German aviation sector calls for air travel taxes to be cut

Travel

Germany’s aviation sector called for taxes on air travel to be slashed on Sunday.It comes after Ryanair and Eurowings recently scaled back services to and from Germany, citing high costs.

“Flying has to remain affordable,” German Aviation Association president Jens Bischof said in remarks published by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

“The air transport tax must be abolished. Sweden has shown the way,” said Bischof, who is also the CEO of Eurowings.High costs render German airports uncompetitive To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Germany increases air travel tax

Germany has some of the highest airport fees in Europe.

But one particularly contentious fee has been an air travel tax that the government increased in May 2024.

The tax now adds between €15 ($16) and €70 ($76) per ticket, depending on the distance.

The measure was introduced for environmental reasons but it has now been earmarked for other purposes too.

zc/jcg (dpa, AFP)

Scientists have built an ‘electric tongue’ using AI with human taste

Science and Health

AI is creeping into our lives more and more, and its long list of bizarre has included creating bizarre celebrity spoofs to ‘hacking’ dating apps and creating entire musical albums. But its latest application might be the most surprising yet.Scientists have created a new “electronic tongue” using a system powered by artificial intelligence which is designed with food safety in mind.The device is the subject of a new study in the journal Nature.The contraption, which is designed to test the freshness of foods, used an ion-sensitive field-effect transistor to act as an artificial tongue. In turn, the artificial neural network powered by AI was used to act as a replacement for the region in the brain which perceives taste – the gustatory cortex.Saptarshi Das is an engineer at Penn State University and study co-author. Das said: “We’re trying to make an artificial tongue, but the process of how we experience different foods involves more than just the tongue.”We have the tongue itself, consisting of taste receptors that interact with food species and send their information to the gustatory cortex — a biological neural network.”The research involved using the artificial neural network to help identify acidity, and it had an accuracy of more than 95 per cent in its analysis.Further application showed that the device could tell the difference between different soft drinks and blends of coffee. It could also find harmful per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water.”We found that the network looked at more subtle characteristics in the data — things we, as humans, struggle to define properly,” Das said in a statement. “And because the neural network considers the sensor characteristics holistically, it mitigates variations that might occur day-to-day.”Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletterHow to join the Indy100’s free WhatsApp channelHave your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the Indy100 rankings

Photo Report: Cathay Pacific’s New Aria Suite Business Class

Business News

Join me on the Cathay Pacific Aria Suite Flight to experience their new Business Class. The Boeing 777 has gone through a complete makeover from the front to the back.

Video

[embedded content]

HAECO Hangar Reveal

The new cabin experience was introduced at a special ceremony for customers, guests and members of the media and Cathay employees at Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited’s (HAECO) hangar facility at Hong Kong International Airport on 16 October.

The first B777-300/ER aircraft with refitted cabin is B-KPO, a 14 year old B777.

The three cabin 777-300ERs will have 361 seats, including 45 business class seats, 48 premium economy seats, and 268 economy seats.

Cathay Pacific’s retrofitted 777-300ER seat map

Here’s my visit and glance of the new cabin:

“As part of this evolution, we are excited to introduce new seat products over the next three years.

First, we are launching our all-new Business and Premium Economy cabins, and a refreshed Economy cabin on our retrofitted Boeing 777-300ER.

These will be followed by a new world-leading First class experience onboard our 777-9s, and a brand-new flat-bed Business class product on our Airbus A330s.”
Cathay Group Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau

Tour of the Retrofitted B777-300/ER Aircraft

Cathay Pacific Aria Suite Business Class Seat

Cathay Pacific Aria Suite Business Class Seat

Cathay Pacific Aria Suite Business Class Seat

Cathay Pacific Aria Suite Business Class Seat

Cathay also has a new Premium Economy seat installed on their B777-300/ER. The popular Premium Economy section has expanded now to 6 rows with a total of 48 seats.

Harris tries to earn back Big Tech after feeling burned by Biden

Technology

Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign is determined to make inroads with tech industry leaders, who say they felt burned by the policies of President Joe Biden. Silicon Valley leaders were historically viewed as a Democratic voting bloc and helped President Barack Obama win in 2008. Now, some key tech leaders, most notably Elon Musk, have flocked to supporting former President Donald Trump’s third bid for the presidency. In Harris’s push to win them back, she and her allies are trying to convince top tech executives and investors that her policies will be different than that of Biden’s, according to the Washington Post.Harris is not making hard promises many tech people are eager to see, some of which include dismissing appointees the Big Tech industry sees as hostile, people familiar with the meetings told the outlet. According to Dallas Mavericks owner and Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban, some of the courting has worked.“They have been public about wanting to take input wherever they can regardless of party affiliation,” Cuban said of Harris’s team. “That is 180 degrees from where it had been.”Many tech investors have been unhappy with the Biden administration’s policies, including its adoption of antitrust policies, which they claim stall acquisitions, their harsh stance on artificial intelligence, which they claim harms innovation, and their enforcement in the cryptocurrency industry.Harris’s allies have been busy in their quest to win back the tech industry. On Monday, Harris’s brother-in-law and Uber’s chief legal officer, Tony West, visited New York for meetings with business leaders, including Fred Wilson, a prominent cryptocurrency investor. Then, on Friday, he appeared at a Washington fundraiser co-chaired by Karen Dunn, a key Harris adviser who is representing Google in court against the Department of Justice. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) will be at a Harris fundraiser in Seattle co-hosted by David Zapolsky, the general counsel of Amazon. Amazon is also entangled in antitrust litigation with the Federal Trade Commission.Before the outreach to the tech industry, the Democratic Party was at risk of losing the support of the next generation of start-up founders, according to a cryptocurrency executive who attended a meeting with West who spoke with the Post.Featured Local Savings“They’ve grown up with a Democratic Party that, on average, considers tech entrepreneurship and the [venture capital] ecosystem nothing to celebrate,” the executive said, giving them the “sentiment that the Democratic Party just doesn’t value what they’re pursuing with their life.”The Harris campaign has sought Silicon Valley’s input on its policies. Before Harris spoke in late September in front of the Economic Club of Pittsburgh, West spoke with leaders of the crypto industry, who told him they were unsure if a Harris administration would be “just as hostile toward emerging tech” as they viewed Biden to be. The executives West spoke with proposed that Harris could forge a different path by referring to crypto as a frontier technology, like AI.Then, in her speech, Harris promised that the country under a Harris administration would “remain dominant in AI and quantum computing, blockchain and other emerging technologies,” which was her first clear nod to the tech industry as a candidate.Harris’s policies in the tech world typically focus on inclusivity, data protection, net neutrality, and expanding broadband access. Still, Harris has to hold together her coalition which includes liberal Democrats who have been outspoken about corporate concentration and called for the breakup of major tech companies like Google and Amazon.It’s unclear exactly how Harris’s technology politics will be different from those of Biden. She has not said if she plans to retain Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, who has been forceful in antitrust measures against Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon.CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINERStill, one of the largest wins for the tech and science sectors during the Biden administration has been the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, which provided funding for research and development for environmental projects, clean energy and American manufacturing of semiconductors.Trump’s policies would most likely walk back some protections for consumers put in place by the Biden administration, for example, the electric vehicle challenge. His platform also places a lot of focus on what Trump considers “illegal censorship” by Big Tech companies, most notably X, formerly Twitter, which banned Trump for “risk of further incitement of violence,” after the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on the U.S. Capitol.

My Favorite Horror Movie Performance Is Just as Funny as It Is Terrifying

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

MoviesMy favorite performance in a horror movie is Jack Nicholson’s scary-funny turn in ‘The Shining’. While many fans just see Nicholson’s Jack Torrance as terrifying, the character has comedic overtones.

Published on October 20, 2024

2 min read

Horror and comedy and more similar than people realize, as they both revolve around timing and violating norms. My favorite performance in a horror movie is Jack Nicholson’s scary-funny turn in The Shining. While many fans just see Nicholson’s Jack Torrance as terrifying, I think the character has comedic overtones that helped make the movie a classic.
My favorite horror movie performance is as surreal as can be
Horror isn’t always the most critically acclaimed genre, but it has given us some superb performances. Anthony Perkins in Psycho, Marilyn Burns in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs are all electrifying. However, Nicholson stands out — even among those luminaries.
In The Shining, Nicholson overacts to the point where some of his acting choices are downright surreal. That fits well with the tone of the movie, which becomes progressively more off-kilter as it goes on. Furthermore, Nicholson’s acting is an assault on the senses. When he starts screaming his son’s name towards the end of The Shining, it feels like he’s screaming directly at the audience.

[embedded content]

Why my favorite horror movie performance works as comedy
There’s also an inherent humor to overacting. Something about exaggerating emotions to the nth degree will always be funny. For that reason, Nicholson’s line reads and facial expressions can feel clownish and amusing. 
And yet, the humor only adds to the horror. Since Nicholson’s performance is so bizarre, it reaches a point where the audience doesn’t know what he’ll do next. Will he camp it up or send chills down our spines? Much of the film relies on a fear of the unknown, and The Shining never lets the audience know what to expect, narratively or stylistically.
In the hands of a lesser actor, Torrance would be impossible to play. However, Nicholson handles the film’s varying tones with aplomb. As the years go on, The Shining may be regarded as his best work. 

[embedded content]

A member of ‘The Shining”s crew explains how Jack Nicholson upset Stanley Kubrick
Bob Tanswell was an electrician who worked on The Shining. In a 2016 article from The Guardian, Tanswell discussed the dynamic between Nicholson and director Stanley Kubrick on set. “I’d heard of Stanley Kubrick but didn’t realize how special he was,” Tanswell said. “He’d do 150 takes of a simple scene. He knew everybody’s job.”
Tanswell said Kubrick’s reputation preceded him. “Some people were scared of him because he could make or break a career,” he said. “Not Jack, though. Jack called him ‘Stan’ to wind him up. You could call him Stanley, Mr. Kubrick, or Guv, just not Stan. But they liked each other.”
Nicholson didn’t take his work on The Shining overly seriously. “One time, Jack said he had done his back in and needed a few days off,” Tanswell recalled. “That’s a lot of time when you’re shooting a big film, but Stanley said ‘OK.’ The next day, we were in the sparks room watching Wimbledon [Championships] when Stanley walks in. He asks what we’re up to and as he turns to look at the telly, there he is: Jack Nicholson sat in the crowd with a girl on either side. Stanley went mad.”
Nicholson knew how to make Kubrick livid — and how to make the audience laugh and scream.

Spoiler alert: Barrie library’s first fall book a big success

Arts & Culture, Books

Visitors to the Barrie Public Library don’t typically come expecting to spend money to get a new book, but that was not the case this weekend.

With a lineup lineup weaving its way from the doors of the Angus Ross room, through the lobby of the downtown branch and past the reception desk, the library’s first ever fall pop-up sale was looking like a success, acknowledged Katelyn Lees, philanthropy and resource development specialist for the library.

“It’s organized by our volunteers and it’s a healthy blend of community donations as well as some weeded materials from our collection throughout the last few months. It’s a big one-day sale where the community is invited into our downtown branch for a treasure hunt experience if you will,” she said, adding they’ve been hosting a similar event in the spring.

“With our Spring multi-day sale we do get quite a line up (but) We weren’t sure what to expect with this one. The community certainly loves their library and they love to show up for the book sale and we love seeing the support.”

Barrie resident Megan Malacki considers herself a pretty avid reader and said she wanted to come out and support the local library. 

“I wanted to check out what they had in terms of adding to my own collection,” she said, telling BarrieToday she typically enjoys romance novels. “I am just here browsing but mostly to support the library.”

Thousands of books were up for grabs before the doors opened at 10 a.m. ranging in cost from fifty cents up to $3 dollars for some Blue Ray disks, and books were categorized by softcover and hardcover, with a few sub-categories to help sort cook books, crafts and hobbies, travel as well as a large children and youth area, said Lees.

“All of the proceeds from today’s sale go towards the Barrie Public Library’s future branches campaign,” she added.

The library’s previous multi-day Big Spring Book Sales have raised over $4,000 in 2023 and $5,000 in 2024, respectively.

The reason superhero films might actually be good for society: study

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

Superheroes are saving the real world, too.

A study published in The Journal of Psychology in August found that superhero movies can promote prosocial behavior — actions that benefits other people or society as a whole.

Researchers wanted to see how the films that are typically filled with violence affect viewers in terms of empathy and moral reasoning.

Gal Gadot in “Wonder Woman.” AP

The study involved two experiments, each with 200 Brazilian participants, who were assigned to either an experimental group or control group. Those in the experimental group watched a 3-minute and 47-second clip from 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” where Ben Affleck’s Batman rescues a captured woman from armed villains.

The control group, meanwhile, watched a video of colorful shapes forming various patterns.

Explore More

All participants then had to complete a prosocial behavior task, which involved them distributing pieces of chocolates to future participants. Their measure of prosocial behavior was determined based on how many chocolates they doled out.

Chris Hemsworth in “Thor: The Dark World.” AP

In addition, the participants’ levels of empathy were measured after watching the videos. The scale has three types of empathy: affective empathy (sharing someone else’s feelings), cognitive empathy (understanding someone else’s feelings), and associative empathy (relating to someone else based on their feelings).

The second experiment involved moral justification, where participants had to decide if they thought Batman was justified being violent in the film.

The results discovered that participants who watched the scene in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” had higher levels of empathy. They had the highest associative empathy, meaning they related to Batman getting violent to save someone.

Anthon Mackie, Paul Rudd, Jeremy Renner, Chris Evans, Elizabeth Olsen and Sebastian Stan in “Captain America: Civil War.” AP

However, the participants who watched the clip from the film didn’t give a significant amount of more chocolate than the participants who watched the video of the colorful shapes.

Still, the superhero group scored higher on the empathy scale overall.

Chadwick Boseman in “Avengers: Infinity War.” Walt Disney Co./courtesy Everett / Everett Collection

Meanwhile, the second study found that moral reasoning played a big part in the prosocial behavior tests. Participants in the superhero ground found Batman’s actions to be moral and justified, and thus were more likely to do things to help other people.

The study did point out some flaws from the results, such as possible distractions that may have occurred when participants were watching the videos.

It was also mentioned that the chocolate distribution was the only prosocial behavior task used in the study, and that task is not the deciding factor in determining prosocial actions in the real world.

Scarlett Johansson in “Black Widow.” AP

Last year, a different study from the International Journal of Research found that superhero movies have various negative affects on viewers, including increased aggression, decreased attention span, decreased critical thinking skills, increased anxiety and stress, decreased physical activity, sexism, racism, and more.

However, this latest study from The Journal of Psychology, which was authored by Isabella Leandra Silva Santos and Carlos Eduardo Pimentel, shows that there are far more positives to watching superhero movies than most people have probably realized.

And besides the rare exceptions like “Joker 2,” most superhero films like “Deadpool and Wolverine” are continuing to enjoy success at the theater after all these years.

NWI Business Ins and Outs: Pop’s Italian Beef & Sausage, Til Valhalla, Sante Fe Mexican Restaurant and Fuerte Mexican Restaurant opening; Petey’s Bungalow closing after 60 years

Business News

Pop’s Italian Beef & Sausage, the purveyor of Chicagoland favorites with the slogan “get your beef on,” will open its latest Northwest Indiana location in Portage. The chain — similar to Portillo’s or Buona Beef — is known for its Italian beef, Italian sausage, Chicago-style hot dogs, tamales, Maxwell Street Polishes, pizza puffs, gyros and other Chicago street food. Franchise owner Phil Cryns, who owns the Pop’s in Cedar Lake, and his sister Theresa Easterday are opening the new Pop’s Beef at 6475 U.S. 6 in Portage. It will be drive-through-only.It’s a family tradition. Their father also owns multiple Pop’s restaurants.The drive-thru restaurant is located on the busy U.S. 6 corridor, Portage’s main retail drag. It’s targeting a Nov. 18 opening date.Pop’s Beef has 17 locations, including in Dyer, Crown Point and Cedar Lake. It has restaurants in Homewood, Orland, Palos Heights, Sauk Village, Joliet, Lockport and Romeoville in the south suburbs.

People are also reading…

The expansive menu also includes burgers, chicken sandwiches, corned beef, Reubens, meatball sandwiches, Philly cheese steaks, tuna melts and cheese curds.For more information, visit popsbeef.com.Returning soonTil Valhalla is planning a return to LaPorte.Marine Corps veteran Karl Creech ran the restaurant in the American Legion in LaPorte but is now looking to reopen in a standalone brick-and-mortar location.The restaurant, named after the Marine motto “until we meet again” that derives from an old Viking war cry, is looking to open in a former gas station at 310 State St. The 1,000-square-foot building also was a tattoo shop and office.”Til Valhalla is what Marines say when they pass,” he said. “Valhalla is a warrior-oriented heaven for those who fight and die in battle. It’s a nod to service members.”Til Valhalla specializes in Chicagoland fare, including burgers and Italian beef.”It started off with me getting tired of working in restaurants,” he said. “The American Legion had an opening in their kitchen and I wanted to honor my veteran heritage and honor vets. It dawned on me that if veterans owned a McDonald’s in their city they would have so much more funds to do good things. You could start locations all over the country and get a huge profit to put into goodwill charities.”Creech served for a year in the Marines at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri before being discharged for medical reasons. He specialized in motor transport.He began cooking at restaurants like Red Door Fire Kitchen + Lounge, Lucrezia and Growlers in Memphis.He plans to serve smashburgers, Italian beef, chili, fries, chili cheese fries, grilled cheese, jalapeno poppers, mozzarella sticks, pretzel bites and other fast food items.”My smashburgers are faster and they provide more flavor,” he said. “They’re crispy dark brown with caramelization on the edges. They turn protein, fat and sugar into hamburger candy. They’re smaller patties so we just flip them over when they’re done and smash them.”Beverage options will include scratch-made pop, fruit juice and carbonated water.”My burger would challenge any of the main chains,” he said. “I would challenge all the fast food burgers like the Whopper at Burger King. We’re focused on the burger because it’s the most profitable food in America and I make one that’s very, very tasty. We’ll start with a small menu and work up to a full-blown menu.”He hopes the restaurant will be successful enough to help out homeless, jobless and struggling veterans.”We want to honor those who served,” he said. “The food in our kitchen is made by people with skills, who take the efforts very seriously and perform everything to a Marine Corps standard. They work together and cooperate very well. The food comes out very good. It’s never bland.”Sante Fe Mexican Restaurant and Bar, an eatery specializing in traditional Mexican cuisine, opened a second restaurant in Crown Point.The sit-down Mexican restaurant has a Dyer location at 14825 101st Ave. It’s known for fajitas, margaritas, taquitos, enchiladas, burritos, sopapillas with ice cream and other Mexican fare.It recently opened at 1500 E. Summit St. in Crown Point. The menu includes carne asada tacos, steak tacos, chile relleno, a fajita taco salad and the Steak Sante Fe Bowl.Santa Fe Restaurant & Bar opened its first Northwest Indiana location in 2021 in a new strip mall on busy 101st Avenue in a fast-growing residential area. It aimed to offer an upscale dining experience in a family-friendly setting.The new Crown Point location is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.For more information, call 219-213-2358.Coming soonFuerte Restaurant will soon open its third location in Hammond.The city will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the new Fuerte Restaurant & Ice Cream at 5851 Calumet Ave.It’s the third location in Hammond for the Fuerte family. They also own Fuerte Meat Market at 3811 Hohman Ave., a Mexican grocery store with a small restaurant just north of downtown, and Restaurant Fuerte at 6949 Indianapolis Boulevard in the Woodmar neighborhood. Both are well-known for their $1 tacos.Fuerte’s newest location is in the former home of Ligia’s Restaurant Cafe and Castillos Philly Steaks at 5851 Calumet Ave. It’s just north of Hammond City Hall and across the street from Hammond Central High School, both of which are expected to provide regular business.It will be Fuerte’s first location with a drive-thru and first with an ice cream parlor.All three locations offer the same menu of tacos, tortas and burritos and other Mexican fare. Proteins include steak, pork and chicken, as well as carnitas on the weekends. It also will have a pot of menudo simmering on the weekends.The south suburban supper club Petey’s Bungalow in Oak Lawn shuttered after more than six decades in “the end of an era.”The vintage Southland steakhouse at 4401 95th St. in Oak Lawn offered a nostalgic supper club dining experience and was known for its steaks, seafood, highballs, martinis and massive neon sign.Owners Petey and Mary Kattos founded the longtime institution in 1961. Petey Kattos, now 91, decided to retire after his wife died.”From humble beginnings to becoming a cherished local, family run business, we have been privileged to serve generations of families and our community. We witnessed the growth of our community and surrounding areas and successfully navigated through changing times, challenges, a pandemic, all while staying true to our core values and supper club dining concept,” the owners posted on social media. “We reached many milestones and survived countless adversities along the way. For our restaurant to thrive and survive for 63 years is one of our family’s proudest accomplishments. We have proven a local, family-owned independent restaurant and small business can flourish and stand the test of time. We have achieved a place in Oak Lawn’s history.”Petey Kattos, a Greek immigrant, said he and his wife were able to live the American Dream. He thanked all the customers and employees from other the years.”The spirit of the Bungalow will continue to live on in the stories we share when reminiscing about the good ole days. We will cherish the memories. The Bungalow has been more than just another restaurant. Since 1961, it has been a cornerstone of this community, a testament to hard work, dedication, and unwavering commitment to excellence. This decision was not made lightly and comes at a time when we celebrate the achievements and milestones which shaped Bungalow’s legacy built not only on the quality of our brand and offerings, but also on the relationships nurtured through the years and contribution we made in our community,” the owners posted on social media. “The Bungalow has been more than just a place to eat; it’s been a gathering spot, a home away from home for some, and a place where countless memories were made. Thank you to everyone who walked through our doors and shared a meal with us.”
If you would like your business to be included in a future column, email [email protected].

0 Comments

#lee-rev-content { margin:0 -5px; }
#lee-rev-content h3 {
font-family: inherit!important;
font-weight: 700!important;
border-left: 8px solid var(–lee-blox-link-color);
text-indent: 7px;
font-size: 24px!important;
line-height: 24px;
}
#lee-rev-content .rc-provider {
font-family: inherit!important;
}
#lee-rev-content h4 {
line-height: 24px!important;
font-family: “serif-ds”,Times,”Times New Roman”,serif!important;
margin-top: 10px!important;
}
@media (max-width: 991px) {
#lee-rev-content h3 {
font-size: 18px!important;
line-height: 18px;
}
}

#pu-email-form-business-email-article {
clear: both;

background-color: #fff;

color: #222;

background-position: bottom;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
padding: 15px 0 20px;
margin-bottom: 40px;
border-top: 4px solid rgba(0,0,0,.8);
border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,.2);

display: none;

}
#pu-email-form-business-email-article,
#pu-email-form-business-email-article p {
font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, “Segoe UI”, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, “Apple Color Emoji”, “Segoe UI Emoji”, “Segoe UI Symbol”;
}
#pu-email-form-business-email-article h2 {
font-size: 24px;
margin: 15px 0 5px 0;
font-family: “serif-ds”, Times, “Times New Roman”, serif;
}
#pu-email-form-business-email-article .lead {
margin-bottom: 5px;
}
#pu-email-form-business-email-article .email-desc {
font-size: 16px;
line-height: 20px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
opacity: 0.7;
}
#pu-email-form-business-email-article form {
padding: 10px 30px 5px 30px;
}
#pu-email-form-business-email-article .disclaimer {
opacity: 0.5;
margin-bottom: 0;
line-height: 100%;
}
#pu-email-form-business-email-article .disclaimer a {
color: #222;
text-decoration: underline;
}
#pu-email-form-business-email-article .email-hammer {

border-bottom: 3px solid #222;

opacity: .5;
display: inline-block;
padding: 0 10px 5px 10px;
margin-bottom: -5px;
font-size: 16px;
}
@media (max-width: 991px) {
#pu-email-form-business-email-article form {
padding: 10px 0 5px 0;
}
}
.grecaptcha-badge { visibility: hidden; }

The business news you need
Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.

Thousands protest in Spain’s Canary Islands against over tourism

Travel

By Borja SuarezGRAN CANARIA, Spain (Reuters) – Thousands of people protested in holiday resorts in Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday against over tourism which they say prices local people out of the housing market.Under the slogan Canary Islands has a limit, residents demonstrated simultaneously in Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and El Hierro and called for a change in the tourism model for the islands.In the Playa de las Americas in Tenerife, protesters appeared on the beach while tourists were sunbathing and chanted “This beach is ours.”Activists claimed the arrival of millions of visitors every year depletes limited natural resources like water and damages the environment. At least 8,000 people took part, the Spanish government said.Between January and September, 9.9 million tourists visited the Canary Islands, according to the Spanish National Statistics Institute, 10.3% more than in the same period in 2023. The islands’ population was 2.2 million last year.”We need a change in the tourist model so it leaves richness here, a change so it values what this land has because it is beautiful,” Sara Lopez, 32, told Reuters in Gran Canaria on Sunday.Tourism-dependent Spain has seen a series of protests against over tourism this year in Barcelona, and other popular holiday destinations like Mallorca and Malaga.The Canary Islands regional government drafted a law which is expected to pass this year to toughen the rules on short lets following complaints from locals priced out of the housing market.Newly built properties will be barred from the short-let market and property owners with a permit will have five years to comply with requirements that include granting neighbours the right to object to these permits.The Canary Islands decided to crack down on tourist rents after the number of private renters exploded in recent years.On Saturday, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Valencia to call for more affordable housing, saying tourist flats push up prices.(Reporting by Graham Keeley, additional reporting Borja Suarez, editing by Giles Elgood)

Gulfport business hosts benefit show to raise money for storm victims

Business News

“They need this camaraderie in our community,” Kelly Wright, owner of The North End Taphouse and Kitchen said.

GULFPORT, Fla. — In August, Hurricane Debby tore through Gulfport’s boating community. Next came Hurricane Helene with devastating storm surge and finally Hurricane Milton with more surge and high winds.

The storms gutted both businesses and homes, including Kiki Hancock’s. 

“I’ve shed a lot of tears since Sept. 26th when the storm happened, but mostly tears of joy,” Hancock said.

Hancock said she’s lost everything, but her community has been there to pick her up.

“In the meantime, a good friend of ours let us stay at his house with he and his wife for both storms,” Hancock said.

She added that’s what it means to be Gulfport strong. At the North End Taphouse and Kitchen, Kelly Wright said many people are relaxing for the first time.“I feel like people need this as much as they’re working through everything they’re working through. They need this camaraderie,” Wright said.

Musicians entertained while guests participated in a silent auction and a raffle. All the proceeds go to those who lost everything these last few weeks.

“We’re a community here we’re all friends we all know each other business owners. I’ve been here 20 years to drive down there and see the devastation has been really hard,” Wright said. Many businesses here in the Waterfront District had to close their doors after Hurricane Helene and only a few have been able to reopen after Hurricane Milton. 

But not for long. Grego Anderson said their community will bounce back.

“As soon as my wife and I got here we knew that we wanted to stay here. When you love something like that it’s just like when your child is hurt, or your dog is hurt. You’ll do anything to try and make it feel better,” Anderson said.

The restaurant hopes to raise $10,000. It’s working with The John Prine “Hello in There” Foundation, a nonprofit that has promised to match what they bring in up to $10,000. If you would like to find more information about donating to this cause, click here.

[embedded content]