PRNewsFoto/Connecticut and Western Massachusetts McDonald's Owner/Operator Association(OAK BROOK, Ill.) -- Hannah Robertson, the 9-year-old girl who grilled Don Thompson, the CEO of McDonald's Corp., at a shareholder meeting for marketing fast food to children said she wasn't impressed with his response.

"I don't think he answered it very well, because he just kept saying the same things over and over again like, 'We don't market to kids and we don't sell junk food,'" Robertson said.

Thompson found himself in the hotseat at the annual shareholder meeting Thursday in Oak Brook, Ill., the company's headquarters, when he was confronted by the 9-year-old, who had flown in from Kelowna, British Columbia with her mother for the meeting.

"Something that I don't think is fair is when big companies try to trick kids into eating food that isn't good for them by using toys and cartoon characters," Hannah said during the question and answer part of the meeting. "If parents haven't taught their kids about healthy eating then the kids probably believe that junk food is good for them because it might taste good."

Her mother, Kia Robertson, attended the meeting as a member of advocacy group Corporate Accountability International, headquartered in Boston and with offices around the world. Kia Robertson, 36, started "Today I Ate a Rainbow" in 2009, described as an "interactive nutritional game," and is a nutrition blogger.

"It would be nice if you stopped trying to trick kids into wanting to eat your food all the time," Hannah, who is in the fourth grade, went on to say. "I make cooking videos with my mom that show kids that eating healthy can be fun and yummy. We teach them that eating a rainbow of fruits and veggies makes kids healthier, smarter and happier because that is the truth."

Thompson thanked her for her question but also refuted Hannah's accusations after her closing question, "Mr. Thompson, don't you want kids to be healthy so they can live a long and happy life?"

"First off, we don't sell junk food, Hannah," Thompson said. "My kids also eat McDonald's. When they were about your size, to my son who is with us today, who was a little bit bigger, he was a football player, and also they cook with me at home. I love to cook. We cook a lot of fruits and veggies at home."

Thompson pointed out that McDonald's serves fruits and vegetables, including apples in its Happy Meals and salads for $1, and is hoping to "sell even more".

Hannah said she has tried McDonald's when she was 2 or 3-years-old but doesn't remember if she liked the food. She said she would try it again, as soon as the company makes healthier changes to their menu.

Her scolding of the CEO attracted both praise and critics, who point out she had a lot of adult help. Hannah insisted her message of healthy eating is something she passionately supports.

"Well, I got to think about what I was speaking in my mind, and not many people would get to do that," she said.

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Stephen Brashear/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- An increase in durable goods orders suggests economic growth may be holding steady this spring. U.S. orders for long-lasting manufactured goods were up in April, led by demand for non-defense aircraft and parts, which increased by  $1.9 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Following a 5.9 percent decrease in March, new orders were up two of the last three months. In April, orders increased 3.3 percent to $222.6 billion, a $7.2 billion jump.

Excluding transportation, new orders increased 1.3 percent. Overall shipments decreased 0.6 percent and capital goods shipments fell 3.3 percent. Unfilled orders increased 0.3 percent, and inventories rose 0.4 percent in April, according to the report.
 
Factories had been seeing fewer orders at the start of the year, in part because slower global growth had reduced demand for U.S. exports. Many economists believe U.S. growth is slowing to around two percent and could stay near that level for the rest of the year.

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Jemal Countess/Getty Images(CANNES, Paris) -- At a Cannes Film Festival charity auction as star-studded as one of the Great Gatsby’s parties, a pitch rang out that sounded like a sci-fi sequel to Catch Me If You Can.

“How would you like to go to space with Leonardo DiCaprio?” said an auctioneer, the actress Nicole Kidman. “I can’t believe he offered this, by the way,” she added.

The lot? A ticket on the maiden voyage of Virgin Galactic sitting right next to Gatsby, himself, Leonardo DiCaprio.

After three days of astronaut training, the winner would join a flight set to take off from the California desert this fall, detach from the mothership and launch all the way into orbit.

Virgin Galactic is a commercial successor to the space shuttle and one of several new ventures offering tourism in space.

“We have one million euro,” said another auctioneer, actress Sharon Stone. “We’re looking for one million two to go with Leonardo DiCaprio for three days’ training and into outer space!”

“Million-two here going once. … Million-two going twice. … We’re selling!” Stone said.

$1.5 million. The winner was a Russian billionaire, who’ll soon be getting a close-up look at the stars in more ways than one.

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Digital Vision/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- It seems like airlines these days are piling on more and more fees, while the flying experience is not always so pleasant.  But there are some perks worth paying for, according to the findings of a new Harris Interactive survey that examines how fliers who take at least one trip a year feel about certain perks and annoyances when traveling.

Thirty-nine percent of those surveyed say it would be preferable to let a stranger fall asleep on their shoulder during a flight than to have to pay the airline a fee for carry-on bags.

Despite complaints about add-on charges, 58 percent of those surveyed claim they'd be willing to pay extra for more legroom on flights of three hours or more. That percentage falls to just 33 percent for flights of two hours or less.

As for those overly friendly passengers it seems more leg room is worth the trouble. Fifty percent of those surveyed said an annoying, talkative seatmate would be a worthwhile trade-off if it also came with more room to stretch out. But when asked to name the two “most important amenities” when flying, 53 percent say snagging a window or aisle seat was a priority while 35 percent mentioned “extra legroom.”

Fifty-five percent of respondents also said they'd rather have free WiFi than free TV or movies on a flight.

And just 37 percent of respondents say they'd be willing to pay more for flights on newer planes.

Somewhat comforting news for parents who have to cope with crying babies on airline flights. Your fellow passengers would rather hear your baby cry than sit next to an adult with bad body odor.

Sixty-three percent of those surveyed say a stinky adult would be a more off-putting seatmate than one holding a crying baby.

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Tim Boyle/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Kmart’s new ad is a gas. Literally.

In its new tongue-in-cheek ad “Big Gas,” the retailer promotes a special discount on gas. Throughout the spot, customers praise the “big gas” savings and “big gas” prices, but their repeated, rapid use of the phrase makes it sound as though they’re saying “big a**.”

The ad starts out with customers getting gas at the pump.

“Ugh, I hate these big gas prices,” one woman says.

Another woman chimes in: “Sounds like you could use some big gas savings.”

There’s more of this, with customers expressing excitement over Kmart’s promotion. The retailer is offering its Shop Your Way members 30 cents off every gallon of gas when they spend at least $50 dollars at Kmart.

The retailer has had previous success with this style of commercial. Last month it released “Ship My Pants,” an ad featuring wordplay mimicking a crude joke to promote free shipping for loyalty members.

Within five days of being uploaded to YouTube, that 35-second video had nearly 10 million views.

The ad starts with a man speaking with a Kmart employee:

“Ship my pants? Right here? Ship my pants, you’re kidding,” the man says.

“You can ship you pants right here,” the worker replies.

The ad then has a number of other characters proudly saying they’ve shipped their products. The spot racked up another 7 million YouTube views before making its way to cable TV.

“Big Gas” was posted on YouTube on Wednesday, and had 92,000 views as of Thursday night.

The risqué ads may be generating buzz, but they’re not helping the company’s bottom line.

Earnings reports released late Thursday show the retailer is down 4.6 percent this quarter.

“They really need to goose things up quickly,” Lisa Granatstein, managing editor at AdWeek, told ABC News.  “But it was only one month ago that the ‘ship my pants’ campaign came out, and we have to give it time.”

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Hemera/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Stocks tumbled hard in early trading on Thursday, but recovered most of their losses by the closing bell.
 
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 12.67 points at 15,294.50. The Nasdaq Composite gave up 3.88 points to close at 3,459.42. The S&P 500 finished the session down 4.84 points, closing at 1,650.51.
 
The markets appear to be on track for a losing week, but are still well ahead for the month of May.
 
Meanwhile, new home sales are going through the roof.  The National Association of Homebuilders says they soared last month to the second-highest level since the summer of 2008, and the median price hit a record high.  Low mortgage rates are encouraging more people to buy.
 
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell by 23,000 last week. Experts say it's further evidence that the job market is slowly returning to health.
 
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Stockbyte/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Sales of new homes rose in April by nearly 30 percent compared with a year ago, according to a report by the U.S. Commerce Department.

This is the latest evidence of a recovering housing market, six years after the housing bubble burst, leading to a recession.

Home prices are also rising but have yet to get back to the highs seen during the bubble.

The median price of a new home sold in April was $271,600 – adjusted for inflation, this price is still below the price of a new home during the boom.

“We’re now about half-way back to what could be considered a full recovery,” National Association of Home Builders Senior Economist Robert Denk said in a note.

Thursday’s report also shows new home sales in the past four months were better than previously reported.

At the current sales rate, there is just over four months’ supply of new homes for sale.  A six-month supply is considered healthy.  This means that there is pent-up demand for new construction.

The housing recovery is being helped by the Federal Reserve’s efforts, and some economists fear that homes may not seem as cheap once those efforts wane.

Economists with IHS Global Insights do not expect the housing market to get truly back to normal until 2015.

New homes make up a small chunk of the housing market, but have an important ripple effect on the economy as new appliances and furnishings are needed.

Home are also often Americans’ biggest investment, and a rise in prices makes Americans more confident in their finances and ability to spend.

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VStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- New Jersey authorities are investigating 29 establishments for serving customers cheaper booze as a substitute for top-shelf liquor, including one that allegedly offered rubbing alcohol and food coloring as scotch.

“This alleged scheme is a dishonest ruse to increase profits, and it is a slap in the face to the consumer,” said state Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa in a statement. “Consumers should have the peace of mind of knowing that they will get what they spent their hard-earned money on every single time -- no exceptions.”

A spokesman for the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control declined to name which establishment served rubbing alcohol, saying it is an ongoing investigation.

Among the 29 licensed bars and restaurants cited for phony booze in the crackdown, dubbed “Operation Swill,” are 13 TGI Fridays restaurants throughout New Jersey.

On Tuesday, investigators visited the establishments, inspected the bar areas and seized all opened bottles. About 1,000 bottles were seized and will undergo more testing by investigators and manufacturers. The investigators seized various brands of vodka, gin, rum, scotch, whiskey and tequila. Investigators also took statements from employees and served demands for sales records to the establishments, which have seven days to provide records of the brands of interest.

TGI Fridays issued a statement that said, “TGI Fridays was just made aware of this issue and is working closely with the franchisee and owner of the cited locations to review and investigate these serious allegations. We have one of the most extensive bar and beverage programs in the industry, which sets a very high standard in the quality and service of our beverages.”

A complete list of the 29 establishments and the alcohol being tested is listed on the State Attorney General’s website.

The investigation was sparked by information from confidential informants, consumer complaints and testing of samples.

In January and February, investigators took samples from 63 licensed establishments, some of which had complaints and others chosen at random, and “covertly” took 150 samples. Detectives ordered “neat” drinks with no ice or mixers

According to the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, penalties for serving a drink other than the one ordered range from a five-day suspension for the first offense to a 15-day suspension for the third offense.

A mislabeled bottle of alcohol could have multiple violations based on the potential drinks that could have been poured.

Regulations from the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control could also allow for a 30-day suspension for any illegal activity on the licensed premise. Locations could also face a 30-day suspension for not cooperating in the investigation.

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