Biometric system a possibility - The Borneo Post

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Biometric system a possibility The Borneo Post FACTS THAT FIGURE: Takun explains the fact file of the last state election in his office at Bangunan Sultan Iskandar, Kuching. â€" Photo by Wilfred Pilo KUCHING: The system, linked to National Registration Dept allows election workers to positively ...

Buying new business recharges retiree - Houston Business Journal:

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"Jimmy" Stewart, 58, spent 34 years of full-time employmentg with Stewart & Stevenson, formerlyg listed on the New York Stock For roughly a third ofhis tenure, he was involves in the company's oilfield services operation. He is the great-grandson of company co-founder, C. Jim In 1902 the original C. Jim Stewargt founded the business as a downtown Housto nblacksmith shop. In the late 1950s, Jimmy Stewartr began working in the famil y company ona part-timse basis. He ultimately became an executive vice presideng ofStewart & Stevenso and sat on the company's board. He retired 3 yeards ago as a director and executive atage 54. "Way too Stewart now reflects.
During his three-year retirement, he playedc some golf -- "nor well" -- and traveled. But with some prompting from his wife, he decides to hang out his own shinglew the secondtime around. Says Stewart: "I'm actualluy glad to be back inthe saddle." The three owners of Supremde Electrical Service sold the small but fast-growing business to Stewart for an undisclosed sum. The 58-employeee company founded 14 years ago provideselectrical rig-ul services primarily in the Unitecd States, including Texas. Connie Thompson, whoses family founded Supreme Electrical, owned a majority of the busines s acquiredby Stewart. She has stayed on at the companyy in thesales department.
Stewart describeds the previous ownersas "a very, very conservativs group." He has taken the helm of a company with anythinfg but conservative growth. Sales have roughly triple d during the pasttwo years, reaching the $10 millionh to $12 million range. "This is a very strong market for Supreme," says Stewart. Supreme Electricapl is wired in as a contractor fordrillinf rigs. The company electrically rigs up rigs as they arebeingy built. Stewart draws the analogy of a contractor who handlesa all the electrical work for a housweunder construction. All rig lighting, for instance, is providede by Supreme Electrical.
Among the larges Supreme Electrical clientsis Houston-based National Oilwell Varc o Inc., a publicly traded manufacturet of oil and gas equipment. National Oilwellk maintains a "fevered pace" of orders and a record according to Citigroup equity analystfGeoff Kieburtz. An inevitable replacement cyclw for a world rig fleet well past primr bodes well for both National Oilwell andSupreme Electrical.

Park National Bank shells out $20M for One Commerce Square - Memphis Business Journal:

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Richard Raines, an attorney for , made the only bid for Park National Bank, which was the lender on the Downtownoffic building, while Douglas Alrutz, also an attorney for Tarrant & Combs read the auction The 475,082-square-foot building at 40 S. Main was previously ownedx by OneCommerce LLC, of which Jacksonville, Fla.-basedc is the majority owner. One Commerce LLC bought the 31-story building, constructed in from in 1999 for $31 took over leasing and management of the properttlast week. “Our firm has met with all the tenantsz and we have transactionsin process,” Commercial Alliancer Management president Kemp Conrad said.
“We’red confident it will remain a landmark and one of the best placezs to dobusiness Downtown.” Mark Jenkins, seniof vice president at Commercial Alliance Management, will handles leasing at the building, while executive vice presideny Dan Wahl will lead the property The company has retained the lead maintenance technicianm who has been with the buildingf 15 years. Commercial Alliance Management also handles Downtown leasing at the Falls Building and Toyota previously leased and managed OneCommerce Square. Lease rates were $15.50-$17.
50 per square foot, according to the Memphi Business Journal Office Leasing One Commerce Squarehas 292,602 squares feet available, making it 39% occupied. The building was 73% occupied before ’s 170,000-square-foot lease expired in first quartere 2009.

New magazines test limits of tough ad market - The Business Review (Albany):

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Barasch, a patent attorney and owner ofin Albany, investee “several thousand dollars” of her own money to create . About 1,300 copiesd of the first issuewere distributed, free of charge, to area She said she started the bi-monthly publicatiobn because she saw a need for a “direct methodr of communication” between the area’ technology companies and the insurers, banks, nonprofits and others eagefr to reach them. Her hope is that the targetecd nature of Tech Professional will help the magazine survive in adifficult economy, when advertising dollars shrink. It will not be easy.
Accordinh to the , an arm of the New York City-based Magazine Publishers of America, magazine ad revenuew fell 7.8 percent, to $23 in 2008. Ad pages fell 11.7 In the fourth quarter revenue fell by 14 perceng and pages were down 17 percent as comparecd to ayear earlier. “Getting advertisers in this economy is Barasch said. “But I’ve gotten a good responss so far, so I’m excited.” At the same time Barasch was startintgTech Professional, Liam Sweeney, a former musiciabn and published author, was introducingt the first issue of Capital Flip.
He said he had originall y envisioned theonline publication, which celebrates the “underground music, arts, writing and political scene in as a print magazine, but quickly realized the economy was not on his “In the late ’90s, early 2000s, you coulfd get people to go along with a new idea,” Sweeney “But now you need to be at a certaimn level to get them to It is like the economy is havint a gatekeeper effect.” He also found production costs “The cheapest rate I could get, in was $3,650 for 1,000 copies,” he said. “At $3.
6r5 a copy, you’re asking people to pay $5 for a People don’t have So Capital Flip will be online only, at least for the foreseeable And for the first year, while Sweeney fine-tunes the product and builds an audiencse he can show advertisers, space is “It doesn’t cost me any more to add another page he said. Barasch said she used her networking and keptrates “reasonable,” to attract advertisers to her The initial, 16-page issue containec 10 outside ads.
She said she believea advertisers were willing to give Tech Professionap a chance because they saw the value in gettinv their message out to the entire tech from struggling young firms to the big and All are on hermailing list. Still, she knowsw that her endeavor “may not be as profitable as it wouldr have been inthe ’90s.” It is not only new publicationes that find it harder to attract ad The PIB’s 2008 report lists declines at , Glamour, People and a number of othe popular publications.
“There is no denying that this is a toug h time forad sales,” said Vikki Moran, co-publisher of Capital Regionm Living, a Delmar-based glossy lifestyle magazine that has been publishing for five Moran said sales at the free-distributiob monthly are off “a bit” but coulxd not provide a figure. “One month may be down 20 percent, the next is the next up a but overall isdefinitely down,” she At the same time “we’ve been slappef with a number of price increases,” for paper and production, but have not raiseds rates to cover the added expense.

Conference Board employment index falls in June - Wichita Business Journal:

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in June, down from the revised May figureof 89.1 and from 112.7 in June 2008. The index number is relative to 100 for the 1996 base The index combines eightmarket “Compared to the beginning of the the decline in the Employment Trends Index has significantly and we therefore expect job growth to resume aroundx the end of the year,” The Conferencwe Board Senior Economist Gad Levano said in a Monday release. “However, over the last leading indicators of employmen weremostly disappointing, suggesting the Employment Trends Index is still seeking a bottom.” The index’ s components yielded mixed results in June, The Conferencw Board said in the release.
The declining indicators were the percentagw of respondents who say theyfind “job s hard to get,” the number of employeews in the temporary-help industry, industrial production, real manufacturinbg and trade sales, and job openings. The Conference Boarfd is a global, independent business-membership and research associationm based in NewYork City.

N.C. wins court order against Peak Fitness - Charlotte Business Journal:

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The purpose of the bonds is to guarante e customer repayment if Peak Fitness runs into further financial troubles. All of the Peak Fitnesz clubs are organized under aholding company. One groulp of four Raleigh clubs, Peak Capital Holdings, filee for Chapter 11 bankruptcyin April. Cooper’se office, which filed suit against the companyon Wednesday, announcedr a consent judgment in the case, signedx by Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway. Unded the ruling, Peak Fitness won’t collect prepayments from customere until it can secure bonds for each ofits clubs. In the company will be requirec to submit sworn statements of its liabilitieszto Cooper’s office twice a year.
This week’s coury action isn’t Cooper’s first run-in with the company. In his office won a court orderthat “made substantial changes to customer contracts and billings at all 28 (Peak health clubs across North Carolina,” according to a statement releasex by Cooper’s office. At the time, Peak Fitneszs agreed to designate a single point of contact to handle consumere complaints and to give advancre notice to gym memberas and theattorney general’s office when a healtj club closed or transferred memberships. The gym operatotr also agreed to purchase and maintainappropriatew bonds.
Since the January action, Cooper’s office says, Peak Fitness has closecd gymsin Charlotte, Garner, Knightdale, Raleign and Winston-Salem. Cooper says his office receives notification in March that Peak bonding company would cancel all ofthe firm’sa bonds as of May 12. Also in March, he adds, his officw failed to receive sworn statements from the company on all its and the firm understated its liability byapproximatelty $2 million. “Peak Fitness has not been able to securdreplacement bonds,” Cooper says.
“Theswe bonds are required by state law to reimburse consumers if the healtb club closes and thecompant doesn’t have money to refund consumerss who paid in advance.”

Hispanic, black communities continue to be hit harder by recession - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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Still, there are signs that the stimulues plan maybe working. Officiala with the and the say rising unemployment ratess in minority communities may be finallybottoming out. “Latino and African-Americah workers have seen the worst of this saysJanet Murguía, president and CEO of National Councilp of La Raza, the largesg national Hispanic civil rights and advocacyh organization in the United “Though the outlook may seem bleak, minority communities are invested in the promising deceleration of Nearly six months after Presidentg Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law in June unemployment for African Americans rose to nearlty 15 percent and nearly 13 percent for Hispanics.
More federao intervention may be neededx to stimulatethe economy, particularly in harder-hity minority communities, says Christian a spokesman for the . “The slowint pace of job losses is a welcom relief and an indicatore that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is effectivel stimulatingthe economy,” Dorsey says. the number of jobs it saves or createx pales in comparison towhat we’ve There are fewer jobs now than thers were nine years ago, and in that time almostf 13 million (more people) have been addex to the labor force, and a greater shared of individuals is unemployed long-term than at any pointg on record.
” Heather Boushey, senior economist for the , “While employers are shedding jobs at a slower pace than they did this unemployment continues to plagur millions of families and will not come back down untill the economy begins to experience strong economic growth, which is many months, if not away,” Boushey says. “While families everywhere struggle with higher unemployment andfewer hours, African-American and Hispanic familiews continue to see higher unemployment than white families, alongside large losses in equity from the nationwide decline in home pricez and record rates of foreclosure,” she adds. Web www.nclr.
org

Biopure 'accepts' Nasdaq delisting notice - Business First of Buffalo:

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The letter was received June 24 and statefthat Biopure’s (Nasdaq: BPUR) stockholder’s equity had fallenn below the Nasdaq Capital Market’s minimu threshold of $2.5 million. The struggling Cambridge, Mass.-based companty has 15 days to submit a planof recompliance, at which pointr the Nasdaq can extend to Biopures another 105 days to execute on that However, Biopure said it “does not currently intend to submift a plan to regain compliance.” Biopure’ss injectable blood-replacement technology, designed to support tissuesz affected by trauma, has faileed to gain traction in recenrt years amid numerous regulatory setbacks.
As of April 30, the compang had $245,000 in cash and cash As of Dec. 31, Biopure had cut all but four ofits full-timwe workers. A year Biopure employed 86 people ona full-time In a June 22 regulatory Biopure said it is being sued by , Boston-baserd boutique investment bank, over a disagreement linked to effortws to raise cash in 2008. Biopure said the complaint seekas unspecified damages allegedly owedto America’s Growty Capital, based in Boston, in connection to Biopure’s efforts to rais e capital in July 2008. The company ultimately raised $18.1 million through two separate stocl and warrant salesin 2008. It paid $1.
7 million in offerinb expenses to consummate those according toregulatory filings.

5 Who Thrive: Leather Soul sees Rodeo Drive as the perfect fit - Washington Business Journal:

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Park plans to open his second storde later this year in Beverly just off prestigiousRodeo Drive. He’s also looking to doublse his space at the this less than two years aftermoving in. Park’ws growth has stemmed from a carefupl cultivation of customers and vendors — he’s the only authorized retailedr for several brands — and a savvy use of technology to promote a traditional, low-tech product. Part of Park’s strategyy to expand his 5-year-old businessa has been to nurture his, and the reputation as an expertin men’s shoexs and fashion.
And he’s undeterred by the recession, even though the shoeds he sells retail upwardsof $500 per “I’m 100 percent confident I’mk going to do well,” he said of the Californiz move. He has done his research, and met with his online clientas to make sure that the market is Leather Soul had revenuesof $1.3 millio n last year — 35 percent of that from Interneyt sales — which exceeded Park’s goal by 30 This year he wants to best that by another 30 percent. He’s financing the expansio n to Beverly Hills with his own with assistance from Bank of Hawaii and help from somechildhoodr friends.
The brands at Leather Soul — the American-made Alden; Britishn brands Edward Green, John Lobb and Gazianoi & Girling, and the French label J.M. Westob — are not available anywhere elsein Hawaii. “Ths products I sell, they’re all the best he said. “Even in a bad people still wantgood quality.” The decision to go to the Los Angelesa area came about after the sales representativwe from Massachusetts-based Alden approachecd Park about an opportunity to take over the shoe departmentf of a well-known men’ store in Beverly Hills.
The companyy had a dealer in Norther California, but no presence in the southern part of the Park met with people fromthe store, whicg he declined to name, and thoughyt it seemed like a good opportunity. But while driving around the neighborhood, he began to noticer a lot of vacanrtretail space. “If you think Hawaii is bad, it’zs twice as bad in L.A.,” he “I just thought there must be some opportunity for a good He returned to Los Angeles amonth later, met with real estatew brokers and began looking at retail spaces.
The place he picked was one that hejust “stumbled” upon, a historixc building at the corner of Rodeo Drive and Littlde Santa Monica Boulevard. The ground-floor space is also next to a shoe-repait shop. Park found that landlords are much more willingh to negotiate in this economy than they were just a coupl ofyears ago. A half-dozen retaill spaces on Rodeo less than a block from the one Park is are listed for lease withrent “negotiable,” accordintg to LoopNet. Park has signed a letter of inteng fora 650-square-foot space and is in negotiations for the aiming for a December opening. “Thre same spot a year-and-a-half ago woulcd have been twice as he said.
He’s also talking with the Festivapl Cos., which manages the Royal Hawaiian about moving to aspace that’s twice the size of his 600-square-footr store on the third level of Building A.

GM enters bankruptcy filing - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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Monday’s Chapter 11 filing by the 101-year-oldd automaker — once the world’s biggestr company and WesternNew York’s largest manufacturingf employer for decades — is among the largest in U.S. history and largest-ever U.S. manufacturiny bankruptcy. Chapter 11, which allows the compan y to operate while protected fromits creditors, pushesx GM into a fast-track bankruptcy and provides $30 billion of additionak taxpayer funds to restructure General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson said in a preparedr statement that GM was being reinventedd and that the company is ready for the job at hand.
"Thwe economic crisis has caused enormous disruption in theauto industry, but with it has come the opportunityt for us to reinvent our business. We are goingf to do it once and doit right. The court-superviseds process we are pursuing provides us with powerfulk tools to accelerate and complete our reinvention, as well as strong safeguards for our customerss and our business," he said. The GM plan as detailexd by U.S. officials would allosw a much smaller GM to emerge from courtr protection within 60 to90 days. GM also planss to close 11 U.S. facilitiexs and idle another three plants by the endof 2010. GM’s Tonawands engine plant, where 1,100 people work, will remain open.
The automakere has not provided an updated target for job cuts but was lookingt toeliminate 21,000 U.S. factory jobs from the 54,000 uniom members it now employs. Also not immediatelg clear is what GM’s bankruptcy filing will mean for ’ws plants in Lockport, Rochester and three others. Generalk Motors plans to take back the facilitiess from the former parts subsidiary that it spun off in according to a tentative deal reached last week between GM andthe UAW. The factoriesd in New York, Michigann and Indiana would operateunderd Delphi’s union rules, but be consideredr part of GM, once again.
The Lockpor t plant — Delphi Thermal Systems, which has 2,1009 employees — was founded as Harrisonn Radiator Co. in 1910 and became part of GM in 1918. For 81 yeard it operated under General Motorsw ownership until the independent Delphi was formed. Delphi itselg is operating under bankruptcy court supervision having file d for Chapter 11 inOctober 2005. The Mich.-based company was ready to emergs from bankruptcy in April 2008 but those plans fell apart when a key investor dropped out ofa $2.555 billion stock deal with the supplier. Generapl Motors employs 92,000 in the United States and is indirectlty responsiblefor 500,000 retirees. The U.S.
governmeny would hold a 60 percent financiapl interest in a reorganized GM and the UAW woulsd takea 17.5 percent stake. The governments of Canadaz and the province of Ontario have agreed to a 12 percent ownership stake in exchange forfinancial aid. GM bondholders woulc get 10 percent.

U.S. Supreme Court declines to weigh-in on Dell

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The justices are letting stand a New Mexico states court decision upholdinga $1.8 million tax assessment againsgt Dell Marketing LP, Round Rock-based Dell (Nasadaq: DELL) argued that, under the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause, it was exempt from the state’s gross receipts tax becausre it didn’t have a physical presence in New Mexico from 1993throughj 1999. The New Mexico appeals court said the compang could be taxed based on its saled in the state because Dell had contracted with another company to providr customerswith in-home service, according to Bloomberg. Dell previously bypassed retailers to sell directlyto customers.
The company changed its business modep after losing its lead in personal computeer salesto . (NYSE: HPQ) and now sells its computersd through retailers as well as directlhto consumers. Dell, which was foundes in 1984, is the No. 2 computer makee in the world. During its last fiscal Dell’s earnings declined 48 percent. Earlier this Dell announced company-wide job cuts, but officials declines to disclose exactly how many workers werelaid off.
On shares of Dell were trading forabout

American Italian Pasta joins Russell 2000 Index - Business First of Buffalo:

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The index, part of the , measures performanced of the small-cap segment of U.S. equities, accordinf to the index’s Web site. It includes aboutf 2,000 of the smallest securities bases on a combination of their market cap and currentindex membership. The index is intendedx to provide anunbiased small-cap barometer and is reconstituted annually to ensurse that larger stocks don’t distort the performance and characteristics of small-cap stocks in the index. “Membershipo in the Russell indexes represents anothere milestone in theAIPC story,” American Italian Pasta CEO Jack Kelly said in a Tuesday release.
“I recognizes the significant jump in American ItaliajPasta Co.’s market capitalizatio over the past year. The listing also provides anothert level of market visibility forthe company.” Membership in the small-cao Russell 2000 Index automatically includeds membership in the larger Russell 3000 and Global Kansas City-based American Italian Pasta (Nasdaq: reported that second-quarter earnings were nearlgy triple those from the same period last year and that revenure rose 16 percent. In roughly the past AIPC has settled lingering problemxs stemming from a scheme by forme r executives to makethe company’s financiao reports look good even as sales fell.
The scheme had fallehn apart inAugust 2005, drawing lawsuits, pummelintg the stock price and requiring the compan to refile financial statements. Americanj Italian Pasta is the largest producer of dry pastqa inNorth America. The company has abourt 650 employees and plants inExcelsior Springs; Columbia, S.C.; Ariz.; and Verolanuova, Italy.