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1. Boeing To Plead Guilty for Conspirary To Defraud Government
Boeing agreed to plead guilty to one felony charge of conspiring to defraud the U.S. government regarding two fatal crashes of its 737 Max airplane in 2018 and 2019, the New York Times reports. As part of its deal with the U.S. Department of Justice, the company will pay a $487.2 million fine and invest at least $455 million over three years to improve its compliance and safety programs.
Boeing will be on probation for the next three years, during which the Justice Department will appoint an independent compliance monitor who will focus on safety measures and submit annual reports to the government, the newspaper reports. The guilty plea does not include immunity for any employees or executives, and it does not provide any protection from other investigations.
2. Weakened Hurricane Beryl Reaches Texas
As Hurricane Beryl makes its way further inland in Texas, more than 1 million homes have lost power around the Houston area, the Associated Press reports. The storm hit Texas' eastern coast as a Category 1 hurricane after gaining power in the Gulf of Mexico.
CBS News reports that more than 1,300 flights were canceled early this morning due to Hurricane Beryl. Another 700 flights were delayed.
Prior to making landfall in Texas, a much stronger Hurricane Beryl had caused major destruction in Mexico and the Caribbean, the AP reports. There are 11 reported deaths caused by the storm in the Caribbean.
3. Hoteliers Highlight Growing Importance of Distribution
During a session at the HSMAI Commercial Strategy Conference, hoteliers spoke about the need for greater resources for and focus on distribution as hotel technology evolves, reports HNN's Sean McCracken.
Sydney Goodwin, director of automated distribution at Omni Hotels and Resorts, said the need for talent will only grow along with artificial intelligence and automation.
"The idea is it's not just data entry," she said. "To be able to interpret data, make sure it's getting to the right place that we're representing our hotels, our rates, our content in all the ways we want takes a skilled person. That's certainly what I want for my team, and that's where we're looking to go. But we're not there, yet."
4. Fed Report Indicates Recovered Job Market
A report from the Federal Reserve to Congress shows that inflation is easing in the U.S. and the job market has returned to the "tight but not overheated" condition it was in before the pandemic, Reuters reports. The monthly report notes that labor demand has eased while labor supply continues to grow.
"The balance between labor demand and supply appears similar to that in the period immediately before the pandemic, when the labor market was relatively tight but not overheated. Nominal wage growth continued to slow," the report said.
5. Copenhagen Rewards Green Tourist Behavior
Copenhagen is trying to influence tourist behavior by rewarding them for environmentally sustainable practices, the New York Times reports. Starting July 15, for activities such as cycling and taking trains, tourists can receive rewards such as museum tours, kayak rentals and free meals.
“We must turn tourism from being an environmental burden into a force for positive change,” said Mikkel Aarø-Hansen, the chief executive of Wonderful Copenhagen, the tourism organization for the Capital Region of Denmark.