Blizzard may ruin romance biz

With a blizzard threatening to dishearten Valentine's Day celebrants, restaurants and florists have adjusted game plans to keep snow from ruining the romance and taking a bite out of their bottom lines.

Restaurants are extending their specials to today and Sunday, while florists have double-downed on delivery personnel.

And a customer of Boston's Teuscher Chocolates was thinking even bigger: He called the governor's office to request Valentine's Day be extended to the entire month to support businesses that rely heavily on it, owner Stefan Bieri said.

"Not everybody is going to be able to go out on Saturday night," Bieri said, "so it will be good if people are flexible."

It's been a "crippling" 17 days for Massachusetts restaurants, and Valentine's typically is their second busiest day of the year, said Bob Luz, CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.

"Even before the forecast came out, restaurants ... were promoting it as Valentine's weekend," Luz said. "We're hoping our guests will plan accordingly and celebrate the occasion on other days than potentially Saturday night."

Boston restaurant Pastoral is sold out for Valentine's Day, but chef/owner Todd Winer also is running his special menu tonight and Sunday. "If people don't want to come out in the snow, they still will have an opportunity to ... enjoy what we offer," he said.

Winston Flowers plans 5,000 deliveries today and 5,000 tomorrow — all before the snow starts.

"There's obviously a curveball that New England weather has thrown us, but we have a good plan in place to tackle it," co-owner Ted Winston said.

Winston rescheduled shipments set to come by plane into Boston to New York and sent trucks to pick them up. It will have 25 percent more delivery vehicles because of the snow.

"For inside the city, ordinarily we have a driver who would take deliveries out and find spaces to park," Winston said. "But now, with the parking situation … we're doubling up all of our vehicles to have someone who just sits and watches ... while someone makes the delivery."

Valentine's accounts for 15 to 20 percent of Teuscher Chocolates' business. This year, Bieri has seen more customers ordering online.

"People really reacted over the weekend and got online and ordered a lot of items to be shipped," he said. "Certainly if we look at all these factors like travel bans, parking bans, no T ... that prevents a lot of folks from even coming into our business district."

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Settlement reached in World Trade Center name rights case

NEW YORK — A settlement has been reached in a case involving the 1986 transfer of rights of the name World Trade Center to a nonprofit.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Friday that an investigation found the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey "exercised lax oversight and virtually no due diligence" when approving the transfer to the World Trade Centers Association for $10.

The association will pay New York $184,000. It also will pay 33 percent of any revenues from the use of the name in New York and New Jersey, up to $15,000 a year.

The funds will go toward the World Trade Center memorial.

The nonprofit calls it a "satisfactory resolution."

Port Authority Chairman John Degnan says the agency is reviewing its relationship with the association.

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Connector still experiencing delays

The Bay State's health insurance website is improving, but remains a work in progress, with an online payment system that is causing frustration, state officials said yesterday.

Consumers continue to experience long wait times due to heavy volumes at call centers.

"There is significant work left," said Maydad Cohen, who was tapped by Gov. Deval Patrick to overhaul the website after it crashed, creating a backlog of 72,000 paper applications and daily website outages.

The online payment set-up — separate from the Connector's insurance website — has been "clunkier" and not instantaneous, Cohen said. "We've made tweaks throughout."

The final day for applying for health insurance in 2015 and picking a plan is Sunday. Feb. 23 is the deadline to pay for coverage in a Health Connector plan.

The Connector is extending the hours of availability for its call center and walk-in offices. If severe weather hits the state over the weekend, the call center will limit operations.

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Herald sports scribes Ron Borges, Steve Bulpett honored

Boston's sports teams aren't the only ones picking up some hardware.

The Herald Sports department is taking a victory lap too after Ron Borges and Steve Bulpett were honored for outstanding writing this week by the Associated Press Sports Editors.

Borges, a veteran writer with more than 30 years experience, earned Top 10 writing honors as a columnist.

Some of his standout columns included a look at American Meb Keflezighi's triumph in the Boston Marathon and the plight of former Patriots running back Kevin Turner, now stricken with ALS.

"This is a terrific honor not just for Ron, but for the entire Herald and especially our Sports department," Sports Editor Sean Leahy said. "Ron provides unique perspectives that really add depth to our coverage, and I'm thrilled for him."

Bulpett, who has been with the Herald since 1985 and is now in his 30th season covering the Celtics, won a Top 10 honor for his feature story on Doc Rivers' transition from the Celtics to the Clippers in January 2014.

"Steve is one of the main reasons sports fans turn to the Herald," Leahy said. "His history on the beat makes him the go-to guy for Celtics news in Boston, and he proved that with this terrific story that took fans behind the scenes with Rivers.

"I'm ecstatic that his hard work — and really that of all our Herald team — is being saluted by our peers."

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Boston app startup catches eye of Richard Branson

Wanderu, travel czar Richard Branson's new favorite startup, yesterday launched its free bus- and train-booking app for iPhone and iPad, with plans to debut an Android version within the next two months.

The Boston startup was among three companies invited recently to Necker, Branson's private island, to pitch to the Virgin Group founder and a panel of other judges at his Extreme Tech Challenge after being culled from more than 2,000 applicants at last month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

"It was an incredible experience because I look up to him. He's the king of transportation," Wanderu CEO Polina Raygorodskaya said of the man behind Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Trains and the space tourism company Virgin Galactic. "He said he's very excited about us simplifying the booking process for bus and train travel."

The app allows people to type in any city, address or point of interest and then finds them the lowest fare from among the bus and train companies that Wanderu partners with, as well as directions to the nearest station.

It also allows people to put together trips with multiple connections and saves their favorite routes and all their reservations in one place so that they can board with a confirmation number, rather than fumbling for tickets.

Since it launched a desktop version of its service in 2013, Wanderu has had 5 million users, growing by 400 percent quarter over quarter, Raygorodskaya said.

Its next stop after launching its Android app will be expanding to Mexico and other countries, she said.

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Harvard, MIT sued by U.S. deaf group

Advocates for the deaf are suing Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, claiming discrimination over a lack of closed captioning for online courses, podcasts and other educational materials, which are exploding in popularity.

"If you were deaf or hard of hearing, you would not have access to this online content, and the online content we're talking about is being provided by two institutions that are leaders in a new movement in education," said Bill Lann Lee, a lawyer for the National Association for the Deaf, which filed class action lawsuits in federal court yesterday. "The National Association for the Deaf is interested in making sure the hard of hearing and deaf are not left out."

The lawsuits seek to compel Harvard and MIT to add closed captioning to their online materials and the NAD hopes the court action will prompt other schools to address the issue proactively.

"(The NAD) decided to sue two of the leaders in this movement, because their objective is not just to change the practices of two schools, but the practices nationally," Lee said.

In statements, both Harvard and MIT declined to comment on the suits, but said they are committed to making educational content accessible.

Harvard said new federal rules that will "provide much-needed guidance in this area" are expected to be proposed this year and the university will follow the new rules.

"Expanding access to knowledge and making online learning content accessible is of vital importance to Harvard and to educational institutions across the country," the statement said.

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The Ticker

Facebook to let someone run account after you die

Facebook is making it easier to plan for your online afterlife.

The world's biggest online social network said yesterday that it will now let users pick someone who can manage their account after they die. Previously, the accounts were "memorialized" after death, or locked so that no one could log in.

But Facebook says its users wanted more choice. Beginning in the U.S., Facebook users can pick a "legacy contact" to post on their page after they die, respond to new friend requests and update their profile picture and cover photo. Users can also have their accounts deleted after their death, which was not possible before.

If you want someone to manage your account after you die, click on the upside-down triangle on the top right corner of your page, open "settings" and find "security." For U.S. users there will be an option to edit your legacy contact, who must be a Facebook user. But you don't have to pick someone else to manage your account. You can also check a box to permanently delete your account when you die.

Expedia to buy rival Orbitz for $1.3B

Expedia said yesterday that it is buying rival Orbitz Worldwide Inc. for about $1.3 billion. The deal adds the Orbitz brand and sites including CheapTickets and HotelClub to a lineup that already includes names such as Hotels.com, Hotwire, Trivago and Australia's Wotif.com. Expedia is also in the process of buying Travelocity.

In a conference call with analysts, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that even though big in the online segment, his company is "only a small player" in a
 $1.3 trillion travel market that includes giants such as Google and many newcomers. Expedia says its bookings account for only 4 percent of global travel spending.

The purchase of Orbitz would leap Expedia ahead of The Priceline Group Inc. in travel bookings, although Priceline would still be larger by revenue and stock market value. Besides its namesake website, Priceline owns Booking.com, Kayak and restaurant-reservation site OpenTable.

CBS profits up on Thursday football

CBS Corp., owner of the most-watched U.S. TV network, reported slightly higher-than-expected quarterly revenue and profit, helped by its Thursday night football broadcasts.

CBS won the rights to broadcast eight Thursday night NFL games during the 2014 season, giving it one of the most highly prized programs on a night coveted by advertisers.

• Burlington-based Circor International, a provider of valves and other highly engineered products for markets, including oil and gas, power generation and aerospace and defense, announced that Erik Wiik, left, will join the company as group president. Wiik currently is executive vice president and regional president of Aker Solutions North America.

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NYT media columnist David Carr dies

David Carr, an influential media columnist for the New York Times recently named a Boston University media professor, collapsed and died while working in the newspaper's offices last night, the New York Times reported.

The 58-year-old married father of three wrote the Media Equation column for the newspaper which consisted of "media as it intersects with business, culture, and government," the paper stated.

Carr, who had written about the media for the past 25 years, joined the New York Times in 2002 as a business reporter, covering magazine publishing. He had previously been a contributor to The Atlantic Monthly and New York magazine, and a media writer for Inside.com, a website focusing on the business of entertainment and publishing, the Times reported.

Carr and his wife, Jill Rooney Carr, lived in Montclair, N.J. with their daughter Maddie. He also has twin daughters, Erin and Meagan, the paper reported.

Carr's memoir of his own battle with drug addiction, "The Night of the Gun," was published in 2008 by Simon and Schuster, the Times said.

"The book is a memoir of addiction and recovery that used reporting to fact-check the past," the paper reported. "Much of the data he collected, including videos, documents and pictures is available online."

Carr had recently been selected to teach at Boston University, where fellow professor Tobe Berkovitz called him a massive presence in media circles.

"He really was the premier writer and critic and analyst of all things media," Berkovitz said. "He was highly respected and followed by everyone in the media. He really was the must read for people in the media. He was a huge influence on how people looked at the media and all the changes going on. When the Brian Williams story was breaking, you wondered what David Carr was going to say."

The university had said "Carr will spend the spring semester developing his curriculum for two classes to be taught next year, one in the fall semester and one in spring 2015."

A university spokesman could not be reached last night for comment.

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Hot Property: New promotions try to lure renters

Sign an apartment lease and enter a raffle to win a $5,000 gift card.

With nine new apartment complexes opening in Boston and Cambridge this year, competition for renters is heating up, and some buildings that opened within the past year or so and still haven't fully leased up are offering new promotions to entice renters.

The 328-unit Batch Yard apartment complex in Everett is offering a Willy Wonka-influenced "Golden Ticket Contest" at the former Charleston Chew factory. Renters who sign a lease between Jan. 1 and mid-March are eligible for the $5,000 drawing March 18.

"The odds of winning are good," said Danielle Bertulli, senior sales and marketing associate for the Batch Yard, which is 33 percent leased. "The raffle is just another way to get people out to our property and give them another incentive to sign on."

The raffle joins other rent concessions already in place at the Batch Yard, such as a "look and lease" incentive that offers $500 to those who sign leases within 48 hours of touring an apartment. And if the renter moves in within 30 days, one month's rent is free.

The Lumiere, a 163-unit complex in Medford that's 39 percent leased, is offering a Valentine's Day special on select apartments, says property manager Robin Boersner. If you sign a lease by Monday, you get one month of free rent if you move in by April 1. With a deposit down within 48 hours of signing, you get an extra $1,000 off. And they'll throw in a free garage space, too.

The Flats on D in South Boston is fighting this winter's doldrums by offering a chance to win $1,500 in a travel giveaway raffle to renters who sign leases this month, with a drawing March 1.

"Generally if one building is offering concessions, others do so as well," said Alissa Issom, property manager of Flats on D, which is 69 percent leased. "But we were looking to do something different."

The Flats on D, along with some other new buildings, doesn't offer free rent incentives. These rental complexes rely on pricing set by revenue management software such as YieldStar and Rainmaker LRO, which adjusts apartment prices daily based on supply and demand.

"It compares our rents along with 20 competitors and sets prices," said Issom. "It really levels the playing field."

"The software reduced the price of some two-bedrooms to the point where I thought 'really?'" said Erica Stockton, property manager at The Commons at Southfield in Weymouth. "But when those apartments rented, the price of other two bedrooms went back up."

But plenty of other buildings that use revenue management software also offer additional incentives.

The Victor, a 286-unit complex near North Station, resets apartment prices every 24 hours, but also gives a $500 American Express gift card to renters who move in within two weeks of signing a lease, in addition to two free months on any vacant apartment.

"Boston is a tough market and renters in the city are being conditioned to getting two free months on leases, which is going to make retention tough," said Hilary Behrens, community manager of The Victor, which is 93 percent leased. "If you can save up to $8,000 a year in rent with incentives, you get accustomed to moving every year."

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New York Times media columnist David Carr dies at 58

David Carr, the iconoclastic media columnist for the New York Times, died Thursday while working at the Times' office, according a report posted late Thursday on the Times' website. He was 58.

The New York Times reported that he collapsed in The Times newsroom, where he was found shortly before 9 p.m. EST. He was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the Times.

Earlier in the evening, he moderated a panel discussion about the film "Citizenfour" with its principal subject, Edward J. Snowden; the film's director, Laura Poitras; and Glenn Greenwald, a journalist.

Carr wrote the Media Equation column for the Times' Business section. He was also known to showbiz figures from his stint several years ago as the Times' award season correspondent for the Carpetbagger blog.

Carr was prominently featured in the 2011 docu "Page One: Inside the New York Times." He joined the Times in 2002. Before that, he was a contributing writer to the Atlantic Monthly and New York magazine. In the mid-1990s he was editor of Washington, D.C.'s City Paper.

Carr was candid about his past battles with drug addiction. In 2008 he published the nonfiction book "Night of the Gun," which revisited his experiences as a drug abuser and used traditional reporting techniques to fill in gaps and misperceptions from his own memory.

"His plainspoken style was sometimes blunt, and searingly honest about himself," the Times said in its story. "The effect was both folksy and sophisticated, a voice from a shrewd and well-informed skeptic."

On Monday, he wrote about the revelations that the NBC anchor Brian Williams had lied about being in a helicopter under fire in Iraq in 2003."We want our anchors to be both good at reading the news and also pretending to be in the middle of it," he said.

Carr's survivors including his wife, Jill Rooney Carr, and three daughters.

© 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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