QUOTE OF THE DAY

“It just seems like all the right connections aren’t being made.”

Jacki Manley, a stay-at-home mom of Keedysville, Md., on customer-service wait times and online difficulties she’s encountered while trying since mid-December to enroll her family in a health plan Article, this page

With a ‘let’s roll,’ 9/11 ship ready to sail

PHILADELPHIA - A new U.S. Navy ship named to honor 40 passengers and crew members killed when their hijacked United Airlines flight crashed as they fought with terrorists during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was put into service Saturday in Philadelphia.

The USS Somerset is named for the southwestern Pennsylvania county where Flight 93 crashed. With its 684-foot starboard side serving as the backdrop, the amphibious transport dock warship was formally commissioned in front of more than 5,000 spectators at Penn’s Landing.

“What we commemorate is not that war or an attack on America,” said Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. “We commemorate the day America began to fight back.”

The Somerset is the third ship to be named in honor of 9/11 victims, joining the USS New York and USS Arlington, which honor those killed in the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon during the attacks.

After its crew manned the ship, the Somerset’s commanding officer, Capt. Thomas Dearborn, said, “Somerset, let’s roll,” paying homage to Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer’s famous rallying cry. Beamer helped lead the passenger rebellion that led to the plane crashing about 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Investigators believe the hijackers planned to target the White House or Capitol.

The Somerset was christened in Avondale, La., at the Huntington Ingalls shipyard in 2012 and delivered to the Navy in October.

Obama sets event to push base-wage rise

WASHINGTON - Striving to show momentum on a top legislative priority, President Barack Obama will be appearing this week with Northeastern governors who back his push to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and will pledge to lift the earnings of the lowest-paid workers in their states to at least the same level.

Obama plans an appearance Wednesday at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain with Democratic Govs. Dannel Malloy of Connecticut, Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and Peter Shumlin of Vermont, as well as Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, an independent.

Obama says a higher wage will help lift hardworking people out of poverty, giving them more money to spend and businesses more customers and higher profits. But Republicans have argued that jobs will be eliminated, unemployment will rise and the economy will suffer if the government forces businesses to cut bigger paychecks for their workers.

NYC looks to slow down lead-foot cabbies

NEW YORK - Perpetually rushed New Yorkers have been telling cabbies to “step on it” for as long as there have been taxis, but the city wants to break that habit, in part by attacking the financial incentive to speed.

Cabs could be outfitted with black-box-style data recorders and devices that would sound warnings - or even pause the fare meter - for going too fast, even as speed limits on most city streets would drop from 30 to 25 mph under new proposals.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who made the proposals as part of his broader safe-streets plan, said drivers of New York’s signature yellow cabs rightly should play a particular role in his push to curb traffic crashes.

“They set the tone on our streets,” de Blasio said.

New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission said it is still exploring the ideas, which would require a range of approvals.

The traffic-safety plan also includes more taxi-rule enforcers, stiffer penalties for cabbies’ driving violations and other provisions aimed at all cars, not just taxis.

Deal struck to let gay marchers in parade

BOSTON - The St. Patrick’s Day parade in Boston is easing its two-decade ban on gay organizations under a tentative deal to allow them to march in an event that once went to the Supreme Court to keep gays out, a marriage-equality group said Saturday.

Mass Equality Executive Director Kara Coredini said a group of gay military veterans can march under its banner as part of a tentative deal with parade organizers brokered by Boston Mayor Martin Walsh.

Marchers from the gay-rights group would not be allowed to wear clothing or hold signs that refer to sexual orientation, Coredini said.

Negotiators will finalize details this week, she said.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 03/02/2014