High corn prices have created a cash-flow problem for a South Dakota ethanol plant.

Poet Biorefining in Chancellor has borrowed $6.3 million from its partner, Poet, in response to an increase in the price of corn futures that shows little sign of abating.

On Jan. 14, the Chancellor ethanol company and Poet agreed to a short-term loan to be repaid Feb. 13, including interest at an annual rate of 9.25 percent. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the money was needed to cover margin calls triggered by a price increase in the corn futures market at the Chicago Board of Trade.

"We did not have the necessary funds from operations to cover the margin calls," General Manager Rick Serie wrote in the filing.

The plant, which produced about 51 million gallons of ethanol last year, was securing grain with plans to distill 100 million gallons this year.

Teen's accident raises Wisconsin's snowmobiling death toll to 20 this ...

It was probably one of his favorite things in the whole wide world," his uncle said.

Ochocki, an only child, enjoyed spending time with his cousins, who lived in Glenview and Niles, his uncle said.

At Notre Dame, Ochocki's 6-foot-2-inch stature made him a good offensive and defensive lineman on the school's freshman football team, said Mike Hennessey, the school's athletic director. Ochocki, who enjoyed playing video games, also was a member of the school's Games Club. Hennessey said the teenager told friends he wanted to join the Marines after graduation.

"In a lot of ways, Joe was a typical 16-year-old kid," Hennessey said. "Here at Notre Dame, he was quiet and unassuming, but had a lot of friends."

The teenager is the 20th person killed in a snowmobiling crash in Wisconsin this winter, according to the state's Department of Natural Resources.

Harkin: Subsidies May Be Cut to Pay for Farm Bill

The Des Moines Register is reporting that some crop subsidies could be cut as lawmakers search for ways to pay for a new farm bill.

"As far as I'm concerned, direct payments are still on the table," said Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, referring to the more than $5 billion in fixed annual payments that grain and cotton farmers receive.

The House and Senate resisted reducing those subsidies in writing their versions of the farm bill and got money instead from increasing corporate tax revenues, prompting a White House veto threat. Harkin will be chairman of a House-Senate panel that will be charged with writing a compromise version of the bill.

Charles Conner, the acting agriculture secretary, has said that the administration would not approve a farm bill funded by new taxes.

Forex News (Podcast and Text): British Pound Gets a Boost from BOE ...

Swiss Inflation Rockets Higher, Will the US Dollar Give Up Yesterday's Gains? Feb 07 - Forex News (Podcast and Text): US Dollar Gains As BOE Cuts, ECB Leaves Rates On Hold - Will Trichet Lead Euro To Bounce Back? Feb 06 - Forex News (Podcast and Text): Nikkei Plummets 4.7% Overnight, But Carry Trades May Start to Stabilize Feb 05 - Forex News (Podcast and Text): US Dollar Rallies Ahead of ISM, Australian Dollar Down Despite RBA Rate Hike Feb 04 - Forex News (Podcast and Text): European Optimism Lags As ECB Remains Hawkish, Aussie Data Sets Stage For RBA Hike Tonight Feb 01 - Forex News (Podcast and Text): Microsoft Offer To Buy Yahoo Bodes Well For Dow, Carry Trades Today Jan 31 - Forex News (Podcast and Text): German Retail Sales Derail Euro's Rally, Will Trichet Remain Hawkish Next Week? Jan 30 - Forex News (Podcast and Text): Euro Breaks 1.48, Asian, European Stock Markets Uneasy As Traders Gauge Fed Rate Cut Odds Jan 29 - Forex News (Text and Podcast): Swiss Economy Show Signs of Slowing, Global Equities Continue To Recover On Fed Rate Cut Bets Jan 28 - Forex News (Text and Podcast): US Dollar Starts Out On Sour Note As Wall Street Faces Rocky Week Jan 25 - Forex News: Bank of Canada May Have More Room To Cut As Core CPI Drops Jan 24 - Forex News: German Business Confidence Suprises, Regulators Call for Banks to Rescue Bond Insurers.

Hooters in Missoula

News that restaurant chain coming to Montana raises questions about propriety The Missoulian has fielded a lot of calls and commentary in the days since reporter Lori Grannis first broke the news that a Hooters franchise is coming to town. The letters we've received most of them too prurient to print either welcome or chastise the restaurant, and provide a variety of reasons.Hooters is an international chain restaurant that offers food and drinks and big-screen televisions for sports fans above all, it's known for offering the opportunity to ogle waitresses in skimpy clothing.It's a gimmick that has attracted national contro-versy and several lawsuits. One of the first lawsuits, brought by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, ended without action. But another suit, brought by a group of men who said Hooters discriminated against them by denying them jobs, was settled only after Hooters agreed to start filling some "support" jobs, such as bartending positions, with both men and women.However, it reserved the right to continue filling its most visible jobs with women and only women of a certain physique as well as requiring them to wear the standard Hooters uniform: orange shorts and a low-cut T-shirt.Over the years the restaurant has continued to draw criticism from would-be employees alleging they were turned down for jobs because they weren't buxom enough.

Asian stocks up on rate cut hopes; commodities hot

SINGAPORE: Stocks rallied on Thursday as solid earnings and expectations of further US interest rate cuts outweighed worries about inflation even as oil hit a record high above $101 a barrel. Gold also hit a record above $945 an ounce, and silver touched a 27-year high, as funds poured into a wide range of commodities, betting they will outperform in an environment where growth is slowing and prices are rising.

Data on Wednesday showed a faster-than-expected rise in US consumer prices last month and further weakness in the housing market there.

"The US is entirely focused on the economic data that is coming out and we're getting revised forecasts for their economic growth in the downward trend," said Savanth Sebastian, equities economist at CommSec in Sydney.

Down $77b and falling

Australian shares plunged a massive 6 per cent this afternoon as panic selling set in among investors over an expected slowdown in global growth.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Share Index had shed more than 6 per cent, down 335.4 points to 5245 points - its lowest since November 2006 - placing the market on course for a record 12th day of declines.

The plunge equated to a $77 billion loss of market value. The latest plunge means the sharemarket has now lost more than 23 per cent of its value since hitting a record high in November and is now officially in a bear market.

The broader All Ordinaries Index was down 294.4 points, or 5.23 per cent, to 5336.5 before noon.

Asian bourses were also softer, with Japan's benchmark Nikkei Share Average Index down 4.8 per cent and the boarder TOPIX index down 4.6 per cent.

Fuel prices produce gasps, fumes

BRIDGEPORT, CALIF -- . -- As Californians brace for ever-higher gasoline prices, they can glimpse what might be their future in this tiny Eastern Sierra town, where motorists pay more than $4 a gallon at the two gas stations.

The Shell station in Bridgeport, a tourist town of 850 residents during the summertime peak, is charging $4.09 a gallon for regular. The outlet posted prices above the $4 mark at least four other times this year.

.