Latest news with #Bridgeview
CBS News
3 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Suburban Chicago small business owner takes on Google over ad practices
In what amounts to a David-and-Goliath situation, a suburban small business owner is taking on Google over a beef you've likely seen in some form in the headlines. He says Google's grip on advertising is costing him millions, and the U.S. government shares his same frustrations. Bridgeview, Illinois-based Royal Home Flooring posts spiffy videos of its jobs — which sometimes spur a sale. Word-of-mouth referrals do the trick too. But owner Salah Abukhaled opened up his books to show us most of his customers come through Google. "I knew if I want to go ahead and succeed in this business, I have to be on the web," Abukhaled said. To try to be the king of flooring, Abukhaled has given the titan of tech millions of dollars for ads over the past nine years. He pays Google to tie certain keywords like "flooring," as well as users' locations, to his business. Between April and August 2023, Royal Home Flooring paid Google Ads $257 per click — totaling $693,000. His bill jumped to $958,000 — almost $1 million — during the same five-month stretch the next year. During that time, if a person's Google search led them to Royal Home Flooring, the entrepreneur was apparently charged $673 for each click. "Why am I paying this much?" Abukhaled said. Abukhaled acknowledged he was told his Google bills might be higher after switching to something called Smart Bidding, a different Google Ads marketing strategy that touts it allows users to maximize conversions, or sales. What is not clear when it comes to Smart Bidding is pricing. We could not find any basic details about cost on any of the Smart Bidding help pages from Google either. "It's crazy. I swear. I mean, we struggle enough as business owners. The cost of the materials is going up. The labor is going up too, as well," Abukhaled said, "and when your advertising cost is going to go up, who's going to eat it at the end of the day? It's the end consumer." Customer support chats to understand Abukhaled's skyrocketing monthly bills went nowhere. "They put you in this infinite, like, loop," he said. Abukhaled filed a credit card dispute against the Google Ads charges. "Without question, they just suspended my account immediately," he said. Even after all that, however, Abukhaled is still using Google — because, he says, there is no other place for him to advertise. "When you think about it. Google, they own about 95% of the search market," he said. Abukhaled feels stuck paying whatever Google wants him to pay. The U.S. Department of Justice has filed not one, but two lawsuits against Google, alleging the company is a monopoly that needs to be broken up. The government won both cases — most recently in April. A demand letter form Abukhaled can now be added to the tech giant's legal troubles. Royal Home Flooring wants an arbitrator to step in and address what it calls "a breach of good faith and fair dealing, and potentially deceptive conduct." Abukhaled said when he tells family and friends he is going after Google, "I think they take it as a joke, honestly." But he is not laughing. Quite seriously, the small business owner said he is ready for a big lift to make a big wave. He said he is confident that he is not alone. Google's press team said it could not comment because of the ongoing legal dispute. Google also would not answer CBS News Chicago's general questions about ad pricing — we were pointed to written statements the company made a month ago after accusations that it works as a monopoly. Google denies those allegations.
Globe and Mail
16-05-2025
- Globe and Mail
Police in Surrey, B.C., investigating house fire that spread to neighbouring homes
Police in Surrey, B.C., are investigating an early morning house fire in the city's Bridgeview neighbourhood. They say officers responded to a report of a structure fire around 1:35 a.m. in the area of 127 Street and 113A Avenue. Police say firefighters extinguished the blaze, but remained on scene around 8:15 a.m. They say the fire is believed to have started in a vacant building and spread to neighbouring homes. Police say no one was injured. They say officials are still working to determine the cause of the blaze.
CTV News
16-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Surrey house fire spreads to neighbouring homes
A fire in Surrey's Bridgeview neighbourhood is seen on Friday, May 16. More than two dozen firefighters responded to a house fire in Surrey's Bridgeview neighbourhood in the early hours of Friday morning. Surrey Fire Service told CTV News crews were called to 113A street at 1:30 a.m. A vacant home was fully engulfed in flames, and the blaze spread to two neighbouring houses on either side, damaging both. All three homes are now uninhabitable. Firefighters say people in the adjacent homes are displaced but have places to stay. There were no injuries reported. With files from CTV News Vancouver's Brett Lubkiwski
Associated Press
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Kouassi scores and assists in Spirit's 3-2 win over Stars
Rosemonde Kouassi had a goal and an assist and the Washington Spirit beat the Chicago Stars 3-2 in the National Women's Soccer League on Saturday. Gift Monday scored the winning goal when she tapped in Kouassi's pass in the 80th minute. Elsewhere in the NWSL, the Portland Thorns got a late penalty for a 1-1 draw with the San Diego Wave; and the North Carolina Courage tied 1-1 with the Orlando Pride. The Spirit took a 1-0 lead at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, when Chicago's Ally Schlegel turned a low cross from Kouassi into her own net in the 31st minute. The Stars answered five minutes later with Julia Grosso's equalizer. The Spirit (5-3-0) regained the lead before halftime. Tara McKeown curled a cross to the back post, and Kouassi was there to score with one touch. It her first goal in the NWSL in her 14th regular-season appearance. Chicago (1-6-1) made it 2-2 when former Spirit player Sam Staab poked home a goal in the 54th minute. Perry scores late penalty for Thorns Jayden Perry converted a penalty kick deep into stoppage time and the visiting Thorns pulled even with the Wave, who were down to 10 players. Kirsten McNabb conceded the penalty for the Wave (4-2-2) when she tripped Sam Coffey in the box in the sixth minute of stoppage time. Perry, a rookie out of UCLA, stepped up to score her third goal of the season, all from the penalty spot. Kimmi Ascanio gave the Wave a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute. Perle Morroni dinked the ball across the box for Ascanio to glance a header past Portland goalkeeper Bella Bixby from five yards out. Wave defender Kennedy Wesley was shown a red card for a foul on Olivia Moultrie in the 41st minute and San Diego was down a player the rest of the way. Despite having a player advantage, the Wave had more possession in the game (55%). However, Portland dominated the number of chances taken, with 21 shots to San Diego's five. Both the Wave and the Thorns (3-2-4) are now undefeated in their past four games. Late Chilufya goal seals 1-1 tie for Orlando Prisca Chilufya scored her first NWSL goal to give the Pride a tie in Cary, North Carolina. Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy misjudged the flight of the ball and failed to punch away Chilufya's looping header in stoppage time. North Carolina (2-3-3) took the early lead on Felicitas Rauch's goal in the 27th minute. After Orlando goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse saved a one-on-one with Courage forward Manaka Matsukubo, Rauch put in the rebound. The Pride (5-2-1) had a season-high 63% possession while the Courage recorded their lowest-ever possession share (37%) since head coach Sean Nahas took over in 2022. The Pride also outshot the Courage 15-7. The tie keeps Orlando at the top of the NWSL standings. ___ AP soccer:
Reuters
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
NWSL roundup: Gift Monday leads Spirit over Stars
May 10 - Gift Monday scored in the 83rd minute to break a tie as the Washington Spirit defeated the Chicago Stars FC 3-2 on Saturday afternoon at Bridgeview, Ill. The Spirit (5-3-0, 15 points), who snapped a two-match losing streak, also had a goal from Rosemonde Kouassi and benefited from a first-half own goal that marked the first goal of the match. Washington scored on both of its shots on goal. Julia Grosso and Sam Staab scored for Chicago (1-6-1, 4 points). Kouassi, whose goal marked her first in NWSL play, assisted on the go-ahead goal. Monday shielded a defender in front of the net and took a pass from Kouassi to deliver the goal from short range. Monday, who was a substitute, has scored in back-to-back matches and has three goals this season. Tara McKeown assisted on Kouassi's goal, making a precision pass as Kouassi cut through the box toward the net. Aubrey Kingsbury made two saves for the Spirit. --Field Level Media
