Cool Southie condo tops retail space

This stylish South Boston condo isn't what you'd expect to see above a retail store, with its paneled wainscoting, sloped skylighted ceilings and private decks with panoramic city views.

The two-bedroom unit at 634 East Broadway, on the market for $629,900, is one of five condos above a former hardware store, but unlike the other condos Unit 1 has three levels and a private entrance.

The first level is the entry­way to the condo, with a marble foyer, hallway and a coat closet, and the living spaces have a reverse layout, with the living/dining/kitchen spaces on the top floor.

The unit was converted in 2005 with maple floors with cherrywood inlay, paneled wainscoting and high-end window and door moldings.

A maple staircase lined with white-paneled wainscoting leads up two flights to the main living area. The living room has paneled wainscoting and features 12-foot sloped ceilings with recessed lighting as well as speakers­ with built-in surround sound. In one corner sits a gas fireplace with a carved wood mantel and black granite hearth with a chandelier overhead. Glass doors lead out to a 200-square-foot private wooden deck with panoramic city views.

The adjacent dining/kitchen area has three skylights. The dining area also has paneled wainscoting and a chandelier and fronts on a three-part bay window. The kitchen features 22 walnut-stained cabinets and black granite counters. The General Electric refrigerator, dishwasher and gas stove are also black.

Off the living spaces is a storage closet and there's a hallway with a second closet holding a stacked GE washer/dryer and the unit's gas-fired heating and central air-conditioning system.

At the end of the hall is a half bathroom with beadboard wainscoting, a black marble floor and a pedestal sink.

Down the stairs, the second level has a step-up open-style den/home office space with maple floors and cherry­wood inlay, paneled wainscoting and crown molding. It is flanked on either side by two bedroom suites.

The rear-facing master suite features a decent-sized bedroom with recessed lighting and an overhead fan/light as well as a good-sized closet with built-in shelving. A pair of glass doors lead out to a 250-square-foot private rear deck with views of the city. The en-suite master bathroom has a marble-tile floor and ceramic tile surround for a whirlpool tub. There's a brown granite-topped wood vanity and a separate one-piece Fiberglas shower.

The second bedroom is front-facing with a three-part bay window, recessed lighting and an overhead fan/light. The en-suite bathroom has marble tile floors and walls and a brown granite-topped wood vanity. There's also a one-piece Fiberglas shower.

The unit does not come with parking, with the best option being a South Boston residential parking permit.

Home Showcase

• Address: 
624 East Broadway, Unit 1, South Boston
• Bedrooms: Two
• Bathrooms: Two full, one half
• List price: $629,900
• Square feet: 1,438
• Price per square foot: $438
• Annual taxes: $6,380
• Location: About a half mile to main South Boston retail district along West Broadway; a mile via T bus to Broadway Red Line station.
• Built In: 1899, renovated into condo 2005
• Broker: David Murdock of Campion & Co. at 617-236-0711

Pros:

• Paneled wainscoting, high-end door and window moldings
• Living room with 12-foot sloped ceilings and kitchen dining area with three skylights
• Two private decks with panoramic city views
• Both bedrooms have en-suite marble-tile bathrooms

Cons:

• Doesn't come with on-site parking space
• Bathrooms have one-piece Fiberglas showers

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Merger collapse puts Partners in tight spot

Partners HealthCare will have to tread carefully on any future expansion, or risk a takedown attempt by Attorney General Maura Healey, a hospital expert predicted yesterday.

"If Partners keeps on attacking and capturing more land, the AG may say, you know these folks are out of control and they're far too big to allow competition to survive in Massachusetts," said Boston University professor Alan Sager. "If they continue down that road, they may well risk the AG suing to break them up into two parts."

Partners' options are limited after Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders rejected the deal allowing Partners to merge with South Shore, Lawrence Memorial and Melrose-Wakefield hospitals.

It can forge ahead with the merger anyway, engaging in a bare-knuckles legal brawl with an eager new AG. But that could take one to two years in the courts, not including any appeals, said Tasneem Chipty, an antitrust economics expert at Analysis Group.

"If you had two small organizations trying to merge, there would be no issue at all," said Chipty. "You only see close scrutiny, which could become litigious, in situations where one or both parties are quite big. Obviously, Partners is big."

Partners and Healey could also go back to the drawing board on an agreement more palatable to the court than the one former Attorney General Martha Coakley negotiated, but that would also likely be a multiyear process.

Partners could also abandon the deal altogether, or drop individual hospitals from the merger.

Partners CEO Gary Gottlieb is scheduled to step down July 1. It's reasonable to assume Partners would wait to make sure its new CEO is on board with whatever next step it chooses. Partners had no comment yesterday.

Still unknown is what Healey's takedown of the Partners deal could mean for other hospitals, including Boston Medical Center and Tufts Medical Center, which are in talks to merge.

Healey said yesterday she'll be watching the potential deal closely.

"If an agreement between Boston Medical Center and Tufts Medical Center is proposed, our office fully expects to review the transaction," said Christopher Loh, spokesman for Healey. "We remain committed to tackling the challenge of controlling health-care costs while also promoting quality and access."

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LaCrosse makes play for upscale

Although the 2015 Buick LaCrosse AWD Premium 1 tips its hat to its forefathers with a thick, toothy grille and hood-mounted air vents, to steal from the
oft-quoted line: this isn't your grandfather's Buick.

Buick is making a play in the upscale full-sized car class. The simple high-waisted body cocoons you in a quiet, elegant, leather-rich interior that is trimmed in wood paneling and microsuede-draped roof pillars. At night a gentle, single blue LED marks the sweeping curve of the dash that frames the three ghostly digital gauges. Our tester was equipped with the Driver Confidence Package No. 2, which added a power moonroof with second row skylight.

The thick heated and ventilated leather seats, part of the Ultra Luxury Package, are both comfortable and handsome, particularly in the burgundy color of the tester. GM's use of the high-waist body gives the cars a powerful curb appeal and sets them apart from other manufacturers. However, I find the smaller windows as a result of the design reduce some sight lines.

With the Driver Confidence Package, the LaCrosse is a well-armed machine for all driving conditions. Lane departure, blind-spot monitors, cross- traffic alerts, in-town auto braking and adaptive cruise control all help keep you and your LaCrosse in the best motoring posture.

This full-sized cruiser is powered by a 304-horsepower 3.6-liter V­6 that turns the 19-inch wheels through a six-speed automatic. I would have loved more gears like many of its classmates to make the shifts silky smooth. The ride itself is all American. Front and rear MacPherson struts absorb bumps and on the highway the hefty Buick really holds the road and refuses to quiver when a truck swoops by. The all-wheel-drive system gives you a feeling of complete command.

Around town the LaCrosse is nimble enough to joust in the supermarket parking lot and tucks into parking spaces quite deftly. The backup camera projects on the 8-inch LCD screen and overlays a grid showing how close you are, and audible tones remind you you've gone far enough.

In addition to the huge list of safety features, the OnStar-based hotspot lets you stay connected. Bluetooth wireless for the phone and music players rounds out the connectivity and the Bose surround-sound stereo is concert quality.

The LaCrosse MSRP is $40,500, and with three different upgrade packages our tester quotes out at $49,475. Gas mileage is rated at 17 in the city and 26 on the highway and my mostly local driving netted about 22 on average.

So Buick has a player in the large car market and this was an easy and relaxing car to drive. If you are shopping the Toyota Avalon, Chrysler 300, Hyundai Genesis, Ford Taurus and even its stablemate the Chevy Impala, the excellent ride and rich feature options are good reasons to consider the Buick.

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Software license to cut wait times at registry

Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles branches are notorious for their wait times, but how customers wait could soon change.

Pasadena, Calif.-based QLess won the bid to provide a software platform that would let customers enter virtual RMV lines via on-site kiosks or their mobile devices or computers, and get real-time updates on estimated wait times. Customers would be texted a few minutes before they're at the front of the line, preventing the need to wait around an RMV office.

"We give people three freedoms that they didn't have before — freedom to wait anywhere they want, freedom to join the line from anywhere they want and freedom to choose when to get served," QLess co-founder and CEO Alex Backer said. "The results are a dramatic reduction in walkouts or no-shows. Some people have more patience to wait when they have the freedom to wait anywhere."

QLess and the RMV now have to negotiate a contract to provide the service.

The RMV in November released a "10-Point Promise" to improve service, including reducing branch wait times by 20 percent. The average wait time at its 30 branches was 22 minutes and 42 seconds in December, according to the RMV, which has set a 15-minute goal.

Under the current system, customers are told estimated wait times, but never are informed when they change. Branch wait times posted on the RMV website also are inaccurate.

RMV spokeswoman Sara Lavoie said: "We want to make the wait-time experience more predictable."

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Chamber of Commerce to focus on technology companies

The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce is turning over a new leaf, planning to focus on the technology sector and innovation economy as it outlines its priorities in the coming year.

"We need to do more to continue to accelerate innovation and promote innovation everywhere," Jim Klocke, chamber executive vice president, said. "(It's) critical. We have a lot of talent around here, we have a lot of innovation."

The new focus comes as the chamber searches for a leader to replace longtime president and chief executive Paul Guzzi, who announced his retirement in September.

John Fish, who was head of the search committee until he recently stepped down, has said the chamber is looking for someone who could strengthen its connection with innovation businesses.

In outlining its 2015 agenda, the chamber also is emphasizing increasing STEM education and improving entrepreneurial freedom for independent contractors — policies that weren't a priority last year.

"Massachusetts should adopt the federal standard for independent contractors," Klocke said.

"We're going to see more people starting small business, we're going to see more creativity and startups."

The chamber and Boston-based startup incubator MassChallenge also have been working together to increase engagement with fledgling Hub businesses.

C.A. Webb, executive director of the New England Venture Capital Association, said the chamber's agenda for the year represents a good step.

"It's a comprehensive and thoughtful plan that reflects even more of an innovation orientation than last year's agenda," she said. "I'm really supportive of the agenda and look forward to collaborating with them."

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Hot Property: Ocean dreams come true at Seapoint

As we get through the aftermath of the Blizzard of 2015, why not dream of spending summers in this luxurious shingle-style Dartmouth compound at the tip of a peninsula that juts five miles into Buzzards Bay.

Designed by renowned architect Robert A.M. Stern and built in 2007, the 22,000-square-foot property known as Seapoint has a main house with five-bedrooms and 10 bathrooms and a guest house with three bedrooms. It's located on 10 landscaped acres, with 270-degree ocean views and 1,500 feet of water frontage bordered by a seawall.

The current owner, who runs a financial services company and has a home in Boston, used Seapoint as a summer retreat. But he has already moved into another summer home he had built on the Cape. The Dartmouth property has been up for sale since July, listed for a cool $25 million.

"There are very few buyers at this price point," said listing broker Robert Kinlin of Robert Paul Properties, who said the price also includes a buildable lot in the gated community and golf club at nearby Round Hill. "You have people who don't need to sell and people who don't need to buy."

Kinlin said that the eventual buyer of Seapoint will be someone who falls in love with the site. It could easily be a year-round home, he said, although it most likely will be someone's second, third or fourth place. The annual taxes are $178,760.

"It's an amazing piece of earth, first of all," said Kinlin of the waterfront site "You've got views out to Cuttyhunk and Martha's Vineyard. For a property like this, the land is the most important thing, followed by the house."

The site served as a lookout for German submarines during World War II, and there's still a gun turret on the property.

With its wraparound porches, outdoor patios, infinity-edge pool and water dock, Seapoint feels like a hotel resort. Almost every room has a water view.

The enormous second-floor master bedroom suite includes two full bathrooms and two dressing rooms with custom built-ins, a hand-painted, barrel-vault ceiling and a gas fireplace with a baroque pattern of gilt silver. Private staircases from the suite lead to a circular library and home office and there's an outdoor deck with ocean views.

The current owners also hired local artisans to add nautical motifs such as a curved custom fireplace fashioned from stones and driftwood from Buzzards Bay. Craftsmen also made bulls-eye glass windows for the foyer, adorned a living room mantelpiece with shells and mermaids, and carved a rope motif into the dining room floors and seashells into the kitchen floors.

Then there's the unique amenities on the lower level such as a regulation bowling alley, a custom-built stone-fronted circular wine cellar as well as a bar carved to resemble the prow of a ship.

The five-mile Mishaum Point peninsula is a gated community of high-end summer homes 66 miles from downtown Boston.

"Unlike the Cape, you don't have to cross any bridges to get to Dartmouth," Kinlin said. "And it's a quiet, low-key area ideal for someone who wants privacy."

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Chinatown creates land trust

Chinatown residents and activists have formed a land trust in an attempt to buy properties and keep them affordable for residents of the Boston neighborhood, which has been giving way to gentrification.

"What we're really trying to do is preserve as much of the residential stock that exists in Chinatown in a form that is more affordable so the whole neighborhood doesn't become luxury, thus pricing out the Chinese community that is here," said Jeff Hovis, president of the nonprofit Chinatown Community Land Trust. "It's not all going to be ultra-low end properties. There may also be some mixture of more middle-income, condo-type properties really designed for families."

Row houses are the primary target of the trust, which hopes to get funding from sources including the city's Department of Neighborhood Development and foundations, and partner with nonprofit or for-profit developers. Some residents held a rally yesterday on Hudson Street, to protest what they said was a forced relocation of tenants from a row house.

"The city of Boston funds affordable housing development, so it's very conceivable that we would be able to fund, at least in part, a purchase of housing in Chinatown if it was going to remain affordable," DND director Sheila Dillon said.

The Chinatown land trust is getting help from the city's first land trust, the nonprofit Dudley Neighbors Inc., which formed in 1988 and has partnered to develop 225 affordable residential units in Roxbury's Dudley area.

"Funding is a big challenge, because when we started, we were able to access blighted vacant land," DNI director Harry Smith said. "They're in Chinatown. There's not a lot of vacant city-owned land."

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Apple stock ascends after record quarter

Shares of Apple Inc. surged yesterday after the company announced the best financial quarter ever for a public company, and analysts predict there's more growth in the tech giant's future.

Apple stock closed up 5 percent a day after it revealed blockbuster 
$74.6 billion in sales and record-breaking $18 billion profit in the fourth-quarter after it rolled out its newest smartphones, the larger iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus. The company said it sold 74.5 million iPhones in the quarter, which works out to 34,000 smartphones every hour.

"We believe momentum in the current iPhone product cycle remains strong," said Ben Reitzes in a research note for Barclays, "helped by new form factors as well as new products."

Citigroup analyst Jim Suva pointed out that changes in wireless plans allow consumers to upgrade their smartphones without waiting two years to avoid penalties, which he called a big factor in Apple's sales total and a continuing plus for the stock.

"We believe investors do not fully grasp this change in behavior by the wireless carriers and the positive impact to Apple," he wrote.

But Roger Kay, founder and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, sounded a more cautious note.

"Other factors will make it difficult to match this quarter's growth performance," he said.

Herald wire services contributed to this report.

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Logan service to fly at full throttle today

Airlines flying in and out of Logan International Airport are expected to return to full service today after more than 100 flights were canceled yesterday due to the lingering effects of the blizzard.

"All of our airlines should have full, regular schedules," Massport spokeswoman Jennifer Mehigan said.

The storm that dumped 
24.6 inches of snow completely shut down the airport Tuesday, and 109 flights out of Logan were canceled yesterday, according to flight tracking website flight-aware.com.

The canceled flights, however, were not because of bad weather yesterday, or even snow on the ground.

"Because we had so much snow here, a lot of the airlines took their craft away from Logan," Mehigan said, "so the aircraft have to come in before they begin their cycle."

The financial cost of even a storm this big is negligible for airlines, said Carter Leake, an aviation analyst and senior vice-president at BB&T Capital Markets.

"The guy who is supposed to fly on Wednesday flies on Thursday," he said. "A one-day event like this, with news coming (in advance), they had time to apply their optimized solution."

Mehigan said crews at Logan have been working nonstop to get snow off the tarmac — including using an industrial snow-melter.

Passengers lucky enough to have a flight to board yesterday said they were making the best of the situation.

Klancy Miller had a connecting flight canceled, so she had to wait out the storm in Boston before going home to Philadelphia, adding an unplanned extra day to her vacation.

"I literally just read magazines," she said. "It's been really relaxing."

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Business losses accumulate

Bay State businesses are counting their blessings that the monster blizzard of 2015 has brought only minimal losses.

Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, estimated the total loss to his members at less than 
$20 million.

"Compared to some other storms, I think it's relatively minor," Hurst said. "It fell during a notoriously slow sales period — after Thanksgiving and Christmas and before Valentine's Day. And it fell during midweek. If it had been this weekend, or right around Valentine's Day, as in 2013, the impact would have been far more severe."

But he acknowledged some businesses were hit harder, such as convenience stores near office buildings that were closed and retailers who have to pay their employees regardless of whether they make it in to work.

Pat Moscaritolo, president and CEO of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, said many Boston hotels fared better than expected. Rooms that had been reserved by travelers who couldn't get to Boston because of canceled flights were taken by people who were stranded here or by employees of Boston businesses, Moscaritolo said.

"So overall, it pretty much balanced out," he said. "What didn't balance out though were retailers and restaurants who lost sales and their staff who would have lost tips."

Stoughton-based Rentals Unlimited, which rents out party equipment, estimates it lost about $10,000 worth of orders. But it expects the majority of those clients to reschedule within the next two weeks, said Jennifer Gullins, vice president of sales.

"We don't expect this to be a significant financial interruption," Gullins said. "Making sure you have a good risk-management plan is the best strategy."

The company began planning for the storm on Sunday. A team of four employees stayed at its Stoughton headquarters, where it has five buildings and three large parking lots, to keep plowing and ensure that none of the buildings suffered damage and it could reopen today, Gullins said.

Auto czar Herb Chambers spent between $10,000 and $15,000 for each of his 54 dealerships just to move cars indoors during the storm — and that's not counting lost sales and service work and paying employees, spokesman George Regan said.

"He still thinks that, despite all the expense, it's worth it," Regan said. "Boston is a great city to do business in."

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The Ticker

Apple has huge quarter from holiday iPhone sales

Apple had another blowout quarter thanks to its new plus-sized iPhones, which helped the company smash sales records for the holiday season.

Apple said yesterday that it sold 74.5 million iPhones during the three months that ended Dec. 31, beating analysts' expectations for the latest models of Apple's most popular gadget, introduced in September.

The surge in iPhone sales drove the company's total revenue to $74.6 billion, up 30 percent from a year earlier. CEO Tim Cook said on a call with analysts that demand for the phones was "staggering," and noted that results would have been even higher if not for the impact of the strong dollar on overseas sales.

Stocks slide on disappointing outlooks

U.S. stocks closed lower yesterday after disappointing outlooks from Caterpillar and Microsoft raised worries about future profit growth at companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 291.49 points, or 1.7 percent, to close at 17,387.21 yesterday. The blue-chip average dropped as much as 390 points earlier. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slid 27.54 points, or 1.3 percent, to 2,029.55 The Nasdaq composite tumbled 90.26 points, or 1.9 percent, to 4,681.50.

Microsoft shares slid 9 percent, the biggest fall among S&P 500 stocks. The company noted in its quarterly results that licensing revenue for Windows fell, and it warned that a strong dollar will dent revenue.

Caterpillar's stock fell 7 percent after the heavy equipment maker was hurt in the fourth quarter by restructuring costs, and issued a weak outlook.

Obama floats Atlantic drilling lease plan

The Obama administration floated a plan yesterday that for the first time would open up a broad swath of the Atlantic Coast to drilling, even as it moved to restrict drilling indefinitely in environmentally sensitive areas off Alaska.

The proposal envisions auctioning areas located more than 50 miles off Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia to oil companies no earlier than 2021, long after President Obama leaves office. For decades, oil companies have been barred from drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, where a moratorium was in place up until 2008.

Today

• Federal Reserve policymakers meet to set interest rates and release statements.

TOMORROW

• Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.
• Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates.
• National Association of Realtors releases pending home sales index for December.
• Lockton, the world's largest privately held insurance broker, has promoted Chip Manozzi to executive vice president and leader of its Boston office. Manozzi has worked in risk management and commercial insurance for more than 30 years.

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Some Boston spots brave blizzard

The blizzard of 2015 didn't dampen Bostonians' appetites to venture out yesterday in search of restaurants that were open to serve their snowbound neighbors.

Barracuda Tavern in Downtown Crossing had put up six workers at the Nine Zero Hotel and Omni Parker House on Monday night so it could open at its normal 11 a.m. yesterday.

"We have two hotels right across the street from us, so it's a no-brainer," said chef/owner Luka Stipanov, who counted city workers as well as hotel guests as customers yesterday. "We're staying open until 2 a.m. and serving food until 1:30 a.m. — the full menu."

For Jacqueline Church, founder of private cooking class company Kitchen Confidence, the storm was a chance for a lunch date with her husband, an "essential" state employee who was working in Boston yesterday instead of his usual Danvers. The Leather District couple met at Gourmet Dumpling House in Chinatown.

"There was only a handful of people walking around out there," Church said. "Usually there's a line because it's so popular, but today, we walked right in and got a table."

Church saw only one other restaurant open.

"I was surprised," she said. "Chinatown usually is always the last to close."

Manager PJ Crowley shoveled a path through a 3-foot snowdrift to the door of Battery Park to open the Financial District bar and lounge for drinks -- with discounts equal to the amount of snow, which was 20 inches by mid-afternoon.

"It's a little tough, especially being in the area where we are," Crowley said. "But we had a lot of fun on Twitter yesterday and were committed to it, so we just wanted to follow through. Even after the (marathon) bombings we were open ... so we felt a snowstorm — being from New England -- wasn't really a big deal."

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Microsoft’s nifty HoloLens kicks Glass

Google Glass — may it rest in peace — has nothing on Microsoft's HoloLens, a game-changing pair of goggles with a see-through screen that projects holograms that the user can manipulate and control.

Unlike Google Glass, the HoloLens isn't meant to go with you everywhere, and it's not reliant on a smartphone. It exists on its own, when you need it — like a "Star Trek" holodeck worn on your head, smacking right up against the laws of physics. Another difference between Glass and HoloLens: This isn't a concept, it's existing technology, developed by Microsoft in secret for years. It's expected to come to market within the next year, and developers will receive a kit allowing them to design apps for it in a matter of months, according to the software giant based in Redmond, Wash.

The HoloLens looks like a pair of ski goggles, and it's meant for a work or home setting. You are not supposed to venture outside wearing one. In short, it projects a virtual, interactive experience onto the world around you. You can watch television on a virtual holographic screen, launch and interact with a virtual PC, and much more. Or it can virtually put other people in your world, as needed.

Let's say I need help fixing my car. I put on HoloLens and patch in a mechanic. The mechanic can see what I see on his iPad via a compatible app. He can draw on my visual space, labeling all the puzzling parts of my car under the hood. I can virtually tap a part, triggering the screen to virtually spill out all components that are inside that part so I can see how it works without having to disassemble it.

Any task that requires an on-site expert can now be reimagined via the HoloLens. Besides remote mechanics, electricians and plumbers, the HoloLens could change the face of job training and education. Forget about digital classrooms, which are often isolating in my opinion. Having an instructor who can see with your eyes? That's mind-blowing. Being able to mark up and label that visual space? Well, that actually makes you closer to instructors than if you were sitting right next to them.

We still don't know the price of HoloLens. Anything below the $500 mark guarantees mainstream adoption. It makes Apple's upcoming iWatch seem almost petty by comparison.

An irony of this technology is that all of its underpinnings are projects that Wall Street analysts and talking heads had been urging Microsoft to abandon for years — such as Bing, the search engine that gave way to the artificial intelligence for this device, and Xbox, which spawned the motion-sensing Kinect, a technological backbone for HoloLens.

Another irony: HoloLens, in a sense, is a stepping stone to something universal and portable, like Google Glass was meant to be. If 50 million people have a HoloLens, all of a sudden it doesn't feel as idiotic to be wearing one in public.

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Fidelity increasing in private tech companies

Fidelity Investments is looking into more privately owned tech companies to get a leg up on investments as large, successful companies are staying private longer, according to a top investor with Fidelity.

"There are companies that are exciting, innovative, and of a size that are appropriate for our investment but are staying public," said Andrew Boyd, head of global equity capital markets for Fidelity. "We're finding a lot of attractive investments in private companies, particularly in tech."

Fidelity led a $1.2 billion investment in Uber Technologies last summer, and took part in a $1 billion investment in SpaceX announced last week. Fidelity has also invested in Pinterest, Airbnb and several other private tech companies, according to the company's mutual fund data.

"We come across private companies that we think are very interesting and can be a great investment for our shareholders," Boyd said.

Still, Boyd and Fidelity are not working off of any master plan to invest in more private companies.

"It's not that we are coming down the evolutionary scale or the growth scale of companies. These are companies that we would have invested in had they existed 10 years ago, but they would have gone public 10 years ago," Boyd said.

He said Fidelity has more investments in private companies than 10 years ago, but they are still a very small percentage of Fidelity's investment portfolio.

Matthew Wong, a research analyst at venture capital tracking firm CB Insights, said Fidelity is not the only mutual fund company investing more in private companies.

"A lot of the big funding that went to venture funding in 2014 was not from venture capital, we're definitely seeing that trend more now," Wong said.

According to CB Insights data, mutual fund companies Fidelity, BlackRock, T. Rowe Price and Janus made 29 investments in private tech companies in 2014, after making only 16 in 2013 and nine in 2012.

He said the stock market success of companies such as Facebook has encouraged mutual funds.

"Mutual funds and other firms are seeing that and thinking that a better strategy might be instead of investing in these companies when they're public, get in pre-IPO," Wong said.

Boyd said Fidelity is also able to prepare the companies for the expectations that come with being publicly traded and subject to analysts' scrutiny.

"We treat them like a public company, and they need to answer questions from our analysts, and they're probing questions, and this is what they need to get used to for earnings calls," Boyd said.

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Medical pot only OK for sick kids failed by other drugs: MDs

CHICAGO — With virtually no hard proof that medical marijuana benefits sick children, and evidence that it may harm developing brains, the drug should only be used for severely ill kids who have no other treatment option, the nation's most influential pediatricians group says in a new policy.

Some parents insist that medical marijuana has cured their kids' troublesome seizures or led to other improvements, but the American Academy of Pediatrics' new policy says rigorous research is needed to verify those claims.

To make it easier to study and develop marijuana-based treatments, the group recommends removing marijuana from the government's most restrictive drug category, which includes heroin, LSD and other narcotics with no accepted medical use, and switching it to the category which includes methadone and oxycodone.

The recommended switch "could help make a big difference in promoting more research," said Dr. Seth Ammerman, the policy's lead author and a professor of pediatrics and adolescent medicine at Stanford University.

The academy's qualified support may lead more pediatricians to prescribe medical marijuana, but the group says pediatric use should only be considered "for children with life-limiting or severely debilitating conditions and for whom current therapies are inadequate."

The academy also repeated its previous advice against legalizing marijuana for recreational use by adults, suggesting that may enable easier access for kids. It does not address medical marijuana use in adults.

Studies have linked recreational marijuana use in kids with ill effects on health and brain development, including problems with memory, concentration, attention, judgment and reaction time, the group's policy emphasizes.

The policy was published online Monday in Pediatrics. It updates and expands the group's 2004 policy.

Since then, the marijuana movement has grown substantially. Recreational and medical marijuana use is legal for adults in four states — Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. Nineteen other states and Washington D.C., have laws allowing medical marijuana use only and most allow children to qualify, according to Morgan Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project, a national group that advocates marijuana policy reform and tracks state laws.

"The cart is so far ahead of the horse related to this drug," said Dr. Angus Wilfong, of Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. Marijuana has dozens of chemical components that need to be studied just like any drug to determine safety, proper doses and potential side effects, he said.

Wilfong was involved in a recently completed international study involving 30 children with severe epilepsy. About half got an experimental drug made with a marijuana compound that doesn't make users high; the others received dummy medicine. Study results are being analyzed. Wilfong said five children from his hospital were involved and while he doesn't know if any of them got the marijuana drug, none suffered any serious side effects.

Wilfong said he has a young seizure patient in a different, less rigorous study who has shown dramatic improvement after several months on the marijuana-based treatment, "but that doesn't prove it was due to the" experimental drug," he said.

___

Online: American Academy of Pediatrics: http://www.aap.org

Medical marijuana: http://tinyurl.com/axxzhrj

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AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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Answers to common questions about cars in winter

There have been numerous articles recently about warming up vehicles before driving in the winter. I understand doing so makes problems for the environment and is not necessary. The best way is to just drive them. But what about folks who only drive three miles to work? My '08 Hyundai Sonata barely gets heat by the time I get to work if I don't at least let it run for a couple minutes. By letting it run, I am allowing the natural moisture in the air in my engine to evaporate due to heat to prevent further problems down the road. Is there any validity to allow the moisture to evaporate?

Absolutely. Short drives in cold weather leave significant moisture condensed into water and not evaporated from the engine crankcase and exhaust system. From a mechanical and environmental perspective, no significant stationary warm-up/idle period is necessary. In fact, engines and components come up to temperature more quickly, producing better fuel economy and lower emissions when driven gently up to temperature.

There are two scenarios where an extended warm-up prior to driving is useful — at the start of a short drive as you've described or due to a medical/age necessity. Both are completely valid reasons to let a car warm up before driving, and will not harm the vehicle.

One option for you is to plan a 20-minute drive at least once a week to completely evaporate any moisture from the engine and exhaust. This will help prolong the life of exhaust system components and the positive crankcase ventilation system (PCV).

On the subject of longevity, why not plan a round trip to the car wash once a week or so (except in subfreezing temperatures) to not only to bring the vehicle up to full operating temperature, but also to remove the ice and salt from the chassis to reduce the potential for rust?

Is it OK to store a car over the winter while connected to a battery tender with the battery not disconnected?

The benefit to leaving the battery connected is no loss of on-board computer memories — radio presets, seat position, HVAC settings, idle learn, etc. All these are quickly re-established once the vehicle is put back in service.

The only potential downside, in my opinion, is the risk of fire due to some type of electrical problem/short circuit.

Is the use of a 9-volt dry cell battery plugged into the cigarette lighter or charging outlet OK when changing the battery? Is it necessary?

Why bother? When power is reconnected, the computer systems re-learn very quickly.

My 2013 Chrysler minivan calls for 35 psi cold tire pressure. A week before Thanksgiving I added air due to a large drop in temp. I watched tire pressure increase from 35 psi to 45 psi as I drove south for the holiday. Back north the tire pressure was back to 35 psi. I would like to know what rule of thumb one should use for an upper limit on tire pressure.

Having raced on high performance street tires for decades, I can tell you there is no risk to a passenger car tire operating at even 50 psi. So, no worries. The short period of higher cold tire pressures theoretically may cause a slightly higher wear rate on the center of the tread, but that is far less of a concern than operating the tire well below its specified pressure due to lower ambient air temperatures.

The rule of thumb is a 1- to 2-pound loss of pressure for every 10-degree F. drop in air temperature.

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. Because of the volume of mail, we cannot provide personal replies.

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Label case filed vs. Utz products

Two Bay Staters are accusing potato chip giant Utz Quality Foods of mislabeling its products as "all natural," alleging in a complaint that some of them are made from genetically modified ingredients.

Matt DiFrancesco and Angela Mizzoni filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Hanover, Pa.-based company earlier this month. The suit claims they and others have suffered financial losses because Utz's "'All Natural' representations are deceptive, false, misleading, and unfair to consumers," according to the complaint.

"It's not a secret that consumers want things that are natural — that are healthier — and that's why these companies typically put this type of advertising on their label," said Tina Wolfson, the lead attorney in the case. "That's how they are able to command a higher price."

The plaintiffs are seeking at least $5 million, according to the complaint. They have also asked Utz to stop marketing its products as all natural and "conduct a corrective advertising campaign."

Utz and its attorneys did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

This is not the first false-labeling case that Wolfson has brought. In 2013 she reached a $9 million settlement in a class action against PepsiCo Inc.'s Naked Juice Co. The company was accused of misleading consumers about the "all natural" content of its products.

Utz is also accused of incorrectly labeling more than 40 of its products as "all natural."

"The market for natural products is large and ever growing and consumers are willing to pay a premium for products they believe to be natural, healthy and/or organic," the complaint alleges. "Gleaning more than $89.4 billion dollars in revenue in 2013 alone, the industry grew ten-and-a-half percent from 2012, revealing that consumers' desire for natural products is huge and continues to grow."

The suit claims that Utz's products contain a variety of genetically modified ingredients, including modified corn starch, maltodextrin and others. The complaint says Utz breached an express warranty, was unjustly enriched by its false advertising and violated Massachusetts' unfair and deceptive practices law.

"The problem is that the FDA has not given very specific definitions on what natural means and what standards companies need to meet," Wolfson said. "Unfortunately, products that under any definition would not be called natural are being called all natural."

UTZ has not yet filed a response to the complaint and has until Feb. 23 to do so.

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Consumer agency gets an incomplete on mortgage advice

WASHINGTON — When the federal government's consumer protection agency for financial matters tells you how to shop for a good deal on a home mortgage, you should follow the advice, right?

Maybe some of it. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created in the backwash of the worst national mortgage disaster since the Great Depression, went online with a new interactive mortgage tool last week. The CFPB's site (www.consumerfinance.gov) offers helpful tips on shopping and has a guide to loan alternatives, closing costs and a "rate checker" feature.

At first glance, the rate checker appears to be a quick way to research prevailing mortgage interest rates in your area. Here's how it works: You enter the state where you want to apply, a FICO credit score estimate, your desired loan amount and the loan term. The rate checker then displays the local daily rate quotes collected from banks and credit unions by its data vendor, Informa Research Services Inc. of Calabasas, Calif.

Say you live in Virginia or California and want to see what rate you might get on a $400,000 house purchase with a $40,000 down payment. You input your estimated credit score. Say you've got a FICO 680. In Virginia, according to the rate checker readout Jan.16, "most lenders" in the survey would quote you 3.875 percent or less for a 30-year fixed-rate loan. Two lenders offered 3.625 percent and six quoted between 4 percent and 4.375 percent.

In California, most lenders also quoted 3.875 percent or less, one quoted 3.75 percent and five came in between 4 and 4.375 percent. None went as low as 3.625 percent.

But something important is missing here: The various fees and charges that the CFPB itself requires lenders to disclose as part of any mortgage quote to a consumer. As regulator of the Truth in Lending Act, CFPB regulations mandate precise disclosures of loan discount fees or "points" and lender closing charges among others. (A point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.) These are included in the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) — the effective rate applicants will be paying over the life of the loan.

When lenders advertise their rates, they must include the APR along with the base interest rate. There may be other charges that come into the total cost picture as well, such as lender-paid mortgage insurance and investor "overlay" add-ons.

So how big a deal could it be when only the interest rate is provided? In a statement for this column, Quicken Loans, the second largest retail lender in the country, said that quoting a rate alone, with no reference to specific points, fees and the APR, "will deliver a cost estimate that greatly differs from what is accurate." Steve Stamets, senior mortgage banker for Apex Home Loans, Rockville, Md., told me "it's inherently misleading because you're not getting all the potential charges" you're going to have to pay.

For example, said Stamets, a loan officer might violate CFPB rules by quoting a 
3 percent rate on a hypothetical $400,000 loan to pull in customers, but not mention that to obtain that rate they will need to pay 5 points — $20,000. Those points could be paid at settlement or financed and included in the interest rate. In the latter case, using one rule of thumb measure, the effective rate on the loan might jump to 
4.25 percent, not the 3 percent advertised.

David Stevens, CEO and president of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said in an interview that CFPB's rate checker's failure to disclose full costs "violates everything a lender must do" to quote rates to borrowers in compliance with the agency's own rules. "It's just a bad idea," he said. "It needs to come down."

But the CFPB shows no signs of yielding to critics. In a statement for this column, the agency said the rates quoted "assume" discount points ranging between one half a point to minus one half a point "and a 60-day rate lock," but do not include lender closing charges. Dave Hershman, a nationally known trainer and author who helps mortgage companies comply with the rules, scoffed at the CFPB's defense: "Could you imagine (the bureau) allowing a mortgage company to be that nebulous? And to quote rates without an APR?"

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