Free Republic

By special request, here is your live thread for the Wacky Michael Jackson 60 Minutes interview. Michael Jackson is talking. CBS' "60 Minutes" will air an interview with the pop superstar tonight, marking Jackson's first public comments since his Nov. 20 arrest on suspicion of child molestation. Ed Bradley interviewed Jackson for about 30 minutes on Christmas Day at a hotel in Los Angeles. Bradley had been pursuing an interview with Jackson even before the molestation charges. The CBS newsman traveled to Jackson's Neverland estate last February for an interview, but Jackson got cold feet and canceled it at the...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.Nearly a century of shoemaking in Chippewa Falls will end Friday when Mason Shoe Co. closes its manufacturing plant. The company said it was unable to compete with cheaper production overseas. About 140 people will lose their jobs. Mason Shoe, founded in 1904, plans to keep running the distribution side of the business out of its Chippewa Falls plant. It will remain as one of the city's largest employers with more than 400 workers. The company will still be the world's largest distributor of mail-order shoes, Human Resources Director Rich Johnson said....

SUNNYVALE, Calif. (Reuters) - Microprocessor maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) on Thursday said it will lay off 2,000 employees, or 15 percent of its work force, part of its effort to trim expenses by $350 million in 2003 as sales slump. The company said it will reduce its global staff by 2,000 positions by the end of the second quarter of 2003, leading to a charge of ``several hundred million dollars'' in the fourth quarter. The job cuts had been expected. AMD had 13,000 employees at the end of the third quarter. Some 1,000 employees were notified on Thursday,...