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C M Y K Composite ***** WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2015 ~ VOL. CCLXV NO. 87 WSJ.com HHHH $3.00 ware North to more accurately select applicants who best fit the job. “Now we understand bet- ter what makes a great reservation sales appli- cant,” said Andy Grinsfelder, vice president of sales and marketing for the Buffalo, N.Y.-based company’s parks and resorts division. Pre-hire assessments have been used for years, but never have such tests been deployed so widely at companies across the U.S. The au- tomation of the job application process, com- bined with powerful data tools and inexpensive online software, have led to falling costs, more accurate results and a surge in use. Eight of the top 10 U.S. private employers now administer pre-hire tests in their job appli- cations for some positions. These tests have, in effect, raised the bar for Please see HIRING page A10 The Delaware North Cos., a hospitality com- pany whose customer-service representatives help people plan vacations at national parks, sometimes struggles these days to keep 80 or so seats filled at its call center in Fresno, Ca- lif.—a city tied for the 9th-highest unemploy- ment rate in the U.S. The company has no shortage of job appli- cants. But finding the right candidates has got- ten tougher since the company started using a customized assessment last year to see how ap- plicants stack up against top call-center work- ers in such traits as friendliness, curiosity and the ability to multitask. Managers said the new test, administered on- line, has reduced turnover and allowed Dela- BY LAUREN WEBER CONTENTS Arts in Review.......... D5 Business News B2,3,6,8 Global Finance............ C3 Heard on the Street C14 Home & Digital...... D2,3 In the Markets........... C4 Opinion................... A11-13 Property Report C8-10 Sports.............................. D6 Technology................... B4 U.S. News................. A2-5 Weather Watch........ B8 World News ........... A6-9 s Copyright 2015 Dow Jones & Company. All Rights Reserved > What’s News Senators forged a bipartisan deal to give Congress review power over an Iran nuclear deal. The White House said Obama would sign the bill. A1 Obama warned Iran to halt its unilateral military role in Iraq, as the U.S. seeks to weaken Tehran’s influence in the fight against Islamist extremists. A8 Iran’s foreign minister said his country isn’t seeking to dominate Yemen and called for a truce in the conflict there. A8 Obama backed the removal of Cuba from the list of state terror sponsors, a key move in restoring diplomatic ties. A9 A Florida eye doctor facing corruption charges with Me- nendez was indicted for alleg- edly cheating Medicare. A1 A Georgia judge sentenced eight former public-school educators to prison for inflat- ing student test scores. A3 Christie called for Social Se- curity cuts, as the potential presidential candidate cast him- self as a fiscal truth-teller. A5 The Senate cleared a bill to set a new formula for cal- culating payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients. A4 The Justice Department charged a former loan officer at the Ex-Im Bank with bribery. A2 China is expanding two dis- puted islands as it builds seven islets in the South China Sea. A7 Fighting flared in eastern Ukraine between govern- ment troops and rebels. A9 A Japanese court ordered a halt to plans to restart two nuclear reactors, citing con- cerns about safety. A9 N okia is close to buying France’s Alcatel-Lucent in a deal aimed at creating a European telecom giant to fend off Chinese rivals. A1 Avon is exploring options including a sale of the com- pany or its struggling North American business. B1 The EU is set to file charges against Google for violating the bloc’s antitrust laws, step- ping up a five-year probe. B1 J.P. Morgan’s profit rose 12% on strong trading results, push- ing its shares to a 15-year high. Wells Fargo’s net fell 1.5%. C1 China’s economy began the year on a downbeat note, grow- ing at a 7% annual rate last quar- ter, the slowest since 2009. A7 The IMF expects little pickup in global economic growth this year amid slowing output in major emerging markets. A6 Retail sales rose 0.9% in March from February, but U.S. consumers showed signs of continued caution. A2 Energy Future filed a plan outlining how the firm hopes to restructure $42 billion in debt and exit bankruptcy. B2 The Dow gained 59.66 points to 18036.70, buoyed by a rebound in oil prices and some positive earnings reports. C4 Intel’s profit rose 3% as data-center growth offset softer demand for PCs. B4 Castleton has emerged as the leading bidder for Mor- gan Stanley’s oil business. C1 JetBlue and partner MCR are in talks to turn the TWA terminal at New York’s Ken- nedy Airport into a hotel. C1 Business & Finance World-Wide These Tax Collectors Say Few Can Claim the Passion They Have i i i Revenue fans file away memorabilia to paying Uncle Sam; allure of the 1913 Form 1040 cal ephemera—from those who ac- crue vintage plumbing fixtures to others who stockpile slide rules— those who specialize in taxes are met with bewilderment. “When I would go into antique shops to see if they had anything to do with taxes, they would look at me as if I had two horns and a tail,” says Mr. Scroggin. Many collectors have worked in tax-related professions, as lawyers, accountants, former IRS agents or economists. They are drawn to the rich history of revenue collecting—a topic that others find unspeakably dull. “You are slaving away in this little quiet obscure niche. You find your excitement where you can get it,” says Joseph Thorndike, director of the Tax His- Please see COLLECT page A2 Jeff Scroggin is no ordinary tax collector. The Roswell, Ga., estate lawyer is one of a small but dedicated group devoted to preserving me- mentos of an experience most people would rather forget: paying taxes. The 63-year-old Mr. Scroggin has amassed some 100,000 relics of America’s taxpaying his- tory, a trove whose trea- sures include Civil War- era tax forms, yellowing tax manuals, Internal Revenue Service badges brandished by investiga- tors, “wanted” posters for tax criminals, tax-themed art, tax tokens, tax board games, tax stamps and more. It is a passion that brings little glory. Among collectors of histori- BY RACHEL EMMA SILVERMAN A tax memento Clinton Swings Into Campaign Mode With Road Trip to Iowa JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES HEARTLAND VISIT: Hillary Clinton’s first appearance as a 2016 presidential candidate came on Tuesday at a community college in Monticello, Iowa. A4 Year-to-date share performance THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Source: WSJ Market Data Group 5 –15 –10 –5 0 % J F M A J.P. Morgan s 0.7% Wells Fargo t 1.1% TRADING UP: New earnings reports pointed to a revival on Wall Street, sending J.P. Morgan shares to a 15-year high. C1 TO GET A JOB, NEW HIRES ARE PUT TO THE TEST Applicants increasingly face assessments to gauge personality, performance WASHINGTON—Key senators on Tuesday forged a bipartisan compromise to give Congress re- view power over a final nuclear deal with Iran, winning the en- dorsement of a reluctant White House and easing a standoff over lawmakers’ role in the talks. The White House said Presi- dent Barack Obama would sign the legislation, which was ap- proved unanimously by the Sen- ate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday after lawmakers made changes to the bill that ad- ministration officials said miti- gated their concerns. The mea- sure sets up an expedited framework for Congress to re- view and potentially vote on a fi- nal agreement with Iran this summer. Accepting the Senate compro- mise could spare Mr. Obama from the embarrassment of the Senate overriding a veto of the bill, which was written by the panel’s chairman, Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.). Such an over- ride would have been the first of Mr. Obama’s presidency. The legislation, if enacted, would represent a rare assertion of congressional power over a foreign-policy matter that the White House would have pre- ferred to handle alone. Lawmak- ers have argued they should be able to weigh in on a deal hing- ing on the removal of congres- sional sanctions on Iran. While Congress has the power to au- Please see IRAN page A8 BY KRISTINA PETERSON Senators, Obama Yield On Iran PARIS—Nokia Corp. is close to buying French rival Alcatel- Lucent in a deal aimed at creat- ing a European telecommunica- tions-equipment behemoth better equipped to fend off ris- ing Chinese rivals. The two companies said Tues- BY SAM SCHECHNER day that they are in advanced talks over a “full combination” of their businesses in which Nokia would offer a share ex- change for control of Alcatel-Lu- cent. The deal—while not yet sealed—is expected be an- nounced as early as this week, according to people familiar with the matter. The Finnish-French tie-up would create a firm with more than 100,000 employees and nearly €26 billion ($27.7 billion) in revenue, rivaling Sweden’s Er- icsson, the market leader. The deal would also arm the two companies with more research firepower and a broader techno- logical arsenal in their fight against Chinese players like ZTE Corp. and particularly Huawei Technologies Co., the No. 2 com- pany whose fast expansion has rattled politicians in the U.S. and Europe. “It’s a big champion that could compete with Huawei and Chinese champions,” said French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron after a meeting with the chief executives of both compa- nies. Revolutions in communica- tions technology are disrupting a telecom-equipment business that has already suffered the whip- lash of the Internet and brutal price wars when Huawei and ZTE burst onto the international scene with low-cost cellular an- tennae more than a decade ago. This time around, industry ex- ecutives expect a new set of communication technologies to more closely knit together many types of network gear, some- Please see NOKIA page A7 Nokia, Alcatel Near Merger European companies in talks to form networking giant to better take on surging Chinese firms Medicare’s Top Biller Is Charged With Fraud A Florida eye doctor facing corruption charges with New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez was indicted Tuesday for health- care fraud, with prosecutors al- leging he cheated the federal Medicare program while receiv- ing payments of $105 million over six years. The payments to Salomon E. Melgen continued for much of that time despite scrutiny by fed- eral officials, highlighting vulner- abilities in the federal program for the elderly and disabled. A federal grand jury indicted Dr. Melgen, a North Palm Beach ophthalmologist, on 46 counts of health-care fraud, alleging among other things that he filed false Medicare claims between 2004 and 2013, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. The 61-year-old Dr. Melgen earlier this month had pleaded not guilty along with Sen. Me- nendez after being indicted in the corruption case. Dr. Melgen was released on $1.5 million bail in that matter. A lawyer for Dr. Melgen declined to comment on Tuesday’s health-care indict- ment. Dr. Melgen had gained atten- tion as Medicare’s top biller when Medicare released billing records a year ago that named individual doctors for the first time in three decades following a legal effort by The Wall Street Journal. Making the data public could make it more difficult for medical bad actors to operate as freely, according to health-care fraud and law-enforcement offi- cials. Earlier this year, the Journal reported that the U.S. govern- ment will begin releasing Medi- care physician-payment records every year, ensuring public ac- cess to how tens of billions of Please see MELGEN page A4 BY CHRISTOPHER WEAVER AND CHRISTOPHER S. STEWART Banks Bounce Back Obama warns Tehran to halt unilateral moves in Iraq............ A8 EU antitrust regulator plans formal charges against Google... B1 How to Snag A Used Rocket BUSINESS & TECH. | B1 DJIA 18036.70 À 59.66 0.3% NASDAQ 4977.29 g 0.2% NIKKEI 19908.68 À 0.02% STOXX 600 411.70 g 0.5% 10-YR. TREAS. À 10/32 , yield 1.904% OIL $53.29 À $1.38 GOLD $1,192.80 g $6.50 EURO $1.0656 YEN 119.39 | The Arc Of a Food Fad PERSONAL JOURNAL | D1 infor.com/cloud CloudSuite™ Public Sector CloudSuite™ Business Composite YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN BLACK P2JW105000-5-A00100-1--------XA CL,CN,CX,DL,DM,DX,EE,EU,FL,HO,KC,MW,NC,NE,NY,PH,PN,RM,SA,SC,SL,SW,TU,WB,WE BG,BM,BP,CC,CH,CK,CP,CT,DN,DR,FW,HL,HW,KS,LA,LG,LK,MI,ML,NM,PA,PI,PV,TD,TS,UT,WO P2JW105000-5-A00100-1--------XA
