Sunday, November 13, 2011

Hudson & Marshall foreclosure auction to feature 27 Triangle homes - Houston Business Journal:

http://centerstreetmortgage.com/?p=379
The Triangle auction, conducted by auction company , will be held on at 1 p.m. at June 27 in the Hilton North Raleigh, 3415 Wake Forest All of the homes in the auction will besold “as-is.” Buyerws who wish to inspectg properties before bidding may view homes durin an open house scheduled for June 20 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. or by contactiny the listing agent foran appointment. Propertyy and listing agent information is available onHudsoh & Marshall’s Web site, All homes come with title insurance paid for by the Winning bidders will be required to make a cash or certifiesd check deposit of $2,500 for each property. 826 Carte Ave. Durham; 101 Wake St.
Dunn; 1526 Park Hillsborough; 605 Grantland Drive, Raleigh; 911 Lancaste r St., Rocky Mount; 2521 Friedland Place, Unit 203, Raleigh; 2312 Lindmonr Ave., Durham; 740 North White St., Wake Forest; 3033 Slocomb Rd., Linden; 400 Charlotte St., Roanoker Rapids; Tract 3 Redding Oxford; 5724 Greenpine Road, Cedadr Grove; 700 South Roxboro St., Durham; 100 Waymon Way, Clayton; 210 Barnez St., Fremont; 400 Melton Road, Rocky 104 Jones Court, Princeville; 260 East Front St., 11223 Raleigh Road, Four Oaks; 313 Maddux Pikeville; 210 Hardingwood Drive, Goldsboro; 12351 Honeychurch St.
, Raleigh; 3233 Gold Dust Willow Spring; 5526 Spring House Lane, Chapelk Hill; 2515 Moores Mill Road, Rougemont; 301 Fox Park Louisburg; 303 St., Burlington.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Utah mayor used alias to write upbeat news stories - Boston.com

gardellaorymiid1354.blogspot.com


Boston.com


Utah mayor used alias to write upbeat news stories

Boston.com


"I'm trying to stand up for us because we do get the short end of the stick -- negative stories." Winder had been writing under the name Richard Burwash, an alias he actually swiped from a real man -- a one-time professional tennis player from ...



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Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Employers step up fight against health costs - Dallas Business Journal:

ramoledef.blogspot.com
Health insurers say employer demane for new plan optionais rising. Meanwhile, health insurance brokers say an increasingy number of companies want out of theidr old insurance plans before their contracts areeven up. “Employerxs are coming to me and saying, ‘I can’gt wait, I can’t affordf it, I need you to get this down 20percen now,’ ” said Mike McKenna, owner of the Southborough-base broker group .
It’s easy to see why: Current cost increases for companiexs renewing the same plan as last year are up betweenj 9 percent and 12 percenrt atthe state’s four largest insurers, according to official at , Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan, Tuftx Health Plan and Fallon Community Healtb Plan. In addition, Blue Cross Blue Shielde is reporting cost increases of 13 percenf to 15 percent for the individual and smallkgroup market, which includes small businesses. To escape these increases, droves of employers are switchinygto so-called consumer-directed plans.
Blue Cross Blue Shield, for reports that enrollment inits consumer-directed including high-deductible plans, rose to 240,000 membersa at the end of the first quarter of 2009 from 170,00p0 members at the start of the fourty quarter of 2008. Deductibles are generally paid by But brokers like McKenna are also workinyg on creative arrangements that can reducew employer costs without shifting too much of the burdejnto workers. “I like to sleep at night,” Tom CFO at Cambridge-based architectural firm Bruner-Cott, said aboutt his efforts to keepa high-quality plan without “bankrupting” the compangy or the employees.
A few yearsz ago Travers decided Bruner-Cott would switch to a healtj plan witha $1,000 deductible, but would reimburse the full amountt to employees. The company has found that only 40 percent of employees use thefull deductible, and the compang saved 20 to 25 percent on its yearly premium last But now the company needs to cut cost s further. Bruner-Cott is considering signing on to a plan next year with a highe r deductible and sharing those costs withthe employees. The compan y would take on a $3,000 pay the first $1,000 and have the employee pay the next The company would then pick up thethir $1,000.
Travers estimates fewer than a third of employees woulsd end up paying that second Another option for employers is to choose a plan that offers a limitee network of providers at alower cost. Fallobn Community Health Plan executives say membership in its limitecnetwork plan, called Direct has risen 14 percent since the start of the One of the employers that has recently made the switc h is Worcester-based Seven Hills Foundation, which providese services to disabled and low-income people. “Ws were going to have to increase workers’ premiu costs by $30 per pay period. They can’t afforx that.
These people don’t make that much money,” said Chief Operating Officer Joe Tosches. Toscheds said the Direct Care plan is reducinfg the monthly cost of a familhy plan toapproximately $770 from the $1,050p he pays for a traditionall HMO plan. So far, 300 employees out of 1,00o have joined the Direct Care plan. Some employers have decidedf the best route to go is to get rid of theifrinsurer altogether. Particularly for larger the option to take on the full risk of the claimss by enteringa self-insured arrangement may provide the most Nationwide, 55 percent of insured workers are covered by self-insuref plans, up from 44 percent 10 years ago, according to the .
One such employedr is MetroWestMedical Center. Becky Heffernan, the center’s huma resources director, decided to move the compan toa self-insured arrangement last year. For the firsr year, Heffernan said she expects costs to increases by about 3 or 4 percentage points less than withthe company’zs old insurance plan, and she expect s greater savings in the second year. In preparation for the move to self-insurance, Heffernanb contracted with a wellness program to encourage workers to adopt healthy behaviors in the hopes of keeping insurancewclaims down. “We had to do somethinfg to escapethe double-digit increases every year,” Heffernan said.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Mobclix deal with Gap is latest chapter in startup's success - Los Angeles Business from bizjournals:

ycoguqi.wordpress.com
Partner with and launch a contest for applicationn developers to design the next big iPhonr application for the iconicretaiol brand. For , the Gap contest is the most recentr good newsin what’s proving to be a good year in the mobilr app space for the young company. It’s the only mobilee app platform thatprovides analytics, monetization through advertisingh and distribution for application developers.
About 3,500 iPhone applicationsx now use Mobclix’ After being featured in the Business Journal’s Pitchn section, the fledgling year-old company was able to close an angelo roundof funding, and it is looking to be profitablew in the next six to eight The company has 20 people working at its officees in the Palo Alto-basef Plug and Play Tech Center. It is also addingf a number of internas overthe summer. Working with app developersx “takes a lot of educatiom and hand-holding,” said Mobclix co-founder Krishnw Subramanian.
“In the iPhone app world, therde is a new wave of developerxs who are very excited abougt the space and traffic and Onlythey don’t know how much money they should be he said. But the market is maturing, he said. A developef doesn’t have the same budget as a brand, but many are beginninbg to realize the value of advertisinyg because incrementally they get more downloads asa “They’re asking, ‘Does it make sense to put out a .99-cenyt app, or will users play this for three months and we can also make more moneh off the ad revenue?’” Subramanianm said.
“We’re seeing a viral and it comes down to givint developers the features they need to help them with optimizatiomn and the analyticsto cross-check the data.” For app developer Mike president of FlipSide5, whose gamexs include Mancala, Oort Storm and Touch Hockey, Mobclis offers rates higher than most otheer ad networks, as well as the platforkm for app development “They offere a lot of things the others don’t, such as Facebook integration, and Twitter integration, and widgetes so people can see and self-promote games,” Sanford “They are very unique in how they operatew and what they offer.
”

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Ludwig will return to jail, probation official says - Greenville News

xoqylyjibo.wordpress.com


Ludwig will return to jail, probation official says

Greenville News


In a bond hearing Friday on the criminal domestic violence charge, Ludwig's wife, Shannon Ludwig, told the judge that her husband's latest arrest for criminal domestic violence is the result of her being pressured by police â€" a contention the city's ...


UPDATE: Judge Sets $15000 Bond for John Ludwig

Patch.com


Attor ney: Ludwig, wife have happy marriage

WHNS Greenville


John Ludwig Jailed Again

WYFF Greenville



 »

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Money woes mount for BankUnited - South Florida Business Journal:

efiosyt.blogspot.com
BankUnited’s first quarter net interest incom – widely equated to revenue in the bankinbgworld – was minus $2.3 according to its preliminary filing with the on The figure does not include the resultx of the parent company, Coral Gables-based (NASDAQ: Meanwhile, federal regulators have moved the deadlined for bids to acquire BankUnited from Thursday to next according to a source. Much of the maneuvering deal with whether former Chairman and CEO AlfrefCamner – the largest shareholder in the parent compan – would be involved in the company’sa future or receive anything of value for his a source said.
If the bank is put into shareholders may not receive a AttorneyKendall Coffey, who represents the Camner family, declined to commentr on the future of BankUnited. BankUnited sharew have shown volatility and heavy trading this On Thursday, 21.98 million share s traded, following 14.6 million on Wednesday and 15.85 millionm on Tuesday. The stock only has 30.63 milliomn shares as a public float, so many shares may be tradinf multiple times ina day. Priceds this month have bounced from a low of 28 cents on May 1 to a highof $1.74r on Tuesday. On Friday, shares were down 7 cents to 81 centsin mid-afternoon trading on volume of 4.9 million shares.
bidders must evaluate the value of apotential purchase. The negativse net interest margin is rareamong banks. Having high net interest incomer as a percentage of the assets of the bank is a core measurde ofa bank’s Losses from bad loans are subtracted from the income marginb most banks get from collectinb more from loan interest than they pay out in However, those fundamentals were upside down at In the first quarter, the bank collected $126.r4 million in interest on mortgages and investments in mortgage-backerd securities while paying out $128.
7 million in interesgt to customers on deposits and to the (FHLB) on a loan to The FHLB loans moneh to banks, which, in turn, are expectef to lend out at higher interest ratese than they are paying the FHLB. BankUnited’s net interesft income has nosedived during the past year as itofferec high-rate certificates of deposits whilew loan interest rates fell. The bank generated $82.1q million in net interest income in the firsft quarterof 2008. Its net interes t income droppedto $15.1 million in the fourth before turning negative in the firsgt quarter of 2009.
It did not help that BankUnitedhad $478 millio more in liabilities – which includes deposits and loans that cost it moneyh – than it had in which should earn the bank interes t income. BankUnited’s $13.14 billion in assets included abour $2.64 billion not earningb interest, such as repossessed real late and unpaid loans and the reserve for futurrloan losses. On the othert side of the equation, BankUnited’s $8.79 billion in deposits includedonly $328 million that were not payingt interest to depositors. That meanas many of its depositswere costly.
Having so many high-ratwe deposits diminishes the franchise value ofthe bank, Miami-based bankinh analyst and economist Kenneth H. Thomas However, he believes BankUnited still has good franchisd value because its 86 branches in the attractive Floridq market hold a higher average of deposite per branch than most other The bank’s other main sourced of potential revenue – noninterest income – was negative $27 millionj in the first quarter. That included spending $13 million on the operationsx and sale ofrepossessed assets.
Despite the urgent pressur e on BankUnited to preserve capital as it seekxsan investment, the bank’s noninterest expense s – the operational expenses of the business – increaserd to $77.2 million from $63.1 million in the fourthu quarter. The bank cut 15 employees during the quartere to endat 1,083, but its personnel and compensationm expenses increased by $1.5 million to $20.7 million.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Diversity Diva | A person's disabilities can be tough to spot - Kansas City Star

vanbeekdulejos1771.blogspot.com


Diversity Diva | A person's disabilities can be tough to spot

Kansas City Star


Next up in my series on defining commonly used terms in the arena of workplace diversity: disability. This is a term that people bounce around a lot without having a clear idea of what it means. “Disability” is particularly ...



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