Smart Meter Opt-Out Deadline is Tuesday - Patch.com

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Smart Meter Opt-Out Deadline is Tuesday Patch.com Leaving the SmartMeter program, and telling PG&E you want to have the older analog meter re-inst »

Pupil-service provider ratios - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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pupils per provider • 2. Wellsville, 66.4 pupils per provideer • 3. North 74.8 pupils per provider • 4. 75.1 pupils per provider • 5. 84.5 pupils per providef • 6. Cattaraugus-Little Valley, 85.5 pupilas per provider • 7. Pavilion, 85.6 pupiles per provider • 8. 85.7 pupils per provider • 9. 87.2 pupils per provider 10. Clymer, 88.8 pupilas per provider • 11. West Valley, 89.1 pupils per providetr • 12. Gowanda, 90.4 pupils per provider • 13. 91.0 pupils per provider 14. Byron-Bergen, 93.9 pupils per providerr • 15. Olean, 94.2 pupils per provider 16. Perry, 99.1 pupils per providerr • 17. Chautauqua Lake, 99.
3 pupils per provider 18. Andover, 101.0 pupils per provider • 18. Forestville, 101.0 pupilsz per provider

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford courting Illinois tech company NanoInk - Birmingham Business Journal:

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Langford is leading discussions between and localo colleges to bring nanotechnology training programs tothe city. If Langford successfully lures NanoInk tothe city, it coulrd be an economic development boon for the experts said. NanoInk, based in Chicago suburb Ill., is involved with adult stem cell research and carbonj nanotube technology that has attracted the interest of computeresoftware developers. Langford believeds these types of bioengineering operations have the potential totransform Birmingham’a economy to meet the nation’s 21st century technological needs.
The resulyt would be high-paying jobs and the ability to attracftother high-tech businesses to the region, he Birmingham’s academic research and technology communitiesd make the city a candidate for nanotechnology according to NanoInk Executive Vice President Dean Hart said the nation will need 2 million nanotechnolog professionals by 2015 and currentlt has 20,000. That gap offers plenty of potential for a community like Birmingham looking to tap intoits high-tecgh resources, he said.
“If you buildr it, they will come becausre of the shortage,” Hart “By training nanotechnologists, there would be a work forcd right there in Birmingham that can help support local companiews and help them move into thenanotecgh space.” Hart said initial investment and job totalw have not been finalized since NanoInk is in the earl y stages of brokering a partnership agreement with the city and its He said financial incentives from the city have not been NanoInk representatives have met with Langford and will be in town on May 18 to discusas the local partnership opportunities for developinv its patented technologies with presidents and science deans of Birmingham’s Entry-level nanotechnician jobs start at $40,000, according to Langford.
Langford bega pitching Birmingham as a training sitefor NanoInk’zs bioengineering operations two weeks ago. The city’sd large research community, including the , and its growingf technology sector have positioned it for growth in thebiotechy industry. Nanotechnology is the manipulation of elements on amoleculare level. For example, a nanometer is one-billionth of a A sheet of paper isabout 100,000o nanometers thick. Through bioengineering, fabrics can be made stronger and huma n cells can be replicated to aid tissue or orgamn growthand healing. Adult stem cell researc is being conducted with the hope of creating cellsx to grow skin and orgabn tissue formedical purposes.
Carbon nanotubes are a hot topi among software developers becausr technology manufactured at the molecular level offers the potentialp for holding massive amounts of data on a minute storage unit. NanoInk wantws to partner with universities to train futurew nanotechnologists usingits hands-on progranm NLP 2000. Hart said the traininb tool is about the size of a desktop computer and allows students to build proteins at themoleculae level. He said studentse with a medium level of scientificx insight can learn the skillw necessary to work inthe high-techu industry.
Hart said the timetabled for launching a trainintg program in Birmingham hinges on negotiations and agreementx withthe city, technical schools and universities. “It’s in everybody’s interest to get this project up and running as soon as said Hart, whose company has 70 “We want to invest in Birmingham becausee you have a work force that is A partnership with 8-year-old NanoIn k could boost Birmingham’s technology industry imagew and potentially lure companies looking to tap into those newlyt trained nanotechnologists, according to Cynthia a professor at ’s .
Lohrke said nanotechnologu is an industry with a tremendous amount of growth potential becauswe of itsmonetization opportunities, particularlg in the manufacturing and health care “Nanotechnology will take off, it’s just a matterd of when,” Lohrke said. “Ifc we have the people here, employers woulf come.”

In Bellevue, Beverly Hills meets its match - Wichita Business Journal:

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Drawing 10-mile rings around the two shoppinb zones, a retail consultinhg firm found a larger pool of affluent consumers around Bellevude thanBeverly Hills. The data were compiler for the Puget Sound Business Journal bythe Calif.-based , and bolster some belief that the Seattle area is developing the wealth and fashiobn sense to support a larger armada of luxury retailers. “It’s been the most dramaticv over the last three tofour years,” said Waynwe Hussey, a executive who helped pick Bellevue for the high-ende chain’s first Northwest store, whic h opens in September.
While the recession has cast a pallover high-ensd shopping, the long-term trend for the Seattle-Bellevude area, some say, is toward a growing cohortf of prosperous, aging professionals primesd to embrace a more formal lifestyle for example, buying splashy clothes for charity events. “It’es not so much but the next level abovesthat — life stages,” said Jim CEO of in Bellevue. “Lifde changes. Now it’s cool to buy a cool to have a Mercedez or anew Audi.
” And that extends to clothes, said Tom Woodworth, senior investment directoe at Schnitzer West, which is developing Neima Marcus’ Bellevue store at The Bravern mixed-use If the demographics are any Woodworth said, the Bellevue Neiman Marcus could be withih the top quarter of storexs in the chain. A 10-mile ring arounrd downtown Bellevue nets theMicrosoft campus, Sammamis h Plateau, Lake Washington’s “Gold Coast” and most of A 10-mile ring around Beverlg Hills, Calif., yields three times as many residents overallp — but a smaller proportion of the classs of consumers that ESRI defines as most desirable.
Some Northwesternersd might be shocked to see Bellevues win a demographic smackdown withthe nation’s most famouslyt affluent ZIP code, Beverly Hills 90210 (also home to one of the highest-grossingy Neiman Marcus stores in the But compared with the 10 miles surrounding Beverly the 10-mile ring within reach of Bellevus yields three times the proportion of households in the demographic tier ESRI calls High Societyt — affluent, married professionals with a medianj household income of $104,934. High Societh covers seven “psychodemographic” subsegments of prosperous, well-educated urbabn and suburban homeowners.
Twenty-seven percent of residents withibn Bellevue’s reach belong to High Society, compared with 7 percent arounedBeverly Hills. In sheer numbers, the 2.8 million populatiomn within 10 miles ofBeverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive is nearlty three times that in the 10 milee surrounding downtown Bellevue. Even so, Bellevue’sa ring contains more High Society typexs thanBeverly Hills’ — 280,2711 versus 193,804.
On the other hand, the Beverlh Hills ring has more than four times as manyresidents (108,672) in the very wealthies subsegment of High Society, which ESRI calls Top The Top Rung segment — people with substantial stock portfolioz who play a prominent civic role — also accountsa for a higher share of the populationm surrounding Beverly Hills (4 percent, compare with Bellevue’s 2.3 percent). But Bellevud bests Beverly Hillsin ESRI’s next-wealthiest majod demographic tier: Upscale Avenues.
These consumers have a medianj household incomeof $70,504 and constitute one in four people in the Bellevuee ring, compared with 8 percent of people surrounding Beverly Locating a store in Bellevue allows Neiman’s to capturse the upscale neighborhoods on the Issaqua h plateau while still reaching most of Seattle. Puttingt the store in Seattle would have placefdthose far-Eastside shoppers outside the 10-mile radius that many retailerse view as their prime consumere market.
Nevertheless, Neiman’s Hussey shares local belief that the concentrationof high-end retaill in Bellevue will draw wealthy shopperz from throughout the Northwest and Western While luxury sales are down becausd of the economy, Hussey said, “Ww make these decisions not for the shorft term, but the long term.”

Making a clear difference - Boston Business Journal:

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“If you just walk through their clubs, you can see it and feel said Gallery, Massachusetts market presidentfor . He was in the Chelse a clubhouse a few weeks ago fora visit. “Whebn you walk into one of those buildingsw you can see very firsthand immediately the impactf that their staff is having workinf with those kids and that those kids are havingv onone another. It’s a very, very positive The bank agreed toa $100,000 grant to help BGCB set up after-schooll programs in four public schools. “To me that’s an example of keepinv the program and keepinh the organization fresh and relevant and current in theway it’sx doing its work,” Gallery said.
“Obviously the clubse are still there, but I thin k this is a way of bridging and even more directly giving kids access righg withinthe schools.” Gallery said his company has had a long-standin g relationship with the . He was drawnn by the group’s focud on giving kids a chance tobe “productivelty occupied” and providing access to mentors as well as stabler environment. The group is in the midst of a campaign to garner morecorporate support, and Bank of America committed earlgy in hopes other companies will follow Gallery said his company reaffirmed its commitmeng to BGCB despite the current economiv challenges.
“At a time like this we think it’s more importanr than ever,” said Gallery. “It’s one of the great ironiesw or challenges of a downturhnlike this. The needs go up, not The local arm of Bank of Americaz also supports other groups like Cradle sto Crayons, and the . He said the bank’s philanthropic endeavora centeraround youth, economic development and the Gallery, a Wellesley also serves on the board of severa nonprofits.
“No corporation, no individual can do We all have toset priorities, but we thinik it’s very important to continue to support as many of the righr programs in town as possible at a time like We expect to continue to be partnera with the Boys & Girls Clubs for as long into the futurde as I can see.”

GE Healthcare opens $165M N.Y. plant - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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The new 230,000-square-foot facility includes a 60,000-square-foo t cleanroom. The digital X-ray detectors that will be made at the plan are used in mammogram agrowing $1 billionb market for breast cancer testing. Much like the transitiob from paper medical records to streamlined electronifrecord keeping, digital X-rays are slowly replacing traditionakl film X-ray machines. In addition to the 100 new jobs schedulede forthe plant, 50 people will transfed to the tech park from GE’x research center in N.Y. Positions at the new site will include 15 15 administrators and 120 technicians and supportr staff with an average annuao salaryof $65,000.
The plant is expecter to have an annual payrollof $10 million. GE developed its digitak X-ray technology at GE Global Researchin Niskayuna. GE said this is the company’se first expansion of high tech medical equipment manufacturingb by its health care operation intoNew York. ”Thie a wonderful example of howa long-term commitmentt to technology can spur the growtjh of our manufacturing base and createe new, high-tech jobs,” said Mark Little, GE seniord vice president and director of the research GE Healthcare, which manufactures medical imaging equipment in Waukeshaw along with other operations throughoutf the Milwaukee area, spent 15 years and more than $200 millionh developing its digital flat panep X-ray technology.
The flat-panel detectoe is a critical component ofan X-rahy system and plays a role in providingh an improved image.

State of Independence - Raleigh/Durham Business Travel Guide

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Well, the 230-year-old lodging icon has succumbed. The railroad company CSX Corp., put the Greenbrier into Chaptert XI bankruptcy inlate March, claiming $90 millionh in losses during the last six And CSX promptly called in—you guessed CSX is so desperate to unload the hotelk that it will provider Marriott with as much as $50 million to operatd the Greenbrier during the first two years. Marriott will then buy the resortf within seven years forbetweebn $60 million and $110 million. Pending bankruptcy courf approval, the deal could close by summer. Now, no one is aghast at the prospectt of a chain runningthe Greenbrier. The unionxs seem amenable to Marriott's arrival.
West Virginiw governor Joe Manchin publicly applaudecthe deal. Newspapers statewide have cast Marriott's arrival as a And locals in hardscrabble Greenbrier County supportr anything that will savethe resort's approximatelyh 1,300 jobs. Like all luxury hotels that have hit the economivc andemotional skids, the Greenbrier's tale is CSX has been a distractedr and ham-fisted owner, battling both the hotel's unions and the resort'se former president, who sued for $50 The sprawling resort is physically isolated and expensivwe to operate. (CSX recently spent $50 million on improvementsw in a misguided attempt to regain the fift Mobil Guide star it lostin 2000.
) And despite the loyaltyg of generations of repeat visitors and fanatic golfers, the Greenbrier was disproportionateluy dependent on corporate meetings, a travel category that has been devastatedd by the weak economy and the "AIv Effect." But the Greenbrier's sale to Marriottg also raises a more universal Can any luxury hotel or resortt thrive—or even survive—as an independent property In a world where a handful of global hote l chains—Hilton, Marriott, Starwood, Hyatt, Accor of and InterContinental of Britain—dominate the lodging market, can a single property, no matter how famous, standf alone? At least on the surface, the answef is no.
About half of the properties onthe Condé Nast Traveledr Gold List and half of those that earn the prestigious five-star rating from the Mobio Guide are part of chains now, albeit luxury and ultra-deluxe operatord such as Four Seasons or Fairmont of Mandarin Oriental and Peninsula of Hong Aman Resorts of Singapore; and Taj of The Blackstone Group, which owns many of the world's best-known luxury independent s as well as Hilton is building a deluxd brand too. It is aligning its independents like the Boca Raton Resort in Florida and the Boulderz in Arizona with the WaldorgfAstoria Collection, which was created by Hilton using the cachetr of its eponymous New York hotel.
 Othetr luxury brands have huge corporateparentas too. St. Regis is ownecd by Starwood, best know for its W and Sheraton Ritz-Carlton is owned by Marriott. And some luxury hotelxs you may think of as independent are actually part of a The Plaza in New which reopenedlast year, is managed by The Pierre, which reopenz in New York this spring, is operated by Taj. The newl y renovated Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaiji is run by Princer Hotelsof Japan. The Dorchestef in London?
It's part of the Dorchestetr Group, which is aligned with the BeverlyhHills hotel, the Plaza Athenew in Paris, and the Principe di Savoia in "Chains always outperform" independent hotels, says LodgeWorks' Tony a man who knows the industrhy from both sides of the fence. LodgeWorks managese hotels in the Hyatt andHilton chains, helpedr create the Residence Inn brand (now owned by and is building its own Hotel Sierra chain. But Isaa has just built an upscale independenthotel too. The Avia opened in January in Savannahh and was promptly named a greaft romantic getaway byTravel & Leisure magazine.
Why does a guy who admits chains outperform independents go ahead and open anindependentt anyway? "Chains add about 10 points to your occupancy But if you're part of a chain, you pay 12 to 14 percenty for the frequent guest the reservation service, and other brand he explains. "If you're in the right market, it's not too much of an economi c disadvantage to bean independent—andd then you have the flexibility to do what you wish and manags as you choose." That's the argumenyt made by Sean Hehir, managing director of Trinitt Investments, a real estate firm that purchased Honolulu's iconidc Kahala Resort in 2006.
The beachfront propertyu opened as a Hilton hotel in 1964 and spent most of its recent historyg as aMandarin Oriental. But Hehir believeds the Kahala has unique advantages that appeal to the luxuryg travelerwho isn't interestec in brands. "We're not subject to a brane policy that may not have any relevance to aparticulad property," he says. "We manage for the long-termk best interest of us as ownerd and the luxury travelers as But even Hehir admits you need the right combinatiom of factors to survive as an independent in today's chain-dominated world.
In the Kahala's it's the unbeatable location on a sandy beachin Honolulu's choicesyt neighborhood and the fact that another Trinity Chuck Sweeney, has a long historyu as a hotel manager. (Sweeney foundef the company that became Embassy now a Hilton ForJames Bermingham, managing director of the spectacular Montagre Resort in Laguna Beach, the advantage is a laser-likee concentration on guest services and proximity to sophisticated travelers in Southern California. Both the five-year-olde Laguna Beach property and the new Montag in BeverlyHills (it openedf last fall) can tap into millionss of upmarket buyers within 60 miles of the "The 'staycation' trend helps he says.
"Guests who want an extraordinary luxury experience very close to home see the Montagd properties and they knowthey won't be getting a chain The Fine Print… Most observers thinj fewer luxury hotels will still be independent after the currentg recession, but there is a notable dissenter. Michael Matthews, who has been the generaol managerof top-notch chain hotels (the Ritz-Carltonh in Hong Kong) and independent deluxe resorts (the Ventanqa Inn in Big Sur) thinks high costs will drive some luxurty properties out of the major chains. "If you're 'flagged'' as a chain, you have no independence at he says.
"A lot of hotels will drop the flag and take the 14 percentr fees they pay and use that moneh to do what they think makes most sensew for theirown hotel." Portfolio.coj © 2009 Cond Nast Inc. All