NEWSLINK, V8N2 In point of fact; news of note

Spring 2004
NewsLink
In Point of Fact

We told you so!
They linger outside storefronts or sit on fire hydrants and whisper as you walk past, "Newports, Newports, Newports." Some carry their merchandise in black plastic bags. Others stuff their pockets. After two years with the highest cigarette taxes in the nation, bootlegging is a growing New York City profession that easily pays $40,000 a year - tax-free. On Friday officials acknowledged that a third of the city's smokers buy from bootleggers, the Internet or Indian reservations. The Daily News sent a crew of Columbia University journalism students to investigate. They found bootlegging thriving across the city, an underground economy that robs the city of tens of millions of dollars in revenue each year. Day and night, bootleggers blend with crowds on 125th St. in Harlem. They hustle tourists in Times Square. They ply their trade from shops, apartments and offices off Flatbush and Atlantic Aves. in Brooklyn. They work throughout the Bronx and Queens. One salesman, who refused to give his name, said he sells about five cartons a day, making between $100 and $150 profit. It's easy to find buyers at $5 a pack with smokers facing a typical $7.50 store price that includes city and state taxes of $3 per pack. "The system deserves to be robbed," declared Eyes, a twentysomething salesman found sitting on a milk crate in Harlem last month. "The system is robbing you by charging $7.50."
Columbia Journalism School Investigative Techniques Class, “Bootleg cig biz red hot,” New York Daily News, May 17, 2004.

Expresso Justice
ROME -- Meddle with an Italian's cappuccino and expect a furious froth. Since the 2002 introduction of the euro currency, Italians have grumbled about pricey pears and groused over costly cucumbers. But when a cafe rounded up the price of the morning Java, it proved too much to bear. In the first ruling of its kind, a justice of the peace found that a cafe in a seaside town near Rome overcharged a retired man 23 euro cents for his liquid breakfast after the currency conversion. The coffee bar was ordered to refund the price increase -- about 30 U.S. cents -- plus the man's legal costs. The decision raises the prospect of a flood of similar lawsuits. "The cappuccino's vendetta!" declared Codacons public-advocacy group in a celebratory statement. Thousands more citizens want to file complaints, the group said. The day before, a cappuccino had cost just 1,500 lire, which would translate to 77 euro cents. He and Codacons filed a joint case and won the ruling last month, first publicizing it Friday.
“Cappuccino in Court: Italian wins lawsuit over coffee price hike,” Associated Press, January 20, 2004.

Dumping dial-up
Americans are increasingly switching to high-speed Internet from slower dial-up modems, answering the long-held hopes of the technology industry, says a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Nearly 40 percent of U.S. Internet surfers - about 48 million people - now have some form of high-speed Internet at home. That's about 24 percent of the adult U.S. population, a 60 percent increase from March 2003, said Pew. Few Internet users mentioned price as a factor in their decision to get broadband, the study said. "We asked broadband users why they switched, and 60 percent cited some reason related to a faster connection speed," said Pew senior research specialist John B. Horrigan. "The Internet is taking a bigger role of people's lives as they spend more time online."
Crayton Harrison, “Web users picking up the speed: Study shows Internet migration from dial-up modems is spreading,” Dallas Morning News, April 19, 2004.

Downbeat and out: the Compact Disk
Music downloads will render the ubiquitous compact disc all but obsolete in the next five years, yet half of all companies that begin selling digital songs online will fail by year-end, a researcher warned on Saturday. By 2008, one third of music sales in the United States and nearly 20 percent in Europe will come in the form of downloads and streaming music over the Internet, building a multi-billion dollar business for the battered music industry, according to a new study by consultancy Forrester Research.
"The industry is going through a complete change in the way people consume music," Josh Bernoff, a Forrester Research analyst told a gathering of music and technology executives in France recently. "By 2007 or 2008, CDs will be something only old people have," Bernoff said.
Bernhard Warner, “CDs will die but net music may be a business bubble,” Reuters, January 24, 2004.

Funerals on the farm
GUILFORD, Vt. (AP) Just up the hill from the Gaines dairy farm stands a small building that looks a lot like a sugar shack, the kind of thing many Vermont farmers rely on to supplement their income. But this one-story building houses a human crematory run by a couple of former back-to-the-landers who say they want to provide a personalized end-of-life service. The owners, Jim and Ellen Curley, say their new venture is a small family business that will provide options to the community and will help the Gaineses' seventh-generation dairy farm survive. “I view it as a service to my generation and the older generation,” said Jim Curley, 54. “We're a low-volume small scale operation with a beautiful setting.” End-of-life services are big business in Vermont and elsewhere. Funeral homes and burial businesses abound, but cremation is a growing choice. About 40 percent of Vermonters choose cremation, according to the Funeral Consumers Alliance, a national trade group based in South Burlington. Nationally, the number is 25 percent.
Anne Wallace Allen, “Dairy farm diversifies by adding human crematory,” Associated Press, March 13, 2004.

Competition on the runway means lower prices!
Thanks to the rapid rise of low-fare airlines, the cost of business travel has fallen to its lowest level in six years. Business fliers paid an average one-way fare of $276 in 2003, the lowest since 1996, when the average was $256, according to a new American Express survey. The average fare fell 2 percent in 2003, according to the survey, which tracks the average price paid by American Express Corporate Travel customers on 215 routes. Corporate customers are becoming smarter in negotiating better contracts with airlines and are doing a better job in getting business travelers to comply with corporate travel policies, which typically require securing the lowest fare available and using preferred carriers.
Ted Reed, “Cost of U.S. business travel drops: Charlotte fails to join in on the 2003 savings because of the high prices out of its low-competition airport,” Charlotte Observer, April 12, 2004

Energy is in the eye of the beholder!
As solar power devices appear on more roofs around the nation, they are generating more than just hot water or electricity: Some are creating controversy from neighbors who think they’re ugly. In Florida as many as 50 homeowners associations a year try to keep residents from putting solar panels on their rooftops, despite a state law that forbids them from imposing such restrictions. In Arizona, installers of solar equipment say they have met with dozens of homeowners associations in recent years to mediate concerns that panels detract from a community’s aesthetics. In California as many as 20 communities have enacted laws making it harder to install the systems.
Jim Carlton, “People favor solar power – but not in their neighborhood,” Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2004.