ABC Finance

The Wichita metropolitan area’s unemployment rate was flat from May to June, holding at 8 percent, according to the Kansas Department of Labor.

The agency on Tuesday said 25,201 people were out of work during June, up from 24,979 the previous month. Both those figures are down from June 2009 when the metro had 9 percent unemployment.

Statewide, the unemployment rate increased from 6.4 percent to 6.5 percent from May to June. That’s still lower than the 7.2 percent unemployment rate that was reported in June 2009.

Of metros in Kansas, Manhattan had the lowest jobless rate at 5.2 percent, followed by Lawrence at 5.8 percent. Topeka had 6.3 percent unemployment and the Kansas City, Kan., area had 6.9 percent unemployment.

The labor department said private sector businesses added 9,900 jobs during June, which it said was stronger-than-average growth.

The department said four of the 11 major industries in the state reported job gains during the past 12 months, including the trade, transportation and utilities industry.

The construction, education and health services, and mining and logging industries also added jobs, the department said.

Source

Filed under: online by Specialist
Comments Off

In May 2010, San Francisco hotels saw their average daily room rates climb for the first time in 17 months.

A San Francisco hotel room cost an average of $158.42 in May 2010, a 3.8 percent increase over the $152.68 the average hotel charged in May 2009, according to a new report from PKF Consulting.

Hotel occupancy in the city climbed to 82.5 percent for the month, a 10.4 percent increase over May 2009 occupancy of 74.7.

San Francisco hotel occupancy has remained pretty strong throughout the recession, but its rates have plummeted, which has caused so much strain at hotels around town.

While this rate gain by no means begins to recover lost ground — hotel rooms averaged $190 no faxing payday loans.46 in May 2008 — it is the first real sign that hotel rates might indeed grow for the full year.

For the first five months of this year, hotel rates in San Francisco averaged $149.21, a 4.4 drop from the $156.08 average hotels were able to charge in the first five months of 2009.

Citywide room rates were their lowest in December 2009, when they averaged just $132.81 a night.

Source

Filed under: finance by Specialist
Comments Off

Cerner Corp. President Trace Devanny has resigned and will serve his last day with the company on Friday.

He said in a written statement that he and his family spent much time considering the decision to “pursue other business opportunities.” Cerner Chairman and CEO Neal Patterson will take on Devanny’s responsibilities.

Devanny has been a longtime executive with Cerner (Nasdaq: CERN), starting in 1994 and rising to president five years later. He’s been known for pushing Cerner to expand globally, bringing foreign revenue from $24 million to $273 million during his presidency.

“I have a deep sense of satisfaction in the role I have played in Cerner’s growth over the past decade,” Devanny said in a Tuesday release payday loan. “I am thankful for the opportunity to have worked with so many incredible people and to have shared in the pursuit of a higher standard of healthcare worldwide. In every part of the world, improving healthcare cost and quality are vital concerns, and Cerner is well positioned to continue its advance as a multinational healthcare company, as well as take advantage of near-term opportunities provided by stimulus funding in the U.S.”

North Kansas City-based Cerner offers health care information technology.

Source

Filed under: management by Specialist
Comments Off

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport officials will sign an agreement next week for $350 million in additional financing toward completion of the airport’s international terminal.

A new letter of credit to be signed on Tuesday will provide “bridge funding” to help the project move forward while the city’s aviation and finance department continue working on the final bond package needed to finish the work, airport Chief Financial Officer Milton Castillo said Friday.

The current letter of credit on the project backed by a consortium that includes Wachovia Corp. expires on July 15 and was not renewed by the lenders.

Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co cash advance loans. have agreed to provide the new letter of credit, according to a July 1 memo from Robert Kennedy, the airport’s interim general manager.

The previous letter of credit was for $550 million. Castillo said reducing it to $350 million will not affect the project.

“We never actually used the $200 million,” he said.

Castillo said airport officials expect to finalize the last portion of bond financing to complete the $1.3 billion Maynard Holbrook Jackson International Terminal during the fourth quarter of this year.

Source

Filed under: money by Specialist
Comments Off

The cost of making iPhones and other electronic devices is reportedly likely to go up soon due to rising costs in China where many of their parts and much of their assembly take place.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that Chinese factory owners are shifting production away from Shenzhen into China’s interior in an effort to deal with rising wages, inflation in Chinese currency and rising housing costs.

"Electronics companies are trying to figure out how to deal with the higher costs," Jenny Lai, a tech analyst at CLSA in Hong Kong, told The Times. "They’re already squeezed, so squeezing more costs out of the system won’t be easy."

The rising costs are seen as less of a threat to Apple Inc., which has unusually large profit margins of as much as 60 percent on its popular devices, than on tech companies including Hewlett-Packard Co instant payday loan. and Dell Inc., whose devices sell at a much lower markup.

The rising costs come as China appears to be rethinking how long it wants to remain the world’s high tech factory amid growing social pressures to provide better working conditions. Many Chinese workers put in very long hours and work weeks for extremely low wages.

“China doesn’t want to be the workshop of the world anymore,” Pietra Rivoli, a professor at Georgetown University and author of "The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy" told The Times. "The value goes to where the knowledge is."

Source

Filed under: finance by Specialist
Comments Off

The University of North Florida has appointed Ajay Samant the new dean of the Coggin College of Business and affirmed his tenure as a professor of finance.

Samant succeeds John McAllister, who served as dean of the Coggin College for five years. He will take professional leave in the fall and will return to the university as a professor in the Department of Accounting and Finance in the spring of 2011.

Samant formerly spent five years as chair of the Department of Finance and Commercial Law at Western Michigan University and two years as associate dean. While at WMU, he established a Global Business Center, Center for Sustainable Business Practices and an Entrepreneurship Center.

Samant’s teaching and research awards include the 2002 Zang Professor of the Year by the Department of Finance and Commercial Law at WMU, and the Emerald Literati Network Highly Commended Award in 2008 .

“Dr. Samant is an experienced academic leader and a scholar of distinction,” said Mark Workman, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at UNF. “I have every confidence in his ability to advance the quality, reach and stature of the Coggin College of Business and look forward to working with him as well as the chairs, faculty and staff of the college to achieve these ends.”

Source

Filed under: legal by Specialist
Comments Off

The 10th Judicial Circuit of Florida is implementing a mediation program designed to reduce home foreclosures.

The Collins Center for Public Policy has partnered with the Central Florida Mediation Group in Lakeland to manage the program in the 10th Judicial Circuit, which covers Hardee, Highlands and Polk counties.

The program provides a chance for homeowners and lenders to resolve foreclosure cases out of court and allow the homeowner to stay in their home if possible, a release said. It is provided at no expense to the homeowner.

The Collins Center for Public Policy is a statewide nonprofit organization that is also managing mediation programs for foreclosures in five other judicial circuits, including the 12 th Judicial Circuit, which covers Manatee, Sarasota and DeSoto counties. A Florida Supreme Court task force recommended in August that a managed mediation program be adopted in all circuits to help resolve foreclosures online payday loans.

Since the Collins Center’s foreclosure mediation program began in March 2009, the center has managed roughly 6,000 scheduled mediations, with more than 3,300 settled successfully during mediation. An additional 900 were settled before mediation as a result of the Collins Center facilitation communication between the parties, the release said.

Recent data from RealtyTrac indicated that Florida’s foreclosure activity was down 25 percent from 2005, but Florida still had the nation’s third-highest foreclosures in April, behind Nevada and Arizona, the release said.

Source

Filed under: legal by Specialist
Comments Off

Stein Mart CEO David Stovall Jr. has joined the board of directors for Baptist Health, the hospital said Friday.

Stovall, who joined Stein Mart in 2008 after a career with Belk Inc., oversees the operation of 267 U.S. stores for the Jacksonville-based retailer.

“We are excited that David has agreed to join the Baptist Health board of directors,” said Hugh Greene, president and CEO of Baptist Health. “His expertise will be valuable as we expand our hospital, primary care and urgent care facilities.”

Stovall received his MBA from the University of Virginia. He was recently honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Washington & Lee University, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree, and serves on the university’s board of advisors at Williams School of Commerce, Economics and Politics.

While in Charlotte, N.C. with Belk, Stovall served as chairman of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and Carolinas Regional Partnership. He was also a trustee of Central Piedmont Community College, and was awarded the Schley Lyons Circle of Excellence Award by Leadership Charlotte in 1995.

Source

Filed under: money by Specialist
Comments Off

High school students enrolled in the newly formed Academy of Hospitality and Tourism at Lancaster High School will begin taking college-level courses this fall at Trocaire College’s Russell J. Salvatore School of Hospitality & Business.

The South Buffalo-based college announced this week that it will offer three courses to juniors and seniors: introduction to hospitality management, hospitality information systems and hotel operations. All classes are free to students.

“This partnership agreement between Lancaster High School and Trocaire College helps us make that connection for our students between what our students learn inside the classroom and the world outside the classroom in addition to earning college credit while still in high school,” John Bender, Lancaster assistant principal and academy liaison, said in a release.

Students, parents, faculty and administrators at Lancaster High School toured the Transit Road hospitality facility last week. Those involved in the academy expect to graduate with a full semester of college courses, high school officials said.

Trocaire is seeking to make its Transit Road location an official “branch campus” rather than an extension center. It must get approval from the state.

Source

Filed under: online by Specialist
Comments Off

Oregon’s car insurance is the 18th-most affordable in the nation, according to a report released this week by an online insurance website.

Sacramento, Calif.-based InsWeb (Nasdaq:INSW) determined car insurance affordability by dividing the median household car rate by the median household income. The average Oregon family spends 2.91 percent of its budget on car isnurance.

Massachusetts was listed as the most affordable and Louisiana was the least.

Source

Filed under: business by Specialist
Comments Off