Higher Costs Cause Fourth Quarter Profit Slips For Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines Co. said Thursday that fourth-quarter earnings fell by nearly half as costs rose for fuel, labor and maintenance.
The airline’s revenue climbed slightly, however, as the average fare increased almost $8 from a year ago.
Southwest said that bookings for the first three months of 2013 look strong. It said that based on bookings and ticket prices so far, a key revenue measure should rise by between 2 and 3 percent in January compared with the same month last year.
Although the rate of airfare increases has slowed since 2011, fares are still going up partly because airlines… Continue reading
Mary Jo White To Lead SEC
President Barack Obama on Thursday nominated Mary Jo White, a former U.S. attorney who built a reputation prosecuting white-collar criminals, terrorists and mobsters, to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. The agency has a lead role in implementing changes on Wall Street.
Obama also named Richard Cordray to stay on as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The president used a recess appointment last year to bypass congressional opposition and install the former Ohio attorney general as head of the bureau. That appointment expires at the end of this year.
White spent nearly a decade as the U.S. attorney… Continue reading
NoroVirus Outbreaks Acrioss The USA
NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say a new strain of stomach bug that’s sweeping the globe is taking over in the U.S.
In the last four months, more than 140 outbreaks in the U.S. have been caused by the new Sydney strain of norovirus. These kinds of contagious bugs cause bouts of diarrhea and vomiting.
The new strain may not be unusually dangerous; some scientists don’t think it is. But it is different, and many people might not be able to fight off its gut-wrenching effects.
It often spreads in places like schools, cruise ships and nursing homes. The… Continue reading
Unemployment In Spain Tops 26%
During the bleakest days of the Great Depression, when Americans waited in bread lines and the nation’s future looked grim, the unemployment rate peaked at about 25%.
Spain has now topped that figure, one of the highest in the developed world, as unemployment in the European county reached 26.02% in the fourth quarter of 2012. There are 5.9 million people out of work in the country.
Spain shed 363,000 jobs in the fourth quarter as the government implemented austerity measures to satisfy bond holders. Investors are more confident in Spain’s economy now, but that hasn’t meant much for those out… Continue reading
Shaggy Not Dead – Just Another Celeb Death Hoax
For the record, Shaggy is not dead. The talented Kingston-born reggae rapper supposedly died after during a bar fight this week. And as usual, Twitter and social media lit up with rumors of his death. However, “Mr. Boombastic” is alive and well.
TMZ, on Jan. 24, set the record straight amid rumors that Shaggy died. However, the rapper is not dead and is merely next in “line” for pranksters spreading the usual hoax about a celebrity’s demise.
Shaggy, real name, Orville Richard Burrell, after 20-plus years in the business, remains a respected musical fixture.
The Jamaican-American first appeared on the… Continue reading
Rachel Nichols Moves To CNN
CNN and Turner Sports are adding ESPN correspondent Rachel Nichols to their ranks. Nichols will anchor a weekend sports program for CNN, and will cover sports as a correspondent for CNN and Turner Sports. Her first assignment will be the Super Bowl next week in New Orleans.
Nichols was a workhouse at ESPN, contributing to “SportsCenter,” “NBA Countdown,” “Sunday NFL Countdown” and ESPN’s newsmagazine “E:60.” The new CNN program, which will debut “later this year” also opens up synergistic possibilities for Turner, which has invested heavily in sports programming under David Levy. The company has in the last few years… Continue reading
Is Tiger Woods Dating Lindsey Vonn?
Perhaps because the National Enquirer broke the story on the multiple mistresses of Tiger Woods, its story about Woods proposing again to ex-wife Elin Nordegren last week became media tumbleweed. Today, Jan. 24, 2013, that tale is all but forgotten as a Fox News headline reads “Tiger Woods dating Lindsey Vonn, reports say.” The report seems to have originated from a source which supposedly spilled the story to Hollywood Life — often a Gossip Cop target for fantasy story lines parading as truth. Those elusive sources claim that Woods and Vonn have been secretly dating since November. She is reportedly… Continue reading
Arizona Freeway Collision: 1 Dead and Several Injured
There have been several injuries and one fatality as the result of a head on collision involving a charter bus and a pickup truck on an Arizona freeway.
According to an Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman, the pickup truck was traveling the wrong way at around 2:15 p.m. on Interstate 10 in Casa Grande south of Phoenix, when it collided head on with a charter bus.
The driver of the pickup was declared dead at the scene, while several passengers on the bus were being treated for injuries, some of which are serious.