The Institute of The Blessed Virgin Mary will close the all-girls school in June, forcing students to find another school and laying off most of the 57-employee staff. Some employees will choose to retire.
“It has always been our hope that the tradition of excellent academic education and spiritual development for young women could continue,” Sister Rosemary Lynch said in a news release. “However, the declining enrollment and current financial picture make it impossible for us to provide the type of education that has become the hallmark of Loretto High School.”
Current and former students established a Save Loretto Steering Committee in an effort to help save the school at 2360 El Camino Blvd payday loan online., between Bell Street and Fulton Avenue.
Enrollment at the college-preparatory school is 389 students this year, compared to 560 students three years ago. This year, 80 girls took the entrance exam, compared to the average of 175 in recent years.
“Our decision to close at the end of this school year remains firm,” Lynch said. “We hope now that all can move forward.”
The 10-acre campus has been placed on the market, and appraised at $10.3 million. The school has about 63,800 square feet of buildings.
Gannett is slashing its dividend for the first time in its history.
The cut will lower the payment to 4 cents per share, a 90 percent drop from 40 cents per share. The dividend had been steadily increasing since Gannett made its first quarterly payment in 1967 fast payday loan no faxing.
The McLean, Va.-based company expects to save about $325 million annually with the move.
Bell Mobility subscribers will once again be able to receive "tweets," the brief updates transmitted over social networking service Twitter, on their cellphones via text messages.
But it’s not going to be … er, cheep.
Bell said yesterday that it will become the first Canadian wireless carrier to offer full short message service support for Twitter users after the company behind the micro-blogging phenomenon pulled the plug on the SMS portion of the service in Canada late last year.
The catch is that it will cost Twitter users 15 cents per incoming and outgoing message – and the charges will apply to subscribers even if they have a monthly plan that already includes text messages.
"Because Twitter is a third-party service, the messages are considered premium and not covered by our plans," said Julie Smithers, a Bell spokesperson. "This aligns with industry standards regarding third-party premium messaging."
Twitter is a social networking service that allows users to send and receive short, text-based updates – "I’m eating pizza for dinner" – to others who have signed up to follow them. The messages, which can’t be longer than 140 characters, are posted on subscribers’ profile pages on the Web and can be sent in real-time to their mobile devices.
The service has been used by several high-profile people, including U guaranteed personal loan approval.S. President Barack Obama, and was credited for providing the first reports of the recent US Airways crash in New York’s Hudson River.
However, Twitter’s Canadian users were dealt a blow last year after part of the service was discontinued because of the high cost of sending and receiving text messages in Canada. Twitter had apparently been footing the bill for its Canadian subscribers’ incoming text messages.
"We can’t afford to support this service given our current arrangement with our providers (where costs have been doubling for the past several months)," according to a Twitter blog posting from November.
Now, the costs will be borne by the users themselves.
Carmi Levy, the senior vice-president of strategic consulting for AR Communications Inc., said his Twitter use was unaffected by last year’s SMS blackout because he uses a smartphone version of the service that is supported by his monthly data plan.
But he said that Twitter subscribers who don’t own iPhones or BlackBerry-type devices can expect some hefty monthly bills depending on how many other Twitter users they are following.
"It can be dozens or even hundreds of messages (per day)," Levy said. "I sent out just one question earlier this afternoon and I got 15 responses."
U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the U.S. Treasury Saturday to implement tax cuts for 95% of Americans, fulfilling a campaign pledge he hopes will help jolt the economy out of recession.
The tax cuts are part of a $787 billion economic recovery plan passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress over Republican opposition. The aim is to put more money in the pockets of Americans and stimulate the economy by increasing consumer spending.
"I’m pleased to announce that this morning the Treasury Department began directing employers to reduce the amount of taxes withheld from paychecks, meaning that by April 1st, a typical family will begin taking home at least $65 more every month," Obama said in his weekly radio address.
"Never before in our history has a tax cut taken effect faster or gone to so many hard-working Americans," he said.
With tens of thousands of Americans losing their jobs in the midst of a global economic meltdown, Obama has said fixing the U.S. economy is his top priority. He has acknowledged that his success or failure in that will define his presidency.
Obama campaigned for the White House last year on a pledge to roll back his predecessor George W. Bush’s tax cuts on the wealthy few and implement a cut for 95% of Americans.
His announcement came a day after one of his top economic advisers, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, said the global economy may be deteriorating even faster than during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Since being sworn into office on Jan. 20, Obama has sought to reassure Americans that his government is tackling the economic crisis boldly and swiftly - holding near-daily events to announce measures to stem mortgage foreclosures, prop up failing banks, rescue the ailing auto industry and drive his stimulus package through Congress.
The measures have received a mixed early reaction from gloomy financial markets uncertain whether they will succeed in arresting the downward economic spiral guaranteed unsecured personal loan.
The package includes $282 billion in tax cuts - the Republicans pushed unsuccessfully for more - and $120 billion for public works projects including highway and rail projects.
"But as important as it was that I was able to sign this plan into law, it is only a first step on the road to economic recovery," Obama said in his address.
"None of this will be easy. The road ahead will be long and full of hazards. But I’m confident that we, as a people, have the strength and wisdom to carry out this strategy and overcome this crisis," he said.
His announcement on the tax cuts capped a week that saw him sign the stimulus package into law and announce new measures to help families facing foreclosure and those struggling to make mortgage payments.
He will step up the pace next week when he holds a summit at the White House Monday to look at how to rein in the country’s ballooning deficit and bring government spending under control as the economy starts to recover.
Lawmakers, academics and business leaders have been invited to share their ideas on how to cut the $1 trillion deficit that Obama inherited along with two costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama will follow the summit with a major speech Tuesday to a joint session of Congress in which he will lay out his domestic and foreign policy agenda. Inevitably, the economic crisis will loom large.
After a short breather Wednesday to host a concert honoring Stevie Wonder, Obama Thursday will unveil his proposed budget for the 2010 fiscal year, which will reflect the big increases in public spending as part of the economic recovery plan.
Royal Bank of Scotland is to announce a restructuring this week to create a non-core division into which unwanted assets will be placed, a banking industry source said on Sunday.
The Sunday Telegraph also said the bank would establish a new division that would sit within RBS but which will be ring-fenced from the rest of the group. RBS declined to comment.
The Financial Times newspaper reported on Saturday that RBS would also unveil up to 20,000 job losses as it reports results on February 26.
Sources told Reuters on Friday that RBS had hired Morgan Stanley to explore the potential sale of its Asian banking units as it looks to raise cash following its ill-fated purchase of ABN Amro.
The sources said the part-nationalized bank was likely to first explore options for its retail and commercial units but it would be willing to consider an offer for the investment banking operations if the price was right online payday loans.
In a separate report, the Sunday Times said a similar core and non-core deal was planned for Northern Rock, under a government initiative aimed at kick starting lending into the economy.
The government is expected to inject between 5 billion pounds ($7.2 billion) and 10 billion pounds of new funding into Northern Rock as part of the deal, the paper said.
No one at the Treasury was immediately available to comment.
(Reporting by Kate Holton and Steve Slater; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
International demand for long-term U.S. financial assets rose more than economists forecast in December as foreign investors bought the most corporate debt since June.
Total net purchases of long-term equities, notes and bonds increased to $34.8 billion, compared with net selling of a revised $25.6 billion in November, the Treasury Department said today in Washington. Including short-term securities such as stock swaps, foreigners bought a net $74 billion, compared with net buying of $61.3 billion the previous month.
Stock prices rose and the dollar declined in the final month of 2008, when the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark lending rate to as low as zero. Investors abroad flocked to debt issued by U.S. companies as yields rose amid a lack of available credit.
“The sharp rise in credit spreads in the aftermath of Lehman increased the attraction of U.S. corporate debt,” said Lena Komileva, head of market economics at Tullett Prebon Plc in London, referring to the collapse last year of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Still, she said, “the monthly intake remained depressed by historical standards, reflecting very cautious attitudes toward risk as the cost of hedging remains high.”
Economists predicted international investors would buy a net $20 billion of long-term securities in December, based on the median of seven estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 7 percent in December. The dollar fell 3.3 percent, snapping a streak of four monthly gains, against a basket of currencies of major U.S. trading partners.
Corporate Debt
The Treasury’s reporting on long-term securities captures international purchases of government notes and bonds, stocks, corporate debt and securities issued by U no fax needed payday loans.S. agencies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which buy mortgages.
International investors bought a net $41 billion in U.S. corporate debt in December, after five straight months of net selling, the report showed.
Net foreign purchases of Treasury notes and bonds were $14.9 billion, compared with sales of $25.8 billion a month earlier. Net purchases of Treasury bills were $25.3 billion, down from $82.1 billion in November.
Net foreign official selling of long-term U.S. assets totaled $2.8 billion, after net sales of $37.1 billion the previous month, the report showed.
Agency Debt
Foreign demand for U.S. agency debt from companies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to slide, with net sales of $37.4 billion after net selling of $22.5 billion in November.
Net foreign purchases of U.S. equities were $3.9 billion in December, after net purchases of $4.4 billion the previous month.
China was the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries, after its holdings rose $14.3 billion to $696.2 billion. Japan, the second-largest holder, had holdings that increased by $800 million to $578.3 billion.
Some economists say the difference between the trade deficit and securities purchased by foreigners is an indicator of how easily the U.S. can finance its external obligations.
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed 4 percent in December to $39.9 billion, the smallest in almost six years, as imports and exports declined for the fifth straight month, the Commerce Department said in a report Feb. 11.
The U.K. economy will shrink at almost twice the pace previously forecast this year as the credit famine plunges the nation deeper into the worst recession in almost 30 years, the Confederation of British Industry said.
Gross domestic product will contract 3.3 percent, instead of the 1.7 percent predicted in November, the biggest U.K. business lobby said today. By the end of 2009, the economy will have contracted for six consecutive quarters, it said.
“The world has changed dramatically,” Richard Lambert, the CBI’s director general, told reporters in London. “Faced with a global confidence crisis, a rapid fall in demand and credit constraints, U.K. firms have been forced to scale back investments and cut jobs.”
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pledged billions of pounds to revive lending as a housing slump deepens and job losses mount. The CBI expects the economy to shrink 4.5 percent from the start of the recession in the third quarter of last year, only slightly less than in the early 1980s slump during Margaret Thatcher’s first term. Output will stagnate in 2010, it said.
As banks rationed loans, home values slumped. The average price advertised by sellers in February recorded the biggest annual fall since at least 2002, declining 9.1 percent to 216,163 pounds ($313,533), Rightmove Plc said today. In London, they fell 3.5 percent instant payday loans completely online. Mortgage approvals stayed close to a decade-low in December, the Bank of England said on Jan. 30.
Enquiries from potential buyers are “being blunted by the mortgage famine,” Miles Shipside, Rightmove’s commercial director, said in a statement. “The financial sector needs to put its house in order before market recovery can truly begin.”
Housing Slump
Still, asking prices in the U.K. rose 1.2 percent over the month, led by the West Midlands, Rightmove said. In London, they grew 0.3 percent.
House prices will probably decline 15.5 percent this year, the CBI said. Rightmove forecasts a 10 percent drop.
Unemployment will rise to more than 3 million by the second quarter of 2010, up from 1.97 million at the end of last year, according to the CBI. The inflation rate will drop to 0.1 percent in the third quarter of this year, the CBI said.
The recession will damage Britain’s long-term growth prospects, Oxford Economics said in a report today. Gross domestic product will grow 2.1 percent a year on average between the second-half of 2006 and the final two quarters of 2018, compared with an average 2.9 percent expansion in the previous economic cycle, the report showed.
Three area food industry firms are planning expansions that collectively represent more than $15 million in private-sector investment.
Incentives offered by the Erie County Industrial Development Agency could save the companies anywhere from 15 percent to 20 percent on their development costs.
All three are seeking incentive packages from the ECIDA. The agency’s board of directors will consider the plans in March.
“These types of projects reinforce the fact that food and agriculture is and should be one of our key industries that we focus on,” said John Cappellino, ECIDA director of business development. “Many people don’t realize it, but it is one of the strongest economic clusters we have in the county.”
The projects are:
• Goya Foods Inc. plans to invest $10.3 million of its own funds to expand its Angola processing operations by 45,000 square feet. The expansion would be the second by Goya in the past two years. Last year, it opened a 150,000-square-foot distribution center in its Angola complex.
Tentative plans call for Goya to raze an existing office building and use the land for the processing center expansion. The offices will move elsewhere on its South Main Street campus.
The number of employees Goya would add is still being determined.
The plant handles 26 kinds of beans including organic and low-sodium varieties low cost payday loans. It annually processes more than 32 million pounds of dried beans.
• Costanzo’s Bakery Inc. is working with the IDA on a package to help finance a 64,000-square-foot addition to its Cheektowaga plant and renovate 3,600 square feet of the Innsbruck Drive facility. The project is tagged at $3.75 million.
Costanzo’s has 90 full-time workers and 23 part-timers. New hires are expected as a result of the expansion.
• In March, the IDA board also will consider a $1.15 million incentive package for MJM Industries Inc., an Orchard Park wholesale distributor of deli and other food products.
The company wants to add 7,000 square feet to its North Benzing Road plant and renovate other portions of its facility. With the expansion, MJM expects to add five employees to the current work force of 50.
Food and agriculture remain one of the top economic development clusters for the ECIDA. In Erie County Executive Chris Collins’ State of the County address, he pointed to them as being among 10 key areas in which the county will revive its economy.
Agriculture employs more than 1,900 people in the county, while food processing firms have more than 6,100 local workers.
Hasbro Inc. posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit Monday as shoppers bought fewer toys during the holiday season, and it said it would focus on cutting costs in the year ahead.
The No. 2 toy company, which makes the G.I. Joe and Transformers toys, said it expected its sales and earnings per share to grow in 2009 if economic conditions and the effect of the stronger U.S. dollar do not worsen.
Hasbro, like its bigger rival Mattel Inc., took a hit from sharp cutbacks in consumer spending, which led to the worst holiday selling season in nearly four decades.
Shoppers pared spending on everything from clothes to jewelry and toys for their children, as they contended with job losses, a credit crunch and weak home values.
Where they did buy, it was at a deep discount.
In the year ahead, Hasbro said it would concentrate on cutting costs and managing its operating cash flow "given the severity of the downturn in global economies."
The company will sell key toys this year based on the "G.I. Joe - The Rise of Cobra" and "Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen" movies - products that analysts have said will bolster 2009 sales and give it an edge over Mattel guaranteed payday loan.
Hasbro’s net profit fell to $93.6 million, or 62 cents a share, from $133.7 million, or 84 cents a share, a year earlier.
Analysts on average expected 76 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Sales fell 5% to $1.2 billion, Hasbro said.
Hasbro’s results come a week after Mattel (MAT, Fortune 500) also posted disappointing earnings, hurt by the global economic downturn.
The fourth quarter "clearly had significant headwinds - the negative impact of foreign exchange and the broad-based global economic downturn," Hasbro’s Chief Financial Officer David Hargreaves said in a statement.
Hasbro (HAS) said it did not buy back any shares in the fourth quarter.
Hasbro’s shares, which closed at $23.54 on Friday, were not traded in premarket.
United States Steel Corp., the largest U.S.-based steel producer, said Friday that about 500 employees have agreed to retire early as part of a plan to slash costs.
The company said the voluntary retirement of the nonunion workers, including some executives, would occur at its Pittsburgh headquarters and plants across the country make quick cash today.
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