Tag Archives: chubbuck

Fukushima, Idaho

Fukushima – WIPP – Radiation Fallout: More proof cell phones can kill you! Idaho & California elementary schools site of new radioactive cell towers? TEPCo finally pouring concrete! Santa Barbara hit by giant radioactive lobsters? WIPP wants more of your money!

24 November 2014 (10:15 UTC-07 Tango)/01 Safar 1436/03 Azar 1393/03 Yi-Hai (10th month) 4712

India: A new report shows the nuclear power industry is not cost effective, but like a parasite lives off the backs of unsuspecting taxpayers!  The Hindu reveals even more ugly truths about nuclear power: “The key fact about nuclear power is that it is the world’s most subsidy-fattened energy industry…..Commercial reactors have been in operation for more than half-a-century, yet the industry still cannot stand on its own feet without major state support….costs have escalated multiple times…..The nuclear share of the world’s total electricity production reached its peak of 17 per cent in the late 1980s. Since then, it has been falling, and is currently estimated at about 13 per cent, even as new uranium discoveries have swelled global reserves…..there is enough uranium to meet current demand for more than 100 years.

Yet….wind power, solar power and biomass — has surpassed installed nuclear-generating capacity. In India and China, wind power output alone exceeds nuclear-generated electricity.”

France: French nuclear company Areva is in big trouble, losing 23% of its stock value due to massive delays in its Finnish nuke reactor, and other nuke projects.  Areva is also a major player at the Idaho National Laboratory in United States.  Areva administrators are rethinking their financial projections for 2015 and 2016.

Sweden: Yet another international study on cell phone radiation concludes that chronic use of the little computer could give you brain cancer.  The study was published in Pathophysiology, and concluded that insecure people who just have to constantly gab their heads off to somebody on the other end of that smart phone, will lose their heads to cancer; 25 years of manic cell phone use increases your chance of brain cancer by 300%!

U.S.A.:  Speaking of cell phones and cancer, lets not forget that government administrators in India put a hold on cell tower construction in their country, based on their own studies and studies done by the UN WHO (which says ‘cell’ signals cause cancer).  In fact  the Indian Cellular Association requires new cell phones to show users the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) they get from cell phone use.  But that isn’t going to stop the administrators of School District 25 and the city of Chubbuck, in the U.S. state of Idaho, from allowing T-Mobil to build a cell phone tower right on the playground of Chubbuck Elementary (which is also right next to a residential area).  Of course T-Mobile is going to pay School District 25 a hefty monthly rent for putting the tower on the playground, and the scandalously administered district is short on cash.  Parents have justifiably threatened to pull their kids from school if the cell tower deal goes through.

But wait there’s more!  In Clairemont, California, Verizon is forcing the building of cell towers on school properties!  School administrators of the English-French elementary and preschool La Petite Ecole are actually against such a plan (in contrast with the greedy administrators in Idaho), which will see 16 antennae and a microwave dish (I’ve seen radiation from a radar dish on a C-130 kill a bird that was sitting in front of it, during a test of the radar) implanted on the school property!  Verizon administrators responded by pointing out that there are already cell towers in the area.

The Federal Communciations Commission says local governments cannot dictate to cell phone companies, and the United States government allows much higher exposure rates from cell towers than other countries.

In New Mexico, the number of nuke workers allowed into the failed Waste Isolation Pilot Project has been increased to 74.  Administrators are crediting the increase in recovery ops to the repair work done on a massive “emergency” elevator hoist, which can carry vehicles.  It was also revealed that the explosion(s ?) was strong enough to require replacing of roof bolts needed to secure the roof and walls of the underground tunnel system.  The massive bolts are 3.6 meters (12 feet) long!

Administrators with Los Alomos Nuclear Laboratory (the source of the exploding waste drums) are denying that they got lazy with safety protocols. Their tantrum was in response to an article in The Santa Fe New Mexican.  The old school newspaper spent six months investigating the WIPP fiasco and concluded administrators made mistakes and then covered them up: “…workers packaging the waste came across a batch that was extraordinarily acidic, making it unsafe for shipping……

Instead, the lab and its various contractors took shortcuts in treating the acidic nuclear waste, adding neutralizer and a wheat-based organic kitty litter to absorb excess liquid. The combination turned the waste into a potential bomb that one lab chemist later characterized as akin to plastic explosives….” 

Senators from New Mexico are asking the U.S. taxpayers to fork over even more money for WIPP, this time they want an additional $113-million USD on top of what’s already been approved!

(and back to The Golden State) Reports that cesium 134 from Fukushima Daiichi has been detected off the California coast.  Could this have anything to do with the record 12 pound lobster caught near Santa Barbara?  

Jamaica: More than a year and a half has past since the Caribbean country impounded a mini-van from Japan.  It is contaminated with radiation from Fukushima Daiichi.  Jamaican port administrators say Japan is still refusing to take back the contaminated mini-van.  One of the problems is that the contaminated cargo would end up passing through other ports on its way back to Japan: “It may go through other jurisdictions, so you have to get those clearances. It means that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade would have to engage other missions to seek their assistance to have it returned.”-Major Richard Reese, Jamaican commissioner of customs

Japan:  The Japanese government is paying U.S. (Texas based) company Kurion $10-million to come up with a way to get rid of tritium contamination in the 400+ metric tons per day of contaminated water pouring out of Fukushima Daiichi into the Pacific Ocean. Kurion is already making bank on filtering cesium and strontium from the water.

The new contract award to Kurion came days before Tokyo Electric Power Company essentially admitted failure in dealing with the never ending slow burn China Syndrome melt down of Fukushima Daiichi, the following are reasons why.

TEPCo is now filling in trenches connected to reactors 2 and 3 turbine buildings with concrete, because they cannot stop the flow of highly irradiated water, and they still can’t figure out where it’s coming from!  The trench outside unit 2 is said to contain at least 5-thousand metric tons of contaminated water, while the trench outside unit 3 holds 6-thousand metric tons!

Japanese news reports say TEPCo has already tried to use cement to block water sources, but it has failed.  TEPCo administrators say they will try using a new type of water repelling cement.

TEPCo administrators have admitted that their radical plan to freeze the ground, in order to stop the contaminated water from getting to the Pacific Ocean, has failed.

At least three ‘throwaway’ workers were injured when the 13 meter (42 feet) tall cooling tank they were building collapsed.

For some unexplained reason, removal of unused fuel rods from storage pools on top of the GE designed reactor unit 4 cannot be attempted at this point. Unit 4 was not in use at the time of the quake and tsunami in 2011, and all its fuel was in storage in the fuel pool. The plan was to remove the massively heavy, and ignitable, rods to a more stable storage pool, but suddenly Japan’s Nuclear Energy Safety Organization halted the operation, demanding an evaluation of TEPCo’s plan be conducted by Tokyo based International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning.  Supposedly all the spent (used) fuel rods have been removed (400 metric tons worth), but there are still 204 new (unused) fully explodable with the force of a small tactical nuke fuel rods in the storage pool.

TEPCo and Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA) have pushed back their hopes for securing Fukushima Daiichi by five years, from 2020 to 2025.

Schools in Fukushima Prefecture are being used to store contaminated dirt, against the will of the locals, and Japan’s Jiji Press discovered there are no plans to remove the radioactive dirt piles!  Prefectural government administrators are blaming a national law implemented in 2012, after the radioactive dirt was piled on school property.  The cost of removing the contaminated soil is also a factor.

Renovations reveal U.S. park is nuke disaster area! 

Business/Economics, Idaho

Sears & Kmart closing update, 06 August 2014: “Day of reckoning” Finally it’s official Chubbuck Sears going down! No more Converse shoes? Sears Canada being sold for $2-billion!

“When one player starts to get worried, that’s something that can potentially spread fast. People are very worried about getting stuck with a lot of liability…..There’s a day of reckoning at some point.”-Steven Dennis, former Sears vice president, commenting on the recent ‘disappearance’ of Converse/Nike brand shoes from Sears stores

My past articles showed how the Chubbuck, Idaho, Sears was slowly being killed off.

I’ve been warning and now it’s officials; the Sears in the Pine Ridge Mall in Idaho is shutting down.  The mall’s current property manager, Covington Realty Partners, says Sears Holdings gave no “verbal” warning.   North Carolina losing a Kmart in November.  Missouri losing a Kmart in November.  An Oklahoma Sears shutting down in November.  Massachusetts losing a 35 years old Kmart in October.  112 people losing their jobs at 46 years old Kmart in Florida, by November.  Turns out the property was quietly sold to Walmart back in 2012!  Wisconsin losing a Sears.

Reports that Sears Canada might have a new owner.  New York based Sycamore Partners considering paying Eddie Lampert $2-billion USD for Sears Holding’s share of Sears Canada!

Here’s the updated list of U.S. Sears/Kmart store closings since the end of 2011:

Arizona: Scottsdale Sears/Great Indoors, Chandler Sears/Great Indoors.

Alabama: 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).

Delaware: Dover Kmart (at least 72 jobs lost, some reports said 100), Seaford Sears (30 jobs lost).

California: 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 (jobs lost unknown), 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?

Colorado: 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).

Connecticut: Waterbury Big Kmart.

Georgia: 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).

Guam: Sears Hometown Store.

Florida: 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, recently revealed Oakland Park Kmart (112 jobs lost).

Hawaii: Honolulu Sears (owned by GGP, 372 jobs lost!!!), Kauai Sears (41 jobs lost), Iwilei-Honolulu Kmart for lease (no confirmation of store closing).

Idaho: Lewiston Sears (at least 60 jobs lost), Rexburg Kmart (63 jobs lost). Finally an official announcement; Chubbuck Pine Ridge Mall Sears going’ down in November (the remaining 28 jobs lost).  Across the street, in Pocatello, the property where the Kmart is located has a “pad site available” sign, posted ever since the Kmart bankruptcy. The Kmart building takes up most of the “pad”.

Indiana: 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).

Illinois: 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?) recently 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). 58 Chicago area stores up for lease or sale. 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.

Iowa: 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).

Kansas: Lawrence Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Merriam Kmart-then Sears-then Kmart (jobs lost unknown).

Kentucky: Middlesboro Sears (in September 2012 the Sears store re-opened under independent ownership, official grand re-opening scheduled for November), Winchester Kmart (back in May, Rankin Paynter bought out what was left of the inventory and gave it to charity), 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, Madisonville Kmart (39 jobs lost).

Louisiana: Slidell Sears (77 job lost), Gretna Kmart (94 jobs lost).

Maine: Lewiston Sears (60 to 70 jobs lost), Presque Isle Sears (80 jobs lost).

Maryland: Ellicott Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Gaithersburg Sears/Great Indoors, Landover Sears (115 jobs lost).

Massachusetts: North Reading Sears Hardware store closed, lease not renewed, recently revealed Milford Kmart (80 jobs lost).

Michigan: Novi 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, Flint Kmart (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).

Minnesota: 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!

Mississippi: 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.

Missouri: 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), recently revealed South Belt Kmart (64 jobs lost).

Montana: Missoula Kmart (50 jobs lost).

Nebraska: Grand Island Kmart (55 jobs lost).

New Hampshire: Nashau Sears Grand/Essentials, Keene Sears Grand/Essentials, Portsmouth Kmart (30 jobs lost).

New Jersey: Lawnside Kmart (about 80 jobs lost), Howell Kmart (57 jobs lost), Berlin Kmart, Dover Kmart (92 jobs lost).

New Mexico: Las Cruces Kmart (58 jobs lost), Albuquerque Kmart on Central SW (80 jobs lost).

New York: Depew (Lancaster?) Kmart (68 jobs lost), Colonie Kmart (72 jobs lost), Fulton Kmart (51 jobs lost), Clifton Park Kmart (74 jobs lost), Latham Kmart (61 jobs lost), East Greenbush-Rensselaer Kmart (70 jobs lost), Tonawanda Sears Appliance and Hardware.

North Carolina: 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), recently revealed Greensboro Kmart (96 jobs lost).

North Dakota: Jamestown Kmart (45 jobs lost).

Ohio: 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). 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.

Oklahoma: 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), recently revealed Muskogee Sears (60 jobs lost).

Oregon: 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).

Pennsylvania: 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 Kmart (jobs lost unknown, but the store was advertising for new hires!), Lower Pottsgrove Kmart (65 jobs lost).

South Carolina: 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).

Tennessee: 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 CoolSprings 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).

Texas: 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.

Utah: Murray Sears (for some reason Mormon controlled news media in Utah never reported the closure, but they’re reporting that the building has just been demolished), Orem Kmart (no details reported).

Virginia: 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 Kmart (at least 50 jobs lost), Wise Kmart (58 jobs lost), Harrisonburg Kmart (79 jobs lost), Wincester Kmart (91 jobs lost).

Washington: 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).

West Virginia: Oak Hill Kmart (59 jobs lost), Morgantown Kmart (100 jobs lost).

Wisconsin: 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 (80 jobs lost), Shawano Kmart (no job loss info given), recently revealed Fond du Lac Sears (42 jobs lost).

On top of that, Sears Holdings sold stores to General Growth Properties (GGP), of which it has been reported that most of those stores will be closed.

Here’s the list of 11 Sears stores now owned by GGP:

Iowa: Coral Ridge Mall (it’s official the Sears is closing, see above), and Mall of the Bluffs

Texas: The Woodlands Mall (this does not involve the two repair centers being closed by Sears)

Florida: West Oaks Mall

Utah: Fashion Place, and Provo Towne Centre (note the evil British empire way of spelling town & center. Due to a favorable lease agreement the GGP owned Provo Sears will continue to stay open under Sears Holdings management)

Oklahoma: Quail Springs Mall (it’s official, the Sears closed, see above)

Hawaii: Ala Moana Center (closed, see above)

Washington: Bellis Fair Mall (Bellingham store, see above)

Minnesota: Apache Mall (see update above, GGP will close Sears store by 2014)

Illinois: Market Place Shopping Center (see update above, GGP closing store)

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

More Economic Decline: Who is the new owner of Chubbuck’s Pine Ridge Mall? It’s not the “family” company you think it is! GGP connection?

21 November 2013 (01:34 UTC-07 Tango)/17 Muharram 1435/30 Aban 1392/19 Gui-Hai (10th month) 4711

A couple of days ago the Idaho State Journal reported that the Pine Ridge Mall, in Chubbuck, was bought by a company called Farmer Holding Company.  The local newspaper quoted Rob Kingsbury as saying the company is a “family business”.

Farmer Holding started as Farmer Concrete back in 1948.  There are members of the board with the family name of Farmer (and employees related but not with the name Farmer), but today’s Farmer Holding Company Incorporated is a full fledged corporation created in Missouri in December 2000.  The incorporation has a “Permanent” (no expiration date) registration according to the Missouri Secretary of State.

According to the Missouri Ethics Commission, Farmer Holding employs at least three political lobbyists at the state level.

Farmer Holding Company branched out to mall properties in December 2012 when they paid a measly $11-million USD for the Capital Mall in Jefferson City, Missouri.  Farmer holding just paid a paltry $9-million for the Pine Ridge Mall in Chubbuck, Idaho.  And there is a connection; both malls were owned by GGP (General Growth Properties)!

Here’s another twist, according to Missouri’s News Tribune, ‘family owned’ Farmer Holding is a subsidiary of F&F Development.

At last report Farmer Holding was proposing a plan to improve the Capital Mall by combining it with an events center.  Farmer Holding told the Jefferson City council they would expand the property, and the city promised to give Farmer Holding $9-million collected from hotel taxes to help pay for $36-million expansion!

Interestingly Farmer Holding admitted that event/conference centers are money losing propositions.  Their own independently conducted economic survey said they would lose $250-thousand per year on the deal!  Yet, on 12 November 2013, the Jefferson City conference center facilitator told the city council to go with Farmer Holding’s plan.

On 18 November 2013, this is what city council member Carrie Carroll had to say about two competing convention center proposals: “At this point, neither one is right. Neither one is outstanding. Until they’re outstanding, they’re not going to be capable of getting our $9-million until we are enthused that this is right.”

On top of this Farmer Holding told city officials they had only $12-million of their own “investment” money to pay for the project, so even with the city’s $9-million they have to come up with $15-million from somewhere!  (thin air?)

A Jefferson City resident, Charles Gaskin, conducted his own research and warned city officials that Farmer Holding’s plan was a bad deal for the city.  He said city officials have become so desperate for developers that they now have the audacious hope that ‘if we build it customers will come’.  Gaskin says his research shows the economy is so bad that nobody will show up.  Remember, even Farmer Holding said they would lose money on the plan. (the Idaho cities of Chubbuck and Pocatello have adopted that same ‘built it they will come’ attitude)

In November 2013, Jefferson City council member Ken Hussey even warned “There’s a potential for super TIFs.”  TIF means Tax Increment Financing.

Farmer Holding was created out of a successful, truly family owned construction business.  The heirs decided to take their construction business to the next level and become fully incorporated.  In other words what they are doing is really all about making profits for their original construction ops.

And who is F&F Development?  At this point I don’t know!  Internet searches come up with many different companies that specialize in things like property development to things like direct selling.  Every listing for an F&F Development, whether it was a company in Florida or Connecticut, showed it to be a privately held company, which makes it hard to find info on them (they are not a publicly traded company).  There are several of these ‘development’ companies who list their forte as hotel and event/conference center developers.   If the News Tribune is correct about F&F being the parent company of Farmer Holding, it could explain why Farmer Holding is pushing Jefferson City to help pay for a new hotel and event/conference center in the Capital Mall.

Here’s another connection: GGP is an Illinois based corporation, Farmer Holding supposedly bought the Capital Mall but isn’t involved in operating it, another Illinois based company called Covington Realty Partners is actually running the mall (gee, it’s like an onion, so many layers).   Coldwell Banker Commercial Intermountain is managing the leasing of spaces at the Pine Ridge Mall in Chubbuck, Idaho.

I’m beginning to suspect that Farmer Holding always approaches city officials with the claim that they want to “rejuvenate” the local economy.  It could be that their true plan of action is to buy up distressed commercial properties for dirt cheap, build them up with the help of local taxes, then sell them off to the first sucker that comes along.  It’s like house flipping, but with commercial properties.

2017 Update:  In 2015 Caldwell Banker revealed that Farmer Holding-F&F Development took-over the once independently owned Carmike 7 theater in Chubbuck, Idaho.  The property was demolished and replaced with spaces for restaurants, currently occupied by Panera and Red Robin. The demolition of the Carmike 7 actually began in December 2014, as documented by Blind Bat News.

Also in 2015 Farmer Holding Company-F&F Development began buying vacant healthcare facilities when it took over Jefferson City, Missouri, Saint Mary’s Hospital.  Officially the plan is to redevelop the property (as part of the nationwide REIT conspiracy),  and at the beginning of 2017 Farmer Holding-F&F Development asked for taxpayer ‘incentives’ to finance the hospital redevelopment, which would allow Farmer Holding-F&F Development to cash-in on 50% of local sales tax revenues, and the imposition of an additional 1% sales tax on locals!  The city also granted easements for two parcels associated with the hospital property, blocking ‘right-of-way’ so that Farmer Holding-F&F Development could start redevelopment.

At the end of 2016, Farmer Holding asked Jefferson City to not only continue the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for the Capital Mall project, but to increase it, as well as create a new TIF for their convention center project!

2018 Capital Mall Update: New signs and paint is all taxpayers got? 

Investment companies dump GGP & J.C. Penney!

Grand Teton Mall, in Idaho Falls, for sale! GGP dumping malls en masse! 

East Idaho’s Pine Ridge Mall, in Chubbuck, sells for paltry $9 million!

East Idaho shopping malls….quietly put up to be auctioned off….Merry Xmas!

A History Lesson in Economic Decline

All part of REIT plan to change the way you shop, and they blame you the shopper!

Mitt Romney….Destroyed jobs in Chubbuck 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

More Economic Decline: East Idaho shopping malls to close down? Pine Ridge quietly put up to be auctioned off in November! Merry Xmas!

17 October 2013 (18:21 UTC-07 Tango 16 October 2013)/12 Dhu’l-Hijja 1434/25 Mehr 1391/13 Ren-Xu (9th month) 4711

Reports that the Pine Ridge Mall in Chubbuck, Idaho, could soon be dead!  That’s if nobody bids on it.  A quietly announced auction, on Auction.com, for the entire mall is set for 05 November.

Illinois based General Growth Properties is refusing comment, but that’s because they are no longer the official owner.  Last year GGP turned the property over to its spinoff, Howard Hughes Corporation.  Texas based Howard Hughes seems to be the executioner for GGP, getting rid of money losing properties.

Some reports say Howard Hughes has taken over improperly valued GGP malls. The starting bid for the failed Pine Ridge Mall is a paltry $3 million USD!

If you’ve been following my economic reports out of the Chubbuck/Pocatello area, you know I used to work for mall owner GGP, and JPrice before that.

Auction.com talks up the mall, claiming it’s at 80% tenant capacity!  I find that hard to believe, because it was at 80% when I worked there, and that’s before losing two anchor stores!  Just check out my pics of the empty Sears!

Local TV news reports talked up the mall by naming anchor stores Sears and ShopKo.   I used to work property management there, and ShopKo is operating under a different contract, as if they are not part of the mall.  When I worked there ShopKo was responsible for all their own building maintenance, including parking lot trash pick up, landscaping and snow and ice removal during winter.

The newest anchor store is Herbergers, which is taking up residence in the old two story ZCMI then May Company then Dillards anchor location, yet it’s only a single story operation.

Also, there is conflicting info given by Auction.com and GGP.  Auction.com states there are 50 “unit” spaces at the mall, yet GGP’s website says 77 “Retail Stores”.

In 2009 GGP went bankrupt.  By 2010, 96 GGP malls emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy, and according to bankruptcy news reports that included the Pine Ridge Mall.  However, in 2012 GGP got a a total of $7 billion in “property-level financings” to float dozens of its malls, according to GGP’s website.  Independent reports say the Pine Ridge Mall in Chubbuck, as well as the Grand Teton Mall in Idaho Falls, were included in that list of mortgage bailout refi loans (although I didn’t see them listed on the GGP site).

This year GGP reported in its 4th quarter report for 2012 that it “…disposed of approximately 3.2 million square feet of gross leasable area for $213 million.”, but they did not specify which properties were sold.

For the 3rd quarter 2012 GGP “…disposed of assets comprising approximately 2.7 million square feet of gross leasable area for $219.3 million.”

In the 2nd quarter 2012 GGP sold off their Foothills Mall in Colorado.

In 1st quarter 2012, 30 malls were transferred to Rouse Properties.  They also sold three properties for a total of $26.6 million.

“During 2011, GGP sold, or transferred to the mortgage holder, whole or partial interests in approximately 11.5 million square feet of gross leasable area for $879.7 million including property level debt of $752.1 million.”-GGP 4th quarter report for 2011

In 2011 it was also revealed that GGP had sold, or was selling off, most of its properties in Utah.

Here’s more of my reports:

A History Lesson in Economic Decline:

Idaho Sears closing down, without official notice?

Don’t forget to add the Sears stores bought by GGP to the closing list. 

GGP owns most of the malls in Idaho.

Mormon Mitt Romney……Destroyed jobs in Chubbuck, Idaho. 

Business/Economics, Idaho, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Health food nuts victorious! Hostess Twinkies have bitten the dust! 18,500 U.S. workers laid off! Incompetent unAmerican Corporate America to blame! Twinkie the Kid to be replaced with Pancho Villa?

“…Hostess Brands, Inc. has been forced by a Bakers Union strike to shut down all operations and sell all company assets.”-Gregory F. Rayburn, CEO Hostess

18 November 2012, the iconic maker of U.S. snack foods, Hostess, is no more!  It’s being shut down and sold off by the corporate executives who ran it into the ground!

No more Wonder Bread, Twinkies or Ding Dongs for Pocatello, Idaho!

Oh, but many anti-labor commentators are blaming the unionized employees. Bull shit, Hostess can’t survive a strike?

No more Eddy's Bakery in Chubbuck, Idaho!

A Forbes article points out that it’s the corporate management that ran Hostess into the ground, not the unionized employees.  This happened because the corporate leaders tried to make up for dropping profit margins by running the company on debt financing.

Also, after the 2004 Interstate Bakeries bankruptcy (which the company emerged from in 2009, renamed officially as Hostess) the highly educated company leaders made no attempts to change how Hostess did business: “The obvious problem is leadership kept trying to sell the same products, using roughly the same business model, long, long, long after the products had become irrelevant.”-Adam Hartung, Forbes

Sales were constant, but only because Hostess execs kept prices artificially low, which lead to loss of profits.  This was because U.S. consumers are not willing to pay more for junk food.

By 2011 the bad economy finally affected Hostess sales; according to Mintel in the past year Twinkie sales dipped 0.8%, Ding Dongs fell 8.7%, Ho Ho’s down 6.3%.

Back during the first bankruptcy the unions made $110 million USD worth of concessions.  In May and October 2012, a bankruptcy judge gave Hostess the authority to impose more concessions by cutting pay and benefits, that’s what lead to the worker strikes.   Hostess was enacting more concessions without input from employees!

The Teamsters Union blamed the need for concessions on incompetent corporate officials: “Unfortunately, the company’s operating and financial problems were so severe that it required steep concessions from a variety of stakeholders but not all stakeholders were willing to be constructive.”-Ken Hall, Teamsters General-Secretary

According to a CNN report, the average Hostess worker made $20 per hour (and many Hostess factories are located in areas where $20 per hour is barely a living wage).  This is starting to look like just another step in unAmerican Corporate America’s plans to drastically reduce the cost of labor across the country, as part of the long term plan to return the United States to top export status.  The problem is that the cost of living is still too high, even for many making $20 per hour.  The elitists will make huge profits off their export sales, while the domestic economy will continue to fall (more Sears & Kmart closings to say the least) because more and more workers in the U.S. can’t make enough money even for basic necessities.

Don’t worry, your favorite Hostess junk food might survive, as the rights to those brands are being sold off.  But will you be able to afford them?

The most recent Christian Science Monitor report says that Mexican snack food giant (and world’s largest bread maker), Bimbo, is considering buying the rights to most of the Hostess brands.  Bimbo took over Sara Lee, Entenmann’s and Thomas English Muffins in 2010 (did you hear about that one? Start calling them Mexican Muffins).  They also tried to take over Hostess a few years ago.  If Bimbo does buy the Hostess brands analysts say most of the jobs will be in Mexico.

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? More Sears mall leases not being renewed, more Kmart leases allowed to expire!

“We made a decision not to renew the lease.”-Chris Brathwaite, Sears Holdings

19 October 2012, as I warned, Sears/Kmart continues to close stores simply by not renewing their leases.

Residents of Kelso, Washington, learned on 17 October that the Sears in their local mall is going away in January.

Kelso’s Three Rivers Mall isn’t doing so well anyway, but dedicated mall walkers are upset by the Sears announcement: “We’re worried about foot traffic going down…..I just worry that we won’t be here in a few years.”-unnamed store manager

The owners of the mall said they knew about the Sears closing before the official announcement: “The Sears closure is something we anticipated some time ago and as a result are working with a number of exciting retailers…”-Rouse Properties statement

Pennsylvania is learning of another Sears closing.  On 17 October the local media revealed that the Sears at Penn Center East, in Wilkins, will not renew its lease, resulting in 135 people losing their jobs by January 2013.  Wilkins Township commissioners swear a new WalMart will take its place.

In Virginia, the new owners of the Liberty Fair Mall announced they will allow a “homegrown” store to fill the void left by the outgoing Sears.  I worked for mall owners J Price Realty before the Pine Ridge Mall (in Chubbuck, Idaho) was sold to General Growth Properties (and they contracted out almost all our jobs), and one policy was that the big ‘anchor’ stores had to be national chain stores.  So, for a mall owner to allow a “homegrown” local shop in as an anchor store is a sign of trouble.

I’ve seen it here at the Pine Ridge Mall, when General Growth Properties (who actually had a policy that all the stores in the mall had to be national chain stores) went back on their own policy, stopping their ‘eviction’ of local stores (they were evicting local mom & pop stores by jacking up rents to astronomical levels, I saw the official corporate order from Chicago which had been left in plain view on the mall office copy machine) and even allowed local stores to temporarily occupy the empty Macy’s anchor store.

To try and raise money, Sears has spunoff its Sears Hometown, and Outlet Stores as separately traded stocks.  The move made Sears Holdings (aka Hoffman Estates) $446.5 million USD, according to the Washington Post.   Yet store closings continue.

In another move to try and generate revenue, Sears and General Electric signed a deal to sell GE’s Brillion Connected Home Solutions products.  (yet another connection to the too Big to Fails, three former GE execs just got sent to prison for ripping off U.S. taxpayers)

On 18 October, residents of Freeport, Illinois, learned that Kmart will go away in January 2013: “We made a business decision not to renew the lease.”-Chris Brathwaite, Sears Holdings

Notice the above statement from Brathwaite is the very same statement made concerning the Three Rivers Mall in Washington!  Like I keep saying; what economic recovery? “It’s just an indication that we haven’t gotten to that point in terms of economic recovery that there is consumer confidence and people are willing to go out and spend…”-David Young, Northwest Illinois Development Alliance

Brathwaite made the very same announcement concerning the Pontiac, Illinois, Kmart on 13 October:  “We made the announcement to Pontiac associates on Wednesday.  It was a business decision to not renew our lease.”    (it’s now obvious this Brathwaite is a robot, cause he says the same thing at every announced closing, just insert name of town and how many people will lose their jobs)

In California, the Kmart in the DVC Plaza in Pleasant Hill (near Oakland) will close after 40 years in business.  The lease will not be renewed, more than 50 employees will be laid off.

In Colorado, about 52 employees will be out of work after the lease expires for the Kmart at Pueblos’ South Side.  The store has been there since 1974.

74 Kmart employees just learned they will be unemployed by January 2013, because the lease for the Cartersville, Georgia, store was not renewed.

52 people will lose their jobs when the Woodhaven, Michigan, Kmart closes on 13 January 2012.

In New Jersey, about 80 people will be unemployed when the Lawnside Kmart closes in January.  The same announcement came from Sears Holdings, but actually from a different person: “The lease is not being renewed at that location.”-Kim Freely, Sears holdings

It seems the owners of Sears/Kmart (Sears Holdings/Hoffman Estates/and don’t forget the Mitt Romney/Bain Capital/Carlyle group connection) are shifting Kmart’s focus to female Spanish speaking customers.  On 18 October it was published that Hoffman Estates will pick five Latinas for a 10 week paid internship at their Illinois headquarters. It’s called the Latina Smart program.

Here’s an updated list of Sears/Kmart closings:

Alabama: Gadsden Kmart, Mobile Sears Grand/Essentials, Auburn Kmart.

California:   El Monte Sears Grand/Essentials, two San Diego Sears Grand/Essentials, recently revealed Pleasant Hill Kmart.

Colorado:  Broomfield Kmart, Glenwood Springs Kmart, Lone Tree Sears Great Indoors, Longmont Sears, recently revealed Pueblos’ South Side Kmart.

Georgia: Macon Sears, Buford Kmart, Douglasville Kmart, Atlanta Kmart, Columbus Kmart, Jonesboro Kmart, recently revealed Cartersville Kmart.

Florida: Fernandina Beach Kmart, Callaway Kmart, Orange City Kmart,  Deland Sears Grand/Essentials, Stuart Sears Grand/Essentials, West Palm Beach Sears Grand/Essentials, Port St. Lucie Sears Grand/Essentials, Crystal River Sears, New Smyrna Beach Kmart, St. Augustine Kmart, Pompano Beach Kmart, and recently revealed Jacksonville Kmart.

Idaho: Lewiston Sears.

sears chubbuck
Floundering Sears at the GGP owned Pine Ridge Mall in Chubbuck, Idaho.
Kmart Pocatello
Floundering Big Kmart in Pocatello, Idaho. Are they next to go in Idaho?

Indiana:  Anderson Sears Full Line, Saint John Kmart, Indianapolis Kmart.

Illinois: Melrose Park Sears parts and repair center, and recently revealed Freeport and Pontiac Kmarts.

Iowa:  Cedar Rapids Kmart, Davenport Kmart, Burlington Kmart.

Kansas: Lawrence Sears Full Line.

Kentucky: Middlesboro Sears Hard lines, Winchester Kmart, Hazard Kmart.

Maine: Lewiston Sears.

Maryland: Ellicott Sears Grand/Essentials.

Michigan: Brighton Sears Grand/Essentials,  Harper Woods Sears Full line, Monroe Sears Full line, Adrian Sears Full line, Washington Township Kmart, Chesterfield Kmart, recently revealed Woodhaven Kmart.

Minnesota: Willmar Kmart, Duluth Kmart, New Hope Kmart, White Bear Lake Kmart.

Mississippi: Jackson Sears Full line, McComb Sears Full line, Columbus Sears Full line.

Missouri: Lee’s Summit Sears Grand/Essentials, Saint Louis Sears Full line.

Montana: Missoula Kmart.

New Hampshire: Nashau Sears Grand/Essentials, Keene Sears Grand/Essentials.

North Carolina: High Point Sears Full line, Moorehead Sears Full line, Rocky Mount Sears Full line, Statesville Sears Full line.

New Jersey: Recently revealed Lawnside Kmart.

Ohio: Chagrin Falls Kmart, Springfield Kmart, two Toledo Kmarts, Medina Kmart, Columbus Kmart.

Oregon: Roseburg Sears Full line.

Pennsylvania: Upper Darby Sears Full line, Pottstown Sears Full line, Pittsburgh Kmart, and recently revealed Wilkins Sears.

South Carolina: Sumter Sears Full line.

Tennessee: Antioch Sears Full line, Cleveland Sears Full line, Oak Ridge Sears Full line, Hendersonville Kmart, Morristown Sears Full line.

Virginia: Norfolk Sears Full line,  Midlothian Kmart, Richmond Kmart.

Washington: Walla Walla Sears Full line, Lacey Kmart, and recently revealed Kelso Sears.

Wisconsin: West Baraboo Sears Grand/Essentials, Rice Lake Kmart.

Don’t forget, this is the 2012 known list of closings, there were closings in 2011 and 2010 as well, and they’ll be more for 2013.

Side note: it seems Sara Palin likes shopping at Kmart.

Idaho

11 August 2012: Busiest Chubbuck Days ever! Dogs, cars, fire trucks, hammers and poles being thrown around, plus food, music & vandalism Chubbuck style!

Image

I’ve been attending Chubbuck Days since 1998 (I live right next to Cotant Park where they’re held every year), and this year’s events were the busiest ever!

Click pics to make bigger

Busiest Chubbuck Days ever, August 2012: 6TH ANNUAL CAR SHOW (PART 2) 

6TH ANNUAL CAR SHOW (PART 1)

4TH ANNUAL EASTERN IDAHO SCOTTISH GAMES

Idaho, U.S.

Some examples of how hot & dry it is in southeastern Idaho

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Some people might think local officials are being a little too cautious with their control over who has access to the Charlotte Fire burn area, at the south end of  Pocatello.  But, it really is so dry out their that I wouldn’t be surprised if the cause of the fire was spontaneous combustion of tinder dry field grasses (I’ve seen it happen in hay stacks).

I recently got my city of Chubbuck, Idaho, water bill for 08 May 2012 to 05 June 2012.  It shows you what you used the previous year.  For the same time in 2011 I used 4,000 gallons (15,141.6 liters). Yet, for 2012 I used 13,000 gallons (49,210.35 liters), a 9,000 gallon increase!  And I was really trying to conserve, but I have a large yard with a victory garden and the amount of water I used in May was just barely enough to keep most plants from dying.

I have a pear tree and several plum trees, and for the first time in more than a decade they have no fruit!  My Golden Delicious apple tree has not even half the amount of fruit it normally does.

Two of my three grape vines returned to dormancy two months ago, and have only now started to come back, after tons of water was flooded onto them.  One of my two blackberry vines died.  My normally over productive raspberry vines are now struggling, with only two raspberries visible.

My huge decades old pine tree stopped dropping pine cones a month ago.  This is normal when you get into dry summer months, but since my pine tree is located in the middle of my back lawn it usually drops cones throughout summer because it gets enough water when I water the lawn.  This year I’ve been flooding sections of the lawn, including around the pine tree, due to how dry the grass is getting, and yet no pine cones.

By the way, lawn grass is the most inefficient plant on the planet, and yet our incompetent municipality leaders create laws forcing us to maintain a grass lawn, for the sake of property values!  And then they jack up our water/sewer/trash rates!!!

For example: In 1998 I swear I was paying a basic water/sewer/trash rate of $38.00 USD per month (not counting the per thousand gallon water charge). In 2010 it was more than $77.00.  Now, in 2012 the basic water/sewer/trash rate is more than $92.00!!!

Between 1998 and 2002 water conservation actually helped keep my water bill down, but at this point none of my water saving efforts are paying off, because the city has jacked up the basic services rate so high!  And you can’t conserve too much because then the city hits you with violation of beautification codes!

The city of Chubbuck actually has employees driving around neighborhoods in “code enforcement” vehicles, giving out warnings.  If warnings are not heeded the city brings in landscapers and sends you the bill.

Another sign of how hot and dry it is: Laundry.  I hang my laundry to dry outside in summer, it so hot/dry that a full load is dry within 20 minutes or less.  That’s much less time than if I used the dryer in the house.

How about southeast Idaho reservoir levels?

Devil Creek reservoir, north of Malad City, Idaho, off Interstate Highway 15, 29 June 2012. Two months ago it was full.

Deep Creek reservoir, east of Malad City, on Idaho State Highway 36, 29 June 2012. Two months ago it was full.

Business/Economics, Idaho, International, Technology, U.S.

Corporate Evil: Did Monsanto create mutant wild dogs in Vietnam? Vietnam’s Kanup 480 SL is called “Roundup” in the United States.

Farmers in Vietnam, who’ve only just started using herbicides in the past two years, are suffering from terrible symptoms, even dozens of deaths.  On top of that, and seemingly in coincidence, wild mutant dogs have been terrorizing villages, attacking and killing domestic animals.

Local Vietnamese media reports are now blaming an herbicide that farmers were tricked, I mean convinced, into using.  Most of the farmers had never used herbicides before.

In Vietnam the herbicide in question is called Kanup 480 SL.  It’s made by a company called Thang Bac Giang (Vithaco).   Turns out that Kanup 480 SL is the very same herbicide known as Roundup in the United States.

Roundup was patented in the 1970s by Monsanto.  The patent expired in 2000.

Here’s the thing: In 1996 Monsanto was sued by the state of New York for lying about the safety of its products.  In 2007 Monsanto was convicted by the European Union for lying about Roundup being safe and biodegradable.  It turns out that Roundup is not safe or biodegradable (under European standards). The main ingredient, isopropylamine salt of glyphosate, is “dangerous for the environment” and “toxic for aquatic organisms”.  Another ingredient of Roundup is polyethoxylated tallow amine, it is known to be highly toxic to animals (humans are animals too, you know).

Lab test showed animals that were contaminated with Roundup resulted in mutated offspring.  Some media reports say Monsanto knew of this as early as 1980.  It’s interesting that the wild mutant dogs in Vietnam showed up in the very same areas that Kanup 480 SL is being used.

There have been dozens of studies on Roundup, showing it causes mutations and death. How much Roundup does it take to kill a human?  It depends, but studies have found as little as 85 ml could kill you, while some people have survived accidental doses of as much as 500 ml. The latest study was in 2009.

Another interesting point: Monsanto is also behind genetically modified plants (which involve using deadly bacteria to make the modifications stick).  The modified food crops are meant to be resistant to Roundup.  However, some of these crops (the first being Soy) cross pollinated with weeds and created super weeds.  The super weeds can not be killed with Roundup, however many people don’t know that and will just spray more and more Roundup.

I still deal with weeds the old fashioned way; I pull them up with my hands, or run over them with my electric lawn mower, or chop them down with a weed whacker.

Why just yesterday, after writing my article on the Mystery disease, I saw employees of the city of Chubbuck, in Idaho, busy with their yearly spraying of Roundup in the park adjacent to my back yard.  They like to run that crap along the fence lines of everyone’s property that butts up to the park. It’s so strong you can smell it.

I used to work for a retail property management company. The boss was obsessed with using Roundup, even on a single weed that was growing in the middle of a parking lot that could hold a hundred cars!  In less time than it took to mix the Roundup, then prime the pump and go about spraying, I was able to simply pull the weeds out of the asphalt. But I actually got reprimanded for that!

People in the United States better wake up and stop smelling the Roundup before you can’t smell the Roses anymore!

Warning!  Roundup’s warning label is misleading.  It basically says Roundup is just an ‘irritant’. Yet, on some Roundup warning labels (on their larger containers) it tells you to immediately call your local poison control center for help!

Business/Economics, Idaho, International, Technology, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? More trouble for Idaho’s Hoku polysilicon factory, looks more and more like the deal is off!

“If service is terminated, these high value systems may freeze, causing irreparable and material damage to Hoku’s plant assets. Any damage would need to be repaired, at additional cost, prior to continuing with the commissioning and operation of the plant.”-Hoku Corporation complaint to Idaho Public Utilities Commision

“The fact of the matter is, Hoku has missed a payment it owes to Idaho Power and has failed to provide….any assurance that such a payment will be forthcoming. Idaho Power has concerns that if the commission allows the Hoku complaint to run the usual course….Hoku could potentially become millions of dollars delinquent in amounts it owes.”-Idaho Power response

Pocatello, Idaho’s, polysilcon factory, run by Hoku Materials (which is a subsidiary of Hoku Corporation, which is 60% owned by China’s Tianwei New Energy Holdings Company Limited) has run into trouble with Idaho Power, again.

Hoku failed to pay its electric bill, and Idaho Power says it will discontinue service.  Hoku was served with the disconnect notice on December 22.  This is not the first time Hoku has had trouble with their electric bill.

Earlier this month, Chinese media reported that Hoku had started operations, but now it’s clear that was just wishful thinking by Tianwei New Energy Holdings Company Limited.  The Chinese claim was based on Hoku CEO Scott Paul saying things were ready to go back on November 21.

This just adds to the ever growing problems with Hoku:  Their CFO resigned, they lost nearly $8 million in their last reporting quarter, they had to sell majority shares to Chinese companies (as well as take Chinese loans) to raise enough money to finish construction of their factory, and the ongoing tit for tat trade war between the U.S. and China (involving U.S. made polysilicon and Chinese made photo voltaic products) could mean curtains for a company that has hundreds of people in the Chubbuck/Pocatello area hoping to get a job with Hoku.

GLOBAL ECONOMIC WAR: IDAHO POLYSILCON PRODUCER, HOKU, QUIETLY STARTS OPERATIONS,  LOSES MILLIONS OF DOLLARS AGAIN