Hurley, MS Florists

Hurley Flower Shop News

Nicky Whelan & Miles Fisher To Star In 'A Christmas Arrangement'; Brooke Lewis Cast In 'To Avenge'

When Calls the Heart) costar. Whelan star as flower shop owner Poppy Benson who enters the annual Holiday Floral Show for a chance to win the $5,000 grand prize. Standing in her way is Garrett Hurley (Fisher), the underappreciated protégé of florist extraordinaire Blair Covington (Zuniga). While Poppy and Garrett’s rivalry heats up on the flower show floor, an undeniable romance begins amidst a whimsical holiday backdrop. Ali Spuck and Casie Tabanou wrote the script, which is being produced by Autumn Federici via The Ninth House. Executive producers are Jim Klock and Stephanie Slack. Whelan is repped by Innovative Artists and Luber Roklin Entertainment, while Make Good Content reps Fisher.Actress Brooke Lewis is set for a supporting role in the indie crime thriller, To Avenge, which Nick Belial is directed from a script he wrote with Erin Hazelhurst. The film stars Zach Galligan, Kelli Maroney, Bernard Robichaud, Lauren Francesca, and Taylor Hay. Plot: When a young woman is brutally assaulted and the justice system fails her, a stranger takes matters into her own hands. Lewis will play Jenny Price, a Rape Survivor’s Advocate. Lorcan Saoirse Films is producing the project. Lewis, who will star in the upcoming indie ½ New Year, is repped by The Corsa Agency and Bohemia Group. ... https://deadline.com/2018/07/nicky-whelan-miles-fisher-a-christmas-arrangement-brooke-lewis-to-avenge-1202423963/

Oklahoma City flower distributor continues to grow after more than 70 years - NewsOK.com

Oklahoma Flower Market President Michael Hurley participates in daily Skype calls to South America, monitors hurricanes in Florida and keeps abreast of land prices in California as they relate to flower farms. Hurley does it all in the same location the company has operated from for years.“Our company has been around for over 70 years, and I'm the third generation owner,” Hurley said. “We've been in this area when it was industrial and there was nothing here, and now we're in the middle of midtown.”Hurley grew up in the business at 36 N Broadway Circle, literally, getting his start at 10 years old when he would go to the shop after school and help his father. Now, as the owner, Hurley oversees the entire operation.“In its simplest form, we bring it in bulk and break it down and redistribute it,” Hurley said. “But because of the way we do it ... we buy the highest quality we can get.”Oklahoma Flower Market purchases flowers from farmers throughout the country and internationally and then sells to retailers throughout Oklahoma. Working as a wholesaler, the company doesn't sell a dozen roses to individuals who walk into the store, but a dozen roses purchased at a retailer in Oklahoma might have made its way through the Midtown warehouse.The company ships more than 5... http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-flower-distributor-continues-to-grow-after-more-than-70-years/article/5576730

Oklahoma florists see disruptions from Hurricane Irma - NewsOK.com

The florist also gets direct shipments from Holland and California, so much of its inventory was unaffected by transportation issues in south Florida.Mike Hurley, president of Oklahoma Flower Market, said his wholesale operation lost three planned truck deliveries from Irma outages. The Miami airport was expected to resume flights on Wednesday."Most trucking companies in Miami stopped operations last Thursday, and I don't blame them because who wants to go cross-country away from your family when there's a hurricane coming," Hurley said. "Pretty much anything that came through Miami was affected. But there's still a lot of flowers available, including a good amount from California."Hurley said greenery, like ferns grown in central Florida, has been affected by the storm, with structural damage to greenhouses still being assessed by growers."The ferneries have seen some damage, and we're hearing a lot are putting drones up to assess the situation," he said. "The big companies in Miami are dealing with power outages and computer networks being down."... http://newsok.com/oklahoma-florists-see-disruptions-from-hurricane-irma/article/5563839

Reason Foundation Supports Florists, Bakers in Gay Wedding Case Before Supreme Court - Reason (blog)

Art is speech, regardless of whether it actually expresses any important ideas—or even any perceptibly coherent idea at all. Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian &Bisexual Group of Boston—which upheld the right of parade organizers not to allow a gay-rights group to march because they did not want to endorse the its message—even went so far as to say that the paintsplatter art of Jackson Pollock, atonal music of Arnold Schoenberg, and nonsense words of Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky poem are "unquestionably shielded" by the First Amendment.Second, the brief argues the government is using anti-discrimination laws to compel business owners to participate in same-sex wedding ceremonies, regardless of their religious objections. The lower courts have determined that providing cakes and flower arrangements does not "endorse" same-sex marriage. The brief asks the Supreme Court to reconsider this attitude and argues that these businesses are being ordered to put their stamp of approval on a concept (same-sex marriage) to which they object. The brief uses Wooley v. Maynard, where the Supreme Court previously ordered that New Hampshire couldn't force citizens to display the state's motto on their license plate if they objected to the statement "Live Free or Die":Surely, no observer would have understood the motto—printed by the government on government-provided and government-mandated license plates—as the driver's own words or sentiments. … Yet the Court nonetheless held for the Maynards. … The Court reasoned that a person's "individual freedom of mind" protects her "First Amendment right to avoid becoming the courier" for the communication of speech that she does not wish to communicate. … People have the "right to decline to foster ... concepts" with which they disagree, even when the government is merely requiring them to display a slogan on a state-issued license plate. …Forcing Barronelle Stutzman and Jack Phillips (the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop) to use their art to send a message of celebration and approval of same-sex marriages that they sincerely believe to be immoral is, if anything, significantly more invasive of core First Amendment rights than the imposition of a universally issued license plate with a quote hardly anyone could mistake as the driver's own personal opinions.Some libertarians may be disappointed that the concept of freedom of association (that business owners should be able to choose whom to serve just as customers choose where to shop) doesn't get a defense in the brief. The reality is there's no evidence the Supreme Court will be making a decision that touches on freedom of association at all. The questions the Supreme Court will consider are those the brief addresses: Whether baking a wedding cake is a form of expressive activity and whether requiring bakers to produce these cakes for same-sex couples is a form of compelled speech.Read the brief below the fold:SCOTUS Amicus Brief by Scott Shackford on Scribd... http://reason.com/blog/2017/08/16/reason-foundation-supports-florists-bake

Christian Florist Fights for Religious Freedom at Wash. State High Court - National Catholic Register

Waggoner countered that there was “absolutely” a difference between sexual orientation and decisions made about that orientation. “The [U.S. Supreme] Court has already ruled on that, as well, in the Hurley decision,” said Waggoner, referencing a 1995 decision in which the court unanimously held that the organizers of Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade were permitted to exclude a homosexual-rights group from marching in the privately sponsored event. “It’s a U.S. Supreme Court decision where the court distinguished between homosexual conduct and suppressing free speech.”According to Waggoner, “The crux of this case lies in: Are we going to force people to say things and create things that they don’t want to create or say?”Travis Weber, director of the Family Research Council’s Center for Religious Liberty, agreed with Waggoner about Stutzman’s position.“The First Amendment grants her the protection to hold the religious beliefs of her choice and to live out those beliefs. Moreover, the state has no interest and no legitimate reason to force her to be complicit in a process which would violate her conscience, when so many other small businesses would happily fulfill that role.”According to Weber, racial discrimination and Stutzman’s actions “are absolutely not the same thing. I’m not even sure the ACLU and others who make that claim even believe it.“Christians are objecting to certain matters which violate their consciences — not to serving all people who identify as LGBT. So what is occurring is not even the same dynamic as what occurred during our racial tragedies of the past.”Catholic PerspectiveDominican Sister Sharon Park, the executive director of the Washington State Catholic Conference, said the Church considers cases like Stutzman’s from the perspective of the rights of conscience.“Our teachings would hold very strongly that every human person deserves the dignity that God gave them. So that doesn’t matter on their orientation; it doesn’t matter who they are,” she explained. “They still have a basic dignity, and we must treat them accordingly.”However, Sister Sharon added that it was important “to follow one’s own conscience” as long as the conscience is properly formed. She noted that “because [Stutzman] served that same-sex couple for years, giving them flowers,” and then “when it came to marriage, she held that her faith holds that’s God-given between a man and a woman,” she held a clear belief about where her conscience falls on the issue of serving same-sex couples’ wedding ceremonies.Sister Sharon noted that the state appears to be distinguishing “between religious liberty and discrimination. That’s the crux of the lawsuit itself. [The state is saying] she can believe whatever she wants, but she can’... http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/christian-florist-fights-for-religious-freedom-at-wash.-state-high-court

Jackson Attorney to Represent Flowers in Possible Seventh Trial - Jackson Free Press

A lead attorney with the Mississippi Center for Justice plans to represent Curtis Flowers (pictured) if he is tried for a seventh time for the 1994 murders of four people in Winona, Miss. AP Photo/Winona Times, Dale Gerstenslager, Pool, File A Jackson-area civil rights attorney is vowing to represent an African American man after a prosecutor accused of racial bias said he plans to try him a seventh time for the same murder case.Rob McDuff, the director of the Mississippi Center for Justice’s impact litigation project, announced on July 2 that he will represent Curtis Flowers if prosecutor Doug Evans tries him again for the 1996 slayings of four people at a furniture store in Winona, Miss. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Flowers’ 2010 murder conviction, finding that Evans was racially discriminatory in jury selection.“Curtis Flowers’ formidable struggle to secure a trial free from racial discrimination fits within MCJ’s core mission of racial and economic justice,” Mississipp... http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/jul/08/jackson-attorney-represent-flowers-possible-sevent/

Clarence Thomas Breaks a Three-Year Silence at Supreme Court - The New York Times

WASHINGTON — For the first 55 minutes of a Supreme Court argument on Wednesday about racial discrimination in jury selection, the justices seemed united in their view that a white Mississippi prosecutor had violated the Constitution in his determined efforts to exclude black jurors from the six trials of Curtis Flowers, who was convicted of murdering four people in a furniture store.As Mr. Flowers’s lawyer concluded her argument, Justice Clarence Thomas asked his first questions from the bench since 2016. He wanted to know whether the defense lawyer in the sixth trial had excluded any jurors. The lawyer said yes.“And what was the race of the jurors struck there?” Justice Thomas asked.White, said the lawyer, Sheri Lynn Johnson.Justice Thomas holds the modern record for silence on the bench. Before his questions in 2016, he had gone a decade without asking one. His explanations have varied, but he has said lately that the other justices asked so many questions that they were rude to the lawyers before them.The balance of the argument went well for Mr. Flowers, whose case has attracted widespread attention. Justices across the ideological spectrum said the track re... https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/20/us/politics/clarence-thomas-speaks-supreme-court.html

Rising shipping costs spell the end of Norridgewock Christmas wreath company - Press Herald

Newburgh, which also makes wreathes. Corliss said the struggles for wreath-makers in Maine and beyond just keep mounting.Piper Mountain charges $26 per wreath, with $13 for shipping east of the Mississippi and another $1 westward.“Absolutely, shipping has become a bear,” Corliss said, saying the mailing companies have jacked costs severely the last six years and added additional home delivery fees. “It’s got me a little unawares this year. We did not raise our price, and, of course, when you say shipping, you don’t just blame UPS and FedEx; it’s also the cost of the box, the cost of the labor to decorate that wreath and put it in the box.”There’s also a growing challenge getting so-called “fir tippers” who bring in the balsam harvest from the woods, Corliss said.“The tips that we used to make the wreaths for years was 25 cents a pound for people to go out into the woods. Last year we were paying 40 cents a pound. This year I was offering 40 cents and no one came until I discovered some people offering 50 cents in this area,” he said.In Norridgewock, Christmas Tree Acres was once one of the largest Christmas tree farms in the state, and its former owner and founder, Dwight Newman, was a past president of the Maine Christmas Tree Association.Bolduc did not respond to a message left on his home phone or an email sent to the business. A phone call to the number on a “For Sale” sign on the building at 69 Depot St. also was not returned.Newman, who died in 2012, was a florist and greenhouse owner in Winchester, Massachusetts, when he started the tree farm on Sandy River Road in 1965. He eventually moved to Maine and with his wife, Nancy, started a mail-order Christmas tree and wreath business out of the Depot Street building, according to Newman’s obituary and Morning Sentinel archives.Newman retired in 1995, at which point he sold the wreath company to its current owner, David Bolduc.In the message on the website, Bolduc talks about shipping expenses increasing more than 27 percent in a single year. It said the average cost for shipping a wreath is $18 to $20 each, but the company charged only $11.25 for shipping.Leman, the Ellsworth wreath maker, said that sounds about right. His company ships about 6,000 wreaths each year to places all around the country. Six years ago, he said the average shipping cost per wreath was about $8 to $12, with $12 for wreaths going to the West Coast.Now it costs $25 to $30 to send a wreath to the west coast via UPS and “close to $16 bucks to send it next door.”The U.S. Postal Service is also an option, but the rates are generally more expensive than UPS or FedEx to ship wreaths across the country, Leman said.Representatives for both companies said in emails that dimensional weight pricing is a common industry practice, and they have efforts in place to help customers improve their packaging practices.“It allows us to make the best use of space in our vehicles and encourages customers to make packaging adjustments,” said FedEx spokeswoman Rae Lyn. “Ultimately, more efficient packaging is good for our customers and ... https://www.pressherald.com/2018/12/08/closure-of-longtime-norridgewock-christmas-wreath-company-a-sign-of-higher-costs-industry-challenges/

Closure of longtime Norridgewock Christmas wreath company a sign of higher costs, industry challenges - Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel

Newburgh, which also makes wreathes. Corliss said the struggles for wreath-makers in Maine and beyond just keep mounting.Piper Mountain charges $26 per wreath, with $13 for shipping east of the Mississippi and another $1 westward.“Absolutely, shipping has become a bear,” Corliss said, saying the mailing companies have jacked costs severely the last six years and added additional home delivery fees. “It’s got me a little unawares this year. We did not raise our price, and, of course, when you say shipping, you don’t just blame UPS and FedEx; it’s also the cost of the box, the cost of the labor to decorate that wreath and put it in the box.”There’s also a growing challenge getting so-called “fir tippers” who bring in the balsam harvest from the woods, Corliss said.“The tips that we used to make the wreaths for years was 25 cents a pound for people to go out into the woods. Last year we were paying 40 cents a pound. This year I was offering 40 cents and no one came until I discovered some people offering 50 cents in this area,” he said.In Norridgewock, Christmas Tree Acres was once one of the largest Christmas tree farms in the state, and its former owner and founder, Dwight Newman, was a past president of the Maine Christmas Tree Association.Bolduc did not respond to a message left on his home phone or an email sent to the business. A phone call to the number on a “For Sale” sign on the building at 69 Depot St. also was not returned.Newman, who died in 2012, was a florist and greenhouse owner in Winchester, Massachusetts, when he started the tree farm on Sandy River Road in 1965. He eventually moved to Maine and with his wife, Nancy, started a mail-order Christmas tree and wreath business out of the Depot Street building, according to Newman’s obituary and Morning Sentinel archives.Newman retired in 1995, at which point he sold the wreath company to its current owner, David Bolduc.In the message on the website, Bolduc talks about shipping expenses increasing more than 27 percent in a single year. It said the average cost for shipping a wreath is $18 to $20 each, but the company charged only $11.25 for shipping.Leman, the Ellsworth wreath maker, said that sounds about right. His company ships about 6,000 wreaths each year to places all around the country. Six years ago, he said the average shipping cost per wreath was about $8 to $12, with $12 for wreaths going to the West Coast.Now it costs $25 to $30 to send a wreath to the west coast via UPS and “close to $16 bucks to send it next door.”The U.S. Postal Service is also an option, but the rates are generally more expensive than UPS or FedEx to ship wreaths across the country, Leman said.Representatives for both companies said in emails that dimensional weight pricing is a common industry practice, and they have efforts in place to help customers improve their packaging practices.“It allows us to make the best use of space in our vehicles and encourages customers to make packaging adjustments,” said FedEx spokeswoman Rae Lyn. “Ultimately, more efficient packaging is good for our customers and ... https://www.centralmaine.com/2018/12/08/closure-of-longtime-norridgewock-christmas-wreath-company-a-sign-of-higher-costs-industry-challenges/