Parents, you aren’t imagining it. School supplies are more expensive this year.

Huntington National Bank’s annual Backpack Index shows school supply prices jumped an average of 7.3 percent this year, far outpacing inflation at 1.39 percent.

Almost every basic item has risen in cost since last year, some by only pennies, others by up to $10, according to the analysis.

“We’re not sure what’s driving (the increases). Maybe plastic is more expensive,” said Mark Reitzes, president of the Southern Ohio/Kentucky region for Huntington.


http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130725/NEWS0102/307250014/-1-200-school-supplies-Price-rate-jumps-triple-inflation

Washington (PAI) – A source close to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has confirmed a story in the magazine In These Times that the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union plans to rejoin the AFL-CIO this year.

The announcement was supposed to occur at UFCW’s convention in Chicago in mid-August, and be ratified at the AFL-CIO convention in Los Angeles in September, but the magazine broke the story on July 10. UFCW delegates must ratify reunification.

UFCW, with more than 1 million members, is a key component of Change To Win, the coalition of unions that broke away from the AFL-CIO in 2005. UFCW President Joe Hansen now chairs Change To Win, but has stayed on good terms with the AFL-CIO, as have UFCW unions at the local and state levels.

UFCW has also cooperated with the larger labor federation in national politics and in mass rallies for labor causes. On the same day the reunification story broke, Trumka and Hansen issued a blistering joint statement against a voluntary weak building enforcement code in Bangladesh, where a clothing factory collapse had killed 1,129 workers. The workers made clothing for one signer, Wal-Mart, among others.

http://labortribune.com/afl-cio-source-united-food-and-commercial-workers-to-rejoin-fed/

ST. LOUIS, MO. (KTVI) – People are pushing to have companies install a “kill “ switch on smartphones. They say it could keep smartphone owners from being robbed, injured or even killed.

Next month is the first anniversary of the murder of SLU volleyball star Megan Boken. She was gunned down and her smartphone was stolen. Her friends are working to make sure that never happens to anyone else. Bridget Fonke was Megan’s close friend, “This could definitely save a lot of lives it could have saved hers this was a very preventable crimes she was murdered because of her cell phone.”

25 year old Bridget Fonke coaches young volleyball talent. She is a standout athlete and SLU graduate just like Megan was. Megan was shot to death in the Central West End August 18, 2012 in broad daylight. Two teens were arrested and charged with the killing. Bridget Fonke said, “I just think if we had this the situation could have been completely avoided.”

Megan’s friends and family have joined a nationwide push for people to sign an on-line petition asking smartphone companies to put a “kill” switch in phones. If one is ripped off it could be immediately rendered useless. The web site indicates 1.6 million Americans were victimized for their smartphones last year. Fonke added, “We don’t’ want this to happen again.”

http://fox2now.com/2013/07/23/kill-switch-for-smartphones-to-keep-people-from-being-killed/

There are a little over 6,200 operational electric vehicle charging stations across America, so if you have an electric hybrid car in some parts of the country, getting juice is a little trickier than popping into the nearest gas station.

A new solution designed for Volvo Auto Italia by Synthesis Design + Architecture, Buro Happold, and Fabric Images aims to let the car charge wherever it happens to find a parking spot in the sun. Called "Pure Tension," it's a portable pavilion that unfolds in a series of organic, parabolic curves embedded with photovoltaic panels for harvesting solar energy.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57595183-1/volvo-sunshade-charges-with-solar-power/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title

While the design is a bit large for many places, it is certainly interesting and it's a start.

Cybercrimes cost the global economy up to $500 billion annually, and can potentially result in the loss of 500,000 jobs in the United States alone.

These findings were highlighted in a report released Tuesday by the Center of Strategic and International Studies and commissioned by McAfee. Aimed at measuring real-world losses from cyberattacks, the center enlisted economists, intellectual property experts, and security researchers to develop the report. The researchers also based their estimates on comparisons to real-world analogies such as losses in car crashes, piracy, pilferage and crime, and drugs.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57595063-83/cybercrime-costing-economy-up-to-$500b-a-year-study-finds/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title

If legislation passed by the Washington, D.C., Council is signed into law, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. says it will have to “re-evaluate [its] options” with regard to six planned stores in the area. The Large Retailer Accountability Act (LRAA) requires that certain large retailers pay a starting salary of $12.50 an hour-- considerably higher than D.C.’s current minimum wage of $8.25.

Three of the stores are now under construction, with the first two slated to open in the autumn.

In a July 9 op-ed piece in The Washington Post, Alex Barron, a regional general manager for Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart who is responsible for about 90 stores and 30,000 associates in the D.C. area, said: “[T]his legislation is arbitrary and discriminatory and … discourages investment in Washington. We have gone to great lengths to have thoughtful conversations with council members about why the LRAA would result in fewer jobs, higher prices and fewer total retail options. Most shopping dollars would stay in the suburbs, unemployment would remain in the double digits in some neighborhoods, and underserved communities would continue to have disproportionate access to affordable groceries.”

Additionally, as the mega-retailer has pointed out, major local employers Safeway and Giant-Landover are exempt from the LRAA, which the company believes would give those supermarket operators an unfair advantage. “The LRAA would clearly inject unforeseen costs into the equation that would create an uneven playing field and challenge the fiscal health of our planned D.C. stores,” noted Barron in the op-ed piece.

http://www.progressivegrocer.com/top-stories/headlines/national-supermarket-chains/id39595/walmart-decries-d-c-living-wage-legislation/?icid=homepage