Pearl Harbor group plans to disband

Pearl Harbor group plans to disband

pearl harbor, hawaii

In wheelchairs and using walkers, the old veterans came Wednesday to remember the day 70 years ago when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. But FDR’s “date that will live in infamy” is becoming a distant memory.

Fewer and fewer veterans who experienced the attack Dec. 7, 1941, are alive to mark the anniversaries and most of them are in their 90s, many prevented by health problems from traveling to Hawaii. One survivors’ group said it would disband because age and infirmity made it too difficult to carry on.

“People had other things that they wanted to do with the remainder of their lives,” Pearl Harbor Survivors Association president William Muehleib said. “It was time.”

GM targets changes for Volt battery

detroit

General Motors is formulating changes to its Chevrolet Volt battery that could prevent fires from starting days after crashes, two people familiar with the situation said, as engineers scramble to help the government complete its investigation of the car.

GM is weeks, not months, away from announcing any fixes to the battery, the sources agreed. Once it settles on a solution, the automaker must decide whether to recall the Volt and make changes to all 10,000 on the road and at dealerships, or just to implement the fix in batteries coming out of its Brownstown Township, Mich., factory.

Simpler credit-card agreement tried out

washington

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday released a prototype of a credit-card agreement that’s written in plain English. The idea is to sweep away the legalese and make it easier for consumers to understand a card’s costs and terms.

The agency is asking for the public’s feedback on the form, which can be found at: www.consumerfinance.gov/credit-cards/knowbeforeyouowe.

Fixated on Europe

new york

Investor anticipation is building ahead of meetings in Europe today and Friday that are being billed as a possible turning point for the continent’s bruising economic crisis.

In advance of the emergency meetings among leaders from all European Union nations, French leader Nicholas Sarkozy and German leader Angela Merkel wrote a joint letter Wednesday saying that “steps need to be taken now without further delay.”

Stock trading has nearly ground to a halt this week, with major stock indexes barely budging as investors wait to see what Europe’s next move is. Analysts and politicians warn that failing to stem the government debt crisis could put the future of the euro currency in doubt.

Law limits students’ gifts to teachers

montgomery, ala.

An Alabama teacher who accepts a Christmas ham or a $25 gift card from a student is breaking Alabama’s ethics law. The possible penalty? Up to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine for the teacher who accepts the gift.

The law, which took effect earlier this year and is considered one of the toughest in the country, limits what public officials and employees can receive as gifts to a “de minimis” value, but it doesn’t define that amount. .

The sponsor of the law, Republican Sen. Bryan Taylor, said it protects teachers against accusations of favoritism to students who give them big gifts and avoids embarrassment for low-income students.

Combined dispatches