| Passport fees to increase; passport card now available
The initiative's passport requirement does not apply to U.S. citizens traveling to or returning directly from a U.S. territory, Svonavec said. U.S. territories include Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Swains Island and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, according to the State Department.For additional passport information, go to http://travel.state.gov/passport.(Judy D.J. Ellich can be contacted at judye@dailyamerican.com. Comment on the online story at dailyamerican.com.) .
Clouds of doubt over Black Friday
Early sales may have deflated some enthusiasm for the traditional post-Thanksgiving bargains this year, weakening shoppers' tolerance for long lines, clogged parking lots and early-morning crowds.
Concerns about a sputtering economy drove several major retailers to offer steep discounts earlier than ever this year. Now they're bracing to see if shoppers will come out in full force tomorrow after experiencing weeks of deals that in years past were exclusively reserved for Black Friday.
"I don't expect to see the crazy knock-the-door-down crowds as usual," said Marshall Cohen, chief economist of the NPD Group, a consumer research firm. "Where you had 500 people at 5 a.m. last year, this year you'll see 200."
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The super-regional lifestyle power center
Representing a more than $100 million investment, the Mall of Louisiana is being “re-merchandized" with adjoining new lifestyle and power centers and also experiencing major changes with retailers. “Overall, we're shuffling 50 to 60 tenants in the mall with renewals, relocations and new tenants, which is under way now and will continue through 2008," General Manager Todd Denton says. “The timing is good. We're 10 years old with a lot of 10-year leases expiring this year and in 2008, so we're able to do a lot of shuffling, renewals and bringing more people in.“ Denton declined to outline all lease changes, but he did say newcomers would include Forever 21, a national fashion store that will have a two-story-location, Build-a-Bear Workshop and Coach leather goods. Recent additions among the mall's 150 tenants include Caché women's fashion, Solstice sunglasses retailer, Swarovski crystal, Perfumania and Alexandria-based Formal Place, a family-owned ladies' formalwear store.
New Report: California Foreclosures Hit Record
He says as he looks ahead, "The issue is whether the real estate market and the economy will digest these over the next year or two, or if housing market distress will bring the economy to its knees." Economist: Foreclosures Are The Real Loss For State Not Firestorm Stephen Levy, senior economist for the Center of the Continuing Study of the California Economy, based in Palo Alto, said the real estate crisis will be a much bigger problem for California economically than the Southern California fires. We have a higher number of homes in foreclosure than were destroyed in the fire, Levy said. (There is) much more property loss from the falling house prices and the foreclosures. So a billion dollars seems like lot of money but it's really small in relation to the value of the homes and property down there.
INRIX Raises $15 Million in Series C Funding
KIRKLAND, Wash., Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- INRIX(R), the leading provider of traffic flow information in the U.S., today announced a $15 million Series C round of funding led by existing investors August Capital, Bain Capital Ventures and Venrock. INRIX intends to utilize the funds to further accelerate deployment of its ground-breaking technology and international expansion to meet customer and market demand. "With a strong book of business from more than 40 customers and the significant achievement of reaching our first cash-flow positive month in September, INRIX did not need to raise capital," said Bryan Mistele, president and CEO of INRIX. "However, given the tremendous uptake of traffic services this past year and the rapidly changing nature of the LBS market, we decided that now is the time to accelerate several investments and further expand our product offerings to firmly cement INRIX's leadership position in the market." INRIX has developed a unique technology portfolio that generates highly accurate real time, historical and predictive traffic information.
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