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Business Owners in Glendale, CO, Allege Abuse of Eminent Domain

The city council of Denver suburb Glendale, CO, unanimously voted to allow the use of eminent domain to facilitate a $175 million development, despite the 100-plus protesters who packed the chamber last month.

“If you pass this measure tonight, every business in Glendale — whether it’s Target or Shotgun Willie’s — will have to ask if they’re making the right decision investing in this city,” Denver resident Jeanne Price said in her testimony. “The answer would be no.”

Still, the council decided that the city’s urban renewal authority should be allowed to use eminent domain to acquire the property in question, a 42-acre site on the banks of Cherry Creek now slated to become a dining and entertainment complex. Eminent domain refers to the government’s right to take ownership of a property for public use. The government is required to compensate the owner, but the owner need not consent to the sale.

The city currently owns about 40% of the total site.

In an apparent attempt to soften the decision, however, the council did add provisions requiring that the city attempt to negotiate with current property owners of the other 60% of the land.

That would still displace small and medium-sized businesses such as Authentic Persian and Oriental Rugs, which owner Saeed Kholghy says has been run as a family business in that same spot for two and a half decades. Supporters of the council’s decision might say that the company can sell Persian rugs (defined by their thick pile of 160 knots per square inch, distinct knotting and unique designs) somewhere else. But many long-time customers bemoaned the possibility of the council forcing it to move.

Kholghy also asserted that he has been negotiating with the city for almost 10 years, but that the exchange has become adversarial in the past year. “If you want to do something, you have to work with us,” Kholghy told the council.

After the vote, some in attendance left demanding recalls of council members.

Is a Famine Ahead for the Diet Industry?

According to a survey conducted this month for Fortune, the future of the diet industry is looking a little lean.

The survey, carried out by SurveyMonkey, found that although 77% of Americans say they’re actively trying to eat healthier, only 19% say that they’re “on a diet.” That fits with data from research group NPD, showing that the number of women who say they’re dieting has dropped a full 13 percentage points in the past 20 years.

Weight Watchers has seen sales decline for the past two years and is projecting another weak year for 2015. Nutrisystem, which had skyrocketing revenue only a few years ago, is bringing in 21% less than it was in 2011. Jenny Craig and Medifast haven’t done much better.

Even in the grocery store, frozen diet meals aren’t selling well. Sales of Weight Watchers dinners have dropped by 17% in the past five years; that figure is 11% for the Healthy Choice line and around 25% for Lean Cuisine. There’s little indication things will be turning around, either, with market research firm Euromonitor predicting the category as a whole will dip another 8% in the coming five years.

Weight Loss in America
Does that mean either that Americans don’t need to lose weight — or that they have given up trying?

No, Fortune cautioned when reporting its results. Roughly a third of American adults are obese. But in general, people seem to be choosing fresher foods over “diet” options and looking at holistic health options that balance calorie-counting with exercise.

The American weight-loss industry — still a $64 billion market as of last year — is expanding in areas such as health clubs.

Mandates put in place by the Affordable Care Act have also helped to shift many weight-loss services away from the commercial world and into the medical one, as plans are required to cover some kinds of plans supervised by nurses and doctors.

A More Diet-Savvy World?
But, as one recent incident so painfully illustrated, there are still plenty of people looking for the next so-called miracle diet.

Last week, a journalist revealed that a headline-grabbing study claiming to demonstrate that chocolate can help people to lose weight was simply an elaborate hoax designed to underscore problems in how the media vets scientific information before reporting it.

So how can consumers make smart decisions about diets when they apparently can’t trust so many of the sources reporting on them? The bottom line is that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Making simple substitutions (a dip made with Greek yogurt, for example, has 67% fewer calories and 88% less fat than most sour cream-based dips) is always a good step. But the bottom line is fresh foods, moderate calorie counts and exercise are the most effective combination for the vast majority of people looking to lose weight.

Chiropractor Battles in Brutal Destruction Derby

Creating demand is one of the best business strategies out there. About 22 million Americans visit their local chiropractors for treatment each year, 35% of whom seek out treatment for back pain caused by accidents, muscle strains, sports injuries or other situations; but even so, it can be tough for Doctors of Chiropractic (DCs) to generate demand. After all, any attempt to do so would likely result in assault and battery charges.

Unless you’re as clever as Matthew Stammerjohan.

This past May, the Californian chiropractor participated in the Calaveras County Fair Destruction Derby after winning the chance to do so through a Friends of the Calaveras County Fair drawing.

“It was brutal,” said Stammerjohan. “They [the other drivers] took me out in the first heat.”

Fortunately, Stammerjohan’s pit crew got him back in the game, where he continued to spread destruction and mayhem. Eventually, he was one of the last two standing, putting him in the finals.

Naturally, Stammerjohan did not enter the “brutal” destruction derby to hurt people and generate new business; auto accident injuries are quite serious. Even the victims of the most minor fender bender should probably see a chiropractor. Injuries may even occur at speeds less than five miles per hour. Stammerjohan merely wanted the free publicity that came with participating.

Although it’s hard to believe that such minor accidents can be injurious, research on low speed rear impact tests show that 29% of people developed the symptoms of whiplash at speeds of just 2.5 miles per hour. What’s more, a rear end collision of just 10 miles per hour can produce up to nine Gs of force on a victim’s neck.

Whiplash is also far more serious than people make it out to be. Though it takes a couple days to begin to affect the victim, whiplash will eventually cause pain and stiffness in the neck, a decreased range of motion, pain when shaking or nodding the head, headaches, dizziness, nausea, and/or blurred vision.

While accidents do happen, they’re not as often as most might think. As one study from 2005 concludes, “These data suggest that derby drivers sustain less chronic neck pain after multiple car collision events than might otherwise be expected.”

Ultimately, Stammerjohan held his own in the finals, but says that “I let the big boys battle it out.”

The Top Cause of Injuries at Yellowstone National Park May Surprise You

In the wake of news that a 16-year-old Taiwanese girl was recently gored by a bison as she posed for a photo at Yellowstone National Park, much of the country is abuzz about the risks of being injured by wildlife while visiting the park.

However, these types of injuries are much rarer than you might think.

In fact, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports, the chances of being mauled by a bear while visiting Yellowstone are a microscopic 1 in 2.1 million. When it comes to more docile creatures like bison, these odds shrink even lower. Only one or two bison-related incidents occur each year, if any.

The real cause behind most visitor injuries at Yellowstone? Slips, trips, and falls.

“The most common injuries in the park are typically from trips, slips and falls,” Traci Weaver, public affairs officer for Yellowstone, said.

In May, a 71-year-old man fell into the park’s Grand Canyon while trying to take a photo. Luckily, he only fell 25 feet before stopping himself on a precipice. Park rangers were able to rescue him as he braced himself on the side of the cliff.

“That was pretty incredible,” Weaver said. “If he’d have fallen just a little bit in either direction, it would have been fatal. He would have fallen over 150 feet.”

Slips, trips and falls like these aren’t just a common occurrence at Yellowstone. Every year, these injuries result in an astronomical 95 million lost days of work across the country.

Even rarer are the injuries and deaths that are caused by the park’s geysers and geothermal features. In the park’s entire history, only 20 people have died, the Casper Star-Tribune reports. As long as visitors stay on the marked boardwalks near these features and follow the park’s safety guidelines, they should be safe.

And while wildlife attacks are rare, it’s still wise to respect these animals’ boundaries. The park has launched numerous campaigns to educate its millions of visitors on staying safe around wildlife. Yellowstone park officials advise visitors to stay at least 100 yards away from bears and wolves and at least 25 yards away from the bison, elk and bighorn sheep that roam the park.

“We just hope people come here and safely enjoy the park,” Weaver said. “It’s always unfortunate when somebody gets injured while they’re out on vacation. We have our safety rules in place for a reason, and we just hope people adhere to them.”

This Man’s Journey From Wrongfully Convicted Inmate to Law School Grad Will Amaze You

In one of the more incredible stories surrounding this year’s graduating class, a man who spent 10 years behind bars under a wrongful conviction recently earned his law degree from Loyola University Chicago.

According to a May 16 CBS Chicago article, Jarrett Adams, 34, defied all odds by proving his innocence and making it this far — it’s exceedingly rare for former inmates to earn degrees, much less make it through seven years of college and graduate school.

“I couldn’t have imagined this day,” Adams, who entered prison as a teenager, said.

His professors at Loyola have said his post-grad future looks just as impressive.

“I can’t say that if that had happened to me I’d have the same outlook on life that Jarrett does, so it must be something in the core of his being that I would love to be able to bottle,” Loyola Prof. Michael Kaufman said.

At age 17, Adams, a Wisconsin native, was convicted of rape and sentenced to 28 years in prison. Throughout his trial and sentencing, he maintained his innocence and stressed that witnesses who could have cleared him were never called upon to testify.

After spending a decade behind bars, his cellmate motivated him to find a way out of his wrongful conviction.

“He was like, ‘Sit down. I’m in here for the rest of my life for something I did do. You are here for some absolute bull-crap with no evidence, and you’re not going to fight to get out.’ And so it really woke me up,” Adams explained.

He then began to study the law on his own in prison, writing letters to the Wisconsin Innocence Project. With the organization’s help, his conviction was overturned.

Wrongful convictions continue to be a problem plaguing much of the country. In an average year, 10,000 U.S. citizens are wrongfully convicted of serious crimes.

Recently, a federal investigation into wrongful convictions revealed that botched forensics play a major role in wrongfully convicting the accused. The FBI stated that experts gave inaccurate, erroneous hair analysis in more than 250 trials before 2000, and that is just a small chunk of the mishandled forensic evidence used to determine people’s innocence or guilt.

Even when exonerated from a wrongful conviction, former inmates have a difficult time adjusting back into society. Two out of three exonerated individuals are not financially independent; one in four has post-traumatic stress disorder. Formerly incarcerated people face chronic underemployment and have difficulty getting social assistance.

With his new degree, Adams plans to help those who are in the same position he was — wrongfully accused of a crime they didn’t commit. He told CBS Chicago he especially hopes to work with low-income defendants.

Four Years After EF-5 Tornado, Joplin, MO, Sees Increase in New Home Constructions

Nearly four years after an EF-5 tornado left 158 dead, more than 900 injured, and thousands without homes, Joplin, MO, is seeing an increase in new home constructions as of the month of March, according to city building permits.

In March alone, the city issued 81 permits for all types of constructions. Twenty-six of those were for homes, for a total value of $2.5 million.

Individually, houses ranged in value anywhere from $50,000 to $300,000.

Since the beginning of Joplin’s fiscal year, which started Nov. 1, 2014, 93 permits for new homes have been issued. The average value for the homes, not including the value of the land, is $101,000.

The small city was devastated and saw severe damage to apartment buildings, businesses, schools, and St. John’s Medical Center. But the new constructions indicate that the city and its residents are bouncing back — 21 of those homes will be built in Joplin’s tornado zone.

According to surveys, more than 45% of Americans indicate a preference to live within specific school district boundaries. Some of those in Joplin who are working with a home builder may be choosing to return to areas where their children had grown up or attended school before the tornado.

Other areas to the south have also had a long road ahead recovering from natural disasters.

In Jackson County, MS, the new constructions for housing have been on the upswing in recent month as the coastal area still continues to rebound from Hurricane Katrina a decade later.

As for Joplin, there have been an average of 17 permits for new homes filed each month for the past two years, with 18 per month on average so far this fiscal year.

That growth means good things for the area’s economy, as more people spend money on furniture, appliances, garden equipment, and other home goods.

The total value of all permits for the fiscal year so far, which will end on Halloween, is just over $42 million.

Ninety-three total new home construction permits have been issued since Nov. 1, according to city records.

The Dog That Bites Is More Likely to Be the Dog You Know, New Study Finds

Although approximately 60% of Americans think pet owners lead more satisfying lives than non-pet owners, a new study published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery found that 50% of dog bite injuries came from dogs belonging to an immediate family member.

In other words, having a family dog increases a person’s risk of being bitten by a dog.

The retrospective study was conducted by the Mayo Clinic, in collaboration with Phoenix Children’s Hospital, in the years 2007-2013; it involved 670 participants. The study found that pit bulls were the most likely breed to bite; that children, elderly, and postal carriers are the most frequent victims of dog bites; and that the most likely age to be bitten by a dog was five years old.

“More than 60% of the injuries we studied required an operation,” said Erin Garvey, MD, the lead author of the study, and a Mayo Clinic surgical resident. “While the majority of patients were able to go home the next day, the psychological effects of being bitten by a dog also need to be taken into account.”

Fortunately, there are several steps that pet owners can take to prevent their dogs from biting others.

First, it’s important not to leave children unsupervised around dogs, even well-behaved ones. Children haven’t yet learned that they need to respect a dog’s space, which makes it more likely that they may anger even a docile canine.

Second, pet owners have a responsibility to train and socialize their dogs. Leaving dogs alone for extended periods of time makes them more likely to develop behavioral issues, such as aggression. Playing with dogs, taking them for walks, and simply spending time with them can help prevent these problems.

Thirdly, understanding a pet’s body language, normal behavior, and temperament is vital. Dogs can’t talk, but they can communicate their feelings and intentions. If a pet owner understands that his or her dog isn’t happy, they can take steps to change the dog’s environment, thereby preventing bites and other behavioral issues.

New Line of Sneakers by D Lillard 1 Released To Commemorate PDX Carpet

It’s been a long time since one pair of sneakers has been anticipated as much as the newest design from D Lillard 1, but fans have already taken to social media to express their excitement with the design, which was modeled after the old carpet that once lined the floors of the Portland Airport.

Carpets might cover 70% of flooring in the U.S., but few carpets have been as recognizable as the purple and blue lines that decorated the airport’s sea green carpet.

When the Portland Airport ripped out its old carpeting last year, travelers around the globe shared their grief at the loss of the beloved design via social media.

The carpet has been on the floor of the airport for about 20 years, according to WDSU News, but in the past couple of years it became an iconic design, specific to Portland. As KGW News and Oregon Live have reported, travelers began taking pictures of their sneakers on the floor and posting the pictures to social media accounts with the hashtag #pdxcarpet as a way of announcing their arrival in the city.

As a way of commemorating the Portland “landmark,” Adidas joined forces with Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard to design a new sneaker with the color palette of the carpet.

On May 19, Lillard tweeted “I’ve got something special for my PDX fans coming real soon,” along with a photo of his own Adidas-brand sneakers standing on the carpet; a picture of the new carpet-themed sneakers was released shortly after.

Anyone unfamiliar with the iconic carpet of Portland may find the new sneakers a bit odd, but this is hardly the first time that the design has created a flurry of social media activity — there have already been several items, like socks and t-shirts, emblazoned with the PDX design.

Yale Researchers Find Link Between Hospitalization and Disability Progression in Older Adults

Researchers from Yale School of Medicine have determined that there is a close association between hospitalization and further progression of disability among older adults.

In an effort to better understand how disabilities progress in patients near the end of their lives, lead author Dr. Thomas Gill and other Yale researchers tracked more than 500 adults, all 70 years old or older, during the last year of their lives.

“These results suggests that the disabling process in the last year of life is strongly influenced by the occurrence of acute hospitalizations,” Gill explained in a news release.

A combination of home-based assessments and monthly telephone interviews allowed the team to collect health information going back nearly 15 years. In addition to asking about disability (expressed as the inability to perform certain daily tasks such as dressing, bathing, standing up and walking), the researchers also asked about hospitalizations.

They found that a full 70% of participants had been hospitalized at least once, with 45% being hospitalized multiple times in their final year of life.

Disability is a complex medical topic that changes based on age, geographic location and numerous other factors. People would probably be surprised to learn, for example, that back pain is the leading cause of disability for Americans under 45. Gill and colleagues had shown in previous studies that the course of disability for people nearer the end of life is even more varied and unpredictable than it is for younger people.

But the research team hopes this new information will better inform doctors and patients as to their options in order to optimize both health and overall wellness — including knowing when it’s better to provide palliative care rather than to continue multiple hospitalizations.

“Our results may help inform decisions about the management of disability and the appropriate level of care at the end of life,” said Gill.

The new study was published May 20 in the British Medical Journal under the title “The role of intervening hospital admissions on trajectories of disability in the last year of life: prospective cohort study of older people.”

Has California’s Drought Affected the Way Celebrities Live?

The average American home can waste anywhere from 2,000 to 20,000 gallons of water every year due to leaking faucets and fixtures — but for the biggest celebrities in Hollywood, who live in mega-mansions the size of an entire neighborhood of houses, who knows how much water goes to waste?

It’s impossible to know the answer. Even as massive drought continues to plague California, making water a luxury for millions, state law allows utilities providers to withhold water usage information regarding specific customers from both the press and the public.

For example, we can’t know exactly how many gallons of water Jennifer Lopez uses in her house. But after a recent series of aerial photos showed a number of Hollywood lawns that are still green as ever, including Lopez’s, it’s evident that most celebrities are staying insulated from the concerns of the drought.

There wasn’t always such a lack of transparency surrounding the amount of water that the wealthy and famous consume. In 1991, during California’s last major drought, baseball star Mark McGwire came under fire when an Oakland Tribune report revealed that McGwire used a stunning 3,752 gallons a day during the summer months. The article also found that the top 100 biggest water users in the East Bay used 15 times more water than the average home in the area.

In 1997, however, the state passed legislation that weakened the California Public Records Act, effectively blocking public access to individual and corporate water use information, according to a May 18 Mother Jones article.

As Californians continue to dramatically alter their lifestyles to follow ever-more-stringent water restrictions, they have no way of knowing if the rich and famous have to follow these same conservation measures.

To pressure Hollywood stars to change their household water usage, utilities companies themselves have begun to ask celebrities to comply with local water restrictions. Recently, the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District sent a letter to Kim Kardashian, asking her to cut the water usage at her Calabasas mansion in half.

According to the UK Telegraph, the letter contained suggestions to help homeowners maintain their lawns during the drought such as installing artificial turf or planting succulents and other desert plants.

Kardashian responded in earnest, saying she has no problem with letting her lawn go brown in order to conserve water.

“Kim takes this drought seriously. She has no problem letting her grass go brown,” a representative for Kardashian, who shares her $20 million mansion with husband Kanye West and daughter North West, said.

Barbra Streisand is another celebrity who recently cut her water usage after her lawn appeared in the aforementioned aerial photos. One of Streisand’s representatives said she’s cut her water use by more than 50% and plans to take even more conservation measures in the future.

But these are just two examples of celebrities doing the right thing out of the hundreds of wealthy Californians doing nothing to alter their lifestyles. With California entering its fourth straight year of drought and more than 94% of the state classified as being in severe drought, it’s going to take a lot more than two people’s efforts to solve the water crisis. Surviving the drought in California is going to require everyone to pitch in — no matter how wealthy or famous they may be.