Trivia Evening steigert den Gewinn für Bars und Eating places

Die Brooklyn Brewery veranstaltet am 30. März eine Quiznacht am Donnerstag.

Noah Sheidlower | CNBC

Megan Fitzgerald war schon immer ein Trivia-Fan, aber als Director of Brand Experience bei Talea Beer Co. in Brooklyn war sie nicht überzeugt, dass es gut zu der von Frauen gegründeten Brauerei passen würde.

Im Februar flehte sie Freunde an, zu Taleas erstem Trivia-Abend zu kommen, weil sie befürchtete, dass nur wenige Spieler erscheinen würden. Stattdessen machten mehr als 70 Gönner mit.

Wenn die Leute ausgehen, „wollen sie etwas, das bereichert und fesselt und mehr ist als nur Schüsse zu trinken oder Bier zu kippen“, sagte Fitzgerald. “Trivia ist einfach und macht Spaß, gut für große Gruppen oder Paare, und Sie finden es normalerweise gleich um die Ecke.”

Nach einigen Wochen der Partnerschaft mit der NYC Trivia League zur Ausrichtung der Spiele am Mittwochabend sagte Fitzgerald, dass Talea-Trivia-Nächte fast doppelt so viel Umsatz einbringen wie andere Abende unter der Woche, abgesehen von Sonderveranstaltungen. Der Veranstaltungsort hat ständig fast 20 Trivia-Teams angezogen und den Verkauf von Speisen und Getränken während des zweistündigen Spiels gesteigert. Auch das Barpersonal bekomme mehr Trinkgeld, sagte sie.

Im ganzen Land fügen Bars und Restaurants Trivia-Events zu ihren wöchentlichen oder monatlichen Programmen hinzu, um mehr Gäste anzulocken und höhere Gewinne zu erzielen. In Groß- und Kleinstädten sind neue Trivia-Marken aufgetaucht, während einige alteingesessene Unternehmen ihren Weg zurück zu den Zahlen vor der Pandemie gefunden haben. Das Tempo der Erholung war jedoch langsam, da die Branche laut Trivia-Unternehmensführern und Restaurantbesitzern mit Personalproblemen konfrontiert ist.

Während einige Bars ihre eigenen Trivia-Fragen erstellen, arbeiten andere mit Quiz- oder Unterhaltungsunternehmen zusammen, die eine Pauschalgebühr erheben, um Fragen, Infrastruktur und Hosts bereitzustellen. Die Grundidee besteht darin, Teams zusammenzubringen, die um Preise kämpfen, um das Geschäft anzukurbeln oder zusätzlichen Platz in einer normalerweise langsameren Nacht zu nutzen – und einen neuen Stamm von Stammkunden aufzubauen.

„Trivia ist für uns von Vorteil, weil es rentabel ist, es in diesen langsameren Zeiten zu haben“, sagte Nick Marking von The Tap Yard in den Außenbezirken von Milwaukee, das an seinen fünf Standorten während Quizabenden etwa 30 % mehr Umsatz erzielt hat.

„Die Shows bringen dir eine gewisse Menge ein, und dann auch die Preise, also musst du schauen, ob es sich auf lange Sicht lohnt, Trivia zu haben, wenn man bedenkt, dass deine Gewinnspanne irgendwo zwischen 15 % und 25 % in der Barwelt liegt.“ Markierung sagte.

Die NYC Trivia League, die Trivia an über 100 Veranstaltungsorten in ganz New York City veranstaltet, hat kürzlich ihre wöchentliche Veranstaltungsanzahl seit Anfang 2020 und der Sperrung der Covid-19-Pandemie überschritten. Die Liga erhebt eine Pauschalgebühr für Riegel und ist für Spieler kostenlos.

Irving Torres-Lopez veranstaltet Trivia Nite in der Brooklyn Brewery.

Noah Sheidlower | CNBC

Cullen Shaw, einer der Gründer der Liga, sagte, die Teams seien größer als vor Covid – mit durchschnittlich etwa 3,5 Personen –, als viele Bars ihre Quizabende kaum durchhielten. Shaw, der Quizabende im The Gaf East auf der Upper East Side von Manhattan veranstaltet, fügte hinzu, dass die Umstellung der Liga auf eine digitale Plattform von Stift und Papier effizientere Spiele ermöglicht habe.

„Wir füllen den Platz, und ich glaube nicht, dass das der Fall wäre, wenn sie nur ein Basketball- oder Hockeyspiel veranstalten und hoffen, dass eine Menge hereinkommt“, sagte er.

Das Wachstum von „Eattainment“

Shaw sagte, die NYC Trivia League habe kürzlich Veranstaltungsorte eingeführt, die sich nie als Trivia-Bars gesehen hätten, und allein in diesem Jahr über ein Dutzend zu ihrem Angebot hinzugefügt. Die Bindungsraten sind im Jahr 2023 gestiegen, und die Liga ist bei Austragungsorten und Gastgebern selektiver geworden.

„Ich bin mir sicher, dass es eine Million Trivia-Apps gibt, aber ein Gruppenwettbewerb hat einfach etwas, es hat etwas mit Gemeinschaft zu tun, wenn gleichgesinnte und wettbewerbsfähige Menschen an einem Ort zusammenkommen, um ein dummes Spiel zu spielen, aber alle die Regeln verstehen“, sagte Shaw .

Laut Mike Kostyo, einem „Trendologen“ bei Datassential, ist das schnelle Wachstum von Trivia-Nächten Teil einer breiteren Bewegung in Richtung „Eattainment“, einer Verschmelzung von Speisen und interaktiven Aktivitäten, die von Bar-Trivia bis hin zu Pickleball-Dining-Konzepten reichen. Eatertainment war für viele Bars und Restaurants von Vorteil, da es die Arbeitskosten nicht wesentlich erhöht, fügte Kostyo hinzu.

„Sie haben viel mehr Kunden in Ihrem Veranstaltungsort, also brauchen Sie mehr Back-of-House- und Front-of-House-Personal, aber es ist nicht etwas, wo Sie jemanden einstellen müssen, um das zu verwalten. Es ist normalerweise ein externer Anbieter, der dies tut das Trivia-Programm”, sagte Kostyo.

Laut einem Bericht von Datassential aus dem letzten Jahr waren 82 % der Amerikaner in mindestens einem Restaurant, und über 50 % dieser Gäste gaben an, dass sie „sehr interessiert“ daran seien, ein solches Erlebnis noch einmal zu erleben. Achtzehn Prozent der Befragten gaben an, dass sie häufiger Restaurants besuchen würden, wenn sie regelmäßige Quizabende hätten.

“An einem Trivia-Abend verdoppeln wir leicht unsere Verkäufe gegenüber dem Vorabend”, sagte Will Arvidson, Manager des Verkostungsraums bei der Brooklyn Brewery, der sagte, dass der Raum normalerweise etwa 150 Personen für seine Trivia-Veranstaltung am Donnerstag anzieht. “Es ist manchmal schwierig für uns, Leute zu setzen, aber wir finden einen Weg.”

Die Brooklyn Brewery veranstaltet seit 2019 Quizabende mit der NYC Trivia League.

Noah Sheidlower | CNBC

Victoria Dawes und Kristina Cheng, die sich an einem kürzlichen Donnerstag in der Brooklyn Brewery zusammengetan haben, sagten, dass sie seit etwa einem Jahrzehnt Bar-Trivia spielen, und waren sich einig, dass es jetzt beliebter ist als vor der Pandemie. Beide sagten, dass sie sich jede Woche Zeit nehmen, um sich mit Freunden zu treffen und ihr zufälliges Wissen zu zeigen.

„Ich habe das Gefühl, dass wir so viel Verbindung zueinander verloren haben, und Trivia war eine besonders unterhaltsame Art, wieder ganz normale Interaktionen zu haben“, sagte Dawes.

Der Aufstieg von Eattainment kommt, da die Inflation mehr Amerikaner dazu zwingt, genau zu prüfen, wie sie ihr Geld ausgeben.

Laut dem Table Stakes Report von Datassential vom Februar gaben 39 % der Verbraucher an, dass sie das Essen auswärts zurückziehen, obwohl Kostyo sagte, dass kostenbewusste Menschen nach einem guten Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis Ausschau halten, wenn sie ausgehen.

„Viele Verbraucher sitzen den ganzen Tag zu Hause fest und treffen sich nicht wirklich, also suchen sie nach diesen Möglichkeiten in der Gastronomie, um wieder mit Freunden und Familie in Kontakt zu kommen“, sagte Kostyo.

„Aber das bedeutet nicht, dass sie in Scharen zurückkommen“, fügte er hinzu.

Die Brooklyn Brewery veranstaltet am 30. März eine Quiznacht am Donnerstag.

Noah Sheidlower | CNBC

Teams können Geldpreise gewinnen – bis zu 50 oder 100 US-Dollar für den ersten Platz in einigen Bars – oder Schüsse, Essen oder kostenlose Waren. Diese möglichen Gewinne könnten mehr Ausgaben von Spielern anregen und potenziell Kosten für preisbewusste Trivia-Besucher ausgleichen.

Conrad Corretti, der sagt, dass sein Trivia-Team in der Brooklyn Brewery und anderen Veranstaltungsorten normalerweise unter den ersten fünf landet, sagte, er habe eher die Ausgaben an anderen Wochentagen gekürzt, damit er „liberaler“ in Bar-Trivia ausgeben könne.

„Du tauchst mit deiner Gruppe auf und musst nicht wirklich mit anderen Leuten interagieren, also war es eine gute Aktivität, mit Leuten abzuhängen, die du nicht immer siehst, und eine gute Zeit zu haben“, sagte er.

Holperiger Weg zur Genesung

Angesichts so vieler neuer Veranstaltungsorte, in denen Quizabende stattfinden, warnte Kostyo, dass sich die Bars „gegenseitig ausschlachten“ könnten, da immer mehr Unternehmen versuchen, ihre Flagge im Quizbereich zu hissen. Er hat gesehen, dass mehr Nischenthemen bei Quizabenden ein bestimmtes Publikum anziehen.

Um mehr Verbraucher anzuziehen, haben einige Unternehmen, wie Geeks Who Drink, neue Quizmaster rekrutiert und Kundenmanager eingestellt, um Beziehungen zu Veranstaltungsorten zu pflegen. Bryan Carr, Marketingdirektor des Trivia-Unternehmens, sagte, das Unternehmen habe ein „Twitch“-Quiz gestartet, das noch heute läuft, und es habe sein Schreibteam von mehr als 15 Personen beibehalten, um den kreativen Inhalt am Laufen zu halten.

Die Rückkehr langjähriger Veranstaltungsorte und die Aufnahme neuer Veranstaltungsorte war ein „langsamer Prozess“, aber das Unternehmen hat seine Präsenz in Städten wie Denver, Chicago und Austin, Texas, weiter ausgebaut. Es führt Full-Service-Pub-Quiz an rund 650 Veranstaltungsorten durch, obwohl diese Zahl vor der Pandemie etwa 1.000 betrug.

„Wir versuchen, Veranstaltungsorte mit einem großartigen Starter-Kit auszustatten, um sicherzustellen, dass ihre Veranstaltung in Gang kommt, und wir wissen, dass es manchmal zwei bis drei Monate dauert, um wirklich eine beständige Fangemeinde aufzubauen“, sagte Carr. „Sie können wirklich einen großen Unterschied sehen, bevor sie Trivia hatten und dann, wenn sie es an diesen langsameren freien Abenden haben.“

An einem Trivia-Abend verdoppeln wir leicht unsere Verkäufe gegenüber dem Vorabend. … Es fällt uns manchmal schwer, Leute hinzusetzen, aber wir finden einen Weg.

Will Arvidson

Verkostungsraummanager, Brooklyn Brewery

Joshua Lieberthal, Gründer des in Kalifornien ansässigen Unternehmens King Trivia, das Veranstaltungsorte in etwa 35 Bundesstaaten hat, sagte, er habe heute wesentlich mehr Quizabende gesehen als vor der Pandemie. Aufgrund der geringeren Gewinnspannen waren viele Bars jedoch gezwungen, „wesentlich mehr“ wöchentliche Veranstaltungen durchzuführen, um sich über Wasser zu halten, was erklären könnte, warum das Unternehmen von rund 200 wöchentlichen Veranstaltungsorten im Jahr 2019 auf jetzt etwa 325 gestiegen ist.

Dennoch haben etwa 30 % bis 40 % der Pre-Covid-Kunden von King Trivia ihr Geschäft eingestellt, und der Wiederaufbauprozess war holprig.

„Es war nicht so, dass Sie Ihre alten Kunden zurückbekommen haben, als die Dinge neu gestartet wurden – es hat bei Null angefangen“, sagte Lieberthal. „Erstaunlicherweise waren wir vor der Pandemie profitabler als heute, obwohl wir so viel größer sind als zuvor.“

Anwesenheit und Bindung sind mehr oder weniger auf das Niveau vor der Pandemie zurückgekehrt, was teilweise auf die erweiterten Vertriebs- und Kundendienstteams des Unternehmens zurückzuführen ist, sagte er. Lieberthal sagte jedoch, dass jede Woche ein anderer Kunde eine Pause einlegt oder einen Starttermin aufgrund von Personalproblemen verschiebt.

„Weil jeder mehr bezahlt wird, weil es schwierig ist, Personal zu finden, braucht man mehr Leute, die hinter den Kulissen arbeiten, um das alles zu verwirklichen“, sagte Lieberthal. „Das ist eine unglückliche Realität, dass die Gewinnschwelle in dieser Branche viel höher ist als früher, aber zum Glück wollen so viele Veranstaltungsorte Shows veranstalten, dass es machbar ist.“

Für das in Wisconsin ansässige America’s Pub Quiz, das 2007 von Michael Landmann gegründet wurde, hat alles, von der Personalausstattung bis zu den Kosten für Bleistiftboxen, das Wachstumstempo des Unternehmens im Vergleich zu vor der Pandemie verlangsamt.

Bis 2020 hatte das Unternehmen 205 Veranstaltungsorte in acht Bundesstaaten. Sie liegt jetzt wieder bei rund 175, obwohl sie bei Null anfangen und mit höheren Geschäftskosten fertig werden müssen.

Das Unternehmen erstellte ein Online-System, das Dutzende weitere Teams bewältigen konnte, aber Landmann stellte fest, dass viele Veranstaltungsorte mit der gestiegenen Nachfrage nicht Schritt halten konnten. Andere mit reichlich Personal konnten keinen geeigneten Trivia-Host finden.

Tyson Sevier, General Manager des in Omaha, Nebraska, ansässigen Varsity Sports Cafe, das seit einem Jahrzehnt Partner von America’s Pub Quiz ist, sagte, dass den Standorten an einem geschäftigen Quizabend oft ein oder zwei Mitarbeiter fehlten. Das ist weit entfernt von den „Mitarbeiter-Horrorgeschichten“, die er von anderen Barbesitzern in der Stadt gehört hat, räumte er ein.

Trotzdem bringen Quizabende im Varsity Sports Cafe im Vergleich zu anderen Wochentagen 2.000 bis 3.000 US-Dollar mehr ein, sagte er.

„Wir haben immer mehr Leute, die mitgehen und spielen wollen, also denke ich, dass es definitiv ein Interesse gibt, das vor Jahren nur ein paar Bars Trivia hatte und jetzt scheint es, als ob jede Bar es hat“, sagte Sevier. “Du musst es jetzt tun, um wettbewerbsfähig zu sein.”

Pfizer shot displays for Guillain Barre

A health worker prepares a flu shot before administering it to a local resident in Los Angeles, the United States, on December 17, 2022.

Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

people who receive PfizerRSV vaccine for older adults should be monitored for Guillain-Barre syndrome after two people developed the nervous system disorder after receiving the vaccine, scientists said in clinical trial results published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The scientists concluded that the vaccine was effective in preventing lower respiratory tract disease in adults aged 60 and over with no apparent safety concerns. But they flagged the Guillain Barre cases as a potential cause for concern in the future.

“If the RSVpreF vaccine is approved and recommended, these adverse events warrant close monitoring in future studies and with real world data and post-marketing surveillance,” the scientists wrote. The study, released on Wednesday, was supported by Pfizer.

Guillain-Barré Syndrome is a rare condition in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks nerves. Symptoms can range from brief weakness to paralysis, according to the National Institutes of Health. Most people recover even from severe cases.

The scientists’ call for close monitoring for a possible link between the vaccine and Guillain-Barre is in line with the Food and Drug Administration’s position.

The agency has asked Pfizer to include Guillain-Barre as an “important potential risk” of the vaccine and to develop a safety study to monitor potential cases if the shot is approved in May. Pfizer has agreed to conduct a safety study.

The FDA’s independent advisors approved the vaccine in February, although there was significant disagreement at that meeting. Seven consultants said the safety data was sufficient for approval, while four said it was not and one abstained.

In the New England Journal of Medicine article, the scientists said the two cases occurred in patients who were in an age group at increased risk of developing Guillain-Barre. Possible factors other than the vaccine could also have led to the individuals developing the syndrome, they added.

But the FDA said the agency is considering the Guillain-Barre cases as possibly vaccine-related because patients developed the syndrome shortly after receiving the vaccine, according to briefing documents released in February. Pfizer concluded that the cases were unrelated and the clinical trial data monitoring committee found no safety concerns with the vaccine.

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Pfizer’s vaccine is in the running to become the first RSV vaccine ever approved for older adults. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, RSV kills between 6,000 and 10,000 seniors each year. It also causes 60,000 to 160,000 hospital admissions in the age group annually.

According to results published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the vaccine was 86% effective in preventing lower respiratory disease with three or more symptoms and 66% effective in preventing disease with two or more symptoms. The injection is given as a single dose of 120 micrograms.

While the syringe promises to reduce hospitalizations and deaths from RSV in seniors, FDA advisers were concerned about the Guillain-Barre cases at their February meeting.

dr Hana El Sahly, the FDA committee chair, said Guillain-Barre has an incidence of about 1 in 100,000 in people age 60 and older. But in the vaccine study, the rate was closer to 1 in 9,000.

“So that’s important if we look at it at that level,” El Sahly said. She acknowledged that there is still uncertainty as to what the true rate of the disease would be among vaccine recipients.

“But nonetheless, it’s significant in terms of incidence,” she said of the two cases. The consultants who endorsed the vaccine also said safety monitoring will be crucial following a possible FDA approval.

A 66-year-old man in the United States was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre, and a woman of the same age in Japan was diagnosed with a variant of the syndrome called Miller Fisher. Patients developed symptoms seven and eight days after vaccination, respectively.

The man had a history of high blood pressure and suffered a heart attack shortly before he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre and the woman had a history of diabetes. The FDA doesn’t see the heart attack as vaccine-related.

The man’s symptoms disappeared 6 months after onset, and the woman’s symptoms completely disappeared 3 months after onset.

Home Republicans are speaking about kicking Kevin McCarthy to the curb

Speaker McCarthy is trying to throw the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives under the bus on the budget and debt ceiling, which has infuriated his faction, where some are warning he won’t serve out the full term.

The New York Times reported that McCarthy thinks the chair of the House Budget Committee is incompetent, and he criticized House Republican Number Two Steve Scalise (R-LA):

Mr McCarthy has told colleagues he has no faith in Mr Arrington, the man responsible for providing a fiscal framework that lays out the spending cuts Republicans will demand in exchange for a debt ceiling hike. Aside from perceived disloyalty, Mr. McCarthy believes Mr. Arrington, a former official in the George W. Bush administration, to be incompetent, as do more than half a dozen people familiar with his thinking who spoke on condition of anonymity to a description private Conversations.

….

Mr McCarthy has told colleagues and allies that he cannot rely on Mr Scalise and has described the majority leader as ineffective, sidelined and reluctant to take a stand on anything.

Axios reported that McCarthy’s comments are getting Republicans talking more about getting rid of him:

House Conservatives say they are unwilling to push through an eviction motion that could oust McCarthy as speaker. But that raised the level of the conversations.

“The members I spoke to are simply stunned by his rebuke of his budget leader and certainly our leadership,” another House Republican told Axios.

“I can not imagine that [he will last an entire term].”

Once the debt ceiling fiasco explodes in the faces of House Republicans, the clock will be ticking for a motion to vacate and get rid of McCarthy. All the old tensions linger among House Republicans.

It’s only a matter of time before Republicans fail on the debt ceiling, blame McCarthy and send him home.

Both Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and former President Donald Trump have their cars hitched to McCarthy. Greene’s rise will almost certainly hit a speed bump if McCarthy is ousted, and Trump will be pushing for another loyalist because he needs a spokesman who will seek to interfere in the criminal proceedings and investigations against him.

Speaker McCarthy is burning bridges and his days as Speaker of the House appear to be numbered.

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House press pool and congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a bachelor’s degree in political science. His thesis focused on public policy with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and professional memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Political Science Association

Lance Reddick’s lawyer disputes the reason for loss of life report

Actor Lance Reddicks The cause of death was reportedly revealed earlier this week, but his lawyer is now denying how he died.

The Wire star’s death certificate, first published by TMZ Earlier Thursday, listed his immediate cause of death as ischemic heart disease and atherosclerotic coronary artery disease.

Actor’s lawyer says cause of death ‘totally inconsistent with his lifestyle’

However, Reddick’s attorney James Hornstein issued a statement PEOPLE just hours after TMZ published the report. He claims that no autopsy was performed and “no medical examination of Lance during his lifetime ever indicated such conditions.”

“I have represented Lance Reddick for many years and continue to represent his wife Stephanie. The coroner’s statement on the death certificate is not the result of an autopsy. No autopsy was performed on Lance. To my knowledge, no medical examination of Lance during his lifetime has ever pointed to such conditions,” the statement said.

Calling Lance “the most physically fit person I’ve ever known,” Hornstein added, “The information on his death certificate doesn’t match his lifestyle at all.”

“John Wick” star Lance Reddick has died. https://t.co/ENQ7vg9lwA

— TMZ (@TMZ) March 17, 2023

“Lance was the most physically fit person I’ve ever known,” Hornstein continued. “He exercised daily at his home gym, including extensive cardio training, and the availability of fitness facilities was a contractual requirement for his work away from home. He ate as if a nutritionist was overseeing each of his meals. The information on the death certificate is completely incompatible with his lifestyle.”

Lance Reddick’s wife also denies acting credentials

The statement concluded:

“On behalf of Stephanie Reddick, the information on the death certificate is not confirmed and does not agree with the facts known to the family.”

Hornstein did not comment on whether or not Reddick, 60, will be cremated, according to the TMZ report.

RELATED: Lance Reddick’s cause of death is reportedly being revealed

Reddick’s body was discovered at his home on March 17, as previously reported by The shadow room.

Lance Reddick’s cause of death has been revealed.

The actor died from ischemic heart disease and atherosclerotic coronary artery disease.

(Via: @TMZ) pic.twitter.com/yHE6NI2xiE

— The Hollywood Handle (@hollywoodhandle) April 6, 2023

The actor’s representatives say he died “of natural causes” and was survived by his wife and two children

The actor’s representatives confirmed in a statement released after his death that he died “of natural causes.”

“Lance is best known for his roles in The Wire, Bosch, Netflix’s Resident Evil and the John Wick films,” the statement said.

The statement said: “He is survived by his wife Stephanie Reddick and children Yvonne Nicole Reddick and Christopher Reddick. Adding: “Lance will be greatly missed. Please respect his family’s privacy at this time.”

At the time of his death, Reddick was planning to star in several projects, including the reboot of White Men Can’t Jump, the role of Zeus in 2024’s Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, and the John Wick spin-off Ballerina.

Greenback Normal violates office security requirements once more

The exterior of a Dollar General supermarket is seen in Austin, Texas March 16, 2023.

Brandon Bell | Getty Images

Dollar General was again found in violation of federal occupational safety and health regulations after “deliberately” exposing employees to fire hazards at a Pennsylvania store, the Labor Department said Friday.

Investigators found “dangerous safety hazards,” including blocked emergency exit routes and switchboards, at a Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania store during a November inspection prompted by a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The hazards were similar to violations found at the discount chain’s other stores across the United States, and the inspection is one of more than 180 investigations OSHA has found Dollar General endangered worker safety, the DOL said.

In response, a Dollar General spokesperson told CNBC that they “regularly review and refine our security programs and reinforce them through training, ongoing communication, recognition and accountability.”

“When we learn of situations where we have not lived up to this commitment, we work to address the issue in a timely manner and ensure that the company’s security expectations are clearly communicated, understood and implemented,” the spokesperson added .

The company, which operates approximately 18,000 stores across the country and employs more than 150,000 people, has been fined $15 million for safety violations since 2017 and despite repeated penalties “it continues to defy federal workplace safety regulations.” , the agency said.

“Exposing employees to these hazards can be dangerous, especially in an emergency,” said Mary Reynolds, OSHA’s area director, in a statement. Dollar General Corp. has a long history of the same violations and dangers found in stores across the United States. They must end their repeated failures to rectify these violations before an emergency becomes tragic.”

Just last week, OSHA said Dollar General was in settlement talks with federal agencies after it described the retailer as having a “serious violation” of workplace safety regulations. Dollar General became the first company to be added to the “serious violations” list last fall after OSHA expanded the scope of one of its long-standing safety enforcement programs.

For the troubles at the Pennsylvania store, OSHA has issued a subpoena for one willful violation and one repeat violation with proposed penalties of $245,544, but the fines are unlikely to have a major impact on the retailer’s balance sheet.

For fiscal 2022 ended February 3, Dollar General reported revenue of $37.84 billion and net income of $2.41 billion.

The company has 15 business days to either pay the fines, request an informal meeting with OSHA’s area director, or appeal the findings to the Independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Federal decide upholds FDA abortion capsule approval, provides time for attraction

Abortion rights supporters gather in front of the J Marvin Jones Federal Building and Courthouse on March 15, 2023 in Amarillo, Texas.

Moises Avila | AFP | Getty Images

A federal judge in Texas on Friday suspended Food and Drug Administration approval for the abortion pill mifepristone statewide but delayed the ruling’s effective date by a week to give the Biden administration time to appeal.

But minutes after the Texas decision was announced, a Washington state federal judge issued an injunction that said essentially the opposite.

The seemingly conflicting rulings of the federal courts in the states of Texas and Washington mean the Supreme Court could ultimately weigh the legality of mifepristone in the US, which was approved by the FDA more than two decades ago in 2000.

When combined with another drug called misoprostol, mifepristone is the most common method of terminating a pregnancy in the United States, accounting for about half of all abortions.

US Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the US Northern District of Texas held a key hearing in the case weeks ago in Amarillo, but news of the decision, which could turn access to the key abortion drug, came late in the day Friday when many Americans were away religious observances.

Kacsmaryk supported almost all of the plaintiffs’ arguments in their right to sue, seeking to overturn the FDA’s approval of the drug. He argued that mifepristone had serious safety issues, overriding the FDA’s longstanding finding that the drug was safe and effective.

“The court does not lightly challenge FDA’s decision-making,” Kacsmaryk wrote. “But here the FDA has acknowledged its legitimate safety concerns – in breach of its legal duty – on the basis of patently unsound arguments and studies that did not support its conclusions.”

But in a dramatic twist, US District Judge Thomas Owen Rice for the Eastern District of Washington essentially countered the Texas decision when he barred the FDA from “changing the status quo and rights regarding the availability of mifepristone.” 17 states and DC that have sued to keep the pill on the market there.

Boxes of the drug mifepristone, used to induce a medical abortion, are prepared for patients at the Planned Parenthood Health Center in Birmingham, Alabama March 14, 2022.

Evelyn Hockstein Reuters

US Attorney General Merrick Garland said Kacsmaryk’s Texas ruling “overturns the FDA’s expert judgment, made more than two decades ago, that mifepristone is safe and effective.” Garland said the Justice Department will appeal the Texas ruling and defend the FDA approval.

In response to the Texas ruling, President Joe Biden said in a statement, “My administration will fight this ruling.”

“If this ruling stands, there will be virtually no FDA-approved prescription that would be safe from such political, ideological attack,” the president said.

The case goes to the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. If the Biden administration fails to persuade this court to overturn Kacsmaryk’s ruling, access to mifepristone across the United States would be jeopardized

But Washington State’s exclusion can protect access in at least Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Washington State direct current

Kacsmaryk’s decision will not affect access to misoprostol, which is widely used as a standalone abortion drug in other parts of the world. Some abortion providers have announced they will use misoprostol as an alternative to two-drug therapy if mifepristone is withdrawn from the market.

how it started

A coalition of anti-abortion doctors called the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine sued the FDA in November over the approval of mifepristone. The group argued that the FDA abused its authority by fast-tracking mifepristone for new drugs that help patients with serious or life-threatening illnesses more than what is otherwise available on the market.

Kacsmaryk welcomed the group’s claims on Friday, arguing that pregnancy is not a disease and mifepristone offers no significant therapeutic benefit over surgical abortion.

The anti-abortion doctors were represented by attorneys from the Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization that worked with Mississippi lawmakers to draft the law at the center of the women’s health organization Dobbs v. Jackson. This case eventually led to the Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade picked up.

Kacsmaryk joined the court in 2019 after being appointed by former President Donald Trump. Kacsmaryk’s nomination was unanimously rejected by Senate Democrats and Maine Republican Susan Collins, who supports abortion rights.

His nomination was also rejected by abortion and LGBTQ rights organizations such as Planned Parenthood and the Human Rights Campaign.

The FDA called the case “extraordinary and unprecedented” in its January response to the lawsuit. Lawyers for the agency said they could not find any previous example of a court guessing after the fact of an FDA decision approving a drug.

The agency also said mifepristone was not approved through an accelerated route. It took more than four years from the initial application to the approval of the pill.

The FDA has approved mifepristone as a safe and effective method of terminating an early pregnancy based on extensive scientific evidence, the agency’s attorneys wrote. Decades of experience from thousands of women have confirmed that drug therapy is the safest option for many patients compared to surgical abortion or childbirth, the lawyers argued.

The FDA warned that withdrawing mifepristone from the US market would put women’s health at risk if they don’t have access to the pill to safely terminate pregnancies. It would also weaken the FDA’s powers for federal drug approvals and hamper drug development by creating regulatory uncertainty in the marketplace, government lawyers said.

“If long-standing FDA drug approvals were so easily waived decades after they were granted, pharmaceutical companies could not confidently rely on FDA approval decisions to develop the pharmaceutical drug infrastructure Americans depend on to treat a variety of health conditions,” he said the attorneys for the Biden administration wrote.

Mifepristone has been under FDA restrictions since its approval in 2000 to monitor the pill’s safety and effectiveness. These restrictions have been criticized and challenged by medical organizations such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and more recently by attorneys general in Democratic-ruled states.

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The FDA has gradually relaxed restrictions on mifepristone over the years as more and more evidence has been received. The agency dropped previous regulations that required in-person visits to healthcare professionals and allowed the pill to be delivered through the mail. The FDA recently allowed certified retail pharmacies to dispense mifepristone if the patient has a prescription from a healthcare provider approved under the agency’s surveillance program.

Misoprostol, the drug used with mifepristone, is recommended by the World Health Organization as a standalone method of abortion. But the FDA hasn’t approved misoprostol as the sole abortion drug.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends misoprostol as an alternative for early abortions when mifepristone is unavailable, although it’s not as effective as the two-drug regimen, according to the organization.

Sources say commerce officers are touring to China forward of a doable Raimondo journey

Gina Raimondo, US Secretary of Commerce, speaks during an interview in Washington, DC, on Thursday, March 2, 2023.

Andreas Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Senior Commerce Department officials will travel to Beijing and Shanghai next week to lay the groundwork for a possible trip by Secretary of State Gina Raimondo later this year, according to people familiar with the planning.

Elizabeth Economy, a senior adviser to the secretary on China issues, and Scott Tatlock, deputy assistant secretary for China and Mongolia, will assess whether such a meeting between Raimondo and her Chinese counterparts would yield results that would justify the visit .

A Commerce Department spokesman confirmed the trip “to meet with US Commercial Service officials, government colleagues and industry to discuss bilateral trade and business opportunities for US companies.”

But the optics of a possible visit by Raimondo — the former Rhode Island governor whose political ambitions don’t want to end with the Commerce job — could be fraught with risk if the visit doesn’t yield results, according to those familiar with the planning. For example, following a recent visit by French President Emmanuel Macron, Beijing agreed to deliver 160 Airbus aircraft and Airbus agreed to double its production in the country.

A visit by Foreign Minister Antony Blinken, scheduled for early February, has been postponed indefinitely as tensions escalated during the overland flight of a Chinese surveillance balloon.

The tensions disrupted economic talks between Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her counterparts, which have since resumed. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in late March that the White House was discussing possible visits by Secretaries Yellen and Raimondo to “discuss economic issues… there’s still value in keeping those lines of communication open.”

Beijing has missed key benchmarks in a 2020 trade deal between the countries that Raimondo has pledged to enforce — including a promise by China to buy planes from Airbus rival Boeing.

“China is halting purchases of tens of billions of dollars worth of Boeing planes that Chinese airlines have already ordered,” Raimondo told reporters in September 2021. “That puts a lot of American jobs at stake.”

Since then, Commerce has taken an ad hoc approach to sensitive commerce issues. On high-tech exports that could fuel China’s military ambitions, Raimondo has drawn a hard line — expanding restrictions that prevent Beijing from acquiring leading semiconductors.

On TikTok, where support for a ban is growing on both sides of the aisle, Raimondo has taken a more cautious approach. “The politician in me believes you’re going to lose literally every voter under the age of 35 forever,” she told Bloomberg Businessweek. “As much as I hate TikTok — and I do it because I see addiction in the bad — that it serves children — you know, this is America.”

Spanish actress Ana Obregón welcomes her late son’s child through surrogate

Despite setbacks in her native Spain, where surrogacy is forbidden by law, Ana – who chose to have a surrogate in the US – knows the process has been worthwhile, according to Reuters.

“I’m happy!” she gushed. “Surrounded by diapers, bottles, all pink, covered in bows and smelling of perfume, how wonderful! Also, Aless Lequio loved babies and would go insane every time he saw one. He told me, ‘I’m going to call my first daughter Ana, like you mommy.'”

Can Ana imagine welcoming more of Aless’ children one day? Never say Never.

“My son wanted five kids,” she told the outlet. “Maybe one day we’ll have a boy.”

And Ana kept thinking about what it means for her to fulfill Aless’ last wish.

“I failed my son and I couldn’t save him, but what I swore to him with my life I did and no one can take that from me,” she continued. “And I don’t think there’s anyone in the world who sees this beautiful girl, who is so desired by her Father in Heaven and by me on earth and by all who love me, won’t think the same way. “

She added, “It’s something only a father or mother who has lost a child will fully understand.”

Airways are responding to crowded airports and rising prices with bigger plane

A United Airlines plane taxis at Newark International Airport on January 11, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey.

Kena Betancur AFP | Getty Images

NEWARK, New Jersey — With airport congestion, rising costs, a pilot shortage and a rebound in travel demand, airlines are increasingly turning to the same tool: larger planes that can accommodate more passengers.

Flights operated by the 11 largest US airlines averaged more than 153 seats on domestic routes last year, up from an average of nearly 141 seats in 2017, according to aeronautical data company Cirium. In April, US airlines have 0.6% more seats on their domestic schedules compared to the same month in 2019, despite operating 10.6% fewer flights.

The trend toward larger aircraft, part of a strategy known in the industry as “upgauging,” means airlines can sell more seats on each flight and make do with fewer planes that are in short supply. While more passengers per plane lowers an airline’s unit cost, it means fewer flight options for consumers.

For example, United Airlines said its flights across its network have 20 more seats per departure than in 2019.

Rodney Cox, United’s vice president of airport operations at the airline’s hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, told CNBC last month that increasing the number of flights to and from the airport, one of the national ones, is difficult most overloaded.

“The way we continue to build our model and grow the business is to improve our flights,” he said.

Last month, United said it would fly about 3,600 domestic routes on widebody aircraft. The airline also dedicated 777, the largest aircraft in its fleet at 364 seats, to fly between major hubs and Orlando, Fla., during spring break, a spokeswoman said.

At the start of the Covid pandemic, US airlines reallocated their largest jets to domestic routes as international travel was hampered by the crisis and travel restrictions. Now that international travel is picking up again, competition for these planes has become fiercer.

And Cox noted that there is a limit to the number of flights the airline can increase, particularly on its largest planes.

“Not every goal is the same,” he said. “You can’t use a widebody [airplane] at every single goal.”

avoid interference

The trend towards larger aircraft becomes increasingly important in a busy spring and summer with shortages of pilots, air traffic controllers and new aircraft.

Keeping operations running smoothly in crowded Newark is critical, said United Vice President Cox. If planes don’t take off fast enough due to the limited number of gates, “you’ll see it turn into a parking lot,” he said.

Airlines and federal officials have agreed to cut flights in hopes of avoiding a repeat of flight cuts and schedule delays this summer at busy airports serving New York and Washington, DC

Last month, the Federal Aviation Administration said it would allow airlines to cut flights at airports serving New York City and Washington’s Reagan National Airport to avoid disruption.

American Airlines said it will temporarily reduce frequencies on select routes from LaGuardia Airport and Newark in response to the FAA’s slot waiver this summer.

“We are proactively reaching out to affected customers to offer alternative travel arrangements,” said a spokeswoman. The airline plans to reallocate aircraft from reduced frequencies to routes at its hubs at Dallas Fort/Worth International Airport, Chicago O’Hare and Philadelphia International Airport.

United Airlines said in a statement Thursday that in response to the FAA plan, it would reduce daily peak departures in New York and Newark from 438 to 408 and reduce service from the New York area to Washington DC. The airline said it still plans to operate 5% more seats at those airports than in the same month of 2019 and that less than 2% of customers would be affected.

Delta AirlinesThe operations manager has also told the FAA that the airline intends to seek waivers that would allow it to reduce flights.

The FAA expects that “airlines will take steps to minimize the impact on passengers, including operating larger aircraft to carry more passengers and ensuring passengers are fully aware of potential disruptions.”

However, some airlines face the challenge of migrating to larger aircraft. JetBlue Airwaysoperates all narrow-body jets, for example.

“We don’t have a 70 seater that we could turn into a 150[-seater]JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes told CNBC last week.

Also, the airline doesn’t contract with regional carriers for many of its flights like larger U.S. carriers do.

“This will have a significant financial impact on JetBlue and our customers,” Hayes said of the reduced capacity. “It’s always the smaller municipalities that are hit disproportionately hard.”

Reduce regionally

To increase the number of passengers per plane, United and other network airlines are also reducing their reliance on regional feeder airlines where pilot shortages are most acute and unit costs are high.

Delta said 70% of its domestic flights will be operated by the main carrier this year, up from 55% in 2019. Seats per departure are up 15 from 2019, a spokesman told CNBC.

Delta has also switched from regional jets to commercial airliners like the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 on traditional business routes like Boston to Chicago, Seattle to San Francisco, and Los Angeles to Las Vegas. It has completely eliminated regional jets in Las Vegas, Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth and San Antonio, Texas and replaced them with larger planes, a spokesman said.

Some major airlines have suspended flights to some small airports, citing a shortage of pilots on regional airlines. American left cities like Dubuque, Iowa last year, and United last said it would stop flying to Erie, Pennsylvania in June. Delta also said it would temporarily suspend service to State College, Pennsylvania, and to La Crosse, Wisconsin this month.

Reducing regional instead of long-distance flights “could cut traveler departure options in half, meaning long layovers and increased travel times and cost burdens, but it could also mean a previously served city becomes unavailable,” said Faye Malarkey Black, President and CEO of the Regional Airline Association.

“This is further damage to small communities that don’t have the passengers to fill larger planes,” she said.

— CNBC’s Gabriel Cortes contributed to this article.

Alzheimer’s sufferers see the advantages of Leqembi even when it’s stopped

Research at Biogen

Source: Biogenic

New research from Eisai shows that Alzheimer’s patients taking Leqembi retain the benefits of the treatment even after they stop taking it.

The Japanese drugmaker and its partner Biogen last week released an additional analysis of clinical trials of the monoclonal antibody drug, also known as lecanemab. Alzheimer’s disease progressed more slowly in patients taking Leqembi, even after they had stopped treatment for an average of two years, the analysis found.

The results come as drugmakers await a decision on full approval of Leqembi. The Food and Drug Administration accelerated approval of the treatment in January and is scheduled to make its final decision on July 6. The findings also come as Eisai and Biogen try to regain a foothold after last year’s polarizing approval and disastrous launch of its other therapy for Alzheimer’s disease, Aduhelm.

About 6.7 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. This group is projected to grow to nearly 13 million by 2050.

One in three seniors will die of Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia, which kills more people than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined, the association said. The neurodegenerative disease begins with mild memory loss but eventually affects a person’s ability to think and perform day-to-day activities.

There is a wealth of research on Alzheimer’s, but treating it is notoriously difficult. Several drugs targeting the disease have failed in trials. The sheer cost and length of this research further hampers drug development. And in recent years, scientists have sparked a debate about the true cause of the disease and the goal of the drugs.

In the analysis, Alzheimer’s patients stopped taking Leqembi after 18 months in a phase II clinical trial and later resumed treatment in an extension study. Patients stopped Leqembi for a gap period of nine to 59 months before restarting it.

The analysis compared these patients to a group receiving a placebo.

Leqembi reduced amyloid plaques in patients at 12 and 18 months during the clinical trial, the analysis said. Amyloid is a protein that accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients and disrupts cell function.

The analysis said the reduction in amyloid plaques was accompanied by a “consequent reduction in clinical regression” compared to patients receiving the placebo. This means that Alzheimer’s disease progressed more slowly in patients who received Leqembi than in those who took placebo during the clinical trial.

According to the analysis, the difference in disease progression rate between the Leqembi and placebo groups remained the same throughout the gap between treatments. In other words, the disease progressed more slowly in patients taking Leqembi than in the placebo group, even during the time they were not taking the drug.

“The benefit that was obtained from the treatment continued,” said Dr. David Russell, director of clinical research at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, told CNBC.

“The disease has been put on hold for a period of time,” he added. “People have another year before they reach a more moderate stage of the disease compared to people who have not received treatment.”

The research institute is involved in clinical trials for Leqembi and other investigational Alzheimer’s drugs, including Eli Lilly’s donanemab and Genentech and AC Immune’s semorinemab.

Patients taking Leqembi also maintained low amyloid plaque levels during the gap period, the analysis found. The protein replenished only slightly after patients stopped taking the drug, with an average increase of about six centiloids. A centiloid is a unit used to measure amyloid in the brain.

This aligns with previous research from the National Institutes of Health showing that amyloid gradually builds up in the brain.

“It takes many decades for enough plaque to build up to damage the brain,” Russell said.

Other biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease are still deteriorating

Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi can be seen in this undated handout picture obtained by Reuters on January 20, 2023.

Eisai | via Reuters

However, Russell emphasized that lower amyloid plaque levels in people taking Leqembi does not mean that the disease has stopped progressing. Leqembi and other Alzheimer’s drugs have shown an ability to slow cognitive decline, not stop the disease entirely.

“You don’t have to bring the plaque back to the level you had before treatment to start disease progression,” Russell said.

dr Lynn Kramer, Eisai’s chief clinical officer for Alzheimer’s and brain health, added that “plaque is just one component of the whole story and disease process.”

Blood tests in the analysis showed that other biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease worsened when treatment was stopped, Kramer noted. For example, another protein called p-tau181 accumulated in the brain, a trend linked to cognitive decline.

“These biomarkers are indicative of ongoing brain injury and dysfunction,” Kramer said.

“Our data show that if you stop therapy after plaque removal, everyone will experience cognitive decline and biomarker disruption [monoclonal antibody] unless therapy continues,” he added.

Specifically, the analysis found that these disease biomarkers improved after patients resumed Leqembi during the extension study. Amyloid plaque also began to decrease just three months after restarting the drug.

These improvements were associated with a “greater slowdown” in cognitive decline after restarting treatment, the analysis said.