United Airlines gets first 787
U.S. travelers are going to be seeing a lot more of the 787, the lightweight jet built to reduce flier fatigue and airline fuel bills.
United this week became the first U.S. airline to get the newest Boeing plane. Flights between United hubs, including Houston and Chicago, begin Nov. 4. United joins All Nippon Airways, which starts U.S. flights today, and Japan Airlines, which already flies the 787 from Boston to Tokyo.
After years of delays, Boeing Co. has begun delivering a handful of 787s every month. With more than 800 sold to airlines around the world, it will eventually be a plane that travelers encounter regularly. The 787 seats 219 passengers — making it relatively small for a long-range plane but ideal on routes where it’s tough to fill a larger 777.
Boeing claims the Dreamliner will be 20 percent more fuel efficient than comparable jets. And it promises a better travel experience, with more space, better lighting and carefully calibrated air pressure that should lead to fewer flier headaches.
United will fly its new plane from Seattle to Houston on Friday to begin getting it ready for passenger flights.
California dairies
are going broke
HANFORD, Calif. (AP) — In nearly six decades of running a dairy in central California, Mary Cameron made a name for herself in a male-dominated industry: She led several dairy organizations and was honored as Outstanding Dairy Producer of the Year.
But the 82-year-old Cameron — who still drives a tractor and supervises her Hanford dairy — is on the brink of losing her life’s work. She can no longer pay the bills. Her bank has classified her loan as distressed. And she can’t afford enough feed for her 900 milking cows and 1,000 heifers.
“I have been in this business for 57 years and I have never been in financial trouble like I am right now,” said Cameron, who runs the Atsma-Cameron Dairy with her two sons. “I’m on the verge of bankruptcy. It’s horrible and inexcusable.”
Cameron is not alone. Across California, the nation’s largest dairy state, dozens of dairy operators large and small have filed for bankruptcy in recent months and many teeter on the edge of insolvency. Others have sold their herds or sent them to slaughter and given up on the business.
Experts say California dairymen face a double whammy: exorbitant feed costs and lower milk prices. The Midwest drought has led to corn and soybean costs increasing by more than 50 percent this summer, stressing dairymen from Wisconsin and Minnesota to Missouri. But in California, milk prices have also lagged behind those in the rest of the nation, exacerbating the crisis.
Schwarzenegger
kept many secrets
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Arnold Schwarzenegger says his lifelong penchant for secrecy and ability to put his emotions “on deep freeze” led him to keep many secrets from his wife Maria Shriver, eventually causing the dissolution of their marriage when he was forced to admit he fathered a child with the family’s housekeeper years earlier.
Throughout their strained 25-year marriage, Schwarzenegger says he did not want to tell Shriver about crucial life decisions such as major heart surgery and running for California governor because he feared she would overreact and tell her well-connected family and friends.
In his new autobiography, “Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story,” and in an interview airing Sunday on “60 Minutes,” the former California governor acknowledges that his inability to be honest with people has hurt those closest to him.
“That’s the way I handle things. And it always has worked. But, I mean it does not — it’s not the best thing for people around me because I sometimes — some information I just keep to myself,” Schwarzenegger tells reporter Lesley Stahl on “60 Minutes.”
The former Mr. Universe traces his detachment to his bodybuilding days, where he says emotions make athletes lose.
“So I became an expert in living in denial,” says the Hollywood action star and former governor.
Schwarzenegger praises Shriver throughout the book as a partner and friend who was essential to his success, but also admits to keeping her in the dark about many career decisions. Shriver filed for divorce in July.
Although he had been toying with the idea of running for governor for more than a year, Schwarzenegger waited until just days before the filing deadline for the 2003 recall to discuss it with Shriver, writing in the book that he “didn’t want endless conversation about it at home.”
‘Transylvania’ hauls in $43M
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Adam Sandler’s monster mash-up “Hotel Transylvania” has brought the weekend box office back to life after a late-summer slump.
The animated comedy from Sony Pictures debuted at No. 1 with $43 million, one of the strongest starts ever for a movie opening in September, according to studio estimates Sunday.
“Hotel Transylvania” set a new high for September debuts in terms of actual dollars, beating the previous record of $35.7 million for 2002’s “Sweet Home Alabama.” But factoring in today’s higher admission prices, “Sweet Home Alabama” sold more tickets.
This weekend’s box office was further strengthened by a solid No. 2 debut for another Sony release, Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s time-travel thriller “Looper,” which took in $21.2 million.
Hollywood’s overall grosses rose for the first time in a month compared to the same weekend last year. Revenues totaled $120 million, up 21 percent from the same weekend a year ago, when “Dolphin Tale” led with $13.9 million, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.
“Sony really kind of saved the day here, turning things around after a full month of less-than-stellar box office,” said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
“The post-summer period didn’t exactly set the world on fire.”
It’s rare for one studio to open two wide releases over the same weekend, but Sony had two movies that complemented each other well without overlapping their audiences.
Locking up the family crowds, the PG-rated “Hotel Transylvania” features Sandler providing the voice of Count Dracula as proprietor of a resort catering to Frankenstein, the Wolfman and other monsters.
