Clem’s Chronicles: NW Flight Mystery/Home Sales/Swine Flu #s

We've made it to another Friday night-hope you have a nice weekend and GO YANKEES!

NW FLIGHT MYSTERY-So what happened in the cockpit of NW Flight #188? As you recall, the pilots told police “they had become involved in conversation” and did not hear ATC’s repeated attempts to contact the plane. Lisa Stark, reporting for WORLD NEWS, tells us it may be difficult to prove otherwise.Stark: “Investigators may have only their word to go by because the cockpit voice recorder caught just the last 30 minutes of the flight-by that time it was likely routine communications about landing in Minneapolis.” So John Nance, are you buying the pilots’ story? Nance: “This explanation is so on its face disingenuous. First of all, if you knew you only had a 30 minute recorder and you were making something up, why in the world would you say you did something so outrageously irresponsible as having an argument that went on that long.” WORLD NEWS anchor George Stephanopoulos asked Nance if the pilots’ story is “worse than falling asleep”? Nance: “Oh absolutely. If they had fallen asleep they at least would have a physiological excuse, if there’s an excuse at all. There is virtually no excuse I have been able to think of in the past 24 hours that makes any sense at all. This is outrageous behavior, for over an hour and twenty minutes to be out of communication, this violates almost every premise of the responsibility (of) an airline pilot.” 

EXISTING HOME SALES-I guess that first-time home buyers tax credit is helping. Existing home sales were up a robust 9.4% in September, handily beating analysts’ expectations. Driving the train? Ryan Owens, filing for WORLD NEWS, tells us “45 percent of the existing homes sold in September were bought by first-time buyers.” This by no means signals a return to the “good ole days”-Owens tells us “nearly 30 percent of the homes being bought are what’s known as distressed properties…many were in foreclosure.” Dan Arnall notes that thanks to those distressed sales, “the median price of a home sold last month was $174,900, 8.5% lower than the median price a year ago.”
And while the tax credit is not set to expire until the end of November, Owens warns “since closing on a house often takes more than 30 days…the deadline is now.” But there’s more good news in the numbers-the nation currently has less than a 8-month supply of unsold homes, which Arnall tells us is “the lowest inventory level in two and a half years and closer to the six month supply economists say we need to see before home prices start seeing appreciation year-to-year.”
For those of you who might be kicking themselves for missing out on the tax credit, you may yet get a chance. Owens says that “some in Congress are pushing to extend the deadline thru spring…maybe even double the credit to 15 thousand.” That’s something the nation’s realtors would most likely greet with open arms.

SWINE FLU/NUMBERS-So we’ve reached the dubious milestone of 1000 deaths from the swine flu here in the U.S. George Stephanopoulos asked Dr. Richard Besser to provide some context: “Normally late April to October is when flu takes a break and clearly that’s not the case this year. What (the CDC) said-millions of cases across the country, 20 thousand hospitalizations and 1000 deaths. And we don’t know where we are in this pandemic, so clearly, this is something serious.” Besser doesn’t see the swine flu going away anytime soon-“If you look at previous pandemics, they come in waves. We had a spring wave. We have a fall wave. I think it’s likely we’ll see a wave in the spring, and we may see more of this next year.” As to the question of vaccine shortages, Stephanopoulos wanted to know “when can we expect that anyone that wants the vaccine can get it”? Besser: “I would think that there would be a lot more vaccine by mid to late November, but there could be hitches along the way, so I don’t think anyone can really answer that question.”

SWINE FLU/IV DRUG APPROVED-From Grace Huang: “The FDA has authorized the emergency use of intravenous antiviral Peramivir for 2009 H1N1 Influenza for certain hospitalized patients. Important news for critically ill H1N1 patients: FDA clears an experimental IV treatment that appears to have saved some lives.  Peramivir is the first IV antiviral to receive the emergency authorization.  In this week’s Senate hearing, Sen. Lieberman had pressed Sec. Sebelius as to whether this emergency authorization would be coming in a matter of days.  She said yes – and she was right.”

100TH BANK CLOSURE (AND THEN SOME) OF 2009-I guess all these Friday night bank failure announcements really do add up. Introducing #100 in 2009, Partners Bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over Partners Bank, a small bank in Naples, FL with $68.7 million in assets and $63.4 million in deposits. According to an FDIC press release, Stonegate Bank out of Fort Lauderdale, FL assumes all the deposits and the two branches of Partners will reopen at Stonegate Bank branches on Monday. The 100 failures are the most in a year since 1992. That year, at the height of the savings-and-loan crisis, 181 banks went down. The 2009 bank closures have cost the federal deposit insurance fund about $25 billion so far this year. Matt Jaffe points out that the press release sent out by the FDIC includes a link to a video from FDIC chief Sheila Bair assuring consumers “their insured deposits are absolutely safe.” For more read Jaffe’s notes to the Business News DL.
We didn’t sit at #100 very long-closures 101 thru 106 were also announced this evening.  Others that failed were: Hillcrest Bank Florida, also based in Naples, which had $83 million in assets and $84 million in deposits; Flagship National Bank in Bradenton, Fla., with total assets of $190 million and total deposits of about $175 million; and American United Bank in Lawrenceville, Ga., with $111 million in assets and $101 million in deposits. Also failing were: Bank of Elmwood in Racine, Wis., with $327.4 million in assets and $273.2 million in deposits; and Riverview Community Bank, based in Otsego, Minn., with $108 million in assets and total deposits of about $80 million; and First Dupage Bank of Westmont, Ill., with total assets of $279 million and deposits of $254 million. (Charles Herman/Matt Jaffe/AP)

OTHER STUFF-
–IRAN NEEDS MORE TIME-So today was the deadline for the four nations involved in the IAEA Iran Nuke negotiations. The US, Russia and France have said yes to the IAEA Director General’s proposal. Iran? Not yet….the IAEA press release notes “Iran informed the Director General today that it is considering the proposal in depth and in a favorable light, but it needs time until the middle of next week to provide a response.” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in part “We hope there are no more delays in the next few days…we are looking for Iran to make concrete steps.” (Jean Fievet/Luis Martinez)
–SMART CHOICES SUSPENDS PROGRAM BUT….-Facing scrutiny from federal regulators over its’ “Smart Choices” food nutrition labeling system, the manufacturers’ group that come up with the system said today that the group will "postpone" active operations and not
encourage wider use of the logo while the FDA investigates labeling issues. Manufacturers that currently use the logo can continue to do so. (Brian Hartman/AP)
–BERNARD KERIK-Mr. Kerik will be staying in jail for at least a little while longer while awaiting the start of his federal trial on corruption charges. A federal appeals court rejected Kerik’s request to stay the order that saw him sent to jail this past Tuesday. The same appeals court agreed to an expedited hearing for Mr. Kerik on the matter though, which will be held Thursday Oct. 29th. Hence, Monday’s jury selection in the trial has been postponed until this issue (and any others that crop up) are addressed. (Richard Esposito)