Make-A-Wish Foundation Treats Boy To Shopping Spree

LAKEWOOD, Calif. -- To observers, the boy in the bright red shirt is just another kid prowling Sunday for games at a Best Buy in Lakewood. That is, until you notice his entourage that includes three generations of family members. The boy is Hayden Merrill, a 10-year-old leukemia patient and the recipient of a shopping spree from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. .

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Shopping groceries in the cyber space

BANGALORE: Hungry Bangalore.com, redbus.in, I-ticket.in, are a few e-services started by IT graduates to cater to the daily needs of the common man. To add to these, ecityindia.com was launched recently, which enables shopping groceries online. Arun Sundaram and Lokesh S, management graduates, launched the ecityindia.com website to make grocery shopping easy. Sundaram said, "Due to late night working, busy schedule, I did not have time to run household errands. Buying groceries for house was a tedious work at the end of the day and most of the time the shops were closed late in the evening." With ecityindia.com one can shop regular daily products ranging from cooking supplements, chocolates, baby products to even spices and powders. This would be of great help to the working population, who can order their groceries online and need not wait till evening to shop after a tiresome day.

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The owner of a popular downtown shopping and nightlife center is ...

LOUISVILLE - The owner of a popular downtown shopping and nightlife center is moving to evict three of its nightclubs for failing to pay $250,000 in back rent. The Cordish Co., owner of 4th Street Live, has filed a suit against the owner of the clubs. The suit names Headliners Entertainment Group of Montclair, N.J., and its three downtown clubs: Red Cheetah, Parrot Beach and the Palm Bar. Headliners began the dispute Jan. 2 when it filed a suit accusing Cordish of engaging in unfair trade practices. Headliners' suit alleges Cordish has favored other businesses at 4th Street and has made unfair demands. Eduardo Rodriquez, a Headliners partner, said the company intends to keep the three nightclubs open as long as it can. Headliners' suit said its businesses face direct competition from at least two other clubs that don't have to charge admission fees or meet the minimum food and beverage prices that Headliners does.

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Woman slain at shopping center

STOCKTON - A 30-year-old woman was shot and killed at a north Stockton shopping center Sunday afternoon, and police are looking for her husband as the suspect. Jamie Baker of Stockton was driving away from the Bank of America branch in the Park West Place shopping center, Trinity Parkway and Eight Mile Road, when she was shot around 1:30 p.m., according to police. Baker was shot multiple times. She was taken to San Joaquin General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Baker and her husband, Brian Payne, 38, lived nearby on the 5200 block of Cosumnes Drive, said Officer Pete Smith, a police department spokesman. Sacramento County sheriff's deputies found Payne's white 1991 Ford Tempo abandoned in Walnut Grove late Sunday, Stockton police said. A law enforcement helicopter was searching the area for the suspect using infrared technology.

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Beyond Jeans and Ts - Bridal Gown Shopping Tips

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa., Jan. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Spring is approaching and for many women it is the best reason in the world to go shopping. For some lucky women, a bridal gown is on the shopping list. A wedding gown is a once- in-a-lifetime purchase, and even the most experienced shopper may find herself a bit overwhelmed. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070129/NYFNSR01-a "Relax," advises Michael Shettel, head of design for Alfred Angelo, a leading bridal wear manufacturer whose dresses are available in over 1,000 stores nationwide, including 34 of their own stores. "Try on lots of different styles, even if you are convinced you know the look you want. How often do you get to try on all those gorgeous dresses, one after another?" Many brides give themselves a head start by previewing styles on http://www.alfredangelo.com.

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Giggle with your girlfriends at shopping, spa party

If your typical girl's-night-out outfit includes high heels and your favorite dress, ditch those duds and reach for something a little more relaxed. Like your pajamas. That's right. Your PJs. Grab your best gal pals and head to the second annual Girlfriend's Giggle on Thursday (Feb. 1), at the Fluor Corporation in Sugar Land. The grownup pajama party promises shopping for clothes, shoes and home accessories, plus massages, makeup tips, a dinner buffet and drinks. Past parties have featured women wearing boas, tiaras and, of course, their most comfortable clothes. Tickets are $55 and include dinner buffet and a ticket for either an indulgence or a drink. Additional indulgence and drink tickets are $3 each. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Fort Bend Women's Center.

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Germany's culture of shopping slowly changing

BERLIN - Unlike America, Germany has not yet adopted the shop-till-you-drop lifestyle, but things are starting to change. Even in bustling cities like Berlin and Frankfurt, retailers used to roll up the sidewalks at 6:30 p.m. On weekends, Germans had to scramble to get their shopping done by 2 p.m. on Saturday. Sunday shopping was strictly verboten. But a long battle over longer store hours is slowly being won by retailers who believe that more hours mean more money in the cash register. They are opposed by Germany's powerful trade unions whose leaders say workers' rights must be protected. The gradual loosening of strict rules governing store hours also reflects a larger battle to loosen up a German economy that suffers from sluggish growth and 9.6 percent unemployment.

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WINDOW SHOPPING

In one year, the agenda has changed dramatically for the New Orleans Saints during Senior Bowl week. They held the No. 2 overall pick of the NFL Draft last year, when scouting prospects such as Mario Williams and D'Brickashaw Ferguson were the top priority. Picking No. 27 in this year's draft, the Saints have fewer needs considering their run to this year's NFC Championship Game. The draft position may have changed, but the way Saints vice president of player personnel Rick Mueller will study prospects will remain unchanged. The way the Saints drafted in 2006 is evidence enough that his system worked. "The process is the same obviously we are picking a little bit lower, and that's a good thing," Mueller said. "We'd like to have the 32nd pick. But the process itself doesn't change.

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Top warden has his shopping list

Seniors homes, ambulance services, rural public works and immigration will be key agenda items for counties in the region this year, a newly elected top rural official says. Counties will keep lobbying the provincial and federal governments to address underfunding issues, said Jim Burns, new chair person of the Western Ontario Wardens' Caucus. The caucus takes in members from a broad swath of Southwestern Ontario, including Chatham-Kent and the counties of Elgin, Lambton, Middlesex, Oxford and Perth. Underfunding of emergency services and resident care in municipal homes for the aged will be major concerns in the year ahead, said Burns, the mayor of Enniskillen Township who doubles as warden of Lambton County. Fresh from a board meeting of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, Burns said counties are required to have at least one home for the aged.

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Plans begin to crystallize for shopping plaza

WHAT: A development group wants to revitalize the downtrodden Regency Plaza shopping center at the intersection of Shannon Road and University Drive.It would be called University Marketplace and would be a mixed-use project with retail shops on ground level and apartment or condominium units stretching four or five floors.WHO: The development group, a Boston firm coupled with a Charlotte real estate company, Hawthorne Capital, plans to put at least $50 million into the project.WHY: The current Regency Plaza is a half-empty strip shopping center that lost its anchor in 2004 when Kroger moved out. It currently has just a smattering of small businesses including an Indian restaurant, an ice cream shop and a tanning salon.SIZE: Plans call for up to 140,000 square feet of commercial space and up to 389 residential units.WANT TO SEE MORE? To see this proposal, as well as another in color, go to the Bull's Eye blog at www.newsobserver.com.

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Car bombs kill 15 in Baghdad shopping area

BAGHDAD, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Two car bombs killed 15 people in a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad on Saturday in the latest in a series of attacks by militants on crowded shopping areas in the Iraqi capital. A weeklong string of bombings has further disrupted life in Baghdad, spreading fear among the city's 7 million residents awaiting a planned U.S.-backed offensive to tighten the government's fragile grip over its largely lawless capital. Saturday's attacks struck New Baghdad in the east of the capital, targeting weekend shoppers thronging shops and market stalls selling fruit and exotic birds. A Reuters journalist saw eight bodies being loaded into ambulances and body parts lying in the street in the aftermath of the explosions. Dead birds lay in cages in an area that appeared to have been reserved for a bird market.

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IBM makes it possible for shopping pseudonymously on the net

A new software from IBM allows people to hide or "anonymise" their personal information on the web, protecting against identity theft and other misuse. Developed by researchers at IBM's laboratory in Zurich, the software, Identity Mixer, will let consumers make purchases on the net without disclosing personal information. As consumers hand over personal details when downloading music or subscribing to online newsletters, they leave a data trail, that can be traced back to them, that reveals information about the size, frequency and source of their online purchases. Identity Mixer eliminates the trail by using artificial identity information, known as pseudonyms, to make online transactions anonymous. With the software, a computer user can get an anonymous digital credential, or voucher, from a trusted third party, like a bank or government agency.

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Who's been collecting clothes in blue bins at shopping centers?

Q. Blue clothing donation bins with no clear ties to a local charity have appeared at three Charlotte shopping centers -- two off South Boulevard and another off Independence Boulevard. The boxes say "Bianca" and include a list of two charities and a church as "our references." Goodwill Industries, which uses blue in its marketing materials and collection trailers, fears the bins could confuse donors. In 2004, more than 100 blue clothing bins from a Canadian charity placed in the Charlotte region were removed after regulators ordered the group register with the state. "People in Charlotte know us," Goodwill spokesman Bo Hussey said. "They don't know that their donations (in those boxes) are not going to help people in the Charlotte area." Mr. Watchdog found the boxes come from Long Island, N.Y.

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Shopping for sports schools targeted

The state's interscholastic sports leagues have been asked to come up with more uniform policies to prevent schools from recruiting top athletes from competitors, as well as keeping student athletes and their parents from "shopping" for the best high school team to play for. The request, by a Board of Education committee, is designed to prevent an overemphasis on athletics and athletic prowess and keep schools focused on academics, say educators. League directors, however, said the interscholastic leagues generally have strong language in their by-laws preventing recruitment of athletes from other schools. "All the league rules have put a damper on this action, otherwise it would be chaos," said Ken Yamase, executive director of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation.

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Plan to help drug addicts with shopping vouchers

DRUG addicts receiving treatment could be given shopping vouchers to help them tackle their problem under a new proposal being suggested by an NHS body. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) says the idea would be cost-effective and there would be a public health benefit because addicts could also be screened for infectious diseases - such as HIV and tuberculosis. Evidence from international trials shows modest financial incentives can cut drug abuse by hardened addicts. .

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Web Site Offers Comparison Shopping For Surgery Costs

SAN FRANCISCO -- When many people shop for a car, they do their homework and compare prices, but a Bay Area company is offering comparison shopping for something closer to the heart -- surgery. Vimo, a company based in Mountain View, offers comparison shopping. The cost for the same surgery may differ by thousands of dollars depending on the hospital at which it is performed. Now that San Jeev Luthra has had both knees replaced, tackling stairs is no problem. .

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Price shopping can lower health care costs

For most Americans, price-comparison shopping comes naturally. Every day, we determine a product's value based on an analysis of its quality and cost — and make our purchasing decisions accordingly. Would any rational person agree to buy a car if we had no idea of its price, mileage and condition? Of course, not. Getting the most for our money is an American tradition. However, when it comes to the health care system, our nation is failing. A major contributor to the health care crisis in the United States is the fact that we do not provide the level of transparency regarding cost and quality that is expected and demanded in nearly every other American industry. Fortunately, Georgia is leading the way to change this. An executive order recently signed by Gov.

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The laws of duty-free shopping

Traveling abroad this year? Between endless airport security lines and rushing to catch your connecting flight, you may have some time to browse the airport duty-free shop. Whether you buy a bottle of single-malt Scotch or the latest Chanel perfume, you might have some trouble getting your duty-free bottled goods on the plane. The U.S. Transportation Security Agency and the European Commission have consistent rules for carrying liquids onto flights. Anything less than three ounces or 100 ml is allowed on the plane, no questions asked. (Though it'd better be in a transparent plastic bag.) And if you buy a standard liquor bottle in a secure airport area after passing through screening, you're fine, too. But if you leave the secure area to get baggage or go through immigration and customs, you're not going to be able to bring the bottle as a carry-on if you're getting back on a plane for a connecting flight.

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Shopping for answers: Wig shop is happy to help women with health ...

DEAR SHOPPING: I saw in The Bee a story about wigs and/or hairpieces for cancer survivors and others suffering hair loss. Businesses that specialize in this sort of thing were mentioned. Unfortunately, I didn't remember, before throwing out the paper, that I "inherited" from my mother-in-law and her sister many years ago two beautiful hanks of hair. I simply do not know what to do with them. Can you help? -- Anne, Sacramento DEAR ANNE: Yes. That was a story written last month by The Bee's Cynthia Hubert about a business named Wigs R You. It talked about how as many as "90 percent of the shop's clients are women dealing with major health issues, mostly cancer." The owner of the business is Cindy Jacobs. You can contact Wigs R You at (916) 349-1722 or visit the store at 5910 Auburn Blvd., Suite 5, in Citrus Heights.

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Save Money When Shopping!

If you're the kind of person that loathes shopping centres and would quite happily never set foot in one ever again, no doubt you've embraced Internet shopping with open arms! There are certainly advantages to being able to shop from the comfort of your own home -- not least as you can often save money when compared to the high street! However, did you realise how many ways there are to save? I decided to find out the cheapest way to buy one of the most popular items on the market today, an 8GB Apple iPod nano MP3 player. By checking the Apple website, I found I could buy it for £169, with free delivery -- so my quest is to pay less than that! 1. Price Comparison Well, first things first, I decided to find out if there's a cheaper place to purchase my iPod, online, than Apple.

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Support pours in for officer in shopping cart incident

BRADENTON - Bradenton Police Department Officer Nicholas Evans sat at the department's front desk, answering phones, unable to do the job he loves. He has been taken off road patrol as punishment for pulling a homeless woman's shopping cart next to his patrol car for 12 miles. A grin and a head shake are his only response to questions about the incident, but his surprise and disbelief at the national attention its drawn are clear. He says he wants to talk about it, but has been told not to by supervisors. Evans, 26, carries a handful of letters of support he has received from across the country, praising his compassion in helping Marie. L. Brooks. On Jan. 9, Evans arrested Brooks, 42, on a warrant in the 900 block of Martin Luther King Avenue East.

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