Avery Dennison Corp. has agreed to sell two of its businesses for $500 million in cash to CCL Industries Inc., a Canadian maker of specialty packaging, the Pasadena company said.
The proposed sale announced Wednesday comes three months after Minnesota-based 3M abandoned its plans to purchase Avery Dennison's office and consumer products unit. The U.S. Department of Justice had opposed that deal because of antitrust concerns.
Now, Toronto-based CCL has agreed to acquire the unit, which had sales of $730 million in 2012. The division's products include Hi-Liters and Marks-A-Lot markers as well as binders. CCL also agreed to acquire Avery's designed and engineered solutions division, which makes pressure-sensitive labels for packaging and posted 2012 sales of $180 million.
"CCL is one of our largest customers, and we have a long-standing relationship with them," said Avery Dennison Chief Executive Dean A. Scarborough. "We are pleased that they will become the steward of the Avery brand for office products."
Quiz: How much do you know about California's economy?
The transaction, expected to close this year if approved by regulators, would be CCL's largest acquisition.
"This acquisition has the potential to transform our company at many levels," said Geoffrey Martin, chief executive of CCL.
Avery Dennison on Wednesday also reported fourth-quarter net income of $49 million, or 48 cents a share, up from $22.2 million, or 21 cents, a year earlier. Excluding certain items, earnings were 54 cents a share compared with the 48 cents expected by analysts. Sales rose 5.3% to $1.53 billion.
Avery Dennison shares rose $2.30, or 6.4%, to $38.44.
An influential union representing City Hall workers failed to reach a consensus Tuesday evening on whether and whom to endorse in Los Angeles' mayoral campaign, labor officials said.
Members of six locals of the Service Employees International Union questioned City Controller Wendy Greuel and City Councilman Eric Garcetti, two top contenders in the race, for at least half an hour. Neither was recommended for an endorsement, even though Greuel was ranked higher on a scoring sheet prepared by union officials.
The rating was prepared in December and ranked Greuel 4.3 out of 5 on issues important to the union. Garcetti was rated a 3.5, and consistently was graded lower on issues such as furloughs — the unpaid days imposed on civilian city workers — and on retirement benefits, according to the document, a copy of which was obtained by The Times.
Favel Jens, political coordinator for SEIU Local 721, which represents 10,000 city workers, said the scoring sheet was prepared by the political directors of six SEIU locals in December, after the candidates responded to written questionnaires.
Lowell Goodman, communications director for SEIU Local 721, said the heads of the union locals still could decide in the next few weeks to issue separate endorsements. "Or they could decide to go together and endorse the same candidate," Goodman said.
The union locals held a town hall-style gathering Tuesday evening so they could, for a second time, consider making an endorsement in the March 5 election to replace Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Filing out of the meeting at union headquarters, attendees who described themselves as members of SEIU Local 99 — which represents school district employees — said their local decided not to pick either candidate. Employees with SEIU's United Service Workers West, which represents security guards, airport workers and others, said they too had decided not to endorse. But Myran Cotton, a city employee represented by SEIU Local 721, said her local recommended Greuel.
SEIU's backing is considered important because Los Angeles is a heavily Democratic, generally labor-friendly city. Also, SEIU has shown its support can mean a significant number of get-out-the-vote campaign volunteers and financial donations to pay for mailers and advertising.
But some of Greuel's and Garcetti's opponents are suggesting the next mayor needs to be more independent of public employee unions.
Greuel and Garcetti, the only two invited back for additional interviews Tuesday, were on the council when it voted for a package of raises for civilian city workers that totaled roughly 25%. Greuel moved on to citywide office by 2010, and did not have to vote when the council ordered unpopular layoffs, furloughs, employee transfers and reductions in an array of services.
In the competition for union support, those decisions have put Garcetti, who was then City Council president, at a disadvantage this election year. Greuel sought to sow doubt about Garcetti during the initial interview sessions with SEIU members last month. She cited his involvement in employee layoffs, telling workers they needed someone who would be with them "every step of the way."
City officials are grappling with a $220-million budget shortfall and trying to persuade the public to hike taxes.
Greuel already has the backing of the Department of Water and Power employees' union, which has given $250,000 to a committee supporting her candidacy and is expected to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars more. She has also picked up the support of the rank-and-file police officers' union, which spent nearly $750,000 to elect City Atty. Carmen Trutanich in 2009.
The SEIU did not invite three other leading candidates — Councilwoman Jan Perry, former radio host Kevin James and tech executive Emanuel Pleitez — to Tuesday's event. All three have been more critical than Greuel and Garcetti of the city's handling of its budget crisis.
The union employees "clearly don't want someone independent making decisions at City Hall," said James, shortly before Tuesday's SEIU session began.
Perry said earlier this week that she lost out on the endorsement because she said she had no plans to remove City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, the budget official who recommended layoffs and reductions in pension benefits for new hires. Union officials asked the candidates last month to say whether they would keep Santana.
SEIU Local 721 has been at odds with Santana and Villaraigosa over their successful push to raise the retirement age and to roll back pensions for new hires. That pension measure was approved by the council last fall, but does not apply to DWP hires, or any current city employees.
The union also has been fighting efforts to turn the zoo and city Convention Center over to private management entities.
TORONTO (AP) — BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. will kick off a critical, long-overdue makeover when chief executive Thorsten Heins shows off the first phone with the new BlackBerry 10 system in New York on Wednesday.
Repeated delays have left the once-pioneering BlackBerry an afterthought in the shadow of Apple’s trend-setting iPhone and Google’s Android-driven devices. There has even been talk that the fate of the company that created the BlackBerry in 1999 is no longer certain.
Now, there’s some optimism. Previews of the BlackBerry 10 software have gotten favorable reviews on blogs. Financial analysts are starting to see some slight room for a comeback. RIM‘s stock has more than doubled to $ 15.66 from a nine-year low in September, though it’s still nearly 90 percent below its 2008 peak of $ 147.
RIM redesigned the system to embrace the multimedia, apps and touch-screen experience prevalent today. The company is promising a speedier device, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone.
Most analysts consider a BlackBerry 10 success to be crucial for the company’s long-term viability. Doubts remain about the ability of BlackBerry 10 to rescue RIM.
“We’ll see if they can reclaim their glory. My sense is that it will be a phone that everyone says good things about but not as many people buy,” BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said.
Jefferies analyst Peter Misek called it a “great device” and said RIM does have some momentum just months after the Canadian company was written off for dead.
“Six months ago we talked to developers and carriers, and everybody was just basically saying ‘We’re just waiting for this to go bust,’” Misek said. “It was bad.”
The BlackBerry has been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and crossed over to consumers. But when the iPhone came out in 2007, it showed that phones can do much more than email and phone calls. Suddenly, the BlackBerry looked ancient. In the U.S., according to research firm IDC, shipments of BlackBerry phones plummeted from 46 percent of the market in 2008 to 2 percent in 2012.
RIM promised a new system to catch up, using technology it got through its 2010 purchase of QNX Software Systems. RIM initially said BlackBerry 10 would come by early 2012, but then the company changed that to late 2012. A few months later, that date was pushed further, to early 2013, missing the lucrative holiday season. The holdup helped wipe out more than $ 70 billion in shareholder wealth and 5,000 jobs.
Although executives have been providing a glimpse at some of BlackBerry 10′s new features for months, Heins will finally showcase a complete system at Wednesday’s event. Devices will go on sale soon after that. The exact date and prices are expected Wednesday.
Regardless of BlackBerry 10′s advances, though, the new system will face a key shortcoming: It won’t have as many apps written by outside companies and individuals as the iPhone and Android. RIM has said it plans to launch BlackBerry 10 with more than 70,000 apps, including those developed for RIM’s PlayBook tablet, first released in 2011. Even so, that’s just a tenth of what the iPhone and Android offer. Popular service such as Instagram and Netflix won’t have apps on BlackBerry 10.
Gillis said he’ll be looking to see when RIM releases a keyboard version of the new phone. The first BlackBerry 10 phone will have only a touch screen. RIM has said a physical keyboard version will be released soon after. He said a delay could alienate RIM’s 79 million subscribers.
“The No. 1 feature that they like is the physical keyboard,” Gillis said.
Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Title Post: Critical, long-overdue BlackBerry makeover arrives Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/critical-long-overdue-blackberry-makeover-arrives/ Link To Post : Critical, long-overdue BlackBerry makeover arrives Rating: 100%
based on 99998 ratings. 5 user reviews. Author: Fluser SeoLink Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment
PHOENIX (AP) — Authorities say actor Jason London has been arrested on suspicion of assault and disorderly conduct after an Arizona bar fight.
Scottsdale police say London allegedly sneezed on a man who then asked him to apologize, but London refused and instead hit the man in the face.
The Arizona Republic (http://bit.ly/VoULau ) says the two men were escorted out of the bar, but London began pushing and cursing at firefighters trying to treat him and appeared extremely drunk. He was arrested early Monday.
London's Twitter account says "some guy thought I was hitting on his girl" and that several large bouncers beat him, breaking bones in his face. London added, "the truth will win" and "I hate Arizona."
London is best known for the 1993 movie "Dazed and Confused."
___
Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com
Recently, researchers from the department of sport science at the University of Innsbruck in Austria stood on the slopes at a local ski resort and trained a radar gun on a group of about 500 skiers and snowboarders, each of whom had completed a lengthy personality questionnaire about whether he or she tended to be cautious or a risk taker.
The researchers had asked their volunteers to wear their normal ski gear and schuss or ride down the slopes at their preferred speed. Although they hadn’t informed the volunteers, their primary aim was to determine whether wearing a helmet increased people’s willingness to take risks, in which case helmets could actually decrease safety on the slopes.
What they found was reassuring.
To many of us who hit the slopes with, in my case, literal regularity — I’m an ungainly novice snowboarder — the value of wearing a helmet can seem self-evident. They protect your head from severe injury. During the Big Air finals at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., this past weekend, for instance, 23-year-old Icelandic snowboarder Halldor Helgason over-rotated on a triple back flip, landed head-first on the snow, and was briefly knocked unconscious. But like the other competitors he was wearing a helmet, and didn’t fracture his skull.
Indeed, studies have concluded that helmets reduce the risk of a serious head injury by as much as 60 percent. But a surprising number of safety experts and snowsport enthusiasts remain unconvinced that helmets reduce overall injury risk.
Why? A telling 2009 survey of ski patrollers from across the country found that 77 percent did not wear helmets because they worried that the headgear could reduce their peripheral vision, hearing and response times, making them slower and clumsier. In addition, many worried that if they wore helmets, less-adept skiers and snowboarders might do likewise, feel invulnerable and engage in riskier behavior on the slopes.
In the past several years, a number of researchers have attempted to resolve these concerns, for or against helmets. And in almost all instances, helmets have proved their value.
In the Innsbruck speed experiment, the researchers found that people whom the questionnaires showed to be risk takers skied and rode faster than those who were by nature cautious. No surprise.
But wearing a helmet did not increase people’s speed, as would be expected if the headgear encouraged risk taking. Cautious people were slower than risk-takers, whether they wore helmets or not; and risk-takers were fast, whether their heads were helmeted or bare.
Interestingly, the skiers and riders who were the most likely, in general, to don a helmet were the most expert, the men and women with the most talent and hours on the slopes. Experience seemed to have taught them the value of a helmet.
Off of the slopes, other new studies have brought skiers and snowboarders into the lab to test their reaction times and vision with and without helmets. Peripheral vision and response times are a serious safety concern in a sport where skiers and riders rapidly converge from multiple directions.
But when researchers asked snowboarders and skiers to wear caps, helmets, goggles or various combinations of each for a 2011 study and then had them sit before a computer screen and press a button when certain images popped up, they found that volunteers’ peripheral vision and reaction times were virtually unchanged when they wore a helmet, compared with wearing a hat. Goggles slightly reduced peripheral vision and increased response times. But helmets had no significant effect.
Even when researchers added music, testing snowboarders and skiers wearing Bluetooth-audio equipped helmets, response times did not increase significantly from when they wore wool caps.
So why do up to 40 percent of skiers and snowboarders still avoid helmets?
“The biggest reason, I think, is that many people never expect to fall,” says Dr. Adil H. Haider, a trauma surgeon and associate professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and co-author of a major new review of studies related to winter helmet use. “That attitude is especially common in people, like me, who are comfortable on blue runs but maybe not on blacks, and even more so in beginners.”
But a study published last spring detailing snowboarding injuries over the course of 18 seasons at a Vermont ski resort found that the riders at greatest risk of hurting themselves were female beginners. I sympathize.
The takeaway from the growing body of science about ski helmets is in fact unequivocal, Dr. Haider said. “Helmets are safe. They don’t seem to increase risk taking. And they protect against serious, even fatal head injuries.”
The Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, of which Dr. Haider is a member, has issued a recommendation that “all recreational skiers and snowboarders should wear safety helmets,” making them the first medical group to go on record advocating universal helmet use.
Perhaps even more persuasive, Dr. Haider has given helmets to all of his family members and colleagues who ski or ride. “As a trauma surgeon, I know how difficult it is to fix a brain,” he said. “So everyone I care about wears a helmet.”
Amazon.com Inc. saw big sales during the holiday season, reporting Tuesday that fourth-quarter revenue rose 22% to $21.27 billion from a year earlier.
But the Internet retail giant's sales and earnings missed Wall Street's estimates. Profit for the three months that ended Dec. 31 declined 45% to $97 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with $177 million, or 38 cents, in the same quarter of 2011.
Analysts had expected the e-commerce company to post revenue of $22.26 billion and earnings of 27 cents a share.
Nonetheless, Amazon's stock surged in after-hours trading, rising more than 9% on signs the company's operating margins were improving. During regular trading before earnings were released, shares closed down $15.69, or 5.7%, at $260.35.
Operating income was a highlight of the company's quarterly results, increasing 56% to $405 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $260 million a year earlier.
For the current quarter, Amazon expects sales of $15 billion to $16.6 billion, a 14% to 26% growth from the first quarter of 2012.
It was a good Christmas for Amazon's Kindle family. The company said that for the second year in a row, its tablet was the most popular item for customers, with the Kindle Fire HD the "No. 1 bestselling, most gifted and most wished-for product" across the company's merchandise lineup.
"At year-end, Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle held the top four spots on the Amazon worldwide bestseller charts since launch," the company said.
As is typical for Amazon, it did not break out sales figures for its tablets and e-readers.
Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon, said the company had seen huge growth in its electronic book business as consumers shift to digital texts.
"We're now seeing the transition we've been expecting," he said in a statement. "After five years, eBooks is a multibillion-dollar category for us and growing fast — up approximately 70% last year. In contrast, our physical book sales experienced the lowest December growth rate in our 17 years as a book seller, up just 5%. We're excited and very grateful to our customers for their response to Kindle."
Amazon also said its digital media selection grew to more 23 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, books, audio books, apps and games in 2012, an increase from 19 million at the end of 2011.
During his nearly 40 years as a columnist for this newspaper, my late father occasionally tweaked his readers — quite disingenuously — by belittling his cat, knowing the slur would stir invective so passionate and erudite that he could fill another column without having to do much writing of his own.
I had no intention of employing that device when I recently wrote — quite sincerely — in defense of motorcyclists who navigate the space between cars to get ahead on crowded freeways.
To be sure, I knew some motorists would object out of fear of hitting a rider, or annoyed by the intrusion on their space. I was prepared to shrug them off because, I thought, my opinion was based on logic, experience and the law.
How fragile is the hard shell of reason! Among the emails that flooded my inbox, those that left me most humbled were from motorists who mostly agreed with me. But they were hurt by my admonishment that they should not move slightly out of my way.
Specifically, I wrote: "If you want to show solidarity, just hold your course and be sure you're a little in front or a little behind the car beside you."
Joe Edward of Beverly Hills was insulted. "Moving over, even briefly, gives you more room and I, maybe mistakenly, thought it shows courtesy," he wrote. "I thought it was the olive branch between those on four and two wheels, and is confirmed when I get the two-fingered 'thank you' wag from cyclists. When that happens, just for a moment, LA freeways are a nicer place and, yes, to the late Rodney King, we can all just get along.... But now you say NOT to move over? Ok. Forget the olive branch. Forget wanting to get along. It's on!"
I certainly never intended to turn plowshares into swords. And I'd like to think that if Joe knew me personally he'd see I'm not like the name he called me at the end of his email.
But I do apologize. I was myopic when I wrote, "Hold your course." The comment was aimed at drivers who turn their wheels sharply when surprised by a motorcycle. I appreciate drivers who ease slightly left or right, giving me the room to slide by comfortably, but more important letting me know they too are attuned to their surroundings.
And yes, I always give them the wave and momentarily feel better about humanity.
As you may have noticed, motorcyclists also give each other the two-finger salute when passing, a mutual acknowledgment of our membership in a minority that embraces the fun and physics of vehicular transportation along with its practical benefits.
The wave is also a silent bond between boomers like me and gen-whatevers who wear red mohawks on their helmets and wouldn't notice me under any other circumstances.
My aggressiveness in standing up for our somewhat outcast status surprised and pleased many fellow riders.
"Doug! You are the bomb!!!" wrote Arlene Battishill, who produces a line of head-turning women's motorcycle apparel and rides a Kawasaki. "I nearly screamed out loud.... Man oh man, I could just kiss you right now!"
Yes, we can be an exuberant bunch, inebriate of air, as Emily Dickinson so nicely put it. I can't deny that a few respondents castigated me for being irrational and self-aggrandizing, predicted my untimely demise or, worse, implied that such might be the due reward for my impudence.
I think my cat-baiting father would have gotten a sly smile from the reaction of an anonymous trucker who asked, "Ever heard of a CB?
"I know when one of you guys is coming for miles," he wrote, warning that outside my state I could become "road pizza" for riding like a Californian. He claimed to have seen semis "run bikes off in the grass more then once."
To my surprise, though, the critiques that hit home were also from fellow motorcyclists.
Some noted the bad behavior of "squids," those hyper riders who weave back and forth on screaming "crotch rockets." No wonder the "cagers," those dull people imprisoned in their cars, are up in arms.
David Lasher, who makes a continuous video of his commute from Northridge to Santa Monica, sent me a clip of his own crash when a car veered into his lane seemingly in contradiction of my assertion that a motorist cannot swerve fast enough to hit me as I pass by.
Lasher followed the cowboy mantra and got right back on a replacement Suzuki. Another, John Greenwood, told me of his "deal with God" never to ride again after one bad day ended 20 great years of riding.
By carefully parsing these scary stories, I can show that none directly refute the thesis that motorcycles are safer between lanes than in them, assuming a few guidelines are followed. Lasher, for example, conceded that he shouldn't have been lane-splitting in the HOV transition zone. Some materials I got from motorcycle safety experts convinced me further.
But instead of lining up the reaction as pro versus con, I think the collective lesson I've drawn from 100 emails is that Angelenos are up for a reasoned conversation about bettering the quality of life on L.A.'s freeways, the one place that draws us all together, whether we like it or not.
Sandy Driscoll epitomized this conciliatory effect, writing to me about an encounter on Pico Boulevard.
"A motorcyclist very quickly passed me on the left (lane splitting) gave a quick (and I must say, graceful) arm signal, and moved in front of me," she wrote. "Just as quickly, I saw him move in and out of traffic ahead of me, always with an arm signal. It was like an amazing ballet, and I was mesmerized. Thanks for your article."
"Motorcycling is not for me, but I hope you keep spreading the word about its benefits," wrote Dan Brooks of Santa Barbara. "In the meantime, I'll try to heed your driving advice and will offer a respectful salute rather than a New York salute."
Reading numerous such comments I've done some self-searching about my own behavior on the road.
As a result, I find I've become a more conservative, patient and polite rider in the last couple weeks.
// Reset all variables, and blow the dialog box contents away, mostly for IE. Also done in beforeClose function above. jQuery('p.close a').bind('click', function(){ jQuery(popUpBox).html(''); popUpBox.dialog('destroy'); embedString = ""; return false; });
return false; }
jQuery(document).ready(function(){ jQuery('.media-link').bind('click', function(){ $this = jQuery(this); var type = $this.attr('data-type'); var url = $this.attr('data-url') || ""; var wide = $this.attr('data-width') || "650"; var vid = $this.attr('data-vid') || ""; var link = $this.attr('data-href') || ""; var timecode = $this.attr('data-time') || ""; mediaLink(type, url, wide, vid, link, timecode); }); });
var dcEmbedParse = function (url) { // https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/396423-san-bernardino-bankruptcty-report.html#document/p5/a63666 if (!url) { return false; } var parts = /(\d+)[-\w]+.html#document\/p\d+\/a(\d+)/.exec(url); var docID = parts[1]; var noteID = parts[2]; return [docID, noteID]; }
Scott Brown got a little carried away responding to critics on Twitter over the weekend, which shouldn’t be a big deal, but apparently it is when you’re expected to run for a vacant Senate seat and now everyone is taking his “whatevers” so very, very seriously.
RELATED: Paging Senator Warren: The Case for Her Campaign
After watching his daughter perform on Friday evening, now former Senator Brown sent out a few tweets that might suggest he’d had a few glasses of wine — the late delivery time, the content, and the subsequent deletion seem to have offered some credence to those theories. The Internet grabbed on to Brown’s “Bqhatevwr” tweet, which spawned a trending hashtag and two different parody accounts, because it is clearly hilarious.
RELATED: Scott Brown Backs Out of Final Debate With Elizabeth Warren
But the Internet won’t let a series of tweets from a recently unemployed man go unnoticed, and now pundits continue to go over them with a fine-tooth comb to see what they can glean about Brown’s political future (will it be a run for Senate or Governor?) as we wait to see what shakes out in Massachusetts. Here are your two camps of over-analysis:
RELATED: Update: Scott Brown Made the Debate!
These Tweets Are Serious Business
RELATED: So Who’s Going to Replace John Kerry for Massachusetts Senate?
The Washington Post‘s The Fix writer Aaron Blake thinks these tweets should be taken very seriously, and that Brown “needs to say something — and the sooner the better.” Brown’s silence is only feeding the beast, Blake insists, and because Brown won’t talk about it, everyone is going to keep talking about it. “By deleting the tweets and not saying anything, though, Brown only feeds the robust rumor mill that is Twitter,” Blake writes. “Quite frankly, Twitter matters in the broader political discussion, since what is big on Twitter almost always penetrates into the political dialogue.” Blake seems to argue that the story will die as soon as Brown comes out with a public oops, and that the silence only raises more questions than necessary. Which might be asking more questions than necessary in the first place, but we digress.
RELATED: New Tactic: Blame Elizabeth Warren for Her Ancestors’ Crimes
Scott Brown Is Human Because He Regrets Things He Tweets, Too
The Boston Herald was on this beat before Brown tweeted the now controversial tweets. The former Senator has basically avoided mentioning politics at all on Twitter since losing his seat to Elizabeth Warren last year. Instead, he’s opted to talk about the Patriots’ disappointing playoff performance, his excitement for the Bruins and the Celtics, and that time he went to see Silver Linings Playbook. Talking Points Memo’s Igor Bobic says Brown’s tweeting proves he’s “just like us.” His recent performances have made him “a sort of Twitter celebrity extraordinaire recently,” especially after his escapade on Friday. Bobic even compared him to the infamous Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley. And it was Brown’s regular-guy-in-a-barn-coat image that made helped him win his Senate seat in the first place, so what harm can really come of some silly late-night tweeting? Unless by harm you mean excellent poll numbers.
Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Title Post: Scott Brown’s Twitter Rant Will Not Stop Haunting Him Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/scott-browns-twitter-rant-will-not-stop-haunting-him/ Link To Post : Scott Brown’s Twitter Rant Will Not Stop Haunting Him Rating: 100%
based on 99998 ratings. 5 user reviews. Author: Fluser SeoLink Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rupert Sanders' wife has filed for divorce five months after it was revealed the director had a brief affair with actress Kristen Stewart.
Liberty Ross, Sanders' wife of more than nine years, filed for divorce Friday in Los Angeles citing irreconcilable differences.
Ross' filing cites irreconcilable differences for the couple's breakup. They have two children, an 8-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son.
The model-actress is seeking joint custody of the children and spousal support from her estranged husband, who directed Stewart in "Snow White and the Huntsman."
TMZ, which first reported the filing, stated that Sanders also filed divorce paperwork but it was not available on Monday.
Stewart, who has been dating "Twilight" co-star Robert Pattinson, apologized for her fling with Sanders in July after it was revealed by US Weekly.
Manhattan’s only remaining hospital south of 14th Street, New York Downtown, has found a white knight willing to take over its debt and return it to good health, hospital officials said Monday.
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, one of New York City’s largest academic medical centers, has proposed to take over New York Downtown in a “certificate of need” filed with the State Health Department. The three-page proposal argues that though New York Downtown is projected to have a significant operating loss in 2013, it is vital to Lower Manhattan, including Wall Street, Chinatown and the Lower East Side, especially since the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital after it declared bankruptcy in 2010.
The rescue proposal, which would need the Health Department’s approval, comes at a precarious time for hospitals in the city. Long Island College Hospital, just across the river in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, has been threatened with closing after a failed merger with SUNY Downstate Medical Center, and several other Brooklyn hospitals are considering mergers to stem losses.
New York Downtown has been affiliated with the NewYork-Presbyterian health care system while maintaining separate operations.
“We are looking forward to having them become a sixth campus so the people in that community can continue to have a community hospital that continues to serve them,” Myrna Manners, a spokeswoman for NewYork-Presbyterian, said.
Fred Winters, a spokesman for New York Downtown, declined to comment.
Presbyterian’s proposal emphasized that it would acquire New York Downtown’s debt at no cost to the state, a critical point at a time when the state has shown little interest in bailing out failing hospitals.
The proposal said that if New York Downtown were to close, it would leave more than 300,000 residents of Lower Manhattan, including the financial district, Greenwich Village, SoHo, the Lower East Side and Chinatown, without a community hospital. In addition, it said, 750,000 people work and visit in the area every day, a number that is expected to grow with the construction of 1 World Trade Center and related buildings.
The proposal argues that New York Downtown is essential partly because of its long history of responding to disasters in the city. One of its predecessors was founded as a direct result of the 1920 terrorist bombing outside the J. P. Morgan Building, and the hospital has responded to the 1975 bombing of Fraunces Tavern, the 1993 and 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, and, this month, the crash of a commuter ferry from New Jersey.
Like other fragile hospitals in the city, New York Downtown has shrunk, going to 180 beds, down from the 254 beds it was certified for in 2006, partly because the more affluent residents of Lower Manhattan often go to bigger hospitals for elective care.
The proposal says that half of the emergency department patients at New York Downtown either are on Medicaid, the program for the poor, or are uninsured.
NewYork-Presbyterian would absorb the cost of the hospital’s maternity and neonatal intensive care units, which have been expanding because of demand, but have been operating at a deficit of more than $1 million a year, the proposal said.
