A customer leaves a Pizza Patron in Houston. (Photo by Dave Einsel/Getty Images)

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The controversy surrounding a Dallas-based pizza chain’s plan to offer free pizza to anyone who ordered in Spanish has been strong, but even the company has been surprised at the lengths people have gone to express their displeasure.

In a released emailed to CBSDFW Friday, Dallas-based Pizza Patron said the announcement of their June 5 ‘Pizza Por Favor‘ campaign resulted in worldwide calls of both support and opposition, but company president Guillermo Estrada said the company was “surprised by the extent of the reaction.”

The chain also says they were the victim of hackers following the flurry of news reports about the promotion, and were forced to shut down some website operations until they could resolve the issues.

In the release, Pizza Patron directly mentioned an article posted Tuesday on CBSDFW.com addressing the ‘Pizza Por Favor’ campaign, pointing to the thousands of comments the story generated.

MORE: Dallas Pizza Chain Giving Free Pizza For Ordering In Spanish

The pizza chain released an official statement in the release, which it called responding to ‘campaign ire.’

“This campaign and others that we have planned for this year are focused on celebrating the Hispanic culture. This has been Pizza Patrón’s brand focus for over 26 years.

All of our campaigns and promotions are extended to all people, regardless of ethnicity, language, or political persuasion, to join us in enjoying a slice of the Latino lifestyle.

For this ‘PIZZA POR FAVOR™’ campaign, our customer service staff has been trained to coach customers in how to say a few words of Spanish to receive a delicious large pepperoni pizza for free.

We are not a political company, but respect the opinions of Americans on all sides of today’s issues.

We ask that all complaints or comments be directed to the corporate office at 972-613-8000 or our Facebook fan page so the employees at each store can concentrate on providing great food and service to their customers.”

MORE: Pizza Patron Facebook Fan Page

Pizza Patron still plans to carry on the June 5 promotion.  The company previously confirmed to CBSDFW.com many franchise stores will have extra security during the 3-hour promotion, but have reiterated the need will be for crowd control, and not due to any specific threats of violence.

Pizza Patron is no stranger to controversy.  They first made international news in 2007 when they announced they would become the first pizza chain to accept Mexican Pesos at all of their stores.

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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) -  The Memorial Day holiday not only signals the unofficial beginning of summer, it means an uptick in traffic at the Dallas Farmers Market.

“It’s fresh food, it’s fresh vegetables and fruits and it’s a lot cheaper and you save money and, I mean, everyone is polite,” says shopper Ryan Scott.

The market, though, is at a crossroads as the city of Dallas weighs whether to privatize it.  While shoppers are enthusiastic, day-to-day there are not nearly enough of them. Vendors and small businesses say the city-owned market is too short on commitment and too long on cumbersome rules.

“I have to have a “plan B” because I’m not sure of anything,” says Paul Gray of Paul’s Fresh Produce.  “One day it’s this, one day it’s that.  I mean, it’s just a nightmare here.”  Jim Ingenfor agrees.  ”The city can’t be spontaneous,” he says.  ”What takes the city six months to a year to accomplish, private business can do overnight.”

Which is why the city is considering privatizing the market, much as it has successfully done with the Dallas Zoo. Right now two bidders have submitted formal proposals on how they’d run the market. It’s a secret process so the city can get the best deal.

“We want someone to come in that is able to make decisions,” says Tanya Ragan of the Dallas Farmers Market Stakeholders Association, “to come in and in 60-90 days says, ‘We’re going to paint this, we’re going to clean this.’”

But stakeholders also say solutions must embrace more than just produce vending.

There are neighbors to deal with: new residential housing is springing up, and dealing with the overflow from The Bridge and other agencies for the homeless is a challenge.  “We still have issues with homeless going into the market area, panhandling people, harrassing people,” claims Ingendorf.

But folks at the market are hopeful the challenges can be met with profesional leadership.  Paul Gray says, “The market is just a great asset to Dallas — if we just get the right people to run it and make it a go-to place for families.”

It’s hoped the winning bid will be revealed by August and perhaps have new management in place by the first of next year.

(credit: Procter & Gamble)

DALLAS (AP) - Procter & Gamble says it will change the design of packaging for its miniature laundry detergent product to deter children from eating the brightly colored packets that look like candy.

Procter & Gamble spokesman Paul Fox says the Cincinnati-based company plans to create a new double latch lid on tubs of Tide Pods “in the next couple of weeks.”

Doctors say children sometimes swallow the pods thinking they are edible. Nearly 250 cases have been reported to poison control centers this year — a fraction of the thousands of poisoning calls received every year. No deaths have been reported.

Fox says to reduce the risk of poisoning, household cleaners and laundry detergents should be kept out of children’s reach.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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PLANO (CBSDFW.COM) – The future is still uncertain for many Plano workers who learned yesterday they could lose their jobs when Hewlett Packard cuts nearly 30,000 jobs worldwide.

Many of HP’s nearly 5,000 Plano employees received emails notifying them early retirements will be offered, which should soften any blow to the local economy.

Still, Collin County officials expect the layoffs to hit Plano’s Enterprise Services division of HP hard.

It comes at a time when Collin County’s unemployment rate is 6.3 percent, which is less than the state and national averages.

Local officials are quick to point out other similar companies in Plano are expanding. “It’s a concern,” said Plano City Manager Bruce Glasscock.  “It has a rippling effect because if they live anywhere in Plano or Collin County and they get laid off that a potential impact on their buying capacity, their homes, everything.  But at the same time we’re seeing businesses out there expand so it’s not doom and gloom.”

HP plans to spread the layoffs out over a three year period. The move is expected to save the company more than $3 Billion.

Deep Ellum Brewery’s 8-ounce glass promotes its Rye Pilsner. (Credit: Kent Chapline/CBSDFW.com)

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) –  It’s noon on a sunbaked Saturday along a semi-secluded industrial block of south Deep Ellum and a couple dozen people are comfortably sipping from 8-ounce glasses. They’re in a time warp of a beer garden –– it’s quite easy to forget that it’s flanked by warehouses and parking lots.

A band offers up Willie Nelson covers from a modest stage tucked in the corner while folks amble to food trucks that abut the fence. And, of course, there’s those frequent reprieves to the interior of the attached 3,000-squarefoot brewery –– it’s why they’re here, after all.

For the past eight Saturdays, Deep Ellum Brewing Company has opened its doors to the public for a tour. Four weeks ago, the nascent microbrewery tapped its first full-season brew, the Farmhouse Wit, a light wheat-styled beer that’s brewed without any wheat whatsoever.

The beer garden at the Deep Ellum Brewing Company. (Credit: Kent Chapline/CBSDFW.com)

But more on that later –– Tait Lifto is cutting through the crowd donning a Deep Ellum shirt and hat, a toothy smile spread across his face. He’s come to proselytize.

“I just want people to try the beer,” he said. “It’s all about the beer. That’s what we live and breathe.”

Lifto is Deep Ellum’s ‘Sales and Brand Ninja,’ so, in other words, one of his duties is to be overwhelmingly excited about the product he cares so deeply for. Tough job, he assures me.

The 37-year-old joined the force in January, two months after the microbrewery formally launched at the Common Table in Uptown –– which may be the only thing Lifto promotes as enthusiastically as his employer’s beer.

Tait Lifto, Sales and Brand Ninja of the Deep Ellum Brewing Company. (Credit: Kent Chapline/CBSDFW.com)

At that time, Deep Ellum was Dallas’s only microbrewery. Franconia hovers to the north, in McKinney, and Rahr is situated due west in Fort Worth. But Dallas-proper, the state’s third most populous city, had nothing to call its own.

“Dallas has needed this for so long,” Lifto says. “There’s, what, six million people in DFW? It’s ridiculous. You go down to Austin and there’s, like, 30 (microbreweries).”

Lifto and his colleagues are quite aware that they’re carrying the torch, so to speak. In the six months of its existence, Deep Ellum Brewing Company has released nine different beers. The Deep Ellum IPA –– by far their most popular –– Rye Pils and Double Brown Stout will be year round. The rest are varying degrees of seasonal.

Their 10^th, a Barley Wine, is aging in rye whiskey barrels and will flow in January 2013.

Barley Wine ages inside rye whiskey barrels at the Deep Ellum Brewing Company. These will age until Jan. 1, 2013. (Credit: Kent Chapline/CBSDFW.com)

Deep Ellum’s bold brews are poured in 116 different bars and restaurants in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Lifto says.

Just 10 Dallas locations offered the brewery a tap when it launched.

“We’re mindful of how sometimes you can’t grow too fast, but our big deal is to make a splash and get out there in front of people and say, look, we’re here, we’re making beer … and be unapologetic about it,” Lifto said.

Since Deep Ellum opened last November, another three have, at the very least, announced plans to brew.

Peticolas Brewing Company is operational and calls the Design District home; Lakewood Brewing Company, in Garland, will formally open sometime this summer; and Four Corners Brewing Co. vows to roll out its beers on Labor Day.

Deep Ellum Brewing Company’s draft taps are made in Grand Prairie. (Credit: Kent Chapline/CBSDFW.com)

It’s easy to live in this beer bubble –– the growth is certainly a good sign for craft beer fans. But, according to the U.S. Brewers Association, just 13 percent of the volume of beers consumed in America came from craft breweries in 2011.

However, that’s up from 12 percent the year before that.

“The reality is craft beer in Texas lags behind the rest of the country. Five percent of sales in Texas is craft beer,” Lifto says, his numbers backed up by the Brewer’s Association. “Overall regular domestic beer sales are down two percent from last year, but four or five percent of all of the picture is a hell of a lot less.”

And that is why Lifto proselytizes.

Of beer and Dallas

But Lifto came on following years of planning, paperwork and patience.

Deep Ellum’s brewer’s permit –– submitted to the state in April 2011 and approved at the end of the summer, public records show –– has three names attached to it: Scott Frieling, James Piel and John Reardon.

That wasn’t always the case.

Reardon, 32, is a longtime home brewer and former Dallas club owner. And, like many beer lovers with the dedication to brew his own, he had a far-out dream to open a brewery.

After “a bit of research and a bit of planning,” Reardon pounced and began filing paperwork.

Deep Ellum Brewing Company’s owner, John Reardon. (Credit: Kent Chapline/CBSDFW.com)

“Little did I know there was another group of guys doing the same thing in Deep Ellum,” Reardon says. “In fact, I filed for a trademark on Deep Ellum Brewing Company two days before they filed Deep Ellum Brewing Company, LLC. with the state. Let’s just say some not-so-friendly letters went back and forth.”

That other group of guys was Piel and Frieling. Eventually, the three agreed to meet up, fittingly, for a beer.

“After a couple meetings, it was like, ‘why not do this together?’,” Reardon remembers.

And so they did. In October of 2010, the city of Dallas classified the brewery as a “light industrial” operation. This freed up the choices Reardon, Piel and Frieling had in selecting a location for their brewery.

Shortly after this declaration, Reardon teased in the comment section of a Pegasus News article that they’d settled on somewhere in South Deep Ellum.

“While we agree that it does not make much sense to locate ourselves in the thick of things, we still wish to be close enough to weave our way into the future framework of Deep Ellum,” Reardon wrote.

Location of the Deep Ellum Brewing Company. (Credit: Kent Chapline/CBSDFW.com)

The brewery’s future home would be 2821 Saint Louis Street, a small offshoot block of Malcolm X that’s visible from the mid-air split of Interstate 30 and U.S. 75 in southern Deep Ellum, just as Reardon teased.

Piel and Frieling, both trial attorneys, aren’t actually considered employees. Reardon runs the daily operations while his partners act as, well, partners.

“They help when they can, but they’re not involved in the day-to-day,” Reardon said. “They’d love to be, but they can’t support that just yet.”

In January, Drew Huerter moved from St. Louis to Dallas to serve as Deep Ellum’s brew master. The 28-year-old previously brewed at the now-defunct Mattingly Brewery, a 1.5-barrel brew house that had Huerter coming up with a new beer each Wednesday.

“I really hate the name, but it was Peak-A-Brew Wednesday,” he said, “Lame name, cool concept.”

After two years there and 75 different brews, Huerter moved to Schlafly, a much larger 45,000-barrel brew house that, according to the Brewers Association, was the 39^th largest craft brewery in the country in 2011.

The Deep Ellum Brewing Company. (Credit: Kent Chapline/CBSDFW.com)

Deep Ellum, Huerter says, gives him the freedom he had at the tiny nano brewery with a yield and drive similar to Schlafly.

“This is the best of both worlds; I get the freedom I got at that place but with the resources of the Schlafly brewery,” Huerter said. “It’s nice.”

While attempting to achieve “total beer domination” –– Reardon’s words –– Huerter’s been let loose.

For proof, look at that aforementioned Farmhouse Wit –– it’s brewed with triticale, a hybrid of wheat and rye. That’s rare, Huerter says. The only other brewery he can recall experimenting with it is the unapologetically bold Escondido, Calif.-based Stone Brewery –– a name that Lifto hopes Deep Ellum will be whispered alongside.

“I think we’re going to make a huge impact,” Lifto says. “I think we’ll get national recognition and be on the same playing field of the craft beer community across the nation as Dogfish, as Russian River.”

Deep Ellum Brewing Company’s branding, done by Caliber Creative –– another Deep Ellum business. (Credit: Kent Chapline/CBSDFW.com)

These are bold statements, but so was co-opting the name of what is arguably Dallas’s most recognizable neighborhood. This is something they’re mindful of.

“Us coming in an area that’s already so well defined in terms of its own brand and for us to pick up that name? We had to kind of embody what we already are,” Reardon says.

Then he continues with a rapid-fire history lesson of Deep Ellum, his voice and cadence increasing by the word: “From the turn of the century to jazz to the demise back in the 50s and 60s; with the birth of the freeways and the, sort of, hipsters in the 80s, even like the skinheads and the punks and all that shit and the fallout in the 90s; we love every bit of that, we don’t shy away from that, but we want to be the next chapter, but still … with remembrance of it all.”

Before the DART Green Line zipped travelers into Deep Ellum, there was the Good Latimer tunnel –– a 70-plus-year-old historic structure covered with city-approved graffiti. For many, it was the gateway to the entertainment district; the murals and graffiti that lived along its walls are forever matched with the memories that formed on the other side of the tunnel.

A mural of all the pieces from the Good Latimer tunnel, which was demolished in 2006. (Credit: Kent Chapline/CBSDFW.com)

“I remember going to Deep Ellum in the nineties and having some fun partying down there and going into the tunnel,” Lifto says. “I remember seeing Nine Inch Nails in ’94, ’95 at the Bomb Factory. That was something else, man.”

Even when recalling that memory nearly two decades later, Lifto walks through the tunnel before he gets to it.

While it was demolished in 2006, it’s immortalized in Deep Ellum’s slick tasting room. It’s a mural consisting of high-resolution photographs taken by area photographer Sean Fitzgerald before the destruction. It’s all there: The chubby tiger, the cartoonish DJ, the Elvis Pez dispenser, the defecating Pegasus.

Just as the Deep Ellum crew hopes to educate the public about quality beer, Lifto and Reardon both say they aim to give their city the spotlight, too.

“The Deep Ellum name has a lot of history behind it,” Lifto says. “It kind of, just, hits something in people’s souls when they think about Deep Ellum.”

A closer view of the mural at the Deep Ellum Brewing Company. (Credit: Kent Chapline/CBSDFW.com)

Usually folks are upbeat and busy in May, when shrimpers get back to work in Louisiana’s rich waters. This spring, though, catches are down, docks are idle and anxiety is growing that the ill effects of the massive BP oil spill may be far from over.

An Associated Press examination of catch data from last year’s commercial harvest along the Gulf — the first full year of fishing since the 2010 spill — reveals merit in the fishermen’s complaints. According to the analysis of figures obtained through public records requests, seafood crops hit rock bottom in the Barataria estuary, the same place where some of the thickest waves of oil washed in when a BP well exploded in the Gulf of Mexico.

Detailed data from “trip tickets” fishermen fill out when they unload at docks reveal steep drops in Barataria, though it’s far from bleak everywhere along the Gulf Coast. Fishermen are making money that is pretty equal to before the spill, according to the 2011 data not officially released yet by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Part of the reason is that though the fishermen aren’t hauling in as much, prices are up so people are paying more for seafood from the Gulf than other sources.

In Barataria, the number of shrimpers in the water has remained steady, yet the fall season was off by about 7 million pounds from an average of 18.1 million pounds between 2006 and 2009. It wasn’t a pretty picture for blue crabs either in Barataria: the crab catch was off by 2.7 million pounds from an average of 9.5 million pounds between 2006 and 2009, the data showed.

Fresh water from a historically high Mississippi River could have been the culprit for some of the drop off in productivity, marine experts said. Another factor may be that some areas in the estuary were closed due to oil contamination. One such place is Bay Jimmy, where oil is still gooey and thick on the shores.

Fishermen blame the spill. In Lafitte, they said the new shrimp season was off to a slow start.

“I’m afraid that oil spill has ruined us,” said Ken Lee, a shrimp dock owner. “We’re hardly unloading any brown shrimp at all.”

For now though, a range of government officials, scientists and seafood experts say it’s much too early to make any definite link between the oil spill and one-year declines in catches. Seafood harvests, while generally predictable, are subject to fluctuations even in the best of times.

But Lee shook his head as he looked over a sheet tallying recent shrimp loads in the past few days. It was slim pickings. Moments before, an 18-wheeler pulled away from his dock with just seven vats of frozen fresh shrimp. The truck has room for more than 40, he said.

“That’s pitiful!” he said. “We usually load a truck full.”

While catches were off, though, prices were high. The Louisiana data shows fishermen actually made as much or more in 2011 than they had in previous years. The total values of the blue crab and oyster harvests were higher than the six-year average.

Taken as a whole, the volume of seafood harvested last year in Louisiana for shrimp, crabs and oysters showed only modest drops from averages for 2003-2009, according to the AP analysis. Catches for 2010, the year of the spill, were excluded because much of the Gulf was shut down. Meanwhile, in Texas, the oyster and crab hauls were down slightly from 2003-2009 averages, the AP analysis showed.

Drought could have been a cause there, a Texas official said. The state did not have figures on its shrimp catch. Florida’s data showed no major swings in harvests of oysters, crabs and shrimp. Mississippi’s shrimp haul was down about 13 percent from 2003-2009 averages and its small-scale crab harvest was down 52 percent. From the 2003-2009 average, Alabama’s brown shrimp catch was off 12 percent, blue crabs were off 27 percent and oysters down by about 50 percent, the state’s data showed.

Fishermen say economic conditions were tough before the BP spill due to imports, high fuel prices and hurricanes. But now they say they’ve reached a low point since the blown-out well spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil.

In Bon Secour, Ala., Mike Skinner, a third-generation shrimper whose entire family works in the business, said last fall was the worst season he had ever seen.

“Hopefully it was a fluke thing. We’ll find out this year,” he said as he piloted his trawler across Mobile Bay.

In Alabama, seafood sales are down about 10 percent to $146 million in the two years since the BP gusher, according to an Auburn University study obtained by the AP. The downturn represented nearly $16 million in lost sales and has left few fishing boats in industry hubs like the Bon Secour River.

To ease the hardships, BP has given $48.5 million to Gulf states so they can market their seafood industries on websites, TV commercials, billboards and print ads that say the catch is healthy.

BP spokesman Craig Savage said the Gulf seafood industry was strong. “The fact is, the data show that seafood from the Gulf of Mexico is safe and abundant, according to numerous government reports,” he said.

Truly identifying any effect of the spill — if any — on marine stocks won’t be possible from landings data for several years, said Chuck Wilson, executive director of the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program, a university-based group of agents and researchers.

Still, there’s reason to be wary, said Olivia Watkins, a spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

“We are seeing a number of anomalies in the Gulf of Mexico,” Watkins said. “We should not attempt to draw premature conclusions.”

The long-term prognosis for the Gulf’s health remains uncertain.

Recent studies have found higher numbers of sick fish close to where BP’s well blew out and genome studies of bait fish in Barataria have identified abnormalities. Meanwhile, vast areas of the cold and dark Gulf seafloor are oiled, scientists say.

And many fishermen are convinced something’s amiss.

“I think the oil can kill the shrimp eggs. That’s why there was no shrimp to catch last year,” said Tuna Pham, a 40 -year-old Vietnamese-American shrimper docked in Lafitte. He said the catch this year was bad again.

“We was there to work, but couldn’t,” said Lawrence Salvato, 49, as he stopped for lunch on a dock where he moors a shrimp skiff he runs his wife, Lisa. “Usually people are excited and they can’t wait to get out there. This year, there’s no real incentive.”

He said he made about $10,000 in seafood sales last year compared to $75,000 in 2009. He said his family made do with a $40,000 interim payment they got from BP. Fishermen who haven’t settled legally yet with BP over damages continue to survive on periodic payments from a $20 billion trust fund set up by BP.

“We’re afraid,” Salvato said. “A lot of people are getting out of fishing. They’re afraid.”

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Chentel Bond said that she is happiest when she is surrounded by dogs, and she has been trying to drum up more business for her pet sitting business. So, when Bond heard about a new company that links pet sitters with pet owners, she jumped right on board. “I want them to know it’s a safe environment and a loving environment,” said Bond.

Dog Vacay first launched its website on the west coast and east coast before giving pet sitting “hosts” in North Texas the opportunity to post pictures and explanations of their services. Those who are interested can go online and review potential pet sitters in a number of nearby cities.

Some of the pet sitters live in apartments. Some are located inside of hospitals. But, according to the company’s owners, all of those who are on the website are screened and trained. “They’re mostly professional pet sitters, people who have worked in the animal industry as vet technicians, retired veterianarians,” said Karine Nissim Hirschhorn. She owns Dog Vacay with her husband, Aaron.

Some potential hosts have been rejected because they were not experienced enough. “The biggest reason is because they don’t respond in a timely fashion,” Hirschhorn said. “We believe that responsiveness to any potential client is probably the most important first level of trust.”

For each dog, Hirschhorn said, there is a right fit in the type of person and home where you leave your pet. “If your dog has aggressive tendencies, then I would say find a host that doesn’t have any other dogs,” said Hirschhorn. “If your dog is only comfortable around women that look like you, then find a host that looks like you.”

Prices for the pet sitters vary — mostly between $15 and $30 per pet — and are set by the host. (Dog Vacay gets a percentage of the payment.) Most of the hosts are individuals who offer pet sitting services, but there are also a small number of companies listed on the site. No matter which way a dog owner goes, Dog Vacay hopes to be the first website for animal lovers looking to place their pets somewhere other than a traditional kennel.

“We have an insurance policy that covers all of the dogs’ needs when they go to visit a host,” explained Hirschhorn. “We also have a money-back guarantee.”

Dog Vacay is not yet registered with the Better Business Bureau, but the Hirschhorns plan to do that soon.

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It’s not clear yet what structure either American or Eagle will have after Chapter 11. But one possibility is that Eagle would be sold or spun off to future shareholders, American Eagle CEO Daniel Garton said at a regional airline conference on Wednesday.

“I’m sure we will look at all the different options” for Eagle’s ownership, Garton said. “But I would think that those shareholders … wouldn’t mind a spin as a solution.” That would allow future shareholders in American to be able to sell their new Eagle shares without having to sell their American shares, Garton said.

American and Eagle are both owned by AMR Corp., which is based in Fort Worth, Texas. AMR had tried to sell Eagle before all three of them filed for Chapter 11 protection in November. A deal never materialized.

AMR shares still trade on the over-the-counter Pink Sheets market, which offers quotes for stocks that do not meet minimum requirements to list on an exchange. In other airline bankruptcies, prior shareholders were wiped out at the time the company emerged from bankruptcy protection, and new stock was issued to pay unsecured creditors. Also, US Airways Group Inc. has said it’s interested in merging with American while it’s still in bankruptcy.

American Eagle is in a tough spot. The bulk of its fleet at the time of its bankruptcy filing was almost 200 jets in the 50-seat-and-smaller range. Those are some of the most unpopular airplanes in U.S. aviation today because they’re often unprofitable at current fuel prices.

Garton said American Eagle is still negotiating with its banks and other parties over the future of most of those planes. Eighteen of its 37-seat regional jets that had been parked in the desert have already been returned to Embraer.

Eagle also has 47 Bombardier CRJ 700s, with 65 seats. Garton said American Eagle expects to keep those planes.

American Eagle provides nearly all of American’s feeder flights. A unit of Republic Airways Holdings Inc. flies 15 regional planes for American out of Chicago. Republic CEO Bryan Bedford said Wednesday that his airline’s contract with American runs through February 2013 and he doesn’t expect it to be renewed.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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PLANO (CBSDFW.COM) – An HP spokesperson says there will be layoffs at HP’s Plano plant as part of the company’s 27,000-position reduction –– the question is how many.

On Wednesday, HP said it would be laying off 8 percent of its workers worldwide. The cuts will take place between now and October 2014. But the company hasn’t specified how it will divvy those cuts up –– just that nearly every branch of the business will be affected.

A spokeswoman who wouldn’t provide her name said the company will offer an early retirement program to those willing to leave voluntarily. Plano Economic Development Corporation Director Sally Bane says it’s too early to anticipate what the local impact will be.

Nevertheless, HP is the third largest employer in the city, with about 5,000 employees locally. The company says these cuts will save at least $3 billion, which it plans to reinvest into “strategic” areas of its business.

The city did say if HP plans to make significant layoffs locally, it will have to tell city leaders ahead of time.

That hasn’t happened yet.

“We understand they may be going through some transitions and changes but we’re not sure what that impact is here locally,” said Jamee Jolly, spokeswoman for the Plano Chamber of Commerce.

EDS, which was headquartered in Plano, was bought by HP in 2008. HP is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif.

AAA Texas reports Wednesday that’s 17 cents a gallon below the nationwide average of $3.68, down from $3.72 a week ago.

The travel association survey finds Amarillo has the least expensive unleaded fuel in Texas, at $3.41 per gallon. El Paso is the highest at $3.65.

A year ago, the state average was $3.75 and national average $3.84.

The record high average for Texas is $3.98 in July 2008.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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A customer leaves a Pizza Patron in Houston. (credit: Dave Einsel/Getty Images)

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A local pizza chain that made waves in 2007 for accepting Mexican Pesos for payment has come up with a new way to generate some buzz for itself, offering free pizza to anyone who orders in Spanish.

Dallas-based Pizza Patron will be offering free pizza on June 5 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to anyone who places their order in Spanish.

The promotion was announced in a company press release as a way to honor the “positive force of change immigrants have made in communities throughout America.”

The company is calling the promotion Pizza Por Favor.

Pizza Patron has over 100 locations nationwide.

What do you think? Let us know in your comments below.

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(credit: Robert Sullivan/AFP/Getty Images)

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – ERCOT says the state should have enough power to get through this summer without rolling blackouts, but reserves could be running below target levels by 2014 and tapped out completely by 2022.

A new report from the agency that manages the state’s electric grid –– it’s posted below this article –– says more plants are needed to keep up with Texas’s growing demand for electricity.

Reserve power could dip below 13.75 percent by the beginning of 2014, which is the amount the Energy Reliability Council of Texas says will keep the juice flowing during peak demand in the hot summer months.

“We don’t have that many options,” said ERCOT spokesman Warren Lasher. “Obviously consumer actions, meaning consumers actually reducing their electric usage, that’s something that we can put in place by the summer of 2014.”

He says the grid should have a reserve margin of just under 10 percent in two years time.

But more dire are projections of a decade from now: If power companies do not build more plants, the state will run out of power by 2022, ERCOT numbers show. Because plants usually take at least three years to become operational, Lasher says immediate efforts should focus on conservation.

Last year, as temperatures soared to record heights in August, the state had to declare the first stage of an energy emergency, begging residents and customers to conserve energy to avoid rolling blackouts.

Delta said it will start leasing the 717s next year as long as its pilots approve a new labor contract, which isn’t certain. Also, Southwest said some of the deal’s details still need to be worked out.

Delta said it will begin taking three planes a month starting in mid-2013.

With 117 seats, the 717 fills a hard-to-fit niche in Delta’s fleet. Delta will use the 717s to replace 50-seat regional jets, which are increasingly unprofitable at higher fuel prices. They’ll also replace the DC-9s that Delta got when it bought Northwest. Those planes were similar in size to the Boeing 717, but they are getting close to retirement age. Planes in that size are often used for domestic flying on routes that aren’t busy enough to fill a larger Boeing 737. Some of Southwest’s 737s seat as many as 143 people.

Delta said the deal accelerates the revamping of its fleet, which has also included the elimination of turboprops. Because the 717s are replacing other planes, Delta said its overall flying level won’t change.

The deal is part of a tentative agreement between the airline and its pilots. The agreement would also allow Delta to add 70 more 76-seat regional jets, for a total of 325, to be flown by feeder airlines. Pilots at big airlines like Delta fight to limit flying by so-called feeder carriers because they see those flights as threatening their jobs. Union leaders at Delta have approved the deal. Delta said the deadline for rank-and-file voting is the end of June.

For Southwest, the deal means it goes back to operating only Boeing 737s. Southwest has long favored running a single airplane type because it simplifies pilots training and aircraft maintenance. AirTran also flew mostly 737s, but it also liked the 717. AirTran bought the first one Boeing delivered, in 1999, and took one of the last ones in 2006.

When Southwest bought AirTran last year, it first said it would keep the 717s on some AirTran routes. But more recently it began looking for someone else to take the planes.

Southwest and AirTran have federal certification to operate as one airline, and Southwest has begun painting AirTran planes. But it has said it will be a long time before the AirTran name disappears.

Southwest has orders for more 737s, and it said its overall fleet count will stay about the same as the 717s leave. AirTran 717 pilots will train to fly the 737s. Flight attendants are already trained on both planes. Southwest said its plans to integrate AirTran workers into Southwest “over the next several years remain unchanged.”

Shares of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. fell 6 cents to $10.52 in afternoon trading. Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. fell 11 cents to $8.23.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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A new app launched this weekend that will scan the faces of patrons in 25 bars across the city to determine their ages and genders. Would-be customers can then check their smartphones for real-time updates on the crowd size, average age and men-to-women mix to decide whether the scene is to their liking.

The Austin, Texas-based makers of SceneTap say the app doesn’t identify specific individuals or save personal information. But in a city known for its love of both libations and civil liberties, a backlash erupted even before the first cameras were switched on from bar-goers who said they would boycott any venue with SceneTap installed.

SceneTap’s ability to guess how old people are and whether they’re men or women relies on advances in a field known as biometrics. A camera at the door snaps your picture, and software maps your features to a grid. By measuring distances such as the length between the nose and the eyes and the eyes and the ears, an algorithm matches your dimensions to a database of averages for age and gender.

SceneTap CEO Cole Harper says the app doesn’t invade patrons’ privacy because the only data it stores is their estimated ages and genders and the time they arrived — not their images or measurements.

“Nothing that we do is collecting personal information. It’s not recorded, it’s not streamed, it’s not individualized,” Harper said.

Whether the company’s promises are comforting or SceneTap still seems creepy, it portends a near future when any camera-equipped smartphone will have the ability to recognize faces with a click of the virtual shutter.

Already the iPhone’s camera app will highlight a person’s face on the screen with a green box before the picture is even snapped. And Apple’s iPhoto software will try to recognize the faces of the people in users’ pictures to categorize photos automatically by who’s in the shot.

Facebook also uses facial recognition software that tries to identify any friends in a photo a user uploads.

SceneTap’s San Francisco debut came the same day Facebook went public. Privacy experts say social media has played a major role in making it easier to attach a face to a name.

“Ten years ago if I walked down the street and took a picture of someone I didn’t know, there was little I could do to find out who that person was. Today it’s a very different story,” said Lee Tien, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who focuses on surveillance technology and privacy.

Tien says facial recognition technology has advanced to the point that having your picture taken potentially offers up the same degree of identifying information as giving someone your fingerprints. Computer programs can break down high-resolution images in minute detail to identify the distinctive features of individual faces.

Those patterns, rather than the images themselves, make possible the tracking of individuals even without knowing who they are. In theory, a program could also match that pattern to identifiable online images such as a Facebook profile picture.

The threat to privacy from an app like SceneTap depends not just on what’s being stored but how easily the system could be converted to become more intrusive, whether by a hacker or under a court order.

“Even if everything is happening the way it is supposed to, then the next question is, gee, is that good enough?” Tien said. “Is that something that you’re comfortable with?”

Along with the visual images being deleted nearly as soon as they’re snapped, SceneTap’s sensors aren’t sophisticated enough to recognize individual faces in any case, Harper said. Detecting basic characteristics like gender and age takes much less digital work than identifying individuals, he said.

The 28-year-old CEO argues SceneTap doesn’t come close to intruding on personal privacy the way many other ubiquitous technologies already do. Many bars already have video cameras that record customers’ every move, creating an archive that could, for example, be subpoenaed in court. And anyone who uses Facebook or Gmail is turning over reams of sensitive personal information to large companies every day.

SceneTap’s business plan also hinges on the data it collects. Facebook and Google make money by targeting individuals as precisely as possible. Harper says SceneTap only has the combined data on bar customers’ genders and ages. The company hopes advertisers will ultimately covet that data to target bar-goers through the app. The bars themselves can use the statistics to determine what mix of people come in when to adjust their inventories, advertising and promotions, Harper said.

SceneTap is already in use in six other cities across the country, including Chicago and several college towns.

Charles Hall, general manager of Bar None in San Francisco’s Marina District, said he decided to install SceneTap to give potential customers another way to interact with the business. He said his decision to use it depended on the company’s promise that no information was being collected on individuals.

“I have nothing to gain from doing something that people are going to be up in arms about,” Hall said the day before the official launch.

A few hours later, the bar briefly got cold feet because of the negative attention SceneTap had received in the local media. But as of 10 p.m. Friday night, Bar None was “lively,” according to the app: a little less than half full, a nearly even mix of sexes, average age 22.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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I quickly responded “ARE YOU INSANE?”

Pretty much everyone has warned against buying Facebook. The advice not to jump in has nothing to do with the lead underwriter for the deal (Morgan Stanley) reportedly telling major clients it was reducing its revenue forecast for the company. After all, is there anyone who still relies on Wall Street analysts (stock cheerleaders) for guidance?

My colleagues and I don’t have a hate on for Facebook even as a business model. The bottom line is that my friend has no business buying individual stocks and, chances are, neither do you. Sure, there are fabulous stories about people who plowed money into Apple and are now millionaires, but odds are that’s not going to happen to you. The reason is simple. Research shows that even professional stock pickers have a hard time compiling a winning record, when compared to their relevant indexes.

Click Here To Read More From CBS News

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Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling leaves the Bob Casey U.S. Courthouse with his attorney Daniel Petrocelli after the end of his fraud and conspiracy trial May 25, 2006 in Houston. (credit: Dave Einsel/Getty Images)

HOUSTON (AP) - Convicted former Enron chief Jeffrey Skilling is contending newly discovered evidence should entitle him to a new trial.

The Houston Chronicle reports the nature of the evidence is not disclosed in a federal court motion filed last week by Skilling’s attorney, Daniel Petrocelli. The lawyer is seeking more time for an appeal of Skilling’s conviction and prison term related to the 2001 implosion of the former Houston-based energy giant.

Skilling already has lost other appeals at the U.S. Supreme Court. He’s serving 24 years in federal prison although a federal appeals court has ruled sentencing guidelines improperly were applied in his case. That could mean an eventual reduction in his prison time.

U.S District Judge Sim Lake, who presided over Skilling’s trial, is to hold a hearing June 7.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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The good news? Internships are plentiful. According to job-search website Indeed.com, internship listings were higher in April than in any other month in history. For job-seekers, the key is turning one of these opportunities into a full-time position.

Click Here To Get Tips From CBS News

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Dalian Wanda Group Co.’s purchase reflects the global ambitions of a wave of cash-rich Chinese companies that are using acquisitions to speed their expansion by obtaining foreign skills and brand names.

Wanda said the deal will create the world’s biggest movie theater operator. The Beijing-based company said it will invest an additional $500 million to fund AMC’s development. AMC operates 346 cinemas, mostly in the United States and Canada, and says it has 23 of the 50 highest-grossing U.S. outlets.

There are 10 AMC movie theaters across the DFW area including those at the NorthPark Center, Grapevine Mills Mall and The Parks at Arlington.

“We support AMC becoming bigger, not only in the United States but in the global market,” said Wanda chairman Wang Jianlin at a signing ceremony for the acquisition.

The deal reflects rising Chinese investment in U.S. corporate assets despite disputes between the two governments over trade and political issues such as this month’s diplomatic standoff over a blind Chinese legal activist. It is the largest-ever takeover of a U.S. company by a Chinese company.

In terms of all Chinese corporate investments in the U.S., the deal is the third largest, according to financial research firm Dealogic. It ranks behind investments by Beijing’s sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corp., of $5 billion for a minority stake in Morgan Stanley and $3 billion in Blackstone Group LP, both in 2007.

Chinese companies had invested $34.8 billion in the United States by the end of 2011 in industries including auto parts, agriculture and steelmaking, according to data compiled by economist Derek Scissors at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

Globally, outbound mergers and acquisitions by Chinese companies total $16.8 billion so far this year, up 6 percent from the same period last year, according to Dealogic.

Wanda said AMC’s headquarters will remain in the Kansas City area and day-to-day operations will not change. It said AMC’s management would remain in place and staff numbers were not expected to affected. The company employs some 18,500 people.

Wanda, founded in 1988 and privately owned, operates hotels, department stores, tourism and other businesses and says it had 2011 revenue of $16.7 billion. The company employs 50,000 people and its assets include 86 theaters in China.

AMC’s owners include Apollo Global Management, Bain Capital, the Carlyle Group, CCMP Capital Advisors and Spectrum Equity Investors.

AMC has reported losses for the past three years but its CEO, Gerry Lopez, said it has returned to profit this year due to strong ticket sales.

Wang, the Wanda chairman, said AMC’s financial problems were due to the cost of servicing high debt. He said conditions should improve once an injection of Wanda’s cash allows it to pay off some of that.

“We are confident that after the merger, AMC will turn positive,” he said. “We have absolute confidence in the future of the company.”

Wanda’s investment will allow AMC to speed up renovation of some cinemas and install more 3-D and IMAX technology, Lopez said.

Wang and Lopez said the two companies plan to share experience in the film business and will have executives from each country visit the other. Lopez said they have not made detailed plans about such things as a possible exchange of staff.

Lopez is to join the board of directors of Wanda’s cinema unit, while a Wanda executive will join AMC’s board, Wang said.

Wang said Wanda is considering more acquisitions abroad for its entertainment, hotel and retail units. He said it might try to buy into a global hotel brand or a hotel management company but gave no details.

“We want to be a big company, not just in China but in the world,” he said.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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Dallas merger attorney Randy Ray at the Monk Wilson law firm says Security and Exchange Commission rules give you an inside look at Facebook’s governance.

The SEC has rules on disclosures of corporate information that will put Facebook under a kind of scrutiny it’s escaped until now.

He says it’s a transition that could create problems for a company accustomed to a free-wheeling way of operating. There could be some internal resistance to the demands of investor relations. Ray says the way Mark Zuckerberg recently bought Instagram would be nearly impossible now.

The entrance to the new Viridian development in Arlington (Joel Thomas/CBSDFW)

ARLINGTON (CBSDFW.COM) -  A massive, 2,300 acre development is underway in an unusual location — next to a landfill.

The Viridian in North Arlington will feature first-class shopping and dining with homes starting at $200,000.

But the government-backed project is across a highway from a regional landfill.

The developer says there will be so much green space and development between it and the homes, though, the landfill will be an after thought for people who live there.

The Texas Workforce Commission said Friday that the jobless rate fell from 7.0 percent in March and 8.0 percent a year ago.

The state’s jobless rate was last under 7 percent at 6.9 percent in March 2009.

The national unemployment rate is 8.1 percent.

Agency figures show that eight of the 11 major industries in Texas gained jobs in April, led by construction with 7,300 jobs.

Midland still has the lowest local unemployment rate at 3.5 percent.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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Dallas-based Atmos Energy says the scheme falsely claims Obama is providing credits or directly paying utility bills.

Atmos spokeswoman Jennifer Ryan said Thursday that scammers then asked for the customer’s Social Security number.

Ryan says Atmos workers always carry proper identification and never contact customers requiring personal information.

Atmos is one of the country’s largest natural-gas-only distributors. The company says it serves more than 3 million customers in Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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Christie’s auction house says Thursday’s sale featured more than 150 items including English furniture, Russian art, silver and jewels.

The highlight of the sale was a pair of George II giltwood mirrors attributed to Mathias Lock. They were sold for over $464,000. They had been estimated to fetch between $150,000 and $250,000. The price includes the buyer’s premium.

Cliburn, born in Louisiana and raised in Texas, says in a news release that he collected some of the pieces to remind him of concerts in various cities around the world.

Cliburn, now 77, was 23 in 1958 when he became world famous by winning a piano competition in Moscow.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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DENTON (CBSDFW.COM) - The economy is set to be an important issue in this year’s presidential election. From ups and downs on Wall Street to global money meltdowns, everyone is focused on finances. But even those who are not old enough to vote are learning to manage their cash. “You can tell, by how the economy is going, how the future’s going to be,” explained Denton High School junior Alex Wright. “So, from my perspective, I like knowing about it.”

Juniors and seniors in Wright’s economics class are immersed in the issue. High school students are being taught the basics of economics, but some studies show that the internet generation may be able to better understand the topic by going online — specifically the world of online gaming. New games like “Beat the Market Online,” “World Game of Economics” and even “SimCity” are reaching children on a different level.

Some experts believe that these online games are a much more effective teaching tool. “Just going up and lecturing about these basic concepts is not going to do it,” said Dr. Steven Cobb with the UNT Center for Economic Education.

Cobb explained that this generation of students is more interested in money and the economy than previous ones. And with the internet being such a integral part of their everyday lives, learning about economics through online gaming feels natural. “It gives them a basic exposure to some really important economic concepts in an environment that doesn’t seem like school,” Cobb said.

“More kids, they don’t go home and study,” Wright explained. “They go home and play video games. So, if you made a video game out of it, I can see where more people would play it and learn better from playing it.”

It is a new method of teaching that, experts think, will yield benefits for a future generation of consumers. “We’re visual learners,” said Denton High School senior Carrie Pena. “We like video games and we like doing anything else but being in school.”

But Cobb also warned that a potential drawback to such video game learning is that the games do not provide an adequate debriefing opportunity, a process that allows students to make correct assessments about their economic decisions.

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According to OSHA spokeswoman Elizabeth Todd, the Western Extrusions Corporation exposed workers to a variety of hazards at its North Texas aluminum products plant.

Some of the violations include failing to provide personal protective equipment to employees and failure to label hazardous chemicals.

(Click here to see the complete list of citations.)

“The company, Western Extrusions, has 15 business days from the receipt of the citation to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s Dallas-area director, or they can contest the citations,” Todd explained.

KRLD NewsRadio 1080 contacted Western Extrusions and was told the issues have been resolved and there have been no injuries.

Because of the nature of the violations OSHA officials will have to perform follow-up inspections to make sure the company is in compliance with the law.

As it stands, OSHA is proposing $212,000 in penalties.

The Western Extrusions plant in Carrollton employs some 900 workers.

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AAA Texas on Thursday reported the average price statewide has slipped to $3.56 per gallon.

Gas prices nationally also continue to slide, down 2 cents this week to settle at $3.72 per gallon.

The association survey finds that Amarillo has the least expensive gasoline in Texas, at $3.43 per gallon. El Paso has the most expensive gasoline, going for $3.69 per gallon.

AAA says declining crude oil prices and renewed global economic concerns have sent retail gasoline prices down in the past month.

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CEO Gary Kelly says Dallas-based Southwest got its first 737-800 from Boeing Co. in March. It had planned to get 20 more next year and 10 more in 2014.

Kelly on Wednesday told shareholders that those deliveries will now be pushed back to 2017 and 2018. He says Southwest will save more than $1 billion through 2014 with the delays.

Southwest flies only 737s, and it had 558 at the end of March. Its AirTran unit flies 737s as well as 717s.

Also, Southwest is doubling its $500 million share buyback program to $1 billion and raising its quarterly dividend to 1 cent per share.

Southwest’s repurchase program was approved last August.

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American said Wednesday that it’s filed an application with the U.S. Department of Transportation for the right to fly 17 more weekly flights between the U.S. and Brazil.

Fort Worth-based American currently runs more than 80 weekly flights to Brazil.

Chief Commercial Officer Virasb Vahidi says Brazil is a growing market for American, with the company hoping to start running expanded service as early as Oct. 1.

If approved, American said it would add flights from its Miami and New York-JFK hubs to various Brazilian cities.

American’s parent company, AMR Corp., filed for Chapter 11 reorganization last November.

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But there are other people cashing in on the team’s success. The City of Arlington is setting a financial record. Its a trickle down effect.  In the resurgent downtown Arlington, when the Rangers are in town, people are in the restaurants.

“We know when there’s a game in town,” David Alvarez, a server at Mellow Mushroom said.  “They (the customers) don’t show up if they’re out of town.

At the Mellow Mushroom, baseball is a huge hit.  Fans eat before going to games.  Fans who can’t get tickets stay to spend money during the games.

“When they come in here they’ll spend the majority of the game in here,” Alvarez said.  “Even in the 7th inning when everyone there is going out they stay here because they don’t want to get in the traffic.”

At Babe’s restaurant next door, the manager says the Rangers have boosted business even more than the Cowboys.

The money from sellouts at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington spills over into all sorts of areas.  Hotels have doubled the number of rooms rented from last year during rangers games.  Even the Arlington Visitors Center next to the ballpark has a record number of tourists looking for other places to visit in town.

And it all adds up to another record for Arlington.

“We are today — not only because of them but other reasons — are at the highest level of sales tax we’ve ever been,” Mayor Robert Cluck said. “We’re at $50 million dollars already and we still have much of the year left.”

The surge in Rangers attendance, coupled with strong retail sales, have pushed the city to its sales tax record.

In fact, Arlington says the stretch of sellouts exceeds the number of home games in any playoff series or the world series That makes this stretch of sellouts more profitable than the post season.

So, does the mayor see any downside to the rangers success?

“I do!” Mayor Cluck laughed.  “I wanted to get a ticket. I don’t have tickets tonight. I couldn’t get em. That’s because of Yu Darvish!”

The items will be part of a Christie’s auction Thursday in New York City. They include a silver soup tureen from the collection of a daughter of Russian Czar Nicholas I.

Cliburn says he’s contemplated the sale for years, since moving belongings out of homes in two other states to his Fort Worth mansion.

Cliburn started collecting the furniture, paintings and jewelry after winning the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958 at age 23. It was the height of the Cold War, and the lanky Texan quickly gained international fame.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that Cliburn is keeping plenty of his treasures.

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Plano-based J.C. Penney on Tuesday reported a larger-than-expected first-quarter loss that missed Wall Street’s already low expectations largely because customers were turned off by the retailer’s new plan to get rid of heavy discounting periodically throughout the year in favor of everyday low pricing.

The idea of the strategy, which was rolled out on Feb. 1, is to discourage shoppers from waiting for the nearly 600 sales Penney used to offer each year. But the move has backfired: It seems many faithful Penny customers have stopped shopping altogether.

“Consumers want deals, and they’re willing to wait for them,” said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group, a consumer research firm. “When you train customers to shop at big discounts, that customer is not going to change.”

Take Wendy Ruud, 49. She used to visit J.C. Penney near her home in Boca Raton, Fla. every two weeks. But she hasn’t been back to the store since early this year when she stopped getting coupons from the retailer in her email inbox.

“The closest J.C. Penney is about a half hour away from me,” said Ruud, who has been shopping more at Target and Wal-Mart for clothes for herself and her two teenage girls. “If I don’t get a special discount, it’s not worth the trip.”

Penney’s disappointing results offer the first glimpse into how the bold pricing strategy is playing out with customers. They underscore how difficult it is for a company to fundamentally change the way customers behave. Industry watchers say Penney’s faces an uphill battle in attempting to shift the mindset of U.S. shoppers, who increasingly have become accustomed to and spoiled by fat discounts during the economic downturn.

The company lost $163 million, or 75 cents a share, in the three months ended April 28. That’s down from a profit of $64 million, or 28 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue dropped 20 percent to $3.15 billion.

Results fell well below the penny loss on revenue of $3.45 billion Wall Street had expected. Revenue at stores opened at least a year — a figure used to measure a retailer’s health — was down 18.9 percent, a much steeper fall than the 11.4 percent drop analysts polled by FactSet were forecasting.

The results illustrate just how risky the pricing plan is for the retailer. The strategy is the first move by new CEO Ron Johnson — a former Apple Inc. executive who started in November — to transform every aspect of the department-store chain from the brands it carries to the way it positions them in stores. Penney has said for months that it will take time for the pricing plan to work, but the poor results put more pressure on Johnson to convince investors that he’s on the right path.

Investors had put a lot of faith in Johnson, who was the mastermind behind Apple’s successful retail stores and who also spearheaded the cheap chic strategy at Target in the 1990s. But they’ve soured on the plan recently.

Penney shares soared 24 percent to about $43 after Johnson laid out the strategy in late January. But since the middle of February — after the plan was rolled out in stores– investors have become increasingly nervous, sending shares back down to trade around $34. After the company reported its disappointing first-quarter results after the markets closed on Tuesday, its shares fell 12 percent to $29.30 in after-hours trading.

Wall Street analysts and others in the retail industry are carefully watching how Penney fares. If the new pricing takes off, other chains could follow. Indeed, many clothing chains have been trying to figure out how to wean shoppers off of the big discounts that became commonplace during the Great Recession.

“This is an ambitious task. If Penney succeeds, (stores) will have to decide whether they’ll follow,” said Chris Donnelly, managing director of Accenture’s retail practice. “If not, they’ll have to make adjustments to their promotional pricing to compete.”

Analysts say part of the problem with the pricing plan is that Penney hasn’t effectively communicated it to consumers. As part of the plan, Penney got rid of its hundreds of sales and rolled out a three-tier pricing strategy: everyday prices that are about 40 percent less than what they were a year ago, one monthlong sale each month on select items and clearance events during the first and third Friday of each month.

But some observers say some of the company’s ads to familiarize customer with the plan — which mimic rival Target’s whimsical style — are confusing. In one TV spot, for instance, a dog donning a birthday hat continuously jumps through a hula hoop that a young girl is holding. The text reads: “No more jumping through hoops. No coupon clipping. No door busting. Just great prices from the start.”

“I think they’re trying to be too cute and entertaining,” said Laura Ries, president of Atlanta-based brand strategy firm Ries and Ries, which has worked with such names as Walt Disney and Microsoft. “I think a more direct message would work better.”

Analysts say that Penney will have an easier time conveying the everyday pricing plan once shoppers start to see new brands and other changes that the retailer is making in the stores.

For instance, in August, the chain plans to add 100 little shops within its stores that will either focus on one brand or a variety of labels. The shops, which include new brands such as Martha Stewart and designer Nanette Lepore, will replace the sea of clothing racks that have become typical in department stores. Penney also is planning to add spots in its stores called Town Squares that will offer services and advice.

“I am rooting for Ron Johnson to hit a home run,” said Ronald Friedman, the head of the retail group at Marcus LLP, an accounting firm that works with clothing companies. “But it won’t happen overnight. This is a process. It will take between 12 to 18 months.”

(©2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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The company Mark Zuckerberg created as a Harvard student eight years ago is preparing for what looks to be the biggest Internet IPO ever. Expected later this week, Facebook’s Wall Street debut could value the company at $100 billion, making it worth more than Disney, Ford and Kraft Foods.

That’s testament to the impressive numbers Facebook has posted in its relatively brief history. More than 40 percent of American adults log in to the site —to share news, personal observations, photos and more— at least once a week. In all, some 900 million people around the world are users. Facebook’s revenue grew from $777 million in 2009 to $3.7 billion last year. And in the first quarter of 2012 it was more than $1 billion.

Just a third of those surveyed think the company’s expected value is appropriate, while 50 percent say it is too high. Those who invest in the stock market are more likely to see shares as overvalued, 58 percent said so. About 3 in 10 investors say the expected value of shares is fair. Facebook on Tuesday lifted the expected price for its shares to $34 to $38 apiece from $28 to $35 each.

But price worries won’t necessarily stop would-be investors. Half the people surveyed say they think Facebook is a good bet, while 31 percent do not. The rest aren’t sure. Americans who invest in stocks roughly agree, although investors who are more “active” — those who have changed their holdings in the past month —are more negative. Nearly 40 percent say Facebook would not be a good investment.

Young adults, a majority of whom log on to Facebook daily, are more willing to dance to their hoodie-wearing piper, 28-year-old CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Among Zuckerberg’s peers, adults under age 35, 59 percent say Facebook is a good bet. Compare that to the views of senior citizens: Only 39 percent age 65 and over say Facebook shares are a good investment. Nearly half of Gen X’ers (ages 35-44) say the company is a good bet, as do 55 percent of middle-aged people.

Those under 35 are the generation most interested in Facebook’s IPO because they’ve grown up immersed in the social network. They were the first users, logging in from their college dorm rooms. Later, Facebook expanded to allow high school-age and even younger students to sign up. It’s become an integral part of their lives, giving them a launching pad to spread the news of life’s major developments through posts and pictures.

Conversely, it’s the rare senior citizen on Facebook: Just 21 percent have an account. Half of baby boomers — the generation born in the years after World War II — have one. But most of the 56 percent of the country that’s on Facebook is young — two-thirds of Gen X’ers and a staggering 81 percent of people 18-35 use the social networking site.

Young people aren’t just connected. They are constantly tethered to smartphones, tablets and notebook computers. Even with the rise of alternative social networks like Twitter and Google Plus, 55 percent of Zuckerberg’s peers go on Facebook every day. A third log on several times a day. Despite the intensity of their use, a narrow majority of young adults predict Facebook’s appeal will fade down the road (51 percent), fewer think it will stick around as a service (44 percent).

The public overall is similarly divided on the company’s future. Just under half of adults (46 percent) predict a short timeline for Facebook, while 43 percent say it has staying power.

Young people are more aware of Zuckerberg and have more positive views of the CEO, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Monday. Overall, one in five Americans say they’ve never heard of him, 30 percent don’t have an opinion and 14 percent plain don’t like him. Only about a third have a good impression of the CEO, who has alienated some with Facebook’s ever-changing approach to user privacy.

But 46 percent of people under 35 like him. And a scant 4 percent of those younger adults say they’ve never heard of him.

The privacy issue is a stinger. Three of every five Facebook users say they have little or no faith that the company will protect their personal information. Only 13 percent trust Facebook to guard their data, and only 12 percent would feel safe making purchases through the site. Even Facebook’s most dedicated users are wary — half of those who use the site daily say they wouldn’t feel safe buying things on the network.

As for how Facebook makes most of its money —selling ads— 57 percent of users say they never click on them or on Facebook’s sponsored content. About another quarter say they rarely do.

Despite user discontent about privacy, Facebook and Zuckerberg have connected with many Americans. The survey suggests that his reputation and youth seem more like assets than liabilities. For those who have heard of the CEO, two-thirds are at least somewhat confident in his ability to run a large public company. Twenty-two percent doubt he can handle the leadership role. As for the social network he created, 51 percent of Americans clicked “Like.”

The Associated Press-CNBC Poll was conducted May 3-7, 2012 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,004 adults nationwide and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Five of the seven bargaining units of the Transport Workers Union have voted to accept American Airlines’ final settlement offer, saying it reduces the number of job cuts.

Units representing fleet service; dispatch; maintenance control technicians; simulator technicians; and ground school and simulator pilot technicians all agreed to the offer.

Representatives of mechanics and store clerks will join the unions that represent pilots and flight attendants in hoping the bankruptcy court will protect their current contracts. The bankruptcy hearing is currently underway in New York.

“There’s five different agreements, they’ll have different things that impact them, but it was either that or the imposed term sheet,” said Bobby Gless, a TWU spokesman. “I guess they’ve spoken and they believe this is in their better interest.”

According to American Airlines spokesman Bruce Hicks, the agreements will save 1,300 jobs for Fleet Service Clerks and 1,960 Maintenance and Related positions, although 700 of those will be reclassified; offer an “Early-Out” package and a profit sharing plan; future pay raises and a 401(k) company match.

“Some of our members found the company’s last offer to be a safer bet than waiting on the court to make a decision,” said TWU’s International President James C. Little in a statement. “The members in bargaining units that voted ‘no’ thought the proposals were not in their best interests. We respect our members’ decision regardless of how they voted.”

The agreements will affect an estimated 11,000 employees. Those who declined the agreements will continue to the Section 1113 process, which, if the judge rules in American’s favor, means settlement terms revert back to what was proposed on March 22 and does “not offer the job savings and improvements offered in the settlement proposals,” Hicks wrote in a statement.

Those terms slice 9,000 TWU jobs, spokesman Jamie Horwitz said. About 4,500 of those cuts come from the two units that turned down American’s latest offer.

“They’re going to see how the court process, the 1113 Process, goes with the judge and plan their negotiations to try and get a better deal,” Gless said of the units that declined the settlements.

Union members voted online and by telephone through the third-party firm BallotPoint Election Services on Monday.

The store clerks voted against the settlement by a mere 26 votes –– 51 percent of voters opposed it. The Maintenance and Related Bargaining Unit vote was a bit more split, with 5,307 opposed to 4,179 supporting ­­–– about 56 percent.

Fifty-nine percent of fleet service clerks accepted American’s settlement as well as 92 percent of dispatchers, 96 percent of ground school instructors, 84 percent of maintenance control technicians and 85 percent of simulator technicians.

“Today’s ratification announcement demonstrates American’s willingness to address the TWU’s interests and the union’s willingness to negotiate new contracts that achieve the cost savings needed for our successful restructuring. We realize this was a very difficult decision for our TWU-represented employees,” said Hicks, American Airlines’ spokesman, in a statement.

Horwitz said he expected the judge to rule on the rejected settlements after June 6. The five that agreed are not at risk of having their contracts severed.

In April, CBS 11 News reported the TWU and American’s unions representing pilots and flight attendants supported the bankrupt airline merging with U.S. Airways. American maintained it would only consider merging after emerging from bankruptcy for nearly a month.

But last week, American announced it had agreed to work with its unsecured creditors to consider a potential merger while still in bankruptcy.

Horwitz’s statement says that move would save 1,000 more jobs for TWU members than the latest settlements allow for.

1080 KRLD’s Chuck Schechner contributed to this report.

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FRISCO (CBSDFW.COM) - A major decision on the future of the controversial lead smelter in Frisco.

A state environmental agency is recommending that Exide’s battery recycling plant be given more time to meet air quality standards.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is recommending that a November first deadline for Exide to reduce emissions be extended to January 2014.

Opponents of Exide’s plant had hoped pressure to meet air quality standards by November would force it to close.

The decision buys time for the plant to make modifications that could keep it in Frisco.

Collette McCadden lived near the Exide battery recycling plant for 11 years and blames the lead smelter for learning disabilities in three of her four children.

“I don’t think that the State of Texas is adequately protecting us,” says McCadden.” We chose to relocate from our previous home and move to the far northeast corner.”

An Exide spokeswoman says the plant is undergoing changes that will reduce emissions.

“The measures agreed to are substantial and Exide believes the time allotted by TCEQ is appropriate and necessary,” says Susan Jaramillo.

Megan Green lives within two miles of the smoke stacks and has her children frequently tested for lead in their blood.

“To hear that they’ve given them an extension is disheartening to say the least,” says Green.

A TCEQ spokesperson tells CBS 11 that the deadlines are “considered on a case-by-case basis” with the consent of the EPA.

But those who believe the plant has been poisoning the air and soil around them for 50 years will likely have it as a neighbor for at least one more.

NEW YORK (CBSDFW.COM) - American Airlines and its biggest unions were in a New York City courtroom again Monday.

The Fort Worth-based company is asking the bankruptcy court to let it end its union contracts, which the airline says put it at a competitive disadvantage. Unions are making their case against the cuts, following a two-week break in which the two sides weren’t able to resolve the dispute.

The hearing convened this morning. Only a handful of protestors from the Allied Pilots Association appeared outside the courthouse.  That’s a sharp contrast to the last hearing, when several hundred American flight attendants and transport workers were there to protest the company.

The chief negotiator for the Allied Pilots Association, Neil Roghair, took the stand first.  He reviewed the union’s negotiations with American as the two sides tried to adjust the terms of their contract over the last few months.

Roghair said as late as Februrary he thought the two sides had a deal. Roghair said it was clear though that American was entirely focused on achieving a set cost reduction from pilots of $370 million, rather than on finding a middle ground. The APA says it values its concessions at $270 million. Roghair said American puts the value closer to $140 million.

He also said a proposed merger with US Airways would take less money from the pilots, about $240 million. He said that merger would be best for the long-term future of American Airlines.

During cross examination though, American tried to poke holes in the offer from US Airways. Roghair admitted key issues including pilot seniority, sick time and code sharing have not been worked out in the merger agreement. American attorneys also questioned the APA’s willingness to agree to things like testing new routes with US Airways, something pilots woujld not agree to do with American. Roghair chalked that up to a “whole different environment” in the bargaining process.

The pilot’s second attorney, Andrew Yearly a restructuring expert, said in the afternoon that the $370 million in concessions that American is seeking would grow quickly to more than $400 million in just five years. He also said the airline is asking for far more money than analysts thought American needed to climb out of bankruptcy.

A spokesman for American said that was due to American’s efforts to make sure the company didn’t slip back into bankruptcy any time soon.

Pilots are expected to continue with witnesses Tuesday. Their testimony will follow an expected announcement from the Transport Workers Union in the morning on the outcome of a vote on a last, best, final offer from American.

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