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Citigroup Restructures After Dim Forecast
NEW YORK (Oct. 12) - Citigroup Inc, which last week forecast 60 percent declines in third-quarter earnings amid bad debt losses, said it was promoting Vikram Pandit to head banking, markets, and alternative investments, and that trading head Thomas Maheras was leaving.Randy Barker, one of Citi's three heads of fixed income, will also leave the company, Citi Chief Executive Charles Prince said in an interview. Citi said last week that it expects $3.3 billion of losses and write downs from its securities and banking areas.Maheras' departure leaves Citi with one less senior manager to potentially fill the chief executive spot if Prince leaves. Citi's warning last week left some investors calling for Prince's ouster.The changed structure may not fix much at all, said Thomas Russo, partner and portfolio manager at Gardner Russo & Gardner in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which owns Citi shares."Clearing the bench may be therapeutic, but it doesn't necessarily improve Citi's ability to fix the mistakes that were made or seize opportunities in these markets," Russo said.Citi's shares had risen 2.5 percent on Thursday before the management change was announced, to close at $48.32 on the New York Stock Exchange.
KEY RISK NAMES KIM FIEDLER VICE PRESIDENT OF ALTERNATIVE RISK SERVICES
GREENSBORO � Key Risk has named Kim Fiedler, Vice President of Alternative Risk Services. Key Risk is a leading provider of workers� compensation insurance products and services for employers throughout the Eastern United States. Fiedler�s appointment is effective immediately. In her new role, Fiedler will be responsible for the operations, growth and profitability of the company�s alternative risk services department which provides third party claims administration, policy services, case management, medical bill adjudication and loss control consultation. �Kim�s leadership is proven, and her contribution to our team will be invaluable as we build our relationships with new and existing clients, and as we expand into new regions and service areas,� said Rob Standen, Key Risk President.
Getting back on the bull
One leg in the chute, one out, Scooter Engelhaupt, the 42-year-old bull rider wearing the pink, flowery shirt, waits for his turn to bound the 2,000-pound behemoth.Though the Ashland native’s got more than two decades of riding experience under his hat, this will be his first time on a bull in four years.He retired, or so he thought, after his second shoulder surgery. He’s also broken his nose, a hand, an ankle and just about every rib at one time or another. "They told me last time there’s nothing left to fix," he says. "But I’m pretty lucky. I’m still walking, talking, moving around." .
Abortion issue splits Missouri
To put the measure on the November ballot, the group will need the signatures of about 90,000 Missouri residents - which even critics say is attainable. "I think they will get their signatures," said Pamela Sumners, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri, a group that supports abortion rights. "And when they do, we'll be prepared to throw everything we've got at it." Though the ballot proposal is just beginning to attract attention, its implications are significant in Missouri and the nation. Anti-abortion groups say the proposal would make Missouri a model for the country. They contend that it seeks to prevent what they allege accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions: women being coerced into having unwanted abortions. Supporters say the regulations would force abortion providers to inform women of all of the potential consequences of abortion, such as "higher rates of suicide, psychiatric hospitalization, substance abuse, depression." Activists who support abortion rights counter that such a law would leave Missouri with the most draconian abortion law in the United States and virtually stop doctors from performing the procedures because of potential liability and because so few patients could meet the proposal's strict screening criteria.
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