Declarations

March 21, 2016

Intrinsic Elements

“Cleanliness and food safety are ‘intrinsic elements’ of preparing and canning food at the Hormel canning facility. … The clothing and equipment is integral and indispensable to the performance of the employees’ job function.”

—Justice Shirley Abrahamson, writing for the majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which ruled Hormel Foods Corporation owes hundreds of workers at its Beloit canning plant back wages for the time they spent putting on and taking off required clothing and equipment.

Slow Learning Vehicle

“From now on, our cars will more deeply understand that buses (and other large vehicles) are less likely to yield to us than other types of vehicles, and we hope to handle situations like this more gracefully in the future.”

—Google in March took the blame after one of its self-driving cars struck a municipal bus in a minor crash in February.

Repairing Potholes

“As the weather begins to warm even slightly as we head into spring, we should expect some potholes, but New Yorkers should know DOT crews are out there fixing them seven days a week.”

—New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on his administration’s effort to keep roads safer and less bumpy. He said that since the beginning of 2014 and through March 6, 2016, the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) had filled more than 1.02 million potholes.

Embarrassing Limits

“I’m not sure it was intended to be a slap in the face of HomeAway, but it’s a little embarrassing for us to essentially have our prime product be illegal in the town in which we operate.”

—HomeAway CEO Brian Sharples commenting on his home town of Austin, Texas, where the City Council limited certain types of short-term rentals made popular by companies such as Airbnb and Austin-based HomeAway.

Golf Course Privacy

“We’re not the bully. We’re not going on their property and doing anything. We’re not suing them for anything they didn’t do. We don’t want to sue them. We just want them to stop.”

—Ed Russo, Donald Trump’s golf environmental expert, comments on a lawsuit filed against homeowners near Trump’s Doral golf course. Trump is accusing his South Florida resort neighbors of cutting down trees he planted to make the course more private for golfers. Residents claim the trees have blocked their views.