P & C Supermarkets slated to close

 Syracuse.com is reporting that while parent company of P & C supermarkets, Penn Traffic Company is pleading its case in bankruptcy court, it has notified store-level employees that many of their P & C supermarkets will be shutting down.

Many employees received a letter today informing them of the potential closings.  Employees said the letters were blunt and to the point.

These closings will be effective February 15, 2010.  The only way to avoid the closings is if the stores can be sold to a different company or if the Penn Traffic Company can get additional financing while it reorganizes itself.

Penn Traffic Company announced its bankruptcy on Wednesday.  This is the third bankruptcy for the company in the past ten years.

My Take: I think that this is an important story because besides Wegmans, the P & C supermarkets are some of the biggest supermarkets around Central New York. 

Many college students go to and work at P & C, so many students will be affected by P & C’s closing.

Jobless rates reported for the month of October

Money.cnn.com is reporting that 13 states reported unemployment rates above the national average of 10.2% in October of 2009, according to a government report released Friday morning.

29 states and the District of Columbia also reported an increase in jobless rates, according to a monthly Labor Department survey.

Michigan has remained the state with the highest rate of unemployment, at 15.1%.  However, this rate was down .02 percentage points from September.

The other four states rounding out the five states with the worst rates of unemployment are Nevada, Rhode Island, California, and South Carolina, respectively.

The Labor Department announced earlier this month that the unemployment rate rose above ten percent for the first time since 1983. 

My Take: I think that economy stories are always interesting because they affect everyone.  It’s horrible to see that the unemployment rates are so high, but on the bright side, some are going down, even if it is only by a few percentage points.

Oprah Winfrey announces the end of her talk show

Cnn.com is reporting that Oprah Winfrey, host of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” will announce on the show today that she will end the talk show in September of 2011.

The show’s official end date will be September 9, 2011 after the 25^th season of the show finishes. 

“The Oprah Winfrey Show” had its origins n 1984 when Winfrey moved to Chicago to host a morning talk show for WLS-TV.  It quickly turned into an hour-long show and in 1986 it entered into national syndication.    

The show has been the top-ranked talk show for 23 consecutive seasons, according to the Oprah website.  The show is viewed by an estimated 42 million viewers a week in the United States and is broadcast to 145 countries.  Winfrey also has a magazine, “O, the Oprah Magazine” and a book club.

My Take:  I think it’s interesting to see that “The Oprah Winfrey Show” will be ending because it is so popular.  It’s been the top talk show for so long and Winfrey is definitely a household name. It’ll be interesting to see what Winfrey does when the show ends, and to see if her book club and magazine will keep up their numbers.  This will be a story to watch as the actual end date gets closer.