A Ukrainian woman got pissed during a long-going-no-where meeting of attorneys and open fired with her fully loaded booby!
I assume the meeting ran so long that the mom missed the feeding time for her baby, and was ready to burst.
Tag Archives: food
Food Crisis: Deflation will cause 1 in 5 dairy farms to fail!
21 February 2016 (17:40 UTC-07 Tango 01) 02 Esfand 1394/12 Jumada al-Ula 1437/14 Geng Yin 4714
“We’re expecting an awful lot to exit the industry by the end of this year, when lots of farmers will have eaten up their savings. Last year the figure was 4%, but the expectation is more will exit this year, whether it’s 10% or 20%!”– Rob Harrison, dairy farmer & chairman of National Farmers Union
In the past ten years 10-thousand 5-hundred dairy farms ceased to exist, and now reports that another one in five will shutdown this year!
It’s happening in the British empire (Commonwealth of Nations) member United Kingdom.
“No other industry would continue on this basis of profitability, and it’s only because we are dealing with livestock that we don’t want to have slaughtered. But, as feed stocks run down and have to be grown and replaced, many will simply get out. Once the banks lose faith in us being able to pay them back, you will see a huge exodus.”-Nick Adames, Black Barn Farm in West Sussex
Blame deflation! Dairy farmers blame a continuing decline in what they’re being paid for their products. The Royal Association of Dairy Farmers says currently dairy ops are shutting down at a rate of five per week!
Food Crisis: Where’s the Beef, New Zealand? China to blame?
WinCo: New stores for Texas, Washingtonians & Oregonians want WinCo out!
20 February 2016 (08:49 UTC-07 Tango 01)/01 Esfand 1394/11 Jumada al-Ula 1437/13 Geng Yin 4714
Idaho based employee owned anti-unAmerican corporate America grocery store chain WinCo Foods continues to expand, while many publicly traded corporate grocery stores shutdown.
Carrollton, Texas (home of model kit builder’s iconic Squadron Mail Order), is about to get a new WinCo supermarket in a recently abandoned Target store. Reports out of The Lone Star State say WinCo now has six food stores (since invading Texas in 2014) and is planning two more in Arlington and Fort Worth. The Carrollton store isn’t expected to be ready until 2017, the vacant Target store must be torn down first.
In Utah, WinCo is constructing a new store in South Salt Lake, expected to open by the end of the year. As many as 2-hundred jobs are expected and city administrators hope WinCo will make their top ten list of local taxpayers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently declared South Salt Lake a ‘food desert’, meaning residents had limited access to food.
Speaking of food insecurity, in the not-so Golden State of California (see my Job Losses reports), a Ventura WinCo was hit by middle aged shoplifters who threatened a security guard with a tazer. Police are searching for them, security cam vid was captured.
In Grants Pass, Oregon, WinCo opened its 105th store. It’s smaller than the normal WinCo supermarket, yet has managed to hire 150 locals (and transferred at least 11 people from other WinCo stores). Already the new WinCo has been hit by a food shoplifter. The 25 years old woman is a meth and heroin drug addict, police had her hospitalized for an infection on her arm.
The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals is about to hold a debate over plans to open a new WinCo in Albany. Supposedly the issue is over the use of windows, however, a complaint was filed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. Unions are anti-employee owned businesses, because employee owned businesses are a bigger threat to unions than unAmerican corporate America. Employee owned operations get better benefits, and pay far less in ‘dues’ than union shops.
It should be noted that Oregon suffered the mass shutdowns of Washington based Haggen grocery stores in 2015 (connected to the Albertsons-Safeway merger).
In Edmonds, Washington, city administrators have revised zoning rules to allow retail development next to the local WinCo. Previously, in the 1990s the WinCo location was a Top Foods grocery store. Local news reports did not indicate whether the WinCo had any influence on the city’s decision to change the zoning.
Washington state is known to be a haven for anti-WinCo-ites. In Moses Lake an anti-employee owned business organization is suing the city to stop the potential construction of a WinCo, accusing the city of not complying with the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) process. The city has yet to even approve WinCo’s request to set up shop.
It should be noted that Washington saw the demise of its Haggen grocery store chain in 2015.
Back in Idaho, the co-founder of WinCo (originally Waremart) was honored during the Twin Falls Rotary Club meeting. Ronald L. “Bud” Williams died last month, of acute myeloid leukemia, he was 87 years old. Local Rotary members say over the past 40 years Bud always helped with the local Xmas celebrations. His leukemia came on suddenly, being diagnosed the week before he died.
On a national level, WinCo Foods recently promised to sell only Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) rated farmed seafood. By the end of this year all their farmed seafood should be three star rated BAP, by the end of 2017 it’ll be four start rated.
Currently WinCo Foods employs more than 15-thousand people, all part owners of the grocery chain.
Employee owned WinCo is the new business model of the 21st Century!
WinCo expanding big into Arizona! Delays caused by Arizona aesthetics cops!
Corporate Communism while workers suffer! ObamaCare hospitals Wage War on each other! : U.S. Job Losses & Closings 19 February 2016
Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.
California: Independent movie distributor Alchemy laid off 40 people due to the poor ticket sales of its most recent movie releases. More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t blame the internet/high tech for your demise; Sunnyvale based NetApp confirmed it will eliminate 1-thousand 476 jobs around the world (including hundred of jobs in North Carolina)! It’s blamed on steadily declining revenues. 
Recycling doesn’t pay anymore! Low prices (deflation) for recyclables are killing off 2-hundred rePlanet recycling centers across The (not so) Golden State. At least 278 jobs lost: “Over the last five years, there’s this steady decline in the market value of recyclable materials, and it’s been about a 20 percent decline.”-Mark Oldfield, CalRecycle
Colorado: In Fort Collins, after 30 years restaurant South China shutting down due to a significant increase in rent.
Florida: Lee Roy Selmon’s shutting down their 10 years old Saint Petersburg restaurant. The corporate owners said it needed extensive remodeling, and it wasn’t worth it. They also blamed lack of parking and increased competition.
Indiana: MC Sports shutting down their store in Highland by the end of May.
Iowa: What was that about the United States being ‘free market’ and anti-communist? State taxpayers are about to be raped for an undisclosed amount of money to keep DuPont Pioneer in Johnston. No details have been released, yet.
Kentucky: The Village 8 movie house shutting down by the end of the year because its home, the Village Center mall, is being sold to KentuckyOne Health. Local news reports say the hospital operator refuses to say what it’ll do with the property, yet for some reason is buying up land in the area. Speculation is that KentuckyOne Health is trying to prevent competing hospital operators from moving in. So much for your healthcare, see what Obamacare is doing!
Montana: More job killing at University of Montana; 27 jobs gone by the end of June, due to what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome (DSS).
New Jersey: CarePoint Health eliminated an undisclosed number of employees at three hospitals in Hudson County. Union reps said 49 nurses at just one hospital were laid off last week. Another hospital is slashing hours for employees. The union is demanding CarePoint Health release financial data to prove the sudden layoffs and cuts in hours were justified.
New Mexico: In Albuquerque, the Satellite Coffee shop shutting down their Nob Hill location this weekend. It’s being consolidated with a restaurant across the street. It should be noted that the restaurant, Flying Star, is currently chapter 11 bankrupt busted.
New York: In NYC, Novitex Enterprise Solutions lost their contract with Schulte Roth & Zabel, 28 jobs gone by April. 
ReEnergy could shutdown their Lyonsdale biomass electricity generating power plant within 90 days due to no contract. They blame the lack of a new contract for their wood-chip generated electricity on the low prices of oil. 22 ReEnergy jobs could be lost, and at least 1-hundred local logging jobs in what I call a Ripple Effect Layoff (REL).
North Carolina: The MERCI Clinic in New Bern halting free medical services due to running out of grant money, and so far no new donations have come in.
Ohio: In Columbus, eateries Till Dynamic Fare and Izzy & Mo’s Luncheonette both shutting down. The owners said they’re leaving the area.
Oregon: Missouri based SunEdison is “reengineering” its Portland solar panel ops, meaning 40 people are about to be laid off. Administrators blame competition with low oil prices.
South Carolina: The Cash Wise halting their video rentals in Waite Park grocery store next week. The good news is they will expand their ‘natural foods’ section into the video rental space.
South Dakota: Grant-Deuel School District shutting down the school in Revillo, due to what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome (DSS): “You talk to any smaller school, smaller town and they are basically losing enrollment…..”-Paulette Grube, Dean of Students
Texas: SunEdison is shutting down its more than 20 years old solar panel factory in Pasadena, admitting it can’t compete with the low oil prices (however, they failed to mention the 2015 explosion at their Pasadena factory, that injured at least four people). 180 jobs lost! SunEdison lost nearly $1-billion USD in the first nine months of 2015, they have yet to report their 4th quarter results (which won’t be good ’cause that’s when the explosion happend).
Washington: In Seattle, after 40 years Don’s Daughter Donna’s Barber Shop shutting down next week, due to a tripling of rent! Reports say it’ll be replaced with a five story apartment complex.
West Virginia: Kanawha County School Board eliminating 25 jobs due to what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome (DSS). Local news reports say DSS is the number one reason for education layoffs in southern West Virginia.
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification
18 February 2016: Canada kills U.S. jobs despite getting millions in U.S. tax breaks!
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.”
Food Crisis: Where’s the Beef, New Zealand? China to blame?
18 February 2016 (04:35 UTC-07 Tango 01)/29 Bahman 1394/09 Jumada al-Ula 1437/11 Geng Yin 4714
Possibly due to record exports of New Zealand beef, the people of Kiwi-Land are now suffering a beef shortage!
In the 1st quarter of the 2015-16 New Zealand beef export season a record $682-million NZD was brought in. But that was due to a record volume of red meat leaving New Zealand and heading to Taiwan (Republic of China), not due to higher commodity prices.
The result is that local meat factories have shutdown production lines due to a lack of beef in their home country! China owned Oamaru Meats is keeping 40 employees on a longer furlough than normal due to the beef shortage, up to 14 weeks longer. Some employees were shifted to their lamb butchery. Union reps revealed this was the 4th furlough in the past 12 months, which they described as “quite unusual”.
Another beef butcher, Invercargill’s Prime Range Meats (which is also China owned), shutdown without warning last week. 130 people suddenly furloughed!
However, some local politicians think its more than just a shortage of beef cows and are demanding answers. Oamaru Meats was taken over by China’s Binxi Foods Oamaru/Binxi Cattle Industry Company in December, resulting in an immediate layoff of up to 80 employees. Prime Range Meats was taken over by several Chinese investors in 2014, but apparently there have been legal wrangling over who is responsible to pay the debts of the company. A manager at the Prime Range Meats facility suspects that’s the real reason for their sudden shutdown.
So, officially the new Chinese owners of New Zealand beef plants are blaming lack of beef for their shutdowns and furloughs, yet it sounds like incompetent corporate level administration could be to blame. The result will be less beef for New Zealanders to buy, which will drive up the local retail price of red meat. Perhaps that’s the real reason for the shutdowns?
New Zealand probably sold-out to Chinese investors after a terrible 2010 season.
U.S. Food Crisis January 2016: “We were not ready to close 10 years ago, but we’re ready now.”
Canada kills U.S. jobs despite millions in U.S. tax breaks! Disney warns economy will worsen, kills 100 jobs! : U.S. Job Losses & Closings 18 February 2016
Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.
California: More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t blame the internet/high tech for your demise; Sunnyvale based Yahoo eliminated 3-hundred jobs in The Golden State and New York! This first round of layoffs are connected to Yahoo’s digital magazines ops. In Berkeley, after two years the Off the Grid food truck giving up and shutting down its Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) location. Prior to this the Off the Grid food truck was run out of its original location in the Gourmet Ghetto, by city A-Hole administrators, when brick-n-mortar restaurants complained.
Colorado: Sports Authority shutting down three Sports Castle stores, as part of their plan to shutdown 140 stores across the U.S.
Connecticut: Employee relocation contractor Cartus Corporation eliminating an undisclosed number of its Danbury HQ jobs as it subcontracts them to a British empire United Kingdom contractor! In Wallingford, after 56 years banquet host Villa Capri shutting down in July. The family owners are in the process of selling the property, they need to focus on their other business ops.
Florida: In Lake City, trash management company Sitel issued a WARN saying 34 people will lose their jobs in April. CVS Pharmacy issued a shutdown WARN for their Medley distribution center, 117 jobs lost between April and September! 
Walt Disney World laid off at least 1-hundred painters! The layoff was revealed by the painter’s union. Despite Disney reporting record profits for 2015, local news reports say Disney World management has been told to tighten their purse strings as the economy is expected to get worse! Tampa based Bloomin’ Brands confirmed it will shutdown 14 Bonefish Grill restaurants by the end of the year, due to crashing sales.
Misleading taxpayer funded Republican party primary billboard
Idaho: Once again, the Right to Work (you over) Republicans are using taxpayer money to fund their March primary elections, which don’t allow non-Republicans to take part! On top of that Republicans are advertising their primary as if its the only ‘party’ election in the state. The Democrats have a ‘party’ election, also in March, but on a different day.
Illinois: In Chicago, after seven years concert venue Shrine shutting down due to the greedy landlord selling the property to a greedy property developer.
Iowa: In Dubuque, after ten years MC Sports shutting down by the end of the year, 11 jobs lost. It’s blamed on the greedy landlord. In Johnston, state regulators confirmed DuPont recently eliminated 175 jobs in connection to the merger with Dow!
Kansas: British empire Canada based aircraft maker Bombardier eliminating 7-thousand jobs across North America, impacting 220 jobs at their Wichita factory! City and county taxpayers are pissed as local news reports say Bombardier got huge local tax breaks between 2011 and 2014. The approximately $60-million USD in local tax deals were tied to job creation, which Bombardier met by 2014, but then almost immediately after reaching those employment goals Bombardier eliminated 1-thousand 420 jobs between mid-2014 and the end of 2015!
Missouri: In Florissant, local news reports are questioning why restaurant Deaver’s suddenly shutdown after 13 years. No explanation was given.
New Jersey: In Vineland, Inspira Health Network issued a WARN, 105 jobs lost by mid-April! In Rockville Center, Airway Cleaners issued a WARN saying 81 people will become unemployed in April. 
Upper Saddle River based Pearson Education finally revealed plans to eliminate 4-thousand jobs across the U.S.! Administrators refused to give specifics about where those layoffs will impact: “Out of respect for all of our employees, it wouldn’t be appropriate to discuss the number of job cuts in a specific location before we inform our employees across the rest of our workforce.”
New York: In NYC, Too Big to Jail Goldman Sachs issued a layoff WARN, 43 people laid off between May and July. After 80 years, reports say iconic Fairway market is in so much financial trouble it can’t pay its debts, and will default. The news comes from credit rating company Moody’s. A&G Realty Partners predicting the next big wave of store shutdowns will be the luxury shops targeting elites. Analysts base that prediction on the increasing number of Empire State luxury stores holding 40% to 50% off sales.
North Carolina: In Greensboro, cigarette maker ITG Brands warning that it will layoff employees in the near future due to an expected decline in production. The factory used to be owned by Lorillard Cigarettes, but in 2015 Lorillard was merged with RJ Reynolds. RJ Reynolds then quickly sold Lorillard to ITG. The sudden decline in production is due to the end of a production contract in June, which apparently will not be renewed. Local news reports say 1-thousand 1-hundred jobs could be affected! In Jacksonville, after 42 years Crist Clinic for Women shutting down by the end of the month due to “unforeseen circumstances”. In Raleigh, after 20 years Ornamentea Fine Beads & Jewelry Supply shutting down this weekend. The owner will focus on her more successful Pop Up Sunday shop.
Oklahoma: In Duncan, Texas based oil drilling company Halliburton eliminated an undisclosed number of jobs. At first the mass layoffs were just rumors, then Halliburton confirmed with a press release.
Pennsylvania: Maker of baby strollers and car seats, 4moms, furloughed 24 employees as part of its plan to restructure towards internet sales in China. In Allentown, Tony Luke’s shutdown their Hamilton Street sandwich shop. Local news reports say it’s the 5th business inside the city’s Neighborhood Improvement Zone to shutdown within the past three months!
Texas: Sports Authority shutting down all 25 stores in the Lone Star State, as part of their plan to shutdown 140 stores across the U.S.! In Pleasanton, oil drilling company FTS International eliminated an undisclosed number of jobs. Local news reports say employees were threatened with the loss of their severance if they went public about the layoffs!
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification
17 February 2016: “losing their jobs due to circumstances they didn’t create”
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.”
Climate change caused by Tree Huggers, not pollution! New 260 years study blames the environmentalist elite!
17 February 2016 /18:24 UTC-07 Tango 01 (29 Bahman 1394/09 Jumada al-Ula 1437/11 Geng Yin 4714)
“Our study shows that historical land-cover changes and forest management in Europe did not mitigate climate warming. This is surprising as it goes against the current assumption that all forests and all sustainable forest management cool the climate.“– Chen Yiying, National University of Singapore
The researchers of a study at the Institute Pierre Simon Laplace, in France, (published in the journal Science) concluded that human managed forest projects in Europe had absolutely no effect on preventing ‘global warming’!
They used 260 years of human managed forest land data (yes, Europeans have been managing their so called wild lands far longer than people in the U.S., in fact the U.S. federal land management system was influenced by the Germanic forestry model).
Sorry elitist Time magazine, but you’re flat wrong!
The result of deliberately planting more trees causes global warming: “Over the past 260 years, a lot of broadleaf forests have been converted into conifer forests which resulted in large scale tree species changes….as a result…the surface energy budget and traps heat in the near surface atmosphere….. ….we should be careful when planning large-scale changes in land-use because the net effects may be different than the anticipated outcome.”-Chen Yiying
In other words; if you notice in the past environmentalist would use satellite imagery to show heat escaping from the surface of the Earth where there are relatively few trees as proof that trees cool the surrounding climate, however, this new study shows that the more trees you have the more heat is trapped near the surface of the planet, which is exactly why the satellite imagery shows the upper atmosphere over forested areas as being cool. I’ve got a ‘no shit Sherlock’ moment for you; densely packed vegetation is a reason why the jungles of the Earth are freaking hot & humid!
As an historian I can tell you that European forestry wasn’t started to ‘save the climate’, instead it was started due to the realization that most of the European forest had been chopped down by the mid-1700s and the lack of trees threatened multiple industries from food preparation to metal working to building construction to shipbuilding, etc. But by the 20th century, Europeans saw their forestry efforts as a way to save the planet’s climate (with no empirical evidence to back up their claims) and they greatly increased the planting of trees (many of which were not native to the areas they were planted in), and greatly reduced harvesting of trees. This new study shows those 20th century arrogant elitist tree huggers were not only wrong, but suggests they actually made the climate worse!
Now let me remind you that it’s been proven that the 20th century forestry management practices of the tree hugging ‘western world’ also led to the massive forest fires experienced over the first decade of the 21st century, which pumped massive amounts of smoke into the upper atmosphere making climate change worse.
Want more proof? Read journal Science: Europe’s forest management did not mitigate climate warming
Climate change caused by people, not pollution! Time to kill all humans!
NATO Turkey reveals plan to annex northern Syria, Rojava!
17 February 2016 (05:28 UTC-07 Tango 01)/28 Bahman 1394/08 Jumada al-Ula 1437/10 Geng Yin 4714
“What we want is to create a secure strip, including Azaz, 10km deep inside Syria and this zone should be free from clashes.”-Yalcin Akdogan, deputy prime minister of Turkey
“We are asking coalition partners that there should be a ground operation….We want a ground operation…..Without a ground operation, it is impossible to stop this war.”-unnamed Turkish government representative quoted by Reuters
U.S. led NATO member turkey revealed it has plans to seize northern Syria, which is also the area referred to as Rojava by Kurds.
This comes after four days of constant artillery bombardment by Turkey, despite ‘western’ mainstreamer news sources claiming there is a cease fire. This also comes days after the U.S. led NATO forces bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital (the United States has long established a Modus Operandi of bombing hospitals).
NATO Turkey shelling norther Syria during a so called ceasefire
U.S. Ambassador from Hell!
Iraqi Kurds protest against Turkish ‘genocide’
NATO Turkey violates Iraq airspace, bombs Kurds! Orders its citizens out of Iraq!
United States kills dozens of Syrian civilians in latest airstrike!
Rojava Kurds reveal PRO-GUN ANTI-TAX revolution!
Long Live the Anarchists of Rojava! Kicking globalist’s Asses while the sheeple of the United States continue to take globalist pricks up their rears!
Did ancient Native Americans ride horse sized T-Rex & Killer Chickens?
17 February 2016 (03:09 UTC-07 Tango 01)/28 Bahman 1394/08 Jumada al-Ula 1437/10 Geng Yin 4714
In the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, east of Pocatello, Idaho, lurks a new Tyrannosaur born 95-million years ago!
Of course there were no Native Americans 95-millions years ago (neither was there an America), and that new T-Rex is nothing but a fossil now, but today we call the home of the new T-Rex, Idaho, United States.
Montana State University reported the discovery. In fact the MSU paleontologists say there are three new types of T-Rex calling Idaho home. But these are not your Hollywood giants, they range in size from a Golden Retriever canine to a horse.
Also found are eggs from the ancient Killer Chicken, Oviraptorosaur.
The new fossil finds are curated in Pocatello’s Idaho Museum of Natural History.
For a more long-in-the-tooth ‘scientific’ explanation read Theropod dinosaurs from the Albian–Cenomanian Wayan Formation of eastern Idaho
“losing their jobs due to circumstances they didn’t create” “criminal and juvenile dockets will grind to a halt” : U.S. Job Losses & Closings 17 February 2016
Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.
Alabama: In Huntsville, 20 years old non-profit Sci-Quest hands-on science museum shutting down, due to lack of revenues which caused them to miss their January & February rent payments.
California: In Dinuba, Coca-Cola announced they will shutdown their Odwalla juice bottling op in April, 164 jobs lost! Local news reports indicate employees are shocked, many saying they heard about a possible shutdown but, like typical sheeple employees, put it off to rumor & innuendo. Coca-Cola is consolidating bottling operations to cut costs. Save Mart shutting down two grocery stores next month; one in Orangevale and one in Sacramento. No word on how many jobs lost, administrators say it’s the only way they can “reinvest” in their company.
Florida: In Saint Augustine, after 47 years Donna’s dress store shutting down due to the death of the owner.
Georgia: Giant Food grocery store, off Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, shutdown by greedy property owners who foreclosed! Local ‘lawmakers’ and charities say the area is now an official ‘food desert’, meaning most residents no longer have easy access to food.
Idaho: State Department of Lands is selling off failed commercial properties it took over at taxpayer expense. Boise news reports say one reason for the sell-off is that the taxpayer ownership of failed private sector properties have “become a political liability”, however, a consultant told state administrators they need to sell the properties to take advantage of higher property values (make a profit). The state plans to sell 12 taxpayer own commercial properties in Boise, three in Idaho Falls and one in Heyburn, in the hopes of raising $25-million USD.
Illinois: After 16 years in Park Ridge, Annika Shoes shutting down by the end of the month. The owners say they need “time to rest”.
Kansas: Non-profit mental healthcare provider Wyandot eliminated 26 jobs blaming “a number of revenue losses we experienced due to state policy changes and reductions from managed care organizations”. Essentially its the fault of Kansas’s version of ObamaCare.
Kentucky: TMK IPSCO Tubulars issued a WARN for their Wilder steel factory, 83 jobs lost by the first week of March. Like other steel makers in the U.S. (including Russia’s EVRAZ) they blame foreign competition for causing metal prices to crash.
Louisiana: Despite claiming “Equal Justice For All” state ‘lawmakers’ shutdown the Public Defenders Office in Plaquemines Parish, claiming lack of taxpayer funding. A public defender has a dire warning: “Much of criminal and juvenile dockets will grind to a halt. At some point this scenario also becomes a clear constitutional violation, the courts will be left in a position of having to decide whether to release those persons in custody whose cases have not been able to proceed.”-Matt Robnett
Massachusetts: More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t blame the internet/high tech for your demise; Waltham based internet marketing company Constant Contact was sold off, at least 210 of the company’s employees across the country were laid off last week!
Michigan: Another example of what I call Ripple Effect Layoffs (REL); Bronson Precision Products shutting down in March, 125 jobs lost! The company hit with a trifecta of crashing orders from federal government, healthcare and petroleum industries.
New Jersey: City National Bank announced it will shutdown its Paterson office mid-April. Local news reports say its the last City National Bank office in that area.
New York: Sex and the City costume designer Patricia Field shutting down her boutique, claiming she will “pursue other career interests”.
Ohio: In Youngstown, the Lincoln Knolls IGA grocery store shutting down by mid-March. The owners blame low sales despite years of effort to boost business.
Oklahoma: OKC based oil driller Devon Energy claims it lost $14-billion USD during 2015! CEO Dave Hager is using the excuse to eliminate at least 1-thousand jobs because “Devon’s top priority in 2016 is to protect the balance sheet…” I wonder how much of Devon’s losses are connected to the construction of their gigantic OKC skyscraper?
Oregon: For the third time in two months, Aequitas Capital Management announced layoffs. This time 80 employees let go by the end of March. Local news media are confused as during the last round of layoffs they reported there were only 80 employees left, but company administrators said a “skeleton crew” will continue operations until problems with their student loan ‘assets’ are straightened out.
Pennsylvania: More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t blame the internet/high tech for your demise; Philadelphia based software company RJMetrics eliminating 25 jobs after promising to create new jobs. News reports blame it on the company implementing a new program that requires less employees. CEO Bob Moore admitted they made a mistake in hiring the people to begin with: “We didn’t do the right thing for these people. We recruited them onto our team and, now that the situation has changed, they are losing their jobs due to circumstances they didn’t create. We’re truly sorry to everyone affected.”
Wisconsin: Yet another law firm bites the dust. Milwaukee based multi-state corporation defender Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan shutting down by the end of the month, at least 127 jobs lost!
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification
Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed
The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) no longer issues mass layoff reports: “On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the- board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to help achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS will eliminate two programs, including Mass Layoff Statistics, and all ‘measuring green jobs’ products. This news release is the final publication of monthly mass layoff survey data.”