The cost of groceries continues to climb everyday as items such as dish soap, produce, and dairy are marked up because of rising commodity prices.
In this climate of uncertainty, every nickel counts. Yet efforts to raise taxes middle and lower income families continue. One of them is coming before the Long Beach City Council in just a matter of days.
At their meeting on tonight, the Council will vote on a proposal to ban recyclable plastic grocery bags and impose a ten-cent tax on paper bags at the checkout stand. Put simply, a yes vote on this proposal is a vote to increase taxes that brings with it little promise of benefit to Long Beach residents, puts hundreds of manufacturing jobs at risk, and does nothing to strengthen our recycling infrastructure.
This proposal will disproportionately hurt those families struggling the most to make ends meet.
This recession has hit everyone hard. Families who used to live comfortably are now living paycheck-to-paycheck. Instead of helping struggling families, under this proposal residents will be double-taxed as they continue to pay state and local taxes for recycling programs and environmental conservation, while also being forced to pay 10 cents per bag at the checkout stand.
To some a dime per bag may not seem like a lot, but those dimes add up and they will stretch many budgets that are already stretched to the limit.
Don't get me wrong, I believe, like many Californians, that we must take steps to protect and preserve the natural beauty and resources of this state. But I also believe we must take these steps thoughtfully and with a full evaluation of the economic and social effect any new policy will have on Californians. This proposal falls short in that regard.
California already has a recycling program, paid for in part by your tax dollars. In fact, the state started a recycling program specifically for plastic bags and other plastic wrapping just a few years ago, even though a recent study says they represent just .06 percent of litter on beaches.
Still those who are behind this grocery tax on bags are unwilling to let this program get off the ground before trying to impose more costs on anyone who shops for food, whether it's in a grocery store, a corner store, or a farmers' market.
That leaves some serious questions about who stays and who goes off the roster. There are a few different options. The Mariners could send down Mike Wilson. He hasn't played much. But he also gives you a right-handed bat off the bench. And he has played some center field with the Rainiers and in spring training. Notice I didn't say "a good center field." Wilson is capable out there, but he is far from Saunders or even Ryan Langerhans in defensive ability. Still Wedge said he felt okay with having Wilson out there for a game.
Carlos Peguero could be sent down, meaning Saunders and Wilson would platoon in left. Peguero is far from a finished product and needs to play every day or as close to that as possible. Yes, he has power. But his approach needs a little work.
"He still tries to do too much up there," Wedge said of Peguero at the plate. "He gets a little violent at times. And he needs the reps out in left field and on the basepaths – the speed of the game. Unless you’ve been up here, you have no idea how fast this game is at times. T hat’s w hy it takes a period of time for these young players to adjust when they get up here."
And the Mariners could send down Saunders. It's a move that has some merit because he is absolutely struggling at the plate right now. In his last 12 games, Michael Saunders has 46 plate appearances and he has three hits, one homer, two walks and 15 strikeouts. In 33 games this season, he's hitting .
MAILA, Philippines -- Following the big launch of Bulgari’s Mediterranean Eden collection at the Bulgari Hotel, Milan during Milan Fashion Week early this year, this proverbial garden traveled eastward to Singapore recently, transporting itself into an old, longstanding hotspot, the Senso Ristorante and Bar, on the quaint Ann Siang Hill in the better part of Chinatown lined by elegantly restored shophouses.
More than a garden of unimagined perfection, Mediterranean Eden is a treasure trove of prized metals like yellow gold and ancient coins, precious stones like amethysts, diamonds, peridots, and topazes, and ancient symbols of worth, strength, beauty, and pre-eminence, such as the lion, the snake, and the flower.
The lion and the serpent
Mediterranean Eden, drawn from biblical utopia and embellished with the age-old emblems of Bulgari’s Greco-Roman heritage, is an exquisite collection of jewelry, handbags, and other accessories like scarves, belts, and sunglasses for fall/winter 2011-2012, along with its newest fragrance, Mon Jasmin Noir.
Integrating previous lines like the Serpenti, Leoni, and Monete, including a capsule collection continuing the brand’s collaboration with actress Isabella Rosellini, this latest collection is a collage of the same inspirations that have always guided Bulgari in matching the world’s luxury cravings with a piece of paradise.
Notwithstanding the many elements, both mythical and corporeal, and the variety of materials featured in the collection, the bedrock of this year’s foray into the divine origins of all things beautiful remains true to the Bulgari trademark: simplicity and elegance. Emblematic in a new line of day bags in karung skin, for example, is a shoulder bag that is, in form, linear and understated, a study in sophisticated minimalism, punctuated only by a jewel closure made of finely enameled serpent head with malachite eyes whose body, fluid and graceful, extends into the fine chain.
Serpentine touches are as integral to this collection as the snake was to this heaven on earth. The serpent, considered a symbol of eternity by the ancient Egyptians and of wisdom and knowledge, vitality and health, rebirth and immortality by the ancient Romans, has played a key role in the evolution of the Bulgari style. In 1962, while filming Cleopatra, the late Elizabeth Taylor wore a classic example of the brand’s worship of the snake in the form of a timepiece that featured a serpent head in diamond pavé and an emerald eye, embellished with a row of marquise-cut diamonds. In 2011’s collection of evening clutches, such as in a minaudiére with geometric ornaments of gold on black enamel, a serpent head decorates the clasp. A serpentine presence also informs a line of coordinated accessories, including thin double-wrap belts, leather bracelets, and wallet-pochettes.
Another classic Bulgari icon is the lion, the embodiment of nobility, power, and majesty. In the Mediterranean Eden collection, this timeless symbol is reinterpreted in the Leoni handbags and clutches, where dueling lions appear at the clasp, further enlivening materials such as carved patent leather imbued with the feathers of colorful birds or wrinkled lambskin. This icon also appears in the sunglasses, adorning the temples of the exclusively butterfly frames in a palette of neutrals, such as spotted tobacco and ivory white, embellished with a cabochon-cut stone to unify the leonine profiles.
Stone meet metal
New this year is a surprising technique of chromatically combining gold and stones to achieve the effect of a pebble, a throwback to ancient coasts and virgin beaches covered in a blanket of unusual forms and color harmonies. In the new colored collection of necklaces, art finds expression in the delicate combination of precious and semi-precious gems, conventional and irregular cuts, all mounted to form colliers, long chains, or multi-strand neckpieces. So refreshing are the precious pairings of such gems as white gold with topaz and amethyst with peridot. The white ceramic stone, young and modern, is particularly a jewel to the eye.
This same artful, sensual approach to combinations and permutations is repeated in the rings and earrings in yellow gold, where coral or peridot, apart from diamonds, alternating with amethysts and turquoises has been originated. The crown on the jewel of this ring collection in yellow gold is the ravishingly soft cabochon-cut amethyst or peridot. On the sunglasses, aptly themed “Mediterranean Nights,” some of these same stones, along with aquamarine and opal crystals, subtly illuminate the acetate temples, “like colored pebbles smoothed by the sea.”
Greek, Roman, and Persian coins add immeasurable value to the Mediterranean Eden collection. This is not new, not to the Roman history of jewelry-making and certainly not to Bulgari, which began inserting ancient coins of significant historical, artistic, and aesthetic value into precious objects first in the 1930s and then again in the 1960s, when, incorporating such coins into long gourmette necklaces, it gave life to and popularized the expression gemme nummarie or coin jewels, making coins as precious as the rarest of gemstones. In this year’s collection, the coins are a rare, covetable beauty, adorned by ancient Greco-Roman profiles as those of Alexander the Great, Athena the Goddess of Wisdom, the deity Roma who represented the City of Rome, and Zeus, “the father of gods and men.”
In the necklaces, these coin jewels play on the contrasts between worlds ancient and modern, as well as between metals, the antique patina of the coins and the polished gleam of the soft, natural forms of the stones in yellow gold alternating with and setting off each other. Some long-strand necklaces have as many as four coins, each of which comes with a certificate of authenticity. In the new Monete line of bags, reproductions of ancient coins depicting imperial profiles are framed within the characteristic double chain handle that comes with every expert variation of lizard skin and, in the maxi-sunglasses in acetate, they are set in the temples, their aesthetic and value tinted with the colors of the Mediterranean.
A man with a feminine voice and a possibly transgendered woman robbed Nordstrom inside WestFarms mall.
The pair stole several handbags worth $1,756 dollars, Friday, May 6, according to Farmington police. As store employees tried to stop the suspects, one threatened to "knife" them, police said. No knife was actually shown.
Police described one of the suspects as a man with a feminine voice and feminine mannerisms, about 5 feet 5 inches tall, and weighing approximately 130 pounds. The second suspect was described as being a woman or possibly transgendered, 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds, with a deeper voice.
Investigators are asking anyone with information on the suspects to call Officer Dan Aparo at 860-675-2400, Detective John Beaulieu at 860-675-2462 or their anonymous tip line at 860-675-2483.
For veteran brand-name apparel producer VF Corp. (VFC), a strategic move into the action sports and outerwear markets has proved fruitful.
The company's history dates back to 1899. Its Wrangler and Lee jeans brands have been around for decades. Apparel and accessory brands Nautica and JanSport are also consumer staples. But the North Face brand of performance outerwear, Vans shoes and Kipling brand of nylon-based women's handbags have not only widened VF's style range but also boosted the firm's top and bottom lines.
In an April 29 report of Q1 results, VF said its outdoor and action sports business notched record revenue and operating income. Revenue grew 16% and included a 21% jump in international sales. VF's jeanswear revenue rose 9%. Total revenue rose 12% to $1.96 billion and earnings grew 19%.
VF has executed well amid the mild U.S. economic recovery. Earnings per share have increased 10% to 58% from year-ago levels for six straight quarters.
Sales have picked up 1% to 12% in the past five quarters. The faster rate of profit growth vs. sales growth hints at the company's ability to improve its business operations and squeeze more profit from each dollar of sales. In line with this trend, VF's return on equity has improved from 15.6% in 2009 to 18.5% last year.
VF Corp.'s 76 Earnings Per Share Rating means it's posted stronger long- and short-term profit growth than nearly one-quarter of all stocks in IBD's database. Even better is its three-year Earnings Stability factor of 8, which on a scale of 1 (most stable) to 99 indicates an unusually consistent record of profit.
This week, VF reported that the late-April blitz of tornadoes in the Southeast U.S. destroyed a jeanswear distribution facility in Hackleburg, Ala. One employee was killed. The firm said it will take time to determine how big an impact the tragedy will have on operating results.
VF paid $2.52 a share in dividends over the past four quarters, equal to a 2.5% annualized yield.
VF's stock has outperformed the market. While the NYSE composite was up 5.8% for 2011 through Wednesday's close, VF has risen 16% over the same time frame.
Police in the Lake District are urging visitors to safeguard their property following a spate of thefts from camping and caravan sites.
In the past few weeks thieves have stolen laptops, phones and handbags from unlocked caravans and tents.
Police said crime in the area's beauty spots was generally low, making visitors careless with their property.
A spokesman said thieves actually travelled to the area knowing that it was easier to steal valuables.
Insp Richard Quinn, of Cumbria Police, said: "Time and again we see people have their visit to this beautiful county spoiled by becoming victims of crime.
"Crime levels in Cumbria are low, but campers and caravaners need to be aware that opportunist criminals travel to the more remote areas of our county to steal items that have been left insecure."