‘You Also Have to Give Back’: Retiring Minn. Man Gives Away Business to His Employees

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After spending nearly 46 years building and running his successful Lueken’s Village Foods chain of grocery stores, Joe Lueken, 70, announced earlier this month that he is giving away his business to his nearly 400 employees.

“My employees are largely responsible for any success I’ve had, and they deserve to get some of the benefits of that,” said Lueken. “You can’t always take. You also have to give back.”

Yup, he’s literally giving away his three stores (two in Bemidji, Minn., and a third in Wahpeton, N.D.) to his staff.

“[H]e and his family will start transferring ownership of the three-store chain on January 1 to an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Program), in which each employee will own stock. The number of shares will be based on their salary and years of service,” ABC News reports.

When Lueken, the son of a baker, was asked why he chose to give away his business rather than sell it, he answered by saying it “was the right thing to do.”

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For New Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, it’s God, family and Yahoo

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photo credit: adam tinworth

“The baby’s been easy!” Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer told an invite-only crowd at a Fortune “Most Powerful Women” event on Tuesday evening in Palo Alto, Calif.

“The baby’s been way easier than everyone made it out to be. I think I’ve been really lucky that way but I had a very easy, healthy pregnancy. He’s been easy. So those have been the two really terrific surprises: the kid has been easier and the job has been fun!” Mayer said, referring to her son, Macallister. The crowd chuckled along with her.

It turns out the former Google executive, known for her planning skills and extensive use of spreadsheets to make major life decisions (and determine the perfect cupcake recipe), can still be surprised when it comes to both motherhood and corporate leadership.

“I think that there’s two surprising things,” Mayer told the audience, comprised mostly of women, “I knew that the job would be hard and I knew that the baby would be fun. And the thing that surprised me, and really puzzlingly so, is that the job is really fun! Yahoo is a really fun place to work.”

In a television exclusive, TODAY aired excerpts of the interview this morning, which may be her last public interview for some time.

See video below:

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Michigan Governor Open to Dissolving City Of Detroit

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LANSING – It would no doubt be controversial, but the idea of dissolving the fiscally struggling city of Detroit and absorbing it into Wayne County is being tossed around in Lansing.

WWJ Lansing Bureau Chief Tim Skubick reports some state Republicans are talking about giving the city the option to vote itself into bankruptcy. And mid-Michigan Senator Rick Jones said all options should be considered — including dissolving the city.

“If we have to, that is one idea we have to look at. We really have to look at everything that is on the table,” Jones said. “Again, if this goes to federal bankruptcy, every employee down there will suffer, the city will suffer and the vultures will come in and take the jewels of Detroit and they will be gone.”

Local consultant Tom Watkins has proposed this in the past, but the idea has never played well among Detroiters.

In a live interview on WWJ Newsradio 950 Wednesday morning, Gov. Rick Snyder said he wouldn’t count anything out.

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U.S. Bans BP From New Government Contracts After Oil Spill Deal

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(Reuters) The U.S. government banned BP Plc on Wednesday from new federal contracts over its “lack of business integrity” in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, possibly imperiling the company’s role as a top U.S. offshore oil and gas producer and the No. 1 military fuel supplier.

The suspension, announced by the Environmental Protection Agency, comes on the heels of BP’s November 15 agreement with the U.S. government to plead guilty to criminal misconduct in the Gulf of Mexico disaster, the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The British energy giant agreed to pay $4.5 billion in penalties, including a record $1.256 billion criminal fine.

BP and its affiliates are barred from new federal contracts until they demonstrate they can meet federal business standards, the EPA said. The suspension is “standard practice” and BP’s existing U.S. government contracts are not affected, it said.

The EPA acted hours before a government auction of offshore tracts in the Gulf of Mexico, a region where BP is the largest investor and lease-holder of deep-water tracts and hopes for further growth. BP is also the top fuel supplier to the U.S. military, the largest single buyer of oil in the world.

Suspension of contracts could give the government leverage to pressure BP to settle federal and state civil litigation that could top $20 billion if a court finds BP was grossly negligent in the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

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AIDS Activists Arrested After Protesting Speaker Boehner’s Office in the Nude

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Three women AIDS activists saying they wanted to highlight the ‘naked truth’ about potential spending cuts in HIV programs were arrested Tuesday after taking their clothes off in the lobby of House Speaker John Boehner’s office.

The trio had the words ‘AIDS cuts kill’ painted on their bodies and had linked arms with four men who also disrobed as part of the protest.

The protest came as health officials revealed that AIDS is spreading to a new generation of young men who are having risky sex and ignoring the painful lessons learned during initial outbreak of the disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that 1 in 5 new HIV infections occur in a tiny segment of the population – young men who are gay or bisexual.

The government on Tuesday released new numbers that spotlight how the spread of the AIDS virus is heavily concentrated in young males who have sex with other males.

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Democrat Operatives Launch Class-Warfare Website

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A George Soros-funded radical think tank with close ties to the Democratic Party has launched a new website urging politicians and activists to wage class warfare while hailing what it calls a new era in politics – the use of class warfare to win elections.

WageClassWar.org was launched last week by the Campaign for America’s Future, or CAF. CAF’s co-director, Robert Borosage, explained the need for such a website.

“America’s growing diversity and its increasingly socially liberal attitudes played a big role in this election. But looking back, we are likely to see this as the first of the class warfare elections of our new Gilded Age of extreme inequality,” he wrote in a statement.

“More and more of our elections going forward will feature class warfare – only this time with the middle class fighting back. And candidates are going to have to be clear about which side they are on,” he wrote.

Continued Borosage: “In 2012, candidates who supported the economic interests of the many over the few won their elections. Populism was the voice, but economic opportunity was the message. The pundits may wring their hands, but in the future it won’t be values voters, angry white men or soccer moms that win elections. It will be class war.”

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Jill Kelly Hits Back, Demands Investigation Into Leaks

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A Tampa socialite embroiled in the scandal that cost CIA Director David Petraeus his job fought back Tuesday after more than two weeks of silence as her attorneys released emails, telephone recordings and other material that they say show she never tried to exploit her friendship with Petraeus.

Jill Kelley, through her attorneys, went on the attack against a New York businessman who accused her of incompetence in her work trying to set up a deal he was negotiating with South Korean companies; an attorney who accused her of name-dropping and of being a social climber; and the FBI agent who first leaked her name in connection with the Petraeus scandal.

Kelley, 37, became the focus of national media attention earlier this month after it was revealed that she was the recipient of anonymous emails from Paula Broadwell, Petraeus’ biographer and mistress.

Broadwell allegedly told Kelley she should stay away from the former general and Gen. John Allen, who had replaced Petraeus as leader of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Petraeus and Allen had become friends with Kelley and her husband, Scott Kelley, a noted cancer surgeon, when the generals served at U.S. Central Command, which is headquartered at Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base. Kelley became an unofficial social ambassador for the base, hosting numerous parties for the officers.

The scandal this week cost Kelley her appointment as an honorary consul for the South Korean government, which she had gotten because of her friendship with Petraeus. The Koreans said she had misused the title in her personal business dealings.

Kelley’s attorneys sent a cease-and-desist letter to New York businessman Adam Victor; a complaint to the Florida bar against Tampa attorney Barry Cohen, and a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office demanding that it investigate to find out who in the FBI leaked her name to the news media. Representatives of attorney Abbe Lowell emailed copies of the letters to The Associated Press.

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Report: US States Are Less Free Than Canadian Provinces

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A new study on economic freedom in North America has concluded that some American states are less free than the provinces of our northern neighbor Canada.

“Canadian provinces now lead US states in average economic freedom, with the provincial average at 6.8 compared to 6.7 out of 10 for US states,” claims the new study by the Fraser Institute.

Topping the list of the most economically free subdivisions of North American countries is the Canadian province of Alberta, followed by Delaware, Saskatchewan, Texas and Nevada.

On average, American states lose to Canadian provinces in a number of categories, including regulation of credit, regulation of business, and legal system and property rights. While the average of economically free regions is higher in Canada, it is worth noting they have both the most free state, Alberta, and the least free state, Prince Edward Island, which is located off the coast of Nova Scotia.

The Freedom Index for North America was calculated using ten components in three basic areas: size of government, takings and discriminatory taxation, and labor market freedom. The number one issue affecting U.S. states’ freedom is the amount of government spending.

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Norquist: Pledge Wavering Republicans Are Democratic Pawns

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The leader of Americans for Tax Reform told Human Events that Republicans should be ashamed to be part of the Democratic media campaign to raise taxes.

“They should be embarrassed,” said Grover G. Norquist, the founder and president of the Washington-based ATR.

The narrative was part of the Nov. 27 remarks on the Senate floor by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).

“For nearly three decades, a right-wing Washington lobbyist has exerted a stranglehold on mainstream Republicans over the issue of taxes, threatening political retaliation against any lawmaker who dared vote for any fiscal solution that asked the wealthy to pay their fair share,” Schumer said.

“Both sides are still far apart, and the discussions over the next few weeks will be difficult, but with each new Republican disavowing Grover Norquist, the chances of a deal rise sharply,” he said.

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Senators ‘More Disturbed’ After Meeting With Rice About Libya Attack (+video)

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A meeting between U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and three of her most vocal critics in the Senate, Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Kelly Ayotte, ended poorly, with the senators saying many questions remain.

“The bottom line is that I’m more disturbed than I was before … about how four Americans died in Benghazi, Libya,” Graham said, and USA Today reported.

“It is clear the information she gave the American people was incorrect when she said that it was a spontaneous demonstration triggered by a hateful video,” McCain said. “It was not, and there was compelling evidence at the time that that was certainly not the case.”

Rice has drawn criticism for her statements on the Sunday shows following the attacks, when she said that the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens was the result of a spontaneous demonstration against an anti-Muslim video, and not terrorism.

Gen. David Petraeus, who was director of the CIA at the time of the attacks, told the House and Senate Intelligence committees last week that intelligence officials had, in fact, known it was a terrorist attack shortly after it took place.

Watch Senators interviewed by Associated Press below:

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