Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.

Alaska: In Juneau, the nine years old Holly’s Hallmark gift store shutting down. The owner said sales went south in 2013 and got worse in 2014.

Florida: For profit Mattia College shutting down, 1-hundred jobs lost and more than 7-hundred nursing students looking for a new home.  No word on an official shutdown date, but local news says pay for teachers has been cut off!  This is the second nursing school in The Sunshine State, in the past two years, to shutdown.  The top administrator of that nursing school, Dade Medical, was recently arrested.  This is all part of the U.S. Department of Education’s crackdown on schools that promise their students ‘The Moon’.

Idaho:  More fraud in The Gem State.  The state Attorney General says a former Idaho boat builder owes customers several millions of USD after failing to deliver the boats.   The state and financier KeyBank have joined multiple customers in suing Christopher Bohenkamp, accusing him of taking customer’s money for pre-ordered boats, but then pulling stakes and moving to New York without building the boats!  It was revealed in 2015 that Bohenkamp was being sued by numerous customers for taking their money and running to The Empire State.   Fraud by hybrid and electric car owners in The Gem State as many are just now waking up to the fact that last year the state imposed additional vehicle registration fees for motorized vehicles that use very little or no petroleum based fuel.  There is now a push by the unfair tax avoiding environmentalist crooks to repeal the fees.  Here’s why owners of hybrids and electric cars are crooks; state road repair work is paid for mainly with the state tax on fuel, and partly by vehicle registration fees, if you’re driving a vehicle that doesn’t use fuel you are not paying your fair share of road maintenance tax!   The only way the state can fairly charge (pun intended) electric and hybrid car users for road maintenance is by greatly jacking up the vehicle registration fee.  As one commentator in the state of Georgia wrote “We now have a class of people (mostly well-off) who can choose to get around without having to pay the gas tax.”)   By the way, this why bicycle fanatics piss me off! They think they own the roads but they pay nothing towards maintaining the roads, especially their special ‘bike lanes’. And don’t give me your crap about ‘you drive cars too’, the roads were built for cars not pedestrians or bicycles.  In Boise, the Ada County Highway District responds to criticism about bike lanes by saying “…it’s fair to assume that bicyclists in and around downtown Boise are contributing some amount to the upkeep of Ada County roads.”  But they admit they have no way to prove that statement!  You know what they say about ass-u-me…..

Illinois:  In Alqonquin, the Stride Rite shoe store in Algonquin Commons shutting down by April.  It’s the third retailer to leave Algonquin Commons in the past 12 months.  Publisher Costar Group laying off 44 employees in Chicago, by mid-March.   God powerless to stop ‘his’ Lutheran Social Services from shutting down ‘his’ Chicago nursing home services, 109 job lost by the end of March!  Walmart shutting down two Chicago stores by mid-April, at least 110 jobs lost!  What automotive industry recovery? Danville Area Community College eliminating at least four jobs, offering early retirement and eliminating their Automotive and Sustainability programs: “These are challenging times, and it’s challenging because of the uncertainty”-Alice Jacobs, DACC President

  Sycamore School District 427 eliminating at least 56 jobs: “We see other businesses where employees are just being told to do more with less, and unfortunately, that seems to be the mentality of our state government when incomes to education.”-Jim Dombek, District 427

Missouri: Spain based bio-energy company Abengoa Bioenergy now chapter 11 bankrupt busted, affecting their administrative office in Chesterfield, and their ethanol production in the state of Illinois.  In Hannibal, after more than 50 years Kirlin’s Hallmark shutting down their Huck Finn Shopping Center gift store, blaming “today’s challenging economic climate”.

New York:  That Which Cannot Be Named powerless to stop Jewish Home Lifecare from shutting down and selling out to a competitor, 997 jobs lost by the end of May!  General Electric (GE) updated their shutdown WARN for their Fort Edward operation, 128 jobs lost between now and the end of May!  Near Star Lake, the Padgett’s Hometown IGA shutting down after 35 years of grocery sales: “Sales keep going down, expenses keep going up and I’m having a hard time just paying my bills, so it’s just time.”-Mark Padgett

Ohio: Columbus based Bravo Brio Restaurant Group is warning it must shutdown Bravo Cucina Italiana and Brio Tuscan Grille restaurants after a third straight year of revenue losses!

Texas: In Houston, Cobalt International Energy issued a layoff WARN, 50 oil industry jobs lost by the end of April.  Pioneer Natural Resources shutting down their Victoria oil ops, 148 jobs lost by mid-April!  Transocean Offshore shutdown two Gulf of Mexico rigs, 180 jobs gone!  IPSCO Tubulars issued a layoff WARN for their Chambers oil pipe ops, 112 jobs lost by the beginning of April!  In Pleasanton, C&J Energy Services eliminating 78 oil industry jobs by the beginning of April.

West Virginia: Cabell County Schools eliminating 61 jobs and transferring another 97! It’s blamed on the loss of 2-hundred students since 2014!

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

23 February 2016: “….a slowdown in the market, we can’t say for sure what will happen next.”

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) no longer issues mass layoff reports: “On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the- board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to help achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS will eliminate two programs, including Mass Layoff Statistics, and all ‘measuring green jobs’ products. This news release is the final publication of monthly mass layoff survey data.”