Travelore News: Judges Say Travelers Can Sue TSA Over Screener Mistreatment #TravelNews

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A U.S. appeals court says travelers can sue the government over mistreatment by federal airport screeners because the agents can act like law enforcement officers, including when they conduct invasive searches.

The 9-4 decision Friday by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned earlier rulings and is a setback for the Transportation Security Administration and its screeners.

The government is generally immune from lawsuits, but a federal law lets people sue over the actions of officers who can conduct searches and arrest people.

A district court and a three-judge panel of the same appeals court said TSA officers are just screeners who inspect passengers and bags. The full appeals court said, however, that screeners aren’t entitled to immunity from lawsuits because they perform searches for violations of federal law.

The judges also rejected the government’s argument that airport screening is different from a search because airline passengers consent to it. They said it’s indeed a search — noting that screeners can explore a passenger’s entire body including sensitive areas.

A Florida woman, Nadine Pellegrino, sued over a search at the Philadelphia airport in 2006, saying screeners damaged her property and falsely claimed she hit them with a bag. She was arrested but found not guilty at trial.

Pellegrino and her husband asked the TSA for $951,200 in damages. When their claim was rejected, they sued the TSA and three TSA employees.

The court said the overwhelming majority of TSA screeners do vital security work in a professional way and often without appreciation. But, the judges said, if the lower-court rulings stand it would leave travelers with no remedy even if they are assaulted, wrongfully detained or hit with fabricated charges.

The four-judge minority said the screeners should get immunity from lawsuits partly because they conduct “routine, suspicionless searches” that are now standard at airports.

The Justice Department declined to comment when asked whether it plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Witches & Wizards ('Harry Potter') Weekend Returns To Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia October 18-19, 2019

EVENT DETAILS:

When: Saturday, October 19 – 12 pm – 5 pm (Pub Crawl October 18, 2019)

Where: Throughout Chestnut Hill

Cost: Free to attend. Festival includes both free and paid/ticketed activities.

FESTIVAL REGISTRATION & TICKETS:

• • Witches & Wizards Festival (Saturday): TicketLeap
  • Hocus Pocus Headquarters (Saturday): TicketLeap
  • Brews & Broomsticks Pub Crawl (Friday): TicketLeap
  • Wizarding Run (Saturday): LocalRaces

This fall, Chestnut Hill renews its seasonal tradition for the charming urban village that unites mischief and ghosts of wizards-past, with family fun for an action-packed Witches & Wizards Festival weekend. Kicking off with Brews and Broomsticks Pub Crawl on Friday, October 18 and continuing with a day full of family-friendly programming on Saturday, October 19 – the 2019 Witches & Wizards Festival promises spooktacular entertainment and activities in a whimsical community setting.

Fun for the entire family, Witches & Wizards is a day full of autumnal festivities for a pre-Halloween celebration. Locals and visitors can enjoy hands-on craft activities, live entertainment, themed shops, and more throughout the Chestnut Hill community. Other perennial favorites include the 10th Annual Brotherly Love Cup Quidditch Tournament and Woodmere Art Museum’s Straw Maze.

FESTIVAL ACTIVITIES:

A complete listing of confirmed Festival activities can be found here.  Check back in October for a downloadable Festival Map showing the locations of all activities in Chestnut Hill!

• Wizarding Run  **NEW!   Saturday, October 19,  9 a.m., 8000 St. Martins Lane
  • The Wizarding Run is coming to Chestnut Hill! Grab your wand, hop on your broom, and join fellow witches and wizards on a magical 1 mile or 5K journey through Chestnut Hill with wizardly sights and sounds along the way. Every registrant receives a one of kind event shirt in 4 color options, a custom wand, a commemorative bib, and a FREE butterscotch soda. Participants of the 5K will also receive an amazing owl finisher medal at the finish line.  Register today!
• 10th Annual Philadelphia Brotherly Love Cup Quidditch Tournament: Saturday, October 19, 10 am – 4 pm, Chestnut Hill College, Cost: Free to attend.
  The 10th Annual Philadelphia Brotherly Love Cup Quidditch Tournament returns with teams from visiting colleges and the local community team competing in round-robin style Quidditch matches.  Visit https://www.chc.edu/quidditch-tournament-information in the coming weeks for additional details and a list of participating teams.
• 8th Annual Harry Potter Academic Conference: A non-profit annual academic conference hosted by Chestnut Hill College, this interdisciplinary conference provides a forum for scholarly presentations arising out of J.K. Rowling’s literature.  The conference is open to the public, with a registration donation required. See http://www.harrypotterconference.com/ for more information.
• The Jenks Academy for Witchcraft and Wizardry will feature bouncies, a DJ, arts and crafts stations, games, food trucks, a bake sale, wizard chess, face painting, and cotton candy.
• Chestnut Hill Escape Room will test your fear level with a haunted adventure at Chestnut Hill Escape Room, visit the The Haunting of Chestnut Hill, the spine-cHILLing mystery room).  If you’re a fan of scary movies or TV shows, This is the adventure for you. Just the right mix of fun and fear in a ghostly adventure you won’t soon forget! (purchase tickets at https://www.chestnuthillescaperoom.com/)
• Woodmere Straw Maze: Built from massive straw bales, this year’s maze is fun for all ages. Designed by architects Peter Everett Brown and Barbara Ann Sprague of BrownSprague LLC. Sponsored by Michelle McFarland. Ages 4-11 with adult. $8 per child ($6 members); $20 ($18 members) for families of three or more; multiple weekend passes available.  Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Entrance to the Museum is free to parents and guardians whose children have tickets to the Straw Maze.
• Hocus Pocus Headquarters: Returning for a second year, the Festival’s immensely-popular children’s craft and activity area will include seasonal stations for slime-making, potion-making, pumpkin-decorating, and more!  Hocus Pocus Headquarters sold out in 2018, so pre-register to guarantee your space at https://chestnut-hill.ticketleap.com.
• Costumed actors on the Avenue: An annual tradition from festivals past, our troupe of professional actors fans out across Germantown Avenue in spooky and magical attire, offering free scares and photo ops for participants.
• Professional caricaturists: Take home a keepsake sketch from one of our two professional caricaturists.
• Secret Circus aerialists: An annual tradition returning again in 2019, our circus aerialists put on an impressive street show featuring aerial feats, trapeze, and dance.
• Slow Motion Booth: Act out scary and magical fantasies with your friends in slow motion at this unique video booth by SlowMo2Go.  Additional props and costume accessories are available on-site.
• Fire-breathing: Spinning torches and blowing fire are some of the daring feats demonstrated by our stunt performer, a fan favorite in 2018.
• Face painter: Kids can impersonate their favorite spooky or magical character with the help of our two professional face painters.
• Philly Ghostbusters: Complete with their unmistakable car and costumes, the Philly Ghostbusters are returning to the 2019 festival to rid Chestnut Hill of supernatural visitors.
• CH DanceFit Performance: Don’t miss the talented dancers of Chestnut Hill DanceFit
• The Franklin Institute: Don’t miss the real-life magic of science at The Franklin Institute’s special festival booth in Chestnut Hill.
• The Insectarium: If creepy and crawly is a must for your Halloween  fun, don’t miss this station by The Philadelphia Insectarium, the city’s only bug-centric science museum.
• NEW! Dark Magic Scavenger Hunt:
  There’s sinister stirrings in Chestnut Hill at the Wizards and Witches Weekend! A series of dark and cursed items have made their way into the shops and stores, and your help is needed to locate them all before the evil awakening spell is activated.
  Grab your wand, broomstick, and your friends, and prepare to race through the streets, follow the clues, and find all of the items before it’s too late.
  TICKETS INCLUDE:
  – Game admission
  – Magical map of the area
  – “Magic Words Daily” Newspaper containing clues to the locations
  – A magic spell sheet with information about the dark objects you’re searching for
  – Prizes for successful completion of the game!
  *Note: there is no limit to the number of participants who can work together, but each individual must purchase their own ticket.
  https://m.bpt.me/event/4326991

VISITOR EXPERIENCE

Chestnut Hill is hard at work creating another year of fun for visitors during Witches & Wizards. As in 2018, please note that Germantown Avenue will not be closed to traffic for the 2019 event.

Parking

Five public paid parking lots will be open throughout Chestnut Hill during the event. Lot locations and pricing can be found at chestnuthillpa.com/parking. Limited street parking is also available.   Parking for the Quidditch Tournament will be available on the grounds of Chestnut Hill College.  As parking capacity is limited, visitors traveling to Chestnut Hill for Witches & Wizards are strongly encouraged to utilize public transportation.

Transportation

Public transportation is the most convenient way to travel to and from Chestnut Hill. SEPTA (Philadelphia’s regional transit system) has two station stops in Chestnut Hill located just a short walk from the heart of the community: Chestnut Hill West and Chestnut Hill East. This train system provides roundtrip transportation from Center City Philadelphia and Chestnut Hill. Visit www.iseptaphilly.com for complete schedules and details.

Join the conversation on social media with @chestnuthillpa and be sure to share the love with the hashtag #chestnuthillpa.

Travelore Tips: You Can Now Renew Your Passport In As Little As 24 hours. Here’s How.

(Washington Post illustration; iStock)

By Natalie B. Compton

No one wants to wait for anything in 2019. TV shows come out in full seasons for binge-watching on streaming apps. You can get drones delivered in hours. Yet in a world where you can get just about anything quickly, certain bureaucratic tasks take a relative eternity. Like getting a passport.

Fortunately for procrastinators everywhere, FedEx Office has decided to speed things up. Thanks to a new partnership with RushMyPassport, travelers in the United States can now get their American passports processed in as little as 24 hours.

“This just launched recently, and we’ve seen a significant volume in customers coming in for the service," says Kim Dixon, executive vice president and chief operating officer at FedEx Office. “Interestingly, it is a mix of both consumer needs as well as business needs.”

FedEx Office

✔@FedExOffice

Forget to renew your passport before your big trip coming up soon? FedEx Office now offers expedited passport services, including taking and printing your photo, and overnight shipping. https://www.fedex.com/en-us/printing/passport-photo.html …

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While other passport expediting services do already exist, the new partnership makes dealing with passport woes a little more convenient. That means when you realize that your trip to Belize is just days away and you’re out of pages, you don’t have to start weeping. You can visit one of FedEx Office’s 2,000 locations instead, or solve your problems online.

“We’ve had issues with folks who didn’t know the timing for [passport processing by] the government is taking longer,” says Dixon. "It’s extended beyond what it used to be. That’s a challenge for people. There’s only 26 passport offices throughout the United States. That’s not convenient.”

For the online option, the first step is to head to the FedEx Office website and fill out an application. You can apply to get your passport renewed; report a lost, stolen or damaged passport; have your name changed; apply for a second passport; or get one for a child.

Taking care of things in person is a better option if you need to get your passport photograph taken. Any FedEx Office location offers photo services, which saves you a panicked visit to Walgreens for an awkward snapshot. After the photo, customers are guided to a computer area of the store and shown how to complete the transaction online.

You’ll have to pay a government fee of $170, then rates skyrocket from there based on how quickly you need the goods. There’s a range of prices depending on your timetable. Same-day service will cost you $449, while the cheapest and slowest option, eight to 10 days, costs $119. Then there are shipping costs. FedEx standard overnight is $29.95, FedEx priority overnight is $39.95, and FedEx priority overnight including a Saturday is $54.95.

[What to do when you lose your passport overseas]

Once you’ve submitted your application, you can keep track of the action thanks to the service’s full tracking visibility. Note that just because you are processing it in one business day, doesn’t mean you’re getting your passport back in one business day. Your passport still has to be shipped to you in most cases.

“For example, by choosing the 24-hour service option on Monday, FedEx will receive your application and begin processing Tuesday morning,” the FedEx website reads. “By Tuesday afternoon, your passport will be shipped to you for Wednesday delivery. You may be eligible to pick up your passport Tuesday afternoon or have it delivered the same day in select cities.”

Discovering you have a passport problem right before a trip can be a nightmare. But rest easy knowing that if you have an extra $500 or $600 available, FedEx Office is there to help.

Inside The Marketing Strategy Of The Louvre, The World's Most Visited Museum.

Paul TalbotContributor

GETTY IMAGES

With more than ten million visitors last year, a 25% increase from 2017, why would the Louvre need a marketing strategy?

For the past 18 years, the world’s most visited museum has been getting a hand with marketing projects from Accenture Interactive and the Accenture Foundation.

I recently asked Claude Chaffiotte, managing director for Accenture Interactive in France and Benelux, to illuminate some of the work that’s being done.

Paul Talbot: Where does marketing fit into the strategic plan you’ve been working on for The Louvre?

Claude Chaffiotte: The Louvre aims to create meaningful experiences for visitors before, during, and after their visit.

To meet this goal, Accenture Interactive is helping the museum to better understand its visitors, including the scientists and researcher community, in order to offer a more qualitative experience and create relevant digital services.

As a key sponsor of the digital transformation, the CMO of the Louvre plays a pivotal role, leading many initiatives such as brand positioning tailored to the different channels, graphic design chart, and internal and external communications.

Talbot: One of the objectives is ‘(to) enrich the visitor experience before, during and after their visit to the Louvre.’ Could you provide a few examples of how digital resources might be used to achieve this?

Chaffiotte: In 2015, we enriched the visitor experience of the ‘Petite Galerie,’ a permanent exhibition space in the heart of the museum, by developing a website and mobile app using augmented reality.

For instance, the deteriorated ‘Dancers of Delphi’ sculpture was ‘restored’ using augmented reality, enabling visitors to see this masterpiece in its original state.

In 2019, we are initiating the revamp of the Louvre website and adding AI-based ‘conversational functionalities’ to help visitors prepare ahead of their visits.  This will allow Louvre agents to free up their time to focus on added-value services.  

We also implemented a digital tool for the agents that allows them to track daily incidents and solve them in real-time.

Talbot: How much physical capacity does the Louvre have for visitor growth and how can digital innovations address some of these challenges?

Chaffiotte: The Louvre had more than 10 million visitors last year, a historical record, despite being located among the protests of the yellow vest movement.  The trend for 2019 seems to point to another record year, specifically with the long-awaited Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition to celebrate the 500th anniversary of his death.

With record visits in 2018 and anticipated in 2019, the Louvre had to rethink how to best direct the flow of visitors.

Digital innovations will help solve these issues by improving yield management, optimizing visitor traffic, and providing online access to exhibitions.  New innovations will also enable an improved experience for the Louvre agents, allowing them to provide enhanced services to visitors.

Talbot: What innovations do you foresee taking place with the marketing of museums over the next few years?

Chaffiotte: Innovations to attract new visitors and to increase the loyalty of existing ones, using digital to:

• Facilitate the access to all art collections of the Louvre, including art pieces that are not exhibited in the museum.
• Better target specific visitors (e.g. people under 35, regular visitors, people who never visited the museum, etc.).
• Innovations to better amplify the art collections, particularly art pieces that are not exhibited, and art knowledge.  The Louvre owns around 620,000 art pieces, but only 35,000 are exhibited.  The digitization of art pieces will allow the general public, academics, scientists, and researchers to access the entirety of the museum’s collection. 

Talbot: Any other insights you’d like to share?

Chaffiotte: Working together for 18 years now, we share the same vision: art is innovation and innovation is art.  We also share the same goal of revamping the museum to place the visitors, employees, professionals, and researchers at the center of this strategic initiative and to make the experience for each visitor as unique as the museum itself.

23 Surprising Things That Will Get You In Trouble In Italy

Snacking on the street in Florence—don't even think about it.

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In the 1953 film Roman Holiday, Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck sat on Rome's famed Spanish Steps, while Anita Ekberg took a dip in the Trevi Fountain in 1960's La Dolce Vita. These days, those movie stars would be getting fines of anywhere from €250-€450 (about $279-$502), based on new rules that ban a range of offenses in Rome's historic center.

It's a new era in Italy, where destinations around the country are cracking down on so-called inappropriate behavior and imposing hefty fines. Florence has just enacted penalties up to €450 ($502) for people who snack during certain times on some of the city's most historic streets. The city of Venice levied a charge of €950 (approximately $1,060) and threw two German tourists out of town after they made coffee on the Rialto Bridge. The crime? Picnicking in a public space. Meanwhile, a Canadian tourist was slapped with a €250 ($279) fee for sunbathing in a bikini in Venice's Papadopoli Gardens.

Heidi Klum went swimming in the Blue Grotto on Capri—a big mistake.

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And it's not just the big cities that are cracking down. Just-married model Heidi Klum and her new husband recently went swimming in the Blue Grotto on the island of Capri—a big no-no. The newlyweds had to cough up €6,000 ($6,696). Turns out that while people can visit the grotto by boat, swimming in the beautiful blue water is forbidden. Then there was that sleepy traveler from Austria who made the mistake of stringing a hammock between two trees by the seaside in Trieste. The damage for his afternoon nap? €300 ($334).

Travelers are not happy about all the changes. "The Italians are on a behavior-punishment kick," Jason Cochran, editor-in-chief of Frommers.com, wrote on Twitter. His comments on the new rules in Florence drew a firestorm of criticism. "You'd better [not] come to Italy in case you disagree," wrote Twitter user @AvvPaoletto.

Don't wear flip flops in Cinque Terre!

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So whether you disagree or not, better be careful if you're headed to Italy on vacation. Here are 23 things that will get you in trouble in the land of la dolce vita.

1. Wearing flip-flops. The hilly seaside destination of Cinque Terre has had it with flip-flop-clad tourists who need to be rescued from local hiking trails. A new law will impose fines for wearing flip-flops. The charges can go from €50 ($56) up to a whopping €2,500 ($2,827).

2. Snacking on the streets. Florence has passed an ordinance banning people from eating on certain streets in the city's historic center between 12-3 p.m. and 6-10 p.m. Fines range from €150-€500 ($167-$558). Rome and Venice have enacted similar fines.

3. Picnicking. As those German tourists discovered, picknicking is a major mistake in Venice. It's part of a crackdown called #EnjoyRespectVenezia, a campaign that was enacted to protect this World Heritage City from the abuses of the 20 million tourists who visit annually.

Stay off those steps! A new law in Rome will fine tourists who sit or eat on the historic Spanish Steps.

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4. Sitting on the steps. Keep it moving. A new law in Rome prohibits sitting on the historic Spanish Steps, which were built in the 1700s and recently restored to the tune of $1.7 million.

5. Wheeling your suitcase around. Leave your wheeled luggage at home if you're headed to Rome or Venice. Rolling suitcases around can get you in big trouble—especially if you're thinking of bringing them down the Spanish Steps. 

6. Building sandcastles. Sorry, kids—building sandcastles in Eraclea, a beach town near Venice, is strictly against the law.

7. Jumping into a fountain. Don't even think about wading in a fountain in Rome—eight tourists were fined €450 ($502) each for taking a dip this summer.

Be careful how you drink water from a fountain in Rome.

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8. Drinking out of a fountain incorrectly. Besides keeping you out of the fountains, Rome wants to make sure you're sipping acqua the right way from its drinking fountains. Touch your mouth to a nozzle and you could be fined.

9. Drinking on the street. Italy is known for its lively after-dark scene, but these days, you need to careful about where you sip: Places from Venice to Rome are cracking down on rowdy tourists by banning drinking on the streets at nighttime.

10. Wearing noisy shoes. Leave the clogs behind if you're heading to Capri. Wooden clogs have been banned on this island since 1960.

11. Biking. Riding a bicycle—even walking a bike—is now illegal in Venice's city center.

Swimming is illegal in Venice's canals.

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12. Swimming in a canal. In recent years, tourists have been fined for swimming in Venice's canals. And just in case you thought that dipping a toe in the water wouldn't hurt anyone, the ban includes putting your feet in a canal.

13. Singing. Keep your singing to yourself. Rome doesn't allow singing or busking on the city's buses, metro and trams.

14. Wearing a miniskirt. The officials don't care what's in fashion in Castellammare di Stabia, a small town near Naples. Miniskirts are against the law, as well as low-cut jeans and too much cleavage.

Wearing a bikini while sightseeing in Venice is now against the law.

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15. Wearing a swimsuit. The fashion police are out in full force in Venice, too. Wearing a swimsuit while sightseeing is prohibited. 

16. Wearing even less. Whatever you do, don't even think about going bare-chested in Venice or Rome.

17. Kissing in a car. In Eboli, a town south of Naples, passionate couples risk big fines. Kissing in a moving car is strictly against the law.

18. Using a lovelock. You'll need to find another way to express your love in Rome and Venice, whch have banned the tradition of attaching lovelocks to bridges—much to the dismay of Instagrammers everywhere.

Lovelocks are now prohibited in Venice.

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19. Daytripping (without paying!). Be careful if you come to Venice on a day trip: Anyone who visits the city must pay a daily tax of $10 or risk penalties up to €450 ($502).

20. Standing still on a bridge. Yes, standing still on a bridge is also against the law in Venice.

21. Feeding a pigeon. Another offense that will get you arrested in Venice is a long-time tourist favorite: feeding a pigeon. 

22. Sorry, Venice vacationers, but there's more. Other law-breaking moves include leaning against a storefront, lying down on a public bench and buying products from street vendors.

Make sure you smile in Milan!

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23. Frowning. It's unlikely you're going to get fined for this one, but Milan has a law that requires people to smile at any time other than funerals or hospital visits. So turn that frown upside down the next time you're in Italy's fashion capital.

By Laura Begley Bloom