Monday, August 29, 2011

DA: Probe into Thomas death more than halfway finished - OCRegister

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DA: Probe into Thomas death more than halfway finished

OCRegister


... after a confrontation with police officers. The DA's office is weighing whether six Fullerton police officers used excessive force during a July 5 physical altercation with Kelly Thomas, 37, at a bus depot in the Fullerton Transportation Center. ...



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Saturday, August 27, 2011

Palm Harbor posts fiscal Q4 loss - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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million restructuring charge tied to the closing of three factorieds and 18retail centers. Addison-based Palm Harbor Homees (NASDAQ: PHHM) posted a net loss of $8.6 or 37 cents per share, durinfg the quarter. That is an improvement from the lossof $12.76 million, or 55 cents per share, a year ago. The company’a fourth-quarter sales totaled $78.8 million, down from $126. 5 million a year ago. Salee for all of fiscal 2009 hit $409.3 down from $555.1 million a year earlier. the company recorded a net loss for the fiscalk yearof $26.3 million, or $1.15 per share. That compares to a net loss of $124. 3 million, or $5.44 per in fiscal 2008.
"While Palm Harbor began fiscap 2009 on apositiv note, the overall economic concerns, credit crisis and escalating unemployment have takeh their toll on everyone associated with the housinfg industry,” said Larry Keener, chairman and CEO of Palm Harborr Homes. The company’s largest revenu drop occurredin Florida, Arizona and

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Woodruff Arts Center raises $7.5 million - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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million goal. "It has been a challenging year, with capita fund-raising efforts taking place, and yet that's made the annual campaign even more essential as it provides operating support forthe [Arts Center's] divisions," said Beauchamp C. the Arts Center's executive vice president. The Arts Centefr was able to topits fund-raising goal Aug. 21 thanks to a $50,000 grant that enabled it to match new and increased giftszof $1,000 or more and bring its challengd fund up to $1.
28 million, Carr The challenge fund allowed the Arts Centefr to match gifts from 45 new Patronj Circle of Stars members (donors of $15,009 and above) and 37 increased members, raising a littled more than $1 million in new money, he Steve Heyer of The Coca-Cola Co. and Alberf Rayle of Goldman, Sachs & Co. served as co-chairs of the campaign, which supports the operationsa of the Atlanta Symphony the High Museumof Art, Alliancw Theatre Company/Alliance Children's Theatre and the Atlanta College of Art. The 2003-2004e campaign is scheduled to kickoff Oct.
7, with Gene president of Bank of Americain Georgia, at the

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Ford sales climb to highest level since July - Dayton Business Journal:

http://pigeonforgelogcabinrentals.com/homepage/rates.html
But sales were down 24.2 percent compared with May when the companysold 213,237 units. For the first five months of Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford F) sold 620,303 units, compared with 981,1590 units during the same period ayear earlier, a 36.8 percentf decline. In a sign that buyers mighgt be coming back to the luxuryvehiclre market, Ford’s Lincoln division reported that it sold 8,5667 units in May, a 2.2 perceny increase over May 2008, when it sold 8,365 Sales of Ford Explorers, made at the Louisvillee Assembly Plant on Fern Valle y Road, declined 34.6 percent, to 5,315 units from 8,122 unitxs a year ago. Sales of the Mercury Mountaineer, also made at Louisvillr Assembly, dropped 45.
2 percent, to 402 from 734 unite a year earlier. Sales of F-Serieas pickup trucks, including Super Duty trucks made at the Kentucky Trucm Plant onChamberlain Lane, dropped 22.3 percent, to 33,381 from 42,973 units in May 2008. Sales of Ford Expedition which began production at Kentucky Trucik Plantin April, declined 40 to 3,150 units from 5,252 units a year Sales of the Lincoln Navigator, also made at Kentuckyg Truck Plant, dropped 40.6 percent, to 790 units from 1,329 units a year earlier. Ford saw year-over-yeatr gains in some of its car categories. The companyt sold 19,786 Fusion sedans in May, up 9.4 percent from the year-earliedr period when it sold 18,088 units.
Lincoln sold 1,553 Town Cars in May, up 103.3 percenr from May 2008, when it sold 764 of the luxury Ford’s Volvo division sold 590 of itsS60 models, up 9 percentg from May 2008, when it sold 542 Also Tuesday, Ford announced a summer promotion to draw more consumers to Through June 30, the automaker will covefr as much as three months of payments up to and its Ford Crediy subsidiary will offer zero percent financingb on select Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Luxury with an Attitude - Memphis Business Journal:

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Once created to tackle off-road obstacles in hard-to-reacb places, sports utility vehicles have been rebornm as urbanassault vehicles. In a battle of one upsmanshipo where bigger is better and luxury is major players have emerged in a marketr once dominatedby Jeeps, Blazers and Luxury car makers like , Lexus and Cadillac have been quick to join the frantix popularity of the SUV: Lexus introduced its LX450, which has since evolver to the LX470, in 1996; first produced its smallerr sport utility, the QX4, in 1997; Lincoln introduced its Navigatotr in 1997; Mercedes first rolled out its ML320 and ML43 0 in 1998; and Cadillac jumped on the band wagomn with its Escalade, released in November 1998.
These are not inexpensive toys. An Infiniti SUV goes for arouncd $37,000 while a loaded Lexues weighs in atabout $60,000. Most luxurh SUVs come with CD players, multiple power time and outside temperature display on Many come withsun roofs, heated seats and navigationj systems standard. Buyers are dictating many of the standard saysCharles J. Epps, sale consultant for . "Lexus standardizesa production because it is faster and morecost effective," Epps "They do what folks Nobody wants to buy a strippee down truck and spend a fortunw fixing it up. It is more cost effectivde to make them allthe same.
Lexuds is so fast at changing whatever doesn't sell they drop real One of the best-equipper standard SUVs is the new , whichg retails for $46,525 and comes with four heated Bose stereo CD player, four wheel drivse that kicks in when the car senses the need and the On Star which is usually $1,400p down and $270 a year extra. Larryh Gullett, salesman for , says the package is an introductoryt offer to give the car an immediate edge in themarket - since most people don'ty think "Cadillac" when they think "rugged SUV." The plan The Escalade is an overnight success with Cadillac.
"It's become the fastest-selling car in the 96-year historty of Cadillac," Gullett "It's bringing us younger and more customers than Gullett says many are trading in other SUVsfor Escalades, whicbh gives Cadillac dealers a stock of Explorers, Expeditions, Suburbansa and other used vehicles it's never had before. The which ranges in price between $43,685 and has also brought in a youngeercustomer demographic, says Jimmy Grandberry, salesmanm with Covington Pike Lincoln-Mercury. "All ages are buying them," Grandberryh says. "we've never seen this much of the 25 and up Most observers are at a lost when tryingf to explain theSUV craze.
It's probably not the gas most luxury SUVs rangefrom 12-15 mpg in the city and 16-10 on the highway. And sales are equally divideed between menand women. "I'vre noticed that the guys come and get them and the ladies drivethem back," Epps says. It could be the Choices are greater than ever as SUVs are being introduced in both larget andsmaller models. Ford has just come out with the which brags that it is even large rthan Chevrolet's Suburban. "It's only two inched longer," says John manager of Gwatney Chevrolet Oldsmobileand "That's more of a marketing ploy than anything.
The 2000 Suburbahn is going to be biggee with a whole differentt body style and anew motor." On the other end of the dealers like Toyota and Honda are cominb out with smaller SUVs like the RAV-4 and the CRV,

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Film industry seeks

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Under the current Texas Moving Imagew IndustryIncentive Program, qualifying feature television programs, commercials and video games receive a cash payment equal to 5 perceng of their in-state spending. During the state legislative whichbegan Jan. 13, Texas’ film sector will probablt ask fora 15% incentive, said Janis Burklund, directorr of the , adding that with many states offeringf 20% incentives or higher, this is the absolute minimukm Texas needs to stay in the game. “We are at the botto m of the totem she said. “A lot of states have recognizedx how good thisbusiness is, so we’r under extremely heavy competition.
” Bob Hudgins, director of the , said they arrivedr at the 15% figure after hearing from major film studios and networks. FOX, — the major studiozs — told us that this is the numbedwe (Texas) need to be competitivee with other states,” Hudgins said. The film communitgy is hoping State Rep. Dawnna a Democrat whose House district includes parta ofTravis County, will sponsor a new film incentives bill in the Texase House and State Sen. Bob a Republican from Mesquite, will sponsoe it in the Texas Senate.
Burklund said that whilwe the Dallas area used to be an attractivwe location for moviesand television, the Texas film industryy has lost ground in the last few years, largelyt because of the incentives other states startesd offering. Don Stokes, president of the , a 2-year-oldr trade organization, said Texas used to be more competitive. “Texas was a majord production center formoving images, filmws and commercials a few years ago,” Stokexs said. Texas was able to compete with top like Los Angeles and New withits locations, crews and a friendly filming Stokes said. But as other states started developing aggressiveincentive packages, Texaxs fell behind.
“The work started to They are no longer coming to Stokes said. Production work has “literally dropped in the hundreds of millionssof dollars.” The film industry generatess an estimated $2 to $5 for the Texaxs economy for every $1 spent on a according to the Texas Motion Picture Alliance. If the incentived are raised, even though 15% is less than severa other places, Texas — and the Dallas-Fort Wortb area — has other perks wortgh coming for, Burklund said, including a centrapl and diverse location, a mild climat good for working year-round, and an abundancwe of crews and equipment. “I think we have a very largd stakein this,” she said.
“If we can put the piecesz in place, we can really rock it. It’ frustrating knowing that people want to be here whenwe can’r match financially what they can get elsewhere.” the film industry is bracing for stiff fundinv competition from other industries and an unfavorable economivc climate. “Why us versus otherf industries? The nature of our industry isthat it’sw portable,” Hudgins said. “Our work force is migrant, and they have been leaving to go to Louisians and Oklahoma where they can go to We really need them here to be Hudgins said the incentive boostr being soughtis reasonable.
“We are not asking for an exorbitanf amountof money,” he said. “This is a job creatiob program. People will get hired and these are verygood jobs.” Hudgins also noted that any proposed film incentive packags would also cultivate the state’s commercial and video game sectors, two areax that employ production talent and add to existinh production infrastructure. “People have to not look at this as welfarweto Hollywood,” Burklund said. “We’re asking for the incentivew to be based on what is spenttin Texas. ... I want to make sure our tax dollarxs arespent wisely, and I thinlk this is a good investment for our statse and our city.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Lok Ayukta police serve summons to HD Kumaraswamy, wife - Daily News & Analysis

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Lok Ayukta police serve summons to HD Kumaraswamy, wife

Daily News & Analysis


The Lok Ayukta police has served summons issued by a special court on former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and his wife seeking their appearance before the court on August 30 in a private complaint charging him with recommending renewal of a private ...



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Sunday, August 14, 2011

Human Capital: People on the move, June 2 - East Bay Business Times:

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Goodwin Procter's Budd elected vice chairman of AAA nationakl board WayneBudd , senior counsel with the Boston law firm of and a membert of the board of directors of , was elected vice chairmanj of AAA’s national board of directors. Turbinse taps Paradowski as CFO , a Westwood-based online gaming technology company, appointed M. Beau Paradowski chief financial Clough to runLeerink Swann'se MEDACorp division Health care investment bank Leerink Swann of Boston appointed Brent Clougu senior managing director and head of its MEDACor p division. Prior to joining Leerink Clough was president and CEO of IntrinsiLLC , an oncology software and data analyticsw firm.
promotes Stys as VP of marketin andbusiness dev. Shawmut Designj and Construction in Boston promoted BriabStys , a 16-year veteran of the to the newly-created role of vice president of marketing and business development. The Protector Group Insurance Agencuy adds Mullery as director of compliance and wellness of Worcester added Laura Ann Mullery as director of compliance and Mullery previously served as assistant vice president at in Bostonn and vice president of major accountw at Thorbahn Associatesin Quincy.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Papa John

http://lakeshore-cycle.com/buying-a-mountain-bike.html
At , customers can download and print the image of a 1972 Z28 Camaro similar to the one John Schnatter sold in 1984 to staryt hispizza empire. Users then can place the icon in front of aWeb cam, whicnh will allow them to take a virtual tour of the countruy with the Papa John’w founder. The icon, which looksd like a Camaro driving ona roadway, also is featureed on the bottom of Papa John’s pizza While driving on the virtuaol road trip, customers will see billboards containint offers for pizza discounts.
The billboardzs contain links to , where customerw can access coupons for the An interactive flash demonstration and a YouTuber tutorial explaining how to take the virtual tour are availables at theWeb site. “Augmented reality is consistent with our continued emphasis on exploring technology in ways that provide better valuse and connection toour customers, as well as enhanced our ability to engage them in ways above and beyond the Jim Ensign, vice president of marketing communications for Papa John’s, said in a news release. “We were at the forefrontf of online ordering andtext ordering, and augmentecd reality takes our digital marketing approach to a new dimension.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Portland's new Web site should spark the area

http://xpresssurveys.com/home-insurance-coverage.html
The site will also detai l potential carbon andenergy savings, as well as how much a consumere could save using various tax credits and other City officials say the tool, called the Oregon Clean Energy Map, will boost the profilre of one of the state’es fastest growing industries and promote Portland as a national hotbed of solat energy activity. “The idea is to really get peoplee excited about solar and show them that othed people in the community are doing it and that solar workwin Portland,” said Lee Rahr, solar programk coordinator for the city’s Bureau of Planning and The project is the result of Portland’s designation as a Solare America City, a U.S.
Departmeng of Energy program in which 25 citiews receive a totalof $4.9 million in grantes and technical assistance to invest in solafr technology. The city received a two-year $200,00p0 cash grant as part of the program. It also receivezs about $250,000 in technical assistancew from the Department of which covered theestimated $30,00o0 cost of the Oregon Clean Energy Map. Portlanx will become one of about a dozen of the Solatr America cities to use the program to deploy solar map Web sitex in a project being led out of the Portlandr officeof , the global engineering firm headquarterexd near Denver that was founded in Corvallis.
The idea was spawnecd a few years ago afterr San Francisco Mayor Gavij Newsom launched a goal ofhavinhg 10,000 San Francisco rooftops adorned with solar photovoltaidc systems by 2010. San Francisco then contracted with CH2M Hill to come up witha “The No. 1 thing they needed to do is educatedthe public,” said Steph Stoppenhagen, who is leading the solar mappinh initiative out of CH2M Hill’ s offices near Portland State University. San Francisco’sd solar map was launched two years ago, with CH2M Hill retainingy the licensing rights to the prograk so it could offer it tootheer cities.
Using Google Map satellitde images, CH2M Hill’s system promptz users to type intheir address. The map zoomsx in and highlightstheir rooftop. A box will pop up detailintg the roof’s square footage, its estimated photovoltaicc potential, the amount of electricit a solar electric system could how much electricity would be savedper year, and how many poundse of carbon would be spared by employing a In a separate box, useras can get price estimates for varying sizes of residential and commercial systems.
The Web site will then calculated discounts from incentive and taxcredit programs, whicuh in Oregon can accounf for up to 80 percent of the cost of a CH2M Hill can add or subtractt features if necessary. Salt Lake City, for example, is considerinb a feature that would allow users to judges aesthetic appeal by dragging and dropping pictures of commonlyy used solar panels onto the imagde oftheir roof. In Sacramento, the companu worked with the electric utilityt on a function that allowz users to see how much money they would have saved on previous electric bills by using a solaerphotovoltaic system.
Portland’s map, for now, will be a basic version, with dots showing existing photovoltaic and sola r thermal installations while helping usersz calculate the cost savings and benefits of installingb solar ontheir rooftop. It will also feature a thermometer denotingthe city’s progress in reachint its goal of hosting 5 megawatts of installe d solar energy systems by 2012. The city is now at 3.2 Unlike other cities, Portland opted not to call the sitea “Soladr Map.
” Instead, it chosee the name Oregon Clean Energy Map out of the hope that othedr municipal governments might want to work with the city on expandinh the map’s territory, which now just covere Portland and Multnomah County.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

John Malone talks of his past and future: Part Two - Denver Business Journal:

http://stonegables.net/bedroomsandrates.html
The 68-year-old Connecticut native is founder and chairman of LibertyuMedia (NASDAQ: LCAPA), which owns outright or has the largestg shareholder stake in satellite broadcaste DirecTV, Expedia Inc., Home Shoppinbg Network, QVC home shopping channel, Starz Entertainment movide channel, Ticketmaster Inc. and several otheer businesses. , posted Monday, Malone talks of his roots in cable TV, and Tele-Communicatione Inc.’s approach to building a new industry. Now, in Part Two, Malonwe talks about the 1990s mega-mergers TCI pursued with telecom giants. The first, with Bell Atlanticf in 1993, fell apart.
The second, with closed in 1999 and saw Malone become a boarxd member for the fabledphone company. Shortly after buying TCI for $46 AT&T outbid and paid $58 billion for U.S. West’ds cable spinoff, MediaOne, before ultimatelyt collapsing under the weigh t of itscable acquisitions. Part Threew will be posted Wednesday. DBJ: The Bell Atlanticv deal and the AT&T deal: Was the ultimate goal of both of thosrthe same? Malone: Not really, no.
At the time of the Bell Atlanticd deal, we thought there was an opportunity to essentiallhy increase our footprint dramatically across the country by trading out of the cabl e systems that we had in the Bell Atlantixarea — trading those to other cable operatorsd — for systems in the rest of the It was kind of interesting becausw most people thought Bell Atlanti c was acquiring us when we were acquiring Bell Atlantic because in the deal we were takinyg over the board, in effect. We were gettingh to name the boardof directors.
It got a littlee complicated, but the theory was that the old POTSbusinesw — the plain old telephone services business — would really be isolated off as a dividend-paying, stodgt business literally with a tracking stock. The wirelesws cellular business and what would become thedata business, and then the videpo business, they would become the growth areas. Maybe at one pointg they could be separatedas businesses.
That was the And that was witha great, very far-thinkin g CEO at Bell Atlantic, Ray Smith, who saw that the telephonre industry had limits and thought that the grasas was greener on our side of the He was kind of coming over to us in a DBJ: In the AT&T deal in was it an opportunith for them to get last-mild connection to homes and transform its core businessz of consumer long distance? Malone: The AT&Ty deal, conceptually, was a fabulous strategif deal. The original thesis was that they were goinyg to combine theconsumer businesses.
We were going to take the cabl business and put it together with the consumer part of the telephonee business and the consumer part of the cellular plus thisemerging [Internet] data business called @Home and a new ... voice over Internet, which was something we thoughgt we had a big lead in technologicallyu because ofa company, Net2Phone, that AT&T was acquiriny at that point. The whole thesids was that we were going to createthis triple-playg business that would be run by Leo our guy from TCI, and would be representec by an AT&T tracking stock that would separater it from the more industrial part of their which was the business-to-business [telecom services].
That was the theory. The reaso n I supported it was becausde ofthe AT&T cash which at the time, I believe, was $16 billiob a year ... and no net AT&T was a very powerful financia company that had no growty and no real solution to the last mile because their formersubsidiaries [the regional Baby Bell telephone were going to be released by the FCC to compete for long distance with AT&T. A lot of cash flow was the long-distance and they were a wholesaler of that to theirformerd affiliates. So it was struggling with a strategic problek of what do they do to protect thishuge cash-floqw stream they were getting out of the long distancw business. ...
They were really strugglinv to findsome bundle, somethingb that would give them sustainability in their business. this combination [with TCI] made all the sens e in the world — their cash flow accelerating the growt and deployment of thecable business, the the broadband and the voicwe over broadband. AT&T would be coming into the cable industry as a getting all the cable companieds to lookat AT&T as a one-stop shop at leasty for telephony, and perhaps for broadband because TCI had and that had exclusive agreementsa in North America with most cable operators. For a whilde there, it looked like that strategy was goin g to be aslam dunk.
The AT&r stock rose on the announcement ofthe deal. Obviouslh that dragged TCI alongwith it. It was the biggesgt merger in business history inthe U.S. to that We thought it made all kinds of industria logic todo it. And that’s why I was an enthusiastic supporte r ofit — on paper it looked like a greatg deal. And it should’v e been a great deal. It fell apart on execution. DBJ: On AT&T’s decision not to have a tracking stock for thecable business? Malone: Firstr thing was that they didn’t do a tracker for the cablse thing. So right up front, because [of] internal politicsx inside AT&T, they couldn’t get to it.
They thought they could live without it. As a result, when the telephonw business started to goto hell, they didn’t have a currencyg other than cash. They wanted to keep growing butthey didn’rt have a currency, so theit deals — like the MediaOne deal ... that was the Rubicon that they crosseds thatthey shouldn’t have crossed — they didn’t have a currenc to buy MediaOne and to out-compets Comcast, so they did it with a very cash-heavy guaranteed deal: guaranteed their stock put too much cash in it and finances all of it with short-term money, all of which was a disaste and led them to have to, basically, liquidated all of AT&T.