In the Know

900 American Airlines are taking early retirement or going on leave.
Because of that the airline won’t have to furlough 900 workers like it was planning to do.
Rising gas prices forced the airline to start cutting costs… and flight attendants were first on the list. The next cost to be cut… 15-hundred maintenance jobs and 200 pilots. The attendants are expected to leave by August 31st.

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American Airlines is dealing with another problem in New York today.
A computer glitch in a baggage handling system at Kennedy Airport has forced the airline to sort baggage by hand. About 20 flights have been delayed.
Passengers are being given the option of flying without their bags.
The airline promises to deliver the delayed luggage once the issue is resolved.

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Since 1993, advertising revenue at UT’s Darrel K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium has increased from $570 thousand to $10 million, according to the University’s athletics department. That amount of revenue is expected to increase after the stadium’s renovation and 10,000 seat additions are completed. Another reason for increase in revenue is UT’s 10-year revenue-sharing agreement with IMG College Sports, a division of the worldwide sports marketing firm IMG. As a top sports school and home of the largest stadium in the state, major marketers such as AT&T, Bank of America and Time Warner Cable are extremely attracted to reach all of the fans. UT’s agreement with IMG takes a conservative approach to allowing marketers to advertise so as to maintain the stadium’s image and family-oriented environment.

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A new report from Javelin Strategy & Research in California found that 37 percent of Americans say they are using their credit cards less and shopping conservatively. The study found that 28 percent of consumers said they are having a tougher time paying off balances and 57 percent said they have changed their eating habits. 46 percent of consumers said they now shop more at discount stores. The study surveyed 1,500 people and surveyed credit card industry executives.

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United Title of Texas Incorporated shut down yesterday. The company – based in Austin – had 27 offices throughout the state, including three in Austin. United’s parent company, Mercury Companies shut down the Texas operation, and operations in four other states, due to a discontinuation of a line of credit. United Title’s CEO has tried to contact its parent company regarding severance for his employees but has received no word.

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A new study by the Economic Policy Institute shows that Texas has lost more than 200,000 jobs to China since 2001 – with 34,100 jobs lost in 2007 alone. The study points to the US-China trade deficit as the problem. Of the industries affected, Texas’ computer and electronic products manufacturing industry was hit the hardest – with 90,400 employees losing jobs. America as a whole has lost 2.3 million jobs since China entered the World Trade Organization in 2001.

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A new report from a UT assistant professor of special education and the Texas Youth Commission’s Office of Independent Ombudsman says juvenile inmates receive poor education. The report says teachers spend much of their time trying to get their classrooms under control and that poor readers are told to read independently. The Texas Youth Commission’s conservator said the agency plans to address the issues in the report.

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South Padre is back and ready for visitors. After being slammed by Hurricane Dolly last week, the island was only open to residents and business owners. However, the Queen Isabella Memorial Bridge is now open to everyone. As of Tuesday, a third of the island’s power had been restored. But don’t get ready to party too heartily – there is a 9PM curfew every night until all power is restored.

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The state legislature’s school funding system approved in 2006 does not take into consideration monetary inflation. The consumer price index, the federal government’s index to monitor inflation, has increased by nearly 6% since the funding system was passed. Schools are concerned about being in a revenue-neutral funding system even though costs are increasing. However, there is no uniform way to measure inflation for each school district. The state also utilizes a target-revenue system. Essentially, the more money a district raises by itself, the less it receives from the state.

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A pilot program conducted by the Insurance Council of Texas reveals just how many Texas drivers do not have car insurance. Of the five thousand drivers stopped, nearly 25 percent did not have car insurance in Travis, Williamson and Hays Counties.
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Today the Food and Drug Administration is pointing fingers after this year’s salmonella outbreak.
They say they have linked the strain salmonella to irrigation water and serrano peppers from a farm in Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
More than 1200 people have gotten sick since April
Initially the F-D-A thought tomatoes were to blame…but they lifted that ban in early June.
Peppers were the next culprit.
The F-D-A still warns against eating raw jalapeño or serrano peppers from Mexico.
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A hunk of ice that spreads across seven square miles detached from a Canadian ice shelf in the Arctic yesterday.
Is it more evidence of global warming?
A researcher from Trent University…Derek Mueller…says “Not so fast”…but he does agree that this is consistent with the idea that ice sheets are not being rebuilt in the Arctic.
A crack in Ward Hunt Ice Shelf was spotted back in 2002, but the piece didn’t actually break loose until this week.
Many scientists say that the Arctic will have iceless summers as soon as 2013…not 2030 as the International Panel on Climate Change had previously predicted.

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Going back to school in the fall? Vanessa isn’t, but for everyone else, August 15 kicks off the next tax free weekend in Texas. The sales tax holiday will last through Sunday, August 17 and include many clothing items priced under one hundred dollars. This will be the 10th annual sales tax holiday in Texas.

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Let the summer debauchery continue! The Queen Isabella Bridge to South Padre Island has reopened following Hurricane Dolly’s landfall on the South Texas coast. Officials want you to keep the party indoors after dark, as a 9 p.m. curfew is still in effect while workers continue to restore electricity to the rest of the island.