| Holocaust Museum founder Lerman dies
Miles Lerman, who fought against the Nazis in Poland and later helped found the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., has died. He was 88. Lerman's wife, Rosalie, confirmed Wednesday that he died Tuesday at his home in Philadelphia. Lerman was a member of a prosperous family whose flour mills were seized by the Nazis. Lerman escaped from a slave labor camp and fought the Nazis with other partisans for nearly two years in the forests of Poland. "Our job was to raise havoc, to raise hell with them and survive," he once told The Philadelphia Inquirer. Lerman and his wife immigrated to New York City in 1947. He worked as a grocery warehouse clerk in Brooklyn, N.Y., then had a chicken farm in Vineland, N.J. He later started a home heating oil business that grew into a major distributorship, and invested in real estate.
797 new area jobs predicted
Roland Mower, CEO of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation; Keith Arnold, president and CEO of the Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau; and Gene Guernsey, real estate agent with Remax Metro Properties, met with members of the Corpus Christi Rotary Club on Thursday to discuss their forecasts. "I really think we are setting up 2009, 2010 and other years for a really good housing market," Guernsey said. "I think the housing market will remain a buyer's market, and we will have about an eight-month inventory. It will continue to be strong compared with national figures." Month-supply inventories ranging from six to nine months -- meaning the houses take that long to sell -- are considered balanced markets. Anything less than six months shows a seller's market and anything more than nine months shows a buyer's market.
Musty odor from window sills a mystery
Q. I have been in my one-story, 30-year-old brick house for three years, and during my time there it has had a musty, funky, moldy smell coming from all inside window sills. My husband does not smell anything, but that does not mean I am wrong. I have treated the sills with bleach and water, which helps a little but it lasts only a few days, when the odor is back, with a vengeance. I even took the sills off, and found the underside of the sills to be moldy. I treated them with the bleach and water, but after a while the smell returned. The windows do not leak. What else can I do? I have called Mr. Smell, a local trouble shooter, who is coming in a few days, but meanwhile I need all the help I can get. NANCY J., Virginia Beach, Va. A. You have done everything I would do, but I have two aces up my sleeve that might give you a chance to conquer all.
Housing starts fall 24 percent
Levitt and Sons of Fort Lauderdale filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors in November. Levitt, which has no developments in Palm Beach or Broward counties, recently received a loan of up to $10 million from Wachovia Bank, its largest creditor. Levitt is winding down its operations, but the Wachovia financing could keep the builder in business with limited operations for up to 23 months.
Another local builder, TOUSA Inc. of Hollywood, says it has serious doubts about its ability to stay in business. The company also is considering a Chapter 11 filing.
Meanwhile, Miami-based Lennar Corp. reported its biggest quarterly loss in the company's 53-year history in September. The company cut its work force by about 35 percent last year.
Many economists think the current slump in housing will rival the dive in the late 1970s and early 1980s when housing construction fell for four straight years before beginning to recover after the severe 1981-82 recession.
Study shows 'power' of S. Fla. multinationals
South Florida is home to almost 1,200 multinational corporations from 56 countries. And if their $203-billion combined revenue was measured as gross domestic product, they would rank as the world's 46th largest economy -- just behind Portugal and just ahead of Chile. Yet South Florida's multinational sector is largely overshadowed by the glitzy tourism industry and the roller-coaster real estate market. A new study by WorldCity Business Magazine with the backing of the Beacon Council, Miami-Dade's economic development agency, hopes to shed some light on the ''submerged'' multinational economy. The study, which will be officially unveiled Thursday, found that at least 1,183 multinationals call South Florida home. And the top-20 multinational employers account for 180,000 local jobs.
NHL roundup for Saturday
Alfredsson restored Ottawa's lead with his 28th goal of the season after the Senators blew a 2-0 advantage earlier in the period. He also opened the scoring just 1:04 in. Mike Fisher also scored for Ottawa as he and Alfredsson extended their scoring streaks to nine games. Detroit's Brian Rafalski and Jiri Hudler scored in the third to tie the game with 7:54 remaining. .
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