Note 4 - Retirement Plans

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2013

Compensation and Retirement Disclosure [Abstract]

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits Disclosure [Text Block]

4.      Retirement Plans

The following table provides the components of net periodic benefit cost for our pension plans for the three-month and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2013			2012			2013			2012
Service cost	$	1,291		$	1,243		$	3,871		$	3,538
Interest cost		967			899			2,899			2,559
Expected return on plan assets		(926	)		(739	)		(2,774	)		(2,104	)
Loss amortization		824			624			2,468			1,775
Net periodic benefit cost	$	2,156		$	2,027		$	6,464		$	5,768

During the nine-month period ended September 30, 2013, we contributed $3.7 million to our pension plans. During the remainder of the year ending December 31, 2013, we expect to contribute an additional $1.7 million to $4.3 million to our pension plans.