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Greenwich Round Up Has Once Again Been Spanning The Globe To Bring You The Latest News About Your Town.....
Santander shares close down on Madoff probe report
Reuters
MADRID (Reuters) - Shares in Spain's biggest bank Santander closed down on Tuesday after the Wall Street Journal reported Spain was probing the bank over the exposure of more than 2.3 billion euros ($3.06 billion) in client funds to alleged swindler Bernard Madoff.
The Journal said Spain's anti-corruption prosecutor would examine the relationship between Santander, investment fund Fairfield Greenwich Group and Madoff.
Investors are suing Fairfield Greenwich Group, whose clients stand to lose $7.5 billion in the alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme, in which early investors are paid with the money of new clients.
Investors claim Fairfield Greenwich and its executives "failed to manage properly their investments and to carry out necessary due diligence that would have uncovered the massive Ponzi scheme."
A spokesman for Santander declined to comment on the WSJ report, as did Spain's public prosecutors office.
A Bank of Spain spokesman also declined to comment.
Santander shares closed down 3.36 percent at 6.61 euros, compared with a 1.55 percent drop to 9,057.3 on the IBEX-35.
According to the Journal, investigators are probing why Santander chairman Emilio Botin sent his head of risk management operations to visit Madoff weeks before the former Nasdaq chairman's arrest and whether Santander officials were aware of the problem.
WWE's Linda McMahon Gains Power On State School and ...
TWNP-Wrestling News, NY
M. Jodi Rell announced Saturday that she has appointed Linda McMahon of Greenwich, the WWE’s chief executive officer, to the 11-member Board of Education. ...
Norwalk Advocate
The grand award, the 2008 Spec Home of the Year, and Best Spec Home more than $8 million went to Greenwich residents, Andy Fox and Marc Johnson of Stone ...
Seeking Alpha, NY
According to the Wall Street Journal yesterday Spain's anticorruption prosecutor is set to examine the relationship between Santander, Fairfield Greenwich ...
Hanover Real Estate Partners Announces 2008 Strategic Developments
MarketWatch (PRESS RLEASE)
Founded in 1981 and based in Greenwich, CT, Hanover approaches each asset from an owner's perspective, priding itself on its strong operating and management ...
The Verdict: Analysts' reaction
Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday the global economy is being hit hard by a financial crisis and how governments respond will determine the timing and strength of recovery.
KEY POINTS: * "For almost a year and a half the global financial system has been under extraordinary stress -- stress that has now decisively spilled over to the global economy more broadly," he said in remarks prepared for delivery at the London School of Economics. * "The damage, in terms of lost output, lost jobs, and lost wealth, is already substantial," he said. * In his first policy speech since early December, Bernanke said the Fed still has "powerful tools" that could be expanded to spur a rebound even though it has dropped benchmark interest rates to near zero.
.....STEVE GOLDMAN, MARKET STRATEGIST, WEEDEN & CO, IN GREENWICH,
CONNECTICUT:
"Unless there's any policy change that's quantitative, I'm not sure we're going to see much movement in the S&P. It looks like some of it is just bullet points. It's more of a big overview of what has happened and what could happen. It's not a big policy change, just an elaboration of the current policy, what has happened and what will happen. I wasn't expecting a big change, though."
Marketing veteran Baird takes USOC post
The Gazette
... reason to stop spending advertising dollars on the Olympics. The U.S. Olympic Committee named Baird, 47, of Old Greenwich, Conn., its chief marketing officer Monday, two months after Rick Burton left the Colorado Springs-based organization to ...
Hanover Real Estate Partners Announces 2008 Strategic Developments
MarketWatch (PRESS RLEASE)
Founded in 1981 and based in Greenwich, CT, Hanover approaches each asset from an owner's perspective, priding itself on its strong operating and management ...
The Verdict: Analysts' reaction
Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday the global economy is being hit hard by a financial crisis and how governments respond will determine the timing and strength of recovery.
KEY POINTS: * "For almost a year and a half the global financial system has been under extraordinary stress -- stress that has now decisively spilled over to the global economy more broadly," he said in remarks prepared for delivery at the London School of Economics. * "The damage, in terms of lost output, lost jobs, and lost wealth, is already substantial," he said. * In his first policy speech since early December, Bernanke said the Fed still has "powerful tools" that could be expanded to spur a rebound even though it has dropped benchmark interest rates to near zero.
.....STEVE GOLDMAN, MARKET STRATEGIST, WEEDEN & CO, IN GREENWICH,
CONNECTICUT:
"Unless there's any policy change that's quantitative, I'm not sure we're going to see much movement in the S&P. It looks like some of it is just bullet points. It's more of a big overview of what has happened and what could happen. It's not a big policy change, just an elaboration of the current policy, what has happened and what will happen. I wasn't expecting a big change, though."
Marketing veteran Baird takes USOC post
The Gazette
... reason to stop spending advertising dollars on the Olympics. The U.S. Olympic Committee named Baird, 47, of Old Greenwich, Conn., its chief marketing officer Monday, two months after Rick Burton left the Colorado Springs-based organization to ...
Business Wire (PRESS RELEASE), CA
GREENWICH, Conn.---Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: IBKR) plans to announce its fourth quarter 2008 financial results on Thursday, ...
Stamford chef to appear on Martha Stewart show
Stamford Advocate
He worked at Wildfire, now Barcelona, in Greenwich, Grant and Zanghi in Stamford and opened Relish in South Norwalk before returning to Stamford two years ...
Trade Deficit in U.S. Probably Shrank to Four-Year Low as Oil Prices Fell Bloomberg
... re seeing predominantly is weakness on both sides of the ledger,a said Stephen Stanley , chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital in Greenwich, Connecticut. a oe Exports and imports are both falling.a The Commerce Departmenta s trade figures are due ...
Tullis-Dickerson moves from Greenwich to Stamford
Norwalk Advocate
....from the Greenwich Plaza office complex in Greenwich to 4666 square feet at One Stamford Plaza, a building on Tresser Boulevard owned by New York-based ...
Barbara Ehrenreich: Rich Get Poorer, Poor Disappear
The Huffington Post
... about the neo-suffering of the Nouveau Poor, or at least the Formerly Super-rich among them: Foreclosures in Greenwich CT! A collapsing market for cosmetic surgery! Sales of Gulfstream jets declining! Niemen Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue on the ...
Black Crowes band member goes into foreclosure
Stamford Advocate
At the time, there were local and federal tax liens on the property in excess of $400000. Robinson's attorney, Michael Jones of Greenwich, declined to comment.
Stamford chef to appear on Martha Stewart show
Stamford Advocate
He worked at Wildfire, now Barcelona, in Greenwich, Grant and Zanghi in Stamford and opened Relish in South Norwalk before returning to Stamford two years ...
Trade Deficit in U.S. Probably Shrank to Four-Year Low as Oil Prices Fell Bloomberg
... re seeing predominantly is weakness on both sides of the ledger,a said Stephen Stanley , chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital in Greenwich, Connecticut. a oe Exports and imports are both falling.a The Commerce Departmenta s trade figures are due ...
Tullis-Dickerson moves from Greenwich to Stamford
Norwalk Advocate
....from the Greenwich Plaza office complex in Greenwich to 4666 square feet at One Stamford Plaza, a building on Tresser Boulevard owned by New York-based ...
Barbara Ehrenreich: Rich Get Poorer, Poor Disappear
The Huffington Post
... about the neo-suffering of the Nouveau Poor, or at least the Formerly Super-rich among them: Foreclosures in Greenwich CT! A collapsing market for cosmetic surgery! Sales of Gulfstream jets declining! Niemen Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue on the ...
Black Crowes band member goes into foreclosure
Stamford Advocate
At the time, there were local and federal tax liens on the property in excess of $400000. Robinson's attorney, Michael Jones of Greenwich, declined to comment.
Starwood Energy Acquires a Majority Stake in Nautilus Solar Energy
The South Mississippi Sun Herald
... are excited to complete this majority investment in Nautilus Solar," said Brad Nordholm, CEO of Starwood Energy in Greenwich, Connecticut. "Jim Rice, Alan Dash, and Laura Stern have, in a very short period of time, demonstrated significant ...
Spanish Prosecutors Probe Bank’s $3.1B Client Loss to Madoff
ABA Journal, IL
Losing the most was Fairfield Greenwich Advisors, with $7.5 billion in losses. Prosecutors are probing the relationship between Fairfield and Satander, ...
New Madoff Probes In Connecticut, Spain
FINalternatives, NY
Spanish authorities have also cast a wary eye upon Andres Piedrahita, a partner at Madoff feeder firm Fairfield Greenwich Group. ...
WR Berkley Corporation Announces Executive Appointments at Two of ...
MarketWatch (PRESS RELEASE)
GREENWICH, Conn.--Richard P. Shemitis Appointed Executive Vice President - Chief Underwriting Officer of Nautilus ...
Asian shares fall on earnings blues
Washington Post
The newspaper said Spain's anticorruption prosecutor would examine the relationship between Santander, Fairfield Greenwich Group, and the Madoff funds, ...
Sports stars gather for Bobby V's annual fundraiser
Stamford Advocate
Valentine, former manager of the New York Mets and a Stamford native, hosted the event at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich to benefit the Mickey Lione Jr. Fund, ...
About That "Mercury Poisoning" Incident....
Jeremy Piven: Scarfing Down Criticism
'Sick' Jeremy Piven Defends Fishy Excuse
Jeremy Piven left Broadway play because his mercury was rising
Smash Hits, India
Finally, I went to a doctor at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut just so it wouldn't turn into a circus. He said, 'you've got to stop working. ...
A horse is a horse, except when he's on Broadway
Lower Hudson Journal news
The "Equus" horses went to Greenwich, Conn., for a day to visit a horse farm owned by one of the show's producers. The actors watched professionals groom ...
Fairfield Greenwich Sued Again by Investors Over Madoff Losses
Bloomberg
Fairfield Greenwich Group, Walter Noel’s hedge-fund firm that had $7.5 billion with alleged fraudster Bernard Madoff, was sued for at ...
Giant Bank in Probe Over Ties to Madoff
Wall Street Journal
Spain's anticorruption prosecutor will be looking closely at the relationship between Santander, the investment fund Fairfield Greenwich Group, ...
Connecticut Hospital Opens $10.3 Million Surgery Center
Becker's ASC Review, Illinois
Greenwich Hospital is a 174-bed community hospital serving lower Fairfield County Connecticut and Westchester County New York. ...
Wall Street's options fear gauge spikes up on economy
Reuters
... for options premium to protect their portfolios," said Andrew Wilkinson, senior market analyst at Interactive Brokers Group in Greenwich, Connecticut. ...
Crude Oil Extends Slump to Sixth Day on Demand-Drop Concern
Bloomberg
“Something in the $30-to-$34 area is probably where we are going,” Charles Maxwell, senior energy analyst at Weeden & Co. in Greenwich, Connecticut, ...
10-K: URSTADT BIDDLE PROPERTIES INC
MarketWatch (PRESS RELEASE)
In October 2008, the Company paid a $500000 deposit on a contract to purchase an office building in Greenwich, Connecticut. In November of 2008, ...
Using alternative medicine to treat common ailments
Stamford Advocate
In the past two years, Stamford and Greenwich hospitals have opened centers that provide what many call integrative care, such as acupuncture, yoga, ...
Bono, Bruce in Inaugural Concert
Hartford Courant
Greenwich native Rob Mathes will be music director and arranger for the backup band that will support all of the artists.
Hearst puts Seattle PI on sales block
Newspapers and Technology
Times Union to begin inserting Conn. papers
The Times Union in Albany, N.Y., will begin inserting the Sunday editions of The (Bridgeport) Connecticut Post and Greenwich (Conn.) Time Feb. 1.
The Times Union has adequate capacity within its mailroom operation to handle the load, said Dan Couto, the paper’s director of operations and facility planning. The Times Union’s mailroom is anchored by two Goss International Corp. 2299 inserters. “Our ability to run and run well is allowing us to compete” for this type of business,” Couto said.
Albany is located about 100 miles from the Connecticut cities.
The Post, which also handles production of the Time, will continue postproduction of the daily papers, Couto said.
Hearst Corp. owns all three papers.
UPDATE:
8:30 AM
The Greenwich Time Finally Has Up Dated It's So Called News Web Site:
By Neil Vigdor
Staff Writer
Posted: 01/13/2009 08:25:19 AM EST
Posted: 01/13/2009 08:25:19 AM EST
Obamamania has hit Greenwich.
For the first time anyone can remember, the town is organizing a pair of public viewing sessions for the presidential inauguration.
Members of the public will be able to watch Barack Obama's swearing-in next Tuesday morning at the Town Hall Meeting Room and at the Cole Auditorium at Greenwich Library, where live television broadcasts of the historic ceremony will be shown.
Marge Robben, a resident who volunteered for the Obama campaign, approached First Selectman Peter Tesei last week to request that such an event be planned.
"I had this idea. I couldn't go to Washington but wanted to be with a lot of people to celebrate," Robben said.
Although he is a Republican who supported John McCain for president, Tesei said he was happy to oblige. The event, he said, has nothing to do with politics.
"It's not about the (political) party. It's about a celebration of democracy. There's historic elements, the first African American president, the first president of a new generation," Tesei said.
With the nation going through tough times economically, Tesei said it only adds to the gravity of the occasion.
"Who wouldn't be rooting for any president to do well?" Tesei said.
In the November election, Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry Greenwich since Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1964.
A GOP bastion for decades, the town was the boyhood home of former President George H.W. Bush......
By Colin Gustafson
Staff Writer
Posted: 01/13/2009 07:45:41 AM EST
Posted: 01/13/2009 07:45:41 AM EST
With a final round of fixes underway at Hamilton Avenue School this week, many parents want staff and students to be allowed to return as early as February instead of having to wait until spring recess.
School board chairman Nancy Weissler has said the board would consider an April date for moving students from off-site modular facilities to their newly reconstructed building, so as not to interfere with preparation for the Connecticut Mastery Test, given after February break.
Closed for renovations since April 2005, the school was initially scheduled to reopen 18 months after work began. It was most recently scheduled to reopen when classes resumed on Jan. 5.
However, a last-minute impasse between the school's building committee and the manufacturer of its new boiler systems prevented the school from receiving the necessary safety approvals in time for a December move.
Now, workers are installing replacement flue pipes, with the goal of wrapping up work next week.
Once that efffort is finished, PTA co-president Dawn Nethercott said she believes students and staff should be allowed to return to the school as soon as possible instead of working around a standardized testing schedule.
Students' scores plummeted on the 2008 CMT administered last spring, just weeks after mold problems caused school administrators to evacuate students from their modular classrooms and disperse them to other schools.
But Nethercott said moving to a state-of-the-art building would not be nearly as disruptive to the test preparation schedule as being dispersed to different schools had been for students last spring....
Snow budget melting away.
By Neil Vigdor
Staff Writer
Posted: 01/13/2009 07:44:11 AM EST
Posted: 01/13/2009 07:44:11 AM EST
Apologies to Bing Crosby.
Greenwich officials don't share the late crooner's love of snow, not when the town is facing a projected $31 million budget gap.
With more than two months of winter remaining, officials say the town has already depleted more than half of its $790,000 snow removal budget for the entire season, raising the possibility that it could be forced to tap into dwindling cash reserves.
"Every week we clear without a snow flake is a good week for me." First Selectman Peter Tesei said....
...In some cases, the town has been able to recoup some snow removal expenses from the federal government, when a state of emergency is declared.
From a liability and public service standpoint, officials said they have little choice but to plow the roads and hope for a mild winter, however.
"We have to get through several months yet," Tesei said.۩
By Brian Lockhart
Staff Writer
Posted: 01/13/2009 07:45:01 AM EST
Posted: 01/13/2009 07:45:01 AM EST
HARTFORD -- The state motor vehicles commissioner is working to revoke the license of Connecticut's largest driving school for allegedly providing improper training to thousands of drivers and falsifying records.
Commissioner Robert Ward Monday told lawmakers that despite the hundreds of charges for fraudulent practices and a pending criminal case against Academy of Driving, based in Watertown, he does not have the authority to pull its license without a state hearing.
"We'd face civil charges," Ward told the legislature's Transportation Committee. "You cannot sentence somebody when they've been charged with the offense, only after they've been convicted of the offense."
In October, state police arrested Joaquim Sousa and his wife, Sharon, longtime owners of the Academy of Driving, which has a dozen sites in Fairfield County. They face more than 100 charges each, including issuing learner's permits before obtaining parent consent; using fraudulently notarized parental consent forms; using fraudulent address verifications for learner's applications; using unlicensed instructors; failing to maintain safe operating conditions of motor vehicles used in training; using an unqualified person to administer a vision test; and fraudulently altering records.
Ward said a hearing on Academy of Driving's license was scheduled for December, but postponed until Jan. 28.
A court date has not been set for the criminal charges.
The Academy of Driving has about 65 sites, including ones in Stamford, Norwalk, Greenwich, New Canaan, Weston, Wilton, Westport, Fairfield, Redding, Ridgefield and Bridgeport.
By Colin Gustafson
Staff Writer
Posted: 01/13/2009 07:44:40 AM EST
Posted: 01/13/2009 07:44:40 AM EST
The school board is sending out public opinion surveys this week and inviting community members to attend two public forums to weigh in on what they'd like to see in the next schools chief.
A broad-cross section of the Greenwich community -- from parents, teachers and school staffers to town officials, members of the chamber of commerce and Representative Town Meeting delegates -- are being asked to attend the public forums, to be hosted Jan. 21 by the board's newly-selected search consultant.
Before attending the forums, community members will also be able to fill out a one-page survey that asks respondents to recommend a candidate and list the characteristics they want in a superintendent.
"This is a very broad-based attempt to get people to come in, talk to the consultants and offer their opinions," said member Steven Anderson. "The key is to make sure everybody knows about this (from several sources), so, three months from now, nobody can say, 'They didn't ask for my opinion.' "
The survey, which can be accessed on the Greenwich Public Schools Web site, is due Jan. 21, and can be submitted at either of the public forums taking place that day, first at 9 a.m. at Town Hall, 101 Field Point Road, then at 7 p.m. at Greenwich High School's Media Center, 10 Hillside Road.
The board's Glenview, Ill.-based search consultant, Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates, Ltd., will cull survey responses into a report for the school board as it prepares to interview candidates, Anderson said......
By Debra Friedman
Staff Writer
Posted: 01/13/2009 07:46:27 AM EST
Posted: 01/13/2009 07:46:27 AM EST
Drivers were slammed with a record number of traffic tickets last year after police stepped up their efforts to combat dangerous driving patterns in certain areas of town.
Police issued 7,512 tickets in 2008, a more than 2,000 ticket increase from the previous year and an eight-year high for the town, according to Sgt. Timothy Berry, who heads the traffic section of the police department.
While the numbers of tickets rose, Berry said the number of car accidents fell by 10 percent to 2,046, a decline he believes can be attributed to the rise in tickets.
"We would like to think that our efforts are having positive results," said Berry. "Stricter traffic enforcement would lead to lower collision occurrences."
Berry said the number of accidents in Greenwich has been declining every year since 2000. This year's total is the lowest number in eight years, police said.
The improvement in traffic statistics is the result of a nearly three-year-old Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (S.T.E.P) according to Berry, who began the program in 2006 to address complaints the police department receives about dangerous roads in town where there are a high number of car accidents.
"We get complaints about speeding and traffic everyday. This was a attempt to create some sort of logical responses to all the complaints," said Berry.
In addition to examining complaints, police also look at their own data in areas where they see a high number of collisions and then work with the traffic engineer to find out why certain roads are more prone to accidents than others.......
UPDATE:
10:35 AM
The Greenwich Post Has Finaly Updated It's "So-Called" News Web Site
Written by Kristan Zimmer
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 10:31
North Mianus School Principal Bonnie Butera is retiring effective July 1.
Ms. Butera has devoted her 35-year career in education to the Greenwich Public Schools and has been a voice in improving the evaluation process for administrators and teachers. She has also provided leadership in implementing North Mianus’ School Improvement Team plan, Deputy Superintendent Kathy Greider said
Written by Kristan Zimmer
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 10:27
Following a search process that began in October, David P. Thompson has been appointed deputy commissioner of public works for the town. Mr. Thompson, one of four candidates interviewed, has served as the town’s chief engineer since September 1995.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 10:21
Dr. Tony Campolo, a nationally known pastor, sociologist, social activist, author and commentator, will discuss “Faith and the Future of the Church” at a brunch Saturday, Jan. 24, from 10 to noon at Second Congregational Church, at 139 E. Putnam Ave. in Greenwich.
And Hearst Newspapers's Greenwich Citizen's
So-Called "News Web Site" Has
Been Stuck On Stupid For The Last Five Days.
Greenwich Citizen Editor Don Harrison Is Always
A Sleep At The Switch At This Rosebud paper.
Dear Readers: It is with great pleasure that we introduce a new chapter in the history of the Greenwich Citizen.
PLEASE SEE:
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