MINNEAPOLIS – Four advertisers sued the Star Tribune and its parent company on Tuesday, claiming Minnesota’s largest newspaper inflated its circulation numbers so it could charge more for ads.
The federal lawsuit seeking class-action status alleges the Star Tribune required distributors to dump unsold papers and failed to report returned papers accurately.
The newspaper denied the allegations in a statement Tuesday.
The Benefits of Southwest Airlines
Madison needs Southwest. Here’s why:
Many of their fares are lower when
booked as a round trip, or a multi-leg, in advance. However, unlike almost all other airlines, all of their fares are either fully refundable, or you get a full credit. There is no penalty for canceling a “super dooper” low discount fare. As a result, most travelers on SW book round trips, and then do not use the return leg, or even a leg in the middle of the itinerary. However, irrespective of whether you turn up for any part of the trip, the first leg, or the last, your itinerary remains in place. When you’re done with your trip, your unused portions are either refunded automatically, or sit as a credit to be used whenever you want.
KELO Ruling: Freestar Media Tests Eminent Domain
Weare, New Hampshire (PRWEB) Could a hotel be built on the land owned by Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter? A new ruling by the Supreme Court which was supported by Justice Souter himself itself might allow it. A private developer is seeking to use this very law to build a hotel on Souter’s land.
Justice Souter’s vote in the “Kelo vs. City of New London” decision allows city governments to take land from one private owner and give it to another if the government will generate greater tax revenue or other economic benefits when the land is developed by the new owner.
On Monday June 27, Logan Darrow Clements, faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road. This is the present location of Mr. Souter’s home.
Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land.
Feingold/Obey on USDA Ginseng Grant
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold and Congressman Dave Obey announced today that the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin has received a Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) Program grant of $76,500 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The grant will help Wisconsin ginseng producers continue to produce blemish-free ginseng while maintaining low chemical residues to help overcome international barriers to their product. Feingold and Obey have long worked to protect both Wisconsin ginseng growers and their produce with truth in labeling legislation. In April of this year, Feingold and Obey introduced, in their respective houses, truth in ginseng labeling legislation to protect producers and consumers of ginseng.
Tax Deductions for Hybrid car/SUV purchases
Paul Caron has the list. Note that 1 out of 7 vehicles is a domestic (the Ford Escape Hybrid – which uses Toyota hybrid components). The deduction is $2000 in 2005 and $500 in 2006 (not a whole lot for vehicles that can cost north of $40K in some cases).
Doonesbury on Malibu Beach Access
Gary Trudeau is in the middle of a great series on David “Lord” Geffen’s attempt to keep the public off of the “public” beach in front of his Malibu estate. This time, he points out the beachfront homeowner’s use of public sand to build a berm:
“One day a tsunami will come and there will be a great reckoning! Mansions will crumble! Only the surfer will prosper”….
Tax Policy to Help Working People in Cities
This paper (pdf) examines ways that federal tax policy could improve the economic prospects of low- and middle-income working families in cities. We show how existing federal tax rules affect these families, and that a variety of public policies are available to provide better economic opportunities and incentives for these households. In particular, policies that expand and modify the child care and dependent care tax credit, the saver’s credit, and subsidies for health insurance, or that alter the structure of homeownership subsidies away from deductions and toward capped credits for homeownership, have the potential to improve economic prospects for millions of working families who live in urban areas. The significant link between federal tax policies and the welfare of households in cities is an area of growing awareness and increasing importance and should receive the attention of both urban leaders and federal policy makers in the future.
Grokster, Streamcast Lose
Not a good day for us. SCOTUSblog has more. EFF Wall Street Journal Roundtable
Seagate’s Full Disc Encryption
“Seagate has introduced a hard drive with full-disk encryption.
The 2.5-inch drive offers full encryption of all data directly on the drive through a software key that resides on a portion of the disk nobody but the user can access. Every piece of data that crosses the interface encrypted without any intervention by the user, said Brian Dexheimer, executive vice president for global sales and marketing at the Scotts Valley, Calif.-based company.
Milwaukee’s Mason Wells Venture Capital Activity
Kathleen Gallagher writes a positive article on Trevor D’Souza and Dan Broderick, Managing Directors of Mason Wells’ first venture capital fund, Biomedical Fund 1. MW has invested in two Madison firms: NameProtect and Opgen among other midwest startups.
VC’s certainly play a useful role in the business growth process. That role is not always decisive. Interestingly, many of them do NOT fund startups. They’d rather let someone else (angel investors) take that risk. Anyone interested in this area should read another perspective: internet entrepreneur Paul Graham’s essay: The Unified Theory of VC Suckage.