Offer is good for a year, with restrictions

Sales of Lipitor hit $12.4 billion for Pfizer Inc. in 2008, making it the company's top-selling prescription drug.

TRENTON, N.J. – Pfizer Inc. says it will provide 70 of its most widely prescribed prescription drugs including Lipitor and Viagra for free to people who have lost their jobs and health insurance.

The world’s biggest drugmaker said Thursday it will give away the medicines for up to a year to Americans who lost jobs since Jan. 1 and have been on the Pfizer drug for three months or more.

The announcement comes amid massive job losses caused by the recession and a campaign in Washington to rein in health care costs and extend coverage. The move could earn Pfizer some goodwill in that debate after long being a target of critics of drug industry prices and sales practices.

The program also likely will help keep those patients loyal to Pfizer brands.

“Everybody knows now a neighbor, a relative who has lost their job and is losing their insurance. People are definitely hurting out there,” Dr. Jorge Puente, Pfizer’s head of pharmaceuticals outside the U.S. and Europe and a champion of the project, told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Wednesday. “Our aim is to help people bridge this point.”

The idea for the program came just five weeks ago, at a leadership training meeting, as the workers discussed how many patients are struggling, Puente said.

He said he urged top management to approve the program, presenting a recent Associated Press article about how newly uninsured diabetics are suffering serious complications because they can no longer afford the medicines and testing supplies. Approval came quickly.

“It was my idea,” he said. “I floated it, and the reception it got was so dramatic that it very quickly became our idea.”

Colleagues suggested employees could donate to a fund to help support the effort, Puente said. He said some employees had tears in their eyes when discussing how they could help people who had lost jobs.

Officials for New York-based Pfizer said they don’t know how much the program will cost and haven’t put a cap on spending for it.

Applicants will have to sign a statement that they are suffering financial hardship and provide a “pink slip” or similar employer notice. Applications will be accepted through Dec. 31, with medication provided for up to 12 months after approval, or until the person becomes insured again.

Starting Thursday, patients can call a toll-free number, 866-706-2400, to sign up, and those whose drugs are not included in the program will be referred to other company aid programs. Starting July 1, patients can also apply through the Web site, www.PfizerHelpfulAnswers.com, which has information about the other Pfizer aid programs.

Pfizer and the rest of the drug industry are trying to have a voice in the debate over how to overhaul the U.S. health care system, partly by joining in a pledge this week to help hold down inflation of health costs.

Pfizer’s program comes at a time when many drugmakers, including Pfizer, have been raising prices on their drugs, partly to offset declines in revenue as the global recession reduces the number of prescriptions people can afford to fill.

The 70-plus drugs covered in the program include several diabetes drugs and some of Pfizer’s top money makers, from cholesterol fighter Lipitor and painkiller Celebrex to fibromyalgia treatment Lyrica and Viagra for impotence. Drugs from several other popular classes such as antibiotics, antidepressants, antifungal treatments, heart mediations, contraceptives and smoking cessation products also are included. Cheaper generic versions are available for quite a few of the drugs.

Pfizer said that from 2004 through 2008, its patient assistance programs helped 5.1 million people get 51 million Pfizer prescriptions for free or at reduced cost, with a total value of $4.8 billion.

Is “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” your thing?

The Arizona Theatre Company is accepting applications for its Teen Critic Program. Selected students will learn how to write a professional-caliber theater review. They are invited to free opening night performances, where they will receive a press packet and get preferred press seating. They can participate in workshops and have their work professionally reviewed.

Students will write reviews to be published either in a school newspaper or online. Students who apply must be available to attend:

• “The Kite Runner,” Sept. 17

• “George is Dead,” Oct. 23

• “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” Dec. 4

• “[title of show]” (yes, this really is the title), Jan. 29

• “The Glass Menagerie,” March 5

• “The Second City Does Arizona, or Close But No Saguaro,” April 9

Applications received by May 30 will receive priority consideration. Applications are accepted through Aug. 24. To apply, go to www.aztheatreco.org/index.html? education_teencritic.html&1 or call 884-8210.

DETROIT – A day after Chrysler LLC told a quarter of its dealers that it won’t renew their contracts, owners of General Motors Corp. dealerships are awaiting word on whether they will be next.

GM said it will notify 1,100 U.S. dealers on Friday that their franchise agreements will not be renewed. Dealers expect to hear either by telephone or FedEx letters that will begin arriving Friday morning.

GM spokeswoman Susan Garontakos said the company will not make public a list of dealers to be cut, leaving the decision to release information to individual business owners.

The company has scheduled a conference call for noon Friday to explain its dealer reduction strategy.

The cuts will come just a day after crosstown rival Chrysler announced it was dropping 789 of its roughly 3,200 dealerships by around June 9. Both companies have too many dealerships for too few sales are slashing costs as they race to restructure.

Dealers around the country nervously awaited news Friday morning, with some saying they were in the dark about how they would be notified. In Richmond, Va., Royal Chevrolet co-owner Del Mugford was slightly relieved when he sifted through FedEx packages Friday morning and hadn’t received any bad news from General Motors. But he knew his future could be determined by a phone call or a piece of mail.

“This is absolutely nerve wracking. It’s like a death sentence. It’s the worst feeling in the world,” said Mugford, 45, who bought the dealership with his younger brother in 2002 after owning an Oldsmobile franchise down the street. GM closed its Oldsmobile line of cars in 2004.

John Rogin, who owns a Buick dealership and GMC truck dealership in the Detroit area, was also awaiting word. But he said he’s not worrying. His Buick store, he said, has been among the top 10 performers in the country for 15 years.

“I’m just selling cars. I’m still a loyalist, and for the most part a purist as far as GM goes,” he said.

Many dealers, though, will fight the cuts in court, he said.

“Most of the dealer body realizes that just because you get a letter doesn’t mean it’s all over,” he said. “This company isn’t in bankruptcy.”

GM’s dealer cuts are part of the company’s plan announced last month to cut more than 2,600 dealers by 2010. The remaining cuts will come from closed Saturn and Hummer dealers, along with 400 dealers that the company expects will close voluntarily. Another 500 would be consolidated into other dealerships.

The GM dealer cuts are likely to have a much greater impact than Chrysler’s. While many Chrysler dealers also sell other brands and will stay open after losing their franchises, a large number of GM dealers sell only GM vehicles. So if their franchises are revoked, they run a greater risk of closing for good.

In both cases, the cuts will cost thousands of jobs, create holes in local tax bases, eliminate community pillars and create economic ripple effects across the country.

Chrysler is operating under bankruptcy protection, so it is likely to have an easier time tearing up its franchise agreements with its dealers than GM. A hearing is scheduled for June 3 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York for the judge to determine whether to approve Chrysler’s motion to fire its dealers.

Chrysler executives said Thursday the company is trying to preserve its best-performing dealers and eliminate ones with the weakest sales. More than half of the dealerships being eliminated sell less than 100 vehicles per year, they said, and account for 14 percent of U.S. sales.

Chrysler has received $4 billion in government aid, while GM has received $15.4 billion. GM is continuing to restructure out of court and faces a government-imposed deadline of May 31 for doing so. Several difficult hurdles remain, and many experts say that it is all but inevitable that it will follow Chrysler into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

To remake itself outside of court, GM must persuade its bondholders to swap $27 billion in debt for 10 percent of its risky stock. In addition, it must work out deals with its union, announce factory closures, cut or sell brands and shutter dealers.

Swapping its bond debt for equity may be its most difficult task. The company is trying to get 90 percent of its bondholders on board for the so-called debt-for-equity swap. A committee representing the bondholders has rejected the swap, saying it unfairly favors the government and the United Auto Workers union. They have counteroffered seeking a 58 percent ownership stake, which the automaker in turn rejected.

On Thursday, GM said that bankruptcy is possible if it doesn’t get enough takers on the exchange. If that happens, it likely would sell most of its assets to a new company and liquidate the rest, the automaker disclosed in a regulatory filing.

The automaker also says it could seek court approval of its reorganization plan even if creditors vote against it.

Shares of GM wobbled between $1.13 and $1.16 in morning trading Friday.

By Tom Krisher, Dan Strumpf

WASHINGTON – The nation’s industrial production fell in April by the smallest amount in six months, fresh evidence that the pace of the economy’s decline is slowing.

Output by U.S. factories, mines and utilities fell by 0.5 percent last month, after revised declines of 1.7 percent in March and 1 percent in February, the Federal Reserve said Friday. Analysts expected a drop of 0.6 percent in April.

Still, the report shows that U.S. industry remains weak. Industrial production has fallen in 15 of the 17 months since the recession began in December 2007, and is down 16 percent since then.

That has led industrial companies to idle more of their plants and equipment. The overall operating rate for factories, mines and utilities fell to 69.1 percent last month from a revised 69.4 percent in March. That’s the lowest rate on records dating to 1967.

That also compares with the 80 percent rate usually seen during a healthy economy. It stood at 80.6 percent when the recession began.

A 3.2 percent drop in mining output as oil and gas production fell, contributed to the overall decline, the Fed said. Utilities boosted their output 0.4 percent last month.

Manufacturing production fell 0.3 percent, as the factory operating rate dipped to 65.7 percent from 65.8 percent. That’s the lowest on records dating to 1948.

Auto factories actually increased production 1.4 percent after cutting back sharply in January. But the increase isn’t expected to continue as Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. are closing plants in May and June.

Manufacturers have been forced to reduce production as companies seek to clear stockpiles of unsold goods. The effort to reduce inventories also leads to fewer orders for new goods.

Businesses cut inventories 1 percent in March, the seventh straight decrease, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Still, the reductions in stockpiles eventually should help businesses get their inventories more in line with reduced sales. If that occurs, any strengthening in consumer demand should lead to increased production.

Industrial production plummeted at a 19.2 percent annual rate in the first three months of this year, the Fed said, but some economists expect that pace to slow to less than 10 percent in the current quarter.

The steep drops in the first quarter contributed to a 6.1 percent decline in gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the economy. Analysts expect a smaller decline of about 3 percent in the current quarter.

NEW YORK – Stocks were set to open moderately lower on Friday, with investors reluctant to get too enthusiastic about economic data.

Stock futures pared their losses after the Labor Department said consumer prices in April were flat, as economists predicted. Excluding declining energy and food prices, core consumer prices edged up 0.3 percent, a bit higher than forecast.

Investors were also relieved by reports that New York-area manufacturing activity and industrial production contracted less than economists expected. They also shrank significantly less than they did earlier in the year, fitting in with the trend seen in most data since early March: that the economy continues to slide, but at a slower pace.

But investors are still awaiting a midmorning report from the University of Michigan on consumer sentiment, as well as readings next week on the housing market. After European countries reported on Friday a massive 2.5 percent contraction in the first quarter, investors remain nervous about pushing stocks higher.

Wall Street’s huge spring rally has hit a lull. The government’s stress tests of banks are done, earnings reports are winding down and the first wave of April economic data has been released. Investors are growing concerned that perhaps they got too optimistic when they saw signs of the economy bottoming.

Before the market’s opening, Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 16, or 0.2 percent, to 8,271. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 3.60, or 0.4 percent, to 885.90. Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 4.00, or 0.3 percent, to 1,349.00.

In mixed news for the market, the Treasury Department agreed to extend billions in bailout funds to six major life insurers. The move was positive because it means the insurers will get more capital, but negative because it implied that the insurers’ problems posed a serious risk to the financial system.

The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. said it is eligible for $3.4 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, while Lincoln National Corp. said it has been initially approved for a $2.5 billion injection.

Allstate Corp., Ameriprise Financial Inc., Principal Financial Group Inc. and Prudential Financial Inc. have also been approved for funds. The capital invested in the six companies will total less than $22 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing a person familiar with the situation.

Meanwhile, the ailing auto industry continues to face challenges. General Motors Corp. says it will notify 1,100 U.S. dealers on Friday that their franchise agreements will not be renewed. GM said the closures — which come a day after Chrysler LLC cut ties with a quarter of its dealers — must be made as part of its government-ordered restructuring plan.

Earnings data was also troubling. Blockbuster Inc. reported late Thursday a sharp decline in first-quarter profit, sending the video rental chain’s shares tumbling about 20 percent in premarket trading.

Bond prices fell after the inflation data. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.11 percent from 3.09 percent late Thursday.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices edged slightly lower.

Light, sweet crude fell 67 cents to $57.85 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In overseas stock trading, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 1.9 percent. In midday trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.6 percent, Germany’s DAX index was down 0.6 percent, and France’s CAC-40 was down less than 0.1 percent.

WASHINGTON – Consumer prices were unchanged in April as both food and energy costs declined to offset gains elsewhere. Prices over the past year fell by the largest amount in more than a half-century, the government said Friday.

The disappearance of inflation has been a product of the country’s deep recession as surging job layoffs dampen wage pressures and weak consumer demand keeps a lid on price increases. Some economists are worried about a dangerous bout of falling prices, but most say that possibility remains remote because the Federal Reserve has responded with force to combat the current downturn.

Meanwhile, the Fed said the nation’s industrial production fell in April by the smallest amount in six months, more evidence that the pace of the economy’s decline is slowing.

The Labor Department said its Consumer Price Index was flat last month, meeting economists’ expectations. The docile inflation performance reflected a second monthly drop in energy costs and a third straight decline in food prices.

Over the past year, consumer prices have fallen 0.7 percent, the largest 12-month decline since a similar drop for the 12 months ending in June 1957.

A destabilizing period of falling prices has not been seen in the U.S. since the Great Depression of the 1930s, although Japan suffered through a period of deflation in the 1990s.

The Fed says output by the nation’s factories, mines and utilities fell 0.5 percent last month, after revised declines of 1.7 percent in March and 1 percent in February. Analysts expected a drop of 0.6 percent last month.

Still, the report showed U.S. industry remains weak. Industrial production has fallen in 15 of the 17 months since the recession began in December 2007, and is down 16 percent since then.

Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.3 percent last month, the biggest jump since July. However, 40 percent of April’s gain came from a huge rise in tobacco prices, reflecting an increase in federal taxes.

Consumers in the U.S. and overseas — fearful of losing their jobs or homes — likely will remain cautious spenders in the months ahead, a Fed official said Friday.

“Under these conditions, I envision a slow recovery,” Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said in prepared remarks to a banking convention in San Antonio, Texas. “Not a V-shaped snapback — nor even a U-shaped one — but a very slow slog as we find a more sensible and sustainable mix between consumption and savings and investment.”

Energy prices dropped 2.4 percent in April and are down 25.2 percent over the past 12 months, as prices retreat from record-highs set last spring and summer. Food costs fell 0.2 percent in April as the price of dairy products dropped sharply.

Most economists believe inflation will not be a threat for a prolonged period. The CPI followed a report Thursday that wholesale prices rose 0.3 percent in April, but fell 3.7 percent over the past 12 months, the biggest decline since 1950.

The concerns about deflation are muted in this country because of the aggressive actions taken so far by the Fed. The central bank has pushed a key interest rate to a record low near zero and has taken a number of other measures to flood the banking system with cash to deal with a severe credit crisis.

There are more worries about deflation in other parts of the world. Prices have been falling again in Japan, China and India as the global economy deals with what the International Monetary Fund has said will be the worst global downturn since the 1930s.

A year ago, the Fed was worrying about the threat of runaway inflation as prices for crude-oil and other energy products hit record-highs. But since last fall when the financial crisis hit, the Fed switched its focus to boosting economic growth.

“The recent pressures have been to the deflationary side, though we seem to have beaten that back,” Fisher said.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, speaks to a meeting of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank Monday. Referring to the federal stimulus, Bernanke said, "You have to take away the punchbowl, as someone once said, in order to avoid the inflation risk."

The federal government has committed trillions of dollars to domestic bailouts and propping up the recessionary economy, much of it borrowed, much created out of thin air by the Federal Reserve.

How much longer can all this go on? That’s the pressing question facing policymakers, and one without a clear answer.

At some point, “You have to take away the punchbowl, as someone once said, in order to avoid the inflation risk,” said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, paraphrasing William McChesney Martin Jr., who served as Fed chairman in the 1950s and ’60s under five presidents.

But change course too soon, and it could nip a fragile recovery in the bud. Wait too long, and runaway inflation and gargantuan federal debt could be the sequel to the worst downturn since the 1930s.

While nobody thinks the current combination of near-zero interest rates, bank and auto bailouts and trillion-dollar annual deficits is a sustainable economic model, knowing just when to take away the punchbowl is the problem.

For now, the Bernanke Fed is still filling the punchbowl. And President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress are doing the same with government spending.

One reason the Fed has been so aggressive in slashing rates and taking unconventional recession-fighting steps is because “we are trying to avoid another form of price instability, which is deflation,” Bernanke told a Fed financial conference in Jekyll Island, Ga., earlier this week.

The risk of deflation – a widespread and prolonged decline in retail prices, wages and real estate and other asset values – is “receding, but it certainly needs not to be ignored,” Bernanke said.

Despite some recent glimmers of hope, evidence is mixed on whether things are getting better or still worse. Disappointing reports Wednesday on falling retail sales and a jump in foreclosures fueled continuing uncertainties and helped push stocks down.

“You’ve got to take the stimulus off at some point. I don’t think that point is this year,” said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor’s in New York. He said Wednesday’s economic reports point to a continuing recession, despite some recent signs of encouragement.

Government and most private economists expect the recession, which began in December 2007, to end later this year, although they expect high levels of joblessness to continue beyond.

In the meantime, recent developments are complicating efforts to tame the deficit once the recession does end:

• White House budget officials said this week that the deficit would widen to a record $1.8 trillion this year, $89 billion more than their estimate in February. They blamed the recession.

• With nearly 80 million baby boomers nearing retirement, the government reported that Medicare and Social Security will face insolvency sooner than previously projected because of the recession – for Medicare in 2017 and for Social Security in 2037.

• A potential $90 billion shortfall opened up in paying for Obama’s health care proposal. The gap comes from congressional reluctance to go along with his proposal to help pay for the plan by limiting high-income families’ charitable-giving and other tax deductions. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the health care bill will be on the House floor before the August recess.

• The administration asked Congress on Tuesday to add $100 billion in new U.S. contributions to the International Monetary Fund as part of a war-spending bill.

Obama proposed just $17 billion in new spending cuts last week, representing savings of less than one-half of 1 percent in his $3.4 trillion budget. Republicans scoffed and even some top Democrats criticized him for targeting popular programs in recessionary times.

By some accounts, the sum of all the U.S. grants, loans, guarantees and new money created electronically by the Fed since the financial crisis began totals some $11 trillion – roughly equal to the country’s national debt.

That sum does include loan guarantees that might not be needed, money that hasn’t been spent, various revolving accounts and U.S. investments in bad mortgages and other toxic, hard-to-value securities that could someday return money to taxpayers. Still, staggering amounts are involved.

“We are creating a government debt bubble that we’re going to have to deal with in a massive way,” suggested Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the senior Republican on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee.

History shows the dangers of calling the end of economic downturns too soon.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt made this mistake in 1936 when, believing the Depression largely over, he sought to pare back public spending and to balance the federal budget. It torpedoed a fragile recovery and pushed the economy back under water in 1937.

Japanese leaders made a similar mistake in the 1990s when they prematurely – and temporarily – withdrew government stimulus spending, helping to prolong Japan’s recession to one that lasted a full decade.

At the White House, presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs dismissed suggestions by some analysts, including Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist for brokerage Charles Schwab, that the recession may have already ended.

“I can report nobody has intoned that message” at daily White House economic briefings, Gibbs said. “There’s much work to be done.”

Veteran budget analyst Stanley Collender said increases in public spending are an important fiscal tool and that “a bigger deficit is justified in the current economic environment.”

Furthermore, Collender added, if Obama doesn’t push his agenda for more health care, energy and education spending now, when will he?

“He’s got a 60-percent-plus approval rating. And Democrats are willing to work with him. He should go for it now. He’s never going to get a better chance,” Collender said.

Tom Raum covers politics and the economy for The Associated Press.

The next time you see several Sonora license plates in the parking lot of a Tucson store, you’re seeing your taxes being cut.

The Tucson area reaped $968.7 million in direct economic benefits from July 2007 through June 2008. That’s up from $280.2 million in 2001, according to a University of Arizona study released this week.

Dollars that Mexicans spend in Tucson boost our economy and are responsible for employing many Tucsonans.

Sales and other taxes paid by those shoppers are taxes that don’t have to be collected from the rest of us.

Many complain about the problems of living close to the international border. But there is a substantial upside.

KINGMAN – A new solar plant is planned for Mohave County, the fourth and largest now slated to be built in Arizona’s northwest corner.

The 340-megawatt plant would be built about 27 miles northwest of Kingman by Mohave Sun Power, LLC, on land it plans to buy from Las Vegas developer Jim Rhodes. The facility will use a solar-thermal design, with parabolic mirrors concentrating the sun’s energy on tubes carrying oil. The heated oil is piped to a central facility to generate steam to turn generators. Some of the energy will be stored in molten salt tanks for use after dark, and a secondary heating system using oil, gas or biofuels can also keep the plant running on cloudy days.

The $2.1 billion plant will be one of the largest of its type in the world, project director Greg Bartlett said Tuesday.

Another plant using the same technology is planned south of Kingman. That 200-megawatt facility is being developed by Albiasa Solar. A Mohave County housing development called The Ranch at White Hills is building a solar facility to power its homes, and a smaller solar project is slated for the Yucca area.

“This is proof that our (Arizona’s) renewable energy standard is finally bearing fruit,” said Arizona Corporation Commission Chairwoman Kris Mayes.

The company looked all over the Southwest before settling on Mohave County, Bartlett said. Some of the benefits to locating the project in Mohave County, as compared to Maricopa County, included a higher elevation, the remote area, the amount of water and the ability to acquire 4,000 acres from a private landholder. The company has a lease purchase agreement with Rhodes for the property.

According to information from Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson’s office, the plant will use about 1,500 to 3,000 acre-feet of water per year to wash the mirrors and generate steam. The plant intends to recycle some of the water. The company says it’s well aware of the water concerns in the county and is spending a lot of time upfront on the issue, Bartlett said.

The ACC is watching the water issue carefully, Mayes said.

A. Bates Butler III, an attorney with Fennemore Craig’s Tucson office, was named to the 2009 Southwest Super Lawyers list in the Criminal Defense: White Collar category.

Nine nurses from the Arizona Health Sciences Center were among this year’s “Fabulous 50″ Tucson nurses honored during National Nursing Week. Nurses from University Medical Center were Marianne Ayers, Brady Burleson, Crystal Clark, Kathryn Grabenbauer, Christine Pasquet, Michael Teschner and Candace Urrea-Garza. Virginia Phillips from University Physicians Healthcare and Judy Doan from the University of Arizona College of Nursing were also honored. The Fabulous 50 nurses were chosen from among more than 200 nominees for their role modeling and mentoring of others, concern for humanity, contributions to the Tucson community and significant contributions to nursing.

The A List gives props to the Tucson business community’s movers and shakers. Send information to alist@tucsoncitizen.com.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – An unknown number of people were cut off from Google Inc.’s search engine, e-mail and other online services Thursday, sparking a flurry of frustrated venting that served as a reminder of society’s growing dependence on Google’s technology.

Without providing specifics, Google said technical problems had prevented a “small subset of users” from getting into their e-mail accounts. The e-mail issues also had a ripple effect on other services, including the Google’s search engine, according to the Mountain View-based company.

The intermittent trouble lasted for hours before the issues were fixed by early afternoon EDT

Before the repair, many people locked out from Google went elsewhere on the Internet to express their dismay and despair.

Multiple messages posted on Twitter, a popular information-sharing forum, indicated that people all over the world had trouble with the Google search engine and e-mail. But other Twitter users said their Google services have been running smoothly.

Because Google is used by hundreds of millions of people, even a breakdown affecting a small percentage of its audience can have a major impact. Google’s search engine, by far the most popular on the Internet, fields more than 9 billion monthly search requests in the United States alone.

As part of its effort to retain its current users and expand its market share so it can sell more Internet ads, Google has invested billions of dollars to create a vast network of computers to lessen the chances of breakdowns.

Although its search engine is renowned for its reliability, Google isn’t fail-safe. Its 5-year-old e-mail service, in particular, has been susceptible to periodic outages.

No Tucson dealerships are affected in Chrysler LLC’s plan to eliminate a quarter of its dealers across the U.S.

Chrysler is targeting five dealerships in Arizona for elimination as part of its bankruptcy court proceeding.

Dealers got the news Thursday.

In a bankruptcy court motion filed in New York, Chrysler said it wants to eliminate 789 dealerships by June 9. The motion said the dealerships sell too few cars and trucks, or compete with themselves.

The five Arizona dealerships picked for elimination are Arnold Motor Sales in Superior, Brothers Motors in Flagstaff, Darner Motor Sales in Mesa, Jones Dodge Chrysler Jeep in Wickenburg and Performance Dodge in Phoenix.

Dealers can appeal the Chrysler decision.

Jim Click Chrysler-Jeep at the Automall, Tucson Chrysler-Jeep, Jim Click Dodge and Tucson Dodge are not on the list.

The automaker has about 3,200 dealers but says that’s too many. It wants to have stronger, more profitable dealers with better facilities.

I value my life and am counting on workers whose hands I put it in to take their jobs very seriously. People such as train conductors, pilots, bus drivers and others who operate machinery or tools that require their full attention. Unfortunately, as demonstrated again recently, the temptation to do otherwise is too great for some.

The latest poor judgment call that turned into multitasking-gone-terribly-wrong took place in Boston. A trolley operator ran a red light while text-messaging his girlfriend and crashed into another trolley injuring 49 people. What was he thinking?

Psychotherapist Charles Lawrence calls this behavior “faulty estimation.” Someone overestimates their ability to do two things at once or underestimates the importance of paying attention to the task at hand. Or “They are trying to fulfill what they believe is an important desire and have concluded that it is more important than the situation they are in.”

What could be so important that looking away from your job – even for two seconds – puts lives in peril? The sudden thought that you left the door unlocked, which causes you to text your roommate to go home and check? This, says Lawrence, is a desire to avoid something painful.

Or it could be your desire to win control or power. An example is the frustration you feel about your girlfriend’s family always getting in your business that ends up being an argument via text. Or it could be your desire for physical or emotional gratification. Example: You’re supposed to be focusing on the machine in front of you when you get a text from someone you’ve been longing to hear from.

You make a choice that that text message or conversation “has to happen now to get an important desire fulfilled,” says Lawrence. You get distracted and look down. Then it’s too late.

This compulsion to respond to a ringing cell phone or text message no matter what, stems from various interrelated issues, says clinical hypnotherapist John McGrail. Distraction is one. Since work routines are “often viewed as boring, single-minded mundane activities, the ‘illicit’ communication provides a distraction,” he says.

Isolation is another. Living in a competitive society that has evolved into “an ethos of isolation,” getting a call or text “creates a feeling of connection and intimacy that we all subconsciously crave.”

Then there’s multitasking – which despite how talented you think you are – is simply not possible. Your brain is designed to focus on one task at a time, McGrail says.

Even with your brain’s 100 billion neurons processing information at a rate of up to a thousand times per second you simply cannot effectively do two tasks at the same time, say Vanderbilt University neuroscientists Paul E. Dux and Rene Marois.

Just as one generation hates to let a phone ring, the Net generation hates to let a text go unanswered, offers Marcia Reynolds author of “Outsmart Your Brain.” “So they think they can do two things at once. The truth is, while you are texting, you are giving 100 percent to your text and none to your job.”

Until this train accident, Boston transit employees were prohibited from talking or texting on cell phones while working. Now the chief of the transit authority is banning train, bus and trolley operators from even carrying cell phones and other personal electronic devices while on duty.

I’ve seen job descriptions that list and resumes that brag about the ability to multitask. Trying to do two things at once is not only unproductive, it’s not humanly possible. For some jobs, it can be deadly. And that’s a fact worth giving your full attention.

Andrea Kay is the author of “Work’s a Bitch and Then You Make It Work: 6 Steps to Go From Pissed Off to Powerful.” Send questions to her at 2692 Madison Rd., (POUND)133, Cincinnati, OH 45208; www.andreakay.com or www.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. She can be e-mailed at: andrea@andreakay.com.

Lorenzo Perez of Venue Projects in Phoenix has a model of apartments from containers.

Phoenix architect and developer Lorenzo Perez is planning what could be the ultimate in recycling: building studio apartments out of used shipping containers.

He joins a growing number of architects, developers, researchers and others who have become fascinated with new uses for the ubiquitous metal corrugated containers that transport goods globally by truck, train and ship.

The containers revolutionized international trade when they were created about 50 years ago. Now, new and recycled containers are being used for homes, apartments, dorms and shopping centers throughout the world.

The containers are virtually indestructible and, at $2,000 for a standard new 40-foot container, quite affordable.

They usually come in 20- and 40-foot lengths and are 8 to 9 feet wide and tall.

Perez wants to create two studio apartments that would each use a 40-foot and a 20-foot container placed parallel to each other, with a covered breezeway in between. The longer container would be set up as a living unit and the smaller unit could be a guest house, office or artist’s studio.

Assuming he gets permits from Phoenix, he plans to put the units on a lot he owns near Grand Avenue and Roosevelt Street and begin renting them this fall. It’s an area that has attracted a number of artists and is one of the main stops for the First Friday art tours. He said they could probably be rented for about $650 a month.

“I have been intrigued how people are using shipping containers globally for a variety of uses, whether it be transportation or shelter,” he said. “I thought it would be fun to do something in this particular area for affordable housing for artists or people who want to live downtown in something kind of interesting.”

Perez said his shipping-container homes could become models for affordable infill housing.

He especially likes the challenge of making metal boxes habitable in a hot desert environment.

From the inside, the containers would look like regular buildings. They would be finished out with drywall, windows and doors and, of course, plumbing and electricity. They would be insulated and air-conditioned and shaded by mesquite trees.

“We have found some interesting products out there that are used on containers for transporting heat-sensitive goods like produce and stuff that are applied by paint. They give a tremendous insulation value,” Perez said.

He wants to start with two units, rent them out and see how they work out throughout the year.

Perez and his business partner, Jon Kitchell, own Venue Projects, a development company, and Kitchell-Perez LLC, a building company that focuses on infill projects.

Containers have been used as buildings for a long time but generally not for homes.

Camelback Container Services LLC, a Phoenix company, converts containers into offices that can be trucked to remote locations, such as a construction site. Mobile Mini Inc., a Tempe public company founded in 1983, has become a major worldwide supplier of portable storage and offices.

John McManis, a vice president of One Way Lease Inc., the San Francisco parent company of Camelback Container Services, said container architecture is the latest phase in the history of containers. The metal boxes were first developed in the mid-1950s to create a better way to transport goods and cut down on breakage and theft.

In 2006, the 50th anniversary of the creation of shipping containers, Marc Levinson, a New York economist, published a book on their history and significance: “How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger.”

But because of the global slowdown in trade, thousands are now parked at ports in Asia. Most shipping containers bring goods from Asia and Europe to North America and return empty because of the trade imbalance. Most containers are made in China, McManis said.

One Way Lease started leasing the containers for shipping and now mostly focuses on its wholesale business of converting them to offices or storage units. Mobile Mini has been a major customer.

Used containers are easy to upgrade for reuse, McManis said. Excess rust can be easily scraped off and then the metal can be primed and painted, and the containers can last more than 50 years.

“You talk about low-tech. They have two moving parts, a left door and a right door,” he said.

To encourage more diverse uses such as Perez’s proposal, One Way Lease’s Web site now promotes their many uses, including as additions to a shop, shelters, vending facilities and fast deployment levees. Walt Disney Studios used 180 containers in 1995 to create a giant movie screen in New York City’s Central Park.

“The person who has taken this farthest (of the company’s customers) is Lorenzo. This is really a neat little project,” McManis said.

ATLANTA – The housing market may be sputtering, but Habitat for Humanity International is getting a $100 million jolt.

The nonprofit group tells The Associated Press the gift from J. Ronald Terwilliger will help it build 60,000 homes worldwide. It’s the largest individual contribution in Habitat’s history.

Terwilliger, an Atlanta-based developer, says he hopes it will offer the world’s neediest more access to decent, affordable homes.

He says he also wanted to “inspire others to make the commitment to support affordable housing.”

The gift is one of the largest in recent years to a group devoted to social services, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. A center official called it “remarkable.”

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ON THE WEB

Habitat for Humanity International : www.habitat.org