Alabama

THE DOW FALLS MORE THAN 600 MONDAY ON FEARS BAILOUT PACKAGE VOTE WILL FAIL.  SEE MORE AT  www.cnn.com.

Financial concerns aside, business is booming at the Eastern Shore Center in Spanish Fort.   Opening soon:   Premiere Cinemas (with 14 movie screens), Party City, and Taco Bell.

The Presidential race (FIVE WEEKS AWAY) is proving to be a huge attraction to Baldwin County folks.    Election officials tell the Press Register they are digging and shuffling through a record number of registration forms, especially in the last  two months.    About 107-thousand people are now registered in the county…..and counting.   www.al.com

More unprecedented money happenings….. Citigroup is taking over the banking operations of Wachovia in a deal brought about by the F.D.I.C.   (In Mobile and Baldwin, we’re saying to ourselves, Wachovia just bought out Southtrust!)  The move puts Citigroup in the “big three” (along with Bank of America and J.P. Morgan).   Wachovia was seized by the government last week because of huge losses.   A big contributor was massive customer faulting on adjustable rate mortgages.   THE FDIC ASSURES THAT DEPOSITORS ARE SAFE.

(Read the full post about ‘Wachovia Sells Out, Is Mobile/Baldwin Money Safe’…)

There is a sub tropical systen in the Atlantic and Kyle and Laura are harrassing Nova Scotia but October is clear and blue bell time so put up your tracking chart even though Hurricane Georges anniversary was yesterday and get out your fall festival pumpkin colored sweater with rose red trim just like this NOAA photo.

Heather Locklear was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of a controlled substance in the upscale Santa Barbara area, authorities said Sunday.
Locklear, 47, was pulled over by a California Highway Patrol officer Saturday afternoon after a resident reported seeing the actress leaving a parking lot and “driving erratically,” CHP spokesman Tom Marshall said.
The officer noticed Locklear’s car parked on a state highway and blocking a lane in Montecito, a wealthy community about 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles. She was believed to be alone in the car, Marshall said.
“In talking with her, (the officer) determines that she seems to be under the influence of something,” Marshall said.
Locklear was taken to the police station where she was tested for alcohol and drugs. (Read the full post about ‘Heather Locklear Arrested’…)

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Two contractors face felony home repair
fraud charges in separate cases dating back to Hurricane Katrina.
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says 60-year-old Edward
Boyd, of Covington, La., and 44-year-old James Clifford Plummer, of
Gulfport, Miss., were arrested last week.
Court dates have not been set.
Boyd was arrested by Covington police who learned he was wanted
in Mississippi. Boyd signed a waiver of extradition. He worked on
the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Katrina and is accused by a Biloxi
homeowner of being paid but failing to make repairs to a home
damaged by the 2005 storm.
Boyd’s bond is set at $25,000.
Plummer is accused by a Pass Christian homeowner of being paid
for work that he never did after Katrina. (Read the full post about ‘Contractors Face Katrina Fraud Charges’…)

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A patient treated for agonizing abdominal
pain received this surprising news in the hospital’s paperwork:
“Based on your visit today, we know you are pregnant.”
Surprising indeed for 71-year-old John Grady Pippen.
The staff at Curry General Hospital in Gold Beach gave the
retired mechanic and logger the ridiculously happy news this month,
along with some pain pills.
Hospital administrator William McMillan says an errant keystroke
caused the hospital’s computer to spit out the wrong discharge
instructions for the grandfather. (Read the full post about ‘Man Told He’s Pregnant’…)

DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. (AP) - Authorities say the pilot of a
medical helicopter that crashed in Maryland early today had twice
radioed for help in foggy weather.
Four of the five people on board were killed, including the
pilot.
The medical helicopter was carrying victims of a traffic
accident when it crashed in a suburban Washington park. (Read the full post about ‘Medevac Helicopter Crashes In Suburban DC’…)

MACHIAS, Maine (AP) - The Canadian Hurricane Centre has issued a
hurricane warning for parts of southwestern Nova Scotia, with
tropical storm warnings for parts of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
At 5 p.m Eastern time, Hurricane Kyle was centered about 180
miles southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was moving toward the
north-northeast at nearly 25 miles per hour.
Kyle’s maximum sustained wind was blowing at nearly 75 miles per
hour, or just barely hurricane strength. The storm is expected to
lose its tropical characteristics late today or early Monday.
In Maine, a hurricane watch has been discontinued, but a
tropical storm warning remains in effect from the mouth of
Penobscot Bay to Eastport.
Fishermen are moving boats to shelter along Maine’s rugged Down
East coast. (Read the full post about ‘Hurricane Kyle Bears Down On Canadian Provinces’…)