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About a year ago the township rejected a tentative 50-year agreement that would have allowed the property to be serviced by the city's water and sewer systems. The township would have received payments in lieu of taxes amounting to 1.5 mills, which would have generated about $2,200 in annual payments during the life of the agreement.
And so because some Bagley officials drew a line in the sand and declared 'no more 425s with Gaylord,' the Home Depot corporation has had to expend considerable money and added time to develop a store in this community. Even though city water and sewer lines pass by the store alongside M-32, and Gaylord city limits surround the store property on three sides Bagley officials refused to enter a 425 agreement with Gaylord. As a result Home Depot was required by the state Dept. of Environmental Quality to install its own water well, construct a large runoff water retention pond behind its store as well as construct a massive water storage tank on site. The company argued the township's decision was costly and unnecessary, considering Gaylord has demonstrated its water/sewer system has the capacity to handle the new store and its pipelines are only a matter of a couple hundred feet from the front of the store.
The city has a policy not to provide municipal services outside the city limits unless the property is under a 425 agreement or is annexed into the city.
We find it ironic that township officials would bend over backwards to accommodate and work with developers to build a huge retail shopping center on its south side (True North Crossings), including construction of a wastewater treatment plant to service the center, but yet deny a company like Home Depot the opportunity to access nearby utilities for its development on the north end of the township. It would be another matter if the Bagley water plant was planned to service the M-32 corridor at a later date, but at this point there's no intention of developing a water and sewer system to serve the entire township - only the immediate area around a high-profile development.
The issue of the sought -after Act 425 agreement between Bagley and Gaylord will be on the table again when the township board meets Monday, March 12 at 7:30 p.m. for a final consideration of the matter. We suggest it's time Bagley residents stand up and argue they would rather collect taxes on the Home Depot site than throw it away over some us-against-them persecution complex seemingly held by some township officials.


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Irish fruit firm Fyffes is to be acquired by Japanese giant Sumitomo Corporation in a massive €751.4m cash deal, the company has said.
The Dublin headquartered firm, which is most commonly known for its bananas, will be snapped up by Swordus Ireland Holding Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo.
Under the terms of the deal Fyffes shareholders will be entitled to receive €2.23 in cash for each ordinary share. The acquisition represents a premium of around 37pc of Fyffes’ all-time high share price of €1.62, which occurred on April 22 of this year.
Shareholders in the Irish company will also be paid a final dividend for this calendar year of 2c per share, brining the total amount going to shareholders up to €2.25. Fyffes chairman David McCann said the deal is a “compelling proposition”.
“Our employees, customers, suppliers and joint venture partners will benefit from Fyffes being part of an enlarged group with greater scale, reach and resources to broaden and accelerate delivery of Fyffes’ strategic objectives.
“We look forward to working with the Sumitomo team to develop and enhance our Group’s strategy and to build on its long track record of successful growth,” he said this morning.
Sumitomo managing executive officer Hirohiko Imura said his company has long-admired Fyffes for its market-leading position.
“We believe that our offer represents a great reward for Fyffes’ shareholders. We are grateful that the McCann family has provided an irrevocable commitment of support and is entrusting us to continue with them the rich Fyffes heritage.
“Sumitomo will provide Fyffes with experience, support and investment to continue to build on the tremendous Fyffes skills and experience and reach greater potential.”
The Japanese firm said it intends expanding Fyffes into new markets as well as expanding its produce offerings. Fyffes already operates in the pineapple, banana, mushroom, and melons markets.
The deal remains subject to approval from Fyffes shareholders and High Court sanction. However, Sumitomo said it has received “irrevocable undertakings” to vote in favour of the deal from shareholders that own a 27.21pc stake in the company’s issued share capital.
Sumitomo operates across 66 countries and employs more than 65,000 personnel. The company is valued at around $15bn with $8bn of cash on its balance sheet at the end of March.
By Michael Cogley
Source: Irish Independent
Heineken has entered into an implementation agreement to acquire Distell and Namibia Breweries (NBL) in a move to create a majority-owned business with a valuation of €4 billion (US$4.5 billion) after consolidating with their South African counterpart, Heineken South Africa (HSA).
Unilever has entered into an agreement to sell its global tea business Ekaterra to CVC Capital Partners Fund VIII for €4.5 billion. Ekaterra has a portfolio of 34 tea brands, including Lipton, PG Tips, Pukka, T2 and Tazo. According to Unilever, the tea business generated €2 billion in revenue in 2020.
Roquette has opened what it claims is the world’s largest pea protein plant, to serve growing global demand for alternative proteins. With capacity to process 125,000 tons of yellow peas each year, the new 200,000-square-foot plant in Manitoba, Canada, marks Roquette’s biggest North American investment to date.

domain: news


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Acclaim Entertainment has released the highly-anticipated "South Park" video game for Nintendo 64 with a PC version that will be available in January 1999. The adventure game features original dialogue recorded by Matt Stone, Trey Parker, and Issac Hayes and can be played in a single or multi-player mode. The game unfolds as a mysteriously evil comet approaches South Park causing much mayhem. It is left up to Kenny, Kyle, Stan and Cartman to save the day. All the perennial "South Park" characters pop up throughout the game including Mr. Hankey, Chef, Terrance and Phillip, and Big Gay Al.
Category: Internet and Interactive
E-greetings Network (http://www.egreetings.com), a provider of internet-based electronic greetings has unveiled the new E-greetings Animations. The free digital greetings can be personalized and sent to anyone by e-mail. "When we started our company nearly five years ago, we saw that e-mail had the potential to become a multimedia entertainment and communications medium that could provide far more than the limited capabilities of standard text-only e-mail," says E-greetings Network's co-founder Tony Levitan.
The life of Walt Disney has been the subject of many unofficial biographies and articles with allegations accusing him of being everything from a fascist to a bigot. Now for the first time the record can be set straight with a new interactive CD-ROM narrated by Disneys first child, Diane Disney-Miller. Walt Disney: An Intimate History of the Man and His Magic, was produced to present an accurate account of his life and celebrate his accomplishments.
Bandai's AnimeVillage.com is the first video releasing company in the US that enables consumers to purchase Japanese animation directly through the Internet. The site also features the latest animation news from Japan, real-time chats, games, message boards, and contests. AnimeVillage.com's initial release slate includes the "Gundam" series and "The Vision of Escaflowne" with plans to expand their library up to 200 titles by the end of 1999.
HotWired's Animation Express (http://www.hotwired.com/animation/) is a new site that showcases the latest animation from both professional and independent animators. The animation can be viewed using plug-in technologies like Quicktime 3, Shockwave's Flash 3 and Director 6 and a "plug-in tester" will help you download the right plug-ins if you don't already have them. Currently, the site features selections from Pixar's Oscar-winning short "Geri's Game" and highlights from Spike and Mike's 1998 Festival of Animation.
Spumco, the studio that brought us the first web cartoon series, The G@*&!$ George Liquor Show, has teamed up with Electric Communities to present the Internets first 3D cartoon chat event. The chat, scheduled to kick off at 5:30 p.m. on November 6, and run through November 9, 1998, will take place on the web site cartoonsforum.com port 9994.
Broderbund Software has released the first of its "Rugrats" CD-Roms: "The Rugrats Movie Activity Challenge," "Rugrats Adventure Game" and "Rugrats Print Shop." Aimed at kids aged 6-12, the activity-based games include creative activities, problem-solving stories and story-based adventures.
Humongous Entertainment has released the first two CD-Roms based on Nickelodeon's animated/live-action series, "Blue's Clues." "Blue's ABC Time Activities" is available for U.S. $19.99 and "Blue's Birthday Adventure" is $29.99. Both titles are Windows and Macintosh compatible, and feature games and educational activities aimed at 3-6 year-olds. The games are the first releases to come out of an exclusive, five-year worldwide deal with Nickelodeon.
Coinciding with the U.S. tour of The Spice Girls, Psygnosis has released "Spice World," a PlayStation console video game. The game, aimed at pre-teen girls, gives users a chance to choreograph dance routines starring animated versions of Ginger, Scary, Baby, Posh and Sporty Spice. While it may not be rocket science, the Spice Girls game does address a need for games designed for girls. "Spice World" for PlayStation is $35.95.


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The economy grew by a little less than expected in the last three months of 2017, the first full quarter under the new Government. The country's gross domestic product (GDP) finished the year with 2.9 per cent growth, compared to the peak of 4 per cent growth recorded in 2016. Economists are expected the current quarter, nearly finished, will show a further slowing. They say "election-related uncertainty" has affected business spending.
That is to be expected. Business investment will probably be cautious until the Government's first Budget appears in May, which will indicate whether it has a grip on its spending and can preserve a surplus that underpins a strong currency and business confidence.
Consumer confidence is suffering no such election-related uncertainty. Household spending in the December quarter was up 1.2 per cent, "influenced by people eating out more and spending more on groceries and alcohol," Statistics NZ reported. "This was reflected in the retail trade and accommodation industry with activity in food and beverage services and supermarkets increasing." Clearly, it was a merry Christmas.
The last two months of the year were also unusually hot and dry, giving farmers real fear of drought and causing them to reduce stock quickly. That will have increased agricultural output in the December quarter and reduced it in the current quarter as farmers build their stock numbers again on the adequate rain they have been getting since New Year. Meat processors are paying farmers more for beef and mutton and export prices are high.
In fact, the world economy is looking markedly more healthy now than it has been for a decade. So long as other countries do not respond to Donald Trump's trade policies, there is no external reason for New Zealand's economy to end this year with slower growth than it has enjoyed for the past five years.
Those have also been years of significant population growth from immigration. Last year was no exception. Net immigration was at the record levels of the previous year, which makes it concerning that GDP growth fell from 4 per cent to under 3 per cent. That means GDP per person declined substantially. That is the measure of most concern to this Government. It has set itself the task of increasing personal incomes which have not kept pace with growth in the economy.
It has proposed to do this in two ways, by reducing immigration in work categories it believes New Zealanders could fill, and improving the lifetime training opportunities and productivity of the workforce. The first is fraught with risk for sectors that struggle to attract enough local labour; the second is a long, slow project for all governments.
The Government will already be in the throes of this year's Budget. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and his associates will be negotiating with portfolio ministers over how quickly the various parties' election promises can be advanced and how those can be reconciled with wage claims and other new spending demands from the public sector. The latest GDP figures are a gentle warning the Budget needs to be tight.


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There's something wrong with online advertising. Still in its relative infancy, online ads are now a major segment of the advertising industry. But do they offer value to brands and a good experience to users
Globally, online is the fastest growing sector there out there, expected to grow to $83.2 billion (£52.3 billion) in 2012, or 18 percent of the total market. However, there remains a serious question over whether ad formats have evolved to meet the needs of advertisers or create a good experience for users.
As part of a new series on TheMediaBriefing - What's wrong with online ads? - I'm speaking to technology providers and entrepreneurs with ideas to improve the online ecosystem.
First up is the pre-roll video ad, quite possibly the least innovative of all online ad formats in that it's lifted directly from TV and plonked on the internet for unsuspecting YouTube users. Video has a long way to go if it's to stop being TV's little brother, at one or two percent of TV's spend.
Countless studies have found that users don't like it, that click-through rates are low and completion rates are lower. Molly Wood, executive editor at CNet, hits several nails on the head on the need to avoid "brand rage" in users seeing the same video spots again and again and again.
A skippable solution?
SpotXchange, the real-time video advertising network, has developed a product - Skipit - that allows users to skip past pre-roll video ads. Users either pay a small amount via pre-bought credits or pay by promoting the brand via a tweet or a post to their Facebook wall. It might sound far-fetched, but the high level of abandonment and low conversion rate when it comes to pre-roll vids strongly suggests that something is up with video ads, despite the growth.
I met with SpotXchange CEO Mike Shehan to find out more...
And here's the Skipit product demo video:


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The American sportswear brand appears ready for the creation of digital clothing.
Nike has been taking the first steps needed to start creating a range of virtual fashion products following the filing of seven different trademark applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
The company is focused on “downloadable virtual goods” for “online and in online virtual worlds”
The American brand’s easily recognizable checkmark-like logo and basketball player logo have been included in the virtual fashion applications, as has its well known Just Do It slogan. Such augmented or digital clothing could be used within VR settings such as in the metaverse. The digital items the brand is seeking to develop would make it possible for users of the metaverse – a virtual universe in which people have digital VR or AR alter-egos – will be able to wear the brand’s digital apparel.
It would be possible for the company to create all new designs meant specifically for the VR and AR experience. Alternately, it could also create digitally redesigned versions of products existing in the real world, such as the popular Air Max 2090, so an individual could wear them in the metaverse as well.
To support its virtual fashion goals, Nike has also listed a wealth of job postings for VR-related positions.
The brand’s job board now features a long list of different job opportunities that are focused on design in the VR sphere. Among those postings is a position for a virtual material designer. That individual would “combine their experience, problem-solving abilities, and creativity to build the future of Nike Footwear materials.” Though not specifically confirmed by the brand, this does suggest that its footwear is being created or recreated for digital wear.
This is only one of a growing number of brands that are seeking to make their first moves into what many are expecting to be a massively popular digital experience through the metaverse. Nike’s popularity has only placed the spotlight on some of the various angles companies are taking to expand the products they offer in the real world into a digital experience. Moreover, as virtual fashion is not bound by the constraints of reality, it will be interesting to see what types of limitations designers choose to take or to ignore in their digital creations.


text: Strip convention market could see a boost from legislation introduced to help struggling tourism industries Howard Stutz, CDC Gaming Reports · October 16, 2020 at 7:37 am Two U.S. senators unveiled bipartisan legislation Thursday that offers tax credits and other incentives to boost the struggling convention and tradeshow business while offering relief and recovery measures to the hospitality, travel, and tourism industries. Gaming and casino industry representatives applauded the legislation introduced by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, and Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, which provides recovery incentives for middle-class families to jumpstart travel once concerns over COVID-19 have diminished. Nevada Resort Association President Virginia Valentine said the legislation could prevent permanent job losses and halt further damage “to the battered gaming industry and its workforce.” The Las Vegas Strip has been particularly crushed by the coronavirus pandemic, which shut down all gaming in the state for 78 days beginning on March 18. Through August, Strip gaming revenues are down 45.8%, a figure which includes the declines of 99% that the market weathered due to the COVID-19 shutdowns in April and May. Roughly two-thirds of the overall revenues produced by Strip resorts come from non-gaming avenues – hotel rooms, dining, entertainment, retail, and other attractions – areas that are heavily influenced by airline capacity and conventions. Airline volume into Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport is down 56% through August. Meanwhile, the Strip has seen five straight months of zero convention attendance, as all major trade shows have been canceled and pushed into next year. The measure would create a tax credit for the cost of attending or hosting a convention, business meeting, or trade show between 2021 and 2023. “The coronavirus pandemic has devastated economies and industries across the country, and Nevada’s hospitality, travel, and tourism sectors have been especially hard hit,” Cortez Masto said in a statement. “These industries are the economic engine of our state and our communities, and the incredible challenges they are now facing due to COVID-19 demand our attention – and action – in Congress.” Nearly 1,000 commercial and tribal casinos in 43 states closed throughout March when governors, regulators, and tribal governments ordered the shutdown in an effort to slow the pandemic. Roughly 90% of the properties have since reopened at least partially. American Gaming Association CEO Bill Miller said the COVID-19 closures significantly affected gaming employees and their communities “While gaming’s responsible reopening is well underway, the sustained economic damage has jeopardized our ability to sustain jobs and drive much-needed tax revenue that will be essential to our nation’s economic recovery,” Miller said. Miller, the head of the Washington D.C.-based trade organization since January 2019, said the legislation “will enable the gaming industry to retain employees and jumpstart nongaming elements of our business, like meetings and conventions, which account for the majority of our revenue in markets like the Las Vegas Strip.” Cortez Masto and Cramer both sit on the Senate Banking Committee. Cortez Masto also sits on the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees the nation’s tax laws. “While the economy is on its way to recovery, several businesses and workers are still hurting and in need of assistance,” Cramer said. “Our bill injects help into some of the hardest-hit industries and encourages them to hire and retain employees.” The bill supports the restaurant industry by establishing a tax credit for restaurants or food service businesses covering any cost associated with reopening or increasing service at an establishment forced to either close down or reduce operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill allows the locations to recover costs for any renovation, remediation, testing, or labor cost needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Another tax credit would be created to encourage middle-class travel. The bill also would restore changes to the deductibility of entertainment expenses repealed by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. In addition to the AGA and the Resort Association, the U.S. Travel Association and the American Hotel and Lodging Association support the measure. Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming Reports. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.


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Hallelujah! McDonald’s Is Now Available For Delivery On Just Eat
Fantastic foodie news!
Ah, McDonald’s. Spotting those golden arches make our eyes turn heart-shaped immediately. Where would we be without it? Well, if you haven’t been able to get McDonald’s delivered straight to your door, we may have some good news for you.
Having teased news of this iconic partnership earlier in the year, Just Eat has confirmed that McDonald’s McDelivery will be available to order on the Just Eat app from tomorrow, Wednesday 11th November.
This phased roll-out will see participating McDonald’s restaurants live on the Just Eat platform from 11am, with a total of 49 locations right across Ireland available by 25th November. Yeppp, 49 locations! Including Dublin to Cork and Louth to Limerick.
With customers craving a taste of normality and routine as the nation prepares to enter its fourth week living in lockdown, the much-loved McDelivery menu on Just Eat will feature everyone’s favourite McDonald’s breakfast, lunch and dinner options, with Just Eat customers in Dublin 1 (O’Connell Street region), Dublin 15 (Blanchardstown), Dublin 6 (Rathmines), Dublin 5 (Coolock), Cork City, Limerick City and Galway City, the first to benefit from this exciting roll-out.
Whether it’s a freshly made, great tasting Egg McMuffin® breakfast sandwich with your coffee of choice delivered straight to your door, a virtual Chicken McNuggets® catch-up with loved ones or a hygge winter’s night in with a Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate McFlurry® there’s something for everyone, with this news marking a major milestone for the online food ordering and delivery sector in Ireland.
Honestly, I’m drooling already. To find out more or to place your Just Eat McDelivery order, click here.
In other fantastic foodie news, Ferraro Rocher lovers will be delighted, as you can now get Ferrerorocella. A Nutella like Ferraro Rocher spread. Yep, you heard that right. Check out more on that right here.


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Nestlé plans to distribute up to CHF 20 billion ($20.1 billion) to shareholders from 2020 to 2022 and has announced changes to its waters unit.
The world’s largest food and beverage maker will start a share buyback programme in January 2020 and may consider distributing part of the total amount as one or more special dividends.
Should any sizable acquisitions take place, the amount of cash to be distributed to shareholders will be adjusted accordingly.
The company has also reveaeld plans to integrate its Nestlé Waters business into the group’s three geographical zones, effective January 2020.
Nestlé said the move will allow for better responses to rapidly changing consumer preferences, accelerate profitable growth and create synergies.
The bottled water division was created in 1992 following Nestlé’s acquisition of Source Perrier. The unit owns brands such as Poland Spring, Deer Park and S.Pellegrino.
The announcements have been made the same day as Nestlé released its nine-month results. Sales stood at CHF 68.37 billion ($68.84 billion) and were up 3.7% on an organic basis compared to the year-ago period.
Year-on-year growth acceleration was supported by both the US and Brazil while all product categories saw positive growth, led by Purina PetCare and coffee. The newly launched Starbucks products saw strong demand with further expansion into new countries.
Within Nestlé Waters, organic growth was 0.5% for the nine-month period. In the third quarter, growth slowed due to high pricing comparables in North America and a disappointing summer season in Europe.
“We are pleased with our nine-month results and have made further progress towards our 2020 financial goals,” said Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider. “We continue to see good momentum in our largest market, the United States, and very strong growth for Purina PetCare globally.
“Nestlé’s growth was supported by investment behind our brands, rapid innovation and disciplined execution. During the third quarter, the roll-out of Starbucks products continued, now reaching 34 countries. Our portfolio transformation is fully on track, as shown by the timely completion of the Nestlé Skin Health disposal.
“With prudent investments and a disciplined approach to acquisitions, our value creation model is generating profitable growth and attractive cash returns for our shareholders.”
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2020


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So, I’ll assume you’ve heard about the recent uproar coming out of Hawaii?
If not, let me explain: A family stepped into a Hawaiian Safeway grocery store when the mother grew dizzy from hunger, being hungry and pregnant she tore into a pair of sandwiches while shopping in the store with the intention of paying for them on the way out.
After racking up $50 worth of groceries in the store the couple forgot about the sandwiches, the management watched the in-store consumption of the sandwiches and arranged for the Police to nab these customers as they left. Nab them they did, but not before taking their child away to be put in the care of the state while both parents spent the night in jail.
For the record, the sandwiches cost $5 apiece, making five dollar footlongs look real good by comparison.
So at the cost of $10, Safeway had paying customers arrested, their child taken and is looking down the barrel of a lawsuit so spectacularly explosive that you can feel them bracing for the financial blow. All this for $10 worth of Sandwiches it’s said they weren’t even confronted about before being arrested.
While Safeway may not need to file Bankruptcy right now; it certainly could not hurt to explore some options along those lines.


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SAN FRANCISCO — Raging Stallion Studios has released "The Tommy Defendi Anthology," the first star-driven DVD showcase produced for its new Raging Stallion Anthology line.
"The Raging Stallion Anthology Series is based on the very popular Falcon Anthology Series, which now numbers over 90 model-based collections,” Raging stallion President Chris Ward said.
“For the launch of the Raging Stallion series, I chose Tommy Defendi because he has starred in some of the finest erotica our studio has produced over the past years. This disc is filled with eight full-length scenes of sexy Tommy Defendi at his best."
Raging Stallion will release six anthologies a year, each featuring six to eight scenes. Stars from the studio's past will be featured in the collections, but the majority will spotlight today's most popular performers.
“We’re very happy about the launch of this new Raging Stallion product," said Toby J. Morris, marketing director for Raging Stallion and Falcon Studios. "It’s something the fans have been asking for and we couldn’t be happier launching it with 'The Tommy Defendi Anthology.'
"Tommy has a huge fan base and an exceptionally hot group of recent scenes to choose from. Each Raging Stallion Anthology Series DVD will be a collector’s item with the best of each model at a considerable value. “
Slated for release this year are Raging Stallion Anthologies showcasing Derrek Diamond, Christian Wilde, Damien Crosse, Trent Locke, Austin Wilde, Spencer Reed and D.O.


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The shelves at the Petrolia Food Bank are low this fall, even after the traditional Thanksgiving donation bump.
Food bank manager, Sandra Hartman, says throughout the summer and into the fall there has not been enough donated food to meet the needs of the community. “We’ve had to purchase a lot more than we normally do,” she says as she looks at several skids of pasta and sauce she recently purchased for the winter months. “We purchased food all through the summer, mostly because the kids are home from school.
“Almost weekly I had to buy cereal, pasta, side dishes, canned veggies; pretty much everything.”
Hartman says even with the use of social media such as Facebook to attract new donors, the amount of food coming in the door simply isn’t supplying the need. “The donations are not as much as they once were.”
There have been some bright spots. The Farm Credit Corporation’s Drive Away Hunger event in local schools brought 2,000 pounds of food to Petrolia along with much needed cash.
And Hartman says the pasta and sauce she was unloading recently came at a very good price. She expects that will help get the families they serve through to Christmas. Then, she expects donations for the Christmas For Everyone Campaign will help replenish the storerooms.
In the meantime, Hartman says could use items for personal hygiene and babies – such as diapers and baby wipes – along with the regular staples. “If you stock it in your house, odds are people here are going to use it.”


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TJX Cos. TJX said it was reducing the base salaries of Chief Executive Ernie Herman and Executive Chairwoman Carol Meyrowitz by 30% from April 12 and through July 4 as the retailing parent of TJ Maxx and Marshalls feels the crunch from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Framingham, Mass., company also pared the base salaries of other executive officers 20%. Other senior executives will take salary cuts, and the board agreed to reduced retainers for the same period as the other executives.
These developments come on top of the retailer's recent decision to close all stores for at least two weeks starting March 19.
The company also temporarily closed its online businesses, distribution centers and had corporate employees working remotely where possible.
The retailer said it was paying its associates until the week ending April 11 before implementing furloughs after that date for the majority of its store and warehouse workers.
It expects the reopening of its stores to vary by state and locality.
"TJX is working to prepare for reopenings as soon as the company believes it can operate safely in the communities it serves," the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission 8-K filing disclosing the moves.
"As the covid-19 pandemic is complex and rapidly evolving, the company’s plans as described above may change. At this point, TJX cannot reasonably estimate the duration and severity of this pandemic."
TJX shares at last check were 3% higher at $47.47.


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Amazon all geared for flying warehouse
Amazon has documented a patent for gigantic flying stockrooms outfitted with armadas of automatons that convey merchandise to key areas. Conveyed by a carrier, the distribution centers would visit places Amazon expects interest for specific merchandise to blast.
It says one utilise could be close wearing occasions or celebrations where they would offer sustenance or keepsakes to onlookers.
The patent additionally conceives a progression of bolster vehicles that would be utilised to restock the flying structures.
The recording altogether develops Amazon’s arrangements to utilise automatons to make conveyances. Recently it made the principal business conveyance utilising an automaton by means of a test conspire running in Cambridge.
In the archives enumerating the plan, Amazon said the mix of automatons and flying stockrooms, or “airborne satisfaction focuses”, would convey products a great deal more rapidly than those positioned at its ground-based distribution centers.
Likewise, it said, the automatons slipping from the AFCs – which would journey and float at heights up to 45,000ft (14,000m) – would utilise no power as they skimmed down to make conveyances.
Many firms taking a shot at automatons are battling with approaches to amplify their moderately short range, which is commonly subject to the measure of the battery they convey.
The patent lays out a thorough plan for running an armada of AFCs and automatons. It proposes littler aircraft’s could go about as transports taking automatons, supplies and even labourers to and from the bigger AFCs.
Amazon has not reacted to a demand for input about the patent.
It is not clear whether the documenting is an arrangement for a venture that will be acknowledged or only a proof-of-idea. Many firms consistently record licenses that never wind up turning out to be true items or administrations.
Amazon’s patent was recorded in late 2014 yet has just now become visible on account of examiner Zoe Leavitt from CB Insights who uncovered the archives.
Amazon utilises the case of a football game: A carrier could be filled ahead of time with prevalent things, then float over the field, helpfully showing ads for the things it has in stock. Fans could conceivably purchase sustenance or a shirt from their telephones while watching the diversion, and an automaton would convey their request a couple of minutes after the fact.
Logan Campbell, CEO of automaton counselings firm Aerotas, said that, while the thought is energizing, there are such a variety of existing administrative detours that it’s trivial to conjecture about the particular difficulties of building a viable aircraft based conveyance framework.
“It’s way, way, much too far out to really say that we’ll be seeing a gigantic carrier as the mother ship to 100 automatons soon.” Campbell said. “At this moment it’s an insane thought, and it’s an exploration extend. It may transform into something, however it may not.”
“Every smart thought begin as insane thoughts, and afterwards you sort of work them out,” he included.


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February 23, 2004 |
MUMBAI: There was a sizzling display of oomph in the stageshows of Kareena Kapoor, Urmila Matondkar, Isha Koppikar, Bipasha Basu, and John Abraham, all choreographed by Shiamak Davar. But then, everyone knows Bollywood has been getting unabashedly sexier over the years. Then, there was the easy bonding of filmdom with politics and Corporate India, as represented by Anil Ambani and I&B minister Ravi Shankar Prasad presenting Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan with the Power Award, a new category that acknowledges that a star's influence extends far beyond films.
July 25, 2006 |
MUMBAI: The American online stock broking giant E Trade and SAIF Investment are believed to have joined hands to acquire management control in the Mumbai-based IL&FS Investsmart Securities (IISL). E Trade on Monday picked up over 4.5% stake through market operations, taking their combined stake in IISL above the stake held by the initial promoter ? Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS). Sources said Hemang Raja, IISL's managing director and CEO, would step down on Tuesday.
June 15, 2008 |
Bollywood and cricket might be the two passions of India, but when it comes to celebrity brands' visibility on TV, the silver screen stars are clearly ahead of sporting heroes. Only two Indian cricketers - M S Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar - figure in a list of the 10 most visible celebrities featuring in TV ads. There are no other sportspersons in the list. And while Shah Rukh Khan may be the undisputed badshah of Bollywood, he's been pipped in this particular race by Chhote Nawab Saif Ali Khan.
September 23, 2008 |
NEW DELHI: With investigations into the Delhi blasts pointing to Karnataka as the source of explosives, the city police have taken terror suspect Saif, arrested from Batla House after Friday's encounter, to Manipal to corroborate his claims that all bombs used in the September 13 blasts were procured from Karnataka. Saif had told his interrogators that he had transported explosives used in the bombs planted across Delhi's marketplaces from Karnataka. The police believe that while the explosives may have been sourced from Udupi in Dharwad district, where a Simi training camp was also organised in March 2007, the ball bearings were procured from Manipal.
January 4, 2013 |
NEW DELHI: Accounting major KPMG is conducting a forensic audit of Catmoss Retail Private Limited at the behest of private equity investor SAIF Partners, amid suspicions of financial irregularities, as the kidswear company becomes the latest retailer to evoke the ire of investors. KPMG, Catmoss' auditor for the last few years, was tasked by minority shareholder SAIF Partners to conduct a forensic audit about six weeks ago following allegations of financial mismanagement at the retailer, said two persons with direct knowledge of the situation.
March 28, 2006 |
NEW DELHI: SAIF Partners, one of APAC's largest private equity funds on Tuesday announced it has acquired a 6.66per cent stake in Jindal Poly Films Limited - India's largest manufacturer of flexible packaging films - in an off market transaction. SAIF partners have acquired 18.72 lakh shares in the company for a consideration of approximately Rs 56 crores. Speaking about the investment, Vibhor Mehra, SAIF Partners said , "This deal is an important milestone for SAIF Partners, as it is our first investment in the manufacturing sector in the country.
March 29, 2006 |
MUMBAI: Saif Partners, a Hong Kong-based venture capital firm, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired a 6.66% stake in Jindal Poly Films, a manufacturer of flexible packaging films, in an off-market transaction. Saif Partners has acquired 18.72 lakh shares in the company for a consideration of approximately Rs 56 crore. Vibhor Mehra of Saif Partners said, "This deal is an important milestone for Saif Partners, as it is our first investment in the manufacturing sector in the country.
April 26, 2011 |
BANGALORE: More risk capital is flowing in online babycare product companies as an increasing number of Indian parents begin to shop online. Global private equity fund, SAIF Partners, has closed another deal in the fast growing e-commerce segment, investing $4 million in online kids and babycare products retailer, FirstCry.com, a Punebased start-up. For the fund which manages a global corpus of $4 billion, this marks the second investment in India, this year and underscores a strong focus on India's booming e-commerce sector, that provided the fund with its mega exit last year when travel portal MakeMyTrip listed on NASDAQ.
January 10, 2011 |
NEW DELHI: Private equity firm Saif Partners is in preliminary talks to increase its stake in Mumbai-based food services company Speciality Restaurants to 20 per cent from 12 per cent currently, a person with direct knowledge of the development said. However, the deal size could not be ascertained. Speciality Restaurants, promoted by Anjan Chatterjee, owns fine dining restaurant chains such as Mainland China and Oh!Calcutta. Chatterjee declined to comment on the development.
December 21, 2012 |
MUMBAI: Ten months after Saif Ali Khan allegedly assaulted a South-Africa based businessman Iqbal Mir Sharma and his father-in-law at a luxury hotel in Colaba, the Mumbai Police has filed a charge sheet against the Bollywood actor and his two associates in the case. "Colaba police station filed the charge sheet against Saif in a metropolitan magistrate court on Thursday," Zonal DCP Ravindra Shishwe told PTI today. Saif and his two friends -- Shakeel Ladak and Bilal Amrohi-- have been charge sheeted under section 325 (assault)


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SYOSSET, Long Island (WABC) -- The workers and owners of three stores on Long Island were arrested Tuesday, accused of illegally selling THC.
It remains illegal in most towns in Nassau County to sell marijuana, but police say a larger issue is vape shops selling what's called Delta 8 and Delta 9.
That drug is now getting in the hands of more kids, leading to the crackdown.
One by one, the vape shop owners and employees were placed under arrest for illegally displaying and selling THC to undercover cops.
THC is a compound in cannabis that causes a high, and Nassau County police have responded to 14 overdoses from it so far this year.
"We're going to continue to do our enforcement," Nassau County police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said. "These gummies that are in here, these kids are not popping one, they're popping 10. That's why we're seeing the overdoses."
The overdoses happened in kids, mostly between the ages of 13 and 17, and detectives say some even passed out in school.
"It's just kind of shocking," neighbor Jennifer Cuite said.
Although recreational and medicinal marijuana use is legal in New York for those over 21, selling THC is not legal in many towns in Nassau County.
Officials warn kids can easily overdose on the gummies.
Two men were arrested at Eastwind Exotic Vape Shop in Syosset, along with a female worker at 7 Leaf Clover CBD in Westbury and an 83-year-old mother and her son at Vaporville in Hicksville.
"A warning to all of the stores that are out there, these vape shops that are popping up trying to sneak under the radar," Ryder said. "It's not legal to sell in Nassau County. If you get caught, we're going to lock you up."
Those arrested now face a charges of criminal sale of a controlled substance and intent to sell, both felonies.
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Small business owners are necessarily prepared for various types of challenges, but what do you do when the government orders you to close for an indefinite amount of time? Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has put millions in this very difficult position. Even worse, it is still unclear in many places when authorities will allow businesses […]
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted practically every aspect of American life. Whether closed by government order or by concerns about public safety, millions of businesses around the country have seen their operations come to a halt. Despite the overwhelming effect of COVID-19, it is not a certainty that an “Act of God” clause in a […]
Welcome to the official blog of the Montgomery Willard, LLC. We will begin posting on this blog shortly, so please check back regularly for updates about the firm, notable cases and more.


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For a brief time when COVID-19 started affecting the U.S., many businesses attempted to keep things running as normal, for all the obvious reasons. Before long, though, it became clear this wasn’t feasible and one after another, businesses temporarily closed or fundamentally changed the way they ran things.
For comics, this had a big impact, not only because comic shops are almost entirely small businesses operating on thin margins, but because Maryland-based Diamond Comic Distributors shut its doors. For those of you who don’t know, Diamond is the only comic distributor in the nation, so if they aren’t running, comics aren’t reaching shops or customers.
With the country beginning to test the waters for opening up again, Diamond has announced comics will be hitting the shelves again by the end of this month. On Wednesday, May 20, fans will see new comics on the shelves of their comic shops. Well, most of us won’t actually see them on the shelves, but they will be arriving in the stores nonetheless!
It is a good assumption that we will be continuing to practice social distancing in stores and many shops will presumably continue curbside pick-up and delivery as they were at the beginning of the outbreak, but for the first time in over a month, we will have a new comic day!
Of course, production is still being affected and some books will likely be delayed even further, but there are a great many things to look forward to coming back.
DC Comics is making a big splash with the celebration of Green Lantern’s 80th anniversary, with a special over-sized issue and reprints of some of the best stories in recent GL history. The movie may have been a tragedy, but some of the greatest superhero stories have been told within the pages of Green Lantern comics since they started.
Meanwhile, Marvel Comics is picking up where it left off with multiple second issues to brand-new series, including the latest title focusing on Black Widow, a perfect lead-in to her upcoming movie, now rescheduled for a November release.
In the world of independent comics, we get good and bad news.
The last issue of Matt Fraction’s amazing series “Sex Criminals” comes back for its final issue. Also being released is a special edition reprint of the first issue for those interested in trying it out. Be warned that it is very much for “mature readers,” but it is one of the most groundbreaking and thought-provoking comics in recent years.
BOOM! Studios continues to expand on the amazing and enchanting world of Jim Henson’s “The Dark Crystal” with the release of “The Quest for the Dual Glaive,” an official tie-in to the Netflix series and a continuation of the story.
Another cinematic tie-in with a similar pedigree of puppetry and a cult like devotion continues to get worthy attention from Dark Horse comics, with the release of the second issue of the comic based on the original screenplay for “Alien.”
This has been a difficult time for many people, in many ways, and I find it helps to look to the small things in life to get us through the hard things. For many of us, new comic day is one of those small things (or a big thing) that we haven’t been able to enjoy for a while.
On the 20th, we will have that small thing again. It may be different -- we may not be able to go to our local shop in the same way we have in the past -- but we will have a small piece of that happy thing back in our lives.
WILLIAM KULESA can be reached at email@example.com.


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Grab your party hats, eat some cake, and blow out some candles because Xbox Live has officially turned 9 years old.
As of yesterday, Xbox Live, which debuted in 2002 on the original Xbox, officially celebrated its ninth birthday. The online gaming service has shaped the way gamers both interact and spend time with games, other players, and more.
The oldest Gamertag on the service is “e” and it belongs to Microsoft’s Operation Manager for Xbox Live, Eric Neustradter.
The Xbox Live service wasn’t available to the general public on August 14th 2002, however, Neustradter officially joined the service on that date. Today, August 15th, marks the date that Live was officially available to the public.
Here’s to many more years of online gaming Xbox Live!


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When you see people driving expensive, flashy cars, do you assume they have lots of money? It turns out many of them may be poseurs who are just trying to look wealthy. According to a new study, the folks with the best cash flow are often driving Toyota Prius sedans and Honda CR-Vs.
Auto industry research and forecasting company TrueCar.com said it looked into the top vehicles people in the 10 wealtiest zip codes are buying. TrueCar said that while fancy cars remain part of a broad stereotype of well-to-do drivers, TrueCar data show there are many wealthy consumers who choose to drive mainstream cars.
You can watch a video about the trend after the jump.


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Combating Counterfeiting in the Indian Drug Industry under Intellectual Property Laws
As per the global counterfeit goods ranking, counterfeited drugs are at the top of the list with a market value of $ 200 billion. World over India is a leading manufacturer and exporter of high-quality generic and patent drugs. However, the TAXUD statistics released by the European Commission a few years back showed us the dark side by stating that 75 percent of fake drugs supplied world over had some origins in India. The figures are bound to have increased considerably.
However, the health ministry in India has undertaken various steps to clamp down on the illegal trade such as launching a reward program in 2010, offering $55,000 to those who provide information about fake-drug syndicates amongst others. Important changes have also been proposed to the country’s IP laws such as the procedure stipulated by the Drug Controller General of India in January 2011, which required an amendment to Rule 96 (manner of labeling requirement) of Drugs and Cosmetics Act. The proposed amendment made it mandatory for every drug manufactured in India to bear on its primary label Unique Identifier Code and 2D bar code by which anyone can verify the drug through an SMS
Combating Counterfeiting in the Indian Movies & Music under Intellectual Property Laws
India’s famous “Bollywood” film industry is the largest producer of films in the world. But larger is the challenge to tackle the piracy and counterfeiting threat that has the very existence of the industry at risk.
In 2010, AACT was involved in 301 hard goods (DVD) raids in Mumbai and 19 hard goods (DVD) raids across Northern India. In a bid to fight against piracy, producers have begun officially releasing movies online within days of its release. The producers hope that the low cost for high quality prints would lure people into officially buying such movies online instead of succumbing to pirated versions, most of which are of poor quality prints. Music and movies are some of the industry’s worst affected by piracy in India.
Combating Counterfeiting in India in the field of Books under Intellectual Property Laws:
Piracy of books ranks 23rd in the global counterfeit goods list with a market value of $600 millions. Book piracy occurs in a variety of ways in the country, eg. unauthorized photocopying, unauthorized compilations in the form of course packs, pirated re-prints of trade titles, and unauthorized and scanned copies of books (particularly in the scientific, technical and medical sectors) and the hosting of such copies on sites created and maintained by university students.
To know more about Anti Counterfeiting in India .
For more information on Combating Counterfeiting in Indian Industries, please write to us at: email@example.com.


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TDN PR Team
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
One Local Event Global springs a vast TicketNetwork partnership.
TUCKER, GEORGIA., January 10, 2016 – One Local Event – the only source for local and global events – announces their launch and much anticipated partnership with the world’s number one ticket supplier – TicketNetwork.
The same company who brought you the fastest growing social business community Directory52, has added a new feature that merges every event on one single source. One Local Event Global houses thousands of mass media events daily at the lowest prices while One Local Event Local provides an outlet for promoters/event planners to introduce their events to a much larger audience at a broader scale.
The mission of One Local Event Global & Local is to provide consumers with the latest events from every source at a convenient price and a hassle free way for promoters/ event planners to sell tickets to a broader audience.
“TicketNetwork’s partnership with One Local Event has made us the most convenient and the least expensive place to purchase tickets on the web” said Deanna, CMO.
Expect to find the latest and most buzzed about national events or local community events that are sure to please. The numerous categories makes searching for “The Event” more convenient as well as the easy site navigation and clean sleek look. One Local Event surely will become a fast favorite amongst event consumers and promoters alike.
As subsidiary of The Directory52 Network, One Local Event also provides site users a way to make some cash when joining the TDN affiliate network. Affiliates can expect to earn up to $20 for every sale procured. For more information on becoming an affiliate visit www.tdnagency.com. One Local Event will fast become the number one source for events.


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The California city has taken a major stand against cruel breeding mills and the homeless-animal overpopulation crisis.
The post South Pasadena Bans Sale of Dogs, Cats, and Rabbits appeared first on PETA.
Will California stand up for orcas? The post California Governor: Lead the Nation and Ban Captive Orca Breeding Today appeared first on PETA.
Are you as passionate about tackling the homeless-animal crisis as PETA is? Do we have the job for you! The post 850 Animals Who Will Never Contribute to the Overpopulation Crisis appeared first on PETA.
See which city just passed sweeping legislation to help animals and earned an award from PETA. The post Groundbreaking! City Bans Circuses, Puppy Mills, and the Sale of Animals at Pet Stores appeared first on PETA.
PETA applauds San Francisco for outlawing the sale of nonrescue dogs and cats at local pet stores and hopes other cities will quickly follow suit. The post San Francisco Bans Sale of Nonrescue Dogs and Cats appeared first on PETA.


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Steve Ruddock of Bluff Magazine interviewed Jeffrey Haas, Bwin.party’s group director of poker, the man who now occupies the seventh place on the 2014 Power 20 list drawn up by Bluff Magazine. The two spoke on several issues, and Haas revealed his opinions on US online poker, Sheldon Adelson’s anti online poker stance, and other issues.
Voicing his opinion about the American Gaming Association (AGA), which recently withdrew its support for online gambling, he said that the AGA has astonished and disappointed the industry. He stated, “We’ve been betrayed by the AGA … taking no position is the cheap and easy way out.”
Haas has also noticed that the revenue figures reported in the New Jersey market weren’t as expected. He said that Bwin.party expected the NJ market to be at least four times bigger than it is for real. Opining that the factors responsible could be unregulated sites as well as difficulties in payment processing, he admitted that poor performance could also be responsible. He said: “We need to do a better job in every area. We need to be better at everything. Every step needs to improve by 1% – 4%.
Haas said that the company has a number of improvement plans, including a software upgrade, which will introduce more poker games and multi-table tournaments besides enhancing mobile capabilities. The company will also be optimizing its market strategies. In January, PartyPoker will run another edition of the Garden State Super Series (GSSS) along with the Borgata Winter Poker Open.
He also spoke of the importance of displaying the company’s New Jersey license more prominently on the online poker website and of providing more information on how the company deals with player funds.
Haas also pointed out that NJ’s young online gambling industry has greatly impacted its economy, chiefly by generating jobs. PartyPoker’s Hoboken office has a number of employees dealing with customer support, operations, payments, technology, marketing, and VIP relations— all related to online poker.
Haas, who was previously employed at PokerStars, has mixed feelings about the company’s arrival in the NJ market. Beyond doubts, PokerStars will be a tough competitor. As an added advantage, it already has a three-year-old database of US poker players, who will be eager to sign up at the online poker room. PokerStars also won’t have to deal with the problems PartyPoker had to face and is therefore “going to get a free ride,” he said.


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The myrtle rust plant disease has shown up at a third site in Northland, bringing the number of infected properties to 17.
The Ministry of Primary Industries said a private garden in Kaikohe had tested positive, after the yellow rust appeared on plants bought from an infected nursery in nearby Kerikeri.
The total number of affected properties nationally now stands at 17 in three regions - Northland, Taranaki and Waikato.
Most of the sites were in Taranaki, where the fungus had affected plants in nurseries, plant retailers and distributors, an orchard and private gardens.
To date myrtle rust has been found on pōhutukawa, lophomyrtus, gum trees and a single instance of mānuka - but not yet on feijoa trees.


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Adelie Foods and Quorn are working together on a new collection of sandwiches and wraps designed to make it easier for shoppers to purchase meat-free options on-the-go.
The plant based range comprises four sandwiches: vegetarian chicken & stuffing; vegetarian chicken salad; vegetarian ploughman’s; and vegetarian ham salad, and two wraps: sweet Chili; and caesar.
All variants are made with Quorn protein and rrps start from £3.29. The products are available to TUCO and NUS University sites now and will rollout to convenience retailers nationwide in the near future.
David Guy, commercial director for Adelie Foods, said: “We’re delighted to partner with such a leading and dynamic brand such as Quorn to bring these new products to market. Quorn is a signpost brand when it comes to meat free, so these products will be instantly recognisable, which will help to drive sales for the whole category, especially as more consumers consciously reduce their meat consumption.”
Andy Smith, director of business development at Quorn, added: “The meat free category is currently largely centred around planning meals at home, but our research has shown there’s a big demand for more meat substitutes and vegetarian options in the on the go channel. Our sandwiches and wraps performed brilliantly in consumer taste tests and we think our new range can increase awareness and sales for the lunchtime meat-free category.
“Our research shows 73% of our consumers are not vegetarian, demonstrating an increase in flexitarian diets and people looking to reduce the amount of meat they consume. Our mission at Quorn is to create delicious, healthy and sustainable ways for customers to take a ‘less is better’ approach to meat consumption. This new collection will make buying a tasty meat-free option when on the move more accessible than before.”
Recent research shows that the most UK consumers (52%) are reducing their meat consumption in some capacity [YouGov 2018 data, commissioned by Quorn].


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Collection at GosportCats Protection stall
The people of Gosport came out in force to support the town's Cats Protection on Sunday.
The charity set up a market stall in the High Street selling items to raise money.
A statement from the organisation said: ‘There are so many people to thank for braving the chilly weather on Sunday who made the Gosport Cats Protection market stall a success in raising £352.78, which all helps cats in our local area.’
Volunteers served a steady stream of customers throughout the day at the stall, including owners of former Cats Protection cats.


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This article originally appeared on Star Tribune and written by Jim Spencer on 9/18/2011 photo is taken by Renee Jones Schnieder
“The more we can look at things like this as an industry the more we can pass on savings to consumers from everything to shipping cost, product cost, and customer support. We truly believe the internet and provides a great medium for starting entrepreneurs to large corporations. We just think that if anything the medium stays competitive for all and not have inflated pricing that the online marketplace stays competitive for the right reasons.” — Jeff and Jay
There’s a long-running gag about people so self-absorbed that they frequently run Google searches on themselves. Jay and Jeff Backer admit that they regularly check their company’s status on the world’s most dominant Internet search engine.
For the twin brothers, it’s neither narcissistic nor laughable. When you sell above-ground pools and other recreational products based out of Browns Valley, Minn. (population 589), you better have a reach beyond the city limits.
That means your business better appear on the first screen of a Google search.
The Backer brothers say their online business, B. W. Inc., wouldn’t last long if it appeared way down the list of a Google search. “If you’re not on the first page,” said Jay Backer, “you can see 50 to 60 percent drops in business.”
As Google continually tweaks its ranking formula, the Backers find themselves up and down the company’s search results. It’s a common frustration among many small business owners, as the Internet company makes unannounced changes, cloaked in secrecy. “We’re guessing on a moving target,” Jeff Backer said.
Google so thoroughly dominates the search-engine market that businesses that rely on Internet commerce say their fates can rest on a single change to a complicated process that Google won’t explain. The Antitrust Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee will seek explanation this week in testimony from Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
No one disputes that Google dominates other search engines such as Yahoo or Microsoft’s Bing. Google handles 65 percent of all Internet search requests in the United States and 80 percent of searches in Europe, according to surveys. That gives the company a stranglehold not only on online searches, but also on online advertising for search engines.
The question is whether Google unfairly uses its dominance to gain an advantage for its own services and advertising clients. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice are examining whether the company has become an anti-competitive monopoly that requires federal intervention.
Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, who sit on the Antitrust Subcommittee, are expected to question Schmidt about ranking formulas, as well as placement of paid advertising and links to Google products that might confuse customers who think they are looking at unbiased rankings.
“There is no question that Google is the leader in search,” Franken said. “It is important to understand how Google uses its algorithms to prioritize search results.”
In Minnesota and across the country, Google rankings are the Holy Grail of online commerce. “If you’re not in the first three to five listings, it’s very rare that people are going to click on you,” said Ann Treacy, a search-engine consultant from St. Paul.
The three major Google ranking criteria are key words, fresh content and how many other sites link to yours, Treacy said. But it’s more complicated than that.
About 200 different measures go into determining Google search rankings, and the company said it changed its formula about 500 times in 2010. To protect its strategic interests, Google rarely announces changes to its ranking process and never discusses the fine points of those changes. The company insists it uses the adjustments only to make rankings more user-friendly.
“We can’t divulge the actual ranking signals or details about each change we make because we don’t want to give people a way to game our search results and worsen the experience for all users,” said a Google official who did not want to be named. “We built Google for consumers, not websites. Not every website can come out on top, or even appear on the first page of our results, so there will almost always be website owners who are unhappy about their rankings. The most important thing is that we satisfy our users.”
Financial experts say Google has every right to protect the trade secrets that produced its dominance in online searches.
“They’re not obligated to reveal changes,” said Tom Cotter, an antitrust and intellectual property expert at the University of Minnesota Law School. “Normally, it’s not in your interest to reveal.”
Many executives believe they must buy advertisements that appear on the first page of Google’s website as a hedge against a possible loss of standing in Google’s rankings. The advertisers pay a small fee each time a customer clicks on their ad.
Google says the purchase of advertising does not improve a company’s ranking.
Even if Google doesn’t change its rankings because of ad purchases, critics charge that the company’s placement of ads and its products near top-ranked companies can confuse users. They may click on the sites of paid advertisers or Google products rather than companies ranked by merit.
To understand how often that can happen, the Backers said they paid Google $43,278 for a July 2011 ad that garnered 105,612 clicks.
Google is increasingly offering its own products to compete directly with the companies Google ranks on its search engine, said Robert Birge, chief marketing officer at the travel site Kayak.com.
“Google search is the Main Street of Internet business,” Birge explained. “The question is whether they leverage their monopoly to put their own store fronts in front of others.”
When a Google product, such as Google Maps, vaults above all non-Google competitors to the top of supposedly merit-based rankings, suspicions abound, Birge said. In some ways, the “firewall” between Google’s ranking formula and its paid ads and products is “irrelevant,” said Tom Barnett, an assistant attorney general for antitrust issues during the George W. Bush administration.
When online businesses have no viable option besides Google for search engine rankings or advertising, anti-competitive issues arise, Barnett said. Now a lawyer in private practice, Barnett is advising TripAdvisor, a website of travel reviews that, among other things, claims that Google has used portions of its reviews on the Google Places website in such a way that people don’t go to TripAdvisor.
“Google is no longer just a search company,” Barnett said in an interview. “It has economic incentives to steer you to its own [products and ads].”
Government investigators must determine whether Google is using any “improper means” to promote its advertisers and products, Barnett said. Like Google’s Schmidt, he will testify before the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee this week.
To prove that Google is improperly limiting competition, the government must demonstrate that the company’s business practices serve primarily to downgrade competitors and mislead consumers, said Cotter of the University of Minnesota. Being dominant, alone, doesn’t warrant federal intervention.
In essence, Cotter said, “it is not a violation of the law to be a monopoly.”
Jim Spencer • 202-408-2752


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Welcome to Miss March 2014 Britt Linn’s Playmate of the Year 2015 voting page. Check out videos and pics of Britt.
Voting is now closed for Playmate of the Year 2015. Thanks to all of our readers who voted for their favorite Playmates! The Playmate of the Year will be announced in May and will appear in the June 2015 issue of Playboy.
The first short-haired Playmate in 15 years, Miss March 2014 Britt Linn gave Playboy readers a completely different look. Not only is Britt a high fashion model, she’s a certified surgical technologist. She has assisted on brain surgery and has held a live heart. Her edgy mohawk and blue eyes had our hearts beating out of our chests. Check out what Britt has been up to for the past year with Playboy.
Britt Linn’s Playmate Pictorial as Miss March 2014
“I so appreciate Playboy letting me be authentically me,” says Linn. “Be who you are. I need to be PMOY to show the world you can be yourself and be accepted!”
Britt’s illustrative photo for “Rave New World,” an article by Rachel White in Playboy’s July/August 2014 issue
Britt suits up for a 2014 World Cup inspired photo shoot
“I think it’s beautiful when a woman is confident in her own skin,” says Britt. “I thought it would be cool to be slender enough for high fashion and curvy enough for Playboy.”
Watch Britt conquer New York City in this exclusive video
Learn more about Britt through her Playmate Data Sheet
To see more photos and video of Britt Linn, visit her Playboy.com profile.
To see the other candidates, visit Playboy.com’s PMOY 2015 voting page.
To read Playmate of the Year voting sweepstakes official rules, click here.


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IBM announced that it will acquire open-source software company RedHat for $ 34 billion this afternoon. This agreement will help IBM expand its position as an enterprise cloud computing provider.
Red Hat is a leading provider of open source software and services for enterprise customers focused on cloud computing and Linux servers. In 2012, we became the first company to offer more than $ 1 billion of open source software. It will now be included in IBM's hybrid cloud segment.
IBM has found that through its services more and more companies can switch jobs online and that the proprietary nature of existing cloud systems makes it more difficult to move and secure data between systems.
IBM has announced that the acquisition will enable the expansion of cloud computing products. Ginni Rometty, chairman, president and chief executive officer, said, "Most businesses today are leasing only 20 percent of their travel to the cloud, with the ability to cut costs [computer]. White White, president and chief executive officer of Red White, will allow his company to reach far more customers, and according to the company's ""
IBM CBNC reported that IBM recently had a poor performance recently. Ranging from Microsoft and Amazon's own enterprise cloud business. Being a major hardware manufacturer, the company has shifted its focus from the 1990s to focus on enterprise and web hosting services.


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After months of explosive growth, the boom in Chinese group-shopping websites appears to be subsiding, with some familiar names in the chaotic market emerging at the front of a very crowded field.
Juhuasuan, the group shopping service launched last year by Taobao, China’s largest online retailing service, was the mainland’s top group-shopping website in 2010, according to a report released in June by Shanghai-based market research firm iResearch. Juhuasuan recorded a total transaction volume of RMB 520 million last year, about twice the volume of independent start-up Lashou, which finished in second place with RMB 260 million. Both sites officially debuted in March 2010.
Other notable names in the top 10: Nuomi, a group shopping website started by social network site RenRen, in fifth place; Internet messaging and online gaming giant Tencent’s entry, tuan.qq.com, in seventh; and Groupon.cn, the Chinese subsidiary of U.S.-based Groupon, in ninth. Statistics for the first half of 2011 were not available.
With minimal barriers to entry, China’s group shopping field in the last 12 months or so has quickly become overpopulated with clones of Groupon, the company that successfully pioneered the business model in the U.S. There were 5,048 group-buying websites in China at the end of May, according to the China Internet Network Information Center, a government group that monitors China’s internet and provides domain name registry services. At least 1,000 sites opened in 2010; the momentum carried into this year with 732 opening in March 2011 alone.
According to an April report by Analysys International, a consulting company specializing in the technology, media, and telecom industries in China, the total transaction volume of all group-shopping sites is expected to balloon to about RMB 1.6 billion in 2011, and to zoom ahead to RMB 2.6 billion in 2012.
But the young industry’s era of Malthusian website multiplication appears to be tapering off. Just 300 new sites came online in April, less than half the number that debuted in March, according to a story by Chinese news syndicate cnYES. Meanwhile, group-shopping websites such as Kaixintuan and Meituan are rumored to be closing shop in small-to medium-sized cities.
With so many sites scrambling for customers and working capital, a shakeout, in which smaller websites are wiped out or merged with larger ones, appears to be underway. Competition for scarce technical and managerial talent has given rise to large-scale poaching of employees. According to cnYES, Lashou earlier this year had 300 of its staff defect en masse for Wowotuan, which resorted to awarding all its employees stock options to retain them. Poaching is reportedly driving up salaries to untenable levels: 20 firms entered into a verbal agreement to halt all poaching, but the pact did not last, cnYes reported.
Revenue is also being pinched. While Groupon reportedly enjoys a 50:50 profit split with its partner retailers in the U.S., most Chinese sites, in an effort to attract retailers, only take 10% of deals. Shen Boyang, general manager of Nuomituan, another group buy site, told cnYES that sites are all losing money.
Ran Wang, CEO of China eCapital Corporation, an investment bank, recently predicted that 99% of group shopping websites will quickly disappear, leaving the industry with at most 10 large players. Observers predict survivors will be divided into two categories: big websites that offer comprehensive group buying for the national market, and smaller websites that cater to second- and third-tier cities.
For now, though, the cloning continues. Several copycat sites modeled after Taobao’s Juhuasuan, which has a daily transaction volume exceeding RMB 20 million, are currently operating. Among them is a site named Naguo Juhuasuan that is a painstakingly thorough replica of China’s apparent market leader—a copy of a copy, since Taobao was likely inspired by Groupon’s success to launch a group shopping site of its own on the mainland.


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|eConcept v1.50.13 released
|The latest version of eConcept Retail has been released.
Full details on what has been included in this new update, can be viewed by going to our eConcept Retail Version History section.
All users wishing to update their system to this new version should contact our support team, who will arrange a suitable time to perform this update for you.
|eCommerce is booming!
|Latest figures show a demand for a business to have an eCommerce, 'shopping cart' site and a requirement for that business to be able to sell their products and services online.
Many customers (and businesses alike) recognise that if a company is not on the net, they're not in business! This is a true fact as many buyers will look for the best deals online first. Even if they only use your site for a price guide and call you to place an order, your eCommerce site is working and so paying it's way.
Remember, a site that advertises products and services is good, but if you don't go that last 5% and make the sale.... then who are you actually advertising for?
|eConcept Retail user guide
|The latest user guide for our eConcept Retail system can now be downloaded via our eConcept Retail user guides section.
|UK Leads in eCommerce spending
|The UK will lead Europe and the US in e-commerce spending over the next five years, according to a report issued last week by analyst firm Forrester.
The UK will show the strongest growth of the 17 European nations considered – the average online shopper in the UK will spend E2,410 (£1,670) each year by 2011. This would make the UK e-commerce market the largest in Europe, contributing nearly a third of total internet retail revenue in the region.
The strong performance by the UK has everything to do with early internet adoption here, according to Jaap Favier of Forrester. This means the average Brit got exposed earlier on than other European nations to e-commerce, he said. The penetration of credit cards in the UK [is also greater] – so there has always been a more or less universal payment mechanism that consumers are confident in.
Favier added that the UK has an advantage over other European countries in that successful US web sites which want to expand usually do so first with a UK web site, as there are less changes to make and a closer cultural fit.
The Forrester report supports research published in May by the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) that reported growth in e-retail sales of 2,000 percent in the last six years, with UK shoppers now spending £50bn a year online.
The IMRG also announced that web sales increased nearly 30 percent year-on-year. Among the top performing groups were electrical retailers, with business up 75 percent, and fashion, up 43 percent.
IMRG's chief executive, James Roper, said Forrester’s conclusions were not surprising given the high take-up of broadband, the ubiquity of cheap PCs and the advanced telecoms industry in the UK.
This will hit those businesses [without an efficient e-commerce channel] in several ways, Roper added. The internet requires a different mindset, so firms may find they are being led by the wrong people… There is also a challenge to companies who shunned e-commerce because they haven't got the back-end systems to support it.
|Domain Name Explosion?
|While not a 'news article' as such the following entry is of worthy note and may come as news to many readers.
According to Nominet, in April 2006 there were 124,158 and in May 2006, 132,112 new .co.uk names registered.
Don't wait too long to register your name as you may just find it has been taken if you leave it too long! We can do this service and provide domain hosting as well as eCommerce systems so call us today to get yours!
|Record number of online buyers
|A recent article states that some 100 million European online shoppers will spend an average of £693 (€1,000) each in 2006 driving online retail past the 6.93bn (€100bn) mark according to analyst Forrester Research.
In its Ecommerce 2006-2011 forecast the analyst predicts online retail sales in Europe will more than double in the next five years to £182bn (€263bn) as the number of online shoppers grows to 174 million.
Fuelled by improved supply and aided by comparison shopping sites more confident consumers will increase their average annual retail spend to £1040 (€1,500).
Be a part of these sales and get your eConcept system online today!
|We are now taking on new eConcept sites every week and so have expanded our capacity.
End users say the popularity of the eConcept Shopping Cart system and in many cases influenced their choice, is the very good price with which has no setup fees and required no deposit to get the site up and running. Linked with a good range of features, free updates and free support, users say they feel 'comfortable' with the system knowing there is expandability and support is always available.
|New site 'take-ups'
|With 4 new eConcept sites taken in just one week and 2 more sites just completing, the take-up of the system has make the eConcept shopping cart very popular. We are still holding our £10.00 a week deal, so if you want your shop on line now, give us a call right away and we will do the rest!
|Brits love to shop online
|A recent emailed article stated that 'Brits love to shop online' and that the UK has overtaken Germany, the largest economy on the Continent, as Europe’s number one online retail market.
Consumer analysts Mintel say that retail sales in the UK were worth €9.79billion last year; €80million ahead of Germany and expect that the market will nearly treble in value by 2010!
A senior retail analyst at Mintel, said that business to consumer ecommerce sector has come of age and is gaining consumer acceptance as a normal retail sales channel and that online sales of goods will grow strongly over the next few years.
Almost two thirds of people now have access to the internet, rising to 80% among those who work and so you can easily increase your sales simply by tapping into this income using one of our eConcept sites.
|Email for everyone!
|In an effort to provide everybody with their own professional looking email address, we have created a new lo-cost hosting package that will give you a domain name AND a 20MB unique mailbox with unlimited aliases, eg sales@, bob@, etc, for only £1 + VAT a week.
To read further details regarding this new lo-cost hosting package, please click here.
|Displaying 1 - 10 of 11 articles


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P&G's $3.2B profit beats forecasts
Procter & Gamble reported a $3.2 billion quarterly profit on Tuesday– a 35 percent increase from the same period a year ago.
Net sales for the Cincinnati-based consumer products giant dropped 9 percent to $16.9 billion for its second fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31. Diluted earnings per share were $1.12. Excluding one-time items, core earnings per share were $1.04.
Wall Street analysts had forecast P&G to post a 80 cent profit per diluted share or a $2.8 billion profit before one-time items on sales of $16.9 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Foreign exchange continued to exact an expensive toll on P&G's sales: shaving 8 percent off revenues or roughly $1.4 billion. To protect profitability, the company has raised prices overseas to blunt the effects of currency woes. Foreign exchanges also prompted the company to cut its forecast for earnings per share growth, which it predicts will rise 38 to 46 percent, down from previous range of 53 to 63 percent.
But even as P&G's sales declined, profitability surged on cost-cutting and favorable comparisons from the same quarter a year ago when results were weighed down by $740 million in impairment charges associated with the pending sale of Duracell batteries.
Improved productivity, lower commodity prices and higher pricing boosted P&G's gross profit margin by 1.7 percent, allowing hundreds of millions in more cash to flow to the bottom line. Selling, general and administrative expenses also declined 1.8 percent during the quarter.
P&G shares jumped 2.8 percent or $2.13 to $78.98 in early trading on Tuesday.
Besides beating analysts' profit expectations, P&G also reported positive organic sales growth of 2 percent, its strongest performance in the last year for the metric that excludes the impacts of foreign exchange, acquisitions and divestitures. The company said a 3 percent price increase more than made up a 2 percent decline in organic shipment volume. Organic sales shrank in the first fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30.
“We are encouraged by our return to organic sales growth in the quarter,” said CEO David Taylor, in a statement. “With the top-line improvement and continued cost reduction, we delivered solid core operating income and EPS growth in the face of significant macro-economic and geopolitical
Taylor took the helm at P&G on Nov. 1.
P&G is in the process of selling off nearly 100 non-core brands in a bid to focus the company on its 65 best-selling labels. The brand-shedding, first announced in summer 2014, is expected to remove more than $10 billion worth of sales from the company. P&G's sale of Duracell batteries to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is expected to close before April. A deal to merge 43 beauty brands with New York-based Coty is expected to close this summer.
P&G estimated foreign exchange will shave 7 percent off annual sales ending June 30, up from a previous forecast of 5 to 6 percent impact. The company maintained its sales guidance for the year with organic sales expected to climb low single digits, but total sales expected to drop in the high single digits thanks to currency rates and brand divestitures.
Tepid worldwide growth has prompted central banks around the world to devalue currencies in an attempt to spur exports. But those unfavorable exchange rates evaporate sales for P&G, which does two-thirds of its business outside the U.S. Company executives estimated currency woes cost it $1.7 billion in lost sales during the first quarter ended Sept. 30 and $4.6 billion during the fiscal year ended June 30.
"Unfortunately, we're facing a situation where the dollar is strengthening versus every country in the world," said Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller on Tuesday in a conference call.
Indeed, the Russian ruble is worth 45 percent less than it was a year ago versus the U.S. dollar, the Brazilian real is worth 41 percent less; the Mexican peso is worth 21 percent less;the euro is worth 12 percent less; the Japanese yen is worth 11 percent less; the Indian rupee is worth 8 percent less; and the British pound is worth 5 percent less.
In the last year, only three currencies in the world have appreciated against the U.S. dollar by more than 1 percent: the Somali schilling, up 22 percent; the Suriname dollar, up 1.5 percent; and the Gambian dalasi, up 1.1 percent, according to Bloomberg.


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With the new US sanctions on Iran, our urea import cost is likely to rise. In 2017-18, our import was 6 million tonnes (mt) and a third of this was from Iran, which supplies 4.5 mt annually to the world market.
If, due to sanctions, these supplies don’t come to the market, global prices will shoot up.
India was importing urea via the UAE route and making payment in dirhams (the latter's currency) during the earlier sanctions period. Now, global urea traders are worried if the UAE would oblige this time, say sources.
Urea prices have already been on a rise for a year. Since July 2017, these have risen by a fifth, to $255 a tonne. China has cut urea production on environmental grounds and this has made the market tighter.
“Iran was an important source for import and its share had increased to 34 per cent in 2017-18, compared to 27 per cent the previous year, due to less availability, especially from China. It’s very early to assess the impact on import and prices. Presently, we are expecting prices to remain soft over the next few months,” said Deepak Chitroda, an analyst from London-based CRU.
Two months earlier, the Government of India floated a tender to import a million tonnes of urea through Indian Potash, a canalising agency. A major chunk of this was allocated to those importing from Iran. Part of these consignments have already landed here but those yet to arrive “could be in trouble because making payments for these will now be a contentious issue”, said a source.
Of cheer is an expected rise in domestic production capacities, with one mt expected to come on stream this year. The government is also trying to to limit consumption. Some months earlier, it had told fertiliser companies to pack urea in 45-kg bags, instead of the earlier 50-kg ones.


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VIP2.0, the second outing of the online-only VIP Art Fair, will open to the public on February 3 at 8 a.m. on the dot. Supported by extra server space to combat last year’s loading problems, the site — founded in 2011 by dealers Jane and James Cohan and entrepreneurs Jonas and Alessandra Almgren — will welcome virtual visitors to a freshly redesigned viewing area where they will be able to peruse displays from over 100 galleries with just the click of a mouse, all from the comfort of their laptops.
It is this accessibility that makes VIP so attractive in theory to first-time buyers and armchair collectors, but the fair’s new programming and enhanced interaction opportunities could make this year’s outing a must-see for art-world heavies as well. While BLOUIN ARTINFO has not yet been able to try out the new interactive interface, VIP's founders say the improved technology should help to solve the fair's past glitches. Beyond shoring up its design, the fair has also added a series of videos that give dealers a chance to show off the personality of their galleries and “Insider Tours” that let visitors explore the fair through the eyes of well-known curators and directors — add-ons that should bring VIP even more in line with physical art fairs like the Armory Show, which have extensive auxiliary programming. The founders have also recently launched three sister fairs.
Over the coming week, VIP will release a glossy series of “Discussion” clips presenting interviews with gallerists about their spaces and what they plan to bring to the fair. Leo Koenig says that he will be showing a highly curated booth at VIP mixing from both older and emerging artists, including a selection of monotypes by Nicole Eisenman. The Cohan gallery will bring concrete sculptures exploring urban archaeology by Ruben Ochoa as well as a new work from British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare, previewing an upcoming solo show by the artist. Vito Acconci’s “Stretched Façade,” an interactive sculpture of a human face that includes a cozy seating space, will also be featured.
The French-Austrian Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac has announced that it has created "a special program” for its 2012 VIP booth featuring seven solo exhibitions that will rotate over the course of the fair, ending on February 8. On the opening day of the fair, the gallery will host the debut of a 24-hour live performance by Terence Koh called “Lightning Striking at Both Ends of a Thought.” Following Koh will be consecutive presentations by artists including Raqib Shaw, Alex Katz, and Robert Longo.
The fair’s new “Insider Tours” feature will guide visitors through a selection of works at various galleries chosen by a group of high-profile curators, including Tate Liverpool’s Gavin Delahunty, the Asia Society’s Melissa Chiu, Whitechapel Gallery’s Daniel Herrmann, Alban de Pury of Phillips de Pury auction house, and collector Dennis Scholl. The curators will have the ability to write commentary that will be displayed to the right of each featured work.
Whether the new technology allows a better overall user experience for the crowds waiting to explore these new features is a question that will have to wait until February 3.


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Friday, November 29, 2013
WALLA WALLA — Local author Shanna Hatfield has released a new holiday romance novel, “The Christmas Cowboy,” with plans of donating 10 percent of the proceeds to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund.
Hatfield will be at Book & Game Co. Inc., 38 E. Main St., 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. She will include sales from that day in the December donation.
“The Christmas Cowboy” is a contemporary Western romance set in the Tri-Cities area. The story is about Tate Morgan, a saddle bronc rider working toward earning a World Champion title, and Kenzie Beckett, a corporate trainer for a direct sales company. Both frequent travelers, they meet by chance at the airport.
The Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund dedicates 100 percent of all contributions received for disbursement to eligible injured rodeo athletes with catastrophic injuries.
Hatfield began writing Western romances in 2010. The Women of Tenacity series debuted in 2011, followed by the Grass Valley Cowboys series. She is working on an historical series called Pendleton Petticoats. The Christmas Cowboy is her 20th book.
For more information, visit shannahatfield.com.


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Dianping is often described as China's Yelp, Groupon (GRPN) and Foursquare rolled into one.
Founded in 2003, Dianping.com generates online user-reviews for restaurants, shops and entertainment venues.
By late 2010, Dianping added Groupon-like buying opportunities and has been experiencing Groupon-like growth (so far without the same growing pains). The company boasts roughly 42 million monthly active users and estimates its revenue surged by 500% between 2010 and 2011.
In April 2011, Dianping raised $100 million from venture capital firms, including Sequoia Capital, which reportedly valued the company at $1 billion.
China is the world's second largest economy, but it will still take years before living conditions are on par with other developed countries.
|Ousted Yahoo exec gets $58 million golden parachute|
|GM's recalled Cobalt was a failure from the start|
|Canadians arrest a Heartbleed hacker|
|Obama would cut deficits by another $1 trillion|
|US Airways won't fire worker who sent lewd tweet|


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Scott Sonner / AP
Wednesday, July 15, 2015 | 5 p.m.
Tesla’s expansion into the Northern Nevada desert nearly tripled in the first half of 2015.
In April and May, Tesla purchased nearly 2,000 acres outside Reno, in addition to the roughly 1,000 acres the electric car company purchased in October for its gigafactory, according to Storey County land records. The majority of the additional land was purchased April 14 and April 15, only weeks before the company announced a home battery on April 30.
Demand for the stationary battery, which stores electricity generated from solar panels during the daytime for use anytime, was so high after the first week that in May Tesla CEO Elon Musk said there’s a chance the company might expand production even further than originally planned at its gigafactory outside of Reno.
Most of the new land, almost 1,863 acres, will not be used for structures. Instead, it could be used for solar arrays that would help power the lithium-ion battery plant, a Tesla spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal. Tesla, she said, does not intend to build additional factory space beyond its original plans.
The development is expected to boost the Nevada economy, especially near the gigafactory. The electric car company, which received a $1.3 billion tax break from the state last year, is expected to invest $5 billion in the state and employ 6,500 people.
In a filing last year Tesla projected that batteries from the gigafactory would be used in its Model S and Model X next year. The company has planned for it to be fully operational by 2020. Later on, batteries manufactured at the gigafactory would be used in the smaller Model 3 and for stationary storage.
Since construction started in May, Storey County has issued Tesla more than 30 building permits, for everything from temporary work trailers to gigafactory fireproofing, according documents from the county’s building department. The most recent permit was issued June 24.
The additional land grab around the factory comes at a time of expensive growth for Tesla.
With plans to spend around $1.5 billion this year on capital expenditures, between the gigafactory and other projects, Tesla entered an agreement with several banks in June for a line of credit up to $750 million, according to a government filing.


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Thought you were caught up on all the pizza styles in Buffalo?
Meet the pinsa Romana, courtesy of Daniela, the new restaurant from longtime caterer Daniela Antonella Cosmano Kayser.
Eight years ago, Kayser bought 387 Forest Ave. and overhauled the building for her catering business. More recent work turned the front into an airy café space with a bar at the side.
But the pinsa (prounounced peen-sa, Kayser advises) puts Daniela on the Buffalo pizza map. “No one has it here,” she said.
The difference is in the dough, made from a blend of rice, soy and wheat flour, with a long fermentation and high water content. The result is noticeably light, puffy, and crispy-edged without much oil, which makes for healthier eating, said Kayser.
At Daniela, pinsa range from tomato, fior di latte cheese, and Grana Padano ($13) to smoked salmon with capers, crème fraiche, and parsley ($16).
Salads include field greens and pear ($11), BLT ($11), and a harvest grain salad ($9) that includeds Israeli couscous, baby chickpeas, orzo, quinoa, vegetables and feta cheese and a sprightly lemon vinaigrette.
But it’s the pinsa, panini, and pasta, and leading the card. A silky-rich carbonara pasta ($19) with nubs of guanciale comes on lingune.
Orecchiette ($17) gets a powerful dose of garlic and bitter greens with lots of parmigiano Reggiano, and olive oil.
Lasagna ($17) offers a well-proportioned package of pasta, cheese, tomato and bolognese meat sauce. Pastas ($15-$19) also include a tamoto cream with linguine ($16) and a penne with basil pesto ($18).
The café also offers a slate of coffee drinks, including cortados and macchiatos (both $3). Beer and wine includes local drafts.
The restaurant is still in soft opening mode, so adjustments will be taking place. Kayser said she eventually hopes to offer housemade gelato, and brunch. “I’ve met so many neighborhood people who are very excited,” she said. “They don’t have anything like this around here.”
She has also met many Buffalo State College students, and is considering eventually taking part in Bengal Bucks, which allows students to use their food service contracts off campus.
The catering part of her business will continue, she said. “I still want to cater, so that’s why we’re going to close on the earlier side.”
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Closed Sunday, Monday. Phone: 235-8598
Send restaurant tips to firstname.lastname@example.org and follow @BuffaloFood on Instagram and Twitter.


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Petrol, diesel prices today | Representative picture
The price of petrol in Delhi reduced by Rs 8.56 per litre as the Delhi government's VAT cut came into effect at midnight. Fuel prices, including the cost of diesel in Delhi, remained unchanged in all other states and UTs for the 28th day in a row after the Centre's excise duty cut.
At a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, it was decided that the value-added tax (VAT) on petrol will be reduced from 30 percent to 19.4 percent, leading to a cut of around Rs 8 per litre.
Read | Delhi slashes VAT to 19.40%, petrol to get cheaper by Rs 8 per litre
Petrol and diesel prices in Delhi have now become cheaper than other cities in the National Capital Region (NCR), Kejriwal said.
The Centre had on November 3 cut excise duty on petrol by Rs 5 per litre and on diesel by Rs 10 a litre to give relief to consumers battered by record-high retail fuel prices.
In Mumbai, fuel prices remained static. Petrol retailed at Rs 109.98 a litre and diesel was sold at Rs 94.14 per litre.
The petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged in Kolkata at Rs 104.67 per litre and Rs 89.79 per litre, respectively.
Chennai retailed a litre of petrol at an unchanged price of Rs 101.40. Diesel price also remained unchanged at Rs 91.43 per litre.
Also read | Govt's excise mop-up from petrol, diesel doubles to Rs 3.7 lakh crore in FY21; states get Rs 20,000 crore
The excise duty cut was the highest-ever reduction in excise duty. Reducing the excise duty, the union government also urged states to commensurately reduce or value-added tax on petrol and diesel to give relief to consumers.
Following this, 28 states and union territories have cut VAT to give further reprieve to consumers battered by record-high retail prices. The states/UTs that extended additional VAT benefits are Delhi, Ladakh, Karnataka, Puducherry, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Gujarat, Nagaland, Punjab, Goa, Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Andaman and Nicobar, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
States that have so far not lowered VAT include Congress and its allies ruled Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu. TMC-governed West Bengal, Left-ruled Kerala, TRS-led Telangana and YSR Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh have also not cut VAT.
Congress-ruled Punjab has seen the biggest reduction in the price of petrol in the country after it cut local sales tax or VAT the most, while the UT of Ladakh witnessed the largest reduction in diesel rates for the same reason.