Bahamas

Nassau’s $12 million straw market opens

Nassau’s long-awaited $12 million straw market opened last month following 10 years at a temporary site. The new facility, which can accommodated 500 vendors, will be operated by the Bahamas government.

Vendors had been working at the temporary facility, located under a tent on downtown’s Bay Street, since the original market was destroyed in a 2001 fire. The temporary site was itself damaged in August by Hurricane Irene, leading vendors to set up shop in tents on Prince George Wharf.

Theme Parks

Disney won’t miss a minute of leap year

Disney plans to celebrate leap year by keeping two of its theme parks open for 24 hours straight.

The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World near Orlando and Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., will open at 6 a.m. local time on Feb. 29 and remain open until 6 a.m. March 1. Details on the “One More Disney Day” are at www.OneMoreDisneyDay.com .

Airlines

Gulfstream now Silver Airways

Gulfstream International Airlines has changed its name and brand to Silver Airways Corp.

Silver Airways unveiled its new brand and logo at a launch event at its home base in Fort Lauderdale last month as the carrier took delivery of the first of six recently purchased Saab 340Bplus turboprops. The 34-seat Saabs will replace smaller 19-seat Beechcraft 1900D aircraft on Florida-Bahamas routes.

National Parks

Denali charging by person, not vehicle

The National Park Service is now charging per person and not by the vehicle to enter Denali National Park and Preserve — home to the 20,320-foot Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America.

The park service eliminated the $20-per-vehicle entrance fee and now charges a flat $10-per-person fare for visitors age 16 and older.

Identity theft

American Airlines warns of hackers

If you get a suspicious email that appears to be from American Airlines, it could be part of a scam to pilfer personal information.

The airline suspects that hackers have sent out “phishing” emails intended to mislead people into giving up information such as their passwords to the airline’s reward program.

To warn customers, American has posted several examples of the phony emails on its website.

One offers the recipient $50 to take a five-question survey.

The airline warned anyone who gets such emails not to click on any links, open any attachments or call the listed phone numbers.

Instead, the airline asks recipients to forward the emails to webmasteraa.com.

Miami Herald

wire services