Blockbuster plans to close 182 stores by April

Summary: Many companies are suffering and the video rental chain Blockbuster is no different. They have become bankrupt and plan to close 182 stores by April to try and get back into the swing of things. The company will do this in chunks though. hey plan to close 72 by January 1st and the remaining 110 by April. Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in September, they are not the only rental chains struggling as Netflix and Redbox and really starting to take over video rentals. Blockbuster still has 2,900 stores in the U.S. and has already closed about 1,000. The company does not want to shut down as they are trying to renegotiate leases with many landlords. The company hopes to be out of bankruptcy around July. They are hoping with fewer stores the stores remaining will have higher profits. There are also new investors Carl Icahn and his crew who hope to help the company come out of bankruptcy and help them regain consumers.

Opinion: Many people believe that our economy is starting to turn around but with stories like this I can't help but believe it still  isn't ready to come around again. I do hope that Blockbuster is able to start up again though. And I will admit that I am definitely one who has started using Redbox. Redbox is only a dollar a night for a movie while movie stores are usually about 3 dollars for a new release. Also I know many people who use Netflix because it is only $10 a month and you can chose from just about any movie you can imagine. It is hard to compete with such good deals. I think that movie stores should really lower their price or start to extend the amount of nights you can have a movie (especially the new releases). Hopefully movie stores and Blockbuster will begin to realize what consumers are more attracted to and start to run their shops that way.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40753485/ns/business-retail/

Fancy Florida ATM skips the folding cash, spits out gold

Summary: In Boca Raton Florida there is a new type of ATM, a gold ATM. This small machine instead of spitting out cash spits out 24-carat gold bars and coins. The machine originated from Germany and is going to be installed at an upscale mall. Thomas Geissler is the inventor of Gold To Go machines and he says his purpose for these machines are to help the more serious investors who don't want to go into a pawn shop and buy gold, instead they can just receive it from this machine. Also he said they will  make good gifts. Instead of having jewelry, flowers or candy this gold will stay around for hundreds of years! The way the machine works is just like a ATM in that all you do is insert a credit or debit card and pick the weight and style of golf they want. The gold then comes out in a sealed wrap box. The machine carries about 320 different sized-bars and coins. The costs all vary and the machine reflects the market so the prices change. One thing that people forget about is the size of the golf that an ounce is only a little larger than a quarter and a gram is only about the size of a fingernail. Because of the price there are security guard and live cameras around the ATM. The ATMs are becoming more and more popular and soon investors are saying there needs to be one in Las Vegas. "Gold always comes back to its real value, it's not diamonds, it's not silver, it's not real estate. It's just gold." Geissler said. A few select people believe it may become currency so the want to install about 40 more machines in hotels and malls around the U.S.

Opinion: I am still a little confused on the whole idea behind such an ATM. I feel that gold will not become a currency of the U.S. I think that it is a good idea for serious investors who do not want to have to go and deal with pawn shops. I don't think that it is a very good idea to give these as gifts because I do not know what they would use it on. Also I feel that these would not be very practical because who wants to carry around a bunch of gold in their pocket. Also there are not very many of them in the world so they would be very hard to get to. I want to know if people will actually use these and how safe and practical they are. I would also like to follow up on this to see if these actually take off or if they will just crash.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40716205/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

Man dies after punch from Burger King worker, police say

Summary: On Thursday in Detroit a Burger King employee punched an older man who was a costumer and he ended up dying. The 20-year-old worker punched the 67-year-old man, the man fell and emergency rushed him to the hospital where he later died that night. The police are still not sure what caused the death but it have been from choking on his dentures, an autopsy will soon take place. The names of the people have not been released but the worker is in custody and could face criminal charges. Some of Detroit laws make it very likely that he will be charged with some type of criminal charge. It did not seem that the two were fighting but Burger King does accept the incident and the owner is dealing with the police.

Opinion: First off I never think that it would be okay to ever hit an elderly person no matter what. most of the time they have medical problems or are very fragile. I think that burger King should at the least fire that employee and that employee should face some types of charges because he was the one who caused the fall which lead to his death so I feel that he is the one responsible for the man's death. I would like to follow up on this report because if nothing happens to the employee i feel that would not be fair to the mans friends and family at all. But I do feel strongly that no matter what you should never punch or hurt anybody but especially older people because they really have no way of sticking up for themselves.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40604515/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Snowman with noose appalls home's neighbors

Summary: Last week a man from Hayden, Idaho had visits from the police and many complaints from his neighbors regarding a snowman that was shaped like a member from the Ku Klux Klan. The county sheriff said it could be possible that Mark Eliseuson could be charged with crime because the snowman looked as if he was holding a noose. Mark could have been charged with creating a public nuisance because the states defines it as "anything offensive to the senses." Once he found out he was maybe going to be charged he knocked down the snowman and told others he didn't feel there was anything wrong with it. But clearly other people did. People are concerned because children are wondering why that snowman looks different and why it looks like that. This is not Marks first warning  though, one Halloween he passed out bullets casings once he supposedly ran out of candy.

Opinion: Personally I feel like this guy is crazy. I know that as Americans we have our own freedom of speech but I think that is taking it too far. Obviously the KKK was abolished for a reason and there have been war and fights over racial tension that still go on today. I don't think that he even should have made the snowman and just kept his feeling to himself in the first place because if he knew better he would have known that people would get upset. I feel that in a way he could have just been doing this for attention but I guess nobody will really know. I strongly feel that this was not an okay thing to do especially in a neighborhood with families and you children at home.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40480194/ns/us_news-life/