| Stocks are having a good run, but don’t be greedy
For the third quarter, nearly one out of five of the U.S. stock funds posted gains that were greater than 5 percent, based on the latest preliminary data from Morningstar Inc. About 62 percent of U.S. stock funds made some money for the quarter, according to Morningstar's data. Large-cap growth funds were up 6.19 percent on average from June 30 through Sept. 30, according to Lipper, a Reuters company. .
Holden Lewis chat transcript
Holden Lewis is a senior reporter at Bankrate.com. His blog, Mortgage Matters, discusses how economic and political developments affect mortgage rates and real estate. He joined Bankrate.com in 1999, after working for the Associated Press and The Blade in Toledo, Ohio. He chatted about mortgages on Thursday, Jan. 24. .
Tax goes up, tax goes down
Meanwhile, a long-awaited committee to reform Idaho's property tax system convened in Boise today. Here's what else is coming up for Page One tomorrow: We'll hear from two former counselors at Morning Star who say the urged an end to physical abuse in the 1970s. The downtown STA Plaza, which cost $20 million to build, is worth only a fraction of that on the open market, according to an appraisal released today. A 76-year-old man who grew up poor in the Spokane area and became a multi-millionaire has been found murdered in Costa Rica. A ruling by the Canadian Parliament could block cross-border prescription drug sales for good; also, action in the House could end the threat that many Amtrak routes - including the route serving Spokane and Sandpoint - could be eliminated.
Animal abuser registry just a big waste of time
The real question here is, what does Jackson hope to accomplish with his proposed registry? It's obvious he's borrowed the idea from the existing sex offender registry. That registry serves a legitimate purpose. Parents have a right know if a convicted sex offender is living next door. It's a matter of public safety and of protecting children. The same sense of urgency doesn't exist with Jackson's proposed registry. In the first place, there aren't that many people who are convicted of being cruel to animals. And there's no hard evidence to suggest that people who abuse animals would do the same to children. Lawmakers need to dispatch this legislation quickly. Then, they should move on to more pressing matters. .
Online Opinion Poll
I struggled with the format I wanted for my 2007 retrospective. How should newspeople and bloggers quantify the "Top Ten Stories of 2007"? I could rank stories by number of posts and length: the DQ Miracle Treat Day might come out on top, followed by the TransCanada Keystone pipeline, teacher pay, and health care would probably come out on top. I could rank posts by how many comments they drew: again, teacher pay was a big draw, as well as health care, abortion (even without David's persistent efforts), and local politics (remember the new gym?). I could rank posts by how often they drew Google searches: alas, the biggest non-story of the year, Shawn Cable, would win that one hands down, although lately the Lakota treaty withdrawal has been topping the searches. Perhaps later -- heck, perhaps as a side project in my doctoral studies! -- I'll do a quantitative analysis of the 640 posts and hundreds more comments.
Educationists must enlist support of society to raise standards ...
Students learn computer-based fashion design at HCM City Fashion Garment and Textile Industry College. Education Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan wants educationists to enlist the power of society to achieve quality education for all Vietnamese. VNA/VNS Photo Ha Thai .
More than 20 Years in the Making
For an especially idiosyncratic trading week, the Dow rallied 0.9% (down 8.0% y-t-d) and the S&P500 added 0.4% (down 9.4%). The Transports surged 6.6% (down 2.1%), while the Utilities were smacked for 4.7% (down 10.1%). The Morgan Stanley Cyclical index jumped 4.3% (down 8.3%), while the Morgan Stanley Consumer index declined 1.3% (down 8.9%). The S&P400 Mid-Caps gained 2.0% (down 10.1%) and the small cap Russell 2000 rallied 2.2% (down 10.1%). The NASDAQ100 fell 3.1% (down 14.2%), and the Morgan Stanley High Tech index declined 2.3% (down 14.2%). The Semiconductors dipped 1.1% (down 13.1%). The Street.com Internet Index added 0.2% (down 11.4%) and the NASDAQ Telecommunications index recovered 1.1% (down 11.9%). The volatile Biotechs sank 6.5% (down 6.0%). Financial stocks went into panic melt-up mode.
North Korea tells U.S. to remember the Pueblo
North Korea tells U.S. to remember the Pueblo ReutersWednesday, January 23, 2008; 5:31 AM
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea marked the anniversary on Wednesday of one of its rare Cold War victories over the United States by saying a U.S. spy ship it seized 40 years ago served as a lesson to show it can repel an invasion. It is the paranoid state's latest dig at its long-time foe and which it still labels as an arch enemy despite Washington's pledge to provide aid and better diplomatic standing to Pyongyang in a disarmament deal. "(The Pueblo) is historical evidence proving before the whole world the victory of the DPRK (North Korea) in the confrontation with the U.S. to protect the national sovereignty and dignity," the North's state media quoted an official as saying on the anniversary of the January 23, 1968 capture of the USS Pueblo.
Mayor wants to strip suburbs' say in merger
Herenton, who began an unprecedented fifth term in office Tuesday, said in his speech to the Kiwanis Club at The Peabody that he's putting consolidation back on the "front burner." "Yes, I'm singing out of this choir book again," he said, calling the current city-county governmental structure "wasteful." Under the traditional Tennessee approach to consolidating governments, Herenton would have to follow the legal process set out by both the Tennessee Constitution and state statute -- a countywide referendum that requires separate majority votes of residents inside the city of Memphis and those outside the city limits in Shelby County, including residents of the suburban municipalities. If consolidation wins inside the city but is rejected among Shelby voters outside the city, or vice versa, it fails to win approval.
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