Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Friday 20 OctOber 2017
Little Rock drops Amazon bid in ad: ‘It’s not you, it’s us.’

By ANDREW DeMILLO minutes of an international
Associated Press airport.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — “Amazon, you’ve got so
Arkansas’ capital city pre- much going for you, and
emptively broke up with you’ll find what you’re look-
Amazon Thursday rather ing for,” the chamber said
than submit a long-shot bid in its ad. “But it’s just not us.”
for the e-commerce giant’s Cities across the U.S. and
second headquarters, tell- Canada are clamoring at
ing the company in a full- the prospect of landing
page newspaper ad: “It’s Amazon’s second head-
not you, it’s us.” quarters — and with it, in-
The Seattle-based tech gi- vestments topping $5 bil-
ant set off a nationwide lion. Amazon says the proj-
race for its business last ect could create as many
month with a call for bids, as 50,000 new full-time jobs.
and Little Rock Mayor Mark Thursday was the deadline
Stodola had said his city for proposals to be submit-
would pursue the project. ted. Aside from incentives,
But on Thursday, the Little cities touted factors such
Rock Regional Chamber of as the number of sunny
Commerce ran a full-page days they have, while try-
ad in the Washington Post Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola discusses the city’s decision to not pursue Amazon’s proposed ing other approaches such
— which is owned by Ama- second headquarters at a news conference, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, in Little Rock, Ark. The city as Birmingham, Alabama’s
zon CEO Jeff Bezos — ex- ran a full-page ad in the Washington Post, telling the e-commerce giant: “It’s not you, it’s us.” use of giant replicas of
plaining why it wasn’t pur- (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo) Amazon’s Dash Buttons to
suing the project after all. ment for on-site mass tran- foot, on a bike or just by requirements cited by the send one of more than 600
The ad said the city didn’t sit, but said residents can a quick drive.” Little Rock company, including that pre-generated tweets to
meet Amazon’s require- easily get to work “on also couldn’t meet other the location be within 45 the company.q

California fires cause $1B in damages, burn 7,000 buildings

By JANIE HAR devastated California this the number of homes and assessing areas scorched 8 and Oct. 9 — when the
MICHAEL R. BLOOD month caused at least $1 other buildings destroyed by the blazes that killed 42 wildfires broke out in North-
Associated Press billion in damage to insured to nearly 7,000. people. State Insurance ern California’s wine coun-
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — property, officials said Thurs- Both numbers were expect- Commissioner Dave Jones try and other nearby areas.
The wildfires that have day, as authorities raised ed to rise as crews continue said the preliminary dollar “The estimates are in
valuation of losses came structures and are mostly
from claims filed with the homes, but also includes
eight largest insurance commercial structures and
companies in the affected outbuildings like barns and
areas and did not include sheds,” Berlant said.
uninsured property. Twenty two of the 42 deaths
The loss total was expected in California’s October fires
to climb “probably dra- happened in a Sonoma
matically so,” he told a Los County wildfire, making it
Angeles press conference. the third deadliest in Cali-
The initial insurance total fornia history. A 1933 Los
covered 4,177 partial resi- Angeles fire that killed 29
dential losses, 5,449 total people was the deadliest,
residential losses, 35 rental followed by a 1991 fire in
and condominium losses, Oakland that killed 25.
601 commercial property California Gov. Jerry Brown
losses, more than 3,000 ve- late Wednesday issued an
hicle losses, 150 farm or ag- executive order to speed
ricultural equipment losses, up recovery efforts as fire
and 39 boats. authorities say they’ve
The estimate of homes stopped the progress of
and structures burned wildfires.
was boosted to 6,900 from Tens of thousands of people
5,700 as fire crews returned have been allowed back
to hard-hit neighborhoods home but more than 15,000
and assessed remote and people remain evacu-
rural areas they could not ated Thursday, down from
get to earlier, said Daniel a high of 100,000 last Sat-
Berlant, a spokesman with urday. Brown’s order also
the California Department allowed disrupted wineries
of Forestry and Fire Protec- to relocate tasting rooms
tion. He said most of the and suspended state fees
newly counted destroyed for mobile home parks and
buildings burned on Oct. manufactured homes. q