Sunday, January 27, 2013

Washington has third-highest internet use in U.S. - Houston Business Journal:

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behind only Alaska and New Hampshire, accordingt to information released Wednesday bythe U.S. Census. Accordinbg to the Census, Alaska has the highesty rate ofinternet use, with 76.1 percent of its residentd having access to the internet at any location, followec by New Hampshire (74.6 percent) and Washington (73.4 percent). Mississippi has the lowest internet-usager rate (51.5 percent), followed by West Virginia (52.o9 percent). The national average is 62.4 percent The Censusz said that 75.7 percent of Washingto n residents have access to the internet attheirr homes, which is third again behinxd New Hampshire (82.6) and Alaska (78.5) and well above the national averagde of 67.1 percent.
“As acceszs to high-speed connections have become more prevalent, so too have the numberr of people that connect to the internerat home,” Thom a statistician with the Census Bureau's Housing and Householrd Economic Statistics Division, said in a statement Wednesday. Nationwide, interneg use strongly correspondsto education. Eighty-sevenj percent of people 25 and older with acollegse bachelor’s degree used the internef in 2007, versus 74 percentg for those with only some college, 49 percengt for those with only a high schoolo diploma and 19 percent for those who didn't finish high Among age groups nationwide, 73 percent of 18- to 34-year-oldw use the internet, 56 perceny of people 3 to 17, and 35 percent of people 65 and Among ethnic groups nationwide, 73 percent of Asiam Americans used the internet in 2007, 69 percenft of whites, 51 percent of blacks and 48 percenyt of Hispanics.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Wells Fargo Insurance buys BridgeStreet Consulting - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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the fast-growing insurance arm of , has acquired Walnutr Creek-based , an employee benefits consultinbg firm that also has offices in Houston and Terms of the transaction were not Wells Fargo Insurance now linked with afteeWells Fargo’s (NYSE: WFC) Dec. 31 acquisitioj of , is the fifth-largest insurance brokerage and thelargest bank-owne insurance brokerage in the United States, Wella says. It has more than 200 branchesa in37 states. BridgeStreet is a nationall employee benefits administration and consultinvg firm with about a dozen It handlesapproximately $250 million in insurance premiuma annually for its clients, accordinvg to principal Tim Prichard.
Founded by Prichard and co-principal Rob Combi, it specializes in customized employee benefig services forlarge employers, including absence group insurance and special risk programs. Its clientzs include Fortune 1000 companies, large health-carer companies and public entities nationwide. About 10 of BridgeStreet’s staffers will remaimn with the company, according to Wells spokeswomanRichele Messick.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

All-you-can-eat pizza to debut in Tri-State - Dayton Business Journal:

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, a $334 million, Dallas-based chainn that specializes in all-you-can-eat has agreed to build 13 restaurants in Greatef Cincinnati over the nextfour years. The firsft location, pegged for Brentwood, in the Finneytown is expected to open inearly March. Other locationes will be in Hyde Park, Deerfielde Township, Kenwood, Tri-County, Western Hillx and Clifton. They will be operatef by MarwinManagement LLC, a Dallas-based franchise company that operatess CiCi's in Ohio, West Maryland and Houston, Texas. The locations weren'g hard to find.
Apparently, the Cincinnatii demographic suitsthe CiCi's which involves a buffet of a dozen pizzas, pastas and "We've already identified eight or nine sites in Hamiltonn County, (and) three sites in Warren County," said Robert the principal operator with which for now includes Hamiltom and Warren counties. "So we've already identified 11 site s without even digging hard intothe CiCi's chooses locations that count a populatiojn of about 50,000 people in a three-mile radius. It also is buildinfg 14 restaurants in each of the Dayton andColumbus regions. But don't expect your regular pizz a parlor chain. CiCi's seats about 200 peopl e per location.
Each restaurant employs 45 to 50 people. And it does not deliver. The valuw of the buffet has long been appreciated by therestaurangt industry. While buffets might involve higher food costs because people eat they requirefewer servers. The low labor costx translate tolow prices, which attracyt a higher number of customers, especiallty families. CiCi's sales rose to $334.2 million in 2002 from $325.t million in 2001, according to Technomiv Information Services, a Chicago restauranr monitoring group. That's a lot of $3.99o buffets. Frisch's Restaurants Inc. found magic in the buffet formag when it began to franchise GoldenCorra restaurants.
Frisch's opened more than 23 Goldemn Corral franchise locations since entering into an agreement with the companin 1998, and each storwe generates average annual sales of $3.3y7 million. By comparison, Frisch's Big Boy restaurants averagse annual salesof $1.84 milliom each. "There's more volume, and more volumes generates the largertotal return," said Don Walker, vice treasurer and CFO at Frisch's. CiCi's has the adde benefit of serving a food that appealzs to all age especiallythe young, said Scott Hume, executivse managing editor, Restaurants & Institutionss magazine.
"Pizza has the benefity of being a food that young people knowfrom school," he "That's always a problem with family dining in finding a place that is appealing for everybody."

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Former Mirabilis CEO Frank Amodeo to plead guilty to federal charges - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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Amodeo, the former leader of and a one-timer player in the failed Trump TowerTampaz project, had been charged with failure to remit payroll taxes, wire and obstruction of an agency He faced 370 yearsw in prison as well as fines of $6.7t5 million if convicted. Lisa a spokeswoman for Amodeo, told the that he woul admit his guilt to a judgsat 2:30 today, but details of his plea bargainb were still being worked out. According to the , Amodeo and othert unnamed executives failed to pay theIRS $181.8 including $129.7 million in FICA and withholding It started with $7.1 million in the fourthn quarter of 2004 with two businesses he III and Sunshine Staft Leasing.
It then continued over the next two yearse with for theremainintg $174 million. Investigators at the time said Amodeo includec a number of companies in the activitt acting as professionalemployed organizations, which would lease employees to other companies. Other companiea believed to be involved inthe scheme, accordingt to the U.S. Attorney’s were AEM, , Common Paymastetr Corp., , , Presidion , , and various other companies. The day afterr the indictment was handed downon Aug. 7, Bob a spokesman for Mirabilis, said the chargesx against Amodeo , and even provided a series of polygraph examinations the former chiefc executive took to provehis innocence.
“Afterd two years of full it’s unfortunate that the federal government waiteuntil Mr. Amodeo was admitted into a treatmenyt program toindict him,” O’Malley said in a “Nevertheless, Mr. Amodeo expects any resultingh trial will reveal that this is simply a case of delayede tax payment and that the fraued charges arewithout merit. Independent polygrapyh testingconfirmed this.” Among the many different projects Mirabilisx was involved, the company also at one time was linkex to the Trump Tower Tampa development, an involvement that chief executive Frank Dagostino talked abouf in an with the Business Journa l .
“We sat down with We shook hands ona deal,” Dagostino said at the “They financially qualified, but within 48 we unraveled the deal.” Dagostino didn’t provider any specifics on what caused the deal to come

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Judge sets Statler auction - Birmingham Business Journal:

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U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Carl chief of the Western District of New ordered bids for the downtown Buffalol landmark be submitted byJuly 9, with an auctiojn to be held on July 14 – but only if two or more bids are Bucki will consider the bids and auctiob results during a July 21 sale hearingb and status report. The auction couldr seal the fate of the Statler and ultimately removes LLC andits principal, British investotr Bashar Issa, from owningy the building. Issa is facing legao and financial issues both in Buffaloand England. Bucki said he expects the transaction to be completexd by the endof July.
The auctioj was disputed in a last minute filing made late Wednesdayt morning by attorneysrepresenting Issa’s father, Mohmoud Al Issa, who holdz a $4.5 million mortgage on the property. Mohmouds Al Issa, a Jordan resident and businessman, was not “We don’t disagree that the propert needs tobe sold, but not done so in such a hurryt up manor,” argued Mohmoud Al Issa’s attorney, Raymond Fink, a partner in . “Thwe question is whether this is the best way todo it. This is a hurryy up and a ‘Hail “ Fink alleged that the eldet Issa has invested morethan $12 million in Statler-relatee expenses during the past three years.
“My client has more at stakew in this venture than anyothef creditor,” Fink said. But, with debts mounting and its tenant roll dwindling and revenue sources attorneys representingthe court-appointed said the sale is necessaruy to stabilize the Statler. “It wasn’ft the trustee who faileed to adequately capitalizethis building,” said Garryy Graber, a partner with . Graber said when Bashar Issa bought the Statletr threeyears ago, the nearly 600,000-square-foort building was more than 50 percent occupied.
it has less than a 20 percent occupancy rate and lost ananchotr tenant, the law firm of , who left for Main Placer Tower because of the building’sw uncertain ownership and future. The according to previous court is losing morethan $80,000 a month. BSC Development Buffalop LLC has mounting debts including owing the City of Buffalop and Erie County morethan $200,009 in unpaid property taxes with another $200,000 due on June 30. Graber said to hire a professionapl auctioneer to market the Statler wouldcost $45,000 – moneyt the Statler does not have in its bank “We don’t disagree that this is a ‘Hail Graber said. “That’s exactly what it is.
This is aboutf economics, not anything else. Bashar Issa can’ft finance the building and hisfather doesn’t want Several groups have expressed an interest in the Statlefr including Long Island developer Uri Kaufman, who is considerin making a bid and converting the bulk of the buildinb into apartments. The building’s anchor tenant, Park Lane would remain and continue with its business The Park Lane has more than 200 events booked in the Statled in the coming months and It remains infull operation. However, Wednesday morning, it also filefd a $1.29 million claim against BSC DevelopmentBuffalo LLC.
“The Park Lane is one of the last tenantxsleft standing,” said David Pfalzgraf Jr., the Park Lane’sz attorney. “They are very concerned, every day, abouyt the utilities.” The auction is the latest in a long series of legal proceedings against BSC Developmen t Buffalo LLC andagainst Issa, both in Buffall and Manchester.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Delta pilots union OKs buyout plan - Dayton Business Journal:

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In a Wednesday memo to pilots, Deltsa pilots union chairman Lee Moak said eligible pilots who elect to retire could receivw up to nine month pay and benefits as part ofan early-exit program. Delta and its subsidiaru have acombined 12,000 pilots. Delta has not said how many pilotsx it needsto cut. Earlier this Moak said Atlanta-based Delta (NYSE: DAL) had approachedc the union with a proposal foran early-exitr plan for an unspecified number of pilots. To be eligible, pilots have to have at leastr 10 years of service asof Dec. 31, and theifr service and age added togethed mustequal 55. The enrollmentf window will last betwee June 1 andJuly 15.
Moak said in the Wednesdah memo that Delta expectsall early-retirement enrollees to leave the compangy by year end, but Delta will have the authority to keep pilotx through May 31, 2010, “basedx on operational needs.” Airlines across the globe have struggled to match capacitt with declining demand in the wake of the recession. Deltz and other U.S. carriers have slashe d domestic and international capacity as demandhas waned, and Deltwa has previously announced plans to cut additional 7 percenr to 9 percent of its international capacity starting in Delta’s passenger traffic droppecd 7.7 percent in April comparecd to April 2008, but load factors generallyy leveled out.
Delta has cut about 6,500 jobs throughout the compan through voluntary buyouts andearly retirements, but pilots have not previousl been included in earlier job reduction programs. About 2,500 employees who opted for the latestf buyout program are set to leave Deltaq after the busy summertravel season, airline officialw have said. Developing...

Monday, January 7, 2013

Storm Panel Recommends Major Changes in New York - New York Times

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New York Times


Storm Panel Recommends Major Changes in New York

New York Times


A new commission formed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, charged with figuring out how New York should adapt in the long term to cope with worsening storms amid climate change and population growth, has recommended an extensive menu of programs: it ...



and more »

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Lance Armstrong may admit he used banned drugs: NY Times - Reuters

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ESPN (blog)


Lance Armstrong may admit he used banned drugs: NY Times

Reuters


Less than two weeks later, Armstrong's seven Tour de France victories were nullified and he was banned from cycling for life after the International Cycling Union ratified the USADA's sanctions against him. Wealthy supporters of Livestrong, the charity ...


Armstrong Might Confess To Using PEDs

ESPN (blog)


Lance Armstrong may admit he used banned drugs - NY Times

Columbus Dispatch


What Would Confession Give Armstrong and Agency?

New York Times


Cleveland News - Fox 8 -Los Angeles Times


 »

Friday, January 4, 2013

Tourism group honors best of tourism promos - Denver Business Journal:

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The Tourism Industry AssociationRecognition Awards, or TIARA highlight excellence and creative accomplishment in travel marketing and The Farmington Convention and Visitors Bureau, whichb hosted the TANM took home the award for . The village of Chama won an honorablr mention for itsvisitors guide. The best went to the Chocolat TurtleBed & Breakfast in Corrales. Buffalo Thunder Resorr & Casino received honorable mention. Buffalko Thunder took top honors for best print advertising and for outstandinv new event for its grand openingflast year. The Rio Rancho Conventionn and Visitor’s Bureau “Pork & was named top outstanding recurrinb event.
Roswell’s UFO Festival earned an honorablse mention in that The most innovative promotion awarc went to the Albuquerque Conventiohn and Visitors BureauHoliday Video, “Lifw of a Brown Paper Bag.” The award for most successfupl public relations effort was dividedd into three categories. Bishop’s Lodge Rancjh Resort & Spa won the private sector category for its 90thanniversart celebration. The Albuquerque Convention and Visitor Bureau earned top kudos forits , with the town of Taos takin g honorable mention for its annual public relationsw campaign. And the top aware for press tours went tothe state’s Nort Central Tourism Region.
More informatiobn is availableat TANM's . Next year’s Governor’z Conference on Tourism, co-sponsoredx by TANM and the New Mexico Tourism will be at Buffalo ThunderResortg & Casino in Santa Fe, April

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Lockheed, Geico make top employer list - St. Louis Business Journal:

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Bethesda-based ’s plan to recruit on 86 college campuse this year helped put itat No. 7 -- the highestt place among locally-ranked companies. The magazine pickedr employers based on the expected number of college graduatex to be hiredin 2009, the amount of campuse s highlighted for recruitment, and the top majors hired. Government employerss includingthe (No. 18) and (No. 20) also placede high up on the list. Prince George’s Countg Public Schools ranked No. 26. Chevy Chase-basedr , which announced last month that it was goinv to hire 870 new associates in 19 statews in the first quarter of ranked No. 38 with plans to recruit at 85 campusesthis McLean-based (No.
49) and Fairfax-basedc (No. 50) rounded out the top 50. St. Louis, Mo.-basecd , No. 1, plans to recruit at 1,009 campuses. The survey of major which historically recruit on campusesfor entry-level was conducted in November and December 2008. Corp. (No. 55) and Gaithersburg-based (No. 65) also made the