Aichele Officially Out as Chief of Staff, Gromis-Baker In

Governor Tom Corbett announced late Wednesday that Stephen S. Aichele has officially stepped down as chief of staff and will be replaced by Republican strategist Leslie Gromis-Baker.

NPR Plans Buyouts to Cut Staff 10%

In an effort to balance its budget, NPR said on Friday that it would try to reduce its staff about 10 percent through voluntary buyouts.

The announcement was depicted as one of the most substantial staff cutbacks in the history of the public radio organization. An NPR spokeswoman said that if the desired reductions are not achieved through buyouts alone, “involuntary measures will need to be considered.”

An e-mail on Friday to NPR employees said the buyout offers were part of a strategy to “eliminate the deficit and lower ongoing expenses” and that the strategy “also includes investments in our digital future and revenue generating initiatives such as branded events.”

The announcement came about two weeks before the end of NPR’s fiscal year. The organization had been projected to run a deficit of about $6 million this year, though in recent weeks, according to a spokeswoman, that figure has narrowed to $3 million. The deficit is projected to balloon to $6.1 million again in the fiscal year that will begin on Oct. 1. The buyouts and other measures are intended to help NPR break even in the fiscal year that begins in October 2014.

The plans were prepared by a team led by NPR’s chief executive, Gary E. Knell, who announced last month that he would be leaving to take over the National Geographic Society. At the time of the announcement, he said he hoped to present a balanced-budget plan to the NPR board before his departure. The board approved the plan on Thursday.

The board also selected an interim chief executive from within its ranks, Paul G. Haaga Jr. Mr. Haaga, a lawyer who has served on the NPR board since 2011, will succeed Mr. Knell on Sept. 30 and remain in charge until a permanent chief executive is named.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead one of the world’s leading providers of news, music and cultural programming on an interim basis, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on the board and senior leadership team to help this great organization build on its success,” Mr. Haaga said in a statement on Friday.

NPR said it would share more information about the buyouts with staff members next week. The organization says it has about 840 full-time and part-time employees. The last significant cutbacks came in late 2008, when about 8 percent of the staff was laid off. NPR has hired a sizable number of journalists and technicians since then, many of whom work for its expanding online ventures like NPR.org and its apps.

Aichele Officially Out as Chief of Staff, Gromis-Baker In

Governor Tom Corbett announced late Wednesday that Stephen S. Aichele has officially stepped down as chief of staff and will be replaced by Republican strategist Leslie Gromis-Baker.

Aichele to Step Down as Chief of Staff, Sources Say

Stephen S. Aichele is expected to step down as Governor Tom Corbett's chief of staff, according to sources close to the Corbett administration.

Corbett Nominates Ward to Allegheny Bench, Elevates Aichele to Chief of Staff

Governor Tom Corbett said today he would nominate his current chief of staff, William F. Ward, to a vacant seat on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

Jones Group to Cut 8 Percent of Staff and Close 170 Stores

Shares of the company rose 2.7 percent to $13.97 on the New York Stock Exchange after it announced the cuts, which it said would cost it about $40 million to $60 million over the next 15 months.

Jones' U.S. stores have struggled in the face of aggressive competition. Sales during the all-important holiday season fell about 7 percent.

Earlier this year, activist hedge fund firm Barington Capital Group, run by James Mitarotonda, met with Jones Group management and suggested the company cut expenses and focus on its most successful brands, while possibly selling other brands.

In the past, Barington has invested in several retailers, including Dillard's Inc and Warnaco, and pushed for operational and strategic changes. PVH Corp acquired Warnaco in February.

"Barington has been pushing for an in-depth review of the Jones brands and even a culling of some brands," said Damien Park, managing partner at Hedge Fund Solutions, a research and consulting firm focused on shareholder activism. "That was missing in today's announcement."

Barington typically seeks a seat on the boards of many companies in which it invests, Park added.

"Given their past record, it's highly likely they won't rest until they get board representation," he said.

A representative at Barington declined to comment. A Jones Group spokeswoman confirmed that the company met with Barington but declined to comment further.

Jones Group shares are up 23 percent so far this year.

The company estimated first-quarter adjusted earnings of about 15 cents per share, shy of Wall Street expectations for a profit of 25 cents a share. It estimated first-quarter revenue at about $1 billion.

First-quarter gross margins are estimated to fall 90 basis points below the company's own forecasts as a highly promotional environment and an unusually cold weather hurt sales.

Jones said it will cut U.S. retail staff by about 18 percent and corporate, support and supply chain staff by about 2 percent.

The company said upon completion of the restructuring plan, it expects outlet stores comprising a significantly higher percentage of its overall retail locations.

The company is now betting on its wholesale division, where sales to chains like Macy's Inc and Nordstrom Inc contribute about half its revenue.

Jones said it will streamline the wholesale business to focus more on sportswear and also consolidate some distribution and supply chain facilities.

The restructuring is already underway and includes 50 store closures announced in the fourth quarter of 2012, Jones said.

Jones had a total of 594 domestic retail stores at the end of 2012, which include 409 outlet stores. The company had about 6,250 full-time employees and about 5,540 part-time employees as of December 31, according to a regulatory filing.

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore; Editing by Rodney Joyce, Supriya Kurane and David Gregorio)

F.T.C. Staff Prepares Antitrust Case Against Google Over Search

The government’s escalating pursuit of Google is the most far-reaching antitrust investigation of a corporation since the landmark federal case against Microsoft in the late 1990s. The agency’s central focus is whether Google manipulates search results to favor its own products, and makes it harder for competitors and their products to appear prominently on a results page.

The staff recommendation is in a detailed draft memo of more than 100 pages that is being shared with the five F.T.C. commissioners, said two people briefed on the inquiry.

The memo is still being edited and changes could be made, but these are mostly fine-tuning and will not alter the broad conclusions reached after an inquiry that began more than a year ago, said these people, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified.

Google said in a statement on Friday, “We are happy to answer any questions that regulators have about our business.” In the past it has said many times that “competition is a click away.”

The commission is also building a team to take Google to court, if it comes to that. Last spring, it hired a seasoned litigator to help with the case, Beth A. Wilkinson, a partner in the firm Paul, Weiss in Washington. In a further sign that it means business, last week it brought on a well-known economist as a consultant: Richard Gilbert of the University of California, Berkeley.

The F.T.C. staff memo does not mean that the government will sue Google for antitrust violations. Next, the vote of three of the five F.T.C. commissioners would be required. And each step is a further prod for Google to make concessions to reach a settlement before going to court. Last month, Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the F.T.C., said a final decision on whether to sue Google would be made before the end of this year.

The Google investigation echoes the Microsoft case in a basic way. Google, like Microsoft in the personal computer industry, has drawn complaints from rivals and antitrust regulators as it has expanded its business beyond its dominant product, search and search advertising. Google has aggressively built off this main business to fields including online commerce and smartphone software.

As it expands its empire, Google takes on new competitors and brings formidable resources. Rivals may suffer, Google says, but the company is improving its products and services, benefiting consumers and the economy.

The American inquiry is moving in tandem with a major antitrust investigation in Europe. The European authorities are pressing ahead and seeking changes in Google’s behavior.

Speaking in New York last month, Joaquín Almunia, the European Union’s competition commissioner, pointed to antitrust regulators’ concerns that Google is “using its dominance in online search to foreclose rival specialized search engines and search advertisers.”

Google is also being investigated by the attorneys general of six states: Texas, Ohio, New York, California, Oklahoma and Mississippi.

Given the momentum of the investigations, antitrust experts say, the F.T.C. staff recommendation was to some extent expected.

The F.T.C. investigators have looked at a wide range of Google’s business practices, according to companies that have been questioned and received subpoenas from the agency.

The areas of inquiry include accusations of manipulating the search results it displays to favor Google commerce services it has developed like Google Shopping for buying goods and Google Places for advertising local restaurants and businesses. In the civilian subpoenas, the F.T.C. calls this “preferencing.”

The investigators are also looking into whether Google’s automated advertising marketplace, AdWords, discriminates against advertisers from competing online commerce services like comparison shopping sites and consumer review Web sites.

Claire Cain Miller and Edward Wyatt contributed reporting.

Corbett Nominates Ward to Allegheny Bench, Elevates Aichele to Chief of Staff

Governor Tom Corbett said today he would nominate his current chief of staff, William F. Ward, to a vacant seat on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

Corbett Nominates Ward to Allegheny Bench, Elevates Aichele to Chief of Staff

Governor Tom Corbett said today he would nominate his current chief of staff, William F. Ward, to a vacant seat on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.