Category Archives: people

Ford Motor Promotes Family Member Elena Ford to Vice President

Posted on 15 February 2013 by Ken Zino

Ford Motor Company said that Elena Ford is elected a vice president and leader of the company’s new Global Dealer and Consumer Experience organization starting this March. Ford is the great-great granddaughter of Henry Ford and the granddaughter of Henry Ford II. Ford earned a bachelor’s degree in Business from New York University. Continue reading →

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Transocean Pleads Guilty of Environmental Crimes in Gulf Oil Spill. $400 Million in Penalties for its Role in Deepwater Horizon Disaster

Posted on 14 February 2013 by Ken Zino

Transocean Deepwater pleaded guilty today to a violation of the Clean Water Act for its illegal conduct leading to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The drilling company was sentenced to pay $400 million in criminal fines and penalties, Attorney General Holder announced today. Continue reading →

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More Spills in Gulf of Mexico as U.S. Files Suit against ATP Oil

Posted on 11 February 2013 by Ken Zino

Today the United States filed suit against ATP Oil & Gas Corporation and ATP Infrastructure Partners for civil penalties and injunctive relief under the Clean Water Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. The complaint alleges unlawful discharges of oil and banned chemical dispersants from the defendants’ floating oil and gas production platform, the ATP Innovator, into the Gulf of Mexico. The drilling rig is operating 45 nautical miles offshore of southeastern Louisiana. Continue reading →

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Energy Secretary Steven Chu Resigns after a Distinguished Four Years

Posted on 7 February 2013 by Ken Zino

The Department of Energy, oft mocked by right wing Republicans, in Chu’s mind actually serves U.S. taxpayers as a Department of Science, a Department of Innovation, and a Department of Nuclear Security. Continue reading →

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Mullen, Ex Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joins GM Board

Posted on 1 February 2013 by Ken Zino

General Motors announced the election of retired Admiral Michael Mullen to a lucrative position on the GM board of directors effective immediately. Mullen served as the 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2007 to 2011. He was the principal military adviser to President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, as well as two Secretaries of Defense. Continue reading →

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GM Moves Performance Build Center to Corvette Plant

Posted on 31 January 2013 by Ken Zino

GM is moving its Performance Build Center from Michigan to the Bowling Green Assembly Plant where the Chevrolet Corvette is assembled. The center allows customers to build their own specialty engines for installation in GM vehicles. Continue reading →

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Karl-Thomas Neumann formerly of VW Now GM Europe Head

Posted on 31 January 2013 by Ken Zino

The Opel Supervisory Board today named Karl-Thomas Neumann, 51, chairman of the Management Board of Adam Opel AG, effective March 2013. General Motors also appointed Neumann president of its loss making GM Europe subsidiary and a GM vice president. Neumann will be in charge of a plan to return Europe to breakeven by 2015. Continue reading →

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BP Sentenced to Pay $4 Billion for Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Crimes

Posted on 29 January 2013 by Ken Zino

Nevertheless, the penalty remains a small fraction of the actual damage caused by pumping at least 5 billion gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This means that BP is paying less than $1 a gallon for the criminal spill and destruction of the environment. Continue reading →

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Second Alabama Cop to Serve Time for I-65 Motorist Thefts

Posted on 23 January 2013 by Ken Zino

A second Alabama police officer has been sentenced to serve time because of his thefts from motorists on I-65. Former Fort Deposit police officer Carlos Tyson Bennett, 37, was sentenced to 37 months in prison, two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $500 in restitution. Bennett stole money from motorists during traffic stops with another ex Fort Deposit cop, Jessie Alan Fuller, on Interstate 65 in 2009. Continue reading →

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Used Motor Vehicle Dealers Indicted for Odometer Tampering

Posted on 18 January 2013 by Ken Zino

A federal grand jury in Philadelphia charged Kyle Novitsky, 45, and Judith Aloe, 52, both of North Miami Beach, Florida with making false odometer statements, securities fraud and conspiracy, the Justice Department announced today. Continue reading →

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Nissan Cuts Leaf EV Price by $6400 on U.S.-Assembled Model

Posted on 15 January 2013 by Ken Zino

Nissan announced that pricing for the 2013 Leaf electric vehicle starts at $28,800 for the newly-added S grade – think SALE – making it the lowest priced five-passenger electric vehicle sold in the United States. The least expensive 2012 Leaf had a starting price of $35,200 without taxpayer subsidies. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn’s 20,000-unit sales target for the Leaf in 2012 was missed by 50%, and fewer than 10,000 were also sold in 2011. He previously said electric vehicles would account for 10% or more of global auto sales by 2020, a prediction that is viewed as fantasy by other automaker CEOs. Continue reading →

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Ford to Hire 2,200 Salaried Workers in the U.S. During 2013

Posted on 11 January 2013 by Ken Zino

Ford Motor said today that it plans to hire 2,200 salaried workers in the U.S. during 2013 to fill jobs in Product Development, Manufacturing and IT. It is the largest increase in new salaried workers in more than a decade. The announcement follows one yesterday when General Motors said it will hire 1,000 computer programmers to staff a new Information Technology office near Atlanta, Georgia. Continue reading →

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Virginia Man Jailed for Selling Counterfeit GM Diagnostic Equipment

Posted on 11 January 2013 by Ken Zino

A Virginia man was sentenced today in federal court to serve one year and one day in prison for selling counterfeit General Motors automotive diagnostic equipment used by mechanics to identify problems with GM vehicles. Continue reading →

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Ex Ford EVP David Thursfield Sentenced to Jail over Divorce

Posted on 6 January 2013 by Ken Zino

David Thursfield, a former executive vice president of Ford Motor Company and then a top Cerberus executive, has been sentenced to two years in jail in Great Britain for allegedly hiding assets during a contentious divorce settlement in 2005. Continue reading →

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Transocean Pleads Guilty in Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Criminal and Civil Fines Set at a Record $1.4 Billion by Department of Justice

Posted on 3 January 2013 by Ken Zino

Transocean Deepwater, the operator of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, will plead guilty to violating the Clean Water Act and pay a total of $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines for its conduct during the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Continue reading →

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