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U.S.

“particularly complex…potentially expensive” : September 2016 Dumbing Down the U.S.

It must be noted that I started documenting these education shutdowns at the beginning of 2014, in that year I posted the reports biannually (every six months). In 2015 education cutbacks ramped up and I posted quarterly (every three months). For the past eight months of 2016 there have been so many education cutbacks that I’ve posted a report every month!

Disappearing Students Syndrome (DSS): A phrase created by me to describe a phenomenon taking place across the United States, affecting both privately and publicly funded schools, from Kindergarten all the way through University levels.

Incomplete list of publicly announced education related layoffs & school shutdowns, September 2016:

California: Reports of unknown rash affecting 40 teachers and children at Lake Forest Elementary, in Orange County.  Some victims say the rash looks and feels like “bug bites”.  Orange County health administrators ruled out vectors.  A local TV station showed video of the lawn at the school with Do Not Cross ‘tape’ around it, school admin refused to comment but parents say many of the affected students were playing on the lawn (chemical contamination?).

Idaho: 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 This is a particularly complex and potentially expensive endeavor, endeavor.”

Illinois:  In Mount Carmel, District 348 shutting down South Elementary at the end of their school year.  It’s blamed on building repair costs and years of tax funding cuts due to years of Disappearing Students Syndrome.  In Obama’s Failed Homie State of Chicago, after years of slowly declining enrollments Chicago Public Schools reported a sudden 3.5% drop in enrollments, compared to last school year.  Administrators are now warning of even more layoffs.

Indiana: ITT Tech now officially bankrupt dead after the U.S. Department of Education banned the for-profit national school from accepting new students who rely on federal education loans or grants, because it couldn’t prove graduates were getting good paying jobs.  8-thousand jobs gone, at least 35-thousand students screwed!  I find it par-for-the-course (in this age of Dumbing Down) that many former ITT students say they were unaware of the school’s problems, despite at least two months of news reports!

Michigan: In Detroit, the Big Bookstore near Wayne State University shutting down, due to the owner getting an incredible offer for the land from a property developer.

Minnesota: Blaine based Regency Beauty Institute suddenly shutdown all 79 campuses across the country.  Administrators say there is a conspiracy to Dumb Down the U.S. : “…declining numbers of cosmetology students nationwide, a negative characterization of for-profit education by regulators and politicians that continues to worsen and, in light of these factors, an inability to obtain continued financing…. ..The environment is simply not one that allows us to remain open.” 

New York: God powerless to stop ‘his’ College of Saint Rose from possibly eliminating 23 jobs due to a $9-million shortfall, despite boasting of a record number of enrollments this school year!  It should be noted that the College of Saint Rose is deeply involved/connected with U.S. attorneys and court judges, unAmerican corporate America and the main stream news media.

North Dakota: North Dakota State University eliminating 95 jobs through attrition, buyouts, and vacant positions will not be filled.  Remaining employees will have their hours reduced.  Administrators say they must cut their 2017-19 budget by $15.7-million USD!

Oregon: In Northeast Portland, pissed-off parents say the now dead Tiny Revolution Montessori failed to refund their money after shutting down without warning on 04 September.  What’s more interesting is that according to court documents the school owners knew they would be shutting down back in July!

Pennsylvania: DuBois Business College shutting down all four campuses due to problems with the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS).

Texas:  In Bryan, after 30 years of supplying educators Jacque’s Toys and Books shutting down after Halloween.

Wyoming: It’s been revealed (nationally) that the shutdown of Midwest School, back in May, was caused by the oil industry.  To show you how much the oil industry controls The Cowboy State an oil well ‘donkey pump’ was planted on one end of the school’s football-track field!   The school had to shutdown because gas from the pumping of the well filled the only school for the town of Midwest!

August 2016: “IT’S AN INDECENT PRACTICE!” THROWING MONEY AT EDUCATION DOESN’T WORK, UNLESS IT’S TO HELP FUTURE POLICE CHEAT ON THEIR EXAMS!

Business/Economics

“they don’t have the money.” “like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane!” : September 2016 U.S. RETAIL/BANKING/SERVICE SECTOR LAYOFFS

Incomplete list of U.S. retail/banking/service sector job loss announcements and shutdowns for September 2016:

Arkansas: Bentonville based Walmart continues eliminating jobs, this time 7-thousand accounting jobs at stores across the U.S., over the next few months!  Administrators claim they’ll hire more customer service employees.  B.Jaxx Accessories shutdown in Saline County after ten years: “I can’t stress enough how important it is to shop local.”-company Facebook post

California: San Francisco based Wells Fargo going down.  At one time the top Too Big to Jail  bank in the U.S., based on ‘market value’, it’s now crashing & burning after revelations by the city of Los Angeles, and the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, that 2-million of Wells Fargo accounts are fake! Wells Fargo agreed to pay $185-million USD to settle the charges. The state treasurer has suspended billions of dollars in taxpayer funded investments with the bank.  In an apparent move to shift blame Wells Fargo administrators fired 5-thousand 3-hundred employees, many had tried to blow the whistle on the scam!  But that backfired as former employees, some who quit many years ago because they realized Wells Fargo was stacking the deck, have launched massive lawsuits showing it’s been Wells Fargo policy to create fake accounts for decades (supposedly starting in 1998)!  Employees were also made to work overtime without pay.  Wells Fargo illegally repossed military personnel’s vehicles while on deployment, and don’t forget it was proven in court years ago that Wells Fargo was the lead bank in the home foreclosure scams!  How many other Too Big to Jail banks are playing the same game (called Cross-Selling) to make their stockholders happy?  Wells Fargo could be the tip of the banking industry ice berg that’s about to be smashed into tiny pieces. 

CNN: How to tell if any bank opened fake accounts with your name

Forbes: Close Your Account!

In San Rafael, Genworth Financial issued a shutdown WARN, 58 jobs gone after Halloween.  In San Francisco, clothier Benny Gold shutting down its six years old store on 16th Street, and moving to a new location.  Hertz issued a layoff WARN for its vehicle rental/sales ops in San Francisco, 156 jobs lost by November!  In Palo Alto, after 51 years Keeble & Shuchat Photography shutting down in October, the owners warning that “small retail is just really doomed”.  In Long Beach, Tanaka Lawnmower shutdown after 33 years, the aged owners say it’s too hard to see to make repairs to customer’s lawnmowers.  In San Jose, Camera 12 (formerly United Artists movie theater) shutdown after ten years of losses.  In Reedley, Sunnyside Bicycles shutdown due to greedy landlords: “The lease was up, and we just couldn’t come to an agreement with the landowners…..   Business was good….it’s like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane!”-John McCracken

Colorado: Office Max shutting down their Pueblo store as part of plans to shutdown an additional 3-hundred U.S. stores.

Connecticut: In Stamford, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) issued two layoff WARNs, 43 jobs lost between Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Stamford based Starwoods Hotel and Resorts will begin eliminating jobs due ot being taken over by Marriot.  The world’s largest hedge fund company, Bridgewater Associates, has new administrators who think the company has become too large and as such will begin eliminating an undisclosed number of jobs.  After surviving The Great Depression, Clough’s Hardware & Gifts shutdown in Stratford.  God powerless to stop the British empire based Salvation Army from shutting down four thrift stores in The Constitution State.  Perhaps the not-so recovered economy is what Salvation Army admin was refereing to in this statement: “…current circumstances have made supporting these programs through these store locations impossible.”

Florida: France based travel and ’emergency’ insurance agency AXA Assistance  eliminating 40 jobs in Miami, between November 2016 and February 2017.  In Melbourne, after 53 years Southern Photo suddenly shutdown by unfinished road construction: “Quite simply, while we await answers from the Florida (Department of Transportation), we find that our best efforts to operate our business are not enough to navigate through the environment in which we find ourselves today.”– Lisa Stirtzinger, owner

 Underwood’s shutting down its six years old Avenues Mall jewelry store, directly blaming the not-so-recovered economy: “They’re not shopping the same way they did, because they don’t have the money.”-C. Clayton Bromberg, owner

Georgia: In Athens, Masada Leather & Outdoor shutdown after 40 years. The owner says he’ll focus on custom leather work only, at a smaller location.

Hawaii: Japan based Fujifilm shutting down their Oahu office, 24 jobs gone by the end of the year.

Illinois: In Northbrook, Maurice Sporting Goods shutting down, 49 jobs gone by November.  Insurance and financial services company AIG eliminating 70 Springfield jobs by Xmas.  Local news reports say no reason was given.   The Illinois state treasurer is going after Wells Fargo to “suspend billions of dollars” in taxpayer funded ‘investments’.

Indiana: In Alexandria, after 45 years Cox Hallmark Gift Shop shutdown.  In Shelbyville, Connor Jewelry shutdown after 81 years, the current owners blame ‘big box’ and internet competition.

Iowa: In Forest City, after more than 20 years re-sale store, and vocational services for mentally handicapped people, KrysMart shutdown. The operators said they could no longer maintain the operation.  In West Des Moines, after 30 years Letter Perfect stationary shop shutdown, the 71 years old owner said it’s time to retire.

Kentucky: In Lexington two entertainment venues going down, the Cinemark Movies 10 theater and Premiere Home Video.

Maryland: In Cantonsville, 121 years old Plymouth Wallpaper Furnishing & Gifts may-or may-not be shutting down.  A ‘space available’ sign has been posted and the owners told local news “We’re testing the waters for alternatives to the real estate owned by the company.”

Massachusetts: After 54 years The Surrey Shoppe shutdown. It should be noted that the Christian owners (who used a Bible in their window display) admitted that during the time of the christian imposed ‘Sharia’ law (aka Blue Laws) banning businesses from being open on Sunday, they rebelled and remained open seven days a week.  In Greenfield, after almost 1-hundred years Home Furnishing Company shutting down in October.  In Springfield, after 54 years Clothes Tree shutdown the owners blaming unAmerican corporate America for killing the jobs that employed their loyal customers, saying “…they brought in machines and got rid of all the girls.” 

Michigan: In Livonia, after ten years Scrappy Chic scrapbook shop shutting down by the end of October, unless a new owner is found.  In Port Huron, after five years Bargain Barn shutdown becasue the ‘god fearing’ property owners, Cross Current Church, refused to renew the lease.

Missouri: In Woodside, after 70 years Surplus City shutting down, the owner says slow sales (5% -10% decline every year since 2011) are a sign that it’s time to retire.  In Monett, after 46 years retail store Brownsberger shutdown, so the 70 years old owner can retire.  California based First Allied Securities shutting down its Chesterfield office as part of its consolidation operations.

Nebraska: SWBC (SouthWest Business Corporation) laid off 15 people while at the same time is advertising for 20 vacant positions. In Omaha, after 45 years Post & Nickel shutdown, the owners say they need to focus on their Lincoln store.

Nevada: In Sparks, after 19 years The Century 14 Theater shutdown with only a few days notice to the public.

New Hampshire: After 30 years Gilford Gift Outlet shutdown, not because of low sales (the owner claims sales are great) but because the owner is getting ready to retire.

New Jersey: After 70 years the Spring Lake Variety Store shutdown. The 74 years old owner of 80 years old Pettersons Men’s Shop shut-it-down so he can retire. Bankrupt clothier Aeropostale eliminating 108 jobs in Lyndhurst, by November!  In Fair Haven, popular Bike Haven shutting down due to the not-so-recovered economy and to greedy landlords: “They’re basically doubling the rent.”-Cliff Wittenberg, owner

New York: What housing market recovery?  In Elma, Seneca Mortgage will begin laying off mortgage servicing employees in December, due to selling out to competitor National Mortgage Holdings.  In Williamsville, PHH Mortgage laying off 91 people in January 2017, due to “Reduction in loan originations.”  In Rochester, after 67 years R.C. Shaheen Paint & Decorating Center officially shutdown as winners of the auction picked up their merchandise, the owner blames the ‘big box’ stores.  In Massena, 115 years old Smith’s True Value Hardware shutting down by the end of next month.  In Hicksville, matress retailer Sleepy’s issued a shutdown WARN for its Finance & Accounting Unit, 28 jobs lost after Xmas due to “restructuring”.   In NYC, Oscar Insurance moving 31 jobs to The Grand Canyon State of Arizona, right after Xmas.  Best Buy shutting down their Lawrence store by mid November, 60 jobs lost due to “economic” reasons.  Bankrupt clothier Aeropostale issued a shutdown WARN for its NYC HQ and corporate offices, 228 jobs gone right before Xmas! American Capital issued a shutdown WARN for its NYC office, 53 jobs lost before Xmas due to merger with a competitor.  Too Big to Jail Goldman Sachs eliminated 90 jobs within its Asian market offices, blaming it on a decline in Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A).  The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation’s Clinton Global Initiative notified “dozens” of employees of layoffs by the end of the year, due to the wind down of operations.

North Carolina: What housing market recovery? Property manger Kornerstone Community Management now chapter 7 bankrupt dead and under investigation by the Garner Police Department.

North Dakota: In Fargo, successful Junk Giant shutdown so the owners can focus on even more successfull Vinyl Giant. In Williston, oil industry BS forcing two hotels to shutdown, with only a few days notice; Missouri Flats Inn and Marquis Plaza and Suites.

Ohio: Fifth Third Bank shutting down 44 offices in addition to the 1-hundred office shutdowns announced in 2015.  Administrators warned that bank office shutdowns will “…be an annual exercise.”  In Plain, J&D Surplus Junk Store shutting down by the end of October.  The Columbus Motor Speedway shutdown after 71 years of racing, it’s being turned into a park with rugby fields.

Oklahoma: In Oklahoma City, after 69 years iconic ‘hot rod’ parts retailer Parr Automotive shutdown.  A massive auction of hot rodder automobila, and the property itself, will be held towards the end of October.

Oregon: In Roseburg, taxpayer funded Goodwill shutting down their store on Diamond Lake Boulevard (Goodwill’s job training program is mainly funded with federal tax-dollars, not your donations).  Local Goodwill administrators claim they can’t afford the new lease.   In Astoria, after 15 years Rent-A-Center shutdown due to increased competition and rent.  In Springfield, after 26 years Ben Franklin Crafts & Frame Shop shutdown.  The owners blame the greedy landlord for suddenly, and unexplainedly, refusing to renew the lease: “They said they didn’t have someone else in mind for the space. I don’t think they’ve tried to make it available to anyone yet.”-Paul Johnson, co-owner

Pennsylvania:  Customer services contractor IBEX Global eliminating 79 jobs at the end of October.  TV based retailer QVC laid off an additional 1-hundred people at its West Chester HQ!  QVC has eliminated at least 247 jobs since 2015, however, administrators claim they’re hiring for their California operations.

South Carolina:  Best Buy shutting down their Beaufort store by the end of October.  It’s part of Best Buy’s policy not to renew the leases on their stores.

Tennessee:  Citizens National Bank of Athens eliminated 55 jobs due to being taken over by Simmons First National.  In Franklin, soap shop Bathos shutdown after 18 years.  The owner say he will now focusing on internet and event sales, and on his real estate job.  In Hermitage, Mitt Romney wunderkind Staples shutdown yet another store.  In Johnson City, the Animal Shelter Thirft Store shutting down so the owner can retire.  The local animal shelter must now find new funding for its program.

Texas: British empire Canada owned golf retailer Golfsmith now chapter 11 bankrupt busted, for sale, and already shutting down its 109 U.S. stores. Too Big to Jail Capital One shutting down branches in Tyler and Jacksonville by December, they’re going digital.  Mortgage lender One Main Financial eliminating 29 additional jobs in Irvine in November.  News reports say One Main has laid off 116 people in Irvine, since it was sold to Springleaf last year.

Vermont: Five months after a co-op took over management of Underhill Country Store they’ve thrown in the towel saying “Unfortunately with the reserves that we have and the overhead we have, we couldn’t do it there was just no path that was sustainable.”  God refuses to stop ‘his’ British empire based Salvation Army from shutting down their thrift store in Burlington.  Local news said an unnamed employee blamed crashing sales and skyrocketing costs of operation.

Virginia: The Martin Agency laid off 29 people after losing an advertising account with Walmart.

Washington: Taxsucker Chugach Federal Services eliminating 83 government contractor jobs by October in an effort to be more efficient.  In Marysville, after 93 years Carr’s Hardware shutting down. The third generation family owners claim sales are good, they’re just tired of it.

Washington DC: Members of Congress demanded that the Federal Reserve Bank take action against Wells Fargo: “Will you at least seriously consider breaking up Wells Fargo?”–Brad Sherman, Represenative from California questioning Janet Yellen’s lack of action against Too Big to Jail banks 

West Virginia: In Fairmont, decades old The Fashion Scene shutdown so the 77 years old owner can retire.

Wisconsin: Northwestern Mutual eliminating 1-hundred jobs by the end of this year, and “hundreds more” next year!

September 2016 Tech/Communications losses: YES HE CAN, OBAMA GIVES IT ALL TO ICANN!

SEARS KMART UPDATE, September 2016: 2,583 STORES UP FOR LEASE OR SALE!

August 2016: “WE PLAN TO SELL IT DOWN TO THE BONES.”

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification.

I found a 2010 AFL-CIO analysis (titled The Public Availability of WARN Notices: Lack of Accessibility and Disclosure…) which proves what I’ve been suspecting in my search of state WARN notices; most states are not complying with federal WARN regulations and are not publicizing or tracking mass layoffs.

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed!

Employees of religious non-profits might not qualify for unemployment assistance: “If the non-profit organization is a church, you may or may not be entitled to unemployment. It all depends upon state regulations for church employers. In many cases, churches are allowed to set their own rules regarding unemployment benefits, meaning the church can choose whether to offer benefits to former employees.”

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

Technology

Yes he can, Obama gives it all to ICANN! : September 2016 U.S. TECH/COMMUNICATIONS LAYOFFS

More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high-tech competition for your demise. Incomplete list of U.S. internet/high-tech/communications job destruction announcements in September 2016:

Alabama: AT&T eliminating 190 jobs due to consolidation of some operations to Georgia!  Scottsdale based e-cig maker NJOY now bankrupt busted, blaming declining sales for creating $234-million USD of debt.

Arizona: Japan based Ricoh eliminating 68 call center jobs in Tempe. ARRIS Group eliminating 195 call center jobs in Phoenix!

California:  Unnammed employees report that Apple eliminated “dozens” of jobs with its self driving car project in an attempt to “reboot” the project.   Open Source data mining op H2O.ai (0xdata) announced a shift in strategy for raising cash, then laid off nine sales people.  After laying off an undisclosed number of Disney Imagineering employees last month, Disney announced the elimination of 250 additional jobs at it’s video game studios in Glendale!  Also in Glendale, Dreamworks eliminating 226 jobs due to being taken over by NBCUniversal-Comcast!  Japan based Sony laid off at least 40 video game makers from its Sony San Diego Studios.  Solar panel installer Verengo now bankrupt and eliminating at least 82 jobs right before Thanksgiving. Solar power company Enphase Energy eliminating 11% of its global workforce “…to increase our competitiveness…”   Struggling solar power company SunEdison laid off 17 people in Belmont, without warning.  In Mountain View, Symantec issued a layoff WARN, 23 jobs gone by November.  In Sunnyvale, Hewlett Packard revealed it had eliminated 77 jobs back in the middle of August.  Southern California Edison eliminating 43 jobs in Rosemead, by Halloween. Technology Solutions shutdown its Chula Vista ops, 102 jobs gone! In San Jose,  Synaptics Incorporated finally revealed it laid off 77 people, back in July.  Xerox laid off 19 people in Irvine.  Pacific Laser Systems shutdown its San Rafael ops, 69 jobs gone. Internet clothier drjays.com issued a shutdown WARN for their San Diego ops.  In Milpitas, Western Digital issued a layoff WARN, 59 people jobless by October.

Connecticut: Stamford based cell phone service company Frontier Communications announced it will kill 250 jobs in connection to its take-over of Verizon’s California, Florida and Texas networks!

Florida:  Taxsucker Honeywell Sensing and Productivity Solutions eliminating 52 jobs in the name of “efficiency”, starting in January 2017.  Contracted telecommunications/customer service company Sitel eliminating 199 jobs in Ocala, right after Halloween!

Illinois: Now China owned Motorola Mobility eliminated between 7-hundred and 1-thousand jobs!  Ever since Lenovo’s take-over of Chicago based Motorola Mobility, in 2014, thousands of jobs have been killed globally.  Rubicon Technology shutting down its six years old factory in Batavia, affecting 50 jobs by December.  Rubicon Technology also laying off 17 people at its Bensenville ops, by November.

Louisiana: Monroe based CenturyLink sent employees a letter stating that 3-thousand 5-hundred jobs are on the chopping block! The employee cost reduction layoffs will begin immediately.

Main: Xerox shutting down their Lewiston customer service ops in October, 140 jobs lost! 

Maryland: Taxsucker Textron Systems eliminating 45 jobs at its ‘drone’ factory in Baltimore, blaming it on a “…change in the mix…”.

Massachusetts: EnerNOC eliminating more than 2-hundred software jobs as “…part of a broader restructuring plan designed to materially reduce the Company’s operating expenses..”!

New Jersey:  Gannett eliminating 426 Satellite Information Network jobs right before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday! Is the true reason because Gannett continues spending millions of dollars buying out competitors?  Tax-haven Ireland based security systems company Tyco International eliminating ten jobs at its Princeton location, after Xmas.

New York:  IBM continues mass layoffs, unnamed employees report that layoff notices continue to be issued despite IBM administrators claiming they have 25-thousand open positions!   IBM claims the jobs they’re eliminating are “redundancies”, and the layoffs are part of plans to shift to cloud computing.

Oregon: Florida based Sykes shutting down their Eugene call center, 418 jobs gone by the end of October!

Pennsylvania: Tribune-Review eliminating 106 jobs as it shifts to digital editions only, by the end of November!

Texas: Austin based internet news outlet The Daily Dot laid off at least 15 people in an effort to do “…the right thing for the long-term sustainability of the Dot…”.  Round Rock based Dell plans to eliminate 3-thousand jobs after its take-over of EMC!

Washington: Massachusetts based Lionbridge Technologies eliminated 31 jobs at its Bellevue ops due to losing a contract with Microsoft.  Redmond based Microsoft shutting down a Skype office in United Kingdom, about 2-hundred jobs lost!   In Aberdeen, after 30 years Techline shutting down so the owners can retire for good.

Washington DC: Oh yes he can! The Obama regime transfered control of the internet to a supposedly California based ‘non-profit’ corporation called Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), ending decades of oversight by the government’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).  The states of Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma and Texas have filed lawsuits to try and stop the transfer of total internet power.

September 2016 Government Shenanigans: MARIJUANA SAVES COLORADO! ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS PROTECTED IN IDAHO?

August 2016 Tech/Communication layoffs: “WITH SUCH FAST GROWTH, WE LOST SOME FOCUS…”

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed

U.S.

Marijuana saves Colorado! Illegal immigrants protected in Idaho? : September 2016 U.S. FEDERAL, STATE & LOCAL SHENANIGANS

Incomplete list (there’s just too much government BS to be able to keep up with all of it) of U.S. Federal/State/Local Government self-destruct announcements for September 2016:

Arkansas:  July sales tax revenues for the cities of Fayetteville,  Rogers, Springdale, Bentonville were up compared to July of 2015.  There was no immediate explaination for the increase in tax revenues.

Arizona:  Counties are begging the state goverment to raise gas taxes, threatening an increase in property taxes as an alternative.  County leaders point out that since 2008 state administrators have used gas tax revenues for things other than road repairs!

California: Not only has Cupertino based Apple avoided paying its fair share of taxes to the not-so Golden State, as well as Taiwan, United States and European Union, but also failed to pay its fair share of taxes owed to Japan! Apple was apparently offshoring profits made in Japan to its tax haven operations in Ireland.  Once caught Apple administrators quickly agreed to pay Japan $118-million USD in back-due taxes!  Last month The Guardian reported that the Obama regime is threatening the European Union (an ally of the U.S.) for demanding U.S. companies like Apple pay their fair share in taxes!

Colorado: As everything else declines state and local tax revenues from marijuana sales continue to climb, but local news reports say desperate cities addicted to tax revenues are now fighting over how much of the state collections they’ll get, and how they can spend the money.  For an example, the city of Edgewater claims they’ll make $1.2-million USD off the sale of marijuana! 

Idaho: 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.

Indiana: Dearborn County facing crashing riverboat gambling tax collections as analysts expect a 15% decline in the next two years.  Local news reports say the county has been relying on casino taxes to support its budget and even with projected declines the casino tax still brings in the most revenue.

Louisiana: More proof of a Failed State; the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Department eliminating 26 jobs, directly blaming crashing sales tax revenues.

Michigan: More proof of a Failed State; Montcalm County eliminating 20 jobs due to crashing tax revenues.  Operating costs have outpace tax revenues by $2-million USD per year since 2012!  Detroit Metropolitan Airport claims skyrocketing revenues from fees charged to airlines, to vendors and for parking.  Thomas Naughton, CEO of the airport, credits “…increased demand and air service opportunities that have resulted in part by keeping our airline rates competitive…” Grand Rapids owned Indian Trails Golf Course threatening the city budget due to its $2.8-million income tax funded renovation.  The problem is that optimistic city leaders expected almost $700-thousand from customer fees to help repay the renovation, which is now 50 days behind schedule.

Mississippi: The city of Jackson eliminating 28 jobs in an attempt to balance their budget.  In Leake County, the troubled taxpayer funded Mormon corporate run Management and Training Corporation’s (MTC) Walnut Grove child prison shutdown after a lawsuit revealed years of sexual abuse, illicit drugs and physical abuse of child prisoners by corporate correctional officers.

Missouri: Kansas City reports a 58% increase in revenues due to its ‘special’ property and sales tax created to fund its new downtown public transportation streetcars.  However, analysts point out that most of the increased revenues took place before the streetcar system went into operation and that the actuall economic impact of the new streetcar system is not yet knowable.

Nebraska: The Omaha Public Power District eliminating an ‘estimated’ 4-hundred jobs at the soon to be shutdown Fort Calhoun nuke plant!

New Mexico: The state Department of Tourism shutting down 50% of its visitor centers claiming its due to lack of use, but its really because the gov’na ordered a 5% reduction in spending.

Oklahoma:  Oklahoma City revealed sales tax revenues continue to crash, and ordered more city government layoffs.  The city needs to cut an additional $4.5-million USD.  Reduced tax collections forced Comanche County to reduce next year’s budget by $204-thousand.

Pennsylvania: Local news reports say the city of Hazelton is short $813-thousand in tax collections, yet the mayor is asking for a 5% increase in spending so he can hire more people.

Tennessee: Evil Nashville based tax-sucking for profit prison company CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) laid off 55 HQ employees due to the federal government ending reliance on corporate run, yet still taxpayer funded, prisons.

Texas: Brown County reports that all cities within the county are suffering crashing sales tax revenues, for the fourth month in a row.  However, some cities leaders swear their sales tax collections will be up for the year.   The city of Plainview unanimously adopted a new budget that increased property values (a backdoor way of increasing property taxes) without hearing any public comment on the budget plan.

Virginia: City of Falls Church claims hard-to-believe tax revenues from a two months old mega-gorcery store/apartment complex combo, and that’s despite a sudden change of corporate ownership.  The city council is crediting the new mega-gorcery store/apartment complex for helping create almost $500-thousand USD more than what was expected in fiscal year tax collections.  The city of Fredericksburg claims an across the board increase in tax revenues.  City leaders credit tourism for most of the tax revenue increases. Fairfax County wants to rape the tourists even more by proposing a 4% meal tax!  Residents will vote on the proposal in November. 

Washington: King County claims their local economy is strong, yet property tax revenues continue to go down.  County leaders warn they must cut $22-million USD from next year’s budget, meaning jobs.    Davis County wants to massively jack up property taxes for 2017.  Leaders want an additional $7.2-million for county operations and $1.25-million for the county library system.   

Washington DC: More proof of a Failed State; the Congress passed yet anther short term spending bill to avoid federal government shutdown.  The new spending bill is good only until December, and will cost taxpayers trillions of U.S. dollars.  Federal tax collector Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced it must kill-off more than 7-thousand jobs between now and 2024, due to crashing hard copy filings of income tax ‘returns’!    The massive layoffs will directly affect the states of California, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas and Utah.

Wisconsin: The ijiot ‘Right to Work’ you over gov-na Scott Walker is now so desperate to save his Failed State economy he’s proposing a sales tax holiday on school supply items.  If the state cheese-weenie-head ‘lawmakers’ approve it it’ll go into effect in the 2017-19 school year.

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

ISRAEL RAPES U.S. TAXPAYERS OF $38-BILLION IN NEW MILITARY FUNDING!

MORE U.S. TAXPAYER FUNDED MD-530 HELICOPTERS FOR AFGHANISTAN 

FALSE FLAG: 15 YEARS LATER 9/11 BS CONTINUES, AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE!

End of Days? U.S. Forest Service and Department of Defense spend your taxes buying more firefighting planes, because they expect the wildfire season to get worse!

U.S. AFRICOM: FROM WAR ON TERROR TO WAR ON POACHING

August 2016: “EVERYTHING IS ON THE TABLE….NO ONE IS SAFE.”

Business/Economics

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

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!

Technology

“With such fast growth, we lost some focus…” : August 2016 U.S. TECH/COMMUNICATIONS LAYOFFS

More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high-tech competition for your demise. Incomplete list of U.S. internet/high-tech/communications job destruction announcements in August 2016:

California: San Francisco based internet ‘ride sharing service’ Uber lost $1.3-billion USD in the first half of 2016!  Uber pays its ‘contracted’ drivers a subsidy in order to keep ride fares low, and that’s supposedly what caused Uber’s massive loss. Uber now wants to shift to more dangerous driverless cars.  Digital comedy portal Funny or Die shutting down their San Mateo office and eliminating 37 tech jobs.    San Jose hit hard, starting with Cisco Systems which suddenly laid off 899 employees, as part of their new plan to eliminate 14-thousand jobs worldwide! Cisco administrators blame crashing sales of computer hardware.  Despite signing a contract to update San Jose city lights to L-E-D, Sweden based Ericsson issued a shutdown WARN for their San Jose operations, 435 jobs gone by Halloween!   Also in San Jose, computer chip maker Micrel issued a layoff WARN, 195 jobs gone by the end of September! San Jose based solar panel maker SunPower eliminated 1-thousand 2-hundred jobs due to crashing demand for solar power products!  SunEdison suddenly laid off 16 people.  Possibly due to Tesla’s take-over bid SolarCity eliminating 108 jobs in San Francisco and San Mateo!   For some unknown reason state employment administrators finally published the fact that Broadcom and Avago eliminated more than 1-thousand jobs back in March!  State employment admin records show Broadcom and Avago gave the state the mass layoff notices back in January!  Speaking of Broadcom, they just issued another WARN, this time 50 jobs in San Diego gone by mid-September.  It’s been revealed that maker of the new Ghostbusters video game, FireForge (not connected to FireForge Games), went chapter 7 bankrupt busted back in July!   Chapter 7 usually means they’re dead. In Milpitas, cyber security company FireEye laying off 80 employees in October, and the new CEO warned of another 4-hundred layoffs at a yet to be determined later date!  QLogic laying off 69 employees in Aliso Viejo, by mid-October.  In Los Angeles, Xerox laying off 11 people by mid-October.  Glendale based Disney Imagineering laid off an undisclosed number of employees: “Walt Disney Imagineering is a project-based organization, and we continually evaluate and adjust our resources to support the design and development of Disney theme parks, resorts and experiences around the globe.”-official vague explanation

Connecticut: France owned Altice USA-Cablevision Systems Corporation/Optimum shutting down a call center and a customer support center, eliminating more than 5-hundred jobs (some reports say 6-hundred) between October and December!

Georgia: Colorado based EchoStar Technologies shutting down their Atlanta metro area operations, 137 jobs lost by October due to “many factors”!  Internet based Ditech Financial laid off 80 people in the Atlanta area, and another 1-hundred people will lose their jobs in North Carolina and Texas!  Ditech’s parent company, Walter Investments, lost $232-million USD in its 2nd quarter.

Hawaii: Oahu Publications revealed it laid off eight people, there was also news that the owner of the building where Oahu Pubs is HQed has put the building up-for-sale.

Idaho: 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

Iowa: Iowa State University eliminated 30 InfoTech jobs. At the same time, university administrators claim their reorganization of their IT department actually created eight jobs.

Michigan: Dialog Direct (Novo1) shutting down their Grand Rapids call center, 106 jobs gone by mid-October!  According to local news reports, in 2014 Dialog Direct was promised $1.5-million USD in taxpayer funded “investments” to establish a call center in Grand Rapids and hire 287 people.  There was no explanation in the official WARN as to why they’re shutting it down, or why they hired only 106 people.

Missouri: The Kansas City Star laid off 12 people, local news reports say for the past few months there’s been non-stop layoffs at the struggling newspaper.

Mississippi: Another example of what I call Ripple Effect Layoffs; bankrupt e-Fitness & Wellness shutdown their Biloxi location.  The operators blame a payments collection company in Utah for going bust and as a result cutoff funding for e-Fitness.

New Jersey: Japan owned OKI Data Americas eliminating 38 jobs in Mount Laurel by the end of September.  In Red Bank, California based Qualcomm Atheros eliminating 76 jobs by the end of September.

New York: New York Life eliminating numerous in-house InfoTech jobs across The Empire State, between November 2016 and April 2017.  France based Altice USA laid off 1-hundred people in Bethpage, that’s where Altice took over Cablevision Systems!  News reports say news magazine Time Incorporated will eliminate 110 jobs in an attempt to “optimize” growth!  Advertiser MDC-KBS eliminated an undisclosed number of jobs while at the same time claimed “we’re growing and hiring too”.

Oregon: Software “localizer” Sykes issued a shutdown WARN for their Eugene ops, 418 jobs lost by the end of October!

Pennsylvania:  Thorley Industries-4moms, a company that prides itself on using computers and robots to design and build products for babies, revealed it laid off 53 people back in June. 

Texas: Austin based Revolve Solar now chapter 11 bankrupt busted. Interestingly company administrators stated that their financial numbers filed for the bankruptcy were wrong, and that the company was “fine”.

Washington: In Seattle, advertising-analytics company Marchex laid off about 40 employees after a $68-million USD loss in its 2nd quarter.  And video game maker Z2 laid off an undisclosed number of marketing and administrative employees, probably in connection with being taken over by two differnet companies last year.  Still in Seattle, tech company QuoteWizard suddenly laid off 20 people after spending money on a new office in Colorado, administrators admitted “With such fast growth, we lost some focus…”.   Also in Seattle, software company Moz laid off 60 people after a failed attempt to increase its market diversity: “Increasing the breadth of the product suite added a lot of complexity to the business, but didn’t result in the growth we expected.”-Sara Bird, ceo

“WE’LL BE HIRING A TON OF PEOPLE!” SUDDENLY 70-THOUSAND AUTO WORKERS UNEMPLOYED!

U.S. Navy SAYS SOCIAL MEDIA IS NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT!

3RD SELF-DRIVE CRASH FOR TESLA!

July 2016: “IT’S BRUTAL…LIKE STANDING IN A LINE FOR A GUILLOTINE!”

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed

Business/Economics, Idaho

“We plan to sell it down to the bones.” 4,000 Radio Shack stores killed off by the UN? : August 2016 U.S. RETAIL/BANKING/SERVICE SECTOR LAYOFFS

Incomplete list of U.S. retail/banking/service sector job loss announcements and shutdowns for August 2016:

Public relations company Coyne PR (offices in California, New Jersey & New York) suddenly laid off 30 people and slashed employee benefits, blaming a now former chief financial officer for “overstating” financial facts, and warning that they’re only just beginning to discover the damage caused by the CFO.

Alabama: In Decatur, after 30 years Green’s Video shutdown due to online competition.  At one point there were several Green’s Video stores across northern Alabama.  The owner says he still has die-hard customers, just not enough: “Customers have asked me multiple times over the years, ‘You’re not planning to go out of business, are you?’ They really enjoyed having a video store. They are pretty upset the store’s going under.”-Dan Green

California: In San Bernardino, after 60 years of costume sales Fun Corner will shutdown in november, so the owners can retire.  After 30 years the adult book store Circus of Books, in Silver Lakes, shutdown to be replaced with a ganja shop.  In North Hollywood, the Laurel Plaza Macy’s shutting down, the property has been sold and will be turned into apartments, 193 jobs gone by the end of Autumn!  In Anaheim, Good Hope International laying off 60 hotel employees by October.  J. Brand clothier laying off 27 people in Los Angeles, by mid-November.  In Glendale, Disney Parks & Resorts laying off 74 people by October.  What car sales recovery? In Riverside, Davidson Motors Lexus eliminating 111 jobs by October!  Team AMVETS shutting down yet another thrift store, this time in Chula Vista, 16 jobs gone by October.  The Orange Y BMX track, the only BMX track in Orange County, shutdown after the property owners-Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) refused to renew the lease.  The operators of the popular and profitable Orange Y BMX even offered to pay as much as $8-thousand USD more per month in rent!  At the same time that Ashley Furniture suddenly shutdown their sofa factory (Without Warning: Ashely Furniture lays off 840 factory employees in five mintues, saying “…there’s no more jobs!”) the RoomsExpress/Ashley Home Furniture HomeStore in Arroyo Grande shutdown.  Local TV station KSBY reports that customers are pissed as they are still waiting for furiniture they’ve paid for to be delivered! 

Colorado: In Fort Collins, The Photo Shop shutdown, the owners will continue custom printing from their home.  In Denver, Guiness Book certified as the world’s largest model train store in 2014, Caboose Hobbies shutdown after 65 years because the owner wants to retire.  At one time the model train store employed 60 people!

Connecticut:  Tudor Investment laid off 15% of employees after ‘investors’ pulled millions out of the hedge fund.

Florida: After its sale to Staples was blocked, Boca Raton based Office Depot announced that it will shutdown 3-hundred additional stores by 2018!  ‘Christian’ Agnostic Warren Buffett eliminated 72 jobs with his Berkshire Hathaway Concierge in Fort Lauderdale.  Advanatage Rent-A-Car/EZ Rent-A-Car laying off 20 people in West Palm Beach, by the end of September.  Fort Meyers based clothing retailer Chico’s conducted a third round of mass layoffs since 2015, this time 2-hundred people were quietly fired!  Chico’s administrators told local news sources that they are still within the guidleines for keeping the taxpayer funded $1.79-million USD ‘investment’ by the county of Lee!  Yet again, Jacksonville based charity Wounded Warrior Project eliminated an undisclosed number of jobs, in the name of “growth”!

Georgia: In Buckhead, after 64 years Gretchen’s Children’s Shop shutting down after Xmas, so the owner can retire.

Idaho: 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

Illinois: Chicago based unwanted gift card exchange service Raise laid off about 45 employees in an attempt to “sharpen our focus on the broader payments industry”.  Walmart shutting down its Aurora store due to the fact they’ve built six other Walmart stores within ten miles of the Aurora-West Plaza store!  Without warning Bed Bath & Beyond shutdown their store located in the Prairie Market shopping center.  Local news reports say it’s another blow to the village of Oswego, which has lost several ‘big box’ stores since 2011.

Indiana: After 81 years Lorey’s Ben Franklin in Jasper shutting down so the owners can retire.  Granger Hobby Stop shutdown after 18 years, the owner says he never recovered from the 2008 recession.  In Muncie, Dunham’s Sports suddenly shutdown their Bethel Avenue store.

Iowa: In Cedar Rapids, Mitt Romney wunderkind Staples shutting down its First Avenue South East store by mid-September.

Kansas: In Frontenac, after 62 years Moore Furniture shutting down in September.  In Emporia, after three years Junque Drawer Emporium shutdown because “competition was stiff” and “life events happen.”

Maine: Best Buy shutting down their retail store in Topsham by the end of October, blaming low sales and high rent.

Maryland: Best Buy shutting down two stores, one in Baltimore and one in Rosedale.  120 jobs lost due to the leases not being renewed!

Massachusetts: Framingham based Mitt Romney wunderkind Staples plans on shutting down at least 50 stores by the end of the year, due to losing $766-million USD in its 2nd quarter of 2016! 

Michigan: In Fort Gratiot, after 25 years Pet Supplies Plus shutting down by the end of September, the owners blame it on a 22% crash in sales after a ‘big box’ pet store moved into the area: “…you have to have growth and our growth has not climbed in years, probably five or six years since we last saw any growth, so we made that decision.”-Steve Britz

Minnesota:  After ten years Best Buy shutting down their store in Willmar by the end of September.  Apparently that’s when the lease expires, 34 jobs lost.

Missouri: After 70 years Davis Baskets “The Basket King” up for sale so the 91 years old owner can finally retire.

Montana: In Billings, Zig’s Building Materials (Ziggy’s) shutting down when everything is sold, the owner wants to retire.  Local news reports say the shutdown of Ziggy’s will add 200-thousand square feet (61-thousand square meters) of vacant retail space to the already 157-thousand square feet-plus of vacant space on the west side of the city as a result of Kmart, Hastings, Sports Authority and Hancock Fabrics leaving town!

Nebraska: In Scottsbluff, after 25 years Cornerstone Motors shutting down in September, the owner saying “I realized that I’ve never been this old before and it’s time to retire.” 

New Jersey: In Atlantic City, due to the crashing casino industry Trump Taj Mahal issued a shutdown WARN, 2-thousand 848 jobs gone by mid-October!  State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance issued a WARN saying 77 employees will become unemployed by the end of October.  In Wall, after three years ‘home improvement’ store Lowe’s shutting down their Express store.  The Lowe’s Express was opened in response to rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Sandy, but sales are not high enough! After 57 years men’s clothier The Style Shop shutdown: “Unfortunately the business climate has declined and has made it harder and harder to do business here…”-Joe Tolerico

New York: With its corporate HQ now located in the taxpayer funded NYC area known as Hudson Yards ‘megaproject’, up-scale department store Coach announced it will shutdown 250 stores in 2017, due to stagnating sales!  In Red Hook, car parts store Ruge’s Automotive shutting down by November, 40 jobs lost.  Rochester Action Sports Park shutting down due to the owner’s family health problems, there’s rumors that a group has formed to try and keep the skate park operating.  In NYC, Too Big to Jail Goldman Sachs laying off 15 people by Xmas.  Visium Asset Management WARNed it will begin laying off employees after October. Electronics retailer Best Buy issued a shutdown WARN for its Lawrence store, 60 jobs lost by mid-November.  After 111 years New York Central Art Supply shutting down at the beginning of September.  The operators said sales had slowed down, but the final straw was when the building was sold out from under them.  After 32 years sheet music seller Schenectady VanCurler Music shutdown due to the fact that the internet revealed that old sheet music isn’t that rare after all, and you can get it online for almost a song!  In Syracuse, after 90 years DeJulio’s Army and Navy Store (originally selling shoes starting in 1929) up for sale and shutting down when everything is gone.  The owner blames internet competition.  And the Mallard Tobacconist shutdown after 25 years.  The owner was trying to sell the shop to fund her retirement, but gave up.

North Carolina: M&F Bank laid off 11% of its employees in an effort to save money.  Matthews based Family Dollar Stores eliminating 370 corporate jobs, due to being taken over by competitor Dollar Tree!  After nearly 17 years music venue Amos’ Southend shutting down due to ongoing neighborhood property development “presenting many new challenges to successfully run a music venue.”  The Radio Shack in Wilson shutting down.  In Raleigh, after 70 years bike store Flythe Cyclery shutdown due to a death in the family.

North Dakota: In Grand Forks, appliance store Karl’s shutting down due to the greedy landlord selling the property, and apparently the new (and as yet unknown) property owner doesn’t want to renew the lease.

Ohio: After 37 years shoe store Head Over Heels shutdown in Hyde Park Square. Co-owner Tony Jagoditz blames the industry itself, saying “The whole industry has changed in the last five years. When we opened there was a lot of domestic and European production. A lot of those factories closed or moved production to China.”   In Akron, after nearly 30 years Dimitroff’s Furniture and Design shutting down by the end of October, the owners hope this time they can really retire (after a failed first retirement attempt 11 years ago).  After suffering bigger quarterly losses than expected (a $13-million USD loss), New Albany based clothier Abercrombie & Fitch announced they will shutdown an additional 60 stores! After already shutting down 40 stores this year, Cincinnati based Macy’s announced it will shutdown another 1-hundred stores between now and Spring 2017: “Nearly all of the stores to be closed are cash flow positive today, but their volume and profitability in most cases have been declining steadily in recent years.”-Jeff Gennette, president

And retailer Rocky Brands essentially said the main stream news media claims that the economy is good is BullShit: “In response to market conditions, Rocky Brands made the very difficult decision to lay off approximately 20 employees. We believe that the retail environment which has led to decreased sales over the past six months is systemic as we have seen our competitors experience similar financial results.”-David Sharp, ceo

Pennsylvania: In Shenandoah, after 116 years (making it the oldest surviving business in the city) Talerico’s shoe repair shop shutdown due to skyrocketing demand for shoe repairs, but the old owner couldn’t find any potential employees qualified to repair the shoes: “Somebody could’ve done real good, but I couldn’t get anyone to learn it!”-Tom Talerico

South Carolina: Radio Shack shutting down their West Main Street, Lexington, store.

South Dakota: In Sioux Falls, Alan Evans Bridal shutdown.

Tennessee: What housing market recovery? Home sale closings fell 3.3% from the previous year, it’s being blamed on skyrocketing prices of homes. In Knoxville, after more than 25 years of selling-trading records and CDs iconic The Disc Exchange shutdown, the owners say they can no longer compete with digital, even with the resurgance of vinyl.

Texas: Fort Worth based bankrupt Radio Shack plans to sell-off or shutdown all remaining 4-thousand stores across the U.S.!   The Hudson Institute blames the death of Radio Shack on the United Nations run international postal rates syndicate.   Dallas based high-end retailer Neiman Marcus laid off nearly 1-hundred people!   San Antonio based Too Big to Jail SWBC (SouthWest Business Corporation) warning of a third round of  layoffs after losing yet another major client.  Possibly an example of what I call Ripple Effect Layoffs as the oil industry BS hits The Lone Star State hard; after 11 years Houston’s only ‘professional’ theater shutdown.  The Texas Repertory Theatre Company (note the evil British empire way of spelling theater) forced to close after The Houston Endowment canceled two years worth of its funding (about $50-thousand USD), and ticket sales crashed (apparently down to just 30 tickets per show)!

Wisconsin: Five hhgregg appliance & electronics stores shutting down based on their evaluation of their “real estate positions”!  After 37 years Sauk Prairie’s Harley Davidson dealer shutting down by the end of September, due to the owners consolidating their multiple dealerships.  In Manitowoc, after more than 20 years Ramona’s Ladies Apparel shutdown, the now deceased owner decided to sell all her business ventures last year.  In Milwaukee, after five years music venue Hotel Foster shutdown.

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

AUGUST 2016 OBAMACARE DESTRUCTION: “…WE’LL ALL HAVE TO DO MORE WITH LESS.”

AUGUST 2016 DUMBING DOWN THE U.S.: “IT’S AN INDECENT PRACTICE!” THROWING MONEY AT EDUCATION DOESN’T WORK, UNLESS IT’S TO HELP POLICE CHEAT!

July 2016: 1 COMPANY KILLS 40,000 JOBS IN 1 DAY!

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification.

I found a 2010 AFL-CIO analysis (titled The Public Availability of WARN Notices: Lack of Accessibility and Disclosure…) which proves what I’ve been suspecting in my search of state WARN notices; most states are not complying with federal WARN regulations and are not publicizing or tracking mass layoffs.

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed!

Employees of religious non-profits might not qualify for unemployment assistance: “If the non-profit organization is a church, you may or may not be entitled to unemployment. It all depends upon state regulations for church employers. In many cases, churches are allowed to set their own rules regarding unemployment benefits, meaning the church can choose whether to offer benefits to former employees.”

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

Business/Economics

“a financially ruinous game of musical chairs” “there’s no more jobs!” : August 2016 U.S. Mining/Industrial/Logistics layoffs

Incomplete list of U.S. Mining/Industrial/Logistics job loss announcements and shutdowns for August 2016.

California:  Without warning Ashley Furniture laid off 840 people at their factory/warehouse in Colton!  Local news reports said the employees were lured to convention centers were the layoffs took place within a five minutes period, after which employees received a letter via FedEx telling them the Ashley Furniture sofa factory was shutdown: “They told us to go into a meeting, and all of a sudden they tried to feed us and they said, ‘You know what, there’s no more jobs!’”-Israel Naja, laid off without warning

Work at Total Terminals, one of the largest ports in Long Beach, now suspended “until further notice” as majority owner Hanjin (of Korea), now bankrupt busted: “Hanjin’s bankruptcy could very well spoil the holidays for anyone……Look for a financially ruinous game of musical chairs as cargo owners now hunt for space with other shipping lines.”-Jock O’Connell, Beacon Economics

In Hayward, Architectural Lighting Works shutting down, 55 jobs lost by October. Oil producer Rincon Islands now chapter 11 bankrupt busted.  News reports say the bankruptcy is actually a way for the oil company to avoid complying with new California regulations.  Boeing issued a Halloween layoff WARN for 57 people in El Segundo and Huntington Beach.   In Burlingame, Alaska Air Group (aka Alaska Airlines-Horizin Airlines) issued a layoff WARN for 225 people, possibly in connection with its take-over of Virgin America!  In San Francisco, SkyWest Airlines eliminating 325 jobs by the end of September!  At Los Angeles International Airport, G2 Secure Staff laying off 90 people by mid-October.   Silgan Containers issued several layoff WARNs, 267 jobs lost for Riverbank and Modesto between September and Halloween!

Colorado: At the Denver International Airport, ‘ground handler’ Swissport laying off 187 people in September due to “significant loss of business” caused by major airlines making drastic cuts!

Connecticut: A year after being taken over by Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky Aircraft is laying off at least 109 people! 

Florida: In Winter Park, after 15 years wholesaler Coralia Leets Jewelry Design now chapter 7 bankrupt and dead.

Illinois: Industrial tool maker Rockford Products suddenly laid off about 150 employees due to lack of debt financing, and another 171 will be laid off by the end of September if nobody wants to buy the business! A fine example of what I call Ripple Effect Layoffs; American Electric Power warned of 22 layoffs at its Cook Coal Terminal due to the massive reduction of the coal industry.  Peoria based mining vehicle maker Caterpillar continues to kill jobs, this time 155 employees in Pennsylvania and Texas will become unemployed!  And another fine example of what I call Ripple Effect Layoffs; after six years farm equipment supplier German-Bliss Equipment suddenly shutdown, blaming mass layoffs by Caterpillar and crashing commodity prices for local crops.

Indiana: An example of what I call Ripple Effect Layoffs; in Evansville, Flanders Electric suddenly laid off 109 people, on top of the 80 employees let go a couple of months ago!  It’s blamed on lack of sales to the mining-oil industry.  Bankrupt Vertellus Specialties laying off up to 50 people at its Indianapolis chemical factory, in October.  Gear maker Oerlikon Fairfield suddenly laid off 71 people due to “soft market conditions”.   Another fine example of what I call Ripple Effect Layoffs; Canada owned Stanrail shutting down its boxcar factory in Gary, 1-hundred jobs lost between October 2016 and February 2017, due to the crashing rail industry!  Also in Gary, US Steel suddenly (and apparently with no explanation) laid off 38 people, the employee’s union says it will fight the layoff decision. What home construction industry recovery? Laminate wood products maker VT Industries shutting down their New Albany factory, 120 jobs lost by the end of September!  GE Appliances shutdown their factory in Bloomington, about 330 jobs lost! Interestingly, General Electric says it has enough money to pay the now unemployed employees a severance until June of 2017.  The factory shutdown is blamed on a 76% crash (since 2008) in fridge sales!

Iowa: After two days of auctions, bankrupt Columbus Castings likely to shutdown after the bidder who wanted to keep it operating (according to bankruptcy documents) lost, 8-hundred jobs gone! 

Kansas: Canada owned Bombadier Learjet notified the state of 30 layoffs due to crashing demand for the Learjet 70 and 75.

Kentucky:  GE Lighting shutting down two factories, 210 jobs gone between now and August 2017!  The ‘brilliant’ General Electric administrators admit its because they’ve been slow to switch to L-E-D production, as a result production is down to just 15% of factory capacity!

Louisiana: Stone Energy laid off about 45 people across Louisiana and Texas, as part of the ongoing oil industry BS.  Stone Energy also halted deep-water oil drilling, at least until 2017.

Michigan: After 77 years, family owned maker of heat processing equipment Jensen Industries now chapter 11 bankrupt busted.

New Jersey: Graham Packaging issued a WARN, 71 jobs in Belvidere lost by the end of September.

New York: Asbestos removal company Precision Environmental Solutions now chapter 11 bankrupt busted.  Data shows the company made $7-million USD in revenue in the past two years, but so far this year has made a measly $175-thousand!

North Carolina: In Gastonia, Germany owned truck maker Daimler-Freightliner laid off 115 employees!  This is apparently on top of the 2-hundred laid off in June?  The custom fabric maker Spoonflower laid off 30 people and then a co-founder said the company was in “great shape”.  What automotive industry recovery?  Maker of glass for cars Ohio based Safelite announced it will shutdown its Enfield factory, killing 210 jobs: “…it is no longer feasible for us to sustain the continual investments needed to outfit the plant for complex future windshield designs.”-Tom Feeney, president

Ohio:  Dow Chemical shutting down their polystyrene factory in Hanging Rock beginning in September, as part of their “growth” strategy.

Oklahoma: Maker of thermal combustible products for the oil industry Callidus Technologies laid off 30 people in Tulsa.

Oregon: At the Portland International Airport, Menzies Aviation eliminating 186 jobs by Halloween, due to losing a contract with Alaska Air!  Despite a busy wildfire season, helicopter fire bomber operator Erickson Air Crane laid off 1-hundred people!  Company administrators admitted that despite years of busy wildfire seasons they’re being burned by massive debt (they owe Too Big to Jail Wells Fargo $140-million USD, the evil Wells Fargo is owned by ‘christian’ agnostic Warren Buffett).  Allegheny Technologies warned it must consolidate its Oregon operations due to low titaniuim prices!

Pennsylvania: After merging with Colorado based Imprints Wholesale, sportswear maker Broder Brothers issued a shutdown WARN for their Philadelphia operations, 143 jobs gone by mid-October!  American Air Filter shutting down its Elizabethtown ops, 90 jobs gone by mid-September.  In Lewistown, packaging maker Rorher Corporation issued a shutdown WARN, 55 jobs gone by mid October.  Latrobe based industrial tool maker Kennametal eliminating 1-thousand jobs worldwide due to a second year of bad sales!  Because of the mining industry BS, Caterpillar issued a shutdown WARN for its Houston operations, 155 jobs gone by mid-October!  Harley Davidson motorcycles announced that 2-hundred people will lose their jobs at three of its factories in the state!  Company administrators revealed that sales are crashing-n-burning due to an unrecoverd economy (a $19-million USD drop in sales from the same time last year, some Harley dealers are shutting down).   Another fine example of what I call Ripple Effect Layoffs; FrieghtCar America shutting down its Johnstown administrative offices sometime next year, blaming it on crashing rail shipments.

Texas: Houston based ConocoPhillips announced more layoffs, this time about 9-hundred people will become jobless due to the oil industry BS!  Bankrupt Sherwin Alumina Company shutting down its factory in Gregory by October, news reports say it might be sold to a competitor.  Another fine example of what I call Ripple Effect Layoffs; Caterpillar eliminating 40 jobs at its factory in Denison, due to the crashing mining industry.

Utah: Allegheny Technologies shutting down its raw materials operations in Rowley, 140 jobs lost due to low titaniuim prices!

Virginia:  UPS (United Parcel Service) laying off at least 115 people at its corporate HQ, in the name of “streamlining”!   Unnamed employees told local news sources that those laid-off were “escorted out of the building”.

Washington: Boeing continues killing jobs, this time 1-hundred people in The Evergreen State becoming unemployed!  News reports say the layoffs are connected to Boeing’s commercial airliner and military divisions.

West Virginia: In Huntington, Oregon based Special Metals conducted yet another round of layoffs, but refused to say how many people are now unemployed. Last year they laid off at least 1-hundred employees.  DeepWell Energy Services eliminating 177 jobs due to not winning a new contract!

Wisconsin: What automotive industry recovery?  Milwaukee based Jason Industries, maker of new car interior parts, has lost so much money ($2.4-million loss compared to the same time last year) due to crashing orders that it will shutdown factories around the world!  Administrators blamed their losses on “change in the manufacturing environment.”  Manitowoc elminating 528 jobs when it moves its crane factory to Pennsylvania!

July 2016 : “NO SIGNS OF FUTURE IMPROVEMENT”

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification.

I found a 2010 AFL-CIO analysis (titled The Public Availability of WARN Notices: Lack of Accessibility and Disclosure…) which proves what I’ve been suspecting in my search of state WARN notices; most states are not complying with federal WARN regulations and are not publicizing or tracking mass layoffs.

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed!

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

U.S.

“…we’ll all have to do more with less.” “a confluence of unpredicted events” : August 2016 ObamaCare Destruction

It must be noted that I started documenting these ObamaCare/healthcare related shutdowns at the beginning of 2014. In that year I posted the reports biannually (every six months). In 2015 ObamaCare cutbacks ramped up and I posted quarterly (every three months). For the past eight months of 2016 there have been so many ObamaCare cutbacks that I’ve posted a report every month!

Incomplete list of healthcare related layoffs and shutdowns, August 2016:

Alabama: Tennessee based Crestwood Medical Center laid off 13 people, directly blaming ObamaCare for lower patient volumes.

California: Menlo Park based Kaiser Health News reporting on a new ‘surprise’ healthcare billing that patients are unaware of, called Observation Care.  Not only can a hospital hit you with the surprise charge of a supposed visit by a doctor you never saw, but they’re also charging for the nurse to “observe” you.  More and more of these Observation Care charges are being rejected by Medicare because such service is now considered outpatient care, thus patients are being billed directly.  Sonoma West Medical Center (previously Palm Drive Hospital) laid off 25 administration staff after signing a management contract with Pipeline Health, they claim they’ll hire more nurses. Germany owned Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals announced they will layoff an undisclosed number of employees in Mission Bay.   Medical products maker Balda C. Brewer issued a shutdown WARN for their Anaheim ops, 130 jobs gone by Halloween! In Corona, Israeli based drugs maker Teva laying off 19 people by October.  MedRisk shutting down their Calabasas location by mid-October.  Bankrupt Gardens Regional Hospital (Tri-City Regional) issued a mass layoff WARN for their city of Hawaiian Gardens hospital (which provides service for low income people), 318 jobs gone by November!  Last year the city of Los Angeles sued Gardens Regional for ‘dumping’ homeless patients.   Gardens Regional administrators blame ObamaCare for their economic destruction saying in federal bankruptcy court “The debtor loses money every month it operates, and would soon be unable to pay its employees for the next pay period.”

Florida: In Hialeah, eyeglass maker Insight Optical Manufacturing sending 63 in-house jobs to cheap-o contractors by mid-October.  Nephron Pharmaceuticals eliminating 60 Orlando jobs by the end of October.

Georgia: WellStar Health Systems outsourced 521 jobs to a contractor!  Atlanta based Cable News Network (CNN) continues airing reports that swear “there is no proof that ObamaCare has cost jobs.”  I assume they don’t read Blind Bat News.  DeKalb County based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports at least 2-thousand 517 casesof Zika in the U.S.  So far only the states of Wyoming and Alaska have escaped the virus.

Idaho: 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.”

Illinois: After trying to get employees to retire early, NorthShore University HealthSystem now laying off at least 1-hundred people due to “redundancies”!   In East Alton, the Walgreens on West Saint Louis Avenue shutdown without warning.  The town’s mayor said Walgreens administrators told him the store wasn’t making enough money. Walgreens is also shutting down a store in Decatur.

Iowa: New Links Genetics laid off 1-hundred employees after one of its new cancer treatment drugs failed in testing!

Kentucky: King’s Daughters Medical Center killed 148 jobs!  It’s directly blamed on ObamaCare for reducing patient volumes, and cost reimbursements.

Maine: Eastern Maine Healthcare System laid off 35 people. 13 employees accepted early retirement deals.  It’s blamed on a $3-million USD shortfall caused by ObamaCare.

Massachusets: Nonprofit Baystate Health continues killing jobs, this time 3-hundred jobs gone due to a $75-million USD shortfall caused by reduced Medicaid payments, as a result of ObamaCare!  Employees at Fresenius Medical Care locked up and left an 86 years old dialysis patient inside the clinic!  The grand daughter of the patient had to call firefighters to get her grandma out, employees admitted they never noticed the patient!

New York: NYC based insurance company MetLife announced yet more job killing, this time the insurer wants to cut $1-billion USD in costs, and part of that will be the outsourcing of more than 1-thousand MetLife InfoTech/call center jobs in the U.S. and India!  U.S. Security Associates lost their contract with North Shore Long Island Jewish Hospital, 97 jobs lost by September.  Chapter 11 bankrupt Hebrew Hospital Senior Housing shutting down their Westhester Meadows retirement home, 89 jobs gone by the end of September.  God can’t stop Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Elmira from eliminating 83 jobs by September.  In Troy, god couldn’t stop ‘his’ Samaritan Hospital from eliminating 22 nursing positions.  Israel based drugs maker Teva issued a shutdown WARN for their Pomona location, 236 jobs lost between now and February 2017!  Phoenix Houses shutting down their Brooklyn addiction treatment center on J Street, at least 42 of the 109 employees will become unemployed in time for Thanksgiving.   

North Carolina: Columbus Regional Healthcare System eliminated 28 jobs.  In Ashville, after 19 years Skyland Behavioral Health Associates shutdown due to “a confluence of unpredicted events”.  Non-profit Mission Health eliminated three executive positions, cut executive pay between 13% and 25%, and is laying off 70 employees.  It’s directly blamed on federal taxpayer funding cuts and North Carolina’s version of ObamaCare.

Pennsylvania:  Drugs maker Merk issued a shutdown WARN for their North Wales operations, 148 jobs gone by mid September!  Canonsburg based drugs maker Mylan jacked up the price of its life saving EpiPen by 548%, to $608 USD for a package of two injectors!  Mylan says it’s making a cheaper ‘generic’ version, to retail at $304!  In 2007 the EpiPen cost $98!

Tennessee: Tennova Healthcare laying off 75 people in October.  God powerless to stop ‘his’ Baptist Memorial Health Care from laying off 23 people. Another 61 employees will be let go sometime in the near future.  Administrators directly blame ObamaCare for reduced costs reimbursements: “Healthcare is going through unprecedented change, and we’ll all have to do more with less. These changes will help position Baptist to provide the very best care for all of the mid-South.”-Jason Little, executive vice president and COO

Texas: In Waco, Missouri owned Providence Health Center is outsourcing their office and billing operations to a company in Illinois.  In Lubbuck, god powerless to stop Covenant Health from laying off 49 employees, administrators directly blame ObamaCare: “Covenant Health is financially stable, but the changes we’ve experienced thus far and will continue to undergo are the direct result of reduced reimbursements….”-Richard Parks, executive vice president and CEO

Virginia:  Ohio based grocer Kroger is shutting down its The Little Clinic urgent care ops at four Hampton Roads locations.  News reports didn’t explain why.  Lynchburg’s Centra Health will eliminate 124 jobs between now and Xmas!  Administrators blame the bad economy and ObamaCare for reducing patient volumes and cost reimbursements.

Washington: Vancouver based non-profit PeaceHealth announced they will layoff 5-hundred employees at two hospitals! PeaceHealth recently lost a major contract with California based Kaiser Permanente.  Interestingly this mass layoff has yet to be reported to state employment adminstrators (WARN).

Washington DC: The Congressional Budget Office predicts that only 12-million people will sign up for ObamaCare in 2017, far less than the 24-million predicted back in 2013.  Analysts say low enrollment in 2017 will mean the death of ObamaCare.

Wisconsin: God can’t stop ‘his’ employees from blowing the whistle on massive layoffs at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare and Columbia Saint Mary’s.  When confronted by news media the administrators of the ‘christian’ hospitals refused to give numbers, but admitted its part of parent company Ascention Health’s consolidation plans.

OBAMACARE FAIL: U.S. ARMY PROVIDES FREE CARE FOR DESPERATE TEXANS!

OBAMACARE FAIL: U.S. MILITARY DEPLOYED TO RENDER FREE MEDICAL HELP TO 13-THOUSAND U.S. CITIZENS!

July 2016: “…NO AMBULANCE SERVICE.”  

ObamaCare = Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

U.S.

“It’s an indecent practice!” Throwing money at education doesn’t work, unless it’s to help police cheat! : August 2016 Dumbing Down the U.S.

It must be noted that I started documenting these education shutdowns at the beginning of 2014, in that year I posted the reports biannually (every six months). In 2015 education cutbacks ramped up and I posted quarterly (every three months). For the past seven months of 2016 there have been so many education cutbacks that I’ve posted a report every month!

Disappearing Students Syndrome (DSS): A phrase created by me to describe a phenomenon taking place across the United States, affecting both privately and publicly funded schools, from Kindergarten all the way through University levels.

Incomplete list of publicly announced education related layoffs & school shutdowns, August 2016:

California: Iconic film and photography school Brooks Institute forced to shutdown their Ventura campus due to a sudden crash in enrollment, 169 jobs lost!  News reports say Brooks suddenly stopped lease required remodeling work and failed to pay $70-thousand USD in rent on the city owned property! The city of Ventura will probably sue the college.  In San Diego, Museum of Contemporary Art laid off 28 people and shutting down their La Jolla campus, saying it’s part of their planned “expansion”.

Connecticut: Bridgeport Public Schools laid off two School Resource Officers (cops). 

Georgia: Albany State University and Darton State College eliminating 110 jobs! It’s blamed on non-stop Disapearing Students Syndrome.  God can’t stop the administrators of ‘his’ Piane College from eliminating 15 jobs due to what I call Disapearing Students Syndrome (it’s The Rapture eyes tells ya).  God’s ‘christian’ college will also reduce many employee’s pay to within 10% of minimum wage!

Idaho: 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.  

Illinois: Chicago Public Schools (CPS) issued layoff notices to 1-thousand and 29 employees! Administrators claim that the layoffs are at schools experiencing crashing enrollment, but that other schools will actually be hiring.  In Pilsen, Benito Juarez Community Academy laid off ten people as part of the CPS funding cuts.  Elgin Community College laid off 15 employees and warned more layoffs are in the works as state taxpayer funding keeps getting cut.  In Wrigleyville, after 32 years Bookworks shutdown their brick-n-mortar store and will focus on internet sales only. The owners blame their declining brick-n-mortar book sales not on internet competition, but on jacked up rents, which in turn have changed the local brick-n-mortar landscape: “…the bar scene increased dramatically. For a number of years now it seems like every space that has gone for rent has eventually become a bar. It really has changed the atmosphere and focus of the neighborhood…”-Bob Roschke, co-owner

Indiana: The U.S. Department of Education is now banning Carmel based ITT Tech from accepting new students who rely on federal education loans or grants!

Iowa: Iowa State University eliminated 30 InfoTech jobs. At the same time, university administrators claim their reorganization of their IT department actually created eight jobs.

Kansas: Proof that taxpayer funding does not directly equal student performance? The Kansas Association of School Boards reports that student performance is ranked 10th for the United States, despite funding being ranked 29th!

Kentucky: In Louisville,  Speed Art Museum laid off seven people and reduced full-time employees to part-time.  It’s blamed on crashing attendance and $60-million USD in renovation costs.

Maryland: God’s Notre Dame laid off 12 people and shutdown 14 vacant positions.

Minnesota: After 103 years God powerless to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ Crossroads College (International Christian Bible College), after the Fall Semester! ‘Christian’ administrators blame it on what I call Disapearing Students Syndrome (it’s The Rapture eyes tells ya).

Ohio: In Beavercreek, education supply store Tools 4 Learning shutdown.

Oregon: After almost 40 years non-profit Arts Central-Art Station-VanGo-Artists in Schools shutdown its education programs in Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson counties.

Pennsylvania: Fiscally ignorant NAACP suing the state, saying the additional $260-million in education funding (on top of the state’s supposed “historic” funding levels) is not enough (see Idaho and Kansas above for proof that mo-money doesn’t equal mo-education)! California University of Pennsylvania has warned its employees of layoffs at the end of the 2016-17 school year, due to crashing enrollment.  A former university instructor reveals that state universities and local police are working together to ‘cheat’ on internet testing for future law enforcement personnel: “Many who earn their Penn State degrees through World Campus, particularly those serving in the military, eventually pursue careers in law enforcement. The removal of the exam-proctoring safeguard signaled to students that cheating in online courses was not only tolerated, but to some extent, also encouraged by Penn State.”-Shane Ralston 

South Carolina: It’s been revealed that PowerBall Lottery funding for state college scholarships is down: “We did not intend for the general fund to cover lottery scholarships to the extent it has. You can’t just tell someone we’re out of money.”-Chip Limehouse, weak-willed state Representative

It was also revealed that many of the state scholarships officially meant for low income students are actually going to students from wealthy families: “It’s an indecent practice! ….you’re sending kids to college on poor folks’ money, but you can’t figure out how to fund schools in Jasper County?”-Reverand Joe Darby

Wisconsin: Half Price Books shutting down their Highland Plaza store: “…during this changing time for our industry, we have to be smart about the business decisions we make. We have great customers here in Milwaukee, but unfortunately the customer traffic hasn’t been high enough to allow us to stay, so we are focusing our resources on our other Milwaukee-area locations.”

July 2016: “WE ARE GOING DOWN…”