Breaking News Thread

[socalrappy700]

Not looking good for GM.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090305/bs_nm/us_gm_7


DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Corp on Thursday said its auditors had raised "substantial doubt" about its ability to survive outside bankruptcy if it fails to stem its losses and stop burning cash.

The "going concern" warning from the struggling U.S. automaker had been expected, but underscored the stakes for GM as it seeks up to $30 billion in U.S. government aid to restructure outside a court-supervised bankruptcy process.

GM's shares dropped 15 percent to $1.87 in premarket trading.

GM said its creditors had agreed to waive a requirement that could have allowed them to force the automaker to repay more than $6 billion in loans because of the warning in order to allow GM to press its case for government aid.

The automaker had warned late last month that it expected auditors Deloitte & Touche would question its viability after it reported a loss of nearly $31 billion for 2008.

The disclosures came in GM's delayed annual report to U.S. Securities Regulators and a 25-page discussion of the growing risks facing the automaker ranging from tight credit and troubled suppliers to slumping demand for new cars around the globe.

GM has about $1 billion in convertible debentures that mature on June 1. Absent a deal to restructure its debt, that looming payment could force GM into bankruptcy, it said.

The automaker also said repeatedly that a bankruptcy filing could force a liquidation because of the lack of financing its reorganization would require and consumer reluctance to buy vehicles from a bankrupt automaker.

GM faces an end of March deadline to complete concession talks with the United Auto Workers and bondholders to reduce its debt load as part of a bid to convince the autos task force assembled by U.S. President Barack Obama that it can be made viable with a new round of government help.

"Our future is dependent on our ability to execute our viability plan," GM said in its annual report filed with U.S. securities regulators.

"If we fail to do so for any reason, we would not be able to continue as a going concern and could potentially be forced to seek relief through a filing under the U.S. bankruptcy code," it said.

Some analysts have said that the "going concern" warning from GM's auditors could risk cutting the credit available to its suppliers just as many of those smaller companies face a deepening cash crisis of their own.

FOCUS SHIFTS TO CREDITORS

Representatives of GM's bondholders were scheduled to meet on Thursday with the U.S. autos task force. Under GM's bailout, its debt holders have been asked to take a payout of one-third of the $27 billion GM owes through a debt-for-equity swap.

Bondholders have balked at those terms and are asking Washington to guarantee their remaining debt in the automaker.

Separately, GM said in its SEC filing that its lenders had waived "call" provisions that could have forced early payment of its $4.5 billion secured revolving credit facility, a $1.5 billion term loan and a $125-million inventory financing facility.

The new waivers allow GM's lenders to call those loans if the U.S. Treasury rejects GM's restructuring plan and request for additional aid and forces it to repay the $13.4 billion it has already borrowed from the U.S. government.

GM has lost some $82 billion since 2005 and has been hit hard by the steep drop in global auto sales in the past year.

Industry-wide U.S. auto sales have fallen 40 percent from their 2007 peak. Sales globally are down about 24 percent from a peak in January 2008, GM said.

GM said it expected to post a loss that could top $1 billion in the current quarter as it begins to report results separately for its troubled Saab unit.

The Swedish auto brand is up for sale and attempting to reorganize under new ownership and with aid from the Swedish government.

[FoundArealQuad]

Can't believe it has come to this for GM

[Flynbyu]

Our GM store only sold 6 new GM vehicles last month.

~Brian

[FoundArealQuad]

The sad thing they have really started making better vehicles the past few years

[Krandall]

ouch. sucks for them

[socalrappy700]

If they have to file no one will buy their cars.  Only thing they will be able to do is liquidate.

[Flynbyu]

No one is buying them now.

I have proof.




~Brian

[socalrappy700]

I wonder what extent the government will go to save GM.  I really don't see them making it.  After what I saw at the auto show I see ford and chrysler making it, I didn't see anything to say GM was worth sticking around.

[Flynbyu]

I think GM could steamline and make it, but their debt is out of control. If their debt was restructred without going bankrupt, that would be a major step.

~Brian

[Peelz]

The sad thing they have really started making better vehicles the past few years

this is debatable.  But they couldn't find a way to make good cars affordably.

I really liked the new Malibu. FIrst time in years I caught myself taking a second look at a gm car. Trucks since 07 have come a long way in refinement.

[P.I.M.P.]

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=5803241


"Meantime, Deputy Sheriff Mike Bright was traveling southbound in a marked vehicle with his emergency lights on to a deer versus car crash.
The deputy swerved, but still hit Mussaw who was lying in the unlit highway.Mussaw was taken to the hospital where she later died of her injuries.An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death. "

Well shit! I thought that would be pretty obvious.

[Krandall]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090311/ap_on_fe_st/odd_canned_marijuana;_ylt=Amauv6Qh0JigtvZNYZANIz7tiBIF
Police seize 1,200 pounds of pot in spinach cans

GALLUP, N.M. – Police with the New Mexico Motor Transportation Division found 1,200 pounds of pot packed in cans labeled as spinach during a stop at the Gallup port of entry. An inspector noticed that only a few of the cans were labeled and that the weight printed on the side of the can didn't match the actual weight. A closer look during last Friday's bust revealed the canned drugs, which were worth an estimated $1.5 million.

The four pallets of cans were being transported along with fresh produce.

The 50-year-old truck driver said he was on his way from California to the East Coast. The driver and the pot were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

[Colorado700R]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090311/ap_on_fe_st/odd_canned_marijuana;_ylt=Amauv6Qh0JigtvZNYZANIz7tiBIF
Police seize 1,200 pounds of pot in spinach cans

GALLUP, N.M. – Police with the New Mexico Motor Transportation Division found 1,200 pounds of pot packed in cans labeled as spinach during a stop at the Gallup port of entry. An inspector noticed that only a few of the cans were labeled and that the weight printed on the side of the can didn't match the actual weight. A closer look during last Friday's bust revealed the canned drugs, which were worth an estimated $1.5 million.

The four pallets of cans were being transported along with fresh produce.

The 50-year-old truck driver said he was on his way from California to the East Coast. The driver and the pot were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Popeye woulda been stoned outta his gourd 

[Flynbyu]

Popeye brand spinach is canned at Allen Canning company, located in Alma, AR. About 15 miles from my house.

Lots of spinach grown here......pot too.



~Brian

[Colorado700R]

Combine Fight Club with Cripple fight.....



Welcome to Texas 

(CNN) -- A Texas agency is installing videocameras and hiring security officers at a state school for mentally handicapped adults after allegations emerged that workers there staged "fight club" battles among residents.

The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services also announced Tuesday that it is suspending admissions to the Corpus Christi State School in Corpus Christi.

A cell phone containing videos of the alleged abuse at the school was turned over to police last week, and authorities are expecting to file arrest warrants this week, Corpus Christi Police Capt. Tim Wilson said Tuesday.

The incidents are believed to have taken place in a school dormitory, Wilson said, adding, "this has been going on for some time."

The school's workers "are charged with the care and custody of these clients, and they are exploiting [them]," he said.

In addition to the videocameras, the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services said it is increasing supervision of night shifts at the school. It also said state school representatives would be making random, unannounced inspections during evening and overnight shifts.

Seven school employees have been placed on paid leave by the agency, according to department spokeswoman Cecilia Fedorov. Those employees are barred from coming onto the campus but must sign in at the gate every day they are on leave, she said.

State officials are awaiting the outcome of the investigation to determine whether they should take further action, she said.

Some former workers also will be interviewed, authorities said.

Fedorov said the Department of Aging and Disability Services was told Friday by the state Department of Family and Protective Services that it was opening an investigation into possible abuse or neglect after being alerted to the situation by police.

Wilson said those involved are likely to face charges of injury of a disabled person, which can range up to a third-class felony, depending on the extent of a person's involvement. The actual charges, however, will be left up to the Nueces County district attorney, who is participating in the investigation along with the Texas Inspector General's Office, he said.

Corpus Christi police received the cell phone a week ago, Wilson said, after someone found it and gave it to an officer working security at a hospital. The officer looked at several of the videos and then gave the phone to the police's forensic unit for analysis. More videos were found in the phone's memory.

"It appears it was some sort of a fight club," Wilson said. Twenty videos were found on the phone, with dates going back about a year. All the videos featured the school's "clients," who are severely mentally handicapped, he said.

On the videos, the clients "are not upset like they are being forced," Wilson said. "They are being more goaded into it. There's a lot of voices on there from workers ... saying, 'Look at that, ha ha' ... laughing, stuff like that."

No clients are seen crying, upset or injured on the videos, he said, but none of the workers is seen stopping the fighting.

"The fighting entails pushing, wrestling and some shoving," Wilson said.

The Department of Aging and Disability Services said Tuesday that the residents in the images had been assessed and were found to be free of injuries. They are receiving additional counseling, the agency said.

Wilson said that four or five clients had been identified, as well as at least five workers, possibly as many as 10.

The clients are all adult males, ranging in age from their late teens into their 30s, he said, and as part of the investigation, the inspector general's office has interviewed some of them.

Police believe, based on the videos, that the "fight club" was confined to one dormitory, Wilson said.