Tag Archives: chubbuck

04 April 2017 (16:20 UTC-07 Tango 06) 15 Farvardin 1396/07 Rajab 1438/08 Jia Chen 4715

“…with the immediate closure of nearly 400 underperforming locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico and work to aggressively manage the remaining real estate lease portfolio either by modifying terms, or evaluating closures of additional locations.”-Payless statement, 04 APR 2017

Despite Donald Trump running The White House, the Obama regime initiated apparel industry death spiral is ramping up. Discount cheap-o shoe seller Payless suddenly ‘died’ today after filing for bankruptcy.

4-hundred U.S. stores forced to shutdown immediately! The thousands of remaining stores around the world will undergo ‘managed’ shutdowns! (click this link to the official shutdown list)

Payless is officially not dead, but should be considered a zombie retailer as executives struggle to keep the company going: “This is a difficult, but necessary, decision driven by the continued challenges of the retail environment, which will only intensify. We will build a stronger Payless for our customers, vendors and suppliers, associates, business partners and other stakeholders through this process. While we have had to make many tough choices, we appreciate the substantial support we have received from our lenders, who share our belief that we have a unique opportunity to enable Payless — the iconic American footwear retailer with one of the best-recognized global brands — to remain the go-to shoe store for customers in America and around the globe.”-Paul Jones, CEO

Payless in struggling Pine Ridge Mall, employees swear they’ve been told no shutdown for them

However, the Payless ShoeSource employees at the struggling Pine Ridge Mall in Chubbuck, Idaho, swear they are not being shutdown. They claim that corporate administrators say the Chubbuck Payless is actually making money.

In related news, the Payless store in Pocatello, Idaho (which was quietly shutdown back in October 2016), was supposedly shutdown because of landlord/tenant problems, not lack of sales.

MORE ECONOMIC DECLINE: VANITY DIES IN IDAHO

U.S. RETAIL/BANKING/SERVICE SECTOR COLLAPSE, JANUARY 2017: Kansas based Payless shoe seller suddenly laid off 110 HQ employees! Elsewhere, another 55 Payless employees were suddenly dumped. Local news media say laid off employees were given no notice and were escorted out by security guards!

U.S. RETAIL/BANKING/SERVICE SECTOR JOB LOSSES, OCTOBER 2016: Payless Shoes shutting down three stores in Illinois, right after Thanksgiving, blaming “landlord issues”.

U.S. JOB LOSSES & STORE CLOSINGS, SEPTEMBER 2014: NO MORE PAYLESS?

U.S. JOB LOSSES & STORE CLOSINGS, JANUARY 2013: Payless Shoes HQ in Topeka, Kansas, laid off 45 people and eliminated 97 vacant positions. New owners of Payless say the job cuts are an effort to keep the company operating.

Idaho

“We plan to sell it down to the bones.” “…it’s crappy…!” : Idaho’s Economic Destruction 2016

December 28, 2016 Hutchins AAron

Incomplete list of economic related events in The Gem State of Idaho, 2016.

JANUARY:

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”!

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.

In Idaho County, according to local news reports two Texas billionaires bought-up 38-thousand acres of land and then shut it all down to local residents who traditionally use it for recreation and hunting! Residents are outraged as previous land owners allowed public access for recreation and hunting.

According to a new report called The Financial Condition of Idaho Agriculture: 2015, Idaho farmers saw an overall 9% drop in cash receipts (even with a 2% drop in operating costs) from 2014 to 2015, due to crashing food prices: “The low prices in 2014 bled over into last year. The shortages, the supply and demand factors bleed into the following year.”-Garth Taylor, University of Idaho agricultural economist

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. The decade old drought is causing taxpayers to fork out more funding for aquifer recharge projects. Governor Otter is proposing a one time $10-million USD payment plus $2-million yearly for the Egin Lakes-Egin Bench canal near Rexburg. Supporters of the plan complain it’s not enough money!

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.

In Pocatello about two years after opening, previously worn clothing seller Runway Fashion Exchange “going out of business” and liquidating everything. Essentially a for-profit thrift store, Runway Fashion Exchange has been shutting down stores across the U.S. since 2013. Also it was made official, the Pocatello Kmart being shutdown.

It’s finally being revealed by local news sources that state taxpayers were funding the maintaining of the JR. Simplot mansion to the tune of nearly $1-million USD during the time the property was in possession of the state! Back in 2004 the mansion (estimated to be worth $2-million) was given to The Gem State, however, it was supposedly given back to the Simplot family in 2013 because the utility bills alone were costing taxpayers $150-thousand per year! This info was originally reported by the United Kingdom’s DailyMail back in 2013. The Simplot family can no longer pay the upkeep on the mansion and are tearing it down.

Grocer Supervalu issued a WARN for three Boise stores (North Ancestor, South Denver Way and Parkcenter locations), at least 80 jobs lost by March. It might be connected to Supervalu’s plan to take its Save-A-Lot discount grocery ops ‘public’. Back in October Supervalu laid off 115 people at their East Baybrook Court, Boise location, in connection with the merger of Albertsons and Safeway. Also in Boise, after at least 25 years the Twin Dragon restaurant is shutting down by March. The owners are trying to sell it to help fund their retirement plans. A Meridian woman is now in federal prison after co-leading a fraudulent investment scheme (known as Alternative Energy Holdings) once claiming to build a nuclear power plant near Mountain Home Air Force Base. Her partner in crime, a man, is on the run and being pursued by federal agents.

The state Department of Labor is admitting in a round-about way that the decades old Right to Work (you over) labor laws are a failure as 50% of Idahoans who graduate Idaho colleges/universities leave the state after four years due to low wages and salaries! It took decades of Right to Work you over-ism for state administrators to realize that highly educated workers are not going to work for peanuts? Of course the pro-Right to Work ‘lawmakers’ refused to blame their Right to Work policies and instead blamed “market conditions”, failing to realize that their Right to Work policies are directly influencing Idaho “market conditons”. Maybe the ‘lawmakers’ need to go back to school and take some economics classes?

The number of Gem State school districts asking for taxpayer burdening supplemental levies has gone up, again. At latest count 94 of the 115 district need extra money to function in the 2015-16 school year, even though state tax funding is back to ‘pre-recession’ levels! One reason for the demand for strapping taxpayers is increasing numbers of domestic economic migrants flooding into Idaho, the majority being low income. Domestic migrants, along with high birth rates, accounted for 75% of Idaho’s population growth in 2015. According to the Shifting Sands: Idaho’s Changing Student Demographics and What it Means for Education study domestic migration is going to continue, and the overwhelming majority of the U.S. migrants into Idaho will be tax burdening (maybe not so tax burdening as Idaho has piss-poor social programs) low income families: “The state is expected to see net growth in lower income households and net declines in households with incomes above $50,000. Much of the state is projected to see an increase in the share of households with an income of less than $25,000.“ (I’ve lived here for 20 years and my income has always been “less than $25,000″, I even went into deep debt getting a degree from Idaho State University in 2006 and my income actually crashed!)

FEBRUARY: It’s been revealed that state Department of Parks and Recreation has been running on $70-thousand USD in private donations after running out of normal fees and taxpayer funding! The majority of the donations came from corporations Airstream and Cabela’s. State ‘lawmakers’ allowed Parks & Rec to beggar for donations last year, in order to offset massive state funding cuts.

The Gem State’s version of ObamaCare is being directly blamed for the deaths of 1-thousand Idahoans since 2013! That accusation came from Kenneth Krell, director of Eastern Idaho Medical Center in Idaho Falls. He targeted the claim at state Right to Work (you over) ‘lawmakers’ whom he was testifying in front of: “And I kept asking myself, how could this be? How, in a state like Idaho where we care about each other, could I be seeing deaths and really damaging illness on a nearly daily basis as a result of failure to expand Medicaid that cost tangible lives? It’s difficult to understand.”

MARCH: In Garden City, after 40 years The Gem State’s largest horse racing op Les Bois Park suddenly shutdown. It’s the latest victim of a recent decision by A-hole ‘christian’ regulators declaring instant horse racing machines to be “unconstitutional”! Boise State University conducted an economic study which concluded that Les Bois Park alone generated $50-million USD for Ada County, and provided 536 jobs, all lost now! The Idaho Horse Council says there will be a domino effect across Idaho’s equine economy: “It’s the feed, the hotels, the traveling, eating… it’s just a trickledown effect. Horses are going to be shipped out of state and that’s income Idaho doesn’t get. That’s devastating for our horse economy.”-Myron Amsden

The biggest electricity supplier in The Gem State is asking for a 2.2% increase (more than $2 per month for ‘average’ users) in utility bills. Idaho Power says current rates are not allowing them to cover their “fixed costs” of operations. What’s not being reported is that more and more Idaho Power customers are using less electricity, and Idaho Power administrators expect that to continue, that’s the true reason for the rate jack up! Idaho senator Dan Schmidt gave back his state taxpayer funded health plan to protest republicans continued refusal to close the healthcare gap: “I don’t think it’s fair that I get the taxpayers of Idaho to buy me health insurance, and we’re not willing to look at that problem for our other citizens who don’t have that benefit…. …And shame on us for not solving it!” -Dan Schmidt

In Boise, after only four months the brand new Boise Co-op grocery store located at The Village at Meridian laid off 29 employees, due to lack of sales! Boise Co-op opened the store in November 2015, expecting big sales because Maureen Valko, Boise Co-op marketing manager, assumed there was a demand for their products saying “There’s a demand for a good, natural food store on this side of town….” It should be noted that in 2015 Boise Co-op was hit with numerous health code violations by city inspectors, in connection to a June 2015 salmonella outbreak at an older store. So much for ‘natural foods’. Also in Boise, it was revealed that Idaho Heritage Inn was sold-off last month, the former owner blames a 20% crash in bookings on Airbnb.com. However, it should be noted that the bed-n-breakfast owner accepted a healthy offer from Saint Luke’s Medical Center for the land.

And just how addicted to Mexican money is Idaho? Recently Mexico’s Minister of Trade Armando Orellana died. Idaho’s government and agriculture industry are officially mourning Orellana as he’s credited for making Idaho a major ag partner for Mexico, generating $191-million USD in sales for Idaho’s minority (mainly corporate owned now) farmers-ranchers, just in 2015: “Idaho agriculture lost a great friend. He touched many lives over the years and the tragic loss of Armando will be felt throughout Idaho.”-Celia Gould, Idaho Department of Agriculture (Idaho even has its own website promoting itself in Mexico)

The Idaho Department of Labor admits that many Idahoans born between 1980 and 2000 are fleeing the Right to Work (you over) Gem State, and the biggest reason is the same reason I’ve heard since arriving in 1997, not enough good paying jobs: “People want to stay here, but there aren’t many options or much industry available in Idaho. We’ve been avoiding this issue for a long time, because our employers don’t like to hear it: We don’t pay well!”-Ken Edmunds, Idaho Department of Labor

Back in 2003 I interviewed several Idaho State University Alumni who graduated in 1973. They all stated they were making more money back in the 1970s. One social sciences graduate stated he continued working at his loading dock job because he was making more money than what he would get with his sociology degree, but once Idaho became a Right to Work state (in the 1980s) everything went to hell. As a dock worker in Pocatello (on Garrett Way) he was making $15.00 per hour in the 1970s, and that’s not adjusting for inflation! He wasn’t married and his rent, utilities and food was so cheap by today’s costs that he felt like he was living in luxury. By 2003 most of the distribution/warehouse jobs left the city, and at his age he was lucky to find a job that paid him $7.00 per hour. He said the only reason why he wasn’t homeless was because he paid-off his cheap mobile home in the late 1970s and was still living in it. Many of the older Pocatellans I interviewed wondered how young adults were surviving financially. For decades local and state level politicians promised to bring good paying jobs to the state. In Pocatello and Chubbuck there is a covert push to make the area a warehousing/distribution hub again, but the average starting wage for such jobs is between $10 and $15 per hour. When adjusted for inflation that’s way less than what the same jobs paid in the 1970s!

APRIL: How many people know the origin of the charity United Way? It was born in the Coeur d’Alene area of northern Idaho in 1957, with the name United Crusade. But since then the economy has gotten so bad that United Way announced it was expanding charity services in its own birthplace.

In Twin Falls, after 37 years God powerless to stop ‘unofficial’ Mormon Bell’s Family Books from being shutdown by ‘official’ Mormon bookstore Deseret Book! You read right! Local news reports say Bell’s Family Books was facing increasing competition, the final straw being when their own religion opened a bookstore down the street.

In Boise, after 31 years backpacking store The Benchmark shutting down so the owner can return “…to the Idaho mountains.” Emil Hutton said it’s time to quit due to the rise of what he calls “point-n-click” shopping. Also in Boise, christian healthcare scammer Saint Luke’s Regional Medical Center has been found in violation of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). In 2015 an employee reported to the U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) that Saint Luke’s was not ‘coding’ certain time off as FMLA. The DoL reviewed two years worth of “hundreds” of employee records and concluded that Saint Luke’s “…failed to ensure that all employees on FMLA-covered leave received all the protections…” Interestingly the DoL determination, and resulting Saint Luke’s resolution actually took place in November 2015, but only now is being made public! In February I reported how Saint Luke’s was caught stealing local property taxes!

The Tax Foundation ranks Idaho’s income tax rate as the 11th highest in the 50 U.S. states.

Despite boasting of a recovering economy the self proclaimed ‘christian’ leaders of Idaho have decided they must ration the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, incorrectly called Food Stamps). Starting in July instead of getting all their food assistance on a single day, it will be spread over a ten days period, affecting 82-thousand of Idaho’s 1.5-million residents. It was revealed that this rationing of food assistance was actually ordered by state ‘elected christian lawmakers’ back in 2014! The British empire created christian Salvation Army protested the SNAP rationing by pointing out that poor Idahoans have been screwed so much by state ‘christian lawmakers’ that up to 90% of people coming into Salvation Army food banks are there to supplement the meager scraps given to them by Idaho’s SNAP! (as a single healthy unemployed adult male I can confirm that there are plenty of poor people in Idaho who don’t qualify for state controlled social programs)

State Department of Labor sold its Right to Work Internet Unemployment System (ius) to the states of Iowa and Vermont! The Gem State’s version of ObamaCare, Your Health Idaho, strikes again! A Twin Falls woman is in desperate need of brain surgery but doesn’t have enough money to pay for insurance herself, yet also does not qualify for ObamaCare under Your Health Idaho! But wait, that’s not all! It turns out that when she first went to doctors they ignorantly told her she was crazy and didn’t have a physical problem! Finally, after several MRIs she was diagnosed with Chiari malformation: “If it goes untreated, then I will slowly become paralyzed, and from there I will end up on machines. That is something that is a reality for me if I don’t get it taken care of.”-Brittany Long

The Gem State’s version of ObamaCare is in trouble, news reports reveal that at the end of March a warning letter was sent out to Your Health Idaho employees telling them what to do if a healthcare provider is dealing with a person with life threatening issues, yet doesn’t qualify for Idaho’s version of ObamaCare: “Please be sure to include MEDICAL URGENT in the subject line as well as a detailed description of the client’s situation in the message body.” (this is probably due to the claims by hospital directors that at least 1-thousand Idahoans have died as a direct result of not qualifying for ObamaCare through Your Health idaho) However, an insurance agent in McCall said he deals with insuring people in five other states and compared to them Idahoans have it good: “It’s just an absolute train wreck! I’m licensed in six states, and believe me, in the other five states, it’s even worse.”-Stanley Dean

National Basketball Association D-league team the Idaho Stampede announced they’re getting the hell-outta Boise and moving to Salt Lake City, Utah. They’re also changing their name to Salt Lake City Stars. It was revealed that state taxpayers were forced to pay outrageous three-fold increase in overtime pay to Idaho State Police (ISP) trainees. ISP administrators explained, without blinking an eye, that it was mainly for trainee commute times to the academy because there was no room in the academy’s dorms in Meridian, or at the National Guard barracks on Gowen Field! (how many civilian businesses pay their employees to commute?)

EastIdahoNews reporting there is no recovery in eastern Idaho. Their latest article explains what happened with a lot of home construction projects: “It was just one of those things where the economy went south.”-Dave Ogden, mayor of Sugar City

MAY:

In Pocatello, the Wing It chicken wing joint shutdown, as well as the Subway sandwich shop on Garrett Way.

Aeropostale shutting down stores in Chubbuck (Pine Ridge Mall, one of my many former employers [the mall, not Aéropostale]) & Twin Falls.

Mississippi based bankrupt Hancock Fabrics shutting down stores in Idaho Falls and Twin Falls.

According to the Idaho Business Review the state Department of Labor has inadvertently revealed the true reason The Gem State is welcoming ‘war’ refugees/migrants; there is an mass exodus of U.S. residents from Idaho! In fact, the number of U.S. families leaving Idaho outpace the number of refugee/migrant families being brought in. Jerome County alone lost more than 830 U.S. residents in a five years period, and realize that Idaho has an official population of about 1.5-million: “The 16 counties in eastern and southeastern Idaho have lost about 14,200 residents since 2010. Every county experienced a net loss in migration, and the businesses in those communities are finding it hard to grow. Many are considering moving out of the state, Regional Economist Chris St. Jeor said.”

Despite years of boasting how great their farm economy was, even boasting of the Ag industry’s relationship with Mexico, the Department of Agriculture admitted that in 2015 Idaho’s farm exports crashed by 22%! Idaho dairy exports crashed and burned by 43%! It’s blamed on the ‘strong’ USD, which makes U.S. products more expensive overseas: “It was a nice ride, but it’s over.”-Laura Johnson, Idaho Department of Agriculture

The state Department of Agriculture continues its dismal farm report by saying all but two types of crops will lose money this year. The two money makers are sugar and barley. Snake River Sugar Company-Amalgamated Sugar expects as much as $900-million USD in revenues for 2015. But that increased revenue doesn’t translate into job creation, Mark Duffin of the Idaho Sugarbeet Growers Association says actual sugar production employment has been going down due to increased use of new technologies.

The state livestock Brand Inspector, Justin Archer, resigned after being charged by Jerome County Sheriff’s Office with felony grand theft! Washington based Potlatch Corporation has sold-off 69605.9 hectares (172-thousand acres) of Gem State tree-land to ‘investors’ in U.S. state of Georgia, blaming Idaho’s suck-ass economy: “We purchased the central Idaho timberlands in 2007 intending to take advantage of what was a strong rural recreational real estate market around McCall…..Unfortunately, that market declined significantly due to the recession and the bankruptcy of the Tamarack Resort.”– Mike Covey, ceo

Near Grangeville, Blue North Forest Products confirmed that low lumber sales forced them to sell their mill to competitor Idaho Forest Group (who so far refuses to say what their plans are), 65 jobs threatened.

The Wilderness Society reports that most of the non-federally owned land in Idaho has been sold-off by the state government, resulting in “…lands in the hands of an elite few and Idaho’s biggest industries: the Simplot Corp., Potlatch, Boise-Cascade, cattle companies and law firms. Under these private ownerships, the new owners can lock out the public altogether or charge a trespass fee.” (also, you now know the real reason why rents are getting jacked up) The federal government is considering halting sheep grazing on public land in west-central Idaho. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management says domestic sheep spread disease. Wow, after a hundred plus years of sheep grazing they now claim sheep spread disease to other animals? I believe that applies to all us animals, all animals spread disease to each other. How do you think disease is spread, with a butter knife? The local sheep industry calls bullshit on the BLM reasoning: “There’s no firm science that says 100% that domestic sheep pass disease on the open range, or that they’re the only species that can pass the disease.”-Stan Boyd, Idaho Wool Growers Association

A city employee of 14 years has resigned from her job with Idaho City after being accused of taking taxpayer funding. Idaho State Police say she took about $47-thousand USD over a two years period, two other city employees were fired.

In Boise, rail car maker Motive Power-Wabtech laid off 210 people saying “There’s been a major downturn in the freight business, and that is impacting us. Our customers, the Class I railroads, have curtailed their capital spending for 2017.”

DraftKings and FanDuel shutting down their Idaho participants’ accounts, after state Attorney General Lawrence Wasden shutdown fantasy sports gambling: “….paid daily sports offerings provided by these companies constitute gambling under Idaho law. I have a duty to enforce and uphold that law. I commend the companies for negotiating in good faith and agreeing not to make these contests available in Idaho.”

The state Department of Labor (DoL) finally updated their WARN site, revealing that ATCO Structures & Logistics laid off 76 people in Pocatello, back in April (who knows why the DoL sat on the WARN for more than a month?). Since 2012 British empire Canada based ATCO has been laying off employees across the U.S. and Canada due to “an economic slowdown” in the mining industry, they’re still “waiting for business to pick up.” 2012 was also the year ATCO opened their Pocatello location, in July, promising to hire 160 people to build mobile facilities for the mining-oil industry. But immediately they froze hiring at 1-hundred, and then in November 2012 they laid off 15 people due to a sudden decline in demand from the mining-oil industry. Then in October 2015, ATCO announced they would hire 75 Pocatellans after winning new contracts for modular buildings, with local economic ‘experts’ claiming it was a sign the economic downturn for Chubbuck and Pocatello was over. Of course all the so called new jobs in the area came as a result of local taxpayers being forced to give these companies massive taxpayer incentives (sounds like socialism and not true free market economics). Back in March of this year the Idaho State Journal reported that “…state law allows companies to receive up to a 30 percent refund of payroll, sales and state income taxes over 15 years if they produce at least 50 new jobs that pay higher than the county average.

Amy’s Kitchen [in Pocatello] received a 26 percent tax credit, which is valued at an estimated $6.7 million…”

The Idaho Technology Council reports that from 2014 to 2015 business investments into The Gem State tripled ($3.47 billion to $16.29 billion)! However, when you break it down by region all the big increases in investments went to the Boise area (aka southern sector of the state), north and east sectors saw little change in investments. And 60% went to the service sector (retail).

A month after the Panama Papers were made public by whistleblowers “…a number of Idaho shareholders were listed under Accelonic Ltd., an offshore company with more than 1,000 officers around the world.” Another sham offshore company reportedly involves an Idaho company that makes chemicals to preserve potatoes. Some other sham companies involving Idaho investors are Uluwatu Holdings and DocDoc. “First, where did the money being held in these entities come from? Second, why was the money held in these entities and hidden from view?”-John Miller, University of Idaho

Also, the AFL-CIO’s annual Executive PayWatch survey reports that chief executive officers in Idaho are paid an average 277 times more than Idahoans earning minimum wage, and 149 times more than Idahoans earning a ‘living wage’!

Olympus Healthcare agrees to pay Idaho $107,219 in restitution after getting caught bribing (kickbacks) Idaho healthcare providers! According to magicvalley.com in the past year and a half Idaho doctors were paid-off by drug companies, to the tune of $24-million USD of ‘incentives’! Now you know why so many people in The Gem State are wacked on evil prescription drugs! What housing market recovery?

‘Suspect’ State Treasurer Ron Crane is now facing wrongful termination charges by a former employee, who was fired “in direct retaliation for communicating in good faith the existence of extensive waste of public funds/manpower and illegality”. In November 2015 five state employees reported to their superiors massive corruption in the Republican ‘christian’ controlled state government. Instead of being praised for revealing the waste of taxpayer funding, they were accused of insubordination! Two were fired! The Idaho Housing and Finance Association reports that the number of homeless people in northern Idaho has increased 5% since 2015. Local charities say the homeless rate is actually higher than the official count because not all localities are included in the head-counting, and warned the homeless rate will go up: “Although the homeless number is always interesting, those living from paycheck to paycheck who are on the verge of losing their homes is far greater. That’s the bigger issue.”-Jeff Conroy, Saint Vincent de Paul of North Idaho

Idaho state level ‘elected’ politicians have so far spent $136-thousand taxpayer dollars on travel expenses for this past 75 days legislative session! The revelation was made after The Associated Press forced the release of data through a Freedom of Information demand. Not all reimbursement requests have been submitted, so expect the total tax dollars spent to go up.

Idaho’s Economic Destruction month of JUNE: “RISEN FROM THE ASHES”? WE STRUCK OIL!

Idaho’s Economic Destruction month of JULY: 86 YEARS OLD ZAMZOWS GOING DOWN?

AUGUST: Economically depressed Idaho is one of 11 states supplying the most military personnel for the never ending, and undeclared, war on terror. That’s according to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)!

The U.S. Census Bureau warning that sparsely populated Idaho could soon be dominated by immigrants, with the result that the majority of Gem State families will become poor.

In Pocatello, a divorce settlement forced the shutdown of 112 years old Town and Country Gardens, killing ten jobs: “We plan to sell it down to the bones.”-John Crook, owner, following the divorce court’s orders

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) lost its attempt to become the site for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy, or FORGE: “Although our Idaho site was not selected, INL still has the opportunity to participate in the FORGE effort through our role as a member of the University of Utah-led team and in other funded proposals.”-Rob Podgorney, INL geothermal

A Fourth District Judge has thrown out a lawsuit challenging the 2014 law that heaps huge taxpayer funded incentives on companies moving to The Gem State. Tens of millions in tax breaks (supposedly in the form of “reimbursements”) have already gone to companies like California based Amy’s Kitchen and Ireland’s Glanbia Foods. Agricultural news source Capital Press also revealed that an undisclosed food producer was recently given a $15-million tax credit for creating a piddly 80 jobs in Boise. The state Depatment of Commerce claims that tax ‘reimbursments’ helped create 4,737 new jobs. But if companies aren’t paying their fair share of taxes how are the state and local governments going to make up for it? By hitting Idaho residents with jacked up taxes and fees, of course.

If you’ve got a family and you’re thinking about moving to Idaho to get a job with one of those taxpayer subsidized companies, think again. The Gem State is one of the worst when it comes to affordable child daycare, and the state government does nothing about it. Economic Policy Institute says the average Idaho family spends $6-hundred per month per child on daycare. Child Care Aware says from 2013 to 2014 childcare costs in Idaho skyrocketed by 19.9%! Even a daycare operator says it’s not worth it to raise a family in Idaho: “Ultimately, when you do the math, and mom is only making X amount, how much of that money is going toward lunches out, and extra clothing, and taxes, and gas to get to and from? You have to look at all of that and see if it’s cost-effective.”-Megan MacCleary, Megan’s Munchkins Preschool, whose income from her daycare operation is so low she qualies for Medicaid (even though daycare rates have gone up Idaho still ranks third lowest for daycare operator/worker pay)

Non-profit Project Access Northwest testified before The Gem State legislature, blasting them for their version of ObamaCare saying 40% of the patients they see have no insurance! State Representative Fred Wood, from Burley, stated that Idaho’s version of ObamaCare is a “system where if you’re poor you have to rely on charity care, versus what everybody else gets.”

Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) canceled $5-million USD in funding for their students attending cash strapped Idaho State University (ISU).

Idaho State University (ISU) laying off 34 people at its Research and Innovation in Science and Engineering Complex (RISE), officially due to contract expiration. Unnamed employees told local news sources that the RISE was being shutdown due to lack of money, but ISU admin denied the rumor. More proof that throwing a lot of money at a problem doesn’t fix anything! After eight years, the state Department of Education’s $135-million USD campaign to increase math scores failed, big time! 8th graders considered at or above grade level dropped from 38% to 34% last year! 4th graders dropped from 41% to 38%! The Education Commission of the States says Idaho’s taxpayer funding of education fails because “…the current formula did not contemplate a variety of different learning modalities, the increasing mobility of students and the states move toward mastery-based education.” The 2016 Idaho Ready for Change survey says 73% of Idahoans prefer charter, or private schools, over traditional taxpayer funded schools. Seven years later CenturyLink and Education Networks of America (ENA) now suing the state Department of Education over the scandalous Idaho Education Network project. State Supreme Court rulings invalidated the IEN contracts, and the whole IEN broadband project was scrapped. CenturyLink and ENA claim they lost $18.5-million USD as a result! Idaho public schools are also struggling financially after a court ruling (last year) revealed that the fees Idaho schools have been charging for decades violate the state constitution. School District 151 revealed the illegal fees they were charging would’ve amounted to $140-thousand for the current school year. School District 411 spent taxpayer funding on an attorney to find ways to continue to charge ‘fees’ without violating the state constitution. Parents from school districts 2 and 25 (my district) are now suing for a refund of the illegal fees.

SEPTEMBER: Trading Company Stores suddenly shutdown their Post Falls and Bonners Ferry locations, 68 jobs lost due to the owner selling out to Washington based Yoke’s. In Twin Falls, after more than 42 years Addison Restaurant West shutting down in October. The owner sold it so he could take care of his 98 years old mom.

State education administrators and ‘lawmakers’ debating new ways to divy out dwindling taxpayer funding for schools, some plans would see as much as $131-million USD cut from school funding! School district administrators also told ‘lawmakers’ that ObamaCare mandated employee health insurance is sucking up more and more taxpayer funding. Blue Cross of Idaho provides the insurance for Idaho teachers and jacked up their rates by 16.5% in 2015. One plan for handling ObamaCare insurance for Idaho teachers could actually cost taxpayers an additional $17-million! Budget policy analyst Paul Headlee warned “This is a particularly complex and potentially expensive endeavor.”

The State Police will stop enforcing a booze law that allows them to crash establishments that serve alcohol during ‘live sex acts’. It’s the result of a lawsuit that proved that the law being used to harass bars with adult performers is too vague, and possibly unconstitutional. And the State Police are being sued for the 2013 killing of a Montana man. The man was questioned by police for 40 minutes before they shot him while he was sitting in the passenger’s seat of his car. Police claim the license plates didn’t match the man’s car and that there was a gun in the glove box. The family of the victim says police dash-cam video shows their son never threatened police with any gun. Boise State Public Radio revelaed that the federal government refuses to reveal how many illegal immigrants in Idaho get deported. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Immigration and Customs Enforcement admitted that actual deportations have declined since 2012, due to a focus on immigrants convicted in court of crimes other than immigration violations. Here in Idaho deportations in 2015 dropped by about 4-hundred compared to 2011. And in Camas County, actor Bruce Willis‘ plans for a private airport crashed and burned after complaints from residents, and the city of Ketchum claimed it violated local laws. Apparently the land was zoned specifically for agricultural use.

Lewiston Kmart, Boise Town Square Mall Sears Store & Auto Center, Boise Kmart Auto Center, the Nampa Kmart Store & Auto Center, the Coeur d’Alene Kmart and Sears Store & Auto Center, the Twin Falls Sears Store & Auto Center and Kmart, the Ammon Kmart, the Idaho Falls Sears Store & Auto Center, the abandoned but still owned by Sears Holdings Chubbuck (the “opportunities” listing incorrectly says Pocatello) Sears Store (esentially all remaining Sears & Kmarts in Idaho) made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list!

OCTOBER: Instant potatoes maker Basic American Ingredients issued a WARN for their Blackfoot ops, 91 additional jobs gone. The Blackfoot potato factory was sold to Basic American Ingredients back in February 2013, and 103 people lost their jobs just three months later. After 40 years in Idaho Falls, Madsen’s Crafts and Framing shutting down in November. One of the retiring co-owners said decades ago he quit his job with Sears in Utah to run the local Idaho craft store, and he has no regrets. In Lewiston, Discount Vacuum shutdown after 35 years, due to the owner’s health problems.

Karcher Care Group issued a WARN for their Nampa nursing home ops, 172 jobs gone! “Concerning and certainly somewhat problematic.” That’s how state Department of Insurance Director Dean Cameron describes health insurance provider’s plans to greatly jack up ‘out of network’ charges. According to the Idaho Statesman “Blue Cross of Idaho plans will have a $50,000 out-of-network deductible for individuals, and patients will have an out-of-pocket responsibility for up to $75,000 of all out-of-network claims — up from $4,000 and $10,000 this year.

BridgeSpan and SelectHealth members will have less-extreme deductibles, but they will be responsible for up to $200,000 of their bills if they go out of network.

The amounts are doubled for families.”

The number of Gem State high school graduates who immediately go on to college dropped below the halfway mark, in 2014 and 2015. This is despite the Board of Education spending taxpayer money on several years of “Go-On” propaganda. Superintendent of Public Schools Sherri Ybarra lost her attempt to block the investigation into the falsifying of teacher performance records. Last month law makers created a $50-thousand USD fine for any district official caught falsifying such data. This is the result of an investigation by IdEdNews which revealed that school districts were deliberately lying about their teacher’s performance in order to justify pay raises! Cassia County Joint School District decided not to fight a ACLU lawsuit accusing it of discriminating against non-Mormon students. Details of the settlement were not disclosed but the taxpayer funded Mormon dominated school district claims it will make changes to its official policies of favoring Mormon students. What happened was a non-Mormon student wanted to run for student body president but was denied on the grounds of not having the required classes completed. But it turns out the only candidate, a Mormon, also did not meet the requirements to campaign for president yet was allowed to run! The Mormon dominated district was counting Mormon seminary as credit towards the class requirement.

NOVEMBER: The Idaho Department of Labor quietly launched a Spanish version of its website during the week of the U.S. presidential elections: https://labor.idaho.gov/ClaimantPortal/Login?ReturnUrl=%2fClaimantPortal%2f

A former Boise, Idaho, cop and his wife are charged with stealing thousands of dollars from The Treasure Valley Lodge #11 Fraternal Order of Police charity, while the former cop was the president of the fraternity. The current fraternity president says it took local police investigators fives years to uncover the crime by cop!

One year after relocating to Garden City, JoyfulTea suddenly shutdown due to “A series of events…” Bodybuilding.com suddenly laid off 90 people in Boise. The warning-less layoffs were revealed by unnamed employees who reported it to local news media. Company admin admitted they are conducting “organizational downsizing” as part of their plans to expand their internet ops (never mind that it directly contradicted the new CEO’s statements, earlier in the year, that they would hire more people). In Twin Falls, popular Kona Coffee & Cakes shutdown due to “other circumstances”.

The not-so-‘elected’ leaders of Idaho continue using taxpayer funding to look for new agricultural markets, this year they’re sending University of Idaho’s Dean of Agriculture to China. According to Capital Press, 20% of state legislatures are directly connected to farming/ranching. The state Department of Agriculture is conducting classes for farmers regarding new federal rules for farm labor: “There’s too much information to absorb in two hours, and they’re doing their best to comply with this.”-Luis Urias

Finally after decades of draconian convict policies, and in an attempt to reduce incarceration recidivism, the state Department of Health and Welfare is asking for $11-million tax dollars to provide mental health services for probationers and parolees. Currently The Gem State Department of Corrections has a 35% recidivism rate. The proposed mental health program for probationers and parolees is not connected to ObamaCare. In Nampa, Holly Lane Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center (owned by ‘christian’ for-profit Tennessee based Orianna Health Systems-Covenant Dove) continues to violate Medicare and Medicaid rules for patient safety. State inspectors accuse Holly Lane of repeatedly putting patients in “immediate jeopardy”. The Nampa nursing home has until January to get its act together or lose all federal funding. Local news media interviewed former patients who say the mistreatment started years ago due to lack of employees. One patient told a state inspector “If I have to piss and shit on myself, I would rather be dead!”

Once again the ‘christian’ Right to Work (you over) republican leaders are realizing too late that their education policies suck. A new Student Loan Report survey shows as much as 82% of Idahoans who did “Go-On” and graduate from college (both public and private) are now saddled with debt. To address the issues of crashing college enrollment (of Idahoans) and skyrocketing indebtedness Idaho ‘lawmakers’ have approved a $3-thousand USD grant to help individual Idahoans pay for college (too late for me and my adult children)! The federal government is helping by shelling out $1.4-million to expand Idaho’s apprenticeships in healthcare, Info-Tech, manufacturing and energy. A Fort Hall Elementary principal admitted to stealing more than $9-thousand from the Blackfoot School District. She was sentenced to five years probation and 3-hundred hours of community work, and supposedly has already paid back the money. Combative state Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra now swears she will comply with federal Department of Education rules by submitting the Every Student Succeeds Act plan by March 2017. The announcement came after Ybarra failed to met her own self imposed ESSA filing deadline!

DECEMBER: In Twin Falls, local news media revealed that during the Summer local school officials paid more than $94-thousand to one school administrator (who then suddenly retired), and then tried to hide the fact from the public. So far school officials are refusing to explain the secret payout.

Without warning the Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Pocatello shutdown on Xmas. Employees showed up only to find a note taped to the door saying a new restaurant would take its place in the near future, the 28 Ruby Tuesday employees are concerned for their final pay. What’s really intersting is that Ruby Tuesday actually posted job openings on indeed.com, for their Pocatello location, just the week prior! Here’s what some employees told KPVI TV: “It’s pretty upsetting knowing that we just had Christmas and spent a bunch of money on our families.”– Shane Engle

“I think it’s crappy that we found out that way. That somebody couldn’t have called us or let us know in advance so we can find another job. Something! I’m on a plan that I need to work to get my Medicaid insurance. And if I don’t have a job I lose my insurance. I have several health problems that I have to have insurance.”-Deanna Orth

KIFI finally reporting what I’ve known (and written about) for years; the Pine Ridge Mall in Chubbuck is dead. KIFI reporters who went there expecting to get day after Xmas shopping mayhem were shocked to find the mall almost empty. In Ucon, 65 people unemployed after the Snake River Plains Potato Warehouse burned down the day after Xmas. In Idaho Falls, after less than three years The Collective Cachet shutdown on Xmas Eve, with the owners warning that they must shutdown their other businesses as well. Local news media report that Idaho Falls ‘mom&pop’ shops are shutting down due to lack of parking for customers, and some are moving to the next door city of Ammon for better rents and locations. In Boise, restaurant Pollo Rey shutting down by the end of February 2017. In Meridian, the owner of Frankie’s Java warned they could shutdown after only seven months of business. It’s blamed on lack of sales: “At this rate of losing money, we’re considering pulling out as soon as February or March.”-Lisa Squires

The new owner of the Carmike Cinemas in Chubbuck, AMC Theaters, quietly began posting on the internet for new employees ranging from “Film Crews” to theater managers. AMC Theaters took over Carmike Cinemas in March of 2016. No word on what’s going on with the old employees.

The state Department of Commerce waiving nearly $6-million in taxes to any company that can create jobs in Idaho! It’s being called Project Grand Slam.

Despite Idaho being flooded with immigrants and refugees (according to state and federal data), the state Department of Labor is predicting worker shortages in the areas of pipe-fitting/plumbing (possibly due to the covert oil industry boom), physical therapists, accountants/auditors, software/computer developers, industrial mechanics, registered nurses, semi-truck drivers and cooks. As with past predictions of booming employment opportunities the ‘authorities’ have failed to explain why there is going to be such an expected economic boom (by the way, the plurality of past economic boom predictions for Idaho never materialized). Remember, back in March the Department of Labor admitted that Idahoans were fleeing the state, however, the prediction of job shortages comes at the same time the U.S. Census Bureau reported data that says Idaho is the 3rd fastest growing state, population wise, in the country (blamed on high birth rate of Idahoans and domestic [U.S.] migrants looking for jobs). This indicates that instead of worker shortages there might not be enough jobs for all the people flooding into the state (and it amazes me that people are coming to Idaho when there aren’t enough jobs right now).

In the overwhelmingly christian dominated south eastern part of The Gem State, christians failed to support a new christian founded (and much needed due to increasing homelessness in the area) homeless shelter, prompting a local Muslim to come to the rescue. Pastor Jacqualine ‘Big Momma’ Thomas needed at least $30-thousand USD for the homeless shelter but got only $7-thousand from fellow christians, a local Muslim doctor heard the news and said he felt compelled to make up the difference. He promised $23-thousand for the Big Momma’s House project. (UPDATE: TV station KPVI reported that after the initial report of a Muslim saving Big Momma’s House at least two more large donations were made, however, KPVI was careful not to mention the religious affiliation of the donors. JANUARY 2017 UPDATE: TV station KIFI reporting that Bingham Memorial Hospital made a significant donation and admitted they were motivated by the Muslim doctor’s donation.)

Idaho’s Economic Decline 2015: “WE’RE GOING TO GO DOWN.”

MORE ECONOMIC DECLINE: ONE FINAL LOOK AT THE IDAHO POSTAL PROCESSING CENTER MOST EAST IDAHOANS DIDN’T EVEN KNOW ABOUT!

MORE ECONOMIC DECLINE: IDAHO’S FAILED HOKU LEADS TO 1ST CHINESE COMPANY TO DEFAULT ON LOAN PAYMENTS?

Idaho’s Economic Decline 2014: “WE’VE LOST A LOT…SINCE 2007.”

Idaho’s Economic Decline 2013: “IT WAS A BLOW, CUT US OFF AT THE KNEES.”

A HISTORY LESSON IN ECONOMIC DECLINE: POCATELLO’S OLD FRED MEYER & ALBERTSONS ON YELLOWSTONE AVE, DID NOT CLOSE DOWN IN THE 1990S

U.S.

U.S. state Militias 380 years old, older than the United States!

Video December 21, 2016 Hutchins AAron

21 December 2016 (13:31 UTC-07 Tango 06) 01 Dey 1395/21 Rabi ‘al-Awwal 1438/23 Geng Zi 4714

New York state Militia celebrates 380th B-day while deployed to Kuwait

13 December 1636 is the official ‘birth date’ for U.S. state militias, aka National Guard. That makes the National Guard 140 years older than the United States itself! It also means the National Guard is one of the oldest continuous military organizations in the world!

In 1636, the Massachusetts General Court ordered that all able-bodied men, between the ages of 16 and 60, join the militia.

While the Regulars (full time federal military) get most of the recognition during wars it’s actually National Guard personnel who supply most of the manpower. On 08 December 2016, Vermont’s Air National Guard deployed for never ending ops in The Middle East.

Virginia and Maryland Army National Guards deployed (first time both deploying together since Korean Conflict) to Kuwait. On 12 DEC 2016, Michigan Air National Guard deployed to The Middle East.

Alaska state Militia:

South Carolina Militia:

Who will deploy in 2017? 2017 National Guard Bureau Posture Statement

Federal News Radio: Army wants more Guard, Reserve deployments in 2017

The Chubbuck,Idaho, Militia Man reminds us who our real enemy is.

SNAKE RIVER MILITIA M1A2 SEP, LIVE FIRE ROMANIA!

“THIS IS WHERE ARMOR FIGHTS!” IDAHO NATIONAL GUARD RETURNS TO COLD WAR ERA

Business/Economics

Sears Kmart Shutdown, September 2016 : 2,583 stores up for lease or sale!

September 14, 2016 Hutchins AAron

Sears Canada reports sales continue to crash. For their 2nd quarter of 2016 Sears Canada lost $66-million CAD. But that’s actually not bad when you realize the Canadian dollar lost value, and that the majority of retail operators in Canada and the U.S. suffered huge sales declines in the 2nd quarter.

Sears Holdings has revealed a list of stores being considered for “opportunities”. The list of 2583 properties available (which includes vacant properties, but mainly currently operating stores) can be found at the Sears Holdings Real Estate web site. Spokesman Howard Riefs swears that the list of store opportunities “…is not an indication that there are plans to close the store itself.”

The taxpayers of Wausha, Wisconsin, are about to be raped for $700-thousand USD as the city’s Finance Committee voted four to one to buy the vacant Sears building at the Wausau Center Mall! It should be pointed out that the taxpayers of Wausha already own the land the Sears building sits on! What are the city’s big plans for the vacant Sears building? To sell it off to another sucker, of course.

Business Insider: Kmart employees and mall owner reveal additional shutdowns!

SEARS KMART UPDATE, AUGUST 2016: BEWARE OF LAMPERTS ‘DONATING’ PROPERTY TO COLLEGES!

U.S. Food Crisis August 2016: ALBERTSONS MAKES “BILLIONS IN PROFITS” YET PAYS EMPLOYEES WELFARE WAGES!

Here’s the updated list of U.S. Sears-Kmart store closings that I’ve been compiling since the end of 2011, new revelations in BOLD:

Alabama: 27 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! After 16 years the Troy Sears Hometown Store suddenly shutdown, the contracted owners said they couldn’t find anybody willing to take over the contract. Oxford Sears (local news reports said the Oxford Sears opened in 1985 with 225 employees!), Birmingham Kmart on Chalkville Mountain, Decatur Kmart on Beltline Road, Homewood Kmart, Mobile Kmart on Z Schillingers Road. The Montgomery Sears store and Auto Center in the Eastdale Mall shutting down, 56 jobs lost in June 2016. City leaders of Anniston have agreed to fork over $3-million precious local tax dollars to fund the re-development of an abandoned Kmart. Prattville Kmart will shutdown in April 2016, 70 jobs lost. Florence Kmart in March, 64 jobs lost in 2016. A local news report said the employees knew nothing about it and were shocked to hear it from the news media! Dothan Kmart (south side of Ross Clark Circle) shutting down in March, 56 jobs lost in 2016. Gadsden Kmart (50 jobs lost), Mobile Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Auburn Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Anniston Kmart (no word yet on how many jobs lost), Birmingham Eastwood Kmart (70 jobs lost), Decatur Mall Sears (91 jobs lost), Fort Payne Kmart, Northport Kmart (68 jobs lost), Dothan Sears (68 jobs lost), Huntsville Kmart (73 jobs lost), Sears Store and Auto Center at the Bel Air Mall in Mobile (more than 100 jobs lost).

Alaska: The Anchorage Sears Store & Auto Center, the Wasilla Sears Store, the Fairbanks Sears Store & Auto Center made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list.

Arkansas: 17 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list. Sears store and Auto Center in Pine Bluff shutting down in August 2016. Little Rock Sears shutdown in July 2016.

Arizona: 42 Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Nogales Kmart shutdown by July 2016, despite the fact that it’s a profit making store (many of its cash paying customers cross the border from Mexico). The Prescott Valley Kmart shutdown April 2016. No word on how many jobs lost, but one employee was quoted by local news as saying “Walmart won.” Reports that the Glendale Kmart will shutdown, no word on job losses. Scottsdale Sears/Great Indoors, Chandler Sears/Great Indoors. Recently revealed Arrowhead Towne Center Sears sold-off then rented back! Chandler Fashion Center Sears sold-off then rented back!

California: 233 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list!!! Sears Holdings shutdown a Los Angeles Kmart, 132 jobs lost in May 2016! Dinuba Kmart 68 jobs lost, Lodi Kmart, Tulare Kmart, Wasco Kmart. Sears Holdings created Seritage Growth Properties is renting out half of three Sears stores; one in Roseville, one in Citrus Heights and one in Sacramento. Supposedly Sears will continue its operations in the other half of the buildings. On 10 March the Garden Center roof of the Santa Rosa Kmart collapsed during a rain storm. Fire inspectors said the roof was already compromised due to dry rot before the rain storm, a local news reporter said managers knew about the condition of the roof because it was sagging, and they called in contractors. The contractors tried to prop up the roof before the rain storm hit. Anaheim Kmart shutdown, 107 jobs lost in 2016! The Chula Vista Kmart, San Mateo Sears and Citrus Heights Kmart shutdown between March and April 2016, a total of 3-hundred jobs lost! El Monte Sears (at least 40 jobs lost. Damien Arrula, El Monte’s economic development director, said the store manager had lied about what was going on: “The general manager of the store had just indicated to me that they were remodeling.”

Two San Diego Sears (more than 80 jobs lost), Pleasant Hill Kmart (more than 50 jobs lost), Torrance Kmart, Fairfield Kmart (63 jobs lost), Lampert owned OSH taken over by Lowe’s home improvement in bankruptcy court, at least 17 of 99 stores to be closed down (935 jobs lost!), Rancho Cordova Kmart (97 jobs lost), San Clemente Kmart/Sears/Kmart on Camino de Estrella (58 jobs lost), placed on an official hit list in 2011 the Oceanside Kmart on College Boulevard finally being shut down, Banning Kmart (91 jobs lost) recently revealed that Sears Holdings is still paying rent on the abandoned property, Laguna Hills Mall Sears, San Diego Mid-City Kmart (73 jobs lost), Hemet Kmart (77 jobs lost), Oakland Sears repair center (75 jobs lost), San Mateo Kmart (82 jobs lost to an apartment building connected to public transportation), Hesperia Kmart building sold at a loss to a vulture capitalist REIT, no word on if the Kmart will be shutdown. Customers complain that the Kmart employees have a bad attitude, gee I wonder why? Yuba City Kmart (63 jobs lost), Rocklin Kmart (at least 63 jobs lost, the store had just posted “Now Hiring” signs), San Leandro Kmart (102 jobs lost), San Jose Mercury News says the El Centro Kmart to shutdown in January, the website Foursquare says the Covina Kmart is now shutdown (other sources say it will shutdown in December), Cupertino Sears and Auto Center (98 jobs lost), somebody posted on yelp* that the Diamond Bar Kmart was shutting down in December (confirmed by Armijo Newspapers), Westfield Topanga Sears (122 jobs lost), it looks like the Blythe Kmart is being slowly shutdown despite denial by Sears Holdings. San Mateo Kmart being demolished to make room for 599 unit apartment complex, as part of the the Hayward Park Caltrain Station project. Atwater Kmart (74 jobs lost), Los Banos Kmart (67 jobs lost).

Colorado: 40 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Broomfield Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Glenwood Springs Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Lone Tree Sears/Great Indoors, Longmont Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Pueblos’ South Side Kmart (52 jobs lost), Denver Kmart (number of jobs lost have not been made public at this time, but could be at least 40), Colorado Springs Kmart at Powers and Palmer Park boulevards (57 jobs lost), Fort Collins Sears (67 jobs lost), Denver-Cherry Creek North Sears store & Auto Center (66 jobs lost).

Connecticut: Local news media pointed out that every remaining Sears and Kmart store in the state is on the new Sears Holdings Real Estate “opportunities” list! Putnam Kmart. Waterbury Big Kmart, Torrington Kmart (73 jobs lost), Enfield Sears Optical (no word on jobs lost), Wallingford Sears Appliance & Hardware (employees say the shutdown was a surprise, I guess they don’t read Blind Bat News), Wallingford Sears Appliance & Hardware (at least 13 jobs lost).

Delaware: Seven Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list. Dover Kmart (at least 72 jobs lost, some reports said 100), Seaford Sears (30 jobs lost), Claymont Kmart (87 jobs lost).

Florida: 173 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list!! In Orlando, the 50 years old Fashion Square Mall Sears & Auto Center shutting down, 101 jobs lost by mid-November! Inverness Sears Hometown suddenly shutdown due to disagreements with the landlord. Jacksonville Sears. Mandarin (Jacksonville) Kmart, Neptune Beach Kmart and Perry Kmart shutting down between July-September. The Lutz Kmart shutdown March 2016, 62 jobs lost. The 46 years old Daytona Beach Kmart, on International Speedway Boulevard, is shutdown mid-March 2016, 86 jobs lost. Fernandina Beach Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Callaway Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Orange City Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Deland Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Stuart Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), West Palm Beach Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Port St. Lucie Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Crystal River Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), New Smyrna Beach Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Saint Augustine Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Pompano Beach Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Jacksonville Kmart on 5751 Beach Boulevard (71 jobs lost), second Kmart in Jacksonville on 4645 Blanding Boulevard (83 jobs lost), Ocoee Sears (102 jobs lost), Pensacola Kmart on Airport Boulevard closed in 2011, Pensacola Kmart on Mobile Highway closed in February 2013 (69 jobs lost), Pensacola Kmart on East 9 Mile Road will close in May (73 jobs lost), Hialeah Kmart (67 jobs lost), Bonita Springs Kmart (67 jobs lost), Mount Dora Kmart (100 jobs lost), Lake Mary Kmart, Panama City Beach Kmart (54 jobs lost), Winter Park Kmart (100 jobs lost), Niceville Kmart (59 jobs lost), Winter Haven Kmart (92 jobs lost), Palm Bay Kmart, Oakland Park Kmart (112 jobs lost), Clearwater Sears Auto Center (21 jobs lost), Zephyrhills Kmart (70 jobs lost), Winter Springs Kmart (69 jobs lost), Naples Kmart (72 jobs lost), New Port Richey Kmart (58 jobs lost), ‘redevelopment’ of Aventura Sears & Auto Center into an “open-air village” (unknown how many jobs affected), Kmart on Northeast 108 Street being annexed by Miami Shores, Sears Holdings threatens to shutdown Kmart as a result of higher local taxes. The property that’s home to an operating Kmart, on South Green Bay Road in Racine, was foreclosed by the local Sheriff and sold-off for $2.5-million, no word on what the new property owner will do with it. Fort Myers Kmart (67 jobs lost). Dicks Sportings Goods subleasing space in an existing Sears store in Palm Beach Gardens.

Georgia: 63 Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! The 23 years old Rome Kmart shutdown in August 2016, 1-hundred jobs lost! Administrators say employees can apply at other Sears Holdings stores, but local news reports say the Rome Kmart is the last Sears Holdings store in the area! The 37 years old Carrollton Kmart shutdown April 2016. Dublin Kmart shutdown in April 2016, 71 jobs lost. Milledgeville Kmart shutdown in April 2016, 60+ jobs lost. Mount Berry Square Mall (Rome) Sears and Auto Center shutting down in March 2016, 86 jobs lost. Macon Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Buford Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Douglasville Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Atlanta Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Columbus Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Jonesboro Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Cartersville Kmart (74 jobs lost), Hiram Kmart (53 jobs lost), Marietta-East Cobb Kmart, Warner Robins Kmart (77 jobs lost), Coweta County Kmart distribution center (164 jobs lost), one of the last two North Augusta Kmart to be torn down by new property owner from Canada, Sears Holdings denies the Kmart will shutdown.

Guam: Tamuning Kmart made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list. Sears Hometown Store.

Hawaii: 14 Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list. Iconic 25 years old Nimitz HWY Iwilei-Honolulu Kmart shutdown in March 2016, 141 jobs lost! Honolulu Sears (owned by GGP, 372 jobs lost! GGP spending $573-million chopping it up into smaller store spaces), Kauai Sears (41 jobs lost), Iwilei-Honolulu Kmart for lease (no confirmation of store closing).

Idaho: Lewiston Kmart, Boise Town Square Mall Sears Store & Auto Center, Boise Kmart Auto Center, the Nampa Kmart Store & Auto Center, the Coeur d’Alene Kmart and Sears Store & Auto Center, the Twin Falls Sears Store & Auto Center and Kmart, the Ammon Kmart, the Idaho Falls Sears Store & Auto Center, the abandoned but still owned by Sears Holdings Chubbuck (the “opportunities” listing incorrectly says Pocatello) Sears Store (esentially all remaining Sears & Kmarts in Idaho) made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Boise Kmart on Fairview shutdown mid-March 2016, 56 jobs lost. Pocatello Kmart shutdown April 2016, 65 jobs lost. Lewiston Sears (at least 60 jobs lost), Rexburg Kmart (63 jobs lost), Chubbuck Pine Ridge Mall Sears shutdown by the end of October/beginning of November 2014 (the remaining 28 jobs lost).

Illinois: 116 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list!! An update for the abandoned Rock Island Kmart; the recently vacated property was ‘donated’ to Augustana College, but now college adminitrators are looking to sell the property to anybody foolish enough to buy it. The real reason the college is trying to dump the vacant Kmart is that the property tax is about $92-thousand per year, indicating the ‘donation’ was actually a screw-job (lets not forget that local news media pointed out that city officials spent $15-million tax dollars attracting Walmart to town, but spent zilch on trying to keep Kmart from leaving!). The Kmart Super Center in Bradley shutdown, 125 jobs lost! Sears Holdings sold the building to Meijer, unconfirmed reports say the Bradley Kmart Super Center (which has a full grocery op) was actually making money. After 90 years Chicago Sears on Lawrence Avenue shutting down by August 2016, local news says its the oldest Sears store still operating. The last Decatur Kmart shutting down by August 2016, 61 jobs lost, administrators say employees can apply at other Sears Holdings stores, but local news reports say there are no more Sears Holdings stores in the immediate area! Chicago Kmart on South Pulaski. Danville Kmart, Galesburg Kmart, Lansing Kmart, Pekin Kmart, Eddie Lampert eliminated 401 Hoffman Estates HQ jobs due to crappy 2015 holiday sales! 151 of those jobs were already vacant. Morton ‘green’ Kmart shutting down by the end of April 2016, 47 jobs lost. Canton Kmart shutting down mid-April 2016, 38 jobs lost. Alton Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Melrose Park Sears parts and repair center (50 jobs lost), Zion Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Oak Lawn Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), McHenry Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Peru Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Lombard Sears/Great Indoors (at least 40 jobs lost), Fairview Heights Kmart (81 jobs lost), Freeport Kmart (45 jobs lost), Pontiac Kmart (more than 47 jobs lost), Homer Glen Kmart (82 jobs lost), Streator Kmart (45 jobs lost), Lombard Kmart (70 jobs lost), Naperville Kmart (98 jobs lost), Calumet Sears (164 jobs lost), two Sears stores in Grand Crossing area of Chicago (247 jobs lost!), Mount Vernon Sears (68 jobs lost), Moline Sears (at least 60 jobs lost), Homewood Kmart (185 jobs lost), Belvidere Kmart (91 jobs lost?) revealed is now a perpetual closing sale Kmart At A Discount store, Champaign’s Market Place Mall Sears (56 jobs lost), Sterling Kmart (60 jobs lost), Montgomery Kmart (81 jobs lost), Mattoon Sears (more than 40 jobs lost), Chicago Sears on North State Street (160 jobs lost), Chicago Sears Craftsman Experience store, Galesburg Sears (46 jobs lost), White Lake Township Kmart (42 jobs lost), Orland Park Sears Appliance, Collinsville Kmart (84 jobs lost), Crystal Lake Kmart (at least 77 jobs lost), Danville Sears store & Auto Center (63 jobs lost), Forsyth Sears store & Auto Center (45 jobs lost), Peoria Kmart (73 jobs lost), Forest Park Kmart (107 jobs lost), Chicago Sears on North and Harlem avenues, supposedly it’s being replaced (most likely at taxpayer expense) with a new building and it will become a Sears-Mariano’s store, Bloomington Kmart (79 jobs lost), Hoffman Estates Headquarters 100 jobs eliminated, another 15 corporate jobs eliminated elsewhere, Chicago-Wicker Park Kmart (106 jobs lost), abandoned Market Place Mall Sears location to be occupied by Dick’s Sporting Goods and Field & Stream. 58 Chicago area stores up for lease or sale. North Mayfair Kmart (99 jobs lost), Chicago Kmart at 5033 North Elston Avenue (99 jobs lost). By the way, Illinois elected officials gave Sears Holdings/Hoffman Estates a $150 million USD tax break to keep their headquarters in the state. The tax break was not tied to any promise not to close stores.

Indiana: 67 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Bloomington Kmart, New Albany Kmart. Bloomington’s College Mall Sears & Auto Center shutdown mid-June 2016, at least 52 jobs lost. In Schererville, Sears Hardware shutdown in April 2016. Terre Haute Kmart April 2016, 62 jobs lost. Anderson Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Saint John Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Indianapolis Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Richmond Sears (49 jobs lost), South Anthony Kmart (70 jobs lost), Fort Wayne Kmart on South Anthony Boulevard (70 jobs lost), FairOaks Mall Kmart, Logansport Sears (43 jobs lost), Muncie Kmart (59 jobs lost), Fort Wayne Kmart on Coliseum Boulevard North (69 jobs lost), Decatur Kmart (49 jobs lost), Indianapolis Kmart on Madison Avenue (131 jobs lost), Indianapolis Kmart on Washington Street (139 jobs lost), Bedford Kmart (62 jobs lost), Indianapolis (Evansville) Sears & Auto Center at Washington Square Mall (91 jobs lost), Greenwood Kmart (78 jobs lost), Plymouth Kmart (68 jobs lost), Bloomington Sears to be replaced by Whole Foods grocery store.

Iowa: 22 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Des Moines Southridge Mall Sears shutting down by August 2016, the store was in the process of dying anyway, only 37 employees left. Sears Holdings shutdown their West Des Moines call center in June 2016, 162 jobs lost! Ottumwa Kmart shutdown April 2016, 38 jobs lost. Cedar Rapids Kmart on 16th Ave (at least 40 jobs lost), Davenport Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Burlington Kmart (50 jobs lost), Coralville Sears (94 jobs lost, this is a store sold to GGP earlier in the year), Cedar Rapids Kmart on Collins Road NE (56 jobs lost), Mason City Kmart (50 jobs lost), Clive Kmart (at least 49 jobs lost), Ames Kmart (44 jobs lost), Fort Dodge Sears (no job loss numbers made public, yet. The Auto Center was secretly shutdown in September), 56 years old Mason City Sears & Auto Center (more than 100 jobs lost). Davenport Kmart (59 jobs lost), Belvidere Kmart (67 jobs lost).

Kansas: 18 Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list. In El Dorado, a contracted Sears store suddenly shutdown due to Sears Holdings continually changing the contract: “We had a contract that we had to follow to a ‘T’ while they changed it at will. They changed our commission bonuses and percentages and that hurt us.”-Russ Christy, contracted Sears store operator

Hutchison Kmart. North Topeka Kmart shutting down in 2016, 49 jobs lost. Lawrence Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Merriam Kmart-then Sears-then Kmart (jobs lost unknown), Wichita Sears store & Auto Center (103 jobs lost), Manhattan Sears & Auto Center (number of jobs lost were never revealed).

Kentucky: 31 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Two Kmarts in Louisville. Elizabethtown Kmart, Maysville Kmart, Paintsville Kmart. Middlesboro Sears (in September 2012 the Sears store re-opened under independent ownership, official grand re-opening scheduled for November), Winchester Kmart, Hazard Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Lexington Fayette Mall Sears (114 jobs lost!), Newport Kmart (81 jobs lost), Cannonsburg Sears and Sears Auto Center (no employee info given), Louisville Dixie Highway Kmart/Sears/Kmart shutdown and now being taken over by Kroger basically to sell the same crap the old Kmart did! Madisonville Kmart (39 jobs lost), Owensboro Sears store & Auto Center (52 jobs lost).

Louisiana: 36 Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! The Bossier Kmart shutting down by August 2016. Houma Sears, Pineville Kmart. Slidell Sears (77 job lost), Gretna Kmart (94 jobs lost), Metairie Kmart secretly sold off, no word if it will be shutdown, Laplace Sears Hometown Store.

Maine: 13 Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list. Presque Isle Aroostook Centre Mall Kmart shutting down by August 2016, more than 50 jobs lost. Lewiston Sears (60 to 70 jobs lost), Presque Isle Aroostook Centre Mall Sears (63 jobs lost), Aroostook Centre Mall Sears Auto Center leased out to VIP Tires & Service.

Maryland: 54 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Ellicott Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Gaithersburg Sears/Great Indoors, Landover Sears rebuild & call center (115 jobs lost), Baltimore Kmart on Wabash Avenue (107 jobs lost), Parkville Kmart (102 jobs lost), California Kmart (71 jobs lost), Sears Hometown Store in Perryville.

Massachusetts: 64 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Tewksbury Kmart. Fairhaven Sears Appliance & Hardware shutdown mid-April 2016. Local news reports said the ignorant employees actually thought the shutdown notice was a joke! I guess they don’t read Blind Bat News. 79 jobs lost as the Fall River Kmart shutdown in May 2016. North Reading Sears Hardware store closed, lease not renewed, Milford Kmart (80 jobs lost), Kingston Kmart (73 jobs lost). Braintree Kmart on Grossman Drive shutdown. Also, the Braintree South Shore Plaza Sears store is renting out an entire floor to Ireland based Primark. Even with the lease to Primark there is still 4-thousand square feet of vacant space in the Sears store. The Sears at the Auburn Mall shutdown on Black Friday due to electrical fire. The store was experiencing electrical problems, an investigation is underway.

Michigan: 113 Sears and Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list!! The Holland Sears Appliance & Hardware shutdown, the manager of the francise store refused to say why. Plymouth Township Super Kmart shutting down by November 2017 (that’s when the lease expires). According to Plymouth’s Planning Commission, Sears Holdings is selling the property to a developer. A Kmart on Groesbeck Highway, Clinton Township, shutting down, 82 jobs lost by October 2016. The Farmington Hills Kmart shutting down by mid-July 2016, 61 jobs lost. Midland Sears, Houghton Lake Kmart, Taylor Kmart. The Bradley Kmart has a new owner who is shutting it down in 2016. Retailer Meijer bought the Kmart property for $5-million USD. The Kmart shutdown in May, but the new Meijer store won’t be ready until 2018. The Sears and Auto Center in Fort Gratiot shutdown by mid-March, 48 jobs lost. Ironwood Kmart by mid-April, 47 jobs lost. Sears/Great Indoors, Brighton Sears Grand/Essentials, Harper Woods Sears Full line, Monroe Sears Full line, Adrian Sears Full line, Washington Township Kmart, Chesterfield Kmart, Woodhaven Kmart, Saginaw Kmart on Bay Road, Flint Kmart on Dort Highway (46 jobs lost), Gaylord Kmart (48 jobs lost), Sterling Kmart (58 jobs lost), Bloomfield Township Kmart and Sears, Bad Axe Kmart (61 jobs lost), Ypsilanti Township Kmart (83 jobs lost), Petoskey Kmart (45 jobs lost), Saint John’s Kmart (48 jobs lost), White Lake Township “Store of the Future” Kmart (42 jobs lost), Grand Blanc Kmart (49 jobs lost), Lapeer Kmart (56 jobs lost), Southgate Kmart (155 jobs lost), Detroit’s Telegraph Road Kmart (115 jobs lost), Waterford Township Sears (no word on how many jobs lost), Rochester Hills Kmart (77 jobs lost), ‘perfect Kmart town’ of Port Huron Kmart (188 jobs lost), Flint Kmart on Miller Road (81 jobs lost), Burton Kmart (85 jobs lost), Madison Heights Kmart (179 jobs lost), it’s now official the last remaining Saginaw Kmart (on Gratiot Road) will remain shutdown after its roof collapsed during a snowstorm back in January 2014 (Sears Holdings claims only 18 people worked there at the time of the collapse!), Ann Arbor Kmart (59 jobs lost), Iron Mountain Kmart (54 jobs lost), Bangor Township Sears aka Bay City Mall Sears, the Auto Center was already secretly shutdown some time ago (at least 47 jobs lost), Big Rapids Kmart (about 50 jobs lost). Vacant Wyandotte Sears Auto Center is being renovated at a cost to taxpayers of $1-million & 20-thousand, plus 15 years worth of tax breaks valued at $2-million! Shakopee Kmart distribution center shutdown and sold-off for $17-million in 2013, now it’s finally getting a new tenant; snowmobile and electric cart maker Polaris Industries will rent out a fraction of the building to use as their new parts warehouse. The Kmart Plaza in Sandusky sold to “A group of investors”, no word on what will happen to the Kmart store.

Minnesota: 32 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! The 40 years old Eden Prairie Center Sears store shutting down in time for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. Eddie Lampert sold the store to the mall owner for $16-million! The owner of the mall wants to carve up the Sears into smaller stores. Dundas Kmart in April 2016, 32 jobs lost. Thunderbird Mall Kmart shutdown in April 2016, 48 jobs lost. Willmar Kmart, Duluth Kmart, New Hope Kmart, White Bear Lake Kmart, Bemidji Kmart, Monticello Kmart, GGP owned Sears Auto Center in the Apache Mall closed (10 jobs lost), the entire Sears store in the Apache Mall being sold off, Fergus Falls Kmart (40 jobs lost), Fergus Falls Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Alexandria Kmart (46 jobs lost), Grand Rapids Kmart (61 jobs lost), Seritage is selling off three Sears Auto Centers in Minnetonka, Brooklyn Center and Saint Paul, Marshall Kmart (57 jobs lost), Oakdale Kmart (77 hourly wage employees losing their jobs, unknown how many salaried employees will become unemployed), Winona Kmart (67 jobs lost), Minneapolis city officials trying to shutdown profit making Nicollet Avenue Kmart, to make way for a new road. Anoka Kmart (47 jobs lost), Blaine Kmart (60 jobs lost), Burnsville Kmart (62 jobs lost), Waite Park Kmart (57 jobs lost), Northeast Minneapolis Sears Hometown & Outlet store now for sale, Coon Rapids Sears Hometown & Outlet store now for sale.

Mississippi: 14 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list. Corinth Kmart. The 44 years old Greenville Kmart shutdown in April, no word on job losses. Jackson Sears Full line, McComb Sears Full line, Columbus Sears Full line, Gautier Sears (71 jobs lost), Waveland Gulfport Kmart (32 jobs lost), Pass Road Gulfport Kmart (52 jobs lost), Pascagoula Sears at the Singing River Mall, Olive Branch distribution center (unknown how many jobs lost).

Missouri: 48 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Bridgeton Kmart, Springfield Kmart. Lee’s Summit Sears Grand/Essentials, Saint Louis Sears Full line, High Ridge Kmart (59 jobs lost), Ellisville Kmart (55 jobs lost), Springfield Kmart on South Campbell Avenue (60 jobs lost), South Belt Kmart (64 jobs lost), Florissant Kmart (100 jobs lost), O’Fallon Kmart (76 jobs lost).

Montana: The Hamilton Kmart, Havre Kmart, Helena Kmart, Glendive Kmart, Billings Sears Store & Auto Center, Butte Kmart, Great Falls Kmart Store & Auto Center, Kalispell Kmart Store & Auto Center (essentially all remaining stores) made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Billings Kmart. Missoula Kmart (50 jobs lost), Great Falls Kmart (closed “until further notice” due to fire, 63 jobs on hold), Great Falls Sears store & Auto Center (65 jobs lost) due to great sales (ironically) the shutdown date has been moved from 07 December 2014 to 23 November, Bozeman Kmart (37 jobs lost), Missoula Sears store and Auto Center (57 jobs lost).

Nebraska: Six Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list. 40 years old Hastings Kmart. Grand Island Kmart (55 jobs lost), Omaha Kmart near West Maple Road (50 jobs lost).

Nevada: 22 Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Sparks Kmart distribution center (100 jobs lost).

New Hampshire: 23 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Nashau Sears Grand/Essentials, Keene Sears Grand/Essentials, Portsmouth Kmart (30 jobs lost), Claremont Kmart (59 jobs lost).

New Jersey: 53 Kmart and Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Nearly one acre of the Rockaway Townsquare Mall Sears (which is still in operation) is now rented out to a furniture dealer. Lodi Kmart shutdown in April 2016, 75 jobs lost. Lawnside Kmart (about 80 jobs lost), Howell Kmart (57 jobs lost), Berlin Kmart, Dover Kmart (92 jobs lost), Randolf Kmart (91 jobs lost), Paramus Kmart (74 jobs lost), Closter Kmart (102 jobs lost), Vineland Kmart (74 jobs lost). After 18 years Sears Holdings shutdown their Roselle Sears Hardware store due to “landlord issues”.

New Mexico: 21 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Back in May local news reports said the Artesia Kmart was shutting down, in July Sears Holdings finally confirmed it. Albuquerque’s Coronado Center Sears suddenly shutdown their Auto Center, and will reduce the size of the main store by 50% within two months. Sears goon Howard Riefs stated “We will rightsize the labor…”, but gave no numbers. The ‘rightsizing’ of the Coronado Center store is in partnership with one of my evil former employers, mall owner GGP. SearsLas Cruces Kmart (58 jobs lost), Albuquerque Kmart on Central SW (80 jobs lost), Rio Rancho Kmart (59 jobs lost).

New York: The second level of the Staten Island Sears shutting down right before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, 44 jobs killed, it’s been leased to Ireland’s clothier Primark. 104 Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list!! The 50 years old Sears Auto Center in the Colonie Center Mall shutdown by Sears Holdings subsidiary Seritage Growth Properties, so the space could be rented out to Avis-Budget Car Rental Group. In Brooklyn, the Kings Plaza Sears shutting down, 210 jobs gone by mid-September 2016! Eddie Lampert is renting the space to a couple of European clothing retailers. Sears Holdings issued a shutdown WARN for its Plattsburgh Sears store and Auto Center, 56 jobs lost by the end of July 2016. New York Post says Sears is shutting down their NYC clothing design office, 40 jobs moved to California, another 154 jobs gone by July! Rotterdam Mall Sears and Auto Center shutting down by August 2016 (67 jobs lost). Sears Holdings issued yet another WARN, this time 75 Rochester Kmart employees losing their jobs by mid-July 2016. Irondequoit Sears, Plattsburgh Sears, Poughkeepsie Kmart, Rochester Kmart. Staten Island Mall Sears Auto Center shutdown in February, 20 jobs lost. Lindenhurst Sears Hardware, North Babylon Sears Hardware, Hauppauge Sears Hardware, Depew (Lancaster?) Kmart (68 jobs lost), Colonie Kmart (72 jobs lost), Fulton Kmart (51 jobs lost), Clifton Park Kmart (74 jobs lost) now revealed to be turned into a Town Center with more than 200 apartments at an estimated cost of $50-million, Latham Kmart (61 jobs lost), East Greenbush-Rensselaer Kmart (70 jobs lost), Tonawanda Sears Appliance and Hardware, Bronx Sears (91 jobs lost), BBN reader reported that the Ithaca Sears and Auto Center shutdown and one month later it’s been officially confirmed (at least 37 jobs lost), DeWitt Kmart (92 jobs lost), Auburn Sears (51 jobs lost), Massena Sears and Auto Center (51 jobs lost), Staten Island Mall Sears leased out to Ireland’s Primark, Bay Shore Sears and Sears Auto Center (144 jobs lost), New Hartford (Sangertown Mall) Sears & Auto Center (109 jobs lost), Lancaster Kmart sold for $1.7-million to Dave’s Christmas Wonderland. Herkimer Sears Hometown, Saranac Lake Sears Hometown the ‘independent’ co-owners said Sears Holdings forced them to shutdown. Melville Appliance Repair Division (31 jobs lost).

North Carolina: 71 Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! 40 years old Thomasville Kmart shutting down in time for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. Brevard Kmart, Gastonia Kmart, Lumberton Kmart, Pineville Kmart, Rocky Mount Kmart. Cary Kmart (71 jobs lost), High Point Sears, Moorehead Sears, Rocky Mount Sears, Statesville Sears, Durham Kmart (79 jobs lost), Asheville Kmart (53 jobs lost), West Smithfield Kmart (59 jobs lost), Winston-Salem Kmart (69 jobs lost), Hendersonville Kmart (58 jobs lost), South Ashville Kmart on Hendersonville Road, Raleigh Kmart (88 jobs lost), Garner Kmart, Cleveland County mall Sears (56 jobs lost), Charlotte Kmart (89 jobs lost), Conover Kmart (74 jobs lost), Raleigh Kmart on Capital Boulevard (53 jobs lost), High Point Kmart (71 jobs lost), Boone Kmart (41 jobs lost), Greensboro Kmart (96 jobs lost), Gastonia Sears store & Auto Center (65 jobs lost), Kinston Kmart (64 jobs lost), Cary Sears (66 jobs lost), Greensboro Kmart distribution center (130 jobs lost), Greenville Kmart (75 jobs lost), Kinston Sears Hometown Store shutdown with little notice, Lexington Sears Hometown Store.

North Dakota: 18 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list. Jamestown Kmart (45 jobs lost), Dickinson Kmart (41 jobs lost, despite a “Now Hiring” sign on the front of the store).

Ohio: 124 Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list!! 18 years old Defiance Sears shutting down by August 2016. Marion Sears store (the Auto Center was shutdown in 2014), Ashtabula Kmart, Eaton Kmart, Fremont Kmart, Lima Kmart, Lorain Kmart, Springboro Kmart. Englewood Kmart, 57 jobs lost by the end of July 2016. Fort Stueben Mall Sears store and Auto Center, 53 jobs lost in June 2016. Sandusky Mall Sears store and Auto Center, 44 jobs lost in June 2016. 78 jobs lost as the Lancaster Kmart is shutdown in May 2016. 18 jobs lost as the Dixie Highway Sears Hardware shuts down this Friday. The 28 years old Sears and its Auto Center in New Philadelphia shutdown by mid-April 2016, 46 jobs lost. Without warning the Medina Sears Appliance & Hardware Store shutdown. Warren Kmart on Parkman Road NW shutdown in April 2016, 63 jobs lost. Zanesville Kmart shutdown mid-April 2016, 47 jobs lost. Steubenville Kmart shutdown by April 2016, 65 jobs lost. Boardman Kmart by April 2016, 81 jobs lost. Chagrin Falls Kmart, Springfield Kmart, two Toledo Kmarts, Medina Kmart, Columbus Kmart, Columbus Sears/Great Indoors, Zanesville Sears (67 jobs lost), Trotwood Kmart (71 jobs lost), Austintown Sears auto parts and service on Interstate Boulevard, London Kmart (no word on number of jobs lost), Trotwood Sears (67 jobs lost), Westlake Kmart/Sears (at least 57 jobs lost), Xenia Kmart (at least 57 jobs lost), Norwalk Kmart (52 jobs lost), Blue Ash Kmart (77 jobs lost), Northwood Sears at Woodville Mall (36 jobs lost), Conneaut Kmart (43 jobs lost), Anderson Township Kmart (71 jobs lost), Brooklyn Kmart (200 jobs lost), Columbus Lockbourne Industrial Parkway Sears distribution center (200 jobs lost), also in Columbus, Sears Product Rebuild-Call Center (112 jobs lost), Marion Sears Auto Center (at least nine jobs lost), Springfield Kmart #3767 (68 jobs lost), Fairborn Kmart (66 jobs lost), Solon Sears & Auto Center (at least 53 jobs lost), Tiffin Sears Hometown Store. Also, Van Wert Sears franchise bought out by Kirk Berryman, owner of Computer & Networking Technologies (CNT), who plans on moving the store to a new location. Fairlawn Sears Appliance & Hardware, Macedonia Sears Appliance & Hardware, Lorain Sears Appliance & Hardware, Elyria Sears Appliance & Hardware, North Olmsted Sears Appliance & Hardware, Sheffield Village Sears Appliance & Hardware, Akron Sears Appliance & Hardware.

Oklahoma: 23 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Oklahoma City Sears (98 jobs lost, GGP owned, GGP wants a $2 million sales tax rebate, claiming it’s needed to offset capital investments needed to bring the space up to the standards for potential new tenants), Shawnee Sears (31 jobs lost), Sand Springs Kmart (52 jobs lost), Muskogee Sears (60 jobs lost), Enid Sears and Auto Center (at least 38 jobs lost), Tulsa BigKmart (51 jobs lost).

Oregon: 23 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! A Blind Bat News reader warning that the Beaverton Kmart has replaced its permanent signage with temporary ones, and the store is looking empty. There’s been no public reports of the store shutting down. Roseburg Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Tualatin Kmart Center (new property owner from California is tearing everything down for new shopping center, so far no indication the Kmart will be part of the new shopping center), Milwaukie Kmart (61 jobs lost), Coos Bay Kmart (25 jobs lost), Bend Sears (48 jobs lost), Klamath Falls Kmart (64 jobs lost), Albany Kmart (64 jobs lost), Portland Sears Homes Services (no notice), Albany Sears (57 jobs lost), in October a BBN reader warned that Oregon City Kmart was being quietly shutdown, confirmed on 06 November 2014 by Sears Holdings (70 jobs lost). Ontario Kmart (55 jobs lost).

Pennsylvania: 168 Sears and Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list!! In July, Sears Holdings shutdown the Uniontown Kmart, killing at least 73 jobs. But the shutdown is also affecting a locally owned restaurant (Mark C’s Diner) still on the property, whose owners say their sales have crashed-n-burned since the shutdown. Now Sears Holdings say they are about to sell the Uniontown property in an effort to “realize shareholder value from the property”. Butler Sears, New Castle Sears, Beaver Falls Kmart, Philadelphia Kmart on Frankford Avenue. Two Pittsburgh Kmarts. Reading Kmart. Sears store in the Beaver Valley Mall, 62 jobs lost. Viewmont Mall Sears store and Auto Center, 86 jobs lost in July 2016. Reports that the Exton Kmart will shutdown, no word on job losses. Upper Darby Sears Full line, Pottstown Sears Full line, Pittsburgh Kmart, Wilkins Sears, Warminster Kmart (85 jobs lost), Shippensburg Kmart (46 jobs lost), Moon Kmart (143 jobs lost), Bethlehem Township Kmart (62 jobs lost), Philadelphia Gallery Mall Kmart (120 jobs lost), Philadelphia Kmart on Orthodox Street and Castor Avenue (169 jobs lost), Levittown/Middle Township Kmart (87 jobs lost), Waynesboro Kmart (43 jobs lost), Sanatoga-Lower Pottsgrove Kmart (65 jobs lost, the store was also advertising for new hires!), West Mifflin Sears store & Auto Center (88 jobs lost), Rochester Kmart (78 jobs lost), Frazer (Pittsburg Mills Mall) Sears and Auto Center (97 jobs lost), Bloomsburg Sears (57 jobs lost), Frackville Sears and Auto Center (84 jobs lost), North Cornwall Township Sears (51 jobs lost), King of Prussia Sears and Auto Center (no word on number of jobs lost), Lebanon Sears (51 jobs lost), Scotland Chambersburg Mall Sears and Auto Center (62 jobs lost), the upper level of the Willow Grove Mall Sears store to be leased by Primark, King of Prussia Sears store leased out to clothing retailer Primark, East Towne Mall Kmart (51 jobs lost), Frackville Kmart in the Skuylkill Mall (80 jobs lost), Mount Pocono Kmart (66 jobs lost), Fairless Hills Sears Hardware. Granite Run Mall shutdown, meaning the Sears and Sears Auto Center now apparently on a month to month (possibly day to day) lease are soon to follow. Brookhaven Kmart (89 jobs lost).

Puerto Rico: 31 Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Vega Baja Kmart (206 jobs lost).

Rhode Island: Five Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list.

South Carolina: 37 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! The 44 years old Orangeburg Kmart shutting down in August 2016. Camden Kmart. 61 jobs lost as the North Augusta Kmart is shutdown by May 2016. Sumter Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Orangeburg Sears (57 jobs lost), Columbia Kmart on Fort Jackson Boulevard in 2012, Columbia Kmart on Bush River Road in 2009, Columbia Kmart on St Andrews Road (66 jobs lost), Irmo Kmart (no info on how many jobs lost), both Greenville Kmarts (140 jobs lost between the two), Mount Pleasant Kmart (43 jobs lost), Harbison Sears & Sears Auto Center in the Columbiana Centre mall (97 jobs lost), Aiken Sears & Sears Auto Center (at least 54 jobs lost), Inlet Square Mall Kmart (50 jobs lost), West Ashely Kmart (69 jobs lost), Myrtle Beach Kmart (59 jobs lost), Easley Kmart (62 jobs lost).

South Dakota: 11 Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list. Huron Kmart, Yankton Kmart. The Pierre Kmart shutdown March 2016, 45 jobs lost. The Michell Kmart shutdown in April 2016, 52 jobs lost. Spearfish Kmart (51 jobs lost), Sturgis Kmart (57 jobs lost).

Tennessee: 58 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Local news reports say Sears Holdings has posted “Going out of business!” signs on the North Knoxville Kmart, however they could not get any confirmation of shutdown from corporate administrators. Bristol Kmart shutting down by August 2016. Athens Kmart, Sweetwater Kmart, Maryville Kmart. The Murfreesboro Kmart shutdown April, 43 jobs lost. A Memphis Sears and Auto Center (on Poplar Avenue) shutdown in April, 109 jobs lost! Clarksville Kmart shutdown in April, 68 jobs lost. Cleveland Kmart shutdown by mid-March 2016, 67 jobs lost. Antioch Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Cleveland Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Oak Ridge Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Hendersonville Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Morristown Sears (about 70 jobs lost), Clinton South Kmart, Franklin Cool Springs Galleria Sears (92 jobs lost), Memphis Hickory Ridge mall Sears (job loss data not revealed), 48 years old Nashville Kmart on Nolensville Pike to close by January 2014 (57 jobs lost), Franklin Kmart (33 jobs lost), Dickson Kmart (65 jobs lost), talks in progress to end lease for Bellevue (Nashville) Center Mall Sears, Nashville Bellevue Center Sears & Auto Center (at least 44 jobs lost).

Texas: 134 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list!! Fort Stockton Sears Hometown Store was ‘re-branded’ the America’s Appliance Experts outlet. Sears Holdings revealed the Brownsville Kmart is shutting down by August. El Paso Kmart, Mission Kmart, Sweetwater Kmart. Two Sears parts and repair centers closing in The Woodlands (117 jobs lost), rebuild center in Garland (58 jobs lost), Farmers Branch Sears/Great Indoors, Houston Sears Great/Indoors, Dallas Sears home appliance parts distribution center (77 jobs lost), Simon Property Group owned McAllen Sears store & Auto Center (so far no word on how many jobs will be lost), recently revealed Palestine Sears Hometown (franchise owner quit to work as assistant manager at a local Dollar General). Wichita Falls Sikes Senter Mall Sears (56 jobs lost).

Utah: 16 Sears & Kmart properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list. Draper Kmart, Price Kmart, West Jordan Kmart. 35 years old Richfield Kmart shutdown in April 2016, 63 jobs lost. North Logan Kmart shutdown April 2016, 58 jobs lost. Murray Sears (local news media in Utah never reported the closure, but they reported that the building was demolished), Orem Kmart (no details reported), Woods Cross Kmart (54 jobs lost), Provo Kmart demolished in anticipation of yet another AtHome furniture store.

Vermont: Five Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list. The Bennington Sears Hometown Store shutdown. Rutland Sears store & Auto Center (65 jobs lost), South Burlington Kmart (66 jobs lost).

Virgin Islands: Three Kmarts made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list.

Virginia: 63 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Christiansburg Kmart and the Hampton Kmart shutting down by August 2016. Chester Kmart, 76 jobs gone by mid-July 2016. The Cedar Bluff (50 jobs lost), Covington (36 jobs lost) and Virginia Beach on General Booth Boulevard (no job numbers reported) Kmarts shutdown between March and April 2016! The Sears Hometown Store in Culpeper. Norfolk Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Midlothian Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Richmond Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Lynchburg Sears (84 jobs lost), Fairfax Kmart (no word on how many jobs lost), Christiansburg Sears (59 jobs lost), Norfolk Kmart on East Little Creek Road (77 jobs lost), Manassas Kmart (71 jobs lost), Stafford Sears Hometown, Newport News-Denbigh Kmart (at least 50 jobs lost), Wise Kmart (58 jobs lost), Harrisonburg Kmart (79 jobs lost), Winchester Kmart (91 jobs lost), Dale City Kmart (69 jobs lost), Chesapeake Sears and Auto Center (82 jobs lost), Front Royal Kmart (88 jobs lost), Pembroke Mall Sears renting out part of their store to DSW & Nordstrom Rack, Sears Holdings say they’re still looking for a “third tenant” for their occupied space. The current nearby Sears Auto Center will be rented out to REI. Colonial Heights Kmart (113 jobs lost), Virginia Beach Hilltop Square Shopping Center Kmart (82 jobs lost).

Washington: 46 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! After officially denying that their Marysville Kmart was shutting down, calling it a “a bad rumor” and swearing to local news media that “the store will remain open”, guess what? Local news media reporting that the Marysville Kmart is now plastered with “store closing” signs, 47 jobs lost by by mid-July. Arrogantly Sears Holdings said the employees can apply at other Sears/Kmart stores, however, local news reports say it’s the last Kmart in all of Snohomish County. Eatonville Sears Hometown store. Walla Walla Sears Full line (in August 2012, it was reported that an independent owner of Sears Hometown stores will open a store in Walla Walla), Lacey Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Kelso Sears (47 jobs lost), Lakewood Kmart (59 jobs lost), Bellingham Sears (92 jobs lost), Seattle Kmart (85 jobs lost), East Wenatchee Sears (59 jobs lost), Puyallup Kmart (51 jobs lost), Oak Harbor Kmart (68 jobs lost), Sodo Sears and Sears Auto Center (79 jobs lost), Everett Kmart (65 jobs lost), Marysville Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost).

West Virginia: 34 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! The Bluefield Kmart shutting down by August 2016. Oak Hill Kmart (59 jobs lost), Morgantown Kmart (100 jobs lost), Bluefield Sears store & Auto Center (64 jobs lost).

Wisconsin: 36 Kmart & Sears properties made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list! Seritage Growth Properties is ‘downsizing’ the Sears store in the West Towne Mall, according to plans filed with the city of Madison. Those plans show a new restaurant taking up more than half of the space of the Sears store. Administrators refused to answer questions from the local news media. The Wausau Center Sears shutting down, 35 remaining employees became unemployed June 2016. Sears Holdings administrators would only say “we are accelerating the closings of unprofitable stores.” Hartford Kmart. Superior Kmart shutdown in April 2016, 42 jobs lost. West Baraboo Sears (at least 40 jobs lost, local village officials say the store generated 3% of local tax collections), Rice Lake Kmart (about 71 jobs lost), Brookfield Kmart (56 jobs lost), Racine’s Regency Mall Sears (52 jobs lost), Fort Atkinson Kmart (51 jobs lost), Greenfield Kmart (107 jobs lost), Portage Kmart (78 jobs lost) and Hales Corner (129 jobs lost), Chippewa Falls Kmart (79 jobs lost), Menomonie Kmart (at least 50 jobs lost), Ashwaubenon Kmart recently revealed now owned by Green Bay Packers, will be torn down (80 jobs lost), Shawano Kmart (55 jobs lost), Fond du Lac Sears (42 jobs lost), Glendale Sears store & Auto Center (86 jobs lost), Janesville Kmart (70 jobs lost), Glendale Sears Rebuild center (67 jobs lost), Sheboygan Sears & Auto Center (at least 31 jobs lost), Eau Claire Kmart (93 jobs lost), Plymouth Kmart (59 jobs lost before Xmas), Sheboygan Sears Rebuild Center (30 jobs lost), Wauwatosa Kmart (103 jobs lost).

Wyoming: Sheridan Kmart, Rock Springs Kmart, Riverton Kmart, Cody Kmart & Auto Center, Laramie Kmart, Jackson Kmart, Gillette Kmart, and in Casper and Cheyenne the Sears Stores & Auto Centers and Kmarts (essentially all remaining stores) made the new Sears Holdings Real Estate for sale or lease list!

Idaho

2016 Chubbuck Days mass baptism by Fire….Truck!

Image August 14, 2016 Hutchins AAron

13 August 2016 /19:35 UTC-07 Tango 01 (24 Mordad 1395/10 Dhu I-Qa’da 1437/12 Bing-Shen 4714)

Some long time attendees of the annual Chubbuck Days at Cotant Park were wondering where the Chubbuck Fire Department was, after all it’s tradition for the Fire Department to cool down the crowd with some artificial rain. Just like the cavalry, the Fire Department showed up at the last minute, to the excitement of all the children present (click the pics to make bigger, photos by AAron B. Hutchins):

: “Please sir, may I have some more?”

CHUBBUCK DAYS COTANT PARK 2016: CAR SHOW & HELICOPTER FORCED LANDING

Idaho, U.S.

Idaho Walmart quietly settles discrimination lawsuits! Mormon managers accused of employing Whipping Boys?

November 26, 2015 Hutchins AAron

25 November 2015, 19:06 UTC-07 Tango 01 (05 Azar 1394/13 Safar 1437/15 Ding-Hai 10th month 4713)

Here in Chubbuck, Idaho, the local Walmart has quietly settled discrimination lawsuits over the years, mostly about work environment connected to ethnic and religious discrimination.

Chubbuck, Idaho, Walmart

According to the U.S. Census Bureau the overwhelming majority of eastern Idahoans surveyed claim to be Mormons. I’ve had problems maintaining steady employment here since 2006 (I moved here in 1996). One day, around 2002, I was told by Jack-Mormon co-workers at the Pine Ridge Mall “You have no right to say anything bad about the Mormon Church”, even though they were constantly ‘bad mouthing’ the very same ‘Mormon Church’ they refused to attend! That was when the mall was still under the original ownership of J. Price Realty.

For a short time in 2004 I worked at the Mormon owned Don Aslett’s Cleaning Center warehouse and was constantly asked about “Why don’t we see you at Ward?” (for those who are not Mormon and never dealt with Mormons, Ward is their term for Church). Once I told them I wasn’t Mormon they literally cut my work schedual down to zero hours saying “we just don’t have the work to keep you busy”, but as the female Mormon manager was telling me this I could clearly see at least three new employees in loading dock area.

One of the current local former front line managers now suing Walmart told me he believed that non-white and non-mormon low level managers were being used as the old fashioned British empire whipping boys (Whipping boys were established in the English court during the monarchies of the 16th and 17th centuries). In other words, all problems in the store were not only dumped on them but were also blamed on them. He told me this before the lawsuit was filed.

But don’t take my word for these claims; the Wal-Mart Litigation Project has documented at least 99 court judgements (final judgements in cases where the retailer did not settle out of court) against the retailer, but, according to Walmart defender Forbes the retailer is hit with an average of 5-thousand lawsuits every year! That’s a lot of cases Walmart is settling out of court.

2015: “The three plaintiffs all worked at Wal-Mart’s Chubbuck store. They allege that they were either fired or forced to quit due to the conduct of defendant Robert Pearson. Their complaint contains six counts against defendants Wal-Mart and Robert Pearson: (1) Race Discrimination; (2) Hostile Work Environment; (3) Retaliation; (4) Family Medical Leave Act Violation; (5) Wrongful Termination; and (6) Americans With Disabilities Act violation.” In this case attorneys are citing examples involving the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons).

2014: “Alleging racial and disability discrimination, violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act, retaliation and a hostile work environment, three former assistant managers at the Chubbuck Wal-Mart store have filed suit against the company and the store’s manager.

Two of those former employees are also claiming constructive discharge or that conditions were made so intolerable that they were forced to quit.”

2013: (this isn’t about a lawsuit, but…)“If Walmart welcomes truck drivers they forgot to send that memo to the Idaho stores. None I been to in a 200 mile radius allows truck parking and have signs at all of them saying as much. The Pocatello/Chubbuck store has waged a war on trucks in their lots and have tow services on speed dial.”-‘Haight’ comment on Meet The Employee-Centered Company That Could Eventually Take Down Wal-Mart

2011: “A local man was awarded $1.6 million in his lawsuit against Wal-Mart last week after a jury found the retailer, and specifically its Chubbuck store, to be negligent for an incident that left him with a ‘significant physical impairment’”

2010: “Wal-Mart announced its agreement to settle In re: Wal-Mart Stores Inc Wage and Hour Litigation, a class action lawsuit filed in a California federal court. In the suit, thousands of former employees claimed Wal-Mart didn’t pay them vacation pay and wages as required by California law.”

2009: “Pamela and Donald Ahnemiller, of Florida, are filing suit against Wal-Mart, alleging she was hit in the leg by her shopping cart as a fight ensued in the store between security guards and a shoplifter.”

2004: (not about lawsuits, but low pay for employees affecting taxpayers) “Employment practices at Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest employer with relatively lower labor costs in the retail sector, cost California taxpayers about $86 million annually in public assistance to company workers, according to a study by a University of California-Berkeley research institute.”

(this one is about 25-thousand labor violations discovered by an in-house Walmart investigation, the investigation was done in 2000 but not made public until 2004) “An audit by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of about 25,000 employees uncovered thousands of labor violations.… detailed 1,371 violations of child-labor laws, including minors working too late, too many hours in a day or during school hours. On more than 60,000 occasions, workers missed breaks and on 16,000 they skipped meal times, in violation of most state labor regulations.”

2002: “Several hundred current or former employees at 18 Oregon Wal-Marts claim they routinely were forced to work unpaid overtime….Managers knew of the unpaid overtime and even ‘edited’ employees’ timecards…”

Mormon Martial Law: Fascist BYU Idaho bans men’s hairstyle! Proof of false Christians!

Mormons are biggest ‘donors’ to Idaho politicians!

Amy’s-Gate: Mormon leaders of Idaho keep screwing over taxpayers!

Mormon dominated Idaho makes big money off Beer!

New deadlier anthrax spreads across the U.S. from Mormon Utah!

Catholics, Mormons & Jews conspiring or is it just about the money?

A History Lesson in Economic Decline: Pocatello’s Old Fred Meyer & Albertsons on Yellowstone Ave, did not close down in the 1990s

Idaho

2015 Chubbuck Days Car Show

Image August 9, 2015 Hutchins AAron

Click/tap the pics (by AAron B. Hutchins) to make bigger and read the text:

: “Live long, and prosper.”

: 903cc (55 cubic inches) engine

: Solid C model rear wheel.

: 20 liters (5.3 U.S. gallons) fuel tank.

: ‘Cause it’s a 2008 Kawasaki 900C Vulcan, get it?

: 1966 Impala SS

: 6.4 liters (396 cubic inches) V8 engine.

: Plenty of space

: Lap belts optional, not mandatory.

: 1968 GTO

: Sprinkled with fresh rain.

: I think it’s a 6.6 liters (400 cubic inches) V8.

: 1973 AMC Javelin

: 6.6 liters (401 cubic inches) V8.

: 5.5 liters (338 cubic inches) V8.

: 1918 Ford T

: 2.9 liters (177 cubic inches) inline 4 cylinder.

: 2 speed transmission.

: 1977 Vega SS

: 5.7 liters (350 cubic inches) V8.

: 5.4 liters (327 cubic inches) V8.

: 1967 El Camino

: 7 liters (427 cubic inches) V8.

: 2006 Ford Mustang

: Modified 4 liters (245 cubic inches) V6.

: The owner says he’s put tens of thousand of dollars into custom paint & engine mods, but becasue he’s desperate to start a new project he’ll sell the car for less than half what he put into it.

: 1957 Hillman Husky

: Check out that massive single exhaust!

: It even comes with a driver!

: Mid 1930s Ford Pickup Truck

: Complete with moose-n-deer horns.

: There was some brand new stuff too.

: ‘Copter rides have become a regular part of Chubbuck Days.

: They had a busy day despite the inclement weather.

: ‘Copter rides went on long after everybody else packed up.

2014 Chubbuck Days Car Show

For kit builders: REVELL 1937 FORD PICKUP, OR WHY MODEL ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS CAN BE WRONG!

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

More Economic Decline: Notices posted in Post Offices as Zero Hour approaches fast for east Idaho’s only Postal Processing Center!

April 6, 2015 Hutchins AAron

06 April 2015 (13:52 UTC-07 Tango 01)/17 Farvardin 1394/16 Jumada t-Tania 1436/18 Geng Chen 4713

Some east Idaho Post Offices have posted collection time changes (“Due to operational changes…”) for parcels and letters dropped off at their location. The new collection times are 30 minutes earlier than normal and go into effect on 18 April 2015.

Notice posted inside the Clark Street PO in Pocatello, Idaho.

18 April is supposedly the day all east Idaho mail will be shipped to Salt Lake City, Utah, for processing. That’s ALL mail; inbound from out of the area, out bound to other states and countries, and even cross-town letters!

17 April is the official last day of operations for the Gateway Processing Center in Pocatello. Many people are confusing the Processing Center with the Gateway Post Office, which is located in the same building. About 13 Clerks will remain employed after 17 April to continue operating the Post Office and the loading dock in the Processing Center. The loading dock will remain open because beginning 18 April all east Idaho mail (in the 832 zip code area) will be loaded straight onto trucks bound for out of state processing centers in Salt Lake City.

East Idaho mail in the 834 zip code area will be sent to the main PO in Idaho Falls (IF) to be shipped to Salt Lake City. This will be a logistical nightmare because the loading dock at the IF PO has only one door, which means trucks will have to wait in line to unload and load.

About 50 good paying jobs are in the process of being lost to a combination of early retirements, forced (“involuntary”) transfers and outright layoffs (with no severance).

There are rumors that eventually all Post Offices in Pocatello will be shutdown except for the Gateway Post Office, meaning the residents of Chubbuck and Pocatello will have only one Post Office.

Postal administrators swear up and down that delivery times will not be adversely affected by the shutdown. I’ve got another reason why that is a lie: Performance Ratings. For more than two decades the Gateway Processing Center has maintained some of the highest performance ratings in the Salt Lake Postal District, I’ve read that’s it’s as high as 92%. Guess who has maintained the lowest performance ratings? Yep, the Salt Lake Processing Centers!

Here’s some other disturbing news. While Salt Lake postal administrators want to shutdown Gateway, for some odd reason in the past month they’ve more than doubled the mail volume they’ve been sending to Pocatello for processing! Gateway Mail Handlers and Clerks state that the mail volume is now as high as during the end of year holiday season, and they’re operating with fewer employees due to forced retirements and transfers, and Salt Lake administrators will not allow the hiring of more employees due to the pending shutdown!

Question: If Salt Lake postal administrators think Pocatello is inefficient, and that Salt Lake can handle processing better, then why are they sending more and more mail our way?

A recent Idaho State Journal article indicated that Chubbuck city administrators have joined with Pocatello to try and stop the shutdown. No word on any of the dozens of other east Idaho cities joining the fight, even though the shutdown will directly affect them as well. Also, still no word from the dozens of east Idaho mail order companies, that use Priority Mail to ship out their products, showing any concern over the shutdown (companies like Weigh Vest, Fin Fun Mermaid, some company that sends Priority Medium Flat Rate boxes filed with dirt and exotic flower bulbs, another company that sends heavy boxes marked “liquid”, etc). Those companies will see a delay in their shipments as a result of the shutdown, despite what Salt Lake postal administrators say.

Pathetic turnout for east Idaho Mayor’s last ditch effort to save Postal Processing Center!

Business/Economics

Warren Buffett to kill off $1-billion worth of jobs, because he “likes them”! Welcome to Zero Based Budgeting, the wave of the future?

March 26, 2015 Hutchins AAron

26 March 2015 (15:45 UTC-07 Tango 01)/06 Farvardin 1394/05 Jumada t-Tania 1436/07 Ji Mao 4713

“…these are brands that I like 30 plus years ago and I like them today, and I think I like them 30 years from now.”-Warren Buffett, after merging his Heinz with Kraft and then announcing $1-billion USD in job cuts

Yes, apparently if you like a company’s products you take them over and layoff the people who make those products, at least that’s the philosophy of Warren Buffett and his vulture capitalist ‘investment’ schemes called Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital.

In 2013 they took over Heinz, then immediately began killing jobs in the U.S. and Canada. In November, Buffett’s partners announced that little ol’ Pocatello, Idaho, would lose 610 jobs in 2014, because Buffet decided to give the local Heinz plant the axe. That was a major blow to communities (Pocatello and Chubbuck) with a combined population of less than 80-thousand, and already suffering from at least a decade of job losses.

Reports say that so far 6650 Heinz employees, worldwide, have become jobless!

This latest Buffett deal will make Kraft-Heinz the 5th largest food company in the World. According to Nightly Business Report the “first order of business” is to kill $1-billion worth of cost, mainly in marketing and manufacturing, that’s translates directly to job killing. ‘Investors’ loved the news of job killing (as they always do) and pushed Heinz stock prices upward by 35%.

The Wall Street Journal explains that Buffett’s current plans are corporate austerity measures, or Zero Based Budgeting. Basically companies are taken over then the employees are forced to justify every little thing they do, and if ‘investors’ don’t like what they see those employees get fired. And that’s the kicker, everything is done from the point of view of an ‘investor’, not somebody who’s on the front line trying to run a business making and selling products or services. If you’ve worked the front lines of business you know there are things you have to do that just wouldn’t make sense to a bean counter who’s only interest is the “bottom line”.

The Wall Street Journal reports Zero Based Budgeting has become the norm for almost all publicly owned (they issue stocks to the public) food companies. This can only mean a snowballing of job cuts.

Now realize that unAmerican Buffett reportedly spent $10-billion on the Kraft-Heinz deal, and his Brazilian based 3G Capital reportedly spent $49-billion to merge Heinz and Kraft! That could have created a lot of jobs!

How can these ‘investors’ expect to sell the products they “like” if they’re killing jobs for many of the customers who buy those products? Reality check; those ‘investors’ don’t really “like” the products you and I buy in a market place called a grocery store. The ‘products’ they “like” are called stocks, or shares or even corporate bonds, and they sell them in a market place called Wall Street!

(Wall Street is an actual place, but in this case it refers to all stock market trading houses)

Tim Hortons was recently taken over by Warren Buffett’s crony Brazilian vulture capitalist buddies at 3G Capital

Kraft Foods announced they are killing 285 jobs!

In Pittsburgh, Wall Street wunderkind Warren Buffett killed 775 more Heinz jobs.

In Pittsburgh, 350 people lost their jobs with Heinz.

According to the latest reports, Buffett’s current five faves for stock investments involve Archer-Daniels Midland Company, which is involved with cooking oil and food commodities trading. He also likes Kraft Foods, a major user of cooking oil

3G Capital is known for “cutting up” companies (typical Romneyite vulture capitalists)

…discontinuation of its T.G.I. Friday’s frozen meals, Heinz conducted a thorough evaluation of the production needs at its Pocatello, Idaho factory.

Warren Buffett says the Elites have won, his propsed tax on the Elites is first step to increasing taxes on everyone else

Business/Economics, Idaho

Idaho RadioShacks make the closure hit list! 1784 stores across the U.S. to close!

February 7, 2015 Hutchins AAron

07 February 2015 (00:00 UTC-07 Tango 01)/17 Rabi ‘ath-Thani 1436/18 Bahman 1393/19 Bing Yin (12th month) 4712

It’s official, six (of approximately 24) Gem State RadioShack stores will be shutdown, pending a bankruptcy sale to cell phone service company Sprint.

: The Sun is permanently setting on this Pocatello, Idaho, RadioShack!

: This Chubbuck, Idaho, RadioShack now on the hit list.

Idaho shutdown list:

152 Bullock #4, Chubbuck
Elm Tree Plaza Suite 101, Meridian
Nampa Business Center, Nampa
733 Yellowstone Ave, Pocatello
3134 E Mullan Ave Ste A, Post Falls
Valley River Center, Rexburg

RadioShack has made public a massive list of 1784 stores across the United States that will be shutdown, called Radio Shack Exhibit 1A, B & C First, Second & Third Tranche Stores.

Radio Shack bankrupt busted & dying!

Blind Bat News

Tag Archives: chubbuck

‘Zombie’ Payless shoes suddenly shutters 400 stores! Another blow to the city of Chubbuck?

“We plan to sell it down to the bones.” “…it’s crappy…!” : Idaho’s Economic Destruction 2016

U.S. state Militias 380 years old, older than the United States!

Sears Kmart Shutdown, September 2016 : 2,583 stores up for lease or sale!

2016 Chubbuck Days mass baptism by Fire….Truck!

Idaho Walmart quietly settles discrimination lawsuits! Mormon managers accused of employing Whipping Boys?

2015 Chubbuck Days Car Show

More Economic Decline: Notices posted in Post Offices as Zero Hour approaches fast for east Idaho’s only Postal Processing Center!

Warren Buffett to kill off $1-billion worth of jobs, because he “likes them”! Welcome to Zero Based Budgeting, the wave of the future?

Idaho RadioShacks make the closure hit list! 1784 stores across the U.S. to close!

News you didn't know mattered