KB Home says home orders are up - Denver Business Journal:

http://sciteched.org/book/errors.htm
million, or $1.03 a share in its second — an active homebuilder in Colorado appears cautiously optimistic aboutits future. The builderd said Friday that home-orders nationwide spiked 59 percent compared the firstr quarter of this Quarterly home orders still were down compared to the same quarteerlast year, and analystx predicted a smaller loss of 64 centzs a share. The Los Angeles-baserd company lost $255.9 million, or $3.3o cents per share in the same quarter last Quarterly revenue declined 40 percentto $384.55 million. Six-month revenue declined 52 percentto $691.8 million.
Inserting optimisticf caution, KB's CEO Jeffrey Mezger stated that the companyh is seeing stabilizing trends on both the loca l and national front but that KB is conservativelyh managing the business because of theeconomix climate. KB delivered 1,049 fewer homexs during the quarter than it did inthe year-agoi period. The average selling price was $10,40o0 less that in the year-ago KB Home (NYSE: KBH) is one of America's largesy homebuilders.

Don

goldenayreyg1666.blogspot.com
Furious education advocates accuse the governo r of sellingthem out. Health care executives bemoanj a possible tax increase on state Social service advocates worry that the Department of Humanj Services will slash further erodingthe state’s safety net. The criticism is understandabldbut misplaced. Kulongoski didn’t really have much choice. Thoughb details weren’t announced until last the governor has been upfront aboutthe state’ s mounting budget shortfall, which could reach $2 billiohn by spring. That Oregon is facingv financial challenges during a huge economif meltdown should surpriseno one. That placesz lots of pressure on both the whichconvenes Jan.
12, and on groupse threatened by Kulongoski’s proposals. This will be the most interestinbg legislative sessionin years. Virtuallg everyone will feel some pain. As staftf writer Andy Giegerich reports in his storhy onPage 1, economic developmengt group predicts a loss of 11,0009 jobs in the Portland area next year. Manufacturinh and construction will beespecially hard-hit. This year alone, the manufacturing sectoer shed 1,800 jobs. Construction lost 1,600, as did the financial serviceds sector. As bad as that sounds, thingsa could be worse. Several westernj and southwestern cities are worse offthan Portland. The stud y also predicts that Portland’s workforce will grow 7.
4 percen t by 2013. That long-term optimism, though, won’yt do much to assuage senior citizens facing a loss of core serviceszunder Kulongoski’s proposal. It also won’t help Oregob motorists, whose vehicle-registration fees coule triplenext year. There’s simply no getting aroun the financial crisis. Criticizing Kulongoski is the easy thinbgto do, but it does nothing to solve pressinfg problems that show no signs of abating.

SMU students warned of gas leak - Dayton Business Journal:

aplecheevlgupy.blogspot.com
The warning came out after a gas leak was identified on campu sometimebetween 9:30 and 9:45 a.m. Thursda y morning, said Kent Best, executivwe director of news and communications. Best adderd that was notified immediately. Additional e-mails with more information were sent to facultyand staff, and a final e-maikl was distributed alerting everyone on campus to the fact that the gas leak had been Best said. “Those messagea came from our emergency department,” Best “the emphasis is on brevity and It is something we will review to make sure that as much detail that we can put in there is provideds to avoid any confusion in the Best said the whole event laster aboutan hour.
The gas leak occurred at a constructionh site near Moody Coliseum at Airline Road andBinklety Avenue, according to Best.

Two women-owned law firms merge - The Business Review (Albany):

uhalugupuzyma.blogspot.com
area have merged. The PLLC, a 20-year-old firm in has merged with Latimer/Stroud LLP, a 17-year-olds firm in Latham. The new LLP, is located at 951 Albany Shake r Roadin Latham. Latimer/Stroud’s officre was expanded from 2,500o square feet to 5,000 square feet. The new firm has 11 LaFave’s focus was personal injury andmedicall malpractice. Latimer/Stroud’s general practice includee matrimonial law, estates and trusts. Both firms had about $850,00p0 in revenue last year. Cynthia LaFave, foundedr of the LaFave Firm, said she and Sue founder of Latimer/Stroud, worked together in the “We enjoyed working together,” LaFave said.
Latimed left to become a physician’as assistant. But surgery replacing both her knees cut shorf her medical career and she returnefto law. Latimer and LaFave discussed a possible mergerf eight months ago while eatingh at Athosin “We were talking about the two practicezs and how they’d fit together,” LaFavse said. “At the end of dinner, we ‘We need to explorwe this.’” Latimer added: “We did.
And that’s why we’re

Gates Foundation gives $16M to colleges - South Florida Business Journal:

http://capitalsignal.com/Marine.htm
million to 15 community colleges and five statezs in an effort to help struggling studentscomplete college. The Development Education Initiative will award the fundingto Connecticut, Florida, Texas and Virginia, as well as communith colleges in each state plus one more in Nortyh Carolina. No colleges or programsw in Washington state will receive funding underethe program. For a complete list of . The funding, first announced in December of last will be awarded to and distributedby , a North Carolina-based nonprofit. “They wanted us to identift initiatives, programs and policies that are alread y being tried andhad promise,” said Richarr Hart, spokesman for MDC.
The initiative seeks to supportt programs that help students enrolled in remedialprograms — so-callexd refresher courses for students who are not up to grade levep in a given subject. The goal is to improve classroom performance so students can go on to take advanced coursea and eventually graduate with a degre eor certificate. A cited by the Gates Foundationh found that nearly 60 percent of studentes enrolling inthe nation’s community colleges must take remedial Such courses cost taxpayers $2 billionj a year, according to the The grants are part of the Gatee Foundation’s work to help more students graduatr from college or universithy programs, an important education milestone that the foundation says is essentialp to earning a living wage in today’w economy.
The grants will supporg various state andcollege programs, includingf efforts to collect data and better tracmk the performance of remedial students. The Developmenyt Education Initiative is also being supportedwith $1.5 milliom from the of Indianapolis to pay for evaluationh and communications.

Pilots to protest at Continental meeting - Houston Business Journal:

Sharp CVP13PX
According to a release, the pilots want to “remind Continental management that the sacrifices made by the Continental pilots in theirlast contract, in which they agreed to annualo concessions of over $200 million, is a ‘loan’ that is The contract became amendable on Dec. 31, 2008. The pilotsa are members of the union. The union is seeking a renewesd focus and commitment by management so that a new contrac can bepromptly negotiated. Capt.
Jay Pierce, representingy the airline’s 5,000 pilots, will addresz company management and directors duringthe Separately, two resolutions proposed by shareholder of Houston-based Continental (NYSE: CAL) will be put to a vote at the One resolution calls for an end to stocl option grants for senior which Continental officials oppose, saying such a measure wouldr be “unduly restrictive.” According to its proxg filing, Continental has not givemn options to senior executives since 2003, but needds “flexibility” in deciding whethedr to award options in the future.
Another shareholdet proposal suggests that the company be reincorporatedin “shareholde friendly” North Dakota. A two-year-old stat e law allows for shareholders to vote to reincorporat a company in North Dakota and adopr the measures of the 2007 North Dakotaa Publicly TradedCorporations Act, which among other items includes annual votes on executive pay, the declassification of boarde of directors and the separation of the boarf chairman and chief executive positions. Continental officialsw also opposethat proposal.

Fontainebleau Las Vegas company files Chapter 11 - Dallas Business Journal:

Danby DAC6003D
Fontainebleau Las Vegas LLC and two of itsaffiliatex – Fontainebleau Las Vegae Holdings LLC and Fontainebleau Las Vegas Capitall Corp. – filed bankruptcy petitions in Miamilate Tuesday. The Miamij Beach hotel is not included inthe filing. The company said in a news release that the decisionh to file Chapter 11 was the direct result of litigationb with lenders on the Las Vegas hoteol construction project that had to do with contractuap disputes related tonearly $800 millionh in construction funding for the $2.9 billion resort-casino which is 70 percent complete. Lenderds include , and Deutsche Bank Trusty Co. Americas.
The legal dispute has effectivel shut down the projectand “put thousands of people out of said Howard Karawan, chief restructuring officer of Fontainebleau Las in the release. “Our goal now is to securs funding to completethis world-class project and restructure our existinfg debt.” Fontainebleau Las Vegas reachede a provisional agreement with a grou of its non-defaulting lenders for the use of cash for the administratiomn of its bankruptcy case, and is in negotiation to obtain financing to restart construction on that Fontainebleau Miami Beach, which is a separatr legal entity, continues to operate as Turnberry West Construction, the project’s generapl contractor, is also not included in the according to the news release.
In 2008, Nakheel Hotelw of Dubai bought a 50 percent interest in the Fontainebleau Miami Beachyfor $375 million. The Las Vega s hotel companies that filed bankruptcy are basedf in South Florida because the Soffer familhof Aventura, which also owns the Turnberry development and constructiohn companies, owns all the Fontainebleau companies. Jeffreyh Soffer is a principal of umbrella company FontainebleauResorts LLC, accordingy to state records.
Fontainebleau Las Vegas also withdrew withouft prejudiceits $3 billion lawsuit in Las Vegaa against some of its lenders, and refiled the case in Miamio bankruptcy court, where the Chapter 11 petitions were The lawsuit with lenders was amended on May 12 to include allegations that Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas was “seekinh to destroy the Fontainebleau in order tominimizd competition” with the nearby and Casino, which is wholly owne d by a Deutsche Bank "This claim is an attemptt by the Fontainebleau's developers to distrac from the fact that they have breached their loan We will defend ourselves vigorously against this meritlessz allegation," Deutsche Bank spokesman John Gallagher said in an e-mailed Fontainebleau Las Vegas LLC lists more than $1 billionb in debt and a similar amountt in assets on its petition, with more than 1,0009 creditors.
The only South Florida creditor listed was Internationap Bedding inFort Lauderdale, with a clain of $498,737.

Efficiency drives funding for Dayforce - Dayton Business Journal:

Air Purifiers Scottsdale
a software developer that helps businesses measures and manageworkforce productivity, has raised $15 million. The companyu is a reincarnationof Atlanta-based Workbits — createxd after Canadian serial entrepreneur David Ossio bought Workbits’ assets in May. Workbits founder John Orr approacheds Ossip after being unable toraise follow-onm financing for his startup. Dayforce, which employ about 30 and is headquartered in Atlanta and Toronto, targets the manufacturing, health-care and financial services industries. Those sectors have a high volume of hourluworkers — the variable part of a operating expenses, said Orr, now Dayforce’s chief strategh officer.
“Typically, 60 percent of their [operating expense] is labor spend,” Orr Dayforce’s software suite, which includes budgeting, task management and time andattendance modules, helps do more with theif workforce. “The software helps define performance measures for the workforcre andautomates planning, scheduling and trackingt of employees,” Ossip said. “The end goal is to increase workforcw output, while keeping percentage wage costsin Dayforce’s software, Orr said, can boost customer revenue by 0.5 percent to 3 perceny and can decrease average annual labod cost by 3 percentf to 8 percent.
The cost of the subscriptiomn depends on the size of thebusiness — from $2 to $9 per per month. Ossip led Dayforce’s $15 million round and was joined by investors in hisprevioux companies, including , which was acquired by Alpharetta-based for $227 million in 2007. The Canadiam businessman, however, brought more than dollarzs tothe table. “Ossip knows the Orr said, and “has a proven trackk record of building successful companieand value.” Ossip has ambitiouds plans for Dayforce including launching a domestic and global Dayforce is chasing a $14 billion market in the United States, Ossip said, adding he plans to sell into Europed and Asia.
“Our types of solutions extenc beyondNorth America,” Ossip “It’s a global problem.” Michaekl Price, general partner at CEO Ventures, was impressed with “The product was beautiful,” Price said. “The graphicf design, the thought and attention to detail, the menuz ... it was some of the best I’vw ever seen.” Companies in the performanc e management space are doing well and revenue isholding up, Prices said. That success has drawn an influx ofnew “Within the next year, a lot of the software programs being builyt will be coming online with a lot of sales people swinging for revenue,” Price said.
“Certainly competition withihn that space is going toincreas dramatically,” which could hurt profits.

Museum of Science to launch wind lab - Boston Business Journal:

Frigidaire FRA124HT2
The lab, a part of the museum’sz green initiative, will demonstrate small wind turbines that coulrd be erected on small businessesand homes. When five turbines — ranging between 40 feet and seven feet in height — will rest on the museum’s roof. Two of the turbinee are operational on the Cambridges side ofthe building, with the other three to be installerd on the Boston side this summer. “Thias is a giant science experiment,” says David Rabkin, Farinonj Director for current science and technology at the in a preparedwritten “No one has tested five different small turbinesz in a rooftop laboratory.
Although there’s lots of interes t in small-scale wind we found little data on thei performanceand impact. Despite a year of collectingt data on the wind at the westill don’t reall y know enough about the turbines to predict their The lab came out of earlyh efforts to use wind to meet a portio n of the museum’s energy Studies showed the area’s wind resources were not strong enough to generates meaningful electricity, so the museum and the ’ s Renewable Energy Trust refocused the project to provide informatiohn to potential turbine owners on differencez in design and function of variouxs turbines.

St. Louis men admit to mortgage fraud scheme - Business First of Columbus:

http://drrobertepstein.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=39
Russell Todd McBride, of Creve and Robert Wrolstad, of O’Fallon, were charged in a 34-coun t indictment, Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Reap said Tuesday. McBrides was an operator of , which had officesa located in Sikeston, Cape Girardeau, St. Louis County and Wrolstad worked with McBride and for Century Mortgagse and helped close real estate transactionsd and work with title The scheme, which occurred from at leasrt July 2005 and continued through November 2006, involved investors recruitefd by McBride and Wrolstade purchasing real estate primarily located in Sikeston.
The ownerw of the real estate would sell the properties at or near fair markey value to investors recruited by and know n to McBride and Wrolstad but the investors paid prices significantl greater than the actual selling pricw received by the sellers for the according tothe indictment. The investors would purchase the property at a fraudulent and overvalued pricwe by obtaining loans to purchasethe property. McBride and Wrolstad obtainede appraisals, which significantly overvaluesdthe properties, which enabled them to receive inflater loan proceeds despite having no interest in the conveyecd real estate, the indictment alleges.
In one case a purchaser paid $66,00 0 for a property that the selleer soldfor $7,500, and in another, the purchaserr paid $54,000 for property that the sellee sold for $15,000, according to the McBride and Wrolstad pleaded guiltyu to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail 12 counts of wire fraude and 12 counts of mail fraud. In McBride pleaded guilty to six counts of money and Wrolstad pled guilty to three countz ofmoney laundering.
Each count of wire frauf and mail fraud carries a maximukm sentence of 20 years imprisonment anda $250,000 fine; each coun of money laundering carriesx a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonmenft and a $250,000 The conspiracy count carries a maximumj punishment of 20 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 17 for Wrolstad and Aug.18 for

Clopay finally signs at new CUC site in Deerfield - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

pohevovotybuc.blogspot.com
Two of the top dogs from Clopay's parent company, of New York, flew from theidr headquarters in Jericho to Cincinnati shortly beforrthe Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that rocked the nation, to sign a lease for a 130,000-square-footy facility that will consolidate about 300 employeews from downtown Cincinnati and Tri-County. The Griffon executives eventuallyg had to rent cars todrive home, but before they did, Griffob Chairman Harvey Blau and President Robert Balemian were joined at a groundbreakinh ceremony by officials from and Tom Gibbons, vice presideny and treasurer of Clopay Corp. Gibbons said Clopay's rootss in downtown Cincinnati reach back almostt150 years.
"We're sorrty to have to leave downtown, but it's better that we'rre all together as a Gibbons said. "This is a chancse to move everybody together and have them in one plus it's big enough for us to CUC plans to have the new facility open by July 1 of next year, according to Vice Presideng David Kubicki. Clopay has been looking for at leasr five years for anew headquarters, Gibbons The deal calls for a single building; information previouslyu gleaned from sources had indicate d a two-building complex at the 20-acrw Clopay site near Mason-Montgomery Road, on land known as Governor's Pointe North. "We've been lookin long before I got and that was fiveyears ago.
The time was just righg to getsomething done, and our leases was running out downtown," Gibbonzs said. The company's new facility will have 75,00p0 square feet of office space for itsthrese divisions: Clopay Building Products, Clopay Service Co. and Clopay Plastif Products. Half of its employees will leavea 50,000-square-footr office in Scripps Center in downtown Cincinnati, the balanc e will be relocating from the company's 55,000-square-foot technicap development center on Interstate Drive in Butle County. "A lot of the technicalk center people lived up so it was somewha easier to keep the company in that general Gibbons said.
Gibbons said nothing imminent is being planned foran expansion, "but it's nice knowing we have some extra room." Clopay maintains operations in garage installation services, electronic information and communications systems, and specialty plastic A wholly owned subsidiary of Griffon Corp., Clopat Corp. was represented in lease negotiations and its site searc byJay DeWitt, senior vice president with Colliers Internationakl Inc. in Cincinnati.
Loveland-based CUC landed Clopaty in the middle ofa 56-acre business park estimated by Bill CUC property development manager, to be a $40 million including costs such as land infrastructure improvements, building construction and equipment. A second buildingg unrelated to the Clopay project has been sketcherat 190,000 square feet, though no tenants or groundbreaking date have yet been According to statistics released by Grubb & Ellis Co., abouyt 20 percent of the downtownm Manhattan office market, or 15.5 million squarr feet of space, was destroyed in the terrorisr attacks on the Worlxd Trade Center.
Another 12 million square feet of office space has been damagesd in the aftermath of the attack as a resulf offalling debris, building collapse and Of the 15.5 million square feet in the World Tradse Center area, about 97 percent was leased at the time of the Of the 12 million squarre feet believed damaged, 11.5 million square feet was As a result, the net loss has been pegged at 27.5 milliomn square feet, or about 3 1/2 timese the size of the class A officse market in downtown Cincinnati (7.4 million square The amount of space lost exceeds the amount of available space in Manhattan, estimate d at 25.5 million squarr feet.
The loss is bigger than the entird market in downtownDenver (23 million squarw feet). The Twin Towers each measured 4.76 milliohn square feet, or more than five times larger than the biggesft office building in Greater the 868,000-square-foot Atrium Two on East Fourth Street downtown. A typical WTC floorplated measured more thanone acre, betweenm 45,000 and 50,000 square feet. Nothing here comes

Thanksgiving Day Parade To Really Skip Times Square This Time - Gothamist

balamatovaegede.blogspot.com

New York Daily News

Thanksgiving Day Parade To Re »

Obama

http://www.treasuretowerrewards.com/school-incentive-prizes.html
Many Republicans, meanwhile, want out of the car at the nearest exit. Some turnaround specialists are concernedxthe government-guided bankruptcy reorganizations of Chrysler and GM could make it hardedr for companies to obtai capital. In these the companies’ labor union, the , received more favorablee treatment than the secured creditors. That violates well-established bankruptch law principles, said Peter Kaufman, president of LLC’s restructuringb practice in New York. The U.S. is the most welcoming placee in the worldfor capital, particularly for he said, because “everyone knows what theifr downside is.” “Now that has all been stood on its he said.
“At a time when the country needs capital provider s morethan ever, you’rse going to find institutions with their hands in theirf pockets, or they’re going to be charging a lot Kaufman said.

Stigma Often Adds to Burden of Obesity - U.S. News & World Report

goldenayreyg1666.blogspot.com

Stigma Often Adds to Burden of Obesity U.S. News & World Report THURSDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- Obese people are already at risk for a range of health issues, but their problems can be made worse if they feel they are being discriminated against because of their weight, researchers say. ... and more »