SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Principal reduction, long a nonstarter with lenders, has suddenly become a potential reality for thousands of homeowners who owe far more than their houses are worth.

Some economists and politicians have argued for years that the only way to revive the housing market and jumpstart the economy is to vastly reduce the amount Americans owe on their mortgages. But lenders have balked at writing down debts.

Now, however, as part of the $25 billion mortgage settlement announced in February, some of the nation’s largest lenders have agreed to reduce loan balances for thousands of customers. Bank of America announced this week that it would offer more than 200,000 borrowers relief by reducing principal to as low as a home’s current value.

And in a key development, Keep Your Home California, the state’s major housing-aid effort, said it was changing its rules to no longer require a lender contribution to its Principal Reduction Program, which provides up to $100,000 in loan forgiveness. That change will benefit as many as 9,000 borrowers in the state, program officials said.

In addition, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-backed mortgage giants that control the majority of mortgages in the state, will now allow loans to be paid down by the California program. Before, when a lender contribution was required, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would not participate.

Diane Richardson, head of Keep Your Home California, said the changes will “level the playing field” for underwater borrowers, who have been unable to refinance homes in which they have no equity. “It gets them back to the point where they won’t be so underwater that they just feel helpless,” she said.

Even as it gains momentum, principal reduction remains deeply controversial, with some experts calling it a potential cure for the economy and others expressing concern about its effectiveness and fairness.

Keep Your Home California’s Principal Reduction Program, for example, benefits home owners who have experienced economic hardship, such as job loss, and who are delinquent on their loan payments or facing foreclosure. A borrower in that situation could receive a principal write-down of up to $100,000, while their neighbor, who has made mortgage payments on time but who is also deeply underwater, receives no debt reduction.

About 30 percent, or more than 2 million, of California’s 6.8 million mortgaged properties were underwater in the fourth quarter of 2011, Santa Ana-based CoreLogic reported.

The question with principal reduction is “who do you give it to?” said Mike Himes, vice president of NeighborWorks in Sacramento, a nonprofit that helps struggling homeowners.

Himes, who stressed he was expressing his own views and not those of his organization, said those who have their loan balance reduced — in some cases because of only temporary job loss — will be better positioned to build equity as the housing market recovers.

Those who stayed employed and kept paying, on the other hand, may never catch up. “Selected people will get back (lost equity) and some won’t,” he said.

Himes said loan modifications, which reduce interest rates and extend payment terms, can make mortgage payments affordable without giving some homeowners a big advantage.

Many critics of principal reduction say it creates an incentive for borrowers to default on their loans in order to take advantage of assistance programs. Some economists call such incentives for bad behavior, with others paying the costs, a “moral hazard,” and warn against them.

“Principal reduction should be the absolute reduction of last resort,” said Anthony Sanders, a professor of real estate finance at George Mason University.

Sanders made his comments during a panel discussion on principal reduction last month at the Brookings Institution, a public-policy think tank in Washington. The keynote speaker at the event was Edward DeMarco, acting head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the government conservator that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Democratic politicians have criticized DeMarco for refusing to let the government-sponsored enterprises reduce the principal of loans they own or back. To do so, he has argued, would undermine his responsibility to preserve their assets and minimize losses to taxpayers, who invested more than $187 billion in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac following their near collapse in the housing crash.

In his April speech, DeMarco said it might make sense in some circumstances to offer principal reductions. But he said a large-scale effort would come at net cost to taxpayers of $2.1 billion and would affect less than one-tenth of the estimated 11 million underwater homeowners in the United States.

“This is not about some huge difference-making program that will rescue the housing market,” DeMarco told the Brookings audience.

Others disagree. California Attorney General Kamala Harris, a key player in negotiating the national mortgage settlement, has been one of DeMarco’s critics. In February, she wrote him saying the settlement would help borrowers of Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo, who promised to provide at least $12 billion for principal reduction and short sales, where lenders agree to accept less than what they’re owed.

The settlement did not include Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Harris noted. She urged DeMarco to cease foreclosures in the state and to conduct a “straight-forward analysis” of whether a broad program of principal reductions would help homeowners and save taxpayer dollars. Harris expressed confidence that the agency’s potential findings would confirm her views.

DeMarco wrote back denying her request. He said the agency had already analyzed the benefits of principal reduction, and had concluded it was no more effective than other tools that reduced monthly payments without such high costs. Those tools included cutting interest rates and extending loan terms.

“There is no question that underwater borrowers in California would benefit from other taxpayers across the United States paying off the underwater portions of their mortgage debt,” he wrote to Harris. But DeMarco said his obligation was to taxpayers and to ensuring maximum assistance at minimum cost.

That’s the wrong way to look at it, said Jeffrey Michael, director of the Business Forecasting Center at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

The biggest benefit to all taxpayers, he said, would be to pull the economy and the housing market out of its slump by erasing debt that may never be repaid – and which will only lead to more foreclosures and economic turmoil.

Principal reduction should be open to a broad range of borrowers, not just to those who are delinquent, to address the fairness issue and to avoid providing incentives for borrowers to stop paying, he said. He said borrowers don’t need to see their negative equi ty erased, but suggested that loan balances should be no more than 120 percent of home values.

“It gives them an incentive to stay in their home and gives them light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

Who would pay the billions of dollars such a program would cost? Taxpayers, he said.

It makes sense, he said, because those same taxpayers will pay regardless, though depressed home prices, lagging job recovery, neighborhood blight and under-funded schools.

The downward spiral will only continue as long as there’s a massive amount of negative equity on the books, he said. With a broad-ranging debt reduction, he said, “I think we’ll all be better off.”

LOS ANGELES — Seven deputies from the Los Angeles County sheriff’s gang unit have been placed on leave on suspicion that they belong to a secret clique that celebrates shootings and brands its members with matching tattoos, sources confirmed.

The move is a sign of the intensifying nature of the investigation of the “Jump Out Boys.” Suspicion about the group’s existence was sparked several weeks ago when a supervisor found a pamphlet describing the group’s creed, which promoted aggressive policing and portrayed officer shootings in a positive light.

Days after the Los Angeles Times reported on the discovery of the pamphlet, the captain of the division gathered his deputies for a private briefing, during which he told them that they had shamed the department by forming the group and urged those responsible to identify themselves, a source with knowledge of the unit’s inner workings said.

At some point, one deputy came forward, and named six others, said sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing.

All seven of those deputies were placed on leave with pay sometime this week. Internal affairs investigators are trying to determine whether the deputies violated Sheriff’s Department rules or committed serious misconduct.

The deputies under scrutiny have all worked on the Gang Enforcement Team, a unit divided into two platoons of relatively autonomous deputies who target neighborhoods where gang violence is high, locate armed gang members and take their guns away.

Investigators are looking at whether the deputies sported matching tattoos. The suspected design of the tattoo was obtained by the Times and confirmed by two sources: It includes an oversize skull with a wide, toothy grimace and glowing red eyes. A bandanna is wrapped around the skull, imprinted with the letters “OSS” — representing Operation Safe Streets, the name of the larger unit that the Gang Enforcement Team is part of. A bony hand clasps a revolver. Investigators suspect that smoke might be tattooed over the gun’s barrel after a member is involved in a shooting.

One source compared the notion of modifying the tattoo after a shooting to a celebratory “high five.”

Despite the disturbing allegations, sources say there is currently no evidence that the men were involved in improper shootings or other misconduct. Still, the revelations have heightened concerns. What investigators are most concerned about isn’t the alleged tattoos, but the suspected admiration they show for officer-involved shootings, which are expected to be events of last resort.

The department has long grappled with unsanctioned cliques inside its ranks. Last year, the department fired half a dozen deputies who worked on the third, or “3000,” floor of the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles after the group fought two fellow deputies at an employee Christmas party and allegedly punched a female deputy in the face.

Sheriff’s officials later said the men had formed an aggressive “3000” clique that used gang-like three-finger hand signs. A former top jail commander told the Times that jailers would “earn their ink” by assaulting inmates. This week, two former jail supervisors told a county commission created to examine jail abuse about troubling deputy behavior.

One said jailers ignored orders from direct supervisors, preferring instead to listen to rank-and-file deputies who had worked at the jails for several years and earned the informal title of “OG,” short for “Original Gangster.”

Another testified about becoming alarmed by how large numbers of deputies assigned to the same floor made it a habit to arrive and leave work together and not mix with colleagues from other floors. “This is reminiscent of a gang. … This is how gang members act,” said retired Lt. Alfred Gonzales.

The Jump Out Boys, sources said, was a name coined by Compton-area gang members alluding to how quickly deputies from the unit would jump out of patrol vehicles to stop them.

One source with knowledge of the inner workings of Operation Safe Streets said the deputies placed on leave this week consist of current and former Gang Enforcement Team members.

Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore confirmed that seven deputies were placed on leave, but declined to discuss the details of the probe. “We took the appropriate action and we will continue to take the appropriate action,” he said. “It’s still early in the investigation.”

Whitmore said placing so many deputies on leave over one incident hasn’t happened since the 2010 Christmas party fight involving the “3000” deputies. He said the action is one of the largest mass leaves ever ordered by the department.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s campaign says a wealthy Idaho businessman and major fundraiser for Mitt Romney is “a bitter foe of the gay rights movement,” pointing to his effort to get a documentary on how teachers deal with gay issues pulled from public television in 1999.

The businessman, Melaleuca Inc. founder and chief executive officer Frank VanderSloot of Idaho Falls, charges that he’s being smeared. Blogs and pundits on the right have taken up his cause, accusing the Obama campaign of “terrorism” against him, while the left says VanderSloot’s record is being whitewashed.

VanderSloot is a national finance co-chairman for Romney, and his company gave $1 million to Restore Our Future, a political action committee created to support Romney. He was featured in an April 20 post on the Obama Truth Team website, under the heading “Behind the Curtain: A brief history of Romney’s donors.”

The post describes VanderSloot and seven others, saying VanderSloot is “litigious, combative and a bitter foe of the gay rights movement.” It makes reference to the 1999 effort spearheaded by VanderSloot to pressure Idaho Public Television to reverse its decision to show the documentary “It’s Elementary.” The documentary takes viewers into classrooms of children in the second through eighth grades to show how teachers deal with gay issues that come up.

“Why is public TV, paid for by our tax dollars, going to show this to our families, our children?” VanderSloot said at the time. “I’m really concerned that if this isn’t stopped, a lot of little kids will watch this program and create questions they’ve never had, raise curiosities that they shouldn’t have at those ages.”

VanderSloot helped pay for statewide billboards declaring public television airing of the documentary was tax financing to “promote the homosexual lifestyle.”

VanderSloot said in an interview this week that he’s not anti-gay.

“I’ve got several gay friends, have traveled the world with gay people. I respect them, they respect and love me. For some I have great admiration for in regards to their work ethic,” VanderSloot said.

VanderSloot said that his position on the documentary has been mischaracterized by his critics. He said he didn’t have any problem with adults watching the documentary. “Showing it to children was our issue” he said.

VanderSloot has appeared over the last several days on multiple Fox News talk shows.

He told a supportive Fox host Bill O’Reilly on Monday that his company had lost a “couple hundred” customers following his mention on the Obama campaign website. But VanderSloot said in an interview with McClatchy Newspapers two days later that all the attention was turning out to be good for business.

“We’re getting a ton of national support, unbelievable, unexpected. The phones are ringing off the hook, everyone wanting to know about Melaleuca, people wanting to buy our product, they don’t even know what we’re selling,” he said.

An Obama campaign spokesman did not return a message seeking comment this week. But the liberal group Media Matters for America put out a statement saying O’Reilly whitewashed VanderSloot’s record, including an attack on an Idaho Falls Post Register reporter who wrote in 2005 that the Mormon church and Idaho Boy Scout officials were sheltering a known pedophile.

VanderSloot took out a full page newspaper ad that challenged the stories and said the reporter who wrote them is a “homosexual.” The reporter, Peter Zuckerman, no longer with the newspaper, recently appeared on the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC to say only a few people knew he was gay before the ad ran, that he received threats afterward, and that his boyfriend lost his job.

VanderSloot put out a written statement saying it was public knowledge that Zuckerman was gay, that Zuckerman had written it on a website, and that a local radio show had been “abuzz for several weeks” about his sexual orientation. VanderSloot said in the written statement that he felt it was unfair for the radio show to conclude Zuckerman had written the stories because he was gay and “we defended Peter Zuckerman and his motives.”

CHICAGO — The leader of President Barack Obama’s former church in Chicago has come out against statements by other African-American clergy who condemned the president’s endorsement last week of same-sex marriage.

The Rev. Otis Moss III, the senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, read a letter to his congregation on Sunday defending Obama and the quest for marriage equality.

“November is incredibly important to our community,” Moss said, reminding worshipers that he was encouraging them to engage in public debate, not telling them how to vote.

“The question I believe we should pose to our congregations is, ‘Should all Americans have the same civil rights?’” Moss read from his letter. “ … There is difference between rights and rites. We should never misconstrue rights designed to protect diverse individuals in a pluralistic society versus religious rites designed by faith communities to communicate a theological or doctrinal perspective.”

Earlier this week, the Tennessee-based Coalition of African American Pastors blasted the president’s declaration of support for marriage equality. The Rev. William Owens, civil rights leader and president of the coalition, said he was appalled by activists who compare the fight for gay rights to the civil rights era.

“For activists, politicians and now the highest office in the nation to link sexual behavior God calls sin to the righteous cause Martin Luther King gave his life for is abominable in and of itself,” the coalition said in a statement. “There is no civil right to do what God calls wrong.”

Many black clergy have chastised the president for citing scripture and the Golden Rule to justify his support for marriage equality. In its statement, the coalition defined marriage as the union between one man and one woman “created and ordained by God.”

“We cannot and will not remain silent while marriage, the most fundamental institution in our and any nation, is undermined by our own president while using Christian language and relating it to civil rights,” the pastors said in a statement.

But Moss — who succeeded the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright as the leader of Trinity — scoffed at the suggestion that same-sex marriage or the president’s endorsement has weakened the sacrament of marriage, pointing to a number of other factors instead.

“The institution of marriage is not under attack as a result of the president’s words. Marriage was under attack years ago by men who viewed women as property and children as trophies of sexual prowess,” he said, drawing applause from the audience. “Marriage is under attack by low wages, high incarceration, unfair tax policy, unemployment and lack of education.”

He also reiterated in the letter that that Emmett Till and four little girls in Birmingham didn’t die so clergy could get their Sunday morning sound bites. They died because someone made doctrine more of a priority than love, he said. He cautioned the pastors against misplacing blame and making the LGBT community out to be the enemy.

“Gay and lesbian citizens did not cause the economic crash, foreclosures and attack upon health care,” Moss said. “Poor underfunded schools were not created because people desire equal protection under the law. We have much work to do as a community, and to claim the president of the United States must hold your theological position is absurd. He is president of the United States of America not the president of the Baptist convention or bishop of the sanctified or holiness church. He is called to protect the rights of Jew and Gentile, male and female, young and old, gay and straight, black and white, atheist and agnostic.”

CHICAGO — Drew Peterson is set to go on trial — again.

The former Bolingbrook, Ill., police sergeant was first scheduled to go on trial for murder in 2010, but a last-minute appeal by prosecutors in the highly publicized case triggered two years of delays. During that time, the original presiding judge retired and a Lifetime movie starring Rob Lowe as Peterson aired on cable television.

Peterson told a Will County judge Thursday that he was on board with jury selection starting July 23. His trial on charges he drowned his third wife, Kathleen Savio, would begin July 30.

“Yes, your honor,” Peterson told Judge Edward Burmila when asked if he was “comfortable” with that date. “I’ve been in solitary confinement for three years, your honor.”

Savio’s sister Susan Doman, who along with her husband, Mitchell, wore buttons with Savio’s photo to Thursday’s hearing, said she was pleased a new trial date was set.

“It’s been a long, long wait,” she said.

With many of the major issues in the case already litigated, defense lawyers have filed a flurry of motions asking the judge to rule on brass tacks. One of the biggest questions Burmila ruled on Thursday was whether the disappearance of Peterson’s missing fourth wife, Stacy, could be mentioned at trial.

Savio was found drowned in her dry Bolingbrook bathtub in 2004, but a coroner’s jury ruled the death an accident. After Stacy Peterson disappeared in 2007, Savio’s body was exhumed and Drew Peterson was charged with Savio’s murder. He has not been charged in Stacy’s disappearance but remains the only suspect.

Defense attorneys conceded there was no way to keep all the details of Stacy’s disappearance from jurors even if it wasn’t mentioned in the courtroom. “I guess you’d have to be living under a rock to not know what’s going on in this case,” Steve Greenberg said.

Burmila ruled prosecutors can ask witnesses who testify about statements Savio made to them before her death why they had waited to go to authorities, questions that likely will elicit statements about Stacy’s highly publicized disappearance.

But, Burmila said, “there will be no mention … that she is dead, presumed dead, killed by the defendant or anything of the kind,” he said.

Greenberg — who said the murder charge is based on “fog” and “crap” — said there is no physical evidence or witnesses placing Peterson at Savio’s home around the time she died.

“They’re trying to say there was a nasty divorce, therefore he must have killed her,” Greenberg said. “I realize that’s a logical thought, but we need evidence.”

LONDON — The war crimes trial of Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb military leader during the Balkans war of the 1990s, was suspended Thursday after the judge declared that the prosecution had failed to hand over evidence to the defense.

Presiding Judge Alfons Orie told the court in The Hague, Netherlands, that “in light of the prosecution’s significant disclosure errors … the chamber hereby informs the parties that it has decided to suspend the start of the presentation of evidence.”

He said the court would review “the scope and the full impact of this error” and would announce a restart date for the 2-day-old trial “as soon as possible.”

The ruling came after Peter McCloskey, speaking for the prosecution, wound up his opening statement before the International Criminal Tribunal. He had outlined what prosecutors say are the crimes that Mladic, as commander of the Bosnian Serb army, committed during the 1992-95 fighting in Bosnia-Herzegovina that accompanied the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.

The defense had requested a six-month delay over the issue. In their motion, attorneys Branko Lukic and Miodrag Stojanovic complained that several groups of documents — some related to the trial of Mladic ally Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serbs’ political leader during the war — were unavailable to them until late April and others were still missing.

“The defense has been unduly deprived of access to the key documents that the prosecution intends to present in their case against Mr. Mladic for many months,” they wrote.

Prosecutors McCloskey and Dermot Groome conceded in a responding statement that not all of the documents relating to the Karadzic case had been revealed to the defense, citing oversights and the sheer volume of material that 20 aides had been sifting through. “To date over 1.4 million pages contained in over 80,000 documents have been the subject of review,” they said.

Mladic faces 11 charges of war crimes, including genocide, murder, persecution, terrorism and hostage taking. The charges stem in part from the massacre in Srebrenica, where he and his troops are accused of murdering about 8,000 men and boys after taking over the town. The charges also are linked to the 3 1/2-year siege of Sarajevo, during which his troops continuously bombarded with mortar and sniper fire.

He denies the charges, calling them “monstrous,” but has refused to enter a plea. A plea of not guilty has been entered on his behalf.

A trove of evidence collected for George Zimmerman’s highly anticipated second-degree murder trial was made public Thursday, including an autopsy report documenting Trayvon’s single gunshot wound to the chest.

Conflicting witnesses described agonizing calls for help, and some thought they heard two shots.

The witness statements include one eyewitness who said he saw a man in a red shirt getting hit by someone else. When he returned for a second look, the man who was hitting the other was dead.

“I heard yelling out back in the grass area,” the unnamed witness said. “… I opened door and saw a guy on the ground getting hit by another man on top of him in a … position hitting a guy in a red sweatshirt or red top. I said I was calling the cops and ran upstairs then heard a gun shot. … The guy on top who was sitting the guy … layed out on the grass as he had been shot.”

Another witness saw a “broad man” on top hitting another. The evidence list shows Zimmerman wore a size 38. His shirt was red.

“First we heard like a howling sound. And then the second time we heard a more-clearly ‘help’ sound,” the witness said. “I know after seeing the TV of what’s happening — comparing their pictures — I think Zimmerman is definitely on top because of his size.”

The documents released Thursday also include Trayvon’s autopsy report, which showed he had a single gunshot wound to the upper chest. It also showed the 5-foot-11 teen weighed 158 lbs, smoked marijuana and had a 1/4 x 1/8 inch abrasion on his left fourth finger.

Special prosecutor Angela B. Corey, the state attorney for Duval, Clay and Nassau counties in Florida, created a special website for media to access 67 CDs of information collected in the wake of Trayvon’s death.

The documents include reports from five Sanford, Fla., police investigators and recorded statements from 23 witnesses. One witness, records show, was interviewed five times.

Another female witness told Sanford Detective Chris Serino she was concerned for her safety because Zimmerman knew where she lived, lived in her neighborhood and could come back to harm her, according to a police report.

Serino replied: The person we’re talking about is not somebody who’s going to do something like that.

Also included are cell phone records for Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin and the girl Trayvon chatted with in the moments before his death. In a court filing earlier this week, prosecutors said they also plan to present Zimmerman’s cell phone text messages, photos and videos from the weeks after Trayvon’s controversial death.

Not included: his three statements to police or the video-taped reenactment he did for detectives the day after he killed Trayvon. Under Florida law, confessions are exempt from public records laws.

The evidence also includes medical records that show Zimmerman had a broken nose the day after his altercation with Trayvon. Those could boost his claim that he acted in self-defense when he shot Trayvon in the chest, but the Martin family’s attorney says they only raise more questions.

The Fire Rescue report shows Zimmerman had a “small laceration on the back of his head” and a bloody nose. He also had “small abrasions” on his forehead.

“All injuries have minor bleeding,” the report said. He denied further medical assistance.

“This is suspicious. If he had these injuries, why didn’t they take him to the hospital?” said attorney Benjamin Crump, who led the charge for the case to be reexamined by outside law enforcement agencies. “This happened at about 7:30. In the police surveillance video taken 30 minutes later, you can see with your own eyes that the Fire Rescue people didn’t so much as put a Band-Aid on his head.”

Getting the boat seaworthy should include checking the boat and safety equipment at home to prevent problems or delays on the water, said Susan Stocker, boating law administrator and education coordinator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

“It only takes a few minutes and if there is a problem, it is better to address that at home and not after you have launched.  We don’t want boaters to have to leave the water because of things that could have been corrected simply by going through the boat and trailer,” Stocker said.

Stocker said patience and ramp courtesy are at a premium during busy weekends and especially on holidays.

“I would encourage boaters to prepare their boat for launching before it is their turn on the ramp because there will likely be a line of traffic behind them,” Stocker said.  “The ramps will be busy, we know that.  Be patient and respectful to other boaters. Everyone has the same goal of getting on the water.”

Once on the water, boaters are encouraged to operate in a way that keeps their passengers safe while watching out for other boaters.

“The top safety tip is for boat operators to avoid drinking alcohol because of how it impairs their reaction time and the ability to make quick, sound judgments. Wind, sun, glare off the water and wave action enhance the effects of alcohol so boaters are encouraged to know their limits,” Stocker said. “Boaters should also review the rules and wear a properly fitting lifejacket.”

There are nearly 229,000 registered boats in Iowa.

2011 Boating Statistics

• 54 arrests for Boating While Intoxicated, top four counties for arrests are Polk, Dubuque, Jackson, Johnson
• 38 boating accidents, 24 injuries, 4 fatalities

During the week of May 7, 2012, over 20 letters containing white powder were received by early childhood development centers, elementary schools, and an aerospace-related business. These letters were received in Texas and several other states. The FBI, USPIS, local law enforcement, and local fire department hazardous materials teams responded to each location and field screened the letters for the presence of toxins or poisons. To date, none of the mailings have contained hazardous materials.

Each letter was sent through the U.S. mail and featured a postmark from North Texas. It is highly likely these letters were sent by the same person responsible for mailing over 380 letters, beginning in late 2008, each of which contained a non-hazardous substance. This person has sent letters to elementary, middle, and high schools; day care centers; churches; government offices; U.S. Embassies abroad; restaurants; and other private businesses. A sample letter is posted below.

The author has and continues to reference subjects such as al Qaeda and the Nazi SS, which is believed to have been included for shock value rather than to express any sincere sympathy or affiliation. In a recent letter, he used the terms “Scooby Doo” and “triple dealer spy” and made reference to CIA counterintelligence and FBI internal affairs.

The sender has taken steps to conceal his activities and prevent law enforcement from finding physical evidence of his crimes, including his fingerprints. A flyer announcing the reward along with possible details about the subject has been posted on the Dallas FBI website (www.fbi.gov/dallas) and on the USPIS website (postalinspectors.uspis.gov).

Although mail is screened for toxic substances prior to delivery, the public is reminded to take the following precautions should they open a piece of mail with a powdery substance in it.
Leave the immediate area where the powder was spilled but keep yourself separated from individuals who have not been exposed to the powder. Do not attempt to clean up the powder and do not move the letter. Isolate the area where the spill has occurred.
Wash hands immediately.
Call 911 and advise them of the receipt of the mailing.
Remember, all instances of white powder in this matter have tested negative for a toxic substance. The white powder, however, should still be handled with caution until verification of its lack of toxicity is received.

Anyone with information concerning these letters should contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL FBI (1-800-225-5324) or by visiting https://tips.fbi.gov.

An odd bit of swag arrived via mail the other day, courtesy of the Fox network. Sandwiched between two heavy chunks of acrylic glass was a dark slice of film, no wider than a Post-it note. It was a commemorative X-ray from the set of “House,” the landmark medical series that pulls the plug on its eight-year run Monday night.

When I held the film up to the light, I couldn’t tell exactly what I was looking at (a femur? a clavicle?), but I silently gave props to the Fox publicists for their promotional creativity.

At the same time, I felt so not worthy. “House,” after all, had ceased being appointment television for me in recent years. And though I continued to occasionally check in on the series, I was too often turned off by plots that felt formulaic and contrived.

One thing for which I never lost respect, however, was the scintillating performance of Hugh Laurie as the show’s complete jerk of a title character, Dr. Gregory House. These days, we may take for granted both the actor and the grumpy M.D. he played. But when they arrived on the scene in 2004, they were a startling revelation.

Yes, the so-called antihero had already infiltrated cable TV. Tony Soprano (“The Sopranos”) began his reign of bloody mayhem in 1999, soon to be followed by rogue cop Vic Mackey (“The Shield”), tortured firefighter Tommy Gavin (“Rescue Me”) and ruthless saloon owner Al Swearengen (“Deadwood”), all of whom wallowed in their own brand of darkness and dysfunction.

But network television, which craves larger audiences, was different. You simply didn’t build a show around a highly flawed and essentially unlikable lead character. You wanted someone with wide appeal, someone viewers could sympathize with and root for.

And that was especially true in the medical genre, where kindly, upright citizens such as Marcus Welby set the tone so many years ago. TV doctors were like gods who held the fate of their patients in their hands. A good bedside manner was vital.

But the cantankerous House took a scalpel to the stereotype and cut it to shreds. Here was a pill-popping medical genius who was indifferent to his patients, snubbed authority and was downright nasty to his fellow physicians, including his only real friend, Dr. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard).

Viewers were shocked. But they were also mesmerized. By its second season, “House” was a Top 10 show.

And our misanthropic doc accomplished it all without the flashy, sensationalistic methods deployed by other irredeemable TV types. Instead of guns and fists, he used brainpower. Instead of violently destroying all obstacles in his path, he solved problems and fixed people. He was the thinking man’s antihero.

It helped that creator David Shore was savvy enough to combine two of TV’s most enduring figures — doctor and detective — into one man at a time when procedural dramas were all the rage. Viewers always love a good mystery. “House” was the “CSI” of medical shows, and its leading man the brilliant Sherlock Holmes of physicians.

But it never would have worked if Laurie, a British import, hadn’t possessed the remarkable skill set to pull it off. A lesser actor would have turned House into a dismal cardboard figure, free of intriguing wrinkles. Laurie brought feeling and nuance to the role.

He could convey so much with just a blink, a wince, a smirk or a crack of the voice. And he led us to believe that somewhere under that gruff and tough exterior was a truly soft heart.

You just needed a really a high-quality X-ray machine to detect it.

———

HOUSE

8 p.m. Monday (one-hour retrospective special, followed by the final episode)

Fox

WASHINGTON — Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney pulled in more than $40.1 million for his election effort last month, his campaign said Thursday, a near match of President Barack Obama’s April fundraising haul.

It was the first month Romney could reap the benefits of a joint fundraising venture with the Republican National Committee and several state parties. By teaming fundraising efforts with the party committees, Romney could solicit contributions up to $75,000 per person —a steep jump from the $2,500 donation limit the campaign faced during the Republican primary.

The ability to reel in larger checks, paired with an April schedule flush with fundraisers, enabled Romney to nearly equal the $43.6 million raised by Obama for his re-election effort last month. Obama has been fundraising with the Democratic Party and affiliated committees for months, allowing the incumbent to build a lopsided cash advantage over Romney. In March, for example, the president collected more than $53 million while Romney raised nearly $12.6 million.

Now, in clinching the Republican nomination, Romney has begun to chip away at that fundraising disparity. The April numbers were first reported Thursday by The New York Times. In a subsequent press release, the campaign announced that it, along with the RNC, had $60.1 million in the bank at the end of April.

“We are pleased with the strong support we have received from Americans across the country who are looking for new leadership in the White House,” said finance chairman Spencer Zwick in a statement. “Along with the hard work of the Republican National Committee, we will continue to raise the funds necessary to defeat President Obama in November.”

According to the campaign, about a quarter of the April total —$10.1 million — came from donations in increments of $250 or less.

WASHINGTON — Two senators on Thursday denounced Facebook Inc. co-founder Eduardo Saverin as a tax dodger for renouncing his U.S. citizenship ahead of the company’s initial public offering and introduced legislation to punish him and others who leave the country to duck big tax bills.

Among the penalties would be a ban on re-entering the United States for anyone that the Internal Revenue Service determined renounced citizenship to avoid paying taxes.

“This is a great American success story gone wrong,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. “Mr. Saverin wants to de-friend the United States just to avoid paying taxes, and we’re not going to let him get away with it.”

Schumer said Saverin could save $67 million to $100 million by renouncing his citizenship and moving to Singapore, which has no capital gains taxes.

So Schumer and Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., said they will introduce the Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing the Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy Act, also known as the Ex-PATRIOT Act.

Any person with a net worth of $2 million or an average income-tax liability of at least $148,000 over the previous five years who renounces U.S. citizenship would be presumed by the Internal Revenue Service to have done so to avoid paying taxes. The person would have to prove otherwise to the IRS.

Anybody who could not prove another reason for renouncing citizenship would face a 30 percent tax on future capital gains on U.S. investments and be barred from receiving a visa to re-enter the country.

“Under current law, Mr. Saverin would get away for free. But Senator Casey and I have a status upgrade for him — pay your taxes in full or don’t ever try to visit the U.S. again,” Schumer said. “The despicable trend that Saverin exhibits must be stopped dead in its tracks.”

In his first comments on the controversy, Saverin told the New York Times on Wednesday that his move “had nothing to do with taxes.”

“I’m not a tax expert,” he said. “We complied with all the known laws. There was an exit tax.”

But Schumer and Casey said they believed Saverin renounced his citizenship to save millions in tax payments from his share of Facebook stock. They said his move was even more galling because Saverin came to the U.S. as a boy because his family feared kidnappers in his native Brazil.

“I think it’s clear to anyone looking at this across the country that this is an insult to the American people,” Casey said. “When you have someone in Mr. Saverin who benefited tremendously from our education system, from our free-market capitalism, from all the liberties and freedoms we enjoy, and then to take that wealth and try to avoid taxes in this manner I think cries out for some basic justice.”

The Constitution prohibits Congress from passing laws specifically aimed at one person, what’s known as a bill of attainder. But Schumer and Casey said their proposal, while inspired by Saverin, is not limited to him and therefore would be constitutional.

A 1996 law allows the attorney general to bar anyone from reentering the country who renounced U.S. citizenship to avoid paying taxes. But Schumer said there is no mechanism for the attorney general to determine that tax avoidance was the reason for renouncing citizenship.

In 2011, 1,780 people gave up their U.S. citizenship, up dramatically from 235 in 2008, he said.

But because of the law’s loophole, nobody has ever been barred from reentry for tax avoidance. The Ex-PATRIOT Act would close the loophole by giving the IRS the authority to make that determination and share the information with the Justice Department, the lawmakers said.

“I am proud of all the people who made a fortune in Facebook. That’s the American way,” Schumer said. “None of them are renouncing their citizenship to avoid taxes.”

CHICAGO — The Chicago man accused of stabbing to death his new bride in Illinois was last tracked to a Texas town near the Mexican border, authorities said Thursday.

According to details included in a federal warrant approved Thursday, Arnoldo Jimenez’s phone was tracked to Hidalgo, Texas, Sunday night, just hours after Estrella Carrera’s body was found in the bathtub of her apartment in Burbank. She still was wearing the sparkly silver dress she had worn to celebrate her wedding on Friday.

Jimenez, 30, last used his cellphone in the Chicago area on Saturday, according to the court documents. He continued using it through southern Illinois, near Memphis, Tenn., through Arkansas and then into Texas, records show.

The new documents also reinforce information Carrera’s family told the Chicago Tribune about an emotional call Jimenez made to his sister.

“On (Sunday) Jimenez spoke with his sister by telephone, telling her he and Carrera had a bad fight and he left her bleeding,” according to court documents. Another “close associate of Jimenez” told authorities that Jimenez told the associate “he was leaving the state of Illinois and if questioned by law enforcement, the associate should tell law enforcement he went to Mexico,” records show.

Jimenez was born in Texas and owns property there, and his parents live in Mexico, according to court documents.

Burbank Police Capt. Joe Ford said authorities have received more than 300 tips regarding the case, which has garnered national attention. The tips mostly have been car sightings, police said, with Jimenez last seen driving a black Maserati sedan.

Jimenez and Carrera were married last Friday. They celebrated the spur-of the-moment wedding into the wee hours of Saturday morning with friends and family at a Chicago restaurant, a party limo and a night club, police and family said.

On Sunday, Carrera, 26, was found dead by authorities, who were contacted by relatives after they couldn’t reach her.

On Tuesday, a Cook County warrant was issued for Jimenez, a Chicago resident. He is charged with first-degree murder.

Carrera’s sister, Jazmin, said relatives rarely saw Jimenez and know little about him. They don’t know how he was able to afford his Maserati, and both family and police said they don’t know what Jimenez did for a living.

“He had all that and no history of working,” Jazmin Carrera said.

Jazmin Carrera and other relatives said they did not approve of the couple’s relationship, which had been tumultuous for about three years.

“He was so possessive with her and jealous,” Jazmin Carrera said.

Court records show Jimenez was charged in 2003 with domestic battery, but the complaining witness did not show up to court and the charges were dropped.

Jimenez is the father of Estrella Carrera’s youngest child, a 2-year-old boy. Carrera was also mother to a 9-year-old daughter, relatives said.

Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees pleaded not guilty Thursday to four misdemeanor charges stemming from an early May arrest during which he allegedly kneed a police officer in the chest.

Rees, the starter in 12 of 13 games last year for the Irish, allegedly fled police as they broke up an off-campus party May 3, kneed the officer while trying to escape and then was pepper-sprayed as police subdued him in the street.

The 19-year-old Lake Bluff, Ind., native was charged with one count of battery, two counts of resisting law enforcement and one count of illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor. A spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office said Rees made a brief appearance Thursday to enter the plea, with a status hearing set for July 17.

Irish linebacker Carlo Calabrese, charged Wednesday with misdemeanor intimidation for his role in the same incident, didn’t appear in court Thursday, as expected. His lawyer requested a continuation, and Calabrese’s next court date is June 21.

Prosecutors allege that Calabrese, who played in all 13 games in 2011, “became vocal” when police apprehended Rees and told an officer “My people will get you” when Rees was taken away. He repeated the statement when an officer asked Calabrese if he was threatening him, according to charging documents.

A team spokesman said Irish coach Brian Kelly had no comment on the Thursday court appearances. Kelly initially issued a statement after the arrests saying he was “very concerned” but was withholding judgment.

Both players almost assuredly will enter the university’s internal discipline system as well, which could lead to other sanctions and can run concurrently with the legal process.

WASHINGTON — Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney pulled in more than $40.1 million for his election effort last month, his campaign said Thursday, a near match of President Barack Obama’s April fundraising haul.

It was the first month Romney could reap the benefits of a joint fundraising venture with the Republican National Committee and several state parties. By teaming fundraising efforts with the party committees, Romney could solicit contributions up to $75,000 per person —a steep jump from the $2,500 donation limit the campaign faced during the Republican primary.

The ability to reel in larger checks, paired with an April schedule flush with fundraisers, enabled Romney to nearly equal the $43.6 million raised by Obama for his re-election effort last month. Obama has been fundraising with the Democratic Party and affiliated committees for months, allowing the incumbent to build a lopsided cash advantage over Romney. In March, for example, the president collected more than $53 million while Romney raised nearly $12.6 million.

Now, in clinching the Republican nomination, Romney has begun to chip away at that fundraising disparity. The April numbers were first reported Thursday by The New York Times. In a subsequent press release, the campaign announced that it, along with the RNC, had $60.1 million in the bank at the end of April.

“We are pleased with the strong support we have received from Americans across the country who are looking for new leadership in the White House,” said finance chairman Spencer Zwick in a statement. “Along with the hard work of the Republican National Committee, we will continue to raise the funds necessary to defeat President Obama in November.”

According to the campaign, about a quarter of the April total —$10.1 million — came from donations in increments of $250 or less.

After decades of debate, federal regulators have condemned the practice of using antibiotics on healthy farm animals, trying to stem the rise in so-called “superbugs” that pose a dire threat to human health.

(PHOTO: Cattle are all grass-fed to 500-600 pounds, until they’re sold.)

The new guidelines from the Food and Drug Administration, which are voluntary, advise the agricultural industry to use antibiotics “judiciously” in treating and preventing sickness, and recommend that veterinarians oversee usage. The new stance follows studies by scientists and the FDA from the 1970s, which showed that antibiotics given on farms lead to drug-resistant bacteria—the superbugs—that can spread to humans.

In the past several decades, health care professionals as well as veterinarians have seen a steep rise in drug-resistant infections. Just one of the types of resistant bacteria, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), found in both farms and hospitals, has been estimated to kill more people than AIDS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. MRSA has also been found on packaged meat in grocery store shelves.

While many scientists and the American Veterinary Medical Association laud the FDA’s move, state ranchers and dairy farmers fear they’re headed down a trail of over-regulation that would stymie the health care of their animals. Meanwhile, public interest groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, say the guidelines are simply not strong enough.

The FDA is giving the industry three years to adopt the guidelines before it determines the next step, which could be to make the rules mandatory.

“Antibiotic resistance has increased tremendously over the last several decades,” said Dr. Stuart Levy, an expert on the issue. The situation is critical, he added, because the resistant bacteria travel with food products from the farm to home.

A 2010 report by the CDC found an alarming amount of superbugs in grocery stores. More than half of all ground turkey carried E. coli that was resistant to three or more drugs. E. coli causes gastrointestinal infections and sickens about 265,000 people each year, according to the CDC.

Similarly, half of all packaged pork chops were contaminated with multi-drug resistant salmonella, another cause of gastrointestinal illnesses that sickens 1.2 million people each year and results in almost 500 deaths.

In a separate study published earlier this year, Iowa researchers found that nearly 7 percent of packaged pork products carried MRSA—even meat labeled “antibiotic free.”

Most food experts do say that the new guidelines will have little, if any, impact on grocery prices—even if they’re made mandatory.

Farmers learned in the 1950s that if they gave healthy animals food with a dash of antibiotics — less than the dose used to treat an illness — the animals would grow bigger and need less food. And nearly all of the antibiotics were available over-the-counter.

However, that also created perfect conditions for generating superbugs, according to numerous studies.

In a 1976 study, a team of researchers, led by Levy, fed chickens low doses of the antibiotic tetracycline — a drug also used in humans for a wide variety of infections including sexually transmitted diseases and acne. Within a week, the birds had tetracycline-resistant bacteria in their intestines. In less than six months, farmworkers and neighbors had spikes in tetracycline-resistant bacteria in their fecal samples.

But, some agricultural experts claim that published data regarding antibiotic use on farms is often contradictory. Dr. Michael Payne, a food safety expert at UC Davis, pointed to a 2002 USDA study that indicated that low-doses of antibiotics in turkeys knocked down salmonella levels, which commonly causes intestinal infections in people. But the study didn’t address resistance levels.

“Antibiotic resistance is perhaps the most complex issue facing agriculture today,” said Payne.

Despite the worrisome 1976 findings, the FDA didn’t change the rules for antibiotic use on farms.

“We think basically that the FDA has caved to the agricultural industry,” said Avinash Kar, a staff attorney for the NRDC.

The organization was one of several public interest groups that sued the FDA last May to press for strict rules on antibiotic usage on farms. The FDA produced the new voluntary guidelines independently from the lawsuit. But a federal judge ruled last month that the FDA must act on the issue, and that the new guidelines would not excuse the FDA from reviewing its approval of antibiotics used on healthy animals. Legal proceedings are under way to determine the next step.

The food safety director of one of the groups, The Center for Science in the Public Interest, called the new guidelines “tragically flawed.”

Such groups are skeptical that the industry will adopt them.

“I think we might see some changes and hear all the right noises, but that doesn’t mean that it’s going to make changes at the level of industry where we need to see it,” Kar said.

Other groups are concerned that the guidelines haven’t spelled out the changes clearly enough for farmers, veterinarians and drug companies.

The guidelines clearly condemn using antibiotics for growth promotion, but farmers also give healthy animals antibiotics to prevent sickness.

“I think there’s a lot of overlap between promotion and disease prevention. So there’s a big loophole,” said Laura Rogers, who directs the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.

In contrast, state ranchers, dairy producers and national agricultural associations feel the new FDA guidelines are heavy-handed regulations not based on science.

“Voluntary is really relative when you have a regulatory agency telling you how they want you to do business,” said Dr. Liz Wagstrom, chief veterinarian for the National Pork Producers Council.

“I really don’t think there was a public health risk from growth promotion,” said Dr. Scott Hurd, former deputy undersecretary, food safety, for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “But on the other side, I think it will remove the black-eye that the industry had.”

Mikayla Smith (Fr., Mason City, IA) shot an 87 in her final round to place 47th in the 116 player field.  She shot a four-day total of 348.  Alexandria Eckenrod (Fr., Mason City, IA) shot a 90 to tie for 57th with 365 strokes, and Sarah Steinauer (Fr., Clarinda, IA) shot 103 and placed 77th with 394.

“This was a great experience for Mikayla, Alexandria and Sarah as all three are freshmen and will be returning next year for the Trojans,” NIACC golf coach Chris Frenz said.  “It’s tough to play this much golf over a five-day period, especially with a long day yesterday, and I thought they are hung in there as best they could.

“With this golf course, mistakes get magnified and it’s tough to bounce back as there aren’t a lot of birdies to be had out there.”

In the women’s junior college golf championships, Division I, II, and III are all together. Coach Frenz said the goal was for all place inside the top-60, which would mean each golfer was close to beating half the field.  Regardless, it was a productive week for the Trojans.

“These are some of the best finishes that NIACC has had down here, so these girls have accomplished a lot this year, and we hope to build on that next year,” Frenz said.

“This was a great week.  These girls will put the time in during the offseason and we’ll go at it again next fall.”

NIACC will lose no players to graduation.

Edmond, who won the heptathlon on Wednesday, won the high jump with a jump of 1.75-meters (5’8¾”) on Thursday. She tied Ashley Reid of Johnson County Community College (KS) at 1.75-meters, but reached and cleared that height in less attempts.

Edmond is the second Trojan to win two national championships in one meet. Anna Buenneke (So., Hazelton, IA) last accomplished that feat by winning the 3000- and 5000-meter runs at the 2011 NJCAA Indoor National Championships.

In the team scores, the NIACC women finished eighth out of 24 teams with 26 points, while the men’s team placed in a tie for 27th out of 35 with five points. Meet host South Plains College won both meets, with the women scoring 184.5 points, and the men recording 163 points.

While Edmond scored 20 of the NIACC women’s 26 points, Buenneke scored the last six. Buenneke earned one of those points on Thursday with an eighth place in the 5000-meter run in a time of 20:08.50. Earlier in the week, she finished fifth in the 10000-meters for the Trojans first five points.

On the men’s side, Trent Smith (Fr., Charles City, IA) led Thursday’s efforts with a 12th in the 5000 in 16:31.53, while Lance Maxwell (So., Racine, WI) placed 17th in the discus with a 44.88 meter (147’3”) toss.

The meet ended NIACC’s track season. Both teams will lose seven sophomores. Andrew Corcoran (Sumner, IA), Cody Manchester (Mason City, IA), Denzel Samson (Fort Worth, TX), Maxwell, Marquez Hobson (Minneapolis, MN), Mathew Ferris (LeMars, IA) and RJ Harris (Des Moines, IA) will move on for the men.

For the women, Buenneke, Ashley Ubbelohde (Waterloo, IA), Caila Jones (Spirit Lake, IA), Darcy Nelson (Lake Mills, IA), Heidi Hain (Nora Springs, IA), Samoane Waddy (Boone, IA) and Edmond will all move on.

McCoy was able to rally throughout the day, posting three birdies to sit at even par heading into the last hole. However, McCoy posted a bogey on his final hole of the day to card his 73. Scott Fernandez was second among the Iowa State competitors with a 76, and Sam Daley and Borja Vitro each posted scores of 78.

Pedro Figueiredo of UCLA and Jonathan Fly of Memphis top the individual leaderboard with 4-under par 68s.

Iowa State returns to The Club at Olde Stone for another 18 holes tomorrow morning. The Cyclones will conclude the regional with 18 holes on Satruday.

Team Scores
1. UCLA – 284
T2. Chattanooga – 294
T2. Colorado State – 294
T4. Clemson – 295
T4. Texas A&M – 295
T4. North Texas – 295
T4. Memphis – 295
8. Virginia Tech – 297
9. Northwestern – 301
10. Arkansas – 302
11. Iowa State – 305
12. Jacksonville State – 308
13. Penn – 313
14. Alabama State – 319

Iowa State Scores
T11. Nate McCoy – 73
T35. Scott Fernandez – 76
T51. Sam Daley – 78
T51. Borja Vitro – 78
T59. Duncan Croudis – 79

Top Individuals
T1. Pedro Figueiredo, UCLA – 68
T1. Jonathan Fly, Memphis – 68
T2. Patrick Cantlay, UCLA – 69

Facebook Inc. priced its shares in its initial public stock offering at $38 late Thursday, setting the stage for its historic market debut Friday.

The IPO values Facebook at $104 billion, the largest-ever for a newly public company. The $18.4 billion that Facebook is expected to raise in the IPO itself would be the second-largest in U.S. history, trailing only the $19.65 billion of Visa Inc. in 2008.

The Facebook pricing comes at a jittery moment for the stock market, which suffered a deep drop Thursday in a continuation of the weakness that has gripped share prices this month.

The Dow Jones industrial average sank 156.06 points, or 1.2 percent, to 12,442.49. It has fallen 6.3 percent from its recent peak on May 1. The technology-laden Nasdaq composite, on which Facebook will begin trading Friday, slumped 60.35 points, or 2.1 percent, to 2,813.69.

Facebook’s debut has dominated Silicon Valley and Wall Street in recent weeks, as the company and the financial markets geared up for the most anticipated IPO since Google Inc. in 2004.

The frenzy has been all the more intense given that Facebook was launched only eight years ago in Mark Zuckerberg’s college dorm room. The company earned $1 billion last year, up 65% from the prior year. Revenue climbed 88 percent to $3.7 billion and is projected to rise 65 percent to $6.1 billion this year, according to research firm EMarketer Inc.

“There’s never been a company that’s gone from inception to IPO with this kind of valuation,” said Francis Gaskins, editor of IPOdesktop.com in Marina del Rey. “It’s a rocket ship that’s taken off.”

The offering would raise $16 billion initially, and ultimately up to $18.4 billion as the Wall Street investment banks handling the deal distribute additional “over-allotment” shares, as is common in sought-after IPOs.

But even as the excitement has built, so has fear that individual investors rushing into the stock could be setting themselves up for a fall.

Facebook announced Wednesday that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other prominent insiders have significantly raised the number of shares they’re unloading in the IPO, a sign that the professional investors in the best position to handicap Facebook’s investment merits are taking the opportunity to lighten their holdings. Their selling pushed up the size of the IPO 25 percent.

The stock is set to open an hour and a half after the Nasdaq officially opens for business. The late start is designed to allow for an orderly opening considering the large number of shares expected to be traded.