PRC Hosts Technical Conference to Consider UPS Petition on Proposed Changes to USPS Costing Models

Columbus Monthly, Seattle Met, and Denver’s 5280 earned top prizes for General Excellence at the 33rd annual City & Regional Magazine Awards, administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism and announced Monday at the City & Regional Mag Association’s annual meetup in New Orleans. Twenty-five year-old 5280 and 12 year-old Seattle Met were first-time winners in the General Excellence category, which is split into three prizes based on circulation level. Columbus Monthly, which won among magazines with a circulation of 30,000 or less, had previously won a General Excellence award under a different format in 2001. All three were finalists in their respective categories last year. Click Read More below for additional information.

As supply chain issues continue to plague the retail sector, booksellers have become some of the most vocal voices online to warn of coming shortages this holiday season. This past weekend, some authors took to Twitter to urge readers that, if they want copies of their books in time for the holiday season, they needed to place their orders now. Independent bookstores, too have told customers to plan ahead. “If you think you might need a book in this last chunk of the year, please consider ordering soon,” Washington, D.C.-based East City Bookshop posted on Twitter, citing tightening in the supply chain. It isn’t just books: a complex combination of worker shortages, increased overseas shipping costs and raw material shortages have impacted companies ranging from Peloton to Ravensburger, a popular maker of jigsaw puzzles, said this week that it would halt all orders of its games for the foreseeable future. But book publishers are especially vulnerable because they order new book printings based on consumer demand, and to keep a popular title in stock, they depend on getting those new printings out to customers quickly. As the timelines for new printings are stretched further and further, publishers face the real possibility of running out of some books ahead of the holidays.

Bertelsmann Investments (BI) made 54 new and 31 follow-on investments in companies and funds in the past financial year. BI pools Bertelsmann’s global venture capital activities and the newly created growth unit Bertelsmann Next, which advances the entrepreneurial development of new growth sectors and lines of business for Bertelsmann. Here, BI strengthened its commitment in the Digital Health business especially, through various fund and direct investments totaling €60 million. Carsten Coesfeld, CEO of Bertelsmann Investments, said: “Bertelsmann Investments had a successful year in 2022 with a high level of investment activity. In the current financial year, besides investing in our funds, we will place a special emphasis on Bertelsmann Next. The main focus in the expansion of our new growth areas is on digital health, where we see great potential, especially in the U.S.”