Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit

NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents of the city's plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks have asked a judge to delay enforcement of it, saying beverage makers and sellers shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.

With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups want to put it on hold at least until there's a ruling on their lawsuit seeking to block it altogether. The measure would bar many eateries from selling high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces.

"It would be a tremendous waste of expense, time, and effort for our members to incur all of the harm and costs associated with the ban if this court decides that the ban is illegal," Chong Sik Le, president of the New York Korean-American Grocers Association, said in court papers filed Friday.

City lawyers are fighting the lawsuit and have said they'll oppose postponing the restriction, which the city Board of Health approved in September.

"We think that there's been time to comply," a city lawyer, Thomas Merrill, said after the critics indicated last month that they planned to seek a delay. Merrill noted that the city has said it won't seek fines until June.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other city officials see the first-of-its-kind limit as a coup for public health. The city's obesity rate is rising, and studies have linked sugary drinks to weight gain, they note.

"This is the biggest step a city has taken to curb obesity," Bloomberg said when the measure passed.

Soda makers and other critics view the rule as an unwarranted intrusion into people's dietary choices and an unfair, uneven burden on business. The restriction won't apply at supermarkets and many convenience stores because the city doesn't regulate them.

While the dispute plays out in court, "the impacted businesses would like some more certainty on when and how they might need to adjust operations," American Beverage Industry spokesman Christopher Gindlesperger said Tuesday.

Those adjustments are expected to cost the association's members about $600,000 in labeling and other expenses for bottles, Vice President Mike Redman said in court papers. Reconfiguring "16-ounce" cups that are actually made slightly bigger, to leave room at the top, is expected to take cup manufacturers three months to a year and cost them anywhere from more than $100,000 to several millions of dollars, Foodservice Packaging Institute President Lynn Dyer said in court documents.

Movie theaters, meanwhile, are concerned because beverages account for more than 20 percent of their overall profits and about 98 percent of soda sales are in containers greater than 16 ounces, according to Robert Sunshine, executive director of the National Association of Theatre Owners of New York State.

___

Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz

Read More..

Wall Street bounces back, Dow briefly passes 14,000

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday, with the Dow rising above 14,000, as earnings came in stronger than expected and investors sought bargains a day after the market's biggest drop since November.

Dell Inc's stock rose after the world's No. 3 computer maker agreed to be taken private in a $24.4 billion deal, the largest leveraged buyout since the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The stock gained 0.8 percent to $13.39 after a delayed open.

Major stock indexes fell about 1 percent in Monday's selloff, pressured by renewed worries over the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis. Still, equities have been strong performers recently, with the benchmark S&P 500 index up about 5 percent for 2013.

Wall Street has advanced on strong fourth-quarter earnings and signs of improved economic growth, suggesting the market's longer-term trend remains higher.

"Yesterday was the first real down day of the year, which shows that we are in this strong bull market. Today we are back to the normal pattern. People are realizing that we've overreacted to Europe yesterday," said Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners in New York.

"Money in the euro, euro bonds and euro stocks are coming back to the good, old U.S. stock market and 1,545 (on the S&P 500) is the short-term target, probably in the first half of the year."

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 110.50 points, or 0.80 percent, at 13,990.58 after rising as high as 14,006. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 13.42 points, or 0.90 percent, at 1,509.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 30.96 points, or 0.99 percent, at 3,162.13.

Archer Daniels Midland reported revenue and adjusted fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations, boosted by strong global demand for oilseeds. Shares rose 3.4 percent to $29.40.

Estée Lauder Cos Inc reported a higher quarterly profit on Tuesday and raised its full-year profit forecast. The stock rose to a new 52-week high of $66.07 earlier but traded at around $64 in afternoon.

According to Thomson Reuters data, of the 53 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings thus far, 69 percent have beaten profit expectations, over the 62 percent average since 1994 and the 65 percent average over the past four quarters.

Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to rise 4.5 percent, according to the data, above the 1.9 percent forecast at the start of earnings season but well below the 9.9 percent forecast on October 1.

The S&P is less than 5 percent away from its all-time intraday high of 1,576.09, reached in October 2011.

McGraw-Hill slumped 5.4 percent to $47.55 after the Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit against it seeking $5 billion over mortgage bond ratings. Standard & Poor's, a McGraw Hill unit, was accused of inflated ratings and understated risks out of a desire to gain more business from investment banks.

The stock has dropped more than 20 percent over the past two days.

U.S. shares of BP Plc rose 1.1 percent to $44.07 after the company reported earnings that beat expectations and said underlying financial momentum would be "strongly evident" by 2014.

The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index was 55.2 in January, as expected and down slightly from the previous month.

(Reporting By Angela Moon; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Read More..

The Lede Blog: North Korean Propaganda Video Uses "Call of Duty" and "We Are the World" to Imagine a Brighter World, Without Manhattan

When aliens strike, the climate goes berserk, the Russians invade, an asteroid threatens the Earth, New York City is often the first place to be destroyed. Hollywood has long used the city’s iconic skyline to demonstrate what destruction looks like in action movies and video games. It seems that North Korea, in seeking to show how an assault on America would play out, also has Manhattan squarely in its crosshairs.

A new propaganda video, posted Sunday on a Web site and a YouTube channel that serve as outlets for North Korean state media, shows a computer-animated representation of Lower Manhattan in flames as bombs rain down.

A video posted on a North Korean YouTube channel this week features images of Manhattan in flames.

As a blogger for Kotaku reports, the attack on Manhattan is lifted straight from the video game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” and unfolds as a sweeping instrumental version of “We Are the World” plays in the background.

The cartoonish propaganda clip is one of a slew of recent videos that have been released by North Korea to promote the country’s missile program. Although the video might make some observers laugh, the tension over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and missile program is deadly serious.

The United Nations Security Council voted on Jan. 22 to tighten sanctions against North Korea as punishment for a Dec. 12 rocket launch. In response, the North vowed to expand its nuclear program “both quantitatively and qualitatively” and conduct a third nuclear test at a “higher level.”

As our colleagues David Sanger and William Broad reported after December’s successful missile launch by North Korea, there is no evidence that the country currently has technology that can threaten the continental United States – much less New York.

Administration officials said that while the launching was successful — and advanced the North’s missile program — it was hardly a threat to the United States, despite a warning by Robert M. Gates in 2011, when he was secretary of defense, that the North would have a missile capable of reaching the United States by 2016.

The video begins with an image of a man in blue pajamas sleeping. He recounts a dream in words that appear on the screen. “I had a dream last night, a dream of soaring into space on board our Unha-9 rocket,” the man says.

Unha, Korean for galaxy, is the name of the North Korean missile series. The latest one, launched in December, was the Unha-3. So the dreamer is imagining a future, more advanced version of the rocket. After first showing footage of a real rocket launch, the video shifts to animation.

“Our Kwangmyongsong-21 space craft got separated from the rocket and traveled through space,” he says.

Once again, the dream appears to show the advances North Korea hopes to make in the years to come. In December, the satellite launched by the North was rocket number 3. By the time the series reaches 21 in the man’s dream, the rocket looks like the American space shuttle. The animation at that point shows the space craft circling the globe in search of its target, the music from “We are the World” building as it moves closer to the United States.

“I see stars and the green Earth. I also see a unified Korea.” These words appear on screen as the video moves from animation back to real footage of people waving flags, in particular, a “Korea-is-one” flag. The video shows a unified, not divided, Korean Peninsula in blue, a symbol of Korean reunification.

Then the video shows an overhead image of New York draped in the American flag. “Meanwhile, I see black smoke rising somewhere in America,” the dreaming man says. “It appears that the headquarters of evil, which has had a habit of using force and unilateralism and committing wars of aggression, is going up in flames it itself has ignited.”

At this point in the video, the computer-animated scene copied from “Call of Duty” show Lower Manhattan in flames.

“Just imagine riding in a Korean space ship. One day, my dream will come true,” the narrator says. “No matter how hard the imperialists try to isolate and stifle us, they will not stop our people’s path toward our final victory of achieving a unified, strong and prosperous Korea.”

Read More..

EU wants to tackle money laundering on gaming sites

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union may try to counter money laundering through online betting sites by extending legislation beyond casinos to include Internet gambling.

The executive European Commission formally proposed on Tuesday to include online gaming in EU-wide legislation that seeks to combat fraud. It could become law within two years if approved by the EU’s 27 member countries.

The Commission said by currently only monitoring casinos, “other areas of gambling (are) vulnerable to misuse by criminals”.

The Commission also proposed reducing the permitted maximum for cash payments for goods and services to 7,500 euros ($ 10,200) from 15,000 euros and submitting shops and traders to a series of checks if they make or receive large payments.

About $ 1.6 trillion was laundered worldwide in 2009 – about 4 percent of the world’s economic output, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Online gambling is growing in popularity and companies such as Britain’s largest bookmaker, William Hill, and rivals SportingBet and Stanleybet, have benefited from the rise in demand, particularly for betting on sporting events.

But gaming firms have also protested against stricter regulation, with some countries such as Germany having increased controls on advertising, as well as limiting the amounts customers can gamble and increasing taxes on betting.

(Reporting by Robin Emmott; editing by Rex Merrifield)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: EU wants to tackle money laundering on gaming sites
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/eu-wants-to-tackle-money-laundering-on-gaming-sites/
Link To Post : EU wants to tackle money laundering on gaming sites
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

Read More..

Molly Sims Flaunts Fab Post-Baby Body in Bikini

By Shanelle Rein-Olowokere

02/04/2013 at 12:50 PM EST

Well, that was fast! Just seven months after welcoming son Brooks, Molly Sims posted a photo of her svelte body in a black-two piece bathing suit while on vacation in Mexico Saturday with her girlfriends.

"Finally bikini ready & pulling out those Sports Illustrated swimsuit poses, just in time for my bestie Lauren's big bday!" she Tweeted.

Although sad about leaving her baby boy at home for the first time, the new mom managed to have a good time celebrating her close pal at the Viceroy Riviera Maya resort.

"Girls weekend, so fun! Love the sun. Love the beach," the model also Tweeted. "Best girlfriends getaway ever! Viva Mexico ... OLE!"

While not in a rush to shed the weight she gained during her pregnancy, Sims did enlist fitness trainer Tracy Anderson to help her get back to her pre-baby shape. But that doesn't mean it was an easy process.

"You have to think about a baby first, and you have to get off all of that fat and weight – and that's a whole thing on its own. It's literally the hardest thing I've ever done," she told PEOPLE recently.

Read More..

Bullying study: It does get better for gay teens

CHICAGO (AP) — It really does get better for gay and bisexual teens when it comes to being bullied, although young gay men have it worse than their lesbian peers, according to the first long-term scientific evidence on how the problem changes over time.

The seven-year study involved more than 4,000 teens in England who were questioned yearly through 2010, until they were 19 and 20 years old. At the start, just over half of the 187 gay, lesbian and bisexual teens said they had been bullied; by 2010 that dropped to 9 percent of gay and bisexual boys and 6 percent of lesbian and bisexual girls.

The researchers said the same results likely would be found in the United States.

In both countries, a "sea change" in cultural acceptance of gays and growing intolerance for bullying occurred during the study years, which partly explains the results, said study co-author Ian Rivers, a psychologist and professor of human development at Brunel University in London.

That includes a government mandate in England that schools work to prevent bullying, and changes in the United States permitting same-sex marriage in several states.

In 2010, syndicated columnist Dan Savage launched the "It Gets Better" video project to encourage bullied gay teens. It was prompted by widely publicized suicides of young gays, and includes videos from politicians and celebrities.

"Bullying tends to decline with age regardless of sexual orientation and gender," and the study confirms that, said co-author Joseph Robinson, a researcher and assistant professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. "In absolute terms, this would suggest that yes, it gets better."

The study appears online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, said the results mirror surveys by her anti-bullying advocacy group that show bullying is more common in U.S. middle schools than in high schools.

But the researchers said their results show the situation is more nuanced for young gay men.

In the first years of the study, gay boys and girls were almost twice as likely to be bullied as their straight peers. By the last year, bullying dropped overall and was at about the same level for lesbians and straight girls. But the difference between men got worse by ages 19 and 20, with gay young men almost four times more likely than their straight peers to be bullied.

The mixed results for young gay men may reflect the fact that masculine tendencies in girls and women are more culturally acceptable than femininity in boys and men, Robinson said.

Savage, who was not involved in the study, agreed.

"A lot of the disgust that people feel when you bring up homosexuality ... centers around gay male sexuality," Savage said. "There's more of a comfort level" around gay women, he said.

Kendall Johnson, 21, a junior theater major at the University of Illinois, said he was bullied for being gay in high school, mostly when he brought boyfriends to school dances or football games.

"One year at prom, I had a guy tell us that we were disgusting and he didn't want to see us dancing anymore," Johnson said. A football player and the president of the drama club intervened on his behalf, he recalled.

Johnson hasn't been bullied in college, but he said that's partly because he hangs out with the theater crowd and avoids the fraternity scene. Still, he agreed, that it generally gets better for gays as they mature.

"As you grow older, you become more accepting of yourself," Johnson said.

___

Online:

Pediatrics: http://www.pediatrics.org

It Gets Better: http://www.itgetsbetter.org

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

Read More..

Wall Street retreats, Nasdaq and S&P 500 off 1 percent

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks declined on Monday after a disappointing report on factory orders, retreating from gains in the prior session that left the S&P 500 at a five-year high and the Dow above 14,000.

Investors also grew wary on political uncertainty in the euro zone, leading to a sharp rise in Spanish government bond yields.

Chevron and Wal-Mart were among the biggest drags on the Dow after analyst downgrades.

"S&P technicals are at overbought levels, and risk off harbingers, such as Spanish 10-year yields, which are much more difficult for central bankers to tame, have bounced off recent lows," said Peter Cecchini, managing director at New York-based Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.

Spanish and Italian bond yields rose, renewing worries about the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis. Spain's prime minister faced calls to resign over a corruption scandal, while a probe of alleged misconduct involving an Italian bank were expected to widen three weeks before a national election.

The benchmark S&P 500 rose on Friday, leaving it roughly 60 points away from its all-time intraday high of 1,576.09, while the Dow's march above 14,000 was the highest for the index since October 2007.

The S&P index <.spx> is up 5.5 percent for the year, with nearly half of the gains coming after U.S. legislators sidestepped temporarily the "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and spending cuts.

Data from the Commerce Department showed overall factory orders rose 1.8 percent during the month, below economists' expectations. The report said capital goods orders outside of the defense and aircraft industries, edged 0.3 percent lower in December. The category is seen as a gauge of U.S. business investment plans.

Economic data has pointed to a modest U.S. recovery, but the data has not been strong enough to upset investor expectations the Federal Reserve will continue its stimulus policy that has buoyed stocks.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> dropped 134.39 points, or 0.96 percent, to 13,875.40. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> lost 15.16 points, or 1.00 percent, to 1,498.01. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> fell 39.32 points, or 1.24 percent, to 3,139.77.

Chevron Corp dipped 1.1 percent to $115.23 after UBS cut its rating to neutral, while Wal-Mart Stores Inc shed 1.7 percent to $69.26 after JP Morgan lowered its rating on the world's largest retailer and reduced its price target.

Oracle Corp lost 3 percent to $35.09 after the company agreed to buy network gear maker Acme Packet Inc for about $1.9 billion. Acme Packet shares surged 22.2 percent to $29.24.

Shares of household products company Clorox rose 1.8 percent to $80.53 after the company's quarterly profit beat analysts' estimates as a severe flu season boosted sales of disinfecting wipes.

Earnings are due from Anadarko Petroleum Corp and Yum! Brands Inc , owner of fast-food chains, after the closing bell.

According to Thomson Reuters data, of the 256 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings through Monday morning, 68.4 percent have reported earnings above analyst expectations compared with the 62 percent average since 1994 and the 65 percent average over the past four quarters.

S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings are expected to rise 4.4 percent, according to the data. That estimate is above the 1.9 percent forecast at the start of earnings season, but well below the 9.9 percent fourth-quarter earnings forecast on October 1.

Herbalife Ltd slumped 4.5 percent to $33.46 after The New York Post reported the seller of weight loss products is facing a probe by the Federal Trade Commission.

(Reporting By Angela Moon; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Read More..

BlackBerry shares jump after Bernstein upgrades stock

TORONTO (Reuters) – Shares of BlackBerry rose more than 8 percent in on Monday after Bernstein Research said it was upgrading the stock to “outperform” after last week’s launch of the company’s new line of BlackBerry 10 smartphones.

The brokerage firm, which has not had an “outperform” rating on the stock for more than three years, also lifted its price target to $ 22 from $ 12, saying it has grown much more confident about the success of the smartphones, powered by the new BlackBerry 10 operating system.

Shares of BlackBerry, which is in the process of changing its legal name from Research In Motion, rose 8.9 percent to $ 14.18 in early Nasdaq trading. BlackBerry’s Toronto-listed shares were up 9.1 percent at C$ 14.21 at 10:30 EST.

The stock began trading under the “BBRY” symbol on Nasdaq on Monday and under the “BB” symbol on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The stock used to trade as “RIMM” on the Nasdaq and “RIM” on the TSX.

“We upgrade BlackBerry to outperform today as we believe BB 10 is set for a strong launch,” Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu said in a note to clients. “Even if the long-term prospects for the platform are very uncertain, we believe all is in place for BlackBerry 10 to enjoy a great debut.”

BlackBerry, a one-time pioneer in the smartphone industry, has ceded market share in recent years to the likes of Apple’s iPhone, Samsung’s Galaxy line and a slew of devices powered by Google Inc’s market-leading Android operating system.

In a make-or-break move to regain market share and return to profit, BlackBerry introduced its new line of smartphones to much fanfare on Wednesday. However, its stock fell more than 10 percent following the launch as investors were disappointed that the new smartphones will only go on sale in mid-March in the crucial U.S. market.

“The strength of this launch is overlooked by investors, creating strong opportunity to buy BlackBerry,” said Ferragu, adding that he expects strong initial corporate demand for the new devices.

“We believe BlackBerry should trade in the $ 20-$ 25 range once a decent launch for Blackberry 10 and a stabilized trajectory for fiscal year 2014 are priced in,” he said.

BlackBerry unveiled both a touch-screen device and a physical-keyboard device last week. While the traditional keyboard model only goes on sale in April, the touch-screen device is already on sale in the United Kingdom and hits store shelves in Canada this week.

Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry said the U.S. launch was delayed until mid-March because U.S. wireless carriers have a longer testing phase than carriers in other countries. The devices, which are set to retail for C$ 599 ($ 600) in Canada, are currently attracting bids of more than $ 1,000 each on auction site ebay.com.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn; and Peter Galloway)

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: BlackBerry shares jump after Bernstein upgrades stock
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/blackberry-shares-jump-after-bernstein-upgrades-stock/
Link To Post : BlackBerry shares jump after Bernstein upgrades stock
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

Read More..

Bradley Cooper: Awards Season 'Just Gets Crazier'

By Mary Green

02/03/2013 at 12:50 PM EST

The key to surviving awards season? Being able to steal a moment of sleep anywhere and a good sense of humor.

In the past two weeks, Bradley Cooper, the Oscar-nominated star of Silver Linings Playbook, has flown from L.A. to Madrid to Paris to Rome to Manchester to Tokyo, L.A. again, New York, Washington D.C., New York and then finally L.A. (third time's the charm).

But on the road, Cooper tells PEOPLE his most poignant stop this week was Thursday's talk with military veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It was the first time he has visited the hospital, but has traveled to deployed soldiers three times with the USO. "A lot of vets have reached out saying they can really identify with Pat Solitano (his Silver Linings character). So we screened the movie last night – we thought 50 people would attend, and there were 200! We spent three hours there talking with them."

"We made this movie knowing it was personal for [director] David [O. Russell], but it's also become personal for so many people who have watched the movie."

While he was in the air, the rumor mill kicked into high gear. Cooper quips, "It's been quite a week. Apparently I'm shirtless while Soul Cycling and then high-flying after being heart-broken by a model who I send pictures of my feet, or she sends pictures of her feet to me. It's just unbelievable."

Cooper is referring to two separate reports, one that he ripped off his shirt after a SoulCycle class in Manhattan, causing a frenzy among cyclers. At the same time, word spread that he was allegedly dumped by model Laura Simpson because he was obsessed with her feet.

The truth? "The two things that are true about that are: I love Soul Cycle. But I would smack a guy if he took his shirt off at the end and then ran around saying, 'get after it.'"

And then the girl he did not date: "She is a friend of Jen's (Lawrence, costar and fellow Oscar nominee) and we'd done the app Draw Something. We did a couple of Draw Somethings, a half a year ago, that's it."

So, did they draw any feet? He laughs, responding, "We'll, only if BIGFOOT was a clue."

With three more weeks until the Oscars, Cooper is just focused on enjoying the ride, adding, "It just gets crazier and crazier."

Cooper (right) visits with James Pierce (center) and Mike Harrell at Walter Reed

Read More..

New rules aim to get rid of junk foods in schools

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most candy, high-calorie drinks and greasy meals could soon be on a food blacklist in the nation's schools.

For the first time, the government is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful.

Under the new rules the Agriculture Department proposed Friday, foods like fatty chips, snack cakes, nachos and mozzarella sticks would be taken out of lunch lines and vending machines. In their place would be foods like baked chips, trail mix, diet sodas, lower-calorie sports drinks and low-fat hamburgers.

The rules, required under a child nutrition law passed by Congress in 2010, are part of the government's effort to combat childhood obesity. While many schools already have improved their lunch menus and vending machine choices, others still are selling high-fat, high-calorie foods.

Under the proposal, the Agriculture Department would set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on almost all foods sold in schools. Current standards already regulate the nutritional content of school breakfasts and lunches that are subsidized by the federal government, but most lunchrooms also have "a la carte" lines that sell other foods. Food sold through vending machines and in other ways outside the lunchroom has never before been federally regulated.

"Parents and teachers work hard to instill healthy eating habits in our kids, and these efforts should be supported when kids walk through the schoolhouse door," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

Most snacks sold in school would have to have less than 200 calories. Elementary and middle schools could sell only water, low-fat milk or 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice. High schools could sell some sports drinks, diet sodas and iced teas, but the calories would be limited. Drinks would be limited to 12-ounce portions in middle schools and to 8-ounce portions in elementary schools.

The standards will cover vending machines, the "a la carte" lunch lines, snack bars and any other foods regularly sold around school. They would not apply to in-school fundraisers or bake sales, though states have the power to regulate them. The new guidelines also would not apply to after-school concessions at school games or theater events, goodies brought from home for classroom celebrations, or anything students bring for their own personal consumption.

The new rules are the latest in a long list of changes designed to make foods served in schools more healthful and accessible. Nutritional guidelines for the subsidized lunches were revised last year and put in place last fall. The 2010 child nutrition law also provided more money for schools to serve free and reduced-cost lunches and required more meals to be served to hungry kids.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has been working for two decades to take junk foods out of schools. He calls the availability of unhealthful foods around campus a "loophole" that undermines the taxpayer money that helps pay for the healthier subsidized lunches.

"USDA's proposed nutrition standards are a critical step in closing that loophole and in ensuring that our schools are places that nurture not just the minds of American children but their bodies as well," Harkin said.

Last year's rules faced criticism from some conservatives, including some Republicans in Congress, who said the government shouldn't be telling kids what to eat. Mindful of that backlash, the Agriculture Department exempted in-school fundraisers from federal regulation and proposed different options for some parts of the rule, including the calorie limits for drinks in high schools, which would be limited to either 60 calories or 75 calories in a 12-ounce portion.

The department also has shown a willingness to work with schools to resolve complaints that some new requirements are hard to meet. Last year, for example, the government relaxed some limits on meats and grains in subsidized lunches after school nutritionists said they weren't working.

Schools, the food industry, interest groups and other critics or supporters of the new proposal will have 60 days to comment and suggest changes. A final rule could be in place as soon as the 2014 school year.

Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said surveys by her organization show that most parents want changes in the lunchroom.

"Parents aren't going to have to worry that kids are using their lunch money to buy candy bars and a Gatorade instead of a healthy school lunch," she said.

The food industry has been onboard with many of the changes, and several companies worked with Congress on the child nutrition law two years ago. Major beverage companies have already agreed to take the most caloric sodas out of schools. But those same companies, including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, also sell many of the non-soda options, like sports drinks, and have lobbied to keep them in vending machines.

A spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association, which represents the soda companies, says they already have greatly reduced the number of calories that kids are consuming at school by pulling out the high-calorie sodas.

___

Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

Read More..