The House of Representatives Friday passed a bill that industry groups say eases the menu labeling burden for supermarkets while keeping the spirit of the original legislation. Key provisions include: Allowing use of a menu or menu board in the prepared foods area or next to a salad bar instead of labeling each individual item; providing exceptions for localized items that may only be sold at one or two locations, and allowing a store to take corrective actions within 90 days prior to federal, state or municipal enforcement.

Seattle-based fashion specialty retailer, Nordstrom, has released plans for a flagship store in New York City. The plan includes four properties in the Columbus Circle neighborhood of Manhattan along Broadway between West 57th and 58th streets. The stores include both existing, historic buildings as well as new construction at the base of Central Park Tower, with glass facades prominent.Nordstrom also plans to restore or rebuild the street-level facades of the other building to evoke their original design.

The restaurant industry saw a slow start to the year as measured by same-store sales growth during January. Same-store sales fell 0.8% in January, which was the softest month since the 0.9% decline reported for February 2014, and only the second month with negative same-store sales in the last 15 months. The data is from TDn2K's Black Box Intelligence through The Restaurant Industry Snapshot, based on weekly sales from over 23,000 restaurant units and more than 120 brands, representing $57 billion in annual revenue.

Soccer giant Manchester United's deal with 20th Century Fox will involve cross-marketing and promotions on the pitch and social media, in-cinema and multimedia for such upcoming releases as "Deadpool," "X-Men Apocalypse" and "Independence Day: Resurgence." One activation involves a spot in which the character Deadpool wins a soccer game with a free kick and is cheered by Wayne Rooney and other ManU stars, only to find that he had "that weird dream again."

A new report shows that for every dollar the Conservative government in Canada budgeted for its job-training program, it spent 53 cents advertising it in the first year. Newly released details of the previous government's 2014-15 advertising budget show that spending on ads linked to the economic action plan outpaced any other campaign. The TV, radio, Internet and print ads for the Canada apprentice loan program came in at $6.7 million, one of the Ottawa's most expensive campaigns.

It's hip to be square. No wonder Toyota has put Scion to sleep. Young consumers don't want quirky any more. "Compared to Gen X, Gen Y is very mainstream," said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for Autotrader. "They see the car as a symbol of their accomplishments and aspirations. They're into very established, highly respected global brands, whereas Gen X always wanted something different from what their parents drove."

More Americans are throwing away the keys. And it's not just young Americans who are doing it. Fewer middle-aged adults are bothering to get or renew their driver's licenses. A researcher at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute found declines in the number of drivers, across the board up to age 54, between 1983 and 2014. The younger they are, the bigger the declines. There are 20% fewer 18 year olds driving now, for instance.

People watch about 100 million hours of video on Facebook daily, but they aren't listening. That means Facebook is only getting a piece of the message across, if any. They need to think Charlie Chaplin. Facebook is doing that with product updates for mobile video ads, including a new caption tool. Before, advertisers had to embed their own captions, now there's a tool that does for them.

Tesla Motors set a record for deliveries in the fourth quarter in spite of sagging oil prices. While the maker of all-electric luxury also posted a net loss of $320 million, up from $108 million a year earlier, the company, in the first earnings report since the fall launch of the Model X, reported $1.2 billion in fourth-quarter revenue, a 30% increase over the third quarter and a 27% increase year-over-year.

The tourism department of West Bengal (located between India and Bangladesh) has rolled out a campaign targeting foreign tourists, with digital takeovers in major Indian airports. The boards tout sites like the Darjeeling hills, islands of UNESCO world heritage site Sundarbans, tea gardens of Dooars, wildlife of north Bengal, tribal and natural beauty of the Junglemahal area, and the terracotta art of Bishnupur. Ogilvy & Mather was hired to do the job.