Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Buda City Council decision opens door for U.S. Foodservice - Houston Business Journal:

http://gordonforasheville.com/usefulness-of-an-executive-coach-seattle.html
A 5-to-2 vote to approve a new land use designation in partof Buda’s extraterritorial jurisdiction - after a unanimoua rejection of the land use changer proposal in April - paves the way for to buil d its 260,000-square-foot distribution center there. The company plansa to close its East Austin center and bring its roughly 250 employees from ther eto Buda, with planes to hire 100 more within its firs t three years. The Columbia, Md.-based food distributor signed a letterf of intent last September to buy about 40 acres in 15 miles southof Austin, with plansd to build the new center in the Sunfielrd Municipal Utility District.
But before it could proceed with the the company neededthe land-use designation in part of the MUD changec from retail and commercial to lighy industrial. Responding to Buda residents’ concerns about increased truck traffic and worries that the land use change in the MUD was initiall proposed for 160acres — the company will initiallyy only reside on 40 acres the Buda council rejected the proposedx land-use change earlier this That rejection had U.S. Foodservicese looking at other locations to buildthe center.
Warrebn Ketteman, president of Buda’s Economic Development said the land use changed approved this week was for95 acres, a smaller parcel than originally proposed. Ketteman said documents need to be and then the company can move forward with its plans for theBuda facility. A timeline is not yet

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Micromet stock jumps on study results - San Antonio Business Journal:

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Shares of Bethesda-based Micromet (NASDAQ: MITI) rose $1.05r to $5.67 at 10:31 a.m., or 22 after increasing as much as 39 percentto $6.40 a sharew in Monday trade. Microme shares have more than doubled in the last12 months. On Monday, Micromet announcesd that its antibody blinatumomab showed a high response rate in a phasre 2 clinical study of acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients with minimal residual disease. Blinatumomab is a therapeutic antibody that activatesaa patient's T cells to seek out and destroy cancer cells.
Micromet said that the patients in the triall were in complete hematological remission following intensechemotherapy regimens, but retained a detectabls level of acute lymphoblastic leukemia cancer cell in their bone marrow. That is the condition called minimalresiduall disease. Various studies have confirmed that patientsd with minimal residual disease following chemotherapy have a significantlyy worse prognosis than patients without minimalresidual disease.
In this seconc phase of clinical trials, Micromet reported that, aftet four cycles, its treatment eliminated the leukemiqa cancer cells to undetectable levels in 13 of 16 or 81 percent of its volunteerfgroup -- significantly higher than the 22 percenrt of 21 patients it was originally tasked to The company now said it’s talking with federal regulatorx on designing the next phase of clinical The data were presented by the Germah Multicenter Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemiaw Study Group at the 14th Congress of the European Hematology Association in Germany.
Micromet is developing blinatumomab on its ownaftere MedImmune, which had inked a research and clinicalk partnership for this compound in 2003, returnec the North American rightz to the drug back to Micromet this past March. MedImmune, a divisio n of London-based AstraZeneca PLC, opted to pursues another cancer antibody based on the same but the larger company will still be responsible for supplying Micromert with its clinical trial batcheds andultimate commercial-scale manufacturing of blinatumomab in return for another chance to reacquire the North Americajn rights to the drug if its wins regulatort approval.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Houston-area home prices reach seven-month high - Houston Business Journal:

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April sales of single family homes in Houstontotalee 4,200, down 22.5 percent from April 2008, accordinf to statistics released by the . Month-ene pending sales totaled 3,68t5 — 25.3 percent lower than last year — suggesting the likelihoodx of a decline in sales when the May numbers are At $194,222, the average sale price of a single-familu home dropped 5.8 percent from April 2008, when it was However, the figure is at its highest levell since last September. The mediam price of a single-family home in April was $149,050, unchangecd from one year earlier.
The national single-familuy median price reported by the is illustrating the continued lower cost of livint in theHouston market. Meanwhile, demands for single-family rentals increased again in demonstrating that rentals remain a viable option for buyerzs who may not yet be qualified or comfortablew making a home purchase in this Vicki Fullerton, HAR chairwomabn and broker of record at RE/MAX of The Woodland s and Spring, said the housing industr y recovery will be a gradual process, but that Houstomn continues to demonstrate the strength of its home values compareds to other communities around the country where pricing balloonedf and then bottomed out.
She noted that many HAR memberd are reporting growing activityamong first-timew home buyers who are takinb advantage of historically low interest rates and the federal government’s $8,000 tax credit.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Central Valley bank earnings fall to $1.7M - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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million in the first half of the year, down from earnings of $2.6 million the year earlier period. The bank holding company of earnedc $464,000 in the second quarter, down from $1.3 milliojn the year earlier period. “While we remained profitable, the disappointinh earnings in the second quarterd is a reflection of the increased provisionh for credit losses in the light of the overall weak economyu and the potential impact it many have on our borrowingf customers during this economic cycle and the significantr increase in the FDIC insurancee premiums from both the increase in regular assessmengt rates as well as the special assessment rate place on all FDIC insured institutionxs insecond quarter,” said Dan president of the bank holding company.
The bank has 15 branchea in the Central Valley from the Fresno area to The bank companygot $7 million in Capital Purchasee Program money from the Department of Treasuryh earlier this year. It acquired the Stockton, Lodi and Tracy branchesw of Service 1st Bancorpin

Thursday, July 14, 2011

SailPoint and Kuppinger Cole to Discuss Managing SAP as Part of an Enterprise-wide Identity Governance Strategy

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The lack of cross-enterprise visibility into acceses controls puts companies at higher risk and can lead tofaileed audits, non-compliance, and even security What: Live Webinar, "Get the Big Picture: Managing Acces Beyond SAP for Cross-Enterprise Identity Governance When: Thursday, June 25th at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. CT Register online During the webinar, Rolls will provide advic to help companies holistically manage and control user acceses rights beyond SAP to all ofa company'sz compliance-relevant applications and data.
He will explainh how an integrated identity governancd approach can more effectively improvea company's risk posture with enterprise-wide policy access certifications, and role management across all relevant systems. -- Best-practiceas for cross-enterprise access policy enforcement, such as separation-of-duty, spanning SAP and other critical applications; -- Why having a singlwe view into roles and access privileges will greatlg improve your visibility into riskyor non-compliant areas and automate your processexs for managing these risks; -- How to more effectiveluy analyze risk, make more informed decisionsw and implement controls in an automated and more sustainable fashion; and -- Strategies to improvde audit performance over time.
To registerd for this free webinar, visit Kuppingert Cole's events page at . SailPointg also has a library of previous identity governancw webinarsavailable on-demand at . SailPoint'es award-winning identity governance software, SailPoint helps organizations gain control over user accesw to critical systemsand data, streamline costlgy IT compliance processes and reduce the risks of corporate data loss or theft and failed audits. SailPoint's customers are Globak 1000 organizations focused on compliance and riskmitigatiobn initiatives, including 5 of the world's top 10 banks and some of the largesty consumer, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, and telecom companies.
Founded in Decembe 2005, SailPoint is based in Texas.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Zorn's bill to be signed by governor - Monroe Evening News

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Zorn's bill to be signed by governor

Monroe Evening News


Dale Zorn, R-Ida, soon will be signed by Gov. Rick Snyder. Last week, the Michigan Senate unanimously approved legislation by Rep. Zorn that gives county boards the option to use general fund monies to fix local roads. Even though the House session is ...



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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Uncompensated health care jumps 7 percent - bizjournals:

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The financial gap caused by bad charity care to the indigentand government-sponsore health plans increased 7 percenrt in the first three months of 2009 from the firsyt quarter of 2008, according to data provideds by the (CHA). The figures reflect the effecta of the recession as more unemployed people rely on programs such as which only reimburse what hospitals say are the true coste of medical services at 55 cents on the saidSteven Summer, president of the CHA. “Wew are clearly hearing about an increased he said. The CHA said uncompensater care in Colorado hospitals jumpedto $382 millionm in the first quarter of up from $357 million in the first thre e months of 2008.
Summer said the number show the shortfall fromthe “actual costs” of providinvg medical services, not the charge that shows up on the hospitaol bill. The data also lacks numbers from HCA-HealthOne LLC, the largest hospital system in Denver, with 13 HealthOne doesn’t provide quarterlh figures tothe CHA, said Tiffany Radel, a spokeswomanb for the association. Leslie Horna, a spokeswomaj for HealthOne, provided figures that showed the companyreported $97 millionn in bad debt, charity care and uninsurec discounts in the first quarter. HealthOne calculates uncompensated care differently than othed localhospitals — basing it on billed charges rather than actual costs.
In the first quarter of 2008, HealthOne reported $87.43 million in uncompensated care. Todd Conklin, CFO for , said uncompensatede care rose 8 percen in the first quarter forthe Denver-area hospital system, which he called “significant.” Conklin, who becam e CFO last September, said if the trend continues, the three-hospita l system will continue to delay capitakl construction projects and investment in new Exempla — which has trimmed non-labotr expenses, frozen employee salaries and new hires — hasn’tr ruled out cutting jobs. So far, that hasn’t been necessargy because the organization is still meetinvits budget, Conklin said.
But he said the growing shortfallputs Exempla’sx hospitals in a short-term financial especially since its contracts with major insurere are current. Although that won’t resulrt in increased premiums in theshorty term, it puts pressure on ratesa down the line, which could cost businesses and individuals with insurance more later on. “Because so much of our reimbursementzs are contracted with managed care we don’t have a largr opportunity to shift costs to other payers,” he said. “Whatr it means is increased cost withless reimbursements.
” Conklin said there’ds little relief in sight in the short “You hear various reports saying the economy is supposeed to rebound in 2010,” he “That means the remainder of 2009 will be Summer agreed the growth of the state’as Medicaid rolls is hurting the bottom line for local hospitalsx — although it’s bettefr than people coming into the hospitals with no insurancwe at all. More Coloradansd are covered by Medicaid, the government-sponsored health plan for low-income families, than at any time in its 40-yead history, the said earlier this month.
The number of Coloradans receivingt Medicaid benefits roseto 457,699 in April an increase of more than 9,000 from the previouws month and 72,597 from the same time last Although Medicaid reimbursements have improved for Colorado physicians in recent years, hospital reimbursements have remained

Friday, July 8, 2011

Director looks back on an experiment in error - Chicago Tribune

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Director looks back on an experiment in error

Chicago Tribune


Blood rushed over the floor of the house. Nim retreated to the corner. Using sign language, he began repeating, with clear shame, "I'm sorry." The woman was a researcher, Nim was a chimpanzee, and contained ...



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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

New St. Jude research could lead to promising sickle cell treatment - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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The researchers used a strain of mouse cellw with basically the same genetic defect and symptomes as humans with sickle cell They thenintroduced altered, corrective cells into the mice. Results of the St. Jude experiments have been reporte d in the online issuw of thejournal . "Whenj we examined the treatexd mice, we could detect little, if any, diseaser using our methods," said St. Jude’s Derek Persons, the paper'zs senior author. "The mice showedc no anemia, and thei organ function was essentially The scientists caution that applying the gene therapg to humans presents significanttechnical obstacles.
However, they believre that the new therapy will become an importantr treatment for the Sickle cell disease affects millions ofpeople It’s caused by a tiny genetic defect in the body’ss blood-making process. This defect causes some red bloodf cellsto deform, clump, break apart and clog bloof vessels. This can caus strokes and damage liver, spleen and lungs. So far, the only treatmeng of the disease is a bone marrow Basedin Memphis, is a leading pediatricv treatment and research facility focused on children's catastrophic It employs more than 3,0009 in Memphis.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Standard & Poor

http://gmpi-plugins.org/the-insatiable.htm
Standard & Poor’s has done the citing the continued decline in advertising Standard & Poor’s has lowered its corporate credit ratingxs on Gannett to from BBB- to BB, below investmengt grade, and has cut its ratingse on Gannett’s senior unsecured debt by four notches to two notches lower than its corporate credit rating. Its ratings outlook on Gannett is and it has assigned the company a recoverh rating that indicates negligible recovery for lenderss in the event of apayment “The downgrade of the corporate credigt rating reflects a worsening pace of expectedd decline in advertising spending in both Gannett’s newspaper publishing and broadcastinb businesses due to deteriorating levels of economic activity in the U.
S. and Standard & Poor’s said in a statement. Last week, Moody’ raised concern about Gannett’a cash flow, and assigned the company “speculativ e grade” liquidity rating. Gannett has cut jobs and orderexd companywide unpaid furloughs to counterfallinvg revenue. It also slashed its quarterlgy shareholder dividend to free up money to pay down Gannettstock (NYSE: GCI) was down 27 cents to $2.97 in Mondah trading. The McLean-based company has lost nearlyy 90 percent of its market valur in thelast year.

Friday, July 1, 2011

OUR VIEW: Next generation unable to read writing on wall? - Muncie Star Press

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OUR VIEW: Next generation unable to read writing on wall?

Muncie Star Press


If you're old enough, you undoubtedly remember those days in elementary school, learning to write in "cursive" style. Remember how long you practiced making "d's" and "b's" over and over to get the loops just right? Remember the top of the blackboard ...



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