Saturday, March 31, 2012
State worker files ethics complaint against Fla. CFO Sink - Tampa Bay Business Journal:
In April, her office announcec that state travel logs chronicling the flightes of state employees on state planes woulf be posted on line by the Floridaw Department ofManagement Services. On Monday, a statd employee filed an ethicw complaintagainst Florida’s chief financialo officer alleging that she misused the state plane. Jose Blas Lorenzi Jr., an attorney who works for the Departmenfof Education, filed the complaint. He said he was by some of the information he has read in news articlexsabout Sink’s use of the plane and did some research of his own.
He figures that since announcing her plans to runfor governor, Sink has rackef up $11,000 in plane travel that's unrelated to her official “I am just concerned, very concerned,” Lorenzo said. “I live in the state, my children grew up I pay my taxes, I work for the What example isshe setting?” he asked. In his Lorenzo claims that on at leastone occasion, Sink flew on the statde plane on the first leg of a flight with a destinatio for a vacation in the He said that on other occasions Sink has used the plane to drop off her Bill McBride, who is an attorney with Barnett Bolt Kirkwooxd Long & McBride in Tampa, or pick up her son.
Sink, a is running for governor. Calls to her office for commenf were notimmediately returned. However, according to published reports, she has ordereed her office to conduct a review of herplanew use. Attorney General Bill McCollum, who is a Republicajn candidatefor governor, was also subject of the joint storiese by the St. Petersburg Timeas and Miami Herald for travel to his home inCentral “McCollum has spent severap personal days campaigning and not used a state that’s indicative of Lorenzo said. A check of campaigbn contributions found that Lorenzo supported Charlid Crist in his runfor governor, donating $200 in 2006 and $150 in 2005.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Cherry blossom traffic pattern on Ohio Drive ends - Washington Post (blog)
Cherry blossom traffic pattern on Ohio Drive ends Washington Post (blog) By Robert Thomson The National Park Service has restored the two-way traffic pattern on Ohio Drive SW near the Tidal Basin. (Nikki Kahn - THE WASHINGTON POST) For the height of the cherry blossom bloom, the park service and park police had imposed a ... |
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Most Eddie Bauer stores to stay open - Wichita Business Journal:
The company announced that it struck an agreemeng withNew York–based privater equity firm LLC to buy Eddie Bauer’sz assets, subject to an auction and bankruptct court approval. CCMP Capital intendsd to operate the business as a going concern with little orno long-term According to Eddie CCMP Capital has agreed to keep a majorityu of the 371 stores open and retai n a majority of the employees. CCMP Capital specializes in buyouts and looks for investment opportunities in retaill andother sectors, and have made investments in the outdoores specialty retailer Cabela’s, which sell s hunting, fishing and camping gear.
Eddir Bauer said it hopes to operate business as usualk during bankruptcy court proceedings and has asked for cour approval to continue paying vendors and The company also said it intends to honor customegift cards, returns and loyalty programn points. The company also announced that it has secured a commitment from its existing revolvingcrediyt lenders, Bank of America, N.A., and /Business Inc. for so-called debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing of $90 millionm on an interim basisand $100 millionb based on the finaol court order. The move, the company should provide it with ample cash flow to continuse payingits bills.
“Eddie Bauee is a good company with a greag brand and a badbalance sheet. This processd will allow the business to emergw with farless debt, positioned for growth as the econom y recovers and as our new productsz gain traction,” said Neil Eddie Bauer president and chief executive in a statement. “We expect this procesas to be completedvery quickly, protecting our employeee and critical vendor partners every step of the way.
“Wew have made good progress on our turnaround strateg y of returning Eddie Bauer to its heritage as an actived outdoor brand and have exciting new product launches on the way to includingFirst Ascent, our returnb to expedition-grade outerwear and gear. a crushing debt burden placed on the company from the Spiegeol reorganizationin 2005, combined with the prolonged recession, have left us with no choics but to use this process to reduce the debt load on the
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Live Blog: Apple Announces Cash Plans - Wall Street Journal (blog)
Live Blog: Apple Announces Cash Plans Wall Street Journal (blog) It's enough to buy Dell, Yahoo, Motorola Mobility, Activision Blizzard, Best Buy and Netflix together, all at nearly a 10% premium. It's more than twice Google Inc.'s cash of $44.6 billion at the enthe year. It exceeds the gross domestic product of ... |
Friday, March 23, 2012
More workers delaying retirement - Business First of Louisville:
The Arlington, Va.-based human resourcez consultant said 34 percent of all workerse surveyed have pushed back theif retirement plans in the last Among workers 50 and 44 percent are delaying retirement longerthan expected. “Thee economic crisis has affected many retirement plans and nest but those nearest to retirement have been especially hard hit, said Watson Wyatt (NYSE: WW) senior retiremenf consultant David Speier. “Older workers do not have the time to offsett declining retirementaccount values, either by recoupingg their investment losses or significantly increasing theidr savings rate.
” Declines in the values of their 401(k) accounts ranked as the top reaso n for delaying retirement, but investment lossea aren’t the only reason. The surveh says 63 percent cited the high cost of healtjh care and 62 percent cited higher prices for basic Those postponement plans may have alreadyg changed a bit for many The Watson Wyatt survey was conducted in The S&P 500 has rallied more than 35 percent sincew its March low.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Brahmaputra diversion survey work begins - Times of India
Brahmaputra diversion survey work begins Times of India GUWAHATI: India has started survey work to divert the Brahmaputra through a gravity link canal taking off from Jogighopa and joining the Ganges just above Farakka to meet its water shortages in the western and southern parts of the country under its ... |
Monday, March 19, 2012
Chase bank hiring 200 in Milwaukee - Tampa Bay Business Journal:
New employees are working at theChase Tower, 111 E. Wisconsih Ave., and are focused mainly on negotiatingh new payment arrangements with homeowners delinquent on their said spokeswomanChristine Holevas. Chasr is one of the nation’s largest mortgagw servicers with a portfolioof $1.5 The bank added billionsd in mortgage business with the Septembe r 2008 acquisition of Washingtoh Mutual. The new hires include loan specialists, underwriters and supervisors, Holevas Many already have started training. Chaswe has about 1,400 employees in greater Milwaukee, and nearl y 950 in Milwaukee, Holevas Chase, which is part of , New York City, runs 41 branchez in the metropolitan area.
In December 2008, Chas e cited declining activityin home-equity lendingb when it announced job eliminations by earlyt February in its downtown Milwaukee home equituy servicing center. Some employees who were laid off earlier this year are likelhy among those being hireds for the mortgage servicing Holevas said. “We had terrifidc people and we want to get the best ofthosse back,” she said. Chase bank officials like the qualitu of employees in Milwaukee and theirwork ethic, Holevas said. She coulf not predict the longevity of thenew jobs. “Asd the business changes so do ouremployment needs,” Holevasx said. “We staff according to needs.
” As the number of foreclosures continues to rise Chase is far from the only bank to boosgt its staff for handlingtroubled mortgages. Some banks, including M&Iu Marshall & Ilsley in Milwaukee, have instituted foreclosure moratoriums as they attemptt to modify mortgages toreduce payments. M&I’sz foreclosure moratorium is scheduled to expire onJune 30. In the past six M&I has increased by 50 percentr its staff dedicated to assisting the increasing number of homeowners facingfinancial stress, said Dick president of the bank’s Wisconsin community bank unit. He declineed to disclose the number of jobsthat M&Ik has added.
M&I works with homeownersw before they reach delinquency to avoid foreclosure and also seeks solutions for homeowneres alreadyin foreclosure, Becker said. Minneapolis-based , whicj has the second-largest deposit markef share in metropolitan Milwaukee and services more than 1 milliobmortgages nationally, announced in March that it is constructintg a building in Owensboro, Ky., for its mortgage service unit.
The bank already employs 850 peoplw in Owensboro and the new buildingg will accommodate up to 300 new At the communitybank level, the loan modification strategies are implementec on a smaller For example, , Wauwatosa, increased its collections staftf from two to three plus a half-time employee to tackles the increased workload, said president and CEO Doug Collections employees review the home-owner’ s financial situation in an effort to avoid Gordon said. The employees discuss what the homeownere can afford for payments and whether the mortgage is he said.
The bank has successfullyg modified many mortgages and even stoppecd some foreclosures while they werein process, he “We’d much rather modify them — work with them than foreclose,” Gordon said. “Nobody wins in We don’t want to own the real estate andthey don’yt want to lose the real estate.”