The ever-vigilant list-makers at Forbes keep track of just about everything, and lately, they’ve been casting an eye toward that checkout line. Using data compiled by Catalina Marketing of St. Petersburg, Fla., they were able to identify the home bases of America’s unhealthiest grocery shoppers.

How did they do it? Catalina calculated the total amount spent on more than 100,000 individual product codes deemed generally unhealthy at 17,000 grocery stores. Those figures were then corrected for total expenditures.

Here are the 10 areas that fared worst, in reverse order, with percentage of total purchase devoted to unhealthy items:

10. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisc.: 10.19

9. Memphis, Tenn.-Ark.-Miss.: 10.27

8. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro, Tenn.: 10.32

7. New Orleans, La.: 10.32

6. Louisville-Jefferson County, Ky.-La.: 10.65

5. Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, N.C.-S.C.: 10.9

4. Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wisc.: 10.95

3. Indianapolis-Carmel, Ind.: 11.33

2. Richmond, Va.: 11.45

1. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wisc.: 11.47

To get a better idea of why these folks aren’t eating as well as they might, visit Forbes.

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Despite the housing market struggles and a downturn in gaming revenues, Las Vegas still beckons to people looking for a fresh start, according to an analysis of moving requests from 2008 by Relocation.com. The data revealed that on a per-capita basis for cities with more than 1 million people, Las Vegas retained its top spot as the No. 1 destination for people looking to make a long distance state-to-state move.

Although the recession has spared no one area of the country, cities in the West and South continue to appeal to people relocating, whether it is moving to take a new job or finding a new home with more solid economic opportunities.

Here are the top cities that people are expected to move to:

1. Las Vegas
2. Denver
3. Charlotte, N.C.
4. Phoenix/Mesa
5. Portland, Ore.
6. Seattle
7. Orlando, Fla.
8. Washington, D.C.
9. Atlanta
10. Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg, Fla.

Based on requests for moving quotes in 2008 and leading into 2009, the data is a strong indicator of consumer behavior for the coming year. Michigan and Ohio are declining likely due to automotive industry and other manufacturing job losses. However, North and South Carolina have gained and are expected to keep gaining.

For every 100 people looking to move to Michigan, 210 were looking to move out of the state. Ohioans also saw more people relocating: for every 100 people looking to move to Ohio, 150 requested moving quotes to move out of state.

The biggest beneficiary of these population displacements is North Carolina, which saw nearly 80 percent more requests to move to North Carolina than to leave (for every 100 people requesting moving quotes to leave the state, 180 indicated they wanted to move to it). South Carolina also saw a jump with nearly 70 percent more requests to move to the state than to leave, while Texas saw 66 percent more, and Georgia saw 36 percent more.

Relocation.com analyzed nearly 500,000 moving quote requests in 2008 to determine where people are moving. Figures from the U.S. census bureau indicate that 34 million people moved between 2007 and 2008. The company estimates that about three out of four people who make an inquiry on the Relocation.com family of sites, actually move within 12 months, representing nearly 3 percent of all Americans who move. The Census Bureau says the vast majority of movers in the U.S. make local moves; according to 2006 data, 62 percent of people making a move stayed within the same county, while 20 percent moved to a different county but within the same state. Fourteen percent moved state to state, while 3 percent moved from abroad.

Source: Relocation.com

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MarketWatch is just out with its annual list of the Top 10 Business Cities for 2008. These are towns that appear best equipped to ride out the recession with the fewest bankruptcies, foreclosures, layoffs, etc.

For the second straight year, a Midwestern metropolitan area occupies the top spot.

Here’s the list:

1. Minneapolis-St. Paul
2. Boston
3. Denver
4. Washington
5. Richmond, Va.
6. Charlotte, N.C.
7. Columbus, Ohio
8. Nashville, Tenn.
9. Dallas
10. San Francisco

To find out how these cities made the list, and to see a slideshow, visit MarketWatch.

Sponsored list:

• Hotel offers under $99 (feed)

Want to stay at a verifiably green hotel for your next vacation? Soon you’ll be able to choose from among dozens of hotel and resort projects, in various stages of construction or remodeling, that have registered with the US Green Building Council, aiming to achieve silver, gold or platinum LEED certification.

But so far only a handful of resorts, hotels and lodges, 13 at last count, have completed the LEED certification process. These get-aways, which include upscale, urban hotels; trendy spas and woodsy lodges, have met the LEED standards, which requires that building projects consider the environment in how they locate their structures; choose materials with a lighter environmental impact; recycle or reduce construction waste, and conserve energy and water.

The 13 green pioneers:

• Avalon Hotel and Spa — Portland, Ore., US (pictured)
  
• GAIA Napa Valley — San Francisco, Calif., US
  
• Kandalama Hotel — Damulla, Sri Lanka
  
• Len Foote Hike Inn — Dawsonville, Ga., US
  
• Orchard Garden Hotel — San Francisco, Calif., US
  
• Snowmass Golf Clubhouse — Aspen, Colo., US
  
• The Ambrose — Santa Monica, Calif., US
  
• The John James Audubon Lodge & Camp — Charlotte, N.C., US
  
• The Lodge and Spa at Callaway Gardens — Pine Mountain, Ga., US
  
• University of Maryland Inn & Conference — Adelphi, Md., US
  
• Vancouver Conference Center & Hotel — Vancouver, Wash., US
  
• Palazzo — Las Vegas, Nevada, US
  
• Unity Village Hotel - Kansas City, Missouri, US

**LEED certification of building projects differs from the certification by the Green Hotels Association. While LEED focuses on construction and energy consumption; the GRE, which also looks at energy conservation, more closely analyzes daily operations, giving points for hotels that use bulk soaps, low-toxic cleaners, natural pesticides and less food packaging.

Chart source: The US Green Building Council.

For more on green living, go to greenrightnow.com.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

That’s rough enough when your hard-earned dollars go to support a championship team, or at least a respectable contender. At least you are getting the hoped-for bang for your buck.

But what if you are shelling out all that dough…and the team you’re rooting for stinks?

That, unfortunately, is the case in too many towns, and the folks at Forbes have noticed. That’s why they came up with their list of “America’s Worst Cities To Be a Sports Fan.” Forbes weighed median income against the cost of a trip to the stadium or arena to determine which town’s fans were getting the rawest deal.

Of the terrible 10, here are the bottom seven, in reverse order:

10.  Pittsburgh

  9.  Cleveland

  8.  Tampa

  7.  Charlotte

  6.  Kansas City

  5.  Cincinnati

  4.  New York

To check out the Top 3, and to see a slideshow about all 10, visit Forbes.com.

The study provides several different views of travel taxes to help readers make informed choices. The top 50 markets are ranked by overall travel tax burden, including general sales tax and discriminatory travel taxes, and by discriminatory travel tax burden, excluding general sales taxes to count only taxes that target car rentals, hotel stays and meals. (Discriminatory travel taxes are those imposed specifically on travel services above and beyond general sales taxes.)

Separate data are offered for central city and airport locations, as the tax regimes are often distinct. In addition to combined data on car rental, hotel and meal taxes, separate data are provided for each of the three spend categories.

U.S. cities where travelers incur the lowest total tax burden in central city locations
(factoring in general sales taxes and discriminatory travel taxes for lodging, car rentals, and meals):
1. Honolulu, HI $21.45/day
2. Portland, OR $22.83/day
3. Fort Lauderdale, FL $23.35/day
3. Fort Myers, FL $23.35/day
5. West Palm Beach, FL $24.67/day

The cities that impose the highest total taxes on travelers are:
1. Chicago, IL $42.44/day
2. Nashville, TN $39.55/day
3. Charlotte, NC $38.80/day
4. Seattle, WA $38.70/day
5. Houston, TX $37.62/day

The U.S. cities with the lowest discriminatory travel tax rates for lodging, car rentals, and meals in central city locations are:
1. Oakland, CA $7.58/day
2. West Palm Beach, FL $7.62/day
2. Fort Lauderdale, FL $7.62/day
2. Fort Myers, FL $7.62/day
5. Orange County, CA $8.10/day

The cities that impose the highest discriminatory travel taxes on travelers for lodging, car rentals, and meals are:
1. Portland, OR $22.83/day
2. Seattle, WA $21.64/day
3. Atlanta, GA $19.82/day
4. Charlotte, NC $19.78/day
5. Chicago, IL $18.83/day

For the full report, visit the NBTA site.

Source: Business Wire

Sponsored list:

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