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Monday, October 13, 2008
Back in black: Dow rises record 936 points
Wall Street stormed back today, reassured by moves from world governments. The Dow industrials closed the day at 9,387.61, a rise of 936.42 points — the biggest one-day gain in the index’s history, and the biggest percentage gain since 1933.
More from the Associated Press here.
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‘Brady Bunch’ star tells of addiction, depression in new book
As Marcia Brady on “The Brady Bunch,” Maureen McCormick projected an image of the wholesome girl next door. But off camera, she spiraled downward into drug addiction and depression.
Here’s the full story about her tell-all book posted on CNN.com.
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First baby born on Galveston Island since Hurricane Ike
A baby’s been born on Galveston for the first time since Hurricane Ike slammed into the island community.
Jennifer Ramirez-Hernandez was born Monday, which is the one-month anniversary of Ike making landfall near Galveston. She was born at the University of Texas Medical Branch, which while still officially closed has opened up its 16-bed maternity unit to care for high-risk pregnancies.
The nursing staff at the special maternity unit has prepared special certificates to note that Jennifer, who weighed in at 7 pounds, 8 ounces, and other babies are among the first born on Galveston since Ike hit.
The storm slammed into the Texas Coast on Sept. 13 with a strong surge and winds of 110 mph, killing at least 37 people in Texas.
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Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo out up to 4 weeks with broken finger
The Dallas Cowboys Web site is reporting that quarterback Tony Romo has a broken pinkie finger and will be out for up to four weeks.
Apparently it happened on the first play of overtime before Arizona blocked the punt and scored the deciding touchdown.
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Krugman wins Nobel in economics
Paul Krugman, a professor at Princeton University and a columnist for The New York Times, was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences today.
Krugman received the award for his work on international trade and economic geography. The prize committee lauded his work for “having shown the effects of economies of scale on trade patterns and on the location of economic activity.”
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Dow back above 9,000 mark, pushing toward 600-point gain
The Dow Jones industrial average continues to look strong today as the Dow might end up with its largest daily jump ever.
Read more here.
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Parr brother pleads guilty in theft case
Kourtney Deshawn Parr of Waco was sentenced to seven years’ probation today in 19th State District Court after pleading guilty to engaging to organized crime.
The La Vega High School graduate, who turned 19 on Sunday, also was ordered by Judge Ralph Strother to make $7,000 in restitution. He was reportedly in a group that broke into the La Vega High School field house last year and stole money from a fundraiser that was kept inside a safe.
As part of the plea bargain, prosecutors agreed not to pursue a credit-card abuse case against him.
His younger brother, Christopher Dantae Parr, returned to La Vega High School in late September after bonding out of the McLennan County Jail.
Parr is accused of holding a gun to 19-year-old Lonnie Sawyer and robbing him of his shoes and hat at 10:40 p.m. Aug. 26 in the 5200 block of Concord Road in Bellmead, according to a Bellmead police arrest warrant affidavit.
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Autopsy: Robinson man was shot twice from behind
Preliminary autopsy results in the shooting death of former champion stock-car racer Joe McMullan Sturdivant Jr. indicate that the Robinson resident was shot twice from behind.
The 68-year-old was found Wednesday night by Robinson police at his home at 3108 S. State Highway 77 with gunshot wounds.
According to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, where the body was sent for the autopsy, Sturdivant suffered one gunshot wound to the head and another to the back.
One was an “intermediate-range entry wound” to the back, which exited through the neck. From the other shot a large-caliber projectile was recovered, the autopsy report states.
The investigation continues into the shooting. His business, Sturdivant Auto Transmissions, in Waco has been open since 1968.
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Bridgework planned on Bull Hide Creek
The Texas Department of Transportation will temporarily close Cooksey Lane at Bull Hide Creek beginning Thursday, according to a press release sent out this morning.
Here’s the rest of the release:
The closure will allow construction of a new bridge at Bull Hide Creek and is expected to last about four months.
The roadway will only be closed to through traffic between Losak Road and Southwinds Drive. Local residents will still have access to the roadway.
The closure is part of a project that began in mid-September of this year, to replace the bridges on McLennan County Road 330 (Church Road) at Harris Creek, McLennan County Road 313 (Cooksey Lane) at Bull Hide Creek and McLennan County Road 508 (Solitude Lane) at Post Oak Creek.
All three existing structures will be replaced with wider concrete and steel bridges that meet current roadway safety and design specifications. The project will also upgrade the approaches to all three bridges.
TxDOT asks that motorists seek alternate routes and cautions local residents to observe all warning signs and to be aware of construction personnel and equipment in the work area.
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Dow up more than 500 points
Wall Street snapped back today from last week’s devastating losses after major governments announced further steps to support the global banking system, including plans by the U.S. Treasury to buy stocks of some banks. All the major indexes rose well over 5 percent, and the Dow Jones industrials gained more than 500 points.
The hope on the Street was that the market was finding some footing after eight sessions of devastating losses that sent the Dow down nearly 2,400 points. But while a rebound had been expected at some point, Wall Street can expect to see volatile, back-and-forth trading in the coming days and weeks as investors work through their concerns about the banking sector, the stagnant credit markets and the overall economy.
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Omaha hospital left with 2nd out-of-state teen
Nebraska officials say another teenager from outside the state has been left at an Omaha hospital under the state’s safe haven law.
Todd Landry with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services says a 13-year-old Michigan boy was left at Creighton University Medical Center this morning.
This is the second time since the law went into effect in July that a child from outside the state has been left at a hospital in Nebraska. To date, 18 children between the ages of 1 and 17 have been abandoned.
Last week, a 14-year-old girl from Iowa was left at an Omaha hospital by her grandparents. She has since been returned to her family.
Nebraska’s unique safe-haven law allows children as old as 18 to be abandoned without fear of prosecution.
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Senate candidate in Waco tonight
Rick Noriega, who is running against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, will have a meet-and-greet event tonight from 6 to 7 at El Conquistador on the Patio, 4508 W. Waco Drive.
Noriega and Cornyn debated in Houston Thursday night.
Noriega is a 27-year veteran of the military. He served as the Laredo sector commander for “Operation Jumpstart,” the National Guard’s border security campaign, and served with the Army National Guard in Afghanistan.
A graduate of the University of Houston and Harvard University, Noriega is a member of the Defense Affairs and State and Federal Relations Committee of the Texas House of Representatives. A father of two sons, he is married to Houston City Council member Melissa Noriega.
Click here for his Web site if you’d like to know more.
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Waco woman killed; police arrest suspect
A Hill County resident has been charged with capital murder in connection with the stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend’s mother in Waco.
Police said Jeremy Lee Lowrey, 24, broke into his ex-girlfriend’s home at 3900 Watt St. just before 4 a.m. today. Yolanda Leonard, 34, said she awoke to find Lowrey standing in her bedroom. She began screaming, and her mother Rebecca Leonard, 52, entered the room.
Lowrey turned toward Rebecca Leonard and began stabbing her, the report said. Jerry Patterson, 67, Rebecca Leonard’s boyfriend, heard the commotion and came into the room. Lowrey began to stab Patterson, then fled the home.
Patterson was able to get to a neighbor’s house and called the police. Police found Lowrey at 42nd Street and Waco Drive and arrested him.
Rebecca Leonard died from her injuries at the scene. Patterson was taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center for surgery for his wounds and he is expected to survive, police said.
Lowrey also has been charged with attempted capital murder in connection with Patterson’s stabbing.
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Iceland suspends stock trading again
Iceland has suspended trading on its stock exchange for the third consecutive trading day, citing “unusual market conditions.”
Today’s decision follows a turbulent week in Iceland, where the government has taken control of the country’s three major banks.
Nasdaq OMX Iceland says trading will resume on Tuesday. The exchange’s fixed income market remains open.
Iceland has been particularly hard hit by the global credit squeeze because of its heavyweight banking sector. Its troubles are also having repercussions elsewhere in Europe where tens of thousands of private savers have accounts worth millions of pounds with branches or subsidiaries of those banks.
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YouTube adds Star Trek episodes
YouTube is working to give Web surfers even more reasons to come to its site by adding complete episodes of a few select TV series, such as the original Star Trek series.
As the site techtree.com writes: “YouTube has started screening 50-minute episodes of the Star Trek series - five of them to be precise — on the Web site, heralding a new era in content advertising.”
CBS Networks, which has rights for the episodes — has also added a couple of episodes of Beverly Hills 90210, MacGyver and even the soap opera The Young and the Restless; all supported by advertising. You have to sit through some short ads at the beginning, end and in the middle, though that’s not any different than the network Web sites that complete episodes online or my favorite, hulu.com, which offers old and new shows as well as some movies.
But this venture could draw additional people to YouTube.
If you’re curious, check out the CBS playlist for the videos. One of the Star Trek choices currently offered is “The City of the Edge of Forever,” considered one of the best episodes of the original series.
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Dow has strong gains in early trading
U.S. stock futures and world stock markets rallied today as agreements reached in Paris and Washington D.C. to bolster the banking system restored some confidence after a week in which stocks dropped by nearly 20 percent in the U.S. and by more around the globe.
“This is what the market was hoping to see,” said Marc Pado, U.S. equity strategist at Miller Tabak of the agreement by the European Central Bank, Bank of England and Swiss Bank to use unlimited funds to guarantee interbank funding.
The Dow was up more than 420 points at one point this morning and at last look was trading about 325 points higher than when it opened.
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Dalai Lama recovering from gallstone surgery
The Dalai Lama was recovering today from surgery to remove gallstones and was likely to leave a New Delhi hospital early this week, a senior aide said.
The Tibetan spiritual leader underwent surgery on Friday. He had gallstones for more than a decade.
“He walked around in the hospital and didn’t feel any pain,” said Tenzin Takhla, the Dalai Lama’s spokesman.
In August, the Dalai Lama was admitted to a Mumbai hospital and underwent tests for abdominal discomfort. His aides said then he was in good condition but doctors advised him to cancel a planned trip to Europe and rest, saying he was suffering from exhaustion.
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Christian businessman killed in Iraq
A Christian music store owner was shot to death in Mosul, Iraqi police said today — the latest in a series of killings that has caused thousands of members of the religious minority to flee the northern city.
Religious leaders have called for action to stop the apparent Sunni insurgent campaign against Christians. Government officials have responded by announcing new security measures and plans to send troop reinforcements to the area.
Gunmen stormed into the businessman’s store late Sunday in an eastern part of the city, killing him and wounding his teenage nephew, according to a police officer in the regional security operations center.
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Kidnappings on rise in Iraq
Five years ago, retired Air Force intelligence officer Kirk von Ackermann became the first of 39 Americans to be kidnapped in Iraq. He’s still missing, his wife fearing she’ll never see him again.
Besides the personal tragedy, his disappearance and those that have followed have taken on a larger significance. They mark a turning point in terrorist tactics that U.S. intelligence officials say has produced a startling statistic: a 500 percent increase in foreigners taken hostage around the world as militants adopt the methods of the most violent figures in the Iraq insurgency.
Figures compiled by the Defense Intelligence Agency from classified and unclassified sources — provided exclusively to The Associated Press — show that in 2004, some 342 foreign and U.S. hostages were taken by terrorist and insurgent organizations.
By 2006 that number had grown to 501. By 2007 it had jumped to more than 1,500, and it is on track to rise even higher this year, according to Thomas Brown, director of the office that analyzes information about prisoners of war and those missing in action.
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An overcast start to Columbus Day
Welcome to Columbus Day. Some of you have the day off today, so enjoy it. The rest of us working stiffs will just try to get through another Monday.
The forecast calls for partly sunny skies today, but it certainly looks more like a chance for rain with the overcast conditions this morning. We should still reach a high of 83 degrees and winds at some point today will be between 10 and 15 mph.
There’s a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms this evening.
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