The three-story building will add 31,000 square feet of office and multipurpose space to the school’s existing Vadalabene Athletics Center.

The annex, distinguished by a soaring glass curtain wall system and a limestone-clad façade that models the exterior of Vadalabene Center, is scheduled to open in August.

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Wal-Mart says that it earned $3.74 billion, or $1.09 per share, in the quarter ended April 30. That compares with $3.39 billion, or 97 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Net sales excluding membership fees from Sam’s Club rose 8.6 percent to $112.2 billion.

Analysts had expected $1.04 per share on net sales of $110.5 billion.

Revenue at stores opened at least a year rose 2.6 percent at its Wal-Mart’s namesake U.S. division. That’s above the 1.4 percent estimate from Wall Street.

The company is offering an upbeat profit outlook for the current quarter.

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But the documents Berkshire Hathaway Inc. filed with regulators Tuesday don’t reveal everything Buffett and the company’s two new investment managers have been buying. That’s because they are allowed to omit some of its holdings from the report.

Berkshire tweaked a number of positions in its $75.3 billion portfolio during the first three months of 2012.

It boosted its investments in DirecTV, Liberty Media, DaVita Inc. and the Bank of New York Mellon.

Berkshire also reduced its holdings in Intel Corp., Kraft Foods, Dollar General, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and Verisk Analytics.

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Benchmark oil was down 40 cents to $95.73 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 95 cents to settle at $96.13 in New York on Friday.

Brent crude was down 40 cents at $111.86 per barrel in London.

Traders brushed off China’s announcement Saturday that it plans to cut its bank reserve requirement by 0.5 percentage points. The move, the third reserve ratio cut since November, is designed to boost lending and spark economic growth.

However, investors are worried by signs that China’s economy is faltering. The government said Friday that industrial production growth in April slowed and electricity output was little changed.

Investors are also eyeing political turmoil in Greece, where political parties have been unable to form a government after elections earlier this month easy payday loans.

Some analysts say the recent oil price slump _ crude is down more than 10 percent this month _ isn’t being driven by global supply and demand fundamentals, but rather the old market adage about selling assets at the beginning of the summer months.

“There’s little to the latest price action than the increasingly self-fulfilling prophecy of ’sell it in May and go away’, with broader macroeconomic concerns used as a lightening rod,” Barclays said in a report. “U.S. oil demand is improving while Asian demand remains robust.”

In other energy trading, heating oil was steady at $2.96 per gallon and gasoline futures were little changed at $3.00 per gallon. Natural gas fell 1.6 cents at $2.49 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, in recent years has tried to repair a reputation that’s been damaged by decades of criticism and legal troubles. Community activists have blamed it for damaging the neighborhoods where it builds its stores. Labor groups have lambasted it for not treating its workers well. And politicians have called it a poor steward of the environment.

Wal-Mart has been doing things like offering employees better health care coverage and working with its suppliers to reduce environmental waste. Now, allegations that Wal-Mart paid millions of dollars in bribes to officials in Mexico threaten to derail its efforts.

The accusations highlight how difficult it is for a company as big and powerful as Wal-Mart to dig itself out of a pile of bad publicity. As history shows, the discounter’s low-income customers continue to shop at the retailer even when it’s having image problems. But the fallout from the latest accusations could become a distraction for the company at a time when it’s battling growing competition.

The U.S. and Mexican governments reportedly are investigating the chain. Wal-Mart’s stock is down almost 5 percent since the allegations surfaced. The company and top executives are being sued by angry investors. And some shareholders are planning to vote against the re-election of several board members at Wal-Mart’s annual meeting next month.

“This is a devastating blow to their reputation,” says Jonathan Low, co-founder and partner of Predictiv, LLC, which advises corporations on their image although the firm declines to give examples because of confidentiality agreements. “This undercuts all the initiatives they made in many areas.”

Wal-Mart says it has an ongoing investigation into the allegations, and it’s cooperating with federal authorities. In the meantime, the retailer says it’s conducting business as usual.

“We continue to focus on things customers care about like jobs, healthier foods, sustainability and workforce development,” says Steven Restivo, a Wal-Mart spokesman. “Our commitment won’t change.”

NO STRANGER TO CONTROVERSY

Wal-Mart wasn’t always the center of controversy. After it was founded in 1962, the retailer expanded by keeping costs down and selling items for less than competitors. The company now has more than 10,000 stores worldwide _ many of which are the size of two football fields. But as Wal-Mart grows, so does its troubles.

Wal-Mart’s size has often made it a target. Critics, politicians and activists have portrayed it as a corporate behemoth that puts profits above its workers and the neighborhoods where it builds its stores. Anti-Wal-Mart sentiment reached a fever pitch around the beginning of the century when several groups funded by labor unions formed to oppose the company.

The groups have argued that Wal-Mart, the largest U.S. private employer with 1.4 million workers, doesn’t pay fair wages or provide adequate health care. They have said the company’s big-box stores are eyesores that crush small businesses and wreak havoc on traffic and commerce in local communities. They have complained that Wal-Mart hasn’t taken responsibility for its impact on the environment. And they have complained that the company buys too many goods overseas.

The groups ran ad campaigns, toured around the country holding protests and tried to help organize workers. They attempted to block Wal-Mart from opening new stores in places like New York City even while competitors like Target were greeted with fanfare. Wal-Mart even was cited during the 2008 election by then-Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John Edwards as an example of what’s wrong with big business.

Then, in 2004, Wal-Mart was hit with what could have been the largest sex discrimination case in U.S. history. A group of 1.6 million female workers accused Wal-Mart of paying female workers less than male employees. Last year, the Supreme Court blocked the suit.

“Wal-Mart was battling one image problem after another,” says Daniel Diermeier, an expert in corporate crisis management and a professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

At the time, Wal-Mart acknowledged that the bad publicity was beginning to hurt its stock. Its shares fell 20 percent from early 2005 to an eight-year low of $42 two years later.

Wal-Mart decided to try to reinvent itself. The company, based in Bentonville, Ark., tried to soften its image with shoppers by using the Great Recession as a way to bolster its position among its low-income shoppers. In 2007, it created a new slogan, “Save money, live better” to replace its long-time “Always Low Prices.”

Wal-Mart, which like many big companies had been criticized for its large carbon footprint, also focused on what it could do to clean up the environment business card. For example, it worked with its expansive network of suppliers that include big Fortune 500 companies like consumer-products giants Procter & Gamble to reduce packaging.

Additionally, Wal-Mart worked on its image with employees. It improved its health care plan and provided coverage to more workers. It started offering $4 prescription drugs. The company also broke with other big corporations and endorsed a mandate that requires employers to subsidize employee health care _ a key part of President Obama’s health care overhaul.

When it comes to healthier eating, Wal-Mart announced a plan to lower salts, fats and sugars in thousands of the products it sells. It also agreed to cut produce prices by 2015.

To address its image with women, Wal-Mart last year rolled out sweeping measures that it says will help women around the world, including offering training of 60,000 women working in factories in places like India. It enlisted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a former critic, for a project to help up to 55,000 women in Latin America and the Caribbean build businesses.

DEJA VU

Experts say the alleged bribery scandal, first reported by The New York Times last month, is stirring up new troubles for Wal-Mart. The paper reported that Wal-Mart failed to notify law enforcement even after its own investigators found evidence of bribes funneled through its Mexican unit.

If Wal-Mart is found to have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which forbids U.S. companies from paying bribes to foreign officials, the company could face fines of hundreds of millions of dollars. Top Wal-Mart executives could lose their jobs or go to jail.

The Washington Post recently reported that the U.S. Department of Justice has been conducting a criminal investigation since December. The Justice Department declined to comment.

Two Democratic congressmen, Elijah Cummings of Maryland and Henry Waxman of California, also have launched an investigation.

“A lot of the goodwill has been jeopardized,” says Rep. E. Cummings, (D-Maryland), ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told The Associated Press.

And Mexico’s government says it’s looking into the charges. President Felipe Calderon, who previously cited Wal-Mart’s growth in the country as one of his administration’s successes, says he’s “very angry” about the alleged bribery scandal.

Investors are nervous, sending Wal-Mart’s shares down to around $59. That’s off about five percent from when news of the bribery scandal surfaced, but above the high $40s-range they were trading at during the recession.

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, one of the nation’s largest pension plans, filed a lawsuit in Delaware against Wal-Mart, asking that any financial damages as a result of its leaders’ actions be returned to the company. It holds more than 5.3 million shares of Wal-Mart, or well under 1 percent of its shares.

And leaders of New York City’s pension funds are planning to vote their 4.7 million company shares against five Wal-Mart directors up for re-election next month.

“The bribery allegations are damaging,” New York City Comptroller John Liu said in a statement. “But reports of a widespread cover-up, involving Wal-Mart’s top executives, could have even more devastating consequences.”

Meanwhile, some of the groups Wal-Mart has worked with say the scandal won’t harm their view of the company.

“The (bribery) story doesn’t touch on our work with Wal-Mart,” said Jon Coifman, spokesman at The Environmental Defense Fund, an environmental nonprofit that has been working with Wal-Mart on a number of initiatives like reducing excess packaging from suppliers. “Nothing has changed so far.”

It’s still unclear how Wal-Mart shoppers will react. Robert Passikoff is president of Brand Keys Inc., a New York customer research firm that measures the image of companies using an index that rates them based on location and value, range of merchandise, store reputation and shopping experience.

He says Wal-Mart consistently scores at about 90 on a scale of 1 to 100 on the index even during periods when its reputation is attacked. A rating of below 70 would mean it’s in trouble, he says.

Historically, Passikoff says low-income Wal-Mart shoppers don’t care where they shop as long as the prices are low. Still, he says well-heeled Americans who often value corporate reputation have shopped elsewhere when Wal-Mart has had image problems.

“That could happen again,” he says.

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Guccione, while an alderman in January, voted in favor of the Ranken subsidy.  But in his campaign for mayor, he switched to opposing the plan.  This week, however, Guccione - who was elected April 3 - was back on board with the Ranken deal.

“I want Ranken here but I had a problem with the funding,” he explained.  He said he now believes that the city has a good chance to get private businesses and other donors to cover some of the city’s costs.

He also said he was told that Linn State Technical College wasn’t ready to come to Wentzville yet.  He had said previously that the city should consider Linn as well as Ranken.

Aldermen voted 5-0 on Wednesday for a revised agreement with Ranken that calls for the St. Louis-based school to start offering classes at a yet-to-be-chosen Wentzville satellite site by the summer of next year guaranteed personal loan approval.  The earlier agreement had called for classes to begin this fall.

Ranken’s board still must sign off on the deal.

Alderman Forrest Gossett, who was elected to his first term last month, said he was undecided until recently but concluded that the city would be taking a justifiable risk.

Supporters say Ranken - by offering training that could lead to good-paying technical jobs for its students - would help Wentzville attract and keep manufacturers and other businesses.

The nonprofit 104-year-old Ranken has 2,200 students at its 11-building main campus on Finney Avenue in St. Louis.  The satellite campus is expected to have as many as 150 students by the third year of the agreement with Wentzville.

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The T. Rowe Price Retirement 2055 Fund, or any other so-called “target date fund,” is designed for someone your age. So theoretically your fund would be ideal for you. The number in the fund name is the year you will retire if you work to 67. Theoretically, when you look through a list of 401(k) mutual funds and find the one with the date you may retire, you have found all you need to know. But people need to understand a little more.

First, if you continue to put money into this fund from every paycheck until you retire, you should never have to use any other mutual fund or pick any stock or bond. This is one-stop shopping.

But most important, you need to understand what the number in your fund tells your fund manager what to do. By knowing your retirement date, the manager decides how much risk you should take in the stock market. So it’s critical to understand his thinking so you can be sure you really want what the fund manager will give.

When you are 24, the manager will put almost all your money into stocks. He knows that there will be times when you will lose a lot of money in the stock market, but he figures that over 43 years you will gain a lot more than you lose, and that will get you ready to retire. As you go through life, the manager will make changes in the quantity of stocks and bonds. So the closer you get to retirement, the less risk you will take in the stock market.

Not every fund handles age groups exactly the same, but they are relatively close. Some, like the T. Rowe Price retirement fund, will use more stocks than average as you go through life, so it’s riskier than the average target-date fund. According to research by Morningstar, when you are in your 20s, the average manager will put about 90 percent of your money in stocks and about 10 percent in bonds. When you are in your 40s, the manager will put about 85 percent in stocks. In your 50s, it’s 70 percent in stocks and 30 percent in bonds. And when you get close to retirement in your 60s, about 60 percent of your money will be invested in stocks, with 40 percent in bonds. When you get close to retirement, it’s especially important to make sure you are at peace with the amount in stocks. T. Rowe Price, for example, has been keeping about 79 percent of a person’s money in stocks at about age 55, so it’s riskier than the average fund at only 70 percent in stocks.

Sometimes, people in their 20s and 30s get upset when they find out they are almost 100 percent in stocks. They know that in 2008 many Americans lost huge amounts of money in the stock market. During about 18 months, the market sank about 57 percent.

While it might seem crazy at 24 to subject your money to this risk, you will be taking another risk if you don’t. The risk with a safer choice like a money market fund or a bond fund is that your money won’t grow much. In the past 86 years, the stock market on average has made a person’s money grow 9.8 percent a year. Long-term U.S. government Treasury bonds have grown money about 5.7 percent. Over a lifetime, those gains make a huge difference.

Those gains, as averages, have resulted from many ups and downs in the stock market since before the Great Depression. Some years, the stock market crashes more than 30 percent. Other years, it can gain 30 percent or more.

That’s why I said your fund was “theoretically” ideal for you. But if you will get nervous if your fund plunges in value, as it will on average every four years, then it’s not right.

If you cut back on stocks, your losses won’t be as great. And you can control that by buying a fund with a retirement date for someone older than you. For example, the average 2025 fund, designed for people around 53, puts about 70 percent of a person’s money into stocks.

So to pick a target-date fund, you have to know your gut. If you are convinced you can endure the pain and hold on in the scariest moments, then you have the right fund.

But there are no guarantees, and if you don’t save enough, you won’t have enough later. In your 20s, try to save 10 percent of pay: 8 percent out of pocket and 2 percent from your employer’s match.

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The Franco-Dutch airline said revenue grew 6 percent to (EURO)5.6 billion, but that was not enough to offset the continued slide in the income column. The group made a net loss of (EURO)367 million in the first quarter of last year.

Despite what the company characterized as a “tough quarter,” the results were better than the average consensus of analysts surveyed by FactSet, who had predicted (EURO)5.5 billion in sales.

Uprisings in the Middle East and tension with Iran have pushed fuel prices up over the past year, and the company said Friday that its fuel bill rose 18 percent to (EURO)1.7 billion in the January to March quarter. Only 1 percent of that rise was due to higher volumes.

Higher labor costs because of a 2011 salary increase also ate into profits.

The carrier is getting squeezed from both ends, as its costs rise and an important part of its revenue, cargo, drops payday loans in one hour. The global economic slowdown has weighed on international commerce, and the company said cargo traffic dropped 6 percent in the first quarter.

The one bright spot was improving passenger traffic, which was up 5.5 percent. Revenue in that business rose 8.8 percent.

All airlines have struggled during the global recession, but Air France-KLM was also beset by high debt and operating costs. The company unveiled a turnaround plan last year to reduce costs by 10 percent, outside of fuel, and slash its debt. It is also negotiating new employee contracts.

The carrier said it expected its first-half operating result to be worse than the (EURO)548 million loss it recorded last year. But it said the its turnaround plan should begin bearing fruit in the second half.

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