Financial Report

SHEFFIELD - Shoals employment picture still bleak

Employment data in the Shoals continues to show an unemployment problem that reflects a weak economy.

The problem is not unique to the area, though.

Key figures released by the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations include:

• The Shoals labor force lost 2,901 workers between September 2008 and this September, based on the data. There are 65,154 workers living in the Shoals now, compared to 68,055 last September.

• There were 64,373 Shoals residents employed last September, which is nearly 6,300 more than this September.

• The unemployment rate was 10.9 percent in September, more than doubled from 12 months earlier when the unemployment rate was 5.4 percent. There were 7,080 people living in the Shoals who received unemployment benefits in September, compared to 3,682 last September.

Actually, the September 2009 numbers in all three categories showed a slight improvement from the previous month.

Seven of the state's 11 metropolitan statistical areas posted double-digit unemployment rates in September. Thirty-nine of Alabama's 67 counties posted unemployment rates of more than 11 percent in September.

The worse situation was in Wilcox County, with an unemployment rate of 25.6 percent.

Cypress Moon producing TV film

Independent filmmaker Tonya Holly, of Cypress Moon Studios, has optioned the rights to the murder-mystery adventure book series that revolves around the private investigator character Dusty Diamond.

The transaction will allow Cypress Moon Studios to produce television features on seven books from author John L. Gratton's series.

Cypress Moon will initially produce a two-hour, made-for-television film based on the book "Sand Trapped."

The Dusty Diamond character was created by Gratton.

Cypress Moon also will have the rights to the golf and murder-mystery themed books "Diamond in the Rough," "The Longest Drive," "Sand Shark," "Diamond Daze," "Diamonds are for Never" and "Out of Bounds."

Holly is scouting golf courses throughout the South as potential sites of the films, including the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail courses in Colbert County.

"We're thrilled to begin development on the Dusty Diamond-themed book series," said Holly, who is president of Cypress Moon and will serve as producer on the project. "The option of this fun and suspenseful book series marks our company's expansion into the world of television production."

Boeing 737 airplanes retired by United

United Airlines is retiring its last Boeing 737.

The airline flew the last of its 737s from Washington to San Francisco last week, with several stops in between.

United began phasing out the decades-old planes in the middle of 2008 as fuel prices spiked. Fuel prices have come back down somewhat since then, but United is still shrinking its fleet because demand is lower.

United ordered its first 737 in the mid-1960s. Boeing has delivered more than 6,000 of the planes, and the newer versions remain popular with airlines.