Position Wanted –Credit
Work Remotely or Relocate for Right Opportunity

Each Week Leasing News is pleased, as a service to its readership, to offer completely free ads placed by candidates for jobs in the industry.  These ads also can be accessed directly on the website at:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Classified/Jwanted/Jwanted.htm

Each ad is limited to (100) words and ads repeat for up to 6 months unless the candidate tells us to stop. Your submissions should be received here by the end of each week.

Please encourage friends and colleagues to take advantage of this service, including recent graduates and others interested in leasing and related careers. 

Will relocate for the right opportunity and can work remotely. I have (25+) years in making credit decisions, as well as helping sales team and third party originators close more transactions via understanding their applicant's financial abilities. I can create alternative or additional opportunities (and income) by knowing which type of loan is best for the borrower aaacorrespondent@gmail.com

Chicago, Illinois Highly knowledgeable and analytical Equipment Leasing Executive; leveraging 25 years in Portfolio Management, Operations, Credit, and Collections within Banking environment and Commercial Equipment Leasing Industry; proven track record, developing/ implementing strategies, sound operational excellence and process improvement, while maximizing revenues and positioning organizations for greater success.wgriffith61@yahoo.com  Resume: http://leasingnews.org/items/BGriffithResume2015.pdf

Orlando, Florida As a Commercial Credit Analyst/Underwriter, I have evaluated transactions from sole proprietorships to listed companies, across a broad spectrum of industries, embracing a multitude of asset types. Sound understanding of balance sheet, income statement and cash flow dynamics which impact credit decisions. Strong appreciation for credit/asset risk.  rpsteiner21@aol.com  407 430-3917

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Top Stories February 1 - February 5
(Opened Most by Readers)

(1) Marlin 4th Quarter Reveals More
Why Co-Founder/CEO Dan Dyer “Retired”
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2016/02_03.htm#marlin

(2) Is DLL Leasing Really Up for Sale?"
         by Christopher Menkin
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2016/02_01.htm#dll

(3) “Lending Club Sends up a Red Flare”
        FinTech #102 by Dale Kluga
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2016/02_05.htm#lending

(4) New Hires---Promotions in the Leasing Business
          and Related Industries
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2016/02_05.htm#hires

(5) Reaction to ELFA Support CLFP
         (A sample of the comments)
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2016/02_03.htm#reaction

(6) First Foundation Bank joins
     Funders Looking for New Broker Business
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2016/02_03.htm#first_foundation

(7) Ponzi Scheme Threat Hangs Over Marketplace Lending
   by Sean Murray, Editor/Publisher deBanked
http://debanked.com/2016/02/ponzi-scheme-threat-hangs-over-marketplace-lending

(8) Second Circuit Holds that Assignee of National Bank
       Does Not Have Protection Against Usury
By Tom McCurnin, Leasing News Legal Editor
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2016/02_01.htm#circuit

(Tie) (9) Blizzard hits Denver
Don Myerson Photo from his Early Morning Run in Kauai
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2016/02_03.htm#denver

(Tie) (9)  Nearly a Third of Lending Club Borrowers’ Income
          Is ‘Not Verified’
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2016/02_03.htm#nearly

(11) Year-End Leasing and Finance Association Membership
                by Christopher Menkin
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2016/02_01.htm#membership 

Not Counted Due to Technical Issues:
Equipment Leasing and Finance Association and
CLFP Foundation Announce Collaboration
http://leasingnews.org/Pages/elfa_cflp2016.htm

 

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Reaction to "Lending Club Sends up a Red Flare"
Readers Respond to Leasing News/Dale Kluga

Dale R. Kluga
President
Cobra Capital LLC

Friday's Leasing News Edition had FinTech #102 by Dale Kluga regarding an article by Business Innovation that “Nearly a Third of Lending Club Borrowers’ Income is ‘Not Verified’ ” is more than a red flag. It should be viewed as a “flare” going off, meaning the ship is in trouble. (1)

The response was quite different to Leasing News than to Dale Kluga. Here are the responses received here in chronological order (names have been deleted as there was not time to receive permission to use their names):

"I think Dale Kluga is being a little extreme. I have personally bought more than $75,000 worth of online loan notes from Lending Club and Prosper. While I love trying to pick apart the model, at the end of the day, it still makes sense, and I'm only investing more these days, not less.

"Income not verified on an unsecured consumer $10,000 loan for a borrower with 740 FICO is not the same as ‘income not verified' for a mortgage loan. Investors can also choose to ignore loans on the platforms where the income is not verified. There is a significant level of transparency from online marketplaces that you wouldn't get from a bundled security. I know where each borrower lives, what they do for a living, I can read their credit report, I can see the collection notes when a payment bounces, I share in the late fees, and I get paid recoveries when sold to an outside collections agency.

"Sure, an institutional investor can choose to ignore all these things and just buy a package of ‘A’ grade notes like they did before the financial crisis, but they don't have to. The onus is on the investor. The online lenders or "marketplaces" themselves are doing quite a good job so far of what they claim to do, and that is originate loans, make the data available, and allows investors to decide if they are something worth investing in."

----

“I believe this is dramatically different than the housing bubble for the following reasons:

"1. The yields on these P2P loans are much higher than mortgages in 2008 (meaning the risk is better captured).

"2. Much of the house bubble was a result of variable interest rates, here the payment amount is set for the life of the agreement.

"3. We're dealing with 36 or 60 months agreements instead of 30 year mortgages.

"4. The mortgage crisis got out of control because the underlying property devalued creating an incentive for default. The heavy majority of loans on these sites are debt and credit card refinances and to be honest, the income of the creditor has a fairly low correlation with the borrower's ability to pay (maybe if they lied about their length of employment that resulted in a change in income).

"I think most importantly, as a tool to diversify away from the market, P2P lending is great. There is almost no short-term correlation between lending club note performance and the market (mainly because it is unlikely anyone using lending club as a borrower has much invested in the market). A dramatic downturn in the economy may result in long term performance problems, but what investment tool wouldn't be affected?

"I will admit that I have a lot of experience analyzing portfolios of loans and leases and there are subsets of the lending club database that I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole. Maybe your article was more in reference to those. If that is the case, I believe it is the fault of untrained investors who are not properly analyzing their investing choices. Similarly to investing in the market, you can't just hope to get lucky, but need to make wise decisions.

"If the majority of investors did their homework, the subset of loans I am referring to would never get fully funded and therefore would never be issued."

---

"Sure, an institutional investor can choose to ignore all these things and just buy a package of 'A' grade notes like they did before the financial crisis, but they don't have to. The onus is on the investor. The online lenders or "marketplaces" themselves are doing quite a good job so far of what they claim to do, and that is originate loans, make the data available, and allow investors to decide if they are something worth investing in."

---

"I'm not sure the author seems to understand how these platforms work."

------------------------------------------------

Readers Reaction was sent to Dale Kluga, who responded:

"Thanks for the feedback, Kit.

"That is exactly what they said about sub-prime Alt A mortgages too before they all blew up!

"I've gotten more objective comments that agree with me‎ who are NOT in that business than from those who have‎ a selfish and vested interest in defending their decision to invest in that high risk, usurious model.

"Also, this investor is not in the daily trenches familiar with the abuses by online lenders who are in some cases taking multiple blanket liens on the assets of the small biz thereby making it non-financeable and addicted to its high rate cocaine, just like the securitization models which were relied upon by zombie banks and finance company's (like the failed CIT) who failed during the Great Recession."

Some of response Dale received directly,
in chronological order received:

"Lending Circle often does not run FICO scores, and most don't use them, they claim. And even if they did, not verifying employment on a 714 FICO score is dangerous, as the person could have just been fired, just had repossession, or had some inquiries made that the creditor should be aware."

---

"I have brought this to the attention of a number of our elected officials. To date none have responded. Rest assured they will all be up in arms when this thing melts down and they start asking how this could have possibly happened…"

--

" Check out LendingClub.com’s web site. They are soliciting people to roll over their 401K and IRA’s to them. I heard they could to this now due to some federal de-regulation that essentially makes all people “Accredited Investors”?

"Don’t know about you but I would not choose to invest my retirement account in consumer debt consolidation loans through a company who simply earns fees for placing and collecting my money and has no skin in the game."

"Am I mis-informed?"

---

"Great Article Dale. I have been preaching the same sermon for years.

"A disaster waiting to happen….."

 

(1) “Lending Club Sends up a Red Flare”
        FinTech #102 by Dale Kluga
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2016/02_05.htm#lending

 

One of the weakest parts of the US economy crushed it
in the January jobs report
By Bob Bryan, BusinessInsider.com

For months now economists and others have bemoaned the downfall of manufacturing in the US.

The sector has been in a technical recession for months and concerns are growing over whether it could drag down the broader economy.

Friday's January jobs report, however, had a some much-needed good news for the industry.

The sector added 29,000 jobs in January, the most since August 2013.

In fact, this month's numbers are a continuation of a steady upward trend. Or as Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, put it on Twitter: "Manufacturing jobs past six months, starting with July: -18K, -9K, +2K, +3K, +13K, +29K. Maybe all the recession talk is, well, a bit wrong."

On the flip side, one of the (consistent) letdowns of the report was mining employment, with the sector losing 7,000 jobs in the sector.

But overall, for a sector supposedly on the cusp of collapse, January's manufacturing data is a welcome sign.

 

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Wage Growth is at a post-crisis high
by Any Kiersz, businessindersider.com

According to the January jobs report, wages grew 2.5% during the last year, tied for the highest growth rate since the Great Recession and better than analysts' expectations for 2.2% growth:

 

 

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Leasing Industry Ads---Help Wanted
Time to Apply

For information on placing a help wanted ad, email: kitmenkin@leasingnews.org

 

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“Should I Pursue a MBA Degree to Advance?”
Career Crossroad---By Emily Fitzpatrick/RII

 

 
Question: Should I pursue an MBA degree to advance in my career?

Answer: its Survival of the Fittest out there …. In short – Absolutely – give yourself an advantage when competing with other Candidates.

HOWEVER do NOT forgo your current role or pursue education in lieu of employment.

One of the first things I would do is start studying the Certified Leasing and Finance Professional handbook.  You then can ask for a tutor or mentor and get ready to take the test to become a CLFP. It will mean a lot to you, and to your employer and others in the leasing field.

The program is being sponsored by the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, National Association of Equipment Brokers, and National Equipment Finance Association.

I also believe in continuing education, even if you don't get a degree. Although a degree does mean a lot to a potential employer, as well as for your own education. You can take evening or online classes. The years go by anyway … and pursuing or completing your education can only benefit you. Of course there is a cost involved, but taking one class at a time should not be too much of a hardship. You may be able to apply for a student loan, however most loans are for full time students (you can attend evening classes full time – though you might wind up burning the candle at both ends).

If you are with a larger organization they often offer education reimbursement – keeping in mind if you leave before a certain time frame you will have to pay the company back. So if you are looking to advance with your current employer, this is a good option – speak to HR.

For those entering or soon to enter the work place (e.g. your teens/young adults) I STRONGLY recommend coupling experience along with education e.g. internships or evening / weekend classes. This will give them the competitive advantage they will need

https://www.createspace.com/5290967

Why I Became a CLFP
Certified Leasing and Finance Professional
http://www.leasingnews.org/CLP/Index.htm

Emily Fitzpatrick
Sr. Recruiter
Recruiters International, Inc.
Phone:  954-885-9241
Cell:  954-612-0567
emily@riirecruit.com
Invite me to Connect on LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com/pub/emily-fitzpatrick/4/671/76
Also follow us on Twitter #RIIINFO

Career Crossroads Previous Columns
http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/crossroad.html

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Leasing News Advisor
Bruce Kropschot

Bruce Kropschot
Senior Managing Director and
Merger & Acquisition Advisory Practice Leader –
The Alta Group
7448 Treeline Drive
Naples, FL 34119
(239) 260-4405
bkropschot@thealtagroup.com
www.thealtagroup.com

Bruce Kropschot is one of the first asked to join the advisory board and he has been active since September 6, 2000. He was named Leasing Person of the Year for 2015.

Bruce Kropschot has been active in the equipment leasing industry since 1972 and has been a senior executive of three large leasing companies. In 1986 he founded Kropschot Financial Services, a firm he developed into the leading provider of merger and acquisition advisory services for equipment leasing companies. In 2008 Kropschot Financial Services became a part of The Alta Group, the leading worldwide consulting firm for the leasing industry. Bruce heads Alta’s M&A advisory practice, which also arranges debt and equity capital and provides valuation services for leasing companies. He has played a major role representing sellers or buyers in the sale of about 200 equipment leasing and financing companies.

After 43 years in the equipment leasing industry, Bruce shows no signs of slowing down. He says that his business is his favorite hobby. When asked what have been the keys to his success, he stated, “Obviously a thorough knowledge of many types of leasing companies is essential in the M&A advisory business. However, of utmost importance is maintaining the highest level of integrity. The Alta Group’s reputation depends upon always treating as confidential any information we receive in confidence from potential buyers and sellers of leasing companies.”

Bruce has served on the Board of Directors of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation, Eastern Association of Equipment Lessors, United Association of Equipment Leasing and International Network of Merger & Acquisition Partners. He has served on the Leasing News Advisory Board since 2000, and he also served on the alumni advisory board of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He has BBA and MBA degrees (with honors) in Accounting and Finance from the University of Michigan and is a CPA.

Bruce’s favorite recreational activity has long been skiing. Now that knee problems have curtailed his ski trips, Bruce and his wife Barbara spend their vacations with international travel.

 

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Credit/Collections #102 by Ben Carlile

“Would you do this deal?”
What is black and white and red all over?

Well, it’s certainly not a typical “story credit” transaction in the equipment finance world. While these types of difficult deals may indeed involve some red ink, there is often nothing “black and white” about them. The challenge for the underwriter is to navigate through the gray areas in order to arrive at a practical credit decision.

This is a session we have at the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) Credit and Collections Conference in June each year. It’s always well-attended and it sparks a lot of good discussion. Prior to the session, we are given key facts and financial statements pertaining to a couple of real transactions that have recently been decided by an ELFA lender. The names of the parties have been changed and several facts have been altered in order to protect everyone’s privacy. We break into groups to explore all facets of risk and reward associated with the transaction. We discuss the “5 Cs” of credit and the plusses and minuses that we see. We often uncover some hidden strengths and weaknesses that are material to our opinions.

Over the next several weeks in this column, I’ll present a few interesting transactions to consider. We’ll start today with a fairly straight forward one−a small ticket deal submitted to an independent lender from a preferred vendor.

The borrower is an existing customer who has paid off two previous transactions as agreed. I don’t have enough space to provide all of the details, but this will get us started:

RedBet, LLC is an oil field services company in New Mexico that was started in March 2010 by Mr. Red Hunt, who had 10 years of industry experience.  RedBet hauls water and sand to and from drill sites.  RedBet was originally referred to us in 2011 by a strong preferred vendor.  Since then, we’ve funded three deals totaling $320k for RedBet, of which two have been paid in full with perfect pay histories. Our remaining exposure is $40k (against a trailer with a retail value of $68K). RedBet is coming back to us now with a request to finance $250k for 4 new vacuum tank trailers to be used in hauling waste water. Our preferred vendor is pushing hard for us to do this deal, and is offering us a 12% blind discount.

RedBet’s recent financial performance is summarized below:
YEAR MONTHS  SOURCE             SALES                NET INCOME         ACCOUNTING
2011 12             Tax Return          $   800K             $  110K          CASH BASIS
2012 12             Tax Return          $  3MM               $  289K         CASH BASIS
2013 12             Tax Return          $10MM               $1.6MM         CASH BASIS
2014 12             Tax Return          $21MM               $3.4MM         CASH BASIS
2015 6               Internal P&L        $  9MM               $2.1MM         CASH BASIS

July 2015 internal balance sheet (cash basis) looks like this:
Cash:                                           $    836K
Undeposited funds (?):                           $2.0MM
Total current assets:                              $2.8MM
Total trucks & trailers (net of $2.4MM dep.):     $2.4MM
Total assets:                                          $5.3MM
Total current liabilities (?):                      $      96K
Total long term liabilities:                       $1.7MM
Total liabilities:                                      $1.8MM
Total equity (after members draw $5.6MM):     $3.5MM

Our credit analyst calculated a 5:1 DSCR from ~4.3MM EBITDA and $800K annualized debt service for 2014, including a total of $25K in off-balance sheet obligations.

Largest customer concentration is 18%. Terms are net 30 and DSO is steady at 47 days.

Bank statements confirm consistent M6 bank balances during the past 3 years.

RedBet expects to remain profitable despite dropping oil prices. The company states they are gaining market share as less efficient competitors drop out.
A clean commercial credit report shows excellent pay histories for 12 leases & loans totaling $1MM over the past 5 years. There is a $92K tax lien from 2011, released in 2014. Two small judgments, satisfied in 2012. UCC secured parties include independent financing firms, banks, working capital lenders, and a factoring company. Mediocre commercial credit score.

Two personal guarantors with clean credit (758 & 690). No personal financial statements.
Desired terms:
36 months, one payment in advance, 17% buy rate, $1 buy out, two personal guarantors, cross-collateralization with our existing exposure, proper titling, registration & insurance.

Questions to consider:

1. As an independent finance company looking for yield, would you approve this deal? If so, what structure, if any, would you recommend?
2. Would a bank or non-bank auto-decline this deal today because it’s in the oil industry?
3. If this existing customer was not in the oil industry would you pursue this deal?
4. What additional information or due diligence is needed to make a good decision?

Hope you enjoy thinking about this one. In the next installment, I’ll tell you what happened to it. In the meantime, please save the dates for this year’s ELFA Credit & Collections Conference: June 5-7 in Denver, CO. It’s going to be a good one! https://www.elfaonline.org/cvweb_elfa/cgi-bin/eventsdll.dll/EventInfo?sessionaltcd=CC16

Ben Carlile
Small Business Lending Expertise
Alternative Non-Bank Underwriting
Risk Management, Collections, Operations
bencarlile9@gmail.com
www.linkedin.com/in/bencarlile
415.209.3271

Credit and Collections 102 Previous Articles
http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/credit_collections102.htm

 

 

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“Small Ticket--- True or Operating Leases”
Leasing 102 by Mr. Terry Winders, CLFP

 

Small Ticket--- True or Operating Leases

Many have asked; “why there is not more small ticket leases done as true tax leases or operating leases for accounting”. To begin with it depends on your definition of small ticket. In the old days it was anything under $50,000 but today the current definition is anything under $250,000.

A major problem for small ticket operating leases is the short terms. A thirty six month term is too short for a five year MACRS asset such as computers and way shorter than the seven year MACRS on office furniture. If the MACRS term is longer than the lease term, then either the tax depreciation is of little value, or it may cause the lease payment to be higher than payments on a bargain option lease or a loan. This is because the lease payment is higher than the depreciation, causing the tax bill to be higher thereby causing the lessor to raise the lease payment to pay the extra income tax. Still some lessees prefer to expense the lease payment for income tax because it is higher than principal and interest due to the short term and high payments.

Some say that is acceptable because the cash coming out of the drawer to make the payment is fully expensed whereas cash payments on short term loans is not equal to the expense for interest and book depreciation.

The biggest problem with small ticket true leases is if the lessee wants an early termination and wants to purchase the equipment. When you reconcile the undepreciated tax balance with the book balance, there is always a bad tax effect making the payoff much higher. This in turn does not make the Lessee a happy camper. Short term true leases must run their full term. In addition, they is sales tax again on the early payoff. There also may be conflicts with the depreciation schedule, especially if passed to the lessee, and depends on the other tax consequences, which the lessee should discuss with their CPA before deciding on early termination.

In order to have an operating lease, one of the most important tests is the 90% test. To pass a 90% test you must assume a residual in the 15% range after assuming a real future value of 30% so that after selling costs you will to net the 15%. Many selling costs are fixed like insurance, storage, advertising etc. So it is not wise to assume a 15% or greater residual on equipment with a cost of less than $100,000 because the selling cost will eat up the majority of the value and the future value must be at lease 30% to cover the what if’s such as returned in poor condition, current market suppressed, equipment becomes outdated, or the real value has shrunk. Residuals are hard to take on small ticket leases unless you have a ready market at lease termination.

Without residuals to meet the 90% test you will not have an operating lease.
Most of the small ticket leases today, depending on the nature of the equipment, are capital leases or Equipment Finance Agreements, which have become quite popular due to its nature of both the equipment and work involved, and the fact that many lessees have been burned by extra Evergreen payments  for residuals that were to be a $1.00, but turn out to be “Fair Market Value” as a result of  being tricked by those who original proposed the lease.

In addition, many of the small leases are more to subprime customers, who are not interested in the tax advantages of leasing.

So the upshot of all this is not many small ticket leases are done in a true tax lease mode or as operating leases for accounting.

Previous #102 Columns:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/Leasing_102/Index.htm  

 

(Leasing News provides this ad “gratis” as a means
to help support the growth of Lease Police)

Labrador Retriever/Mix
Dallas, Texas  Adopt a Dog

Emmitt Smith
Male
4 Years old
Neutered

"Meet Emmitt Smith! This handsome boy is a 4 year old Lab mix with a great coat and endless love to give. Emmitt ended up at Dallas Animal Services as stray and thanks to our wonderful friends at Underdog Kennels and dedicated DPA volunteers, he is now safe and getting lots of love and playtime every day!

"Emmitt is the definition of a big teddy bear who just wants to cuddle and get his belly rubbed all day! He is also housetrained, walks well on a leash, and is actively learning all the basic commands. He gets along with cats and dogs of all shapes and sizes. Emmitt would do well in any type of household because he is so laid back and gentle, as long as there is tons of love!

"Emmitt Smith is ready to find his new lifelong best friend and settle into a forever home!"

 

Adoption fee: $200

Adoption Application:
http://dallaspetsalive.org/adopt/adoptable-dogs/

email: adopt@dallaspetsalive.org

Dallas Pets Alive
11700 Preston Rd.
Suite 660 #263
Dallas, TX 75230

Adopt a Pet
http://www.adoptapet.com/

 

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Leasing News Free Classified

 Operations / Remarketing / Repossessions

Operations: Portland , OR Portfolio Financial Servicing Company provides state of the art portfolio servicing for portfolios of all sizes. 800-547-4905 sales@pfsc.com	Repossessions: Southern California (except San Diego). Full service repossession agency. All vehicles, big rigs, boats, heavy equipment and machinery. Licensed and insured 818-786-7376. www.simonsrecovery.com. adam@simonsrecovery.com
Repossessions: Canada  Cease Bailiff Services Incorporated: Asset Investigation/Tracing; Asset Recoveries; Asset Protection/Security Asset Liquidations/Sales; Ottawa, Canada;www.ceasebailiff.ca dave@ceasebailiff.ca; Phone613 898 7376 ; Fax 613 225 2452	Remarketing: Los Angeles, CA Video, Audio, Film, Computer, IT, Test, Presentation Equipment We pay cash / 3 million in buying power /Quick Quotes UBG 800-570-5224  jon@usedvideo.org
Repossessions: All kinds of vehicles, equipment and machinery. Anywhere in the United States. Anything, Anywhere, Professionally  800-755-1968  Rayc@american-locators.com	Repossessions: Melville, New York Auctions, Appraisals, National Repossessions.  ALL asset classes. 20+ year team works for you. Spend less, Net More… Fast! Ed Castagna 516-229-1968ecastagna@inplaceauction.com
Repossessions/Remarketing Bulldog Asset Management provides recovery and remarketing services with a difference. Contingent repos, free storage and industry experts to remarket. Email: http://bulldogasset.com/contactwww.bulldogasset.com	Repossessions: Florida Commercial Asset Solutions, Florida repossessions and skip tracing. We have been repossessing assets longer than anyone with the highest rate of return. We do not outsource your problems, we solve them ourselves. 30 years solving problems for the top commercial lenders. Our reputation is second to no one!  Mark Lacek 407-948-7087
Repossession/Remarketing San Francisco Bay Area SFBAAM, LLC:  20 years’ experience in equipment FMV's, Repossessions, Lease Returns & Remarketing.  We handle Copiers, Test Eq., Networking, IT, Medical, Industrial.  No Repossession pick-up fees in the Bay Area.  Over 50 million in assets remarketed.  We are in compliance w/ the major banks.   zack@sfbaam.com

 

(Leasing News provides this ad as a trade for appraisals and equipment valuations provided by Ed Castagna)

News Briefs---

Marketplace Lenders Have Duty to Report Credit Data
  Too Few Alternate Finance Lenders Report Data
http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/marketplace-lenders-have-duty-to-report-credit-data-1079203-1.html

TD Bank to add 300 jobs in Greenville, South Carolina
  Bank Expanding in Leasing and Lending
http://www.thestate.com/news/business/article58335563.html

16 employee engagement trends
    that will shake up IT in 2016
http://www.cio.com/article/3029190/careers-staffing/16-employee-engagement-trends-that-will-shake-up-it-in-2016.html

Visa Developer opens up payments technology
  Use Smartphone Instead of Visa Card
http://www.bankingtech.com/433012/visa-developer-opens-up-payments-technology/

 

(Leasing News provides this ad as a trade for investigative
reporting provided by John Kenny)

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--You May Have Missed It

No Matter the Brand, Europe’s Diesels Flunked a Pollution Test
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/08/business/international/no-matter-the-brand-europes-diesels-flunked-a-pollution-test.html

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SparkPeople--Live Healthier and Longer

10 Ways to Burn Fat with Food
http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp
?post=10_fat_burning_foods_that_will_supercharge_your_eating_plan

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Winter Poem

Canadian Winter
        by Jelaluddin Rumi

Sometimes it feels like
it is always winter here
In our "snowy north"
as others call it
while they ask us, with sly smiles,
if we live in igloos, and use dogsleds
to get around.

I could move, I suppose.
Someplace warm, where
I could grow
Morning Glories instead of Marigolds
And not have to read about hockey
eight months of the year.

But here, there is a breathless anticipation
of the seasons change.
We are all watchful eyes
for the first buds on trees,
And the last of the ice
flowing away down the river.

So I think I will stay
In my "snowy north".
Where the hoarfrost on the trees stands out
so clear against the cold air
it makes your heart hurt just to look at them
And the borealis dance over the fields in May
Calling me to remember
the joyous flow of life.

 

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Sports Briefs----

The Denver D crushed it
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb.si.com/nfl-super-bowl-50-broncos-defense-defeats-panthers-von-miller-demarcus-ware

Manning's last rodeo was one wild ride
http://www.denverpost.com/kiszla/ci_29489625/kiszla-peyton-mannings-last-rodeo-was-one-wild-ride

Cam Newton walks away from press conference (video)
http://heavy.com/sports/2016/02/cam-newton-super-bowl-press-conference-media-video-walks-away-leaves-doesnt-answer-questions/

DeBartolo inducted into Hall of Fame (Youngstown Newspaper)
(Side note: Lisa DeBartolo graduated from St. Mary's in 1992 and was
roommate with Ralph Mango's daughter Nicole.)
http://www.vindy.com/news/2016/feb/07/debartolo-inducted-into-hall-of-fame/?newswatch

DeBartolo, Stabler selected to Hall of Fame
San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/DeBartolo-Stabler-selected-to-Hall-of-Fame-6812791.php

Marshawn Lynch reportedly hasn't spent a penny
   of the $49.7 million in salary he has made in his NFL career
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/marshawn-lynch-reportedly-hasnt-spent-152823197.html

Raiders' future clearly not a priority for Goodell
http://www.insidebayarea.com/sports/ci_29482854/purdy-raiders-future-clearly-not-priority-goodell

Harbaugh disappointed 49ers leaks preceded Kaepernick’s benching
http://www.sacbee.com/sports/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/article58681548.html

[headlines]
--------------------------------------------------------------

California Nuts Briefs---

Federal disaster loans offered to commercial Dungeness crab fishermen
http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-news/ci_29486905/federal-disaster-loans-offered-commercial-dungeness-crab-fishermen

 

 

[headlines]
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“Gimme that Wine”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJnQoi8DSE8

Auction Napa Valley 2016 Tickets Now on Sale
https://napavintners.com/press/press_release_detail.asp?ID_News=3621539

Michael Mondavi on Painful Lessons from Famous Father
https://grapecollective.com/articles/michael-mondavi-on-painful-lessons-from-his-famous-father

Free Mobile Wine Program
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2010/2_26.htm#mobile

Wine Prices by vintage
http://www.winezap.com
http://www.wine-searcher.com/

US/International Wine Events
http://www.localwineevents.com/

Leasing News Wine & Spirits Page
http://two.leasingnews.org/Recommendations/wnensprts.htm

     1517 - Francisco Hernandez de Cordova sailed from Cuba with three ships to procure slaves for the mines as Columbus was bringing many slaves back to Europe. He landed on the Isla de las Mujeres, to which he gave this name because of the idols he found there. He and his crew became the first Spaniards to purposefully reach the mainland of what is now Mexico. He died after an encounter with Mayan Indians. Some say he landed in Florida, where he actually passed away from the wounds from the battle. 
http://www.isla-mujeres.net/history.htm
http://www.yucatantoday.com/destinations/eng-campeche.htm
http://www.tourbymexico.com/campeche/champo/champoto.htm
http://www.famousamericans.net/firstspanishgovernorof
southamericapedrariasdayila/
    1690 - French and Indian forces attacked and burned Schenectady, New York during King William’s War. The fate of Schenectady was sealed in the middle of January, 1690, when 114 Frenchmen and 96 Sault and Algonquin Indians, started from Montreal to attack English outpost to the south. It was part of the master plan to fulfill the wishes of French King Louis XIV to "build a new empire in America”. During the raid on Schenectady many men, women and children were killed, or taken captive by the French and Indians and marched up into Canada.    
    1693 – The College of William and Mary was granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II.
    1735 - The first opera produced in the colonies was performed at the Courtroom at Charleston, SC. The opera was “Flora; or the Hob in the Well,” written by Colley Cibber.
    1820 - Birthday of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman (d. 1891), Lancaster, OH.  Sherman is especially remembered for his devastating ‘March to the Sea’ through Georgia during the Civil War and his statement "War is hell."  He received recognition for his outstanding command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the "scorched earth" policies that he implemented in conducting total war against the Confederacy.  Sherman served under General Grant during the campaigns that led to the fall of the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg and culminated with the routing of the Confederate armies in the state of Tennessee. In 1864, Sherman succeeded Grant as the Union commander in the western theater of the war. He proceeded to lead his troops to the capture of the city of Atlanta, a military success that contributed to the re-election of President Lincoln. He accepted the surrender of all the Confederate armies in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida in April, 1865.
    1829 - Birthday of Captain John Newton Sloan (d. 1897), Pickens County, SC.  A remarkable man thought to have been found dead during the Civil War, but he remarkably survived.  His entire lower jaw was shot away in battle. He was left for dead until Sloan summoned energy enough to scribble, "I am alive" on a small piece of paper. A passing chaplain spotted his note and immediately summoned help. After the war, Sloan was outfitted with an artificial chin.
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/3843/man.htm
    1835 - A severe cold wave gripped the southeastern U.S. The mercury dipped to 8 above at Jacksonville, FL and to zero at Savannah, GA. Orange trees were killed to the roots.
    1837 - The first Vice-President elected by the Senate was Richard Mentor Johnson, who was chosen because no candidate had received a majority of the electoral votes. He served from March 4, 1837 to March 4, 1841, under President Martin Van Buren. In the future, President and Vice-President were to run on one ticket.
    1851 – Birthday of American feminist writer Kate Chopin (d. 1904), St. Louis, Missouri.
http://www.accd.edu/sac/english/bailey/chopink.htm
    1861 – The Confederate States of America organized in Montgomery, AL.  Each state declared its secession from the United States following the November, 1860 election of President Lincoln on a platform which opposed the expansion of slavery. The new Confederate government was proclaimed before Lincoln took office in March, and was considered illegal by the government of the United States.  On March 11, 1861, the Confederate Constitution of seven state signatories—South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia,  Louisiana and Texas - replaced the February 7 provisional Confederated States constitution with one stating in its preamble a desire for a "permanent federal government".
    1862 - Union General Ambrose Burnside scores a major victory when he captures Roanoke Island in North Carolina. The victory was one of the first major Union victories of the war and it gave the Yankees control of the mouth of Albemarle Sound, a key Confederate bay that allowed the Union to threaten the Rebel capital of Richmond from the south. 
    1865 - Martin Robinson Delany received his commission and became the first African-American Army major. He was stationed in Charleston, South Carolina.
    1865 – Delaware rejected the 13th amendment and voted to continue the practice of slavery. It was not until 1901 that Delaware finally ratified the amendment.
    1881 - Frederic Ives, a photographer at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, received a patent for a halftone printing plate for reproducing photographs in books, magazines, and newspapers. In 1878, he converted negative into a screen gelatin relief from which he made a printing plate with good fidelity. He further developed this, revolutionizing the printing industry.
    1885 – A ship, ‘The City of Tokio,’ arrived in Honolulu carrying the first 944 official migrants from Japan to Hawaii.
    1887 - President Cleveland signs the Dawes Land Allotment Act, dissolving Indian tribes as legal entities. It distributes territory held in common by American Indian nations to individual families. Each family is to get 160 acres. All other land will be sold, with proceeds going to an educational trust fund. Since the reservation contained twice the land needed for allotments, the law dispossessed the Sioux of half their rightful territory. The Act ultimately results in the loss of tens of millions of acres of treaty land. "The commune shall give way to the dignity and rights of American citizens . . . the heathen idols shall give place to the Christian altars, and . . . the tribal organization shall be broken up and the individuality of the Indian encouraged and developed, and the lands unnecessarily reserved for them opened to the pioneer [so that] intelligence and thrift may find lodging there."
http://www.csusm.edu/nadp/asubject.htm
http://www.csusm.edu/nadp/a1887.htm
    1889 - The first production of steam tractors were loaded onto a railcar at San Leandro, California, designed and made by Daniel Best. They were called the Best Tractor. Until gasoline powered engines came along, the steam tractor was the Best.
    1889 - Workers began dismantling fences at the original Polo Grounds to cut West 111th Street through the property, leaving the New York Giants without a home for the coming season. Opened in 1876, it was built for the sport of polo. Bounded on the south and north by 110th and 112th Streets and on the east and west by Fifth and Sixth (Lenox) Avenues, just north of Central Park, it was converted to a baseball stadium when leased by the New York Metropolitans in 1880.  This is a far cry from the location of the Polo Grounds in northern Manhattan.  The Giants opened the 1889 season at Oakland Park in Jersey City, New Jersey, playing their first two games there.  Four days later, they moved to the St. George Cricket Grounds.
    1899 - Blues guitarist and singer Lonnie Johnson (d. 1970) was born in New Orleans. More respected for his playing than his singing, Johnson developed his distinctive style as early as 1927 when he recorded with Louis Armstrong's Hot Five. Johnson's 1948 recording of "Tomorrow Night" was very popular, spending seven weeks on Billboard's rhythm-and-blues chart, and even making the top 20 of the pop chart. From the mid-1960's, he spent much of his time in Toronto. Lonnie Johnson suffered a stroke after a serious accident in 1969, and died the following year.
    1906 - Birthday of Henry Roth (d. 1995), American author who gained first international fame with his novel “Call It Sleep” (1934). Originally seen as an important proletarian novel of the 1930s, it was soon out of print and forgotten, but in the 1960s it was hailed as the finest Jewish-American novel of the first half of the century and one of the richest modernist novels to appear in America. Roth published no other novels until 1994, working several jobs, among others as a precision metal grinder, mental nurse, poultry farmer, and teacher.
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/henryr.htm
http://www.nagasaki-gaigo.ac.jp/ishikawa/amlit/r/henry_roth21.htm
    1906 - Birthday of Chester F. Carlson (d. 1968), Seattle, Washington.  He invented the process of electrophotography, which produced a dry copy rather than a wet copy, as was produced by the mimeograph process. Carlson's process was subsequently renamed xerography, a term that literally means "dry writing."
    1910 - The Boy Scouts of America was founded at Washington, DC, by William Boyce, based on the work of Sir Robert Baden-Powell with the British Boy Scout Association.
    1911 - Birthday of American Poet Elizabeth Bishop (d. 1979), Worcester, Massachusetts.  Winner of a Pulitzer Prize for her book of poems, “North and South,” in 1956.
    1915 – “The Clansman” or “The Birth of the Nation”, 12 reels, was produced by D.W. Griffith.  The film starred Henry Walthall and Lillian Gish with a cast of 18,000 people and 3,000 horses and premiered at Clune's Auditorium, Los Angeles. It was based on “The Clansman” by Thomas Dixon. It was the first movie to gross $50 million, an astronomical sum in those days. Two performances were presented daily. There was a matinee at 2:30pm, admission 25 cents and 50 cents, and an evening show at 8 pm, admission 75 cents.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/feb08.html
    1919 - Trombonist and band leader Buddy Morrow (d. 2010) birthday, born Muni Zudekoff, New Haven, CT. 
http://www.spaceagepop.com/morrow.htm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/artist/glance/-/52924/
ref=pm_dp_ln_m_6/102-6604306-8652139
    1921 – Actress Lana Turner (d. 1995) was born Julia Jean Turner in Wallace, ID.  During the early 1940s, she established herself as a leading actress in such films as “Johnny Eager” (1941), “Honky Tonk” (1941), “Ziegfried Girl” (1941), and “Somewhere I’ll Find You” (1942). She appeared in the 1941 film “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and her reputation as a glamorous femme fatale was enhanced by her performance in “The Postman Always Rings Twice” (1946). Her popularity continued through the 1950s, and her role in “Peyton Place” (1957) earned her a nomination for an Academy award for Best Actress.
    1922 – Audrey Meadows (d. 1996) was born Audrey Cotter in New York City.  Meadows is best known for her role as the deadpan housewife Alice Kramden opposite Jackie Gleason on the 1950s hit American television comedy “The Honeymooners.”  “…oneathesedays, Alice, oneathesedays…bang, zoom…to the moon!”
    1924 - The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber occurred in Nevada.
    1925 - Birthday of Jack Lemmon (d. 2001), born John Uhler Lemmon III at Boston, MA. Stage, screen and television actor, often paired with actor Walter Matthau, he starred in such films as “The Odd Couple,” “The Fortune Cookie” and “The Front Page.” He was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning in 1955 for his supporting role in “Mister Roberts”, and in 1974 for his leading role in “Save the Tiger.”  Other films included “Some Like It Hot,” “Days of Wine and Roses” and “Grumpy Old Men.” He also starred in television versions of “Inherit the Wind” and “Twelve Angry Men” and won an Emmy in 2000 for the TV movie “Tuesdays with Morrie.” He was a favorite for many years at the Bing Crosby, now AT&T Celebrity Pro-Am Golf Tournament in Pebble Beach, CA.
    1926 - Alto sax player Norwood “Pony” Poindexter (d. 1988) birthday, New Orleans, LA.
    1926 - Beat author Neal Cassady (d. 1968) born Salt Lake City, Utah.  He was prominently featured as himself in the original "scroll" (first draft) version of Jack Kerouac’s novel “On the Road”. He also served as the model for the character Dean Moriarty in the 1957 version of that book. In many of Kerouac's later books, Cassady is represented by the character Cody Pomeray.
http://www.rooknet.com/beatpage/writers/cassady.html
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/1010/
http://www.intrepidtrips.com/pranksters/neal/index.html
http://ezone.org/ez/e2/articles/digaman.html
    1926 – Walt Disney Studios formed at 2719 Hyperion Avenue, Burbank, CA. 
    1928 – Jack Larson (d. 2015), who played cub reporter Jimmy Olsen in the 1950s hit TV series “Adventures of Superman,” was born in LA.
    1929 - Eddie Condon's Hot Shots (Jack Teagarden, Mezz Mezzrow, Joe Sullivan) record: ”I'm Gonna Stomp,” “Mr. Henry Lee.” (Victor V-38046)
    1931 - Birthday of James Dean, Fairmont, IN.  American stage, film and television actor, he achieved immense popularity during a brief career. He is considered an "icon" today to several generations. Best remembered for his role in "Rebel Without a Cause" with Natalie Wood. He died driving his Porsche convertible at a very high speed on a desert highway near Cholame, CA, Sept 30, 1955, at age 24. Stamp collectors made the US postal stamp bearing Dean's likeness the most popular stamp of 1996.
http://www.jamesdeangallery.com/
http://www.jamesdean.com/index.php
    1932 - Birthday of John Williams, Floral Park, Queens, NYC.  Pianist, conductor (formerly with Boston Pops) composer (scores for “Jaws,” “Star Wars,” “Jurassic Park,” “Schindler's List”).
http://www.johnwilliams.org/reference/biography.html
    1935 – The NFL held its first draft and Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago was the first player selected, by the Philadelphia Eagles.  Berwanger, who was the first winner of the Heisman Trophy, never played in the NFL.  He took a job with a Chicago rubber company and also became a part-time coach at the University of Chicago after failing to reach an agreement on salary, first with the Eagles, then with Chicago Bears who traded for him.
    1936 - The temperature at Denver, CO plunged to a record 30 degrees below zero.
    1937 - Birthday of Shirley Bassey, Tiger Bay, Wales.  Popular British and American singer at her zenith in the 60s and 70s. Although her strong voice carried well on records, her forte was concerts and cabaret acts. Among her best known renditions are "For All We Know" and "Never, Never, Never."  She is forever remembered as the singer of theme song from the Bond flick “Goldfinger,” followed by “Diamonds are Forever” and “Moonraker”.
    1941- Folksinger Tom Rush birthday, Portsmouth, NH. 
http://www.tomrush.com/index.shtml
    1942 – Fritz Peterson was born in Chicago.  Peterson holds the lowest ERA (2.52) of any Major League pitcher to have pitched at the original Yankee Stadium.  Whitey Ford is next with 2.58.  Peterson is better known however for swapping wives, kids, and dogs with teammate Mike Kekich in the off-season before Spring Training in 1973. Peterson is still married to the former Mrs. Kekich but Peterson's wife never did marry Kekich. The event became a huge media story at the time, bigger by far than the introduction of the designated hitter or the purchase of the Yankees by George Steinbrenner’s group.
    1944 - HUFF, PAUL B., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion. Place and date: Near Carano, Italy, 8 February 1944. Entered service at: Cleveland, Tenn. Birth: Cleveland, Tenn. G.O. No.: 41, 26 May 1944. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty, in action on 8 February 1944, near Carano, Italy. Cpl. Huff volunteered to lead a 6-man patrol with the mission of determining the location and strength of an enemy unit which was delivering fire on the exposed right flank of his company. The terrain over which he had to travel consisted of exposed, rolling ground, affording the enemy excellent visibility. As the patrol advanced, its members were subjected to small arms and machinegun fire and a concentration of mortar fire, shells bursting within 5 to 10 yards of them and bullets striking the ground at their feet. Moving ahead of his patrol, Cpl. Huff drew fire from 3 enemy machineguns and a 20mm. weapon. Realizing the danger confronting his patrol, he advanced alone under deadly fire through a minefield and arrived at a point within 75 yards of the nearest machinegun position. Under direct fire from the rear machinegun, he crawled the remaining 75 yards to the closest emplacement, killed the crew with his submachine gun and destroyed the gun. During this act he fired from a kneeling position which drew fire from other positions, enabling him to estimate correctly the strength and location of the enemy. Still under concentrated fire, he returned to his patrol and led his men to safety. As a result of the information he gained, a patrol in strength sent out that afternoon, 1 group under the leadership of Cpl. Huff, succeeded in routing an enemy company of 125 men, killing 27 Germans and capturing 21 others, with a loss of only 3 patrol members. Cpl. Huff's intrepid leadership and daring combat skill reflect the finest traditions of the American infantryman.
    1950 - Man o' War was voted the greatest race horse of the first half of the 20th century in a poll conducted by the Associated Press. Man o' War raced as a 2- and 3- year old, winning 20 of 21 races and setting five track records.
    1951 - Top Hits
“My Heart Cries for You” - Guy Mitchell
“Tennessee Waltz” - Patti Page
“If” - Perry Como
“There's Been a Change in Me” - Eddy Arnold
    1952 - Webb Pierce entered the Billboard country chart for the first time with "Wondering." Pierce dominated the country charts in the 1950's with his pure honky-tonk sound. Between 1952 and '62, he placed 44 songs on the Billboard chart, 38 of which made the top ten. Pierce's influence can be heard in the music of such contemporary country artists as Ricky Skaggs and Dwight Yoakam.
    1954 – Beat author Jack Kerouac, hitchhiking from NY on the 27th of January, visits Neal and Carolyn Cassady in Los Gatos, California, not too far from where I live. Kerouac's interest in Buddhism begins as he reads Dwight Goddard's “A Buddhist Bible.”  He also begins writing "Some of the Dharma." In March, Kerouac settles in San Francisco.
    1956 - Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers' "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" and the Teen Queens' "Eddie, My Love" enter the R&B chart.
    1956 - Buddy Holley signs a recording contract with Decca Records, one which mistakenly drops the "e" from his last name. Buddy, knowing a good thing when he sees it, drops the letter from his name as well.
    1958 - The Quarrymen perform at the Wilson Hall in the Garston section of Liverpool, England. Afterwards, member Paul McCartney introduces his friend George Harrison to John Lennon.
    1958 - The Diamonds had the best-selling record in the United States with their version of "The Stroll". The song also reached number four on the Billboard Pop chart and number five on the R&B chart.
    1959 - Top Hits
“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” - The Platters
“The All American Boy” - Bill Parsons
“Stagger Lee” - Lloyd Price
“Billy Bayou” - Jim Reeves
    1959 - Johnny Cash performs his #1 Billboard Country chart hit, "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" on The Ed Sullivan Show
    1960 - Bobby Rydell's "Wild One" makes its debut on the Billboard chart, where it will reach number 2. 
    1960 - Mark Dinning's "Teen Angel" hits #1. The song had been written for him by his sister Jean, who also recorded as one of The Dinning Sisters. Some radio stations banned the song.
    1960 - Congress opened hearings on payola, whereby a radio station or its employees, usually a disc jockey, accept payment for broadcasting records. Among those accused were DJs Alan Freed and Dick Clark. Clark was called the most influential person in the popular music industry because of his interests in music publishing and record companies. But he denied any wrongdoing and escaped the inquiry virtually unscathed. Alan Freed was not so fortunate. He had few friends in the music business because of his practice of playing records by black artists rather than white cover versions. When the investigation started, Freed was blackballed. And when he finally came to trial in 1962, he was a broken man. Freed pleaded guilty to two counts of commercial bribery, was fined $300 and received a suspended sentence. He never worked in radio again and died in January, 1965. Congress eventually outlawed payola, and the offense was punishable by a maximum $10,000 fine. But the significance of payola was greatly diminished by this time because of the growth of Top-40 radio. Disc jockeys were governed by a rigid play list and were not allowed to choose their own music.
    1960 – The first stars were placed on The Hollywood Walk of Fame.  The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce credits E.M. Stuart, its volunteer president in 1953, with the original idea for creating a Walk of Fame. Stuart reportedly proposed the Walk as a mean to "maintain the glory of a community whose name means glamour and excitement in the four corners of the world.”   The original stars were installed as a continuous project, with no individual ceremonies with eight drawn at random: Olive Borden, Ronald Colman, Louise Fazenda, Preston Foster, Burt Lancaster, Edward Sedgwick, Ernest Torrence, Stanley Kramer.
    1962 - The Federal Trade Commission accused Topps Chewing Gum Company of illegally monopolizing the baseball card industry. In 1980, a court decision opened the door to competition.
    1963 - Less than two months after defeating the Houston Oilers in the second championship game of the American Football League, the Dallas Texans, owned by Lamar Hunt, moved to Kansas City and were renamed the Chiefs.
    1963 - The Four Tops are inked to Berry Gordy's Motown label and receive a $400 signing bonus.
    1963 – President John F. Kennedy declared travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are illegal.
    1964 - During the congressional debate over the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Representative Martha Griffiths delivered a memorable speech advocating the prohibition of discrimination based on sex. Her efforts resulted in adding civil rights protection for women to the 1964 Act. She later successfully led the campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment in the House of Representatives.
    1964 - Songs released today include the Temptations' "The Way You Do the Things You Do" on Motown, the Beach Boys' "Fun, Fun Fun" is out on Capitol and the album "Beatlemania in the USA!" by the Liverpools is released on Wyngate Records.
    1964 - The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" enters the pop charts.
    1964 - Max Firetag, publisher of "Louie Louie" as recorded by the Kingsmen for Wand Records, denies Indiana Governor Matthew Welsh's claim that the song is "pornographic." Firetag offers $1,000 to anyone who can find anything "suggestive" in the song's lyrics.
    1964 - Billy Kidd and Jim Heuga became the first American men to win Olympic medals in Alpine skiing when they captured the silver and bronze medals respectively, in the slalom at the IX Winter Olympics at Innsbruck, Austria.
    1965 - The Supremes' "Stop in the Name Of Love" is released.
    1967 - Top Hits
“I'm a Believer” - The Monkees
“Georgy Girl” - The Seekers
“Kind of a Drag” - The Buckinghams
“There Goes My Everything” - Jack Greene
    1968 - An attack on black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation at the town's only bowling alley, left four dead in Orangeburg, SC.
    1968 - "What'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis?" Actor Gary Coleman (d. 2010), was born in Zion, IL.
    1968 - Ex-Cream guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker and ex-Traffic keyboardist and singer Stevie Winwood announce they are forming a new band and auditioning for a bassist, with the addition of ex-Family bassist Rich Grech, the band will become the "supergroup" Blind Faith.
    1969 - The Supremes and Temptations' album “TCB” enters the charts.
    1971 – The NASDAQ stock market index opened.
    1972 – The National Baseball Hall of Fame elected Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard. The two former stars, who led the Homestead Grays of the Negro Leagues to nine straight league championships from 1937-45, became the second and third players to be selected by the Committee, joining Satchel Paige, who was elected in 1971.
    1973 - Carly Simon is awarded a gold record for her single "You're So Vain," the only Number One song of her career. Many speculate as to the identity of the song's subject. Many assume its Mick Jagger, whose voice can be clearly heard singing behind Simon in the chorus. However, it turns out that the subject is actor Warren Beatty.
    1975 - For the first time in U.S. history, a woman, Betty S. Murphy, is named chair of the National Labor Relations Board, the first woman member of the board. On this same day, for the first time in U.S. history, a woman, Ella Grasso of Connecticut, takes office as the first woman governor elected in her own right.
    1975 - Top Hits
“Fire” - Ohio Players
“You're No Good” - Linda Ronstadt
“Boogie on Reggae Woman” - Stevie Wonder
“Then Who Am I” - Charley Pride
    1978 - Proceedings of the US Senate were broadcast on radio for the first time.
    1982 - Cher makes her Broadway debut in “Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.”
    1983 - Top Hits
“Africa” - Toto
“Baby, Come to Me” - Patti Austin with James Ingram
“Shame on the Moon” - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
“Inside” - Ronnie Milsap
    1983 - One day after taking a job as director of sports promotions for the Claridge Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, Mickey Mantle was ordered to sever his ties by MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, or face expulsion from all baseball activities. Mantle joined fellow Hall of Famer Willie Mays as players banned from baseball by Kuhn for involvement with legalized gambling.   In one of his first acts, new Commissioner Peter Ueberroth withdrew the suspensions of both in 1985. 
    1986 - The musical "Evita" ended its eight-year run in London. The show earned $32 million and was performed 2,913 times during its run at the Prince Edward Theatre. Based on the life of former Argentine President Juan Peron and his wife, Eva, the show remained popular even at the height of the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina in 1982.
    1987 - A powerful storm produced blizzard conditions in the Great Lakes Region. Winds gusted to 86 mph at Janesville, WI and Cleveland, OH received 12 inches of snow. North winds of 50 to 70 mph raised the water level of southern Lake Michigan two feet, and produced waves 12 to 18 feet high, causing seven million dollars damage along the Chicago area shoreline. It was the most damage caused by shoreline flooding and erosion in the history of the city of Chicago
    1987 - Nancy Lopez won the 35th LPGA tournament of her career, the $200,000 Sarasota Classic, and earned induction into the LPGA Hall of Fame.
    1989 - A winter storm over California produced snow from the beaches of Malibu to the desert canyons around Palm Springs, and the snow created mammoth traffic jams in the Los Angeles Basin. Sixteen cities in the western U.S. reported record low temperatures for the date. Marysville, CA reported an all-time record low reading of 21 degrees above zero.
    1990 - Unseasonably mild weather prevailed across the south central and eastern U.S. Twenty-two cities, including five in Michigan, reported record high temperatures for the date. The afternoon high of 53 degrees at Flint, MI surpassed their previous record by ten degrees, and the high of 66 degrees at Burlington, IA exceeded their old record by eight degrees.
    1991 - Top Hits
“The First Time” - Surface
“Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” - C & C Music
Factory featuring Freedom Williams
“Play that Funky Music” - Vanilla Ice
“Daddy's Come Around” - Paul Overstreet
    1993 – General Motors sued NBC after “Dateline NBC” allegedly rigged two crashes intended to demonstrate that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settled the lawsuit the next day.
    1996 - The National Football League approved the transfer of the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore. Owner Art Modell agreed to leave the team's nickname and colors in Cleveland and later decided to call his team the Ravens. The NFL awarded Cleveland an expansion franchise in 1998 and the team took the name of its predecessor.
    1997 - The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-5, in overtime, to make Coach Scotty Bowman the first NHL coach to reach the 1,000-win plateau.
    2000 - Top Hits
“I Knew I Loved You” - Savage Garden
“Thank God I Found You”- Mariah Carey Featuring Joe
Columbia
“What a Girl Wants”- Christina Aguilera
“Get It on Tonite”- Montell Jordan
    2002 - XIX Winter Olympics opens in Salt Lake City UT/Québec City.
    2005 - Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman, core members of The Guess Who, were inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame. The band placed 13 songs in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 between 1965 and 1974. Cummings added 2 more as a solo artist and Bachman contributed 7 others with Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
    2010 - Nielsen SoundScan reported that since Steven Tyler started appearing on American Idol on January 19th, sales of Aerosmith's Greatest Hits collections have shot up more than 250%.
    2012 - Elizabeth Taylor's collection of artworks by Vincent Van Gogh, Camille Pissarro and Edgar Degas sold for over 13.7 million pounds at Christie's in London.
    2013 - An investigation took place over recent hacking incident involving a hacker who gained access to the email accounts of former President George H. W. Bush, his friends and relatives

National Baseball Hall of Fame:
    1972 – Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard