Feds OK Mashpee pact with Mass. on casino

The Mashpee Wampanoags came one step closer yesterday to building a resort casino in Taunton, after federal officials effectively approved the tribe's gaming pact with the state.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs' approval of the agreement, which outlines terms such as how much gaming proceeds will go to the state, follows its rejection of a prior pact.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs continues to review the tribe's application to put Taunton land for the casino into a federal trust. While that approval is expected to be more troublesome, Mashpee tribal chairman Cedric Cromwell said he hopes to start construction this year.

"The tribal state compact represents a very exciting and important historical time," Cromwell said.

But an attorney for KG Urban Enterprises, which is suing the state and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission over the tribe's first rights to build a southeastern Massachusetts casino, yesterday called the state compact "legally irrelevant."

"The notion that the tribe will 'break ground on a casino by the end of 2014' is nothing short of absurd," attorney Jeff Harris said.

KG is undergoing a background check for a New Bedford casino after the commission's decision to open the southeast region's licensing process to commercial applications while the tribe pursues federal approvals.

KG's federal lawsuit seeks to invalidate the state's gaming act, claiming it includes "race-based set-asides" that give tribes an advantage.

"The United States Supreme Court held in 2009 that tribes such as the Mashpee are ineligible as a matter of federal law for new Indian lands," Harris said. "The compact is thus legally irrelevant and is nothing more than a distraction."

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Audi SQ5 SUV is spacious and sporty

The SQ5, Audi's first utility vehicle available in a sport version, has the capacity of a midsize vehicle with the performance and handling of a sport sedan.

Our tester with its blue paint and 21-inch wheels had an understated appearance that shrouds the SQ5's power and performance. A 3.0-liter, supercharged V6 produces 354 horsepower that was accentuated by a beefy exhaust note. An eight-speed Tiptronic transmission made acceleration silky smooth and provided the option to shift manually. Paddle shifters on the steering wheel were useful for a quick downshift for highway passing.

The Audi's throttle response was swift and I was pinned back in the seat while accelerating on straightaways. The SQ5's sport suspension reduced body roll through tight turns. Ride quality remained reasonable considering its size and weight.

Audi's quattro permanent all-wheel drive that sends power to wheels with the most grip gives the SQ5 an edge on both dry roads and in adverse driving conditions. Our tester's low-profile tires would have to be replaced for the snow. The SQ5 yields an average of 19 miles per gallon in fuel economy and burns premium fuel.

The SQ5's black interior was highlighted with a bulging flat-bottomed steering wheel and supple Nappa leather seats. Heated front bucket seats were comfortable and reduced fatigue on long drives. Extended seat belt buckles that stayed on top of the rear seats made strapping in our children with boosters a breeze. A panoramic sunroof made the interior feel much larger. Audi takes navigation to another level with its system enhanced with Google Earth satellite imagery that provides a realistic picture of the route. Other interior highlights were an excellent Bang & Olufsen sound system with 14 speakers, a rearview camera, thermal cupholders and a three-zone climate control system.

Many of the interior features were part of a $7,500 prestige package that was included in our $64,770 tester. The SQ5 has a base price of $51,900. My only gripe with the SQ5 was the location of the cruise control stalk. It's difficult to see behind the steering wheel, which made it hard to use.

A non-sport version Q5 with a turbocharged four cylinder starts at $37,700. Audi also offers the Q5 with hybrid and turbo diesel engine options. Other SUVs to consider are the BMW X3, the Land Rover Evoque, or the Volvo EC60.

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Cold weather stalls U.S. auto sales in December

U.S. auto sales fell short of expectations last month, thanks to strong November sales and cold December weather, but the industry is in a good position for 2014, experts said.

General Motors sales fell 6.3 percent last month, Toyota sales fell 1.7 percent, and Ford and Chrysler both missed analysts' expectations.

Still, the industry had its best year since 2007, and the Ford F-series truck was the top-selling vehicle for the 32nd year.

Chris Hopson, an auto analyst for IHS, said he sees a recent trend of strong sales continuing.

"If you look at this five-month period as a whole, it reflects a nice running rate for sales," Hopson said. "The strength that we've seen in the second half of 2013 will continue in 2014."

Hopson said auto sales will follow the trajectory of the economy as a whole.

"We're hoping that sales are going to be supported by a recovery economy," Hopson said.

Both analysts and automakers blamed poor weather for slow sales at the year's end.

"When you start taking a look at the end in terms of when we closed in the month of December, there was some bad winter weather," said Erich Merkle, U.S. sales analyst for Ford.

Michelle Krebs, an analyst with Edmunds.com, said, "The sales pace at the beginning of the month was slower than expected as a lot of places were hit by bad weather."

Hopson said the end of November was strong, and that may have played a factor in the slow month.

"It looks like the pace of sales might have been attributable to sales in November," Hopson said.

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Now offering more Staples

Staples Inc. is reinventing itself with a new logo, tagline and ad campaign touting it as more than just your friendly neighborhood office supply store.

The Framingham-based chain yesterday launched "Make More Happen," the first change to its tagline in more than 10 years, focusing on Staples' rapidly growing product assortment.

"We want to make sure no matter what business you're in, we can get you the products you need to be more successful," said Steve Fund, senior vice president of global marketing.

Staples' website, which features 300,000 items, is expanding at a rate of 2,000 new products per day to appeal to businesses across a wide range of industries, from medicine and professional services to restaurants and retail, Fund said.

To reinforce this, the company is changing its logo by removing the "L" — the iconic, bent staple — in its name. Initially, Staples is excluding it on Staples.com, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter, where fans can join the "What the L is going on at Staples?" conversation by using the hash tag 
#WhatTheL. Next Thursday, Staples will swap the letter for a range of items beyond office supplies, from cleaning products to technology to break room snacks.

A new advertising campaign, which will begin nationally Monday, will feature the "Make More Happen" tagline in the first of four new television spots demonstrating the breadth of Staples' assortment. Three additional spots will begin to air in February on cable and prime time network programming, including CBS's "Big Bang Theory" and ABC's "Scandal" and "Modern Family."

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Mass. rehab hospitals get Ala. owner

A Birmingham, Ala., health care real estate development company has acquired New England and Braintree rehabilitation hospitals for $90 million.

The Sanders Trust, in a joint venture with its capital partner, Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, LLC, of Chicago, bought the real estate associated with the hospitals from Senior Housing Properties Trust of Newton and affiliates and simultaneously entered into 15-year leases with Reliant Hospital Partners of Richardson, Texas, to run them.

"They're excellent hospitals with a very strong quality of care," said Steve Hewett, senior vice president of The Sanders Trust.

Reliant Hospital Partners, which operates nine other inpatient rehabilitation hospitals in Texas and Ohio, did not return calls yesterday about what changes it intends to make at the two Bay State hospitals, which represent nearly two-thirds market share for rehabilitation services in the Boston metro area.

Braintree Rehabilitation Hospital, which has 166 licensed beds, and New England Rehabilitation Hospital, which has 198 beds and is located in Woburn, are also affiliated with several other inpatient and out-patient locations in eastern Massachusetts and provide patients with short-term rehabilitation, averaging more than 5,000 successful discharges annually.

In a statement yesterday, Senior Housing Properties Trust, which acquired the hospitals in 2002, said it expects to recognize a gain on their sale of more than $30 million, while simultaneously reducing its exposure to possible future cuts in government funding for Medicare, which paid a large majority of the hospitals' revenues.

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Kathi-Anne Reinstein raising stein as beer lobbyist

State Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein's shift from State House power broker to Sam Adams beer lobbyist could pay dividends for the industry as a whole, observers say, even as the Revere lawmaker readies to leave behind key posts on Beacon Hill.

Reinstein's position as manager of government affairs for Sam Adams' brewer, Boston Beer Co., is a newly created position that will plug the 15-year House veteran into an increasingly politically active industry. Jessica Paar, a Boston Beer Co. spokeswoman, said the company didn't specifically target Reinstein for the job.

"Her career and experience will be an asset to Boston Beer, working with the communities where our breweries are based, and supporting our local small brewer trade associations," Paar said in a statement. "She applied based on the job posting, and it is a new position."

Paul Gatza, director of the Craft Brewers Association, said Reinstein's new role could benefit the industry in its efforts to change decades-old state law to give craft brewers more power in agreements with distributors.

"They've been friends to a lot of brewers," Gatza said of Boston Beer Co.

Reinstein's departure will leave a hole in the leadership team of House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who yesterday called her a "close friend." She also is resigning at a key time in the debate over state gaming, as her hometown prepares to vote on Suffolk Downs' new casino deal with Mohegan Sun.

In a statement, Reinstein, a key backer of Suffolk Downs in its quest for the lucrative eastern Massachusetts casino license, said she would be "unable to actively participate" in the Feb. 25 vote, but urged voters to pass it. She declined further comment.

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New Shack out to Shake up Newbury St.

Shake Shack, the much-ballyhooed burger chain from New York, is heading for Boston's Newbury Street next year.

The, 5,600-square-foot, two-level location at 236 Newbury St. will be Shake Shack's third store in Massachusetts and its largest yet.

Shake Shack signed a lease for the space in November, according to Registry of Deeds documents, and will occupy the street and lower levels of the recently renovated building.

Spokesman Greg Waters would not discuss the company's plans.

"At this point, I have nothing to report," he said.

Shake Shack opened its first Bay State restaurant to long lines at The Street shopping center in Chestnut Hill in March and will hold the grand opening for its Harvard Square location at 92 Winthrop St. in Cambridge tomorrow.

"It's been exceeding our expectations," Waters said of the Chestnut Hill restaurant. "We've been extremely pleased with the response."

The Harvard Square Shake Shack opened for several hours on Dec. 24 to serve the chain's signature frozen custard, and formally opens tomorrow at 11 a.m.

Restaurateur Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group opened the first Shake Shack in New York's Madison Square Park in 2004. The Harvard Square location will be its 40th worldwide. "We love Boston and can't wait for our grand opening in Harvard Square," CEO Randy Garutti said in a statement. "Cambridge is absolutely amazing with its vibrant food culture, energized college scene, wealth of history and central location."

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Justice delays health law's birth control mandate

WASHINGTON — Only hours before the law was to take effect, a Supreme Court justice on Tuesday blocked implementation of part of President Barack Obama's health care law that would have forced some religion-affiliated organizations to provide health insurance for employees that includes birth control.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor's decision came after a flurry of efforts by Catholic-affiliated groups from around the nation. Those groups had rushed to the federal courts to stop Wednesday's start of portions of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Sotomayor acted on a request from an organization of Catholic nuns in Denver, the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged. Its request for an emergency stay had been denied earlier in the day by a federal appeals court.

The government is "temporarily enjoined from enforcing against applicants the contraceptive coverage requirements imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," Sotomayor said in the order.

Sotomayor, who was in New York Tuesday night to lead the final 60-second countdown and push the ceremonial button to signal the descent of the Times Square New Year's Eve ball, gave government officials until 10 a.m. EST Friday to respond to her order.

The law requires employers to provide insurance that covers a range of preventive care, free of charge, including contraception. The Catholic Church prohibits the use of contraceptives.

The Obama administration crafted a compromise, or accommodation, that attempted to create a buffer for religiously affiliated hospitals, universities and social service groups that oppose birth control. The law requires insurers or the health plan's outside administrator to pay for birth control coverage and creates a way to reimburse them.

But for that to work, the nuns would have to sign a form authorizing their insurance company to provide contraceptive coverage, which would still violate their beliefs, argued their attorney, Mark Rienzi.

"Without an emergency injunction, Mother Provincial Loraine Marie Maguire has to decide between two courses of action: (a) sign and submit a self-certification form, thereby violating her religious beliefs; or (b) refuse to sign the form and pay ruinous fines," Rienzi said.

The White House did not comment on the order Tuesday night. In a statement Tuesday night, Rienzi said he was delighted by Sotomayor's order. "The government has lots of ways to deliver contraceptives to people," he said. "It doesn't need to force nuns to participate."

Sotomayor's decision to delay the contraceptive portion of the law was joined by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which also issued an emergency stay for Catholic-affiliated groups challenging the contraceptive provision, including the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and Catholic University. But one judge on the three-judge panel that made the decision, Judge David S. Tatel, said he would have denied their motion.

"Because I believe that appellants are unlikely to prevail on their claim that the challenged provision imposes a 'substantial burden' under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, I would deny their application for an injunction pending appeal," Tatel said.

The archdiocese praised the appeals court's action in a statement.

"This action by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is in line with the rulings of courts all across the country which have held that the HHS mandate imposes a substantial and impermissible burden on the free exercise of religion," the archdiocese said. "These decisions also vindicate the pledge of the U.S. Catholic bishops to stand united in resolute defense of the first and most sacred freedom - religious liberty."

The Supreme Court already has decided to rule on whether businesses may use religious objections to escape a requirement to cover birth control for employees. That case, which involves Hobby Lobby Inc., an Oklahoma City-based arts and crafts chain with 13,000 full-time employees, is expected to be argued in March and decided by summer.

___

Follow Jesse J. Holland on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jessejholland.

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Lavish parties, uninhibited tourists rule in Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas held one its biggest ever New Year's Eve celebrations, with sold-out concerts and an eight-minute long fireworks show that was billed as the largest in the country.

Big-ticket musical acts Bruno Mars, John Legend and Maroon 5 helped lure 335,000 visitors to Las Vegas by nightfall on Tuesday — 5,000 more than last year, tourism officials said.

Thousands celebrated late Tuesday and early Wednesday along the Las Vegas Strip and across town at the Fremont Street Experience, where Mayor Carolyn Goodman and her husband, former mayor Oscar Goodman, were on hand.

Party-goers cheered in anticipation at 10 minutes before midnight, and then again with five minutes to go, then watched as the fireworks were launched from the rooftops of seven hotel-casinos.

The holiday was seemingly custom-made to align with Sin City's boozy, bad-judgment ethos.

The Minus5 Ice Bar Mandalay Bay started handing out free champagne for hourly toasts at 11 a.m. Tourists were seen toting novelty drinks into casinos by noon.

For Lester Arnold, 50, the desert weather made Las Vegas the obvious place to ring in the New Year. Temperatures dropped from 60 to 40 degrees as the sun set.

"There are people outside here. It's minus twenty in Springfield and there's no party there," the Massachusetts native said, sipping from a red Solo cup full to the brim with champagne as nearly naked showgirls strutted past.

A Gene Simmons impersonator sat in a motorized scooter nearby, wagging his tongue at tourists in novelty hats.

Police shut down traffic on the Las Vegas Strip at 6 p.m. so revelers could spill into the 4-mile stretch of road normally packed with cars.

Randy and Patty Harkin, of Salt Lake City, were dressed in their finest. The couple had just eloped at the Stained Glass Chapel, on the anniversary of their first kiss.

"I called my mom and was like, 'We're married now, and happy New Year," Randy Harkin said.

Law enforcement officers were keeping a close eye on the festivities.

Hotels were dealing a full house, with occupancy approaching 100 percent and $200 rooms going for $600. New Year's Eve is typically the most profitable night of the year for casinos, and their executives worked to persuade visitors to make it a long weekend.

Many casinos offered up special "New Year's Eve Eve" events on Monday and advertised the two days before that as the biggest weekend of the year. DJs were counting down to 2014 as early as Sunday at the Mirage hotel-casino's 1OAK club.

Las Vegas was light this year on hosted nightclub bashes in which guests pay for proximity to a famous person. Original celebutante Paris Hilton was hosting one of the only such parties.

New Year's Eve crowds in the city have doubled since 1990 but still lag other parties in New York City's Times Square and Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.

In seedier downtown Las Vegas at the Fremont Street Experience pedestrian mall, organizers held a block party that featured Blues Traveler and Papa Roach. Some revelers were disappointed to learn that they had to pay $40 to get in.

Grace Champion, 25, had come with her husband from Wasilla, Alaska. The couple bought their own yard-long plastic drink cups for 99 cents and was saving money by getting them refilled inside casinos.

Her hope for the New Year was that it would bring her a job. Her goal for the night: catch a glimpse of Papa Roach.

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Hannah Dreier can be reached at http://twitter.com/hannahdreier.

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Mass. home sales slide in Nov.

There was a slight chill in the Massachusetts housing market last month.

November saw the first year-over-year decline in single-family home sales — and the fewest number of monthly sales — since April, driven by a tight supply of available properties and rising interest rates.

Sales fell 2 percent compared to November of 2012, according to data released yesterday by the Warren Group, the Boston publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

The median sales price for single-family homes, meanwhile, climbed 4 percent to $307,000, for the 14th straight month of year-over-year increases.

"The low inventory of homes for sale is affecting the number of sales, because people who are eager to buy are not finding much to their liking," Warren Group CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr. said. And while historically low, interest rates have been rising since May.

Single-family homes for sale as of Nov. 30 numbered 18,428, down 20.6 percent compared to the same month last year — marking the 21st consecutive month of inventory decreases.

And, unlike some buyers during the mid-2000s inventory shortage who purchased homes beyond their financial means, buyers today aren't willing to make that leap, according to MAR president Kimberly Allard-Moccia, broker-owner of Century 21 Professionals in Braintree.

"They're not interested in repeating past mistakes, and the lending requirements are far more strict now," she said. "Even if a buyer wanted to overpay for a property, or get involved in a multiple bid situation, their lender may not approve the loan."

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