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Never been to Bennigan's, do they have those in NY?

Bennigan's Closing Chain of Restaurants
source

The parking lot at the Bennigan’s Grill & Tavern in Dallas near Interstate 635 remained eerily quiet Tuesday during what would normally be the lunch rush.

Charlie Parke and two co-workers at Valspar paint company walked up to the restaurant in the 12500 block of East Northwest Highway to find the front door padlocked.

They read the sign that read “Closed until further notice.” When they were informed the chain was closing restaurants across the country, Mr. Parke said, “So 'closed until further notice' means ‘closed forever?’”

via CNN

Steak and Ale Closing, Files for Bankrupcy with Bennigan's

Restaurant chains Bennigan's and Steak & Ale have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and will shut their doors, less than two months after their parent company said it was not preparing to do so.

The companies filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday in the Eastern District of Texas. Their parent company - privately held Metromedia Restaurant Group - is based in Plano, Texas.

In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, a company seeks to liquidate its assets and shut down.
'Closed for business'

Employees at a Bennigan's in Plano were greeted by a sign Tuesday on the front door reading "WE ARE CLOSED. THANK YOU." Next door, a Steak & Ale sat empty in a deserted parking lot but there was no sign posted.

A waiter named Steve, who wouldn't give his last name, said the staff got a phone call Tuesday morning telling them the restaurant was closing.

Neither Bennigan's nor the Metromedia Restaurant Group returned calls for comment. A lawyer listed in the filing, J. Michael Sutherland of Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal LLP, did not return a call.

According to a recorded message on the law firm's answering system, not all stores using the Bennigan's and Steak & Ale trade names have filed for bankruptcy and some franchise locations were not included in the filing.

Karma finally comes around for Sharpe James, AKA the real-life Clay Davis.. If you haven't seen the documentary "Street Fight", you should rent that and then read this story.

Sharpe James Sentenced to 27 Months
NYT

After lecturing a federal prosecutor for adhering “heartlessly” to a cold version of bureaucratic justice, a federal judge on Tuesday sentenced former Mayor Sharpe James of Newark to 27 months in prison for failing to disclose his romantic relationship with a woman whom he helped to get a lucrative deal on some city-owned land.

United States District Judge William Martini also ordered Mr. James to pay a $100,000 fine.

Mr. James’s former mistress, Tamika Riley, was sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay $27,000 in restitution to the city.

In an angry and frustrated outburst from the bench, Judge Martini, who upheld the convictions of Mr. James and Ms. Riley last week, lashed out at the prosecutors from the United States attorney’s office in a remarkable admission. “Now I’m trying to talk about what happened here — what really happened,” he said.

Mr. James was convicted in April on fraud and corruption charges for illegally steering nine parcels of city-owned land to Ms. Riley between 2001 and 2005. She paid a total of $46,000 for the lots and resold them — often just weeks later — for a total of $665,000 without making any improvements to them. In addition to the fraud and corruption charges, Ms. Riley, 39, was found guilty of tax evasion and of lying about her income to collect housing subsidies.

The Knicks continue to fine-tune their perfect blend of mediocrity..

Knicks Trade Renaldo Balkman
source

The Denver Nuggets acquired Renaldo Balkman from the Knicks in for guard Taurean Green, forward Bobby Jones and a second-round pick in 2010.

The Nuggets also get cash, in the trade announced Monday by Mark Warkentien, Denver's vice president of basketball operations. The 6-foot-8 Renaldo Balkman averaged 3.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in 65 games for the Knicks last season. He has averaged 4.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in two seasons with the Knicks, shooting .499 from the field.

Knicks Trade Renaldo Balkman