12A | LAREDO MORNING TIMES
NATIONAL
By JEANNETTE J. LEE
Southeast who since 2002 has helped lead the study. Sperm whales don’t tune in to just any engine noise to track what are essentially miles of sablefish shish kebabs. The endangered whales key in on the engines’ sporadic bubbling as fishermen turn them on and off while hauling in longlines, the ongoing study said. The work has led researchers to recommend some low-cost ways for fishermen to hoodwink the highly intelligent cetaceans. The researchers estimate there are 90 male sperm whales
SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 2006
Starbucks adds breakfast menu
By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Study: Boat engines a dinner bell for whales
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE — Once premium java percolated into the mainstream, it was only a matter of time before major fast-food and doughnut chains got more serious about their coffee. Bracing for that threat, Starbucks started trying out toasty egg and cheese sandwiches in its hometown coffeehouses three years ago. Now, as McDonald’s and Burger King offer premium brew, and Dunkin’ Donuts sells caramel swirl lattes, the Seattle-based coffee behemoth is more than doubling the number of stores that sell hot breakfast sandwiches this year. Offering such trimmings as peppered bacon and Black Forest ham, Starbucks added the English muffin sandwiches to stores in Washington, D.C., last year, and in Portland, Ore., last month. That will expand to San Francisco in early April, and Chicago later this year. By the time its current fiscal year ends in October, Starbucks says it will offer breakfast sandwiches at roughly 600 stores — up from about 250 today. Industry analysts say it’s a sensible move that doesn’t involve much risk. “If Starbucks can get food right, it gives them a whole new leg of growth,” said Linda Bannister, an Edward Jones analyst in St. Louis. The biggest gamble, analysts say, is whether hot food can be served without slowing down service. Vendors prepare the breakfast sandwiches daily and deliver
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Years ago, the sound of a boat sometimes spelled death for the heavily hunted sperm whale. Now, some of them have figured out, it means dinner. Scientists recently figured out that sperm whales in the Gulf of Alaska zero in on boat engines to locate miles of fishing lines hung with valuable sablefish. “That’s the whales’ cue,” said Jan Straley, an assistant professor at the University of Alaska
feeding from longlines in the eastern Gulf of Alaska, part of the world’s largest sablefish fishery. The whales leave behind partially chewed bodies, dismembered lips or nothing at all on the hooks. The sweet, flaky flesh of the sablefish, long prized in Japan and Hawaii, is gaining popularity in the mainland U.S., where it is listed on menus as butterfish or black cod. About 12.8 million pounds of sablefish were hauled in last year from the eastern gulf, with dock prices that sometimes topped $4 a pound.
Photo by Ted S.Warren | AP
Starbucks breakfast sandwiches are displayed at a Starbucks store in Seattle.As McDonald’s and Burger King begin to offer premium coffee, Starbucks is more than doubling the number of stores nationwide that sell hot breakfast sandwiches.
them first thing in the morning. The sandwiches are heated up in countertop ovens about twice the size of the average microwave, a process that takes about three minutes, Starbucks spokesman Alan Hilowitz said. So far, the system seems to be working. “The last time I got a sandwich and a latte at Starbucks, I waited longer for the latte,” said Sharon Zackfia, an analyst with William Blair & Co. in Chicago. Starbucks has not disclosed exactly how its growing sandwich business is affecting its bottom line — only that on average, it boosts same-store revenues by about $30,000 a year, or roughly 3 percent. Drinks remain its primary and fastest-growing revenue source, accounting for 77 percent of $5.4 billion in sales at company-run retail stores for fiscal 2005. That’s up from 61 percent since fiscal 1996, when company-run retail store revenue was about $599 million. Starbucks counts sales at company-run stores separately from those at its licensed shops in hotels, malls and the like. As a percentage of revenue, fresh food has remained relatively constant over the past decade, ranging from 12 percent to 16 percent of annual company-run retail sales. In fiscal 2005, pastries, desserts, sandwiches and salads accounted for 15 percent of those sales. Meanwhile, Starbucks has beefed up its corporate-level food division from about a half dozen employees a decade ago to roughly 70 today.
Boy Scout land rising in value
By MITCH STACY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRADENTON, Fla. — Over the years, Scoutmaster Carlos Mendez has incinerated marshmallows over a campfire with his son and hundreds of other Boy Scouts under the towering live oaks at Camp Flying Eagle. But he fears other youngsters are going to miss out on the fun. A development boom has made the 165-acre property along the Manatee River extremely valuable — so much so that Boy Scout officials are thinking of selling to a homebuilder. Mendez said that with so many other activities competing for boys’ attention, losing the 77year-old camp — used for generations for camping, hiking, swimming, canoeing and other outdoor fun — would deal a major blow to scouting in the region. “I can’t see any way that scouting the way we know will still be here,” said Mendez, a 50year-old pediatrician who also serves as camp physician. “If you stay active, that’s what attracts the kids.” Some local Scout boosters are suing to block a sale, in a dispute that has played out in various forms elsewhere around the nation as suburbia spreads into the countryside. In Beaumont, Texas, a financially strapped local Boy Scout council sold off one of its two camps in 2001, raising the ire of many who had visited over its 70 years. In Mahwah, N.J., in 2002, the Trust for Public Lands stepped in to rescue the 750-acre Camp Glen Gray from development. Other situations have arisen in Arizona, Michigan and Washington. “The needs change,” said Gregg Shields, spokesman for the Irving, Texas-based national council of the Boy Scouts of America. “Sometimes Scout camps that were once outside of town are swallowed up by sprawl, or they are no longer conveniently located.” Local councils make their own decisions about property, Shields said. The dispute over Camp Flying Eagle began last year after the Southwest Florida Boy Scout Council — based 90 miles away in Fort Myers — opened sale discussions with a Virginia homebuilder that would eventually offer more than $13 million. Southwest Florida council leaders said that with such big offers being thrown around, it only makes sense to listen, especially since Camp Flying Eagle is in need of millions of dollars in improvements.