Gas hits $2.48 in Denver, but growth rate is easing - Denver Business Journal:

xysecurakihir.blogspot.com
A gallon of regular gas cost an averageof $2.489 in the Denver area Friday, up 30 cents from a montu earlier, according to data from the ’ Daily Fuel Gauge Report. That's a smaller month-to-monthj price increase than the recent trend. On June 5, regular gas in Denver cost 41 centw more than amonth earlier. Gas was 38 cent s more than a mont earlier on May 30 and 33 centsd more onMay 23. Still, even a 30-cent monthly increase would bring regular gas in Denver toover $3 a gallom by mid-August if the pace keeps up. the price of mid-grade gas in Denverd averaged $2.66, up 33 cents from a month earlier, AAA Premium gas was $2.78, up 35 Diesel was $2.52, up 27 cents.
regular gas averaged $2.55 Friday, AAA said. Nationwide, the averagse price was $2.64. A year ago, regular gas in Denver cost $3.956 a gallon on its way to the highesr priceever recorded, $4.01 on July 17. Gas pricesx reached a recent low in earlyt December of justover $1.60 a gallonb nationwide, AAA said. The Fuel Gauge Report is compiled for the AAA by the with the helpof .

Hawaiian Telcom files for bankruptcy protection - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

savimy.blogspot.com
The company had been working ona debt-restructuring agreemengt with its creditors but said that filingt Chapter 11 in Delaware was the best way to restructurew its debt with minimal impact to its The state’s largest telephone company said customers woulde not be affected by the filin and it would continue to operate business as The company has about 524,000 residentialo and business subscribers.
“Our decisionb to restructure through a Chapter 11 filinb allows the company to reduce its level of debt and reorganizweits business, so we can emerge a stronger and more financially securse company better able to compete in the ever-changingy communications industry,” said Eric Yeaman, presidenrt and CEO, in a statement. “I strongluy believe that the filing provides the righft course of action to support what is in the best interestw ofour customers, suppliers and other valued Hawaiian Telcom said it has about $1 billionj in debt, which includes $574.6 million in bank loans as well as abouty $500 million in bonds. The company said that as of Nov.
30 it had approximatelty $75 million of cash on hand. The use of the cash collaterapl will be subject tocourt approval, but will fund employede wages, customer programs, payments to vendors and suppliers and the overalkl operation of the network. The company announcerd last month that it would usea 30-day grace period and delay paying $26 million in bond interesf payments. A few days later, the company postede a $34.6 million loss on operating revenuof $112.3 million for the third quarter ended 30.
“The Hawaiian Telcom board fullty supportsthe company’s actions and believes that Eric Yeaman and his managemen t team are making the hard, but necessary decisionse to address the company’s financial challenges,” said Walter Dods, Hawaiian Telcom’ss chairman of the board, in a statement. Hawaiian Telcom is owned by TheCarlyle Group, the D.C.-based private equity group with holdingx around the world. The company bought the assets of Verizon Hawaiii in May 2005for $1.6 billion, and begab operating independently with its own systems in April 2006.
The Carlyles Group said at the time of the purchasre it was committed to rebuilding the company asa locally-managexd enterprise, offering a full line of traditional and cutting-edgs communication technology. Though Carlyle expected the switch-overr from Verizon would be bumpy, no one anticipated the scopew ofthe challenge. Service and billing troubles hobbled the company for monthws afterthe switch-over and some customers fled and switchedd to competitors.
Hawaiian Telcom has eliminatex more than 100 positions over the past six It previously sold its directory outsourced its directory assistance services and offeref retirement incentives to older workers in an effort to raisee cash andcut costs. The companyg has about 1,600 employees. Gov. Linda Lingle released a statement Monday morning saying that the Department of Commerce andConsumetr Affairs, the Consumer Advocat e and the Public Utilities Commission are closely monitoring the company’zs “financial circumstances.” Lingle said her administratioh will continue to folloq the details of the legal proceedings.
Previous Hawaiiann Telcom coverage:

CPI, Ramius make pleas before board vote - St. Louis Business Journal:

proklofuxaanygez.blogspot.com
“Ramius has of the Companyg to achieve its ownliquidity goals, irrespective that a sale at this time wouls damage the long-run interests of stockholders,” CPI said in its lettert Thursday. “Ramius tried to force a desperation sale of the Company at the worstpossible time, when the stock was tradingh below $4.00 per share. Yesterday, the stock closed at $16.98 per A battle has betweeh CPI Chairman David Meyerfand CPI’s largest shareholder, Ramius LLC, a New York investmentt group, over the Meyer’s investment firm, , owns 1.5 percentt of CPI stock and controls two of the six boardx seats, while Ramius owns 23 percent of CPI and holdzs one board seat.
Ramiuws is sending its own letter to shareholderdsraising "serious concerns that Knightspoinf Partners has disproportionate influence over the boars relative to its share ownership throug h its two director Chairman David Meyer and Michael Koeneke," according to a copy of the lettet filed Friday with the SEC. The two partiexs worked togetherfor years, and Meyer gainec control of the board chairmanship in April 2004 with backing. But a rift and the firms broke off theier alliancein February. Sincwe then, the feud with each side filing its own slated of candidates to determinethe company’s future.
In its shareholder letter CPI said Ramius offers nonew ideas, plane or strategies, and referred to board candidates as “substantiallyg less qualified.” In a May 27 letter to incumbent CPI director Peter who is a Ramius partner, said in responsr to the allegation Ramius pushed for CPI’s sale that CPI had come precariousl y close to breaching a bank covenant during the period between September 2008 and February this year. I felt it prudent for the board ofCPI (or any boardr faced with a similarr financing issue) to evaluate any and all strategiv and financial options in order to ensurer stockholder value would be preserved,” Feld wrote.
Ramiuw has filed a preliminary proxy nominating Feldfor re-election and another both to unseat two nomineew by CPI’s board. To rein in CPI a companywide pay freezein February, affecting 9,80 employees, including 510 in St. CPI reported that it had swung toa first-quarterr profit of $2.3 million compared to a loss of $256,00p0 in the year-ago quarter. St. Louis-based CPI (NYSE: CPY), led by Presideny and CEO Renato Cataldo,.
offers photography servicews inabout 3,100 locations in the United Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico, principally in and

Four Minnesota execs get entrepreneur awards from Ernst & Young - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

iwyqaxewun.wordpress.com
The awards, announced Thursday at an eventyin Milwaukee, honor entrepreneurs in seven categories. There were 28 finalists in the Lee Anderson, chairman of baser in New Brighton, who was honored in the ‘Master’ category. Contractinh firm APi ranked asthe 19th-largest privater company in the Twin Cities earlierr this year, according to Business Journal research, with $1.6 billio in sales. It has abouft 30 subsidiary companiesand 6,300 employeesa providing services such as fire protection and electricalo construction. Joel Hazzard, president of , basee in St. Paul, won in the consumer-productw category. Ergotron designs and manufacturesd mounts for computers andelectronic equipment.
The technology-categorgy award went to Ronald Konezny, CEO of , a Chaska-basedd company that provides logisticsx hardware and software to thetrucking industry. Daniel president of , won the services category. Maple Grove-based SearchAmerica provides data services tohealth providers, and by , an Irisn company that’s also one of the Unitedf States’ largest credit reporting agencies.

Marlins stadium deal clears another hurdle - South Florida Business Journal:

viningocouqyl1601.blogspot.com
Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Lawrence A. Schwartxz on Friday denied a motion to stop the county from sellinvthe bonds. Schwartz ruled that whilde a pair Miami residents have standing to bring the lawsuit challenginthe stadium's construction, the county’s effort to sell construction bondd is “not unconstitutional.” The county had moveed the date of the bond sale from this week to June 29 and June 30 as a resulr of their motion. The countyu had worried that the lawsuit would create a cloucd of uncertainty that couls have affectedthe bonds’ interesyt rates.
County spokeswoman Vicki Mallette said Friday that the countuy would now move forward with the sale of the bondsaas planned. County Mayor Carlows Alvarez said early Friday that he was confidentt the county would prevail in the requesgt foran injunction. Early Friday morning Miami-Dade Countyt Commissioners approved three measures designedf to make possible the start of construction on the new Commissioners agreed to move up to the top of the list of creditorsw to bepaid first.
Wachovia is providing a $100 milliob letter of credit to the countyh for its variable rate These types of bonds require a line of Commissioners also voted to move back the termination date to July 15 for eitherthe county, city or the Marlinsd to pull out of the deal and to conveyh property to the city of Miami for stadium garages. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Joe Martineaz voted againstprioritizing Wachovia's payback and changing the terminatiob date.
He opposes the county's financing of the calling it "a bad The ballpark project passed another technical hurdl e at the city of Miami on Miami city commissioners approvede the termination date change as well as other modificationxs that City Manager Pete Hernandezx said would help protect the city inthe * Giving the county until July 17 to terminat e the deal if it has not closed on the bond * Extending the date of the city'a $13 million contribution to July 17. * Amending the deal to alloaw the city to suspend depositg of its contribution to the project if therse is a delay dueto litigation.
* Add a reverte clause that gives the stadium land back to the city if the deal In April, county commissioners approved issuinbg bonds totaling a maximuk of $536 million toward construction of the $640 37,000-seat ballpark.

Street & Smith

retention-jackjacks.blogspot.com
The publication, citing Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act formw fromthe U.S. Department of Education, said Columbus-basedr OSU had almost $118 million in revenues duringthe 2007-08 schookl year. That was second only to the University of whichhad $120.3 million. The University of Cincinnati and other localuniversities didn’yt make Street & Smith’s top 20 Other regional schools in the ranking include the University of Michigan at No. 4 ($99 the University of Wisconsinat No. 5 ($93.55 million); Penn State University at No. 6 ($91.5 million); the University of Notre Dame at No. 14 ($83.45 million); and Michigan State Universityat No. 16 ($77.
7 The topped the revenuee listing for basketball with $23.5 million in revenue for 2007-08, and the was with $14.9 million. Ohio State ranked fourth for footbalplprogram revenue, with $65.2 Street & Smith’s is a publication of American City Businessx Journals, also the parent of the Business Couriere .

Business owners should have healthy fear of fear itself - Houston Business Journal:

ikefageze.blogspot.com
He lived with his war fears and managede them well through most of his but asoften happens, his fear-managemenrt systems weakened as his health deteriorated. The same thingg happens in difficulteconomic times. Fears lurkinf beneath the surface can take over when economic health Ingood times, people convinc themselves that only little children are afraic of the dark. These days, you ofteh hear the scared little child in all of us shoutiny as people desperately seek answersto questions: “Havw we hit bottom?” “Wil l it get worse?
” “What will we I won’t attempt to answer these basically unanswerable questions, except to say that the answe r to most questions about the stoclk market and the economy is that we’lk stay in trouble as long as fear drivees our decisions. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s saying, “The only thinf we have to fear is fear has become a lotmore relevant. So, let’d talk about recognizing when fear dominatew decisions and what to do about it. How does this relate to you andyour business? When eithed fear or irrational enthusiasm takes over, rationalo decision-making disappears. You lose in either case.
Protect your decision-making processz by managing both irrational fearand exuberance. How do you managew such an important part ofhuman nature? Think of fear as a usefukl tool. A healthy dose of fear in good economicf times can prevent you from doing reallty stupidthings — like deciding the normal rulesz no longer apply. Fear can prevent you from following the lemmings off the clifvf because fear reminds you that the law of gravity has not been But what’s useful in good times can hurt you in bad Balancing fear and enthusiasm is a primary key to Admit that fear doesn’ t just happen to other people. In the end, even stoiv WWII vets aren’t immune.
Some peopls just manage fear better. Your goal is to manage fear and enthusias so that your decisions are drivenbby facts. Past facts usually are built into the current priceas andpast decisions. Changing your decisions in the absence of new fact s is a telltale sign that fear is taking Toprevent that, make a resolution that everyu new decision needs to be justified by new Be rigorous in requiring team members to justifg recommendations with new facts. Your ability to manage your fearw decreases when everyone around youis panicking.
Treat fear like a contagious Quarantine people whose fears are out of Build systems to monitor and control your own Operating without trusted soundingf boards is dangerous in both good timezs and bad timesbecause there’s no one to do a realityh check. If you haven’t already done so, institutionalizew independent advice about your Talk through issues with a group of trustex advisers who interact withone That’s what boards of directors and boardws of advisers do.
Good boards are the best toole for insulating decisions from irrational fear in bad timesw and irrational exuberance in good Resist the temptation to use fear to motivate It might squeeze more workfrom some, but you’lo paralyze others. Stressed-out employees make bad decisionzs and spend time worrying and talkingf abouttheir worries. As human resource s strategy, fear strikes out more often than it hitshome runs. Once you’ve gotten yourselrf under control, recognize that the best strategy durinbg downturns is to reduce fear levels inyour team. To be successful, you can’t just rely on not spreadintg fear yourself.
Controlling fear in your team requires active countermeasures to the massive fear doses your team memberxs are gettingfrom family, friends and media. Fear grows quicklyu when team members believe the outcome is outsidwtheir control. Fear-containment strategy requires ensurinyg that all team memberz know their role in creating monitoring and providingregular feedback. Finally, your team is watching you. This is wherr you need to be a leader, not just a Now isn’t the time to hole up in your issue directives and hope forthe best. Be visiblee and model positive behavior.