TRAVERSE CITY — Florence Watkins likes to walk to the grocery store, so having a new one close to home is fine with her.
The worldwide Aldi discount food store chain will make its first venture into northern Michigan and take over the former Circuit City store in the Grand Traverse Crossing Mall off South Airport Road in Garfield Township.
Watkins lives in a subdivision near the mall and suspects she'll check out the new store.
"I go to Walmart right now because it's close," she said. "I like to walk, so it's something I would take advantage of."
The new Aldi store will be its 57th in Michigan, following one under construction in Mount Pleasant.
"We've wanted to be in Traverse City for a long time," said David Kapusansky, Aldi's director of real estate for Michigan. "We look at it as a strong, year-round market. It's not a just a destination market."
The chain cuts costs with a no-frills approach to food shopping. Shoppers bring their own grocery sacks and bag their purchases, and pay a 25-cent deposit for shopping carts. Stores feature bulk displays and offer pre-packaged meats and groceries, most of it under its Aldi brand. A typical store has 10 to 15 employees, Kapusansky said.
Aldi operates more than 1,200 U.S. stores, with its national headquarters located in Batavia, Ill., near Chicago. It's part of an international grocery chain launched by two brothers from Germany in 1961 that's grown to rank among the world's top 10 retailers.
The store received preliminary approval from Garfield Township but a final site plan is still needed, township building official Carl Studzinski said.
Circuit City closed in early 2005, among a number of its Michigan stores shuttered years before the electronics company went into bankruptcy. The site also hosted a seasonal Halloween store. A real estate listing dates the building to 1998.
Aldi recently secured Visser Brothers Inc. of Grand Rapids as its general contractor for renovating the store, which should be open by year's end, Kapusansky said. It will include a 16,000-square-foot grocery and another 4,000-square-foot space for a national or local retail tenant not yet determined. Development costs have not been finalized.
"A lot of changes need to be made to get a grocery store in there," he said.
The company hopes to continue expanding in northern Michigan. Its officials are scouring the U.S. 131 corridor from Grand Rapids north for potential development sites.
"That's the direction we're moving," Kapusansky said. "We'd like to be a regular player in all the major markets up north."
Source: record-eagle.com
Aldi's grocery project inches forward - Brattleboro Reformer
BRATTLEBORO -- The owner of a Putney Road plaza has received all of the necessary state and local permits and is making plans to tear down the vacant movie theater on the lot.
Unison Realty Partners, a Cambridge-based company that owns the Royal Square Plaza on Putney Road, received its Act 250 permit last week and hopes to begin tearing down the former Kipling Cinema as soon as a few additional local approvals are in place.
Unison needs to get final approval for the demolition project and traffic reconfiguration from the existing tenants in the plaza.
Once the other tenants have signed off on the plan, Unison will begin demolishing the former cinema and making way for a proposed 16,000-square-foot Aldi's discount grocery store at 762 Putney Road.
Unison Realty Partners owns the property and will be leasing the site to Aldi's.
"Everyone involved with this project, including us, the town and the tenant, is excited to get started," said Unison Realty Partners Investment Officer Joe Molle. "I think you are going to see us out there sooner as opposed to later."
Molle would not make any predictions about how long demolition and construction could take, though he said he expected the Kipling Cinema to come down in the coming months.
Unison had its Act 250 application held up after the Vermont Agency of Transportation objected to some of the company's plans to change the way traffic flows into and out of the parking
lot.Aldi's wants traffic to be able to enter its parking lot without going all the way down toward Staple's, as the parking lot is currently laid out.
VTrans thought the new plan would back traffic up onto Putney Road, but the Act 250 Commission allowed the new plan, with the stipulation that traffic studies be conducted for five years.
The Act 250 Commission issued its permit on July 5.
"It's great to have all of our state and municipal permits, and there are only a few things that still need to transpire before we commence construction," Molle said. "We just have a few last steps before we can put the shovels in the ground. I hope to begin Phase One very soon."
Aldi's discount grocers is based in Germany and has more than 3,000 stores across Europe and Australia, and about 1,000 stores in 31 states in the United States.
The store specializes in offering a small selection of each item, and sells international foods.
The closest Aldi store to Brattleboro is in Bennington.
The estimated cost of the Brattleboro project is about $1.2 million.
The Brattleboro Development Review Board has already approved the project and Brattleboro Planning Director Rod Francis said now that the Act 250 process is over there should be activity out near the vacant Kipling Cinema, which closed in March 2011.
"It looks like this project is going to go ahead. We're happy there is a new use for a building that has been vacant for some time," Francis said. "I would expect them to be making plans to begin very soon. I think they are eager to move quickly."
Howard Weiss-Tisman can be reached at hwtisman@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 279
Source: www.reformer.com
Gary Barlow donates 'Jubilee shoes' to Horder Centre - BBC News
Take That singer Gary Barlow has given the shoes he wore for the Queen's Jubilee concert to a Sussex orthopaedic charity to put up for auction.
The Horder Centre is trying to raise funds to create new woodland trails around its grounds in Crowborough.
The signed shoes were specially made for the singer songwriter and have the union jack and lyrics of Sing, the Jubilee song, inscribed on the sole.
A number of other celebrities have also donated shoes to the charity.
They include DJ Norman Cook, tennis player Ana Ivanovic, Olympic ice skating gold medallist Jayne Torvill, ex-England and Bath rugby captain Lewis Moody, singer and TV presenter Kim Wilde and Dame Vera Lynn.
Mr Moody donated a pair of world cup rugby boots.
"Playing a physically demanding sport like rugby at the highest level for many years, I understand the importance of great medical care and what a difference it makes," he said.
"When I was asked to be part of this campaign it was an easy decision to make."
Gary Barlow recently received an OBE in recognition of his efforts in organising the Queen's Diamond Jubilee concert and his work on the commemorative song Sing.
During the three hour concert, which took place outside Buckingham Palace, a host of stars including Barlow performed for the Queen and the concert was broadcast to millions of TV viewers worldwide.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Kent to be hit with 3cm of rain in just three hours - Kent News
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Source: www.kentnews.co.uk
Phone hacking probe: Detectives arrest two more journalists on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt - Daily Mail
- Sunday Mirror confirms its crime correspondent Justin Penrose is a suspect
By Leon Watson
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Two journalists were arrested today by detectives investigating corrupt payments to public officials.
Scotland Yard said a 37-year man was detained at his home in Kent and a 34-year-old man held at his home in south-east London.
One is Sunday Mirror crime correspondent Justin Penrose, it was confirmed.
The paper's owners, Trinity Mirror, said in a statement: 'We have been informed by the police that Justin Penrose was arrested this morning on suspicion of alleged payments to public officials. We are cooperating fully with the police.'
Scotland Yard said a 37-year man was detained at his home in Kent and a 34-year-old man also arrested in connection with Operation Elveden
Penrose has been with the Sunday Mirror since 2004, when he joined as a general news reporter. He was promoted to the position of full-time crime correspondent in January 2006.
In evidence to the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics, Mr Penrose said the newspaper never paid police for stories.
In a written statement, addressing the question of what ethical issues need to be held in mind by a journalist communicating with the police, he said: 'The main ethical issue is that we never pay police officers for stories or seek to put the police in a position where they feel that they should provide information to us in exchange for anything that they consider that they are getting from us.'
He also warned that there was a 'climate of fear' stopping officers talking to the Press.
He wrote: 'I believe that officers should be allowed to speak to the Press about their cases without the fear that they are going to be accused of corruption. At the moment there is a climate of fear in which officers are too scared to talk to the Press.'
The other suspect is believed to be Daily Star Sunday deputy news editor Tom Savage. A GPS locator on his website shows he was at East Dulwich police station in south-east London this morning.
The GPS locator on the website of Tom Savage shows him at East Dulwich police station
The pair are being questioned at separate police stations on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt and of conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office, the Met said.
A spokesman said: 'Today's arrests relate to suspected payments to a public official and are not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately.'
The latest arrests mean 41 people have been arrested by detectives on Operation Elveden, the investigation into suspected corrupt payments to public officials.
The operation is being run alongside Operation Weeting, the Scotland Yard probe into phone-hacking.
The Met spokesman said: 'A 37-year-old man was arrested at his home in Kent and a 34-year-old man at his home in south-east London at approximately 6am this morning on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt (contrary to the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906) and of conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office (contrary to common law).
'The two, both journalists, are being questioned at police stations in Kent and south-east London.'
It comes after the Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer revealed more than a dozen former News of the World journalists will find out by the end of this month if they face phone hacking charges
Keir Starmer says he is 'reasonably confident' the Crown Prosecution Service will make a final decision on the 14 suspects within weeks.
Decision: Britain's Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, pictured, says 14 NotW staff will find out if they face charges within weeks
Journalists arrested and bailed include former editors Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, who may have directed or allowed their staff to intercept mobile phone voicemails.
Former assistant editor Ian Edmondson, chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and managing editor Stuart Kuttner were also arrested as part of the Metropolitan Police's hacking operation, known as Weeting.
Starmer told the Guardian that alleged phone hacking cases would be dealt with as 'a batch' meaning that the fate of those allegedly involved will be dramatically announced on the same day this month.
Any hacking charges would be the first brought since 2007.
The News of the World's former royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were then jailed for four months and six months respectively for intercepting messages from members of the royal family and their staff.
Prosecutors are currently using a 'broad interpretation' of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa), Starmer said, which will allow journalists to be charged with hacking even if the person had listened to the voicemail first.
Former Met assistant commissioner John Yates had said previously it was not clear if someone could be prosecuted if a message had already been played back.
Starmer also told the Guardian that alternative charges would also be considered 'in so far as it was necessary,' including conspiring to intercept communications and computer hacking.
He added that the 'public interest' test was being applied to every case.
Probe: Former NotW staff arrested under Operation Weeting, pictured clockwise, include Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, former assistant editor Ian Edmondson, and former Managing Editor Stuart Kuttner
If the person allegedly being hacked had acted with 'serious hypocrisy', like having an affair for example, this will also be considered, he said.
Former News of the World editor Mrs Brooks, her husband Charlie Brooks, and four others have already been charged by the CPS with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Brooks edited the News of the World and the Sun before becoming chief executive of parent company News International in 2009.
Public furore erupted in July last year after it was reported that a private detective working for the News of the World, when Brooks was the editor, had hacked the mobile phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
The News International boss quit her post on July 15 2011. Two days later Scotland Yard detectives arrested her.
Mrs Brooks faces three charges of conspiring to pervert the course of justice, the maximum sentence for which is life imprisonment.
She is accused of removing boxes of material from the News International archive and allegedly trying to conceal documents, computers and other items from Operation Weeting, Scotland Yard’s inquiry into phone hacking.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Sunday Mirror man one of two held in Elveden pay probe - BBC News
Detectives investigating corrupt payments have arrested two journalists, including Sunday Mirror crime reporter Justin Penrose.
Officers from Operation Elveden - the Metropolitan Police probe into alleged inappropriate payments to police and public officials - made the arrests.
Mr Penrose, 37, was arrested at his home in Kent and a 34-year-old man in south-east London.
The men are being questioned at separate police stations.
Some 41 people have been arrested as part of Operation Elveden, which is being run in conjunction with Operation Weeting, which is looking into phone hacking.
A spokesman for the Met said: "Today's arrests relate to suspected payments to a public official and are not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately.
"A 37-year-old man was arrested at his home in Kent, and a 34-year-old man at his home in south-east London at approximately 06:00 this morning on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt (contrary to the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906) and of conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office (contrary to common law)."
A statement from Trinity Mirror - the company that publishes the Sunday Mirror - confirmed the arrest of Mr Penrose and said: "We are cooperating fully with the police."
On 4 July, former Daily Mirror journalist Greig Box-Turnbull, 37, who worked for the newspaper until March, was one of three people arrested by police investigating corrupt payments.
A prison officer, 46, and a 50-year-old woman were also held.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Kent spinner James Tredwell helps England to ODI series win over Australia - Kent Online
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by Alex Hoad
Kent spinner James Tredwell produced a fine display to help England complete a one-day series whitewash of Australia on Tuesday night.
Tredwell was called into the side for the seven-wicket stroll against the tourists at Old Trafford in place of Tim Bresnan (sore elbow), having been initially brought into the squad in place of Graeme Swann, who was rested.
The rain-shortened victory completed a 4-0 series win, with the third ODI at Edgbaston having been washed out.
After England won the toss, Tredwell trapped opener David Warner LBW with just his fourth delivery for his first international wicket on home soil.
He then superbly broke the stumps to run-out Peter Forrest from Samit Patel's throw before Matthew Wade was stumped by Craig Kieswetter off a Tredwell delivery which turned viciously.
Those three wickets arrived for the addition of just six runs in a 27-ball spell.
The 30-year-old's off-spin then put the squeeze on the visitors in the middle of their innings and he eventually finished with 2-23 off seven overs, which included a maiden, one of just two on the day.
Australia's total of 145-7 off 32 overs was easily surpassed by England with Alistair Cook and Ravi Bopara each recording a half-century.
Tredwell had previously been called into the ODI squad for the clash with the West Indies at Headingley at June 22 but the game again fell victim to the weather.
Do you think Tredwell has done enough to play himself into the England picture? Have your say below.
Wednesday, July 11 2012
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Source: www.kentonline.co.uk
Four Kent MPs vote against Lord reforms - Kent News
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