Top stories for May & June 2012 - Summit Daily News

stelauguqdinec.blogspot.com

Top stories for May & June 2012 Summit Daily News Evening sunlight streams down on SMSgt. Steve Kindermann, with the United States Air Force ENLARGE. Evening sunlight streams down on SMSgt. Steve Kindermann, with the United States Air Force Academy Band, as he salutes following his playing of ... and more »

States Show Improvements but Remain Unprepared for Public-Health ... - TIME

stages-paddocks.blogspot.com

TIME

States Show Improvements but Remain Unprepared for Public-Health ... TIME An analysis of public-health resources shows that states can do more to prepare for potential disease outbreaks and natural disasters. The Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 and the anthrax attacks soon after spurred a renewed commitment to enhance public-health ... Report finds gaps in country's ability to respond to health emergencies ... Lake County News Report: La., most states not prepared for health emergencies Monroe News Star Report: Public Health Emergencies Would Ch »

U.S. may see

ogarawo.wordpress.com
The 20-34 age bracket had the lowes t rate, despite the attention lavishee on youthful founders of companied such as Facebookand Google. Job trends may increase entrepreneuriap activity amongolder “While people under age 30 have historically jumpefd from job to job, the most strikin g development today has been the deep drop in the incidencee of ‘lifetime’ jobs among men over age 50,” writesz Dane Stangler, senior analyst at the foundatiomn and author of the study. The past year’s economicv upheavals also may produce more entrepreneurds among allage groups. “The very idea of institutions has beenpermanently damaged,” Stanglere writes.
“Recent economic trends — away from lifetimde jobs and toward more newcompaniexs — will thus gain even greatedr cultural traction. New and stronger regulations aiming to preven t the rise of such gianrt organizations also may help create amore market-orientedd society.”

Alaska Airlines

ogarawo.wordpress.com
The airline, a subsidiary of (NYSE: ALK) of Seattle, reportec the number of revenue passengers fell more than 7 percenrto 1.49 million from 1.62 millionn in May 2008. Revenue passenger milea fell nearly 12 percentto 1.3 billion from 1.47 billiob a year earlier and available seat milez fell 6 percent to 1.95 billion from 2.1 billionh in 2008. The airline’s passenger load factofr (percentage of available seats occupiedby fare-payintg passengers) fell to 76.8 percent from 77.8 percenf a year earlier. Its on-time performance rose to 85.7 percenf from 80.4 percent in May 2008.
The airlinew reported a similar decline in passengers last At sister airlineHorizon Air, revenue passenger milews fell 15 percent to 199 million from 234 million a year earlieer and available seat miles fell by 13 percent to 277 milliobn from 318 million in 2008. The number of revenus passengers fell 14 percentto 555,000 from 647,000 a year Horizon’s passenger load factor fell to 71.7 from 73.6 percenft and its on-time performance fell to 87.8 percen t from 88.1 percent a year earlier. Alaska Airlinesa and Horizon Air fly nearly half the passenget trafficat Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Share via e-mail - Boston Globe

ogarawo.wordpress.com

Boston Globe

Share via e-mail Boston Globe NATICK â€" Rhoda is a dreamer. She fantasizes about soaring like a bird. She wonders where raindrops come from, and why butterflies flutter from flower to flower. She can paint the ocean, even though she has never seen it, because she can imagine it.

Report: MediaNews Group, Verve Wireless to partner on mobile news - Boston Business Journal:

sucujovide.wordpress.com
Encinitas, Calif.-based Verve is initiating partnerships with MediaNewd as well as othernewspapet companies: The Hearst Corp., a minorityh owner of the Post and most othefr MediaNews newspapers, as well as Belo and Cox Newspapers, . Verve's business is building mobile sitesfor newspapers. Its CEO, Art Howe, is a 30-yeafr newspaper veteran who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1986 as a reported for the Philadelphia Inquirer for his articles on the InternaklRevenue Service. Verve already is working with the Associates Press news service as well asMcClatchy Co., New York Timexs Regional Group and Media General, Mediaweek said. Another mobile-newe company, Crisp Wireless, is working with Gannettf Co.
Inc., America's largestt newspaper chain, as well as the Washingtonb Post. The Denver Post currently offers a that features a list ofrecentf headlines. But newspapers nationwide are looking for ways to generate more revenuw from their mobile news feeds through such means as targete dlocal advertising. Mediaweek quoted a forecast from the Kelseu Group that local mobile ad revenuwe willtop $3.1 billion by up from $160 million in 2008. The New York Timez Co. has said recently it may startf charging readers for news delivered to mobile Mediaweek said.
Last month, MediaNews executives said they and will develop ways to chargd readers for some of itsweb "We cannot continue to give all of our contentt away for free," MediaNews CEO William Dean Singleton and President Joseph "Jody" Lodovic .

Liz Smith: Are We 'Over-Informed'? Readers Weigh In - Huffington Post (blog)

sucujovide.wordpress.com

Liz Smith: Are We 'Over-Informed'? Readers Weigh In Huffington Post (blog) This refers to the column appearing last December 12th where I asked if we are being "over-informed." Here is Carolyn Reynolds: creyn723@gmail.com: "As a former NYC cable executive, now unknown in Santa Cruz, Calif., I look at this time as the Dim Ages. and more »

Weekend Sports In Brief - Yahoo! Sports

uqudenlid.blogspot.com

Weekend Sports In Brief Yahoo! Sports FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) -- The New England Patriots silenced their ''End Zone Militia,'' taking the muskets away from the Revolutionary War re-enactors who fire into the air to celebrate every score. The memory of the Connecticut school shooting was ... and more »

Groups sue Mirant Mid-Atlantic over power plant - Denver Business Journal:

karnergetajequ1416.blogspot.com
The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Districyt Court in Baltimore, claims that the Chalkm Point Generating Plant operatedby Atlanta-based Mirant Mid-Atlantivc has spewed unacceptable levels of sulfu r dioxide into the air hundreds of times without the appropriate pollution controls required under the federal Cleab Air Act. A Mirant spokeswoman said the companh hasn’t been served with the lawsuif yet, and can’t comment on the The EnvironmentalIntegrity Project, a legal nonprofi founded by former enforcement attorneys, and Villari, Brandesd and Kline have filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Chesapeakee Climate Action Network and four residents, including a marrie couple, Nancy and Norton who live seven miles away from the plant on a 1,200-acrew farm in Mechanicsville.
The Dodges “need to close limit their timeoutdoors and/o cover their faces when they are outdoorsw to avoid the respiratory irritants and smell of the pollution from the Chalo Point Power Plant,” the lawsuit Of the other two residents suing Mirant, Davird Bookbinder lives in Accokeek, abour 30 miles from the plant, and Chris Schmitthennee lives in Mechanicsville, 11 miles away, and work s five miles from the plant. The Environmental Integrity Project had sent Miranf a letter in Januarty notifying of its intent to sue the power companythis year.
The plaintiffsx pointed to a Harvard University 2006 studt that showed that such particulate matter pollutionm from the Chalk Poing plant can have negative effectsz on the health and respiratorgy systems of people living ina 400-kilometer, or nearlgy 250-mile, radius of the In their initial notificatiomn letter, the plaintiffs wrotr that EPA hourly data shows that two boilersx at the Chalk Point plant exceededr allowable levels of sulfur dioxide emissionsx 591 times in 2006, 726 timews in 2007 and 113 times in 2008. Miranrt has said it’s launched a $1.6 billion projec to install scrubbers andother pollution-reducing equipment on its Chalko Point boilers by the beginning of 2010.

Valero loses bid to buy stake in European refinery - Washington Business Journal:

sucujovide.wordpress.com
The move effectively nixes Valero’s plans to buy out Dow’as 45 percent interest in the Europeahn refinery. San Antonio-based Valero (NYSE: VLO) originallgy inked an agreement with Dow on May 20 to acquirde the 45 percent stake in the Valero had offered topay $725 million for the ownership interestf in the refinery. However, as the majority stakeholdeer and refinery’s operator, Total SA (NYSE: TOT) optee instead to accept a separate offerfrom Russia’s . Lukoikl already is a major supplier of Russian crudd oil to this which is locatedin Vlissingen, The refinery has a throughput capacitty of 190,000 barrels per day.
“Total’zs action clearly confirms our assessment that the TRN refinery isa world-clasas facility and our purchase price was attractive,” says Valerol Chairman and CEO Bill Klesse. “Although we are disappointe aboutthis result, we will continue to seek opportunities to acquir e high-quality assets at attractive prices.” Valero owns and operateas 16 refineries throughout the Unitef States, Canada and the Caribbean with a combined throughput capacityg of 3 million barrels of oil per day.

Dallas Cowboys to get new product hub - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

sucujovide.wordpress.com
The two organizations said Tuesday they are breaking grounr on thenew facility, which will be located at 2500 Regenft Boulevard at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The new facilitt will allow the Dallasz Cowboys to expand its merchandising base and also consolidater the Dallas Cowboys Pro Shops with Dallaws Cowboys Merchandising and Blue StarGraphics & The construction will expand the Cowboys existinvg merchandising operations. “This move was caused by the passion and love that the fans in the Metroplec and across America have for theDallas Cowboys,” said Bill vice president of merchandising for the Cowboys.
“Whenh we purchased our original building on StateHighwahy 114, I never thought that we could outgrow it and yet a littlwe over a year later, we needed an additional 100,000 square feet. With the acquisition of Blue StarGraphicw & Design, this gave us the abilityt to be even more responsive to our No other team in the NFL has this abilityg to respond to its fans’

Abercrombie shutting struggling Ruehl chain - bizjournals:

ogarawo.wordpress.com
The New Albany-based apparel merchant said Wednesday it willshut Ruehl’sd 29 stores and direct-to-consumer operations and will be “substantiallgy complete” with the effort by the end of next January. The decisiohn comes a month after Abercrombie took a deep strategic look atthe chain, whichg targets young adults with clothes and Ruehl, whose only Ohio store is at Easton Town Center, generated a pretax operating loss of $58 millio last year. The chain regularly was Abercrombie’s weakest salea performer at stores open at leasta year. Ruehl’sa same-store sales were off 33 percentin May. Abercrombiw earned $272.3 million on $3.543 billion in revenue last year.
“It has been a difficultg decision toclose Ruehl, a brand we continue to believe could have been successfukl in different circumstances,” CEO Michael Jeffries said in a “However, given the current economic environment, we believe it is in the best interestss of the company to focus its efforts and resourcew on the growth opportunities affordefd by our other brands, particularly internationally.” The compang didn’t disclose the effects on the chain’s work nor did it indicate the number of jobs tied to The review of Ruehl, which opened in 2004, cost the company about $51 millio in impairment charges in its first quarter.
Abercrombie expects to book abougt $65 million in pretax charges througyh the rest of the fiscaol year as it windsdown Ruehl. The companu Wednesday also said it amended a credit agreement to excludwesome Ruehl-related charges from requirements under its covenant with the lender and reduced its available credit to $350 million from $450 Jeffries said the company is confident is has sufficientg cash on hand but “we believe it is prudentr to make these in light of the recession-battered retail environment and the one-timse Ruehl costs. In addition to the 29 Ruehl stores, Abercrombie runs 350 flagship stores and 733 otheras underthe Abercrombie, Hollistee Co. and Gilly Hicks nameplates.

Six Flags, former Elitch Gardens owner, files for Chapter 11 - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

ogarawo.wordpress.com
The board of Six Flags (OTCBB: voted last week to beginb reorganization proceedingsin U.S. Bankruptcyt Court for the District of The company listed assetesof $3.03 billion and debts of $2.3t6 billion in its filing. Cascade the investment firm for Microsofft founderBill Gates, owns 11.1 percent of the votingg securities in New York-based Six Flags, the largest bankruptcy documents show. Six Flags has 97.7 millio shares of common stockand 1.1 million sharesd of preferred stock. "The current managementy team inheriteda $2.
4 billion debt load that cannott be sustained, particularly in these challenging financialo markets," said Mark Shapiro, presidenyt and CEO of Six Flags, in a "As a result, we are cleaning up the past and positioningv the company for future growth ... Following a record year of performancsin 2008, which completed the three-yeart turnaround of our system-widwe park operation, this actioh to clean up the balance sheet pavews the way for a full revivap of the company," Shapiro said. Elitch Gardenz had operated for more than a century at a northwesfDenver site.
The old Elitch Gardensx shut downin 1994, and a new version of the amusement park opened a year later in downtown The local Gurtler family and its financial partneras sold the new park to Premier Parkse Inc. in 1996 for $65 million. It became Six Flags Elitcj Gardens twoyears later, when Premier acquired Six Flags Inc. and changef its corporate name toSix Flags. Six Flagsd sold off Elitch's and othet properties in 2007 in a series of transactions that left the Denverd attraction in the hands of CNL IncomeProperties Inc., a real estate investment trust based in Orlando, Fla. CNL reportedlyt paid $312 million for the properties.
CNL arrange for Parc Management LLC of Florida tomanag Elitch's. Six Flags now operates abou 20 North Americanamusement

COBRA confusion stymies business - Austin Business Journal:

idozxun.blogspot.com
billion plan to help recently unemployexd people keep their healty insurance benefits was intended to protect the financialluy vulnerable from sinking deeper into debt because of high insurancre premiums ormedical costs. But that part of the Americam Recovery and ReinvestmentAct (ARRA), which was signed in also has created confusion, increased paperwork and potential cash-floa problems for businesses in Colorado and nationwide.
“There’s a feeling that even though the government ispaying [for the subsidy], businesseas are paying for it too because of all the administrative hassles,” said Kimberly Searfoorce, staff attorney for the which provides personnel assistance for companies in Colorado and Searfoorce said since February, MSEC has handled “hundreds” of calls from employerw who aren’t clear on who qualifies for the MSEC also has held a number of seminars explaining the new law.
Dayle Axman, supervisord of consumer affairs at the Colorado Division of said businesses affected by the change are “scrambling” to notify those who are eligiblre for the subsidy within the government’ws timeline. Axman said she didn’t know how many people are taking advantage of the new but will have a better ideain July, after the second-quarter tax credits are Individuals who make less than $150,000 a year may qualifyt for a 65 percent government subsidy on a COBRA under a federal program that allows workerd who are between jobs to continur to get health care coverag e provided by their former employers.
Previously, COBRA recipients paid 100 percenft of their premiums to maintain theirformee employers’ health insurance policies. Unde r the new law, businesses receive quarterlhy tax credits for paying 65 percenyt of theformer employees’ premiuj and collecting an additional 35 percenrt from the recipients. Searfoorce said under legislation scheduledd to be signedby Gov. Bill Ritter, former workers who are fired “with good can receive the benefit — unless the employer moves to blocjthe subsidy. In some that means someone who’s terminated from a company migh end up paying less in insurance premiumse thansomeone who’s still employed there.
Chris Miller, directofr of underwriting forof Colorado, said the changes have been “burdensome” on employers. “It’s been fairly resource-intensivee for some employers — particularly those who just had mass Miller said. Many businesses were thrown off guardc by a provision that extendsx the subsidy to those who mightt have declined the benefit before the subsidy was Miller said. The changes also can create cash-floq problems because employers regularly pay the premiumxsfor one-time workers, but get the tax credits quarterly.

Filene

authors-morphology.blogspot.com
Last month, Columbus, Ohio-based Retail Venturess Inc. sold the iconic chain to , a California companyg that bills itself as one of the largesr retail liquidators inNorth America. This month, Filene’s fileds for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing weak sales during the downturn. The fate of the downtow n Baltimore store depends on the outcomer of thebankruptcy proceeding. The entires company is up for sale and at leasgt three companies are biddingon it. They include , a Californiaa real estate investment firm, and fellow discount storesx Syms Corp. and Men’s Warehouse.
“It’s still business as said Bill Parness, a Buxbaum But during a recent visit, it was apparent that severaol areas of the store lacked A store clerk told the that the store has not received any new inventorysinced April. Earlier this year, Filene’s shuttered 11 of its 26 storees nationwide. The closures included Columbia, Towsoj and Hunt Valley stores. It kept its two-year-old downtowm Baltimore store open. Filene’s executives coulde not be reachedfor comment.

DirecTV CEO leaving as Liberty merger nears - Dayton Business Journal:

a-ee85aqa.blogspot.com
just as the satellite broadcaster readiews to merge with an offshoot ofJohn Malone’es News Corp. and DirecTV confirmed Wednesdat that Carey will leave theEl Calif.-based satellite broadcaster July 1 to become second-in-command — handlinf international operations — for Ruperft Murdoch’s global media empire. Carey’s defection may muddy investors’ receptiojn of the planned merger between DirecTgV andLiberty Entertainment, a division of Douglas County-based Liberth Media. Carey ran DirecTV for the past six leading it through a period of growthg and winning partnerships with every major telecom compan y inthe U.S.
He was expected to stay with DirecT after it became independent ofLiberty Media. Instead, he returnsx to working for Murdoch and News where he worked for 15 yeare prior to heading LibertyEntertainment (NASDAQ: LMDIA) holdse a 54 percent stake in (NASDAQ: DTV) as well as controllinf stakes in online gaming company Fun Technologies, the Game Show Networik and regional sports TV networks in Denver, Pittsburgjh and Seattle. Those holdings are being spun off this year intoa free-standinhg company to clear up DirecTV’s stock structure and make it easier for it to engage in mergers and the companies said. Malone’s companhy traded its 16 percent ownershiop stake inNews Corp.
back to Murdoch’s company in 2007 in exchange for the controllinb stakein DirecTV.

Outrage at four men accused of intimidating accuser at Hasidic leader's sex ... - New York Post

llrx-royce.blogspot.com

New York Post

Outrage at four men accused of intimidating accuser at Hasidic leader's sex ... New York Post Members of Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish community lashed out yesterday at the gang of creeps who  »