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Borders receives delisting warning from NYSE

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Troubled bookseller Borders Group Inc (BGP.N) said on Friday that the New York Stock Exchange warned it its low share price did not meet listing requirements.

The company said it was notified on Thursday it was not in compliance with a standard requiring shares to maintain an average closing price of $1.00 over a 30 day trading period. Borders has six months to fix the problem.

Shares last hit $1.00 on January 28.

Borders, which operates 500 namesake stores, is the second-largest book chain in the United States that has been struggling for years with sliding sales and most recently with a cash crunch.

It has said that it may need to explore a restructuring under court supervision, which could mean a bankruptcy filing.

Borders shares closed at 39 cents, down 1.75 percent, on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Alexandria Sage; editing by Andre Grenon)

Lieberman announces he will not run for re-election

Read more stories from The Daily Caller

Senator Joe Lieberman, 68, announced on Wednesday that he would not seek re-election in 2012.

“The reason I have decided not to run for re-election in 2012 is best expressed in the wise words from Ecclesiastes: ‘To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven,’” the former Democratic vice presidential candidate said at a press conference. “At the end of this term, I will have served 24 years in the U.S. Senate and 40 years in elective office. For me, it is time for another season and another purpose under Heaven.”

Lieberman left the Democratic Party and became an independent after losing to anti-war primary challenger Ned Lamont in 2006. A close friend of Sen. John McCain, Lieberman was rumored to be the Arizona Republican’s first choice as running mate in 2008.

“I have not always fit comfortably into conventional political boxes—Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative. I have always thought that my first responsibility is not to serve a political party but to serve my constituents, my state, and my country, and then to work across party lines to make sure good things get done for them,” Lieberman said. “Whatever the partisan or policy differences that divide us, they are much less important than the shared values and dreams that unite us and that require us to work together to make progress for all. To me, that is what public service and leadership is all about.”

Had Lieberman decided to run next year he would have likely faced stiff opposition from both major parties. With his approval rating sliding, at least onesuggested that the Homeland Security Committee chairman was likely to lose the race by a landslide margin. Lieberman, known for his hawkish foreign policy views as well as his liberal stands on hot-button social issues like abortion and gay rights, has received praise and criticism from both sides of the political spectrum during his tenure in Congress. He famously denounced Bill Clinton during the president’s 1998 impeachment trial, and became an outspoken supporter of the Iraq War under President George W. Bush. More recently, Lieberman was a leader of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal effort in the Senate.

Although his career in the Senate is coming to an end, Lieberman said that he intended to remain active in the political process. “I do not intend today to be the end of my career in public service,” he said. “Having made this decision not to run enables me to spend the next two years in the Senate devoting the full measure of my energy and attention to getting things done for Connecticut and for our country.”

B. E. Smith’s Sandy Reed Takes on Leadership Role in Interim and Consulting Services

B. E. Smith today announced Sandy Reed, formerly of the firm’s Talent Strategies division, will lead a team of interim and consulting leaders nationwide as vice president/project leader, Interim and Consulting Services.

Lenexa, Kan. (Vocus/PRWEB) January 26, 2011

B. E. Smith today announced Sandy Reed, formerly of the firm’s Talent Strategies division, will lead a team of interim and consulting leaders nationwide as vice president/project leader, Interim and Consulting Services.

A seasonedwith more than 30 years of experience in management, education and numerous senior leadership roles, Reed will assume her new duties immediately.

“Through the years, Sandy has been a trusted advisor to our clients, helping them accomplish immediate goals while putting the infrastructure in place to ensure peak performance for the long-term,” said Deirdre Byrne, senior vice president of Interim and Consulting Services, B. E. Smith. “Her broad-based understanding of clinical operations coupled with a keen ability to understand how to achieve performance improvement will be invaluable in her new role.”

During her years with B. E. Smith, Reed has helped healthcare organizations of all sizes enhance profitability, productivity and performance by leading initiatives in a wide range of services, including program development; benchmarking; operational, construction project and ; multihospital management redesign; and clinical process improvement. Prior to joining B. E. Smith, Reed held corporate, departmental and executive leadership positions at numerous healthcare facilities, including serving as chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care services for a multihospital system.

About B. E. Smith: Founded in 1978, B. E. Smith is a full-service leadership solutions firm for healthcare providers. B. E. Smith’s comprehensive suite of services includes Interim Healthcare Leadership, Permanent Executive Placements and Consulting Solutions. The company is comprised of veteran healthcare leaders who partner with each client to create a solution that uniquely fits that client’s individual needs. B. E. Smith maintains the largest database of skilled leadership and interim executive candidates in the industry and recently placed more than 600 leaders into healthcare organizations worldwide. For more information, visitor call 877-802-4593.

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Christine RicciB. E. Smith(913) 708-8913Email Information

Virginia's Allen aims to take back US Senate seat

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia Republican George Allen officially began his political comeback Monday, announcing his intent to regain his old Senate seat in an e-mailed video that promises "an American comeback."

The Republican former governor who lost his Senate seat in a 2006 campaign riddled with embarrassments said in an Associated Press interview he will run a more disciplined campaign focused on issues straight out of the tea party playbook.

His 2-minute, 45-second video, sent to supporters and around noon Monday, champions sharp cuts in federal spending, an end to Democratic health reforms and a domestic energy policy more dependent on coal.

He also promised support for constitutional amendments that would allow states to veto federal laws, give the president line-item veto authority and require balanced federal budgets.

"Friends, it's time for an American comeback," Allen said in a professionally produced video aimed at his party's conservative activists who showed in last fall's GOP takeover of the U.S. House that they can help sway elections. "People are frustrated that Washington continues to ignore us."

Unlike his two previous U.S. Senate races, the GOP nomination this time is not Allen's for the asking.

Allen, 58, enters the race weeks after Virginia tea party leader Jamie Radtke declared her candidacy and with conservative Del. Bob Marshall, who finished a close second for a Senate nomination in 2008, angling toward another race next year.

Radtke issued a statement challenging Allen to explain votes he cast for earmarks to appropriations bills, deficit spending and endorsements of Republican moderates such as Arlen Specter.

Marshall said in an interview he may run because there's "a roaring silence among the candidates already announced on social issues like (Congress' repeal) of don't-ask, don't-tell," a measure that would allow gays to serve openly in the military.

In the days before his announcement, Allen toured Virginia with the conservative Americans For Prosperity, advancing its mandate for deep spending cuts and a drastically reduced federal role in American governance.

"And I have support from the tea party, and in fact they've come to me. The tea party has little groups all over the state and many of them have come to me and invited me to speak," Allen said in the interview.

Allen lost five years ago after what he concedes was a sloppy campaign. He was a rising Republican star preoccupied with a 2008 presidential run who had brought in a new campaign team, not the longtime advisers and aides who had guided his previous triumphs.

He stumbled in August 2006 by calling a Webb campaign volunteer of Indian ancestry a "macaca," a term some cultures consider an ethnic disparagement. Posted on YouTube, video of the comment became an online hit and was grist for news reports and television comedians for weeks.

At a debate a few weeks later, he chafed at a question about his mother's Jewish heritage, accusing a panelist of "making aspersions about people because of their religious beliefs." Her father, Felix Lumbroso, was a resistance fighter whom the Nazis imprisoned in her native Tunisia during World War II.

Allen said he's prepared to address those missteps in his new campaign.

"On the issue of macaca, that was a college kid who was there doing his job and I should not have drawn him into it. I regret it and I have apologized to him for it. I regret that it took away from the very serious issues of that campaign, and this campaign will be fought on those issues," Allen told the AP in a telephone interview as the video was released.

"On a personal level, that was very hard on us, on (wife) Susan, on my children, hearing all that stuff that was being said about me, and so as a person, as a parent and as a husband, I'm going to do a much better job this time," Allen said.

Democratic Sen. Jim Webb, who defeated Allen by about 9,000 votes, has not said whether he will run next year. Webb, 64, has kept a low political profile, focusing on Senate business and doing little fundraising.

The cowboy-booted, tobacco-chewing namesake son of Hall of Fame Washington Redskins and Los Angeles Rams coach George Allen ran tightly scripted, disciplined and victorious campaigns for governor in 1993 and for Senate in 2000.

Allen remains popular among the state's GOP establishment and party activists, and his desire to win back his old seat has been widely acknowledged among them for months.

Allen dismissed the suggestion that payback against Webb influenced his decision to run.

"I respect Sen. Webb, but he tells Virginians one thing and then votes with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and all the other Washington liberals," Allen said.

Webb spokesman Will Jenkins said the senator is focusing on Senate business now and will address his 2012 plans within the next three months.

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Online:

Allen's campaign site:

First Person: On World AIDS Day, Recalling the Courtly 'Mr. B'

Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day. Yahoo! News asked members of our Yahoo! Contributor Network to tell us about their experiences dealing with HIV and AIDS. Submissions have been touching, heartfelt, hopeful, encouraging — and most of all, personal.

[Your Voice: ]

Mr. B was two days removed from a possible cardiovascular incident -- still undetermined -- that resulted in a loss of consciousness (more commonly known as "passing out) and a laceration to the scalp from when he fell and hit a coffee table.

The head wound was fixed with 12 stitches, and he'd undergone all necessary tests to rule out any head or brain injury from the fall. His medical history included a three-vessel open-heart surgery from the 1980s, a redo 12 years later, advanced Parkinson's disease, legal blindness from macular degeneration, and almost total deafness.

Mr. B -- himself a courtly, old-fashioned and kindly person -- had a wonderful family situation to be discharged to: a stay-at-home retired nursing assistant daughter supplemented by a granddaughter and a grandson in nursing school. Family dynamics appeared warm and stable. The oddity that set Mr. B apart from other patients on our cardiac step-down unit was his age, 93.

Oh, and he was HIV-positive.

By 2005, when I cared for Mr. B in metropolitan Portland, Ore., we followed all necessary and standard operating procedures, so to speak, for everysingle patient -- not just those with HIV-positive or AIDS diagnoses. This included: blood and body fluid-borne pathogen biohazard precautions, "needle-less" intravenous systems, gloves for almost any skin-so-skin contact, eye splash guards, and double-gloving.

Certainly, the diagnosis reminded one to be just a little bit more careful, but we nurses entered and exited Mr. B's room blithely, unlike like how we donned gowns, masks, hats and gloves in a separate biohazard foyer before entering the room of a MRSA-resistant patient. ( "MRSA" or "methcillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureas," refers to infections caused by staph bacterial that are highly resistant to some antibiotics.)

Mr. B was a very elderly heterosexual man who had contracted the HIV virus during blood transfusions required during his early 1980s cardiac bypass surgery. He had been "lucky," he related, learning quickly of his status and having the insurance and financial resources to treat his status with the newest and state-of-the-art treatment protocols. In fact, his viral load remained minimal and his T-cell, or CD4+ count -- a measure of his immune strength -- had never dropped to levels that would indicate even a slide toward the development of an active AIDS infection.

Communication, particularly such potentially soul-bearing ones with so many privacy issues, were difficult with Mr. B. You had to speak very loudly, slowly and very closely to his face, yet in his peripheral vision to allow him to speech-read as much as possible. He was more embarrassed, he admitted, to the difficulties inherent in holding a conversation with him than in actually discussing the details of his diagnosis. But his family shared freely about his history and the grace with which he greeted his diagnosis back in the day when HIV patients were shunned, avoided or even reviled.

His daughter, Nina, related how her mother, who was still living then, and her father greeted the news of his diagnosis. They were both shocked, she admitted, and spoke at length with their priest for many weeks. Both of her parents learned as much as they could of the condition, the disease, the difference between the two, and then began to slowly share the news of her father's diagnosis with family and close friends. At some point, Nina continued, Mr. B even spoke at his employer's conferences of the disease and the phobia surrounding it. Even though he was a higher-level manager near retirement, he was still taking a risk in revealing this information back in the day when Ryan White was ostracized from attending school with his peers. Her father's diagnosis led her to become a nursing assistant and both of her children to go into nursing school. Unknown to me, I was nursing a hero.

I'll never forget Mr. B. Not because of his diagnosis. Because of his courtly, old-fashioned manners, the gratitude he expressed over the smallest of courtesies and the patience he demonstrated in sharing his history with me. Oh, and the kiss on my cheek he gave me upon his discharge home.