Man sparks uproar with ‘not hiring’ signs

WACO, Ga. (AP) — A west Georgia business owner has been deluged with calls and emails after posting signs on his company’s trucks that say he’s not hiring anyone until President Barack Obama leaves office.

Waco- based U. S. Cranes LLC owner Bill Looman tells WXIA-TV that reaction has been so intense he’s had to disconnect his phones and temporarily shut down the company’s website.

He posted the signs on his company’s trucks for other motorists to see on roads and interstates across the South. The signs proclaim “ New Company Policy: We are not hiring until Obama is gone.”

Looman says he’s not refusing to hire employees to make a political point. He told WXIA he can’t afford to hire anyone because of the economy, and he blames the people in power.

Alleged Mafia boss found dead in Canada

Advertisement

MONTREAL ( AP) — The body of an alleged Mafia boss, who U. S. authorities said once led New York’s notorious Bonanno crime family, was fished out from a river north of Montreal on Thursday.

Reports identified the body as Salvatore Montagna, although police wouldn’t immediately confirm or deny the identity.

The FBI once called him the acting boss of the Bonanno crime family — prompting one of New York’s tabloids to call him the “Bambino Boss” because of his rise to power in his mid-30s. Nicknamed “Sal The Iron Worker,” he owned and operated a successful steel business in the U.S.

Montagna’s death is the latest in a series of Mafia-related killings and disappearances over the last two years. He was considered a contender to take over the decimated Rizzuto family.

A provincial police spokesman said Thursday that a private citizen called after seeing a body along the shores of the L’Assomption River. The same person also reported that he heard gunshots, but Sgt. Benoit Richard said he couldn’t confirm how the victim died.

Heathrow predicts massive gridlock

Advertisement

LONDON (AP) — A nationwide public-sector strike next Wednesday in Britain threatens to paralyze operations at Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport.

BAA, the airport’s operator, said today 12-hour delays for arriving passengers are likely because the Nov. 30 strike will hit the U.K. Border Agency’s ability to support normal operations.

An estimated 2 million workers are expected to protest changes in public-sector pensions with a 24-hour walkout — billed as potentially the biggest union action since 1979.

The lines at Heathrow’s immigration counters are expected to be so long that passengers will need to be held on planes, BAA warned.

“This in turn would quickly create gridlock at the airport, with no available aircraft parking stands, mass cancellations of departing aircraft and diversions outside the U.K. for arriving aircraft,” Normand Boivin, the chief operating officer for Heathrow, warned in a letter to airlines.

The letter, written Thursday and shared with The Associated Press, urged airlines to reduce the number of passengers they bring in on Nov. 30 because BAA had “reluctantly concluded that the U. K. Border Agency wouldn’t be able to come up with a contingency plan to ensure business-as-usual.”

Boivin said the border agency expects to be functioning at less than 50 percent of normal productivity.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways both agreed to waive fees for rebooking flights on Nov. 30 and expressed concern over the strike’s impact on business.



Comments are not available on this story.

filed under: