Happy hour's end

The "$5 happy hour, every hour" has ended at Southwest Airlines.

The low-fare carrier, which flies four of every 10 passengers out of Albany International Airport, raised prices on its alcoholic drinks on March 1.

It's no surprise to Southwest customers, particularly if they also fly other airlines.

Five-dollar drinks disappeared on the legacy carriers long ago.

The new prices: beer is $6, with premium beers at $7, wine is $6 and liquor is $7.

Cheers!

Dash on rise?

Patrick Gray is big into cryptocurrency, the digital monetary system that was made popular by Bitcoin.

There are other cryptocurrencies too, such as Dash.

Gray helped to take one cryptocurrency company in Canada public, and he has a new startup based in Schenectady called Mega Blockchain that is also involved in cryptocurrency.

Dash goes for about $400 per coin, much less than Bitcoin, at $8,600 per coin.

But Gray sees big things happening with Dash, which his Canadian company, HashChain Technology, is mining from a Canadian data center.

Gray recently told a Canadian news site that Dash coins could go as high as $3,000 this year.

Gray raised more than $7 million for his Schenectady startup, and he will also be able to raise $29 million for HashChain Technology.

A boost for DHS

President Trump likes the additional resources the new federal budget provides for defense and security.

We know where some of that money could be spent. More officers for Customs and Border Protection in support of the Global Entry program would be a plus.

When CBP held an open house last month at Albany International Airport, the 150 appointment times filled immediately. Enrollment requires a thorough background check and personal interview, but successful candidates receive expedited processing at customs, allowing officers focus on travelers requiring more screening. It's a benefit all around.