Travel news from Metronews.ca

Atlanta airport terminal to be city's 'front door'

Greg Bluestein, The Associated Press — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:26:00 -0400

ATLANTA - The new $1.4 billion international terminal at the world's busiest airport will be a sleek launching pad for millions of passengers that's designed to help Atlanta grab a growing share of the lucrative market for global travellers.

Its wavy lines, expansive windows and eye-catching artwork offer a stark contrast to the boxy design of the rest of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Airport managers are already expecting an increase in international travellers over the next decade, and they hope the terminal set to open May 16 will convince airlines to route even more of their overseas flights through the city.

"This is America's new global gateway. It gives international passengers their own facility and it creates a new front door for the airport," said Al Snedeker, the airport's spokesman. "And it eases the load on the rest of the facility."

It was first proposed in 2000 to accommodate the expected surge of international travellers. The airport handled almost 10 million international passengers last year, and the Federal Aviation Administration predicts that number will grow to more than 13 million international passengers by 2015.

The project is the biggest expansion at the airport in more than 15 years. It's taken four years to build and is so vast workers built a new entrance on a busy interstate highway.

It's coming to fruition at a time when Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, the airport's biggest user, is cutting back slightly on international flights amid rising fuel prices. But neither airport officials nor airline executives expect it to have more than a short-term effect.

"The international terminal is a long-term asset that we see as a foundation for the long-term growth at our number one international gateway," said Trebor Banstetter, a Delta spokesman. "It gives us a world-class facility for our customers."

Walking into the light-filled terminal, passengers won't fail to notice broad glass windows along every wall that allows them to watch planes and lift off from the airport's five runways as they check their bags. The building, unlike the older terminal, features separate levels for arriving and departing travellers to help untangle the traffic outside.

Behind the security checkpoint is the second phase of the project: A new concourse with 12 gates for international flights, giving the airport a total of 40 international gates. That's enough to allow Delta and other carriers to offer new routes while relieving some of the strain on the airport's other five concourses.

The facility is designed to give jet-lagged passengers a place where they don't mind waiting out a flight delay, turning an airport visit from chaotic to calming. Travelers will be able to dine on organic burgers or tapas at restaurants in the concourse. Artwork includes a crystal chandelier that hangs over the concourse's sun-splashed atrium and another installation that plays soothing music for weary travellers as they file off a plane.

Some of the most impressive work is less eye-catching. Workers spent months digging a 90-foot trench under an existing concourse to extend the airport's internal subway system to the new facility.

Another popular feature will be a new system that ends the baggage re-check process for Atlanta-bound international travellers, who previously had to relinquish their bags after clearing customs and then wait for them again at baggage claim. The airport believes it will cut travel time by 45 minutes for international flyers whose destination is Atlanta.

About $1 billion of the expansion is funded by municipal bonds that would be repaid by passenger fees, and the remaining $400 million was picked up by the airlines. The changes are helping Atlanta keep up with other major international airports.

Beijing's airport, the second-busiest on the planet, completed an expansion that included a third runway and a colossal glass-and-steel terminal in time for the 2008 Olympics. And Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the world's third-busiest, is undergoing a $15 billion expansion that will add a new runway and other upgrades.

"If Atlanta and Delta are going to compete on the global stage, you need that new terminal," airline analyst Michael Boyd said.

He said Atlanta and its U.S. rivals are seeking to position themselves as way stations on long routes between cities on separate continents.

"The future is going to be which of the airline connecting hubs become global portals that not just take people to and from Atlanta, but take people from Buenos Aires to Shanghai through Atlanta," he said. "The biggest flow is going to be between Latin America and Asia, and the US is in the middle. Those intermediate stops are the name of the game, and that means on longer flights, a stop in Atlanta makes sense."

The terminal still has hurdles to clear. Chief among them is making sure long-time travellers still get to the right place now that the airport has grown even bigger.

Transportation officials poured more than $7 million into new highway signs to remind domestic travellers to go to the main terminal and direct international passengers to the new building. And free shuttles take people from one side of the airport to another in 12 minutes.

Legal challenges threatened to derail the project, too, after several firms that lost out on lucrative airport contracts challenged the bidding process. Most of the complaints were resolved and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said the one case still pending won't delay the terminal's opening.

"Our city has long been a preferred destination for international business and tourism, and I look forward to May 16 when we greet travellers from around the world in this new, state-of-the-art terminal," the mayor said.

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Follow Bluestein on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bluestein .

Museum plays April Fools' joke on prolific forger

Lisa Cornwell, The Associated Press — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:26:00 -0400

CINCINNATI - Fool me once, the saying goes. But 50 times? That's what a convincing art forger did for nearly three decades when he donated his copies of Picassos and other works of art to unsuspecting museums in 20 states.

Mark A. Landis, who has dressed as a Jesuit priest or posed as a wealthy donor driving up in a red Cadillac, apparently never took money for his forgeries and has never been arrested.

Now his "works" have been collected into their own tongue-in-cheek exhibit, called Faux Real and opening on April Fools' Day at the University of Cincinnati.

Educating people about forgery and letting people know about Landis "is the only way to stop him," said Mark Tullos, director of the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum in Lafayette, La., which was duped in 2010 with a donation of a painting supposedly by American Charles Courtney Curran.

Landis creates works in oil, watercolour, pastels, chalk, ink and pencil, making most of his copies from museum or auction catalogues that provide dimensions and information on the originals.

He sometimes bestows gifts under different names, such as the Father Arthur Scott alias used at Hilliard. In that case, he told officials that his dead mother had left works including Curran's oil-on-wood painting "Three Women" and that he was donating it in her memory.

Tullos said museum employees became suspicious when Landis kept changing the subject under questioning. After he drove off, the museum quickly concluded it was a forgery.

To convince museums he is a philanthropist, he also concocts elaborate stories about health concerns, said Cincinnati exhibit co-curator Matthew Leininger.

"He has been having heart surgery for almost 30 years," Leininger said with a frustrated laugh. "This is the strangest case the museum realm has known in years."

Landis, 57, acknowledges what he's up to. He told The Associated Press in a phone interview from his home in Laurel, Miss., that he made his first forgery donation to a California museum in 1985.

"They were so nice. I just got used to that, and one thing led to another," he said. "It never occurred to me that anyone would think it was wrong."

The Cincinnati exhibit of about 40 works given to 15 museums grew to around 100 when Landis donated 60 pieces he possesses, along with his priest's outfit.

The Faux Real show will run through May 20 at the Dorothy W. and C. Lawson Reed Jr. Gallery. It depicts famous art forgers, details of how Landis made some donations and ways of detecting fakes. Visitors can view some works under ultraviolet light that causes sections to glow if they contain contemporary ingredients.

Art experts say not accepting payment for his forgeries has helped keep Landis from being charged with a crime. Museum officials say forgeries can hurt their reputation and cost time and money researching suspected fraud.

Landis typically targets smaller museums without resources to thoroughly check donations. While museums don't pay Landis, some treat him to meals, receptions and gifts like catalogues and souvenirs before realizing they were duped, Leininger said.

The exhibit doesn't judge Landis but is using his story to show how forgeries occur and demonstrate that institutions and the public "shouldn't take things at face value," exhibit co-curator Aaron Cowan.

The exhibit won't increase the value of Landis' works — considered worthless except as educational tools on forgery — and the curators have heard no objections to spotlighting his works.

Landis won't profit from the show but says it is "nice of them to do this." And though Leininger says he doesn't think Landis can stop, the forger acknowledges that it's harder to fool people now "than the '80s and '90s, when you could just walk in and donate."

"Now they want all types of documentation."

Magic! Harry Potter studio tour opens near London

Jill Lawless, The Associated Press — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:25:00 -0400

WATFORD, England - Hogwarts Castle is ready to welcome the Muggle multitudes.

Here, on a film studio sound stage near London, stands the real Hogwarts — or at least a monumental model of the fictional wizarding school, the very one used in the eight "Harry Potter" movies.

The minutely detailed castle now forms the climax of "The Making of Harry Potter," a behind-the-scenes studio tour based at the Warner Bros.' facility where the films were made between 2000 and 2010.

It may only be a model, but for Potter fans it's already a place of pilgrimage.

"I had to literally stand there for 10 minutes and just absorb it," said Cee Anatole, who works for a fan website and had a preview ahead of Saturday's grand opening. "The attention to detail — it was just amazing."

Warner Bros. hopes the general public will be equally enthusiastic. The studio expects 5,000 people a day to visit the attraction, which is selling itself on its authenticity — it features real sets, models, props and costumes from the films, on the original studio site.

The first, and most spectacular, set visitors encounter is the Great Hall of Hogwarts school, complete with stone floor, Gothic arches, gargoyles and huge fireplace. Later come the dormitory where the young wizard slept, the office of headmaster Albus Dumbledore, the giant Hagrid's Hut and Diagon Alley, the magical shopping street that's home to Ollivander's wand shop and Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

The tour is an almost overwhelming feast of detail. Displays range from Mrs. Weasley's self-knitting sweater to boxes of Cheery Owls cereal, potions bottles filled with plastic newts and real animal bones and 17,000 individually painted wand boxes.

It's nirvana for Potter fans — and for film geeks, who can watch designers talk about their work in short films, ride a broomstick in the green-screen effects room and see how makeup, prosthetics and animatronics brought hundreds of magical creatures to life.

The goal is to pay tribute to the hundreds of unsung technicians and craftspeople who reinvented author J.K. Rowling's magical universe for the big screen.

"There's so much work that you couldn't see, so much work that just became part of the film," said David Heyman, a producer on all the Potter films.

"This is a tour for Harry Potter fans, but it's also a tour for people who are not necessarily Harry Potter fans," he said. "It's such a good insight into the making of a film ... basically a how-to."

Warner Bros. is clearly proud of its new attraction. One of the creators' few regrets is that trains to Watford, which will carry many of the site's visitors, leave from London's Euston station, rather than nearby King's Cross, whose imaginary platform 9 3/4 was the terminus of the Hogwarts Express. Rearranging the railways is beyond even Harry Potter's powers.

The attraction is part of Warner Bros.' 100 million pound ($160 million) redevelopment of Leavesden Studios, a former World War II airdrome 20 miles (30 kilometres) northwest of London, into Europe's largest filmmaking complex.

In addition to the tour, the working studio due to open later this year will have sound stages, workshops, offices and the biggest backlot in Europe, and make Warner Bros.' the only U.S. studio with a permanent base in Britain.

Those who worked on the film say the transformation is remarkable.

"What is different and strange is that the roof is not leaking," said David Yates, who directed the final four Potter films. "And it's not dusty, it's not drafty and it's not cold. We literally were working in big sheds."

Warner Bros. is not estimating the lifespan of the attraction, which employs about 300 people, including a horde of Potter fans working as enthusiastic tour guides. But it says Pottermania shows no signs of waning.

Initial reviews have been largely positive, though some have questioned the admission price — 28 pounds ($45) for adults and 21 pounds ($34) for children five and over. Children under 5 go free. Warner Bros. says the charges are "in line with other major attractions in the U.K. and around the world."

The attraction has already won over an important group of fans: the cast.

"I found it quite moving, actually, coming back," said Rupert Grint, who played Harry's best friend, Ron Weasley. "I sometimes had to remind myself that we weren't doing a scene, because it's so authentic.

"This is a special place for me. I basically grew up here, went to school here. It's just nice to be able to share it with everyone."

State promoting outdoor tourism this spring

Joe Edwards, The Associated Press — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:43:00 -0400

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee has more than 300 species of fish, with bass, crappie and catfish awaiting hungry anglers.

The Smoky Mountains and the Appalachian Trail offer scenic spots for ambitious hikers.

Or you can shoot the rapids on the Ocoee River, or go camping just about anywhere across the state including backcountry camping at 12 state parks.

So it's no wonder that the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development is promoting the state's plentiful outdoor opportunities this spring.

Elvis, Dollywood and the Grand Ole Opry are not Tennessee's only attractions for the travel dollars.

The department has launched http://spring.tnvacation.com , to highlight fishing, hunting, hiking, camping and other activities. The site also is sponsoring outdoor adventure-inspired contests, with the grand prize three ultimate fishing getaways throughout Tennessee.

Duty-free limits to increase: budget

The Canadian Press — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:22:00 -0400

OTTAWA - Cross-border shoppers will be able to bring back more duty-free goods under new budget measures announced Thursday.

As of June 1, travellers coming back after 24 hours away will be able to bring in $200 worth of goods free of duty or taxes, an increase from just $50.

People gone more than 48 hours will be allowed $800 in duty-free goods, double the present $400 allowance.

There is no longer any specified seven-day limit on duty-free purchases.

The changes are designed to harmonize levels with those of the United States, and will streamline the border-crossing process.

The budget estimated that the higher limits will cost the government $13 million in this fiscal year and $17 million in the full 2013-14 fiscal year.

Casino leaders call for more security on the Strip

Cristina Silva, The Associated Press — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:37:00 -0400

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The Las Vegas Strip, with its fatal bar brawls, sticky sidewalks and pushy panhandlers, is in dire need of a public safety makeover, according to casino executives and government leaders who want to use surveillance cameras, an increased police presence and regular street cleanings to improve the image of Nevada's adult playground.

In all, eight executives representing Las Vegas' wealthiest casinos put forward 32 recommendations this week aimed at preserving the Strip for the millions of tourists who support Nevada's fragile economy. Government leaders called for the recommendations last year after a rash of alcohol-fueled killings and violent crimes on the Strip raised public safety concerns.

More than 38.9 million tourists visited Las Vegas last year, and the dollars they spent are driving Nevada's long awaited economic recovery. The state has the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 12.7 per cent, and most jobs here are tied to the tourism industry in some way.

If tourists don't feel safe on the Strip, everyone will suffer, government leaders warned.

"There is some concern that if we are not able to do these things ... that ultimately we run the risk of it impacting our tourism base and ultimately limiting our ability to expand our tourism base as we begin to rebound as a community," said Don Burnette, manager for Clark County, the government that oversees the Strip.

Dane Claussen, director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Nevada, said the organization is closely watching to see how Clark County officials will respond to the recommendations.

Under the policy plan, government officials would direct more police officers to the Strip, set up surveillance cameras to monitor suspicious activity, ban unlicensed vendors, and regularly power-wash the grime and alcohol left behind on Las Vegas' bustling tourist corridors after nights of uninhibited revelry and excess.

The most controversial proposal calls for restricting activities such as panhandling at certain times and locations along the Strip. Claussen said the ACLU could take legal action depending on how the county crafts any new policies.

"We don't sacrifice the First Amendment for the sake of maintaining tourism," Claussen said.

Las Vegas police already use traffic cameras installed at various intersections to monitor criminal activity. An expanded surveillance program would allow police to respond to crimes more quickly and effectively, Burnette said.

"It's not for intelligence gathering but it's to help get a better understanding of what's going on," Burnette said. "People conjure up images of Big Brother, and that's not what it is about."

The proposals were drafted during 13 meetings spread out over six months. Among the Las Vegas power players backing the recommendations are executives from Las Vegas Sands Corp., Wynn Resorts Ltd., MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment Corp. and Boyd Gaming Corp.

The Clark County Commission is slated to discuss the recommendations next week. Local governments and casino officials will likely be asked to contribute to the costs of hiring more police officers and installing the cameras.

Andy Rooney's CBS desk donated to Newseum in DC

Brett Zongker, The Associated Press — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:42:00 -0400

WASHINGTON - Andy Rooney's typewriter, bookshelves and handmade walnut desk where he delivered commentaries for "60 Minutes" on CBS are being donated to the Newseum in Washington.

The museum about journalism and the First Amendment announced Thursday that Rooney's family had donated the items from his 7th floor Manhattan office. He had moved into the space in 1985 and delivered his closing thoughts there for Sunday night television for decades.

Rooney died last year at the age of 92. He had spent 60 years at CBS, including more than 30 years talking about the oddities of life for the popular TV newsmagazine.

Curators at the Newseum don't have immediate plans to display the office pieces. But the museum says it's honoured to accept them as pieces of broadcast news history.

'Do AC' is new tourism slogan for Atlantic City

Wayne Parry, The Associated Press — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:42:00 -0400

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - When Atlantic City rolled out its "Always Turned On" tourism slogan in 2003, critics felt it was a little, well, risque.

Nine years later, they've fixed that. The new slogan?

"Do AC!"

It's part of a $30 million casino-funded campaign to promote the nation's second-largest gambling resort through a group called The Atlantic City Alliance.

Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority president Jeff Vasser said the slogan, written by an outside agency hired by the alliance, tested well. He said it should help get people to consider what once was dubbed the "World's Favorite Playground."

"As long as it motivates people to visit, that's what matters," he said. "There's a lot we can do with it, that's for sure. It works as a platform for us to highlight different things — culinary, meetings, and things like that."

Robert Griffin, CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts and president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, likes the new campaign.

"It's a call-to-action statement, which I like," he said.

The slogan was first reported by The Press of Atlantic City, which obtained a memo circulated by the Caesars Entertainment Inc., owners of four casinos here.

"Backed by a $30 million investment, 'Do AC!' will provide consumers with a comprehensive advertising campaign — television, radio and print — that promotes all of our unique offerings," Caesars Eastern Division President Don Marrandino wrote in the memo to employees. "The new campaign launching in mid-April will encourage customers — both new and those we haven't seen in years — to visit AC."

The Alliance is part of Gov. Chris Christie's multi-faceted plan to revive Atlantic City's struggling fortunes. The money used to fund the campaign used to have to be sent to the state's race tracks as compensation for them not being allowed to have slot machines.

Atlantic City's casino revenues have fallen from a high of $5.2 billion in 2006 to $3.3 billion last year. The resort, which is likely to be overtaken some time this year by Pennsylvania as the nation's No. 2 casino market, has since been emphasizing non-gambling amenities and revenues.

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Wayne Parry can be reached at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC

MSU study says populations growing around parks

The Associated Press — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:30:00 -0400

BILLINGS, Mont. - Researchers from Montana State University say population densities around national parks including Yellowstone and Glacier increased dramatically in recent decades.

The researchers say population densities rose 246 per cent around Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks from 1940 to 2000.

Population density rose 210 per cent around Glacier National Park in that time.

But MSU ecologist Andrew Hansen says that growth is on the low end compared to some other parks. For example, the population density around Mojave National Preserve in California is up by almost 3,000 per cent.

Hansen and co-author Cory Davis are publishing their findings in Ecological Applications, a journal published by the Ecological Society of America.

Fla. teen guilty of murdering 2 British tourists

Tamara Lush, The Associated Press — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:42:00 -0400

SARASOTA, Fla. - A Florida teenager is facing a life sentence after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder Wednesday in the shooting of two young British tourists last April in a case that generated brash tabloid headlines in the U.K. press.

Shawn Tyson, 17, sat stone-faced as the jury's verdict was read. It came after two hours of deliberations. Because he is under 18, Tyson is ineligible for the death penalty and is facing a mandatory life sentence.

During testimony, witnesses said Tyson shot James Cooper, 25, and James Kouzaris, 24, last April 16. The two men were vacationing in Sarasota and spent an evening drinking when they got lost and walked into a housing project where Tyson lived. Details of their deaths have gripped the British news media; tabloids there have written stories saying the men were "slaughtered" in a Florida "ghetto."

Kouzaris was from Northampton and Cooper was from Hampton Lucy, Warwick. Both were considered fun-loving world travellers by friends — but also smart and cautious. Authorities said both were drunk when they got lost and wandered just before 3 a.m. into the housing project where Tyson lived.

Witnesses testified that Tyson told them he saw two "crackers" — his phrase for white people — walking through the neighbourhood and that he intended to rob them. The tourists said they didn't have any money and begged Tyson to let them go home. The men also told Tyson that they were lost.

"Since you ain't got no money, then I have something for your ass," Tyson recounted to a witness, then added that he shot the men several times.

The tourists' bodies were found shirtless on the street and their baggy pants were pulled down to their thighs. Both men still had their wallets and did in fact have money; Cooper also had a cellphone and camera in his pants pocket. Authorities later found that Kouzaris' blood alcohol level was 0.243 and Cooper's was 0.214 — well past Florida's legal limit for intoxication when driving, which is 0.08.

During closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney Ed Brodsky told the jury that the case was about "opportunities."

"For James Cooper and James Kouzaris, they had seized an opportunity to travel abroad," Brodsky said. "Shawn Tyson seized upon an opportunity to rob and kill two men."

In the end, Tyson was his own undoing. Prosecutors presented several witnesses who said that Tyson told friends about the shootings in the hours after the killings, then asked friends to hide the murder weapon and bury bullets. A DNA expert said Tyson's skin cells were found on Cooper's jeans.

Tyson maintained to police that he was at home during the murders. But witnesses spotted him crawling into his window shortly after hearing gunshots.

Tyson did not testify. His attorneys called only one witness, a crime scene technician, and questioned him briefly. Defence attorneys also tried to discredit the witnesses by saying that many of them had criminal records and co-operated with detectives in order to avoid jail time.

The defence also said that no one saw Tyson shoot Cooper and Kouzaris.

Authorities say Tyson wasn't alone the night of the shooting; police have not charged the second suspect because they don't have enough evidence. That person is currently in prison on unrelated charges.

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Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush