| Not quite homeless
She clutched the device to her ear one recent evening, pretending to be locked in conversation while a mysterious car followed her back to the motel room she shares with her mom and two brothers. It was so scary, she said. South Nevada Avenue can be a dangerous place to live. The teenager and her family moved into the Cheyenne Motel in November 2005, and three months later her uncle was shot in the leg in one of its rooms. In December, a man visiting a friend at the Chief Motel, next door to the Cheyenne, was shot to death during what police say was a dispute over drugs. Its ridiculous down here, Renees aunt, Roxanne Kofroth, said the night of the killing. Its crazy. No one knows how many Colorado Springs residents live in the aging, often rundown motels that line the old gateways to the city.
'Follow the money' to local searches
Written on a white board behind Reporters' Row in the Oakland Business Review cube farm is a mantra scrawled by my editor that is as true in business as it is in business reporting: "Follow the money." So, let's begin a journey from that white board, letting the "money" lead us wherever it may go. Along the way, we'll find some landmarks indicating that we're on at least one road taking us toward economic revival. As it happens, I am currently in the market for some of that "money," along with most people in my profession and the companies that own them. Newspapers need money. They're losing it. They're losing a lot of it. And they're shedding people like me. So, where is the money going? Well, newspapers depend largely on advertising to survive. Advertisers, in general, are decreasing their print ad budgets and pumping more money online because new search-engine marketing tools are allowing them to drill down more precisely to the potential customers who are looking to buy their goods or services.
Money Mark: 'Pick Up The Pieces'
Mark Ramos-Nishita has a very cool name, but has tossed it aside in favour of the name Money Mark. Sometime collaborator with the Beastie Boys, he was recently signed to Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records label, giving him the opportunity to get some more of his music out - the first, obscure album having come out as long ago as 1995, passing most by without so much as a second glance.'Pick Up The Pieces' is touted as a break-up song, but if we're meant to be depressed by this, Ramos-Nishita has failed utterly. A very funky, chilled out, jazzy vibe emanates from this song, with the bass and piano working incredibly well to back up Ramos-Nishita's relaxed vocal style. It's no wonder he's been signed to Jack Johnson's record label - whether this is his normal style of music or Johnson has rubbed off on him, it was definitely the right choice.
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