Curiosity about the number of people unemployed during the Great Depression inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.
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What was the highest number of unemployed people during the Depression of the 1930s?

Helen Schaible
Bismarck, N.D.
___

The unemployment rate spiked at 24.9 percent in 1933. The number of out of work people swelled to 12.8 million, while a total of 38.8 million people had jobs.

The way the government measured employment was different back then. For instance, figures are based on workers 14 years of age and older. Today’s employment figures are based on workers 16 years and older.

As of March, 138.9 million people were employed, while 15 million were without jobs. The unemployment rate stands at 9.7 percent, close to its highest levels since the early 1980s. The labor force, however, has tripled since 1933. That’s why the unemployment rate is lower now than back then – even though there are more people out of work.

Jeannine Aversa
AP Economics Writer
Washington

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Illegal/Undocumented immigration is a very hot topic in the news. Many who are seen as “anti-immigrant” say they would be supportive if people just immigrated into the U.S. legally. What is the process for a laborer to immigrate legally into the U.S.?

Josef Sifuentes
Houston
___

A worker wanting to come to the U.S. legally is dependent on an employer wanting that worker, and applying for temporary workers to fill jobs that can’t be filled by qualified American workers.

There are temporary worker programs for professionals and nonprofessionals. Laborers would generally come to the U.S. with an H-2A visa for temporary or seasonal agricultural workers, or a H-2B visa for temporary nonagricultural workers, such as landscaping, construction, cleaning, and restaurant and hotel jobs.

There is no limit on H-2A visas, which are not widely used. H-2B visas are limited to 66,000 a year.

More detailed information about the process for getting these visas can be found on the temporary workers page of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site: http://tinyurl.com/yfaxpfa

Suzanne Gamboa
Associated Press Writer
Washington

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Several times I thought a reporter mentioned that there was an El Nino this year. However, it was colder than normal in the Midwest and East in February and March. In previous El Nino years, I thought it was usually warm and dry in the winter and spring. Is there an El Nino?

Dan Punzak
Springfield, Ill.
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A moderate-to-strong El Nino is under way and is expected to continue through spring. In the past, El Ninos have been associated with heavy East Coast snowstorms but El Nino winters often tend to be mild over Western Canada and much of the northern United States.

This year, however, there was a coconspirator, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s CSI (as in Climate Scene Investigators).

A major factor this year was the North Atlantic Oscillation, a fluctuating air-pressure pattern that alternatively strengthens or blocks the storm-steering jet stream over North America.

This winter the NAO produced a massive block of high pressure over Greenland that caused the jet stream to flow further south than usual bringing along cold weather from the north. NOAA reports that it’s an unusual winter circulation pattern, but one that has happened before. This situation was also implicated in severe winters over Europe and Russia in the early 1940s that helped turn the tide of World War II.

Randolph E. Schmid
AP Science Writer
Washington

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Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

So much of what Americans buy and use are made outside the nation’s borders. Is that true for the prescriptions you pick up from the drugstore?

One person’s curiosity about how to determine the origins of prescription drugs inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

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Does the AP have news bureaus in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan? If so, how many reporters?

Tracy Burris
Bellevue, Wash.
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The AP maintains significant bureaus in all three places. They cover some of the most important and dangerous news in the world, in print, photos and video, and the AP has committed large sums to provide the most immediate and comprehensive news possible from these hotspots while striving always to keep our staffs there safe.

We avoid giving exact numbers of our personnel in different locations for strategic and security reasons, but in each of these three countries we have a core of permanent international staffers working alongside trained, knowledgeable and well-connected local journalists.

The Kabul bureau is now led by veteran AP Bureau Chief Robert H. Reid, who used to head the Baghdad bureau. Reid functions as news director for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The AP is the only major news organization to maintain a large contingent of multi-format journalists in Afghanistan without interruption since the Afghan war started in 2001. We covered the conflict at a time when many organizations were focused only on Iraq.

AP was present in Iraq before the start of the war in 2003 but has expanded dramatically since then. Our bureau was inside the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad until 2006. We moved to a different location after a deadly car bomb attack there at the end of 2005. We since have moved again. Often people ask, “Are you in the Green Zone?” The answer is no, we are in a normal part of Baghdad on a secure street. The bureau is currently led by AP Baghdad Bureau Chief Rebecca Santana.

In Islamabad, which has been a major news hub for the AP for decades, Bureau Chief Chris Brummitt heads the bureau and also oversees AP correspondents in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar. Former AP Bureau Chief Kathy Gannon, who has been covering both Pakistan and Afghanistan since the 1980s, lives in Islamabad and travels back and forth between both countries frequently. She produces a regular string of AP “beats” based on sources built up over the years.

Staffers such as Ahmad Sami in Iraq, Amir Shah in Afghanistan and Munir Ahmed in Pakistan are able to describe their countries’ inner workings with accuracy and insight.

In addition to the news about war and conflict, AP routinely covers government actions, social issues, culture, education and even sports. We pride ourselves on being first with accurate dispatches on breaking news, and on painting a well-rounded and objective portrait of life and humanity in each of these countries.

John Daniszewski
AP Senior Managing Editor
New York

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How can I find out if prescribed medications are made in the USA? I understand that most generics are made in China or India. That piqued my curiosity about where non-generic drugs are manufactured. We know who distributes them but not where they are made. Has “outsourcing” put the health of our citizens at risk?

M.S. Isenogle
Kenner, La.
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Consumers would be hard pressed to find a “Made In” label on any finished pharmaceutical product. A prescription drug, whether generic or branded, is made of multiple ingredients, each of which may come from a facility in a separate nation. Therefore, simply listing the final production location would be misleading.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration keeps information on the origin of prescription drugs and products often have lot numbers that can be used by the agency and the company for tracking purposes. This is especially important in cases of product recalls.

Both generic and brand-name drugs often are manufactured abroad. Regardless of where they are made, facilities that make drugs for the U.S. market must meet the FDA’s manufacturing requirements. The agency has the authority to inspect facilities making products for use in the U.S., regardless of whether they’re in New Jersey or China.

About $2 trillion worth of pharmaceutical products enter the United States each year from more than 150 countries and territories around the world, according to the FDA. The sheer volume of foreign-made products and valid safety concerns has prompted the FDA to increase inspections of both foreign and domestic facilities.

Damian Troise
AP Health Care Writer
New York

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Has there always been a rebuttal following a presidential State of the Union address? If not, when did this start?

Joyce Gieszler
Hillsboro, Ore.
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The first known organized response to the State of the Union occurred in 1966, according to the Web site of the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The three major television networks at the time – ABC, CBS and NBC – provided a 30-minute time slot for the Republicans to respond to then-President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat. Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.) and Rep. Gerald R. Ford (R-Mich.) delivered the GOP rebuttal.

The previous year, Johnson had moved the speech from its traditional noon starting time to prime time and pulled in an estimated audience of 30 million or more.

In most years since then, there has been a State of the Union speech and a rebuttal.

Rhonda Shafner
AP News Researcher
New York

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Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

When you’re digging into a bowl of cornflakes, do you ever stop to think about where that box of cereal came from?

A man in Wisconsin is wondering whether any cereal is made in the United States, and her curiosity has inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

You can also tweet your questions to @AP, using the hashtag #AskAP.

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A lot of news articles were written about the Republicans’ attempts to block health care reform. One of the tactics mentioned was the filibuster, now that the Democrats have less of a majority. Can you explain, in layman’s terms, how a filibuster works?

Paul Lovern
Arlington Heights, Ill.
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The term “filibuster” is thought to derive from the Dutch word vrijbuiter – free booter, or pirate. It began to appear in the 1840s in the Senate, which, unlike the House, had no rules for cutting off debate.

President Woodrow Wilson, stymied by Senate inaction on proposed war measures, in 1917 prodded the Senate to approve a rule under which a two-thirds majority could bring about “cloture,” or an end to debate. In 1975 the Senate changed that to a three-fifths majority, or 60 senators voting to close off debate.

The longest one-man filibuster came in 1957, when Strom Thurmond spoke on the floor for 24 hours and 18 minutes to delay action on civil rights legislation. But that “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” image of one senator reciting recipes and reading the telephone book in marathon speeches is largely a thing of the past.

What is commonly referred to as a filibuster today occurs when even one senator objects to action on a legislative matter. To overcome that objection, supporters of the legislation, often the majority leader, file cloture. The vote is taken two days after the cloture petition is filed and, if the 60-vote threshold is reached, a period of up to 30 hours of debate begins.

This process can occur more than once on a single bill: For example, a cloture vote may be required to bring a bill to the Senate floor and another cloture vote needed to cut off debate and move to a final vote.

Jim Abrams
Associated Press Writer
Washington

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I like to support American workers by purchasing items made in the USA when I can. I’ve read that Kellogg laid off over 500 workers and moved production outside the U.S. Is there any cereal that is still made in the United States? Most boxes simply state that they distribute the product, but give no information about where it is made.

Kenneth Heilman
Eau Claire, Wis.

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Actually, the vast majority of cereal sold in the U.S. – including Kellogg’s – is made domestically.

Kellogg Co., the largest cereal company and maker of products like Rice Krispies and Frosted Flakes, said more than 90 percent of the cereal it sells in the U.S. is made domestically. The company has four manufacturing plants in the U.S. that produce cereal.

General Mills Inc., the second largest cereal producer, with brands like Cheerios and Lucky Charms, said all of its cereal sold in the U.S. is manufactured here.

Ralcorp Holdings Inc., which owns the Post brand – maker of Honeycomb and Grape Nuts cereals, among others – said 95 percent of Post cereals sold in the U.S. are made here.

And Quaker, a division of PepsiCo Inc., said all of its cereal is made in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which the company says is the oldest milling and production facility of its kind in the U.S.

Regarding the job cuts at Kellogg, the company said it has approximately 31,000 employees worldwide. Last year, the company eliminated about 1,000 positions worldwide, and about 20 percent of those were through attrition.

The other job cuts resulted from the integration of some acquisitions in Russia and China and other changes that the company said were designed to improve efficiency. Kellogg would not disclose specific figures beyond that.

Sarah Skidmore
AP Food Industry Writer
Portland, Ore.

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I would like you to publish the names ACORN will be using in each state.

Diane Ducote
Pineville, La.
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The ACORN national group, once based in New Orleans and later in Washington, recently announced it will soon close for good. But some ACORN affiliates had already changed their names and reorganized, and will continue to operate.

Here are the ones that The Associated Press has tracked down:

- Chicago-based ACORN Housing, which is now called Affordable Housing Centers of America

- California ACORN, which is now Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment

- New York ACORN, which is now New York Communities for Change

- Massachusetts ACORN has become New England United for Justice

- Arkansas ACORN, now Arkansas Community Organizations

Michael Tarm
Associated Press Writer
Chicago

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Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

Now that sex addiction has found its poster child in Tiger Woods, more people are familiar with the affliction. Yet how it’s treated remains a mystery to many.

Curiosity about just what goes on at a sex addiction clinic inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.
====

Was IceSave, the Iceland-based Internet bank that collapsed in 2008, in any way backed by the home government? Were deposits insured? Will the recent “no” referendum vote to reimburse depositors in England and the Netherlands through new taxes on Icelanders really prevent such taxes from being imposed?

Edward Hamilton
Seymore, Tenn.

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All domestic deposits of Icesave, and its parent Landsbanki, were guaranteed under Icelandic law. However, that guarantee did not extend to foreigners with deposits in Icesave. When the bank collapsed (along with most of Iceland’s banking sector), Britain and the Netherlands agreed to loan Iceland the money to compensate savers in their countries. Those depositors lost more than $5 billion.

The recent “no” vote rejects a repayment deal for the loan that had been approved by the Icelandic Parliament, but it doesn’t get Iceland out of repaying Britain and the Netherlands altogether. Iceland has stressed it will live up to its obligations, particularly as it probably won’t receive much-needed money from the International Monetary Fund to fix its broken economy until the matter is resolved.

The next step is for the three countries to return to the negotiating table to find a repayment plan that will be acceptable to opposition parties – and the public – in Iceland. That’s likely to include a lighter interest rate on the repayments, which would ease some of the tax burden on ordinary Icelanders.

Jane Wardell
AP Writer
London

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I have noticed several celebrities linked to sex addiction recently, most notably Tiger Woods. For those who enter sex addiction clinics, what sort of treatment do they receive?

Bill Mahl
Peoria, Ill.

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Sex addiction treatments resemble those for alcohol or drug addiction. Patients often undergo weeks of inpatient therapy and their aftercare can last several years.

Typically, patients’ days are filled with lectures and group sessions. Patients must dress a certain way, address each other a certain way and, most importantly, can never touch another patient without permission. Cell phones are left at home.

Spouses are encouraged to join some of the therapy because they are considered part of the overall problem.

“These kind of programs are very structured,” Maureen Canning, a clinical consultant for sexual compulsive programs at the Meadows treatment facility in Arizona, told the AP in January. “It’s basically a 12-hour day every day, plus homework.”

Once back home, patients’ lives remain very structured so they don’t have the urge or opportunity for unhealthy sex. Usually that involves having someone around to make sure patients stay out of trouble and keep up with their aftercare.

At Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services in Hattiesburg, Miss., one of the nation’s leading sex addiction clinics, treatment is based on a 12-step program with intense study of such topics as sexual abuse and trauma, addictive relationships and cybersex.

Woods has said he’s undergoing therapy, and though it’s been widely reported that he was treated at Pine Grove, he hasn’t ever acknowledged receiving sex addiction therapy.

The American Psychiatric Association does not list sex addiction as a diagnosable mental disorder, and there are no real statistics on how many people it might affect or the cure rate.

Tim Dahlberg
AP Sports Columnist
Las Vegas

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Toyota recently recalled approximately 8 million vehicles. How and where do they fix such a great number of vehicles? Is every one of them getting checked? What’s the estimated cost of the fixes for Toyota?

Fernando Morales
Peoria, Ill.
—

Toyota has recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles worldwide – more than 6 million in the U.S. – because of floor mats that can trap accelerators, gas pedals that can become stuck and brake problems on its Prius hybrid. As with any recall, the repairs are being conducted at Toyota dealerships, with Toyota covering the cost. Every vehicle covered by the recall will be getting a fix, Toyota says, but the automaker is staggering the repairs over time because the recall is so large.

The automaker has estimated that repairs for the gas pedal recall and lost sales will cost it $2 billion.

Dan Strumpf
AP Auto Writer
New York
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Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

By The Associated Press

Saving people’s lives, of course, is an airline’s top priority whenever a plane crashes. But later on, what’s the procedure for trying to save their luggage?

Curiosity about who’s ultimately responsible for air travelers’ belongings inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

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During the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, there was much coverage of a Scandinavian skier whose brother skied off into the woods and disappeared. Was the brother ever found?

Jan Conavay
Jerome, Ill.
___

In October 1993, Ketil Ulvang, the older brother of Olympic cross-country champion Vegard Ulvang, vanished in a snowstorm while jogging through the mountains near their hometown of Kirkenes, an Arctic village of about 5,000 people.

The younger Ulvang left training in Italy to search for Ketil, a physical therapist for Norway’s national ski team. Hundreds of volunteers joined one of the biggest searches in Norwegian history, but found not trace of Ketil.

In June 1994, days after the snow had melted and the search resumed, Ketil’s body was found floating in a shallow mountain lake. Kirkenes police spokeswoman Trude Danielsen said he most likely got lost in the snowstorm and fell through the ice.

Competing in the Lillehammer Games, Ulvang won a silver medal as part of the Norwegian 40-kilometer cross-country relay team. Two years prior, at the Albertville Games, he won three gold medals.

Ian MacDougall
AP Writer, Oslo, Norway

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After a plane crash, what happens to passengers’ luggage? I’m thinking of the Hudson River splashdown, for example. Does the airline attempt to recover and deliver these belongings? Is returning bags or belongings considered a responsibility of the airline?

Alfonso Corona
Miami
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There is a voluntary process developed by the National Transportation Safety Board in conjunction with air carriers for returning baggage and other personal belongings to passengers or their families after airline accidents. How much baggage can be retrieved depends on the extent of damage in the accident. After accident investigators go through everything, airlines usually hire a third party to clean baggage and other belongings. Airline wreckage is considered a biohazard site.

If belongings are intact, they can be delivered to passengers or family members. If the ownership of recovered belongings isn’t known, airlines often make photos available to passengers and family members so that they have an opportunity to claim their items. The airline is responsible for returning belongings, not the NTSB.

In the case of US Airways Flight 1549 – which collided with Canada geese shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York on Jan. 15, 2009, and ditched into the Hudson River – the airline hired a contractor to recover, sort, clean and restore more than 30,000 passenger belongings.

Joan Lowy
AP Writer, Washington

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Under what circumstances was The Associated Press founded?

Jonathan Plotz
Frankfurt (Oder), Germany
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The Associated Press sprang from Americans’ thirst for news from the Mexican War.

War dispatches originated in Veracruz, crossed the Gulf of Mexico by boat, and landed at Mobile, Ala., where they encountered delays in waiting for the Great Southern Mail, the postal route through the South. During the spring of 1846, the publisher of the New York Sun, Moses Yale Beach, hit on a scheme to speed the process.

Beach hired Pony Express riders to carry the dispatches from Mobile to Montgomery, where they could rejoin the mail for the journey to Richmond, the nearest telegraph head. From there, the dispatches could be wired to Washington and on to New York. Beach did not pay the riders unless they gained a 24-hour edge over regular mail – which they routinely did.

Beach’s further innovation was to offer an equal share in the pony venture to other New York daily papers. Thus was born the Associated Press of New York.

An inventor with a list of patents to his name, Beach doubtless understood that the cooperative arrangement would soon hinge entirely on the telegraph, as the wires enabling instantaneous communication spread across the country.

Valerie S. Komor
Director, AP Corporate Archives, New York
___

Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

Toxic pet food. Lead-painted toys. Hazardous baby cribs. The sheer volume of recalled products makes you wonder: What happens to all that stuff after it’s ordered off the shelves?

Curiosity about disposing of recalled goods inspired one of the questions in this edition of ”Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with ”Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

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I have a few questions regarding tax credits for homebuyers. When is the deadline to apply? How do you apply? What type of documents do you need? If you bought your home in December 2008, do you qualify? What if you purchased your home in another state? Does that make any difference?

Joyce Hollowell
Cleveland
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The deadline is approaching for the federal tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers and up to $6,500 for current homeowners. To qualify, a buyer interested in either credit must sign a binding sales contract by April 30, and complete his or her home purchase by June 30.

You can claim the credit on your federal income tax return, the Internal Revenue Service says. You should fill out IRS Form 5405 to determine your credit amount. Then, you should claim that total on line 67 of the 1040 income tax form for 2009 returns, line 69 for 2008 returns.

Also, buyers must attach a copy of their HUD-1 settlement statement to Form 5405. A HUD-1 settlement form lists the costs and charges for a borrower in a home purchase. It also lists the names of the parties involved, and the property’s address, sales price and purchase date. If no HUD-1 form was used, then a certificate of occupancy or an executed retail sales contract should be submitted.

In addition, buyers who claim the current homeowner credit must show they’ve lived in their old home for at least five consecutive years during the past eight years. Acceptable documents to establish that include mortgage interest statements, property tax records or homeowner’s insurance records.

People who purchased a home in 2008 do not qualify for either tax credit. However, first-time homebuyers who bought between April 8, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2009, can qualify for a tax credit of up to $7,500 that must be paid back, much like an interest-free loan.

And, as long as the buyer uses the newly purchased home as his main residence, there are no geographical limitations within the United States for the tax credits.

Adrian Sainz
AP Real Estate Writer, Miami

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Over the last year there have been many recalls of Chinese-made and other products. Where do all these items go after they are taken off the shelves?

Sara Schreiber
Corvallis, Ore.
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It depends on the nature of the recall.

Some products are repaired and sent back to consumers or retailers. Other products are destroyed by the recalling company. Some companies that recall products hire outside collectors, which must safely dispose of recalled products.

Recalled products that contain hazardous metals or chemicals, such as lead, must be destroyed in a way that is in keeping with state and local environmental laws.

For a small number of products, the company recalling the item might be allowed by the government to export the goods back to the country where they were made or to another country for disposal.

Sometimes the hardest thing is getting all products pulled off the shelves at chains that might have hundreds of stores.

Some retailers have a ”lockout” option in their computer systems that won’t let shoppers buy a product that has been recalled, even if it’s still on the shelves.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says this is often true of toys, children’s clothing, electronics and other goods sold at major toy stores and box retailers.

Mae Anderson
AP Retail Writer, New York

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How many NHL and non-NHL players were on the American and Canadian Olympic men’s hockey teams? And which NHL teams do the pros play for?

Tom Jeffs
Edison, N.J.
—–

All the players on the U.S. and Canadian squads were NHL players.

The U.S. players and their NHL teams:

Goalkeepers: Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres; Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings; Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins. Defensemen: Tim Gleason, Carolina Hurricanes; Erik Johnson, St. Louis Blues; Jack Johnson, Los Angeles Kings; Brooks Orpik, Pittsburgh Penguins; Brian Rafalski, Detroit Red Wings; Ryan Suter, Nashville Predators; Ryan Whitney, Anaheim Ducks. Forwards: David Backes, St. Louis Blues; Dustin Brown, Los Angeles Kings; Ryan Callahan, New York Rangers; Chris Drury, New York Rangers; Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks; Ryan Kesler, Vancouver Canucks; Phil Kessel, Toronto Maple Leafs; Jamie Langenbrunner, New Jersey Devils; Ryan Malone, Tampa Bay Lightning; Zach Parise, New Jersey Devils; Joe Pavelski, San Jose Sharks; Bobby Ryan, Anaheim Ducks; Paul Stastny, Colorado Avalanche.

And the Canadian team:

Goalkeepers: Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks; Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins; Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils. Defensemen: Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks; Shea Weber, Nashville Predators; Brent Seabrook, Chicago Blackhawks; Drew Doughty; Los Angeles Kings; Chris Pronger, Philadelphia Flyers; Dan Boyle, San Jose Sharks; Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim Ducks. Forwards: Brenden Morrow, Dallas Stars; Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks; Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames; Dany Heatley, San Jose Sharks; Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks; Michael Richards, Philadelphia Flyers; Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks; Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes; Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks; Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins; Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks; Rick Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets; Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins.

Mike Stewart
AP Production Editor, New York

——

Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

Curiosity about whether the space station is visible with the naked eye inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.
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Can you see the space station or the shuttle with the naked eye during the day? On Feb. 13 at around noon I was walking west and looked up in the sky and saw a white blunt craft very high in the sky heading west. It did not have a contrail. I could see a commercial plane going north (with a contrail). Do I need to get new glasses?

Les Carlson
Springfield, Ill.
—-
Sorry to disappoint you, but that white blunt craft you saw was not orbiting Earth.

It’s pretty much impossible to see the space shuttle, space station or any satellite in broad daylight. They’re visible only in dark skies near dawn or dusk.

NASA has a Web page devoted to sighting opportunities from anywhere in the world. Here’s the link: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/ You’ll see that Springfield has lots of shuttle and station sightings coming up.

If the sky is clear and you know where to look, you’ll be able to spot the orbiting pair with the naked eye. They will resemble bright, fast-moving stars. It’s an amazing sight that I’ve enjoyed many times. It’s especially cool right after the shuttle undocks from the station; then you can see one trailing the other. Good luck!

Marcia Dunn
AP Aerospace Writer
Cape Canaveral, Fla.
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If I have my TiVo recording a program, does that count as a viewer towards the show’s viewer ratings?

Eitan Itzkowitz
Teaneck, N.J.
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It depends on when, or if, you watch the program that you’ve recorded (and if you’re one of the families in the Nielsen Co.’s sample, of course).

The rating that networks watch most closely is the “live plus same day” figure _ meaning a measurement of people who watched a program live or on their digital video recorder by 3 a.m. the next day.

Nielsen also compiles an estimate of how many people watch a show live and on DVR within a week. This measurement has helped programs _ NBC’s “The Office” is an example _ that might otherwise be in trouble based only on the overnight ratings.

From Nielsen’s standpoint, if you don’t watch a show within seven days, it’s as if you didn’t watch it at all.

David Bauder
AP Television Writer
New York
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Having read the AP story on the coal mine fire in Centralia and the statement that it may burn for centuries, I wondered if any calculation has been made of the greenhouse gases that have been emitted by the fire, and that will be emitted if the fire is allowed to continue to burn?

Greg Trapp
Albuquerque, N.M.
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There is no reliable estimate of total greenhouse gas emissions from the underground mine fire in Centralia, Pa. But a 2006-2007 state study on the health effects of the Centralia fire found that it is not sending large quantities of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, said Tom Rathbun, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The study found measurable but insignificant gas levels downwind of the fire _ in fact, the levels did not exceed ambient air quality standards, he said.

The Centralia fire, one of 112 active mine fires in the United States, began in 1962 and forced the relocation of more than 1,000 residents in the 1980s as it spread beneath homes and businesses. About 10 people still live in Centralia, resisting the state’s attempts to get them to leave.

Michael Rubinkam
Associated Press Writer
Allentown, Pa.
====
Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

By The Associated Press

Curiosity about predicting earthquakes inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

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With the recent devastating earthquake in Haiti, I am wondering whether there have been any advances in predicting when and where earthquakes will happen. And besides California, what earthquake-prone areas in the U.S. should I be concerned about?

Daniel Lippman
Washington, D.C.
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Scientists are making progress honing their ability to forecast the likelihood of strong earthquakes along fault zones, but they cannot predict a quake’s precise time, location and magnitude, said Stuart Sipkin, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo.

In fact, scientists are divided over whether such predictions will ever be possible. Sipkin said some believe quakes are by their nature too random to allow for precise predictions, while others feel science simply hasn’t found the right precursors that might allow them to make lifesaving quake predictions.

While predicting earthquakes isn’t currently possible, advances in the past decade using global positioning system measurements to reveal subtle changes in the Earth’s crust have aided science’s ability to forecast the probabilities of strong quakes along many fault zones.

Those readings show the growing pressures along faults – the areas where tectonic plates slide past each other. That data, along with a fault’s past history of strong quakes and the timethat’s elapsed since the last such temblor, help scientists calculate the amount of stress faults can take before their plates suddenly slip, causing a quake.

GPS data were key to scientists’ 2008 forecast that the fault which caused January’s devastating quake in Haiti was capable of causing a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, Sipkin says.

That prediction, which came without a specific timeframe, was released about two years before a 7.0 magnitude quake hit Haiti’s Port-au-Prince area on Jan. 12.

The USGS maintains earthquake hazard maps illustrating the risk levels of quakes for the entire U.S. The high risk zones in the agency’s 2008 maps – http://earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/ – include the West Coast, Hawaii, Alaska, Utah and the central Mississippi River Valley region.

Rick Callahan
Reporter
Indianapolis

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Under the Constitution’s separation of powers the president is the commander-in-chief of America’s military. When he is referred to by a member of the military does he have any other official designations? Does he hold a official military rank? Does the president have an official uniform or emblem as commander?

Stephan Vertal
Forest Grove, Ore.
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In his role of commander-in-chief, the president is at the top of the military chain of command. Orders go to the secretary of defense, through the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the combatant commanders. The president holds no military rank and has no military uniform. He has a presidential seal but no military emblem. Members of the military, like civilians, would typically refer to the commander-in-chief as “Mr. President.”

Robert Burns
National Security Writer
Washington, D.C.

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Headlines periodically advise that corporations have settled allegations of improper practices with the Justice Department or the attorney general of a state, usually by paying a fine. What happens to that money? To what is it applied?

Michael Buerger
Bowling Green, Ohio
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At the federal level, the money usually goes into accounts that pay for general government. Sometimes it goes into accounts for special purposes, such as environmental cleanup. Practices vary among the states but generally fall into the same categories. If there was fraud involving investors or other victims, the money may go back to them. In those cases a judge will appoint someone known as a receiver to make sure the money goes where it’s supposed to.

Curt Anderson
Legal Affairs Reporter
Miami

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Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

By The Associated Press

Curiosity about the effect journalists have on a disaster area inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

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I have a question about Super Bowl ads. As we all know, they sell for enormous amounts of money. But how do they set the number of ads to be sold? Also, what if the game goes into overtime or runs longer than expected, and they have already shown all of the ads that were sold?

Jeff Vanderslice
Plantation, Fla.
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The National Football League and the TV network showing the Super Bowl decide how much advertising time the Super Bowl will have.

The Super Bowl has never gone into overtime. But if it does, the advertising gets complicated. The networks don’t just repeat ads from earlier, but do have ads ready to go. That’s because advertisers lock in spots for overtime, but they don’t pay unless the ads air, said Kyle Acquistapace, media director of ad agency Deutsch. The air time – sold in 30 second chunks – costs about the same as ads during regular play.

Some of the ads might have been scheduled for the postgame coverage, some are altogether new ads. Essentially, everything is subject to negotiation between the advertisers and the TV network. For example, a deal might specifically include the opportunity to get into the game if it goes into overtime, for which an advertiser might pay extra.

Sometimes an advertiser will get an overtime ad slot in exchange for buying commercial time on other broadcasts, Acquistapace said.

NBC sold 69 ad spots for last year’s Super Bowl. CBS won’t give a specific number but says it has sold close to that number and that its commercial time is sold out. Some of the slots cost more than $3 million for 30 seconds.

Emily Fredrix
AP Marketing Writer
New York

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In disaster situations like the recent Haitian earthquake, it appears that thousands of members of news crews descend on a locale already lacking sufficient necessities such as electricity, food, security, water, medical facilities and roads. How are they generally supported? Do they represent an additional demand on these resources? Do they contribute any tangible assistance to the victims?

Jack Smith,
Springfield, Ill.

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As disasters go, Haiti’s 7.0 earthquake presented unprecedented challenges. Associated Press writer Jonathan Katz, the only full-time U.S. journalist based in the hemisphere’s poorest country, was soon joined by more than 50 other AP staffers who came in on charter planes from the States and by helicopter and road from the Dominican Republic.

These journalists managed to show the world the extent of the disaster in words, pictures and video – coverage that drew attention to desperate needs and probably helped encourage Americans to donate more than $644 million for relief efforts so far.

To support these staffers, the AP brought in three small cargo flights of supplies, from electric generators to dishes to satellite phones and walkie-talkies, along with food, water, medicine – and flak jackets. Since the AP’s bureau was destroyed, many of the staff slept in tents outside a nearby hotel, transmitting from the roof and making a point of traveling in teams for security as well as to report in all formats.

Haiti’s devastated infrastructure and the survivors’ tremendous need for food and water meant AP’s operation had to be self-sufficient. Aside from occupying hotel rooms and buying gasoline for the generators at $25 a gallon, AP staffers made few demands on Haiti’s limited resources. The AP’s small cargo plane landed at the main airport, but did little to slow the aid coming in huge cargo jets competing for landing slots. The staff required no police protection, and hired local drivers and translators who badly needed jobs.

The tougher question for journalists is how to respond to people in such desperate need – just report the news, or try to help?

AP journalists were among those who did both. Writer Alfred de Montesquiou drew the world’s attention to 84 starving residents of the Port-au-Prince Municipal Nursing Home, alerting the authorities to their exact location. And while he had no food or water when he encountered the awful scene, he returned later to check on them and hand out a case of water, the first they had received since the earthquake struck.

Writer Tamara Lush had a similar experience after she discovered a woman lying near death on the side of a road. Her AP team put the woman in their car, fed her and drove her to a nearby village, then a hospital, then a clinic to get her help, despite their deadlines. She said every journalist in Haiti faced similar dilemmas – and made similar choices when they could.

Michael Warren
Chief of Southern Cone News
Buenos Aires

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I’ve heard a lot lately about something called “fair use.” Can you tell me what it is and how your company defines it?

Buddy Baker
St. Petersburg, Fla.

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Copyright law allows some copying for certain very limited purposes that serve the public interest. For example, copying portions of a work to comment on it, for research or to review or analyze it can be “fair use.” Courts go through a four-factor analysis to decide if a particular use is or isn’t fair use. But even lawyers and judges can find it hard to draw the line.

The four factors are: the purpose of the use; the nature of the copyrighted work that is being used; the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyright work as a whole, and; the effect of the use on the potential value of the copyright work.

Laura Malone
Associate General Counsel
New York

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Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

By The Associated Press

If an insurance company thinks you take a lot of risks, it might charge you higher premiums. Is the government considering charging banks a fee for the same reason?

Curiosity about a risk-based levy proposed for banks inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

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An NFL team is a huge organization with several hundred employees. How many Super Bowl rings are given to the winning team? Who makes them, and what do they cost?

Luke Pearson
Westminster, Md.

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When the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl last year, every single one of their full-time employees got a ring – but they didn’t necessarily receive the same gaudy ones as stars like Ben Roethlisberger.

Players, coaches, football operations staff and other top-level employees got a ring that weighed 3.7 ounces and included 63 diamonds totaling 3.61 carats. The rings were cast in 14-karat yellow gold with black antique backgrounds. Female employees received a smaller version because the full-size ring would have been too big for them to wear.

Lower-level employees received a ring with less gold and fewer diamonds, since buying the full-size ring for the entire organization would be prohibitively expensive. The NFL pays for up to 150 rings at $5,000 apiece, with the club picking up the rest of the cost.

When the Giants won the Super Bowl, the team said the rings cost about $5,500 each, but were valued at $25,000.

Jewelry companies such as Jostens manufacture the rings.

Rachel Cohen
AP Sports Writer
New York

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I read, in the last couple of weeks, a proposal to assess banks a fee based on the risk of their investments. This seemed to make sense, since that, theoretically, is the basis for the premium on individuals’ insurance policies. I haven’t heard more since then – is it still something being considered?

Michael E. Ulrich
West Columbia, S.C.

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This was an idea proposed by President Barack Obama as a way to cover any shortfall in the taxpayer-backed $700 billion financial rescue fund set up at the height of the Wall Street crisis in the fall of 2008.

The levy would be assessed only on large financial institutions with assets of more than $50 billion – a group estimated at about 50. The fee would be a 0.15 percent tax on the liabilities of those firms, excluding any insured deposits. Liabilities are a way of measuring an institution’s risk level, so you can think of the proposed fee as a tax on the risks that banks take.

The White House expects the fee to raise about $90 billion over 10 years. The Congressional Budget Office expects the long-term shortfall of the rescue fund – known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP – to be $99 billion. That means the fee could recoup the TARP losses in 11 years.

The goal of the fee was twofold – repay taxpayers and discourage large banks from assuming too many liabilities outside of deposits.

Executives at large banks object to the fee because most of the TARP shortfall will be the result of infusions of money not to the banks but to the auto industry and insurance conglomerate American International Group, along with spending to ease mortgage foreclosures. Most large banks have repaid their TARP loans, plus dividend payments on top of that, so their executives believe such a fee unfairly singles them out.

Jim Kuhnhenn
Associated Press Writer
Washington

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Does any individual own the copyright to “The Star Spangled Banner”? If so, do you have any idea how much they would earn each year in royalties?

Bill Hart
Canton, Ohio

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No one owns the copyright to “The Star Spangled Banner,” so no songwriting royalties are being collected by anyone at the moment.

The song was copyrighted in 1861 in New York and any piece of music with a copyright date of 1922 or earlier is in the public domain, which means anyone can use it for free.

The tune was arranged by George Warren with words written by Francis Scott Key in 1814, set to the music of “To Anacreon in Heaven,” according to sheet music obtained by Haven Sound Inc., which runs the site PDInfo.com.

Any song published after January 1972 is protected by copyright through 2067, according to Haven Sound president Lynn Nagrani. Songs written before 1972 are subject to a mishmash of state laws.

However, performers who sing “The Star Spangled Banner” own their own sound recording. That’s why Jennifer Hudson can sell her version, which she belted out at last year’s Super Bowl, on iTunes, and she doesn’t have to pay Key’s heirs any royalties.

Performers can also rearrange public domain songs and copyright their own versions, like Peter, Paul & Mary did with the public domain song “Michael Row the Boat Ashore.”

Ryan Nakashima
AP Business Writer
Los Angeles

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Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.