GM'S FINANCES SLIP FURTHER WITH NEW BOND PACKAGE

GM's finances slip furtherwith new bond package
NEW YORK -- General Motors Corp. again drew the ire of credit rating agencies Tuesday after unveiling changes to a $5.6 billion loan package that was seen as putting bondholders at a disadvantage. Both Standard & amp; Poor's and Moody's Investors Service lowered the automaker's nearly $5 billion of debt deeper into junk territory. Wall Street rating agencies kicked both General Motors and Ford's credit out of investment grade last year on worries about labor costs and slumping car sales. General Motors announced earlier in the day it would repackage loans that were designed to boost liquidity at the financially-strapped company. The new loan terms offer lenders collateral, better pricing and other perks in exchange for extending the maturity. Rating agencies have previously warned GM of potential downgrades on concern that offering collateral to lenders would leave less money to unsecured bondholders if the Detroit-based company were to declare bankruptcy. Both S & amp;P and Moody's followed through on that threat.
Sanitation workers helpman find precious ring
NEW YORK -- A little help from sanitation workers probably saved Ron Goldstein a lot of explaining to his wife. The Staten Island man, who had tucked his wife's 3.5-carat diamond ring in a napkin for safe keeping while she was at the hospital, accidentally threw the ring in the trash. Goldstein woke up in a panic on Monday morning: The napkin was nowhere to be found. He ran outside, just as a garbage truck was driving down the block and out of sight. Undeterred, Goldstein called the local Department of Sanitation garage, where a supervisor arranged for the 63-year-old grandfather to follow the truck to a transfer station in Elizabeth, N.J. Once there, a group of workers endured the early-summer heat to search through dozens of garbage bags. After about an hour, the group hit pay dirt, uncovering the yellow shopping bags Goldstein uses for trash. The napkin, and the ring, appeared shortly thereafter. "It was meant to be found," Goldstein said of the ring, which he bought for his wife on their fourth anniversary 35 years ago. "It was like God giving me another shot."
Sept. 11 memorial unveiled
NEW YORK -- A somewhat scaled-down design for the Sept. 11 memorial that retains the central elements of the original -- including reflecting pools and the inscribed names of the victims -- was unveiled Tuesday after the project was sent back to the drawing board because the cost was pushing $1 billion. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. George Pataki signed off on the more modest proposal, more than a month after asking developer Frank Sciame to find ways to reduce the cost to $500 million. Sciame managed to cut the cost by more than $285 million by shrinking the size of the memorial museum, removing portions of the galleries around the pools where the names were to be listed, and consolidating all entrances into a visitors center.
Prosecutors: Woman, 79,shot her ex-boyfriend
ATLANTA -- A 79-year-old grandmother who used a cane to walk to her seat in the courtroom Tuesday was painted by prosecutors as so consumed by a jealous rage last year that she shot her ex-boyfriend four times in the head. Lena Sims Driskell, wearing brown curls and costume jewelry in court, is charged with murdering her former beau, 85-year-old Herman Winslow, because their yearlong romance had ended and he had found another companion. "She had been dismissed," Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis said in opening statements. "She didn't appreciate it. And her revenge was four to the head." Willis told jurors the couple's relationship was no different from any other and warned them not to excuse her actions out of sympathy. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
Associated Press