GM aims to reverse market share slide with overhauled pickups

For decades, Chevrolet's Silverado pickup has carried the load for General Motors Co., most recently providing needed cash and loyal buyers through the automaker's bailout and bankruptcy.

Truck sales remain central to GM's North American strategy, even as it has uncharacteristic success with new car models including the small Cruze sedan and the Chevy Equinox crossover. That's largely because GM makes $9,000 to $11,000 from each pickup sale, compared with about $5,000 for a passenger car, according to Brian Johnson, an analyst with Barclays Research.

But now — as GM gets ready to introduce a new generation of Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks in Detroit on Thursday — the automaker is driving into rugged terrain. The current models, the oldest of the major offerings in the full-size pickup market, have lost market share as rivals from Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group have surpassed GM trucks in fuel economy and other features.

Photos: GM's all-new 2014 truck lineup

GM's truck inventory has ballooned to 110 days despite hefty sales incentives designed to move the vehicles off dealer lots. Analysts worry that slack sales could set off a profit-sucking price war in the industry if GM were to pile on incentives to fire-sale current models before the redesigned trucks hit dealerships in the second quarter of 2013.

Still, the Silverado notches nearly double the annual sales of the Cruze, GM's next-bestselling vehicle.

"GM's profits in North America still ride in the bed of pickup trucks," Johnson said.

Financially, GM has surged since the dark days of bankruptcy. It has logged 10 consecutive profitable quarters for the first time in more than a decade, including a $1.5-billion gain in the second quarter. Fueled in large part by sales of pickups and large SUVs, GM's North American operations earned $2 billion in the latest quarter. Although pickups account for about 24% of GM's U.S. sales, they make up a third of the automaker's profit in the region, Johnson estimated.

The company's shares closed Wednesday at $25.63, up almost 1% for the day and 26% so far this year. But that's still about half the price needed for the U.S. government to sell its roughly 32% stake in the company and recoup its bailout money.

GM has yielded market share in the U.S. as Toyota and Honda have rebounded from inventory shortages caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami last year and as Ford and Chrysler have captured double-digit truck sales growth this year.

Combined, the Chevrolet Silverado and its sister GMC Sierra make up 34.7% of the full-size truck market through the first 11 months of this year, according to MotorIntelligence.com. That's down from a 40.3% share in 2008, before the company's bankruptcy reorganization.

Meanwhile, Ford's F-series has captured 39.6% of the market this year, up from 32.8% in 2008. Chrysler's Dodge Ram is at 18.1%, up from 15.6% in 2008.

Ford has effectively pitched the V-6 turbocharged engine in its F-series, which buyers like because its fuel economy is slightly better than the GM offerings and it has more power, Johnson said. Meanwhile, Chrysler has taken a more focused approach marketing its Dodge Ram trucks, refreshing the interior and adding an eight-speed transmission to boost the fuel economy of its V-6 model.

To keep up, the new offerings from GM need better fuel economy, updated cabins with more creature comforts and infotainment systems that better sync with smartphones, said Alec Gutierrez, an analyst with auto information company Kelley Blue Book.

"The power and towing capacity has to be there," Gutierrez said. "That ultimately will be what a truck buyer looks at: the best package of fuel efficiency coupled with torque, horsepower and towing capacity. GM's new trucks need to push each of those benchmarks without sacrificing any one of the four."

GM says that's exactly what it did with its trucks, which make their formal debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next month.

The new trucks will have more horsepower, more torque and better fuel economy than the comparable engine in the current lineup, said Tom Wilkinson, a GM spokesman. The company did not release exact figures pending the completion of testing.

"The strategy is more in keeping with the way truck customers look at trucks. These are tools to get a job done," Wilkinson said.

The redesigned trucks will offer a choice of three new engines, all featuring fuel-saving technologies including cylinder deactivation — which involves knocking the engine's operation down to just four of the cylinders when more aren't needed — and direct fuel injection. Such features give truck buyers, increasingly conscious of fuel economy, an alternative to Ford's EcoBoost turbocharged engine and Ram's V-6 and eight-speed transmission combination.

The base engine will remain a 4.3-liter V-6, targeting budget-minded truck buyers and fleet sales, with a six-speed automatic transmission to replace the outgoing four-speed. A 5.3-liter V-8 probably will be GM's big seller and be paired to a six-speed automatic transmission. Finally, GM will offer a 6.2-liter V-8 that it says will be the "most capable" of any in a light-duty pickup truck. That means it would have to beat Ford's 6.2-liter V-8, which makes 411 horsepower and 434 pound-feet of torque.

Photos: GM's all-new 2014 truck lineup

The trucks will be available in two trim levels, LT and LTZ, with an additional Z71 off-road package available on both. GM says its new trucks will have options that include a lane-departure warning system and forward collision warning. The more up-market GMC trucks will feature LED accent lighting in the headlights and real-aluminum trim inside the cabin.

Both the Chevy and GM models have new interiors and exteriors, including a more robust, squared-off profile and bolder features. The rear bumpers now have an integrated side-step feature built into the corners for easier access to the truck bed. And the truck bed will have internal lighting, making it easier to pack and unload in the dark.

GM also is adding more of the safety features buyers of vehicles in the $30,000 neighborhood expect, including a lane departure warning system that triggers a noise or seat vibration when the driver wanders from a lane and front park assist, a sensor in the bumper that chimes as the truck nears an object.

All of this should help bolster GM's business, even as it pushes hard into sales of passenger cars and crossovers, Gutierrez said.

"We have seen a shift to more fuel-efficient sedans and crossovers, but the full-size pickup driver will remain a sizable portion of the market," he said. "There's always going to be demand from people who live in truck markets such as Texas or those who have a business need for these trucks."

jerry.hirsch@latimes.com

david.undercoffler@latimes.com

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Ravi Shankar, sitar master, dies at 92

Ravi Shankar was already revered as a master of the sitar in 1966 when he met George Harrison, the Beatle who became his most famous disciple and gave the Indian musician-composer unexpected pop-culture cachet.

Suddenly the classically trained Shankar was a darling of the hippie movement, gaining widespread attention through memorable performances at the Monterey Pop Festival, Woodstock and the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh.

Harrison called him "the godfather of world music," and the great violinist Yehudi Menuhin once compared the sitarist's genius to Mozart's. Shankar continued to give virtuoso performances into his 90s, including one in 2011 at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

PHOTOS: Ravi Shankar | 1920 - 2010

Shankar, 92, who introduced Indian music to much of the Western world, died Tuesday at a hospital near his home in Encinitas. Stuart Wolferman, a publicist for his record label Unfinished Side Productions, said Shankar had undergone heart valve replacement surgery last week.

Well-established in the classical music of his native India since the 1940s, he remained a vital figure on the global music stage for six decades. Shankar is the father of pop music star Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar, his protege and a sitar star in her own right.

Before the 1950s, Indian classical music — with its improvised melodic excursions and complex percussion rhythms — was virtually unknown in America. If Shankar had done nothing more than compose the movie scores for Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray's "Apu" trilogy in the 1950s, he "would be remembered and revered," Times music critic Mark Swed wrote last fall.

PHOTOS: Notable deaths of 2012

Shankar was on a path to international stardom during the 1950s, playing the sitar in the Soviet Union and debuting as a soloist in Western Europe and the United States. Two early albums also had considerable impact, "Three Classical Ragas" and "India's Master Musician."

During his musical emergence in the West, his first important association was with violinist Menuhin, whose passion for Indian music was ignited by Shankar in 1952. Their creative partnership peaked with their "West Meets East" release, which earned a Grammy Award in 1967. The recording also showed Shankar's versatility — and the capacity of Indian music to inspire artists from different creative disciplines.

He presented a new form of classical music to Western audiences that was based on improvisation instead of written compositions. Shankar typically played in the Hindustani classical style, in which he was accompanied by a player of two tablas, or small hand drums. Concerts in India that often lasted through the night were generally shortened to a few hours for American venues as Shankar played the sitar, a long-necked lute-like stringed instrument.

At first, he especially appealed to fans of jazz music drawn to improvisation. He recorded "Improvisations" (1962) with saxophonist Bud Shank and "Portrait of a Genius" (1964) with flutist Paul Horn, gave lessons to saxophonist John Coltrane (who named his saxophone-playing son Ravi), and wrote a percussion piece for drummer Buddy Rich and Alla Rakha.

On the Beatles' 1965 recording "Norwegian Wood," Harrison had played the sitar and met Shankar the next year in London.

Shankar was "the first person to impress me," among the impressive people the Beatles met, "because he didn't try to impress me," Harrison later said. The pair became close and their friendship lasted until Harrison's death in 2001.

Harrison was instrumental in getting Shankar booked at the now legendary Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. They partnered in organizing the Concert for Bangladesh and were among the producers who won a Grammy in 1972 for the subsequent album. They toured together in 1974, and Harrison produced Shankar's career-spanning mid-1990s boxed set, "In Celebration."

But Shankar came away from his festival appearances with mixed feelings about his rock generation followers. He expressed hope that his performances might help young people better understand Indian music and philosophy but later said "they weren't ready for it."

"All the young people got interested … but it was so mixed up with superficiality and the fad and the drugs," Shankar told The Times in 1996. "I had to go through several years to make them understand that this is a disciplined music, needing a fresh mind."

When Shankar was criticized in India as a sellout for spreading his music in the West, he responded in the early 1970s by lowering his profile and reaffirming his classical roots. He followed his first concerto for sitar and orchestra in 1971 with another a decade later.

"Our music has gone through so much development," Shankar told The Times in 1997. "But its roots — which have something to do with its feelings, the depth from where you bring out the music when you perform — touch the listeners even without their knowing it."

In the 1980s and '90s, Shankar maintained a busy performing schedule despite heart problems. He recorded "Tana Mana," an unusual synthesis of Indian music, electronics and jazz; oversaw the American premiere of his ballet, "Ghyanshyam: The Broken Branch"; and collaborated with composer Philip Glass on the album "Passages."

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Here’s the Pope’s First Tweet

The long wait is over and we’ve finally got the first words of Twitter wisdom from Pope Benedict XVI. 

Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.

— Benedict XVI (@Pontifex) December 12, 2012

Ok, so not that funny, but it was all spelled right and we got blessed by a pope, so that’s a good start. And the Pope did actually send the message himself. Pope Benedict appeared on Wednesday morning for his regular weekly address in front of throngs of media and worshipers, and personally hit the tweet button himself on his iPad. Vatican officials say that before the end of the day he will be answering three questions that were submitted to the #askpontifex hashtag earlier this month. Here’s the first of those:

How can we celebrate the Year of Faith better in our daily lives?

— Benedict XVI (@Pontifex) December 12, 2012

By speaking with Jesus in prayer, listening to what he tells you in the Gospel and looking for him in those in need

— Benedict XVI (@Pontifex) December 12, 2012

He actually tweeted in Italian first and his other language accounts weren’t far behind. Follow @Pontifex for more 140 character sermons.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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'Lincoln,' 'Les Mis,' 'Playbook' lead SAG awards

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Steven Spielberg's Civil War saga "Lincoln," the Victor Hugo musical adaptation "Les Miserables" and the lost-soul romance "Silver Linings Playbook" led the Screen Actors Guild Awards with four nominations each Wednesday.

All three films were nominated for overall performance by their casts. Also nominated for best ensemble cast were the Iran hostage-crisis thriller "Argo" and the British retiree adventure "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel."

"Lincoln" also scored individual acting nominations for Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role as best actor, Sally Field for supporting actress as Mary Todd Lincoln and Tommy Lee Jones for supporting actor as abolitionist firebrand Thaddeus Stevens.

"Les Miserables" had nominations for Hugh Jackman for best actor as Hugo's long-suffering hero Jean Valjean and Anne Hathaway for supporting actress as a woman fallen into prostitution, plus a nomination for its stunt ensemble.

"Silver Linings Playbook" also had lead-acting nominations for Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence as troubled spirits who find a second chance at love and Robert De Niro for supporting actor as a football-obsessed dad.

Besides Lawrence, best-actress nominees are Jessica Chastain as a CIA analyst pursuing Osama bin Laden in "Zero Dark Thirty;" Marion Cotillard as a woman who finds romance after tragedy in "Rust and Bone;" Helen Mirren as Alfred Hitchcock's strong-willed wife in "Hitchcock;" and Naomi Watts as a woman caught in the devastation of a tsunami in "The Impossible."

Joining Cooper, Day-Lewis and Jackman in the best-actor field are John Hawkes as a polio victim aiming to lose his virginity in "The Sessions" and Denzel Washington as a boozy airline pilot in "Flight."

The SAG Awards will be presented Jan. 27. The guild nominations are one of Hollywood's first major announcements on the long road to the Feb. 24 Academy Awards, whose nominations will be released Jan. 10.

Nominations for the Golden Globes, the second-biggest film honors after the Oscars, come out Thursday.

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Online:

http://www.sagawards.org

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The New Old Age Blog: The Gift of Reading

This is the year of the tablet, David Pogue of The Times has told us, and that may be good news for seniors who open holiday wrappings to find one tucked inside. They see better with tablets’ adjustable type size, new research shows. Reading becomes easier again.

This may seem obvious — find me someone over 40 who doesn’t see better when fonts are larger — but it’s the business of science to test our assumptions.

Dr. Daniel Roth, an eye specialist and clinical associate professor at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J., offered new evidence of tablets’ potential benefits last month at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

His findings, based on tests conducted with 66 adults age 50 and over: older people read faster (a mean reading speed of 128 words per minute) when using an iPad, compared to a newspaper with the same 10-point font size (114 words per minute).

When the font was increased to 18 points — easy to do on an iPad — reading speed increased to 137 words per minute.

“If you read more slowly, it’s tedious,” Dr. Roth said, explaining why reading speed is important. “If you can read more fluidly, it’s more comfortable.”

What makes the real difference, Dr. Roth theorizes, is tablets’ illuminated screen, which heightens contrast between words and the background on which they sit.

Contrast sensitivity — the visual ability to differentiate between foreground and background information — becomes poorer as we age, as does the ability to discriminate fine visual detail, notes Dr. Kevin Paterson, a psychologist at the University of Leicester, who recently published a separate study on why older people struggle to read fine print.

“There are several explanations for the loss of sensitivity to fine detail that occurs with older age,” Dr. Paterson explained in an e-mail. “This may be due to greater opacity of the fluid in the eye, which will scatter incoming light and reduce the quality of the projection of light onto the retina. It’s also hypothesized that changes in neural transmission affect the processing of fine visual detail.”

Combine these changes with a greater prevalence of eye conditions like macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy in older adults, and you get millions of people who cannot easily do what they have done all their lives — read and stay connected to the world of ideas, imagination and human experience.

“The No. 1 complaint I get from older patients is that they love to read but can’t, and this really bothers them,” Dr. Roth said. The main option has been magnifying glasses, which many people find cumbersome and inconvenient.

Some words of caution are in order. First, Dr. Roth’s study has not been published yet; it was presented as a poster at the scientific meeting and publicized by the academy, but it has not yet gone through comprehensive, rigorous peer review.

Second, Dr. Roth’s study was completed before the newest wave of tablets from Microsoft, Google, Samsung and others became available. The doctor made no attempt to compare different products, with one exception. In the second part of his study, he compared results for the iPad with those for a Kindle. But it was not an apples to apples comparison, because the Kindle did not have a back-lit screen.

This section of his study involved 100 adults age 50 and older who read materials in a book, on an iPad and on the Kindle. Book readers recorded a mean reading speed of 187 words per minute when the font size was set at 12; Kindle readers clocked in at 196 words per minute and iPad readers at 224 words per minute at the same type size. Reading speed improved even more drastically for a subset of adults with the poorest vision.

Again, Apple’s product came out on top, but that should not be taken as evidence that it is superior to other tablets with back-lit screens and adjustable font sizes. Both the eye academy and Dr. Roth assert that they have no financial relationship with Apple. My attempts to get in touch with the company were not successful.

A final cautionary note should be sounded. Some older adults find digital technology baffling and simply do not feel comfortable using it. For them, a tablet may sit on a shelf and get little if any use.

Others, however, find the technology fascinating. If you want to see an example that went viral on YouTube, watch this video from 2010 of Virginia Campbell, then 99 years old, and today still going strong at the Mary’s Woods Retirement Community in Lake Oswego, Ore.

Ms. Campbell’s glaucoma made it difficult for her to read, and for her the iPad was a blessing, as she wrote in this tribute quoted in an article in The Oregonian newspaper:

To this technology-ninny it’s clear
In my compromised 100th year,
That to read and to write
Are again within sight
Of this Apple iPad pioneer

Caregivers might be delighted — as Ms. Campbell’s daughter was — by older relatives’ response to this new technology, a potential source of entertainment and engagement for those who can negotiate its demands. Or, they might find that old habits die hard and that their relatives continue to prefer a book or newspaper they can hold in their hands to one that appears on a screen.

Which reading enhancement products have you used, and what experiences have you had?

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'Teen Wolf' transforms into an L.A. production

The director watches a monitor as an actor rushes down a staircase into a basement wine cellar, searching among the racks of bottles for his childhood crush.

The wine cellar is actually a plywood set on the ground floor of a converted Northridge warehouse, one of several newly constructed sets where the MTV series "Teen Wolf" recently began filming its third season after moving from Georgia.

"Teen Wolf" is a rarity — a show that relocated to Los Angeles from elsewhere to take advantage of California's film and TV tax credit program since it took effect in 2009.

PHOTOS: Hollywood backlot moments

Producers of the drama — which centers around an awkward teenager whose life is transformed when he is bitten by a werewolf — had planned to shoot the series in L.A. But they opted to film the show in Atlanta, taking advantage of Georgia's 30% tax credit, which has attracted other series, including AMC's "The Walking Dead" and the CW's "The Vampire Diaries."

Producers of "Teen Wolf" applied for a credit under California's program, which awards $100 million annually via a lottery system, but were put on a waiting list. When others dropped out, "Teen Wolf" made the cut and producers were notified this spring that they would be eligible for funding. MTV parent Viacom received approval for a $10.4-million tax credit, one of the largest credits approved this year, according to the California Film Commission, which runs the program.

"We got lucky," said Joe Genier, an executive producer on "Teen Wolf." "It was a major sigh of relief for us. The story is set in Northern California and we always wanted to film here, but financially it didn't really make sense until a tax credit could come into play."

There were other factors as well, including the fact that Genier and many of his colleagues live in L.A. Genier, who also was an executive producer on Tyler Perry's "Madea's Big Happy Family," hasn't worked in L.A. since 2006.

Having writers, editors and crew all in one place is a key advantage, said showrunner Jeff Davis.

PHOTOS: Location filming in Los Angeles

"I'm the type of showrunner who likes to be on set every day," said Davis, who created the CBS series "Criminal Minds." "Here I can talk to the editor on the set — that's a huge consideration for me."

"Teen Wolf," part of the genre of popular teen supernatural dramas that includes HBO's "True Blood" and "Vampire Diaries," is a top-rated cable series that has averaged more than 1.7 million viewers each week. Loosely inspired by the Michael J. Fox movie of the same name, "Teen Wolf" is MTV's most successful scripted drama series and the first to be extended to a full 24 episodes.

Genier and his team are leasing a 90,000-square-foot warehouse in Northridge that includes production offices, editing suites and various sets, including ones for a hospital, classroom and bedrooms. "We really wanted to make the most out of our space,'' Genier said.

Although mainly shooting on soundstages, the crew will also shoot about three out of eight days per episode on location. "Teen Wolf" filmed in downtown L.A. last week and also plans to use locations in Pacific Palisades, Griffith Park and Canyon Park in Calabasas.

"We definitely want to take advantage of the many and varied locations in L.A.," Davis said.

Tax breaks for the film industry have generated controversy in some states, particularly those grappling with steep deficits, but are widely supported in Southern California as a means to keep jobs from moving to states that offer more generous incentives. Lawmakers in Sacramento recently approved a two-year extension of the program despite opposition from some groups, including the California Teachers Assn.

PHOTOS: Celebrity portraits by The Times

"A series of this size with such a long run with a full 24 episodes really has the potential to create a great number of jobs for our workers, especially if it continues for several seasons," said Amy Lemisch, executive director of the California Film Commission.

Lemisch added that estimated spending for Season 3 of "Teen Wolf" is $60 million, including more than $27 million in wages for crew members. "Teen Wolf" employs more than 300 people who work on the film crew, set construction and other aspects of the show.

"Teen Wolf," co-produced by MTV and MGM, is one of only a handful of shows that have relocated to California after beginning production elsewhere. ABC last year moved its crime drama "Body of Proof" to Los Angeles from Rhode Island, and BBC America transplanted its now-expired sci-fi series "Torchwood" from Wales in 2010. Comedy Central's short-lived "Important Things With Demetri Martin" came to L.A. from New York after receiving approval for a California tax credit in 2009.

Although California offers a higher tax credit for relocating television series (25% of qualified expenses compared with 20% for other types of productions), the state gets relatively few takers because of the program's limited funding and competition from more than 40 states that offer tax breaks.

"We would love to see more of them, but with the limited funding we have there is no way to prioritize the lottery for relocating series like 'Teen Wolf,'" Lemisch said.

richard.verrier@latimes.com

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States pressed to guarantee Medicaid expansion

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration stepped up pressure on states Monday to guarantee insurance for all their low-income residents in 2014 under the new healthcare law, warning governors that the federal government would not pick up the total cost of partially expanding coverage.

"We continue to encourage all states to fully expand their Medicaid programs and take advantage of the generous federal matching funds to cover more of their residents," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote in a letter to governors.

But Sebelius indicated that governors who do not open their Medicaid programs to all eligible low-income residents would forfeit some of the federal aid promised by the Affordable Care Act.

"The law does not provide for a phased-in or partial expansion," the Department of Health and Human Services said in guidance accompanying Sebelius' letter.

Medicaid has become a major issue in the implementation of the law since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that states can decide whether to expand their Medicaid programs in 2014.

The law originally required the states to open Medicaid to all Americans who earn less than 138% of the federal poverty level, a major change for a program that now largely covers poor children and mothers.

To ease the expansion, the law initially provides full federal funding to cover the new population. Currently, Medicaid costs are split between state and federal governments.

Nonetheless, several Republican governors have said they won't expand Medicaid, citing cost concerns. That prompted speculation that some states might partially expand Medicaid programs. But Obama administration officials said Monday the law did not authorize full federal funding for a more limited expansion.

A state that opens Medicaid to only some new low-income residents would qualify for reduced federal aid, requiring the state to come up with the remainder of the funding.

How the guidance will affect state decisions remains unclear.

Alan Weil, president of the National Academy for State Health Policy, said state leaders probably would not make final decisions until they worked out 2014 budgets next year. "A lot of what we have seen so far is posturing," he said.

But the administration's announcement drew quick criticism from the Republican Governors Assn.

"The Obama administration's refusal to grant states more flexibility on Medicaid is as disheartening as it is short-sighted," said Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, the group's chairman. Jindal has said he will not expand Medicaid in his state.

In contrast, the administration's move was applauded by the National Assn. of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, whose members care for millions of the nation's uninsured, often without compensation. Dr. Bruce Siegel, the association president, said it "takes an important step toward significantly reducing the ranks of the uninsured."

The Obama administration is facing additional resistance from several Republican governors who have said they won't set up insurance exchanges — a cornerstone of the law that will allow Americans who don't get health benefits at work to shop for insurance plans that meet new minimum standards. The federal government can set up exchanges for states that refuse to do so.

Also Monday, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Oregon and Washington got conditional federal approval to operate their own exchanges. The six were the first to apply, and administration officials said approval for other states, including California, would probably follow.

noam.levey@latimes.com

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BlackBerry Messenger 7 adds free Wi-Fi voice calling, split-screen multitasking and more

Research in Motion (RIMM) updated its BlackBerry Messenger to version 7 on Monday, adding a new key feature called “BBM Voice” that “will allow customers to make free voice calls to their BBM contacts around the world over a Wi-Fi connection.” BBM 7 also introduces multitasking with split-screen, which allows users to BBM, check email, or use other apps while on a BBM Voice call; new compatibility with Bluetooth headsets and accessories, 16 new emoticons; direct BBM Update Notification that provides in-app alerts when new versions of an app are available and an easier way to synchronize BBM profiles; Groups; and Contacts with BBIDs for simpler backup and restores. BBM 7 is available as a free update for all BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry 6 OS or higher. Users on BlackBerry OS 5 will get BBM Voice “early next year.”

“BBM began as a convenient and effective business messaging tool, and today it is an essential part of daily communications for customers around the world,” said T.A. McCann, RIM’s Vice President of BBM and Social Communities. ”Now, with BBM version 7, customers have a new option: they can text and talk with their BBM contacts near and far, for free.”

Get more from BGR.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook

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Luke Bryan cleans up at ACAs with 9 awards

Luke Bryan didn't want the American Country Awards to end.

He cleaned up during the fan-voted show, earning nine awards, including artist and album of the year. His smash hit "I Don't Want This Night To End" was named single and music video of the year.

Miranda Lambert took home the second most guitar trophies with three. Jason Aldean was named touring artist of the year. Carrie Underwood won female artist of the year, and a tearful Lauren Alaina won new artist of the year.

Bryan, Aldean, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum and Trace Adkins with Lynyrd Skynrd were among the high-energy performances.

The third annual ACAs were held at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas Monday night.

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Online: http://www.theACAs.com

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Follow http://www.twitter.com/AP_Country for the latest country music news from The Associated Press.

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Rate of Childhood Obesity Falls in Several Cities

Jessica Kourkounis for The New York Times

At William H. Ziegler Elementary in Northeast Philadelphia, students are getting acquainted with vegetables and healthy snacks.

PHILADELPHIA — After decades of rising childhood obesity rates, several American cities are reporting their first declines.

The trend has emerged in big cities like New York and Los Angeles, as well as smaller places like Anchorage, Alaska, and Kearney, Neb. The state of Mississippi has also registered a drop, but only among white students.

“It’s been nothing but bad news for 30 years, so the fact that we have any good news is a big story,” said Dr. Thomas Farley, the health commissioner in New York City, which reported a 5.5 percent decline in the number of obese schoolchildren from 2007 to 2011.

The drops are small, just 5 percent here in Philadelphia and 3 percent in Los Angeles. But experts say they are significant because they offer the first indication that the obesity epidemic, one of the nation’s most intractable health problems, may actually be reversing course.

The first dips — noted in a September report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation — were so surprising that some researchers did not believe them.

Deanna M. Hoelscher, a researcher at the University of Texas, who in 2010 recorded one of the earliest declines — among mostly poor Hispanic fourth graders in the El Paso area — did a double-take. “We reran the numbers a couple of times,” she said. “I kept saying, ‘Will you please check that again for me?’ ”

Researchers say they are not sure what is behind the declines. They may be an early sign of a national shift that is visible only in cities that routinely measure the height and weight of schoolchildren. The decline in Los Angeles, for instance, was for fifth, seventh and ninth graders — the grades that are measured each year — between 2005 and 2010. Nor is it clear whether the drops have more to do with fewer obese children entering school or currently enrolled children losing weight. But researchers note that declines occurred in cities that have had obesity reduction policies in place for a number of years.

Though obesity is now part of the national conversation, with aggressive advertising campaigns in major cities and a push by Michelle Obama, many scientists doubt that anti-obesity programs actually work. Individual efforts like one-time exercise programs have rarely produced results. Researchers say that it will take a broad set of policies applied systematically to effectively reverse the trend, a conclusion underscored by an Institute of Medicine report released in May.

Philadelphia has undertaken a broad assault on childhood obesity for years. Sugary drinks like sweetened iced tea, fruit punch and sports drinks started to disappear from school vending machines in 2004. A year later, new snack guidelines set calorie and fat limits, which reduced the size of snack foods like potato chips to single servings. By 2009, deep fryers were gone from cafeterias and whole milk had been replaced by one percent and skim.

Change has been slow. Schools made money on sugary drinks, and some set up rogue drink machines that had to be hunted down. Deep fat fryers, favored by school administrators who did not want to lose popular items like French fries, were unplugged only after Wayne T. Grasela, the head of food services for the school district, stopped buying oil to fill them.

But the message seems to be getting through, even if acting on it is daunting. Josh Monserrat, an eighth grader at John Welsh Elementary, uses words like “carbs,” and “portion size.” He is part of a student group that promotes healthy eating. He has even dressed as an orange to try to get other children to eat better. Still, he struggles with his own weight. He is 5-foot-3 but weighed nearly 200 pounds at his last doctor’s visit.

“I was thinking, ‘Wow, I’m obese for my age,’ ” said Josh, who is 13. “I set a goal for myself to lose 50 pounds.”

Nationally, about 17 percent of children under 20 are obese, or about 12.5 million people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which defines childhood obesity as a body mass index at or above the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex. That rate, which has tripled since 1980, has leveled off in recent years but has remained at historical highs, and public health experts warn that it could bring long-term health risks.

Obese children are more likely to be obese as adults, creating a higher risk of heart disease and stroke. The American Cancer Society says that being overweight or obese is the culprit in one of seven cancer deaths. Diabetes in children is up by a fifth since 2000, according to federal data.

“I’m deeply worried about it,” said Francis S. Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, who added that obesity is “almost certain to result in a serious downturn in longevity based on the risks people are taking on.”

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