Teen birth rate rises in 2007 for second year in a row
More babies were born to teen mothers in 2007 than the
previous year, making it the second year in a row that the teen birth rate has
seen an increase, according to the Centers for Disease Control's
Teen births increased 5% between 2005 and 2007, the
last year for which statistics are available, WebMD.com reports. There had been
a 34% drop in births from 1991 to 2005.
In 2007, the birth rate among teens rose 1%, which
means 42.5 babies were born for every 1,000 teens aged 15-19, according to
WebMD.
Gold "Could Hit" Year-End Profit Taking, But Long-Term Strength to "Surprise ...
The price of Gold ticked higher in a tight range
against the US Dollar early Monday, rising 1.9% from Friday's 5-week low in
what dealers variously called "quiet", "lackluster" and
"weak" trade.
Most Asian stock markets ended the day lower, but
European share buyers showed a near-1% profit as banks and financial stocks
bounced from last week's near-10% drops.
Raw materials rose from aluminum to wool. Government
bond prices drifted lower.
Gold coin enriches Jax Salvation Army effort
The “plunk” was as ordinary as the thousands of other
sounds made by coins being dropped into the trademark red kettles.
What those counting the generous donations made Tuesday to The Salvation Army
in
There, amid the dimes, quarters and dollar bills, was a folded piece of paper with the inscription: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Credit union in downtown L.A. is robbed
Los Angeles Police
detectives did not have far to go to investigate this crime.
The credit union across
the street from the new Los Angeles Police Department headquarters building was
robbed Tuesday morning for the second time in four months. Police said the
bandit got away on a bicycle with about $1,000 in cash.
Los Angeles Police Lt.
Paul Vernon said the robber was wearing a distinctive black backpack with small
white polka dots when he entered the Southland Credit Union in the 200 block of
South Spring Street about 10:25 a.m.
NASA Launches WISE in Space
NASA launched a new
infrared space telescope—WISE (Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer) from the
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
A Delta II rocket carried
WISE into the polar orbit that is 326 miles above Earth at 6:09 a.m. PST.
Through WISE, NASA is
hoping to get detailed information regarding hundreds of millions of unseen and
far away objects in space besides comets and asteroids.
Former Marine turns coins into business
This year Stafford-based Coins for Anything Inc. debuted
at No. 1,518 on the Inc. 5000, a list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private
companies in the U.S., for 210 percent revenue growth between 2005 and 2008. The
company reported $2.8 million in revenue in 2008 and is on track to make about
the same this year.
The business idea bloomed when Morin started selling
Challenge coins, typically military medallions with an organization’s emblem,
on eBay for extra cash.
A mother e-mailed him asking for a Marine mom-designed coin, and after finding no coins like that on the market, Morin designed and ordered 100 ‘Mother of Marine” coins that sold out within hours. His own mom, who helped mail the individual coins, gave him a $500 loan to start the business.
Obama should heed the lessons of Vietnam
On June 17, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson explained
to The New York Times reporter James "Scotty" Reston why he had to
stay the course in
Johnson rejected calls for withdrawal that were being
made by liberal Democrats as well as the proposal for neutralization promoted
by
History of the $20 United States gold coin, 1849th1933
The $20 gold coin shown
here is the only known specimen of its kind and is among the rarest of U.S.
coins. It owes its existence, in part, to the discovery of gold in California
in 1848, of which the famous Sutter’s Mill discovery was but the beginning. The
California Gold Rush created a steady flow of gold, part of which reached the
United States Mint in Philadelphia. Instead of striking gold in traditional $10
pieces, the Mint decided to issue larger denominations. In February 1849,
Congress authorized the striking of $20 gold coins, which were created by Chief
Engraver James Barton Longacre. This coin is one of two trial patterns struck
on March 12, 1850, even though it bears the date 1849. The second pattern has
never been found. This coin inaugurated the series of gold $20 coins nicknamed
“double eagles,” which were issued from 1850 to 1907. The term “double
eagle‚Äù is derived from the fact that the $10 coin is called an ‚ “eagle.”
Inflation Inched Up in Europe in November
Inflation in the euro area moved above zero in
November for the first time in five months, according to a preliminary report
Monday, as higher energy prices pushed the index higher.
Consumer prices in the euro area rose by 0.6 percent
in November from the same month a year earlier, said Eurostat, the European
Union’s statistical agency. In October the rate was minus 0.1 percent.
No further details were released; a fuller estimate is due to be published on Dec. 16.
Orange County man arrested for defrauding elderly couple of $5 million
According
to the indictment, Walthall convinced the couple to invest in a partnership
called "Advanced Recycling General Partners" which was supposed to
search for and extract gold from old mines in the Imperial Valley, Nevada, and
Brazil.
Walthall
told the couple that he had invested over $3 million of his own money over the
past decade researching the gold extraction process and that, as partners, the
couple would receive a salary and that expenses would be approved beforehand by
each partner.
According to the Los Angeles bureau of the FBI, the majority of the money was used by Waltham for his own gold investments and personal expenses, including alimony and child support for his four children and purchasing multiple vehicles and other luxury items. This includes a hyperbaric oxygen chamber worth approximately $60,000 and a $10,000 payment to a film school.