Possible Elder Abuse Very troubling news from Calabasas, CA have reached our ears, eyes and screens. Those inhabiting an expensive assisted living home in the area directly north of Los Angeles may have been suffering flagrant abuses at the hands of those most responsible for caring for them. The LA County Sheriff’s Department has been investigating the death of an 80-year-old from the facility for the last 11 months and may now have concluded the killer may just have been the 20-year-old paid to watch over him.

Silicon Valley Not Exempt from Credit Crisis Up until now, San Francisco- and San Jose-based innovators were confident the financial crisis would not really affect them. But more and more they’ve realized that fewer people are indulging in expensive gadgetry when pockets are shallow, and investors may be shying away from putting their chips in the middle of the tech table.

Bailout Bill Approved Setting in motion what may be the priciest “government economic intervention in history,” the House of Representatives approved the $700 billion bailout originally thrown out last week.

Foreclosure and Desperate Times Unable to cope with the shame and sadness that displacement from her home evinced in her, a 90-year-old woman shot herself twice in the upper body when sheriff’s deputies tried to evict her from her foreclosed Ohio house. She is being treated for her wounds, but her act of desperation may become anthemic to all those enduring the fever of foreclosures running through the country.

Jobs Dropped, Unemployment Rises Further Jobs have plummeted this year, making each month’s statistics more dire than the previous one’s. In September, 159,000 people lost their positions, making it the 30-day period with the highest number of retrenchments seen in five years.

Who Will Pay Ukrainian Ransom? Somali pirates holding a Ukrainian freighter ship hostage said Wednesday they would lower their asking ransom price from $35 million to $20 million or perhaps to as “low” as $5 million. But even then, no one is coming forward to pay up. What good does a decreased amount do if it still goes unpaid to the detriment of those hijacked?