The following stories are brought to you by the fine folks on the News4 assignment desk.
COKE BUYS BETHESDA'S HONEST TEA
Washington Business Journal: "Beverage maker Honest Tea, started in a Maryland kitchen in 1998, is now officially owned by the Coca-Cola Co. The maker of organic, flavored teas sold a 40 percent stake to Coke in 2008, giving it an option to buy the company outright. Financial terms of the buyout weren't disclosed, though Coke's initial investment in Honest Tea was a reported at $43 million. Honest Tea will continue to be headquartered in Bethesda, Md. and operate as a stand alone company under founder Seth Goldman and his management team and employees.
CHERRY BLOSSOM FAIR WILL COST YOU
The Washington Post: "Views of Washington’s famous cherry blossoms are still free. But the popular Japanese culture street fair that culminates the two-week-long National Cherry Blossom Festival no longer is. For the first time in its 51-year history, the Sakura Matsuri festival along Pennsylvania Avenue NW will take place April 9 behind a 6-foot high fence and require visitors to pay a $5 admission fee, organizers said Tuesday. The fee will help cover an estimated $300,000 in costs to produce the event, which has drawn about 150,000 people in each of the past several years, said John R. Malott, president of the Japan-America Society, which stages the street fair. In all, about 4,000 staff, volunteers, government officials and performers are part of the staging process, he added."
IPAD2
PC World: "Apple on Wednesday is expected to announce its latest iPad, but buyers are on the fence about purchasing the device and hope it will be a major upgrade from the original iPad."
REWARD OFFERED IN BWI LASER CASE
WTOP: "Federal and state officials are offering a reward in the case of a laser beamed at a commercial aircraft approaching Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The FBI and Maryland Transportation Authority Police posted a $5,000 reward Monday for information leading to the arrest of the person who beamed the laser into the cockpit of the Southwest Airlines flight from Milwaukee, with more than 130 people on board, as it passed over Millersville around 6:45 p.m. on Feb. 20. Officials say the pilot and first officer took their eyes off the instruments during final approach, but the aircraft landed safely. The FBI says the eyes of the pilot and first officer were injured and they were treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital and released."
