Creative Economy: Award-winning jazz composer-conductor takes lead in digital piracy battle
When Maria Schneider was in graduate school in the 1980s, she was mildly interested in her required music-business courses, but her focus was the music itself. Little did she suspect that, decades later, along with having risen to the top of her profession as a big-band jazz composer and conductor, with five Grammy awards and high-profile commissions throughout the world, she also would emerge as a leading figure in debates about the...
Social Security Q&A: Benefits to Kids After Retirement
Question: I have two minor children at home and I plan to retire soon. Will my children be eligible for monthly Social Security benefits after I retire? Answer: Monthly Social Security payments may be made to your children if: ■ They are unmarried and under age 18; ■ Age 18 or 19 and still in high school; or ■ Age 18 or older, became disabled before age 22, and continue to be disabled. Children who may qualify include a biological...
Maine Seafood Value Breaks Record
Portland, Maine — Maine’s lifeblood commercial fishing industry once again broke records for the value of marine species at the dock in 2015, state officials said. Fishermen in the state topped $631 million at the dock with their catch last year, surpassing the previous year’s total by more than $33 million. Last year’s total catch also broke previous records. Lobsters constituted more than three-quarters of the total value at more...
Increase in Beef Supply Should Cut Retail Prices
A mountain of meat has ended the longest rally in U.S. cattle prices since at least the 1960s, when baby boomers and McDonald’s ushered in the American burger boom. Not only have ranchers added to their herds, but consumers are being inundated with increased supplies of cheaper pork and poultry. Ground-beef prices are down from a record high 11 months ago, and buyers like Darden Restaurants Inc., owner of the LongHorn Steakhouse...
Fattest-Ever U.S. Cattle Herd Signals End to Record Beef Prices
Chicago — Cattle in the U.S. are now the fattest they’ve ever been, signaling an end to the seven-year run of record beef prices just as losses begin to mount for American feedlot owners. Tom Fanning, who manages a feedlot herd of 30,000 in Buffalo, Okla., said he loses $100 to $300 on each animal he sells to slaughtering plants, even though they are bigger and produce more meat than ever. Its worse for other producers. On average,...
