(credit: Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

(CBS) – Fans of king-sized Snickers and Twix bars may want to stock up.  The candy maker Mars Inc. reportedly is planning to impose a 250-calorie limit on its chocolate products by the end of next year.

For king-size shoppers who like to get the most chocolate out of their purchase, Mars told NPR it would replace the big bars with bags of two to four smaller bars to “enable sharing or saving a portion for later.”

According to reports, the move is part of the company’s “broad-based commitment to health and nutrition.”

The king-size Snickers bar has 540-calories, while the normal size Snickers bar contains 280 calories, with 14 grams of fat.

Click Here To Read More About The Mars Calorie Limit

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Weekly applications for unemployment benefits dropped 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the fourth drop in five weeks and the fewest number of claims since March 2008 — six months before Lehman Brothers collapsed and only a few months into the Great Recession.

The four-week average, which smooths out fluctuations in the weekly data, fell for the fifth straight week to 365,250. The average has fallen nearly 13 percent in the past year.

The consistent decline indicates that companies are laying off fewer workers, and hiring is likely picking up further. When applications drop consistently below 375,000, it usually signals that hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.

Jeremy Lawson, a senior economist at BNP Paribas, said the report points to solid hiring this month, similar to the average net gain of about 200,000 in the past three months.

“Most indicators are pointing in the same direction: a healthy job market,” Lawson said. The additional jobs will provide more income for consumers and support greater spending, an importance source of growth.

In January, the economy added a net 243,000 jobs, the most in nine months. And the unemployment rate dropped for the fifth straight month, to 8.3 percent. The economy has added an average of 201,000 jobs per month for the past three months.

Faster economic growth is spurring the additional hiring. The economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the final three months of last year — a full percentage point higher than in the previous quarter.

Most economists expect growth to slow in the current quarter, because companies won’t need to rebuild their stockpiles of goods as much as they did last winter.

But there are signs that the economy is still expanding at a healthy rate. Factory output got off to a robust start this year, and it ended 2011 with the fastest growth in five years, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

Factories are adding jobs to keep up with higher demand. Manufacturers added 50,000 jobs last month, the most in a year.

In addition, retail sales rebounded last month after a sluggish holiday season. The gain suggests that the recent job growth is supporting more consumer spending.

Still, the job market has a long way to go before it fully recovers from the damage of the Great Recession. Nearly 13 million people remain unemployed. And 8.3 percent unemployment is still painfully high.

One reason the unemployment rate has fallen for five straight months is that many people have stopped looking for work. The government counts people as unemployed only if they are actively looking for a job.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The production line at the General Motors assembly plant in Arlington, Texas. (Photo credit General Motors)

DETROIT (CBSDFW.COM/AP) – General Motors Co. (GM) plans to freeze its U.S. pension plan for longtime white-collar workers and give all salaried employees annual bonuses but not pay raises in an effort to hold down expenses, officials announced Wednesday.

The Detroit-based automaker said roughly 19,000 salaried workers hired before 2001 will move from a traditional pension with guaranteed payments to a 401(k)-type plan with contributions based on salary and bonuses. Employees hired after 2001, which represent about 30 percent of the company’s salaried workforce, already are in that defined contribution plan.

The changes take effect October 1.

One of General Motors largest plants is in Arlington, where more than 2,400 employees are a part of the production of Chevrolet Tahoes and Suburbans, GMC Yukons and Cadillac Escalades.

Read More About The GM Salary Freeze At CBSNEWS.COM

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(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that 12 cases of E. coli poisoning in five states are linked to raw clover sprouts eaten at Jimmy John’s restaurants. The outbreak comes a year after raw alfalfa sprouts from one of the chain’s suppliers were linked to 140 salmonella illnesses. Sprouts from the chain’s suppliers were also linked to a 2009 salmonella outbreak in several Midwestern states and were suspected in an E. coli outbreak in Boulder, Colo. in 2008.

Illinois-based Jimmy John’s declined to comment on the outbreak. After the salmonella outbreak a year ago, the company said it would switch from using alfalfa sprouts to using clover sprouts because they are easier to clean. But federal regulators warn against eating all raw sprouts, which are one of the most frequent perpetrators of foodborne illness.

Though they are often touted as a health food, sprouts need warm and humid conditions to grow, encouraging bacterial growth. Many restaurants have stopped serving them after multiple outbreaks, and the government recommends that the very young, elderly, pregnant and others with compromised immune systems stay away from raw sprouts completely. Fully cooked sprouts are safe to eat.

According to the CDC, there have been at least 30 outbreaks associated with raw or lightly cooked sprouts in the United States in the last 15 years and even more around the world, including a 1996 outbreak in Japan that sickened thousands of people with E. coli. Fenugreek sprout seeds from Egypt are thought to have caused a major outbreak of E. coli poisoning in Europe last year that killed more than 50 people.

Illnesses in the current outbreak were reported in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Wisconsin. The illnesses occurred between Dec. 25 and Jan. 15 and two of the victims were hospitalized.

In most sprout outbreaks the restaurant is not to blame for the contamination itself. Contamination usually happens when the seeds are grown or harvested and is often impossible to wash off.

Food safety lawyer Bill Marler has represented victims in the three previous sprout outbreaks potentially linked to Jimmy John’s. He has pushed the FDA to require warning labels on sprouts and praises restaurants that have taken them off the menu.

“You have to wonder what this company is thinking,” he said.

There are several Jimmy John’s locations in North Texas and across the state, but there have been no illnesses reported at any of the restaurants in this current E. coli outbreak.

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(©2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

The American Airlines logo is seen on the tail of a jet. (credit: Tim Boyle/Getty Images)

FORT WORTH (AP) – Two major unions at American Airlines are asking the company to offer incentives for workers to retire early as a way to reduce planned layoffs.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants and the Transport Workers Union made separate early-out offers to the company on Wednesday. The pilots’ union, which stands to take the lightest hit from layoffs, did not join in the proposals by the other unions.

An American Airlines spokesman said that the company hadn’t had enough time to evaluate the early-retirement proposals.

American said two weeks ago that it planned to cut 13,000 jobs, end pension plans and make other changes to save $1.25 billion a year in labor costs. American and parent AMR Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 29. AMR has 88,000 full-time and part-time employees, including nearly 74,000 at American.

The airline wants to cut 2,300 flight-attendant jobs. The workers’ union proposed that employees who agree to retire get full pensions and medical coverage until they become eligible for Medicare. The union estimated that up to 3,000 might take the offer, which it called “a fair and decent way” to reduce jobs.

The union said 80 percent of its members are at the top of the pay scale. If they are furloughed, they would retain rehiring rights at top pay. The union said the company could save money by hiring new flight attendants at lower rates.

The Transport Workers Union represents mechanics, bag handlers and other employees who would bear the brunt of proposed layoffs. That’s about 9,000.

The TWU said it proposed a one-time payment of $75,000, plus health insurance and other benefits, to encourage ground workers to retire early. The union modeled its proposal on a plan at United Airlines and said it would avoid “draconian” layoffs and save money for the company.

AMR spokesman Bruce Hicks said, “We will, of course, consider any proposal from our unions” that saves money and leads to a profitable company. He said the company received the unions’ proposals Wednesday afternoon and hadn’t had time to evaluate them.

If American and the unions can’t agree on cuts, the company can ask a bankruptcy judge to impose its plan. The director of the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has signaled his opposition to the airline’s intention to terminate its pension plans and turn them over to his government agency.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

That compared with a loss of $97 million a year earlier, when the company still hoped it could avoid bankruptcy by cutting costs.

AMR Corp. said Wednesday that the loss included $768 million in special items, including $725 million from write-downs of aircraft, airport gates and a $43 million hit to lower the recognition of revenue in its frequent-flier program.

Higher fuel prices also hurt. AMR says it paid $394 million more for fuel than it would have at last year’s prices.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

McKinney is right behind it.

The figures were gathered by MSN’s Real Estate website.

In 2009, the population of Frisco was more than 102,000, which means it grew more than 200 percent from the year 2000.

Today, the population of Frisco is more than 124,000.

Frisco Mayor Maher Maso believes the growth is exciting. “We have so many things going on at the same time you can’t take a breath.”

Mayor Maso points to new construction projects like a hospital being built near Frisco Square.  “The growth will come if people see that it’s a place to live and raise families.”

Frisco is already home to big retail stores like IKEA and sports venues like FC Dallas Stadium, where professional soccer is played.

Frisco’s Director of Development, John Lettelleir, said growth was part of the plan.  “They had a vision and people stayed committed to that vision to make what you see here happen. These are ideas that came about over 20 years ago.”

McKinney is right behind them as the second fastest growing city in the nation.

“Seems like it goes back and forth between us and them,” said McKinney Mayor Brian Loughmiller.

He adds their success lies in a ‘hometown’ feel.

“I love everything about McKinney. It’s a small town.  I grew up in a small town. But we have 135,000 people here and it just doesn’t feel like 135,00.”

It is difficult to believe that 20 years ago both were small town farming communities.

Mayor Maso remembers what it was like when he moved to Frisco in 1992.  “We didn’t even have a traffic light. So, my how things have changed.”

Denton also made the list of fastest growing cities at number 13.

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Walk through 3801 Normandy Dr. in Dallas in the slideshow below, and look for 360 degree panoramas of the home embedded in the story. 

DALLAS/FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – They’re the epitome of North Texas luxury.

Just head east from Fort Worth into Arlington and further to Dallas; multi-million dollar home listings are heating up the regional real estate market.

“We’re in a pretty healthy market here in Dallas,” said Robbie Briggs, owner of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty.

Briggs says the luxury market is growing as the region draws wealthy new residents. These homes are filled with wine cellars and home theaters. Another comes with an indoor basketball court.

“We’re having people come in from all over the world,” Briggs said. “People may or may not be traveling quite as much, so home is a real refuge for them.”

One of the most iconic homes in Fort Worth is on the market. The classic colonial style residence sits directly across from the first hole of the Colonial Golf Course.

“It represents the true elements of colonial architecture, but it’s been totally updated,” said realtor John Zimmerman.

From its grand entrance and staircase to its contemporary styled master suite, the $1.9 million, five-bedroom, five bathroom home focuses on elegance and location.

While it’s traditional on the outside, the third floor transports visitors into a fully customized 1920s style home theater.

The media room appears to be a must-have feature in many of today’s luxury listings. A French-styled home in Dallas’s University Park has its own playfully decorated theater room, as well.

“This house was kind of designed around the grandkids coming over and spending time,” said realtor Joan Eleazar.

The $6.8 million home has five bedrooms and five bathrooms – including a meticulously designed master bath complete with “His & Hers” marbled mats.

The home also features a 200 sq. ft. wine cellar and tasting room that houses up to 700 bottles of wine. Click here for a 360 degree view of that room, or here for a view of the private theater room.

“Many of the chandeliers were imported from Italy,” Eleazar said of the home’s finish-out. “Everything from the mantles to the French limestone flooring was imported from Europe just for this home.”

This is what the home looks like when walking up to it.

Wealthy buyers looking for quality and resort living will want to eye a Mediterranean style home in southwest Fort Worth.

“That’s always the first word everybody says is ‘Wow,’” said realtor Vanessa Andrews with MagnificentProperties.com.

The 11,000 sq. ft. four-story home sits on more than an acre of land just off the 18^th hole in the Mira Vista community.

“They call it the Castle,” Andrews said. “The Castle on the Hill.”

In addition to the one-of-a-kind views, the $4.8 million luxury listing boasts four master suites.

“It’s a very open design and floor plan with wonderful flow,” Andrews said.

Whoever buys the home will be able to throw quite the party with the home’s cave-like grotto, a rooftop cantina bar and patio and indoor basketball court and gym.

“You can have your own oasis right here in Fort Worth,” Andrews said.

All realtors agreed, though: If seeking luxury, Dallas-Fort Worth has something to satisfy all tastes.

“There is something for everyone,” Andrews said.

They say they are trying to save some of the 13,000 jobs that American wants to eliminate as part of its bankruptcy.

CBS 11′s Robbie Owens reports:

This comes just has North Texas is coping with cold temperatures and light snowfall from Sunday night. The high temperature on Monday is forecast to be 50 degrees, but morning temperatures were just barely above the freezing mark.

“We believe that it happened during the middle of the night,” said Meals on Wheels media spokeswoman Denise Harris. “Our workers went in [Monday] morning to start preparing the meals and there was no power to any part of the building.”

Electric provider Oncor is working to repair the problem and restore power to the facility, which will have to be inspected before deliveries can get underway. Harris said that they are hopeful that the issue will be resolved later on Monday.

This is the fourth time that such an incident has happened to the facility, Harris said. They have been serving Tarrant County for 38 years. “For less than $20, this has caused such a great deal of stress on our agency, to our volunteers, to our clients,” Harris said. “But it will cost us upward of several thousand dollars to repair this.”

“There’s always a Plan B,” added Harris. Meals on Wheels clients have two days worth of shelf-stable meals on hand, provided by the organization, for use on days when deliveries are not being made or the kitchen is closed.

Still, those who live near Meals on Wheels recipients are asked to check on neighbors or loved ones, to ensure that they are doing okay in the cold weather.

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American Airlines told employees last week that it wants to eliminate 13,000 jobs under a bankruptcy reorganization plan. American’s parent company, AMR Corp., has about 88,000 employees including an estimated 25,000 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Fitch Ratings said Tuesday that several thousand layoffs could occur in north Texas, especially in Fort Worth, where the company wants to close a maintenance facility at Alliance Airport that employs about 1,200 workers. The Fort Worth headquarters could also bear the brunt of 1,400 management layoffs.

Fort Worth’s unemployment rose above 8 percent in 2003 partly due to AMR layoffs. But Fitch says the region’s economy has grown and diversified and the labor force now tops three million, so the layoffs should cause only “limited negative effects to individual cities given the breadth of the employment base.”

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is home to headquarters for several Fortune 500 companies, including Exxon Mobil, AT&T, Kimberly-Clark, J.C. Penney and Texas Instruments. The region had a 7.1 percent unemployment rate in December, below the national average.

In December the ratings agency said that AMR’s Nov. 29 bankruptcy filing raised credit concerns for American’s hub airports, including Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport, because American could reduce flights. Fitch lowered its outlook to “negative” from “stable” for $4 billion worth of DFW bonds.

American and its American Eagle short-haul affiliate account for about 85 percent of flights at DFW Airport.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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A pipeline carries oil near Beaumont, Texas. (credit: Joe Raedle/Newsmakers via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (AP) – The State Department’s internal watchdog cleared the agency Thursday of any impropriety in its review of a permit for a controversial pipeline that that would carry Canadian oil produced from tar sands to refineries along the Texas Gulf coast.

In a report released to Congress, the department’s inspector general said it found no evidence that State Department employees were improperly influenced by the company asking to build the pipeline, TransCanada, when they selected the third-party contractor to conduct the environmental analysis, as opponents of the project had charged. The inspector general also concluded that no conflict of interest existed between the contractor, Cardno Entrix, and the State Department, TransCanada and other federal agencies the company had worked for.

But the investigation found some flaws in the process, saying the department could have done a better job evaluating some concerns about the project and should improve its oversight of contractors.

Victoria Nuland, a State Department spokeswoman, said Thursday that the report found “the State Department conducted a thorough, rigorous and transparent review of the environmental impact of the proposed project.” That review, completed in August, found the pipeline would have minimal effects on the environment.

Two lawmakers, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., had asked for the internal probe and pressed President Barack Obama to delay any decision on the pipeline until it was complete. But that demand became moot when Obama, at the suggestion of the State Department, rejected the pipeline in January. Republicans had attempted to force his hand to get an approval, and environmentalists had waged protests to block the $7 billion project.

The explanation offered by the administration was that there was not enough time under a GOP-ordered deadline to examine the environmental toll of alternative routes that avoided crossing over an aquifer in Nebraska. Besides Nebraska, the pipeline would pass through Montana, South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas en route to the Gulf. Republicans, however, accused the administration of pandering to environmentalists in an election year.

While the report cleared the department of wrongdoing, opponents of the pipeline and efforts to force its approval in Congress were quick to point out findings that said a lack of expertise and resources at the State Department affected the environmental review. In addition, the inspector general found that neither TransCanada nor the department reviewed Cardno Entrix’s conflict of interest statements, an oversight the State Department officials said would be corrected.

“The findings confirm once again why the project should not be rubber stamped for approval, despite efforts by Republicans in Congress to do just that,” Sanders said in a statement.

Bill McKibben, the environmentalist who organized the protests against the project, said the report showed the environmental analysis wasn’t carried out at “arms-length”, but he said if TransCanada or another entity re-applied, the procedures would be improved.

But Neil Brown, a spokesman for Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., who is sponsoring a bill to override the president’s decision and approve the pipeline, said the report at most says there is room for improvement.

“There is no `there’ there in the report,” said Brown. “It doesn’t support the conspiracy theories that Keystone opponents freely spread. The point is that the Obama administration has missed the mark on the urgency of job creation and energy security.”

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Experts said retail prices for beef could climb as much as 10 percent a year in 2012 and 2013, and the increase could be even greater if demand from other countries increases.

Last month the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported the U.S. herd had declined to 90.8 million cattle, 2 percent less than the previous year and the lowest inventory since 1952, when there were 88.1 million.

“We’re producing less beef so prices are going to go up,” Texas AgriLife Extension Service livestock economist David Anderson said.

Ranchers have sold more of their cattle in recent years to meet increased costs for feed, fuel and other expenses. The soaring feed costs come amid heightened demand for corn to produce ethanol and to meet a growing export market.

The situation has been worst in Texas, the nation’s leading cattle producer, and other parts of the southern plains and southwest, where a record drought caused pastures to wither, leaving ranchers with few options but to sell their cattle or pay top-dollar for feed.

There are 1.4 million fewer cattle — a record 660,000 of those cows — in Texas this year compared with the previous year, accounting for about 74 percent of the drop in numbers nationally. The animals were either moved to another state or were slaughtered.

Texas still leads the nation with 11.9 million head of cattle and calves, an 11 percent drop from last January. Cattle numbers plunged 12 percent in Oklahoma, to 4.5 million head, and in New Mexico by 10 percent, to 1.39 million head.

While cattle numbers dropped in those states, they have climbed elsewhere, especially in the Northern Plains where more rain led to plentiful pastureland.

Even in the southwest, there has been some good news, as the USDA reports that producers held onto more heifers, or young cows, than some expected. The January report showed a 1 percent increase over last year’s number of heifers retained.

That could put the industry in position to grow the herd more quickly

Until the cattle supply increases, consumers will see higher prices, said Lane Broadbent, a livestock analyst with KIS Futures in Oklahoma City.

Broadbent said worldwide demand for U.S. beef also could increase in the next couple of years, causing prices to stay steady or rise even if the herd size grows as expected.

“An era of cheap meat might not happen for another two to three years,” Broadbent said. “It’s basically supply and demand, and this USDA report showed that our supplies are going to increase.”

USDA livestock analyst Shayle Shagam said producers who see good prices at auction might still sell off their heifers. Ranchers must weigh whether they’ll come out ahead by selling those heifers in coming months or hang onto them and sell the calves from the animals.

“There’s potential for increased retention,” Shagam said. “How that evolves during the year will depend on these producer decisions.”

The cattle industry has for decades gone through cycles of expansion and contraction. The U.S. herd typically grows for about 10 years before supplies increase to a point where cattle and beef prices begin to drop. That’s when ranchers begin to sell off their animals and the contraction begins.

“This is free enterprise,” Texas AgriLife Extension Service economist Stephen Amosson said. “Everything goes to the bottom line. If they’d be making a bunch of money they would have been expanding before this.”

Starting in the 1980s and through the 1990s the cycles were influenced by a shift in demand, which brought about big declines in cattle numbers. During that time people began to eat more chicken when the meat started showing up as nuggets, wings and in forms other than whole chickens, Anderson, the economist, said.

The USDA projects per capita beef consumption will drop to 55.7 pounds in 2013 before climbing to 58.9 pounds in 2020. Meanwhile per capita consumption of chicken was forecast to increase throughout the decade, with 2020 showing 91.5 pounds.

Richard Thorpe, a rancher in Winters, about 200 miles southwest of Fort Worth, culled more than 75 percent of his 1,000-head herd because of drought. He plans to slowly rebuild with the animals he kept, and is optimistic now that the long drought is finally over.

“We’ve kept the youngest, best and most fertile,” said Winters. “We have a lot of hope we are through with this horrible drought. What makes it scary to us is we have to have spring grass.”

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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Combs reports 22 consecutive months of increased revenue.

Wednesday’s sales tax report showed revenue for January at $2 billion, and Combs says tax revenues continue to grow in all major categories. The January increase was led by the oil and natural gas sectors. Restaurants and services sectors also showed increases.

The state will distribute about $709 million to local governments.

The figures are based on monthly sales made in Decembers as well as sales by business that file quarterly and annual tax reports.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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The assessed value of all residential and commercial property across the state increased to $1.69 trillion in 2011, compared to the previous year’s $1.67 trillion. In 2010, Texas suffered the first decline in statewide property values in 17 years, and state budget writers had anticipated another 1 percent decrease last year — but 2011 was more positive than expected, the Austin American-Statesman reported Tuesday.

The assessed value is a key variable in school funding, which is based on a mix of local property taxes and state dollars. The difference will save the state perhaps $300 million to $400 million by reducing its obligation to school districts, according to Joe Wisnoski of Moak Casey & Associates, a school finance consulting firm.

Still, the increase is relatively insignificant in relation to Texas’ overall two-year budget of $173.5 billion — and it won’t necessarily be used to undo some of the $4 billion reduction in school aid that the Legislature enacted last year.

“It probably will make very, very little difference in the bottom line of school districts,” Wisnoski told the Statesman.

But the increase in property values, combined with the state’s collection of more tax revenue than previously expected, adds to the perception that Texas is climbing out of its budget hole.

“We’re certainly above the trend line across the board, but it’s still early,” said Dale Craymer, president of the business-backed Texas Taxpayers and Research Association. “If current trends hold, we will be in relatively good shape.”

Since the state’s fiscal year began in September, sales tax revenue has come in about double the projected rate of growth.

Other key sources of revenue have performed exceedingly well, particularly the natural gas production tax, which is expected to be up 25 percent compared with the previous budget. Much of that money goes to the state’s Rainy Day Fund, which is expected to have $7.3 billion available by the end of the two-year budget.

Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said in December that the state would have $1.6 billion more than previously expected in the 2012-13 budget.

But she also warned that legislators would likely have to tap the Rainy Day Fund when they convene again next year given that they left $4.3 billion in Medicaid obligations unpaid during last year’s session.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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Karen Handel, the charity’s vice president for public policy, said in her resignation later she was “deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations of the strategy, its rationale, and her involvement.”

Handel said the discussion to cut funding for Planned Parenthood started before she came to the group last year, and was approved at the highest levels of the charity. However, a person with direct knowledge of decision-making at Komen’s headquarters said Handel was a driving force behind the move.

Handel supported a decision Komen announced to exclude Planned Parenthood, which provides a range of women’s health care services including abortions, from future grants for breast-cancer screenings because it was under congressional investigation.

“Neither the decision nor the changes themselves were based on anyone’s political beliefs or ideology,” Handel said in the letter. “Rather, both were based on Komen’s mission and how to better serve women, as well as a realization of the need to distance Komen from controversy.”

Handel said the now-abandoned policy was fully vetted by the Komen organization. Its board did not raise any objections when it was presented with the proposed policy in November, Handel said.

Komen Founder and CEO Nancy G. Brinker said she accepted Handel’s resignation and wished her well.

“We have made mistakes in how we have handled recent decisions and take full accountability for what has resulted, but we cannot take our eye off the ball when it comes to our mission,” Brinker said in a statement. “To do this effectively, we must learn from what we’ve done right, what we’ve done wrong and achieve our goal for the millions of women who rely on us.”

Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Andrea Hagelgans declined to comment on the resignation.

The breast cancer charity cited a probe backed by anti-abortion groups and launched by Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., to determine if Planned Parenthood improperly spent public money on abortions. Planned Parenthood says taxpayer money is strictly separated.

The breast cancer charity reversed course after its decision created a three-day firestorm of criticism. Members of Congress and Komen affiliates accused the group’s national leadership of bending to pressure from anti-abortion activists. Brinker denied the accusation.

Until Tuesday, Handel had publicly kept silent about her role in the dispute.

In her letter, she said the controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood was long a concern to Komen officials.

“Neither the decision nor the changes themselves were based on anyone’s political beliefs or ideology,” Handel said in the letter. “Rather, both were based on Komen’s mission and how to better serve women, as well as a realization of the need to distance Komen from controversy.”

A person with direct knowledge of decision-making at Komen’s headquarters in Dallas said the grant-making criteria were adopted with the deliberate intention of targeting Planned Parenthood. The criteria’s impact on Planned Parenthood and its status as the focus of government investigations were highlighted in a memo distributed to Komen affiliates in December.

According to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions, a driving force behind the move was Handel, who was hired by Komen last year as vice president for public policy after losing a campaign for governor in Georgia in which she stressed her anti-abortion views and frequently denounced Planned Parenthood.

Brinker, in an interview with MSNBC last week, said Handel didn’t have a significant role in the policy change.

Handel, a Republican, ran for Georgia governor in 2010, received an endorsement from former vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. But Handel lost a primary runoff to former Georgia Rep. Nathan Deal, who won the general election.

Throughout the campaign, Deal accused Handel of being soft on abortion.

Deal repeatedly attacked Handel over a 2005 vote she took while serving on a metro Atlanta county commission to give more than $400,000 to Planned Parenthood, though not for abortion services. The Georgia affiliate of Planned Parenthood said the money went to a downtown clinic for services such as cervical cancer screenings, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and birth controls.

A longstanding law bans using federal money to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or to protect the health of the mother.

Anti-abortion activists in Georgia praised Handel’s decision.

“I commend her for it,” said Daniel Becker, president of the Georgia Right to Life.

He said the organization still had concerns about Handel’s belief that women who are raped or victims of incest should be allowed to seek abortions.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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Verizon and Coinstar Inc., Redbox’s parent company, said Monday that the service will be national and available to non-Verizon customers as well. It adds another dimension to Verizon’s quest to become a force in home entertainment, and it looks set to compete to some extent with the cable-TV services it already sells.

Unlike competing services from Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Stores Inc., the new service will combine Internet delivery of movies with DVDs, the way Netflix does. Dish Network Corp. also offers a similar bundle through its Blockbuster subsidiary.

Specific details and pricing of the new plan weren’t announced.

Late last year, the companies were shopping around a $6-per-month offering that would give subscribers one DVD rental from Redbox per month as well as unlimited streaming of a certain selection of movies, according to a person briefed on the plan then. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

It’s not known whether the plan has changed since then, though the price is likely to be less than the $16-a-month minimum that Netflix subscribers have to pay for a combined DVD-by-mail and streaming plan.

Although consumers would pay less, Redbox’s inventory is limited to what’s in its kiosks, compared with Netflix’s library of more than 100,000 discs, including more obscure fare. Redbox customers will also have to go in person to pick up a disc, which saves the company mailing costs.

Getting an extensive library of streaming content to rival Netflix’s 20,000-plus titles will be expensive. The rising cost for streaming rights is the main reason that Netflix raised its U.S. prices by as much as 60 percent last year in a move that triggered a customer backlash. At the end of 2011, Netflix had video licensing commitments totaling $3.9 billion worldwide over the next several years.

Verizon will handle the streaming negotiations, Coinstar CEO Paul Davis told analysts in a conference call held late Monday to discuss the company’s fourth-quarter earnings. He declined to answer questions seeking more details about how the joint subscription service might work, citing a desire to keep things under wraps for competitive reasons. The streaming service won’t be available until the final half of this year.

Redbox, whose DVD rental kiosks are located in more than 29,000 stores, has been looking to expand into online streaming for more than a year. Its business so far has revolved around renting DVDs for as little as $1.20 per day. Along the way, Redbox says it has accumulated about 36 million email addresses from DVD and video-game renters — information that could be used to promote the new streaming service.

Verizon has its own cable-TV service, called FiOS, in some areas. Its Verizon Wireless subsidiary has also signed a deal to sell service from Comcast Corp. and other cable TV companies in its stores. The cable-TV experience has helped Verizon establish business relationships with Hollywood studios and other content producers, something that could be an advantage in the negotiations for streaming rights.

With the Redbox venture, Verizon is breaking ranks with the cable and satellite industry, which makes its own video streaming services available only to people who also subscribe to its traditional TV feeds. They don’t want households switching to Internet-only services, which are cheaper. Netflix Inc. charges $8 per month for its streaming-only plan, for instance, while the average monthly cable bill is more than $70.

“We’ve made a conscious decision to innovate and get involved with this market because it’s legitimate and growing, and we think the partnership with Redbox gives us huge upside,” said Bob Mudge, president of Verizon’s consumer business.

Verizon’s own FiOS business is relatively small, with 4.2 million subscribers, making it the seventh-largest provider of TV signals to U.S. homes. Meanwhile, its landline phone business is shrinking, so it needs other avenues for growth. Its wireless arm is growing, but it owns only 55 percent of that venture. (Vodafone Group PLC of Britain owns the rest.)

Netflix, which is based in Los Gatos, Calif., ended last year with 24.4 million U.S. subscribers. About 8.4 million of those customers pay for Internet streaming and Netflix’s DVD-by-mail rental service.

Verizon and Coinstar said the service is intended to give subscribers access to DVD and Blu-ray discs as well as streaming movies starting in the second half of the year. Subscribers might visit the site to find that the movie they want isn’t available for streaming, but is available at a Redbox kiosk nearby, Coinstar’s Davis said.

To get people to try the service, Verizon and Redbox look set to undercut Netflix’s cheapest DVD and streaming plan of $16 per month, which is 60 percent higher than its $10 monthly rate before prices went up in September.

New York-based Verizon Communications will own 65 percent of the unnamed venture, with Bellevue, Wash.,-based Coinstar owning the rest. Redbox is contributing an initial $14 million to the venture, according to a regulatory filing. It did not say how much Verizon would contribute. The filing indicated the two companies may be called upon to contribute a combined $450 million to the venture — another indication that it will have to pay steep licensing fees.

Coinstar’s stock gained 91 cents, or 1.8 percent, to close Monday at $50.56. The stock then soared more than 16 percent in extended trading late Monday after the company reported fourth-quarter results that indicated Redbox may be picking up some of the Netflix customers who have canceled their DVD rental plans in recent months.

Verizon shares edged up 30 cents to $38.14. After initially falling on the news, Netflix shares gained $2.82, or 2.2 percent, to $129.25.

Netflix already has a couple of powerful competitors with video streaming services. Amazon.com provides a library of movies and TV shows to subscribers to its Amazon Prime shipping services. Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, has a streaming service called Vudu. Neither offers DVD rentals.

Netflix, though, isn’t devoting much attention to its DVD rental service because it’s convinced the discs are destined to become obsolete. Netflix lost 2.8 million DVD subscribers in the final three months of last year alone.

Netflix is hoping to differentiate itself from its rivals with a larger library that is just now starting to include content that hasn’t been available anywhere else. The company’s streaming library consists largely of older movie shows and TV episodes from past seasons. Netflix’s first original TV series, an eight-episode drama called “Lilyhammer,” debuted Monday. Other original TV series are coming in an attempt to make Netflix more competitive with Time Warner Inc.’s pay-TV channel HBO.

The additional competition in Internet streaming comes as Netflix recovers from the customers losses it absorbed last year following its price increase and a botched plan to spin off its DVD service into a separate website.

Redbox now claims to be the biggest DVD rental service in the country.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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(credit: Summit Entertainment)

NEW YORK (CBS NEWS) - Twi-hards will no doubt be in line on February 11 to nab a copy of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1″ on DVD and Blu-Ray. And they can do it at midnight, the same way they go to midnight showings of the franchise’s films. Target is keeping its doors open longer than usual to turn the film’s home release into an event. Fans who show up for Target’s late-night release party will also get to see a never-before-seen clip from “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2,” in which Bella is seen as a vampire for the first time.

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Passengers flew more miles on American Airlines last month than they did in January 2011 despite the company’s well-publicized bankruptcy status.

Led by growth on international flights, American’s paying passengers flew 10 billion miles last month. That’s up 1.4 percent from 9.87 billion miles a year earlier.

The Fort Worth-based airline says international traffic rose 5 percent, with gains of more than 3 percent to Europe and Latin America and 17 percent in its much smaller U.S.-Asia business.

That helped the nation’s third-biggest airline overcome a 1.1 percent decline in U.S. traffic.

American cut its passenger-carrying capacity by 2.1 percent — a 4.4 percent reduction in the U.S. and a 1.2 percent increase on international routes.

The combination of higher traffic and lower capacity meant fewer empty seats. The average flight was 78.5 percent full, compared with 75.8 percent a year earlier. Occupancy tends to be lower in the winter than in the summer.

American’s short-haul affiliate, American Eagle, reported that traffic rose 10.3 percent. Eagle carries less than one-tenth the traffic handled by American.

American, Eagle and parent AMR Corp. all filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 29 and want to cut labor costs and debt loads while in Chapter 11.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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