Hotels satisfied on ‘level playing field’s’ progress
BALANCED - from page B1
seeking their help to “get the arena in line” and report short-term rentals in their neighbourhoods.
Many Bahamians, though, viewed the move as a “fishing expedition” and tax grab.
Mr Raine, who was among those to voice this believe, warned “there’s two sides to the coin”. He addedthatthetaxauthority mustbalanceitsregistration and revenue drive with not deterring both Bahamian involvement in short-term vacation rental ownership and foreign demand for localrealestate.
“I think they have to be very careful,” he told Tribune Business, “because the other side of it may be people are only buying properties here because they can rent them out at times that they are not here, and if you kill that
goose people will not be buying property any more. You may be talking $1m, $1.5mandup. “It’s not a good idea to strangle anyone. If people are putting money into the country, investing in the country, they’re entitled to earn something. The Government is, too, but this industry is creating money all around.” Mr Raine said short-term vacation renters typically spend monies in communities not normally touched by tourism dollars, purchasing supplies, eating at restaurants and using other services and amenities.
Asserting that the Government must be mindful of, and not neglect, this impact which also serves to boost VAT and other tax revenue streams, he added: “They’ve got to go slowly, got to go gently. People don’t mind paying what’s reasonable, but when you
Liquor stores can appeal rejection
- from page B3
is in our Act. And if it is that the decision made by the Department in accordance with those laws, those policies and procedures, is not a decision that the taxpayer wishes to accept, there is a whole process thattheycancarryout.”
Mr Robinson said that if a liquor store was the first such business to be established in its area, and was granted a Business Licence to operate legitimately, it should not be refused during the registration process.
“Well, what we would have to look at is how the person got the licence in thefirstplacebecausethese thingsarealreadyinplace,”
Mr Robinson added. “So that means that those who got approved, something went wrong, because they should not have been approvedinthefirstplace.
“Now they would have to look to see who was there first. If the bar was there first, and the church and the school came afterwards, it wouldn’t be fair to the person that made that investment. If you have a bar that was there, the church came afterwards, you’re not in breach of the
law.Soitwouldn’tbefairto closethemdown.”
Ms Strachan also pointed to a rise in complaints from persons within communities where liquor stores are presently operating. She said the Department of Inland Revenue will consider that as a factor in the registrationprocess.
“Therehavebeenalotof, I guess, complaints recently from persons in neighbourhoods because of the noise pollution and that type of thingrelativetoliquorbusinesses that may be near to a community or near to a neighbourhood,”shesaid.
“I call it noise pollution, where the music playing all night, or that type of thing where you’re really infringing on a community. So those are some of the things that Inland Revenue will have to pay attention to when we deal with the whole registration of liquor businesses.”
Mr Robinson acknowledged that some liquor establishments do not comply with what is expected of them, but added that most do. He supports the shut down of non-compliant businesses inthesector.
“Now when she was speaking about the noise
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COMPANIES ACT, 2000 HERMWELL LTD. In Voluntary Liquidation
NOTICE is hereby given that in accordance with Section 138(4) of The International Business Companies Act, 2000, HERMWELL LTD. is in dissolution.
The date of commencement of the dissolution was the 6th day of August A.D., 2025.
Mr. Michael C. Miller, P.O. Box EE-17971, Nassau, Bahamas is the liquidator of HERMWELL LTD
Michael C. Miller Liquidator
start to take a lot that’s when the push back comes anditcanbesevere.
“The reality is that peoplewillacceptit’s[taxation] fair up to a point. Once you go beyond that, they will start to look for ways to change it. We have been a tax haven for the wealthy since the late Sir Harry Oakes came here. If you tax people too much they are not going to come anymore,andtheycontributeahellofalot....
“Balance is the right word.You’vegottobalance everything in life otherwise it’s a see-saw. They’re [the Government] not saving any gas by saying they are only doing it for foreigners. People don’t believe that. If they’re doing it for foreigners, Bahamians will be comingnext.”
One financial source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Tribune Business that the
being in a neighbourhood, you have to be compliant,” he added. “I’ve known a couple of bars in my days that complaints were made from the neighbours, and the people weren’t complying. They were having fights. So they would close you down. They would close you down if you become a nuisance to the community. And a lot of peoplecomplainaboutit.It hashappenedbefore.
“If they really read their licence, certain things are there. You have to control the loud music... If you go bybackinthedaywhenwe used to run our restaurant
Department of Inland Rev-
enue’s 20,000-unit estimate meant that collectively short-term vacation rentalsarethebiggestsourceof tourist accommodation in the country - greater than the hotel industry’s estimated15,000rooms. As a result, they added thatthemotivationtoregulate and tax the sector was easily understandable, but addedthatthetaxauthority was “going about it really, really clumsily” with its recent flawed notice to all taxpayers it had an e-mail address for and subsequent call for Bahamians to effectively‘snitch’onneighbours who have an undeclared vacationrentalproperty.
Questioning why the Government simply does not approach listing platforms, such as Airbnb and VRBO, for help in both identifying Bahamas-based short-term vacation rentals and taxing them, they added: “I don’t think anybody trusts them because if they have you on the register they can come after you if they change their mind. Whataretheygoingtodoif people don’t register: Shut themdown?”
and bar, the music could not be played to the annoyanceofyourneighbour.
“And what some of these barsaredoing,theyareputtingspeakersontheoutside of the premises. It’s against the law to do that. Once you are in compliance with the old rules, it wouldn’t be fair to close nobody down, if you already give them a licence and they are complying with the rules,” Mr Robinsoncontinued.
“Now, the ones who are not complying, well, it has happened before. It wouldn’t be unfair, because the law is the law, and we have guidelines we have to
Meanwhile, Robert Sands, the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) immediate past president, told Tribune Business that the sector is satisfied with the Government’s progress to-date in trying to create a ‘level playing field’ between the industry and short-term vacation rentals despite the latter’s relatively low registration and compliance thresholdto-date.
“I think the bigger issue is for the Association is the Government has taken action on some of our recommendations notwithstanding the percentage of those that are compliant,” Mr Sands said of shortterm vacation rentals. “We believe it’s a work in progress and we are satisfied that the actions of the Government are heading in the rightdirection.”
Mr Sands reiterated the hotel industry’s call for a “competitive level playing field” that all elements in the Bahamian tourism industry can participate in and benefit from, with any increase in government revenues also likely to finance roads and other
go by. So you can’t be playing loud music all night just because you have a licence. No, they can revoke your licence. See, that licence is not guaranteed for life. That licence is only guaranteedforoneyear. That’s the chance you take. It is guaranteed for one year. So if you are not in compliance, they can revoke your licence. If you are in compliance with everything, and you already have your investment, it wouldn’t be fair [if] they shut you down because I am there, and just because you have some disgruntled neighbours who don’t want
infrastructure that the sector - including vacation rentals-benefitfrom.
Acknowledging that the registration drive will require patience, Mr Sands added: “The positive thing is that they’ve [the Government] recognised the concern, taken the necessary action and they are now working on improving the percentage level of compliance. It’s extremely important. The level playing field is all we have been askingfor...
“Persons visiting The Bahamas choose the methods by which they travel to The Bahamas, choose the accommodation they wish to stay in. The aggregate of the mix all contributes to a successful tourism industry, andnoonesectorshouldbe disadvantagedbyanother.
“That’s the call of the BHTA for a level playing field so that the competitive model is not eroded but also additional funding is made available and dedicated for the betterment of all of us - infrastructure, roads and subventions for marketing.”
The “liquor portal” for merchants to register with the Department of Inland Revenue will become availableandactiveonSeptember 1. Ms Strachan said “having a licence doesn’t mean that you will be registered”. Mr Robinson backedtheregistrationprocess, but questioned why a fee of $100 is attached, adding that the cost of a Business Licence itself is significant.
50% of Wilson City units are now offline
in-service engines sparked the weekend’s load shedding.
One business owner, speaking to Tribune Business on condition of anonymity,saidtheirpower had been off four times in the last 24 hours. “Everyone’s power bills have doubled,” they added. “We’repayingtwotimes’as muchforhalftheservice.It started in earnest two days ago[Friday].
“They said one of their generators was offline and needed emergency repairs. I think the problems are farbiggerthanwhatthey’re telling us.” Another source, based in Treasure Cay, added: “Definitely load shedding.
“Up here in Treasure Cay we have been on/off generator at least three to five times daily over the last three days. June was horrendous, but definitely
looks like strategic load shedding. Bills have doubledbutourconsumptionis unchanged.”
Mr Thompson, who was in Cherokee Sound when contacted by this newspaper last night, said: “From what I hear, in Marsh Harbour and Treasure Cay it’s been pretty bad the last coupleofdays.Myquestion is: What’s going on here?
I know they have four 12 mega watt generators. How many are operational? It goes back to maintenance, theupkeep. “It has been bad. It’s been bad for the residents. I guess it’s affected a lot of small businesses but we go through this every summer. This was like this last year. That’s the problem.” Mr Thompsonalsovoicedscepticismthateitherofthetwo engines will be repaired by the dates given by BPL, adding: “If they have either one up by mid-September, I’ll come to Nassau and takeyououttodinner.”
BPL, pledging that restoring service reliability in Abaco is its “highest priority”, said one of the offline engines is awaiting a replacement part from Brazil while the other is undergoing “a major overhaul” to leave just two of its four Wilson City units operational.
The plant normally has a 51.2 MW peak load generation capacity, but BPL said in a statement: “On Friday, August 8, inclement weather caused an interruption to parts of Central Abaco at 7.50am. Power was restored within 35 minutes.
“The following afternoon, on Saturday, August 9, a fault on one of our primarygeneratingunitsatthe Wilson City power station reduced available generationby3–4MW,resultingin a series of short load-sheddingrotations. “Crewsimmediatelyinitiated repairs, a process that
involves engine cooldown, inspection, disassembly, bearing replacement and gradual load testing. By 10amonSunday,August10, power had been restored to 80percentofaffectedareas, with final restoration completed in Dundas Town at 1.15pm.”
As for the two offline Wilson City engines, BPL added that one needs to replace “a failed lube oil heat exchanger, with the replacement part en route from Brazil. Once received, [it] is expected to return to service within ten days”. As for the other, “a major overhaul is in progress and isexpectedtobecompleted bymid-September2025”.
Acknowledging that key repairs have been delayed, BPL blamed this on Hurricane Dorian, COVID-related supply chain challenges and “the age of the Wilson City plant”. It added: “Despite these obstacles, we are makingeveryefforttocomplete repairs in the shortest possibletime.”
To ease the burden on WilsonCity,BPLsaidthree Caterpillar generation units have been purchased to providepowertotheAbaco
cays.InstallationonManO’ War Cay began on August 9, and will restart once the weather allows, with Hope Town and Guana Cay to follow. “We understand the frustration that comes with power interruptions, and we want our customers to know that restoring and enhancing reliability in Abaco is our highest priority,” said Marvin Green, BPL’s regional manager for the Northern Bahamas.
“The steps we are taking now will place Abaco in a much stronger position for consistent, dependable power.”
BPL’s Abaco woes have hit amid its ongoing challenges in Eleuthera. The state-owned utility last week pledged it will not disconnect Eleuthera customers over past-due bills amid rising outrage over frequent and long-lasting electricityoutages.
BPL acknowledged its customers’ frustration, adding: “We understand the deep frustration being expressed by our customers in Eleuthera. Many of our own employees, friends and family members live and work on the island,
and they, too, are directly impacted by the ongoing challenges.
“We want to reassure the public that we hear them, we empathise with them and, most importantly, we are actively working on both immediate and longterm solutions to provide relief. In partnership with the Government of The Bahamas, we are hopeful that the upcoming Power Purchase Agreements for Eleuthera will help alleviatethestrainontheisland’s existinggenerationcapacity.
“Eleuthera is a fastgrowing economy, and our executive leadership and Board of Directors remain fully committed to implementing strategies that will address long-standing infrastructure issues and strengthen the reliability of supply.Thisisnotjustabout power, it’s about people. And we are determined to setthingsright.”
A top Federal Reserve official says dour jobs data backs the case for 3 rate cuts
NEW YORK AssociatedPress
A TOP official at the Federal Reserve said Saturday that this month's stunning, weaker-thanexpectedreportontheU.S. job market is strengthening herbeliefthatinterestrates shouldbelower.
Michelle Bowman was oneoftwoFedofficialswho votedaweekandahalfago in favor of cutting interest rates. Such a move could help boost the economy by making it cheaper for people to borrow money to buy a house or a car, but it could also threaten to push inflationhigher.
Bowmanandafellowdissenter lost out after nine other Fed officials voted to keep interest rates steady, as the Fed has been doing all year. The Fed's chair, Jerome Powell, has been adamant that he wants to wait for more data about how President Donald Trump's tariffs are affecting inflation before the Fed makesitsnextmove.
At a speech during a bankers' conference in Colorado on Saturday, Bowman said that "the latest labor market data reinforce my view" that the Fed should cut interest rates three times this year. The Fed has only three
meetings left on the schedulein2025.
The jobs report that arrived last week, only a couple of days after the Fed voted on interest rates, showed that employers hired far fewer workers last month than economists expected. It also said that hiring in prior months was much lower than initially thought.
On inflation, meanwhile, Bowman said she is getting more confident that Trump's tariffs "will not present a persistent shock to inflation" and sees it moving closer to the Fed's 2% target. Inflation has come down substantially
since hitting a peak above 9% after the pandemic, but it has been stubbornly remainingabove2%.
The Fed's job is to keep the job market strong, whilekeepingalidoninflation. Its challenge is that it has one main tool to affect both those areas, and helping one by moving interest rates up or down often meanshurtingtheother.
A fear is that Trump's tariffscouldboxintheFederalReservebystickingthe economy in a worst-case scenario called "stagflation," where the economy stagnates but inflation is high. The Fed has no good tooltofixthat,anditwould
AS ELECTRIC BILLS RISE, EVIDENCE MOUNTS THAT DATA CENTERS SHARE BLAME. STATES FEEL PRESSURE TO ACT
By MARC LEVY AssociatedPress
AMID rising electric bills, states are under pressure to insulate regular household and business ratepayersfromthecostsof feeding Big Tech's energyhungrydatacenters.
It's not clear that any state has a solution and the actual effect of data centers on electricity bills is difficult to pin down. Some critics question whether states have the spine to takeahardlineagainsttech behemoths like Microsoft, Google,AmazonandMeta.
But more than a dozen states have begun taking steps as data centers drive a rapid build-out of power plants and transmission lines.
That has meant pressuring the nation's biggest power grid operator to clamp down on price increases, studying the effect of data centers on electricity bills or pushing data center owners to pay a larger share of local transmissioncosts.
Rising power bills are "something legislators have been hearing a lot about. It's something we've been hearing a lot about. More people are speaking out at the public utility commission in the past year than I've ever seen before," said Charlotte Shuff of the Oregon Citizens' Utility Board, a consumer advocacy group. "There's a massiveoutcry."
Not the typical electric customer
Some data centers could require more electricity than cities the size of Pittsburgh, Cleveland or New Orleans, and make huge
factories look tiny by comparison. That's pushing policymakers to rethink a systemthat,historically,has spread transmission costs among classes of consumers that are proportional to electricityuse. "A lot of this infrastructure,billionsofdollarsofit, is being built just for a few customers and a few facilities and these happen to be the wealthiest companies in theworld,"saidAriPeskoe, who directs the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard University. "I think some ofthefundamentalassumptions behind all this just kindofbreaksdown."
A fix, Peskoe said, is a "can of worms" that pits ratepayer classes against oneanother.
Some officials downplay the role of data centers in pushingupelectricbills.
Tricia Pridemore, who sits on Georgia's Public Service Commission and is president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, pointed to an already tightened electricity supply and increasing costs for power
lines, utility poles, transformers and generators as utilities replace aging equipment or harden it againstextremeweather.
The data centers needed to accommodate the artificial intelligence boom are still in the regulatory planningstages,Pridemoresaid, and the Data Center Coalition, which represents Big Tech firms and data center developers, has said its members are committed to payingtheirfairshare.
But growing evidence suggests that the electricity billsofsomeAmericansare rising to subsidize the massive energy needs of Big Tech as the U.S. competes in a race against China for artificial intelligence superiority.
Data and analytics firm
Wood Mackenzie published a report in recent weeks that suggested 20 proposed or effective specialized rates for data centers in 16 states it studied aren't nearly enough to cover the cost of a new natural gas powerplant.
In other words, unless utilities negotiate higher
likely have to prioritize either the job market or inflation before helping the other.
specializedrates,otherratepayer classes — residential, commercial and industrial —arelikelypayingfordata centerpowerneeds.
Meanwhile, Monitoring Analytics, the independent market watchdog for the mid-Atlantic grid, produced research in June showing that 70% — or $9.3 billion — of last year's increased electricity cost wastheresultofdatacenter demand.
States are responding
Last year, five governors led by Pennsylvania's Josh Shapiro began pushing back against power prices set by the mid-Atlantic grid operator, PJM Interconnection, after that amount spiked nearly sevenfold. They warned of customers "paying billions more than isnecessary."
On Wall Street, expectations are that the Fed will have to cut interest rates at its next meeting in September after the U.S. jobs report came in so much below economists' expectations.
PJM has yet to propose ways to guarantee that data centers pay their freight, but Monitoring Analytics isfloatingtheideathatdata centers should be required toprocuretheirownpower.
In a filing last month, it said that would avoid a "massive wealth transfer" fromaveragepeopletotech companies.
At least a dozen states are eyeing ways to make data centers pay higher localtransmissioncosts.
In Oregon, a data center hot spot, lawmakers passed legislation in June ordering state utility regulators to developnew—presumably higher — power rates for datacenters.
The Oregon Citizens' Utility Board says there is clear evidence that costs to serve data centers are being spread across all customers — at a time when some electric bills there are up 50% over the past four years and utilities are disconnecting more people thanever.
New Jersey's governor signed legislation last
Trump has been calling angrily for lower interest rates, often personally insultingPowellwhiledoing so. He has the opportunity to add another person to the Fed's board of governors after an appointee of former President Joe Biden steppeddownrecently.
month commissioning state utility regulators to study whether ratepayers are being hit with "unreasonable rate increases" to connect data centers and to develop a specialized rate tochargedatacenters.
In some other states, like Texas and Utah, governors andlawmakersaretryingto avoid a supply-and-demand crisis that leaves ratepayersonthehook—orinthe dark.
Doubts about states protecting ratepayers
In Indiana, state utility regulators approved a settlement between Indiana Michigan Power Co., Amazon,Google,Microsoft and consumer advocates thatsetparametersfordata centerpaymentsforservice.
Kerwin Olsen, of the Citizens Action Council of Indiana, a consumer advocacy group, signed the settlement and called it a "pretty good deal" that contained more consumer protections than what state lawmakerspassed.
Acai berry producers are concerned as Trump imposes tariffs on Brazil’s exports
By ALAN K. GUIMARAES and MAURICIO SAVARESE Associated Press
WHEN U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs of 50% on Brazilian exports in July, acai producer Ailson Ferreira Moreira felt immediately concerned.
After all, who was going to eat all of that Amazon berry, globally famous as a delicious, refreshing and nutritious superfood, if American consumers suddenly could no longer affordit?
As the main importer of the Brazilian berry, prices ofacaismoothiesandbowls look certain to go up in the UnitedStates.
“The acai that’s all producedhere...Ifonlypeople hereeatit,it’sgoingtobea lot of acai, right?” Moreira told The Associated Press outside of Belem, an Amazon city of 1.4 million residents that will host this year’s U.N. climate summit COP30 climate summit in November. “If there’s too much acai here, people
won’t be able to eat it all andthepricewilldrop.”
A single full crate of acai sells for around $50 at local markets in Brazil, a price that is now expected to plummet.TheU.S.isbyfar the largest acai importer of atotalBrazilianoutputcurrently estimated at about 70,000tonsperyear.
Impactalreadybeingfelt
The most vulnerable acai producers in the northern state of Para say they have already been hit by tariffs imposed by the U.S. government, as a surplus of the berry without a clear destination starts to mount onlydaysaftertheneweconomicscenariounfolded.
More powerful exporters, such as Sao Paulo-state based company Acai Tropicalia Mix, are also feeling theimpact.
One of its owners, Rogério de Carvalho, told the AP that last year he exported to the U.S. about 270 tons of acai cream — an industrialized version of the berry — ready for consumption. As tariffs started to loom, he said, American importers steered away and
clients suspended negotiations. Until the end of July, de Carvalho estimates that hiscompanysold27tonsto theU.S.
“That’s1.5millionBrazilian reais ($280,000) that we lost,” the businessman said. “We are confident there will be a deal between the two countries to allow not only our clients to return, but also getting some new ones.”
Tariffs linked to Bolsonaro case
Trump has linked the higher tariffs on Brazil to thetrialofformerPresident Jair Bolsonaro, who is now under house arrest for his alleged role in leading an alleged coup plot to remain in office, despite his election loss to current leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula daSilva.
And despite several Brazilian exports being exempted from the tariffs, acai berries aren’t among them.
Brazil’s industry ministry didn’t reply to a request for comment on whether acai berriesareamongtheitems
that remain on the negotiating table with U.S. trade representatives.
Flavor explosion
Nearly all of the acai consumed in the U.S. originates from Brazil, with the state of Para alone accounting for 90% of the country’s total production. Several communities in the Amazon depend on its harvest.
The harvesting of acai is a physically demanding job that requires workers to climb tall trees with minimal safety equipment, and then sliding down branches full of berries to fill baskets and then place them carefully in crates. Analysts say its producers also help
Boar's Head plans to reopen troubled deli meat plant, but reports of sanitation problems persist
By JONEL ALECCIA AP Health Writer
THE Boar's Head deli meat plant at the heart of last year's deadly food poisoning outbreak is set to reopen in the coming months, company officials said.
But recent inspections at Boar's Head sites in three states documented sanitation problems similar to those that led to the listeria
contamination that killed 10 people and sickened dozens. The Jarratt, Virginia, plant was shut down in SeptemberwhenU.S.AgricultureDepartmentofficials suspended operations and withdrew the federal marks of inspection required to operate, saying the company "failed to maintain sanitaryconditions."Boar's Head permanently stopped making liverwurst and
recalledmorethan7million poundsofdeliproducts.
USDA officials this week said they had "thoroughly reviewed" the plant and lifted the forced suspension onJuly18.
"The facility is in full compliance of the guidelines and protocols set for the safe handling and production of food and the serious issues that led to suspension have been fully rectified," officials with the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said in anemailWednesday.
And yet, documents obtainedbyTheAssociated Press through a freedom of information request show that Boar's Head plants in Arkansas, Indiana and elsewhere in Virginia were flagged for the same kinds of sanitation problems that led to the outbreak, with the most recent report in June.
Inthepastsevenmonths, government inspectors reported problems that include instances of meat and fat residue left on equipmentandwalls,drains blocked with meat products, beaded condensation on ceilings and floors, overflowingtrashcans,andstaff who didn't wear protective hairnets and plastic aprons —orwashtheirhands.
The records, which included USDA
noncompliance reports logged by inspectors from Jan. 1 through July 23, raise new questions about the company's promises to address systemic problems and about federal oversight of listeria contamination in plants that make ready-toeatfoods.
"If there is evidence that food safety problems are continuing, the government needs to make sure the company fixes them," saidSandraEskin,aformer USDA official who now heads STOP Foodborne Illness, a consumer group focusedonfoodsafety.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins last month announced plans to bolster efforts that combat foodborne germs, including listeria.
Officials at Boar's Head, the 120-year-old company based in Sarasota, Florida, have posted job openings for two dozen positions, including a food safety quality analyst, at the Jarrattsite.
The company convened a panel of expert advisers last fall and hired a chief food safety officer in May.
The advisers include Frank Yiannas, a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration official, and Mindy Brashears, President Donald Trump's nominee
protect the rainforest from illegal loggers, miners and cattleranchers.
The night markets of Belem, such as the Vero-Peso acai market, are a hub of activity where the freshly harvested berries are brought in by boat and preparedforsale.
The Brazilian Association of Fruit and Derivative Producers and Exporters estimates there was an explosive growth of acai exports from Para state,fromlessthanoneton in1999tomorethan61,000 tons in 2023. Another explosive rise was expected for this year, before the tariffs.
On Thursday, Brazil requested consultations at
the World Trade Organizationovertariffsimposedby the Trump administration againsttheSouthAmerican nation that went into effect onWednesday.
That could be took little too late for acai harvester Mikael Silva Trindade, who agrees that the future of thetradeisatriskashigher U.S. tariffs can disrupt the delicate balance of supply and demand that holds the industry.
“There will be nowhere to market (the excess of acai),” Trindade told the AP as he picked berries in Para state. “The more you export, the more valuable it becomes. But if there’s too much to sell, it will stay hereandbecomecheap.”
for USDA's undersecretary forfoodsafety.
Boar's Head last year said they "regret and deeply apologize" for the contamination and that "comprehensive measures are being implemented to prevent such an incident from ever happening again." But company officials refused to discuss the problems found this year. They canceled a scheduled AP interview with Natalie Dyenson, the new food safety officer. And they declined to allow Yiannas to detail the investigation he led into the contamination'scause.
Brashears, who now directs a food safety center at Texas Tech University, did not respond to requests for comment about the Boar's Head problems. An automatic email reply said
the USDA nominee was traveling out of the country until Aug. 25. She remains on the company's food safetyboard.
"Boar's Head has an unwavering commitment to food safety and quality. That commitment is reflectedinrecentenhancements to our practices and protocols" described on the company's website, Boar's Head said in an emailed statement.
"We have also been working with the USDA in developingaplantoreopen our Jarratt facility in a measured, deliberate way in the coming months," the statementsaid.
The 35 pages of new inspection findings cover Boar'sHeadsitesinForrest City,Arkansas;NewCastle, Indiana; and Petersburg, Virginia.
A WORKER holds acai berries for sale on Combu Island, Belem, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025.
Photo:Paulo Santos/AP
WORKERS gather outside the entrance of a Boar’s Head deli meat plant in New Castle, Ind., Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025.
Photo:Michael Conroy/AP
Whitmer told Trump in private that Michigan auto jobs depend on a tariff change of course
By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and JOSH BOAK Associated Press
MICHIGAN Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer met privately in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump to make a case he did not want to hear: the automotiveindustryhesaid hewantstosavewerebeing hurtbyhistariffs.
The Democrat came with a slide deck to make her points in a visual presentation. Just getting the meeting Tuesday with the Republican president was an achievement for someone viewed as a contender forherparty'sWhiteHouse nominationin2028.
Whitmer's strategy for dealing with Trump highlights the conundrum for her and other Democratic leaders as they try to protect the interests of their states while voicing their opposition to his agenda.
It'sadynamicthatWhitmer has navigated much differently from many other Democraticgovernors.
The fact that Whitmer had "an opening to make direct appeals" in private to Trump was unique in this political moment, said MattGrossman,aMichigan State University politics professor.
It was her third meeting with Trump at the White House since he took office in January. This one, however, was far less public
thanthetimeinAprilwhen Whitmer was unwittingly part of an impromptu news conference that embarrassed her so much she covered her face with a folder.
On Tuesday, she told the presidentthattheeconomic damage from the tariffs could be severe in Michigan, a state that helped deliver him the White House in 2024. Whitmer alsobroughtupfederalsupport for recovery efforts after an ice storm and sought to delay changes to Medicaid.
Trumpofferednospecific commitments, according to peoplefamiliarwiththeprivateconversationwhowere
not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity to describeit.
Whitmer is hardly the only one sounding the warning of the potentially damaging consequences, including factory job losses, lower profits and coming price increases, of the importtaxesthatTrumphas said will be the economic salvation for American manufacturing.
White House spokesman Kush Desai said no other president "has taken a greater interest in restoring American auto industry dominance than President Trump." Trade frameworks negotiated by
the administration would open up the Japanese, Korean and European markets for vehicles made on assembly lines in Michigan, Desaisaid.
But the outreach Trump has preferred tends to be splashy presentations by tech CEOs. In the Oval Office on Wednesday, AppleCEOTimCookgave the president a customized glass plaque with a gold base as Cook promised $600 billion in investments.
Trump claims to have brought in $17 trillion in investment commitments, although none of those numbershassurfacedyetin economicdata.
Thousands march against plan to build massive bridge linking Sicily to Italy's mainland
By GIADA ZAMPANO Associated Press
THOUSANDS of people
marched in the Sicilian city of Messina on Saturday to protest a government plan tobuildabridgethatwould connect the Italian mainlandwithSicilyinamassive 13.5-billion-euro ($15.5 billion)infrastructureproject.
Protesters staunchly oppose the Strait of Messina Bridge project over its scale, earthquake threats, environmental impact and the specter of mafiainterference.
Theideatobuildabridge to connect Sicily to the rest of Italy has been debated off and on for decades but alwaysdelayedduetothese concerns. The project,
however, took a major step forward when a government committee overseeing strategic public investments approved the plan this week.
Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, the project's main political backer, called it "the biggest infrastructure project in the West." Salvini cited studies estimating the project would create up to 120,000 jobs annually and help stimulate economic growth in economicallylaggingsouthern Italy, as billions more are invested in surrounding road and infrastructure improvements. Opponents are not convinced by these arguments. They are also angry that
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that NADIA ADOLPHE of Freeport, Grand Bahama, is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship,forRegistrationNaturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 8th dayofAugust2025 totheMinisterresponsiblefornationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
about 500 families would have to be expropriated in order for the bridge to be built. "The Strait of Messina can't be touched," protesters shouted as they marched in Messina. Many carried banners that said "No Ponte" (No Bridge). Organizersestimatedcrowd sizeat10,000people.
The proposed bridge would span nearly 3.7 kilometers (2.2 miles) with a suspended section of 3.3 kilometers (more than 2 miles). It would surpass Turkey's Canakkale Bridge by 1,277 meters (4,189 feet) to become the longest suspensionbridgeintheworld.
Preliminary work could begin as early as late
Under his series of executive orders and trade frameworks, U.S. automakers face import taxes of 50% on steel and aluminum, 30% on parts from China and a top rate of 25% on goods from Canada and Mexico not covered under an existing 2020 trade agreement. That puts America's automakers and parts suppliers at a disadvantage against German, JapaneseandSouthKorean vehicles that only face a 15% import tax negotiated byTrumplastmonth.
On top of that, Trump this past week threatened a 100% tariff on computer chips, which are an integral part of cars and trucks, though he would exclude companies that produce chips domestically from the tax. Whitmer's two earlier meetings with Trump resulted in gains for Michigan. But the tariffs represent a significantly broader request of a presidentwhohasimposedthem even more aggressively in thefaceofcriticism.
MaterialsinthepresentationbroughtbyWhitmerto the meeting and obtained by The Associated Press noted how trade with Canada and Mexico has driven $23.2 billion in investment to Michigan since2020.
September or early October, pending approval from Italy's Court of Audit. Full constructionisscheduledto begin in 2026, with completion targeted between 2032 and2033. Plans for a bridge have been approved and canceled multiple times since the Italian government first solicited proposals for one in 1969. Premier Giorgia Meloni's administration revived the projectin2023. With three car lanes in each direction flanked by
General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis operate 50 factories across the state, whilemorethan4,000facilities support the auto parts supply chain. Altogether, the sector supports nearly 600,000manufacturingjobs, forming the backbone of Michigan'seconomy.
Whitmer outlined the main points of the materialstoTrumpandleftcopies withhisteam.
To Grossman, the Michigan State professor, a key question is whether voters who expected to be helped by tariffs would react if Trump's import taxes failed todeliverthepromisedeconomicgrowth.
"Everyone's aware that Michigan is a critical swing state and the auto industry has outsized influence, not just directly, but symbolically,"Grossmansaid.
AP VoteCast found that Trump won Michigan in 2024 largely because two-thirds of its voters described the economic conditions as being poor or "not so good." Roughly 70% of the voters in the state who felt negatively about the economy backed the Republican. The state was essentially split over whether tariffs were a positive, with Trump getting 76% of those voters who viewedthemfavorably.
a double-track railway, the bridge would have the capacity to carry 6,000 cars an hour and 200 trains a day — reducing the time to cross the strait by ferry from up to 100 minutes to 10 minutes by car. Trains would save 2/12 hours in transittime,Salvinisaid.
The project could also support Italy's commitment to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP targeted by NATO, as the government has indicated it would classify the bridge as defense-related.
New General Motors vehicles sit on the lot of a Chevrolet dealer Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, in Fenton, Mo.
Photo:Jeff Roberson/AP
JUDGE PARKER
CARPE DIEM
BLONDIE
MARVIN
TIGER
HAGAR THE HORRIBLE
CALVIN & HOBBES
DENNIS THE MENACE
WALL STREET CLOCKS ANOTHER WINNING WEEK
By DAMIAN J. TROISE and ALEX VEIGA APBusinessWriters
U.S. stocks closed higher Friday, capping a choppy week of trading with the market's third winning week in the last four and anothermilestone.
The S&P 500 rose 0.8%, finishing just shy of the record it set last week. The benchmark index also wiped out its losses from a slidelastweek.
The Dow Jones IndustrialAverageclimbed0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite added 1% to the all-time highitsetadayearlier.
Technology companies, with their hefty stock values, did much of the heavyliftingforthemarket.
Nvidia rose 1.1% and Applegained4.2%.
Gilead Sciences jumped 8.3% for one of the market's biggest gains. It reported financial results that easily beat analysts' forecasts, while also raising its earnings forecast for the year. Expedia Group rose 4.1% after also reporting encouraging financial results.
They are among the final big batch of companies within the S&P 500 to report mostly strong
financial results for the second quarter. Still, many have warned that current tariffs could cut into their profits.
Financial sector stocks also helped drive the market higher. Bank of America gained 2.4% and Mastercardrose2.3%.
Elsewhere in the market, entertainment giant ParamountSkydanceslid10.5% a day after the company was created by the closing of an $8 billion merger of Skydance and Paramount. Shares in rival Warner Bros.Discoverysank8%.
The main focus throughout the week has been on President Donald Trump's trade war and its potential impact on the U.S. economy, as well as the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy.Trumpbeganimposing higher import taxes on dozens of countries Thursday.
Still,themarketappeared to largely shrug off the latesttariffescalation.
"The S&P 500's rebound this week may highlight the extent to which the market is becoming numb to tariff headlines," said Daniel Skelly, head of Morgan Stanley's Wealth
Management Market Research&StrategyTeam. Theunknownpathofthe economy amid an unpredictable tariff policy has been the key reason for the Fed to hold its benchmark interestratesteady.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell, though, has been under increasing pressure from Trump to cut interest rates. Policy decisions
aren't made solely by the Fed chair. All 12 members of the Federal Open Market Committee vote on interestratechanges. Trumphasanopportunity to exert more control over the Fed following his nomination of Stephen Miran to a vacancy on the Fed's board of governors. Miran isatopeconomicadviserto Trump and is a near-certain
vote in support of lower interestrates.
TheFed'slastdecisionto hold interest rates steady includedtwovotestolower interest rates. Its next meeting is in September, and Wall Street is overwhelmingly betting that the central bank will cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentagepoint.
Treasury yields edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.28% from 4.25% late Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury which more closely tracks expectationsforFedactions,rose to 3.76% from 3.73% late Thursday.
The expectation for an interest rate cut follows a series of signals last week that the economy could be weakening. That included reports showing that inflation edged higher in June and employers in the U.S. hit the brakes on hiring in July.
Both are key concerns for the Fed, which has been trying to cool inflation down to its target rate of 2% while also fulfilling its "full employment" mandate.
Lower interest rates can give the economy and investment prices a boost, thoughthedownsideisthat they can also push inflationhigher.Concernsabout inflation reheating could be overshadowed by worries about a weakening employmentmarket.
Wall Street and the Fed will get more insight next week on inflation's temperatureandtheeconomy.
