Tourist town seeks independence in Nevada
The Associated Press
Something strange is happening in this remote tourist haven. In notoriously anti-government Nevada, residents in Laughlin are clamoring for more bureaucracy.
The battle to incorporate this popular oasis for recreation vehicles, low-budget gamblers and desert-weary Nevadans looking to spend a day splashing in the nearby Colorado River is an interesting case study in how Westerners view government.
Laughlin is roughly a two-hour drive through empty desert from downtown Las Vegas, where Clark County Government Center is located. The town of 7,000 residents rises out of nowhere and features a picturesque waterfront, stucco homes and towering casinos that attract 2.3 million tourists each year.
Posh hotels are buzzing with tiny new guests: bees
Atlanta Journal Constitution
An iconic hotel in the heart of midtown Manhattan is buzzing with thousands of tiny new visitors. But watch out: They’ll sting if you get too close.
Honeybees have taken up residence at the Waldorf-Astoria New York, one of New York City’s most famous institutions and a favorite stopover for many U.S. presidents. The hotel plans to harvest its own honey and help pollinate plants in the skyscraper-heavy heart of the city, joining a mini beekeeping boom that has taken over hotel rooftops from Paris to Times Square.
“Today about half the population of each hive, the foragers, are flying mostly in the direction of Central Park,” explained Andrew Cote, the Waldorf’s beekeeper-in-residence, on a recent sunny afternoon as he inspected each hive. “They’re plucking up pollen, nectar, water. They’re bringing it back to their hives, to their homes.”
Airlines Weighing Fee for Oversize Carry-Ons
New York Times
HERE’S something that the big airlines really wish we wouldn’t discuss right now, with planes flying full, fares rising, fuel prices stabilizing and customers generally resigned to the air travel system:
Some domestic airlines are weighing the idea of discouraging passengers from lugging oversize carry-on bags onto planes by imposing a $25 charge, at the gate, on bags that exceed the posted size limits. Alaska Airlines, the No. 7 carrier in domestic market share, is already quietly doing just that, in fact.
Spirit Airlines initiated a major new approach to carry-on bags almost two years ago when it began charging passengers $45 to stash carry-ons in overhead bins. Spirit plans to raise that fee at the gate this fall to $100 per bag. But Spirit’s success in discouraging carry-ons has evidently resonated with the bigger airlines, at least on the subject of passengers who now gate-check oversize bags free.
Hotel rates and deals are at a high
USA Today
Average daily hotel rates continued to climb in April, nearly reaching a pre-recession high of 2008, according to new data.
North American hotel rates for business travelers jumped 9.3% over 2011, setting a new year-over-year growth record, reports Pegasus Solutions, a technology company that works with hotels. It was just three percentage points shy of rates paid in 2008.
North American rates for leisure travelers in April also rose year-over-year by 7.3%.
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Sweet articles!
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