Nation roundup for June 7

VA chief: Retaliation will not be tolerated

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Investigators said they are examining allegations that supervisors in the veterans’ health system retaliated against 37 employees who complained about practices such as months-long delays in scheduling of appointments, and the acting head of the sprawling system responded Friday that such reprisals would not be tolerated.

“I think that is wrong. It is absolutely unacceptable,” Acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson said at a news conference Friday following a visit to a San Antonio VA facility.

“There have been questions raised about intimidation or even retaliation. There is a law that forbids that, and we’ll follow the law,” Gibson said.

His comments came after the Office of Special Counsel said it was looking into possible retaliation against 37 employees of the VA who filed so-called “whistleblower” complaints. The office is an independent watchdog separate from the VA which looks into whistleblower complaints from across the federal government.

The office said it had blocked disciplinary actions against three VA employees so far, including one who was suspended for seven days after complaining to the VA’s inspector general about improper scheduling.

The agency also blocked a 30-day suspension without pay for another VA employee who reported inappropriate use of patient restraints and blocked demotion of a third employee who reported mishandling of patient care funds.

The complaints about retaliation against whistleblowers came from 28 VA facilities in 18 states and Puerto Rico, the special counsel’s office said Friday. About half the 37 complaints have come in the last two months, or after allegations about treatment delays of up to three months for veterans and secret waiting lists first surfaced.

The disclosures have set off a furor in Washington, forcing the resignation of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki last week, and prompting Congress to consider legislation to make it easier for treatment of veterans outside the government-funded VA.

Gibson, who has stepped in as acting secretary, apologized on Friday for the failures and said he is doing everything he can to fix the system.

Billionaire aims to help climate-change victims

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — An environmentalist billionaire who has pledged to spend tens of millions of dollars targeting Republicans who reject climate change announced Friday that he is now creating a fund to help victims of extreme weather disasters, starting with wildfires in the American West.

Tom Steyer and his wife, Kat Taylor, launched the Climate Disaster Relief Fund with profits from withdrawing all of the couple’s investments in Kinder Morgan, one of the largest energy companies in North America. Steyer’s NextGen Climate confirmed that the couple made an initial contribution of $2 million.

Climate change leads to warming temperatures, drought and insect outbreaks, which exacerbate costly wildfires, Steyer said in a statement.

“Climate change is the defining issue of our generation,” he said. “We can no longer afford to wait to address this very real threat.”

A retired hedge-fund manager and longtime Democratic donor, Steyer has pledged to spend up to $100 million this year in political campaigns nationwide to shape climate policy — half his money and the rest raised from likeminded donors. The money will be used to back Democrats and attack Republicans running for Senate in New Hampshire, Iowa, Colorado and Michigan, and for governor in Pennsylvania, Florida and Maine.

Steyer cited studies that predict climate change could double the threat of wildfires in the southern Rockies and increase that threat by 74 percent in California.

Firefighters and nurses on the front lines of these disasters will be among the first to receive money from Steyer’s fund, which will be managed by the San Francisco Foundation. The fund will also provide relief to victims of oil spills, droughts, floods and other disasters related to extreme weather or climate change, Steyer said.

Stock market heads higher after jobs report

NEW YORK (AP) — News that U.S. employers added workers at a good clip for the fourth straight month helped send the stock market higher Friday.

The Standard &Poor’s 500 index notched another record high, its eighth in the past 10 days. For the week, the index climbed 1.3 percent, the third straight in which it has posted solid gains.

Before the market opened, the Labor Department said employers added 217,000 jobs to their payrolls in May, in the range of what economists had expected. The unemployment rate stayed put at 6.3 percent. Wall Street forecasters had expected it to inch up.

“It’s another positive sign, along with retail sales, housing and everything else we’ve been seeing,” said JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade. “There’s nothing in this report to slow this market down, but all everyone has wanted to talk about is why the market is going to fall.”

The S&P 500 index gained 8.98 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 1,949.44.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 88.17 points, also 0.5 percent, to 16,924.28, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 25.17 points, 0.6 percent, to 4,321.40.

Major indexes began a steady climb at the start of the day then spent the afternoon sitting tight. Industrial and energy companies, whose success often hinges on economic growth, led seven of the 10 sectors in the index higher.

Investor began to feel more optimistic earlier in the week on signs that the U.S. economy had shaken off a rough winter and on big steps by the European Central Bank to revive the region’s economy.

Other reports revealed a rise in manufacturing growth in the world’s two largest economies, U.S. and China. A survey of the U.S. service industry, which employs roughly nine out of every ten workers, showed an increase in new orders, production and hiring.

Even so, many investors question the stock market’s slow and steady rise. There hasn’t been a “correction,” Wall Street-speak for a drop of 10 percent or more, since August 2011. The market is starting to get expensive compared with the historical average. Investors are currently paying $17 for every $1 in earnings for companies in the S&P 500 index, up from the historical average around $15.

Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners, a wealth-management firm, said he wouldn’t be surprised to see the market drop in the summer months, especially if companies turn in dismal second-quarter results.

“The stock market isn’t all that expensive right now,” Pavlik said, “but I just don’t see the earnings growth. That’s why I think second-quarter earnings will be important.”

Arista Networks soared in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Arista raised $225 million from investors in its initial public offering late Thursday, selling more than five million shares at a price of $43 each. The company makes networking equipment for cloud computing, and had reportedly delayed its IPO after tech stocks took a beating in April.

Arista’s stock jumped an even $12, or 28 percent, to $55.

Gap rose 87 cents, or 2 percent, to $42.06. After the market closed Thursday, Gap reported higher sales in May thanks to gains in its Banana Republic and Old Navy brands. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 1 percent, much better than analysts’ forecasts.

One loser was Hertz, which slumped after the car-rental company said in a regulatory filing that it needs to correct its financial results for the past three years because of accounting errors. Hertz Global Holdings dropped $2.76, or 9 percent, to $27.73.

In overseas markets, Germany’s main stock index, the DAX, rose 0.4 percent to a record high. Both France’s CAC 40 and Britain’s FTSE 100 closed with gains of 0.7 percent

In the market for U.S. government bonds, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was unchanged from late Thursday at 2.59 percent. The price of oil rose 18 cents to $102.66 a barrel.