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Leasing News is a web site that posts information, news, and
entertainment for the commercial bank, finance and leasing industry

kitmenkin@leasingnews.org
   



Thursday, October 1, 2015



Today's Equipment Leasing Headlines

Archives—October 1, 2004  MicroFinancial Secures
   $30 Million Line of Credit from CIT
Richest Man in Leasing: Steven Udvar-Hazay
   Forbes #159 in United States
New Hires---Promotions in the Leasing Business
  and Related Industries
Leasing Industry Ads---Help Wanted
  Opportunities Galore
FinTech #102 by Charles Anderson
  "How do I 'eDoc'?"
Leasing Conferences –Exhibitors Updated
  Registration Available at NEFA Conference Site
Fintech Industry Legend Pete Kight Joins MX Team
as Key Advisor and Board Member While Also Investing $4MM
Business Financial Services Rebrands as BFS Capital
  Files for IPO
NACHA’s Payments Alliance Releases White Paper
  “Real Time in Real Life”
Element Financial Closes the Acquisition of GE Capital’s
Fleet Operations in Mexico, Australia and New Zealand
The Martian/99 Homes/Spy
The Duke of Burgundy/The Honeymoon Killers
Film/Digital Reviews by Fernando Croce
Labrador Retriever
Lindon, Utah Adopt-a-Dog
Classified Ads
  Leasing Web Site Developer
News Briefs---
Banks can buy the FinTechs, but it is the BigTechs
  they have to worry about
The 25 Largest Corporate Cash Hoarders in America
   Data Curated by FindTheCompany.com
Wells Fargo Agrees to Buy General Electric
   Railcar Leasing Unit
Measurement Firm ComScore to Acquire Rentrak
Merger could create more formidable rival to No. 1 player Nielsen
Feds OK M&T Bank, Buffalo, NY, Acquisition Hudson City
  Combines $72.6 Billion Deposits with $18.2 Billion
GE to Shift Jobs to Canada in Ex-Im Bank Protest
  To Move 350 Jobs to New Factory
Asia tycoon Li on defensive
  after attacks from Chinese media
The Bank where Women Rule
  in India
10 more Facebook hoaxes
  Don’t be Fooled by What is Making the Rounds
First drive: Tesla Model X is an awesome way
   to spend $132,000

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Top Ten Stories Chosen by Readers | Top Stories last six months

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[headlines]

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

ArchivesOctober 1, 2004  MicroFinancial Secures
$30 Million Line of Credit from CIT

WOBURN, Mass., -- MicroFinancial Incorporated (NYSE:MFI) announced that it has arranged for a three year, $30 million senior secured revolving line of credit from CIT Commercial Services, a unit of CIT Group (NYSE:CIT). This line of credit replaces the previous one year, $8 million credit facility under more favorable terms and conditions including, but not limited to, pricing at prime plus 1.5% or Libor plus 4%. In addition, it retired the existing outstanding debt with the former bank group.

MicroFinancial is a financial intermediary specializing in vendor based leasing and finance programs for microticket size transactions in the $500 to $10,000 range.

Richard Latour, President and Chief Executive Officer of MicroFinancial stated, "We are delighted to receive this new senior credit facility from CIT which will provide us with a greater level of flexibility in our product offerings to our customers and vendors."

Today


Richard Latour
CEO/President
Microfinancial

December 17, 2014 Company is purchased by Fortress Investment Group for $147 million. "MicroFinancial and its affiliate TimePayment were originally in the microticket leasing marketplace, usually $500 to $15,000 (October, 2014 average was $4,900). The 28 year old company recently announced it was raising it maximum to $100,000, perhaps with the anticipation of the arrival of Fortress Investment Group."

Working primarily under the affiliate name TimePayment, the company
has hired Vince Faino to expand their broker market: vince.faino@timepayment.com
877-868-3800 x7002

 

 

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


Richest Man in Leasing: Steven Udvar-Hazay
Forbes #159 in United States

Steven Udvar-Hazay, 69, Beverly Hills, California, CEO, International Lease Finance, is tied with five others as 159th richest person in the United States at $3.7 billion.  Last year he was 146 on the list of Forbes 400 for 2014. He was number #133 the year before. Worldwide Billionaires this year, 2015, he is number #462. No one else in leasing made the 2015 Forbes 400 list.

Forbes reports, "As global air traffic grows, Steven Udvar-Hazy is playing a part by leasing out airplanes. Udvar-Hazy, who is credited with creating the airplane leasing industry, is the Chief Executive Officer of Air Lease Corp., which went public in 2011 and is Udvar-Hazy's second company in the airplane leasing industry. His first, International Lease Finance Corp., was sold to AIG in 1990 for $1.3 billion. Air Lease is competes directly with AIG's airplane leasing business.

"In April 2015, Air Lease announced that it would pay $72 million to AIG to settle a lawsuit in which AIG alleged that Air Lease employees took trade secrets. Air Lease did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement agreement.

"Udvar-Hazy moved to New York from Budapest, Hungary,  as a child. A certified jet pilot, he co-founded International Lease Finance after cobbling together deals with airlines while still a student at UCLA. After graduating, Udvar-Hazy started his own California commuter airline, but struggled to stay in the black. He realized that the money was in leasing airplanes to airlines. He's given about $100 million to Stanford University, where his children went to college, and is also the namesake of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, to which he donated $66 million.


The National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Forbes: The Richest People in America 2015
http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/list/

 


 

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


New Hires---Promotions in the Leasing Business
and Related Industries


Louis Barone was hired as Managing Director, Northeast Regional Sales Manager of CIT Commercial Services, New York, New York. "Mr. Barone has many years of experience working to meet the financial needs of the consumer products sector. He joins CIT from Israel Discount Bank (IDB), where he was Senior Vice President, Head of IDB Factors since 2010. Prior to joining IDB, Barone held various management positions at several financial institutions, including GMAC Commercial Finance and HSBC Business Credit. He also previously served as Vice President, Business Development at CIT."


Robert Holloway was hired as Business Development Executive at The Business Backer, Cincinnati, Ohio. Previously, he was Sales Manager, Equipment Finance Solutions, Great American Insurance (November 2014–September 2015); Vice President, PNC Equipment Finance (October 1999–September 2009); VP, Sales, Lease Industry Finance, National City Commercial Capital (1999–2009). Education: Xavier University, Master of Business Administration (MBA), Business/Commerce, General (2000–2003). University of Cincinnati College of Business, BBA, Finance and Real Estate (1988–1993).
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/robert-holloway/26/b14/283


Gerald Pavelich was hired as Chief Financial Officer, International Decision Systems. Previously, he was CFO, Barclaycard US Barclaycard (June 2012–September 2015); CFO, CUNA Mutual Group (April 2009–January 2012). He joined CITY October, 2001, as CFO, Cite Commerce Solutions; November, 2003, promoted to CFO, Citi-Sears Credit Services; December, 2007, promoted Citibank North America. Prior he was at GE (January 1980-December 1997), promoted to CFO, North America Fleet at GE Capital (January 1998-October 2001). Education: University of MN, Duluth, Bachelors.
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/gerald-pavelich/45/80b/28b

 



 

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

Leasing Industry Help Wanted

 

Press Release    
WE'RE HIRING at Our Minneapolis Headquarters
Credit Manager
This position will be responsible for underwriting small ticket working capital applications up to $250,000 in a fast paced and high volume environment. The candidate will make independent decisions on commercial credit applications through evaluation of business and personal credit reports, financial statements and other credit information. More
Collections Representative
This position will function as the primary contact for customer concerns regarding loan collection issues. The candidate will act as a liaison between the customer, Channel Partners Capital and 3rd Party Collection Agencies. More
Please email cover letter and resume to: careers@channelpartnersllc.com



Credit Manager
Riverside, CA


Ideal Candidate 5 Years Exp. Equip.
Leasing & Finance, Prefer Titled
Transportation Equipment Exp.

Click here for more information

www.FFResources.com
Nationwide Leasing & Financing of Commercial Fleets


For information on placing a help wanted ad, please click here:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Classified/Hwanted/Hwanted-post.htm

Please see our Job Wanted section for possible new employees.

 

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


FinTech #102 by Charles Anderson

"How do I 'eDoc'?"
(An operational perspective on implementing eDocs)

Imagine a tool that everyone is talking about, and yet few out of the many in banking, finance, and leasing and finance are using. You may have guessed it: electronic documents. For several years, the shift to electronic documents – known legally and technically as “electronic chattel paper” – has become the go-to topic of discussion for anyone looking to move their equipment leasing firm into the digital age. As such, the legality and benefits of eDocs are widely known and well-understood. And despite all the hype and clear advantages to digital documents – ease to the customer, speed of transaction, mitigated processing costs –their use in the equipment leasing space is far from commonplace.

Why? Though electronic documents are the clear future of our industry, there is a steep learning curve to actual processing and integration.  Several big concerns stand out:

  • Is there a way to ensure my client’s identity is secure?
  • How do I verify signature via email
  • What ensures the security in transfer and storage of eDocs?

Let’s discuss the best practices when using eDocs in your processing and operations flow.

​The first big challenge: identity protection. Traditionally, lenders required wet-signature originals to fund a transaction, along with a copy of the signatory’s driver’s license (or other form of identification) for signature-matching. If the documents we send are digital, how can we be certain the personal guarantor/lessee is the only signatory? Couldn’t just about anyone open their email and give their consent to a loan?

​Not exactly. If anything, electronic signatures have allowed increased security and protection for your client’s identity with the use of third-party identity validation – known in layman’s terms as an “ID Check”. In order to digitally sign a document, every customer’s identity must be verified with a series of secure personal questions from an authorized third-party (such as a major credit bureau). This verified signature then corresponds to a unique digital certificate assigned to every document. This certificate provides a third-party timestamp, a tamper-evident seal, and even the location where your documents were signed (which our analyst later verifies on the verbal verification call, for increased protection).

There are many additional identity features, implementing text message authorization, social media login, or access code authentication. What you choose depends on your company’s goals, your lending partner’s stipulations, and customer’s ease of access.

​The second big issue with electronic documents – access to copies. This is the most evident benefit to wet-signature copies to fund; that storage systems and access to original documentation are both  straightforward. However, digital document services have responded with incredibly sophisticated storage and vaulting capability, depending on what security levels you choose. The lowest security levels include digital certification provided upon signature, which all signatories can download after signature.  With a timestamp, digital certificate, and tamper-evident seal, this final copy of the document is strongly protected. However, this copy is arguably disputed, as original copies can be readily shared and distributed to anyone with a computer drive or email.

If digital sharing is of concern for your company, third-party vaulting services can store the final copy of your electronic documents post-signature with digital vaulting services. An “electronic vault” is just as it sounds – a digital storage platform that encrypts and handles signed documents in their ‘original’ form, and any other shared copies will be indicated as such. This protects the integrity of your original copies even more securely than the traditional wet-signature, and includes seamless transfer services allowing for instant, low-cost “shipment” of your original signatures to lending sources, investors, and brokers.

Ultimately digital documents are not seen as a liability, but a tremendous step into the future of digital processing. DocuSign and eOriginal specifically have granted security to our customers, speed and convenience to our operations team, but most importantly, protection of our assets, in the form of secure ID checks, original document vaulting, and certified document copies.  But ultimately the biggest barrier to electronic documents is the fear of change – specifically, uncertainty as to how to integrate electronic documents with back-end systems and processes.


Charles Anderson
CEO – IMCA Capital, Enverto Investment Group, Express-Tech
http://www.imcacareers.com/ 

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

 


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

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

Leasing Conferences –Exhibitors Updated
Registration Available at NEFA Conference Site

Leasing Conferences 2015
Save the Date 



 


 

 

Registration Available at Conference

2015 Funding Symposium
10/7/2015 to 10/9/2015
Wed through Friday
J W Marriott Atlanta Buckhead Hotel
3300 Lenox Road Northeast
Atlanta, Georgia  30326
United States
Contact: Kim King 
KKing@NEFAssociation.org
Phone: 847-380-5053

Funding Symposium Exhibitors To Date:
Advanced Recovery Systems
Amerisource Funding
Bank of the West
Blue Chip Leasing Corporation
Boston Financial & Equity Corporation
Bryn Mawr Funding
Business Credit Reports
Channel Partners Capital
CLFP Foundation
Cobra Capital, LLC
Collateral Specialists, Inc.
Conestoga Equipment Finance Corp
Dakota Financial, LLC
Dedicated Commercial Recovery, Inc.
ECS Financial Services, Inc.
EDA
Equipment Finance Advisor
Financial Pacific Leasing, Inc.
FirstLease, Inc.
FORA Financial
Funding Circle
Great American Insurance
IOU Central, Inc.
Leasepath
LeaseTeam, Inc.
Marlin Business Bank
MAXIM Commercial Capital, LLC
Merchant Cash Group
Monitor
North Mill Equipment Finance, LLC
Odessa Technologies, Inc.
Orange Commercial Credit
Pawnee Leasing Corporation
Quality Leasing Co., Inc.
Quitrak, Inc.
Rapid Advance
Recovery Industry Services, LLC
Red Bridge Capital
RLC Funding
RTR Services, Inc.
TradeRiver USA, Inc.
VFI Corporate Finance
Vision Commerce, Inc.
WBL

Full Information including pricing, schedule, and reservation:
http://nefassociation.site-ym.com/events/event_details.asp?id=594672&group=#

 


Dwight Galloway
SVP Broker Funding
RLC Funding
Columbia, South Carolina

Dwight Galloway will be covering the conference for
 Leasing News with a report to follow for readers not attending.

 


 


2015 54th Annual Convention
10/25/2015 - 10/27/2015
JW Marriott Hill Country
San Antonio, TX

847 individuals signed to attend to date with 
three weeks to go.

Attendees
http://www.elfaonline.org/events/2015/AC/attend.cfm

Brochure with Schedule of Events
http://www.elfaonline.org/cvweb_elfa/cgi-bin/documentdll.dll/view?DOCUMENTNUM=1147

Keynote Speakers
http://www.elfaonline.org/events/2015/AC/spkrs.cfm

ELFA President and CEO Woody Sutton invites you 
to connect, engage and grow in San Antonio! (1:43)




 



The 2015 Fall Conference will be held at the Loews Don CeSar Hotel in St. Pete Beach, FL on November 4 through November 6, 2015. 

Registration Link:
 https://aglf.memberclicks.net/aglf-fall-conference


 

2015 Western Regional Meeting
November 13-14, 2015
Doubletree by Hilton Anaheim - Orange County
Anaheim, CA

To reserve your room, visit
http://doubletree.hilton.com/en/dt/groups/personalized/S/SNACCDT-WRC-20151105/index.jhtml

Registration Now Open:
http://www.naelb.org/NAELB_Docs/2015%20Regional%20Meetings/
Western%20Regional%20Registration%20Form%202015.pdf

Exhibitors to Date
(Note: Hall is “Sold Out”)
360 Equipment Finance
Amerisource Funding
Ascentium Capital LLC
Banc of California, N.A.
Bryn Mawr Funding
BSB Leasing Inc.
Capify
Channel Partners LLC
Dakota Financial, LLC
Financial Pacific Leasing, Inc.
Fora Financial
Funding Circle
Go Capital
Huntington Technology Finance
instaCOVER
LeasePath
LoanMe
Marlin Business Services Corp.
Maxim Commercial Capital
NCMIC Finance Corporation
North Mill Equipment Financing LLC
OnDeck
Orange Commercial Credit
RapidAdvance, LLC
Pacific Western Equipment Finance
Paradigm Equipment Finance
Pawnee Leasing Corporation
Preferred Business Solutions
TEAM Funding Solutions
VFI Corporate Finance

 


 


CFA
71st Annual Convention
November 11 - 13, 2015
JW Marriott Austin
Austin, TX

More Information
http://cfa.connectedcommunity.org/convention/home




 

 



EXPO NJ Super Regional
11/15/2015 to 11/16/2015
Sunday/Monday

Teaneck Marriott at Glenpointe
100 Frank Burr Blvd
Teaneck, New Jersey  07666
United States  

Contact:
 Kim King, NEFA Sr. Association Coordinator 
KKing@NEFAssociation.org 
 Phone: (847) 380-5053

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

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

Fintech Industry Legend Pete Kight Joins MX Team
as Key Advisor and Board Member While Also Investing $4MM

Pete Kight, FinTech pioneer (and founder of CheckFree), has joined the board of MX and made a $4 million investment in the FinTech company based in Lehi, Utah. MX is driving profitability and customer engagement in new ways for financial institutions.

Kight is joining the board of MX to provide not only an investment, but he is also bringing his knowledge as a leader within the financial technology industry and will serve as a personal advisor to Ryan Caldwell, MX CEO. With this investment, MX will become and industry leader and the premier, top-tier financial technology company of our time by harnessing Kight’s unrivaled industry knowledge as well as the financial means he brings.

SILICON SLOPES, Utah -- MX, a FinTech company that makes it possible for banks and credit unions to win their competitor's most profitable account holders, announced that Pete Kight, founder and sole CEO of the electronic bill pay pioneer CheckFree, has joined the MX team as a close advisor to MX's founder and CEO, Ryan Caldwell.  As a further indication of his commitment to MX and its mission, Kight also joins the board of directors and has made a significant personal investment in the business.

Kight brings 34 years of record-breaking industry experience to the MX team. Kight developed CheckFree's industry-shaping electronic financial management tools for business and personal use, acquiring more than 100 patents for innovations in FinTech. As a result, Kight catapulted CheckFree to $1 billion in annual revenue and 4,700 associates in nine countries before selling the company to Fiserv in 2007 for $4.5 billion dollars, one of the highest value transactions in FinTech history. Kight is using his vast industry experience to amplify the MX trajectory.

Kight also serves on the board of directors at Huntington Bancshares Incorporated and Blackbaud. Previously, he served on the board of directors for Fiserv (2010-2012), Akamai, Inc. Technologies (2004-2012) and Manhattan Associates (2007-2011)


Pete Kight
Founder/CEO
CheckFree

"MX picks up where CheckFree left off, driving innovation forward for financial institutions with revolutionary digital solutions," said Kight. "They're moving the industry, and they clearly are the technological leader in the current competitive landscape. Based on the technology in place, and what is currently under development, MX has the potential to be the signal firm that moves the financial services industry fully into the digital age."

MX enables banks and credit unions to achieve record breaking growth by winning their competitor's most profitable account holders.  As one of the fastest-growing FinTech providers, MX drives customer-centric banking relationships by gathering and providing data upon which online and mobile banking partners and financial institutions can create and deliver next generation banking applications and solutions.
At its core, MX is driven to quickly move consumers into understanding and control of their banking lives. This vision is realized by working with digital, online and mobile banking partners and financial institutions using technology that aids in attracting, capturing and advocating for individuals, businesses and investors. The result promotes financial intelligence while driving critical additional revenue for financial institutions.

"In an age of digitally-driven consumer empowerment, financial institutions need partners like MX more than they might realize," Kight said. "Leading financial institutions know that unless they exceed account holder expectations, they risk losing ground to new competitors in the FinTech space. There is no better way to establish leadership on the digital front than by partnering with technology innovators such as MX. Organizations that cannot or will not embrace the vision and tools developed by companies like MX will not thrive in the next decade."


Ryan Caldwell, founder and CEO of MX states, "Pete Kight has had one of the largest impacts on financial services in the last few decades.  We choose our partnerships with strategic precision, and having Kight join our board is a tremendous honor. Kight giving his time and attention to MX is a solid validation for the MX team and what we are building." Caldwell continues, "Kight is a bold advocate for innovation, and his insights have already accelerated MX's growth. Our combined efforts enable banks and credit unions to achieve a level of competitive strength previously unseen and will ultimately position banks and credit unions at the forefront of customer advocacy, financial freedom and forever alter the landscape of the financial services industry."


Pete Kight joins an impressive list of MX investors, advisors and entrepreneurs:

·         USAA
·         Digital Garage
·         Nobu Mutaguchi (TPP Capital Advisors)
·         TTV Capital
·         North Hill Ventures
·         Commerce Ventures
·         Subtraction Capital
·         Fraser Bullock (Sorenson Capital)
·         Josh James (Omniture and Domo)
·         Jeff Kearl (Stance & Skullcandy)
·         Greg Warnock (Plus550 & Mercato Partners)
·         Rick Alden (Plus550 & Skullcandy)
·         Todd Pederson (Plus550 & Vivint)

About MX
Founded in 2010, MX delivers data aggregation, data cleansing, auto-categorization, classification, money management, custom API, data analytics, marketing, UI and more.  In addition, MX offers an extensive array of client services, ranging from training to custom marketing services.  MX currently partners with more than 550 financial institutions and more than 30 digital, online and mobile banking providers — designating MX as a proven powerhouse in the FinTech space. http://www.mx.com/

 


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

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

Business Financial Services Rebrands as BFS Capital
Files for IPO

Coral Springs, FL – Business Financial Services, Inc., a leading technology-enabled small business financing platform, announced it has rebranded as BFS Capital and launched a new website, www.bfscapital.com. As part of this rebranding, the company has also unified its North American business affiliates.

BFS Capital also announced that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) relating to the proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The number of shares to be sold and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined.

The initial public offering is expected to commence after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions.

A champion of small business, BFS Capital provides flexible, timely
solutions for customers without access to traditional financing. The new BFS brand conveys a sustained commitment to empowering the growth and success of these businesses. Today, BFS Capital offers loans and merchant cash advances – up to $2 million – to small businesses across 400 industries in all 50 states, the United Kingdom and Canada through its extensive network of independent sales organizations, as well as its direct sales and online channels.

The rebranding reflects the company’s deep experience serving the diverse financing needs of small businesses, its commitment to innovative products and technology, and its expanded market opportunities. “As we have grown and acquired new partners over the years, we saw the need to unify our businesses under a single brand representative of our rich history and bright future,” said Marc Glazer, CEO and co-founder.

BFS’s affiliates, Entrust Merchant Solutions, GBR Funding and Premium
Capital Group, are also known as BFS Capital, which now has more than 275 employees. The former Entrust team has become the BFS direct sales group, led by Ilya Fridman as Senior Vice President. UK affiliate, Boost Capital, will retain its name.

About BFS Capital
BFS Capital champions the long-term growth and prosperity of small
businesses by providing timely, flexible financing solutions. BFS’s leading small business financing platform leverages customized underwriting and proprietary algorithms to fund up to $2 million for businesses in all 50 states and Canada, and through its affiliate, Boost Capital, in the United Kingdom. Since 2002, BFS has provided more than $1 billion in total financing to small businesses across more than 400 industries.

Headquartered in South Florida with additional offices in New York, California and Georgia, BFS is an accredited BBB company with an A+ rating.

For more information, please visit www.bfscapital.com.

 

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

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

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

NACHA’s Payments Alliance Releases White Paper
“Real Time in Real Life”


HERNDON, Va., – NACHA—The Electronic Payments Association® announced  that its Payments Innovation Alliance released a white paper, “Real Time in Real Life: The Impact of a Real-Time Payments System on Its Users.”
 
Even as real-time payments systems are proliferating around the globe, real time can mean many different things with vastly different implications to users of the system. The paper provides clarity on what a real-time payment is by exploring what real time means, outlining the challenges to implementing real time, and identifying major use cases and user impact.
 
“Real time has the potential to drastically change the way consumers and businesses make payments and interact with their financial institutions,” said George Throckmorton, managing director, Advanced Payments Solutions at NACHA.
 
“This paper seeks to bring the concept of real time to real life by informing the industry globally on the realities of deploying a real-time payment system and the benefits and opportunities a real-time system can provide to various users,” Throckmorton said.
 
The paper was released as part of the Payments Innovation Alliance’s Members Meeting, which is going on now through Oct. 1 in Miami. The Members Meeting features discussion of a variety of payments-related topics (link is external), including sessions dedicated to real-time and faster payments initiatives such as Same Day ACH. Same Day ACH, a new amendment to the NACHA Operating Rules that will move payments faster on the ACH Network, can serve as complementary functionality to any real-time payments system that is implemented in the U.S.
 
Launched last year, The Alliance is a membership group of more than 200 member organizations from throughout the payments ecosystem and around the globe that encourages industry dialogue and collaboration to help advance domestic and global payments. 
 
To download a copy of the “Real Time in Real Life” white paper: 
https://www2.nacha.org/webform/real-time-real-life-impact-real-time-payments-system-its-users
 
About the Payments Innovation Alliance
The Payments Innovation Alliance brings together diverse, global stakeholders to support payments innovation, collaboration, and results through discussion, debate, education, networking, and special projects that support the ACH Network and the payments industry worldwide. By organizing content and focus across all payment areas, including emerging payment technologies, electronic billing and presentment, mobile, payment security/risk, check conversion and global payments, the Alliance seeks to grow and advance payments and payments technology to better meet and serve the needs of the evolving industry. For more information and to learn how to join, visit allianceexchange.nacha.org.


Receivables Management LLC
John Kenny

• End of Lease Negotiations & Enforcement 
• Third-Party Commercial Collections

john@jkrmdirect.com | ph 315-866-1167
www.jkrmdirect.com

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

 

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

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

Element Financial Closes the Acquisition of GE Capital’s
Fleet Operations in Mexico, Australia and New Zealand

TORONTO, Ontario,  - Element Financial Corporation (TSX:EFN) (“Element” or the “Company”), one of North America’s leading fleet management and equipment finance companies,  announced that it has closed the acquisition of General Electric Capital Corporation’s (“GE Capital”) fleet management operations in Mexico and their fleet management operations in Australia and New Zealand doing business as Custom Fleet.

Element previously acquired the Canadian operations of GE Capital’s fleet management business in June of 2013 and acquired GE Capital’s US fleet management operations on August 31, 2015. Element’s combined fleet management business now accounts for approximately $13.0 billion or 70 percent of the Company’s $18.6 billion in total earning assets as at September 30, 2015.


Bradly Nullmeyer
Element Financial President

“Through these transactions, Element’s fleet management capabilities have been expanded to cover the entire North American continent and the Element/Arval Global Alliance has been strengthened by our acquisition of GE Capital’s Custom Fleet operations in Australia and New Zealand,” noted Bradley Nullmeyer, Element Financial Corporation’s President. “Working with guidance from our customers, both large and small, I strongly believe that the unmatched technical expertise and unwavering customer focus of this integrated fleet enterprise will serve as a catalyst for innovation across all segments of this industry,” added Mr. Nullmeyer.


Steve Hudson
Element’s CEO

“The acquisition of these GE Capital fleet management operations positions Element to achieve strong earnings growth from both the expansion of our addressable market for fleet management services and through the deeper penetration of that market with an expanding range of fee-based value-added services,” said Steven Hudson, Element’s Chief Executive Officer.

About Element Financial Corporation
With total assets of approximately C$22 billion, Element Financial Corporation is one of North America’s leading fleet management and equipment finance companies. Element operates in four verticals of the equipment finance market -Fleet Management, Rail Finance, Commercial & Vendor Finance, and Aviation Finance.

Element’s fleet management capability is offered to customers through the Company’s North American platforms in Canada, the United States and Mexico together with the operations of Custom Fleet in Australia and New Zealand and in other markets through Element’s partnership in the Element/Arval Global Alliance.

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

 

 

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

Fernando's View
By Fernando F. Croce

An outer-space adventure ("The Martian") and a down-home drama ("99 Homes") make for a contrasting box-office double-bill, while DVD releases offer rollicking action-comedy ("Spy"), provocative relationships ("Duke of Burgundy"), and lurid true stories ("The Honeymoon Killers").

In Theaters:


The Martian (Twentieth Century Fox): No stranger to outer space adventures, director Ridley Scott ("Alien," "Prometheus") rockets once more into the stars with this splendidly crafted science-fiction yarn. Matt Damon stars as Mark Watney, an astronaut who finds himself left behind on the surface of Mars after his mission goes disastrously awry. The spaceship's captain (Jessica Chastain) assumes the worst, though Mark quickly proves his resilience with survival methods that make use of his resourcefulness and sense of humor. But can he stay alive long enough for NASA to rescue him? Making ingenious use of its zero-gravity settings for 3D effects, Scott's film walks a fine line between serious exploration and crowd-pleasing blockbuster, making it a worthy addition to the recent slew of solid sci-fi efforts that includes "Gravity" and "Interstellar."


99 Homes (Broad Green Pictures): Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon shine in this earnest social critique from writer-director Ramin Bahrani. Garfield plays Dennis Nash, a struggling single father desperately looking for work after his family is evicted from their home. With his mother (Laura Dern) and young son living in motel rooms, Dennis finally succumbs to the demonic charisma of Rick Carver (Shannon), a ruthless businessman who takes him under his wing and teaches him about the lure of unchecked capitalism. As he embarks on a project to foreclose 99 homes, however, his conscience starts acting up. Made with palpable passion and moral commitment, Bahrani's film compensates for its stylistic modesty with a vigorous raid on complacency. The results are urgent, thoughtful, and as brutal as any thriller out in theaters.

Netflix Tip: With his new film "99 Homes," Ramin Bahrani continues to sharpen his voice. So check out this acclaimed indie director's previous pictures, which include "Man Push Cart" (2005), "Goodbye Solo" (2008), and "At Any Price" (2012).

On DVD:

Spy (Twentieth Century Fox): Having floundered in inferior vehicles since her Oscar-nominated breakout in "Bridesmaids," Melissa McCarthy finally gets another quality role in this rollicking action-comedy, directed by Paul Feig. McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, a meek CIA analyst who goes about her job quietly at her desk while plenty of dangerous international intrigue swirls around her. When her partner, Agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law), becomes involved in a case that includes nuclear weapons and possible global disaster, Susan at last gets a chance to be part of the excitement. Featuring a solid supporting cast (Jason Statham, Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale) and filled with inventive gags that take advantage of McCarthy's knack for slapstick, this is a fast-paced and enjoyable spoof of espionage thrillers.


The Duke of Burgundy(Shout! Factory): Following the intriguing thriller "Berberian Sound Studio," director Peter Strickland examines an unusual relationship in this provocative, stylish drama. Unfolding mostly in a sumptuous country home, the story traces the ups and downs in the intense bond between two quite different women: Cynthia (Sidse Babett Knudsen), a haughty lecturer with an interest in insects, and Evelyn (Chiara D'Anna), her seemingly shy housekeeper. Slowly and tantalizingly, the boundary-pushing games and rituals they play are revealed, hinting at the fierce pull between the characters. As their games grow increasingly quirky and even ominous, however, the dreaminess of their role-playing threatens to spill into their reality. With frankness, delicacy, and healthy doses of dry humor, Strickland paints on a mesmerizing canvas of desire.


The Honeymoon Killers (Criterion): A lurid crime tale as well as a bizarre love story, this intense 1969 low-budget gem recounts the shocking real-life trajectory of a couple of sociopaths known as "The Lonely Heart Killers." Martha Beck (Shirley Stoler) is an angry nurse with weight problems, and Ray Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco) is a vain gigolo who specializes in desperate women; they fall for each other, and are soon traveling together and conning people out of money, with often lethal consequences. With the law on their trail as their crimes grow more serious, will their emotions betray their plans? Written and directed with tabloid-grainy force by Leonard Kastle, the movie is an unforgettably chilling, often darkly comic portrait of the horrors and obsessive desires lurking under suburban facades.

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Shepherd Mix-Baby
Roosevelt, Utah  Adopt-a-Dog


June
Female
9 weeks old at time of posting
Brown or Chocolate with black
Current on Vaccinations

“June is a shepherd mix puppy. She is 9 weeks old. June is a sweet girl and does good with other dogs and people.

“June's adoption fee is $200 and includes her spay, all vaccinations (including rabies) and a microchip

“If you would like to know more about June you can call or text 435-733-0870 or text only 435-724-3521

“If you would like to adopt June you can fill out an application on our website”
http://www.fureverbuddysdogrescue.com/Dog-Adoption-Application.html

FUREVER BUDDYS DOG RESCUE
Roosevelt, UT 84066

Contact:
https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/33399772#

http://www.adoptapet.com/

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

Complete Turnkey Blog
Generate Leads, Build Authority and Showcase your expertise with your own lease blog. Don't have the time? We do it for you. Complete turnkey blog setup and/or content only provided by leasing expert for leasing companies. 
Email for free evaluationstu@p2plendingexpert.com

 

[headlines]
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News Briefs---

Banks can buy the FinTechs, but it is the BigTechs they have to worry about
http://dailyfintech.com/2015/09/23/banks-can-buy-the-fintechs-it-is-the-bigtechs-they-have-to-worry-about/

The 25 Largest Corporate Cash Hoarders in America
http://www.leasingnews.org/Pages/graphic_feed9282015.html

Wells Fargo Agrees to Buy General Electric Railcar Leasing Unit
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-30/wells-fargo-agrees-to-buy-general-electric-railcar-leasing-unit

Feds OK M&T Bank, Buffalo, NY, Acquisition Hudson City
http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/orders/
orders20150930a1.pdf

Measurement Firm ComScore to Acquire Rentrak
Merger could create more formidable rival to No. 1 player Nielsen
http://www.wsj.com/articles/measurement-firm-comscore-to-acquire-rentrak-1443557042

GE to Shift Jobs to Canada in Ex-Im Bank Protest
http://www.wsj.com/articles/ge-to-shift-jobs-to-canada-in-ex-im-bank-protest-1443449286

Asia tycoon Li on defensive after attacks from Chinese media
http://www.timesunion.com/news/world/article/Asia-tycoon-Li-on-defensive-after-attacks-from-6539059.php

The Bank where Women Rule in India
http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/29/pf/women-india-banking/

10 more Facebook hoaxes
Don’t be Fooled by What is Making the Rounds
http://www.sfgate.com/technology/slideshow/10-more-Facebook-hoaxes-you-wish-you-friends-117870/photo-8342898.php

First drive: Tesla Model X is an awesome way to spend $132,000
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2015/09/30/tesla-model-x-first-drive/73089304/ 

Credit Manager
Riverside, CA


Ideal Candidate 5 Years Exp. Equip.
Leasing & Finance, Prefer Titled
Transportation Equipment Exp.

Click here for more information

www.FFResources.com
Nationwide Leasing & Financing of Commercial Fleets





[headlines]

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



--You May Have Missed It

Identity theft hit 7% of US population last year
out of pocket loss per incident fell
http://www.cio.com/article/2986807/identity-theft-hit-7-of-us-population-last-year.html


[headlines]
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SparkPeople--Live Healthier and Longer



9 Real-Food High-Protein Snacks
Boost Your Protein Intake Without Powder
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=2038


[headlines]
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SHORTSTOP

by Charles Ghigna ©

Published: Boyd Mills Press (2003)

The slits of his eyes
hidden in shadows
beneath the bill of his cap,
he watches and waits
like a patient cat
to catch what comes
his way.

Crack!
and he pounces
upon the ball,
his hands flying
above the grass,
flinging his prey
on its way
across the diamond
into a double-play.

 


[headlines]

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Sports Briefs----

Colin Kaepernick’s massive implosion: The clearest sign yet
  that the 49ers have no idea what they’re doing, not at all
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2015/09/27/colin-kaepernicks-massive-implosion-the-clearest-sign-yet-that-the-49ers-have-no-idea-what-theyre-doing-not-at-all/

49ers red alert: Aaron Rodgers, Packers rolling into town
http://www.contracostatimes.com/49ers/ci_28901793/49ers-red-alert-aaron-rodgers-packers-rolling-into

Colts QB Andrew Luck has an injured shoulder and is 'day to day' says Pagano
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/colts/2015/09/30/luck-colts-injury/73094918/

Drew Brees back at practice: 'Each day I'm able to do more'
http://www.theredzone.org/BlogDescription/tabid/61/EntryId/52145/Drew-Brees-back-at-practice---Each-day-I-m-able-to-do-more-/Default.aspx

Female coach to serve as A's guest instructor
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/sports/4553428-181/female-coach-to-serve-as

 

[headlines]
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California Nuts Briefs---

Stranding of seals in California alarms scientists
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/stranding-of-seals-in-california-alarms-scientists/2015/09/30/71fcf77a-6794-11e5-9ef3-fde182507eac_story.html

California drought myths
http://www.sfgate.com/news/slideshow/California-drought-myths-110616.php

Forbes 400: California Dominates List of Billionaires
http://patch.com/california/saratoga/forbes-400-california-dominates-list-billionaires-0


[headlines]
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“Gimme that Wine”

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

Master somm's advice: buy California wine now
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/wine-684658-master-quality.html

Judy Jordan returns to the wine business
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/business/4543206-181/judy-jordan-returns-to-the

Truck spills 8,000 pounds of red wine grapes onto Highway 128
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/4548452-181/truck-spills-8000-tons-of?page=1?gallery=4343219

Beaujolais winemakers protest over low prices
http://www.decanter.com/wine-news/beaujolais-winemakers-protest-over-low-prices-276062/

Testarossa Winery Expands Its Longstanding Partnership with Black Ridge Vineyards in Santa Cruz Mountains
http://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataid=158300

The World's Weirdest Wine Tours
http://www.lepanmedia.com/the-worlds-5-weirdest-wine-tours/

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

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

This Day in American History

     1608 - A glass factory was established in Jamestown, VA. Eight German and Polish mechanics were imported to start the new industry.  Among the factory's products were glass beads for use in trade with the Native Americans.  The factory remained in operation spasmodically for about seven years and was then disbanded, owing chiefly to the fact that the workers found it more profitable to grow tobacco for shipment to England. It appears Europe had never chewed snuff, smoked in a pipe, paper, or tobacco wrapper before. They quickly became quite addicted to the import from the colonies. The London Company later sent Captain William Norton, accompanied by four Italians and two servants, to revive the Jamestown glass factory, which resumed operations on July 25, 1621. The massacre of the colonists by Native Americans in 1622 put an end to it.
    1768 - English troops under General Gage landed in Boston. Soldiers drawn chiefly from the 14th and 29th Infantry Regiments, and numbering about 700 men, landed at Boston without opposition.
    1781 - Birthday of James Lawrence at Burlington, NJ.  Brilliant American naval officer, whose last battle was a defeat, but whose dying words became a most honored naval motto. Lawrence was captain of the Chesapeake when she engaged in a naval duel with HMS Shannon off Boston, June 1, 1813. The Chesapeake was captured and towed to Halifax, as a British prize. Lawrence was mortally wounded by a musket ball during the engagement and uttered his famous last words, “Don't give up the ship,” as he was being carried off the ship's deck.
    1800 - The territory of Louisiana, encompassing the entire region of the Mississippi-Missouri river valleys, was ceded by Spain to France in the secret treaty of San Ildefonso. France envisioned a great French empire in the New World, and it hoped to use the Mississippi Valley as a major food and trade center. In 1803, economic and political problems forced France to sell the territory to the United States.
    1811 – The first steamboat to sail the Mississippi arrived at New Orleans.
    1832 – Texian political delegates convened at San Felipe de Austin to petition for changes in the governance of Mexican Texas. Texians were non-Hispanic white residents of Mexican Texas and, later, the Republic of Texas, i.e. settlers who were not part of the older Tejano population. While the term "Texian" continued to be used for a brief period of time to refer to residents of this region after its annexation by the US in 1845, residents of the US state of Texas soon became known as Texans.
    1861 - The first Union ship captured in the Civil War was the U.S.S. Fanny, an Army stream tug that grounded on a shoal in Pamilico Sound, NC, while it was en route to Chicomacomica, the encampment of the 20th Indiana Regiment. The pilot and deckhand escaped by swimming ashore, but the ship was captured by Confederate naval forces. Also captured were the Raleigh, a small iron-hull propeller-driven towing steam, the Jualuska, a vessel of 79 tons, and the Culew, 260 tons.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0533017181/
inktomi-bkasin-20/104-5278168-8037550
    1864 - Rose O'Neal Greenhow drowned when her small open boat overturned while attempting to run the blockade of the harbor of Wilmington, North Carolina. Her clothes were weighed down with gold coins she was attempting to smuggle into the cash-poor South. Before her death, she was a spy for the Confederacy and had been imprisoned by the Union secret service. After being released, she traveled to Europe to aid the Confederacy by collecting funds. It was those funds, sewn into her clothes that caused her death. A monument in Wilmington commemorates her accomplishments as well as a marker in the marvelous historical district of that city.
http://www.americancivilwar.com/women/greenhow.html
http://search.eb.com/women/pri/Q00176.html
http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/brady/gallery/51gal.html
http://www.womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_rose_greenhow.htm
http://www.sameshield.com/spies/greenhow.html
http://www.ohwy.com/nc/o/oakdacem.htm
“Oakdale Cemetery 520 N. 15th St., Wilmington. When Nance Martin died at sea in 1857, her body was preserved, seated in a chair, in a large cask of rum. Six months later she was interred at Oakdale Cemetery, cask and all. Her monument and many other curious, beautiful and historic markers are to be found within the labyrinth of Oakdale Cemetery, Wilmington's first municipal burial ground, opened in 1855. At the cemetery office, you can pick up a free map detailing some of the more interesting interments, such as the volunteer firefighter buried with the faithful dog that gave its life trying to save his master, and Mrs. Rose O'Neal Greenhow, a Confederate courier who drowned while running the blockade at Fort Fisher in 1864. Amid the profusion of monuments lies a field oddly lacking in markers-the mass grave of hundreds of victims of the 1862 yellow fever epidemic. The architecture of Oakdale's monuments, its Victorian landscaping and the abundance of dogwood trees, make Oakdale beautiful in every season. The cemetery is open until 5 PM every day. Bicycles are not permitted.”
    1867 - Morgan State College Founded in Maryland.
    1880 - A new director of the United States Marine Corps Band was named. John Philip Sousa became the band's 17th leader. In 1888, he composed "Semper Fidelis", traditionally known as the official march of the Marine Corps.
    1883 - American churchman A. B. Simpson founded the first school in America to train missionaries, in New York City. Called the Missionary Training Institute in 1894, its name was changed to Nyack College in 1972.
    1884 - The first baseball championship was played at the Polo Grounds, New York City. The Providence Grays defeated the New York Metropolitans three games to one.
    1889 - Birthday of Ralph W. Sockman (d. 1970), Mt. Vernon, OH.  American scholar and devotional writer. His best-remembered poem begins: "I met God in the morning, when my day was at its best...."
    1890 - Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove, granted to the State of California June 30, 1864, were combined and established as a national park.
    1891 – The Leland Stanford Junior University opened.
    1892 - The University of Chicago opened with an enrollment of 594 and a faculty of 103, including eight former college presidents.
    1893 - Birthday of Wesley “Kid Sox” Wilson (d. 1958), Jacksonville, FL.  Blues and jazz singer and songwriter. His own stage craft, plus the double act with his wife and musical partner, Coot Grant, was popular with African-American audiences in the 1910s, 1920s and early 1930s
    1893 - The second great hurricane of the 1893 season hit the Mississippi Delta Region drowning more than 1000 persons.
    1896 - Rural Free delivery mail was established.
    1896 - The first all-fiction pulp magazine was the “Argosy”, 1092 pages, 7 by 10 inches. It was published in New York City, starting a craze of such magazines.
    1903 - The First Modern World Series Game: The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Boston Pilgrims (later the Red Sox ), 7-2, in the first game of the 1903 World Series, the first postseason series matching the champions of the National League and the American League. Jimmy Sebring of Pittsburgh hit the first World Series home run. Deacon Phillippe was the winning pitcher. Cy Young the loser.
(Bottom half of:  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/oct01.html )
    1904 - Bulk mail was authorized by Congress on April 28, 1904, and went into use this day. It permitted 2,000 or more identical pieces of third-class or fourth-class mail to be mailed without stamps, affixed, in exchange for a fee. The denomination of the postage, the place of mailing, and the permit issued by the post office for the mailing was printed in place of the stamp.
    1905 - The Julliard School of Music was founded in New York City.
    1908 - Ford introduced the Model T at a price of $850 but by 1924 the basic model sold for as little as $260. Between 1908 and 1924 Ford sold 15,007,033 Model T's in the US. Although the first Model T’s were not built on an assembly line, the demand for the cars was so high that Ford developed a system where workers remained at their stations and cars came to them. This enabled Ford to turn out a Model T every 10 seconds.
    1910 - A large bomb destroyed the Los Angeles Times building in downtown Los Angeles, killing 21.  It was planted by a union member belonging to the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers. The explosion started a fire which killed 21 newspaper employees and injured 100 more. It was termed the "crime of the century" by the Times. Brothers John J. ("J.J.") and James B. ("J.B.") McNamara was arrested in April, 1911 for the bombing. Their trial became a cause celebre for the American labor movement.   J.B. admitted to setting the explosive, and was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. J.J. was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bombing a local iron manufacturing plant, and returned to the Iron Workers union as an organizer.
    1913 - The first monument to a bird was unveiled at Salt Lake City, UT. It was designed by Mahonri Young, a grandson of Brigham Young, to commemorate the sea gulls from the Great Salt Lake that attacked a devouring horde of black crickets, or grasshoppers, that were destroying the wheat fields of the Mormon settlers in May, 1848.
    1918 - THOMPSON, JOSEPH H., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Army, 110th Infantry, 28th Division. Place and date: Near Apremont, France, 1 October 1918. Entered service at: Beaver Falls, Pa. Born: 26 September 1871, Kilkeel, County Down, Ireland. G.O. No.: 21, W.D., 1925. Citation: Counterattacked by 2 regiments of the enemy, Maj. Thompson encouraged his battalion in the front line of constantly braving the hazardous fire of machineguns and artillery. His courage was mainly responsible for the heavy repulse of the enemy. Later in the action, when the advance of his assaulting companies was held up by fire from a hostile machinegun nest and all but 1 of the 6 assaulting tanks were disabled, Maj. Thompson, with great gallantry and coolness, rushed forward on foot 3 separate times in advance of the assaulting line, under heavy machinegun and antitank-gun fire, and led the 1 remaining tank to within a few yards of the enemy machinegun nest, which succeeded in reducing it, thereby making it possible for the infantry to advance.
    1920 - Birthday of guitarist/harmonica player Johnny “Blind” Brown, Montgomery, AL.
    1921 - Margaret Hillis birthday (d. 1998).  One of this nation's most distinguished conductors.
   * received Master's degree in choral conducting from Juilliard School of Music (1949),
   * Robert Shaw's assistant for two years,
   * resident conductor of the Chicago Civic orchestra,
   * formed the American Concert and American Concert Orchestra in 1950,
   * founded and became music director of the American Choral Foundation in 1954,
   * appointed chorus director of the Chicago Symphony in 1957,
   * appointed chorus director of the Cleveland Symphony in 1969.
   She also created, organized and conducted the Chicago Symphony Chorus and the Elgin (Illinois) Symphony Orchestra, was resident conductor of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and chaired the Department of Choral Activities at Northwestern University. In 1977, she subbed for an ailing George Solti to conduct Mahler's monumental Eighth Symphony which has 400 musicians and singers. She got rave reviews - but was sent back to the chorus podium.    Hillis won a Grammy award for "the best choral performance of 1977" for the Verdi Requiem with Solti conducting, and again in 1978 for the Beethoven Missa Solemnis.   From early childhood in Kokomo, Indiana, she accompanied her mother to travel to concerts, sometimes 16 in two weeks. Her grandmother had a full pipe organ in her living room (pipes in the basement).
http://centerstage.net/music/whoswho/MargaretHillis.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004SCXS/
103-5362656-4423850?v=glance#product-details
    1924 - Birthday of Jimmy Carter, thirty-ninth US President (1977-81), Plains, GA.
    1928 - Duke Ellington recorded "The Mooche" on the Okeh label.
    1928 - "Forever", by Ben Pollack and his band, was recorded on Victor Records. In Pollack's band were two talented young musicians: Benny Goodman and Jack Teagarden,
    1931 – The George Washington Bridge, connecting New Jersey with New York over the Hudson River, opened.
    1932 - Babe Ruth, in the fifth inning of game three of the World Series, with a count of two balls and two strikes and with hostile Cubs fans shouting epithets at him, pointed to the center field bleachers in Chicago's Wrigley Field and followed up by hitting a soaring home run high above the very spot to which he had just gestured. With that homer, Ruth squashed the Chicago Cubs' hopes of win­ning the game and the Yankees went on to sweep the Series with four straight victories. For more than half a century the question has remained: Did Ruth actually call his shot that day? Even eye­witnesses disagree. Joe Williams of The New York Times wrote, “In no mistaken motions, the Babe notified the crowd that the nature of his retaliation would be a wallop right out of the con­fines of the park.” But Cubs pitcher Charlie Root said, “Ruth did not point at the fence before he swung. If he'd made a gesture like that, I'd have put one in his ear and knocked him on his ass.” Ruth's daughter has said that he denied it. But the Babe himself also claimed he had. Fact or folklore? Either way, legend!
    1932 - Birthday of guitarist Albert Collins (d. 1993), Leona, TX.
    1933 - Babe Ruth had pitched only once in 12 years when he took the mound for the New York Yankees in their final game of the season. Ruth hurled all nine innings, hit a home run in the fifth and beat his original team, the Boston Red Sox, 6-5. It was a fitting finish to his 20th season in the majors because this turned out to be his last pitching appearance, his 1-0 record in 1933 meant that Ruth never had a losing season as a pitcher.
    1935 - Birthday of singer, actress Julie Andrews, born Julia Wells, Walton-on' Thames, England.
    1935 - Benny Goodman Band closes at Palomar, LA, after launching big band era with its August 21st opening.
    1935 - Birthday of singer Ann Richards (d. 1982), wife of band leader Stan Kenton.
    1936 - Birthday of harmonica player George “Wild Child” Collins, Autaugaville, AL.
    1940 – The Pennsylvania Turnpike, considered the first superhighway in the United States, opened to traffic.  The road opened between Irwin and Carlisle as the first long-distance limited-access highway in the United States, leading to the construction of other limited-access toll roads and the Interstate Highway System.  Following World War II, the turnpike was extended east to Valley Forge in 1950 and west to the Ohio border in 1951. In 1954, the road was extended further east to the Delaware River. The mainline turnpike was finished in 1956 with the completion of the Delaware River Bridge, connecting to New Jersey.
    1940 - Birthday of accordion player Marc Savoy, Eunice, LA
    1942 - Birthday of Herb Fame (Peaches and Herb), born Herbert Feemster, Washington, D.C.  Their first album, “Peaches & Herb”, generated only one charted hit, "We're Still Together." Peaches & Herb then signed with MVP/Polydor and under the management of Paul J. Cohn, released “2 Hot”, which went gold. The album's first single, "Shake Your Groove Thing", went gold and peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1979. The follow-up single, viewed as the album's "secret weapon" by producer/songwriter Freddie Perren, was the triple platinum hit "Reunited". This song reached #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and in Canada. "Reunited" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1980.
    1942 - The first jet airplane designed and built in the US was the XP-59, an Airacomet, built by the Bell Aircraft Corporation, Buffalo, NY, and flown for the first time at a secret testing base in Muroc, CA, by Robert Morris Stanley. It was rated over 400 miles per hour and in excess of 40,000 feet. The higher the latitude, up to a certain maximum, the faster it flew. It employed two turbojet engines built by the General Electric Company from designs made by Group Captain Frank Whittle, the British inventor. The fuel was generally kerosene, although anything that burned could be used as a substitute. There was no propeller
    1944 - Emil “Dutch” Leonard defeated the Detroit Tigers, 4-1, to pitch the St. Louis Browns to the only American League Pennant in their history. The Browns went on to lose the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals, four games to two.
    1946 - American novelist and short story writer Judith Freeman lives, Ogden, Utah. Her first novel, “The Chinchilla Farm” (1989), is a road novel about a Mormon woman who packs all of her belongings into a livestock trailer and heads for L.A. after her husband walks out.
    1947 - The first residents moved into what would become Levittown at Long Island, NY. The community, developed by William Levitt and his brother Alfred with their father Abraham, started as affordable rental houses built for returning World War II veterans. In 1948, the Levitts began to sell the 800-square-foot homes for under $8,000. By 1951, when the first community was finished, the Levitts had built 17,447 mass-produced Cape Code and ranch homes. In 1952, they started construction of a new Levitttown in Bucks County, PA, where they built another 17,000 houses, and beginning in 1958, they build another 12,000 homes in Willingboro, NU.
    1951 - The first commercially made transistor was produced by the Western Electric Company, Allentown, PA, for long-distance dialing equipment of the Bell Telephone System.
    1952 - “This is Your Life” premiered on TV. Ralph Edwards hosted this program that lured unsuspecting guests on the show and surprised them by detailing their lives and achievements with their family and friends. It began as a radio show in 1948.    
    1955 - "Honeymooners" premieres on TV. Originally a skit on “The Jackie Gleason Show”, Ralph Kramden ( Jackie Gleason), bus driver, Ed Norton (Art Carney), sewer worker, Alice Kramden (Audrey Meadows), Ralph's wife, and Trixie Norton (Joyce Randolph), Ed's wife had a two year run (39) episodes that are still re-running on TV today. There was little rehearsal--Gleason liked it that way--and there were no second takes--the show went out live. The sets were painted cardboard (with the only apartment doors in the world that opened out instead of in). And nobody imagined this short run series of half-hour episodes would rerun continuously somewhere on TV for the next 60 years.  They are on video today, including the four lost episodes.
http://www.fiftiesweb.com/honeymnr.htm
http://members.aol.com/mark916/
    1955 - In Game 4 of the World Series at Ebbetts Field, the Dodgers defeat the Yanks, 8-5 on the way to winning their only World Series in Brooklyn.
    1956 - When test audiences are horrified at Elvis' character dying in the original ending of Elvis' first film, Love Me Tender, the ending is quickly rewritten and Elvis called back to reshoot.
    1956 - Little Anthony and the Imperials record Neil Sedaka's "The Diary," and the results so displease the songwriter that he decides to record it himself, resulting in his first chart hit.
    1957 - U.S. B-52 bombers in the Strategic Air Command went on 24-hour alert status because of the perceived threat of an attack from the Soviet Union.
    1957 - Top Hits
“Wake Up Little Susie” - The Everly Brothers
“Honeycomb” - Jimmie Rodgers
“Chances Are/The Twelfth of Never” - Johnny Mathis
“My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You” - Ray Price
    1958 - The novel, “The Ugly American”, by William Lederer and Eugene Burdick, was published on this date in New York. The novel was later made into a movie, which starred Marlon Brando.
    1961 - Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run, breaking Babe Ruth's record for most home runs in a season. Maris hit his homer against Pitcher Tracy Stallard of the Boston Red Sox as the Yankees won 1-0. Controversy over the record arose because the American League had adopted a 162-game schedule in 1961 and Maris played in 161.  In 1927, when Ruth set his record, the schedule called for 154 games and Ruth played in 151. On this date, exactly two years later, a baby named Mark McGwire will be born.  On September 8, 1998, Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit his 62nd home run, breaking Maris' record, aided by andro.   In 2002, Barry Bonds, aided by the cream and the clear, established the new record with 73 HRs in a season.  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/oct01.html
    1961 - Bob Dylan appears at Carnegie Hall in New York and introduces his new touring band made up of guitarist Robbie Robertson, organist Garth Hudson, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manual and drummer Levon Helm. They will become known simply as The Band.
     1962 - James Meredith became the University of Mississippi's first black student after 3,000 troops put down riots, completing the registration he began yesterday.
    1962 - Brian Epstein signs his management contract with The Beatles. John Lennon and Ringo Starr signed for themselves and Harold Harrison and James McCartney do so on behalf of their underage sons. The agreement gave Epstein a 25% cut of the group's earnings, provided that they made more than $400 each per week.
    1962 - “From New York ... heeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!” Ed McMahon introduced the new host of NBC's "Tonight Show" for the first time. Johnny Carson entertained late-night America for nearly three decades. His first guest was Barbara Stanwick.
    1962 - Barbra Streisand signs her first recording contract (with Columbia)
http://www.bjsmusic.com/
    1962 - “The Merv Griffin Show” premiered on TV. Singer and game show king Merv Griffin's first effort as an afternoon talk-show host premiered on NBC but was later dropped for syndication. The afternoon show continued until 1969 when Griffin was tapped to host a late-night program on CBS to complete with “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson.
    1963 - Birthday of baseball player Mark McGwire, Pomona, CA.
    1964 - Police attempt to arrest University of California-Berkeley math grad student Jack Weinberg for passing out literature for the Congress Of Racial Equality (CORE) in Sproul Plaza — inadvertently starting the Free Speech Movement (FSM). Police car is surrounded by demonstrating students for 32 hours. Mario Savio and Joan Baez involved; early September: Clark Kerr bans all politicking outside UC's main gate; late Sept: Kerr suspends 8 students for political activities. I covered this for KFRC, free lancing for UPI, among others. Weinberg is best known for the phrase:
"Don't trust anyone over thirty."
    1965 - Bob Dylan appears at Carnegie Hall in New York and introduces his new touring band made up of guitarist Robbie Robertson, organist Garth Hudson, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manual and drummer Levon Helm. They will become known simply as The Band.
    1965 - Top Hits
“Eve of Destruction” - Barry McGuire
“Hang on Sloopy” - The McCoys
“You Were on My Mind” - We Five
“Is It Really Over?” - Jim Reeves
    1971 - Disney's second theme park opened at Orlando, FL.
The opening was planned for October when the crowds were slower. Disney planners wanted everything to move slowly at first, so any problems that sprang up could be fixed with minimal guest inconvenience. The dedication of the park was held on October 25, 1971. Roy O. Disney stood with Mickey Mouse in Town Square and read the dedication plaque: “Walt Disney World is a tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney . . . and to the talents, the dedication, and the loyalty of the entire Disney organization that made Walt Disney's dream come true. May Walt Disney World bring Joy and Inspiration and New Knowledge to all who come to this happy place . . . a Magic Kingdom where the young at heart of all ages can laugh, and play, and learn - together.” Walt Disney World eventually became the world's largest, man-made, tourist attraction.
    1971 – The first brain scan using x-ray computed tomography (CT or CAT scan) was performed at Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon, London. 
    1972 - “Kung Fu” premiered on television. David Carradine starred in this unusual ABC western as Kwai Chang Caine, a half-Chinese marital arts master drifter who was exiled from China. Appearing in flashback were Keye Luke as Master Po, Philip Ahn as Master Kan and Radaman Pera as the younger Caine. The show ran for three years. “Kung Fu” returned in a 1986 TV movie introducing the late Brandon Lee as Caine's son. A sequel series currently appears in syndication staring a much older Carradine.
    1973 - In the first game of a scheduled make-up double-header at Wrigley Field, a day after the regular season ends, the Mets beat the Cubs, 6-1, to capture National League East flag. The Miracle Mets, who were 11 and half games behind and in last place on August 5, by winning its 82nd game, (the lowest number victories ever to win a title) clinch the division making the second game of the twin bill unnecessary to play.
    1973 - Top Hits
“We're an American Band” - Grand Funk
“Half-Breed” - Cher
“Loves Me like a Rock” - Paul Simon
“Blood Red and Goin' Down” - Tanya Tucker
    1975 - Muhammad Ali scored a 15th round TKO against Joe Frazier to retain the heavyweight championship in a fight billed as the “Thrilla in Manila.”
    1977 - Pele, generally considered the greatest soccer player ever, played the last game of his career before 75,646 fans at Giants Stadium. Pele played the first half for the New York Cosmos and the second for Santos of Brazil, his original team.
    1977 - The first African-American member of the Daughters of the American Revolution was Karen Batchelor Farmer of Detroit, MI, who became the 623,128th member. She traced her ancestry to William Hood, who served in the militia of Lancaster, PA during the Revolutionary War.
    1977 - Not only was “Star Wars” a hit at the movie box office, "The Star Wars Theme" by Meco was the bestselling single in the US.
    1978 - Exile achieved their only number one song on Billboard's Pop chart with "Kiss You All Over", a #6 hit in the UK. After a couple of other minor hits, the band would switch styles and would top the Country and Western chart in 1984 with "Woke Up In Love".
    1979 - The first Pope to visit the White House in Washington, DC, was Pope John Paul II, who flew across the Atlantic in the Shepherd I, landing in Boston, MA. In six days, he visited Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Urbandale, IA, Chicago and Washington. He returned to Rome from Andrews Air Force Base, near Washington, on October 6.
    1979 - Elton John plays the first of eight straight shows at Madison Square Garden.
    1979 – The US turned the Panama Canal back to the Republic of Panama.
    1980 - Paul Simon's film One Trick Pony opens in US movie theatres where it will enjoy only modest success and mixed reviews.
    1980 - With much media and fan pressure Red Sox fire manager Don Zimmer.
    1980 - "Ladies' Home Journal" startled readers. Robert Redford became the first male to appear alone on the cover. It had taken 97 years for the magazine to change its no-men-on-the-cover policy.
    1980 - Paul Simon's semi-autobiographical film "One Trick Pony" premieres in New York City. Besides Simon, those appearing the film include Lou Reed, Sam & Dave, the B-52's and the Lovin' Spoonful.
    1981 - Top Hits
“Endless Love” - Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
“Queen of Hearts” - Juice Newton
“Stop Draggin' My Heart Around” - Stevie Nicks with Tom Petty & The
Heartbreakers
“Tight Fittin' Jeans” - Conway Twitty
    1982 - The first compact disc player, developed jointly by Sony, Phillips and Polygram, went on sale. It cost $625.
    1982 – “Remington Steele” premiers on TV. Laura Holt (played by Stephanie Zimbal­ist, daughter of Efrem Zimbalist, Jr), an imaginative private detective, could not get a case of her own—until she made up a partner, Remington Steele, who was conveniently out of the office when clients came-a-calling. Then she met the suave stranger (Pierce Brosnan) with a foreign accent who called himself Rem­ington Steele. They began a working partnership which ended in marriage. The show aired on NBC for five years, with the last telecast on Mar 9, 1987, and costarred James Read, Janet DeMay and Doris Roberts
    1983 - Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" began a four-week run as the number one single in the U.S. The song, from her "Faster Than the Speed of Night" album, ran 5 minutes, 36 seconds and it took a day or two to get out of your head after you listened to it...
    1987 - An earthquake in Los Angeles (eleven miles southeast of Pasadena) killed eight people and injured 200. The quake caused $358 million in property damage and measured 5.9 on the Richter scale.
    1987 - A blast of cold arctic air hit the north central U.S. An afternoon thunderstorm slickened the streets of Duluth, MN with hail and snow, and later in the afternoon, strong northerly winds reached 70 mph. Unseasonably warm weather continued in the Pacific Northwest. Afternoon highs of 90 degrees at Olympia, WA, 92 degrees at Portland, OR, and 89 degrees at Seattle, WA, were records for the month of October. For Seattle, it marked the twenty-first daily record high for the year, a record total in itself.
    1989 - Top Hits
“Girl I'm Gonna Miss You” - Milli Vanilli
“Heaven” - Warrant
“If I Could Turn Back Time” - Cher
“Let Me Tell You About Love” - The Judds
    1989 - Thunderstorms produced severe weather in the southeastern U.S. through the daytime and evening hours. Severe thunderstorms spawned eleven tornadoes, with seven of those tornadoes in Georgia. A tornado southwest of Moultrie, GA, killed two persons and injured a dozen others. Tornadoes also injured one person north of Graceville, FL, and two persons at Bartow, GA
    1990 - Forbes magazine lists New Kids On The Block as earning $78 million dollars in the last year, making them the fifth richest entertainers in the US
    1990 - President George H. Bush, at the United Nations in New York City, condemns Iraq's takeover of Kuwait and seeks support from the United Nations. Even though he was the former US Ambassador to the UN and knew the “system”, it took him almost six months to get support after August 2, when the Iraqi armed forces invaded Kuwait and overran it in a matter of hours. We sent troops to Saudi Arabia on August 7, started a Naval Blockade on August 9. August 10, at a meeting in Cairo, 12 of the 21 member nations of the Arab League voted to support the UN and U.S. action. By November 8, some 230,000 American troops were in Saudi Arabia and President Bush announced that 150,000 more would be sent. The UN Security Council on November 29 voted to authorize the US and its allies to use force to expel Iraq from Kuwait if its troops did not leave by January 15, 1991. By the end of 1990, 580,000 Iraqi troops were believed to be in Kuwait or southern Iraq. Facing them were 485,000 troops of 17 allied countries, with many skirmishes, while Iraq exterminated tribes, took over land, ransacked the country, and eventually set fire to the oil wells, disregarding all UN sanctions and the alliance of Arab nations supporting his ouster of Kuwait and other areas he claimed as now belonging to him.
    1993 - The hauntingly beautiful "I Know I Got Skill", by Shaquille O'Neal, was released. Just a sample: “...I'm big like Gorilla, 6-7, large, I kick rhymes like moduck-kwong you, I smoke-smoke the mic-mic, I Cheech and Chong you, you don't like Shaq, frankly I don't give a damn, I know I got skills man, I know I got skills man...”
    1994 - Eric Clapton's album "From the Cradle" was number one in the U.S. The rest of the top five for the week: "II" (Boyz II Men); "Rhythm of Love" (Anita Baker); "The Lion King" (soundtrack); "Dookie" (Green Day).
    1995 - The Yankees and Rockies become first wild-card teams in new major league baseball playoff system.
    1995 - Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Hootie & The Blowfish and The Dave Matthews Band raise nearly $1 million at Farm Aid concert in Louisville, Ky.
    1996 - Theodore Kaczynski was charged by a U.S. federal grand jury with mailing a bomb that killed advertising executive Thomas Mosser in 1994. Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, pleaded guilty in January, 1998 to mail bombings that killed three people and injured 23. He was sentenced in July 1997 to life without possibility of parole by a federal court in Sacramento, California.
    2009 - Michael Jackson's autopsy revealed that the 136 pound, 5-foot-9 singer was in good health before his death and not the sickly skeleton of a man portrayed by the tabloids. Although he had some arthritis and lung damage, his heart was strong for a 50-year-old and none of those health issues were life-threatening.
    2009 - Tony La Russa moves past John McGraw into second place for the most games managed in Major League history. With his 4,770 contests as a manager, the Cardinal skipper now only trails Connie Mack, who amasses a total of 7755 during his 53 years in the dugout.  LaRussa retired in 2011 after having managed 5,087 games, winning 2,728 and three World Series.  In 2014, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, with fellow managers Joe Torre and Bobby Cox, and into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall.
    2013 – It could be déjà vu all over again.  The federal government shut down non-essential services after it is unable to pass a budget measure.

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