FORT WAYNE, Ind. (21Alive) -- Vera Bradley, designer of handbags, gifts, travel items and accessories, is expanding its Roanoke, Indiana campus, creating about 128 new jobs over the next four years.
The company will invest approximately $26.6 million to expand both its current 40,000 square-foot Design Center by 149,000 square feet and its 420,000 square foot Distribution Center by 10,000 square feet. Both locations are located just outside Fort Wayne, Indiana near Interstate 69.
"We are proud to invest in our hometown," said Barbara Bradley Baekgaard, Chief Creative Officer and Co-founder. "Our design center expansion will bring the majority of our Northeast Indiana employees together on one campus and will strengthen collaboration across the company."
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation is offering Vera Bradley tax credits, and the company is working with the Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance on additional incentives.
Of the $26.6 million project cost, about $10 million of the investment is projected in fiscal 2014 and raises the company's previously disclosed fiscal 2014 capital expenditure guidance from approximately $20 million to approximately $30 million for the full fiscal year. It is estimated that the project will be completed in late 2014.
Vera Bradley currently has 1,000 full-time employees in Indiana and about 2,800 employees in total. The company has 79 Vera Bradley Stores and 14 Outlet Stores.
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Edinburgh, even though I?ve been living in Manchester for 15 years. I?ll be back in Edinburgh for the festival this summer because I like stand-up.
First thing you do when you come to London?
I?m a big coffee fan and I?ve become quite particular about the coffee I drink since doing a barista course. I?ll go straight to Monmouth Coffee for a ristretto. For cyclists, caf?s are like pubs; they?ve become a bit of a social hub.
Where do you stay in London?
Covent Garden Hotel, which is very quiet and feels like a one-off because all the rooms are different, or The May Fair Hotel where the service is good.
Which animal would you most like to be?
A racehorse because they?re well looked after and exercised, and when you see them up close they?re phenomenally powerful.
Last play you saw?
I haven?t had the chance to see much on stage in London, but now that I?ve retired, my wife Sarra will be dragging me along to see musicals and I?ll be taking her to stand-up gigs.
What would you do as Mayor for the day???
Change Boris bikes to Hoy bikes.
Favourite shops?
The cyclists? mantra is: ?Don?t stand when you can sit and don?t sit when you can lie down.? So when I was competing, shopping was never high up on the agenda. I like Paul Smith in Covent Garden for clothes, though; he?s a cycling nut himself and makes suits for me because I struggle to get normal trousers to fit. I like the independent shoe shops around Seven Dials for trainers, but these days I tend to follow Sarra around the shops.
Best place for a first date?
The Velodrome when it reopens. You get to see a potential boyfriend or girlfriend in cycling shorts and you can see if they?ve got what it takes ? athletics-wise, of course.?
Best meal?
The day before flying to Malaysia for our honeymoon we came to London to spend the night and had an incredible taster menu at Jamie Oliver?s restaurant Fifteen.
Most romantic thing someone?s done for you?
The way my wife happily put my career first and did everything she could to help me in the run-up to the Beijing and London Olympics was romantic.
Best thing a cabbie has said to you?
I was on my way to Sky Ride once and there were road closures because of the event. The taxi driver said: ?Those bloody cyclists, they want to shut this city down. I blame that Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins.?
What?s your biggest extravagance?
I?ve started motor racing. It?s a lot of fun but takes quite a bit of time, commitment and money.
Best piece of advice?
My grandparents used to say: ?It doesn?t matter what you do, try to do it to your best ability and you can achieve amazing things.?
Latest album you downloaded?
Daft Punk?s Random Access Memories. ?Get Lucky? is one of those songs that you love straightaway and feel like you?ve been listening to for years.
Building you?d like to be locked in overnight?
A pub for a decent lock-in. Maybe at The Punchbowl or The Audley in Mayfair ? anywhere that sells real ale.?
Favourite discovery??
Borough Market. When I was down for the London World Cup in February 2012 I went there under the radar, not in team kit, and was very impressed by all the stalls.
At the moment you are?
Launching my range of bikes in Evans, a project that has been two years in the making.
Favourite club?
After the Olympics we went to The Last Lap, a pop-up night at Chinawhite. It was great to go from the monastic lifestyle you lead when you?re training to be able to do whatever you want. I think champagne was the first drink I had but I don?t remember much else about the night.
Who?s your hero?
Graeme Obree, the ?Flying Scotsman?, was a hero when I was a kid. Now it?s Roger Federer because he?s such a class act who has kept going for so many years.
What do you collect?
Bits for cars, which has become something of an issue. The more you get into track driving, the more you start to realise how much equipment you need. I?ve still got lots of bike parts around the house but now I?ve got just as much car stuff.
Hoy bikes are available in-store and online from Evans Cycles, or visit hoybikes.com for more information and the latest news
Secret NSA court order made public | Jamie Dupree's Washington Insider | www.wsbradio.com
Posted: 10:06 a.m. Wednesday, July 31, 2013
By Jamie Dupree
Facing criticism in both parties over surveillance work by the National Security Agency, intelligence officials released a series of top secret documents on how the NSA accesses bulk telephone records for terrorism investigations, as lawmakers demanded tighter restrictions to prevent civil liberties violations.
"In the interest of increased transparency, the Director of National Intelligence has authorized the declassification and public release of the attached documents pertaining to the collection of telephone metadata pursuant to Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act," read a statement issued by Director of National Intelligece James Clapper.
"DNI Clapper has determined that the release of these documents is in the public interest," the statement added.
There are three different items made public today that authorized the collection of telephone records:
Cover Letter and 2009 Report on the National Security Agency?s Bulk Collection Program for USA PATRIOT Act Reauthorization
Cover Letters and 2011 Report on the National Security Agency?s Bulk Collection Program for USA PATRIOT Act Reauthorization
Primary Order for Business Records Collection Under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act
The "Primary Order for Business Records Collection" is a secret court order made by the special intelligence court - you will notice that parts of the 18 pages are blacked out.
"We welcome a public debate about how best to safeguard both our national security and the privacy of our citizens," said Deputy Attorney General James Cole.
At a Senate hearing, most of the sparring between officials and Senators was about the Section 215 powers under the Patriot Act to access phone records, which has drawn opponents in both parties.
Intelligence officials again said that Patriot Act authority was an important tool in their work.
There were also questions today on how the NSA leaks happened.
"How soon will we know who screwed up?" asked Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who was told the investigation into Edward Snowden's leaks should produce answers in the "weeks and months" ahead.
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About Jamie Dupree
Jamie Dupree is the Radio News Director of the Washington Bureau of the Cox Media Group and writes the Washington Insider blog.
LONDON (Reuters) - The British arm of Twitter apologised on Saturday to a group of high-profile women who have been threatened with death and rape on the micro-blogging site, and announced measures to make it easier for users to report abusive tweets.
Twitter had come under increasing pressure to react after a feminist campaigner, several women members of parliament and female journalists were targeted by users who hurled misogynistic abuse at them and in some cases made violent threats.
"I personally apologise to the women who have experienced abuse on Twitter and for what they have gone through," Tony Wang, general manager of Twitter UK, said on his own Twitter feed.
"The abuse they've received is simply not acceptable. It's not acceptable in the real world, and it's not acceptable on Twitter," he said.
Twitter UK said it was adding staff to help handle abuse reports. It also said an in-tweet "report abuse" button currently available on the Twitter app for iPhones would be added to the Twitter website and to platforms used on other mobile devices.
The problem of abuse by so-called internet "trolls" has been front-page news in Britain since activist Caroline Criado-Perez was hit by a barrage of vitriolic tweets after successfully campaigning for a woman's face to appear on bank notes.
In recognition of her role, Criado-Perez appeared alongside Bank of England Governor Mark Carney on July 24, when he announced 19th century novelist Jane Austen would become the face of the new 10-pound note.
Police arrested two men over rape threats against Criado-Perez. One of them was also suspected of making rape threats against opposition Labour legislator Stella Creasy, who backed the bank note campaign and also appeared with Carney on July 24.
In separate incidents days later, several high-profile female journalists received tweets from someone threatening to bomb their homes and "destroy everything" there.
London's Metropolitan Police Service said on Friday it was investigating allegations made by eight people who have been subjected to harassment, malicious communication or bomb threats.
While the trolls themselves have been denounced across British media, Twitter had also come under heavy criticism for its failure to respond forcefully enough.
In a statement issued after Wang's apology, Criado-Perez welcomed the new measures announced by Twitter UK but said a more profound overhaul of the social network's system for handling abuse was needed.
"The current process is lengthy, complicated and impossible to use if you're under sustained attack like I have been," she said.
"Right now, all the emphasis is on the victim, often under intense pressure, to report rather than for Twitter to track down the perpetrator and stop them."
Zachary Quinto plays Spock in the new "Star Trek" films, and may be making an appearance on "Big Bang Theory."
If Zachary Quinto appeared on "The Big Bang Theory," our whole universe would be in a hot dense state.?
"I met one of the producers at an event and we talked about the show," the actor, who plays "Star Trek's" Spock in the rebooted movie franchise, confirmed to TODAY.com. "I would love to do it if I could."?
And "Big Bang" would love to have him. Executive producer Steven Molaro told TODAY.com, "We think that's great. There's nothing set in stone yet, but if we can get that to work out we'd be really excited about it."?
If they do manage to make it so, Quinto would prefer not to follow in the Vulcan footsteps of Leonard Nimoy, who voiced a Spock action figure in the 2012 episode "The Transporter Malfunction."?
"I'll reserve another portrayal of Spock for the third 'Star Trek,' " Quinto told us.?
Instead, like fellow "Trek" franchise star Wil Wheaton's own hot-tempered recurring role, Quinto said he'd rather play "some twisted version of myself ? really get into it with Sheldon."
And what a fight it could be. In a season five episode of "Big Bang," Sheldon, who was expecting a life-size cutout of Nimoy's Spock but received Quinto's apparently inferior version instead, griped, "Live long and suck it, Zachary Quinto!"
"The Big Bang Theory" returns for a seventh season ? hopefully with Quinto aboard ? Sept. 26 on CBS.
FILE - In this Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011, file photo, women leave Viacom headquarters,in New York. Viacom reports quarterly earnings on Friday, Aug. 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
FILE - In this Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011, file photo, women leave Viacom headquarters,in New York. Viacom reports quarterly earnings on Friday, Aug. 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Viacom Inc. said Friday that its fiscal third-quarter net income rose 20 percent, boosted by higher affiliate fees at its cable TV channels and an increase in advertising revenue.
The New York company, which owns MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures, posted an adjusted profit that fell a penny short of Wall Street expectations, but its revenue came in higher than expected.
Viacom also announced that its board boosted the company's stock buyback program to $20 billion in shares from $10 billion, adding that the company plans to buy back $2 billion in shares under the expanded program over the next several months.
Its shares rose more than 4 percent in premarket trading.
For the quarter ended June 30, Viacom earned $643 million, or $1.31 per share. That's up from $534 million, or $1.01 per share, in the same quarter of 2012.
Excluding discontinued operations and one-time items, Viacom earned an adjusted $1.29 per share for the latest quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $1.30 per share.
Revenue increased 14 percent to $3.69 billion from $3.24 billion. That topped analysts' expectations for $3.57 billion.
Viacom said revenue at its media networks business increased 13 percent to $2.57 billion, boosted by a 26 percent jump in global affiliate revenue that stemmed from both digital distribution agreements and rate increases.
Traditionally, Viacom's pay TV channels generate about two-thirds of its revenue and nearly all of its profits. But an increasing amount of the company's revenue is coming from licensing content to video streaming services.
In early June, the company struck a licensing agreement with Amazon.com Inc., giving it exclusive online rights to key Viacom programming, including episodes of Nickelodeon's "Dora the Explorer," after Viacom couldn't come to terms on a larger, omnibus deal with Netflix Inc.
Excluding digital distribution agreements, which are affected by the timing of available programing, domestic affiliate revenue rose in the "high-single digits," Viacom said.
Domestic advertising revenue increased 6 percent, helped by higher ratings, while worldwide advertising revenue rose 5 percent. Viacom has been struggling with a ratings decline at Nickelodeon, but the company third-quarter results lapped a weak year-ago performance, so the increase in advertising revenue was expected.
Revenue at the company's filmed entertainment business, increased 15 percent to $1.16 billion, as global theatrical revenue jumped 64 percent to $464 million, helped by the releases of the movies "Star Trek Into Darkness," ''World War Z" and "Pain and Gain," along with continued strong ticket sales of other movies released in the second quarter.
The jump in film revenue also was largely expected. "Star Trek Into Darkness" has already brought in about $450 million globally, while one of the year-ago quarter's major releases was "The Dictator," which grossed $177 million globally.
But operating income at the business dropped 63 percent to $17 million, pulled down by higher film distribution costs.
Viacom shares rose $3.32, or 4.4 percent, to $78.21 in premarket trading. That would top its 52-week high of $75.09 set July 19 if it were to hold up in regular market trading.
