Lemonade Alley will return to Pearlridge Center on April 9 when more than 20 keiki teams set up competing lemonade stands and learn about business.
The keiki sales contest, scheduled from 3 to 7 p.m., will take place on the Pearlridge Downtown fourth-level parking deck above the Consolidated Pearlridge West Theatres.
All proceeds of their lemonade stand sales will be donated to a charity of their choice, embodying the nonprofit BizGym Foundation’s philosophy: “Profit to share.” Now in its sixth year, Lemonade Alley donated more than $15,000 to 31 local charities in 2015 and $38,028 over the past five years.
Lemonade Alley teams have spent the past weeks and months perfecting their lemonade recipes and designing and building a stand. On April 9 they will pitch their businesses on stage and compete for sales while raising money for their chosen charities. A winning team in each of three age divisions will receive $1,000.
In addition, this summer, three teams will have their recipes featured for one month each at all Jamba Juice locations in Hawaii. Lemonade Alley and the charity of the team’s choice will each receive 10 percent of sales of those special menu items.
For more information, see lemonadealley.com.
Jobless aid applications rise but keep low
WASHINGTON >> More Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, but applications still stayed near historic lows that point to a stable job market.
Applications for jobless aid rose 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 276,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The less volatile four-week average rose 3,500 to 263,250. The number of people receiving unemployment checks has fallen 6.3 percent over the past year to 2.17 million.
Employers are confident that the U.S. economy will continue to grow, after global pressures and an uneven stock market stirred concerns at the start of the year. Applications are a proxy for layoffs, so the steady lows indicate that businesses are still looking to hire.
Steel industry sparks crisis in Britain
LONDON >> The British government scrambled Thursday to save the country’s struggling steel industry after Tata Steel announced plans to sell its U.K. plants, which employ almost 20,000 people.
Prime Minister David Cameron held a crisis meeting at 10 Downing St. and said the government would do “everything it can” to keep steelmaking in Britain.
The steel industry in Britain, like many developed economies, has been hit hard by cheap Chinese imports, which have depressed prices, and manufacturers have asked the government and European Union to impose anti-dumping duties.
Ford recalls 38,000 vans to fix air bags
DETROIT >> Ford says it’s recalling about 38,000 Transit vans in the U.S. and Canada because the side curtain air bags might not protect people properly in a crash.
The recall covers low-roof Transit vans from the 2015 and 2016 model years. The company says the bags on either side of the vans may have been folded incorrectly. They might not inflate at the proper angles to protect drivers or passengers. Ford says no crashes or injuries have been reported. The affected vans were built from March 12, 2014, through March 18, 2016.
Orange County, Riverside papers sold
SANTA ANA, Calif. >> A lawyer says the owner of the Los Angeles Daily News has bought the Orange County Register and another Southern California newspaper.
Freedom Communications’ attorney Alan Friedman said Denver-based Digital First Media closed the deal Thursday to buy the Register and the Press-Enterprise of Riverside for $49.8 million in cash.
Digital First was runner-up to purchase Freedom’s newspapers at a bankruptcy auction, but the Justice Department got a court order blocking lead bidder Tribune Publishing from buying the papers over antitrust issues.
With the purchase, Digital First owns 11 daily newspapers in Southern California.
Freedom filed for federal bankruptcy protection in November after an aggressive expansion in print journalism.
ON THE MOVE
Pacific Biodiesel has announced it has hired Joy Wynne Galatro as marketing director. Galatro was previously vice president of brand strategy for Walker Brands, based in Tampa, Fla., and before that she led an in-house marketing team assigned to several subsidiaries at Tampa Electric Co.
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T S Restaurants, which owns and operates 14 waterfront restaurants in Hawaii and California including Duke’s Waikiki, has promoted Jackie Reed to CEO from vice president of CA Operations. Reed has been with T S Restaurants for more than 25 years, climbing the ranks from hostess.
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SimplicityHR by ALTRES, a provider of payroll and human resources services, has appointed Candice Wong to benefits manager. She was previously the learningand development coach at University Health Alliance. Prior to UHA, Wong was regional director of student finance at Heald College.
