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Been so long since I tried posting...

Due to ongoing violence and public safety issues in the East Precinct/Cal Anderson Park area. Mayor Jenny Durkan has issued an executive order to vacate the area. Seattle police will be in the area this morning enforcing the Mayor’s order.

Kaput. Looks like widespread Kaboom!

On Oct. 19, 1987 – “Black Monday” – the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508.32 points, or about 22.6%, and closed at 1,738.40. The decline almost doubled the 12.8% loss in the 1929 crash. By mid-1988, the market had recovered and, in general, the U.S. economy had shrugged off the sharp downturn. In contrast, the U.S. economy nose-dived after the 1929 crash and didn’t revive until the nation rearmed to fight World War II. The difference: Quick action by the Federal Reserve. “Black Monday was the result of a ‘perfect storm’ of diverse factors,” says Irv DeGraw, a finance professor...

Maryland knocked New Jersey out of the top spot this year, while Mississippi and West Virginia were the poorest states in the Union. Maryland is now the wealthiest state in the union, as measured by median household income, according to the latest stats from the Census Bureau.

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Talk about your pushy New Yorkers. Strutting into Jacobs Field for the weekend, the Yankees made themselves right at home. They bullied the Cleveland Indians before leaving with three wins and the same confidence that has made them champions many times before. "I feel like we're the team," Andy Pettitte said. When weren't they? Pettitte didn't have much trouble with Cleveland's lame lineup and Jason Giambi homered for the second straight day as the Yankees beat the Indians 5-3 to complete a series -- and season -- sweep on Sunday. Written off in May when they trailed...

7/31/2007 8:58:33 AM Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) reported second quarter net income of $2.2 billion or $3.89 per share, compared to $1.9 billion or $2.98 per share in the last year quarter. For the quarter, the company's income from Continuing Operations was $2.1 billion or $3.57 per share, versus $1.8 billion or $2.86 per share in the earlier year quarter. On average, 17 analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected the company to report earnings of $3.75 per share. Operating revenues for the quarter declined to $24.2 billion from $25.6 billion in the prior year quarter.

Merger mania seeped into international waters on this day in 1998, as Enron Corporation inked a lavish deal to acquire British-based Wessex Water, PLC. For the sum of $2.2 billion--which was reportedly paid in cash--Enron, an electricity and gas titan from Houston, Texas, made a splashy entrance on to world water utility stage. According to company officials, the deal signaled Enron's first move towards creating a global water subsidiary; Wessex Water was slated to be the crowning jewel of the new concern, which would focus on developing water distribution systems and treatment plants in Asia, Europe and Latin America. In...

Looking for an affordable place to own a home? Think Garfield Heights, Ohio, or Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, or any number of the townships and communities clustered predominantly in America's industrial heartland. Nine of the 25 in the list can be found in Ohio alone. To generate the list, we divided median family income by median home prices. The towns are ranked in order of their home-to-income ratio. And average prices are less than half the cost of hot coastal markets, such as Boston, San Francisco and Seattle.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average took a run at another milestone, the first close over 14000. It fell short, but finished at yet another record high. Although the Dow rose 43.73 points, or 0.31%, to 13950.98, most stocks on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market declined. So did most major stock indexes.

DETROIT (AP) -- Gary Sheffield and the Detroit Tigers made Daisuke Matsuzaka pay for his lackluster location. Sheffield hit one of Detroit's three homers off the Japanese star, Curtis Granderson took a home run away from Boston and the Tigers beat the Red Sox 6-5 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep. Carlos Guillen and Marcus Thames also homered against Matsuzaka, who gave up three homers for the first time in the major leagues. Sheffield added two doubles off the right-hander. "We're pretty good at hitting mistakes," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "It doesn't matter who is pitching." After trailing 6-2,...

Oil Prices Rise Above $69 a Barrel As Strike in Nigeria Affects Industry Oil prices rose back above $69 a barrel Thursday as the oil industry began to feel the effects of a general strike in Nigeria, Africa's largest crude producer. Nigeria's labor unions launched a strike Wednesday aimed at overturning government price increases on gasoline, among other demands that the government already has conceded. "The strike ... could potentially halt just under 2 million barrels a day of oil production," said James Neale of Citigroup. "All commercial marine services in Nigeria were canceled on Wednesday, further raising the likelihood...

If you're a newly minted college graduate, the $1 million-plus needed for retirement might seem impossibly large. Feeling discouraged? Try lowering your sights, aiming instead to accumulate savings equal to two times your annual income. Once you hit that milestone, the financial wind will be at your back -- and reaching your retirement-savings goal should be a breeze. Breaking through. Suppose you expect eventually to earn $80,000 a year. Looking ahead to retirement, you reckon that -- in addition to Social Security -- you will want maybe $45,000 a year from your portfolio, adjusted for inflation.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks dropped on Thursday on renewed inflation worries and as a rise in the yen stirred concern that investors were being forced to unwind carry trades in a repeat of Tuesday's global market rout. The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI:^DJI - News) was down 195.15 points, or 1.59 percent, at 12,073.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^SPX - News) was down 21.77 points, or 1.55 percent, at 1,385.05. The Nasdaq Composite Index (Nasdaq:^IXIC - News) was down 49.33 points, or about 2 percent at 2,366.82.

Tropical storm Clovis is forecast to strike Madagascar as a tropical cyclone at about 12:00 GMT on 2 January. Data supplied by the US Navy and Air Force Joint Typhoon Warning Center suggest that the point of landfall will be near 19.3 S, 49.6 E. Clovis is expected to bring 1-minute maximum sustained winds to the region of around 166 km/h (103 mph). Wind gusts in the area may be considerably higher.

Very intense tropical cyclone Bondo struck Madagascar at about 06:00 GMT on 24 December. Data supplied by the US Navy and Air Force Joint Typhoon Warning Center suggest that the point of landfall was near 12.7 S, 48.0 E. Bondo brought 1-minute maximum sustained winds to the region of around 212 km/h (132 mph). Wind gusts in the area may have been considerably higher.

By Peter Spiegel, Los Angeles Times | December 20, 2006 WASHINGTON -- Army General John P. Abizaid, commander of US forces in the Middle East, has submitted plans to retire and will leave his post in March, a step likely to make way for a change in military strategy at a time the Bush administration is seeking a new plan for Iraq.

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — U.S. criminal gangs have gained a foothold in the U.S. military and are using overseas deployments to spread tentacles around the globe, according to the FBI. FBI gang investigator Jennifer Simon said in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes this week that gang members have been documented on or near U.S. military bases in Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Iraq. “It’s no secret that gang members are prevalent in the armed forces, including internationally,” Simon said, adding that the FBI is preparing to release a report on gangs in the military. Among the cases: ¶ In...

DETROIT (AP) -- Even before the first pitch is thrown, the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers are making this World Series memorable. Game 1 will have a pair of rookie starters for the first time, with Justin Verlander pitching Saturday night for the Tigers and Anthony Reyes for the Cardinals. "I'm sure anyone that goes up on the mound in the World Series is going to be excited," Reyes said. "That's kind of good, knowing he's probably going to have the same feeling as me." Reyes, 5-8 with a 5.06 ERA in 17 regular-season starts, has the fewest wins...

The “pickle” suits are gone. So are the two-story wooden structures, except for a few token buildings sprinkled across the base. Women trainees no longer take make-up and cosmetics classes. The “Green Monster” exists no more. The banks of pay phones have disappeared, and you no longer hear calls of “Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em!” Yes, Air Force basic military training has changed. Nearing 7 million graduates since basic training began, the Air Force is on the threshold of major changes in its program as the service reaches its 60th anniversary. The most significant transformation is extending the length...