News Cut: January 23, 2009 Archive

Rooting for the banks?

Posted at 8:40 AM on January 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Economy

There are days one wonders whether the meltdown in the financial sector would lead to cheering and dancing in the streets, were it not for the fact that it's taking the rest of us down with it.

Thursday was one of those days that the banking industry reminds us that it often has as much Snidely Whiplash in it as George Bailey. Two stories provide an example.

Former Merrill Lynch chief executive John A. Thain has "resigned" his job. He's the one who arranged the sale of his firm to Bank of America in the darkest days of the meltdown. But just before the sale, he allegedly made sure that huge bonuses were paid out to execs. And he reportedly lobbied for a $10 million bonus for his good work arranging the sale of the company he drove into the ground.

Thain spent $1.2 million last year redecorating his office, including $87,784 on area rugs and $18,468 on a George IV chair, according to CNBC.

During a photo opportunity this morning, President Obama denounced the spending.

Closer to home, today the Star Tribune has the story of TCF Bank, which is doing better than many banks because its loan losses aren't mounting as quickly as other banks. The report said real estate in areas where TCF does business has "stabilized."

But we're reminded how banks make much of their money and why they're not making as much these days:

... TCF still faces significant headwinds. It's a consumer-oriented bank that generates about a quarter of its revenue from fees and service charges. As unemployment has increased and consumer spending has declined, the bank's fee income has also fallen, because people are writing fewer checks and overdrawing their accounts less frequently, the bank said.

Today the stock market is tanking again, partly on fears of the viability of banks. I should go bounce a check.

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Embracing winter: The Winter Carnival

Posted at 10:56 AM on January 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Life

The St. Paul Winter Carnival is underway. It's becoming harder to know when it's going on anymore. In recent years it adopted a rather Abe Vigoda-like place in the collective consciousness ("He's alive? I thought he was dead!") when announcements came in that the warm weather has canceled the ice sculpture competition. They don't do the big slide at the Capitol anymore. And there are quicker ways to blow zillions of dollars these days than building ice castles.

The Medallion Hunt was a big deal when the St. Paul Pioneer Press was a bigger deal.

The Vulcans? I still don't get the Vulcans. But I digress.

The Winter Carnival is underway and the ice sculpture work is starting around Rice Park. Later today, when we go over to celebrate winter with our every-Friday-lunch-hour skate at the rink outside Landmark Center, I'll snap some pictures and post them here.

Which brings us to.... your pictures.

In Ely the other day -- Wednesday, if you're aching to know for sure -- the town park was filled with giant boxes of packed snow. I'm guessing they'll be carving snow sculptures this weekend.

People who make ice sculptures are usually professionals. People who make snow sculptures often aren't. It's an art form for the people, by the people, and perishes from this earth in short fashion.

I'd pay big money* for your pictures of snow sculptures past, and the story behind them. Use this form.

And while I'm on my usual Friday topic -- embracing winter -- here's one from the mailbag.

Sara Kimm sent this picture of a pick-up hockey game last Saturday in the Groveland neighborhood (it was Hockey Day in Minnesota). The girls beat the boys. "I shared photos with the other hockey parents. One family is from Australia and the mom sent the photos to friends and family there and told me, 'I sent them because they have no idea what life is Minnesota is like.'"

As I recall, it was no more than 9 degrees on Saturday. Pressed for the truth, Sara admitted the girl with the T-shirt, is hers. That's embracing winter!

(* = This is a lie)

Photo via Getty Images.

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Electronics recycling made easier

Posted at 11:08 AM on January 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)

If your house is like mine, you probably have one or two VGA monitors sitting around preventing you from finding whatever it is you're looking for when you fall over them.

Despite noble attempts, recycling electronics has never been easy, although since Minnesota passed a law requiring it, it's gotten better.

Today, the concept took a giant step forward when Best Buy announced it will start everyday recycling on February 15. You can take up to two electronic items a day to a store. You'll pay $10 each, but you'll get a gift card in return.

The company said it will take most consumer electronics, including televisions and monitors up to 32 inches, computer CPUs and notebooks, small electronics, VCR and DVD players, and phones. Consumers can also recycle accessories such as keyboards, mice, and remotes.

All that said, there are still options to get rid of your junk for free -- or at least more cheaply. Here's a list of options.

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Today's layoffs

Posted at 1:27 PM on January 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Economy

I read in the newspaper a few weeks ago that the worst day to lay someone off is Friday, because the person has two days before they can do anything about it. Not everyone read that, apparently, for it was a hefty day in the layoff-notice printing business.

Here are today's

Andersen Windows -- Bayport. 160 more employees have been laid off through the first quarter of the year. That's in addition to 450 who were laid off at the company earlier this month.

Hutchinson Technology - Its Sioux Falls plant is being closed and 300 current employees are being turned out. The company announced in December it planned to cut over 1,100 people.

Polaris - Medina. The company is cutting 460 jobs.

Recognizing that some of these jobs are in South Dakota, the total number of employees laid off today is almost 10 percent of the number of people who were laid off in Minnesota in the entire month of December.

All of these cuts are because of lower consumer -- and company -- demand for the products being made. One wonders how this spiral can ever end since increasing layoffs increases the number of people who can't buy products, which leads to more layoffs, which leads to...

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Ice sculpting

Posted at 2:30 PM on January 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Life

As promised, here's a look at some of the ice sculpting taking place at St. Paul's Rice Park.

Caution: Amateur video ahead:

For other weekend entertainment options, we turn to Barbara Schaller from Burnsville, who wrote to us this week:

"I am easily amused. Last Thursday morning (January 15, 2009), I was in my back yard clad in silk long johns under my long nightgown, a turtleneck over my nightgown, taking pictures of frozen soap bubbles! See them here. The temperature was -24 degrees. I've been doing this for 35 years, weather permitting (believe it or not, it doesn't often get cold enough), and the last time was five years ago when our two-year-old granddaughter was visiting. She was out there with me and giggled and clapped and laughed from the bottom of her toes. She won't remember it and I will never forget it."

Release your inner soap bubble-maker this weekend.

And, of course, the Pond Hockey Championships are taking place on Lake Nokomis this weekend. MPR's Tom Weber did a dandy story on them last year.

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How did a terror suspect end up back with al-Qaida?

Posted at 4:09 PM on January 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (28 Comments)
Filed under: War

A developing story today highlights the difficulties that President Barack Obama faces with his order to close the Guantanamo Bay jail for suspected terrorists: What to do with the people who are there now?

The New York Times reports that a released "terror detainee" is now a commander of al-Qaida in Yemen. Said an Associated Press report:

Al-Shihri was released by the U.S. in 2007 to the Saudi government for rehabilitation. But this week a publication posted on a militant-leaning Web site said he is now the top deputy in "al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula," a Yemeni offshoot of the terror group headed by Osama bin Laden. The group has been implicated in several attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Yemen's capital Sana.

The story raises a couple of immediate questions: