A handful of workers at the J. C. Penney stores in Joplin and Pittsburg may soon be losing their jobs.
Thursday's Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports the Plano, Texas-based company is planning to expand, spending over $700 million in the next few years on new stores, refurbishing existing stores, and upgrading technology.
At the same time it is doing all of that, is is also going to trying to pay off debt, buy back stock and restore its credit rating, according to the article. Chief Financial Officer Bob Cavanaugh said The company expects to open 20 stores a year, beginning in 2005, mostly in locations other than malls. At the present time, only 10 J. C. Penney stores are not in malls.
To save on labor costs, Cavanaugh said, the company plans to reorganize existing jobs and schedules, eliminating one or two jobs at each of J. C. Penney's 1,000 plus stores.
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The local TV stations featured reports Thursday on Jasper County's new video arraignments and how they will save money and increase safety. This advance in technology is all fine and good, but it seems a simpler, more taxpayer-friendly solution was not even considered.
The reports mentioned how much money it would save in gas since the prisoners would no longer have to be taken from the Jasper County Jail in Carthage to the Joplin Courts Building. Have county officials forgotten there is a courthouse in Carthage where these arraignments could be held? That courthouse is only a couple of blocks from the jail.
The video arraignments may save time and money, but they also appear to be eliminating the right of the public to view its judicial system in action.