Wilmington medical center settles ADA dispute for $146K ...

The New Hanover Regional Medi??cal Center in Wilmington will pay $146,000 to a class of applicants and employees because the hospital erroneously regarded them as disabled.

The hospital made a classic ADA mistake by denying employment to workers and applicants who take legally prescribed drugs. Applicants were turned away and employees were placed on leave once the hospital found they had been prescribed certain drugs. The employees and applicants filed an EEOC complaint alleging that violated the ADA be??cause the hospital regarded them as being disabled when they were not.

When the EEOC was unable to mediate the dispute, it filed suit on behalf of the class and a trial was scheduled. That?s when the medical center elected to settle.

Under the settlement, class members will split the money. The medical center agreed to revise its alcohol and drug abuse policy, and modify its post-employment-offer medical assessment policy to comply with the ADA. It must also provide ADA training to its managers and super??visors.

Advice: Always monitor your drug-testing policies to ensure they comply with the ADA. Generally, any blanket prohibition against hiring based on a health issue runs counter to the ADA?s individualized assessment requirement. Always have an attorney review such policies.

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The biggest obstacle to tax reform? You are

1 day

If Congress and the White House would just fix the tax code - by getting rid of decades of deductions, exemptions and other giveaways ? they could lower tax rates and balance the federal budget.

It sounds like a great idea - until the loophole that's closed is the one that puts money in your pocket.

That?s one big reason Congress?and the White House have been unable to agree on broad-based tax reform for decades.

?Everybody loves to talk about it: ?All we have to do is broaden the tax base, cut all the loopholes and lower tax rates,'?? said Nick Kasprak, an analyst at the Tax Foundation. ?It sounds nice when you don?t get specific about it. But as soon as you start taking about specifics, whatever interest group is behind that tax break is going to fight tooth and nail to keep it.?

Though many Americans think their?taxes are too high, they often overlook how much money they get back from the government ? or avoid paying altogether ? thanks to a long list of deductions, credits and exemptions that make preparing a tax return such an arduous task. From tax-free savings accounts to deductions for gifts to charities, these uncollected taxes amount to a giant pile of stealth government spending.

Some of these tax breaks came about as accidents ? overlooked, unintended consequences of other changes in the tax law. Others were fought for by lobbyists representing industries like home builders or health care providers who benefit directly and indirectly from the?spending and investment incentives created by these tax?provisions.

That?s not surprising, given the amount of money at stake. In 2012, tax breaks?totaled?more than $800 billion? or about one-third of federal revenues. That?s more than the government spends on Social Security, or Medicare or national defense, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Cutting back on those givebacks would go a?long way toward closing the $1.1 trillion deficit.

But that won?t be easy. While voters consistently tell pollsters they strongly support efforts to balance the federal budget, they're equally strong in support of popular?tax deductions for things like home mortgage interest and donations to their favorite charities. No elected official wants to take them away. ?

And while many voters would be happy to?eliminate tax breaks for the wealthy or big corporations, the big money is in tax breaks that hit the largest number of voters ? from a generous package of?deductions for homeowners to the tax-free treatment of health insurance premiums paid by employers.

Proponents of eliminating tax breaks and loopholes argue that doing so would make the system?more fair. ?While providing benefit to a long list of individual taxpayers, they spread the money around unevenly. Homeowners get a basketful of?breaks, for example, while?renters get nothing.

In general, higher-income taxpayers are the biggest winners in the tax break sweepstakes, both because they have more income tax to avoid and because they?re more likely to benefit from the activities targeted by these breaks - owning a house, getting health insurance from an employer or opening? tax deferred retirement account.

But the benefits tend to level off for those at the very highest income levels, because they tend to spend a lower portion of their overall income on areas that are subsidized, according to a study by the Tax Policy Center.

Here are the biggest tax breaks ? and the amount of cash?Uncle Sam would save if they were eliminated.

Health Care:

Insurance premiums:?The biggest single tax break, by far, comes from the subsidy paid for health insurance ?paid by companies for their employees. (The premium paid on your behalf?amounts to income, but?doesn't?show up that way on your tax return, so you don?t pay taxes on it.) Uncle Sam gets hit twice on this one; not only do you pay no tax, your employer gets to deduct premium payments from the company?s tax return. Annual cost:??$180 billion.

Other medical expenses ? those paid out of pocket ? are also deductible, at a cost of $10 billion in uncollected taxes. If you?re self-employed, you get to deduct health insurance premiums, for?another?$6 billion.

Total annual cost: $196 billion

Homeownership:

Mortgage Interest: The government provides all kinds of incentives to buy a house ? including the Federal Reserve?s recent fire sale on mortgage rates. But the biggest, and costliest to the Treasury, is the tax break on interest paid on money borrowed to buy a home. If you?re in, say the 28 percent tax bracket, you get back 28 cents of every dollar you pay in mortgage interest. Last year those pennies added up to roughly 11 percent of the total federal budget deficit. Cost: $101 billion.

Imputed Rent: This is another tax break that favors homeowners over renters. If you own a home, you probably don?t pay yourself rent. But you benefit you derive from the use of your house is worth just as much as a renter would pay. That income ? known as ?imputed rent? ??isn't?taxed. If it were, the revenue generated would pay for about 5 percent of the deficit. Cost: $51 billion.

Capital gains exclusion: When it comes time to sell your house, you may walk away with more than you paid for it. On most investments, you?d pay capital gains tax on the entire profit. But a portion of your capital gain on a home is excluded from capital gains tax. Cost: $23 billion.

Property tax deduction: No one likes to pay income taxes on money they earned to pay other taxes. In the case of property tax on a home you live in, you get a break. Cost: $22 billion.

Total annual cost: $197 billion

Savings, investment and retirement:

Capital Gains and Dividends: Some critics of these investment taxes argue they should be abolished altogether: the current tax code splits the difference by taxing them at a lower rate than ordinary income. That difference ? the cost to the government of lowering the rate ? largely benefits high-income households. In 2011, about three-fourths of the benefit of this tax break went to the top 1 percent of U.S. households. Cost: $77 billion.

Retirement plans: If you participate in a savings plan at work ? like a 401(k) or IRA ? you don?t have to pay taxes on the money you put into the account and, in many cases, the tax on investment gains is postponed until you retire and begin spending it. Cost: $62 billion.

If you?re in a defined-benefit pension plan ? where your employer contributes and you get a monthly check when you retire ? those contributions are also not taxed. Cost: $52 billion.

Investments: You don?t pay taxes on the interest earned on life insurance savings ($25 billion) or on municipal bonds ($36 billion). And when you die, any investment gains on money you leave to your heirs?doesn't?get taxed. ($24 billion).

Total cost: $276 billion

Other big tax breaks:

Charitable donations:?The tax code encourages people to give to their favorite charities, including nonprofit schools, health care providers, and other service organizations. This is another tax break that tends to benefit wealthy taxpayers.?Cost: $49 billion.

State and local taxes: On top of federal taxes, most people also pay state and local taxes, including income and sales taxes. Every tax dollar you paid to another jurisdiction is a dollar you get to exclude from federal taxes.?Cost: $46 billion.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/biggest-obstacle-tax-reform-you-are-1C7038051

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Lincoln | Movie Reviews | Kelly Vance | East Bay Express

Lincoln freed the slaves. That's how the sixteenth President of the United States is generally remembered ? despite latter-day efforts to politically diminish that accomplishment ? and how he probably should be remembered.

Steven Spielberg's Lincoln ambitiously, soberly attempts to take us behind the scenes of Abraham Lincoln's momentous last months, to put such events as the Civil War and the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment, an elaboration of the Emancipation Proclamation, in some sort of digestible perspective. Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner no doubt realize that history is one of America's least favorite subjects, but they're on a mission from god, so to speak, to give Honest Abe's legacy the War Horse, Munich, Saving Private Ryan treatment ? the full Spielberg with all the trimmings.

By now audiences are well aware what to expect when Spielberg is wearing his schoolmaster robes. It should come as no surprise that Lincoln is hard to fault on its individual moments, but that over the course of two and a half hours it's exactly like medicine going down: good for us, surely, but nothing anyone would want to swallow for the joy of it, despite a mesmerizing performance by Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role.

Still, moviegoers willing to surrender to a time-machine trip back to muddy, unpaved Washington, DC in 1865 may discover a few unexpected points of view. For instance, that the Union was far more fractured than it is today, even taking into consideration the War Between the States. In 1865, Lincoln's Republican party had the task of fighting the Confederacy while herding anti-slavery abolitionists and GOP "radicals" like Rep. Thaddeus Stevens (gleefully played by Tommy Lee Jones) into an uneasy consensus on how to win the war, stop the slaughter (600,000 dead in four years of war), heal the bitterness, and patch up the nation.

The movie goes into laborious detail on the political maneuvering behind the upcoming vote on the anti-slavery amendment, not all of it dry. Twenty-first-century viewers may gasp to hear the raucous debates in the House, where New York City Democrats like Lincoln-hater Fernando Wood (Lee Pace) openly orate about the "niggeration" of the country and the Congressmen (they're all male, white, and whiskered) compete in insulting each other. Racism was the rule then rather than the exception. Lincoln is shown trying to walk a tightrope between ending slavery and granting the four million freed blacks any civil rights at all. The "people," North or South, generally loathed the concept of racial equality as much as the one about giving women the right to vote. In the meantime, Yankees and Johnny Rebs are shown in fierce hand-to-hand combat on the battlefield.

So America was a complete mess. Luckily we had Lincoln, the lanky, folksy country lawyer ? he tells stories, like Jefferson Smith in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington ? who spends much of his time listening, to ordinary soldiers; frontier settlers; his war-hawk Secretary of State, William Seward (David Strathairn); his sons (Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Gulliver McGrath); and his holy terror of a wife, Mary Todd "Molly" Lincoln (Sally Field). Chameleon par excellence Day-Lewis resembles photos of the actual Lincoln more than almost any screen actor who has played the part, and he projects the moral conscience we associate with the man, using his power to achieve a rough social justice as well as peace, all the while wrestling with his own doubts.

Every nook and cranny in the movie is filled with colorful characters played by furiously hamming actors. James Spader, John Hawkes, and Tim Blake Nelson provide welcome comic relief as a trio of con men/political fixers assigned by the White House to pass out pork-barrel deals to congressmen in exchange for "yes" votes. All Hal Holbrook (as a Lincoln advisor) has to do is show his face and we're instantly back in the 19th century. Jared Harris, Jackie Earle Haley, Bruce McGill, Michael Stuhlbarg, and David Oyelowo turn up as, respectively, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, a waylaid Confederate official, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Rep. George Yeaman, and Corporal Ira Clark, a member of a Colored Regiment of the US Army.

Our first reaction is: History Channel all the way. Spielberg doesn't spare the obvious John Ford touches nor his usual overstatement. But Day-Lewis works on us like a boxer, slipping in punches, wearing us down, in a portrait of an idealist facing more trouble than any chief executive before or since. We end up believing in the actor, in Lincoln himself, and in his mission ? if not exactly the self-imposed pomp and circumstance of the history lesson. The bad old days were awful enough all by themselves.

Source: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/lincoln/Content?oid=3390205

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Americans taking shorter trips this Thanksgiving

10 hrs.

The number of Americans hitting the road this Thanksgiving is expected to increase slightly from a year ago. But they'll take shorter trips to save on gas and other costs as household budgets remain tight.

AAA says Tuesday in its annual Thanksgiving forecast that a stronger economy is needed to spur a bigger jump in holiday travel growth. AAA predicts 43.6 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles from home over Thanksgiving, up just 0.7 percent from last year.

A dramatic drop in gas prices should help holiday travel. The national average has declined 35 cents per gallon in the last month. AAA expects further declines through the holiday, although the price of gas on Thanksgiving Day should be close to last year's record of $3.32 per gallon.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/americans-taking-shorter-trips-thanksgiving-1C7038050

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Syrian rebels build government-in-waiting

DOHA/CAIRO (Reuters) - Syria's newly named opposition leader, a soft-spoken cleric backed by Washington and the Gulf Arab states, launched his quest on Monday for international recognition as a government-in-waiting to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

In a sign of the danger that the civil war could spread across Syria's borders, Israeli forces said they fired "direct hits" on Syrian artillery in response to a mortar strike into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Western and Arab enemies of Assad hope the creation of a new Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces can finally unify a fractious and ineffective opposition.

Mouaz Alkhatib, a former imam of a Damascus mosque, flew to Cairo to seek the Arab League's blessing for the new assembly, the day after he was unanimously elected to lead it. He made a concerted effort to address the sectarian and ethnic acrimony underlying 20 months of civil war that has killed 38,000 people.

"We demand freedom for every Sunni, Alawi, Ismaili, Christian, Druze, Assyrian ... and rights for all parts of the harmonious Syrian people," he said, calling on Syrian soldiers to desert and all sects to unite.

His assembly was recognized by the six Sunni Muslim-ruled kingdoms of the Gulf Cooperation Council as "the legitimate representative of the Syrian people". Washington said it would back it "as it charts a course toward the end of Assad's bloody rule and the start of the peaceful, just, democratic future".

The Arab League welcomed the formation of the new body, called on other opposition groups to join it and described it as "a legitimate representative and a primary negotiator", but fell short of calling it the new authority in Syria.

Shooting across the line that divides Syria from the Israeli-occupied Golan was just the latest spillover of violence that has alarmed neighbors including Turkey and Lebanon.

Israeli military sources said Israel hit Syrian army mobile artillery on Monday, the second straight day it fired back in retaliation for what it said were stray mortars hitting Golan.

"We will not allow our borders to be breached or our citizens to be fired at," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967. Although the two countries have not fought over the territory since 1973, they are still officially at war.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called on Israel and Syria to halt firing.

In the north, where fighting has sent thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing into Turkey, a Reuters correspondent saw Syrian jets and helicopters bomb Ras al-Ain, a border town taken by rebels last week. Bombs landed just meters from the frontier, sending up plumes of black smoke.

Opposition groups said 12-16 people died in the air strikes. Turkey said it did not appear that the planes had entered its air space. It is discussing with NATO allies deploying Patriot air defense missiles on the border.

WRANGLING

Rebels and opposition politicians formed Alkhatib's new opposition coalition after days of wrangling in Qatar under intense U.S. and Qatari pressure.

Backers hope the new body will give rebels inside Syria more clout and reassure religious and ethnic minorities, after a Syrian National Council (SNC) made up mainly of exiled Islamists proved ineffective as the main opposition voice.

Western and Arab opponents of Assad want the coalition to attract support from minority sects which had been alienated from the opposition by the prominence of well-organized Sunnis from the Muslim Brotherhood. They also hope to rein in Islamist fighters, some of whom they believe are linked to al Qaeda.

"Alkhatib is a dynamic, progressive Islamist, popular in Damascus and the rest of Syria," said Mazen Adi, a prominent Syrian human rights defender who worked with Alkhatib before the revolt. "He is not a trigger-happy Jihadist, and he can play a role in containing the extremist groups."

Alkhatib met Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby before Monday's gathering of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo. European foreign ministers are due to join them on Tuesday.

A League official said before the meeting that the League would fall shy of calling the new group the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people because some Arab states were still reluctant to delegitimize Assad.

"There are still Arab states like Iraq and Lebanon that are not fully supportive of the Syrian revolt," the official said, on condition he not be identified.

Alkhatib, in his early 50s, was jailed several times for criticizing Assad before fleeing into exile this year. He has long promoted a liberal Islam tolerant of Syria's Christian, Alawite and other minorities, activists say.

Hassan Hassan, a Syrian commentator based in the United Arab Emirates, said Alkhatib, as an independent cleric, would be a counterweight to growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood.

"He's been active for a long time, campaigning against the idea of retribution and extremism. He talks about liberty and freedom for the masses. So he is perceived as a credible figure," Hassan said.

Russia, which with China has foiled U.N. action on Syria and views Assad's opponents as pawns of the West, urged the new body to negotiate and to reject outside meddling.

Asked if China recognized the new coalition, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei called on all parties to initiate "a political transition process guided by the Syrian people".

It remains to be seen whether the Coalition can succeed where the exiled SNC failed in overcoming mutual suspicion and in-fighting that weakened the opposition.

"This is a significant step forward, because they finally seem to be forging a more broadly-based platform that includes the SNC but without the SNC taking the lion's share," said Salman Shaikh, director of the Doha Brookings Center think tank.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Hammond in Doha, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Jonathon Burch in Ceylanpinar, Crispian Balmer in Jerusalem, Arshad Mohammed in Washington, Michael Martina in Beijing, Steve Gutterman in Moscow, Regan Doherty in Doha and Ayman Samir in Cairo; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Giles Elgood and Philippa Fletcher)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrias-opposition-coalition-seeks-recognition-123653817.html

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New energy law center at LSU aims to tackle 21st century issues ...

LSU Law Center Chancellor Jack M. Weiss told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune last week that legal and regulatory issues in the energy industry have become more specialized and complex, prompting the law center to begin a specialized program studying energy law. Students interested in studying energy law will have a place to go, as the Louisiana Board of Regents approved the LSU Energy Law Center in August.

The center will collaborate with the LSU A & M campus in areas that will increase the knowledge base of students in the energy law program.

As Mr. Weiss held conversations with alumni, he came to realize the field of energy law had been modernized and went beyond the traditional courses of oil and gas.

The center plans to offer courses in geology, petroleum engineering, nuclear sciences, coastal sciences, environment science and chemical engineering that will train potential lawyers in the 21st century world of energy.

Oil and gas, however, will remain at the core of the program, Weiss said.

"It occurred to me that the importance of energy in Louisiana, job offers for students and issues in the state, that the program would be beneficial at LSU," Weiss said.

Students outside the energy law program, will also have the opportunity to gain an understanding of the legal subject matter that surrounds science, engineering and other disciplines critical to the new world of energy.

Practicing attorneys in the energy field will also be able to take advantage of enhanced continued legal education at the law center. Other facets of the new law program, includes consulting with law firms and businesses throughout Louisiana and the Gulf Coast.

After finishing the energy law program, attorneys would be able to tackle certain issues with expertise, such as the regulation and transmission of energy, financing of energy, transportation and distribution of energy.

The energy law center, however, wouldn't have its steam without John Laborde, who's a LSU Law Center alumnus, World War II veteran and retired chairman and CEO of Tidewater Inc., the largest worldwide oil and gas marine offshore owner and operator of vessels.

Laborde has agreed to donate $2 million to the energy law center, which will be used to establish a double distinguished chair in Laborde's name that will allow the center to attract leading figures in the industry to occupy the chair and the remaining donation will go towards creating a challenged fund, to attract more donors.

"It's almost a pattern in my career," Laborde said. "Agreeing to make a substantial donation would be a really good fit to LSU and lead to longtime and future growth of more and more young people in this specific field."

In 1940 Laborde became a freshman at LSU. "I spent a lot of my life at LSU," said Laborde. "LSU played a very important part in my career." Laborde, 89, has spent more than 40 years of his career in the oil and gas industry.

Laborde said his donation doesn't have a material gain for himself or his companies. "I occupy office space, but nothing tangible, it's more reputation wise," Laborde said of his donation to the law center.

"I'm very hopeful that the donation will help the law center at LSU, to keep growing and improving academically," he said.

Weiss says the program is aiming for an official launch two or three academic years from now and will continue to develop throughout the process.

There have been three hires so far, Weiss said. Keith Hall and Blake Hudson, both associate professors of law, will be teaching courses related to oil, gas and the environment.

"I would hope in an interim class, that it would be a significant number of students in energy law," Weiss said. "We certainly envision joint-degree programs that have a focus on energy law."

Robert Sloan will serve as the initial director of the energy law center. Sloan, who has 40 years of legal experience across the world, will bring a wide-range of professional and international perspective to the directorship of the center. Sloan has recently served as the executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of Entergy Corporation in New Orleans.

The LSU Law Center will be the first in the state to have an energy law program, joining just a handful of other public institutions across the country.

Source: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/11/new_energy_law_center_at_lsu_a.html

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Ex-BBC head payoff "tough to justify" - government

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-bbc-head-payoff-tough-justify-government-112358514.html

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Microsoft's Windows chief leaves in power struggle

FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012, file photo, Steven Sinofsky, then-president of the Microsoft Windows group, delivers his presentation at the launch of Microsoft Windows 8, in New York. Microsoft shares slid more than 4 percent before the opening bell Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012, after the software company revealed that Sinofsky was leaving. Sinofsky's departure comes just weeks after Microsoft launched Windows 8, a major overhaul of the operating system that's used on most of the world's computers. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012, file photo, Steven Sinofsky, then-president of the Microsoft Windows group, delivers his presentation at the launch of Microsoft Windows 8, in New York. Microsoft shares slid more than 4 percent before the opening bell Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012, after the software company revealed that Sinofsky was leaving. Sinofsky's departure comes just weeks after Microsoft launched Windows 8, a major overhaul of the operating system that's used on most of the world's computers. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

(AP) ? Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer isn't going to let anyone get in his way.

Not even his presumed heir apparent, who runs the software maker's Windows empire, can stop Ballmer as he pushes the company in a new direction.

That was the underlying message of a power struggle that led to the abrupt departure of Steven Sinofsky, who oversaw the Windows operating system that has been the foundation of Microsoft's success.

The fissure announced late Monday came less than three weeks after Sinofsky and Ballmer appeared on a stage in New York to hail the long-awaited release of Windows 8, a radical overhaul of the operating system. The Redmond, Wash.-based company designed it to make its products more relevant in an age when more daily computing tasks are shifting from desktop and laptop machines to smartphones and tablet computers.

Microsoft Corp. didn't elaborate on the reasons behind the end of Sinofsky's 23-year career at the company. But all signs point to tensions boiling over as Ballmer tries to weave Microsoft's products more closely together so the technology is easily accessible whenever and wherever people want to work, play and communicate.

That's a goal Microsoft rivals Apple Inc. and Google Inc. have been pursuing for the past few years, giving them a head start in a battle that's immersing technology even deeper into people's lives.

To achieve his objectives, Ballmer is trying to dismantle fiefdoms within Microsoft that date back to the 1990s when co-founder Bill Gates ran the company. According to industry analysts, Gates divided the company into different engineering silos devoted to each of Microsoft's key franchises ? Windows, the Office suite of software, online services and corporate servers. When Ballmer became CEO nearly 13 years ago, he inherited the structure and even expanded it to include new divisions to house new products such as the Xbox 360 gaming console.

Now that Ballmer is trying to tie Microsoft's operations more closely together, he is likely facing resistance from company veterans such as Sinofsky, said long-time technology analyst Rob Enderle.

"Sinofsky is an empire builder who is not going to look kindly at someone coming in and telling him he has got to start sharing," Enderle said. "But Ballmer needs everyone to do the Kumbaya thing and come together. They were likely increasingly bumping heads in terms of the future of the company."

As part of Ballmer's strategy, Microsoft is expanding beyond software into device-making. The company's first tablet computer, the Surface, went on sale with the release of Windows 8 and now there is speculation that Microsoft may also make a smartphone, too. By selling hardware, Microsoft risks alienating the device manufacturers who license Windows 8.

Ballmer, 56, isn't the only to CEO facing friction within the ranks. Last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced he was replacing Scott Forstall, a long-time company executive in charge of the software that runs the iPhone and iPad.

Like Sinofsky at Microsoft, Forstall was considered to be a leading candidate to become Apple's next CEO.

Sinofsky's departure will likely increase the pressure on Ballmer as he tries to restore some of the luster Microsoft has lost during his tenure as CEO. The company's stock price has been depressed for years, largely because investors aren't convinced Microsoft will make the technological leap needed to accelerate its revenue growth once again.

"Steve Ballmer sees these very remarkable changes that Microsoft helped build and now he wants to make sure that Microsoft is as successful in this new environment as it had been in the past," Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin said. "That's his greatest challenge. If he didn't think he had the right people in leadership positions to make it happen, he had to make a change."

The shakeup didn't go over well on Wall Street. Microsoft's stock price fell 90 cents, or more than 3 percent, to close Tuesday at $27.09.

The sell-off may reflect worries that Sinofsky's departure could be tied to some perceived shortcomings in Windows 8. But analysts say it's far too early to draw any conclusions about how Windows 8 will fare in the market, making it unlikely Sinofsky's exit has anything to do with the new operating system.

Sinofsky, 47, had been widely seen as Ballmer's likely successor. After joining the company as a software engineer in 1989, Sinofsky eventually became a technical adviser to Gates and later oversaw the Office package that includes word processing, spreadsheet and email programs. He took charge of Windows in 2006 and helped the company recover from the buggy Vista version of the operating system with the release of Windows 7 in 2009. More than 670 million licenses of Windows 7 have been sold since then.

Sinofsky "is a good manager and a guy known for getting things done, but if you are looking for someone who plays well with others, he is not your guy." Enderle said.

Ballmer praised Sinofsky in an upbeat email sent to company employees Monday.

"What we have accomplished over the past few years is nothing short of amazing, and I know we have more amazing in us," Ballmer wrote. "I am excited about our people, I am energized by our ability to change and grow, and I look forward to the success which lies ahead."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-11-13-Microsoft-Management%20Shakeup/id-e9e9b55eca7841f28843d5d454561f1e

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