Photo: National Weather Service / /

The National Weather Service issued a Hard Freeze Warning for parts of the Bay Area and inland valleys on Sunday morning. Some local residents complained about the temperatures on social media.

The National Weather Service issued a Hard Freeze Warning for parts of the Bay Area and inland valleys on Sunday morning. Some local residents complained about the temperatures on social media.

"I wear these when it gets cold to remind myself that it's not really cold. Put on a sweater and suck it up."

"I wear these when it gets cold to remind myself that it's not really cold. Put on a sweater and suck it up."

"Friends in LA: It's so cold! (50 degrees)Friends in SF: it's so cold! (42 degrees)Friends in Minnesota: We just slit open a Tauntaun."

"Friends in LA: It's so cold! (50 degrees) Friends in SF: it's so cold! (42 degrees)Friends in Minnesota: We just slit open a Tauntaun."

"So cold in #Oakland that there was still frost on the ground by afternoon. Brrrrr...ready for #winter #solstice for sure!"

"So cold in #Oakland that there was still frost on the ground by afternoon. Brrrrr...ready for #winter #solstice for sure!"

"For those complaining how cold it is in San Francisco today: it was literally 60 degrees colder in Minneapolis. 60 f'ing degrees. Okay?"

"For those complaining how cold it is in San Francisco today: it was literally 60 degrees colder in Minneapolis. 60 f'ing degrees. Okay?"

"Climate change: Boston and New York are both warmer than Los Angeles!! HOw?!?!!! #burr #cold #weather"

"Climate change: Boston and New York are both warmer than Los Angeles!! HOw?!?!!! #burr #cold #weather"

"So San Fran: Juice shop overwhelmed with delivery orders because it's (supposedly) too cold to go outside. #$9juice"

"So San Fran: Juice shop overwhelmed with delivery orders because it's (supposedly) too cold to go outside. #$9juice"

"Baby It's Cold Outside: Frosty Noe Windshields Edition."

"Baby It's Cold Outside: Frosty Noe Windshields Edition."

"Man, this cold snap is unpresidented. Set my thermostat to the lowest possible temp (it has no off switch) and heater is still going. #brrr"

"Man, this cold snap is unpresidented. Set my thermostat to the lowest possible temp (it has no off switch) and heater is still going. #brrr"

"It's 35 degrees outside and people make fun of California for not having a 'real' winter. THIS IS REAL CAUSE IT'S COLD AF!"

"It's 35 degrees outside and people make fun of California for not having a 'real' winter. THIS IS REAL CAUSE IT'S COLD AF!"

"California weather has made me a wimp for sure."

"California weather has made me a wimp for sure."

"'It's so cold' - phrase of the weekend in SF."

"'It's so cold' - phrase of the weekend in SF."

Bay Area locals took to Twitter to complain about the cold temperatures over the weekend.

Bay Area locals took to Twitter to complain about the cold temperatures over the weekend.

"The last 48 hours has been my friends texting me about going somewhere and me replying 'I'm too cold can't get out of bed' #sfcoldsnap"

"The last 48 hours has been my friends texting me about going somewhere and me replying 'I'm too cold can't get out of bed' #sfcoldsnap"

"@ sf why you been so cold lately?I'm finally blasting heat in my room and wearing two sweaters someone help."

"@ sf why you been so cold lately? I'm finally blasting heat in my room and wearing two sweaters someone help."

"Never have I heard so many people complain about the cold as I have today in SF. It was 55 and sunny."

"Never have I heard so many people complain about the cold as I have today in SF. It was 55 and sunny."

Bay Area residents deal with cold with hilarious tweets

Parts of the Bay Area were served up a hard freeze warning by the National Weather Service, and other areas experienced temperatures in the 30s early Sunday.

Things did manage to "heat up" to the low 50s, but that didn't stop people from complaining about the cold snap over the weekend.

"Man, this cold snap is unpresidented," wrote San Francisco Chronicle writer Henry Schulman, in a nod to the latest weather and Trump news. "Set my thermostat to the lowest possible temp (it has no off switch) and heater is still going."

A number of self-aware people managed to comment on how cold the Bay Area was, knowing that in comparison to other parts of the country we didn't have it too bad.

"Friends in LA: It's so cold! (50 degrees). Friends in SF: it's so cold! (42 degrees). Friends in Minnesota: We just slit open a Tauntaun," wrote one Twitter user.

Click through the gallery above to see the reactions to cold temperatures over the weekend.

Summary: The temperatures aren't considered freezing until everyone takes to social media to complain about it.


N.Y., Calif. Govs taking bold steps to solve deficits

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo introduced a new tax system that reduces the state's budget gap by some $2 billion dollars; the state still has to find ways to cover its remaining $1.5 billion deficit, reports Tony Guida. But, as Bill Whitaker reports, that's a cakewalk compared to what California -- the nation's largest state economy -- is facing.

Summary: CBS News video: Craft brewers create jobs throughout recession - Beer sales have been down during the current economic slump, but Eliane Quijano found a pair of brothers whose craft brewery has been creating jobs along with their signature beers.


In an advertisement for his little fish-and-chips shop near Lake Merritt, Sabah Ali calls himself a local hero. Why?

"For eight years, I cook fish and chips."

Well, in our book, anybody who spends that much time dedicated to enclosing fresh cod and snapper in a crispy fried coating can call himself anything he wants.

In the early 1990s, Ali took over Yorkshire Fish and Chips when it was on Shattuck Avenue near University in Berkeley. About a year ago, high rent sent him to a little glassed-in storefront in Oakland on Grand Avenue just across from the entrance to Fairyland.

The restaurant is little more than a glorified take-out shop. Still, there are some funny touches that would encourage lingering at one of the half-dozen tables or at the four counter seats that look onto a cluttered kitchen and deep-fat fryers. Paperbacks, including the bodice-ripper "Wild Rapture" and Sherlock Holmes in "The Honour of the Yorkshire Light Artillery," are stacked near the garbage bin. Old National Geographics are piled up by the cash register.

A Mexican radio station is often playing. Many of the customers are from the neighborhood. Ali is from Iraq. The only thing about the place that seems British is the name and the poster pinups of bobbies and beefeaters.

The short menu, which hangs over the cash register, features a handful of different sorts of fish, which you can have in a number of combinations. Cod and chips is the basic choice (two pieces with chips is $5.95). The cod, which Ali gets frozen but cuts himself, is dipped in a thin batter of flour, salt, sugar, water and a little paprika. Then it goes into the deep fryer until it's crunchy and hot. An order generally comes with crisp, thick, previously frozen fries -- except on the rare occasions when Ali makes his own from fresh potatoes.

"This," said a friend, who had just finished a plate heaped with fish and fries, "is everything you want in an order of fish and chips."

You can get the same treatment with fresh red snapper or, on occasion, lingcod or catfish. Sometimes he even has halibut. Any combination of two kinds of fish is $6.99. The snapper was perfect on a recent visit, but the catfish had a muddy taste.

You can also veer off into the realm of "assorted seafood" -- all of which is deep-fried but is not as good as the fish. A choice of one sort of seafood and a piece of fish with chips is $5.95. Five pieces of seafood without fish is $6.95. Ten pieces of assorted seafood is $9.95. Among the assortment are big shrimp that have been butterflied and sliced in the middle to form a sort of a circle. Calamari, which doesn't taste terribly fresh, is cut into little rings and served without tentacles. The oysters, perhaps the best of the "assorted seafood" choices, are juicy and plump inside their crunchy coats.

All dinners come on a paper plate over a plastic plate, with a lemon wedge, a little pile of cabbage and vinegar and chopped romaine and tomatoes. Ali piles on the fries, and he cuts the fish into generous fillets. His portions are so big that you'd do well to order a little less than you think you want.

We missed cocktail sauce for some of the seafood, but we made ourselves happy with malt vinegar and Tabasco and dug around the soft drink cooler for tarter sauce and ketchup.

Other items end up in the deep fryer, but none are as good as the fish. Chicken "Wings of Fire" ($5.95) are double-coated, vaguely spicy and taste pretty much of grease. Other fried items, like zucchini and mushrooms ($1.59 or $1.69) are juicy and crunchy and make you feel like at least you've attempted to eat a vegetable.

The most unexpected item on the menu is Ali's version of hush puppies. Usually a deep-fried round or crescent of spiced cornmeal, Ali gives his hush puppies a Middle Eastern twist. Bite through the hot cornmeal crust and inside you'll find -- vegetarians beware -- ground beef, onion, potato and a host of flavors including parsley and cilantro. All that, and the price is a mere $1. 59 for three. Or six. It depends on the sort of mood he is in. Some days, the portions are bigger than others. Dessert isn't always available. On one visit, we had a slice of dense raisin cake ($1) with off, almost chemical flavors, which we wouldn't order again.

Although much of the menu isn't worth trying, the fish and chips are. And since Lake Merritt is just a short walk away, Yorkshire is the perfect spot to pick up an order of fish and chips and head to lake for a picnic. You'd feel very British, to boot, although we have a ways to go. Last year, the British ate 277 million orders of fish and chips.

Wines listed above are generally available but may not be in all stores. To locate them, start with your local wine merchant, but also try larger stores and supermarkets.

Summary: In an advertisement for his little fish-and-chips shop near Lake Merritt, Sabah Ali calls himself a local hero.  In the early 1990s, Ali took over Yorkshire Fish and Chips when it was on Shattuck Avenue near University in Berkeley.  About a year ago, high rent sent him to a little glassed-in storefront in Oakland on Grand Avenue just across from the entrance to Fairyland.  [...] there are some funny touches that would encourage lingering at one of the half-dozen tables or at the four counter seats that look onto a cluttered kitchen and deep-fat fryers.  Paperbacks, including the bodice-ripper "Wild Rapture" and Sherlock Holmes in "The Honour of the Yorkshire Light Artillery," are stacked near the garbage bin.  The short menu, which hangs over the cash register, features a handful of different sorts of fish, which you can have in a number of combinations.  The cod, which Ali gets frozen but cuts himself, is dipped in a thin batter of flour, salt, sugar, water and a little paprika.  An order generally comes with crisp, thick, previously frozen fries -- except on the rare occasions when Ali makes his own from fresh potatoes.  The snapper was perfect on a recent visit, but the catfish had a muddy taste.  Among the assortment are big shrimp that have been butterflied and sliced in the middle to form a sort of a circle.  The oysters, perhaps the best of the "assorted seafood" choices, are juicy and plump inside their crunchy coats.  All dinners come on a paper plate over a plastic plate, with a lemon wedge, a little pile of cabbage and vinegar and chopped romaine and tomatoes.  Ali piles on the fries, and he cuts the fish into generous fillets.  Chicken "Wings of Fire" ($5.95) are double-coated, vaguely spicy and taste pretty much of grease.  Other fried items, like zucchini and mushrooms ($1.59 or $1.69) are juicy and crunchy and make you feel like at least you've attempted to eat a vegetable.  The most unexpected item on the menu is Ali's version of hush puppies.  Usually a deep-fried round or crescent of spiced cornmeal, Ali gives his hush puppies a Middle Eastern twist.  Bite through the hot cornmeal crust and inside you'll find -- vegetarians beware -- ground beef, onion, potato and a host of flavors including parsley and cilantro.  On one visit, we had a slice of dense raisin cake ($1) with off, almost chemical flavors, which we wouldn't order again.  [...] since Lake Merritt is just a short walk away, Yorkshire is the perfect spot to pick up an order of fish and chips and head to lake for a picnic.  To locate them, start with your local wine merchant, but also try larger stores and supermarkets.  the prices of appetizers help determine the dollar ratings.  Chronicle critics make every attempt to remain anonymous.


When this proved unsuccessful, they decided to adopt a baby boy from Korea, and then a second baby boy a few years later, incurring significant adoption costs. Schlaefer, now 35, was so affected by her experience that she and her husband started a foundation called Parenthood For Me to help fund adoptions and assisted reproductive technology costs for others.

“We wanted to help other people in a similar situation,” she said. “We felt that the size of one’s bank account should not dictate whether or not they become parents.”

Unfortunately, for most people, the cost of medically-assisted pregnancy can be crippling. That said, the price tag varies — as does the level of financial help available. Here’s how to plan for the expense:

What it will take: US couples facing infertility treatment will pay more than $5,000 on average to cover clinic visits, drugs and other expenses, according to a study in the San Francisco area from the University of California. Opting for IVF? That will cost an average of $12,400, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. In the UK, the average amount spent on fertility treatment was £8,678 ($14,299), according to the Red Annual National Fertility Report from Red magazine. While in Australia, IVF costs are closer to AUD$4,000 ($3,559).

“Fertility treatment in Australia is far more affordable than the US experience,” said Mark Bowman, president of the Fertility Society of Australia and associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Sydney. “The Australian Medicare system and private health insurance meet part of the cost.”

There are times when couples will spend more money, of course. “You might need a donor egg, or you might choose to use a donor egg in collaboration with your IVF cycle,” said Barb Collura, CEO of the US organisation RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association. “That is going to cost $30,000 to $50,000.”

Considering building your family via a surrogate? In the US, that will run $50,000 to $100,000 whereas surrogacy in Australia costs between AUD$20,000 and AUD$65,000 ($17,796 to $57,837). In the UK, however, surrogacy may be less expensive, because families are only legally allowed to cover the surrogate’s expenses and loss of wages. But because of this, surrogates are difficult to find — many couples go to other countries.

How long you need to prepare: Infertility is usually a surprise for couples, consequently most do not have much time to save. You may have to try for a baby naturally for some period of time (a year, for example) before health insurance will cover any type of medical intervention. About 20% of US employers cover assisted reproductive therapies, according to a survey from Resolve.

It might be wise to talk to a financial planner before you even embark on the process. “I show the couple how much it will cost, and I develop a financing strategy and show them that they may have to work longer to accommodate this expense,” said Ann Terranova, a financial planner with Union Financial Partners in San Francisco, California.

“I show them the trade-offs. Then it is up to them to decide how much they want this particular aspect of their lives. There may be a point where the cost is too much and the endeavour will be abandoned,” Terranova said. Consider what you are willing to spend, the number of treatments you might consider having, and at what point you will consider other avenues, such as adoption.

Do it now: Most private fertility clinics will have someone on staff dedicated to guiding clients through the financial part of the process. That person can help you understand the costs, and any assistance that might be available. Many clinics also offer financing. “We provide careful written information as well as making sure that one of our financial team will sit down with a couple contemplating IVF,” said Peter Illingworth, medical director of IVF Australia.

Check with your insurance. Some health insurance plans may cover part or all of your fertility treatments, depending on your location, your plan and your needs. In the UK, for example, some fertility treatment may be covered by the National Health Service (NHS), but there may also be a waiting list for treatment. In Australia, some fertility treatment costs are covered by Medicare and others are covered by private health insurance. If your private insurance does not cover infertility treatment, upgrade now, because there could be a waiting period before benefits are provided.

Talk about cash. “If you do not already have one, you should implement a monthly cash flow budget as soon as possible to plan for the large expenses and debt repayment,” said Adam Burch, a financial planner with Briaud Financial Advisors in Texas, who spent nearly $30,000 on fertility treatments before having his daughter recently. “This is what helped us most when going through this process and allowed us to effectively manage the cost.”

Apply for financial aid. In the US, there are non-profit organisations that offer grants to help fund infertility treatments and adoption costs. You can find a list of resources at US site Resolve.org.

Consider egg sharing. In the UK, many private clinics offer free or reduced cost IVF for patients that are willing to donate eggs for others to use. This is a very personal decision, but it may make IVF a more affordable option for you.

Do it later: Keep track of your expenses. In the US, fertility treatments are not eligible for a tax credit in the way that adoption costs are, but they are deductible to the extent that they exceed 10% of your income, Frederick said. While, in Australia, it may be possible Medicare Safety Net may reimburse some out-of-pocket expenses.

Sign up for better medical insurance. If you have an insurance plan that does not offer coverage for infertility help, check with the benefits department to see if another option is available to you. Or consider switching providers at open enrolment time.

Maintain a cash cushion. If your efforts are successful, you will have a child (or multiple children) to bring up, so depleting your savings entirely is not a smart move. “I once advised a local couple who did in vitro fertilisation and ended up with triplets,” said J. Jeffrey Lambert, a financial planner in California.

Do it smarter: Think carefully before tapping in to retirement savings. In the US, for example money taken out of an IRA or 401(k) for fertility treatments might be excluded from a 10% early withdrawal penalty as an unreimbursed medical expense, but you will still have to pay taxes on it said Brian Frederick, a financial planner with Stillwater Financial Partners in Arizona.

No matter where you live, withdrawing from a retirement account will reduce any future growth potential for your assets. It will also be challenging to make up this withdrawal through future contributions as disposable income goes down when you have children.

Summary: Medical miracles can help infertile couples have a child, but paying for them is another story. Fortunately, there are ways to plan ahead.


With its stoic, kind-hearted heroine, bullied by ornery stepsisters, transformed by a Fairy Godmother and swept off her feet by a handsome prince, the story of Cinderella is not just the stuff of fairytale magic. It’s also the perfect narrative for ballet, and it has inspired numerous choreographic treatments over the years. In fact, Boston Ballet has done three different versions — Stevenson, Corder, and Kudelka — in the past two-plus decades.

However, Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Cinderella,” which was given its company premiere by Boston Ballet on Thursday night, is considered by many the preeminent version. Choreographed in 1948 to a voluptuous score that Sergei Prokofiev composed just four years prior, this “Cinderella” is an undisputed masterpiece of classical elegance liberally laced with farcical humor.

Boston Ballet’s new production, staged by former Royal Ballet principal Wendy Somes, is chock full of inventive choreography, atmospheric sets, opulent costumes, and fabulous dancing, anchored by Misa Kuranaga’s charming, adorable Cinderella.

She portrays the heroine as a combination of innocence and resolve, dancing a wistful duet with a broom and indulging in a spunky moment of mocking her stepsisters’ clumsiness, only briefly giving into tears at the memory of her dead mother. And technically, Kuranaga absolutely sparkles in brilliant turns and light, lyrical balances, with dainty skitters that look as if she is floating on a cushion of air. She gives Ashton’s trademark port de bras a lush fluidity.

However, the ballet’s opening belongs mostly to the two stepsisters, hilariously danced “en travestie” by Boyko Dossev and Yuri Yanowsky. (Ashton himself danced as one of the stepsisters with The Royal Ballet for over a quarter century, and he gives the roles substantive footwork and leaps.) As the clueless father (Roddy Doble) reads and Cinderella dusts, the two engage in a bit of tom-foolery and high mugging, tussling over a shawl and preparing for the ball.

In Ashton’s version, Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother (a gracious Petra Conti) introduces four fairies to prepare Cinderella for the ball. It’s a deviation that slows the story down considerably, but it also affords some terrific solo opportunities.

Dusty Button’s The Fairy Winter was a standout, regal and cool, her sharply canted limbs suggesting shards of ice. Twelve Stars, who later recall the midnight hour as the clock ticks down, usher in a gorgeously lit carriage to carry Cinderella off to the ball.

With flamboyant jumps, split leaps, and tumbles, Avetik Karapetyan’s Jester opens the Act II ball with a bang. Jeffrey Cirio makes a dazzling Prince, with impeccable footwork and lofty grand jetés and sissonnes. He provides an attentive partner to Kuranaga’s Cinderella, who contributes the act’s pivotal moment — a grand entrance en pointe down the central staircase, trailed by yards of tulle.

And of course, we get more of the stepsisters. Funny though they are, and performed with great comic zest, they threaten to become too much of a good thing, especially given the ballet’s 2½-hour plus length. A little tightening would make the work nearly ideal for younger audiences.

Throughout, however, Ashton’s “Cinderella” provides an excellent showcase for the company, including a substantial cadre of students. Though some of the corps work looked a little unsettled on opening night, most of the solos, and there were a lot of them, were impressive, and the Boston Ballet Orchestra under conductor Jonathan McPhee imbued Prokofiev’s colorful score with precision and flair.

The most memorable moment of the ballet is the work’s final tableaux. After Cinderella and her Prince reunite with a lovely, understated pas de deux, the Stars and Fairies send the couple on their way amidst a spectacular rain of glitter.

Summary: With its stoic, kind-hearted heroine, bullied by ornery stepsisters, transformed by a Fairy Godmother and swept off her feet by a handsome prince, the story of Cinderella is not just the stuff of fairytale magic. It’s also the perfect narrative for ballet, and it has inspired numerous choreographic treatments over the years. In fact, Boston Ballet has done  three different versions — Stevenson, Corder, and Kudelka — in the past two-plus decades. However, Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Cinderella,” which was given its company premiere by Boston Ballet Thursday night, is considered by many the preeminent version. Choreographed in 1948 to a voluptuous score that Sergei Prokofiev composed just four years prior, this “Cinderella” is an undisputed masterpiece of classical elegance liberally laced with farcical humor.


emolition began last month to clear the way for a 30,000-square-foot expansion at the headquarters of Constant Contact, a digital marketing firm in Waltham. But the new space won’t just house Constant Contact employees. The new “InnoLoft” will invite a handful of startups developing new products for small businesses to shack up for four month stretches, rent free.

The goal, says Andy Miller, the company’s chief innovation architect, is both to help startups cultivate new offerings that Constant Contact’s customers might find useful and have Constant Contact’s employees “exposed to the vibe and the velocity at which these folks work. It does create this energy that I think will be contagious.”

Around Boston and the ’burbs, big companies like Constant Contact, Communispace, PayPal, and DCU Financial are carving out space for startups, and looking for the same infusion of entrepreneurial energy — and potential partnerships — that Miller mentions. Some welcome a range of fledgling businesses, and some focus on a particular industry. Some charge rent, and some don’t.

When Communispace moved into new offices near South Station in 2012, the company, which helps clients like Reebok and Unilever manage online communities of customers, leased extra space to accommodate future growth, explains chairman Diane Hessan. “When we spread everyone out over the two floors, guess what? It felt dead,” Hessan says. “It was depressing.”

Then, when employees were crunched together to create a more energetic environment, 10,000 square feet of space became vacant.

So Communispace started bringing in startups and nonprofits — but charging rent of about $600 per desk, to cover some of its costs. (The rent includes Internet, office supplies, coffee and snacks, and an invite to Communispace’s annual Opening Day party in its Fenway-themed event space.) “The real benefits are less tangible,” Hessan explains. “The space feels alive, and we love helping companies that are where we were in the early days. I literally have heard our employees giving people pep talks.”

John Kucinski, Constant Contact’s senior facilities manager (left), and Andy Miller, its chief innovation architect, inspected the company’s expansion in Waltham, which will house startups as well as Constant Contact employees.

The company housing the largest number of startups is the Boston office of PayPal. Its Start Tank space can hold about two dozen ventures, and a new class of 14 will move in this month. Companies can stay for six months, gratis, but they can typically extend their residency another six months.

“Aside from the free space, PayPal has some of the most talented people in the world, and a lot of them volunteer to be mentors and advisers to the startups,” says Polina Raygorodskaya, founder of Wanderu, a site that helps travelers book bus and train travel. “It’s really helpful to be surrounded by people that you couldn’t afford to hire full time, but are willing to give feedback and advice.”

Wanderu moved into its own digs in Downtown Crossing in November. It had four employees when it set up in the Start Tank; it now employs 16, and has raised about $2.5 million in funding. David Chang, the head of PayPal’s Boston office, helped make introductions when Raygorodskaya was raising money for the company.

“For us, Start Tank was about maintaining a lot of that entrepreneurial culture, and helping PayPal get back out there as an innovator,” says Chang. And Chang says there is useful dialogue between entrepreneurs and PayPal employees in areas like social media and loyalty programs that benefits both sides.

Chang says he has spoken to other companies exploring the notion of bringing in entrepreneurial roomies, but these initiatives can come and go if they prove too complex to manage; when leadership changes; or if the company decides it needs more space. The Boston Globe set aside a cluster of cubicles for digital media and advertising startups two years ago in part of its headquarters, but that space is being closed this month.

Vertex, a publicly traded pharmaceutical company, has considered creating space for life sciences startups or nonprofits in its new complex on the Boston waterfront, but no decisions have been made yet, according to company spokesperson Zach Barber. (Vertex chief executive Jeffrey Leiden wrote in a Globe op-ed last year that the city needs to “create office and laboratory space that is financially accessible for small companies to establish and grow their businesses.”)

DCU Financial, the credit union, is one of the latest to create startup space, at one of its offices in downtown Boston. One company moved in earlier this year, and DCU has space for as many as eight, says David Araujo, vice president of information systems. “We are hoping to play a role in the changing environment of the financial services industry,” he says, by bringing in startups working on products related to financial planning or tax preparation, for instance.

Helping to manage startup spaces at companies like DCU and Communispace is Workbar, which operates its own flexible, desk-by-the-month workspaces in Boston and Cambridge. Through its “OuterSpaces” program, Workbar finds tenants and handles the rent, pocketing a management fee. Workbar CEO Bill Jacobson says he’s in talks with a furniture company that is considering setting aside workspace in Boston for architects and designers.

“The overriding motivation,” Jacobson says, “is, ‘Let’s expose our people to these companies, and bring innovation into our building.’ Nobody that we’ve spoken to is looking at this as a significant revenue source.

“It’s more, ‘Can we cover some costs and keep our people exposed to new ideas and concepts?’ And if they have extra space, this is much better than having it go empty.”

Correction: Due to a reporting error, Bill Jacobson’s name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.

Summary: Demolition began last month to clear the way for a 30,000-square-foot expansion at the headquarters of Constant Contact, a digital marketing firm in Waltham. But the new space won’t just house Constant Contact employees. The new “InnoLoft” will invite a handful of startups developing new products for small businesses to shack up for four month stretches, rent free. The goal, says Andy Miller, the company’s chief innovation architect, is both to help startups cultivate new offerings that Constant Contact’s customers might find useful and have Constant Contact’s employees “exposed to the vibe and the velocity at which these folks work. It does create this energy that I think will be contagious.” Around Boston and the ’burbs, big companies are looking for an infusion of entrepreneurial energy.


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Summary: "You have a seatbelt so why aren't you wearing it, honey?"


If the members of Nickel Creek wondered if they’d been missed in Boston, they need wonder no more. The sold-out crowd at the House of Blues Thursday night made it clear — swaying, stomping, hooting, and, most crucially, listening intently — during the group’s stunning, nearly two-hour performance that they were ready for the return of the virtuosic roots trio.

After a nearly seven-year hiatus, singer-mandolinist Chris Thile, singer-fiddler Sara Watkins, and her brother, singer-guitarist Sean Watkins, reconvened to celebrate their 25th anniversary and effortlessly picked up where they left off. (Of course, not many groups can celebrate a 25th anniversary with all of its members under 40, so Nickel Creek has youth on its side.)

Thursday’s exhilarating performance — aided by upright bassist and Bostonian Mark Schatz, who even offered a little clog dancing — made good on the effervescent energy of the trio’s recent reunion effort, “A Dotted Line.”

Opener “Rest of My Life,” sung by Thile in his elastic tenor, was a perfect table-setter, laying bare the night’s mission: to showcase the group’s gifts for accessible melody, intricate yet supple instrumental interplay, and airtight harmonies with no wasted notes and a thrilling forward momentum.

The members alternated lead vocals with Sara Watkins continuing to stun, balancing her sweet and flinty soprano on tunes like the driving “Destination” and the tender Bob Dylan song “Tomorrow Is a Long Time” with exquisite work on her fiddle.

Sean Watkins charmed on tunes like “21st of May,” a sweet, gospel-tinged ditty about the end of the world and the stormy, vulnerable “Somebody More Like You.”

Thile, standing center stage, was simply phenomenal, impressing with his instrumental prowess — picking with technical skill and passion — and toggling between creamy falsetto vocal highs and broodier lows.

Alabama’s Secret Sisters opened with a complementary set, highlighting the many charms of Lydia and Laura Rogers, from salty country kiss-offs like “Good Luck, Good Night, Goodbye” to the shiver-inducing blood harmonies of the dark-hued ballad “Bad Habit” — both from their recent sophomore album “Put Your Needle Down” — to endearingly sassy banter.

Summary: After a nearly seven-year hiatus, virtuosic roots trio Nickel Creek return better than ever at the House of Blues.


06/04/2014 at 08:10 AM EDT

Jonah Hill (left) and Jimmy Fallon

Tuesday, and spoke candidly to host Jimmy Fallon about his recent controversy, which involved his being videotaped this past weekend using a homophobic slur against a paparazzo.

Although Hill ostensibly was there to promote

, he made a heartfelt apology the centerpiece of his interview, saying, "My heart's broken," as his voice trembled.

"If someone says something that hurt you or angers you, use me as an example of what not to do. Don't respond with hatred or anger, because you are just adding more ugliness to the world."

Hill explained that the paparazzo had been following him for some time, and even insulted his family.

It's worth noting that Hill has a history of gay rights activism – he spoke out against Russia for its intolerant laws, and there's a scene in the new

where his character explains to

's character why homophobic language is offensive.

hits theaters June 13. You can watch the full interview with Hill below.

Summary: "If someone says something that hurt you or angers you, use me as an example of what not to do," Hill said


06/18/2014 at 08:00 AM EDT

have been dancing ever since they could walk.

"Our home videos are pretty self-evident that these kids loved to shake, rattle and roll," their dad, Bruce Hough, tells PEOPLE.

Now the siblings, who gained fame on ABC's

, are doing just that on their summer

, selling out venues across the country.

ButÂ as Julianne, 25, and Derek, 29, recount in PEOPLEâs new cover story,Â the success they've found on the dance floor came at a hefty price.Â

When Julianne was just 10 and Derek was 13, they left their sheltered life in Utah, as well as their three older sisters and parents (who were then going through a divorce), for the prestigious London dance school Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts to train as ballroom dance pros.

Moving in with family friends Shirley and Corky Ballas (whose son

pro), they endured a grueling schedule that had them leaving the house every morning at 6:45, taking the subway by themselves and heading to school. "I remember one of my first days there I got off at the wrong train station," Julianne says. "I was just standing there thinking, 'Where am I?' "

They battled homesickness, and young Julianne especially struggled with the pressure of trying to fit into the mature world of ballroom dance. Thanks to her spray tans and competition makeup, "WhenÂ IÂ look back, I think itâs so sad I have no pictures of me with a cute, bare, 10-year-old face," she says.

But today, the two agree that their success is due to the sacrifices they made as kids and their years of hard work.Â Â Â

"People will say, 'How could your parents let you go off to doÂ that?' " Derek says. "I think it's great that they saw an amazing opportunity. That is the reason we are here today."

Summary: The Dancing with the Stars pros are embarking on their own Move Live on Tour


07/05/2014 at 05:05 PM EDT

Louis Brown. Inset: Nicole Brown Simpson

– whose ex-husband, football legend O.J. Simpson was charged with and ultimately acquitted of her murder in the 1995

– has died, his daughter, Denise Brown, tells PEOPLE.

Louis Brown Jr. died on Thursday at age 90 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease, says Denise, 56.

"My dad was a class act and a gentleman who was always there for us – and for Nicole," she says. "He was a great dad. We are all devastated that he is gone."

Louis, who was an Army Air Force Captain who flew B-17 bombers in World War II and later became a successful businessman, died at 3:40 a.m. in his longtime home in Dana Point, California, surrounded by his wife, Juditha, and daughters, including Denise, Tanya and Dominique, she says.

He is also survived by his children from his first marriage: daughter Wendy, sons Rolf and Tracy and his grandchildren, including Sydney and Justin Simpson, who were just 8 and 5, respectively, when their mother was murdered at their Brentwood, California, home on June 12, 1994.

"My dad had had Alzheimer's for a while," says Denise. "When his condition took a turn for the worse last Wednesday, my mom called me and said to come home. I flew home from Italy as soon as she called. I got there at 6 p.m., and he passed away not even 12 hours later. My mom said he knew I was there. She said, 'He waited for you to come home.' He was at peace."

Denise says that her mother, Juditha, who was married to her father for 58 years, and her sisters, Tanya and Dominique, took care of him at home, around the clock.

"I'm so blessed to have been able to take care of him at home," Tanya, 44, tells PEOPLE. "I think he hung on for so long because he knew there was so much love in the house. I am the youngest and was always daddy's little girl. He was always my daddy first and became my friend later in life. He was always there for me. I could always lean on him. We all could. He was such an honorable man."

Denise said she and her sisters spent their childhood and teenage years having "dinner with my family every night" and going on Sunday drives with her dad at the wheel.

To keep his teenage girls "busy and out of trouble," she says, he bought them their own horses. "He would take us to the stable all the time so we could ride. He gave us an incredible life."

All that changed when her sister Nicole and her friend,

, were murdered. "It was devastating for him," says Denise. "It's not supposed to happen like that. No parent should ever have to bury a child." (He had already lost a daughter, Margit, from his first marriage, to a longtime illness in 1989.)

Brown, along with his wife and daughters, became a familiar presence at the 1995 trial that transfixed a nation when Simpson was charged with murdering his ex-wife and Goldman.

Simpson, now 66, was acquitted of the murders but is currently

on a 2008 armed robbery conviction related to a robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas hotel.

After his daughter's death, Louis started the

to help victims of domestic violence.

Denise, who has devoted her life to

, says her family is planning her father's funeral services. "He told us he wanted a military burial," she says. "He was very proud to have served in the military. He never wanted any fanfare about it, though. He always said it was his duty and an honor for him to serve his country.

"People are writing to me now, saying what a class act he was," says Denise. "That makes me so proud. He was a lovely man. We will all miss him."

Adds Tanya: "He was the best father any daughter could ever ask for. We all loved him so much."

Summary: "My dad was a class act and a gentleman who was always there for us – and for Nicole," Denise Brown tells PEOPLE exclusively


Updated JUL 13, 2014 5:54p ET

Suns center Alex Len will miss the remainder of summer league with a fracture to his pinkie finger on his right hand.

He will be evaluated in Phoenix. The fifth overall pick of the 2013 draft, Len played in 42 games and averaged 2 points and 2.4 rebounds in his rookie season. In his one summer league appearance against the Warriors on Saturday, Len had six points, six rebounds and two blocks in 25 minutes.

Len is hoping to turn what he learned watching from the bench last season into a big second season.

Summary: Suns center Alex Len out with broken finger.


FORTUNE — It never fails. After every recession, people (especially top performers) get restless, and their employers start fretting about how to keep them from jumping ship. This recovery, although it has come with a feebler job market than most, is no exception.

Not only are recruiters noticing that it’s far easier to get A-list managers to take their calls than it was a year or two ago, but companies seem to be more intent on poaching each others’ star players. Almost two out of three employers (63%) complained, in a survey last month by consultants Right Management, that competitors are aggressively wooing their best people. That’s a marked increase from well under half (42%) who said so last year.

The big problem here, of course, is that the people you most want to keep may not come right out and tell you they’re dissatisfied in their current jobs — at least, not until they’ve accepted an offer somewhere else, and by then it’s too late. So identifying who’s eyeing the exits “is crucially important right now,” notes Mark Anderson, president of ExecuNet, an online career network for senior managers. “We’ve found that the answers to four questions in particular will give you a pretty good idea of who’s likely to leave.”

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ExecuNet’s researchers discovered those questions in the course of compiling the forthcoming 2013 edition of its Executive Job Market Intelligence Report, a detailed survey of 3,785 U.S. executives (average salary: $220,000) across a range of industries. Based on their answers to queries about their plans for the next 12 months, ExecuNet sorted the whole group into two categories — the roughly 55% who plan to stay put, and the 45% who aren’t so sure or are already plotting their departure.

In sifting through the data, the researchers noticed something interesting. “One of the questions we asked was, ‘Are you proud of the company where you work now?’,” Anderson says. “Among those who are planning to stay, 89% said yes, vs. 62% of those who are job hunting.” Intrigued, ExecuNet started looking for other correlations and found three more:

• Do you enjoy your work? 86% of those Anderson calls “happy campers” said yes, vs. 58% of those planning to quit. • Is your boss someone you respect and/or admire? 80% of loyalists answered yes, vs. 56% of job seekers. • Would you refer other executives in your network for a job here? Among the happy campers, 75% said they would, vs. only 42% of the group looking to leave.

“Not recommending the company to others as a place to work, and not actively referring people for job openings, is a clear early warning sign that the person is disenchanted and is open to offers elsewhere,” Anderson notes, adding, “We really think that the answers to all four questions could help employers identify where to focus their retention efforts.”

How do you elicit honest answers? Anderson says top management has to sit down with the talent the company most wants to keep and start some in-depth conversations. He recommends asking, “Are you passionate about what you’re doing? Or is there something else here that you’d rather be doing, or that you think we as a company should be doing but we’re not?”

MORE: China’s brilliant, macabre, newspaper section

The idea, Anderson says, is to “get at the heart of why this executive is here and how he or she sees the future. What could be going better than it is? How could his or her relationships with higher-ups and direct reports be stronger and more effective than they are now?”

Anderson acknowledges that there’s no surefire way to tell who’s going to quit, and a recruiter calling with an irresistibly juicy opportunity has been known to tempt even the most diehard loyalist. Even so, “open and direct discussions can go a long way toward getting insights” into how your star players see their current roles — and what it would take to entice them to stick around.

Summary: A startling 45% of executives are either actively seeking a new job or taking calls from headhunters. Can you spot who they are before they resign?


It wasn’t Davos, quite, but it was awfully cold last weekend in Beijing, and many of the headliners attending the invitation-only China Development Forum (CDF), held among the gardens and waterways (and behind the glass-shard-topped high walls) of the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, have also been invited to the Alps in January. CDF is where Fortune 500 CEOS mingle with Nobel Prize winners and top-level Chinese government officials—including a closing session at the Great Hall of the People with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Together they exchange many, many business cards, and examine the most compelling business topic of our day: Whither China?

Several speakers began their remarks by noting how many years they’ve been coming. Often it’s double digits, and infusing the mood of the gathering was a certain weariness with talk, coupled with impatience for action.

China is still a miracle, no one doubts that. The world’s second largest economy grew at 7.8% last year, according to the IMF, while the world excluding China grew 2.4%—near but not quite at the unofficial recession threshold. (Thank you, China.) But after two decades of double-digit growth that lifted five hundred million out of poverty, 2012 counts as another in a recent string of disappointments. China has yet to recover from the 2008-2009 global economic collapse (welcome to the club, China), an event which exposed vulnerabilities China must address.

Among the worrisome trends: China’s overreliance on manufacturing and exports, which makes it uniquely sensitive to downturns in the global economy; its anemic service-sector economy; its inadequate social safety net, which forces Chinese workers to save more and spend less; and of course the pollution problem, the corruption problem, the stultifying bureaucracy problem, the problems associated with a financial system that doesn’t come close to meeting global standards for transparency, and not least, the growing divide between rich and poor.

MORE: 50 greatest business rivalries of all time

“The word reform gets thrown around a lot,” said Yale’s Stephen Roach, here for the 14th straight year, in a session on economic reform. “It’s a very important word, especially for China, given its extraordinary legacy, beginning with the reforms and opening-up of Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s.” But reforms, “must be goal-oriented,” Roach continued, “they must be aggressive, and they must be focused on the specific requirements of individual economies. You cannot have reform for the sake of reform.”

China’s new leadership under President Xi Jinping and Premier Li seems to have a realistic sense of the challenge that lies ahead. The theme of this year’s conference (which is sponsored by the Chinese government) sounds a little stilted—“to Deepen Reform and Opening-up for a Well-off Society,” the last part sometimes translated on the fly, equally stilted, as “a moderately prosperous society”— but we understand. It lines up with the broad goals of China’s latest five-year plan: to address inequality, both of income, and of development between the overdeveloped coast and the underdeveloped interior; to increase domestic consumption; to strengthen the social safety net; and, as Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli said through a translator in his speech on day two, to recognize “the fundamental role of the market in resource allocation so that capable companies can excel in competition and the dynamism of the market can be achieved.”

That last will continue to be a challenge, given the dominance of state-owned enterprises in the Chinese economy, but that’s what he’s saying, and it’s exactly what the many captains of Western and Asian industry in attendance wanted to hear.

MORE: Where the iPad is changing lives

China has reached a critical stage in its growth—what economists refer to as the “middle-income transition.” That’s when per-capita income (which remains very low in China by developed country standards) rises, together with domestic consumer spending, and reliance on exports falls. “Most developing countries slow down and get stuck at this stage,” Nobel Prize-winning economist Michael Spence of NYU told the delegates in a plenary session.“ Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong are exceptions, but it’s hard. Among the reasons most fail, both of which are present to some degree already in China, are the loss of the wage advantage to other, earlier-stage developing countries; and the tendency of vested interests to control the policy agenda and block needed structural changes.

What’s more, as Spence pointed out, China enters this phase of its development with at least three unique characteristics that could make the transition harder still: One, the sheer scale of its economy; two, widespread weakness in the developed world; and three, China’s dominant and still growing position in the global economy. Other countries, Spence said, “could focus on domestic growth and development in general without doing a delicate balancing act” between a complex domestic agenda on the one hand and a complex global agenda on the other.

Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organization, was among those expressing optimism. Most problems facing China and the world today, Lamy noted, are problems we know how to solve. The challenge lies with translating knowledge into action. Here, he said, China has three advantages over other countries: one, “a propensity…to consider long-term matters;” two, “a specific tolerance for authority;” and finally, the fact that in China “a significant amount of collective resources is still in the hands of the government,” which gives it the leverage, potentially, to speed the pace of change.

MORE: 10 women business leaders, 64 smart travel tips

Speaker after speaker returned to the need to boost consumer spending inside the world’s most populous country. Fiat Chairman John Elkann told the story of Henry Ford and the revolutionary $5 minimum wage, which gave U.S. autoworkers the means to buy the products of their labor and helped spark the creation of a large and vibrant middle class. Elkann was speaking at a session on China’s transition from world factory to world market, where he was joined by Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren and Amway co-CEO Douglas DeVos. All have an obvious interest in speeding that transition.

But also on the panel was Zeng Ming, chief strategist for Alibaba Group, China’s e-commerce juggernaut, which handles more transactions than Amazon AMZN and eBay EBAY combined. Ming knows full well how important Chinese consumers are to his company, not to mention China’s larger prosperity. They’re the key to sustaining the Chinese miracle.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Amway co-founder Richard DeVos spoke at the China Development Forum. It was Amway co-CEO Douglas DeVos. Fortune regrets the error.

Summary: That question dominated the invitation-only China Development Forum.


Enchanting the Eye: Dutch Paintings of the Golden Age Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1

See it now, cries the posh press - you won't have the chance again! They're not necessarily exaggerating. On current resources - works to barter, as well as money - London no longer looks so inviting to international curators. Given this background, it's quite disconcerting to visit the Queen's Gallery. There are just so many good but rarely seen paintings here. Would it hurt to sprinkle a few round the public collections?

The gallery's new Dutch exhibition was selected by Christopher Lloyd, the man who looks after the Queen's 7,000-odd paintings. It includes 50 works, among them key paintings by Rembrandt (The Artist's Mother and Portrait of Rembrandt in a flat cap), Vermeer (The Music Lesson), de Hooch, Cuyp, ter Borch and Hals. Even without the Rembrandts, there'd be much to enjoy.

Jan Steen's rather moralistic canvases, for example, are worth puzzling out. (A viewer recently noticed that his Woman at Her Toilet had six toes on one foot, which, in a painting already loaded down with symbols of female licentiousness, seems going it a bit.)

One might also linger over works by Adriaen van Ostade and Jan Weenix. Weenix offers a painting of a dead and rather obscenely trussed hare. In 17th-century terms Dead Hare is a fairly conventional genre painting. Shown in 2005, in this refined context, it begins to look subversive.

Summary: Art: Rose Jennings on Enchanting the Eye: Dutch Paintings of the Golden Age


Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Osama Bin Laden's son in law, has been jailed for life in the US. (AAP)

A US court has sentenced Osama bin Laden's son-in-law and former al-Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith to life in prison.

The 48-year-old Kuwaiti national, who defended the September 11, 2001 attacks in the immediate aftermath, was found guilty on March 26 of plotting to kill Americans and providing material support to terrorists.

Before the sentence was handed down on Tuesday in a US federal courtroom, Abu Ghaith spoke in Arabic through a translator to say the only judgment he would accept was that of God.

"Today when you are shackling my hands, and intend to bury me alive, you are unleashing the hands of thousands of Muslims and they will join the rally of free men," he said.

Judge Lewis Kaplan said Abu Ghaith failed to show remorse for the September 11 attacks and told the courtroom he remained a menace.

"You continue to threaten," Kaplan said.

"What you have done warrants the maximum sentence."

Abu Ghaith is the highest ranking al-Qaeda leader ever held in a prison on US soil.

In a September 12, 2001 video he is seen sitting alongside bin Laden and current al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri justifying the September 11 attacks and promising more bloodshed.

Do you have any news photos or videos?

Summary: Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, has been jailed for life after being found guilty of plotting to kill Americans.


Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Friday the growth of economic inequality in the United States “greatly” concerned her, and suggested in a detailed speech on the politically charged issue that Americans should ask whether it was compatible with their values.

With global financial markets rebounding from days of frenzied selling, Yellen did not comment on the volatility or on monetary policy. Instead she focused on the gulf between rich and poor that has only grown wider over the last several decades and, she said, through the U.S. economic recovery.

“The extent of and continuing increase in inequality in the United States greatly concern me,” Yellen told a conference on inequality at the Boston branch of the central bank.

“It is no secret that the past few decades of widening inequality can be summed up as significant income and wealth gains for those at the very top and stagnant living standards for the majority,” she told economists, professors and community workers.

“I think it is appropriate to ask whether this trend is compatible with values rooted in our nation’s history, among them the high value Americans have traditionally placed on equality of opportunity.”

The speech, heavy on data compiled by the Fed and by other sources, continued Yellen’s focus on the trials of America’s unemployed and underemployed. She was not expected to take questions.

Income disparity between the richest Americans and the rest has risen in the wake of the 2007-2009 recession. An extensive Fed study published last month suggests wealth and income is concentrated not just within the top 1 percent, as some analyses have suggested, but actually among a slightly broader slice of the ultra-rich: the top 3 percent.

Yellen, who raised concerns about inequality well before taking the Fed’s reins earlier this year, acknowledged that a rebound in house prices over the last two years has restored much wealth to those at the bottom.

But she cited several troubling contributors to a lack of equality of opportunity, including the expensive cost of higher education faced by the young.

In another threat to economic opportunity, she said a slowdown in business formation may depress productivity.

Meanwhile, the Fed was center stage this week in a volatile market selloff not seen in years. Investors fretted over recession in Europe, a slowdown in Japan and China, an outbreak of Ebola and pushed back bets on when the Fed would raise interest rates.

Global stocks jumped on Friday, following a U.S. rebound on Thursday when St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said the central bank should keep buying bonds longer than planned.

Eric Rosengren, head of the Boston Fed, said on Friday however that recent market turbulence and signs of global economic weakness haven’t yet dimmed U.S. economic forecasts and won’t likely change the Fed’s policy path unless they do.

Summary: By Jonathan Spicer Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Friday the growth of economic inequality in the United States "greatly" concerned her, and suggested in a detailed speech on the politically charged issue that Americans should ask whether it was compatible with their values. With global financial markets rebounding from days of frenzied selling,…


10/16/2014 AT 06:40 PM EDT

is not sitting back quietly after

filed a lawsuit against the powerful music producer claiming he sexually, physically, verbally and emotionally

"Kesha's lawsuit is a spectacular and outrageous fiction that will go down in flames. As the truth emerges, this sad and misguided smear campaign will only hurt Kesha," Luke's attorney, Christine Lepera, tells PEOPLE in a statement.

"We are confident the courts will decide that Kesha's current claims are absolutely false, chief among them the preposterous accusation that Luke date raped Kesha when she was 18."

Dr. Luke, 41, says the sexual assault lawsuit is part of an extortion plan and that Kesha's mother,

, sent him an email threatening to go public with the allegations if he refused to release the singer from her contract and give Sebert publishing rights to Kesha's music.

Lepera also claims that in an emailed dated October 29, 2013, Kesha's mother wrote, "Tomorrow I am going to start making public how Dr. Luke blackmailed me into giving him and Circuit publishing credit, on all songs I wrote on warrior, with Kesha and other writers and producers ...We, me and kesha and her friends ... are going to make all of this Really PUBLIC, in the next few days. Luke date raped Kesha when she was 18. Nicky Hilton's birthday?

's house? Luke gave Kesha pills? She ended up naked in his hotel room 2 days later, no longer a virgin? Do we want all this to come out? Either this Luke releases Kesha from all legal contracts, and gives me back all my publishing, or we, Kesha and I. tell the truth. And if I wind up dead, TRUST ME, IT'S IN WRITING TO CALL YOU AND LUKE."

But Kesha's side is not backing down.

"It is telling that Dr. Luke would twist an email from a horrified and justifiably angry mother threatening to tell the truth – the truth! – about the predator that sexually assaulted her daughter," her lawyer, Mark Geragos, tells PEOPLE. "It is offensive – but not surprising – that Dr. Luke would try and pervert the words of a concerned mother to try and keep Kesha under his unilateral control against her will."

Summary: The producer says the singer's mother threatened him in emails


FORTUNE–Advocates of electronic payments – everything from direct deposits to mobile banking – have argued that moving away from cash and checking for disbursing payrolls and even social welfare payments will produce much-needed cost savings to companies and governments by reducing paperwork, costly bank transfers and other inefficiencies. Turns out the pro-digital crowd is right, to the tune of billions of dollars.

The Better Than Cash Alliance, a non-profit organization backed by the Gates Foundation, a handful of corporations and others, is releasing a study today that shows the Mexican government’s shift to electronic payments is producing $1.27 billion a year in savings. The report says dispersing federal funds through a centralized, electronic payment system has trimmed federal spending on wages, pensions, and social welfare payments by 3.3% “It makes a huge impact in terms of savings,” Mexico’s treasurer Irene Espinosa Cantellano tells Fortune.

Such cost savings are sure to catch the attention of governments and other institutions that have been slow to make the transition to digital payments. But the Better Than Cash Alliance, which also counts USAID, the United Nations Capital Development Fund and philanthropic organizations as founding members, also has another motive in promoting electronic payments: Its research suggests eliminating cash and checks will empower poor citizens and promote economic development.

How? To many in the developed world, the concept of digital banking and mobile payments seems very much the purview of the financially savvy. But advocates note that electronic payments, especially when governments get involved, create a virtuous economic cycle: Banks and other financial services groups will only create products (especially entry-level services) or accept electronic payments when there’s enough scale—such as millions of people receiving government paychecks or subsidies via direct deposit or on a prepaid card. “You are, in a sense, guiding a big part of the economy into being able to accept electronic payments,” says study author Guillermo Babatz, a partner at the advisory firm Atik Capital and the former head of Mexico’s National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV).

And once citizens are engaged in the financial sector there’s an opportunity to educate them about financial health and also introduce them to additional services, such as savings accounts. “If we can do that cost effectively, in a way that’s transparent and secure, then we can really make a big difference, and that will lead to better savings, and expanding the financial sector to be inclusive,” says Goodwin-Groen, managing director of the alliance.

MORE: Goldman and JP Morgan officially pass stress test, says Fed

Only about 27% of Mexico’s adults report using a bank account, according to the World Bank. (The total population is 120 million people.) Globally, some 2.5 billion adults are shut out of formal banking, according to the World Bank. The Mexico study is the first in a series of reports that will examine how countries in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia are adopting electronic payments across the public and private sectors.

In Mexico, that shift began gradually in the 1990s as successive finance ministers moved to standardize a system in which budget payments were carried out via hand-delivered paperwork and wire transfers. Banks profited from the float – cash that sat in accounts before being dispersed – and from the transaction fees. How individual agencies spent the funds was largely shielded from view.

Since 2007, efforts to improve efficiency and transparency have gained pace. The treasury department amplified its own IT platform, and contracted with Mexico’s Central Bank, which had developed a rapid, high-volume payments system. New laws also required federal agencies to establish strategies for moving to electronic payments.

MORE: Banks are missing out on payday loans

Today, 580,000 civil servants – about half of Mexico’s federal payroll – are paid through the centralized system, as are nearly all pensioners, another 3.4 million people, according to Espinosa.

In addition to better financial controls, the change to electronic payments has brought with it other benefits. Mexico’s commercial banks, for example, have had to cater to more types of customers, and diversify into offerings like loans and credit, rather than rely on the government’s business. “Commercial banks were one of the initial barriers to the shift,” Espinosa says. “And in the end I think they learned that they had to innovate, and see new areas of business.”

Other financial services companies are also starting to see the potential profit in such inclusion efforts. (Citigroup’s C Citi, MasterCard MA and Visa V are all funders of the Better Than Cash Alliance.) Companies see a chance to gain access to new customers, who, as they gain greater economic traction, can be “upsold” to fee-based services and products.

“The institutions you build to expand the financial sector are critical for business development and private sector development more generally,” Goodwin-Groen notes.

Based on his interviews and his own experience working in Mexico’s government, Babatz is also convinced that the adoption of electronic payments prompted many Mexicans to open bank accounts for the first time. “A lot of people who didn’t bank now have to bank — just because that’s the way they receive payments,” he says.

Still, the payment system has yet to reach the vast majority of social welfare recipients. With less than 4% of those payments ($258.4 million) being dispersed electronically, it’s the category of payments “that has proven by far the most problematic to centralize,” according to the study.

That problem is particularly acute in Mexico’s rural geography. “Having a network of points of access is still missing in rural, remote areas and that is necessary to really engage, and to have effective financial inclusion,” Espinosa says.

Babatz contends that government payments can change that equation. “All of a sudden it starts making sense for banks and other non-bank entities to start offering services to these individuals,” he says.

Summary: Going digital is saving the government more than a $1 billion. More importantly, it is creating a new market for banks and financial services firms.


Editor’s note: Every Sunday, Fortune publishes a favorite story from our magazine archives. This week we turn to a cover story from 1985, when a Communist newspaper declared Karl Marx irrelevant to China’s plans for economic expansion. Today, 27 years later, many U.S. businesses are thriving in China but the relationship between the U.S. and China is not without strife. China vice president Xi Jinping, who is expected to become the country’s next leader, visited with President Obama and business leaders last week in Washington. His tone was somewhat defensive after Vice President Joe Biden told him that the two countries will cooperate “only if the game is fair.”

Companies are horrified to discover that the People’s Republic is among the world’s most expensive places to do business. But for those willing to pay the price–and put up with the bureaucratic guff–the payoff could be worthwhile.

China fever is easy to catch. Upbeat music from the American movie Flashdance greets arriving executives at Peking Airport. The new Great Wall Hotel, a U.S. joint venture, resembles the Hyatt Regency in Dallas. American-style blue jeans and brightly colored ski parkas are beginning to replace baggy pants and Mao jackets. Offices and factories no longer shut down for two hours at midday so that everyone can take a nap, and Chinese negotiators, long famous for haggling endlessly over every detail of a deal, now are saying things like “Time is money.”

There have been openings to China before, in fits and starts ever since Richard Nixon signed the 1972 Shanghai Communique, which established relations between the People’s Republic and the U.S. What makes this one different–and more exciting to Western businessmen–is that China’s leaders are not simply proclaiming their country open for investment, they’re eagerly appropriating a lot of capitalistic methods for use in their own sluggish economy. The Communist party newspaper has declared Karl Marx irrelevant to much of what’s going on in China today. Managers of state enterprises are fiddling with cash bonuses and other kinds of incentives, and many are confronting the need to market their products for the first time. As Chinese officials try out the profit motive on their own, they’ll have a better understanding of what Western investors are looking for. At least they’ll be talking the same language.

The People’s Republic is still far from a capitalist’s paradise. “Anyone coming here for quick gain is mistaken,” says an experienced American in Peking. For all the government’s intent to change, China remains a poor socialist economy that’s tough and expensive to crack. No one, including Deng Xiaoping, the 80-year-old leader who is orchestrating China’s swing away from doctrinaire Marxism, can be certain the new policies will stick. Deng is shrewdly installing younger men who think more or less as he does, but China has a history of sudden ideological swings.

Even with Deng in charge, the multilayered bureaucracy could thwart the economic reforms or slow their implementation. Peking recently announced that businessmen, who are often delayed at home waiting for visas, can pick them up on arrival at Chinese airports. But anyone who tries that will have a lot of time to listen to Flashdance music. Immigration officials at the airports profess ignorance of the policy. Chinese bureaucrats are also catching on to such Third World tricks as special taxes and petty bribery that make doing business costly. As a U.S. banker in Peking puts it, “Fleecing foreign capitalists is a fine art here.”

For companies willing to pay the price, put up with the bureaucratic guff, and gamble that China will stay on course for a while, the payoff could be worthwhile. Since the 19th century, when merchants dreamed of selling “oil for the lamps of China,” as the catch phrase of the time went, Westerners have been dazzled by the potentially huge Chinese market. It’s still largely out of reach for most consumer products from the West, since the average annual income of China’s more than one billion consumers is about $300. But that’s bound to change fast since the economic reforms are designed, among other things, to put cash in the pockets of ordinary Chinese.

The market for industrial goods looks even more promising. By cutting down sharply on imports in recent years, China managed to build up almost $19 billion in foreign currency reserves. Now Peking plans to spend some of that hoard to buy equipment for antiquated industries-and China needs almost everything. After a two-week visit, Alexander Trowbridge, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, declared: “China represents an excellent opportunity for the U.S. investor.”

Some Western manufacturers who missed getting into Taiwan, Singapore, and Asia’s other dynamic newly industrializing countries when they were relatively cheap to enter see China as a second chance. If Peking’s pragmatism endures, China could become a low-cost manufacturing center to rival its Asian neighbors.

The Western stake in China is still small. Peking claims that direct investment by all Western nations over the past five years has totaled some $3 billion-but that counts many pledged expenditures that may never materialize. Chinese planners want to attract $7 billion more over the next five years.

Much of the cash plunked down in China so far has come from 27 oil companies exploring in the South China Sea, the world’s last big undrilled petroleum area. Unless there is a major strike–and no one has come close yet–manufacturing investment will likely become more important in China than oil exploration. A few dozen adventurous American corporations have already plunged in, though their total direct investment commitment so far is only about $700 million, including that of 13 oil companies. R.J. Reynolds is building one of the largest cigarette factories outside the U.S. in Xiamen, southern China, a $20-million joint venture with a state tobacco company. American Motors has teamed up with a Chinese automaker to produce jeeps in Peking. Gillette is manufacturing razor blades in Manchuria. Massachusetts-based Foxboro Corp. is building industrial process control systems in Shanghai with a Chinese partner, while McDonnell Douglas plans to assemble airliners there. In a more unusual arrangement for China, 3M was allowed to go it alone. It has set up a small, wholly owned factory in Shanghai to make electrical tape and plastic electrical connectors.

IBM has put down a subsidiary in Peking. Though it doesn’t plan to manufacture there initially, IBM thinks China could rapidly develop a voracious appetite for personal computers. When programmed to handle Chinese characters, they can be particularly useful as word processors. Boeing has established a sales subsidiary to peddle airliners, and United Technologies has a similar operation for helicopters. Fueled by such deals, trade between the U.S. and China is growing again after having shrunk for several years. It may reach $7 billion this year, $1 billion more than in 1984, but that’s still only one-third of U.S. trade with the tiny island of Taiwan (pop. 19 million).

Both Japan and Europe have been reluctant investors in China, preferring to trade. Japan is China’s largest trading partner, supplying 24% of the People’s Republic’s imports in 1984, and Western Europe is No.4, behind Hong Kong and the U.S. Only West Germany’s Volkswagen has made a major investment–a joint venture to make cars for the Chinese market and engines for export. VW’s stake could total $220 million.

Many investors have had trouble in China, and as pioneers the oil companies have the most horror stories to tell. Playing on their eagerness to explore, China enticed them to ante up all the costs of offshore oil exploration. Then the Chinese piled on the expenses. Companies are forced to pay California-scale wage rates for inexperienced and often inefficient Chinese rig workers, who must give most of their salaries to the government. Then comes what the Chinese term training-expense-paid trips (including pocket money) for Chinese delegations visiting the U.S. All this boondoggling is coming back to haunt Peking–there has been no stampede of bidders for new areas the Chinese want to open for exploration.

The government used the same tactic to develop several posh joint venture hotels in Peking. American investors put together the financing, but agreed that the Chinese government would own the hotels after ten years. Like the oilmen, the investors grabbed the one-sided deal because they were eager to get into China’s room-starved hotel market. A California group led by C. B. Sung, a China-born American entrepreneur, backed the Great Wall Hotel, and the Jianguo Hotel is financed partly by San Francisco-based architect Clement Chen. While the investors struggle to get their money out in a decade, the Chinese have laid on a mounting array of taxes–some highly questionable.

China has begun to offer more reasonable terms for manufacturing projects. As a U.S. official in Peking says, “Investors won’t come to China for love but for money.” The Chinese wooed Foxboro because they clearly wanted technology from the U.S. company. Even so, the negotiations dragged on for nearly three years. A Foxboro executive recalls, “We were dealing with people who had been in commercial isolation for 30 years. They really didn’t understand how to do business or what motivated us.” The Chinese, for instance, were slow to grasp that the U.S. company had to make a profit and would get no subsidy from Washington.

Foxboro, which owns 49% of the $10-million venture, persuaded its Chinese partner to keep the labor force lean and control overhead costs by providing an existing building at a price that a Chinese rather than a foreign enterprise would pay. Begun in 1983, the joint venture is not yet profitable, but general manager Donald N. Sorterup says he’s satisfied with progress. “You don’t come to China,” he says, “unless you’re a risk taker.”

Nor has American Motors had a smooth ride. The company took four years and three months to negotiate its way into China. Then the U.S. automaker had to accept a notoriously inefficient state-owned enterprise as its partner in a $51-million joint venture. The Beijing Jeep Corp.–one-third owned by AMC–got rolling early in 1984 and by December was 20% ahead of the production schedule the government had set for it. At that point the factory ran out of materials and had to shut down for the month. Tod Clare, AMC’s vice president for international operations, says the company decided not to “try struggling” to get more steel and electricity out of the government.

Still, AMC has shown what a shot of efficiency can do for profits. The U.S. company was given an antiquated plant in which its partner was turning out a boxy local model jeep. The joint venture continued making the old jeep, which retails for $5,500, but it boosted productivity by cutting the 10,000 workers to 4,000. Though the U.S. managers who run the plant won’t confirm the number, Chinese sources say the joint venture made a $10-million pretax profit its first year. In October, Beijing Jeep plans to begin assembling a version of AMC’s Cherokee, a plush four-wheel-drive station wagon, from kits of U.S. parts: In three to four years AMC hopes that jeeps built in China with many local parts will be internationally competitive in price and quality. Chinese wage rates, averaging less than $3 a day, may help.

Companies are horrified to discover that the People’s Republic is among the world’s most expensive business centers. Maintaining a manager in Peking can easily run to $250,000 a year, roughly 40% more than it costs in London. Foreigners are charged outrageous prices. Scarce apartments rent for $6,000 monthly–and the rent has to be paid a year in advance. A spartan little room in the government-owned Beijing Hotel, which provides crude furniture and minimal service, will cost nearly $50 a day starting next month. A light meal without drinks is about $9. When they travel in China, foreigners pay more than twice as much as Chinese for plane tickets. There’s not much to do after work or on weekends at any price. Quite a few expatriates spend their free time drinking in each other’s homes while griping about conditions.

Since so little office space is available, most companies have no choice but to rent space in hotels. Last year the hotels raised rates by as much as 115%, even for tenants who already had leases at lower rates. The first Chinese office building designed for businessmen is due to open this year. It will offer space at about double the cost of prime office suites in Hong Kong and four times that in Paris.

There are a lot of little rip-offs too. The Jianguo Hotel claims it loses about 5% of the food it imports because Chinese health inspectors say they must run laboratory tests–on such products as Swiss chocolate bars. A prestigious U.S. tourist agency can get cooperation from the state-owned China Travel Service only by giving its officials Japanese cameras and other gifts.

A more serious problem for investors is getting their profits out. “Nothing in their laws says you can’t do it,” says Foxboro’s Sorterup. “If it weren’t allowed, no one would come here to invest.” The way things actually work, profits can be sent home only if the joint venture brings foreign exchange into China by exporting. AMC, for instance, won’t take home any of its profit until it starts exporting vehicles.

Volkswagen struck a more complicated deal. It formed a joint venture with the Shanghai Auto Works, which turns out a car that looks like a 1947 Dodge. (If the door of a Shanghai car doesn’t quite fit, a worker slams it with a wooden mallet.) On a nearby assembly line, Chinese workers put together the sleek, modem VW Santana from components shipped from West Germany. Alongside the 60-year-old Shanghai auto plant, Volkswagen is building an engine plant, which will send most of its output back to Europe. These exports are supposed to provide enough foreign exchange to cover VW’s share of the joint venture’s expected profits.

Problems will ease for Western businessmen if the new profit-consciousness permeates China’s system. Even if Deng is only partly successful in implementing the new economic reforms, he has already created a more rational climate for international business. The handful of Chinese managers allowed to test capitalist techniques since last spring are exhilarated by their new freedom. Says Wang Rong Sheng, 37, a Communist party member and assistant manager of Shanghai Radio Factory No. 2, “Previously the role of this factory was like a gear in the whole state machine. We didn’t care about the market, but just gave products to the state. Now we have to do market research and see if products can make a profit.”

The danger is that the inexperienced Chinese will foul up their pursuit of a market-economy. For one thing, if Peking really does allow inefficient factories to fold, it will have even more trouble in the short run than it’s having now providing jobs for millions of city dwellers. Inflation could sabotage the reform effort, too, by breeding unrest among workers. Many Chinese have already blown their savings on shopping sprees, convinced that new government policies are bound to force prices up rapidly. Chinese leaders have promised that prices will rise gradually, in sync with pay increases, a balancing act few Western nations have managed to master. Another threat to economic reform is the horde of poorly educated Communist party officials who are losing their dominance over factories to profit-minded managers. As an American specialist on business in China says, “If there isn’t a leap forward and people are thrown out of work, the party hacks will have their tum again.”

Perhaps the most hopeful sign that Peking wants to do business is the reemergence of Chinese who have commercial experience. They were banished to farms and factories during the Cultural Revolution, the decade of leftist madness that ended in 1976 and deprived China of an entire generation of educated managers. Xu Zhaolong, 67, who owned a chemical factory in Shanghai before the Communists took over, is among those who have managed a comeback. He is president of China International Trust & Investment Corp., a state-owned investment bank known as Citic that has $300 million in working capital. It often teams up with Western corporations. “Investors feel more comfortable when we participate,” says Xu. United Technologies uses a Citic subsidiary as its agent to sell helicopters in China. And Citic has a 10% share of a Beatrice Cos. joint venture that makes snacks and soft drinks in Canton. The organization is putting some money abroad, including $40 million into timberland in Washington State. Now Citic is shopping for a copper mine in Canada or Latin America to supply China. President Xu remarks, “I have a feeling we will make our way under socialism, but using methods of capitalism.”

A group of former Chinese capitalists in Shanghai act as informal consultants to foreign corporations seeking guidance through the bureaucratic maze–for a fee. (Three of them posed for the cover of this issue.) “You have to know the way and the people,” says Chen Wuqing, 62, an MIT graduate who is now general manager of Shanghai Patriotic Construction Co., a private enterprise conglomerate. It got started in 1979, when China decided to mobilize former capitalists by unfreezing their local bank accounts. Some 1,200 “subscribers” –as Chen terms investors–put about $33 million into the company, which now claims a net worth of $72 million.” We pay subscribers bank interest rates, about 8%, plus a little incentive,” says Chen, “but we don’t call it a dividend.”

Patriotic Construction built a couple of apartment buildings in Shanghai, where it also started restaurants and invested in 60 small factories. The company has seven joint ventures with Hong Kong companies to make such products as sweaters and toys. The Shanghai group even owns 25% of a cruise ship that plies between Hong Kong and Shanghai. Chen and his colleagues feel free to drive around Shanghai in foreign cars, including the Rolls on the cover and a Cadillac. Says Chen: “If there’s another period of extreme leftist policy, I think that’s the end of China. We lost ten to 15 years while countries like Singapore moved ahead.”

But even Chen warns that Western businessmen should not expect China to be as freewheeling as its Asian neighbors: “We’re moving cautiously. If we make a mistake, the open door will slam shut again.” Describing the present “open door” policy, Chen holds his hands up to indicate a slight crack. Few international businessmen trying to get into the market would argue with that cautious appraisal. At best, China is exciting because of its long-term potential–if Deng’s reforms work.

Summary: Editor's note: Every Sunday, Fortune publishes a favorite story from our magazine archives. This week we turn to a cover story from 1985, when a Communist newspaper declared Karl Marx irrelevant to China's plans for economic expansion. Today, 27 years later, many U.S. businesses are thriving in China but the relationship between the U.S. and…


Bank of America Corp. and People’s United Bank said they plan to close five Massachusetts branches in coming months as part of efforts to streamline their operations.

The closings come as banks across the country shrink branch networks to cut expenses, absorb acquisitions, and take advantage of customers shifting to online banking. Overall, the number of US bank branches has declined by nearly 1,350, or about 1 percent, over the last two fiscal years, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

People’s United Bank of Bridgeport, Conn., says it plans to eliminate 15 of its 372 branches this year, including three in Massachusetts over the next month: one in Salem (6 Paradise Road) and two in Andover (18-20 Central St. and 342 North Main St.). People’s United, with $28 billion in assets, operates in six states, including Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont.

The bank said the closings are part of the company’s broader plans to consolidate operations after a series of acquisitions. In Massachusetts alone, People’s United bought Butler Bank of Lowell, the parent of RiverBank of North Andover, and Danversbank in Danvers over the past two years, leaving it with some overlapping branches. Spokeswoman Valerie Carlson said customers of those branches will have access to other offices within two miles.

In addition, the bank has opened branches in other areas, including four in Boston since late 2010. People’s has nearly 60 branches in Massachusetts.

Meanwhile, Bank of America, the largest bank in the state, confirmed it plans to close two of its 270 Massachusetts branches on June 1, one in Montague’s Turners Falls village and another on Rockdale Avenue in New Bedford.

Nationally, Bank of America has pledged to close 750 of its 5,700 branches in coming years but has not said how many will it will close in Massachusetts.

“We constantly evaluate our retail networks to make sure we are meeting evolving customer demand,’’ said spokeswoman Nicole Nastacie.

Summary: Bank of America Corp. and People’s United Bank said they plan to close five Massachusetts branches in coming months as part of efforts to streamline their operations. The closings come as banks across the country shrink their branch networks to cut expenses, absorb past acquisitions, and take advantage of customers shifting to online banking and visiting branches less often. Overall, the number of US bank branches has declined by nearly 1,350, or about 1 percent, over the last two fiscal years, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.


FACED WITH unimpressive ratings, CBS yesterday dropped the executive producer of its high-profile newsmagazine "Public Eye With Bryant Gumbel.

" The change, long rumored to be in the works, comes on the heels of the network's decision this week to move the first-year show to Tuesday nights, where on March 3 it will replace "Michael Hayes.

" Michael Rubin, "Public Eye's" original executive producer, is being replaced by Jonathan Klein, executive vice president of CBS News.

Rubin will be reassigned elsewhere at CBS, the network said. "We have a great chance for a fresh start in March, and we want to make the most of the opportunity," Klein told The News. "We're going to spend the rest of the month looking at what we've got and launching some new things.

" Gumbel, out of town shooting segments for the show, was not available for comment. "Bryant feels as we do," Klein said. "The show is good, but it could be better.

" Since its debut in October, "Public Eye" has struggled in the Nielsen department, often finishing third or fourth in its Wednesday 9 p.

m. time slot. For the season, the show is averaging a 7.

4 rating (percentage of the nation's 98 million TV homes) and a 12 share (percentage of the sets in use), with an average 9,970,000 viewers weekly. It's lead-in, a fading "Murphy Brown," is averaging a 7.

7 rating/12 share, with 10,460,000 viewers. According to insiders, CBS execs are still high on Gumbel, the former "Today" anchor, but believe the show needs help. Typically, "Public Eye" has done well with male viewers, not so well with females. CBS is hoping that with "JAG" as a lead-in on Tuesdays, Gumbel will be exposed to a more compatible, mostly male audience. "The show has been good, but good isn't good enough," Klein said. "We want the show to feel bigger, more important, a can't-miss. They've achieved that from time to time, but not often enough.

" Klein, who will handle the show until May, said the list of contributors would remain the same. He also believes that if the right changes are made, viewers won't notice the difference, yet will increasingly want to watch. "You're not going to know why you like the show better," he said, "but you're going to like it better. You're going to talk about the stories more.

Summary:
FACED WITH unimpressive ratings, CBS yesterday dropped the executive producer of its high-profile newsmagazine "Public Eye With Bryant Gumbel."
  The change, long rumored to be in the works, comes on the heels of the network's decision this week to move the first-year show to Tuesday nights, where on March 3 it will replace "Michael Hayes."
  Michael Rubin, "Public Eye's" original executive producer, is being replaced by Jonathan Klein, executive vice president of CBS News.Rubin will


For women who need comfortable, fashionable shoes to go from the boardroom to corporate dinners, Anyi Lu’s eponymous brand has long been a step ahead. Her heels, oxfords, and boots are handmade in Italy and feature soles lined with Poron, the same memory foam NASA uses in the space shuttle seats. Lu’s loyal customers are happy to shell out upwards of $395 for flats, heels, and oxfords and north of $595 for mid-height boots.

But her boldest step up yet will hit stores later this year. The four-inch Annie heel may look like other sleek pumps on the market. But it is easily the most comfortable—and won’t require two painkillers to totter between meetings or get through an evening gala.

Designing a comfortable sky-high heel was a tall order. Even dance shoes—which Lu knows well from her years as a competitive ballroom dancer—tend to top out at a three-inch heel. “Many women start wearing flats as they get older. But when the occasion calls for it, a high heel can make a woman feel more confident,” Lu says. “We want to feel taller, and we want to love how we look. But no one will say they love how they feel in heels.”

Lu didn’t love how she felt when she began her career as a chemical engineer at Fortune 50 companies DuPont and Chevron. “I do believe that my parents gave me what they sincerely believed was a path to success in pursuing medicine, science, or law,” she explains. But her heart was elsewhere. “I was much older when I finally figured out there were many ways to define success,” she says. She wanted out of the corporate world, and as she struggled to figure out the next leap forward in her career, a position in the marketing department opened. Eager to learn the other side of the business, Lu stepped into a new role. She also signed up for design courses at a local college.

Around the same time, Lu’s sister was preparing to marry. Trying to find the perfect dress and matching shoes for the big day put Lu in the same frustrated position she’d first experienced shopping for office attire. “I wanted my shoes to look as great as my suit, and for shoes to feel good,” she explains. (A footnote: finding beautiful, comfortable shoes has always been a struggle for Lu, who wears a dainty size 3.5.)

Just two semesters into art school, she connected with Dr. Taryn Rose, an orthopedist turned luxury shoe designer who was impressed by Lu’s portfolio and offered her a job. Lu spun on her heel, and her career path changed forever. Soon after, in 2005, she stepped out on her own and launched her label.

At her first World Shoe Association Show in Las Vegas, a Nordstrom JWN buyer took notice and bought her first collection. For the first five years, Lu focused on growing with the department store’s demand. “The brand distribution grew from five to 50 Nordstrom stores. I wasn’t really into growing other retailers as I could hardly keep up with one giant,” Lu says.

She wasn’t even sure what her measure of success was. “Those first five years, my mom would ask me every time we spoke if I’d be interested in getting a real job again,” she says. “It was only when my mother stopped bugging me about getting back into engineering that I realized I might be onto something.” Eventually, she started to get even more valuable feedback: from women who swore by her shoes. “When customers would approach me and tell me how my shoes changed their lives, how they felt confident and beautiful again by being able to put on a pair of heels, I felt that I was truly doing something good.”

In 2011, Lu briefly expanded to partner with Bloomingdale’s, hoping to support midtown Manhattan executives with no Nordstrom in sight. But she canceled the deal after 18 months after constant markdowns at Friends and Family sales hurt her brand image and compromised sales at retailers where her shoes typically flew off the shelves at full price. In 2013, she tried again and found a more vigilant partner in Neiman Marcus. That same year, she expanded distribution to Zappos AMZN . She also established partnerships with upscale shoe boutiques like Harry’s Shoes in New York City and San Francisco’s Arthur Beren.

A year ago, Lu unveiled her e-commerce site. “For me, that was a big change and a necessary step to take,” she explains. Most retailers are forced to select only a portion of her collection in select colors. “We offer 20 or 30 styles, but a department store can only take ten,” she laments. “We have so many customers literally calling us in the office. We’re constantly making referrals, trying to find out if retailers still have a size or color.” The Anyi Lu website, which offers the brand’s most comprehensive selection in one place, launched in February 2014 and helped haul in a 497% e-tail revenue increase in the first year.

The Angel heel is another bold step forward. “There are very limited choices in the marketplace. You can go buy three-inch heels that are literally a pain. Or you can get granny shoes, which are comfortable, but they don’t work in the boardroom,” she says with a laugh.

“I wasn’t coming from design school perspective. I love beautiful things, but the motivation was coming from need in marketplace. With my background as an engineer, I just wanted to solve a problem.”

Summary: The engineer turned designer unveils sky-high ambition with a four-inch heel for fashion-forward execs.


03/12/2015 AT 06:35 AM EDT

A Reddit user submitted the below image to the site Monday, and it quickly spread widely across the Internet.

"This guy sat in my section tonight & left a note on the back of his receipt," the post is titled. It's a picture of the back of a receipt, with a handwritten note on it:

"Today is my [brother's] b-day. He would have been 36 today. Every year I go eat his favorite meal (hot dogs) and tip the waitress his age. Happy b-day, Wes."

If you scroll down in the thread, you'll find a user who mirrored and enhanced the receipt, and figured out the unnamed man left a 100% tip. It's not one of

's insane $10,000 tips, but it arguably means a lot more.

Summary: "This guy sat in my section tonight and left a note on the back of his receipt," the post read