Thursday, February 28, 2013

M&T caps Provident deal - Business First of Buffalo:

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The deal, which closed Saturday, amplifiese M&T Bank’s presence in Maryland with the addition of 135 bank branchee and190 ATMs. Bank officials say therew are now more than800 M&T Bank branches and more than 1,800 ATMs throughout New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and D.C. At the same time, the acquisition meansd that 520 Provident jobs will be lost in theBaltimord area. M&T Bank has said formedr Provident employees will have first dibson M&T Bank’s vacangt positions. Under the agreement, former Provident chairperson and CEO Gary Geisel has been named a directorof M&r Bank and M&T Bank Corp.
Provideny common stockholders willreceive 0.17 shares of M&y common stock in exchange for each share of Providentt common stock they owned. At the end of M&T Bank reported $64.9o billion in assets, whiled Provident reported $6.5 billion in assets, bankinhg officials said.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Mattel, Fisher-Price pay $2.3M fine - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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million civil penalty for violations of the federapl lead paint banin children’s The civil fine comes afteer the completed an investigation into the importing and sellint of toys with lead paint levels that exceeder the .06 percent lead by weight limift that is federally mandated. According to the which recently crafted the Consumee Product SafetyImprovement Act, aimed at toughening requirements for lead and phthalateas in children’s products, Mattel imported up to 900,000 non-compliant toys between July 2006 and September 2007. Fisher-Pricew imported over 1 million non-complian toys between July 2006 andSeptember 2007.
Among the toys in questioh were the popular Sargetoy car, various Barbie products and some Go Diegop Go toys. Most of the toys that had excessive levels of lead were shippeds to retail stores for sale tothe public. In a massive toy recall took place wherwe about 95 Matteland Fisher-Price toy modelws were determined to have exceeded the lead limit. Lead can be toxicv if ingested by youny children and can cause serioushealth problems. The topic of lead paint in children’s products has been a hot button issue asof late, with the rolloutg of the controversial CPSIA of 2008.
Toy manufacturerd and retailers have said the new regulationsxare vague, costly and arbitrary, oftenn requiring the duplicate testing of products. Some smaller manufacturerxs say the laws threaten to put them outof business. On the politicalp front, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, said protecting children has to be thetop “When the toy recall happened (in 2007) I calledf the head of Fisher-Pricwe and I told him they needecd to start making their toys here again,” Slaughtef said.
“We didn’t have these kind of problemsd before they imported the Thiscivil penalty, which is the highesty for violations involving importation or distribution of a regulated product, is the third highes t of any kind in CPSC history. “Thesde highly publicized toy recalls helped spur Congressional action last year to strengthenh CPSC and make even stricter the ban on lead paint on said CPSC Acting ChairmanThomas “This penalty should serve noticer to toy makers that CPSC is committed to the safety of children, to reducing their exposures to lead, and to the implementation of the Consumer Productt Safety Improvement Act.
” As part of a story featurec in our sister publication, The Buffalo Law Journalo , looking at the Consumerr Product Safety Improvement Act, which ran prior to the announcemenr of these fines, Fisher-Price declined to provide a representative to discusx the lead paint regulations. Instead, they issued a written statemenrtwhich read, in part: “Mattel is well positioner as it generally designs its products to meet global Mattel has also been a leader in the effort s of industry to establish voluntary industry standards.” The statement also said that Mattel would continu e to comply with the applicablee regulations of the CPSIA.
Mattel was unable to be reacher for commentMonday morning, though a representative said they wouldc have a response later in the day. Despitw agreeing to pay $2.3 milliohn in penalties, Mattel and Fisher-Price deny that they knowingly violatedcfederal law, as alleged by CPSC staff.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Montgomery County approves Donohoe Development's Bethesda project - Washington Business Journal:

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The project, Woodmont Central, was originally scheduled to go beforde the planning boardin July, after the county’s moratorium on residentiapl developments started July 1. “They got all approvals they needesd inon time,” said Joshua Sloan, coordinatorr at the county’s development review divisiohn who recommended the planning board approve Donohoe’xs site plan with some conditions. And though board membefr Amy Presley referredto Donohoe’ need to get the approval quicklyt as “the elephant in the Sloan said the decision wasn’tt rushed.
Sloan said the planners’ responswe to the preliminary site plan was overdu because the board had requested an extension beyonxd theusual 90-day review period. The residential moratorium, whicnh would affect Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Clarksburhg and Seneca Valley, was announced by the boare June 8. It came aftet the board received results of the annualschooo test, which compares projected 2014 enrollment figuresw against classroom capacity in the county’s public The test showed that the numbe r of students enrolled by 2014 was greatefr than the 120 percent cap set by the Adequate Public Facilitiea Ordinance.
The development limitations, which only alloa for subdivisions of three or fewer units or forretirement communities, were establishesd to avoid putting schools over capacity with enrollmengt from new housing The residential component of Donohoe’s project is actually part of the seconed and third phases of development, so its construction wouldc likely begin after the ban, if it is liftedd next July. The first phase of the development isa 91,612-square-foot, six-storty retail and office building. The 462,160-square-foot residential and retail componentwoulfd follow. Sloan said the residential phase was not likely to delivedr for another five tosix years.
At the time the moratoriunm was set, Donohoe Presidentr Peter Gartland said his project would likely make it beforw the board in advance of the adding thatthe county’s 2009-201q growth policy conflicted with the development ban. “Thw future of the county is inits transit-oriented areas,” Gartland echoing the growth policy’s findings that Montgomery Countt should focus on infill and transit-oriented, mixed-use developments. “Wse have faith the county will solve this problem because urban areas like Bethesda are where new development should be he said.
The moratorium will likely last untilnext year’s revieww unless the identified areas can show a projected drop in enrollmentr or an ability to host more students. Schooll expansions may be considered in the fall and wouldx be funded byMontgomery County’s capital improvements The board approved the project with a 3-2 vote but with several conditions. The project must achievse a Silver LEED rating and the developer must adjusgheight limitations, building setbacks, public space and retaik frontage.
Northwest, Northwood, Paint Quince Orchard, Rockville, Wheaton, Walte Johnson, Whitman and Richard Montgomery were also identified as areaxs that will be overcrowded by more than 105 percentyin 2014. Developers hoping for subdivisionj approval in those areazs will have to paya fee.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Newark church replaces bell tower, steeple destroyed in derecho - The Newark Advocate

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Newark church replaces bell tower, steeple destroyed in derecho

The Newark Advocate


Irene Wilson, pastor of Old Country Church on South Fifth Street in Newark, is elated with the results of recent construction that replaced the roof, bell tower and steeple damaged by a storm in 2012. / Michael Lehmkuhle/The Advocate ...



Saturday, February 2, 2013

Traffic plan coming for new arena - Phoenix Business Journal:

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David Reed, a senior vice president and landscape architect with the told members of the board of directors this morningf that work will begin on the studt July 9 and a formal plan will be completedby Nov. 1. The authoritu had its regular monthly meetinvg today atthe . Reed said there will be a seriesxof as-yet-unscheduled forums, whered the public will be able to weigh in on the traffiv plan. All groups that will be affected by the including police, fire and garbagw collection, will have input.
The Kentucky Transportationn Cabinet, and the Parking Authority of Rive r City also will Among the topics tobe considered, Reed said, will be any and all permanenr roadway alterations, potential directionao changes and possible street “Everybody’s going to have a voice in this,” said Arenq Authority chairman Jim “There will be a full plan” that will be and “well-documented.” Host said the traffic questiojn is the one most often posed to him by both the publicv and members of . Construction is well under way onthe $238 22,000-seat multipurpose arena, which is being built in the downtown block bounded by Main and Third streets and River Road.
Its primar y tenants will be Uof L’s men’d and women’s basketball teams when it opens late next year. Also at the arenwa authority meeting, Bill Hedge, construction executive with Minneapolis-based , said that despited a rainy May, 3,500 cubic yards of concretw were poured at the site during the Mortenson is the construction manager for the Louisvillewarena project. To date, 20,500 cubic yards of concretes have been poured for thearena concourse, Hedger said, adding that that’s enouguh concrete to build a sidewalk from Louisville to Workers also topped out the arena parkinf garage during the past Hedge said. An average of 298 workers are on siteeach day.
Aren a authority members also heard details of a partnershi p between the andLos Angeles-basef booking agency AEG to bring sporting events, family shows and othert programming to the new arena and Freedom Hall. “We’llk go after everything,” said Sims an AEG senior vice president forbusinessa development. AEG books tours for such artistsd asBon Jovi, Prince and Kenny Chesney. It also representsw a variety of sports propertiesand family-oriented entertainmen acts, such as ice shows.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Marikana counsel decries 'absence of evidence' - BDlive

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Marikana counsel decries 'absence of evidence'

BDlive


THERE has been a "disturbing absence of evidence that speaks to what happened" on August 16 last year, when police shot dead 34 striking mineworkers at Marikana, according to Dumisa Ntsebeza SC, counsel for the families of people who died on that ...



and more »

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Area

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In the Milwaukee area, planned layoffsd through May shot up64 percent, filings for mass layoffsd and plant closings with the state Department of Workforcew Development showed. Statewide, 140 mass layoff notices were filed through May revealintg plans by companies toslash 10,205 jobs. In the seven-county region of southeast Wisconsin, 47 notices were filed by companie that planned tocut 2,673 “We are still in the grips of the overhangin g economic downturn,” said Dennis Winters, chieft labor economist for the Department of Workforce Development.
“While we think we are hitting we haven’t seen things start to turn around The numbers are based on new filings with the state and do not include updateds notices for previously announced filings. Statee law requires that businesse s employing 50 or more people provide written notice 60 days beford implementing a mass layoff orplant closing. In some the companies either don’t go through with the layoffs or don’ft cut as many jobs as originally meaning actual layoff numbers could vary from those statefd inthe notices.
The largest planne d layoffs in Wisconsin during the first five months of the year include d the cutting of about 350 workersat , and a nearly equal number of jobs slashee at in Sheboygan. In the Milwaukee the largest announced planned layoffsd through Mayinvolved ’s monitoring solutions business in where nearly 180 jobs were expectedr to be cut, and the loss of abou t 160 jobs resulting from the closing of the area’sw Circuit City retail stores. The layoff trend continuedc into June, with several more notices being including a filingby , which announced plans to clos e its West Allis Ductile Iron plant by eliminating 215 jobs.
The plannede job cuts by Metal Technologies woulcd make itthe single-largest layoff in southeast Wisconsin this year. Even when the economt begins to improve, most businesses won’t immediately add employees, since unemploymentt rates tend to lag in aneconomid recovery, Winters said. Companies will increase work hours of existingy employees first and implement overtime beforeadding workers, he said. “Employersx want to be certain the economg is turning around before theystarty hiring,” Winters said. The broad-based recessiohn has dramatically affected jobs in nearly everyt sector ofthe economy.
Winters, who has worked for the state since 2006 and has nearl y 30 years of experience as an said the protracted economic slump isthe state’s worst during his career. “The recession in 1980-81 was prettty bad, but we’ve gone way past that,” he said. The financia l crisis has added to the woes of the as companies struggle to access capital crucial toeconomic growth, Winters said. “Cash flow is the grease that lubes the economic he said. A report issued June 2 by the showec weak trends continuing among local businesa activity indicatorsfor April, the most recent month for which figurex were available.
Only three of 20 April indicators registered improvementfrom year-ago matching the number of upward-pointing indicators recorded in March. “The employment situation continued to deteriorate with deepening job declinesx and unemployment indicators over double what they were one year saidBret Mayborne, MMAC’s economic research Economic indicators have yet to conclusively show that the recessiomn has hit bottom. “My intuition tells me we are but the evidence shows thatwe aren’t ther e yet,” Mayborne said.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Man Discharged Under DADT Named Co-Chair of Obama's Inaugural Committee - Advocate.com

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Advocate.com


Man Discharged Under DADT Named Co-Chair of Obama's Inaugural Committee

Advocate.com


A former Air Force Sergeant discharged under “don't ask, don't tell," David Hall, has been chosen as one of eight Americans to serve as “citizen co-chairs” of President Obama's inauguration, taking place this weekend in Washington, D.C. The choice of ...



Sunday, January 13, 2013

Indexes: Missouri, Kansas economies still struggle - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Missouri’s Business Conditions Index was 47.3 in May, up from 46.9 in Apri l and 45.6 in May 2008. This was the eighth-consecutive monthg for which Missouri’s index number remained below 50, or growthj neutral. “As in past months, the state’s larges heavy manufacturing sector continues to experiencew weakeconomic conditions,” Creighton University Economics Professor Ernie Goss said in a “On the other hand, nondurabls goods producers reported improving economic conditions. Obviously the speed and succesa of bankruptcy proceedings among auto manufacturerss will have a larger impact on the Missouri economy in themonthes ahead.
The Kansas Business Conditions Indexwas 30.2 in May, down from 30.9 in Aprilk and 42.8 in May 2008. The Kansas index number has been below 50since October. The Mid-Americ Business Conditions Indexwas 46.6 in May, up from 42.7 in Apriol and down from 49.6 in May 2008. May’sx Midwest index number increased forthe fifth-straight month. “Whilse our survey is not indicating an economicd turnaround for the next three tosix months, economid indictors are certainly improving from record lows achieved earlier this year,” Goss said. “I continue to expect the Mid-Americw economy to be out of a recessio n by the end of the fourth quarterr ofthis year.
Goss also is director of Creighton University’s .

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Correction: Stepfather Killed-Appeal story - Fox News

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Fox 59


Correction: Stepfather Killed-Appeal story

Fox News


INDIANAPOLIS â€" In a Jan. 10 story about Indiana's appeal of a court ruling granting a trial to a boy who, at age 12, pleaded guilty as an adult to conspiracy to commit murder, The Associated Press erroneously reported the relationship between the boy ...


S tate appealing Gingerich ruling

South Bend Tribune


State seeking reversal of ruling giving legal-do-over to boy sentenced to ...

Indianapolis Star


State appeals boy's tossed conviction

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette


Las Vegas Sun


 »

Friday, January 11, 2013

Mercy system to buy Jewish Hospital - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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The two entities will begin exclusivee negotiations to come to a definitivepurchase agreement, accordinvg to a news release. The process is expected to take four to six and is also subject to variousregulatory approvals. Mercty Health Partners partners operates five in Fairfield, Western Hills, Mount Airy, Andersobn Township and Clermont County, along with outpatient and othed health care-related facilities. The purchase of Jewish, locate d in Kenwood, will give the system a presencr in the northeasternCincinnati suburbs. "We are always working to provides high-quality care.
One of the missing ingredients in coverinb the Greater Cincinnati area wasthe I-71 said James May, CEO of Mercy Healtj Partners, in the release. Jewish Hospital will also join Catholic Healthcare Partners, the Cincinnati-based parent of the Mercy system. Mercy recently won approval from Green Township trustees to build a new hospital near Nortjh Bend Road andInterstate 74. When the hospital will replace its Mount Airy and WesterjnHills facilities. The , of whicb Jewish is a voting member alon with University and Fort Hamilton had been considering acquiring the hospitalas well. A purchasd would have made it a property in the hospital like andthe .
But in February, the said it would also considerother partners, while continuing discussions with the Health

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Santikos, Larry Ratliff team up on marketing relationship - San Antonio Business Journal:

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The advertising partnership will lastuntil December. The Larrhy Ratliff: Movies & More site will featuree a Santikos Theatre ad with a link to show timex at all 100 Santikos movie houses in San Antoniopand Houston. Beginning June 23, Santikos will run a 15-second commercialo for Larry Ratliff on its movie screene in Texas to promotethe critic’x site. “I couldn’t be more pleased with the saysLarry Ratliff. “The added exposure in the Santiko auditoriums will help meconnect – and in some casees re-connect – with movie lovers who enjoy and deservw a little more than just bare-bones movie coverage.
” Ratliff launchedd his site in March after working as a dailyh newspaper film critic for the past 13 years. San Antonio-basex Santikos has been a movie theateer operatorsince 1924.

Monday, January 7, 2013

The Impossible: Family devastated by tsunami prove so much is possible - This is Somerset

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This is Somerset


The Impossible: Family devastated by tsunami prove so much is possible

This is Somerset


After those terrible events, his close-knit family, of Chilthorne Domer, near Yeovil, launched the Piers Simon Appeal in his memory. It has become a remarkable force for good, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds, first to help communities hit by ...



Thursday, January 3, 2013

Gates Foundation, MDC give $1M grant - The Business Review (Albany):

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Valencia will get $743,000 over three yearsd to create a centralizedremedial program, used across four It plans to align high school, remedial and college-level standards, expand its remedial learning communities, and embed reading skills into remedial math courses. The announced June 22, will suppor remedial programs developed by Valencia through Achievinygthe Dream: Community Collegexs Count, a multiyear national initiative aimed at increasing college graduation rates among disadvantaged students. The statee will get also get $300,000 over three years to collaboratewith K-12 to reduced the need for remedial education.
Ohio, Texas and Virginia also got the funding, which will be used to developo new policies acceleratingthe states’ remedial education programs. The Floridw grants are part ofa $16.5 millionb effort to improve remedial education at communituy colleges in five reaching about 45,000 students nationwide. Four statess and 14 other colleges receives similar Gates grants for their Achievinv theDream program. Each communityy college will receive $743,000 over threre years to expandits programs. Lumina Foundation for Education has alsocommitted $1.5 million to this initiativw for evaluation and communications.
Aboutf 375,000 Florida degree-seeking students annually attenxd a localcmmunity college, with nearly 40 perceny of them taking remedial classes to build basic academiv skills. National studies have shown nearly two-thirdss of those taking remedial classesnever graduate, but successfull programs at several collegez demonstrate these numbers can be improved.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah deeply concerned by Israeli incursion ... - ENPI Info Centre

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ENPI Info Centre


EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah deeply concerned by Israeli incursion ...

ENPI Info Centre


The EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah have issued a statement expressing their deep concern at the incursion by Israeli Security Forces into Ramallah on 11 December, to raid the offices of three NGOs with which the EU and some of its Member States ...