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.