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Coming soon to your Akron-area library: computer classes with . . . computers. For years, Akron-Summit County Public Library's 17 branches have offered free training in which participants do not use a computer. But the classes -- which have attracted thousands -- will change. The library won't use taxpayer money: it's getting a $241,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

With the price of gold at an all-time high, people turn to their jewelry. It's a modern-day gold rush -- in reverse. As people continue efforts to weather the recession, more and more are turning to personal effects such as jewelry, family heirlooms and even wedding rings for sources of quick cash due to the skyrocketing value of gold, now more than $1,100 per ounce.

LEWISBURG -- Not everything old is new again, but when it comes to jewelry and watches, Barry Knauer can usually make it so. Knauer is a fixer. Knauer and his partner, Lucie Rivoire, own Antiques at 221 in downtown Lewisburg.

With Silicon Valley clawing its way back from the great recession, I want to make a radical proposal. It's time to kill the stock option. I know such a notion seems unthinkable. But hear me out. At a moment when the economy stands at a crossroads, the time feels right to fundamentally rethink the incentives the valley offers to employees for their risk-taking and inventiveness.

Often, they are people their employers trust. They are the last people you would think to be wary of. By the time they're caught, they've managed to steal thousands of dollars from the company's coffers. The Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire have seen an abundance of large-scale embezzlement crimes in recent months.

GULFPORT -- Nationally the number of people flying during the Thanksgiving holiday is projected to drop 4 percent from last year, yet travelers can expect Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport to be humming this week. The American Automobile Association is predicting a 1.4 percent increase in the number of Americans driving 50 or more miles from home during the Thanksgiving weekend.

Any veteran bargain-hunter will tell you that shopping on Black Friday isn't about winning the battles. Here are five guidelines that will help maximize your a.m. shopping potential: Scout, scout, scout. Black Friday ads come in the newspaper almost every day leading up to Thanksgiving nowadays, so tracking all of them can be difficult.

It's not Thanksgiving yet, and already it's nearly impossible to find a Zhu Zhu Pet. The fuzzy, life-size mechanical hamsters are emerging as the early runaway success of the season. And the toy comes appropriately priced for this economy: $8 at Wal-Mart and Target -- except they often don't have any. "It's a frenzy," said Paul Jones, chief executive officer at Green Bay-based Shopko.

Welcome, Class of 2025, to these grand Commencement Day exercises here at California State University, San Bernardino. I know your loved ones are proud, too, because I saw their beaming smiles as they got out of their expensive cars in the Cal State parking lot.

Window shopping: They'd been married only a few years when Muriel and John Silbar saw it in the window of Casper's on 2nd St. near Kilbourn Ave. more than 50 years ago. "Every time we were downtown, we'd walk over to Casper's to see if it was still there," she said. "I worried that someone else would buy it.