Nestle says heavy rain hurt its pumpkin harvest so there may be a shortage of its Libby's pumpkin pie products through the holidays.

The company is responsible for nearly all the canned pumpkin sold in the U.S.

It announced this week that it will not pack any more pumpkins this year. So shoppers may see some shortages until next year's harvest.

It started when a single circuit board in a piece of networking equipment at a computer center in Salt Lake City failed around 5 a.m., the FAA said in a statement.

That failure prevented air traffic control computers in different parts of the country from talking to each other. Air traffic controllers were forced to type in complicated flight plans themselves because they could not be transferred automatically from computers in one region of the country to computers in another, slowing down the whole system.

Two large computer centers in Salt Lake City and near Atlanta were affected, as well as 21 regional radar centers around the country.

Delays were particularly bad at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest. The glitch also exacerbated delays caused by bad weather in the Northeast, with airports in the Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York metro areas reporting problems.

Some flights were more than two hours behind schedule. Airports around the South also reported delays and cancellations.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said the country's aviation system is "in shambles" and the FAA needs more resources to prevent such problems from continuing.

"If we don't deliver the resources, manpower, and technology the FAA it needs to upgrade the system, these technical glitches that cause cascading delays and chaos across the country are going to become a very regular occurrence," he said in a statement.

Despite the problems, the public areas of Atlanta's airport seemed no busier than usual. Travelers ate breakfast and lounged in the atrium, where sisters Sharon Walker and Sheila James waited to take their elderly mother, Rosa Washington, to see their other sister in St. Louis. The trio's 9'30 a.m. flight was delayed until 4 p.m. because of the glitch.

"We were going to be there for a four-day weekend, but now it's getting cut short," James said. "It's just not a good day."

In the public areas of Newark International Airport, where delays are routine, Thursday seemed like a normal day, though several people paced around the terminal trying to rearrange their plans. Passenger Chris Cozzi said he was moved from one Delta flight to another but was still unsure if it would arrive on time in Atlanta, where he would have just an hour to catch a flight to Europe.

"You have to wonder what's the glitch? Glitch is kind of a general term, it could encompass many, many things," he said. "So it is a concern, but I tend to be an optimist."

At Dulles International Airport outside Washington, AirTran canceled Flight 63 to Atlanta and urged passengers to head to nearby Reagan National Airport to catch another flight. Hilda Ruffin of Manassas, a senior citizen who uses a wheelchair, said she lobbied the airline for a free shuttle pass to get to Reagan.

"I really fought for it ... I don't have the money to pay for a cab," said Ruffin, who was on her way to San Antonio.

Passengers were asked to check the status of their flights online before going to airports.

AirTran canceled at least 22 flights and delayed dozens more. Delta Air Lines was also affected. American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith said several hundred flights would be delayed.

Continental Airlines delays averaged about an hour during the early part of the morning. JetBlue Airways said 25 of its flights at Kennedy International Airport had average delays of 60 minutes and delays at other airports were up to 30 minutes. US Airways flights were no longer being affected by the glitch by midday.

Houston's two airports and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport reported few delays but said things could get worse, especially for travelers headed east. Los Angeles International Airport initially said delays were likely later in the day, then canceled that warning. Airports in Europe reported no immediate problems.

The glitch slowed flight plans collected by the FAA for traffic nationwide at its centers in Salt Lake City and Hampton, Ga., outside Atlanta.

It was reminiscent of a software malfunction that delayed hundreds of flights around the country in August 2008.

In that episode, the Northeast was hardest hit by the delays because of a glitch at the Hampton facility, which processes flight plans for the eastern half of the U.S.

The FAA said at that time the source of the computer software malfunction was a "packet switch" that "failed due to a database mismatch."
 

ATLANTA -- The Kellogg Co. says the heavy rains that brought floods to parts of metro Atlanta in September contributed to problems that led to a continuing shortage of its Eggo brand frozen waffles.

Michigan-based Kellogg says it temporarily halted production of the waffles in September at the Atlanta plant because of flooding there.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Kellogg says the Atlanta facility is back in production, but that equipment at the company's waffle bakery in Rossville, Tenn. requires extensive repairs and improvements and several lines there are out of operation.

Kellogg spokeswoman Kris Charles told the newspaper the company is working to restore Eggo inventories to normal as quickly as possible.

ATLANTA — Another fee is coming in the new year for airline and hotel customers — this time from your credit card company.

The message' Pay your bill on time or forfeit the miles or points you thought you earned for making purchases on your card during that month.

To get the rewards back, it's going to cost you.

American Express Co. is sending notices to customers who hold its cobranded cards with Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Hilton Hotels and Starwood Hotels, that beginning in January rewards won't be transferred to loyalty accounts with those partners if you are late paying your bill.

You'll be hit with a $29 reinstatement fee if you want the rewards back. That fee is on top of the late-payment fee — $19 or $38 depending on your balance. A penalty interest rate, currently 27 percent, would be assessed on future balances.

American Express is changing the policy for its cobranded cards to align those cards with its other Amex cards that have carried the same policy for months or years.

The policy doesn't just affect the habitual late payer, it affects everyone, said John Ulzheimer, president of educational services for Credit.com. "I think over the course of time, people miss a payment at least once because of unforeseen circumstances like something getting lost in the mail or a long vacation taking your focus off making your payments," he said.

Other card issuers, like Citigroup Inc. and JP Morgan Chase & Co., also have cobranded credit cards with airlines and hotels. Citi is paired with American Airlines. Chase is paired with United Airlines and Marriott International Inc.

Citi spokesman Mark Rodgers said points earned on the company's Citi cards that offer rewards through the company's own rewards program may not be available for redemption if a card holder pays late one month, and in some cases a fee for reinstatement may apply. Rodgers said Citi is not considering reinstatement fees for its cobranded cards with American Airlines and Hilton.

JP Morgan Chase spokeswoman Tanya Madison said that if an account is past due for the cobranded United card, a customer will not earn miles until the account is paid. "While we do not go back and confiscate miles, we will stop awarding miles on spend going forward until the account's paid in full," Madison said.

Consumer advocates aren't surprised by American Express' move considering tough new rules for credit card companies scheduled to go into effect in February. Under the new law, lenders won't be able to increase rates on existing balances unless a person is more than 60 days behind on a payment.

"Essentially if you can't charge one fee, you create a new fee," Ulzheimer said.

Banks deny that they are increasing rates ahead of the February deadline and blame fee increases on the economic downturn. American Express isn't saying how much revenue it expects to generate from the new reward reinstatement fee for cobranded cards.

American Express spokeswoman Desiree Fish said her company currently transfers Delta SkyMiles to its cardholders' loyalty accounts for eligible purchases even if they are late paying their bill.

She said that in addition to changing the policy for cobranded cards to be in line with its other cards, American Express also wants to "incentivize good behavior, to say you should pay on time, and if you don't there are penalties."

Delta said in a statement that the changes to American Express' terms and conditions are consistent with changes across the credit card industry and also include new benefits for Delta customers, including the ability to earn unlimited SkyMiles for purchases on the credit card each year.

Here are some steps you can take to avoid the headache of losing your airline or hotel rewards earned on your credit card'

--Always know when your bill is due and make sure you pay it on time. Set up e-mail billing alerts for your card.

--Manage your account online. Schedule electronic payments using your checking account at your bank. Many banks allow free online billpay, and with major credit card companies the payments often post the same day as the payment is scheduled.

--Read the fine print. Don't throw away those legal notices you get from credit card companies. Terms and conditions are being changed all the time. Know the terms, so you can protect your credit and your rewards.

"It's bad. I didn't think it was a bad as it was," he said.

Four screws later, Nate's got one more put in him by Sears.

"They're charging me over and over. Every day I check my account there's another charge on there," he said.

The doctor ordered Nate to exercise. So he bought a heart rate monitor on Sears.com to help with his stationary bike sessions.

$43.64 later he had one monitor, but Sears had charged him eight times.

Jesse Jones' "What annoys you more - your foot or Sears?"

Nate Wight' "Sears for sure, man, they're killing me!"

Check this out' Nate bought the heart-rate monitor on Halloween, priced at $43.64. But over the next two days, Sears hit his account again. There were no charges for a couple days. Then they started again.

That's when Nate called Sears customer service. Sears told him they'd put the money back.

He got three of the credits back, but over the next three days Sears took that money back.

Jesse Jones' "After they helped you, you kept getting charged?"

Nate Wight' "After they admitted in their words 'We dropped the ball all over the place on this one, we'll give you credit as soon as we can, get this to stop' - it has not stopped."

That's when Nate called me, and I called Sears.

They said a "system issue" caused the duplicate charges to not only Nate's debit card, but to other customers.

How many? They won't say. They promised to stop charging Nate and give him his money back.

"I kept getting charges, so at this point I can't wait another 10 days, I'm not going to have any money left in my account," said Nate.

All the money has now been returned and Sears says they are sorry about this. In an effort to make it up to Nate, they're sending him a gift card.

If this happens to you, print out your bank statements and contact the merchant and your bank. Then give me a call.

BOISE - This week, the Department of Commerce released Idaho's 3rd quarter export sales.  It's not as good as last year, but it's a lot better than last quarter!

Computer circuitry, paper and dairy products are just some of Idaho's top sellers when it comes to overseas customers.

The vast majority of Idaho imports are shipped to Asia; Taiwan tops the list in the third quarter with nearly $260 million worth of Idaho goods, followed by Canada and China.

Last year, Idaho exports reached an all-time high.

"We had over $5 billion of exports which was a pleasant surprise for us given the economy, domestically, had started to turn down in 2008 and yet we still finished the year with a record year," said Damien Bard, International Business Division of Idaho Dept. of Commerce.

This year, it's been a different story and Idaho is still significantly lagging in its year-to-date results.  But the third quarter, which just ended, is showing some promise.  A nearly 25 percent increase in exports from the quarter before.  Nationally exports rose just 5 percent.

"What that says to us is that's a more rapid increase than we've typically seen quarter to quarter, so we have reason to be cautiously optimistic that things might be turning around in the export sector," said Bard.

"As far as international sales, we are experiencing about 25 percent quarter over quarter growth," said Amy Childress, PakSense Marketing Director.

Falling right in line with those statewide numbers is PakSense, a Boise company that makes a food safety monitoring label. It's used for tracking time and temperature of perishables as they travel nationally and internationally. 

"The return on investment is high.  It becomes a no-brainer situation to put one of these labels on there," said Childress.

And that's what more and more international companies are doing.  PakSense is on track for another double-digit increase for the 4th quarter.

Bard attributes the statewide jump to a weaker U.S. dollar and a stronger international demand.

"[It's] something we always try to preach to Idaho companies that, to hedge against domestic downturn in the economy, look to international markets because that can help you even out those downturns in the economy," he said.

Last quarter, from July to September, Idaho exported more than $1 billion worth of products to 112 countries.

WASHINGTON  — A leading auto organization is projecting a 1.4 percent increase in Thanksgiving travel this year, although fewer people will travel by air due to budget concerns, reduced airline capacity and added charges.

AAA said Wednesday it expects 38.4 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more away from home over this year's holiday weekend compared to 37.8 million last year. The number of automobile travelers is expected to be 33.2 million compared to 32.5 million last year — an increase of 2.1 percent.

Air travel, however, is projected to decline 6.7 percent, or 2.3 million travelers this year compared to 2.5 million in 2008. AAA said the share of Thanksgiving travelers journeying by air has been declining for a decade.

BOISE -- Idahoans may soon get the chance to play another multi-million dollar jackpot game. 

The Idaho State Lottery Commission announced Tuesday that Mega Millions, the nation’s other big jackpot, multi-state draw game could start selling tickets in Idaho early as Jan. 31, 2010.

The five-member Lottery Commission unanimously approved offering Mega Millions with Megaplier tickets in Idaho.

Powerball with PowerPlay, Idaho’s other big jackpot game, will also continue to be sold in Idaho.

Pending final agreements and approval between the Mega Millions consortium and the Multi-State Lottery Association (the group that operates Powerball), Idaho could begin selling both games by the end of January.

“Adding Mega Millions with Megaplier to our product lineup means our players will now have the chance to play for two, “always big” multi-million jackpots, four times a week,” said Idaho Lottery Director Jeff Anderson.

Mega Millions with Megaplier, with Tuesday and Friday night draws, will join the Wednesday and Saturday night draw games of Powerball with PowerPlay, Hot Lotto Sizzler, and Wild Card in the Idaho Lottery line-up. The Idaho Lottery will also continue to offer daily games Idaho Pick3 and Double Play Daily.

“This game addition is a win for Idaho,” added Anderson.  “It’s a win for our players who enjoy big jackpot games; it’s a win for Idaho businesses who offer Lottery products; and it’s a win for the Idaho Lottery’s primary beneficiaries - public schools and the permanent building fund. Both will realize an increase in dividends from the game.”

Idaho is one of 33 U.S. jurisdictions that participates in Powerball.

Mega Millions is the other large, multi-state multi-million dollar game that is currently played in 12 jurisdictions in the U.S.

Tickets cost $1 and players select five white balls from 1 to 56 and one “Mega Ball” from 1 to 46. 

Mega Millions jackpots begin at $12 million and grow until the jackpot is won.

The Idaho version of Mega Millions will feature a “Megaplier” which will multiply non-jackpot winnings by 2, 3, or 4 times for $1 more per play at the time of purchase.