| 40 hunters bag 32 deer in Montco
He was one of 40 hunters who helped cull an outsized herd of more than 300 deer that Pennsylvania Game Commission officials say wreaks havoc on the greenery at the suburban park off busy Germantown Pike in Montgomery County. The one-day hunt was particularly unusual because the park is surrounded by dense development, including Norristown State Hospital and Norristown Area High School. Police patrolled the perimeter and allowed only preregistered hunters onto the grounds. "We have probably 700 acres of property here," said Chris Heil, a state wildlife conservation officer who was patrolling the area. The ideal ratio is about seven deer per square mile, he said. Since the park is about a square mile, it is "way, way over the carrying capacity of this small area." The occasional pop of gunfire punctuated the air.
Homeowners scurrying to refinance
O'Mahoney is among a growing number of consumers who are taking advantage of fixed-rate loan offers that have sunk to their lowest levels since 2004. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 5.48 percent yesterday, down from 5.69 percent the week before, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Declining rates are further evidence of weakness in the housing market and follow this week's emergency rate cut by the Federal Reserve, said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist, in a statement yesterday. The 30-year fixed-rate loan averaged 6.25 percent a year ago, while current levels haven't been this low since late March 2004, when 30-year mortgages averaged 5.40 percent. Lower rates are quickly leading to new business.
Vacation just what Bergeron needed
He was fine after six minutes but started getting headaches in the seventh. Though time is clearly running out on his chance of playing this season, Bergeron hasn’t given up on it yet. He hopes to start the light workouts again next week after the All-Star break. "It’s disappointing, but at the same time, I don’t want to be discouraged," he said. "I want to stay positive and I’m still trying to shoot for this year and take it day by day. But I don’t want to put a timetable on my return and I don’t want to risk anything. I want to be 100 percent healthy." Bergeron also found another benefit to going to Aruba, however slight it may be. "I gained one pound, so I’m happy about that," said Bergeron, who had lost about 15 pounds since suffering the concussion.
BSP eases rules on bank branching
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Friday removed more restrictions on bank branching to encourage credit retailing to small borrowers and to give banks more flexibility in their non-banking services. The policy-making monetary board approved a set of measures extending the scope of the BSP's bank branching liberalization to small banks catering to small and medium-scale borrowers as well as those engaged in micro-financing. The central bank also eased rules on bank branching for large high-rated and well-capitalized banks, waiving requirements not related to prudential regulations and making it easier for them to outsource some of their backroom services. .
Obituary: Newspaper pressroom superintendent Zoeller, 92, loved to ...
"He was a legend," said San Antonio Express-News Administrative Editor Barry Robinson. "If you worked here in those days, you were like a big family, and he was sort of like a daddy to all of us." He was James "Jimmy" Felton Zoeller, who retired from the San Antonio Express and the Evening News, which were merged into the Express-News, after more than 40 years as pressroom superintendent. Zoeller, 92, died Saturday. Zoeller didn't start working for the papers until the late 1930s, but his service to readers began when he was 14. He spent the early mornings of his teenage years delivering the newspaper to the Boerne/Comfort area, sometimes by car and other times on horseback. After graduating from Boerne High School and marrying his high school sweetheart, Anita, Zoeller started working as an apprentice pressman.
Officials Eye Bond Insurer Bailout
On Friday, Ambac said it was abandoning its plans to raise $1 billion, a day after Moody's Investor's Service threatened a credit downgrade. Fitch responded with a downgrade, and more such actions from Moody's and Standard & Poor's seemed likely. That raised the specter of a massive wave of wealth destruction in a global financial system that is flooded with illiquid and opaque derivative securities whose value depends on ratings supported by the insurance industry. "If one of those bond insurers fails, you're going to see a whole new round of losses," says Marta. Amid the Wednesday morning selloff, a report circulated in the credit markets from analysts at UniCredit SpA, Italy's largest bank, arguing that a government bailout plan for the bond insurers would likely be forthcoming.
Category: Dell
First up, the Big Blue fears. Bank of America analyst Scott Craig cut his earnings estimates for hardware related stocks. Why? Craig reckons that CIOs and technology buyers are getting conservative at large enterprises amid a weaker economy (in other words the CFO is breathing down their necks). Craig also notes that a slowdown in earnings typically precedes a spending slowdown. He also adds that the global economy isn't likely to bail out U.S. based companies. That final point is huge for a company like IBM, which is really an international company that will benefit from a weak dollar and spending abroad. In a nutshell, you can expect server spending to weaken a bit. Craig cut his fiscal 2008 revenue target to $102.1 billion from $102.3 billion. Earnings estimates were cut to $7.86 a share from $7.91 a share.
Teen in armed robbery case to take jail time
The school district expelled him and his friends. His parents enrolled him in Three Springs, a private school and treatment program in North Carolina. He spent the winter living and studying in a spartan cabin, cooking food on a wood-burning stove and learning to understand and control his defiant behavior. Sean said he returned home humble, remorseful and more mature. He worked in a restaurant over the summer. He could have gone back to Wando in the fall, but his parents decided against it. Better to stay away, start new. He's now attending Trident One Stop trying to earn his diploma. Sean said he has no friends to speak of. Most of his fellow students at Trident are older, live elsewhere, have families of their own. He spends his free time with his family, going to the movies or playing video games.
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