two models Ferdaus was allegedly planning to use could carry a maximum of two pounds of plastic explosive before malfunctioning. That's not including the weight of any GPS system, he added.
"It's almost impossible for him to get this done," he said.
Remote-controlled aircraft have been considered by terrorists before. In 2008, Christopher Paul of Ohio pleaded guilty to plotting terrorist attacks in the U.S. and Europe using explosive devices. Prosecutors said he researched remote-controlled boats and a remote-controlled 5-foot-long helicopter.
And after Sept. 11, federal agents asked the Academy of Model Aeronautics' 143,000 members to watch for any fellow enthusiasts who might be buying planes with bad intentions.
Well before the Massachusetts arrest, police in Montgomery County, Md., put out a terrorist warning to hobby shops to be aware of customers "who don't appear to be hobbyists" buying model airplanes with cash and asking how they can be modified to carry a device.
The Federal Aviation Administration is devising new rules for model airplanes and other unmanned aircraft, but the restrictions are aimed primarily at preventing collisions. Under current FAA rules, such planes are generally limited to flying below 400 feet and away from airports and air traffic.
Massachusetts prosecutor Gerry Leone, who handled the prosecution of would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid, said terrorists are always building bombs out of common, legitimate items, and imposing restrictions on buying model aircraft would not make sense simply because of this one case.
But he said law enforcement might want be more vigilant about such purchases.
Similarly, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said recent advances in model airplane technology could make them more attractive to terrorists. But he said the answer is better intelligence, not trying to regulate hobbyists and their toys.
"Kids have them, people fly them, groups are organized just to engage in this type of pastime activity," the congressman said. "It would be almost impossible to regulate the little engines and things, propellers."
___
Associated Press writers Denise Lavoie in Boston and Chris Hawley in New York and AP broadcast correspondent Sagar Meghani in Washington contributed to this report.
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BofA Plans $5 Monthly Fee for Some Debit-Cards - Bloomberg

Enlarge image A man walks past a Bank of America Corp. ATM in Charlotte, North Carolina.

A man walks past a Bank of America Corp. ATM in Charlotte, North Carolina. Photographer: Chris Keane/Bloomberg

Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the biggest U.S. lender by assets, plans to announce a $5 monthly charge for some debit-card users to recoup revenue lost after new federal rules capped so-called swipe fees.

Customers with lower-tiered accounts, including the firm’s online-banking option, may start getting assessed the fee for debit-card purchases in January, said Anne Pace, a Bank of America spokeswoman. Users won’t be charged for cash-machine withdrawals, and clients with premium accounts including those linked to the Merrill Lynch brokerage aren’t affected, she said.

Bank of America, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is joining rivals including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI) in rolling out new charges for debit- card users. The Federal Reserve’s rules limiting swipe fees, or interchange, take effect next month. Banking industry representatives have said the changes enrich merchants while penalizing lower-income consumers.

“One of the unintended consequences is that this would disproportionately harm lower-income individuals,” said Trish Wexler, a spokeswoman for the Electronic Payments Coalition, which represents banks and networks. “If you can’t afford $5 a month, you’re going to stop using your debit card.”

The Fed capped debit-card swipe fees at 21 cents starting Oct. 1. It will let issuers tack on five basis points, or 0.05 percent, of each transaction, or almost 2 cents based on the average debit purchase of $38, and a conditional 1-cent adjustment for lenders that follow fraud-prevention standards.

The cap, mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, replaces a formula that averages 1.14 percent of the purchase price, or about 44 cents. The limit may reduce annual revenue at the biggest U.S. banks by $8 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg Government show.

“The economics of offering a debit card have changed with recent regulations, and we’ve decided to introduce a monthly fee for customers who use their debit cards for purchases,” Pace said today in an interview.

Earlier this year, Bank of America introduced five new accounts where users pay fees unless they keep minimum balances, make regular deposits, use credit cards or take advantage of online services. The offerings are designed to reward clients who have multiple relationships with the bank.

Only the top two tiers of accounts -- dubbed Premium and Platinum Privileges and requiring $20,000 and $50,000, respectively, in combined balances -- will be spared from the new debit fees, which could total $60 a year per customer, Pace said. Those with an existing account for college students called CampusEdge will also be exempt, she said.

Wells Fargo, the second-biggest debit-card issuer after Bank of America, is testing a $3 monthly debit-card fee in some markets, the lender said last month.

Citigroup Inc. (C), the third-largest U.S. bank, said this month that it wouldn’t charge additional fees for debit-card usage.

“Unlike many of our competitors, we will not charge fees that discourage use or make it unreasonably expensive to take advantage of the tools and services that consumers say are important,” said Stephen Troutner, head of U.S. banking products for Citigroup.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hugh Son in New York at hson1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Kraut at dkraut2@bloomberg.net

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Occupy Wall Street and the limits of spontaneous street protest - The Guardian

Participants in last Saturday's Occupy Wall Street march. Photograph: Tina Fineberg/AP
Those who, like me, expected the Occupy Wall Street protest to fizzle out, or be actively stomped out, after just a few days, have been surprised to see that after nearly two weeks, it is still going strong. Recent confrontations with the police – especially the 'pepper spray' incidents – have emboldened protesters and stimulated the kind of media attention many supporters complained was lacking in the demonstration's early days.
It is hard to disagree with Doug Henwood and others that insofar as any political ideology can be discerned from the protest, it would be the flavor du jour of American anti-corporate populism. But, in the absence of anything else, that's been enough to draw leftwing luminaries from Michael Moore, to Roseanne Barr, to Cornel West.
Sure, the fact that people are angered enough by the largely unpenalised greed and venality of major financial institutions to camp out in Zuccotti Park indefinitely is certainly a welcome development. But the protest leaves unanswered a number of questions about just what kind of effort it would take to create a more just society. The statement of purpose for the demonstration reads:

"The beauty of this new formula, and what makes this novel tactic exciting, is its pragmatic simplicity. [W]e talk to each other in various physical gatherings and virtual people's assemblies … we zero in on what our one demand will be, a demand that awakens the imagination and, if achieved, would propel us toward the radical democracy of the future …"

On a screen, this message has a sort of melodic appeal; in practice, its shortcomings are thrown into relief. Josh Sternberg of Mediaite.com, who visited the protest on Wednesday, noted:

"As of now, it's a haphazard process, as there's no leadership, no message. Nothing but a group of a few hundred people – and of that group, I saw about 10 to 15 actually take charge of something – trying to figure out what they're doing."

In addition to underscoring the folly of the current fascination with the "leaderless" protest, this illustrates the more general problem with the impulse on the American left to be "doing something" – without necessarily much idea of what that should be. We may be looking at what Liza Featherstone, Doug Henwood and Christian Parenti aptly termed "activistism" in their 2002 essay, "Action Will Be Taken":

"This brave new ideology combines the political illiteracy of hyper-mediated American culture with all the moral zeal of a 19th-century temperance crusade. In this worldview, all roads lead to more activism and more activists. And the one who acts is righteous.
"The activistists seem to borrow their philosophy from the factory boss in a Heinrich Böll short story who greets his employees each morning with the exhortation 'Let's have some action.' To which the workers obediently reply: 'Action will be taken!'"

Where, to their credit, the Wall Street occupiers differ from the "activistists" described by Featherstone et al is in their attempt to think of change in much broader, systemic terms – as muddled as their demands may be. But what they have in common with "activistism" is a misunderstanding of the relationship of the movement to the demonstration.
The parallels being drawn by protesters and some of the media between Occupy Wall Street and the Tahrir Square uprising in Egypt that began early this year are revealing. As Patrick Glennon writes for In These Times:

"The activists behind Occupy Wall Street hope to emulate the success of Tahrir Square, which was an integral force in the dethroning of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last February. In Cairo's case, the occupied square became the most compelling symbol of the country's spontaneous rebellion against its autocratic leader."

But just what is the parallel here? It seems more stylistic and rhetorical than anything else. After all, we now know the uprising in Egypt to have been anything but spontaneous. "Spontaneous" is a label frequently applied by the media to describe insurgencies that to them appear to have come out of nowhere. In fact, the circulation among Egyptian protestors of a 26-page leaflet providing a blueprint for action suggests a great deal of foresight and preparation by organisers. As Robert Dreyfuss of the Nation wrote:

"Contrary to some media reports, which have portrayed the upsurge in Egypt as a leaderless rebellion, a fairly well-organised movement is emerging to take charge, comprising students, labor activists, lawyers, a network of intellectuals, Egypt's Islamists, a handful of political parties and miscellaneous advocates for 'change'."

Which brings us to my central point: what is the purpose of protest? As history shows, protests can certainly be effective in winning concessions from those in power, but only to the extent that they are representative of broader movements. When it is effective, protest itself is little more than the public expression of a major social mobilisation already organised.
In all probability, Occupy Wall Street will achieve no measurable political change; the best-case scenario for participants is that they will leave Wall Street with wind in their sails. The scope has already widened as plans emerge for similar protests in cities like Boston and Los Angeles. These protests, though, will continue to draw from a relatively narrow pool of self-selecting participants. And without any clear definition of goals or constituency, without organisation of a leadership structure or an attempt to form coalitions with established movements, they are likely to skew towards a voluntaristic politics of "witness-bearing". The endorsement that protesters received Thursday from the New York Transit Workers Union is a major step in the right direction, but without more support and links like this, they risk remaining isolated from the broad class-based movement that is needed to alter the shape of the American political and economic terrain – a movement that can unite the 99% against the 1%, to use their supporters' formulation.
The advent of "hashtag activism" has been greeted with breathless claims about the birth of a new form of technology-based social movement. While such technologies can be extremely useful tools, they do not represent alternatives to the exhausting, age-old work of meeting people where they are, hearing their concerns, reaching common ground, building trust and convincing them that it is in their interests to act politically to change their circumstances. There are no shortcuts here; or to put it another way, it's not the protests that matter, but what happens in the time in between.
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