Home › Blog › Page 295

Chef Emeril Lagasse And The Snapware® Brand Team Up To Celebrate …

Posted on by See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓








ROSEMONT, Ill., Jan. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Winter is in full swing, with arctic temperatures and record snowfalls in part of the country, and nothing warms the body and comforts the soul like a hot bowl of soup. This January, the Snapware® brand has teamed up with Chef Emeril Lagasse to celebrate National Soup Month and help Americans warm up by offering a respite from the frigid temperatures with hearty soup recipes and the chance to win a trip for four to Orlando, Fla. with the Snapware® Winter Warm-Up Sweepstakes on Facebook. 

To inspire at-home cooks and families looking for hearty and delicious soups this winter, Chef Lagasse will be sharing some of his favorite soup recipes on www.facebook.com/snapware, along with tips and tricks for perfecting soup. Prep, storage and transportation is a “snap” with the Snapware® Total Solution® collection, which combines an air-tight and leak-proof, four-latch plastic lid with either a plastic or Pyrex® oven-safe glass vessel. Soups, sauces and more can be transported on-the-go without worries of leaks.

“Soup is a winter staple and one of my favorite comfort foods, as well as one of my first cooking memories with my mother,” said Lagasse. “I like to store leftovers in my Snapware containers because I don’t have to worry about spills or leaks with the four-latch, leak-proof lids.”

Fans have the opportunity to tune in and submit questions about cooking, soup prep and storage to Chef Lagasse during a live Google Hangout On-Air Session on Thursday, January 8, 2015. Anyone can watch the live chat and submit questions via social media with #SoupInASnap and those with a Google+ account can submit questions online through the question engine. The Snapware® Winter Warm-Up Google Hangout with Chef Emeril Lagasse will take place from 12-12:30 p.m. ET on bit.ly/SnapSoup.

Now through January 31, 2015, fans can visit the Snapware brand Facebook page to enter the Snapware® Winter Warm-Up Sweepstakes daily for the chance to escape the cold with a trip for four to Orlando, including airfare, accommodations, dinner at Emeril’s Orlando restaurant, tickets to local attractions, a suite of Snapware products and more! Weekly winners will also receive a Snapware products prize pack to prep and store with ease.*

To learn more about the Snapware® Winter Warm-Up, enter for a chance to win and view the official sweepstakes rules, visit the Snapware Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Snapware.

* No Purchase Necessary TO ENTER OR WIN. Open only to legal residents of the 48 contiguous United States and the District of Columbia, 18 or older.  Void in Alaska, Hawaii and where prohibited.  Sweepstakes entry period begins at 12:00 AM, EST on January 2, 2015 and ends at 11:59:59 PM, EST on January 31, 2015. Entry can be online or by mail. Four Weekly Drawings from among entries received each week and one Grand Prize Drawing from among all entries received during the entry period. Weekly Drawing Prizes: one winner per week for each of four weeks will win an assortment of Snapware® Total Solution® products having an approximate retail value (ARV) of $148.25 for each weekly prize, and a total ARV of $593.00 for all four weekly prizes.  Grand Prize: one winner will receive round trip economy airfare for 4 to Orlando, Florida, a 4-night stay at an Orlando area hotel to be determined by Sponsor; ground transportation between the airport and hotel in the Orlando area; dinner at Emeril’s Orlando restaurant, tickets to local attractions, a check for $1,540 and an assortment of Snapware® Total Solution® products, with a total Grand Prize ARV of approximately $12,679.19. Odds of winning Weekly Drawings and Grand Prize Drawing each depend on the number of eligible entries received during the eligibility period for each drawing. Sweepstakes subject to complete Official Rules, available at www.worldkitchen.com/en/winterwarmup. Sponsor: World Kitchen, LLC, 9525 West Bryn Mawr Avenue, Rosemont, IL  60018.

About World Kitchen, LLC
Headquartered in Rosemont, Ill., World Kitchen and its affiliates manufacture and market products worldwide through a portfolio of well-recognized and respected brands, including under the Pyrex®, Corelle®, Corningware®, Snapware®, Baker’s Secret and Chicago Cutlery® trademarks.  World Kitchen’s brands and products have a strong reputation for quality innovation, performance and durability.  Pyrex and CorningWare are registered trademarks of Corning Incorporated, used under license by World Kitchen, LLC. World Kitchen and its affiliates employ approximately 3,000 people, and have major manufacturing and distribution operations in North America and Asia-Pacific regions. For more information, visit http://www.worldkitchen.com.

About Emeril Lagasse   
Chef Emeril Lagasse is the chef/proprietor of 13 restaurants in New Orleans, Las Vegas, Orlando, Bethlehem, Pa. and Charlotte, N.C. As a national TV personality, he has hosted more than 2,000 shows on the Food Network, and is the food correspondent for ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Lagasse joined the judges’ table on “Top Chef: New Orleans” – season 11 of Bravo’s hit food series, and “Emeril’s Florida,” premiered its second season January 2014 on the Cooking Channel. Most recently, Lagasse joined TNT as co-host for its revolutionary new reality cooking series, On the Menu. Lagasse is the best-selling author of 18 cookbooks, including his latest cookbook, Cooking with Power, released in October 2013. In 2002, Emeril established the Emeril Lagasse Foundation to support children’s educational programs that inspire and mentor young people through the culinary arts, nutrition, healthy eating, and important life skills. To date, the Foundation has distributed $5.7 million in grants for children’s charities in New Orleans, Las Vegas and on the Gulf Coast.  For his philanthropic efforts, Emeril was named the 2013 Humanitarian of the Year by the James Beard Foundation.

Contact: Daniel Hernandez
Zeno Group
312-396-9765
daniel.hernandez@zenogroup.com

 

SOURCE World Kitchen, LLC

RELATED LINKS
http://www.worldkitchen.com

Tagged with:

Archaeologists discover possible site of Jesus’ trial in Jerusalem; is timing …

Posted on by See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓

The Tower of David’s long-held secret has been revealed.

15 years ago, archaeologists dug under an abandoned building next to the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem’s Old City. “[A]s they carefully dug down,” writes The Washington Post’s Ruth Eglash, “they eventually uncovered something extraordinary: the suspected remains of the palace where one of the more famous scenes of the New Testament may have taken place — the trial of Jesus.”

It is believed that the trial took place in the palace of Herod the Great; scholars express confidence that they have found remains of the palace.

Historians have long known that the site next to the Tower of David was used as a prison by the British and the Ottoman Turks, but the site’s possible much earlier use remained unknown for generations.

Many experts now believe that this place near the Tower of David is where Jesus of Nazareth faced the judgment of Pontius Pilate, who ordered his crucifixion. More than two thousand years later, the site is being opened for tours by the Tower of David Museum.

“There is, of course, no inscription stating it happened here,” Shimon Gibson told the Washington Post, “but everything — archaeological, historical and gospel accounts — all falls into place and makes sense.” Gibson is an archeology professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

If that’s the case, writes The Jerusalem Post, “pilgrims have been walking the wrong path when following the Stations of the Cross.” The newspaper points out that “for centuries Christians have thought that the Antonia Fortress was the site of Jesus’s trial and death.”

The “big” announcement of this discovery, writes Joel Baden, professor of Hebrew Bible at Yale University, is a long time coming.

“What should not be overlooked … is that an important archaeological revelation about the life and death of Jesus was effectively kept under wraps for nearly 15 years — the discovery of Herod’s Palace beneath the Tower of David was first made in 2001 as part of a museum expansion project,” Baden writes for CNN. “The timing of the announcement is linked entirely to the potential for tourist dollars, rather than to the remarkable historical and religious significance of the discovery on its own terms.”

Tagged with:

Nearly 100 Employers Looking to Hire at Job Fair

Posted on by See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓

c 2014, WLOS ABC 13 | Portions are Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or distributed.

WLOS News 13 provides local news, weather forecasts, traffic updates, notices of events and items of interest in the community, sports and entertainment programming for Asheville, NC and nearby towns and communities in Western North Carolina and the Upstate of South Carolina, including the counties of Buncombe, Henderson, Rutherford, Haywood, Polk, Transylvania, McDowell, Mitchell, Madison, Yancey, Jackson, Swain, Macon, Graham, Spartanburg, Greenville, Anderson, Union, Pickens, Oconee, Laurens, Greenwood, Abbeville and also Biltmore Forest, Woodfin, Leicester, Black Mountain, Montreat, Arden, Weaverville, Hendersonville, Etowah, Flat Rock, Mills River, Waynesville, Maggie Valley, Canton, Clyde, Franklin, Cullowhee, Sylva, Cherokee, Marion, Old Fort, Forest City, Lake Lure, Bat Cave, Spindale, Spruce Pine, Bakersville, Burnsville, Tryon, Columbus, Marshall, Mars Hill, Brevard, Bryson City, Cashiers, Greer, Landrum, Clemson, Gaffney, and Easley.

Tagged with:

North Carolina editorial roundup

Posted on by See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓

Recent editorials from North Carolina newspapers:

Jan. 6

News and Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina, on excessive state pensions:

The federal government puts limits on public pensions – for good reason. A pension is designed in theory to provide a measure of security for long and good work. It is not supposed to provide a retired worker with the same income received when he or she was working.

But in 1996, Congress gave public pension systems the chance to arrange for some retiring employees to get more than the standard as state systems found some employees bumping against the limit.

In 2013, North Carolina did just that, setting up a supplemental fund to pay some retirees a sum on top of their regular earned pensions. Presumably, this was to keep top employees working on, knowing they would earn higher pensions, rather than quitting when they hit the limit.

That might be a worthy tradeoff if a Nobel Prize-winning scientist was running, say, the state Department of Health and Human Services and designing cures for diseases. But in the vast majority of cases, public pensions in North Carolina are quite generous. And typically, those who are working and in a position to receive them are compensated beyond what they’d get in a pension if they kept working.

In North Carolina, there are 900,000 state and local employees in the state retirement system. They contribute 6 percent of their salaries to retirement, and their employers contribute 7 to 9 percent. There are 240,000 retired state employees. Those who put in 30 years get roughly 55 percent of their annual pay in retirement, a nice figure, and it’s a secure figure as well, considering North Carolina’s system is quite solvent.

So why, then, should some highly paid employees draw from this supplemental fund? To give them an incentive to keep working? Their salaries should be adequate for that. And their pensions would astound most of the regular working folks in North Carolina.

Consider: Former Wake County schools Superintendent Del Burns draws a total yearly pension of $162,000. Of that, he gets a nice kick of $13,500 from the supplemental fund. Eric McKeithan, former president of Cape Fear Community College, gets a pension that in 2014 was $172,000, of which $39,000 came from the supplemental fund. (An earlier installment in The News Observer series, “Checks Without Balances,” showed that McKeithan was among public employees who had their perks such as car and housing allowances rolled into their salaries to boost their public pensions, a bad practice.)

But the big winner from the supplemental fund is former UNC-Chapel Hill Athletics Director Dick Baddour. Of his astonishing pension of $281,000 in 2014, some $64,000 came from the supplemental fund.

No wonder the UNC system wants to continue the supplemental fund rather than let it expire. The system employs more highly paid workers than any other public entity.

But it ought to put the greater public interest before its own, and the public interest is in ending this supplemental fund. All state workers should be under the same formula. Those with higher salaries will get higher pensions, and that should be enough. State Sen. Tom Apodaca, a Republican from Hendersonville, is co-chair of the Senate’s committee on pensions and retirement, and he wants to sunset the law so the state’s not on the hook to pay supplements to pensions that exceed the federal limit.

He says if the university system wants to boost pensions, it should pay for that out of a fund it sets up in-house. He should have added that no public money should go into such a fund.

Apodaca rightly sees fairness as an issue here. Common sense is in there, too. The state has a good system with a simple formula, and it should stay with that system for all employees. Setting up the fund might have been well-intentioned, but it has turned out to be a bad and increasingly costly idea. And it’s an idea whose time never should have come, but definitely has gone.

Online:

http://www.newsobserver.com

—-

Jan. 5

Winston-Salem (North Carolina) Journal on food trucks:

One of the best things about our area is many residents embrace new business ideas, adding to our economic rebound. Food trucks are a prime example.

We’ve long had vending trucks that bring snacks to workplaces. The food trucks, part of a national trend, take that effort a step further. These rolling restaurants, setting up in well-traveled spots, offer widely varied full meals, from Mexican to basic American. The best of them are wildly creative.

Count Brandon Cassidy’s truck, Food Freaks of NC, in that category. Cassidy, a Mocksville man whose day job had been in education, had been creating his own delicacies for years, inspired by the cooking of his “country boy dad and Italian mother.” After offering them to the public at the 2013 Dixie Classic Fair, he realized there was a market for his creations and has been working 17-hour days to bring his dream to fruition.

“Maybe I’m crazy, but I told my wife, ‘If we risk it now and lose, we’ll still have time to get it all back before the kids get older,'” the 41-year-old Cassidy, who also does catering, told Journal West correspondent Jenny Drabble. “I knew this is what I was meant to do and I was tired of getting up every morning to go to a job I hated, so I took a leap of faith.”

Now he operates the food truck with the help of his wife, Marie, and his apprentice, Nathan Johnson, Drabble reported last week. Tuesdays through Sundays, the truck rolls through places including Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Burlington, Mocksville and the Lake Norman area.

Drabble described a wide range of delicacies that Chef Brandon Cassidy offers, including the “Elvis, a burger that combines banana peanut butter chutney, cheese, apples and bacon.” There’s the pickle dog, “a dill pickle wrapped in pastrami with a homemade 16-ingredient cheese spread, dipped in batter and flash-fried,” Drabble reported.

“Other fan favorites include the Mason Jar Cakes — homemade cakes layered in a jar and sandwiched with icing — and the five different stuffed burgers, filled with all sorts of homemade sauces and toppings,” Drabble wrote.

Then there’s the “Sweet-N-Crispy Apple Rings, Granny Smith apples flash-fried in a sweet cinnamon batter with a caramel drizzle.”

Cassidy said: “I’ve had a few people turn their noses up because the combinations I make sound wacky, but then they try it and they tell me it’s the best thing they’ve ever tasted. I combine everyday common flavors in a way most people wouldn’t think of doing.”

His combination of creativity and hard work is succeeding.

“It’s so surreal hearing people talk about how much they love my food,” he said. “I think this is what I was born to do.”

That’s the kind of entrepreneurial spirit we need more of in 2015, no matter what the business.

Online:

http://www.journalnow.com

—-

Jan. 7

Fayetteville (North Carolina) Observer on new veterans clinics:

The Department of Veterans Affairs isn’t out of the storm. Far from it. The federal agency remains under hard-earned dark clouds of heightened scrutiny. VA records were doctored and some who were awaiting care died.

But at least the picture in Fayetteville seems brighter. New clinics have opened and more are on the way. They bring hope for improved care and a side benefit – an economic shot in the arm.

In mid-2014, at the height of the national scandal, wait times at Fayetteville’s VA hospital were ranked the longest in the nation. That may only have been proof that local rates weren’t being falsified as much as those elsewhere, but it remained unacceptable. Home to multiple military installations, eastern North Carolina boasts one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing veteran populations. Since then, Fayetteville’s spot at the top of the shameful wait-time list has passed to Hampton, Virginia.

There may be several reasons why Fayetteville’s status has improved slightly. Federal legislation allowing many vets to seek private medical attention was one useful step. But opening more health-care centers in regions like this one offers a prognosis for further improvement.

A temporary clinic opened late last year on Breezewood Avenue in Fayetteville with capacity for serving 3,600 patients. A similar facility opened in Jacksonville. Both came in response to concerns about wait times.

“It’s a start” said Fayetteville VA chief nurse Debra Young. “We are making every effort to deliver access and provide quality care.”

And reinforcements are coming, with plans to expand that beachhead.

The new Fayetteville VA Healthcare Center on Raeford Road will open in a few months, as will clinics in Jacksonville, Goldsboro and Sanford. Those operations should bring a net gain of 150 jobs to a region where economic growth has lagged behind the rest of the state.

A rehab center being opened in conjunction with the Army’s Womack Hospital at Fort Bragg should bring another 20 new positions.

Next year, a new wing is planned for the old VA hospital on Ramsey Street, which should further address the demand for space and again create more jobs.

VA growth also could bring an indirect boost to the local economy when vets and their families visit the area for treatment, patronizing shops, restaurants and hotels.

Fayetteville is among the most veteran-friendly of communities. The expanded VA presence is both welcome and needed.

Online:

http://www.fayobserver.com

Tagged with:

Ready for the ACA employer mandate? iSolved will help!

Posted on by See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓








–>
and imageUrl: http://visit-nc.com/wp-content/plugins/RSSPoster_PRO/cache/bd9c1_139367 –>











TripAdvisor Logo. (PRNewsFoto/TripAdvisor)
iSolved
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest








  • left
    0
    iSolved
    http://visit-nc.com/wp-content/plugins/RSSPoster_PRO/cache/3f0e1_139367
    http://photos.prnewswire.com/prn/20140825/139367
    http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnthumb/20140825/139367
    http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140825/139367
    http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnvar/20140825/139367

    and http://visit-nc.com/wp-content/plugins/RSSPoster_PRO/cache/3f0e1_139367 –>

    left
    0
    iSolved
    http://visit-nc.com/wp-content/plugins/RSSPoster_PRO/cache/3f0e1_139367
    http://photos.prnewswire.com/prn/20140825/139367
    http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnthumb/20140825/139367
    http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140825/139367
    http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnvar/20140825/139367

    and http://visit-nc.com/wp-content/plugins/RSSPoster_PRO/cache/3f0e1_139367 –>









CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer mandate requires businesses with over 50 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees to provide health insurance or pay a penalty (employer shared responsibility payment) on federal tax returns. Small businesses with 50-99 FTEs will need to start insuring workers by 2016. Those with 100 or more must begin providing health benefits to at least 70% of their FTEs by 2015 and 95% by 2016.

The employers will use information about their number of employees and hours of service during 2014 to determine whether they are considered an applicable large employer (ALE) for 2015. Health care tax credits have been retroactively available to small businesses with 25 or less full-time equivalent employees since 2010.

Employers need to become familiar now with the terms, forms, deadlines and criteria as compliance becomes compulsory. The U.S. Treasury Department has published a brief, three-page summary called, Final Regulations Implementing Employer Shared Responsibility Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for 2015. Details can be obtained from such resources as the IRS online section named Questions and Answers on Employer Shared Responsibility Provisions Under the Affordable Care Act,  which current has over 50 queries and responses.

iSolved, Infinisource’s cloud-based Human Capital Management technology solution, helps employers manage the employer mandate and other provisions of the ACA. In addition to tracking and storing vital data and producing detailed reports, iSolved is supported by the Infinisource team of experts, who have kept up with every detail of the ACA compliance requirements.

Visit www.infinisource.com to learn more about how iSolved is transforming the way organizations manage their most important asset – their people.

About Infinisource, Inc.
Founded in 1986, Infinisource is a nationally recognized leader of SaaS-based Human Capital Management technology solutions and expert services. Infinisource offers iSolved (a single platform for HR, Payroll, Time and Attendance and Benefits Enrollment) as well as administration for COBRA, Flexible Spending Accounts, Health Savings Accounts and Health Reimbursement Arrangements. With more than 4,000 broker relationships and 63,000 employer customers, Infinisource delivers transformational human capital management technology.

Logo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140825/139367

SOURCE Infinisource, Inc.



Tagged with:

Brochure touts Oriental as tourist destination

Posted on by See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓

Local/State

Brace yourselves Triangle residents, here comes the cold

Tagged with:

Asheville area breweries hunker down for winter – Asheville Citizen

Posted on by See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓

It’s been 15 years, but Mike Rangel still remembers that first wretched winter as co-owner of Asheville Pizza and Brewing on Merrimon Avenue.

The heater in the old movie theater stopped working, and he needed $18,000 to get a new one. But the new business couldn’t get a loan.

“Customers still talk about it,” he said. “They were bringing in blankets.” The brewery held a “Heat-Aid” benefit concert and Rangel finally got the funding to keep going.

But he’s never forgotten how rough winter business can be. With the holidays done, breweries and taprooms are bracing again for another slow stretch until spring.

Craft brewing has become an economic force in the Carolinas. An informal survey by the Asheville Brewers Alliance shows almost 900 people are working in beer in Western North Carolina, and that number will increase to more than 1,000 with new breweries like New Belgium opening in 2015. A 2012 study shows that craft beer has a $750 million economic impact statewide.

About 10,000 people work in some aspect of beer North Carolina, the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild says. In South Carolina, about 3,000 jobs are directly linked to beer, according to the South Carolina Brewers Guild.

Poll: Do you visit local breweries in the winter months?

CITIZEN-TIMES

New Belgium begins hiring push for West Asheville brewery

CITIZEN-TIMES

Asheville, WNC, Upstate SC breweries: the complete list

There are almost three dozen craft breweries in Western North Carolina, plus many taprooms and pubs, making competition intense.

During winter, some breweries will cut hours for staff or reduce production of beer. Others are planning special events to draw in customers.

That winter beer slowdown after New Year’s Day is true across the country. But brewpubs and microbreweries use “different tactics” to draw customers, including seasonal beers and new releases, said Julia Herz of the Brewers Association trade group.

The nation is home to around 3,200 breweries, she said.

At Wedge Brewing in Asheville’s River Arts District, business will drop by half during winter, said owner Tim Schaller. Indoor space at Wedge is limited, and most customers gather on the loading dock up front. “We did spend some money on more plastic to enclose the loading dock” which is heated.

Highand Brewing will reduce winter beer production by as much as 15 percent, company founder Oscar Wong said. But it will keep its current staffing of 48 full-time and 24 part-time employees.

At Lexington Avenue Brewery downtown, co-owner Mike Healy said that staffing hours will be shortened, though he tries to avoid layoffs. “Breweries hunker down during the winter.”

For Open Brewing in South Asheville, which began brewing in December, “momentum is still building,” said company spokesman Chall Gray. “I think we will have more awareness in the winter.”

But at Twin Leaf Brewing on the South Slope, which opened in March 2014, co-owner Steph Weber isn’t sure what to expect. “The last couple of months have been very busy,” she said. “We watch our spending so we have the working capital to ride through the slower months.”

While tasting-room business slowed last winter, Hi-Wire Brewing kept on pace with wholesales sales, co-owner Adam Charnack said.

Much of the winter slowdown is tourism related, brewery and taproom owners agreed. Some enjoy getting a break after the hectic holidays. “From summer to Jan. 3, we are slammed,’ said Jimi Rentz, owner of Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria, one of the city’s long-running craft beer destinations. “It’s nice to get a breather.”

Catawba Brewing of Morganton uses winter for “preventive maintenance projects that we tend to put off while we run full-bore in the high season,” said co-owner Billy Pyatt. “And we can make some of the more difficult and time-consuming beers.”

At Wedge, Schaller enjoys “hanging out with the locals and the regulars,” he said. The Thirsty Monk pubs have seen the switchover from tourists to locals for seven years, said Gray, who also speaks for the Asheville pub chain. “The trends don’t change much from year to year.”

In Black Mountain, “when tourism slows, so do the day-to-day bar crowds,” said Pisgah Brewing spokesman Benton Wharton. “We close Mondays and Tuesdays now in winter, so that seems to keep the other five days up to par.”

For Brevard Brewing, the winter tourist drop-off is noticeable, said owner Kyle Williams. “Retail bar sales are about a third of what they are in the summer. Clientele is all locals in the winter.”

Pubs and restaurants also notice the winter beer slowdown. “We have to give (the locals) a reason to come and visit us,’ said Tom Israel, owner of Pack’s Tavern. He’s planning a variety of specials and discounts for winter. On Tuesdays, all draft beer are half-priced and Wednesday, Asheville Brewing beers are $3.

The Westville Pub has brewery nights on Wednesdays and a blues jam on Tuesdays. Highland Brewing will begin a program in February to showcase craft food producers.

The Thirsty Monk will continue Pint Night brewery glass giveaways on Wednesdays and has a regular schedule of beer promotions each week. And at Asheville Brewing, the Merrimon Avenue location has a discount cinema to draw a crowd as business falls off at the downtown Coxe Avenue restaurant with its big patio space.

Even the Bruisin’ Ales specialty beer store sees business slow down because of the lack of tourists, “but I don’t think it’s exclusive to the beer industry,” said shopkeeper Julie Atallah. “January is the worst month” as customers try to adhere to New Year’s resolutions.

CITIZEN-TIMES

Bruisin’ Ales launches online beer shop

Selected brewery employment

•Asheville Brewing: 168 employees including servers at two restaurants.

•Catawba Brewing: Six full-time workers and eight part-time in Morganton between the brewery and tasting room, and two full-time, five part-time workers at the Biltmore Village tasting room.

•Highland Brewing: 48 full time, 24 part time.

•Hi-Wire Brewing: 14 employees and adding another 15 jobs with its expansion.

•New Belgium Brewing: 50 employees to be hired in 2015 for West Asheville brewery. 140 employees at full build-out.

•Oskar Blues Brewery: 45 employees at Brevard brewery.

•Pisgah Brewing: Eight full-time employees, four part-time bartenders, more part-time seasonal employees for outdoor events.

•Sierra Nevada Brewing: 96 employees at Mills River brewery, 85 percent of them full time. More coming in February with opening of restaurant and pub.

•Thirsty Monk: 40-plus employees at three pub locations and the Open Brewing tasting room.

•Twin Leaf Brewery: Six employees.

•Wicked Weed: Adding another 82 jobs over the next three years, boosting its staff of 145 workers.

CITIZEN-TIMES

Sierra Nevada begins hiring push for restaurant

CITIZEN-TIMES

Asheville’s Wicked Weed to build $5M production brewery

Tagged with:

WakeMed restricts visitation due to severity of flu season

Posted on by See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓

Local News

Salvation Army shelters in Bradenton and Sarasota brace for colder weather

Tagged with:

Panthers still alive in playoffs despite trying season

Posted on by See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Panthers coach Ron Rivera said he’s never experienced a season like this one since he joined the NFL 30 years ago.

Carolina’s journey to the NFC divisional playoffs has included quarterback Cam Newton flipping his truck and being hospitalized with two fractures in his lower back, franchise defensive end Greg Hardy being convicted on two counts of domestic violence, and Rivera’s house catching fire and causing $500,000 worth of the damage five days before the biggest game of his coaching career.

“It has been different,” Rivera said. “You can’t make this stuff up.”

There’s been nothing ordinary or predictable about the Panthers on the field, either.

Carolina became the first NFL team to go more than two months without a victory and reach the playoffs. The Panthers won the NFC South despite a 7-8-1 record. And last Saturday, a defense that gave up 35 or more points in four of its first seven games held Arizona to 78 yards in the wild-card round, the fewest ever allowed in the NFL postseason.

Safety Roman Harper said he wasn’t expecting this type of adventure in his first season in Carolina. The Panthers visit Seattle (12-4) on Saturday with a trip to the NFC championship game on the line.

“It isn’t the prettiest thing, but we got a date to the prom at the end of the day,” Harper said, laughing. “We’re here. She’s probably not the best-looking one; she’s not going to win prom queen, but we’ll have a good time.”

The Panthers aren’t apologizing for their record.

In fact, in some ways they believe the season has toughened them and left them playoff ready.

They had to win their last four games just to get into the playoffs.

Newton has fought through ankle and rib injuries and the back fractures, and he has the Panthers on a five-game winning streak.

Rivera is already hunkered down preparing for Seattle while his wife handles the details of where he’ll live for the next 6-8 months while their burned-out home is rebuilt.

Hardy still isn’t eligible to play, but his absence paved the way for fellow defensive end Charles Johnson to step out of character and become one of the team’s vocal leaders.

Cornerback Josh Norman is convinced the Panthers have benefited from some divine intervention — particularly when it came to Newton’s accident.

“If it weren’t for God’s angel covering him in that truck, I don’t know what would have happened,” Norman said. “We could have been talking about missing our quarterback, our leader, forever. But he was blessed.”

The idea the Panthers are even still playing after a 3-8-1 start speaks volumes about the team, said center Ryan Kalil.

“Some strange things have come up,” Kalil said, “but it’s been very telling of the character and closeness of this team that whether it is something happening inside or outside the locker room, this is a group that stuck together and continue to work and work.”

Kalil said that is also a reflection of Rivera, the 2013 NFL Coach of the Year, for staying positive and keeping everyone together when it would have been easy to quit on the season.

Rivera said he never once lost faith in his team.

“At the end of the day you learn how to deal and cope with these things,” Rivera said, “and if you can keep your focus then you will have an opportunity and a chance.”

Then again, maybe Carolina’s season isn’t that unusual.

Former Jets wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery was asked about this year and simply laughed.

“Well, I played in New York,” Cotchery said, “so I won’t even go there.”

NOTES: The Panthers have moved practices inside their stadium this week and are piping in crowd noise to help simulate playing in Seattle, which features one of the loudest stadiums in the league. … Rivera said he’s sticking with returner Brenton Bersin despite a muffed punt that resulted in a turnover against Arizona. … Wide receiver Philly Brown (shoulder) did not practice Tuesday. Bersin is taking his reps in practice.

___

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Tagged with:

North Carolina Ranks Among Top Moving Destinations

Posted on by See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓

WINSTON-SALEM — Whether it’s North Carolina’s climate, scenery, or improving economy, more people are moving to the Tar Heel State.

United Van Lines’ Annual National Movers Study shows North Carolina ranks third on the 2014 list of Top Moving Destinations.

Richard Geiger, the president of Visit Winston-Salem, said people relocate for either a job or retirement.

“I think the growth in people relocating to North Carolina and the Carolinas is largely due to those two things,” said Geiger.

Geiger, who moved to the state for a job, is right. The study found more than 40 percent of survey respondents moved for a new job. Twenty-five percent transferred to the state with their current company. Another 25 percent of those surveyed reported moving to the state for retirement.

“We see a lot of retirement people or potential retirement people coming right here into the visitor’s center that are coming down from the North usually or the Midwest looking for a place to ultimately end up when they’re not working and retired,” said Geiger.

Geiger said people are often looking for quality of life things such as arts, culture and variety of restaurants.

North Carolina, however, falls behind Oregon and South Carolina, but Geiger said the population growth still helps the economy despite the state being third on the list.

“Anytime you bring someone here new, you’re bringing new dollars into the marketplace,” said Geiger. “Anytime someone moves here, they have to buy a home, they have to buy appliances, they shop at our grocery stores, they buy our supplies, they buy our services. They are spending money here. ”

Realtors said new home buyers are in luck because prices are stable and property values continue going up.

“When you look at Asheville, it has become such a hot retirement and tourist destination, and their prices have gone up significantly, winter properties and also resale properties,” said Greater Greensboro Regional Realtors Association President Marian Stafford.

The study shows North Carolina has been classified as a high inbound state, or people moving in rather than out, each year since 1993.

The study is based on household moves handled by United Van Lines within the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C.

Tagged with:
Top