And 2011 also was the warmest year on record for Spain and Norway, and the second warmest for the United Kingdom. Kodak workers brace for pain ADVERTISING ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — The ripple effect from Eastman Kodak’s bankruptcy filing Thursday
Kodak workers brace for pain
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — The ripple effect from Eastman Kodak’s bankruptcy filing Thursday extends in many directions: Employees are bracing again for layoffs, retirees are fretting over health care coverage, and the photography pioneer’s biggest creditors and stakeholders — from movie studios and big-box retailers to the CEO — are preparing to take the hit financially.
Mayor Tom Richards portrayed the decision to seek Chapter 11 reorganization as more of a psychological blow than an economic one to Rochester, where Kodak had been the engine of commerce for most of the company’s 132 years. Its payroll in the medium-size city along Lake Ontario has slipped below 7,000 from a peak of 60,400 in 1983.
Kodak, the company that brought photography to the masses at the dawn of the 20th century and was known all over the world for its Brownie and Instamatic cameras and its yellow-and-red film boxes, was brought down first by Japanese competition and then by its inability to keep pace with the lightning shift from film to digital technology over the past decade.
Fuel transfer finished in Nome
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The mission was daunting by every measure: First journey 5,000 miles, struggling at times through thick ocean ice, then pump 1.3 million gallons of fuel from a frozen-in-place ship to an iced-in Alaska city half a mile away, all while braving sub-zero temperatures.
On Thursday, the first-of-its-kind endeavor came to a successful close, to the relief of the residents of Nome, who are experiencing one of their coldest winters on record and had been counting on the diesel fuel and gasoline delivery to get them through the next few months.
The Russian tanker’s ocean journey would have been challenging enough, but the offshore offloading of fuel with ships frozen in place off the coast had never been tried in Alaska before, said Stacey Smith, manager for Vitus Marine LLC, the company that came up with the idea.
Poe fans call an end to tradition
BALTIMORE (AP) — Edgar Allan Poe fans waited long past a midnight dreary, but it appears annual visits to the writer’s grave in Baltimore by a mysterious figure called the “Poe Toaster” shall occur nevermore.
Poe House and Museum Curator Jeff Jerome said early Thursday that die-hard fans waited hours past when the tribute bearer normally arrives. But the “Poe Toaster” was a no-show for a third year in a row, leaving another unanswered question in a mystery worthy of the writer’s legacy. Poe fans had said they would hold one last vigil this year before calling an end to the tradition.
Michelle Obama doing Leno’s show
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) — First lady Michelle Obama is headed to Jay Leno’s stage later this month.
NBC announced Thursday that the first lady will appear on “The Tonight Show” on Jan. 31, where she’s expected to talk about life in the White House, her fitness initiative for children and her upcoming book about the White House kitchen garden.
She was a guest on the program in 2008 when her husband was a candidate and also appeared via satellite hookup from the White House on “The Jay Leno Show” in 2009, the host’s perch before returning to “The Tonight Show.”
2011 was 11th warmest year
WASHINGTON (AP) — The world last year wasn’t quite as warm as it has been for most of the past decade, government scientists said Thursday, but it continues a general trend of rising temperatures.
The average global temperature was 57.9 degrees Fahrenheit, making 2011 the 11th hottest on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
That’s 0.9 degrees warmer than the 20th century average, officials said. In fact, it was hotter than every year last century except 1998.
One reason 2011 was milder than recent years was the La Niña cooling of the central Pacific Ocean. La Niñas occur every few years and generally cause global temperatures to drop, but this was the warmest La Niña year on record.
And 2011 also was the warmest year on record for Spain and Norway, and the second warmest for the United Kingdom.
