N.J. City Seeks Legal Actions for Quick Toxic Metals Testing

 Story first reported from USA Today

A New Jersey city says it has lost faith in environmental regulators and is taking legal action to protect residents from contamination around an old factory site featured in a USA TODAY investigation.

The Borough of Carteret has hired a private attorney to enforce pollution laws and filed a required notice of its intent to sue the owners of the former U.S. Metals Refining Co., which operated the factory for decades until closing in 1986.

The borough's action seeks to ensure the company quickly investigates toxic metal contamination in the yards of nearby homes. In April, USA TODAY reported the findings of its own soil tests in the neighborhood, which showed potentially dangerous levels of lead. The newspaper examined the Carteret site and dozens of others nationwide as part of an ongoing investigation of contamination around former lead factory sites. A cpm analysis firm says that regular testing should have been a standard, and governmental entities should have monitored testing.

Carteret mayor Daniel Reiman says the residents have tired of waiting, and thus, taken matters into their own hands.

Negotiations are underway to have the company test "hundreds" of private and public properties in Carteret, Reiman said Monday.

Officials with Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., the corporate parent of U.S. Metals, had no comment on Carteret's legal actions. In a statement, the company said it plans to begin soil testing of residential yards and public properties within a half-mile of the former smelter later this year.

Samplings will help determine whether, and to what extent U.S. Metals contributed to lead levels in the area soil the company said, noting that other potential sources include lead-based paint and cars that once burned leaded gasoline.

The company said its investigation will be overseen by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The department ordered the company to do testing in December, after being contacted by USA TODAY.

Carteret officials said they want to ensure the investigation is done right and doesn't drag out, which is why they are taking action privately to enforce the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Failures by U.S. Metals and regulators to protect Carteret residents for decades "make clear there is no basis to believe that state action will result in abatement of the imminent and substantial danger," the borough said in its required RCRA notification letter to the company and regulators .

Records show that the state DEP failed for nearly 24 years to enforce its own order requiring the kind of off-site soil sampling that is now planned.

In 1988, after U.S. Metals ceased operations, the DEP issued a cleanup order requiring, among other things, that the company investigate the extent of contamination emanating from its property, records show. The massive factory complex refined copper and other metals from about 1901 to 1986, records show, and had spewed toxic metals into the air for decades.

Even though homes were across the street, the company's cleanup focused on the 160-acre factory property. U.S. Metals never tested nearby yards where children could be exposed to toxic lead fallout by putting dusty hands or toys in their mouths. Ingesting even small amounts of lead can cause lost intelligence, attention disorders and other health problems, studies show.

USA TODAY's soil tests in the closest neighborhood found 21 locations where lead contamination ranged from 400 to nearly 1,000 parts per million. The EPA's hazard level is 400 ppm for bare soil where children play. But California environmental health officials have set a more protective standard of 80 ppm, which their modeling shows is necessary to protect children who regularly play in the dirt from losing up to one I.Q. point.

U.S. Metals has focused on the former factory property because that's "where metal concentrations in the soil were highest," the company said in Monday's statement. Lead contamination on site was as high as 400,000 ppm, records show.

In December, after being contacted by USA TODAY, the DEP sent a letter to the company  requiring they develop an off-site testing plan for Carteret's residential areas. Carteret is across a marine channel from New York City's Staten Island.

DEP spokesman Larry Hajna said last week he did not immediately know why enforcement of the 1988 order didn't previously include the off-site neighborhood testing.

Records obtained under New Jersey's open records law show the state's failure to require off-site testing was flagged in a 2008 report filed with the DEP by a company that owned an industrial property adjacent to the U.S. Metals site. The report by an environmental consulting firm said its review of regulators' files found that U.S. Metals "did not delineate these impacts beyond its current property boundary even though it was required to do so" under the 1988 order.

The 2008 report also noted that U.S. Metals appears to have failed in filings with the state to "disclose the full extent of its historic operations including the lead smelter plant facility." A copy of a 1950 fire insurance map showing a "lead plant"  operated by U.S. Metals is included in the report as proof.

Reiman was surprised to hear that U.S. Metals had a plant that processed lead in addition to copper. "They've always taken the position that lead was a byproduct of copper smelting," he said.

The DEP did not respond to USA TODAY's questions about the lead plant or the company's compliance with the 1988 state cleanup order.

The company said it interpreted the 1988 order to "determine the horizontal extent of pollution at and/or emanating from the site" as only applying to pollution that is physically located at the factory site and also migrating from the site to other properties. The company said that all of its actions have been done with the state's "oversight and direction."

The lead plant was a "small part" of U.S. Metals operations, the company said in a statement Monday night. The plant smelted lead and tin and "the visible part of the smoke" was controlled with equipment. The lead plant parcel of land was sold in 1960, the company said, adding that the "process" used at the plant — "describing it as a recycling process … to produce solder" was mentioned in a 1988 report U.S. Metals gave to regulators.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., pointed to the Environmental Protection Agency's failure to address contamination around the U.S. Metals site at a Senate committee hearing earlier this month on the dangers of lead poisoning, and noted it was just one of more than 230 such sites highlighted by USA TODAY's reporting.

The federal environmental law that borough officials seek to enforce requires that formal notice be given to the company, EPA and certain other agencies 90 days in advance of any litigation. Carteret filed its notice on April 26, a week after USA TODAY published its "Ghost Factories" series, which featured the newspaper's soil test results in 21 neighborhoods in 13 states around old factory sites, including the homes near U.S. Metals. "It was a result of USA TODAY bringing this to the forefront," Reiman said.

The 90-day waiting period ended last week. Bradley Campbell, the environmental attorney who represents Carteret, said he expects to know within the next 30 days whether a solution can be negotiated without filing the RCRA lawsuit.

Campbell is the former commissioner of the New Jersey DEP and a former EPA regional administrator.

Data was not immediately available on how often private RCRA enforcement actions are pursued by individuals or municipalities. The EPA said in a statement that each week it receives several notices of intent to sue under the RCRA statute. Not all of the notices result in litigation, the agency said.

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Missouri Bomb Threats Close Walmarts

 Story first reported from Detroit Free Press

At least seven Walmarts across Missouri were evacuated this week because of bomb threats, KCTV reports.

Stores in Gladstone, Raytown, Nixa, Ozark, Jefferson City, St. Peters and Piedmont all received threats Friday evening.

Dan Fogleman, a spokesman for Walmart, told The Kansas City Star that any retail establishment may be subject to such an event. He added however that it was uncommon for so many to be threatened in one evening.

"We're concerned anytime someone makes a threat that may endanger our customers," Fogleman told the paper. "We're grateful that no one was injured and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience. We will work very closely with police in these jurisdictions."

It is unknown if police are investigating the threats as being connected, according to KCTV.

Recently, similar incidents have affected other parts of the country.

Two Walmart stores in Tulsa received bomb threats on the same day in June, The Kansas City Star reports.

Two Wal-Mart stores in Newton County, Ga., were closed for about three hours last month after a threat phoned into a 911 dispatch center said a bomb was planted in a Wal-Mart without identifying which one. No bomb was found.

In Detroit, recent bomb threats closed Detroit's Ambassador Bridge linking the city to Windsor, Ont.

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Syncing Sleep With Olymipics Schedule

Story first reported from Huffington Post

Olympic fever is about to descend. The 2012 opening ceremonies on Friday will kick off 17 days packed with 3,147 events and 304 gold medals.

The only hitch? The timing. With events starting as early as 4 a.m. EST (that's 1 a.m. PST), the 200 million Americans expected to tune in for at least some of the Games could find themselves at risk for serious sleep problems. Those on the East Coast will be setting the alarm for early wake up calls to catch their favorite sports (especially 9 to 5-ers for whom this might be the only time to watch the Olympics), while those on the West Coast will be burning the midnight oil, both inevitably watching from their bedroom furniture and mattresses.

Michael Decker, Ph.D., an associate professor at Georgia State University and spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, says people are eager to wake up at 5 a.m. to watch Olympians, but unlike Olympians, we’re not used a 5 a.m. workout.

And the inevitable result will be sleep loss, which can affect daytime performance and, over the long term, our health in very profound ways.

When sleeping, we cycle through five stages, the first of which are called stages one through four, with REM sleep being the fifth and final stage, explains Michael J. Breus, Ph.D., HuffPost blogger and author of "The Sleep Doctor's Diet Plan." Each cycle takes about 90 minutes, and the average person should go through about five of them over the course of the night (that adds up to seven and a half hours). But the purpose and significance of each stage changes through the night -- while the physically restorative early stages happen more frequently at the beginning of our sleep process, the mentally restorative REM sleep happens more often in the later cycles.

And missing out on that REM sleep by waking up after, say, four hours of rest can mean that while you're physically functioning, your cognitive performance is paying the price, making you more forgetful and, ultimately, less productive. On top of that, feeling tired can lead to poor eating choices the day after. And, over time, you can develop bad sleeping habits that remain far past the Olympics -- and too little rest can ultimately lead to problems with memory, mood, weight, cardiovascular health and immune function, to name a few.

The best solution, according to all the experts who spoke to HuffPost on the topic, is technology.

Breus recommends using a device to record the games, to watch at your leisure, like TiVo.

Joe Ojile, M.D., founder and CEO of the Clayton Sleep Institute in St. Louis, Missouri and a board member of the National Sleep Foundation, agrees that taping or DVRing is your best bet. Another sleep solution can be finding a more restful mattress set, if necessary.

But for die-hard fans, for whom nothing but live will do, there are a few ways to be both well-rested and a loyal fan. One short-term solution is to start by mapping out just a couple of days when you really want to be up at an odd hour, and then stock up on shuteye in advance.

Decker says if you get 8 hours of sleep the day before, two days of less-than-optimal sleep is ok.

If you're up early, try to capture some bright light for a few minutes first thing to signal to your brain that it's time to be awake -- a light therapy machine or good old-fashioned sunshine will do the trick. And if you're watching an event late at night, remember that your brain won't immediately flip the switch from an excitement-packed game on a bright 60-inch television to falling asleep -- Ojile suggests scheduling time to wind down in between. A short nap -- 30 minutes to an hour tops, and not too close to bedtime -- can also help to boost your total sleep hours for the day, he says.

And if you still end up warping your sleep schedule to accommodate the Olympics, the result could be a case of social jet lag, where your internal clock is shifted without actually traveling a bit -- or, in this case, what Breus calls "Olympic jet lag."

The best way to realign your clock is to practice some basic sleep hygiene -- if you've pushed your clock forward by staying up late, expose yourself to bright light first thing in the morning. If you've done the opposite and pushed your clock back, seek out that light in the late afternoon, Ojile says.

Set a regular wake time and stick to it in the days following the Olympics, avoid drinking caffeine in the late afternoon and make sure your bedroom is cool and dark, Decker adds. Altering your sleep schedules can sometimes trigger insomnia, causing you to awaken before you should -- a sleep mask and ear plugs can assist in re-training the brain.

Ultimately, Breus explains, it should take your body about the same amount of time to readjust after the Olympics as it would if you'd actually traveled to London -- about one day per time zone, or hour, difference. But whatever you do, don't cope by loading up on caffeine, which will only mask the problem and lead to a host of long-term health issues.

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Drought Brings Turf Painting to Thirsty Lawns

Story first reported from the Associated Press

When this summer's drought turned her prized lawn brown, Terri LoPrimo fought back, but not with sprinklers: She had it painted green, making her suddenly lush-appearing yard the envy of her neighborhood.

The Staten Island, N.Y., resident and her husband, Ronnie, hired a local entrepreneur to spruce up their yard by spraying it with a deep-green organic dye. By Monday, the couple's property was aglow with newly green blades of grass and no watering needed to sustain it.

"It looks just like a spring lawn, the way it looks after a rain. It's really gorgeous," said LoPrimo, a 62-year-old retiree.

With two-thirds of the nation covered by a drought that stretches from coast to coast, residents and businesses in normally well-watered areas are catching on to the lawn-painting practice employed for years in the West and Southwest to give luster to faded turf.

LoPrimo paid $125 to green up her roughly 830-square-foot lawn. She said it was worth every penny to keep her home of 33 years graced by an attractive yard.

Neighbors and friends have complimented the LoPrimos on their lawn's appearance, and she said one envious friend asked for the number of their contractor, Joe Perazzo.

Perazzo, who teaches physical education at Brooklyn's High School of Sports Management, began painting lawns during his summer break three years ago. His Staten Island company, Grass Is Greener Lawn Painting, has touched up close to 20 lawns this summer, making it his best year to date.

He charges 15 cents per square foot to spray on a non-toxic, environmentally friendly turf dye that he said is commonly used on golf courses and athletic fields to give them a lusher appearance.

Perazzo said the dyed lawns will hold their verdant look for a few months, in some cases up to five months.

Kansas City, Mo.-based Missouri Turf Paint Inc. has been selling latex turf paints for more than 40 years. Company president Jon Graves said his primary customers are golf courses looking to keep their greens attractive and athletic fields "getting ready for show time."

But he said he's seen a slight increase this year in calls from people interested in either greening up residential lawns or wanting to get into the lawn-painting business.

In the frequently parched Phoenix area, Brian Howland has been painting lawns for about five years as a side business to his full-time job with a sign- and banner-making company.

Howland said he started Arizona Lawn Painting after the foreclosure crisis left scores of 

Phoenix-area homes empty and their lawns neglected. He charges $200 for up to 3,000 square feet, and more if there are numerous lawn features to paint around.

Some of his customers have been residents fearful that their homeowners' associations will penalize them for letting their lawns fade.

A newer entrant into the lawn-painting business is Tim Birdwell, whose Imperial Painting normally paints Indianapolis-area homes and commercial properties. But this month, Birdwell painted his own desiccated lawn.

His first paying customer was a Meineke muffler shop on the south side of Indianapolis, which, like most of Indiana, is in the midst of an extreme drought.

Last Friday, two of Birdwell's workers sprayed the long strip of brown grass in front of the store with latex paint, creating an oasis of green in a suburban strip mall filled with faded grass.

Store manager Damon Riggles said Birdwell's price for the paint job - about $600 - was worth it because the vibrant-looking grass has attracted customers.

Riggles said it looks great, and gave curb appeal to bring in customers.

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Sluggish US Economy Not Expected to Strengthen

Story first reported from the Associated Press

A U.S. economy that plodded along in the first three months of the year likely grew even less in the April-June quarter. And most economists no longer think growth will strengthen much in the second half of 2012.

Weaker hiring, nervous consumers, sluggish manufacturing and the overhang of Europe's debt crisis might be pointing toward everyone's big fear: another recession.

Against that background, the government on Friday will issue its first of three estimates of how much the U.S. economy expanded last quarter. The consensus forecast is that growth slowed to an annual rate of 1.5 percent, according to a survey of economists by data firm FactSet. The Commerce Department will issue the estimate at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

A quarterly growth rate of 1.5 percent would be the weakest in a year. It would follow a meager 1.9 percent rate in the first three months of 2012.

Much more growth would be needed to fuel stronger hiring. Economists generally say even 2 percent annual growth would add only about 90,000 jobs a month. That's too few to drive down the unemployment rate, which is stuck at 8.2 percent.

The U.S. economy has never been so sluggish this long into a recovery. The Great Recession officially ended in June 2009.

Until a few weeks ago, many economists had been predicting that growth would accelerate in the final six months of the year. They pointed to gains in manufacturing, home and auto sales and lower gas prices.

But threats to the U.S. economy have left consumers - who account for about 70 percent of the economy - too anxious to spend freely. Jobs are tight. Pay isn't keeping up with inflation. Retail sales fell in June for a third straight month. Manufacturing has weakened in most areas of the country.

Fear is also growing that the economy will fall off a "fiscal cliff" at year's end. That's when tax increases and deep spending cuts will take effect unless Congress reaches a budget agreement.

All that is making companies reluctant to expand and hire much.

From April through June, U.S. job growth slowed to 75,000 a month, down from a healthy 226,000 average in the first three months of the year.

"The European situation has been getting worse and is dragging down the global economy," said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University. "And we have got the fiscal cliff to worry about in the United States."

Six of the 17 countries that use the euro currency are in recession. Growth has also weakened in powerhouse emerging markets in China, India and Brazil. With these economies slowing, so is their demand for U.S. exports.

Sohn estimates the likelihood of a U.S. recession within the next 12 months at 30 percent to 35 percent. That's up from his estimate of 20 percent six months ago.

Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, puts the chance of a recession at 25 percent. He expects growth to increase slightly to an annual rate above 2 percent in the second half of this year.

Other economists are gloomier. They think growth will muddle along below 2 percent through 2012.

Many economists think consumers pulled back sharply on spending last quarter. Analysts at JPMorgan estimate that consumer spending grew at a scant 1 percent annual pace in the April-June period, down from a 2.5 percent annual increase in the first quarter.

"Businesses and consumers are quite worried, so they're holding back," Behravesh said. "For consumers, the worry is the jobs markets. Businesses are worried about Europe. And China is looking weaker than most of us would have thought even a few months ago."

Behravesh said even companies that think Congress will manage to reach a budget deal by year's end are too uncertain about possible tax changes to step up hiring.

"That is making them very cautious about investment decisions," he said.

In delivering the Federal Reserve's midyear economic report to Congress last week, Chairman Ben Bernanke sketched a bleak picture. And he warned that unless lawmakers strike a deal, the tax increases and deep spending cuts that will take effect Jan. 1 could trigger another U.S. recession.

Bernanke has said the Fed is prepared to take further action if unemployment stays high. He hasn't specified what steps it might take or whether any action is imminent.

The lackluster economy is also raising pressure on President Barack Obama in his re-election fight with Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

But few think the Fed, the White House or Congress can or will do anything soon that might rejuvenate the economy quickly. Many lawmakers, for example, refuse to increase federal spending in light of historically large budget deficits.

"There is nothing out there to light a fire under the economy," said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors.

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Be an Olympian in Business

Story first reported from USA Today

Stock up on cold drinks, grab some chips and maybe some salsa.

If you're like me, for the next couple of weeks you'll be glued to the TV, watching the Olympics. I love the Olympics, but, if you're a small business owner or entrepreneur, I'm afraid much of the coverage will send you the wrong message.

During the Olympics, the focus is all on who's going to win gold medals. If an athlete earns a silver medal - or heaven forbid - "only" a bronze, commentators often make it seem like a failure, even if they've lost a race by one hundredth of a second.

In real life, in real business, coming in second, third or fourth can still mean you run a successful - even very successful - company.

I was fortunate to go to a summer Olympics, and in person, it was clear that for the athletes, competition was about more than just getting to the podium. The same is true for small businesses - competition is about more than just beating the other guy. In fact, spending too much time focusing on your competition almost certainly leads to your own downfall.

What I learned from the Olympics was that the person coming in 20th, or 40th was thrilled just to be in the game. They concentrated primarily on their own performance, rather than on who was going to grab the headlines.

They knew they had no chance for a medal, but they still wanted to excel. They were role models for their peers; heroes to their friends and families. But you'll never see those outstanding athletes unless you attend the games. TV rarely focuses on the guy who's coming in 35th in archery or the gal who's 25th in horseback riding.

Small businesses are in much the same situation. Most of the media cover business the way they cover sports: whose stock is highest, whose company is being acquired for the most money, who has the biggest market share. It's often viewed as a game - there's one winner and lots of losers.

In real life, in real business - especially small business - that's not all. Smaller companies typically survive - and thrive - without being number one.

You can make a good living, create needed products or services, provide excellent jobs without making it to the cover of a business magazine. Life is not a "zero sum game," where only one business is left standing.

Even if you're the 25th most successful real estate agent in your community, or fifth biggest marketing firm in your industry, you can be making a whole lot of money and have a good time doing it.

Does that mean we can all just take it easy? That since we shouldn't spend too much time worrying about the competitor across town, we can just relax? Hardly. We still need to be champions to survive.

What does it take for a small business owner or entrepreneur to be a champion?

About a year ago, I was fortunate to hear Sir Clive Woodward, the British Olympic Association's Director of Elite Performance, who, as former coach of England's Rugby team, led them to win Rugby's World Cup in 2003. He and his colleagues have spent considerable time figuring out what makes champions.

Is it about talent? Or, in business terms, do you have to be good at what you do? Certainly, but talent alone is not sufficient. What made a competitor able to win was their willingness to LEARN, to continually improve. They focus on how to maximize their skills and how to prepare to thrive under pressure.

That's what we need to do as well. Learn. Improve. Prepare for challenging situations.
Conventional business theory is that a business needs to constantly focus on its competition. Of course you need to keep an eye on competitive threats. But to excel, it's not about focusing on the competition's weaknesses, it's about improving your own strengths.

So turn on the TV, curl up on the sofa, and let the games begin. Just remember, some of the best competitors won't show up on your screen.

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Indian-Iranian Shipping Company Shut by Sanctions

Story first reported from Daily News

An Iranian-led shipping venture that predates the 1979 Islamic Revolution is now unraveling as one of the most high-profile blows from international sanctions and U.S.-driven efforts to drive wedges between Tehran and its key trading partners.

The impending collapse of the Irano Hind Shipping Co. — created in 1974 with India's state-run maritime firm — is likely to be noted in Washington and among allies as evidence of the deepening wounds from the diplomatic and economic onslaught over Iran's nuclear program.

But in another sense, it illustrates the growing strains in Asian capitals over the economic squeeze on Tehran. Leaders in India and elsewhere must now balance crucial needs for Iran's energy exports with mounting demands from their American allies to freeze out the Islamic Republic.

The top executive of the Indian side of Irano Hind said Wednesday it had become too difficult to operate the fleet's seven vessels under sanctions — imposed by the U.S. in 2008 and U.N. two years later for the company's connections to the state-owned Iranian shipping line. Shipping software eases the problem, but does not alleviate it completely.

He said the decision to dissolve the company was made last week at an Irano Hind board meeting and must be approved by the two governments and the United Nations. Officials at the company's majority-share partner, the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, or IRISL, could not be reached for immediate comment.

India is one of the main targets of U.S. attempts to chip away at Iran's critical commercial lifelines across Asia. In May, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited New Delhi to urge leaders to further cut back on oil imports from Iran — still about 9 percent of India's fast-rising energy demand — and turn more to other suppliers such as Saudi Arabia.

It's an appeal that Washington has been pushing to Iran's other key oil customers in Asia such as China and South Korea. The pressure is likely to grow even stronger with Tehran feeling a greater sting after the 27-nation European Union closed its doors to Iranian oil this month.

Yet it's also a hard sell in places such as India, which see no comprehensive alternatives to Iranian oil and are wary about damaging overall relations with Tehran. New Delhi even crafted a work-around after sanctions last year closed off Iran's access to international banking networks. Under the agreement, India would pay for about 45 percent of the purchases in rupees and Tehran would use the Indian currency to buy goods from India.

Shipping industry expert Shailesh Garg said the economic fallout from Irano Hind is "nominal," but it touches on major political quandaries for India and other Asian countries that rely on Iranian oil.

A shipping software company agrees with Garg, but maintains that there are always other options. The joint venture — IRISL with 51 percent to the Indian side's 49 percent — was formed by Iran's former Shah Reza Pahlavi and the late Indira Gandhi of India as a bond of friendship. The company was among the few international business pacts that survived the upheavals of the Islamic Revolution and then managed to ride out decades of Western isolation against Tehran's Islamic rulers.

But years of escalating sanctions have taken a toll. Officials at India's Shipping Ministry have reportedly raised alarms about growing losses at Irano Hind and difficulties to find insurance to carry Iranian oil.

Meanwhile, the U.S. and allies have pressed nations with traditions of maritime registry — so-called flags of convenience — to shun Iranian vessels. The ships in the Irano Hind fleet traditionally flew a Maltese flag, but since April they mostly have been flying under the flags of Tanzania and Sierra Leone, according to Richard Hurley, a data specialist at maritime information service IHS Fairplay. None uses an Iranian flag.

Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department cited IRISL for trying to evade sanctions "through deceptive practices" such as operating ships whose flags have been revoked. In June, Sierra Leone became the latest country to revoke flags for Irano Hind's tanker Amin, the Treasury said.

Cracks in Iran's economy are increasingly visible on all levels, from rising prices of imported goods to shrinking markets for Iran's oil, which brings in 80 percent of the country's foreign currency revenue. Top officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have issued an effective gag order on domestic media over coverage that highlights economic problems.

But it hasn't appeared to weaken Iran's resolve over its nuclear program, which the West fears could eventually lead to atomic weapons. Iran insists it only seeks reactors for energy and medical applications.

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