Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Wal-Mart awards $2 billion to U.S. hourly employees
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc is awarding approximately $2 billion to its U.S. hourly employees through financial incentives, including handing out $933.6 million in bonuses on Thursday, after the world's largest retailer gained market share amid a recession.
In a memo to Wal-Mart employees obtained by Reuters, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke said the retailer is awarding roughly $2 billion to U.S. hourly employees, which includes $933.6 million in bonuses, $788.8 million in profit sharing and 401(k) contributions, millions of dollars in merchandise discounts, and contributions to its employee stock purchase plan.
'While economic challenges forced others to step back, we moved forward,' Duke stated in the memo.
Duke said Wal-Mart now needs to 'accelerate and broaden all of our efforts.'
As consumers seek to stretch limited budgets, they are increasingly heading to Wal-Mart's U.S. stores for discounts on everything from food to televisions. Wal-Mart is also aggressively touting its low prices to attract shoppers, and the retailer said on Thursday that it is cutting prices on contact lenses and children's glasses.
The efforts are helping Wal-Mart gain market share while other U.S. retailers see sales fall as shoppers avoid splurging on nice-to-have items, like sweaters or jewelry.
For its fiscal year ending January 31, 2009, Wal-Mart's total sales rose 7.2 percent to $401.24 billion. Sales at its U.S. stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, rose 3.3 percent, excluding fuel, in its recently completed fiscal year, up from a 1.4 percent gain in the previous fiscal year.
A year ago, Wal-Mart said it awarded almost $1.2 billion in financial incentives to its U.S. hourly employees, including more than $636.4 m"
In a memo to Wal-Mart employees obtained by Reuters, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke said the retailer is awarding roughly $2 billion to U.S. hourly employees, which includes $933.6 million in bonuses, $788.8 million in profit sharing and 401(k) contributions, millions of dollars in merchandise discounts, and contributions to its employee stock purchase plan.
'While economic challenges forced others to step back, we moved forward,' Duke stated in the memo.
Duke said Wal-Mart now needs to 'accelerate and broaden all of our efforts.'
As consumers seek to stretch limited budgets, they are increasingly heading to Wal-Mart's U.S. stores for discounts on everything from food to televisions. Wal-Mart is also aggressively touting its low prices to attract shoppers, and the retailer said on Thursday that it is cutting prices on contact lenses and children's glasses.
The efforts are helping Wal-Mart gain market share while other U.S. retailers see sales fall as shoppers avoid splurging on nice-to-have items, like sweaters or jewelry.
For its fiscal year ending January 31, 2009, Wal-Mart's total sales rose 7.2 percent to $401.24 billion. Sales at its U.S. stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, rose 3.3 percent, excluding fuel, in its recently completed fiscal year, up from a 1.4 percent gain in the previous fiscal year.
A year ago, Wal-Mart said it awarded almost $1.2 billion in financial incentives to its U.S. hourly employees, including more than $636.4 m"
Look up IRONY in the dictionary and her face will be there!!!
Woman accused of biting, punching son's principal:
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Rhode Island woman is accused of punching and biting her 11-year-old son's school principal after she was told the boy was being suspended.
Police say 30-year-old Aleyda Uceta also bit an officer trying to arrest her after Friday's incident at Roger Williams Middle School in Providence.
She is charged with assault on school officials, assault on police officers and resisting arrest.
Police say Uceta punched Principal Rudolph Moseley Jr. in the face and bit his left arm after he told her that her son would be suspended for three days for refusing to go to a room for misbehaving students.
Attempts to reach Uceta by phone for comment were unsuccessful."
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Rhode Island woman is accused of punching and biting her 11-year-old son's school principal after she was told the boy was being suspended.
Police say 30-year-old Aleyda Uceta also bit an officer trying to arrest her after Friday's incident at Roger Williams Middle School in Providence.
She is charged with assault on school officials, assault on police officers and resisting arrest.
Police say Uceta punched Principal Rudolph Moseley Jr. in the face and bit his left arm after he told her that her son would be suspended for three days for refusing to go to a room for misbehaving students.
Attempts to reach Uceta by phone for comment were unsuccessful."
U.S. to Provide $5 Billion in Aid to Auto-Parts Suppliers - WSJ.com
Here is a novel idea!!!
Why not have the automakers use some of the BILLIONS they received in bailout money and just pay their bills. Then we would not have to give the parts guys money! Does this only make sense to me????
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration plans to provide up to $5 billion in assistance to the country's beleaguered auto-parts suppliers, many of which are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
The program would pump money into dozens of the country's biggest suppliers to help cover the cost of seats, axles and other components shipped to the Big Three auto makers but not yet paid for.
The program will give "suppliers the confidence they need to continue shipping parts, pay their employees and continue their operations," the Treasury said in a statement.
The statement said the program will provide suppliers access to government-backed protection that money owed to them for the products they ship will be paid no matter what happens to the recipient car company. It also will allow suppliers to sell their receivables into the program at a modest discount.
"This will provide suppliers with desperately needed funding to operate their businesses and help unlock credit more broadly in the supplier industry," the Treasury said.
Hundreds of suppliers have been struggling to keep going as car sales have plunged and bills for earlier shipments have gone unpaid. The car makers and President Barack Obama's auto task force have both warned in recent days that a chain reaction of bankruptcies within the suppliers sector would cause havoc in industry.
The suppliers last month offered a proposal to the Treasury with three options for various financing facilities. All told, the plan called for about $25 billion in lending and other assistance.
Several U.S. auto suppliers are hanging on the edge of bankruptcy filings due to concerns over liquidity and fears that they will no longer be considered "going concerns" by accountants. Major suppliers, including Lear Corp. and American Axle, have issued warnings concerning their going-concern status, and Lear said Tuesday it received 60-day waivers from its banks, meaning these lenders will not push them into default.
The number of auto-parts makers has dwindled for years, but some now fear the industry, which accounts for hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs, may be headed for liquidations as auto production shrinks amid the global economic slump.
The Bush administration injected capital into General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to avert the potential chaos of bankruptcy filings. But that didn't address overcapacity in the auto-parts industry. Obama administration officials are calling for a more comprehensive aid package for Detroit that requires big changes across the industry.
Increasingly, lenders are refusing to extend credit to parts makers that do lots of business with GM, Ford Motor Co. or Chrysler. The auto makers themselves can't afford to rescue even their most vital suppliers.
Why not have the automakers use some of the BILLIONS they received in bailout money and just pay their bills. Then we would not have to give the parts guys money! Does this only make sense to me????
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration plans to provide up to $5 billion in assistance to the country's beleaguered auto-parts suppliers, many of which are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
The program would pump money into dozens of the country's biggest suppliers to help cover the cost of seats, axles and other components shipped to the Big Three auto makers but not yet paid for.
The program will give "suppliers the confidence they need to continue shipping parts, pay their employees and continue their operations," the Treasury said in a statement.
The statement said the program will provide suppliers access to government-backed protection that money owed to them for the products they ship will be paid no matter what happens to the recipient car company. It also will allow suppliers to sell their receivables into the program at a modest discount.
"This will provide suppliers with desperately needed funding to operate their businesses and help unlock credit more broadly in the supplier industry," the Treasury said.
Hundreds of suppliers have been struggling to keep going as car sales have plunged and bills for earlier shipments have gone unpaid. The car makers and President Barack Obama's auto task force have both warned in recent days that a chain reaction of bankruptcies within the suppliers sector would cause havoc in industry.
The suppliers last month offered a proposal to the Treasury with three options for various financing facilities. All told, the plan called for about $25 billion in lending and other assistance.
Several U.S. auto suppliers are hanging on the edge of bankruptcy filings due to concerns over liquidity and fears that they will no longer be considered "going concerns" by accountants. Major suppliers, including Lear Corp. and American Axle, have issued warnings concerning their going-concern status, and Lear said Tuesday it received 60-day waivers from its banks, meaning these lenders will not push them into default.
The number of auto-parts makers has dwindled for years, but some now fear the industry, which accounts for hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs, may be headed for liquidations as auto production shrinks amid the global economic slump.
The Bush administration injected capital into General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to avert the potential chaos of bankruptcy filings. But that didn't address overcapacity in the auto-parts industry. Obama administration officials are calling for a more comprehensive aid package for Detroit that requires big changes across the industry.
Increasingly, lenders are refusing to extend credit to parts makers that do lots of business with GM, Ford Motor Co. or Chrysler. The auto makers themselves can't afford to rescue even their most vital suppliers.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
If you are going to report the news, you should research it first!!
NBC boss: Jon Stewart's criticism absurd, unfair
NEW YORK (Reuters) – NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker fired back at comedian Jon Stewart on Wednesday, saying it was "unfair" and "absurd" for the funnyman to criticize CNBC and question its coverage of financial news.
"Everybody wants to find a scapegoat. That's human nature," Zucker said during a keynote address at a media industry conference. "But to suggest that the business media or CNBC was responsible for what is going on now is absurd."
"Just because someone who mocks authority says something doesn't make it so," Zucker said, describing the comedian's comments as "completely out of line."
Zucker's comments are the latest salvo in a war of words with Stewart, who hosts the mock news program "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on the Comedy Central cable television network owned by Viacom Inc.
Stewart has blasted CNBC's reporting of the financial market meltdown, saying the channel was too cozy with corporate chiefs and key government officials.
The comedian has lobbed particularly harsh criticism at CNBC commentator Jim Cramer, and last week invited him for an appearance on the comedy show, where he hammered the guest for his coverage of Wall Street.
"Listen, you knew what the banks were doing, yet were touting it for months and months," Stewart said during his March 12 show. "The entire network was. Now to pretend that this was some sort of crazy, once-in-a-lifetime tsunami that nobody could have seen coming is disingenuous at best and criminal at worst."
"TERRIFIC" JOB
Zucker, speaking at the McGraw-Hill Media Summit in New York on Wednesday, said that CNBC's reporters and commentators had done a "terrific" job and the network remained a "go-to" place for financial news.
"It's unfair to CNBC and to the business media in general," Zucker said. "I don't think you can blame what happened here on the business media."
The CEO of NBC Universal, which also owns the NBC broadcast network, cable channels like Bravo and USA, theme parks and a film studio, among other businesses, said the public was tired of hearing the media blamed for its coverage of financial news.
"Frankly, I already think you're seeing a backlash," he said.
Zucker also noted that the financial crisis has bolstered CNBC's audience ratings, and said he expected viewers to stick with the cable network even if the economy remains mired in recession.
"When there is a lot of red on the screen, historically people don't want to watch that," he said. "That is absolutely not the case this time. I don't think this is like those other times."
General Electric Co holds an 80 percent stake in NBC Universal, while France's Vivendi owns the other 20 percent.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker fired back at comedian Jon Stewart on Wednesday, saying it was "unfair" and "absurd" for the funnyman to criticize CNBC and question its coverage of financial news.
"Everybody wants to find a scapegoat. That's human nature," Zucker said during a keynote address at a media industry conference. "But to suggest that the business media or CNBC was responsible for what is going on now is absurd."
"Just because someone who mocks authority says something doesn't make it so," Zucker said, describing the comedian's comments as "completely out of line."
Zucker's comments are the latest salvo in a war of words with Stewart, who hosts the mock news program "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on the Comedy Central cable television network owned by Viacom Inc.
Stewart has blasted CNBC's reporting of the financial market meltdown, saying the channel was too cozy with corporate chiefs and key government officials.
The comedian has lobbed particularly harsh criticism at CNBC commentator Jim Cramer, and last week invited him for an appearance on the comedy show, where he hammered the guest for his coverage of Wall Street.
"Listen, you knew what the banks were doing, yet were touting it for months and months," Stewart said during his March 12 show. "The entire network was. Now to pretend that this was some sort of crazy, once-in-a-lifetime tsunami that nobody could have seen coming is disingenuous at best and criminal at worst."
"TERRIFIC" JOB
Zucker, speaking at the McGraw-Hill Media Summit in New York on Wednesday, said that CNBC's reporters and commentators had done a "terrific" job and the network remained a "go-to" place for financial news.
"It's unfair to CNBC and to the business media in general," Zucker said. "I don't think you can blame what happened here on the business media."
The CEO of NBC Universal, which also owns the NBC broadcast network, cable channels like Bravo and USA, theme parks and a film studio, among other businesses, said the public was tired of hearing the media blamed for its coverage of financial news.
"Frankly, I already think you're seeing a backlash," he said.
Zucker also noted that the financial crisis has bolstered CNBC's audience ratings, and said he expected viewers to stick with the cable network even if the economy remains mired in recession.
"When there is a lot of red on the screen, historically people don't want to watch that," he said. "That is absolutely not the case this time. I don't think this is like those other times."
General Electric Co holds an 80 percent stake in NBC Universal, while France's Vivendi owns the other 20 percent.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Madoff's family remains under scrutiny in probe
Madoff's family remains under scrutiny in probe: "NEW YORK –
By all accounts, Bernard Madoff isn't talking. And his wife, his sons, his brother and other key employees have lawyered up. That means it could be a while before anyone else is arrested and the full extent of Madoff' vast swindle comes to light. Given the size of the paper trail — a $65 billion scam, 5,000 victims and monthly statements going back nearly two decades — experts say it could be six months to a year before charges are bought against any accomplices.
The day after Madoff was thrown behind bars, investigators returned Friday to the arduous task of piecing together one of the largest frauds in history — and trying to determine if anyone else was involved.
The FBI has refused to discuss the status of the investigation. But experts say it's certain Madoff's closest relatives and associates are high on authorities' list of people who may have known what was going on.
Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday to 11 charges, including fraud, perjury and money laundering. He faces a maximum sentence of 150 years in prison, and the judge immediately jailed him — a decision his lawyers asked an appeals court to reverse on Friday.
Any potential suspects 'are not better or worse off than they were before the plea,' said Christopher Clark, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan.
Also Friday, newly filed court documents showed Madoff and his wife had a combined net worth of more than $823 million at the end of last year, including a $7 million yacht and four properties worth a total of $22 million. Last month, a court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff's firm reported that about $1 billion in assets had been recovered from the business.
Part of the delay in charging any accomplices may be a lack of cooperation from key employees.
Among those under scrutiny is Madoff's wife, Ruth, who withdrew $15.5 million from a Madoff-related brokerage firm in the weeks before Madoff's Dec. 11 arrest, including a $10 million withdrawal on Dec. 10.
Passing references to Ruth Madoff during her husband's guilty plea Thursday drew laughter from a mocking audience of investors still bristling over a disclosure several weeks ago that she wants to keep $69 million in assets, including the couple's $7 million Manhattan penthouse.
In addition, she faces potential civil litigation as a result of the collapse of her husband's financial empire. Her lawyer has declined to comment.
Also on investigators' radar is Madoff's 63-year-old brother, Peter, who was instrumental in building Madoff's investment firm.
In the days following his brother's arrest, Peter Madoff helped regulators examine the company's books, his lawyer said at the time.
But the brother resigned about a week later and, like the rest of the family, has never spoken publicly about the case.
Madoff sons Andrew, 42, and Mark, 45, also worked for their father in a trading operation he has insisted was legitimate and separate from his fraudulent investment advisory service.
The sons, who shared their father's extravagant lifestyle, also have denied any wrongdoing through their attorney. The lawyer has called them victims of the scheme and claimed they had "no access to overall financial information about their father's firm."
Besides the family, investors have questioned the role of Frank DiPascali, chief financial officer of Madoff's money management business.
A lawyer for DiPascali declined to comment on Friday. Those for the brother and sons did not immediately return telephone messages.
So far, federal authorities are believed to have spoken to several clerks who handled some of the voluminous paperwork Madoff admits he fabricated, including tens of thousands of fake account statements.
During his plea, the defendant claimed he started the scheme as a short-term way to withstand the early-1990s recession — a timetable at odds with what authorities have alleged, that the giant Ponzi scheme began at least as early as the 1980s.
On Thursday, Madoff took all the blame for his fraud and tried to create a wall between himself and his family, telling the court his "other businesses" — proprietary trading and market making — were "legitimate, profitable and successful in all respects."
He then added: "Those businesses were managed by my brother and two sons."
By all accounts, Bernard Madoff isn't talking. And his wife, his sons, his brother and other key employees have lawyered up. That means it could be a while before anyone else is arrested and the full extent of Madoff' vast swindle comes to light. Given the size of the paper trail — a $65 billion scam, 5,000 victims and monthly statements going back nearly two decades — experts say it could be six months to a year before charges are bought against any accomplices.
The day after Madoff was thrown behind bars, investigators returned Friday to the arduous task of piecing together one of the largest frauds in history — and trying to determine if anyone else was involved.
The FBI has refused to discuss the status of the investigation. But experts say it's certain Madoff's closest relatives and associates are high on authorities' list of people who may have known what was going on.
Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday to 11 charges, including fraud, perjury and money laundering. He faces a maximum sentence of 150 years in prison, and the judge immediately jailed him — a decision his lawyers asked an appeals court to reverse on Friday.
Any potential suspects 'are not better or worse off than they were before the plea,' said Christopher Clark, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan.
Also Friday, newly filed court documents showed Madoff and his wife had a combined net worth of more than $823 million at the end of last year, including a $7 million yacht and four properties worth a total of $22 million. Last month, a court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff's firm reported that about $1 billion in assets had been recovered from the business.
Part of the delay in charging any accomplices may be a lack of cooperation from key employees.
Among those under scrutiny is Madoff's wife, Ruth, who withdrew $15.5 million from a Madoff-related brokerage firm in the weeks before Madoff's Dec. 11 arrest, including a $10 million withdrawal on Dec. 10.
Passing references to Ruth Madoff during her husband's guilty plea Thursday drew laughter from a mocking audience of investors still bristling over a disclosure several weeks ago that she wants to keep $69 million in assets, including the couple's $7 million Manhattan penthouse.
In addition, she faces potential civil litigation as a result of the collapse of her husband's financial empire. Her lawyer has declined to comment.
Also on investigators' radar is Madoff's 63-year-old brother, Peter, who was instrumental in building Madoff's investment firm.
In the days following his brother's arrest, Peter Madoff helped regulators examine the company's books, his lawyer said at the time.
But the brother resigned about a week later and, like the rest of the family, has never spoken publicly about the case.
Madoff sons Andrew, 42, and Mark, 45, also worked for their father in a trading operation he has insisted was legitimate and separate from his fraudulent investment advisory service.
The sons, who shared their father's extravagant lifestyle, also have denied any wrongdoing through their attorney. The lawyer has called them victims of the scheme and claimed they had "no access to overall financial information about their father's firm."
Besides the family, investors have questioned the role of Frank DiPascali, chief financial officer of Madoff's money management business.
A lawyer for DiPascali declined to comment on Friday. Those for the brother and sons did not immediately return telephone messages.
So far, federal authorities are believed to have spoken to several clerks who handled some of the voluminous paperwork Madoff admits he fabricated, including tens of thousands of fake account statements.
During his plea, the defendant claimed he started the scheme as a short-term way to withstand the early-1990s recession — a timetable at odds with what authorities have alleged, that the giant Ponzi scheme began at least as early as the 1980s.
On Thursday, Madoff took all the blame for his fraud and tried to create a wall between himself and his family, telling the court his "other businesses" — proprietary trading and market making — were "legitimate, profitable and successful in all respects."
He then added: "Those businesses were managed by my brother and two sons."
Man unwisely tries to rob Tae Kwon Do studio
FOX POINT, Wis. – A robber gets more than he bargained for when he targeted a Tae Kwon Do studio in suburban Milwaukee.
The robber thought he could quietly slip in and out of David Kang's studio in Fox Point with some loot. What he didn't realize is that he would encounter a Tae Kwon Do master who wasn't about to let him off the hook.
Kang was giving a private lesson Tuesday and heard someone in his office. Kang found the man going through his closet, grabbed him by the neck and sat him down while he called police.
The robber took off and Kang gave chase, finally catching up with the man and holding him by the neck until police arrived."
The robber thought he could quietly slip in and out of David Kang's studio in Fox Point with some loot. What he didn't realize is that he would encounter a Tae Kwon Do master who wasn't about to let him off the hook.
Kang was giving a private lesson Tuesday and heard someone in his office. Kang found the man going through his closet, grabbed him by the neck and sat him down while he called police.
The robber took off and Kang gave chase, finally catching up with the man and holding him by the neck until police arrived."
Police: Woman drugs boss's coffee so he'll 'chill'
BRYANT, Ark. – Police said a woman has been arrested for allegedly slipping some tranquilizers into her boss's coffee because she felt 'he needed to chill out.'
Police said the 24-year-old woman admitted to detectives that she slipped the drugs into veteranarian John Duckett's drink. Officers said Duckett knew something was wrong shortly after drinking some of the coffee Tuesday morning.
Officers said the woman cleaned the cages at the the Reynolds Road Animal Clinic.
A judge set bond at $25,000 Friday and a jailer said the woman was still being held Friday. Her next court appearance is scheduled for April 21."
Police said the 24-year-old woman admitted to detectives that she slipped the drugs into veteranarian John Duckett's drink. Officers said Duckett knew something was wrong shortly after drinking some of the coffee Tuesday morning.
Officers said the woman cleaned the cages at the the Reynolds Road Animal Clinic.
A judge set bond at $25,000 Friday and a jailer said the woman was still being held Friday. Her next court appearance is scheduled for April 21."
Madoff lawyer appeals Judge's jail order - Daily Business Update - The Boston Globe
If Madoff turns state's evindence and rolls over on his cronies, then maybe let him out of jail. $65 million stolen from investors - He should be glad he isn't dead!!!!
Madoff lawyer appeals Judge's jail order - Daily Business Update - The Boston Globe
A day after Bernard L. Madoff pleaded guilty to running the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, his attorney has appealed a judge's order jailing him while awaiting sentencing.
Ira Sorkin said he filed the appeal with the federal appeals court today and a hearing would be held Thursday. The court filings were not immediately available.
Sorkin argued in court there was no reason to jail Madoff, 70, immediately because there was little chance he would attempt to flee and he was being monitored closely by authorities. But US District Judge Denny Chin in New York revoked Madoff's $10 million bail, arguing he was a flight risk because of his age and wealth.
Madoff, who ran a multibillion-dollar investment scheme that burned thousands of victims, including many in Massachusetts, pleased guilty to 11 charges of fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 16 and could face up to 150 years in prison.
Some victims, who lost much of their life savings after entrusting the money to Madoff, are certain to be upset about the prospects of seeing him sprung from jail.
But Saphira Linden, artistic director at the Omega Theater in Jamaica Plain, which lost its entire $70,000 endowment with Madoff, said she thought it was more important to try to prod Madoff to cooperate with investigators than to jail him immediately.
"It doesn't do anyone any good to have him in jail, except for revenge,'' Linden said. "What is important is to find the money that is hidden." Damn Straight!!!! Let him ROT! the bastard
Madoff lawyer appeals Judge's jail order - Daily Business Update - The Boston Globe
A day after Bernard L. Madoff pleaded guilty to running the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, his attorney has appealed a judge's order jailing him while awaiting sentencing.
Ira Sorkin said he filed the appeal with the federal appeals court today and a hearing would be held Thursday. The court filings were not immediately available.
Sorkin argued in court there was no reason to jail Madoff, 70, immediately because there was little chance he would attempt to flee and he was being monitored closely by authorities. But US District Judge Denny Chin in New York revoked Madoff's $10 million bail, arguing he was a flight risk because of his age and wealth.
Madoff, who ran a multibillion-dollar investment scheme that burned thousands of victims, including many in Massachusetts, pleased guilty to 11 charges of fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 16 and could face up to 150 years in prison.
Some victims, who lost much of their life savings after entrusting the money to Madoff, are certain to be upset about the prospects of seeing him sprung from jail.
But Saphira Linden, artistic director at the Omega Theater in Jamaica Plain, which lost its entire $70,000 endowment with Madoff, said she thought it was more important to try to prod Madoff to cooperate with investigators than to jail him immediately.
"It doesn't do anyone any good to have him in jail, except for revenge,'' Linden said. "What is important is to find the money that is hidden." Damn Straight!!!! Let him ROT! the bastard
Thursday, March 12, 2009
New coating can make scratches on cars disappear
I have got to get me some of this!!!!!
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Scientists have developed a polyurethane coating that heals its own scratches when exposed to sunlight, offering the promise of scratch-free cars and other products, researchers said on Thursday.
'We developed a polymeric material that is able to repair itself by exposure to the sun,' said Marek Urban of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, whose study appears in the journal Science.
'In essence, you create a scratch and that scratch will disappear upon exposure to the sun,' Urban said in an interview on the Science website.
The self-healing coating uses chitosan, a substance found in the shells of crabs and shrimp. This is incorporated into traditional polymer materials, such as those used in coatings on cars to protect paint.
When a scratch damages the chemical structure, the chitosan responds to ultraviolet light by forming chemical chains that begin bonding with other materials in the substance, eventually smoothing the scratch. The process can take less than an hour.
Urban said the new coating uses readily available materials, offering an advantage over other self-repairing coatings, which he said were 'fairly elaborate and economically unfeasible.'
The team tested the compound's properties using a razor-blade-thin scratch. 'We haven't done any of the tests to show how wide it can be,' Urban said in a telephone interview.
He said the polymer can only repair itself in the same spot once, and would not work after repeated scratches.
'Obviously, this is one of the drawbacks,' he said, adding that the chances are low of having two scratches in exactly the same spot.
Howell Edwards, who leads the chemical and forensic sciences division of the University of Bradford in Britain, said the findings we"
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Scientists have developed a polyurethane coating that heals its own scratches when exposed to sunlight, offering the promise of scratch-free cars and other products, researchers said on Thursday.
'We developed a polymeric material that is able to repair itself by exposure to the sun,' said Marek Urban of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, whose study appears in the journal Science.
'In essence, you create a scratch and that scratch will disappear upon exposure to the sun,' Urban said in an interview on the Science website.
The self-healing coating uses chitosan, a substance found in the shells of crabs and shrimp. This is incorporated into traditional polymer materials, such as those used in coatings on cars to protect paint.
When a scratch damages the chemical structure, the chitosan responds to ultraviolet light by forming chemical chains that begin bonding with other materials in the substance, eventually smoothing the scratch. The process can take less than an hour.
Urban said the new coating uses readily available materials, offering an advantage over other self-repairing coatings, which he said were 'fairly elaborate and economically unfeasible.'
The team tested the compound's properties using a razor-blade-thin scratch. 'We haven't done any of the tests to show how wide it can be,' Urban said in a telephone interview.
He said the polymer can only repair itself in the same spot once, and would not work after repeated scratches.
'Obviously, this is one of the drawbacks,' he said, adding that the chances are low of having two scratches in exactly the same spot.
Howell Edwards, who leads the chemical and forensic sciences division of the University of Bradford in Britain, said the findings we"
Math whiz, dead for 450 years, gets TV bill
And I thought the US had strange billing practices. Maybe we could get the budget balanced this way!!
BERLIN (Reuters) – A German mathematician who died 450 years ago has been sent a letter demanding that he pay long-overdue television license fees, residents at his former address said on Wednesday.
Germany's GEZ broadcast fee collection office sent the bill to the last home address of Adam Ries, an algebra expert who bought the house in 1525. A club in his honor was set up at the property four centuries later.
'We received a letter saying 'To Mr Adam Ries' on it, with the request to pay his television and radio fees,' said Annegret Muench, who now heads the club.
Muench returned the letter to the GEZ with a note explaining the request had come too late because Ries had died in 1559, centuries before the invention of television and radio. She nonetheless received a reminder a few weeks later.
This was not the first time the GEZ had sent a bill to those in the afterlife. Last year, a school named after poet Friedrich Schiller received a reminder asking him to declare all radios and televisions in his home and pay the corresponding fees."
BERLIN (Reuters) – A German mathematician who died 450 years ago has been sent a letter demanding that he pay long-overdue television license fees, residents at his former address said on Wednesday.
Germany's GEZ broadcast fee collection office sent the bill to the last home address of Adam Ries, an algebra expert who bought the house in 1525. A club in his honor was set up at the property four centuries later.
'We received a letter saying 'To Mr Adam Ries' on it, with the request to pay his television and radio fees,' said Annegret Muench, who now heads the club.
Muench returned the letter to the GEZ with a note explaining the request had come too late because Ries had died in 1559, centuries before the invention of television and radio. She nonetheless received a reminder a few weeks later.
This was not the first time the GEZ had sent a bill to those in the afterlife. Last year, a school named after poet Friedrich Schiller received a reminder asking him to declare all radios and televisions in his home and pay the corresponding fees."
Yukon Mountie charged with sexual assault is brother of NHL player
Yukon Mountie charged with sexual assault is brother of NHL player:
Court documents obtained by CBC News on Thursday show that one of two Yukon RCMP officers charged with sexual assault is Graham Belak, the brother of NHL hockey player Wade Belak.
Graham Belak, 29, and Shawn McLaughlin, 32, were charged Wednesday after a woman in the southern Yukon town of Watson Lake told police that she was sexually assaulted Sunday by two off-duty officers from the local detachment.
The incident was reported to RCMP on Monday morning, according to court documents. In announcing the charges on Wednesday, RCMP said they would not release the officers' names until they make their first court appearance.
Belak and McLaughlin, who were both suspended from the police force with pay, are scheduled to appear before a circuit court judge in Watson Lake on April 6.
The younger brother of Wade Belak, a forward and defenceman with the NHL's Nashville Predators, Graham Belak is himself well-known among hockey players and officials in Whitehorse.
On his website, Wade Belak said his brother had played in some lower-tier professional leagues, including the American Hockey League and Elite Ice Hockey League in the United Kingdom.
Aside from working from the Whitehorse RCMP detachment last year, Graham Belak played hockey and helped coach a midget boys hockey team in the Yukon capital.
The investigation continues into the sexual assault charges, led by the Yukon RCMP's major crimes section.
Observers from the Edmonton city police and the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP are monitoring the investigation to ensure it is impartial and free of conflicts of interest."
Court documents obtained by CBC News on Thursday show that one of two Yukon RCMP officers charged with sexual assault is Graham Belak, the brother of NHL hockey player Wade Belak.
Graham Belak, 29, and Shawn McLaughlin, 32, were charged Wednesday after a woman in the southern Yukon town of Watson Lake told police that she was sexually assaulted Sunday by two off-duty officers from the local detachment.
The incident was reported to RCMP on Monday morning, according to court documents. In announcing the charges on Wednesday, RCMP said they would not release the officers' names until they make their first court appearance.
Belak and McLaughlin, who were both suspended from the police force with pay, are scheduled to appear before a circuit court judge in Watson Lake on April 6.
The younger brother of Wade Belak, a forward and defenceman with the NHL's Nashville Predators, Graham Belak is himself well-known among hockey players and officials in Whitehorse.
On his website, Wade Belak said his brother had played in some lower-tier professional leagues, including the American Hockey League and Elite Ice Hockey League in the United Kingdom.
Aside from working from the Whitehorse RCMP detachment last year, Graham Belak played hockey and helped coach a midget boys hockey team in the Yukon capital.
The investigation continues into the sexual assault charges, led by the Yukon RCMP's major crimes section.
Observers from the Edmonton city police and the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP are monitoring the investigation to ensure it is impartial and free of conflicts of interest."
Arrests made in Texas Home for Mentally Disabled Adults "Fight Club"
I guess they did not remember the quote, "You never talk about Fight Club"!
Ghoulish "Fight Club" Arrests - March 12, 2009
Ghoulish "Fight Club" Arrests - March 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Man survives plunge over Niagara Falls - CNN.com
Man survives plunge over Niagara Falls - CNN.com: "A man went over Niagara Falls and survived Wednesday afternoon, one of the few people to ever survive the plunge unprotected, authorities said.
The man was in the near-freezing water for '40-plus' minutes before he was rescued.
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Fire Chief Lee Smith said the man was seen entering the icy water just above Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side, and apparently jumped in about 2:15 p.m.
Smith said the unidentified man was in the near-freezing water for '40-plus' minutes before he was rescued by Niagara Parks Police and Niagara Falls firefighter Todd Brunning.
Brunning, who was tethered to shore, swam about 60 meters (nearly 200 feet) into the river and was able to get hold of the man and bring him to shore.
Niagara Parks Police initially used a helicopter from a private company, Niagara Falls Helicopters, to attempt a rescue of the man. When that failed, they used the wind from the chopper's rotors to push the man closer to shore, Smith said.
He said the man was 'being rotated in a cyclic fashion' by the river's very strong currents.
The man did not aid in his rescue, officials said, though it was not immediately clear whether he was physically unable to or he did not want to do so.
Niagara Falls Fire Capt. Dave Belme said the man was not wearing any clothes when he was rescued, but he added that it's not unexpected for a person to lose things while being washed down the falls.
The man's 'chances of survival without the quick response would be lessened,' Smith said.
All of the agencies train for situations like this, he said, and they are put to the test about a dozen times a year. Still, he called Wednesday's rescue 'amazing.'"
The man was in the near-freezing water for '40-plus' minutes before he was rescued.
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Fire Chief Lee Smith said the man was seen entering the icy water just above Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side, and apparently jumped in about 2:15 p.m.
Smith said the unidentified man was in the near-freezing water for '40-plus' minutes before he was rescued by Niagara Parks Police and Niagara Falls firefighter Todd Brunning.
Brunning, who was tethered to shore, swam about 60 meters (nearly 200 feet) into the river and was able to get hold of the man and bring him to shore.
Niagara Parks Police initially used a helicopter from a private company, Niagara Falls Helicopters, to attempt a rescue of the man. When that failed, they used the wind from the chopper's rotors to push the man closer to shore, Smith said.
He said the man was 'being rotated in a cyclic fashion' by the river's very strong currents.
The man did not aid in his rescue, officials said, though it was not immediately clear whether he was physically unable to or he did not want to do so.
Niagara Falls Fire Capt. Dave Belme said the man was not wearing any clothes when he was rescued, but he added that it's not unexpected for a person to lose things while being washed down the falls.
The man's 'chances of survival without the quick response would be lessened,' Smith said.
All of the agencies train for situations like this, he said, and they are put to the test about a dozen times a year. Still, he called Wednesday's rescue 'amazing.'"
Washing machine liberated women most?
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Feminists of the world sit down before you read this. The Vatican newspaper says that perhaps the washing machine did more to liberate women in the 20th century than the pill or the right to work.
The submission was made in a lengthy article titled "The Washing Machine and the Liberation of Women - Put in the Detergent, Close the Lid and Relax."
The article was printed at the weekend in l'Osservatore Romano, the semi-official Vatican newspaper, to mark international Women's Day on Sunday.
"What in the 20th century did more to liberate Western women?," asks the article, which was written by a woman.
"The debate is heated. Some say the pill, some say abortion rights and some the right to work outside the home. Some, however, dare to go further: the washing machine," it says.
It then goes on to talk about the history of washing machines, starting with a rudimentary model in 1767 in Germany and ending up with today's trendy launderettes where a woman can have a cappuccino with friends while the tumbler turns.
The submission was made in a lengthy article titled "The Washing Machine and the Liberation of Women - Put in the Detergent, Close the Lid and Relax."
The article was printed at the weekend in l'Osservatore Romano, the semi-official Vatican newspaper, to mark international Women's Day on Sunday.
"What in the 20th century did more to liberate Western women?," asks the article, which was written by a woman.
"The debate is heated. Some say the pill, some say abortion rights and some the right to work outside the home. Some, however, dare to go further: the washing machine," it says.
It then goes on to talk about the history of washing machines, starting with a rudimentary model in 1767 in Germany and ending up with today's trendy launderettes where a woman can have a cappuccino with friends while the tumbler turns.
OK Congress - just this one last time...... You bunch of rascals!
Obama says he accepts 'imperfect' spending bill
WASHINGTON – Acknowledging it's an "imperfect" bill, President Barack Obama said Wednesday he will accept a $410 billion spending package that includes billions in earmarks like those he promised to curb in last year's campaign. But he insisted the bill must signal an "end to the old way of doing business."
The massive measure funding federal agencies through the fall contains nearly 8,000 pet projects, known as earmarks and denounced by critics as pork.
Obama defended earmarks when they're "done right," allowing lawmakers to direct money to worthy projects in their districts. But he said they've been abused, and he promised to work with Congress to curb them.
"I am signing an imperfect omnibus bill because it's necessary for the ongoing functions of government," Obama declared. "But I also view this as a departure point for more far-reaching change."
In a sign of his discomfort with the bill, Obama planned to sign the bill quietly rather than in public. He declined to answer a shouted reporters' question about why.
Running for president, Obama denounced the many pet projects as wasteful and open to abuse — and vowed to rein them in.
Explaining his decision, Obama said that future earmarks must have a "legitimate and worthy public purpose", and the any earmark for a private company should be subject to competitive bidding rules. Plus he said he'll "work with Congress" to eliminate any the administration objects to.
But he acknowledged that earmarks have bred "cynicism", and he declared, "This piece of legislation must mark an end to the old way of doing business."
White House officials in recent weeks have dismissed criticism of the earmarks in the bill, saying the legislation was a remnant of last year and that the president planned to turn his attention to future spending instead of looking backward.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama wouldn't be the first president to sign legislation that he viewed as less than ideal. Asked whether Obama had second thoughts about signing the bill, Gibbs' reply was curt: "No."
Obama's modest set of reforms builds upon changes initiated by Republicans in 2006 and strengthened by Democrats two years ago. Most importantly, every earmark and its sponsor must be made public.
In new steps — outlined in concert with House Democratic leaders Wednesday morning — the House Appropriations Committee will submit every earmark to the appropriate executive branch agency for a review. And any earmark designed to go to for-profit companies would have to be awarded through a competitive bidding process.
But perhaps the most tangible change may be Obama's promise to resurrect the long-defunct process by which the president proposes to cut spending from bills that he has signed into law.
Under this so-called rescissions process, the White House sends Congress a roster of cuts for its consideration. Congress is free to ignore the cuts, but both Obama and senior members like Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., say they want to use it to clean out bad earmarks that make it through the process.
But Obama declined to endorse a stronger process advocated by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and others, that would have required Congress to vote on a presidential rescission earmark package. Senior Democrats dislike the idea even though many of them backed it in the early-to-mid 1990s.
During his presidential campaign, Obama promised to force Congress to curb its pork-barrel-spending ways. Yet the bill sent from the Democratic-controlled Congress to the White House on Tuesday contained 7,991 earmarks totaling $5.5 billion, according to calculations by the Republican staff of the House Appropriations Committee.
The 1,132-page bill has an extraordinary reach, wrapping together nine spending bills to fund the annual operating budgets of every Cabinet department except Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.
Among the many earmarks are $485,000 for a boarding school for at-risk native students in western Alaska and $1.2 million for Helen Keller International so the nonprofit can provide eyeglasses to students with poor vision.
Most of the government has been running on a stopgap funding bill set to expire at midnight Wednesday. Refusing to sign the newly completed spending bill would force Congress to pass another bill to keep the lights on come Thursday or else shut down the massive federal government. That is an unlikely possibility for a president who has spent just seven weeks in office.
The $410 billion bill includes significant increases in food aid for the poor, energy research and other programs. It was supposed to have been completed last fall, but Democrats opted against election-year battles with Republicans and former President George W. Bush.
WASHINGTON – Acknowledging it's an "imperfect" bill, President Barack Obama said Wednesday he will accept a $410 billion spending package that includes billions in earmarks like those he promised to curb in last year's campaign. But he insisted the bill must signal an "end to the old way of doing business."
The massive measure funding federal agencies through the fall contains nearly 8,000 pet projects, known as earmarks and denounced by critics as pork.
Obama defended earmarks when they're "done right," allowing lawmakers to direct money to worthy projects in their districts. But he said they've been abused, and he promised to work with Congress to curb them.
"I am signing an imperfect omnibus bill because it's necessary for the ongoing functions of government," Obama declared. "But I also view this as a departure point for more far-reaching change."
In a sign of his discomfort with the bill, Obama planned to sign the bill quietly rather than in public. He declined to answer a shouted reporters' question about why.
Running for president, Obama denounced the many pet projects as wasteful and open to abuse — and vowed to rein them in.
Explaining his decision, Obama said that future earmarks must have a "legitimate and worthy public purpose", and the any earmark for a private company should be subject to competitive bidding rules. Plus he said he'll "work with Congress" to eliminate any the administration objects to.
But he acknowledged that earmarks have bred "cynicism", and he declared, "This piece of legislation must mark an end to the old way of doing business."
White House officials in recent weeks have dismissed criticism of the earmarks in the bill, saying the legislation was a remnant of last year and that the president planned to turn his attention to future spending instead of looking backward.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama wouldn't be the first president to sign legislation that he viewed as less than ideal. Asked whether Obama had second thoughts about signing the bill, Gibbs' reply was curt: "No."
Obama's modest set of reforms builds upon changes initiated by Republicans in 2006 and strengthened by Democrats two years ago. Most importantly, every earmark and its sponsor must be made public.
In new steps — outlined in concert with House Democratic leaders Wednesday morning — the House Appropriations Committee will submit every earmark to the appropriate executive branch agency for a review. And any earmark designed to go to for-profit companies would have to be awarded through a competitive bidding process.
But perhaps the most tangible change may be Obama's promise to resurrect the long-defunct process by which the president proposes to cut spending from bills that he has signed into law.
Under this so-called rescissions process, the White House sends Congress a roster of cuts for its consideration. Congress is free to ignore the cuts, but both Obama and senior members like Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., say they want to use it to clean out bad earmarks that make it through the process.
But Obama declined to endorse a stronger process advocated by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and others, that would have required Congress to vote on a presidential rescission earmark package. Senior Democrats dislike the idea even though many of them backed it in the early-to-mid 1990s.
During his presidential campaign, Obama promised to force Congress to curb its pork-barrel-spending ways. Yet the bill sent from the Democratic-controlled Congress to the White House on Tuesday contained 7,991 earmarks totaling $5.5 billion, according to calculations by the Republican staff of the House Appropriations Committee.
The 1,132-page bill has an extraordinary reach, wrapping together nine spending bills to fund the annual operating budgets of every Cabinet department except Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.
Among the many earmarks are $485,000 for a boarding school for at-risk native students in western Alaska and $1.2 million for Helen Keller International so the nonprofit can provide eyeglasses to students with poor vision.
Most of the government has been running on a stopgap funding bill set to expire at midnight Wednesday. Refusing to sign the newly completed spending bill would force Congress to pass another bill to keep the lights on come Thursday or else shut down the massive federal government. That is an unlikely possibility for a president who has spent just seven weeks in office.
The $410 billion bill includes significant increases in food aid for the poor, energy research and other programs. It was supposed to have been completed last fall, but Democrats opted against election-year battles with Republicans and former President George W. Bush.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Crack down on staged fights, NHL GMs urge
The NHL's general managers want to see the league crack down on staged fights.
Referees would also be able to call the penalty in other situations where they think players are engaging in a pre-planned fight.
"I'll be the first one to say I enjoy when guys square off and it's an even play. It brings energy to your building, and it could bring energy to your team," Phoenix GM Don Maloney told NHL.com. "But that gratuitous start, the two 250-pounders that look at each other and nod and say, 'You want to go?' 'You want to go?' 'What are you doing after?' That to me is just staged."
The GMs are also recommending more strict enforcement of the instigator rule, especially when a player starts a fight after a teammate has been legally bodychecked.
These recommendations are subject to approval by the competition committee and board of governors.
Referees would also be able to call the penalty in other situations where they think players are engaging in a pre-planned fight.
"I'll be the first one to say I enjoy when guys square off and it's an even play. It brings energy to your building, and it could bring energy to your team," Phoenix GM Don Maloney told NHL.com. "But that gratuitous start, the two 250-pounders that look at each other and nod and say, 'You want to go?' 'You want to go?' 'What are you doing after?' That to me is just staged."
The GMs are also recommending more strict enforcement of the instigator rule, especially when a player starts a fight after a teammate has been legally bodychecked.
These recommendations are subject to approval by the competition committee and board of governors.
Boston's real-life 'Cheers' bartender is laid off
BOSTON – Eddie Doyle was the guy who really did know everybody's name.
But after tending bar for 35 years at the Boston tavern that inspired the television show 'Cheers,' Doyle has been laid off.
The bar's owner says the economy is to blame.
Doyle was a fixture at the pub known as the Bull & Finch long before his TV counterpart, Sam Malone, entered the mainstream.
After the NBC show hit the airwaves in 1982, he started serving 5,000 people a day.
Doyle used the bar's fame to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity.
Friend Tommy Leonard tells the Boston Herald Doyle is 'the most giving person' he's met.
The 66-year-old Doyle tells The Boston Globe he's not bitter and may write a book about his experiences."
But after tending bar for 35 years at the Boston tavern that inspired the television show 'Cheers,' Doyle has been laid off.
The bar's owner says the economy is to blame.
Doyle was a fixture at the pub known as the Bull & Finch long before his TV counterpart, Sam Malone, entered the mainstream.
After the NBC show hit the airwaves in 1982, he started serving 5,000 people a day.
Doyle used the bar's fame to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity.
Friend Tommy Leonard tells the Boston Herald Doyle is 'the most giving person' he's met.
The 66-year-old Doyle tells The Boston Globe he's not bitter and may write a book about his experiences."
Monday, March 9, 2009
Do Bonus Details Really Pose 'Grave Harm'?
New York's AG and a Key Congressman Want Details from Bank of America
New York state's top legal officer and U.S. Rep. Barney Frank demanded on Monday that Bank of America Corp provide more details on $6.9 billion in bonuses paid in 2008, including $3.6 billion at the former Merrill Lynch & Co.
The billions of dollars paid to executives is a controversial issue in the recession, and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been putting pressure for months on the banks that received U.S. government money to stay afloat.
A legal tussle between Cuomo's office and the bank has wound up in state court, with Bank of America telling a judge it would suffer "grave harm" if forced to reveal bonus data, citing concerns over competitors poaching staff and privacy.
Cuomo and Frank, the House Financial Services Committee chairman, demanded in a letter to Bank of America Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis that the lender provide information on all individuals who received more than $1 million in bonuses at both the bank and Merrill.
"As a matter of transparency and disclosure, taxpayers have a right to know where their tax dollars go once received by TARP recipients," Cuomo and Frank wrote, referring to the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Merrill awarded bonuses just days before Bank of America completed its acquisition of the Wall Street investment bank and brokerage on January 1. Merrill's net loss was $27.6 billion last year.
Bank of America said Monday's letter "is far broader, and goes beyond Merrill Lynch" to include all recipients of money from TARP.
"Bank of America has continued to offer to share Merrill Lynch bonus information with the New York Attorney General's office subject to a reasonable confidentially agreement," the bank said in a statement.
Cuomo is probing whether the bank broke securities laws on public disclosure of executive pay. Bank of America has taken $45 billion from TARP, including $20 billion in a January bailout that also included a government sharing in losses on some toxic assets.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Merrill's 10 highest-paid employees received a total of $209 million in cash and stock in 2008, compared with $201 million paid to the top 10 in 2007. It said 11 top executives were each paid more than $10 million in cash and stock last year.
"It seems shameful to me that the government has such little understanding of the business reasons to justify why personnel issues should be kept confidential," said Gary Townsend, co-founder of money manager Hill-Townsend Capital in Chevy Chase, Maryland, who said he owns Bank of America preferred shares.
A New York state judge has scheduled a March 13 hearing on whether the bonus data can be disclosed.
Bank of America shares were up 50 cents, or 16 percent, at $3.64 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. They have lost close to 90 percent of their value since the Merrill acquisition was announced last September 15.
The case is Cuomo v. Thain, New York State Supreme Court (Manhattan), No. 400381/09.
New York state's top legal officer and U.S. Rep. Barney Frank demanded on Monday that Bank of America Corp provide more details on $6.9 billion in bonuses paid in 2008, including $3.6 billion at the former Merrill Lynch & Co.
The billions of dollars paid to executives is a controversial issue in the recession, and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been putting pressure for months on the banks that received U.S. government money to stay afloat.
A legal tussle between Cuomo's office and the bank has wound up in state court, with Bank of America telling a judge it would suffer "grave harm" if forced to reveal bonus data, citing concerns over competitors poaching staff and privacy.
Cuomo and Frank, the House Financial Services Committee chairman, demanded in a letter to Bank of America Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis that the lender provide information on all individuals who received more than $1 million in bonuses at both the bank and Merrill.
"As a matter of transparency and disclosure, taxpayers have a right to know where their tax dollars go once received by TARP recipients," Cuomo and Frank wrote, referring to the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Merrill awarded bonuses just days before Bank of America completed its acquisition of the Wall Street investment bank and brokerage on January 1. Merrill's net loss was $27.6 billion last year.
Bank of America said Monday's letter "is far broader, and goes beyond Merrill Lynch" to include all recipients of money from TARP.
"Bank of America has continued to offer to share Merrill Lynch bonus information with the New York Attorney General's office subject to a reasonable confidentially agreement," the bank said in a statement.
Cuomo is probing whether the bank broke securities laws on public disclosure of executive pay. Bank of America has taken $45 billion from TARP, including $20 billion in a January bailout that also included a government sharing in losses on some toxic assets.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Merrill's 10 highest-paid employees received a total of $209 million in cash and stock in 2008, compared with $201 million paid to the top 10 in 2007. It said 11 top executives were each paid more than $10 million in cash and stock last year.
"It seems shameful to me that the government has such little understanding of the business reasons to justify why personnel issues should be kept confidential," said Gary Townsend, co-founder of money manager Hill-Townsend Capital in Chevy Chase, Maryland, who said he owns Bank of America preferred shares.
A New York state judge has scheduled a March 13 hearing on whether the bonus data can be disclosed.
Bank of America shares were up 50 cents, or 16 percent, at $3.64 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. They have lost close to 90 percent of their value since the Merrill acquisition was announced last September 15.
The case is Cuomo v. Thain, New York State Supreme Court (Manhattan), No. 400381/09.
16 arrested in fight at nonviolence concert
SILVER SPRING, Md. – Montgomery County police say 16 people were arrested after a fight broke out during a concert held to promote nonviolence and to remember a Silver Spring teen killed last year.
The free Stop the Violence youth concert was held Saturday night on Ellsworth Street in downtown Silver Spring in memory of 14-year-old Montgomery Blair High School student Tai Lam, who was shot to death in November.
Police say fighting broke out near the stage toward the end of the concert and at least one person resisted arrest. Police say 16 adults and juveniles were arrested for offenses such as assault and disorderly conduct."
The free Stop the Violence youth concert was held Saturday night on Ellsworth Street in downtown Silver Spring in memory of 14-year-old Montgomery Blair High School student Tai Lam, who was shot to death in November.
Police say fighting broke out near the stage toward the end of the concert and at least one person resisted arrest. Police say 16 adults and juveniles were arrested for offenses such as assault and disorderly conduct."
Thursday, March 5, 2009
I guess you can behead someone and just claim you are crazy
WINNIPEG, Manitoba – A Canadian judge ruled Thursday that a man accused of beheading and cannibalizing a fellow Greyhound bus passenger is not criminally responsible due to mental illness.
The decision means Chinese immigrant Vince Li will be treated in a mental institution instead of going to prison. The family of victim Tim McLean dismissed the trial as a "rubber stamp" that allows Li to get away with murder."
A crime was still committed here, a murder still occurred," said Carol deDelley, McLean's mother. "There was nobody else on that bus holding a knife, slicing up my child.
"The judge said Li should not be held criminally accountable for stabbing McLean dozens of times last July and dismembering his body while horrified passengers fled.
Justice John Scurfield said Li's attack was "grotesque" and "barbaric" but "strongly suggestive of a mental disorder."
"He did not appreciate the actions he committed were morally wrong. He believed he was acting in self-defense," Scurfield said.
Both the prosecution and the defense argued Li can't be held responsible because Li was suffering from schizophrenia and believed God wanted him to kill McLean because the young man was a force of evil.
He will be institutionalized without a criminal record and will be reassessed every year by a mental health review board to determine if he is fit for release into the community.
DeDelley said a yearly hearing is ridiculous, and that Li should be locked up for the rest of his life.Li's trial barely lasted two days and only heard from two witnesses, both psychiatrists, who testified he is mentally ill.
That Li killed the 22-year-old carnival worker was never in question at the trial. Li has admitted he killed McLean but pleaded not guilty.Witnesses said Li attacked McLean unprovoked as their bus traveled at night along a desolate stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway.
An agreed statement of facts between the prosecution and defense detailed how passengers stood outside the bus as Li stabbed McLean dozens of times and beheaded and mutilated his body. Finding himself locked inside the bus, Li finally escaped through a window and was arrested.Li then apologized and pleaded with police to kill him.
Police said McLean's body parts were found throughout the bus in plastic bags, and the victim's ear, nose and tongue were found in Li's pocket.
A psychiatrist called by the prosecution Wednesday testified that Li cut up McLean's body because he believed that he would come back to life and take revenge.
After the trial, government prosecutor Joyce Dalmyn said McLean's family understood that she had to tell the court about Li's condition.
"The evidence was so overwhelming that he was not criminally responsible. I absolutely had an obligation to bring that to the court's attention, and the family understands and respects that," Dalmyn said. She said people who are mentally ill should not be convicted when they don't know what they did was wrong. "They need to be treated," she said. "I certainly agree in Mr. Li's case he needs to be treated for a very long time."
McLean's family is vowing to turn their attention to fighting the law that allows people who are found not criminally responsible to be released into the community once they are deemed well, without serving a minimum sentence in jail. DeDelley said her son didn't die in vain. His death highlights concerns about the justice system, she said. "Now people are aware that there is a problem," she said.
The decision means Chinese immigrant Vince Li will be treated in a mental institution instead of going to prison. The family of victim Tim McLean dismissed the trial as a "rubber stamp" that allows Li to get away with murder."
A crime was still committed here, a murder still occurred," said Carol deDelley, McLean's mother. "There was nobody else on that bus holding a knife, slicing up my child.
"The judge said Li should not be held criminally accountable for stabbing McLean dozens of times last July and dismembering his body while horrified passengers fled.
Justice John Scurfield said Li's attack was "grotesque" and "barbaric" but "strongly suggestive of a mental disorder."
"He did not appreciate the actions he committed were morally wrong. He believed he was acting in self-defense," Scurfield said.
Both the prosecution and the defense argued Li can't be held responsible because Li was suffering from schizophrenia and believed God wanted him to kill McLean because the young man was a force of evil.
He will be institutionalized without a criminal record and will be reassessed every year by a mental health review board to determine if he is fit for release into the community.
DeDelley said a yearly hearing is ridiculous, and that Li should be locked up for the rest of his life.Li's trial barely lasted two days and only heard from two witnesses, both psychiatrists, who testified he is mentally ill.
That Li killed the 22-year-old carnival worker was never in question at the trial. Li has admitted he killed McLean but pleaded not guilty.Witnesses said Li attacked McLean unprovoked as their bus traveled at night along a desolate stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway.
An agreed statement of facts between the prosecution and defense detailed how passengers stood outside the bus as Li stabbed McLean dozens of times and beheaded and mutilated his body. Finding himself locked inside the bus, Li finally escaped through a window and was arrested.Li then apologized and pleaded with police to kill him.
Police said McLean's body parts were found throughout the bus in plastic bags, and the victim's ear, nose and tongue were found in Li's pocket.
A psychiatrist called by the prosecution Wednesday testified that Li cut up McLean's body because he believed that he would come back to life and take revenge.
After the trial, government prosecutor Joyce Dalmyn said McLean's family understood that she had to tell the court about Li's condition.
"The evidence was so overwhelming that he was not criminally responsible. I absolutely had an obligation to bring that to the court's attention, and the family understands and respects that," Dalmyn said. She said people who are mentally ill should not be convicted when they don't know what they did was wrong. "They need to be treated," she said. "I certainly agree in Mr. Li's case he needs to be treated for a very long time."
McLean's family is vowing to turn their attention to fighting the law that allows people who are found not criminally responsible to be released into the community once they are deemed well, without serving a minimum sentence in jail. DeDelley said her son didn't die in vain. His death highlights concerns about the justice system, she said. "Now people are aware that there is a problem," she said.
Attacking another person with a car is only a misdemeaner???????
Man trying to save spot for wife gets run over:
LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. – Authorities said a man intentionally ran over another man who was trying to save a parking spot at a gas station on Monday. The Lee County Sheriff's Office reported that the victim was standing in a spot to reserve it for his wife at the Murphy USA gas station.
The man saving the spot told deputies that he held up his hands when another man pulled up to the line, but the man drove forward and hit him in the knees.
When the victim yelled at the man to stop, authorities said the suspect pulled forward and hit the man again, causing bruising and swelling. Other witnesses backed up the victim's story.
The suspect was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery."
LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. – Authorities said a man intentionally ran over another man who was trying to save a parking spot at a gas station on Monday. The Lee County Sheriff's Office reported that the victim was standing in a spot to reserve it for his wife at the Murphy USA gas station.
The man saving the spot told deputies that he held up his hands when another man pulled up to the line, but the man drove forward and hit him in the knees.
When the victim yelled at the man to stop, authorities said the suspect pulled forward and hit the man again, causing bruising and swelling. Other witnesses backed up the victim's story.
The suspect was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery."
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Blockbuster shares plunge on report of possible bankruptcy - MarketWatch
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) - Shares of Blockbuster Inc. plunged 77% Tuesday after a published report said the video rental company is considering a possible bankruptcy filing.
Shares were down 74 cents at 22 cents in afternoon trading before trading on the shares was halted. The stock has already fallen 93% in the past year.
Dallas-based Blockbuster has hired Kirkland & Ellis LLP to help it look into various restructuring options, which may include a "pre-packaged" or "pre-arranged" bankruptcy, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed source close to the situation. In such a bankruptcy, most of the restructuring would be accomplished outside of court, the news service said.
A Blockbuster spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Blockbuster faced serious challenges even before the worldwide economic collapse, which has made consumers more cost-conscious. Online DVD rental pioneer Netflix Inc. Netflix, Inc has cut severely into the company's share of the market over the past several years with its DVD-by-mail service.
Blockbuster countered with an online offering of its own, which eventually evolved into Total Access, a program that enables online Blockbuster customers to return DVDs through the mail or redeem them at a store for movie rentals.
However, despite encouraging signals, Blockbuster's pullback in marketing spending and a price increase for Total Access ended up benefiting Netflix greatly last year. Netflix had its most successful quarter to date in the period ended Dec. 31.
To a lesser extent, Blockbuster is also pressured by Apple Inc. which began last year to offer a movie-download rental service via its iTunes online store. Netflix also offers downloads.
In response, Blockbuster made a controversial offer to acquire troubled retailer Circuit City last April, but withdrew the bid after completing its due diligence. Blockbuster operates more than 7,500 stores worldwide.
Shares were down 74 cents at 22 cents in afternoon trading before trading on the shares was halted. The stock has already fallen 93% in the past year.
Dallas-based Blockbuster has hired Kirkland & Ellis LLP to help it look into various restructuring options, which may include a "pre-packaged" or "pre-arranged" bankruptcy, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed source close to the situation. In such a bankruptcy, most of the restructuring would be accomplished outside of court, the news service said.
A Blockbuster spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Blockbuster faced serious challenges even before the worldwide economic collapse, which has made consumers more cost-conscious. Online DVD rental pioneer Netflix Inc. Netflix, Inc has cut severely into the company's share of the market over the past several years with its DVD-by-mail service.
Blockbuster countered with an online offering of its own, which eventually evolved into Total Access, a program that enables online Blockbuster customers to return DVDs through the mail or redeem them at a store for movie rentals.
However, despite encouraging signals, Blockbuster's pullback in marketing spending and a price increase for Total Access ended up benefiting Netflix greatly last year. Netflix had its most successful quarter to date in the period ended Dec. 31.
To a lesser extent, Blockbuster is also pressured by Apple Inc. which began last year to offer a movie-download rental service via its iTunes online store. Netflix also offers downloads.
In response, Blockbuster made a controversial offer to acquire troubled retailer Circuit City last April, but withdrew the bid after completing its due diligence. Blockbuster operates more than 7,500 stores worldwide.
Safety procedures not followed before fatal jet crash, Marines say
Safety procedures not followed before fatal jet crash, Marines say
Photo Gallery
An F/A-18D military jet crashed in a San Diego neighborhood, Monday Dec., 8, 2008, sparking at least one house fire. The plane crashed shortly before noon Monday as it prepared to land at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, said Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman.
Audio clips
Excerpt: Lt. Dan Neubauer tells a controller about his situation and says he wants to take the jet to MCAS Miramar (mp3) (55 seconds)
Excerpt: Air traffic controllers discuss the fate of the pilot(mp3) (30 seconds)
Full air traffic control tape from the Dec. 8, 2009 F-18 jet crash (mp3) (48 minutes, 3 seconds)
SAN DIEGO — The Marine jet crash that killed four people in University City on Dec. 8 could have been prevented if the pilot and officers on the ground had followed safety procedures, and if the Marine Corps had stopped flying the plane after noting a fuel problem months earlier, said people who were briefed by the Marine Corps on Tuesday.
At least 10 minutes before Lt. Dan Neubauer's F/A-18D Hornet went down, he was talking to Marine officials about what to do after one engine lost power and the other was possibly failing, according to air traffic control recordings released on the same day.
Neubauer turned down two chances to land his jet at North Island Naval Air Station, a nearby coastal airfield, while he was still offshore. He instead flew farther over heavily populated neighborhoods to attempt an emergency landing at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.
“Senior officers communicating with the pilot, as well as the pilot himself, did not consult their checklist and follow appropriate procedures that could have prevented the incident altogether,” said Joe Kasper, spokesman for Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R-Lakeside. Kasper attended a briefing with the Marine Corps on Tuesday morning.
Had they followed standard protocol, they would have realized the severity of the situation and diverted the aircraft to North Island, Kasper recalled the Marine officials saying.
No criminal charges are pending, but four officers – the squadron commander, squadron operations officer, standardization officer and maintenance officer – have been relieved of their duties and nine other Marines have been reprimanded, Kasper said.
Neubauer's status is being reviewed.
Kasper said that even though mechanics had identified the fuel-transfer glitch in Neubauer's jet sometime ago, the Marine Corps flew 146 more sorties with it before the Dec. 8 crash.
The Marine Corps now requires aircraft to be grounded when they have a fuel-transfer problem, which occurs when fuel doesn't flow to the engines.
It also has paid 11 families affected by the crash a total of $147,000.
“I didn't expect such a clear report,” said Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, who also was briefed Tuesday morning by the Marine Corps. “I have confidence in the investigation because they've accepted responsibility.”
Marine officials have scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. Tuesday to go over their findings.
Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration made the recordings public in response to Freedom of Information Act requests by The San Diego Union-Tribune and other media organizations. It twice delayed the release because of pressure from the Marine Corps, which asked for additional time to complete its investigation into the crash.
The FAA recordings show that Neubauer understood his predicament shortly after leaving the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln around 11:30 a.m. The carrier was operating off the coast of Mexico southwest of San Diego.
Neubauer manually turned off his first engine because of the fuel-transfer trouble.
There was no indication that he considered ditching his $40 million jet in the ocean. He tried unsuccessfully to establish contact with the aircraft carrier, Kasper said.
An FAA air traffic controller at Miramar offered to direct Neubauer's jet – with the call sign SHUTR25 – toward Runway 36, the main eastbound runway at North Island. That approach would have kept the aircraft over water until it touched down.
Visibility was good under mostly cloudy skies at the time, weather records show.
“I'm actually going to try to make it to Miramar if possible,” Neubauer replied as he flew at an altitude of about 13,000 feet nearly 20 miles south of North Island.
Two minutes later, the controller directed Neubauer on a path that would let him fly by North Island on his way toward Miramar.
The recordings don't reveal whether Neubauer acted on his own in bypassing North Island or if he was acting under orders from his commanders.
But he told the controller, “I'm coordinating with people on the ground to figure out what we're doing.”
About seven minutes before the crash, Neubauer asked the controller to route him straight toward Miramar's Runway 6, an approach over La Jolla and University City that is rarely used.
The controller asked whether the pilot would need emergency-response units at the airfield.
“Affirm,” Neubauer replied.
In his last transmission, Neubauer told the controller that he had the Miramar runway in sight.
According to witnesses, the second engine failed as the F-18 flew low over the intersection of Genesee Avenue and Governor Drive just before noon, about two miles short of the Miramar runway.
Neubauer ejected safely seconds before the jet nosed down and crashed just west of Interstate 805 on Cather Avenue near Huggins Street, where it destroyed two homes and damaged three others.
The four dead – Youngmi Lee, 36, a nurse; her daughters Grace, 15 months, and Rachel, 2 months; and her mother, Seokim Kim, 60 – were part of a family of Korean immigrants.
Within two minutes of the crash, another pilot reported seeing smoke on the ground short of the runway.
Eighteen minutes later, a military air traffic controller at the Miramar tower contacted the FAA traffic-control supervisor, who also is located at Miramar.
“SHUTR25 has crashed, actually,” the military controller said.
“You're kidding me,” the FAA supervisor responded.
The crash caused fear and anger in University City. Residents there, and in other neighborhoods in Miramar's flight paths, said the Marines shouldn't have risked sending a disabled aircraft over a populated area when North Island had ample facilities to accommodate the jet.
In the days following the crash, Miramar's commander, Col. Christopher O'Connor, said that Neubauer correctly followed emergency landing procedures by heading to Miramar. He and other Marine officials said it is safe to fly an F/A-18 on one engine, and they cited the long odds against a double-engine failure.
During a public meeting in University City three days after the crash, O'Connor said Neubauer had done everything possible to avoid casualties on the ground.
“The pilot was seconds from crashing (his jet) into a canyon,” O'Connor said. “He waited until the absolute last minute.”
Don Yoon, Lee's husband and father of the two girls who died in the crash, had called Neubauer a “national treasure” during a news conference the day after the tragedy.
“I don't have any hard feelings,” Yoon said at the time. “I know he did everything he could.”
On Tuesday, Yoon's family members referred inquiries to their attorney, Raymond Feldman in Santa Monica, who did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Tina Neubauer of Yorba Linda, the pilot's mother, sounded close to tears when asked how her son was coping in the aftermath of the crash.
“This is a tough time,” she said.
James Neubauer, the father, said his family had no further comment.
“We are awaiting the (Marine Corps') press conference,” he said.
Photo Gallery
An F/A-18D military jet crashed in a San Diego neighborhood, Monday Dec., 8, 2008, sparking at least one house fire. The plane crashed shortly before noon Monday as it prepared to land at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, said Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman.
Audio clips
Excerpt: Lt. Dan Neubauer tells a controller about his situation and says he wants to take the jet to MCAS Miramar (mp3) (55 seconds)
Excerpt: Air traffic controllers discuss the fate of the pilot(mp3) (30 seconds)
Full air traffic control tape from the Dec. 8, 2009 F-18 jet crash (mp3) (48 minutes, 3 seconds)
SAN DIEGO — The Marine jet crash that killed four people in University City on Dec. 8 could have been prevented if the pilot and officers on the ground had followed safety procedures, and if the Marine Corps had stopped flying the plane after noting a fuel problem months earlier, said people who were briefed by the Marine Corps on Tuesday.
At least 10 minutes before Lt. Dan Neubauer's F/A-18D Hornet went down, he was talking to Marine officials about what to do after one engine lost power and the other was possibly failing, according to air traffic control recordings released on the same day.
Neubauer turned down two chances to land his jet at North Island Naval Air Station, a nearby coastal airfield, while he was still offshore. He instead flew farther over heavily populated neighborhoods to attempt an emergency landing at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.
“Senior officers communicating with the pilot, as well as the pilot himself, did not consult their checklist and follow appropriate procedures that could have prevented the incident altogether,” said Joe Kasper, spokesman for Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R-Lakeside. Kasper attended a briefing with the Marine Corps on Tuesday morning.
Had they followed standard protocol, they would have realized the severity of the situation and diverted the aircraft to North Island, Kasper recalled the Marine officials saying.
No criminal charges are pending, but four officers – the squadron commander, squadron operations officer, standardization officer and maintenance officer – have been relieved of their duties and nine other Marines have been reprimanded, Kasper said.
Neubauer's status is being reviewed.
Kasper said that even though mechanics had identified the fuel-transfer glitch in Neubauer's jet sometime ago, the Marine Corps flew 146 more sorties with it before the Dec. 8 crash.
The Marine Corps now requires aircraft to be grounded when they have a fuel-transfer problem, which occurs when fuel doesn't flow to the engines.
It also has paid 11 families affected by the crash a total of $147,000.
“I didn't expect such a clear report,” said Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, who also was briefed Tuesday morning by the Marine Corps. “I have confidence in the investigation because they've accepted responsibility.”
Marine officials have scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. Tuesday to go over their findings.
Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration made the recordings public in response to Freedom of Information Act requests by The San Diego Union-Tribune and other media organizations. It twice delayed the release because of pressure from the Marine Corps, which asked for additional time to complete its investigation into the crash.
The FAA recordings show that Neubauer understood his predicament shortly after leaving the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln around 11:30 a.m. The carrier was operating off the coast of Mexico southwest of San Diego.
Neubauer manually turned off his first engine because of the fuel-transfer trouble.
There was no indication that he considered ditching his $40 million jet in the ocean. He tried unsuccessfully to establish contact with the aircraft carrier, Kasper said.
An FAA air traffic controller at Miramar offered to direct Neubauer's jet – with the call sign SHUTR25 – toward Runway 36, the main eastbound runway at North Island. That approach would have kept the aircraft over water until it touched down.
Visibility was good under mostly cloudy skies at the time, weather records show.
“I'm actually going to try to make it to Miramar if possible,” Neubauer replied as he flew at an altitude of about 13,000 feet nearly 20 miles south of North Island.
Two minutes later, the controller directed Neubauer on a path that would let him fly by North Island on his way toward Miramar.
The recordings don't reveal whether Neubauer acted on his own in bypassing North Island or if he was acting under orders from his commanders.
But he told the controller, “I'm coordinating with people on the ground to figure out what we're doing.”
About seven minutes before the crash, Neubauer asked the controller to route him straight toward Miramar's Runway 6, an approach over La Jolla and University City that is rarely used.
The controller asked whether the pilot would need emergency-response units at the airfield.
“Affirm,” Neubauer replied.
In his last transmission, Neubauer told the controller that he had the Miramar runway in sight.
According to witnesses, the second engine failed as the F-18 flew low over the intersection of Genesee Avenue and Governor Drive just before noon, about two miles short of the Miramar runway.
Neubauer ejected safely seconds before the jet nosed down and crashed just west of Interstate 805 on Cather Avenue near Huggins Street, where it destroyed two homes and damaged three others.
The four dead – Youngmi Lee, 36, a nurse; her daughters Grace, 15 months, and Rachel, 2 months; and her mother, Seokim Kim, 60 – were part of a family of Korean immigrants.
Within two minutes of the crash, another pilot reported seeing smoke on the ground short of the runway.
Eighteen minutes later, a military air traffic controller at the Miramar tower contacted the FAA traffic-control supervisor, who also is located at Miramar.
“SHUTR25 has crashed, actually,” the military controller said.
“You're kidding me,” the FAA supervisor responded.
The crash caused fear and anger in University City. Residents there, and in other neighborhoods in Miramar's flight paths, said the Marines shouldn't have risked sending a disabled aircraft over a populated area when North Island had ample facilities to accommodate the jet.
In the days following the crash, Miramar's commander, Col. Christopher O'Connor, said that Neubauer correctly followed emergency landing procedures by heading to Miramar. He and other Marine officials said it is safe to fly an F/A-18 on one engine, and they cited the long odds against a double-engine failure.
During a public meeting in University City three days after the crash, O'Connor said Neubauer had done everything possible to avoid casualties on the ground.
“The pilot was seconds from crashing (his jet) into a canyon,” O'Connor said. “He waited until the absolute last minute.”
Don Yoon, Lee's husband and father of the two girls who died in the crash, had called Neubauer a “national treasure” during a news conference the day after the tragedy.
“I don't have any hard feelings,” Yoon said at the time. “I know he did everything he could.”
On Tuesday, Yoon's family members referred inquiries to their attorney, Raymond Feldman in Santa Monica, who did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Tina Neubauer of Yorba Linda, the pilot's mother, sounded close to tears when asked how her son was coping in the aftermath of the crash.
“This is a tough time,” she said.
James Neubauer, the father, said his family had no further comment.
“We are awaiting the (Marine Corps') press conference,” he said.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Mother Caught Driving While Breast-Feeding
Woman Also On Phone, Police Say
Monday, March 2, 2009
KETTERING, Ohio -- A Dayton, Ohio, mother faces charges for breast-feeding her daughter while driving her other children to school.
Genine Compton was pulled over by Kettering police Thursday while taking her children to school.
Police said Compton could have injured her child and others because she was breast-feeding and talking on the cell phone while driving the vehicle.
Compton was issued citations for child endangerment and violating a child restraint law. Compton told the station, "If my child's hungry, I'm going to feed it."
Police said it is against the law in Ohio to drive with a child in your lap. Children under 4 or 40 pounds must be properly restrained in a child safety seat.
In this case, officers said Compton had the child in the lap with the baby's head up against the steering wheel. They said there was not only the risk of a crash but also deployment of the air bag.
Compton said she will take the advice of the officers into consideration, but she may breast-feed her baby while driving in the future if she feels that it is necessary.
She could face up to 180 days in jail and fines for the child endangerment citation.
Monday, March 2, 2009
KETTERING, Ohio -- A Dayton, Ohio, mother faces charges for breast-feeding her daughter while driving her other children to school.
Genine Compton was pulled over by Kettering police Thursday while taking her children to school.
Police said Compton could have injured her child and others because she was breast-feeding and talking on the cell phone while driving the vehicle.
Compton was issued citations for child endangerment and violating a child restraint law. Compton told the station, "If my child's hungry, I'm going to feed it."
Police said it is against the law in Ohio to drive with a child in your lap. Children under 4 or 40 pounds must be properly restrained in a child safety seat.
In this case, officers said Compton had the child in the lap with the baby's head up against the steering wheel. They said there was not only the risk of a crash but also deployment of the air bag.
Compton said she will take the advice of the officers into consideration, but she may breast-feed her baby while driving in the future if she feels that it is necessary.
She could face up to 180 days in jail and fines for the child endangerment citation.
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