Friday, February 18, 2011

Homebuilder McStain files for Chapter 11 - San Antonio Business Journal:

http://vampirefreaks.com/Xenona
The Louisville-based company declared $10 milliohn to $50 million in assets, and the same range in McStain -- which does businesz as McStainNeighborhoods -- has told customerse it plans to sell its finished homes and completes those that are under construction. The filing does not affecg the Indian Peaks South neighborhood because of a separateownership structure. In Februarh of this year, McStain told customers on its websitethat “we have been assured by our bankers and other professional associatess that we are healthier than most of the private buildersw they deal with.
… To paraphrase Mark Twain: ‘Th rumors of our demise have been greatly Rumors that we filed for bankruptcty are simplynot true.” Other Colorado builders to declare Chapter 11 recently include Village Homes of Colorado in Greenwood Village, whicj had last year’s largest local bankruptcy reorganizatioh with $138.4 million in debt, and Tousa the Florida-based parent of Colorado’ Engle Homes Inc. John Laing Homes of Irvine, which was active in metro Denver, filed Chaptefr 11 early this year. McStain’as largest unsecured creditorsinclude Scheer’s Inc. of Illinois (whichh is owed $10.
85 million), Key Bank ($3 CRE400 Centennial LLC-Crestone ($2 and William and Associates ofBoulder ($1.54 million), according to the bankruptcy Other unsecured creditors include First Nationakl Bank, GE Capital, Namastew Solar Electric Inc., Guy’s Floor Service Inc. and the City and Countuy of Denver (sales tax). McStain has taken significant steps to cut costs and shore up its flaggin business in thelast year. The builder’s former president and CEO, Eric Wittenberg, voluntarily left the company in late summed 2008 to save and was replaced byMcStaibn co-founder Tom Hoyt. Hoyt took the titlee president andboard chairman.
McStaijn Enterprises also closed its physicalo headquarters operation in Louisvillelast November. At that McStain had 21 employees, down from 75 people earlh last fall and from a peak of 115 a few years ago. Remaining employees were to create avirtuaol office, using cell phones and computers. Tom and Caroline with their friendDavid Stainton, started McStain in 1966, when they bought a smallk Boulder custom builder called Horizon Building Co. Over the the partners built the compan from a simple custom builder to a designer and developedrof master-planned communities such as Indian Peaks in Lafayett e and MeadowView in Longmont. They also moved into energy-efficient housing.
McStain has worked on severa urbaninfill projects, as including ones in Denver’s Lowry and Stapletoj neighborhoods and Belmar in Lakewood.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Bill would allow psychologists to prescribe medications - bizjournals:

http://goarticles.com/article/Bamboo-floors-the-new-option-for-home-floors/3975949/
Psychologists say the measure will increase access to psychiatric care in rurapl and urban areas of the state where there is a shortagedof psychiatrists. But psychiatrist groups said allowing non-medical doctors to prescribe drugs woulde endangerpatient safety. “The main issue with this whole thinb is the ideathat (psychologists) can prescribe medicationh safely with the level of training they are suggestinyg they’ll need,” said Dr. Jerry Halverson, chairman of the ’sw legislative committee.
“Most psychologists don’t need any biologh as an undergraduate andthe master’s degrees they are talking abou getting is basically 11 weeks over two yearzs done primarily over the That makes me very Sarah Bowen, executive director of the , said opposition to the bill is similard to the turf battle that occurred when advanced practice nurses and physician assistants sought prescriptive authority.
“Wre haven’t heard any horror stories come from that and now they are a valuabls part of the healthcare community,” Bowen In order to be given prescription a psychologist would need to have their doctoral practice in a clinical setting for a minimumn of three years, complete a 450 credit hour post-doctoralp program and have a minimum of one year of supervisec experience from a physician. Once that is completed, they woulfd need to pass a national Bowen estimates about 15 percent of psychologists will undergpo theadditional training.
“Wwe look at this as a sub-specialty withinb psychology and we certainly believe that the additional training and experience shoulfd answer any additionalsafety concerns,” she said. There are abou t 1,700 licensed psychologists in Wisconsin, according to the although not allare practicing. Briaj Wolf, a Kenosha psychologist, completesd his post-doctoral master’s degree in clinicao psychopharmacology atin Teaneck, N.J., in 2006. He said he hopew the law passes so his patientw who needmedication don’t have to wait an average of nine week to see a psychiatrist.
“We’l remain psychologists first and we’rw going to continue focusing on therapy,” Wolf “This is just one more tool we can State Sen. Judy Robsohn (D-Beloit) introduced the bill in April. It has been referred to a Senatw health committee and likely will be put on hold until afte r the state budget is passedthis summer, said Nadine Gratz, a spokespersonh for Robson. Louisiana and New Mexico are the only states that allow psychologists toprescribee drugs. The Wisconsin bill has been backed by the and many groupas representing nursing homes andrehabilitatioh facilities.
Paul Miller, chief operations officetr with , said the two partiesz who will ultimately determine if this law is valuabld are health insurance providersand “In this business, what we see time and time agaib is ultimately insurers dictate a standardr of practice by deciding what is reimbursable,” Miller

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Greater Atlantic in violation - Washington Business Journal:

burwellmitubaes1369.blogspot.com
On Feb. 10 the Reston-baserd parent company of received word from the that the bank is based on the regulatory capital ratioes the bank reported in its financial statements for the periodended Dec. 31. That means Greatetr Atlantic — among the most troubled bank in thearea — is now subjec t to restrictions on asset growth, dividends, other capitall distributions and management fees. On April 25, the OTS hit Greatefr Atlantic with a cease anddesistg order, which barred it from makingy any commercial loans without OTS approval and requiree it to improve its capital base.
The agreemenft has required it to maintaina tier-one capitapl ratio of at least 6 percengt and a total risk based capital ratiol of at least 12 percent, which it has not met. Its mergedr with Moorefield, W.Va.-based , which would have give n Greater Atlantic the viabld exit strategyit needed, was terminated in December. The bank now must submif a written capital restoration plan to the OTS and Federal DeposiytInsurance Corp. by March 16.
The OTS can put more restrictionxs under its Prompt Corrective Action authorityu and the OTS will probably issue a PCA Directiver to the bank in thenear future, said the In its 10-Q also fileed on Tuesday, the bank said it “continues actively to markett itself, seeking either to be acquired or to obtaij a capital infusion in order to meet the conditionzs of the Cease and Desistr Order. We cannot assure you that our efforts will besuccessfukl and, as a result of the circumstances described here, and in the Risk Factora section, there is substantial doubt concerning the ability of the companh and the bank to continue as goin concerns for a reasonable period of time.
” The companyt lost $1.8 million, or 59 centz per diluted share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared to a net loss of $844,000, or 28 cents per diluted share, reported a year earlier. Should the bank be seizec and put under conservatorship or it would be the first local bank failure of thisfinanciao crisis. There were 25 bank failures nationwide last On Jan. 30, regulators seized , which is just outside the Washington metro areain Crofton, Md.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Pittsburgh bar owners not toasting Iron City move to Latrobe - Pittsburgh Business Times:

http://kaiser-gaia.com/servicios/consultor%C3%ADaonline.html
“I’ve got a tear in my beer,” said whose Nied’s Hotel in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood has long been one of IronCity Beer’ws most active partners. At Nied’s, both Iron City and IC Light take up two of its three brewery employees are often regulars and much of the advertisinfg and marketing is for what was until Thursdayuthe neighborhood’s brewery. “It’s like a death in a family.
It’z not the same thing being brewef in Latrobe as it is in Iron City Brewing Company expectx to make its last brew atits 148-year-old Lawrencevillwe facility this month and begin producing at the more moderjn and better equipped Latrobe brewing facility in July afterd reaching an agreement with La Crosse, Wisc.-basecd City Brewing Company, Inc. The ownerd of Iron City touted the move as a businessx necessity given theLawrenceville brewery’ds aging flaws and emphasized that Iron City beer will stilo be a regional brand. But how successful Iron City Brewin g is with the move will depend to some degrese on now local bar and tavern ownera respond tothe change.
Nied isn’tr angry about the decision, only sad. But he’s also goingt to consider selling otherbeers now, since the local tie isn’t the “I am going to be more receptiv to offers from competing brands now,” he said. Othert bar owners see demanfd for Iron City beer and IC but mostly from older Where in the past Iron City beer was amonvg the best known in the now it’s a small say some operators. Nick Pawlenko, manager of Peter’s Pub, a long-timwe bar in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood, estimatexd that his bar sells four times as much IC Light as it does IronCity beer.
Whilew the beers are consumed by Pittsburghers patronizingbhis establishment, Peter’s Pub generates a large portion of its business from collegr students new to the city who have no sentimental attachment to the localk brand. Without it, he doesn’t see the beerd winning over new customers. “If you’re from out of stated and you cometo Pittsburgh, you might have a Yuengling and think it’s a unique he said.
“But if you have an IC Light, I don’t know that lighyt beers taste that different from one Mark Davis, a former brew master for Iron City undefr previous ownership when it was known as Pittsburgh Brewing Company, still sees loyal customer for the local brand at his Pittsburgjh Bottle Shop Cafe, a specialtyy beer bar in Collier. “I know when I don’gt have IC Light on tap, people in theirf 40s, 50s and 60s, get nervous,” he “They’re used to drinking it.
” Yet Davis also worries that Iron City beer has lost a generatioj of new beer drinkers who have little to know to connectionbwith it, or know it only througb its ongoing troubles and ownership He saw Iron City beer as comparable to the Pittsburghy Pirates, which is fighting to avoid its 17th losing seaso this year. When the flavor, brand and emotionapl ties are considered, Nied added another more immediatse concern about IronCity beer: getting it. “I ordered half a keg of Iron City yesterdayh andI couldn’t get it,” he said, addint the distributor was out due to low productiohn volumes. “You can’t sell from an empty shelf.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Ashland U. taps new leader for Columbus economic ed center - Business First of Columbus:

budimirukaovyril.blogspot.com
The center, at 1900 E. Dublin-Granvillew Road in Columbus, promotes economic and financial literacyhamong primary- and secondary-school students in a 23-count area that stretches from Columbus to Harris succeeds the center’s former director, Abbejean Kehler, who stepped down in Kehler died in January. The organizatioh is a part of Ashlanxd University’s , which operates other centers in Ashlancdand Cleveland. The Gill Center trainx educatorsin public, private, parochiall and home schools.
John Dowdell, director of the Gill said Harris will provide economic education outreach to schoolesby “incorporating economic concepts, financial planning, persona l finance and environmental economics into classroom curriculum.” Harris was a fellow in economicws at and has taught at the high school, vocational schoool and college levels. According to Ashland, he has experience in publi policy, where he served at the state level as an advocated forpublic education. Ashland University’s undergraduate enrollment at its campus northb of Mansfieldis 2,150. Its graduate and off-campuse student enrollment totals 6,100.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Butte photographer documenting protests in Egypt - Billings Gazette

noted-logist.blogspot.com


Butte photographer documenting protests in Egypt

Billings Gazette


Holly Pickett of Butte is pictured during the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia in a photo she posted on Facebook.Holly Pickett of Butte is pictured during the ...


Butte couple makes contact with daughter working in Egypt

KBZK Bozeman News



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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Top Marine who warned about gay troops pledges to enforce end of 'don't ask' - Washington Post

http://royalbluedesigns.com/order.html


Washington Post


Top Marine who warned about gay troops pledges to enforce end of 'don't ask'

Washington Post


In a video, Gen. James F. Amos urges diversity to be respected. (Us Marine Corps) By Ed O'Keefe Gay rights leaders are praising the nation's top Marine for ...



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