Sunday, March 4, 2007

On March 2, 2007, Kraft Canada Inc. (Kraft) issued an alert to news media requesting the recall of a brand of cookies manufactured in their Toronto, Ontario plant.

The news release indicates that certain packages of Christie Chewy Chunks Ahoy! cookies may have been tampered with. Kraft had received 2 complaints from consumers that small, sharp metal objects had been found in the cookies.

The product had been distributed to stores in Quebec, Ontario, and to a Wal-Mart in Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador in the province of Newfoundland. Kraft indicated that no other Christie products are affected by the recall.

Kraft is undertaking an internal investigation and has referred the case to police, although they suggest that there have been no serious injuries associated with consumption of the product.

According to spokesperson Lynne Galia, Kraft is treating the case as suspected tampering, as “the material found in the cookies is not found in our plant.”

The police investigation is in early stages, with accidental contamination or intentional tampering both being given consideration.

The product recall affects the following packages of Christie Chewy Chunks Ahoy!:

Package Date: 2007 JL30 KT16, Size: 325 g, UPC: 0 6672101602 7

Package Date: 2007 JL30 KT26, Size: 325 g, UPC: 0 6672101602 7

Package Date: 2007 JL31 KT36, Size: 325 g, UPC: 0 6672101602 7

Package Date: 2007 JL31 KT16, Size: 325 g, UPC: 0 6672101602 7

Package Date: 2007 JL31 KT26, Size: 325 g, UPC: 0 6672101602 7

For more information, consumers and industry are encouraged to call 1-800-310-3704

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Once you get a chance to talk to West Palm Beach, Florida native Whitney Cunningham, who placed seventh on the eighth cycle of the popular reality TV series America’s Next Top Model, you begin to understand what host Tyra Banks meant when she described her as the “full package.”

First of all, she is confident and headstrong, which is a must on these kinds of shows, almost as much as it is to take a beautiful modelesque picture. Second, she turns that confidence into drive. She has been receiving steady work as a model since leaving the show, and still believes that her goal of being the first woman to wear a size ten dress on the cover of Vogue is in reach. Third, and probably most important to television viewers, she obliterates the age-old model stereotype that to be pretty and photograph well, one must also be vapid and without a thought. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Cunningham also dreams of becoming a writer, and is working toward dual goals: a model who can express herself like no other model before her.

Cunningham recently sat down with Wikinews reporter Mike Halterman in an impassioned interview, taking hours to field questions from the reporter as well as from fans of America’s Next Top Model. Always in high spirits, Cunningham shows that she is a distinct personality who has carved her own niche in the Top Model history books. At the same time, she exhibits a joie de vivre that is oddly reminiscent of earlier Top Model fan favorite Toccara Jones, who showed America just how to be “big, black, beautiful and loving it.” However, Cunningham is quick to remind everyone that she isn’t big at all; she is simply a regular woman.

This is the first in a series of interviews with America’s Next Top Model contestants. Interviews will be published sporadically.

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Conference committee negotiators in the Hawaii state legislature have reached agreement on a bill that will suspend Hawaii’s controversial gasoline price control law, commonly known as the “gas cap.”

Under the proposed bill created by the conference committee, the current gas cap law would be immediately suspended for an indefinite period. The cap price would continue to be calculated, but the governor would have sole discretion to reinstate the price cap. The bill would also call for increased reporting of profits by oil companies.

The bill draft still needs majority approval by both houses (which appears likely), and signature by Governor Linda Lingle.

The current law uses wholesale gasoline prices from three Mainland markets to set the maximum price that oil companies can charge for gasoline. Retailers are free to charge whatever they wish.

The law was proposed by the Democratic-controlled legislature during a time when oil company profits in Hawaii compared with the Mainland came under intense scrutiny. Republicans, including Lingle, opposed the bill.

Since the law went into effect in September 2005, price fluctuations due to the disruption of gasoline supply in the wake of Hurrican Katrina have resulted in gas prices of more than $3.00 a gallon in Honolulu, with significantly higher prices on the Neighbor Islands. Currently prices of unleaded gasoline in Honolulu range from $3.00 to $3.42 per gallon, the highest in the nation.

During the current legislative session which expires Thursday, the House of Representatives (the lower house) passed a version calling for outright repeal of the law, while the Senate (the upper house) called for modification of the formula used to calculate the cap.

However, in recent weeks, the main proponent of the gasoline price cap law, Senator Ron Menor (D-Mililani), softened his position, allowing for an indefinite suspension of the gas cap. Negotiations between the House and Senate had reached an impasse over the calculation of the cap level. Senate negotiators pushed for a formula that would have set cap levels about 15 to 20 cents lower than the current formula. The leadership of the legislature intervened as the deadline for conference committee reports loomed.

Hawaii is the only state in the United States to institute price controls on gasoline in recent years.