Obama requests safety records from mine
President Barack Obama called for mine safety officials affiliated with the Upper Branch Mine in West Virginia to report next week on last week’s explosion, the mine’s safety record, and steps that will prevent future disasters.† Obama made a statement last Friday emphasizing the need for mine safety as the death toll of the disaster reached 29.† The Upper Branch Mine explosion is the deadliest mining accident in nearly 40 years, and officials are still unsure of what sparked the initial explosion.
Renowned publisher files for bankruptcy
The Tribune Co, publisher of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times and owner of several television stations, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan on Monday.
Lenders immediately decried the plan, deeming its details “unfair” and demanding the right to propose a rival bankruptcy plan.† Years of declining advertising revenue and mounting debt led to a motion of bankruptcy protection in December of 2008.† Tribune Co’s plan awards senior credit facility members 91 percent of its stock and outlines plans to emerge from Chapter 11 later this year.