Edwin E. Witte

Edwin Emil Witte (January 4, 1887 – May 20, 1960) was an economist who focused on social insurance issues for the state of Wisconsin and for the Committee on Economic Security. While the executive director of the President's Committee on Economic Security under U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he developed during 1934 the policies and the legislation that became the Social Security Act of 1935. Because of this he is sometimes called "the father of Social Security".
Education and family life.
Witte was born in the Moravian community of Ebenezer, Wisconsin, about four miles south of Watertown. He was recognized from an early age as having remarkable intelligence, such that his parents sent him to high school in Watertown. He graduated as the valedictorian of his class and also became the first person in his family to attend college.
He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1909 with a B.A. in history and immediately began graduate work. His adviser, Frederick Jackson Turner, left Madison in 1910 for Harvard, but recommended that Witte continue studying history under John R. Commons of the economics department. This advice turned Witte to the study of economics. Because Commons at this time was heavily involved in advising Robert M. La Follette, and the government of Wisconsin (see Wisconsin Idea), Witte easily found work with the state upon completion of his coursework in 1911. Witte was soon overwhelmed with work; he completed his qualifying exams in 1916 but did not return to his dissertation studies until the mid-1920s. He eventually completed his doctorate in economics in 1927.
Witte married Florence Rimsnider, a librarian who worked at the Legislative Reference Library. The couple lived on Madison Street; they had one son and two daughters.
As government social reformer.
Witte's first job for the state of Wisconsin was as a statistician of workmen's compensation insurance rates for the Wisconsin Industrial Commission. His work here led the Wisconsin Legislature to grant the Commission authority to regulate those rates.
In 1912, Witte accepted the job of personal secretary to Congressman John M. Nelson. Nelson served on the House Judiciary Committee which was then considering the Clayton Antitrust Act. Witte wrote Nelson's minority report opposing approval of the Clayton Act because its language did not provide a strong anti-injunction clause favored by Samuel Gompers and organized labor. Witte's views were validated in "Duplex Printing Press Company v. Deering" (254 U.S. 443 [1921]) which struck down the labor protection clauses of the act.
When Commons was appointed to the United States Commission on Industrial Relations, he brought Witte along. Witte's main focus here was on the use of the labor injunction, which became the topic of his dissertation. By the time he published this research, he was noted as the foremost authority on the anti-labor injunction and served as an adviser (along with Felix Frankfurter, Donald Richberg, Francis Sayre, and Herman Oliphant) to the Senate Judiciary Committee drafting the Norris-La Guardia Anti-Injunction Act of 1932.
In January 1917, he was appointed the executive secretary of the Wisconsin Industrial Commission., where he added labor and safety regulatory policies to his list of progressive social insurance concerns. In 1921, he accepted the position of chief of the Wisconsin Legislative Research Library a position that was mostly helping legislators draft legislation.
In all of these positions, Witte developed his skills at using research as a tool for persuasion in the development of social insurance policy. Working closely with legislators at both the state and national level, Witte had a keen sense for the process. As a government social reformer, David B. Johnson describe Witte as "neither a politician nor an activist. Rather he was a facilitator, a creative draftsman of public programs, a compromiser, and a tireless mediator who devoted his efforts towards bringing divergent sides together and to working out mutually acceptable solutions".
Professor at the University of Wisconsin.
From 1922 to 1933, he served as chief of the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library, an agency now known as the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. Joining the faculty at Wisconsin, he worked with Commons, and Selig Perlman, Robert M. La Follette, Sr., Robert M. La Follette, Jr., E. A. Ross, and Arthur J. Altmeyer (who became the chairman of the Social Security Board) who were developing the Wisconsin progressive movement and working on public policy issues of the day. In 1933 Witte was appointed full professor in the economics department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, while serving as an administrator, Witte managed to publish consistently. This, coupled with his reputation as an expert on labor economics explain the unusual appointment. Following this appointment, Witte served on the unemployment insurance section of the Wisconsin Industrial Commission.
As a professor of economics, one of his central beliefs (taught in his "Government and Business" courses) was that the economics discipline, because of its focus on markets, deprecated the role of government in regulating, promoting, and protecting the economy. He preferred "political economics" to "economics" as the truer descriptor of his discipline. Also trained by Commons, Witte preferred the institutional economics approach to problems.
Social Security.
Because of Witte's expertise in both legislation and social insurance, and his national reputation as an expert in the area of social insurance, he was selected to lead the President's Committee on Economic Security to propose legislation that would eventually become the Social Security Act of 1935. Witte also was an acquaintance of Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, and her assistant secretary, Arthur J. Altmeyer was a colleague of Witte's while at graduate school and on the Wisconsin Industrial Commission.
The major problem facing Witte was time. He was appointed in late July and President Roosevelt wanted legislative proposals to hand the new congress when it convened in January 1935. Witte was able to meet this deadline. He and his staff (which included one of his undergraduate students Wilbur J. Cohen) had a set of legislative proposals that covered unemployment insurance, old-age pensions, disability compensation, aid to families with dependent children. His committee also for a time worked on a national health insurance plan but this was dropped from the final bill as being too much too soon. It was also strongly opposed by the American Medical Association.
When hearings began in January 1935, Witte as the principal author of the Social Security Act of 1935 was questioned for four days before the House Ways and Means Committee explaining the operation of the bill, its costs and benefits, and using his research to make a persuasive case. He performed the same act for three days before the Senate Finance Committee. He remained in Washington during the Spring and Summer of 1935, working with Congress towards the final legislation. It was signed by Roosevelt on August 18, 1935. Witte returned to his teaching but remained for many years a consultant to the Social Security Administration as a member of the first Advisory Council on Social Security, as a member of the Federal Advisory Council on Social Security, and as a member of the President's Committee on Administrative Management.
Father of social security.
Witte has long been credited as the "Father of Social Security", but Witte himself denied this claim. He believed that he deserved "this title less than many others". Witte pointed out that the Social Security Act was a collaborative undertaking:
Social Security, like most other major social advances, has been the product of the endeavors and work of many people over a long period of time. The contributions made by any one person have been so commingled with those of many others that the end-product cannot be attributed to any individual or group of individuals.
Then, also, Arthur J. Altmeyer is often referred to as the "Father of Social Security". See the remarks of Congressman Robert Kastenmeier (D-WI) on the death of Altmeyer.
The son of Abraham Epstein has called his father the "Forgotten Father of Social Security" in a recent book.
Later life.
Witte continued to advise legislators both in Wisconsin and Washington for many years afterwards. In 1935, he consulted with Senators Robert M. La Follette, Jr. and Robert Wagner on the Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act). In addition to guiding the Social Security Act through the United States Congress, Witte also worked on other labor legislation including (with George William Norris and Fiorello H. La Guardia) the Norris La Guardia anti-injunction act. Also during the 1930s he served on the Wisconsin State Planning Board and the Wisconsin Labor Relations Board. He continued to teach and publish as well. During his tenure at the University of Wisconsin, he advised fifty six Ph.D. candidates. During World War II, Witte served as a labor-management mediator under the Defense Mobilization Act and then for the War Labor Board. Once the war was over Witte returned to his teaching.
In 1947 he created the Industrial Relations Center at Madison. He was also one of the founding members of the Industrial Relations Research Association and was its first president in 1948. He was also involved with the National Association of Arbiters, the Atomic Energy Labor Relations Panel as well as continuing to advise Wisconsin legislators. During the academic year of 1953-54, he was a visiting scholar at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. In 1956 Witte was elected to the presidency of the American Economics Association.
Witte retired in 1957, and like millions of other Americans, received Social Security benefits, while he continued to teach regularly as a visiting professor. Edwin E. Witte died on May 20, 1960, of a stroke complicated by cardiovascular issues.


Skyview on the Ridge

Skyview on the Ridge was a shopping mall located in Irondequoit, New York, a suburb of Rochester. The mall opened in 1990 as Irondequoit Mall, but early success gave way to dwindling patronage. At its peak, it featured four anchor stores: J. C. Penney (later Steve & Barry's), Sears, Sibley's (later Kaufmann's and Macy's), and McCurdy's (later The Bon-Ton). The mall later changed its name to Medley Centre, and closed in 2009 except for Macy's and Sears, which respectively closed in 2014 and 2016. On January 22, 2016, Angelo Ingrassia, a local real estate developer who specializes in redeveloping distressed properties into first class properties, purchased the mall.
On August 29, 2017, current owner Angelo Ingrassia announced a plan to redevelop the vacant mall into an office park with light retail, a residential component, and a community center named Skyview on the Ridge.
On July 30, 2019, The town of Irondequoit approved a referendum that would allow the town to borrow $7.25 million to transform the vacant mall into a community center.
History.
Wilmorite Properties first announced plans for Irondequoit Mall in June 1985, and by May 1988, the first three anchor stores were confirmed: Sears, J. C. Penney, and Sibley's, which became Kaufmann's shortly after opening. It opened in March 1990 with approximately 110 stores, and had an estimated 80,000 customers in its first weekend of business. McCurdy's opened as a fourth anchor store in 1992, but closed after only two years in business and became a location of The Bon-Ton. Although initially successful, Irondequoit Mall began to lose tenants when two other regional malls also owned by Wilmorite (The Mall at Greece Ridge, created by connecting adjacent malls Greece Towne Mall and Long Ridge Mall to each other, and Eastview Mall) were renovated and expanded, drawing shoppers away from Irondequoit.
By 2000, the mall was a rumored source of crime. That same year, Wilmorite sold it to The Equitable. J. C. Penney closed its store in 2003 due to declining sales. Adam Bersin bought the mall in 2005, at which point it was 70 percent vacant. Under Bersin's ownership, the mall was renamed Medley Centre. Also, the former J. C. Penney space became a Steve & Barry's in 2005, and Target opened under an outparcel a year later.
On January 22, 2016, Angelo Ingrassia a local real estate developer who specializes in redeveloping distressed properties into first class properties purchased the mall. On August 29, 2017, current owner Angelo Ingrassia announced a plan to redevelop the vacant mall into an office park with light retail, a residential component and a community center, named Skyview on the Ridge.
Congel era.
In 2007, Bersin Properties was purchased by Scott R. Congel, a former principal with The Pyramid Companies of Syracuse. The sale triggered speculation that the half-empty mall may be developed into a mixed use property. Congel announced ambitious plans for redeveloping the property: a 421-room hotel, 330 condominium units and a 16-screen movie theater would be part of the project, as well as retail, restaurant and office space and an underground parking garage.
Before any work on redevelopment began, existing tenants began to leave. Bon-Ton closed in late 2007, and Steve & Barry's closed in 2008. With the exception of Sears and Macy's stores anchoring either end of the mall, the remaining tenants were all closed in February 2009.
Legal action.
The town made emergency repairs to the mall's pump station in January 2014. Owner Scott Congel had failed to respond to a letter from the town's fire inspector calling on him to take "immediate mitigation measures to prevent a catastrophic failure of the water system to the mall and/or the structural collapse of this building."
In February 2014, Bersin Properties was cited for a series of code violations after pipes from the property's sprinkler system burst inside the vacant mall, flooding out some floors and sending water spewing out into the parking lots. Inspectors found that the interior of the building was not heated, and the burst pipes had caused significant damage.
Earlier that month, the town of Irondequoit, the East Irondequoit Central School District and the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency gave owner Scott Congel a May 1, 2014 deadline to make good on a series of missed payments, some dating back to 2009.
Congel said that he needed to renegotiate the terms of the agreement in order to secure financing for his redevelopment project. On January 21, 2016, The Medley Center was sold at a public auction held by Monroe county. It was sold to the only bidder, Businessman Angelo Ingrassia purchased the vacant building for $100,000 which includes nine adjoining parcels.


Harts Local Grocers

Hart's Local Grocers Hart’s East End LLC was an independent grocery store managed by Rochester Local Capital LLC. It was located in the East End Neighborhood in Rochester, NY.
History and Store Description.
The store was named after Hart's Groceries, which had over 100 locations in and around the city Rochester, NY by the 1920s. They were considered one of the first grocer to use store-brand labels and were also the first self-service grocery market. Hart's has attracted considerable interest in Downtown Rochester since its opening was announced in January 2014, primarily because downtown Rochester had not had a full-services grocery since the closing of Midtown Market formerly Wegmans Midtown in 2002. The store's opening coincided with ongoing efforts to redevelop the former Midtown Plaza site on Main Street and the arrival in the downtown area of thousands of new residents in apartments and condominiums.
The Mayor of Rochester, NY Lovely Warren, was quoted saying "For too long, downtown has been a food desert, our East End is already vibrant and the addition of will add to the vitality of the neighborhood". The 20,000-square-foot store carried local produce, dairy, meats and baked goods and a wide variety of prepared foods, offering online ordering and online shopping. The grocery, was independently owned and financed in part through a private investor group. The store was next to the Little Theatre.
On March 11, 2019, it was announced that Hart's would close after five years in business on March 24, 2019 due to declining sales and a inability to find a new owner.
External links.


Penang Strait

The Penang Strait is an 11 kilometre-wide strait that separates Penang Island from mainland Malay Peninsula. Penang Island is to the west of the channel, while Seberang Perai, the mainland half of the State of Penang, is to the east. The northern and southern ends of the channel join the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest maritime routes.
The strait provides deepwater passage to the Port of Penang, which is located in Butterworth in Seberang Perai. In addition, Swettenham Pier in George Town, Penang's capital city that is situated on Penang Island, is a popular destination for cruise ships, serving as one of the major entry points into Penang.
Since the foundation of Penang as a trading outpost of the British Empire in 1786, the Penang Strait has historically been a busy shipping route.
Geography.
The Penang Strait separates Penang Island from the Malay Peninsula to the east. It connects with the Strait of Malacca to the north and south.
The strait can also be further divided into the North Channel and the South Channel. The North Channel refers to the body of water north of the northeastern promontory of Penang Island, where George Town is situated, whereas the South Channel covers the body of water south of that promontory.
Tributaries.
The rivers that flow into the Penang Strait are listed as follows.
Penang Island:
Seberang Perai:
Islands.
A handful of islands and islets lie within the South Channel of the Penang Strait. The largest of all is Jerejak Island, located off the southeastern coast of Penang Island. The largely forested island was once the site of a leper asylum, which was then converted into a maximum security prison before its eventual closure in 1993.
Other islets within the strait are Aman Island and Gedung Island, both of which are located off the southern coast of Seberang Perai. Man-made islets were also created during the construction of the Penang Bridge in the 1980s.
History.
Ever since the establishment of George Town in 1786, the Penang Strait has served as an important shipping route within the State of Penang. Up until the 1970s, the main harbour facilities were situated at Weld Quay in George Town. The reclamation of Weld Quay in the late 19th century allowed larger ships to dock off the city's waterfront, as the depth of the seas off Weld Quay was deeper.
In 1974, the Port of Penang's cargo facilities were shifted to Butterworth across the strait. Thus, cargo and container shipping are mainly handled in Butterworth, while Swettenham Pier in George Town continues to receive cruise ships to this day. In 2015 alone, Swettenham Pier recorded 145 port calls, the highest in Malaysia. Meanwhile, Butterworth's port facilities handled more than 1.2 million TEU of cargo in 2013, making it one of the busiest harbours in the country.
The Penang Strait was also the scene where the initial shots of the Battle of Penang were fired on 28 October 1914. The Imperial German Navy cruiser, SMS "Emden", sailed into the strait disguised as a British ship before shelling and torpedoing the Imperial Russian Navy cruiser, "Zhemchug". SMS "Emden" then sailed northwest towards the Malacca Straits, sinking another French warship along the way.
Towards the end of World War II, the Penang Strait was also mined by the Allied forces, using air-dropped mines to impede Japanese merchant shipping.
On 17 January 2010, a dragon boat tragedy occurs where the strong currents result in boat collision and capsized dragon boat, killing 6 paddlers on board. This incident has raised concern by several officers, especially Shamsir Mohamed, officer of Marine Department (northern region) and Lai Chew Hock, chairman of Penang Dragon Boat Association, regarding the suitability for conducting water sports in Penang Straits. Shamsir cited busy traffic, unpredictable weather, and strong currents for his concerns, while Chew Hock claimed the area was unsuitable for any water sports activities due to debris from fishing boats and strong currents. However, Lim Choo Hooi, chairman of Penang Forward Sports Club, refuted the claim, saying that neither the wave tides nor the monsoon season posed a problem for training sessions. Coaches would need to check sea and weather conditions prior to conducting training sessions. He also said that the tragedy site was protected from tsunamis and strong waves and had been used for training for three years, making it one of the safest stretches of public shoreline.
Transportation.
Bridges.
Two bridges now traverse the Penang Strait - the Penang Bridge and the Second Penang Bridge. The Penang Bridge, completed in 1985, connects Perai on the mainland with the suburb of Gelugor on Penang Island.
In 2014, the Second Penang Bridge further south was opened for public use, thereby substituting the Penang Bridge as the longest bridge in Southeast Asia. The Second Penang Bridge runs between Batu Kawan on the mainland and Batu Maung on the island.
Ferry.
In addition to the two bridges, Rapid Ferry is another transportation link between Penang Island and the mainland. Unlike the two bridges, the ferry service operates out of a terminal within the heart of George Town, offering a direct link into the city centre for those entering from the mainland.


Norbourg scandal

The Norbourg scandal is a major financial scandal that took place in 2005. The scandal involved the Montreal, Quebec based Norbourg Financial Group, a trust-fund company founded by Vincent Lacroix. He diverted money from a Norbourg trust fund for personal interests. Nearly 9,200 investors in Quebec lost millions of dollars. It is considered as one of the largest Canadian financial scandals in history and largest in Quebec.
Origins.
The scandal came into light during the summer of 2005 after the "Autorité des marchés financiers" (AMF - "Financial Markets Authority"; the province's top financial regulator) discovered that C$130 million was missing from company accounts. The loss was initially estimated at C$70 million before a report by Ernst & Young revealed additional losses. On August 25, 2005, police raided the Norbourg headquarters office in Montreal as well as smaller offices in Quebec City and in the Eastern Townships region. After having its assets frozen, the company ceased its operations in October 2005 and filed for bankruptcy. Lacroix himself was declared bankrupt in May 2006 by a provincial judge. A report by Ernst & Young revealed that all firms run by Lacroix including "Norbourg Gestion d'actifs", "Norbourg Groupe Financier", and "Fonds Évolution" had operational deficits up to $6.5 million in 2005 alone.
The AMF filed 51 charges against Lacroix in March 2006 related to false and misleading information and manipulating mutual fund values. The regulator accused Lacroix of using Norbourg's funds for personal reasons. 29 funds were affected, with 11 of them having nearly no value left and 17 others having C$300,000 or less left.
Investigation and fraud tactics.
Investigators reviewed some of the transactions and cheques dating back to 2000 and found 69 files related to the 51 charges. However, funds were diverted starting in 2003 and the deficit ballooned from $9 million to $70 million and finally up to $130 million. Money was diverted from the funds to a "ghost account", some of which was transferred to Lacroix and his wife. False receipts were also made to hide the company's losses. In addition, Norbourg hired a computer specialist to falsify reports to Northern Trust, whose Toronto office was asset custodian for the Norbourg and Evolution funds. The worker had access to all the financial data of Norbourg.
Some of the stolen money was paid out in bonuses and gifts to favored Norbourg employees; one employee's house was purchased with embezzled funds. It was reported that Lacroix filed up to 115 false reports with securities regulators. Each charge had a maximum penalty of five years in jail and a fine of up to C$5 million. In October 2005, the AMF also sued Lacroix for C$94 million and an investigation was also launched by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
Investors.
Up to 9,200 investors were affected by the crime. Many of the investors involved asked the province of Quebec to launch a public inquiry. The "Action démocratique du Québec" and the "Parti Québécois" also asked the provincial government of Jean Charest to appoint an investigating commission. In June 2006, Ernst & Young agreed to distribute C$31 million to about 5,600 investors who were among those hardest hit. The AMF offered settlements to 900 investors, but denied the rest. According to the AMF, investors are not protected from fraud in embezzlement made by an administrator of equity funds and thus don't receive a settlement, unlike fraud by a stockbroker, where an investor can receive as much as $200,000 in settlement. 140 other investors later launched a class action accusing the regulator of abusing its power.
On January 19, 2011 CBC reported that an agreement has been reached under which all investors would be fully reimbursed.
Criminal trial.
Lacroix's criminal trial took place in 2007 and lasted 58 days. Lacroix did not have legal defense aid after a court ruling. In November 2007, he requested 30 witnesses to testify in his place, but this request was rejected by the trial judge, Claude Leblond. Lacroix claimed that he could not testify himself because his credibility was attacked. On December 11, 2007 Lacroix was found guilty of all 51 counts. On January 28, 2008, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined C$255,000. On June 6, 2008, he received permission to appeal his sentence.
Further charges in June 2008.
On June 18, 2008, a further 922 criminal charges were laid against six people involved in the scandal, including Lacroix and former Quebec provincial civil servant Jean Renaud. Charges included fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud, falsifying documents and conspiracy to falsify documents, and money laundering. Renaud was fired by the Province hours before his arrest.
Lacroix, who was released during the summer of 2009, went through a transition home and performed several hours of community work. On September 21, he returned to trial for the additional criminal charges and pleaded guilty on September 21. He was immediately jailed by Justice Richard Wagner of the Quebec Superior Court. On October 9, 2009, he was sentenced to 13 years in jail to be served consecutively with his previous 5-year term. He was released from prison in January 2011 and spent the next 3 years in a halfway home, until February 2014.
Portrayals.
Lacroix inspired the character of Vincent Lemieux in Robert Morin's 2008 film "Daddy Goes Ptarmigan Hunting (Papa à la chasse aux lagopèdes)".
A film adaptation of the Norbourg scandal is being directed by Maxime Giroux.


Wixom Assembly Plant

The Ford Wixom Assembly Plant was a Ford Motor Company manufacturing facility in Wixom, Michigan, with production reaching 6,648,806 over the fifty years it was operational (1957-2007).
History.
As one of Ford's largest and oldest manufacturing sites, "Wixom" opened April 15, 1957, and was ultimately expanded to 4.7 million square feet, replacing the former Lincoln Motor Company Plant at 6200 West Warren Avenue (at Livernois). The first car manufactured August 1, 1957 was the Lincoln Capri, and the last car produced was a white chocolate Lincoln Town Car which rolled off the line at 12:55pm on May 31, 2007.
The plant primarily manufactured Lincoln cars as well as the Ford Thunderbird — along with the Lincoln Town Car and the Ford GT. Production of the Lincoln LS ended in early April 2006 and production of the Ford GT stopped on September 21, leaving the Town Car as the plant's final Ford Motor Company product.
"Wixom" was the most profitable plant in the industry during the 1980s when Cadillac downsized its lineup and lost ground to Lincoln. Due to Lincoln's falling sales, Ford announced on January 23, 2006 it would sell the Wixom plant in 2007 as part of its "The Way Forward". Some analysts argued that the plant might not be closed. A report in "The Oakland Press" said "the fate of the Wixom plant, however, will depend on the shape of Ford's future product plan, which seems to be currently in flux." Michigan governor, Jennifer Granholm, reportedly offered $115 million in tax cuts to keep the plant open. The plant was closed in 2007, and by mid-June 2008, while Ford was able to find buyers for other idled plants, Wixom remained unsold until 2008 purchase by General Motors.
Several alternative energy uses were announced, but none came to fruition. In 2012, Ford began demolishing the plant. The next year the Baidas family, owners and operators of General RV Center, sought and were awarded mixed use zoning permits in an area nearby of the Wixom property. In 2014 the family broke ground on 33 acres near the Wixom property to build a new corporate headquarters and RV Dealership. A Menards outlet has also been built on the site.


Coral Springs Mall


Horseshoe run

The Horseshoe run of the Union Steam Ship Company carried passengers and cargo between Australian and New Zealand ports in the late 19th century. Several ships were used from 1882 for about 15 years: the S.S. Hauroto, the S.S. Manapouri, the S.S. Tarawera, and the S.S. Wairarapa:
In the early 1890s there was a battle between the Union Co and Huddart Parker on various Australasian routes including the Melbourne-Hobart route, with undercutting by cheap fares and steamers shadowing each other from port to port.
On 29 October 1894, the SS Wairarapa wrecked on Great Barrier Island north east of Auckland. Sailing in a dense fog at high speed, the ship rammed into the cliffs at Miner's Point. The hull was breached and the ship immediately started listing. Only 50 passengers and crewmen survived the wreck; 121 were lost. An inquiry later blamed the captain for maintaining excessive speed.


Cargo Preference Act

The Cargo Preference Act or Cargo Preference refers generally to legal requirements for the carriage of government-impelled cargoes on the vessels flagged within the registry of that government for the purpose of promoting a national merchant marine. Cargo Preference is commonplace among the world's seafaring nations, including Australia, Brazil, France, Japan, Taiwan.
Cargo Preference in the United States.
United States law includes two main pieces of Cargo Preference legislation: The Cargo Preference Act of 1954 (the "1954 Act") pertaining to the carriage of civilian cargoes and the Military Cargo Preference Act of 1904 (the "1904 Act"), which governs military cargoes.
Cargo preference is administered by the United States Maritime Administration ("MARAD"). Originally, MARAD provided advice to shipper agencies, without being able to compel compliance. Finding the arrangement unsatisfactory, Congress passed the Merchant Marine Act of 1970, Pub. L. No. 91-469, which authorized MARAD to issue regulations governing cargo preference shipments by the other agencies. Section 27 of the 1970 Act added explicit cargo preference authority, which was amended in 2008 to provide MARAD with the authority to (a) "direct agencies to require the transportation in United States-flagged vessels of cargo shipments not otherwise subject to [Cargo Preference] in equivalent amounts to cargo determined to have been shipped on foreign carriers in violation of [Cargo Preference]" and (b) "impose on any person that violates [the Cargo Preference Act or a MARAD implementing regulation], a civil penalty of not more than $25,000 for each violation willfully and knowingly committed, with each day of a continuing violation following the date of shipment to be a separate violation." Although cargo preference contains exceptions where U.S.-flag vessels are unavailable, as discussed "infra", shipper agencies may determine non-availability only with MARAD concurrence.
1904 Act.
The 1904 Act requires that 100% of cargoes "bought for the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps" be carried on board U.S.-flag vessels. Charges for such transportation are limited to "charges made for transporting like goods for private persons" and where the Government finds that such charges are "excessive or unreasonable" it may contract for such transportation as otherwise provided by law.
1954 Act.
The 1954 Act amended the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, P.L. to incorporate a new section 901(b) to require U.S.-flag vessel participation in the carriage of United States Government impelled cargoes. The 1954 Act requires that 50% of the volume of government-impelled cargoes be transported in privately owned U.S.-registered vessels, but only to the extent that such vessels are reasonably available at fair and reasonable rates.
Purpose of Cargo Preference.
Throughout its history, the United States has depended upon a viable merchant marine for its economic and military national security. During two wars, the United States Government found itself unable to respond to pressing economic and military needs, and therefore built a legal framework to fortify the merchant marine as a bulwark against future failures.
The purpose of Cargo Preference is encapsulated in the opening section of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936:
It is necessary for the national defense and development of its foreign and domestic commerce that the United States shall have a merchant marine (A) sufficient to carry its domestic water-borne commerce and a substantial portion of the water-borne export and foreign commerce of the United States and to provide shipping service on all routes essential for maintaining the flow of such domestic and foreign water-borne commerce at all times, (B) capable of serving as a naval and military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency, (C) owned and operated under the United States Flag by citizens of the United States insofar as may be practicable, and (D) composed of the best-equipped, safest, and most suitable types of vessels, constructed in the United States and manned with a trained and efficient citizen personnel.
Thus, the merchant marine is intended to provide national security, firstly by supporting U.S. commerce, and secondly by providing sealift capacity for use in wars or in emergencies such as the recent Katrina disaster. This is further delineated by National Security Directive 28, issued by the White House in 1989, which still governs sealift policy. It states that:
 Sealift is essential both to executing this country's forward defense strategy and to maintaining a wartime economy. The United States' national sealift objective is to ensure that sufficient military and civil maritime resources will be available to meet defense deployment, and essential economic requirements in support of our national security strategy. . . . In coordination with the Department of Defense, the Department of Transportation will determine the capacity of our merchant marine industries to support essential industrial activity during wartime.
The United States also maintains a merchant marine for purposes of national independence and pride. As then-Senator Barack Obama stated in 2008:
A strong U.S.-flag commercial fleet needs our nation's cargo preference laws. Whether it is carrying needed goods to those overseas in distress or moving government-generated cargo, American mariners aboard American ships make sure the job is done. People around the world look to the U.S. flag as a symbol of hope and determination. Ships flying Old Glory with American crews are important icons of our resolve.
The Government Accountability Office (formerly the General Accounting Office) and economists Nathan Associates and Promar International have conducted studies which determined that Cargo Preference is essential to the maintenance of the U.S. Merchant Marine. In 2008, preference cargoes accounted for 49.6 percent of all cargo carried by the U.S.-flag merchant fleet.
The U.S. fleet depends upon Cargo Preference because U.S. laws, regulations, and taxes place it at a competitive disadvantage relative to so-called "Open Register" or "Flag of Convenience" ("FOC") fleets, from nations such as Panama, the Bahamas, and Liberia, which impose minimal tax and regulatory burdens. Additionally, many of the fleets competing on the high seas enjoy high levels of State participation and subsidy, such as the China Ocean Shipping Company, now one of the world's largest liner shipping companies.
Cargo Preference and Food Aid.
As a civilian agency government-impelled cargo, U.S. humanitarian assistance shipped overseas as food aid is subject to the 50% requirement of the 1954 Cargo Preference Act. This was then increased to 75% in 1985.
Maritime interests, including USA Maritime strongly support cargo preference. Opponents of Cargo Preference have argued that it slows transit times for government-impelled cargo, increases shipping costs, and potentially reduces the volume of food aid available. Various supporters of cargo preference have opined that the support from maritime and other stakeholders in the program support the food aid budget thereby increasing food and other resources available to the programs.
GAO has reported that cargo preference laws "have a significant impact on the U.S. Merchant marine industry. GAO measured this impact by estimating that, in the absence of preference cargo, the equivalent of between 61 and 68 percent, by tonnage, of the 165 U.S.-flag vessels engaged in international trade would leave the U.S. fleet." Another GAO report found that shipments of food aid on U.S.-flag vessels did little to meet the law’s objective of helping to maintain a U.S. merchant marine and those cargo preference requirements adversely affected operations of the food aid programs, chiefly by raising the cost of ocean transportation and reducing the volume of commodities that can be shipped.
A 2015 US Maritime Administration report found that the US Merchant Marine has suffered severe losses in recent years—23% since 2010—chiefly due to the loss of preference cargoes. MARAD also reported that US humanitarian assistance cargoes are the greatest source of preference cargo—over half of all dry cargoes shipped by government agencies since 2002. MARAD further found that since 2000, the US fleet has shrunk dramatically as US food aid cargoes plummeted 77% even though DOD cargoes increased by 60% during the same period.
Food aid program stakeholders, including maritime and agricultural interests, advocate in favor of food aid every year during the U.S. budget process, helping keep the United States Food for Peace program the leading source of humanitarian aid globally. Andrew Natsios, former USAID Administrator, cautioned that when the Europeans uncoupled food aid from their constituents, the overall budget line decreased significantly: "Relying on cash food aid will not work," he said. "Look at the numbers from Europe: After the Commission and member states began moving to cash, their contributions fell by 40 percent." However, Natsios testified before Congress that "in the last ten years, the US government, through the Food for Peace program, has spent more on transporting, storing, and distributing the food to other regions of the world than on the food itself." He argued that reforms need to be implemented and said "no other industry benefits more from current US food aid policy than the U.S. flagged shipping industry, which is probably why they are the strongest opponents to reform."
In 2011, General Duncan McNabb, Commander, U.S. Transportation Command, stated "The movement of international food aid has been a major contributor to the cargo we have moved under the cargo preference law that our commercial sealift industry depends upon. Any reductions will have to be offset in other ways to maintain current DOD sealift readiness."


DDL Foodshow


Venture (department store)

Venture was a chain of discount department stores that operated in Australia between 1970 and 1994.
Unrelated to the defunct North American chain of the same name (see Venture Stores), Venture is best remembered as a retailer of medium quality women's and children's clothing as well as soft home wares.
Venture experienced financial difficulties in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was placed in liquidation in April 1994, with all stores closing soon after.
History.
The first Venture store opened in Geelong (Victoria) in 1970, followed by Ballarat, with additional stores opening across Melbourne over the next 2 years. The business was started by Robert (Bob) Lee, Robert Morris and Bernie Buckley. Bob Lee started his retail career with Lindsay & McKenzie in Geelong, which later became Target Stores. All three worked at Target Stores prior to forming Venture Stores.
In November 1972 the business expanded into New South Wales (NSW), opening a store at Merrylands shopping complex. At that time there was a total of 16 stores across Victoria.
Additional stores in NSW at Mt Druitt and Liverpool followed in 1973. The merchandise range at that time included "a wide range of women's fashions, sportswear, knitwear, underwear, nightware, hosiery, corset wear, menswear, children's clothing, manchester, fabrics, bedding and furnishing"; a description that remained constant over the 24 years of operation.
In 1973 the South Australian-based department store John Martins acquired an initial 50% shareholding in the company from the original owner, a Mr Robert Morris.
The investment by John Martins facilitated expansion of the chain into South Australia and Queensland.
John Martins eventually moved to 100% ownership.
In 1981 John Martins was taken over by Solomon Lew, who subsequently sold the company to the Melbourne-based Cooke family, headed by David Cooke.
The John Martins department store chain was sold to Sydney-based retailer David Jones Limited in 1985, with the Cooke family retaining ownership of Venture.
The Cooke family appointed experienced retailer Bob Burke to manage the chain in 1981, and he revitalised the chain, closing unprofitable stores and changing the merchandise focus to budget-priced, quality apparel, aimed mainly at women, teenage girls and children.
During Burke's first three years, turnover doubled and profitability increased, aided by a focus on own-branded merchandise which was not subject to competitor comparison.
In February 1987, Venture purchased the Waltons (department store) chain from Alan Bond, consisting of 47 Waltons and Norman Ross stores, plus the South Australian-based J. Miller Anderson & Co. department store business, which closed in 1988.
The Waltons stores were converted to Venture outlets, which increased the number of stores to 70 across all states of Australia, except Western Australia.
Demise and closure.
In the late 1980s Venture faced increasing competition from its main competitors Big W, Kmart Australia and Target Australia, which had larger store networks, bigger stores (and higher average sales per store) and better economies of scale.
The Cooke family announced plans to float Venture in February 1989 to help reduce the high debt levels, but these plans were scrapped in favour of a capital restructure, which included a debt for equity swap.
In 1992 Venture was placed into receivership, and was purchased from the receivers for A$12 million by a joint venture between the New Zealand-based department store chain Farmers Deka (now Farmers Trading Company) and the Perth-based companies Action Holdings and Vox.
In December 1992 Farmers Deka acquired 100% of Venture, with ownership passing to Western Australian-based grocery wholesaler and retailer Foodland Associated Limited (FAL), a former Australian company later acquired by IGA (Australian supermarket group).
In the 1993 FAL annual report it was written "Venture's management has made significant progress in establishing and repositioning Venture's image as a destination store by merchandising every day repeat purchase items at competitive prices while maintaining its focus on the female with young children as the primary customer base."
However, on 24 February 1994 Venture was placed into administration.
The announcement from FAL included the statement "The directors of FAL decided to discontinue support after a comprehensive review over the past 4 weeks. This review process did not satisfy the directors that Venture had a viable future and it was, therefore, in the best interests of FAL shareholders that it be sold or wound up as soon as possible".
Following an 8-week sale process it was announced on 16 April 1994 that Venture had been placed in liquidation due to the failure of negotiations with potential buyers of the business.
The closing down sale commenced on 16 April 1994, with all 45 stores closing on or before 14 May 1994.
Former store locations.
The following listing contains all Venture stores that operated during its 24-year history. Not all these locations were open at the time Venture ceased operations in May 1994.
South Australia
Tasmania
Australian Capital Territory
New South Wales
Victoria
Queensland


Kleinhans

Kleinhans, formally The Kleinhans Company, was a high-end men's clothing store located in Buffalo, New York. Edward Kleinhans and his brother Horace opened the store in 1893, and shortly after located in the Brisbane Building at Main and Clinton Streets on Lafayette Square in Downtown Buffalo. The store would eventually grow to be , and was said to be the largest men's clothing store in the country. Edward Kleinhans died in 1934, and left his estate to the city to build the Kleinhans Music Hall. Hart Schaffner & Marx (later Hartmarx) purchased the company in 1967 and operated the chain until it closed December 30, 1992.


HMV

HMV is a UK-based music and film retailer. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company on Oxford Street in 1921, and the HMV name was also used for television and radio sets manufactured from the 1930s onwards. The retail side of the business began to expand in the 1960s, and in 1998 was divested from EMI, the successor to the Gramophone Company, to form what would become HMV Group.
HMV stands for "His Master's Voice", the title of a painting by Francis Barraud of Nipper, the mixed Terrier listening to a cylinder phonograph, which was bought by the Gramophone Company in 1899. For advertising purposes this was changed to a wind-up gramophone, and eventually used simply as a silhouette.
HMV owned the Waterstone's bookshop chain from 1998 until 2011, and has owned the music retailer Fopp since August 2007. It purchased a number of former Zavvi stores in February 2009, and also branched into live music venue management that year by purchasing MAMA Group. It sold the group in December 2012.
On 15 January 2013, HMV Group plc entered administration. Deloitte was appointed to deal with the administration of the company. On 16 January 2013, HMV Ireland declared receivership, and all Irish stores were closed. A week later, on 22 January 2013, it was reported that Hilco UK would buy the debt of HMV, a step towards potentially taking control of the company. The sale of HMV's Hong Kong and Singapore business to private equity firm Aid Partners was completed on 28 February 2013. On 5 April 2013, HMV was bought out of administration by Hilco UK for an estimated £50 million to form the current company. HMV Group plc, which had been listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index, was liquidated in July 2014.
HMV Canada is a former subsidiary which was sold to Hilco by the HMV Group in 2011. HMV Canada went into receivership in 2017 after being sued by Huk 10 Ltd., a shell company owned by Hilco.
On 28 December 2018, HMV announced that the company had once again fallen into administration, just six years after a £50 million takeover by Hilco UK. On 5 February 2019, just over one month after re-entering administration, HMV was acquired by the Canadian company Sunrise Records, which had bought the leases for 70 former HMV Canada properties in an effort to continue operating them as record stores. Sunrise planned to emulate the growth strategies it had used in Canada, including leveraging the renewed interest in vinyl phonographs. On 12 October 2019, Sunrise Records opened the Vaults in Birmingham, the largest HMV record store.
From 22 March to 15 June, and then from 5 November to 2 December 2020 and from 4 January 2021 to 12 April 2021 (in England), all HMV stores were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
History.
Origins.
The antecedents of HMV began in the 1890s at the dawn of the disc gramophone. By 1902 it had become the beginnings of the Gramophone Company. In February 1907 it commenced the building of a new dedicated record factory at Hayes, Middlesex. Disc records were sold in music shops and independent retailers at this time. In 1921 the Gramophone Company opened the first dedicated HMV shop at 363 Oxford Street, London, in a former men's clothing shop; the composer Edward Elgar participated in the opening ceremonies. In March 1931 the Gramophone Company merged with Columbia Graphophone Company to form Electric and Musical Industries Ltd (EMI).
From the 1930s onwards, HMV manufactured radio and television sets and radiograms under the HMV and Marconiphone brand names in its factory in Hayes, Middlesex.
The original HMV shop was severely damaged by a fire in 1937, but was rebuilt and reopened two years later on 8 May 1939. Sir Thomas Beecham, the famous conductor, opened the new store.
Expansion.
In 1966 HMV began expanding its retail operations in London. Throughout the 1970s, the company continued to expand, doubling in size, and in six years became the country's leading specialist music retailer. It faced strong competition, however, from Virgin Megastores, established in 1976, and from Our Price, established in 1972, which had numerous high street retail stores around the UK. Subsequently, HMV overtook Our Price in popularity and threatened its existence, having established a chain of newer and larger stores.
The company opened its flagship store at a new location at 150-154 Oxford Street in 1986, announcing it was the largest record store in the world at the time, and the official opening was attended by Bob Geldof and Michael Hutchence. Growth continued for a third decade into the 1990s, with the company reaching over 320 stores including in 1990 its first store in the U.S. located at 86th and Lexington in New York City, which was the largest music shop in North America at the time. HMV celebrated its 75-year anniversary in 1996.
In February 1998, EMI entered into a joint venture with Advent International to form HMV Media Group led by Alan Giles, which acquired HMV's stores and Dillons, leaving EMI with a holding of around 45%. The new joint venture then bought the Waterstone's chain of bookshops to merge with Dillons.
Flotation.
By 2002, EMI's holding in HMV Media was 43%, with Advent International owning 40% and management the remainder. The company floated on the London Stock Exchange later in the year as HMV Group plc, leaving EMI with only a token holding.
The group became susceptible to a takeover following a poor period of trading up to Christmas 2005. Private equity firm Permira made a £762 million conditional bid for the group (based on 190p a share) on 7 February 2006, which was rejected by HMV as an insufficient valuation of the company. Permira made a second offer which increased the value, although HMV declined it on 13 March 2006, subsequently issuing a statement that the offer undervalued the medium and long term prospects for the company, resulting in Permira withdrawing from bidding.
Acquisitions.
In 2006 the HMV Group purchased the Ottakar's book chain and merged it into Waterstone's. The merger tied into HMV's strategy for growth, as many of the Ottakar's branches were in smaller towns. The Competition Commission provisionally cleared HMV Group, through Waterstone's, for takeover of the Ottakar's group on 30 March 2006, stating that the takeover would "not result in a substantial lessening of competition". Waterstone's then announced that it had successfully negotiated a takeover of Ottakar's on 31 May 2006. All 130 Ottakar's stores were rebranded as Waterstone's prior to Christmas 2006. In March 2007, new group CEO Simon Fox announced a 10% reduction over three years in the enlarged Waterstone's total store space, comprising mostly dual location shops created by the acquisition of Ottakar's.
On 29 June 2007, the entertainment retailer Fopp went into administration, with the closure of 81 stores and 800 staff made redundant. On 31 July HMV bought the brand and six stores that it said had traded profitably, saving around 70 jobs.
On 24 December 2008, Christmas Eve, HMV's rival Zavvi, also an entertainment retailer, entered administration. On 14 January 2009 a placing announcement by HMV revealed that it intended to acquire 14 of Zavvi's stores. On 18 February 2009 five additional Zavvi stores were purchased by HMV Group, to be rebranded as HMV outlets. An additional former Zavvi store in Exeter's Princesshay development was also added. The acquisitions were investigated and cleared by the Office of Fair Trading in April 2009.
In the 2008 MCV Industry Excellence Awards, HMV was given the title Entertainment Retailer of the Year.
In January 2009, HMV bought a 50% stake in MAMA Group, forming a joint venture with the group called the Mean Fiddler Group. The deal introduced the HMV brand to live music venues, including the Hammersmith Apollo. On 23 December 2009, it bought the whole of the MAMA Group in a live music takeover deal worth £46 million.
HMV bought 50% of 7digital for £7.7 million in September 2009, as part of a strategy to increase its digital content offering. 7digital provided HMV's music download service, and the company planned to introduce an e-books service for Waterstone's.
On 5 January 2011 HMV announced that profits would be at the lower end of analysts' forecasts due to falling sales, resulting in the share price falling by 20% and an announcement of the group's intention to close 40 HMV stores, as well as 20 Waterstone's stores, mainly in towns and cities where the company operated at multiple locations. The first of the store closures began at the end of January 2011.
The sale of Waterstone's to A&NN Capital Fund Management for £53 million was completed on 29 June 2011, and was approved by the vast majority of shareholders at an emergency general meeting.
HMV sold the Hammersmith Apollo to AEG Live and Eventim in May 2012 for £32 million. It sold the remainder of MAMA Group to Lloyds Development Capital in December 2012 for £7.3 million, which also included the company's 50% stake in Mean Fiddler Group.
Administration (2013).
On 15 January 2013, HMV Group appointed Deloitte as company administrators and suspended shares, putting its 4,350 UK employees at the risk of redundancy. Store gift vouchers were initially declared void since holders are classified as unsecured creditors to whom the company owed the value, but were accepted again from 22 January 2013. HMV Ireland followed by declaring receivership on 16 January 2013, which required the company under Irish law to close all its stores immediately.
Restructuring firm Hilco UK bought HMV's debt from its creditors The Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, as a step towards potentially taking control of the company. It was revealed that the total debt Hilco had bought amounted to around £110 million, and that HMV owed around £20 million in tax to HM Revenue and Customs at the time of its entry into administration.
On 31 January 2013, it was reported that 190 redundancies had been made at the head office and distribution centres.
On 7 February 2013 Deloitte confirmed that 66 stores had been identified for closure. No fixed date was given for the closures but they were expected to take place in the following two months. The next day, Deloitte confirmed that an additional 60 redundancies, including the chief executive Trevor Moore, had been made at the group's offices in London, Marlow and Solihull. Deloitte confirmed on 20 February 2013 that an additional 37 stores would close. On 26 February 2013, six stores were sold to supermarket chain Morrisons.
On 28 February 2013, eight stores in Hong Kong and Singapore were sold to AID Partners Capital Limited and the operation then became independent from HMV Group that was bought by Hilco UK. This transaction also enabled AID Partners Capital Limited to own the rights to use the HMV brand in Hong Kong, Macau, China, Taiwan and Singapore.
By 23 March 2013, Deloitte was seeking to complete a deal to sell 120 stores as a going concern. The decision to close several stores that had previously been identified for closure were reversed following talks with landlords.
By 21 March 2016, China 3D Digital Entertainment Limited acquired HMV Hong Kong operations from AID Partners Capital Limited, later renamed to HMV Digital China Group Limited.
Hilco ownership (2013–2019).
On 5 April 2013, Hilco UK announced that it had acquired HMV, taking the company out of administration and saving 141 of its stores and around 2,500 jobs. The total included 25 stores that had previously been selected for closure by Deloitte during the administration process. All nine Fopp stores which HMV owned were also included in the purchase. Hilco also stated that it hoped to reopen an HMV store in Ireland following the closure of all stores in the country. The takeover deal was estimated at around £50 million.
On 9 June 2013 it was confirmed that Hilco Capital Ireland had purchased HMV Ireland, and would reopen five stores within six weeks.
The company moved its flagship Oxford Street store back to the original site at 363 Oxford Street on 23 October 2013. HMV's existing flagship store at 150-154 Oxford Street, formerly the largest music store in the world, closed on 14 January 2014.
By 2014, HMV had gained the second highest share of the UK entertainment market, behind Amazon. The company's filing to Companies House in September 2014 revealed it had made a profit of £17 million in the 11 months since it had entered administration. In January 2015, HMV overtook Amazon to become the largest retailer of physical music in the UK.
However, the originally safe stores of York, Soilhull, Portsmouth and Belfast would shut.
Sunrise ownership (2019–present).
On 28 December 2018, HMV confirmed it had again been placed into administration. Hilco UK cited the "tsunami" of retail competition as the reason for the move. On 5 February 2019, Canadian record store chain Sunrise Records announced its acquisition of HMV Retail Ltd. from Hilco UK for an undisclosed amount. Sunrise had previously acquired the leases for over 70 HMV locations in Canada after HMV Canada entered receivership, which expanded the Ontario-based retailer into a national chain. Sunrise plans to maintain the HMV chain and five Fopp stores, but immediately closed 27 locations, including the flagship Oxford Street branch and other locations with high rent costs.
Company founder Doug Putman stated that he planned to increase the chain's emphasis on vinyl phonograph sales as part of the turnaround plan: Sunrise's leverage of the vinyl revival had helped bolster the Canadian locations' performance after the shops' transitions from HMV, having sold at least 500,000 vinyl LPs in 2017 alone. Putman argued that, despite the growth of digital music sales and streaming, "talk about the demise of the physical business is sometimes a bit exaggerated, especially in music specialists. Most of the decline is coming from nontraditional sellers like the grocery chains. We'll be here for quite some time."
On 25 February 2019, the "Financial Times" reported that the Sunrise acquisition was valued at £883,000. Following subsequent negotiations with its landlords, by late-February, HMV has reopened 13 of its stores (including one Fopp store).
Operations.
Following the purchase by Hilco UK, it was reported that the company was seeking to reduce the number of store staff across the business, as part of an effort to save £7.8 million on the wages budget. Stores would lose security staff, cashiers and supervisors, with managers required to provide cover.
As of August 2016, all HMV stores in the Republic of Ireland had closed down and replaced with an online store. HMV Belfast in Northern Ireland, which re-opened up in March 2014 after a £1 million pound refurbishment, was threatened with closure in February 2019. However, a deal was reached with landlords Sports Direct which allowed the store to continue trading.
HMV established a joint venture with Curzon Cinemas in October 2009 as part of chief executive Simon Fox's plan to bring cinemas to HMV and Waterstone's stores across England. The first trial cinema opened above the existing HMV store in Wimbledon, in a former storage room converted into three separate screens and a bar. It has its own entrance, allowing access outside store hours, and one within the store. The trial was deemed a success, and it had been planned to open additional cinemas in HMV's Cheltenham store, and Waterstone's in Piccadilly, London.
In June 2015, HMV relaunched an online store to accompany its existing music download service.
One store in Singapore and five in Hong Kong, owned by the private equity firm AID Partners, traded under the HMV brand independently of the UK operations. These have since closed, with the Singapore store closing in 2015 and the final Hong Kong branch closing in 2018.
Product range.
HMV stores stock a range of products including audio, books, Blu-rays, CDs, vinyl, DVDs, video games, record players, headphones as well as an increasing range of movie, television and music merchandise.
The company launched a music download service in October 2013 (www.hmvdigital.com), provided by 7digital, which includes iOS and Android apps.
The company relaunched its online store in June 2015, providing CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, and LP records for online order and home delivery with exclusive stock also available.
More recently the company has given extra focus to the rising trend of Pop Culture merchandise and in 2020 launched a highly successful "Sweet Treats" range of Japanese and American sweets and drinks.
Loyalty programme.
On 1 September 2008, HMV launched "Get Closer", a social networking site allowing users to import their own music library, rivalling other providers including online music stores Napster and the iTunes Store. The site was closed in September 2009.
HMV operated a loyalty scheme branded as "purehmv", first launched in August 2003, but subsequently closed and relaunched in 2008. The scheme awarded cardholders points for purchases, which could be collected and redeemed on a number of rewards including vouchers to spend in-store, memorabilia and signed merchandise. "purehmv" has since closed and will be replaced by a new loyalty scheme, the launch date of which is yet to be announced.


Cerchi family

The Florentine banking family of the Cerchi, minor nobles of the Valdarno, with a seat especially at Acone near Pontassieve, settled in Florence in the early thirteenth century and increased their fortunes. The family became the heads of a consortium of the prominent Guelfs that securely controlled Florence after the battle of Benevento in 1266. In Florence, the Cerchi purchased some of the ancient structures in the closely packed inner city formerly belonging to the counts Guidi, cheek-by-jowl with the proud Florentine family of the Donati, with whom their growing mutual antagonism was expressed in violent episodes that polarized Florence within a couple of decades in a virtual civil war that aligned behind two captains, Corso Donati of the "Neri" Guelf faction— the "Black" Guelfs of the old noble oligarchy— and Vieri de' Cerchi of the "Bianchi", the moderate party that represented itself as champions of working people (the "magri"). The resulting violence lasted, with irruptions of tranquility, into the fourteenth century.
In 1289 a plot had been intercepted at Arezzo, by which the city's bishop agreed to give over to the Florentines Bibbiena Civitella, and all the villages of his see, in return for a life annuity of 5,000 golden florins a year, guaranteed by the bank of the Cerchi. These rumors led to the confrontation of Guelfs and Ghibellines at the Battle of Campaldino, 11 June 1289, in which the young Dante Alighieri took part and Vieri dei Cerchi lost his life.
In the popular uprising of 2 May 1299, the podestà Corso Donati was expelled, and with him the Donati faction. The Cerchi faction prevailed. In May the following year a brawl between Donati and Cerchi erupted, in which one of the Cerchi had his nose slit, but plots to restore Donati, who had become podestà of Orvieto, were unsuccessful. Matters were complicated when Pope Boniface VIII sent Charles de Valois, brother of the King of France to restore peace between "Bianchi" and "Neri". He favoured the "Neri": Dante, who had married Gemma Donati, was among those "Bianchi" dispossessed and banished in 1302, and marked Boniface as destined for the eighth circle of Hell in his "Inferno".
In Florence, the house of the Alighieri was a few hundred paces from the cluster of tower houses of the Cerchi, which were restructured in the fourteenth century to form a rambling Palazzo dei Cerchi in the isolated block ("insula") fronting via dei Cimatori and via della Condotta behind Piazza della Signoria. This was the power center of the Cerchi: their church was the little Santa Margherita dei Cerchi of which the arms of the patrons, Cerchi, Adimari and Donati, may still be seen on its thirteenth-century doorway. This was the church of Dante's Beatrice Portinari.
The Palazzo, now renovated, has been the home of the study abroad program for Kent State University since 2003.
Another palazzo dei Cerchi, facing into Piazza di Santa Croce, was entirely rebuilt in the seventeenth century as the Palazzo dell'Antella.
The public charity and personal piety of Blessed Umiliana de' Cerchi (c. 1219-19 May 1246) became the object of a popular cult in Florence immediately after her death; it resulted in her beatification in 1634.


Frederick Towne Mall

Frederick Towne Mall was a mall located in Frederick, Maryland, United States. The mall opened in 1972 on U.S. Route 40 along the "Golden Mile". It was closed in April 2013, except for two anchor stores, Boscov's and Home Depot. In November 2019 it was announced that the mall would be renamed District 40 and would become an entertainment center with a movie theater, and possibly a trampoline park, video arcade, go-karts and bowling alley.
History.
Frederick Towne Mall was first announced in 1970; early plans called for the mall to be between 350,000 to 400,000 square feet, but plans were later pushed to 630,000 square feet, with a central second floor for service tenants. An opening date was set for April 1971. By March 1971, anchors had been announced to include Montgomery Ward, J.C. Penney, and Everley's, with Wards set to open in fall 1971, followed by the rest of the mall "in about a year". Other tenants announced included McCrory's, Peoples Drug, Thom McAn, RadioShack, Foxwood Casuals, Chess King, General Nutrition Centers, Kay Jewelers, and Walden Books.
The area surrounding the mall eventually intensified with low income housing, as did violent crime in the surrounding area. After a series of well-publicized events earned the mall a reputation for crime and frequent fights, mall tenants began relocating to a safer retail district across the city near the competing Francis Scott Key Mall, which opened in 1978.
The Montgomery Ward store closed in 2001 due to bankruptcy and later to be replaced in 2004 by The Home Depot. The then vacant J.C.Penney was replaced with Boscov's in 2003. In 2005, Gentlemen's Choice, the last remaining original tenant, moved out.
In 2006, proposals were made to redevelop the mall into a mixed use site. However, by 2009, economic issues caused by the Great Recession ended the possibility of mixed use redevelopment for the time.
By 2007, the reputation for crime the mall gained increased, as a woman was attacked and beaten while exiting the Bon-Ton department store. This reputation would only grow further when the Hoyts Cinema 10 was closed in 2008 after a man was stabbed to death inside. Because of this, Frederick residents relocated their dollars to the safer side of town, near the Francis Scott Key Mall.
In November 2010, it was announced that the Bon-Ton store and their furniture gallery would be closing within the next few months. They closed in January 2011, leaving the mall without any original anchor stores. John's Hallmark, the last interior tenant, closed its doors in April 2013; however by this time it was selling merchandise out of its back door due to the closure of the mall's interior to the public in early April. At this time, it was announced that Walmart had plans to open on the site, following demolition of the mall, however these plans were cancelled in 2016.
In 2014, just a year after the closure of the mall, three men were charged with burglary and trespassing after breaking into the mall by prying one of its doors. Officers went inside and arrested the three men. Their motive for breaking into the mall remains unclear.
Since 2015, the land has been planned for redevelopment. In 2016, work started on a redevelopment called Frederick Towne Center. Boscov's and Home Depot will be kept and the mall in between demolished. The new site plan would include a Walmart of size 155,000-square-foot. In September of that year, however, Walmart cancelled their plans for redevelopment.
Shortly afterwards, the owner of the property considered selling the mall. On November 23, 2016, there was an auction for the site between December 6 to 8 with a starting bid of $2.5 million. On February 24, 2017, the property was sold to LYNK Capital, headed by urologist Mohammed Mohiuddin.
 many For Lease signs can be seen around the building. A Warehouse cinemas is slated to open on the former Hoyts Cinemas side of the mall with a signed lease and the mall being cleaned up, although it has been several months since any work has been done and lease signs have reappeared on the Hoyts anchor building.
District 40.
On November 11, 2019 it was officially announced that the mall was being renamed District 40 and may include tenants with business such as go-karts, a bowling alley, a video arcade, a trampoline park, and restaurants.
Warehouse Cinemas would be the first tenant and was expected to open in the summer of 2020. According to the report, Home Depot, which is connected to the old mall, is technically not included in the property and Boscov's still has a lease, but no further details were disclosed about the future of the store.


Jacquelyn Dowd Hall

Jacquelyn Dowd Hall is an American historian and Julia Cherry Spruill Professor Emerita at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her scholarship and teaching forwarded the emergence of U.S. women's history in the 1960s and 1970s, helped to inspire new research on Southern labor history and the long civil rights movement, and encouraged the use of oral history sources in historical research. She is the author of "Revolt Against Chivalry: Jessie Daniel Ames and the Women’s Campaign Against Lynching;" "Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World" (with James Leloudis, Robert R. Korstad, Mary Murphy, Lu Ann Jones, and Christopher R. Daly;) and "Sisters and Rebels: The Struggle for the Soul of America".
Life.
Jacquelyn Dowd Hall was born in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, in 1943, the oldest of five children. After graduating from high school as valedictorian, she attended college at Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College), where she first became involved in the Civil Rights Movement when she joined student protests against segregation. In 1965, she graduated from Southwestern at Memphis with high honors. She worked as a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines from 1965 to 1966.
In 1967, she earned an M.A. from Columbia University. From 1970 to 1982, she was married to Bob Hall, who went on to be an organizer, investigative reporter, and long-time head of the Institute for Southern Studies and Executive Director of Democracy NC. In 1970, they moved from New York City to Atlanta, where she worked for the Southern Regional Council, helped to lead an oral history project at the Institute for Southern Studies, and was involved in the women's liberation movement. In 1973, she became a tenure track instructor in the history department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and founding director of UNC's Southern Oral History Program (SOHP). Studying under Kenneth T. Jackson, she completed her Columbia Ph.D., with distinction, in 1974. Her dissertation, which became her first book, won the Bancroft Award for the best dissertation in American history, diplomacy, or international relations.
In 1989, Hall was named Julia Cherry Spruill Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her time at UNC-CH, she served as advisor and/or mentor to many graduate students, a number of whom went on to distinguished scholarly careers and to leadership positions in oral history and public history endeavors. She served as Director of the Southern Oral History Program until 2011. During her tenure, the SOHP collected over 5000 interviews on the history of the American South, covering topics such as industrialization, the long civil rights movement, women's history, and Southern politics. She also served as Mark W. Clark Distinguished Visiting Professor of History at the Citadel (2015), Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the California Institute of Technology (1995), Director of the Duke University-University of North Carolina Center for Research on Women (1991-1994), and Ford Foundation Professor at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi (1987).
Over the course of her career, Hall has been elected president of the Organization of American Historians and the Southern Historical Association and founding president of the Labor and Working Class History Association. She has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, the Radcliffe Center for Advanced Study, the Wilson Center, and the National Humanities Center. She was elected to the Society of American Historians in 1990 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011.
In 1999, Hall was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President William Jefferson Clinton. In his remarks, Clinton praised Hall “for capturing that unique and wonderful voice, for recording history through the lives of ordinary people, and, in so doing, for making history.” Hall later reflected, “ I like to think that this award helped to advance the astonishing growth of oral history as a vehicle for popular understanding of the past and a central tool of the historian’s craft.”
In May 2013 Hall and her husband Robert Korstad, a professor of history and public policy at Duke University, whom she married in 1995, were among the second group of protestors to be arrested in North Carolina's Moral Monday protests against measures taken by the state's Republican governor and legislature. They were also among the founders of Scholars for North Carolina's Future. She retired in 2014 and currently resides in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Works.
Books:
"Sisters and Rebels: A Struggle for the Soul of America" (W.W. Norton, 2019).
"Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World" (UNC Press, 1987; paperback, W. W. Norton, 1989). Coauthors James Leloudis, Robert Korstad, Mary Murphy, LuAnn Jones, and Christopher B. Daly. Reissued with an afterward by the authors and a foreword by Michael Frisch, Chapel Hill, 2000.
"Revolt Against Chivalry: Jessie Daniel Ames and the Women’s Campaign Against Lynching" (Columbia University Press, 1979, paperback, 1983). Reissued with a new introduction and epilogue, 1993.
Edited Works:
"Katharine Du Pre Lumpkin, Eli Hill: A Novel of Reconstruction" (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2020). Coedited and introduced with Bruce Baker.
Selected Articles in Scholarly Journals:
“The Long Civil Rights Movement and the Political Uses of the Past,” "Journal of American History" 91 (March 2005): 1233–263. Reprinted in "Best Articles in American History", 2007, ed. Jacqueline Jones (New York, 2007).
“Women Writers, the ‘Southern Front,’ and the Dialectical Imagination,” "Journal of Southern History" 69 (Feb. 2003): 3-38.
“Last Words,” contribution to Round Table on Self and Subject, "Journal of American History" 89 (June 2002): 30–36.
“‘To Widen the Reach of Our Love’: Autobiography, History, and Desire,” "Feminist Studies" 26 (Spring 2000): 231–47.
“‘You Must Remember This’: Autobiography as Social Critique,” "Journal of American History" 85 (September 1998): 439–65. Reprinted in "The New South: New Histories", ed. J. William Harris, (London, 2007).
“Open Secrets: Memory, Imagination, and the Refashioning of Southern Identity,” "American Quarterly" 50 (March 1998): 110–24. Reprinted in "Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader", ed. Ellen Dubois and Vicki Ruiz (New York, 2000, 2007, 2008).
“A Later Comment”; contribution to “What We See and Can’t See in the Past: A Round Table,” "Journal of American History" 83 (March 1997): 1268–70.
“Broadus Mitchell,” "Radical History Review" 45 (Fall 1989): 31–38. Reprinted as “Broadus Mitchell: Economic Historian of the South,” "Reading Southern History: Essays on Interpreters and Interpretations", ed. Glenn Feldman (Tuscaloosa, 2001), 25–31.
“Partial Truths,” "Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society" 14 (Summer 1989): 900–911.
“Cotton Mill People: Work, Community and Protest in the Textile South, 1880–1940,” "American Historical Review" 91 (April 1986): 245–86. Coauthors Robert Korstad and James Leloudis. Reprinted in Major Problems in the History of the American South, ed. Paul D. Escott and David R. Goldfield (Lexington, Mass., 1990); Major Problems in the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era, ed. Leon Fink (Lexington, Mass., 1992; Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History, Vol. II, ed. Larry Madaras and James M. SoRelle (Guilford, Conn., 2001).
“Disorderly Women: Gender and Labor Militancy in the Appalachian South,” Journal of American History 73 (September 1986): 354–82. Reprinted in "Women’s America: Refocusing the Past", ed. Linda K. Kerber and Jane DeHart Mathews (1982, 1987, 1991, 1995, 2000, 2009, 2011, 2015); "Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader", ed. Ellen Dubois and Vicki Ruiz (1990, 1994); "Gender in American History from 1890", ed. Barbara Melosh (1993); "Half Sisters of History: Southern Women and the American Past", ed. Catherine Clinton (1994); "Major Problems in American Women’s History", ed. Mary Beth Norton and Ruth M. Alexander (1996).
“Second Thoughts: On Writing a Feminist Biography,” "Feminist Studies" 13 (Spring 1987): 19–37.
Preface, “Women’s History Goes to Trial: EEOC v. Sears Roebuck and Company,” "Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society" 11 (Summer 1986): 751–53.
Book Chapters:
"How We Tell About the Civil Rights Movement and Why It Matters," "NASA in the Long Civil Movement", ed. Brian C. Odom and Stephan P. Waring (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2019), ix-xiv.
"The Good Fight," "Mothers and Strangers: Essays on Motherhood from the New South", ed. Samia Serageldin and Lee Smith (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2019), 120–26.
Die Lange Bürgerrechtsbewegung und die politisch Instrumentalisierung von Geschichte," "Von Selma Bis Ferguson: Rasse un Rassismus in den USA", ed. Michael Butter, Astrid Fanke, and Hor st Tonn (Bielefeld, 2016), 15-46.
“Case Study: The Southern Oral History Program,” "The Oxford Handbook of Oral History", ed. Donald A. Ritchie (New York, 2010), 409–16. Coauthor Kathryn Nasstrom.
“Reflections,” "Jumpin’ Jim Crow: Race and Politics in the New South", ed. Jane Dailey, Glenda Gilmore, and Bryant Simon (Princeton, 2000), 34–07.
“Afterward: Reverberations,” "Remembering: Oral History Performance", ed. Della Pollock (New York, 2005), 187–98.
“O. Delight Smith: A Labor Organizer’s Odyssey,” in "Forgotten Heroes from America’s Past: Inspiring Portraits from Our Leading Historians", ed. Susan Ware (New York, 1998), 185–93.
“O. Delight Smith’s Progressive Era: Labor, Feminism and Reform in the Urban South,” in "Visible Women: New Essays on American Activism", ed. Nancy Hewitt and Suzanne Lebsock (Urbana, 1993), 166–98.
“Partial Truths,” in "Southern Women: Histories and Identities", ed. Virginia Bernhard et al. (Columbia, MO, 1992).
“Lives through Time: Second Thoughts on Jessie Daniel Ames,” "The Challenge of Feminist Biography: Writing the Lives of Modern American Women", ed. Sara Alpern et al. (Urbana, 1992).
“Private Eyes, Public Women: Class and Sex in the Urban South, Atlanta, 1913–1915,” in "Work Engendered: Toward a New History of American Labor", ed. Ava Baron (Ithaca, 1991), 243–72. Reprinted in "Looking for America: The Visual Production of Nation and People", ed. Ardis Cameron (Malden, MA, 2005).
“History, Story, and Performance: The Making and Remaking of a Southern Cotton Mill World,” in "Reconstructing American Literary and Historical Studies", ed. Günter H. Lenz, Hartmut Keil, and Sabine Bröck-Sallah (New York, 1990), 324–44. Coauthor Della Pollock.
"A Bond of Common Womanhood: Building an Interracial Community in the Jim Crow South," in "Women, Families, and Communities: Readings in American History", ed. Nancy A. Hewitt (Glenview, Ill, 1990), 99-114.
“Women in the South,” in "Interpreting Southern History: Historiographical Essays in Honor of Sanford W. Higginbotham", ed. John B. Boles and Evelyn T. Nolen (Baton Rouge, 1987), 454–509. Coauthor Anne Firor Scott.
“‘The Mind That Burns in Each Body’: Women, Rape, and Racial Violence,” in "Powers of Desire: The Politics of Sexuality", ed. Ann Snitow et al (New York, 1983), 328–49. Reprinted in "Race, Class, and Gender: An Anthology", ed. Margaret L. Andersen and Patricia Hill Collins (Belmont, Calif., 1992); "Southern Exposure", 12 (November/December 1984).
“‘A Truly Subversive Affair’: Women Against Lynching in the Twentieth-Century South,” in "Women of America: A History", ed. Carol Berkin and Mary Beth Norton (Boston, 1979), 360–88.
Publication Awards.
For "Sisters and Rebels: A Struggle for the Soul of America", 2020: PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography, PEN America (distinguished biography of exceptional literary, narrative, and artistic merit, based on scrupulous research); Summersell Prize, Frances S. Summersell Center for the Study of the South at the University of Alabama (best book on the history of the American South); Prose Award, the Association of American Publishers (outstanding work by a trade publisher); Sydnor Award, Southern Historical Association (co-winner, best book on southern history); Julia Cherry Spruill Prize, Southern Association of Women Historians (co-winner, best book in southern women’s history); Willie Lee Rose Prize, Southern Association of Women Historians (co-winner, best book on any topic in southern history written by a woman); Bell Award, Georgia Historical Society (best book on Georgia history); Plutarch Award Finalist, Biographers International (best biography of 2019).
For “The Long Civil Rights Movement and the Political Uses of the Past,” 2005: Best Articles in American History, 2007 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), ed. Jacqueline Jones for the Organization of American Historian (chosen by a panel of eight historians from 300 scholarly and popular journals).
For “‘You Must Remember This,’” 1999: A. Elizabeth Taylor Prize, Southern Association of Women Historians (best article in the field of southern women’s history).
For "Like a Family", 1988: Albert J. Beveridge Award, American Historical Association (best work in English on the history of the Americas); Merle Curti Social History Award, Organization of American Historians, co-winner (best book in social history); Philip Taft Labor History Prize, Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations (outstanding contribution to American labor history); John Hope Franklin Prize, Honorable Mention, American Studies Association (exemplary interdisciplinary scholarship).
For “Disorderly Women,” 1987: Annual Article Prize, Berkshire Conference of Women Historians (best article on any historical subject written by an American woman); Binkley-Stephenson Award, Organization of American Historians (best scholarly article published in the Journal of American History).
For "Revolt Against Chivalry", 1980: Francis B. Simkins Award, Southern Historical Association (best first book in Southern history); Lillian Smith Award, Southern Regional Council (for writing that carries on Smith's legacy of elucidating the condition of racial and social inequity and proposing a vision of justice and human understanding); Bancroft Dissertation Award, Columbia University, 1974 best dissertation in history, diplomacy, or diplomatic affairs).
Other Honors.
Jacquelyn Hall Summer Research Fellowship, Southern Oral History Program, UNC, endowed 2017, awarded annually.
Award for Distinguished Service to Labor and Working-Class History, 2015, Labor and Working-Class History Association.
Stephen E. Ambrose Oral History Award, Rutgers University Living History Society, 2015.
Mary Turner Lane Award for outstanding contributions to the lives of women at UNC-Chapel Hill, Association of Women Faculty and Professionals, 2013.
Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2011.
Distinguished Alumni Award, Rhodes College, 2000–2001.
Cornelia Phillips Spencer Award, Chapel Hill Historical Society for extraordinary achievement by a woman who has lived in Chapel Hill, 2001.
National Humanities Medal, 1999.
Distinguished Teaching Award for Post-Baccalaureate Instruction, UNC, 1997.
Elected Fellow, Society of American Historians, 1990 (for “literary distinction in the writing of history and biography”); Executive Board, 1997–2002.
Jacquelyn Dowd Hall Prize, Southern Association of Women Historians (for the two best graduate papers presented at the triennial Southern Conference on Women's History), 1994–present.


Leeds Assembly

Leeds Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Leeds, Missouri. It was closed in 1988. The factory produced the A-bodies and J-bodies.
The Leeds Assembly Plant is located in the Leeds district of Kansas City, Missouri, at 6817 Stadium Drive. The GM operations are closed, and the facility has been sold and is now used as a warehouse and for outdoor storage.
At its peak employment, over 4,500 persons hourly and salary worked at the Leeds plant producing 60 vehicles per hour on two production shifts.
The early years.
The Leeds Assembly Plant began operations in 1929 as two separate divisions with GM-controlled Fisher Body and Chevrolet plants under one roof. Each division had its own staff including engineers and administrative positions. The wall down the length of the Leeds facility completely separated operations of Fisher Body and Chevrolet operations, and the car bodies were literally pushed through a hole in the wall from Fisher Body to the Chevrolet side.
The Leeds sit-down strike.
The Leeds plant was one of the earliest sit-down strike locations, following the initial sit-down strike at the assembly plant in Atlanta. On December 16, 1936, Fisher Body workers began an eight-day strike that only ended because of the inability to bring food into the plant for workers. The basis for the strike was the firing of an employee the previous day; however Fisher Body employees were said to be paid less than Chevrolet workers and were to have had less job security, and the United Auto Workers (UAW) was pressing for national recognition of the union.
Without car bodies being passed through the hole, the production of Chevrolet vehicles quickly ceased. On February 17, 1937, two months after UAW members at the Leeds plant sat down on their jobs, GM recognized the UAW, altering automobile labor relations.
General Motors Assembly Division (GMAD).
General Motors maintained the two division production at the Leeds Assembly plant for 40 Years
The Fisher/Chevy Wall in the Leeds assembly came down in 1969 when the General Motors Assembly Division (GMAD) was formed. This consolidated all assembly operations under one division. General Motors divisions (Fisher Body, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac and GMC) were divested of assembly responsibilities. In the 1970s Leeds produced the classic Chevrolet Monte Carlo, the Chevrolet Malibu, and the Chevrolet El Camino.
BOC and the J-Car.
Leeds Assembly operated under GMAD until the early 1980s when the GM assembly operations were reconfigured into the Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadillac division (BOC) and the Chevrolet-Pontiac-GM Canada (CPC), with Leeds being placed in the BOC division.
Following a plant retooling, Leeds produced the downsized Monte Carlo and Malibu, but after mediocre sales of the downsized vehicles, Leeds became one of four assembly plants chosen to produce the J-Car; the other plants were in Janesville, Wisconsin, Southgate in California, and Lordstown, Ohio.
Leeds was the primary producer of the Buick Skyhawk and the Oldsmobile Firenza, with subsequent addition of Chevrolet Cavalier production.
Floods.
The plant is physically located close to the Blue River. Beginning in the late 1970s the plant was subjected to flooding due to street runoff into storm drains upstream in Missouri and Kansas. In 1977 of water flooded the production area throughout the plant; three days later the plant was back in production. The plant flooded one more time while in production, and a third and final time after production had ceased.
Closing.
The Leeds Assembly plant officially ceased automobile production on April 15, 1988. The landlocked facility was bordered on the east and west by railroad tracks, on the south by the Blue River, and was not a candidate for expansion.
Attempts to bring the Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck to Leeds were not successful.


Federico Brito Figueroa

Federico Britto Figueroa (La Victoria, 2 November 1921 - Caracas, 28 April 2000) was a Venezuelan Marxist historian and anthropologist. Brito's ideas and writings played an important role in the ideological formation of Hugo Chavez, former president of Venezuela.
Born in La Victoria in Venezuela, Brito was a member of Venezuela's National Democratic Party ("Partido Democrático Nacional" — PDN, which later renamed Acción Democrática) in 1936. Britto, after profound schisms appeared in the Venezuelan left, joined the Venezuelan Communist Party (Partido Comunista de Venezuela — PCV), together with Domingo Maza Zavala and Luis Miquilena.
In 1946, Britto entered the Instituto Pedagógico Nacional (National Teaching Institute) to obtain the title of professor of social sciences. Britto later travelled to México. There, he studied in the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia (National School of Anthropology and History). Along with Wenceslao Roces and François Chavalier, Brito graduated with a degree in ethnology and anthropology. Britto returned to Venezuela in 1959, after Marcos Pérez Jiménez's toppling, and began studies at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and was licensed as a historian and obtained his doctorate in anthropology. Britto's doctoral thesis was the renowned and influential work "La estructura económica de Venezuela colonial" (The Economic Structure of Colonial Venezuela), which he wrote in 1963 and published in 1978.
Key points of his works included the elucidation of slavery, the study of Venezuelan "Federal War" general Ezequiel Zamora, and a critical and probing analysis of the socioeconomic underpinnings of both colonialism and neocolonialism..


Austin Robinson

Sir Edward Austin Gossage Robinson, (20 November 1897 – 1 June 1993, Cambridge, England) was a University of Cambridge economist. He was an undergraduate at Christ's College, Cambridge, and a fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
A close associate of John Maynard Keynes, Robinson served as assistant editor during Keynes's time as editor of The Economic Journal; following Keynes's retirement in 1944, Robinson took over the joint editorship with Roy Harrod. He was at the centre of economic policy-making during and after the Second World War, holding posts in the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Production and the Board of Trade. Robinson spent the postwar years working as a professor, editor, and economic adviser.
In the course of his life, Robinson also served as a seaplane pilot during the First World War, and spent two years in the 1920s tutoring a Maharajah in India. Disillusioned after his service in the war, Robinson found Keynes's lectures on his "The Economic Consequences of the Peace" to be "a revelation," influencing Robinson's entry into the study of economics.
He was president of the International Economic Association from 1959 to 1962.
The Faculty of Economics at the University of Cambridge is located in the Austin Robinson Building, a tribute to Robinson's contributions to the subject.
Robinson was the husband of economist Joan Robinson. They had two daughters. Austin's brother was the Rt Revd Christopher Robinson, an Anglican bishop (firstly Bishop of Lucknow and later Bishop of Bombay).