‘We thought we were gone’ says passenger
‘We thought we were gone’ says cruise passenger — Investigators are looking at whether human error may have played a role in an accident Tuesday aboard a Princess cruise ship that left four people in the hospital. (USA Today)
Tourism damage control in Boston — No one has canceled yet, but convention and travel industry officials are scrambling to address concerns and help craft contingency plans to ensure the tunnel fiasco doesn’t hurt the city’s reputation long term. (The Boston Globe)
Beryl heads for New England — Tropical Storm Beryl gained strength Wednesday as it pulled away from the North Carolina coast and headed toward New England. (AP)
Project to protect airliners in doubt — Nearly three years after the government began $100 million worth of tests on lasers that could thwart missiles aimed at planes, the Homeland Security Department says the systems are too fragile and expensive to put on commercial jets. (USA Today)
Lebanon tourism suffers as travelers flee — Thousands of foreigners are packing ships in Beirut’s port, and long lines of cars are full of tourists. But all those visitors are clamoring to get out of Lebanon — to escape the outbreak of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah — crushing Lebanon’s hopes for a record tourist season. (AP)
Continental Airlines earnings rise on fare hikes — Continental Airlines Inc. on Thursday said second-quarter profit nearly doubled as higher fares and wage cuts offset climbing fuel prices. (Reuters)
Minor-league ballparks: fan-friendly, affordable, fun — A building boom over the last decade has turned drab minor league ballparks into showplaces of America’s pastime. Combining brick facades and architecture that blends the ballparks into their urban settings, they are a far cry from their concrete and steel predecessors. (AP)
Smog woes choke Denver, Rockies — With temperatures topping 100 degrees this month in Denver and elsewhere along the populous Front Range, routine activities like filling up at the gas station or mowing the lawn are releasing fumes into a perfect cauldron for creating ozone, a major component of smog. (AP)
Gov. shuts down part of Big Dig tunnel — Gov. Mitt Romney ordered an immediate shutdown of the eastbound Ted Williams Tunnel Thursday after two problem bolts were spotted during inspections following the deadly collapse of ceiling panels in a nearby stretch of the city’s Big Dig highway system. (AP)
Sleep tight in a fantasy suite paradise — Gary Strobusch specializes in the romantic escapes known as fantasy suites, and after 27 years of practicing his craft for hotels nationally, he is now building rooms in a former Day’s Inn in Toledo, Iowa, now managed by his son and daughter-in-law. (Des Moines Register)
Nashville fares begin to fall — It’s a month away, but the entry of JetBlue Airways into the Nashville market is already having an impact on ticket prices to New York City. The lowest weekday fares between Nashville International Airport and the two major airports in New York — JFK and LaGuardia — will drop in half for Delta Air Lines and American Airlines once JetBlue starts daily flights to JFK on Aug. 31. (The Tennessean)
Carrie Charney, Christopher Elliott, John Frenaye, Charles Leocha, Marge Purnell, Valerie Schneider, Mary Staley, Stephanus Surjaputra, Richard Wong.