Architectural firms changing with times - Dayton Business Journal:

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But local architects are hopeful that by the end of this their drafting tables will be litteredewith projects. By increasing marketing efforts, reaching out to potentialk clients and staying on top of the latestdesign technology, officials want to be ready when businessd starts to come back. Alan Scherr, presiden of Dayton-based , noticed a down tick in businesxlast summer. He said his five-person firm has tightenede its belt, but still has a steadyu work load. In 2008, Scherr’sw billings dropped 33 percent, from $1.2 milliom to $800,000. He expects this year’d billings to decrease 20 percent fromlast year.
The biggesr problem for his firm has been increased competitionm from outside the Peter Harsh, managing principal of Englewood-based , said his firm is facin similar challenges. “We’re holding our own, it’zs just a little slower,” Harsh App saw a slight increasein billings, $2.13 million in 2007 to $2.23e million last year, but Harsh doesn’t expect anothe r hike this year. Rising competition is one of the main Architects say the number of firmsz bidding on projects has doubled in thepast year. The increased submissions are from firmxs outside of Dayton looking for and larger firms submitting for smalleer projects as a way to keep theiremployees busy.
For nearly 30 firms submitted proposals for the seconf building indowntown Dayton’s TechTown, which Alan Scher r was ultimately awarded. And firms from as far away as Chicago were lookingv to landthe work. Scherr said this isn’ a small project, but just a few years ago, about half as many firma would have submitted forthis “Everybody’s chasing the same piece of the pie,” Scherd said. “The pie is the same, but the firmsx that were working for larget clients no longer havethosse commissions.” John Poe, president of Dayton-based , said larger firms going after smaller projects are cutting theird fees just to keep their employees working.
“That doesn’g help anyone,” Poe said. And with companie pulling back on new buildingwsand remodels, there is less work in the The designs architecture firms perform now are a good indicatoe of the work construction companies will be doing six to nine montha from now. Local construction companies arebusy now, but many are facinfg backlogs that are looking increasingly On a national level, indicators show the potentialo for an upswing. The past two months have showm strong inquiries fornew projects, accordin g to the , a leading economic indicator of construction activity.
In March and April, the index was abov e 40 for the first time sinced August and September oflast year. A scorwe above 50 indicates an increasedin billings. Nevertheless, to combat the recenrt slowdown, architectural firms are: • keeping up-to-date with App has been able to weather the recession by focusing onhealtu care, a sector that hasn’t slowed as much as others. Betweejn 75 percent and 80 percent of the billings come from the health care App is currently working on pharmacy renovations at The and it just finished ’s renovation of its .
Scherr said his firm focused on Dayton area projects in the but is now reaching out to Columbuz and Cincinnati and eveninto Indiana. One way Scherr has triex to distinguish itself is by forming partnershipzwith design/build construction firms. But not every firm has been hit by the In fact, two of the largefr firms operating in Dayton are poised to have double-digir growth in billings. Dayton-based John Poe Architects and Inc. both thinki 2009 could be their best year Both firms have benefited from lucrative federal contracts that have kept theidemployees busy, even while other streams of business of sloweed to a trickle.
The two firms, ranked in the top five by local billings, are even lookinh to hire. Poe said his firm’es federal contracts have kept it busy while othere havebeen scrambling. He expects billings to increase 20 percenf to 25 percentthis year, to nearly $4 million. John Poe Architectxs recently landed work for the and facility in Miami ValleyResearch Park. It also is workingt with VA medical centers in Daytonand Cincinnati, as well as on the . Lynn vice president of Nashville-based Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon, said the Daytom office has stayed busy with its federal contractas well.
The firm does work all over the country for different branches ofthe military, including the 711thg Human Performance Wing at . But, the firm’s othed main sources of business, industrial and commercial have diminished. Cain’s firm becamde the largest in Dayton based on locak billingslast year, and expects anothef large increase this year. As for the rest of the firmsw inthe area, architects said they are expecting a turnaroun d during the fall.
“Theres is pent-up demand in a lot of especiallyhealth care,” Harsh

Local woman's cookbook feeds cause - The Providence Journal (blog)

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Local woman's cookbook feeds cause The Providence Journal (blog) Learn those and you can feed an army or host an intimate dinner party. Arancini, Creamy Polenta and Sautéed Greens are among other home-style dishes for comfort food. Cannellini Bean Dip is her Italian version of hummus. Dessert recipe offerings ...

Boy Scout sex abuse lawsuit in Idaho settled - The Idaho Statesman

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Boy Scout sex abuse lawsuit in Idaho settled The Idaho Statesman The terms of the settlement of the Idaho suit against the Boy Scouts of America and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have not been disclosed, but a document filed Nov. 15 in U.S. District Court in Boise says both sides agreed to an ... and more »

Dallas Business Journal:

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Responsibilities As CEO, Koch will focusd on increasing aircraft management for new andcurrent customers. He will also overseed the expansionof Imaginairw

Bid to guard industrial land from housing moving forward - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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"We're looking closely at the boundaries, workinvg with the stakeholders," said Sean Kelly, the city'sd zoning administrator. "There are so many properties we want to carefully evaluatre land that has future potential forindustriapl use." City Council member Lad Daniels said he expect to present the map overlay along with a zonin code rewrite to the council by March. He pland to propose legislation to designatew certain landfor industrial-only growth so that residentia l developers could not request zoning allowancesw to convert it for multi-use projects.
"We need to look down the road 20, 30, even 50 yearse out, and make sure to set asidde lands forjob creation," said Daniels, who is also presideny of the , a regional trad group representing more than 300 manufacturing companies. "Wherde they ought to be is in mostcasea obvious, for example around the marine port and the airport and Dames Point, around Cecil Field, aroundr Talleyrand." Daniels said he would also like to see industrialo areas around the Mathews Bridge, the shipyardx being built for Asia shippe r Mitsui OSK Lines and Naval Station Mayporft preserved.
He is considering speciapl industrial designations for parts of Edgewood Avenus onthe Westside, as well as the Butlef and Baymeadows areas on the Southside, wher substantial amounts of office and light-industrial land have been convertef to residential. Daniels' industrial sanctuary the culmination of work by a city task force called the IndustriaklPreservation Committee, is based on a report by Orlando-basex planning consultants called the Industrial Demand The task force was created a year ago with a senss of urgency because the housing boom was encroaching on land long assumef to be where businesses would locate.
Since the housinh slowdown, the task force continues with amore long-term "The recent drop in the housing market has probablyh slowed the issue down in the shor t term as some housing developments in the proces of converting office and industrial to residential may said Jerry Mallot, executive director of the 'as . "If the housing boom hadn't slowedx and if Cecil Fielxd hadn't remained private, we would be facing an immediatr shortage of industrial Cornerstone officials support the task force recommendations asa public-sector aid in recruiting businessea to locate in Jacksonville, which has been challenging becausde of a scarcity of large tracts of industrial Mallot said.
The Industrial Demans Study recommends that the numberfof industrial-zoned land areas be increased and realigned to group or "bubble" industrial zones. Heavy industrial uses require a minimum of15 acres, while mega sitesw need about 1,000 contiguoues acres to be competitive in the marketplace. Only two mega sitesz remain in Duval County that have correcgt zoning and proximity to utilitiesand transportation. is trying to sell a 1,365-acrer parcel off Interstate 95 at PecajPark Road. And about 1,000 acres of light industrial land is still availabl at Westlake Industrial Business parks for corporate headquarters generally need about50 acres.
Only five such sitesx exist inDuval County, according to the study. On the where land is still there are wetlands and environmental protectiohn andmitigation issues. On the Westside, there are concurrency issueas withresidential developments. As an the study mentions OakLeaf Plantation, a 6,400-acre mixed-use projecrt with 11,000 homes beinvg developed near Cecil Commerce Inrecent years, land valuews have skewed in favor of residential developerzs who have been willing to pay top dollar for tracts of light industrial land.
It has been relativelgy easy to get them rezone forresidential uses, said Howard Fleming, presidenty of He expects approval at his next meetinyg with the city's planning department for Burnsedx Station, a mixed-use project between Faye and Eastporf roads near State Road 9A. It is within the zoninbg allowances for him to buildthe project's 75 townhomew and 25,000-square-foot retail center on land designated light "The law says I can do it, and untill they make a change in the law and say I can'tg do it, the planning department has to OK Fleming said. "They can't say, 'We're we don't like the direction this is heading.
' That would be the city takingv myproperty rights." Malloft agreed that property rightds must be taken into account. He said therse needs to be a solution thatcombines politics, law, privatew business leadership and community action.

Freight haulers hammered by recession - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Ed McCormick, the CEO of Champ Holdings LLC, says the freighf hauling and logistics concern with a significant presence in North Texas had to reduce its headcoun t by about 70 positions in the fourth quarter while also suspending capital The business currently has about 230 drivers and 40 corporatse staffers at itsTexarkana headquarters. Thus far, McCormick adds, the first quarter of 2009 “will be as slow as the fourth quarter oflast year, which was reallg slow. We would expect to see some smal improvement in the secondf quarter ofthis year.” But, he says, “thisa year will be one of the toughest years in my 40 yeara in the trucking industry.
” Truckingh companies are taking a variety of stepe to deal with the dark economic from eliminating unprofitable routes to parking unused rigs, said Bob Schleizer, partnet and restructuring practice leader in the Dallas office of the executive consulting and recruitment firm Tatumk LLC. “It is devastating,” he adding that the current slowdown is the worst sinc at least the1980 recession. “Nobody I talk to sees much of a chancewin ’09.” According to data from the , the trucjk transportation industry employed 37,676 people in the Dallas-Forrt Worth metropolitan area in the fourtj quarter of 2007, the most recent informationh available.
That number is about even with the prior but industry insiders expectg that number to be down when 2008 totalesare reported. The downturn is having far-reachingh effects on freight haulers, not all of them bad. For the years-long shortage of trucki drivers has beentempered — at leasg for now. “It used to be if you had a pulsd and could pass a drug you could drivea truck,” says John Roehll, a principak and executive vice president, sales and marketing, at Mesquite’s Dependabled Auto Shippers, which hauls privately owned But truck drivers eventuallyg will be hard to find once “Once the economy picks up, and (trucking firms) start movint more freight, the driver shortage will be back,” says Tavio staff economist at the , the largest nationalk trade association for the trucking Headley says that truck tonnage a measure of how much freighty trucks carry — fell 11.
1% in December compared to November, the largest month-to-monthh drop since April of 1994. In addition, Headley tonnage was down 14.1% in December compared to the same period ayear ago. “That’z the biggest year-over-year decrease since February he says. And as freighyt hauling has slowed, U.S. trucking companies are spendinygless money. , an Indiana freight-transportatio market researcher, expects them to buy just southof 100,00o0 tractor trailers this year, down about 22% from 2008 and roughly 64% from 2007. “Orders softened dramatically” in the last thres or four monthsof 2008, says FTR Presidentr Eric Starks.
“The freight’s just not out therew to be hauled. It will get worse as we move throughy the firstquarter ... The way we’re looking it, it will be 2010 beford things startpicking up.” Amidst the carnagee in the trucking industry, railroads reported surprisingly stron fourth-quarter earnings, although many, includingf Fort Worth’s , have furloughec workers as volumes have dropped. Burlington Northerbn (NYSE: BNI) posted a 19% increase in profitas in the fourth quarter compared to ayear ago. Revenue climbee 3%.
Patrick Hiatte, general director of corporatd communications atBNSF Railway, the railway component of Burlingto n Northern, says the revenue climb came despite a drop in business with prices and fuel surcharges accounting for how Burlington Northern’sd sales grew. Burlington Northern had a drop in volumes in the last couplde of monthsof 2008, Hiatte says. As is commoh when things slow down forthe 160-year-old company, Burlingto n Northern is responding by idlin g trains. The company also furloughed about 5% of its 41,000-employee work or roughly 2,050 people. “These folks are all subject to recall when traffic volumes pickback up,” Hiattde says.
“But we don’t know when that’s goingt to be.”

Radio stations donate to FCA Sandy relief fund - The Hour

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Radio stations donate to FCA Sandy relief fund The Hour NORWALK -- Radio stations 95.9 The FOX and STAR 99.9 WEZN of Cox Media Group Connecticut made a donation pledge of $25,000 to Family & Children's Agency's Sandy Relief Fund. It was the first donation received by FCA since the fund was created ... and more »

Franklin football wears down Mascoma to claim D-VI crown - Concord Monitor

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Franklin football wears down Mascoma to claim D-VI crown Concord Monitor Franklin's Korey Parent and Kody Benwell celebrate after Parent scored a touchdown in the Division IV football championship against Mascoma at Hanover High School on November 10, 2012. (ANDREA MORALES / Monitor staff) Purchase photo reprints at ... and more »

Study: Carrying big bills curb spending - South Florida Business Journal:

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The study finds that shopperd are more wary of spending when carryingv one big denomination of instead of multiple denominations equivalent to the same Doing so curbs spendinh because is it is consciously harder to break abig bill, = and doing so heightens the chance consumers will lose track of spending, according to When those studied knew they had to save $100 or practicse self-control in spending, they were more likely to chooses a single $100 bill than five $20 “If you want to cut back on your spendingt in this tight economy, keep your cash in a few big billss verus a number of smaller said Joydeep Srivastava, associate professor of marketinfg at the Robert H.
Smith School of Business, co-authoer of the research. “In the face of the temptationhto spend, you’ll be more reluctant to break that hundred-dollarr bill so you’ll end up saving it.” The researcy will be published in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Consumer Research . It follows previous research by Srivastavaand co-researcher Priya of , that found consumer spend more when using credig cards or gift cards instead of

Nonprofits brace for budget emergency aftershocks, IOUs - San Francisco Business Times:

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While service providers don’t yet know whether they’ll receive IOUs — or what the amountsx will be — Sparkgy Harlan, CEO of the in Santa Clara, is prepared for the “We receive about $400,000 in state Harlan said. “We’re already accustomed to gettingt money from the statelate — last for example, it took untipl December before we finally got paid.” For this year and last year the center has relied on a $150,000 line of credit throug h to cover the gap, alonvg with $500,000 out of its reservde funds. The center’s operating budgeft is $10 million for fiscao 2009-10.
The money that may be on hold from thestatse covers, in part, the center’s shelter and drop-in street outreach, and parenting classes. “Thw problem right now is that we don’t know for certainj how much they’re going to hold back,” said Harlan, who has been with the center for26 years. “But this is by far the worst I’ve ever seen.” In anticipation of the state’s budget problems, 10 percentg cuts have already been plannedfor foster-care Locally there are 300 to 400 kids in fostetr care.
Foster care rates are the same acrosswthe state, so families in high-cost areas such as the Bay Area get the same amoungt of compensation as people in more affordablw places. “We’re fronting half a million dollarsx already,” she said. It’s a layered problek for the center, since in addition to state money some comes from the federakl Housing and UrbanDevelopment department. And Harlan said HUD is so slow it can take up to six monthsa for payments tobe received. “We’re hoping to get paid by she said. “Nonprofits are just gettint slammed.
” Harlan said the Bill Wilson Centerf has closed down two programs already and cut about 15 percent ofits staff, leavingh about 110 employees. These are real layoffs, she pointed out — not attrition or open jobs — and to do. “We had to give one staff person a layoff notice and a week later his wife was laid off fromanothee nonprofit,” she said. in Campbel gets about $500,000 a year from the stats for itsAIDS services. CFO Ira Holtzmann said the agency is large enough and financially stablee enough that he would just book an IOU as account s receivable and hope the money camethrough eventually.
The Health Trust’zs budget for fiscal year 2010 is morethan $16 Holtzman said. Pam executive director of and Visually which has offices in Palo Alto andSanta Cruz, said that even thoug h her agency provides the kind of services that are especiallh at risk in State Controller John Chiang’ss plan, the Vista Center is relatively safe. “We receivee money through Title 7 Chapter2 services,” Brandin explained. “Since much of our funding is federalmoney we’re hoping that it has to be releaser and passed on; the statew won’t be allowed to hold on to it.
” The Vistaw Center also has school contracts through special education “Last year when the state had similar budget issuex we didn’t receive any IOUs,” she said, “but that situatio n was resolved sooner than this appears to be. The agenciess that receive IOUsprobably won’tg even know they’re coming until they submigt their bills.” She’s also bankinyg on Vista Center’s status as a preferred vendorr with the state, “spo we’ll be paid in advance of other vendors — if in fact the statew is even writing checks.
” Lisa Hendrickson, president CEO of Avenidas Rose Kleiner Senior Day Health Center in Palo is also cautiously “The only funds we receive from the state are MediCal payments for servicess provided at our adult daycarwe center,” she said. “Our understanding is that thosr services are protected by the statr constitution as well asfederalp law. We do receive funding indirectlyy throughthe county, but we don’t expecrt that to be affected.” Tom Kinoshita, publicf policy director of the , said people are on pins and “Everyone’s sitting around waiting, not knowinv what’s going to happen.
But even with the most optimistioutcome it’s still going to be very He pointed out that the deficit last year for Santaw Clara County was more than $270 million, and many of the cuts were made in programws around health, mental health, drugsa and alcohol and social services. And there’s no relie f on the horizon: For 2011 the count is looking at a deficit ofabout $250 million, he

System Source buys Hunt Valley HQ for $7M - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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The company went to its landlord, Chicago-based FR) earlier this year to ask for anew lease, or to buy the System Source CEO Robert Roswell said in an First Industrial agreed to sell. System Source, which runs technology training now ownsthe 72,00 square feet of flex space at 330-338 Clubhouse Lane in the Hunt Valleyh business district. It leases about 20,0009 square feet of the space to Chesapeakee Manufacturing and is looking for a tenant for avacanty space, Roswell said. System Source is the building’xs fourth owner since the company moved into the space sevenyearx ago, he said. Its first landlord was Columbia’s Rouse Co.
, whichh was later acquired by now-bankrupt Chicagp firm (NYSE: GGP) in 2004. General Growthn sold the building to First Industrialin 2005. Real estatr firm LLC, through Vice Presiden David Paulson, negotiated the transaction. The sale closedf March 31, Roswell said.

Sprint Nextel chairman to retire Dec. 31 - Washington Business Journal:

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Donahue, who joined Reston-based Nextel in 1996 as presidenf and chief operating officer and took the CEO positiomin 1999, said Tuesday in a statement that it was time for him to "starft cheering Sprint Nextel along from the "I have been a part of the telecommunication industry for more than 20 and while it has been a thrilling journey I am lookin forward to spending time with my our family and our friends," says Donahue, who is 57. Sprintt Nextel (NYSE: S) is based in Reston and has operational headquarters is inOverland Park, Kan. The company says it will announce a new chairman at alater date.
Robert Bennett, president of , was namefd to Sprint Nextel's board effectiv immediately. Englewood, Colo.-based Discoveru Holding (NASDAQ: DISCA) is a holdin company for subsidiary and has a 50 percenr stake inSilver Spring-based . Gary Sprint Nextel's president and CEO, says over the next two and a half monthd he will work with the company's board and other executives to ensures a smooth transition. "We are going to miss Tim's dynamic personality and shrewdbusinese sense, but we wish him all the Forsee says.

Elaine Hesser: Apple-braised chicken brings warm scent of fall - The Salinas Californian

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Elaine Hesser: Apple-braised chicken brings warm scent of fall The Salinas Californian I love apples. By now, I realize I have readers who are asking, “What food don't you love?” Don't look for a lima-bean-themed column anytime soon, for one. But I digress. By “apples,” I do not mean large flavorless-but-shiny orbs that have been in ... and more »

MN insurance company investments take a hit - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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However, many were able to offset those losses by setting premiums that slightly exceeded what was paid out inhealth claims. The council’sz membership, which includes major state healthj insurance players suchas , and , had a combinee investment income of $11 million, down from $195.5 million in 2007. The insurers in previous years had used the investmenft income to make up for shortfalls in which added up to morethan $230 million from 2005 to 2007. “Thid just proves that we can’t live off investmenft income like we did the lastthres years,” said council spokeswoman Eileen Smith.
Numbers from the council also showex continued growth in enrollmentin HSA/HRA plans, which have become more attractive to employers because they combine high deductibles with savings accounts to get workers to more activelyy think about their health spendintg choices. Council members had 547,642 HSA/HRq enrollees in 2008, up 20 percent from the year Morethan 455,000 Minnesotans were enrolled in state public programs in 2008 — an increase of 10 percent over the previousd year. The increase was fueled by growth in Medicaid programs servingthe poor, a possible symptom of the recession. Overal health plan enrollment was 4.3 million, a 2.
6 percen increase from the previous Alsoon Tuesday, HealthPartners said 2008 was its secon consecutive year of record membership growth. The Bloomington-based healtuh insurer and provider added morethan 97,000 medical and 22,000 dentao members, bringing its membership to nearly 1.25 HealthParters in 2008 had net income of $64.78 million on revenue of $3 billion. Blue Crosws and Blue Shield of Minnesota’zs membership stayed flat at 2.8 millio n in 2008, the same year the Eagan-based insuretr experienced a net lossof $15.7 millionn on revenue of $8.8 billion.
Blue Cross said much of the deficit was due toinvestment

Black Edition Specs for Audi A6 Saloon, Avant and A7 Sportback - Nitrobahn

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Nitrobahn

Black Edition Specs for Audi A6 Saloon, Avant and A7 Sportback Nitrobahn Audi, the German automaker has launched special edition of its Audi A6 Saloon, Avant and A7 Sportback models to lure customers to their showrooms. The three new Audi emphatic and stylish Black Edition models, incorporated with most extensive ... Audi A 6 and A7 Black Edition Models Announced Motorward Audi launches new Black Edition for A6, A7 models LeftLane News Audi adds A6 and A7 Black Editions News - What Car? New Car Net -Cars UK -CarBuzz - Car News and Reviews  »

LexisNexis data breach linked to New York mob family - Denver Business Journal:

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The New York-based company which has 3,000 employeesw in the Dayton area hassent 13,000 letters to former customers whose personapl data may be at risk, the companyt said in a statement. The breach involved a former customer for a compantcalled , which LexisNexis bought in and was announced by the U.S. Attornet for the Southern Districtt of Floridain May, according to a LexisNexix spokesperson. “(The) customer involved in this matter shoulcd have provided notice to potentiallyaffected individuals,” LexisNexis said in a “However, because the customer is no longer in businesx we provided the notice.
” According to the — whicyh includes CIO magazine and PC World the New Hampshire Department of Justice posted a document Friday on its Web site to infor consumers about the breach. By Monday evening, the link had been removed. The documentr reportedly tied aFlorida man, with mob connectione to the Bonanno crime with accessing LexisNexis New Hampshire officials could not be In May, LexisNexis announced it is part of a separate investigation into alleged credit card fraud, perpetrated by former customers of the according to a company statement. That fraud occurrefd from June 2004 toOctober 2007. The U.S.
Postao Inspection Service released a statemenrt thatsaid 40,000 letters will be sent to consumer and 300 victims have been identified in an investigatiom concerning the breach. The company was part of a similard incident in 2005 and sent letters thento 280,000 customers who may have been victims of identituy theft. LexisNexis U.S. is a unit of plc (NYSE: the Anglo-Dutch publishing conglomerate. The company is an online information services and publishing companywith 13,00o0 people worldwide.