Consumer advocates say toy recall too little, too late
Mattel Inc. sought the return of nearly 19 million toys made in China because of toxic lead paint and swallowing hazards. The recall encompassed Sarge toy cars, Polly Pocket play sets, Batman action figures, and Barbie and Tanner play sets. It was the second time this month that Mattel launched a recall. On Aug. 2, its Fisher-Price Inc. subsidiary recalled nearly 1 million Sesame Street-character toys. Consumer advocates welcomed Mattel's moves, but continued to call for tighter safety rules, especially for children's products. They said product recalls were too little, too late because damage had already been done. The Toy Industry Association urged consumers to keep the recalls in perspective. The recall "affects only a tiny proportion of the three billion toys sold in the United States each year," said Carter Keithley, president of the toy group. See:
Mattel Inc. sought the return of nearly 19 million toys made in China because of toxic lead paint and swallowing hazards. The recall encompassed Sarge toy cars, Polly Pocket play sets, Batman action figures, and Barbie and Tanner play sets. It was the second time this month that Mattel launched a recall. On Aug. 2, its Fisher-Price Inc. subsidiary recalled nearly 1 million
Sesame Street
-character toys. Consumer advocates welcomed Mattel's moves, but continued to call for tighter safety rules, especially for children's products. They said product recalls were too little, too late because damage had already been done. The Toy Industry Association urged consumers to keep the recalls in perspective. The recall "affects only a tiny proportion of the three billion toys sold in the United States each year," said Carter Keithley, president of the toy group. See:
Redesigning Terminal F to relieve airport congestion
Relief may be in sight for the beleaguered and befuddled travelers who use Philadelphia International Airport's Terminal F. When Terminal F opened in 2001, two million travelers on about 180 flights a day passed through it annually, most connecting between flights on small planes. Today, the facility is the airport's most congested, with close to 300 daily US Airways Express flights. It is used by almost a quarter of the airport's 32 million passengers a year, many of them starting or ending trips here. The airport administration unveiled a plan to give the terminal larger gate areas, additional security checkpoints, and a new baggage-claim area. See:
http://go.philly.com/AIRPORT20
Convention Center work begins with cloud of dust
A 2,000-pound wrecking ball created a cloud of 19th-century brick dust that swept over a crowd of overjoyed regional political leaders at the start of demolition for a bigger Convention Center. It was the symbolic launch of the $700 million construction project along 13th Street in Center City. The project, which will increase exhibit and meeting space by 60 percent, is scheduled for completion in early 2010. It already has taken more than a decade of planning, designing and debate in the Pennsylvania General Assembly to use revenue from the state's slot-machine parlors to pay for it. See:
Two ex-Adelphia execs report to N.C. prison
After fighting one of the nation's largest corporate-fraud cases, former Adelphia Communications Corp. executives John and Timothy Rigas reported to a federal prison in North Carolina. Adelphia founder John Rigas, 82, and his son Tim, the cable television company's former chief financial officer, were convicted in federal court in Manhattan in 2004 on multiple charges of securities fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and bank fraud. See:
Coming tomorrow
A Bucks County firm has built a global business from humble beginnings collecting sheep's blood.