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Why LA Garment Workers Want To Put An End To The Piece-Rate SystemBy Geana Sieburger |
We redistribute 3% of our online sales to support organizations that protect civil rights, empower marginalized groups, and protect the environment.
From April 1 - June 30, 3% of online purchases will be redistributed to the Garment Worker Center in Los Angeles, CA. The Garment Worker Center is a worker rights organization leading an anti-sweatshop movement to improve conditions for tens of thousands of Los Angeles garment workers. Through direct organizing, GWC develops leaders who demand enforcement of strong labor laws and accountability from factory owners, manufacturers, and fashion brands. They center immigrant workers, women of color, and their families who are impacted by exploitation in the fashion industry.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Nayantara recently and am so excited to share this eye-opening conversation with the GDS community. Let's jump right in!
Geana: I'd love to hear a little bit about you and what your role is at the Garment Workers Center.
Nayantara: Sure! My name is Nayantara Banerjee. I am working in industry research and strategic partnerships for the Garment Workers Center. I've been in this position only since last Fall (2020) but I have a history with GWC that goes back to early 2017.
I volunteered with the Garment Workers Center for a couple of years and through most of 2020 was actually a consultant. I was brought on to help grow sustainable fashion business support for our most current and biggest campaign, which is for SB62, the Garment Worker Protection Act. It's an amendment to the law that we are pushing right now through the California legislature.
Geana: Can you tell us a bit more about the work that GWC does?
Nayantara: GWC focuses most importantly on worker organizing and developing their leadership in the anti-sweatshop movement in California. We do that through direct actions, demanding brand accountability, policy, and through worker-led organizing.
For example, we just wrapped a 4-plus year campaign against Ross, Dress For Less, the big brand retailer that we all know. Garment workers who are members of GWC were producing garments at a sub-contractor that were sold exclusively at Ross. They were being paid through the piece-rate system and were earning pennies at a time for every operation that they did.
On average, garment workers who are paid piece-rate are earning a third of the minimum wage. And, within our center, we have a Wage Justice Clinic where we also support garment workers to bring wage sub-claims through the Labor Commissioner's office.
Through this data, we found garment workers are earning on average $5.85 an hour in Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, minimum wage for employers with 25 or fewer employees is $14.25 an hour, and it goes from there. So what garment workers earn is far less than the minimum wage.
We need more [factories] to not be falling victim to the fashion system that continues to be exploitative and perpetuates the imbalance between garment workers and their employers, between their employers and the brands.
Geana: Can you tell us what piece-rate is exactly? Many may have never heard of this.
Nayantara: Members who are producing garments for Ross, for example, we're paid through what's called the piece-rate system. In the piece-rate system, garment workers are paid per piece on which they work. So if they're making a shirt and they're producing in the traditional kind of sweatshop factory, they are going to be making maybe five cents per shoulder seam, for example.
And so, in order to make anything resembling a semi-decent take-home-pay, garment workers find that they have to work on hundreds of garments a day in order to make a total of $100 for that day. They have to work well over eight hours a day, sometimes they're working 10 to 12 hours a day.
They're working at a pace that is unsustainable. It's physically tolling, and now, with the coronavirus, it's even life-threatening because this productivity rate disincentives garment workers from sanitizing their workstations, from taking breaks to wash their hands, and taking general safety precautions.
But, even without the pandemic and the coronavirus concerns, it's a health hazard. Garment workers are not given the kind of protections and general considerations that we think of as standard at workplaces. For instance, it’s common for them to have to bring their own toilet paper. There are often cockroaches and rats in the factories. The air isn’t well filtered. It's very hot in Los Angeles, especially in these older buildings that house a lot of factories and contractors. So the piece-rate system is utilized to exploit garment workers and this system doesn't allow employers to provide basic necessities.
Employers know that they should be paying a fair wage, but the piece-rate system has created a loophole for brands and manufacturers to avoid paying the fair wages. And the system–the fashion industry across the world–is built on these exploitative models.
So when a brand like Ross purchases a volume of goods from a contractor with whom they have a relationship, they are paying a price per garment that does not translate to what garment workers would need in order to be paid minimum wage.
They're paying a price per garment that can only be achieved if the garment workers are paid a sub-minimum wage. A lot of our cases are against particularly powerful fast fashion companies that operate here. We've had Forever 21, Fashion Nova, Charlotte Russe, Windsor, and Urban Outfitters. They are some of the top violators, and they utilize loopholes in the law to avoid accountability when wage theft claims come up. That is why we are now pursuing a law to change the way things work.
There are over 45,000 garment workers in Los Angeles, that's the highest concentration of garment workers in the US. That's skilled labor. We also have these thousands of facilities in California. All of this is near the Asian Pacific rim and we have the Twin Ports at Los Angeles and Long Beach. There's a real opportunity for California to be the leader in sustainable fashion and sustainable garment manufacturing.
Geana: Do you have a sense of how many of the factories are operating under the piece-rate system?
Nayantara: At this time, it’s more prevalent than not, but it’s not straightforward either. Our members may aspire to get the “good jobs” at Los Angeles Apparel, for example, because Los Angeles Apparel publicly pays $15 an hour. But last year, at the height of the pandemic, Los Angeles Apparel was where almost 400 garment workers were exposed to the coronavirus. At least four of those garment workers died.
We're not trying to put anyone out of business. We want there to be more places so that not every garment worker wants to work at LA Apparel, for instance, where it’s not that safe. We need there to be many factories. There are thousands of factories. When I look at the Department of Industrial Relations–they collect all the information from California garment manufacturers that maintain their registration–there are thousands of them. We need more of those to not be falling victim to the fashion system that continues to be exploitative and perpetuates the imbalance between garment workers and their employers, between their employers and the brands. There's a real opportunity for California to be the leader in sustainable fashion and sustainable garment manufacturing.
There are over 45,000 garment workers in Los Angeles, that's the highest concentration of garment workers in the US. That's skilled labor. We also have these thousands of facilities in California. All of this is near the Asian Pacific rim and we have the Twin Ports at Los Angeles and Long Beach.
There's a lot of built in distribution networks in California, and Los Angeles in particular is very well-suited for being home to a strong, beautiful, fashion industry that can work for everyone. But we need folks to have that vision. And we need for it to be worker-led because that's really the way that we're going to get to true sustainability.
Geana: Yes, I agree. You mentioned that in LA there's a huge population of garment workers, the largest concentration in the United States. There was a time when it was on the East Coast, in New York City and that's not the case anymore.
Nayantara: No. Yeah, New York has far fewer garment workers.
Geana: What would you like to leave GDS customers and readers with? How could they support the Garment Workers Center?
Nayantara: We would love for anyone to sign the petition of support for the Garment Worker Protection Act. Any individual anywhere in the world can actually support this bill because garments that are made in California are sold throughout the country and throughout the world.
And if you are a business owner in the fashion industry, we would love for you to endorse the petition. If you have questions, you can always reach out to me directly. My email is Nayantara@garmentworkercenter.org.
We really have an amazing roster of business support for the bill. We have over 130 businesses in support of the bill so far. We have some really wonderful big leaders of the industry, Reformation, Eileen Fisher, Mara Hoffman, Christy Dawn, and would love to add more!
We have a fund for our garment workers who have lost work due to the pandemic. Initially the garment industry was not considered essential, and was shut down when the initial lockdown happened a little over a year ago. But it quickly became evidence that garment workers are needed to make masks, PPE for hospital workers, like gowns, caps, you know. And so garments workers were then considered essential and yet they were given no protection, no safety net.
There are a lot of garment workers who did lose their jobs or haven't returned to work because they didn't want to take the risk of going to the factory knowing that their health would be at stake. They have not been able to get some of those benefits, like the stimulus or unemployment because of a variety of issues. Maybe the nature of the way they're employed informally, or maybe their immigration status.
So if folks have the stimulus and have a little extra share, we would love for you to donate it to the Garment Workers Center and it will go directly to our members, garment workers.


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New versions of the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, 27-inch iMac, Mac mini and Mac Pro are coming in 2022, according to Mark Gurman (87% accurate, via Power On).
According to Mark Gurman in his latest power on newsletter, he says that; “Revamped, high-end iMacs with Apple silicon will sit above the new 24-inch model” Gurman says this will be the 'Biggest MacBook Air revamp in the product’s history, adding the M2 chip and a new design. In addition, there will be new versions of the Mac mini, entry-level MacBook Pro and a revamped Mac Pro with Apple silicon”
Next year Apple has said they will complete their 2-year transition from Intel to Apple Silicon so this tracks. Looking like 2022 will, potentially, be the biggest year for the Mac in recent.

domain: news


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Cleckheaton Screwfix store is declared a runaway success
Screwfix is celebrating the successful launch of its most recent store opening in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire. The store officially opened its doors on Thursday 4th October 2018 with hundreds of eager customers ready to stock-up on the latest tools and trade essentials.
The Cleckheaton Screwfix store is part of the company’s growing network of over 600 stores nationwide, meaning 97% of the UK population is within a 30-minute drive of a store. Open seven days a week and from 7am Monday to Friday, the store also provides a convenient, Click & Collect service available at all Screwfix locations. Using this service, customers can order their goods online or over the phone and pick them up from a store in as little as one minute.
The Cleckheaton Screwfix Store Manager, Kevin Gordon, said: “We chose to open a new store in Cleckheaton to better meet the needs of the local tradespeople. Many of our new customers previously shopped with Screwfix at our stores in Brighouse or Birstall, so we’re delighted to bring Screwfix even closer to them for greater convenience.
“Our celebration period, which ran from Thursday 4th October and throughout the weekend until Sunday 7th October, attracted hundreds of customers. We have received fantastic support from the local homes or community facilities and are looking forward to welcoming and helping more tradespeople and serious DIYers over the coming months.”
The Screwfix Foundation, which is another aspect of Screwfix’s nationwide initiatives, supports local charities and community projects by providing donations to fix, repair or maintain local homes or community facilities. Screwfix staff get directly involved in helping community projects and host charity fundraising events within the stores.
Cleckheaton local registered charities are welcome to apply for funding from The Screwfix Foundation by visiting Cleckheaton Screwfix branch to pick up a Screwfix Foundation leaflet for more information. Alternatively, they can download an application form from www.screwfixfoundation.com
Visit Screwfix’s Cleckheaton store at Luddite Way Business Park, Rawfolds Way, (off Bradford Road), BD19 5LH.
Monday to Friday 7am-8pm, Saturday 7am-6pm and Sunday 9am-4pm.
The brand’s huge range of products and exceptional deals are also available online at www.screwfix.com, on Screwfix’s mobile site or over the phone on 03330 112 112.
Pictured are Store Manager Kevin Gordon and some of his new team.
Cleckheaton Screwfix store is declared a runaway success 6.23 MB 8 downloads...
Note to editors
Screwfix is part of Kingfisher plc, the international home improvement company, with 1,300 stores in 10 countries in Europe, Russia and Turkey. For further information go to www.kingfisher.com.
Screwfix is convenient, straightforward and affordably-priced, helping its trade customers get the job done quickly, affordably and right first time.
- From power tools and work wear to cables and pipe fittings, Screwfix offers over 11,000 products available to pick up from over 600 stores nationwide.
- Over 32,000 products can be ordered over the phone, online or from a local store, with orders taken up until 8pm (weekdays) for next day delivery to home or site.
- Screwfix.com attracts 5 million visits per week.
- Store network is visited by 7.8m customers a year
- The Screwfix Click & Collect service which enables customers to pick-up their goods in as little as one minute after ordering online or over the phone, has already received more than 27 million orders.
- UK-based Screwfix Contact Centre open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (including bank holidays) on 03330 112 112.
- See www.screwfix.com/stores for store opening information.
- World leading customer satisfaction levels.
- Screwfix was awarded Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work in 2017 and 2018.
- Screwfix was awarded Retail Week’s ‘Best Retailer over £250m’ and ‘Digital Pioneer’ awards in 2018
- For more information about Screwfix please visit our media centre: screwfixmedia.co.uk
For more information, please contact:
Screwfix Press Office
Tel: 01935 441706


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Despite the growing ubiquity of sleek, internet-powered apps to carry out digital transactions, the fact remains that 9 out of 10 mobile transactions in sub-Saharan Africa flow through Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD). TechCabal has written about this persistent protocol before, highlighting its continued reliability not only for those who own feature phones but for smartphone users as well.
Last year, we covered the launch of Stax, an offline mobile app that seeks to give a desperately-needed makeover to USSD’s drab interface and offer users an aesthetically pleasing and seamless experience.
As Stax, owned by US-based developer Hover, celebrates its first anniversary, TechCabal caught up with its CEO and co-founder, Ben Lyon, to discuss the startup’s commitment to providing offline mobile banking services, its growth aspirations, and upcoming features on its app.
USSD is here for the long haul
Back in the early 2000s, when many Africans were still getting used to their newly acquired mobile phones, they relied heavily on USSD to check and top up their airtime. It quickly became an important channel for mobile banking, and eventually, users started to use USSD to purchase internet data, send money, and pay their bills. The fact that USSD is accessible on multiple types of phones and functions offline has helped it retain popularity 2 decades on.
One might assume—understandably so—that USSD exists under constant threat of the internet. It doesn’t help that the design of USSD, despite its proven efficiency, make for a poor user experience, which could compel a user to migrate to more intuitive mobile apps.
Stax claimed to possess a deep understanding of USSD’s continued importance in African markets and users’ needs for a smooth and simple mobile banking experience. This understanding was the impetus for the company to build what they hoped would become a universal money app for Africa, where users can link all of their bank accounts and mobile wallets—and, soon, their crypto wallets, too.
The app’s technology automates the standard USSD menu, meaning, instead of dialling a bank’s USSD code, Stax users simply need to tap a button on the app, while utilising the efficient USSD backend. Lyon said that Stax is looking at possibly creating its own USSD codes through Africa’s Talking, a telecommunication solution provider, and using those codes to access more information services, even when they’re offline.
Hover co-founder and CEO, Ben Lyon, told TechCabal over a call that while Stax is currently only available in 9 African countries, it is still pursuing continent-wide opportunities to expand, and as such, it is imperative that it targets USSD, the centre of digital commerce, and tap into users’ strong preference to turn off their mobile data.
He explained that the types of phones most Africans own—half of which are feature phones—is further reason to focus on smoothening USSD transactions.
To Lyon, this reality, much like USSD itself, will not change any time soon. Not even increased fintech industry funding and improving mobile connectivity and internet penetration will threaten the need for a USSD-powered solution like Stax.
“We’re not going to see, over the next few years, more data consumption,” he said. “Instead, we’re actually going to see more data metering, and so I think the size of the offline market is actually growing.”
To prove his point, Lyon referenced a Caribou Data study that found that 94% of financial digital transactions in Africa are made using USSD, leaving 6% of those transactions to come from elsewhere, like internet-based financial products. That, Lyon said, is what distinguishes Stax from the fintechs pursuing a much smaller opportunity in the 6% internet-facilitated transactions.
Other studies on the rising cost of data in Africa further substantiate the argument on which Stax builds its vision. In a Worldwide Mobile Data Pricing 2021 report from Cable.co.uk, sub-Saharan Africa ranked as the most expensive region, with the average price for 1GB of mobile data coming in at $6.44, followed by Oceania at $5.51 and South America at $5.25.
Since coming out of beta last May, more than 200,000 people have used Stax’s mobile app, and it has seen as many as 40,000 monthly active users. It is focusing on retention and hoping to turn on a growth engine that will see it acquire 45,000-plus new users or more per month.
After it secures a Series A funding round, Stax intends to expand its service to tens of markets across Africa.
Solving the fragmentation problem
Lyon explained that fragmentation, both of Android phones and USSD codes, was one of the biggest challenges Stax faced in building its product. Stax has to ensure that its USSD technology is compatible with its users’ Android phones. Stax has to ensure that its USSD technology is compatible with its users’ Android phones, but that leads to a lot of work on their end. This has required his team to constantly test their technology on hundreds of makes, models, and versions of Android devices, including Tecno, Infinix, Huawei, and Samsung—all of which are common phone brands in African markets. But this, Lyon believes, made Stax a defensible business.
In proprietary data, Stax claimed to have purchased from Caribou Data; as of September 2020, 8% of Android users in Nigeria were still on Android version 4. “If you want to make sure that your product works for those users, you have to do all of this reverse compatibility, so you’re not just building on the latest Android versions, because that won’t work for 90% of the market,” he said.
Stax navigated a similar obstacle with USSD. Lyon called it a “fractal problem”, where there are no standards in the use of USSD for digital money across Africa. This forces Stax to do a lot of testing on their own and it tends to be arduous. “You don’t have standard error codes, standard responses; and services change from one user to another.”
One solution Stax has built is a USSD directory that gives users a comprehensive view of the global USSD landscape. The directory also has a built-in searchable index of USSD services globally to reduce the friction between USSD and users across Africa.
Stax’s aim to prioritise user experience and eliminate or reduce data use to drive growth is not new on the continent. Senegalese unicorn, Wave, got a huge slice of the market already dominated by a telco Orange and a fintech Wari, by delivering an excellent customer experience while consuming very little data and maintaining low prices. In fact, Wave is available to users that cannot afford 3G or 4G subscriptions; and users without smartphones can access the app via QR cards.
Stax for Africa
While Stax’s offline feature has a continental reach, it currently only operates in 11 countries: Ghana, Zambia, South Africa, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Malawi. The company also caters its marketing to each country based on their unique needs, presenting itself as an app that can coexist with popular banking and mobile money practices in each place. In Kenya, for example, Stax promises users that it can help them better manage their M-PESA accounts, easing the process of moving money from M-PESA to their bank accounts by aggregating them all in one place. In Nigeria, where it’s commonplace for one user to have as many as 5 bank accounts, Stax plays up its feature that allows them to organise all their bank accounts in one app.
Lyon is under no illusions about the possibility that, eventually, more fintechs will transition into USSD to capture USSD users on the continent, raising the level of competition with Stax. In fact, it is already happening, he said. African fintechs like Barter by Flutterwave, Opay, and Abeg have all built USSD modes into their apps.
He maintains, however, that Stax is still better positioned to seize the opportunities in the market due to the years—since it launched in 2017—that the company spent building a core USSD infrastructure. Hover agreed with this, which was why Lyon decided in 2020 to pivot the parent company’s attention exclusively to Stax.
As an entrepreneur, Lyon welcomes competition and inspiration from other companies. He cited True Balance, an Indian payment app that was initially built for users to manage their phone recharge, bill payments, and balances without remembering complicated USSD codes. The app has since expanded its services to help users pay their mobile and electricity bills, added an e-commerce arm as well as credit services, and in the process amassed 60 million users. Stax, Lyon said, has been eyeing the success of True Balance and taking notes.
What are the next steps for Stax? The company hopes to become an offline payment super app by embedding third-party services onto its app. It hasn’t started building the infrastructure for that just yet, but its offline payment play is taking off. Stax currently supports more than 100 bank and mobile money services across 9 markets. In Kenya, it works with 30 different banks, M-PESA, and Airtel Money. In Nigeria, it supports all of the major banks and several of the microfinance institutions (MFIs)
Although Stax does not support any cross-border payments, pivoting to crypto will allow it to support international transactions. It plans to launch a self-custody USDC wallet, which will allow users to transfer money to anyone with a public address.


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November 25, 2008
is where the future of gaming is -- or where they would like it to be.
In its battle for the hearts and minds of gamers, Sony is developing a robust social-networking component to its PlayStation 3
The new element, to be called Home, has been in beta testing for weeks and allows users to explore an online world with avatars
that can travel from one virtual place to another.
While it's not exactly a world like World of Warcraft
or Linden Labs'Second Life
, Home is the most ambitious push by any console maker into creating a virtual world for gamers.
It will live or die on whether it's simple, fun, and deep enough for gamers who have plenty of other things they want to do -- like play games. And the price is right: free for those who have a PS3
The New York Times
, Linden Labs
, PlayStation 3
, Second Life
, World of Warcraft
: Related Tags: future gaming
, space station
, gaming should


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2010 TAG Heuer Tesla Roadster
Currently, the last price for TSLA was $23.83 per share, which puts it closing about six cents less than the end of trading yesterday. However, the stock is showing a lot interest with the day high being $30.42 and the day low being $23.30. If you are investing in Telsa Motors you should probably keep an eye on the analysts and what they are saying. Our partners over at TheCarConnection.com had an article yesterday on the IPO, including comments from industry experts (more here). In these times of market and industry volatility, the certainty of Tesla’s future is still a little hazy. Their prospectus has a lot of good information and positive goals, but there is also a lot of competition coming.
Bottom line—Tesla is taking a leap of faith as the first car company to IPO since Ford in 1956. Now it is history in the making.


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A shop that has sold children’s shoes in Lincoln for almost 20 years will reopen this week with a brand new ‘sole’.
Klogz, at 11 Newport, closed its doors on July 1 and the keys were handed to new owner Michelle Guest.
Michelle was previously a Lincoln College director and told The Lincolnite the shop was the perfect opportunity to take early retirement and work for herself.
Local contractors have been on site over the last few days and signs revealed the new business will be called Happy Soles.
It will reopen on Friday, July 6 with the same team of staff and many of the sought-after brands loyal customers know and love, Michelle explained.
“It will be a fresh new look with the same quality service and excellent, experienced team. We will continue to sell many of the same brands in sizes from first walkers to 7 adult size for girls and 9 adult size for boys.
“We will also be adding new brands like Froddo to the range.
“It will be a bright new look with a revamped seating area and it has been great working with local companies on the renovation.”
The long-standing Newport shop was praised by many when Klogz announced its closure on Facebook.
Charlotte Clarke said: “Always a pleasure to buy children’s shoes here. Relaxed and welcoming environment and the best choice of brands in children’s shoes.”
Jacqui Clinch posted: “My four children have been getting shoes from there and we have always been made to feel comfortable and nothing was ever too much.”
Many also paid tribute to former owner Debra Knott.


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Monsanto announced Thursday that it has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice that will allow it to complete its proposed acquisition of Delta and Pine Land Company. Monsanto plans to close its acquisition and resulting divestitures as soon as possible following the required approvals from the court and the DOJ.
"We believe our acquisition of Delta and Pine Land will help us facilitate greater innovation within the cotton industry by accelerating the number of products available to cotton farmers and generating new value for our business," says Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant.
Under terms of the agreement, Monsanto will be required to divest certain assets including its U.S. branded cotton seed business. As a result of this requirement, Bayer CropScience has entered into an agreement to purchase Stoneville Pedigreed Seed Company, a leading cotton seed provider, from Monsanto Company for $310 million, the company announced Thursday.
Bayer is currently the second largest cotton seed supplier in North America, and with the purchase of Stoneville it acquires a turnover of about $45 million as per Stoneville's 2005-06 fiscal year. Bayer will also gain access to insect-resistant and herbicide-tolerant Monsanto traits and to breeding and seed processing facilities.
Monsanto has also entered into a definitive agreement to sell its NexGen cotton seed brand and related business assets, to Americot for $6.8 million. As part of this agreement, Monsanto has agreed to sell to Americot certain conventional cotton parental lines that Delta and Pine Land acquired from Syngenta in 2006.
The acquisitions are all subject to Department of Justice approval.


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The Federal Reserve Board's top policy-making committee meets today to decide whether to lower short-term interest rates in an effort to aid a recovery many economists now believe may not really get going until next spring.
With the economy still sliding downhill, unemployment likely to approach 11 percent, and inflation greatly subdued, the Federal Open Market Committee is expected to decide to lower the discount rate -- the interest rate it charges on loans it makes to financial institutions -- from 9 1/2 percent to 9 percent or perhaps 8 1/2 percent.
Several other rates, such as the 12 percent prime lending rate at commercial banks, undoubtedly would follow the discount rate downward under present conditions, financial analysts said.
At the meeting today, the FOMC will receive a report from the Fed showing that industrial production fell in October another 0.5 percent to 1 percent. Another Fed report available to the committee is expected to show that the use of available production capacity in U.S. factories dropped to the lowest level of the postwar period. That report is scheduled to be released to the public tomorrow.
The debate within the FOMC at today's meeting is likely to center on the question of whether to reduce the discount rate slowly and wait each time to gauge the impact of the interest rate move or take a larger step quickly to ensure more of an impact on the economy, Fed sources said.
Meanwhile, private and government economists are lowering their forecasts for economic growth in 1983.
Alan Greenspan of Townsend-Greenspan & Co., for example, now believes the gross national product, adjusted for inflation, will decline slightly this quarter and rise only 1.9 percent in 1983 and a further 3.6 percent in 1984. The unemployment rate, now 10.4 percent, will average 10.8 percent in the first three months of next year, he said.
Sources said the internal forecast of the Federal Reserve staff is similar to Greenspan's.
In the same vein, Salomon Brothers' chief economist Henry Kaufman yesterday told a savings and loan association group in New Orleans that the recovery next year will be "at best half, or more likely, less than half the typical 5 to 6 percent real growth during the first year of previous postwar recoveries."
Kaufman said "the entire push in the private sector will have to come from households," whose ability to spend will be limited because of the effects of continued high unemployment, lack of overtime pay, feelings of economic insecurity and the lack of inflation-hedge spending.
Economists generally have been waiting since last July for consumers to lead the recovery as a result of the 10 percent cut in personal income tax withholding. So far they have not, and with business investment falling, government spending curtailed except for defense and markets for U.S. goods and services declining abroad, no other part of the economy seems in a position to do so.
But while the bad news on output and employment continues, so does the good news on prices.
Most analysts believe the October report on finished goods prices charged by producers, to be issued today by the Labor Department, will show prices little changed from the month before. And the price outlook remains bright, according to Greenspan, who said consumer prices as they are presently measured will go up only about 4.5 percent in 1983.
The FOMC, at its last meeting early in October, agreed that the central bank should temporarily disregard the rate of growth in the measure of the money supply known as M-1, which includes currency in circulation and checking deposits at financial institutions, as a guide to monetary policy.
The committee decided that M-1 would be artificially inflated by a number of developments, including the maturing of about $32 billion worth of All-Savers certificates during October. Some of the All-Savers money, which was part of a broader measure of money, M-2, but not of M-1, was expected to end up in checking accounts for a while boosting the level of M-1.
That seems to have happened, and M-1 is now far above the upper limits of the target range set for it by the FOMC. In the week ended Nov. 3, M-1 rose $2.7 billion to a level of $473 billion, the Fed reported yesterday. Its average for the latest four weeks was up at a 16 percent annual rate from its average level three months earlier.
Both the stock and bond markets rallied sharply at the time when the Fed announced the shift away from keeping close tabs on M-1 and interest rates fell. The Fed underscored its action by lowering the discount rate from 10 percent to 9 1/2 percent. In late July it had been at 12 percent.
In the last month, the Fed has rapidly increased the level of reserves available to the banking system in line with the climb in M-1. This has kept short-term interest rates from rising and long-term rates have generally continued to decline.
But unless the discount rate is lowered, other key rates are not apt to fall any further, and could bounce back up a bit, most financial analysts believe. This fact, coupled with the continued poor health of the economy and the good reports on inflation, has led the analysts to expect additional declines in the discount rate after today's meeting.


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El Paso Electric mobile payment service provider TIO Networks hacked
A mobile payment service used by 16,300 El Paso Electric Co. customers was suspended in November because it was hacked, the utility said Wednesday.
The data breach included customers' names, addresses, utility accounts, bank account numbers and bank routing numbers stored on TIO Networks, which provides a mobile bill payment application, El Paso Electric officials said.
TIO Networks suspended operations Nov. 10 to protect customers after it discovered an unauthorized access.
The breach did not involve El Paso Electric’s own systems or any of the utility’s other payment systems, utility officials said.
TIO Networks included information for customers using the El Paso Electric MobilePay app, the utility said.
The incident had been developing since November.
On Nov. 21, El Paso Electric posted on its website that its mobile pay app was unavailable until further notice.
On Nov. 27, El Paso Electric said the company was notified by TIO about the data breach.
On Dec. 1, the utility posted information about the incident on its website. El Paso Electric began mailing letters to possibly-affected customers on Dec. 23.
TIO Networks was acquired by PayPal in July for $238 million
USA TODAY in early December reported that PayPal said that as many as 1.6 million customers using the TIO platform might have had personal information stolen.
In an email to USA TODAY, PayPal noted that it had not found actual proof of data taken from TIO Networks but instead found evidence of potential exposure to treat the incident as a data breach.
TIO Networks said it is working with a consumer credit reporting agency to provide free credit monitoring to affected customers. Customers will be contacted directly and receive instructions on how to sign up.
For more information, customers can visit www.tio.com or call 855-272-6796.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at 546-6102; email@example.com; @BorundaDaniel on Twitter. Reporter Vic Kolenc contributed to this report.


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Indian Motorcycle has unveiled the Scout Bobber, a “stripped down,” low slung, blacked-out, minimalist motorcycle that looks mean and fast even standing still.
The company says the new “muscular” Indian Scout Bobber motorcycle represents a core passion of motorcyclists – connecting to the road without a need for anything unnecessary.
“The Scout Bobber is our most raw and mean machine to date, and the ultimate in the celebration of what motorcycling is about – a powerful engine, two wheels, and no plans of where to go,” said Indian Motorcycle’s marketing man Reid Wilson.
The Scout Bobber features a black headlight nacelle, minimal engine covers, a black gauge face on its instrument panel, black exhaust, chopped fenders front and rear and a new two-tone leather bobber seat. It’s powered by an American V-Twin engine with 100 horsepower.
The Indian Scout Bobber motorcycle goes on sale at dealers in the US and Canada in September, available in five colours: Thunder Black, Star Silver Smoke, Bronze Smoke, Indian Motorcycle Red and Thunder Black Smoke. Pricing starts at US$11,499.


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Meet The Furniture Brand Making Office Chairs With Recycled Fishing Nets
By Esha Chhabra
Humanscale is not a new furniture startup. In fact, they’ve been in business since the 1980s when Bob King, founder and CEO, decided to make office furniture more worker-friendly. He’s truly seen the evolution of computer screens and mousepads. Designing with longevity in mind, King says he was doing “sustainability without really knowing it.”
The ergonomic designs are not just made for comfort, but also with the hope that they reduce the industry’s footprint and use of potentially-harmful chemicals. During the pandemic, Jane Abernethy, Chief Sustainability Officer at Humanscale, says that their facilities were able to divert 90 percent of waste. And King is rethinking how furniture is going to be done in the future by bringing in electric machines to create molds; rather than having molds done in a separate facility, and then being shipped to a different production site, he wants to bring it all under one roof. It can be faster, more efficient, and less wasteful, he says.
It’s part of the company’s efforts to not just clean up their own act, but also be somewhat of a trendsetter. Case in point: the company launched chairs made out of recycled ocean plastic (in the form of nylon fishing nets) in 2018. The process took several years and was costly, says Abernethy.
But not only has the brand come up with more products — such as the newly launched Liberty Ocean Chair which has two pounds of recycling fishing nets used in its construction, they’ve also inspired their competitors to do the same. “And that’s OK,” says King. “We want more people to adopt these materials.”
Similarly, they are driving change on the manufacturing side. Humanscale launched ingredient labels — similar to what you’d find on food packaging. However, theirs also addressed chemicals commonly used in making furniture. For one design, they found that the casters on their chairs were being coated in chromium 6, a chemical that’s known to be a carcinogen (and the subject of the acclaimed film, Erin Brockovich). Humanscale went back to the manufacturer and asked to work together on a non-toxic coating that would do the job. It resulted in months of testing, delays, and rejigs. But in the end, Abernethy says, not only did the manufacturer consider Humanscale’s suggestion, they went on to offer it to other furniture brands as well.
Swapping out toxic or wasteful materials for better alternatives is a costly process (in terms of time and money), King says. “But I think it’s better for the company in the long run. And if you’re not working for private equity firms, it’s a route you can take.”
For instance, with the recycled fishing nets, Abernethy explains that nylon is hygroscopic (absorbs water from its surroundings easily), a trait that can change the makeup and properties of the material; the nylon then has to be dried out completely before being reused and molded. Thus, it’s not always a simple case of swapping one material for another, and the more eco-friendly one will likely require a bit more energy and time, she admits.
But metals are more easily recyclable. And much of their chairs are made with aluminum which is recycled to begin with and then can be recycled again at its end of life. Plus King notes that their designs have been made to be lighter. “Whereas the average chair weighs 50 pounds, ours are at about 30 pounds.”
Some of this is due to the materials used. But it’s also because of Humanscale’s unique designs: they don’t have springs, or the housing needed around it, and therefore, are lighter in weight. This results in fewer materials used, and are then easier to ship.
Circularity, or essentially recycling fully, is the future. And King is already working on it. He’s developing a process that will streamline recycling: by getting used furniture back to their facilities, Humanscale will be able to dissemble the items there, refurnish the ones that are reusable, and sell those as used items. But for those that cannot be resold, they’ll break down the components and turn it into “new” material on-site.
Many of Humanscale’s designs — 26 in total, in fact — are recognized by the International Living Future Institute’s Living Product Challenge as being “climate, water, and energy positive.” To get this certification (and recognition), the products are tested and studied on 20 tenets of sustainability. To fulfill the requirements, the product has to “give back more than it takes.”
Much of this connects back to the brand’s efforts around transparency through its ingredients label, which King notes that there aren’t enough brands committed to doing it. We have “about 60 percent of these labels in the industry, and yet we’re less than 5 percent of the industry.”
Sustainability is not about marketing, he iterates. “Some companies make small changes and put a marketing spin on it. That confuses consumers who are actually trying to make an informed choice.”
Instead, Humanscale hopes with its transparency-first approach, consumers will ask questions and seek out products that are truly transforming manufacturing and design to be more eco-friendly.
Humanscale is the leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance ergonomic products that improve the health and comfort of work life. Through leveraging new technology in functional yet minimal designs, Humanscale transforms traditional offices into active, intelligent workspaces. Committed to making a net positive impact on the earth as well as our customers, Humanscale offers award-winning products designed with a focus on function, simplicity and longevity.
Click here for more information on Humanscale and our products


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Following a few brief remarks from its executive director, and a round of applause from supporters and volunteers, the Coralville Community Food Pantry reopened its doors to the public on Tuesday afternoon.
“This is a really good day,” Executive Director John Boller said. The pantry’s staff and volunteers we excited to welcome clients back inside for the first time since COVID-19 had forced the nonprofit to stop allowing people come more than a year ago, he said, but noted the pandemic isn’t over yet. Everyone entering the building is required to wear a mask.
After Boller finished speaking, there was a spray of soap bubbles — as festive as confetti, but no one needs to sweep up afterwards — and the Coralville Community Food Pantry welcomed its first clients inside since March 17, 2020.
Even though the pantry closed to in-person shopping the same Tuesday much of the state shut down due to the pandemic, it never stopped serving the needs of people in Coralville and Tiffin, Boller explained to Little Village.
The pantry immediately pivoted to curbside pick-up of prepacked bags of groceries and developed a delivery service as well.
“Lazy Boy Delivery contacted us, offering to help and delivered orders for free for the first couple of months,” which helped them in establishing the new service, Boller recalled. Pantry volunteers now make the deliveries, and Boller said the program will continue even now that the building reopened, because it increased the accessibility of food for people in need.
Prior to the pandemic, the pantry was already serving 3,300 residents of Coralville and Tiffin, but it saw the need for its service greatly increase as COVID-19 became widespread in Iowa.
“There was a huge uptick right at the beginning of the pandemic, with countless first-time visitors, families who had never had to turn to a pantry for support before,” Boller said.
As federal aid, such as stimulus checks, supplemental unemployment benefits and increased SNAP benefits, became available, the numbers leveled off and began to decline.
“But late last summer and into the fall and the winter months, we saw an uptick again,” Boller said. Demand declined again with the last round of stimulus payments, but that is not expected to last.
“Now, this summer, we’re inching up again,” Boller said. “We’re anticipating an increase as a lot of the protections that were in place are starting to fall away and we’re prepared to fill the gap.”
The change to curbside and home delivery involved more than a change in how food reached people — it also changed what food reached them.
“We always prided ourselves on allowing people to have their choice [of groceries], because that’s just a more dignified approach,” Boller said. “It’s just a better way.”
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But for the new delivery styles to be workable, some prepacking of food parcels was necessary. But the pantry still tried to allow as much choice as possible. Staff members would meet clients curbside, and using iPads present a menu of items they could choose from.
Fresh foods were in high demand throughout that time, and the pantry saw an increase in requests for plant-based alternatives to meat and milk.
“So, we bought those to distribute,” Boller said.
Now that it’s open for in-person shopping again, pantry clients will find a few changes. They are still able to choose whatever items they want, and except for a few limited items, as much as they want, but the check-in process has been streamlined. The pandemic pause gave pantry staff an opportunity to rethink procedures, so everything is now being done electronically, eliminating the old paperwork that had previously been required.
But some things do remain the same. The pantry still needs volunteers to help with shelving and delivery. Information about volunteering can be found on the pantry’s website.
And, of course, financial support from the community remains vital.
“We can take a $1 donation, and through our number-one food resource, HACAP, purchase about $50 worth of food,” Boller said.
Because it is much more efficient for the panty to acquire food that way, and because it only has limited storage space, the pantry no longer accepts donations of food items. But it still accepts donations of the non-food items it provides, such as diapers, toothpaste, toilet paper and other sanitary products. The pantry also accepts donations of pet food. A month before COVID-19 reached Iowa, it began providing assistance to Coralville and Tiffin pet owners in need of food for their four-legged friends.
Donations can be made online through the pantry’s website. They can also be mailed to:
Coralville Community Food Pantry
P.O. Box 5523
Coralville, IA 52241
The pantry is located at 1002 5th St in Coralville. It is open for shopping four days each week.
Tuesday: 2-6 p.m.
Wednesday: 5-7 p.m.
Thursday: 10 a.m.-noon


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Those who have been following our reporting will note a welcome change this month: forecasts
Just a few months ago it seemed impossible for analysts to foresee which way markets would go. But as a clearer picture emerges of inflation drivers, they’re starting to make more predictions around market movements for this year and next.
While there’s no clear view yet of 2023 the fact analysts now feel there is evidence enough to make some forecasts is timely news for the food and drink sector – especially procurement personnel, who are under significant pressure to make the right calls on pricing and hedging.
Inflation is continuing to rise globally and will likely remain high for at least the rest of the year. In the UK, we hit the highest inflation rate since 1982 (9.4%, in June) with food prices now being a primary contributing factor alongside energy and fuel costs.
Given this increase, it’s not surprising that 40% of Britons say inflation has eclipsed climate change as the most important issue today. But the data indicates that the year-on-year value decline in retail sales still has more to do with post-lockdown behaviour than inflation. Of course, we can’t ignore the ongoing dairy story: the mainstream media has been covering the soaring cost of cheese, butter and milk for weeks. But despite the sensational headlines, lavishly illustrated by pictures of cheddar with anti-theft tags on, shoppers are for now absorbing most of the rising costs of their grocery basics.
There is a real sense that the summer of ’22 is both a welcome relief from the pandemic confinements and at the same time a last hurrah before the fiscal constraints of winter. People are taking advantage of warm weather and relaxed rules around Covid-19 to enjoy their summer holidays, eating and drinking out more and travelling overseas. This behaviour will almost certainly change as autumn arrives.
Watchers of the UK foodservice market are issuing financial health warnings for the sector and with only two in five hospitality businesses currently reporting profitability, food and drink producers will need to have a clear focus on which parts of the market can still offer them good returns. For grocery, expect to see producers and retailers replicate the out-of-home experience more cheaply as people eat out less and have less money to spend, but still seek to treat themselves.
A little of the gloom around pressures on the supply chain, particularly around packaging inputs and high transport costs was lifted this month with the announcement of the first direct container service connecting Chinese ports to Scotland. It should nearly halve the transit time for moving products between the countries, which will hopefully lower associated freight costs.
You can download The Knowledge Bank’s latest monthly report via our new website.


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This column has been updated from March 3 to note a Wall Street Journal report stating Facebook is looking to finance TV-like original shows that it would showcase in its Video tab.
You'll be hard-pressed to find a big, ad-supported, online media provider that doesn't consider Facebook (FB) - Get Report a key part of its distribution strategy. With over 1.2 billion daily users spending an average of over 50 minutes per day on Facebook proper, Instagram and Facebook Messenger, Facebook has surpassed even Alphabet/Google (GOOGL) - Get Report as a source of referral traffic for many publishers.
The fact that so many top publishers are constantly sharing material on Facebook, and that Facebook has amassed mountains of data on what kind of content its users like to see, bodes well for its budding efforts to be a place that users specifically visit to see media content, rather than just what their friends and family are sharing. There could also be a couple of valuable ancillary benefits.
Over the last couple of months, Facebook has been testing an "Explore" tab that appears at the bottom of its core iOS and Android apps. Tapping on the tab pulls up a news feed filled with articles and videos that Facebook thinks a user might be interested in, based on his or her likes and content shared by "friends." However, unlike the main news feed, one can see material here that's neither from an account a user follows, nor liked/shared by a friend.
In that respect, Facebook's Explore tab has much in common with Instagram's Search & Explore tab, which shows photos and videos from non-followed accounts that Instagram thinks a user might enjoy. It also bears a resemblance to the dedicated Video tab that Facebook has placed near the top of its core app, and to some degree to the Marketplace tab that sits next to it.
Aside from its data and publisher support, the strong uptake seen for Facebook's Instant Articles, which allow articles to be viewed in full on Facebook's app, increases the usefulness of a dedicated content-discovery section. So might the fact that so many publishers are now attaching video clips to their posts, and that --although the platform remains very much a work in progress -- a number have embraced Facebook's Live streaming service.
And from a financial standpoint, it can't be ignored that Facebook could just as easily run "Sponsored" news feed ads on the Explore feed as it can on its main news feed. That could be pretty important, given Facebook has signaled on recent earnings calls that it won't significantly increase the main feed's ad load going forward. Ad load growth, together with user growth, higher daily usage and better Instagram monetization, contributed to the blistering 57% ad sales growth Facebook posted in 2016.
Jim Cramer and the AAP team hold positions in Facebook and Alphabet for their Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells FB or GOOGL? Learn more now.
The tab could also be a good fit for the "premium" video content that Facebook has said it wants to host more of. On the company's last earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg indicated Facebook is actively engaging professional video content creators, and that creators will be able to monetize their videos via "mid-roll" ads that appear during the middle of a video. Re/code has reported publishers will get a 55% revenue cut, the same as what YouTube offers.
On Friday evening, The Wall Street Journal reported Facebook is "soliciting pitches for TV-like original programming in about half a dozen genres, including sports, science, pop culture, lifestyle, gaming and teens." The shows would consist of weekly series featuring episodes lasting up to 30 minutes.
Facebook is reportedly willing to both license shows at a rate of "low- to mid-six figures per episode," and provide ad revenue cuts. Notably, the company is also promising content creators their shows will be featured prominently within its Video tab, which Facebook reportedly considers a better place than the standard news feed for longer videos. If an Explore tab sees a full launch, the content could also be showcased there.
Another possible benefit to Facebook's Explore and Video tabs: By shifting more media content viewing to them, Facebook has more leeway to emphasize user-generated content (i.e., status updates and photos/videos uploaded by friends) on its main feed. Multiple reports have indicated the sharing of such content has been pressured by the growing use of messaging apps for such purposes. Facebook has already been responding to this problem by tweaking its news feed algorithm to further prioritize user-generated content, as well as notifying users when a friend who hasn't shared anything in a while has done so.
Over the long run, search could also aid Facebook's efforts to become a popular content-discovery hub. The company was handling two billion searches per day as of mid-2016, less than a year after making all public posts searchable. But there's still a lot that Facebook can do to improve its search experience. It's unlikely that Facebook will ever fully replace Google as a content-searching tool for most users, but given how much is published on Facebook and how much time is spent on its app, it could turn into a valuable complement for many.
In the aftermath of the 2016 election, a lot of ink has been spilled in recent months over whether Facebook qualifies as a "media company." Regardless of where one stands in that particular debate, it should be quite clear by now that Facebook is a massive media platform.
The company's recent moves show that it's well-aware of this, and also that it's still only scratching the surface of what it can do as a media giant.


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Brookstone sale plan gets court nod
[WILMINGTON] Brookstone Inc, the luxury-gadget retailer, won bankruptcy court approval of its plan to sell the chain to a group of Chinese buyers for about US$174 million which will be used to pay creditors.
US Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Linehan Shannon in Wilmington, Delaware, approved the
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2021 is fast approaching, and in the world of Android that means a new Qualcomm chip and a new wave of phone upgrades. OnePlus will be one of the first companies with the OnePlus 9, a device that was leaked quite extensively over the weekend at PhoneArena.
First, PhoneArena has hands-on photos with a prototype of the phone. The design on the front doesn’t look much different from the current OnePlus 8 Pro, with a hole-punch camera and thin bezels all around. (We’re hoping to get an under-display camera later this year with the OnePlus 9T.) PhoneArena says the screen is flat. Remember this is the OnePlus 9, not the more expensive OnePlus 9 Pro, which will most likely have a curved screen.
The back has a solid, rectangular camera block with two large camera lenses and a third smaller lens. Next to the lenses is an LED flash and new “Ultrashot” branding. Also on the back is a strange logo in place of the OnePlus branding; the company is apparently using a fake logo on prototypes, similar to what we’ve seen on Google devices.
PhoneArena also has a slew of specs for the device. The phone has a 120 Hz, 6.55-inch 2400 × 1080 OLED display, the new Snapdragon 888 SoC, 8 GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage and a 4500 mAh battery. Please note that this is a prototype, so specifications are subject to change. There will also likely be a OnePlus 9 Pro, which has a 6.7-inch display according to OnLeaks. It’s a good bet that the resolution is also somewhere around 3168×1440, like the OnePlus 8 Pro. In the past, the OnePlus Pro model had a refresh rate advantage over the base model, so does the OnePlus 9 with a 120Hz display mean the 9 Pro reaches 144Hz?
The rest of the phone has everything you’d expect. There’s an earpiece on the top and a volume rocker and mute switch on the side. The bottom contains a USB-C port, a speaker, and a SIM tray that looks like it’s somewhat water-resistant thanks to a rubber gasket.
The phone is expected to be released sometime in March.
View image by PhoneArena


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Kennametal Inc. has completed its acquisition of a tungsten business from Allegheny Technologies Inc.
The Latrobe manufacturer paid $605 million for the business, which has about $340 million in annual sales and 1,175 employees. Kennametal (NYSE: KMT) and ATI (NYSE: ATI) announced the sale Sept. 16.
"We are absolutely delighted to welcome the employees who today become part of a winning business combination for mutual growth and industry leadership," Kennametal CEO Carlos Cardoso said in a prepared statement. "Toward this aim, we will harness the best of both organizations, including our broad-based industry talent, to provide excellent service and unrivaled capabilities to our customers in diverse markets around the world."


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Bus operator Stagecoach East says it has simplified fares and tickets in a revamp of its systems to meet lifestyle changes wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Starting on January 4, travellers will be offered various new ticketing options that the operator says will offer more flexible and cost-effective travel.
Stagecoach East bosses say that 92 per cent of customers will pay the same or less for their bus tickets.
Darren Roe, managing director of Stagecoach East, which is part of the national Stagecoach Group, which saw revenues fall to £928.2 million this year down from £1,417.6 million in 2020, said: “We understand that working and travel patterns have changed due to the pandemic, with more people than ever before now working flexible hours.
“We also recognise that complex timetables and ticket types can be confusing and off-putting to customers.
“We have therefore introduced new ticket types to simplify our bus fares and ensure that bus travel is convenient, affordable and straight-forward.
“We’re pleased to announce the new ticket types and to offer 92 per cent of our customers the same or a cheaper priced bus ticket.
“We hope these new fares will make bus travel more convenient for new and existing customers.”
Among the planned changes are the removal of ‘return ticket’ types.
Currently, the best value ticket option for Return ticket customers is the DayRider which provides unlimited travel throughout the day.
The new changes will seen 95 per cent of DayRider tickets reduced in price, so customers will get more travel for their money.
Stagecoach East will also offer the Flexi 5 and Flexi 10 tickets across Peterborough and Cambridgeshire.
The Flexi tickets are bundles of five or 10 DayRider tickets and customers have 12 months to choose which day to use their bus ticket, saving up to 30 per cent on the cost.
A new Youth ticket range is designed to ensure that bus travel is good value for young people. Youth tickets give under 19s and students with valid ID the freedom to travel and stay connected in the area with tickets priced at 33 per cent less than adult ticket equivalents.
Stagecoach will also be simplifying Group ticket types.
There will be two 2 Group ticket options.
The ‘Small Group ticket’ includes one adult and two youths. This ticket is the cost of the adult DayRider plus £2, enabling Youths to travel for just £1 each.
The ‘Large Group ticket’ includes up to five people, of any age. Travelling on a ‘Large Group ticket’ five adults could save 60 per cent.
In addition, the multi-journey ticket zones will be confined to three categories - Town, Plus and East. Each zone will have its own pricing point.
The full list of changes and a guide to the fares and tickets can be found at: www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/east/guide-to-tickets-east


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Worldwide Big-Data Market Predicted to Grow Six Times Faster Than General IT
SAP HANA Platform Running on Intel Provides Real-Time Analytics for Transforming Player, Fan, Media, and Venue Experience
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Connected sports will be the pioneering vertical for Middle East digital transformation, as big-data solutions can transform the player, fan, media and venue experience, industry heavyweights SAP and Intel have announced at GITEX Technology Week 2015.
In the Internet of Things (IoT) era, Middle East players, coaches and venue operators face new challenges in using advanced technology to improve team performance, provide new insights for fans and media, and maximize revenue sources.
Using insights that analyze data from sensors on players and throughout stadiums, combined with location-based data from mobile devices, the sports and entertainment industry can simplify operations and enhance player performance, fan loyalty, and marketing and merchandising to fans and advertisers.
Demonstrating the potential for big data in the digital economy, the global big-data market is predicted to grow at six times the rate of the general IT market by 2018, reaching USD 41.5 billion in 2018, according to IDC1.
One sports pioneer using big data is the German National Football Team, which has used SAP solutions to analyze player and team performance since its championship run in the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.
“The Middle East has a strong sports culture with a roster of international events coming up,” said Oliver Bierhoff, general manager of the German National Football Team and SAP Brand Ambassador. “Thanks to a strong technology infrastructure and visionary leaders who are embracing innovation and early adoption, big data has the potential to completely transform the fan experience at sporting events across the region.
“Big data served as the twelfth man on the pitch during our World Cup championship run last year,” added Bierhoff. “Now, these innovations are available to the Middle East’s sports industry to transform the experiences for players, fans, coaches and the media.”
SAP is committed to co-innovating with its partners to deliver the latest solutions that can help the Middle East’s sporting world to simplify their operations, enhance the fan experience, and exchange best practices across additional industry verticals.
“Football matches and training sessions can produce a huge amount of data. For example, in a 10-minute football practice session, 10 players with three balls can produce over 7 million data points,” explained Jonathan Becher, chief digital officer and head of SAP Digital.
1 IDC. “New IDC Worldwide Big Data Technology and Services Forecast Shows Market Expected to Grow to $41.5 Billion in 2018” September 2014.
“As the Middle East ups its sporting game, mega-events such as 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix, and the Dubai World Cup can demonstrate the latest big-data and digital innovations on the global stage,” added Becher.
Demonstrating the demand for cloud-based analysis of big data in sports, the SAP Sports One solution has been adopted across the sports world, including FC Bayern Munich and the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany; the National Hockey League (NHL); and the Czech national ice hockey team.
Additional sporting organizations using SAP analytics solutions have included the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 organizing committee, the National Basketball Association (NBA), the international Extreme Sailing Series, and CHIO Aachen, a popular equestrian festival held in Germany.
Supporting big-data innovation in the region, SAP and Intel have teamed up on the Middle East and North Africa debut of the global Run Simple Tour at GITEX Technology Week 2015.
“With Middle East organizations facing a deluge of different types of data from IT systems and applications, managing the complexity consumes resources, prevents innovations, and puts business at risk,” said Taha Khalifa, General Manager – Middle East and North Africa, Intel.
“Intel and SAP worked closely together during the development of SAP HANA and as a result, the Intel Xeon processor E7 family is the reference architecture design platform for SAP HANA. With the availability of the Intel Xeon processor E7 v3 family released earlier this year, SAP HANA deployments now deliver superior performance, with larger memory capacity, and an enhanced range of RAS features to help businesses gain real-time insights for better decision making, improved operational efficiency, and a greater competitive edge,” added Taha Khalifa.
Inside the Run Simple Truck at the Dubai World Trade Centre, attendees can experience more than 40 real-life big-data demos, running on the real-time SAP HANA platform, the SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA (SAP S/4HANA), and Intel Xeon processor E7 family.
SAP will exhibit at GITEX Technology week 2015 under the theme of “Run Simple.” More than 16 of SAP’s partners will also showcase their co-innovation products and solutions at the SAP booth located in Hall 6, MAC 6-15.
Photo Caption: Connected sports will be the pioneering vertical for Middle East digital transformation, SAP and Intel announced today at GITEX Technology Week 2015.
(Left to Right) Taha Khalifa, General Manager – Middle East and North Africa, Intel; Jonathan Becher, chief digital officer and head of SAP Digital; Oliver Bierhoff, General Manager of the German National Football Team and SAP brand ambassador.
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is a world leader in computing innovation. The company designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world’s computing devices. As a leader in corporate responsibility and sustainability, Intel also manufactures the world’s first commercially available “conflict-free” microprocessors. Additional information about Intel is available at newsroom.intel.com and blogs.intel.com and about Intel’s conflict-free efforts at conflictfree.intel.com.
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 293,500 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.
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Today marks the 5th anniversary of World Afro Day, a celebration of Afro hair with a mission to increase positive representation through education and raising awareness. Founded by Michelle De Leon, the ultimate aim of the campaign is to achieve love, acceptance, and inclusion for Afro hair all over the world. In an exciting move, Gold Series from Pantene has teamed up with World Afro Day, joining them in celebrations of the beauty and diversity of Afro hair and sparking important conversations for the world to listen to.
The collaboration is a great move for World Afro Day as Pantene is already aware of the power of
hair and their own research revealed the importance of hair confidence and how it can help Black
women with Afro hair to express themselves. Pantene’s Gold Series is a haircare range specifically tailored to protect Afro hair and mitigate damage. Developed by a team of Black scientists and dermatologists, the collection features 8 products that will help moisturize and repair all types of Afro hair, including intense hydrating argan oil, a leave-in conditioner detangling milk, and an argan oil shampoo, all of which are available nationwide at Superdrug, Boots, Tesco, Morrisons, and Sainsbury’s stores, as well as online at Amazon, Ocado, and LookFantastic.
We spoke to Dr Rolanda Wilkerson PhD, Pantene’s Principle Hair Scientist and Creator of Gold Series from Pantene who said that she was “excited that Pantene has partnered with World Afro Day to celebrate Afro hair and drive awareness of its diversity, uniqueness, and beauty”
After years of internalizing societal pressures surrounding Afro hair, Rolanda was able to embrace her journey and learned to love her natural hair, with the help of the right products, different styling techniques, and support from her close circle. This is now a message Rolanda conveys to her own children. Through her own struggles as a young girl, Rolanda has been able to use a combination of science, personal experience, and a passion for beauty, to create hair care that tackles the wide range of issues people of diverse ethnicities face on a day to day basis.
The annual Big Hair Assembly took place today, live-streamed across the globe from a London school. With around 206,000 young people from 237 different schools that took part, this year’s World Afro Day campaign is the biggest and most influential yet. A number of industry-leading speakers, as well as Olympic swimmer Alice Dearing, supported the campaign.
Alongside this, World Afro Day and Pantene will be collaborating on the #FabFroFive campaign that aims to shift the negativity and discrimination surrounding Afro hair by encouraging people to post positive messaging describing their relationship with their hair on social media.
Through the partnership, Pantene and World Afro Day hope to encourage positive conversations and experiences for those with Afro hair, while promoting the message of ‘Afro Love’ and enabling people to embrace their texture through healthy hair.
Keep a lookout for Pantene’s Gold Series as Dr. Rolanda Wilkerson hints “there is always more to come” . Well, we cannot wait!
Words by Ella Citron-Thompkins
Photo Credit: Pantene


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LAS VEGAS--AT&T announced at its Developer's Summit at CES this morning that it will launch its 4G LTE network by the middle of this year. Details of initial markets, pricing, and exact rollout plans are still few at this point, but the carrier says the network will be complete by 2013.
The news, which comes in the middle of a flurry of 4G announcements here, finally puts AT&T on the road to a high-speed data network. Though rivals like Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and MetroPCS have operated commercially available 4G networks for several months, AT&T has lagged behind.
The carrier also revealed its first selection of 4G-capable phones with the Motorola Atrix 4G, the Samsung Infuse 4G, and the HTC Inspire 4G. These early handsets will top out at HSPA+, which the International Telecommunicationsas a 4G technology, and will run Android 2.2. Pricing was not available at the time of this writing, but here are the other details we have so far:
- The will offer a dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM, 16GB of onboard memory, and a 1,920mAh lithium ion battery. AT&T is billing it as the "world's most powerful smartphone," but we'll have to see for ourselves. In any case, we should find out more at the Motorola press conference scheduled for 4 p.m. PT today.
- The HTC Inspire 4G promises a 1GHz processor, a 4.3 inch super LCD display, HTC next-generation Sense UI with cloud services, an 8-megapixel camera, and HD video recorder. Stay tuned for a hands-on and photos.
- The brings a 1.2 GHz Hummingbird processor, an 8-megapixel camera with HD video recording, a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video calls, and a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED display. AT&T is promising a very thin profile as well and we'll check it out.
AT&T will release the Atrix 4G and Inspire 4G in the first quarter of this year with the Infuse 4G following later. By June, the carrier says it will add five to seven devices to its lineup with more than 20 4G phones, tablets, and modems coming by the end of 2011.


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meat Archives - Inside FMCG
Producers on the hunt for new export markets as China’s sky-high taxes threaten to end barley trade with Australia.
AMIC said that the organisation and its members are well-versed on China’s strict requirements with regards to technicalities such as labelling.
Michael Fox shares the key lessons he’s learned from the start-up world.
Only one in five Kiwis have tried a meat alternative product.
New Zealand pizza chain warned that its advertising of a “burger pizza” was likely to mislead consumers.
African Swine Fever sees Chinese consumers shun pork in favour of beef and other meats.
WA food manufacturer commences production at $66 million facility in Melbourne.
Thanks to advances in tissue engineering, we can take all sorts of cells from different animals, and grow them under controlled laboratory conditions.
Researchers compare three different diets.
Coles reports customers substituting veggie options a couple of times a week.


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SPRINGDALE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA)— Wienerschnitzel announced plans to open one of its first Arkansas locations in Springdale in addition to a Bentonville location in Northwest Arkansas
According to the press release, the national restaurant brand is headed to Haag Brown’s latest retail project in NWA. Wienerschnitzel will open one of its first Arkansas locations in 2023 adjacent to the newly opened Starbucks on Elm Springs, in front of Mercy Hospital at Springdale.
The press release also states that the hot dog chain will be occupying one of the three lots in Haag Brown’s latest development.
“We love developing projects in Northwest Arkansas. Sitting adjacent to Starbucks AND having direct exposure to I-49 makes this is a home-run site for Wienerschnitzel. We are excited about completing more projects with the Shinall Group and this fan-favorite brand,” said Joshua Brown, Haag Brown Commercial Principal.
Wienerschnitzel was founded in 1961 and is the world’s largest hot dog chain.


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Multiple cities suspend plastic bag bans due to coronavirus concerns
Numerous cities and states have relaxed bans on single-use plastic containers amid a crackdown on reusable bags due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Oregon has suspended its plastic bag ban, as have numerous other jurisdictions including Albuquerque, N.M., and Bellingham, Wash., according to an Associated Press report. Other plastic containers have also seen increased use, particularly those associated with takeout and delivery services.
“People are scared for their lives, their livelihood, the economy, feeding their loved ones, so the environment is taking a back seat,” Glen Quadros, owner of the Great American Diner & Bar in Seattle, told the AP.
Plastics manufacturers are lobbying to overturn various single-use bans, arguing they are the safest option to prevent the spread of the virus. The Plastics Industry Association recently asked Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to speak out against plastic bag bans, while the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance has renewed its “Bag the Ban” campaign.
Unions representing grocery workers, who have largely continued to work and been at particular risk for exposure to the virus, have also called for action on the issue. The union representing Oregon workers has called for a ban on reusable bags, while a Chicago union has called for an end to a local plastic bag tax.
“If those bags coming into the store are contaminated with anything, they get put on the conveyor belt, the counter, and you’re putting yourself in a bad spot,” Matt Seaholm, executive director of the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance, told the AP. “It’s an unnecessary risk.”
In Massachusetts, where more than 100 towns have single-use plastic bag bans in place, the state banned reusable tote bags last week, while San Francisco, which banned plastic bags in 2007, banned reusable bags this week, CBS News reported.
Other states, including New Hampshire, Colorado, Illinois and Maryland have either stopped enforcing plastic bag bans or banned reusable bags, according to CBS, while Denver is likely to delay a proposed tax on plastic and paper bags is likely to be delayed until at least 2021 rather than July 1 of this year, according to Denverite.
“People feel like a brand new plastic bag is more sanitary,” City Councilwoman Kendra Black said, who sponsored the measure and said she plans to amend it, told the publication. “City staff and consumers have other priorities right now.”
The Hill has removed its comment section, as there are many other forums for readers to participate in the conversation. We invite you to join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter.


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NEW DELHI: PizzaExpress, the global restaurant chain that differentiates itself from the QSR crowd by its premium casual dining ambience, is set to invest around Rs 150 crore to launch 50 restaurants across the country in the next five years. PizzaExpress has entered the Delhi NCR market with the launch of its first restaurant in Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj. It plans to open its second restaurant in Gurgaon (Ambience Mall) next month as part of its strategy to tap into the fast-growing Indian casual dining market.
"I want PizzaExpress to become the benchmark for pizzas in India," says Ramit Bharti Mittal, head of strategy and business development for Atrium Restaurants India, which has brought the global restaurant chain into the country. "Clearly, there is more consumer awareness and demand for premium Italian offerings in India today and we believe that our product and restaurant experience are key differentiators for our brand."
PizzaExpress entered India in 2012 by opening its first restaurant in Mumbai. The global chain has six restaurants in Mumbai.
Within the organized food chain segment, casual dining is growing at over 18% (CAGR) and is estimated to reach around Rs 9,000 crore by 2018, according to industry estimates.
Indian and Chinese account for half of the preferred cuisines, while continental and Italian are fast picking up with around 11% market share.
A hearing of the arbitration took place at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre on October 16 after Amazon had slapped a legal notice on Future Group, alleging that the retailer's Rs 24,713 crore asset sale to Reliance Industries (RIL) violated an agreement with the e-commerce giant.
In a letter to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said, "We are of the considered opinion that direct selling is an integral part of the retail trade like other verticals including big retail, small retail, e-commerce and self employed groups."


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September 22nd, 2011 by CCBA
What do you do with a pile of adobe soil? Tony Magee, founder and owner of Lagunitas Brewing Co., had an idea…
“The dirt needed to go somewhere,” he said. “All of a sudden it became apparent to me. It was exactly the right amount of material to create an amphitheater. In my mind, a stage appeared. There were no architectural plans at first; it was very impromptu.”
An estimated 300 people filled the venue as Tony Magee took the stage as the opening act for Texas-based singer-songwriter James McMurtry.
August 8th, 2011 by CCBA
ol’ Republic Brewery of Nevada City is looking forward to opening their doors sometime in the next two months.
Thanks to the passing of the CSBA sponsored AB1014, a bill to make it easier for breweries to install tasting rooms, their road just got a little less complicated and a lot less costly.
April 13th, 2011 by CCBA
Up until recently, the three year old Hangar 24 Brewery has operated its beer making and distribution out of a 4000 sf hanger at the Redlands Municipal Airport, in Redlands, California. But now, Ben Cook, founder and Master Brewer for Hanger 24 is expanding operations and has landed distribution operations across town in a new 22,000 sf facility. Ben Cook and Hanger 24 Brewery like to stay local; and the town of Redlands likes that. Tom McCormick, Executive Director of the California Small Brewers Association gets a bit of air time in this article as well.
January 18th, 2011 by CCBA
Ladyface Alehouse and Brasserie, located in the Conejo Valley, will have a week long celebration for their first anniversary January 23rd to the 29th. Ladyface will release two new brews, including their First Anniversary Ale. The celebration includes a Quarterly BREWMASTER’S DINNER- Anniversary Special and ends the week on Saturday with live music featuring Mid-Life Crisis.
LadyFace Ale Companie was named for the mountain it’s restaurant’s patio faces. They are the only microbrewery in the Conejo Valley and believe in handcrafted and artisanal products.
January 13th, 2011 by CCBA
Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company is making their mark in the Santa Ynez Valley. The Dietenhofer family’s Bavarian heritage and focus to create high quality beers with the best ingredients, incorporates not only hops but oak leaves which are indigenous to the area. Jaime Dietenhofer, co-founder and owner of Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company, grew up in the Santa Ynez Valley. He went for a rustic feel, using the local area as an inspiration in developing their brewery. Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company opened November 2010.
October 8th, 2010 by CCBA
Do you know what makes Friday October 8th, 2010 so special?
Previously located on Eighth Street East in Sonoma, New Albion Brewery was launched in 1976 and reportedly was built from scratch using old dairy equipment and junkyard parts.
Founder Jack McAuliffe, an engineer by trade, launched New Albion and was one of the first pioneers in the craft beer revolution. Jack had been in the Navy and spent time in Scotland and when he returned to California he found “a paucity of good beer” and set out to do something about it. The brewery closed around 1982-1983.
Many consider New Albion to be “the first modern craft brewery” and hold it’s memory in high esteem.
Happy Anniversary New Albion Brewery!


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Salt Lake City's new squeeze: The Juice Shop
I recently ventured to a new juice and smoothie shop located in Salt Lake City's Maven District block.
Details: Aptly named The Juice Shop, the eatery offers cold-pressed juices, superfood smoothies and Instagram-worthy toast and bowls.
- The juicery is owned and operated by first-time business owner and Salt Lake City native, Meera Patel, who recently moved back to town after years of working as a brand strategy and marketing consultant in New York City.
- Of note: Patel's brand background is notable after I noticed a customer snap a pic of her smoothie with the logo before drinking it.
State of play: Patel, who is of Indian descent, hired Ecuadorian chef Carlos Robles to help build the menu.
- "We bring a unique, sort of global perspective to all of our flavors," Patel told me.
- She said it's why customers will find toast with za'atar or pickled fresno peppers at the eatery.
What they're saying: "We try and incorporate wellness and health and deliciousness into everything we do," Patel said. "We really wanted to create a space where you could actually spend time in and get healthy nourishing food plus beverages."
What I tried: I ordered The Morning Sunrise smoothie ($10) which contained banana, coconut flakes, strawberries, mango, pineapple and coconut water.
- I also ordered their hummus toast ($10) which included beet hummus, heirloom tomatoes, radishes, capers, house-made chili garlic and za'atar on sourdough toast.
- Each was delicious and complemented one another.
The intrigue: Most of The Shop's offerings can be made vegetarian and vegan-friendly down to the protein powder they put in smoothies.
The bottom line: The Juice Shop's emphasis on health without eliminating flavor stands out from other health-conscious eateries in town.
Address: 888 S. 200 E.
Hours: Monday–Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturdays from 10am to 3pm.
- Patel said she anticipated extending hours in the near future.
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As a member of the European Union, the UK is automatically part of some 40 trade agreements that the EU has with more than 70 countries.
If the UK leaves the EU on 29 March without an agreement, it would immediately lose those trades.
To avoid this, the UK government wants to "replicate" the EU's trade agreements as much as possible and be ready in case of a no-deal Brexit.
Liam Fox, the international secretary of commerce, told MEPs in January last year that the government wanted to achieve "continuity and stability" by ensuring that the UK continued to benefit from these agreements.
How far has progress been made?
Four out of 40
The United Kingdom has so far only reached four agreements. Barry Gardiner, Labson Shadow's international secretary of commerce, said he understands that 19 other deals were "out of gear" and "two are not even negotiated".
In the answer, Mr. Fox said that talks to replicate the remaining agreements will "get on the line".
The 40 deals already involving the UK (through its EU membership) are designed to facilitate trade between the EU and the rest of the world. These regimes include the relaxation of certain rules, the reduction of import taxes (duties) and the facilitation of market access.
The government estimates that about 11% of UK trade depends on EU agreements with 70 countries.
The agreements that the United Kingdom has made are:
Switzerland (signed on 11th February)
The Faroe Islands (1 February)
Eastern and Southern Africa (January 31)
Chile (January 30th)
Switzerland is signed last. The Department of International Trade says that trade between the United Kingdom and Switzerland in 2017 had a value of GBP 32.1 billion.
With the agreement between the United Kingdom and Switzerland, confirmed on 11 February in Bern, the vast majority of goods traded between the two countries will continue to avoid customs duties (taxes on goods).
- Why Switzerland is worried about British trade after Brexit?
Without the agreement, the British government would have claimed that the British auto industry could have had up to 8 million pounds in fees, while aluminum exporters had received up to £ 4 million.
An additional agreement was signed in Bern by the Liechtenstein Foreign Minister Aurelia Frick. The most important parts of the trade agreement between Switzerland and Great Britain also apply to their country.
The Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are the 114 largest trading partners in the United Kingdom, according to the government. Total trade between the two countries in 2017 was GBP 236 million.
Fish and shellfish accounted for the bulk of British imports from the Faroe Islands in 2017, amounting to £ 201.7 million, while the United Kingdom's total exports to the country were only £ 6 million – mainly machinery and mechanical equipment.
The UK Government says the agreement reached will result in consumers continuing to benefit from greater choice and lower fish prices such as Atlantic salmon, haddock and halibut.
Eastern and Southern Africa and Chile
Trade between the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region amounted to GBP 1.5 billion in 2017 – around 0.1% of total UK trade. The UK-ESA agreement covers Madagascar, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Zimbabwe.
Meat and fish are the main commodities imported by the United Kingdom from the region (£ 111m).
The trade agreement between the UK and Chile, signed at the end of January, was the first to be hit. Total trade between the UK and Chile amounted to GBP 1.8 billion in 2017.
Fruits, nuts and drinks are the major import goods in the UK. The government says the agreement will help protect parts of the British wine industry.
The United Kingdom has also signed agreements with Australia and New Zealand, but these are "mutual recognition agreements" and not free trade agreements.
The deal replicates all aspects of current EU agreements when it comes to the recognition of product standards, such as the labeling and certification of wine.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos Liam Fox, the international secretary of commerce, has announced on Twitter that the United Kingdom has "agreed" in principle on a free trade agreement with Israel. He added that a trade conference between the two countries would take place in London in the coming months.
However, it is not possible to extend all 40 deals until March 29, said a minister.
George Hollingbery, a minister in the Department of International Trade, told MEPs last month that some of the EU's trade agreements were "challenging," adding that "one or two" could be "nearly impossible" by the end of the year Year of march.
Turkey was highlighted by Mr Hollingbery as a country where an agreement would be very difficult to reach as it is a customs union with the EU.
The current lack of signed trade agreements does not surprise Alan Winters, director of the University of Sussex UK Trade Policy Observatory.
"You can not just roll everything – these existing agreements contain references to EU law, so you can not avoid some negotiations," he says.
Some countries may also be concerned about signing contracts, as it is unclear what Brexit will ultimately look like, adds Prof Winters.
So what could be the consequence if the trade agreements are not fully completed by 29 March and the UK is not doing business?
With the countries where the United Kingdom does not have a formal trade agreement, both would have to act according to the rules monitored by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
- Reality Check: What is the WTO option?
Trade would not stop if this happened, but some barriers would increase, says Alex Stojanovic of the Institute for Government's think tank.
"There is a reason why you have trade agreements, they have better trade preferences than WTO rules.
"Some companies are harmed by the introduction of tariffs," he says.
Read more from Reality Check
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The Laramie County Clerk’s office is launching a new service this week to eliminate long lines at its motor vehicle titles office. The service will allow customers to join the line, online, from their home or office, or make an appointment for services.
The virtual queuing and appointment service for customers begins May 10. Customers will scan a QR code, visit a website, or use a kiosk in the county building to join a virtual line, rather than standing in what can sometimes be a long physical line. Customers can also request a sit-down desk while visiting the office.
“Our goal is to give our customers the freedom to see how many people are waiting in line at a particular time, join the line virtually, or schedule an appointment. Once a customer has joined our line virtually or booked an appointment, they’ll receive text updates telling them when to come to the office,” said County Clerk Debra Lee.
Customer service representatives will be available to answer questions on the new system and assist walk-in customers who do not have a cellphone or computer. Walk-in customers will be able to check in using kiosks in the Laramie County Governmental Complex, 309 W 20th St. Kiosks are located next to the Titles office, in the atrium, and at the front entrance of the building.
“We want to put customers in the driver’s seat when it comes to their time. When customers know in advance how long the line for services is, they can better plan their day,” said Misty Tinney, titles manager.
Customers will also use the system to schedule an appointment for a marriage license.
To learn more about the new service and to virtually join the Titles line or schedule an appointment, visit the County Clerk’s website at www.laramiecountyclerk.com .


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Big 100’ charity tractor event comes to Nutt’s Corner
A major tractor event is set to take place at Nutt’s Corner on Saturday, April 15,
and everyone is invited.
The ‘Big 100’ is being hailed as the tractor event of the year where hundreds of
tractors will be on show to celebrate 100 years (1917 to 2017) of Fordson, Ford,
New Holland and their derivatives.
However, the event, organised by the Braid Valley Vintage Enthusiasts Ltd, is
not just restricted to those Ford brands as any tractor, car or truck will be made
The interest in this static tractor show has spread across Europe as some
tractor enthusiasts from The Netherlands have already indicated they will be
John Crothers, chairman of the Braid Valley Vintage Enthusiasts Ltd, said the
event is being organised to support Marie Curie. He said: “Due to the forthcoming centenary anniversary of Fordson, Ford and New Holland we decided to arrange an event to recognise this huge milestone.
“We want to emphasise that all brands of tractors, vintage, classic and modern,
are welcome to join us at Nutt’s Corner for what is sure to be a huge event for
all machinery enthusiasts.
“With so many makes of tractors on display visitors will be able to draw
comparisons from all the various models manufactured over the years.
“Our club has been preparing for this event for a few years now and the wheels
are now in motion to have everything set up for the big day.
“We will have security on in the lead up to the Saturday event so if anyone
wants to bring tractors the day before this is possible.
“The Nutt’s Corner site is well located close to the M1 motorway, the ferry
ports and the airport. It is big enough to site all the tractors attending.
“This will be a static tractor event but we may have some working
demonstrations as well as tractor pulling. Trade stands will also be welcome by
“An entry fee will be charged on the day for visitors and tractors with proceeds
going to Marie Curie,” said John.
All tractors of any make or age are welcome to join the static show on the day
and provisions have been made for anyone wishing to take tractors to the
event the day before.
There will be a special section for all tractors made by Fordson, Ford, New
Holland and all derivatives such as County or Roadless at the event. Combines
are also welcome to attend.
The Big 100 is being supported by John Crothers Engineering and Northern
Ireland New Holland dealers, Burkes of Cornascriebe, Brian Keys Tractors and R
Kennedy & Co, Ballymena.
Up to date information regarding the event is also being posted on the club’s
For further information, contact John Crothers, chairman of Braid Valley
Vintage Enthusiasts Ltd, on 07802 537124 or e-mail:email@example.com.
The club treasurer is Sammy Millar who can be contacted on 07850 795577.
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