UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

2005 a bad year for female hurricanes

MIAMI, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- While tropical storm names alternate between genders alphabetically, 2005 has become a year to be wary of the ones named for females ending in 'a.'

Monday, much of South Florida was trying to assess the damage left behind by Hurricane Wilma, which traversed the state in just four hours. At least one death was attributed to the record-tying 21st storm of the year, and some 13 others in Haiti, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.

Then there were the deadly hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

Rita slammed ashore near the Texas-Louisiana border on Sept. 24 killing about 80 people, nearly a month after Katrina flooded New Orleans and killed more than 1,000 people.

The U.S. Conference Board said insured loss estimates from those two storms range between $20 billion and $60 billion, and total economic loss estimates are now between $100 billion and $200 billion.

Those figures dwarf any damages from past storms with male names. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew cost $26 billion. Charley in 2004 cost $15 billion, and Ivan, also in 2004, cost $14 billion.

Having run out of human names this year, the National Hurricane Center in Miami has resorted to using the gender-neutral Greek alphabet.

Honest NYC cabbie hunts down senator

NEW YORK, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Although he only got a 90-cent tip, a New York City cab driver went all out to hunt down New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg to return his wallet.

Carlos Andrade, 42, drove the Democrat eight blocks to a health club at noon Sunday, and got the tip in change for a $4.30 fare, the New York Post reported.

If he had been dishonest, he could have kept the $200 in cash in Lautenberg's wallet, which fell out of his pocket as he was getting out of the car.

Instead, Andrade, a 15-year veteran of the cab business went through the wallet looking for telephone numbers. He finally located the number of an aide to Lautenberg, who put the two men in touch.

"I love you," Lautenberg told Andrade. He then handed him one of the $100 bills as a token of thanks.

"I couldn't get back to Washington without my ID, even though everyone knows me," Lautenberg said.

Ad exec's wife gets $45 million in divorce

LONDON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- British advertising magnate Martin Sorrell has been ordered to pay his ex-wife $45 million for allowing his career to destroy their marriage of 33 years.

Sorrell, 60, is the founder of the $12 billion WPP international advertising empire. He split from his wife Sandra in 2003. She said in court papers by then, the relationship had deteriorated to such a degree that her husband lived in the basement of the couple's Knightsbridge home.

The 59-year-old woman said her husband "marginalized" and "dehumanized" her, "discarded" her from his affections and took a mistress.

The High Court agreed, and in a 24-page ruling, itemized the various amounts and properties due her, The Times of London reported. One judge said the woman should be "justly proud" of running the home and bringing up their children, although he rejected her claim that Martin was not a good father.

WPP owns Ogilvy & Mather and J. Walter Thompson, and employs 72,000 people working in 1,700 offices in 104 countries.

Fast food turns totally trendy

NEW YORK, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- While the majority of U.S. fast food consumers don't know what portobello mushrooms are, they're willing to pay nearly $5 for a burger with them on it.

Leading the pack of fast food chains going upscale is the Carl's Jr., which did market research before introducing its $4.59 Portobello Mushroom $6 Burger last month. It's now the chain's best-selling burger, despite the ignorance, USA Today reported.

"We did focus groups and found that consumers don't know what a portobello is, but they know it means quality," said Brad Haley, marketing chief at Carl's.

Quiznos began selling the $4.49 Chicken Milano sandwich this summer, which is on rosemary Parmesan bread with sun-dried tomato pesto, Tuscan basil mayo and spring-mix lettuce.

But at Burger King, research found their regulars prefer "ooey, gooey" processed cheeses to a natural Swiss it recently tested for a new burger, said Denny Post, chief concept officer.