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Robbing banks no longer just for guys, FBI statistics show

She said she had nothing left to lose when she handed the bank teller the hastily scrawled note.

“We’re armed,” the note said. “Don’t say anything. Just give us all the money.” Moments later, the woman and her male accomplice raced from the bank, jumped in their car and sped off with $10,000 in cash. “It felt powerful, exciting, quick,” said the woman, who spoke with CNN under the pseudonym Jane Smith. “At that time of my life, everything was upside down and I didn’t have any control.” Smith told CNN she was going through a bad divorce and that robbing a bank “made me feel like I was in control again.” She is one of a growing number of female bank robbers, a crime normally committed by men. Watch what makes female bank robbers tick » Nationwide, 6.2 percent of all bank heists today are committed by women. That’s up from 4.9 percent in 2002 — a 25 percent increase, according to the most recent FBI crime statistics. “Here’s a crime that you can commit easily and its an equal opportunity crime,” crime historian Robert McCrie said. Banks have become so customer-friendly and open, they’ve become “a safe place to rob,” he added.

In Long Island’s Nassau County, Detective Sgt. John Giambrone says he came across not one female bank robber in his first 25 years in law enforcement. He has seen 15 in the past three years. “For a woman, especially a woman, to take that step … you’re crossing a big threshold,” said Giambrone, who heads up the Nassau County police department’s robbery squad. In Giambrone’s experience, the women who are captured in bank heists usually say they’re doing it to “pay bills, get a little extra cash.” It’s different for the men, he added. They usually say they rob banks for the thrill of it, or to get money for drug, alcohol or gambling addictions. Giambrone said women tend to carefully plan their holdups, and prepare the notes ahead of time. “Women are more pragmatic,” forensic sociologist Rosemary Erikson agreed. “They need diapers for the baby that kind of thing.” The most notorious female bank robber was Bonnie Parker of the famed Bonnie and Clyde duo. Often she was armed, not the usual modus operandi of today’s women. Like the men, they usually just hand the teller a note, knowing most banks instruct employees to hand over the cash rather than risk injuries. Among today’s more memorable women: the giggling teen Barbie Bandits captured last year in Georgia, Northern Virginia’s Cell Phone Bandit, caught in 2005, and the Starlet Bandit, still on the loose in Los Angeles, California. As crimes go, bank robbery is hardly a fool-proof caper. The chances of getting caught are high, the prison sentences long, Erikson pointed out. Three out of four bank robbers are caught, she said. The arrest rate is high because the FBI is involved in almost all bank robbery investigations. The penalty can be as high as 26 years. But 83 percent of bank robbers think they are not going to be caught, Erikson said. “They have this kind of immortality thing, they have inflated egos.” Jane Smith, who is trying to rebuild her life after serving five years in a maximum security prison, agrees that while the holdup was exciting, it wasn’t worth it. Still, she couldn’t help smiling as she recalled how the tire blew on the getaway car while she and her accomplice made their getaway. “I kept going on the rims, sparks flying on the highway,” she said. When she could drive no farther, Smith recalled, “I started flagging people down. All the money is on the floorboard of the car. One lady did pull over to pick us up and so I got the money and I stuffed it in my purse and could barely zip it. She took us to a convenience store close by and I called a taxi.” She went on wild spending spree, going through most of the money before her arrest several days later.

She said she would never again rob a bank, because her arrest and incarceration nearly destroyed her parents and two kids. But Smith admitted that the thrill was addictive. “I loved the danger in it. I wanted to get more money. I wanted to keep doing it. That’s how it really felt — an adrenaline rush. Perfect.”

Road to riches ends for 20 million Chinese poor

Tang Hui lost his manufacturing job in October just days after getting married.
Tang Hui and his family prospered as migrant workers during China’s economic boom, earning $10,000 a year: enough to build a house, send a cousin to school and pay for his grandmother’s medical bills.

But those good days are over. The family’s cash earnings have evaporated, snatched away by a manufacturing crash cascading across China caused by falling global demand for its goods. The nine people in the Tang family are facing an income of zero; their best hope to survive is to grow rice and raise pigs at home in the Sichuan Mountains. “Farming is really hard. It needs a lot of hard labor,” says 22-year-old Tang Hui, who lost his manufacturing job four months ago. “None of the young people want to farm nowadays. The income is extremely low.” See photos of the hard-scrabble life of Tang Hui » A Chinese proverb says: “Going on the road to Sichuan is as hard as going to heaven.” Isolated and mountainous, Sichuan is China’s third most populous province; 60 percent of its 87 million residents are poor and live in the countryside, authorities say. It became the nation’s biggest source of the 130 million farmers who migrated into Chinese cities, especially in the south, to provide cheap labor for factories that churned out products, mainly for export to the United States. The province was also rocked last May by a massive earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people. Five years ago, Tang Hui left for southern Guangdong province to work in a factory producing handbags and backpacks. He had to drop out of high school because his family was so poor. There, he earned enough to stash away savings for his wedding. But last October, just days after he got married, his factory abruptly closed down. It was receiving no more orders from its American clients. Watch Tang Hui walk muddy roads to get home »

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“I hope the government can help us during this crisis,” he says. “I hope it won’t be like this for too long. Now, there is not even enough money to celebrate the holidays.” At least he was able to spend the most important Chinese holiday of the year, the Spring Festival, at home in Qingbadong village. The road uphill to the village was muddy and slippery. The winter rice fields were brown; the slopes were covered in winter fog. “In two, three months,” Tang Hui says, “everything will be green and blooming.” And the festive mood — the first time in six years the whole family celebrated the holiday together — was short-lived. Reality is never far away. Many of the villagers are unemployed. The Tang’s next-door neighbors, a married couple, lost their jobs in a Guangdong shoe factory after working there for 16 years. “A few months without jobs would be disastrous for us,” Tang Hui frets. Before they ventured out as migrants, the Tangs lived in a wooden shack. Now, they live in a two-story brick house, with 10 rooms, concrete floors, an open fire pit for cooking. Still, it has no running water and one outdoor latrine. See where Sichuan province is located » In the past months, about 70,000 factories nationwide have closed. Beijing official Chen Xiwen estimates about 20 million migrant workers have lost jobs. Tens of thousands of villages in the countryside depend on migrant workers’ income. China analysts say the spike in unemployment has caught China off guard. “The central government is now telling local governments to provide help and job training, re-employment,” says Wenran Jiang, a political science professor and China expert at Canada’s University of Alberta. Vice Minister of Commerce Jiang Zengwei says China is offering “a one-off subsidy of 100-150 yuan ($15 to $22) to 74 million low-income people … for temporary relief.” Still, it will take some time before such measures make a difference. Watch few job hopes for Beijing grads » Some analysts have suggested that a “rural revolution” is imminent amid the economic turmoil. However, Wenran Jiang says such talk is premature. But he also says the central government must do more in the coming months. “Many migrant workers have lived a very hard and simple life,” he says. “They have some savings for a rainy day like this, so in the short-term they may be able to cope — but if eight or 12 months later things continue to deteriorate, it could turn volatile.” Most farmers like the Tangs do not get social security. So villagers who lost factory jobs have few choices except go back to farming. But it is not easy. Farming feeds people but brings little cash. Millions of the jobless are second-generation migrant workers, young people who grew up in cities. “It would be very hard,” says Tang Hui. “I have never farmed. I don’t know how to do it.” To cope, China is creating training programs in the countryside. One of the pilot centers is in Chongqing municipality. Some 30,000 workers have so far taken classes in farming, farming machinery repairs, tailoring and other vocational skills. The trainees got a one-time incentive of about $45. But the Tangs have never heard about such programs. When asked about the central government’s plan to invest billions of dollars in countryside infrastructure as a part of a huge stimulus package, they expressed anger. “The central government has good ideas and intentions, but the local officials often ignore them. The road in our village was built by the local government but we had to pay for it. Every family had to pay $100 or more. We get nothing from the government,” says Hui’s father, Tang Zhong Min. In the evening, the family huddles around an open wood stove. The stove and a small portable electric heater are the only sources of warmth during the cold winter nights. A flickering fluorescent lightbulb barely lights the room. Tang Hui’s wife, Li Xiaochun, is 21 years old. She used to cut leather in a textile factory, and will soon head back to Guangdong with her husband to search for work. “I think to be at home is better. I didn’t get used to living outside. I didn’t get used to Guangdong. It is better at home,” she says. Tang Hui then interrupts. “Of course, I also like it at home, but it is better in other places. Coming home is only good during the Spring Festival,” he says. Despite the uncertainty, they remain optimistic. “We are young. There must be some factories still open out there. We should be OK to go out and do something,” Li Xiaochun says.

But Tang Hui’s mother is not so convinced. “Of course I am worried. How can they live without jobs, with no money so far away from home” asks 46-year-old Hu Xiaoju. “But I will definitely go, too.” For the Tangs and millions of others in China, the road to Guangdong and employment may prove even more difficult then the proverbial road to Sichuan.

France pledges $730M to head off Caribbean riots

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is pledging $730 million (? 580 million) in economic aid to France’s Caribbean territories in an effort to head off escalating protests, his office said Friday.

Sarkozy made the announcement after a meeting in Paris with leaders from French Caribbean territories. He also proposed adding €200 ($253) a month to the salaries of low-paid workers. The French territory of Guadeloupe has witnessed a month of sometimes violent demonstrations over low wages and living conditions. At least one civilian, a trade unionist, has been killed in riots. French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie on Thursday announced the deployment of four state police units to Guadeloupe . “We have the duty to listen to our countrymen and at the same time, we must bring law and order back as quickly as possible,” Sarkozy said in remarks Thursday. “Our countrymen expect the state to protect them. It’s unacceptable that a trade unionist has been killed. This is murder. It’s a hateful act that has nothing to do with the social crisis.”

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Hospitals and emergency services continue to function and the main international airport is open, but petrol stations, schools, and most businesses — including supermarkets and car rental offices — are closed, the British Foreign Office said in a travel advisory. Hotels are open, but the strike is causing daily cuts to electricity and water supplies, the Foreign Office said. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Thursday the crisis is linked to “the lifelessness of the economy in the Antilles , aggravated by the global economic crisis.”

Afghan supply base eviction prompts U.S. access scramble

Kyrgyzstan said Friday its president has ordered the closure of U.S. military’s only base in Central Asia, further squeezing access for troops and supplies heading into Afghanistan.

However, the closure comes as two other central Asian nations — Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – reportedly agreed to allow transit of U.S. cargo en route to Afghanistan. Russia’s Interfax news agency reported the Kyrgyz foreign minister has formally notified the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek. Officials have said the U.S. military has 180 days to withdraw from the Manas base after notification. With increased militant attacks on land routes through Pakistan and no likelihood of access through Afghanistan’s major western border with Iran, the United States is under pressure to establish new supply chains from the north. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday his country hopes to retain the base in Kyrgyzstan — a small landlocked Central Asian nation west of China that is home to about 5 million people — but was considering alternatives. “I continue to believe that this is not a closed issue and that there remains the potential at least to reopen this issue with the Kyrgyz and perhaps reach a new agreement,” Gates said at a NATO meeting in Krakow, Poland. Watch why Kyrgyzstan wants to close the base » “If we are unable to do that on reasonable terms then, as I have suggested, we are developing alternative methods to get resupply and people into Afghanistan.” He said one option may be to pay larger fees to Kyrgyzstan, but the U.S. was also looking elsewhere. “Manas is important, but it is not irreplaceable,” he said. Manas’ closure could deal a significant blow to U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan just as President Barack Obama plans to step up U.S. troop levels to halt a resurgence of the country’s former Taliban rulers. How far is Manas from Afghanistan View our map » The air base currently employs more than 1,000 servicemen, 95 percent of whom are Americans, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported. The base is used to transport personnel and cargo to Afghanistan and to refuel aircraft.

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Meanwhile, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, which both border Afghanistan, have agreed to allow U.S. cargo to be transported to Afghanistan through their countries, Interfax reported Friday. A Tajik government statement said only that the two sides discussed the issue, but a spokesman for the Tajik foreign ministry told CNN that “practically all issues” to allow U.S. cargo transit have been resolved. The efficacy of the deals with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan would still depend on how much access the United States would have for flights and cargo, and it is unlikely they will fully replace capacity lost in Kyrgyzstan. Meanwhile U.S. General David Petraeus, who oversees the war in Afghanistan, was in Uzbekistan, which also lies over the northern Afghan border, this week for talks on Afghanistan and other regional issues.

A Pentagon spokesman told CNN that his discussions included the regional supply network into Afghanistan. The U.S. military leased a base in Uzbekistan after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. But after Uzbek troops were accused of killing at least 150 people during a demonstration in 2005, the autocratic government of President Islam Karimov came under criticism from Washington and severed most of its military ties with the United States.

Who’s going to win at the Oscars?

Greg Cannom. Remember that name.

It’s not a household name, for sure. But this two-time Academy Award winner (for “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and “Mrs. Doubtfire”) is the red-hot favorite to win the Oscar in the best makeup category, for his work taking Brad Pitt from decrepitude to infancy in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” His colleagues in the visual effects department are likely to join him, along with the art direction team and possibly costume designer Jacqueline West, taking “Button’s” tally to four awards. But my hunch is that this will prove the outer limit of the Academy’s love for David Fincher’s epic. Not a good return on 13 nominations. On the other hand, I predict that “Slumdog Millionaire” will reap the rewards, with as many as seven Oscars from 10 nominations, including best picture and best director for Danny Boyle. (A full sweep is impossible, as composer A.R. Rahman has been nominated against himself in the best song category. “Slumdog” will also probably miss out for sound editing and sound mixing, two categories that favor big-budget films.) Watch how “Slumdog” is getting mixed reviews in India » If I’m right, it will be a fairy-tale ending for what is in many respects a fairy tale of a movie, albeit a fairy tale punctuated with sometimes distressingly grim episodes of violence and poverty. Still, upsets do happen. Four years ago, all the pundits (including this one) had “Brokeback Mountain” pegged for best picture. Instead, a left-field movie that had been kicking around for months surged from behind and “Crash”-ed the party. It could happen again, but this year “Slumdog” is — or at least began as — the left-field movie. The surprise came when American audiences embraced the energy and passion (the underdog spirit, if you will) of Boyle’s film.

After all, this was a film that Warner Bros. almost consigned straight to DVD until Fox Searchlight stepped up and obtained U.S. theatrical rights. North American box office receipts will probably reach the $100 million mark soon, making the $15 million film easily the most profitable of the best picture contenders. (“Benjamin Button” has grossed more, but with a budget estimated at $150 million, it cost 10 times as much to make.) Best actor The “Slumdog” wave won’t affect the acting categories, not because the Academy struggles to recognize Indian excellence but because the lead roles in the film are split between three generations of young actors. Similar considerations will weigh against Brad Pitt’s chances for best actor, despite his outstanding performance as “Benjamin Button’s” lead. No one seems entirely clear where Pitt leaves off and the makeup, the CGI and the four other actors credited with playing the part take over.

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The pundits have decided that this category is a straight choice between Sean Penn (“Milk”) and Mickey Rourke (“The Wrestler”), and although I wouldn’t rule out Frank Langella for his strangely sympathetic portrait of the disgraced president in “Frost/Nixon,” I have to agree that Penn and Rourke are both compelling choices, and either would be a worthy winner. Given the soft love the Academy has shown “The Wrestler” (two nominations) compared with “Milk” (eight, including best picture), Penn is the smart choice. But my heart goes with Rourke. Penn transforms himself to play Harvey Milk, but Rourke does something more difficult; he reveals himself. Best actress This category, like best actor, seems to come down to a choice between two: Meryl Streep (who overpowers the ethical uncertainties of “Doubt”) and Kate Winslet (who contrives to make a mass murderer sexy and sympathetic in “The Reader”). These are two ostentatious, technically demanding performances of the kind that Oscar voters appreciate; Melissa Leo’s understated naturalism in the little-seen “Frozen River” would stand at the opposite end of the spectrum, well out of the limelight. It’s astonishing that Streep — by common consent our finest actress — hasn’t won an Academy Award since “Sophie’s Choice” (1982), a losing streak that runs through 10 nominations (and counting). But at least she already has a couple of Oscars on her mantel, which is more than you can say for Kate Winslet, hoping it will be sixth-time lucky on Sunday. In this critic’s opinion, she’s been nominated for the wrong performance and the wrong film (“Revolutionary Road” would have been my choice), but I’ve had more arguments about “The Reader” than any of the other contenders this year, and I suspect that there is enough support out there for a Winslet win. Supporting actress I think we’ll see Penelope Cruz triumph for her fabulously funny bilingual artist in Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” She’s already won a BAFTA and an honor from the National Board of Review. But the Academy likes surprises in this category, and a first-time such as Taraji P. Henson could take it.

Supporting actor The idea that Heath Ledger won’t win for “The Dark Knight” is so unthinkable, I can only imagine mass walk-outs at the ceremony and riots breaking out across the country if it doesn’t come to pass.

India says it will oppose U.S. ‘protectionism’

Kenneth Lewis is the CEO and chairman of Bank of America, the nation's largest bank.
India Friday vowed to oppose any protectionism moves by the United States as part of Washington’s efforts to deal with the economic crisis.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been highly critical of Wall Street firms in general and Merrill Lynch in particular for the way they have conducted themselves in the midst of a financial crisis. Last week, he accused Merrill Lynch, which was acquired by Bank of America late last year, of secretly doling out big bonuses before reporting a huge quarterly loss. “Merrill Lynch’s decision to secretly and prematurely award approximately $3.6 billion in bonuses, and Bank of America’s apparent complicity in it, raise serious and disturbing questions,” Cuomo wrote in a letter to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services. In his letter to Frank, Cuomo said Merrill gave bonuses of at least $1 million each to 696 employees, with a combined $121 million going to the top four recipients. The next four recipients were awarded a total of $62 million, and the next six received $66 million, he said. In all, the bonuses for 2008 totaled $3.6 billion. “While more than 39,000 Merrill employees received bonuses from the pool, the vast majority of these funds were disproportionately distributed to a small number of individuals,” Cuomo wrote. “Indeed, Merrill chose to make millionaires out of a select group of 700 employees.” The attorney general said Merrill “awarded an even smaller group of top executives what can only be described as gigantic bonuses.”

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Cuomo also claimed Merrill handed out the bonuses ahead of its federally funded acquisition by Bank of America, which was announced in mid-September and closed by year’s end. It “appears that, instead of disclosing their bonus plans in a transparent way as requested by my office, Merrill Lynch secretly moved up the planned date to allocate bonuses and then richly rewarded their failed executives,” Cuomo wrote. Bank of America has received $45 billion in federal bailout money, including $20 billion to support its takeover of Merrill. Bank of America reported a net loss of $1.79 billion for the fourth quarter. Merrill reported a net loss of $15.31 billion for the fourth quarter. Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri that Merrill was “an independent company” when the bonuses were awarded. “Bank of America did urge the bonuses be reduced, including those at the high end,” Silvestri wrote. “Although we had a right of consultation, it was their ultimate decision to make.” Silvestri said the top executives for Bank of America “took no incentive compensation for 2008,” with an 80 percent reduction for the “next level” of executives. Top executives from Bank of America — as well as Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, State Street and Wells Fargo — appeared before the Financial Services Committee last week to explain how they spent the $165 billion they received from the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. In the testimony, Lewis said he received no bonus for 2008 and was paid a salary of $1.5 million. Bank of America’s stock, which traded higher than $40 a share in the past year, closed at a fresh 52-week low of $3.93 a share Thursday. It’s the largest bank in terms of assets in the United States and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Iran ready to build nuclear weapon, analysts say

A building housing the reactor at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in the Iranian port town of Bushehr.
Iranian scientists have reached "nuclear weapons breakout capability," according to a new report based on findings of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.

The Institute for Science and International Security report concludes Iran does not yet have a nuclear weapon but does have enough low-enriched uranium for a single nuclear weapon. The type of uranium the International Atomic Energy Agency report says Iran has would have to be further enriched to make it weapons-grade. The institute drew its conclusions from an IAEA report dated February 19, 2009. An official in the IAEA confirmed the authenticity of the report for CNN, but didn’t want to be named. The IAEA report is posted on the Web site of ISIS, a Washington-based non-profit and non-partisan institution focused on stopping the spread of nuclear weapons. It also finds that while Iran has dramatically increased installation of centrifuges that can be used for enriching uranium — from 4,000 to 5,400 — its scientists aren’t using the new units yet. They remain in “research and development mode.”

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In the IAEA report, the agency also says no substantive progress has been made in resolving issues about possible “military dimensions” to Iran’s nuclear program. Iran has consistently denied the weapons allegations, calling them “baseless” and “fabricated.” Iran says its nuclear program is necessary to provide civilian energy for the country, but other countries have voiced concern that its true purpose is to produce nuclear weapons.

Fix-It Nation: In Tough Times, Tailors and Cobblers Thrive

Where’s the trendiest place to shop these days? Try your closet. To wit: Kelly Thorsen, a school secretary from Lakeland, Florida, needed a nice pair of boots for the holiday season. A new pair would have cost some $200, but a splurge was not an option for the mother of two. “Last year, I might have gone out and started looking around,” says Thorsen, 46. “Now, we are being a lot more careful with where our dollars are being spent. To go out and purchase a new pair of boots was not in my realm.”

So she literally dusted off a decade-old pair of ragged black leather boots sitting in her closet, and visited a shoe repair shop for the first time in her life. For a fashion-conscious woman, the thought of recycling 10-year old boots with worn out heels did hurt her pride a bit. “I walked in with my tail between my legs,” she says. “It was something, initially, I was not proud of.” Then she saw the price: $16. And the work: the boots looked good as new. “I walked out of there going, ‘okay, all right,” Thorsen says. She proudly wore her healed heels to all her holiday parties.
As consumers cut back on big-ticket purchases this year, many fix-it folks are busier than ever. Why go out and spend money on new shoes, suits, or SUVs when it’s so much cheaper to repair the ones you already have Around the country cobblers, tailors, car mechanics and bike, vacuum, watch, and television repairmen are all reporting strong revenues during the recession. Jim McFarland, a third generation shoe repairman who owns McFarland’s Shoe Repair in Lakeland, has fought many anxiety bouts his 23 years running the shop. “I’ve spent nights pacing my floor at two, three in the morning, wondering ‘how am I going to get through this'” says McFarland, who teethed on leather as a baby. “Now, I sleep the whole night through,” he says. “I’ve never seen it like this — it’s wonderful.”

McFarland says his year-over-year revenues rose 28% in December, and 35% in January. “I’d love to see a 50% jump in February,” he says. As the historian for the Shoe Service Institute of America, the cobbler trade group, McFarland also tracks local media stories on shoe repair performance, and talks to hundreds of shop owners throughout the country. He says that cobblers are reporting increases in the range of 25-40% during the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first few months of ’09.

In the past, one of the biggest challenges tradesmen faced was a psychological barrier that kept consumers out of the repair shop. I will not stoop so low as to squeeze more life out of these rusty shoes, or that old dress. That feeling still exists: an Indianapolis publishing executive named Pat, who just took four suit jackets in for restoration, asked that her last name not be printed because “it’s nobody’s business that I’m recycling clothing.” But the economic realities eventually prevail. Pat was looking to extend her wardrobe when she chose between new and used. “Should I buy, or look in the closet and see what I can do with the clothes that are already there” she says. She picked the closet, and is pleased with the results.
For tailors who also make custom clothing in their shops, the alteration game is a savior. Joyce Hittesdorf, the president of the Association of Sewing and Design Professionals who also runs her own small business in Carmel, Indiana, has picked up about eight new clients over the past month. “They were all looking to salvage what they had,” she says. “Alterations were the secondary part of our business, now it’s more primary.” At Imparali Custom Tailors in New York City, new custom suit sales fell about 20% in 2008, while revenues from fix-up jobs jumped 30%. Matt Harpalani, the shop’s manager, notes that many of his customers who have lost weight now opt for an alteration, rather than a new Armani. “The alteration business has paid our rent,” Harpalani says.

The repair trade is even delivering positive numbers to the wrecked automobile industry. Since they can’t afford a new car right now, customers are holding onto their old ones longer. During December, for example, the average trade-in-time for cars was 6.3 years, compared with 5.7 years in 2007. These rides often need repairs to stay alive. “Overall, our members are saying they are seeing a revenue increase,” says Angie Wilson, VP of marketing and communications for the Automotive Service Association, which represents 8,000 independent car repair shops around the country. According to an association survey, 60% of auto-repair shops said they saw an increase in ’08 year-over-year sales. The average jump was 16%.
Further, even though car dealerships are near ghost towns these days, on-site service sales rose 2% during the last four months. Paul Taylor, chief economist of the National Automobile Dealers Association, is projecting growth “significantly above 3%” this year. “It’s welcome news,” Taylor says of the repair rise. “It’s important that when consumer expenditures are dead in the water, this sector of the economy is growing.”

While the recession has helped all types of repair professions, the cobblers seem to be enjoying their luck more than most. Shoe repair is a dying industry. During the Great Depression, there were some 130,000 shops across the country. Now, there are only 7,000. Graying, middle-aged repairmen are the young turks — there’s a clear shortage of twenty- and thirtysomething cobblers in today’s shops. “We have a chance to reintroduce our industry,” says Randy Lipsom, who runs four shoe repair shops in St. Louis. The shoes are falling of the shelves in Lipsom’s shops: he now has to stuff the overflow work into bins. A year ago, those same shelves were half-empty. “I’m getting more customers under 35 than I’ve ever seen,” says Lipsom. “They’re spreading the word among people their age, about the quality and savings shops like ours can offer, and it’s helping.”

McFarland, the Florida shoe repairman, thinks a two-year downturn would give the industry “a shot in the arm” that could last 10-15 years. But even McFarland is quick to temper his excitement. He too realizes that what’s good for the cobbler might be bad for the souls of his countrymen. “The more people we get,” he says, “the worse it is out there.”

See TIME’s Pictures of the Week.

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Photo appears to show bruised Rihanna; police probe leak

Rihanna was allegedly attacked by her boyfriend, singer Chris Brown, before the Grammys on February 8.
Los Angeles police have launched an internal investigation to determine who leaked a picture that appears to show a bruised and battered Rihanna.

The close-up photo — showing a woman with contusions on her forehead and below her eyes, and cuts on her lip — was published Thursday on the entertainment Web site TMZ. TMZ said it was a photo of the R&B singer Rihanna. Rihanna, 21, was allegedly attacked by her boyfriend, singer Chris Brown, on a Los Angeles street before the two were to perform at the Grammys on February 8. “The unauthorized release of a domestic violence photograph immediately generated an internal investigation,” a Los Angeles police spokesman said in a statement. “The Los Angeles Police Department takes seriously its duty to maintain the confidentiality of victims of domestic violence. A violation of this type is considered serious misconduct, with penalties up to and including termination.”

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The chief investigator in the case had told CNN earlier that authorities had tried to guard against leaks. Detective Deshon Andrews said he had kept the case file closely guarded and that no copies had been made of the original photos and documents. Brown was arrested on February 8 in connection with the case and and booked on suspicion of making criminal threats. Authorities are trying to determine whether Brown should face domestic violence-related charges. Brown apologized for the incident this week. “Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired,” the 19-year-old said in a statement released by his spokesman. “I am seeking the counseling of my pastor, my mother and other loved ones and I am committed, with God’s help, to emerging a better person.”

Tiger to return to the course next week

Tiger Woods poses with his family including new son Charlie and dogs Yogi and Taz.
Tiger Woods will make his return to professional golf at next week’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona.

Woods, who has been sidelined since last June after knee surgery, is the defending champion and also won the event in 2003 and 2004. Woods has returned to the PGA Tour soon after the birth of his second child. “Elin and our new son Charlie are doing great. I’ve enjoyed my time at home with the family and appreciate everyone’s support and kind wishes,” Woods said in a statement posted on his Web site. The world’s richest sportsman has not played since beating Rocco Mediate in a playoff to win the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, his 14th major title, last June. Woods had to go through the pain barrier to secure an epic victory, but shortly afterwards underwent extensive knee surgery which brought his season to an abrupt finish. Speculation has been mounting about a date for his return, with his caddie Steve Williams telling Television New Zealand earlier this week that Woods was “95 per cent fit.” This week, Tiger Woods released the first photos of his new baby boy. Charlie Axel Woods was born on Sunday, February 8, and is the second child for Woods and his wife Elin.