Archive for June 29th, 2009

CHICAGO (Reuters) — Michigan has to close prisons to save money. California’s are bursting at the seams.Both states are struggling with huge budget gaps.Now, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has offered California some of the state’s prisons that are slated to close at a yet-to-be-determined cost.In a letter Monday to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Granholm formally offered to house California inmates, noting their “mutual interest in resolving budget and corrections problems, perhaps in one fell swoop.”"I believe this opportunity has great potential and could be mutually beneficial at a time when states need to rely on each other like never before,” Granholm, a Democrat, wrote to her Republican counterpart.A copy of the letter was provided to Reuters.”It would allow California to address some of its immediate needs for additional prison beds and prisoner preparation for release and would permit some of Michigan’s very talented correctional and program staff to continue working as they face the likelihood of layoff,” she added.Michigan’s corrections department announced earlier this month plans to close several prisons this year in order to save 120 million.California faces lawsuits over the poor state of its prison health system, which a panel of federal judges has concluded is largely the result of state prisons filled to twice their capacity.Schwarzenegger last week said California’s state government could not afford to spend 2 billion to upgrade prison health facilities while preparing for potentially deep spending cuts to education and state health programs to help fill a 24.3 billion state budget shortfall.Schwarzenegger’s office has proposed easing prison overcrowding by transferring inmates who are undocumented immigrants to federal custody.Prison officials in California, which already has more than 7,000 inmates housed in private correctional facilities in Arizona, Tennessee, Mississippi and Oklahoma, are intrigued by Granholm’s offer, said Seth Unger, a spokesman for California’s prison system.”We are interested in exploring the possibility if Michigan can offer the same level of security at competitive cost,” said Unger, adding that a team from California’s prison system will travel to Michigan next month to review the offer in greater detail.A spokeswoman for Granholm said talks about prison space began between the two states earlier this month.

Source:CNN

NEW YORK: Toyota has teamed up with British ultra-luxury carmaker Aston Martin to sell a version of the iQ city car, a car that is more than two feet shorter than a Mini Cooper.The nearly finished Toyotas (TM) will be shipped to Aston Martin’s assembly plant in Gaydon, England. There, the cars’ interiors will be trimmed in leather. Aston Martin will make no mechanical changes to the cars, but some cosmetic changes will be made to make them look like little Aston Martins.This version of Toyota’s iQ city car will be called the Aston Martin Cygnet. It will cost about 32,000, according to Aston Martin spokeswoman Francesca Smith. That’s 85,000 less than the company’s least expensive model today, the 420-horsepower V8 Vantage, which starts at about 117,000. It would, however, be about twice the price of the current Toyota iQ on which it’s based on.The car is a concept vehicle for now but if Aston Martin feels that there is enough interest it will go for sale in 2010, Smith said.0:00
/3:21The remaking of JaguarToyota does not currently sell the iQ in the United States, although the Japanese carmaker has not ruled out bringing it here in the future. “Aston Martin plans to sell the Cygnet, designed for people who value premium quality and individuality, in Europe,” Toyota said in an announcement.The iQ has what Toyota calls “3+1″ seating, meaning the car has back seats but the seat behind the driver is only barely usable. (In that sense, it may not be that different from Aston Martin’s other cars, which are all high-performance sporty two-door models.) The iQ is powered by a 1.0-liter engine that produces about 68 horsepower.The Cygnet could be a second or third car for Aston Martin owners, Aston Martin said in an announcement posted on its Web site.”This concept – akin to an exclusive tender to a luxury yacht – will allow us to apply Aston Martin design language, craftsmanship and brand values to a completely new segment of the market,” Aston Martin Chief Executive, Dr Ulrich Bez said in the announcement.Aston Martin had been part ofFord’s (F, Fortune 500) luxury car group, along with Jaguar and Land Rover, but was sold to a consortium of private investors in 2007. Ford’s other British luxury divisions, Land Rover and Jaguar, were later sold to Tata Motors of India.

Source:CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) — A burst of applause erupted in the ornate 9th floor ceremonial courtroom of Manhattan’s U.S. District Court as Judge Denny Chin proclaimed, “Bernard L. Madoff shall be and hereby is sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 150 years.”Victims, who have had little reason to cheer since learning in December their investments were lost in history’s biggest Ponzi Scheme, hugged as soon as Judge Chin said, “We are adjourned” and Madoff was led out of court back to a jail cell where he would change out of his dark suit into prison garb, likely for the final time.0:00
/5:05Madoff saga far from overVictims interviewed for CNNMoney were unanimous in their approval.”I feel that was the right sentence. If he had just gotten 12 years like his lawyers recommended I would have been so crushed,” said Sharon Lissauer, a model who told the court she had lost virtually all her savings to Madoff.”The judge was wonderful, and he really told it like it was, and he was making a statement to the world that was very important,” said Madoff victim Judith Weller.But, satisfied? Not a single victim was.”I don’t have satisfaction because the victims have no reparations yet,” said Madoff victim Norma Human.The Securities Investor Protection Corporation, which provided insurance against fraud to clients of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, has thus far approved just 371 claims totaling 161-million. Trustee Irving Picard has listed more than 13,000 victims with losses estimated at more than 13 billion.”I don’t think you ever get satisfaction out of something like this,” agreed Norma Hill, a victim who met with Bernard Madoff two decades ago, two weeks after her husband had died.”He put his arm around my shoulder and he said to me, ‘Don’t’ worry. Everything will be fine, and your investment will be safe with me,’” recalled Hill. “So I had no reason not to believe him. He was kind, he was very nice, and I was utterly taken by how nice he was.”Judge Chin said he was “particularly struck” by a letter from Ms. Hill in announcing his sentence.”If my letter helped influence Judge Chin in the sentencing then I feel very pleased about that,” said Ms. Hill.Madoff told the court “I live in a tormented state now knowing of all the pain and suffering that I have created. I have left a legacy of shame.” Then, in conclusion, Madoff briefly turned to face the audience which included dozens of victims. “I apologize to my victims,” he said. “I am sorry. I know it will not help you.”The apology was hollow to those who had once trusted Madoff with their funds.”It’s a joke,” said victim DeWitt Baker. “He doesn’t exhibit any emotion There’s no tears, there’s no broken voice, it’s just the recitation, inhuman recitation.”Dominic Ambrosino knows better than any of his fellow Madoff victims what awaits the former Nasdaq Chairman in prison. The former corrections officer told CNNMoney minutes after Madoff’s sentencing, “When that cell door closes on you for the first time that’s a feeling you’ll never forget the rest of your life.”

Source:CNN

WASHINGTON: Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will return to Capitol Hill later this month to testify before lawmakers investigating the government’s role in last fall’s Bank of America acquisition of troubled Merrill Lynch.The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Monday that Paulson would appear on July 16. It would mark his first appearance before Congress since he left office in January.Lawmakers want to know if the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department overstepped their authority in pushing through the merger. Some have also questioned whether Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) may have used the threat of scuttling the deal as a bargaining chip for additional government assistance.The questions arose as a result of a separate probes by the New York Attorney General’s Office and the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.Paulson, 63, has been working as a visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.He would be the latest visitor to House Oversight among a string of high-profile officials called to testify about the secret negotiations over Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke denied accusations that he threatened to replace management at Bank of America if it didn’t go through with its purchase of Merrill. Earlier, Bank of America Chief Executive Ken Lewis told lawmakers that he felt pressure to go through with the acquisition.In December, Lewis approached regulators, including Paulson and Bernanke, and threatened to scuttle Bank of America’s planned purchase after discovering the scope of Merrill’s losses, according to New York Attorney General records.After behind-the-scenes wrangling, BofA received 20 billion in aid in January on top of 25 billion it received last fall as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.The bank also got loss guarantees on 118 billion in assets to help the company absorb its purchase.0:00
/3:46BofA’s Lewis gets grilledE-mails among Federal Reserve officials regarding Bank of America’s bid for Merrill that came to light earlier this month suggested that Lewis may have used the threat of scuttling the Merrill deal as a so-called bargaining chip for more government assistance.

Source:CNN

NEW YORK: Honda’s new hybrid-only Insight, touted as a low-cost competitor to the Toyota Prius was dealt a major blow Monday after it failed to get a thumbs up from the influential magazine Consumer Reports.”The Insight is the most disappointing Honda Consumer Reports has tested in a long time,” said David Champion, director of the magazine’s auto test center.The magazine roundly panned Honda’s (HMC) new hybrid car in its upcoming August issue, criticizing its ride quality, handling, interior noise, acceleration, and rear-seat access.Champion called the car “noisy and stiff-riding.”Out of 22 hatchbacks and small wagons the magazine rated in its latest round of testing, the Insight ranked 21st. 0:00
/1:15Nissan bets on green exportsThe Insight scored 54 out of a possible 100 points in the magazine’s tests. Therefore, Consumer Reports will not recommend the Insight based on the results.The only car that ranked worse was the Dodge Caliber. The Caliber scored 49.The Hybrid is a “mild hybrid,” unlike the slightly more expensive Toyota Prius against which it competes. The Insight requires its gasoline engine to run as it drives and cannot drive under electric-only power. Consumer Reports recorded fuel economy of 38 mpg in its tests, a figure the magazine called “commendable.” The Insight’s official EPA-rated fuel economy is 41 mpg in combined city and highway driving.The Prius is Consumer Reports’ top-rated hybrid car and America’s top-selling hybrid vehicle by a wide margin.The Prius was redesigned for the 2010 model year and has, again, earned Consumer Reports recommendation.A Honda spokesman was not immediately able to comment on the’ findings.Consumer Reports rates vehicles using a series of standardized handling and performance tests performed at the magazine’s Connecticut test facility. It also rates vehicles using more subjective measures like build quality and functionality.

Source:CNN

NEW YORK: Fans, friends and colleagues of Billy Mays are still absorbing the news of the ebullient TV salesman’s untimely death. Meanwhile, those in the infomercial field are left wondering: What will the industry do now that its most recognizable front man is gone?Mays, who died on Sunday from heart disease, worked closely with marketing firms to promote products including OxiClean, Hercules Hooks and Mighty Putty. His booming voice, warm smile and gesticulating arms made him an icon in the direct response industry.”He launched so many products, it was amazing. I don’t know anyone more recognizable than Billy in the industry,” says Mark Biglow, a sales and marketing executive for infomercial company Mercury Media.Biglow collaborated with Mays to promote iCan health insurance and was recently working with Mays to sell Impact gel insoles, which Mays featured on his reality TV show, Pitchmen. “Losing Billy is a huge hole in the industry. He was irreplaceable. Every time you’d hear his voice, you’d turn to see what he’s got now — he always had unique products to pitch.”0:00
/2:45How Mays made itThere are challenges ahead for the owners of the products Mays advertised.”Out of respect and consideration for his loved ones, we’ve pulled Billy’s OxiClean, Kaboom and Orange Glo commercials from rotation,” said Bruce F. Fleming, chief marketing officer of Church & Dwight Co, in an e-mail to CNNMoney.com . “At this point, it’s premature to talk about future plans. All of our thoughts are with the Mays family at this time.”Talk back: Share your memories of Billy Mays”What will become of these brands is yet to be told because he can’t be replaced,” says Bill McAlister, co-owner of Media Enterprises, a marketing company that specializes in “as-seen-on-TV” products. Media Enterprises filmed eight commercials with Mays, including ads for Mighty Mendit, the Vidalia Slice Wizard and the car-dent repairing Ding King.”His success happened very quickly, and in the past two years he was everywhere,” recalls McAlister. “We went to the Super Bowl and there were hundreds of people who wanted a photo and an autograph with him. The big NFL players who were also meeting fans were wondering, ‘Who is this guy?’”A true entrepreneur, Mays got his start shilling on the Atlantic City boardwalk. After traveling the U.S. hawking wares at trade shows and state fairs, Mays took to the television airwaves, where he succeeded in grabbing viewer attention while touting products as diverse as household goods and ESPN360.com.Mays filmed commercials for two more Media Enterprises clients before his death, but McAlister says his company is still deciding whether those product ads will be released.”We’ve pulled our commercials and we’ll discuss how to go forward with the family after the funeral,” he says. “I think that’s the right thing to do.”He’s confident the industry will carry on, but it won’t be easy without the iconic “BILLY MAYS HERE FOR …”"We did it before him and now we’ll unfortunately have to do it in the future without him,” McAlister said. “His passing is a challenge because we’ve lost a friend, a business associate and a spokesperson for these brands.Mercury Media’s Biglow hopes the products that go off air in respect for Mays’ death will eventually come back. “I hope they continue with his legacy,” says Biglow. “There are other competent hosts with different styles, but will there be another Billy Mays? No.”

Source:CNN

NEW YORK (Fortune) — As soon as I heard the sad and shocking news yesterday that TV pitchman Billy Mays had died at age 50, I thought back to the rainy Friday night in early February that I first met him.I was working on a story about the infomercial business that was to focus on Mays and his buddy, fellow pitchman, and frequent collaborator Anthony “Sully” Sullivan. The next day the two would be shooting footage for their Discovery Channel reality show “Pitchmen.”Appropriately enough, I heard Mays before I saw him. I hadn’t taken more than five steps into my hotel lobby in Burbank when his famous, thundering voice erupted about 30 feet to my left: “HI, BILLY MAYS HERE…” My head swiveled and, sure enough, there he was: Standing in the middle of the hotel bar, an imaginary cleaning product in his hand, his trademark dyed-black beard glistening, with a made-for-TV grin plastered on his face, Mays was entertaining a gaggle of admiring fans and soaking in the adulation of his audience.0:00
/2:45Becoming Billy MaysIn many ways, he was his cartoon-like TV persona. But he was much more than that, too. Not 30 minutes after I first saw Billy in the bar, he had already shown me pictures of his three-year-old daughter, given me much of his life history, and gotten close to tears recounting earlier career setbacks. In the time that I spent with Mays, I found him to be fun-loving, hard-working, big-hearted, amiable, funny, driven, and winningly genuine. He was certainly loud when he was “on” and he had a big ego. But he was also an emotional guy who was capable of quiet self-reflection and real sweetness. I couldn’t help but like him immensely.On Saturday, Mays was on a US Airways flight that blew out its front tires upon landing in Tampa and he told locals reporters that falling stuff, luggage perhaps, had hit him on the head. “But I got a hard head,” he said. Typical Billy.The medical examiner said on Monday that it wasn’t head trauma that killed Mays. According to the preliminary results from the autopsy, there was evidence of heart disease.More than just ‘Yell and sell’As much as the past few years had been great for Billy professionally, they had been tough on him physically. He had a hip replacement last year but suffered complications. A fall during a vacation in Italy led doctors to discover a staph infection and necessitated a five-hour follow-up operation. Billy told me that he had been “playing in pain” for the past three years, getting by on grit and painkillers. He was pushing to get through filming the first season of the reality show before undergoing a third operation on the hip. He was due to have the surgery this week.His reality show was a big deal for Mays. After a quarter century of working Wal-Mart parking lots, state fairs, and home shows, he loved the validation that his recent fame represented. For a kid from the wrong side of the tracks in McKees Rocks, Penn., outside Pittsburgh, he felt like he had made it pretty good. But he never stopped being grateful, either. Whether on the set after taping a commercial or after interviews with reporters or after a photo shoot, he never seemed to forget to say thank you to everyone involved.On a Tuesday a couple of weeks after I met Mays in Los Angeles, I went down to Tampa to watch Billy and Sully shoot a new “show” for the bathroom cleaning product Kaboom. For two days, Mays did lines over and over, apologizing to everyone when he flubbed something. “I don’t want to be almost perfect,” he said more than once. “I want to be perfect.”At one point Billy and I took a break and went for a drive in his Bentley. A leased 200,000 car was one indulgence that he felt he had earned. He worked out of his house as a “one-man band,” serving as his own agent and secretary.For 45 minutes we talked about everything from learning the art of pitching on the Atlantic City boardwalk to how he developed his famous voice. He had built a new house in South Carolina that was big enough to house a studio and had dreams of some day hosting his own radio show right from home. As we pulled back in to the studio parking lot, I asked him what he was hoping people would get out of the Discovery Channel show.”My hope and wish is that they get a peek into Billy Mays’s life and they see that he’s not just a guy who shouts,” he said. “I’m not just a ‘yell and sell.’ I want the world to know that I’m a very generous guy. I’m a very humble guy. And I work hard.”He was all that and more. And for that he will be missed.

Source:CNN

Universal phone charger deal done
By Dan Whitworth
Newsbeat technology reporter
Life could soon be easier for millions of mobile phone users across Europe.A deal’s been done between industry bosses and the European Commission in Brussels to work towards a ‘one size fits all’ charger. It would mean an end to users having to hunt around for the right type of charger for their handset and should help cut waste. Perfectly good chargers can often be thrown away if someone gets a new type of phone handset. The deal isn’t legally binding though and, at this stage, is only voluntary. But it means a universal charger, which will use a micro-USB connection, should be available by next year. Under the accord, the companies, including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Apple, Motorola, Research in Motion and Samsung, are committed to developing the charger. It will work for data-enabled mobile phones that support USB data exchange. The 10 companies involved represent 90% of the European mobile market so the vast majority of the estimated 350 – 400 million users across the EU would be covered by any changes. Currently there are more than 30 different types of chargers for handsets throughout Europe. EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen says he also wants to see the common charger expand in the years ahead to cover other phones, existing phones, cameras and laptops.
Source:BBC

NEW YORK (Fortune) — There was undeniable drama inside the ceremonial courtroom on the ninth floor of the federal courthouse in downtown Manhattan this morning. Cheers and applause burst out when federal district judge Denny Chin sentenced Bernard Madoff to 150 years in prison for the massive Ponzi Scheme he had committed.Nine victims — most with a catch in their throat, some needing to stop to compose themselves — described how their lives were wrecked by his fraud. Many felt compelled to explain that they had never been wealthy to begin with, and even Judge Chin took pains to note that, among the victims who had contacted him were an auto mechanic, a retired forest worker, and a retired school secretary.Some of their accounts were harrowing, and you could hear sniffles in the audience. Since being wiped out, Miriam Siegman told the courtroom, “I live on food stamps. At the end of the month, I sometimes scavenge in dumpsters.” She went on to explain that she occasionally has to forgo her heart medication and has been reduced to washing her laundry in the kitchen sink and gathering discarded cans to redeem at five cents each.0:00
/5:05Madoff saga far from overOther victims vented their rage. After requesting the maximum sentence, victim Tom FitzMaurice read comments from his wife, Marcia, that would seem to cut deeply for a family-oriented person such as Madoff: “You have two sons who despise you…You have left your children a legacy of shame.”And yet for all the emotion in the courtroom this morning, the sense of confrontation between victim and criminal was somehow undercut — in large part by the layout of the courtroom, which helped deflate the drama. The victims spoke at a microphone set up in front of the spectators’ area. Madoff sat at the defense table perhaps 20 feet directly ahead of them. The result was that the nine victims spoke to the back of their tormentor’s head.When Madoff spoke he also faced the judge, away from the audience. His tone seemed to suggest he didn’t expect anybody to credit his words: “Nothing I say can correct the things I’ve done.”For seven minutes, clearing his throat repeatedly, Madoff read from a prepared text. He told how he had lied and misled his brother, his sons, his wife, his employees, and his investors. As he had at his guilty plea in March, he confessed his hubris in describing how his investment business became a fraud: “I couldn’t accept the fact that, for once in my life, I failed.”Most striking, he spoke about his wife and family, noting that he had “left a legacy of shame…to my family and my grandchildren.” He told the audience that “my wife cries herself to sleep every night.” He discussed the view that he and his wife, Ruth, had appeared callous by not expressing their regrets to the victims and explained that she had been advised not to speak about the case until after his sentencing.”Today, she will make a statement,” Madoff continued. (Right after the hearing, Ruth Madoff released a statement, via her lawyer, that read in part: “I am embarrassed and ashamed. Like everyone else, I feel betrayed and confused. The man who committed this horrible fraud is not the man whom I have known for all these years. In the end, to say that I feel devastated for the many whom my husband has destroyed is truly inadequate. Nothing I can say seems sufficient regarding the daily suffering that all those innocent people are enduring because of my husband. But if it matters to them at all, please know that not a day goes by when I don’t ache over the stories that I have heard and read.”)Finally, Madoff acknowledged the people sitting behind him. “I apologize to my victims. I will turn and face you,” Madoff said, seeming to deploy every ounce of his willpower to twist his torso and face the victims. It felt as if it lasted no more than a second, and Madoff sounded as if he were reading from a stage direction. “I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t help you.” Then he sat down.When judge Chin spoke, his matter-of-fact tone lacked drama, but the words were strong. “The message must be sent that Mr. Madoff’s crimes were extraordinarily evil,” he said, noting that they took a “staggering human toll.” Chin described the need for “retribution,” and emphasized that “symbolism is important.” He pointedly rebuffed a contention made by Madoff’s lawyer, Ira Sorkin, that “the unified tone of the victim statements suggests a desire for a type of mob vengeance…” As Chin put it, “I do not agree that the victims are succumbing to the temptation of mob vengeance.” Just the opposite, he said — they’d put their faith in the justice system.Moments later, Chin re-affirmed that faith.

Source:CNN

DETROIT (Reuters) — General Motors Corp. Monday cut its operational ties to a northern California auto plant it has operated in a joint-venture with Toyota Motor Corp. since 1983.GM (GMGMQ), which has been operating in a U.S. government-sponsored bankruptcy since the start of the month, said it had been unable to reach an agreement with Toyota (TM) on a new production plan for the Fremont, Calif. plant.”After extensive analysis, GM and Toyota could not reach an agreement on a future product plan that made sense for all parties,” GM said in a written statement.GM and Toyota have been 50-50 partners in the joint-venture plant commonly known by its acronym NUMMI for the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.The Pontiac Vibe — the only GM vehicle built at the plant — will go out of production in August. Toyota uses the plant to build the Corolla sedan and the Tacoma compact pickup truck.

Source:CNN