The Ticker

Etsy pop-up shop returning to Newbury St.

A group of local artists who sell their jewelry, photography, glassware and other work on Etsy, the online handmade marketplace, will open a Newbury Street pop-up shop May 30.

The temporary Newbury Handmade Market at 301 Newbury St. will be open daily through Aug. 3. It's the second year for the store.

Darden to sell 
Red Lobster

Darden Restaurants Inc. said yesterday it would sell Red Lobster to private equity firm Golden Gate Capital for $2.1 billion in cash, defying activist investors who opposed plans to shed the struggling seafood chain.

Darden said the sale was not subject to shareholder approval and should close in the quarter ending in August.

Hedge fund Starboard Value LP, which owns about 5.5 percent of Darden's outstanding shares, opposed a sale or spinoff

• Richard S. Pieters, M.D. of Duxbury was elected president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. Board-certified in radiation oncology and hospice and palliative care medicine and a Fellow of the American College of Radiology, Dr. Pieters is a radiation oncologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester and a clinical associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

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Victims’ lawyer blasts GM, FEDS

A Texas lawyer representing the families of more than 60 people killed and 600 seriously injured in accidents allegedly caused by faulty ignition switches in General Motors vehicles criticized the automaker and the federal regulatory agency that fined it $35 million yesterday for taking more than a decade to disclose the defect in millions of cars.

"Thirty-five million dollars is pennies in a fountain, less then 1 percent of GM's total net worth and cash on hand," said Robert C. Hilliard, whose clients include a Boston College graduate assistant football coach whose sister was killed while driving a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which levied the fine, "has always been seen as a toothless tiger, a joke inside the walls of the big car companies," Hilliard said. "This is a complete victory for GM ... NHTSA needs to speak on behalf of the memories of my clients' loved ones ... It needs to order these defective cars parked now."

Although the maximum fine from safety regulators was doubled to $35 million this year, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx urged Congress to raise it to $300 million.

Phil Trautwein, the coach whose 19-year-old sister, Sarah, was killed five years ago when her car veered off a South Carolina highway at 8 a.m. and hit a tree, went a step further.

"We want criminal charges against GM," Trautwein told the Herald, urging people to join the more than 109,000 others calling for that in a petition on Change.org/GM.

The nation's largest auto-maker already is the subject of a criminal probe by the U.S. Justice Department, as well as a civil investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

NHTSA also is fining the company $7,000 a day for failing to answer 107 questions about the ignition-switch recalls by April 3.

GM has acknowledged knowing since at least 2001 that the switches in its Chevrolet Cobalts, Saturn Ions and other compact cars could turn off without warning, disabling the power steering and brakes, as well as the air bags.

But although automakers are required by law to report safety-related problems within five days, it was not until February that the company began recalling 2.6 million of the cars.

"GM's ultimate goal is to create an exemplary process and produce the safest cars for our customers," CEO Mary Barra said in a statement yesterday. "They deserve no less."

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Home Smart: By the banks of the river Charles

This Dover home sits high above the Charles River and takes full advantage of the views from a living room, sunroom, bedroom and outdoor rear decks.

While the 1953 clapboard home has a blocky-looking exterior, the home's interior was completely renovated from 2008-2010 with a redone foyer and kitchen, new windows, sliding glass doors and insulation, and upgraded electric and plumbing.

The highlight of the home is a renovated vaulted living room with beams, a picture window on one side and glass sliding doors out to a large deck that overlooks the river. Another glass slider leads out to a koi pond and fountain fashioned out of an in-ground gunite swimming pool.

The open kitchen/dining area has granite counters and an island and it leads out to an enclosed sunroom with great Charles River views over a private, rural area of the waterway.

The renovations have an artistic flair, with contemporary light fixtures throughout the house. The living room wood fireplace has been redone with decorative tile. The house's bathrooms are all updated with marble floors, vanities, showers and vessel sinks — and one half bath even has an alabaster vanity.

The master bedroom suite is on the first floor and offers a bedroom with hardwood floors, a walk-in closet and a light green and white marble spa-style bathroom with a glass-enclosed shower.

There are two additional good-sized hardwood-floored bedrooms on the second floor. One has glass sliders out to a large rear deck overlooking the Charles, and the other has a three-part window. Each has a remodeled marble bathroom nearby. A laundry room off the hallway has a full-size Whirlpool washer and dryer.

The current owners had a new 430-foot artesian well drilled and installed a new water holding tank within the past few years. They've also recently added a water-softening system and new septic tank.

The home's basement has a semi-finished space ideal for a family room or home theater, a connection to an attached two-car garage and an unfinished area for storage that has an updated oil-heating system. There is no central air conditioning.

The surrounding 1 1⁄2 acre lot has been extensively landscaped, and it descends down through a wooded area to the river, where you can tie up a canoe.

Home showcase

• Address: 167 Claybrook Road, Dover
• Bedrooms: Three
• Bathrooms: Three full, one half
• List price: $1,188,000
• Square feet: 2,509
• Price per square foot: $473
• Annual taxes: $13,455
• Location: Three miles to retail and restaurants in Natick Center in one direction and Wellesley Center in the other; about four miles to offerings in Needham Center.
• Built in: 1953; remodeled and updated systems 2008-2013
• Broker: William Raveis agents Shari Sklar Jacobson at 617-512-5169 and Marjorie Gold at 617-549-0181

Pros:

• Large vaulted living room with decorative-tile fireplace
• Sunroom and decks with great Charles River views
• New artesian well, water holding and septic tanks and water-softening system
• Extensively landscaped with koi pond and new retaining walls

Cons:

• Blocky-looking exterior
• No central air conditioning

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Riots in Vietnam leave 1 Chinese dead, 90 injured

HANOI, Vietnam — A 1,000-strong mob stormed a Taiwanese steel mill in Vietnam overnight, killing at least one Chinese worker and injuring 90, Taiwan's ambassador said Thursday, the first deadly incident in a wave of anti-China protests prompted by Beijing's deployment of an oil rig in disputed seas.

The spreading unrest is emerging as a major challenge for Vietnam's authoritarian and secretive leadership, and is damaging the country's reputation as an investment destination. Companies from Taiwan, many of which employ significant numbers of Chinese nationals, are bearing the brunt of the protests and violence.

The overnight riot took place at a mill in Ha Tinh province in central Vietnam, 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Hanoi, operated by the conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group, one of the biggest foreign investors in Vietnam, according to Ambassador Huang Chih-peng and local hospital officials.

Huang, who spoke to a member of the management team at the mill Thursday morning, said rioters lit fires at several buildings and hunted down the Chinese workers, but did not target the Taiwanese management. He said the head of the provincial government and its security chief were at the mill during the riot but did not "order tough enough action."

He said he was told one Chinese citizen was killed in the riots, while another died of natural causes during the unrest. He said around 90 others were injured

A doctor at the Ha Tinh General Hospital said about 50 people, most of them Chinese nationals, were admitted to the hospital Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. He didn't give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Huang said the rioters left the complex at 6 a.m., but he feared they "might be going for a rest and could come back."

Anti-Chinese sentiment is never far from the surface in Vietnam, but it has surged since Beijing deployed an oil rig into disputed waters in the South China Sea on May 1. The government protested the move as a violation of the country's sovereignty and sent a flotilla of boats to the area, which continue to bump and collide with Chinese ones guarding the rig, raising the risk of conflict.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, mobs burned and looted scores of foreign-owned factories in southern Vietnam near Ho Chi Minh City, believing they were Chinese-run, but many were actually Taiwanese or South Korean. Authorities said they had detained more than 400 people.

Ambassador Huang said the mill in Ha Tinh is Vietnam's largest foreign-invested project, and one of the largest integrated steel mills in Southeast Asia. It employs 1,000 Chinese nationals, he said. Vietnamese Prime Minster Nguyen Tan Dung attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the complex in 2012.

Low wages, especially compared to next-door China, have been driving investment in Vietnam over the last years.

Investors and analysts said that if order wasn't restored quickly, then investor confidence could take a hit.

"If this madness continues and spreads out in the next couple of days to other parts of Vietnam, definitely it will have a very damaging effect on exporters, because they might not be able to commit to their delivery day," said Willy Lin, who heads a Hong Kong trade group representing knitwear manufacturers and exporters.

Hong Kong-based contract clothing maker Lever Style, which started outsourcing production to Vietnamese factories three years ago, has sent some Chinese quality assurance and technical support staff working at those factories back to China as a safety precaution, said CEO Stanley Szeto.

"You always have these little hiccups, no matter where you go," Szeto said. "Other than our staff, we're not really affected."

___

Associated Press writer Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

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Abramson replaced as NYT executive editor

NEW YORK — The New York Times on Wednesday announced that executive editor Jill Abramson is being replaced by managing editor Dean Baquet after two and a half years on the job.

The company didn't give a reason for the change. Abramson and Baquet had both been in their current positions since September 2011.

Baquet, 57, who would be the first African-American to hold the newspaper's highest editorial position, originally joined the Times in 1990 as a reporter and held positions including deputy metropolitan editor and national editor. He left the paper for the Los Angeles Times in 2000, where he served as managing editor and then editor. He rejoined the Times in 2007 and was Washington bureau chief before becoming the managing editor for news.

"It is an honor to be asked to lead the only newsroom in the country that is actually better than it was a generation ago, one that approaches the world with wonder and ambition every day," Baquet said in a statement released by the newspaper Wednesday.

Prior to his first stint at the Times, Baquet worked at The Chicago Tribune and The Times Picayune in New Orleans. While at the Tribune in 1988, he and two other journalists won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, for looking into corruption in the Chicago City Council. He was a finalist in the same category in 1994.

The move comes amid a shift in the Times' focus, and that of the newspaper industry overall, toward digital products and away from traditional print papers as print circulation and advertising revenue declines.

In its most recent quarter, the Times Co. saw overall advertising revenue rise for the first time in three years, jumping 3 percent to $158.7 million. The company's print and digital advertising rose compared with the same period a year ago.

The company also added digital subscribers and increased home-delivery prices. At the same time, the company posted a small profit that fell slightly short of Wall Street analysts' expectations.

Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the newspaper's publisher and chairman of its parent company, called Baquet the best qualified journalist to take on the job in the Times' newsroom.

"He is an exceptional reporter and editor with impeccable news judgment who enjoys the confidence and support of his colleagues around the world and across the organization," Sulzberger said in a statement.

Sulzberger added that Baquet was closely involved with Abramson in the Times' digital transformation over the past six months.

The managerial change came with little warning or explanation to Times employees, according to several staffers. Workers were sent an email Wednesday afternoon that asked them to gather in the newsroom. There, less than ten minutes later, publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. introduced Baquet as the Times' new executive editor.

According to one staffer, Sulzberger said a concern about newsroom management led to the change. Staffers applauded Baquet's promotion. Abramson was not present at the gathering.

Abramson, 60, was the paper's first female executive editor. She joined the newspaper in 1997 after working for nearly a decade at The Wall Street Journal. She was the Times' Washington editor and bureau chief before being named managing editor in 2003.

"I've loved my run at The Times," Abramson said in the company's statement. "I got to work with the best journalists in the world doing so much stand-up journalism."

Baquet succeeded her as managing editor after she was named to the top editing spot.

New York Times Co. shares fell 71 cents, or 4.5 percent, to end the regular trading session at $15.06.

___

Michael Sisak contributed to this report.

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Global stocks weak ahead of European growth data

SEOUL, South Korea — Global stock markets were mostly lower Thursday ahead of quarterly European growth figures that investors hope will show a strengthening economic recovery.

European stocks turned lower after briefly trading in positive territory. Germany's DAX was down 0.1 percent to 9,743.35 and France's CAC 40 declined 0.3 percent to 4,488.09. Britain's FTSE 100 edged down 0.1 percent to 6,869.46.

Wall Street appeared set for losses, with the Dow and S&P 500 futures contracts both down 0.1 percent.

Investors are waiting for European growth figures later in the day. A survey of analysts by financial data provider FactSet forecasts that the eurozone economy grew 0.4 percent from the previous quarter, a figure that would confirm Europe's recovery from recession has gathered pace.

Even then, markets are expecting the European Central Bank to deliver stimulus measures at its June 5 meeting to keep the region's recovery from going into reverse. But those hopes failed to stoke investor appetite for risky assets.

Earlier in Asia, robust quarterly growth figure in Japan failed to boost sentiment. Investors reduced risky assets following a pullback in U.S. stocks from record levels.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock index fell 0.8 percent to 14,298.21 despite the government reporting that the economy expanded at an annualized 5.9 percent in the first quarter, the fastest pace in nearly three years.

The growth was attributed to consumers and companies bringing forward spending ahead of a sales tax hike on April 1. Economists say the tax increase could cause a contraction in the economy in the current quarter.

China's Shanghai Composite fell 1.1 percent to 2,024.97. Southeast Asian markets were mostly down.

But Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3 percent to 5,510.80 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.7 percent to 22,730.86. South Korea's Kospi was little changed at 2,010.20.

"In the US, markets have tip-toed into unchartered territory in recent sessions but sustained moves higher appear to have been hampered by mixed economic data," said CMC Markets trader Niall King in a market commentary.

In the energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude for June delivery was down 36 cents to $102.01 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 67 cents Wednesday to $102.37.

In currencies, the euro edged down to $1.3667 from $1.3717 late Wednesday. The dollar advanced to 101.86 yen from 101.81 yen.

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Asian stocks gain after S&P 500 breaks 1,900 mark

TOKYO — Asian shares moved higher Wednesday after the S&P 500 hit a record high, but Japan's benchmark fell as investors locked in profits from recent gains.

The Nikkei 225 stock index lost 0.3 percent to 14,388.68 after a 2 percent jump the day before on a weaker yen.

South Korea's Kospi added 1.0 percent to 2,003.04 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong perked up after its midday break, gaining 0.9 percent to 22,549.44.

Elsewhere in Asia, mainland China markets fell on weak economic data, but shares rose in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The Standard & Poor's 500 topped the 1,900 mark for the first time Tuesday, driven by optimism over the economic recovery, before closing just below it, up 0.1 percent at 1,897.45.

The Dow Jones industrial average also rose 0.1 percent to 16,715.44 though the technology-focused Nasdaq composite lost 0.3 percent to 4,130.17.

European shares also rose, lifted by the U.S. rally, and signs that Germany's Bundesbank central bank may be willing to back further stimulus, including an interest rate cut, by the European Central Bank.

In other markets, the Japanese yen was trading at 102.14 to the U.S. dollar, compared with its close Tuesday of 102.26. The euro was at $1.3718, versus Tuesday's close of $1.3707.

Benchmark U.S. crude for June delivery was up 36 cents at $102.06 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $1.11 Tuesday to $101.70 a barrel, the highest close since April 24.

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Samsung apologizes to cancer-stricken chip workers

SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung Electronics Co. has apologized to chip factory workers who suffered from leukemia and other cancers and is promising compensation.

Samsung vice chairman Kwon Oh-hyun said Wednesday that Samsung will compensate the workers and their families.

Kwon's remarks come after an opposition party lawmaker, Sim Sang-jeung, urged the government and Samsung to apologize to the 243 semiconductor factory workers who developed rare cancers or died from them. The resolution proposed by Sim in April said 114 of them were former Samsung employees.

For the past few years, Samsung has resisted calls to apologize. The company also provided assistance to a government compensation agency in legal battles over the agency's refusal to pay compensation to workers.

Kwon said Samsung will no longer be involved in the lawsuits.

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Massachusetts wants more solar energy projects

BOSTON — The Patrick administration is hoping to encourage the growth of solar energy projects on landfills, "brownfield" sites, and residential rooftops in Massachusetts.

The initiative is part of a larger program designed to reach 1,600 megawatts of installed solar capacity in the state by 2020.

The program also aims to ensure steady annual growth and control ratepayer costs. The administration said it's accepting applications for the program's second phase.

The first phase of the program encouraged the development of solar energy projects by businesses, homes and institutions.

That helped the state boost the amount of solar energy produced in Massachusetts from 3 megawatts when Patrick took office to 496 megawatts now.

Currently, 349 of the state's 351 cities and towns have at least one solar installation, according to the administration.

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Site is mother’s little helper

A locally grown social network for moms is rapidly expanding as about 20,000 mothers have been matched up with new friends on Mom Meet Mom (mommeetmom.com).

"Our goal would be that no mom — whether it's a new mom, a mom of a teen or a mom of a child with special needs — would ever go through motherhood alone," said Christa Terry of Beverly, a marketing professional and one of three co-founders of Mom Meet Mom. "We want every mom to have support."

After a successful "soft launch" last summer, the women have been steadily building out the site and its user base. Late last week, the site added the MomFinder, which queries moms on their personalities, political leanings and more. It then uses an algorithm to match users up with like-minded moms.

"It makes it really quick and easy to find moms who are local to you," Terry said. "And to find kids in the same age-group, or if you have a particular challenge like hearing loss. And it matches you with local moms who are on the same wavelength."

Because they're bootstrapping the project and don't have investors to answer to, the women haven't strayed from the site's initial mission. You won't see traditional banner ads on Mom Meet Mom. Instead, the site makes its revenue by partnering with companies and products on giveaways and other initiatives.

Mom Meet Mom has plans to launch in Canada in the next month, and the women also plan to create a portion of the site devoted to promoting and organizing local events for moms.

The inspiration for the site came when Terry's friend, fellow co-founder Julia High, moved to Seattle and found herself struggling to make new friends.

"She kept striking out," Terry said. "She'd try a mom's group and it wouldn't be a good fit. She'd try talking to people on the playground but she's very introverted."

As the two cross-country friends began to work on the concept of a social networking site for moms, they located a potential competitor on LinkedIn: a woman living in Hull, Meg Gerritson, who was chasing the same idea.

So they did something that doesn't happen too often in the male-dominated world of tech startups: they put egos aside and joined forces.

Added Terry: "We said, 'Why are we doing this separately if we can do this together?"

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Feds seek prison for rural Washington pot growers

SPOKANE, Wash. — The green-cross storefronts of medical marijuana dispensaries are common in much of Washington, and the state is plowing ahead with licensing people to grow and sell recreational pot to adults.

But a federal trial scheduled to begin in the coming weeks for five people in Spokane suggests not all is OK with weed in the state.

Larry Harvey, a 70-year-old medical marijuana patient with no criminal history, three of his relatives and a family friend each face mandatory minimum sentences of at least 10 years in prison after they were caught growing about 70 pot plants on their rural, mountainous property.

The Harveys did have guns at their home, which is part of the reason for the lengthy possible prison time. They say the weapons were for hunting and protection, but prosecutors say two of the guns were loaded and in the same room as a blue plastic tub of pot.

Medical marijuana advocates have cried foul, arguing the prosecution violates Department of Justice policies announced by Attorney General Eric Holder last year that nonviolent, small-time drug offenders shouldn't face lengthy prison sentences.

"This case is another glaring example of what's wrong with the federal policy on cannabis," said Kari Boiter, Washington state coordinator for the medical marijuana group Americans for Safe Access.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Harrington, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Spokane, said he could not discuss the upcoming trial or the office's general approach to pot crimes.

But the case illustrates discrepancies in how law enforcement officials are handling marijuana cases as Washington — with the Justice Department's blessing — moves ahead with its grand experiment in pot legalization. Medical marijuana gardens the size of the Harveys' rarely draw attention from authorities in the Seattle area.

Under Initiative 502 about 30 people have so far been licensed to grow marijuana for sale at recreational pot shops slated to begin opening in July. Commercial medical marijuana dispensaries also operate in many cities, especially in Western Washington, generally considered the liberal half of the state.

Under federal law, marijuana remains illegal, and what the licensed growers are doing differs little from what Harvey and his family did.

In Colorado, the other state to legalize recreational marijuana, many pot shops even have armed security guards. Under federal law, that looks a lot like possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. There have been no recent federal charges involving commercial dispensaries in Western Washington or in Colorado absent indications of further criminality.

"Where commercial outlets are largely permitted in Western Washington, the (U.S. Attorney's Office) in Eastern Washington is subjecting individual patients to mandatory minimum prison sentences for private cultivation," defense attorneys in the Harvey case wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder, asking him to review the prosecution.

The DOJ has said since 2009 that prosecuting marijuana patients isn't a priority. It's allowing states to regulate marijuana for recreational or medical use, but it has reserved the right to target operations that don't follow state law or have ties to organized crime.

Defense lawyers say Spokane U.S. Attorney Mike Ormsby has charged cases that likely would not have been prosecuted in state court, where the defendants could have argued that they were complying with Washington's medical marijuana law, approved by voters in 1998. One defendant pleaded guilty to federal charges last week for having a 32-plant medical marijuana grow, to avoid a weapons charge for having guns at his house.

Douglas Hiatt, a Seattle lawyer, said the federal prosecutions are undermining the state's medical marijuana law.

Harvey, along with his wife, Rhonda Firestack-Harvey; her son, Rolland Gregg, and his wife, Michelle Gregg; and their friend, Jason Zucker, all had medical authorizations to use marijuana under state law. The Greggs and Zucker live in the Seattle area, and lawyers in the case say Zucker is the only one with previous criminal history, a conviction for marijuana growing. Harvey said he eats pot-laced cookies to ease pain from gout.

Douglas Phelps, a lawyer for Rolland Gregg, said many defendants feel they have no choice but to plead guilty to avoid long sentences, but the family feels strongly they did nothing wrong.

"Most people wouldn't take the chance of being convicted at trial," he said.

___

Johnson reported from Seattle.

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Cape expects hot summer

The Cape Cod summer season is heating up, with rental property prices seeing the largest year-over-year increases in nearly 20 years, according to a company that matches vacationers with 
homeowners.

Summer bookings are up 5.1 percent from last year amid a 3.3 percent price hike, according to stats from WeNeedaVacation.com,
a Brewster company whose website lists more than 3,500 properties on the Cape, Martha's Vineyard and 
Nantucket each year.

"Naturally, there was concern early on that the 
homeowner confidence driving the higher pricing might have been misplaced," said the company's Elizabeth Weedon. "But, so far at least, that does not seem to be the case."

Year-over-year price increases have averaged 2.2 percent for Cape summer rentals since the economic downtown started in 2008. Prices have jumped a cumulative 14.2 percent since then, from an average of $2,397 to $2,737.

"Homeowners have been forced to be patient and use restraint in raising their prices during the difficult economic times from which we seem to finally be emerging," Weedon said. "It's no secret to them that the economy has improved, and they are seizing the opportunity to recoup some of the maintenance expenses they've been incurring throughout the past few difficult years."

The optimism follows a strong 2013 — the best in a decade — according to Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce CEO Wendy Northcross, who expects a robust season based on members' advanced bookings and Web traffic.

"The table has been set, but the weather has to come through," she said.

Reservations for Memorial Day through Columbus Day are "very, very strong" at the Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club in Brewster, which has 340 guest rooms and villas. "We're up about 8.5 percent in transient bookings over last year at this time, and last year was a record year," said Robert Newman, general manager.

Ocean Edge employs 550 and takes a global approach to filling positions, relying on temporary foreign workers on H-2B and J-1 visas for about 30 percent of its staff due to a dearth of local candidates.

"We try to be very proactive in our recruiting process, so this past winter, members of my management team traveled to Ireland, England, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, Canada, Jamaica and Mexico to recruit," Newman said. "That travel started as early as last November and concluded in March."

Cape tourism also is expected to get a boost from JetBlue's new daily seasonal flights between Hyannis and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport that start June 26.

Bookings are healthy, JetBlue spokesman Anders Lindstrom said, and the service is expected to fare well.

"As with all new routes, though, it takes a while to get to the same level (as) routes that have been operating for a while," he said.

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Foreign buyers snap up homes

Home buyers in the Greater Boston area increasingly are finding themselves competing with foreigners willing to pay top dollar in today's tight real estate market.

Michael DiMella, managing partner at Charlesgate Realty Group in Boston, said his firm has worked with nearly a dozen foreign investors in the past year.

"I think recently they've seen an opportunity to invest in the U.S. and Boston because of the strong market recovery following the recession, as well as favorable exchange rates for many of them and generally lower real estate costs than other major cities around the world," said DiMella, president of the Greater Boston Association of Realtors.

One French client is closing on his fifth condominium, DiMella said, while an Israeli couple has already scooped up three or four condos as investments.

At Keller Williams Realty in the Back Bay, Kathleen Alexander oversees a team of two Realtors, half of whose business comes from China. One of her Realtors, Charlotte Liu, speaks Mandarin and travels there every three or four months with Alexander to promote real estate investment in the Boston area.

Sixty to 70 percent of their clients are buying property to rent out and move into later if they decide to live here, 10 to 20 percent are investors, and the rest are clients looking for homes for themselves.

"In China, people can own their own house, but they have to lease the land from the government, so the idea of owning their own land here is very attractive to them," Alexander said. "And Boston has the cachet of having some of the best universities in the world."

In the past year, Paul Yorkis of Patriot Real Estate in Medway has sold a handful of new condominiums to buyers from China and India.

"Part of it is folks realize the purchase of real estate is a really good investment, and they're taking advantage of good interest rates," said Yorkis, Greater Boston regional vice president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. "The Boston area also is ethnically diverse and has some of the best cultural and educational institutions, which makes it attractive to international buyers."

Those same amenities also make Greater Boston attractive to U.S. buyers, but the inventory of single-family homes for sale here declined on an annual basis by nearly 16.3 percent in March, according to the Greater Boston Association of Realtors, while the median selling price rose for the 18th consecutive month, to $500,000.

None of that was a problem for Lisa Li, a Chinese lawyer who beat out another offer for a Wellesley home last month by paying 
$1.15 million in cash.

Although the house isn't as luxurious as her home in Shanghai, she wanted to be with her 15-year-old daughter, who attends a private school in Southboro, she said through a translator.

"She can get a much better education here," Li said.

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Startup something of a Mystery

A Boston startup is trying to bring a little mystery to people's lives, one package at a time.

"We're thinking about how can we shake up consumers' lives in a fun way that they're actually looking forward to" said Joe Breed, co-founder, president and CMO of Mystery Envelope. "We tend to get stuck in routines as individuals. Even your mail can get routine."

Mystery Envelope's solution to shaking up that routine is to send out envelopes with secret contents to subscribers.

"The mystery is not only which envelope you're going to get, but it's also what the product is going to be," said Ben Lewis, co-founder and COO. "You're going to be completely surprised by what you're getting, and delighted."

For the first envelope, subscribers received a letter opener and items such as a Flying Glider and
Chiclets.

Most envelopes will center on a theme — the letter opener was meant to get subscribers ready and excited for future envelopes — but will also vary from subscriber to subscriber.

"We want you to get a mystery envelope, we want your friend to get a mystery envelope, but we don't want them to be the same," Lewis said. "Being able to provide something awesome to our subscribers is our core."

Retail subscriptions services are nothing new — Birchbox, a monthly box of beauty product samples, recently raised $60 million in venture funding.

Mystery Envelope plans to partner with brands to include products in the envelopes, which could be a key source of revenue in the future.

"It's an authentic way to connect to excited and engaged consumers," Breed said.

Still, the envelopes are somewhat limited. Not only do items have to be low cost to make sense with a $4.99 subscription, but they have to physically fit in the envelope. That's an issue Breed and Lewis say they are working on.

"With products that won't fit in an envelope, we can work with partners to find something that is appropriate," Lewis said.

That could mean a coupon, or an exclusive discount for a product.

A MassChallenge semi-finalist, the company made a pitch to the accelerator Friday.

The company, which launched in March, was founded by Lewis, Breed and Jeb Breed, the company's CEO and Joe Breed's brother, the only employees.

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Ford Focus’ interior acts like it’s a haunted house

I have a 2004 Ford Focus. When my car sits in the garage for a couple of days some of the dash lights and dome lights will stay on and there's a beep, even with no key in the ignition. I start the car, the beep stops and the dome light goes out but the dash lights stay on. The next day everything is OK, then the cycle starts all over again. Any ideas?

Strange electrical gremlins like this often are hard to pinpoint, but in this case I think the ignition switch and/or lock cylinder are the likely suspects. My Alldata automotive database pulled up Ford bulletin No. 05-21-17 dated October 2005 that outlines service procedures for replacing the ignition lock cylinder if the ignition chime beeps with the key removed. There's also a troubleshooting guide for continuity testing of the ignition switch at its multi-terminal connector.

I'd suggest locating, disassembling and cleaning the multi-terminal switch connector under the dash to see if this restores proper switch function. If not, it's probably time for a replacement.

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I own a 1996 Toyota Camry V6 with 300,000 miles. We have a problem with the car vibrating when I step on the brake as the speed slows from 25 to 15 mph. The harder I brake, the worse the vibration. If I shift into neutral the car will not shutter or vibrate. Two other interesting things occurred at the same time. The check engine light came on, and when I step on the brake both the "Reverse" and "Drive" indicator lights are on. The car has no trouble shifting. My guess is that the torque converter is failing. Your thoughts?

If the torque converter were failing to disengage when the brakes are applied, you would experience a shuddering as the vehicle slowed to a stop. In fact, the engine would stall as you came to a complete stop, just as if you'd left a manual transmission vehicle in gear and braked to a stop.

Since the shudder/vibration is occurring in a higher speed range, my first thought is that the transmission has failed to downshift as the car slows. Try driving with the transmission's overdrive switch off to prevent the overdrive from engaging. Then try manually downshifting through each gear, matching the gear to the road speed as the vehicle slows. You also could try downshifting to third or even second as you're experiencing the shudder in that 25-15 mph range. If any of these tests stop the vibration, the problem is most likely in the transmission itself.

Have a scan tool read the DTC fault code that triggered the check engine light, but with 300,000 miles on the vehicle, the only transmission "repair" I'd suggest would be adding half a can of SeaFoam Trans-Tune to the fluid to clean any sticky solenoids or valves in the valve body.

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The maintenance schedule for my 2003 Toyota Avalon has me replacing my iridium spark plugs at 120,000 miles. At 130,000 miles, the car runs fine and this plug replacement is expensive. Is it necessary?

Why does this question remind me of doing my taxes or making a doctor or dentist appointment? All of them are no fun at all, but necessary if one wants to stay law-abiding and healthy.

So yes, you should follow the manufacturer's recommended spark plug replacement interval, particularly if you're going to keep the vehicle for several more years.

With that said, I'd be more concerned about one or more spark plugs ending up seized in the cylinder head as they are removed. I've always been a fan of removing the original spark plugs at 10,000 to 30,000 miles, coating the threads with anti-seize compound and reinstalling them for the remainder of their full service life.

Paul Brand, author of "How to Repair Your Car," is an automotive troubleshooter, driving instructor and former race-car driver. Readers may write to him at: Star Tribune, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., 55488 or via email at paulbrand@startribune.com. Please explain the problem in detail and include a daytime phone number.

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