Minossota's icy road conditions

Last week, CNN reported that freezing rain and ice-covered roads had hitherto caused an average of 370 crashes in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. Since those alarming numbers were shared on national TV, the state law enfocement, local agencies and media started to worked together to do not let that number drastically go up.

Updates on wheather conditions were shared through social media channels such as facebook and twitter to those who solicited to receive such messages.

Although these harsh weather conditions are common each year, nights and mornings of freezing drizzle and rain were not expected to hit like they did. In response to the high demand of information, more links were created to let residents know what precautions to take depending on the weather. Hotlines for road assistance were also shared with the general public. Those comming out of town experienced lots of cancellations and delays at airports.

Although Minnesota's plan for a weather crisis was late, it became effective. Local TV and radio stations let people know where they could get more info on the hours to unfold. Likewise, internet traffic was well handled. The IT people did not let the websites crashh.

Hotel explosion kills staff and 5 guests

On Sunday, there was an explosion at a hotel in Mexico's Caribbean coast. Although the incident is still under investigation, two hypothesis have been proposed. One is that the explosion was caused by an operation malfunction of the gas pipe lines. The second guess speculates on the accumulation of natural gas in underground caves. A terrorist attack is out of the question.

The 676-room Gran Riviera Princess hotel, located in Playa del Carmen, has not addressed the press. This lack of communication cannot be excused. Different local and national newspapers have traveled to Quintana Roo to report on the news. The State prosecutor of Quintana Roo has been the one sharing the updates. She is doing her job by sharing details of the investigation. However, the hotel must also show that it cares about its different publics.

The hotel's website does not display anything on what happened. A change must take place shortly. Many tourists who are contemplating traveling to Playa del Carmen will be demanding for explanations sooner or later. It is better to start sharing information as soon as possible, rather than being answering hundreds of phone calls in the next few days.

Out of the eight people that were killed, five of them were guests.

All five were Canadian. As far as Canadians go, many that were vising Mexico left the country after the explosion. Many feared that the explosion was a terrorist attack. Speculations and rumors like this will easily multiply if they are not addressed soon. If the hotel does not want to suffer, it must take action.

LIONSGATE is at risk. The studio recently announced that it is facing harsh financial difficulties . Expenses and distribution of recently released films have not produced a lot of revenue.

There are rumors that the executive representatives from the studioy are meeting with MGM reps to secretely discuss and propose combining the two studios. Both companies have experienced millionaire losses in the past quarter.

Not long ago, CEO Jon Feltheimer said that LIONSGATE will continue to do its best to don't fall into bankruptcy.
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It is greately appreciated that LIONSGATE is open about their financial problems, before it takes many for surprise. Doing so, gives them extra time for those working or investing to reconsider their decisions regarding the company.

Open communication between the company and its publics earns them respect and trust.

Just when I was starting to think that Disney stars like Demi Lovato could not go into rehab, the unexpected happened. Her representative announced today that she willbe out of the spotlight for a while. Why? Well, let's take a a look at the statement that was released. Lovato's representative said, "Demi has decided to take personal responibility for her actions and seek help. She is doing just that. She regrets not being able to finish her tour, but is looking forward to getting back to work inthe near future."


Wait a second. What actions is she talking about? Mmm...there is something suspicious here. let's dig up at what else was said. "Lovato left her tour early this weekend in order to seek medical treatment for emotional and physical issues she has dealt with for some time," her rep siad. Oh OK. I was starting to worry. it is not about drugs or alcohol. No.No. She has an eating disorder and is emotionallly distressed. What a relief!

This in no way will affect her career. When stars go through emotional crises like this, their image is not as badly affected. The public tends to be more empathic with these situations, and although there will be some claims for the shows to be cancelled her fans will always come back for whenever she is ready to be back on the stage.

A little bit on the history of what caused these medical conditions was included in the press release. This always come in handy when helping the public formulate their judgement on the matter. Being open about your business is always helpful only IF you are a celebrity. Since you are already a spotlight there is nothing to hide. Might as well let people know what is going on since the beginning, before they find out in a more abrupt way.

I may not be a huge fan, but I can't deny that I'm not a little sad that such a bright and charismatic satar is going to lose her brightness for a while.

Glee gets targeted by angry parents

Since last week, The Parents Television Council has overtly made known their discontent for the pictures featured on the November 2010 issue of GQ Magazine. The pictures of actresses Lea Michele and Diana Argon are "near-pornographic" and are on the "border of pedophilia," the council says. On the other hand, GQ Editor in Chief Jim Nelson has not said much about the accusations; he has opted not to express a lot of comments on the matter on behalf of the magazine. Nevertheless, on his own opinion he stated that it is disappointing that parents these days don't know how to "divide reality from fantasy."

Whatever opinion PTC gives about the photo shoot or any other content on the magazine will fade in the air. First of all, GQ does not target families as its main demographic. Secondly, PTC has a reputation of over exaggerating.

Celebrities, and other public figures aware of the scandal have qualified PTC's accusations as "stupid" and "pointless." Billy Ray Cyrus, whose daughter has been criticized by the PTC in the past said that PTC "has recently been spending all its time attacking people rather than promoting family television."

Although a lot of parents considered Glee to be family show, many do not consider it to be such. So there is not a common ground to express that by allowing the actresses model "the creators of the program have established their intentions on the show's directions. And it isn't good for families." FOX and GQ are two independent entities; they do not work together. There's not good reasoning behind to suggest that with the nature of these pictures, the show will now become more sexy.

GQ have managed well not to directly address the comments made by PTC. Their comments can't hurt the publication.

A blade in my meat?

On September 30th, a former Tyson Foods employee found a blade near his working area, cut it into four pieces and threw it into the meat. A witness immidiately reported what happened. Authorities were called and the incident started to be investigated. 20-year-old Nwee Lah was arrested and taken under the custody of Amarillo, TX authorities.

All the meat touched by Lah was retrieved as soon as possible. The pieces of meat with the blades were found. They never left the perimeters of the packaging company.

Since the incident ocurred all information was kept confidential. Nothing was shared with the media. At the time, there was no need to let customers know because there was no risk involved to them. It was not until Lah was found guilty when the story was released.

At first glace it wasn't clear why Tyson would release this story. By doing so the company is admitting that their installations are not safe. Then why are they opening about it? I think is so that they won't have any skeletons in the closet. It would be more detrimental to have the story released in the future with a similar or worse circumstance.

Tyson has taken this as an opportunity to reinforce a message to their customers telling them that are the most important for the company. Spokesman Gary Mickelson said, " The safety of our beef products is vital to the continued sucess of our business, so we take matteres as this very seriously. We contacted local law enforcement about this incident after conducting our own investigation." With this statement the company sets an image of trust.

Indonesia train crash

Everyone agrees that last week's train crash in Indonesia is a wake up call for the country's poor law enforcement on safety regulations. Too bad this tragedy had to become one of the podromes that hopefully will lead to a better system.

Yesterday PT kereta Api, the state-run railway company, gave a press conference to finally adress the issue with the press. Let's keep in mind that their response call was delayed for about 4 days! Not 1. Not 2. Not 3. 4! The spokesperson, Director General of railway at the Ministryof Transportation, apologized for what happened, shared his condolences and promised to improve the railway service in Indonesia. Inmmidiately after his remarks, without anyone asking he said that the company could pay families a significant amount in compensation for the lost lives of their loved ones. Really? What does this show? You guessed it. Money will be dearly missed.

In the mean time, the engineer driving the train has been arrested. Investigators are still trying to determine whether it was human error or a mechanical problem what caused the accident. If found guilty, the engineer could face up to 6 1/2 years in jail.