Latest news with #Speight
Otago Daily Times
10 hours ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Slippery slope of butter prices
A more than 50% surge in the price of butter is a "frightening" sign the hospitality industry is doing it tough, a Dunedin business owner says. "Butter, cheese, milk — they're becoming luxuries," Speight's Ale House Dunedin owner Mark Scully said. According to figures released by Stats NZ yesterday, food prices in May increased 4.4% in the past year, on the back of a 3.7% annual rise in April. Higher prices for the grocery food group and meat, poultry and fish group contributed the most, rising 5.2% and 5.4% respectively. Butter, cheese and milk prices were cited as the cause. The average price of butter last month was $8.42 per 500g, a 51.2% annual increase. "The cost of a 500g block of butter is nearly twice as expensive as the lower prices seen in early 2024," prices and deflators spokeswoman Nicola Growden said. Cheese was $13.04 per 1kg block, up 30.1% year-on-year, while milk was $4.57 per 2 litres, up 15.1%. The average prices of beef steak and beef mince were up 18.6% and 13%, respectively. Mr Scully, who is also Hospitality New Zealand's Otago branch president, said he was surprised the average price of butter had become so high. "I knew it was going up, but that is a frightening stat, isn't it?" The price of butter had seen a "real hype" in the past 12 to 18 months, and protein and dairy costs had been particularly tough for businesses. Nobody wanted to have to close their business, but it did appear to be a reasonably regular occurrence around the country, Mr Scully said. "But it's like anything, you just have to be brave and ultimately pass it on to the consumer or else your margins just don't stack up." Ayrburn general manager Kieran Turnbull said the hospitality precinct had seen a steady rise in food prices across the board since the Covid-19 pandemic, but there had been a "real noticeable increase" in the price of butter this year. "Everyone needs butter ... butter goes into everything. "It goes into your scone, it goes into your pastries, it goes into your desserts, it goes into sauces — so it's a cost that flows right through." While prices were always changing in hospitality, Mr Turnbull believed the costs put on to consumers were being "more acutely felt" than at other times. "That's probably why it's so tough at the moment for a lot of operators." The precinct, located between Arrowtown and Lake Hayes, has nine distinct venues. Having a range of offerings allowed it to absorb costs in one outlet while letting them rise in another, but at the cost of providing so many offerings, Mr Turnbull said. Supermarkets were also continuing to "artificially set the expectations for the New Zealand consumer of what things cost". "And that directly affects hospitality."
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Fort Chaffee cleans damage from EF-1 tornado
FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Fort Chaffee Joint Maneuver Training Center was among the many places that received damage from Monday's tornadoes. The National Weather Service in Tulsa surveyed damage and confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down with estimated maximum wind speeds of 107 mph. Lt. Col. Mike Speight with the Arkansas Army National Guard estimates more than 50 buildings were damaged, seven of which would 'probably be considered major damage.' Speight said there were no injuries reported and training and operations at Fort Chaffee remain unaffected while the clean-up process continues. Rogers business reopens after Memorial Day tornado 'Losing a handful of barracks, it's not going to be a significant impact,' Speight said. 'We may have to move some units around. They thought they were going to get this building. Now, they're going to get another building in a different part of the installation.' NWS Tulsa identified a 21.4-mile tornado track in total, starting just north of Cameron, Oklahoma, and lifting northwest of Fort Chaffee Joint Maneuver Training Center before reaching Highway 22. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 25 minutes. The highest observed winds during the entire track came when it crossed over Fort Chaffee. Speight said there weren't many people on base Monday when the tornado passed through. He was at home with his family when he noticed the track went over the fort, then called the police department at Fort Chaffee to check in. The next morning, Speight said everybody at Fort Chaffee got to work to clear debris and restore the buildings. He said roads were clear by about 10 a.m. Tuesday, and a majority of the big debris was out of the way by 10 a.m. Thursday. There were some crews lifting a tree off the roof of one building and repairing the roof of another Friday. 'It's all hands on deck,' Speight said. 'Let's get out the trucks, trailers, start piling brush, dragging sheet metal off to the recycling area.' Speight is unsure how much it will cost to repair the damage. 'I think we'll move forward from there, and we'll fix what we need to fix, and we'll get them back into repair and back into service,' Speight said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
NJ bill looks to address maternal health barriers
TRENTON, N.J. (PIX11) – For Assemblywoman Shanique Speight, maternal health is personal. 'When we talk about maternal mortality, and maternal health, and we talk about morbidity, and we're in the year 2025, we still have a lot of work to do,' said Speight (D-NJ 29th District). More Local News A bill she's authoring hopes to make a difference by bringing remote maternal services to some expecting moms on Medicaid. Maternal health is an issue that hits home. 'My husband's mother passed. She was 18 years old. She passed 3 days after she gave birth to him,' said Speight. 'He never knew his mom. I look at we're in 2025, 51 years ago, you would think that things would have changed. And we have made some progress here in the State of New Jersey, but it's actually not enough.' If passed into law, the bill would create a three-year pilot program to provide remote maternal monitoring services to those on Medicaid who are pregnant. The legislation says it will include remote patient monitoring, non-stress tests, and tele-ultrasounds. 'Transportation sometimes is a barrier,' said Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-NJ 15th District), one of the bill's sponsors, 'so this bill helps alleviate that. It still connects people to their doctor, even between those physical appointments.' 'It laid on my heart, and I know there's a lot of people, especially in the Black and Brown communities, that struggle with this as well,' said Assemblyman Antwan McClellan (R-NJ 1st District), another sponsor of the bill. 'You can check out the birth rates and see people are struggling with giving birth to babies in our Black and Brown communities.' The bill ties into the discussion of improving outcomes in Black maternal health. According to data from the CDC, maternal mortality rates for Black women are more than three times higher than for white women. Crystal Charley attended Thursday's Assembly Health Committee meeting to advocate for the bill. A doula herself, she plans to open a birthing center in Trenton soon. 'We need to get this bill passed as soon as possible because for every day it is not passed, we are losing mothers,' said Charley. The committee voted unanimously to advance the bill. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
