Free Republic

The Brayton Point Power Station, the largest coal-fired power plant in New England, is shutting down amid a prolonged slump in energy prices that is forcing power operators nationally to rejigger their budgets and seek out more affordable production strategies. The closure will result in 240 job losses at the Somerset, Mass.-based facility. Its owner, an affiliate of New Jersey-based private equity firm Energy Capital Partners, said in a statement that steps would be taken to mitigate the effects of the job cuts for Brayton Point’s former workers....

Have you noticed an increase in Seminar Callers, bloggers, emails and news articles? "I have a pre-existing condition" "My sister has a pre-existing condition" "I signed up in minutes" "The AHC will save me money" etc. etc. etc. It is too much of an increase not to be coordinated. I even got one from a fed friend of mine today. It makes me wonder if Federal employees have been encouraged to do this propaganda. How many are lying and how many telling the truth???? A seminar caller is a coined phrase for someone who mainly telephones conservative radio talk shows...

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Just listening to Hannity and they jipped in on Obama's speech right as he flubbed LeJeune. What a doofus. I don't have the audio, so if anyone can dig it up and post it here, it will be appreciated.

Chicago Public Schools officials announced late Thursday that 2,113 teachers and other employees would be laid off Friday, largely due to a giant pension obligation increase that’s straining the system. “In fiscal year ‘14 we’re facing a historic deficit of $1 billion that is driven primarily by a $400 million increase in our annual teacher pension payments,” said CPS spokesman Becky Carroll. “Absent pension reform in Springfield, we have very few options available to us to close that gap, and that has resulted in bringing this crisis to the doorsteps of our schools.” Of those being laid off, 1,077 are...

Vanderbilt University Medical Center plans to cut its workforce by more than 1,000 employees within the next two years, The Tennessean reports, citing people familiar with the center's plans. Some of the cuts are expected to come by offering early retirement options. Vanderbilt University Medical Center is targeting $250 million in budget savings over the same time period, or about 8 percent of current expenses, according to The Tennessean. "It is clear that we must embark on a comprehensive effort that is immediate, achievable, proactive and ensures success over a multiyear period, while the health care and biomedical science economies...

While environmentalists tout benefits of solar power, three solar companies filed for bankruptcy in the past week. Each of them blamed intense global competition for its downfall. The German companies Conergy AG and Gehrlicher Solar AG filed for insolvency in German courts in the past week. The Hawaii-based solar company Hoku also filed for bankruptcy protection, reports Renewable Energy World. Hoku owes up to $1 billion to creditors and had to cancel building a manufacturing plant in Idaho, which had already been delayed several years. Conergy’s 800 German workers are now in line to get three months of government unemployment...

Insider Threates uh, why can't this horrible perversion of our nation end?

Audible gasps, shock, outrage and support for a congressional investigation were the responses by law-enforcement officers, elected officials and attorneys to a presentation by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Cold Case Posse of evidence that Barack Obama’s birth certificate is fraudulent. Arpaio’s lead investigator, Mike Zullo, made a public presentation Saturday at the annual convention of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association in St. Charles, Mo., then held a closed-door session for police officers, elected officials and others. “Sheriff Arpaio wants this in Congress. That’s where we intend to take it,” Zullo said in an interview with Carl Gallups of PPSimmons...

Focus on Benghazi and the illegal IRS abuse against political enemies. Who doesn't believe that the Moochelle heckler was staged? Sex abuse in the military a major story? Really? The foolish IRS overspending? That is old news. Yeah, the last two are infuriating, but they won't send Obama allies to jail. We need to focus on the scandals that will send people to jail... and could bring down a presidency. The AP story and even the massive phone records grab are important because it engages an otherwise sleepy leftist press.

The total San Diego County workforce for various Kyocera subsidiaries after the cuts will be 625... ...One reason cited for the downturn in orders for U.S.-made panels is the conclusion of stimulus funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act...

I can't explain how sick I am. I don't like drudge much, but he is doing a good job exposing the clown tonight.

Bank of America said today it’s cutting 469 jobs from its mortgage servicing center in Newark as the number of homeowners delinquent on mortgage payments dwindles. Employees at the offices on the corner of Market Street and University Avenue were given the news last week. “We previously announced intentions to reduce the size of our mortgage servicing operations in line with the successful reduction of our portfolio of delinquent mortgage customers,” the bank said in an e-mailed statement last night. “Compared to peak levels in 2011, today we have fewer than half the number of customers who need the specialized...

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) is laying off 1,320 employees in upstate New York as it will exit a mortgage-servicing facility there at the end of May, according to a filing with the New York State Department of Labor. M&T Bank Corp. (MTB) is taking over Bank of America's Getzville, N.Y., mortgage-servicing facility and hiring about 600 Bank of America employees, a spokesman for the Buffalo, N.Y., bank said. He added M&T has about 400 openings in Buffalo and Bank of America employees can apply for those positions. Bank of America, the nation's second-largest bank by assets behind J.P. Morgan...

Duke Energy will close two of its oldest coal-fired power plants, Riverbend west of Charlotte and Buck in Rowan County in April, two years ahead of schedule. Both plants date to the 1920s and had been planned for retirement in 2015. They’re among a wave of older, smaller coal plants closing down rather than investing in new pollution controls to meet federal environmental regulations. The plants had been little used in recent years as larger, more efficient plants came online and falling natural gas prices shifted generation to gas. ....

Michigan: Detroit Closing 50 ParksDetroit will close nearly half of its parks and will reduce maintenance and services at dozens of others after the City Council passed on a deal that would have had the state operate the city’s Belle Isle park, Mayor Dave Bing said on Friday. Closing 50 of 107 parks will allow the city to keep running Belle Isle, a 985-acre park in the Detroit River, after the Council declined to vote on Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposal. Mr. Snyder’s offer called for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to run Belle Isle as a state park, but...

Hundreds of job cuts stemming largely from the pending loss of two major federal contracts will begin soon at Monona-based WPS Health Insurance. WPS filed notice with the state Monday that 451 employees in Monona, Madison and Wausau would likely lose their jobs starting March 29. That includes 250 people in Madison and Monona, and 201 in Wausau, where about 300 work now. And there could be more job cuts coming. Founded in 1946, WPS is Wisconsin's leading nonprofit health insurer. It currently employs about 3,600 people, including some 2,500 in the Madison area. Read more: http://host.madison.com/business/wps-health-insurance-files-notice-of-layoffs-in-monona-madison/article_f0188544-69ad-11e2-96de-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz2JPbqF3Hl

The Kapolei Golf Club laid off 14 out of 110 employed at the course recently. The employees were from various departments. "After careful consideration and full review of operations, we had to make the difficult decision of reducing our staff at Kapolei Golf Club," said Micah Kane, chief operating officer of Pacific Links Hawaii, in a statement. "This shift enables Pacific Links Hawai'i to operate at optimal efficiency and better provide the high quality of service that our customers have come to expect and solidify the future of our remaining employees. We do not anticipate any further staff cuts." Other...

Yediot Ahronot reported. on Friday that former Iranian intelligence officials who defected to the West claim that Iran’s underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility has been almost completely demolished, and hundreds of staff members are at this moment trapped underground, This has to be the worst blow to Iran’s nuclear ambitions so far. WND, an American news website affiliated with the right, reported Friday that a mysterious explosion has destroyed a significant portion of Iran’s Fordo nuclear facility – considered Tehran’s most fortified facility.