University of California Considers 3-Year Bachelor's Degree

LA Times

The university's Commission on the Future issues proposals for revamping revenue and education policies, including taking more out-of-state undergrads, who pay more, and offering some courses online.

Reporting from San Francisco - The University of California on Tuesday began considering dramatic changes in the way it educates its students and raises revenue, including whether to offer three-year bachelor's degrees and enroll more out-of-state undergraduates.

UC's Commission on the Future heard its first set of proposals aimed at making the 10-campus system more efficient while preserving its academic strengths. Some ideas are sure to be controversial as they are discussed over the next few months, officials said.

"Some recommendations you may like a lot. Some you may think are terrible. But that's OK. They are important ideas to put forward," UC Regents Chairman Russell S. Gould said at the commission's meeting at UC San Francisco.

Proposals from the commission's five subcommittees include: encouraging some students to complete bachelor's degrees, including business degrees, in three years through extra summer sessions and fewer requirements; doubling the number of out-of-state students, who now make up 5% of undergraduates and pay significantly higher fees; charging more for the most popular campuses, including UC Berkeley and UCLA; and expanding online course offerings.

The UC regents and faculty senate may approve some preliminary ideas this summer but others will take a year or more to study, Gould said. Legislative approval may be needed in some instances.

Gould established the commission last summer and appointed its 26 members, who include UC administrators, faculty, students, and business and labor leaders. He said UC must help itself out of the crisis caused by state funding cuts and not rely so heavily on fee increases and payroll reductions.

Among the most controversial ideas was a proposal to boost the number of out-of-state students as a way to garner more fee revenue. Although some public research universities in other states enroll more than 25% of their students from out of state, commission members said they worried about displacing too many Californians at UC. Art Pulaski, head of the California Labor Federation and a commission member, warned that reducing the percentage of in-state students could have "diminishing political returns."

The panel also debated several student fee proposals, including whether to hold fees stable for any entering classes' tenure at UC, and alternatively, whether to raise them by a steady, amount, ranging from 5% to 15% annually over five years. And several officials said UC should replace the term "fees" with "tuition," saying that "fees" is an outdated remnant of a 1960s policy not to charge tuition.

Some faculty leaders were dubious about proposals to replace some classroom instruction with online classes. One plan discussed Tuesday said UC should develop 40 basic online courses in a pilot program to help students graduate on time and cut costs. "I think the question is whether we are leaders or followers," said commission member Christopher Edley Jr., dean of UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall law school and a strong advocate of Internet education.

Union leaders complained that the commission did not focus enough on trimming administrative bloat and high pay for UC executives.

About 50 people marched outside the meeting in protest of recent fee increases and layoffs, and their chants sometimes made it difficult to hear proceedings.

Gap will Deploy Kiva Robot System

Boston Globe

Kiva Systems of Woburn said that Gap Inc. Direct has deployed a new Kiva robot system to help automate a Gap fulfillment center in Columbus, Ohio.

The deployment follows a series of tests by Gap that concluded in the fall.

Kiva's press release included a statement from Chris Black, vice president of operations at Gap Inc. Direct, who referenced Piperlime, a Gap brand.

"Using a flexible, automated order fulfillment automation system helped our Piperlime operations scale to increased capacity over the critical holiday season," Black said. "The system freed up our employees’ time, allowing them to focus on processing a higher volume of customer orders faster and to ensure more accuracy. We’re looking forward to leveraging Kiva’s system when we expand our online business internationally."

Estonians will Build a Car Battery Recycling Plant in Slantsy in Russia

The Baltic Course

The owner of Estonian security services company Pristis Indrek Sepp and his partners are establishing a plant for processing used car batteries in Slantsy, which will be the first such plant in North West Russia

Sepp stated that in coming days, a state-initiated expert investigation will be launched on the plant Ecorusmetal. The project is among the most favoured ones in the Leningrad oblast in Russia alongside recycling of tyres and bodies of vehicles, said the plant’s project manager and shareholder Aare Männa.

The battery recycling plant cost nearly 250 million kroons ($21.5M). Ecorusmetal will start producing lead, plastic and acid from the batteries and Estonian entrepreneurs would like to launch operations in the plant in a few months. Talks to include extra investors from Belgium and Russia are under way, which is why the exact date for plant opening isn’t set. Männa said that they want to include Novye Tehnologii, the largest car battery collecting firm in St Petersburg among investors.

50,000 tonnes of used car batteries will be needed to produce nearly 28 tonnes of lead a year which will be exported or sold to Russian car battery producers. The plant will provide jobs for 100 people.

Concrete Industry Management (CIM) Students Create 9/11 Memorial To Honor Fallen Firefighters

Official Wire

Students from the Concrete Industry Management (CIM) program – a business intensive program that awards students with a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Concrete Industry Management - honored the fallen firefighters of three New York City firehouses located in the Time’s Square area of New York City at the 2010 World of Concrete Artistry event in Las Vegas, Nev.   A memorial was constructed by the CIM students of California State University, Chico, and Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in the form of two nearly 10-foot-tall concrete replicas of the World Trade Center towers. On September 11, 2001, these firehouses lost two Companies including the men and women on duty for Ladder 4, Engine 54 and Battalion 9.

The simple, evocative design – two vertical forms representing the silhouette of the Twin Towers – reflects light on a faceted surface etched with the names of the fallen firefighters. The CIM students at each university learned about the technique for the special glass fiber reinforced concrete process that was used on the project prior to arriving in Las Vegas for World of Concrete.  At the show, the students performed all of the concrete work including forming, mixing and placing the concrete, erecting the completed panels, and dismantling the memorial at the end of the event. Retired New York City firefighter, Ed Gruetzner, now an accomplished decorative concrete installer and Mike Eastergard, a supporter of the CIM program, were on hand to advise the students and provide their expertise during the course of the project.

According to Trevor Hartz, a CIM student from MTSU, working on the memorial was an experience of a lifetime. “Against many odds – limited experience with the materials, restricted work space and schedule, and being under a microscope – the project was the most fulfilling, successful accomplishment of my college career. It was an opportunity for the concrete community leaders to see how capable and valuable CIM students are to the industry.”

The completed towers stand 9 feet 10 inches and 9 feet 8 inches, respectively, which mimics the appearance of the actual towers against the New York City skyline. The memorial towers were made of glass fiber reinforced concrete cast against faceted casting mats that produced a reflective mirrored finish. “The face of one tower is etched with the story of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, while the other displays the names of the 32 firefighters who lost their lives,” said Tanya Wattenburg Komas, Director of Chico State’s Concrete Industry Management program.

The memorial was presented to the Captain of the New York City firehouse in a ceremony Thursday, Feb. 4 at World of Concrete. The towers will eventually be placed in a memorial park across from the New York firehouse and will be rededicated in September 2011 on the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

“It was not only an honor and a privilege to build this monument, but it was even a greater privilege to work with a group of fine individuals to complete it,” commented Matthew Gerdes, a CIM student from MTSU. “Though we were only together for almost a week, I walked away with a group of good friends.”

About CIM

Receiving tremendous support from the concrete industry, the CIM program was the first of its kind in United States – a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Concrete Industry Management. The need for such a program was recognized in 1994 and was put into action by the concrete industry. The end-result was a partnership between the concrete industry and Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) to develop the CIM program, implementing it with its first two students in 1996. Available at MTSU, Arizona State University, California State University, Chico, Texas State University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the program has been successful for both the industry and the graduates.

The goal of the program is to produce broadly educated, articulate graduates grounded in basic construction management, who are knowledgeable of concrete technology and techniques and are able to manage people and systems as concrete contractors, as well as promote products or services related to the concrete industry. It entails a broad range of courses, from English and history to science and mathematics. A series of required business courses such as finance, marketing, management and business law are also taken throughout the length of the program.

The concrete services courses teach the fundamentals of concrete, properties and testing, concrete construction and more. All of these courses provide much more than what is simply in the text – they emphasize problem solving, quality assurance and customer satisfaction. They utilize practical case studies and an internship to make sure the student obtains real-world experience essential to starting a successful career. Additional opportunities for growth include on-campus socials and other organized events providing industry networking and professional development.

AP Economic Stress Index

20 Most Stressed, Least Stressed U.S. Counties

Here are the 20 most economically stressed counties with populations of at least 25,000 and their January 2010 Stress scores, according to The Associated Press Economic Stress Index:

1. Imperial County, Calif., 31.34

2. Merced County, Calif., 28.09

3. Lyon County, Nev., 27.91

4. San Benito County, Calif., 26.58

5. Yuba County, Calif., 25.47

6. Stanislaus County, Calif., 25.07

7. Sutter County, Calif., 24.92

8. San Joaquin County, Calif., 24.68

9. Boone County, Ill., 24.64

10. Marion County, S.C., 24.60

11. Lapeer County, Mich. 24.44

12. Iosco County, Mich., 24.13

13. Nye County, Nev., 24

14. Cheboygan County, Mich., 23.81

15. Lake County, Calif., 23.72 [see: California health insurance quotes]

16. Taney County, Mo., 23.12

17. Clark County, Nev., 22.97

18. Marshall County, Tenn., 22.89

19. Chester County, S.C., 22.69

20. Union County, S.C., 22.64

A list of the 20 least economically stressed counties with populations of at least 25,000 and their January 2010 Stress scores, according to The Associated Press Economic Stress Index:

1. Ford County, Kan., 4.17

2. Ellis County, Kan., 4.31

3. Brookings County, S.D., 4.59

4. Brown County, S.D., 4.84

5. Finney County, Kan., 4.86

6. Burleigh County, N.D.,5.13

7. Grand Forks County, N.D., 5.23

8. Buffalo County, Neb., 5.27

9. Ward County, N.D.,5.32

10. Arlington County, Va., 5.34

11. Sioux County, Iowa, 5.49

12. Riley County, Kan., 5.53

13. Johnson County, Iowa, 5.55

14. Lincoln County, S.D., 5.64

15. Platte County, Neb., 5.69

16. Cass County, N.D., 5.71

17. Madison County, Neb., 5.92

18. Story County, Iowa, 6.04

19. Albany County, Wyo., 6.08

20. Lincoln County, Neb., 6.09

Walls Come Down on Age for Over-55 Communities

USA Today

An increasing number of developers struggling to find older residents for their 55-plus housing communities have relaxed the age restrictions to attract younger home buyers.

"The 50-plus buyer has had a double whammy in the last couple of years," says Brian Gentry, president of Landed Gentry Homes and Communities, based in Burlington, Wash. "They lost the ability to turn their house into cash, and a lot of them have taken a pretty big hit in their portfolios."

His company found more success with multigenerational developments, he says. It built enclaves for younger adults in a Mount Vernon development initially aimed at older buyers like several Raleigh retirement communities.

Other recent age-restriction changes include:

• Somerset Development was building 173 homes for older adults at Pine River Village in Lakewood, N.J., when the market tanked.

"We started right as the market was cooling off, sold about 20 homes, and the market just died," says Ralph Zucker, Somerset president.

He went to the 26 residents at the time for approval and then to Lakewood Township officials for a zoning change. Now, about half of the homes will be for all ages in a separate development.

• Sherwood Lakes in Virginia Beach was going to build a third of 180 homes for 55-plus buyers. "As we were building, we realized the market for age-restricted was almost non-existent," says Dustin Little, sales consultant for Sherwood Lakes and a real estate agent. "We went to the City Council and lifted the age restriction."

• Sun City Grand in Surprise, Ariz., was completed in late 2005. Two years later, the community voted to allow people ages 45 to 54 in 15% of the homes. That lets children who inherit the homes move in after the owners die. "We had forward-thinking board members who could see the future," says Meda Cates, membership director. "As we age, we golf less, we spend less money doing activities, and we also wanted to be perceived as a younger community."

The housing collapse and recession hurt sales in active adult communities and Dearborn retirement facilities market, which in the past 10 years had multiplied as the first wave of 79 million Baby Boomers entered retirement. The real estate boom allowed retirees to make big bucks on their old homes and pay cash for smaller houses.

Office Depot Announces Major Environmental Initiative to Open "Green" Retail Stores

Market Watch

Success of Company's First LEED Gold-Certified Store in Austin, TX, Propels Certification for All New Stores Beginning June 2010

Office Depot, a leading global provider of office products and services, today announced that the Company will pursue Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Commercial Interiors (CI) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for all new Office Depot retail stores, beginning in June 2010. LEED CI is the recognized system for certifying high-performance green interiors that are healthy, productive places to work; are less costly to operate and maintain; and have a reduced environmental footprint. Realizing that the Company does not always have control of the building -- especially when occupying an existing site -- Office Depot will make sustainable choices wherever possible and seek LEED CI certification.

"As a retailer with store locations opening around the country, we have a great opportunity to make a difference on the overall environmental footprint of today's businesses," said Chuck Rubin, President of North American Retail for Office Depot. "Office Depot takes that role very seriously and have therefore decided to LEED CI certify all of our new store locations going forward. We are confident that this initiative will benefit our customers, associates, suppliers and other stakeholders."

According to Rubin, 14 new Office Depot store locations will be LEED CI certified, starting with the Company's newest location in Austin, TX, which is scheduled to open in June 2010. At each of these locations, Office Depot will look to mirror the impressive energy and monetary savings seen at Office Depot's first LEED Gold-Certified store in Austin, TX, which opened in April 2008.

"The energy savings realized at our first Austin store location has been even greater than what we had originally expected," said Edward Costa, Vice President of Construction for Office Depot. "We intend to continue to make our stores as energy efficient, water efficient and cost efficient as possible. With LEED CI we are now able to 'green' all of our store locations -- regardless of whether we build it ourselves or take over an existing building."

Office Depot LEED CI Green Store Highlights

Features of all new Office Depot LEED CI certified stores will include:

-- Preferred parking designated for low-emitting, fuel efficient vehicles and carpooling.

-- Skylights (where applicable) will be used to harvest daylight for 90% of the store.

-- Reflective roof which features a membrane that helps to prevent absorption of the heat from the sun and keeps the interior of the store much cooler.

-- Energy Star rated HVAC equipment that exceeds ASHRAE standards.

-- T5 energy-efficient lighting, which is over 30% more efficient than typical retail lighting and will contribute to over 20% reduction in energy use.

-- Daylight and occupancy sensors which reduce energy use.

-- Water conservation interior fixtures, including tankless instant hot water heaters, low flush toilets, low flow urinals, and automatic shutoff sensors in restrooms that will use over 30% less water than the typical facility.

-- Construction waste that will be recycled when waste recycling is available.

-- Construction materials that consist of at least 10% recycled content.

-- Wood, 50% of which will come from well managed forests verified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

-- All interior finishes are made up low VOC emitting materials and finishes.

-- Green Power purchases supplementing electrical use.

-- An Energy Management System that allows tracking of energy usage and trends from one central location.

-- 100% Energy Star rated building equipment and kitchen appliances.

-- Office supplies, technology and furniture featuring a range of green attributes, including recycled content, remanufactured, Energy Star rated and non-toxic.

-- An in-store Recycling Center with environmental solutions including Office Depot Ink and Toner Cartridge Recycling, Tech Recycling Service and Cell Phone and Rechargeable Battery Recycling.

Yalmaz Siddiqui, Director of Environmental Strategy for Office Depot added: "Office Depot has an environmental strategy to increasingly buy green, be green and sell green. By incorporating a leading green building commitment to this strategy, we will continue to lead our industry, and deliver environmental and economic benefits to our company."

About Office Depot

Every day, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides products and services to its customers through 1,670 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, top-rated catalogs and a $4.9 billion e-commerce operation. Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $15.5 billion, and employs about 49,000 associates around the world. The Company provides more office products and services to more customers in more countries than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 43 countries.

About USGBC

The U.S. Green Building Council is a nonprofit membership organization whose vision is a sustainable built environment within a generation. Its membership includes corporations, builders, universities, government agencies, and other nonprofit organizations. Since USGBC's founding in 1993, the Council has grown to include more than 13,500 member companies and organizations, a comprehensive family of LEED(R) (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating systems, an expansive educational offering, the industry's popular Greenbuild International Conference and Expo (www.greenbuildexpo.org), and a network of 72 local chapters, affiliates, and organizing groups. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org. The LEED Green Building Rating System(TM) encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria.

TruGreen Agrees to $500,000 Fine

TimesUnion.com

ALBANY NY -- A major lawn care company in the Capital Region has been fined $500,000 by the state for misapplying pesticides, keeping inaccurate records and using uncertified or untrained workers.

TruGreen agreed to the penalty from the state Department of Environmental Conservation under an agreement filed this week. The state agreed to suspend $100,000 of the penalty if the company, which paid a hefty state fine in 1999, hires an outside expert to recommend ways for TruGreen to fix its problems.

DEC spokesman Rick Georgeson said there were more than 100 separate violations dating back to 2007. Most were for lawn-care contracts in the Capital Region, he said.

There were further violations cited in DEC Region 1, which includes Long Island, according to a consent order with the DEC signed Tuesday by TruGreen Vice President Joseph Brown.

According to DEC, an investigation into company records for 2007, 2008 and 2009 found "many instances" where pesticides were not applied under label directions. That included cases where pesticides were applied during high winds and near water despite directions against such use.

The state also found the company filed inaccurate annual reports with DEC in 2007 and 2008, failed to keep accurate information on customer invoices from 2007 to 2009, and in two instances, had workers with no record of being trained or certified for the pesticides applied.

And, in July 2009, liquid weed killer was dumped into a floor drain at the company's Albany branch at 23-A Walker Way, Colonie.

TruGreen spokeswoman Susanna Weston said the Tennessee-based company will "evaluate its current internal environmental operations and prepare enhanced environmental protocols." She added TruGreen was "pleased" by the settlement and expected to cooperate further with DEC.

Under the agreement, TruGreen must submit its outside expert plan to DEC within a year, and within six months of that, create an environmental manual describing how changes will be made at the "corporate, department and service" levels. Then, TruGreen will have to give DEC progress reports every three months.

TruGreen is the nation's largest lawn care service, and has about 2.5 million customers served by more than 300 branches located throughout the United States and Canada, the company said.

This is the second time in little more than a decade that the company, which on its Website touts its involvement in upcoming Earth Day events next month, has been hit with a major state fine.

In 1999, DEC fined the company $600,000 -- the largest state fine ever for pesticide violations -- for more than 35 applications of commercial lawn pesticides between 1994 and 1999.

TruGreen agreed to cut its pesticide use by 5 percent and search out environmentally-friendly Eco lawn care  alternatives, a compromise that lowered the penalty by $200,000.

"It's unfortunate that there can be no compensation to the numerous workers and community members that were unduly exposed during the commission of these violations. Nor will they be notified as individuals as to the potential health impacts of that exposure," said Kathleen Curtis, policy director of Clean New York, a Schenectady-based environmental advocacy group. "We need better pesticide laws to protect public health and the environment. Much-needed enforcement will only decrease, given the draconian cuts Governor Paterson is proposing to the essential work of this beleaguered agency"

Pesticide violations

Among pesticide violations at TruGreen, the nation's largest lawn chemical service, found by the state Department of Environmental Conservation:

The lawn services company's 2007 and 2008 annual reports to DEC, which describe amounts and types of lawn chemicals used, contained "numerous instances of inaccurate information." The reports are exempt from public disclosure, and can only been seen by public health researchers examining possible health impacts.

Numerous invoices for lawn care contracts from 2007, 2008 and 2009 failed to provide "required information or provided inaccurate information."

Six weeks of random pesticide application records from 2007, 2008 and 2009 found "many instances" where chemicals were used contrary to written label instructions. For example, pesticides were applied during high winds or near water, despite directions to the contrary.

Hard Times Send Hotel Industry into Survival Mode

USA Today

Neil Cornelssen says he misses the free cookies in the evening at one hotel and the daily newspaper outside his door at others.

He's also noticing that bath towels in a growing number of hotel rooms are shabby and need to be replaced.

Cornelssen, a sales manager in Marlton, N.J., is one of many frequent travelers who say they see the tangible effect that the recession has had on the nation's hotel industry. Among them: run-down rooms with fewer bathroom amenities, closed club lounges, fewer concierge staffers, slow room service, reduced hours at restaurants and bars, and infrequent airport shuttles.

"The unfortunate reality of today's marketplace," says Hotels magazine Editor-in-Chief Jeff Weinstein, is hotels are "more focused on saving cash than delivering the best service."

Hit by a declining demand for rooms, low room rates and plummeting revenue, hotel companies have laid off hundreds of thousands of employees and are struggling to maintain quality. A record number of hotels are defaulting on mortgage payments. Hundreds have been taken over in foreclosures, and some have closed or are about to.

"Because of the recession and the credit bust," says Ed Watkins, editor of the trade publication Lodging Hospitality, "it's the worst downturn in decades — perhaps ever."

As a result, says Robert Habeeb, president of Chicago's First Hospitality Group, which operates 40 hotels in eight states, "The industry is in survival mode."

The toll on the industry is told by startling numbers:

•In January, U.S. hotels had a record-low 45.1% occupancy rate — the lowest January rate since industry statistician Smith Travel Research began tracking data in 1987. Last year's rate — 54.8% — was the lowest ever recorded by the company.

•About 400,000 U.S. hotel employees were laid off during the past two years, says Joe McInerney, president of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. About 1.6 million hotel and motel employees remain, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

•New hotel construction has declined significantly, reducing hotel companies' opportunities to grow their brands and increase revenue, says Mark Woodworth, president of Atlanta-based PKF Hospitality Research. Construction began on 78 new hotels in last year's fourth quarter, compared with 158 during the same months in 2007, according to Smith Travel Research.

•The total property value of U.S. hotels has fallen by up to 50% from its peak in 2007, according to Fitch Ratings, which provides ratings and analytical commentary to the world's credit markets. Such a drop has limited the ability of owners to sell hotels and improve their credit profiles, Fitch Ratings says.

•A record 15.7% of securitized hotel mortgage loans were delinquent at the end of last month, according to Trepp, which tracks commercial real estate loans. Securitized loans represent about a quarter of hotel loans.

In California alone, 330 of the state's 10,000 hotels have defaulted on mortgage payments since the start of 2009, says Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, a research and marketing company in Irvine, Calif.

Reay says 76 hotels in California and about 500 nationally have been taken over by lenders in foreclosure since the beginning of 2008. Most have continued to stay open for business.

"Banks don't want to take back the keys to distressed hotels in most situations," says Paul Heney of the trade publication Hotel & Motel Management. "They seem to be doing everything they can to negotiate with the ownership groups — to ride out the rest of this economic stress."

Closing a hotel is a huge risk, Heney says. Some believe "that the day a hotel closes its doors, it is worth 50% of what it was worth the day before," he says.

Some high-profile closures

Upscale hotels have been hit hardest, and some have closed.

The W Hotel in San Diego was turned over to lenders in September after its owner, Sunstone Hotel Investors, defaulted on a $65 million loan payment.

The Wyndham Drake in Oak Brook, Ill., closed a month later.

The Drake had "about $3 to $5 million in deferred maintenance when it was shut down," says Ted Mandigo, a hospitality consultant in Elmhurst, Ill. "It was struggling for occupancy and at a negative cash flow."

On May 2, The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas, in Henderson, Nev., will close because of a decline in business, says Vivian Deuschl, the chain's vice president.

Meetings business decreased at many luxury hotels, Deuschl says, after Congress scolded insurance giant American International Group for spending about $400,000 at a luxury California resort following an $85 billion federal bailout in 2008.

Budget and non-luxury hotels haven't escaped the downturn.

Sunstone, which owns various Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Fairmont and Starwood hotels, has turned over 13 other hotels to lenders. They include the Renaissance Westchester in West Harrison, N.Y., the Marriott Ontario Airport in Ontario, Calif., the Hilton Long Island/Huntington in Melville, N.Y., and the Holiday Inn Downtown in San Diego.

Citing decreased business-travel spending, Extended Stay last June filed for bankruptcy court protection with a debt of $7.6 billion. Its 684 hotels, which cater primarily to guests staying at least 18 nights, remain open. The company has five hotel brands: Extended Stay America, Extended Stay Deluxe, Homestead Studio Suites Hotels, StudioPLUS Deluxe Studios and Crossland Economy Studios.

Despite the industry's deep financial woes, William Marks, managing director for San Francisco-based JMP Securities, says he doesn't believe the industry has been permanently altered.

"We are just experiencing the cyclical nature of the industry," he says. "Unfortunately, this is a more powerful downturn than normal."

More cuts, fewer upgrades

To cut costs, hotel employees now perform a variety of tasks, says Roberta Nedry of Hospitality Excellence, which provides service training for hotel employees. Some brands have replaced experienced concierges with lower-paid, inexperienced ones.

Hotels also have become more vigilant about turning off lights and lowering thermostats, and are closing wings or floors when occupancy is down, First Hospitality's Habeeb says.

Renovation and upgrades are being delayed, says Heney of Hotel & Motel Management.

"Many hotels just can't go through with upgrades, say to flat-screen TVs in guestrooms, as soon as they'd hoped," he says. "A room may not see new furniture but instead get new bedding, lighting and the like."

Hotels' food-and-beverage operations have also had to adjust.

Noticing a drop in corporate travel and spending, two San Antonio hotels — the Omni La Mansión del Rio and the Watermark Hotel & Spa — increased advertising to local residents.

"We were able to draw on new business that at one time may have been overlooked by our properties," says John Brand, the hotels' executive chef.

Managers at the Barona Resort & Casino in Lakeside, Calif., began noticing two years ago that guests were spending less on food and beverages, and dining more at the resort's less expensive restaurants.

Guests began sharing appetizers, skipping appetizers and dessert and ordering a glass instead of a bottle of wine, says Duncan Firth, a chef and restaurant manager at the resort.

In response, the resort instituted discount menus and half-price entrees for some gamblers. This month, one of the resort's restaurants is offering a $9.99 prime rib dinner and bringing back a 10-year-old menu "with prices to match," Firth says.

The opposite may be occurring at some revenue-starved hotels.

Kansas-based business traveler Robert Bender, chief architect for a technology company, says he's seen a big increase in food and beverage prices at hotels.

For guests: Low rates

In January, the average daily room rate in U.S. hotels was $93.93, a drop from $106.54 in January 2008 and the lowest for the month since 2005, according to Smith Travel Research. Similarly, the average room rate for all of 2009 — $97.68 — was the lowest since 2005.

Though the travel industry expects the number of travelers to increase this year, hotel experts don't foresee rates rising quickly.

"Despite early signs of a recovery toward the end of last year, few properties expect to raise prices," says Scott Booker, vice president of Hotels.com. "This could be another year of significant values for both business and leisure travelers worldwide."

Hotels "took a beating" during last year's fourth quarter from corporations demanding rock-bottom room and meeting rates for employees, says Jeff Higley of HotelNewsNow.com, an online trade publication.

McInerney, the president of the hotel trade group, acknowledges the difficulties negotiating in a buyer's market. But he says the country is slowly coming out of recession, and he sees "a little light at the end of the tunnel."

Executives of big hotel companies also see positive signs.

Though Marriott International had a 38% revenue decline and a $346 million loss for 2009, CEO J.W. Marriott last month said the fourth quarter's $106 million profit "exceeded our expectations" and returned the company to profitability.

Marriott said leisure travelers responded to "aggressive marketing campaigns," and business travel "showed signs of improvement." The company opened 38,000 rooms, trotted out two new brands, Edition and the Autograph Collection, and reduced debt by nearly $800 million in 2009, he said.

Matt Avril, hotel group president of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, says his company cut its debt by more than $1 billion and opened 83 hotels last year. Starwood has nine brands, including Sheraton, Westin and W Hotels.

Avril says the company, which lost $107 million in the fourth quarter, has seen a rebound in leisure and business travel, and has emerged from the recession "a battle-tested and more mature organization."

Watkins of Lodging Hospitality says that unlike the economic downturn in the late 1980s, when the industry operated at a loss, it's expected to turn a profit this year and in 2011.

That's possible, Watkins says, because the industry today is more disciplined, "dominated by large companies and savvy entrepreneurs" who are "more sophisticated in marketing and operational techniques."

"Times are tough," he says, "but many hotel owners are measuring that by the fact they can only order a new Mercedes every other year instead of every year."

Senators Challenge Postal Service's 10-Year Rescue Plan

USA Today

Postmaster General John Potter testifies before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government on Capitol Hill on March 18.

The top Republican on the Senate panel that oversees the U.S. Postal Service said Thursday that a financial overhaul plan that includes cutting mail delivery from six days to five could set off a "death spiral" for the agency.

The Postal Service "will have to present a compelling case that reduced delivery will not further decrease volume, setting off a death spiral," Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said.

Postmaster General John Potter made his first appearance before Congress since announcing a 10-year strategy for pulling the Postal Service out of debt. He said lawmakers must allow the agency to take drastic actions, including eliminating Saturday deliveries, laying off workers and closing post office branches.

A $4.8 million study made public on March 1 predicts the Postal Service will lose $238 billion over the next decade as consumers and businesses conduct more transactions online. Cutting a day of delivery will save the Postal Service $40 billion over the next decade, Potter said.

"Serious questions need to be asked and answered before Congress simply changes the course and embraces major change in mail delivery," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government.

The Postal Service is not funded by taxpayers, but federal law requires that mail be delivered six days a week to every household and business in the country.

Postal Service Inspector General David Williams said Thursday that the Postal Service is "moving in the right direction" but not fast enough to avert "an economic catastrophe."

Williams said Congress should fix laws that require the Postal Service to prepay for its retiree benefits, which result in overpayment.

"I am not aware of a business in the world that could forfeit $7 billion annually, before it opens its doors, and survive," Williams said.

The agency also needs to pare its network of post offices and retool its workforce to give it more flexibility to respond to the fluctuating mail flow, he said.

The Postal Service should act aggressively and quickly, he said, because "the clock is ticking, and this may be their last shot."

Attempt Stalls to Ban Smoking at Calif State Parks

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - An attempt by the California Legislature to impose what is believed to be the nation's most far-reaching smoking ban in state parks stalled Thursday over objections it would inappropriately punish smokers.

The bill in the 80-member Assembly fell five votes short of the simple majority needed to approve the ban, in part because several lawmakers who were expected to vote for it were absent.

"We'll bring it back and go again," said Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica. "I think we'll have the votes."

Another vote could be held as early as Monday.

The legislation would ban smoking at state beaches and all other state parks as a way to get unsightly cigarette butts off the beach, eliminate second-hand smoke and reduce the threat of wildfires.

Under a legislative compromise, campsites and parking areas will be exempted from the ban.

Maine banned smoking at its state beaches last year, but groups that track such legislation say no state prohibits lighting up throughout its entire park system, as the California bill proposes.

"It is very clear that the garbage that is created as a result of smoking on beaches - butts and wrappers - are polluting our water," Democratic state Sen. Jenny Oropeza of Long Beach, the bill's author, said in an interview. "In terms of the state park system, we have a major fire hazard when cigarettes are smoked in parks."

Her bill would affect some of the state's most iconic geography, from the otherworldly desert landscape of Anza Borrego to famous Southern California surfing spots to Northern California redwood groves. The legislation previously passed the Senate.

At Pacifica State Beach near San Francisco, surfer Drew Cunningham, 24, stood next to his board getting ready to hit the waves. He said he fully supports a law that would ban smoking on any beaches.

"The butts tend to end up in the water or the beach, and animals can get ahold of them. It's not good," he said. "I have an 18-month old daughter, and I like to bring her to the beach. I don't want people smoking there."

The legislation is opposed by the tobacco industry, which disputes that second-hand smoke is harmful.

Assembly Republicans complained such a ban would be hard to enforce and unfair to smokers who do not litter.

"Prohibiting something is not the answer," said Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia. "That assumes that everybody who smokes does something intrinsically criminal. Punish those for the crime of littering."

If the legislation eventually is signed into law, California would be the first state to ban smoking throughout its entire park system, according to Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, a Berkeley-based nonprofit that tracks such bans.

Similar smoking bans are being considered in Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York, according to the American Cancer Society.

The move would not be surprising in a state with a long history of cracking down on smoking as a way to eliminate exposure to second-hand smoke. A California law that took effect in 2008 slaps motorists with a $100 fine if they are smoking in a car that contains a minor under the age of 18.

California previously banned smoking in enclosed workplaces such as bars and restaurants, and within 25 feet of a playground. Part of this ongoing effort is to curb the rising price tag of California health insurance quotes, providers being who nominally picks up the tab for a large portion of long-term smoking costs.

Oweni Morring of Ankeny, Iowa, who brought her kids to Pacifica State Beach to play in the surf on Thursday, said smokers have earned a reputation for flicking their cigarettes on the ground.

"I think you shouldn't be allowed to smoke anywhere. Smokers have no manners. If they picked up after themselves it wouldn't be quite as obnoxious as it is," Morring said. "Birds think it's food and fish get contaminated. What's left is the butt, and that's the most toxic part of all."

Nationwide, nearly 100 cities prohibit smoking at beaches, and more than 400 local governments ban smoking at municipal parks.

"Many of these laws often start at the local level first," said Cynthia Hallett, executive director of Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights.

Under Oropeza's bill, any state park that does not have the money to buy no-smoking signs alerting visitors to the rules would be exempt. It's not clear how many of California's 279 of state parks would be unable to erect such signs.

Campsites also would be excluded from the ban to accommodate state park officials, who said prohibiting smoking at campsites would be difficult to enforce.

Parking lots at both beaches and parks also would be exempt. In all other areas of a state park, such as hiking trails or beaches, smoking would be an infraction punishable with a $100 fine.

The proposal continues to face opposition from the tobacco industry. Commonwealth Brands, the fourth largest tobacco manufacturer in the U.S., said prohibitions like the one being proposed in California infringe on smokers' rights.

When asked for a comment about the bill, the company provided a letter it wrote to Oropeza addressing the bill that stalled in the Assembly last year.

"We recognize that some nonsmokers may find tobacco smoke unpleasant or annoying, but we do not believe that the scientific evidence, often cited in isolation by health advocates, when taken as a whole is sufficient to establish that other people's tobacco smoke is a cause of any disease," said Anthony Hemsley, a company spokesman.

The letter did not address the litter or fire hazard concerns raised by the bill's advocates.

Pepsi to Cut Sugary Drinks from Schools Worldwide

USA Today

The iPod Generation will get a global lesson in healthier beverages from an unlikely source: Pepsi.

PepsiCo on Tuesday announced plans to voluntarily remove high-calorie sweetened drinks from schools for kids up to age 18 in more than 200 countries by 2012. Coke and Pepsi agreed to stop selling sugary drinks in U.S. schools in 2006.

Pepsi is responding to demands from activists that food and beverage companies not offer kids products linked to childhood obesity. The action came on the day that Michelle Obama stood before an annual conference of the world's largest food companies and urged them to "entirely rethink" the products they market to kids.

Branding expert Jonathan Salem Baskin is skeptical of Pepsi's motives. "Coke taught the world to sing. Pepsi is going to teach the world to diet?"

He suspects not: "My heart and soul want me to believe this is a statement of principle. ... So how are we (Americans) supposed to show our appreciation to Pepsi? By doubling our consumption?"

Well, that would help. While global carbonated soft-drink consumption was up about 1% in 2008 — the most recent year tracked — it was down 3% in the U.S., reports Beverage Digest.

Pepsi received some compliments on its move — including one from a longtime adversary.

"We applaud Pepsi for its global commitment," says Bruce Silverglade, legal affairs director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "But shame on Coca-Cola for insisting on targeting high school students in most countries around the world."

Coke announced this month it won't sell sugared drinks in primary schools worldwide unless asked, but it is not matching Pepsi's move for high schools. "We believe school authorities should have the right to choose what is best for their schools," says spokeswoman Crystal Warwell Walker.

Coke's global share of carbonated soft-drink sales is 50.5% vs. Pepsi's 22.2%, says Beverage Digest. Pepsi said it did not have exact numbers for school sales, but said it's not a major part of global sales.

John Sicher, publisher of Beverage Digest, says Pepsi's move is smart. "It's the old adage: They want to do well by doing good."