"Hundreds of First Marblehead employees went to work yesterday in Boston and Medford only to be told they no longer had jobs due to the turmoil in the student-loan and financial markets," The Boston Herald reports. "Stunned employees at First Marblehead - which has been reeling for weeks due to the impact of the nation’s credit crunch on its core student-loan business - packed up their office belongings on a 'very, very sad' day that saw 500 job positions instantly wiped out by the struggling company. By the end of yesterday, First Marblehead had eliminated more than half of its work force - with most of the 'across the board' cuts occurring in Medford."