LOS ANGELES

Documentary on bullying gets new PG-13 rating

The Weinstein Co. says the rating for the documentary “Bully” has been lowered from R to PG-13.

The company announced Thursday that an edited version of the film will be released April 13 with a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America.

The MPAA originally gave the film an R rating for language and declined to change it when the Weinstein Co. appealed.

An R rating restricts kids under age 17 from seeing the movie without an accompanying adult, so the company released the film March 30 in limited release without a rating.

The Weinstein Co. says three uses of an expletive were removed to earn the PG-13 rating.

WASHINGTON

Panetta repaid only a small portion of travel expenses

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has commuted on military aircraft to his home in northern California more than two dozen times since he took over the Pentagon in July, paying about $630 per trip for a roundtrip flight that costs the Pentagon about $32,000.

The totals detailed by defense officials lay out his reimbursements for the first time, showing he paid the Treasury about $17,000 for the 27 personal trips. Based on fuel and operating expenses for his Air Force plane, those same trips cost the government as much as $860,000.

As Pentagon chief, Panetta is required to travel on military planes because they have the secure communications equipment he needs to stay in contact with the president and other civilian and military leaders.

ATLANTA

Gingrich’s health care think tank files for bankruptcy

The health care think tank created by Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is going out of business.

The Gingrich Group, also known as the Center for Health Transformation, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in federal court in Atlanta on Wednesday.

The center’s filings indicate it has liabilities between $1 million and $10 million and between 50 and 99 creditors. The group had assets of only up to $100,000, the filing said.

Gingrich cut ties to the Center for Health Transformation and the Gingrich Group in May 2011 as he prepared his presidential run, said his attorney Stefan Passantino.

“It did exceptionally well under his leadership. What this shows is that he was integral to the operation and success of the operation,” Passantino said. “It’s not in any way a failure of leadership or management on his part. It just demonstrates how vital he was to the organization.”

PHOENIX

Critics of birth control limits make personal appeal

Critics of an Arizona proposal to limit birth control coverage have given a personalized gift to more than a dozen state lawmakers – a fuzzy, knitted uterus with googly eyes.

The packages were delivered Thursday, each in a clear plastic bag labeled with a legislator’s name and containing a letter from a woman opposing the measure.

The bill has been at the center of a political fight.

Supporters say it’s needed to protect the rights of employers with religious or moral objections to contraception.

Critics have objected to the possible loss of coverage and to provisions they say violate women’s rights to privacy.

The legislation is being amended and is headed for an expected vote next week.