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New York News, New York State News, New York capital: Albany, NY News |
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New York capital: Albany, New York State Postal Code: NY: New York State Abbreviation New York state is bordered by the states of Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut (east), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (south). New York state also borders the Atlantic Ocean (east) and Lake Erie and Lake Ontario (northwest). New York state is also bordered by the country of Canada and the Canadian provinces of Ontario (northwest) and Quebec (north). NY News ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
NEW YORK News:"Unapologetic CEOs: What Did the Banks Do With Your Cash? Bank CEOs [Chief Executive Officer], With $125 Billion in Taxpayer Money in Hand, Testify and Defend Before Congress." ... "The heads of eight major banks that received $125 billion in taxpayer bailout funds were largely unapologetic for their role in helping to create the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression as they testified before Congress this morning." ... "The CEOs said they are trying to lend out more money and pledged to return to profit, be more transparent and repay taxpayers as soon as possible." ... "But for the most part, the CEOs in their prepared testimony shrugged off recent criticism about the high level of pay within their firms, the use of luxury jets and posh trips to Las Vegas or Monte Carlo [Monaco]." ... "Bank of America took heat recently for sponsoring a five-day carnival-like affair outside the Super Bowl. The event -- known as the "NFL experience" -- included 850,000 square feet of sports games and interactive entertainment attractions for football fans and was blanketed in Bank of America logos and marketing calls to sign up for football-themed banking products." ... "The eight financial firms received a combined total of $125 billion since October through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, commonly referred to as TARP." ... "Lawmakers have expressed outrage that the funds are not fulfilling their purpose of increasing the flow of credit to consumers. They point to a report released last month by the New York state comptroller that said Wall Street firms had handed out $18 billion in bonuses last year." ... "That news led [Democratic] President Obama to impose new restrictions on executive compensation for banks that receive money through the TARP in the future." ... "In the face of pressure from Washington, Citigroup recently scrapped plans to purchase a $50 million luxury jet." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Matthew Jaffe and Scott Mayerowitz -ABCNEWS.com "Bailed-Out Firms Distributing Cash Rewards: "Please Do Not Call It A Bonus"." ... "Two Wall Street firms that received at least $60 billion in government bailout funds will be rewarding their financial advisers with controversial retention payments, the terms of which one senior executive described as "very generous" in audio obtained by the Huffington Post." ... "The soon-to-be-merged financial giants -- Morgan Stanley and Citigroup's Smith Barney -- announced the payments during an internal conference call last week, but warned advisers against describing them in terms that would cause PR headaches." ... ""There will be a retention award. Please do not call it a bonus," said James Gorman, co-president of Morgan Stanley. "It is not a bonus. It is an award. And it recognizes the importance of keeping our team in place as we go through this integration."" ... "The payments, Gorman said, will be calculated based on performance numbers from 2008 instead of 2009, when the merger is expected to be completed. That decision virtually guarantees an increase in the size of the awards. While 2008 was challenging for the firms -- Morgan Stanley's client assets in fee-based accounts dropped 25 percent in the fourth quarter, and a round of lay-offs is expected -- 2009 is expected to be substantially weaker." ... ""I think I can hear you clapping from here in New York," Gorman joked during the call, after announcing that the payments would be linked to '08 performance. "You should be clapping because frankly that is a very generous and thoughtful decision that we have made. We spent a lot of time kicking this around. We could easily have done it from the point of closing, which is obviously going to be somewhere in the latter half of this year or around the middle of the year. But we just decided... that it was right thing to do, to give you that certainty that it would be based off '08. '09 is a very difficult year... So that degree of anxiety, which many, many of you have emailed me about... is now off the table."" ... "Audio of the conference call was provided by a reader who responded to the Huffington Post's call for information about wasteful or extravagant spending by bailout recipients. " -By Sam Stein -HuffingtonPost.com "Sources tell SI Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003." ... "In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources have independently told Sports Illustrated." ... "Rodriguez's name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's '03 survey testing, SI's sources say. As part of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004." ... "Though MLB's drug policy has expressly prohibited the use of steroids without a valid prescription since 1991, there were no penalties for a positive test in 2003. The results of that year's survey testing of 1,198 players were meant to be anonymous under the agreement between the commissioner's office and the players association. Rodriguez's testing information was found, however, after federal agents, armed with search warrants, seized the '03 test results from Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc., of Long Beach, Calif. [California], one of two labs used by MLB in connection with that year's survey testing. The seizure took place in April 2004 as part of the government's investigation into 10 major league players linked to the BALCO scandal -- though Rodriguez himself has never been connected to BALCO." ... "Anticipating that the 33-year-old Rodriguez, who has 553 career home runs, could become the game's alltime home run king, the [New York] Yankees signed him in November 2007 to a 10-year, incentive-laden deal that could be worth as much as $305 million. Rodriguez is reportedly guaranteed $275 million and could receive a $6 million bonus each time he ties one of the four players at the top of the list: Willie Mays (660), Babe Ruth (714), Hank Aaron (755) and Barry Bonds (762), and an additional $6 million for passing Bonds." -By Selena Roberts and David Epstein -SI.com "What Red Ink? Wall Street Paid Hefty Bonuses." ... "By almost any measure, 2008 was a complete disaster for Wall Street — except, that is, when the bonuses arrived." ... "Despite crippling losses, multibillion-dollar bailouts and the passing of some of the most prominent names in the business, employees at financial companies in New York, the now-diminished world capital of capital, collected an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses for the year." ... "That was the sixth-largest haul on record, according to a report released Wednesday by the New York State comptroller." ... "It excludes stock option awards that could push the figures even higher." ... "The state comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, said it was unclear if banks had used taxpayer money for the bonuses, a possibility that strikes corporate governance experts, and indeed many ordinary Americans, as outrageous." ... "“The issue of transparency is a significant one, and there needs to be an accounting about whether there was any taxpayer money used to pay bonuses or to pay for corporate jets or dividends or anything else,” Mr. DiNapoli said in an interview." ... "According to Mr. DiNapoli, the brokerage units of New York financial companies lost more than $35 billion in 2008, triple their losses in 2007." ... "Outside the financial industry, many corporate executives received fatter bonuses in 2008, even as the economy lost 2.6 million jobs." -By Ben White with contributions by Paul J. Sullivan -NYTimes "In Echoes Of Madoff, Ponzi Cases Proliferate." ... "Federal and state authorities are reporting a growing number of financial scams that echo the alleged Madoff fraud, as strapped investors seek access to their cash amid increasingly hard times." ... "At least six suspected multimillion-dollar fraud cases have emerged this month alone, many of them alleged Ponzi schemes, in which investors are lured by promises of lofty returns but are actually paid off from new victims' funds." ... "On Tuesday, authorities arrested Arthur Nadel, the missing Florida hedge-fund adviser, who was accused by federal authorities of defrauding clients of millions of dollars." ... "In the latest case to emerge, Nicholas Cosmo, a Long Island, N.Y. [New York], investment-firm owner, surrendered to federal authorities Monday." ... "The [Securities and Exchange Commission] agency, which doesn't keep an official count, brought at least 23 Ponzi cases last year, up from 15 in 2007. It has already filed four in 2009. That tally doesn't include actions on the state level, where allegations of securities fraud are routinely pursued." ... "Three weeks ago, the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission] accused a Philadelphia[ Pennsylvania]-area investment fund manager, Joseph S. Forte, with running a Ponzi scheme since at least 1995 that claimed returns as high as 38% and raised $50 million." ... "Meanwhile, Idaho's securities regulators are investigating allegations by investors in Idaho Falls [Idaho] that they lost up to $100 million in an alleged Ponzi scheme by Daren Palmer, a local money manager." -By Steve Stecklow with contributions by Philip Shishkin and William M. Bulkeley -WSJ.com "Texas senator [Republican Cornyn] blocks [Democratic Senator] Clinton's state confirmation." ... "The confirmation of [New York Democratic Senator] Hillary Rodham Clinton to be secretary of state will be held up for at least a day due to the objection of a single senator. [Texas Republican Senator] Sen. John Cornyn, R[ Republican]-Texas, said he wanted "a full and open debate and an up-or-down vote on [Senator] Sen. Clinton's nomination."" ... "He said important questions remain unanswered concerning the foundation headed by former [Democratic] President Bill Clinton "and its acceptance of donations from foreign entities. Transparency transcends partisan politics and the American people deserve to know more."" ... "In her testimony, Clinton said the foundation would provide a clearer picture of its annual donations." -By Jim Abrams -AP via -Yahoo "NYPD Wants To Interrupt Mobile Communications During Attacks." ... "The New York Police Department wants the ability to interrupt mobile phone service and other electronic communications during terrorist attacks." ... "Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told the U.S. [United States] Senate Committee on Homeland Security that the November attacks in Mumbai [India] illustrated the dangers of instant reporting from the field while an attack is unfolding." ... "The terrorists used cell phones and other devices to communicate while the attacks were in progress, Kelly said Thursday. Witnesses in India also provided instant updates on the situation using cell phones, digital photos on the Internet, and Twitter -- communicating what they saw as it unfolded." ... "It's unclear if authorities in New York could cut off attackers' cell service and other electronic communications without causing wider disruptions." ... "Millions of New Yorkers used phones -- landlines and cell phones -- to let out-of-town relatives and friends, as well as each other, know that they were OK after the [September] Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In many cases, those in the middle of the chaos relied on those watching the news outside of New York City [New York] for information to help them decide whether to flee the island of Manhattan [New York City burrough] by ferry, to head uptown, or to stay put." ... "As a New Yorker, I can't imagine an attack without the ability to let my family know I'm OK or the ability to exchange information and offers of assistance with friends scattered throughout Manhattan." -By K.C. Jones -InformationWeek "AP study finds $1.6B went to bailed-out bank execs." ... "Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals." ... "The rewards came even at banks where poor results last year foretold the economic crisis that sent them to Washington for a government rescue. Some trimmed their executive compensation due to lagging bank performance, but still forked over multimillion-dollar executive pay packages." ... "Benefits included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships and professional money management, the AP review of federal securities documents found." ... "_The average paid to each of the banks' top executives was $2.6 million in salary, bonuses and benefits." ... "_Lloyd Blankfein, president and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, took home nearly $54 million in compensation last year. The company's top five executives received a total of $242 million." ... "The New York-based company on Dec. 16 reported its first quarterly loss since it went public in 1999. It received $10 billion in taxpayer money on Oct. 28." ... "_John A. Thain, chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch, topped all corporate bank bosses with $83 million in earnings last year." ... "Like Goldman, Merrill got $10 billion from taxpayers on Oct. 28." -By Frank Bass and Rita Beamish -AP via -Yahoo "Cox "Worked to Dismantle The SEC," Says Commission Vet." ... "In recent years, particularly under [Republican President Bush's Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Chris] Cox, a former California GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] congressman, the SEC has pursued a policy of de-emphasizing enforcement, part of the broader anti-regulatory philosophy of the Bush years -- helping to make Madoff, and perhaps others like him, possible." ... ""[Cox] in many ways worked to dismantle the SEC," Ed Nordlinger, a former longtime enforcement director in the commission's New York office, told TPMmuckraker. "He slowed everything down. I don't think he believed in heavy regulation."" ... "That view has been echoed by several others in a position to know. Ross Albert told TPMmuckraker for a post published yesterday: "Under Cox, SEC had de-emphasized the enforcement program. Cox worshipped at the same altar of de-regulation that the rest of the Bush administration worshipped at."" ... "And a former enforcement division supervisor told Portfolio for a lengthy October story about the SEC under Cox: "It was like someone poured molasses on the enforcement division."" ... "The commission also appears to have passed over for promotion staff members who were too aggressive in their approach to enforcement. Veteran S.E.C. lawyer James Coffman told Portfolio that he was told he didn't get a promotion because he was "too tough." He left the SEC soon after." -By Zachary Roth -TPMMuckracker .TalkingPointsMemo "Paul Krugman: The Madoff economy." ... "The pay system on Wall Street lavishly rewards the appearance of profit, even if that appearance later turns out to have been an illusion." ... "Consider the hypothetical example of a money manager who leverages up his clients' money with lots of debt, then invests the bulked-up total in high-yielding but risky assets, such as dubious mortgage-backed securities. For a while - say, as long as a housing bubble continues to inflate - he (it's almost always a he) will make big profits and receive big bonuses. Then, when the bubble bursts and his investments turn into toxic waste, his investors will lose big - but he'll keep those bonuses." ... "We're talking about a lot of money. In recent years the finance sector accounted for 8 percent of America's GDP [Gross Domestic Product], up from less than 5 percent a generation earlier. If that extra 3 percent was money for nothing - and it probably was - we're talking about $400 billion a year in waste, fraud and abuse. But the costs of America's Ponzi era surely went beyond the direct waste of dollars and cents." ... "At the crudest level, Wall Street's ill-gotten gains corrupted and continue to corrupt politics, in a nicely bipartisan way. From [Republican President] Bush administration officials like Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who looked the other way as evidence of financial fraud mounted, to Democrats who still haven't closed the outrageous tax loophole that benefits executives at hedge funds and private equity firms (hello, [New York Democratic] Senator Schumer), politicians have walked when money talked." -By Paul Krugman -IHT.com "Goldman Sachs’s Tax Rate Drops to 1%, or $14 Million (Update1) ." ... "Goldman Sachs Group Inc. [Incorporated], which got $10 billion and debt guarantees from the U.S. [United States] government in October, expects to pay $14 million in taxes worldwide for 2008 compared with $6 billion in 2007." ... "The company’s effective income tax rate dropped to 1 percent from 34.1 percent, New York-based Goldman Sachs said today in a statement. The firm reported a $2.3 billion profit for the year after paying $10.9 billion in employee compensation and benefits." ... "U.S. [Texas Democratic] Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat who serves on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said steps by Goldman Sachs and other banks shifting income to countries with lower taxes is cause for concern." ... "“This problem is larger than Goldman Sachs,” Doggett said. “With the right hand out begging for bailout money, the left is hiding it offshore.”" -By Christine Harper -Bloomberg "HUD pick foresaw subprime crisis in '04." ... ""[Democratic President Elect] Barack Obama's pick for HUD [Housing and Urban Development] -- former New York City [New York] Housing Commissioner Shaun Donovan -- was one of the earliest public officials to foresee the magnitude and destructive capacity of the subprime crisis." ... "In the middle of 2004, I sat down with Donovan (I was at Newsday at the time) for a chat about [Democratic New York City, New York] Mayor Michael Bloomberg's initiative to tackle the shortage of low- and middle-income housing in the city." ... "To my surprise, Donovan brushed aside my questions about the city's initiatives and began talking at length about the coming "flood" of foreclosures he anticipated among highly leveraged apartment buildings purchased by recent immigrants -- and a looming subprime crisis for one- and two-family homeowners in up-and-coming neighborhoods in southeast [New York City burroughs] Queens and central Brooklyn." ... "I left the meeting a little shaken: At the time housing prices in previously depressed parts of the city were booming and the city had been able to sell off almost of all its once-massive stock of foreclosed properties to private owners and investors. The future looked bright to almost everyone -- but not to Donovan, who was planning for the looming disaster." -By Glenn Thrush -Politico.com "AIG Says More Managers Get Retention Payouts Topping $4 Million." ... "American International Group Inc. [Incorporated], the insurer whose bonuses and perks are under fire from U.S. [United States] lawmakers, offered cash awards to another 38 executives in a retention program with payments of as much as $4 million." ... "The incentives range from $92,500 to $4 million for employees earning salaries between $160,000 and $1 million, Chief Executive Officer Edward Liddy said in a letter dated [2008 December] Dec. 5 to [Maryland Democratic] Representative Elijah Cummings. The New York-based insurer had previously disclosed that 130 managers would get the awards and that one executive would get $3 million." ... "“I remain concerned, as do many American taxpayers, that these retention payments are simply bonuses by another name,” Cummings said in letter responding to Liddy." ... "AIG [American International Group], which received a U.S. rescue package of more than $152 billion, has been criticized for saying it will eliminate bonuses for senior executives while still planning to hand out “cash awards” that double or triple the salaries of some managers." ... "AIG’s managers have overseen a record $37.6 billion in net losses so far this year." -By Hugh Son -Bloomberg "RNC spends $180K on Palin and family." ... "Salons and spas, including $350 at Escape Skin Care and Day Spa in New York, were the latest unusual expenses to appear in the Republican National Committee’s coordinated expenses account with the [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin] McCain-Palin campaign, according to November reports released late Thursday." ... "Overall, the RNC has reported spending a total of about $180,000 for clothes and various accessories for the family of vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, Federal Election Commission records show." ... "Dick’s Sporting Goods, The Limited, Foot Locker, Wal-Mart, Toys R Us and Victoria’s Secret are all listed in between the expected payments for media buys, direct mail and polling." ... "Thousands of dollars in payments to Macy’s, Nieman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue — all major recipients of RNC cash in early September as Palin upgraded her wardrobe for the campaign — were made in October, too." ... "In addition, hundreds of dollars were also spent at Brooks Brothers, the Gap, Express and J.C. Penney on clothes and accessories, apparently for other members of the vice presidential nominee’s family." -By Jeanne Cummings -Politico.com "How to Ground The Street: The Former 'Enforcer' On the Best Way to Keep Financial Markets in Check." ... "[Democratic] President-elect Barack Obama will soon face the extraordinary task of saving capitalism from its own excesses, much as [Democratic President] Franklin D. Roosevelt had to do 76 years ago. Up until this point in the crisis, policymakers have appropriately applied the rules of triage -- Band-Aids and tourniquets, then radical surgery -- to keep the global financial system alive. Capital infusions, bailouts, mega-mergers, government guarantees of unimaginable proportions -- all have been sought and supported by officials and corporate chief executives who had until now opposed any government participation in the marketplace. But put aside for the moment the ideological cartwheel we have seen and look at the big picture: The rules of modern capitalism have been re-written before our eyes." ... "The new president's team must soon get to the root causes of the mistakes that have brought us to the economic precipice. Yes, we have all derided the explosion of leverage, the failure to regulate derivatives, the flood of subprime lending that was bound to default and the excesses of CEO [Chief Executive Officer] compensation. But these are all mere manifestations of three deeper structural problems that require greater attention: misconceptions about what a "free market" really is, a continuing breakdown in corporate governance and an antiquated and incoherent federal financial regulatory framework." ... "First, we must confront head-on the pervasive misunderstanding of what constitutes a "free market." For long stretches of the past 30 years, too many Americans fell prey to the ideology that a free market requires nearly complete deregulation of banks and other financial institutions and a government with a hands-off approach to enforcement. "We can regulate ourselves," the mantra went." ... "Those of us who raised red flags about this were scoffed at for failing to understand or even believe in "the market." During my tenure as New York state attorney general, my colleagues and I sought to require investment banking analysts to provide their clients with unbiased recommendations, devoid of undisclosed and structural conflicts. But powerful voices with heavily vested interests accused us of meddling in the market." ... "When my office, along with the Department of Justice, warned that some of American International Group's reinsurance transactions were little more than efforts to create the false impression of extra capital on the company's balance sheet, we were jeered at for attacking one of the nation's great insurance companies, which surely knew how to balance risk and reward." ... "And when the attorneys general of all 50 states sought to investigate subprime lending, believing that some lending practices might be toxic, we were blocked by a coalition of the major banks and the [Republican President] Bush administration, which invoked a rarely used statute to preempt the states' ability to probe." ... "No major market problem has been resolved through self-regulation, because individual competitive behavior doesn't concern itself with the larger market. Individual actors care only about performing better than the next guy, doing whatever is permitted -- or will go undetected. Look at the major bubbles and market crises. Long-Term Capital Management, Enron, the subprime lending scandals: All are classic demonstrations of the bitter reality that greed, not self-discipline, rules where unfettered behavior is allowed." ... "Those who truly understand economics, as did Adam Smith, do not preach an absence of government participation. A market doesn't exist in a vacuum. Rather, a market is a product of laws, rules and enforcement. It needs transparency, capital requirements and fidelity to fiduciary duty. The alternative, as we are seeing, is anarchy." (1, 2) -By Eliot L. Spitzer -WashingtonPost "More Muscle." ... "TPM Reader RS ..." "Here is something progressives really need to address. On Sunday morning political shows, three Democrats are confirmed as guests: [Michigan Democratic Senator] Carl Levin, [Massachusetts Democratic Representative] Barney Frank, and [New York Democratic Representative] Charlie Rangel. It's as if Democrats didn't just win huge electoral advances in the Presidential, House, and Senate elections. So we get the same thing we've had the past 8 years--republican hegemony on Sunday. [Arizona Republican Senator Jon] Kyl? Check. [former Georgia Republican Representative Newt] Gingrich? Check. [Republican Michael] Steele? Check. [Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby] Jindal and [Alabama Republican Senator Richard] Shelby? Check and check? Just look at The Page for the whole list. When is the "liberal media" going to give some of the oxygen to Democrats?""This is unquestionably true. The bookers and producers of the Sunday shows are committed to the continuing dominance of conservative/Republican marquee guests. No question about it. And this is going to be one part of the rewiring of Washington that will take longer and face more resistance than possibly any other. The big interests and institutions that go to Washington to buy influence are quickly reacting to the changing political complexion of the city. The TV bookers and opinion act like nothing's happened." -By Josh Marshall .TalkingPointsMemo |
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"His [McCain's] campaign officials said Liddy's character will appeal to many voters because he was following orders from [Republican] President Nixon and kept silent afterward.""Liddy's 2000 speech was reportedly canceled due to bad weather." ... "In his May 4 [Chicago] Tribune column, [columnist Steve] Chapman wrote:"""His (Liddy's) judgment might be in question, but I don't think his character is," said Ed Walker, the York County chairman of McCain's campaign. "He was following orders just like any good soldier, and he didn't tell on anybody. He felt like he was on a mission and kept his silence.""
"What McCain didn't mention is that he has his own Bill Ayers -- in the form of G. Gordon Liddy. Now a conservative radio talk-show host, Liddy spent more than 4 years in prison for his role in the 1972 Watergate burglary. That was just one element of what Liddy did, and proposed to do, in a secret White House effort to subvert the Constitution. Far from repudiating him, McCain has embraced him."" -By Jon Sime -MediaMatters.org
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"Last November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as "an old friend," and McCain sounded like one. "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family," he gushed. "It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great."""Which principles would those be? The ones that told Liddy it was fine to break into the office of the Democratic National Committee to plant bugs and photograph documents? The ones that made him propose to kidnap anti-war activists so they couldn't disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention? The ones that inspired him to plan the murder (never carried out) of an unfriendly newspaper columnist?"
"Liddy was in the thick of the biggest political scandal in American history -- and one of the greatest threats to the rule of law. He has said he has no regrets about what he did, insisting that he went to jail as "a prisoner of war.""
[Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman]
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Post-Journal.com /News - "The Post-Journal." - "The Post Journal, Jamestown, NY."