Still enough branches to make a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Matt Egan at CNNMoney is reporting Wells Fargo plans to close 800 more branches by 2020: “The planned closings, announced on Friday, will leave Wells Fargo with about 5,000 branches. The bank closed more than 200 branches last year, but still finished the year with more than 5,800, the most in the United States. On a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Wells Fargo execs pinned the closings on Americans’ increasing preference for online and mobile banking.”
No one’s immune. Brad Slater at the Duluth News Tribune has a piece on former federal counterterrorism and national security employee, and 8th District congessional candidate, Leah Phifer’s private information being compromised as part of a Department of Homeland Security database hack: “’It’s scary how much information the hackers may have gotten,’ Phifer said, describing personal identification numbers and other things she had on file with DHS. ‘I don’t want to issue any assumptions, but if it was another state actor we should be very concerned they have the information of people who held secret or top-secret security clearance.‘”
Happy 90th, Fritz! Nina Moini, reporting at MPR News, has a recap of former Vice President Walter Mondale’s 90th birthday celebration on Saturday night: “‘President Carter was the first Southern president in 122 years of American history and I was one of those old “Northern Liberals,”‘ said Mondale. ‘And we got along fine because we shared a deep abiding sense of moral decency of honesty and of caring for those in our midst who need it.’… A lineup of fellow politicians honored Mondale including [former President Jimmy] Carter, Sen. Tina Smith, former Sen. Al Franken, and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.”
Kudos. Kelly Smith at the Star Tribune has a brief on Gov. Mark Dayton appointing Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Police Chief Sara Rice to the state Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training — the first tribal police chief to serve on the state board: “Rice, an enrolled member of the Mille Lacs Band, has been a police officer since 2001. She was named the interim police chief in 2016 and has been in the permanent top job since Jan. 9, overseeing the 23-officer department. ‘Sara Rice has been an outstanding leader of our police force during a time of great stress and uncertainty,’ Mille Lacs Band Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin said in a statement.”
In other news…
It’s on Frey now: “Minneapolis Declares 1st Snow Emergency Of The Season” [WCCO]
Who dat? “Metro Transit bus displays ‘Go Saints’ sign, and Vikings fans are not amused – Twin Cities” [Pioneer Press]
#ColdNorth: “Sledding, snowshoes and a sauna: Four friends find winter fun in northern Minnesota” [Chicago Tribune]
Winners and losers off the field too: “Vikings kneel-down ensures Saints cover 5.5-point spread” [Yahoo Sports]
General Mills makes the list: “Presenting Our ’50 Best Companies for Diversity 2018′ List” [Black Enterprise]
Nice compilation: “Some of the best reactions to that epic Vikings win” [KARE]
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service disagrees: “Trump administration calls for removing Canada lynx from endangered list” [Washington Post via Pioneer Press]
Diggs’ catch recreated to resemble the 1991 Nintendo game Tecmo Super Bowl:
The Minnesota Miracle takes down N.O. in one of the greatest playoff plays ever!#NFLPlayoffs #MinnesotaVikings #MinvsNO #RETROGAMING #TecmoBowl pic.twitter.com/ozZ9oUaMue
— Tecmo Bowlers (@TecmoBowlers) January 15, 2018
Wells Fargo
“…On a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Wells Fargo execs pinned the closings on Americans’ increasing preference for online and mobile banking.”
Yes, that’s probably true. Americans might also be expressing an increasing tendency toward dealing with an ••honest•• bank, as well.
Less Crime
The neighborhoods that will lose their Wells Fargo branches are very fortunate. Wells Fargo is a criminal enterprise disguised as a bank. If corporations are people, this one deserves the death penalty.