Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.
Alabama: AAR Aerostructures & Interiors ending metal fabrication ops in Huntsville, 72 jobs lost. Administrators said they need to “refocus” their business.
Arizona: In Chandler, after 25 years Video Paradise shutting down next week.
California: In San Francisco, after more than ten years the upscale Bourbon Steak shutting down in March, the owner said he decided not to renew the lease and is looking for a new home. 
Cosmetic company Coty shutting down their North Hollywood OPI nail polish factory, 4-hundred California jobs being lost to North Carolina! In San Diego, after laying off 1,314 people at the end of 2015 Qualcomm laid off an additional 32 employees.
Delaware: Local news media discovered that all four Sussex County Donut Connection shops have been shutdown! The owners of the franchise claim they’ve “retired”, but a former employee said “Business really had slacked off.” Tax records show $26,320-USD are still owed and a lawsuit says $31,211 in rent and utilities have never been paid!
Florida: Clothier GAP shutting down stores in Tampa and Saint Petersburg, as part of their plan to shutdown 175 stores!
Idaho: A new Corporation for Enterprise Development study says 45.5% of Idaho families are trapped in poverty and there’s no hope of getting out, as the 2016 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard calls the economic situation the “new normal”! Find out more info, or how your state ranks, click here.
Gem State Right to Work (you over) ‘lawmakers’ are apparently realizing how bad the financial situation is for families and are creating a new law that will exempt ‘cottage food’ businesses (literally mom-n-pop food sellers working out of their home) from the same health codes that traditional retail establishments must obey.
It’s been revealed that pesticides have contaminated farms in eastern Idaho. At least 809 hectares (2-thousand acres) are affected and must be cleaned up, at taxpayer expense of course (an estimated $250-thousand USD has been quoted as an initial payment!). The contamination was discovered when farmers reported mutations in their crops and animals. Investigators traced it to the massive use of Methyl Bromide back in 2006. The contamination affects potatoes, hay, alfalfa, wheat and barley. In 2006 paranoia erupted over the discovery of a nematode that destroys potato crops, state and federal agriculture ‘experts’ told farmers to use methyl bromide to kill the microbe. It was farmers who first reported the crop and livestock mutations, concluding that it must be the result of using the toxic chemical.
A new study is blaming low Gem State high school graduation rates on internet classes! The state Board of Education reported that ‘virtual schools’ can barely graduate 20% of their online students! I can attest to this claim as I know a young woman who tried the virtual school program for almost a year, before giving up and going back to old fashioned brick-n-mortar school in Pocatello. I remember her school counselor at Pokey High warning her she’d be back because the majority of students fail to complete the online courses. The online school seems easier because supposedly you’re on your own schedule, but it turns out to be harder than traditional school.
Michigan: What automotive industry recovery? Dearborn based Ford announced it will end sales operations in Japan and Indonesia, due to lack of sales!
Minnesota: In Saint Paul, after ten years the Highland Park Chatterbox Pub (deep fried cheeseburgers) suddenly shutdown, the owners say they were not able to find a needed third business partner and will now focus on their two smaller restaurants.
Missouri: University of Missouri Saint Louis warned of mass layoffs in order to deal with a $15-million USD shortfall ($2-million more than reported two months ago), no layoff numbers given, yet.
Nebraska: Sears Holdings confirmed it will shutdown the Omaha Kmart (on South 114th Street) in April, 66 jobs lost. It’s the second Omaha Kmart to be shutdown.
Nevada: In Mesquite, after five years Have Boutique Will Travel shutting down. The co-owners blame their age, one is 77 and the other is 80!
New York: In Amherst, after more than 1-hundred years (surviving The Great Depression and numerous recessions) Newtrend Furniture shutting down. Maines Food & Party Warehouse shutting down their Ithaca and Greece grocery stores by February, no public explanation given. In NYC, after 40 years kitchen supplier Broadway Panhandler shutting down. The owner tried to sell the business but nobody wanted to buy it.
Ohio: The only Krispy Kreme donut shop in the Dayton area shutting down next week, 20 jobs lost. No explanation.
Oregon: The Terrace Cafe in Valley River Center shutting down after 36 years of serving up yummy food, because the mall management refuses to renew the lease. The restaurant owner said no reason was offered and “I was not prepared to have been told that no more leases would be given to me.”
Texas: In Dallas, the operators of Zhulong Gallery suddenly announced it will shutdown at the end of the month (instead of hosting an international photo exhibit), no reason given.
West Virginia: Coal miner Alpha Natural Resources killing more jobs, this time 9-hundred people at eight mines and two processing operations, by the end of March!
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification
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.”