Porsche Cayman, electric Chevy Spark to debut at L.A. car show

This year's L.A. Auto Show will include debuts of the all-electric Chevrolet Spark sub-compact and the Porsche Cayman sports car, the automakers announced Thursday.

The Cayman is the fixed-roof counterpart to the Boxster convertible, a new version of which Porsche put on sale this year. Both cars are rear-wheel-drive, feature a mid-engine setup and count the rear-engine 911 and 911 convertible as a big brother.

Details on the Cayman's powertrain haven't been released, but previous models always had a tick more power than the corresponding Boxster version. Expect the base Cayman to have somewhere around 275 horsepower from a 2.7-liter, inline six-cylinder engine.

The more powerful Cayman S probably will have a 3.4-liter, inline six-cylinder engine similar to the one in the base 911 Carrera. Expect it to produce around 325 horsepower in the 2014 Cayman S. A six-speed manual transmission should be standard with Porsche's seven-speed, dual-clutch PDK serving as the optional gearbox.

Pricing hasn't been announced, but expect at least $54,000 for the base Cayman, including destination charge, and $64,000 for the Cayman S. The models will go on sale in early spring 2013.

That Porsche would use the L.A. Auto Show for a global debut like this is a result of California's being the automaker's largest single market. Numerous other Porsches have made world debuts at recent L.A. Auto Shows, including the Boxster Spyder in 2009, the Cayman R in 2010 and the Panamera GTS in 2011.

The 2012 L.A Auto Show will open to the public Nov. 30 after two media daysand continue through Dec. 9.

Also debuting at the show will be the all-electric version of the Chevy Spark subcompact. Chevrolet says the Spark EV has an oil-cooled electric motor producing 130 horsepower — a hearty jump from the 84 horsepower in the gas-powered car. Meanwhile, torque skyrockets to 400 pound-feet — more than a Porsche 911 — which Chevy says helps move this car from zero to 60 in less than eight seconds.

This power comes from a 20-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery, which will be covered by an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty. The battery is made by A123 Systems, a company that recently filed for bankruptcy protection and provides batteries to Fisker for use in its Karma plug-in hybrid car.

Although Chevrolet didn't reveal the Spark EVs range, it did say it would be among the best in its class, rivaling competitors such as the Fiat 500 EV, Mitsubishi i, and Scion iQ EV.

Chevy says owners will be able to recharge the batteries to 80% capacity in about 20 minutes by using DC fast charging. The car will also fully charge in less than seven hours via a 240-volt outlet, and a standard 120-volt charge cord is standard equipment.

Owners will be able to keep track of the car's charging via a smartphone app that works in conjunction with OnStar.

The car will be available for sale or lease in California in summer 2013, with Chevrolet to announce other U.S. markets in the near future.

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October home sales hit 3-year high; prices up 17% year over year

Consumer columnist David Lazarus talks with real estate reporter Alejandro Lazo, DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage and Bill McBride of the Calculated Risk blog about the strong October real estate numbers.

Southern California's real estate market bucked the typical fall slowdown last month, with buyers snapping up pricier homes and sales roaring up 18% over the prior month.

Sales hit a three-year high for an October, rising 25% from the same month last year. The median sale price for a Southland house last month was $315,000, equal to September and up 17% from October 2011, according to real estate research firm DataQuick.

A decline in the number of foreclosed homes has caused a shortage of inventory in entry-level neighborhoods, pushing up home prices. Demand from investors also remains strong, with these buyers snapping up a near-record level of homes last month.

"There is a growing appreciation of the fact that we've come to a sort of a point of inflection in the housing market," Stuart Gabriel, director of UCLA's Ziman Center for Real Estate, said. "The housing market, for a large number of factors, is perceived as having turned a corner."

The region's median hit bottom at $247,000 in April 2009 and has slowly crawled its way up since. The median is the point at which half the homes in the area sold for more and half for less.

Quiz: Test your knowledge of business news

The rebound stems from more people chasing fewer homes. Interest rates remain near record-low levels, luring buyers. Investors with cash have poured into the market looking for cheap properties to flip or rent. And foreclosure resales have sunk to a five-year low, tightening the supply of cheap homes.

An estimated 21,075 newly built and previously owned houses and condominiums sold throughout the region last month. Coastal markets saw the biggest increases in sales — though every county posted double-digit gains compared with October last year. Orange County saw the biggest surge, with sales up 41%. Ventura rose 35%, San Diego, 31%, Los Angeles, 25%, San Bernardino, 18% and Riverside 13%.

Absentee buyers — investors and some second-home buyers — snapped up a near-record 28% of homes throughout the Southland last month. These investors paid a median $245,000, a 23% increase from October last year.

A recent report by real estate website Zillow showed that many investors and others are paying market value for foreclosed homes in the region, erasing the discount between foreclosed homes and regular properties. Discounts were marginal on bank-owned homes in September, with the discount in the Inland Empire just 2% and in the Los Angeles area 4% in September, Zillow said.

Bruce Norris, president of Norris Group, an investment company in Riverside that buys foreclosed homes, said he expects prices to increase in coming years as the Obama administration has encouraged banks to curtail foreclosures. That will push up prices, he said.

"It is policy driven," Norris said. "Since the policy is going to continue … you are about to see a pretty substantial price increase within the next two years."

Indeed, the high level of affordability ushered in by the housing crash could erode quickly in California. This week the California Assn. of Realtors reported that homes in the state are getting less affordable as property values rise. The group estimated that 49% of home buyers in the third quarter could afford a median-priced house in California, a decline from 51% last quarter. The rise in prices is offsetting the benefit to home shoppers from low mortgage interest rates.

Christopher Thornberg, a principal at Beacon Economics and one of the first to call attention to the housing bubble, said home shoppers should expect expensive housing in the Golden State for the foreseeable future. The reason: Construction of new homes remains highly expensive for builders.

"Why would it stop?" he said. "The economy is growing. Short of a fiscally led second recession, there is no reason in the world that it's going to do anything but to continue."

The region's lowest-cost areas — often those the most starved for inventory these days — posted the weakest sales numbers last month, according to DataQuick. The number of homes that sold below $200,000 in the region dropped 11% from October last year. Sales in these markets have slowed because of the drop in foreclosures, while increased demand has pushed up prices.

Sales of previously foreclosed-upon homes made up just 16% of the resale market last month, a drop from 17% last month and 33% in October 2011. Foreclosure resales peaked at 57% in February 2009.

In the meantime, sales surged in several mid- and higher-cost neighborhoods throughout Southern California in October, DataQuick said. Sales of homes between $300,000 and $800,000 increased 42% year over year. Sales of homes costing more than $500,000 were up 55% and sales of homes more than $800,000 rose 52%.

Bill McBride, lead writer for the housing blog Calculated Risk, said that with the upswing in prices homeowners are encouraged to keep their homes off the market.

"Why is there no inventory? I ask every real estate agent that, just to hear what they tell me. And they say people don't have enough equity in their homes and so they aren't listing them," McBride said. "That is a solid argument. But I also think the people are sensing that prices are going up and there is no urgency to sell."

alejandro.lazo@latimes.com

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Shania Twain makes horseback arrival for Vegas gig

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Country music star Shania Twain arrived on horseback Wednesday for a two-year headline gig at Caesars Palace, parading up the Las Vegas Strip with a herd of 40 horses.

Promoters called the event a stampede, but hooves were kept to a steady, slow gait by nine wranglers who escorted Twain to a reception crowd of several hundred people in front of the famous Caesars fountains. Dozens more people watched from the sidewalk of the Flamingo resort across Las Vegas Boulevard.

"We could either lose a few hundred dollars inside or come out and see what kind of spectacle she puts on," said Steve Huffman, a UPS manager from Charleston, W.Va., who watched with his wife, Debi, from an overhead pedestrian walkway.

The couple was in town for his 52nd birthday and learned through a Twitter message that Twain planned to arrive on a horse. They identified Twain's hit, "Man, I Feel Like a Woman," as the country singer rode up the street, and they said they'll plan to see the show next year.

"Still The One" blasted on speakers as Twain stepped onto a temporary outdoor stage near fountains made famous by events including daredevil Evel Knievel's motorcycle crash during a stunt on New Year's Eve 1967.

To some, Twain's arrival echoed singer Frank Sinatra's heralded arrival on a camel at the old Dunes hotel in September 1955.

Twain's show titled "Shania: Still the One" opens Dec. 1 at the nearly 4,300-seat Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The venue also hosts entertainers Celine Dion, Elton John, Jerry Seinfeld and others.

Twain, 47, is touted as one of the best-selling female country artists of all time. The Canadian singer-songwriter has sold more than 75 million albums worldwide.

Las Vegas police, including several on horseback, diverted traffic on the busy casino corridor for about 30 minutes for the spectacle.

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Alzheimer’s Tied to Mutation Harming Immune Response

Alzheimer’s researchers and drug companies have for years concentrated on one hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease: the production of toxic shards of a protein that accumulate in plaques on the brain.

But now, in a surprising coincidence, two groups of researchers working from entirely different starting points have converged on a mutated gene involved in another aspect of Alzheimer’s disease: the immune system’s role in protecting against the disease. The mutation is suspected of interfering with the brain’s ability to prevent the buildup of plaque.

The discovery, researchers say, provides clues to how and why the disease progresses. The gene, known as TREM2, is only the second found to increase Alzheimer’s risk substantially in older people.

“It points very specifically to a potential metabolic pathway that you could intervene in to change the course of Alzheimer’s disease,” said William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Much work remains to be done before scientists understand precisely how the newly discovered gene mutation leads to Alzheimer’s, but already there are some indications from studies in mice. When the gene is not mutated, white blood cells in the brain spring into action, gobbling up and eliminating the plaque-forming toxic protein, beta amyloid. As a result, Alzheimer’s can be staved off or averted.

But when the gene is mutated, the brain’s white blood cells are hobbled, making them less effective in their attack on beta amyloid.

People with the mutated gene have a threefold to fivefold increase in the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease in old age.

The intact gene, says John Hardy of University College London, “is a safety net.” And those with the mutation, he adds, “are living life without a safety net.” Dr. Hardy is lead author of one of the papers.

The discovery also suggests that a new type of drug could be developed to enhance the gene’s activity, perhaps allowing the brain’s white blood cells to do their work.

“The field is in desperate need of new therapeutic agents,” said Alison Goate, an Alzheimer’s researcher at Washington University in St. Louis who contributed data to Dr. Hardy’s study. “This will give us an alternative approach.”

The fact that two research groups converged on the same gene gives experts confidence in the findings. Both studies were published online Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine. “Together they make a good case that this really is an Alzheimer’s gene,” said Gerard Schellenberg, an Alzheimer’s researcher at the University of Pennsylvania who was not involved with the work.

The other gene found to raise the odds that a person will get Alzheimer’s, ApoE4, is much more common and confers about the same risk as the mutated version of TREM2. But it is still not clear why ApoE4, discovered in 1993, makes Alzheimer’s more likely.

Because the mutations in the newly discovered gene are rare, occurring in no more than 2 percent of Alzheimer’s patients, it makes no sense to start screening people for them, Dr. Thies said. Instead, the discovery provides new clues to the workings of Alzheimer’s disease.

To find the gene, a research group led by Dr. Kari Stefansson of deCODE Genetics of Iceland started with a simple question.

“We asked, ‘Can we find anything in the genome that separates those who are admitted to nursing homes before the age of 75 and those who are still living at home at 85?’ ” he said.

Scientists searched the genomes of 2,261 Icelanders and zeroed in on TREM2. Mutations in that gene were more common among people with Alzheimer’s, as well as those who did not have an Alzheimer’s diagnosis but who had memory problems and might be on their way to developing Alzheimer’s.

The researchers confirmed their results by looking for the gene in people with and without Alzheimer’s in populations studied at Emory University, as well as in Norway, the Netherlands and Germany.

The TREM2 connection surprised Dr. Stefansson. Although researchers have long noticed that the brain is inflamed in Alzheimer’s patients, he had dismissed inflammation as a major factor in the disease.

“I was of the opinion that the immune system would play a fairly small role, if any, in Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Stefansson said. “This discovery cured me of that bias.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Hardy and Rita Guerreiro at University College London, along with Andrew Singleton at the National Institute on Aging, were intrigued by a strange, rare disease. Only a few patients had been identified, but their symptoms were striking. They had crumbling bones and an unusual dementia, sclerosing leukoencephalopathy.

“It’s a weird disease,” Dr. Hardy said.

He saw one patient in her 30s whose brain disease manifested in sexually inappropriate behavior. Also, her bones kept breaking. The disease was caused by mutations that disabled both the copy of TREM2 that she had inherited from her mother and the one from her father.

Eventually the researchers searched for people who had a mutation in just one copy of TREM2. To their surprise, it turned out that these people were likely to have Alzheimer’s disease.

They then asked researchers around the world who had genetic data from people with and without Alzheimer’s to look for TREM2 mutations.

“Sure enough, they had good evidence,” Dr. Hardy said. The mutations occurred in one-half of 1 percent of the general population but in 1 to 2 percent of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

“That is a big effect,” Dr. Hardy said.

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California holds cap-and-trade auction of greenhouse gas credits

A refinery in Wilmington pumps out emissions in the process of producing gasoline. Companies that emit gases that contribute to global warming were expected to participate in the state's first sale of cap-and-trade credits. (Luis Sinco, Los Angeles Times / March 5, 2012)

By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times

November 15, 2012

SACRAMENTO — California environmental officials moved ahead with a first-ever auction of greenhouse gas pollution credits despite a last-minute lawsuit filed by the state Chamber of Commerce to invalidate the sale.

On Wednesday state Air Resources Board technicians worked at computer terminals to take bids from some major industrial facilities such as cement plants, steel mills, refineries and food processors.

Many companies that emit carbon dioxide, methane and other gases that contribute to global warming were expected to participate in the three-hour sale of so-called cap-and-trade credits. Results of the auction, including prices and volume, will be made public Monday.

Environmentalists, who had been working years on the market-based approach to curbing global warming, called the auction an important step.

"The launch of the nation's first economy-wide carbon market emphasizes once again California's leadership in developing innovative energy policies," said Alex Jackson, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The sale of these pollution credits is a key part of a six-year state effort to curb and reduce to 1990 levels the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in California by the year 2020.

Polluters initially get 90% of their needed credits free, but they are required to buy more if they plan to release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases above allotted levels. Pollution credits start at a minimum price of $10 for the right to emit 1 metric ton of greenhouse gases.

Opponents brand the system a new pollution tax and contend that it is unfair to large businesses and a job killer. This year the program covers about 350 industrial businesses operating a total of 600 facilities throughout the state.

On Tuesday the California Chamber of Commerce sued in Sacramento County Superior Court, challenging the state's authority to raise revenue from the sale of the credits. The quarterly auctions are expected to generate about $1 billion in their first year.

The Air Resources Board said it was "confident that the cap-and-trade program will withstand any court challenge."

marc.lifsher@latimes.com

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Kupchak: If Phil Jackson hadn't hesitated he might be Lakers coach

History could have been different if Phil Jackson had said he was ready to coach the Lakers while meeting informally with two team executives on Saturday morning.

He might be the Lakers' coach right now, Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak said Tuesday.

"We would have gone back immediately and gone back and holed up with Dr. [Jerry] Buss and decided what we were going to do that day," Kupchak said.

Instead, Jackson asked Kupchak and team executive Jim Buss for two more days to think about a return after an 18-month layoff. The Lakers waited about 30 hours, didn't hear from him, and decided to hire Mike D'Antoni on Sunday night.

"There was no agreement to wait for [Jackson's] response on Monday," Kupchak said. "He told us that's when he would get back to us. I could see where he might interpret that as 'You guys would wait for me.' But I thought when I said I had to go on and interview other candidates that it was clear I had a job to do."

The Lakers interviewed D'Antoni by phone Saturday afternoon not long after meeting with Jackson at his Playa del Rey home. D'Antoni could not fly to Los Angeles last weekend because of recent knee-replacement surgery.

The Lakers hired D'Antoni mainly because of his high-flying offense. "He plays the way we see our team playing and our personnel executing," Kupchak said.

Kupchak himself wasn't sold on meshing Jackson's share-the-ball triangle offense with the Lakers' present-day roster. "I know the triangle," he said. "Obviously I wasn't convinced."

The Lakers decided to hire D'Antoni at 6 p.m. Sunday, half an hour before they tipped off against Sacramento at Staples Center.

Negotiations took some time, and then an unexpected electronic gaffe delayed the process once the sides agreed to a three-year, $12-million contact with a team option for a fourth year.

D'Antoni's fax machine was not working properly and could not transmit his signed contract back to the Lakers, according to a team spokesman. Finally, by 11:30 p.m. Sunday, the Lakers officially had a new coach, hiring D'Antoni despite the "We Want Phil!" chants by Lakers fans at Staples Center.

Kupchak acknowledged the "groundswell of support" for Jackson, who had the popular vote from the fans and received positive reviews from Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Dwight Howard, though Bryant and Nash also endorsed D'Antoni.

"There was a lot of pressure to seriously consider bringing Phil back," Kupchak said. "We sorted through the PR backlash and decided that we ultimately could withstand it."

They still had to withstand one other thing. They had to call Jackson on Sunday near midnight. He was sleeping.

"In those kind of situations, there's not a lot of small talk," Kupchak said. "He was very complimentary of Mike under the circumstances. I just told him . . . that we just felt the present makeup of the team and the kind of basketball we wanted to play going forward, we just felt that Mike D'Antoni was the choice.

"I didn't look forward to calling somebody at midnight to tell him that he's not going to get a job that he might or might not accept," Kupchak said. "But the only other thing I could do was wait until Monday morning and that would have been worse."

Jackson told The Times on Monday that the midnight phone call seemed "slimy."

"I wish it would have been a little bit cleaner," he said. "It would have been much more circumspect and respectful of everybody that's involved. It seemed slimy to be awoken with this kind of news. It's just weird."

Kupchak confirmed what was already stated by Jackson to The Times — salary wasn't discussed in their Saturday morning meeting. Neither was the concept of Jackson missing games on the road.

Jackson told Jim Buss and Kupchak he wanted the same communication between them on personnel decisions that he held in his second tenure with the team from 2005-11.

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FTC chief: Kids’ Internet privacy rules done by year’s end

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Regulators will likely finish a long-awaited update to rules protecting children’s online privacy by the end of the year, the head of the Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday.

The original rules were developed when most computers were large beige boxes sitting under office desks instead of smartphones slung into backpacks and permeating most aspects of daily life.

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said the agency was moving forward on two issues: self-regulatory “do not track” guidance, and regulations to update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA.

The law requires that website and online service operators obtain verifiable consent from parents before collecting information about children.

Leibowitz, who is thought keen to leave the agency within months, said he was more confident of finishing an update of COPPA’s rules, which were written following the 1998 legislation.

Under revised rules, the FTC would make websites, mobile apps and data brokers all responsible for getting parental consent before collecting data about children aged 12 and younger. Currently it is unclear who has the responsibility.

Data brokers buy and sell consumer data.

Speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s annual CEO Conference in Washington, Leibowitz said the process would most likely be done by the end of the year.

“We are looking at all the comments that came in and weighing how to tweak the regulation,” he said.

Leibowitz was slightly less optimistic about the fate of “do not track,” an effort to allow Internet users to tell companies they did not want to be tracked online.

Some large technology companies, like Microsoft and Google, have agreed to let consumers opt out of being tracked, but advertisers have pushed back hard.

“We’re still making forward progress,” Leibowitz said when asked if the efforts would be done by the end of the year. “We continue to be optimistic. It’s not a certainty though.”

(Reporting By Diane Bartz; Editing by Ros Krasny and Kenneth Barry)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Man who accused Elmo puppeteer of teen sex recants

NEW YORK (AP) — A man who accused Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash of having sex with him when he was a teenage boy has recanted his story.

In a quick turnabout, the man on Tuesday described his sexual relationship with Clash as adult and consensual.

Clash responded with a statement of his own, saying he is "relieved that this painful allegation has been put to rest." He had no further comment.

The man, who has not identified himself, released his statement through the Harrisburg, Pa., law firm Andreozzi & Associates.

Sesame Workshop, which produces "Sesame Street" in New York, soon followed by saying, "We are happy that Kevin can move on from this unfortunate episode."

The whirlwind episode began Monday morning, when Sesame Workshop startled the world by announcing that Clash had taken a leave of absence from "Sesame Street" in the wake of allegations that he had had a relationship with a 16-year-old.

Clash, a 52-year-old divorced father of a grown daughter, swiftly denied the charges of his accuser, who is in his early 20s. In that statement Clash acknowledged that he is gay but said the relationship had been between two consenting adults.

Though it remained unclear where the relationship took place, sex with a person under 17 is a felony in New York if the perpetrator is at least 21.

Sesame Workshop, which said it was first contacted by the accuser in June, had launched an investigation that included meeting with the accuser twice and meeting with Clash. Its investigation found the charge of underage conduct to be unsubstantiated.

Clash said on Monday he would take a break from Sesame Workshop "to deal with this false and defamatory allegation."

Neither Clash nor Sesame Workshop indicated on Tuesday when he might return to the show, on which he has performed as Elmo since 1984.

Elmo had previously been a marginal character, but Clash, supplying the fuzzy red puppet with a high-pitched voice and a carefree, child-like personality, launched the character into major stardom. Elmo soon rivaled Big Bird as the face of "Sesame Street."

Though usually behind the scenes, Clash meanwhile achieved his own measure of fame. In 2006, he published an autobiography, "My Life as a Furry Red Monster," and he was the subject of the 2011 documentary "Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey."

He has won 23 daytime Emmy awards and one prime-time Emmy.

___

Online:

http://www.sesamestreet.org

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Kidney Donors Given Mandatory Safeguards

ST. LOUIS — Addressing long-held concerns about whether organ donors have adequate protections, the country’s transplant regulators acted late Monday to require that hospitals thoroughly inform living kidney donors of the risks they face, fully evaluate their medical and psychological suitability, and then track their health for two years after donation.

Enactment of the policies by the United Network for Organ Sharing, which manages the transplant system under a federal contract, followed six years of halting development and debate.

Meeting at a St. Louis hotel, the group’s board voted to establish uniform minimum standards for a field long regarded as a medical and ethical Wild West. The organ network, whose initial purpose was to oversee donation from people who had just died, has struggled at times to keep pace with rapid developments in donations from the living.

“There is no question that this is a major development in living donor protection,” said Dr. Christie P. Thomas, a nephrologist at the University of Iowa and the chairman of the network’s living donor committee.

Yet some donor advocates complained that the measures did not go far enough, and argued that the organ network, in its mission to encourage transplants, has a conflict of interest when it comes to safeguarding donors.

Three years ago, the network issued some of the same policies as voluntary guidelines, only to have the Department of Health and Human Services insist they be made mandatory.

Although long-term data on the subject is scarce, few living kidney donors are thought to suffer lasting physical or psychological effects. Kidney donations, known as nephrectomies, are typically done laparoscopically these days through a series of small incisions. The typical patient may spend only a few nights in a hospital and feel largely recovered after several months.

Kidneys are by far the most transplanted organs, and there have been nearly as many living donors as deceased ones over the last decade. What data is available suggests that those with one kidney typically live as long as those with two, and that the risk of a donor dying during the procedure is roughly 3 in 10,000.

But kidney transplants, like all surgery, can sometimes end in catastrophe.

In May at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, a 41-year-old mother of three died when her aorta was accidentally cut during surgery to donate a kidney to her brother. In other recent isolated cases, patients have received donor kidneys infected with undetected H.I.V. or hepatitis C.

Less clear are any longer-term effects on donors. Research conducted by the United Network for Organ Sharing shows that of roughly 70,000 people who donated kidneys between late 1999 and early 2011, 27 died within two years of medical causes that may — or may not — have been related to donation. For a small number of donors, their remaining kidney failed, and they required dialysis or a transplant.

The number of living donors — 5,770 in 2011 — has dropped 10 percent over the last two years, possibly because the struggling economy has made it difficult for prospective donors to take time off from work to recuperate. With the national kidney waiting list now stretching past 94,000 people, and thousands on the list dying each year, transplant officials have said they must improve confidence in the system so more people will donate.

The average age of donors has been rising, posing additional medical risks. And new ethical questions have been raised by the emergence of paired kidney exchanges and transplant chains started by good Samaritans who give an organ to a stranger.

Brad Kornfeld, who donated a kidney to his father in 2004, told the board that it had been impossible to find good information about what to expect, leaving him to search for answers on unreliable Internet chat rooms. He said he had almost backed out.

“If information is power,” said Mr. Kornfeld, a Coloradan who serves on the living donor committee, “the lack of information is crippling.”

Under the policies approved this week, the organ network will require hospitals to collect medical data, including laboratory test results, on most living donors to study lasting effects. Results must be reported at six months, one year and two years.

Similar regulations have been in place since 2000, but they did not require blood and urine testing, and hospitals were allowed to report donors who could not be found as simply lost.

That happened often. In recent years, hospitals have submitted basic clinical information — like whether donors were alive or dead — for only 65 percent of donors and lab data for fewer than 40 percent, according to the organ network. Although the network holds the authority, no hospital has ever been seriously sanctioned for noncompliance.

“It’s time we put some teeth into our policy,” said Jill McMaster, a board member from Tennessee.

By 2015, transplant programs will have to report thorough clinical information on at least 80 percent of donors and lab results on at least 70 percent. The requirements phase in at lower levels for the next two years.

Dr. Stuart M. Flechner of the Cleveland Clinic, the chairman of a coalition of medical societies that made recommendations to the organ network, said 9 of 10 hospitals would currently not meet the new requirement.

Donna Luebke, a kidney donor from Ohio who once served on the organ network’s board, said the new standards would matter only if enforcement were more rigorous. She noted that the organization was dominated by transplant doctors: “UNOS is nothing but the foxes watching the henhouse,” she said.

Another of the new regulations prescribes in detail the medical and psychological screenings that hospitals must conduct for potential donors. It requires automatic exclusion if the potential donor has diabetes, uncontrolled hypertension or H.I.V., among other conditions.

The new policies also require that hospitals appoint an independent advocate to counsel and represent donors, and that donors receive detailed information in advance about medical, psychological and financial risks.

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Thanksgiving travel is expected to rise slightly

Americans will hit the road this Thanksgiving in slightly greater numbers than during last year's holiday, according to the AAA's annual forecast. That includes people who are choosing to drive instead of fly as household budgets remain tight.

The prediction was that 43.6 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles from home over the holiday, up just 0.7% from last Thanksgiving.

But AAA's forecast was produced from a combination of a traveler survey and an economic analysis before Superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast, and that could affect the actual numbers.

AAA said it doesn't yet know the full effect the storm will have on travel in the Mid-Atlantic region, but it expects it will be significant.

One thing that does seem sure is that the pent-up demand seen after the recession has largely dissipated. Demand grew a healthy 8% and 6%, respectively, in the two previous Thanksgiving holiday periods even though economic growth was moderate. Now, AAA says it will take a stronger economy to spur a significant jump in travel demand.

"Despite mild improvements in unemployment, the housing market and greater consumer optimism, the economy is still struggling to keep its head above water," AAA said in its forecast.

The number of travelers forecast to drive, fly or hop on a train or bus this holiday is still 26% below the peak in 2005 and 14% below 2007, according to the pre-Sandy forecast.

Air travel is expected to decline, one sign that many households continue to feel financially pinched. AAA expects 3.14 million people to fly, down from 3.2 million a year earlier. Even with gas at a national average of $3.44 per gallon, driving the family from New England to the Midwest to see the relatives is still cheaper than flying.

And filling up the tank will take less money than people expected when the survey was conducted in early October. That's because of a dramatic drop in gas prices. The national average has declined 35 cents a gallon in the last month. AAA expects further declines through the holiday. Still, the price of gas on Thanksgiving Day should be around last year's record of $3.32 per gallon.

Airlines for America, the main trade group for U.S. airlines, expects a modest increase in flying over Thanksgiving. The group's prediction covers the 12 days starting Nov. 16. AAA defines the Thanksgiving holiday travel period as Wednesday, Nov. 21, to Sunday, Nov. 25.

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