Year: 2015

With the Pope's highly anticipated visit to the City of Brotherly Love rapidly approaching, how are Philadelphians going to rock their papal pride? One young, newlywed couple hailing from Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania may have the perfect answer: Pope T Shirts. Newly married couple Michael and Ally Tandarich are designing custom Pope Francis T-Shirts -- the Official Pope Francis Philadelphia Apparel, mind you -- with great emphasis on what the city of Philadelphia is known for: brotherly love, of course. Michael, who also runs a branding agency in the city, No-Comply Designs, felt that designing custom t-shirts would be an excellent way to show support and give back to the Catholic community while continuing to build excitement for the papal visit. Also, it gives papal fans something unique to...

Millions of people will likely need bankruptcy help at some point in their lives. However, seeing prominent companies begin the same process can often come as a surprise. For this reason, many people were shocked to learn that RadioShack Corp., a technology retailer that has been in business for almost a century, will close on a bankruptcy agreement on or after after Thursday, February 5. RadioShack traces its roots back to 1921, when the company began as a mail-order retailer for amateur radio operators and maritime communications officers. Over time, the company shifted its focus, becoming the go-to source of hard-to-find electronics and other technology. In recent years, however, RadioShack has faced increasing competition from Wal-Mart, Amazon.com and other tech retailers. To make m...

The Washington State House of Representatives is currently considering bills that would seek to make oil transportation safer for workers, the public and the environment, if passed. According to the Columbian, one of these bills, House Bill 1449, would increase regulations placed on railway and waterway oil transportation. The bill would require all railroads to develop a set of procedures and plans for oil spills, and to report information about the oil loads they transport to the state Department of Ecology. In addition, the bill seeks to increase the tax levied on oil transported by rail and pipeline. For oil transportation workers in Washington state, safety has long been a neglected priority, the bill's supporters say. "What I've seen ... is safety takes a backseat to product...

A recent study by nonprofits As You Sow and the Natural Resources Defense Council showed that the food industry has a long way to go toward reducing the environmental impact of their product packaging. The study analyzed 47 prominent companies and ranked them Poor, Needs Improvement, Better Practices, or Best Practices based on their commitment to recycled content, recyclability in materials used, switching to reusable packaging, and boosting material recycling. Of the 47 companies analyzed, zero achieved Best Practices status, and only two (Starbucks and McDonalds) reached Better Practices. McDonalds reached Better Practices status by reducing the weight of its packaging and using 33% post-consumer recycled content to make its sandwich boxes. McDonalds has also made a pledge to phase ou...

Currently, it’s up to Florida drivers to educate themselves on the risks of buying used car tires. But a bill introduced in the Florida Senate would make it illegal to sell unsafe used tires in the state. Staffers of Sen. Greg Evers, the bill’s sponsor, told the local CBS affiliate Feb. 6 that the bill is intended to address predatory used tire businesses that exploit consumers’ lack of knowledge, as well as safety issues associated with some used tires. In January, the Rubber Manufacturers Association said that it expected seven states, including Florida, to consider legislation regulating used tire sales in 2015 (Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas round out that list). The goal of such legislation, the group said, should be to improve “highway and motorist...

In a disconcerting update on Target's store-closing catastrophe in Canada, another problem has just emerged: many of the Target locations had brought franchised pharmacists into the stores, and now that every store is being closed, Target is forcing those pharmacists to sell their own businesses at absurdly low prices to rival chain store Walmart. And what's even worse -- thousands of patient health records, once belonging to these Target pharmacies, now seem to be hanging in limbo, waiting to be sold to the highest bidder. When U.S.-based Target decided to close all of its 133 Canadian stores at the beginning of 2015, it's safe to say that no one was surprised. The company, which has chain stores all across the U.S. and is very successful in the American market, had been struggling to f...

About 20 years ago, Boston University economics professor Laurence Kotlikoff started Economic Security Planning, a firm that sold financial-planning software. Recently, Kotlikoff has re-purposed the firm's ESPlanner software to help divorcing couples weigh potential financial settlements and the impact they could possibly have on each individual. Now, he and his firm are offering this type of analysis via a new website, FairDivorceDecisions.com. Kotlikoff explains that this by quantifying the long-term impact of potential settlements, the service "can stop a lot of the arguments." The idea struck Kotlikoff as he was going through his own divorce. Dayle Ballentine, his former partner, agreed that the software made things easier, and described their divorce as "pretty amicable." The softw...

New reports from the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies have some good news, and some bad news. On the one hand, growth in home improvement spending is expected to slow down during 2015. On the other hand, home improvement spending is still growing. In fact, the U.S. home improvement industry could post record level spending in 2015. The latest Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity, which is designed to estimate national homeowner spending on improvements for the current quarter and subsequent three quarters, projects that the annual growth for 2015 will decelerate from 6.3% in the first quarter of 2015 to 1.6% by the third quarter. "Due in part to weakening home sales last year, growth in remodeling spending is expected to deflate somewhat in 2015," said Chris Herber...