National Pen may get new work here (12/29/07)
National Pen Corp. in Shelbyville may be seeing some new faces soon. According to both the South Florida Business Journal and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Atlas Pen & Pencil Co. will close its Hollywood, Fla., facility and move its production to Shelbyville and Tijuana, Mexico, on April 1... .

Say It Ain’t So, Ralph!

I had mixed feelings when some friends of mine pointed out that Ralph Nader had mentioned me as an "independent military analyst" in his Sunday appearance on NBC's Meet the Press. In responding to a question from Tim Russert about why he was running yet again, he cited a recent article of mine about how Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have not only ignored the Pentagon's record spending spree, but have adopted policies that may well involve increasing the military budget.

My point was that we need to get the Democratic frontrunners to address this issue in some fashion before they take office in 2009 (assuming a Democrat wins, which is not guaranteed by any means). It was NOT meant to suggest that we need a third party candidate in the race — although obviously Ralph Nader is free to use the information as he sees fit.

No cable, no problem – until next year

Yes, there are pangs of disappointment and longing for Discovery Channel and TLC from time-to-time, but for what it saves me. I can buy most of the Discovery Channel stuff on DVD for what I save in a month or two.

OTA is not dead and picking the right TV with ATSC built-in is a painless upgrade to the old tube-based models. If you can put up an antenna mast, or even a decent antenna in the attic, show Rogers the door! Ploy or not, if there are enough people enjoying FTA/OTA programmingm, it will not go away. Posted 29/02/08 at 12:12 PM EST | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment .

Cape Cod History

Power was lost at 11:14 a.m. and not restored in the business district of the Whaling City until 7:30 p.m. Officials with the New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Co. attributed the outage to insulator failure at a power plant.Faced with the specter of the next day without a newspaper, an editor in New Bedford "gathered up page mats and news copy and flew to Hyannis where the edition was completed on the presses" of the Cape Cod Standard-Times.(illustration credit, www.metaltype.co.uk)

Feature: ‘Protecting the earth should be part of our soul’

Environmental activism is often thought of as the domain of the hippie, a project undertaken by someone with enough time and resources to swim with the dolphins or live in a tree. Jarid Manos, founder and CEO of the Great Plains Restoration Council and author of the memoir "Ghetto Plainsman," paints a much different picture of a man trying to save the earth. A gay son of an Italian immigrant father (who likely has North African ancestry), with a history of drug dealing and hustling, Manos is poised to change the popular idea of what it means to take care of our planet. Though he’s already responsible for the salvation of thousands of acres of Texas prairie, Manos finds that people have trouble overlooking his background. "They think I’m a thug, or just off the street," Manos says.

Patrick Foye

The queenly apartment will soon change hands after nearly 30 years: according to the Corcoran Web site, where the apartment was listed for $32 million, her estate has now signed a contract to sell the co-op." Go to Manhattan Transfers by Max Abelson. .

Housing crumbles in jaws of vise

It didn't fit the city's Comprehensive Plan.

It would diminish surrounding property values.It would attract low-income persons of possible disrepute.So Coeur d'Alene planning commissioners, on a 3-1 vote, rejected the affordable-housing rich Pennsylvania Highlands project on the east side of town.They denied it after hours of emotional testimony last week, sending the developers back to the drawing board and leaving unbiased parties wondering what's the magic formula for affordable housing in our community.Now let's take a slightly more global view, to the great state of Idaho.The following day, state Rep. Wendy Jaquet, the House minority leader from Ketchum, introduced legislation that would force developers to provide affordable housing by allowing cities to charge them higher impact fees, ostensibly to help the cities pay for affordable housing.

Oregon beachside villagers clash over strip club

One young mother from Tillamook gathers her five children and drives 2 scenic miles to go beachcombing at a quaint hideaway off Highway 101.

For the past three years, a dispute over growth and development has divided the community. Angry neighbors boycotted the Anchor because it expanded.