Woman returns $100,000 found at Cracker Barrel

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - A Murfreesboro, Tenn., woman chose not to follow the old saying "Finders keepers, losers weepers" when she discovered nearly $100,000 in a bag at a local Cracker Barrel restaurant. But it wasn't that the thought didn't cross her mind.
"Satan will tempt you," said Billie Watts, 75. "I have been having real bad teeth problems. I thought, 'I'll get my teeth fixed.' "
She ultimately decided to return the money she found in a bag in the women's restroom to its rightful owner.

Watts had to be coaxed by Michael Peralta, one of her 12 grandchildren, to tell her story.
"I'm proud of her because if anyone in the world deserved to find $97,000 it was them," Peralta, 31, said of his grandparents, who live in an apartment and depend on their Social Security checks.
The excitement began when Watts stopped by the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store with her husband, Malcolm, Thursday afternoon. In the bathroom, she found a tapestry bag hanging on a hook on one of the stall doors.
"It had a Manila envelope that was sticking out of the bag," she said. "It couldn't zip up; it was too full."
She searched the bag for the identity of its owner. Inside the envelope was a picture of two women and a child, but no names. Then she spotted the money.
"I said 'Oh my goodness,' " Watts recalled Monday. "I have never seen that much money in my whole life. I counted the money. There was $97,000 in $1,000 bills. They were neatly stacked inside the bag. "
Watts decided to leave the restaurant with the money.
"I was afraid to go to the counter," she said. "Maybe the wrong person could get ahold of it."
After the couple returned home, Watts called the Cracker Barrel restaurant.
"I told them I found something in the bathroom. I just left my number and asked them to call me."
In 10 to 15 minutes, a woman called.
"I knew it was the right person when she called. She identified the picture, the envelope and the money," said Watts. "I met her in front of the Cracker Barrel about 15 to 20 minutes after she called me." more

Madoff's $50 Billion Swindle leaves Victims Around the World

ABC News' Joel Siegel reports: The scope of Bernie Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme is becoming clearer, and it's enormous. Newspapers and Web sites from around the world today are filled with stories about new victims.

In South Korea, institutional investors may have lost $100 million. French bank BNP Paribas, Tokyo-based Nomura Holdings and Zurich's Neue Privat Bank also suffered losses.

Spanish newspapers reported that a fund run by leading bank Santander was heavily exposed and that investors in Spain risk losing about $3 billion. And Swiss bankers face losses of up to $5 billion.

Among the boldface names who have lost money are Kay Windsor women's apparel founder Carl Shapiro, who lost $150 million to $400 million; and Nine West founder Jerome Fisher, who lost $150 million, the New York Post reports. Sen. Frank Lautenberg's office has confirmed he had an account with Madoff, and reportedly so did a former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Irwin Kellner, the chief economist of MarketWatch.com, already has filed a lawsuit, claiming a $3 million loss.

The New York Times quotes associates of Mets owner Fred Wilpon as worrying that Wilpon's losses might affect the operation of the team -- though Bob DuPuy, Major League Baseball's president and chief operating officer, told The Times despite Wilpon's losses, baseball officials "expect it to be business as usual" for the Mets.

“Any fraud that has been committed against Fred is something of deep distress to all of us and we feel very badly about the entire matter, but we all believe that this will not affect the team,” DuPuy said.

Less well-heeled people lost money, too. The New York Daily News has the story of a retired carpet salesman and his wife from Long Island, N.Y. and Boynton Beach, Fla., whose life savings of nearly $1 million is gone. more

Many call center jobs moving back to US

Many consumers are used to getting customer service on the phone from international call centers, but now some companies are offering domestic aid for a price.
Telephone inquiries for computer giant Dell are typically fielded in India, but now the company will guarantee that customers speak to someone in North America — for an extra $12.95 a month.

"Not only are companies choosing in many cases to deliver customer care from the U.S., but they're actually choosing to deliver customer care from agents' homes," said IDC customer service analyst Stephen Loynd.

Dell isn't the only company moving away from outsourcing; cell phone company Jitterbug boasts in its ads that its operators are in the U.S.

"We really believe that our customer satisfaction saves us more money in the long term than off shoring," said Jitterbug CEO David Inns.

The move from overseas back to the States isn't just about ending years of customer complaints about not being able to reach an operator stateside.

Bush gets the boot.

BAGHDAD (Dec. 14) - His legacy forever linked to an unpopular war, President George W. Bush flew under intense security to Iraq on Sunday where he called the nearly six-year conflict hard but necessary to protect the United States and give Iraqis hope. "The war is not over," he declared.

Bush got a size-10 reminder of the intense opposition to his policies when a man threw two shoes at him — one after another — during a news conference with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "This is the end!" shouted the man, later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt.
Bush ducked both throws. Neither leader was hit.
"All I can report is a size 10," the president joked.
Bush visited the Iraqi capital just 37 days before he hands the war off to President-elect Barack Obama, who has pledged to end it. The president wanted to highlight a drop in violence in a nation still riven by ethnic strife and to celebrate a recent U.S.-Iraq security agreement, which calls for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.
"There is still more work to be done," Bush said after his meeting with al-Maliki, adding that the agreement puts Iraq on solid footing. more

Atlanta Shooter gets max sentence

Terry McMillan’s ex husband

Terry McMillan’s ex husband Jonathan Plummer has found himself a new man.

Is it safe to say Mr. Plummer has a new plumber, and he is not working for the water company any more!

Ex-Nasdaq investor confessed to a fraud of $50 billion

Some of America’s wealthiest socialites are facing ruin after the arrest of a Wall Street big hitter accused of the largest investor swindle perpetrated by one man.
Shock and panic spread through the country clubs of Palm Beach and Long Island after Bernard Madoff, a trading powerbroker for more than four decades, allegedly confessed to a fraud that will cost his wealthy investors at least $50 billion — perhaps the largest swindle in Wall Street history.
Madoff, 70, a former Nasdaq stock chairman, was apparently turned in by his two sons and arrested on Thursday morning at his Manhattan apartment by the FBI. Andrew Calamari, a senior enforcement official at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, described the scheme as “a stunning fraud that appears to be of epic proportions."
The FBI’s criminal complaint states that when two federal agents arrived at Madoff’s apartment, he told them: “There is no innocent explanation.” The agents say that he told them “he paid investors with money that wasn’t there," that he was “broke” and that he expected to go to jail.

Many of his investors came from the enormously wealthy enclaves of Palm Beach, Florida and Long Island, New York, where people had invested billions in Madoff’s firm for decades. He was a fixture on the Palm Beach social scene, and was a member of some of its most exclusive clubs, including the Palm Beach Country Club and Boca Rio Golf Club, where he drummed up much of his business. more