Atlantic City's Revel starts closing after 2 years

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The most spectacular and costly failure in Atlantic City's 36-year history of casino gambling began to play out Monday when the $2.4 billion Revel Casino Hotel emptied its hotel.

Its casino will close early Tuesday morning.

Revel is shutting down a little over two years after opening with high hopes of revitalizing Atlantic City's struggling gambling market. But mired in its second bankruptcy in two years, Revel has been unable to find anyone willing to buy the property and keep it open as a casino. It has never turned a profit.

"It's kind of sad," said Andrew Tannenbaum of Edison, who has stayed at Revel a dozen times in the past year. "Compared to other casinos, this was a lot nicer. There wasn't the riff-raff here. But I think they overspent, went overboard and got in over their heads. When the Borgata opened, that should have been the last of the high-end casinos for Atlantic City."

Revel will be the second of three Atlantic City casinos to close in a two-week span. The Showboat Casino Hotel closed its doors Sunday, and Trump Plaza is closing Sept. 16.

So what killed Revel?

Analysts and competitors say it was hampered by bad business decisions and a fundamental misunderstanding of the Atlantic City casino customer.

"The timing of it could not have been worse," said Mark Juliano, president of Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania and the former CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts in Atlantic City. "The financial climate while Revel was developing and when it opened were completely different."

Revel officials declined to comment.

The casino broke ground just before the Great Recession. It ran out of money halfway through construction and had to drop its plans for a second hotel tower while scrambling for the remaining $1 billion or so it needed to finish the project. When it opened in April 2012, it was so laden with debt that it couldn't bring in enough revenue to cover it.

The idea behind Revel was to open a totally different resort, a seaside pleasure palace that just happened to have a casino as one of its features. That included Atlantic City's only total smoking ban, which alienated many gamblers; the lack of a buffet and daily bus trips to and from the casino; and the absence of a players' club. By the time those decisions were reversed, it was already too late. High room and restaurant prices hurt, too.

"If there had been a range of new attractions and potential customers with enough discretionary income, I think that Atlantic City could have absorbed the new capacity," said David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. "That's certainly what happened with Borgata more than 10 years ago. But the market that Revel foresaw for its property just didn't materialize, partially because of the growing perception that the city wasn't ready for that kind of customer. At the same time, Revel didn't have a plan to successfully market to the traditional Atlantic City customer."

It also started at a huge disadvantage by not having a pre-existing database of gamblers to solicit, in the way that casinos owned by nationwide companies like Caesars Entertainment or Tropicana Entertainment can.

Customers found Revel's design off-putting as well, said Joe Lupo, senior vice president of the Borgata, whose upscale market Revel appeared to target. Entering from the Boardwalk, they had to take a vertiginous escalator up four flights to reach the casino floor. Once there, the property wound around a circular pattern instead of the linear layout of most other casinos.

"Revel struggled with the execution of plans to develop their market, as well as with their design and just a basic understanding of the Atlantic City visitor," he said.

Revel still hopes to find a buyer for the property after it has ceased to operate as a casino.

___

Wayne Parry can be reached at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC

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Asia stocks rise on S&P high, China stimulus hopes

BEIJING — Asian stock markets rose Monday, lifted by another record high on Wall Street and expectations of stimulus in China after its manufacturing growth slowed. Investors looked ahead to this week's U.S. employment figures and a meeting of Europe's central bank for signs of stimulus steps.

KEEPING SCORE: China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.5 percent to 2,229.97 and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 added 0.2 percent to 15,460.50. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.5 percent to 24,875.52. Sydney, Taipei and Jakarta also rose. Seoul's Kospi was down 0.1 percent at 2,066.70.

CHINA FACTORIES: Two surveys showed China's manufacturing growth slowed in August as export demand and investment weakened, raising expectations Beijing might launch more stimulus. HSBC Corp. said its purchasing manufacturers index fell to 50.2 from July's 18-month high of 51.7 on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 show an expansion. An official industry group, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, said its separate PMI declined to 51.1 from 51.7.

THE QUOTE: The manufacturing slowdown adds to signs that China's "economy still faces considerable downside risks to growth in the second half of the year, which warrants further policy easing to ensure a steady growth recovery," said HSBC economist Hongbin Qu.

WALL STREET: On Friday, the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.3 percent after delivering its fourth record high in five days. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.1 percent. U.S. markets were due to be closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

EUROPE: Investors looked ahead to Thursday's meeting of the European Central Bank for signs of possible stimulus. Bank chief Mario Draghi called in a speech last month for fiscal policies to support growth, a departure from the ECB's implicit support for austerity. No immediate steps were expected but the bank has begun work on a program to buy asset-backed securities.

U.S. ECONOMY: The latest update on the labor market due out Friday is expected to show relatively firm conditions. Investor confidence has risen following several months of strong growth in hiring and corporate profits and a series of major corporate acquisitions.

ENERGY MARKETS: U.S. benchmark crude for October was down 11 cents to $95.86 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract surged $1.41 on Friday to close at $95.96.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 104.18 yen from Friday's closing of 104.04. The euro declined to $1.3121 from the previous session's $1.3136.

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Brace yourselves: Campaign cash buying tons of ads

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa's airwaves are already jammed with political ads, most of them negative, in one of the Senate races nationwide that will decide which party claims the majority.

The ads come one after another in an onslaught of spin that galls voters.

"In Iowa you see a lot of ads. You learn to identify the ones that are trying to feed you full of crap," said 62-year-old Mike Vincent of Keota, a registered Republican.

The inescapable deluge is not confined to Iowa, and it's only going to get worse.

Election Day is just two months off and the national tab for the 2014 campaign already stands at $1 billion. Before it's all over, the bill for the first midterm election since both Democrats and Republicans embraced a historic change in campaign finance is likely to grow to $4 billion or more.

TV ads try to reach the few who are able to be swayed and willing to vote. In the closest Senate races, that translates into a price per vote that could double that of the 2012 presidential election.

Just turn on the TV in Des Moines. On a recent night, an ad against Democratic contender Bruce Braley and for Republican rival Joni Ernst aired back to back. They were among the eight ads jammed into a 30-minute local newscast.

Concerned Veterans for America, an outside group, ran a 30-second ad criticizing Braley for not doing more to fix the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "Congress was warned, but Bruce Braley ignored it."

Ernst's campaign comes up next, with an ad showing American flags, farmland and churches. "It's a long way from Red Oak to Washington, but I'm asking for your vote because I'll take your values there," Ernst says. Red Oak is her hometown.

The ad blitz has left things cloudy for Gloria Pace, a 72-year-old retiree from Des Moines. The negative ones against Braley have upset Pace, but she's not sure they are true.

"I don't know what to believe and what not to believe," Pace said.

Total spending in Iowa's Senate race has topped $18 million, according to data compiled at the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation.

Even though both political parties are tapping outside groups for seemingly unlimited spending, turnout in the primaries has been at near historic lows. Enthusiasm shows no sign of changing come November.

That means that each vote is going to be more costly than ever before.

The most expensive race, so far, is Kentucky's Senate race, at $36 million and counting. The ads stack up heavily, with dueling appeals to female voters from Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes.

"They are getting annoying because it's the same thing over and over. Finally it just disturbs you enough until sometimes you think you won't even vote because of that," said Pamela Blevins, a Grimes supporter in Pike County who plans to vote.

In North Carolina, the tab now tops $28 million.

On a recent evening, six of the seven political spots either supported Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan or attacked her Republican rival, state House Speaker Thom Tillis. One was a generic pro-GOP ad. None was from Tillis himself.

Taking advantage of her currently large fundraising advantage over Tillis, Hagan appeared on the screen to promote her pitch that she's a middle-of-the-road senator who fits well within North Carolina's split political environment.

"Not too far left, not too far right. Just like North Carolina," she says.

The heavy spending on ads just feed into the frustrations of North Carolina's voters.

"I literally turn them off," said Terry Hutchens, 66, of Raleigh, who runs a leasing equipment company. "My personal opinion is there's too much money in politics, which is like giving a drug addict too much cocaine. Nothing's good going to come from it."

___

Elliott reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Adam Beam in Frankfort, Kentucky and Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

___

Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/philip_elliott and Catherine Lucey on Twitter at https://twitter.com/catherine_lucey

EDITOR'S NOTE _ Labor Day kicks off a two-month sprint toward Election Day. This story is part of a package that sets the stage for the November elections.

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Low-cost camera a throwback

Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 ($64.60 and up, various retailers)

Polaroid-style cameras are making a comeback, and you don't have to be an uber-hipster to appreciate that.

With five exposure modes and an always-on flash, this 
basic point-and-shoot is meant to bring back that retro look.

The good: Available in five adorable colors, this camera has a great form factor and an idiot-proof design. 
It's literally point-and-shoot. No auto-focus. No frills.

The bad: Remember film? Unlike your smartphone camera, you'll need that. The price of instant film is roughly 75 cents per sheet.

The bottom line: This is a nice break from the megapixel war, and the price is right. Consider it as a fun toy for those college newbies — and for "first day of school" photos.

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Device could quickly deliver wide-ranging medical info

A Cambridge company is attempting to create a real-world version of the famous tricorder on "Star Trek" — an instant scanning and analysis device that would be able take crucial vitals, as well as run dozens of medical tests — on one drop of blood, telling the user within minutes whether they have a cold, the flu, or something more serious like a heart abnormality.

"We have been working on developing a single device that is capable of diagnosing the majority of diseases from a single drop of blood," said Dr. Eugene Chan, CEO of DNA Medicine Institute, a Cambridge health technology company. "It's partly about global health, but it's also about general health for all of us. Everyone's got a condition where having a technology like this would be helpful."

The device, rHEALTH, is also being tested by NASA for a potentially key part of the space agency's future.

"They're funding us to develop this technology for long-duration space travel towards Mars," Chan said.

On Earth, rHEALTH — one of 10 finalists for the global $10 million Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE — could be used to help monitor and deal with disease outbreaks in remote areas, like the current Ebola outbreak.

"Any portable setting, any setting where there's a lack of health care" would fit for rHEALTH, Chan said. DMI has worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on the device. Chan said consumers in developed areas also would benefit from the device.

"You want to be able to pick up someone coming down with dizziness ... and diagnose it in the first place," he said. "This will impact the majority of the population."

"The technologies being created for the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE can have a profound impact on myriad medical areas, including health monitoring, prevention, diagnosis and disease management," said Rick Valencia, senior vice president and general manager of Qualcomm Life, in a statement. "It will certainly be exciting to see these devices materialize as we move closer to the competition's end.

"Medicine is still stuck in the Dark Ages," he said. "The physician still holds the information, so to unchain the (information) empowers the consumers to control their whole health."

As futuristic as this may seem, a device that takes minutes to diagnose an illness from home may not be too far away.

"I would say in the next two to three years, you're going to see some really neat technologies hitting the market," Chan said. "We're going to get a lot of cool technologies that are going to let us address our own health a lot better."

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NASA: Power grid may be at risk

Perhaps, as a tech-savvy citizen, you are worried about the financial cost of data breaches, or our increased vulnerability to terrorist hackers, or the erosion of our digital civil liberties.

Don't be.

Instead, worry about the complete collapse of our power grid.

NASA is warning that there's a 12 percent chance an extreme solar storm will hit Earth in the next decade, sending out massive shock waves that would knock out grids across the world.

The economic impact of this doomsday scenario could exceed $2 trillion — or 20 times the cost of Hurricane Katrina, according to the National Academy of Sciences.

NASA first made this warning in 2009, when a study it funded detailed what might happen to our high-tech society in the event of a super solar flare — essentially the equivalent of bad space weather. An extreme geomagnetic storm would follow, melting copper windings of transformers at the heart of many power distribution centers.

But few listened. And there was very little news coverage.

Then in 2012, NASA's prediction almost came true, with Earth experiencing a close shave by a solar storm that tore into our orbit. The storm hit a solar observatory that was equipped to measure the impact, providing precious data that confirmed NASA's previous warnings of the severe consequences these storms pose.

But again, few noticed.

Recently, commemorating the two-year anniversary of the near-miss, NASA put out a press release with even more research, noting there's a 12 percent chance that such a catastrophic solar storm will actually hit Earth in the next decade, with ramifications to modern society lasting for years.

And again, no one noticed. It turns out scientists are really bad at PR. To be fair to them, society's appreciation for science is abysmal anyway.

But the truth is that this is an issue every person on the planet should care about and not dismiss as far-fetched. In fact, it's happened twice before: in a milder form in March 1986, when 6 million people in Quebec lost power for nine hours because of a small solar storm. And in 1859, a series of powerful solar storms hit Earth head-on, disabling our global telegraph system.

The problem is that now, our society is much more susceptible to bad space weather because of our reliance on power grids that are increasingly interconnected. It makes economic sense, but it also leaves us vulnerable to cascading failures.

There is no way to stop a solar storm, but there could be a way to warn us one is coming: by having sun-
orbitting satellites on the lookout for flare-ups, giving us a chance to shut down our global power grid until the storm passes. Maybe it's fitting that on Labor Day, we should call for the heroic workers at NASA to get the respect they deserve — and the funding necessary — to do just that.

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Bad weather shuts down concerts, delays flights

PHILADELPHIA — Severe thunderstorms across the Northeast on Sunday slowed operations at airports, wreaked havoc at outdoor sporting and musical events in New York and Philadelphia and sent people scurrying from a beach after three men were struck by lightning.

The men were injured at Orchard Beach on Pelham Bay in the Bronx on Sunday evening as bad storms rolled through the area, the Fire Department of New York said. The men were being treated at a hospital, and the extent of their injuries was unknown.

Torrential rain, thunder and lightning interrupted Labor Day weekend celebrations in Philadelphia, where a parkway hosting a music concert was evacuated for safety reasons. Organizers of the Made in America festival warned people to move quickly and calmly to the exits and to protected areas outside the downtown festival site until the bad weather passed.

Anne Beyens, of Scottsdale, Arizona, was among a group of five waterlogged friends who were told to leave the concert after watching deejay 3LAU and ended up at a bar a mile away. They said most of the headliners they wanted to see, including Pharrell Williams and Kings of Leon, were scheduled for later in the night so they were hoping to return.

"We knew it was going to rain," Beyens said. "We didn't know they were going to kick us out."

Besides temporarily stopping the Made in America concert, the bad weather also forced the early end to the Electric Zoo musical festival on an island in New York's East River and halted play for the first time at this year's U.S. Open tennis tournament in Queens.

Former champion Maria Sharapova took notice of the screeching weather warnings on reporters' cellphones as she answered questions about her loss to 10th-seeded Caroline Wozniacki just before the storm hit.

"Is that the flood warning? Darn it. If I was only there a little longer," she said to laughter.

Electric Zoo spokesman Stefan Friedman said "the safety and security of all attendees, artists and staff" was the primary concern as people were told to leave. The decision was made about six hours before the festival was scheduled to end on Randall's Island, where fans have to take ferries and shuttle buses.

The National Weather Service said it had reports of wind damage and flash flooding in East Orange, New Jersey, and reports of large tree branches down on Long Island. It said most of the damage was reported between 4:20 p.m. and 5:15 p.m., when the storms were intense.

More than 30 flights in and out of the New York metro area were delayed and at least one was cancelled because of the severe weather, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. Storms also disrupted air travel in Philadelphia and the Baltimore-Washington region.

Flights leaving Newark Liberty in New Jersey and Washington Dulles in Virginia were held up nearly three hours, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Flights in and out of New York's Kennedy Airport and Philadelphia International Airport were delayed up to two hours.

In the Midwest, storms began sweeping across Iowa and Nebraska late Sunday with heavy rains causing some flooding and wind gusts affecting power lines and snapping tree limbs.

The National Weather Service said Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, and Dakota City, Nebraska, saw straight-line winds of 80 mph to 90 mph that caused significant damage.

The Omaha World-Herald reported that in the Omaha metro area, at least eight people were rescued Sunday evening on the Elkhorn River.

Cleveland's game at Kansas City was suspended due to rain with the Indians leading the Royals 4-2 heading into the bottom of the 10th inning. The game will resume on Sept. 22 in Cleveland.

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Massachusetts launches 2-month tax amnesty program

BOSTON — Labor Day marks the launch of a two-month tax amnesty program in Massachusetts.

The state Revenue Department says residents who owe taxes face no penalties if they pay during the period that begins Monday and ends Oct. 31

About 300,000 people will be receiving notices in September indicating they are eligible.

The amnesty program covers all major tax categories — individual income tax, withholding tax, sales tax, meals tax and others.

The amnesty will not be extended to some taxpayers, including those who are the subject of a tax-related criminal investigation or prosecution.

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Duo behind fake golf cart ads fight harassment law

BOSTON — Bernadette Lyons came home one day and found 10 strangers milling around her driveway looking for free golf carts.

The next day, her husband, Jim, began getting phone calls late at night from people inquiring about a Harley Davidson motorcycle. The couple also received an anonymous email containing their Social Security numbers and other personal information, along with a message: "Remember, if you aren't miserable, I ain't happy!" The clincher came when child-protection workers knocked on their door and said they were investigating a report that Jim Lyons had physically abused their 13-year-old son.

"It was overwhelming," Bernadette Lyons said. "Every day, we woke up not knowing what was going to happen. We were very scared."

The couple's neighbors in Andover, William and Gail Johnson, were convicted of harassing the Lyonses, helped by a friend who admitted placing fake Craigslist ads and sending the anonymous email at the behest of William Johnson.

The Johnsons are appealing their convictions, arguing that their actions were protected by the First Amendment right to free speech. The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the state's highest court, is scheduled to hear arguments in the case Wednesday.

Trouble between the once-friendly neighbors began in 2003, after William Johnson said he wanted to develop land he owned behind the Lyonses' home into a small subdivision. The Lyonses and other neighbors objected, and years of litigation followed.

Jim Lyons, a businessman who owned several flower and ice cream shops, was elected as a state representative in 2010, after the dispute.

In March 2008, a Craigslist ad was placed by Gerald Colton, a friend of the Johnsons who posed as a former campground owner trying to get rid of golf carts. The ad said there were free golf carts in his yard, available on a first-come, first-served basis, and it included the Lyonses' address and home phone number. After that, the Lyonses were the targets of a series of hoaxes.

Witnesses testified that Colton, who later testified against the Johnsons, signed up Jim to donate his body to science, signed him up to join magical, nudist, bisexual and transsexual organizations, and posed as him online while posting comments on websites.

Jim Lyons also received a letter from "Brian," who accused Jim of sexually molesting him when he worked for Jim at his store as a teenager and threatened to press criminal charges.

"What the Johnsons wanted to do was torture us, and they used every means available," Jim Lyons said. "They went after our family; they went after our business."

The Johnsons, however, argue that none of the things the Lyonses were subjected to seriously alarmed them, a requirement under the harassment law. They say their actions amounted to free speech.

"As long as the United States of America has been a country, free speech has been one of our highest priorities," said Robert Sinsheimer, William Johnson's appellate lawyer.

"My client's statements may have been anti-social, they may have been sophomoric, but they did not violate the Constitution. They were not fighting words and they were not threats."

William Johnson served 18 months in jail after he was convicted of criminal harassment and falsely reporting child abuse. Gail Johnson served six months after she was convicted of criminal harassment.

"A speech-based criminal-harassment conviction passes First Amendment muster if it is based on fighting words that target the victim, are capable of inciting an immediate fight, and seriously alarm the victim," Gail Johnson's lawyer, Valerie DePalma, wrote in a legal brief.

DePalma argued that the Lyonses could not immediately retaliate against the creator of the fictitious postings or the anonymous senders of the email and letter. "None of the speech seriously alarmed them," she wrote.

Prosecutors say the case against the Johnsons was properly prosecuted under the criminal harassment law, passed in response to a loophole in the state's stalking law, which state lawmakers said did not protect people who were harassed but not overtly threatened. The law went into effect in 2000.

"The statute is narrowly tailored, intended to address repeated, malicious conduct that causes severe emotional distress to victims," prosecutors argued in a brief filed by Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett. Prosecutors said the Johnsons have not shown that the law deters free speech.

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Obama promoting economic gains as elections near

WASHINGTON — Boosted by recent economic gains, President Barack Obama is sounding more bullish about the nation's recovery from the Great Recession and the White House is encouraging Democrats to show similar optimism as they head into the November mid-term elections.

Despite turmoil in the Middle East and along the Ukraine-Russia border, the top issue with Americans remains the economy. And while consumer confidence appears to be improving, the public remains anxious over the recovery's reach and sustainability.

On Monday, Obama scheduled a Labor Day speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to promote the economy in a state that was the epicenter of a fight over the collective bargaining rights of public employees. He's also pressing the case for a federal increase in the minimum wage — a top issue for Democrats. Vice President Joe Biden took a similar Labor Day message to Detroit, telling hundreds of union members Monday they deserve a "fair share" of any improvement in corporate profits.

Until now, Obama and his aides had been cautious about drawing too much attention to positive economic trends, worried that some may prove illusory or that, even if true, not all Americans were benefiting from them.

White House aides still insist they are not declaring full victory over the lingering effects of a recession that ended five years ago.

But White House officials believe it is time to highlight recent improvements, in part to strengthen what is a difficult political environment for Democrats and to counter public perceptions that are eroding the president's public approval. Officials say Obama's most compelling case is to compare the economy now with what he inherited in 2009 in the aftermath of a near Wall Street meltdown.

"The one thing that I can say is that because of the incredible resilience and strength of the American people, but also because we made some good decisions even though they were tough at the time, we are better off as a country than we were when I came into office," Obama said at a fundraiser Friday.

In an August memo to House and Senate Democrats, Obama's top two economic advisers underscored the positive news: more than 200,000 jobs created per month for six consecutive months, a six-year high in auto sales, second-quarter economic growth that exceeded expectations and an expanding manufacturing sector.

Other positive signs:

— The unemployment rate stands at 6.2 percent, dropping 1.1 points over the past year. The rate reached a high of 10 percent in October of 2009.

— The economy grew at a rate of 4.2 percent in the second quarter of the year, though a weak start in the first quarter has lowered projections for the entire year.

— The stock market has rallied, nearly tripling in five years. The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed above 2,000 for the first time last week.

At the same time, public perceptions appear to present a muddle of confidence and anxiety.

In July, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index rose to its highest reading since October 2007, two months before the Great Recession began. But a new survey by Rutgers University found that Americans are more anxious about the economy now than they were right after the recession ended.

Among the still-negative signs:

— The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more remains elevated, accounting for nearly 33 percent of the 9.7 million jobless workers. While the rate of long-term unemployed has dropped significantly from its peak in 2010, White House economic advisers Jason Furman and Jeff Zients noted in a blog post Monday, "The long-term unemployment rate remains roughly double its pre-recession average, and ... accounts for essentially all of the remaining elevation in the overall unemployment rate."

— Real hourly wages fell from the first half of 2013 to the first half of 2014 for all income groups, except for a 2-cent increase for the lowest income level, according to the liberal Economic Policy Institute. That minor increase was attributed to minimum wage increases in states where 40 percent of workers live.

Both parties are seeking to exploit those weaknesses and draw contrasts for voters. Republicans argue that the long-term unemployed and the flat wages are the result of Obama administration policies, on health care, the environment and more.

Obama and Democrats are pointing to the lack of wage growth as a reason to push for a higher federal minimum wage.

"Until we've got a Congress that cares about raising working folks' wages, it's up to the rest of us to make it happen," Obama said in his radio and Internet address Saturday. Biden, criticizing corporate pay and companies that leave the U. S. for lower taxes, said Monday that workers don't want a handout. "Just give them a chance."

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