Hurricane Irene: Plane, Train, Ship Disruptions

William Thomas Cain/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Hurricane Irene has blown away the weekend plans of millions, from airports to cruise ships to island and beach holidays, as travelers track the storm and households prepare for strong winds, heavy rain and possible flooding. The 11 casinos in Atlantic City, N.J., are expected to close for the weekend, though a formal decision won't be announced until casino executives meet with local and state emergency management officials Friday afternoon.

Trains:  Amtrak has canceled most trains traveling south of Washington, D.C., Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The railroad may make additional announcements as the storm travels north to curtail nearly all of its Northeast corridor services.

Airports:  While major airports remain open, airlines have cancelled nearly 1,000 flights.

Jetblue is the first major airline to revise its schedule ahead of Hurricane Irene, cancelling 891 flights from Sunday through Monday. The airline will run extra service on Saturday night and Monday night to re-accommodate customers, who are being contacted today by the airline, and booked on later flights. A spokeswoman said the airline has issued waivers for change and cancel fees for many of its East Coast cities from North Carolina to Maine.

Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority told ABC News Friday morning about 100 out of 400 flights have been cancelled for Saturday at RDU and it anticipates further disruptions for flights along the East Coast through Monday, Aug. 29.

While JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, Stewart and Teterboro airports are still open, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees those airports, said it is ready for potential disruptions.

The Port Authority said "additional staff and contractor employees will be assisting customers as needed in every area of airport operations," and they will "stock hundreds of cases of bottled water, diapers, cots, blankets and pillows to provide to stranded passengers if necessary. Under terms of the agency's concession contracts, at least one food vendor in every passenger terminal must remain open 24 hours so that food is available at any time of day or night."

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which operates Reagan (DCA) and Dulles (IAD) airports, said it is not planning to close those airports but anticipates "many" flight cancellations as Hurricane Irene approaches, according to its Twitter account.

People coming to Boston Logan International Airport or Worcester Regional Airport should check flight status with their airline while passengers heading to Cruiseport Boston should contact their cruise line for up to date sailing times, said Massachusetts Port Authority.

Cruise lines:  Most cruises set sail on weekends, so the ships that had already departed were clear of the storm by the time it made landfall, said Paul Motter, editor of CruiseMates.com. However, all the major cruise lines have altered their schedules to some degree.

The safest location for a ship during a hurricane is at sea, well away from the storm. A ship should never be in port when a storm hits, because the vessel can be dashed against the pier and sustain damage, he said.

The biggest challenge comes when a hurricane makes landfall the same day that the ship is scheduled to be in its U.S. home port, Motter said. Cruise lines will usually opt to keep ships out to sea until "the coast is clear." The passengers get an extra day of "fun," although the seas may be rougher than usual. Motter said the worst part of a hurricane during a cruise may be the airline reservation chaos passengers face when they disembark a day later than planned.

Carnival Cruise Lines – As of Thursday, 6:30 p.m., the cruise line said it is not sure it can make scheduled calls to the Bahamas this weekend. Carnival Glory has reversed the order of its ports of call. It will now visit Halifax on Monday from 8 AM to 4 PM and Saint John on Tuesday from 9 AM to 6 PM. Carnival Pride has been directed by the US Coast Guard to arrive early from the previous cruise and proceed to a secure, alternate location until the storm passes. If the track remains the same, embarkation is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 29 from 10am to 2pm at the Baltimore cruise terminal.

Celebrity Cruises – Celebrity Summit did not depart Kings Wharf, Bermuda, Thursday at 6 p.m. Instead, the ship will remain in Bermuda until 5 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, August 26. On Thursday, the cruise line anticipates the ship will arrive in Bayonne, New Jersey, on Monday, August 29. Because of the ship's late arrival, Celebrity Summit's next sailing will now depart on Monday, August 29. Guests scheduled to sail on the Sunday, August 28, sailing of Celebrity Summit should now arrive at Cape Liberty on Monday between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Holland America – HAL's Veendam, which left August 21 for a seven-day Bermuda Cruise, departed Bermuda at 5:00pm on Thursday, Aug. 25, and is scheduled to arrive in New York one day early on Saturday, ahead of the storm's anticipated arrival, as of 10 pm PDT Thursday.

Norwegian Cruise Line – The cruise line said as of Aug. 24 it has not made any changes to itineraries for cruises departing Friday, Saturday or Sunday

Royal Caribbean – Royal Caribbean said its ship Explorer of the Seas, will depart Cape Liberty, Bayonne, New Jersey, on Saturday, August 27, at 4 p.m., one hour earlier than originally scheduled, and asks all guests arrive at the pier no later than 3:00 p.m. As of Thursday 6 p.m. EST, Royal Caribbean said it has not altered the itineraries of any ship that departs Friday, Saturday or Sunday and will continue to closely monitor weather conditions.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Economic Growth Nears Flatline: Just 1% in Second Quarter

Comstock Images/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The U.S. Department of Commerce on Friday estimated just a 1 percent upward tick in annual growth during the spring quarter, more evidence that the economic recovery remains slow to nearly none.

The government report shows the economy was barely expanding, even before this month’s stock market plunge. Economists worry that the Wall Street sell-off could cause consumers and business to pull back even more on spending and investment.

For some, Friday’s news is further evidence that the economy could be slipping back into recession, but John Ryding with RDQ Economics says the numbers aren’t so disappointing.

“This report has strong profits numbers and we tend not to go into a recession when corporations are making profits because that's an inducement to expand,” Ryding said.

“If we dig a little deeper and look at the strength of incomes and look at the strength of profits I think we find that the economy, while not strong, is nowhere near as weak as the headline GDP data suggests.”

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Global Markets Drop in Anticipation of Bernanke's Speech

Comstock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- U.S. stock futures are slightly higher ahead of Friday's opening bell as investors await what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has to say on the nation's stumbling and stagnant economy.

Although no big announcement is expected, Bernanke could hint at possible steps the Fed may take to help the country avoid falling into a second recession.  He will deliver his speech Friday morning at a financial meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Anticipating Bernanke's speech, global markets are mostly down Friday.  European markets are trading lower and several Asian markets ended the day with deficits.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.86 percent, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.3 percent, and China’s Shanghai Composite shed 0.12 percent.

South Korea’s Kospi, however, closed the day higher, adding 0.81 percent.  Japan's Nikkei index and Taiwan’s Taiex also saw gains, rising 0.29 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Hurricane Irene Hampers Weekend Travel Plans, Weddings

Stockbyte/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- States of emergency in advance of Hurricane Irene's expected assault on the East Coast this weekend have led to busted plans likely to affect businesses and travelers' wallets.

Travelers are scrambling to change airplane and train tickets while hotels deal with cancelled reservations.

Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and counties in South Carolina have declared states of emergency.

Andy Fink, an evening manager at the Dayton House Resort in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, said the effect of Hurricane Irene is not yet as harsh as that of Hurricane Charley in 2004, when the resort had to implement a mandatory evacuation of its guests.  But even with the area on watch for a tropical storm, there have been nearly 20 cancelled reservations in two days.

Fink said many of his guests were from New Jersey and many checked out to return home ahead of the storm.

At the beginning of the week, the resort, which has a seven-day cancellation policy and a non-refundable deposit, gave guests who wanted to cancel their reservations full refunds, with a $20 service fee for staff services and credit card processing.

Erica Jackson, a guest at the resort from Bristol, Tennessee, planned to have her dream beach wedding through the Myrtle Beach Wedding Chapel on Friday and stay in town until Sunday.  Instead, her family decided to push the wedding to Wednesday evening and drove back to Tennessee on Thursday.

The resort agreed to give her credit for future use for the block of rooms she reserved.

Ashley Martin, the chapel manager, said out of five weddings scheduled for Saturday, two couples postponed until a later date, one couple cancelled completely, and two couples planned to proceed as scheduled.

There were at least 448 expected weddings this weekend in north and central New Jersey, 401 in North Carolina, 264 in Virginia, 264 in Connecticut, 209 in South Carolina, and 151 in South Jersey, according to The Knot Wedding Network.

If the hurricane hits those areas, chances are couples will have to reschedule, postpone or cancel their cerimonies, said Amy Eisinger, associate editor of WeddingChannel.com, which is owned by The Knot.

Items like rental equipment, lighting, draping and tents will most likely not be eligible for refunds, Eisinger said.

She recommended couples invest in wedding insurance, which can cost around $350, to cover loss of photos, video, rings, deposits, attire, and presents in the case of high-risk wedding dates, situations and locations.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Facebook Users 'Check in' to Starbucks More than Any Other Restaurant

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images(PALO ALTO, Calif.) -- Facebook has just released stats from its “Places” feature, showing Starbucks is the location users “check in” to the most.  The feature allows users to “check in” from locations such as restaurants to let their friends know where they are.  Facebook is doing away with the feature.

Starbucks benefits from offering some 17,000 locations Facebook users can visit, but having a large number of sites doesn’t automatically translate into more Facebook user visits.  Buffalo Wild Wings has approximately 700 locations, but it ranked higher on the list than McDonald’s, which has some 32,000 locations worldwide.

Here are the top 10 locations Facebook users have checked into:

1. Starbucks
2. Buffalo Wild Wings
3. Chili’s
4. Applebee’s
5. McDonald’s
6. IHOP
7. Denny’s
8. Olive Garden
9. T.G.I. Friday’s
10. The Cheesecake Factory

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Steve Jobs' Resignation and the Future of Apple

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Steve Jobs is such a symbol of Apple, after masterminding the iPhone, iPad, iPod, iMac and iTunes, that writer Walter Isaacson planned for a time to call his authorized biography iSteve.

The book eventually got a more sober title (simply Steve Jobs: A Biography), and this month its release was moved up to November from next March, but Isaacson's publisher said all that was unrelated to Jobs' health.

Now that Jobs has resigned as chief executive officer and become chairman of Apple, the company he co-founded in 1976, Apple watchers wonder how much the company may change. Analysts say his lieutenant, Tim Cook, had been running the company on a day-to-day basis for years anyhow, so they concluded it remains on solid footing -- for now.

"The board has been preparing for this eventuality," said Michael Gartenberg, research director of Gartner IT analysts. "Mr. Cook has shown remarkable leadership in the two times that he has taken the reins when Jobs was out on medical leave. And there is no reason to think he simply won't continue that pattern of excellence."

Whatever Apple has in the works -- from the widely rumored iPhone 5 to future products the outside world cannot imagine -- analysts said the company typically plans three to five years forward, so the near-term future is set. After that ... well, it gets complicated.

"It's too early to tell how this will really play out," said David Wertheimer of the University of Southern California, who worked with Jobs at NeXT computers after Jobs was ousted from Apple in the 1980s. "If this is Steve Jobs stepping out of an operational role at the company so he can focus more on product development and vision-setting, this could be not that big a change."

"On the other hand," he said in an email, "if this is Steve Jobs fading into the sunset, the company will have a major product vision deficit, and that will be a huge deal."

Others took an even darker view.

"Apple is Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs is Apple, and Steve Jobs is innovation," said Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research. "You can teach people how to be operationally efficient, you can hire consultants to tell you how to do that, but God creates innovation....Apple without Steve Jobs is nothing."

Market reaction was swift. Apple Inc. stock lost more than one percent of its value in early trading Thursday on the news of Jobs' resignation before bouncing back this afternoon.

Jobs said he had a rare form of pancreatic cancer in 2004, and in 2009 it was revealed that he had quietly gone to a Memphis hospital for a liver transplant. He has taken three medical leaves from Apple since 2004.

But despite his status as one of America's best-known technologists, Jobs tried to be private about medical matters. In 2009, sources said, members of Apple's board of directors had to persuade him to disclose more about his health as "a fiduciary issue," interwoven with the health of the company.

A few weeks after that, the company confirmed Jobs had gone for the liver transplant.

He was listed in March as 109th on the Forbes list of the world's billionaires, with a net worth of about $8.3 billion. After selling Pixar animation studios to The Walt Disney Company in 2006, he became a Disney board member and the company's largest shareholder. Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Analysts said Apple has performed well during Jobs' absence, partly because he has been available for big decisions, partly because Cook has been the hands-on manager even when Jobs was there.

And the company has a history of bouncing back. In January 2009, after he announced his second medical leave, Apple stock dropped to $78.20 a share. But it quickly recovered and became one of the most successful stocks on Wall Street. On one day several weeks ago, Apple briefly passed ExxonMobil as the world's most valuable company.

The stock dropped again Thursday after Jobs' new announcement -- all the way to $373.72.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Stocks Slide Thursday; Apple Stocks See Impact of Jobs Resignation

Hemera Technologies/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- First-time jobless claims are up and the markets slid down Thursday.
 
The Dow closed down 171 points, the Nasdaq gave up 48 and the S&P lost 18 by the end of Thursday's trading.
 
There was a spike in first-time unemployment claims last week, jumping up to about 5,000.  But experts aren't worried.  They say it was mainly due to Verizon workers, who were on strike until a few days ago. Without them, they say, there's slow but steady job growth.
 
Meanwhile, the impact of Steve Jobs' resignation Wednesday showed up in Apple's stock Thursday.  The company's stocks are down as the company tries to convince investors and customers it can survive without Jobs as its CEO.
 
Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Steve Jobs Resigns; Rumors Swirl that Health Worsened

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images(CUPERTINO, Calif.) -- Steve Jobs' resignation as Apple's CEO has shaken the tech world and is stirring rumors of severe health problems.

"I have always said that if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know," he wrote in the letter to the company's board of directors. "Unfortunately, that day has come."

Jobs did not elaborate on his reasons for stepping down. While the tech guru has remained tight-lipped on his health status since his pancreatic cancer diagnosis seven years ago, many worry the recent development is a sign his health has taken a turn for the worse.

E-mails to Apple requesting comment were not immediately returned.

Jobs was diagnosed with a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor in 2004. The disease is known to progress more slowly than the more common form of pancreatic cancer, but it can be no less devastating.

"Some people have described them as cancer in slow motion," Dr. Jonathan Strosberg, attending physician at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., told ABC News in January. "Patients tend to live longer, even if it's in its later stages. The average survival is six years from diagnosis."

Treatment options for the disease include hormone therapy, chemotherapy, surgical removal of the tumor and liver transplant.

Jobs' cancer spread to his liver, as this type of tumor often does, and in April 2009, he underwent a liver transplant at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. During that same year, the CEO traveled to Switzerland to receive a treatment that is not yet approved in the U.S., Fortune magazine reported.

But researchers say even after a liver transplant, the likelihood of disease recurrence in the organ "is still really high," said Dr. Richard Alexander, a surgical oncologist at University of Maryland.

Despite taking three medical leaves in the past seven years, Jobs remained Apple's CEO. In March, he received a standing ovation after making a rare appearance to unveil the iPad 2. Clad in his staple black turtleneck, blue jeans and glasses, many people attending the event reported Jobs seemed energetic, but appeared gaunt.

There is not a large amount of data on these pancreatic tumors, but about half of the people diagnosed with them are still alive after five years, said Dr. Simon K. Lo, director of the Pancreatic and Biliary Diseases Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Nevertheless, Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, warned against speculating on a person's life expectancy.

"There is a spectrum of pancreatic cancer," said Brawley. "Some are very slow-growing and indolent, so indolent that they never kill the person. Some are very fast-growing and very aggressive, so aggressive that the median life expectancy is six to eight months after diagnosis.

"I have seen people who have pancreas cancer who have been told they have six to eight weeks to live alive six to eight years later to tell me about it," continued Brawley. "I caution against any kind of speculation."

Despite his resignation, Jobs expressed optimism for the future of Apple.

"I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it," wrote Jobs. "And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role. I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you."

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Warren Buffett Invests in Bank of America

ABC News(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) -- Berkshire Hathaway, led by billionaire Warren Buffett, announced it will buy 50,000 shares of Bank of America preferred stock at $100,000 per share in a private offering. BofA shares soared on this news, though U.S. stock markets were down Thursday morning on yet another gloomy unemployment claim report.

Buffett said he conjured the idea while in the bathtub on Tuesday. He called Daniel Monyihan, chief executive officer of Bank of America, on Wednesday, Buffett told CNBC.

Stock of Bank of America, the largest bank in the U.S., rose more than 20 percent after the market's open but came down slightly later in the morning. At 10:40 AM eastern time, the stock was up 17 percent to $8.18 a share. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 129 points to 11,193.

Bank of America stock had plunged 47 percent for the year, as embattled CEO Brian Moynihan has tried to manage its pile of bad mortgages and its exposure to the European debt crisis.

But Warren Buffett praised Monyihan and the bank in a statement.

"Bank of America is a strong, well-led company, and I called Brian to tell him I wanted to invest in it," Berkshire Hathaway chairman and chief executive officer Warren Buffett, said in a press release. "I am impressed with the profit-generating abilities of this franchise, and that they are acting aggressively to put their challenges behind them. Bank of America is focused on their customers and on serving them well. That's what customers want, and that's the company's strategy."

In conjunction with the agreement, Berkshire Hathaway will also receive warrants to purchase 700 million shares of Bank of America common stock at an exercise price of about $7.14 a share. The warrants may be exercised during the 10 years following the closing date of the transaction, according to a Bank of America statement.

Buffett made a similar investment in Goldman Sachs in 2008, which some played a significant part in Goldman Sachs' growth since the financial crisis.

"We are building the best franchise in financial services and we have laid out a clear plan to deliver long-term shareholder value," Moynihan said in a statement. "I remain confident that we have the capital and liquidity we need to run our business. At the same time, I also recognize that a large investment by Warren Buffett is a strong endorsement in our vision and our strategy."

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Bernanke to Speak Friday; What's Left in Fed's Toolbox?

Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke goes before the microphones on Friday to announce what, if anything, the Fed will do next to buck up the stumbling and stagnant U.S. economy.

Critics question whether the Fed has anything left in its toolbox it hasn't already tried, a mirror of critics' thoughts on President Obama's inability to turn the economy around. Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer summed up Obama's prospects earlier this month: "He's out of bullets. He's out of arrows."

As far as the Fed goes, the world's stock markets seem to believe otherwise.  They rose this week, in part on anticipation that the Fed will take new steps to keep the U.S. from sinking further into recession.

Truth is, there's plenty the Fed still could do.  A number of unused tools remain, but none is without controversy.  Some, politically, are too hot to touch.  And still, others are so potent that their use cannot be imagined, short of some doomsday scenario.

It was just one year ago that Bernanke announced a second round of so-called "quantitative easing," dubbed QE2.  As with its predecessor, QE1, announced in March 2009, the idea was for the Fed to buy private debt on a massive scale, thus keeping interest rates low and invigorating the U.S. economy with a booster of inexpensive cash.  The stock markets of the world have benefitted, and traders this week were cheered at the prospect that Bernanke, on Friday, will announce QE3 or something like it.

It's far from sure, however, that Bernanke will choose that tool.

The effectiveness of the first two QEs has been questioned.  Critics acknowledge that easing has brought temporary benefits, but they argue those have accrued primarily to the stock market.  They question whether flooding the markets with yet more cheap money is a good thing for the economy long-term.

Lance Roberts, chief strategist for Streettalk Advisors, calls quantitative easing just so much "heroin."  The first two shots of it, he says, indeed invigorated markets.  But the effect was short-lived.  Another round of it might help the U.S. "temporarily avoid a double dip," but it would not solve "our long-term fiscal problems."

It's not only Fed outsiders such as Roberts who reject QE3. Some Fed insiders oppose it.  In a rare instance of internal dissent, three regional Fed presidents (Dallas, Philadelphia and Minneapolis) earlier this month voted against Bernanke's decision to keep interest rates low through 2013.  President Richard Fisher of Dallas said in a speech that the U.S. economy already is "awash with liquidity."

So, if not QE3, then, what?

"That's the $64 million question!" says Roberts.  We could see, he speculates, "massive loan-forgiveness.  But there would have to be federal support to keep the banks solvent."  And such a move, he notes, would only encourage the non-forgiven to walk away from their debts.

"Bernanke has very little other choice at this point.  All the Fed has available to it is the power to continue to suppress interest rates," Roberts says.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio