Breaking News & Updates

[Flying Horse]

8 Killed in Southern Calif. Salon Shooting.

Police arrest suspect in a traffic stop a half-mile from the scene in Seal Beach, Calif., where the lone gunman opened fire in a busy hair salon, leaving 8 people dead, 6 at the salon, 2 died in the hospital and one more is in critical condition.

In addition to the people who were killed and injured, Sgt. Steve Bowles said, "there were people in the salon who were not shot." "It appears that the salon was busy at the time, and it appears as if almost every hair station was occupied," he added. The people shot appeared to be seeking shelter or cover during the shooting, Bowles said. Victims were scattered throughout the salon, and one of the injured was a man who was found outside the salon.
The gunman got into a white truck and drove away from Salon Meritage and was stopped about a half-mile away and surrendered without incident. Salon staffer Lorainne Bruielle, who was not working at the time, told the Long Beach Press-Telegram that the gunman was the husband of another employee.
The killings stunned the normally quiet community of about 25,000 that boasts on its website that it has "retained its quaint, small-town atmosphere" since it was founded in 1915. The city had one homicide last year and none during the previous three years, according to police statistics. It is home to Leisure World, a gated senior citizen community of 9,000 people, as well as the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station military complex. Two-thirds of the city's 13.23 square miles are occupied by the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge.

UPDATE: Suspected salon gunman was in bitter custody battle.

Police arrested 42-year-old Scott Dekraai about a half-mile from the shooting scene. He did not struggle, police said. The gunman wore body armor and had several guns, police and witnesses said. Court records and acquaintances said he and his ex-wife, Michelle Fournier Dekraai, of Huntington Beach, who worked at the salon as a licensed cosmetologist, had been locked in a bitter custody battle over their son since he filed for divorce in 2007. His ex-wife's attorney, John Cate Jr., said Dekraai was seeking full custody of their son, but a court-ordered review recommended against it.
In a May court filing, Michelle Fournier Dekraai claimed that Scott Dekraai was unstable and physically abusive to her during their marriage. She said he was "almost manic" and asked the court to decline his request for more time with the boy. She also wrote that in 2008 he beat his stepfather, pleaded guilty to assault and battery and underwent a year of anger management. Michelle Dekraai also alleged that her ex-husband called emergency services at least once and "advised that he was going to kill himself or someone else." She wrote that he "is a diagnosed bipolar individual who has problems with his own medication and his reaction to same, and he certainly shouldn't be allowed to have unilateral and unfettered control of any and all medical and psychological aspects of our son's life."
Dekraai's neighbors were shocked to learn that one of the friendliest men in the neighborhood had been arrested for the shootings.They described him as an outgoing man who invited them over for pool parties at the house he'd lived in for about six years. They said he doted on his son, playing catch with the boy in his yard. Next-door neighbor Stephanie Malchow, 29, said she was shocked when she saw the photo of the stocky man with thinning hair being detained by Seal Beach police. Dekraai married his current wife two or three years ago in his backyard, said Malchow, who attended the wedding. "He seemed very happy, he was just so happy he found someone new who loved his son," she said.

[Flying Horse]

Alabama Hipanics halt work to protest tough, new immigration law..

At least a half-dozen poultry plants shut down or scaled back operations Wednesday and many other businesses closed as Hispanics in Alabama skipped work to protest the state's toughest-in-the-nation immigration law. The work stoppage was aimed at demonstrating the economic contribution of Alabama's Hispanic immigrants. It was unclear exactly how widespread the protests were, but a poultry company spokesman said officials were reporting unusually high absences at plants in northeast Alabama, where much of the state's chicken industry is based.
In the northeast Alabama town of Albertville, numerous Hispanic-owned businesses along Main Street had the lights off and signs that said they wouldn't be open. Mexican restaurants, a bank that caters to Hispanics, small grocery stores and supermarkets were all shuttered. Jose Contreras, who owns a restaurant and store on Main Street, said, "We closed because we need to open the eyes of the people who are operating this state," said Contreras, originally from the Dominican Republic and a U.S. citizen. "It's an example of if the law pushes too much, what will happen."
The law allows police to detain people indefinitely if they are suspected of being in the country illegally and requires schools to check the status of new students when they enroll. The protests were being promoted partly through Facebook and other social media, as well as a Spanish-language radio station in Birmingham. Supporters say they want to show the economic impact of Hispanic people in Alabama and demonstrate solidarity in opposition to the law. There are an estimated 185,000 Hispanics in Alabama. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that 70 percent of the state's Hispanic residents are Mexican.
I wonder if Alabamans ever heard the phrase - "GIve me your tired and your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free?" I think much of America has fogrotten how it was settled and grew - on the backs of immigrants. Every none Indian came from an immigrant at some time in our history.

[Flying Horse]

Kansas City bishop charged with failure to report child porn.

Catholic Bishop Robert W. Finn and the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph have been indicted by a grand jury on a charge of failure to report suspected child abuse by a priest, prosecutors said Friday in Missouri. The class A misdemeanor carries a potential sentence of up to a year in jail and a fine up to $1,000 for Finn, age 58, and a fine for the diocese, said Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters-Baker.
The prosecution alleges that Finn "had reasonable cause to suspect a child may be subjected to abuse" by Father Shawn Ratigan, a priest from Independence, Missouri, who was indicted in August on 13 counts related to child pornography. Finn allegedly knew about the pictures beginning December 16, 2010, but they were not reported to authorities until May 11 of this year. An official in the diocese made the report.
The indictment of a U.S. bishop appears to be without precedent, said John Allen, CNN's senior Vatican analyst. "Clearly, it indicates two things," he said. "There is a new willingness to go after the highest officials in the church and hold them accountable." And maybe this willingness will prod the upper levels of the Catholic Church from trying to hide child molesting priests. Don't these people ever learn? Or do they think that they are immune from prosecution?

[Flying Horse]

NATO names October 31st as early end date for Libyan mission.


NATO will begin to scale back operations in Libya with the preliminary end date of Oct 31st, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said. A formal decision on a definitive date will be made next week. "We did what we said we would do and now is the time for the Libyan people to take their destiny into their own hands," Rasmussen said after meeting with officials in Brussels to determine what should happen next. NATO forces will be on standby until the end of the month to continue to provide assistance to civilians if needed, he said, adding that, if requested by the new Libyan leadership, the international body could also help in the transition with regards to reforms to the country's defense and security sectors.
One question is sure to come up: Has the Libya operation presented a model for future NATO missions or has it revealed the organization's limitations in terms of resources and political will? The operation relied on three main prongs -- implementing a no-fly zone, enforcing an arms embargo and taking action to protect civilians and civilian areas under threat of attack.
A sucess all around. Congrats to NATO and maybe a pattern established for the future?

[Flying Horse]

Gap between US rich, poor is widest in Atlanta, Ga.
Atlanta has widest income gap between rich and poor of all the major U.S. cities, the U.S. Census reported. New Orleans ranked second, followed by the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C. Rounding out the list of 10 big cities with the largest gaps between high and low income are Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Gainesville, all in Florida; Athens, Ga.; New York; Dallas; and Baton Rouge, La. The major cities with the lowest income inequality were almost all in the West, and all had much smaller populations.
The U.S. recession that began in 2007 took a steep toll across the country, with only a few places spared from a rise in jobless rates and a decline in incomes. Nearly two years after the recession officially ended in 2009, the U.S. unemployment rate remains above 9 percent, and the poverty rate tops 15 percent. Income levels have taken a dip for families nationwide. For example, median household income dipped to $49,445 in 2010 — the lowest since 1996, census figures showed.
Anger over the widening gap between rich and poor has stirred protesters who identify themselves as "The 99 Percent" who are occupying a park near New York's Wall Street and other locations across the country. They say they want to "end the greed and corruption of the wealthiest 1% of America," according to the website www.occupytogether.org. "For the 1% of the population with the highest income, average real after-tax household income grew by 275% between 1979 and 2007," said the report from the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan budget and tax analysis arm of Congress.
The agency also pulled back to look at the states. New York has the widest gap between rich and poor, followed by Connecticut and Louisiana. Using three separate measures, the Census found those states, along with Mississippi, Texas, Alabama and California, have greater income inequality than the nation as a whole. Utah, Alaska and New Hampshire have the smallest gaps.

[Flying Horse]

' of Death' gets life in Argentine prisoon.

A court in Argentina has sentenced Alfredo Astiz, a 59-year-old former navy spy nicknamed "the of Death," and 11 former military and police officials to life in prison for crimes against humanity committed during the country's 1976-1983 dictatorship. The men were convicted of kidnapping, torturing and killing leftist dissidents at a torture center called the Navy Mechanics School. Astiz is accused of participating in the disappearance, torture and murder of two French nuns, a journalist and three founders of a human rights group that he infiltrated while spying for the dictatorship.
The verdicts were applauded by human rights activists and families of the victims who watched the verdict on a big screen television. "Ole, ole, they will have the same fate as the Nazis, wherever they go we will find them," family members chanted. About 5,000 detainees passed through the Navy Mechanics School. Fewer than half survived.
The leafy former military campus, now home to a museum dedicated to preserving evidence of crimes against humanity, also housed a maternity ward where pregnant detainees were held until they gave birth and then were made to "disappear." A separate trial alleging that systematic baby thefts were part of the junta's anti-subversion strategy is under way in another courtroom. Astiz was accused in the 1977 disappearance and deaths of French nuns Alice Domon and Leonie Duquet and a dozen other people, including Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo founder Azucena Villaflor.

[Flying Horse]

Worst California biker feud in decade erupted at Starbucks.

"Only in Santa Cruz would you have biker wars over who's gong to control pumpkin spice lattes." A turf war between the Hells Angels and a rival motorcycle gang that erupted outside a California Starbucks shop last year has left several men dead, wounded or missing in three states, stirring fears of more bloodshed. Ranked by law enforcement as the most severe clash of two California-based biker groups in nearly a decade, the spate of violence turned deadly last month when it spilled into Nevada with a brawl and shooting among members of the Hells Angels and Vagos motorcycle clubs. The president of the Hells Angels' San Jose, California, chapter, Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew, 51, was shot to death, and one Vagos member was wounded in the melee at John Ascuaga's Nugget hotel and casino in Sparks. A second Vagos member was wounded in a drive-by shooting the next day at the site of a nearby motorcycle rally in town.
"There have been concerns about this rivalry for some time," said Graham Barlowe, resident agent in charge of the Sacramento office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The last California biker feud of similar proportions grew out of a 2002 casino riot in Laughlin, Nevada, between the Hells Angels and another group known as the Mongols, Barlowe said. At least three bikers died as a result of that conflict.
The recent bloodshed can all be traced to last year's push by Vagos, founded in the 1960s in a Southern California desert community, into the northern coastal town of Santa Cruz, long claimed as Hells Angels territory, police said. Tensions boiled over in January 2010, when members of the rival gangs, some wielding ball-peen hammers, fought outside a Santa Cruz Starbucks before scattering as police arrived. "It was all about who would be allowed to hang out at the Starbucks downtown," Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark said. "The Vagos brazenly came in and tried to cement their presence. It was a pretty strong play on their part to establish themselves as the premiere club."
The U.S. Justice Department has classified both the Hells Angels and Vagos as outlaw gangs deeply involved in drug and weapons trafficking, as well as extortion, money laundering, theft and various violent crimes. The Hells Angels, by far the larger and better known of the two, was founded in 1948 in Fontana, California, and has since established over 230 chapters with an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 members worldwide, the government says. The organization denies its involvement in criminal activity and argues the club should not be blamed for the illegal actions of individual bikers. Members insist the overwhelming majority are law-abiding citizens who share a love of powerful motorcycles, especially Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and point to their prominent role in certain charity events as evidence that their outlaw reputation is exaggerated by the media.

[susala]

Hell's Angels at Starbucks?

[Coldwarrior]

"hey honey, cafe latte for the gang, preeze"

[Flying Horse]

Incredible, isn't it? Two bikers gangs fighting over Starbucks.

[Flying Horse]

NOT AGAIN!!China coal mine gas blast kills 29 workers.

A gas explosion at a coal mine in central China has killed 29 workers, Chinese authorities said. Six other miners survived Saturday evening's blast at a state-owned coal mine in Hengyang city in Hunan province, China's State Administration of Work Safety said in a statement on its website. Five of the workers were rescued, while one climbed out of an air shaft, the statement said. The work safety administration said rescue work was complete as no other miners were working at the time of the explosion. It did not mention a cause for the blast. Such explosions are usually caused by the ignition of methane and other gases that accumulate in the shaft because of poor ventilation.
China's coal mines are the most dangerous in the world. Demand for coal induces many producers to sidestep safety regulations, although conditions have improved and a number of small, illegal mines have been shut. Annual fatalities are now about one-third of the high of nearly 7,000 in 2002. The one in Hunan — the Xialiuchong Coal Mine — is a legally operating mine with more than 160 miners that has been around for 40 years, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

[Flying Horse]

22 wounded Libyan rebel fighters arrive in Mass.

Nearly two dozen former Libyan rebel fighters were carried in stretchers or limped and hobbled out of a US Air Force medical evacuation jet in Massachusetts at the end of a 13-hour flight for treatment of wounds sustained in the war that ousted slain longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi. The envoy of Libya's National Transitional Council said the 22 fighters are the first of an estimated 200 combatants who will be flown to the US for treatment. But Mark Ward, senior adviser on Arab transitions for the U.S. Department of State, later said several European nations have offered to treat some fighters, and the number of those who could come to this country has not been determined. The fighters were brought to the country following a request to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her trip to the Libyan capital of Tripoli last week, Ward said.
"The United States was very proud to help the Libyan people in eight months of struggle against Gadhafi and his regime," Ward said. "We know the struggle will now continue as they rebuild their country and, in particular, we wanted to help with some of the war wounded, some of those brave, young men that fought the regime's forces and brought it to its knees."
"Libya's new freedom has come at a price in human life and suffering. Just as the United States and the international community stood with the Libyan people during the revolution, we continue to work with them now to address urgent needs," Ward said. The wounded fighters will be treated at the Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care North Shore in Salem, Mass., a long-term care facility. An internationally established fund used by Libya's transitional government says it will pay the fighters' hospital bills.
The former rebel fighters had mixed reaction on arrival in the US. "They look very excited, but also a little bit apprehensive," Ward said. "Many of them have never been on an airplane before, this is a new country, it's very cold for them. ... Tripoli was warm when they left 13 hours ago, so this is going to be quite an experience for them, but also for the wonderful staff at Spaulding Hospital."
Talk about culture shock! From the warm desert of Libya to a major nor'easter in Massachusetts is quite a change. I wish then all the best and I hope that our medical knowledge can heal them.

[susala]

It looks like even a few Republicans are concerned over the sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain. The Concerned Women of America, a very conservative group, think that he needs to answer more forthrightly. Since he and his staff and the former HR exec at the Restaurant Association have all given significantly different stories, this issue should really smack him. Of course, he's skated before when he's made incredible absurd statements so I suppose he'll get away with it again.

[susala]

Chris Matthews, who had a very creepy mancrush on Obama during the election ("thrill up my leg") appears to have had the scales fall from his eyes. He gave an interview to Politico that was very critical of Obama. He doesn't think that Obama's a leader and that he hasn't given Americans a reason to re-elect him, in part, because he doesn't acknowledge his mistakes.

Another Obama-ite, Mike Lux, published an extremely critical article about Obama in HuffPo today. It's about the incredibly stupid, tax-payer-hostile bank agreement that Obama wants to make with Wall Street. He's kind of late to the party. I could tell the it was a sweetheart deal for Geithner's buddies the first day the bones of the agreement was published. It gives the big banks criminal and civil immunity for a million criminal acts involving illegal foreclosures for a very tiny, in context, three billion dollar fine and a twenty-two billion dollar contribution to the foreclosure fund guaranteed by the taxpayers. If Obama doesn't get rid of Geithner and get a Treasury Secretary who actually works for the people, the economy and the middle class is screwed but all the big shots on Wall Street will keep their mansions in the Hamptons.

[Flying Horse]

Cain campaign drops claim that Perry aide leaked harassment story.

Herman Cain's campaign is backing off its claim that a political aide to Rick Perry's presidential campaign tipped off reporters about harassment claims against Cain when he was head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s. Mark Block, Cain's chief of staff, told Fox News that he accepts Curt Anderson's claim he didn't leak the story to Politico, which first reported the allegations against Cain on Sunday night. "All the evidence we had pointed to Mr. Anderson being the source. We are absolutely thrilled that he came on your show said it wasn't him," Block said. "Mr. Cain has always had the utmost respect for him." Block said Cain just wants to "move on with the campaign." "Let's get over these things that don't mean anything to the American public," he told Fox News.
Block's comments come as Politico's Jonathan Martin reported more details about the settlement given to one of Cain's accusers. According to Politico, one of the accusers was paid $45,000 to settle harassment claims against Cain—far more than the two or three months salary that the Republican candidate had initially suggested. That brings the total payout offered to Cain's accusers to $70,000 so far, as another accuser was paid $35,000 to settle her complaint against the former NRA head.

3rd Cain accuser emerges, 2 others thrived later.
GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain faces accusations from a third woman, who considered filing a complaint against him over sexually suggestive remarks and gestures. The allegations are similar to accusations of unwanted behavior that led to separate settlements in the late 1990s with two other women who went on to pursue successful careers after leaving the organization Cain once headed. The latest allegations come from a woman who said in interviews with the AP that Cain was aggressive and inappropriate with her, even extending a private invitation to his corporate apartment when she worked with him at the National Restaurant Association. The woman said Cain's behavior occurred at the same time two co-workers had settled separate harassment complaints against him while he was leading the association.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Republican Party said Thursday the furor surrounding Cain won't damage the GOP's chances of defeating President Barack Obama next year. "I don't know what's true and what's not," Reince Priebus said, telling NBC's "Today" show the key issue is that the public wants change at the top, and saying that sentiment will not fade.
Cain's 3rd accuser was located and approached by the AP as part of its investigation into harassment complaints against Cain that were disclosed in recent days and have thrown his presidential campaign into turmoil. She spoke only on condition of anonymity, saying she feared losing her current job and the possibility of damage to her reputation. The woman said she did not file a formal complaint against Cain because she began having fewer interactions with him. Later, she learned that a co-worker — one of the two women whose accusations have rocked Cain's campaign — already had done so. She said she would have felt she had to file otherwise.
The AP confirmed that the employee worked at the restaurant association with Cain during his time there, that she has no party affiliation in her voter registration in the past decade and that she is not identified as a donor in federal campaigns or local political campaigns. Records show she was registered as a Democrat at one point previously. Chris Wilson, a pollster who did work for the restaurant association during Cain's tenure, said in an interview that he witnessed the businessman making inappropriate comments and gestures toward a young woman who worked for the group during a dinner at a hotel in Arlington, Va., in the late 1990s. Wilson declined to discuss more specifics without the woman's permission, but said it was not one of the two women who settled complaints against Cain and it was not the third woman interviewed by the AP. Cain's behavior with women was well known, Wilson said. "I'm surprised that it hasn't come up before," said Wilson, whose firm, Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research, does polling for a political action committee backing a Cain rival, Rick Perry. Wilson said he has not been the source of information on the accusations against Cain.

Cain accuser offers harassment statement.
A woman who accused Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual harassment on Thursday offered a statement telling her side of the story, in a move that could further undermine his 2012 campaign. Cain has been accused by at least three women of sexual harassment when he was head of the National Restaurant Association in the mid-1990s. The issue is dominating the race to decide a Republican challenger to face Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 2012 election.
One of the women said earlier this week that she wanted to talk publicly about accusations that Cain had sexually harassed her, but she has since changed her mind and wants to make a written statement through her lawyer. The woman's lawyer, Joel Bennett, gave the statement to the restaurant group, said Sue Hensley, a spokeswoman for the restaurant association. The trade group's lawyers were reviewing the statement to decide whether to lift a confidentiality agreement that she signed when she left the association. It is likely to conflict with Cain's version of events.
Details of the women's statement are likely to put further pressure on Cain, 65, a former pizza executive with no political experience who has headed polls of Republican contenders in recent weeks. Cain complained of his treatment by the U.S. news media after spending most of this week in the glare of the Washington press corps, giving conflicting accounts of the case and accusing rival Rick Perry of instigating the controversy to derail his surging campaign.
Political commentators say Perry stands to benefit from a collapse of Cain's campaign in their fight to become the conservative alternative to the more moderate Mitt Romney. Cain has surged ahead of Romney or even with him in national polls and in Iowa, the state that holds the first U.S. nominating contest of 2012 on January 3. An extended controversy over Cain may be of no help to any Republican seeking to become the party's challenger to Obama, whose slide in the polls has stopped and who may be gaining traction with his criticism of Republican lawmakers for blocking his jobs legislation.

Herman Cain's 'lavish' spending at National Restuarnat Association drew scrutiny.
As revelations keep surfacing, it seems clear that plenty of other people may have had an interest in divulging less-than-flattering details about the Republican candidate's tenure at the NRA. As Bloomberg's Lisa Lerer reports, Cain irked some of his NRA colleagues by operating in a "free-wheeling, free-spending culture:" Former employees of the association told Bloomberg News that work-related outings frequently featured heavy drinking as lobbyists entertained board members and lawmakers. Cain was known for lavish spending, they said, racking up cell phone and travel bills that drew accountants' attention and angered some board members. He won over employees by giving generous raises to many, said three people who worked for or with the group and spoke on condition of anonymity. The group also paid for Cain to live in The Jefferson, a pricey luxury hotel near the White House, for an unspecified period of time.

I don't know about others, but as far as I'm concerned, the evidence keeps piling up against Mr. Cain, making it clear that he is not a fit person to become President of the United States.

[susala]

Peg, I just have one quarrel with your post. Cain has plenty of "political" experience as a lobbyist for the NRA. He doesn't have any "governing" experience.

I think he must be on his way out.

[Flying Horse]

sus--I stand corrected. Of course, I meant experience in governing. Isn't amazing how much that was used against Obama by the Republicans in 2008 and here in 2011 the leading Republican candidate, at this point in time, has no governing experience at all. At least Obama was in the Illinois state legislature and then the US Senate, albeit not for long. I wonder if the next Repub candidate will have a foreigner as a father and then the Democrats can become birthers too?

[Flying Horse]

5.6 Quake hits central Oklahoma after earlier shakers

Tremors were felt across wide area - chimneys, walls collapse; roads buckle. Emergency management officials in Lincoln County were reporting significant damage and several roadways have buckled, including Hwy 62 and other country roads. There have been no reports of injuries.
If the magnitude is confirmed, it would be the strongest earthquake ever recorded in the state. The largest previously recorded earthquake to strike Oklahoma was a 5.5 magnitude temblor centered in El Reno on April 9, 1952, according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey. This one was shallow at 3.1 miles deep, centered about four miles east of Sparks, Okla. in Lincoln Country, or about 45 miles east of Oklahoma City. It was also felt in Kansas, Arizona, Missouri and Texas. It came after at least three lesser earthquakes that shook the area early Saturday (4.7 magnitude at 2:12 a.m. CT. 2.7 magnitude @ 2:44 a.m. and 3.4 magnitude at 2:27 a.m).
The quake struck as ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit was on the air with Chris Fowler to report Oklahoma State's defeat of Kansas State in Stillwater. Herbstreit widened his eyes in surprise as he was being questioned by Fowler, and then told him about the quake and asked him to repeat his question. "I literally thought the stadium was rocking lijke people were stepping down off of this platform I'm on, but we had a little aftershock..." Herbstreit said.

[Flying Horse]

Faribault blanket mill revival restores US jobs.

Minnesota factory reopens with new owners, verteran workers and a mission. The Faribault Woolen Mills is weaving its way back from oblivion one thread and one American employee at a time.
In 1852, Alexander Faribault founded the Minnesota town bearng his name. Then in 1965, the mills opened for business, shipping its products al over the world. Then in 2009, it literaly stopped mid-stitch, bankrupted by poor management and a weak economy. The building sat untouched for nearly two years. If you snuck in, you'd see wool still sitting in bins. Blankets were left, half-made. @
"When they shut the doors here, I was devastated," said 31-year old Jenny Jones, who helped make blankets there for four years until the plant closed. "To drive by here and see this beautiful place closed, it was so hard for me.
Ultimately, a company operating out of Pakistan offered to buy the equipment. Everything was labeled and tagged for shipment. Then something unbelievable happened. Two men in this quiet community of 23,000 people decided to roll the entrepreneurial dice. Cousins Chuck and Paul Mooty decided to buy it all, from the aging equipment to the formerly global brand. "The only thing that worked in here were some of the lights," said Paul Mooty, a lawyer who ran another business for the better part of a decade before taking over the woolen mill. @
At first blush, it didn't appear to be a very good idea. Both men were successful, and neither needed the money, so why risk family money on a rusty old company that hadn't registered a sale in two years? "We were both ready for a new challenge," Chuck Mooty said. "It's about bringing jobs back. It's about bringing opportunities back to a number of people. And so it has that community piece. "It also has that business piece of competition, of how do we take a neat nostalgic brand and hopefully try to create it to be relevant in today's world?"
Faribault Woolen Mills now has 35 employees, most of whom worked there before the company was shuttered in 2009. The Mooty cousins said although they're not yet profitable, they are fully funded. In addition, they expect the number of employees to rise to 50 by year's end and double that in 2012.
.The impact has already been monumental for the community. @chuck and Paul Mooty also think the return of manufacturing jobs to the Minnesota community could be repeated in other parts of the country. "People are a little tired of hearing, 'We can't do it,'" Paul Mooty said. "We can do it. We're going to do it here. And I think that message can hopefully carry over to other industries and get back to manufacturing here (in the U.S.)." Chuck Mooty is less rah-rah about things. "We bring, hopefully, a competitive price and timeline that says, 'You know what, I'm going to support domestic,'" said Mooty, who noted that fuel, labor and shipping costs are more expensive in emerging markets than they used to be.

The mill means more than just a job for many of the 35 people working there. Mary Boudreau, 76, worked at the mill for 50 years and came back when it reopened. "I'd like to see the place go again," she said as she worked with Jones to set a loom for a new rug pattern. "I started here in 1954, and here I am. Still here." And so is the Faribault Woolen Mills.

It's nice to run across a story like this. We get enough gloom and doom today.

[Forever Sunshine]

Penn State Board of Trustees has just announced minutes ago that he will NOT be allowed to finish the season! He's done as of immediately!

The Board also accepted the resignation of the President of the school.