2019 U.S. Trailer Net Orders Closed Down 51%
Versus Full-Year 2018

According to ACT Research, new US trailer orders of 18.4k were down 13% month-over-month in December and, after accounting for cancellations, net orders of 17.7k dropped 11%. Longer-term comparisons show net orders down 35% year-over-year and 51% lower compared to full-year 2018, according to this month’s issue of ACT Research’s State of the Industry: U.S. Trailer Report.

Frank Maly, Director–CV Transportation Analysis and Research at ACT Research, reported, “While seven of the ten major trailer categories posted month-over-month gains, the sequential 32% drop in dry van orders was significant enough to pull the total industry results into the red.

“While seven of the ten major trailer categories posted month-over-month gains, the sequential 32% drop in dry van orders was significant enough to pull the total industry results into the red.

“Continued softness in both freight volumes and rates are generating financial headwinds for fleets, and as a result, their investment plans continue to be extremely cautious.”

Maly continued, “Fleets are aware that, as a result of weaker OEM orderboards, lead times are dramatically shorter than this time last year, so any orders placed now are likely to be delivered in a much more acceptable timeframe. It is also likely that pricing will be more advantageous.”

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Maxim Commercial Capital Funded
664 Transactions in 2019/ over 1,500 used truck vendors nationwide

Hard asset-secured lender funded borrowers
in 41 states across the U.S. during the year

LOS ANGELES, CALIF. – – Maxim Commercial Capital (“Maxim”) announced today it finished 2019 with the busiest December in the company’s eleven-year history and funded 664 loans to small and mid-sized businesses (“SMBs”) during the year. Maxim lends $10,000 to $3,000,000 secured by heavy equipment and real estate to facilitate asset purchases, enhance working capital and to refinance expensive short term debt.

Michael Kianmahd, Executive Vice President of Maxim, reported, ”We continued to invest in our team during 2019 by adding a Director - Broker Relations, a Chief Financial Officer and two additional members to our portfolio management department.

“Our newest team members integrated seamlessly into the company to further optimize our relationships with borrowers, finance brokers, truck vendors and finance partners. With our expanded team, we are on a solid trajectory to meet the financing needs of a record number of SMBs in 2020.”

Maxim partners with finance brokers, leasing originators, and used truck vendors across the U.S. to finance borrowers who need capital quickly or are not bankable due to credit challenges, incomplete financial data, past bankruptcies or lack of business history. Over 2,000 finance brokers have submitted financing applications to Maxim since 2009. The company’s sales representatives maintain relationships with over 1,500 used truck vendors nationwide. 

The largest transaction Maxim funded during the year was a $2.0 million, 60-month term loan secured by 2nd liens on six commercial real estate properties in San Antonio, Texas. This structured financing provides the growth capital the business owner needs while minimizing his overall cost of funds by leaving favorable 1st lien financing in place. 

The smaller transactions funded during the year facilitated heavy equipment purchases of yellow iron and Class 8 and Class 6 used trucks for owner-operators with challenged credit. Despite contraction among other lenders in the market during the year, Maxim consistently provided same-day approvals and processed a record number of submissions in December 2019. 

Behzad Kianmahd, Maxim’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “By adapting our underwriting guidelines to market conditions and managing around changes in used equipment values in 2018 and 2019, we avoided the portfolio problems faced by some of our competitors.

Behzad Kianmahd, who has over 20 years of industry experience, noted, “Closed transactions included 75% purchase financing of a 2016 Kenworth T680 retailing for $71,101 for an owner-operator with limited experience and outstanding medical bills.”

Maxim also helped numerous start-up owner-operators purchase their first rigs, such as a 2016 Freightliner Cascadia valued at $65,980, with financing packages that cover 100% of the cost of 24 month/200,000 mile Premium 2000 comprehensive warranties.

Maxim continues to expand its team to support the company’s growth. Visit Maxim’s website to review current job openings.

About Maxim Commercial Capital
Maxim Commercial Capital helps small and mid-sized business owners seize opportunity by providing financing in amounts up to $3,000,000 secured by heavy equipment and real estate. Maxim facilitates equipment purchases, provides working capital and refinances debt for companies across all industries located nationwide.Through Maxim’s tailored financing programs, businesses unlock capital tied up in underleveraged assets, often replacing expensive short-term debt and daily repayment working capital loans with longer term capital. As a leading provider of transportation equipment finance, Maxim funds up to 75% of the acquisition cost of used class 8 and class 6 trucks, trailers and reefers for owner-operators and small businesses. Learn more at www.maximcc.com or by calling 877.776.2946.

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Leasing News Advisor
Ben Carlile

Ben Carlile
SVP Portfolio Management
Small & Mid-ticket Commercial Lending
MAXIM COMMERCIAL CAPITAL, LLC
Los Angeles, CA 90025
ben@maximcc.com
Direct: 415-737-5791 
Main: 213-480-4840 x306

Ben plays a key role in the management team at Maxim Commercial Capital, LLC, a privately-held specialty finance company located in west Los Angeles. At Maxim since January 2017, Ben has improved portfolio management performance, re-engineered key processes and facilitated executive decision-making. Notable performances to date include sharp decreases in delinquencies and losses in Maxim’s nonprime commercial transportation business.

Ben joined the Leasing News Advisory Board in 2014, bringing his 26 years of management and lease operation experience as well as his desire to provide his insight and expertise toward a good cause. Ben spent five years as an active member of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) Credit and Collections Conference Planning Committee. He is a strong ethical leader with an enduring commitment to the success of our industry.

Previously, Ben was Chief Credit Officer, Managing Director and President of Allegiant Partners Inc., an independent equipment finance company started in Marin County, California. As a company board member and shareholder since 2000, Ben provided insight on strategic planning, operations, risk management, capital acquisition and other contributions to Allegiant’s success. Allegiant (now known as AP Equipment Financing) moved their headquarters to Bend, Oregon, and was acquired by Tokyo Century Corporation.     
 
Prior to Allegiant, Ben spent 11 years as Vice President of Credit Administration for Trinity Capital Corporation, San Francisco, California. At Trinity, he managed strong portfolio growth and performance that led to better access to capital and the launch of a successful portfolio servicing business. Trinity was acquired by Bank of the West.  

Ben and his wife Sally are empty-nesters and rosarians living in Marin County, California. 

New Hires/Promotions in the Leasing Business
and Related Industries

Caitlin Cosentino was promoted to Team Lead, Inside Sales/Senior Account Executive, BlueVine, Redwood City, California. She is located in the Greater New York City Area.  She joined the firm March, 2019, as Funding Advisor. Previously, she was at ForwardLine Financial, starting June, 2018, Loan Representative II; promoted September, 2018, Senior Funding Consultant. Prior, she was at Westminster Economic Development Initiative, starting September, 2017, AmeriCorps, Economic Development Specialist; promoted January, 2018, Economic Development Team Lead. Campus Tour Guide, University of Buffalo Office of Admissions (January, 2016 - May, 2017); Intern, U.S. Department of State, Russian Embassy, English Language Institute (October, 2015 - May, 2016). Volunteer: Heritage Centers (2014).  Volunteer. ReTree the District (January, 2014).
Education: University at Buffalo. Bachelor's degree, International Global Studies (2014 - 2017). West Islip High School. International Baccalaureate Diploma (2010 - 2014).  International Baccalaureate. IB Diploma. https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlin-cosentino/

Giosue Desposito was promoted to Resolution Team Lead, Blue Vine, Redwood City, California.  He joined the firm January, 2018 as Resolution Associate. Previously, he was Construction Draw Analyst. Lending Home (September, 2017 - September, 2018); Capital Recovery Specialist, Square (August, 2016 - August, 2017); Relationship Banker, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (August, 2015 - January, 2016); Lead Sales Consultant, Verizon Wireless (December, 2013 - June, 2015): Retail Store Manager, Sprint (May, 2012 - October, 2013).  Licenses & Certifications. Series 6. https://www.linkedin.com/in/giosue-desposito/

Attorney Catherine Haggerty has been named Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright, San Francisco, California. "Hagerty advises financial institutions and other lenders, borrowers and equipment leasing companies on the structuring, documentation and administration of various forms of complex debt financings. Her leasing experience focuses on the lifespan of equipment, including vendor agreements, sale and leasebacks, lease originations, cross-border leases and restructurings." She is licensed to practice in California and New York.  Previously, she was Partner, Reed Smith, LLP (May, 2017 - January, 2020); Of Counsel, Morrison & Foerster LLP (November, 2006 - May, 2017); Associate, Kirkland & Ellis, LLP (May, 2006 - October, 2006); Associate, King & Spalding, LLP (September, 2000 - April, 2006).  Education: Duke University School of Law. J.D. (1997 - 2000). William & Mary. B.A. Philosophy, Government (1993 -1997). Activities and Societies: Delta Delta Delta.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-hagerty-0471841/

Rachel Fick was promoted to Vice President, Global Marketing, CSI Leasing, Inc., Saint Louis, Missouri.  She joined the firm August, 2006, as Senior Marketing Specialist; promoted July, 2016, Assistant Vice President of Marketing; promoted Vice President of Marketing, September, 2017.  Prior, she was Adjunct Instructor, University of Missouri, St. Louis (July, 2008 - Present);  Special Events and Community Outreach Assistant, St. Louis Public Radio (April, 2003 - Auguste, 2006); Accounting Assistant, Weintraub Advertising (September, 2001 - April, 2003). Education: University of Missouri, Saint Louis, M.A., Communications (2004 - 2008); University of Central Missouri, B.S., Public Relations, Minor in Business (1997 - 2001).
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelfick/

Geoff Minsky was hired as Vic President, Wheeler Financial from Pitney Bowes, Pitney Bowes Bank, member FDIC, Stamford, Connecticut.  He is located in Palm Beach, Florida. Previously, he was Managing Director, Pelagic Capital Corporation (April, 2014 - January, 2020); Senior Vice President, North Mill Equipment Finance, LLC (fka Equilease Financial Services, Inc.)  (June, 2002 - April, 2014); Director of Real Estate Development, Sonic Drive-In (January, 2000 - April, 2002); Manager, Strategic Development, Real Estate. Payless Shoe Source (July, 1995 - December, 1999); Operations Business Analyst, Boston Market (September, 1993 - July, 1997); Manager, PepsiCo (August, 1992 - September, 1993); Member, Commodities Arbitrage Group, Merrill Lynch Futures (August, 1991 - August, 1992).  Education: University of Denver, Daniels College of Business, BSBA, Finance & Marketing (1998 - 1991). Staples. https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoff-minsky-0a309b8/

Sathish Muthukrishnan was hired as Chief Information, Data and Digital Officer, Ally, Phoenix, Arizona. "He will lead Ally's technology, data and digital transformation teams, with a focus on advanced technical capabilities, including cyber security and infrastructure, as well as accelerating Ally's growth as a leading digital financial services provider." Previously, he was Chief Digital & Information Officer, Interim Chief Technology Officer, Honeywell Aerospace (November, 2017); CIO, Enterprise Digital, Enterprise API Engineering & Big Data Labs, Leader of Digital Capabilities across all lines of businesses globally. American Express, promoted April, 2016; he joined the company July, 2007, Lead Software Engineer; promoted January, 2010, Director, Technologies, Credit Authorization Systems; promoted April, 2011, Director, Closed Loop Marketing and Campaign Platforms; promoted November, 2011, Vice President, Global Network Closed-Loop Capacities; promoted July, 2012, Vice President, Digital Partnerships & Smart Offer Platforms; promoted May, 2014, Vice President, Digital Partnerships, Big Data Labs & Head of API Engineering. Software Solutions Architect, United Airlines (1999 - 2006). Publications: "AmEx Helps customers Cash in On Foursquare," 'Blockchain in Aerospace," "Flying Taxis," "Honeywell Brings Blockchain to Used Aircraft Parts Market," "Future-is-Looking Bright-for-Technology-Enterprises in Europe.”  Education.  University of Madras. Engineering, Computer Science. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sathishmuthukrishnan/

Attorney William Veatch was named Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright, San Francisco, California. “Mr. Veatch has extensive transactional experience in banking, equipment leasing, venture lending and leasing, cross-border leasing and vendor finance. He focuses much of his practice on advising financial institutions and technology clients on the structuring of global equipment and software vendor programs, including the sale and securitization of receivables."  He is the author of "The New Logic of the Law, Vol. 1 – Building a Foundation for Artificial Intelligence Applications in the Law."  Previously, he was Partner, Reed Smith, LLP (May, 2017 - January, 2020); Partner, Morrison & Foerster, LLP (July, 2003 - May, 2017); He joined Cooley, LLP, as Association March, 1994; named Partner, January, 1998. Education: UC Hastings College of the Law. Doctor of Law (J.D.), Law (1985 - 1987).  University of Manitoba. Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) (1982 - 1985). https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-veatch-9666371b/

 

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How to Respond to Positive Reviews
FinTech #102 by Alex Vasilakos

A good or bad reputation can mean the difference between a business thriving and expanding, or closing their doors for good. In the digital age, a business’s reputation is controlled by consumers using online review platforms like Yelp, Google and Facebook to announce the quality of their business publicly. The good news is that this lets businesses easily monitor and manage their online reputation, a power they can put to good use by responding in a timely manner to the reviews they receive.

While negative reviews often get this most attention, positive reviews are as or more important! It’s important to respond to positive reviews to thank customers for taking the time to review your business and to encourage others to do the same.

With 92% of consumers reading reviews online, businesses can’t afford to sit on the sidelines. An effective response will help ensure that a happy first time customer becomes a regular, and 70% of complaining customers will come back if you resolve the complaint in their favor. The first step is engaging with them.

How to respond to positive reviews
It’s simple. Thank the customer, name drop, promote and tell the customer what to do!

1. Say thank you and be specific

No one would let a compliment pass them by in real life. Apply that same principle to a review response! And make sure to reiterate your customer’s compliment. This lets the customer know that a real person took time out of their day to acknowledge them, and that feels good.

2. Use the business name and keywords

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to drive your business up in search results—positive reviews work wonders in search. Referring to your business name, location and category (loan agency, financial consultant, restaurant, coffee shop, hotel, etc.) helps index that review online.

3. Market, market, market

Is your business famous for a certain secret sauce? Are you having a promotion next month? A review response is a great place to get the good word out.

4. Give your customer a task

Not as scary as it sounds. Invite them to try something different the next time they visit, or bring a friend!

As you can see, there’s a ton of potential hidden in a positive review response. Instead of one advertisement to rule them all, each review is an opportunity to sell your business!

Alex Vasilakos
Director of Marketing
The Finance Marketing Group
Alex@financemarketing.com 
Office: 518-591-4645x102 / Fax: 518-677-1071
90 State Street, Suite 1500, Albany, NY 12207

He entered advertising and marketing in 2003, right when the industry landscape shifted from traditional print to digital media. In that time, Alex has worked with numerous large accounts in both healthcare and financial services, and has helped small and medium-sized businesses grow and flourish in their respective digital markets. Alex has won countless awards for creative direction and strategy, and is certified by Google Partners in both AdWords and Analytics. Currently, Alex works exclusively with financial services companies, but his depth of knowledge and experience can help design and implement long-reaching strategies for businesses across all industries.

Previous Financial Technology Articles
http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/fintech.html

 

Over half a million Americans are currently homeless. After a period of progress and decline, the U.S. homeless population has increased slightly by three percent according to a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It now stands at 567,715 with 63 percent of that total living in sheltered accommodation. The national increase is primarily due to a leap in homelessness in California where it grew 16.4 percent between 2018 and 2019.

More than half of all unsheltered homeless people in the U.S. - some 53 percent - are in California. That's nearly nine times as many as the state with the second-highest total of unsheltered homeless which is Florida. Homelessness is primarily an urban issue and more than half of the homeless population is scattered across the country's 50 biggest cities. Nearly a quarter of them live in just two cities - New York and Los Angeles. Despite its considerable homeless population, New York can at least claim that the vast majority of its rough sleepers are given sheltered accommodation with only 4.4 percent estimated to be living on the streets. The same cannot be said of the state of California where 71.7 percent of all homeless people are unsheltered.

The infographic shows the top-10 worst cities for homelessness across the U.S. with New York in first place with 78,604. It's important to mention that in this comparison, the data is broken down by CoC - those are Continuums of Care that are local planning bodies coordinating responses to the issue. Los Angeles is in second place with over 56,000 while Seattle/King County comes third with 11,199.

By Niall McCarthy, Statista

https://www.statista.com/chart/6949/the-us-cities-with-the-most-homeless-people/

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##### Press Release ############################

ELFA Mourns the Passing of Former Chair Bob Stubbs
"distinguished career in the equipment finance industry since 1968"

Industry icon and former Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) Chair Bob Stubbs passed away on Jan. 18, 2020 at home in New Jersey.

Bob had a distinguished career in the equipment finance industry. In 1968, he founded TriContinental Leasing Company and developed TriCon from a small local leasing company to a major national financial institution which became one of most successful and influential companies of the period.

In 1984, Bob sold the TriCon to Bell Atlantic. Shortly thereafter, the company changed its name to Bell Atlantic TriCon. From 1986 until his retirement in 1993, Bob served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Bell Atlantic Capital Corporation, the financial services organization of Bell Atlantic Corporation.

Bob was a long-time active member and committee participant of ELFA, and he and his wife Rosie participated in many association activities. Bob served on the association's Board of Directors and was elected Chairman in 1989, serving from 1989-1991.

In 2011, in celebration of ELFA's 50th anniversary, Bob reflected on the value of ELFA and the association's Annual Convention, saying, "My wife Rosie and I attended our first convention in 1970, in Puerto Rico. We have attended every convention since then, never missing one (40-plus conventions in a row). It became an important part of our lives as it not only kept us in touch with all of our convention friends, it also was a very important part of my education in the industry."

Bob was an inaugural inductee into the Equipment Finance Hall of Fame in 2014.

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Fernando's View
By Fernando F. Croce

An urgent legal drama (“Dark Waters”) and a delirious horror tale (“In Fabric”) come to theaters, while DVD releases offer an eccentric thriller (“The Lighthouse”), a joyous comedy (“Give Me Liberty”), and timely suspense (“Fail Safe”).

In theaters:

Dark Waters (Focus): Experimental indie director Todd Haynes (“Carol”) goes mainstream without sacrificing his subversively inquisitive edge in this absorbing true-story legal thriller. Set over the course of a decade, it starts out in the late 1990s when Cincinnati corporate attorney Robert Bilott (Mark Ruffalo) is visited by an acquaintance of his mother, a West Virginia farmer desperate about mysterious deaths. An investigation connects the events to chemical negligence by mega-corporation Dupont, which widens the scope of their environmental damage while making legal action more difficult. Nevertheless, Bilott persists in the case, putting him and his wife Sarah (Anne Hathaway) and kids in potential danger. A plot outline makes this sound like a conventional underdog big-issue movie, when in reality it is intelligent, urgent, and terrifically anchored by Ruffalo’s thoughtful performance.

In Fabric (A24): A mesmerizing horror tale that unfolds in the fashion industry, this is a tantalizing treat from British director Peter Strickland (“The Duke of Burgundy”). Marianne Jean-Baptiste stars as Sheila, a London bank clerk who finds herself drawn to a fragrant red dress in an ominous department store. Convinced that this piece of clothing will change her life, Sheila buys it only to gradually learn of the curse that it has unleashed. As it passes on to repairman Regs (Leo Bill) and his fiancée Babs (Hayley Squires), darker secrets about the garment begin to surface. Heavily influenced by lavish frightfests from the 1970s, Strickland creates a palpable atmosphere of lush dread, using sneaky humor and anti-consumerist digs as trenchant as those of George Romero or John Carpenter.

Nextflix: A vibrant, enchanting screen presence practically synonymous with the films of the French New Wave, Anna Karina (1940-2019) brought warmth and charm to the often cerebral films of her director-husband, Jean-Luc Godard. So check out Netflix for her best movies, which include “A Woman Is a Woman” (1961), “My Life to Live” (1962), “Band of Outsiders” (1964) and “Pierrot le Fou” (1965).

On DVD:

The Lighthouse (A24): Switching from severe horror to absurdist comedy, director Robert Eggers (“The Witch”) serves up a singular vision in this perverse psychological thriller. Utterly committed to the oddball tone, Robert Pattison and Willem Dafoe give inspired performances as Thomas and Ephraim, mismatched strangers who find themselves keeping watch together in an isolated lighthouse in the 1890s. In their little New England island, the seasoned salt and the young man bicker over everything from the food to the existence of mermaids. Dread gradually settles over them, and the line between sanity and madness grows ever so slender. Sinister yet humorous, Eggers’ film plays with tonal shifts in a captivating manner. With painterly black-and-white cinematography and meticulous attention to detail, it’s a bizarre and memorable achievement.

Give Me Liberty (Music Box Films): East and West meet joyously in this dynamic comedy-drama from Russian director Kirill Mikhanovsky. Taking place over the course of a frantic day in wintry Milwaukee, the story is a road trip encompassing a large ensemble of characters and events ranging from talent shows to political riots. Vic (Chris Galust), a medical transport driver, finds himself at the center of this whirlwind, helping out grouchy patients while scrambling to keep a promise to take his family to a funeral. That’s when he meets Tracy (Lauren Spencer), a fierce young woman who at first fights with him but gradually helps him get through the day. Seasoning indie realism with deadpan humor and poignancy, Mikhanovsky serves up a fast-paced and heartening vision of mismatched humanity.

Fail Safe (Criterion): Though not as popular as Stanley Kubrick’s Cold War satire “Dr. Strangelove,” this taut thriller, released in 1964 and tackling many of the same themes, is in its earnest way just as impressive. With tensions high between the United States and the Soviet Union, nuclear technology becomes like a hair-trigger weapon vulnerable to malfunction. That’s just what happens when a defective system sends U.S. bomber jets on an attack mission to Moscow, and the President (Henry Fonda) must interfere before the bombs are dropped. Will the lives of people on both sides of the conflict on the balance, can an agreement be reached? Filmed with claustrophobic suspense by legendary director Sidney Lumet (“Network”), the film remains painfully timely to this day. Others in the cast include Walter Matthau and Dan O’Herlihy.

Labrador Retriever
Southern California Labrador Retriever Rescue 
Adopt-a-Dog

Simmba is a handsome 9-year-old yellow male weighing 85 lbs. He came to SCLRR from a shelter in Palmdale. Don’t be fooled by his age, this fella is very strong and is no couch potato. He loves his walks/jogs and needs them daily.

Simmba is still working on his leash etiquette as he thinks every dog passing by wants to be his forever friend.

He does well with other big dogs, but little dogs are a bit of a bother to him. He would do best in a home being the only dog or with an older mellow dog with no cats. Although he is good with kids, because of his size, he would do best in an adult home or with older kids. If you give Simmba an inch he will take 5 miles, so he needs a home with consistency to be the best dog he can be.

Simmba is crate trained, but he is not a dog that would do well being left alone for long periods of time. He is smart, a super good listener and wants to please.

Simmba can’t get enough chin rubs or belly rubs. And as a bonus, he gives ‘lopsided high fives’! Check out the video – it’s the cutest thing ever!

So if you are interested in adopting Simmba, please contact your family rep.

Video
https://www.sclrr.org/rescue/lab-of-the-month/

Our Mailing Address (this is NOT a kennel):
SCLRR, Inc., 24325 Crenshaw Blvd. #137 Torrance, CA 90505

Application:
https://www.sclrr.org/rescue/adopthow-it-works/application/

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The recent Miami Broker sold out with over 500 attending.
Take Advantage of Early Bird Pricing

Meet the industry leaders in New York City
New York City is one of the most populous regions for commercial loan brokers in the country.

We’ll be hosting hundreds of brokers from around the country at New York’s newest innovative conference center.

Steps away from lower Manhattan’s waterfront, shops, exciting restaurant scene, ferry and subway hubs, Convene at Brookfield Place is the newest place to host large-scale events in Downtown NYC. Convene at 225 Liberty Street is located in Brookfield Place in downtown Manhattan’s financial district near the following subway stations.

Registration for Early Bird Pricing by February 1
https://brokerfair.org/register/

More Information:
https://brokerfair.org/

deBanked CONNECT MIAMI 2020 Photos
https://debanked.com/2020/01/debanked-connect-miami-2020-photos/

News Briefs----

Another Retail Chain Closing All Calif. Stores: Report
    Originally had 450 Locations, Down to 260 Stores Nationwide
https://patch.com/california/losgatos/s/gzlla/another-retail-chain-closing-all-calif-stores-report?utm_source=alert-breakingnews&utm_medium=email&utm_term=business&utm_campaign=alert

Express closing 91 stores as fashion retailer
    grapples with declining sales
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/01/22/express-store-closures-shopping-2020-2021/4539827002/

Lucky’s Market Closing 32 Stores Nationwide
     of its 39 stores in nine states
https://www.columbusunderground.com/luckys-market-closing-32-stores-nationwide-tm1

U.S. Wage Growth Remained at 3.2 Percent
     for Fourth Quarter 2019
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-wage-growth-remained-at-3-2-percent-for-fourth-quarter-2019--300991251.html

The Trade War, Paused for Now,
   Is Still Wreaking Damage
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/business/economy/trade-economy.html

 
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You May Have Missed---

Air bag woes force Honda, Toyota
    to recall 6 Million vehicles
https://www.yahoo.com/news/air-bag-woes-force-honda-232851887.html

 

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If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you think you'd like to win, but you think you can't,
it's almost certain you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you've lost.
For out in the world you'll find,
success begins with a fellow's will.
It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you're outclassed, you are
You've got to think high to rise.
You've got to be sure of yourself,
before you can ever win a prize.

Life's battles don't always go,
to the stronger or faster man.
But sooner or later the man who wins,
is the man who thinks he can.
Unknown

 

 

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Giants QB Eli Manning retires from NFL after 16 seasons
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/giants/2020/01/22/eli-manning-retires-nfl-new-york-giants/4547208002/

Raiders drop Oakland for good — they’re now the Las Vegas Raiders
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/01/22/raiders-drop-oakland-for-good-theyre-now-the-las-vegas-raiders/

Arizona Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald purchases stake in Phoenix Suns
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/cardinals/2020/01/22/arizona-cardinals-larry-fitzgerald-purchases-stake-phoenix-suns/4540894002/

Video shows Kyle Shanahan predicting exact outcome
    of play to George Kittle before it even happens
https://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/Kyle-Shanahan-ref-George-Kittle-Packers-penalty-14995161.php

Super Bowl rings through the years
https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/sports/nfl/2016/01/21/super-bowl-rings-through-the-years/79120366/

Dolphins ‘fully expect’ to have Ryan Fitzpatrick back
http://www.theredzone.org/Blog-Description/EntryId/80165/Dolphins--fully-expect--to-have-Ryan-Fitzpatrick-back

Antonio Brown locks himself in his house
     to dodge battery investigation
http://www.theredzone.org/Blog-Description/EntryId/80158/Antonio-Brown-locks-himself-in-his-house-to-dodge-battery-investigation

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California Nuts Briefs---

Gavin Newsom wants California to be a no-kill state.
     How would we end animal euthanasia?
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article239487313.html?

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“Gimme that Wine”

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

Napa Valley's Flora Springs winery sold to owners
  of France's Château Smith Haut Lafitte
https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/northbay/napacounty/10618251-181/napa-valley-flora-springs-winery-acquisition

Wine Shipments to Consumers Reach
     Record $3.2 Billion in 2019
https://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataId=224950

The Wines of British Columbia Raise a Glass
     to 30 Years of BC VQA Wine
https://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataId=225004

'Two Buck Chuck' gets price cut at Trader Joe's locations in California
https://www.sfgate.com/wine/article/Two-Buck-Chuck-price-cut-trader-joes-california-14990309.php

Free Wine App
https://www.nataliemaclean.com/mobileapp/

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

This Day in History

     1600 – Originally, it was the Muslim countries who were taking slaves as their religion would not allow a person to be sold into slavery who was a Muslim. Opening up the United States was
a boom to the industry, as it was slavery and not gold or any major agriculture item that was being brought back to Europe. By the late seventeenth century, the African slave trade was a relatively large-scale business enterprise, largely in the hands of the Dutch until the 1660s. It was continued by the English, with New Englanders especially active after the Royal Africa Trade Company lost its monopoly in 1696. In the trade, a ship sailed from New England with rum and other goods for the Slave Coast. The slaves were then carried, under the most miserable conditions, to the West Indies or to the colonial South, where they were exchanged for sugar, molasses, and tobacco for the North. During this period, Virginia planters relied more on white indentured servants from Europe than on slaves from Africa. There were 6000 indentured servants in Virginia in 1681, compared with 2000 slaves. Some indentured servants came voluntarily, signing papers for five or more years, at the end of which time they would receive some clothing and perhaps a parcel of land. They often then became tenant farmers. Criminals, vagrants, and debtors were sent involuntarily to the New World, usually for a term of service of seven years. And others, children and adults, were victims of kidnapping. They were sold to shipmasters who in turn sold them into servitude in America. Many debtor servants caused trouble in the colonies. As a result, the end of the seventeenth century saw a steady growth in the slave trade.
    1730 - Joseph Hewes’ (d. 1779) birthday at Princeton, NJ. Hewes moved to North Carolina at the age of 30 and won over the people of the colony.  Hewes was elected to the North Carolina legislature in 1763, only three years after he moved to the colony, and he was re-elected numerous times. By 1773, the majority of North Carolina was in favor of independence and they elected him to become a representative to the Continental Congress in 1774, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/hewes.htm
http://www.colonialhall.com/hewes/hewes.asp
    1737 - Birthday of John Hancock (d. 1793), Braintree, MA. American patriot and statesman, first signer of the Declaration of Independence and one of the richest men in the country at the time. He had a lot to lose if the revolution were to fail. Because of his conspicuous signature on the Declaration, Hancock's name has become part of the American language, referring to any handwritten signature, as in “Put your John Hancock on that.”
http://www.johnhancock.org/
http://www.colonialhall.com/hancock/hancock.asp
    1775 – The Georgia Colony adopts a revised version of the Continental Association which mandates a non-importation policy and a trade embargo against Britain to force a repeal of the Coercive Acts of 1774.
    1780 - The coldest day of the coldest month of record in the northeastern U.S. A British Army thermometer in New York City registered a reading of 16 degrees below zero. During that infamous hard winter, the harbor was frozen solid for five weeks, and the port was cut off from sea supply.
    1789 - Georgetown College was founded by Father John Carroll, 54, as the first Catholic college in the United States. The school is in Washington, DC. Its name today is Georgetown University.
http://www.georgetown.edu/
    1793 – The first aid society, Humane Society of Philadelphia, organized
    1812 – A 7.8 earthquake rattled New Madrid, Missouri
    1845 – US Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The law was signed by Pres. John Tyler.
    1849 - Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to receive an medical degree in the US. The native of Bristol, England was awarded her degree by the Geneva Medical Institution of Geneva, NY, now known as Hobart College.
    1849 – A Patent was granted for an envelope-making machine
    1855 - The first bridge over the Mississippi River opened in what is now Minneapolis, a crossing made today by the Hennepin Avenue bridge.
    1855 – John Moses Browning (d. 1926) was born in Ogden, UT.  His father, who was among the thousands of Mormon pioneers in the mass exodus from Nauvoo, IL, established a gunsmith shop in Ogden in 1852.  Browning was a Firearms designer who developed many varieties of military and civilian firearms, cartridges, and gun mechanisms, many of which are still in use around the world.  Browning's most successful designs include the M1911 pistol, the Browning Hi Power pistol, the Browning .50 caliber machine gun, the Browning automatic rifle, and the Browning Auto-5 semi-automatic shotgun. 
    1863 - Confederate General John Bell Hood is officially removed as commander of the Army of Tennessee. He had requested the removal a few weeks before. The action closed a sad chapter in the history of the Army of Tennessee. A close personal friend of President Jefferson Davis and a Kentucky native, Hood attended West Point and graduated in 1853. He served in the frontier army until the outbreak of the Civil War. Hood resigned his commission and became a colonel commanding the 4th Texas Infantry. Hood's unit was sent to the Army of Northern Virginia, where it fought during the Peninsular Campaign of 1862. Hood, now a brigadier general, built a reputation as an aggressive field commander. He distinguished himself during the Seven Days' battle in June, and was given command of a division. His counterattack at Antietam in September may have saved Robert E. Lee's army from total destruction. After being severely wounded at Gettysburg in July 1863, Hood was transferred to the Army of Tennessee. He was soon wounded again, losing a leg at Chickamauga in September. Hood was promoted to corps commander for the Atlanta campaign of 1864, and was elevated to commander of the army upon the removal of Joseph Johnston in July. Over the next five months, Hood presided over the near destruction of that great Confederate army. He unsuccessfully attacked General William T. Sherman's army three times near Atlanta, relinquished the city after a month-long siege. He then took his army back to Tennessee in the fall to draw Sherman away from the deep South. Sherman dispatched part of his army to Tennessee, and Hood lost two disastrous battles at Franklin and Nashville in November and December 1864.
There were about 65,000 soldiers in the Army of Tennessee when Hood assumed command in July. On January 1, a generous assessment would count 18,000 men in the army. The Confederate Army of Tennessee was no longer a viable fighting force.
http://www.civilwarhome.com/hoodbio.htm
http://ngeorgia.com/people/hood.html
    1870 - US Soldiers deliberately massacred the wrong camp of Indians.  Declaring he did not care whether it was the rebellious band of Indians he had been searching for, Colonel Eugene Baker ordered his men to attack a sleeping camp of peaceful Blackfeet along the Marias River in northern Montana. The previous fall, Malcolm Clarke, an influential Montana rancher, had accused a Blackfeet warrior named Owl Child of stealing some of his horses; he punished the proud brave with a brutal whipping. In retribution, Owl Child and several allies murdered Clarke and his son at their home near Helena, and then fled north to join a band of rebellious Blackfeet under the leadership of Mountain Chief. Outraged and frightened, Montanans demanded that Owl Child and his followers be punished, and the government responded by ordering the forces garrisoned under Major Eugene Baker at Fort Ellis (near modern-day Bozeman, Montana) to strike back. Strengthening his cavalry units with two infantry groups from Fort Shaw near Great Falls, Baker led his troops out into sub-zero winter weather and headed north in search of Mountain Chief's band. Soldiers later reported that Baker drank a great deal throughout the march. On January 22, Baker discovered an Indian village along the Marias River, and, postponing his attack until the following morning, spent the evening drinking heavily. At daybreak on the morning of January 23, 1870, Baker ordered his men to surround the camp in preparation for attack. As the darkness faded, Baker's scout, Joe Kipp, recognized that the painted designs on the buffalo-skin lodges were those of a peaceful band of Blackfeet led by Heavy Runner. Mountain Chief and Owl Child, Kipp quickly realized, must have gotten wind of the approaching soldiers and moved their winter camp elsewhere. Kipp rushed to tell Baker that they had the wrong Indians, but Baker reportedly replied, "That makes no difference, one band or another of them; they are all Piegans [Blackfeet] and we will attack them." Baker then ordered a sergeant to shoot Kipp if he tried to warn the sleeping camp of Blackfeet and gave the command to attack. Baker's soldiers began blindly firing into the village, catching the peaceful Indians utterly unaware and defenseless. By the time the brutal attack was over, Baker and his men had, by the best estimate, murdered 37 men, 90 women, and 50 children. Knocking down lodges with frightened survivors inside, the soldiers set them on fire, burnt some of the Blackfeet alive, and then burned the band's meager supplies of food for the winter. Baker initially captured about 140 women and children as prisoners to take back to Fort Ellis, but when he discovered many were ill with smallpox, he abandoned them to face the deadly winter without food or shelter. When word of the Baker Massacre (now known as the Marias Massacre) reached the east, many Americans were outraged. One angry congressman denounced Baker, saying "civilization shudders at horrors like this." Baker's superiors, however, supported his actions, as did the people of Montana, with one journalist calling Baker's critics "namby-pamby, sniffling old maid sentimentalists." Neither Baker nor his men faced a court martial or any other disciplinary actions. However, the public outrage over the massacre did derail the growing movement to transfer control of Indian affairs from the Department of Interior to the War Department. President Ulysses S. Grant decreed that henceforth all Indian agents would be civilians rather than soldiers.
    1889 - Dr. Daniel Hale Williams established Provident Hospital in Chicago
    1898 – Actor Randolph Scott (d. 1987) was born in Orange County, VA.  His career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres; however, his most enduring image is that of the tall-in-the-saddle Western hero. Out of his more than 100 film appearances over 60 were in Westerns; thus, "of all the major stars whose name was associated with the Western, Scott most closely identified with it." 
    1907 - Charles Curtis, of Kansas, began his term serving in the United States Senate, making him the first American Indian to become a United States Senator. In March of 1929, he resigned to become President Herbert Hoover's Vice President.
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C001008
http://www.africanpubs.com/nativepubs/Apps/bios/0143CurtisCharles.asp
    1909 – RMS Republic, a passenger ship of the White Star Line that built Titanic, became the first ship to use the CQD distress signal after colliding with another ship, SS Florida, off the Massachusetts coastline, an event that killed six people. The Republic sank the next day.
    1910 – Jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt's (d. 1953) birthday in Belgium.  Reinhardt is often regarded as one of the greatest guitar players of all time; he was the first important European jazz musician who made major contributions to the development of the guitar genre.
http://www.hotclub.co.uk/
http://www.classicjazzguitar.com/artists/artists_page.jsp?artist=26
    1913 - Joe Hill's song "Mr. Block" published in the "Industrial Worker."
anarchist
http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/~matt/choir/hill.html
http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/joe-hill.html
http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/mrblock.html
    1919 - Birthday of Ernie Kovacs (d. 1962), early television pioneer and great comedian, in Trenton, NJ. With his wife Edie Adams, he had both a morning and then one of the first late night television shows, smoking a large cigar that his wife later made even more famous. I remember as a teenager the superimposing of Ernie being very small, looking down his wife's well-endowed evening gown. This was very new and shocking on TV.  He had a pet gorilla who was more a clown with
antics. He died in a bizarre car accident in Beverly Hills with his wife in a separate car in the lead, his slipped on the wet pavement and slammed at 25 miles an hour into a telephone pole, where the leadsman had left the bottom rung to climb.  It went through the driver's door, killing him instantly.
http://users.rcn.com/man
http://broadcastpioneers.tripod.com/kyw/kovacs.html aben/kovacs.html
http://www.erniekovacs.com/
    1930 - Birthday of poet and playwright Sir Derek Walcott (d. 2017), born in St. Lucia, in the Caribbean. Walcott won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. Walcott's family descended from slaves in the West Indies, and the legacy of slavery is a common theme in his work. Both his parents were schoolteachers and encouraged a love of reading in their three children. When Walcott's father died, his mother raised the family on her own. Walcott knew early on he wanted to be a writer. His first book of poems was published when he was only 18. He continued writing and began teaching as well. Deeply interested in theater as well as poetry, he received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1957, which allowed him to study with a prominent director in New York for two years. In New York, Walcott founded the Trinidad Theater Workshop. A prolific poet, Walcott published “In a Green Night: Poems 1948-1960” in 1962, “Selected Poems” in 1964, “The Castaway” in 1965, and “The Gulf” in 1969. His lush style explores multicultural tensions and questions of identity. Meanwhile, he continued his work in the theater, with plays like “Ti-Jean and His Brothers” (produced in 1958), “Dream on Monkey Mountain” (produced 1967), and “Pantomime” (produced 1978). He wrote more than 30 plays while continuing to publish poetry collections regularly. His book-length poem “Omeros,” published in 1990, evokes Homer's Odyssey in the environment of the Caribbean. Walcott was the first Caribbean writer to win the Nobel Prize.
http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/1992/
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/walcott.htm
http://www.sinnewe.info/
    1930 - George Washington Birthplace National Monument, Westmoreland County, Virginia was established.  Originally settled by John Washington, Washington’s great-grandfather, George Washington was born here on February 22, 1732. He lived here until age three, returning later as a teenager.  The Wakefield National Memorial Association was formed in 1923 to restore the property. In 1930, the grounds were authorized as a U.S. National Monument and, in 1931, the Wakefield Association received a grant from John D. Rockefeller, Jr., to acquire and transfer a total of 394 acres of land to the Federal government. 
    1933 - The 20th Amendment was ratified, fixing the date of the presidential inauguration at the current January 20 instead of the previous March 4. It also specified that were the president-elect to die before taking office, the vice president-elect would succeed to the presidency. In addition, it set January 3 as the official opening date of Congress each year.
    1933 – Actress, singer, dancer Chita Rivera was born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero in Washington, DC.  She is the first Hispanic woman and the first Latino-American to receive a Kennedy Center Honors award (December 2002). She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
    1936 – Green Bay packers guard and kicker Jerry Kramer was born in Jordan, MT.  During the Lombardi era, Kramer and Fuzzy Thurston led the famed Breen Bay Sweep that ripped huge yardage year after year, becoming the staple of the Packers’ offense in those years.  Kramer also threw the block in the famous Ice Bowl, the 1967 NFL Championship game against the Dallas Cowboys that allowed QB Bart Starr to sneak over the winning TD in the Pack’s 17-14 win.  Although he is a member of the NFL’s 50th Anniversary Team, he is the only member not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
    1941 - Charles A. Lindbergh, a national hero since his 1927 nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic, testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the Lend-Lease policy and suggests that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Hitler. In March 1932, Lindbergh made headlines again, but this time because of the kidnapping of his two-year-old son. The baby was later found dead, and the man convicted of the crime, Bruno Hauptmann, was executed. Many historians believe the real murderer was Lindbergh's sister, who had a history of mental disorder and violence, plus she was living in the house. To flee unwanted publicity, Lindbergh and his wife, Anne Morrow, daughter of U.S. ambassador Dwight Morrow, moved to Europe. During the mid-1930s, Lindbergh became familiar with German advances in aviation and warned his U.S. counterparts of Germany's growing air superiority. But Lindbergh also became enamored of much of the German national "revitalization" he encountered, and allowed himself to be decorated by Hitler's government, which drew tremendous criticism back home. Upon Lindbergh's return to the States, he agitated for neutrality with Germany, and testified before Congress in opposition to the Lend-Lease policy, which offered cash and military aid to countries friendly to the United States in their war effort against the Axis powers. His public denunciation of "the British, the Jewish, and the Roosevelt Administration" as instigators of American intervention in the war, as well as comments that smacked of anti-Semitism, lost him the support of other isolationists. When, in 1941, President Roosevelt denounced Lindbergh publicly, the aviator resigned from the Air Corps Reserve. He eventually contributed to the war effort, though, flying 50 combat missions over the Pacific. His participation in the war, along with his promotion to brigadier general of the Air Force Reserve in 1954 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a popular Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Spirit of St. Louis,” and a movie based on his exploits all worked to redeem him in the public's eyes.
    1941 - Artie Shaw records “Moonglow/Dancing in the Dark” (Victor 27405/27335). In the band were Johnny Guarnieri, Jack Jenney, Billy Butterfield and Ray Conniff on trombone.
    1941 – Ground-breaking for NACA (now NASA) Lewis Research Center
    1943 - The New Tribes Mission was incorporated in Los Angeles by founder Paul W. Fleming. NTM works today primarily in missionary aviation, Bible translation, church planting and the production and distribution of Christian literature.
http://www.ntm.org/
    1943 - Duke Ellington Band plays first Carnegie Hall concert, introduces “Black, Brown, and Beige.”
    1943 - Pioneering rhythm-and-blues artist Louis Jordan topped the Billboard r-and-b chart with "What's the Use of Getting Sober." It was the first of his 18 Number-One singles. Artists such as Chuck Berry and Ray Charles credited Jordan as a major influence.
    1943 - FOSS, JOSEPH JACOB, Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Marine Fighting Squadron 121, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. Place and date: Over Guadalcanal, 9 October to 19 November 1942, 15 and 23 January 1943. Entered service at: South Dakota. Born: 17 April 1915, Sioux Falls, S. Dakota. Citation: For outstanding heroism and courage above and beyond the call of duty as executive officer of Marine Fighting Squadron 121, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, at Guadalcanal. Engaging in almost daily combat with the enemy from 9 October to 19 November 1942, Capt. Foss personally shot down 23 Japanese planes and damaged others so severely that their destruction was extremely probable. In addition, during this period, he successfully led a large number of escort missions, skillfully covering reconnaissance, bombing, and photographic planes as well as surface craft. On 15 January 1943, he added 3 more enemy planes to his already brilliant successes for a record of aerial combat achievement unsurpassed in this war. Boldly searching out an approaching enemy force on 25 January, Capt. Foss led his 8 F-4F Marine planes and 4 Army P-38′s into action and, undaunted by tremendously superior numbers, intercepted and struck with such force that 4 Japanese fighters were shot down and the bombers were turned back without releasing a single bomb. His remarkable flying skill, inspiring leadership, and indomitable fighting spirit were distinctive factors in the defense of strategic American positions on Guadalcanal. In 1959, he was appointed as the first Commissioner of the new American Football League.
    1943 – Mount Austen on Guadalcanal was taken from the Japanese.
    1944 – There are now about 50,000 Allied troops concentrated in the Anzio beachhead. General Lucas commands. German resistance is light but the Allied forces advance slowly. Meanwhile, German Luftwaffe General Albert Kesselring believes it is possible to maintain the Gustav Line defenses at the same time as containing the Anzio landings. The commander of the German 10th Army, von Vietinghoff favors a withdrawal from the southern defensive line. The German High Command allots German reserves from France, northern Italy and the Balkans as well as the German 14th Army headquarters to organize defenses around Anzio. Within a week a total of 8 German divisions are concentrated in the area.
    1944 - The Detroit Red Wings set an NHL record for consecutive goals scored when they defeated the New York Rangers, 15-0.
    1945 - ORESKO, NICHOLAS, Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Master Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 302d Infantry, 94th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Tettington, Germany, 23 January 1945. Entered service at: Bayonne, N.J. Birth: Bayonne, N.J. G.O. No.: 95, 30 October 1945. Citation: M/Sgt. Oresko was a platoon leader with Company C, in an attack against strong enemy positions. Deadly automatic fire from the flanks pinned down his unit. Realizing that a machine gun in a nearby bunker must be eliminated, he swiftly worked ahead alone, braving bullets which struck about him, until close enough to throw a grenade into the German position. He rushed the bunker and, with pointblank rifle fire, killed all the hostile occupants who survived the grenade blast. Another machine gun opened up on him, knocking him down and seriously wounding him in the hip. Refusing to withdraw from the battle, he placed himself at the head of his platoon to continue the assault. As withering machine gun and rifle fire swept the area, he struck out alone in advance of his men to a second bunker. With a grenade, he crippled the dug-in machine gun defending this position and then wiped out the troops manning it with his rifle, completing his second self-imposed, 1-man attack. Although weak from loss of blood, he refused to be evacuated until assured the mission was successfully accomplished. Through quick thinking, indomitable courage, and unswerving devotion to the attack in the face of bitter resistance and while wounded, M /Sgt. Oresko killed 12 Germans, prevented a delay in the assault, and made it possible for Company C to obtain its objective with minimum casualties.
    1948 - John Huston's "Treasure of Sierra Madre" starring Humphrey Bogart opens
http://www.filmsite.org/trea.html
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/TheTreasureoftheSierraMadre-1021979/
http://www.moviegoods.com/movie_product.asp?master_movie_id=14163
    1951 – Top Hits
“Tennessee Waltz” - Patti Page
“The Thing” - Phil Harris
“A Bushel and a Peck” - Perry Como & Betty Hutton
“The Shot Gun Boogie” - Tennessee Ernie Ford
    1951 – Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger was born in Dennison, TX.  He was hailed as a national hero when he successfully executed an emergency water landing of US Air Flight 1549 in the Hudson River off Manhattan, after the aircraft was disabled by striking a flock of geese during its initial climb out of LaGuardia Airport on January 15, 2009. All of the 155 passengers and crew aboard the aircraft survived.
    1953 – In the NFL, the National and American Conferences became the Eastern and Western Conferences while the Dallas Texans became the Baltimore Colts.
    1955 - The U.S. Presbyterian Church votes to accept women as ministers.
    1956 - After being turned down by several other labels, Cincinnati's King label agrees to release James Brown and the Famous Flames' "Please, Please, Please."
    1957 - American inventor Walter F. Morrison sold the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, which later renamed it the "Frisbee."
    1959 – Top Hits
“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” - The Platters
“My Happiness” - Connie Francis
“Donna” - Ritchie Valens
“Billy Bayou” - Jim Reeves
    1960 – The bathyscaphe USS Trieste broke a depth record by descending to 35,797 feet, nearly 7 miles, in the Pacific Ocean.
    1961 – The Supreme Court ruled that cities and states have the right to censor films
    1962 - Jackie Robinson became the first black ballplayer to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Robinson broke baseball's color line in 1947 and played for the Brooklyn Dodgers through 1956.  Also elected was the Indians’ flame-throwing right-hander, Bob Feller.
    1963 - A 20-year-old college dropout from Port Arthur, TX named Janis Joplin begins hitchhiking to San Francisco in order to become a singer, along with her friend Chet Helms.
    1964 - The Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified. Poll taxes and other taxes were eliminated as a prerequisite for voting in all federal elections. Payment of the tax stood as a potent prerequisite and sometimes outright barrier, to voting in national elections. And, for the Southern Democrats who designed and helped pass the tax in a number of Southern states during the 1880s and 1890s, this was precisely the point: the poll tax was a blunt tool for barring poverty-stricken African-Americans and whites from participating in the electoral process. As such, the tax was also a means for stemming the rise of the Populist Party, which had used a racially mixed coalition of poor and lower class voters to gain a place on the national stage. Attempts to roll back the poll tax were generally blocked in the Senate. However, in 1949, Senator Spessard L. Holland of Florida took up the cause of killing the tax forever via a constitutional amendment. When the Senate finally passed the Twenty-Fourth Amendment in 1962, the poll tax remained in effect in five Southern states: Virginia, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama. After 1964, it was constitutionally legal in none.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jan23.html
    1964 – Actress Mariska Hargitay was born in Santa Monica, the daughter of actress Jayne Mansfield.  She has been the long-time lead in the “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” TV series as Detective Olivia Benson that has earned her multiple awards and nominations, including an Emmy and a Golden Globe.
    1965 - “The King Family” premiered on television, the
ABC musical variety show featuring the singing and playing of the King sisters and other descendants of William King Driggs, who organized the family musical group in the 1930s. Including spouses, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, some three dozen members of the King family have appeared on camera at one time.
    1965 - Petula Clark becomes the first British female to hit the top of the American charts, with her smash "Downtown."
    1967 - Top Hits
“I'm a Believer” - The Monkees
“Tell It Like It Is” - Aaron Neville
“Georgy Girl” - The Seekers
“There Goes My Everything” - Jack Greene
    1968 - North Korea seized the USS Pueblo in the Sea of Japan, claiming the ship was on a spy mission. The crew was held for 11 months. The vessel was confiscated. The Pueblo incident began when the Navy intelligence ship was seized off the coast of North Korea by North Korean patrol boats. It was claimed that the Pueblo had been caught within North Korean waters. Its crew of 83 was subjected to harsh treatment until their release. Accompanying the crew when they were released--on Dec 22, 1968--was the body of Seaman Duane D. Hodges, the only crewman killed. The Pueblo incident was a blow to the Johnson administration's credibility, as the president seemed powerless to free the captured crew and ship. Combined with the public's perception--in the wake of the Tet Offensive--that the Vietnam War was being lost, the Pueblo incident resulted in a serious faltering of Johnson's popularity with the American people. The crewmen's reports about their horrific treatment at the hands of the North Koreans during their 11 months in captivity further incensed American citizens, many of whom believed that Johnson should have taken more aggressive action to free the captive Americans. They were primarily after actual cipher machine and this was the main plan in the capture of the Pueblo. With it, they could read all secret communication by the US military.
    1970 - During the trial of the "Chicago Seven" accused of starting a riot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, witness Judy Collins is denied the right to sing a relevant song during her testimony.
    1971 - In Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska, the lowest temperature ever recorded in the United States was reported when the thermometer fell to minus 80 degrees.
    1971 – UCLA lost to Notre Dame in basketball, then reeled off 88 games in a row, only to be defeated by Notre Dame again.
    1973 - President Nixon announces that Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, the chief North Vietnamese negotiator, have initiated a peace agreement in Paris "to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and Southeast Asia", preliminary signed on January 22 and official agreement signed on January 27. Kissinger and Tho had been conducting secret negotiations since 1969. After the South Vietnamese had blunted the massive North Vietnamese invasion launched in the spring of 1972, Kissinger and the North Vietnamese had finally made some progress on reaching a negotiated end to the war. However, a recalcitrant South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu had inserted several demands into to the negotiations that caused the North Vietnamese negotiators to walk out of the talks with Kissinger on December 13. President Nixon issued an ultimatum to Hanoi to send its representatives back to the conference table within 72 hours "or else." The North Vietnamese rejected Nixon's demand and the president ordered Operation Linebacker II, a full-scale air campaign against the Hanoi area. This operation was the most concentrated air offensive of the war. During the 11 days of the attack, 700 B-52 sorties and more than 1,000 fighter-bomber sorties dropped roughly 20,000 tons of bombs, mostly over the densely populated area between Hanoi and Haiphong. On December 28, after 11 days of intensive bombing, the North Vietnamese agreed to return to the talks. When the negotiators met again in early January, they quickly worked out a settlement.
    1973 - Tony Orlando and Dawn's "Knock Three Times" hits #1
    1973 - Neil Young interrupted a concert in New York to announce that the US had accepted a ceasefire in Vietnam. The audience was reported to have hugged and kissed for 10 minutes.
    1974 - The movie "The Exorcist," based on William Peter Blatty's novel, opened with Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" playing over the movie's credits. The song was awarded a gold record.
    1974 – TV actress Tiffani Amber Theissen was born in Long Beach, CA.
    1975 – Top Hits
“Mandy” - Barry Manilow
“Please Mr. Postman” - Carpenters
“Laughter in the Rain” - Neil Sedaka
“Kentucky Gambler” - Merle Haggard
    1975 - "Barney Miller" premiered on television, about a New York precinct captain starred Hal Linden as Captain Barney Miller. The 12th Precinct gang included Barbara Barrie as Miller's wife, Abe Vigoda as Detective Phil Fish, Max Gail as Sergeant Stan Wojciehowicz, Gregory Sierra as Sergeant Chano Amenguale, Jack Soo as Sergeant Nick Yemana, Ron Glass as Detective Ron Harris and a host of others. It was one of my favorite television shows
http://timvp.com/bmiller.html
    1977 - When Carole King's landmark album, "Tapestry," hit its 302nd week on the album charts, it became the longest-running album to hit the charts in history. It would eventually be eclipsed, no pun intended, by Pink Floyd's “Dark Side of the Moon.”
    1982 - CBS broadcasts “The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception,” charging General William Westmoreland oversaw the intentional underestimation of enemy forces to improve the perception of how things were going. Westmoreland filed a libel suit, which he subsequently lost.
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/U/htmlU/uncountedene/uncountedene.htm
http://www.sfsu.edu/~avitv/avcatalog/88419.htm
    1983 - "The A-Team" began its run on television, full of action and drama, starring, Mr. T.  Wearing a ton of gold jewelry, he played the not so mild-mannered Sergeant Bosco B.A. Baracus, under the command of George Peppard as John Hannibal Smith
http://www.timstvshowcase.com
http://www.ateamresource.net/review.asp?menuid=47
http://www.dollsandtoysaustralia.com/ateam.html
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/6677/
    1983 – Top Hits
“Down Under” - Men at Work
“The Girl is Mine” - Michael Jackson /Paul McCartney
“Dirty Laundry” - Don Henley
“(Lost His Love) On Our Last Date” - Emmylou Harris
    1983 - Miami linebacker A.J. Duhe has three interceptions, including one he returns for a 35-yard touchdown, as the Dolphins defeat the Jets 14-0 in the AFC Championship Game.
    1986 - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its very first class of musicians: Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Sam Cooke, and the Everly Brothers.
    1988 - For the first time ever, a bowler named Bob Benoit rolled a 300 game on television to win a professional tournament. He won the Quaker State Open in Grand Prairie, TX, and earned a $100,000 bonus.
    1991 - Policeman's Videotaped Murder Leads to Killers' Convictions in Texas. Darrell Lunsford, a county constable in Garrison, Texas, is killed after pulling over a traffic violator. His murder was remarkable because it was captured on a camera set up in Lunsford's patrol vehicle. The videotape evidence led to the conviction of the three men who beat, kicked, and stabbed the officer to death along the East Texas highway. Lunsford pulled over a vehicle with Maine license plates and turned on the video camera installed on his front dashboard. He appeared to have asked the three men in the car to open the trunk. However, when the men got out of the car they tackled Lunsford and stabbed him in the neck. The men took his gun, badge, and wallet and drove off in their car. Later that night, Reynaldo Villarreal was picked up by officers as he was walking a few miles from the murder site. His brother, Baldemar, and another man, Jesse Zambrano, were also arrested a short time later. At the trial of the three men, the jury watched the videotape and all three were convicted. The videotaped murder of Lunsford has ushered in a new era. Video cameras have become ubiquitous in police cars, and can be a potent law-enforcement tool.
    1991 – Top Hits
“Love Will Never Do (Without You)” - Janet Jackson
“The First Time” - Surface
“Sensitivity” - Ralph Tresvant
“Unanswered Prayers” - Garth Brooks
    1991 – “Seinfeld” debuted on NBC-TV.
    1993 - New York Newsday reported Oregon Senator Bob Packwood sexually harassed 23 women
    1994 – Cowboys’ QB Bernie Kosar became the second quarterback to throw TD passes in AFC and NFC Championship games
    1997 - Madeleine Korbel Albright, born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, was sworn in as Secretary of State, the first woman to hold this position. She served as Ambassador to the United Nations during the first administration of President Clinton. While she was raised a Catholic, during her term she learned she was the child of Jewish parents killed by the Nazi's and hidden and raised as a Catholic.
    1998 - Pope John Paul II condemned U.S. embargo against Cuba
    2002 - "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh returned to the US in FBI custody.
    2002 - Reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in Pakistan and subsequently murdered
    2003 - Final communication between Earth and Pioneer 10 spacecraft.
    2011 - Google awarded its outgoing CEO Eric Schmidt $100 million 
    2013 - Without offering an explanation, Tina Turner revealed that she was giving up her US citizenship to become a citizen of Switzerland. Her reasons were probably was not tax related, as Switzerland itself is a high tax environment for its citizens.