Hanger Orthopedic gets credit rating upgrade - Business First of Columbus:

chauezhelolocu1622.blogspot.com
Bethesda-based Hanger Orthopedic announced Monday thatStandard & Poor'se Rating Services had raised its rating on Hangetr Orthopedic Group, Inc. to "B+" from raised the issue level ratingon Hanger's seniorf secured debt to "BB-" from and raised the seniot unsecured debt rating to "B-" from Standard & Poor’s outlook for Hanger is "We are extremely pleased with the S&P upgrade especially given the current economic environment," said Hangee Orthopedic chief financial officer George "The upgrade reflects, among other things, our consistentg performance over the last three years, solidx liquidity as well as no significant near-term debt maturities.
" In its latestg quarter Hanger Orthopedic (NYSE: HGR) reportefd that net income increasex 27 percent to $4.5 milliohn as revenue increased 7 percent to $169.21 million.

Aviza Technology files for Chapter 11 - Triangle Business Journal:

ufysyho.wordpress.com
The Scotts Valley company (NASDAQ:AVZA) makes advanced semiconductord capital equipment and process technologies for the global semiconductor industry andrelated markets. "As a resuly of the global economivc recession, demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipmenft hasdeclined dramatically," the company said, adding that it has "undertaken significant efforts to reduce its expenses and working capitapl requirements in response to thesed unprecedented market conditions." The company reportec a loss of $47.4 or $2.19 a share, on $133.2 million in The year before it reported $383,000, or 2 cents a in net income on $231.4 million in revenue.
Aviza in Apri said it had cut its work forcde by about 15 percent and planned to move toa "more appropriately sized elsewhere in Santa Clara County. Aviza employed nearly 500 in September, when it last reportedr the number of employeesit had. The company said Wednesdauy that it has also trimmedexecutive salaries, created mandatoryt time off for all employees and decreased non-labofr expenses.
At the same time, the compan y has been working with LLC to review and pursuse financial and strategic options includinh merging with or intoanother company, a sale of all or substantiallh all of the company’s assets, and the liquidatioh or dissolution of the companyu through bankruptcy proceedings. "The continuing declinees in orders from and shipments to customers and relatedxcash collections, the recent accelerationn of the company’s borrowings under its secured credit and the company’s inability to identify new sources of liquidityu have caused the company to seek bankruptcy protectionj in order to better manage its operations through an orderluy restructuring process," Aviza said.
Prior to the commencemeng of the Chapter11 case, Aviza executed a nonbindingb letter of intent to sell certain of its assetas and businesses to Ltd.

N.D. engineering firm Ulteig expands in Colo. - Washington Business Journal:

efenytan.wordpress.com
Since then, the Denver office has grown to14 people, and the compant plans to add more. Ulteig, baseed in Fargo, N.D., startesd in 1944, building electricity distribution and transmission lines for rura l cooperatives throughoutthe Midwest. “Then, farms were powered by wind farm swith batteries, and then we came in with the distributionh system,” said Brian Ulteig’s executive vice president and chiet development officer for its energy division. “And now, 60-plus yearsa later, we’re out doing energy projects and puttingb big wind projects on thosedsame farms.
” The engineerinf company — which posted revenue of $45 million in up 15 percent from 2007 — has expanded its offeringd to include building, civil and land It surveys land for electrifc lines, and engineers projects in water and wastewater, transportation and buildings. “Right now, we’re abouty 10 or 11 percent ahead of lastyear [in Long said. “It feels pretty good in this market.” Althougn the office is relatively new to Ulteig has done work in thestate before.
In Ulteig worked on the engineering, surveying and constructionh drawings fora big, 100-mile, 230-kilovolt transmission line connectinh the 400-megawatt Peetz Table wind farm in northeastern Colorado to the rest of Xcel Energy Inc.’zs power grid. Gov. Bill Ritter touted the projecras history-making at a May 2007 groundbreaking for the wind owned by a subsidiary of FPL Groupl Inc. (NYSE: FPL), which is based in Juno Fla. “This project will be the largest wind farm in the stateeand second-largest in the nation,” Ritter said in a announcemenr at the time.
“It will have the longesgt transmission line in the Ulteig has done work for Northern States Power, a division of Xcel, sinc e the late 1960s. In Colorado, the company also has worked onretail centers, and foresees big opportunities for connecting wind farms and solafr power installations in the state, Long The Colorado office was in the workds long before last fall’s stock market crash, and now Ulteig believes it’sz in a position to benefit from spending on renewable energy throughu the federal economic stimulus package.
“Ift was very, very busy before the stock market crashed,” Long “Now the building service marketis slow, but the energ work and larger construction projects on our civil side have been good with stimuluzs package discussions. “There are major projectx that are moving forward on a utility andcommercialo scale, and we’re starting to get more involvef in solar. Solar is where wind was 10 yearse orso ago.
”

Let's get most life from tobacco fund - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

steel siding
But the state's schoolxs and elderly shouldn't be the only as Strickland has proposed. Local - and all Ohio - businessews should get a share of the monegy to help employees quit smokinhg and keep their kids from startingthe Here's how: The first $550 million of investors' mone y should be put back into the , the grou whose mission is to reduce and prevent tobacco use. This issuse is being debated in theOhio House, and the Senatde will take it up in May.
A decisionh on the state's two-year budget will be made by the end of According to estimates by theNational Asso­ciationj of Attorneys General, Ohio has collectedr $3 billion in tobaccok payments since mid-1999 and expectsa $7 billion more through 2025. But Strickland is proposing to sell all future paymentxs fora $5 billion lump sum now. The states would sell investors the righg to those through a process called Investors would bear the risk that tobacco companies mighr gobust - a fear many have as more people kick the Strickland's proposed budget calls for the money to be used to buil d schools and fund a property tax decrease for the Nineteen states have securitized their sharezs of the tobacco settlement.
Ohioans voted last year to ban smoking inpublic - whicyh will have a big impact on reducing Nationally, our state lags in reducing its sharwe of population who smoke. Ohioans need help kicking the habif and keeping childrenfrom starting, thus the statee created the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation. A poll by Public Opinion Strategies released Aprio 11 shows Ohio voters overwhelmingly support using settlement revenue to fund programsa for which the foundationis responsible. The foundation has been successful, but its fundingv will end under Strickland's To compensate for lower statee revenue, former Gov.
Bob Taft and Ohio'a GOP-controlled legislature "borrowed" $550 million in tobacco payments intended for thefoundation - seriously compromisinf its funding model. That needs to be repaid to keep it After that, the state shoulde bank half of the lump-sum paymentf from investors and use the remaining proceeds on immediater needs, such as propertg tax relief for the elderly and school construction.

Tartan Fields in receivership - Business First of Columbus:

vinyl siding
Columbus lawyer A.C. Strip, who’s representing Columbus-basedx receiver Martin Management Services, said GE Capitak filed to put the golf club into receivership on Fridauy in Delaware County CommonPlead Court. Details on the naturre of Tartan’s default weren’t immediately available, but Striop said the club is less than 60 days behinxd onits loan. Strip said that despite the filing, the receiveer has “no intention now or in the future tocease operations” and that it “wants to give everyh opportunity for the golf course to surviv e with its present management.
” “We’re at a crossroadws and a number of possibilities coul develop from this,” he said. Amon those: A sale of the course, a chance for the course’ws owners to reorganize in conjunction with GE or a refinancing deal withanothert lender. A message seeking comment was left with Tartanh managementMonday afternoon.

Bauer takes stars from 17 banks - South Florida Business Journal:

aleksanovlsys.blogspot.com
The company uses federal regulatoryt data to rate banks based oncapital ratio, profit/loss trend, delinquenty loans and other factors. Bauer'ss rating ranks from a high of 5 stars to a low of 0 in Coral Gables lost a star goinbg tofour (excellent) from five (superior) Four others maintained their five-stafr ranking: American National Bank, Oakland Park City Nationalo Bank of Florida, Miami First National Bank, Southj Miami Intercontinental Bank, West Miami in Miami rose to threes stars from two. First United Bank in Boca Ratohn and Biscayne Bank in Coconut Grovre roseto 3.5 stars from three. in Fort Lauderdale made four upfrom 3.5. Several banks went to 3.
5 from four They are: , Homestead Doral-based slipper again, this time to three starsd from three-and-a-half stars in the firsg quarter. That’s down from four stards in the third quarter oflast year. Other bankas that slipped to three stars from 3.5 are: Executive National, Miami , Miami , Miamiu U.S. Century Bank, Miami Valley Bank, Fort Lauderdale Lydian Private Bank inPalm Beach, Gran Eastern Bank of Floridas in Miami, Metro Bank of Dade County, and in Miamoi fell to two stars (problematic) from three.
, in North Lauderdale and in Boca Raton fell a notcb toone star, down from two in the fourth Four banks retained zero stars, Bauer’sx lowest rating: , Miamki Republic Federal Bank, Miami , Miami Integrity Jupiter

New rules may protect appraisers, but drive up buyers

http://oldnorth.com/congregation/aboutus.htm
Federal regulations aimed at putting more distance between mortgaged brokers and home appraiserds require lenders touse “appraisal management companies” to ordedr appraisals. The idea is to prevent brokersa from pressuring appraisers to hitcertain values. However, some say the new rulee also are pushing up the price and length of time for The new rules went into effectg May 1 as part ofthe “Home Valuation Code of Conduct” which keeps mortgage brokers from hand pickingy appraisers. In fact, the two are not allowedd to communicateat all. Only banks that show they select appraisere through a strict rotation system can contactappraisers directly.
Nashville’ss uses a Web-based appraisak management company and can only communicate with an assignede appraiser by posting a questiobn onthe Web, says Ross Kinney, senior vice president of mortgage Kinney says the additionapl steps have pushed up the cost of appraisals by 6 percent to 10 percent for the companhy they use. Others are even higher. “It’x a substantial difference in the way mortgagesare I’m sure that will bring more independence, which is a good Kinney says. “But I’m not sure how it is goinvg to affecthome buyers. If they are non-experiencefd or out-of-market appraisers, it will be interestintg to see how thatplays out.
” Appraiser Danny Wylie of in Nashville says he won’t deal with most appraisal management companies because they take a high percentage of his fee. He chargea $400 to $450 as an experiencedf appraiser, but management firms often want to hire himfor $275 or Wylie says he’s considered setting up his own managementt company, but he says he would have to hire less experiencex appraisers to make it work financially. Despite the Wylie thinks the changesx are better for He says he lost business becausehe wouldn’ty lie on an appraisal. That bank never called him again.
“One of the problems has been that unscrupulouxs brokers could pick unscrupulous appraisers who would pick whateve r valuewas needed,” he says. The new regulations also set up a whistleblower hotlinee for those suspectingsuch activity. Under the new appraisals take longer because the market is more complesx and the rules requiremore data, Wylie says. Lenders want information on absorptioj rates, supply and economic conditions, he One local company, , has seen a surgwe of business fromthe regulations. The family-owned businesa in Franklin is primarily a mortgagecomplianced business, which means it checkw loans for fraud.
A few years ago, the companyy developed a databaseon appraisers, with informatio n such as credentials, how many appraisals they’ve done and if they’vw ever been involved in a high-risk With the new requirements, the appraisal managemen t side of Quality Mortgage’s business has ballooned up 500 percent since last year, says executives vice president Tommy Duncan. Duncan’s phone started ringingf in March and Aprilk with lenders looking for appraisalmanagement services.
He’se hired three people in the past threw months and is looking to expanx to alarger He’s already had to turn down two lenders on the West Coasy because he couldn’t handle the volume of work they had. Duncan says he chargezs about 25 percent to 35 percen t of the appraisal fee for themanagemeny services, adding that some management firmsx charge as much as half. Appraisal prices depene on the city and can rangefrom $350 to Duncan supports the conducr code. He, too, has been cut off in the past by a lenderdwho didn’t like one of his appraisals.
“M y job is to rotate appraisals among credentialed appraiserds without any discriminationor favoritism,” he says. The conductg code “is probably a positive step to mend some of the problem s that are alreadyout there, but I’j not saying its a cure all.” Part of the new regulations is that anyone who makes money off a real estate deal can’ speak to the appraiser. Dianne Payne, regionao production manager for the mortgage divisionof Memphis-based , says her bank has been usinbg a rotation system to select appraisers for a year and instead of an appraisal management firm. It eliminated any favoritism, as agents can no longer request specific she says.
“It’s a more levek playing field,” she says.

Three U.S. citizens charged with helping Pakistani Taliban - The Hill (blog)

ejoxot.wordpress.com

Daily Mail

Three U.S. citizens charged with helping Pakistani Taliban The Hill (blog) Three US citizens were arrested Saturday on federal charges that they provided $50000 and other material support to the Pakistani Taliban. Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 76, imam at the Flagler Mosque in Miami, ... Three US Citizens Among Six Charged With Supporting Taliban in Pakistan Bloomberg US citizens charged for Taliban aid Herald Sun Three US Citizens Charged With Financing, Supporting Pakistani Taliban National Journal Slate Magazine -BBC News -San Francisco Chronicle  »

Addressing Rising Military Health Costs - Center For American Progress

martaemimbzini.blogspot.com

Addressing Rising Military Health Costs Center For American Progress “Career military personnel pay… their [health care] fees upfront in service and sacrifice,” said Vice Admiral Norbert Ryan this week at an event at the Center for American Progress. Vice Adm. Ryan's (US Navy, ret.) statement became the center of a ... and more »

Colorado stimulus board boosts minority-outreach effort - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

http://vinyl-banners-custom.com/freecustomvinylbanner.html
Maranda Pleau, the small business coordinatorfor Greeley-basef general contractor , will join the Colorado Economic Recoveru and Accountability Board June 29, chairmah Don Elliman said during a board meeting Thursday. Her job is to ensures minority businesses are aware of contracts relatecd to the stimulus Elliman said. Officials with the Colorado Department of Transportation told the boarde they will recommend the agency review how it handlese complaints about road and bridge contracts and the use ofthesde small, minority- and woman-owned CDOT's move came after Hamon Contractorw Inc.
in Denver raised concerns abouf a bridge repair project paid for with mone y from the American Recovery andReinvestment Act. Hamoh lost a bid Apripl 16 to rebuild two bridges over Interstatde 76 inAdams County. The lowest bid for the contract camefrom Centennial-baseed , which bid $8 millionj for the project, nearly 15 percentf under CDOT’s estimate of $9.4 State contracts are typically awarded to the lowesf bidder.
But Hamon objected to CDOT awarding the projecrto Sema, saying Sema didn’t make a "good-faith effort" to hire enouggh minority subcontractors, according to a June 3 letter from Mark director of the Governor’s Economic Recovery to the accountability board. CDOT reviewed the complaint, and Sema’es efforts to get minority businessesx involved in thebridge contract. The revieq concluded Sema met the agency’s threshold for tryingf and CDOT formally awarded the project to the CDOT executive director RussGeorgs said. But CDOT wants to review how it handlese future complaints about using disadvantaged businessex onstate contracts.
Celina director of administrationfor CDOT, told the accountabilith board she will recommen d the agency’s commissioners form a reviea committee involving members of the interest groups, industry, the attorneh general’s office, and federal transportatioh officials. How to gather input from minority businesses about theirr experience with a prime Atthe meeting, Hamon attorney Seth Firmender thanked CDOT for being willing to review the Helga Grunerud, executive director of the Hispani c Contractors of Colorado, also praised CDOT’s saying, "We believe we’ve been heard.
"

To improve sales calls, managers need to get out of the office - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

pabigy.wordpress.com
• Assimilation: Begin the process of helping the salesperso n develop his or her skills and incorporate the identifie d changesinto behaviors. Some of the lessons learned from a call can be immediatelhy applied to the next call after some discussionm and perhapssome role-playing. If there are severa sales calls with the salesperson durinbone day, the sales manager should make sure there is enougnh time to not only debrief each but also to pre-brief the calls so the lessonx learned from one call can be immediatel applied to subsequent calls. Accompanying salespeople on saleds calls can play an important part in improvingtheir performance.
Sales managersa who follow the five-step process outlined above will not only be able topreparer for, conduct, and learn from the calls, but also put the lessonws learned into action.

Brighton company pursuing sports sites - St. Louis Business Journal:

http://fdgl.org/conference.htm
The creator of Sawxheads.com, Patsheads.com and otherd Boston-centric sites this week plans to begin deploymen t of similar sites devoted toother markets’ teams acroses the , NBA, and Major League The new sites, like the Bostob predecessors, will have a mix of aggregatesd news, user-generated content, video, photo sharing and other TruMedia is working to build a distribution and promotiom strategy for the new sites by partnering with locall news outlets in each major leagud team market.
In that portiobn of the expanded corporate TruMedia is aiming to develop eachnews outlet’s social-medias area on a white-label basie while linking back to the local sportd team communities it has built and syndicating content. Such a deal was recentlhy struckwith ’s Web site, Boston.com, with other similar deals pending. “What we’re lookinbg to do is both go national while also goinygvery local,” said Rafe Anderson, TruMedia chierf executive. “And within that, we’re building both business-to-consumerd and business-to-business channels of the company.
” TruMedia — backe by the angel investor trio of Boxcar Media CEOOzzis Alvarez; former Converse, Puma and Adidas executive John O’Rourke; and TV analysy Jerry Remy — is by no means alonwe in its pursuit of deep online engagemenyt among local sports fans. ESPN earlier this year launcheda Chicago-focusex Web site to early Companies such as Watercooler and Citizen Sportx Network continue to leverage the reach of broadd social networks such as Facebook with team and locally focused fan communities. Nearly every pro team is developing itsown social-mediaz components, as well.
“There is certainly healthhy competition inthis market, and the teamsd in particular are wise to creats their own branded communities,” Anderson “But we think we’ll offer a trulyh differentiated experience in that we can offe r something more independent and grassroots.”

Vegalta Sendai takes over J-League lead with 1-0 win over Avispa Fukuoka - The Canadian Press

ra-iwinyro.blogspot.com

Vegalta Sendai takes over J-League lead with 1-0 win over Avispa Fukuoka The Canadian Press Elsewhere, Kazuma Watanabe and Masashi Oguro scored second-half goals to give Yokohama F Marinos a 2-0 win over Urawa Reds. Watanabe headed in Shunsuke Nakamura's cross in the 70th and Oguro sealed the win with an injury-time goal. ... Sendai moves into first place in J-League with 1-0 win over Fukuoka Greenfield Daily Reporter  »