Tag Archives: Business news

Royal Caribbean ship aids storm victims

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By VERONICA SPAGNA

Mother Nature did not seem to show any pity towards the islands of the Caribbean and Puerto Rico when what seemed to be the worst outcome with Hurricane Irma, the successive wrath of Hurricane Maria put the islands in “apocalyptic” conditions.

Royal Caribbean went on a humanitarian mission to bring supplies and rescue thousands of people from these islands, showing the compassionate and human spirit that exists.

Royal Caribbean is a cruise line owned by Royal Caribbean Ltd. It operates 24 ships and owns 21.9 percent of the market. The ships tour the world, with the most popular destinations being tropical islands, such as the Virgin Islands, Barbados, and the Bahamas.

Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria were both category 5 hurricanes and left the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico without power and access to drinking water, crushing its economy overnight.

Royal Caribbean announced that it was canceling one of its cruises with the ship Adventure of the Seas. The ship was supposed to depart from San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 30 and was intended to sail around the various islands of the Caribbean.

The ship is going to deliver supplies such as water, medical supplies, batteries, and fuel. Its first stop is going to be in San Juan, where it is intended to evacuate 2,200 people and then 1,000 more form the Virgin Islands, with its destination being Fort Lauderdale.

The company announced that it will refund the customers who booked the cruise with Adventure of the Seas and will give 25 percent credit to the people who re-book the trip within 30 days. Most reports failed to be specific on the other consequences that the cruise cancellations of ships traveling around the Caribbean will have on customers, such as flights and hotels.

Royal Caribbean has also had previous rescue missions, after hurricane Irma, it sent two ships to St. Thomas and St. Maarten, helping 1,700 people evacuate.

In addition to all the help the cruise line is giving to those affected by the Hurricanes, it is also donating $1 million to aid Hurricane Relief efforts.

Most articles failed to mention more about the consequences this natural disaster will have on Royal Caribbean cruises. The islands affected were the most popular destinations for the cruise line and so a great source of income. There should be more on the impact that this disaster will have on the company’s revenue and the economy of the islands. Royal Caribbean cruises are the not the only cruise line that sails around the destroyed areas, meaning that there should be more details on the outcome of other cruise lines.

Airlines increase prices ahead of Irma

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By KAYLA FOSTER

Major airlines gouged ticket prices Tuesday afternoon after Gov. Rick Scott announced Hurricane Irma evacuations.

Airlines such as American, Delta, United and Jet Blue gouged ticket prices up to $1,000 plus after it was announced Florida would start evacuations.

Travelers took to Twitter expressing their outrage with the airlines to complain about the price gouging ahead of the Category 5 storm. CNBC reported people taking screenshot examples of the gouging. Examples included a $1,738 United flight between Miami and Indianapolis and a $2,370 American flight between Miami and Los Angeles. Those and others flooded social media Tuesday and Wednesday.

Bus and train transportation followed suit after the airlines, making it nearly impossible to get out of the state.

Due to the hiked airline, bus and train tickets, thousands headed to the road Wednesday and experienced gas gouging as well; however, in the state of Florida, it is illegal to gouge gas prices during an emergency.

While airlines are not subject to Florida’s price gouging law, many people saw the inflated prices as unethical and dangerous as people were trying to evacuate the area.

In a statement to The Business Insider, most of the major airlines planned to cap prices at $99 per ticket out of Florida, and connecting flights priced at $159, but flight delays and cancellations have left many discouraged.

Hurricane Irma is estimated to make headway on Friday and into the weekend. Mandatory evacuations are in place for those in the South Florida area.

USA Today reviews access to president

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By ANDRES ARENAS GRAYEB

The Trump empire has far from fallen off since Donald J. Trump took office and some of its most profitable locations have been the president’s private golf clubs. President Trump has visited the clubs in Bedminster, N.J., and Palm Beach, Fla., among others, several times since becoming president.

Apart from being a getaway for the president, his clubs raked in $600 million in 2015 and 2016. And the upper class’s interest in the clubs has only increased in recent times.

According to USA Today, 71 of the members in his private clubs are executives from companies that hold federal contracts, lobbyists and trade group officials. Of the 71, two-thirds of them have played on one of the days that the president was visiting. This membership, which grants them open access to the president through a service that enriches him, is perfectly legal.

Despite being legal, however, it does bring up ethical concerns, primarily in regard to the possibilities for bribery and unfair access, since most people cannot afford the $100,000 initiation fees that many of the club members can. Another such case is that of Jay Vroom, CEO of a pesticide trade group that convinced the government not to ban the insecticide chlorpyrifos, which has been linked with neurological development delays in children. Vroom admitted to seeing the president once since he took office.

USA Today did a thorough and detailed story on Trump. In a section at the end of the article entitled “How we reported this story,” editors explained how reporters tracked down and interviewed as many members of Trumps clubs they could find, making use of a public golfing website where players keep track of their scores, among other sources such as social media posts and news stories. They also interviewed both sides of the story, for the sake of being objective.

From Walter Shaub, resigned director of the Office of Government Ethics, who called the situation “new territory” and expressed concern for the easy access, to Jay Vroom, who claimed to have not spoken to the president about his company’s interests at all. Overall, USA Today excelled at covering every angle of the story in great detail while remaining impartial to either side.

Women use imaginary male biz partner

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By VERONICA SPAGNA

People see what they want to see. I say this because people can subconsciously choose to ignore the truth that is right in front of them.

Penelope Gazin and Kate Dwyer are two female entrepreneurs who founded Witchsy, their own online marketplace for dark humored art. Witchsy is based Los Angeles and is an online community of known and unknown artists where they can connect with each other and grow an audience.

In the start-up process, Penelope and Kate were having difficulties because they were using their own money and did not have a good knowledge in technology. Additionally, the developers and graphic designers they enlisted to help them seemed to have a condescending tone and sexist replies. The two entrepreneurs decided to see what would happen if they added a fake male business partner, Keith Mann.

The difference in the responses Kate and Penelope got while using an imaginary male were extreme. Not only was Keith helped quicker and with better quality assistance, but with a much greater amount of respect.

The sexist environment in the tech world has been an upcoming topic lately. Many reporters when talking about Witchsy and the truth behind sexism, mentioned the public issues involving big companies such as Uber and Google. Women are not taken as seriously as men, and this story is a great example.

The main point that most articles on this issue’s cover are how a non-existent male has gotten a deeper level of respect than two females.

Kate Dyer expressed to Fast company her thoughts: “Wow, are people really going to talk to this imaginary man with more respect than us? But we were like, you know what, this is clearly just part of this world that we’re in right now. We want this and want to make this happen.”

Most articles covered the replies that the two women received from the people enlisted providing the evidence for the rudeness they faced. When Penelope and Kate received replies sometimes the developers would not even call them by name. Answers such as “Listen, girls…”

This story is great evidence for the existing inequality that women face, but this difference in treatment is always denied. Personally, I think that the articles on this story are lacking a response from men on this issue. If possible finding out the reaction that the developers had when they discovered Keith was non-existent.

Unemployment at 4.4 percent in August

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By HEIDI STEINEGGER

The Labor Department released the August figures of hiring and unemployment this morning.

The statistics showed that in August alone, 156,000 jobs, lower than the anticipated 180,000, were created and the unemployment rate reached 4.4 percent, coming up from 4.3 percent in July.

With unemployment near its lowest rate in almost 16 years, the question now shifts from how to lower the unemployment rate to how we can make sure those workers laid off during the recession are re-entering the job market.

While the media typically focuses on numbers and figures when it comes to the unemployment rate in the U.S., I find it more effective to investigate the aftershocks of those numbers and figures in order to assess how the job market is recovering from the recession.

With more job openings available now than ever before in the past 16 years, the number of American adults looking for jobs remains about the same year to year.  Why is that? Could it be that the recession forced many into early retirement? The numbers state otherwise.

In the wake of the Great Recession, millions of would-be retirees continued working much later into their lives. The labor force participation rate among adults at least 55 years old was climbing from the Great Recession up until October 2012 when it leveled off at 40.7 percent.

While many factors are at play with jobs and unemployment, I believe one of them could be the media’s focus towards exactly that, unemployment.  With the unemployment rate at its lowest in the past 16 years, wouldn’t it be better to stop focusing on that number and start mentioning how many jobs are being created every month?

The public is better off being educated about jobs they could be going out and getting, and how many have re-entered the job market after the Great Recession, rather than the overall unemployment rate of the country.

Pandora CEO and co-founder out

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By GABRIELA SANTOS

After a rough weekend, it has been confirmed that Pandora’s CEO and co-founder Tim Westergren will be stepping down as CEO.

Techcrunch reported that Westergren became CEO of Pandora shortly after its founding for two years and stepped back into the role in 2016, stating that Pandora was “on the cusp of realizing an extraordinary vision.”

Due to the recent tumultuousness of the music industry, licensing costs have continued to be a problem for the company, which has struggled to expand outside of the U.S. companies like Spotify and Apple Music have also been putting more pressure on Pandora.

Naveen Chopra, the company’s CFO as of February, will be filling in as interim CFO while the board of directors searches for a replacement.

President Mike Herring and CMO Nick Bartle will also be leaving the company. Westergren’s will also be leaving the board of directors. He will be replaced by Jason Hirschhorn, the CEO of “digital content curation” company ReDEF Group, who worked at Myspace, Sling, and served as MTV’s Chief Digital Officer.

This has been a widely covered topic, especially considering the recent shakeup that happened at Uber. The tech industry is seeing a shift in the kinds of people they need in positions of power, perhaps in an attempt to focus on the newer generations of users.

There is a consensus among people of all levels that the future ahead is wildly unpredictable. Whoever takes over for Pandora will certainly feel that.

Uber initiative aims to improve

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By GABRIELA SANTOS

After what seems like months of crises, Uber has implemented a program called “180 Days of Change.” It announced on Tuesday that the initiative is a pledge to make improvements over the next six months.

The first of those will be giving riders the option to tip drivers. This is something Uber has been adamant about not doing since it started the ride-sharing app. The roll out of this new system will begin Tuesday in Seattle, Minneapolis and Houston and expected to expand to all U.S. cities by the end of July.

Uber co-founder and chairman, Garrett Camp, spoke out about the company’s recent scandals and its contentious relationship with drivers, on Tuesday.

“A friend recently asked me, ‘What went wrong?’ and the answer is that we had not listened well enough to those who got us here … our team and especially our drivers,” wrote Camp in a Medium post titled “Uber’s path forward.”

Along with the new tipping feature, Uber will change it’s free-cancellation policy from five minutes to two. Many drivers had complained about the policy, citing that it was too lenient on riders and causes drivers to operate at a loss.

The story has been picked up by several tech sites like The Verge and TechCrunch, all of them speaking favorably about the new proposed changes. All outlets do seem to agree that this is a clear attempt at changing the current image of Uber, which has decreased in popularity due to its recent scandals.

I believe this is a good start for Uber, and hope that its “180 Days of Change” initiative really does change things for the better. Many people depend on the app for their livelihood, it’s about time that they recognize that.

Camp said that while all companies have growing pains, Uber’s were “much more serious” because of how fast the company grew. “We must update our core values, listen better to employees and riders, and prioritize our drivers,” he wrote in the Medium post.

The future of AI in cargo ships

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By NOELIA GRAHAM

Technology is rapidly expanding and will again be making its way to the high seas.

Japan is set to launch self-navigating cargo ships by 2025.

Nicknamed “smart ships” this artificial intelligence (AI) will be used to navigate the shortest, fastest and most fuel efficient sea routes. It will also be programmed to calculate malfunctions and other problems that could arise at sea.

Mitsui OSK Lines and Nippon Yusen, two Japanese shipping firms, are working with Japan Marine Unitedplan “to split costs and share expertise. Developing the technology is expected to cost tens of billions of yen, or hundreds of millions of dollars, at a minimum,” according to the Nikkei Asian Review.

It is planned that the first few ships will have a small crew on-board to man the vessel in case of any incidents, but the goal is to create completely autonomous ships.

But Japan isn’t the only country investing into autonomous technology for ships. Rolls-Royce which also develops ship engines announced in 2016 that by 2020 there would be unmanned cargo ships.

While the use of this technology is impressive, it’s important to consider what will happen to the many jobs that will be lost due to the complete automation of cargo ships once this AI is shared and implemented to systems all around the world.

A future led by technological innovation is our current reality. So it’s time to start considering how humans will be able to compete with machines.

Reporters miss point with United story

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By AMANDA PRATS

Amid the controversy surrounding the United Airlines passenger who was aggressively dragged off an overbooked United flight a few days ago, a flurry of misinformation has surrounded the identity of the passenger.

Soon after videos of the passenger, not yet identified as Dr. David Dao, being dragged off the plane emerged on the web, news media outlets set out to determine the identity of the passenger. This led to some confusion over there being two Dr. Dao’s, one from Kentucky who had a questionable past, and one from Louisiana.

Reports identifying the passenger as Dr. Dao from Kentucky surfaced and soon news outlets and social media feeds alike were buzzing with commentary over the passenger’s salacious backstory as a doctor who had his medical license suspended for illegally prescribing painkillers, including in exchange for sex.

Questions about the identity of which Dr. Dao was on the plane circulated, with many on social media frustrated at traditional news outlets for reporting on the doctor’s past at all.

The story that should have been the focus of news reporting was simply the mistreatment of a passenger on an overbooked flight; his past was not relevant to the story. Focusing reporting on the doctor’s criminal record serves as an attempt to shift responsibility from United Airlines to the passenger.

Unfortunately, shifting blame to the victim is not unusual in the news cycle, something that has been evidenced through the news coverage of many police brutality stories.

The story was not about the doctor’s past mistakes, but rather should have been about the mistakes made by the airline in their treatment of passengers, the involvement of the law enforcement officer and a discussion of unfair policies practiced by airlines that hurt customers.

Brexit ‘diet’ arises as snacks get smaller

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By VERONICA SPAGNA

What if you were to pay the same amount of money that you usually pay for a bag of M&Ms, but with fewer M&Ms? Well, this is happening in Britain and not only with M&Ms. Because of Brexit, big American food companies have acted under pressure in accordance with the decreasing value of the pound, by diminishing the sizes of their products but leaving it at the same price.

The term Brexit comes from Britain’s decision to exit the European Union. The voting was held June 23 last year and the decision of leaving Europe was a very close call as “exit” won by 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent.

Since June, the pound has dropped 17 percent against the U.S. dollar. This is changing foreign exchange rates and is impacting the cost of commodities, such as ingredients and materials, increasing the price of imported goods such as food and electronics.

The chocolate industry seems to be one of the most impacted, as cocoa is priced in dollars and so producers in the U.K. pay more.

The process of shrinking the packages or decreasing the amount of the product in the packages is called “Shrinkflation.” Firms use shrinkflation hoping that their consumers do not notice, in fact, most of the time consumers do not seem to check the quantity or weight of the product on the packages.

Companies such as PepsiCo and Mars have been downsizing their products to make up for the decrease in values of the pound, which is why reporters in news articles have been calling this situation “Brexit Diet.”

For example, the 160 grams bag of M&Ms has been downsized to a 145 grams bag of M&Ms, but has remained the same price. Another example is the bags of Doritos, Tostitos, and Fritos, which now have 20 percent fewer chips than before but at the same price.

The retail sales have dropped significantly in the U.K. for three consecutive months. Many articles seem to focus mostly on how companies are decreasing the packaging, but not the impact that this is having on the British economy.

There doesn’t seem to be as much coverage on American news sites on this issue. The few American articles that do feature this topic, lack to mention how Brexit and how these current events also impact the American economy. Yes, the dollar is getting stronger, but this only makes American products more expensive outside the country, making them less attractive in the U.K.

Uber’s diversity report focuses on a truth

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By VERONICA SPAGNA

Uber is one of the most important ride-hailing services worldwide. With the value of nearly $70 billion, this company has been having some trouble with its image and its company culture.

Because of its current negative public perception. Uber conducted an internal investigation because of its desire to change. It consequently released a diversity report this Tuesday. This is the first report the company has ever released and it makes sense why it was kept hidden.

Uber clearly needs to step up its game, especially after the numerous scandals that occurred in the past months. The scandals include cases of female employees being sexually harassed, a viral video showing of Travis Kalanick, the CEO of Uber being disrespectful to a driver, and other unprofessional business practices.

The report shows the diversity of the company employees, not including the Uber drivers as they are freelancers.

The report depicted that nearly 50 percent of Uber’s employees are white, 31 percent are Asian, 8.8% are black, and the other 5.6 percent are Hispanic.

The report also showed that 36 percent of the employees are women, 15 pefcent of tech and 22 percent of leadership positions are held by women.

Uber wants to make progress by being transparent and states that there should be a balance in the ethnicity and sexes in the positions offered by the company.

Many journalists and reporters reacted with no surprise to the unbalance of female employees in Uber. In fact, many seemed to be supportive of the idea that Uber wants to fix this issue. This could be correlated to the fact that the diversity in numerous tech companies is very unbalanced and most employees, especially in higher positions consist of white males.

It’s not just Uber that has a low level of diversity. Many articles mentioned that tech companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple and more, seem to have very similar numerical figures. For example, 67 percent of Facebook employees are men, 69 percent of Google employees are men, and so on.

The focus of most articles that I read on the issue did not focus on criticizing Uber but focused on the lack of diversity in many tech companies. Some titles of articles based on Uber’s first diversity report were: ‘Uber’s first diversity report reveals no surprises.’ Another article title on the topic ‘Uber looks like the rest of tech: White, Asian and male.’

Tech companies and their importance in our developing world continue to become more important.

Largest cruise ship coming to Miami

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By ALISON GOEBEL

The world’s largest cruise ship is set to sail out of the cruise capitol of the world, PortMiami in November 2018.

This cruise ship, Symphony of the Seas, will be the fourth Oasis class ship from Royal Caribbean.

Symphony of the Seas comes in at 230,000 gross tons, is 215.5 feet wide, 1,188 feet long, and has a cruising speed of 22 knots (25 miles per hour). The ship will also hold 6,780 guests in 2,775 rooms and have 15 dining options.

Before she heads to Miami, she’s set to explore several destinations in the Mediterranean including Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Spain; Provence, France; Florence/Pisa Rome and Naples, Italy.

She then arrives at Miami, where she begins seven-night eastern and western Caribbean itineraries.

This is a major breakthrough and milestone, the biggest, largest, most vast cruise ship ever to exist.

Although that this sounds great, and the media certainly portrays it to be so, this doesn’t mean all good things.

About a week prior to this announcement that was made on every local news company and cruise or vacation website, there was breaking news of how a cruise ship ended up scrapping the bottom of the sea beds in Fort Lauderdale and how terrible those ships are for the environment.

But, with that being said, it was quickly forgotten about and trumped by this story “The World’s Largest Cruise Ship Ever Built to Set Sail.”

I think that, in this situation, the news media are definitely skewed, possibly because readers are more interested in these vast Titanic-like ships if you will. Or, it could possibly just be purely for revenue.

Either way, it doesn’t dismiss the fact that cruise ships are very harmful for our environment.

Little do people know that the ships release all of their waste into the sea mid-voyage away from beaches or land.

Not only that but incidents like the one that happened in Fort Lauderdale where it scrapped the bottom of the seabed are far too common.

Stories that are about the environmental impact cruise ships have put those specific companies in check.

The ones that are revolved around the negative factors of cruise ships don’t really get as much attention or popularity compared to ones that focus on the largest cruise ship in the world being launched.

Why? That I still wonder.

Gas prices rising as summer nears

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By ALISON GOEBEL

As soon as we thought gas prices were going down, they’re going up again and this time there’s no escaping it.

A few years ago, people flocked gas stations when gas was under $2. People bought bigger cars thinking that it was going to stay cheap when in reality, it only lasted about a year.

Ever since then, gas prices have been rising slowly but steadily, with jumps here and there between 30 cents to 70 cents a gallon.

In places like South Florida, that’s where I notice it the most.

There are multiple reasons as to why gas prices rise. One of them is, due to the emissions during the winter compared to the summer, hotter weather, they try and change the way gas is formulated to its less of an impact on the environment.

This has a huge impact on traveling, especially for spring break and Memorial Day weekend.

Flights these days could be very cheap, but during this time of year, it’s pretty hard to find those.

I think this is a very typical story that has been around for a long time. There really isn’t a lot to cover on gas prices rising other than … they’re rising, duh!

But, with that said, it’s a necessity for people to know or be aware of if they’re planning on traveling or taking a vacation during these times because they need to know if it’s going to be more expensive due to the time of year they’re looking to travel.

I don’t think this is a very hard topic to cover and you can find articles like this written anywhere in our country in any state or city.

Retail stores experience decline

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By: SHELLIE FRAI

After years of taking center stage as the stand-out example of a retail store for young consumers, Urban Outfitters shares plummet to a new low as sales fall short of expectations.

Nasty Gal, the e-commerce store that was once a booming mecca for young online shoppers, recently felt the same decline of sales. Except, unlike Urban Outfitters, Nasty Gal was unable to turn its low sales into profits and earlier this year the e-commerce store was forced to file for bankruptcy.

The decline of established retail stores come at a time when social media outlets like Instagram and Facebook and online marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy make it easier for consumers to become the producers.

Instagram and Facebook, as well as Amazon and Etsy, allow ordinary people to start online businesses and stores with a click of a button.

By registering your account as a business, one can easily start posting handmade clothing, jewelry and even furniture to their pages for sale.

Bagatiba, Same Swimwear, Gisou and The Blonde Salad Shop are all retail stores created on social media and all have a following of over 50,000 people.

On these social media outlets and online marketplaces, one can even buy ad space to promote their merchandise to their target audiences.

Because of the accessibility and uniqueness of handmade garments and items, many fast-fashion stores like Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap and J. Crew are losing long-time customers that now prefer to stay at home to shop rather than make a trip to the mall.

Established retail stores are trying new ways to get customers back into their stores.

Urban Outfitters is set on making their stores a place to not only shop, but get your hair done and have lunch. Abercrombie & Fitch switched from their typical preppy polos and khakis to maxi-dresses and bohemian blouses that are severely marked down.

However, their efforts are not gaining the reception they need to compete with the online marketplaces. The retail stores sales keep declining while as of early February, Amazon’s revenue increased 22 percent, according to investing website, fool.com.

Only time will tell if brick-and-mortar stores will keep up with the allure of e-commerce shops.

Miami-Dade continues to be costly

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By COURTNEY ADELMAN

Miami remains one of the top 10 most expensive cities in which to live.

Miami-Dade County ranked ninth in the country for the most expensive rents with an average of $1,800 for a one bedroom and $2,500 for a two bedroom, according to the latest Zumper National Rent Report for February, which is  a monthly analysis that looks at more than 1 million currently  active listings across the county’s top 100 markets.

It is about twice as expensive to rent an apartment in a place like San Antonio or in cities in South Carolina.

It is three times more expensive than staying in Oklahoma in a one bedroom apartment In Oklahoma City or Cleveland.

According to The Miami Herald, “Rents in the county range from as high as $5,100 on average in millionaire-thick Fisher Island to $700 in Brownsville, which is still higher than a third of the average rents in the country’s top 100 markets. ”

Rent will continue to be an upward trend. So think wisely on where to love. The amazing beaches, clubs, and food might just be worth it to live at such a high price.

Cheers for a future fair wage

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By ANDREA HUETE

Four former NFL cheerleaders are tackling the league this week over unfair wages. The four women filed a lawsuit against the NFL and named 26 teams that they say planned to underpay and make salaries non-negotiable. They’re seeking between $100 million to $300 million worth of damages.

Cheerleaders appear in much more than just the games. Some teams plan multiple mandatory events throughout season, that the cheerleaders are required to be at. The routines for the games, as well as halftime performances, are all rehearsed at other points during the week. It is claimed in the lawsuit that there have been instances where NFL cheerleaders were not paid for their mandatory appearances nor their rehearsal time.

This lawsuit is not the first time the cheerleaders have targeted the NFL. In 2014, a class action lawsuit filed by members of the Raiderettes against the NFL’s Oakland Raiders resulted in $1.25 million worth of damages. This 2014 lawsuit also forced a new California law into effect, recognizing professional cheerleaders as employees and providing them with certain ethical benefits such as overtime and sick pay.

Let’s break down these numbers. The NFL has 32 teams that have a combined value of $74.8 billion in 2016 according to Forbes. NFL players made $6.4 billion of that value in 2016. NFL mascots are on salary with benefits and can earn between $25,000 and $60,000 per year. NFL cheerleaders are on an hourly pay, with the highest of that pay going to the team captains at $15 per hour.

It doesn’t stop there. Just as the players can get fined, the cheerleaders can get fined too. NFL cheerleaders receive a lump sum for their efforts at the end of the season with fines taken out. With such a small wage to begin with, none of the cheerleaders are pulling a Odell Beckham, Jr., and writing the NFL a check for $50,000.

Most of these beautiful girls are using this extremely demanding job as a supplement to another job, or even school.The 2017 Pro-Bowl cheerleaders contained graduates in industrial engineering (Ravens, Dana), business marketing (Buccaneers, Chelsea), psychology (Patriots, Hannah), music business (Titans, Anne), health science (Eagles, Amanda), and Toni of the Denver Broncos even has her masters in counseling psychology … and this is just the pro team! You go girls!

Now that the Super Bowl is over, hopefully the league can turn its attention to the channel of fair wage and equal pay for women.

Tommy Hilfiger takes on Los Angeles

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By ISABELLA HALILI

Only a day before New York Fashion Week began, fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger decided to hold a fashion event of his own in Los Angeles. It showcased a modernized late 90’s and early 2000’s style of oversized sports jerseys, cropped sweatshirts, patched up jeans, and leather shorts.

The show was centered around their reveal of Hilfiger’s new collaboration line with supermodel, Gigi Hadid for the next fashion season. More designers have recently decided to bring shows to the Los Angeles area for the extra space and laid-back vibe the city can bring to a show.

Many news media outlets such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and Vogue reported about this event. Vogue focused on the fashion, while the New York Times focused on all sorts of fashion events happening in Los Angeles this week.

Not only well known celebrities, such as Gigi Hadid, Lady Gaga, and Fergie were at this event, but also social media personalities like Cameron Dallas and Nash Grier were able to attend the show.

Along with his runway surprise, Hilfiger hosted a carnival-styled festival called Tommyland to celebrate the new collection. Industry professionals and consumers partied together with food trucks, pop-up shops and carnival rides. Fergie performed for the crown of about 3,000 guests at this carnival.

Nordstrom drops Ivanka Trump products

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By ISABELLA HALILI

Nordstrom is a luxury department store that has removed the Ivanka Trump brand online and in stores. It claims to have made this decision based off the brand’s poor performance in recent months.

Nordstrom hopes that its decision to sell or not to sell Ms. Trump’s brand, now and in the future, is no indication of its political affiliation. It’s all business. If the store keeps buying products that don’t sell, that money just goes to waste.

Poor performance is not the only factor in the ending of Ms. Trump’s brand in Nordstrom stores. The initial move to end the brand’s appearance in stores came from the public. The campaign called #GrabYourWallet made a huge effort in making this possible. This campaign encourages shoppers to boycott any products that have any tie to President Trump or his family.

Shannon Coulter, the co-founder of the campaign, said that supporting certain brands that have ties to President Trump are in turn supporting him.

Nordstrom is not the only business to pull products from its stores. Macy’s is another department store that decided back in 2015 to stop selling President Trump’s dress shirts after he used rude language to generalize about Mexican immigrants.

I don’t think it’s a company’s duty to take a political stance in any situation, but at the place we are now as a country, it’s hard for them not to take one.

Starbucks cups filled with controversy

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By MADISON BROWN

Starbucks released a new cup on Tuesday to symbolize unity during this election season.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said the cup is meant to remind people of “shared values and the need to be good to each other.”

The newly unveiled cup features an illustration of more than 100 people in one stroke. However, unlike the usual red holiday cups Starbucks hands out around this time, the new cup is green — and people are not happy about it.

Instead of bringing people together, the cups sparked outrage on social media.

screen-shot-2016-11-04-at-12-38-48-amLast year, people were equally as upset after Starbucks changed its typically Christmas-themed red cups into more simplistic, religiously inclusive red cups, again taking to social media to express their disappointment.

Clearly, people are serious about the color of the cup their coffee is in and they are not fond of the company messing with it. The #TeamRedCup people have been vocal about their opinions.

Photos of new 2016 red Starbucks cups have been surfacing on social media, as well as shipping boxes in Starbucks stores, labeled “No Peeking Until November 10th.”

The leaked photographs have led to speculation that Starbucks will in fact release the coveted red cups after Election Day.

Maybe the return of the red cup will bring the peace and unity Starbucks was striving for in the first place.

Convergence of news media platforms

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By MARISSA VONESH

Beginning Nov. 14, the Wall Street Journal will debut a new version of its print edition after a decline in print advertising.

The paper will combine different sections due to a reduction in pages.

The Business & Tech and Money & Investing sections will be combined into one section. Likewise, the art, lifestyle, sports and cultural news will be incorporated into a section dubbed Life & Arts. Futhermore, the Greater New York section will be minimized in size.

The Wall Street Journal‘s move is not unlike other print-based news media. The decline in print advertising is affecting newspapers across the nation. Companies are investing more time and energy into digital platforms and less in print publications.

Although there will always be a market for print, it is necessary for print news media to adapt to the trends of the time. Because digital platforms are increasing in popularity, companies need to develop new techniques to deliver stories to their audiences.

The issue with online news, however, is that the editing process can be mitigated. Online news media are published with the immediacy that readers expect, but often not for the better. Although sites can update articles in an instant, the issue of posting inaccurate information increases with digital news media in comparison to print (which is edited thoroughly).

On the other hand, focusing more on digital platform can allow for companies to invest more in content. Page numbers are no longer a problem, cross collaboration happens in an instant and articles can be updated with new information.

As long as news sources continue to produce quality content, investing in online endeavors may be the only thing companies can do to survive in the modern media world.