One of our TV stations posted an article about brands that we will probably not see after 2013.

Avon

Avon’s long time CEO was ousted late last year after nearly wrecking the company, and earnings haven't improved with the replacement. The market has no confidence in the cosmetics company, although there's rumor of a possible takeover by Coty.

Metro PCS

This tiny carrier has lost pretty much any chance it may have had to compete with larger mobile providers T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon and Sprint-Nextel. Investors have virtually abandoned the company.

The Oakland Raiders

The Raiders' Oakland stadium contract expires next year, and managing owner Mike Davis has said he may move the NFL team back to Los Angeles to get a better stadium deal. Santa Clara is also a possibility.

[Santa Clara Raiders? Hard to imagine.]

Suzuki cars

Even with aggressive sales tactics, Suzuki is having a hard time improving its position in the American market. Sales are down and nearly every other manufacturer has flooded the market with cheap, fuel-efficient models.

Research in Motion (Blackberry phones)

Research In Motion once owned the smartphone market with its BlackBerry products, but it's now behind the times and being pounded relentlessly by Apple and Google's Android products. The company’s board recently said it was reviewing "strategic options," which would include a sale.

Talbots (Womens clothing)

Battered retailer Talbots is supposed to be taken private by Sycamore Partners, but the offer has been delayed for some reason. It may be because there's virtually no solution to making the company viable again. It closed more than 100 stores recently, and lost money every year for the past five years.

[I have always liked their clothes.]

American Airlines

American's parent company filed for bankruptcy last November, and the troubled airline is now rumored to be in talks with US Airways about a possible merger.

[We all lose when there is less competition in the airline market.]


In other news, there is a strange story out of Denver that falls into the Creepy Neighbors category.

"Officers responding to complaints of a foul smell in a south Denver apartment building made a gruesome yet bizarre discovery -- the decomposing body of a woman with her husband and dog sitting nearby.

Denver police were called to an apartment after neighbors complained about the smell.

Police entered the apartment using the manager's key and were immediately confronted by a Great Dane in the hallway. The officers also saw a man slumped in a chair blocking the doorway entrance to the living room.

One of the officers told the dog to "leave" and the dog "then turned and jumped on to the couch where officers observed an obvious deceased [woman] slumped on the couch."

When they asked the man how long the woman had been dead, he replied, "She's not dead. She's fine," according to the affidavit. The man appeared to be either intoxicated or "out of sorts," the affidavit said.

Police said the dog "Lola" was "guarding" the woman's body, and as a detective approached "the dog became agitated and began barking," the affidavit said. Officers called animal control, who removed the dog from the apartment.

She was 32 years old, the man was identified as her husband. Police said the woman appeared to have been dead more than 10 days and her body was in an advanced state of decomposition. A maintenance manager said he saw the husband coming and going during the previous two weeks, going to the liquor store, but had not seen the wife.

Neighbors said they wondered what was up when they noticed a bad smell coming from Apt. 308. "The hallway kind of started to smell weird, but it's like, you live in an apartment building. A million different people live around here," one of the neighbors said.