Apartment Rent Keeps Rising

First appeared in NY Times

The housing market remains a potent drag on the economy as home prices continue to slip, foreclosed homes fill some neighborhoods and millions of construction workers scramble for jobs.

But one group is sitting pretty: landlords.

Unlike home prices, rents have been rising, up 2.4 percent in January from a year earlier, according to recent data, not adjusted for inflation, released by the Labor Department.

With few rental buildings erected over the last few years, available units are going fast. Nationwide, the apartment vacancy rate is down to 5.2 percent, its lowest level in more than a decade, according to the research firm Reis Inc.

Rent increases are greatest in places like San Francisco, Austin, Tex., and Boston, where technology companies in particular are hiring, as well as in New York City and the District of Columbia. But cities like Chicago and Seattle, where house prices are still declining quite sharply, have had rental increases, too.

“We are more of a renter nation than we have been for a while,” said Christopher J. Mayer, a professor of real estate at the Columbia University Business School.

Economists suggest favorable conditions for landlords will continue for at least a year, with employment gradually rising and construction of new apartments remaining constrained; especially with offered perks like Carports.

As job growth has begun to accelerate in recent months, young people are starting to move out of their parents’ homes or away from shared rooms and into their own rentals.

Families who might previously have bought homes are also staying in rentals longer. They may be waiting for the housing market to hit bottom or finding it difficult to qualify for a mortgage. Many others remain uncertain about their job prospects and wary of the obligations of ownership.

When Charles Griffith moved with his wife and two children to Orlando, Fla., last fall, they chose a new two-bedroom apartment for $1,140 a month. They left a four-bedroom house they had bought a decade ago in Antioch, Calif. His brother-in-law has moved in and taken over the mortgage payments.  They enjoy the perks of Metal Carports as well.

Mr. Griffith, who works as a supervisor for Southwest Airlines, and his wife, a customer service representative for the airline, are enjoying the flexibility and convenience of renting, as well as amenities like a pool. “We kind of like the situation now of not having to be under so much pressure,” said Mr. Griffith, 40, adding that the family may eventually buy in Orlando. But “with the economy and the airline industry, that factors into us thinking maybe we should hold off for a while.”

The home ownership rate has been falling from its peak of 69.4 percent in 2004, according to census data. By the fourth quarter of 2011, it was down to 66 percent. That means about two million more households are renting, said Kenneth Rosen, an economist and professor of real estate at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

Not all those people are choosing apartments, of course. Some are moving into single-family homes left vacant by foreclosures. Eager to capitalize on the trend, investors are scooping up some houses at a deep discount and leasing them to tenants who have lost their own homes.

Several prominent hedge funds and private equity firms have recently announced plans to invest in distressed properties and convert them to rentals. And earlier this month, the government solicited applications from investors interested in buying pools of foreclosed properties held by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration.

Still, it is in apartments, not houses, where renters are feeling the most competition.

Although many families crushed by the recession have doubled up and plenty of underemployed 20-somethings are living with their parents, some young people are finally getting their own space. Nearly 60 percent of job gains in the last two years have gone to people who are 20 to 34, a crucial rental group, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by G. Ronald Witten, a consultant to apartment companies.

During the economic downturn, apartment developers retrenched. The number of new apartments completed fell from 284,200 in 2006 to less than half that number in 2011, according to census data.

The limited supply is pushing up prices in some markets. In San Francisco, rents jumped close to 5 percent last year, according to Reis, and increases averaged 3 percent in Austin and New York. Landlords have also been withdrawing incentives like a free month’s rent.

Liz Brent and Matt Mochizuki moved into a studio apartment a year ago in the Mission District in San Francisco for $1,395 a month. Now they want more space.

Ms. Brent, 26, makes costumes and is working as a barista at a cafe where customers leave big tips. Mr. Mochizuki, 27, has a steady job making custom metal work for a design studio. They are budgeting $1,800 a month in rent.

But at an open house for an apartment billed as a one-bedroom, they found a studio with an awkward layout and bad light. More than 40 people were in line, many ready to hand over a check.

“That’s what the market is like now,” Ms. Brent said of their fruitless search. “That’s how many people showed up for this tiny apartment with no windows.”

Some rental markets remain soft, like Atlanta and Las Vegas, the epicenter of the housing bust. Orlando, too, might seem an unlikely place for rental strength. The unemployment rate, at 9.7 percent, is higher than the national average, and home prices slipped 4.6 percent last year, according to the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index.

Yet Ric Campo, chief executive of Camden Properties, a real estate investment trust that owns apartment buildings, said rental business was brisk at its LaVina development. Since the office for the 420-unit complex opened last summer, more than half the apartments have rented.

That’s “a faster rate than we’ve ever seen in Orlando,” Mr. Campo said. The company has raised the base rent on a two-bedroom apartment to $1,080, from $995 a month.  Apartment buildings even have Solar Carports to alleviate some energy costs.

Many now wonder about a more profound shift among future buyers. Matt Byford, a 24-year-old litigation consultant in Chicago, acknowledges that low interest rates and low prices favor buying. But he says he is renting and in no hurry to buy, because he doesn’t expect much to change soon.

Brad Forrester, chief executive of the ConAm Group, which manages about 50,000 apartments in the western United States, says, “I think it’s going to be interesting to see whether there’s been a fundamental sociological shift in that 20- to 35-year-old cohort, where they literally say ‘this American dream just doesn’t work for me.’ ”

Certification for Working Skills

First appeared in the Detroit News

Could millions of college dropouts get a second chance through a GED-style equivalent of a college diploma? In today's age of blue-collar blues and online education, the idea of college-equivalency exams doesn't sound so outlandish anymore.

The high school diploma is not the gateway to the middle class that it used to be.

Amid new corporate efficiencies and the migration of high-paying low-skilled jobs overseas since the 1950s, growing numbers of college graduates are occupying jobs like postal worker or restaurant manager that used to be filled by high school grads.

The result is new pressures on blue-collar families and the class tensions voiced by presidential candidate Rick Santorum with his recent verbal jab ("What a snob!") at President Barack Obama's push for more college attendance. In fact, Obama, like Santorum, has been a major cheerleader for community colleges and trade schools.

Yet, give Santorum his due. He touched on a reality that deserves more public discussion: College isn't for everyone. Some very bright students thrive better while learning a hands-on trade, for example, than they do in a classroom. Others simply can't afford the time or tuition of college because of personal circumstances.

As a result, the percentage of college graduates who come from households in the bottom fourth of income earners -- as I did -- has declined to only 7.2 percent from 12 percent in 1970, according to Ohio University economics professor Richard Vedder, who also is director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for College Affordability and Productivity.

Author of the 2004 book "Going Broke by Degree: Why College Costs Too Much," Vedder sees a disconnect between the cost of college and the needs of the job market. He has found as many as 1-in-3 college graduates today to be in jobs that historically were filled by people with lesser education.

"These are jobs that do not require higher-level learning skills, critical thinking skills, or writing skills or anything of that nature," he said in a telephone interview.

At the same time, we see cheaper alternatives to college like online education growing.

Let's go a step further, says Vedder. "As college costs rise," he said, "people are asking: Aren't there cheaper ways of certifying competence and skills to employers?"

People typically believe there are no good substitutes for college. But if a prospective employee can certify to potential employers that he or she is as bright, knowledgeable, good at communicating and eager to learn as a better-than-average college graduate, they can present themselves as a bargain -- willing to accept wages that are higher than normal high-school-graduate standards, but low compared to most college graduate salaries.

Vedder is encouraged by recent agreements between the Education Testing Service (ETS), which operates the famed SAT test for the College Board, and the Council on Aid to Education (CAE) to provide competency test materials to students online through StraighterLine, an online education firm.

The challenge is to persuade college accreditation organizations and the business community that collegiate certification can be as reliable as the 70-year-old GED, which certifies high school equivalencies.

At a time when economic success is increasingly defined by educational achievement beyond high school, future generations need as many alternatives as we can offer.

California Utilizing Wind Power

First appeared in Mercury News

California now gets about 5 percent of its electricity from wind power, according to data released Tuesday by the California Wind Energy Association.

The majority of California's electricity -- 42 percent -- comes from natural gas, followed by nuclear power and hydropower. According to 2010 figures from the California Energy Commission, wind made up 4.7 percent of the state's electricity mix and solar was 0.3 percent.

But in 2011, wind projects that generate 921 megawatts -- enough electricity for more than 400,000 homes -- were installed across the state, which the wind association says should put it above the long-sought-after 5 percent threshold. California has set an ambitious goal of getting 33 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020, and utilities are increasingly signing contracts for renewable projects.

"2011 was a banner year for wind generation in California," said Nancy Rader, executive director of CalWEA, based in Berkeley. "Wind has come a long way and is helping to drive California closer to reaching its goal of 33 percent renewable energy."

In California, the vast majority of wind turbines are clustered in three regions: the Altamont Pass between Livermore and Tracy, Tehachapi near Bakersfield and the San Gorgonio Pass near Palm Springs. While solar panels are visible on homes across the state, massive wind farms tucked away in windy mountain passes that many Californians never see produce much more energy.

"California is one of the strongest wind markets in the nation," said Mark Tholke, vice president of Origination for EnXco, which has several wind projects in Solano County. "The wind industry has been quietly chugging along as the workhorse of renewable energy for the last several years."

NextEra, a Florida-based energy company that has several wind projects nationwide, is in the process of "repowering" hundreds of wind turbines along the Altamont Pass in eastern Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

Nearly 2,000 wind turbines in the Altamont Pass are being replaced with about 100 huge state-of-the-art turbines that, at 430 feet, stand taller than the tallest coast redwood trees. Each of the new turbines, manufactured by Siemens, generates 2.3 megawatts of electricity. NextEra's repowering project will be done in three phases and is scheduled to be completed by 2015.

Other projects are in the pipeline, including Iberdrola Renewables plans for a 200 megawatt Tule Wind Power Project for eastern San Diego County.

Much of the growth in wind power is because of the federal production tax credit, or PTC. The PTC gives a tax credit for electricity production from utility-scale wind turbines but is scheduled to sunset at the end of 2012. While several wind projects across the country should come online in 2012, developers have been reluctant to go forward with plans for 2013 and beyond over fears the credit will not be extended.

"Wind supports 400 manufacturing facilities in 43 states," said Ellen Carey of the American Wind Energy Association. "The production tax credit enjoys bipartisan support, and we have reason to be optimistic."

Apple Will Be Solar Powered by SunPower

First appeared in Mercury News

San Jose-based SunPower (SPWRA) has landed a plum contract: Its solar panels will generate electricity for Apple's (AAPL) massive new data center in Maiden, N.C., according to a filing with regulators in that state.

Apple has said renewable energy--solar panels and fuels cells--will power a "high percentage" of the data center's overall electricity needs, leading to speculation in Silicon Valley's clean tech industry about who its technology partners are.

"Apple is building the nation's largest end user-owned, onsite solar array on the land surrounding the data center," the company said in its recently released 7-page facilities report. "When completed, this 100-acre, 20-megawatt facility will supply 42 million kilowatt-hours of clean, renewable energy annually."

One megawatt is enough to power 750 to 1,000 homes. But because the sun doesn't shine all the time, solar industry experts say, 1 megawatt of solar power capacity is sufficient to power about 200 California households. Solar Carports can be utilized for these purposes as well.

Apple has not announced which solar company got the contract and did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment. SunPower declined to comment, referring calls to Apple.

But an 18-page filing with the North Carolina Utilities Commission makes it clear that SunPower has been chosen to provide the solar panels for the massive solar farm.

"Each of the photovoltaic installations will consist of multiple SunPower E20 435-watt photovoltaic modules on ground-mounted single axis tracking systems," the filing states.

The solar farm will be built in phases and could begin delivering electricity to the grid as early as October.

Data centers -- facilities that house massive computer servers -- gobble up enormous and rapidly growing amounts of electricity. Tech companies in Silicon Valley and elsewhere are taking steps to reduce the environmental impact of data centers by boosting their energy efficiency. CNC Mills are helpful in the creation of this technology.

But many data centers are clustered in states that largely rely on coal and nuclear energy to power the electric grid. Half of the electricity generated in the United States is from coal, and greenhouse-gas emissions from coal-fired power plants are a leading cause of climate change. Tech companies have been under fire from Greenpeace for powering data centers with what it calls "dirty energy," and the environmental organization has pressed tech companies to commit to clean, renewable energy sources.

Apple, Facebook and Google (GOOG) have data centers within 45 minutes of each other in western North Carolina. The region, which used to be a center of textile and furniture manufacturing, now pitches itself as North Carolina's "Data Center Corridor."

The power in the region comes from Duke Energy, which offers some of the cheapest electricity in the nation. Duke Energy operates eight coal-fired power plants, as well as seven nuclear power plants.

Apple's data center is the region's largest. It occupies 500,000 square feet -- the size of nearly five Walmart stores. Apple has not said what the overall energy needs of the data center are, but Greenpeace estimates that just 8 to 10 percent of the facility's overall needs would come from renewables, with the other 90 percent coming from Duke Energy.

"While Apple has been more than happy to draw the media's attention to how large the solar farm is, it has kept its lips stapled firmly shut when it comes to just how much coal will still be required to power the cloud," wrote Gary Cook of Greenpeace in a recent blog post about the data center.

Apple expects at least 14 photovoltaic installations to make up the solar farm. Other details, such as projected costs and maps of the proposed site, are confidential and could not be accessed from the North Carolina Utilities Commission website. Apple has billions of dollars in cash on hand and "intends to self-finance this project," according to the filing.

SunPower designs and manufactures high-efficiency solar cells and solar panels for residential, commercial and utility clients. Total SA, the French oil company, purchased a majority stake in SunPower last year.

American Freight Furniture Liquidators

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American Freight Furniture and Mattress Stores are committed to offering quality factory brand products at low prices.  All of the discount furniture distribution centers are open to the public!   The low-operating cost allows American Freight to pass on immense savings to customers, keeping you from paying expensive retail showroom markups.  Famous furniture manufacturers turn to American Freight Furniture and Mattress stores for quick liquidation and disbursement of unclaimed freight, cancelled orders, closeouts, overruns, and special buyouts.

Since 1993, Steve Belford has operated American Freight, a quality mattress and furniture distribution center that offers same-day delivery and affordable prices on brand-name furnishings.  American Freight Furniture and Mattress offers a growing number of locations throughout the United States including: Ohio Furniture Stores, Indiana Furniture Stores, Florida Furniture Stores, Kentucky Furniture Stores, New York Furniture Stores, Michigan Furniture Stores, Pennsylvania Furniture Stores, Tennessee Furniture Stores, Georgia Furniture Stores, Wisconsin Furniture Stores, Alabama Furniture Stores, Minnesota Furniture Stores and West Virginia Furniture Stores.

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Veterans Benefits for Atomic Exposure

First appeared in The Voice of Tucson

The National Association of Atomic War Veterans is on the prowl for approximately 195,000 veterans who were exposed to atomic atmospheric tests between 1945-1962. They are also looking for those who were part of the occupation forces at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A Michigan Veterans Benefits Lawyer can help with these issues.

If these individuals have experienced any one of 21 different cancers that are directly linked to radiation exposure they may be entitled to a one time compensation of $75,000 from the United States Government, in accordance with the 1990 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or a monthy stipend up to $2673.oo a month from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Since 1990 very few have applied for this benefit that is also extended to widows and their children if the veteran died with the proper diagnosis and service connection.

The applicants need medical records and the location of the exposure.  The application will be reviewed and verified by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. A Traverse City VA Disability Benefits Lawyer is familiar with these procedures.

I am sure the reader here is stunned that this reminder memorandum is being sent around the nation years after most of these men and women have passed on.

Did anyone actually think the government responds in a timely fashion?

I knew a fine gentlemen, who resided in Nogales, Arizona, that was at ground zero at Hiroshima in Grave Identification. No question about his exposure. His name was Joel. He was 86 year old. I helped him with his claim. He could not collect it because he was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico.

Another local man named Jim, was exposed while attending ABC School, (Atomic Biological Chemical Warfare), in 1962. He has enumerable rare cancers. He has been fighting for his claim for 21 years. A Big Rapids VA Accredited Lawyer is troubled by this.

Give the Government credit. They learned how to speed up the research for the modern day veterans. It only took them 30 years to recognize Agent Orange exposure.

Tornados Pose Struggle for Businesses

First appeared in USA Today

Nick Shelton achieved a life-long ambition in August, when he opened his auto repair shop in Henryville, Ind., across U.S. 31 from the town's school complex.

Sheldon, 42, had so much business by late February that he was ready to hire one or two employees. Then his shop was reduced to rubble by a tornado.

Clark County Commissioner Ed Meyer said early estimates are that 580 businesses and homes were destroyed or seriously damaged in Clark County in the storms on Friday.

An estimated 30 tornadoes packing winds of more than 110 mph hit the Midwest and South, according to the National Weather Service. The storms left 40 dead across five states.

Businessmen who lost everything, like Shelton, were hoping to start over. Many faced the same challenges in West Liberty, Ky., where business remained at a standstill as crews worked to restore power and telephone lines.

Linda Oakley was taking stock at her workplace, All Occasion Flower Shop, a 20-year staple on Main Street where silk flowers garnished the sprawl of glass and debris across the showroom floor.

Oakley said the tornado capped a tough year for the store's owner, Cheryl McKenzie. McKenzie's husband died in April. She lost a brother two weeks ago, and the family dog recently ran away.

"She's been through a lot," Oakley said through tears. "She's lost so much."

The building may be condemned and some of the merchandise destroyed, but "we are going to try to set up business so that we can start bringing in normalcy," Oakley said.

Officials in West Liberty were focused on restoring power to Lion Apparel, a clothing manufacturer and the town's largest employer with about 220 workers. Business was likely to resume there early next week.

"I don't know of anything that made it," West Libery Mayor Jim Rupe said. "Every business in town is down."

The New Washington State Bank branch in Henryville didn't have electricity, but around 10 a.m. employees opened the doors and began cashing checks and handling withdrawals, bank President Pat Glotzbach said.

Interest-free loans of up to 90 days also were available to those awaiting their insurance checks, Glotzbach said.

"The bank needs to be open," Glotzbach said. Transactions were being written down and taken to another branch to be entered into the bank's computer system, he said.

Linda Carpenter, 66, a Henryville resident, returned to work Monday at Tanner's, a retailer selling food, hardware, bait and other items. Carpenter said she mostly cleaned up the store to get it open.

Over the weekend, with no grocery store open in town, banks closed and ATMs down because electricity was out, she drove 7 miles to Charlestown for cash and food. She enjoyed the trip, despite its inconvenience, she said, because it was "nice not to have to see all the damage" in Henryville.

Not All Baby Products Tested for Safety

First appeared in USA Today

Millions of baby products, including pint-size hammocks, recliners and some bassinets, aren't subject to federal or even industry standards.

The Bumbo baby seat, which consumer advocates want recalled and redesigned, isn't covered by existing standards. Neither are travel beds for infants or the Nap Nanny recliner.

"Parents assume that products they use with their babies have been tested for safety, but products such as these fall outside the scope of recognized standards and might pose unknown risks — even if the company makes up their own testing," says Nancy Cowles of the advocacy group Kids in Danger.

All children's products have to meet standards that prohibit sharp points or edges and restrict hazardous substances such as lead, and product-specific rules help guard against injuries from certain designs.

A 2008 product safety law requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission to turn industry standards for children's products into federal mandates. Industry standards for infant slings were finalized last month.

But it can be difficult for regulators to keep up with all the new baby products, including designs that defy traditional classification, experts say.

The CPSC can recall a product even if it isn't covered by a safety standard if it "presents a substantial product hazard," says commission spokesman Scott Wolfson. He points to the July 2010 recall of 30,000 Nap Nanny recliners after a death and 23 other incidents. The fabric-covered foam bases can be used for sleeping, but CPSC said there were entrapment, suffocation and fall risks.

The Bumbo seat isn't an infant carrier or walker, which will both have federal rules soon. The seat is linked to 33 skull fractures, including two while used on the floor, as recommended. Four million of the seats have been sold in the U.S. It was recalled in 2007 to add a warning.

Trade group Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association says it works closely with the industry standard-setting body ASTM International. JPMA's Lauren Pfeiffer notes ASTM has developed 22 voluntary standards for kids' products.

ASTM is developing an industry standard for "inclined sleep products" to address deaths in hammocks and recliners. The standard, which will also cover inclining bassinets, will take effect in about a year and be mandatory in about two.

What's regulated:

Children's products covered by federal safety standards:

Cribs

Baby bath seats

Infant walkers

Toddler beds

Bed rails

Federal rules in the works this year for:

Play yards

Bassinets

Cradles

Strollers

Infant carriers

Events Businesses Prove Lucrativ

First appeared in Ad Age

While publishers struggle to mine revenue from their core print operations, their events businesses are starting to look like a comparative gold rush.

In June, Fortune magazine is introducing a half-day London version of its three-day Most Powerful Women Summit. It will be the 14-year-old conference's first venture overseas, with an Asian iteration following in the fourth quarter. Fortune is also raising attendance fees on the summit's U.S. edition in October by $2,000, to $7,500. It's also holding an event May 7 that's tied to the annual Fortune 500 list. Trade Show Displays prove useful.

You can see the appeal from Fortune's perspective: Profit from events rose 63% last year and are expected to grow 55% this year, according to a Time Inc. executive. Its Global Forum -- typically held every other year -- will return in 2013, this time in China. The function could help double the event division's revenue from an estimated $15 million this year.

Fortune's stages attract speakers such as President Barack Obama, Warren Buffett and Facebook No. 2 Sheryl Sandberg, and streaming video means the various confabs can reach many more people.

They also give advertisers something compelling to buy other than ad pages.

"Events give you the ability to actually meet people on the ground, the ability to influence and gain thought leadership from others," said Esther Lee, senior VP-brand marketing and advertising at AT&T.

As more publishers succeed in the field, however, they risk a problem that has dogged traditional ad sales: clutter. When a business chooses to Rent Exhibits, clutter can be helped.

"There is truly what I would call an almost unmanageable proliferation of events," Ms. Lee said.

Some marketers are responding by getting more deliberate about where they invest, according to Elizabeth Baker Keffer, president of Atlantic Live, The Atlantic's events division.

"I am seeing the underwriter community starting to concentrate their resources," Ms. Keffer said. "Because of the plethora of events, they're saying, "Let's see which ones are working for us.'"

The Atlantic, whose activities include the Aspen Ideas Festival every summer, has "ambitious" growth plans, Ms. Keffer said. They include expanding its 3-year-old Washington Ideas Forum and two events, Brave Thinkers and The Atlantic Meets the Pacific, rolled out last year. Both events possibly utilized Wall Graphics.

It also has designs on Silicon Valley. "We have two [events] on the drawing board and hope to get at least one off the ground," Ms. Keffer said. "And our big hope is to do something on a global stage."

Events now account for 17% of The Atlantic's revenue, vs. 14% in 2009. That is a higher share than at most magazines, but that may change as publishers expand their event businesses more quickly than they can grow print.

The swath of print-affiliated extensions vying for audiences include the Women in the World Summit from Newsweek and The Daily Beast; O You! from O, The Oprah Magazine; The New Yorker Festival; The New York Times' TimesTalks; and the art-centric Creators Project from Vice Media and Intel.

Creators Project functions in New York, Beijing, Paris, Lyon, São Paulo and Seoul attracted more than 560,000 attendees last year, according to Vice. On March 17 and 18, Vice and Intel are hosting the project's first San Francisco event. Events like these need Custom Graphics.

And don't forget other players, including TechCrunch Disrupt, the D Conference from Dow Jones' All Things D website and broad-based conferences such as South by Southwest. AT&T is a big sponsor of Most Powerful Women and South by Southwest.

Some events charge for admission, while others depend entirely on marketer support. Sponsorship models also vary. This is true of Trade Shows Phoenix as well.

"We do many big, integrated programs where [an advertiser] will sponsor an element of the event and do parallel print and digital, and sometimes custom elements," said Jed Hartman, group publisher at Fortune. "In addition, some companies focus on different things, such as live events rather than print-and-digital strategies." These include Phoenix Exhibits.

If some of print's challenges are following publishers into the events space, at least some of its strengths are tagging along. Fortune's venerable brand and extensive reach, for example, help it garner prestigious speakers, large audiences and marketer support.

"There's no question that there are more events than there were, say, 10 years ago," said Andy Serwer, managing editor of Fortune. "In one sense we welcome the competition, and we're flattered that other people are coming to the space. Having said that, we have a big head start in many instances."

Marketers' move to concentrate their resources has benefited The Atlantic, an established brand with a well-defined following and more events experience than some, Ms. Keffer said.

"The competition, the clutter and events being commoditized is an issue," she said. "We focus on trying to remain unique -- even as the field has gotten more crowded -- by differentiating through our content."

Class Action Lawsuit on Theater Snacks?

First appeared in Detroit Free Press

Joshua Thompson loves the movies.

But he hates the prices theaters charge for concessions like pop and candy.

This week, the 20-something security technician from Livonia decided to do something about it: He filed a class action in Wayne County Circuit Court against his local AMC theater in hopes of forcing theaters statewide to dial down snack prices.

"He got tired of being taken advantage of," said Thompson's lawyer, Kerry Morgan of Wyandotte. "It's hard to justify prices that are three- and four-times higher than anywhere else."

American Multi Cinema, which operates the AMC theater in Livonia, wouldn't comment on the suit. A staffer at the National Association of Theatre Owners in Washington, D.C., angrily hung up the phone when asked about industry snack pricing practices.

Although consumer experts predicted that the case will be dismissed, it struck a chord Friday with area moviegoers, who said they're tired of being soaked on movie munchies.

"The prices are ridiculous," Rebecca Motley, 55, a self-employed Southfield physician, said while leaving the AMC Star Southfield 20.

Motley said she and her office manager spent $5 each for morning movie tickets and $11 each for soft drinks and popcorn.

"When I was a kid, $1 could get you into the movies and buy you a pop and popcorn. But not anymore," Motley said. "I don't know how kids can go on their own to a movie anymore."

Timothy Fells, 29, part owner of a Redford Township gym, agreed with Motley.

"Movie concession prices are extremely high, and that's why I don't stop at the snack bar very often," he said while leaving the AMC theater in Southfield.

Thompson didn't want to be interviewed because he doesn't want any notoriety, Morgan said. But Thompson said in his lawsuit that he used to take his own pop and candy to the AMC in Livonia until the theater posted a sign banning the practice.

On Dec. 26, he paid $8 for a Coke and a package of Goobers chocolate-covered peanuts at the Livonia theater -- nearly three times the $2.73 he paid for the same items at a nearby fast-food restaurant and drug store, the suit said.

The suit accused AMC theaters of violating the Michigan Consumer Protection Act by charging grossly excessive prices for snacks.

The suit seeks refunds for customers who were overcharged, a civil penalty against the theater chain and any other relief Judge Kathleen Macdonald might grant.

Two consumer lawyers predicted that Macdonald will dismiss the suit.

"It's a loser," said Gary Victor, an Eastern Michigan University business law professor. He said state Supreme Court decisions in 1999 and 2007 exempted most regulated businesses from the Michigan Consumer Protection Act.

Added Ian Lyngklip, a nationally known consumer lawyer in Southfield: "Movie theaters are regulated, so the lawsuit won't go anywhere"

Victor, an avid moviegoer, agreed that snack prices are excessive at theaters. That's why he shuns the concession counter unless he's with a date.

Griping about excessive prices at the theater concession is a time-honored tradition, says Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for www.hollywood.com , a movie industry website.

"But like high airline prices, it's just one of those things that we've become accustomed to because we don't have any control over it," he added.

Although movie ticket sales are down -- 1.2 million tickets were sold last year compared with 1.6 million in 2002 -- he said a difficult economy mainly is to blame, not snack prices.

To cope with the issue, some consumers eat before or after they go to the movies, or resort to smuggling.

Fells said he sometimes smuggles Gummi Bears into the theater to save money.

Kristy Belanger, 20, a real estate secretary from Redford Township who showed up at the AMC in Livonia on Friday to see a movie with her boyfriend, concealed two bottles of Pepsi in her purse.

"I did it to save money, and I feel like I did," she said, adding that what she saved on Pepsi enabled her to buy a $4.74 serving of nachos to share with her beau.

Montana Town Accommodates Black Gold Rush

First appeared in Associated Press

Sidney isn't the first small town in the West to get run over by a gold rush, in this case black gold — more than 16 million barrels of crude being pumped every month from the massive Bakken oil field beneath eastern Montana and western North Dakota.

But Sidney's new-found prosperity doesn't dull the sting of the recent kidnapping and apparent murder of a local teacher, Sherry Arnold. Authorities allege the 43-year-old Arnold was snatched from a Sidney street by two men among the thousands from across the country descending on the small towns of the Northern Plains in search of a slice of the boom's multi-billion-dollar payoff.

"It's turned this little town upside down," said Ron Whited, Arnold's father, who lives on a ranch 25 miles outside of town. "There's evil in the world, and it just happened to touch down in Sidney, Montana, on Jan. 7." 

Arnold's disappearance has brought into sharp focus the changes now overwhelming the 5,000 residents of Sidney. And for many it means an abrupt end to the days of unlocked doors and reflexive trust that residents of the self-proclaimed "Sunrise City" say they once enjoyed.

Sidney's past still can be seen in the overall-wearing farmers passing in and out of Johnson Hardware along Main Street, in the smoke that rises from the Sidney Sugars plant at the edge of town during sugar beet season.

But the streets are now jammed with semis, the police chief says he will need up to seven more officers, the hotels are overflowing and the schools stretched to capacity. And it's just begun: The Bakken boom is projected to last another 10 to 20 years with tens of thousands more wells drilled, state regulators say.

"The things we've always taken for granted we can't take for granted anymore. Like Sherry," said lifetime resident Leann Pelvit. The former school bus driver took Arnold to school when she was a student. Three of Pelvit's four children later had Arnold as their math teacher.

Even as the two suspects in the case await trial, Whited and others in this historically agricultural community don't blame the explosive changes wrought by the boom for his daughter's disappearance.

Scores of industry workers joined in the massive search for Arnold that turned up only a single running shoe. A "couple bad apples," as one local farmer put it, do not represent the many newcomers who arrived for well-paying jobs.

Oil production in the Bakken dates back decades but ignited into a boom a few years ago when horizontal drilling techniques coupled with hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," made it easier to pull oil from a geologic formation that holds an estimated 4.3 billion barrels of oil.

Most drilling so far has been in North Dakota, where there were 3,500 wells at the end of 201, with rigs sinking 150 more each month. As oil prices stay above $100 a barrel and production increases, companies are pushing into Sidney and surrounding areas of Richland County, near the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers.

When Gary Hancock arrived in Sidney last week with his daughter's boyfriend, Richard Rayborn, after a marathon 30-hour drive from Magee, Miss., they spent their first night in Hancock's Chevrolet pickup with the engine running to fight off the single-digit temperatures.

They were following Hancock's son-in-law, who arrived in the Bakken last year to work for a drilling company. Hancock left behind a wife and two daughters for the opportunity to multiply his wages from his previous job, hauling chickens for the food company Sanderson Farms.

"You'd do good to make $500 a week" at home, Hancock, 47, said through his open window as Rayborn slept in the passenger seat. "Up here, you can make $500 a day." Many others show up without a job hoping to get hired on the spot. That includes the suspects in Arnold's disappearance, 22-year-old Michael Spell and 47-year-old Lester Van Waters Jr., of Parachute, Colo., according to court documents and interviews with Spell's friends and family.

The prosecutor in the case alleges that Spell confessed to grabbing Arnold as she was running along Sidney's "truck route" near the sugar refinery.

Spell told investigators Waters choked her to death before the pair buried her body in a field outside Williston, N.D., the epicenter of the boom.

Her body has not been found.

Ron and Sharon Whited still refer to their daughter, who was married with two children, as "bright eyes," a nickname she picked up in elementary school. In her absence, the Whiteds said they've been bolstered by an outpouring of support from friends and the solace offered by the pastor at their church, Trinity Lutheran.

Sidney Schools Superintendent Dan Farr, who was trained as a school counselor and worked with Arnold for 13 years, said the continued mystery of her whereabouts has provoked a particular form of grieving called "ambiguous loss" that robs family and friends of closure because there is no body to bury.

For the school district, the loss of a beloved teacher is set against a backdrop of skyrocketing enrollment from workers who moved to Sidney with family in tow. Over the next two to three years, Farr said, Sidney's population could double if proposed new subdivisions, RV parks and "man camps" for workers are built. Student numbers are projected to climb more than 60 percent.

Sidney Mayor Bret Smelser is pushing for more oil revenues to be returned to towns and cities hardest hit by the boom. For now, much of that money goes to counties, which Smelser said denies him of resources for his community.

A glimpse of Sidney's future can be seen in the experience of Williston and surrounding Williams County, N.D., where more than 9,000 beds have been permitted for man camps, sprawling compounds of trailers or mobile homes that companies temporarily erect in open fields for worker housing. Williams County Sheriff Scott Busching said that calls to his department have risen sharply during the last three years, forcing him to double patrol deputies from 10 to 20.

That includes spikes in traffic accidents and aggravated assaults linked to bar fights. In response, many local residents are arming themselves against potential danger. Concealed weapon permit applications in Williams County soared from 156 in 2010 to 550 last year, the sheriff said. Arnold's disappearance has further accelerated the trend, with 126 new applications coming in January alone.

Montana authorities are seeing similar trends emerge. Sidney Police Chief Frank DiFonzo said the added stress on his force has made his officers more reactive than proactive, with little time for once-routine criminal investigations.

DiFonzo, Sidney's chief since 1981, said the increased workload appears to reflect the sheer number of new arrivals, rather than an increase in particular crimes. And though the oil industry is what's bringing those workers, DiFonzo said it would be no different if they were seeking sugar beets or gold.

"I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt that they're coming here to work," he said. "But it's made the residents who live here very nervous."?

Foot Locker Puts An End To Nike Events Due To Riots

First appeared in USA Today

Foot Locker on Friday suspended shoe sales and special events planned for the release of Nike's debut NBA All-Star sneaker at various stores in Florida and at least three other states after a riot broke out among hundreds of people at an Orlando mall.

Other consumers vying to buy the shoe were arrested in Maryland and Louisiana.

The Foamposite One Galaxy sneaker with a constellation-like print and glow-in-the-dark sole was scheduled to go on sale for the first time in stores at midnight Thursday at a retail price of $220. One thing that may have led to the increased demand for the shoe is that Nike decided not to sell it online.

Foot Locker released statements on its website Friday that said due to safety concerns it was canceling the All-Star releases this weekend at the following Foot Locker House of Hoops stores: Florida Mall; Pembroke Mall; University Mall in Tampa; Southlake Mall in Atlanta; PG Plaza in Prince Georges County, Md. near the Prince Georges Assisted Living Center; South Park Mall in Charlotte, N.C.; and Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, N.C.

Nike spokesman KeJuan Wilkins said "as with the launch of all Nike products, consumer safety and security is of paramount importance. We encourage anyone wishing to purchase our product to do so in a respectful and safe manner."

The Orlando Sentinel reported that the wild scene in Orlando erupted about 9:45 p.m. Thursday as hundreds of people packed the mall's parking lot, hoping to buy the new shoe at midnight. As the crowd grew, a large contingent of Orange County deputy sheriffs arrived, braced for problems.

Similar shoe releases have caused violence at shoe stores across the country, but no one was hurt or arrested at Florida Mall, the Sheriff's Office said.

Witnesses told the newspaper that the crowd was asked to wait across the street when the mall closed at 9 p.m., but one person made a mad dash toward the Foot Locker where the shoes were to go on sale, and hundreds followed.

"I saw hundreds of people running toward me. I thought I was going to get trampled," said Amanda Charles, 20, who was among a group of a half-dozen friends who drove from Jacksonville to try to buy the glow-in-the-dark Nikes.

Witnesses said more deputies quickly arrived, decked out in riot gear and fortified by still more deputies on horseback, on motorcycles and in patrol cars. A helicopter with a spotlight hovered overhead.

"We were afraid of the cops and the horses," said Mario Torres, 22, of Orlando.

The deputies formed a line and used shields to push back the crowd, witnesses told the newspaper. They said the deputies threatened to use pepper spray but did not.

"It was pandemonium," said Rico Gomez, 23, who flew to Orlando from New Haven with friends just to buy the new Nikes.

More than 100 law-enforcement officers from the Sheriff's Office, the Orlando Police Department and Florida Highway Patrol responded to the mall and were continuing to disperse the crowd as of midnight, the newspaper reported. People continued to mill about, and some cars remained in the lot after the free-for-all because many people were hoping the sale would go on as planned.

"Florida Mall is closed," a deputy driving around the perimeter of the mall announced on a loudspeaker. "Please leave the premises. This is an unlawful gathering. There is no shoe release tonight."

The shoe release was to cap a day of events at House of Hoops by Foot Locker, where a makeshift basketball court was set up and NBA players are signing autographs through the weekend. Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce and the Orlando Magic AirTran Flight Crew were on Thursday's schedule.

Nike's website says the shoes that were to go on sale were part of the Nike All-Star collection, with a galactic theme inspired by space exploration. Their release is designed as a nod to Orlando and Florida's space industry.

John Horan, publisher of the newsletter Sporting Goods Intelligence, said the real driver behind the craziness over the shoe could be the fast-exploding world of social media.

It's nothing new for Nike to sell very limited numbers of its coolest, new shoes, he says. But in the past, he says, people who really crave the shoes — sometimes referred to as "sneakerheads" — would hear about it from inside channels, or because they are frequent, high-profile customers.

Under that scenario, maybe 100 or 200 insiders would show up at the mall for the new shoe's release. But with social media as the new information forum that's widely available to everyone, Horan says, "instead of 100 people lined up, you have 1,000 — or more."

The most compelling question, says brand consultant Jonathan Salem Baskin, is what's at the core of the relationship between Nike and its customers.

"It's one thing to talk to consumers in a way that enables them to love the brand," he says. "It's another thing, entirely, to do things in that relationship that either allows or encourages them to be obsessive to a point at which they harm themselves or others."

The website describes the shoe as "The Nike Foamposite One, showcasing an out-of-this-world galactic print upper, includes a Polyurethane midsole and a Nike Zoom unit in heel for low-profile, responsive cushioning. Made popular in its debut on the college hardwood in 1998, the Foamposite breaks the mold of conventional footwear design."

Twitter users earlier tweeted pictures of large crowds behind security barriers outside the Orlando mall store. The shoe already is on Craigslist, where someone offered a car — a 1996 Cavalier — for a pair, and others were prepared to pay $2,400.

One seller on eBay advertised a "buy it now" price for the shoe of $2,499.99.

Elsewhere around the country, at a mall in Hyattsville, Md., police said Friday that they arrested one person for disorderly conduct as a crowd of more than 100 awaited the shoe's release.

Police in Baton Rouge were called out after 600 people were pushing and shoving outside a store at the Mall of Louisiana around 5 a.m., according to WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge. Officers sent the crowds home and allowed them back in just before the store opened two hours later. Police made only one arrest, charging one person with inciting a riot and disturbing the peace.

Just before Christmas, the re-release of the Nike Air Jordan XI caused a ruckus at stores across the country, with crowds fighting and, in Lithonia, Ga., breaking down the doors.

In Jersey City, N.J., a 20-year-old man was stabbed seven times amid a crowd of about 300 people waiting to buy the shoes, a local newspaper reported.

In Richmond, Calif., police said one person fired a shot at a mall as about 1,000 people lined up for their chance at the shoes; a suspect was arrested.

Near Seattle, police used pepper spray to control fighting among would-be Air Jordan owners.

Unruly shoppers also were reported in Indianapolis, San Antonio, Charlotte, N.C., and Richmond, Va., resulting in several arrests and injuries.