YELLOW

* * * * FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2014 ~ VOL. CCLXIII NO. 143 WSJ.com HHHH $2 .00

WASHINGTON—President Ba-rack Obama on Thursday or-dered up to 300 members ofU.S. special-operations forces toIraq, while ruling out immediateairstrikes against Sunni extrem-ists and stepping up the pres-sure on Baghdad to form a gov-ernment that bridges thecountry’s ethnic and religiousdivisions.

Mr. Obama announced his

plans at a news conference afterhe met with his national secu-rity team, as workers at Iraq’slargest oil refinery said rebelshad succeeded in taking overmost of the facility 130 milesnorth of Baghdad.

Mr. Obama spent much of hispublic appearance focused onIraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite whom U.S. offi-cials and lawmakers blame forlighting the fuse of the crisisthrough policies detrimental tothe country’s minority Sunnipopulation.

Mr. Obama also made clearhe isn’t opposed to Iraqis re-placing Mr. Maliki, whose gov-

ernment has struggled to coun-ter advances by militant Sunnifighters with the Islamic Stateof Iraq and al-Sham.

“Now, it’s not the place forthe United States to chooseIraq’s leaders,” Mr. Obama said.“It is clear, though, that onlyleaders that can govern with aninclusive agenda are going to beable to truly bring the Iraqi peo-ple together and help them

through this crisis.”Mr. Obama questioned

whether Mr. Maliki is such aleader. “The test is before himand other Iraqi leaders as wespeak,” Mr. Obama said. “Re-gardless of what’s happened inthe past, right now is a moment

PleaseturntopageA8

Racetrack casinos used to con-tribute as much as $240 million ayear to Delaware’s tax coffers.But as the Northeast becomessaturated with gambling venues,the state’s casino revenue hastumbled, prompting a new indus-try request—for a tax break.

“It’s a different world for theDelaware casinos,” said Demo-cratic Gov. Jack Markell, whosupports reducing the tax burdenon casinos by $20 million a yearto help them compete.

More casinos have opened inthe Northeast over the past de-cade than in any other part of thecountry, and the expansion iscausing upheaval in the region.States that adopted gamblingearlier than their neighbors, suchas Delaware, New Jersey andWest Virginia, are watching dol-lars drain away, and new projectshave some wondering how manyfacilities the area can support.

Twenty-six casinos haveopened since 2004, fueling a 39%increase in total annual gamblingrevenue in the mid-Atlantic andNew England, according to astudy by the University of Ne-vada, Las Vegas. Within 100 miles

Pleaseturntothenextpage

BY SCOTT CALVERTAND JON KAMP

Many cancer doctors now usea drug called Procrit sparingly.

It was approved in 1989 foranemia and became a populartreatment for that side effect ofchemotherapy. But regulators

later learned Procrit can speed tu-mor growth and hasten death incancer patients. Today, use of thisclass of drug—best known as EPO,a substance Lance Armstrongtook illicitly to pedal faster andlonger—is sharply restricted.

One Florida oncology groupstands out for how much it billsMedicare for the pricey drug.

Medicare paid U.S. oncologists$128 million in 2012 to adminis-ter Procrit, federal data show.One-sixth of that money went tooncologists in the group, FloridaCancer Specialists. Of the 20 on-cologists whom Medicare paidmost for Procrit, 11 belonged tothe Florida group.

Florida Cancer Specialists,based in Fort Myers, Fla., alsoused Procrit at higher ratesthan is typical, a Wall StreetJournal analysis of 2012 Medi-care billing data shows. Its 104cancer doctors in the analysison average treated 11% of pa-tients with Procrit at least once,versus an average of 6.2%

among other oncologists whoused Procrit or a similar drugcalled Aranesp.

Some other oncologists havestopped using the drugs since2007, when the Food and Drug

Administration began warningabout their risks. The FDA even-tually said they shouldn’t be usedon some chemotherapy patientsand required doctors to warn

PleaseturntopageA4

By ChristopherWeaver,AnnaWilde Mathewsand TomMcGinty

MEDICARE UNMASKED

Doctors Bill Big for Tarnished Drug

Source: Medicare 5% claims file, 2010The Wall Street Journal

Cancer CostsThe Journal analyzed 160,592claims by oncologists for treating4,359 Medicare patients who hadcancer in 2010 and receivedProcrit or Aranesp to determinehow those drugs contributed topayments to those doctors.

Procrit/Aranesp $2,927

Average payments per patient

Chemotherapy $7,015

All other drugs $3,372

Drug administration $1,446Other $1,654

DJIA 16921.46 À 14.84 0.1% NASDAQ 4359.33 g 0.1% NIKKEI 15361.16 À 1.6% STOXX600 348.15 À 0.6% 10-YR. TREAS. g 3/32 , yield 2.622% OIL $106.43 À $0.46 GOLD $1,313.70 À $41.30 EURO $1.3607 YEN 101.94

TODAY IN MANSION

Luxe Living in the WildernessARENA The New Faces of Women’s Tennis

CONTENTSArt...................................D6-7Business Tech..............B5Corp. News............B2-4,6Global Finance.............C3Heard on Street..........C8In the Markets.............C4

Mansion...................M1-14Movies..............................D4Opinion.....................A11-13Sports....................D2,9-10U.S. News...................A2-6Weather Watch..........B7World News..........A8-10

s Copyright 2014 Dow Jones & Company.All Rights Reserved

>

What’sNews

i i i

World-WidenObama ordered the deploy-ment of up to 300 special-op-erations advisers to Iraq, butruled out immediate airstrikesagainst Sunni extremists. A1n ISIS insurgents capturedIraq’s largest oil refinery,workers there said, but Bagh-dad denied the claim. A8nHouse Republicans electedRep. Kevin McCarthy of Cali-fornia as majority leader.Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisianawill succeed him as whip. A6n NATO said Russian troopswere again massing near theUkrainian border, as the Westrevived sanction threats. A10n Afghan candidate Abdullahvowed to reject the results ofthe presidential-runoff votebecause of alleged fraud. A9n The U.S. weighed other op-tions to free Bergdahl, includ-ing paying off militants, beforechoosing a prisoner swap. A2nWisconsin prosecutors triedto build a criminal case againstGov.Walker and conservativegroups, documents show.A5nFivemenwhowerewrong-fully convicted in a 1989 beatingand rape in New York agreedto a $40million settlement. A2n The Justice Departmentcan proceed with a civil fraudsuit against cyclist LanceArmstrong, a judge ruled. A5n The CDC said about 75 sci-entists may have been ex-posed to anthrax, but that theinfection risk is very low. A5n Spain’s crown prince wasproclaimed King Felipe VI,succeeding his father in alow-key ceremony. A10

i i i

Finra is consideringtougher penalties for mis-

conduct after an SEC officialsaid theWall Street watchdog’ssanctions are too lenient. C1nKKR pumped $1.2 billioninto First Data, a sign the pay-ment processor remains a bur-den for the buyout firm sevenyears after its takeover. C1nCorinthian Colleges warnedthat it may have to shut downafter the Obama administrationmoved to restrict the company’saccess to federal funding. B1n GE revised its offer forAlstom’s energy business togive the French more controlbut Alstom less cash. B3n Oracle posted a 4% dropin profit, while both top-lineand bottom-line results missedanalyst expectations. B5nThe S&P 500 eked out asecond straight record, edgingup 2.50 points to 1959.48. TheDow rose 14.84 to 16921.46. C4nThe Supreme Court ruledunanimously that companiescan’t claim software patentsfor abstract ideas. B3nArgentina holdout creditorElliot is said to be ready to ne-gotiate andwould accept bondsas part of a settlement. C3n A battle is likely at the topof American Apparel afterthe board voted to firefounder and CEO Charney. B1n Lawmakers are voicingskepticism that a single engi-neer was to blame for GM’s fail-ure to recall defective cars. B3nThe EPA isweighing a Texasrequest to let cotton farmersuse a controversial herbicide.B1

Business&Finance

Part of a series examiningpayments in the roughly$600 billion Medicare system.

BUFFALO, N.Y.—Ivan Druckerisn’t one to take beach vacations.

In recent years, the 44-year-old laptop-repair specialist says,he has gone to Cuba, North Ko-rea and the demilitarized zone inCyprus, looking for “completelydifferent” experiences.

“I find beauty in decay,” saysMr. Drucker, who is from Los An-geles and lives in New York City.

That is why, on a recent week-end, Mr. Drucker found himselfstanding outside an abandonedshopping mall on the outskirts ofBuffalo, snapping photos of the

sprawling, blighted complex—shut down years ago as economicdecline and unemployment sweptAmerican Rust Belt cities like De-troit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh andBuffalo, the second most-popu-lous city in New York.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Drucker

had clambered into the attic ofan abandoned asylum with aflashlight and a constructionhelmet. He had spent the after-noon at Love Canal, the contami-nated neighborhood in the cityof Niagara Falls, whose maintoxic-waste site was abandonedin 1978 and is still a no-trespass-ing zone.

“It’s like stepping into a timemachine,” Mr. Drucker said, grin-ning.

Mr. Drucker was on a tourcalled “Buffalo: City of No Illu-sions,” a guided “urban explora-tion” itinerary that puts the em-phasis on the dystopian. The tour

leader is Christopher Graper, a35-year-old native of upstate NewYork who splits his time leading“nostalgic otherworld” tours toBuffalo and North Korea.

Yes, North Korea.For the past two years, Mr.

Graper, who made his first visitto the authoritarian country sixyears ago, has led tours as astaff member of Koryo Tours, atravel company based in Beijing.Independent travel isn’t allowedin the North.

In partnership with localNorth Korean guides, Mr. Graperbrings a small but growing num-

PleaseturntopageA4

BY JONATHAN CHENG

Buffalo and Its Discontents Draw TouristsWhoWant to KnowWhatWentWrongi i i

North Korea Is Another Fun Destination, if You’ve Already Visited Toxic Love Canal

Alex Vogel spent the last de-cade building a Washington lob-bying business with a successfulpractice feeding investors infor-mation about potentially mar-ket-moving changes in policy.

But with federal investigatorsscrutinizing Washington’s inter-actions with hedge funds andother traders, Mr. Vogel is quit-ting his firm. His new venture,VogelHood Research, will makeall its predictions based on com-puter algorithms using publiclyavailable information—withoutever talking to members of Con-gress or other policy makers.

Mr. Vogel’s shift shows howWashington’s political-intelli-gence business is going througha wrenching transformation inthe face of heightened legal andregulatory scrutiny, including in-sider-trading probes.

In recent months, a number oflobbyists have left the political-intelligence business, and severallobbying and law firms have cre-ated new internal proceduresand protocols to guard againstviolating insider-trading rules.

Some hedge funds and otherWall Street firms have, mean-while, scaled back their own in-formation-gathering activities inthe capital, and others are con-ducting reviews of their Wash-ington operations, according topeople familiar with the politi-cal-intelligence industry. TheWall Street Journal profiled thepolitical-intelligence practice at

Pleaseturntothenextpage

BY BRODY MULLINS

LobbyistsPlay DownConnectionsAmid Probe

CasinoGlutPinchesStates

ObamaSendsMilitaryAdvisers to IraqUp to 300 AmericansWill Aid Security Forces; President Presses Baghdad to Form Inclusive Government

By Carol E. Lee,Jay Solomon

and Julian E. Barnes

Insurgents capture Iraq’s largestoil refinery........................................ A8

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT: The GOP named Californian Kevin McCarthy, left, House majority leader and Louisianian Steve Scalise majority whip. A6

J.ScottApplewhite/A

ssociatedPress(M

cCarthy);J

imLo

Scalzo/EuropeanPresspho

toAgency(Scalise)

After Cantor, House Republicans Shuffle Their Leadership

CM Y K CompositeCompositeMAGENTA CYAN BLACK

P2JW171000-4-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,WEBG,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

P2JW171000-4-A00100-1--------XA