Newswires

Dec. 30– Residents may want to think twice this weekend before drinking and driving as the Texas Department of Public Safety reminds the public that troopers will be out in full force for the New Year holiday. Behrens added that DPS anticipates that because New Year’s Eve falls on a weekend night, more people will be participating in the holiday festivities.

Washington, DC December 30, 2011.

National Agents Alliance President and Chief Executive Officer Andy Albright announced today that at a time when many businesses across the country are struggling to survive and continue to cut jobs, leaving millions unemployed, National Agents Alliance continues to hire new employees and is experiencing a period of substantial growth.

Dec. 30– Geisinger Health System in central Pennsylvania announced this week that it will test all new job applicants for nicotine use beginning in February, and those who test positive will not be hired.

–Feb. 7: Claudia Seye Aderotimi, 20, an aspiring artist from England, died after receiving an illegal buttocks injection at an airport hotel that was allegedly administered by a transgender singer named Padge Victoria Windslowe.

Dec. 30– FREEPORT– Swany White owner Gary Thelen won’t rebuild the 114- year-old flour mill, but he’s considering rebuilding the brand. Central Minnesota’s only flour mill in Freeport burned down Tuesday night, and is a complete loss, Thelen said. “I lost everything,” Thelen said Thursday in his Freeport home. “

Dec. 29– CARTHAGE, Mo.– Some changes are in place and others are planned, but the transfer becomes official Sunday when McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital becomes a part of Sisters of Mercy Health System. McCune-Brooks’ bed space and services were expanded in the wake of the May 22 tornado that destroyed Mercy’s St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin.

Dec. 29– JOPLIN, Mo.– At the end of his 36 years with Freeman Health System, Gary Duncan is upbeat about the future of health care.

Dec. 30– LAKEWOOD RANCH– An Oregon subsidiary of Integrated Freight Corp. has been shut down by federal safety regulators over licensing and insurance issues.

Dec. 30– Raised from the ashes by thousands of man hours and donations from area volunteers, Willie Anderson’s East Lubbock home, which was gutted in an August fire, on Thursday looked newer, cleaner and nicer than he could ever remember.

Minneapolis based North Star Resource Group, a featured specialist on strategies for individuals and businesses in the financial sector that grew from origins over 100 years ago, congratulates Jeffrey Jarnes on his 20th year receiving the Chairman’ s Club Award– a very distinguished honor.“ It’ s great to be here and to once again receive this honor,” said Jarnes.

Steven Sonberg, managing partner of Holland& Knight, announced that 12 attorneys in the firm have been elected to partnership effective January 1, 2012. She received her B.A. degree from Smith College, her MBA from Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business, and her J.D. degree from Tulane Law School.

Dec. 30– Fort Bliss is offering a slate of events to help soldiers, their families and El Pasoans bring in the new year. If you’re going to the nation’s second-oldest bowl game, you can start with the annual Sun Bowl Brunch at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Centennial Club, 11199 Sergeant Major Blvd..

Dec. 30– State lawmakers captured plenty of attention this year for high-profile new laws reshaping Illinois’ landscape: a major income-tax increase, civil unions for same-sex couples, and a death penalty ban.

That is 8.4 percent of what the median family takes in, the highest share since 1981, according to the Oil Price Information Service, a Gaithersburg, Md., company that tracks oil and fuel prices. That has slowed the country’s economic recovery, said Kurt Rankin, an economist with PNC Financial Services Group Inc..

Dec. 30– MORRILL, Maine– The family members that were crowded into a cluttered trailer on Hartshorn Road late Thursday afternoon held their dogs close and their love for each other even closer. Betsy LeSan, 27, recounted how the trailer she lived in with her two aunts and great aunt had caught fire late Wednesday morning when a circuit breaker malfunctioned.

Two new laws that recently took effect in Nevada offer clients across the country new avenues for asset protection. The measure includes a provision that allows trusts set up in other jurisdictions to be moved to Nevada without re-starting the applicable statute of limitations.

AAA reminds motorists what’s really at stake this New Year’s Eve. WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 2011/ PRNewswire-USNewswire/– As Americans pop the cork on New Year’s Eve celebrations this weekend, AAA cautions partygoers against getting behind the wheel after the champagne toast.

LAFAYETTE, La. December 30, 2011.