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According to court documents, Downing entered rooms in the Ahwahnee Hotel and stole cash from the hotel’s customers. The burglaries and thefts began in March 2014 and continued through October 2014. At the time, Downing was working on the Ahwahnee’s housekeeping staff.

This case is the product of an investigation by the National Park Service. Assistant United States Attorney Mark J. McKeon is prosecuting the case.

If convicted of burglary, Downing faces a maximum statutory penalty on each count of six years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and if convicted of theft, she faces a maximum statutory penalty on each count of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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According to court documents, Yang, a high school teacher’s aide for the Central Unified School District, is the owner of property that he purchased earlier this year in the Shasta Trinity National Forest in Hay Fork, California in Trinity County. At the beginning of November, U.S. Forest Service agents executed a search warrant at Yang’s property after seeing hundreds of large, mature marijuana plants growing there. The agents found Yang in the process of harvesting marijuana and seized 324 pounds of marijuana, 200 marijuana plants, and a firearm. Some of the marijuana grown on Yang’s property had already been distributed to Fresno.

This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Forest Service and Trinity County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Karen A. Escobar is prosecuting the case.

Yang is currently detained but has been ordered released on a secured bond. He is scheduled to appear in federal court for arraignment on the indictment on November 21, 2014.

If convicted, Yang faces a mandatory minimum statutory penalty of five years in prison, a maximum statutory penalty of 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Looking at the biggest bank in each state based on assets, the study surveyed each institution’s number of employees, corporate taxes paid and philanthropy, as well as accessibility, advanced technology and a wide range of financial services.

GOBankingRates’ findings reveal that the biggest U.S. banks actually make substantial and measurable contributions to local communities, economies and beyond, proving that Main Street’s increasing approval of big banks is warranted.

“The stigma of big banks is that they only support themselves. We found that’s just not true; big banks are not only sustaining the financial needs of their customers, they’re providing invaluable support to their regions – economically and socially – without which these states wouldn’t be able to function,” said Casey Bond, managing editor of GOBankingRates.

Key findings:

The 51 banks surveyed employ 1.23 million people. Chase Bank alone employs 255,000.
All banks surveyed invest significantly in charitable causes, with Wells Fargo donating $275.5 million to 18,500 nonprofit organizations and schools nationwide.
Big banks boast unparalleled accessibility, with international branches and ATMs, extended hours, and cutting-edge banking technology.

Wells Fargo, the biggest bank in California, remarked on its contributions to the Golden State. “We just celebrated our 162nd anniversary in this state, and with more than 49,000 team members who live here, and over 1,000 locations, we continue to work hard to make sure the customers and communities we serve are successful,” said Lisa Stevens, regional president for California.

About GOBankingRates

GOBankingRates.com (www.gobankingrates.com) is a personal finance and consumer banking website that connects consumers with the best credit unions, banks and interest rates nationwide, aggregating over 11 million rates from more than 6,000 institutions.

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“The June increase of 155,900 is positive news. However, the net effect is that labor demand was basically flat for the first six months of 2014,” said June Shelp, Vice President at The Conference Board. “There is churn in the labor market as people change jobs. Most of the gains since last June were in the lower-paying service jobs, not the higher-paying professional jobs.”

Since June 2013, advertised vacancies for professional jobs dropped by almost 80,000 while service/production jobs gained a total of 170,000 vacancies. Since last June, employer demand has been down for the higher-paying professional jobs (where the average pay ranges from $34/hour to $53/hour). Professional occupations like managers (-8,300), business and finance workers (-11,200), and even computer workers (-51,000) all dropped. In contrast, lower-paying jobs (where the pay ranges from just over $10/hour to $20/hour) gained. Transportation workers (+73,000), office support (+42,100), production workers (+19,300), and construction (+19,300) all rose.

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To enter the contest, participants can stop by any of the 20 conveniently located Central Valley Community Bank branches established throughout the Valley. There is also an opportunity to win a basket through social media; participants are asked to “like” the Central Valley Community Bank Facebook or follow it on Twitter (@CVCBNews) and then comment on one of the Valley Grown For You posts during the contest period. Participants must be 21 years of age or older and entries are limited to one entry per person in-branch and one through social media. Official rules for the contest are available at all Central Valley Community Bank branches, online at www.cvcb.com and through links on social media page posts dedicated to the Valley Grown For You campaign.

With the San Joaquin Valley consistently leading the nation in agricultural production, it serves as a hotbed for agribusiness, manufacturing innovation and economic impact.  The Valley makes up 72 percent of California’s $44.7 billion agricultural value and the region supplies over 25 percent of the nation’s food, according to 2012 County Crop Reports.

Central Valley Community Bank partners with numerous growers, manufacturers, and packers, all of whom make the Valley the revered worldwide agricultural model it has become.

“This is just a small way for us to give back to the communities that we are so invested in,” said Dan Doyle, CEO for Central Valley Community Bank. “We’re excited to showcase some of the delicious local food products that come from right here in our own backyard.”

The local food products that are being featured in the Valley Grown For You enter-to-win basket are listed below.

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“New IPOs continue to fuel a strong pipeline this quarter as capital is readily available,” said Jackie Kelley, EY Global IPO Leader.  ”PE and VC’s are driving IPOs as they seize the opportunity to realize value for investors, confidence continues to build as the VIX® is now at the lowest level since the start of 2007, and with M&A hot again, companies have more options to exit. Dual tracking has become popular again.”

The Q2 Review:

It was another hot quarter for healthcare and technology-with both rising to the top as the most active industries due to favorable market conditions for VC/PE exits. In the first half of 2014, almost three out of four healthcare and technology IPOs were either PE-or VC backed- that is 45 out of 63 healthcare IPOs and 24 out of 32 technology IPOs. Rounding out the top five sectors are the oil & gas, financial services and retail industries. In terms of proceeds, technology and oil & gas raised the most capital among all industries.

Drivers:
Technology companies over the last five years have been streamlining operations, developing cash positive business models and throwing off cash. Debt markets have been friendly and innovation around the cloud and mobile is driving a lot of activity. The healthcare and life sciences industries have exploded recently with companies looking to become more specialized narrowing their areas of focus-a trend expected to continue for the foreseeable future. In financial services, smaller regional financial institutions and insurance companies found opportunities to raise capital. Oil and gas IPOs continue to be driven by limited partnerships.

A further breakdown of the 87 IPOs currently in the pipeline by sector shows that:

• 34 are in Health Care, raising $1.9 billion
• 18 are in Financial Services, raising $0.7 billion
• 8 are in Technology, raising $0.8 billion
• 4 are in Oil & Gas, raising $2.1 billion
• 4 are in Professional Services, raising $1.1 billion
• 4 are in Utilities, raising $1.3 billion

Cross-border is back:
US exchanges continue to be the most attractive in the world and have dominated the market with 91 IPOs and$23.1b in proceeds. The proceeds were twice more than the second busiest exchange of London. Valuation was less favorable compared to the first quarter as investors exhibited signs of caution on whether or not the uptrend in the equity markets is sustainable. Only three US domiciled companies listed outside of the US for the first half of 2014 including: Margaritaville in Jamaica; Acucela Inc. in Japan, and e-TeleQuote in the UK.

“This quarter saw a comeback of cross border listings reaching their highest level since 2007,” continued Kelley. “Ten Greater Chinese firms listed on US exchanges, raising more than $3.5b compared to only one in the first quarter.  Eight of the 11, or 73%, of companies listing on US exchanges are technology or internet-based companies.”

Just recently, the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced it would limit IPOs in China to around 100 in the second half of the year, which could encourage even more of the 700 Chinese firms in the IPO pipeline to consider a cross border listing.

Other countries listing on US exchanges in 1H 2014 include:
UK 5 deals US$2.7b
Israel 3 deals US$0.2b
Canada 3 deals US$0.4b

VC and PE-Backed IPOs
PE and VC account for 60% of US IPOs with 54 deals and $18.3 billion in proceeds. The two top PE-backed IPOs were Ally Financial and IMS Healthcare. VC-backed IPO volume dropped in the second quarter compared to Q1. However, proceeds of $4.8b surpassed both Q1 and the second quarter of 2013.

Forty-one of the IPOs in today’s 87-company pipeline are PE/VC-backed, which is more typical of historical trends. The market will continue to see PE/VC exits in the foreseeable future.

Year-over-year pipeline comparison chart:

*Q2 2014 figures are as of June 17, 2014. Number of IPOs that went public is projection for the quarter

“We’re expecting the IPO market to remain hot as new IPOs continue to fuel the pipeline,” concluded Kelley. “As the Fed has focused on keeping rates low and the tapering strategy will remain unchanged, barring any impact from geo-political shock, we expect this to be a banner year reaching levels we have not seen since 2004.”

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The monthly Consumer Confidence Survey, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and analytics around what consumers buy and watch. The cutoff date for the preliminary results was June 13.

Says Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board: “Consumer confidence continues to advance and the index is now at its highest level since January 2008 (87.3). June’s increase was driven primarily by improving current conditions, particularly consumers’ assessment of business conditions. Expectations regarding the short-term outlook for the economy and jobs were moderately more favorable, while income expectations were a bit mixed. Still, the momentum going forward remains quite positive.”

Consumers’ appraisal of current conditions improved in June. Those claiming business conditions are “good” increased to 23.0 percent from 21.1 percent, while those stating business conditions are “bad” decreased to 22.8 percent from 24.6 percent. Consumers’ assessment of the job market was also more favorable. Those stating jobs are “plentiful” edged up to 14.7 percent from 14.2 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” declined to 31.8 percent from 32.2 percent.

Consumers’ expectations were generally more positive in June. The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months increased to 18.8 percent from 17.7 percent. However, those expecting business conditions to worsen increased to 11.4 percent from 10.7 percent.

Consumers were more positive about the outlook for the labor market. Those anticipating more jobs in the months ahead increased to 16.3 percent from 15.2 percent, while those anticipating fewer jobs edged down to 18.7 percent from 18.9 percent. Fewer consumers expect their incomes to grow, 15.9 percent versus 18.0 percent, but those expecting a drop in their incomes also declined, to 12.1 percent from 14.5 percent.

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“Frankly, we’re not surprised people spend more time thinking about vacations instead of tackling larger challenges such as saving for retirement or higher education, particularly at this time of year,” said Scott Thoma, Retirement Strategist for Edward Jones. “All too often, people don’t prioritize planning and investing for the long-term because it’s 20 to 30 years away, but this is a big mistake. As the number of years to retirement decrease, so do the balance and returns on an investment account. Saving just a little over a long period of time can be much more beneficial than trying to save more at the last minute.”

Age played a significant role in influencing respondents’ answers. The survey found that time spent thinking about planning for retirement increased dramatically with age. A mere nine percent of respondents between the ages of 18 to 34 indicated retirement planning was top of mind. This response rate jumped considerably with each age group to 31 percent (35 to 44), 37 percent (45 to 54) and 40 percent (55 to 64). Not surprisingly, time spent planning for the cost of education decreased with age. The survey’s youngest respondents were much more likely to spend time thinking about higher education costs, with 38 percent indicating so, compared to those ages 35 to 44 and 45 to 54, (24 percent and 18 percent, respectively).

The focus on vacation planning generally increased with age as well, with 25 percent of 18-to-34 year-olds saying vacation planning took top priority compared to 35 percent of those 65 or older. Time spent thinking about planning for a big purchase, like a new home or car, decreased with age. More than one quarter (27 percent) of respondents 18-to-34 prioritize this type of planning versus only 11 percent of those between ages 35 and 44.

The number of children in a household also affected respondents’ priorities when it comes to thinking about planning for retirement and the cost of higher education. Those who have children indicated that they spend more time thinking about planning for higher education (28 percent) versus thinking about planning for retirement (19 percent).

“Parents face a major challenge when it comes to navigating the balance between saving for retirement and helping their children with the rising rate of tuition,” continued Thoma. “It is important to prioritize your goals and view them together rather than delaying saving for one goal over another. By understanding how your goals interact, you can work to make sure you don’t inadvertently derail one when saving for another.”

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“May’s increase in the LEI, the fourth consecutive one, was broad based,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, Economist at The Conference Board. “Housing permits held the index back slightly but the LEI still points to an expanding economy and its pace may even pick up in the second half of the year.”

“Recent data suggest the economy is finally moving up from a 2 percent growth trend to a more robust expansion,” said Ken Goldstein, Economist at The Conference Board. “The CEI shows the pace of economic activity continued to gain traction in May, while the trend in the LEI remains positive. Going forward, the biggest challenge is to sustain the rise in income growth which will drive consumption.”

The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index (CEI) for the U.S. increased 0.3 percent in May to 109.0 (2004 = 100), following a 0.2 percent increase in April, and a 0.4 percent increase in March.

The Conference Board Lagging Economic Index (LAG) for the U.S. increased 0.4 percent in May to 123.8 (2004 = 100), following a 0.3 percent increase in April, and a 0.6 percent increase in March.

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