From the Springfield News-Leader – http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011101200362
City Utilities' Transit Driver Randy Thomas has been selected as the 2010 Driver of the Year.
The selection is based on job performance, courtesy, neatness, attendance, accident-free driving and attitude, according to CU.
The Driver of the Year is chosen by CU Transit employees.
Thomas has been employed by City Utilities' Transit as a bus operator since 1994 and currently drives Line 12, which serves the southeast part of Springfield.
Thomas' accomplishment will be recognized at the Jan. 27 meeting of the Board of Public Utilities.
American Express faces cuts
Boston — American Express said on Wednesday it expects to report a sharply higher fourth-quarter profit, although it will be reduced by charges from newly disclosed plans to close a customer service center in North Carolina.
That move is part of a broader consolidation that will eliminate 550 jobs, or nearly 1 percent of the credit card company's work force.
The plans will lead to $113 million in charges against fourth-quarter earnings scheduled to be released Monday.
Shares of American Express fell nearly 3 percent, despite an updated forecast from the company that its profit will jump by about 48 percent compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
CEO and Chairman Kenneth Chenault said spending by American Express card members rose to "record levels" in the latest quarter and for the full year, as credit trends improved.
Despite what he called an "uneven" economy, key indicators of credit quality are now back to pre-recession levels, or better in some instances, Chenault said.
When the company reported third-quarter profits in the fall, Chenault said customer balances carried from month to month remained below pre-recession levels, as card members managed their finances carefully and paid down debt. But its earnings jumped 71 percent for that quarter as spending on American Express cards rose 14 percent and the company wrote off fewer unpaid bills.