Wendy’s seeks clues to finger
Somewhere out there is a woman, dead or alive, who is missing a well-manicured finger about 1 1/2 inches long.
Authorities know where the finger ended up — in a bowl of Wendy’s chili — but just who it belongs to is a mystery.
For executives at Wendy’s, it’s a serious problem.
Sales have dropped at franchises in Northern California, forcing layoffs and reduced hours, the company said. Wendy’s also has hired private investigators, set up a hot line for tips and doubled its reward Friday to $100,000 for information leading to the finger’s original owner.
“Our brand reputation has been affected nationally. We are determined to find out what really happened,” said president and chief executive Tom Mueller. He said Wendy’s employees have passed polygraph tests, and “there is no credible evidence that Wendy’s is the source of the foreign object.”
DNA tests are being done on the finger. A partial fingerprint failed to turn up a match in a national database.
Tips are coming in from across the country, from “folks who either have lost a finger, or know somebody who lost a finger,” said San Jose police Sgt. Nick Muyo.
“Our goal is to find where that finger came from and who it came from. Is this an industrial accident, is this a homicide? Once you determine that, then we can start working backward.”
Health officials said it is apparently a woman’s finger, because of the long, manicured nail. But investigators will not say which finger on the hand it was.
Kootenai County home prices soar
It’s a seller’s market for Kootenai County home owners. The average sales price for a residential property surpassed $184,500 in March, reflecting tight inventories and high demand.
With fewer than 1,200 homes on the market, buyers are competing for the best properties.
The average sales price in the county was $183,939 in February, according to figures from the Coeur d’Alene Multiple Listing Service. A year ago, the average sales price was $152,555.
More than 600 homes and $111 million worth of residential real estate traded hands during the first three months of the year.
Home prices in Post Falls and Rathdrum experienced some of the largest gains. The average sales price in Post Falls hit nearly $183,000 in March, compared to $135,263 a year ago. In Rathdrum, the average sales price rose from $107,621 a year ago to nearly $149,000 in March.
Price gains were more modest in Coeur d’Alene and the Hayden-Dalton area.
In Coeur d’Alene, average sales prices rose 20 percent to $184,500 over the past year. In Hayden-Dalton, average home prices rose 5 percent to $211,678.
Ste. Michelle plans new winery
Western Washington winery Ste. Michelle Wine Estates will partner with an Italian family to build a new winery on Red Mountain in Eastern Washington.
They will make their red wine, called Col Solare, at the site. The red wine has been made since 1995 for Ste. Michelle and the Antinori family of Tuscany. Based in Woodinville, Ste. Michelle owns Columbia Crest, Northstar, Chateau Ste. Michelle and other wineries.
The partnership’s $6 million plan for Red Mountain, a new appellation at the eastern end of the Yakima Valley, includes 20 acres for a destination winery and courtyard meant to attract tourists. It will sit near the Hedges Winery.
Work on the grounds is expected to begin this summer. The winery will be ready for the 2006 crush.
In 2007 the winery expects to plant vines. Wine production is expected to eventually reach 15,000 cases a year.
The Antinori family has been making wine for more than 600 years in Italy, Ste. Michelle said.
Ralph Lauren says glitch repaired
Clothing retailer Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. said Friday that a glitch in its software that set off an alert about the theft of credit card information has been repaired.
Spokeswoman Nancy Murray said that the New York-based company was notified last fall that fraudulent charges were showing up on some credit cards. Bank card issuers, she said, asked Polo Ralph Lauren to check its records.
“We found we were storing more information about persons’ credit cards than we should have,” Murray said. “We put in a patch to the software system (and) deleted all the data that had been in the system.”
She said that “a forensic investigation of our systems showed there was no evidence of an internal or external breach.”
Nonetheless, HSBC North America, a division of London-based HSBC Holdings PLC, said Friday it was continuing to notifying holders of the HSBC-issued, General Motors-branded MasterCard that criminals may have obtained access to their credit card information and that the cards should be replaced.
HSBC said earlier that about 180,000 GM-branded card holders were affected.
Neither HSBC nor MasterCard International identified the retailer by name, but The Wall Street Journal, which quoted “people with knowledge of the matter,” said Thursday that the data was believed stolen from Polo Ralph Lauren.