Grumpy Editor

HOTEL RESORT FEES FINALLY FACE LEGAL ACTION

A resort fee --- a trick charge hotels have been using in recent years to extract additional money from guests --- are finally facing legal action, notes Grumpy Editor.

The fee nicks overnight guests to pay for additional services such as wi-fi, pool and gym access even when not used.

It’s a practice that most Las Vegas Strip casinos, for example, employ, sending unsuspecting guests home grumbling.

Nebraska Atty. Gen. Doug Peterson filed a lawsuit against Hilton Hotels Corp. for its use of resort fees which he terms can “deceive and mislead consumers.”

The lawsuit accused Hilton of hiding the “true price” of hotel rooms to boost profits and seeks to force Hilton to advertise “true prices of its hotel rooms,” pay civil penalties and provide monetary relief to consumers who have been charged.

Peterson pointed out at least 78 Hilton properties in the U.S. charge resort fees ranging from $15 to $45 per room per night.

 

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QUIET PERIOD IN WASHINGTON.  Look for fewer Washington, D.C. datelines over the next few weeks.  House and Senate members are on vacation until Sept. 9.

HOME OWNERSHIP ACTIVITY DIPS.  Home ownership in the U.S. fell for the second straight quarter — to 64.1 percent in the April-June period, from 64.2 percent in the first quarter, down from 64.3 percent in the 2018 second quarter.

HEAT WAVE PUTS EUROPE IN A SWEAT.  A heat wave in Europe late last week set records with 101 degrees in Cambridge, England; 109 degrees in Paris, 107 degrees in Lingen, Germany and 104 degrees in Eindhoven, Netherlands, as examples.

$100 SANDWICH DEBUTS IN LAS VEGAS.  A restaurant on the Las Vegas Strip now offers a sandwich named for Howard Hughes — at $100.  It includes roast beef brisket and prime rib, topped with a truffle sauce.  This compares with earlier times when a casino offered a full dinner plus show for a modest $4.99.

NEWSPAPER BUILDING TO BECOME POLICE HEADQUARTERS.  The city of Reno, Nev. plans to buy the Reno Gazette Journal building on seven acres for $7 million for use as its police headquarters.  The newspaper will settle in a new location that Executive Editor Brian Duggan says "will better suit our news organization's digital future.” 

NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION HITS LOW.  U.S. newspaper circulation, in a 2018 tally, reached its lowest level since 1940.  Total daily print/digital circulation was an estimated 28.6 million with 30.8 million for Sunday, down 8 percent and 9 percent, respectively, from the previous year, according to Pew Research Center’s analysis of Alliance for Audited Media data. 

BBC SHORTENS CLIMATE DOOMSDAY COUNTDOWN.  British Broadcasting Corp., in a climate doomsday countdown, claimed there could be as little as 18 months remaining to “save the planet” from a “global heating crisis.”

TV NEWS AUDIENCE DECLINES.  A new survey finds local TV news audience last year dropped 10 percent for morning news and 14 percent for late night and evening news from the prior year. 

'MANHOLE' WORD SOON WILL BE BANNED IN BERKELEY

 

News writers soon won’t be able to mention “manhole” in Berkeley, California.  It will be a banned word, notes Grumpy Editor.

 

A manhole --- the opening to a confined space such as a shaft or utility vault --- is an access point for an underground public utility, allowing inspection, maintenance and system upgrades.

 

But in Berkeley, where the city council approved an ordinance eliminating gender-preference language in the municipal code, manholes starting in the fall will be termed maintenance holes.

 

It's among 40 gender-neutral terms:

 

“Sibling” will  replace brother and sister.

"Human-made," "artificial" or "manufactured” will take the place of man-made.

 

“Human effort” will substitute for manpower.

Replacing gendered pronouns like "he" and "she" will be "they" or "them."

“Collegiate Greek system residences” will be the new identification of college sororities and fraternities.

 

 

 

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Tiny print above beer reads "root"

BOY SELLING 'BEER' DRAWS ATTENTION.  Police in Brigham, Utah responded to multiple calls that a young boy was selling ”ice cold beer” at the side of the road. Officers arrived on the scene and discovered the boy's sign had the word "root" in small print over "beer."   Thus, root beer was okay. But the incident brought national attention.

ENTER MILITARY AT 16?  There is a growing debate over whether the U.S. military --- in efforts to overcome one of the toughest recruiting environments in decades --- should consider lowering the minimum enlistment age to 16 from 17.  That would place the age lower than it was during the height of World War II.

 

CAMBODIA NIXES U.S. WASTE.  Cambodia seeks to return 1,600 tons of plastic waste in 83 containers dumped at its main seaport by the United States and Canada after Cambodia’s environmental ministry said the country should not be treated as a “dustbin” for foreign governments.

 

TOYS 'R' US RETURNING.  Toys ‘R’ Us will be making a comeback in November at the Galleria in Houston and Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J.   The initial stores will each be about 6,500 square feet, roughly a quarter the size of former stores.

 

PETTING CAT OR DOG LOWERS STRESS.  Researchers from Washington State University in Pullman have found objective, physiological evidence that 10 minutes spent petting a cat or dog will lower stress levels.

 

737 MAX NAME CHANGE?  Photos shared on Twitter show an aircraft in Ryanair colors outside Boeing's manufacturing base identified as a 737-8200 replacing the former name 737 Max.  It fueled speculation that the troubled Max will be rebranded after two fatal accidents led to a worldwide grounding.

HIGHWAY PATROL RESCUES 250-POUNDER.  California Highway Patrol came to the rescue of a 250-pounder wandering away from home and spotted on the side of the road in Santa Ynez.   Turns out it was a tortoise --- which the CHP delivered to its worried owners.

GANNETT, GATEHOUSE DISCUSS COMBINING.  Gannett Co., owner of USA Today, and Gatehouse Media, which owns many newspapers in small and midsize towns, are in "advanced talks to combine."  

VW's BEETLE REACHES END OF THE ROAD

In case you missed the major Volkswagen news: The Beetle model reached the end of the long-traveled road which goes back to pre-World War II days when German dictator Adolf Hitler sought a “people’s car,” notes Grumpy Editor.

 

The car's original design,  a rounded silhouette with seating for four or five with a nearly vertical windshield and air-cooled rear engine, goes back to Austrian engineer Ferdinand Porsche.

 

After the war, Americans took a liking to “the Bug” and the United States became Volkswagen's biggest foreign market, peaking at 563,522 cars in 1968, or 40% of production.

 

The car was relaunched after World War II to distance it from the Nazi regime and it eventually became heavily associated with hippie culture in the 1960s.

 

Production at VW’s Wolfsburg plant in Germany ended in 1978 when newer front-drive models like the Golf arrived.  Volkswagen revamped the iconic auto in 1998 and 2012 but failed to win mass appeal of the original. VW last year announced it would stop making the ladybug-shaped vehicle in wake of decreased industry demand for compact vehicles.

 

With production moved to Mexico, the last version of the Beetle model rolled off assembly lines last week in Puebla, Mexico.

 

The car was featured in a number of movies.  It was the star of a few films, including "Herbie Fully Loaded" and "The Love Bug,” which featured an anthropomorphic Beetle named Herbie that made a splash on the California racing circuit.

 

The factory in Mexico will shift to producing compact SUVs. 

 

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GYROCOPTER ON WAY TO CIRCLING GLOBE.  On his way circling the globe, James Ketchell is piloting a a 16-foot long gyrocopter with 66 stops in 49 states.  He left England on March 31 and expects to return by mid-September after traveling more than 22,000 miles.  No stranger to adventure, in 2010 Ketchell rowed solo across the Atlantic in 110 days.

MAJOR BIG ISLAND ROAD CLOSED TODAY.  On Hawaii’s Big Island, the road to Mauna Kea mountain will be closed today.  Equipment is being delivered to the construction site of a giant $1.4 billion telescope, in the Thirty Meter telescope project.

NEWSPAPERS OFF RACKS AT STARBUCKS.  Starbucks, with about 8,600 U.S. stores, will no longer sell newspapers starting Sept. 1, a move that will affect The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. The coffee-serving chain says the move was triggered by "changing customer behavior."  In addition to newspaper stands, Starbucks also will remove shelving fixtures that display whole-bean coffee and different grab-and-go snacks.

U.S., AUSSIES IN MILITARY DRILLS.  U.S. and Australian forces are in massive, month-long military drills Down Under while expectations are that the action will be closely monitored by a Chinese Auxiliary General Intelligence vessel.

JOURNAL OBSERVES 130TH ANNIVERSARY.  The Wall Street Journal is marking its 130^th anniversary.  Says editor Matt Murray:  “As the story has grown, so have we. From a small office in New York, we have become a global operation, with reporters in dozens of countries producing stories in many mediums on multiple platforms for more than 2.6 million subscribers, the most in our history.” He adds, “Even amid great change, the essential mission of The Wall Street Journal has stayed the same: to fairly and factually chronicle the forces that have shaped our times, and to help our readers understand and navigate the world.”

GOP CANDIDATE ASKS FOR MALE BY HIS SIDE.  Robert Foster, a Republican candidate for Mississippi governor, refuses to be interviewed by a female reporter unless he is accompanied by a male colleague, reports Larrison Campbell, a reporter for Mississippi Today, who sought to shadow Foster on a 15-hour "ride-a-long" on his campaign, but was denied because of her sex.  His reason: He was acting out of precaution and did not want to raise any suspicions about his marriage.

ANOTHER NEWSPAPER ENDS PRINT RUN.  The Chicago Defender, the storied African American newspaper, ends print operations after 114 years and switches to a digital-only platform.

HOSPICE SYSTEM GETS TROUBLING REPORTS.  Reports from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services paint a troubling picture of America’s hospice system.  A high 87% of hospices surveyed over a five-year period had a deficiency. Nearly all of the more than 4,500 hospices that provided Medicare were contacted and 300 of them were identified as poor performers.  One-third of hospices had complaints filed against them. 

EXTREME PRIDE IN THE U.S. HITS 18-YEAR LOW: GALLUP

A Galllup Poll finds extreme pride in the country is at an 18-year low, with 45 percent of adults saying they are “extremely proud” to be Americans with 70 percent mentioning they were proud, notes Grumpy Editor.

“Record-low American patriotism is the latest casualty of the sharply polarized political climate in the U.S. today,” finds Gallup.  “The decline reflects plummeting pride among Democrats since Trump took office, even as Republican pride has edged higher.”

“Highest readings on the measure, 69 percent and 70 percent, were between 2002 and 2004, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when the American public expressed high levels of patriotism and rallied around the U.S. government,” adds Gallup.

With this, New York Post’s Kyle Smith, in an opinion column, points out:

"American military, economic and cultural power dominates the world (you’ve never heard of the biggest movie made by China or France this year, but they’ve certainly heard of “Avengers: Endgame”). America leads the world in Nobel laureates, and it isn’t close. America leads the world in the success of our middle class, and it isn’t close. True, America has more poor people than some other countries — but that’s because we let in millions of people from poor countries. Saying “America has a poverty problem” is like saying, “Florida has a high death rate.” Florida doesn’t kill people, it just attracts a lot of old ones." 

 

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Alfred E. Neuman

 

MAD MAGAZINE LEAVING NEWSSTANDS.  MAD, the magazine instantly recognizable by the gap-toothed smiling face of mascot Alfred E. Neuman (debuting in 1956), will be leaving newsstands after the August issue.   Starting with the issue that goes on sale in October, the long-running satirical magazine will be available only at comic book stores or mailed to subscribers.  Most material will be pulled from cartoons and parodies published over the magazine's 67-year run. The only new material will come in special editions at year's end.

 

LAID OFF NEWS STAFFERS GROWS.  About 3,000 people in the news business have been laid off or been offered buyouts in the first five months of this year.  Cuts have been widespread. Newspapers owned by Gannett and McClatchy, digital media companies like BuzzFeed and Vice Media, and cable news channel CNN have all shed employees.  The level of attrition is the highest since 2009, when the industry saw 7,914 job cuts in the first five months of that year in the wake of the financial crisis, according to data compiled by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., an outplacement and executive coaching firm.

 

EMPLOYED PEOPLE HITS RECORD.  A record 157,005,000 people were employed in June, the most since February and the 19th record of Trump's presidency, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.  The economy added 224,000 jobs in June, well above the estimate of 160,000.  Meanwhile, the unemployment rate, lowest in 50 years, ticked up a tenth of a point to 3.7 percent.

BOSSA NOVA PIONEER DIES.  Joao Gilberto, 88, Brazilian singer, guitarist and songwriter considered one of the fathers of the bossa nova genre that gained global popularity in the 1960s, died Saturday.  Bossa nova emerged in the late 1950s and gained a worldwide following in the 1960s, pioneered by Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim, who composed the iconic The Girl From Ipanema that was performed by Gilberto and others.

YOUNG FOX WALKS FROM NORWAY TO CANADA.  BBC News reported a young Arctic fox walked across the ice from Norway's Svalbard islands to Ellesmere Island in northern Canada --- 2,176 miles --- in 76 days. To aid in tracking, researchers at Norway's Polar Institute fitted the young female with a GPS device and freed her into the wild in late March, 2018, on the east coast of Spitsbergen, the Svalbard archipelago's main island. The fox was under a year old when she set off on her westward trip.

U.S. ECONOMY SETS RECORD.  The U.S. economy set a record for the most consecutive months without a recession -- 121 -- which dates back to 2009.  Cities that have fared tbest were New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Miami.  Unemployment peaked at 10 percent in October, 2009 and now is at 3.6 percent, lowest level in 50 years.

FOX NEWS CONTINUES TOP OF LIST.  Fox News finished this year’s  second quarter in precisely the place the network has been for the last 70 consecutive quarters: on top. According to ratings data compiled by Nielsen, Fox News had seven of the top 10 cable news programs and eight of the top 10 among viewers 25-54, the demographic group most valued by national advertisers. 

TESLA SETS RECORD IN DELIVERIES.  Tesla reported 95,200 vehicle deliveries to worldwide customers in the second quarter, breaking its previous quarterly record of 90,700 set in 2018's fourth quarter.

 

 

 

 

 

BEWARE OF FAKE LISTINGS ON GOOGLE MAPS

Something affecting just about everyone seeking to travel somewhere but not getting much play in most media are fake businesses that post listings on Google Maps and lead users astray, noted Grumpy Editor.

The Wall Street Journal tackled the story, noting "listings that show up often contain made-up information."

As Journal writer Katherine Bindley pointed out, "Some fake business listings might just be a popular search term or phrase.  The address might be occupied by an entirely different company, or it might not exist at all.  The phone number might route you to a marketing firm known as a lead-generation business that is paid to forward your call to a service provider."

Google, she added, responded on its effort to combat fake business listings, saying "It's a constant balancing act and we're continually working on new and better ways to fight these scams using a variety of ever-evolving manual and automated systems."

How does one spot a fake business?  Bindley said be wary of business names with keywords such as "best," "dependable" or "emergency."

Also, check the Better Business Bureau and Google the address to see if the same business pops up.

Keep in mind, too, that customer reviews can be faked.

 

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RESCUE DOG INSPIRES LA-Z-BOY.  La-Z-Boy, the furniture company, noted the story of a starving four-month-old puppy found abandoned in a recliner on the side of a remote Mississippi road.  In the care of Brookhaven Animal Rescue League, the puppy is getting back to health after going nearly a week without food. La-Z-Boy contacted Brookhaven to learn more about the puppy and was so moved “by the work behind the organization and the amount of animals that are taken into the shelter each month,” La-Z-Boy said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE, that the company decided to make a donation to the rescue.  Along with funds to Brookhaven, La-Z-Boy also sent the shelter 50 pet beds to ensure shelter residents stay comfortable while they wait forever homes.

INVESTORS CHEER FIRST-HALF MARKET ACTION.  Wall Street wrapped up a booming June and first half of the year as investors cheered the prospects of easier monetary policy from the Federal Reserve and awaited clarity on U.S.-China trade relations.  The Dow rallied 7.2% in June, its best June performance since 1938. 

NORTH KOREA SECURITY GUARDS INJURE TRUMP'S NEW PRESS SECRETARY.  Stephanie Grisham, who recently replaced Sarah Sanders as White House press secretary, suffered bruises when North Korean security guards tried to protect Kim Jong Un from media members covering the DMZ meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

BIBLE, SHOTGUN, FLAG IN PROMOTION.  A Chatom, Ala. car dealership is giving away a Bible, a 12-gauge shotgun and an American flag with the purchase of a new or used vehicle as part of its Fourth of July sales promotion in a “God, Guns and Freedom” campaign that runs until July 31. 

BOATER RESCUES STRUGGLING FAWN.  A boater at California's Folsom Lake, near Sacramento, spotted a struggling baby deer, jumped out of his vessel to rescue the fawn and bring it back to his boat.

PEW FINDS LOCAL TV MORE TRUSTED.  Pew found that local TV is more trusted (mostly by viewers 50 and up) and was still the preferred choice of getting news. But viewership of local TV news continued to decline. 

GOLDEN STATE KING SALMON SEASON JUMPS.  California commercial fishermen reported the biggest king salmon season in a decade.  It came after three years of very low catches stemming from the drought. The boost in catch resulted in a price drop for the coral-pink, fatty fillets to $20 per pound in many markets, down from the $30 to $35 per pound in recent years.

MITSUBISHI MOTORS MOVES U.S. HEADQUARTERS EAST.  After three decades in California's Orange County, Mitsubishi Motors is relocating its North American headquarters to a Nashville, Tenn. suburb.  Japanese automakers have been attracted to lower cost of operations in Southern states.

ALLSTATE CITES AREAS WITH WORST DRIVERS.  Fifteen metro areas with the worst drivers, according to an Allstate study --- along with “risky roads” where most crashes tend to occur:

1. Baltimore, Maryland: Highway 695

2. Washington, D.C.: Highway 295

3. Boston, Massachusetts: Route 93

4. Worcester, Massachusetts: Main Street

5. Glendale, California: 134 Freeway

6. Los Angeles, California: 405 Freeway

7. Springfield, Massachusetts: Interstate 91

8. Providence, Rhode Island: Route 95

9. Alexandria, Virginia: Richmond Highway

10. Oakland, California: Highway 880

11. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Roosevelt Boulevard

12. San Francisco, California: Highway 101

13. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Interstate 10

14. Pasadena, California: 210 Freeway

15. Hayward, California: Highway 880