Cedar Point to replace Top Thrill coaster with Top Thrill 2

Cedar Point theme park in Ohio is redesigning the Top Thrill Dragster coaster with a new multi-pass launch and reverse spike to propel new trains 120 mph up and over the original 420-foot-tall Top Hat element. Top Thrill 2 replaces the hydraulic launch system with an electromagnetic propulsion launch system. The new triple launch pushes the train forward halfway up the top hat element at 74 mph, backward up the new spike at 101 mph and on a third pass at 120 mph up and over the peak. Cedar Point closed Top Thrill Dragster for the entire 2022 and 2023 seasons after a metal piece flew off the ride and seriously injured a woman waiting in the attraction queue in 2021.

Orange County Register

Americans are terrible at using their vacation time. And yet, as a new year begins, posts about "maxing out" PTO have been making the rounds on social media. The posts encourage workers to schedule their time-off requests strategically, around federal holidays and weekends. For example, if you used PTO from Jan. 2-5, it would have taken advantage of the weekends before and after, plus New Year's Day, turning your four days of vacation into a nine-day break. To take similar advantage of all of the federal holidays this year, you'd have to have a job that offers 39 vacation days and observes those holidays. Plus, taking them all may lead to "maxing out how much your coworkers hate you."

Washington Post

Enjoying samba and caipirinhas in Brazil will no longer be so easy for U.S travelers. Starting Jan. 10, travelers with U.S. passports wishing to vacation in Brazil must first obtain a mandatory entry visa. The Electronic Visa (eVisa) of the Federative Republic of Brazil is a new entry requirement for American, Canadian and Australian travelers, Brazilian authorities announced. The U.S. State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs alerted on its social media channels that the Brazilian government "will reinstate a visa requirement for all U.S. nationals visiting Brazil." Unlike a consular visa, which must be obtained during an in-person visit to a consular office, the Brazilian eVisa process can be completed entirely online.

Miami Herald

The Department of Transportation will take a deeper dive into airline frequent flyer programs, specifically looking for any unfair or deceptive practices with credit cards. The agency is also looking at the devaluation of the cards — that is, the rising number of points needed to book a free flight. Frequent flyer miles used to be accumulated through the number of flights and number of miles flown on a certain airline. Now, virtually every airline has an affiliated credit card on which you can gain miles just through everyday purchases. Delta Air Lines, for instance, added more than 8 million frequent flyer members last year.