Best Places to Work Best Places to Work

B6 ♦ BUCKS COUNTY COURIER TIMES ♦ Thursday, March 20, 2014
▼DOW
▼NASDAQ
▼S&P
money
-114.02
16,222.17
-25.71
4,307.60
-11.48
1,860.77
Money Wrap
Candy bars recalled
The Giant Food Stores chain has removed
Simply Lite Dark Chocolate Bars from the
shelves due to a recall by the maker, Simply Natural Foods. The bars may contain milk protein,
though the label states it has only traces of the
ingredient. The product is safe to consume for
individuals who do not suffer from a milk protein
allergy, according to the maker and Giant.
The recall involves Simply Lite Dark Chocolate Bar, 3 oz., UPC 0079020012, with lot number
01182015A and 01192015A.
Customers should discard any unused portions
of the product and bring the receipt to Giant for a
full refund.
More information: Simply Natural Foods at
1-866-923-1549; or Giant at 1-888-814-4268.
Best Places
to Work
Philadelphia Flyers
broadcaster Bill Clement
speaks to attendees at
the Best Places to Work
event at Belle Voir Manor
at Pen Ryn Estate on
Wednesday in Bensalem.
winners announced
Citizens Bank reopens
renovated branch
Citizens Bank is holding a grand reopening of
its renovated Warrington branch at 600 Easton
Road from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
Citizens Bank customers and the public are
invited to attend the celebration, which includes
refreshments, giveaways and a balloon artist
(11 a.m. to 3 p.m.). A ribbon-cutting ceremony
will be at noon.
To mark its reopening, Citizens Bank will
make a $1,000 donation to Bucks County Housing Group to further its services to low-income
families in Bucks County.
Study: Mortgages paid
before credit cards
Many U.S. homeowners are once again giving
priority to their mortgage payments over keeping
up with their credit card bills.
That’s the conclusion of a study released
Wednesday by credit reporting agency TransUnion.
The firm examined late-payment rates of
mortgages, credit cards and auto loans between
2003 and 2013 among consumers with the three
types of financial obligations.
The study found consumers began falling
behind on their credit card payments at a greater
rate than their mortgage payments last September.
That marked a reversal after a five-year period
during which the late-payment rate on credit
cards trailed that of home loans.
The shift comes as home values are rising,
foreclosures are declining and the economy is
steadily adding jobs.
Toyota to pay $1.2B
to settle probe
Toyota agreed to pay $1.2 billion to settle an
investigation by the U.S. government, admitting
that it hid information about defects that caused
Toyota and Lexus vehicles to accelerate unexpectedly and resulted in injuries and deaths.
Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that the penalty is the largest of its kind ever
imposed on an auto company. The four-year
criminal investigation focused on whether Toyota
promptly reported the problems related to unintended acceleration.
The company admitted to misleading consumers and regulators by assuring them that it had
adequately addressed an acceleration problem stemming from ill-fitting floor mats— which attracted
widespread publicity in 2009 following a car crash
in San Diego that killed a family of four — through
a limited safety recall of certain models.
Toyota knew at the time that it had not
recalled other models susceptible to the same
problem and also took steps to conceal from regulators a separate acceleration problem related to a
faulty pedal, according to the Justice Department.
“In other words, Toyota confronted a public
safety emergency as it if were a simple public relations problem,” Holder said at a news conference.
From staff and wire reports
T
he Jobs Now
Best Places to
Work winners
were announced
Wednesday by the Bucks
County Courier Times, the
Burlington County Times
and The Intelligencer, which
sponsored the contest.
Businesses in Burlington
County, N.J., and Bucks and
eastern Montgomery County,
Pa., competed in 21 categories. Employees were asked
to describe why they nominated their employer. Winners were chosen based on
the number of valid entries.
Kreischer Miller, an independent CPA firm, was the
final judge of ballot eligibility. The list of the winners
follows.
Best New Jersey
employer overall: Lourdes
Specialty Hospital
Best Pennsylvania
employer overall: St. Mary
Medical Center
Best place for working
moms: Merck
Best small company
(under 100 employees):
Benetrends, Inc.
Best large company (100plus employees): Merck
Best employer for new
graduates: Advertising Specialty Institute
Best employer for most
flexible workplace: Merck
Honorable Mention
for workplace flexibility:
Ogontz Fire Company
Best employer for family-friendliness: Merck
Honorable mention
for family-friendliness:
Kardos, Rickles, Hand &
Bidlingmaier
Best employer, automotive: The Thompson
Organization
Best employer, transportation: Sterling
Limousine
Best Pennsylvania hospital: St. Mary Medical
Center
Best New Jersey hospital: Lourdes Specialty
Hospital
Best health care organization: Pickering Manor
Best staffing agency:
McCallion Staffing
Specialists
Higher interest rate talk scares Wall Street
Associated Press‌
Susan Walsh / Associated Press
Best entry-level
employer: XL Group Inc.
Best employer for onthe-job training: Airgas
Best employer for
promoting from within:
American Heritage Federal
Credit Union
Best employer based on
work atmosphere: 3rd Fed
Bank
Best employer/best
boss: Mary Mikalaitis/
Doylestown Hospital
Best employer for continuing education: NovaCare Rehabilitation
photos by william Thomas Cain / for the courier times
By KEN SWEET
Attorney General Eric Holder (right)
accompanied by U.S. Attorney for the Second
District Preet Bharara announces a $1.2 billion
settlement with Toyota over its disclosure of
safety problems on Wednesday.
People enjoy lunch
at the Best Places
to Work event.
NEW YORK — Higher
interest rates are coming. And
they are coming sooner than
you think.
That’s the message investors took away from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday. In
response, they sent stocks and
gold prices lower and bond
yields sharply higher.
The Dow Jones industrial
average lost 114.02 points, or
0.7 percent, to 16,222.17. The
Dow fell as much as 209 points
before erasing some of its loss.
The Standard & Poor’s 500
index dropped 11.48 points,
or 0.6 percent, to 1,860.77 and
the Nasdaq composite lost
25.71 points, or 0.6 percent, to
4,307.60.
The Fed voted to cut its
monthly bond purchases from
$65 billion to $55 billion, in
line with what analysts were
expecting. Despite severe winter weather in January and February, the Fed said economy
had recovered enough for it to
continue reducing the bond
buys, which are aimed at keeping long-term interest rates low.
The Federal Reserve also
said the vast majority of its policymakers believed it would be
appropriate for the central bank
to raise short-term interest rates
starting in 2015. The Federal
Funds rate, traditionally the
Fed’s main tool for regulating
the health of the economy, has
been near zero since 2008.
“We think they are acknowledging for the first time that
short-term rates will rise in the
future,” Chris Rupkey, chief
financial economist with Bank
of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, wrote
in an email to clients. “And that
future is not that far away. A normal economy will need a normal
interest rate.”
Traders were also confused
after newly appointed Fed
Chair Janet Yellen implied that
the Fed’s time frame for raising
interest rates was closer to the
first half of 2015, sooner than
many had expected. A decline
in stock and bond prices
steepened after she made her
comments.
States propose free community college tuition
in Oregon and Tennessee are
deciding whether free tuition
PORTLAND, Ore. — Nothregardless of family income is
ing sparks consumer demand like the best use of public money. A
the word “free,” and politicians
Mississippi bill passed the state
in some states have proposed the House, but then failed in the
idea of providing that incentive
Senate.
to get young people to attend
The debate comes in a midcommunity college.
term election year in which
Amid worries that U.S. youth income inequality and the burare losing a global skills race,
dens of student debt are likely
supporters of a no-tuition policy
going to be significant issues.
see expanding access to com“I think everybody agrees
munity college as way to boost
that with a high school educaeducational attainment so the
tion by itself, there is no path
emerging workforces in their
to the middle class,” said State
states look good to employers.
Sen. Mark Hass, who is leading
Of course, such plans aren’t
the no-tuition effort in Oregon.
free for taxpayers, and legislators “There is only one path, and it
By STEVEN DUBOIS
Associated Press‌
leads to poverty. And poverty is
very expensive.”
Hass said free community
college and increasing the number of students who earn college credit while in high school
are keys to addressing a “crisis”
in education debt. Taxpayers
will ultimately benefit, he said,
because it’s cheaper to send
someone to community college
than to have him or her in the
social safety net.
Research from the Oregon
University System shows Oregonians with only a high school
degree make less money than
those with a degree and thus contribute fewer tax dollars. They
are also more likely to use food
stamps and less likely to do volunteer work.
A Gallup poll released in
late February found 94 percent
of Americans believe it’s somewhat or very important to have
a degree beyond high school, yet
only 23 percent of respondents
said higher education is affordable to everyone who needs it.
As at four-year universities,
the price of attending a community college has risen sharply
because of reduced state support
and higher costs for health care
and other expenses. The average
annual cost of tuition nationally
is about $3,300, and books and
fees add to the bill.
It’s cheaper than university,
but expensive enough to dissuade
someone who’s unsure whether
to pursue higher education.
In Tennessee, Republican Gov.
Bill Haslam wants to use lottery
money to create a free community college program for high
school graduates. It’s central to
the Republican’s goal of making
the state more attractive to potential employers by increasing the
percentage of Tennesseans with
a college degree to 55 percent by
2025 from 32 percent now.
If approved by the Legislature,
the “Tennessee Promise” would
See Tuition, Page B7