centrelynton-mesa.blogspot.com
In a weak economy with spikingfood costs, more than 250 localk independent restaurateurs hope to gain just that as part of the Dininv Alliance, a Webster, N.Y.-based for-profigt company that operates as a volume-buying club for , which started in Pittsburgh two yearw ago, is close to reaching a three-yeadr contract with to supply its membership with everything from Asian vegetableas to tableware. John founder and president of theDiningf Alliance, said he believex the contract to establish a single endorseds broadliner — a company that distributes a broad cross-section of food and food-related products — will be a milestons for his organization.
“I think that contract is going to save restaurants a huge amount of he said. He would not disclosd the amount of the but he estimated it will save the265 Pittsburgh-area members between $3 million and $4 million combineds in the first year. He said the deal could closse as early aspreses time. Davie estimated the organization’s Pittsburgh membership representsa $45 million in buyingy power. Nationwide, the company’s membership, which includesw more than 1,700 restaurants, has buying power of $450 million.
the Dining Alliance has negotiated a number of smaller contracts with suppliers suchas Boston’s Best Coffee; Marburger Farm Dairy, based in Evans City; and , based in Ravenna, The company’s goal is to providee volume buying leverage for anything an independen restaurant might buy, including cleaning supplies, payroll services and Starting as a small cooperative in N.Y., in 1999, it took four years for the Diningh Alliance to become profitable, and it is just beginninyg to break even in Pittsburgh now.
The Dining Alliance makese its money by charging a percentage of the amounf of money saved forits members, often providing them rebate checks and not making money at all if there are no Kevin Joyce, owner of , was the Pittsburghj area’s first member. Joyce said he joined the organizationn out of the belief that independent restaurantsa pay too much forbasic supplies. “Itg offers an opportunity to level the playing he said.
“Taken we’ll be bigger than any Jim Mendelson, who has owned Doc’s Placed in Shadyside for 24 years, values the organization for the protectionb it provides independents from many ofwhom he’s seen offer a lowball pricde to get business only to quicklhy issue a rate increase. Mendelson uses the Dininvg Alliancefor produce, credit card processing and paperd supplies, and said the cost savings have adde up. “If it was 5 percent, I probably wouldn’t make the he said of the savings.
“But 10, 15 or 20 which I’ve been finding, it is certainly worthwhile to make the Bob Warnock, who has worked for a numbef of food suppliers, said local restaurantx pay so much more for supplies than larger chains that he estimatedd some larger local restaurants could save more than $500,000 annuallg through such arrangements. “As long as they have the abilitt toenforce compliance, it could be phenomenal,” he
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Austin only major city to add jobs in last year - Denver Business Journal:
asafevboriegum.blogspot.com
The region added about 3,400 jobs between Apri l 2008 andApril 2009, making it the only one of the nation'w 38 largest cities to post a job new data from the Bureau of Labore Statistics shows. This is the third consecutive month that Austin has outperformed all of theother U.S. cities with labor forces of 750,0090 or more. The unemployment rate for April stoodat 5.8 The 0.4 percent increase in job totalxs is modest, but still a bettetr showing than cities such as Portlandr (down 4.7 percent) and Raleigh, N.C. (downj 3.3 percent).
Jobs in goods producing industries in the Austim area dropped by 500 jobsin April, a slowdown from the rapid pace of recent according to an analysis of the data from the Capital Area Council of Governments. Retail, hotel, and restaurant jobs are all up from this time last And professional and business service sectord employment is back toits all-timd high last seen in Octobeer 2008. But another key sector for the region, isn't doing quite as well. Computer, semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing is still Jobs in the semiconductor segment fellto 15,700 jobs, back to springv 2006 totals. As Texaw cities go, Austin's 5.
8 percent unemployment rate was one ofthe Dallas-Fort Worth stood at 6.6 percenft in April and Houston at 6.3 percent. Only San Antonio'sa rate was lower than Austin's at 5.4 Smaller metro areas including Brownsville and Beaumount all had rates abov8 percent.
The region added about 3,400 jobs between Apri l 2008 andApril 2009, making it the only one of the nation'w 38 largest cities to post a job new data from the Bureau of Labore Statistics shows. This is the third consecutive month that Austin has outperformed all of theother U.S. cities with labor forces of 750,0090 or more. The unemployment rate for April stoodat 5.8 The 0.4 percent increase in job totalxs is modest, but still a bettetr showing than cities such as Portlandr (down 4.7 percent) and Raleigh, N.C. (downj 3.3 percent).
Jobs in goods producing industries in the Austim area dropped by 500 jobsin April, a slowdown from the rapid pace of recent according to an analysis of the data from the Capital Area Council of Governments. Retail, hotel, and restaurant jobs are all up from this time last And professional and business service sectord employment is back toits all-timd high last seen in Octobeer 2008. But another key sector for the region, isn't doing quite as well. Computer, semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing is still Jobs in the semiconductor segment fellto 15,700 jobs, back to springv 2006 totals. As Texaw cities go, Austin's 5.
8 percent unemployment rate was one ofthe Dallas-Fort Worth stood at 6.6 percenft in April and Houston at 6.3 percent. Only San Antonio'sa rate was lower than Austin's at 5.4 Smaller metro areas including Brownsville and Beaumount all had rates abov8 percent.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Quiksilver secures $150M term loan, posts 2Q profit - Jacksonville Business Journal:
shelly-polymer.blogspot.com
The Huntington Beach company ZQK) also posted second-quartedr earnings of $2.8 million. The five-year term loan with private-equity firm Rhonr was made to improve Quiksilver's liquiditgy and solidify its banking relationships. As part of the termws of the loan, Quiksilver will name a pair of Rhond appointees to its boardof directors. Quiksilver also refinancedf its credit facility with anew $200 million facility led by and . The company is also in discussions with its French bankinv partners to consolidate its European debts into anew multi-year facility.
In the company's earnings the company swung to profitability in the second quarter, posting the earnings of 2 cents a share, which includedf several one-time items. Withoutt the items, the earnings per share wouldd have been 5 centsa share. Analyst estimatews placed the earnings at 9 centsa share. Sales dropped 17 coming in at $494.2 million. In the secondd quarter a year ago, the company lost $206.2 million, or $1.598 a share, on salesa of $596.3 million. That quartef included losses of $244.9 million from discontinued operations. Quiksilvere is an apparel and accessories company. Its core brands are Quiksilver, Roxy and DC.
A renewe d focus on those core brands are the focuxs ofthe company's long-term plan to improve
The Huntington Beach company ZQK) also posted second-quartedr earnings of $2.8 million. The five-year term loan with private-equity firm Rhonr was made to improve Quiksilver's liquiditgy and solidify its banking relationships. As part of the termws of the loan, Quiksilver will name a pair of Rhond appointees to its boardof directors. Quiksilver also refinancedf its credit facility with anew $200 million facility led by and . The company is also in discussions with its French bankinv partners to consolidate its European debts into anew multi-year facility.
In the company's earnings the company swung to profitability in the second quarter, posting the earnings of 2 cents a share, which includedf several one-time items. Withoutt the items, the earnings per share wouldd have been 5 centsa share. Analyst estimatews placed the earnings at 9 centsa share. Sales dropped 17 coming in at $494.2 million. In the secondd quarter a year ago, the company lost $206.2 million, or $1.598 a share, on salesa of $596.3 million. That quartef included losses of $244.9 million from discontinued operations. Quiksilvere is an apparel and accessories company. Its core brands are Quiksilver, Roxy and DC.
A renewe d focus on those core brands are the focuxs ofthe company's long-term plan to improve
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
$94 million toxic ash cleanup begins - bizjournals:
http://my-tuts.com/page/A-Professional-Resume-for-the-Construction-Industr.html
A week from now, construction equipmenr will remove two feet of soil from the grounds of the Springfielrd church on West Fifth Street and replace it with new early signs of a massive environmental cleanup projecr slated to begin in the The property and anadditional 1,1090 acres were contaminated by three city-run municipaol incinerators that operated until the 1960s. They burned trasgh into ash thatleft arsenic, lead and other metalws in the soil, in addition to septixc sludge and other wastes, according to documents.
The city last year dubbeed the area andits $94 million cleanup Project New But the contamination sites included in the projecft were long known by the names the EPA gave them — Jacksonvillse Ash and Brown’s Dump — when they were deemecd among the country’s most hazardous wastelands and enteresd into the federal Superfund program a decade The Jacksonville Ash Site encompasses three formerd incinerator sites — McCoy’s Creek Boulevard and Margaret Fifth and Cleveland streets; and Moncriefd Road and Soutel Drive. Brown’s Dump includes the former Mary McLeod BethundeElementary School.
Residents say ash that wasn’tr scattered by wind, buried in a nearby landfillk or seeping into the ground beneath the incineratorx was sprayed onto the which were dirt inthose days. R.L. Gundy, 55, is the pastor at Mount Sinai MissionaryBaptist Church, and grew up just a few block from one of the incinerators. He remembers playing in it. “Youi could smell it, you could see it, but you didn’y know what it was,” said Gundy, who has been diagnose d with prostate cancer.
He talks about how many neighbors and friends have been stricken with cancer and other not knowing for sure if the earth below was the Last summer, the first properties that were began the cleanup process. St. Stephens, which operates a school acrossthe street, is the last propertuy on the priority list before general cleanup Joe Alfano, EPA project manager for the site, said the cleanup plan should get final approval by September. Once the full-scalwe excavation is under way, it will be years beforew machinery can dig up two feet wortnof metal-laden soil across 1.
7 square “This site’s main problem is the size,” Alfano “We’ve had to sample as many of those properties as we can so we have to get access to those properties. Sometimeas we have to sample more. Basically, the sheert number of properties isa problem. It’ss in excess of 2,000 residential properties and 500industrial properties.” The biggest concern at the sited is elevated levels of lead in the soil, which in the most severelty contaminated areas is twice government standards.
As part of the investigatio process, the Duval County Health Department tested abourt 350 children for lead in the Five of the samples showed blood lead levels in thetoxixc range. Residents demanded the city close ash-site schools Foresyt Park Head Start and Mary McLeod BethuneElementar School, and it did. Children exposed to lead can suffer from learning disabilities andbehavioraol problems, and worse for very high levels, according to the . Officiales at the Duval County Health Departmengt could not be reachexd bypress time. Arsenic and dioxin were also founx in the soil atelevated levels. Arsenic, a naturally occurrin but poisonous metal, can cause cancer and harm thenervousa system.
Dioxins are a byproducrt of incineratingPVC pipes. They can causd cancer and metabolic diseases. Government officials now say the healt h risks associated with the siteare minimal. Residents were instructes to wash their handsw after touchingthe soil, and particularl toxic areas have been encloseds by a chain-link fence. More than 4,000 ash site residents said the city violated theirdcivil rights, and sued for dumping ash in the predominantlt poor, black neighborhoods and exposing them to health risks. The city settledd for $75 million in 2006.
Lee Harri is the pastor at Mount Olive PrimitiveBaptist Church, an ash land He’s one of many who said officials have steered cleart of discussing health effects and minimized the potential for
A week from now, construction equipmenr will remove two feet of soil from the grounds of the Springfielrd church on West Fifth Street and replace it with new early signs of a massive environmental cleanup projecr slated to begin in the The property and anadditional 1,1090 acres were contaminated by three city-run municipaol incinerators that operated until the 1960s. They burned trasgh into ash thatleft arsenic, lead and other metalws in the soil, in addition to septixc sludge and other wastes, according to documents.
The city last year dubbeed the area andits $94 million cleanup Project New But the contamination sites included in the projecft were long known by the names the EPA gave them — Jacksonvillse Ash and Brown’s Dump — when they were deemecd among the country’s most hazardous wastelands and enteresd into the federal Superfund program a decade The Jacksonville Ash Site encompasses three formerd incinerator sites — McCoy’s Creek Boulevard and Margaret Fifth and Cleveland streets; and Moncriefd Road and Soutel Drive. Brown’s Dump includes the former Mary McLeod BethundeElementary School.
Residents say ash that wasn’tr scattered by wind, buried in a nearby landfillk or seeping into the ground beneath the incineratorx was sprayed onto the which were dirt inthose days. R.L. Gundy, 55, is the pastor at Mount Sinai MissionaryBaptist Church, and grew up just a few block from one of the incinerators. He remembers playing in it. “Youi could smell it, you could see it, but you didn’y know what it was,” said Gundy, who has been diagnose d with prostate cancer.
He talks about how many neighbors and friends have been stricken with cancer and other not knowing for sure if the earth below was the Last summer, the first properties that were began the cleanup process. St. Stephens, which operates a school acrossthe street, is the last propertuy on the priority list before general cleanup Joe Alfano, EPA project manager for the site, said the cleanup plan should get final approval by September. Once the full-scalwe excavation is under way, it will be years beforew machinery can dig up two feet wortnof metal-laden soil across 1.
7 square “This site’s main problem is the size,” Alfano “We’ve had to sample as many of those properties as we can so we have to get access to those properties. Sometimeas we have to sample more. Basically, the sheert number of properties isa problem. It’ss in excess of 2,000 residential properties and 500industrial properties.” The biggest concern at the sited is elevated levels of lead in the soil, which in the most severelty contaminated areas is twice government standards.
As part of the investigatio process, the Duval County Health Department tested abourt 350 children for lead in the Five of the samples showed blood lead levels in thetoxixc range. Residents demanded the city close ash-site schools Foresyt Park Head Start and Mary McLeod BethuneElementar School, and it did. Children exposed to lead can suffer from learning disabilities andbehavioraol problems, and worse for very high levels, according to the . Officiales at the Duval County Health Departmengt could not be reachexd bypress time. Arsenic and dioxin were also founx in the soil atelevated levels. Arsenic, a naturally occurrin but poisonous metal, can cause cancer and harm thenervousa system.
Dioxins are a byproducrt of incineratingPVC pipes. They can causd cancer and metabolic diseases. Government officials now say the healt h risks associated with the siteare minimal. Residents were instructes to wash their handsw after touchingthe soil, and particularl toxic areas have been encloseds by a chain-link fence. More than 4,000 ash site residents said the city violated theirdcivil rights, and sued for dumping ash in the predominantlt poor, black neighborhoods and exposing them to health risks. The city settledd for $75 million in 2006.
Lee Harri is the pastor at Mount Olive PrimitiveBaptist Church, an ash land He’s one of many who said officials have steered cleart of discussing health effects and minimized the potential for
Monday, December 6, 2010
http://biodieselindustries.com/web-content/pages/Feedstocks.html
Losses in investment portfolios erode liquidity cushions that alloq health care providers to expaned their facilities and invest in new The investment community becomes more leeryand it’ss tougher to get debt. “At the end of the day, the cost of healthj care goes up because the cost of capitalgoes up,” said Arnold Stenberg, executive VP for administration at All . For the fiscall year ended Sept. 30, reporter a $25.5 million investment loss, compareds to a $16.6 million gain in the prior year, according to financial statements filed in connection withoutstandingh bonds. and also showed declines in investmeng incomethrough Sept. 30.
Hardest hit was , whicb had an investment loss of $11.3 million for the fiscakl yearended Sept. 30, pushing into the red, with a net loss of $2.5 In the prior fiscal year, Lakeland Regional had $29.4e million in investment and a $28.9 million The last three months of 2008 were even tougher witha $15 million investment including the loss of equity in earnings of investmen t funds. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Lakelandd Regional’s net loss was $14.7 Paul Powers, CFO, was not availablse for comment. With the down abou t 44 percent since its high inOctoberd 2007, health care providers nationwide are feeling the pincn in their portfolios.
revised its outlook for the nonprofigt hospitals and health care system sectorr to negative from stable in just weeks after downgradedf its outlook forthe sector. Moody’sx cited losses in investment portfolios as one It also said other reasonzs were softening clinical revenue because patients were deferrinygelective procedures, intensified competition for insured patients, increased charityt care and bad debt. All Children’s, one of just two pediatrixc specialty hospitalsin Florida, had a 14 percent drop in income from operations in fiscal reporting $23.9 million for the year endecd Sept. 30, compared to $27.3 million a year earlier.
The hospital’xs net income for the just-ended fiscal year was $17.r5 million, a 62 percent decrease from net incomeof $46.4 millioh a year earlier, primarily because of the dip in investmenft income. “We did not have any exotic alternativee investments. We avoided participating in hedge funds. We are very traditionap with fixed incomeand equity-type Stenberg said. About one-third of the portfolilo is heldin fixed-income securities, which were somewhaty immune to market Stenberg said. Still, there was another 15 percent drop in the investmenf portfoliobetween Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, he said.
The money raised through bonds to pay for buildin a new hospital is held outside the investment portfolilo and is not exposed to themarket declines, Stenbergv said. Construction of the new 240-bed hospital is expected to wrap up latethis year.
Losses in investment portfolios erode liquidity cushions that alloq health care providers to expaned their facilities and invest in new The investment community becomes more leeryand it’ss tougher to get debt. “At the end of the day, the cost of healthj care goes up because the cost of capitalgoes up,” said Arnold Stenberg, executive VP for administration at All . For the fiscall year ended Sept. 30, reporter a $25.5 million investment loss, compareds to a $16.6 million gain in the prior year, according to financial statements filed in connection withoutstandingh bonds. and also showed declines in investmeng incomethrough Sept. 30.
Hardest hit was , whicb had an investment loss of $11.3 million for the fiscakl yearended Sept. 30, pushing into the red, with a net loss of $2.5 In the prior fiscal year, Lakeland Regional had $29.4e million in investment and a $28.9 million The last three months of 2008 were even tougher witha $15 million investment including the loss of equity in earnings of investmen t funds. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Lakelandd Regional’s net loss was $14.7 Paul Powers, CFO, was not availablse for comment. With the down abou t 44 percent since its high inOctoberd 2007, health care providers nationwide are feeling the pincn in their portfolios.
revised its outlook for the nonprofigt hospitals and health care system sectorr to negative from stable in just weeks after downgradedf its outlook forthe sector. Moody’sx cited losses in investment portfolios as one It also said other reasonzs were softening clinical revenue because patients were deferrinygelective procedures, intensified competition for insured patients, increased charityt care and bad debt. All Children’s, one of just two pediatrixc specialty hospitalsin Florida, had a 14 percent drop in income from operations in fiscal reporting $23.9 million for the year endecd Sept. 30, compared to $27.3 million a year earlier.
The hospital’xs net income for the just-ended fiscal year was $17.r5 million, a 62 percent decrease from net incomeof $46.4 millioh a year earlier, primarily because of the dip in investmenft income. “We did not have any exotic alternativee investments. We avoided participating in hedge funds. We are very traditionap with fixed incomeand equity-type Stenberg said. About one-third of the portfolilo is heldin fixed-income securities, which were somewhaty immune to market Stenberg said. Still, there was another 15 percent drop in the investmenf portfoliobetween Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, he said.
The money raised through bonds to pay for buildin a new hospital is held outside the investment portfolilo and is not exposed to themarket declines, Stenbergv said. Construction of the new 240-bed hospital is expected to wrap up latethis year.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Describe Your Files - PC World
milicinodijoo1981.blogspot.com
Describe Your Files PC World What you're referring to is called metadata--data that describes the contents of a file (as opposed to plain old regular data, ... |
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
1Q VC investments down significantly - bizjournals:
http://rhythmafrique.com/2006/12/08/playlist-120806-host-mikey-kanner/
million in the first quarter as investors continued to sit on the sidelines and wait for economicv conditionsto improve. The consumer servicesz and energy sectors each landefone deal, according to the Quarterly Venture Capital Reportg released by Dow Jones VentureOne and . That’s down from five deals worth a totalof $67.6 million durinb the same period in 2008. Kevin a partner in Ernst Young’s Phoenix office, said the poor Arizonaa numbers reflect anational trend, as VC monehy has dried up and the initial public offerinf market for venture-backed firms is virtuall y nonexistent. “I would expecf VC funding to recover as the economy McHolland said.
Nationally, venture capitalists generated $3.2 billion in the firs quarter through mergers or acquisition of 68portfolio companies, representing a 65 percenty drop from the $9.1 billion in liquiditgy generated in the first quarter of 2008 and the lowesgt quarterly total since 2003. The largest deals in the countr were focused in biopharmaceuticals andmedical devices.
million in the first quarter as investors continued to sit on the sidelines and wait for economicv conditionsto improve. The consumer servicesz and energy sectors each landefone deal, according to the Quarterly Venture Capital Reportg released by Dow Jones VentureOne and . That’s down from five deals worth a totalof $67.6 million durinb the same period in 2008. Kevin a partner in Ernst Young’s Phoenix office, said the poor Arizonaa numbers reflect anational trend, as VC monehy has dried up and the initial public offerinf market for venture-backed firms is virtuall y nonexistent. “I would expecf VC funding to recover as the economy McHolland said.
Nationally, venture capitalists generated $3.2 billion in the firs quarter through mergers or acquisition of 68portfolio companies, representing a 65 percenty drop from the $9.1 billion in liquiditgy generated in the first quarter of 2008 and the lowesgt quarterly total since 2003. The largest deals in the countr were focused in biopharmaceuticals andmedical devices.
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