What Is The Amazon ‘Treasure Truck?’

Amazon has pushed back the launch of its “Treasure Truck” in Seattle after several days of hyping the unique initiative by driving around the city to drum up attention, writes GeekWire.

Treasure Truck, announced by Amazon this week, is a deals program that the company was planning to launch today in Seattle, letting people buy a heavily discounted item through Amazon’s mobile app and pick it up from the truck at a designated location.

“(T)he Treasure Truck…will drive around Seattle neighborhoods with one ‘highly-desirable, limited-quantity’ product each day,” writes The Verge,

The launch had been scheduled for today with a $99 inflatable stand-up paddleboard set that normally sells for more than $475.

However, the item was supposed to go on sale at 7 a.m., for pick-up later in the day, but people opening the Amazon mobile shopping app this morning are instead being told that the offer has been “moved to a later date.”

The designated pickup location was near Amazon’s headquarters and the Museum of History & Industry in Seattle. The company had even suggested that people buying the paddleboards could try them out right away on nearby Lake Union.

(Updated)

http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/25/8845033/amazon-treasure-truck-announced

Patriots Equipment Managers Suspended

The New England Patriots employees Jim McNally and John Jastremski were suspended on May 6th over deflate-gate.  These two were in charge of inflating Patriots’ footballs to regulation.

According to a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, it was actually the NFL’s decision to punish McNally and Jastremski, not the team’s.

From ESPN:

“For those asking why Patriots suspended two employees if those two did nothing wrong, as New England claims: NFL asked Pats to suspend them prior to discipline being handed down, per a league source in New York. New England obliged with the NFL’s request.”

This makes what the NFL said in a statement about the punishments unclear, writes Business Insider.

“Patriots owner Robert Kraft advised Commissioner Roger Goodell last week that Patriots employees John Jastremski and James McNally have been indefinitely suspended without pay by the club, effective on May 6th,” the statement read.

That seems to imply that the team suspended the two. But note the language — it only says that Kraft told Goodell that they had been suspended, not that he had ordered it, according to Business Insider.

If ESPN’s report is to be believed, it gives the Patriots’ denials a little more weight because the team never actually felt the need to punish McNally and Jastremski.

It’s also worth noting that ESPN’s information comes from a “league source in New York,” not from someone within the Patriots who wants to make them look innocent.

It also makes things messy. The NFL released the Wells report on May 6 but waited until May 11 to punish the team and Brady. Yet according to the league’s statement, McNally and Jastremski were punished on May 6.

Business Insider asks:  If that decision was the NFL’s, why did they hand down discipline for the two employees immediately but wait nearly a week to go after the team and Brady? And why did the Patriots comply?

(Updated article)

Actress Loses Custody Battle, Must Visit Kids In France

Actress Kelly Rutherford has taken a battle for her two children to the White House.

A petition has been filed with whitehouse.gov seeking a federal order to allow her young children to move back to the US.  A judge in France previously ordered that the children live in France with her husband.

“This is a political issue now,” Rutherford told sources, adding that her children’s “constitutional rights should have been put before our parental rights,” meaning that as American citizens, her kids should not have been deported.

Best-known to television audiences as Lily van der Woodsen on the hit show Gossip Girl, Kelly played the matriarch in New York for 6 seasons culminating in December of 2012.

She is also known for her former roles in television shows Melrose Place, Homefront, and E-Ring.

Rutherford is a devoted single mom to her kids and an advocate of women’s and children’s charities including StepUp Women’s Network, Healthy Child Healthy World, and she is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Free Arts.

Rutherford lost a bid to keep her children in the U.S. after a judge refused to overturn a previous court ruling that they should live with their father in France.

She has spent two years flying back and forth from France to see her children, who live with her ex-husband Daniel Giersch.

German-born Giersch had his O1 visa – granted to individuals with Extraordinary Ability or Achievement – revoked two years ago. The State Department will not comment on the reason for this, only to say it is classified.  This prompted a court to give him custody of the children in France in 2012 as he cannot legally enter the U.S. He will not comment on the case.  He later took the kids to Monaco, where they have citizenship.

In 2012, a California judge ordered that the children live with Giersch in France after his work visa was revoked, preventing him from living in the US. Rutherford appealed but lost.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2726002/Kelly-Rutherford-tells-MailOnline-heartbreak-forced-send-children-ex-France-loses-bid-them.html#ixzz3YvSzcJ5y

http://pagesix.com/2015/04/29/kelly-rutherford-takes-custody-battle-to-the-white-house/

China’s Central Bank Cuts Interest Rates: A Sign Of Slowing Economic Growth?

China’s central bank cut interest rates for the second time in less than four months, in a fresh sign that the country’s leadership is becoming more aggressive in trying to stop the slowdown of economic growth, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The rate cut by the People’s Bank of China was announced Saturday, and it came sooner than some analysts and investors had expected.  It reflects growing worries over the world’s second-largest economy as it struggles with certain difficulties: a slumping property market, more money being sent offshore and growing risks of falling prices that, in effect, are pushing up borrowing costs for businesses.

The cut, effective Sunday, lowers by a quarter percentage point the benchmark one-year loan rate, to 5.35%, and the one-year deposit rate, to 2.5%. In a statement accompanying the announcement, the central bank singled out increasing deflationary pressure as a trigger for the move, saying that plunging commodity prices world-wide “provided room” to spur growth by lowering interest rates.

ALTIVIA Acquires Axiall’s Texas Chemical Plant

ALTIVIA today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement for a takeover of the Specialty Phosgene Derivatives business’ assets – including the chemical production facilities – from Axiall Corporation. The production facilities are in La Porte, Texas.

“As we refine our portfolio, we are pleased to reach an agreement with ALTIVIA, where we believe our phosgene business will be a better strategic fit,” said Atlanta-based Axiall President and CEO Paul Carrico in a statement, according to The Atlanta Business Chronicle.

As part of the acquisition, ALTIVIA will hire the 120 employees who operate the facility.

More:

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/DA41783.htm

Fox News Hosts Outraged By Paid Sick Days

Kyle Kulinski

Responding to a push from the Obama White House encouraging the passing of measures guaranteeing workers one week of paid sick leave each year, a Fox Business News host called the proposal a “giveaway” to freeloaders, reports Media Matters for America.

Fox News Host Stuart Varney Worried About Socialism On ‘Downton Abbey’

Following the fifth season premiere of Downton Abbey on PBS, Fox Business Network’s Stuart Varney said, “Downton Abbey turning Socialist? Say it ain’t so!”

“Season five, Downton Abbey began last night,” said Varney. “Didn’t see it, certainly didn’t see the premiere at least. But members of my staff said they watched it and the episode was filled with references to changing government.”

As he speaks with Michael Tammero of Fox News, Varney seemed overtly concerned about a Socialist bent on the British program.

“This is all about Socialism, isn’t it?” Varney asked his guests. “They’re saying these Socialists are going to ruin us, the aristocracy!”

Secular Talk video.

Adult Cigarette Smoking Is At An All-Time Low

According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the percentage of adults who smoke in the U.S. dropped from 20.9 percent in 2005 to 17.8 percent in 2013.

This information comes from new data published by Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

That is the lowest prevalence of adult smoking since the CDC’s Nation Health Interview Survey (NHIS) began keeping such records in 1965.

The report also shows the number of cigarette smokers dropped from 45.1 million in 2005 to 42.1 million in 2013, despite the increasing population in the U.S., the CDC said in a press release.

“There is encouraging news in this study, but we still have much more work to do to help people quit,” said Tim McAfee, M.D., M.P.H., director of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health.

“We can bring down cigarette smoking rates much further, much faster, if strategies proven to work are put in place like funding tobacco control programs at the CDC-recommended levels, increasing prices of tobacco products, implementing and enforcing comprehensive smoke-free laws, and sustaining hard-hitting media campaigns,” he said.

http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/emory/2014/11/28/smoking-all-time-low/19605983/

Again? Oklahoma Wal-Mart Asks For Food Donations For Employees

An Oklahoma City Wal-Mart is asking employees to donate food to help their coworkers for the holidays, according to a photo posted by the labor-backed coalition Making Change At Wal-Mart.

A sign on the collection bin reads, “Let’s succeed by donating to associates in need!!!”

The company drew criticism for similar employee food drives a year ago. At that time, a spokesman characterized the efforts as “part of the company’s culture to rally around associates and take care of them when they face extreme hardships.”

David Pakman video.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/11/20/3595067/walmart-food-drive-oklahoma/

Russell Brand On Wal-Mart

Russell Brand discusses Wal-Mart and the minimum wage.