Author: Serkadis

The president and CEO of Provena St. Joseph Hospital will be leaving at the end of the month.

William Brown, who has served in the role since 2002, has resigned to “pursue another business opportunity within the health care sector,” according to a news release.

Exactly what that other business opportunity is, and just why Brown is leaving, remains unknown for now.

“I don’t know anymore than you,” St. Joseph board member Gordon Gromer said.

Corporate spokeswoman Lisa Lagger said that Brown has revealed no details other than he will be resigning.

“What he has shared with us was just that,” she said. “That he’s found his time with Provena rewarding and his desire to pursue something else.”

An employee in Brown’s office said Tuesday that Brown had left for the day at 3:45 p.m.

In a Tuesday afternoon news release, Brown said he was “excited about the next chapter in my career, but I will always be inspired by the caregivers that make Provena Saint Joseph Hospital the exceptional health ministry it is.”

During his tenure at Provena, Brown is credited with establishing a cardiac surgery program at the hospital. noted by independent health care ratings company Healthgrades as the best in Elgin for the past four years.

Brown also led the hospital’s $100 million campus expansion and modernization, and planning of the Bob and Edna Meadows Regional Cancer Center.

While the hospital begins a search for a new leader, Provena Health Systems Vice President of Finance Stephen Scogna has been named to fill Brown’s position in the interim.

Scogna came to Provena in May 2003, after serving as a senior vice president and chief financial officer of Frankford Health Care System in Pennsylvania.

A graduate of Villanova University and certified public accountant, he is a member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.

Read the original article on DailyHerald.com.

Mario Lubetkin, IPS Director General met the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Carlos Roberto Tiburcio de Oliveira, special advisor to the Brazilian Presidency General Secretariat and his country’s representative to the IPS Core Group. This was the first meeting between IPS and the Brazilian Government after the recent election of Brazil as the Chair of the IPS Core Group of Donors.

The Brazilian Government convoked an informal meeting in Rome, held on 25 and 26 November inviting South and emerging countries of the G-20, plus Venezuela and Qatar for their initiatives in the field of communication (Al-Jazeera and Telesur). The meeting was supported by IPS, and aimed to strengthen the role of information and communication as Southern and emerging countries gain space and power in the new political scenario. Participants agreed on the need to identify common areas of work in the field of information and laid out a plan for 2010 to continue this process.

This is a small glimpse of last Saturday’s 20+” and the additional 18″ we got last night (and it’s still going with icy rain now joining the mix)

I kinda feel as if Al Gore should come help me shovel…

CHICAGO  — Toyota is planning to giveaway a Prius at the Chicago Auto Show but a spokesman says the car will definitely be fixed before it ends up in anyone’s driveway.

WBBM’s Steve Miller reports on the PR spin as a Toyota spokesman says yes, the company has had some setbacks.

Spokesman Curt McAllister says despite the latest recall, affecting more than 400,000 Priuses worldwide, people are still curious about the Prius and are signing up for the Facebook contest to win one.

“The recall is only a few hours old. So there’s no correlation whether they’ve dropped off or not,” according to McAllister.

“I still think people see the value in Prius and people like to vie for large prize objects like this so I don’t expect it to fall off just because the car is going through a bit of a recall right now, McAllister added.

As for the actual Prius that’s being given away?

“That car will absolutely get the software upgrade,” McAllister also says even though he’s fielded a lot of questions, he does not see the recall as a public relations nightmare.

He calls the atmosphere “vibrant.”

Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.

Después del último escandalo generado por Toyota tras su llamada a cientos de miles de vehículos para ser revisados, Lexus ha decidio distanciarse de la marca nipona. Acaban de comunicar que ninguno de sus vehículos que han sido fabricados en Europa tendrán que ser llevados a revisión.

Como todos sabemos, las llamadas generalizadas a revisión implican un fallo grave en la seguridad, estabilidad o integridad del vehículo de fábrica, durante el proceso de fabricación. Estos problemans restan de confianza de los consumidores hacia dicha marca.

A continuación os dejo con el comunicado oficial de Lexus:

¿Están los vehículos Lexus en Europa afectados por la “llamada a revisión del Pedal del Acelerador Toyota”?

No. Los vehículos Lexus comercializados en Europa instalan pedales de acelerador diferentes a los utilizados en los vehículos afectados.

¿Están los vehículos Lexus en Europa afectados por la “llamada a revisión de las alfombrillas de los vehículos Lexus en EEUU”?

No. Las alfombrillas instaladas en los vehículos Lexus comercializados en Europa se producen localmente y tienen un diseño diferente al de las alfombrillas americanas. En cualquier caso, Lexus desaconseja el uso de alfombrillas no originales en sus vehículos. Las alfombrillas originales Lexus, disponen de ganchos de seguridad para fijarlas al suelo, de manera que impiden su movimiento. El uso de alfombrillas sin este sistema de fijación al suelo, podría interferir en el recorrido del pedal del acelerador en cualquier vehículo de cualquier fabricante.

¿Están los vehículos Lexus en Europa afectados por la “llamada a revisión de la tercera generación Prius”?

No. Los vehículos Lexus comercializados en Europa, utilizan un sistema de gestión del ABS diferente al que se utiliza en los vehículos Prius de tercera generación afectados.

Related posts:

1. Toyota llama a 3,8 millones de coches a revisión
2. El Lexus LF-A sólo se podrá comprar mediante leasing
3. Lexus IS-F será usado por la policía británica

An earthquake has occurred in the west suburbs near Geneva early Wednesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Information on the quake from the United States Geological Survey HERE

At 3:59 a.m. an earthquake of a preliminary magnitude of 4.3 hit an area about five miles east of Sycamore, or about 4 miles west/northwest from Virgil, according to USGS geophysicist Amy Vaughn.

Vaughn also said the quake was located near west suburban Elgin or Geneva.

People have reported feeling the earthquake in Elgin, Bolingbrook, Naperville, and several other far west, northwest and southwest suburbs.

Vaughn said she has not heard of anyone being injured and does not know about damages as of 4:20 a.m. The quake appears to be is bona fide.

“We have it as a seismic event,’’ according to Vaughn who said the USGS phone lines are flooded.

“Out of nowhere, my house started to shake very hard for about 10 seconds then stopped, then went again for about 8-10 seconds… I didn’t know what was going on,” wrote viewer Nick Howson of Hoffman Estates. “I thought a snow plow might have crashed into my house.”

Viewer Y. Dinwiddie of Batavia wrote: “It was so violent that a basket full of clothes that was sitting on our dryer was thrown to the floor, our sump pump was activated and our sons were awakened. We went all through the house, worried that perhaps a tree fell in the yard or something, but there had been no sounds except our bed creaking and things falling off shelves.”

This was the second earthquake to strike in Illinois in the past two years. On April 18, 2008, a 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck with an epicenter about 7 miles from downstate Mt. Carmel, about 230 miles south of Chicago.

That earthquake was felt around the state, including in Chicago. Downtown skyscrapers shook, but damage was mostly seen downstate.

The next most recent severe earthquake in the area hit in 1968. That earthquake had a magnitude of 5.3.

In 1811 and 1812, the fault produced a series of earthquakes estimated at magnitude 7.0 or greater.

The Wabash fault zone, which is a northward extension of the New Madrid fault line, generated a magnitude 5.0 quake in 2002 and a 5.1 in 1987.

In 1990, scientist Iben Browning said the New Madrid fault line was due for a catastrophic earthquake, but that never happened.

“It’s mostly people who said ‘we woke up and we thought we were going crazy,’’’ Vaughn with gthe USGS said of the phone calls the USGS is receiving. “Mostly it’s rattling people awake,’’ she said of the earthquake.

“It’s going to be very widely felt,’’ Vaughn said.

Sycamore Police Department Dep. Laura Fink said she received lots of calls about the quake but that there were no reports of anyone hurt or any significant property damage.

Fink said she felt the quake in police headquarters. “It sounded like a big explosion,”  she said. “There was a big jump.”

Fink said the quake happened about eight miles northeast of her.

At 4 a.m., Nathan Marsili a meteorologist for the National Weather Service said he felt a “very short, very minor, but distinct shock” in his office.

A dispatcher from the Boone County Sheriff’s Department said she felt two quiet rumbles which lasted 10 seconds altogether. As of 4:30 a.m., she had not received any calls from people hurt or significant property damage caused by the earthquake.

Police News Affairs Officer Ronald Gaines confirmed the quake, saying it occurred in DeKalb, and said he has not received any reports of injuries or damages as of 4:30 a.m.

Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.

WOODSTOCK — Sheriff’s police seized about 100 marijuana plants after a patrol deputy questioned a man coming out of what he thought was an unoccupied house near Garden Prairie.

It turns out that no one was living at the house at 25106 Dunham Road, but police said a Streamwood man was growing marijuana in the upper level.

Police found 30 marijuana plants, about 19 pounds of marijuana, growing and packaging material and information about a second house in Garden Prairie.

Then, they found 70 marijuana plants, about 42 pounds of marijuana, 10 smoking pipes, and packaging materials on Jan. 25 at 6705 Olson Road near Union.

The Union house also had a bed in what might have been a living area and a working security-camera system.

Michael Sanchez, 23, of 3102 Lynnwood Court, and Joseph R. Mueller, 23, of 115 Cedar Circle, both of Streamwood, turned themselves in Friday.

Sanchez was charged in connection with the Garden Prairie-area house, while Mueller was charged in connection with the Union-area house, said Sgt. John Koziol of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office.

Both the houses were rented, and police do not believe the pair were growing marijuana in any other area homes.

Mueller was charged with unlawful manufacturing of marijuana, unlawful possession of marijuana. Both Mueller and Sanchez were charged with unlawful production of marijuana plants and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

Sanchez posted 10 percent of his $20,000 bail Friday. Mueller remained in McHenry County Jail on this afternoon, unable to post 10 percent of his $100,000 bail.

Both are due in court Thursday.

Mueller could be sentenced to between six and 30 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge, which is typically punishable with probation or between two and five years in prison.

By JILLIAN DUCHNOWSKI, [email protected]

Read the original article from the Northwest Herald.

Filed under: Government/Legal, Hyundai

The last few years have been very good to Hyundai, with increased sales and a spike in brand perception in North America, but in South Korea the situation has been a bit different. Hyundai chairman Chung Mong Koo has been knee deep in controversy surrounding his 2008 conviction for embezzlement and breach of duty. The controversy surrounding the conviction got even more intense after Chung’s three-year sentence was waived and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak pardoned the chairman citing the importance of Hyundai to the local economy.

While Chung was able to forgo prison time and job loss for his actions, he’s reportedly getting a pretty considerable financial slap on the wrist for his wrongdoing. BusinessWeek reports that the Seoul Central District Court has ordered Chung to pay Hyundai 70 billion won ($60 million in U.S. funds) for his past transgressions. Former vice chairman Kim Dong Jin was also hit with a big-time fine of 55 billion won ($47 million U.S.) for his role in the embezzlement case.

While a total of over $100 million is a monumental fine, the Solidarity for Economic Reform group that led shareholders in the lawsuit against the executives wanted a lot more. The SER was looking for damages in the neighborhood of 563.1 billion won ($485 million U.S.) in damages and the group will reportedly appeal to a higher court for more money.

[Source: BusinessWeek | Image: Hong Jim-Hwan/AFP/Getty Images]

Report: Hyundai chairman Chung ordered to repay $60M to automaker following conviction originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Police and the FBI are investigating an attempted bank robbery of Tuesday afternoon in northwest suburban Wauconda in which the robber allegedly threatened to detonate a bomb if his cash demands were not met.

The attempted robbery happened at the Wauconda Community Bank at 495 W. Liberty Tuesday afternoon, according to a release from Chicago FBI spokesman Ross Rice.

According to initial reports, a male entered the bank and placed a package on the counter. He then turned and walked away, the release said.

A note attached to the package claimed that a bomb was inside and instructed employees to place an unspecified amount of cash at a nearby location or the bomb would be detonated.

The attempt was unsuccessful as no money was removed from the bank, the release said. The bank and the surrounding area were evacuated but no explosives were found inside the package.

No injuries were reported in the incident.

Wauconda police could not immediately provide further details.

It was unclear whether the robber was taken into custody.

The FBI and Wauconda police are investigating.

Read the original article from FOX Chicago News.

The second wife of a former suburban Chicago police sergeant testified at a pretrial hearing Tuesday that he had threatened to kill her and said he could make it look like an accident.

Victoria Connolly said her ex-husband, Drew Peterson, pulled a gun on her three or four times when they were married, once putting it to her head and telling her he would kill her then kill himself.

Peterson has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the 2004 death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

Prosecution called 68 witnesses at the pretrial hearing to determine what hearsay evidence will be allowed at Peterson’s upcoming murder trial. Defense will begin Wednesday.

Connolly and Peterson were married for 9 1/2 years. They divorced in 1992.

She described an argument in the mid-1980s when Peterson grabbed her by the throat.

“He did tell me he could kill me and make it look like an accident,” Connolly said, mirroring the testimony of other witnesses who said they were repeating what Peterson’s third and fourth wives told them.

Peterson’s fourth wife, Stacy, disappeared in 2007. Peterson has not been charged in the disappearance but police say he is a suspect.

Hearsay, or statements not based on the direct knowledge of a witness, usually isn’t admissible in court. But Illinois judges can allow it in murder trials if prosecutors prove a defendant may have killed a witness to prevent him or her from testifying.

Connolly said Peterson’s controlling behavior extended after their divorce, saying he followed her and even got into her house.

Connolly said after they split, Peterson offered to change the locks on her house. After that, she said, she awoke in the dead of night in her darkened house to see Peterson standing over her.

“He didn’t say anything,” Connolly said. “We did not exchange words at all. Drew turned and left.”

Connolly did not know if Peterson had made a set of keys or used the locksmith tools she said he carried.

She described their divorce as amicable because she did not seek any money from his police pension. Previous witnesses have testified that Peterson tried to protect his pension from Savio.

Also Tuesday, a friend of Stacy Peterson testified that before they married Stacy Peterson had said Drew Peterson planned to kill Savio.

“She told us he planned on killing her and make it look like an accident,” said Michael Miles, recalling the conversation he and another friend had with Stacy Peterson in 2002.

Miles also testified that Stacy Peterson, who was dating Drew Peterson at the time, said the “only reason” Peterson’s third wife was still alive was because Stacy Peterson talked him out of killing her.

A man who worked with Peterson at a cable television company testified he was asked to kill Savio but he turned the offer down.

William Green said another man who worked at the company, Jeff Pachter, approached him about the offer.

Green said he quickly declined and never talked about it again — either with Peterson or Pachter. Previously, Pachter testified that Peterson asked him to find someone to kill Savio for $25,000.

Green testified he thought Pachter came to him because he looked menacing, wore heavy metal T-shirts and had tattoos.

Green said he contacted police after Stacy Peterson disappeared in 2007 because that’s when he first heard about Savio’s death.

Read the original article on DailyHerald.com.

Manila/Sense UI, is the most widely used and intuitive UI in the Windows world and this new theme is just here to enhance your experience with it. This theme is nothing new, it has been available for some time now, but in a recent update, it added support for the newest Sense 2.1 and 2.5. The update brought some slight graphic update also with a little software enhancements. If you want something new in your Sense UI life, this theme is worth a try, so head over to XDA and give this theme a go.

try it: XDA

Filed under: Motorsports, Acura

2009 American Le Mans Series LMP1 champions Patron Highcroft Racing are heading to France this June. The team’s season championship has earned it an invitation from the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) to compete at the 24 hours of Le Mans. With the changes to the ALMS class structure this year, the P1 Acura ARX-02a has been shelved in favor of an updated version of the former P2 winning ARX-01c.

The Highcroft team will be packing up 01c for the trip to France, the first time any of the Acura prototypes has run in Europe. This will also be Highcroft’s first trip to the round-the-clock classic. Highcroft was eligible to run in P1 with the ARX-02, but under current ACO technical rules, it is very difficult for a gas powered car to compete with the diesel Audis and Peugeots.

At this point Highcroft is the only Acura entry for the 2010 ALMS season. Fernandez racing closed up at the end of the 2009 season due to a lack of funding and De Ferran moved to Indy cars. UK based Strakka Racing will become the first European team to partner with Acura running a second ARX-01c in the P2 class at Le Mans and throughout the 2010 Le Mans Series season.

Photos Copyright (C)2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: American Le Mans Series]

Continue reading ALMS champs Highcroft headed to Le Mans with Acura

ALMS champs Highcroft headed to Le Mans with Acura originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like the iiNet ruling is already having some positive impact in Australia. The crux of the ruling is that copyright infringement is not an “I know it when I see it” violation, but rather a complex issue that requires a court to weigh in. Asking an ISP to simply assume that someone is infringing, and thus to kick them off, is problematic and potentially goes against basic due process. It appears that other ISPs are now realizing that they were being too hasty in blocking internet access. Competing ISP Exetel, who used to block access to accused file sharers, has now announced a change of policy. Of course, it could have stood up for its customers’ rights in the first place, like iiNet did…

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Freshman year of college, Public Speaking 101: Write down a few key words that will trigger the memory of an entire section of your speech.

Palin wrote “Reining in spending,” “Energy,” “Tax” and “Lift American Spirits” and “budget cuts” on her hand for the Tea Party gathering. The Lefties went WILD. Apparently writing key words on your hand ensures you could never run for President. It seems it also disqualifies her from criticizing Obama for his over-reliance on TOTUS.

I think I have proven that I won’t blindly stick up for Governor Palin because she’s on my side of the aisle, but is this ‘scandal’ even for real? People really care that she wrote ‘Energy’ and ‘tax’ on her hand? Personally, I would have written it on my wrist under a jacket or on my thigh under a skirt…the hand just seems so prosaic…
Or is it just to take the heat off of Obama…

There are certain words that get mispronounced all the time: Xavier (pronounced EX-avier when it should be Zavier), Comparable (Compare-it-able instead of comp-rable), cache (often said cash-ey instead of cash) and for President Obama…Corps (which he pronounces as a dead person instead of CORE).

Considering EVERY day as President he deals with the Press Corps and the Marine Corps and the Army Corps of Engineers…it’s pretty bad he doesn’t know how it’s pronounced.

Is it petty to criticize Palin over hand notes…absolutely. Petty too give Obama a hard time over “Corpse man”…yes…if it weren’t for the fact that the Left crucified Bush over every misspeak.

Do not misinterpret the fact that I understand where Meghan McCain’s head is with me excusing her behavior. I don’t.

Though, after her appearance and asinine statements on The View, many Republicans may be checking the GOP bylaws to see if the blonde McCain can be excommunicated from the party…I understand her dilemma. She’s cute and young and in her reality she’s a lone Republican in a vast sea of Democrats. She’s bothered by the fact that so many people have bought into the stereotype of the GOP being the party of the rich, rigid, white fat cats and she thinks she’s trying to make it ‘hipper.’

The fact is, if she took a second to reflect she’d realize these days most of the rich fat cats are sitting on the left side of the aisle (Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, George Soros and all of Hollywood) and that it’s much ‘hipper’ to be the rebel–the lone Conservative in a herd of DNC sheep… She’s trying to shatter those stereotypes, but she’s going about it all wrong. She’s young. She’s trying. It’s a shame she doesn’t get it. She could be a huge asset. Instead she’s made herself a huge ass. She working so hard for acceptance from the Left…she’ll never get that as long as she’s a registered (R).

And it also might behoove her to attend a tea party before she makes sweeping judgments about the age of the attendees…there were plenty of young people at the Philly Tea Party. And I was there -and I’m as hip as her any day of the week -and with 1/1,000th of the cash flow…

By the way, can we excommunicate her?

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Por fín ha llegado el día tan esperado por muchos aficionados de la Fórmula 1. La escudería Red Bull ha dado a conocer su nuevo monoplaza que utilizarán en esta temporada 2010. Ha sido denominado como RB6 y es imposible no pensar que tiene un gran parecido con el monoplaza de Toro Rosso.

Ha sido presentado esta misma mañana en el Circuito de Jerez en medio de una gran expectación. Por el momento nos tenemos que conformar con estas imágenes ya que tendremos que seguir esperando hasta poder verlo en pista.

Related posts:

1. Virgin Racing presenta el VR-01, su nuevo monoplaza
2. VJM03, el monoplaza de Force India
3. Sauber C29, el nuevo monoplaza de la escudería BMW-Sauber

To Our Clients, Colleagues and Friends,

• Another comment from a client on the cost of repurchases:  “One had so much equity that the investor allowed us to indemnify in lieu of repurchase. Unless the housing market falls another 35%, we’ll never pay a penny out on it. The others we settled for about 50-60% of the estimated liquidated losses. It really helps to have an experienced attorney with these issues!”

• This is an interesting 1939 photo of members of the baseball Hall of Fame.  At that time, the Hall had only eleven inductees, ten of whom are in this photo.  The reason we like it is that nine of them are wearing ties, Base Ruth, front and center, being the only one who didn’t.  Just further proof of what a cool guy he was.  Did you notice that Ruth and Eddie Collins sitting next to him are both wearing two-tone shoes?
  
  With the exception of the Babe, don’t they all look like bankers?  Also interesting is that the one missing person was Ty Cobb, and it fits with his anti-social personality. Actually, many baseball historians think he was more than misanthropic, that he was mentally deranged and a true psychotic.
• The people in the back row above, left to right: Honus Wagner. Grover Cleveland Alexander, Tris Speaker, Nap Lajoie, George Sisler and the great Walter Johnson. The front row is Eddie Collins, Babe Ruth, Connie Mack, and Cy Young.
• Why do people seem to read this trashy little newsletter?  We just finished re-reading a random sample of 30 e-mails we’ve received about this newsletter over the past two years.  Four were related to something we wrote about the industry, and 26 were about such weighty matters as Michael Jackson’s dance moves, Pamela Anderson’s age, and why Spam and Twinkies are such good food items.  If we never mentioned banking or mortgage banking ever again, would anyone notice?  And if we dropped the human interest stuff, would anyone even read it?  Two sobering questions.
• Here’s another comment on how much you lose when buying back loans: “I have settled mine for an average of 60 cents on the dollar, and usually no cash, just a volume clip over 12 months.”

• How big is New York City ? Its $59 billion annual budget is bigger than all but 36 countries. Its 260,000 municipal workers would make it one of the 50 largest employers in the world. Its police force of 37,000 uniformed officers is larger than the FBI.

• We were reading an analyst’s report on banks of the Pacific Northwest .  Banks they cover there are trading at 44% of tangible book value.  If you invest in a basket of community bank stocks and can wait 2-3 years, a few will have been shut down, but many will be 10-baggers.

• Guess what we just saw at the grocery store? Budweiser in a can pre-mixed with Clamato juice. Mixing beer with tomato juice sounds bad enough, but clam-flavored tomato juice????  Does that sound disgusting, or what? 

• We wrote last week about how irritating the French can be, and we got this from Pete Davis : “When Dean Rusk, Kennedy’s Secretary of State, was in France and Charles DeGaulle told him that he wanted “All US Troop off French soil, immediately” Rusk responded “Does that include the ones that are buried here?”  You wonder if he came up with that on the spot or had been holding it in reserve for years and just waiting for the perfect moment.
  
• The Pete Davis who sent this item about France is sort of a legend in California .  He took over a floundering Bank of Commerce in San Diego , grew it, and sold it for just shy of 5.0 times book!  That was around 1998 or 1999 if we remember correctly.
• We accidentally listed Rafael Palmeiro as a home run hitter who didn’t take steroids.  What were we possibly thinking? A few dozen of you wrote to us about this. One of these days when we’re really huge, we’ll hire a fact checker.
• Weren’t The Who pretty pathetic at the Super Bowl?  When we saw them at 19 at an upstairs joint at Geary & Fillmore in San Francisco , the energy on stage had a few hundred people jumping up and down.  But 40+ years later, it’s, like, embarrassing.  Guys, what are you talking about, teenage wasteland?  You’re in your late sixties.   By the way, they ended their show that night by smashing their guitars and drums to pieces. And any members of the Grammar Police: Is it “Weren’t The Who pathetic?” or is it “Wasn’t The Who pathetic?”’
• One of the more interesting questions having to do with troubled banks is why they did so many construction loans.  One answer is that they had yields quite a bit higher than many other loans. But if you assume the construction loan balance is essentially zero on day one and not fully funded till day 365, that means that the loan balance outstanding averages around 50% during the year.  On a $3.0 million construction loan, doesn’t it then throw off the revenue of a $1.5 million loan? And doesn’t the smaller outstanding balance offset much or the entire higher yield? 
  Take your choice, a $3 million construction loan yielding 6.0% or a $3 million C&I loan yielding only 4.0%?  All else being the same, 6% sounds much better than 4%, right?  No way, Jose. And no way, Jose Conseco!  Assuming an average balance on the construction loan during the year of $1.5 million, that loan throws off (at interest only) $90,000 during the year, but the loan at only 4% but which is fully disbursed on day one would throw off $120,000!  You’d make an extra $30,000 on the lower yielding loan.
• This writer never got much past being a Weblos, but did you know that Mike McAuley was an Eagle Scout?  Not only that, but both his brothers also became Eagle Scouts, possibly one of the only families with three such high achievers.
  

• We take it quite seriously when we see people who were Eagle Scouts. When going through resumes to hire someone, we’ll put a resume at the top of the A-pile if it shows that the person was an Eagle Scout. 
• We just finished re-reading The Ugly American, Eugene Burdick’s 1958 fictional book about American foreign policy. This book pre-saged the Peace Corp and applies just as much today to our relationships with the Muslim world as it did about our dealings with Asian nations fifty years ago. Burdick was a Cal Professor of Politic Science who also wrote Fail Safe, the ultimate Cold War thriller.  Burdick died at a young age on his Berkeley tennis court, and to this day conspiracy minded lefties believe the CIA knocked him off for knowing too much.
• Have you noticed fourth quarter earnings releases show that about half the banks are reporting profits?  You can’t have a healthy economy without healthy banks, so this is a very positive sign.

• This Saturday is the 65^th anniversary of the bombing of Dresden , Germany . In the evening of February 13, 1945, the British Royal Air Face Force sent 796 bombers that dropped 2,600 tons of incendiary bombs, starting a firestorm that burned 13 square miles of the Dresden ’s urban center.  A second wave of bombers later that night dropped bombs eastward and south of the city, and the next day, 431 Americans B-17’s released 700 tons of bombs over residential areas as well as rail yards. An estimated 25-40,000 people died within 24 hours.  A massive attack one a population center was a rational move to hasten the end of the war, but it was still immoral. Generals should stick to bombing military targets, not population centers.

The three of us will be, separately, in Sacramento , Seattle , North Carolina , Houston , Dallas , Baltimore and Pennsylvania in the next two weeks. And come see us February 23 where we’ll be the speakers at the Seattle Mortgage Bankers.

Garrett, Watts & Co.

Today’s bonus: TEN KEYS IN TOUGHT TIMES

“Helping lenders increase revenues, control costs, and better manage risk.”

• Mike McAuley   ([email protected])
• Corky Watts      ([email protected]) 
• Joe Garrett      ([email protected])