Latest news with #KylePotter
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Voters OK Mahopac schools' revised budget plan with no tax levy increase
Voters in the Mahopac school district overwhelmingly approved a $145.1 million school budget for 2025-26 during a June 17 re-vote, after a similar spending plan was defeated by fewer than 60 votes. The difference: the revised spending plan tapped extra state aid to avoid a tax levy increase. The original spending plan, crafted prior to state aid details being approved as part of the state budget, sought a 1% tax levy hike. Mahopac was the only school district in the Lower Hudson Valley to see its budget defeated on May 20. The original budget plan was defeated in a 1,248-1,189 vote. The June 17 vote was 1,498-610, winning more than 71% approval. Turnout for the May 20 vote was 2,390 voters; on June 17, 2,108 cast ballots. Mahopac schools: District prepares for revote on budget as local GOP gets deeper into school affairs Two other propositions were on the May ballot: Proposition 2, for $1.54 million to purchase school buses, passed by 1,246-1,190. Proposition 3, to establish a capital reserve fund not to exceed $10 million over 10 years, failed, 1,200-1,223. The proposition to establish a capital reserve fund was not put up for a re-vote. The May 20 vote also brought changes to the school board: Kyle Potter and Lucy Massafra were voted on, and incumbent Nicole Iacono was re-elected; Vincent Furfaro and Adam Savino ran again for their seats but lost. Mahopac schools serve children in portions of the towns of Carmel and Putnam Valley. This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mahopac NY voters overwhelmingly pass school budget plan on re-vote
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Kodiak fishermen sentenced over illegal transport of Alaskan crab to Washington
This story was originally published on A Kodiak fisherman has been sentenced to one year in jail for illegally shipping thousands of pounds of tanner crab infected with parasites from Alaska to Washington. Corey Potter, 64, owned and operated two crab catcher vessels and caught tanner crab and golden king crab in Southeast Alaskan waters during February and March of 2024, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska. The co-defendants, Kyle Potter, 30, and Justin Welch, 34, followed directions from Corey Potter and transported the harvested crab to Seattle, intending to sell the crabs at a higher price than would be received in Alaska, according to the news release. One of the vessels had more than 4,200 pounds of live tanner crab aboard, and the other vessel had more than 2,900 pounds of live golden king crab. 'A portion of the Tanner crab was infected with Bitter Crab Syndrome (BCS), a parasitic disease that is fatal to crustaceans,' the release stated. 'Roughly 42% of the king crab died and was unmarketable. Since the other vessel had BCS contaminated crabs, the entire catch of Tanner crab was transferred to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to dispose of in a landfill.' Law enforcement served a search warrant on Welch and his fishing vessel in March 2024, which prompted Welch to inform Corey Potter and Kyle Potter of the search, and both deleted text messages detailing their plans to sell the crab for better prices in Seattle, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Corey Potter pled guilty to two counts of violating the Lacey Act on Feb. 7, 2025, according to the attorney's office. Corey was also ordered to a worldwide commercial fishing ban throughout the duration of his supervised release. Kyle Potter pled guilty and was sentenced on July 10, 2024, to five years' probation, including a five-year worldwide commercial fishing ban concurrent with probation, and a $20,000 fine, according to the release. Welch pled guilty and was sentenced on June 25, 2024, to three years' probation and a $10,000 fine. Michael J. Heyman, U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska, mentioned in the news release the importance of abiding by federal laws and factually reporting a harvest. 'Mr. Potter blatantly disregarded state and federal fishing laws and ignored the concerns of other fisherman when he directed his two captains to execute the illegal transport, resulting in the reckless loss of over 5,000 pounds of crab,' Heyman said.
USA Today
03-06-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Some solo travelers are being charged higher airfares. What you need to know.
Some solo travelers are being charged higher airfares. What you need to know. Show Caption Hide Caption Do airlines show the same airfare rates to everyone? Can airlines really track your flight search history to increase rates shown to you? Some airlines are charging solo travelers higher fares, according to a recent report. This practice is not widespread and airlines have not commented on it. It is difficult to determine if you are being overcharged, but price prediction tools may help. Airlines may be charging solo travelers more. Thrifty Traveler, a well-known travel and flight deal website, exclusively reported last week that major airlines were charging more for passengers booking a single ticket. 'We stumbled upon a new pricing strategy that was not very widespread but no less troubling at the nation's three largest airlines," Kyle Potter, executive Editor of Thrifty Traveler, told USA TODAY. 'This is what they do with all of their fares, they roll things out on a limited basis and slowly expand until it becomes ubiquitous.' Potter said he wasn't able to get any airlines to go on the record about the specifics behind their pricing policies, and that after his report published, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines eliminated solo pricing rules in their fare classes, leaving American Airlines as the only carrier that still seems to be profiting from the fare differential on some routes. USA TODAY reached out to the airlines for comment. Still, the report left many passengers wondering what was going on, so here's what you need to know. Are airlines charging single travelers more? Yes, at least sometimes. Thrifty Traveler was able to find multiple examples of airlines charging higher fares for single passengers, though it wasn't being applied evenly across airlines' networks. "Based on our hundreds of searches, we were only seeing it on select domestic one-way flights," Potter said. How common is it for airlines to charge extra for solo travelers? It's not very common. 'In terms of the hit rate, it was probably in the neighborhood of five to 10 out of 100 domestic one-way searches without any real pattern for which routes they were deploying this on that we could see," Potter said USA TODAY reached out to multiple travel agents, none of whom had seen this pricing tactic before. "Nope," Loulu Lima, founder of the Texas-based travel agency Book Here Give Here, responded to an email asking if she was familiar with this pricing strategy. "I buy solo tickets all the time." Still, airline pricing is famously opaque. There's no set schedule for how and when carriers adjust airfares, and the companies have wide latitude to set prices however they decide is best. Airlines also often try to separate business travelers from leisure travelers, because business travelers are typically less price sensitive. One of the most well-known ways airlines read the travel purpose tea leaves is a weekend stay. Business travel typically happens during the week, so an airline itinerary that spans a Saturday night is usually a good indicator that the travel is for pleasure. Airlines often offer cheaper fare buckets for trips that include a weekend between the departure and return leg. Thrifty Traveler theorized that airlines may be trying to use solo passengers as another possible indicator of business travel. 'To many travelers, this was a real wake-up call in order to realize how far airlines are willing to go to maximize revenue," Potter said. How to know if you're being charged more Unfortunately, it can be hard to know if you're getting a good deal, or to compare airline prices, because of the variability in airfares. Thrifty Traveler only discovered the solo passenger discrepancy by searching hundreds of airline itineraries. For travelers, the best bet is to rely on price prediction tools like those available on Google Flights, Expedia, Hopper and other platforms. 'You know what you're willing to spend. If you see a price point and say, 'Hey, that's not bad,' you should buy it,' Lima, the travel agent, previously told USA TODAY. 'How much of a betting person are you that it's going to be lower than what you're currently seeing and you're comfortable with that number?' And even then, your frequent flyer mileage may vary. Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alaska man sentenced to one year in prison over illegal transport of crab to Washington
Law enforcement officers examine a load of Alaska crab, much of it infested with Bitter Crab Syndrome, after it arrived in Washington state in 2024. (Photo provided by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police) A Kodiak fisher has been sentenced to spend a year in jail for illegally shipping thousands of pounds of tanner crab, much of it infected with a parasitic disease, out of Alaska to Washington state, federal officials said. The fisherman, Corey Potter, was also sentenced to two years' supervised release following his jail term, during which he will be barred from commercial fishing anywhere in the world, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. The investigation was led by NOAA Fisheries' Office of Law Enforcement. The sentence was imposed on May 13 by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Burgess in Anchorage. The case concerns tanner and Golden king crab harvested in 2024 in Southeast Alaska. Potter owned two vessels, one of them captained by his son, Kyle Potter, and the other by employee Justin Welch. Rather than unload the crab catch in Alaska, as is required by state law, the three men kept the live crab in the vessels and took the catch to Washington state, passing through Canadian waters along the way. The motivation was to fetch higher prices for their catch, according to prosecutors' documents. At the time, according to evidence presented in court documents, the men knew that a large proportion of the catch was infested with Bitter Crab Syndrome, a parasitic disease that usually kills the crabs and renders their meat inedible. Bitter Crab Syndrome is not toxic for people, but infected crab meat can be bitter and eating it is likened to chewing on aspirin. That evidence included text messages from other Alaska fishers who cautioned Potter and his son against bringing infested crab to market, with one expressing concerns that their actions would hurt the reputation and marketability of all Alaska crab. Bitter Crab Syndrome affects numerous species, and it is considered a possible contributor to the crash of Bering Sea snow crab and king crab stocks that led to an unprecedented string of harvest closures between 2021 and 2024. The main reason for the stock crashes, scientists believe, was the warmth in the habitat, which led to crab starvation. In the years leading up to the fishery closures, however, there was an increase in Bitter Crab Syndrome. The disease is linked to warming waters and climate change, according to scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Kyle Potter and Welch pleaded guilty last year. In October, Kyle Potter was sentenced to five years' probation and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine; Welch was sentenced to three years' probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. Ultimately, the loads of crab they delivered never made it to any market. They were seized by Washington state law enforcement officers and deemed unfit for sale or consumption. Of the Golden king crab, 42% of the catch was dead upon arrival; of the tanner crab, so much was infested that the entire load was disposed of in a landfill, federal officials said. Potter pleaded guilty in February to two counts of violating the Lacey Act, the federal law that concerns transport of wildlife and fish across state lines. Prosecutors identified him as the leader of the scheme and therefore requested heavier penalties. Potter, in a presentencing memorandum, asked for probation rather than jail time, arguing that his long career of fishing in Alaska has now ended and that at the age of 64, he is now financially ruined. 'As a result of last year's terrible crabbing season, which included the instant offense conduct, he has been financially destroyed. One of the boats involved in this offense was foreclosed on, and the other is believed to have been seized by the state. He has been reduced to relying upon family for assistance and has no viable means to support himself,' the May 6 defense memo said. But prosecutors, who argued for 18 months imprisonment, said actions with the diseased crab fit Potter's yearslong pattern of sloppy maintenance and unsafe behavior. In their presentencing report, also filed on May 6, prosecutors listed numerous past problems with the vessels Potter owned. They have been cited for chronically leaking oil, broken down at sea – requiring crew members to be rescued – and sunk in different sites, the report said. 'The defendant's track record as a vessel operator in Alaska is abysmal. He has shown a total disregard for the safety of his crew, the safety of Alaskan waterways, and the health of the marine environment,' the prosecutors' presentencing report said. Yet to be determined is the amount of restitution that Potter will be ordered to pay for the trafficked crab. The government is seeking $187,187 in restitution. A hearing on that subject is set for July 15. This article was first published by Alaska Beacon, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alaska Beacon maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Andrew Kitchenman for questions: info@
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Delta Issues Statement After Pricing Tactics Were Exposed
Earlier this week, a prominent travel writer exposed Delta, American, and United for an apparent pricing strategy that charged passengers more for solo seats than for group seats. Now, Delta has broken its silence on the matter. Kyle Potter, executive editor at Thrifty Traveler, recently discovered that Delta, United, and American – the nation's three largest airlines – were charging significantly more for solo travelers than groups when purchasing the same tickets on the same flights. "I saw a $206 one-way fare to Newark this summer," Potter told WCCO News. "I bumped it up to two passengers, then all of a sudden, I'm looking at $156 for the same fare." "You start doing some math, double checking, 'What's going on here? Did I enter the wrong airport code? Did I change the date on accident?' It became pretty clear, quickly, this was a penalty for booking just one ticket," he told the outlet. "This isn't an isolated incident. This is a trend. This is something that airlines are doing in order to squeeze more money out of people who are booking just one passenger." Following the news, WCCO reached out to each of the three airlines and received a brief comment from a Delta spokesperson, breaking the airline's silence on the matter. In an email to WCCO, the spokesperson said that they were "limited in what it can say about pricing," but did add that "this pricing structure is not new to Delta or the airline industry." It's worth noting that after this pricing tactic was exposed, Delta did update its fares nationwide on Friday afternoon and is no longer charging more for solo travelers, offering the same fares for solo travelers and groups of travelers. United followed this move, updating its fares on Friday evening. American, however, had not updated its fares as of Sunday. Delta Issues Statement After Pricing Tactics Were Exposed first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 1, 2025
