Friday, December 17, 2010

Horizon technicians ratify new contract - ATWOnline

firearms-somewhat.blogspot.com


Bizjournals.com


Horizon technicians ratify new contract

ATWOnline


Horizon Air announced that its technicians ratified a new four-year contract. Of the 72% of Horizon's mechanics who voted, more than 65% were in favor of ...


Horizon Air Mechanics Ratify New Contract

PR Newswire (press release)


Alaska Air's Subsidiary Says Technicians Ratify New 4-Year Contract

RTT News


Horizon Air mechanics ratify new contract

Seattle Post Intelligencer (blog)



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Tuesday, December 14, 2010

A.M. Best affirms Northwestern Mutual's high ratings - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

grachevakautawil.blogspot.com
A.M. Best affirmed its financial strength ratings ofof A++ and issuer credit ratings of “aaa” of Northwestern Mutualk Life Insurance Co. and its subsidiaru The outlook for both ratings is the Oldwick, N.J., ratings organization said Thursday. The ratingds reflect Northwestern Mutual’s sizable and matured individual life insurance conservativeoperating profile, strong operating performancw and superior risk-adjusted capitalization, A.M. Best said. Partiall y offsetting those positive rating factors was the recentf decline inNorthwestern Mutual’s adjusted capital and surplu due mainly to realized and unrealizee investment losses, A.M. Best said. A.M.
Best also noted that Northwester n Mutual maintains an above averag e aggregate exposure to private placement belowinvestment grade, or "junk," bonds, commercialp mortgages and equities. Despitr NM increasing the tota number of financial representatived over the pastcouplwe years, Northwestern Mutual may be challenged to continuse to grow the number of sales professionalzs while maintaining current levels of retention and productivitg over the long term, A.M. Best said.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Bills bolster Bell, irk rivals - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

madhu-westmeath.blogspot.com
(NYSE: BLS) will back Senate Bille 388 and 389. In the eventr of a federally certifiednatural disaster, SB 388 woulf allow BellSouth, the dominant local phon e company, to collect a 10 percent "storm surcharge" from the smallefr competitors that use its network. BellSouth ostensiblyh would use this money to defray the cost of repairingvits network, which suffered perhaps $600 million in damages from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The company could keep the surchargd in place up to a year from the date of the SB 388 is sponsored bystate Sen. Mitcuh Seabaugh, R-Sharpsburg, who is chairmab of the Senate Regulated Industries andUtilities Committee.
He compared it to the General Assembly's decision last year to cap taxe s on jet fuel in order toassist now-bankrupt -- the statre trying to support a major pillar of the local economy in time of even if it could only supply a few million dollarw when far more was needed. BellSouth spokeswomam LeAnn Boucher agreed withthat assessment. "Whaft we could potentially recoup from those other carrierzs using ournetwork wouldn't even [have] come to cleaning up from Katrina, she said. BellSout competitors are unhappy about the measure and its SB 389, which could strip them of millionsd of dollars in futures revenue.
Currently, whenever the Georgiaq Public Service Commission penalizesd BellSouth for failing to meet certain standardzs in reselling services to its those rivals receiveabout two-thirdsw of any fines assessed. BellSouth shelled out abouyt $1.8 million over the last 12 accordingto Boucher. But under SB 389, which Seabaugh also authored, BellSouth competitors would no longer see any ofthosr dollars. "I don't understand the logic," said Jerry Watts, a lobbyisg for ITC^DeltaCom Inc. "Ifd I'm suffering lost customers or a deterioration in the perceptionn of my service dueto BellSouth'e actions, there's a financial impact," which those finess offset.
The new bills come on the heelsof Seabaugh'e SB 120, introduced in 2005, which would prevent the PSC from regulatintg broadband Internet and cell phone service. Although BellSoutb (which posted $20 billion in 2004 could soon find itselr enjoying a little extra pocket its joint venture with may take a bit of a hit fromSB 395, the brainchiled of state Sen. Cecil Staton, R-Macon. SB 395 would prevent cell phone companies from extending the term of aGeorgiwa customer's service contract whenever that customer wants to add another change their number or otherwise modifgy their plan.
Staton said he was open to lettingv carriers continue requiring contract extensions when they provide new phonezs to existing subscribers in order to recoverthat cost. Cingular lobbyistf Steve Skinner said withoutthat ability, the companhy would be unable to offer its customerx new phones at subsidized prices. One bill unlikeluy to face corporate oppositionis Staton'ds SB 394, which expands on a stat e anti-spam bill signed in 2005 by specifically targetin scammers posing as legitimate companies such as or (Nasdaq: in unsolicited commercial e-mail.
These scammers "phish" for sensitive personal data by directinf recipients of the spam to visit Web sited that masquerade as thoseof banks, credit card companies, etc. Recipient s are then asked to enter theifr SocialSecurity numbers, passwords and the like. Statobn wants to hit offenders with jail terma of up to20 years, fines of up to or both. No Georgia-based businesses have complainedx to him of being he said. The most ambitiouse of the new measures, Senate Resolutionh 642 by state Sen.
Judson Hill, R-Marietta, would require two-thirds of both the House and Senated to agree in order to increase any existing state tax (including the corporatew income tax) or license fee or created any new ones. The idea is to make it very difficulyt for Democrats to raise taxes if they win back one or more chamberss in 2006 or at somefuturew date, Hill said. Also noteworthy: Stater Sen. Ralph Hudgens, R-Comer and chairmanj of the Senate Insurance andLabor Committee, has filed SB 384 and SB 385 at the request of state insurance commissioner John Oxendine.
SB 384 woulds add Georgia to the 20 statews that have already joined an interstate compact allowintg life insurance products approved for sale in any one stat e to be sold in allof them. Oxendinre said some of the nation's largest insurers, including MET) and , have been pushing Georgia to join the which won't become active until a few more states sign up. SB 385 gives Georgia-based insureres the ability to add municipalo bondsfrom U.S. and Canadian cities and counties with populationxs of lessthan 25,000 to their portfolios. Oxendinee crafted the bill, which he called vitap for localeconomic development, afterd ran into the regulation in Dodge County in 2005.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Academic Team honoree: Mary Stottele - Business First of Buffalo:

http://www.onthisveryspot.com/about_what_we_offer.php
Accomplishments: Class valedictorian. SAT score of Perfect score on four Regents National Merit Scholarship letter of AP ScholarAward (wit h Honor). President of student charity Full name: Mary Norma Lynn Stottele. Born: Augustt 7, 1991, Buffalo. Parents: Diane Stottele. Residence: Favorite class: Chemistry (taught by Ronalr Stepien). “I found the material extremely interesting and I lovedthat class.” Collegew and likely major: , chemicapl engineering. Hope to be doing 10 years from now: “I hope to eitherf have my Ph.D. in chemical engineeringv or have finished law I would like to be marrieed and have myown house.” If coulx meet anyone from history: Marie Curie.
“Shre is a great role model for women in thescienceas everywhere.” If could have dinner with anyone now Gerda Weissmann Klein. “I have read her and she came to my schoo lto speak. She has such an enlightener viewabout life.” to proceed to the next Firstr Team honoree: Mary Kate Thielman.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Life Sciences Firms Form Partnership - Inside INdiana Business (press release)

http://seiinc.org/our-programs-green-housing/our-programs-green-housing-pastprograms/


Life Sciences Firms Form Partnership

Inside INdiana Business (press release)


AIT Laboratories says it will become the first laboratory in the nation to use technology from Indigo Biosystems. Indianapolis, Ind., December 6, ...



Saturday, December 4, 2010

Phases of the room - Minneapolis Star Tribune

onoeuqedol1902.blogspot.com


Phases of the room

Minneapolis Star Tribune


Shopa, who was single then, lived in the house for two years before she enlisted SALA architect Wayne Branum to help her figure out how to make the house ...



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Thursday, December 2, 2010

Zicam maker pulls products, but affirms safety - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

http://www.chizine.com/chizinepub/books/napiers_bones.php
The FDA said it receivec more than 130 complaints from consumers saying they have lost their sense of smell after using the Jennifer Warren, a former school teacherf who lives in Huntsville, Ala., said she lost her sensd of smell after using Zicam to prevenrt the duration of a cold a few years ago, but had never complained to the FDA or the company because she figuredf there was no way to prove Zicam caused her She said she doesn’t want to sue Scottsdale-based Matrixs (Nasdaq:MTXX) even after learninbg others have had the same experiences. “I don’t think Zicam was created to hurt she said.
“We sit here and we rip and we rave abouyt all these drugs not being allowed onthe market. The first time anythingt goes wrong, everybody wants to go sue, sue, sue. That drives me I honestly believe the people were tryingf to do something to help people not get William Hemelt, acting president and chier operating officer of Matrixx, said the FDA action was taken without reviewing research he would have been more than willing to “We think the science does not support this allegatiojn at all,” he said.
“Quite we would not be sellingt the product if we thought it was Zicam products use a homeopathic remedt called ZincumGluconicum 2x, which meanse they require FDA Dr. Sam Benjamin, a medical doctor with a homeopathic saidhe can’t figurd out why the FDA has taken so long to deal with the “I can think of no part of alternativwe medicine that summons up more worry to conventional physicians than said Benjamin, who has a medical talk show on KTAR 92.3 FM on Saturdayds at 2 p.m. and 1,000 followers on “There are so many drugsw around thatcause problems, why would one evenyt want to expose people to any danger.
” Brett a senior recall strategist at Stericycles Inc. in Lake Forest, Ill., is coming to Phoenic this week to meet with Matrixdx officials to see if he can help the companyg withdamage control. Usually, he companies will voluntarily recall a product before the FDAgets That’s not how it happenec with Matrixx. The FDA stepped in and warnee Matrixx that it had received more than 130 consumef complaints and that the company needed to stop marketing the product until it can put a warniny label on its packaging that it couldcausre anosmia. Over the past 10 years, Berty has workesd with manufacturers to conductaboutf 1,300 recalls, including Vioxx.
“Typically, the manufacturer will work with me priorr to approaching theregulatory agency,” he “The most important thing for Matrixz is you can turn a seemingly awful situation into an opportunithy if you’re judged by the public as being part of the How swiftly do they execute that will demonstrate their concerhn for the public’s safety.” When the FDA sent the warningg letter to Matrixx and advised consumeras not to use certain Zicam cold remedies, on June 16, Matrixx’d stock plummeted 70 percent to $5.7u8 a share. It bounced up a bit to $6.1e a day later, but nowhere near its 52-weeki high of $19.
74, near its trading point beforwe the FDA sent thewarning letter. For the fiscal year ende d March 31, Matrixx reported $13.8 millionh in net income on $112 million in net sales, up from $10.4 million in net income on $101 millio n in net sales a year ago. Hemelt said he will be meetingv with FDA regulators to discuszthe issue. He also scheduled a conferencde callwith investors.