Clogged Ports Put Fall, Holiday Shipments in Doubt (wsj.com)

Fourth-quarter service performance for July 1 through July 16 included: *First-Class Mail: Delivered 89.3 percent of First-Class Mail on time against the USPS service standard, an improvement of nearly 2 percentage points from the third quarter. *Marketing Mail: Delivered 92.0 percent of Marketing Mail on time against the USPS service standard, an improvement of 1 percentage point from the third quarter. *Periodicals: Delivered 83.0 percent of Periodicals on time against the USPS service standard, an improvement of nearly 4 percentage points from the third quarter. The Postal Service’s continued improvement despite seasonal effects from the Independence Day federal holiday anticipated during for the period of July 10 to July 16.

Revenues for book publishers were $2.33 billion for the first quarter of 2017, a $108 million (4.9%) increase over the first quarter of 2016, according to the StatShot report from Association of American Publishers (AAP). Much of the growth is attributed to increased revenue in the two of the largest categories - Adult books and higher education course materials. StatShot tracks publisher revenue for about 1,200 publishers of trade (fiction/non-fiction/religious), PreK-12 instructional materials, higher education course materials, university presses and professional books. Click Read More below for additional details.

The Hearst Foundations announced that they have surpassed $1.5 billion in grants to over 6,400 organizations since their founding in 1946 by William Randolph Hearst. The announcement was made by Presidents of the Hearst Foundations, William R. Hearst III and Virginia Randt. Operating independently from Hearst, the Foundations are national philanthropic resources for organizations working in the fields of culture, education, health and social service. Grantmaking also includes administering two unique annual programs: the United States Senate Youth Program for high school juniors and seniors as a public service immersion in Washington D.C. and the Journalism Awards Program for undergraduates studying journalism at accredited schools of journalism.